than those of any other country in Europe; at least, if we may believe Philip de Comines, a French writer, who wrote the memoirs of his own times, (which are the times we are now speaking of,) and who says: "In my opinion, of all the states in the world that I have seen, England is the country where the commonwealth is best governed, and the people least oppressed."

During the civil wars, the sufferings of many thousands of individuals, must doubtless have been very great: but the laws and constitution remained unchanged: and the cause of freedom having once taken root, strengthened by degrees, till the liberty of the people, the power of the nobles, and the dignity of the crown, became at length happily balanced.

The progress of the British navy is an important cause of the national power and prosperity. Henry IV., who was in many respects a politic ruler, strengthened his navy, and checked the depredations of the privateers, who had become so troublesome, since the time of Edward the Third, as greatly to impede the commerce of England. His son, Henry V., was as victorious by sea as by land; and while he and the duke of Bedford lived, England maintained the dominion of the narrow seas. Then Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, for a while, kept up the honor of the English navy.

During the long wars of York and Lancaster the navy declined; but again revived under Edward the Fourth, who not only was an encourager of commerce, but was also a sort of merchant himself; for he had many trading vessels of his own. In his reign the fisheries also began to be much attended to, so that, about this period, many different kinds of ships were employed.

Did the civil wars overthrow the laws of England?

Did the English navy flourish under the Lancastrian kings?

During the civil wars and in the reign of Edward IV., what was the prosperity of naval affairs and commerce in England?

THE EARL OF SALISBURY,

Who was killed at the siege of Orleans, 1428.

Edward was scarcely nineteen years old, when he found himself, almost beyond his own expectations, thus suddenly placed upon the throne. He was brave, active, and enterprising, with a capacity far beyond his years, and was exceedingly handsome. But these attractive and brilliant qualities were blackened by the worst vices. In peace he revelled in every kind of self-indulgence, and in war, was sanguinary beyond all who had gone before him. He told Comines, a writer of that time, that he had been in nine battles, in eight of which he fought on foot, and had never once been defeated.

The first battle which was fought after he became king was at Towton, a village between Ferry-bridge and Tad

What was the character of Edward IV. ?

Was the Lancastrian contest continued, and what oocurred near Tadcaster?

caster. Never did two mighty armies encounter each other with more inveterate hatred; and the orders of the commanders on each side were to take no prisoners, and give no quarter. The battle lasted from early in the morning till late in the evening, and was one of the most bloody. ever fought in Britain.

The snow fell thickly, but the Yorkists had their backs to the storm, while the Lancastrians, who faced it, were greatly incommoded by it. The latter, after a desperate struggle, at length gave way, and, flying from the field, were pursued with great slaughter. When the news of this defeat reached York, Henry and his family, who were there waiting the result, fled with the utmost precipitation to Scotland.

A parliament, which was now summoned to settle the government, confirmed Edward's title to the throne. The new king satiated his revengeful temper by many bloody executions, and every Lancastrian who fell into his hands was condemned as a traitor. To strengthen his own party, he conferred honors and titles on all his friends. Indeed it was doubly expedient for him to make new peers, since the late exterminating wars, and the executions which had been made by his own order, had greatly reduced the numbers of the nobility. He created his brother George, duke of Clarence, and his brother Richard, duke of Glou

cester.

In the meantime queen Margaret made two voyages to France, in hopes of obtaining aid from thence. At length Louis the Eleventh, who had succeeded his father Charles VII. in 1460, supplied her with a small body of troops, on condition that she should give Calais up to him, if she ever regained the crown of England. With these troops she advanced from Scotland, and took the castles of Alnwick and Bamborough, in Northumberland. But her success was of short duration.

Lord Montacute, brother of the earl of Warwick, gained a victory over Margaret at Hedgeley Moor, April 25th,

What was the result of the battle of Towton?

Did Edward consult parliament, and how did he administer govern

ment.

How did queen Margaret proceed?

1464: and three weeks afterwards he gained another at Hexham, which was so decisive that Henry was only saved by the swiftness of his horse from being made prisoner. The queen and her son sought to conceal themselves in a wood; but there, losing their way, they fell amongst a gang of robbers, who took from them every thing they had that was valuable. The robbers then luckily began to quarrel about the division of the plunder, which gave Margaret and the prince an opportunity of escaping from them,

As they were wandering about bewildered in the wood, they encountered another robber. The queen, knowing that both flight and resistance were impossible, went boldly up to him, and presenting her son, said," Behold, my friend, the son of your king! I commit him to your protection:" which appeal so wrought upon the man, that he led them to a place of concealment, where they remained till the pursuit was over. He then conducted them to the seacoast, from whence they made their escape to France.

Henry, meanwhile, had fled into Lancashire, where he was with difficulty protected by his friends for more than a year, and where he suffered many hardships and privations in his wanderings from one place of concealment to another. In July, 1465, as he was at dinner at Waddington Hall, he was betrayed by a monk to sir James Harrington, who conveyed him to London, and resigned him into the hands of his great enemy, the earl of Warwick.

Warwick treated him with the utmost indignity, and ty ing his feet in the stirrups, as if he had been a criminal, compelled him to ride in that manner three times round the pillory, while the populace were by proclamation forbidden to show him any marks of respect or compassion.

The extreme savageness of this treatment, serves to show the inhumanity of the age-a great nobleman could inflict it without self-reproach; and a civilized people could witness these indignities offered to a man, and a king,

What became of Henry VI., and his queen after the battle of Hexham ?

What presence of mind was exhibited by Margaret, and whither did she escape?

What happened to king Henry?

How did Warwick treat his prisoner ?

What is shown by the indignities put upon Henry VI,?

without displeasure. Mankind are better now. Henry was committed to the Tower.

The Lancastrians were now reduced to so much distress, that many of the most distinguished nobles of that party were absolutely begging their bread in foreign lands, while the Yorkists were revelling in their forfeited estates. These estates were bestowed so as to create the most superfluous wealth to the new proprietors, while the rightful possessors were suffering in want-one among many instances of the miseries inflicted by arbitrary princes.

Edward enriched his two brothers with many of these estates. The earl of Warwick had also a very large grant. This nobleman inherited great estates from his ancestors, and had married the heiress of the old Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, so that he became the richest subject in the kingdom. On his different estates he maintained 30,000 people, a number which must be considered the more extraordinary, as the whole kingdom did not, probably, at this time, contain much more than 2,300,000 souls, not the fifth part of its present inhabitants.

Edward indulged himself in all the luxuries and pleasures to which his disposition strongly inclined him. Sometime before, he had become attached to Elizabeth Wydville, the widow of sir John Grey, by whom she had two sons. Edward privately married this lady, though he did not at first venture to declare his marriage. The court was soon filled by the new queen's relations. Her father was created lord Rivers. Her three brothers and five sisters were all raised to the rank of nobility, and married into the greatest families, and her eldest son was married to the king's niece, daughter of the duke of Exeter.

The earl of Warwick who had been de A. D. 1469. sirous to connect the king with some pow erful foreign family, was exceedingly indignant at his impolitic marriage, and could with difficulty conceal his dislike of the queen and all her relations. The king's two

What was the condition of the two parties of York and Lancaster? What instance is given of the wealth bestowed by Edward on his favorites?

Whom did the king marry, and how did he favor the queen's rela tions?

With whom did Warwick conspire against the king?