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with the prince whom he had seated on the throne. He had been sent to France to negotiate a marriage between Edward and the sister-in-law of Louis. During his absence it happened that the king was struck with the beauty of Elizabeth Woodville, lady Grey; and finding her virtue proof against his solicitations, at once made her his queen, regardless of the slight which would thus be put upon Warwick. The estrangement thus occasioned was increased when the king heaped titles and offices on the relatives of the queen; and he was himself deeply offended at the marriage of the Duke of Clarence with one of the earl's daughters. After a time both Clarence and Warwick were forced to fly the kingdom, and a reconciliation took place between them and Queen Margaret, cemented by the marriage of Prince Edward her son with Warwick's youngest daughter. Assisted by King Louis, the earl on his return to England was joined by vast numbers, and took his measures so ably, that Edward in his turn was forced to withdraw to Flanders; while Henry was brought from the Tower, and walked in procession with the crown upon his head to St. Paul's. From this time Warwick obtained from the people the title of King-maker. Nothing could seem more desperate than the prospects of Edward; but one of the remarkable features in these wars is the suddenness with which the scene so often changed; and so it was in this instance. Edward landed with a few followers at Ravensburgh, where Bolingbroke had landed about seventy years before; and, like him, professed that he came only to claim his inheritance. The city of York opened its gates to him: he was rejoined by the fickle Clarence; and having been received in London, he there possessed himself again of Henry's person, and resumed the royal title. He then advanced to meet Warwick at Barnet, in Hertfordshire, where a battle took place on Easter-day (1471), in which Warwick fell, and Edward was completely victorious. This was soon followed by another with the same result at Tewkesbury against Margaret, who had received the news of the battle of Barnet on her landing. She was taken prisoner, together with her son, whose name was Edward. The prince, being asked by the king what had brought him to England, replied, "I came to recover my father's kingdom."

The

king struck him in the face with his gauntlet, and the noble youth was killed by the swords of Clarence and Gloucester, the Lord Hastings, and others.

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The remainder of Edward's reign was little more than a course of cruelty and licentiousness. Margaret was ran somed by the King of France, but Henry was put to death in the Tower (as was supposed) by the Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded also in awakening suspicions in Edward's mind against Clarence, which led to the untimely end of that prince.

He had for some time been greatly estranged from the king, and his feelings were kindled into a flame by an act which shows Edward's recklessness and cruelty. He was hunting in the park of one Thomas Burdett, a friend of the Duke of Clarence, and out of spite to his brother he killed a favourite white hind belonging to this gentleman. Burdett, in his natural passion, exclaimed that he wished the horns of the deer were in the belly of the man who advised the king to this insult. For this speech he was tried, for his life,, and hanged at Tyburn. Clarence went boldly to the council, and so provoked the king by declaring this sentence unjust, that he was arrested and sent to the Tower. It is also said, that Edward's fears had been raised by a ridiculous prophecy, that the name of his successor should begin with a G, which was applied to George, duke of Clarence. (The event, as we shall see, showed that it was more applicable to Gloucester.) Being condemned to death on a charge of treason, the duke was secretly put to death in the Tower; and an idea got abroad that he was drowned in a butt of malmsey.

Edward allied himself with his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, against Louis XI.; and on one occasion led an army into France. He gained, however, little credit by this expedition, and concluded a separate peace with Louis. In the year 1476, Charles was routed and slain by the Swiss at the battle of Nanci.

The dissipated habits of Edward were doubtless fatal to his health, and he died (1483) in the forty-second year of his age; leaving two sons, Edward, prince of Wales, and Richard, duke of York, and five daughters.

It is worth mentioning that to this reign, unfavourable as it seemed to be to every thing except matters connected

with war, we trace the introduction of the art of printing into England. William Caxton, a citizen and mercer of London, was attracted, while on business in Germany, by the fame of the then new invention. He made himself ac quainted with it there, and, after some practice, returned home to England in 1471, and set up a printing-press in the Abbot's House, at Westminster. The first work printed in this country was one on the Art of Chess.

CHAPTER XXII.

EDWARD V.

Born in the Sanctuary at Westminster. Buried (it is believed) in the Chapel of the Tower. Reigned from April 9, a.d. 1483, to June 26, in the same year.

Archbishop of Canterbury.

Thomas Bourchier, A.D. 1454-1486.

THE new king, who was only in his thirteenth year when his father died, was at Ludlow, under the care of his uncle, Lord Rivers. Being sent for to London, he was escorted by that lord; and on his way was met by the Duke of Gloucester. The duke professed much loyalty to his nephew, but arrested Rivers, and Lord Grey, a son of Edward's queen by her first husband.* On hearing of this arrest, the queen took sanctuary at Westminster, with the Duke of York (her son), and her five daughters. The king was conducted to the Tower, and Gloucester was declared Protector. It was plainly his purpose to seize the crown; and finding that the attachment of Hastings to the late king was in his way, he resolved to remove him. Entering the council-chamber, he bared his arm, which had a natural defect, and exclaimed, "See how that sorceress, my brother's wife, with Shore's wife, and others, have withered my arm." Shore's wife had been led astray by Edward, and was then living with Hastings. "If," said Hastings, "they have done this, they should be punished as traitors." Do you answer me," cried Gloucester, with ifs and ands, as if I charged them falsely? I tell you they have done it, and

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thou hast joined with them in the villany." He then arrested Hastings, and desired him to make short shrift, for ne would not dine till his head was struck off. Hastings was hurried out to the little green in front of the Tower Chapel, and beheaded on a log of wood. On the same day Lord Rivers and his friends were beheaded at Pontefract.

Richard then demanded that the Duke of York should be given up by his mother. The unhappy queen gave him a last embrace, and burst into tears as he left her. He was taken to Edward in the Tower, who showed great delight in having his brother restored to him.

Having thus the princes in his power, Gloucester took means to persuade the people that they were not legitimate, on the plea that Edward IV. was already married to Eleanor Talbot, widow of Lord Butler, before he espoused their mother, Elizabeth Woodville. As for the son of George, duke of Clarence, it was maintained that his father's attainder disabled him from ascending the throne. In all his plans, Gloucester was assisted by Henry, duke of Buckingham, and a scene was got up, in which he was requested by the lord mayor to take possession of the throne. After a well-feigned reluctance, he assented to the proposal, and was crowned, together with his wife, just three months after his brother's death. That lady was Anne of Neville, the widow of Edward of Lancaster, in whose slaughter Richard had assisted. They had one son, who was now created Prince of Wales.

CHAPTER XXIII.

RICHARD III. (CROOK-BACK.)

Born at Fotheringay. Buried at Leicester. Reigned 2 years. From A.D. 1483 to A.D. 1485.

Archbishop of Canterbury.

Thomas Bourchier, A.D. 1454-1486.

RICHARD SOON filled up the measure of his guilt by the murder of his nephews. They were smothered in their sleep, by Sir James Tyrrel and three other ruffians. The = king had scarcely gained the crown by these unequalled [H. s. 1.]

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crimes, when a plot was formed to deprive him of it; at the head of which was the very Duke of Buckingham who had helped him to seize it, and who seems to have been dissatisfied with the reward of his treason. He was himself a descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, one of the younger sons of Edward III., and might have shown some title to the crown on his own account. The plan, however, by which he hoped to avenge himself on Richard was, to unite the houses of Lancaster and York by the marriage of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, with Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. Henry, who was residing at the court of Bretagne, was descended from John of Gaunt, by his mother, the Lady Margaret Beaufort; at this time the wife of Lord Stanley, her third husband. He was the las surviving prince of the line of Lancaster; and though th title of the Beaufort family was very questionable, Henr was looked upon as the representative of the Lancastria claim.

The first result of this plot was disastrous. Henry saile from St. Malo, and was driven back by tempests. A gre flood in the Severn, which lasted for ten days, dispersed th forces of his supporter, Buckingham, who was soon aft betrayed by an old servant with whom he had taken refug and seized and beheaded at Salisbury.

The next attempt of Henry was more successful : landed at Milford Haven, and having marched into the hea of the kingdom, was met by Richard near Bosworth, Leicestershire. A battle took place, in which Lord Stanl went over to his son-in-law; and Richard seeing that was lost rushed into the thickest of the fight, and was slai His crown was carried to the Earl of Richmond, who w saluted in the field by the title of Henry VII."

Richard possessed his ill-gotten crown little more tha two years, during which he lost his son, and is thought have hastened the death of his wife, with a view to unit himself to his niece, Elizabeth of York. From some defec in one of his shoulders, he was commonly called Crook

8 The Act of A.D. 1389, for the legitimation of John of Gaunt's chil dren by Katharine Swynford, contained a proviso that no right to the crown should be obtained under it.

The body of Richard, having been stripped, was thrown across a horse, and buried at Leicester.

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