.,11 



ENGLAND. 



'I i | l,r- 



bjparlu. 



MM 



The king 

 propoe< to 



uiwry hii 

 niece. 



theEwlof 



Richmond. 



mi took .shelter in the house of one Bannister, an old 

 servant of his family. A large reward, however, was set 

 upon his head; and the villain Bannister, unable to re- 

 sist the temptation, betrayed his master; when he was 

 brought to the king at Shrewsbury, and inst;intly i 

 ted. The other conspirators, who hud risen in dill'm-nt 

 parts of the kingdom, as soon as they heard of his fate, 

 immediately dispersed. The Marquis of Dorset and the 

 H- Imp nt F.iy rted beyond sens ; some of their friends fell 

 into the hands of Richard and were executed, and others 

 contrived to conceal themselves from his vengeance. The 

 Earl of Richmond, in the mean time, had arrived off the 

 coast of England with 5000 troops ; but hearing of the 

 dispersion of his friends, he returned to Briltany. 



Richard, emboldened by his success, now ventured for 

 the first time to call a parliament, which acquiesced in 

 whatever he chose to propose. They approved nil his 

 proceedings; confirmed the illegitimacy of Edward's chil- 

 dren ; attainted the Earl of Richmond and all his adhe- 

 rents ; und granted the king the duties of tonnage and 

 poundage for life. He next entered into a negotiation 

 with the- Duke of Brittany for delivering up his rival, and 

 had nearly succeeded, through the treachery of Peter 

 Landais, a corrupt minister of that court, when Rich- 

 mond, having got timely notice, fled into France. Richard, 

 however, still continued to employ every mean that might 

 give security to his throne ; and sensible that his rival 

 was only formidable from his projected marriage with the 

 Princess Elizabeth, the true heir to the crown, he formed 

 the design of espousing that princess himself. He had 

 married Anne, the second daughter of the Earl of War- 

 wick, and the widow of Edward, Prince of Wales, whom 

 he himself had murdered. But, considering her as an 

 invincible obstacle to his designs, he is believed to have 

 carried her off by poison. He then made application to 

 his niece, and paid court to the queen-dowager with such 

 art and address, that that princess, eager to recover her 

 lost authority, did not scruple to give her consent to this 

 incestuous alliance, and to marry her daughter to the mur- 

 derer of her three sons and her brother : She even so far 

 joined her interests with those of the usurper, as to desire 

 her son, the Marquis of Dorset, and all her partizans, to 

 withdraw from the Earl of Richmond. But the young prin- 

 cess disdained to listen to his vile passion, and treated his 

 addresses with contempt and detestation. While Richard 

 was thrown into perplexity by her unexpected refusal, 

 and before he had time to renew his suite, the Earl of 

 Richmond landed at Milford-haven with a small army of 

 2000 men. As he advanced, his friends flocked to his 

 standard ; but his army, with all his reinforcements, 

 amounted only to 6000 combatants. Richard met him 

 at Bosworth, near Leicester, with a force double the num- 

 ber. This superiority of numbers, however, was render- 

 ed oflittle advantage, by the dissensions which prevailed 

 among them. Lord Stanley had beep suspected by Rich- 

 ard or favouring the cause of Henry ; and when he em- 

 powered him to levy troops, detained his eldest son Lord 

 Strange as a pledge for his fidelity. That nobleman was 

 thus prevented from openly declaring himself, though he 

 had sent secret assurances to Henry of his friendly in- 

 tentions, and, at the head of 7000 men, posted himself 

 on the flank of the two hostile armies, ready to join ei- 

 ther party as occasion should offer. Richard, apprehen- 

 sive of his design, sent him orders to join him, which 

 Stanley refused ; upon which the tyrant was about to 

 take revenge upon his son, but he was persuaded to post- 

 pone the execution till after the fight, when, being certain 



of a victory, he would take ample vengeance upon all his 

 Moth open and concealed. The trumpets were 

 then ordered lo sound to battle, which began by a flight 

 of arrows ; but the ranks soon began to close, when Stan- 

 ley advanced, and joimd the army of Richmond. This 

 cirnimsuiii-e turtu-J the fortune of the day. It inspired 

 1 Icnry's soldiers with unusual courage, while it spread 

 dismay and confusion among Richard's. Richard, enra- 

 ged to madness by the treachery of Stanley, and sensi- 

 ble of his desperate situation, resolved to finish the bat- 

 tle, either by Henry's death or his own. He rushed into 

 the thickest of the fight, and flew from rank to rank in 

 search of his rival. Richmond himself did not decline 

 the combat ; but when they were just within reach of 

 each other, they were separated by the crowd. Richard 

 perceiving his men every where yielding and flying, and 

 giving up all for lost, spurred his horse into the midst of 

 the enemy, and fell covered with slain. His body was 

 found in the field of battle, in the midst of dead enemies, 

 and disfigured with wounds. It was thrown across a horse, 

 and carried to Leicester, where it was interred in the 

 (iry Friars Church. Thus perished Richard III. who 

 wailed to the throne through the blood of his nearest re- 

 lations ; who considered no enormity too great, und no 

 action too mean, provided it led him to the object of his 

 ambition. He enjoyed his exaltation little more than two 

 years ; and perished by a fate too mild ajid honourable 

 for his multiplied and detestable crimes. He was of a 

 small stature, hump-backed, with a harsh disagreeable 

 countenance, so that his body and his mind were equal- 

 ly deformed, (/i) 



The decisive victory gained at Bosworlh, was follow- 

 ed by the most important consequences. An ornamen- 

 tal crown, which Richard had worn in battle, having been 

 found among the spoils, was placed upon the head of 

 Richmond ; and the whole army, as l>v one uis'antHncous 

 movement, shouted aloud, " Long live Henry VII." His 

 title, indeed, to the crown, was in many respects defec- 

 tive. The hereditary right resided in the house of York, 

 of which there were several princes then aiivc. His own 

 descent from the house of Lancaster proceeded from an 

 illegitimate branch, antl though an act of legitimation had 

 been passed in the reign of Richard II. yet the very pa- 

 tent which conferred the privilege, excluded the posterity 

 of that line from the crown. But the Lancastrian party 

 had resolved to adopt him as their head ; and his solemn 

 engagement to marry the Princess Elizabeth, the repre- 

 sentative of the house of York, attached the adherent* 

 of that family to his cause. To the expectation of this 

 union he owed much of his past success, and it was hail- 

 ed by all considerate men as the probable termination of 

 those civil wars, which had raged for thirty years with 

 such destructive violence. He did not, however, deem 

 it expedient to engraft his title upon that of the rival 

 house, but being in possession of the power, he advanced 

 his claim as the heir of Lancaster, while he resolved to 

 prevent the discussion of its validity. 



Having refreshed his army a few days at Leicester, he 

 proceeded slowly towards the capital, and at every step 

 of his progress was saluted with the loudest acclamations. 

 He was received by the citizens of London with every ex- 

 pression of satisfaction and respect ; but scorning to court 

 popularity, he entered the city in a close chariot, and re- 

 1'uscd to gratify the people with a sight of their new sove- 

 reign. Proceeding directly to St Paul's, he deposited the 

 standards which had been taken at Boswoith, and return- 

 ed thanks to God for the victory. He hastened to re- 





BatUc nf 



Bomorrtt. 



Death of 



Rirh.ir-!. 

 Auiiu,-. -!.'. 

 1465. 



Henry 



VII. 



1485. 



His title I 

 the crown 



