eatly strengthened by the
promptness and severity of his measures, and the pretender soon
discovered that unless he were content to sink into obscurity, he must
speedily make a bold move. Accordingly, having collected a band of
outlaws, criminals, and adventurers, he set sail for England. Having
received intelligence that Henry was at that time in the north, he
cast anchor off the coast of Kent, and despatched some of his
principal adherents to invite the gentlemen of Kent to join his
standard. The southern landowners, who were staunchly loyal, invited
him to come on shore and place himself at their head. But the wary
impostor was not to be entrapped so easily. He declined to trust
himself in the hands of the well-disciplined bands which expressed so
much readiness to follow him to death or victory; and the Kentish
troops, despairing of success in their stratagem, fell upon such of
his retainers as had already landed, and took 150 of them prisoners.
These were tried, sentenced, and executed by order of the king, who
was determined to show no lenity to the rebels. Perkin being an
eye-witness of the capture of his people, immediately weighed anchor,
and returned to Flanders.

Hampered, however, by his horde of desperadoes, he could not again
settle quietly down under the protecting wing of the Duchess Margaret.
Work and food had to be found for his lawless followers; and in 1495
an attempt was made upon Ireland, which still retained its preference
for the House of York. But the people of Ireland had learnt a salutary
lesson at the battle of Stoke, and Perkin, meeting with little
success, withdrew to Scotland. At this time there was a coolness
between the Scottish and English courts, and King James gave him a
favourable reception, being so completely deceived by his specious
story, that he bestowed upon him in marriage the beautiful and
virtuous Lady Catherine Gordon, the daughter of the Earl of Huntly,
and his own kinswoman. Not content with this, the King of Scots, with
Perkin in his company, invaded England, in the hope that the adherents
of the York family would rise in favour of the pretender. In this
expectation he was disappointed, and what at first seemed likely to
prove a dangerous insurrection ended in a mere border raid.

For a time Warbeck remained in Scotland; but when King James
discovered that his continued presence at his court completely
prevented all hope of a lasting peace with England, he requested hi