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VI.

Spaniard, that he intrusted the interests of the CHAP. Scottish crown to his discretion; and Ayala prolonged the truce till the termination of one year after the death of the survivor of the two kings. There only remained a few points, on which the demands of Henry were deemed by the king of Scots derogatory from his honour: and these at the suggestion of Ayala were referred to the impartial decision of Ferdinand king of Spain.85)

The enthusiasm which had been excited by the first appearance of Warbeck in Scotland, had long been on the decline and before the meeting of the commissioners, whether it were that he saw the current of public opinion setting against him, or hoped to profit by the troubles in Cornwall, or had received a hint from his royal protector (for all these reasons have been assigned) he departed from Scotland with four ships, and six score companions. He first touched at Cork, and solicited in vain the aid of the earl of Desmond. From Cork he directed his Warbeck course across the channel to Whitsand bay; and proceeding by land to Bodmin, unfurled the Sept. 7. standard of Richard IV. The men of Cornwall had not acquired wisdom from their recent defeat. Three thousand offered their services to the adventurer: and that number was doubled before he reached the city of Exeter. Here he

85 Rym. xii. 671.673-680. Hall, 45,

in Corn

wall.

VI.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP. formed his army into two divisions, and while one attempted to scale the walls, commanded the other to set fire to the opposite gate. The first was repulsed with considerable loss: the second was foiled by the ingenuity of the citizens, who on their part kindled a fire in the very gateway, and constantly fed it with fuel, till they had dug a deep trench between themselves and the enemy. The loss of two hundred men in this unfortunate attempt, and the arrival of the gentlemen of the county to the defence of the city, compelled the adventurer to decamp. On his road to Taunton he saw himself deserted by many of his adherents: but the Cornishmen bade him proceed, and promised to devote their lives to his service. The royal army had now arrived the main battle was commanded by the lord steward and lord chamberlain; Henry stationed himself with the reserve; and a complete but sanguinary victory was confidently anticipated. During the day the pretended Richard with great composure made preparation for battle: but his heart failed at the sight He flies to of the royal standard; and as soon as it was dark, he left his camp with a guard of sixty men, and riding all night, entered his name in the sanctuary of Beaulieu in Hampshire. His followers, seeing themselves abandoned by their captain, implored the king's mercy. The ringleaders were hanged, and the rest dismissed without ransom. Warbeck's wife, the lady Eliza

a sanc

tuary.

Sept. 20.

VI.

beth Gordon, who had been left at Mount St. CHAP. Michael, submitted at the first summons. When she was introduced to the king, she blushed and burst into tears: but he relieved her apprehensions, and sent her to the queen, with whom she afterwards lived as an attendant, still retaining, on account of her beauty, the appellation of the white rose," which she had originally derived from the pretensions of her husband.87

the king.

In the sanctuary of Beaulieu the fugitive had Submits to leisure to reflect on his melancholy situation. He saw the abbey constantly surrounded with a guard: he was repeatedly tempted to leave it by promises of pardon: and, after a severe struggle, resolved to throw himself on the mercy of the conqueror. The king did not violatè his word, but refused to admit him into his presence. When he returned to London, Warbeck rode in his suite, surrounded by multitudes, who gazed with wonder at the man, whose claim and adventures had so long engaged their attention. He was conducted as a spectacle through the principal streets of the city; ordered to confine himself within the precincts of the palace; and

96

Magno cum rubore et obortis lacrymis. André, MS. Domit. A. xviii.

87 Fab. 531. Hall, 46, 47. Bacon, 104. "The white rose" was afterwards married to sir Matthew Cradock, and was buried with him in the church of Swansea in Wales, where their tomb and epitaph are still to be seen. Histor. Doubts, addition.

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VI.

Escapes.

1498.

June 9.

CHAP. repeatedly examined before a board of commissioners, as to his parentage, his instructors, and his associates. Whatever disclosures he made, were kept secret: but he grew weary of his confinement in the palace, and at the end of six months contrived to elude the vigilance of his keepers. The alarm was instantly given: patroles watched every road to the coast; and the fugitive, in despair of success, surrendered himself to the prior of the monastery at Shene. The monk encouraged him with the hopes of pardon, and by his solicitations extorted from the king a promise to spare the life of the suppliant. But Reads his he was compelled to stand a whole day in the stocks at Westminster hall, and the next in June 14. Cheapside: and on both occasions to read to the

confes

sion.

people a confession which he had signed with his own hand. In this barren and unsatisfactory document, he acknowledged that he was a native of Tournay, the son of John Osbeck and Catharine di Faro; gave the names and professions of his relations, and of the persons with whom he had lived at Antwerp, Middleburgh, and Lisbon; and stated that on his arrival at Cork he was taken first for Simnel, who had personated the earl of Warwick, then for an illegitimate son of Richard III., and lastly for the duke of York, the second son of Edward IV.; that he was invited into France by Charles VIII., " from France he "went into Ireland, from Ireland into Scotland,

VI.

❝and so into England." It is plain that this CHAP. confession was composed from the disclosures which he had previously made. It describes with minuteness his parentage and original occupation, points which Henry wished to impress on the minds of the people, but was silent on subjects which it might have been unpleasant or impolitic to disclose, his transactions with foreign princes, and the assurances of support which he had received from native subjects. After suffering his punishment he was committed to the Tower.89

tended

This seems to have been the age of intrigue A preand imposture. From the capture of Simnel to earl of the appearance of Warbeck, Henry had been Warwick. kept in constant alarm by repeated attempts in favour of the earl of Warwick. About the close of 1498 a plan had been adopted to liberate that prince from prison: but it failed through the ignorance of the conspirators, who mistook the place of his confinement.90 The following year a new plot was contrived in the councils of the

88 Hall, 49, 50. Grafton, 929. André, Domit, A. xviii. André was pensioned by Henry. Rym. xii. 643. His evidence (for he says the confession was printed by order of the king) proves its authenticity, which Mr. Laing has denied, because it is not mentioned by Fabian or Polydore. Hen. xii. 444.

89 Hall, ibid. Fab. 532. Stow, 481. From some imaginary improbabilities in the confession, it has been inferred that it was a mere fiction invented by Henry and his ministers. I should have thought that they might have invented a fiction of that description without crowding it with improbabilities.

90 Rot. Parl. vi. 437.

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