92 Hung erf or d Chapels in Salisbury Cathedral 



it was thought right to place her under observation. Lady Mar- 

 garet does not state the period of her life at which this happened; 

 but it was most likely after her grandson's execution. She was 

 placed in custody of the Sheriff of Wilts : all her lands, goods, 

 and chattels taken into the king's hands, and she herself reduced 

 to live upon the charity of her friends. It cost her £400 to acquit 

 herself of this difficulty. Another and a much heavier one also 

 befel her, but owing to what cause she does not specify. She was, 

 by the king's commandment, placed by the Chancellor in Amesbury 

 Abbey, as a safe place of durance for an elderly lady, to whom the 

 gallant king would wish to be as gentle and courteous as " political 

 circumstances" would admit. Here, however, a disaster of a novel 

 sort awaited the poor dame. A fire broke out in her apartments 

 and destroyed all her moveable goods — beds of cloth of gold, beds 

 of arras of silk, hangings of arras for halls and chambers, plate, 

 money, and other " stuff." There were no insurance companies in 

 those days ; or, if there were, Lady Margaret's arras and cloth of 

 gold were not insured : and her losses by this " fortune," as she 

 calls it, or rather mis-fortune, " of fyre," stood her in the round 

 sum of "£1000, and more." Nor did the "fortune" end here. 

 Her lodgings, newly covered with lead, were burnt and pulled 

 down; and, behold, a bill from the Amesbury plumber and glazier 

 to the amount of £200. 



At another time (prior probably to her son's execution), she 

 had been commanded by the king to take charge of an important 

 heiress, the young Duchess of Norfolk. 



Edward, flattered with the expectation of uniting his eldest 

 daughter to the Dauphin of France, amused himself with making 

 contracts for the rest of his children. He entered into a treaty 

 with Scotland for the marriage of Cecily, his second daughter, 

 with the son and heir of James ; negotiated with Bretagne for the 

 hand of Anne, (afterwards the Queen of Charles VIII.,) for the 

 Prince of Wales, and caused the nuptials or the betrothment to be 

 celebrated between the young Duke of York and the Lady Anne, 

 heiress of the Duke of Norfolk. The parties were both very young, 

 and neither ever reached maturity. 



