X.

The

CHAP. who with a loyal zeal for Richard which did little honour to his feelings of filial piety, instead of rushing forward in the train of Buckingham to avenge the sacrifice of his father, murdered with Rivers and Gray at Pontefract, harassed the march of the insurgents, and urged them into by-paths which delayed and finally ruined the undertaking. Buckingham thus prevented from pursuing the direct road, led his forces through the Forest of Dean, intending to cross the Severn at Gloucester. design was frustrated by a deluge of rain of ten days' continuance, which swelled the river until it overflowed its banks, and carried ruin and desolation into the circumjacent country; the rushing torrent presented an insurmountable barrier between the confederates. The Marquis of Dorset had raised his followers in Exeter, and other of the malecontents were ready to take up arms in different parts of the kingdom, but their union could not be effected in consequence of the impassable state of the river from a flood which was long afterwards remembered throughout the country by the name of the "Great water, or Buckingham's flood."* Compelled to remain inactive on the borders of the stream, the Welch soldiers, little inclined to the enterprize, melted away. The Duke vainly attempted to retain them in his service by promises of rewards and threats of punishment, they fell off daily in great numbers, and Buckingham was at length deserted by all except a few persons belonging to his household. In this distress, the country hostile, his soldiers treacherous, and a price set upon his head, Buckingham was reduced to seek

Hall.

shelter under the roof of a servant named Banaster CHAP. X. at Shrewsbury, in whose prudence and fidelity he placed a vain reliance. The incautious conduct of this man led to fatal results: considering the rank rather than the circumstances of his guest, he excited suspicion by furnishing his table with viands of a quality superior to his ordinary fare.* Watchful eyes were directed to his residence, and tempted to anticipate the detection which he dreaded by the large reward offered for Buckingham's apprehension, he basely betrayed the unfortunate nobleman to the sheriff of the county.

The proud duke, despoiled of those exterior marks of rank and riches in which like the ostentatious Richard he so much delighted, clad in a rusty black cloak, sought concealment throughout the day in a grove adjoining Banaster's house. In this disguise he was seized by an armed force, and conveyed to Salisbury, where the king was already stationed with his army. The vengeance of Richard fell swiftly on the prisoner's head; he had appointed a viceconstable to pass judgment upon all those who were taken in rebellion, without delay, trial, or appeal.† Pusillanimous in adversity, Buckingham shewed himself to be unworthy of deeds of high emprise; blackened with a dark stain of treachery towards his early friend, he descended into deeper perfidy in the vain hope of softening the monarch's inexorable heart, meanly betraying the names and purpose of his accomplices, thus involving many gallant knights and gentlemen in ruin by a base confession which availed him not. The king, panting for his + Pymer.

* Croyland.

X.

CHAP. blood, would admit no plea in extenuation of his sentence; neither his former, nor his present services could divert the stern inflexibility of Richard's soul, and, deaf to the duke's eager solicitation to be admitted to a personal interview before his death, he condemned him with merciless precipitation to the block.*

It is said that Buckingham sought to obtain an audience with Richard in the hope of accomplishing a murderous revenge; armed with a concealed dagger he was prepared to spring upon the unguarded monarch in some unsuspected moment, and to bury the weapon in his heart; but Richard's unrelenting severity defeated this cold-blooded scheme of assassination, and Buckingham disappointed in the expectation of achieving his disgraceful purpose, suffered the punishment of treason in the market-place of Salisbury, upon a new scaffold erected expressly for the melancholy occasion: his head was struck off on the second of November, and immediately after the execution of his sentence, the dependants of Richard hurried with eager rapacity to take possession of the forfeited estates. Stanley was either rewarded for his loyalty, or bribed to secure equal forbearance in any future attempt by the castle of Kymbolton, assigned to him on the very day of Buckingham's death, and commissions were issued for the seizure, and confiscation of the duke's property in the several counties wherein his rich manors lay scattered.+

Buckingham's ignominious death it is said proved fatal to Lionel Bishop of Salisbury, the brother of

X.

Edward's queen, and one of the last of the unfor- CHAP. tunate race of Wydeville. The prelate was deeply interested in the welfare of Richard's unstable favourite in consequence of his marriage with a younger sister, and he was so strongly affected by the duke's execution which took place at the seat of his own bishopric that he did not long survive the tragic scene.*

According to the old chronicles, retributive justice overtook the faithless servant by whose cowardice or treachery the Duke of Buckingham was surrendered into Richard's hands. Hall relates the disasters which befel the traitor's family in the following words: "Whether this Banaster bewreyed the duke more for fear than covetousness many men do doubt; but sure it is that shortly after he had betrayed ye duke his master, his sonne and heyre waxed nad and so dyed in a bore's stye; his eldest daughter of excellent beautie was sodaynelie stryken with a foule leperye; his second sonne very meruelously deformed of his limmes and made decrepite; his younger sonne in a small puddel was strangled and drowned, and he being of extreme age arraigned and found gyltie of a murther and by his clergy saved. And as for his thousand pound kyng Richard gave him not one farthing, saying that he which would be vntrew to so good a master would be false to al other; howbeit some saie he had a smal office or a ferme to stoppe his mouth withal.”

Britton's Cathedral Antiquities.

CHAPTER XI.

Dispersion of Dorset's Followers-Execution of Sir Thomas St. Leger -Richmond appears upon the Coast-his Retreat to BretagneProceedings of the Lancastrians-Henry Tudor's Oath-The Nobles swear Allegiance to Richmond-Negociations with the Duke of Bretagne-Subservience of Richard's Parliament-The Commons attainted-Richard's Severity-Courtesy shewn to the Countess of Richmond-Libellous Rhyme-Pomp of Richard's Court-Degradation of Elizabeth Wydeville-and of her Daughters—they accept Richard's offered Protection-The King's Oath-Elizabeth's Advice to her Son-Misconstruction of Richard's best Actions—his Designs upon Richmond's Person-Honourable Conduct of the Duke of Bretagne-Treachery of Landois-Richard's Councils are betrayed— Narrow Escape of Richmond-Obtains Protection from Charles VIII.-Conduct of Foreign Princes towards Richard-Henry Tudor's destitute Condition-his sanguine Hopes-he is joined by the Earl of Oxford-and other Knights-Richard's Preparations-The Nobles renew their Oaths of Allegiance-Death of the Prince of Wales-Anecdotes concerning him-Grief of the King and QueenChoice of the Heir Presumptive-Imprisonment of Warwick-Elevation of the Earl of Lincoln-The Duke of Albany's Visit to England--Invasion of Scotland-Albany is defeated-his DeathTreaty with Scotland-Richard's Proclamation-Weakness of Henry Tudor's Claims-his Letter to his English Friends-Confirmation of the Death of the young Princes-Favours enjoyed by the Princess Elizabeth at Court-Reports of the old WritersRichard's Exultation-Illness of the Queen-Letter attributed to the Princess Elizabeth-Death of Queen Anne-Remonstrances of Richard's Friends-Apparent Decline of Richmond's HopesRichard's Suspicion of the Stanleys-Motives of their Conduct-the