Buckingham's

own son Edward, Earl of Salisbury, a boy of ten years old, he made Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, and Lieutenant of Ireland, and at York (which he visited in great state), knighted him on the 8th September. But Buckingham was not satisfied with what he had got by his work; like Warwick he had made a king, and the king rebellion and when made did not care to be ruled by him. fall. When he claimed the earldom of Hereford, which had fallen into the crown, as the heir of the house of Bohun, Richard refused it. Buckingham at once began treating with the Woodvilles and Greys, and with the remains of the old Lancastrian party, the Courtnays, Bishop Morton, and the friends of the exiled Earl of Richmond. At first their plan had been to rise for the little King Edward V. But when it was bruited about that he and his brother were dead, by Morton's advice they determined to make Richmond king, and marry him to the Lady Bessy, eldest daughter of Edward IV., so as to join the two houses of York and Beaufort against Richard. The Stanleys, who were now in high favour with the king again, held back, for though Lord Stanley would gladly have seen his wife's son on the throne, he did not care to risk his life and lordship to profit Buckingham, who would, of course, have become Richmond's chief minister. The secret of the plot was well kept. On the 18th October all the southern shires rose from Kent to Devon; Buckingham set up the new king's banner at Brecknock, and marched down to the Severn; Richmond himself set sail from S. Malo for the south coast of England. Richard took swift means to quell the rebellion. He proclaimed death to the leaders and pardon to their followers. He broke down the Severn bridges so as to stop Buckingham, and then hurried in person to the south-west to meet Richmond as soon as he should land. However, Richmond's fleet was driven north by a heavy gale, and when he found himself alone off Poole, he dared not risk the venture, and put back to Brittany. Buckingham was kept back by the rising of the Severn, which made the fords too deep to ride. The rebels in the south-west, left leaderless, scattered and went home. And when Buckingham found that he had failed, he too fled in disguise to the house of one of his servants named Bannister, who betrayed him to Richard for a great price. In vain Buckingham prayed for an interview with the king, his head was struck off in Salisbury market-place. At Exeter Richard did not even spare his own sister's husband, Sir Thomas St. Leger, but he forgave all the commonalty.

4. When he got back to London at Christmas a parliament was called, 23d January, which decreed Richard's title good, as well by right of blood and inheritance as by lawful choice, hallowing, and crowning, attainted the Duke of Buckingham, the Earls of Richmond and Pembroke, the Countess of Richmond, the Marquis of Dorset, and others. This parliament also passed many useful Acts touching law, trade, and tax-collecting; by the Statute of Fines it enabled men to make good against all the world their title to the lands they held, a matter of much moment at a time when so much land treachery, 1485. had passed by forfeiture and attainder from hand to hand; by the Statute of Uses it forbade secret conveyances of land, and made the person for whose use land was held by the king the real owner in the eye of the law; by the article against "benevolences" it did away for ever with these new and unlawful inventions. The king also gave the clergy a charter at this parliament, confirming all the rights his brother granted them in 1462.

Richard's plans and Stanley's

Richard also strove to make a fresh settlement for the crown, for when, in the midst of his success, his only son died, April 1484, he adopted as his heir first Edward Earl of Warwick, the son of Clarence, and afterward John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, another nephew. Anne, John's sister, he proposed to marry to the prince of Scotland by the treaty of Nottingham, September, when he made a truce with King James. The Scots were glad of this peace, for the English fleet had driven their cruisers off the four seas, and now that Albany (who had been sheltered and helped by Richard when he quarrelled with his brother, and returned to England in 1483) had failed in the Raid of Lochmaben, and sought refuge in France, the English had no reasons for enmity with them. March 16, 1485, Richard's wife Anne, who had been long ailing, died, and now he persuaded Elizabeth, the dowager-queen, to throw over the schemes of those who would have married her daughter Lady Bessy to Richmond, and promise her to himself-a plan which Lady Bessy herself, whatever she thought secretly, openly approved of. But many of Richard's best friends tried to dissuade him from it, and he at last had to contradict it to the London citizens. However, before the final steps could be taken to bring about the marriage, Richard's own end came. When Buckingham fell Lord Stanley became Constable of England, his brother Sir William Justiciar of North Wales, and Henry Percy

Earl of Northumberland Chamberlain. But whether they dreaded the craft of the king, or hoped to get even higher rewards from his successes, certain it is that they entered secretly into a second plot for setting Richmond on the throne. After getting assurances of their help, the young earl sailed from Harfleur, with some French ships, and some 3000 Norman soldiers aboard, and slipping past Richard's fleet, landed at Milford Haven August 7. Richard, who had known of his coming, though he was not aware of the treachery of his ministers, had an army ready to meet him, and a large treasure raised by loans on pledge among his richer friends. He now issued a proclamation, in which he says that certain rebels and traitors, men of evil life, had come to attack England, having chosen for a captain “one Harry Tydder of base descent:" that these men had promised the King of France to give up all the English rights over Guienne, Anjou, and Normandy in return for his help to them; that they had shared among themselves the lordships of many of the clergy and nobles of England, and that they would surely take these, and overturn the laws of England and all men's rights if they could; that therefore he, Richard, who would put himself to all labour and pain for the comfort and safety of his subjects, bade all men be ready in arms to resist the said rebels, enemies, and traitors.

Richard killed at Bosworth

1485. His character and rule.

5. The royal forces gathered at Leicester, Northumberland, and the northern lords and gentry from the north, Norfolk from the east, Brackenbury from the south-east, and Lovel from the south-west. But Lord Stanley, who led the men of Lancashire and Cheshire, delayed to come, saying that he was ill of the "sweating sickness," an illness that was at that time raging in England. Doubting his excuse, Richard seized his son Lord Strange, who confessed that he and his field, 22nd Aug. uncle Sir William and others had sworn to help Richmond, but held out that his father knew nothing of the plot. The king bade him write to his father that he must bring his men up at once, or his son should die. All the while Henry was pushing for Leicester; on his road he was joined by Rees ap Thomas with his Welsh spearmen, by Sir Gilbert Talbot with the men of Shrewsbury, and by the friends of the Earl of Oxford and of Sir John Savage. But he agreed with Sir William Stanley, that, to save Lord Strange, the Stanleys should not come over openly to him till the day of battle. So they marched alongside of him a few miles off till the 21st August,

when they joined him at Atherston. Next morning the armies met at Redmore, near Bosworth. Richard drew up his men with skill. Norfolk led his vanguard, he himself the main body, while Percy lay on one wing. He had much artillery there, as the ballad says :—

"There were seven score serpentines [long cannon] without doubt, locked and chained up in a row,

As many bombards [mortars] that were stout, like blasts of thunder they can blow,

Ten thousand morris pikes [long spears] withal, and harcbusiers [musketeers] that could throughly thring [shoot],

To make many a nobleman to fall, that stood against Richard that was our king."

When Richard saw the "red coats" and "hartsheads" of the Stanleys ranged on Richmond's side, he bade his men behead Lord Strange at once. But Sir William Harrington pointed out that the vanguards were beginning to fight, and begged the king to wait till he had all the three Stanleys in his power, and judge them together. So the young man escaped death. The battle began hotly :

'They encounter'd together sad and sair, archers let sharp arrows flee,

They shot guns both fell [fierce] and fair, bows of yew did bended be,

Then the archers let their shooting by, and joinéd weapons in

the fight.

Brands rang on basnets [helmets] high, battle-axes fast on helms did light."

But the day went against Richard, for Percy, who was in the plot with Stanley, gave way before the Welsh, who fought under the dragon banner of Wales, and though Norfolk stood bravely, he was driven back and slain by the fierce rush of the "white hoods" of Savage, the Talbot "hounds," and the "blue boars" of Oxford :

'Then a knight to King Richard gan say, good Sir William Harrington,

'Sir,' said he, 'all we to-day, to the death are like here to be

done.

The Stanley strokes they are so strong, there may no man their

blows abide,

Methinks ye tarry here too long, ye may come back at another

tide.

Your horse at your hand is ready, another day ye may the

worship win,

And reign in right and royalty, and keep your crown, and be our king!'

'Nay, give me my battle-axe in my hand, and the crown of England on my helm so high,

For by Him that made both sea and land, King of England this
day I will die.

One foot I will never flee, whilst the breath is my heart within!'
As he said so did it be. If he lost his life he died a King."

For when he saw that the day was lost he spurred his steed, White Surrey, straight at the St. George standard of Richmond, crying, "Treason, treason!" In his furious charge he cut down Henry's banner-bearer, Brandon, and unhorsed another strong knight. But he was almost alone, and before he could kill Henry he was overpowered and slain. Lord Stanley picked up the crown which had been stricken from the fallen king's helmet, and had fallen in a hawthorn bush, and taking Richmond to a little hillock close by, set it on his head amid shouts of "King Harry, King Harry!" The body of Richard was stripped and borne across a herald's horse, like a dead calf, to Leicester, where it was buried in the Grey Friars church. Brackenbury, Ratcliffe, Lord Ferrers, and Theobald, King Richard's standardbearer (who clung to his banner when he could no longer stand for his wounds), died with their master. Henry lost scarce one man of note.

Richard was one of the most able kings that ever reigned in England, and so far as can be seen his rule deserves high praise. With all the talents and far more perseverance than his brother Edward, he took especial care of police, justice, and trade. The one parliament of his reign did more to better the laws than any since the death of Edward III. He was never tired of looking into his subjects' grievances himself, and in redressing these he showed uprightness and kindliness. He had a higher sense of the royal honour than his brother, and he had been angry when Edward had taken bribes from the French king at Peronne rather than fight for his claims on France. He had never changed sides like the "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," but had shown such a strong and unyielding party-feeling, that his foes set down to him the harshest measures that had been taken against the Red Rose. Whether he really did the deeds of which he is accused is not certain, but there is nothing in what is known of him to render his guilt unlikely. Unbounded selfishness and keen ambition, careful of the end but careless of the means to gain that end, appear in the character of many princes of his day, and might and often did exist along with the personal good-nature, gallantry,