bsolutely forgot the arguments on which
the affectionate zeal of Warwick had based the alliance with
Louis,--arguments as to the unceasing peril, whether to his person
or his throne, so long as the unprincipled and plotting genius of the
French king had an interest against both; and thus he became only alive
to the representations of his passions, his pride, and his mercantile
interests. The Duchess of Bedford, the queen, and all the family of
Woodville, who had but one object at heart,--the downfall of Warwick and
his House,--knew enough of the earl's haughty nature to be aware that
he would throw up the reins of government the moment he knew that Edward
had discredited and dishonoured his embassy; and, despite the suspicions
they sought to instil into their king's mind, they calculated upon
the earl's love and near relationship to Edward, upon his utter and
seemingly irreconcilable breach with the House of Lancaster, to render
his wrath impotent, and to leave him only the fallen minister, not the
mighty rebel.

Edward had been thus easily induced to permit the visit of the Count de
la Roche, although he had by no means then resolved upon the course he
should pursue. At all events, even if the alliance with Louis was to
take place, the friendship of Burgundy was worth much to maintain. But
De la Roche soon made aware by the Duchess of Bedford of the ground on
which he stood, and instructed by his brother to spare no pains and to
scruple no promise that might serve to alienate Edward from Louis and
win the hand and dower of Margaret, found it a more facile matter than
his most sanguine hopes had deemed to work upon the passions and the
motives which inclined the king to the pretensions of the heir of
Burgundy. And what more than all else favoured the envoy's mission was
the very circumstance that should most have defeated it,--namely, the
recollection of the Earl of Warwick; for in the absence of that powerful
baron and master-minister, the king had seemed to breathe more freely.
In his absence, he forgot his power. The machine of government, to his
own surprise, seemed to go on as well; the Commons were as submissive,
the mobs as noisy in their shouts, as if the earl were by. There was no
longer any one to share with Edward the joys of popularity, the sweets
of power.

Though Edward was not Diogenes, he loved the popular sunshine, and
no Alexander now stood between him and its beams. Deceived by the
representations o