tions which lay between
him and the throne. The death of the Earl of Rivers[2], and of other
prisoners detained in Pomfret, was first determined; and he easily
obtained the consent of the Duke of Buckingham, as well as of Lord
Hastings, to this violent and sanguinary measure. Orders were accordingly
issued to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a proper instrument in the hands of
this tyrant, to cut off the heads of the prisoners. The Protector then
assailed the fidelity of Buckingham by all the arguments capable of
swaying a vicious mind, and he easily obtained from him a promise of
supporting him in all his enterprises.

The Duke of Gloucester, knowing the importance of gaining Lord Hastings,
sounded at a distance his sentiments, but found him impregnable in his
allegiance and fidelity to the children of Edward, who had ever honored
him with his friendship. He saw, therefore, that there were no longer any
measures to be kept with him; and he determined to ruin utterly the man
whom he despaired of engaging to concur in his usurpation. On the very
day when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan were executed, or rather murdered, at
Pomfret, by the advice of Hastings, the Protector summoned a council
in the Tower, whither that nobleman, suspecting no design against him,
repaired without hesitation. The Duke of Gloucester was capable of
committing the most bloody and treacherous murders with the utmost
coolness and indifference. On taking his place at the council table he
appeared in the easiest and most jovial humor imaginable. He seemed to
indulge himself in familiar conversation with the councillors before they
should enter on business, and having paid some compliments to Morton,
Bishop of Ely, on the good and early strawberries which he raised in his
garden at Holborn, he begged the favor of having a dish of them, which
that prelate immediately despatched a servant to bring to him. The
Protector left the council, as if called away by some other business,
but, soon after returning with an angry and inflamed countenance, he
asked them what punishment those deserved that had plotted against _his_
life, who was so nearly related to the King, and was intrusted with the
administration of government. Hastings replied that they merited the
punishment of traitors. "These traitors," cried the Protector, "are the
sorceress, my brother's wife, and Jane Shore, his mistress, with others
their associates; see to what a condition they have reduced me by their