RECTION IN FAVOUR OF A Pretended EARL OF WARWICK.

INSUR

IMPOSTURE OF

Henry's

THE long quarrel between the two houses of York and Defects of Lancaster had deluged England with blood: by a for- title. tunate concurrence of circumstances it was given to Henry of Richmond, an exile and an adventurer, without means and without title, to unite the interests of the << two roses», and to bequeath to posterity the blessing of an undisputed succession. From the field of Bosworth he proceeded to Leicester. Victory had placed the crown on his temples and the absence of a rival secured to him the present possession of the sovereignty. But a perplexing question occurred: on what title he was to ground his claim. On that of hereditary

descent? The right of hereditary descent, even supposing it to be in the family of Lancaster, and not of York, could not be propagated through an illegitimate branch, which, to prevent dispute, had been originally cut off from the succession by act of parliament. Should he then depend on his stipulated marriage with the princess Elisabeth? But his pride disdained to owe the sceptre to a wife, the representative of a rival and hated family. That would be to justify the dethronement of Henry VI., to acknowledge himself a king only by courtesy, and to exclude his issue by any succeeding marriage from all claim to the throne. There remained the right of conquest: but, though he might appeal to his late victory as an argument that heaven approved of his pretensions ', he dared not mention the name of conquest, or he would have united his friends with his foes in a common league against him 2. The question became the subject of long and anxious deliberation; and it was at last resolved to follow a line of proceeding, which, while it settled the crown on the king and his heirs in general, should not bring either his right, or that of the princess, into discussion.

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The reader has seen that Richard before his fall, had

'It was the common persuasion at the time that, as in private duels, so in battles, the event shewed the right of the victorious party. Henry alluded to it in parliament. Rot. Parl. vi. 268. And the same doctrine had been openly maintained by Edward IV. In division and contraversie moved betwyxt princes uppon the high

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« soveraigne power roiell, more evident prove or declaration of

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« trouth, right and Godds will may not be had than by the means of reason, auctoritie, and victorie in batailles. » Rym. xi. 710.

2 Because it was taught that a conqueror might dispossess all men of their lands, since they held them of the prince, who had been conquered. 3 Bacon, 2-4.

named his nephew, John de la Pole earl of Lincoln, to be his successor. Him and his pretensions Henry treated with contempt: but there was another prince, Edward Plantagenet, son to the late duke of Clarence, whom he viewed with peculiar jealousy. After the execution of Clarence, Edward IV. had sent for the child to court, and had created him earl of Warwick, the title borne by his grandfather. Even Richard, when his own son was dead, had at first assigned to him the honours of the heir apparent but afterwards, fearing that he might become a dangerous competitor, had confined him in the castle of Sheriff-hutton in Yorkshire. The first act of the new king at Leicester, was to transfer the young prince, who had only reached his fifteenth year, from his prison in the north to a place of greater security, the Tower. The public commiserated the lot of the innocent 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 Sheriff-hutton. 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. '

makes his

entry into

Aug. 28.

The fall of the usurper excited little regret. No man The king could pity his death, who had pitied the fate of his unoffending nephews. When the conqueror entered the capital. 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 Bacon, I.

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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's2. But his coronation was delayed, and the joy of the public was damped, by the sudden spread of a disease, which acquired from its predominant symptoms the sweating sickness, 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 violence began to abate3, 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 Courtenay to that of earl of Devon 4. At the same time he appointed a body of

Oct. 30.

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André, who was present, and recited verses in his honour. Domit. A. xviii.

2 These standards were an « ymage of Sainte George, a red firye dragon, and a done kowe. » Hall, i.

3 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. 4 Cont. Croyl. 577. Bacon, 6. Hall, 3.

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 foreign princes a guard was considered as a necessary appendage to the regal dignity. '

lament.

As soon as he was crowned, the king summoned a Proceedings in parparliament; and when the commons presented to him their speaker, was careful to inform them, that «he

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had come to the throne by just title of inheritance,

<< and by the sure judgment of God, who had given him the victory 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 parliament should be punished for their offences against his royal majesty 2. 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 to sit, till their attainders had been reversed by equal authority. The advice was followed: all who had been disinherited by Richard,

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Hall, 3. Yet it is certain that former kings had guards of archers, but probably only on particular occasions.

2 Rot. Parl. vi. 268.

Nov. 7.