Ten atrocious crimes are laid to Richard's charge -the murder of Prince Edward, of Henry, and of Clarence; the execution of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan; the murder of the two princes in the Tower; and, finally, the murder of his own queen and cousin, the Lady Anne Neville, whom he had wedded in his twentieth year.

The strong party that existed against him after the murder of the children proposed a union of the Houses of York and Lancaster, by a marriage between Henry, Earl of Richmond, and Elizabeth of York. Henry was the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt, through his mother, Margaret Beaufort; and Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of the late King Edward IV. : and this union boded evil to the usurper, around whose throne the clouds were lowering. His gold was spent, his power was tottering, and the fidelity of his adherents was beginning to fail, when news came that Harry of Richmond had unfurled his banner against him.

The earl set sail from Harfleur, in Normandy, with a small force, only 2,000 strong, furnished by the King of France; and Philip de Comines, the quaint old "Lord of Argenton,” says that he never saw troops more wretched than those designed to change the dynasty of England. After six days sailing, they landed on the 6th of August, without opposition, at Milford Haven, in Wales, where Richmond, who hoped the people would regard him as a countryman, expected many to join his standard.

Richard III., who knew not in what quarter to expect the invader, had established his headquarters at Nottingham, the centre of England, with the intention of marching at once to the point of danger. Sir Rice Ap Thomas and Sir Walter Herbert, to whom he had entrusted the care of Wales, proved faithless to him. The latter made little or no opposition to Richmond, and the former openly joined him, with many men of Wales, on which, says Hall, he was promised the chief governorship of that principality. Thus reinforced, the earl marched to Shrewsbury, where Sir Gilbert Talbot, with his ward, the young earl of that title, joined him with 2,000 men, vassals and retainers of the house of Talbot.

In the vanity of his power, Richard had deemed the landing of Richmond a species of bravado, a rash attempt which he should easily crush; but when he heard that Herbert had suffered him to pass, that Thomas had joined him, and that all Wales was in his interest, he saw the necessity of

the usurper, that scarcely a noble or man of distinction was sincerely attached to his interests except the Duke of Norfolk. All who feigned the most loyalty were only waiting a safe opportunity to betray or desert him for ever. The persons of whom he entertained the greatest suspicion were the Lord Stanley and his brother, Sir William. Thus, when he empowered the former to levy troops for him, he retained his eldest son, the Lord Strange, as a hostage for his fidelity. Stanley raised a great body of men in Lancashire and Cheshire, but without openly declaring his political views; and though Henry of Richmond had received secret assurances of his friendly intentions, he knew not what to infer from his equivocal behaviour.

The two rivals at last drew near each other at Market Bosworth, not far from the town of Leicester.

A quaint gable-ended edifice, with its upper story projecting on beams of timber over the Northgate Street, was long pointed out as being the house in which Richard spent "one or more nights" before the battle of Bosworth. It was locally known as the "Blue Boar," or "King Richard III.'s Inn," and overhanging windows admitted the light into the room where he is said to have had a ter rible dream on a night before the battle; "for it seemed to him," says Holinshed, "that he did see divers images like terrible devils, which pulled and haled him, not suffering him to take any quiet or rest. The which strange vision not so suddenly strake his heart with a sudden fear, but it stuffed his head and troubled his mind with many busy and dreadful imaginations. And lest it might be suspected that he was abashed for fear of his enemies, and for that cause looked so piteously, he recited and declared to his familiar friends in the morning his wonderful vision and fearful dream."

In the corporation records of Leicester, there is still preserved a story curiously illustrative of the darkness and precaution of Richard's character. Among his camp baggage it was his custom to carry a cumbersome wooden bedstead, which he averred was the only couch he could sleep in; but in which he contrived to have a secret receptacle for treasure, so that it was concealed under a weight of timber. After Bosworth Field the troops of Henry pillaged Leicester; but the royal bed was neglected by every plunderer as useless lumber. The owner of the house afterwards discovering the hoard, became suddenly rich, without any visible cause. He bought land, and at length became

Bosworth.]

Mayor of Leicester. Many years afterwards his widow, who had been left in great affluence, was assassinated by her servant, who had been privy to the affair; and at the trial of this culprit and her accomplices the whole transaction came to light. Concerning this bed, a public print of 1830 states that, “about half a century since, the relic was purchased by a furniture-broker in Leicester, who slept in it for many years, and showed it to the curious; it continues in as good condition, apparently, as when used by King Richard, being formed of oak, and having a high polish. The daughter of the broker having married one Babington, of Rothley, near Leicester, the bedstead was removed to Babington's house, where it is still preserved."

On the 22nd of August, 1485, the armies of Richard and of the future Henry VII. appeared in order of battle on the plain then called Redmore, three miles from Bosworth and eleven from Leicester. The site of the battle and most of the surrounding country was then unenclosed. It is undulating, and was then probably scrubby heath.

On Richard's left was Stoke Golden, with its church; and on his right and in front lay Sutton Cheney, with its church. The town of Bosworth was on Henry's left, a morass was on his right, and Shanton lay in his rear. A little stream, oddly called the Tweed, half encircled the position of both. When Richard marshalled his army at Nottingham, in the market-place, on the 16th of August, it was 12,000 strong. He moved them next day to Leicester, though twenty-five miles distant, choosing rather to rest after a fatiguing march than to fight after an easy one. Their order of march, says Hutton, was five abreast, and Richard was gorgeously dressed, upon a white courser ("White Surrey?"), richly caparisoned, and attended by his body-guards. On the day of the battle he appeared in the same suit of armour he wore at Tewkesbury; perhaps the same which is now preserved in the Tower of London.

157 linen-cloth doublets, the latter generally white, with St. George's Cross on them, with long hose, were the general dress of archers, bill-men, and ghisarmiers; and their head-piece was a round pot-helmet or skull-cap of iron.

The banner of Henry's army was of yellow tiretaine (a mixture of linen and woollen stuff), whereon was painted a dun cow.

Richard's camp was the most extensive, and, with the breastwork around it, covered eighteen acres. Henry's covered seven. He had his 2,000 French, 2,000 men that were brought by Talbot, and with those that had joined him under Griffith, Morgan, Ap Thomas, Hungerford, Bouchier, Byron, Digby, Hardwick, and others, his force could not have been less than 7,000 men. Lord Stanley had 5,000 in the field, Sir William Stanley 3,000. These two last leaders, with their 8,000 men, were hovering about the field at a little distance, to the great perplexity of both armies, as it was not quite apparent which they meant to join. They were simply waiting the issue.

Sir Simon Digby, having penetrated into Richard's camp at night, at the utmost peril of his life, brought Henry word at daybreak that he was preparing for battle. Instantly on this his trumpets sounded "To arms!" This was at four in the morning; but so much preparation was necessary in those days of ponderous accoutrements, that Henry's forces were not engaged till ten.

Richard marched out first, and left his tents standing. His first line was led by Richard Howard, Duke of Norfolk, a faithful veteran, assisted by his son, Thomas, Earl of Surrey; the second line he led in person, conspicuous by the royal crown upon his helmet. On the right of this line was a large body, under Henry, Earl of Northumberland.

the 2,000 French auxiliaries, under Bernard, a Scottish captain of Free Lances. In both armies the order of battle was nearly the same. The archers of each were in front, the bill-men in the rear, the horse upon the wings.

Hutton records that Richard was rather smallabout five feet four in stature. Henry was in his twenty-seventh year, and measured five feet nine:

he was slender in form, of a saturnine countenance, with yellow hair and grey eyes. Richard was brave, and well versed in war; Henry was a coward, but had the best leaders. While Lord Stanley was forming his men, the former, who was by no means satisfied with his mysterious conduct, sent to him Sir Robert Brakenbury, with the dreadful message, "My lord, the king salutes you. He commands your immediate attendance, with all your forces, or your son, the Lord Strange, dies instantly!"

blew the march of death, and all moved into the plain."

The two first lines shot their arrows thick and fast, and then closed together in the shock of battle, with axe and sword, maul and ghisarma. Henry's army fought with spirit and valour, knowing that they must conquer or die, for if the field was lost a merciless fate awaited the survivors; while the troops of Richard were cold in his cause, and forced into his service.

Struck with horror though he was, Stanley replied, "Should the king stain his honour with my son's blood, tell him I have more. I shall come at my convenience."

Giving up his hostage son for lost, he dispatched a Knight of the Bath, Sir Reginald Bray, to press Henry to advance with all speed. In the meantime, his answer so enraged the tyrant that the latter exclaimed, ""Tis a false pretence. He is a traitor, and the boy dies!" The block was brought out, and Catesby was ordered to see the youth beheaded, when Lord Ferrars, of Chartley, K.G., interposed and saved him. Richard "revoked the order, nor had he further time, for Henry now unfurled his banners, his trumpets

The Earl of Oxford formed his ranks closer and more dense. In this battle were Sir John Byron and Sir Gervase Clifton, K.B., the latter of whom had been knighted by Richard at his coronation. They were intimate friends and neighbours, both being of Nottinghamshire; but, by the fatality of the times and variety of interests, Byron fought under the banner of Henry, while Clifton served Richard. They had mutually registered a solemn vow that, if either of them was taken or should happen to fall, the survivor was to intercede with the victor for his family. In the shock of the first lines, Clifton was unhorsed and struck down. Byron saw him fall, and rushed forward to guard him with his shield, and asked him to surrender.

In the battles of those days there was not the majesty of sound produced by the thunder of a powerful artillery, nor the rattling fire of masses of infantry, but only the tardy din of a few small guns. "Instead, there were the loud war-cries of the combatants, with the counterbalancing advantage of the absence of smoke, so as not to impede the

defection, cast his eyes around the field, and, descrying his rival at no great distance, drew against him with fury." As they had never seen each other, this is barely probable. Hutton and others tell us that at half-past eleven, after the battle had raged for an hour and half, a scout informed Richard that at that particular moment Henry was posted behind an eminence, with but few attendants.