m, their
forces began to melt away. In this emergency, Warwick suddenly changed
all his plans. He disbanded his army, and then taking all his family
with him, including Clarence and Isabella, and accompanied by an
inconsiderable number of faithful friends, he marched at the head of a
small force which he retained as an escort to the sea-port of
Dartmouth, and then embarked for Calais.

The vessels employed to transport the party formed quite a little
fleet, so numerous were the servants and attendants that accompanied
the fugitives. They embarked without delay on reaching the coast, as
they were in haste to make the passage and arrive at Calais, for
Isabella, Clarence's wife, was about to become a mother, and at Calais
they thought that they should all be, as it were, at home.

It will be remembered that the Earl of Warwick was the governor of
Calais, and that when he left it he had appointed a lieutenant to take
command of it during his absence. Before his ship arrived off the port
this lieutenant had received dispatches from Edward, which had been
hurried to him by a special messenger, informing him that Warwick was
in rebellion against his sovereign, and forbidding the lieutenant to
allow him or his party to enter the town.

Accordingly, when Warwick's fleet arrived off the port, they found the
guns of the batteries pointed at them, and sentinels on the piers
warning them not to attempt to land.

Warwick was thunderstruck. To be thus refused admission to his own
fortress by his own lieutenant was something amazing, as well as
outrageous. The earl was at first completely bewildered; but, on
demanding an explanation, the lieutenant sent him word that the
refusal to land was owing to the people of the town. They, he said,
having learned that he and the king had come to open war, insisted
that the fortress should be reserved for their sovereign. Warwick
then explained the situation that his daughter was in; but the
lieutenant was firm. The determination of the people was so strong, he
said, that he could not control it. Finally, the child was born on
board the ship, as it lay at anchor off the port, and all the aid or
comfort which the party could get from the shore consisted of two
flagons of wine, which the lieutenant, with great hesitation and
reluctance, allowed to be sent on board. The child was a son. His
birth was an event of great importance, for he was, of course, as
Clarence's son, a prince in the direct l