ENGLISH HISTORY. EDWARD V. EDWARD IV. died in the midst of his days. Like the rich worldling in the parable, when he thought that he was in possession of much earthly good for many years, and had said to his soul, "Eat, drink, and be merry," the awful warning was sent him, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee;" and the anxious feeling came over his mind, Whose shall those things be that I have provided ? To him, if possessing any right feelings as a husband, a father, or a monarch, the anticipation must have been painful. The court was openly divided into factions, the queen, her children and relatives, would be left in a very trying position; exposed to the hatred of the king's brother, and many of the most powerful nobles. It is recorded, that in his last moments, Edward called together the leaders of the different parties, and earnestly besought them to live in peace and harmony, and to protect the queen and her children. But ambition and revenge, those hateful passions, render the soul deaf to all such appeals. The long course of foreign and civil warfare, with the numerous deeds of violence and blood, had hardened the feelings, and destroyed the principles of the people, especially of the higher ranks, and prepared the leaders to commit those uncommon atrocities of which they were shortly guilty. The nobles of that day may be described in the words of the prophet, "Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them." The leading nobility at that time were, 1. Earl Rivers, the queen's brother, one of the best of their number, his nephew Lord Grey, and the Marquis Dorset, with Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir William Stanley: these had the charge of the young king, then in his thirteenth year, and held places of influence. 2. The nobles who held offices of state: these were several of the prelates, and lords Hastings, Stanley, and Lovel, who owed their rise to the late king. 3. The Dukes of Buckingham and Norfolk, who, with several others, were ambitious of power and place, and were quite disposed to support Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the late king's brother, whom he had appointed Protector. The adverse feelings of these three different D D classes rendered the opportunity for | relatives disposed him to be pleased unprincipled ambition peculiarly favourable. Richard was tempted to crime, and he rapidly, though, perhaps, by degrees, pressed forward in a course of guilt. Another contest was about to begin, a contest likely to be long and deep, unless the rivals of one side were destroyed by the prompt measures of the other. At the time of his father's death, the young king was at Ludlow, and Gloucester was on the borders of Scotland. On receiving intelligence of his brother's death, Richard immediately took measures to secure his nephew's quiet accession; and in this he seems to have acted with loyalty and good faith. The council at London resolved that the young king should be brought to the capital without delay. The jealousy of Hastings against the queen's relations caused Lord Rivers to advance with only a limited force. Buckingham and Glou- | cester, with their followers, met Rivers, at Northampton; but the latter had sent the king to Stoney Stratford, on his way to London, evidently desiring to keep the nobles from having access to their youthful monarch. After a friendly conference, the parties feasted together, but when Rivers had retired to rest, the dukes spent great part of the night in private consultation with their principal supporters. The sending forward the young king, and other measures taken by the queen's party, showed a determination to hold the power, if possible, in their own hands. The situation of Gloucester was doubtless critical, and required some precautions, but the determination to anticipate violence by violence, showed a want of principle, and a feeling directly contrary to the precepts of Christianity. The plan once formed was promptly executed. Early in the morning Rivers was made prisoner, and the dukes hastened to Stoney Stratford, where they seized Grey and Vaughan. All then returned to Northampton, from whence the three leaders of the queen's party were sent prisoners into Yorkshire. At midnight, the tidings of what had taken place reached London. The queen immediately hastened to take refuge once more in the sanctuary at Westminster with her daughters, and the Duke of York, her youngest son. Hastings, whose enmity to the queen's with what Gloucester had done, sent the Few would envy the possessors of royalty, if they duly considered the vicissitudes to which the throne is subject; but still fewer would desire that rank and state if they knew the daily cares and troubles to which kings and queens are subject. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places," is a description very applicable to the occupier of a throne. The king soon arrived in London, attended by Gloucester; the leading nobles and their partizans assembled there, and a busy scene of ambitious intrigue followed. The researches of subsequent historians have laid open the particulars, and throw much light on this momentous period; but we can only give a general statement here. Gloucester was now appointed Pro tector by the parliament, arrangements | About an hour afterwards he entered, were made for the coronation, and he and angrily demanded, what those deappears to have acted with all outward served who plotted his death. The demonstrations of loyalty. But his posi- council answered, that such ought to be tion was one of uncertainty and anxiety. accounted traitors. Gloucester then He had mortally offended the personal bared his left arm, and showing that it adherents of the king, and the chief was withered and smaller than the other; ecclesiastics in power were not friendly declared this was caused by the witchto him. Morton, Bishop of Ely, the crafts of the queen and Jane Shore. most talented of their party, was likely Hastings then kept the wretched Jane, to prove his active enemy. Even Hast- who had been one of the mistresses of ings, who opposed the queen's relatives the late king. He, with the rest of the from selfish motives, was not one on council, knew that Richard's arm had whom the Protector could rely. He always been in that state, and fearful pressed Gloucester to order the execu- that the protector only sought a quarrel, tion of Rivers, Vaughan, and Gray, he said, "If" they had done this, they both to get rid of men personally hated by deserved signal punishment. The prohim, and to commit the duke with the tector asked whether they meant to insult young king, as the destroyer of his be- him with "ifs." Then striking the loved connexions: this the protector table, armed men rushed in, and carried saw, and spared their lives for a short off Hastings, who was hurried to the time. Thus the leading nobles, like the green within the Tower, and after a wild beasts of the forest, were ready to short confession to a priest, was bedevour each other, and all who opposed headed on a log of timber. Stanley, them. Archbishop Rotheram, and the Bishop of Ely, were imprisoned. The downward path, when once entered, is not easily forsaken, though the unhappy victims of sin think they can pause, and even return at every step they may take. Richard first decided to make four leading nobles his personal supporters, though as yet he seems only to have aimed at confirming his own right as protector. These were Howard, Buckingham, Lovel, and the Earl of Northumberland. But let the example of Richard show how dangerous it is to dally with temptation. Early in June, the 22nd day of the same month, was fixed upon for the coronation. Though no outbreak of violence had yet taken place, by the 10th a declaration was made by Gloucester, that the queen's relatives and adherents were plotting his destruction, as well as that of Buckingham, and he urged his friends in the north to hasten to support him. Evidence still exists, which implies that efforts were making to annul the appointment of Richard, who now resolved on a more desperate course. He found also that Hastings was secretly opposed to him. On June 13, he appeared at the council-board, in the Tower, and after apologizing for being so late in his attendance, (it was but nine in the morning,) he asked the Bishop of Ely to send for some strawberries from the garden of his palace at Holborn, and withdrew. In the afternoon, the protector and Buckingham sent for the mayor of London, and declared to him and some of the principal citizens, that he had that morning unexpectedly learned a design of Hastings, to cause them to be murdered that day; and, in their own defence, they had been obliged to have him put to death. To give colour to this report, a proclamation was issued to the same effect, within two hours of Hastings' death, but as it was composed with care, and fairly written out, the resolution against this nobleman was manifestly premeditated. The people remarked upon this, and one said, that the proclamation must have been written under prophetic knowledge. To countenance the protector's false charge, Jane Shore was imprisoned and condemned by the ecclesiastical court, to perform public penance. She was suffered to live, but reduced to poverty; and had to beg her bread of many whom in her short and sinful prosperity she had befriended. That the violence upon Hastings was premeditated, and that Stanley had received some intimation on the subject, appears from a warning message he had sent the preceding night to Hastings, stating that he had dreamed that a wild boar (the crest and badge of Gloucester) had wounded them both; and he advised that they should flee, and raise their | set aside, and then Richard stood next friends. Hastings made light of this in the succession. The parliament apwarning. proved this futile plea, and Richard was entreated to take the crown! Richard now pressed forward. On June 16, he compelled the archbishop of Canterbury to interfere with the queen in the sanctuary, and to oblige her to give up the young Duke of York. She parted from her son with bitter tears, and he was taken to the king, who then resided at the Tower, as was usual before a coronation. This gives ground to suppose that Richard had then resolved to seize the crown. On the following Sunday, June 22, Dr. Shaw, brother of the mayor, preached at Paul's Cross, then the usual resort of citizens. The preacher threw out an imputation, that the late king, Edward Iv., was not the lawful son of the Duke of York; consequently the protector, whom he highly panegyrized, was the true heir of the house of York. It was arranged that Richard should enter while the preacher was pronouncing the eulogium; but by some mistake he did not appear till it had been uttered, and when he did come, the preacher thought fit to repeat the words, which excited both derision and indignation in the hearers. On the 24th, Buckingham attended an assembly of the citizens of London, and openly urged that Richard should be made king instead of his nephew; but the act was too bold, and the treason too decisive, to be supported by more than a few hired applauders. However, Richard had removed his opponents, and was supported by the remaining political leaders. On the 25th, Buckingham, attended by many others, went formally to Richard, at Baynard's Castle, and urged him to become king. A well-acted scene of dissimulation followed, and Richard appeared compelled to accept the crown. Parliament met on the same day, when a bill was presented, urging Richard's claims. This document stated, that Edward Ivy. had been lawfully contracted to Eleanor Boteler, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, before he married Lady Grey; therefore his union with the latter was stated to be unlawful, and that the young princes were illegitimate, and disqualified for the throne. Clarence's children were next in the succession, but their father having been condemned for treason, these also were He complied, nothing loth, and issued a proclamation as king, on June 26. The first sanguinary measure necessary to confirm his usurpation was the death of Rivers, Vaughan, and Grey: orders for this purpose were already issued; they were tried at Pomfret, before the Earl of Northumberland, on a charge of plotting Richard's death, and were condemned and executed. By this time a number of Richard's supporters had arrived, armed, from the north, and his coronation was ordered to take place on the 6th of July; preparations on his nephew's account had already been made, and the alterations required were but few; one among them is however singular. Robes were ordered for Edward as Prince of Wales, and a place assigned him in the procession. From hence some have argued, that his uncle did not design his death, though this proves nothing. It might have been a mere matter of ceremonial, originating with the officers to whom the arrangements were left; it might have been intended to conceal the murderous designs of the protector; or, perhaps, the young prince actually walked in the procession. He was not so popular, neither was his uncle so unpopular, that it was as yet dangerous to exhibit him in public. The ancient chronicles, however, do not enumerate the prince among the nobles who are mentioned by name, as present at the coronation. The people do not appear to have taken a deep interest with respect to these proceedings. Hall says, the people marvelled at this manner of dealing, but "they said, these matters be kings' games, as it were stage plays, and for the most part played upon scaffolds; in which poor men are but lookers on, and they that be wise will meddle no further, for they that step up with them when they cannot play their parts, they disorder the play, and do themselves no good." This line of conduct was prudent, and dictated by worldly wisdom; but it is better to arrive at the same conclusion upon principle, and according to the precept of Holy Writ, "My son, fear God and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change." RICHARD III. When Richard III. acquired the crown, at the cost of deep and complicated crime, he was but thirty years of age. He evidently owed his elevation to those who themselves sought power, quite as much as to his own ambition. The times in which he had lived from youth to manhood had rendered him an unshrinking, hardened villain; but we have no reason to attribute to him any deep-laid system of long-projected crime. The temptation came before him, he was prompt to seize the opportunity, and unhesitating as to the means he used. As king, Richard sought to render himself popular; among other measures, he released Stanley and the archbishop of York. This was a magnanimous proceeding as to the former, who would probably feel some resentment against Richard, for he had been arrested with Hastings; and, in the confusion, a blow, which narrowly missed Stanley, was aimed at his head by a soldier, apparently by Richard's special direction. The coronation was performed with peculiar efforts to give it imposing pomp, and Richard, doubtless, determined to enjoy his new honours to the utmost, and to maintain them with the same decision he had exerted in acquiring them. He told a confidant that he meant only to keep the crown till his nephew was twenty-four years old, and able to govern. He might possibly have deceived himself with this idea, but it is not likely that when the time arrived he would have been contented to forego his accustomed state. Richard now dismissed his northern forces, and began a progress, or circuit through the country. Going to Reading, on July 23, 1483, he proceeded to Tewksbury, and was at Warwick, on August 8, where he received an ambassador from Isabella, queen of Castile. In his address, the envoy stated the displeasure his mistress had felt at Edward's neglect or refusal of her hand. Had the patroness of Columbus become the wife of the king of England, instead of the consort of the king of Arragon, how different might the result have been to the world at large! On what a slender thread momentous events depend! Richard entered York on August 31, and there a scene of royal state, resembling a coronation, was enacted, and his son was created Prince of Wales. In the latter end of September he was at Pomfret, and now he heard of open disaffection, and that the people were become anxious for the liberation of the young Prince Edward. A report was then circulated that the princes were dead, but |