ENGLAND. G 27 
he was believed to have undergone the fame fate. But 
on tlie authority of the late Mr. Thomas Warton, poet- 
laureat, fome light feems to have been recently thrown 
on the fate of this diflinguifhed nobleman. Tlie walls 
of his once magnificent feat at Minder Lovel, Oxford- 
fhire, of which fome fmall ruins dill remain, being pulled 
down for the fake of the materials, early in the eighteenth 
century, a fecret chamber was difcovered with a trap¬ 
door, and in it a fkeleton of a perfon in complete armour 
was found. From hence it was fuppofed, and on proba¬ 
ble grounds, that this was the body of lord Lovel, who, 
after efcaping from the battle of Stoke, took refuge in 
this place, and from fome caufe, not now to be accounted 
for, was left to perifh in his concealment. Simnel, and 
his tutor Simon, were taken prifoners. Simon, being a 
pried, was only committed to clofe cudody; and Simnel, 
as being too contemptible to be an objedt either of appre- 
henfion or refentment, was pardoned, and made a fcullion 
in the king’s kitchen ; whence he was afterwards advanced 
to the rank of king’s falconer, in which employment he 
died. Thus ended an infurrefition, which, under a lefs 
judicious monarch, might have been very dangerous. 
Henry now returned to London in triumph from the 
north, and paid a vifit to his queen at Wincheder, who 
was there prematurely delivered of a fon, September 20, 
1486. The young prince was named Arthur, in honour 
of the renowned Britilh prince of that name, from whom 
the king derived his defcent, by his grandfather, Owen 
Tudor. . 
The profperous fituation of Henry’s domedic affairs 
now afforded him leifure to obferve the fituation of the 
neighbouring nations. The throne of Scotland was'filled 
by James III. a prince of little indudry and narrow ge¬ 
nius. Spain, by the union of Cadille and Arragon, in 
the perfons of Ferdinand and Ifabella, and by the con- 
queft of Granada from the Moors, began to make a great 
figure in the tranfadtions of Europe. France, during the 
two preceding reigns, had attained a mighty increafe of 
power and dominion; mod of the great fiefs, Normandy, 
Champagne, Anjou, Dauphiny, Guienne, Provence, and 
Burgundy, had been united to the crown ; and during 
the 1 minority of Charles VIII. Anne, lady of Beaujeu, 
who, as his fider, had obtained the regency, formed the 
project of acquiring Brittany, tlie lad independent fief of 
the monarchy. The reigning duke was of llender capa¬ 
city ; and by abandoning himfelf to the counfels of Peter 
Landais, a man of mean birth, had difguded his nobles. 
They had feized the obnoxious minider, and had put him 
to death ; and their apprehenfions of the refentment of 
their prince, induced them to invite the court of France 
to an invafion of their country. 
The French people feldom required much importunity 
to feize fuch an advantage: they prefently over-ran Brit¬ 
tany ; and the duke of that province was obliged to feek 
(belter in Nantz. He in vain implored the aflidance of 
England, and reminded Henry of the protection lie had 
granted him in his didrefs. That monarch was not ig¬ 
norant of what an important acquifition Brittany would 
be to France ; but he was averfe to the expence and ha¬ 
zard of a continental war; and he flattered himfelf fome 
unforefeen event would arife to defeat the defigns of the 
French. But while he reded in this expectation, he re¬ 
ceived the unwelcome intelligence that the Bretons had 
been defeated in a decifive action ; and that many perfons 
of high rank were made prifoners. The death of the 
duke, which followed foon after, threw affairs into dill 
greater confufion : and Henry now feemed determined to 
act with vigour. An infurreCtion which had been ex¬ 
cited in the north on account of fome new tax, had been 
quelled by the earl of Surrey, whom the king hadrefiored 
to liberty, and had taken into favour; and, no longer 
alarmed by domedic enemies, he difpatched lord Broke 
with fix thoufand men to the defence of Brittany : but 
though the Englifh and the Bretons were for fome time 
2 
matters of the field, affairs were in fuch confufion, thatthe 
general was obliged to re-embark his troops for England. 
Mean while, Anne duchefs of Brittany, prefl'ed on every 
fide, had confented to cfpoufe Maximilian king of the 
Romans, and the ceremony was performed by proxy. Yet 
this did not prevent the lady of Beaujeu from entertain¬ 
ing the profpeCt of obtaining her hand for Charles VIII, 
and though the affedtions of Anne were fixed on Maximi¬ 
lian, and fhe was drongly prejudiced againd Charles, as 
the author of all the calamities which had befallen her 
family, fuch was the didrefs to which die was reduced, 
that die was compelled to fubmit, and was married at 
Langay, in Touraine, to the king of France. The rage 
of Maximilian at this event was unbounded ; and even 
Henry had never more reafon to reproach himfelf with 
mifcondudt. He immediately declared his refolution to 
invade France ; and under that exigency he iflued a corn- 
million for levying a benevolence on his people ; though a 
fpecies of taxation which had been abolilhed. Arch- 
bilhop Morton, the chancellor, inftrudted the commidion- 
ers to employ a dilemma, in which every one might be 
comprehended : if the perfons applied to lived frugally, 
they were told that their parfimony mud necclfarily have 
enriched them ; if their method of living was fplendid 
and hofpitabie, they were concluded to be opulent on 
account of their expences. This device was by lome 
called chancellor Morion’s fork, by others his crutch. 
Both the parliament and the nobles readily countenanced 
the invafion: the former granted him two fifteenths; the 
latter colledted their valfals to attend him. On the 6th 
of Odtober, 1492, the king arrived at Calais with an army 
Of twenty-five thoufand foot, and fixteen hundred horfe, 
and laid fiege to Bullogne ; but it was foon apparent that 
he had no ferious intention of pulhing on the war to fuch 
extremities as he pretended, and a negotiation was opened 
between him and Charles. The latter anxious to fe- 
cure Brittany, and eager to invade Italy, confented to 
pay Henry feven hundred and forty-five thoufand crowns, 
and llipulated a yearly penfion to him and his heirs of 
twenty-five thoufand crowns. Thus the king, as remarked 
by his hiftorian, made profit upon his fnbjedts for the 
war, and upon his enemies for the peace. 
Circumftances now feemed to leave Henry in poflelfion 
of durable tranquillity ; but his inveterate enemies foon 
railed him an adverfary, who long kept him in difquie- 
tude. The duchefs of Burgundy, full of refentment for 
the depreffion of her family, had propagated a report 
that her nephew, Richard Plantagenet duke of York, 
had efcaped from the tower of London, and was ftill 
alive ; and Ihe had been looking out for fome young man 
proper to perfonate that prince. Warbeck, a renegado 
Jew of Tournay, who had vifited London in the reign of 
Edward IV. having had opportunities of being known to 
the king, and obtaining his favour, he prevailed with that 
prince, whofe manners were very affable, to (land god¬ 
father to a fon, born in this country, to whom he gave 
the name of Peter, corrupted, after the Flemith manner, 
into Peterkin or Perkin. It was by fome believed that 
Edward, among his amorous adventures, hacHa fecret 
commerce with Warbeck’s wife, and people thence ac¬ 
counted for that fuppofed refemblance, which was after¬ 
wards remarked between young Perkin and that monarch. 
Some years after the birth of this child, Warbeck re¬ 
turned to Tournay, whence Perkin his fon, by different 
accidents, was carried from place to place, and his birth 
and fortune became thereby unknown, or difficult to be 
traced. The variety of his adventures had much fa¬ 
voured the natural verfatility and fagacity of his genius; 
and he feemed to be a youth perfectly fitted to adt any 
part, or alfume any efiaradter. In this light he had been 
reprefented to the duchefs of Burgundy; who, (truck 
with the concurrence of fo many circumftances fuited to 
her purpofes, defired to be made acquainted with him. 
She found him to exceed her molt fanguine expectations; 
