ficulty
that he made his escape into the port of Alcmaer, in Holland. He had
fled from England with such precipitation, that he had carried nothing
of value along with him; and the only reward which he could bestow on
the captain of the vessel that brought him over, was a robe lined with
sables; promising him an ample recompense if fortune should ever become
more propitious to him.[*]

* Comines, liv, iii. chap. 5.

It is not likely that Edward could be very fond of presenting himself in
this lamentable plight before the duke of Burgundy; and that having so
suddenly, after his mighty vaunts, lost all footing in his own kingdom,
he could be insensible to the ridicule which must attend him in the eyes
of that prince. The duke, on his part, was no less embarrassed how he
should receive the dethroned monarch. As he had ever borne a greater
affection to the house of Lancaster than to that of York, nothing but
political views had engaged him to contract an alliance with the latter;
and he foresaw, that probably the revolution in England would now turn
this alliance against him, and render the reigning family his implacable
and jealous enemy. For this reason, when the first rumor of that event
reached him, attended with the circumstance of Edward's death, he
seemed rather pleased with the catastrophe; and it was no agreeable
disappointment to find, that he must either undergo the burden of
supporting an exiled prince, or the dishonor of abandoning so near a
relation. He began already to say, that his connections were with the
kingdom of England, not with the king; and it was indifferent to
him whether the name of Edward or that of Henry were employed in the
articles of treaty. These sentiments were continually strengthened by
the subsequent events. Vaucler, the deputy-governor of Calais, though
he had been confirmed in his command by Edward, and had even received
a pension from the duke of Burgundy on account of his fidelity to the
crown, no sooner saw his old master, Warwick, reinstated in authority,
than he declared for him, and with great demonstrations of zeal and
attachment, put the whole garrison in his livery. And the intelligence
which the duke received every day from England, seemed to promise an
entire and full settlement in the family of Lancaster.

Immediately after Edward's flight had left the kingdom at Warwick's
disposal, that nobleman hastened to London; and taking Henry from his
confinement in the Towe