l
opposition of measures between them; and that a prince who deserted
his own kindred, and joined the murderers of his father, left himself
single, without friends, without protection, and would not, when
misfortunes inevitably fell upon him, be so much as entitled to any
pity or regard from the rest of mankind.

* Comines, liv. iii. chap. 5. Hall, fol. 20*7. Holingshed,
p. 676.

Clarence was only one and twenty years of age, and seems to have
possessed but a slender capacity; yet could he easily see the force of
these reasons; and, upon the promise of forgiveness from his brother,
he secretly engaged, on a favorable opportunity, to desert the earl of
Warwick, and abandon the Lancastrian party.

During this negotiation, Warwick was secretly carrying on a
correspondence of the same nature with his brother, the marquis of
Montague, who was entirely trusted by Edward; and like motives produced
a like resolution in that nobleman. The marquis, also, that he might
render the projected blow the more deadly and incurable, resolved, on
his side, to watch a favorable opportunity for committing his perfidy,
and still to maintain the appearance of being a zealous adherent to the
house of York.

After these mutual snares were thus carefully laid, the decision of the
quarrel advanced apace. Lewis prepared a fleet to escort the earl of
Warwick, and granted him a supply of men and money.[*] The duke of
Burgundy, on the other hand, enraged at that nobleman for his seizure of
the Flemish vessels before Calais, and anxious to support the reigning
family in England, with whom his own interests were now connected,
fitted out a larger fleet, with which he guarded the Channel: and he
incessantly warned his brother-in-law of the imminent perils to which
he was exposed. But Edward, though always brave and often active, had
little foresight or penetration. He was not sensible of his danger; he
made no suitable preparations against the earl of Warwick;[**] he even
said that the duke might spare himself the trouble of guarding the seas,
and that he wished for nothing more than to see Warwick set foot on
English ground.[***] A vain confidence in his own prowess, joined to the
immoderate love of pleasure, had made him incapable of all sound reason
and reflection.

The event soon happened, of which Edward seemed so desirous. A storm
dispersed the Flemish navy, and left the sea open to Warwick.[****] That
nobleman seized the opportuni