CHAPTER XXIV--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FIFTH
The late King's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, called EDWARD after him,was only thirteen years of age at his father's death. He was at LudlowCastle with his uncle, the Earl of Rivers. The prince's brother, theDuke of York, only eleven years of age, was in London with his mother.The boldest, most crafty, and most dreaded nobleman in England at thattime was their uncle RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, and everybody wonderedhow the two poor boys would fare with such an uncle for a friend or afoe.
The Queen, their mother, being exceedingly uneasy about this, was anxiousthat instructions should be sent to Lord Rivers to raise an army toescort the young King safely to London. But, Lord Hastings, who was ofthe Court party opposed to the Woodvilles, and who disliked the thoughtof giving them that power, argued against the proposal, and obliged theQueen to be satisfied with an escort of two thousand horse. The Duke ofGloucester did nothing, at first, to justify suspicion. He came fromScotland (where he was commanding an army) to York, and was there thefirst to swear allegiance to his nephew. He then wrote a condolingletter to the Queen-Mother, and set off to be present at the coronationin London.
Now, the young King, journeying towards London too, with Lord Rivers andLord Gray, came to Stony Stratford, as his uncle came to Northampton,about ten miles distant; and when those two lords heard that the Duke ofGloucester was so near, they proposed to the young King that they shouldgo back and greet him in his name. The boy being very willing that theyshould do so, they rode off and were received with great friendliness,and asked by the Duke of Gloucester to stay and dine with him. In theevening, while they were merry together, up came the Duke of Buckinghamwith three hundred horsemen; and next morning the two lords and the twodukes, and the three hundred horsemen, rode away together to rejoin theKing. Just as they were entering Stony Stratford, the Duke ofGloucester, checking his horse, turned suddenly on the two lords, chargedthem with alienating from him the affections of his sweet nephew, andcaused them to be arrested by the three hundred horsemen and taken back.Then, he and the Duke of Buckingham went straight to the King (whom theyhad now in their power), to whom they made a show of kneeling down, andoffering great love and submission; and then they ordered his attendantsto disperse, and took him, alone with them, to Northampton.
A few days afterwards they conducted him to London, and lodged him in theBishop's Palace. But, he did not remain there long; for, the Duke ofBuckingham with a tender face made a speech expressing how anxious he wasfor the Royal boy's safety, and how much safer he would be in the Toweruntil his coronation, than he could be anywhere else. So, to the Towerhe was taken, very carefully, and the Duke of Gloucester was namedProtector of the State.
Although Gloucester had proceeded thus far with a very smoothcountenance--and although he was a clever man, fair of speech, and notill-looking, in spite of one of his shoulders being something higher thanthe other--and although he had come into the City riding bare-headed atthe King's side, and looking very fond of him--he had made the King'smother more uneasy yet; and when the Royal boy was taken to the Tower,she became so alarmed that she took sanctuary in Westminster with herfive daughters.
Nor did she do this without reason, for, the Duke of Gloucester, findingthat the lords who were opposed to the Woodville family were faithful tothe young King nevertheless, quickly resolved to strike a blow forhimself. Accordingly, while those lords met in council at the Tower, heand those who were in his interest met in separate council at his ownresidence, Crosby Palace, in Bishopsgate Street. Being at last quiteprepared, he one day appeared unexpectedly at the council in the Tower,and appeared to be very jocular and merry. He was particularly gay withthe Bishop of Ely: praising the strawberries that grew in his garden onHolborn Hill, and asking him to have some gathered that he might eat themat dinner. The Bishop, quite proud of the honour, sent one of his men tofetch some; and the Duke, still very jocular and gay, went out; and thecouncil all said what a very agreeable duke he was! In a little time,however, he came back quite altered--not at all jocular--frowning andfierce--and suddenly said,--
'What do those persons deserve who have compassed my destruction; I beingthe King's lawful, as well as natural, protector?'
To this strange question, Lord Hastings replied, that they deserveddeath, whosoever they were.
'Then,' said the Duke, 'I tell you that they are that sorceress mybrother's wife;' meaning the Queen: 'and that other sorceress, JaneShore. Who, by witchcraft, have withered my body, and caused my arm toshrink as I now show you.'
He then pulled up his sleeve and showed them his arm, which was shrunken,it is true, but which had been so, as they all very well knew, from thehour of his birth.
Jane Shore, being then the lover of Lord Hastings, as she had formerlybeen of the late King, that lord knew that he himself was attacked. So,he said, in some confusion, 'Certainly, my Lord, if they have done this,they be worthy of punishment.'
'If?' said the Duke of Gloucester; 'do you talk to me of ifs? I tell youthat they _have_ so done, and I will make it good upon thy body, thoutraitor!'
With that, he struck the table a great blow with his fist. This was asignal to some of his people outside to cry 'Treason!' They immediatelydid so, and there was a rush into the chamber of so many armed men thatit was filled in a moment.
'First,' said the Duke of Gloucester to Lord Hastings, 'I arrest thee,traitor! And let him,' he added to the armed men who took him, 'have apriest at once, for by St. Paul I will not dine until I have seen hishead of!'
Lord Hastings was hurried to the green by the Tower chapel, and therebeheaded on a log of wood that happened to be lying on the ground. Then,the Duke dined with a good appetite, and after dinner summoning theprincipal citizens to attend him, told them that Lord Hastings and therest had designed to murder both himself and the Duke if Buckingham, whostood by his side, if he had not providentially discovered their design.He requested them to be so obliging as to inform their fellow-citizens ofthe truth of what he said, and issued a proclamation (prepared and neatlycopied out beforehand) to the same effect.
On the same day that the Duke did these things in the Tower, Sir RichardRatcliffe, the boldest and most undaunted of his men, went down toPontefract; arrested Lord Rivers, Lord Gray, and two other gentlemen; andpublicly executed them on the scaffold, without any trial, for havingintended the Duke's death. Three days afterwards the Duke, not to losetime, went down the river to Westminster in his barge, attended by diversbishops, lords, and soldiers, and demanded that the Queen should deliverher second son, the Duke of York, into his safe keeping. The Queen,being obliged to comply, resigned the child after she had wept over him;and Richard of Gloucester placed him with his brother in the Tower. Then,he seized Jane Shore, and, because she had been the lover of the lateKing, confiscated her property, and got her sentenced to do publicpenance in the streets by walking in a scanty dress, with bare feet, andcarrying a lighted candle, to St. Paul's Cathedral, through the mostcrowded part of the City.
Having now all things ready for his own advancement, he caused a friar topreach a sermon at the cross which stood in front of St. Paul'sCathedral, in which he dwelt upon the profligate manners of the lateKing, and upon the late shame of Jane Shore, and hinted that the princeswere not his children. 'Whereas, good people,' said the friar, whosename was SHAW, 'my Lord the Protector, the noble Duke of Gloucester, thatsweet prince, the pattern of all the noblest virtues, is the perfectimage and express likeness of his father.' There had been a little plotbetween the Duke and the friar, that the Duke should appear in the crowdat this moment, when it was expected that the people would cry 'Long liveKing Richard!' But, either through the friar saying the words too soon,or through the Duke's coming too late, the Duke and the words did notcome together, and the people only laughed, and the friar sneaked offashamed.
The Duke of Buckingham was a better hand at such business than the friar,so he went to the Guildhall the next day, and addressed the citizens inthe Lord Protector's behalf. A few dirty men, who had been hired andstationed there for the purpose, crying when he had done, 'God save KingRichard!' he made them a great bow, and thanked them with all his heart.Next day, to make an end of it, he went with the mayor and some lords andcitizens to Bayard Castle, by the river, where Richard then was, and readan address, humbly entreating him to accept the Crown of England.Richard, who looked down upon them out of a window and pretended to be ingreat uneasiness and alarm, assured them there was nothing he desiredless, and that his deep affection for his nephews forbade him to think ofit. To this the Duke of Buckingham replied, with pretended warmth, thatthe free people of England would never submit to his nephew's rule, andthat if Richard, who was the lawful heir, refused the Crown, why thenthey must find some one else to wear it. The Duke of Gloucesterreturned, that since he used that strong language, it became his painfulduty to think no more of himself, and to accept the Crown.
Upon that, the people cheered and dispersed; and the Duke of Gloucesterand the Duke of Buckingham passed a pleasant evening, talking over theplay they had just acted with so much success, and every word of whichthey had prepared together.