ed that fortress to Edward. This success
imboldened the king to think more seriously of a French war; but while
he was making preparations for that enterprise, he was seized with a
distemper, of which he expired in the forty-second year of his age, and
the twenty-third of his reign; a prince more splendid and showy than
either prudent or virtuous; brave, though cruel; addicted to pleasure,
though capable of activity in great emergencies; and less fitted to
prevent ills by wise precautions, than to remedy them, after they took
place, by his vigor and enterprise. Besides five daughters, this king
left two sons; Edward, prince of Wales, his successor, then in his
thirteenth year and Richard, duke of York, in his ninth.

CHAPTER XXIII.

[Illustration: 1_298_edward5.jpg EDWARD V.]

EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.

{1483.} During the latter years of Edward IV., the nation having in
a great measure forgotten the bloody feuds between the two roses, and
peaceably acquiescing in the established government, was agitated only
by some court intrigues, which, being restrained by the authority of the
king, seemed nowise to endanger the public tranquillity. These intrigues
arose from the perpetual rivalship between two parties; one consisting
of the queen and her relations, particularly the earl of Rivers, her
brother, and the marquis of Dorset, her son; the other composed of the
ancient nobility, who envied the sudden growth and unlimited credit of
that aspiring family.[*]

* Sir Thomas More. p. 481.

At the head of this latter party was the duke of Buckingham, a man of
very noble birth, of ample possessions, of great alliances, of shining
parts; who, though he had married the queen's sister, was too haughty to
act in subserviency to her inclinations, and aimed rather at maintaining
an independent influence and authority. Lord Hastings, the chamberlain,
was another leader of the same party; and as this nobleman had, by his
bravery and activity, as well as by his approved fidelity, acquired the
confidence and favor of his master, he had been able, though with some
difficulty, to support himself against the credit of the queen.
The lords Howard and Stanley maintained a connection with these
two noblemen, and brought a considerable accession of influence and
reputation to their party. All the other barons, who had no particular
dependence on the queen, adhered to the same interest; and the people
in general, from th