ESSAY V.

The Reign of EDWARD IV.

A. D. 1461-1482.

EDWARD duke of York, who now ascended the throne, partly on the ground of his lineal descent from Edward III., and partly by a popular election, had just attained his twentieth year, when he obtained possession of the crown. His person was singularly beautiful his deportment, affable and engaging; his general character, enterprising and intrepid; but to these qualities were added a cruelty of disposition, and ferocity of mind, which peculiarly fitted him for the sanguinary scenes through which he was to pass. He well knew that the glittering prize he had obtained could only be secured by the slaughter of the principal supporters of the house of Lancaster, and was not backward to embrace every opportunity of thinning their ranks. An incident which occurred at the commencement of his reign, gave a sufficient indication of the system of terror which he intended to pursue. Having received information that a citizen of London had indulged himself in a pleasantry on the illegality of his title to the crown, Edward caused him to be apprehended, condemned, and executed for the offence.

Whilst king Edward was thus employed in London, queen Margaret, his unwearied and persevering enemy, after having gained a partial victory over a detachment of his forces, at St. Alban's, proceeded to the north, for the purpose of levying new troops, and of reviving by her presence the drooping courage of her faithful partisans. She was so successful in her efforts as to assemble in a few days an army of 60,000 men. Edward hastened to meet her, attended by the celebrated earl of Warwick, at the head of about forty thousand. On their way they encountered a strong detachment of the queen's army, advantageously posted at Ferry-bridge, which they

repulsed with some difficulty, and killed lord Clifford, their commander. The two main armies met at Towton, in Yorkshire, where a most sanguinary battle was fought, which terminated in the total rout of the queen's army, with a loss, it is said, of no less than 36,000 private soldiers, and many illustrious chiefs. The unfortunate Henry, his queen. and prince Edward their son, with difficulty, effected their escape into Scotland, accompanied by the dukes of Exeter and Somerset. The victor soon afterwards entered the city of York in triumph, and having ordered the heads of his father and the earl of Salisbury to be taken down from the gates, set up those of the vanquished generals in their place.

The king, on his return to London, summoned his parliament together, for the purpose of recognising his title, as legitimate heir to the crown, and of passing acts of attainder against the several members of the house of Lancaster, and those of the nobility, who still adhered to that unfortunate family. The confiscated possessions of all the partisans of Henry were immediately vested in the crown; by which measure, the royal revenue was augmented to a vast amount. The indefatigable Margaret did not, however, long permit her antagonist to repose from the toils of war. Having passed over from Scotland to France, she prevailed on Louis, the reigning monarch, to furnish a small army, at the head of which she again landed in England, confidently expecting that many of her former subjects would rally round her standard. But this hope proved fallacious: her few followers were easily vanquished by a superior force, in a battle fought at Hexham, and she was once more constrained to flee with precipitation; but Henry, who had been most reluctantly dragged from his retreat, to encounter new dangers, was again taken prisoner and committed to the Tower. The queen withdrew to the continent with prince Edward her son, resolving to embrace the earliest opportunity of renewing the attempt, which had hitherto proved so unsuccessful.

The condition of Edward being now comparatively secure, the young monarch resigned himself to other pursuits than those of war. He became gay and dissipated,

the slave of his passions, and the companion of libertines. Political motives induced him, about this time, to think of forming an alliance with some foreign princess, and the earl of Warwick was despatched to the court of France, to negotiate a treaty of marriage between his sovereign, and Bona of Savoy, the sister of the French king. But while this business was pending, Edward was suddenly smitten with the beauty of lady Elizabeth Woodwille, the widow of sir John Grey, who came into his presence to solicit the restoration of her husband's confiscated estates; his passion was so violent, that he resolved first to attempt her seduction, and, failing in this attempt, to make her his queen. In consequence of this marriage, the earl of Warwick was instructed abruptly to break off the negotiations with the French court, which were almost concluded. This occasioned the first breach. between king Edward and his most valiant and steadfast friend, the earl of Warwick; a rupture which led to the most serious consequences. Indignant at having been employed in so dishonourable a service, and irritated by the conduct of the queen's relatives, who engrossed many of the most important offices of state, he withdrew from court, and brooded in retirement over his discontents.

There were many of the most zealous partisans of the house of York, who took part with the earl of Warwick in this quarrel. Among these was the duke of Clarence himself, one of the king's brothers, who married the daughter and heiress of the earl of Warwick, on account of her vast possessions, and who was afterwards induced to espouse the cause of that chief, when his discontents broke out into open rebellion. In the mean time, Edward was either unconscious of his danger, or resolved to set his enemies at defiance. No conciliatory measures were adopted; on the contrary, new occasions of offence were given, if not by Edward himself, yet by those who possessed his confidence and acted under his authority.

Availing themselves of some insurrectionary movements in different parts of the kingdom, the malecontents secretly levied an army, and endeavoured, by inflammatory proclamations and manifestoes, to incense the people against the king. But the promptitude of Edward

defeated their projects, obliged them to disband their followers, and escape to the continent. Here the earl of Warwick met with his former enemy, queen Margaret, with whom he entered into a solemn covenant to restore Henry to his throne, on condition that Prince Edward should espouse his daughter, and that the regency of the kingdom should be intrusted to him, during the life of Henry and the minority of Edward. These terms were readily acceded to by the ex-queen; the marriage of prince Edward to the lady Ann Neville was consummated; and a pledge was given by the king of France, that he would exert his utmost to restore Henry to his throne!

In pursuance of this arrangement, the earl of Warwick and duke of Clarence landed in England with a formidable army, and their plans were so well laid, that a considerable number of the most distinguished Lancastrians joined them immediately after their arrival, while the unsuspecting monarch was spending his days in festivities and imaginary security. When the intelligence of the invasion first reached him, he treated it lightly, and even despatched a messenger to the duke of Burgundy, his foreign ally, requesting him to guard the seas, that his vanquished enemies might not escape. But he soon found himself deserted by those on whom he had placed his chief dependance; disaffection and treachery pervaded his camp; and he was reduced to the mortifying necessity of quitting his kingdom, without having made one effort to defend it. Thus strangely was this powerful monarch expelled from his throne and kingdom, at a moment in which he fancied himself most secure and prosperous; and the earl of Warwick, within eleven days from his landing in England, found himself in possession of the kingdom, without having so much as drawn his sword to obtain it.

The flight of king Edward, and the sudden dispersion of his army, gave the earl of Warwick an opportunity of repairing to London, and liberating Henry VI. from his long confinement in the Tower. This unhappy sovereign was again made a public spectacle, by being conducted with great pomp through the streets of London, proclaimed anew, and replaced on the throne, through the

influence of the same ambitious chieftain, who had formerly contributed to his fall. Indeed, on account of the prominent part taken by the earl of Warwick in the revolutions of this and the preceding reign, he obtained the title of the king-maker; a title which the principal actions of his life fully justified; for, without aspiring to the possession of a crown, he acquired the power of bestowing or retracting it at his pleasure. The usual routine of bills of attainder, confiscations, and public executions, followed the restoration of Henry, though with less severity than had been practised by the house of York. But the triumph of Warwick and his party was of short duration. Edward, impatient to recover his lost crown, collected a small army on the continent, with which he landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire. Pretending to have abandoned all claim to the crown, he gave out that he aimed alone at the possession of his hereditary titles and estates. Multitudes from every quarter flocked to his standard, and he soon found himself at the head of a very considerable army. The earl of Warwick marched an army to Leicester with the intention of giving him battle, but Edward contrived to pass by another route, and obtain possession of the city of London, as well as of the person of Henry VI., who was once more committed to the Tower. Flushed with this rapid and unexpected success, king Edward led back his troops to encounter the earl of Warwick, whom he met and slew in a sanguinary battle, fought at Barnet. He was chiefly indebted for this victory to the treachery of his younger brother, the duke of Clarence, who, after having attached himself to the party of the earl of Warwick, and even married his daughter, now deserted his standard, and carried over to his brother's camp, in the night preceding the action, a corps of 12,000 men.

The death of Warwick and his brother Montague added to the re-capture and imprisonment of Henry, blasted all the hopes of the Lancastrians, and seemed to render their cause desperate. Yet one other effort was made by queen Margaret and her son prince Edward, who landed at Weymouth, on the day in which this disastrous battle of Barnet was fought. When first the