J S06.] Mr. Belsham 071 Dr. LelumVs Hijlortj of Ireland, 315 



veral lords of his council, he liad rcfuled 

 to i-anlbm the Earl of" Marcli, and had 

 rvaicd his juft petition by t'ahcly cliar- 

 giiij; tliat prince with \oh\ntarily making 

 hinifelf a prii'oncr to the Welch. 



Atter tlie i\i])pieirion of this rebellion, 

 Nurthuniberlaiid was obliged to retire 

 into Scotland, and the affairs of Glen- 

 dowcr, for many years flouriUiing and 

 jjrofperous, went gradually to decay ; 

 and the government being fettled, the 

 Earl of March was no longer the object 

 of ceafelelis apprehenlion and terror on 

 the part of the king : and we hear no 

 more of this young prince during the re- 

 mainder of the prefent reign. But on 

 the accelhon of the new monarch, Henry 

 v., A. D. 141.'J, the Earl of March, re- 

 lying on the well-known geuerofity of his 

 difpolition, came and put himlelf into 

 his hands, voluntarily offering his homage 

 and allegiance. The king received him 

 with marks of the higheft courtefy and 

 favour; and the utmolt confidence feemed 

 to prevail on both fides. 



Two years, howe\'er, fubfequent to 

 this time, a dangerous and treafonable 

 confpiracy was difcovered, at the head 

 ©f which was the Earl of Cambridge, 

 fecond fon of the Duke of York, and 

 brother by marriage to the Earl of March, 

 who was accufed of being privy to the 

 plot. But although the Earl of Cam- 

 bridge, Lord Scroope, and Sir Thomas 

 Grey, fuffered death on this occalion, 

 the king's free pardon was granted to the 

 Earl of March, who had probably been 

 an unwilling participant in this bulincfs. 

 W. llapin even alVerts, on the dubious 

 authority of Walfingliam, that the parti- 

 culars of the plot were fu'il difcovered to 

 the king by the carl : but fuch treachery 

 miifthave involved his character in inde- 

 lible difgrace, and he apjjears, on the 

 contrary, to liavc retained his reputation 

 and popularity to the lalt. lie ferved 

 unrier the king and the si'cat Duke of 

 Bedfoid, in the cnfuiiig wars in France ; 

 and he lecins to have been of the number 

 of tliofc nobles who were prefent at the 

 death of Henry V., which took place 

 Auguft 31, 1422, at the caitlc of Vin- 

 ceniies. — Uapin, vol. iv, p. 285. Wal- 

 fiiigham, p. 400. 



At an early period of the fucceeding 

 reign, the Earl of March was appointed 

 Viceroy of Ireland, with very extenlive 

 powers, accompanied liy marks of un- 

 ultial honour and diffinction ; he being, 

 as it ap[)uars, authoii/.cd to nominate a 

 *lv'j>ut^ by a comniilljoi> fealed \\A\\ his 



own private feal only. Dr. Leland ob- 



ferves (vol. ii. p. 30j, " that even la tlie • 

 commencement of the prefent reign it 

 had been deemed prudent to remove 

 Edmund Earl of March from the public 

 view. In an infant reigii the moll I'cru- 

 pulous cautions were deemed neceffary.*' 

 And M. Uapin remarks, " that policy 

 required that, during the king's minority, 

 that prince lliould be removed from the 

 kingdom, on account of his right to the 

 crov.a." Vol. iv. p. 3'^2. But thftije is no 

 reafon to think that any jealoufv of the 

 Earl of March was entertained, by the 

 Dukes of Bedford and Glocefler, the 

 king's uncles, and co-regents of his do-, 

 minions, both of them men of undoubted 

 talents and of generous iientiments. The 

 Earl of March, who was too young at 

 the death of King llichnrd II. to have 

 entertained views of the crown, appears 

 to have acquiefced, as he advanced to 

 years of maturity, with lound difcretiou, 

 and little rcluiitance in his exclulion 

 from it; and to have been treated, con- 

 formably to his rank and mqrits, with 

 real confidence and high regard, both by 

 the late king and his brothers, the pre- 

 fent regents, who were attuatcd by the 

 fame magnanimous fpirit. Moreover, it 

 muft be remarked, that the earl was not 

 appointed to the government of Ireland 

 till the month of May 1423, and that he 

 did not repair to his poll till February or 

 March in the enfuing year ; fo that the 

 government at home did not Ihow itfelf 

 anxious to remove him from the publie 

 view. Nor could he indeed properly be 

 faid to be removed from the public view, 

 when placed in fo high and honourable » 

 llation. 



But though no fufpicion of difloyalty 

 attaches to the Earl of March perfonally, 

 it muft be acknowledged that we are tolcj 

 of commotions which took place towards 

 the conclulion of the year 1422, in VValfiS 

 and the adjoining counties, where the 

 chief interell of the houfe of Mortimer 

 lay. And it is farther oblervable, that 

 foino time previous to, or about, the pe- 

 riod when the Earl of March fet out for 

 liis government, his uncle Sir John Mor- 

 timer, youngell brother of Earl Roger, 

 ilain in 1398, was committed priibner to 

 the Tower, on a charge of endeavouring 

 to raife an infurrettiou in Wales, with a 

 view to proclaim liis nephew king, and, 

 on his refufal, liimfelf; which affords a 

 ftroiig prefumption thai his elder brother 

 Sir J'"dinuiitj was at this period deceafed. 

 Doubtlefs the earl, if application was 

 B r 3 ever 



