she made her escape to her father in Flanders, who, though very poor, strove as well as he could to supply her with the necessaries of life. To the same court the dukes of Somerset and Exeter retired; and they, literally speaking, felt all the miseries of want. Philip de Comines, the French historian, says, he saw the duke of Exeter following the duke of Burgundy's equipage barefooted, and serving for his livelihood as a footman. This was a strange situation for a lord, who had conducted armies, and was allied to kings and princes: but those enjoyments which served to distinguish the great from the little, were not so apparent then as at present.

Edward being now, by means of the earl of Warwick, fixed upon the throne, reigned in peace and security, while his title was recognized by parliament, and universally submitted to by the people. He began, therefore, to give a loose to his favourite passions; and a spirit of gallantry, mixed with cruelty, was seen to prevail in his court. In the very same palace which one day exhibited a spectacle of horror, was to be seen the day following a masque or a pageant; and the king would at once gallant a mistress, and inspect an execution. In order to turn him from these pursuits, which were calculated to render him unpopular, the earl of Warwick advised him to marry; and, with his consent, went over to France to procure Bona of Savoy as queen; and the match was accordingly concluded. But whilst the earl was hastening the negociation in France, the king himself rendered it abortive at home, by marrying Elizabeth Woodville, lady Grey, (widow of sir John Grey, slain fighting on the Lancastrian side,) with whom he had fallen in love, and whom he had vainly endeavoured to debauch. Having thus given Warwick real cause of offence, he resolved to widen the breach, by driving him from the council. Every incident tended to increase the jealousy between the king and this powerful subject; the favour shewn the queen's party, and the contempt which was thrown upon the earl, manifested an open rupture. Warwick, whose prudence was equal to his bravery, soon made use of both to assist his revenge; he seduced the duke of Clarence, brother to the king, and, to confirm that nobleman in his interest, gave him his daughter in marriage. Thus an extensive and dangerous combination was formed against Edward and his ministry; and an accident that followed soon after, contributed to fan the flame. The inhabitants about St. Leonard's hospital, in Yorkshire, com- [A. D. 1469. plained that the duties levied for that institution, which were orignally allotted for pious uses, were now secreted by the managers and they refused to contribute their part. They soon after rose in a body to oppose the ecclesiastical severities that were levelled against them by the earl of Pembroke. It is thought that the earl of Warwick had some hand in fomenting these disorders; and although this rebellion was quieted by a pardon from Edward, yet some others, that broke out shortly after, appeared favourable to Warwick's designs. Vengeance seemed to be the only motive this nobleman had in view; and that he pursued with unabating assiduity. Plots, treasons, stratagems, and negociations, followed each other in rapid succession: but at last fortune seemed to favour Warwick's aims, and the king, as we are told, fell into his power, by accepting an invitation which the earl gave him in order to betray him. Be this as it may, Edward had soon the good fortune to see himself at the head of a numerous army, and in a condition to take satisfaction for the treachery of his powerful opponent. Resolving, therefore, to take advantage of the enemies' weakness, after hav- [A. D. 1470. ing defeated a party commanded by lord Wells, and cut off his head, he marched to give them battle. In this exigency, Warwick, and the duke of Clarence, had no other resource but to quit the kingdom; and embarking for Calais, they seized upon some Flemish vessels, which they found lying along that coast, with which they entered one of the ports of France. Here they entered into an union with Margaret, which was dictated by necessity; both sides being willing to forget their mutual animosity, in order to second their revenge. Lewis XI., king of France, prepared a fleet to escort them; and seizing the opportunity, they landed at Dartmouth with a small body of troops, while Edward was in the north suppressing an insurrection which had lately appeared there. Nothing can be more extraordinary than the success of Warwick upon this occasion. The spirit of discontent with which many

were infected, and the general instability of the English nation, conspired with his ambition; and in less than six days such multitudes flocked to his standard, that he saw himself at the head of an army of threescore thousand men. It was now become Edward's turn to fly from the kingdom. He had just time to escape an attempt made upon his person in the night by the marquis of Montague, and to embark on board a small fleet, which lay off Lynn in Norfolk. Nor were his dangers lessened at sea, where he was chased by some ships belonging to the Hanse-towns, who were then at war both with France and England. But at length he landed safely in Holland, where he received a cool reception from the duke of Burgundy, with whom he had some time before entered into an alliance.

In the mean time, Warwick, with his resistless army, advanced to London; and once more the poor passive king Henry was released from prison, to be placed upon a dangerous throne. A parliament was called, which confirmed Henry's title with great solemnity; and Warwick was himself received among the people under the title of the King-maker. All the attainders of the Lancastrians were reversed; and every one was restored, who had lost either honours or fortune by his former adherence to Henry's cause. All the considerable Yorkists either fled to the continent, or took shelter in sanctuaries, where the ecclesiastical privileges afforded them protection.

But Edward's party, though repressed, was not destroyed. Though an exile in Holland, he had many partisans at home; and, after an absence of some months, being seconded by a small body of forces granted him by the duke A. D. 1471.] of Burgundy, he made a descent at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. Though at first he was coolly received by the English, yet his army increased upon its march, while his moderation and feigned humility still added to the number of his partisans. London, at that time ever ready to admit the most powerful, opened her gates to him; and the wretched Henry was once more plucked from his throne, to be sent back to his former mansion.

Thus Warwick began to experience the instability of fortune, and to find his party declining; but what gave the most dreadful blow to his hopes, was the defection of his son-in-law, the duke of Clarence, who went over to Edward, and threw all his weight into the opposite scale. Nothing now remained to Warwick, but to cut short a state of anxious suspense by hazarding a battle; and though he knew his forces to be inferior to those of Edward, yet he placed his greatest dependence upon his own generalship. With this resolution he marched from St. Alban's, where he was stationed, and advancing towards Barnet, within ten miles of London, there he resolved to wait for Edward, who was not slow in marching down to oppose him. Warwick and Edward were at that time considered as the two most renowned generals of the age; and now was to be struck the decisive blow that was either to fix Edward on the throne, or to overthrow his pretensions for ever. The unfortunate Henry also was dragged along to be a spectator of the engagement; happy in his natural imbecility, which seemed as a balm to soothe all his afflictions.

April 14, 1471.] The battle began early in the morning, and lasted till noon; and never did two armies fight with greater obstinacy and bravery, not honour but life depending on the issue of the contest. The example of Warwick inspired his troops with more than common resolution, and the victory for a while seemed to declare in his favour. But an accident at last threw the balance against him: from the mistiness of the morning, a part of his army, happening to mistake a body of their own forces for the enemy, fell furiously upon them, and this error turned the fortune of the day. Warwick did all that experience, valour, or conduct, could suggest, to retrieve the mistake; but it was now too late: no art could repair the error; wherefore, finding all hopes gone, he was resolved to sell the conquerors a dearbought victory. He had, contrary to his usual practice, engaged that day on foot; and leading a chosen body of troops into the thickest of the slaughter, he there fell in the midst of his enemies, covered with wounds. His brother underwent the same fate; and six thousand of his adherents were slain, Edward having ordered that no quarter should be given.

Margaret, who had been ever fruitful in resources, was at that time re

turning with her son from France, where she had been negociating for fresh supplies. She had scarcely time to refresh herself from the fatigues of her voyage, when she received the fatal news of the death of the brave Warwick, and the total destruction of her party. Though she had hitherto boldly withstood all the attacks of fortune, the present information was too violent a blow for nature to support. Her grief, for the first time, found way in a torrent of tears; and yielding to her unhappy fate, she took sanctuary in the abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire.

She had not been long in this melancholy abode before she found some few friends still willing to assist her fallen fortunes. Tudor, earl of Pembroke, Courtenay, earl of Devonshire, the lords Wenlock and St. John, with other men of rank, exhorted her still to hope for success, and offered to assist her to the last. A dawn of hope was sufficient to revive the courage of this magnanimous woman; and the recollection of her former misfortunes gave way to the flattering prospect of another trial. The duke of Somerset headed her army; a man who had shared her dangers, and had ever been steady in her cause. He was valiant, generous, and polite; but rash and headstrong. When Edward first attacked him in his entrenchments, he repulsed him with such vigour, that the enemy retired with precipitation; upon which the duke, supposing them routed, pursued, and ordered lord Wenlock to support his charge. But unfortunately this lord disobeyed his orders; and Somerset's forces were soon overpowered by numbers. In this dreadful exigency, the duke, finding that all was over, became ungovernable in his rage; and beholding Wenlock inactive, on the very ground where he had first drawn up his men, he gave way to his fury, ran upon the coward with his heavy battle-axe in both hands, and with one blow dashed out his brains.

The queen and the prince were taken prisoners after the battle, and brought into the presence of Edward. The young prince appeared before the conqueror with undaunted majesty; and being asked, in an insulting manner, how he dared to invade England without leave, the young prince, more mindful of his high birth than of his ruined fortune, replied, “I entered the dominions of my father, to revenge his injuries, and redress my own." The barbarous Edward, enraged at his intrepidity, struck him on the mouth with his gauntlet; and this served as a signal for farther brutality; the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence, and other courtiers, rushing on the unarmed youth at once, stabbed bim to the heart with their daggers. To complete the tragedy, Henry himself, who had long been the passive spectator of all these horrors, was now thought unfit to live. The duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard the Third, entering his chamber alone, murdered him in cold blood. Of all those who were taken, few were suffered to survive but Margaret herself. Edward perhaps expected that she would be ransomed by the king of France; and in this point he was not deceived, as that monarch paid fifty thousand crowns for her freedom. This extraordinary woman, after having sustained the cause of her husband in twelve battles, after having survived her friends, fortunes, and children, died a few years after in privacy in France, very miserable indeed; but with few claims to our pity, except her courage and her distresses.

CHAP. XX.

EDWARD IV.-A. D. 1471. to 1483.

Of all people, the English are the most truly compassionate; and a throne raised upon cruelty never wanted enemies among them. Nothing could have been more ill-judged than any attempts to govern such a people by the hands of the executioner; and the leaders of either faction seemed insensible of this truth. Edward, being now freed from great enemies, turned to the punishment of those of less note; so that the gibbets were hung with his adversaries, and their estates confiscated to his use. The bastard Falconbridge, among others, having advanced to London at the head of a small body of forces, was repulsed; and, being taken prisoner, was immediately

executed.