Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

through the laws of descent exceedingly hateful in all men's eyes. For it is the almost invariable habit of the people to visit upon those whom they have followed or deceived, the faults themselves have been deeply engaged in committing, and to think they can expiate their own offences by a severe retribution inflicted upon their accomplices.

Thus it required all the new Sovereign's personal accomplishments to make the succession as easy and peaceful as it proved. He had been, while a boy, a favourite in Richard's court; nay, was actually with him in Ireland when his father landed;1 and he had profited by his courtly training. His manners were easy and engaging; his person was handsome, as well as athletic; his skill in the exercises most esteemed at that period was conspicuous; and he had the far more worthy accomplishment of a better education than was usually received by the youth of the age, having, like his uncle Cardinal Beaufort, been brought up at Queen's College, Oxford, partly endowed by his uncle Exeter. His habits, however, had been loose, and his life somewhat dissipated. He frequented indifferent company, for the ease of which, and for the humours also, he had a keen relish; and occasionally he was involved in difficulties, from the riotous conduct of his boon companions; perhaps, too, from his own high spirits and want of reflection. Thus one of his comrades, some have it a servant of his own, being charged

' T. Elm., 4. Richard at first imprisoned him on the news arriving; but soon released him.-Otterb., i. 205.

with a grave offence before the chief justice, the prince attended at the examination, and somewhat peremptorily demanded the prisoner's release. The judge mildly besought him to let the law take its course uninterrupted, reminding him that he might apply to the King for mercy. This only exasperated him; he was minded to rescue the offender; but the chief justice sternly commanded him to abstain from so unlawful an act; whereupon he advanced towards the bench with a menacing air, and angrily laid his hand on his sword as if to draw it. The bystanders were amazed, expecting to see some dreadful violence committed. The magistrate alone remained unmoved, and solemnly rebuked him. "Remember, sir," he said, "who you are, and who I am-appointed here to keep the place of your sovereign and your father, him to whom you owe a twofold obedience: Wherefore, in his name, I do charge you leave off your wilfulness, and give from henceforward a better example to them that shall one day be your subjects: And now, for your contempt, go you to the prison of this court, whereto I commit you, there to abide, until the pleasure of the King your father shall be made known." The prince, overawed by the gravity and firmness of this upright magistrate, let go his weapon, and, bowing reverently, suffered himself to be led away by the officers of the court. His retainers, stricken with wonder at his treatment, and still more at his dutiful submission, hastened to

1 Stowe, 342. Hol., iii. 61. Hall, 64.

lay the matter before the King, who, according to the traditions connected with this passage, blessed God that had given him so honest a judge, and so considerate a son. This, however, is certain, that he lost no time in removing him from the privy council, in giving the place of its president to his younger son, Clarence, and in forbidding the offender his courtproceedings which seem to cast much doubt upon the received accounts of his satisfaction with his son's submission, or at least upon the manner in which he is said to have expressed it.

It must be added to the history of Henry's youth, that the stories which have reached our times, of his excesses, representing him not only as engaged in the riot and debauchery often incident to the early years of eminent men, but as guilty of offences against the law, inexcusable in any station or at any age, are without doubt exaggerated, if they be not wholly groundless. The plays of Shakespeare, who has made him in part the subject of two comedies, and represented him as committing highway robberies with his comrades, have tended greatly to keep the tale alive. The origin of it may be traced to a frolic in which he and his associates disguised themselves, and set upon his own receivers, as they were journeying towards him with their rents. With some struggle, they took part of the money, which he afterwards desired might be deducted from the balance of their accounts, when he let them know by whom they had been assailed and despoiled.'

1 Note XXIV.

But whatever may have been the nature of his youthful sallies, it is certain that on ascending the throne he put on habits befitting a ruler. He dismissed all the companions of his former debaucheries, tempering their disappointment with liberal presents, but forbidding them to approach within ten miles of the court. He called to his councils the ministers in whom his father had trusted, although there was no doubt that their advice had contributed to the coldness, if not harshness, with which he had been treated of late years. He received with much grace, and even favour, the chief justice by whom he had been cast in prison. He paid marked attention to the religious duties enjoined by the church. He showed a becoming zeal for the inculcation of moral habits by the clergy, directing the heads of their order to recommend such exhortations by the priests, as might dispose the people to shun criminal courses, and such examples by themselves as might give their preaching due weight with their flocks. Finally, he set apart a certain time daily for receiving and considering the petitions of his subjects; and he performed the far more important duty of removing judges, and other functionaries, whose conduct was known to be evil, filling their places with men of unblemished reputation.

But before these great merits could be made known, the popularity which he had enjoyed in his father's lifetime, contrasted with the dislike which had attended the latter towards the close of his reign, induced the two houses of parliament to show

a mark of favour never before bestowed on any prince. Three days after his accession, and before he had been crowned, or had sworn to rule by the laws, they tendered him their oath of fealty and allegiance. Finding himself thus secure in his place, and aware of the young Earl of March's harmless character and unambitious nature, which made him, though rightful heir of the crown after Richard's decease, a competitor the reverse of formidable, he liberated that unfortunate prince from the custody to which the late King had consigned him, through jealousy of his hereditary claims confirmed by parliament. He ordered the body of Richard, from whom he had received great kindness, to be removed from Langley Priory, where it had been interred with great privacy, and caused a new and solemn funeral service to be performed over it in Westminster Abbey. The heir of Henry Percy, commonly called Hotspur, had, after the defeat of his family at Shrewsbury, and their subsequent attainder, been carried into Scotland by his grandfather, Northumberland, and remained there ever since. Henry caused the attainder to be reversed, restored the young man to the family titles, and obtained from his brother, Prince John, Duke of Bedford, who possessed them by grant, a surrender of the forfeited estates, in favour of the restored earl. In short, all his acts betokened the generosity of his disposition towards others, and his confidence in his own security.

That the natural goodness of his disposition, how

« ZurückWeiter »