A Character. His vigilance in preserving a crown, which sat but loosely on his head, has been stigmatized with the appellation of the fear of losing it. No! he had gained it; and determined to preserve his right to it, against enemies of the York party, who determined, if possible, to pluck it from his brow; and his own wife, and her mother, were the most inveterate of his enemies, and the most inclined to dethrone him. He has been blamed for his severity to the mother, and his want of affection to the daughter. The Queen Dowager was a plotting, ambitious woman, who stirred up various impostors to hurl Richmond from that throne he had so courageously obtained. In such despotic times, the king could not be blamed for confining her, when discovered, in a convent, for life. Nor could A Character. he possibly feel affection for that wife, who eagerly entered into every plot against him; whom he had married in part, from political, though from laudable motives, chiefly to prevent a farther effusion of blood between two families, whom it is difficult to pronounce, which had the first and greatest claim to the throne of England. This digression from the present plan of this History, we hope, will be pardoned. The follies and vices of Edward, only rendered Richmond more awake to improve his own conduct; and to raise himself to that regal power he, perhaps, would not otherwise have thought of. A great author has justly remarked, that the worst prospects often end in the fairest realities; and, by Richmond laying the plan of uniting the houses of York and Lancaster, he A Character. laid the foundation of England's happiness. While a nation mourned the follies of one prince, and the crimes of his successor's short reign; a monarch was in store who would bring wealth, wisdom, and splendor to a grateful people; who would extend her dominions, and leave her in peace and affluence.Thus often is it proved, that, "The ways of heaven are dark and intricate, A Mystery. CHAP. XXI. A MYSTERY. She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen. POPE'S HOMER. THE abbess of a nunnery, in the county of Suffolk, had a near relation who belonged to the female part of the Duchess of York's houshold. The abbess, falling sick, was permitted to quit her seclusion for a time, to try change of air, and to avail herself of the advice of eminent physicians, residing near the metro A Mystery. polis. She frequently made excursions to the Tower, to visit her kinswoman, who had apartments in the palace; and so charmed the mother of Edward, by the polished ease and elegance of her manners, that she would frequently stop to converse with her, and was much gratified by the refined sense the abbess displayed, and the profundity of unaffected learning which she discovered. One day the duchess requested her to grant her half an hour's private conversation; when, after some hesitation, and very visible agitation of mind, the royal mother of Edward addressed her religious guest as follows: "I am about to confide to you, Madam, a charge of the utmost importance I have, upon enquiry, found that you |