rown, as well as of the great office
of constable, which had long continued by inheritance in his ancestors
of that family. Richard readily complied with these demands, which
were probably the price stipulated to Buckingham for his assistance in
promoting the usurpation. That nobleman was invested with the office of
constable; he received a grant of the estate of Hereford;[*] many other
dignities and honors were conferred upon him; and the king thought
himself sure of preserving the fidelity of a man whose interests seemed
so closely connected with those of the present government.

* Dugdale's Baron. vol. i. p. 168, 169.

But it was impossible that friendship could long remain inviolate
between two men of such corrupt minds as Richard and the duke of
Buckingham. Historians ascribe their first rupture to the king's refusal
of making restitution of the Hereford estate; but it is certain from
records, that he passed a grant for that purpose, and that the full
demands of Buckingham were satisfied in this particular. Perhaps Richard
was soon sensible of the danger which might ensue from conferring
such an immense property on a man of so turbulent a disposition, and
afterwards raised difficulties about the execution of his own grant:
perhaps he refused some other demands of Buckingham, whom he found
it impossible to gratify for his past services: perhaps he resolved,
according to the usual maxim of politicians, to seize the first
opportunity of ruining this powerful subject, who had been the principal
instrument of his own elevation; and the discovery of this intention
begat the first discontent in the duke of Buckingham. However this may
be, it is certain that the duke, soon after Richard's accession, began
to form a conspiracy against the government, and attempted to overthrow
that usurpation which he himself had so zealously contributed to
establish.

Never was there in any country a usurpation more flagrant than that
of Richard, or more repugnant to every principle of justice and public
interest. His claim was entirely founded on impudent allegations, never
attempted to be proved; some of them incapable of proof, and all of
their implying scandalous reflections on his own family, and on the
persons with whom he was the most nearly connected. His title was never
acknowledged by any national assembly, scarcely even by the lowest
populace to whom he appealed; and it had become prevalent merely for
want of some person