money, which she sent to him for levying as many foreign troops as possible, promising to join him on his first appearance with all the friends of her family. The plan was also secretly communicated to the principal person of both parties in all the counties of England, and a wonderful alacrity appeared in every order of men to forward its success.

Such an extensive conspiracy could not long escape the vigilance of Richard; he immediately put himself in a posture of defence by levying troops, and being informed that the duke of Buckingham was at the head of his enemies, he summoned him to appear at court in such terms as seemed to promise him a renewal of their former amity. But the duke, well acquainted with the treacherous character of Richard, replied only by taking arms in Wales, and gave the signal to his accomplices for a general insurrection. At that very time, there happened to fall such heavy and incessant rains, as exceeded any known in the memory of man; the high swelling of all the rivers prevented Buckingham joining his associates, and his Welchmen, partly moved by superstition at this extraordinary event, partly distressed by famine in their camp, fell off from him; on finding himself thus deserted by his followers, he put on the disguise of a peasant, and took shelter in the house of Banister, an old servant of his family; but being detected there, he was brought to the king at Salisbury, and instantly executed; the other conspirators who had taken arms, hearing of the duke of Buckingham's fate, immediately dispersed, several fell into Richard's hands, of whom he made some examples. The marquis of Dorset, the bishop of Ely, and many others had the good fortune to make their escape beyond sea. The earl of Richmond and his friends, who had set sail from St. Maloes, carrying on board a body of five thousand foreign troops, having been

driven back by a storm, did not appear on the coast of England, till after the dispersion of all his friends, and found himself obliged to return to the court of Britanny.

Richard's power being strengthened by this unsuccessful attempt to dethrone him, he summoned a parliament on the 23d January 1484, to have his right to the crown acknowledged, the bastardy of Edward's children solemnly declared, and his own son then a youth of twelve years of age, created prince of Wales. As all Richard's enemies were now at his feet, the parliament had no choice left but to adhere to the victor; they even granted him for life the duties of tonnage and poundage.

The king, to reconcile the nation to his govern、 ment, passed some popular laws, and adopted several measures tending to the same object; but being sensible that the only circumstance which could give him a permanent security, was to gain the confi dence of the Yorkists, he paid court to the queen dowager with such fascinating address, and made her such earnest protestations of his sincere good will and friendship, that this princess, tired of confinement and despairing of any success from her former projects, ventured to leave her sanctuary, and to put herself and her daughters into the hands of Richard. As soon as he had gained that point, he carried still farther his views for the consolidation of his throne. He had married Ann, the second daughter of the earl of Warwick, and widow of the prince of Wales, son of Henry VI. murdered after the battle of Barnet. This princess had borne him one son, who died about this time, and her own death took place so soon after that of the young prince, that Richard was believed to have carried her off by poison; though this conjecture was never supported by any proof. Be it as it may, Richard considering that the earl of Richmond

The

could never be formidable, but from his projected marriage with the princess Elizabeth, the true heir of the crown, he intended, by means of a papal dispensation, to marry himself this princess, and by that incestuous alliance, to remove the chief danger which threatened his government. queen dowager, eager to recover her lost authority, consented to this marriage." She even united so far her interests with those of Richard, that she wrote to all her partizans, and among the rest to her son the marquis of Dorset, desiring them to withdraw from the earl of Richmond, an injury which the earl could never afterwards forgive.

While the dispensations were expected from Rome for the celebration of the king's nuptials, all the exiles flocked to the earl of Richmond in Britanny, and exhorted him to hasten his attempt for a new invasion, and to prevent the marriage of the princess Elizabeth, which must prove fatal to all his hopes. The earl was the more sensible of the urgent necessity of following this advice, that in this very moment his personal safety was in the greatest danger, out of a secret negociation entered into between Richard and the court of Britanny; he made accordingly his escape to the court of France, where he had the good fortune to find Charles VIII. the present king disposed to give him countenance and protection. The ministers of that monarch being desirous of raising disturbances to Richard, secretly encouraged the earl in the levies which he made for the support of his enterprises upon England. The earl of Oxford, whom Richard's suspicions had thrown into confinement, having. made his escape, here joined Henry, and inflamed his ardour for the attempt, by the favourable ac counts he brought of the dispositions of the English nation.

The earl of Richmond set sail from Har.

fleur in Normandy, with two thousand men only and, after a navigation of six days, he landed at Milford-haven in Wales, without opposition. The Welch, who regarded him as their countryman, and who had been already prepossessed in favour of his cause by the duke of Buckingham, soon joined his standard. Richard, who knew not in what quarter he might expect the invader, had taken post at Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom, from whence he purposed to fly in person on the first alarm to the place exposed to danger. In the mean time he had given commissions to different persons in the several counties whom he empowered to. oppose the enemy. Of the two officers who were entrusted with his authority in Wales, one immediately deserted to Henry, and the other made but feeble resistance, and the earl advancing towards Shrewsbury, received every day some reinforcement from his partizans.

The greatest danger of Richard proceeded less from the zeal of his open enemies than from the infidelity of his pretended friends. Scarcely any nobleman of distinction was attached to his cause, except the duke of Norfolk; those who feigned the most loyalty, were only watching for an opportunity to betray and desert him. The two rivals at last approached each other at Bosworth, near Leicester, on the 22d of August 1485, Henry at the head of six thousand men, Richard with an army of above double the number. Lord Stanley, who commanded above seven thousand men, took post not far from the hostile camp, and made such dispositions as enabled him on occasion to join either party, and as soon as the battle began, he appeared in the field, and declared for the earl of Richmond. This measure had a proportional effect on both armies ; it raised to the utmost degree the ardour and courage of Henry's soldiers, and threw those of

Richard's into dismay and confusion, but without weakening his intrepidity; sensible of his desperate situation, he cast his eye around the field, and descrying his rival at no great distance, he drove against him with fury, in hopes that either Henry's death or his own would decide the victory between them. He killed with his own hands all those who attempted to stop him in his way, and was now within reach of Richmond himself, who did not decline the combat; when sir William Stanley breaking in with his troops, surrounded Richard, who, fighting bravely to the last moment, was overwhelmed by numbers and slain. His body was found in the field, covered with dead enemies and all besmeared with blood; it was thrown carelessly across a horse, and carried amidst the shouts of the insulting spectators to Leicester, where he was buried in the Gray-friars church. It is reported, that his crown being found by one of Henry's soldiers on the field of battle, it was immediately placed on the head of the victor, while the whole army, as if inspired with one voice, cried out," Long live king Henry."

Thus ended the bloody reign of Richard III. and with him, the race of the Plantagenet kings, who had been in possession of the crown during the space of three hundred and thirty years. Thus ended also the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, by which most of the ancient families of the kingdom were totally extinguished.

To have an exact idea of Richard's character we must very little depend on the accounts of the historians, as the cotemporary ones blindly transcribed by their successors, being desirous to pay their court to Henry VII. were all very eager to represent his rival as the most execrable monster, no less deformed in his mind than in his body. Truth seldom agrees with those exaggerated expressions which should never stain the pages of any history.