ret's Lancastrian army of
twenty thousand men, for his forces were barely one-fourth that number.
The Earl of Salisbury, however, prevailed on him to advance to meet the
queen, and he probably had no idea of the strength she had to oppose
him. The duke was soon cut off, and was among the first to fall, his
head having afterwards been put on the Micklegate bar at York. Scenes of
great barbarity followed: the Duke of York's son, the Earl of Rutland,
was murdered with shocking cruelty after the battle on Wakefield Bridge.
Young Rutland's brother, afterwards Edward IV., erected a chapel on the
bridge on the spot where he was slain, in order that prayer might be
constantly said in it for the repose of the souls of the followers of
the White Rose who were slain in the battle. It covers thirty by
twenty-four feet, and has recently been restored by a successor of
Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield." Near the bridge the spot is pointed
out where the Duke of York was killed, now marked by two willows. There
is a fine old three-gabled house in Wakefield which was built about the
same date as the battle was fought, and is now divided into small shops.
It is a good specimen of the ancient black-and-white timbered house,
though the carved work on the front has been considerably defaced. It
stands in the Kirkgate, which runs down to the Calder, and is known
locally as the "Six Chimblies."

[Illustration: WAKEFIELD.]

LEEDS.

[Illustration: BRIGGATE, LOOKING NORTH.]

About nine miles north of Wakefield is the great commercial capital of
Yorkshire and centre of the cloth-trade. Leeds, built in the valley of
the river Aire. Twelve hundred years ago this region, embracing the
valleys of the Aire and the Calder, was the independent kingdom of
Loidis. It was soon overrun and conquered, however, by the Anglian
hosts, and ultimately the conquerors built here the monastery that in
Bede's time was presided over by the abbot Thrydwulf. This stood on the
site of the present parish church, and in the eighth century it was
called "the monastery at Leeta." It stood at the crossing of two
important Roman roads in the midst of a forest. This was the beginning
of the great city, for soon a hamlet gathered around the monastery,
though long since the woods, and indeed all green things, were driven
away from Leeds. The village was laid waste by William the Conqueror,
and at the time of the Domesday Book it was one of one hundred and fifty
manors held