of each other, little suspecting the wiles and cruelty of

their unnatural uncle. '

Jane Shore.

The partisans of the protector were now employed Penance of to circulate the most strange and incredible rumours. Some revived the tale, originally invented by Clarence, that the late king, though the reputed son of the duke of York, was in reality the fruit of an adulterous intercourse between his mother Cecily and a knight in the service of her husband. Others, and in greater numbers, affected to throw doubts on the validity of his marriage with Elizabeth, and consequently on the legitimacy of his children by that lady. To aid these impressions the protector appeared in a new character, that of the patron and avenger of public morals. Among the married women, who were known to have yielded to the unprincipled desires of Edward, was Jane, the wife of Shore, a young and opulent citizen. From the moment that her seduction became public, she had been abandoned by her husband: and notwithstanding the inconstancy of her lover, contrived to retain the principal place in the king's affections till the time of his death. This woman Richard now singled out for punishment. Her plate and jewels, to the value of three thousand marks, he very wisely appropriated to himself: her person he delivered to the ecclesiastical court to be punished according to the canons. In her kirtle, with her feet bare, carrying a lighted taper in her hand, and preceded by the cross, Shore was compelled to walk through the streets of the capital, lined with an immense concourse of people. That her penance could

2

Cont. Croyl. 566.

More, 56, 57. He gives her in one respect a commendable character. «< Many the king had : but her he loved whose favour,

:

Sermon in favour

to thé

crown.

of

not affect the title of Edward's children, is evident: but it served to direct the attention of the public to the dissolute conduct of that monarch, and to prepare men for the marvellous scene which was soon to be exhibited.

A body of Welshmen, raised by the duke of Buckthe protec- ingham, had now reached London: the banditti, that tor's right had murdered the prisoners at Pontefract, were in the neighbourhood and the force under the earl of Northumberland would, it was expected, be able to crush all opposition in the north. In these circumstances no danger could be apprehended from the public exposure of Glocester's object. On the next Sunday he appointed Dr. Shaw, the brother of the lord mayor, to preach at St. Paul's cross, who selected for his text the following passage of the Book of Wisdom: « Bastard

June 22.

slips shall not strike deep roots. » Having maintained from different examples that children were seldom permitted to enjoy the fruit of their father's iniquity, he proceeded to describe the well known libertinism of the late king, who, he averred, had been in the habit of promising marriage to every woman, whom he found it difficult to seduce. Thus, in the beginning of his reign, to gratify his passion, he had not hesitated to contract marriage in private with Eleanor, the widow of the lord Boteler of Sudely: and afterwards had married in the same clandestine manner Elizabeth, the « to say the truth (for sin it were to belie the devil) she never abused << to any man's hurt, but to many a man's comfort and relief.... and »> now she beggeth of many at this day living, that at this day had begged, if she had not been. » Ibid.

In sir Thomas More, Elizabeth Lucy is substituted for lady Boteler. It is probably an accidental mistake, as both had been Edward's mistresses. More, 61.

widow of sir John Gray. At a subsequent period he had thought proper to acknowledge the second contract : but such acknowledgement could not annul the prior right of Eleanor, who in the eyes of God and man was the true wife of the king. Hence the preacher concluded that Elizabeth, though admitted as queen of England, could be considered in no other light than a concubine; and that her children by Edward had no legitimate claim to the succession of their father. Indeed, he entertained a doubt, whether that prince were in reality the son of Richard duke of York, and real heir to the crown. All who had been acquainted with the duke must know that there existed no resemblance between him and Edward. « But, » he exclaimed (and at the very moment the protector, as if by accident, passing through the crowd, shewed himself from a balcony near the pulpit) «here, in the duke of Glocester, we have the « very picture of that hero: here every lineament reflects << the features of the father. » It was expected that at these words the citizens would have exclaimed, « Long live « king Richard; » but they gazed on each other in silent astonishment: the protector put on an air of displeasure; and the preacher having hastily concluded his sermon, slunk away to his home. It is said that he never after ventured beyond his own door, but pined away through shame and remorse. '

More, 60, 61. This sermon is rejected by the author of the Historic Doubts. That several of the speeches recorded by Sir Thomas More, are mere rhetorical exercises, is indeed probable but it is equally probable that in mentioning this public and celebrated sermon, which was still in the recollection of many of his readers, he would preserve at least its substance. The principal part of his narrative is moreover corroborated by the testimony of Fabian (p. 514, 515), who was probably present. To the objection that the protec

Speech of the duke

of Buckingham. June 24.

Richard, however, was not disconcerted by the failure of this attempt; but intrusted his cause to the eloquence of a more noble advocate. On the next Tuesday the duke of Buckingham, attended by several lords and gentlemen, harangued the citizens from the hustings at the Guildhall. He reminded them of Edward's tyranny, of the sums which he had extorted under the name of benevolence, and of the families which he had rendered unhappy by his amours. He then took occasion to allude to the sermon which they had heard on the last Sunday, the story of the king's precontract with the lady Boteler, his subsequent union with the lady Gray, and the illegitimacy of the children, the fruit of that pretended marriage. He added that evidently the right to the crown was in Richard duke of Glocester, the only true issue of the duke of York, and that the lords and commons of the northern counties had sworn never to submit to the rule of a bastard. Contrary to his expectation the citizens were still silent: he at length required an answer, whether it were in favour of the protector or not : and a few persons, hired for the purpose, and stationed at the bottom of the hall, having thrown up their bonnets, and exclaimed, « King Richard,» the duke gave the assembly his thanks for their assent, and invited them to accompany him the next day to Baynard's castle, the residence of the duke of Glocester. '

tor lived in habits of friendship with his mother, and therefore would not allow her character to be aspersed, it may be replied that there is no satisfactory proof of that friendship, and that the man would shed the blood of two nephews to procure the crown, would not refuse to allow the character of his mother to be slandered for the same purpose. — ' More, 61-65. Fab. 515.

presented to

the protecJune 25.

tor.

In the morning Buckingham, with several lords and Petition gentlemen, and Shaw with the principal citizens, proceeded to the palace, and demanded an audience. The protector affected to be surprised at their arrival: expressed apprehensions for his safety; and when at last he shewed himself at a window, appeared before them with strong marks of embarrassment and perturbation. Buckingham, with his permission, presented to him an address, which, having been afterwards embodied in an act of parliament, still exists for the information of posterity. It is styled the consideration, election, and petition of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of this realm of England: and after an exaggerated picture of the former prosperity of the kingdom, and of its misery under the late king, proceeds thus : « Also we consider how the pretented marriage betwixt the above-named king Edward and Elizabeth Gray, << was made of great presumption, without the knowing and assent of the lords of this land, and also by sor« cery and witchcraft committed by the said Elizabeth « and her mother Jacquetta dutchess of Bedford, as the « common opinion of the people, and the public voice « and fame is throughout all this land, and hereafter, <«< if and as the case shall require, shall be proved sufficiently in time and place convenient and here also << we consider how that the said pretended marriage << was made privily and secretly, without edition of banns, in a private chamber, a profane place, and

"

<< not openly in the face of the church after the law of

God's church, but contrary thereunto, and the

«< laudable custom of the church of England: and how

also that at the time of the contract of the said pre

« tended marriage, and before and long after, the said