by King Edward the Fourth, besides two, who died in infancy, were, Edward the Fifth, and Prince Richard, both as was said, but the ladies came not. After the lords and the ladies had made their offerings, and mass was ended, the Marquis of Dorset paid the funeral ex-sassinated in the Tower; Elizabeth, who penses." In compliance with the desire expressed in the will, the body of Elizabeth Woodville, a Queen whose avarice and ambitious scheming for the aggrandizement of her former husband's children excited the jealousy of the nobles, and was the chief source of her many troubles and misfortunes, was interred in the tomb of her husband, Edward the Fourth, in St. George's Chapel. On a stone at the foot of the beautiful iren monument, which, as we previously stated, is supposed to be the work of Quintin Matsys, is the following simple inscription in old English: "King Edward, and his Queen, Elizabeth Midville.” became the consort of Henry the Seventh; Mary, born in August, 1460, at Windsor, and who died unmarried in May, 1482; Cicily, who first saw the light in 1469, was married in 1487 to Lord Wells, and afterward to Thomas Kymbe, and who Hardynge mentions as less fortunate than fair, adding, "that her second husband was an obscure person of mean birth, and but little wealth," Ann, who married Lord Howard in 1495; Katherine, who in the same year espoused the Earl of Devonshire; and Bridget, who entered the world in 1480, and who, says Speed, "early in life took the habit of religion, and became a nun at Dartford, where she spent her life in holy contemplation, unto the day of her The children of Elizabeth Woodville, | death, in 1617.” ANNE OF NEVILLE, Queen of Richard the Third Anne's parentage-Birth-Conveyed to Calais in her early youth-She rejects Richard as her lover-Is present at the marriage of her sister to Clarence-Returns with Warwick, her father, to England-Warwick is forced to flee the country with his family-Disastrous voyage-Anne is married to Edward, the heir of Lancaster-After Edward's death she flies from Richard, who discovers her; quarrels with Clarence respecting her patrimony; and marries her-She gives birth to a son-Her wealth settled upon Richard by act of Parliament-Her residence in the North-Coronation-Second coronation at York-Death of her sonHer health gives way-Richard's cruelty towards her-False rumours of her death -Richard wishes her dead, that he may marry Elizabeth of York-Her kind disposition-Death-Burial. styled NNE OF NEVILLE, The historical events which marked her career have been traced in the two preceding lives; this memoir, therefore, needs be but brief. sometimes Anne of Warwick, was the second daughter of the powerful Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, named by the people "The King-Maker," and his wife, Anne, the daughter and heiress of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. By his marriage Richard Neville added to his own wealthy inheritance the vast lands and princely possessions of the Warwick family. His yearly income amounted to upwards of twenty-two thousand marks. But, rich as he was in worldly goods, he possessed no male heir, his only children being two daughters, Isabella and Anne. Anne, the subject of the present memoir, first saw the light at Warwick Castle, in 1454. Towards the close of the year 1459, to escape the vengeance of Margaret of Anjou, whose cause then triumphed, Warwick retired with his family to Calais, where Anne, it is supposed, spent the years of her early youth: indeed, the wars of the Roses prevented Warwick, except occasionally, from bringing his family to England. When, or under what circumstances, Richard the Third first paid his addresses to the Lady Anne, we know not; but, as he was the son of her great aunt, Sicily, Duchess of York, and as the York and Warwick families were on terms of close friendship, it is but reasonable to suppose that, in his early youth, the hunchback King, who was only two years older than Anne, was frequently in her society. But however this may be, Majerres assures us that, when in his seventeenth year, he fell in love with her, but that his disagreeable person and manners, and crabbed temper, induced her to reject his suit. Anne was present at the marriage of her sister to Clarence, at Calais, and immediately returned with her parents and the newly wedded pair to England, where Warwick and Clarence raised a formidable rebellion in favour of the Red Rose. Anne's sister, grasped at the whole suc cession; and, to obtain his end, he, under pretence of protecting her, privately abducted his sister-in-law, who, to secure herself from her abhorred cousin, Glou cester, actually took the disguise of a common servant, and found employment as cook, housemaid, and general_domes tic, in the house of a poor London citizen. Gloucester, however, after a vigilant search, discovered her; and, as she was under the attainder in which her mother and Queen Margaret were included, he placed her in the sanctuary of St. Martin's le Grand. Shortly afterwards, the unfortunate Anne was placed under the protection of her uncle, the Archbishop of York; but the imprisonment of that prelate by Edward the Fourth, in 1473, deprived her of her last refuge against the wily Gloucester. This greatly annoyed Ciarence, who, although unable to prevent the marriage, swore that Gloucester should not "part the livelihood with him." After the defeat of the Lincolnshire insurrection, Warwick fled with his family to Dartford, whence, on the fifteenth of April, 1470, they set sail for Calais. | On the voyage, the Yorkists' fleet attacked them, and took all their ships, except the one containing the Neville family. This vessel encountered a fearful storm, and at length, when the distressed voyagers made the port of Calais, Vanclere, whom Warwick had left as his deputy, would not permit them to land. "The world seems queasy here," But although Vanclere fired upon the says Sir John Paston, in a letter, dated vessel, he found means to privately in- 1473. "For the most part that be form Warwick that the towns-people had about the King have sent thither for forced him to do so; and he also sent their harness [armour]. It is said for on board two flagons of wine, for the certain that the Duke of Clarence maketh use of the Duchess of Clarence, who had himself big in that he can, shewing as been taken in labour, and was delivered if he would deal but with the Duke of on board ship of her first-born. From Gloucester, but the King intended to be Calais the fugitives steered their course as big as they both." As stated by towards Normandy, took every Flemish Paston, Edward the Fourth took the vessel they met with, and landed safely case in hand, and after vainly endea at Harfleur. Immediately they had re-vouring to reconcile the two brothers, covered from the effects of the voyage, they hastened to the court of Louis the Eleventh of France, where a reconciliation was effected between Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, and Edward, the heir of Lancaster, then in his nineteenth year, was married to Anne Neville, who was two years younger than himself, at Angers, in August, 1470. After the murder of Edward of Lancaster, at the fatal field of Tewksbury, in May, 1471, Gloucester proposed, by marrying the widowed Anne, to claim a due share of the immense wealth of her father, the late Earl of Warwick, slain at the battle of Barnet, in the previous April. But Clarence, the husband of heard their cause in council, and assigned to Anne her portion of the property, and the rest to Isabell, the other daughter. This award was made without regard to the interests of the Countess, their mother, who still lived, and to whom belonged, by law, the possessions of her late brother and father, and the dower settled on her by her husband. Anne of Neville was married to Richard, Duke of York, in 1473, and in the subsequent year an act of Parliament was passed, determining that the daughters of the late Earl of Warwick should succeed to his estates and possessions, as if their mother were dead; that if either of their husbands sur vived them, the surviving husband should continue to enjoy his wife's portion during his lifetime; and that if a divorce should be pronounced between Richard and Anne, Richard should still have the benefit of this act, provided he did his best to marry her again. The latter clause, doubtless, inserted in the act on account of a Papal bull not having been obtained to dispense with their relationship, renders it highly probable that Anne was coerced into giving her hand to Richard. But, however this may be, the birth of her son Edward, eleven months after her marriage, appears to have reconciled the Duchess of Gloucester to her fate. When war was declared with Scotland, in 1480, Richard headed the army against the Scots, and sustained the honour of his country by winning several battles, and capturing Edinburgh. Whilst her lord was thus occupied, Anne, whose sister had died on the twelfth day of December, 1476, resided at Middleham Castle, in Yorkshire, where she devoted her attention to her only child, Edward, now a healthy boy, six years old. About a week after the base-hearted Richard had usurped the throne of his nephew, Anne came to London, and, on the fifth of July, was crowned with her husband at Westminster. "King Richard," says the chronicler, "whose guilty heart was full of suspicion, had sent for five thousand soldiers out of the North, to be present at his coronation. These, under Robin of Redisdale, came up evily apparelled, and harnessed in rusty armour, neither defencible for proof nor scoured for show, and who, mustering in Finsbury Fields, were with disdain gazed upon by the beholders. But all things being now ready for the coronation (and much the sooner, as that provided for the enthronement of the young Edward was used), on the fourth of July, Richard with his consort went by water to the Tower, where he created his son Prince of Wales, ordained the Knights of the Bath. and, more from fear than love, set at liberty Lord Stanley and the Archbishop of York." The coronation being a double onea ceremony which had not been witnessed in England since the days of Edward the Second and Isabella of France—was doubly magnificent, "Upon the sixth of July," continues the chronicler, " King Richard, with Queen Anne his wife, set forth from Whitehall towards Westminster, royally attended, and went into the great hall in the King's Bench, from whence the King and Queen walked barefoot to King Edward's shrine in St. Peter's Church, all the nobility going with them according to their degree. The trumpets and heralds marshalled the way. The cross, with a solemn procession, followed the priests in fine surplices, the bishops and abbots in rich copes, all of them mitred and carrying their crosses in their hands; next came the Earl of Huntingdon, bearing a pair of gilt spurs as an emblem of knighthood; after whom came the Earl of Bedford, who bore St. Edward's staff as a relic; then followed the Earl of Northumberland, with a naked, pointless sword in his hand, betokening mercy; next followed the mace of the constableship, borne by Lord Stanley, upon whose right hand the Earl of Kent bore a naked, pointed sword; and on his left Lord Lovell also bore a naked, pointed sword, the former sword signifying justice to the temporality, and the latter justice to the clergy. The Duke of Suffolk then followed with the sceptre, which signifyeth peace. The Earl of Lincoln bore the ball and cross, which signifyeth a monarchy. Then came the Earl of Surrey, bearing the fourth sword, sheathed in a rich scabbard, and which is called the Sword of Estate; next whom followed was the Garter King at Arms, on whose right hand went the Gentleman Usher of the King's Privy Chamber; and on his left the Lord Mayor of London, with a mace in his hand. Next unto whom went the Duke of Norfolk, bearing the King's crown between his hands; and then King Richard himself came, in a sur coat and robe of purple velvet, having over his head a canopy, borne by the four barons of the five ports, and with the Bishop of Bath on his right hand, and the Bishop of Durham on his left. The Duke of Buckingham bore the King's train; and to signify the office of | with all possible honour, the King, when High Steward of England, he carried a white staff in his hand. "Then followed the procession of the Queen, before whom was bore the sceptre, the ivory rod, the dove, and the crown. The Queen herself, apparelled in robes similar to the King's, wore a golden circlet, set full of precious stones; over her head was a rich canopy, with a bell of gold at each corner; and her train, which was about forty yards long, and of the richest velvet, was borne by the Countess of Richmond, assisted by the Duchesses of Norfolk and Suffolk, and twenty ladies of estate, most richly attired. "In this order the procession passed the palace into the abbey: the King and Queen ascending to the high altar, there shifted their robes; and having other robes open in divers places, from the middle upwards, were both of them anointed and crowned by Cardinal Bourchier, assisted by the Bishops of Exeter and Norwich. The King was crowned with St. Edward's crown, the sceptre being delivered into his left hand, and the ball and cross into his right. The Queen had a sceptre placed in her right hand, and the ivory dove in her left; and after their majesties had received the sacrament, and had the host divided between them, they both offered at St. Edward's shrine, where the King left the crown of that Saint and put on his own; and this done, in the same order as they came, the procession returned to Westminster Hall, and there partook of a most princely feast." The coronation ended, Richard took his Queen and his son, the Prince of Wales, to Windsor, where he left them, whilst he proceeded on a progress through the midland counties. Anne and her son, accompanied by the Spanish ambassadors, who had come to propose a marriage between their sovereign's eldest daughter and Richard's heir, joined the King at Warwick Castle; and after keeping court there with great splendour for a week, the royal family proceeded through Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, and Pontefract, to York. That the men of the north might receive him at Nottingham, had sent his secretary before him with letters, advising the mayor and aldermen of York of his coming. One of these letters requests the mayor to "receive their graces as laudable as your wisdom imagine, with pageants, joyous displays, and such good speeches as can goodly, this short warning being considered, be devised." Accordingly, the King and Queen, and their court, were received at York with every mark of loyalty and joy. Their wardrobes had been forwarded from London; and to please the men of the north, with whom Richard had long been popular, the King and the Queen were re-crowned in York Cathedral, with the same pomp and pageantry as had been exhibited in London-the cross of St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of the North, being borne side by side with that of St. Edward. At the same time, the Prince of Wales was again invested with his title, and, on the next day, the Queen, holding by the hand Prince Edward, who wore a demi-crown, as the heir apparent, walked in procession through the streets. Feastings, tournaments, miracle plays, and other entertainments followed; but ere these festivities terminated, the Buckingham insurrection recalled Richard to London. Anne accompanied her husband; but the Prince of Wales, on whom all the deformed King's love and hopes were centred, and for whose behoof he, by blood and crime, had usurped his nephew's throne, was left for safety at Middleham Castle, where he died suddenly, but how is not known, on the ninth of April, 1484. Anne was at Nottingham when her darling and only child expired. The bereavement broke her heart. She sunk into a slow but fatal decline; and, to add to the bitterness of her miseries, her stern, selfish husband, now that their only child was dead, was anxious to be come the father of another heir; and as her declining health precluded the possibility of her ever again becoming a mother, he, or perhaps his courtiers, darkly hinted at the expediency and possibility of annulling her marriage. |