ad led to an equally low and material view of
political life, and the cruelty which stained the wars of the Roses
was but the outcome of a state of society in which no man cared much
for anything except his own greatness and enjoyment. The ideal which
shaped itself in the minds of the men of the middle class was a king
acting as a kind of chief constable, who, by keeping great men in
order, would allow their inferiors to make money in peace.

3. =Fresh Efforts of the Lancastrians. 1462--1465.=--Edward IV. only
very partially responded to this demand. He was swift in action when a
crisis came, and was cruel in his revenge, but he was lustful and
indolent when the crisis was passed, and he had no statesmanlike
abilities to lay the foundations of a powerful government. The wars
were not ended by his victory at Towton. In =1462= Queen Margaret
reappeared in the North, and it was not till =1464= that Warwick's
brother, Lord Montague, thoroughly defeated her forces at Hedgeley
Moor and Hexham; for which victories he was rewarded by Edward with
the earldom of Northumberland, which had been forfeited by the
Lancastrian head of the House of Percy. Montague's victory was marked
by the usual butcheries; the Duke of Somerset, a son of the duke who
had been slain at St. Albans, being amongst those who perished on the
scaffold. In =1465= Henry himself was taken prisoner and lodged in the
Tower.

4. =Edward's Marriage. 1464.=--Whilst these battles were being fought
Edward was lingering in the South courting the young widow of Sir John
Grey, usually known by her maiden name as Elizabeth Woodville. His
marriage to her gave offence to his noble supporters, who disdained to
acknowledge a queen of birth so undistinguished; and their ill-will
was increased when they found that Edward distributed amongst his
wife's kindred estates and preferments which they had hoped to gain
for themselves. The queen's father became Earl Rivers and Lord
Constable, and her brothers and sisters were enriched by marriages
with noble wards of the Crown. One of her brothers, a youth of twenty,
was married to the old Duchess of Norfolk, who was over eighty.

5. =Estrangement of Warwick. 1465--1468.=--No doubt there was as much
of policy as of affection in the slight shown by Edward to the Yorkist
nobility. Warwick--the King-maker, as he was called--had special cause
for ill-humour. He had expected to be a King-ruler as well as a
King-maker, and he took grave of