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being a staunch friend of the king, he became his bitter enemy, and succeeded in making him a prisoner at his castle at Middleham; so that for a short period two crowned sovereigns were prisoners within their own. dominions. But Edward was too energetic and full of resources long to remain a prisoner. He therefore made his escape, and soon after defeated Warwick at the battle of Stamford. The king-maker (Warwick) with Clarence fled to France, where they were reconciled to Queen Margaret, and returning to England, they had the feeble Henry VI. again proclaimed king. Edward now escaped to Flanders, where he remained some months.

In 1471, by another turn in the wheel of fortuné, Edward returned to England, fought and gained the decisive battle of Barnet, in which the powerful Warwick was slain; and soon after Margaret and her son were defeated and taken prisoners at Tewkesbury. Margaret remained a prisoner in the Tower of London, where in the same year the feeble, but well-intentioned and unfortunate Henry VI. died.

Of the remaining years of Edward's reign little or no good can be told. Feuds and intrigues amongst the members of the royal family and the nobles continued to the very end. France was invaded in 1475, but Edward was bought off by Louis XI., who was then on the throne. The English claim to the crown of Scotland was renewed, but a two years' war ended only in the annexation of Berwick-on-Tweed.

He had great powers, but they were almost entirely devoted to self-gratification, and that not always in the most lawful manner. In the midst of so much that is dark and forbidding, one ray of light, however, arises; for it was during this reign that William Caxton, a

London merchant, who had learned the art of printing in Germany, set up, in the year 1477, the first English Printing Press, in the Almonry at Westminster. Lord Rivers, who had been tutor to Edward, was Caxton's chief patron.

On the 9th of April, 1483, at the early age of fortytwo, the king died, and was buried in the Chapel of St. George, at Windsor. He left two sons, of whom the elder now became king, as Edward V. He was a youth of thirteen years, while his brother Richard, Duke of York, was three years younger. At the time of his father's death, the young prince was at Ludlow, under the care of his uncle, Lord Rivers.

By the will of the late king, his brother Richard, of Gloucester, was named as regent, which appointment was afterwards confirmed by a great council. On the last day of April, two travelling parties met at StonyStratford, near London; the one consisted of the young boy-king, under escort of Lord Rivers, and other relatives of the Woodvilles; the other was headed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, already bent upon the overthrow of the authority of the queen-mother, and his own exaltation to the power, if not the title, of king. The impetuosity of his own character, and the known ambition of the Woodvilles, hastened on events and crimes which one would fain pass over in silence.

Briefly told, the story of the unfortunate boy-king and his equally hapless brother is this. Richard, finding Lord Hastings unwilling to back his ambitious designs, charged him at the council board with sorcery, and had him forthwith dragged to the courtyard and beheaded. He then declared the children of his late brother illegitimate, by reason of an earlier marriage;

and openly claimed the crown for himself. On the 26th of June, 1483, the lord mayor of London, attended by a number of the citizens, offered Richard the crown. And thus, only eleven weeks after his accession, did young Edward V. give place to his cruel and ambitious uncle.

Richard III., finding himself thus early on the throne (he was now in the 33rd year of his age), at once took steps to make his position, as he thought, safe: and hence the removal of his two nephews by a murder as treacherous as it was cowardly. The young princes being lodged in the Tower, which was in those times at once a palace and a prison, Sir Richard Tyrrel, a minion of Richard, was sent to take command for a day and night. In that night was acted out the dark deed. The two young princes were asleep in innocence and security, when, heedless of their stifled cries, cruel hands were laid upon them, and they were smothered beneath the bedclothes, their bodies being buried at the foot of the staircase. The story has been doubted by some, but it appears all too true.

That such a deed had been committed was pretty generally believed at the time, and many leaders of all parties united to avenge the crime. A leader was found in the person of Henry, Earl of Richmond, son of Edward Tudor, and grandson of Catherine, wife of Henry V., and on his mother's side descended from John of Gaunt; and further to strengthen his claim, and to secure the firm support of the Yorkists, it was proposed that Henry should marry the Princess Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV.

Buckingham, who had been Richard's most powerful ally, was also won over to the cause of Richmond; and he raised the standard of revolt in Wales, but failed; and

paid the penalty with his life at Salisbury. Young Richmond also made an attempt to land in Dorset, but was foiled by a storm. For upwards of a year and a half he remained in France, awaiting a favourable opportunity to strike for the crown. In August, 1485, he left Harfleur and landed at Milford Haven. Henry made his way through Wales and on into Staffordshire, being joined by Talbot, Stanley, and a few others of the nobility. Richard, hearing of his rival's progress, marched with an army to Leicester, and thence to Bosworth, where he encamped. On the 22nd of August the hostile forces met. The king had 12,000 men, and his rival about half that number; but in the crisis of the battle Richmond was joined by Lord Stanley, with 7000 men. fought with all the courage of his nature, but he was overmatched, and fell in the thick of the fight. His dead body was carried to Leicester, and buried in the Grey Friars' monastery.

Richard

The career of Richard III. was too brief and troubled to allow much of the work of the statesman; it may, however be noted, that in his reign our statutes were first drawn up and printed in the English language.

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Decisive, unfortunate, intrigue, proposed, rival, proclaimed, and ambition. 2. Name the kings of the House of York, and say how the dynasty began and ended. 3. Give the chief battles of this period, saying where and when each was fought.

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Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside;
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons emparadise the night;
A land of beauty, virtue, valour, truth,
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth:
The wandering mariner, whose eye explores
The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting shores,
Views not a realm so bountiful and fair,
Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air.
In every clime the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole;
For in this land of heaven's peculiar race,
The heritage of nature's noblest grace,
There is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest,-
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and sceptre, pageantry and pride,
While in his softened looks benignly blend
The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend.
Here woman reigns: the mother, daughter, wife,
Strew with fresh flowers the narrow way of life;
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye,
And angel-guard of love and graces lie;

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