ing the whole of the south. Meetings were held by the friends of the queen-mother; and it was resolved to make an attempt to liberate the princes from the Tower. But the young princes were already liberated from their prison by death. In the course of his progress Richard had sent a letter to sir Robert Brackenbury, the governor of the Tower, ordering him to destroy them. Brackenbury nobly refused to imbue his hands in innocent blood; and Richard then sent sir James Tyrrel, with a commission to get and keep for twenty-four hours all the keys, and command of the Tower. Tyrrell was accompanied by Miles Forest, and John Dighton, men accustomed to dark deeds; and one night, in the month of August, these three ascended the staircase which led to the chamber where the young princes were sleeping. While Tyrrel waited at the door, his associates entered the room and smothered the children in the bedclothes as they lay; and when the deed was done, Tyrrel, having examined the dead bodies, ordered them to be buried at the stairs' foot, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones.

Richard did not intend to reveal this atrocious murder; but when the insurgents were up in arms he permitted the fact to be divulged. This news at first disconcerted the conspirators; but they had gone too far to expect mercy, and they resolved to raise up a new competitor for the crown, in the person of Henry, earl of Richmond, who represented the line of Lancaster by right of his mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was daughter of a duke of Somerset, and a great-grand-daughter of John of Gaunt. This new revolution was supported by many noblemen; and even the duke of Buckingham, by whose means Richard had been proclaimed king, was among the first to invite Richmond into England.

The day fixed for the general rising was the 18th of October, and on that day Henry was proclaimed at Exeter, Devizes, Maidstone, Newbury, and Brecknock. In the meantime Richard, who had heard of the intended insurrection, had summoned all his loyal subjects to meet him at Leicester, and had set a price upon the heads of the confederates. Richmond was in exile in France when these events happened; but on receiving the invitation he collected a force of about five thousand men, with whom he arrived at Milford-Haven, in Wales, where he landed without opposition. Before his arrival the earl of Buckingham had been deserted by his forces, and had been taken prisoner, and

executed in the marketplace of Salisbury. Others of his friends, also, had been compelled to take refuge in flight, and their estates confiscated to the crown, or given to those who were attached to Richard: but notwithstanding these adverse events, Richmond steadily proceeded in his course, and finally prevailed.

It was in the month of August, 1484, that Richmond landed at Milford-Haven; and after crossing the Severn he was joined by the Talbots and a few other families, with their retainers. His forces were still far inferior to those of his rival; but he knew that not one man in ten would fight for Richard, and he still pressed forward. In his route he was joined by many deserters from the enemy; and when he met Richard at Bosworth-field, many more rode over to him, while others stood aloof till they saw to which party victory would fall. Of all the lords that followed Richard scarcely one was true to him, except the duke of Norfolk and his son, the earl of Surrey. Had Richard hesitated, the defection of bis forces would probably have been greater; but, still undaunted, he gave the order, and the battle commenced. The struggle was fierce, but brief: on a sudden Richard put spurs to his horse, and shouting "Treason!" galloped into the midst of the enemy. He had caught sight of Henry; and he hoped, by his personal valour and his skill in the use of arms, to gain the victory by slaying his enemy. Richard cut his way to the standard-bearer, sir William Brandon, and killed him; and was directing a deadly thrust at his rival, when a host closed upon him, threw him from his horse, and despatched him with many wounds. His blood-stained crown was then picked up and put on the head of Henry, who was saluted king by the whole army. The dead body of Richard, after being exposed for a few days, was buried, without ceremony, at the church of the Grey Friars, in Leicester. Such was the death of Richard III.; and thus ended the dynasty of the Plantagenets, and "the Wars of the Roses," which had so long desolated the kingdom.

CHAPTER XII.

THE RELIGION, GOVERNMENT AND LAWS, LITERATURE, ARTS, COMMERCE, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ETC., OF THIS PERIOD.

DURING this period the Lollards, or followers of Wiclif, greatly increased, and became formidable to the Romish church. At the head of them was lord Cobham, whose character and death have been recorded in a previous page. After his death his inveterate enemy, the archbishop of Canterbury, commanded the university of Oxford to appoint twelve of its most orthodox members to examine the works of Wiclif, and extract from them his heretical doctrines. In compliance with this injunction, nearly three hundred doctrines, called errors by the Romish church, were transmitted to the primate, who sent them to the pope, with a request to condemn them, and to grant him permission to take the bones of Wiclif from his grave and cast them on a dunghill, that they might be trampled upon by all Christians. The pope condemned Wiclif's doctrines; but he would not permit the primate to disturb the ashes of the reformer. The truth, however, still prevailed: the doctrines of Wiclif not only were embraced in England, but in Germany. In both these countries men laid down their lives for the truth, and still the new opinions continued to spread. They were favoured by the Wars of the Roses, which had the effect of interrupting the persecution of the Lollards; the very storm proving their shelter. But though the Romish church was thus threatened, the clergy continued to set their faces against all reform or concession to the spirit of the age: greater stress than ever was laid on pilgrimages, processions, indulgences, confessious to priests, and pardons. Yet the general conduct and character of the priests of this age were such as to call forth the reprehension even of their own friends: by them they are denominated as profligate, illiterate, negligent of their cures, rapacious, lascivious, and drunken.

Government and Laws.-The constitution, government, and laws of England were considerably improved in this period. Philip de Comines, after describing the disorders that prevailed in the governments of France, Germany, and Italy,

and the cruel oppressions under which the people of all these countries groaned, remarked, "In my opinion, of all the states in the world that I know, England is the country where the commonwealth is best governed, and the people least oppressed." Great improvements were made in the constitution of both houses of parliament, and several valuable laws were enacted for the regulation and encouragement of trade, security of property, and the liberties of the people. Even Richard III., "the bold, bad man of Shakspere's drama," was a "good legislator for the ease and solace of the common people.' His laws consist of only one statute, and contains fifteen chapters: they were the first that were expressed in the English language, all former statutes having been written either in Latin or French, which were not understood by the common people, nor even by many of the legislators. The laws of Richard III. were also the first printed laws in England.

Literature. The unsettled state of Britain, France, and other European countries, which were kept in continual agitation by wars and revolutions, proved unfavourable to the progress of literature. Learning, indeed, during this period, was very little esteemed. All the most valuable livings in the church were bestowed on men destitute of knowledge, or foreigners, by papal influence; while the best scholars in the kingdom were left to languish in obscurity, and were sometimes driven to the necessity of begging their bread from door to door, recommended to charity by the chancellors of the universities in which they had studied. Anthony Wood relates a story of two itinerating students, who, having one day presented themselves at a baronial castle, and sought an introduction by the exhibition of their academical credentials, in which they were described as having a taste for poetry, were ordered by the baron to be suspended in two buckets over a draw-well, and dipped alternately into the water until each should produce a couplet of verses on their awkward situation. After a considerable number of duckings, which afforded great amusement to the baron and his menials, the unfortunate captives finished their rhymes, and were then set at liberty. Yet the love of knowledge was still alive and active in many minds, prompting them to zealous exertions both in its acquisition and diffusion. In the course of the fifteenth century about forty new universities were founded in Europe, and several new colleges were added both to Oxford

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and Cambridge. During this period printing also, which has contributed so much to dispel the darkness in which the world was involved, and to diffuse the light of every species of knowledge, was invented on the Continent, and introduced into England. William Caxton, a mercer of London, claims the honour of first practising the art in England: the works he printed consisted chiefly of translations from the French and German; and the productions of Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate. The translations were partly of a religious nature, and partly relating to romance and chivalry. Wiclif's translation of the Old Testament still remained in manuscript. Arts. Great improvements were made in architecture in this age. The style called the Perpendicular Gothic, which is essentially English, was brought to perfection in the fifteenth century, while the continental Gothic was on the decline. In this style many churches were erected, as well as castles and mansions. All these were elaborately ornamented; and in the deviations of the perpendicular style heraldry was introduced in profusion. Internal fittings and decorations in houses, however, were still in a rude state: neither linings nor plaster ceilings were yet introduced; and tapestry or hangings were still used as ornaments, and for covering all the deficiencies of ill-closed doors and windows. One marked feature in the history of the architecture of this period is the revival of building with brick, which eventually effected a total revolution in the art of building.

In the fifteenth century, English music began to take a form in which something like melody and harmony are found. The art of music, though rude and in its infant state, was then practised by every person of rank, and all who had

received an education then called liberal. Even the hero of Agincourt was a performer on the organ, as was also his more refined contemporary, James II. of Scotland. Ecclesiastical music was studied by the youths at the universities; and bachelors and doctors' degrees were taken in that science. Minstrels, says Warton, were paid much higher for their services than priests; but this is only true with reference to a few minstrels who excelled in the art. The minstrel profession was chartered by Edward IV.; and the guild or fraternity was governed by a marshal and two wardens, chosen annually.

Commerce. Although the English in this age were much engaged in war, yet commerce increased. The articles of