been foremost in it, and sent men on whom he could rely to occupy the town. He also despatched a squadron of eleven ships to join the Burgundians.*

An Easterling captain, Hans Voetken by name, distinguished himself during this season by extricating himself from a superior force of Warwick's ships; sinking some, and bearing away others as prizes. In a subsequent action with a fleet of Hollanders freighted with salt from Bretagne, the English lost fourteen ships, and the Hollanders threw their prisoners into the sea; for which barbarity reprisals were made soon afterwards, when eight vessels belonging to the Low Countries fell into the hands of Warwick's people.† Vaucler, who, while he openly adhered to one party, maintained a secret intelligence with the other, anxiously calculated the probabilities of success on either side, and thought them so doubtful, that he desired rather to see the dispute settled by negotiation than by arms. When Comines from time to time urged him to send away from Calais some twenty or thirty servants of Warwick, as dangerous persons, he promised so to do, and continually delayed doing it; till at length, when it was known that Warwick's preparations for returning to England, and there trying his fortunes, were complete, he told Comines, the best advice which could be offered to the duke his master, if he wished to continue in alliance with England, was, to take the opportunity that now presented itself, and forward the proposals for peace which had arrived from king Edward. He had been deceived by the female agent, whom that king, under this pretext, had employed to bring about the defection of his brother Clarence.+

The fleet which Charles the Bold had sent out was stronger than the combined forces of Warwick and the * Oude Chronijcke van Holland, 491, 492. + Sueyro, 479. 481.

Comines, 151. This most amusing writer prides himself not a little upon his knowledge of these intrigues, being the first which he had ever an opportunity of understanding. "De ces secrètes habilitez ou tromperies," he says, "qui se sont faites en nos contrées de deça, n'entendrez vous plus véritablement de nulle autre personne, au moins de celles qui sont advenues depuis vingt ans." - P. 152.

French king; and it lay off the mouth of the Seine, ready to attack them if they should venture forth. The letters which Warwick received from England assured him, that "almost all men were in harness, looking for his landing daily and hourly, sore wishing his arrival:" he was required to “make haste, yea more than haste, although he brought no succour with him ;" and he was assured that thousands would join him as soon as he should land. All this was the offer of the common people; besides which, the chiefs of the Lancastrian party undertook to adventure themselves, and all that they possessed, in the cause. Thus encouraged, the earl determined not to wait till queen Margaret and her son could accompany him, but to set forth at once with that part of the armament which was ready. "See," says the chronicler, "the work of God!" he had determined upon putting to sea at all hazards, and the night before the purpose should have been executed, a storm arose, and drove off the duke's fleet; some were lost, some driven to Scotland, some to Holland: Van Borselen with the admiral's ship got to the Isle of Walcheren. When the storm

hostile fleet, the

had thus cleared the Channel of this wind became favourable for Warwick, and he and his company arrived without opposition on the Devonshire coast, part landing at Dartmouth, part at Plymouth." "Uncredible it was," says Speed, "to see the confluence of them which came armed to him, who erewhile applauded and approved none but king Edward." The duke of Burgundy had warned the king not only of Warwick's preparations, and of his strength, but of the course which he intended to steer, and the point where it was his purpose to land. Edward, however, took no measures either to prevent the earl from landing, or for giving him battle before he could collect his strength, but pursued his accustomed sports, in disregard of all danger; and when the earl, "fully furnished on every side with his kindred and friends, took his way toward London, where he expected to find more open friends than privy enemies," Edward, even when informed " of

the great repair of people that to him incessantly, without intermission, did resort," still relied confidently upon his own fortunes and the strength of his house, and wrote to Burgundy, requesting him only to have a vigilant eye to the sea, that Warwick might not again effect his escape to France.

66

to

But his summons was not so readily obeyed as the great king-maker's. "Of those that he sent for, few came, and yet more came than were willing, and more came willingly than were betrusted." He soon discovered that London was no safe place for him, and repaired towards Nottingham, from thence to act as might seem best; but when Warwick's brother, marquis Montacute, who had got together some 6000 men in Edward's name, instead of joining him there, revolted, it seemed as if the whole nation were declaring against him. As soon as this defection was divulged among the multitude," it was a world," says the chronicler, see the face of this new world,;" for "all the town, and all the country adjacent, was in a great roar; in every street bonfires were made; in every church the bells rung, and songs were sung at every meeting; and every man cried king Henry! king Henry! and the echo likewise redoubled a Warwick! a Warwick!" Then, indeed, Edward was much abashed; and when his espials assured him that all the realm was up, in obedience to a proclamation requiring them to make war upon him in king Henry's name, as a public enemy, he listened to the entreaties of his near friends, that he should fly over sea to his brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy, and there tarry till God and fortune should send him better chance. There was little time for deliberation; some of Warwick's power being within less than half a day's journey of him; so, "with all haste possible, and more jeopardy than it beseemed a prince to be in," he passed the Wash, and came to Lynn, where he found an English ship and two hulks of Holland ready to make sail. And "being in a marvellous agony, and doubting the mutability of the townsmen, he went on board

EDWARD ESCAPES BY SEA.

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with his brother Gloucester, the lord Scales, and other his trusty friends, without bag or baggage, without clothsack or mail, and, perchance, says Hall, with a great purse and little treasure, for he nor his had no leisure to provide according to their degrees and estates. Hastings, the lord chamberlain, was the last who embarked, having first exhorted those who of necessity were left behind, that they should openly show themselves as friends to the adverse party, for their own safeguard, but continue true in their hearts to king Edward; a lesson which might have been spared, for upon that principle high and low acted on both sides, when occasion called for such dissimulation.

About 300 persons * took flight with him in these vessels; "having no furniture of apparel, or other necessary things with them, saving apparel for war, and not knowing whither they were bound, so it were only to some port within the duke of Burgundy's dominions." It was now Edward's fortune to have some little experience of the evils which the dispute with the Easterlings brought on while Warwick was high-admiral, occasioned to his seafaring subjects. Some seven or eight of their gallant ships were at that time cruising in those seas: they espied him, and gave him chase. They were at war both with France and England, and had cruised that season with great success, so as to make themselves much dreaded* by the English. Happily for Edward, the vessel in which he had embarked was a good sailer, and he was nearer the Dutch coast than the enemy when they got sight of him, and, running into the Texel, cast anchor near what was then the harbour of the town of Alkmaer. They could not enter during the ebb. The Easterlings held on in pursuit, and approached as near as their great ships could come at low water, meaning at the flood to take possession of their prey. It happened, however, that

* Comines, and the English chroniclers after him, say from 700 to 800. I follow the Dutch chronicle, as giving a more likely statement, and as in this point better authority.

"Estoient fort crainte des Anglois, et non sans cause, car ils sont bons combattans, et leur avoient porté grand dommage cette année la, et pris plusieurs navires.” — Comines, 157.

the lord Lodewyk van Gruythuysen, then stadthouder of Holland, Friesland, and Zeeland, was at that time in Alkmaer; and he having, by his prompt protection, saved the king from captivity, received him as became his rank, and taking him first to visit the relics of St. Adalbert and other English saints at the abbey of Egmont, escorted him through Haarlem, Noordwyck, and Leyden to the Hague.*

One of Warwick's first acts, after he found himself master of the kingdom, was to repay the sums with which the king of France had assisted him: but the ship, with his messengers and the money on board, was taken by the Easterlings, and they sent their prisoner and his papers to the duke of Burgundy, who by this means became fully informed of the plans which had been concerted for his destruction.† This prompt repayment, though the money had been intercepted, evinced the fidelity with which Warwick designed to fulfil his engagements; and Louis manifested a corresponding disposition, by giving orders that the nobles, clergy, and inhabitants of Paris should make processions in honour of God and the Virgin Mary, and continue them for three days, laying aside all other business whatsoever, in thanksgiving for the great victory which Henry of Lancaster, king of England, had obtained over the earl of March, who, by support of the duke of Burgundy, had for a long time usurped his throne; and also in thanksgiving for the happy peace and good understanding that now subsisted between himself and the king of England. Processions on this occasion were performed in all the principal towns of France. The great object of Louis XI. was to make England subservient to his policy, and by its aid to gratify his hatred of Charles the Bold, and accomplish his views of aggrandisement at that enemy's expense. But the assertion that Burgundy had been the support of the house

Chronijcke van Holland, 492. Comines, 157-160. Hall, 284. Holinshed, 297. + Chronijcke van Holland, 492.

Continuation of Monstrelet, xi. 106.