Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

three daughters, the lady Anne, the lady Katherine, and the lady Bridget [the nun-princess] from Dartford, accompanied by the marchioness of Dorset, the daughter of the duke of Buckingham; the queen's niece,' the daughter of the marquess of Dorset; lady Herbert, also niece to the queen; dame Katherine Gray; dame Guildford, (governess to the children of Elizabeth of York:) their gentlewomen walked behind the three daughters of the dead. Also that Tuesday came the marquess of Dorset, son to the queen; the earl of Essex, her brother-in-law; and the viscount Welles, her son-in-law. And that night began the dirge. But neither at the dirge were the twelve poor men clad in black, but a dozen divers old men," that is, old men dressed in the many-coloured garments of poverty,-" and they held old torches and torches' ends. And the next morning one of the canons, called master Vaughan, sang Our Lady mass, at the which the lord Dorset offered a piece of gold; he kneeled at the hearse-head. The ladies came not to the mass of requiem, and the lords sat about in the quire. My lady Anne came to offer the masspenny, and her officers-at-arms went before her she offered the penny at the head of the queen, wherefore she had the carpet and the cushion. And the viscount Welles took his wife's) offering, and dame Katherine Gray bare the lady Anne's train: every one of the king's daughters offered. The marquess of Dorset offered a piece of gold, and all the lords at their pleasure; the poor knights of Windsor, dean, canons, comen, and officers-at-arms, all offered: and after mass, the lord marquess paid the cost of the funeral."

At the east end of St. George's chapel, north aisle, is the tomb of Edward IV., being a monument of steel, representing a pair of gates between two towers of ancient gothic architexture. On a flat stone at the foot of this monument are engraven, in old English characters, the words

King Edward and his Queen, Elizabeth Widville.

1 Daughter of her sister Katherine, who married Buckingham. This beautiful work of art is said to be by the hand of Quentin Matsys, the Famish blacksmith-painter; it has the appearance of black lace.

The actual place of interment of Elizabeth Woodville was supposed to be discovered March 4th, 1789. The workmen employed in new-paving the choir of St. George's chapel, Windsor, perceived some decay in the stones which close the entrance of the vault where the body of Edward IV. is deposited. Two of the canons and the surveyor entered that vault, and viewed king Edward's body, which is enclosed in a wooden and then a leaden coffin. The skeleton was entire, nobly proportioned, and of the gigantic height of six feet three inches. The head of the king reclined to the right, where was a quantity of long brown hair, which had fallen off the skull, but remained entire. There was no trace of envelope, cere-cloth, robe, ring, or royal insignia, plunderers in Cromwell's time, when the vault was opened, having carried off all these. Upon Edward's coffin was found another of wood, much decayed; it contained the skeleton of a woman: from the marks of age on the skull, this was supposed to be the remains of his queen, Elizabeth Woodville,2-thus realizing the emphatic words of Southey,

"Thou, Elizabeth, art here

Thou to whom all griefs were known;
Who wert placed upon the bier

In happier hour than on a throne."

At the east end of St. George's chapel an excavation was formed, in 1817,2 the solid bed of chalk, of the full size of the edifice above, when two stone cofits, containing the bodies of the second daughter of queen Elizabeth Woodville and prince George, the third son of Elizabeth, who died in infancy, were discovered. The coffin of the princess Mary, a beautiful girl of fifteen, who died the year before her father, was opened; a curl of hair, of the most exquisite pale gold, had insinuated itself through the chinks of the coffin; the eyes, of a beautiful bine. were unclosed and bright, but fell to dust soon after the admission of air. of the beautiful hair of the young princess, cut off by sir Henry Halford, and given by him to Miss Reynett, of Hampton-Court, was presented by that lady to the author of this biography.

2 European Magazine, March 5, 1789. On the walls of the vault were written in chalk, in the abbreviated characters of the times, “EDWARDUS IV.,” and the names of the assistants at the funeral.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][ocr errors]

ANNE OF WARWICK,

QUEEN OF RICHARD III.

Anne of Warwick, last Plantagenet queen-Place of her birth-Coronets of York and Lancaster-Her armorial bearings-Parentage-Childhood-Richard of Gloucester-His early acquaintance with Anne-Anne at Calais-Marriage of her sister-Returns to England-Embarks with her family-Naval battleDistress before Calais-Lands in France-Marriage with Edward prince of Wales-Remains with queen Margaret-Tewkesbury-Richard of Gloucester wishes to marry her-Her aversion-She is concealed by Clarence-Richard discovers her-She resides with her uncle-Disputes regarding her propertyCompelled to marry Richard-Divorce meditated-Birth of her son- -Residence at Middleham-Death of Edward IV.-Gloucester departs for London—Anne's arrival at the Tower-Coronation-Her progress to the north-Her son— Re-coronation of Richard and Anne at York-Bribe to the queen-Death of her son-Her fatal grief-Rumours of divorce-Conversation of her husband regarding her-Rumours of her death-Her alarm and complaints-Her kindness to Elizabeth of York-The queen's death and burial. ANNE of Warwick, the last of our Plantagenet queens, and the first who had previously borne the title of princess of Wales,' was born at Warwick-castle, in the year 1454.2 On each side of the faded, melancholy portrait of this unfortunate lady, in the pictorial history of her maternal ancestry called

There have been but six princesses of Wales in England: the first three were left widows; and it is singular that, although two of them were afterwards queen-consorts, neither of them derived that dignity from the prince of Wales she had wedded. The first English princess of Wales, Joanna, the widow of Edward the Black Prince, died of a broken heart. The miseries of Anne of Warwick, the widow of Edward of Lancaster, prince of Wales, this biography will show. The misfortunes of Katharine of Arragon, consort of Henry VIII., and widow to Arthur prince of Wales, will be related in the course of the present vame. Caroline of Anspach, consort of George II., after a lapse of two hundred Years, was the only princess of Wales who succeeded happily to the throne-matrimonial of this country. Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, widow to Frederick prince of Wales, lost a beloved husband in the prime of life, and never was queen. The troublous career of the sixth princess of Wales, Caroline of Brunswick, is still in blic memory.

Rous Roll, Heralds' college. This represents the great earl of Warwick with the Neville bull at his feet, though after his marriage he assumed the Beauchamp lear and ragged staff, celebrated as his badge in history and poetry.

« ZurückWeiter »