"O good blessyd Lord God!" saith Caxton, "what grete losse was it of that noble, vertuous, and wel-disposed lord! &c. and what worship had he at Rome in the presence of our holy fader the pope! And so in alle other places unto his deth; at whiche deth every man that was there might lerne to dye, and take his deth paciently." The axe then did at one blow cut off more learning in England than was left in the heads of all the surviving nobility." [Pennant is of opinion, that all his love for the sciences could not soften in him the ferocious temper of the unhappy times he lived in. London, p. 315.] 8 [Caxton's conclusion to the earl of Worcester's translation. See Herbert, vol. i. p. 54. Mr. Dibdin farther observes, that "the most illustrious patrons of which Caxton could boast, were the earl of Worcester and earl Rivers; but even the rank and accomplishments of these noblemen, especially of the former, were insufficient to protect them from insult, persecution, and a premature end." Life of Caxon, p. cxxi. See also Biog. Brit. iii. 368. second edit.] 9 Fuller's Worthies in Camb. p. 155. ANTONY WIDVILLE, EARL RIVERS. THOUGH Caxton knew "none like to the erle of Worcestre," and though the author' last quoted thinks that all learning in the nobility perished with Tiptoft, yet there flourished at the same period a noble gentleman, by no means inferior to him in learning and politeness, in birth his equal, by alliance his superior, greater in feats of arms, and in pilgrimages more abundant. This was Antony Widville, earl Rivers, lord Scales and Newsells, lord of the Isle of Wight, "defenseur and directeur of the causes apostolique for our holy fader the pope in this royame of Englond, and uncle and governour to my lorde prince of Wales." 4 3 He was son of sir Richard Widville by Jaqueline of Luxemburgh, duchess dowager of Bed 2 Fuller. 3 [Or, according to Herbert's citation from Caxton, "the noble and puissant lord Antone, erle of Ryuyers, lord of Scales and of the isle of Wyght, defendour and directour of the siege apostolique, for our holy fader the pope, in this royame of Englond, and governour of my lord prynce of Wales." Typogr. Antiq. vol. i. p. 15.] 4 Caxton in Ames's Catal. p. 14. ford, and brother of the fair lady Gray, who captivated that monarch of pleasure, Edward the fourth. When about seventeen years of age, he was taken by force from Sandwich, with his father, and carried to Calais by some of the opposite faction. The credit of his sister, the countenance and example of his prince, the boisterousness of the times, nothing softened, nothing roughened the mind of this amiable lord, who was as gallant as his luxurious brother-in-law, without his weaknesses; as brave as the heroes of either Rose, without their savageness; studious in the intervals of business, and devout after the manner of those whimsical times, when men challenged others whom they never saw, and went barefoot to visit shrines in countries of which they had scarce a map. In short, lord Antony was, as sir Thomas More says, * [Baldwin has thus made sir Anthony give an account of his family connexions, in most prosaic metrification: My father, hight sir Richard Wodvile, he 5 In vitâ Rich. III. |