te, the queen herself, gathered around him
in wild exultation. They carried him to a mound formed by an ant-hill,
which they said, in mockery, should be his throne. They placed him
upon it with taunts and derision. They made a crown for him of knotted
grass, and put it upon his head, and then made mock obeisances before
him, saying, "Hail! king without a kingdom. Hail! prince without a
people."

After having satisfied themselves with their taunts and revilings, the
party killed their prisoner and cut off his head. They set his head
upon the point of a lance, and in this way presented it to Queen
Margaret. The queen ordered the head to be decorated with a paper
crown, and then to be carried to York, and set up at the gates of
that city upon a tall pole.

Thus was little Richard, the subject of this narrative, left
fatherless. He was at this period between eight and nine years old.

CHAPTER III.

THE CHILDHOOD OF RICHARD III.

Condition of young Richard in his childhood.--Strange tales in
respect to his birth.--Dangers to which Richard was exposed in
his childhood.--Extraordinary vicissitudes in the life of his
mother.--The castles and palaces belonging to the house of
York.--Situation of Lady Cecily at the time of her husband's
death.--Lady Cecily sends the children to the Continent.--Situation
of Lady Cecily and of her oldest son.

Young Richard, as was said at the close of the last chapter, was of a
very tender age when his father and his brother Edmund were killed at
the battle of Wakefield. He was at that time only about eight years
old. It is very evident too, from what has been already related of the
history of his father and mother, that during the whole period of his
childhood and youth he must have passed through very stormy times. It
is only a small portion of the life of excitement, conflict, and alarm
which was led by his father that there is space to describe in this
volume. So unsettled and wandering a life did his father and mother
lead, that it is not quite certain in which of the various towns and
castles that from time to time they made their residence, he was born.
It is supposed, however, that he was born in the Castle of
Fotheringay, in the year 1452. His father was killed in 1461, which
would make Richard, as has already been said, about eight or nine
years old at that time.

There were a great many strange tales related in subsequent years in
respect to Richard's birth. He became