QUEEN ISABELLA OF VALOIS AT SONNING. 1399 to 1400. There is one circumstance, which connects Sonning in a slight manner with the history of England, and that is the fact of Isabella, the young queen of Richard the 2nd, being kept a State prisoner there, at the Bishop of Salisbury's manor house, during the period between the deposition and the death of that unfortunate monarch. She was living there from the autumn of 1399 to the spring of 1400. Some interesting thoughts gather round this fact to those who care for Sonning and its history, to which we wish now to call your attention. But first, as some who read this may have forgotten, and others may never have known, the history of Isabella of Valois, the infant queen of Richard II., a slight sketch of her will probably be acceptable. Richard the 2nd, on the death of his first wife, Anne of Bohemia, chose for her successor, Isabella, the eldest daughter of Charles the 6th of France, and his queen Isabella of Bavaria, a child of eight years old. The people of England saw with astonishment a princess of such tender years chosen to share the throne of a king of thirty. Richard himself, "when told that the lady was far too young, answered pleasantly, 'that every day would remedy the deficiency of age, and her youth was one of his reasons for preferring her, because he should educate her, and bring her up to his own mind, and to the manners and customs of the English, and that, as for himself, he was young enough to wait for her.'" Probably another and a stronger reason was that he thought time would mellow the passionate grief with which he mourned his lost wife, Anne of Bohemia; and he could not bear so soon to give her a successor near his own age. Whatever the reason was, it is certain that no representations would divert him from his intention of making little Isabella of Valois his queen. With a train of princes of the blood and nobles, he went to France to receive his little bride from the hands of her father and mother. The two kings met at St. Omer, and on All Saints' Day, 1396, Richard and Isabella were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the church of St. Nicholas at Calais. The young queen made her public entry into London on the 13th of November, when such a multitude of people went out to see her, that on London Bridge nine persons were crushed to death. The royal child was then taken to Windsor, where a household was formed for her becoming her state as queen consort of England, and where her education was carried on under the care of suitable people. The King behaved to her with such winning love and attention, that she retained a strong, affection for him, long after he was hurried to prison and the grave, and firmly refused all the overtures that were made to her after his death, to marry the Prince of Wales, the son of Henry the 4th. Richard was not so fortunate in securing the affections of his subjects as he was those of his little queen. His extravagancies caused discontent; a struggle began between him and the popular party concerning the supplies, which struggle ended in the insurrection that cost him his throne and his life. In May, 1399, King Richard went to Ireland to quell a rebellion there, consequent on the death of the Viceroy, the Earl of March, and on his way stayed some hours at Win Isor Castle, to bid his young queen farewell, who was then only 12 years old. This, as far as we know, was the last time he ever saw her How, on his return from Ireland, he was taken prisoner y his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry the 4th. and was carried to the Tower, and from thence to Pontefract Castle, where he was cruelly murdered, is well known. It was between his imprisonment in the Tower and his death, that Isabella was kept a State prisoner in the Bishop's house at Sonning. When the Earls of Salisbury, Huntingdon, and Kent revolted against Henry the 4th, aiter he was made king, they came to Sonning and gave the young Queen the false intelligence that King Richard had escaped from the Tower, and was then on the road to meet her at the head of a hundred thousand men. She believed them, and joyfully put herself at their disposal. They marched to Cirencester where the chiefs of the insurrection were betrayed by the Mayor, their forces were defeated, and they themselves were killed, and their heads sent to Henry. Isabella was taken strictly guarded to the Palace of Havering atte Bower, which appears to have been her place of residence until after her husband's murder, when she was sent back to France, having then only attained her 13th year. To be continued. BAPTISMS. ALL SAINTS' CHURCH. December 25th, John, son of James and Mary Ann Hawkins. December 25th, Sarah Ann, daughter of Charles and Ann Wilder. January 6th, Kate, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Hatton. SONNING CHURCH. January 1st, Walter Willy, son of William and Louisa Pope. SONNING CHURCH. MARRIAGES. January 14th, Charles William Barr, of Bedford New Town, St. Pancras, to Jane Taylor, of Sonning. January 15th, James Robinson, to Elizabeth Greenaway, both of this parish. January 17th, Isaac John Hill, of Sonning, to Ann Gardiner, of Windsor. SONNING CHURCH. BURIALS. December 25th,-George Tovey, aged 36. January 22nd,-Hannah Marcham, aged 65. Church Services during Lent. SONNING CHURCH. Sundays: 11 o'clock in the morning. 3 o'clock in the afternoon. half-past 6 o'clock in the evening. Wednesdays: 7 o'clock in the evening, with Sermon. Daily half-past 8 in the morning; half-past 5 in the evening. ALL SAINTS' CHURCH. Sundays: 11 o'clock in the morning; half-past 3 in the afternoon. Wednesdays: II o'clock in the morning. Thursdays: half-past 7 o'clock in the evening, with Sermon. COLLECTIONS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES IN SONNING CHURCH DURING 1870. ... ... January 2, for Curates' Augmentation Fund ... ... ... ... 9 12 10 O 31 12 12 15 ... 14 12 November 13, for Additional Curates' Society... ... Aug. 14, for Diocesan Spiritual Help Society (under Sept. 4 and 11, for Sick and Wounded in the War 12 O 848 £22 18 8 1. Subscriptions to be paid during the six summer months, beginning in May. 2. Subscriptions received at Woodley School on the first Monday of every month, at 4 o'clock. 3. The amount of the Subscriptions for each family must not be less than one shilling a month, but may be more. 4. Subscribers who have paid regularly, will receive, during the month of November, coals to the amount of their subscriptions, and two shillings worth of coals extra. 5. If any Subscriber has omitted one month's payment, he will only receive one shilling's worth of coals extra; if he has omitted two months, he will only receive to the amount of his subscription. The following are the days of payment for 1871 :-May 8, June 5, July 3, August 7, September 4, October 2. SALE. There will be a sale of children's clothes at the Woodley Schoolroom, on Thursday, March 16th, from 1 to 4 o'clock. Open to all in the parish. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL. It is proposed to send a box of clothes (old and new) to the Hospital for Sick Children, in April. Any contributions may be left at the Sonning Girls' School, or at Woodley School, during the month of March. Toys of any kind will be gladly welcomed. THE SCHOOLS (Continued). In our last paper, we described the satisfaction enjoyed by all concerned, at the completion and opening of the new building, called at that time," The Sunday School and School of Industry," and first used on the 27th December, 1835. We now proceed to state that one of the rooms, (that used by the Girls on Sundays,) was fitted up with desks for writing, and other new furniture required; and an assistant was engaged, to superintend the writing classes, and to teach needlework more carefully, to the girls, our good Schoolmistress being unequal to undertake the proposed additional instruction, owing to advancing years and impaired sight. She, however, was still in charge of the whole School, and managed the little boys entirely, who now chiefly carried on the straw work and knitting. We soon found the advantage of these new arrangements; the numbers attending the School increased, and the needlework became so good that our neighbours were glad to employ our girls in working for them. Thus they earned some three or four pounds annually, receiving by way of encouragement, half of the money for themselves. On Sundays, the numbers increased so much, that it became difficult to find seats for all the boys in Church; the girls filling nearly all the unoccupied space in the Chancel In School hours, the class room was especially useful, and the Sunday teaching was particularly pleasant and satisfactory to the voluntary teachers in consequence. No change of any importance, seems to have taken place, in any of the Schools in the parish, from this time till the year 1843, when our attention was turned to the condition of the Sonning Boys' School, which was, as before mentioned, too small even for the number of boys who were educated there, free of cost, on Sir Thomas Rich's foundation. It was proposed therefore to build a good sized room, on such a plan as to make a part of the old School form a class room, to be as before, connected with the master's house. There was no occasion, even had there been ample funds, to expend anything in this case on outward appearance, as the situation secluded the building from general view, and all we desired was a useful and spacious Schoolroom, in which all the boys within reach of it, who were above seven years of age, might be taught, thus relieving the Girls' School of their presence, and enabling us to do much better for both boys and |