ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FOURTH
KING EDWARD THE FOURTH was not quite twenty-one years of age when he took that unquiet seat upon the throne of England. The Lancaster party, the Red Roses, were then assembling in great numbers near York, and it was necessary to give them battle instantly. But, the stout1 Earl of Warwick leading for the young King, and the young King himself closely following him, and the English people crowding round the Royal standard, the White and the Red Roses met, on a wild March day when the snow was falling heavily, at Towton; and there such a furious battle raged between them, that the total loss amounted to forty thousand men - all Englishmen, fighting, upon English ground, against one another. The young King gained the day, took down the heads of his father and brother from the walls of York, and put up the heads of some of the most famous noblemen engaged in the battle on the other side. Then, he went to London and was crowned with great splendour.
A new Parliament met. No fewer than one hundred and fifty of the principal noblemen and gentlemen on the Lancaster side were declared traitors3, and the King - who had very little humanity, though he was handsome in person and agreeable in manners - resolved to do all he could, to pluck up the Red Rose root and branch.
Queen Margaret, however, was still active for her young son. She obtained help from Scotland and from Normandy, and took several important English castles. But, Warwick soon retook them; the Queen lost all her treasure on board ship in a great storm; and both she and her son suffered great misfortunes. Once, in the winter weather, as they were riding through a forest, they were attacked and plundered4 by a party of robbers; and, when they had escaped from these men and were passing alone and on foot through a thick dark part of the wood, they came, all at once, upon another robber. So the Queen, with a stout heart, took the little Prince by the hand, and going straight up to that robber, said to him, 'My friend, this is the young son of your lawful5 King! I confide6 him to your care.' The robber was surprised, but took the boy in his arms, and faithfully restored him and his mother to their friends. In the end, the Queen's soldiers being beaten and dispersed7, she went abroad again, and kept quiet for the present.
Now, all this time, the deposed8 King Henry was concealed9 by a Welsh knight10, who kept him close in his castle. But, next year, the Lancaster party recovering their spirits, raised a large body of men, and called him out of his retirement11, to put him at their head. They were joined by some powerful noblemen who had sworn fidelity12 to the new King, but who were ready, as usual, to break their oaths, whenever they thought there was anything to be got by it. One of the worst things in the history of the war of the Red and White Roses, is the ease with which these noblemen, who should have set an example of honour to the people, left either side as they took slight offence, or were disappointed in their greedy expectations, and joined the other. Well! Warwick's brother soon beat the Lancastrians, and the false noblemen, being taken, were beheaded without a moment's loss of time. The deposed King had a narrow escape; three of his servants were taken, and one of them bore his cap of estate, which was set with pearls and embroidered13 with two golden crowns. However, the head to which the cap belonged, got safely into Lancashire, and lay pretty quietly there (the people in the secret being very true) for more than a year. At length, an old monk14 gave such intelligence as led to Henry's being taken while he was sitting at dinner in a place called Waddington Hall. He was immediately sent to London, and met at Islington by the Earl of Warwick, by whose directions he was put upon a horse, with his legs tied under it, and paraded three times round the pillory15. Then, he was carried off to the Tower, where they treated him well enough.
The White Rose being so triumphant16, the young King abandoned himself entirely17 to pleasure, and led a jovial18 life. But, thorns were springing up under his bed of roses, as he soon found out. For, having been privately19 married to ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, a young widow lady, very beautiful and very captivating; and at last resolving to make his secret known, and to declare her his Queen; he gave some offence to the Earl of Warwick, who was usually called the King-Maker, because of his power and influence, and because of his having lent such great help to placing Edward on the throne. This offence was not lessened20 by the jealousy21 with which the Nevil family (the Earl of Warwick's) regarded the promotion22 of the Woodville family. For, the young Queen was so bent23 on providing for her relations, that she made her father an earl and a great officer of state; married her five sisters to young noblemen of the highest rank; and provided for her younger brother, a young man of twenty, by marrying him to an immensely rich old duchess of eighty. The Earl of Warwick took all this pretty graciously for a man of his proud temper, until the question arose to whom the King's sister, MARGARET, should be married. The Earl of Warwick said, 'To one of the French King's sons,' and was allowed to go over to the French King to make friendly proposals for that purpose, and to hold all manner of friendly interviews with him. But, while he was so engaged, the Woodville party married the young lady to the Duke of Burgundy! Upon this he came back in great rage and scorn, and shut himself up discontented, in his Castle of Middleham.
A reconciliation24, though not a very sincere one, was patched up between the Earl of Warwick and the King, and lasted until the Earl married his daughter, against the King's wishes, to the Duke of Clarence. While the marriage was being celebrated25 at Calais, the people in the north of England, where the influence of the Nevil family was strongest, broke out into rebellion; their complaint was, that England was oppressed and plundered by the Woodville family, whom they demanded to have removed from power. As they were joined by great numbers of people, and as they openly declared that they were supported by the Earl of Warwick, the King did not know what to do. At last, as he wrote to the earl beseeching26 his aid, he and his new son-in-law came over to England, and began to arrange the business by shutting the King up in Middleham Castle in the safe keeping of the Archbishop of York; so England was not only in the strange position of having two kings at once, but they were both prisoners at the same time.
Even as yet, however, the King-Maker was so far true to the King, that he dispersed a new rising of the Lancastrians, took their leader prisoner, and brought him to the King, who ordered him to be immediately executed. He presently allowed the King to return to London, and there innumerable pledges of forgiveness and friendship were exchanged between them, and between the Nevils and the Woodvilles; the King's eldest27 daughter was promised in marriage to the heir of the Nevil family; and more friendly oaths were sworn, and more friendly promises made, than this book would hold.
They lasted about three months. At the end of that time, the Archbishop of York made a feast for the King, the Earl of Warwick, and the Duke of Clarence, at his house, the Moor28, in Hertfordshire. The King was washing his hands before supper, when some one whispered him that a body of a hundred men were lying in ambush29 outside the house. Whether this were true or untrue, the King took fright, mounted his horse, and rode through the dark night to Windsor Castle. Another reconciliation was patched up between him and the King-Maker, but it was a short one, and it was the last. A new rising took place in Lincolnshire, and the King marched to repress it. Having done so, he proclaimed that both the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence were traitors, who had secretly assisted it, and who had been prepared publicly to join it on the following day. In these dangerous circumstances they both took ship and sailed away to the French court.
And here a meeting took place between the Earl of Warwick and his old enemy, the Dowager Queen Margaret, through whom his father had had his head struck off, and to whom he had been a bitter foe30. But, now, when he said that he had done with the ungrateful and perfidious31 Edward of York, and that henceforth he devoted32 himself to the restoration of the House of Lancaster, either in the person of her husband or of her little son, she embraced him as if he had ever been her dearest friend. She did more than that; she married her son to his second daughter, the Lady Anne. However agreeable this marriage was to the new friends, it was very disagreeable to the Duke of Clarence, who perceived that his father-in-law, the King-Maker, would never make HIM King, now. So, being but a weak- minded young traitor2, possessed33 of very little worth or sense, he readily listened to an artful court lady sent over for the purpose, and promised to turn traitor once more, and go over to his brother, King Edward, when a fitting opportunity should come.
The Earl of Warwick, knowing nothing of this, soon redeemed34 his promise to the Dowager Queen Margaret, by invading England and landing at Plymouth, where he instantly proclaimed King Henry, and summoned all Englishmen between the ages of sixteen and sixty, to join his banner. Then, with his army increasing as he marched along, he went northward35, and came so near King Edward, who was in that part of the country, that Edward had to ride hard for it to the coast of Norfolk, and thence to get away in such ships as he could find, to Holland. Thereupon, the triumphant King-Maker and his false son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence, went to London, took the old King out of the Tower, and walked him in a great procession to Saint Paul's Cathedral with the crown upon his head. This did not improve the temper of the Duke of Clarence, who saw himself farther off from being King than ever; but he kept his secret, and said nothing. The Nevil family were restored to all their honours and glories, and the Woodvilles and the rest were disgraced. The King-Maker, less sanguinary than the King, shed no blood except that of the Earl of Worcester, who had been so cruel to the people as to have gained the title of the Butcher. Him they caught hidden in a tree, and him they tried and executed. No other death stained the King-Maker's triumph.
To dispute this triumph, back came King Edward again, next year, landing at Ravenspur, coming on to York, causing all his men to cry 'Long live King Henry!' and swearing on the altar, without a blush, that he came to lay no claim to the crown. Now was the time for the Duke of Clarence, who ordered his men to assume the White Rose, and declare for his brother. The Marquis of Montague, though the Earl of Warwick's brother, also declining to fight against King Edward, he went on successfully to London, where the Archbishop of York let him into the City, and where the people made great demonstrations36 in his favour. For this they had four reasons. Firstly, there were great numbers of the King's adherents37 hiding in the City and ready to break out; secondly38, the King owed them a great deal of money, which they could never hope to get if he were unsuccessful; thirdly, there was a young prince to inherit the crown; and fourthly, the King was gay and handsome, and more popular than a better man might have been with the City ladies. After a stay of only two days with these worthy39 supporters, the King marched out to Barnet Common, to give the Earl of Warwick battle. And now it was to be seen, for the last time, whether the King or the King-Maker was to carry the day.
While the battle was yet pending40, the fainthearted Duke of Clarence began to repent41, and sent over secret messages to his father-in- law, offering his services in mediation42 with the King. But, the Earl of Warwick disdainfully rejected them, and replied that Clarence was false and perjured43, and that he would settle the quarrel by the sword. The battle began at four o'clock in the morning and lasted until ten, and during the greater part of the time it was fought in a thick mist - absurdly supposed to be raised by a magician. The loss of life was very great, for the hatred44 was strong on both sides. The King-Maker was defeated, and the King triumphed. Both the Earl of Warwick and his brother were slain45, and their bodies lay in St. Paul's, for some days, as a spectacle to the people.
Margaret's spirit was not broken even by this great blow. Within five days she was in arms again, and raised her standard in Bath, whence she set off with her army, to try and join Lord Pembroke, who had a force in Wales. But, the King, coming up with her outside the town of Tewkesbury, and ordering his brother, the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, who was a brave soldier, to attack her men, she sustained an entire defeat, and was taken prisoner, together with her son, now only eighteen years of age. The conduct of the King to this poor youth was worthy of his cruel character. He ordered him to be led into his tent. 'And what,' said he, 'brought YOU to England?' 'I came to England,' replied the prisoner, with a spirit which a man of spirit might have admired in a captive, 'to recover my father's kingdom, which descended46 to him as his right, and from him descends47 to me, as mine.' The King, drawing off his iron gauntlet, struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarence and some other lords, who were there, drew their noble swords, and killed him.
His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after her ransom48 by the King of France, she survived for six years more. Within three weeks of this murder, Henry died one of those convenient sudden deaths which were so common in the Tower; in plainer words, he was murdered by the King's order.
Having no particular excitement on his hands after this great defeat of the Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to get rid of some of his fat (for he was now getting too corpulent to be handsome), the King thought of making war on France. As he wanted more money for this purpose than the Parliament could give him, though they were usually ready enough for war, he invented a new way of raising it, by sending for the principal citizens of London, and telling them, with a grave face, that he was very much in want of cash, and would take it very kind in them if they would lend him some. It being impossible for them safely to refuse, they complied, and the moneys thus forced from them were called - no doubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court - as if they were free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament, and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed over to Calais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King made proposals of peace, which were accepted, and a truce49 was concluded for seven long years. The proceedings50 between the Kings of France and England on this occasion, were very friendly, very splendid, and very distrustful. They finished with a meeting between the two Kings, on a temporary bridge over the river Somme, where they embraced through two holes in a strong wooden grating like a lion's cage, and made several bows and fine speeches to one another.
It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished for his treacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was, probably, not trusted by the King - for who could trust him who knew him! - and he had certainly a powerful opponent in his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who, being avaricious51 and ambitious, wanted to marry that widowed daughter of the Earl of Warwick's who had been espoused52 to the deceased young Prince, at Calais. Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth for himself, secreted53 this lady, whom Richard found disguised as a servant in the City of London, and whom he married; arbitrators appointed by the King, then divided the property between the brothers. This led to ill- will and mistrust between them. Clarence's wife dying, and he wishing to make another marriage, which was obnoxious54 to the King, his ruin was hurried by that means, too. At first, the Court struck at his retainers and dependents, and accused some of them of magic and witchcraft55, and similar nonsense. Successful against this small game, it then mounted to the Duke himself, who was impeached56 by his brother the King, in person, on a variety of such charges. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be publicly executed. He never was publicly executed, but he met his death somehow, in the Tower, and, no doubt, through some agency of the King or his brother Gloucester, or both. It was supposed at the time that he was told to choose the manner of his death, and that he chose to be drowned in a butt57 of Malmsey wine. I hope the story may be true, for it would have been a becoming death for such a miserable58 creature.
The King survived him some five years. He died in the forty-second year of his life, and the twenty-third of his reign59. He had a very good capacity and some good points, but he was selfish, careless, sensual, and cruel. He was a favourite with the people for his showy manners; and the people were a good example to him in the constancy of their attachment60. He was penitent61 on his death-bed for his 'benevolences,' and other extortions, and ordered restitution62 to be made to the people who had suffered from them. He also called about his bed the enriched members of the Woodville family, and the proud lords whose honours were of older date, and endeavoured to reconcile them, for the sake of the peaceful succession of his son and the tranquillity63 of England.
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2
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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pillory
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| n.嘲弄；v.使受公众嘲笑；将…示众 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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perjured
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| adj.伪证的，犯伪证罪的v.发假誓，作伪证( perjure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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avaricious
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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impeached
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| v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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restitution
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| n.赔偿；恢复原状 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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