6(23 
ENGLAND. 
filled with tumult and confufion ; and, though no refcue 
was offered, yet the foldiers caufed a hurtle, as if they 
apprehended danger. One of them narrowly miffed cleav¬ 
ing lord Stanley’s head witli a battle-axe ; but he fortu¬ 
nately efcaped by fhrinking under the table. However, 
though he efcaped the blow, he was arrefted by the pro- 
tedtor’s order, who was well apprifed of his attachment 
to the young king. As for lord Haftings, he was hurried 
out to the little green before the Tower chapel, and there 
beheaded on a log of wood that accidentally lay in the 
way. Two hours after, a proclamation very well drawn, 
was read to the citizens of London, enumerating his of¬ 
fences, and palliating the fuddennefs of his punifliment. 
It was remarked, by a merchant among the auditors, that 
the proclamation was certainly drawn up by a fpirit of 
prophecy. 
The protestor, having thus got rid of thofe he moft 
feared, was willing to pleafe the populace, and manifert 
his own fanctity and virtue, by punifhing Jane Shore, the 
late king’s tniftrefs. This unfortunate woman was an 
enemy too humble to excite his jealoufy ; yet, as he had 
accufed her of witchcraft, of which all the world faw the 
was innocent, he thought proper to make her an example 
for thofe faults of which the was really guilty. Jane 
Shore had been formerly deluded from her hufband, who 
was a goldfmith in Lombard-ftreet, and continued to live 
with the late king Edward, the moft guiltlefs miftrefs in 
his abandoned court. She was ever known to intercede 
for the diftrelfed, and was ufually applied to as mediator 
for mercy. She was benevolent, generous, and of a moft 
pleafing converfation ; her wit being as irrefiftible as her 
beauty. As rtie was blamelefs in other refpedts, the pro- 
tedtcr ordered her to be fued for incontinency, as having 
left her hulpand to live in adultery with another. It is 
very probable that the people were not difpleafed at fee¬ 
ing one humbled, who had for a while been raifed above 
them, and enjoyed the fmiles of a court. The charge 
againft her was too notorious to be denied ; fhe pleaded 
guilty, and was accordingly condemned to walk barefoot 
through the city, and to do penance in St. Paul's church 
in a white (beet, with a wax-taper in her hand, before 
thoufands of fpedtators. She lived above forty years after 
this fentence, reduced to the moft extreme wretchednefs ; 
and fir Thomas More, in the fucceeding reign, affures us, 
that he faw her gathering herbs in a field near the city 
for her nightly repaft; an extraordinary example of the 
fleeting favour's of courts, and the reveries of fortune. 
The protestor now began to throw off the malk, and 
to deny his pretended attachment to the fons of the late 
king, thinking it high time to afpire at the throne more 
openly. He directed the duke of Buckingham, there¬ 
fore, to infufe into the people an opinion of the baftardy 
of the late king, and alfo that of his children. Doctor 
Shaw, a popular preacher, was hired to harangue the au¬ 
dience from St. Paul’s crofs to the fame purpofe ; where, 
after having difplayed the incontinence of the queen, and 
infilling on the illegality of the young king’s title, he ex¬ 
patiated on the virtues of the protestor. “ It is the pro¬ 
testor (cried he) who carries in his face the image of 
virtue, and the marks of a true defeent. He alone can 
reftore the left honour and glory of the nation.” It was 
expedted that fome of the populace would have cried 
out, “ Long live king Richard;” but the audience re¬ 
maining filent, the duke of Buckingham undertook to 
perfuade them, in his turn. His fpeech was copious 
upon the calamities of the laft reign, and the baftardy of 
the prefent race ; he faw only one method of Ihielding 
off the miferies that threatened the ftate, which was, to 
eledt the proredtor; but he feemed apprehenlive that he 
would never be prevailed on to accept of a crown, ac¬ 
companied with fuch difficulty and danger. He then 
afked his auditors, whether they would have the pro¬ 
testor for their king ; but was mortified to find them (till 
filent. The mayor, Fitz-Williams, who was in the fe- 
cret, willing to relieve him in this embarraffment, oblerv- 
ed, that the citizens were not accuftomed to be harangued 
by a perfon of fuch quality, and would only give an an- 
fiwer to their recorder. This officer then repeated the 
duke’s fpeech ; but the people (till continuing mute, 
“ This is ftrange obltinacy ! (cried the duke) we only 
require of you, in plain term’s, to declare, whether or not 
you will have the duke of Gloucefter for your king ; as 
the lords and commons have fufficient power without 
your concurrence ?” After all thefe efforts, fome of the 
meaneft apprentices, incited by the protestor’s and Buck¬ 
ingham’s fervants, raifing a feeble cry of, “ God fitve 
king Richard !” a defpicablc mob repeated the cry, and, 
throwing up their caps, repeated, a Richard ! a Richard ! 
The duke of Buckingham took advantage of this falfe 
and forced approbation ; and the next day, at the head 
of the mayor and aldermen, lie waited upon the protec¬ 
tor, at Baynard’s caftle, with offers of the crown. When 
Richard was told that a great multitude was waiting at 
the door, he, with his ufual hypocrify, appeared to the 
crowd in a gallery between two bilhops, and at firft feemed 
quite furprifed at fuch a concourfe of people. But when 
he was informed that their bufinefs was to offer him tlie 
Grown, he declared againft accepting it; alleging his love 
for the late king his brother, his affeStion for the children 
under his care, and his own infufficiency. Buckingham, 
pretending to be difpleafed with this anfwer, muttered 
out, “ That it was needlefs to refufe, for the people were 
bent on making him king; that they had now proceeded 
too far to recede; and therefore, in cafe of his refufal, 
were determined to offer the crown where it would meet 
a more ready acceptance.” This was a refource to which 
the protestor’s tendernefs for his people would not fuffer 
them to be driven. “ I perceive (cried he, in a modeft 
tone,) that the kingdom is refolved to load me with pre¬ 
ferments, unequal to my abilities or my choice ; yet, fince 
it is my duty to obey the diStates of a free people, I will, 
though reluStantly, accept their petition. I, therefore, 
from this moment, enter upon the government of Eng¬ 
land and France, with a relolution to defend the one, and 
fubdue the other.” The crowd being thus difmilfed, 
each man returned home, pondering upon the extraordi¬ 
nary proceedings of the day ; and making fuch remarks 
as paftion, intereft, or party, might fuggeft. 
Richard III. was no fooner feated upon the throne, 
A. D. 1483, than he fent the governor of the Tower or¬ 
ders to put the two young princes to death ; but this 
confcientious man, wliofe name was Brackenbury, re- 
fufed to be made the inftrument of the tyrant’s will; and 
anfwered, that he knew not how to embrue his hands in 
innocent blood. A fit fubftitute, however, was not long 
wanted ; fir James Tyrrel readily undertook the office, 
and Brackenbury was ordered to refign to him the keys 
for only one night. Tyrrel choofing three alfociates. Sla¬ 
ter, Dighton, and Foreft, came in the dead of night to 
tlie door of the chamber where the princes were lodged ; 
and, fending in the affaffins, he bid them execute their 
commiffion, while he (laid without. They found the 
young princes in bed, and fallen into a found, fleep ; af¬ 
ter fuffocating them with the bolder and pillows, they 
fhewed their naked bodies to Tyrrel ; who ordered them 
to be buried at the ftair-foot, deep in the ground, under 
an heap of (tones. Thefe fadts appeared in the fucceed¬ 
ing reign, being confeffed by the perpetrators ; who, how¬ 
ever, elcaped punilhment for the crime. The bodies of 
the princes were afterwards fought for by Henry VII. but 
could not he found ; however, in the reign of Charles 11 . 
the bones of two children, anfwering their age, were dif, 
covered in the very fpot where it was faid they were 
buried ; and they were interred in a marble monument, 
by order of the king, in Weftminfter abbey. 
Richard having waded through every obftacle to the 
throne, began, after the manner of all ufurpers, to ftrength- 
en his ill-got power by foreign connections. Senfible alfo 
of the influence of pageantry and fhow upon the minds of 
the vulgar, he caufed himfelf, and his confort Anne Ne- 
vile. 
