ime minister. One of his brothers was made
chancellor, and a great number of other posts of distinction and honor
were distributed among the members of the Neville family. Indeed,
although Edward was nominally king, it might have been considered in
some degree a question whether it was the house of York or the house
of Neville that actually reigned in England.

The Earl of Warwick had two daughters. Their names were Isabella and
Anne. These two young ladies the earl reckoned, as Edward did his
sister Margaret, among the most important of his political resources.
By marrying them to persons of very high position, he could strengthen
his alliances and increase his power. There was even a possibility, he
thought, of marrying one of them to the King of England, or to a
prince who would become king.

Thus we have for the three great parties to the transactions now to be
described, first, the representatives of the house of Lancaster, the
feeble Henry, the energetic and strong-minded Margaret of Anjou, and
their little son, the Prince of Wales; secondly, the representatives
of the house of York, King Edward the Fourth, the two young men his
brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
and his sister Margaret; and, thirdly, between these two parties, as
it were, the Earl of Warwick and his two daughters, Isabella and Anne,
standing at the head of a vast family influence, which ramified to
every part of the kingdom, and was powerful enough to give the
ascendency to either side, in favor of which they might declare.

We are now prepared to follow Queen Margaret in her flight toward the
north with her husband and her son, at the time when Edward the Fourth
overcame her armies and ascended the throne. She pressed on as rapidly
as possible, taking the king and the little prince with her, and
accompanied and assisted in her flight by a few attendants, till she
had crossed the frontier and was safe in Scotland. The Scots espoused
her cause, and assisted her to raise fresh troops, with which she made
one or two short incursions into England; but she soon found that she
could do nothing effectual in this way, and so, after wasting some
time in fruitless attempts, she left Scotland with the king and the
prince, and went to France.

Here she entered into negotiations with the King of France, and with
other princes and potentates, on the Continent, with a view of raising
men and money for a new invasion of Engl