Duke of Gloucester wish the death of lord Hastings? What steps did he take to accomplish that murder? Who next felt the indignation of the Protector? Of what did he accuse her? What penance was she obliged to perform? How long did she live after this sentence, and in what condition? Whom had the Protector gained over to his interest? Who offered the Protector the crown? Did he accept it?

ON

NE crime ever draws on another; justice will revolt against fraud, and usurpation requires security. As soon, therefore, as Richard was seated upon the throne, he sent orders to the governor of the Tower, Sir Robert Brakenbury, to put the two young princes to death; but this brave man refused to be made the instrument of a tyrant's will; and submissively answered, that he knew not how to embrue his hands in innocent blood. A fit instrument, however, was not long wanting; Sir James Tyrrel readily undertook the office, and Brakenbury was ordered to resign to him the keys for one might. Tyrrel choosing two ruffians, Miles Forrest and John Dighton, came in the night-time to the door of the chamber where the princes were lodged, and sending in the assassins, he bid them execute their commission, while he himself staid without. They found the young princes in bed, and fallen into a sound sleep: after suffocating them with the bolster and

pillows, they showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered them to be buried at the stair-foot, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones.

But while he thus endeavoured to establish his power, he found it threatened in a quarter where he least expected an attack. The duke of Buckingham, who had been instrumental in placing him on the throne, now took disgust at being refused some confiscated lands for which he solicited. He therefore levied a body of men in Wales, and advanced by hasty marches towards Gloucester, where he designed to cross the Severn. Just at that time the river was swoln to such a degree, that the country on both sides was deluged, and even the tops of some hills were covered with water. This inundation continued for ten days, and was long remembered by the name of Buckingham's flood; during which the army of that nobleman, composed of Welshmen, could neither pass the river, nor find subsistence on their own side; they were therefore obliged to disperse, and return home, notwithstanding all the duke's efforts to prolong their stay. In this helpless situation, the duke, after a short deliberation, took refuge at the house of one Banister, who had been his servant, and who had received repeated obligations from his family; but the wicked seldom find, as they seldom exert, friendship. Banister, unable to resist the temptation of a large reward which was set upon the duke's head, went and betrayed him to the sheriff of Shropshire; who, surrounding the house with armed men, seized the duke, in the habit of a peasant, and conducted him to Salisbury; where he was instantly tried, condemned, and executed, according to the summary method practised in those days.

Amidst the perplexity caused by many disagreeable occur rences, he received information that the earl of Richmond was making preparations to land in England, and assert his claims to the crown. Richard, who knew not in what quarter he might expect the invader, had taken post at Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom; and had given commissions to several of his creatures to oppose the enemy wherever he should land.

Some time after, however, the earl of Richmond, who was a descendant from John of Gaunt, by the female line, resolved to strike for the crown. He had been long obnoxious to the house of York, and had been obliged to quit the kingdom; but he now knowing how odious the king was, set out from Harfleur, in Normandy, with a retinue of about two thousand persons; and after a voyage of six days arrived at Milfordhaven, in Wales, where he landed without opposition.

Upon news of this descent, Richard, who possessed both courage and military conduct, his only virtues, instantly resolv ed to meet his antagonist, and decide their mutual pretensions by a ba.e. Richmond, on the other hand, being reinforced by Sir Thomas Bourchier, Sir Walter Hungerford, and others, to the number of about six thousand, boldly advanced with the same intention; and in a few days both armies drew near Bosworth-field, where the contest that had now for more than forty years filled the kingdom with civil commotions, and deluged its plains with blood, was determined by the death of Richard, who was killed in battle; a death too mild and honourable for his multiplied and detestable enormities. His dead body stripped naked was tied across a horse behind one of the heralds, and carried amidst the shouts of the insulting spectators to Leicester where it was exposed to public view for some days, and then buried with very little ceremony in the church of Grey-friars. Richmond was on the field of battle. saluted king, by the title of Henry the Seventh.

EXERCISES.

What was

In what years did the reign of Richard III. begin and end? the first act of his reign? Who was governor of the tower? What answer did he give to the orders of Richard III.? By whom were the princes murdered? Who took up arms against Richard? What obliged the Welsh to return home? What was the fate of Buckingham? Who made preparations for asserting his claims to the crown of England? What was the pedigree of the Earl of Richmond? Where did Richmond land, and with what What were the only virtues possessed by Richard III.? What was the fate of this monarch?

number of men?

H

HENRY VII.

ENRY'S* first care, upon coming to the throne, was to marry the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward the Fourth; and thus he blended the interests of the houses of York and Lancaster, so that ever after they were incapable of distinction.

A great part of the miseries of his predecessors proceeded from their poverty, which was mostly occasioned by riot and dissipation. Henry saw that money alone could turn the scale of power in his favour; and therefore hoarded up all the confiscations of his enemies with the utmost frugality.

Immediately after his marriage with Elizabeth, he issued a general pardon to all such as chose to accept it; but people were become so turbulent and factious, by a long course of civil war, that no governor could rule them, nor any king please; so that one rebellion seemed extinguished only to give rise to another.

There lived in Oxford one Richard Simon, a priest, who

Henry, Earl of Richmond, had not the shadow of right to the crown. His mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was the sole daughter and heiress of the Duke of Somerset, descended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; but the descent of the Somerset family was in itself illegitimate and even adulterous. Besides his mother was still alive, and unquestionably preceded him in the order of succession. Ed.

possessing some subtlety and more rashness, trained up Lambert Simnel, the illegitimate son of a baker, to counterfeit the person of the earl of Warwick, son of the duke of Clarence whom his brother, Edward IV., put to death. Simnel was about fifteen years of age, acute, intelligent, and sagacious; handsome in his person and of graceful leportment, and in every respect qualified to act the part of an impostor. At that time a report was generally circulated and believed that Warwick had made his escape from the tower. But as imposture is not calculated to bear a close inspection, it was thought proper to show Simnel first at a distance; and Ireland was judged the fittest theatre for him to support his assumed character.

In this manner Simnel, who had been proclaimed king, by the contrivers and dupes of the imposition, being joined by lord Lovel, and one or two lords more of the discontented party, resolved to pass over into England; and accordingly landed in Lancashire, whence he marched to York, expecting the country would rise and join him as he marched along. But in this he was deceived; the people, averse to join a body of German and Irish troops, by whom he was supported, and kept in awe by the king's reputation, remained in tranquillity, or gave all their assistance to the royal cause. The earl of Lincoln, therefore, a disaffected lord, to whom the command of the rebel army was given, finding no hopes but in speedy victory, was determined to bring the contest to a short issue. The opposite armies met at Stoke, in the county of Nottingham, and fought a battle which was more bloody, and more obstinately disputed, than could have been expected from the inequality of their forces. But victory at length declared in favour of the king, and it proved decisive. Lord Lincoln perished in the field of battle; lord Lovel was never more heard of, and it is supposed he shared the same fate. Simnel, with his tutor Simon, were taken prisoners; and four thousand of the common men fell in the battle. Simon, being a priest, could not be tried by the civil power, and was only committed to close confinement. Simnel was too contemptible to excite the king's fear or resentment; he was pardoned, and made a scullion in the king's kitchen, whence he was afterwards advanced to the rank of falconer, in which mean employment he died.

A fresh insurrection began in Yorkshire; the people resisting the commissioners who were appointed to levy the taxes, the earl of Northumberland attempted to enforce the king's command; but the populace, being by this taught to believe