EDWARD III. OF ENGLAND 115 Nottingham on October 15, 1330, and conveyed to the Tower. He was ex- ecuted at Tyburn on November 29. The overthrow of Mortimer made Edward, at the age of eighteen, a king in fact as well as in name. In person he was graceful ; and his face was ' as the face of a god.' His manners were courtly and his voice winning. He was strong and ac- tive, and lov&d hunting, hawking, the prac- tice of knightly exercises, and, above all, war itself. Considerable care must have been spent on his education, for he cer- tainly spoke English as well as French, and evidently understood German. He was fearless in battle, and, though over-fond of pleasure was, until his later years, energetic in all his undertakings. Although accord- ing to modern notions his ambition is to be reckoned a grave defect in his character, it seemed in his day a kingly quality. Nor were his wars undertaken without cause, or indeed, according to the ideas of the time, without ample justification. His at- tempts to bring Scotland under his power were at first merely a continuation of an inherited policy that it would have been held shameful to repudiate, and later were forced upon him by the alliance between that country and France. And the French War was in the first instance provoked by the aggressions of Philip, though Edward's assumption of the title of King of France, a measure of political expediency, rendered peace impossible. He was liberal in his gifts, magnificent in his doings, profuse in his expenditure, and, though not boastful, inordinately ostentatious. No sense of duty beyond what was then held to become a knight influenced his conduct. Although the early glories of his reign were greeted with applause, he never won the love of his people ; they groaned under the ef- fects of his extravagance, and fled at his coming lest his officers should seize their goods. His commercial policy was enlightened, and has won him the title of the " father of English commerce" but it was mainly inspired by selfish motives, and he never scrupled to sacrifice the interests of the English merchants, to ob- tain a supply of money or secure an ally. In foreign politics he showed genius ; his alliances were well devised and skilfully obtained, but he seems to have ex- pected more from his allies than they were likely to do for him, for England still stood so far apart from continental affairs, that her alliance was not of much practical importance, except commercially. As a leader in war Edward could order a battle and inspire his army with his own confidence, but he could not plan a campaign ; he was rash, and left too much to chance. During the first part of his reign he paid much attention to naval administration ; he successfully asserted the maritime supremacy of the country, and was entitled by parliament
