Chapter I: Preface

King Richard the Third, known commonly in history as Richard the Usurper, was perhaps as bad a man as the principle of hereditary sovereignty ever raised to the throne, or perhaps it should rather be said, as the principle of hereditary sovereignty ever _made_. There is no evidence that his natural disposition was marked with any peculiar depravity. He was made reckless, unscrupulous, and cruel by the influences which surrounded him, and the circumstances in which he lived, and by being habituated to believe, from his earliest childhood, that the family to which he belonged were born to live in luxury and splendor, and to reign, while the millions that formed the great mass of the community were created only to toil and to obey. The manner in which the principles of pride, ambition, and desperate love of power, which were instilled into his mind in his earliest years, brought forth in the end their legitimate fruits, is clearly seen by the following narrative.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

I. RICHARD'S MOTHER 13

II. RICHARD'S FATHER 33

III. THE CHILDHOOD OF RICHARD 57

IV. ACCESSION OF EDWARD IV., RICHARD'S ELDER
BROTHER 67

V. WARWICK, THE KING-MAKER 89

VI. THE DOWNFALL OF YORK 118

VII. THE DOWNFALL OF LANCASTER 137

VIII. RICHARD'S MARRIAGE 165

IX. END OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD 182

X. RICHARD AND EDWARD V. 208

XI. TAKING SANCTUARY 221

XII. RICHARD LORD PROTECTOR 236

XIII. PROCLAIMED KING 258

XIV. THE CORONATION 279

XV. FATE OF THE PRINCES 291

XVI. DOMESTIC TROUBLES 301

XVII. THE FIELD OF BOSWORTH 320

ENGRAVINGS.

Page

THE ROYAL CHAMPION _Frontispiece._

SCENES OF CIVIL WAR 15

LUDLOW CASTLE 26

CASTLE AND PARK OF THE MIDDLE AGES 29

HENRY VI. IN HIS CHILDHOOD 38

QUEEN MARGARET OF ANJOU, WIFE OF HENRY VI. 40

WALLS OF YORK 49

LAST HOURS OF KING RICHARD'S FATHER 54

CASTLE AND GROUNDS BELONGING TO THE HOUSE OF YORK 62

THE OLD QUINTAINE 84

PLAYING BALL 86

BATTLE-DOOR AND SHUTTLE-COCK 87

RICHARD'S SIGNATURE 88

EDWARD IV. 102

QUEEN ELIZABETH WOODVILLE 103

WESTMINSTER IN TIMES OF PUBLIC CELEBRATIONS 106

WARWICK IN THE PRESENCE OF THE FRENCH KING 112

THE SANCTUARY 133

DEATH OF WARWICK ON THE FIELD OF BARNET 148

STREET LEADING TO THE TOWER 151

CHURCH AT TEWKESBURY 155

QUEEN MARGARET BROUGHT IN PRISONER AT COVENTRY 160

TOMB OF HENRY VI. 163

RICHARD III. 176

QUEEN ANNE 177

MIDDLEHAM CASTLE 180

LOUIS XI. OF FRANCE 184

THE MURDERERS COMING FOR CLARENCE 200

JANE SHORE 203

THE ATTEMPTED RECONCILIATION 211

ANCIENT PORTRAIT OF EDWARD V. 219

ANCIENT VIEW OF WESTMINSTER 228

THE PEOPLE IN THE STREETS 235

CLARENCE'S CHILDREN HEARING OF THEIR FATHER'S DEATH 237

THE COUNCIL IN THE TOWER 244

POMFRET CASTLE 248

BAYNARD'S CASTLE 273

THE KING ON HIS THRONE 276

THE BLOODY TOWER 283

QUEEN ELIZABETH AT THE GRAVE 304

PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH 318

THE CASTLE AT TAMWORTH 325

KING HENRY VII. 332

THE MONASTERY AT BERMONDSEY 335

KING RICHARD III.