rt of the Duchy of
Lancaster. The Dukes of Lancaster restored it, and lived there
frequently in great pomp, and they also built the adjoining Hospital of
the Newarke and a singular earthwork alongside, called the Mount.
Several parliaments were held here, but after the time of Edward IV. the
castle fell into decay. There are now few remains of the original
castle, excepting part of the great hall and the Mount or earthwork of
the keep, which is about thirty feet high and one hundred feet in
diameter upon its flat, circular top. Not far from Leicester was fought
the last great battle of the "Wars of the Roses," Bosworth Field, upon
Redmoor Plain, about two miles from the village now known as Market
Bosworth. It was a moor at the time of the battle in 1485, overgrown
with thistles and scutch-grass. Shakespeare has been the most popular
historian of this battle, and the well where Richard slaked his thirst
is still pointed out, with other localities of the scenes of the famous
contest that decided the kingship of England, Richard III. giving place
to Richmond, who became Henry VII.

THE EDGEHILL BATTLEFIELD.

[Illustration: EDGEHILL.]

While we are considering this locality two other famous battlefields not
far away, that together were decisive of the fate of England, must not
be overlooked. These were Edgehill and Naseby, the opening and closing
contests of the Civil War that overthrew Charles I., the scene of one
being visible from the other, though the intervening contest spread
almost all over the island. The high ground that borders Warwickshire
and Northamptonshire has various roads crossing it, and the opposing
forces meeting on these highlands made them the scenes of the
battles--practical repetitions of many hot contests there in earlier
years. The command of the Parliamentary army had been given to the Earl
of Essex, and he and all his officers were proclaimed traitors by the
king. Charles I. assembled an army at Nottingham in 1642 to chastise
them, and it was considered an evil omen that when the royal standard
was set up on the evening of the day of assemblage, a gale arose and it
was blown down. Charles moved west from Nottingham to Shrewsbury to meet
reinforcements from Wales, and then his army numbered eighteen thousand
men. Essex was at Northampton, and moved southward to Worcester. Charles
desired to march to London to break up the Parliament, but to do this
must either defeat or outflank Essex. He ch