e regency was, of course, now at
an end, and the Duke of York, leaving London, went off into the
country in high dudgeon.

The queen, of course, now came into power again. The first thing that
she did was to release Somerset from his confinement, and reinstate
him as prime minister of the crown.

CHAPTER XIV.

ANXIETY AND TROUBLE.

[Sidenote: A great deal of trouble.]

[Sidenote: Angry disputes.]

[Sidenote: Insubordination.]

For about six years after this time, that is, from the birth of Prince
Edward till he was six years old, and while Margaret was advancing
from her twenty-fourth to her thirtieth year, her life was one of
continual anxiety, contention, and alarm. The Duke of York and his
party made continual difficulty, and the quarrel between him, and the
Earl of Warwick, and the other nobles who espoused his cause, on one
side, and the queen, supported by the Duke of Somerset and other great
Lancastrian partisans on the other, kept the kingdom in a constant
ferment. Sometimes the force of the quarrel spent itself in intrigues,
manoeuvres, and plottings, or in fierce and angry debates in
Parliament, or in bitter animosities and contentions in private and
social life. At other times it would break out into open war, and
again and again was Margaret compelled to leave her child in the hands
of nurses and guardians, while she went with her poor helpless husband
to follow the camp, in order to meet and overcome the military
assemblages which the Duke of York was continually bringing together
at his castles in the country or in the open fields.

The king's health during all this period was so frail, and his mind,
especially at certain times, was so feeble, that he was almost as
helpless as a child. There was an hereditary taint of insanity in the
family, which made his case still more discouraging.

[Sidenote: Modes of amusing the king.]

[Sidenote: The singing boys.]

Queen Margaret took the greatest pains to amuse him, and to provide
employments for him that would occupy his thoughts in a gentle and
soothing manner. When traveling about the country, she employed
minstrels to sing and play to him; and, in order to have a constant
supply of these performers provided, and to have them well trained to
their art, she sent instructions to the sheriffs of the counties in
all parts of the kingdom, requiring them to seek for all the beautiful
boys that had good voices, and to have them instructed in the