ENGLAND. 
■bills,, bows, and fnch weapons as were then in ufe. 
Flammoc and Jofeph were their leaders, who foon con- 
dlifted the Corniflimen through the county of Devon, 
and reached that of Somerfet. At Taunton, the rebels 
killed a+i officious commiffioner of the fubfidy ; and when 
they reached Wells, they were joined by lord Audley, 
a nobleman popular in his diftrift ; but vain, ambitious, 
and reftlefs in his temper. Proud of the countenance 
given them by fo confiderable a perfonage, they conti¬ 
nued their march, breathi-g deftruftion to the king’s 
minifters and favourites, particularly to Morton, and fir 
Reginald Bray, who were deemed the mod aftive muni¬ 
ments of opprellions. Notwithflanding their rage againft 
the adminiftt\ition, as they met with no refiftance, they 
committed neither violence nor diforder during their 
prog-refs. 
Henry, to oppofe the Scots, had an army in readinefs; 
but though it was his ufual faying, “ that he defired but 
to fee the rebels,” it was not until he had felefted all 
his forces, that he ventured to attack them. They had 
advanced to the very gates of London, and were formi¬ 
dable from their numbers and their valour ; but being ill 
difciplined, ignorant, and ill armed, were not a match for 
the regular troops. After a (Tiort refiftance, they were 
broke and put to flight on Biackheath. Lord Audley, 
IMammoc, and Jofeph, their leaders, were taken and exe¬ 
cuted ; but Henry, pitying the ignorance and (implicity 
of the multitude, to the eternal honour of the fovereign 
power, difmifled them without punifhment. Meanwhile, 
the Scottifli king had laid'fiege to the caftle of Norham, 
in Northumberland ; but on the appearance of the earl 
of Surrey, he abandoned the enterprife. A truce was af¬ 
terwards concluded between the two crowns, and James 
perceiving that while Perkin remained in Scotland he 
Ihould never enjoy peace with Henry, privately defired 
him to depart. 
For fome time after quitting Scotland, Perkin concealed 
himfelf in the wilds and faftneffes of Ireland. Impatient, 
however, of this kind of fugitive life, he held confulta- 
tions with his followers, Herne, Skelton,.and Aftley, three 
broken tradefmen ; and by their advice he refolved to try 
the affeftions of the Cornifh people, whole mutinous dif- 
pofiiion, notwithflanding the king’s lenity, (fill fubfilled. 
No fdoner did he appear at Bodmin, than the populace, 
to. the number of three thoufand, flocked to his ftandard ; 
and Perkin, elated with this appearance of fuccefs, took 
on him, for the firft time, the appellation of Richard IV. 
king of England. Not to futt'er the expectations' of 
his followers to languid), he prefented himfelf before 
Exeter; and, finding that the inhabitants fhut their gates 
againft him, he laid fiege to the place; but being unpro¬ 
vided with artillery, ammunition, and every thing requi- 
fite for the attempt, he made no progrefs in his under¬ 
taking. When Henry was informed that Perkin lay before 
Exeter, he exprefi'ed great joy at his being fo near, and 
prepared himfelf with alacrity to attack him. The cour¬ 
tiers, fenfible that their activity on this occafion would be 
the mod: acceptable fervice which they could render the 
king, difplayed equal zeal for the enterprife. The lords 
Daubeney and Broke, with fir Rice ap Thomas, haftened 
forward with a fmall body of troops to the relief of 
Exeter. The earl of Devonfliire, and the mod confider¬ 
able gentlemen of the county of that name, took arms of 
their own accord, and inarched to join the king’s gene¬ 
rals. The duke of Buckingham put himfelf at the head 
of a troop, confiding of young nohility and gentry, who 
ferved as volunteers ; and the king himfelf prepared to 
follow with a confiderable army. Perkin, informed of 
thefe great preparations, railed the fiege of Exeter, and 
retired to Taunton. Though his followers feemed ftill 
refolute to maintain his caufe, he himfelf defpaired of 
fuccefs, and fecretly withdrew to the fanftuary of Beau¬ 
lieu, in the New Foreft- The Cornifh rebels fubmitted 
to the king’s well-known mercy, and found that his for- 
givenels was not yet exhaufted. Except a few perfons of 
Von. VI. No. 378. 
(m 
defperate fortunes who were executed, and fdme others 
who were leverely fined, all were dilmifled with impu¬ 
nity. Lady Catharine Gordon, wife to Perkin, fell into 
the hands of the viftor, and was treated with a generolity 
which does him honour. He placed her in a reputable 
ftatiomabout the qlieen, and afligned her a penfion, which 
Ihe enjoyed for life. 
Perkin, being perfuaded to quit his fanftuary, A. D. 
149S, was condufted in a kind of mock triumph to Lon¬ 
don. His own confefiion of his impofture and adventures 
was publifhed ; but, though his life was granted him, he 
was ftill detained in cuftody, and fent to the lower, 
where his habits of intrigue and enterprife ftill followed 
him. He infinuated himfelf into the confidence of four 
fervants of fir John Digby, lieutenant of the Tower; and, 
by their means, opened a correfpondence with the young 
unoffending earl of Warwick, who was confined in the 
fame place. This unfortunate prince, who had from his 
earlieft youth been Unit up from the commerce of men, 
and who was ignorant even of the moft common affairs of 
life, was eafily fufceptible of any impreffion. The natu¬ 
ral love of liberty engaged him to embrace a project for 
his efcape, by the murder of the lieutenant; and Perkin 
offered to conduft the whole enterprife. The confpiracy, 
however, efcaped not the king’s vigilance ; and Perkin, 
by this new attempt, having rendered himfelf totally un¬ 
worthy of mercy, was arraigned, condemned, and hanged 
at Tyburn, acknowledging his impofture to the laft In 
a few days after Perkin’s execution, the wretched earl of 
Warwick was tried by his peers; and, being convifted 
of high-treafon, in confequence of pleading guilty, he was 
beheaded on Tower-hill ; and in him ended the laft male 
branch of the houfe of Plantagenet. The deplorable end 
of this innocent nobleman, and the fate of Perkin, who, 
notwithflanding all the impoftures that had been proved 
againft him, was, by the credulous and ignorant, who 
are ever the greateft number, ftill deemed the real fon 
of king Edward, had filled the kingdom with fuch an 
averfion to the government of Henry, that, to throw the 
odium from himfelf, he difingenuoutly laid it to the ac¬ 
count of his ally, Ferdinand of Arragon, who, he faid, 
refufed him his alliance, while any prince of the houfe 
of York remained alive. 
There had been hitherto nothing aftive in this reign 
but plots, treafons, impoftures, and infurreftions ; and it 
is probable that Henry’s feverity proceeded from the.con¬ 
tinual plarms in which thefe inquietudes held him. It is 
certain that no prince ever valued peace more than him¬ 
felf ; and much of the ill-will of his fubjects arofe from 
his endeavours to reprefs their inclination for war. The 
ufual preface to all his treaties was, “ That when Chrift 
came into the world, peace was fung ; and when he went 
out of the world, peace was bequeathed.” He had no 
ambition to extend his power, except only by treaties 
and by wifdom : by thefe he rendered himfelf much more 
formidable to his neighbours than his predeceffors had 
ever done by their viftories; they indeed became terri¬ 
ble to their own fubjedls ; but he was chiefly dreaded by 
rival kings. 
Henry had all along two principal points in view ; one 
to reprefs the nobility and clergy ; the other to exalt and 
humanize the populace. From the ambition and turbu¬ 
lence of the former, and from the wretchednefs and cre¬ 
dulity of the latter, almoft all the troubles in the former 
reigns had taken their origin. In the feudal times, every 
nobleman was pofleffed of a certain number of vaftals, 
over whom he had an abfolute controul; and, upon every 
flight difguft, he was able to compel them to join him in 
whatever principle he chofe to uphold. Henry, there¬ 
fore, wifely confidered, that the giving thefe petty ty¬ 
rants a power of felling their eftates, which before this 
time were unalienable, would eventually tend to weaken 
their intereft. Witli this view he palled an.aft, by which 
the nobility had free liberty to difpofe of their eftates ; 
a law infinitely plealing to them all, fince they had thus 
7 X an 
