VI. The public commiserated the lot of the innocent CHAP. victim, who thus, to satisfy the ambition of others, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment from his childhood: and the spot chosen for his confinement, a spot so lately stained with the blood of princes, was considered as an omen of his subsequent destiny. The princess Elizabeth had been his fellow captive at Sheriffhutton. Richard had sent her there as soon as he heard of the invasion; Henry ordered her to be conducted by several noblemen to the house of her mother in London.* The fall of the usurper excited little regret. No man could pity his death, who had pitied the fate of his unoffending nephews. When the conqueror entered the capital, he was received with unequivocal demonstrations of joy. The mayor and principal citizens met him at Hornsey park, and were permitted to kiss his hand. As he passed through the streets in a close carriage, the crowd obstructed his way, that they might behold and greet the deliverer of his country. Before him were borne the ensigns of his triumph, the three standards which had led his small army to victory, and which he devoutly offered on the high altar of St. Paul's." But his coronation was delayed, and the joy of 4 Bacon 1. 5 verses in his honour.-Domit. A. xviii. • These standards were an "ymage of Sainte George, a red firye dragon, and a done kowe." Hall, i. The king makes his entry into the capi tal. Aug. 28. VI. The sweating sickness. CHAP. the public was damped, by the sudden spread of a disease, which acquired from its predominant symptoms the appellation of the sweating sickness. It generally extinguished life within the course of twenty-four hours: and some idea may be formed of its ravages, when it is known that within eight days it proved fatal to two successive lord mayors, and six of the aldermen of London. At the end of a month, whether it were owing to the greater experience of the physicians, or the coldness of the season, its Oct. 30. violence began to abate, and the new king received the rite of coronation from the hands of the cardinal, archbishop of Canterbury. On that occasion twelve knights bannerets were created; and the king's uncle, the earl of Pembroke was raised to the dignity of duke of Bedford, the lord Stanley to that of earl of Derby, and sir Edward Courteney to that of earl of Devon. At the same time he appointed a body of select archers, amounting to fifty men, to attend on him by the appellation of yeomen. of the guard. The institution excited surprise: but Henry justified it on the ground that by 8 7 After the loss of many lives it was discovered, that if the patient lay still for twenty-four hours, and carefully abstained from whatever might add to the heat, or induce cold, he generally recovered. By this method the mortality was much diminished, when the same disease re-appeared in England, though it still proved fatal to thousands in Flanders and Germany. Hall, 3, 4. Bacon 6. * Cont. Croyl. 577, Bacon, 6. Hall, 3. foreign princes a guard was considered as a necessary appendage to the regal dignity." CHAP. VI. ings in parlia As soon as he was crowned, the king sum- Proceedmoned a parliament; and when the commons presented to him their speaker, was careful to inform them, that "he had come to the throne 66 66 66 66 66 by just title of inheritance, and by the sure 'judgment of God, who had given him the vic"tory over his enemy in the field:" but, lest they should be alarmed by the last words, he added that every man should continue " to enjoy his rights and hereditaments, with the exception of such persons as in the present par"liament should be punished for their offences against his royal majesty." When the commons returned to their own house, an unexpected difficulty arose. A large proportion of the members had been outlawed by the last. monarch. Could they sit there in quality of lawgivers? Even the king, who had summoned them together, had been attainted. Was that: attainder to continue unrepealed? Henry was. displeased with the boldness of these questions:› but dissembling his resentment, he consulted the judges, who replied that as far as regarded the king himself, the crown had cleared away all legal corruption of blood: but that the members attainted by course of law, must forbear 9 Hall, 3. Yet it is certain that former kings had guards of archers, but probably only on particular occasions. 10 Rot. Parl. vi. 268. ment. Nov. 7. VI. Settle ment of CHAP. to sit, till their attainders had been reversed by equal authority. The advice was followed: all who had been disinherited by Richard, were by one act restored to their former rights: and separate bills were passed in favour of the king's mother, the dukes of Bedford, Buckingham, and Somerset, the marquess of Dorset, the earl of Oxford, the lords Beaumont, Wells, Clifford, Hungerford, Roos, and several others. The whole number of those who profited by this measure, amounted to one hundred and seven." The transactions which followed were importthe crown, ant and interesting. 1°. In the settlement of the crown by legislative enactment, Henry proceeded with cautious and measured steps. Jealous as he was of the pretended right of the house of Lancaster, he was equally sensible that the claim of the princess Elizabeth would prove the firmest support of his throne. Hence he watched all the proceedings with the most scrupulous solicitude. To weaken her claim would be to undermine his own interest: to confirm it would encourage a suspicion that he was conscious of a defect in his own title. He therefore refused both to revive the act of Henry IV., which established the succession in the line of John of Ghent, and to repeal that of Edward IV., which established it in the line of Lionel duke of Cla 11 Rot. Parl. vi. 273. 288. 280-217. 1 Henry VII. 5. Bacon, 8. Year-book, Term Mich. rence. HENRY VII. In his own favour he commanded that all records, containing any mention of his attainder, should be cancelled and taken off the file:12 in favour of his Lancastrian predecessors, he annulled the act of Edward IV., which had pronounced Henry IV. and Henry V. usurpers, Henry VI. an usurper and traitor, Margaret and Edward, the wife and son of that monarch, traitors, and all the heirs of the body of Henry of Derby incapable of holding or inheriting any estate, dignity, pre-eminence, hereditament, or possession within the realm:13 and in favour of Elizabeth he repealed the act of the 1st of Richard III., by which that princess had been pronounced a bastard, in common with the rest of her father's children by Elizabeth Gray. Out of respect for her who was to be queen, neither the title nor the body of the act was read in either house. By advice of the judges it was merely designated by the first words; the original was then ordered to be burnt; and all persons possessed of copies, were commanded to deliver them to the chancellor before Easter, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment."4 12 Bacon, 9.. 13 Rot. Parl. vi. 288. An act was also passed restoring Elizabeth the widow of Edward IV. to the same title and dignity, as she would have had, if no act had passed against her under Richard III.: and rendering her able to plead, and be impleaded, and to receive and grant lands and chattels. But it does not appear that her dower was restored. Ibid. 14 Ibid. 289. Year-book, Term Hil. 1 Henry VII. 5. Stillington bishop of Bath, who had made the petition and act now repealed, CHAP. VI. |