while Hereford, after some ceremony, entered the castle in complete armour, only his head was bare, in compliment to the fallen king. 7. Richard received him with that open air for which he had been remarkable, and kindly bade him welcome. 66 My lord king," returned the earl, with a cool respectful bow, "I am come sooner than you appointed, because your people say, that for one-and-twenty years you have governed with rigour and indiscretion. They are very ill satisfied with your conduct; but if it please God, will help you to govern them better for the time to come." To this declaration the king made no other answer but "Fair cousin, since it pleases you, it pleases us likewise." 8. But Hereford's haughty answer was not the only mortification the unfortunate Richard was to endure. After a short conversation with some of the king's attendants, Hereford ordered the king's horses to be brought out of the stable; and the wretched animals being produced, Richard was placed upon one, and his favourite, the earl of Salisbury, on the other. 9. In this mean equipage they rode to Chester; and were conveyed to the castle with a great noise of trumpets, and through a vast concourse of people, who were no way moved at the sight. In this manner he was led triumphantly along from town to town, amidst multitudes, who scoffed at him, and extolled his rivals. "Long live the good duke of Lancaster, our deliverer!" was the general cry; but as for the king, to use the pathetic words of the poet, "None cried God bless him!" 10. Thus, after repeated indignities, he was confined a close prisoner in the Tower, there, if possible, to undergo a still greater variety of studied insolence and flagrant contempt. The wretched monarch, humbled in this manner, began to lose the pride of a king with the splendours of royalty, and his spirit sunk to his circumstances. There was no great difficulty, therefore, in inducing him to sign a deed, by which he renounced his crown, as being unqualified for governing the kingdom. 11. Upon this resignation Hereford founded his principal claim but, willing to fortify his pretensions with every appearance of justice, he called a parliament, which was readily brought to approve and confirm his claim. A frivolous charge, of thirty-three articles, was drawn up, and found valid against the king; upon which he was solemnly deposed, and the earl of Hereford elected in his stead, by the title of Henry the Fourth. 12. Thus began the contest between the houses of York and Lancas ter; which, for several years after, deluged the kingdom with blood; and yet, in the end, contributed to settle and confirm the constitution. 13. When Richard was deposed, the earl of Northumberland made a motion in the house of peers, demanding the advice of parliament with regard to the future treatment of the deposed king. To this they replied, that he should be imprisoned in some secure place, where his friends and partizans should not be able to find him. This was accord ingly put in practice; but while he still continued alive, the usurper could not remain in safety. Indeed, some conspiracies and commotions which followed soon after, induced Henry to wish for Richard's death; in consequence of which, one of those assassins that are found in every court, ready to commit the most horrid crimes for reward, went down to the place of this unfortunate monarch's confinement in the castle of Pomfret, and with eight of his followers, rushed into his apartments. 14. The king, concluding their design was to take away his life, resolved not to fall unrevenged, but to sell it as dearly as he could; wherefore, wresting a pole-axe from one of the murderers, he soon laid four of their number dead at his feet. But he was at length overpowered, and struck dead by the blow of a poleaxe; although some assert that he was starved in prison. 15. Thus died the unfortunate Richard, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign. Though his conduct was blameable, yet the punishment he suffered was greater than his offences; and in the end his sufferings made more converts to his family and cause than ever his most meritorious actions could have procured them. He left no posterity, either legitimate or otherwise. Questions for Examination. 1. By whom was the king opposed? 3. By whom was Hereford joined on his arrival in England? 4. In what manner did the king conduct himself? 6. Can you mention the indignities the king afterwards suffered? 7. How did Richard receive the earl of Hereford? and what passed at the interview between them? 8, 9. To what other mortifications was the king obliged to submit? 10. What circumstances preceded his resignation of the crown? 11. By whom was he succeeded? 12. What dreadful contest now commenced? 13. After Richard was deposed, in what manner was he treated? William Courtney, Thomas Arundel, archbishops of Canterbury. William Walworth, lord mayor of London. Roger Mortimer; earl of March, grandson to Clarence, heir apparent. Henry of Bolingbroke. Vere, duke of Ireland. William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, founder of Winches ter College, and of Merton College, Oxford. CHAPTER XVI. HENRY IV. Born 1367. Died March 20, 1413. Began to reign October 1, 1399. Reigned 13 years. Heaven knows by what bye-paths and crooked ways I met this crown; and I myself know well How troublesome it sat upon my brow. Shakspeare. 1. (A.D. 1399.) HENRY Soon found that the throne of an usurper is but a bed of thorns. Such violent animosities broke out among the barons in the first session of this parliament, that forty challenges were given and received, and forty gauntlets were thrown down as pledges of the sincerity of their resentment. But though these commotions were seemingly suppressed by his moderation for that time, yet one conspiracy broke out after another, and were detected in the formation, or actually punished in the field. 2. That formed against him by the earl of Northumberland was the most formidable. It was in a skirmish between the Scots and English that Archibald, earl of Douglas, with many of the Scots nobility, were taken prisoners by the earl of Northumberland, and carried to Alnwick castle. When Henry received intelligence of this victory, he sent the earl orders not to ransom his prisoners, as he intended to detain them, in order to increase his demands in making peace with Scotland. 3. This message was highly resented by the earl of Northumberland, who, by the laws of war that prevailed in that age, had a right to the ransom of all such as he had taken in battle. The command was still more irksome, as he considered the king his debtor, both for his security and his crown. Accordingly, stung with this supposed injury, he resolved to overturn a throne which he had the chief hand in establishing.. 4. A scheme was laid, in which the Scots and Welsh were to unite their forces, and to assist Northumberland in elevating Mortimer, as the true heir to the crown of England. When all things were prepared for the intended insurrection, the earl had the mortification to find himself unable to lead on the troops, being seized with a sudden illness at Berwick. But the want of his presence was well supplied by his son, Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, who took the command of the troops, and marched them towards Shrewsbury, in order to join his forces with those of Glen dower, a Welsh chieftain, who some time before had been exchanged from prison, and had now advanced with his forces as far as Shropshire. 5. Upon the junction of these two armies, they published a manifesto, which aggravated their real grievances, and invented more. In the mean time, Henry, who had received no intelligence of their designs, was at first greatly surprised at the news of this rebellion. But fortune seemed to befriend him on this occasion: he had a small army in readiness, which he had levied for an intended war against the Scots, and knowing the importance of despatch against such active enemies, he instantly hurried down to Shrewsbury, that he might give the rebels battle. 6. Upon the approach of the two armies, both sides seemed willing to give a colour to their cause by showing a desire of reconciliation; but, when they came to open their mutual demands, the treaty was turned into abuse and recrimination. On one side was objected rebellion and ingratitude; on the other, tyranny and usurpation. 7. The two armies were pretty nearly equal, each consisting of about twelve thousand men; the animosity on both sides was inflamed to the highest pitch; and no prudence nor military skill could determine on which side the victory might incline accordingly, a very bloody engagement ensued, in which the generals on both sides exerted themselves with great bravery. Henry was seen everywhere in the thickest of the fight; while his valiant son, who was afterwards the renowned conqueror of France, fought by his side; and, though wounded in the face by an arrow, still kept the field, and performed astonishing acts of valour. 8. On the other side, the daring Hotspur supported that renown which he had acquired in so many bloody engagements, and everywhere sought out the king as a noble object of indignation. At last, however, his death from an unknown hand decided the victory; and the fortune of Henry once more prevailed. On that bloody day, it is said, that no less than two thousand three hundred gentlemen were slain, and about six thousand private men, of whom two-thirds were of Hotspur's army. 9. While this furious transaction was going forward, Northumberland, who was lately recovered from his indisposi tion, was advancing with a body of troops to reinforce the army of malecontents, and take upon him the command: but hearing by the way of his son's and brother's misfortune. he dismissed his troops, not daring to keep the field with so small a force, before an army superior in number, and flush |