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As he was likewife appointed the pope's Icfjate in Germany, 

 and general of the cniladc againft the Huffites, or heretics of 

 Bohemia, he obtained from parHamcnt the grant of a fum 

 of money, and a body of forces, for the more fuccefsful exe- 

 cution of his of&ce. Having embarked with his troops for 

 France, he was obhged, for fome time, with reluctance on 

 his own part, to employ them under the duke of Bedford ; 

 and he then proceeded with them to Bohemia, where he re- 

 mained for fonie months, till he was recalled by the pope. 

 In 1430 he accompanied king Henry into France, under the 

 title of the king's " principal counfcllor," and performed 

 the ceremony of crowning the young monarch in the church 

 of Notre Dame, at Paris. The honours, however, which 

 he received during his abfence, were, in his etlimation, an 

 inadequate conipenfation for the mortification rclulting from 

 the duke of Cilouceller's fuccefsful attempts for humbling 

 his pride, and rtllraining hi=; power. He not only procured 

 an order of council, prohibiting any of the king's fubjefts 

 from accompanying the cardinal, if he (hould leave the king 

 without liis permiirion ; but he attempted to deprive him of 

 his bifliopric, as inconfitlent with tlie dignity of a cardinal. 

 On his return, and for his more tffeftual fecurity againft thefe 

 hoftile attempts, he obtained, by the interceilion of the 

 houfe of commons, letters of pardon for all offences com- 

 mitted by him contrary to the ftatute of " provifors," and 

 other adls of " prxmunire." This pardon was renewed five 

 years after, viz. in 1437, for all crimes whatfoever. Not- 

 withftanding thefe precautions, the duke of Glouceder, in 

 1442, drew up fourteen articles of impeachment againlt him, 

 and prefented them with his own hands to the king, who 

 referred the matter to his council. The examination of thefe 

 articles was attended with fuch delay, that the protettor 

 dropped the profecution, and the cardinal efcaped. The 

 caufe of the proteftor's inveterate enmity againft the cardi- 

 nal is faid to liave been the part which lie had taken in infti- 

 gating certain perfons to accufe and perfecute his dutchefs 

 for treafon, witchcraft, and other notorious crimes. 



Cardinal Beaufort died in 1447, about a month after the 

 duke of Glouceftcr, in vvhofe minder, it is fuppofcd, he was 

 concerned. The remorft and horror occalioned by the re- 

 fleflion on this event, in the near approaciies of his own 

 death, were " more," fays Hume, " tlian could naturally 

 be expected from a man hardened, during the courfe of a 

 long life, in falfehood and politics ;" and they are exhibited 

 in very imprelTive charafters in the reprefentation of his laft 

 fcene, by Sliakefpeare, in the laft fcene of the third act of 

 the " Second Part of King Henry VI." 



" If thou be'cft dcatli, I'll give thee England's treafuie, 

 Enough to purchafe fuch another illaiid, 

 So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain." 

 Again, 



" Bring me unto my trial when you will. 



Dy'd he not in his bed .•' where (hould he die ? 

 Can I make men live, whether they will or no ? 



Oh ! torture me no more: I will cnufels 



Alive again ? Then, (hew me where he is ; 

 I'll give a thoufand pounds to look upon him — 

 He hath no eyes, the dufthath bUndcd them : 

 Comb down his hair ; look ! look ! it (lands upright, 

 Like lime-twigs fet to catch my winged foul. 

 Give me fome drink, and bid th' apothecary 

 Bring the ftrong poifon that I bought of him." 

 The cardinal was buried at Winchefter. He died rich, 

 and left large fums for pious and charitable pnrpofes, in 

 various parts of tlie kingdom : and he ordered iccoomaffes 

 to be faid for his foul. Haughty and turbilent, and fond 

 ef pomp and power, he 19 allowed to have been a faithful 



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and able fervant of the crown. Mr. Hume deferibes him as a 

 prelate of great capacity and experience, but of an intriguing 

 and dangerous charafter. Hume's Hift. vol. iii. p. 13J. 

 173. Biog. Brit. 



Beaufort, Margaret, diftinguifhed by her muniiicent 

 encouragement of literature, was the daughter of John 

 Beaulort, duke of Sonierfet, and grandfon of John of Gaunt ; 

 (he was born at Bletflioe, in Bedfordlhire, in 1441. Her 

 firft hu(band was Edmund earl of llichmond, by whom flic 

 had one ion, Henry VII. king of England. Her ftcond 

 hufhand was Sir Henry Stafford, fecond fon of Henry duke 

 of Buckingham ; and her third, Thomas lord Stanley, after- 

 wards earl of Derby, by neither of whom (he had any iflue. 

 Waving all pretenhons to the crown in favour of her fon, 

 (lie devoted her life to exerciies of piety and charity, and 

 derived her chief pleafure from relieving the indigent and 

 diftreffed. Slie kept conftantly in her houfe twelve poor 

 people, whom (he lodged, fed, and clothed. She extended 

 her patronage to the Itudents of both univerfities, and to 

 men of learning throughout England. In 1502 (he inftitut- 

 cd two perpetual public Icflures in divinity, one at Oxford, 

 and the other at Cambridge, which ftiU fiibfift under the 

 name of Margaret profefForfhips. At Cambridge (he eftab- 

 lifhed a perpetual public preacher, wliofe duty it fhould be 

 to preach, at leail, fix fermons every year, at certain churches 

 in the diocefes of London, Ely, and Lincoln ; and (he alfa 

 founded a perpetual chantry at Winbourn minfter, in Dorfet- 

 (liire, for teaching grammar. But her noblell inftitutions 

 were the colleges of Chrift and St. John in Cambridge, the 

 former founded in 1505, for one mailer, twelve fellows, and 

 forty-feven fcholars, and the latter in ijcS, for a mafter 

 and fifty fellows and fcholars, which being begun juft before 

 her death, was finifhed by her executors. It is, therefore, 

 with juftice, that Gray has made this lady the principal objett 

 of his eulogy, in his ode on the inftallatiori of the duke of 

 Grafton as chancellor of Cambridge. 



" Foremoft, and leaning from her golden cloud, 



The venerable Margaret fee ! 

 It Welcome, my noble for," fhe cries aloud, 



" To this, thy kindred train, and me : 

 •' Pleafed in thy lineaments we trace 



" A Tudor's fire, and a Beaufort's grace." 



Her piety and devotion were no lefs exemplary, though 

 partaking in a great degree of the fuperftition of the times, 

 than her charity. She died in June 1509, and was interred 

 in the chapel of her fon Henry VII. in Weftminfter Abbey. 

 She is the reputed author of the tranflation of two devotional 

 pieces from the French, and ;ilfo of rules and orders for the 

 prudence and attire of noble ladies at funerals. Biog. Brit. 



Beaufort, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Maycnne and Loire, and chief place of a can- 

 ton, in the dilbicl of Bauge. The caille of Besufort gives 

 the t:tle of duke to the noble family of Somcrfet, lineally 

 defcended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancafler, and the 

 houfe of Lanealler obtained this callle from Blanche of 

 Artois, qnetn of Navarre, wife to Edmund Crouchback, 

 fccond (on of king Henry III., and firft earl of Laiicafter. 

 N. lat. 47° 26'. W. long. 0° 3'. 



Beaufort, a town of France in tlie department of the 

 Drome, 2 leagues N. E. of Creft. 



Beaufort, a town of Italy in Savoy, on the river Oron, 

 30 miles E. N. E. of Chambery. N. lat. 45° 40'. E. long. 

 6" 48'. 



Beaufort, a diftrift of the lower country of South Ca- 

 rolina, lying on the fea-coaft, between Combahee and Sa- 

 vannah rivers. It is 69 miles long and 37 broad, and divided 

 into four pariflies, containing iS,753inhabitants,ofwhom only 



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