The deceitful and profane, though they care neither for God nor man, are always glad to make use of religion when it seems to further their sinful schemes. It was so with Richard. One is grieved to find that, at this juncture, a minister of God could be found vile enough to give his countenance and assistance to Richard's guilty designs. Dr. Shaw, whose name must ever be associated with what is base and contemptible, was a man greatly admired by a large class of the community. He was the popular preacher of those days, and attracted hundreds by his brilliant oratory and seeming earnestness. Popularity was the snare that ruined Shaw, as it has ruined the souls of many others; and, to secure it, he was willing to sacrifice honour, truth, and principle. You have heard, I dare say, of St. Paul's Cross, where the great preachers of England, in olden times, were wont to address the people. On Sunday, June 19th, 1483, a multitude of Londoners assembled themselves on this spot to listen to the words of their popular preacher. Shaw, having been before instructed in the art of dissimulation, and bribed by the wily Duke, delivered an harangue which, in profanity and open shamelessness, has, I think, seldom been surpassed. After having wrested the words of Holy Scripture to suit his purpose, Shaw tried to prove that Edward V. had no right to the Crown, but that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was the only true heir. The preacher, warming with his subject, then proceeded to enlarge on Richard's excellences, and even to extol his personal appearance! It must have been a weak cause which could need the help of such glaring misstatements. A clever scene had been preconcerted, that the people might be duly impressed, and induced to acknowledge Richard as King. At this remarkable point in the harangue, the Protector was to have made his appearance. For Shaw hoped, that by seizing the critical moment, the people would be prevailed on to close with the flattery, and cry 66 out King Richard!” The whole thing, however, proved a signal failure. The Protector being behind his time, the Doctor endeavoured to retrieve the opportunity by repeating the words. But sentiment so false and absurd would not bear repetition. The multitude began to hiss, and to show manifest signs of disapprobation; so the craven priest was forced to beat an ignominious retreat, amid the hoots and groans of the populace. Like Hananiah, the false prophet of old, who for making the people of Judah trust in a lie,* fell under the curse of the Almighty, and died the same year, so retribution came upon Shaw. He died shortly afterwards, “the shame of the prevarication and miscarriage of his sermon hastening his end."† † Collier. *Jer. xxviii. 15-17 But the ice was broken. Richard's dark designs were now fully exposed; and like a gambler who had staked his all in one venture, he determined to carry out his desperate game even to the death. Partly by bribery, partly by dissimulation, Richard contrived to induce some of the people to proclaim him King; and three days afterwards, by the aid of the false Duke of Buckingham, he was publicly crowned King of England, the ceremony being performed with the same preparations which had been provided for his hapless nephew. In his dreary imprisonment in the Tower, the young prince heard of the violent proceedings of his uncle. Gladly would he have changed places with the meanest subject in his realm. From that hour he anticipated his sad end, and fell into a state of profound melancholy, his childish and more light-hearted brother trying in vain to rouse him. "From that hour," says Sir Thomas More, "the young King never tied his points, nor anything regarding himself, but with that babe his brother lingered in thought and heaviness, till their uncle's treacherous deed delivered them from their wretchedness." Bitterly the poor boy was heard to exclaim, "Alas! alas! I would mine uncle would let me have my life, although I lose my kingdom." Such, however, was not Richard's intention. He wrote to Sir Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower, entreating him privately to make away with the princes. But Brackenbury was too noble-minded a man to consent to be instrumental in so dastardly a deed, and he flatly refused to have anything to do with it. Richard took no pains to conceal his annoyance. "Ah! whom can a man trust," he exclaimed, "when they that I have brought up myself - they that I thought would have most surely served me- -will do nothing for me?" Sire," said a page who overheard Richard's angry exclamation, "there lieth one in the Palet Chamber yonder without, that I dare say will do your grace's pleasure, for in good sooth the thing were right hard that he would refuse." James Tyrell, the man to whom the page alluded, was an unscrupulous and ambitious ruffian, who, hoping to rise into favour with the usurper, gladly undertook the murderous deed. It is needless for me to repeat the sad story, so familiar to us all from early childhood. No mortal eye watched the murderers as they smothered their innocent victims, and hastily buried them at the foot of the staircase. But one eyethe eye of the omnipresent God-saw the foul deed, and visited the authors of it with signal retribution. Tyrell, some years afterwards, suffered a traitor's death on the scaffold; while Richard was only permitted to wear the crown he had sinned so deeply to obtain for two short years. During that time, 66 true peace, which God alone can give, was unknown to the usurper. Haunted by the wildest fancies, and terrified by hideous dreams, Richard would spring from his couch, and pace distractedly to and fro. He tried to repent of his sins; he bestowed large sums on the Church; he endeavoured by every means in his power to conciliate his people, and win their affection; but all in vain. Rest and ease of mind would never more return to the man who had bartered eternal happiness for the fleeting honours of the world. There is no need for me to dwell on the revolution which happily placed Henry of Richmond on the throne of England. As in Richard II.'s time, so now, an ecclesiastic was the chief actor in this event. Morton, Bishop of Ely, had been most unjustly imprisoned by Richard; and, partly from private resentment, partly for the good of the nation, he crossed over to France, and hastening into Henry's presence, entreated him to come over to England, and win the Crown, which so many were eager to place on his head. Morton also showed his wisdom by urging Henry to unite the rival houses of York and Lancaster, by wedding the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. The Earl was not long in making up his mind. He gladly consented to both requests, and landing at Milford Haven, was soon joined by numbers of honest Englishmen, who, wearied out by Richard's cruelties, welcomed their new sovereign with joyful acclamations. The rival armies met on the field of Bosworth, in Leicestershire. Richard, though a bad man, was no coward. He fought for his crown and life with the desperation of a ruined man. But both were lost. The usurper fell covered with wounds, and his crown was placed on the head of his rival. How true are those words of the wise man of old: "He that worketh mischief, it shall fall upon him."* To which we may add the well-known words of inspiration, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished;"+ but they "shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." * Ecclesiasticus xxvii. 27. † Prov. xi, 21. CHAPTER XLVIII. HENRY VII.-1485 TO 1489. HENRY'S PIOUS CONDUCT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD - THE CHURCHMEN OF THE TIME SUPPORT HIS CLAIM-BISHOP MORTON'S CONDUCT DEFENDED - HE IS ELECTED BY HENRY TO THE PRIMACY-HIS DEVOTION TO THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER - HIS WISDOM AND PIETY HENRY'S UNPOPULARITY - HIS AVARICIOUSNESS, AND HATRED TOWARDS THE HOUSE OF YORK-POPULARITY OF THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH — HENRY POSTPONES HER CORONATION, BUT IS AT LENGTH COMPELLED TO CONSENT TO THE CEREMONY-IMPOSTURE OF PERKIN WARBECK - ARCHBISHOP MORTON SHARES HENRY'S UNPOPULARITY-HE REFUSES TO COUNTENANCE THE KING'S EXTORTIONS-CRAFTY CONDUCT OF RICHARD, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER-HE CLEVERLY CONTRIVES TO EXTORT MONEY FROM THE CLERGY-ARCHBISHOP MORTON'S WISE CONDUCT-HE ENDEAVOURS TO RESTRAIN THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE CLERGY -STATE OF THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY AT THIS PERIOD-THEIR IGNORANCE AND INDIFFERENCE-HOW THE BISHOPS OF ENGLAND HAD AT DIFFERENT TIMES ENDEAVOURED TO COMBAT THE EVIL, BUT IN VAIN. THE eventful battle of Bosworth Field placed Henry, as we have seen, in possession of the Crown of England. He was not unthankful to God for the victory; and like his illustrious ancestors, Edward III. and Henry V., piously refused to attribute the success of the enterprise to his own prowess. We read that Henry knelt down before the whole army, and "rendered to Almighty God his hearty thanks with devout and godly orisons beseeching His goodness to send him grace to advance and defend the Catholic faith, and to maintain justice and concord among the subjects and people whom God had now committed to his governance.' As the King rose from his knees, the joyful praises of the soldiers were wafted on the summer breeze afar over the Leicestershire downs, as they chanted, in a loud voice, the solemn and inspiring words of the Te Deum. Few kings received a heartier welcome than Henry VII. For all honest-minded men hated and despised the usurper Richard, and joyfully hailed the approach of the Lancastrian prince, who had come to free them from the dominion of the false and cruel tyrant. Nearly all the Bishops appear to have fully recognized Henry's title to the crown; and most of them continued faithful to him, when the rest of the people regarded him with suspicion and dislike. Foremost among the loyal churchmen was Bishop Morton, who, you remember, had persuaded Henry to do battle for the crown. We cannot in this case accuse Morton of rebellion against his lawful sovereign; for Richard was no lawful king; and even had he been, his crimes might well have excused his subjects from all loyal service. That this was Morton's *Sir Thomas More's Life of Richard III. own view of the case is clear from the words he addressed to Henry, when urging him to lay claim to the crown. "Richard," said the Bishop, is neither meet to be king of so noble a realm, nor so famous a realm meet to be governed by such a tyrant. Was not his first enterprise to obtain the crown begun and intercepted by the murder of divers valiant, true, and noble personages? And after he had obtained the garland for which he had so long thirsted, he caused the two poor innocents, his nephews, committed to him on special trust, to be murdered and shamefully killed; the blood of which innocent babes daily cries to God from the earth for vengeance. Now, my lord," he added, with increased fervour, "ye must yourself take upon ye the crown and diadem of this noble empire, both for the maintenance and honour of the same, and also for the deliverance of your natural countrymen from the bondage and thraldom of so cruel a tyrant and so arrogant an oppressor." When, after the battle of Bosworth, Henry became undisputed possessor of the crown, he was not unmindful of Morton's services, but shortly after the death of Archbishop Bourchier, he contrived to procure the election of his friend to the vacant primacy. Apart from the loyal service which Morton had rendered Henry, there were other reasons which bound him closely to the Primate. A Lancastrian to the backbone, Henry showed the littleness of his mind by displaying, on every occasion, his antipathy to the House of York. So that the faithfulness with which Morton had served his saintly predecessor Henry VI. raised him tenfold in the estimation of Henry of Richmond. It was this very faithfulness to the House of Lancaster which had drawn down upon the Bishop the wrath of the usurper Richard; while the fact that Morton had suffered imprisonment for the cause rendered him doubly dear in the eyes of his present sovereign. Archbishop Morton was a man of singular courage and integrity. When nearly every Englishman, either for their own selfish ends, or from fear, tolerated and even connived at Richard's usurpation, he boldly refused to sanction it, and suffered accordingly. There can be no doubt that Henry's choice was a wise one. At a time when the greater part of the inferior clergy led useless, selfindulgent, and in some cases even criminal lives, it is pleasant to be able to dwell on the character of a churchman like Archbishop Morton, so full of wisdom, judgment, and honest goodness. Henry had many faults; but that he was able to respect and appreciate such a man is a proof that he possessed considerable penetration, and was not wanting in right feeling. But Henry, though on the whole a religious man, and a wise |