ountry was beginning to settle down again. In London king Edward IV.
was still the favourite of the people, and after his death, in 1483,
Thomas, then five years old, happened to overhear a gentleman telling
his father that it was prophesied duke Richard of Gloucester would be
king. When the prophecy came to pass, and Richard snatched the crown for
himself, many besides little Thomas were filled with wonder. For Richard
had played his part so well that few guessed at what he really was, or
that the murder of his nephews would be nothing to him, if he could
mount the throne on their bodies.

* * * * *

At that period boys were sent early to school, and after careful
inquiries, John More decided to put his son under the charge of one
Nicholas Holt, headmaster of St. Anthony's in Threadneedle Street, a
school founded by Henry VI. Here Thomas spent most of his time in
learning Latin, which it was necessary for a gentleman to know. Foreign
languages were very little studied; instead, Latin was used; hence
ambassadors addressed each other in that tongue, and in it men wrote
letters, and often books. Thomas, who had been accustomed all his life
to hear Latin quoted by his father and the lawyers who came to his house
in Milk Street, soon mastered most of the difficulties, knowing well
that he would be considered stupid and ignorant if when he left school
he should ever make a mistake in his declensions, or forget the gender
of a noun.

When John More was satisfied with his son's progress in Latin, he got
leave for him to enter, as was the custom, the house of cardinal Morton
as a sort of page. Thomas was then about twelve, quick and observant,
and though fond of joking, good-tempered and prudent, taking care to
hurt the feelings of nobody. Morton was both a clever and a learned man,
a good speaker and excellent lawyer, and the king, Henry VII.,
frequently took counsel with him and profited by his experience. On his
side, Morton took a fancy to the boy, whose sharp answers amused him.
His keen eyes noticed that Thomas, who, with the other pages, waited at
dinner upon the cardinal and his guests, listened to all that was being
said, while never neglecting his own especial duties.

'This child will prove a marvellous man,' Morton one day whispered to
his neighbour, and the neighbour lived to prove the truth of his words.

Thomas greatly enjoyed the two years he passed in Morton's house, and
made