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diff --git a/old/17411.txt b/old/17411.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f02afae --- /dev/null +++ b/old/17411.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3831 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King +Richard the Third, by Horace Walpole + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third + + +Author: Horace Walpole + + + +Release Date: December 28, 2005 [eBook #17411] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC DOUBTS ON THE LIFE AND +REIGN OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD*** + + +E-text prepared by Marjorie Fulton + + + +HISTORIC DOUBTS OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD. + +by + +MR. HORACE WALPOLE. + + + + + + + +L'histoire n'est fondee que sur le tomoignage des Auteurs qui nous +l'ont transmisse. Il importe donc extremement, pour la scavoir, de +bien connoitre quels etoient ces Auteurs. Rien n'est a negliger en +ce point; le tems ou ils ont vecu, leur naissance, leur patrie, le +part qu'ils ont eue aux affaires, les moyens par lesquels ils ont +ete instruits, et l'interet qu'ils y pouvaient prendre, sont des +circonstances essentielles qu'il n'est pas permis d'ignorer: dela +depend le plus ou le moins d'autorite qu'ils doivent avoir: et sans +cette connoissance, on courra risque tres souvent de prendre pour +guide un Historien de mauvaisse foi, ou du moins, mal informe. +Hist. de l'Acad. des Inscript. Vol. X. + +LONDON + +First Published 1768 + + +PREFACE + +So incompetent has the generality of historians been for the +province they have undertaken, that it is almost a question, +whether, if the dead of past ages could revive, they would be able +to reconnoitre the events of their own times, as transmitted to us +by ignorance and misrepresentation. All very ancient history, except +that of the illuminated Jews, is a perfect fable. It was written by +priests, or collected from their reports; and calculated solely to +raise lofty ideas of the origin of each nation. Gods and demi-gods +were the principal actors; and truth is seldom to be expected where +the personages are supernatural. The Greek historians have no +advantage over the Peruvian, but in the beauty of their language, or +from that language being more familiar to us. Mango Capac, +the son of the sun, is as authentic a founder of a royal race, as +the progenitor of the Heraclidae. What truth indeed could be +expected, when even the identity of person is uncertain? The actions +of one were ascribed to many, and of many to one. It is not known +whether there was a single Hercules or twenty. + +As nations grew polished. History became better authenticated. +Greece itself learned to speak a little truth. Rome, at the hour of +its fall, had the consolation of seeing the crimes of its usurpers +published. The vanquished inflicted eternal wounds on their +conquerors--but who knows, if Pompey had succeeded, whether Julius +Caesar would not have been decorated as a martyr to publick liberty? +At some periods the suffering criminal captivates all hearts; at +others, the triumphant tyrant. Augustus, drenched in the blood of +his fellow-citizens, and Charles Stuart, falling in his own blood, +are held up to admiration. Truth is left out of the discussion; and +odes and anniversary sermons give the law to history and credulity. + +But if the crimes of Rome are authenticated, the case is not the +same with its virtues. An able critic has shown that nothing is more +problematic than the history of the three or four first ages of that +city. As the confusions of the state increased, so do the confusions +in its story. The empire had masters, whose names are only known +from medals. It is uncertain of what princes several empresses were +the wives. If the jealousy of two antiquaries intervenes, the point +becomes inexplicable. Oriuna, on the medals of Carausius, used to +pass for the moon: of late years it is become a doubt whether she +was not his consort. It is of little importance whether she was moon +or empress: but 'how little must we know of those times, when those +land-marks to certainty, royal names, do not serve even that +purpose! In the cabinet of the king of France are several coins of +sovereigns, whose country cannot now be guessed at. + +The want of records, of letters, of printing, of critics; wars, +revolutions, factions, and other causes, occasioned these defects in +ancient history. Chronology and astronomy are forced to tinker up +and reconcile, as well as they can, those uncertainties. This +satisfies the learned--but what should we think of the reign of +George the Second, to be calculated two thousand years hence by +eclipses, lest the conquest of Canada should be ascribed to James +the First. + +At the very moment that the Roman empire was resettled, nay, when a +new metropolis was erected, in an age of science and arts, while +letters still held up their heads in Greece; consequently, when the +great outlines of truth, I mean events, might be expected to be +established; at that very period a new deluge of error burst upon +the world. Cristian monks and saints laid truth waste; and a mock +sun rose at Rome, when the Roman sun sunk at Constantinople. Virtues +and vices were rated by the standard of bigotry; and the militia of +the church became the only historians. The best princes were +represented as monsters; the worst, at least the most useless, were +deified, according as they depressed or exalted turbulent and +enthusiastic prelates and friars. Nay, these men were so destitute +of temper and common sense, that they dared to suppose that common +sense would never revisit the earth: and accordingly wrote with so +little judgment, and committed such palpable forgeries, that if we +cannot discover what really happened in those ages, we can at least +he very sure what did not. How many general persecutions does the +church record, of which there is not the smallest trace? What +donations and charters were forged, for which those holy persons +would lose their ears, if they were in this age to present them in +the most common court of judicature? Yet how long were these +impostors the only persons who attempted to write history! + +But let us lay aside their interested lies, and consider how far +they were qualified in other respects to transmit faithful memoirs +to posterity. In the ages I speak of, the barbarous monkish ages, +the shadow of learning that existed was confined to the clergy: they +generally wrote in Latin, or in verse, and their compositions in +both were truly barbarous. The difficulties of rhime, and the want +of correspondent terms in Latin, were no small impediments to the +severe nvarch of truth. But there were worse obstacles to encounter. +Europe was in a continual state of warfare. Little princes and great +lords were constantly skirmishing and struggling for trifling +additions of territory, or wasting each others borders. Geography +was very imperfect; no police existed; roads, such as they were, +were dangerous; and posts were not established. Events were only +known by rumour, from pilgrims, or by letters carried In couriers to +the parties interested: the public did not enjoy even those fallible +vehicles of intelligence, newspapers. In this situation did monks, +at twenty, fifty, an hundred, nay, a thousand miles distance (and +under the circumstances I have mentioned even twenty miles were +considerable) undertake to write history--and they wrote it +accordingly. + +If we take a survey of our own history, and examine it with any +attention, what an unsatisfactory picture does it present to +us! How dry, how superficial, how void of information! How +little is recorded besides battles, plagues, and religious +foundations! That this should be the case, before the Conquest, is +not surprizing. Our empire was but forming itself, or re-collecting +its divided members into one mass, which, from the desertion of the +Romans, had split into petty kingdoms. The invasions of nations as +barbarous as ourselves, interfered with every plan of policy and +order that might have been formed to settle the emerging state; and +swarms of foreign monks were turned loose upon us with their new +faith and mysteries, to bewilder and confound the plain good sense +of our ancestors. It was too much to have Danes, Saxons, and Popes, +to combat at once! Our language suffered as much as our government; +and not having acquired much from our Roman masters, was miserably +disfigured by the subsequent invaders. The unconquered parts of the +island retained some purity and some precision. The Welsh and Erse +tongues wanted not harmony: but never did exist a more barbarous +jargon than the dialect, still venerated by antiquaries, and called +Saxon. It was so uncouth, so inflexible to all composition, that the +monks, retaining the idiom, were reduced to write in what they took +or meant for Latin. + +The Norman tyranny succeeded, and gave this Babel of savage sounds a +wrench towards their own language. Such a mixture necessarily +required ages to bring it to some standard: and, consequently, +whatever compositions were formed during its progress, were sure of +growing obsolete. However, the authors of those days were not likely +to make these obvious reflections; and indeed seem to have aimed at +no one perfection. From the Conquest to the reign of Henry the +Eighth it is difficult to discover any one beauty in our writers, +but their simplicity. They told their tale, like story-tellers; +that is, they related without art or ornament; and they related +whatever they heard. No councils of princes, no motives of conduct, +no remoter springs of action, did they investigate or learn. We have +even little light into the characters of the actors. A king or an +archbishop of Canterbury are the only persons with whom we are made +much acquainted. The barons are all represented as brave patriots; +but we have not the satisfaction of knowing which, of them were +really so; nor whether they were not all turbulent and ambitious. +The probability is, that both kings and nobles wished to encroach on +each other, and if any sparks of liberty were struck out in all +likelihood it was contrary to the intention of either the flint or +the steel. + +Hence it has been thought necessary to give a new dress to English +history. Recourse has been had to records, and they are far from +corroborating the testimonies of our historians. Want of authentic +memorials has obliged our later writers to leave the mass pretty +much as they found it. Perhaps all the requisite attention that +might have been bestowed, has not been bestowed. It demands great +industry and patience to wade into such abstruse stores as records +and charters: and they being jejune and narrow in themselves, very +acute criticism is necessary to strike light from their assistance. +If they solemnly contradict historians in material facts, we may +lose our history; but it is impossible to adhere to our historians. +Partiality man cannot intirely divest himself of; it is so natural, +that the bent of a writer to one side or the other of a question is +almost always discoverable. But there is a wide difference between +favouring and lying and yet I doubt whether the whole stream of our +historians, misled by their originals, have not falsified one reign +in our annals in the grossest manner. The moderns are only guilty of +taking-on trust what they ought to have examined more scrupulously, +as the authors whom they copied were all ranked on one side in a +flagrant season of party. But no excuse can be made for the original +authors, who, I doubt, have violated all rules of truth. + +The confusions which attended the civil war between the houses of +York and Lancaster, threw an obscurity over that part of our annals, +which it is almost impossible to dispel. We have scarce any +authentic monuments of the reign of Edward the Fourth; and ought to +read his history with much distrust, from the boundless partiality +of the succeeding writers to the opposite cause. That diffidence +should increase as we proceed to the reign of his brother. + +It occurred to me some years ago, that the picture of Richard the +Third, as drawn by historians, was a character formed by prejudice +and invention. I did not take Shakespeare's tragedy for a genuine +representation, but I did take the story of that reign for a tragedy +of imagination. Many of the crimes imputed to Richard seemed +improbable; and, what was stronger, contrary to his interest. A few +incidental circumstances corroborated my opinion; an original and +important instrument was pointed out to me last winter, which gave +rise to the following' sheets; and as it was easy to perceive, under +all the glare of encomiums which historians have heaped on the +wisdom of Henry the Seventh, that he was a mean and unfeeling +tyrant, I suspected that they had blackened his rival, till Henry, +by the contrast, should appear in a kind of amiable light. The more +I examined their story, the more I was confirmed in my opinion: and +with regard to Henry, one consequence I could not help drawing; that +we have either no authentic memorials of Richard's crimes, or, at +most, no account of them but from Lancastrian historians; whereas +the vices and injustice of Henry are, though palliated, avowed by +the concurrent testimony of his panegyrists. Suspicions and calumny +were fastened on Richard as so many assassinations. The murders +committed by Henry were indeed executions and executions pass for +prudence with prudent historians; for when a successful king is +chief justice, historians become a voluntary jury. + +If I do not flatter myself, I have unravelled a considerable part of +that dark period. Whether satisfactory or not, my readers must +decide. Nor is it of any importance whether I have or not. The +attempt was mere matter of curiosity and speculation. If any man, as +idle as myself, should take the trouble to review and canvass my +arguments I am ready to yield so indifferent a point to better +reasons. Should declamation alone be used to contradict me, I shall +not think I am less in the right. + +Nov. 28th, 1767. + + + +HISTORIC DOUBTS ON THE LIFE AND REIGN +OF KING RICHARD III. + +There is a kind of literary superstition, which men are apt to +contract from habit, and which-makes them look On any attempt +towards shaking their belief in any established characters, no +matter whether good or bad, as a sort of prophanation. They are +determined to adhere to their first impressions, and are equally +offended at any innovation, whether the person, whose character is +to be raised or depressed, were patriot or tyrant, saint or sinner. +No indulgence is granted to those who would ascertain the truth. The +more the testimonies on either side have been multiplied, the +stronger is the conviction; though it generally happens that the +original evidence is wonderous slender, and that the number of +writers have but copied one another; or, what is worse, have only +added to the original, without any new authority. Attachment so +groundless is not to be regarded; and in mere matters of curiosity, +it were ridiculous to pay any deference to it. If time brings new +materials to light, if facts and dates confute historians, what does +it signify that we have been for two or three hundred years under an +error? Does antiquity consecrate darkness? Does a lie become +venerable from its age? + +Historic justice is due to all characters. Who would not vindicate +Henry the Eighth or Charles the Second, if found to be falsely +traduced? Why then not Richard the Third? Of what importance is it +to any man living whether or not he was as bad as he is represented? +No one noble family is sprung from him. + +However, not to disturb too much the erudition of those who have +read the dismal story of his cruelties, and settled their ideas of +his tyranny and usurpation, I declare I am not going to write a +vindication of him. All I mean to show, is, that though he may have +been as execrable as we are told he was, we have little or no reason +to believe so. If the propensity of habit should still incline a +single man to suppose that all he has read of Richard is true, I beg +no more, than that that person would be so impartial as to own that +he has little or no foundation for supposing so. + +I will state the list of the crimes charged on Richard; I will +specify the authorities on which he was accused; I will give a +faithful account of the historians by whom he was accused; and will +then examine the circumstances of each crime and each evidence; and +lastly, show that some of the crimes were contrary to Richard's +interest, and almost all inconsistent with probability or with +dates, and some of them involved in material contradictions. + +Supposed crimes of Richard the Third. + +1st. His murder of Edward prince of Wales, son of Henry the Sixth. + +2d. His murder of Henry the Sixth. + +3d. The murder of his brother George duke of Clarence. + +4th. The execution of Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan. + +5th, The execution of Lord Hastings. + +6th. The murder of Edward the Fifth and his brother. + +7th. The murder of his own queen. + +To which may be added, as they are thrown into the list to blacken +him, his intended match with his own niece Elizabeth, the penance of +Jane Shore, and his own personal deformities. + +I. Of the murder of Edward prince of Wales, son of Henry the Sixth. + +Edward the Fourth had indubitably the hereditary right to the crown; +which he pursued with singular bravery and address, and with all the +arts of a politician and the cruelty of a conqueror. Indeed on +neither side do there seem to have been any scruples: Yorkists and +Lancastrians, Edward and Margaret of Anjou, entered into any +engagements, took any oaths, violated them, and indulged their +revenge, as often as they were depressed or victorious. After the +battle of Tewksbury, in which Margaret and her son were made +prisoners, young Edward was brought to the presence of Edward the +Fourth; "but after the king," says Fabian, the oldest historian of +those times, "had questioned with the said Sir Edwarde, and he had +answered unto hym contrary his pleasure, he then strake him with his +gauntlet upon the face; after which stroke, so by him received, he +was by the kynges servants incontinently slaine." The chronicle of +Croyland of the same date says, "the prince was slain 'ultricibus +quorundam manibus';" but names nobody. + +Hall, who closes his word with the reign of Henry the Eighth, says, +that "the prince beyinge bold of stomache and of a good courag, +answered the king's question (of how he durst so presumptuously +enter into his realme with banner displayed) sayinge, to recover my +fater's kingdome and enheritage, &c. at which wordes kyng Edward +said nothing, but with his hand thrust him from him, or, as some +say, stroke him with his gauntlet, whome incontinent, they that +stode about, which were George duke of Clarence, Richard duke of +Gloucester, Thomas marques Dorset (son of queen Elizabeth Widville) +and William lord Hastinges, sodainly murthered and pitiously +manquelled." Thus much had the story gained from the time of +Fabian to that of Hall. + +Hollingshed repeats these very words, consequently is a transcriber, +and no new authority. + +John Stowe reverts to Fabian's account, as the only one not grounded +on hear-say, and affirms no more, than that the king cruelly smote +the young prince on the face with his gauntlet, and after his +servants slew him. + +Of modern historians, Rapin and Carte, the only two who seem not to +have swallowed implicitly all the vulgar tales propagated by the +Lancastrians to blacken the house of York, warn us to read with +allowance the exaggerated relations of those times. The latter +suspects, that at the dissolution of the monasteries all evidences +were suppressed that tended to weaken the right of the prince on the +throne; but as Henry the Eighth concentred in himself both the claim +of Edward the Fourth and that ridiculous one of Henry the Seventh, +he seems to have had less occasion to be anxious lest the truth +should come out; and indeed his father had involved that truth in so +much darkness, that it was little likely to force its way. Nor was +it necessary then to load the memory of Richard the Third, who had +left no offspring. Henry the Eighth had no competitor to fear but +the descendants of Clarence, of whom he seems to have had sufficient +apprehension, as appeared by his murder of the old countess of +Salisbury, daughter of Clarence, and his endeavours to root out her +posterity. This jealousy accounts for Hall charging the duke of +Clarence, as well as the duke of Gloucester, with the murder of +prince Edward. But in accusations of so deep a dye, it is not +sufficient ground for our belief, that an historian reports them +with such a frivolous palliative as that phrase, "as some say". A +cotemporary names the king's servants as perpetrators of the murder: +Is not that more probable, than that the king's own brothers should +have dipped their hands in so foul an assassination? Richard, in +particular, is allowed on all hands to have been a brave and martial +prince: he had great share in the victory at Tewksbury: Some years +afterwards, he commanded his brother's troops in Scotland, and made +himself master of Edinburgh. At the battle of Bosworth, where he +fell, his courage was heroic: he sought Richmond, and endeavoured to +decide their quarrel by a personal combat, slaying Sir William +Brandon, his rival's standard-bearer, with his own hand, and +felling to the ground Sir John Cheney, who endeavoured to oppose +his fury. Such men may be carried by ambition to command the +execution of those who stand in their way; but are not likely to +lend their hand, in cold blood, to a base, and, to themselves, +useless assassination. How did it import Richard in what manner the +young prince was put to death? If he had so early planned the +ambitious designs ascribed to him, he might have trusted to his +brother Edward, so much more immediately concerned, that the young +prince would not be spared. If those views did not, as is probable, +take root in his heart till long afterwards, what interest had +Richard to murder an unhappy young prince? This crime therefore was +so unnecessary, and is so far from being established by any +authority, that he deserves to be entirely acquitted of it. + +II. The murder of Henry the Sixth. + +This charge, no better supported than the preceding, is still more +improbable. "Of the death of this prince, Henry the Sixth," says +Fabian, "divers tales wer told. But the most common fame went, that +he was sticken with a dagger by the handes of the duke of Gloceter." +The author of the Continuation of the Chronicle of Croyland says +only, that the body of king Henry was found lifeless (exanime) in +the Tower. "Parcat Deus", adds he, "spatium poenitentiae Ei donet, +Quicunque sacrilegas manus in Christum Domini ausus est immittere. +Unde et agens tyranni, patiensque gloriosi martyris titulum +mereatur." The prayer for the murderer, that he may live to repent, +proves that the passage was written immediately after the murder was +committed. That the assassin deserved the appellation of tyrant, +evinces that the historian's suspicions went high; but as he calls +him Quicunque, and as we are uncertain whether he wrote before the +death of Edward the Fourth or between his death and that of Richard +the Third, we cannot ascertain which of the brothers he meant. In +strict construction he should mean Edward, because as he is speaking +of Henry's death, Richard, then only duke of Gloucester, could not +properly be called a tyrant. But as monks were not good grammatical +critics, I shall lay no stress on this objection. I do think he +alluded to Richard; having treated him severely in the subsequent +part of his history, and having a true monkish partiality to Edward, +whose cruelty and vices he slightly noticed, in favour to that +monarch's severity to heretics and ecclesiastic expiations. "Is +princeps, licet diebus suis cupiditatibus & luxui nimis intemperanter +indulsisse credatur, in fide tamen catholicus summ, hereticorum +severissimus hostis sapientium & doctorum hominum clericorumque +promotor amantissimus, sacramentorum ecclesiae devotissimus +venerator, peccatorumque fuorum omnium paenitentissimus fuit." That +monster Philip the Second possessed just the same virtues. Still, I +say, let the monk suspect whom he would, if Henry was found dead, +the monk was not likely to know who murdered him--and if he did, he +has not told us. + +Hall says, "Poore kyng Henry the Sixte, a little before deprived of +hys realme and imperial croune, was now in the Tower of London +spoyled of his life and all wordly felicite by Richard duke of +Gloucester (as the constant fame ranne) which, to the intent that +king Edward his brother should be clere out of al secret suspicyon +of sudden invasion, murthered the said king with a dagger." Whatever +Richard was, it seems he was a most excellent and kind-hearted +brother, and scrupled not on any occasion to be the Jack Ketch of the +times. We shall see him soon (if the evidence were to be believed) +perform the same friendly office for Edward on their brother +Clarence. And we must admire that he, whose dagger was so fleshed in +murder for the service of another, should be so put to it to find +the means of making away with his nephews, whose deaths were +considerably more essential to him. But can this accusation be +allowed gravely? if Richard aspired to the crown, whose whole +conduct during Edward's reign was a scene, as we are told, of +plausibility and decorum, would he officiously and unnecessarily +have taken on himself the odium of slaying a saint-like monarch, +adored by the people? Was it his interest to save Edward's character +at the expence of his own? Did Henry stand in his way, deposed, +imprisoned, and now childless? The blind and indiscriminate zeal +with which every crime committed in that bloody age was placed to +Richard's account, makes it greatly probable, that interest of party +had more hand than truth in drawing his picture. Other cruelties, +which I shall mention, and to which we know his motives, he +certainly commanded; nor am I desirous to purge him where I find him +guilty: but mob-stories or Lancastrian forgeries ought to be +rejected from sober history; nor can they be repeated, without +exposing the writer to the imputation of weakness and vulgar +credulity. + +III. The murder of his brother Clarence. + +In the examination of this article, I shall set aside our +historians (whose gossipping narratives, as we have seen, deserve +little regard) because we have better authority to direct our +inquiries: and this is, the attainder of the duke of Clarence, as it +is set forth in the Parliamentary History (copied indeed from +Habington's Life of Edward the Fourth) and by the editors of that +history justly supposed to be taken from Stowe, who had seen the +original bill of attainder. The crimes and conspiracy of Clarence +are there particularly enumerated, and even his dealing with +conjurers and necromancers, a charge however absurd, yet often made +use of in that age. Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey duke of +Gloucester, had been condemned on a parallel accusation. In France +it was a common charge; and I think so late as in the reign of Henry +the Eighth Edward duke of Buckingham was said to have consulted +astrologers and such like cattle, on the succession of the crown. +Whether Clarence was guilty we cannot easily tell; for in those +times neither the public nor the prisoner were often favoured with +knowing the evidence on which sentence was passed. Nor was much +information of that sort given to or asked by parliament itself, +previous to bills of attainder. The duke of Clarence appears to have +been at once a weak, volatile, injudicious, and ambitious man. He +had abandoned his brother Edward, had espoused the daughter of +Warwick, the great enemy of their house, and had even been declared +successor to Henry the Sixth and his son prince Edward. Conduct so +absurd must have left lasting impressions on Edward's mind, not to +be effaced by Clarence's subsequent treachery to Henry and Warwick. +The Chronicle of Croyland mentions the ill-humour and discontents of +Clarence; and all our authors agree, that he kept no terms with the +queen and her relations.(1) Habington adds, that these discontents +were secretly fomented by the duke of Gloucester. Perhaps they were: +Gloucester certainly kept fair with the queen, and profited largely +by the forfeiture of his brother. But where jealousies are secretly +fomented in a court, they seldom come to the knowledge of an +historian; and though he may have guessed right from collateral +circumstances, these insinuations are mere gratis dicta and can only +be treated as surmises.(2) Hall, Hollingshed, and Stowe say not a +word of Richard being the person who put the sentence in execution; +but, on the contrary, they all say he openly resisted the murder of +Clarence: all too record another circumstance, which is perfectly +ridiculous that Clarence was drowned in a barrel or butt of malmsey. +Whoever can believe that a butt of wine was the engine of his death, +may believe that Richard helped him into it, and kept him down till +he was suffocated. But the strong evidence on which Richard must be +acquitted, and indeed even of having contributed to his death, was +the testimony of Edward himself. Being some time afterward solicited +to pardon a notorious criminal, the king's conscience broke forth; +"Unhappy brother!" cried he, "for whom no man would intercede--yet +ye all can be intercessors for a villain!" If Richard had been +instigator or executioner, it is not likely that the king would +have assumed the whole merciless criminality to himself, without +bestowing a due share on his brother Gloucester. Is it possible to +renew the charge, and not recollect this acquittal? + +(1) That chronicle, which now and then, though seldom, is +circumstantial, gives a curious account of the marriage of Richard +duke of Gloucester and Anne Nevil, which I have found in no other +author; and which seems to tax the envy and rapaciousness of +Clarence as the causes of the dissention between the brothers. This +account, and from a cotemporary, is the more remarkable, as the Lady +Anne is positively said to have been only betrothed to Edward prince +of Wales, son of Henry the Sixth, and not his widow, as she is +carelessly called by all our historians, and represented in +Shakespeare's masterly scene. "Postquam filius regis Henrici, cui +Domina Anna, minor filia comitis Warwici, desponsata fuit, in +prefato bello de Tewkysbury occubuit," Richard, duke of Gloucester +desired her for his wife. Clarence, who had married the elder +sister, was unwilling to share so rich an inheritance with his +brother, and concealed the young lady. Gloucester was too alert for +him, and discovered the Lady Anne in the dress of a cookmaid in +London, and removed her to the sanctuary of St. Martin. The brothers +pleaded each his cause in person before their elder brother in +counsel; and every man, says the author, admired the strength of +their respective arguments. The king composed their differences, +bestowed the maiden on Gloucester, and parted the estate between him +and Clarence; the countess of Warwick, mother of the heiresses, and +who had brought that vast wealth to the house of Nevil, remaining +the only sufferer, being reduced to a state of absolute necessity, +as appears from Dugdale. In such times, under such despotic +dispensations, the greatest crimes were only consequences of the +economy of government.--Note, that Sir Richard Baker is so absurd as +to make Richard espouse the Lady Anne after his accession, though he +had a son by her ten years old at that time. + +(2) The chronicle above quoted asserts, that the speaker of the +house of commons demanded the execution of Clarence. Is it credible +that, on a proceeding so public, and so solemn for that age, the +brother of the offended monarch and of the royal criminal should +have been deputed, or would have stooped to so vile an office? On +such occasions do arbitrary princes want tools? Was Edward's court +so virtuous or so humane, that it could furnish no assassin but the +first prince of the blood? When the house of commons undertook to +colour the king's resentment, was every member of it too scrupulous +to lend his hand to the deed? + +The three preceding accusations are evidently uncertain and +improbable. What follows is more obscure; and it is on the ensuing +transactions that I venture to pronounce, that we have little or no +authority on which to form positive conclusions. I speak more +particularly of the deaths of Edward the Fifth and his brother. It +will, I think, appear very problematic whether they were murdered or +not: and even if they were murdered, it is impossible to believe the +account as fabricated and divulged by Henry the Seventh, on whose +testimony the murder must rest at last; for they, who speak most +positively, revert to the story which he was pleased to publish +eleven years after their supposed deaths, and which is so absurd, so +incoherent, and so repugnant to dates and other facts, that as it is +no longer necessary to pay court to his majesty, it is no longer +necessary not to treat his assertions as an impudent fiction. I come +directly to this point, because the intervening articles of the +executions of Rivers, Gray, Vaughan, and Hastings will naturally +find their place in that disquisition. + +And here it will be important to examine those historians on whose +relation the story first depends. Previous to this, I must ascertain +one or two dates, for they are stubborn evidence and cannot be +rejected: they exist every where, and cannot be proscribed even from +a Court Calendar. + +Edward the Fourth died April 9th, 1483. Edward, his eldest son, was +then thirteen years of age. Richard Duke of York, his second son, +was about nine. + +We have but two cotemporary historians, the author of the Chronicle +of Croyland, and John Fabian. The first, who wrote in his convent, +and only mentioned incidentally affairs of state, is very barren and +concise: he appears indeed not to have been ill informed, and +sometimes even in a situation of personally knowing the transactions +of the times; for in one place we are told in a marginal note, that +the doctor of the canon law, and one of the king's councellors, who +was sent to Calais, was the author of the Continuation. Whenever +therefore his assertions are positive, and not merely flying +reports, he ought to be admitted as fair evidence, since we have no +better. And yet a monk who busies himself in recording the +insignificant events of his own order or monastery, and who was at +most occasionally made use of, was not likely to know the most +important and most mysterious secrets of state; I mean, as he was +not employed in those iniquitous transactions--if he had been, we +should learn or might expect still less truth from him. + +John Fabian was a merchant, and had been sheriff of London, and died +in 1512: he consequently lived on the spot at that very interesting +period. Yet no sheriff was ever less qualified to write a history of +England. His narrative is dry, uncircumstantial, and unimportant: he +mentions the deaths of princes and revolutions of government, with +the same phlegm and brevity as he would speak of the appointment of +churchwardens. I say not this from any partiality, or to decry the +simple man as crossing my opinion; for Fabian's testimony is far +from bearing hard against Richard, even though he wrote under Henry +the Seventh, who would have suffered no apology for his rival, and +whose reign was employed not only in extirpating the house of York, +but in forging the most atrocious calumnies to blacken their +memories, and invalidate their just claim. + +But the great source from whence all later historians have taken +their materials for the reign of Richard the Third, is Sir Thomas +More. Grafton, the next in order, has copied him verbatim: so does +Hollingshed--and we are told by the former in a marginal note, that +Sir Thomas was under-sheriff of London when he composed his work. It +is in truth a composition, and a very beautiful one. He was then in +the vigour of his fancy, and fresh from the study of the Greek and +Roman historians, whose manner he has imitated in divers imaginary +orations. They serve to lengthen an unknown history of little more +than two months into a pretty sizeable volume; but are no more to be +received as genuine, than the facts they adduced to countenance. An +under-sheriff of London, aged but twenty-eight, and recently marked +with the displeasure of the crown, was not likely to be furnished +with materials from any high authority, and could not receive them +from the best authority, I mean the adverse party, who were +proscribed, and all their chiefs banished or put to death. Let us +again recur to dates.(3) Sir Thomas More was born in 1480: he was +appointed under-sheriff in 1508, and three years before had offended +Henry the Seventh in the tender point of opposing a subsidy. Buck, +the apologist of Richard the Third, ascribes the authorities of Sir +Thomas to the information of archbishop Morton; and it is true that +he had been brought up under that prelate; but Morton died in 1500, +when Sir Thomas was but twenty years old, and when he had scarce +thought of writing history. What materials he had gathered from his +master were probably nothing more than a general narrative of the +preceding times in discourse at dinner or in a winter's evening, if +so raw a youth can be supposed to have been admitted to familiarity +with a prelate of that rank and prime minister. But granting that +such pregnant parts as More's had leaped the barrier of dignity, and +insinuated himself into the archbishop's favour; could he have drawn +from a more corrupted source? Morton had not only violated his +allegiance to Richard; but had been the chief engine to dethrone +him, and to plant a bastard scyon in the throne. Of all men living +there could not be more suspicious testimony than the prelate's, +except the king's: and had the archbishop selected More for the +historian of those dark scenes, who had so much, interest to blacken +Richard, as the man who had risen to be prime minister to his rival? +Take it therefore either way; that the archbishop did or did not +pitch on a young man of twenty to write that history, his authority +was as suspicious as could be. + +(3) Vide Biog. Britannica, p. 3159. + +It may be said, on the other hand, that Sir Thomas, who had smarted +for his boldness (for his father, a judge of the king's bench, had +been imprisoned and fined for his son's offence) had had little +inducement to flatter the Lancastrian cause. It is very true; nor am +I inclined to impute adulation to one of the honestest statesmen and +brightest names in our annals. He who scorned to save his life by +bending to the will of the son, was not likely to canvas the favour +of the father, by prostituting his pen to the humour of the court. I +take the truth to be, that Sir Thomas wrote his reign of Edward the +Fifth as he wrote his Utopia; to amuse his leisure and exercise his +fancy. He took up a paltry canvas and embroidered it with a flowing +design as his imagination suggested the colours. I should deal more +severely with his respected memory on any other hypothesis. He has +been guilty of such palpable and material falshoods, as, while they +destroy his credit as an historian, would reproach his veracity as a +man, if we could impute them to premeditated perversion of truth, +and not to youthful levity and inaccuracy. Standing as they do, the +sole groundwork of that reign's history, I am authorized to +pronounce the work, invention and romance. + +Polidore Virgil, a foreigner, and author of a light Latin history, +was here during the reigns of Henry the Seventh and Eighth. I may +quote him now-and-then, and the Chronicle of Croyland; but neither +furnish us with much light. + +There was another writer in that age of far greater authority, whose +negligent simplicity and' veracity are unquestionable; who had great +opportunities of knowing our story, and whose testimony is +corroborated by our records: I mean Philip de Comines. He and Buck +agree with one another, and with the rolls of parliament; Sir Thomas +More with none of them. + +Buck, so long exploded as a lover of paradoxes, and as an advocate +for a monster, gains new credit the deeper this dark scene is +fathomed. Undoubtedly Buck has gone too far; nor are his style or +method to be admired. With every intention of vindicating Richard, +he does but authenticate his crimes, by searching in other story for +parallel instances of what he calls policy. + +No doubt politicians will acquit Richard, if confession of his +crimes be pleaded in defence of them. Policy will justify his taking +off opponents. Policy will maintain him in removing those who would +have barred his obtaining the crown, whether he thought he had a +right to it, or was determined to obtain it. Morality, especially in +the latter case, cannot take his part. I shall speak more to this +immediately. Kapin conceived doubts; but instead of pursuing them, +wandered after judgments; and they will lead a man where-ever he has +a mind to be led. Carte, with more manly shrewdness, has sifted many +parts of Richard's story, and guessed happily. My part has less +penetration; but the parliamentary history, the comparison of dates, +and the authentic monument lately come to light, and from which I +shall give extracts, have convinced me, that, if Buck is too +favourable, all our other historians are blind guides, and have not +made out a twentieth part of their assertions. + +The story of Edward the Fifth is thus related by Sir Thomas More, +and copied from him by all our historians. + +When the king his father died, the prince kept his court at Ludlow, +under the tuition of his maternal uncle Anthony earl Rivers. Richard +duke of Gloucester was in the north, returning from his successful +expedition against the Scots. The queen wrote instantly to her +brother to bring up the young king to London, with a train of two +thousand horse: a fact allowed by historians, and which, whether a +prudent caution or not, was the first overt-act of the new reign; +and likely to strike, as it did strike, the duke of Gloucester and +the antient nobility with a jealousy, that the queen intended to +exclude them from the administration, and to govern in concert with +her own family. It is not improper to observe that no precedent +authorized her to assume such power. Joan, princess dowager of +Wales, and widow of the Black Prince, had no share in the government +during the minority of her son Richard the Second. Catherine of +Valois, widow of Henry the Fifth Was alike excluded from the +regency, though her son was but a year old. And if Isabella governed +on the deposition of Edward the Second, it Was by an usurped power, +by the same power that had contributed to dethrone her husband; a +power sanctified by no title, and confirmed by no act of +parliament.(4) The first step to a female regency(5) enacted, +though it never took place, was many years afterwards, in the reign +of Henry the Eighth. + +(4) Twelve guardians were appointed by parliament, and the earl of +Lancaster was entrusted with the care of the king's person. The +latter, being excluded from exercising his charge by the queen and +Mortimer, gave that as a reason for not obeying a summons to +parliament. Vide Parliam. Hist. vol. i. p. 208. 215. + +(5) Vide the act of succession in Parliam. Hist. vol. III. p. 127. + +Edward, on his death-bed, had patched up a reconciliation between +his wife's kindred and the great lords of the court; particularly +between the Marquis Dorset, the Queen's son, and the lord +chamberlain Hastings. Yet whether the disgusted lords had only +seemed to yield, to satisfy the dying king, or whether the steps +taken by the queen gave them new cause of umbrage it appears that +the duke of Buckingham, was the first to communicate his suspicions +to Gloucester, and to dedicate himself to his service. Lord Hastings +was scarce less forward to join in like measures, and all three, it +is pretended, were so alert, that they contrived to have it +insinuated to the queen, that it would give much offence if the +young king should be brought to London with so great a force as she +had ordered; on which suggestions she wrote to Lord Rivers to +countermand her first directions. + +It is difficult not to suspect, that our historians have imagined +more plotting in this transaction than could easily be compassed in +so short a period, and in an age when no communication could be +carried on but by special messengers, in bad roads, and with no +relays of post-horses. + +Edward the Fourth died April 9th, and his son made his entrance into +London May 4th.(6) It is not probable, that the queen communicated her +directions for bringing up her son with an armed force to the lords +of the council, and her newly reconciled enemies. But she might be +betrayed. Still it required some time for Buckingham to send his +servant Percival (though Sir Thomas More vaunts his expedition) to +York, where the Duke of Gloucester then lay;(7) for Percival's +return (it must be observed too that the Duke of Buckingham was in +Wales, consequently did not learn the queen's orders on the spot, +but either received the account from London, or learnt it from +Ludlow); for the two dukes to send instructions to their +confederates in London; for the impression to be made on the queen, +and for her dispatching her counter-orders; for Percival to post +back and meet Gloucester at Nottingham, and for returning thence and +bringing his master Buckingham to meet Richard at Northampton, at +the very time of the king's arrival there. All this might happen, +undoubtedly; and yet who will believe, that such mysterious and +rapid negociations came to the knowledge of Sir Thomas More +twenty-five years afterwards, when, as it will appear, he knew +nothing of very material and public facts that happened at the same +period? + +(6) Fabian. + +(7) It should be remarked too, that the duke of Gloucester is +positively said to be celebrating his brother's obsequies there. It +not only strikes off part of the term by allowing the necessary time +for the news of king Edward's death to reach York, and for the +preparation to be made there to solemnize a funeral for him; but +this very circumstance takes off from the probability of Richard +having as yett laid any plan for dispossessing his nephew. Would he +have loitered at York at such a crisis, if he had intended to step +into the throne? + +But whether the circumstances are true, or whether artfully +imagined, it is certain that the king, with a small force, arrived +at Northampton, and thence proceeded to Stony Stratford. Earl Rivers +remained at Northampton, where he was cajoled by the two dukes till +the time of rest, when the gates of the inn were suddenly locked, +and the earl made prisoner. Early in the morning the two dukes +hastened to Stony Stratford, where, in the king's presence, they +picked a quarrel with his other half-brother, the lord Richard Grey, +accusing him, the marquis Dorset, and their uncle Rivers, of +ambitious and hostile designs, to which ends the marquis had entered +the Tower, taken treasure thence, and sent a force to sea. + +"These things," says Sir Thomas, "the dukes knew, were done for good +and necessary purposes, and by appointment of the council; but +somewhat they must say," &c. As Sir Thomas has not been pleased to +specify those purposes, and as in those times at least privy +counsellors were exceedingly complaisant to the ruling powers, he +must allow us to doubt whether the purposes of the queen's relations +were quite so innocent as he would make us believe; and whether the +princes of the blood and the antient nobility had not some reasons +to be jealous that the queen was usurping more power than the laws +had given her. The catastrophe of her whole family so truly deserves +commiseration, that we are apt to shut our eyes to all her weakness +and ill-judged policy; and yet at every step we find how much she +contributed to draw ruin on their heads and her own, by the +confession even of her apologists. The Duke of Gloucester was the +first prince of the blood, the constitution pointed him out as +regent; no will, no disposition of the late king was even alleged to +bar his pretensions; he had served the state with bravery, success, +and fidelity; and the queen herself, who had been insulted by +Clarence, had had no cause to complain of Gloucester. Yet all her +conduct intimated designs of governing by force in the name of her +son.(8) If these facts are impartially stated, and grounded on the +confession of those who inveigh most bitterly against Richard's +memory, let us allow that at least thus far he acted as most princes +would have done in his situation, in a lawless and barbarous age, +and rather instigated by others, than from any before-conceived +ambition and system. If the journeys of Percival are true, +Buckingham was the devil that tempted Richard; and if Richard still +wanted instigation, then it must follow, that he had not murdered +Henry the Sixth, his son, and Clarence, to pave his own way to the +crown. If this fine story of Buckingham and Percival is not true, +what becomes of Sir Thomas More's credit, on which the whole fabric +leans? + +Lord Richard, Sir Thomas Vaughan, and Sir Richard Hawte, were +arrested, and with Lord Rivers sent prisoners to Pomfret, while the +dukes conducted the king by easy stages to London. + +The queen, hearing what had happened took sanctuary at Westminster, +with her other son the duke of York, and the princesses her +daughters. Rotheram, archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor, +repaired to her with the great seal, and endeavoured to comfort her +dismay with the friendly message he had received from Hastings, who +was with the confederate lords on the road. "A woe worth him!" quoth +the queen, "for it is he that goeth about to destroy me and my +blood!" Not a word is said of her suspecting the duke of Gloucester. +The archbishop seems to have been the first who entertained any +suspicion; and yet, if all that our historian says of him is true, +Rotheram was far from being a shrewd man: witness the indiscreet +answer which he is said to have made on this occasion. "Madam," +quoth he, "be of good comfort, and assure you, if they crown any +other king than your son whom they now have we shall on the morrow +crown his brother, whom you have here with you." Did the silly +prelate think that it would be much consolation to a mother, whose +eldest son might be murthered, that her younger son would be crowned +in prison, or was she to be satisfied with seeing one son entitled +to the crown, and the other enjoying it nominally? + +He then delivered the seal to the queen, and as lightly sent for it +back immediately after. + +The dukes continued their march, declaring they were bringing the +king to his coronation, Hastings, who seems to have preceded them, +endeavoured to pacify the apprehensions which had been raised in the +people, acquainting them that the arrested lords had been imprisoned +for plotting against the dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham. As both +those princes were of the blood royal,(9) this accusation was not +ill founded, it having evidently been the intention, as I have +shewn, to bar them from any share in the administration, to which, +by the custom of the realm, they were intitled. So much depends on +this foundation, that I shall be excused from enforcing it. The +queen's party were the aggressors; and though that alone would not +justify all the following excesses, yet we must not judge of those +times by the present. Neither the crown nor the great men were +restrained by sober established forms and proceedings as they are at +present; and from the death of Edward the Third, force alone had +dictated. Henry the Fourth had stepped into the throne contrary to +all justice. A title so defective had opened a door to attempts as +violent; and the various innovations introduced in the latter years +of Henry the Sixth had annihilated all ideas of order. Richard duke +of York had been declared successor to the crown during the life of +Henry and of his son prince Edward, and, as appears by the +Parliamentary History, though not noticed by our careless historians +was even appointed prince of Wales. The duke of Clarence had +received much such another declaration in his favour during the +short restoration of Henry. What temptations were these precedents +to an affronted prince! We shall see soon what encouragement they +gave him to examine closely into his nephew's pretensions; and how +imprudent it was in the queen to provoke Gloucester, when her very +existence as queen was liable to strong objections. Nor ought the +subsequent executions of Lord Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, and of Lord +Hastings himself, to be considered in so very strong a light, as +they would appear in, if acted in modern times. During the wars of +York and Lancaster, no forms of trial had been observed. Not only +peers taken in battle had been put to death without process; but +whoever, though not in arms, was made prisoner by the victorious +party, underwent the same fate; as was the case of Tiptoft earl of +Worcester, who had fled and was taken in disguise. Trials had never +been used with any degree of strictness, as at present; and though +Richard was pursued and killed as an usurper, the Solomon that +succeeded him, was not a jot-less a tyrant. Henry the Eighth was +still less of a temper to give greater latitude to the laws. In +fact, little ceremony or judicial proceeding was observed on trials, +till the reign of Elizabeth, who, though decried of late for her +despotism, in order to give some shadow of countenance to the +tyranny of the Stuarts, was the first of our princes, under whom any +gravity or equity was allowed in cases of treason. To judge +impartially therefore, we ought to recall the temper and manners of +the times we read of. It is shocking to eat our enemies: but it is +not so shocking in an Iroquois, as it would be in the king of +Prussia. And this is all I contend for, that the crimes of Richard, +which he really committed, at least which we have reason to believe +he committed, were more the crimes of the age than of the man; and +except these executions of Rivers, Grey, and Hastings, I defy any +body to prove one other of those charged to his account, from any +good authority. + +(8) Grafton says, "and in effect every one as he was neerest of +kinne unto the queene, so was he planted nere about the prince," +p. 761; and again, p. 762, "the duke of Gloucester understanding +that the lordes, which were about the king, entended to bring him up +to his coronation, accompanied with such power of their friendes, +that it should be hard for him, to bring his purpose to passe, +without gatherying and assemble of people, and in maner of open +war," &c. in the same place it appears, that the argument used to +dissuade the queen from employing force, was, that it would be a +breach of the accommodation made by the late king between her +relations and the great lords; and so undoubtedly it was; and though +they are accused of violating the peace, it is plain that the +queen's insincerity had been at least equal to theirs, and that the +infringement of the reconciliation commenced on her side. + +(9) Henry duke of Buckingham was the immediate descendant and heir +of Thomas of Woodstock duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of +Edward the Third, as will appear by this table: + +Thomas duke of Gloucester +Anne sole daughter and heiress. + --Edmund earl of Stafford. + +Humphrey duke of Bucks. + +Humphrey lord Stafford + +Henry duke of Bucks. + +It is plain, that Buckingham was influenced by this nearness to the +crown, for it made him overlook his own alliance with the queen, +whose sister he had married. Henry the Eighth did not overlook the +proximity of blood, when he afterwards put to death the son of this duke. + +It is alleged that the partizans of Gloucester strictly guarded the +sanctuary, to prevent farther resort thither; but Sir Thomas +confesses too, that divers lords, knights, and gentlemen, either for +favour of the queen, or for fear of themselves, Assembled companies +and went flocking together in harness. Let us strip this paragraph +of its historic buskins, and it is plain that the queen's party took +up arms.(10) This is no indifferent circumstance. She had plotted to +keep possession of the king, and to govern in his name by force, but +had been outwitted, and her family had been imprisoned for the +attempt. Conscious that she was discovered, perhaps reasonably +alarmed at Gloucester's designs, she had secured herself and her +young children in sanctuary. Necessity rather than law justified her +proceedings, but what excuse can be made for her faction having +recourse to arms? who was authorized, by the tenour of former +reigns, to guard the king's person, till parliament should declare a +regency, but his uncle and the princes of the blood? endeavouring to +establish the queen's authority by force was rebellion against the +laws. I state this minutely, because the fact has never been +attended to; and later historians pass it over, as if Richard had +hurried on the deposition of his nephews without any colour of +decency, and without the least provocation to any of his +proceedings. Hastings is even said to have warned the citizens that +matters were likely to come to a field (to a battle) from the +opposition of the adverse party, though as yet no symptom had +appeared of designs against the king, whom the two dukes were +bringing to his coronation. Nay, it is not probable that Gloucester +had as yet meditated more than securing the regency; for had he had +designs on the crown, would he have weakened his own claim by +assuming the protectorate, which he could not accept but by +acknowledging the title of his nephew? This in truth seems to me to +have been the case. The ambition of the queen and her family alarmed +the princes and the nobility: Gloucester, Buckingham, Hastings, and +many more had checked those attempts. The next step was to secure +the regency: but none of these acts could be done without grievous +provocation to the queen. As soon as her son should come of age, she +might regain her power and the means of revenge. Self-security +prompted the princes and lords to guard against this reverse, and +what was equally dangerous to the queen, the depression of her +fortune called forth and revived all the hatred of her enemies. Her +marriage had given universal offence to the nobility, and been the +source of all the late disturbances and bloodshed. The great earl of +Warwick, provoked at the contempt shewn to him by King Edward while +negotiating a match for him in France, had abandoned him for Henry +the Sixth, whom he had again set on the throne. These calamities +were still fresh in every mind, and no doubt contributed to raise +Gloucester to the throne, which he could not have attained without +almost general concurrence yet if we are to believe historians, he, +Buckingham, the mayor of London, and one Dr. Shaw, operated this +revolution by a sermon and a speech to the people, though the people +would not even give a huzza to the proposal. The change of +government in the rehearsal is not effected more easily by the +physician and gentleman usher, "Do you take this, and I'll seize +t'other chair." + +(10) This is confirmed by the chronicle of Croyland, p. 566. + +In what manner Richard assumed or was invested with the protectorate +does not appear. Sir Thomas More, speaking of him by that title, +says "the protector which always you must take for the Duke of +Gloucester." Fabian after mentioning the solemn (11) arrival of the +king in London, adds, "Than provisyon was made for the kinge's +coronation; in which pastime (interval) the duke being admitted for +lord protectour." As the parliament was not sitting, this dignity +was no doubt conferred on him by the assent of the lords and privy +council; and as we hear of no opposition, none was probably made. He +was the only person to whom that rank was due; his right could not +and does not seem to have been questioned. The Chronicle of Croyland +corroborates my opinion, saying, "Accepitque dictus Ricardus dux +Glocestriae ilium solennem magistratum, qui duci Humfrido +Glocestriae, stante minore aetate regis Henrici, ut regni protector +appellaretur, olim contingebat. Ea igitur auctoritate usus est, de +consensu & beneplacito omnium dominorum." p. 556. + +(11) He was probably eye-witness of that ceremony; for he says, "the +king was of the maior and his citizens met at Harnesey parke, the +maior and his brethren being clothed in scarlet, and the citizens in +violet, to the number of V.C. horses, and than from thence conveyed +unto the citie, the king beynge in blewe velvet, and all his lords +and servauntes in blacke cloth." p. 513. + +Thus far therefore it must be allowed that Richard acted no illegal +part, nor discovered more ambition than became him. He had defeated +the queen's innovations, and secured her accomplices. To draw off +our attention from such regular steps, Sir Thomas More has exhausted +all his eloquence and imagination to work up a piteous scene, in +which the queen is made to excite our compassion in the highest +degree, and is furnished by that able pen with strains of pathetic +oratory, which no part of her conduct affords us reason to believe +she possessed. This scene is occasioned by the demand of delivering +up her second son. Cardinal Bourchier archbishop of Canterbury is +the instrument employed by the protector to effect this purpose. The +fact is confirmed by Fabian in his rude and brief manner, and by the +Chronicle of Croyland, and therefore cannot be disputed. But though +the latter author affirms, that force was used to oblige the +cardinal to take that step, he by no means agrees with Sir Thomas +More in the repugnance of the queen to comply, nor in that idle +discussion on the privileges of sanctuaries, on which Sir Thomas has +wasted so many words. On the contrary, the chronicle declares, that +the queen "Verbis gratanter annues, dimisit puerum." The king, who +had been lodged in the palace of the bishop of London, was now +removed with his brother to the Tower. + +This last circumstance has not a little contributed to raise horror +in vulgar minds, who of late years have been accustomed to see no +persons of rank lodged in the Tower but state criminals. But in that +age the case was widely different. It not only appears by a map +engraven so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that the Tower was +a royal palace, in which were ranges of buildings called the king's +and queen's apartments, now demolished; but it is a known fact, that +they did often lodge there, especially previous to their +coronations. The queen of Henry the Seventh lay in there: queen +Elizabeth went thither after her triumphant entry into the city; and +many other instances might be produced, but for brevity I omit them, +to come to one of the principal transactions of this dark period: I +mean Richard's assumption of the crown. Sir Thomas More's account of +this extraordinary event is totally improbable, and positively false +in the groundwork of that revolution. He tells us, that Richard +meditating usurpation, divided the lords into two separate councils, +assembling the king's or queen's party at Baynard's castle, but +holding his own private junto at Crosby Place. From the latter he +began with spreading murmurs, whispers, and reports against the +legality of the late king's marriage. Thus far we may credit him-- +but what man of common sense can believe, that Richard went so far +as publicly to asperse the honor of his own mother? That mother, +Cecily duchess dowager of York, a princess of a spotless character, +was then living: so were two of her daughters, the duchesses of +Suffolk and Burgundy, Richard's own sisters: one of them, the +duchess of Suffolk walked at his ensuing coronation, and her son the +earl of Lincoln was by Richard himself, after the death of his own +son, declared heir apparent to the crown. Is it, can it be credible, +that Richard actuated a venal preacher(12) to declare to the people +from the pulpit at Paul's cross, that his mother had been an +adultress, and that her two eldest sons,(13) Edward the Fourth and +the duke of Clarence(14) were spurious; and that the good lady had +not given a legitimate child to her husband, but the protector, and +I suppose the duchess of Suffolk, though no mention is said to be +made of her in the sermon? For as the duchess of Suffolk was older +than Richard, and consequently would have been involved in the +charge of bastardy, could he have declared her son his heir, he who +set aside his brother Edward's children for their illegitimacy? +Ladies of the least disputable gallantry generally suffer their +husbands to beget his heir; and if doubts arise on the legitimacy of +their issue, the younger branches seem most liable to suspicion--but +a tale so gross could not have passed even on the mob--no proof, no +presumption of the fact was pretended. Were the duchess(15) and +her daughters silent on so scandalous an insinuation? Agrippina +would scarce have heard it with patience. Moriar modo imperet! said +that empress, in her wild wish of crowning her son: but had he, +unprovoked, aspersed her honour in the open forum, would the mother +have submitted to so unnatural an insult? In Richard's case the +imputation was beyond measure atrocious and absurd. What! taint the +fame of his mother to pave his way to the crown! Who had heard of +her guilt? And if guilty, how came she to stop the career of her +intrigues? But Richard had better pretensions, and had no occasion +to start doubts even on his own legitimacy, which was too much +connected with that of his brothers to be tossed and bandied about +before the multitude. Clarence had been solemnly attainted by act of +parliament, and his children were out of the question. The doubts on +the validity of Edward's marriage were better grounds for Richard's +proceedings than aspersion of his mother's honour. On that +invalidity he claimed the crown, and obtained it; and with such +universal concurrence, that the nation undoubtedly was on his side +--but as he could not deprive his nephews, on that foundation, +without bastardizing their sisters too, no wonder, the historians, +who wrote under the Lancastrian domination, have used all their art +and industry to misrepresent the fact. If the marriage of Edward the +Fourth with the widow Grey was bigamy, and consequently null, what +became of the title of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry the Seventh? +What became of it? Why a bastard branch of Lancaster, matched with a +bastard of York, were obtruded on the nation as the right heirs of +the crown! and, as far as two negatives can make an affirmative, +they were so. + +(12) What should we think of a modern historian, who should sink all +mention of the convention parliament, and only tell us that one Dr. +Burnet got up into the pulpit, and assured the people that Henrietta +Maria (a little more suspected of gallantry than duchess Cecily) +produced Charles the Second, and James the Second in adultry, and +gave no legitimate issue to Charles the First, but Mary princess of +Orange, mother of king William; that the people laughed at him, and +so the prince of Orange became king? + +(13) The Earl of Rutland, another son, elder than Richard, had been +murdered at the battle of Wakefield and so was Omitted in that +imaginary accusation. + +(14) Clarence is the first who is said to have propogated this +slandour, and it was much more consonant to his levity and indigested +politics, than to the good sense of Richard. We can believe that +Richard renewed this story, especially as he must have altered the +dates of his mother's amours, and made them continue to her +conception of him, as Clarence had made them stop in his own favor? + +(15) It appears from Rymer's Foedera, that the very first act of +Richard's reign is dated from quadam altera camera juxta capellam in +hospitio dominae Ceciliae ducissae Eborum. It does not look much as +if he had publicly accused his mother of adultry, when he held his +first council at her house. Among the Harleian MSS. in the Museum, +No. 2236. art. 6. is the following letter from Richard to this very +princess his mother, which is an additional proof of the good terms +on which they lived: "Madam, I recomaunde me to you as hertely as is +to me possible, beseeching you in my most humble and affectuouse +wise of your daly blessing to my synguler comfort and defence in my +nede; and, madam, I hertoly beseche you, that I may often here from +you to my comfort; and suche newes as be here, my servaunt Thomas +Bryan this berer shall showe you, to whom please it you to yeve +credence unto. And, madam, I beseche you to be good and graciouse +lady to my lord my chamberlayn to be your officer in Wiltshire in +suche as Colinbourne had. I trust he shall therein do you good +servyce; and that it plese you, that by this barer I may understande +your pleasur in this behalve. And I praye God send you th' +accomplishement of your noble desires. Written at Pomfret, the +thirde day of Juyn, with the hande of your most humble son, +Richardus Rex." + +Buck, whose integrity will more and more appear, affirms that, +before Edward had espoused the lady Grey, he had been contracted to +the lady Eleanor Butler, and married to her by the bishop of Bath. +Sir Thomas More, on the contrary (and here it is that I am +unwillingly obliged to charge that great man with wilful falsehood) +pretends that the duchess of York, his mother, endeavouring to +dissuade him from so disproportionate an alliance, urged him with a +pre-contract to one Elizabeth Lucy, who however, being pressed, +confessed herself his concubine; but denied any marriage. Dr. Shaw +too, the preacher, we are told by the same authority, pleaded from +the pulpit the king's former marriage with Elizabeth Lucy, and the +duke of Buckingham is said to have harangued the people to the same +effect. But now let us see how the case really stood: Elizabeth Lucy +was the daughter of one Wyat of Southampton, a mean gentleman, says +Buck, and the wife of one Lucy, as mean a man as Wyat. The mistress +of Edward she notoriously was; but what if, in Richard's pursuit of +the crown, no question at all was made of this Elizabeth Lucy? We +have the best and most undoubted authorities to assure us, that +Edward's pre-contract or marriage, urged to invalidate his match +with the lady Grey, was with the lady Eleanor Talbot, widow of the +lord Butler of Sudeley, and sister of the earl Shrewsbury, one of +the greatest peers in the kingdom; her mother was the lady Katherine +Stafford, daughter of Humphrey duke of Buckingham, prince of the +blood: an alliance in that age never reckoned unsuitable. Hear the +evidence. Honest Philip de Comines says(16) "that the bishop of Bath +informed Richard, that he had married king Edward to an English +lady; and dit cet evesque qu'il les avoit espouses, & que n'y avoit +que luy & ceux deux." This is not positive, and yet the description +marks out the lady Butler, and not Elizabeth Lucy. But the +Chronicle of Croyland is more express. "Color autem introitus & +captae possessionis hujusmodi is erat. Ostendebatur per modum +supplicationis in quodam rotulo pergameni quod filii Regis Edwardi +erant bastardi, supponendo ilium precontraxisse cum quadam domina +Alienora Boteler, antequam reginam Elizabeth duxisset uxorem; +atque insuper, quod sanguis alterius fratris sui, Georgii ducis +Clarentiae, fuisset attinctus; ita quod hodie nullus certus & +incorruptus sanguis linealis ex parte Richardi ducis Eboraci poterat +inveniri, nisi in persona dicti Richardi ducis Glocestriae. Quo +circa supplicabatur ei in fine ejusdem rotuli, ex parte dominorum & +communitatis regni, ut jus suum in se assumeret." Is this full? Is +this evidence? + +(16) Liv. 5, p. 151. In the 6th book, Comines insinuates that the +bishop acted out of revenge for having been imprisoned by Edward: it +might be so; but as Comines had before alledged that the bishop had +actually said he had married them, it might be the truth that the +prelate told out of revenge, and not a lie; nor is it probable that +his tale would have had any weight, if false, and unsupported by +other circumstances. + +Here we see the origin of the tale relating to the duchess of York; +nullus certus & incorruptus sangnis: from these mistaken or +perverted words flowed the report of Richard's aspersing his +mother's honour. But as if truth was doomed to emerge, though +stifled for near three hundred years, the roll of parliament is at +length come to light (with other wonderful discoveries) and sets +forth, "that though the three estates which petitioned Richard to +assume the crown were not assembled in form of parliament;" yet it +rehearses the supplication (recorded by the chronicle above) and +declares, "that king Eduard was and stood married and troth plight +to one dame Eleanor Butler, daughter to the earl of Shrewsbury, with +whom the said king Edward had made a pre-contract of matrimony, long +before he made his pretended marriage with Elizabeth Grey." Could +Sir Thomas More be ignorant of this fact? or, if ignorant, where is +his competence as an historian? And how egregiously absurd is his +romance of Richard's assuming the crown inconsequence of Dr. Shaw's +sermon and Buckingham's harangue, to neither of which he pretends +the people assented! Dr. Shaw no doubt tapped the matter to the +people; for Fabian asserts that he durst never shew his face +afterwards; and as Henry the Seventh succeeded so soon, and as the +slanders against Richard increased, that might happen; but it is +evident that the nobility were disposed to call the validity of the +queen's marriage in question, and that Richard was solemnly invited +by the three estates to accept the regal dignity; and that is +farther confirmed by the Chronicle of Croyland, which says, that +Richard having brought together a great force from the north, from +Wales, and other parts, did on the twenty-sixth of June claim the +crown, "seque eodem die apud magnam aulam Westmonasterii in +cathedram marmoream ibi intrusit;" but the supplication +afore-mentioned had first been presented to him. This will no doubt +be called violence and a force laid on the three estates; and yet +that appears by no means to have been the case; for Sir Thomas More, +partial as he was against Richard, says, "that to be sure of all +enemies, he sent for five thousand men out of the north against his +coronation, which came up evil apparelled and worse harnessed, in +rusty harnesse, neither defensable nor scoured to the sale, which +mustured in Finsbury field, to the great disdain of all lookers on." +These rusty companions, despised by the citizens, were not likely to +intimidate a warlike nobility; and had force been used to extort +their assent, Sir Thomas would have been the first to have told us +so. But he suppressed an election that appears to have been +voluntary, and invented a scene, in which, by his own account, +Richard met with nothing but backwardness and silence, that amounted +to a refusal. The probability therefore remains, that the nobility +met Richard's claim at least half-way, from their hatred and +jealousy of the queen's family, and many of them from the conviction +of Edward's pre-contract. Many might concur from provocation at the +attempts that had been made to disturb the due course of law, and +some from apprehension of a minority. This last will appear highly +probable from three striking circumstances that I shall mention +hereafter. The great regularity with which the coronation was +prepared and conducted, and the extraordinary concourse of the +nobility at it, have not all the air of an unwelcome revolution, +accomplished merely by violence. On the contrary, it bore great +resemblance to a much later event, which, being the last of the +kind, we term The Revolution. The three estates of nobility, clergy, +and people, which called Richard to the crown, and whose act was +confirmed by the subsequent parliament, trod the same steps as the +convention did which elected the prince of Orange; both setting +aside an illegal pretender, the legitimacy of whose birth was called +in question. And though the partizans of the Stuarts may exult at my +comparing king William to Richard the Third, it wil be no matter of +triumph, since it appears that Richard's cause was as good as King +William's, and that in both instances it was a free election. The +art used by Sir Thomas More (when he could not deny a pre-contract) +in endeavouring to shift that objection on Elizabeth Lucy, a married +woman, contrary to the specific words of the act of parliament, +betrays the badness of the Lancastrian cause, which would make us +doubt or wonder at the consent of the nobility in giving way to the +act for bastardizing the children of Edward the Fourth. But +reinstate the claim of the lady Butler, which probably was well +known, and conceive the interest that her great relations must have +made to set aside the queen's marriage, nothing appears more natural +than Richard's succession. His usurpation vanishes, and in a few +pages more, I shall shew that his consequential cruelty vanishes +too, or at most is very, problematic: but first I must revert to +some intervening circumstances. + +In this whole story nothing is less known to us than the grounds on +which lord Hastings was put to death. He had lived in open enmity +with the queen and her family, and had been but newly reconciled to +her son the marquis Dorset; yet Sir Thomas owns that lord Hastings +was one of the first to abet Richard's proceedings against her, and +concurred in all the protector's measures. We are amazed therefore +to find this lord the first sacrifice under the new government. Sir +Thomas More supposes (and he could only suppose; for whatever +archbishop Morton might tell him of the plots of Henry of Richmond, +Morton was certainly not entrusted with the secrets of Richard) Sir +Thomas, I say, supposes, that Hastings either withstood the +deposition of Edward the Fifth, or was accused of such a design by +Catesby, who was deeply in his confidence; and he owns that the +protector undoubtedly loved him well, and loth he was to have him +lost. What then is the presumption? Is it not, that Hastings really +was plotting to defeat the new settlement contrary to the intention +of the three estates? And who can tell whether the suddenness of the +execution was not the effect of necessity? The gates of the Tower +were shut during that rapid scene; the protector and his adherents +appeared in the first rusty armour that was at hand: but this +circumstance is alledged against them, as an incident contrived to +gain belief, as if they had been in danger of their lives. The +argument is gratis dictum: and as Richard loved Hastings and had +used his ministry, the probability lies on the other side: and it is +more reasonable to believe that Richard acted in self-defence, than +that he exercised a wanton, unnecessary, and disgusting cruelty. The +collateral circumstances introduced by More do but weaken(17) his +account, and take from its probability. I do not mean the silly +recapitulation of silly omens which forewarned Hastings of his fate, +and as omens generally do, to no manner of purpose; but I speak of +the idle accusations put into the mouth of Richard, such as his +baring his withered arm, and imputing it to sorcery, and to his +blending the queen and Jane Shore in the same plot. Cruel or not, +Richard was no fool; and therefore it is highly improbable that he +should lay the withering of his arm on recent witchcraft, if it was +true, as Sir Thomas More pretends, that it never had been otherwise +--but of the blemishes and deformity of his person, I shall have +occasion to speak hereafter. For the other accusation of a league +between Elizabeth and Jane Shore, Sir Thomas More ridicules it +himself, and treats it as highly unlikely. But being unlikely, was +it not more natural for him to think, that it never was urged by +Richard? And though Sir Thomas again draws aside our attention by +the penance of Jane, which she certainly underwent, it is no kind of +proof that the protector accused the queen of having plotted(18) + with mistress Shore. What relates to that unhappy fair one I shall +examine at the end of this work. + +Except the proclamation which, Sir Thomas says, appeared to +have been prepared before hand. The death of Hastings, I allow, is +the fact of which we are most sure, without knowing the immediate +motives: we must conclude it was determined on his opposing +Richard's claim: farther we do not know, nor whether that opposition +was made in a legal or hostile manner. It is impossible to believe +that, an hour before his death, he should have exulted in the deaths +of their common enemies, and vaunted, as Sir Thomas More asserts, +his connection with Richard, if he was then actually at variance +with him; nor that Richard should, without provocation, have +massacred so excellent an accomplice. This story, therefore, must be +left in the dark, as we find it. + +(18) So far from it, that as Mr. Hume remarks, there is in Rymer's +Foedera a proclamation of Richard, in which he accuses, not the lord +Hastings, but the marquis Dorset, of connexion with Jane Shore. Mr. +Hume thinks so authentic a paper not sufficient to overbalance the +credit due to Sir Thomas More. What little credit was due to him +appears from the course of this work in various and indubitable +instances. The proclamation against the lord Dorset and Jane Shore +is not dated till the 23rd. of October following. Is it credible +that Richard would have made use of this woman's name again, if he +had employed it heretofore to blacken Hastings? It is not probable +that, immediately on the death of the king, she had been taken into +keeping by lord Hastings; but near seven months had elapsed between +that death and her connection with the marquis. + +The very day on which Hastings was executed, were beheaded earl +Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, Vaughan, and Haute. These executions are +indubitable; were consonant to the manners and violence of the age; +and perhaps justifiable by that wicked code, state necessity. I have +never pretended to deny them, because I find them fully +authenticated. I have in another(19) place done justice to the +virtues and excellent qualities of earl Rivers: let therefore my +impartiality be believed, when I reject other facts, for which I can +discover no good authority. I can have no interest in Richard's +guilt or innocence; but as Henry the Seventh was so much interested +to represent him as guilty, I cannot help imputing to the greater +usurper, and to the worse tyrant of the two, all that appears to me +to have been calumny and misrepresentation. + +(19) In the Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, vol. 1. + + +All obstacles thus removed, and Richard being solemnly instated in +the throne by the concurrent voice of the three estates, "He +openly," says Sir Thomas More, "took upon him to be king the +ninth(20) day of June, and' the morrow after was proclaimed, riding +to Westminster with great state; and calling the judges before him, +straightly commanded them to execute the laws without favor or +delay, with many good exhortations, of the which he followed not +one." This is an invidious and false accusation. Richard, in his +regal capacity, was an excellent king, and for the short time of his +reign enacted many wise and wholesome laws. I doubt even whether one +of the best proofs of his usurpation was not the goodness of his +government, according to a common remark, that princes of doubtful +titles make the best masters, as it is more necessary for them to +conciliate the favour of the people: the natural corollary from +which observation need not be drawn. Certain it is that in many +parts of the kingdom not poisoned by faction, he was much beloved; +and even after his death the northern counties gave open testimony +of their affection to his memory. + +(20) Though I have copied our historian, as the rest have copied +him, in this date I must desire the reader to take notice, that this +very date is another of Sir T. More's errors; for in the public acts +is a deed of Edward the Fifth, dated June 17th. + +On the 6th of July Richard was crowned, and soon after set out on a +progress to York, on his way visiting Gloucester, the seat of his +former duchy. And now it is that I must call up the attention of the +reader, the capital and bloody scene of Richard's life being dated +from this progress. The narrative teems with improbabilities and +notorious falshoods, and is flatly contradicted by so many +unquestionable facts, that if we have no other reason to believe the +murder of Edward the Fifth and his brother, than the account +transmitted to us, we shall very much doubt whether they ever were +murdered at all. I will state the account, examine it, and produce +evidence to confute it, and then the reader will form his own +judgment on the matter of fact. + +Richard before he left London, had taken no measures to accomplish +the assassination; but on the road "his mind misgave him,(21) that +while his nephews lived, he should not possess the crown with +security. Upon this reflection he dispatched one Richard Greene to +Sir Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the Tower, with a letter and +credence also, that the same Sir Robert in any wise should put the +two children to death. This John Greene did his errand to +Brakenbury, kneeling before our Lady in the Tower, who plainly +answered 'that he never would put them to death, to dye therefore.' +Green returned with this answer to the king who was then at Warwick, +wherewith he took such displeasure and thought, that the same night +he said unto a secret page of his, 'Ah! whom shall a man trust? They +that I have brought up myself, they that I thought would have most +surely served me, even those faile me, and at my commandment will do +nothing for me.' 'Sir,' quoth the page 'there lieth one in the palet +chamber without, that I dare say will doe your grace pleasure; the +thing were right hard that he would refuse;' meaning this by James +Tirrel, whom," says Sir Thomas a few pages afterwards, "as men say, +he there made a knight. The man" continues More, "had an high +heart, and sore longed upwards, not rising yet so fast as he had +hoped, being hindered and kept under by Sir Richard Ratcliffe and +Sir William Catesby, who by secret drifts kept him out of all secret +trust." To be short, Tirrel voluntarily accepted the commission, +received warrant to authorise Brakenbury to deliver to him the keys +of the Tower for one night; and having selected two other villains +called Miles Forest and John Dighton, the two latter smothered the +innocent princes in their beds, and then called Tirrel to be witness +of the execution. + +(21) Sir T. More. + +It is difficult to croud more improbabilities and lies together than +are comprehended in this short narrative. Who can believe if Richard +meditated the murder, that he took no care to sift Brakenbury before +he left London? Who can believe that he would trust so atrocious a +commission to a letter? And who can imagine, that on Brakenbury's(22) +non-compliance Richard would have ordered him to cede the government +of the Tower to Tirrel for one night only, the purpose of which had +been so plainly pointed out by the preceding message? And had such +weak step been taken, could the murder itself have remained a +problem? And yet Sir Thomas More himself is forced to confess at the +outset of this very narration, "that the deaths and final fortunes +of the two young princes have nevertheless so far come in question, +that some remained long in doubt, whether they were in his days +destroyed(23) or no." Very memorable words, and sufficient to +balance More's own testimony with the most sanguine believers. He +adds, "these doubts not only arose from the uncertainty men were in, +whether Perkin Warbeck was the true duke of York, but for that also +all things were so covertly demeaned, that there was nothing so +plain and openly proved, but that yet men had it ever inwardly +suspect." Sir Thomas goes on to affirm, "that he does not relate +the story after every way that he had heard, but after that way that +he had heard it by such men and such meanes as he thought it hard +but it should be true." This affirmation rests on the credibility of +certain reporters, we do not know whom, but who we shall find were +no credible reporters at all: for to proceed to the confutation. +James Tirrel, a man in no secret trust with the king, and kept down +by Catesby and Ratcliffe, is recommended as a proper person by a +nameless page. In the first place Richard was crowned at York (after +this transaction) September 8th. Edward the Fourth had not been +dead four months, and Richard in possession of any power not above +two months, and those very bustling and active: Tirrel must have +been impatient indeed, if the page had had time to observe his +discontent at the superior confidence of Ratcliffe and Catesby. It +happens unluckily too, that great part of the time Ratcliffe was +absent, Sir Thomas More himself telling us that Sir Richard +Ratcliffe had the custody of the prisoners at Pontefract, and +presided at their execution there. But a much more unlucky +circumstance is, that James Tirrel, said to be knighted for this +horrid service, was not only a knight before, but a great or very +considerable officer of the crown; and in that situation had walked +at Richard's preceding coronation. Should I be told that Sir Thomas +Moore did not mean to confine the ill offices done to Tirrel by +Ratcliffe and Catesby solely to the time of Richard's protectorate +and regal power, but being all three attached to him when duke of +Gloucester, the other two might have lessened Tirrel's credit with +the duke even in the preceding reign; then I answer, that Richard's +appointing him master of the horse on his accession had removed +those disgusts, and left the page no room to represent him as ready +through ambition and despondency to lend his ministry to +assassination. Nor indeed was the master, of the horse likely to be +sent to supercede the constable of the Tower for one night only. +That very act was sufficient to point out what Richard desired to, +and did, it seems, transact so covertly. + +(22) It appears from the Foedera that Brakenbury was appointed +Constable of the Tower July 7th; that he surrendered his patent +March 9th of the following year, and had one more ample granted to +him. If it is supposed that Richard renewed this patent to Sir +Robert Brakenbury, to prevent his disclosing what he knew of a +murder, in which he had refused to be concerned, I then ask if it is +probable that a man too virtuous or too cautious to embark in an +assassination, and of whom the supposed tyrant stood in awe, would +have laid down his life in that usurper's cause, as Sir Robert did, +being killed on Richard's side at Bosworth, when many other of his +adherents betrayed him? + +(23) This is confirmed by Lord Bacon: "Neither wanted there even at +that time secret rumours and whisperings (which afterwards +gathered strength, and turned to great trouble) that the two young +sons of king Edward the Fourth, or one of them (which were said to +be destroyed in the Tower) were not indeed murthered, but conveyed +secretly away, and were yet living." Reign of Henry the Seventh, p. 4. +again, p. 19. "And all this time it was still whispered every where +that at least one of the children of Edward the Fourth was living." + +That Sir James Tirrel was and did walk as master of the horse at +Richard's coronation cannot be contested. A most curious, +invaluable, and authentic monument has lately been discovered, the +coronation-roll of Richard the Third. Two several deliveries of +parcels of stuff are there expressly entered, as made to "Sir James +Tirrel, knyght, maister of the hors of our sayd soverayn lorde the +kynge." What now becomes of Sir Thomas More's informers, and of +their narrative, which he thought hard but must be true? + +I will go a step farther, and consider the evidence of this murder, +as produced by Henry the Seventh some years afterwards, when, +instead of lamenting it, it was necessary for his majesty to hope it +had been true; at least to hope the people would think so. On the +appearance of Perkin Warbeck, who gave himself out for the second of +the brothers, who was believed so by most people, and at least +feared by the king to be so, he bestirred himself to prove that both +the princes had been murdered by his predecessor. There had been but +three actors, besides Richard who had commanded the execution, and +was dead. These were Sir James Tirrel, Dighton, and Forrest; and +these were all the persons whose depositions Henry pretended to +produce; at least of two of them, for Forrest it seems had rotted +piece-meal away; a kind of death unknown at present to the college. +But there were some others, of whom no notice was taken; as the +nameless page, Greene, one Black Will or Will Slaughter who guarded +the princes, the friar who buried them, and Sir Robert Brakenbury, +who could not be quite ignorant of what had happened: the latter was +killed at Bosworth, and the friar was dead too. But why was no +enquiry made after Greene and the page? Still this silence was not +so impudent as the pretended confession of Dighton and Sir James +Tyrrel. The former certainly did avow the fact, and was suffered to +go unpunished wherever he pleased--undoubtedly that he might spread +the tale. And observe these remarkable words of lord Bacon, "John +Dighton, who it seemeth spake best the king, was forewith set at +liberty." In truth, every step of this pretended discovery, as it +stands in lord Bacon, warns us to give no heed to it. Dighton and +Tirrel agreed both in a tale, as the king gave out. Their confession +therefore was not publickly made, and as Sir James Tirrel was +suffered to live;(24) but was shut up in the Tower, and put to death +afterwards for we know not what reason. What can we believe, but +that Dighton was some low mercenary wretch hired to assume the guilt +of a crime he had not committed, and that Sir James Tirrel never +did, never would confess what he had not done; and was therefore put +out of the way on a fictitious imputation? It must be observed too, +that no inquiry was made into the murder on the accession of Henry +the Seventh, the natural time for it, when the passions of men were +heated, and when the duke of Norfolk, lord Lovel, Catesby, +Ratcliffe, and the real abettors or accomplices of Richard, were +attainted and executed. No mention of such a murder (25)was made in +the very act of parliament that attainted Richard himself, and which +would have been the most heinous aggravation of his crimes. And no +prosecution of the supposed assassins was even thought of till +eleven years afterwards, on the appearance of Perkin Warbeck. Tirrel +is not named in the act of attainder to which I have had recourse; +and such omissions cannot but induce us to surmise that Henry had +never been certain of the deaths of the princes, nor ever interested +himself to prove that both were dead, till he had great reason to +believe that one of them was alive. Let me add, that if the +confessions of Dighton and Tirrel were true, Sir Thomas More had no +occasion to recur to the information of his unknown credible +informers. If those confessions were not true, his informers were +not credible. + +(24) It appears by Hall, that Sir James Tirrel had even enjoyed the +favor of Henry; for Tirrel is named as captain of Guards in a list +of valiant officers that were sent by Henry, in his fifth year, on +an expedition into Flanders. Does this look as if Tirrel was so much +as suspected of the murder. And who can believe his pretended +confession afterwards? Sir James was not executed till Henry's +seventeenth year, on suspicion of treason, which suspicion arose on +the flight of the earl of Suffolk. Vide Hall's Chronicle, fol. 18 & +55. + +(25) There is a heap of general accusations alledged to have been +committed by Richard against Henry, in particular of his having shed +infant's blood. Was this sufficient specification of the murder of a +king? Is it not rather a base way of insinuating a slander, of which +no proof could be given? Was not it consonant to all Henry's policy +of involving every thing in obscure and general terms? + +Having thus disproved the account of the murder, let us now examine +whether we can be sure that the murder was committed. + +Of all men it was most incumbent on cardinal Bourchier, archbishop +of Canterbury, to ascertain the fact. To him had the queen entrusted +her younger son, and the prelate had pledged himself for his +security--unless every step of this history is involved in +falshood. Yet what was the behaviour of the archbishop? He appears +not to have made the least inquiry into the reports of the murder of +both children; nay, not even after Richard's death: on the contrary, +Bourchier was the very man who placed the crown on the head of the +latter;(26) and yet not one historian censures this conduct. Threats +and fear could not have dictated this shameless negligence. Every +body knows what was the authority of priests in that age; an +archbishop was sacred, a cardinal inviolable. As Bourchier survived +Richard, was it not incumbant on him to show, that the duke of York +had been assassinated in spite of all his endeavours to save him? +What can be argued from this inactivity of Bourchier,(27) but that +he did not believe the children were murdered. + +(26) As cardinal Bourchier set the crown on Richard's head at +Westminster, so did archbishop Rotheram at York. These prelates +either did not believe Richard had murdered his nephews, or were +shamefully complaisant themselves. Yet their characters stand +unimpeached in history. Could Richard be guilty, and the archbishops +be blameless? Could both be ignorant what was become of the young +princes, when both had negotiated with the queen dowager? As neither +is accused of being the creature of Richard, it is probable that +neither of them believed he had taken off his nephews. In the +Foedera there is a pardon passed to the archbishop, which at first +made me suspect that he had taken some part in behalf of the royal +children, as he is pardoned for all murders, treasons, concealments, +misprisons, riots, routs, &c. but this pardon is not only dated +Dec. 13, some months after he had crowned Richard; but, on looking +farther, I find such pardons frequently granted to the most eminent +of the clergy. In the next reign Walter, archbishop of Dublin, is +pardoned all murders, rapes, treasons, felonies, misprisons, riots, +routs, extortions, &c. + +(27) Lord Bacon tells us, that "on Simon's and Jude's even, the +king (Henry the Seventh) dined with Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of +Canterburie, and cardinal: and from Lambeth went by land over the +bridge to the Tower." Has not this the appearance of some curiosity +in the king on the subject of the princes, of whose fate he was +uncertain? + +Richard's conduct in a parallel case is a strong presumption that +this barbarity was falsely laid to his charge. Edward earl of +Warwick, his nephew, and son of the duke of Clarence, was in his +power too, and no indifferent rival, if king Edward's children were +bastards. Clarence had been attainted; but so had almost every +prince who had aspired to the crown after Richard the Second. +Richard duke of York, the father of Edward the Fourth and Richard +the Third, was son of Richard earl of Cambridge, beheaded for +treason; yet that duke of York held his father's attainder no bar to +his succession. Yet how did Richard the Third treat his nephew and +competitor, the young Warwick? John Rous, a zealous Lancastrian and +contemporary shall inform us: and will at the same time tell us an +important anecdote, maliciously suppressed or ignorantly omitted by +all our historians. Richard actually proclaimed him heir to the +crown after the death of his own son, and ordered him to be served +next to himself and the queen, though he afterwards set him aside, +and confined him to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton.(28) The very day +after the battle of Bosworth, the usurper Richmond was so far from +being led aside from attention to his interest by the glare of his +new-acquired crown, that he sent for the earl of Warwick from +Sheriff-Hutton and committed him to the Tower, from whence he never +stirred more, falling a sacrifice to the inhuman jealousy of Henry, +as his sister, the venerable countess of Salisbury, did afterwards +to that of Henri the Eight. Richard, on the contrary, was very +affectionate to his family: instances appear in his treatment of the +earls of Warwick and Lincoln. The lady Ann Poole, sister of the +latter, Richard had agreed to marry to the prince of Scotland. + +(28) P. 218. Rous is the more to be credited for this fact, as he +saw the earl of Warwick in company with Richard at Warwick the year +before on the progress to York, which shows that the king treated +his nephew with kindness, and did not confine him till the plots of +his enemies thickening, Richard found it necessary to secure such as +had any pretensions to the crown. This will account for his +preferring the earl of Lincoln, who, being his sister's son, could +have no prior claim before himself. + +The more generous behaviour of Richard to the same young prince +(Warwick) ought to be applied to the case of Edward the Fifth, if no +proof exists of the murder. But what suspicious words are those of +Sir Thomas More, quoted above, and unobserved by all our historians. +"Some remained long in doubt," says he, "whether they (the children) +were in his (Richard's) days destroyed or no." If they were not +destroyed in his days, in whose days were they murdered? Who will +tell me that Henry the Seventh did not find, the eldest at least, +prisoner in the Tower; and if he did, what was there in Henry's +nature or character to prevent our surmizes going farther. + +And here let me lament that two of the greatest men in our annals +have prostituted their admirable pens, the one to blacken a great +prince, the other to varnish a pitiful tyrant. I mean the two (29) +chancellors, Sir Thomas More and lord Bacon. The most senseless +stories of the mob are converted to history by the former; the +latter is still more culpable; he has held up to the admiration of +posterity, and what is worse, to the imitation of succeeding +princes, a man whose nearest approach to wisdom was mean cunning; +and has raised into a legislator, a sanguinary, sordid, and +trembling usurper. Henry was a tyrannic husband, and ungrateful +master; he cheated as well as oppressed his subjects,(30) bartered +the honour of the nation for foreign gold, and cut off every branch +of the royal family, to ensure possession to his no title. Had he +had any title, he could claim it but from his mother, and her he set +aside. But of all titles he preferred that of conquest, which, if +allowable in a foreign prince, can never be valid in a native, but +ought to make him the execration of his countrymen. + +(29) It is unfortunate, that another great chancellor should have +written a history with the same propensity to misrepresentation, I +mean lord Clarendon. It is hoped no more chancellors will write our +story, till they can divest themselves of that habit of their +profession, apologizing for a bad cause. + +(30) "He had no purpose to go through with any warre upon France; +but the truth was, that he did but traffique with that warre to make +his returne in money." Lord Bacon's reign of Henry the Seventh, +p. 99. + +There is nothing strained in the supposition of Richard's sparing +his nephew. At least it is certain now, that though he dispossessed, +he undoubtedly treated him at first with indulgence, attention, and +respect; and though the proof I am going to give must have mortified +the friends of the dethroned young prince, yet it shewed great +aversion to cruelty, and was an indication that Richard rather +assumed the crown for a season, than as meaning to detain it always +from his brother's posterity. It is well known that in the Saxon +times nothingwas more common in cases of minority than, for the +uncle to be preferred to the nephew; and though bastardizing his +brother's children was, on this supposition, double dealing; yet I +have no doubt but Richard went so far as to insinuate an intention +of restoring the crown when young Edward should be of full age. I +have three strong proofs of this hypothesis. In the first place Sir +Thomas More reports that the duke of Buckingham in his conversations +with Morton, after his defection from Richard, told the bishop that +the protector's first proposal had been to take the crown, till +Edward his nephew should attain the age of twenty four years. Morton +was certainly competent evidences of these discourses, and therefore +a credible one; and the idea is confirmed by the two other proofs I +alluded to; the second of which was, that Richard's son did not walk +at his father's coronation. Sir Thomas More indeed says that Richard +created him prince of Wales on assuming the crown; but this is one +of Sir Thomas's misrepresentations, and is contradicted by fact, for +Richard did not create his son prince of Wales till he arrived at +York; a circumstance that might lead the people to believe that in +the interval of the two coronations, the latter of which was +celebrated at York, September 8th, the princes were murdered. + +But though Richard's son did not walk at his father's coronation, +Edward the Fifth probably did, and this is my third proof. I +conceive all the astonishment of my readers at this assertion, and +yet it is founded on strongly presumptive evidence. In the +coronation roll itself(31) is this amazing entry; "To Lord Edward, +son of late king Edward the Fourth, for his apparel and array, that +is to say, a short gowne made of two yards and three-quarters of +crymsy clothe of gold, lyned with two yards of blac velvet, a long +gowne made of vi yards of crymsyn cloth of gold lynned with six +yards of green damask, a shorte gowne made of two yards of purpell +velvett lyned with two yards of green damask, a doublet and a +stomacher made of two yards of black satin, &c. besides two foot +cloths, a bonnet of purple velvet, nine horse harness, and nine +saddle houses (housings) of blue velvet, gilt spurs, with many other +rich articles, and magnificent apparel for his henchmen or pages." + +(31) This singular curiosity was first mentioned to me by the lord +bishop of Carlisle. Mr. Astle lent me an extract of it, with other +usual assistances; and Mr. Chamberlain of the great wardrobe obliged +me with the perusal of the original; favours which I take this +opportunity of gratefully acknowledging. + + +Let no body tell me that these robes, this magnificence, these +trappings for a cavalcade, were for the use of a prisoner. +Marvellous as the fact is, there can no longer be any doubt but the +deposed young king walked, or it was intended should walk, at his +uncle's coronation. This precious monument, a terrible reproach to +Sir Thomas More and his copyists, who have been silent on so public +an event, exists in the great wardrobe; and is in the highest +preservation; it is written on vellum, and is bound with the +coronation rolls of Henry the Seventh and Eighth. These are written +on paper, and are in worse condition; but that of king Richard is +uncommonly fair, accurate, and ample. It is the account of Peter +Courteys keeper of the great wardrobe, and dates from the day of +king Edward the Fourth his death, to the feast of the purification +in the February of the following year. Peter Courteys specifies what +stuff he found in the wardrobe, what contracts he made for the +ensuing coronation, and the deliveries in consequence. The whole is +couched in the most minute and regular manner, and is preferable to +a thousand vague and interested histories. The concourse of nobility +at that ceremony was extraordinarily great: there were present no +fewer than three duchesses of Norfolk. Has this the air of a forced +and precipitate election? Or does it not indicate a voluntary +concurrence of the nobility? No mention being made in the roll of +the young duke of York, no robes being ordered for him, it looks +extremely as if he was not in Richard's custody; and strengthens the +probability that will appear hereafter, of his having been conveyed +away. + +There is another article, rather curious than decisive of any +point of history. One entry is thus; "To the lady Brygitt, oon of +the daughters of K. Edward ivth, being seeke (sick) in the said +wardrobe for to have for her use two long pillows of fustian stuffed +with downe, and two pillow beres of Holland cloth." The only +conjecture that can be formed from this passage is, that the lady +Bridget, being lodged in the great wardrobe, was not then in +sanctuary. + +Can it be doubted now but that Richard meant to have it thought that +his assumption of the crown was only temporary? But when he +proceeded to bastardize his nephew by act of parliament, then it +became necessary to set him entirely aside: stronger proofs of the +hastardy might have come out; and it is reasonable to infer this, +for on the death of his own son, when Richard had no longer any +reason of family to bar his brother Edward's children, instead of +again calling them to the succession, as he at first projected or +gave out he would, he settled the crown on the issue of his sister, +Suffolk, declaring her eldest son the earl of Lincoln his successor. +That young prince was slain in the battle of Stoke against Henry the +Seventh, and his younger brother the earl of Suffolk, who had fled +to Flanders, was extorted from the archduke Philip, who by contrary +winds had been driven into England. Henry took a solemn oath not to +put him to death; but copying David rather than Solomon he, on his +death bed, recommended it to his son Henry the Eighth to execute +Suffolk; and Henry the Eighth was too pions not to obey so +scriptural an injunction. + +Strange as the fact was of Edward the Fifth walking at his +successor's coronation, I have found an event exactly parallel which +happened some years before. It is well known that the famous Joan of +Naples was dethroned and murdered by the man she had chosen for her +heir, Charles Durazzo. Ingratitude and cruelty were the +characteristics of that wretch. He had been brought up and formed by +his uncle Louis king of Hungary, who left only two daughters. Mary +the eldest succeeded and was declared king; for that warlike nation, +who regarded the sex of a word, more than of a person, would not +suffer themselves to be governed by the term queen. Durazzo quitted +Naples in pursuit of new ingratitude; dethroned king Mary, and +obliged her to walk at his coronation; an insult she and her mother +soon revenged by having him assassinated. + +I do not doubt but the wickedness of Durazzo will be thought a +proper parallel to Richard's. But parallels prove nothing: and a man +must be a very poor reasoner who thinks he has an advantage over me, +because I dare produce a circumstance that resembles my subject in +the case to which it is applied, and leaves my argument just as +strong as it was before in every other point. + +They who the most firmly believe the murder of the two princes, and +from what I have said it is plain that they believe it more strongly +than the age did in which it was pretended to be committed; urge the +disappearance(32) of the princes as a proof of the murder, but that +argument vanishes entirely, at least with regard to one of them, if +Perkin Warbeck was the true duke of York, as I shall show that it is +greatly probable he was. + +(32) Polidore Virgil says, "In vulgas fama valuit filios Edwardi +Regis aliquo terrarum partem migrasse, atque ita superstates esse." +And the prior of Croyland, not his continuator, whom I shall quote +in the next note but one, and who was still better informed, +"Vulgatum est Regis Edwardi pueros concessisse in fata, sed quo +genere intentus ignoratur." + +With regard to the elder, his disappearance is no kind of proof that +he was murdered: he might die in the Tower. The queen pleaded to the +archbishop of York that both princes were weak and unhealthy. I have +insinuated that it is not impossible but Henry the Seventh might +find him alive in the Tower.(33) I mention that as a bare +possibility--but we may be very sure that if he did find Edward +alive there, he would not have notified his existence, to acquit +Richard and hazard his own crown. The circumstances of the murder +were evidently false, and invented by Henry to discredit Perkin; and +the time of the murder is absolutely a fiction, for it appears by +the roll of parliament which bastardized Edward the Fifth, that he +was then alive, which was seven months after the time assigned by +More for his murder, if Richard spared him seven months, what could +suggest a reason for his murder afterwards? To take him off then was +strengthening the plan of the earl of Richmond, who aimed at the +crown by marrying Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward the Fourth. +As the house of York never rose again, as the reverse of Richard's +fortune deprived him of any friend, and as no contemporaries but +Fabian and the author of the Chronicle have written a word on that +period, and they, too slightly to inform us, it is impossible to +know whether Richard ever took any steps to refute the calumny. But +we do know that Fabian only mentions the deaths of the princes as +reports, which is proof that Richard never declared their deaths, or +the death of either, as he would probably have done if he had +removed them for his own security. The confessions of Sir Thomas +More and lord Bacon that many doubted of the murder, amount to a +violent presumption that they were not murdered: and to a proof that +their deaths were never declared. No man has ever doubted that +Edward the Second, Richard the Second, and Henry the Sixth perished +at the times that were given out. Nor Henry the Fourth, nor Edward +the Fourth thought it would much help their titles to leave it +doubtful whether their competitors existed or not. Observe too, that +the chronicle of Croyland, after relating Richard's second +coronation at York, says, it was advised by some in the sanctuary at +Westminster to convey abroad some of king Edward's daughters, "ut si +quid dictis masculis humanitus in Turri contingerat, nihilominus per +salvandas personas filiarum, regnum aliquando ad veros rediret +haeredes." He says not a word of the princes being murdered, only +urges the fears of their friends that it might happen. This was a +living witness, very bitter against Richard, who still never accuses +him of destroying his nephews, and who speaks of them as living, +after the time in which Sir Thomas More, who was not then five years +old, declared they were dead. Thus the parliament roll and the +chronicle agree, and both contradict More. "Interim & dum haec +agerentur (the coronation at York) remanserunt duo predicti Edwardi +regis filii sub certa deputata, custodia infra Turrim Londoniarum." +These are the express words of the Chronicle, p. 567. + +(33) Buck asserts this from the parliament roll. The annotator in +Kennett's collection says, "this author would have done much towards +the credit he drives at in his history, to have specified the place +of the roll and the words thereof, whence such arguments might be +gathered: for," adds he, "all histories relate the murders to be +committed before this time." I have shown that all histories are +reduced to one history, Sir Thomas Moore's; for the rest copy him +verbatim; and I have shown that his account is false and improbable. +As the roll itself is now printed, in the parliamentary history, vol. + 2. I will point out the words that imply Edward the Fifth being +alive when the act was passed. "Also it appeareth that all the issue +of the said king Edward be bastards and unable to inherit or claim +any thing by inheritance, by the law and custom of England." Had +Edward the Fifth been dead, would not the act indubitably have run +thus, were and be bastards. No, says the act, all the issue are +bastards. Who were rendered uncapable to inherit but Edward the +Fifth, his brother and sisters? Would not the act have specified the +daughters of Edward the Fourth if the sons had been dead? It was to +bastardise the brothers, that the act was calculated and passed; and +as the words all the issue comprehend male and females, it is clear +that both were intended to be bastardized. I must however, +impartially observe that Philip de Comines says, Richard having +murdered his nephews, degraded their two sisters in full parliament. +I will not dwell on his mistake of mentioning two sisters instead of +five; but it must be remarked, that neither brothers or sisters +being specified in the act, but under the general term of king +Edward's issue, it would naturally strike those who were uncertain +what was become of the sons, that this act was levelled against the +daughters. And as Comines did not write till some years after the +event, he could not help falling into that mistake. For my own part +I know not how to believe that Richard would have passed that act, +if he had murdered the two princes. It was recalling a shocking +crime, and to little purpose; for as no< woman had at that time ever +sat on the English throne in her own right, Richard had little +reason to apprehend the claim of his nieces. + +As Richard gained the crown by the illegitimacy of his nephews, his +causing them to be murdered, would not only have shown that he did +not trust to that plea, but would have transferred their claim to +their sisters. And I must not be told that his intended marriage +with his neice is an answer to my argument; for were that imputation +true, which is very problematic, it had nothing to do with the +murder of her brothers. And here the comparison and irrefragability +of dates puts this matter out of all doubt. It was not till the very +close of his reign that Richard is even supposed to have thought of +marrying his neice. The deaths of his nephews are dated in July or +August 1483. His own son did not die till April 1484, nor his queen +till March 1485. He certainly therefore did not mean to strengthen +his title by marrying his neice to the disinherison of his own son; +and having on the loss of that son, declared his nephew the earl of +Lincoln his successor, it is plain that he still trusted to the +illegitimacy of his brother's children: and in no case possibly to +be put, can it be thought that he wished to give strength to the +claim of the princess Elizabeth. + +Let us now examine the accusation of his intending to marry that +neice: one of the consequences of which intention is a vague +suspicion of poisoning his wife. Buck says that the queen was in a +languishing condition, and that the physicians declared she could +not hold out till April; and he affirms having seen in the earl of +Arundel's library a letter written in passionate strains of love for +her uncle by Elizabeth to the duke of Norfolk, in which she +expressed doubts that the month of April would never arrive. What is +there in this account that looks like poison; Does it not prove that +Richard would not hasten the death of his queen? The tales of +poisoning for a time certain are now exploded; nor is it in nature +to believe that the princess could be impatient to marry him, if she +knew or thought he had murdered her brothers. Historians tell us +that the queen took much to heart the death of her son, and never +got over it. Had Richard been eager to ned his niece, and had his +character been as impetuously wicked as it is represented, he would +not have let the forward princess wait for the slow decay of her +rival: nor did he think of it till nine months after the death of +his son; which shows it was only to prevent Richmond's marrying her. +His declaring his nephew his successor, implies at the same time no +thought of getting rid of the queen, though he did not expect more +issue from her: and little as Buck's authority is regarded, a +contemporary writer confirms the probability of this story. The +Chronicle of Croyland says, that at the Christmas festival,(34) men +were scandalized at seeing the queen and the lady Elizabeth dressed +in robes similar and equally royal. I should suppose that Richard +learning the projected marriage of Elizabeth and the earl of +Richmond, amused the young princess with the hopes of making her his +queen; and that Richard feared that alliance, is plain from his +sending her to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton on the landing of +Richmond. + +(34) "Per haec festa natalia choreis aut tripudiis, variisque +mutatoriis vestium Annae reginae atque dominae Elizabeth, +primogenitae defuncti regis, eisdem colore & forma distributis +nimis intentum est: dictumque a multis est, ipsum regem aut +expectata morte reginae aut per divortium, matrimonio cum dicta +Elizabeth contrahendo mentem omnibus modis applicare," p. 572. If +Richard projected this match at Christmas, he was not likely to let +these intentions be perceived so early, nor to wait till March, if +he did not know that the queen was incurably ill. The Chronicle +says, she died of a languishing distemper. Did that look like +poison? It is scarce necessary to say that a dispensation from the +pope was in that age held so clear a solution of all obstacles to +the marriage of near relations, and was so easily to be obtained or +purchased by a great prince, that Richard would not have been +thought by his contemporaries to have incurred any guilt, even if he +had proposed to wed his neice, which however is far from being clear +to have been his intention. + +The behaviour of the queen dowager must also be noticed. She was +stripped by her son-in-law Henry of all her possessions, and +confined to a monastery, for delivering up her daughters to Richard. +Historians too are lavish in their censures on her for consenting to +bestow her daughter on the murderer of her sons and brother. But if +the murder of her sons, is, as we have seen, most uncertain, this +solemn charge falls to the ground: and for the deaths of her +brothers and lord Richard Grey, one of her elder sons, it has +already appeared that she imputed them to Hastings. It is much more +likely that Richard convinced her he had not murdered her sons, than +that she delivered up her daughters to him believing it. The rigour +exercised on her by Henry the Seventh on her countenancing Lambert +Simnel, evidently set up to try the temper of the nation in favour +of some prince of the house of York, is a violent presumption +that the queen dowager believed her second son living: and +notwithstanding all the endeavours of Henry to discredit Perkin +Warbeck, it will remain highly probable that many more who ought to +know the truth, believed so likewise; and that fact I shall examine +next. + +It was in the second year of Henry the Seventh that Lambert Simnel +appeared. This youth first personated Richard duke of York, then +Edward earl of Warwick; and was undoubtedly an impostor. Lord Bacon +owns that it was whispered every-where, that at least one of the +children of Edward the Fourth was living. Such whispers prove two +things; one, that the murder was very uncertain: the second, that it +would have been very dangerous to disprove the murder; Henry being +at least as much interested as Richard had been to have the children +dead. Richard had set them aside as bastards, and thence had a title +to the crown; but Henry was himself the issue of a bastard line, and +had no title at all. Faction had set him on the throne, and his +match with the supposed heiress of York induced the nation to wink +at the defect in his own blood. The children of Clarence and of the +duchess of Suffolk were living; so was the young duke of Buckingham, +legitimately sprung from the youngest son of Edward the Third; +whereas Henry came of the spurious stock of John of Gaunt, Lambert +Simnel appeared before Henry had had time to disgust the nation, as +he did afterwards, by his tyranny, cruelty, and exactions. But what +was most remarkable, the queen dowager tampered in this plot. Is it +to be believed, that mere turbulence and a restless spirit could in +a year's time influence that woman to throw the nation again into a +civil war, and attempt to dethrone her own daughter? And in favour +of whom? Of the issue of Clarence, whom she had contributed to have +put to death, or in favour of an impostor? There is not common sense +in the supposition. No; she certainly knew or believed that Richard, +her second son, had escaped and was living, and was glad to overturn +the usurper without risking her child. The plot failed, and the +queen dowager was shut up, where she remained till her death, "in +prison, poverty, and solitude."(35) The king trumped up a silly +accusation of her having delivered her daughters out of sanctuary to +King Richard, "which proceeding," says the noble historian, "being +even at the time taxed for rigorous and undue, makes it very probable +there was some greater matter against her, which the king, upon +reason of policie, and to avoid envy, would not publish." How truth +sometimes escapes fiom the most courtly pens! What interpretation +can be put on these words, but that the king found the queen dowager +was privy to the escape at least or existence of her second son, and +secured her, lest she should bear testimony to the truth, and foment +insurrections in his favour? Lord Bacon adds, "It is likewise no +small argument that there was some secret in it; for that the priest +Simon himself (who set Lambert to work) after he was taken, was +never brought to execution; no, not so much as to publicke triall, +but was only shut up close in a dungeon. Adde to this, that after +the earl of Lincoln (a principal person of the house of York) was +slaine in Stokefield, the king opened himself to some of his +councell, that he was sorie for the earl's death, because by him +(he said) he might have known the bottom of his danger." + +(35) Lord Bacon. + +The earl of Lincoln had been declared heir to the crown by Richard, +and therefore certainly did not mean to advance Simnel, an impostor, +to it. It will be insinuated, and lord Bacon attributes that motive +to him, that the earl of Lincoln hoped to open a way to the crown +for himself. It might be so; still that will not account for Henry's +wish, that the earl had been saved. On the contrary, one dangerous +competitor was removed by his death; and therefore when Henry wanted +to have learned the bottom of his danger, it is plain he referred to +Richard duke of York, of whose fate he was still in doubt.(36) He +certainly was; why else was it thought dangerous to visit or see the +queen dowager after her imprisonment, as lord Bacon owns it was; +"For that act," continues he, "the king sustained great obliquie; +which nevertheless (besides the reason of state) was somewhat +sweetened to him In a great confiscation." Excellent prince! This is +the man in whose favour Richard the Third is represented as a +monster. "For Lambert, the king would not take his life," continues +Henry's biographer, "both out of magnanimitie" (a most proper +picture of so mean a prince) "and likewise out of wisdom, thinking +that if he suffered death he would be forgotten too soon; but being +kept alive, he would be a continual spectacle, and a kind of remedy +against the like inchantments of people in time to come." What! do +lawful princes live in dread of a possibility of phantoms!(37) Oh! +no; but Henry knew what he had to fear; and he hoped by keeping up +the memory of Simnel's imposture, to discredit the true duke of +York, as another puppet, when ever he should really appear. + +(36) The earl of Lincoln assuredly did not mean to blacken his uncle +Richard by whom he had been declared heir to the crown. One should +therefore be glad to know what account he gave of the escape of the +young duke of York. Is it probable that the Earl of Lincoln gave +out, that the elder had been murdered? It is more reasonable to +suppose, that the earl asserted that the child had been conveyed +away by means of the queen dowager or some other friend; and before +I conclude this examination, that I think will appear most probably +to have been the case. + +(37) Henry had so great a distrust of his right to the crown in that +in his second year he obtained a bull from pope Innocent to qualify +the privilege of sanctuaries, in which was this remarkable clause, +"That if any took sancturie for case of treason, the king might +appoint him keepers to look to him in sanctuarie." Lord Bacon, p. 39. + +That appearance did not happen till some years afterwards, and in +Henry's eleventh year. Lord Bacon has taken infinite pains to prove +a second imposture; and yet owns, "that the king's manner of shewing +things by pieces and by darke lights, hath so muffled it, that it +hath left it almost a mysterie to this day." What has he left a +mystery? and what did he try to muffle? Not the imposture, but the +truth. Had so politic a man any interest to leave the matter +doubtful? Did he try to leave it so? On the contrary, his diligence +to detect the imposture was prodigious. Did he publish his narrative +to obscure or elucidate the transaction? Was it his matter to muffle +any point that he could clear up, especially when it behoved him to +have it cleared? When Lambert Simnel first personated the earl of +Warwick, did not Henry exhibit that poor prince one Sunday +throughout all the principal streets of London? Was he not conducted +to Paul's cross, and openly examined by the nobility? "which did in +effect marre the pageant in Ireland." Was not Lambert himself taken +into Henry's service, and kept in his court for the same purpose? In +short, what did Henry ever muffle and disguise but the truth? and +why was his whole conduct so different in the cases of Lambert and +Perkin, if their cases were not totally different? No doubt remains +in the former; the gross falshoods and contradictions in which +Henry's account of the latter is involved, make it evident that he +himself could never detect the imposture of the latter, if it was +one. Dates, which every historian has neglected, again come to our +aid, and cannot be controverted. + +Richard duke of York was born in 1474. Perkin Warbeck was not heard +of before 1495, when duke Richard would have been Twenty-one. +Margaret of York, duchess dowager of Burgundy, and sister of Edward +the Fourth, is said by lord Bacon to have been the Juno who +persecuted the pious Aeneas, Henry, and set up this phantom against +him. She it was, say the historians, and says Lord Bacon, p, 115, +"who informed Perkin of all the circumstances and particulars that +concerned the person of Richard duke of York, which he was to act, +describing unto him the personages, lineaments, and features of the +king and queen, his pretended parents, and of his brother and +sisters, and divers others that were nearest him in his childhood; +together with all passages, some secret, some common that were fit +for a child's memory, until the death of king Edward. Then she added +the particulars of the time, from the king's death; until he and his +brother were committed to the Tower, as well during the time he was +abroad, as while he was in sanctuary. As for the times while he was +in the Tower, and the manner of his brother's death, and his own +escape, she knew they were things that were few could controle: and +therefore she taught him only to tell a smooth and likely tale of +those matters, warning him not to vary from it." Indeed! Margaret +must in truth have been a Juno, a divine power, if she could give +all these instructions to purpose. This passage is, so very +important, the whole story depends so much upon it, that if I can +show the utter impossibility of its being true, Perkin will remain +the true duke of York for any thing we can prove to the contrary; +and for Henry, Sir Thomas More, lord Bacon, and their copyists, it +will be impossible to give any longer credit to their narratives. + + +I have said that duke Richard was born in 1474. Unfortunately his +aunt Margaret was married out of England in 1467, seven years before +he was born, and never returned thither. Was not she singularly +capable of describing to Perkin, her nephew, whom she had never +seen? How well informed was she of the times of his childhood, and +of all passages relating to his brother and sisters! Oh! but she had +English refugees about her. She must have had many, and those of +most intimate connection with the court, if she and they together +could compose a tolerable story for Perkin, that was to take in the +most minute passages of so many years.(38) Who informed Margaret, +that she might inform Perkin, of what passed in sanctuary? Ay; and +who told her what passed in the Tower? Let the warmest asserter of +the imposture answer that question, and I will give up all I have +said in this work; yes, all. Forest was dead, and the supposed +priest; Sir James Tirrel, and Dighton, were in Henry's hands. Had +they trumpeted about the story of their own guilt and infamy, till +Henry, after Perkin's appearance, found it necessary to publish it? +Sir James Tirrel and Dighton had certainly never gone to the court +of Burgundy to make a merit with Margaret of having murdered her +nephews. How came she to know accurately and authentically a tale +which no mortal else knew? Did Perkin or did he not correspond in +his narrative with Tirrel and Dighton? If he did how was it possible +for him to know it? If he did not, is it morally credible that +Henry would not have made those variations public? If Edward the +Fifth was murdered, and the duke of York saved, Perkin could know it +but by being the latter. If he did not know it, what was so obvious +as his detection? We must allow Perkin to be the true duke of York, +or give up the whole story of Tirrel and Dighton. When Henry had +Perkin, Tirrel, and Dighton, in his power, he had nothing to do but +to confront them, and the imposture was detected. It would not have +been sufficient that Margaret had enjoined him to tell a smooth and +likely tale of those matters, A man does not tell a likely tale, nor +was a likely tale enough, of matters of which he is totally +ignorant. + +(38) It would have required half the court of Edward the Fourth to +frame a consistent legend Let us state this in a manner that must +strike our apprehension. The late princess royal was married out of +England, before any of the children of the late prince of Wales were +born. She lived no farther than the Hague; and yet who thinks that +she could have instructed a Dutch lad in so many passages of the +courts of her father and brother, that he would not have been +detected in an hour's time. Twenty-seven years at least had elapsed +since Margaret had been in the court of England. The marquis of +Dorset, the earl of Richmond himself, and most of the fugitives had +taken refuge in Bretagne, not with Margaret; and yet was she so +informed of every trifling story, even those of the nursery, that +she was able to pose Henry himself, and reduce him to invent a tale +that had not a shadow of probability in it. Why did he not convict +Perkin out of his own mouth? Was it ever pretended that Perkin +failed in his part? That was the surest and best proof of his being +an impostor. Could not the whole court, the whole kingdom of +England, so cross-examine this Flemish youth, as to catch him in one +lie? So; lord Bacon's Juno had inspired him with full knowledge of +all that had passed in the last twenty years. If Margaret was Juno, +he who shall answer these questions satisfactorily, "erit mihi +magnus Apollo." + +Still farther: why was Perkin never confronted with the queen +dowager, with Henry's own queen, and with the princesses, her +sisters? Why were they never asked, is this your son? Is this your +brother? Was Henry afraid to trust to their natural emotions?--Yet +"he himself," says lord Bacon, p. 186, "saw him sometimes out of a +window, or in passage." This implies that the queens and princesses +never did see him; and yet they surely were the persons who could +best detect the counterfeit, if he had been one. Had the young man +made a voluntary, coherent, and credible confession, no other +evidence of his imposture would be wanted; but failing that, we +cannot help asking, Why the obvious means of detection were not +employed? Those means having been omitted, our suspicions remain in +full force. + +Henry, who thus neglected every means of confounding the impostor, +took every step he would have done, if convinced that Perkin was the +true duke of York. His utmost industry was exerted in sifting to the +bottom of the plot, in learning who was engaged in the conspiracy, +and in detaching the chief supporters. It is said, though not +affirmatively that to procure confidence to his spies, he caused +them to be solemnly cursed at Paul's cross. Certain it is, that, by +their information, he came to the knowledge, not of the imposture, +but of what rather tended to prove that Perkin was a genuine +Plantagenet: I mean, such a list of great men actually in his court +and in trust about his person, that no wonder he was seriously +alarmed. Sir Robert Clifford,(39) who had fled to Margaret, wrote to +England, that he was positive that the claimant was the very +identical duke of York, son of Edward the Fourth, whom he had so +often seen, and was perfectly acquainted with. This man, Clifford, +was bribed back to Henry's service; and what was the consequence? He +accused Sir William Stanley, lord Chamberlain, the very man who had +set the crown on Henry's head in Bosworth field, and own brother to +earl of Derby, the then actual husband of Henry's mother, of being +in the conspiracy? This was indeed essential to Henry to know; but +what did it proclaim to the nation? What could stagger the +allegiance of such trust and such connexions, but the firm +persuation that Perkin was the true duke of York? A spirit of +faction and disgust has even in later times hurried men into +treasonable combinations; but however Sir William Stanley might be +dissatisfied, as not thinking himself adequately rewarded, yet is it +credible that he should risk such favour, such riches, as lord Bacon +allows he possessed, on the wild bottom of a Flemish counterfeit? +The lord Fitzwalter and the other great men suffered in the same +cause; and which is remarkable, the first was executed at Calais +--another presumption that Henry would not venture to have his +evidence made public. And the strongest presumption of all is, that +not one of the sufferers is pretended to have recanted; they all +died then in the persuasion that they had engaged in a righteous +cause. When peers, knights of the garter, privy councellors, suffer +death, from conviction of a matter of which they were proper judges, +(for which of them but must know their late master's son?) it would +be rash indeed in us to affirm that they laid down their lives for +an imposture, and died with a lie in their mouths. + +(39) A gentleman of fame and family, says lord Bacon. + +What can be said against king James of Scotland, who bestowed a lady +of his own blood in marriage on Perkin? At war with Henry, James +would naturally support his rival, whether genuine or suppositious. +He and Charles the Eighth both gave him aid and both gave him up, as +the wind of their interest shifted about. Recent instances of such +conduct have been seen; but what prince has gone so far as to stake +his belief in a doubtful cause, by sacrificing a princess of his own +blood in confirmation of it? + +But it is needless to multiply presumptions. Henry's conduct and the +narrative (40) he published, are sufficient to stagger every +impartial reader. Lord Bacon confesses the king did himself no good +by the publication of that narrative, and that mankind was +astonished to find no mention in it of the duchess Margaret's +machinations. But how could lord Bacon stop there? Why did he not +conjecture that there was no proof of that tale? What interest had +Henry to manage a widow of Burgundy? He had applied to the archduke +Philip to banish Perkin: Philip replied, he had no power over the +lands of the duchess's dowry. It is therefore most credible that the +duchess has supported Perkin, on the persuasion he was her nephew; +and Henry not being able to prove the reports he had spread of her +having trained up an impostor, chose to drop all mention of +Margaret, because nothing was so natural as her supporting the heir +of her house. On the contrary, in Perkin's confession, as it was +called, And which though preserved by Grafton, was suppressed by +lord Bacon, not only as repugnant to his lordship's account, but to +common sense, Perkin affirms, that "having sailed to Lisbon in a +ship with the lady Brampton, who, lord Bacon says, was sent by +Margaret to conduct him thither, and from thence have resorted to +Ireland, it was at Cork that they of the town first threaped upon +him that he was son of the duke of Clarence; and others afterwards, +that he was the duke of York." But the contradictions both in lord +Bacon's account, and in Henry's narrative, are irreconcileable and +unsurmountable: the former solves the likeness,(41) which is +allowing the likeness of Perkin to Edward the Fourth, by supposing +that the king had an intrigue with his mother, of which he gives +this silly relation: that Perkin Warbeck, whose surname it seems was +Peter Osbeck, was son of a Flemish converted Jew (of which Hebrew +extraction,(42) Perkin says not a word in his confession) who with +his wife Katherine de Faro come to London on business; and she +producing a son, king Edward, in consideration of the conversion, or +intrigue, stood godfather to the child and gave him the name of +Peter, Can one help laughing at being told that a king called Edward +gave the name of Peter to his godson? But of this transfretation and +christening Perkin, in his supposed confession, says not a word, nor +pretends to have ever set foot in England, till he landed there in +pursuit of the crown; and yet an English birth and some stay, though +in his very childhood, was a better way of accounting for the purity +of his accent, than either of the preposterous tales produced by +lord Bacon or by Henry. The former says, that Perkin, roving up and +down between Antwerp and Tournay and other towns, and living much in +English company, had the English tongue perfect. Henry was so afraid +of not ascertaining a good foundation of Perkin's English accent, +that he makes him learn the language twice over.(43) "Being sent +with a merchant of Turney, called Berlo, to the mart of Antwerp, the +said Berlo set me," says Perkin, "to borde in a skinner's house, +that dwelled beside the house of the English nation. And after this +the said Berlo set me with a merchant of Middleborough to service +for to learne the language,(44) with whom I dwelled from Christmas +to Easter, and then, I went into Portugale." One does not learn any +language very perfectly and with a good, nay, undistinguishable +accent, between Christmas and Easter; but here let us pause. If this +account was true, the other relating to the duchess Margaret was +false; and then how came Perkin by so accurate a knowledge of the +English court, that he did not faulter, nor could be detected in his +tale? If the confession was not true, it remains that it was trumped +up by Henry, and then Perkin must be allowed the true duke of York. + +(40) To what degree arbitrary power dares to trifle with the common +sense of mankind has been seen in Portuguese and Russian manifestos. + +(41) As this solution of the likeness is not authorized by the +youth's supposed narrative, the likeness remains uncontrovertable, +and consequently another argument for his being king Edward's son. + +(42) On the contrary, Perkins calls his grandfather Diryck Osbeck; +Diryck every body knows is Theodoric, and Theodoric is certainly no +Jewish appellation. Perkin too mentions several of his relations and +their employments at Tournay, without any hint of a Hebrew +connection. + +(43) Grafton's Chronicle, p 930. + +(44) I take this to mean the English language, for these reasons; he +had just before named the English nation, and the name of his master +was John Strewe, which seems to be an English appellation: but there +is a stronger reason for believing it means the English language, +which is, that a Flemish lad is not set to learn his own language; +though even this absurdity is advanced in this same pretended +confession, Perkin, affirming that his mother, after he had dwelled +some time in Tournay, sent him to Antwerp to learn Flemish. If I am +told by a very improbable supposition, that French was his native +language at Tournay, that he learned Flemish at Antwerp, and Dutch +at Middleburg, I will desire the objector to cast his eye on the +map, and consider the small distance between Tournay, Middleburg, +and Antwerp, and to reflect that the present United Provinces were +not then divided from the rest of Flanders; and then to decide +whether the dialects spoken at Tournay, Antwerp, and Middleburg were +so different in that age, that it was necessary to be set to learn +them all separately. If this cannot be answered satisfactorily, it +will remain, that Perkin learned Flemish or English twice over. I am +indifferent which, for still there will remain a contradiction in +the confession. And if English is not meant in the passage above, it +will only produce a greater difficulty, which is, that Perkin, at +the age of twenty learned to speak English in Ireland with so good +an accent, that all England could not discover the cheat. I must be +answered too, why lord Bacon rejects the youth's own confession and +substitutes another in its place, which makes Perkin born in +England, though in his pretended confession Perkin affirms the +contrary. Lord Bacon too confirms my interpretation of the passage +in question, by saying that Perkin roved up and down between Antwerp +and other towns in Flanders, living much in English company, and +having the English tongue perfect, p. 115. + +But the gross contradiction of all follows: "It was in Ireland," +says Perkin, in this very narrative and confession, "that against my +will they made me to learne English, and taught me what I should do +and say." Amazing! what forced him to learn English, after, as he +says himself in the very same page, he had learnt it at Antwerp! +What an impudence was there in royal power to dare to obtrude such +stuff on the world! Yet this confession, as it is called, was the +poor young man forced to read at his execution--no doubt in dread of +worse torture. Mr. Hume, though he questions it, owns that it was +believed by torture to have been drawn from him. What matters how it +was obtained, or whether ever obtained; it could not be true: and as +Henry could put together no more plausible account, coommiseration +will shed a tear over a hapless youth, sacrificed to the fury and +jealousy of an usurper, and in all probability the victim of a +tyrant, who has made the world believe that the duke of York, +executed by his own orders, had been previously murdered by his +predecessor.(45) + +(45) Mr. Hume, to whose doubts all respect is due, tells me he +thinks no mention being made of Perkin's title in the Cornish +rebellion under the lord Audeley, is a strong presumption that the +nation was not persuaded of his being the true duke of York. This +argument, which at most is negative, seems to me to lose its weight, +when it is remembered, that this was an insurrection occasioned by a +poll-tax: that the rage of the people was directed against +archbishop Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, the supposed authors of the +grievance. An insurrection against a tax in a southern county, in +which no mention is made of a pretender to the crown, is surely not +so forcible a presumption against him, as the persuasion of the +northern counties that he was the true heir, is an argument in his +favour. Much less can it avail against such powerful evidence as I +have shown exists to overturn all that Henry can produce against +Perkin. + +I have thus, I flatter myself, from the discovery of new +authorities, from the comparison of dates, from fair consequences +and arguments, and without straining or wresting probability, proved +all I pretended to prove; not an hypothesis of Richard's universal +innocence, but this assertion with which I set out, that we have no +reasons, no authority for believing by far the greater part of the +crimes charged on him. I have convicted historians of partiality, +absurdities, contradictions, and falshoods; and though I have +destroyed their credit, I have ventured to establish no peremptory +conclusion of my own. What did really happen in so dark a period, it +would be rash to affirm. The coronation and parliament rolls have +ascertained a few facts, either totally unknown, or misrepresented +by historians. Time may bring other monuments to light(46) but one +thing is sure, that should any man hereafter presume to repeat the +same improbable tale on no better grounds that it has been hitherto +urged, he must shut his eyes against conviction, and prefer +ridiculous tradition to the scepticism due to most points of +history, and to none more than to that in question. + +(46) If diligent search was to be made in the public offices and +convents of the Flemish towns in which the duchess Margaret +resided, I should not despair of new lights being gained to that +part of our history. + +I have little more to say, and only on what regards the person of +Richard, and the story of Jane Shore; but having run counter to a +very valuable modern historian and friend of my own, I must both +make some apology for him, and for myself for disagreeing with him. + +When Mr. Hume published his reigns of Edward the Fifth, Richard the +Third, and Henry the Seventh, the coronation roll had not come to +light. The stream of historians concurred to make him take this +portion of our story for granted. Buck had been given up as an +advancer of paradoxes, and nobody but Carte had dared to controvert +the popular belief. Mr. Hume treats Carte's doubts as whimsical: I +wonder, he did; he, who having so closely examined our history, had +discovered how very fallible many of its authorities are. Mr. Hume +himself had ventured to contest both the flattering picture drawn of +Edward the First, and those ignominious portraits of Edward the +Second, and Richard the Second. He had discovered from Foedera, that +Edward the Fourth, while said universally to be prisoner to +archbishop Nevil, was at full liberty and doing acts of royal power. +Why was it whimsical in Carte to exercise the same spirit of +criticism? Mr. Hume could not but know how much the characters of +princes are liable to be flattered or misrepresented. It is of +little importance to the world, to Mr. Hume, or to me, whether +Richard's story is fairly told or not: and in this amicable +discussion I have no fear of offending him by disagreeing with him. +His abilities and sagacity do not rest on the shortest reign in our +annals. I shall therefore attempt to give answers to the questions +on which he pins the credibility due to the history of Richard. + +The questions are these, 1. Had not the queen-mother and the other +heads of the York party been fully assured of the death of both the +young princes, would they have agreed to call over the earl of +Richmond, the head of the Lancastrian party, and marry him to the +princess Elizabeth?--I answer, that when the queen-mother could +recall that consent, and send to her son the marquis Dorset to quit +Richmond, assuring him of king Richard's favour to him and her +house, it is impossible to' say what so weak and ambitious a woman +would not do. She wanted to have some one of her children on the +throne, in order to recover her own power. She first engaged her +daughter to Richmond and then to Richard. She might not know what +was become of her sons: and yet that is no proof they were murdered. +They were out of her power, whatever was become of them;-and she was +impatient to rule. If she was fully assured of their deaths, could +Henry, after he came to the crown and had married her daughter, be +uncertain of it? I have shown that both Sir Thomas More and lord +Bacon own it remained uncertain, and that Henry's account could not +be true. As to the heads of the Yorkists;(47) how does it appear +they concurred in the projected match? Indeed who were the heads of +that party? Margaret, duchess of Burgundy, Elizabeth duchess of +Suffolk, and her children; did they ever concur in that match? Did +not they to the end endeavour to defeat and overturn it? I hope Mr. +Hume will not call bishop Morton, the duke of Buckingham, and +Margaret countess of Richmond, chiefs of the Yorkists. 2 The story +told constantly by Perkin of his escape is utterly incredible, that +those who were sent to murder his brother, took pity on him and +granted him his liberty.--Answer. We do not know but from Henry's +narrative and the Lancastrian historians that Perkin gave this +account.(48) I am not authorized to believe he did, because I find +no authority for the murder of the elder brother; and if there was, +why is it utterly incredible that the younger should have been +spared? 3. What became of him during the course of seven years from +his supposed death till his appearance in 1491?--Answer. Does +uncertainty of where a man has been, prove his non-identity when he +appears again? When Mr. Hume will answer half the questions in this +work, I will tell him where Perkin was during those seven years. 4. +Why was not the queen-mother, the duchess of Burgundy, and the other +friends of the family applied to, during that time, for his support +and education?--Answer. Who knows that they were not applied to? The +probability is, that they were. The queen's dabbling in the affair +of Simnel indicates that she knew her son was alive. And when the +duchess of Burgundy is accused of setting Perkin to work, it is +amazing that she should be quoted as knowing nothing about him. +5. Though the duchess of Burgundy at last acknowledged him for her +nephew, she had lost all pretence to authority by her former +acknowledgment and support of Lambert Simnel, an avowed impostor. +--Answer. Mr. Hume here makes an unwary confession by distinguishing +between Lambert Simnel, an avowed impostor, and Perkin, whose +impostnre was problematic. But if he was a true prince, the duchess +could only forfeit credit for herself, not for him: nor would her +preparing the way for her nephew, by first playing off and feeling +the ground by a counterfeit, be an imputation on her, but rather a +proof of her wisdom and tenderness. Impostors are easily detected; +as Simnel was. All Henry's art and power could never verify the +cheat of Perkin; and if the latter was astonishingly adroit, the +king was ridiculously clumsy. 6. Perkin himself confessed his +imposture more than once, and read his confession to the people, and +renewed his confession at the foot of the gibbet on which he was +executed.--Answer. I have shown that this confession was such an +aukward forgery that lord Bacon did not dare to quote or adhere to +it, but invented a new story, more specious, but equally +inconsistent with, probability. 7. After Henry the Eighth's +accession, the titles of the houses of York and Lancaster were fully +confounded, and there was no longer any necessity for defending +Henry the Seventh and his title; yet all the historians of that +time, when the events were recent, some of these historians, such as +Sir Thomas More, of the highest authority, agree in treating Perkin +as an impostor.--Answer. When Sir Thomas More wrote, Henry the +Seventh was still alive: that argument therefore falls entirely to +the ground: but there was great necessity, I will not say to defend, +but even to palliate the titles of both Henry the Seventh and +Eighth. The former, all the world agrees now, had no title(49) the +latter had none from his father, and a very defective one from his +mother, If she had any right, it could only be after her brothers; +and it is not to be supposed that so jealous a tyrant as Henry the +Eighth would suffer it to be said that his father and mother enjoyed +the throne to the prejudice of that mother's surviving brother, in +whose blood the father had imbrued his hands. The murder therefore +was to be fixed on Richard the Third, who was to be supposed to have +usurped the throne, by murdering, and not, as was really the case, +by bastardizing his nephews. If they were illegitimate, so was their +sister; and if she was, what title had she conveyed to her son Henry +the Eighth? No wonder that both Henrys were jealous of the earl of +Suffolk, whom one bequeathed to slaughter, and the other executed; +for if the children of Edward the Fourth were spurious, and those of +Clarence attainted, the right of the house of York was vested in the +duchess of Suffolk and her descendants. The massacre of the children +of Clarence and the duchess of Suffolk show what Henry the Eighth +thought of the titles both of his father and mother.(50) But, says +Mr. Hume, all the historians of that time agree in treating Perkin +as an impostor. I have shown from their own mouths that they have +all doubted of it. The reader must judge between us. But Mr. Hume +selects Sir Thomas More as the highest authority; I have proved that +he was the lowest--but not in the case of Perkin, for Sir Thomas +More's history does not go so low; yet happening to mention him, he +says, the man, commonly called Perkin Warbeck, was, as well with the +princes as the people, held to be the younger son of Edward the +Fourth; and that the deaths of the young' king Edward and of Richard +his brother had come so far in question, as some are yet in doubt, +whether they were destroyed or no in the days of king Richard. Sir +Thomas adhered to the affirmative, relying as I have shown on very +bad authorities. But what is a stronger argument ad hominem, I can +prove that Mr. Hume did not think Sir Thomas More good authority; +no, Mr. Hume was a fairer and more impartial judge: at the very time +that he quotes Sir Thomas More, he tacitly rejects his authority; +for Mr. Hume, agreeably to truth, specifies the lady Eleanor Butler +as the person to whom king Edward was contracted, and not Elizabeth +Lucy, as it stands in Sir Thomas More. An attempt to vindicate +Richard will perhaps no longer be thought whimsical, when so very +acute a reasoner as Mr. Hume could find no better foundation than +these seven queries on which to rest his condemnation. + +(47) The excessive affection shown by the Northern counties where +the principal strength of the Yorkists lay, to Richard the Third +while living, and to his memory when dead, implies two things; +first, that the party did not give him up to Henry; secondly, that +they did not believe he had murdered his nephews, Tyrants of that +magnitude are not apt to be popular. Examine the list of the chiefs +in Henry's army as stated by the Chronicle of Croyland, p. 574. and +they will be found Lancastrians, or very private gentlemen, and but +one peer, the earl of Oxford, a noted Lancastrian. + +(48) Grafton has preserved a ridiculous oration said to be made by +Perkin to the king of Scotland, in which this silly tale is told. +Nothing can be depended upon less than such orations, almost always +forged by the writer, and unpardonable, if they pass the bounds of +truth. Perkin, in the passage in question, uses these words: "And +farther to the entent that my life might be in a suretie he (the +murderer of my elder brother) appointed one to convey me into some +straunge countrie, where, when I was furthest off, and had most +neede of comfort, he forsooke me sodainly (I think he was so +appointed to do) and left me desolate alone without friend or +knowledge of any relief for refuge," &c. Would not one think one was +reading the tale of Valentine and Orson, or a legend of a barbarous +age, rather than the History of England, when we are told of strange +countries and such indefinite ramblings, as would pass only in a +nursery! It remains not only a secret but a doubt, whether the elder +brother was murdered. If Perkin was the younger, and knew certainly +that his brother was put to death, our doubt would vanish: but can +it vanish on no better authority than this foolish oration! Did +Grafton hear it pronounced? Did king James bestow his kinswoman on +Perkin, on the strength of such a fable? + +(49) Henry was so reduced to make out any title to the crown, that +he catched even at a quibble. In the act of attainder passed after +his accession, he calls himself nephew of Henry the Sixth. He was so, +but it was by his father, who was not of the blood royal. Catharine +of Valois, after bearing Henry the Sixth, married Owen Tudor, and +had two sons, Edmund and Jasper, the former of which married +Margaret mother of Henry the Seventh, and so was he half nephew of +Henry the Sixth. On one side he had no blood royal, on the other +only bastard blood. + +(50) Observe, that when Lord Bacon wrote, there was great +necessity to vindicate the title even of Henry the Seventh, for +James the First claimed from the eldest daughter of Henry and +Elizabeth. + +With regard to the person of Richard, it appears to have been as +much misrepresented as his actions. Philip de Comines, who was very +free spoken even on his own masters, and therefore not likely to +spare a foreigner, mentions the beauty of Edward the Fourth; but +says nothing of the deformity of Richard, though he saw them +together. This is merely negative. The old countess of Desmond, who +had danced with Richard, declared he was the handsomest man in the +room except his brother Edward, and was very well made. But what +shall we say to Dr. Shaw, who in his sermon appealed to the people, +whether Richard was not the express image of his father's person, +who was neither ugly nor deformed? Not all the protector's power +could have kept the muscles of the mob in awe and prevented their +laughing at so ridiculous an apostrophe, had Richard been a little, +crooked, withered, hump-back'd monster, as later historians would +have us believe--and very idly? Cannot a foul soul inhabit a fair +body. + +The truth I take to have been this. Richard, who was slender and not +tall, had one shoulder a little higher than the other: a defect, by +the magnifying glasses, of party, by distance of time, and by the +amplification of tradition, easily swelled to shocking deformity; +for falsehood itself generally pays so much respect to truth as to +make it the basis of its superstructures. + +I have two reasons for believing Richard was not well made about the +shoulders. Among the drawings which I purchased at Vertue's sale was +one of Richard and his queen, of which nothing is expressed but the +out-lines. There is no intimation from whence the drawing was taken; +but by a collateral direction for the colour of the robe, if not +copied from a picture, it certainly was from some painted 'window; +where existing I do not pretend to say:--in this whole work I have +not gone beyond my vouchers. Richard's face is very comely, and +corresponds singularly with the portrait of him in the preface to +the Royal and Noble Authors. He has a sort of tippet of ermine +doubled about his neck, which seems calculated to disguise some +want of symmetry thereabouts. I have given two prints(51) of this +drawing, which is on large folio paper, that it may lead to a +discovery of the original, if not destroyed. + +(51) In the prints, the single head is most exactly copied from the +drawing, which is unfinished. In the double plate, the reduced +likeness of the king could not be so perfectly preserved. + +My other authority is John Rous, the antiquary of Warwickshire, who +saw Richard at Warwick in the interval of his two coronations, and +who describes him thus: "Parvae staturae erat, curtam habens faciem, +inaequales humeros, dexter superior, sinisterque inferior." What +feature in this portrait gives any idea of a monster? Or who can +believe that an eyewitness, and so minute a painter, would have +mentioned nothing but the inequality of shoulders, if Richard's form +had been a compound of ugliness? Could a Yorkist have drawn a less +disgusting representation? And yet Rous was a vehement Lancastrian; +and the moment he ceased to have truth before his eyes, gave in to +all the virulence and forgeries of his party, telling us in another +place, "that Richard remained two years in his mother's womb, and +came forth at last with teeth, and hair on his shoulders." I leave +it to the learned in the profession to decide whether women can go +two years with their burden, and produce a living infant; but that +this long pregnancy did not prevent the duchess, his mother, from +bearing afterwards, I can prove; and could we recover the register +of the births of her children, I should not be surprised to find, +that, as she was a very fruitful woman, there was not above a year +between the birth of Richard and his preceding brother Thomas.(52) +However, an ancient bard,(53) who wrote after Richard was born and +during the life of his father, tells us, + +Richard liveth yit, but the last of all + Was Ursula, to him whom God list call. + +(52) The author I am going to quote, gives us the order in which +the duchess Cecily's children were horn thus; Ann duchess of Exeter, +Henry, Edward the Fourth Edmund earl of Rutland, Elizabeth duchess +of Suffolk, Margaret duchess of Burgundy, William, John, George duke +of Clarence, Thomas, Richard the Third, and Ursula. Cox, Im his +History of Ireland, says, that Clarence was born in 1451. Buck +computed Richard the Third to have fallen at the age of thirty four +or five; but, by Cox's account, he could not be more than thirty +two. Still this makes it provable, that their mother bore them and +their intervening brother Thomas as soon as she well could one after +another. + +(53) See Vincent's Errors in Brooks's Heraldry, p. 623. + +Be it as it will, this foolish tale, with the circumstances of his +being born with hair and teeth, was coined to intimate how careful +Providence was, when it formed a tyrant, to give due warning of what +was to be expected. And yet these portents were far from +prognosticating a tyrant; for this plain reason, that all other +tyrants have been born without these prognostics. Does it require +more time to ripen a foetus, that is, to prove a destroyer, than it +takes to form an Aristides? Are there outward and visible signs of a +bloody nature? Who was handsomer than Alexander, Augustus, or Louis +the Fourteenth? and yet who ever commanded the spilling of more +human blood. + +Having mentioned John Rous, it is necessary I should say something +more of him, as he lived in Richard's time, and even wrote his +reign; and yet I have omitted him in the list of contemporary +writers. The truth is, he was pointed out to me after the preceding +sheets were finished; and upon inspection I found him too despicable +and lying an author, even among monkish authors, to venture to quote +him, but for two facts; for the one of which as he was an +eye-witness, and for the other, as it was of publick notoriety, he +is competent authority. + +The first is his description of the person of Richard; the second, +relating to the young earl of Warwick, I have recorded in its place. + +This John Rous, so early as in the reign of Edward the Fourth, had +retired to the hermitage of Guy's Cliff, where he was a chantry +priest, and where he spent the remaining part of his life in what +he called studying and writing antiquities. Amongst other works, +most of which are not unfortunately lost, he composed a history of +the kings of England. It Begins with the creation, and is compiled +indiscriminately from the Bible and from monastic writers. Moses, he +tells us, does not mention all the cities founded before the +deluge, but Barnard de Breydenback, dean of Mayence, does. With +the same taste he acquaints us, that, though the book of Genesis +says nothing of the matter, Giraldus Cambrensis writes, that Caphera +or Cesara, Noah's niece, being apprehensive of the deluge, set out +for Ireland, where, with three men and fifty women, she arrived safe +with one ship, the rest perishing in the general destruction. + +A history, so happily begun, never falls off: prophecies, omens, +judgements, and religious foundations compose the bulk of the book. +The lives and actions of our monarchs, and the great events of their +reigns, seemed to the author to deserve little place in a history of +England. The lives of Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth, though +the author lived under both, take up but two pages in octavo, and +that of Richard the Third, three. We may judge how qualified such an +author was to clear up a period so obscure, or what secrets could +come to his knowledge at Guy's Cliff: accordingly he retails all the +vulgar reports of the times; as that Richard poisoned his wife, and +put his nephews to death, though he owns few knew in what manner; +but as he lays the scene of their deaths before Richard's assumption +of the crown, it is plain he was the worst informed of all. To +Richard he ascribes the death of Henry the Sixth; and adds, that +many persons believed he executed the murder with his own hands: but +he records another circumstance that alone must weaken all suspicion +of Richard's guilt in that transaction. Richard not only caused the +body to be removed from Chertsey, and solemnly interred at Windsor, +but it was publickly exposed, and, if we will believe the monk, was +found almost entire, and emitted a gracious perfume, though no care +had been taken to embalm it. Is it credible that Richard, if the +murderer, would have exhibited this unnecessary mummery, only to +revive the memory of his own guilt? Was it not rather intended to +recall the cruelty of his brother Edward, whose children he had set +aside, and whom by the comparison of this act of piety, he hoped to +depreciate(53) in the eyes of the people? The very example had been +pointed out to him by Henry the Fifth, who bestowed a pompous +funeral on Richard the Second, murdered by order of his father. + +(54) This is not a mere random conjecture, but combated by another +instance of like address. He deforested a large circuit, which +Edward had annexed to the forest of Whichwoode, to the great +annoyance of the subject. This we are told by Rous himself, p. 316, + +Indeed the devotion of Rous to that Lancastrian saint, Henry the +Sixth, seems chiefly to engross his attention, and yet it draws him +into a contradiction; for having said that the murder of Henry the +Sixth had made Richard detested by all nations who heard of it, he +adds, two pages afterwards, that an embassy arrived at Warwick +(while Richard kept his court there) from the king of Spain,(55) to +propose a marriage between their children. Of this embassy Rous is a +proper witness: Guy's Cliff, I think, is but four miles from +Warwick; and he is too circumstancial on what passed there not to +have been on the spot. In other respects he seems inclined to be +impartial, recording several good and generous acts of Richard. + +(55) Drake says, that an ambassador from the queen of Spain was +present at Richard's coronation at York. Rous> himself owns, that, +amidst a great concourse of nobility that attended the king at York, +was the duke of Albany, brother of the king of Scotland. Richard +therefore appears not to hav been abhorred by either the courts of +Spain or Scotland. + +But there is one circumstance, which, besides the weakness and +credulity of the man, renders his testimony exceedingly suspicious. +After having said, that, if he may speak truth in Richard's +favour,(56) he must own that, though small in stature and strength, +Richard was a noble knight, and defended himself to the last 'breath +with eminent valour, the monk suddenly turns, and apostrophizes +Henry the Seventh, to whom be had dedicated his work, and whom he +flatters to the best of his poor abilities; but, above all +things, for having bestowed the name of Arthur on his eldest son, +who, this injudicious and over-hasty prophet forsees, will restore +the glory of his great ancestor of the same name. Had Henry +christened his second 'son Merlin, I do not doubt but poor Rous +would have had still more divine visions about Henry the Eighth, +though born to shake half the pillars of credulity. + +(56) Attamen si ad ejus honorem veritatem dicam, p. 218. + +In short, no reliance can be had on an author of such a frame of +mind, so removed from the scene of action, and so devoted to the +Welsh intruder on the throne. Superadded to this incapacity and +defects, he had prejudices or attachments of a private nature: he +had singular affection for the Beauchamps, earls of Warwick, zealous +Lancastrians, and had written their lives. One capital crime that he +imputes to Richard is the imprisonment of his mother-in-law, Ann +Beauchamp countess of Warwick, mother of his queen. It does seem +that this great lady was very hardly treated; but I have shown from +the Chronicle of Croyland, that it was Edward the Fourth, not +Richard, that stripped her of her possessions. She was widow too of +that turbulent Warwick the King-maker; and Henry the Seventh bore +witness that she was faithfully loyal to Henry the Sixth. Still it +seems extraordinary that the queen did not or could not obtain the +enlargement of her mother. When Henry the Seventh 'attained the +crown, she recovered her liberty 'and vast estates: yet young as his +majesty was both in years and avarice, for this munificence took +place in his third year, still he gave evidence of the falshood and +rapacity of his nature; for though by act of parliament he cancelled +the former act that had deprived her, as against all reason, +conscience, and course of nature, and contrary to the laws of God +and man,(57) and restored her possessions to her, this was but a +farce, and like his wonted hypocrisy; for the very same year he +obliged her to convey the whole estate to him, leaving her nothing +but the manor of Sutton for her maintenance. Richard had married her +daughter; but what claim had Henry to her inheritance? This +attachment of Rous to the house of Beauchamp, and the dedication of +his work to Henry, Would make his testimony most suspicious, even if +he had guarded his work within the rules of probability, and not +rendered it a contemptible legend. + +(57) Vide Dugdale's Warckshire in Beauchamp. + +Every part of Richard's story is involved in obscurity: we neither +known what natural children he had, nor what became of them. +Stanford says, he had a daughter called Katherine, whom William +Herbert earl of Huntingdon covenanted to marry, and to make her a +fair and sufficient estate of certain of his manors to the yearly +value of 200 pounds over and above all charges. As this lord +received a confirmation of his title from Henry the Seventh, no +doubt the poor young lady would have been sacrificed to that +interest. But Dugdale seems to think she died before the nuptuals +were consummated "whether this marriage took effect or not I cannot +say; for sure it is that she died in her tender years."(58) +Drake(59) affirms, that Richard knighted at York a natural son called +Richard of Gloucester, and supposes it to be the same person of whom +Peck has preserved so extraordinary an account.(60) But never was a +supposition worse grounded. The relation given by the latter of +himself, was, that he never saw the king till the night before the +battle of Bosworth: and that the king had not then acknowledged, but +intended to acknowledge him, if victorious. The deep privacy in +which this person had lived, demonstrates how severely the +persecution had raged against all that were connected with Richard, +and how little truth was to be expected from the writers on the +other side. Nor could Peck's Richard Plantagenet be the same person +with Richard of Gloucester, for the former was never known till he +discovered himself to Sir Thomas More; and Hall says king Richard's +natural son was in the hands of Henry the Seventh. Buck says, that +Richard made his son Richard of Gloucester, captain of Calais; but +it appears from Rymer's Foedera, that Richard's natural son, who was +captain of Calais, was called John. None of these accounts accord +with Peck's; nor, for want of knowing his mother, can we guess why +king Richard was more secret on the birth of this son (if Peck's +Richard Plantagenet was truly so) than on those of his other natural +children. Perhaps the truest remark that can be made on this whole +story is, that the avidity with which our historians swallowed one +gross ill-concocted legend, prevented them from desiring or daring +to sift a single part of it. If crumbs of truth are mingled with it, +at least they are now undistinguishable in such a mass of error and +improbability. + +(58) Baronage, p. 258. + +(58) In his History of York. + +(59) See his Desiderata Curiosae. + + +It is evident from the conduct of Shakespeare, that the house of +Tudor retained all their Lancastrian prejudices, even in the reign +of queen Elizabeth. In his play of Richard the Third, he seems to +deduce the woes of the house of York from the curses which queen +Margaret had vented against them; and he could not give that weight +to her curses, without supposing a right in her to utter them. This, +indeed is the authority which I do not pretend to combat. +Shakespeare's immortal scenes will exist, when such poor arguments +as mine are forgotten. Richard at least will be tried and executed +on the stage, when his defence remains on some obscure shelf of a +library. But while these pages may excite the curiosity of a day, it +may not be unentertaining to observe, that there is another of +Shakespeare's plays, that may be ranked among the historic, though +not one of his numerous critics and commentators have discovered the +drift of it; I mean The Winter Evening's Tale, which was certainly +intended (in compliment to queen Elizabeth) as an indirect apology +for her mother Anne Boleyn. The address of the poet appears no where +to more advantage. The subject was too delicate to be exhibited on +the stage without a veil; and it was too recent, and touched the +queen too nearly, for the bard to have ventured so home an allusion +on any other ground than compliment. The unreasonable jealousy of +Leontes, and his violent conduct in consequence, form a true +portrait of Henry the Eighth, who generally made the law the engine +of his boisterous passions. Not only the general plan of the story +is most applicable but several passages are so marked, that they +touch the real history nearer than the fable. Hermione on her trial +says, + +. . . . . For honour, + 'Tis a derivative from me to mine, + And only that I stand for. + +This seems to be taken from the very letter of Anne Boyleyn to the +king before her execution, where she pleads for the infant princess +his daughter. Mamillius, the young prince, an unnecessary character, +dies in his infancy; but it confirms the allusion, as queen Anne, +before Elizabeth, bore a still-born son. But the most striking +passage,' and which had nothing to do in the Tragedy, but as it +pictured Elizabeth, is, where Paulina, describing the new-born +princess, and her likeness to her father, says, she has the very +trick of his frown. There is one sentence indeed so applicable, both +to Elizabeth and her father, that I should suspect the poet inserted +it after her death. Paulina, speaking of the child, tells the king, + +. . . . . . 'Tis yours; + And might we lay the old proverb to your charge, + So like you, 'tis the worse. + +The Winter Evening's Tale was therefore in reality a second part of +Henry the Eighth. + +With regard to Jane Shore, I have already shown that it was her +connection with the marquis Dorset, not with lord Hastings, which +drew on her the resentment of Richard. When an event is thus wrested +to serve the purpose of a party, we ought to be very cautious how we +trust an historian, who is capable of employing truth only as cement +in a fabric of fiction. Sir Thomas More tells us, that Richard +pretended Jane "was of councell with the lord Hastings to destroy +him; and in conclusion, when no colour could fasten upon these +matters, then he layd seriously to her charge what she could not +deny, namely her adultry; and for this cause, as a godly continent +prince, cleane and faultlesse of himself, sent out of heaven into +this vicious world for the amendment of mens manners, he caused the +bishop of London to put her to open penance." + +This sarcasm on Richards morals would have had more weight, if the +author had before confined himself to deliver nothing but the +precise truth. He does not seem to be more exact in what relates to +the penance itself. Richard, by his proclamation, taxed mistress +Shore with plotting treason in confederacy with the marquis Dorset. +Consequently, it was not from defect of proof of her being +accomplice with lord Hastings that she was put to open penance. If +Richard had any hand in that sentence, it was, because he had proof +of her plotting with the marquis. But I doubt, and with some reason, +whether her penance was inflicted by Richard. We have seen that he +acknowledged at least two natural children; and Sir Thomas More +hints that Richard was far from being remarkable for his chastity. +Is it therefore probable, that he acted so silly a farce as to make +his brother's mistress do penance? Most of the charges on Richard +are so idle, that instead of being an able and artful usurper, as +his antagonists allow, he must have been a weaker hypocrite than +ever attempted to wrest a sceptre out of the hands of a legal +possessor. + +It is more likely that the churchmen were the authors of Jane's +penance; and that Richard, interested to manage that body, and +provoked by her connection with so capital an enemy as Dorset, might +give her up, and permit the clergy (who probably had burned incense +to her in her prosperity) to revenge his quarrel. My reason for this +opinion is grounded on a letter of Richard extant in the Museum, by +which it appears that the fair, unfortunate, and aimable Jane (for +her virtues far outweighed her frailty) being a prisoner, by +Richard's order, in Ludgate, had captivated the king's solicitor, +who contracted to marry her. Here follows the letter: + +Harl. MSS, No. 2378. + By the KING. + +"Right reverend fadre in God, &c. Signifying unto you, that it is +shewed unto us, that our servaunt and solicitor, Thomas Lynom, +merveillously blinded and abused with the late wife of William +Shore, now being in Ludgate by oure commandment, hath made contract +of matrymony with hir (as it is said) and entendith, to our full +grete merveile, to precede to th' effect of the same. We for many +causes wold be sory that hee soo shulde be disposed. Pray you +therefore to send for him, and in that ye goodly may, exhorte and +sture hym to the contrarye. And if ye finde him utterly set for to +marye hur, and noen otherwise will be advertised, then (if it may +stand with the lawe of the churche.) We be content (the tyme of +marriage deferred to our comyng next to London,) that upon +sufficient suerite founde of hure good abering, ye doo send for hure +keeper, and discharge him of our said commandment by warrant of +these, committing hur to the rule and guiding of hure fadre, or any +othre by your discretion in the mene season. Yeven, &c. + To the right reverend fadre in God, &c. the bishop of Lincoln, our +chauncellour." + +It appears from this letter, that Richard thought it indecent for +his sollicitor to mary a woman who had suffered public punishment +for adultery, and who was confined by his command--but where is the +tyrant to be found in this paper? Or, what prince ever spoke of such +a scandal, and what is stronger, of such contempt of his authority, +with so much lenity and temper? He enjoins his chancellor to +dissuade the sollicitor from the match--but should he persist--a +tyrant would have ordered the sollicitor to prison too--but Richard +--Richard, if his servant will not be dissuaded, allows the match; +and in the mean time commits Jane--to whose custody?--Her own +father's. I cannot help thinking that some holy person had been her +persecutor, and not so patient and gentle a king. And I believe so, +because of the salvo for the church: "Let them be married," says +Richard, "if it may stand with the lawe of the churche." + +From the proposed marriage, one should at first conclude that Shore, +the former husband of Jane, was dead; but by the king's query, +Whether the marriage would be lawful? and by her being called in the +letter the late wife of William Shore, not of the late William Shore, I +should suppose that her husband was living, and that the penance itself +was the consequence of a suit preferred by him to the ecclesiastic court +for divorce. If the injured husband ventured, on the death of Edward +the Fourth, to petition to be separated from his wife, it was natural +enough for the church to proceed farther, and enjoin her to perform +penance, especially when they fell in with the king's resentment to her. +Richard's proclamation and the letter above-recited seem to point out +this account of Jane's misfortunes; the letter implying, that Richard +doubted whether her divorce was so complete as to leave her at liberty +to take another husband. As we hear no more of the marriage, and as +Jane to her death retained the name of Shore, my solution is +corroborated; the chancellor-bishop, no doubt, going more roundly to +work than the king had done. Nor, however Sir Thomas More reviles +Richard for his cruel usage of mistress Shore, did either of the +succeeding kings redress her wrongs, though she lived to the +eighteenth year of Henry the Eighth, She had sown her good deeds, her +good offices, her alms her charities, in a court. Not one took root; nor +did the ungrateful soil repay her a grain of relief in her penury and +comfortless old age. + +I have thus gone through the several accusations against Richard; +and have shown that they rest on the slightest and most suspicious +ground, if they rest on any at all. I have proved that they ought to +be reduced to the sole authorities of Sir Thomas More and Henry the +Seventh; the latter interested to blacken and misrepresent every +action of Richard; and perhaps driven to father on him even his own +crimes. I have proved that More's account cannot be true. I have +shown that the writers, contemporary with Richard, either do not +accuse him, or give their accusations as mere vague and uncertain +reports: and what is as strong, the writers next in date, and who +wrote the earliest after the events are said to have happened, +assert little or nothing from their own information, but adopt the +very words of Sir Thomas More, who was absolutely mistaken or +misinformed. + +For the sake of those who have a mind to canvass this subject, I +will recapitulate the most material arguments that tend to disprove +what has been asserted; but as I attempt not to affirm what did +happen in a period that will still remain very obscure, I flatter +myself that I shall not be thought either fantastic or paradoxical, +for not blindly adopting an improbable tale, which our historians +have never given themselves the trouble to examine. + +What mistakes I may have made myself, I shall be willing to +acknowledge; what weak reasoning, to give up: but I shall not think +that a long chain of arguments, of proofs and probabilities, is +confuted at once, because some single fact may be found erroneous. +Much less shall I be disposed to take notice of detached or trifling +cavils. The work itself is but an inquiry into a short portion of +our annals. I shall be content, if I have informed or amused my +readers, or thrown any light on so clouded a scene; but I cannot be +of opinion that a period thus distant deserves to take up more time +than I have already bestowed upon it. + +It seems then to me to appear, + +That Fabian and the authors of the Chronicle of Croyland, who were +contemporaries with Richard, charge him directly with none of the +crimes, since imputed to him, and disculpate him of others. + +That John Rous, the third contemporary, could know the facts he +alledges but by hearsay, confounds the dates of them, dedicated his +work to Henry the Seventh, and is an author to whom no credit is +due, from the lies and fables with which his work is stuffed. + +That we have no authors who lived near the time, but Lancastrian +authors, who wrote to flatter Henry the Seventh, or who spread the +tales which he invented. + +That the murder of prince Edward, son of Henry the Sixth, was +committed by king Edward's servants, and is imputed to Richard by no +contemporary. + +That Henry the Sixth was found dead in the Tower; that it was not +known how he came by his death; and that it was against Richard's +interest to murder him. + +That the duke of Clarence was defended by Richard; that the +parliament petitioned for his execution; that no author of the time +is so absurd as to charge Richard with being the executioner; and +that king Edward took the deed wholly on himself. + +That Richard's stay at York on his brother's death had no appearance +of a design to make himself king. + +That the ambition of the queen, who attempted to usurp the +government, contrary to the then established custom of the realm, +gave the first provocation to Richard and the princes of the blood +to assert their rights; and that Richard was solicited by the duke +of Buckingham to vindicate those rights. + +That the preparation of an armed force under earl Rivers, the +seizure of the Tower and treasure, and the equipment of a fleet, by +the marquis Dorset, gave occasion to the princes to imprison the +relations of the queen; and that, though they were put to death +without trial (the only cruelty which is proved on Richard) it was +consonant to the manners of that barbarous and turbulent age, and +not till after the queen's party had taken up arms. + +That the execution of lord Hastings, who had first engaged with +Richard against the queen, and whom Sir Thomas More confesses +Richard was lothe to lose, can be accounted for by nothing but +absolute necessity, and the law of self-defence. + +That Richard's assumption of the protectorate was in every respect +agreeable to the laws and usage; was probably bestowed on him by the +universal consent of the council and peers, and was a strong +indication that he had then no thought of questioning the right of +his nephew. + +That the tale of Richard aspersing the chastity of his own mother is +incredible; it appearing that he lived with her in perfect harmony, +and lodged with her in her palace at that very time. + +That it is as little credible that Richard gained the crown by a +sermon of Dr. Shaw, and a speech of the duke of Buckingham, if the +people only laughed at those orators. + +That there had been a precontract or marriage between Edward the +Fourth and lady Eleanor Talbot; and that Richard's claim to the +crown was founded on the illegitimacy of Edward's children. + +That a convention of the nobility, clergy, and people invited him to +accept the crown on that title. + +That the ensuing parliament ratified the act of the convention, and +confirmed the bastardy of Edward's children. + +That nothing can be more improbable than Richard's having taken no +measures before he left London, to have his nephews murdered, if he +had any such intention. + +That the story of Sir James Tirrel, as related by Sir Thomas More, +is a notorious falshood; Sir James Tirrel being at that time master +of the horse, in which capacity he had walked at Richard's +coronation. + +That Tirrel's jealousy of Sir Richard Ratcliffe is another palpable +falshood; Tirrel being already preferred, and Ratcliffe absent. + +That all that relates to Sir Robert Brackenbury is no less false: +Brackenbury either being too good a man to die for a tyrant or +murderer, or too bad a man to have refused being his accomplice. + +That Sir Thomas More and lord Bacon both confess that many doubted, +whether the two princes were murdered in Richard's days or not; and +it certainly never was proved that they were murdered by Richard's +order. + +That Sir Thomas More relied on nameless and uncertain authority; +that it appears by dates and facts that his authorities were bad and +false; that if Sir James Tirrel and Dighton had really committed the +murder and confessed it, and if Perkin Warbeck had made a voluntary, +clear, and probable confession of his imposture, there could have +remained no doubt of the murder. + +That Green, the nameless page, and Will Slaughter, having never been +questioned about the murder, there is no reason to believe what is +related of them in the supposed tragedy. + +That Sir James Tirrel not being attainted on the death of Richard, +but having, on the contrary, been employed in great services by +Henry the Seventh, it is not probable that he was one of the +murderers. That lord Bacon owning that Tirrel's confession did not +please the king so well as Dighton's; that Tirrel's imprisonment and +execution some years afterwards for a new treason, of which we have +no evidence, and which appears to have been mere suspicion, destroy +all probability of his guilt in the supposed murder of the children. + +That the impunity of Dighton, if really guilty, was scandalous; and +can only be accounted for on the supposition of His being a false +witness to serve Henry's cause against Perkin Warbeck. + +That the silence of the two archbishops, and Henry's not daring to +specify the murder of the princes in the act of attainder against +Richard, wears all the appearance of their not having been murdered. + +That Richard's tenderness and kindness to the earl of Warwick, +proceeding so far as to proclaim him his successor, betrays no +symptom of that cruel nature, which would not stick at assassinating +any competitor. + +That it is indubitable that Richard's first idea was to keep the +crown but till Edward the Fifth should attain the age of +twenty-four. + +That with this view he did not create his own son prince of Wales +till after he had proved the bastardy of his brother's children. + +That there is no proof that those children were murdered. + +That Richard made, or intended to make, his nephew Edward the Fifth +walk at his coronation. + +That there is strong presumption from the parliament-roll and from +the Chronicle of Croyland, that both princes were living some time +after Sir Thomas More fixes the date of their deaths. + +That when his own son was dead, Richard was so far from intending to +get rid of his wife that he proclaimed his nephews, first the earl +of Warwick, and then the earl of Lincoln, his heirs apparent. + +That there is not the least probability of his having poisoned his +wife, who died of a languishing distemper: that no proof was ever +pretended to be given of it; that a bare supposition of such a +crime, without proofs or very strong presumptions, is scarce ever to +be credited. + +That he seems to have had no intention of marrying his niece, but to +have amused her with the hopes of that match, to prevent her +marrying Richmond. + +That Buck would not have dared to quote her letter as extant in the +earl of Arundel's library, if it had not been there: that others of +Buck's assertions having been corroborated by subsequent +discoveries, leave no doubt of his veracity on this; and that that +letter disculpates Richard from poisoning his wife; and only shews +the impatience of his niece to be queen. + +That it is probable the queen-dowager knew her second son was +living, and connived at the appearance of Lambert Simnel, to feel +the temper of the nation. + +That Henry the Seventh certainly thought that she and the earl of +Lincoln were privy to the existence of Richard duke of York, and +that Henry lived in terror of his appearance. + +That the different conduct of Henry with regard to Lambert Simnel +and Perkin Warbeck, implies how different an opinion he had of them; +that in the first case, he used natural and most rational methods +prove him an impostor; whereas his whole behaviour in Perkin's case +was mysterious, and betrayed his belief or doubt that Warbeck was +the true duke of York. + +That it was morally impossible for the duchess of Burgundy at the +distance of twenty-seven years to instruct a Flemish lad so +perfectly in all that had passed in the court of England, that he +would not have been detected in a few hours. + +That she could not inform him, nor could he know, what had passed in +the Tower, unless he was the true duke of York. + +That if he was not the true duke of York, Henry had nothing to do +but to confront him with Tirrel and Dighton, and the imposture must +have been discovered. + +That Perkin, never being confronted with the queen dowager, and the +princesses her daughters, proves that Henry did not dare to trust to +their acknowledging him. + +That if he was not the true duke of York, he might have been +detected by not knowing the queens and princesses, if shown to him +without his being told who they were. + +That it is not pretended that Perkin ever failed in language, +accent,'or circumstances; and that his likeness to Edward the Fourth +is allowed. + +That there are gross and manifest blunders in his pretended +confession. + +That Henry was so afraid of not ascertaining a good account of the +purity of his English accent, that he makes him learn English twice +over. + +That lord Bacon did not dare to adhere to this ridiculous account; +but forges another, though in reality not much more creditable. + +That a number of Henry's best friends, as the lord chamberlain, who +placed the crown on his head, knights of the garter, and men of the +fairest characters, being persuaded that Perkin was the true duke of +York, and dying for that belief, without recanting, makes it very +rash to deny that he was so. + +That the proclamation in Rymer's Foedera against Jane Shore, for +plotting with the marquis Dorset, not with lord Hastings, destroys +all the credit of Sir Thomas More, as to what relates to the latter +peer. + +In short, that Henry's character, as we have received it from his +own apologists, is so much worse and more hateful than Richard's, +that we may well believe Henry invited and propogated by far the +greater part of the slanders against Richard: that Henry, not +Richard, probably put to death the true duke of York, as he did the +earl of Warwick: and that we are not certain whether Edward the +Fifth was murdered; nor, if he was, by whose order he was +murdered. + +After all that has been said, it is scarcely necessary to add a word +on the supposed discovery that was made of the skeletons of the two +young princes, in the reign of Charles the Second. Two skeletons +found in that dark abyss of so many secret transactions, with no +marks to ascertain the time, the age of their interment, can +certainly verify nothing. We must believe both princes died there, +before we can believe that their bones were found there; and upon +what that belief can be founded, or how we shall cease to doubt +whether Perkin Warbeck was not one of those children, I am at a loss +to guess. + +As little is it requisite to argue on the grants made by Richard the +Third to his supposed accomplices in that murder, because the +argument will serve either way. It was very natural that they, who +had tasted most of Richard's bounty, should be suspected as the +instruments of his crimes. But till it can be proved that those +crimes were committed, it is in vain to bring evidence to show who +assisted him in perpetrating them. For my own part, I know not what +to think of the death of Edward the Fifth: I can neither entirely +acquit Richard of it, nor condemn him; because there are no proofs +on either side; and though a court of justice would, from that +defect of evidence, absolve him; opinion may fluctuate backward and +forwards, and at last remain in suspense. + +For the younger brother, the balance seems to incline greatly on the +side of Perkin Warbeck, as the true duke of York; and if one was +saved, one knows not how nor why to believe that Richard destroyed +only the elder. + +We must leave this whole story dark, though not near so dark as we +found it: and it is perhaps as wise to be uncertain on one portion +of our history, as to believe so much as is believed, in all +histories, though very probably as falsely delivered to us, as the +period which we have here been examining. + +FINIS. + +ADDITION. + +The following notice, obligingly communicated to me by Mr. Stanley, +came too late to be inserted in the body of the work, and yet ought +not to be omitted. + +After the death of Perkin Warbeck, his widow, the lady Catherine +Gordon, daughter of the earl of Huntly, from her exquisite beauty, +and upon account of her husband called The Rose of Scotland, was +married to Sir Matthew Cradock, and is buried with him in Herbert's +isle in Swansea church in Wales, where their tomb is still to be +seen, with this inscription in ancient characters: + +"Here lies Sir Mathie Cradock knight, sume time deputie unto the +right honorable Charles Erle of Worcets in the countie of Glamargon. + L. Attor. G. R Chauncelor of the same, steward of Gower and Hilrei, +and mi ladie, Katerin his wife." + +They had a daughter Mary, who was married to Sir Edvard Herbert, son +of the first earl of Pembroke, and from that match are descended the +earls of Pembroke and countess of Powis, Hans Stanley, Esq, George +Rice, Esq. &c. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC DOUBTS ON THE LIFE AND +REIGN OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD*** + + +******* This file should be named 17411.txt or 17411.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/1/17411 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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