his nephew marry her; but Richard would not hear of it, pretending she was too near in blood, being his cousingerman; though perhaps the true reason was, that the relation of father to the queen being added to that of uncle to the king, the duke's arrogance would have been swelled to an insupportable degree, and his power raised to an irresistible height, which was already but too formidable."1

None of these alliances succeeding, therefore, a triple motive induced him to seek that with France. His grief for the loss of his beloved Anne had been so intense (he never, after her death, could bear to behold the palace of Shene, where she had expired), that though he deemed it right to marry again, his regret for her loss was yet too bitter and too fresh to allow him to regard with complacency the idea of already giving her a successor in his affections. He thought, therefore, that by selecting as his wife a child of such tender years, time would have softened his grief before she was of an age to rival in his heart the memory of her he had lost: this was his first reason; the others were of a political nature.

66

The Duke of Gloucester, his uncle-who is described as

a man very dangerous and enterprizing, possessed of a great estate, yet doing nothing but for money, of wonderful parts, and an excellent politician; proud, presumptuous, imperious, revengeful, bloody, false, and insincere; rather feared than loved, yet having a strong party attached to his interests," 2had resolved on getting the government of the nation into his own hands, if not on absolutely taking possession of the throne. Against such an enemy, Richard deemed that the alliance of Charles the Sixth would prove a great protection, and as he, far from sharing in the anxiety of his subjects to continue an unequal and injurious war with France, desired nothing more than a lasting peace with that country, he saw in this marriage the means of procuring that blessing, or at least a truce of

1 Carte's History of England, vol. ii. page 612.

2 Ibid.

such long duration as would insure him repose from that quarter for the remainder of his reign.

Accordingly, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishop of St. David's, the Earls of Rutland and Nottingham, Lord Beaumont, and William le Scrope, chamberlain of the household, were sent to negotiate the marriage. They were commanded to insist that the portion of Isabella should not be less than two hundred and fifty thousand marks, and were in return to offer ten thousand marks a year rent in land for her jointure. Their proposals, however, were not immediately accepted, as negotiations had been entered into between Charles and the Duke de Bretagne for a marriage between her and the eldest son of that nobleman, which had almost terminated in an engagement, beside which, no treaty of peace having yet been made between the two monarchs, the French council deemed it not right that their king should give his daughter to one who was still an adversary: as, however, they were as well disposed for peace as Richard, the English ambassadors were most favourably received, entertained with the utmost splendour, and encouraged to hope that their mission would yet be successful. The Dukes of York and Lancaster, the king's uncles, being also well disposed towards the match, their consent was given, and the arrangements terminated at Paris, in March, 1396.

Preparations were accordingly made for the marriage, which was yet, however, destined to be further delayed by the appearance of two obstacles: the one was, the necessity of obtaining a dispensation from Pope Boniface,-there being a distant degree of relationship between the parties,—and an absolution from any censures Isabella might incur for her adherence to Pope Clement;'-the other proceeded from Richard's desire to win over the approbation of the Duke of Gloucester to the intended peace with France, all the terms 1 Rymer.