d to be treated with all the honour due to royalty; he
gave him a guard of soldiers, he showed him to the populace, who
welcomed him with enthusiasm, and he set to work to organise an army
which should follow to enforce his claim to the throne of England.
The boy took all this sudden glory in a half-bewildered manner, but
adhered so correctly to his plausible story that none of those generous
Irish folk doubted that he was any other than the disinherited prince he
professed to be.
Had they only known that the youth about whom they were so enthusiastic
was no better than a baker's son, named Lambert Simnel, they might have
been less pleased.
Well, in due time it was decided to crown the new king with all honour.
And this was the occasion about which, as we have seen, Dublin was in
such a state of festivity and holiday.
The boy was conducted with great pomp to church, amid the shouts of the
people, and there crowned with a diadem taken from a statue of the
Virgin Mary. Afterwards, according to custom, he was borne on the
shoulders of a huge Irish chieftain back to the castle, where he lived
as a king for some time.
All this while the real Earl of Warwick was safe in the Tower, and now
when the rumour of Lambert Simnel's doings in Ireland reached King
Henry, he had him brought out from his prison and exhibited in public,
so that every one might be convinced of the imposture of the boy who set
himself up to be the same person.
But though the people of England were thus kept from being deceived, as
the Irish had been, there were a good many of them who heartily disliked
King Henry, and were ready to join in any movement against him,
irrespective of right or wrong. The consequence was, Lambert Simnel--or
rather the people who instigated him in his falsehood--found they might
count on a fair amount of support even from those who discredited their
story; and this encouraged them to attempt an invasion of England, and
venture their scheme on the field of battle. So, with a force of about
8,000 men, they landed in Lancashire. There is no need to tell the
result of this expedition. After many disappointments occasioned by the
reluctance of the people to join them, they encountered the king's army
near Newark, and after a desperate battle were defeated, and lost all
their leaders. Lambert Simnel and the priest were taken prisoners, and
for a time there was an end of this silly attempt to deceive the nation.
In
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