The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ealed. 8oon after, the second son ofEdward IV fell into his hands, and then the gates of theTower closed forever upon the two children. Meanwhile,from the pulpit, and in the market-place, the gossipabout Edward IVs false marriage was repeated. Soon apetition came to Richard to assume the crown, and onJune 25, the day that Edward Vs Parliament was tohave met, there assembled a self-constituted body, Avhichassumed to speak for the clergy, nobles, and commons ofthe realm, and asked Richard to become king. After ashow of hesitation he accepted. On
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ealed. 8oon after, the second son ofEdward IV fell into his hands, and then the gates of theTower closed forever upon the two children. Meanwhile,from the pulpit, and in the market-place, the gossipabout Edward IVs false marriage was repeated. Soon apetition came to Richard to assume the crown, and onJune 25, the day that Edward Vs Parliament was tohave met, there assembled a self-constituted body, Avhichassumed to speak for the clergy, nobles, and commons ofthe realm, and asked Richard to become king. After ashow of hesitation he accepted. On that same day, in thenorth, the tragic side of these events was seen; thequeens brother, Anthony, Earl Rivers, the gallant knight,the patron of Caxton, the poet who spent his last hoursin writing a ballad that shows no fear of death and novain carpings at fortune, died upon the scaffold at Ponte- A CENTURY OF CIVIL AND FOREIGN WAR 231 fract, and Lord Eichard Grey, half brother of Edward V,and two lesser persons, perished at the hands of the same. Earl Riveiis presenting his Book to Edward IV. The child at the kings left is Edward V. The figure at the earls right has been thought to be Caxton, the first English printer. executioner. On June 26, Eichard III was publicly pro-claimed king, and Edward V ceased to rule even in kings are invariably centres of disaffection. Theyoung prince and his brother were a menaceto the usurper, and they died a month or twoafter his accession, murdered it was believed,though it was never known when or by whom. But in1674 workmen found the skeletons of two boys at the footof the staircase in the White Tower, and there is littledoubt that the grave had at last given uj) the secret ofthe guilty burial two hundred years earlier. Eichard had secured the throne, but his usurpationand murders turned the nation against him. For many Murder ofEdward V. 232 THE BRITISH NATION months he called no Parliament. Tlie Duke of Bucking-ham, who had don
Size: 1718px × 1455px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbritishnatio, bookyear1910
