CHAP. pitch on for their model, they may still be carried XXIII. back to a more ancient period, where they will find the measures of power entirely different, and where every circumstance, by reason of the greater barbarity of the times, will appear still less worthy of imitation. Above all, a civilized nation, like the English, who have happily established the most perfect and most accurate system of liberty that ever was found compatible with government, ought to be cautious in appealing to the practice their ancestors, or regarding the maxims of uncultivated ages as certain rules for their present conduct. An acquaintance with the ancient periods of their government is chiefly useful, by instructing them to cherish their present constitution, from. a comparison or contrast with the condition of those distant times. And it is also curious, by shewing them the remote and commonly faint and disfigured originals of the most finished and most noble institutions, and by instructing them in the great mixture of accident which commonly com curs with a small ingredient of wisdom and foresight in erecting the complicated fabric of the most perfect government. t CHAP. XXIV. HENRY VII. Accession of Henry VII.-His title to the crownKing's prejudice against the house of York-His joyful reception in London-His coronation-Sweating sickness-A parliament-Entail of the crown -King's marriage-An insurrection-Discontents of the people-Lambert Simnel-Revolt of Ireland -Intrigues of the dutchess of Burgundy-Lambert Simnel invades England-Battle of Stoke. XXIV. VII. THE which was THE victory which the earl of Richmond gain- CHAP. ed at Bosworth was entirely decisive; being attended as well with the total rout and dispersion 1485. of the royal army, as with the death of the king August 22. himself. Joy for this great success suddenly prompted the soldiers in the field of battle to bestow on their victorious general the appellation of king, which he had not hitherto assumed; and the acclamations of Long live Henry the Seventh! by a Accession natural and unpremeditated movement, resounded of Henry from all quarters. To bestow some appearance of formality on this species of military election, sir William Stanley brought a crown of ornament which Richard wore in battle, and which had been found among the spoils; and he put it on the head of the victor. Henry himself remained not in suspense; but immediately without hesitation accepted of the magnificent present which was tendered him. He was come to the crisis of his fortune and being obliged suddenly to determine himself, amidst great difficulties which he must have frequently revolved in his mind, he chose that 1485. CHA P. part which his ambition suggested to him, and to XXIV. which he seemed to be invited by his present success. THERE were many titles on which Henry could His title to found his right to the crown; but no one of them free from great objections, if considered with respect either to justice or to policy. the crown. DURING some years Henry had been regarded as heir to the house of Lancaster by the party attached to that family; but the title of the house of Lancaster itself was generally thought to be very ill founded. Henry IV. who had first raised it to royal dignity, had never clearly defined the foundation of his claim; and while he plainly invaded the order of succession, he had not acknowledged the election of the people. The parliament, it is true, had often recognised the title of the Lancastrian princes; but these votes had little authority, being considered as instances of complaisance towards a family in possession of present power: And they had accordingly been often reversed during the late prevalence of the house of York. Prudent men also, who had been willing for the sake of peace, to submit to any established authority, desired not to see the claims of that family revived; claims which must produce many convulsions at present, and which disjointed for the future the whole system of hereditary right. Besides, allowing the title of the house of Lancaster to be legal, Henry himself was not the true heir of that family; and nothing but the obstinacy natural to faction, which never without reluctance will submit to an antagonist, could have engaged the Lancastrians to adopt the earl of Richmond as their head. His mother indeed, Margaret countess of Richmond, was sole daughter and heir of the duke of Somerset, sprung from John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster: But the descent of the Somerset line was itself illegitimate, and even adulterous. And hough the duke of Lancaster had obtained the legitimation W XXIV. gitimation of his natural children by a patent from CHA P. Richard II. confirmed in parliament, it might justly be doubted whether this deed could bestow, 1485. any title to the crown; since in the patent itself all the privileges conferred by it are fully enumerated, and the succession to the kingdom is expressly excluded. In all settlements of the crown made during the reigns of the Lancastrian princes, the line of Somerset had been entirely overlooked; and it was not till the failure of the legitimate branch, that men had paid any attention to their claim. And, to add to the general dissatisfaction against Henry's title, his mother from whom he derived all his right, was still alive; and evidently preceded him in the order of succession. Were THE title of the house of York, both from the. plain reason of the case, and from the late popular government of Edward IV. had universally obtained the preference in the sentiments of the people; and Henry might ingraft his claim on the rights of that family, by his intended marriage with the princess Elizabeth, the heir of it; a marriage which he had solemnly promised to celebrate, and to the expectation of which he had chiefly owed all his past successes. But many reasons dissuaded Henry from adopting this expedient. he to receive the crown only in the right of his consort, his power he knew would be very limited; and he must expect rather to enjoy the bare title. of king by a sort of courtesy, than possess the real authority which belongs to it. Should the princess die before him without issue, he must descend from the throne, and give place to the next in succession: And even if his bed should be blest with offspring, it seemed dangerous to expect that filial piety in his children would prevail over the ambition of obtaining present possession of regal An act of parliament, indeed, might power. W easily Rymer, tom. vii. p. 849. Goke's Inst. 4. Inst. part 1. p. 37 1485. CHAP. easily be procured to settle the crown on him durXXIV. ing life; but Henry knew how much superior the claim of succession by blood was to the authority of an assembly, which had always been overborne by violence in the shock of contending titles, and which had ever been more governed by the conjunc tures of the times, than by any consideration de rived from reason or public interest. THERE was yet a third foundation on which Henry might rest his claim, the right of conquest, by his victory over Richard, the present possessor of the crown. But besides that Richard himself was deemed no better than an usurper, the army which fought against him consisted chiefly of Englishmen; and a right of conquest over England could never be established by such a victory. Nothing also would give greater umbrage to the nation than a claim of this nature; which might be construed as an abolition of all their rights and privileges, and the establishment of absolute authority in the sovereign." William himself the Norman, though at the head of a powerful and victorious army of foreigners, had at first declined the invidious title of conqueror; and it was not till the full establishment of his authority that he had ventured to advance so violent and destructive a pretension. BUT Henry was sensible that there remained another foundation of power somewhat resembling the right of conquest, namely, present possession; and that this title, guarded by vigour and abilities, would be sufficient to secure perpetual possession of the throne. He had before him the example of Henry IV. who, supported by no better pretension, had subdued many insurrections, and had been able to transmit the crown peaceably to his posterity. He could perceive that this claim, which had been perpetuated through three generations of the family of Lancaster, might still have |