is foe. Putting aside his causes of hatred to Louis in the
encouragement which that king had formerly given to the Lancastrian
exiles, Edward's pride as sovereign felt acutely the slighting disdain
with which the French king had hitherto treated his royalty and his
birth. The customary nickname with which he was maligned in Paris was
"the Son of the Archer," a taunt upon the fair fame of his mother, whom
scandal accused of no rigid fidelity to the Duke of York. Besides this,
Edward felt somewhat of the jealousy natural to a king, himself so
spirited and able, of the reputation for profound policy and statecraft
which Louis XI. was rapidly widening and increasing throughout the
courts of Europe. And, what with the resentment and what with the
jealousy, there had sprung up in his warlike heart a secret desire to
advance the claims of England to the throne of France, and retrieve the
conquests won by the Fifth Henry to be lost under the Sixth. Possessing
these feelings and these views, Edward necessarily saw in the alliance
with Burgundy all that could gratify both his hate and his ambition. The
Count of Charolois had sworn to Louis the most deadly enmity, and would
have every motive, whether of vengeance or of interest, to associate
himself heart in hand with the arms of England in any invasion of
France; and to these warlike objects Edward added, as we have so often
had cause to remark, the more peaceful aims and interests of commerce.
And, therefore, although he could not so far emancipate himself from
that influence, which both awe and gratitude invested in the Earl of
Warwick, as to resist his great minister's embassy to Louis; and though,
despite all these reasons in favour of connection with Burgundy, he
could not but reluctantly allow that Warwick urged those of a still
larger and wiser policy, when showing that the infant dynasty of York
could only be made secure by effectually depriving Margaret of the sole
ally that could venture to assist her cause,--yet no sooner had Warwick
fairly departed than he inly chafed at the concession he had made, and
his mind was open to all the impressions which the earl's enemies sought
to stamp upon it. As the wisdom of every man, however able, can but run
through those channels which are formed by the soil of the character, so
Edward with all his talents never possessed the prudence which fear
of consequences inspires. He was so eminently fearless, so scornful
of danger, that he a