626 
ENG 
that this cuftom was attended with two bad effeCts : the 
cruelty of the meafure in the firft pktce excited indigna¬ 
tion ; and it alfo made the favourite too powerful for a 
fubjeCt. In order to remedy thefe inconveniences, he 
made a law to deprive thofe who were found in arms of 
their eftates and effeCts, but which thould ever after 
efcheat to the crown. Much of the mifery of his prede- 
celfors had proceeded from their poverty, which was ge¬ 
nerally occafioned by riot and diffipation. Henry faw that 
money alone could turn the fcale of power in his favour; 
and therefore hoarded up all the confifcations of his ene¬ 
mies with the utmoft frugality. From hence he has been 
accufed by many hiftorians of avarice ; but that avarice 
which tends to (Lengthen the hands of government, and 
reprefs fedition, is not only excufable, but praifeworthy. 
Liberality in a king is too often a mifplaced virtue. What 
is thus given is commonly extorted from the induftrious 
and needy, to be laviftied as rewards on the rich, the in- 
fidious, and the fawning, fycophants of a court. Henry 
{hewed hiinfelf fuperior to his predeceffors in thefe re- 
fpeCts, as he gave very few rewards to the courtiers 
about his perfon; and none, except the needy, {hared his 
benefactions. He releafed all prifoners for debt in his 
dominions, whofe debts did not amount to forty (hillings, 
and paid their creditors from the royal coffers. Thus his 
aCt of infolvency was founded in juftice; and his eco¬ 
nomy rendered him not only a protector of the poor, but 
enabled him to fulfil every pecuniary engagement with 
honour and punctuality, both abroad and at home. With 
regard to the king’s fervants, he was himfelf the only 
adting minifter; and he did not choofe his under agents 
from among the nobility, as had been uftial, but pitched 
upon John Morton, and Richard Fox, two clergymen, 
perfons of induftry, vigilance, and capacity, to whom he 
chiefly confided his fecret councils. They had fhared 
with him in all his former dangers andadverfity ; and he 
now took care that they (Tiould participate in his good 
fortune ; the one being created bifhop of Ely, the other 
bifhop of Exeter. 
Immediately after his marriage with Elizabeth, he 
i(Tued a general pardon to all who had been in rebellion; 
but thofe haughty barons who had been the favourites 
of the lad reign, and long accuftomed to turbulence, re¬ 
filled his proffered lenity, and flew to arms. Lord Lovel, 
with Humphrey and Thomas Stafford, placed themfelves 
at the head of this infurreCtion; but Henry fent the 
duke of Bedford to oppofe them, with orders to try what 
might be firft done by offering them pardon. The duke 
obeyed his inflrudfions ; and this humane and generous 
endeavour to {'pare the effufion of human blood had fuch 
an effedt upon the army, that it immediately difperfed. 
Lovel made his elcape into Flanders, where he was pro¬ 
tected by the duchefs of Burgundy ; and the two Staf¬ 
fords took fanCtuary in the church at Colnham, near 
Abingdon ; but it appearing that this church had not the 
privilege of giving protection, they were taken thence; 
the eldeft Stafford was executed at Tyburn; the younger, 
pleading that he was milled by his brother, obtained his 
pardon. Yet, after all, the difaffeCted were become fo 
turbulent and factious by a long courfe of civil war, that 
neither law nor lenity could reftrain them ; fo that one 
rebellion feemed extinquifned only to give birth to ano¬ 
ther. The king, in the beginning of his reign, had given 
orders that the fon of that duke of Clarence who had 
been drowned in a butt of malmley, fliould be liberated 
from the prifon where he had been confined by the bloody 
Richard, and brought to the Tower. This unfortunate 
youth, who was ftyled the earl of Warwick, was, by long 
co n line men t, totally unacquainted with the world ; and 
though perfectly harmlefs and inoffenfive, was made an 
inffrument to delude the people. There lived in Oxford 
a prieit named Richard Simon, who, poffefling fome fub- 
tiety, and more rallinefs, trained up a daring youth named 
Lambert Simnel, a baker’s fon, to counterfeit the perfon 
of the earl of Y/arwick ; and he was previoully inftruCted 
LAND. 
to talk upon many faCts and occurrences, as having hap- 
pened to him in the court of Edward. The plot un¬ 
folded to their wiflies ; and Henry had the mortification 
to find that his mother-in-law, the queen-dowager, was 
at the bottom of it. 
It was in Ireland where the fcene was firft opened ; 
that country had been governed by Clarence, and was 
ftill attached to his memory ; and no fooner did the wily 
prieft prefent Simnel to the earl of Kildare, and claim his 
protection as the unfortunate Warwick, than that credu¬ 
lous nobleman acknowledged him; while the city of 
Dublin followed the example of the earl, and tendered 
its allegiance to Simnel as the true Plantagenet ; and he 
was crowned with great folenmity by the chancellor of 
Ireland. Henry, perplexed at the news of this revolt, 
firft feized the queen-dowager, and imprifoned her in the 
nunnery of Bermondfey, where (he ended her life in po¬ 
verty and folitude. He next (hewed the young earl of 
Warwick through the ftreets of London ; but though this 
had its effeCt in England, it convinced not the people of 
Ireland, who reproached Henry with having (hewn a 
counterfeit perfonage. The confpiracy foon extending, 
it was entered into by the earl of Lincoln, fon of the duke 
of Suffolk by Elizabeth, eldeft lifter of Edward IV. a 
nobleman of courage and ambition. Having eftablilhed 
a correfpondence in Lancalhire, he had returned to Flan¬ 
ders, where Lovel had arrived before him ; and he lived 
in the court of his aunt, the duchefs of Burgundy. That 
princefs, the widow of Charles the Bold, had acquired 
great authority among the Flemings, and hearing with 
indignation of the malignant jealonfy entertained by Henry 
againft her family, (lie was determined to make him re¬ 
pent of that enmity, to which fo many of her friends had 
fallen victims. After confulting with Lincoln and Lovel, 
{he hired a body of two thoufand mercenary Germans, 
under the command of Martin Swart, a brave and expe¬ 
rienced officer; and fent them over, together with thefe 
two noblemen, to join Simnel in Ireland. The counte¬ 
nance given by perfons of fuch high -rank, and the accef- 
fion of this military force, raifed much higher the rebel¬ 
lious difpofition of the Irifh ; whence they came to a 
refolution of invading England, as well for the fake of 
plunder, as of revenge for pretended injuries. 
Henry, apprized of their defign, prepared for a timely 
defence. He ordered troops to be levied in different 
parts of the kingdom, and put them under the command 
of the duke of Bedford and the earl of Oxford. And, 
to gratify the people by an appearance of devotion, he 
made a pilgrimage to our lady of Walfingham ; and there 
offered up prayers for fuccefs, and for deliverance from 
his enemies. Being informed that Simnel was landed at 
Foudrey in Lancafhire, he drew together his forces, and 
advanced towards the enemy as far as Coventry. The 
rebels had entertained hopes that the difaffeCted in the 
north would rife in their favour; but the people in gene¬ 
ral, convinced of Lambert’s impofture, and kept in awe 
by the king’s reputation for courage and conduCt, either 
remained in tranquillity, or gave their afliftance to the 
royal army. The earl of Lincoln, therefore, who com¬ 
manded the rebels, finding no hopes but in victory, was 
determined to bring the matter to a fpeedy decifion ; and 
the king, fupported by the native courage of his temper, 
and emboldened by a great acceflion of volunteers, de¬ 
clined not the conflict. The hoftile armies met at Stoke, 
in the county of Nottingham, A. D. 1438, and a bloody 
and obllinate battle enfued. The leaders of the rebels 
were refolved to conqueror to perilh ; and they infpired 
their troops with like refolution. The Germans alfo, 
being experienced foldiers, kept the event long in fuf- 
pence; and even the Irifh, though ill-armed and almoft 
defencelefs, {hewed themfelves not defective in fpirit and 
bravery. The king’s victory, though purchafed with 
lots, was entirely decilive. Lincoln, Broughton, and 
Swart, periftied in the field of battle, with four thoufand 
of their followers, and as Lovel was never more heard of, 
he 
