ward, indignant at his answer, and insensible to pity, struck him on the face with his gauntlet; and the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, with others, taking the blow as a signal for further violence, hurried the prince into the next apartment, and there dispatched him with their daggers. It is said also, and generally believed, that Richard, duke of Gloucester, killed king Henry with his own hands. When Edward was secured on the throne, his spirit sunk in indolence and pleasure. The energies of his reign seem to have terminated with the civil wars, unless we except his acts of detestable tyranny. He put to death, on the most frivolous pretence, his brother Clarence; and preparing to gratify his subjects, by a war with France, he died suddenly, in the forty-second year of his age, poisoned, as was suspected, by his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester. § The only favour which the king granted his brother, Clarence, after his condemnation, was, to leave him the choice of his death. The duke chose to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey-a whimsical choice, which implies that he had an extraordinary predilection for that liquor. 16. Edward V., a minor, succeeded his father, 1483, under the protection of his uncle, the duke of Gloucester. A few days afterwards, the duke of Gloucester caused himself to be proclaimed, under the title of Richard III. The young king and his brother having been removed to the tower by Richard's order, under pretence of guarding them, disappeared about that time. The diabolical Richard, had inhumanly deprived them of life. § Richard possessed a fierce and savage nature, and in making his way to the throne, had recourse to the most perfidious and cruel acts. Endeavouring to gain the assistance of lord Hastings, and finding that nobleman inflexibly favourable to the children of Edward, he accused him of treason, and ordered him to be decapitated, without even the appearance of legal forms. The murder of the two young princes, was as deep a tragedy as any recorded in English history. Richard gave orders to Sir Robert Brakenbury, constable of the tower, to put his nephews to death; but this gentleman, who had sentiments of honour, refused to stain his hands with the infamous deed. The tyrant then engaged Sir James Tyrrel, who, choosing three associates, like himself, came in the night time to the door of the chamber, where the princes were lodged, and sending in the assassins, he bade them ex ecute their commission, while he himself staid without. They found the unoffending young princes in bed, and fallen into a sweet and profound sleep. After suffocating them with the bolster and pillows, they showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered them to be buried at the foot of the stairs, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones. These circumstances were all confessed by the bloody actors, in the following reign. In the reign of Charles II., the bones of two persons were found in the place indicated, which exactly corresponded, by their sizes, to Edward V., and his brother; and being judged the undoubted remains of these unhappy princes, were deposited in Westminster Abbey. 17. The earl of Richmond, the only surviving heir of the honse of Lancaster, became the instrument, under divine Providence, of avenging the awful crimes of Richard. Assisted by the French king, he landed in England, and revived the spirits of a party almost extinguished in the kingdom. He gave battle to Richard, 1485, in the field of Bosworth, and entirely defeated the army of the usurper, who was slain while fighting with the most desperate courage. This battle terminated the terrible contest between the houses of York and Lancaster-a contest which lasted thirty years, and in which twelve sanguinary pitched battles were fought, and 100,000 brave men, including eighty princes of the blood. perished on the field, or by the hand of the executioner. § The person of Richard was as deformed as his character was detestable. He was small of stature, hump-backed, ugly in his features, and had his left arm withered. This infirmity, which had attended him from his birth, he pretended, on a certain occasion when he wished to confound lord Hastings, was the effect of Jane Shore's incantations, knowing that this nobleman had engaged in an intrigue with that lady. 18. The crown which Richard wore in the engagement that proved fatal to his life, was immediately placed on the head of the conqueror. The earl of Richmond assumed the title of Henry VII., Aug. 22, 1485. By marrying a daugh ter of Edward IV., he united the rights of the two houses of York and Lancaster. He was a descendant from Edmund Tudor, and first king of the house of Tudor. Henry was a prudent and politic prince, but unhappily prejudiced against the adherents of the house of York. A degree of discontent was thus engendered, which tended to jeopardise his government. The general tranquillity of his reign was, on this account, occasionally disturbed by plots and conspiracies--two of which were rather singular, consisting in attemp's to counterfeit the persons of the heirs of York, and to enforce their claims to the crown. § The name of one of these impostors was Lambert Simnel, the son of a baker, who counterfeited the person of the earl of Warwick, son of the late duke of Clarence. The name of the other was Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish Jew, who personated the duke of York, who had been smothered in the tower. They were supported by men of distinction in the nation, and gave Henry great trouble, but were finally subdued and taken. Simnel was spared and made a scullion in the king's kitchen. Warbeck expiated his crime on the scaffold. The aversion of Henry to the house of York, shewed itself even in his treatment of his wife. Though in the highest degree virtuous, amiable, and obsequious, she never met with a proper return of affection, or even of complaisance, from her husband; and the malignant ideas of faction, in his sullen mind, prevailed over all the sentiments of conjugal endearment. Henry was by nature a despot; and indeed the principles of despotism were congenial to all the sovereigns of the Tudor race. Yet his sagacity led him generally to pacific counsels. Though he was by no means a popular prince, he was useful to the nation, having enacted many wise laws, promoted industry, encouraged commerce, patronized the arts of civilized life, and curbed and softened the spirit of a proud and rude aristocracy. His policy gave a death blow to the Feudal system. The greatest stain in this prince's character was his avarice, which, in the latter part of his reign, prompt ed to the most oppressive exactions. § He is said to have left at his death, in ready money, a sum equal to £10,000,000 at present. 19. Henry VIII. succeeded his father in the eighteenth year of his age, 1509. He came to the throne with flattering prospects, considered whether in respect to the improved and tranquil state of the kingdom, the affection and high expectation of his people, or his own supposed good qualities. § The succession was well established, the contending titles of York and Lancaster were fully united in him, the treasury was well filled, and peace and prosperity were universally enjoyed. The young prince's person was beautiful, his manners elegant, his disposition frank, his mind highly cultivated for the times, and his native talents commanding. The nation, however, was greatly disappointed in its young prince. He soon shewed himself an unprincipled tyrant; and both friends and foes felt, at times, the effects of his caprice and cruelty. His ministers were talented men, but he took pleasure in abusing them. Only archbishop Cranmer continued to be an object of favour to the last. Cardinal |