RICHARD. 



was then affembled, before which the culprits were im- 

 peached of high treafon. Lord Arundel was condemned, 

 and executed ; the earl of Warwick was alfo convifted, and 

 condemned to perpetual banifhment. The duke of Gloucef- 

 ter was laid to have died of an apoplexy, but it was foon 

 difcovered that he had been fuffocated. Although the pro- 

 ceedings of parliament were favourable to the royal autho- 

 rity, yet much ill-will prevailed in the nation on account of 

 its feverities, and troubles were continually breaking out 

 among the nobles. A quarrel between the dukes of Here- 

 ford and Norfolk, arifing from a charge brought by the 

 former againft the latter, of llanderous words fpoken con- 

 cerning the king, was the caufe of the revolution that ter- 

 minated the reign. Richard interpofed his authority and 

 banifhed them both ; but it was agreed, that both exiles 

 might receive, by their attornies, any inheritance that fhould 

 fall to them during their abfence. In 1399, John of 

 Gaunt, duke of Lancatter, died, and his fon, the duke 

 of Hereford, became heir to his vaft eftates, which 

 Richard, in defiance of the agreement, feized as property 

 lapfed to the crown, and the attorney who claimed them 

 for the duke was even condemned as a traitor. While 

 t'he nation was full of difcontent on account of this aft of 

 tyranny, Richard went to Ireland, and, during his abience, 

 Henry of Bolingbroke, as the duke of Hereford, invited 

 by his numerous partifans to make ufe of this oppor- 

 tunity, came over from France, and landed in Yorkfiiire, 

 and being joined by the earls of Northumberland and Welt- 

 moreland, and other men of rank, proceeded towards the 

 fouth, at the head of 60,000 men, pretending that their 

 fole intention was to recover the duchy of Lancaster. The 

 duke of York, who had been left regent of the kingdom, 

 joined Henry ; and Richard, having heard thefe fafts, in. 

 tended to withdraw into France. He was, however, taken 

 and thrown into Flint caftle, from whence he was taken to 

 London. His deposition being refolved on, thirty-five ar- 

 ticles of accufation were drawn up againft him, which, 

 however informal, and many of them unjuft, were confi- 

 dered as quite fufficient to juilify the meafures taken againft 

 him, and Richard was depofed Sept. 30, T399. Henry 

 at the fame inftant flood forth, and claimed the crown, which 

 was without helitation awarded to him. He declared that 

 the life of the dethroned king fhould be fafe, and he was 

 committed for fafe cuftody to the caille of Pomfret ; but 

 the ufual fate of depofed monarchs foon awaited him. In- 

 deed it was eafy to foreiee that he would not long remain 

 alive in the hands of fuch barbarous and fanguinary enemies. 

 Hiftorians differ with regard to the manner in which he was 

 murdered. It was long the prevailing opinion, that fir 

 Piers Exton, and others of his guards, fell upon him in the 

 caftle of Pomfret, where he was confined, and difpatched 

 him with their halberts. But it is more probable, that he 

 was ftarved to death in prifon ; and after all fuftenance was 

 denied him, he prolonged his unhappy life, it is faid, for a 

 fortnight, before he reached the end of his miferies. This 

 account is more confiltent with the ftory, that his body was 

 expofed in public, and that no marks of violence were ob- 

 ferved upon it. He died in the thirty-fourth year of his 

 age, and the twenty-third of his reign. He left no poite- 

 nty, either legitimate or illegitimate. 



All the writers who have tranfmitted to us the hiftoryof 

 Richard, lived during the reigns of the Lancaftrian princes ; 

 and candour requires, that we fhould not give entire credit 

 to the reproaches which they have thrown upon his memory. 

 But, after making all proper allowances, he ftill appears to 

 have been a weak prince, and unfit for government, lefs for 

 want of natural parts and capacity, than of folid judgment 



and good education. He was violent in his temper; pio- 

 fufe in his expence ; fond of idle mow and magnificence ; 

 devoted to favourites, and addifted to pleafure ; paffions, 

 all of them, the molt inconliftent with a prudent economy, 

 and coufequently dangerous in a limited and mixed go- 

 vernment. 



This prince lived in a more magnificent manner than per- 

 haps any of his predecefl'ors or fuccefl'ors. His houfehold 

 confiited of 10,000 perfons. He had 300 in his kitchen, 

 and all the other offices were furnifhed in proportion. It 

 mult be remarked, that this enormous train had tables fup- 

 plied them at the king's expence, according to the mode of 

 that age. Such prodigality was probably the fource of 

 many exaftions by purveyors, and was one chief reafon ot 

 the public difcontents. 



Richard III., king of England, born in 14JO, was the 

 youngeit fon of Richard, duke of York. On the acceflion 

 of his brother, Edward IV., he was created dukeofGlou- 

 cefter, and during the vicifiitude; in the early part of Ed- 

 ward's reign, he adhered mod clofely to him, and ferved 

 him with courage and fidelity. He is faid to have had 

 a hand in the flaughter of Edward, prince of AVales, 

 after the battle of Tewkefbury, and to have been the au- 

 thor, if not the real perpetrator, of the murder of 

 Henry VI. in the Tower, but the ferocity of his difpofition 

 was in him united with deep policy and diffimulation. He 

 married, about the year 1473, Anne, the widow of the 

 prince of Wales, already mentioned, who was daughter of 

 Neville, the great earl of Warwick. His elder brother, 

 Clarence, had married the other daughter, and a violent dil- 

 fention took place between them, on account of the divifion 

 of the property. Richard, who found Clarence an obftade 

 to his views of aggrandizement, combined with the adver- 

 faries of that unfortunate prince in accufations which proved 

 his deltruftion. On the death of Edward (fee his article) 

 in 1483, the duke of Gloucefter was appointed the pro- 

 teftor of the kingdom. He immediately caufed his nephew, 

 the young Edward V., to be proclaimed king, and took an 

 oath of fealty to him. There were at this time two great 

 faftions in the nation, of which the leaders were the duke 

 of Buckingham and lord Haftings, Both thefe courted 

 the duke of Gloucefter, who pretended a iteady friendfhip 

 for each when apart, while he was purfuiug fchemes of the 

 blackeit ambition. His firft objeft was to get rid of thofe 

 who were connefted with the young king by blood ; and 

 after fpending an evening in company with Rivers, Grey, and 

 fir Thomas Vaughan, he caufed them to be arrefted the next 

 morning, and committed to Pomfret caftle, at the fame 

 time difmifiing all the king's attendants and fervants. He 

 fiiortly after caufed the prifoners at Pomfret to be put to 

 death without the form of trial ; and on the very day of 

 their execution, at a council held in the Tower, a cry of 

 treafon was raifed by his order, on which a party of armed 

 men entered, who feized the archbifhop of York, the bifhop 

 of Ely, lord Stanley, and lord Haftings, of whom the 

 three firft were committed to cuftody, while Haftings was 

 led to immediate death. After this, his next ftep was to efta- 

 bhfh, with or without evidence, the illegitimacy of Ed- 

 ward's children, to make way for himfeif on the throne. 

 This he did by attacking the chaftity of his own mother, 

 who, he faid, had been true to her hufband only in the cafe 

 of himfeif, and that to Edward and Clarence there were 

 different fathers. Thefe pleas were zealoufly advocated by 

 his adherents, and among others by Dr. Shaw, brother to 

 the lord mayor of London, who dwelt upon thein with 

 much eloquence, in a fermon which he preached at St. 

 Paul's Crofs. The duke of Buckingham afterwards, in a 



fpeeclt 



