made his
peace with Edward, the more easily because the king, who was entirely
given up to pleasure, treated with contempt the warnings the Duke
of Burgundy sent him of the intended invasion by Warwick. And yet a
moment's serious reflection should have shown him that his position was
precarious. The crushing exactions of the tax gatherers, in order to
provide the means for Edward's lavish expenditure, had already caused
very serious insurrections in various parts of the country, and his
unpopularity was deep and general. In one of these risings the royal
troops had suffered a crushing defeat. The Earl Rivers, the father, and
Sir John Woodville, one of the brothers, of the queen had, with the Earl
of Devon, been captured by the rebels, and the three had been beheaded,
and the throne had only been saved by the intervention of Warwick.

Thus, then, Edward had every reason for fearing the result should the
Earl appear in arms against him. He took, however, no measures whatever
to prepare for the coming storm, and although the Duke of Burgundy
despatched a fleet to blockade Harfleur, where Warwick was fitting out
his expedition, and actually sent the name of the port at which the Earl
intended to land if his fleet managed to escape from Harfleur, Edward
continued carelessly to spend his time in pleasure and dissipation,
bestowing his full confidence upon the Archbishop of York and the
Marquis of Montague, both brothers of the Earl of Warwick.

The elements favoured his enemies, for early in September the Duke of
Burgundy's Fleet, off Harfleur, was dispersed by a storm, and Warwick,
as soon as the gale abated, set sail, and on the 13th landed on the
Devonshire coast. His force was a considerable one, for the French king
had furnished him both with money and men; on effecting his landing
he found no army assembled to oppose him. A few hours after his
disembarkation, he was joined by Sir Thomas Tresham, who gave him the
good news that the whole of the west was ready to rise, and that in a
few days all the great landowners would join him with their retainers.
This turned out to be the case, and Warwick, with a great array, marched
eastward. Kent had already risen, and London declared for King
Henry. Warwick, therefore, instead of marching thither, moved towards
Lincolnshire, where Edward was with his army, having gone north to
repress an insurrection that had broken out there at the instigation of
Warwick.

Lord Montague now