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the evening of that day beheld him at a short distance from Richard. On the right of Redmore was the village of Bosworth, where the hostile armies met. The Earl of Richmond divided his forces into two bodies, giving the command of the vanguard to the Earl of Oxford, while he himself commanded the rear. The night was spent, as Shakespeare has so beautifully described, in preparation for the morrow's contest, and the old chroniclers, Speed and Hollingshed, informs us, that Richard was most terribly pulled and haled by devils in his sleep."(a) But notwithstanding these nocturnal visitants, he was stirring at dawn to inspect his position, and finding a sentinel sleeping at his post, drew his sword and stabbed him to the heart, exclaiming, “I found him asleep, and so I leave him." As he passed before the tent of the Duke of Norfolk in search of a confessor,(b) he read the following couplet, which was affixed to the tent:

"Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold,

For Dickon thy master is bought and sold;"

at which Richard only smiled. The poet was right, the king had been betrayed ; for Lord Stanley, whom he had summoned to join him, replied in a most insolent manner, that he would march as soon as it was requisite,(c) whereon Richard ordered that the father's treason should be expiated by the son, whom he had detained as a hostage, on the trumpet sounding the charge. Richard advanced at the first onset, exclaiming, "Treason;" slew with his own hand Sir William Brandon, the enemy's standard-bearer, and Sir John Cheney, and sought for Richmond but in vain ; betrayed by his subjects, abandoned by his allies, and surrounded by his enemies, he fell, covered with wounds, at the foot of a hill, known by the name of Aymonlays,(d) staining with his blood a rivulet, the waters of which no peasant will drink, to this day, through a feeling of superstition.(e) His

Du

body was soon stripped of his garments, arms and military insignia, and the crown Yo concealed by one of the fugitives behind some brambles growing on the bank, (f) where it was discovered after the engagement by a peasant who carried it to Lord Stanley; this nobleman immediately placed it on the conqueror's head, hailing him as King Henry VII., while the army intoned the Te Deum amid the blood-dyed brambles.(g) Never was there so rapid a revolution; in the morning, the Earl of Richmond was an adventurer, at eventide, King of England. Between sunrise and sunset, England had beheld two masters, one, a usurper, whose very name was held in execration; the other, elected by God and victory, had his poetlaureate, Bernard André,(h) who had come some distance to be present at the Battle of Bosworth, ready to praise and extol his deeds. Henry Tudor, raised to the empire by an election altogether pagan, adopted as his crest a crown in a bush of thorns. () Richard's body, naked, mutilated, and covered with filth, was thrown across a horse, his feet hanging on one side while his head lay on the other, and thus conveyed to Leicester: as the cortége was passing over the bridge, his head struck, like "a thrum-mop," against one of the parapets, and thus was the blind beggar's prophecy fulfilled. After having been exposed for two days to the sacrilegious jeerings of the populace, Richard was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, at Leicester; these religious, who had even found a protector in the deceased sovereign, prayed for the repose of his soul. Thus were the children

(f) The works of Sir Thomas More, sometime Lord Chancellor of England. Wrytten by him. London, 1557 Passim. - Historia Richardi Regis Angliæ ejus nominis tertii, I., P. 20. The history of King Richard the Thirde, written by Mayster Thomas More, then one of the under-sheriff's of London, about the year of our Lord 1513.

(g) O Redmore, then it seemed thy name was not in vain!

(h) Bernardi Andreæ Tholosatis, potëæ. laureati, regii historiographi, de vitâ atque gestis Henrici VII. Angliæ ac Franciæ regi potentissimi sapientissimique historia. MS: Cott., Domit A., XVIII., p. 126-229.

(i) The English proverb: "Cling to a crow though it hang on a bush," is well known.

of Edward avenged. (a)

The House of York had ceased to reign; that of Lancaster was about to succeed; but Henry was not the legitimate heir of that noble family. His mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was the daughter of John Duke of Somerset, grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and a bastard. By virtue of letters patent from Richard II., John of Gaunt had obtained the legitimation of his natural children; but yet this act of kindness on the part of Richard II. gave them no right to the crown, as in the act wherein were specified the various privileges granted to the heirs of the bastard, the right of succession was especially prohibited. (b) The conqueror solemnly entered London on the 28th of August, in a close carriage, concealing himself as far as possible from the gaze of the public, either through fear or modesty. The Lord Mayor and the principal citizens waited on him at Hornsey Park, to congratulate him on his accession to the throne.(©) The people ran to meet him on his way, and made the air resound with their acclamations, as they had previously done when Richard marched out of the city to meet his adversary. The master was the same; the name alone was changed.

“King Henry! King Henry! Our Lord preserve that sweet and well-known face."(d) They carried in procession before him the image of St. George, the red dragon of Cadwallader, the dun cow, the three standards which had floated in the air during the combat, and which were devoutly laid by the conqueror on the high altar of St. Paul's; after the intoning of the Te Deum, the prince returned to the Palace of the Bishop of London. (e) Shortly after commenced the preparations for his coronation. To add to the pomp of the ceremony, the king created, under the name of the "Yeoman of the Guard," a body of fifty archers, as a portion

of his escort: this act would probably have given offence to the nation, had he not, like a skilful politician, affirmed that it was an inoffensive appendage to the royal dignity. (f) The Archbishop of Canterbury placed the crown on the head of the new monarch, who, on receiving it, took the usual oath that he "would keep and maintain the rights and liberties of holy Church of old time, granted by the righteous Christian kings of England."(g) We shall soon have to notice the alterations made by Henry VIII. in this oath immediately after his coronation.(h)

The Parliament assembled on the 7th of November, 1485, at Westminster. Convoked by a conqueror, it was, to use the expression of an eminent writer, conquered beforehand.() Bribery and corruption won a majority for the partizans of the House of Lancaster, who, under the reign of the House of York, had been either exiled, imprisoned, or condemned for contumacy,(j) and consequently, their right to take their seats in the house was disputed at the outset. How could they possibly recognise, as representatives, men under legal condemnation? The question was brought before the Exchequer, when it was decided that the new members could not take their seats until the statute, by which they had been condemned, had been abrogated. A few strokes from the pen soon restored these rights to nearly a hundred representatives.

But another difficulty, of far greater importance, was now laid before the house. Henry himself had been condemned as a traitor, during the late reign, and had he fallen into the hands of the deceased monarch, would doubtless have been put to death; as it was, he was still amenable to the law. But the judges solved this problem by deciding that the possession of the crown had abolished the statute of attainder, and that, consequently, as soon

(f) Hallam.-Hume.-Turner.

(g) That we shall kepe and mayntene the right and the liberties of holie Church of old tyme, graunted by the righteous christen kings of England. British Mus. MSS. Cott. Tiberius. E. VIII.

(h) Sec Chap. II. (i) Hallam. (j) Hume.

as Henry had been vested with kingly authority, he had ceased to be responsible for past crimes.(a) It now became necessary to establish the claims of Henry Tudor to the English crown, and as he had been victorious at Bosworth, his success was interpreted as a manifestation of the will of God in his favour.(b) Hence it may be seen from this argument, that the doctrine of the middle ages was again revived, which taught, as the reader may possibly recollect, that in a duel, the Divine will was shown in favour of the conqueror, as if Divine Providence resembled the poets, who invariably punish the guilty and reward the innocent. This deification of a human act enabled the conqueror to strip his enemies of power, but Henry, fearful of alarming his new subjects, graciously permitted them to retain whatever posts of honour they had held under Richard.(c)

The exile, on ascending the throne, often exercises vengeance over his enemies, (d) and such was the course pursued by Henry, who, instead of granting a general amnesty, demanded of Parliament power to punish those who had been guilty of treason against a loyalty just emerged from a bramble bush. Avaricious aud revengeful, Henry thought only of satisfying his passions. He stigmatized his predecessor as a murderer and a perjurer, and banished Sir Walter Harrington, Sir William Berkeley, Sir James Harrington, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Catesby and twenty other noblemen, who had fought under Richard's standard at Bosworth.(e) He moreover confiscated the property of a number of the Yorkists, and yet was called clement on account of the amnesty he had published.(f) His claims to the English crown were laughed at, and even Parliament declared, that it" belongeth to the royal person of the actual Sovereign Lord, Henry VII., and his heirs ;"(g) an ambiguous manner of expression, which Henry ought at once to have rejected. Parliament, not daring

to admit his right to the crown, inasmuch as it was yet unrecognized by the nation, conceded to the king de facto a Parliamentary legitimacy, before which every other claim yielded.(h) The right of succession must, therefore, have been considered a grave question, since Parliament, after all, was not satisfied as to the legitimacy of its own act. The mysterious

decree of heaven which its members imagined for a moment that they had read on the thorn-bush of Bosworth, did not now appear to them sufficiently manifest to establish or consecrate a royalty. They were now in fear of some phantom or other, which arising from one of the tombs of the family of York, might sooner or later come forth, armed cap-à-pied, to claim hereditary rights, and they besought the monarch to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV., who with her title of queen, would transmit to his posterity her royal blood.

Edward Plantaganet, son of the unfortunate Duke of Clarence, created Earl of Warwick by Edward IV., had been confined at Sheriff Hutton Castle during the reign of Richard III., in consequence of his title to the crown being on a better foundation than that of, the usurper. Warwick flattered himself that, on the death of Richard, he would be restored to liberty; for what opposition could a poor, sickly lad of fifteen offer to the claims of Henry or Elizabeth ? But on the new sovereign's arrival at Leicester, and even before Richard was consigned to the grave, Sir Robert Willoughby was ordered to take the prisoner to the Tower, where he was to be confined in the room which had witnessed the murder of Edward's two childdren; but Elizabeth, his fellow-prisoner, was released, and conducted in triumph to Westminster.(i) A singular destiny for two innocent creatures; the one cast into a dungeon, because he was of royal blood, and the other, for the same reason, led in triumph to London; the one dragged to a scaffold, the other decked with a crown and sceptre! The king was not at rest: Plantaganet was a prisoner in the Tower, and Elizabeth, a descendant of the House

of York, was about to partake of the royal couch, yet he was not really at rest. Το banish his terrors, he applied to Rome for the confirmation of his title to the crown of England, and this in a twofold petition, praying for a dispensation to marry Elizabeth, and the approbation of the act of Parliament. (a) The Chair of St. Peter was at that time filled by Innocent VIII., a prince endowed with remarkable talent. The two bulls were soon expedited, and in both, Henry's claims to the English crown mentioned. "The crown of England lawfully belongs to Henry, king by right of conquest, king by order of succession, king by the acclamation of the people, king by the unanimous assent and consent of the three orders of the nation."(b) Still, to prevent a repetition of the sanguinary wars caused by the rival claims of the houses of York and Lancaster, Henry, yielding to the wishes of the state assembled in Parliament, desired to marry the Princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter and true heiress of Edward, of immortal memory. Innocent, at the king's request, and to secure the peace of the kingdom, after having confirmed the first dispensation, pronounced the issue of such marriage to be legitimate, and capable of succeeding their father and mother. "In compliance with his own desire, the Sovereign Pontiff vouchsafes to confirm the statute regarding the king and the succession of his children." By virtue of his apostolical power, he ordered obedience to be paid to the new monarch, and anathematized those that should pretend to the throne. In case of the queen dying without issue, or the children not surviving their father, the crown was to pass to other children born in lawful wedlock.(c) Lastly, the Pontiff ordered all archbishops, bishops, abbots, deans, archdeacons, rectors, incumbents, priors and guardians of monasteries, under pain of censure, to excommunicate those who should disobey the Holy See, and refuse obedience to the acts of succession and establishment. (d)

Henry, in making these applications to the Holy See, was evidently guided rather by feelings of selfishness than piety. He well knew that there was no surer method of weakening his own authority than proclaiming himself king by right of conquest only, and of opening the way to rebellion.(e) His appeal to the Sovereign Pontiff might seem a violation of the statute of præmunire, which had ever been regarded in England as inviolate. What matter! It was necessary to show that the bulls had been accorded spontaneously by the Holy Father, though they contained a prima facie evidence to the contrary.(f) Is it likely that Innocent would have adduced in Henry's favour the right of succession, the consent of the nobility, the gratitude of the people, and the acclamations of the soldiery, had not his royal client previously founded his claim to the throne on those grounds? But it was essentially necessary that the nation should be kept in ignorance of Henry's having solicited the bull, for John Lackland had lost his crown, even before the passing of the statute of præmunire, because he appealed to the Holy See, and this circumstance was well remembered by the Earl of Richmond, who had spent a great portion of his time, while in exile, in the study of English history.(g)

Henry had been employed by the nation as the instrument of her vengeance on a cruel tyrant, and she was by no means ungrateful towards her liberator. The Parliament, as we have already seen, assented to invest him with the insignia of royalty, by bestowing on him the hand of Elizabeth, whom England would have recognized as her queen. Before he left his exile, Henry had been obliged to betroth himself to Edward's daughter, in order that, should success attend his arms, a fresh rebellion might be avoided, and it was not till after this arrangement had been entered into, that Henry crossed the Channel. However, after the tyrant's fall, his only object was to turn royalty to the best account for the promotion of his own views, faithless alike to the promise he had made, and

(e) Balmez. El Protestantismo comparado con el Catolicisme en sus relaciones au la civilizacion Europea.

(f) Rapin de Thoyras. (8) Rapin de Thoyras.