earl that the duke would be in arms by the 18th of October; and wished him to land on the western coast of England, as near that day as might be, with such friends and soldiers as he could bring

over.

King Richard, however, was not the person to let his adversaries choose their own time for surprising him. He too had an agent in Bretagne, Dr. Hutton, whom he had sent there to observe the conduct of Henry the sixth's half-brother, the earl of Pembroke, as well as of the earl's nephew, Richmond; and to persuade the duke, if possible, to give them up to him. From Dr. Hutton the king heard enough to induce him to write a courteous letter to Buckingham; inviting him to return forthwith to the court, which was then moving into Lincolnshire. When this bait failed, he sent other letters, with reproaches and threats; to force the duke to declare himself. In the same prompt spirit, the king ordered his chancellor, the bishop of Lincoln, to send him the great seal of England, that he might give all his commands their full validity, instead of having to wait for their passing through any farther forms. It reached him at the Angel Inn, at Grantham; and he immediately issued a proclamation, declaring the duke a traitor, and summoning his subjects to attend him in arms.

Oct. 18.

When, therefore, the duke of Buckingham

set forward from Brecon, at the head of an army of Welshmen, he could not conceal from them, that the king was on the alert to oppose him. They heard too, that the Vaughan family were raising the country against them in their rear, by Richard's peremptory command. Whilst the swelling of the Severn cut off their communication in front, and prevented their receiving intelligence that the marquess of Dorset, having escaped from sanctuary, had joined sir Thomas St. Leger and the Courtneys in a simultaneous insurrection at Exeter; and that

BUCKINGHAM'S INSURRECTION AND DEATH. 25

other gentlemen had taken up arms at Newbury, Salisbury, and in the ever restless county of Kent.

The crimes of the duke of Buckingham were not to be so passed over, as to allow him to share the favours of a milder reign. The overflowing of the Severn increased to such an unusual height, that it was remembered in that country, long after, by the name of "Buckingham's flood." His Welsh followers had obeyed his call unwillingly; for his pride made him unloved. And when he was obliged to wait, day after day, for the subsiding of the waters, they shrunk away, at night, to their homes. Thus deserted, and without Morton at hand to advise him, for the bishop had gone off to his see at Ely, and soon crossed from thence to Flanders, the duke was driven to despair; and sought concealment in the house of Ralph Banaster, a former servant of his family. But he who had been false to his young sovereign, now found his own servant false to him. King Richard, who had tempted the duke by the prospect of a needless addition to his ample estates, to aid in ensnaring others to death, now seduced Banaster to betray his master, by the offer of 10007. for Buckingham's person. The man sent intelligence to Mitton, the sheriff of Shropshire; who, coming with a few followers, seized the duke in a grove near Banaster's house, and carried him prisoner to Shrewsbury. In the hopes of saving his own life, the duke betrayed the names and intentions of various noblemen and gentlemen, who had promised to co-operate with him. But from Shropshire he was hastily conveyed to Salisbury; to know how the king, who was already there, would have him dealt with. It was in vain that he besought to be admitted into Richard's presence, to plead his past services. The king ordered his head to be struck off in Nov. 2. the market-place.

From Salisbury Richard marched on to Exeter;

but the insurgents dispersed as he approached. The marquess of Dorset escaped in safety. But the duchess of Exeter, that unhappy sister of the king, whose first husband had been exiled, and perished miserably under her elder brother's reign, now saw her second husband, sir Thomas St. Leger, beheaded by another brother's command. Whilst, to punish others of his adversaries, the king appointed lord Scroop, vice-constable of England, with authority to pass sentences, from which there should be no appeal; farther desiring him to condemn those he thought guilty, without noise, or form of judgment.

Whilst these events were passing in England, Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, faithful to his appointment with Buckingham, had sailed from Oct. 13. soldiers; but, providentially, a strong wind dispersed his ships; so that approaching the English coast, off Poole, with but fifteen vessels, he felt himself too weak to attempt landing in the face of the troops, which he could perceive were collected on the shore. And when the English commander opened a communication with him, and pretended that he and his men had been sent by Buckingham to protect their landing, Henry reflected on the improbability of the duke's having already such a command of the country, and therefore resolved to bear off for the west. At Plymouth he heard of the dispersion of the duke's army; and putting immediately to sea again, he brought his fleet back safe into the harbour of Vannes, on the western coast of Bretagne; having eluded king Richard's admiral, by sailing out of the channel. At Vannes he was joined by the marquess of Dorset, and by Courtenay, bishop of Exeter, with several other English gentlemen. And on Christmas day they went in procession together, to the cathedral of the city, where the English swore to be faithful to

St. Malo, with a fleet of 40 sail and 5000

HENRY TUDOR, EARL OF RICHMOND.

27

Henry, as their king; whilst he took an oath, on his part, to marry the princess Elisabeth, as soon as he should have won the crown.

On the other hand, Richard sought to gain the hearty support of his subjects through the influence of a parliament, which he now called together. Its votes proved, that flagrant as his wickedness had been, there were numbers whom a slight temptation could induce to sanction his crimes. Neither the nobility, the prelates, nor the commons, urged any enquiry, as to what had befallen the young sovereign, whom they had so lately acknowledged for their rightful king. None made any difficulty of passing acts which declared Edward the Fourth's children illegitimate, and Richard the true heir to the throne; with especial compliments not only to the usurper's courage, but to his justice. Whilst they farther aided him, though not perhaps knowingly, to pay the wages of his nephews' murderer, by an act permitting Sir James Tyrrell to hold lands which his wife's father had forfeited.

Of the few other laws passed by this parliament, some were such as he had prudently devised for popular, and for reasonable approbation. Thus one forbade the extorting of any more benevolences. Another forbade the king's officers to seize the goods of persons charged with the suspicion of felony, till they should have been tried; and empowered the justices to take bail for their appearance, instead of shutting up every man in such hideous dungeons, as prisons then were, the moment any one chose to accuse him. Another act directed, that no person should be allowed to sit as juryman, who had not a freehold yielding such a clear rental, as would then have purchased six quarters of wheat, or a copyhold rental that would have purchased eight; because, said the preamble, of the untrue verdicts daily given "by persons of no substance, not dreading GOD, nor the world's shame."

Whilst another act was the first that the English legislature had the wisdom to pass, for the removal of some of those difficulties which former injudicious laws had thrown in the way of the great landed proprietors, when disposed to sell any portions of their inheritances. By facilitating and confirming such sales, it promoted the gradual breaking down of those immense estates, which had given a dangerous power to two or three noble families; and led to the rapid increase of that useful class of landowners, whose estates would be insufficient to maintain their family in the rank to which they belong, without careful attention to the management of their property.

If the parliament implicated itself in king Richard's guilt, by abetting his usurpation, instead of calling him, and every person who had acted under him, to a strict account for their treason against Edward V. the popish clergy were not more scrupulous. The convocation, from which, as a national council of the priesthood, the people should have heard the righteous law of GOD, went beyond those respectful forms of speech, that were due to his office, after it had been sanctioned by the civil authorities; and told him, that their observance of his "most noble and blessed disposition, in all other things," encouraged them to hope for his especial support in their privileges. Perhaps, however, he was proceeding so as to earn this praise in their real, though blind judgment, by spending money to purchase masses. For many of them had brought themselves to believe, that respect for the commands of the Romish church, and a desire to buy their prayers, were the chief part of religion; and that disobedience to the commands of GOD made little other difference than that of rendering it necessary to chaunt so many more masses, to get rid of the penalty affixed to each crime, as they thought, by heaven. And as the conscience of Richard had be