rease of years, that transformed the slight delicate
youth into the well-grown, powerful man, whose fine form, handsome face,
and gentle manners won the hearts of the rustic maidens, and matrons
too, of Threlkeld.

His foster-brothers and sisters, one by one, married amongst the
villagers belonging to Sir Lancelot's estate, so that, at last, Henry
was left alone with the worthy pair he called his father and mother.

In the meanwhile many stirring events were passing in England, though
little was heard about them in the remote and quiet regions of
Threlkeld. The wars of the Roses had never wholly ceased. There had
been some peaceful intervals, but they had not lasted for long together,
as Queen Margaret, assisted by the great Earl of Warwick, the most
powerful baron in the kingdom, had resolved never to give up the cause
so long as the least chance remained of replacing her husband on the
throne, and securing the right of succession to her son. The Earl of
Warwick had at first fought for the Duke of York, and it was through his
power and influence that Edward the Fourth was made king, for he had
more men and more money at his command than any other nobleman in the
country. However, King Edward was unwise enough to quarrel with this
high and mighty earl, who thereupon went over to the queen's party, and
actually restored the poor, weak-minded King Henry the Sixth to the
throne; on which Edward went over to Holland to get assistance of the
Duke of Burgundy, his brother-in-law, who placed an army of foreigners
at his command, with which he came back to England, and being joined by
many of his partisans, a great battle was fought, in which the Earl of
Warwick was slain. This event took place exactly ten years after the
battle of Towton, where Lord Clifford fell. King Henry was then sent
back a prisoner to the Tower, where he soon died; but Queen Margaret,
who had just arrived from France, with Prince Edward, her son, who was
then seventeen years old, resolved for his sake to make one more effort;
but it would have been better for him and for her too, if they had given
up this hopeless cause, and gone back to the court of her father, who
was King of Anjou in France, for the battle was lost, the young prince
was made prisoner, and being taken into the royal tent, the king spoke
to him so rudely that he was provoked to answer with more spirit than he
had been expected, on which some of the nobles who were standing by
fie