This book is mine, Elizabeth, the king's daughter, is the meaning of the above words, which are written in the old English character, now confined to law-deeds, but which was soon after superseded by the modern or Italian hand.

As the appointed time of Elizabeth's marriage with the dauphin Charles approached, her dower was settled, and rich dresses in the French fashion were made for her; when suddenly, without any previous intimation, the contract was broken by Louis XI. demanding the heiress of Burgundy in marriage for the dauphin. This slight offered to Elizabeth infuriated her father so much, that the agitation is said to have had a fatal effect on his health. Comines, a contemporary in the confidence of the king of France, more than once in his history expresses his indignation at seeing the tribute-money sent every year from France to Edward's "château de Londres, which had before greater heaps of treasure and precious things than it could hold." He likewise dwells with evident satisfaction on the report "that the death of Edward IV. was caused by Louis XI. rejecting the princess-royal Elizabeth as a wife for his little dauphin Charles. But," observes Comines, rather insolently, "it was very well known that the girl, who is now queen of England, was a great deal too old for monseigneur the dauphin, who is now king of France." Elizabeth was four, or perhaps five, years older than Charles, and there was still more disparity in person than in years; for her stature was tall and stately, and his was dwarfish.

The fortunes of the young Elizabeth suffered the most signal reverse directly she lost her royal sire and only efficient protector. From Westminster-palace she was, with her second brother and young sisters, hurried by the queen her mother into the Sanctuary of Westminster, which had formerly sheltered her in childhood. But Elizabeth of York was no longer an unconscious child, who sported as gaily with her little sisters in the abbot of Westminster's garden as she did in the flowery meads of Shene; she had grown up into the beauties of early womanhood, and was the sharer of her royal mother's woes. The sad tale of that queen's calamities has already been told

1 Mémoires de Philippe de Comines, p. 160.

by us.

How much the princess Elizabeth must have grieved for her two murdered brothers may be gathered from the words of her literary dependant, Bernard Andreas, who knew her well: "The love," he says, " she bore her brothers and sisters, was unheard of, and almost incredible."

3

The treaty of betrothment, privately negotiated between Elizabeth of York and Henry of Richmond by their respective mothers, was the first gleam of comfort that broke on the royal prisoners in sanctuary after the murder of the innocent princes in the Tower The young princess promised to hold faith with her betrothed; in case of her death before her contract was fulfilled, her next sister Cicely was to take her place. But it is a singular fact, that neither at this time, nor at any other period of her life, was the slightest proposal made by the partisans of the house of York for placing Elizabeth on the throne as scle sovereign. Even her near relatives, her half-brother Dorset, and her uncle Lionel Woodville, bishop of Salisbury, when they raised the standard of revolt against Richard III. at Salisbury, (simultaneously with Buckingham's rebellion in the autumn of 1483,) proclaimed the earl Richmond Henry VII., although he was a distant exile, who had done no more for the cause than taken an oath to marry Elizabeth if he ever had it in his power. As these nobles had but just escaped from sanctuary, which they had shared with Elizabeth of York and her mother, and must have recently and intimately known their plans and wishes, this utter silence on her claims as the heiress of Edward IV. is the more surprising. In truth, it affords another remarkable instance of the manner in which Norman prejudice in favour of Salic law had corrupted the common or unwritten law of England regarding the succession. The violation of this ancient national law had given rise to the

1 See life of queen Elizabeth Woodville.

2 He was her eldest son's tutor, and left a Latin life of Henry VII. Some entries in her privy-purse expenses show that the memory of her murdered brothers was dear to her heart, even in the last year of her life.

3 See the life of queen Elizabeth Woodville.

* See Introduction, vol. i.; likewise an act of parliament, second of Mary L., quoted by Burnet, vol. ii., declaring that Mary succeeded "not by statute, but by common or oral law."

most bloody civil wars which had vexed the country since the Conquest.

Before Buckingham's revolt took place, the royal ladies in sanctuary had enjoyed the protection of their near relatives, Dorset and bishop Lionel Woodville, who had taken refuge there in their company; and how efficient a protection an ecclesiastic of the high rank of bishop Lionel must have proved when they were sheltered in the very bosom of the church, may be imagined. But the bishop and Dorset were both obliged to fly to France, owing to the utter failure of Buckingham's insurrection, and after their exile the situation of Elizabeth of York and her mother became very irksome. A cordon of soldiers, commanded by John Nesfield, a squire of Richard III.'s guard, watched night and day round the abbey, and the helpless prisoners were reduced to great distress. Thus they struggled through the sad winter of 1483, but surrendered themselves in March. Elizabeth's mother has been unjustly blamed for this measure, yet it was the evident effect of dire necessity. The princess Elizabeth was forced to own herself the illegitimate child of Edward IV.; she had to accept a wretched annuity, and, as a favour, was permitted to contemplate the prospect of marrying a private gentleman.' Such were the conditions of a cruel act of parliament, passed under the influence of Richard III.'s military despotism in the preceding January. The act, it is well known, was indited by bishop Stillington, the mortal foe of her mother's house, who added to this the more intolerable injury of projecting a union. between Mr. William Stillington, his natural son, and the princess. This unfortunate lover of Elizabeth met with a fate far severer than his presumption merited; for being shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy, "he was (adds Comines) taken prisoner, and, by mistake, starved to death,"-a mistake perLaps instigated by some of the indignant kindred of the princess, who were then refugees in France.

The princess Elizabeth was certainly separated from her

1 See the coarsely worded oath taken by Richard III. in presence of the lord mayor and aldermen, binding himself to protect his brother Edward's illegitimate daughters if they submitted to the above conditions.

unfortunate mother when they left sanctuary, since that queen was placed under the control of the same officer who had so inexorably kept watch and ward round the abbey. Meantime, the princess and her sisters were received at court with some appearance of regard by Richard III., and with great affec tion by his queen, "who always," says a contemporary,' "treated Elizabeth of York as a sister." Indeed, it ought to be remembered that Elizabeth was one of Anne of Warwick's nearest female relatives, independently of the wedlock with Richard III. As the princess was seen so frequently in the company of queen Anne after leaving sanctuary, she was most likely con signed to her charge: she was certainly lodged in the palace of Westminster. Here she found her father's old friend, lord Stanley, in an office of great authority, having been appointed by the usurper steward of the royal household, a place he heli in the reign of Edward IV. It is well known that this nobleman was step-father to Henry of Richmond, the betrothed husband of the princess Elizabeth; and that his wife, Margaret Beaufort, was exiled from the court and in disgrace with the usurper, for having projected the union of her son with the princess. How Stanley contrived to exonerate himself is

not ascertained.3

In fact, there is from this period an utter

1 Continuator of the Croyland Chronicle.

As to this fact, see Dr. Lingard, vol. v. p. 266, 4th ed. Likewise Lodge's Memoir of the Earl of Derby.

3 The reconciliation between the usurper and Stanley is matter of mystery. That Stanley himself temporized with the tyrant, and bided his time for b overthrow, is proved by the result; but that Richard should in any way rely him, or trust to his aid in an hour of need, is by no means consistent with the character for sagacity with which it has pleased modern historians to invest that king. It is greatly to be doubted, after all, whether Richard's abilities in ary wise exceeded those called into exercise by a desperate charge at the head of his cavalry forces, the species of warfare in which he excelled. Richard and Starley (if we may trust to the metrical journal of a herald belonging to the Starley family) had been, during the reign of Edward IV., perpetually quarrelling in the north. Stanley was, by Richard's myrmidons, wounded in the council-chamber in the Tower, when Hastings was illegally beheaded on the memorable 13th of June; yet a few days afterwards we find him witness to the "surrender of the great seal to the lord king Richard III., which took place in the first year of his reign, June 27, 1483," in that high chamber next the chapel which is in the dwelling of “Cicely duchess of York, called Baynard-Castle, Thames-street, în the water of Thames."-Rymer, vol. xii. p. 189. Stanley is, with the exception of Buckingham, the only nobleman witness to this act of usurpation. Subse quently, the son of his wife, Margaret Beaufort, (a wife whom he was known to

hiatus in all authentic intelligence regarding the proceedings of Elizabeth, from the time when she sat with queen Anne royally attired in Westminster-hall at Christmas, 1484, till the death of Richard III.

In the absence of regular information, perhaps a metrical narrative, called the "Song of the Lady Bessy," deserves some attention, being written by Humphrey Brereton, an officer and vassal belonging to lord Stanley: he is proved to have been a contemporary of Elizabeth, and his costume and language are undeniably of that era. A cautious abstract from Brereton, limited to those passages which are connected with his asserted agency in renewing Elizabeth's engagements with Henry of Richmond, here follows. The princess, according to Brereton, having accidentally met lord Stanley at a time and place convenient for conference, urged him passionately, by the name of "father Stanley," and with many reminiscences of all he owed to her father, to assist her in the restoration of her rights. At first lord Stanley repulsed her, declaring he could not break the oath he had sworn to king Richard, observing, moreover, that women were proverbially "unstable of council." Elizabeth renewed her importunities, but when he seemed quite inflexible,

"Her colour changed as pale as lead,

Her fare that shone as golden wire,

She tare it off beside her head."

love entirely,) had been proclaimed king of England in Buckingham's revolt. Yet Margaret, though an active agent, received no other punishment than having the command of her lands and liberty given to her own husband, who naturally possessed control over both. Notwithstanding all motives for caution, Richard placed Stanley in a station of such high domestic trust, that his life must every hour of the day and night have been at his mercy. The brother, sons, and nephews of Stanley, under whose command remained his feudal powers in the north, in some degree established his security against violence from Richard. But Richard could have had little reciprocal guarantee against Stanley's machinations, when he appointed him guardian of his table and bed as lord steward of his palace. Nothing but Stanley's oath at Richard's coronation could have been the security of the usurper; but how, after breaking so many oaths himself, Richard could expect one kept for his sake, is marvellous. It is necessary for the reader to have a char view of the relative positions of the usurper and the man who caused the lation that placed Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York on the throne of England, or their history is incomprehensible.

1 Edited by T. Hayward, esq. F.S.A.

* This old word signifies a torch, or a profusion of long fair hair. There is an VOL. II. D D