The King, drawing off his iron gauntlet,
struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarence and some other
lords, who were there, drew their noble swords, and killed him.

His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after her ransom by
the King of France, she survived for six years more. Within three weeks
of this murder, Henry died one of those convenient sudden deaths which
were so common in the Tower; in plainer words, he was murdered by the
King's order.

Having no particular excitement on his hands after this great defeat of
the Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to get rid of some of his
fat (for he was now getting too corpulent to be handsome), the King
thought of making war on France. As he wanted more money for this
purpose than the Parliament could give him, though they were usually
ready enough for war, he invented a new way of raising it, by sending for
the principal citizens of London, and telling them, with a grave face,
that he was very much in want of cash, and would take it very kind in
them if they would lend him some. It being impossible for them safely to
refuse, they complied, and the moneys thus forced from them were
called--no doubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court--as if
they were free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament,
and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed over to
Calais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King made proposals of
peace, which were accepted, and a truce was concluded for seven long
years. The proceedings between the Kings of France and England on this
occasion, were very friendly, very splendid, and very distrustful. They
finished with a meeting between the two Kings, on a temporary bridge over
the river Somme, where they embraced through two holes in a strong wooden
grating like a lion's cage, and made several bows and fine speeches to
one another.

It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished for his
treacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was, probably, not
trusted by the King--for who could trust him who knew him!--and he had
certainly a powerful opponent in his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
who, being avaricious and ambitious, wanted to marry that widowed
daughter of the Earl of Warwick's who had been espoused to the deceased
young Prince, at Calais. Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth for
himself, secreted this lady, whom Ri