Archaeologia Volume 20 Section 1

Of two^c MSS. of this tract, one in the British Museum, and the other in the Library of Lambeth Palace, the former is apparently the earliest, and is enriched with beautiful illuminations, representing some of the most remarkable transactions; in these the dress and the resemblance of the portraits is observed throughout; and the whole, if not proceeding from the pen and pencil of the author, was probably executed under his direction. An entry and autograph at the close states this MS. to have been the property of Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine and of Mortain, and governor of Languedoc. It formed part of the Harleian collection. The late Dr. Percy, bishop of Dromore, has given, in a manuscript sheet inserted in the volume, a hasty illustration of the drawings; his account, however, is in some instances erroneous; and he confesses that it was formed from only a cursory perusal of the poem. Strutt has also described it, and engraved some of the illuminations in his " Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities. " The other MS. preserved at Lambeth, was probably written at a later period, and is plain, without decoration or illumination, excepting in the capital letters, though spaces have been left for the representation of the principal scenes, exactly as they occur in the other. This copy was sometime in the possession of the celebrated Dr. John Dee, as appears from his signature, with the date 1575 on the last leaf. It was presented to the library of the Archbishop by Sir George Carew, the Irish antiquary, who for his services under Elizabeth, James the First, and Charles the First, was successively constituted Lord President of Munster, created Baron Carew of Clopton, and afterwards Earl of Totness in Devonshire, and appointed Master of the Ordnance in England.d He made a loose translation of that part of the narrative, which describes the expedition against Mac Morogh; the original of this is to be found in Bibl. Cotton. Titus, B. xi: and it has been published in a volume, entitled, "Hibernica; or Tracts relating to Ireland: Dublin, 1757. " The Lambeth MS. is that which has been consulted and quoted by the earlier historians above mentioned, of whom Hollinshed expressly calls it, French pamphlet that belongeth to Master John Dee. "

Note c. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, vol. I. p. 121, says, " In the royal library at Paris there is ' Histoire de Richard Roi d'Angleterre et de Maquemore d'Irlande en rime. No. 7532; ' but he has erroneously attributed it to Richard the first. It should seem that it was another copy of this MS.; but I have no means of ascertaining whether it is still to be found in that collection. He adds, in a note, ' Du Cange recites an old French manuscript prose romance, entitled, Histoire de la mort de Richard Roy d'Angleterre. Gloss. Lat. Ind. Auct. I. p. CXCI. There was one, perhaps the same, among the manuscripts of the late Mr. Martin, of Palgrave, in Suffolk." This of Du Cange might be one of those which will be described hereafter.

Note d. Camden's Britannia, 606, 1340. Edition of 1722.

We come now to speak of the author of this performance, whose name and quality are never mentioned throughout the whole. The title only informs us that he was a French gentleman of distinction,^e attendant upon Richard the Second, with permission of the king of France, in whose immediate service he may from this circumstance be supposed to have been originally engaged. When he and his companion are introduced to Bolingbroke, they allege, in excuse for being found in the retinue of Richard, that they were sent by the French king to amuse themselves and see the country. Of this companion, at whose solicitation, he says in the outset, he undertook this journey, he merely mentions that he was a knight; but there is nothing from which it may positively be concluded that they were of the same rank in arms.^f The spirit of chivalrous feeling, the loyalty of his principles, and the elevated notions of propriety and honour which he every where displays, convey a very favourable impression of his character. Though he possesses strong national prejudices, and is by no means sparing in the expression of them, a tone of impartiality, and a nice sense of rectitude accompany his opinions of men and measures, which win the confidence of his readers. Personally attached to the king, charmed by the taste of his court, and grateful for his condescension and promises of future favour, he evidently did not allow these matters to interfere in the estimate he formed from actual observation of the passing On either side he neither palliates defects, nor conceals errors: his candour even compels him to make confessions to his own disadvantage; and the traits which he has furnished of the principal personages of the drama are not only to be depended upon, as carrying their own consistent evidence of authenticity, but are in many respects corroborated by the statements of other historians. The unsteady temper of Richard, his inclination to favouritism, his passion and his weakness, the high and accomplished qualities of Salisbury, and the daring and deep dissimulation of Northumberland, are forcibly drawn. The sight of the monarch's suffering seems to have made a strong impression upon his loyal heart, and though he honestly condemns him on those points in which he was wrong, he manifests a laudable abhorrence of the treason by which he was betrayed.

Note e. Un gentilhomme François de marque; which Strutt has most inaccurately rendered, Francis de la marque, a French gentleman. Manners and Customs, vol. II. p. 119.

Note f. It is not improbable that he was attached to this knight as his squire. The first illumination represents him as a youth in a posture of submission, while the knight with an air of gravity, is proposing the journey to Ireland. The latter, indeed, addresses him by the appellation of brother. When he speaks of both in conjunction he repeatedly uses the expression "mon compagnon et moy," in every instance courteously giving him the preference. Had he been a knight it would probably have been expressed in the title of the work.

The desire of this writer to adhere to the truth has rendered him careful to distinguish what happened under his own eye from that which he received by report of others. In a service of seven months he appears to have been for the most part immediately about the person of the king, and especially in his latter days of distress and danger. The speeches and soliloquies^g that he has put into the mouth of Richard in particular are, therefore, not to be looked upon as ornamentally introduced to fill up the story, but as actual occurrences. This conviction communicates an additional life and interest to what he has recorded. Here we visit the prince in his affliction at Caernarvon, walk with him on the walls of Conway, are present at his seizure under the rock, and at his last sad meal with his faithful friends in the hall of Flint castle; we become close observers of his injudicious conduct and ill fated career, from his embarkation at Milford to his confinement in the Tower of London, with almost as strong an impression as if ourselves had witnessed the progress of the melancholy affair. When he comes to that part which treats of the interview between the rivals, he lays aside his metre, and has recourse to prose, solely from a wish of preserving the identical words spoken upon the occasion^h. His personal narrative ends with the imprisonment of the king; he had accompanied him from his departure for Ireland to the hour of his capture, and marching with the army of the victor to London he took the earliest opportunity of soliciting permission to embark for France. The latter portion of his work, which is, indeed, the least valuable, and in which he resumes his metrical stile, but in a different measure, was composed from the report of a priest attached to Bolingbroke, who remained some time in England with the latter, and afterwards, meeting with the author in Paris, related to him what took place, down to the conspiracy of the nobles, and the restoration of queen Isabel to her native country.

Note g. At Flint, for instance, where it appears the whole party passed a sleepless night in the same room.

Note h. Froissart, who has so frequently given interesting details of the transactions of the age, is notoriously defective as to those which relate to the fall of this king.

There is no doubt that a talent for poetical composition was in high estimation among the gentlemen of the age. This is particularly enumerated among the accomplishments of the squire in the Canterbury Tales, whose love of adventure and cheerful manners and attainments greatly resemble those of the writerⁱ. He appears to have been one whose passion for pleasantry and song would render him acceptable at such a court as that of Richard the Second. The gay monarch surrounded by minstrels, was not insensible to the charms of poesy^k; he was a patron of Chaucer, though his politics were displeasing to him; and it was at his request, "to boke some new thing," that Gower^l wrote his "Confessio Amantis." — During our author's stay in Ireland, congeniality of taste united him in close friendship with the Earl of Salisbury, himself one of the poets of the day; and the present work was undertaken at the express solicitation of that unfortunate nobleman. His stile is not exempt from those faults which are common to most of the rhyming chroniclers who confine themselves to facts as they arise. Historical matter is not always capable of receiving a poetical expression. In such attempts something will be flat and feeble. It is not fair to consider such a performance exclusively in the light of a poem; but it will be observed, that having occasionally to contend with materials of a very untractable nature, and being fettered by his subject, and his honest adherence to the course of events, he has upon the whole acquitted himself of his task with respectability, and has sometimes introduced touches of genuine poetry. The opening of the book, in the manner of the writers of romance, containing a description of spring, would not have disgraced those greater names with which Britain was at that period adorned. Such is the general character of his poetry; his prose, for interesting observation and variety of detail, is little, if at all, inferior to that of Froissart. One principal merit of the piece, however, is its unaffected simplicity; honourable sentiment combined with generous avowal of it, and an air of naïveté and truth pervade the whole; the notices of places and manners are curious; and the characters are touched with a masterly hand.

Note i. —He had been sometime in chyvauchye In Flanders, in Artoys, and in Pycardye, And borne him well. —Syngynge he was, or floytynge all the day. He coude songes make and well endyte, Juste and eke daunce, portray, and well wryte. Prologue to Canterbury Tales.

Note k. Froissart, when he visited him at Leeds castle, presented him with a volume of poems, with which he was much pleased; and when he took leave of him at Windsor, the king gave him a silver goblet filled with one hundred nobles. Chronicles translated by Johnes, 8vo. XI. c. 24. XII. c. 32.

Note l. Gower, after addressing his book in the first instance to Richard, and speaking highly in his praise, lived long enough to alter his dedication, and transfer his encomium to his successor.

I. The first MS. which is the most important, as being that from which a large portion of the others is derived, is numbered in the Bibliotheque du Roi, 8448/2 Ambassades. It is also marked 1352/1, and Baluze No. 22. It belonged to Baluze, and was probably copied from older MSS.^m for his use, and by his orders. It is unnecessary to enter into farther particulars respecting it, as an account of it has been published by Mons. Gaillard:ⁿ but, though his abstract upon the whole is faithful, he has here and there introduced facts from other authorities, which are not in the original, without sufficiently warning his readers of these deviations. One passage in the narrative^o, where the anonymous writer describes the parting of Richard and his queen, has given rise to a supposition that he was an eye-witness; and from another part^p it may be presumed that he was at Chester before the seizure of the king.^q Gaillard thinks that he was in the suite of the Duke of Exeter. This MS. may, in point of consequence, be ranked next to that of the British Museum, though they cannot fairly be brought into competition. However, it takes up the matter earlier, and gives some incidents which the other does not contain. The references to it will be numerous, and will be chiefly taken from the unpublished parts.

Note m. Carte, in his History of England, has referred to this MS. He also cites another, the contents of which seem to be exactly similar; and it might be the earlier copy. He gives the title with the author's name. Relation de la prise de Richard II. par Berry roy d'Armes, vol. II. p. 642. This is, perhaps, the same writer who is mentioned by Du Cange, in his list of authorities. Berry Heraud d'Armes, Hist. de Charles VII. Roi de France. Gloss. Lat. Ind. Auct. I. p. cxc.

Note n. Account and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France. London, 1789, vol. II. p. 197.

At the departure of winter, when spring hath restored verdure, when many a bush may be observed to blossom in the fields, and the birds sweetly to rejoice, the song of the nightingale is to be heard, that maketh many a lover joyous and gay; (just in that season) five days before the first day of May [i.e. [26th April 1399]], when every one ought to lay aside mourning and sorrow, a knight, whom I heartily loved with a most tender regard, said unto me, " Friend, I lovingly beseech you that you will cheerfully accompany me into England. It is my wish to go thither without delay." "Sir," I replied, "you may command me, nor doubt that I am ready to bend my will to your good pleasure." An hundred times did the knight thank me, saying, "Brother, we must very soon set out, for, be assured, it will be needful for us to make haste." It was in the year one thousand and four hundred, save one, that we quitted Paris, each full of joy, travelling late and early without stopping till we reached London. It came to pass that we took up our lodging there on a Wednesday, at the hour of dinner. There might you behold many a knight taking his departure from the city; for good king Richard had set out with his steward;^a he was most anxious to journey day and night;

Note a. Sir Thomas Percy, second son of Henry Percy, by Mary daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster, and younger brother to Henry first Earl of Northumberland; a statesman and soldier of distinguished ability and reputation, who had spent a very active life in the service of his country. He was at this time upwards of fifty years of age. He had been with the Black Prince in Aquitaine; was his high steward in 1369, and served under him with Chandos, Knolles, Trivet, and others of that school of chivalry.

He was at the skirmish in which Chandos was slain, on the morning of Dec. 31, 1370; assisted at various military operations in that country, and was at the barbarous sacking of Limoges, the last transaction in which the prince was engaged.² When Sir Baldwin Freville, seneschal of Poitou, went into England, he succeeded him; and a contemporary thus speaks of him in this situation:

Monsr. Thomas Percy li vaillant

Yfuist ove honour moult grant.²

But, during his absence on an expedition, he had the misfortune to lose the town of Poitiers, where he officially resided, to Bertrand du Guesclin; and he was himself soon after taken prisoner by Evan of Wales, in an affair near the castle of Soubise.⁴ His captivity, however, was not of long duration, the castle of Limosin being given up⁵ for his ransom in the next year, 47 Ed. III. The prince of Wales and his father, in consideration of his services, granted him, 50 Ed. III. an annuity of an hundred marks out of the exchequer at Caernarvon, and the same sum out of the king's exchequer during his life.

He officiated at the Coronation of Richard the Second;⁶ and next appears, 2 R. II. as admiral of the northern seas, where he made several prizes.⁷ As he was passing over into France to the aid of the duke of Britanny, he narrowly escaped suffering shipwreck in the dreadful tempest in which Sir John Arundel and upwards of a thousand others were drowned. Scarcely had the storm ceased, when a Spanish vessel assailed him: he captured it by boarding, after an obstinate resistance, and returned with it into port; then proceeding upon his voyage, carried over his men and horses safely to Brest. He was joint governor of that place with Sir Hugh Calverley.⁸ About this time he was named one of the commissioners to settle the infractions of a treaty made with the Scots in the former reign. In 3 R. II. he attended the Earl of Buckingham in his expedition into France; and in the next year was employed with the same nobleman and the Earl of Warwick in suppressing the insurrection:⁹ he was in the retinue of the king when he met the rebels at Mile-end.¹⁰ Returning to France,¹¹ he was at the siege of Nantes, and, 5 R. II. was made captain of the castle of Brest, and afterwards of the town, 6 R. II.

He is spoken of, 7 R. II. as being of the king's council; commissioned to act in treaties with Flanders and France, and to guard the East Marches. In 8 and 10 R. II. he was again made admiral; in which capacity he escorted the Duke of Lancaster into Castile, was at the storming of Ribadavia, and other conflicts in Spain: particularly at the barriers of Noya in Galicia he signalized himself by fighting hand to hand with Barrois des Barres, one of the ablest captains of France. Having been afflicted with the distemper that proved fatal to so many of the soldiers, he came home with the army.¹² He was, 13 R. II. appointed vice-chamberlain of the royal household,¹³ and justice of South Wales; and successively obtained grants of two castles in the Principality.

We find him in 16 R. II. at the head of the embassy which brought about the peace with France, where he was much caressed and honoured by the French king: he was then steward of the household. He was retained to serve in the first campaign in Ireland, 18 R. II. The disputes between Richard and the Duke of Gloucester so disgusted him, that he prudently solicited permission to retire to his own estate, and obtained it with some reluctance on the part of the king.

At length, in 21 R. II. he was rewarded with the dignity of Earl of Worcester; though it is singular that the author of the narrative never mentions him by this title. He was also made captain of the town and castle and marches of Calais. His appointment to be admiral of Ireland is dated Jan. 16, 22 R. II. It was preparatory to this second Irish expedition, in which he was to take with him thirty-five men at arms, knights and esquires, and one hundred archers; to every twenty archers one carpenter and one mason.

The text sufficiently describes the part that he took at the close of the reign of Richard, and the beginning of that of his successor. His disaffection to his old master might arise from the banishment of the Earl of Northumberland and his son, at which he was much exasperated.17 When Henry ascended the throne, it was one of his first objects to conciliate and attach so valuable a servant. Accordingly he bestowed many high appointments upon him; made him ambassador to France, governor of Aquitaine, admiral of the fleet, lieutenant in North and South Wales; and retained him as governor to his eldest son. Polidore Vergil is quite at a loss to account for his defection from Bolingbroke, which, he says, no author of any credit has explained; and he ridiculously attributes it to envy. Carte affirms, that he detested Henry as the author of the murder of Richard, and as an usurper of the crown, to the prejudice of the right heir, Edmund Mortimer Earl of March. Whatever might be the real cause of the dispute between Henry IV. and the Percies, each party laid the blame upon the other. When the affair came to an open rupture, Sir Thomas joined his nephew Hotspur, was taken at the battle of Shrewsbury, him in Ireland, where they had put to death many of his faithful friends. Wherefore he would take no rest until he had fully avenged himself upon Macmore, who called himself excellent king and lord of great Ireland, where he hath but little territory of any kind. Upon speedily to send word that he is coming to Milford haven. This place hath a good market, and there we passed ten whole days pleasantly, waiting for the North wind that we might depart. Trumpets and the sound of minstrels might be heard day and night. Men at arms arrived from all quarters. Vessels took in their lading of bread, wine, cows, and calves, salt meat, and plenty of water. Excellent and beautiful horses were put on board. Every one made ready his baggage, and on the eleventh day the king, having taken leave of the ladies, set out gallantly accompanied.

Note 2. Froissart, vol. III. c. 259. IV. c. 9. 21, 28, 31, 39, 41.

Note 3. "Sir Thomas Percy the valiant was there, with very great honor." MS. Life of the Black Prince, by Chandos Herald. Froissart represents him as immediate successor of Sir John Chandos; but this was not the fact.

Note 4. Froiss. IV. c. 41, 42.

Note 5. Walsingham. Ypodigma Neustriæ in Anglica Scripta, Camden, p. 529. Dugdale has rendered Liziniacum by Lymosin: according to Baudraud, Geogr. p. 581, it is Saint Germain Leuroux.

Note 6. Walsing. Hist. Angl. p. 197.

Note 7. Stow, Annales by Howes, p. 280.

Note 8. Walsing, ut supra, p. 232, 235.

Note 9. Id. p. 260, et alibi.

Note 10. Stow, p. 287.

Note 11. Froiss. V. c. 42, 45, 46.

Note 12. Froiss. VIII. c. 3, 45. IX. c. 1, 4.

Note 13. Rymer, VII. p. 677.

Then the mariners hoisted sail without delay, and in less than two days we came in sight of the tower of Waterford, in Ireland; where the wretched and filthy people, some in rags, others girt with a rope, had the one a hole, the other a hut for their dwelling. These were forced to carry great burdens, and to go into the water up to their waists, for the speedy unloading of the barges from the sea. For the king and his men were now in the city, where he was kindly received by the common people and merchants. He took the field six days after with the English, who rode boldly in close order to Kilkenny, eighty miles up the country, in the neighbourhood of the enemy. There the king and his friends waited fourteen days for the succours of the Earl of Rutland, who behaved in an evil and strange manner throughout the whole of his course. Every man at the outset had made the best provision that he could of bread, wine, and corn; and early on a summer's morning, the very vigil of Saint John,^m [23rd June 1399] the king marched directly towards Macmore, who would neither submit, nor obey him in any way, but affirmed that he was the rightful king of Ireland, and that he would never cease from war and the defence of his country till his death; he said that the wish to deprive him of it by conquest was unlawful. Then the king prepared to go into the depth of the deserts in search of him. For his abode is in the woods,ⁿ where he is accustomed to dwell at all seasons; and he had with him, according to report, three thousand hardy men. Wilder people I never saw; they did not appear to me to be much dismayed at the English.

Note m. June 23d. He seems to have timed the commencement of his operations so as to enter upon them under the auspices and protection of Saint John the Baptist, who was his patron saint. Frequent allusions are found to this fact. Indeed he had two other patrons in the calendar, King Edmund, and Edward the Confessor. In an old picture painted in 1377, and engraved by Hollar in 1639, he is represented kneeling by these three saints, and addressing his devotions to the Virgin. His will is prefaced in the name of the Trinity, the Virgin, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Edward the Confessor.

Note n. "As the woods and mountains were proper places for out-lawes and theeves, so were they their naturall castells and fortifications; thither they drave their preyes and stealthes; there they lurkt, and lay in waite to doe mischiefe. These fast-places they kept unknowne, by making the wayes and entries thereunto impassable; there they kept their creaghts or heardes of cattle, living by the milk of the cowe without husbandry or tillage. "Sylvis pro castris; paludibus utitur pro fossatis," i.e. "He uses woods for castles; he uses marshes for ditches." says Giraldus.

The whole host were assembled at the entrance of the deep woods, and every one put himself right well in array, for it was thought, for the time, that we should have battle; but I know that the Irish did not shew themselves on this occasion. Orders were then given by the king, that every thing around should be set fire to: this resolve of burning was to weaken the power of the Irish: many a village and house were there consumed. While this was going on, the king, who bears^o leopards in his arms, caused a space to be cleared on all sides, and pennons and standards to be quickly hoisted: afterwards out of true and entire affection, he sent for the son^p of the Duke of Lancaster, a fair, young, and handsome^q bachelor, and knighted him, saying, "My fair cousin, henceforth be preux and valiant, for you have some valiant blood to conquer."^r

Note o. In his first expedition he had adopted the arms of Edward the Confessor. The reason assigned for this by Cristal was, that " the Irish loved and feared him more than any King of England before or since; " but it is more likely to have been founded in Richard's devotion to his patron saint. "When our king went thither last year," said the knight to Froissart, "he laid aside the leopards and flower de luces, and bore the arms of Saint Edward emblazoned on all his banners. This we heard was very pleasing to the Irish." We now find the leopards restored; for in 1397 the king added the above arms to his own, and bare them together party per pale. The assumption of these arms of Edward proved fatal to the Earl of Surrey in the reign of Henry VIII. though they had been formally granted to the family by Richard II. in 1394.

Selden has asserted and proved that the leopards were anciently the coat of England. They were borne by Geoffrey, Earl of Anjou, son-in-law of Henry I upon his shield and slippers, when the King of England made him a knight at Rouen, by the ceremony of the Bath." Richard I. grandson of this earl, bare upon his shield in his great seal, three leopards passant in pale. When the Black Prince summoned his council at Bourdeaux to deliberate upon proceeding to the aid of Peter, his biographer makes him say,

— ie oy contier [I heard it told,]

Que li leopards et leur compaigne [That the leopards and their company]

Se disployerent en Espaigne. [Deployed themselves in Spain.]

Nicholas Serby was Leopard Herald in the reign of Henry V.

It was an old opinion, pretended to have originated in a prophecy of Merlin, that the lilies and leopards should be united in the same field. The ambassadors sent by Edward III in 1329 to claim the regency of France, upon the death of Charles the Fair, opened their harangue with this declaration. Richard had challenged Charles VI upon the best title to the fleur de lis. The passage of Ariosto quoted by Menestrier and others, by a strong anachronism, assigns the leopards and fleurs de lis to a Duke of Lancaster in the time of Charlemagne.

"You clearly see that great banner which sets together the fleur-de-lis and the leopards."

"Tu vedi ben quella bandiera grande Ch' insieme pon la Fiordilegi, e i pardi." - Orl. Fur. C. X. st 77.

Gower describes Richard by an attribute similar to that of the text.

Praise be to Richard, whom the leopards with scepters honor.

Sit laus Richardi, quem sceptra colunt leopardi.

Note p. Henry, afterwards Henry V eldest son of Henry Duke of Lancaster, by Mary youngest daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, ¹ was but in his eleventh year when this transaction took place. He was brought up in the king's palace, and received the early part of his education at Queen's College, in Oxford; and from comparison of dates it may be concluded that he quitted his academical studies for a while to join the army. Because Henry Beaufort, his uncle, under whose superintendance he is understood to have been placed at the University, and who had been Chancellor in the preceding year, 1398, was himself attached to the expedition. Whether he continued at Oxford after he became Prince of Wales does not so clearly appear; though from the little mention made of him till the year 1402, it has been conjectured that this was the case. The commons, at the beginning of his father's reign, requested that, in consideration of his tender age, he might not go out of the kingdom; and it has been said, that he was sent for to court from Oxford, when he was placed under the military tuition of the veteran Sir Thomas Percy. After the death of his governor, against whom he fought at Shrewsbury, he acquired much experience in arms under the Duke of York in Wales; but this was the first campaign in which the future conqueror of France unsheathed his sword. The remarkable event of Henry's life, alluded to in the text, is not mentioned by any other writers of the time; though they speak of the king's having taken him to Ireland to learn the art of war, "ut rem militarem et disceret et primum exerceret." i.e. "so that he might both learn the art of war and first practice it."

Note q. The term "bachelor" is used in a military sense. He was one who was not yet knighted, but was a candidate for the dignity of knighthood, and for that purpose exercised the profession of arms.

Note r. There is an obscurity about this passage, at least to the translator, who has rendered it according to the best consideration he could give it. The difficulty lies chiefly in the word sans, which is capable of two interpretations. When any such points occur, he must refer them to the candour of the reader, who shall take the pains to compare them, hoping that he may be permitted to adopt the plea of Chaucer, made at the very period in which this now antiquated language, though lost among the commonalty, and banished from the pleadings of the courts, was spoken and written by scholars and polished persons, and formed part of a liberal education. "The understandynge of Englyshmen woll not stretche to the privy termes of Frenche, what so ever we bosten of straunge langage." The words may signify that he had, as yet, little experience (sens) in conquest, and that, therefore, his chief concern would be to give proof of his valour. Or they might be intended to convey an allusion to the idea that Richard is said to have formed of Henry's future ability. Titus Livius tells us, that "he often used to say publicly of him at court, that he had always heard it reported from his ancestors, that one Henry should be born among his kindred, who should be renowned all over the world for his praiseworthy and glorious deeds; and that he verily believed the prince to be that person."

And for his greater honour and satisfaction,^s to the end that it might be the better imprinted in his memory, he made eight or ten other knights; but, indeed, I know not what their names were,^t for I took little heed about the matter, seeing that melancholy, uneasiness, and care, had formed, and altogether chosen my heart for their abode, and anxiety had dispossessed me of joy. Wherefore it was, I never could tell. In this condition I rode with them, and well observed all their doings; till at last the time came that I was able to give account of it, and of the mortal and most cruel treason that soon after ensued, as you shall hear.

Note s. Richard gave many proofs of his affection for young Henry, who seems ever to have retained a grateful sense of his kindness; for one of the first acts after his coronation was to pay due funeral honours to his remains, and to shew as much respect to his memory as circumstances would allow. Soon after the ceremony described in the text, the youth was placed in an embarrassing situation; when news arrived of his father having landed in England, and marched through the country in arms. Upon that occasion Richard sent for him into his presence, and tried to sooth and relieve his feelings. The dialogue that took place between them, as it is given by Otterbourne, is equally creditable to both parties. "Ecce, ait, Hen. fili, quid pater tuus fecit mihi, revera terram meam ingressus hostiliter, guerrarum more captivans et perimens sine misericordia et pietate. Certe, fili, pro persona tua doleo, quia pro patris tui hoc infortunio, privandus eris tuo fortassis patrimonio!" Cui ille, licet puer, non tamen respondit pueriliter sub his verbis; "Vere, gratiose rex et domine, de his rumoribus multum doleo, et constat vestræ dominationi, prout æstimo, quod ego sum innocens de patris facto." Cui rex, "novi," ait, "quod nihil ad te pertinet per patrem perpetratum negotium, et ideo te de facto habeo excusatum." But, before he left Ireland, he thought proper to place him, and Humphrey, son of the late Duke of Gloucester, as hostages, in Trim Castle. When the Duke of Lancaster reached Chester he sent for them; and they joined him either in that city, or on the march to London. Humphrey then had the king in custody in his turn.

Note t. One of these was a son of the Countess of Salisbury; another might be the son of the Duke of Gloucester, mentioned in the former note. It was always honourable to receive knighthood in the field, in sight of an army, before a battle or assault, where banners of princes were displayed; but to receive it under the banner of the king was a very high honour for one not of royal birth. Great numbers were occasionally made in this way. Three hundred were knighted at Vittoria by the Black Prince, the Duke of Lancaster, and other lords, when they expected an engagement with the Spaniards.

Thus we passed straight through the woods, for the Irish^w were much afraid of our arrows. There they raised such a shouting^x and noise that, in my opinion, they might easily have been heard at the distance of a long league. They did not all escape, owing to the archers, who were often up with them.^y Very frequently they assailed the vanguard, and threw their darts with such force that they pierced haubergeon and plates through and through. Many English stragglers they put to death, when parties went out to forage without waiting for the (proper) hour, or the hoisting of the standard.^z

Note w. Rapin, in his account of the first invasion by Henry II in 1171, remarks, "It is almost incredible, that the Irish, who were exceedingly numerous, should suffer themselves to be thus over-run by a handful of Englishmen; this is imputed to their great dread of the English crossbows, the use of which, till then, was unknown to them." Cristal concludes, reasonably enough, "that they could not withstand the arrows, for they are not armed against them;" and it is besides obvious, that, so long as this impression of alarm was kept up, the bowmen would prevent them from closing upon an adversary, and at all times outmatch their ruder missiles. The Irish weapons were the sparthe or steel hatchet, the lance, and two darts. Froissart mentions also pointed knives with broad blades, sharp on both sides like a dart-head. They used stones too with great effect. But the bright and keen hatchet was most formidable; this, wielded with only one hand, the thumb being extended upon the handle to direct it, had been known to sever a horseman's thigh at a single stroke. No helmet or armour was proof against it. In daily intercourse every man carried one of these about him; and the evils resulting from this practice to a people, quick to receive and resent offence, may readily be imagined; neither is it wonderful that so many maimed and mutilated persons were to be seen among them. But their best means of attack and defence in battle were neutralised by the arrow. Hence Giraldus recommends the employment of archers; while he suggests the advantage of light troops, and judiciously comments upon the ineffectiveness of heavy armed cavalry against the activity of the Irishry.

Note x. This shouting they made rather from an old superstitious notion than from fear, or expectation of terrifying the enemy. "Perhaps some will impute it to want of gravity and prudence in me, if I give an account of an old opinion of the wild Irish, and still current among them; that he, who in the great clamour and outcry which the soldiers usually make with much straining before an onset, does not huzza as the rest do, is suddenly snatched from the ground, and carried flying into these desert vallies, from any part of Ireland whatsoever; that there he eats grass, laps water, has some remains of his reason, but none of his speech; and that at long run he shall be caught by the hunters and brought back to his own home." Camden's Ireland. Description of Kerry.

Note y. There is, again, an ambiguity in this passage, though both MSS. agree in it. It may, on the other hand, be taken to mean that such of them as were opposed to the archers ran away from then. Many involutions of expression occur in the poem. There were archers on horseback as well as on foot.

Note z. Irregularly; without waiting for their captain.

For the horses of the country scour the hills and vallies fleeter than a bounding deer; wherefore they did much mischief to the army of the king, whose courage^a was extraordinary, seeing he resolved to subdue and reduce to entire obedience a people who are almost savage. And indeed Macmore's own uncle, afraid of his life, came one day with a halter about his neck,^b and a drawn sword in his hand, to throw himself at the feet of the king and sue for mercy; I beheld a great many others of his retinue naked and barefoot, like criminals ready to be put to death. Now when the king saw them he was moved with compassion, and said, Friends, as to the evils and the wrong that you have committed against me, I pardon you, upon condition that each of you will swear to be faithful to me for the time to come." Then every one readily complied with his demand. When this was done, he sent word to Macmore, who called himself lord and king of Ireland, (that country) where he has many a wood but little cultivated land, that if he would come straightways to him, with a rope about his neck, as his uncle had done, he would admit him to mercy, and elsewhere give him castles and lands in abundance. Macmore told the king's people that he would do no such thing for all the treasure of the sea^c, or on this side (the sea), but would continue to fight and harass him. Full well he knew that the English had little to eat^d; nothing was to be got; not even a pennyworth was to be bought by any one who had not brought it with him. In this condition was the army obliged to remain eleven days, unable to find any thing, save only a few green oats for the horses, which being frequently lodged in the open air, (exposed) to rain and wind, were quite faint; and many of them perished of hunger. No one would believe the distress of the men, high and low; nor the evil that the English endured. They could not take Macmore, but on the other hand he made them suffer much pain and grief with hunger. I really witnessed that on some days five or six of them had but a single loaf; some there were, even gentlemen, knights, and squires, who did not eat a morsel for five days together.

Note a. Richard's enemies have not given him credit for this quality; though two of the last great exigencies of his life, if they be not falsely reported, shew him to have been capable of it, both in suffering and in action, to an extraordinary degree. A later historian has enlarged too much upon this part of his behaviour in Ireland, without producing any authority for what he has advanced. "He (the king), made at first some progress against the rebels, and in several encounters gave marks of valour, which caused a belief, that if hitherto he had shown no great inclination for war, it was not to be ascribed so much to a want of courage as to a bad education." The mutability of his character renders any decision with respect to this point very difficult. The fact seems to have been, that, whatever lessons he might have received from Sir Guiscard D'Angle, his military tutor, one of the bravest and most experienced knights in the train of his valiant father, they were early obliterated by the society into which he was thrown. He had hardly ever exposed his person in tourney, or in fight; and his whole career shews that he was more attached to the pomp and parade, than to the serviceable exercise of arms.

Note b. Stow renders it a wyth. It is well known that this was the customary submission of a rebel.

Si sont assentis a rendre au derrein jour, [Thus they agreed to surrender on the final day,]

A venir a mercy bellement par loy seur, [To come to mercy humbly under sure law,]

Chascun la hart au col, a loy de boiseur. [Each with the rope about his neck, by the law of the woodsman.]

With this appendage the brave Oliphant and his comrades issued from the castle of Stirling, when they yielded to Edward I. in the year 1304.5

Note c. He seems to allude to an equivalent for the barony of Norragh, as well as to the annuity that had been promised to him: probably some additional gratuity, on condition of surrender, had been tendered on the part of the king.

Note d. It was far otherwise during the hostilities of 1394, if we may believe Froissart. "I was told that during the whole campaign, they were well supplied with all sorts of provisions: for the English are expert in war, and know well how to forage, and take proper care of themselves and horses."

There was much contention to get a share of them; they rushed into the sea, as they would into (their bed of) straw; every one spent his halfpenny or penny for himself, some in eating, others in drinking: the whole was rifled without delay: I believe there were more than a thousand men drunk^f on that day, seeing that the wine was of Ossey^g and Spain which is a good country ( for it ). Many a cuff and blow passed between them.

Note f. The strength of the grape of Burgundy had been often injuriously experienced by the English in their wars in France. In this instance the wine was comparatively cheap, and they had been exhausted by severe privations. The price of the wines of 'Oseye and Spain' had been regulated by statute during this reign. They were not to be charged at more than 100 shillings the Tun wholesale; and were to be retailed at not more than sixpence per gallon. If they had undergone land carriage into the interior, an additional halfpenny was to be laid on every gallon. But in the present case they, perhaps, paid no duty; and, if so, the men could have purchased a quart for three halfpence; this comes near to the very expressions of the text, if, indeed, they are not employed in a general sense. The effect of this upon a famished and ill-organised soldiery may easily be understood, and is but too characteristically represented.

Note g. Osoye, in Lambeth MS. Osore, according to the British Museum MS. is Auxerre; Osoye is Alsace. Both expressions are here presented in a single line;

Mes vin i a de fi le scai, [But there came wine of the thread]

Ne scai ou d'Auçoire ou d'Aussai. [I know not whether from Auxerre or from Aussai.]

In the "Squyr of low Degree," the king of Hungary, after enumerating a variety of wines, tells his daughter that she shall be presented with " pots of Osey." But the conjecture of Ellis upon that passage, (q: oseille? sorrel, ) is quite erroneous.

On the morrow morning, however, the king set out on his march directly for Dublin, in spite of all the shouting of his enemies; when Macmore sent a begging friar to the king, saying that he wished to be friends with him, and with clasped hands to sue for mercy; (requesting) that at least he would send to him some lord who might be relied upon to treat of peace, so that their anger, which had long been cruel, might be all extinguished. This news made many joyful in the host of the king, for every one was desirous of repose. He asked his council their opinion, and who would be a proper person to employ. They agreed in few words that the honourable Earl of Glocester,^h for the

Note h. Thomas Despencer, son of Edward Lord Despenser, by Elizabeth daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh, and great grandson of Hugh Despencer, executed in the reign of Edward II.

His father dying in 49 Edw. III. when he was two years old, his wardship was granted to Edmund Earl of Cambridge, uncle of Richard II. to the end that he should marry his daughter, a circumstance which afterwards took place. At the time of this expedition he could not be more than twenty-six years old; but he had served in Ireland in the first campaign against Macmorogh and the other chieftains; and had been one of the negociators of Richard's second marriage. Dugdale has erred, when he informs us, from Walsingham, that this nobleman, in 20 Ric. II. was arrested with others, at Nottingham, upon a charge of high treason. The passage of the historian, which he has mistaken, refers to the appointment of Despencer, with associates, to be appellants of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick. After the death of the two former, and the banishment of the latter, Thomas Despencer was made Earl of Gloucester, and had a portion of the estates of the Earl of Warwick assigned to him. Being always in favour with the king, and connected with him by marriage with his cousin, he petitioned, in the parliament of 1398, for the revocation of the judgment that had been pronounced against his great grandfather, and obtained it.

When Richard's army was broken up at Milford, no mention is made of his having gone over to the Duke of Lancaster; but he sat in the first parliament of Henry IV. excused himself as to the share he had taken in the death of Gloucester, upon the plea of compulsion, and became one of the commissioners for the deposition of the king. Yet he experienced no favour at the hand of Henry; for he was reduced to the rank of Lord Despencer, stripped of his newly acquired castles, lordships, and lands, and sentenced to hold all his hereditary possessions at the king's mercy: he was to give no liveries or cognisances, nor to have any retainers except domestics; and, if ever he should attempt to assist the deposed king, he was to be prosecuted as a traitor. This attempt, however, he made in conjunction with the conspirators in 1 Hen. IV. During the confusion of the affair at Cirencester he escaped from the inn, in which he was lodged, over the roofs of some houses, and fled for refuge to his strong castle at Cardiff. But even this afforded him no security. He had, indeed, eluded a party despatched by the king to apprehend him; and had embarked on board a vessel in the hope of escaping with his servants and treasure. But a severer fate awaited him; and the circumstances of his arrest were peculiarly tantalising. Having gained the Bristol Channel in fancied security, the captain inquired to what port he wished to proceed: and when he told him he intended to go beyond sea, refused to carry him any where but to Bristol. Despencer threatened the mariner with death; and in the course of their altercation, twenty armed men, concealed in the hold, rushed upon deck and over-powered him and his attendants. He was then taken into Bristol, and delivered into the custody of the Mayor of that city. Henry wished to have had an interview with him before he was put to death; but, on the second day after his arrival, a multitude assembled, and called aloud for the traitor to the king and realm, that he might be brought out to execution. The Mayor in vain endeavoured to oppose them; they dragged their victim forth, and beheaded him in the market place. His head was set upon London Bridge; his body was buried in the midst of the choir at Tewksbury, under a lamp that burned before the host.

In Rymer's Additional MSS. is an order to give to William Flaxman the cloak of motley velvet and furred damask, which Thomas Lord le Despencer wore when he was brought to Bristol.

Froissart 4 calls him one of the most powerful barons in England. He was Lord of Glamorgan and Morganok; and his influence in South Wales must have rendered him dangerous. In the proclamation against the insurgents he is simply styled Thomas Despencer, Chivaler; a term which shews the feeling of indignation or contempt entertained by the government towards him, reducing his rank as low as possible. Knighthood itself was indelible, except by a formal act of degradation.

He left one son and two daughters by his wife Constance, daughter of Edmund Duke of York. She survived her husband nine years.

Then said Duke Henry, "The thing will do well, and it will be a good method. It is my advice that the aged Earl of Northumberland^h, my fair cousin, set out to-morrow early in the morning, and that he return not until by truce or by force he bring back the king; let him also take with him our hundred lances and a thousand archers, who must be very diligent; for there is nothing in the world that I so much desire as to have the king in my keeping." Then he said to the earl, "Fair cousin, be careful to depart, and to accomplish well your enterprise; for you can do me no greater pleasure in the world. I pray you now make haste, and I shall stay at Chester till you return, or till I have news from you, which may revive my heart with joy." "God grant it may be such," said the earl; "by reason or by craft will I bring him."

Note h. Henry, eldest son of Henry Percy, by Mary daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster, married in 32 Edw. III. Margaret daughter of Ralph Lord Nevil, by whom he had three sons, Henry surnamed Hotspur, Thomas, and Ralph. His second marriage with Maude, sister and heiress of Anthony Lord Lucy, and widow of the Earl of Angus, was without issue.

The following notices respecting this veteran negociator and warrior will convey some idea of the manner in which his public life was spent. In 33 and 37 Edw. III. he bore arms in France. 42 Edw. III. his father died, when he was twenty-six years of age; and he did homage, and had livery of his lands. In that year he was with the king in Calais, when the peace was made with France, and was sent to the relief of the marches of Poitou with three hundred men at arms and a thousand archers. 43 Edw. III. in the war in France, his retinue consisting of fifty nine men at arms, twelve nights, forty seven squires, and a hundred archers on horseback. 46 Edw. III. he accompanied the king towards France to the relief of Thouars; when they were driven back by contrary winds, after nine weeks tossing at sea. 47 Edw. III. he purchased, for 760 pounds, the custody of the castle of Mitford in Northumberland, with all the lands, during the minority of the Earl of Athol; and attended the king into Flanders. 50 Edw. III. he was Marshal of England, and went officially to inspect the towns and castles of Calais, and the marches thereof. 51 Edw. III. General of the forces sent to France; his retinue a hundred men at arms, and as many archers, with a ready supply of two hundred men at arms, and two hundred archers all mounted. He appeared now as a protector of Wycliff, to whom he shewed much respect at the conference with the bishops before the Duke of Lancaster in Saint Paul's Cathedral; and with difficulty avoided the fury of the populace, who rose on the part of the Bishop of London, and would have put him and the duke to death, had they not escaped in a boat over the Thames to Kennington¹.

At the coronation of Richard II he acted as Marshal of England, and was advanced to the dignity and title of Earl of Northumberland. Shortly after he resigned his Marshal's rod, and went into Scotland against the Earl of Dunbar at the head of ten thousand men, and wasted his lands. 2 Rich. II. he entered that country again, with the Earl of Nottingham, and took Berwick. 4 Rich. II. the Scots invaded Cumberland and Westmorland; but he was stopped in his preparations to advance against them by the king's letters. 5 Rich. II. a dispute arose between him and John of Gant, which had nearly proved fatal to him. As commissioner for guarding the marches, with special care of the castles and garrisons, he had appointed Sir Matthew Redman his lieutenant at Berwick. Redman, acting strictly up to his trust, refused to admit the Duke of Lancaster into the place, on his return from Scotland. In the same manner he was shut out at Bamborough castle; though his provisions were stored in both places; and his family had taken refuge in the latter fortress². The duke complained of this treatment in the presence of the king, at a meeting of the nobles at Berkhamstead, and taxed Northumberland with ingratitude, unfaithfulness, and disobedience: upon which the earl became furious, and used such reproachful language, that the king, who had in vain commanded him to be silent, ordered him to be arrested: but, the Earls of Warwick and Suffolk undertaking for his appearance at the next parliament, he was set at liberty. Lancaster and Northumberland both attended the next parliament with large bodies of armed men, to the terrour of the citizens; and complaint was made of it to the king³, who decided the quarrel, and reconciled them for the time. 7 Rich. II. he chastised the Scots who had made an incursion upon Northumberland, and had seized Berwick through the treachery of the lieutenant governor. This furnished a fit occasion for the Duke of Lancaster, who was intent upon humbling him, to accuse him in parliament, and obtain sentence of death and confiscation against him: but the king set aside the judgment, and Northumberland repaired the accident by recovering Berwick. In the same year he was of the commission for receiving the residue of ransom due for David King of Scotland; Sheriff of Northumberland with the custody of the castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and retained to serve the king in the Scotch war for forty days. About this time he acquired a great accession of landed property by his second marriage. 9 Rich. II. he was again Sheriff of the same county. 10 and 1 1 Rich. II. Embassador in Scotland. 13 Rich. II. Commissioner to treat of peace with France and Flanders; but 14 Rich. II. recalled to guard the borders. 19 Rich. II. he was present at the interview between the Kings of England and France at Guisnes, and was one of the English Lords who attended Charles VI. to his pavilion. 21 Rich. II. in consequence of some expressions used by his eldest son Hotspur, derogatory to Richard II. he was summoned from the north, but refused to make his appearance; for which, Froissart informs us, he was banished. As he was preparing to retire into Scotland, the king passed over into Ireland. Henry of Lancaster, with whom he probably held communication, landed; and Northumberland with Hotspur joined him at Doncaster: then followed the train of events related in the metrical history.

The zeal that he had shewn in the cause of Henry IV. procured his advancement to the office of Constable of England for life, with the gift of the Isle of Man, to hold by bearing the Lancaster sword at the coronation. He was besides made Constable of the castles of Chester, Flint, Conway, and Caernarvon. In 2 Henry IV. he was commissioned to treat of a marriage between Blanch eldest daughter of the king, with Lewis, Duke of Bavaria. 3 Henry IV. he defeated the Scots in a decisive battle at Halidon-hill, where he took Earl Douglas, their general, prisoner; — and here his services and his intimate connexion with Henry IV. ceased.

4 Henry IV. In this year his disaffection to the king began to shew itself. Some have affirmed that it was on account of money long due to him for the wardenship of the Marches, which Henry IV. was unwilling to pay; others, that it originated in a dispute about the prisoners taken at Halidon. The Percys took up arms, and Sir Thomas and oung Henry lost their lives at Shrewsbury, before Northumberland could bring up the force he had collected for their aid. But the earl afterwards appeared before the king on promise of safety, and disavowed the actions of his son; nor was Henry willing to push the matter any farther; but granted him pardon on commitment to safe custody; and in 6 Henry IV. either from recollection of what he owed to him, or from awe of him, restored all his possessions. 7 Henry IV. he joined the insurgents in Yorkshire, and when they were quelled, he was pursued into Scotland. With a resolution unbroken by these reverses he next retired into Wales, and concerted with Owen Glendour the means of deposing Henry IV. Then proclaiming liberty to all who would rise and follow him he re-appeared in Yorkshire 8 Henry IV. at the head of a considerable number of men. Sir Thomas Rokeby, the sheriff of that county met him on Branham Moor near Tadcaster, and a skirmish ensued, in which he was slain. Such was the end of Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland, who betrayed the king that had advanced him to honour, and rebelled against the king whom he had placed upon the throne. His head and quarters were distributed to London and different places where he had been respected and obeyed. His age and high station, and the remembrance of past services rendered him an object of regret to the Lancastrians⁴, and the partisans of Richard might be ready to believe that they had lost a friend; but his real intention, it is said, was to have conferred the crown upon the Earl of March, the rightful heir.

Upon his sense of religious obligation no observation need be made; but it may be mentioned that he had been so far influenced by the feeling of the times as in 50 Edw. III. to grant the hospital of Saint Leonard at Alnwick to the Abbot and Convent of Alnwick to hold for ever; and 19 Rich. II. to found a Chantry in the chapel of All Saints at Cockermouth for one priest to celebrate divine service there daily, for the good estate of himself and Maud his wife, and for their souls after their departure hence; as well as those of their ancestors, and all the faithful deceased.

His estates and residence upon the border country rendered him the natural guardian of those parts, and occasioned his frequent employment as Warden to watch over them, and as Commissioner to treat of peace with his neighbours the Scots. His different appointments of this kind bear date, 42, 45, 46, 47, 50 Edw. III.; 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 19, 14, 18 Rich. II.; 1 Henry IV⁵.

Note 1. Collins, Life of John of Gaunt, pp. 20, 3

Note 2. Id. pp. 41, 43.

Note 3. Cotton's Abridgement, p. 195.

Note 4. This is evident from the manner in which Walsingham speaks of his death. Hist. Angl. p. 377.

Note 5. See the article, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Dugdale, Baronage, I. pp. 276, 277, 278.

Northumberland now made his people hasten straight from that place to Rhuddlan [Map], where he found a toilsome and heavy road: many a mountain and great rock are between them. He got over it as fairly and as well as he could, and mightily rejoiced he was. He sent to the castellan,ⁱ who was an old knight, commanding him instantly to surrender the fortress in the name of the duke, or he and all who might be taken therein should be hanged without mercy: not for all the wealth of the realm should they escape: doubtless he would make them taste of death, if they gave not up to him the castle and place. At this menace of the earl, the castellan turned pale with fear; for he had long kept the castle and approach in the name of the king. It is very strong, because the sea comes into the fosses, and on the other side it is posted very loftily upon a rock; it's walls are strong and thick, well provided with large towers.^k But such was the fear of the old man from morn till night, that, coward like, he gave up the keys to him: although King Richard had gently besought him to keep it, seeing it was well stored with wine and corn; for he had very lately been there, and myself with him. The castellan bargained with the earl to surrender it in the name of Duke Henry, upon condition that he should continue castellan of that place all his life, to which the duke agreed.^l

Note i. Whoever the governor of this fortress might be, he does not appear to have been at his post. His office had a peculiar authority attached to it, as by an express provision 10 Rich. II. he was constituted for the time being sheriff of the county. "Constabularius castri de Flint pro tempore existenti debet esse vicecomes comitatus de Flint."¹

Note 1. Calend. Rot. Pat. p. 214. I Pat. 10 Ric. II: "The constable of Flint Castle for the time being must be the sheriff of the county of Flint."

Note k. The vestiges of this castle prove it's original strength. The walls are flanked by six round towers, three of which remain tolerably entire. The ditch is wide and deep, and on both sides faced with stone. The steep escarpment towards the river was defended with walls, in which were square bastions; one of them is still standing.¹ The Welsh antiquaries state that it was erected before the Norman Conquest by Llewellyn ap Sitsylt, who reigned over North Wales from 1015 to 1020: " Ruthlanae castrum primo conditum est a Leolino, Sisilii filio, Cambriae principe; fuitque non solum ipsius Leolini verumetiam Gruffini filii sui praecipuum palatium."² Harold burnt it in 1063,³ and it was restored by William the Conqueror or Henry II.⁴

Note 1. Evans, Topographical and Historical Description of N. Wales, p. 756.

Note 2. Powel, Annot. in Silv. Giraldi Itin. Cambr. c. 10. n. 2.

Note 3. Orderic. Vital, in Dugdale, Baronage, I. p. 36.

Note 4. Powel, ut su

Note l. That the agreement was kept seems confirmed by the grant of the constableship of the several castles of Chester, Flint, Conway, and Caernarvon, all upon the same line, to the Earl of Northumberland, in 1 Henry IV.⁵ Rhuddlan, which forms a link in the chain, is omitted in the list; and I therefore conclude that the old castellan retained it.

Note 5. Dugdale, Baronage, I. p. 278.

So they put themselves in good array; and the earl, without making any stir, went on to Conway to fulfil his word. There is an arm of the sea before the town; but when the earl came in front of it, he sent a heraldⁿ to King Richard, to ask if he would be pleased to grant him safe conduct that he might pass over to tell him how the duke was desirous of coming to an agreement with him. Then the herald crossed the water, and found the king aloft in the castle hardly assailed by sorrow. He said cheerfully to him, "Sire, the honourable Earl of Northumberland hath sent me hither to relate to you how desirous Duke Henry is to be immediately at peace with you. May it please you, for the better knowledge of the truth, to grant him safe conduct and leave to come here, for otherwise he will not presume to stir." Salisbury, who was there, then said to king Richard that it would be a good thing to make him come thither alone:^o then the king said aloud to the messenger in his own language, " I heartily give the Earl of Northumberland permission to pass." He thanked him a hundred times, descended from the lofty castle, and passed the water, where the earl had been long expecting him. There he related to him how King Richard had freely granted him safe conduct, and besought him to make haste

Note n. The Percys had upon their establishment, Northumberland Herald and Esperance Pursuivant.²

Note 2. Dallaway, Inquiries, Sect. II. p. 85, note.

Note o. His little retinue perhaps remained on the other side of the water, because Northumberland is admitted into the castle alone. And this should be particularly noted, since we shall endeavour to shew that a studied misrepresentation of the whole affair was made by the Lancastrians for an obvious end. Walsingham¹ tells us, that the first proposition towards a treaty came from Richard, and that he desired to confer with the Earl of Northumberland and Archbishop Arundel at Conway. So much were the true circumstances of the case kept out of sight.

Note 1. Hist. Angl. p. 358.

"Yes, (tell me them,) I desire to know who they are." "Know, Sire, that the first is your brother; the second who hath behaved amiss is the Duke of Surrey, who is, indeed, put in prison in the castle of Chester, for some offence committed against Duke Henry. Another is the Earl of Salisbury, together with the Bishop of Carlisle; the fifth, as I have heard my lord say, is Maudelain.^r These are they who agreed and counselled you to put your uncle most wrongfully to death; and if they deny it, they await the judgment of your parliament, wherein you shall be highly crowned a sovereign king. There also shall Duke Henry be chief judge. Those who have been guilty of crime or treason shall be punished without partiality. Such is the determination of my lord. Certes, dear Sire, he would do nothing that is foolish or unreasonable. I would moreover speak to you of another thing; that you will speedily appoint the day; for there is nothing in the world that he more desireth; I know it well; and he wisheth for nothing but his land, and that which appertaineth to him; neither would have any thing that is yours,^s for you are his immediate, rightful king; and he regretteth in his conscience the great mischief and wrong that he hath done unto you, through the evil persuasion of the enemy, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, but is ever watchful to tempt mankind. It is he who hath whispered to him all that he hath done. Wherefore, for the sake of him who suffered unparalleled death for us upon the cross, may it please you, be gentle unto my lord, who is sorrowful and afflicted, and for once lay aside your wrath; and he will most humbly come on his knees before you, and sue for mercy. This done, together shall ye go to London, like devout and peaceful men; or, if you choose to go a different road you shall take it; and then shall the parliament be proclaimed throughout the land. Be sure of all this: I will swear to it upon the body of our Lord, consecrated by the priest's hand, that Duke Henry shall most faithfully observe all that I have said, and every thing as I have told you; for he solemnly pledged it to me upon the sacrament when last we parted. Now consider, Sire, how you will act, for I have tarried long."

Note r. Richard Maudelain, a priest of the chapel royal, who resembled the king so much in size, feature, and speech, that he was employed by the insurgents at Christmas to personate him in the army.

Un chapellain, [A chaplain,]

Qui resembloit si de certain [Who resembled so certainly]

Au bon roy Richart de visage, [The good King Richard in face,]

De corps, de fait, et de langage, [In body, in deed, and in speech,]

Qu'il n'est homme qui le vist [That there was no man who saw him]

Qui ne ccrtifiast et dist [Who did not affirm and say]

Que ce fust le roy ancien. [That it was the former king.]

This man appears to have been one of the most obsequious and daring of Richard's creatures; and served him in several confidential and difficult undertakings.¹ Thus he was sent to bring over money from Ireland; and to attend the corpse of the Duke of Gloucester from Calais to London.² The king gave him some property in Fleet-street, and the suburbs of London, which had belonged to Henry Bowet, clerk,³ a particular friend of the Duke of Lancaster, who had upon his account been attainted of treason, 22 Rich. II.⁴ So that for many reasons Henry had an especial dislike to Maudelain. He was a witness to Richard's will,⁵ and went with him upon the Irish expedition. On their return to Milford he was among those of his council who had advised him to withdraw from his army into France, see p. 77. I have already said p. 92, that he probably absconded; for, as he is a remarkable personage, it would have been mentioned had he been in the suite at Conway. When the rebels were dispersed at Cirencester he was taken in attempting to escape with Ferriby, and conducted to London for execution. He asked the mayor if he should be quartered. " No," said the mayor, "but your head will be cut off." Then Maudelain thanked God that he should die in the service of his sovereign lord, the noble king Richard.⁶ Walsingham oddly styles him, I. Mawdlyn Mawde.⁷

Note s. Henry's appearance in arms was but too symptomatic of a treasonable design against Richard not to excite strong suspicions in those who were unacquainted with his real intentions, and might not wish that the matter should be pushed to extremities. By the statute of Northampton, promulgated in the time of Edward III.^1a and glossed upon and confirmed by many subsequent enactments in Richard's reign it was actual treason.^2a No man could "ride armed in harness with launcegays, nor go armed by night nor by day, nor bear sallet, nor skull of iron, nor raise people and ride against the king, upon pain of treason." So that to meet all imputations arising from his display of warlike preparation, his vengeance was at first professed only against the favourites of the court, who had abused the confidence of their sovereign, and had been the instigators of tyrannical measures. Besides this, to quiet the scruples of many of his well-wishers, who might look to reform rather than revolution; and to persuade others, probably the Archbishop of York in particular, of the purity of his intentions, and that he had no ulterior view than that of private justice, and an arrangement for the general good of the realm, he made oath upon the sacrament at Doncaster,^3a immediately upon his landing, and afterwards at Chester,^4a that he came to claim no more than his inheritance, which the ill-advised Richard had, contrary to promise, seized into his hands. "For this," says Baker^5a shrewdly, " was a reason had no objection; the other he reserved till his power should not need to regard objections." And here, in professing to the king that he wished to touch none of his rights, he gave the Percys a lesson which they afterwards retorted upon him. In the beginning of their opposition to him, before the battle of Shrewsbury, "scripserunt provincialibus ubilibet constitutis, propositum quod assumpserant, non esse contra suam ligantiam, et fidelitatem quam regi fecerant nee; ab aliunde exercitum congregasse, nisi pro salvatione personarum suarum, et reipublicae meliori gubernatione, &c. Plures igitur, visis his literis, collaudabant tantorum virorum solertiam, et extollebant fidem quam erga rempublicam praetendebant."^6a

Note 1. APPENDIX, No. I

Note 2. Rymer, Fœdera, VIII. pp. 20, 21, 31.

Note 3. Calend. Rot. pat. p. 236. a. 3. p. 22 Ric. No. 24.

Note 4. Cotton, p. 381.

Note 5. Rymer, ut supra, p. 77.

Note 6. Accounts and Extracts, II. p. 235.

Note 7. Hist. Angl. p. 363.

Note 1a. Stat. 2 Edw. III. c.3

Note 2a. Stat. 2 Ric. II. c. 6. 7 Ric. II. c. 13. 20 Ric.II. c. 1. 21 Ric. II. e. 3

Note 3a. Ther sware the duke upon the sacrament

To claim no more but hii mother's heritage. Hardyng, by Ellis, p. 350.

Note 4a. Maydestone, Hist, de Martyr. Ric. Scrope, Anglia Sacra, pars secunda, p. 369.

Note 5a. Chronicle, p. 154.

Note 6a. Walsing. Hist. Angl. p. 367. "They wrote to the provincials established wherever they were, stating that the purpose they had undertaken was not against their loyalty and the faith they had pledged to the king; nor had they gathered an army from elsewhere, except for the preservation of their own persons and for the better governance of the commonwealth, etc. Therefore, many, upon seeing these letters, praised the prudence of such great men and extolled the faith they professed toward the commonwealth."

12th August 1299. Then King Richard wisely replied: "Northumberland, withdraw: ere it be long you shall have our answer, that you may speedily depart."Then might you see them separate. They discoursed long upon the matter of which they had heard the earl speak; till at last the king said,^t "Fair sirs, we will grant it to him, for I see no other way. You perceive, as well as myself, that all is lost. But I swear to you, that whatever assurance I may give him, he shall for this be surely put to a bitter death for the outrage and injury that he hath done unto us. And doubt it not, no parliament shall be held at Westminster upon this business; for I love you so entirely, that I would not suffer you to come to parliament to die, for the fulfilment of his pleasure; for I know full well that he would make you suffer most heavy penalty, and that you would be in very great danger of being put to bitter and certain death, seeing many murmur against you. Yet fear not, my good friends, but that in spite of them, you shall ever be my nearest friends, for I have always found you, without evil intention, good and loyal. Moreover, I tell you, that I will summon and secretly bring together men throughout Wales that may be ready for us on a certain day. When we have spoken with Duke Henry, we will then take our way through Wales; and if he should ask us wherefore we do so, we will tell him that there is no victuals (not a penny-worth) the other way, since his people and his army have wasted every thing, and that we are going that way, lest provisions fail us. Thus will we say to him, if it seem good unto you, and I believe that he will readily agree to it. The earl hath told us so. And when we shall have found our people assembled, we will display our banners to the wind, and suddenly march with vigour against him. For I am sure of it, as of my death, that when they shall behold my arms, they will be so sorry at heart for the wrong that they have done unto me, that the half of those who have gone along with him, will desert him, and indeed come over to us. For good and faithful heart can never prove false; and nature will bring to their remembrance, that during my life, they ought to hold me as their rightful lord. You will then see them come to us straightways, and you will know that we have right (on our side). God, if we trust in him, will aid us. If we are not so much in our place as they shall be, yet, please God, they shall not chuse but fight us; and if they be in any wise discomfited they shall be put to death. There are some of them whom I will flay alive. I would not take all the gold in the land for them; please God, I continue alive and well."

Note t. "He then consulted with his friends, Carlisle, Salisbury, Scroope, Ferriby, and Jenico in the chapel of the castle, and said to them, ' Gentlemen, you have heard what the earl says: what think you of it?' To which they replied, 'Sir, do you speak first.' The king answered, 'It seems to me that a good peace may be made between us two, if it be as the earl says. But, in truth, whatever agreement or peace he may make with me, if I can ever get him to my advantage, I will cause him to be foully put to death, just as he hath earned."¹

Note 1. MS. Ambassades, p. 135. Mr. Allen's Extracts. Galliard interprets it, "I shall no more scruple to put him to death, than he did to gain the upper hand of me." Accounts and Extracts, II. p. 219. This is, however, too periphrastic. The original words are simply, "Je leferay mourir mauvaisement, ainsi comme il ti gaognie."²

The commonly received opinion, which has been echoed by many writers, was, that Richard, desiring a conference at Conway with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Earl of Northumberland, and of his own accord declaring himself ready to resign, first stipulated for his own maintainance, and for the security of eight persons whom he should name. "Indicavit se velle regno cedere, si sibi victus honorificus vitaeque securitas octo personis, quos nominari vellet, fide interposita, donaretur."^1a Whether Henry was willing to grace his new authority by forbearance towards the king's adherents, or whether Richard was afterwards able to negociate for those whom the duke had threatened to bring before the parliament is immaterial: it is, however, plain, that excepting Jenico, whose resistance procured him a temporary confinement, they all remained unprosecuted and at large. But, as to Richard's spontaneous offer of resignation at this time, it may easily be understood that reports like these were propagated to encourage a persuasion that it was an act proceeding entirely from his consciousness of the difficulties to which he had been reduced by his inability to govern, and that it was not forced upon him by his adversaries. Richard himself in this genuine narrative holds no language which can induce a belief of this nature; he never hints at a wish to lay aside the burden of power in his message to Chester, his conference with Northumberland, or consultation with his little band of friends. On the contrary, he contemplates the future exercise of it in retaliation upon his aggressors, and merely in a general way accedes to the propositions of the earl, that he may escape from a part of his difficulties, with the confident expectation of his entire ability to screen his faithful servants. Salisbury, Scroope, and Merks, the only three present of those who were threatened with prosecution, are satisfied with his assurance of protection, and agree that at all hazards it would be well to close with the duke's conditions of peace.

But the king's pretended readiness to abandon his high estate was more industriously endeavoured to be established by an artifice that reflects little credit upon his successor. The story of what passed at Conway relative to the negociation is given in the text with such an appearance of truth, and is so coherent in all it's parts, that it may very properly be taken to correct the variety of suspicious statements with which ignorance or wilfulness have clouded the affair. One of these is of too grave a kind to be passed over. Comparing it with the statements of our author, I am reluctantly compelled to look upon the ground of Richard's retirement from the throne, given in the Roll of Resignation deposited in the Archives of England, to be a gross fabrication published by Henry IV. for purposes of state. In order to colour the transaction and make the renunciation appear more voluntary than it really was, it is entered upon the roll that the Earl of Northumberland in the presence of the Archbishop ofCanterburyandtherestofthecommissionersin the Tower, "remembered King Richard of hispromise made to the said Archbishop, and to him the said earl at Conway in Wales, at what time the same King Richard was at liberty, how that he, for certain defaults and inabilities in himself to rule, would renounce and give up the crowns of England and France, with the whole rule of the same, and that by the best advice that could be devised; King Richard thereto mildly answered, that he would willingly accomplish the same."^1b

Note 2. "I will make him die miserably, just as he has earned it."

Note 1. Walsing. Hist. Angl. p. 358. "He informed them that he was willing to abdicate the throne if he were granted an honorable livelihood and security for the lives of eight persons whom he would name, under a pledge of good faith."

Note 1b. Cotton's Abridgement, p. 385. There is an overstrained affectation of cheerful acquiescence in the report of his renunciation, which defeats itself. The parties are all very courteous, and happy in each other's society while it lasts. "After familiar talk had between the king, the duke, and archbishop, the instrument was ordered to be read; but the king willingly and cheerfully took and read it throughout." The whole is curious; and, I fear, in many particulars, a piece of deliberately recorded falsehood. Ut supra, p. 386.

"Yes, (tell me them,) I desire to know who they are." "Know, Sire, that the first is your brother; the second who hath behaved amiss is the Duke of Surrey, who is, indeed, put in prison in the castle of Chester, for some offence committed against Duke Henry. Another is the Earl of Salisbury, together with the Bishop of Carlisle; the fifth, as I have heard my lord say, is Maudelain.^r These are they who agreed and counselled you to put your uncle most wrongfully to death; and if they deny it, they await the judgment of your parliament, wherein you shall be highly crowned a sovereign king. There also shall Duke Henry be chief judge. Those who have been guilty of crime or treason shall be punished without partiality. Such is the determination of my lord. Certes, dear Sire, he would do nothing that is foolish or unreasonable. I would moreover speak to you of another thing; that you will speedily appoint the day; for there is nothing in the world that he more desireth; I know it well; and he wisheth for nothing but his land, and that which appertaineth to him; neither would have any thing that is yours,^s for you are his immediate, rightful king; and he regretteth in his conscience the great mischief and wrong that he hath done unto you, through the evil persuasion of the enemy, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, but is ever watchful to tempt mankind. It is he who hath whispered to him all that he hath done.

Note r. Richard Maudelain, a priest of the chapel royal, who resembled the king so much in size, feature, and speech, that he was employed by the insurgents at Christmas to personate him in the army.

———Un chapellain, [A chaplain,]

Qui resembloit si de certain [Who so resembled in every way]

Au bon roy Richart de visage, [Good King Richard in face,]

De corps, de fait, et de langage, [In body, in manner, and in speech,]

Qu'il n'est homme qui le vist [That there was no man who saw him]

Qui ne certifiast et dist [Who would not affirm and say]

Que ce fust le roy ancien. [That this was the former king.]

This man appears to have been one of the most obsequious and daring of Richard's creatures; and served him in several confidential and difficult undertakings. Thus he was sent to bring over money from Ireland; and to attend the corpse of the Duke of Gloucester from Calais to London. The king gave him some property in Fleet-street, and the suburbs of London, which had belonged to Henry Bowet, clerk, a particular friend of the Duke of Lancaster, who had upon his account been attainted of treason, 22 Rich. II. So that for many reasons Henry had an especial dislike to Maudelain. He was a witness to Richard's will, and went with him upon the Irish expedition. On their return to Milford he was among those of his council who had advised him to withdraw from his army into France, see p. 77. I have already said p. 92, that he probably absconded; for, as he is a remarkable personage, it would have been mentioned had he been in the suite at Conway. When the rebels were dispersed at Cirencester he was taken in attempting to escape with Ferriby, and conducted to London for execution. He asked the mayor if he should be quartered. "No," said the mayor, "but your head will be cut off." Then Maudelain thanked God that he should die in the service of his sovereign lord, the noble king Richard. Walsingham oddly styles him, I. Mawdlyn Mawde.

Note s. Henry's appearance in arms was but too symptomatic of a treasonable design against Richard not to excite strong suspicions in those who were unacquainted with his real intentions, and might not wish that the matter should be pushed to extremities. By the statute of Northampton, promulgated in the time of Edward III and glossed upon and confirmed by many subsequent enactments in Richard's reign it was actual treason. No man could "ride armed in harness with launcegays, nor go armed by night nor by day, nor bear sallet, nor skull of iron, nor raise people and ride against the king, upon pain of treason." So that to meet all imputations arising from his display of warlike preparation, his vengeance was at first professed only against the favourites of the court, who had abused the confidence of their sovereign, and had been the instigators of tyrannical measures. Besides this, to quiet the scruples of many of his well-wishers, who might look to reform rather than revolution; and to persuade others, probably the Archbishop of York in particular, of the purity of his intentions, and that he had no ulterior view than that of private justice, and an arrangement for the general good of the realm, he made oath upon the sacrament at Doncaster immediately upon his landing, and afterwards at Chester, that he came to claim no more than his inheritance, which the ill-advised Richard had, contrary to promise, seized into his hands. "For this," says Baker shrewdly, "was a reason had no objection; the other he reserved till his power should not need to regard objections." And here, in professing to the king that he wished to touch none of his rights, he gave the Percys a lesson which they afterwards retorted upon him. In the beginning of their opposition to him, before the battle of Shrewsbury:

"They wrote to the provincials wherever they were stationed that the plan which they had undertaken was not against their allegiance or the fealty which they had sworn to the king, nor had they raised an army from elsewhere except for the safety of their persons and for the better governance of the commonwealth, etc. Many therefore, on seeing these letters, praised the prudence of such great men and extolled the loyalty which they professed towards the commonwealth.”

"scripserunt provincialibus ubilibet constitutis, propositum quod assumpserant, non esse contra suam ligantiam, et fidelitatem quam regi fecerant nec; ab aliunde exercitum congregasse, nisi pro salvatione personarum suarum, et reipublicæ meliori gubernatione, & c. Plures igitur, visis his literis, collaudabant tantorum virorum solertiam, et extollebant fidem quam erga rempublicam prætendebant."

Then King Richard wisely replied: "Northumberland, withdraw: ere it be long you shall have our answer, that you may speedily depart." Then might you see them separate. They discoursed long upon the matter of which they had heard the earl speak; till at last the king said,^t " Fair sirs, we will grant it to him, for I see no other way. You perceive, as well as myself, that all is lost. But I swear to you, that whatever assurance I may give him, he shall for this be surely put to a bitter death for the outrage and injury that he hath done unto us. And doubt it not, no parliament shall be held at Westminster upon this business; for I love you so entirely, that I would not suffer you to come to parliament to die, for the fulfilment of his pleasure; for I know full well that he would make you suffer most heavy penalty, and that you would be in very great danger of being put to bitter and certain death, seeing many murmur against you. Yet fear not, my good friends, but that in spite of them, you shall ever be my nearest friends, for I have always found you, without evil intention, good and loyal. Moreover, I tell you, that I will summon and secretly bring together men throughout Wales that may be ready for us on a certain day. When we have spoken with Duke Henry, we will then take our way through Wales; and if he should ask us wherefore we do so, we will tell him that there is no victuals (not a penny-worth ) the other way, since his people and his army have wasted every thing, and that we are going that way, lest provisions fail us. Thus will we say to him, if it seem good unto you, and I believe that he will readily agree to it. The earl hath told us so. And when we shall have found our people assembled, we will display our banners to the wind, and suddenly march with vigour against him. For I am sure of it, as of my death, that when they shall behold my arms, they will be so sorry at heart for the wrong that they have done unto me, that the half of those who have gone along with him, will desert him, and indeed come over to us. For good and faithful heart can never prove false; and nature will bring to their remembrance, that during my life, they ought to hold me as their rightful lord. You will then see them come to us straightways, and you will know that we have right (on our side). God, if we trust in him, will aid us. If we are not so much in our place as they shall be, yet, please God, they shall not chuse but fight us; and if they be in any wise discomfited they shall be put to death. There are some of them whom I will flay alive. I would not take all the gold in the land for them; please God, I continue alive and well."

Note t. "He then consulted with his friends, Carlisle, Salisbury, Scroope, Ferriby, and Jenico in the chapel of the castle, and said to them, 'Gentlemen, you have heard what the earl says: what think you of it?' To which they replied, 'Sir, do you speak first.' The king answered, 'It seems to me that a good peace may be made between us two, if it be as the earl says. But, in truth, whatever agreement or peace he may make with me, if I can ever get him to my advantage, I will cause him to be foully put to death, just as he hath earned.'"

The commonly received opinion, which has been echoed by many writers, was, that Richard, desiring a conference at Conway with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Earl of Northumberland, and of his own accord declaring himself ready to resign, first stipulated for his own maintainance, and for the security of eight persons whom he should name. " Indicavit se velle regno cedere, si sibi victus honorificus vitæque securitas octo personis, quos nominari vellet, fide interposita, donaretur. " Whether Henry was willing to grace his new authority by forbearance towards the king's adherents, or whether Richard was afterwards able to negociate for those whom the duke had threatened to bring before the parliament is immaterial: it is, however, plain, that excepting Jenico, whose resistance procured him a temporary confinement, they all remained unprosecuted and at large. But, as to Richard's spontaneous offer of resignation at this time, it may easily be understood that reports like these were propagated to encourage a persuasion that it was an act proceeding entirely from his consciousness of the difficulties to which he had been reduced by his inability to govern, and that it was not forced upon him by his adversaries. Richard himself in this genuine narrative holds no language which can induce a belief of this nature; he never hints at a wish to lay aside the burden of power in his message to Chester, his conference with Northumberland, or consultation with his little band of friends. On the contrary, he contemplates the future exercise of it in retaliation upon his aggressors, and merely in a general way accedes to the propositions of the earl, that he may escape from a part of his difficulties, with the confident expectation of his entire ability to screen his faithful servants. Salisbury, Scroope, and Merks, the only three present of those who were threatened with prosecution, are satisfied with his assurance of protection, and agree that at all hazards it would be well to close with the duke's conditions of peace.

But the king's pretended readiness to abandon his high estate was more industriously endeavoured to be established by an artifice that reflects little credit upon his successor. The story of what passed at Conway relative to the negociation is given in the text with such an appearance of truth, and is so coherent in all it's parts, that it may very properly be taken to correct the variety of suspicious statements with which ignorance or wilfulness have clouded the affair. One of these is of too grave a kind to be passed over. Comparing it with the statements of our author, I am reluctantly compelled to look upon the ground of Richard's retirement from the throne, given in the Roll of Resignation deposited in the Archives of England, to be a gross fabrication published by Henry IV for purposes of state. In order to colour the transaction and make the renunciation appear more voluntary than it really was, it is entered upon the roll that the Earl of Northumberland in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the commissioners in the Tower, "remembered King Richard of his promise made to the said Archbishop, and to him the said earl at Conway in Wales, at what time the same King Richard was at liberty, how that he, for certain defaults and inabilities in himself to rule, would renounce and give up the crowns of England and France, with the whole rule of the same, and that by the best advice that could be devised; King Richard thereto mildly answered, that he would willingly accomplish the same."

Now from the narrative before us it is evident, and we repeat it, that when the king was at Conway he had no intention to resign; nor had any thing of this kind been proposed to him: every part of the negociation contradicts it. "You shall be crowned king and lord," says Northumberland, "and he shall be chief judge. He desires to have nothing that belongs to you, for you are his rightful lord. Pardon him his offence, and he will sue for mercy on his knees before you." Neither was the archbishop present at the interview; nor did he ever meet the king till they came to Flint. Northumberland entered the fortress of Conway alone. The truth might be, that afterwards at Flint, when he was in duresse, and his spirit was humbled by affliction, he might admit of his inability to reign; and in the private conversation that he had there with Arundel, under the influence of fear, a concession might have been obtained from him. His answer to Henry's address to him in the court of that castle seems to shew it. But though he talked at times of being ruined, and apprehended the duke's design to depose him, and warned him by the Duke of Exeter of the guilt and danger of such an attempt, he never appears to have seriously thought of giving way till he was made a prisoner. The reason then is evident why Conway was inserted in the roll instead of Flint; for at the latter place it might be known that the king was not his own master; and if a voluntary offer of abdication must be set to his account, it must be proved that he made it when his person was at liberty. At Conway he made no such offer, and from the day that he left that fortress he was in the hands of his enemies.

Thus was the agreement made between them; the one had bad intentions, and the other still worse; but as for the king, his offence was not so great; for it is often said, "necessity hath no law;" neither did he make oath or agreement, like the earl; hereafter he will come to a shameful death for it, unless he make reckoning with God by repentance;^x because that which he did surpasseth all other evil deeds. For, in my opinion, when you shall have heard the whole, no other deed beareth resemblance to it; and^y because he goeth on with success, he ruleth and liveth in great prosperity, and governeth in peace; until death cometh, which awaiteth each of us every hour; which devoureth all indeed, great and small; before whose strokes nothing can stand. A most illsavoured morsel is this (death). God grant that it may seize us in such a state that in the blessed heavens we may behold his face, and that he may be merciful towards us at the latter day.

Note x. The warmth with which he indulges his expectation of righteous retribution leads him into an expression as to the fate of Northumberland which was remarkably verified. The supposed causes of his dispute with Henry IV are given in note h, page 127; but, in our uncertainty of the real ground of his disaffection, it is not unreasonable to imagine that all the Percys deeply regretted the part they had taken against Richard II. The earl from being Lancaster's greatest friend became his bitterest enemy. Their union lasted no longer than 1403, and in that and the four following years he was concerned in three risings against him, and shuffled on through a round of opposition and abject excuses, of rebellion and suing for mercy. He might have calculated upon the security derived from his distance from the seat of government, his position and influence upon the borders, and upon the king's fear of his power, or privity to transactions, the publication of which might have injured Henry's reputation: but something of judicial infatuation accompanied all his efforts. Outliving his accomplished and respected brother, and his eldest son, the darling of England, who perished at Shrewsbury, he was himself at last slain in an obscure affair with the sheriff of Yorkshire February 19, 1407-8, and his corpse was treated with all the studied ignominy customarily applied to the extreme punishment of traitors. Drake, after speaking of the skirmish at Bramham Moor, has the following passage. "The Earl of Northumberland, the chief instrument in deposing Richard and raising up Henry, after having the misfortune to live to see most of his family cut off before him, he the stock and root of the name of Piercy, was miserably slain at this battle. His head, covered with silver hairs, being put upon a stake, was carried in a kind of mock procession through all the towns to London, and there placed on the bridge, where, says my author, (Holinshed) it long stood as a monument of divine justice." And Walsingham, from whom both writers copy, affectingly, and with more than his usual taste, applies to the same event a quotation from Lucan, descriptive of the impression produced by the ghastly sight.

"Nos nec sanguis, nec tantum vulnera nostri [Neither the blood, nor even so many wounds of our aged man,]

Affecere senis, quantum gestata per urbes [affected us as much as the face of the leader,]

Ora ducis, quæ transfixo deformia pilo [carried through the cities, disfigured by the piercing spear,]

Vidimus." [which we beheld.]

Note y. This is an obscure passage; and, according to one of the readings may, perhaps, signify, As for the man who goeth right forward, &c. contrasting such conduct and it's consequences through life with that of the parties of whom he is speaking: but I cannot determine whether the observation of the author is referable to Northumberland, or is intended to be general.

The king set out after him from Conway, and on his road to Rhuddlan: he passed the very broad and great water; and then rode on four miles, till he mounted the rock where the earl was concealed at the descent.^z When he beheld them he was greatly astonished, saying, "I am betrayed! what can this be? Lord of heaven help me!" Then were they known by their banners, that might be seen floating." I think," said he, "it is the earl who hath drawn us forth upon his oath." Then were all in bitter dread. I could have wished myself at that time in France; for I saw them almost in despair; and by good right one ought not to be surprised that they were all in distress, for not a man of them could get away from that place to flee, without being stopped or taken. But, that I may be understood, I must tell you how that the king had come so near to them that it was much farther to return to the town than to descend the rock, which was washed by the main sea. We could not get away on the other side owing to the rock. So that, cost what it might, we were forced either to die or pass on into the midst of the body of the earl's people.

Note z. A late writer places this scene in one of the deep bottoms near Llandulas; Pennant conjectures it to have been about the precipice of Penmaen Rhos. Much of the coast to the eastward of Saint Orme's head seems to partake of this rocky character.

Daniel, who works up Stow's materials, has given the following description of the spot; and in some respects, it forms no bad comment upon the text.

A place there is where proudly rais'd there stands

A huge aspiring rock, neighb'ring the skies,

Whose surly brow imperiously commands

The sea his bounds, that at his proud foot lies;

And spurns the waves, that in rebellious bands

Assault his empire, and against him rise.

Under whose craggy government there was

A niggard narrow way, for men to pass.

And here, in hidden cliffs, concealed lay

A troop of armed men, to intercept

The unsuspecting king; that had no way

To free his foot, that into danger stept:

The dreadful ocean on the one side lay;

The hard encroaching mountain th'other kept.

It may seem strange that, before he descended, when he had a view of them from the vantage-ground, he did not turn about and make an attempt to fly. But he probably caught sight of them at some turn in the road: certainly it was so managed that he should be very near them before he made the discovery; and it would have been almost impossible to have escaped, as he had so far to go back, and moreover was on the wrong side of the water from Conway. The writer asserts that they were obliged to continue their course down the mountain road. This is farther elucidated in MS. Ambassades, which informs us that the king alighted to walk down the hill on account of it's steepness.

He appeared armed in mail. There did the king demean him so very sorrowfully, that it was pity to behold; oftentimes did he say, "O true God, what mischief and trouble do I undergo! Now do I plainly see that this man is taking me to the duke who loves us not. O Virgin Mary! sovereign queen! have mercy upon me; for if thou deignest not to look upon me, I know of a truth that I am lost." Thus spake the king, who on that spot had no power, for we were but twenty, it appeared to me, or two and twenty.^a So every one descended the lofty rock to the great grief of the king. And Salisbury said to him frequently, as one utterly astounded, "Now see I well, that I am certain to be a dead man, for Duke Henry surely beareth a great hatred towards me. Alas! wherefore have we trusted the earl upon his faith? certes, it hath been our utter ruin. But it is too late. May Jesus, in whom I believe, vouchsafe to help us!"

Note a. All things conspire to shew the deserted condition in which the king was now placed. Some of the MSS. mention, see p. 77, note, that when Richard rode away from the army at Milford-haven, he was accompanied by a body of horse; but, if this were true, they soon deserted him. Secrecy being a great object in his flight, the account of our narrative is more worthy of credit, which limits the number of attendants on that journey to thirteen, see p. 91. Of these we afterwards hear nothing concerning the Duke of Gloucester, or the Bishops of Lincoln and Saint David's; and as little is said of the hundred men, see p. 71, who came over with the Earl of Salisbury from Ireland. After the departure of the Dukes of Exeter and Surrey, the whole party, nobles and others, then at Conway, are estimated at only sixteen; and all that could be mustered as an escort in this perilous undertaking amounted to no more than twenty-one. The principal persons composing this troop, as they are distinctly enumerated shortly after their capture, were, exclusive of the king, the Earl of Salisbury, the Bishop of Carlisle, Sir Stephen Scroope, Jenico, Ferriby, the author and his companion; the rest might be inferior servants of the court, or mere domestics. Among these unquestionably was the famous Owen Glyndwr, at that time a squire in Richard's service; and probably Gwillim ap Tudor, another Welsh squire about his person, whom he had retained with a pension of ten pounds in the preceding year; and who afterwards, together with his brother Rhys, as generals under Glyndwr, struggled against Henry IV in the Welsh war: perhaps also may be added to the list John Pallet and Richard Seimer; should these personages not be fictitious whom Hall introduces as assured servants of the king, endeavouring at Flint to favour his escape. Pennant places Perkin a Legh among them; but the head of the unfortunate Perkin, see p. 65, was already set upon one of the gates of Chester; and if he had been with them, considering the nature of his case, and what is said in commendation of Jenico's loyalty, it is not likely that the writer would have omitted to note him or his suffering for the sake of Richard.

While thus they discoursed, it came to pass that we drew near to them, as it might be, the distance of a good bow-shot; when the earl came and kneeled quite to the ground, saying to the king, "Be not displeased, my rightful lord, that I should come to seek you for your better security; for the country, as you know, is disturbed by war." Then said the king, "I could very well go without so many people as you have brought here. I think this is not what you promised me. You told me that you had been sent with only five others. This is very ill done, considering the oath that you made. You do not seem to me to be sound in your loyalty, having thus taken post around this place. Depend upon it, I shall return to Conway that I left this day." Then said the earl, "My lord, you accuse me of dishonour, but I solemnly declare,^aa that since I have you here, I will bring you to Duke Henry as directly as I may; for you must know that I made him such a promise these ten days past."^b Then he caused bread and wine to be brought; himself would present it to the king, who considering his power durst not refuse what the earl chose to command. When this was over they re-mounted, went on straight to Rhuddlan, and dined sumptuously in the strong castle there.

Note aa. He repeats his oath, taken in the chapel, in a most revolting manner; in the omission of which the principle of giving the text unmutilated may for once be set aside.

Note b. "Richard mounted on horseback, with twenty-one attendants; and going down a mountain on the road on foot, and looking into the valley, he said to the Earl of Salisbury, 'Do you not see below banners and streamers?' the Earl of Salisbury answered, 'Certainly, Sire, I do; and my heart forebodes ill:' and the Bishop of Carlisle said, 'I suspect that man has betrayed you.' At the same time they saw the Earl of Northumberland coming to them with eleven others. 'Sire,' said he, 'I am come to meet you.' The king asked who the people were he saw below in the valley. 'I have seen none,' said Northumberland. 'Look before you then,' said the Earl of Salisbury; there they are.' 'They are your men,' said the bishop, 'I know your banner.' — 'Northumberland,' said the king, 'if I thought you capable of betraying me, it is not yet, perhaps, too late for me to return to Conway.' — 'You shall not return thither,' replied the traitor, throwing off the mask, and seizing the bridle of the king's horse: 'I shall conduct you to the Duke of Lancaster, as I have promised him; for I do not break all my promises.'" Accounts and Extracts, II. p. 220. Bishop Percy's MS note upon the accompanying illumination gives a very different colouring to the transaction, and indicates great inattention to the contents of the original, or peculiar tenderness to the memory of the earl. "As the king goes towards Chester, he finds a party of soldiers belonging to the Earl of Northumberland placed in a valley; the earl, who had gone before, being at their head; who tells the king he had placed these men to guard him to Chester, as the country was all in arms, &c. The king, alarmed, offers to turn back; but the earl dissuades him; and prevails on him to take some refreshment of bread and wine." (This is much misrepresented by Carte.)

Dinner being ended, Northumberland drew out his people, being very diligent to ride on directly to Chester, where Duke Henry was awaiting the earl with a great number of men. He was much surprised at his delay; for he knew nothing of the business that the earl had achieved, how he was bringing the king in his host. From Rhuddlan, immediately after dinner, without further delay, we went on straight to Flint, where we alighted. It had been yielded to the duke without any resistance; and into this castle on the morrow did he come to take King Richard, and the whole of his party, as you shall presently hear. Alas! the mourning that he made that night in private you may well imagine.^c He had reason enough for it; seeing that on every side he beheld his enemies, like tyrants, all ready and desirous to put him to death. On that night greatly did he call upon his consort, the daughter of the king of France, saying thus, "My dearest heart, my sister, I bid you farewell. For love of you am I thus detained; for never have I deserved of my people to be so basely ruined. But if it be thy pleasure that I should die, Ah Jesu Christ! vouchsafe to guide my soul to heaven, for escape or fly I cannot. Alas! father-in-law of France! never shall I see you more. Your daughter I leave unto you, among these false and wicked and faithless people. Wherefore I am almost in despair. For she was my joyous delight. Heaven grant that as soon as you shall know this affair, you may one day speedily avenge it; that no one may blame you for it. The matter concerneth you; soon may you hear of it. Alas! I have neither vessels, men, nor money, at present to send to you; but I leave it to you. It is now too late. Alas! wherefore did we trust Northumberland, who hath delivered us into the hand of wolves? I fear that we are all dead men, for these people here have no pity. May they be utterly confounded!"^cc

Note c. The lamentations of Richard given in the MS. Ambassades agree in the main with those in the text; but are rather longer, and involve some curious particulars, intermixed with invocations to the Deity, the Virgin, and Saint John the Baptist, and many appeals to his friends in France. Among other things he exclaims, "Ah! dear cousin of Britanny! — Alas! you said truly, at your departure, that I should never be safe while Henry of Lancaster was alive. Alas! thrice have I saved his life! for once my dear uncle of Lancaster, on whom God have mercy! would have put him to death, for the treason and villainy he had been guilty of. All night did I ride to preserve him from death, and his father yielded him to my request, telling me to do with him as I pleased. How true is the saying, that we have no greater enemy than the man we save from the gallows! — Once he drew his sword on me in the chamber of the queen, on whom God have mercy! He was of the council of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Arundel; he consented to my death, that of his father, and all my council. All his offences towards me have I pardoned; nor would I believe my uncle, his father, who two or three times condemned him to death." Some of these are allusions to facts, no other traces of which, I believe, are to be found in history. One cannot be surprised if, with this impression and knowledge of the character and disposition of Henry towards him, he should have yielded to gloomy anticipations.

Note cc. The strength of this execration, far less qualified in the original, and quite at variance with the pious resignation of many of his former expressions, the translator felt himself called upon to modify.

(I shall treat) in this part, of the afflictions and sorrows of King Richard in the castle of Flint, when he awaited the coming of the Duke of Lancaster; who set out from the city of Chester on Tuesday the 22d day of August¹, in the year of the incarnation of our Lord 1399, with the whole of his force; which I heard estimated by many knights and squires at upwards of one hundred thousand men, marshalled in battle array, marching along the sea shore with great joy and satisfaction, and eager also to take their rightful and natural lord King Richard; who, early on the morning of the said Tuesday, arose, attended by sorrows, sadness, afflictions; mourning, weeping, and lamentations: he heard mass most devoutly, like a true catholic, with his good friends, the Earl of Salisbury, the Bishop of Carlisle, Sir Stephen Scroope, and another knight, named Ferriby, who for no adversity, nor any disaster that befel the king, would desert, or relinquish him. There was moreover with them one who was son of the Countess of Salisbury,^f whom King Richard had newly knighted in Ireland, together with the eldest son of the Duke of Lancaster, and many others, as I have told you in the first part of this treatise. There was likewise Jenico, a Gascon squire, who showed well the true love that he had for King Richard; for never, for threats of knights or squires, nor for any entreaty whatever, would he put off the device of his lord the king, to wit, the hart,^g saying, "Now, God forbid, that for mortal man, I should put off the order of my rightful lord, save at his own command."

Note 1. The author appears to here mistake the 22nd for the 19th of August - see page 168 note y.

Note f. Not of the old Countess of Salisbury; as in MS. Ambassades, p. 134; her only son was unfortunately slain in a tournament at Windsor during the life time of his father. But this was the son of the wife of the present earl, by one of her former husbands, Sir Alan Buxhull or Boxhull, fifty-second knight of the Garter, sometime Chamberlain to Edward III. and Constable of the Tower of London at the beginning of this reign: he tarnished his reputation by being concerned with those who violated sanctuary in the abbey of Westminster, and committed murder in the church, 2 Ric.II. in the singular affair of Shakell and Hawle, for which he was excommunicated. Young Sir Alan was now about eighteen years old; for, in 3 Hen. IV. when he had livery of his lands in Sussex, he is stated to have been upwards of one and twenty. He died without issue; and the name of Buxhull was taken by Richard Godui of Wateringbury, nigh Malling, who had married into the family.

The present earl had a son by this lady, who was eleven or twelve years of age; but had he been intended by the historian, he would have spoken of him in a different manner.

Note g. The white hart kneeling, a crown about his neck, and chained Or, Richard's favourite livery, adopted from the Holands; and which is probably the origin of many of those signs exhibited at Inns throughout England to the present hour. An old writer on the subject of Heraldry says, that he took the white harts for his supporters. "Kyng Richard the IId. forsoke the two antloppys for hys bests, and toke two whyt hertys, beryng up the armys with her bakys." The mode of decorating armories by placing the the shield between two animals, similar to the bearing or cognisance, arose about this time.

He distributed them very widely among his friends and dependents. In Rymer, VIII. p. 13, is a summons to the sheriffs of different counties, " Pro gerentibus liberatam de Cervo, ad equitandum cum rege. " Henry, knowing the effect it might produce, was anxious to get rid of the hart entirely, and for that purpose general prohibitions were enacted against liveries and signs; though he would not condescend to publish his apprehensions of this livery in particular by causing it to be specified in the statute. He found, however, that when any attempt was to be excited against him, the harts were sure to make their appearance. The army that Hotspur brought down to Lichfield and Shrewsbury bore them; and the old Countess of Oxford, mother of the late Duke of Ireland, sent little gold and silver harts in Richard's name to several persons, when, in 1404, he was reported to be alive in Scotland.

It is well known that Westminster Hall presents a profusion of them: they are also to be seen in Gloucester cathedral painted on the capitals of the two pillars, between which stands the tomb of Edward II. It is not improbable that Richard himself caused them to be blazoned there

So that at last it came to the knowledge of the Duke of Lancaster, who caused him to be led shamefully and basely to the castle of Chester, expecting from day to day that they would cut off his head; for such was the common report of the people; and yet, as I have since heard, he was not put to death for it;^h but I can assure you that he was the last who bore the order of King Richard in England; and there he plainly shewed that he was not easily inclined to treason,ⁱ nor descended from the race of them. As to their breed and nature, they are readily disposed to treason, holding, as they do, evermore with the most powerful, and him that maketh the best shew, without regard to right, law, reason, or justice. Neither is this any new thing; for many a time have they undone and destroyed their king and lord, as may be known from divers histories and chronicles.^k

Note h. S'il le fit mourir ou non je ne scay. [Whether he had him put to death or not, I do not know.] MS. Ambassades, f. 142.

Note i. Or readily inclined to change sides: in the original favorable de legier. The evident application of the terms faveur and favorable seems very peculiar; and is not satisfactorily made out by reference to any Glossary that I have met with. But in justification of either of the above interpretations, I must refer to the MS. where faveur is almost always used in a bad sense. In f. 11. a. 1. 18. the writer speaks of the duke having taken possession of the greater part of England par faveur si estranges, oncques ne vy pieur; and in f. 25, b. 1. 27, 28, he couples it with treason, faveur et trayson: f. 73 a. 1. 2. he says that Richard loved the king of France sans faveur, without dissimulation, most sincerely: then as to favorable, f. 41, a. l. 1. the king exhorts Northumberland to perform the whole of what he promised, sans avoir pensee favorable, nulle quelconques, maiz fermez et estable; a clear indication of it's signification; and again, l. 18, the earl declares in answer, Je jureray qu'il n'a point de faveur en ce fait cy.

Note k. It is easy to perceive to what parts of our history he alludes; and, indeed, such was the general disrepute of the English upon this head, among a nation who valued themselves upon their indiscriminate attachment to the persons of their princes, that the disloyalty of England became proverbial among them. This stigma is included in the following satirical review of national characters distinguished by their opposite qualities.

Largesse de Francoys,

Loyaulté d'Angloys,

Patience d'Almant

Humilité de Normant,

Labour de Picart,

Pitié de Lombart,

Sens de Breton,

Conscience de Bourgoignon,

Confession de Beguine,

Acomtance de pouvre meschine,

TOUT NE VAULT UNE POYTEVINE.

A Poitevine is a coin of small value, formerly struck in Poitou.

And in order that I may not go too far from the matter that I have opened, I will say no more for the present of their nature and condition, but return to King Richard, who, having heard mass, went up upon the walls of the castle, which are large and wide on the inside, beholding the Duke of Lancaster as he came along the sea-shore with all his host. It was marvellously great, and shewed such joy and satisfaction that the sound and bruit of their instruments,^l horns, buisines,^m and trumpets, were heard even as far as the castle. Then did he commend himself into the holy keeping of our Lord and of all the saints of heaven in this manner.

Note l. The band would have received a strong accession of military musicians from the famous minstrels of Chester. See Burney, II. pp. 358, 359. The family of Northumberland had always several minstrels in pay.

I cannot but indulge in the idea that a diligent search into the reliques of the Welsh bards might bring to light some vestiges of the attachment of that nation to the king. The praises of Owen Glyndwr are still in existence; and I trust that it may not be deemed too light or fanciful a suggestion, that the ancient popular Welsh air of "Sweet Richard," might have been the production of some contemporary bard; and that it long served to keep alive the feeling of regret for his fate. I should be the more inclined to the supposition, had it been constructed in the favourite minor key. But the title cannot exclusively prove that the composition is amatory; and it's words, if it had any, might be as encomiastic and expressive of political and personal affection towards the monarch, as those in the Scotch ballad of "Lewie Gordon" are towards the Chevalier, to whom in some copies the same epithet is applied.

Note m. Writers are not agreed as to the instrument described by the term buisine. It seems to have been a wind instrument of considerable effect, and much in vogue. It was made of metal; Ces buisines d'arein resonent [These bronze trumpets resound.].

And had great power; Il faisoit terre trembler Des busines et des taburs [He made the earth tremble with trumpets and drums.].

It was not straight; Ces buisines et cors crocus [These trumpets and curved horns.].

And it is distinguished from the "trompe;" Mainte bosine et mainte trompe [Many a trumpet and many a horn.].

Roquefort concludes it to have been a trumpet; and derives it from "buccina;" but in the text it is coupled with that instrument. In a translation of the Bible of the twelfth century it is thus introduced: "Ha, tu roy tu as mys descreet à chescun hom qe avera oy le soun de estive, de frestel, de harpe, de busine, de psaltrie, de symphans, et de totes maneres de musiks, soi abate et adoure l'ymage de or." ["Ah, you king, you have made it decreed for every man who shall hear the sound of the pipe, the flute, the harp, the trumpet, the psaltery, the symphony, and of all manner of music, that he must bow down and adore the image of gold."] Daniel, c. iii. ver. 10. The Latin version is sambuca: our translators have rendered it sackbut. Vitruvius says, that sambuca is a stringed instrument, and Papias, that it is a kind of rustic harp, genus citharæ agrestis; which would lead to a contradiction of what has been advanced as to the metal and power of the buisine.

Of wind instruments in their bands they had horns, nacaires, buisines, trumpets, large and small, and several sorts of flutes and flageolets; a list of these is given in the verses of a contemporary poet, Guillaume le Machault, in which he has enumerated all the instruments then in use. But they also employed stringed instruments in their processions. In an illumination of a missal of this age minstrels are represented before David bearing the head of Goliath, one of whom, a female, is playing upon a kind of portable harp. A passage of Lydgate is decisive upon this point; and he writes as though he had an ear for music, in the description of the entry of Paris and Helen into Troy:

The shrille trompettys weryn areysed loude:

Up on the skye gothe the blessful sown,

When al this people entreth into the town.

And many another div's instrument

That al to forn in atte the gatis went

In sundry wise that made mellodye

That to heven the hevenly armonye

Be musik touched upon strenge and corde

So even in oon and justly they accorde

Hit wol an hert ravyshe in to joye.

Thus spake King Richard to the Earl of Salisbury, to the Bishop of Carlisle, and to the two other knights, Sir Stephen Scroope and Ferriby, weeping most tenderly, and greatly lamenting upon the said walls of the castle. So that I firmly believe no creature in this mortal world, let him be who he would, Jew or Saracen, could have beheld these five together without being heartily sorry for them. While they were in this distress they saw a great number of persons quit the host, pricking their horses hard towards the castle, to know what King Richard was doing. In this first company was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Thomas Percy, and the Earl of Rutland, whom Duke Henry had removed from his office of Constable of England, and from the dukedom of Aumarle, which he held aforetime of King Richard. But I firmly believe that he took them away from him for a pretence, and to blind the world, that no one might think that he knew any thing of the affair or of the treason, rather than for any other cause: and yet I know not whether he was at all acquainted with it;^o but I am quite sure that he and Sir Thomas Percy, who had been steward to the king, that is to say in French, "Grand Maistre d'ostel," set out from the port of Milford, and carried off his men and his property, in consequence of which, as I told you before, they were robbed in Wales;^p and they went over to the duke, as it appeared; for they came the very first to the castle of Flint, bearing the order of Duke Henry, not the hart. The archbishop entered first, and the others after him; they went up to the donjon.

Note o. This is a singular instance of hesitation, after what he has said of the Earl of Rutland, pp. 24, 45, 55, 99.

Note p. He is rather guarded in speaking of the conduct of Sir Thomas, whose reputation stood high; and, perhaps for this reason, he never indulges in any expressions personally derogatory to him. Carte says, "The Earl of Worcester was really concerned for the king; but seeing no remedy, broke his rod in the great hall of Flint castle, and dissolved the household." He did it, according to Walsingham, by desire of Richard, bidding them reserve themselves for better times.

In going over to the duke, he came into contact with the archbishop, and his nephew the young Earl of Arundel; and must have been awkwardly situated, as, in quality of lay proctor for the bishops and clergy, he had given judgment for the banishment of the former, and had joined with the temporal lords in sentencing the father of the latter. Revolutions draw men into strange associations. The families of Lancaster and Arundel had themselves, not long before, been at mortal variance. As to Sir Thomas Percy, he had been much connected with that of Lancaster; had been trustee to the estates of Henry when he went into Prussia; and was one of the executors of John of Gant.

Since the writer has not hinted at what afterwards befel Sir Thomas Percy, it is plain that the history must have been composed some time before the battle of Shrewsbury, and while the whole was fresh in his recollection.

Then the king came down from the walls, to whom they made very great obeisance, kneeling on the ground. The king caused them to rise, and drew the archbishop aside; and they talked together a very long while. What they said I know not;^q but the Earl of Salisbury afterwards told me, that he had comforted the king in a very gentle manner, telling him not to be alarmed, and that no harm should happen to his person. The Earl of Rutland at that time said nothing to the king, but kept at as great a distance as he could from him, just as though he had been ashamed to see himself in his presence. They mounted their horses again, and returned to Duke Henry, who was drawing very nigh: for between the city of Chester and the castle, there are but ten little miles, which are equal to five French leagues, or thereabout. And there is neither hedge nor bush between them; nothing but the sea-shore, and on the other side lofty rocks and mountains. And be assured that he made a fine shew with them as they came; for they were right well marshalled, and their numbers were such, that, for mine own part, I never saw so many people together. I think that the chief captain of all the duke's army was Sir Henry Percy, whom they hold to be the best knight in England.^r

Note q. This is the first conference that Richard has with the archbishop after his return from exile; and it might have been upon this occasion, that some proposition was made respecting abdication; see p. 138, note t; but the author was, naturally enough, only informed by Salisbury concerning the part that related to the security of the king's person.

Note r. Henry, eldest son of Henry Percy first Earl of Northumberland, by Margaret his first wife, daughter to Ralph Lord Nevill; who, from an age in which valour, in the popular estimation, may be almost said to have been the "chiefest virtue," has transmitted a character for chivalrous achievement superior to most of the warriors of his time. He was as much the hope of England, in this respect, as the Black Prince before him, or Sir Philip Sidney in later days. Historians rarely mention him without admiration; his name is celebrated in ballads; and before his death he was referred to by pretended seers as the restorer of the fortunes of his country. Educated in the Marches, he acquired all the intrepidity and enterprise of a border chieftain, and the energy he displayed against the Scots occasioned them to give him very early the ironical appellation of Hotspur.

The bard of the battle of Otterbourne tells us,

He had been a march-man all his dayes,

And kepte Barwyke upon Twede:

which will fully appear. He was knighted soon after the coronation of Richard II. and one of the first notices of him that occurs in the public Acts of Scotland is as follows. Liliat Cross in the Marches of Scotland was a place at which the English and Scotch used to decide their personal quarrels by single combat. John Chattowe, a Scotch squire, had challenged William de Badby, an Englishman, to fight there on the feast of Saint Catherine, Nov. 25, 1381. Such formal duels took place before a judge of the combat; and, as the Duke of Lancaster, then king's lieutenant in that district, was absent in attendance upon parliament, Henry Percy, the eldest son of the Earl of Northumberland, with John eldest son of John de Nevill of Raby, and two knights, were directed to attend in his stead.¹ In 7 Ric. II. Henry was nominated one of the commissioners for receiving a payment of money sent by the king of Scotland; and 8 Ric. II. joint warden of the Marches towards Scotland, with his father, the Bishop of Durham, John Nevill, and Roger de Clifford. 9 Ric. II. he was made governor of Berwick upon Tweed and the Eastern Marches; and appointed with others to superintend the repair of Roxburgh castle. It may be conjectured that he was now a better fighter than disciplinarian. The farmers of the fishery at Berwick made formal complaint to the king, that his soldiers poached in the Tweed; and the townsmen, that they took by force their victuals and their goods; but with these disorderly bands he scoured the borders so vigilantly, that it gave rise to the nom de guerre already mentioned, which Walsingham is careful to explain, for the benefit, no doubt, of foreign rather than English readers, by the phrase, quod calidum calcar sonat. In this year he was sent to the defence of Calais; but finding no employment equal to his ardour, he soon returned into England. 11 Ric. II. he undertook, with a very inadequate force, to act against the French by sea, upon expectation of an invasion, and acquitted himself with honour. And when the Scots about the same time invaded the East Marches, and committed great devastation, he met them near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, slew the Earl of Douglas with his own hand, and wounded the Earl of Murrey; but pressing too far among the enemy, was taken prisoner with his brother Ralph, and carried into Scotland. However he soon obtained his release. In 12 Ric. II. he was again appointed Warden of the East March. 13 Ric. II he was at Calais, made several excursions towards Boulogne, and raised the siege of Brest, demolishing some part of the works, and repairing others. In this year he was also made Warden of the West and East Marches, and Governor of Carlisle, with power of granting safe conduct to persons going to, or coming out of Scotland. A trifling business of a very different nature from any of the preceding, in which he was at this time an agent, is deserving observation, as it shews that the high born ladies of Scotland interested themselves in concerns worthy of the pastoral age. He solicited and obtained permission from the king on behalf of the Scotch Countess of March, and Maria Heryng, that two flocks of one thousand and six hundred sheep, their respective property, with two shepherds attached to each of them, might have safe conduct, and leave to pasture at Colbrandspath and within five miles in circumference, for three years. The king by writ of privy seal, dated at Westminster, July 12, 1389, takes them under his special protection.

He was now retained to serve the king in peace and war, with a pension out of the exchequer, of a hundred pounds per annum, during his life. 14 Ric. II. he was in the commission for keeping the peace with Scotland; and 16 Ric. II. was again at Calais, whence he was recalled to his former post at Berwick and in the East March; besides which he was made governor of Bourdeaux. 17 Ric. II. he was one of the commissioners to treat of peace with the Scots. 19 Ric. II. he was employed in France, and had a renewal of his appointment at Berwick and in the East March; and this was repeated in 22 Ric. II. when he was constituted conservator of the truce with Scotland. By his warden's commission he had full power to punish all offenders against the peace, and all who held correspondence with the enemy; and to call out the able men of Northumberland and the Marches, within the liberties, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and to see that they were properly armed and arrayed. What proportion of force he brought to the Duke of Lancaster does not appear. Henry could not have selected a better captain to command under him. He continued him in his situation at Berwick; 1 Hen. IV. made him governor of Roxburgh castle, sheriff of Northumberland, with a grant of the castle and lordship of Bamborough, for his life, justice of Chester, North-Wales, and Flintshire, and constable of the castles of Chester, Flint, Conway, and Caernarvon. Dugdale, quoting the Patent Rolls, has assigned these latter appointments of justice and constable both to the father and the son; but no notice of them is to be found in the published calendar; there is, however, an entry of a grant of the county and lordship of Anglesey with the castle of Beaumaris for life. 3 Hen. IV. he was with his father at the victorious battle of Halidon-hill. In the spring of this year he laid in, for the consumption of the town and castle of Berwick, 2,900 quarters of beans, peas, and oats, and 800 quarters of corn, and mixtillion (miscellane). These he had license to purchase in the counties of Cambridge, Lincoln, and Norfolk, and to ship for Berwick; 3 and under proper distribution of his store, and attention to the conduct of his garrison, now at least the townsmen should have had no reason to complain.

The next year saw him in opposition to Henry IV. Under colour of advancing into Scotland, he raised and trained a force in the Marches, and drew southward, probably over the very ground he had traced in 1399 with the captive king, through Cheshire to Lichfield, and thence to Shrewsbury. His uncle Sir Thomas Percy joined him, and the fatal issue of their attempt is familiar to every reader. Never for the time was field more severely contested than that of Shrewsbury. They were upon the point of assaulting the town when Henry IV. came in sight, and, after a fruitless attempt at negociation, brought them to action. But all his efforts and military skill in throwing himself between Owen Glyndwr and his associates, and preventing them from effecting a junction, would apparently have little availed, had not a single arrow saved his crown, and deprived "the best knight in England" of the victory. Henry Percy the younger died, as he had lived, in arms; and his last words to his soldiers before the battle were these; "Stand to it valiantly; for this day will either advance us all, if we conquer; or free us from the king's power, if we be overcome; since it is more honourable to fall in battle for the public good, than after the fight to die by the sentence of an enemy."

Henry IV. took a most unworthy revenge upon his corpse, after permitting it to be honourably interred; and he was deservedly reminded of this in Scroope's manifesto:

"Henry Percy he not only killed once, but, so far as in him lay, killed twice and thrice. For after he was once slain and delivered to the lord of Furnival to be buried, who gave him ecclesiastical burial, as was the custom of Christians, with such honor as he could then provide, and commended his soul to God with the suffrages of the dead, with masses and other prayers—yet that same Lord Henry, like a bloodthirsty beast, thirsting again for his blood, commanded his body to be exhumed and taken from the tomb, and to be set up between two millstones for asses in a certain street of Shrewsbury, near the pillory, and to be guarded by armed men; afterwards he had it beheaded, cut into pieces and quartered, and ordered that the head and the quarters be sent to certain cities of the realm."

"Henricum Percy non solum semel occidit, sed quantum in ipso est bis et ter interfecit. Quia postquam semel fuit occisus, et Domino de Furnyvale ad sepeliendum traditus et liberatus, qui ipsum ecclesiasticæ sepulturæ, prout moris erat christianorum, cum honore quo tunc potuit tradidit, et cum suffragiis mortuorum, missarum, et aliarum orationum, ipsius animam apud Deum commendavit; idem Dominus Henricus, ut cruenta bestia, ejus sanguinem denuo sitiens, et ejus corpus de tumulo exhumari et extrahi præcepit, et inter duas molas asinarias in quodam vico de Shrewsbury juxta collistrigium reponi et sedere fecit, ac cum armatis hominibus custodiri, postmodum decollari, et membratim dividi et quarterisari, et caput et ejus quarterias ad regni certas civitates transmitti jussit."

I have seen no date whereby to fix his age; but it appears to me that the general impression respecting it, which the " Young Harry " of the dramatic poet has helped to fix in our minds, does not carry it far enough. His parents were married in 32 Edw. III. and he was the eldest child of that marriage.

By his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March, he left one son and one daughter. The former was concealed for some time in Scotland; but was afterwards sought out and educated under the compassionate attentions of Henry V. who restored him to his hereditary estates and honours.

In the mean time a great number of knights, squires, and archers, quitted the host of Duke Henry and came to the said castle, desiring to behold their king; not for any good will that they bore him, but for the great thirst that they had to ruin him, and to put him to death. They went to see him at dinner, and published throughout the castle, that as soon as the duke should be come, all those that were with him, without any exception, would have their heads cut off. And they moreover said, that it was not at all certain whether the king would escape. At the hearing of this news every one had great fear and dread at heart for himself. Because nature teacheth every creature to fear and dread death more than any thing besides, For my own part I do not think that I ever was so much afraid as I was at that time; considering their great contempt, and how unwilling they were to listen to right reason or loyalty. And forasmuch as nature constrained me to dread death, my companion and myself consulted Lancaster^t the herald, who with a great number of persons had come into the said castle to the king: so I besought him that for the love of our Lord he would help us to save our lives, and that he would be pleased to bring us to Duke Henry his master. Then he answered us, that he would do it right willingly. The king was a very long time at table; not for any thing at all that he ate; but because he well knew that as soon as he had dined the duke would come for him, to carry him off, or put him to death. They also let him remain a long time at table, because he was fasting.^v

Note t. They probably recognised this herald from having seen him in the suite of the duke at Paris. His style was " Lancaster, King at Arms del North; " his name Richard del Brugge; and by writ addressed to the sheriff of Lincoln, bearing date Nov. 2, 1399, he had a pension assigned him for life, out of the revenues of the county of Lincoln. ' Henry IV. also appointed Antelope, pursuivant. Only two heralds with the title of Lancaster appear in the catalogue given by Dallaway.

Richard del Brugge. Hen. IV.

John Ashwell. Hen. VI.

Note v. In the original il jeunoit les marseces; the precise import of which phrase I am unable to determine. But it appears as though his fast had been of a Lenten kind, or of a stricter nature than ordinary; and that this specious indulgence was grounded upon it. Marsece or Marseche signifies Lady-day, and also Lenten-grain; and the word is said to be still. used in some parts of France to express barley. Whatever might have been the immediate application of the term, it seems intended to imply some severer course of mortification, to which the humbled monarch might have subjected himself under a sense of his misfortune. He could not correctly be said to be keeping Lenten fast in the month of August.

After he had dined, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Northumberland went in quest of the Duke of Lancaster. He quitted his men, who were drawn up in very fair array before the castle, and with nine or eleven of the greatest lords who were with him,^u came to the king. At the entrance of the castle, Lancaster, the herald, brought us before the duke, kneeling on the ground: and the herald told him in the English language that we were of France, and that the king had sent us with King Richard into Ireland for recreation, and to see the country,^w and earnestly entreated him to save our lives. And then the duke made answer in French,^x "My young men, fear not, neither be dismayed at any thing that you behold, and keep close to me, and I will answer for your lives."

Note u. He brought over with him the Archbishop of Canterbury, the young Earl of Arundel, and Lord Cobham; and had been joined at different places on his march by the Earl of Northumberland, Sir Henry Percy, the Earls of Worcester, Rutland, and Westmorland, Lords Bardolph, Beaumont, Berkeley, Carleton, Darcy, Lovell, Ross, Scales, Willoughby, Sir John Stanley, and Sir Edmund Mortimer. These are more than sufficient to make up the train by which he was attended into the court of the castle. Lord Berkeley was certainly one of them.

Note w. To visit foreign courts and countries was one of the duties of knighthood, to which Christina of Pisa has assigned a prominent place in her spirited ballad on the qualities and accomplishments of the chivalrous character. The insertion of the whole of this, as it exists only in MS. may gratify the reader, who will be compensated for the length of it by the liveliness of it's expression, and the sentiments, which form a summary of the virtues of the preux chevalier in that age.

Gentil homme, qui veulx proece acq'rre;

Escoutes ci; entens qu'il te faut faire.

Armes suivir t'esteut en mainte terre;

Estre loyal contre ton adversaire;

De bataille ne fuyr, n'en sus traire;

Et doubter dieu; parole avoir tardive;

En fait d'assault trouver voye soubtive.

Ne soit ton cuer de lachete repris.

Des tours d'armes duit dois estre et appris;

Amer ton prince; et a ton chevetaine

Estre loyal; avoir ferme courage;

Croire conseil; promesse avoir certaine.

S ' ainsi le fais tu seras preux et sage.

Te gouverner par grāt advis en guerre;

A voyager souvent te doit moult plaire;

Princes et cours estranges tu dois querre, Tout enquerir leur estat et affaire;

Des bons parler, et a toy les attraire. Contre raison ta parole n'estrive;

Ne mesdire de personne qui vive;

Porter honneur aux vaillans ou appris;

Hanter les bons; n'avoir povre en despris;

Pour acquerir honneur ne plaindre peine;

Trop convoiteux n'estre, mais du tien large;

Et ta parole soit vraye et non pas vaine.

S ' ainsi le fais tu seras preux et sage.

Sans bon conseil de faire armes requerre

Ne dois autrui, et s'il n'est necessaire

Pour ton honneur: ta bouche et tes dens serre,

Qu'il n'en ysse chose qui face a taire:

L'autrui bien fait dois voulentiers retraire,

Taire le tien; ne t'entendre oisive;

Estre attrempé; n'avoir teste hastive;

Ffouyr tout vice, et avoir en mepris;

Tost achever ce que tu as empris;

N'avoir orgueil, ne parole haultaine;

Ta contenance seure et non sauvage

Par bel maintien en tous lieux te demaine.

S'ainsi le fais, & c.

Prince gentil! ceste voye est certaine

Pour acquerir de hault honneur la targe.

Homme noble! suis la ie ta certaine.

S'ainsi le fais, & c.'

The expedition into Ireland must have proved a strong excitement to such foreign knights as were at liberty to join it; since the more savage the countries that were the theatre of war, the more interesting they would become to men who cherished the love of adventure. Hence the fashionable rage for travelling into Prussia, that had subsisted for so many years. That country, inhabited partly by idolaters, had long attracted the curiosity and exercised the valour of the gentlemen of England, Scotland, and France. Many of the English nobility had been there; among whom were the Earl of Salisbury and young Thomas Percy. Henry of Lancaster went thither in 1390, with a very numerous retinue, and served a campaign with great applause. If Froissart may be credited, he had also visited the Holy Sepulchre, Cairo, and Saint Catherine's.

Note x. Respecting Henry's skill in the French tongue, see Ypod. Neustr. p. 566.

King Richard then answered him, "Fair cousin, since it pleaseth you, it pleaseth us well." And be assured that these are the very words that they two spake together, without taking away or adding any thing: for I heard and understood them very well. And the Earl of Salisbury also rehearsed them to me in French, and another aged knight who was one of the council of Duke Henry. He told me, as we rode to Chester, that Merlin^z and Bede had, from the time in which they lived, prophesied of the taking and ruin of the king, and that if I were in his castle he would shew it me in form and manner as I had seen it come to pass, saying thus:

"There shall be a king in Albion, who shall reign for the space of twenty or two and twenty years in great honour and in great power, and shall be allied and united with those of Gaul; which king shall be undone in the parts of the north in a triangular place." Thus the knight told me it was written in a book belonging to him. The triangular place he applied to the town of Conway; and for this he had a very good reason; for I can assure you that it is in a triangle,^a as though it had been so laid down by a true and exact measurement. In the said town of Conway was the king sufficiently undone; for the Earl of Northumberland drew him forth, as you have already heard by the treaty which he made with him; and from that time he had no power. Thus the knight held this prophecy to be true, and attached thereunto great faith and credit; for such is the nature of them in their country that they very thoroughly believe in prophecies,^b phantoms, and witchcraft, and employ (have recourse to) them right willingly. Yet in my opinion this is not right; but is a great want of faith.

Note z. Some observations, too long for insertion in notes, upon Merlin and the ensuing passages respecting the prophecy will be found in APPENDIX, NO. IV.

Note a. The triangular shape of the town of Conway may be well distinguished from the small terrace or rampart at the western entrance, which commands the whole of the walls. Edward I. by whom it was laid down and fortified, had his choice of the form: it has been thought to bear reference to that of a Welsh harp; but this is too visionary a conjecture. No doubt it was adapted to the nature of the site, and the exigencies of the situation. Such was clearly the case from the outline of it; and I must take leave to correct the author's assertion, as to it's being exactly triangular; a little variation to the left, owing to the cast of the bank, being visible from the point already mentioned. The opinion of Daines Barrington seems entitled to some attention, that Edward I. in constructing the castles of this district, borrowed many hints from those which he had visited in the Holy land, where the Christians and Saracens had improved and carried to a high pitch of perfection the arts of attack and defence, which they had borrowed from each other. The castle commanded the port and passage over the river; and protected a frequented entrance into the interior of Wales. The position was admirably selected, and the work capitally executed. The masonry of the whole of the walls is of a very superior kind, as to strength and beauty; and much of it promises, unless disturbed by violence, to resist the efforts of time for centuries to come. Here Richard, with proper precautions and a moderate force, might have felt himself secure: or, as a last resource, might have found means of escaping by sea. Conway must have been neglected, or very ill defended after the king was enticed out of it. Gwilym ap Tudor and Rhys, his brother, received a pardon 2 Henry IV for having, with many of their people, taken the castle and burnt the town. This fortress had been or was afterwards used as a prison. John Claydon, a Lollard of London, was confined in it for two years, when Braybrook, who died in 1404, was Bishop of London.

Note b. Richard and his council had listened with approbation to the visions of Robert the hermit. In the course of the king's dissension with the Duke of Gloucester, some of his favourites told him, that it had been discovered by calculation and necromancy, that he would be ruined unless certain lords were put to death; and this, the commons asserted in the parliament that deposed him, was the cause of the death of that duke. Henry was a believer in art magic. In his reply to the challenge of the Duke of Orleans in 1403, he solemnly accuses him of having used sorcery towards his father Charles VI. and thereby brought on his distemper. On January 2, 1406, a writ was addressed to the Bishop of Lincoln for the suppression, in his diocese, of those who had recourse to such practices for stirring up the people; and they are thus variously enumerated; "Sortilegi, Magici, Incantatores, Nigromantici, Divinatores, Arioli et Phitones." (Pythones?) But the charge of credulity on this head was not exclusively applicable to the people of England. France had her prodigies and spectres, prophets and necromancers. Montfaucon, quoting Juvenal des Ursins, has recorded of the inhabitants of the capital, "Il y avoit à Paris grant nombre de gens qui faisoient metier de sorcellerie, et invoquoient les diables." [There were in Paris a great number of people who practiced sorcery and invoked devils.]

The oath of champions, according to the form of duel in the marshal's court, set forth by the Duke of Gloucester, during this reign, shew the reliance that was placed in charms. The parties are to swear that they have no other weapons about them, save those assigned by the court, "nec lapidem potentem, nec herbam, nec carmen, nec experimentum, nec characterem, nec ullam aliam incantationem juxta te aut pro te, per quam speres quod facilius vincas C. de B. adversarium tuum." [Neither a powerful stone, nor an herb, nor a charm, nor an experiment, nor a character, nor any other incantation shall you have beside you or for you, by which you hope that you may more easily defeat C. de B., your adversary.]

Thus, as you have heard, came Duke Henry to the castle and spake unto the king, to the Bishop of Carlisle, and the two knights, Sir Stephen Scroope, and Ferriby; howbeit unto the Earl of Salisbury he spake not at all, but sent word to him by a knight in this manner, "Earl of Salisbury, be assured that no more than you deigned to speak to my lord the Duke of Lancaster, when he and you were in Paris at Christmas last past, will he speak unto you."^c Then was the earl much abashed, and had great fear and dread at heart, for he saw plainly that the duke mortally hated him.

Note c. One of the readings suggests the following sense; " Were it for no other reason than that you deigned not to speak to my lord the Duke of Lancaster, " & c. The cutting insinuation conveyed in this message can only be thoroughly understood by reference to what had occurred at Paris during the Christmas of 1398. The Earl of Derby in his banishment had repaired to the court of Charles VI. where he was received with the most marked hospitality and attention. During his stay he offered his hand to Marie, youngest daughter of the Duke of Berry, who had lately lost her second husband Philip of Artois, Count of Eu, and Constable of France, who perished in Turkey. This intelligence awakened the jealousy of Richard, who apprehended that it might defeat the advantages that he expected from his union with a daughter of France. He therefore charged the Earl of Salisbury to go to Paris, and set aside the match. This is what John of Gant, in Shakespeare, calls

"The prevention of poor Bolingbroke

About his marriage."

Salisbury was as averse to the mission as his master was to their union. However he executed his charge most effectually: but the French were scandalised at the employment of the term "traitor" against their visitor; and Salisbury's behaviour towards him highly offended him. "He knew," says Froissart, "of the Earl of Salisbury being at Paris; but they never saw each other; and the Earl of Salisbury returned to Calais without speaking to him." And again, "The Earl of Derby was much displeased that the Earl of Salisbury should leave Paris without seeing him." He afterwards put these expressions into the mouth of Henry's friends; "The Earl of Salisbury has done very wrong to carry such a message to France, and make so heavy a charge against the most honourable man in the world. The day will come when he shall repent of this, and say; 'It weighs heavily on me that I ever carried a message to France against the Earl of Derby.'"

Carte offers a reason for the facility with which Richard interrupted the match between Henry and Marie. "This was the easier done, because, according to the feudal law, received both in France and England, the principal nobility of each kingdom could not marry in the other without leave of their sovereign, on pain of forfeiture of their honours and estates. " His statement throws some light upon the origin of Richard's extraordinary conduct towards Bolingbroke, after the gracious manner in which he had dismissed him into temporary exile; but it is not generally adverted to by historians; and the Rolls, which announce the abrupt and tyrannical revocation of the king's indulgence, are silent upon this exciting cause. It is indeed rather matter of private history than public record, and could not have been inserted to any advantage. But had Henry actually married in opposition to him, Richard could then only have proceeded against him as he did; when he might have had some shew of justification. The duke's sole offence in this case was, that he had not previously asked his sovereign's consent, when he placed his affection on a foreign lady; and, notwithstanding the defence attempted by Hume, it seems no slight exertion of arbitrary authority, that such an omission should have been visited with the confiscation of all his estates. Richard, however, was glad of a pretext to inflict additional chastisement upon one whom he had long regarded with aversion; and, having called him traitor, his next step, right or wrong, was to deal with him as such. These provocations were fresh in Henry's mind; the sight of the king and Salisbury appear to have revived his irritation; and in his demeanour towards the helpless offenders, he leaned not so much, perhaps, to the public feeling as to his own resentment. It is less difficult to give the reasons than the vindication of his behaviour on this occasion.

In form and manner as you have heard, did Duke Henry take King Richard, his lord; and he brought him with great joy and satisfaction to Chester which he had quitted in the morning. And know, that with great difficulty could the thunder of heaven have been heard,^ff for the loud bruit and sound of their instruments, horns, buisines, and trumpets; insomuch that they made all the sea shore resound with them. Thus the duke entered the city of Chester to whom the common people paid great reverence, praising our Lord and shouting after their king, as it were in mockery.

Note f. A proverbial expression, familiar to the old French writers. Thus in Le Roman de Garcin, quoted by Du Cange:

Li Loherans a nostre Dame vint, [The Lorrainer came to Our Lady,]

Et la Roine moult grant joie li fist; [And the Queen showed him very great joy;]

Li seint sonnerent tost contreval Paris [The bells soon rang out down through Paris,]

Nes Dex tonant n'i poit on oir. [Nor could one hear God thundering there.]

Another instance occurs in Le Roman de la Prise de Jerusalem:

Moult part font grant noise en l'ost li oliphant, [The elephants make great noise throughout the host,]

Li cors, et li bocines, et li tymbres sonant, [The horns, and the trumpets, and the kettledrums sounding,]

Que on ne oïst pas ne'is Dant Diex tonant. [So that one could not even hear the thunder of God himself.]

The duke led him straight to the castle, which is right fair and strong, and caused him to be lodged in the donjon. And then he gave him in keeping to the son of the Duke of Gloucester,^g and the son of the Earl of Arundel,^h who hated him more than any men in the world; because King Richard had put their fathers to death. There he saw his brother the Duke of Exeter; but neither durst nor was able to speak to him.

Note g. Humphrey Plantagenet, son of the late Duke of Gloucester by Eleanor, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford. Upon the murder of his father in 1397, Richard took him in ward, made him reside with him, and appropriated his estates to his own use. When the king went into Ireland, he obliged his cousin to attend him, and, at his departure for England. left him with young Henry of Lancaster shut up in Trim castle. Duke Henry lost no time in sending for them; and his commands must have met with little opposition in Ireland, since Humphrey was able so soon to join the army. Froissart affirms, that he made his escape to Henry with the young Earl of Arundel. In this he must have been misinformed. His death happened in this year; but the accounts of it differ; some reporting that he was drowned on his passage, others that he died of a fever at Beaumaris, in Anglesey, on his return. Neither of these representations can be correct. His illness must have occurred either on the march or after he reached London. The event occasioned the death of his mother on the third of October ensuing. 3 A violent fever prevailed this year in some parts of England. Henry IV was urged by parliament, that, in consideration of the great plague in the north, it would please him to lie in the midst of the realm. The disease continued it's ravages during the ensuing summer.

Note h. Thomas Fitz Alan, son of Richard Earl of Arundel, beheaded in 1397. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of William de Bohun Earl of Northampton. He had been consigned to the care of the Duke of Exeter during his minority, and was kept at his castle of Ryegate, in Surrey, under the custody of Sir John Shelly; but he contrived to elude him by the assistance of one John Scot, and went over to Duke Henry in France.

In 1 Hen. IV. the judgment of his father was reversed, and he was restored in blood. He was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation; and 6 Hen. IV. married Beatrix, illegitimate daughter of the King of Portugal. 12 Hen. IV. he went with a force to the aid of the Duke of Burgundy against the Duke of Orleans; and 1 Hen. V. was appointed Constable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinq ports, and Lord Treasurer of England. He died Octoder 13, 1415, without issue.

When Henry gave the king in charge to these young men, he said to them; "Here is the murderer of your father; you must be answerable for him."

Duke Henry staid three days at Chester, and held a very great council: they determined that they had too great a number of people, since the king was taken; and that thirty or forty thousand men would be sufficient to take the said king to London; and that otherwise the country would be too much distressed; seeing that it had been very greatly wastedⁱ as they came. So the duke sent back the greater part of his people; and set out from the city of Chester the fourth day after the taking (of the king), and took the direct road to London. He arrived at Lichfield, a very fair little city; and there poor King Richard thought to escape from them by night, and let himself down into a garden through a window of a large tower in which they had lodged him. But I believe it was not our Lord's pleasure that he should escape; and he was perceived, and was most villainously thrust back into the tower; and from that time forth, at all hours of the night, he had ten or twelve armed men who guarded him, without his being able to sleep.^l

Note i. The king professed, see page 139, that he would assign this as a reason for separating from Henry and taking a different road through Wales. Great mischief had certainly been done in the country. Among the petitions in the first parliament of Henry IV. is one from the commons requesting that every man may pursue his remedy for all havock and spoils made since the king's coming; and another from the commons of Salop, that enquiries may be made touching great losses by them sustained by the king's late army there.¹

Note k. How must the recollection of what had passed a few months back in this city have affected the wretched king! Lichfield seems to have been a favourite spot with him. Here, on his way to Shrewsbury, he had kept the Christmas of 1398, accompanied by foreign noblemen and the pope's nuncio, with magnificent tournaments and feasting. The monk of Evesham states the daily consumption to have been twenty-six or twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep. He had also been here during the spring 3 and autumn of the same year, at the installation of Bishop Burghill, his confessor; and previously at that of Bishop Scroope in 1386. From these frequent visits he may be supposed to have been well acquainted with the place, which sufficiently accounts for his attempt to escape.

The anecdote related by Hall of another effort of this kind at Flint, to which allusion has been made in page 147, note, gravely and circumstantially as it is delivered, is little better than a fable. He says, that Richard, " by councell of Ihon Pallet and Richarde Seimer his assured servauntes, departed out of the castell ( of Flint ), and toke the sandes by the ryver of Dee, trusting to escape to Chester, and there to have refuge and succour; but, or he had far passed he was forelayed and taken and brought to the duke, who sent him secretly to the tower of London. " This is probably made up out of what occurred at Lichfield, where the parties above-named might have endeavoured to aid him in regaining his liberty.

Note l. "Guarded as a thief or a murderer. Of his wailings and complaints no one knew any thing, except those who guarded him. " MS. Ambassades. According to Otterbourne he was watched every night by a thousand men: but that writer gives too favourable an account of the duke's treatment of him. The king requested that he might not be intruded upon nor insulted by the common people at meals on his journey; and his friends were permitted to sup and pass the night with him."

Now it came to pass that they of London heard the news of the taking of their rightful lord King Richard, who set out in a very fair company, to wit, five or six of the greatest burgesses, governors of the said city. They came upon the spur to meet Duke Henry; and know, that I heard it related by many knights and squires, that, as soon as they were arrived in presence of the duke, they requested of him, on the part of the commons of London, that he would cut off the head^m of their rightful lord King Richard, and of all those who were taken with him, without bringing him any farther: which request Duke Henry would not grant nor allow; and he excused himself as prudently as he could, saying, "Fair Sirs, it would be a very great disgrace to us for ever, if we should thus put him to death; but we will bring him to London, and there he shall be judged by the parliament." The dukeⁿ set out from Lichfield, and rode on with all his host till he came to Coventry, which is a very good city; but, before he could come there, the Welsh did him much harm and despite, and slew and robbed a great number of his people; sometimes they came to set fire to the lodgings of the English: and, certes, I was right glad of it; and, besides, it was not in the power of the English to take any of them, except by chance. And, when they could catch any, they tied them by cords to their horses ' tails, and dragged them through the roads full of stones; thus did they put them to an evil death. And with great difficulty the duke passed their mountains^o as quickly and as well as he could, and arrived in the said city of Coventry; and there he sojourned two days. He next went to Saint Alban's, where there is a very good town and a fair abbey; and thence straight to London. When he drew nigh, within five or six miles of the said city, the mayor,^p accompanied by a very great number of the commons, marshalled and clad, each trade by itself, in different garments, drawn up in rows and armed, came to meet Duke Henry with a great quantity of instruments and of trumpets, shewing great joy and great satisfaction. The sword was there borne before the said mayor, as before the king. When they came together they saluted him (the king), and Duke Henry afterwards, to whom they paid much greater respect^q than they had done to the king, shouting, in their language, with a loud and fearful voice, "Long live the good Duke of Lancaster:" and they said, one to the other, that God had shewn them a fine miracle, when he sent the said duke to them; and how that he had conquered the whole kingdom of England in less than a month; and that he well deserved to be king, who thus knew how to conquer. And they most devoutly gave laud and thanks to our Lord for it, saying that it was his will, and that otherwise he could not have done it. Moreover the simple and over-credulous people said, that he would conquer one of the great portions of the world, and compared him even to Alexander the Great. Thus, talking and plotting, they approached, as it were, within two miles of the city. And there the whole host halted, on the one part and on the other. Then spake Duke Henry quite aloud to the commons of the said city, " Fair Sirs, behold your king! consider what you will do with him! " And they made answer with a loud voice, " We will have him taken to Westminster."^r And so he delivered him unto them. At this hour did he remind me of Pilate, who caused our Lord Jesus Christ to be scourged at the stake, and afterwards had him brought before the multitude of the Jews, saying, "Fair Sirs, behold your king!" who replied, "let him be crucified!" Then Pilate washed his hands of it, saying, "I am innocent of the just blood." And so he delivered our Lord unto them. Much in the like manner did Duke Henry, when he gave up his rightful lord to the rabble of London, in order that, if they should put him to death, he might say, "I am innocent of this deed."

Note m. The Londoners had not forgotten the quarrel they had with him in 1392, when, upon their refusal to lend him money, he threatened to deprive them of their rights and privileges, and fleeced them of ten thousand pounds.⁴ Froissart enlarges upon their disaffection. They had laid a plot, in conjunction with the Duke of Gloucester, to seize his person, and that of the queen, and set up another king. These political animosities were not likely to be expressed in any way short of extremity by a set of persons who are represented at this period to have been disorderly in their morals and manners. The spirit of insubordination, which had manifested itself in the great insurrection, had infected the lower classes; and the merchants in their hatred of foreign competition had been known to proceed to such outrage as to hire ruffians in 1377 to assassinate a Genoese trader before the door of his house, whose speculation would have interfered with their monopoly of spices. The clergy complained of their neglect or violation of religious usages and ordinances.3 Walsingham gives them a very bad character; he says that the account of their iniquities would be sufficient to fill a volume.

Note n. The route of the army is thus laid down by the Evesham historian; and the line he has given seems right; but it might easily be shewn that he is mistaken in allotting a day to every stage:- After the capture, to Chester, Leycester, Nantwich, Newcastle, Stafford, Lichfield, Coventry, Daventry, Northampton, Dunstable, Saint Alban's, London. The king never changed his clothes during the whole of the way.

Note o. There is either an unintentional dislocation in the introduction of this passage respecting the Welsh mountains, or an error in his geographical recollections of the country between Lichfield and Coventry.

Note p. Sir Drew Baretyn or Barentin, Goldsmith, ¹ who lent Henry, soon after, fifteen hundred pounds. The civil authorities and companies went out in the same sort of array to meet the Black Prince when he brought over his prisoner, the King of France, from Poitiers.

Note q. "The Earl of Derby was a hundred times more beloved than King Richard." The mayor and principal citizens had attended him to Dartford, on his departure into banishment.

Note r. "The duke then sent for the king, who arrived with his face bathed in tears, and delivered him in charge to the mayor and commons of the city, who carried him to Westminster."

"Next day the king was carried through the city from Westminster on a sorry horse, with an open space around him, that all might see him, and lodged in the Tower. Some had pity of him, but others expressed great joy, abusing him, and saying, "Now are we avenged of this little bastard, who has governed us so ill." Froissart explains the origin of this charge of illegitimacy.

Several citizens had contrived to kill him as he passed through the city; but the mayor and aldermen, having timely notice of their design, prevented it by their vigilance.

Note 4. Hist. Angl. p. 347, et seq.

Thus the commons and the rabble of London took their king to Westminster, and the duke made a turn about the city to enter by the chief gate^s of London, to the end that he might pass through the great street, that they call Cheap-street (Cheapside). He entered the city at the hour of vespers, and came straight to Saint Paul's.^t There the people shouted after him through the streets, "Long live the good Duke of Lancaster," and blessed him in their language, with great shew of joy and pleasure; insomuch that I think if our Lord had come down among them they could not have shewn more. He alighted at Saint Paul's, and went all armed before the high altar to make his orisons. Afterwards he returned by the tomb of his father,^u which is very nigh to the said altar. And you must know that it is a very costly monument. There he wept very much; for he had never seen it since his father had been laid there. He remained at St. Paul's five or six days. Then he set out and went to Saint John^v of Jerusalem, an hospital of the Templars, which is without the city of London.

Note s. Aldgate. "This is one, and the first, of the four principal gates." Stow's Survey, f. 31, b. His turning aside to this gate was evidently done for the sake of a public entry through Cornhill and Cheapside, for which Cripplegate, Moorgate, or Bishopsgate would not so well have answered.

Note t. The church of Saint Paul had been in a very neglected state during part of the reign of Richard II. People had stalls there for selling various articles of trade. Filth was suffered to accumulate about the doors and in the cemeteries; and the beautiful windows and images were injured by stones and arrows, aimed at the daws and pigeons that roosted and made their nests about the building; and they played at fives both within and with- out the church. This is set forth in the letter of Robert Braybrook, Bishop of London, dated November 9, 1385, published for the reformation of these abuses. He threatens offenders with pain of the greater excommunication, by bell ringing, candle lighting, and elevation of the cross.'

The dean and residentiaries had lately had a dispute concerning superfluous expenses and residence, which Richard had settled; but Henry in the first year of his reign set aside the late king's decision.

Note u. John Plantagenet, fourth son of Edward III. by his queen Philippa, surnamed of Gant or Ghent, from the place of his birth; whose posterity swayed the sceptres of Spain and Portugal, and from whom so many of our nobility are descended. He died February 4, 1399-9, either at his castle of Leicester, or at Ely-house in Holborn, for the accounts vary and was buried in saint Paul's cathedral; where a costly monument of freestone was erected to his memory, and that of Blanch his first wife, between two pillars on the north side of the high altar, which remained till the great fire.His lance and target were suspended upon it.

His son founded a chapel and chantry opposite to the tomb, 4 Hen. IV; and in the tenth year of his reign gave divers messuages and lands to the dean and chapter, for the celebration of masses on the anniversaries of the death of his father and mother, at which the mayor and sheriffs of London were to attend. Eight large tapers were to be lighted around the tomb on these days of exequies, and on the morrow, and on every great festival and Sundays, at the procession, mass, and second vespers for ever.

Henry seems not to have been deficient in filial respect. When in exile at Paris he sent to ask his father's advice and permission to make a campaign against the Turks in Hungary. The old duke dissuaded him from the undertaking, recommending him to visit his sisters in Portugal and Spain.

Froissart speaks thus of his death: "It happened, that about Christmas-tide, Duke John of Lancaster fell dangerously ill of a disorder which ended his life, to the great grief of all his friends. He had been sometime very low-spirited, on account of the banishment of his son, whom his nephew King Richard had forced out of England for a trifling cause, and also for the manner in which the kingdom was governed, which, if persevered in, he foresaw must be it's ruin."

Note v. Saint John's, Clerkenwell [Map]. It must have been lately rebuilt: both this and the Temple had been burnt in May 1381, by the rebels under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. The priory of Saint John's was burning for seven days, and no one was suffered to quench it."

III.

For thou hast kept with him neither faith nor treaty, as thou hadst sworn and promised; when falsely, and under pretence of security, Northumberland^x was sent to him from thee, promising upon the sacramerit that them wouldst be his friend, and that all was right. So the king untimely quitted his castles, and journeyed towards thee, alas! most humbly. Shamefully didst thou carry him off in disgrace. For this thou wilt at last come to perdition, body and soul.

Note x. It is but justice to the character of Northumberland, after the account that has been given of his behaviour, to offer some remarks upon the probable nature of his designs as to Richard and his successor: they will help to explain why the cordiality which seemed at first to subsist between him and Henry was of such short continuance.

It would be worse than vain to attempt any defence of the means he employed to get the king into his hands. That he grossly deceived him as to his liberty by an impious artifice when he drew him forth from Conway, is a fact that must stand among the truths of history; and it seems as unquestionable that he did it for the purpose of correcting his misrule and abridging his power: but in the face of appearances calculated to mislead us, it would be well to pause before we conclude that Northumberland had at that moment fully determined that he should be dethroned. For it should not pass unnoticed, that, though all the Percys appeared to be agents in this business, they strenuously denied that they at first entertained any such design. In their challenge sent to Henry IV. before the battle of Shrewsbury, they reminded him, that they had originally associated under an agreement that he was to be restored to his rights, and that Richard was still to reign under certain restrictions for the term of his life¹.' It is a satisfaction to reflect in behalf of Sir Thomas Percy in particular, that he might understand this to have been the plan of reform to which his brother and nephew, and the Duke af Lancaster, had mutually agreed. Henry, on his part, as we have already seen, confirmed his assurance to them with a solemn oath that he would lay claim to nothing but his own. And this was the state of affairs when they were all at. Chester, and the king was at Conway; and when they concluded that nothing could be done unless they got possession of his person.

If the violation which Northumberland has offered to the reader's feelings will permit him to look impartially into what the earl professed to Richard at their first interview, and he can at the same time sufficiently believe the declaration just alluded to of that nobleman and the other members of his family; he will, perhaps, see that so much falsehood was not designedly introduced into the negotiation as subsequent events would induce him to believe; and that Northumberland did not actually at first intend that the king should be deposed. He,forone,laidthesoleblameofthe deposition upon Henry and his other advisers; the latter never thought proper to deny it; he replied to the accusation only by force of arms.

But whether it may be considered that the earl himself was clear in his motives on this point or otherwise, it must not be imagined that, because he had lent his aid to redress the duke's grievances, and unintentionally or designedly, to the deposition of Richard, he therefore purposed that Henry should be set up in his stead. We are not without proof, that when he saw that Henry was likely to outwit him; that those who had the upper hand were determined Richard should be set aside, and that the popular clamour was for setting the duke on the throne; his object with regard to the succession was, that it should have continued in the line in which it had been settled by declaration of parliament.

In the biographical notice of Northumberland, page 128, note, it is observed that he placed Henry upon the throne: and truly he was more instrumental, upon the whole, than any one in preparing the means of his ascent to that eminence. But it should now be added, that he appears in this matter to have been urged beyond his intentions. For it is in the same place remarked that his union with Glyndwr is reported to have been in favour of the young Earl of March, the rightful heir to the crown. The challenge sets forth the superior claim of that individual, and Northumberland's recognition of it; and what has been recorded by Hardyng in the body of his Chronicle, as well as in the prose additions, which contain a regular vindication of the earl's ground of dispute with Henry, is sufficient evidence that he had never wavered in this opinion. It must be allowed that Hardyng had naturally a bias in favour of Northumberland. Under his son Hotspur, according to the usages of chivalry, he had been trained up from childhood, had followed him to the wars, and was with him when he was slain at Shrewsbury. ' But I cannot see that this circumstance, or any other that might be alleged, will at all affect his testimony in the cause, which is offered in the firmest and most interesting manner.

From this author it is manifest that, when the deposition was resolved upon, Northumberland's views were directed towards the Earl of March; that he exerted himself to keep Henry to his oath, and crossed his attempts to prove his immediate pretensions by surreptitious means. Strong traces of their dissention and altercation are visible in his homely narrative. The matter could not have been settled without much debate between them. Henry's ambition, and those who sided with his aspiring designs, however, prevailed; the Percys had at his instigation dismissed their force, and the numbers were on the usurper's side. But the struggle for Edmund Mortimer continued to the very evening of the day preceding that on which Henry challenged the crown.

These are the words of Hardyng:

Then went they to a free election,

Seyng the youth then of the Mortimer,

That Erie of the Marche by trewe direccion

Was then, and heire of Englonde then most nere

To king Richarde, as well then did appere,

Consydred also the might of Duke Henry,

They chose him kyng, there durst none it deny.

Therle of Northumberlande then had sent

His power home by councell of Duke Henry,

So did his sonne Henry that truly ment,

Supposyng well the duke wolde not vary

From his othe, ne in no wyse contrary,

And he and hys kepte all theyr power,

Tyll he was crowned kyng, as it did appere.

Therles two then of Northumberlande,

Of Worcester, and syr Henry Percy,

And therle also of Westmerlande

Councelled hym then fro his oth not to varye;

And though at eve he did to theim applie,

On the morouie by a pryve counsayl,

He would be crowned kyng without fayle².

Again, upon the oral testimony of Northumberland, he exposes the arts of Henry, grounded on those of his father, and shews the manner in which the earl resisted them while opposition could at all avail.

"For asmuche as many men have been merred and yit stonde in grete erroure and contraversy, holdyng oppynyon frowarde how that Edmonde erle of Lancastre, Leicestre, and Derby, wase the elder sonne of Kynge Henry the thride, croukebacked, unable to have been kynge, for the whiche Edwarde his yonger brother was made kynge be his assente, as some men have alleged, be an untrewe cronycle, feyned in the tyme of kynge Richarde the seconde be John of Gaunte duke of Lancastre, to make Henry his sonne kynge, whan' he sawe he myght not be chose for heyr apparaunt to kynge Richarde.

"For John Hardynge, the maker of this booke, herde the erle of Northumberlande, that was slayne at Bramham More in the time of King Henry the Fourth, saie, how the same kyng Henry, vpon saynt Mathee daye afore he wase made kinge, put forth that ilke cronycle claymynge his title to the crowne be the seide Edmonde, upon whiche all the Cronycles of Westminstre and of all other notable monasteries were hade in the counsell at Westmynstre, and examyned amonge the lordes, and proued well be all their cronycles, that the kinge Edwarde wase the older brother, and the seide Edmonde the yonger brother, and not croukebacked, nother maymed, but the semeliest person of Engelonde except his brother Edwarde. Wherfore that Chronycle which kynge Henry so put furth was adnulled and reproved.

"And than I herde the seide erle saie, that the seid kynge Henry made kynge Richard vnder durese of prison in the Toure of London in fere of his life to make a resignation of his right to hym. And upon that a renunciation of the seide right. And tho two declared in the counsell and in the parlement at Westmynster, on the morowe of seynt Michell than next followynge, what of his myght and his wilfulness, and what be certeyne lordes and strength of the commons, he was crounde ayenst his oth made in the White Ffreres at Doncastre to the seid erle of Northomberlande and other lordes, ayenst the wille and counsell of the seide erle and of his sonne, and of sir Thomas Percy earl of Worcestri, for which cause they died after, as I knew well, for that tyme I was in the feelde at Shrewsbury with Sir Henry Percy, of the age of xxv yere, armed, and afore brought up in his house of xij yere of age.

"Also I herde the seide erle of Northumberlonde saie divers tymes, that he herde duke John of Lancastre, amonge the lordes in counsels and in parlementes and in the common house, amonge the knyghtes chosyn' for the comons, aske be bille forto beene admytte heire apparaunte to king Richarde, considerynge howe the kynge was like to have no issue of his bodie. To the which the lordes spirituell and temporell and the commons in the common house, be hoole aduyse, seide, that the erle of Marche, Roger Mortymere, was his next heire to the croun, of full discent of blode, and they wolde have noone other; and axed a question upon it, who durst disable the kynge of issue, he beynge yonge and able to have children; for which when the duke of Lancastre wase so putt bie, he and his counsell feyned and forgied the seid Cronycle that Edmonde shuld be the elder brother, to make his son Henry a title to the croun, and wold have hade the seide erle of Northumberlonde, and sir Thomas Percy his brother, of counsaile thereof, for cause thei were discent of the seid Edmonde be a suster; but they refused it.

"Whiche Cronycle, so forged, the duke dide put in divers abbaies and in freres, as I herde the seid erle qfte tymes saie and recorde to divers persouns, for to be kepte for the inheritaunce of his sonne to the croun, whiche title he put furste furth after he hade kynge Richarde in the Toure, but that title the erle Percy put aside.³"

As to the Percys, it will scarcely be objected that their opposition to the inclinations of Henry upon so vital a point is irreconcilable with their acceptance of office under him. It is true that their consistency had been less compromised had they declined at an early period to receive his favours; but for their individual security, or to further their common ends, they temporised with him till both parties could bear each other no longer. The demeanour of Northumberland in his quarrel with John of Gant many years before (see p. 126, note h) shews how violently he could act under any offence given to his pride. The deceit and falsehood of Henry had defeated his schemes, and wounded his feelings; and from the above quotations it would appear that he made no secret of disclosing them among those who were around him. It was not probable, after all this, that they would continue long to agree; nor were farther causes of animosity wanting to bring on the rupture, which involved the whole family in ruin. These causes have been already more than once adverted to; and various opinions have been adduced as to the uncertain grounds of their open quarrel. But their dislike to him began from the hour that he commenced his reign. That ancient grudge, out of which all subsequent bickerings might partly have arisen, is here disclosed, having been unavoidably reserved to this point of investigation. Springs of action in matters of remote history are not easy of detection; but it is hoped, that in the present instance, if the proof is not clearly established, it is not altogether obscure⁴.

Note 1. Hardyng, Chronicle, by Ellis, pp. 352, 353.

Note 2. Hardyng, p. 351.

Note 3. Hardyng, pp. 355, 356.

Note 4. The Earl of Worcester's opinion of Henry is given from Cane, see p. 15, note. I had not then, nor till a late period, seen the statements of Hardyng. Shakipeare's masterly view of the characters and politics of all the parties is very near the truth.

When I had made an end of my ballad^z I was eased of my former wrath for the great evil that I had seen them commit, in thus undoing

Note z. This may be considered an exhortation, not only to general hostilities, which the French would, perhaps, have begun immediately, had not Isabel been in Henry's power; but to those individual defiances in which the nobility of that country were never backward. Some such arose out of this quarrel. Louis Duke of Orleans twice challenged Henry, upon the ground of rebellion, usurpation, and murder, to fight with a hundred knights on a side, in the Marches of Guienne; and Waleran earl of Saint Paul sent him a cartel of defiance. To the former Henry replied that he was ready to meet him; but it may be doubted if he was sincere. It might suit him better to negotiate than fight with the French at that time. Waleran's provocation he treated with contempt. The challenge of the Percys has been mentioned in the preceding note.

In the manifesto attributed to Scroope the whole people of England were afterwards called upon to avenge the injuries offered to Richard; and threatened with the divine chastisement on the part of foreign nations and of their neighbours, the Welsh, Scotch, and Irish, if they should refuse.

“Arise, England, to vindicate quickly the cause, the blood, the wrong and the death of your king, and the injury to your person! But if you do not do so, know that the true and just God, by foreign peoples and strange nations — for example the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish — will destroy your tongue and your people; and thus in his anger will take vengeance on you for this abominable deed.”F

"Surge, Anglia, in causam, sanguinem, injuriam et mortem regis tui, et injuriam in tua persona celeriter vindicare! Quod si non feceris, scito quòd verus Deus et justus per alienas gentes et extraneas nationes, puta Wallicanas, Scoticas, et Hibernicanas, destruet tuam linguam et gentem; et sic in ira sua vindicabit se de te pro hac nefanda re."