ENGLAND. (CIVIL HISTORY.) 



9 



60,000 men. Edward, in his turn, was compelled to 

 fly : he retired to '.Holland. Warwick took Henry VI. 

 from his confinement ; placed him upon that throne 

 from which he had formerly driven him; and the 

 passive parliament gave their sanction to every tiling 

 that had been done. Edward soon returned. War- 

 wick hurried to oppose him ; but his army was 

 vanquished, and he himself fell in the battle. Henry 

 was remitted to the tower. The queen, who had 

 landed in hopes of enjoying the power of a sove- 

 reign, was confined to the same place. Henry soon 

 after died, or, according to some, was murdered by 

 the duke of Gloucester. Margaret was ransomed 

 by the French king, and afterwards terminated her 

 existence in France. Edward was now without a 

 rival, and dedicated the remainder of his life to the 

 punishment of those who had incurred his resentment 

 or his jealousy ; and to his passion for the female 

 sex, by which he had always been distinguished. 

 He died in 1482. 



His son, who was proclaimed king by the name of 

 Edward V. was then but thirteen years of age. The 

 regency was committed to the duke of Gloucester, 

 with the title of protector. Gloucester immediately 

 formed a design of raising himself to the throne ; 

 and as the depravity of his mind corresponded to the 

 deformity of his body, he scrupled at no crime which 

 could advance his projects. He made himself 

 master of the persons of the king, and of his brother, 

 the duke of York, at that time nine years of age. 

 Pretending to secure them from danger, he confined 

 them in the tower. The duke of Buckingham, by 

 magnificent promises, was induced to favour the pro- 

 tector's cause. Lord Hastings, and several other 

 noblemen, whose fidelity to the young king could not 

 be overcome, were put to death. Gloucester, after 

 practising the lowest arts, stept into the throne, by 

 the name of Richard III. in obedience, as he pre- 

 tended, to the desire of the nation. The young- 

 king and his brother fell early victims to that dread 

 and anxiety by which an usurper is always haunted. 



Having thus, as he imagined, secured his power, 

 he gave way to the cruelty which was natural to 

 him. Buckingham, by whose, influence he had 

 obtained the crown, met not with those rewards 

 which he had been taught to expect : and he re- 

 solved to deprive Gloucester of the po\ver which he 

 had just procured for him. Henry, earl of Rich- 

 mond, at that time an exile in Brittany, was con- 

 sidered as the only surviving branch of the family of 

 Lancaster. Buckingham resolved to place him on 

 the throne, but his designs were suspected by the 

 king ; and he was induced to take arms before he 

 was properly prepared to make any vigorous efforts. 

 An inundation of the Severn prevented his troops 

 from marching. Provisions became scarce, and 

 almost the whole of his followers deserted him. No 

 longer daring to appear in open hostility, he endea- 

 voured to conceal himself from the malice of the 

 tyrant. A price was set on his head, and the duke 

 was soon after betrayed by one in whom he had con- 

 fided. Richmond, in the mean time, had landed in 

 England ; but learning Buckingham's disaster, he 

 immediately abandoned an enterprise which he con- 

 sidered as hopeless. Richard's title to the crown 

 was confirmed by parliament; and to render his 

 right still more unexceptionable, he formed the re- 

 solution of poisoning his wife, Anne, second daughter 

 of the earl of Warwick, and of espousing Elizabeth, 

 eldest daughter of Edward IV. While thus busily 

 employed in securing to himself the crown, which 

 had been gained by so many crimes, Richmond 

 landed in Wales. The king was not deficient in 

 courage. He immediately marched against the 

 Invader. Richmond declined not the encounter. 



The battle was fierce. Many fell on both sides, 

 but Richard's death at length determined the con- 

 test. Richmond was immediately proclaimed king 

 by the name of Henry VII. ; he was crowned in 

 1485; in the following year, was married to Eliza- 

 beth, daughter of Edward IV. and thus united the 

 long contending factions of York and Lancaster. 



The turbulence which had prevailed in England 

 during the civil wars did not suddenly subside; anil 

 though Henry's administration was vigilant and 

 active, he was often disturbed by those attempts at 

 insurrection which had become in some degree 

 habitual to the nobles. In one point of view, indeed, 

 his own conduct tended rather to augment than 

 diminish the attempts at rebellion. His hatred to 

 the house of York, notwithstanding his union to it 

 in the person of his queen, was continually evident ; 

 and contributed to irritate those factions which the 

 friends of their country had fondly hoped would have 

 subsided. The impostures, first of Simnel, who pre- 

 tended to be a son of the duke of Clarence, brother of 

 Edward IV. ; afterwards of Perkin Warbeck, who 

 affirmed that he was Richard Plantagenet, duke of 

 York ; and the support which those impostors re- 

 ceived from his subjects, convinced Henry that the 

 house of York had still many friends: and the 

 temper of the king led him rather to terrify them 

 into obedience by his severity, than to reconcile them 

 to his sway by a mild demeanour. The numerous 

 enemies of Henry's power, however, found him 

 always prepared ; and though the standard of rebel- 

 lion was often reared, it never, for a moment, ob- 

 tained a dangerous ascendancy in the kingdom. 

 The king's knowledge, indeed, of the political art of 

 reigning, equalled, if it did not excel, that of his most 

 illustrious predecessors. He anxiously accumulated 

 money, convinced that they who possess wealth also 

 possess power. Under pretence of undertaking an 

 expedition against France, he extorted money from 

 his people; and obtained money from the French 

 king, for relinquishing a purpose which he never 

 intended seriously to prosecute. Perceiving that the 

 most imminent danger to the kings of England pro- 

 ceeded from the great influence of the nobles ; he 

 adopted such measures as gradually tended, without 

 violence, to undermine their power. He permitted 

 the nobles to sell their lands ; and, under the severest 

 penalties, forbade them to retain a great number of 

 followers, who, under the name of servants, were 

 ever ready to perform the most iniquitous orders of 

 their masters. These measures, steadily pursued, 

 necessarily, though silently, undermined the power 

 of the nobles ; and rendered the authority of the 

 English monarchs almost absolute. After a reign 

 prosperous to himself, and in general, not unfriendly 

 to the interests of his country, Henry died in 1509. 



The authority of the English crown, which had 

 been so much extended by Henry VII. was, by Henry 

 VIII. exerted in such a manner, as justly to entail 

 on his memory the imputations of tyranny and 

 caprice. During his time, the power of Europe was 

 divided between the illustrious rivals Francis I. and 

 Charles V. Henry's situation was such, that it 

 belonged to him to hold the balance between them ; 

 and thus, in a very easy manner, he might have ren- 

 dered himself, hi one sense, superior to both. In- 

 stead, however, of guiding himself by the rules of 

 policy, or even the dictates of a permanent friend- 

 ship, he lent his aid to such as most successfully 

 flattered his vanity. And though he did maintain 

 between those monarchs a species of balance, by not 

 affording his assistance permanently or exclusively 

 to either, accident more than design gave rise to his 

 conduct. 



England owes to Henry VIII. the introduction of 



