Note 2 II, p. 246.

lates, pardoned him. When a parliament in those | stabularium Anglise-quæ in curia constabularii Antimes, not agitated by any faction, and being at entire gliæ ab antiquo, viz. tempore dicti domini Gulielme freedom, could be guilty of such monstrous extrava- conquestoris, seu aliquo tempore citra tractari, audiri, gance, it is easy to judge what might be expected from examinari, aut decidi consueverant, aut jure debuethem in more trying situations. See Cotton's Abridg. rant, aut debent, causasque et negotia prædicta cum p. 361, 362. omnibus et singulis emergentibus, incidentibus et connexis, audiendum, examinandum, et fine debito terminandum, etiam summarie et de plano, sine strepitu et figura justitie, sola facti veritate inspecla, ac etiam manu regia, si opportunum visum fuerit eidem comiti de Rivers, vices nostras, appellatione remota." The office of constable was perpetual in the monarchy; its jurisdiction was not limited to times of war, as appears from this patent, and as we learn from Spelman; yet its authority was in direct contradiction to Magna Charta; and it is evident that no regular liberty could subsist with it. It involved a full dictatorial power continually subsisting in the state. The only check on the crown, besides the want of force to support all its prerogatives, was, that the office of constable was commonly either hereditary or during life; and the person invested with it was, for that reason, not so proper an instrument of arbitrary power in the king. Accordingly the office was suppressed by Henry VIII., the most arbitrary or all the English princes. The practice, however, of exercising martial law still subsisted; and was not abolished till the Petition of Right under Charles I. This was the epoch of true liberty, confirmed by the Restoration, and enlarged and secured by the Revolution.

To show how little credit is to be given to this charge against Richard, we may observe, that a law, in the 13th Edw. III. had been enacted against the continuance of sheriffs for more than one year: but the inconvenience of changes having afterwards appeared from experience, the commons, in the twentieth of this king, applied by petition, that the sheriff's might be continued; though that petition had not been enacted into a statute, by reason of other disagreeable circumstances which attended it. See Cotton, p. 361. It was certainly a very moderate exercise of the dispensing power in the king to continue the sheriffs, after he found that that practice would be acceptable to his subjects, and had been applied for by one house of parliament: yet is this made an article of charge against him by the present parliament. See Art. 18. Walsingham, speaking of a period early in Richard's minority, says, "But what do acts of parliament signify, when after they are made they take no effect: since the king, by the advice of the privy-council, takes upon him to alter, or wholly set aside all those things which by general consent had been ordained in parliament!" If Richard, therefore, exercised the dispensing power, he was warranted by the examples of his uncles and grandfather, and, indeed, of all his predecessors from the time of Henry III. inclusive.

Note 2 I, p. 248.

Note 2 L, p. 290.

We shall give an instance: almost all the historians, even Comines, and the continuator of the annals of Croyland, assert that Edward was about this time taken prisoner by Clarence and Warwick, and was committed to the custody of the archbishop of York, brother to the earl; but being allowed to take the diversion of hunting by this prelate, he made his escape, and afterwards chased the rebels out of the kingdom. But that all the story is false, appears from Rymer, where we find that the king, throughout all this period, continually exercised his authority, and never was interrupted in his government. On the 7th of March, 1470, he gives a commission of array to Cla.

The following passage in Cotton's Abridgment, p. 196, shows a strange prejudice against the church and churchmen: "The commons afterwards coming into the parliament, and making their protestation, showed, that for want of good redress about the king's person, in his household, in all his courts, touching maintainers in every county, and purveyors, the commons were daily pilled, and nothing defended against the enemy, and that it should shortly deprive therence, whom he then imagined a good subject; and on king, and undo the state. Wherefore, in the same government they entirely require redress. Whereupon the king appointed sundry bishops, lords, and nobles, to sit in privy-council about these matters: who, since that they must begin at the head, and go at the request of the commons, they, in the presence of the king, charged his confessor not to come into the court but upon the four principal festivals." We should little expect that a popish privy-council, in order to preserve the king's morals, should order his confessors to be kept at a distance from him. This incident happened in the minority of Richard. As the popes had for a long time resided at Avignon, and the majority of the sacred college were Frenchmen, this circumstance naturally increased the aversion of the nation to the papal power: but the prejudice against the English clergy cannot be accounted for from that

cause.

Note 2 K, p. 288.

the 23rd of the same month we find him issuing an order for apprehending him. Besides, in the king's manifesto against the duke and earl, (Claus. 10. Edward IV. m. 7, 8,) where he enumerates all their treasons, he mentions no such fact: he does not so much as accuse them of exciting young Welles's rebellion: he only says that they exhorted him to continue in his rebellion. We may judge how smaller facts will be misrepresented by historians, who can in the most material transactions mistake so grossly. There may even some doubt arise with regard to the proposal of marriage made to Bona of Savoy; though almost all the historians concur in it, and the fact be very likely in itself; for there are no traces in Rymer of any such embassy of Warwick's to France. The chief certainty in this and the preceding reign arises either from public records, or from the notice taken of certain passages by the French historians. On the contrary, for some centuries after the conquest the French history is not complete without the assistance of English authors. We may conjecture, that the reason of the scarcity of historians during this period was the destruction of the convents, which ensued so soon after: copies of the more recent historians not

That we may judge how arbitrary a court that of the constable of England was, we may peruse the patent granted to the earl of Rivers in this reign, as it is to be found in Spelman's Glossary in verb. Constabularius; as also, more fully, in Rymer, vol xi. p. 581. being yet sufficiently dispersed, these histories have

Here is a clause of it: "Et ulterius de uberiori gratia nostra eidem comiti de Rivers plenam potestatem damus ad cognoscendum et procedendum, in omnibus et singulis causis et negotiis, de et super crimine lesæ majestai's seu super occasione cæterisque causis, quibuscunque per praefatum comitem de Rivers, ut con

perished.

Note 2 M, p. 300.

Sir Thomas More, who has been followed, or rather transcribed, by all the historians of this short reign, says, that Jane Shore had fallen into connexions with

:

undoubted evidence, at the foot of the gibbet on which he was hanged. Not the least surmise that the confession had ever been procured by torture; and surely the last time he had nothing further to fear. (13.) Had not Henry been assured that Perkin was a ridiculous impostor, disavowed by the whole nation, he never would have allowed him to live an hour after he came into his power; much less would he have twice pardoned him. His treatment of the innocent earl of Warwick, who in reality had no title to the crown, is a sufficient confirmation of this reasoning. (14.) We know with certainty whence the whole imposture came, namely, from the intrigues of the duchess of Burgundy: she had before acknowledged and sapported Lambert Simnel, an avowed impostor. It is remarkable that Mr. Carte, in order to preserve the weight of the duchess's testimony in favour of Perkin, suppresses entirely this material fact: a strong effect of party prejudices, and this author's desire of blackening Henry VII., whose hereditary title to the crown was defective. (15.) There never was at that time any evidence or shadow of evidence produced of Perkin's identity with Richard Plantagenet. Richard had disappeared when near nine years of age, and Perkin did not appear till he was a man. Could any one from his aspect pretend then to be sure of the identity? He had got some stories concerning Richard's childnecessary for a boy of nine to remark or remember, was easily suggested to him by the duchess of Burgundy, or Frion, Henry's secretary, or by any body that had ever lived at court. It is true, many persons of note were at first deceived; but the discontents against Henry's government, and the general enthusiasm for the house of York, account sufficiently for this temporary delusion. Everybody's eyes were opened long before Perkin's death. (16.) The circumstance of finding the two dead bodies in the reign of Charles II. is not surely indifferent. They were found in the very place which More, Bacon, and other ancient authors, had assigned as the place of interment of the young princes; the bones corresponded by their size to the age of the princes; the secret and irregular place of their interment, not being in holy ground, proves that the boys had been secretly murdered; and in the Tower no boys but those who were very nearly related to the crown can be exposed to a vio. lent death: if we compare all these circumstances, we shall find that the inference is just and strong, that they were the bodies of Edward V. and his brother; the very inference that was drawn at the time of the discovery.

the utmost contempt by the nation, and was considered as one of those parliamentary transactions so frequent in that period, which was scandalous in themselves, and had no manner of authority. It was even so much despised as not to be reversed by parliament, after Henry and Elizabeth were on the throne. (6.) We have also, as contemporary evidence, the universal established opinion of the age, both abroad and at home. This point was regarded as so uncontroverted, that when Richard notified his accession to the court of France, that court was struck with horror at his abominable parricide, in murdering both his nephews, as Philip de Comines tells us; and this sentiment went to such an unusual height, that, as we learn from the same author, the court would not make the least reply to him. (7.) The same reasons which convinced that age of the parricide still subsist, and ought to carry the most undoubted evidence to us; namely, the very circumstance of the sudden disappearance of the princes from the Tower, and their appearance nowhere else. Every one said, "They have not escaped from their uncle, for he makes no search after them he has not conveyed them elsewhere; for it is his business to declare so, in order to remove the imputation of murder from himself. He never would needlessly subject himself to the infamy and danger of being esteemed a parricide, without acquiring the security attending that crime. They were in his cus-hood, and the court of England; but all that it was tody he is answerable for them: if he gives no account of them, as he has a plain interest in their death, he must, by every rule of common sense, be regarded as the murderer. His flagrant usurpation, as well as his other treacherous and cruel actions, makes no better be expected from him. He could not say, with Cain, that he was not his nephews' | keeper." This reasoning, which was irrefragable at the very first, became every day stronger, from Richard's continued silence, and the general and total ignorance of the place of these princes' abode. Richard's reign lasted about two years beyond this period; and surely he could not have found a better expedient for disappointing the earl of Richmond's projects, as well as justifying his own character, than the producing of his nephews. (8.) If it were necessary, amidst this blaze of evidence, to produce proofs, which in any other case would have been regarded as considerable, and would have carried great validity with them, I might mention Dighton and Tyrrel's account of the murder. This last gentleman especially was not likely to subject himself to the reproach of so great a crime, by an imposture which it appears did not acquire him the favour of Henry. (9.) The duke of York, being a boy of nine years of age, could not have made his escape without the assistance of some elder persons. Would it not have been their chief concern instantly to convey intelligence of so great an event to his mother, the queen-dowager, to his aunt, the duchess of Burgundy, and to the other friends of the family? The duchess protected Simnel; a project which, had it been successful, must have ended in the crowning of Warwick, and the exclusion of the duke of York. This, among many other proofs, evinces that she was ignorant of the escape of that prince, which is impossible had it been real. (10.) The total silence with regard to the persons who aided him in his escape, as also with regard to the place of his abode during more than eight years, is a sufficient proof of the imposture. (11.) Perkin's own account of his escape is incredible and absurd. He said that murderers were employed by his uncle to kill him and his brother; they perpetrated the crime against his brother; but took compassion on him, and allowed him to escape. This account is contained in all the historians of that age. (12.) Perkin himself made a full confession of his imposture no less than three times once when he surrendered himself prisoner; a second time when he was set in the stocks at Cheapside and Westminster; and a third time, which carrios

[Since the publication of this History, Mr. Walpole has published his Historic Doubts concerning Richard III. Nothing can be a stronger proof how ingenious and agreeable that gentleman's pen is, than his being able to make an inquiry concerning a remote point of English history an object of general conversation. The foregoing note has been enlarged on account of that performance ]

Note 2 P, p. 328.

Rot. Parl. 3 H. VII. n. 17. The preamble is remarkable, and shows the state of the nation at that time. "The king, our sovereign lord, remembereth how, by our unlawful maintainances, giving of liveries, signs, and tokens, retainders by indentures, promises, oaths, writings, and other embraceries of his subjects, untrue demeanings of sheriffs in making pannels, and untrue returns by taking money, by juries, &c., the policy of this nation is most subdued." It must indeed be confessed, that such a state of the country required great discretionary power in the sovereign; nor will the same maxims of government suit such a rude people, that may be proper in a more advanced stage of society. The establishment of the star-chamber, or the enlarge

ment of its power in the reign of Henry VII. might have been as wise as the abolition of it in that of Charles I.

Note 2 Q, p. 329.

of the Roast Beef of Old England. We must entertain as mean an idea of its cleanliness: only seventy ells of linen at eight-pence an ell are annually allowed for this great family no sheets were used: this linen was made into eight table-cloths for my lord's table; and one table-cloth for the knights, p. 16. This last, I suppose, was washed only once a month. Only forty shillings are allowed for washing throughout the whole year; and most of it sems expended on the linen belonging to the chapel. The drinking, however, was tolerable, namely, ten tons and two hogsheads of Gascony wine, at the rate of four pounds thirteen shillings and four-pence a ton, p. 6. Only ninety-one dozen of candles for the whole year, p. 14. The family rose at six in the morning, dined at ten, and supped at four in the afternoon: the gates were all shut at nine, and no further ingress or egress permitted, p. 314. 318. My lord and lady have set on their table, for breakfast at seven o'clock in the morning, a quart of beer; as much wine; two pieces of salt fish, six redherrings, four white ones, or a dish of sprats. In flesh

The duke of Northumberland has lately printed a household book of an old earl of that family who lived nt this time: the author has been favoured with the perusal of it; and it contains many curious particulars, which mark the manners and way of living in that rude, not to say barbarous, age; as well as the prices of commodities. I have extracted a few of them from that piece, which gives a true picture of ancient manners, and is one of the most singular monuments that English antiquity affords us: for we may be confident, however rude the strokes, that no baron's family was on a nobler or more splendid footing. The family consists of a hundred and sixty-six persons, masters and servants: fifty-seven strangers are reckoned upon every day: on the whole two hundred and twenty-days half a chyne of mutton, or a chyne of beef boiled, three. Two-pence halfpenny are supposed to be the daily expense of each for meat, drink, and firing. This would make a groat of our present money: supposing provisions between three and four times cheaper, it would be equivalent to fourteen-pence: no great sum for a nobleman's house-keeping; especially considering, that the chief expense of a family at that time consisted in meat and drink: for the sum allotted by the earl for his whole annual expense is eleven hundred and eighteen pounds seventeen shillings and eight pence; meat, drink, and firing, cost seven hundred and ninety-six pounds eleven shillings and two-pence, more than two-thirds of the whole: in a modern family it is not above a third, p. 157, 158, 159. The whole expense of the earl's family is managed with an exactness that is very rigid, and, if we make no allowance for ancient manners, such as may seem to border on an extreme; insomuch, that the number of pieces which must be cut out of every quarter of beef, mutton, pork, veal, nay, stock-fish and salmon, are determined, and must be entered and accounted for by the different clerks appointed for that purpose: if a servant be absent a day, his mess is struck off: if he go on my lord's business, board wages is allowed him, eight-pence a day for his journey in winter, five-pence in summer when he stays in any place, two-pence a day are allowed him, beside the maintenance of his horse. Somewhat above a quarter of wheat is allowed for every month throughout the year; and the wheat is estimated at five shillings and eight-pence a quarter. Two hundred and fifty quarters of malt are allowed, at four shillings a quarter: two hogsheads are to be made of a quarter; which amounts to about a bottle and a third of beer a day to each person, p.4, and the beer will not be very strong. One hundred and nine fat beeves are to be bought at All-hallow-tide, at thirteen shillings and four-pence a-piece: and twenty-four lean beeves to be bought at St. Helens at eight shilling apiece: these are to be put into the pastures to feed; and are to serve from Midsummer to Michaelmas: which is consequently the only time that the family eats fresh beef: during all the rest of the year they live on salted meat, p. 5. One hundred and sixty gallons of mustard are allowed in a year; which seems indeed requisite for the salt beef, p. 18. Six hundred and forty-seven sheep are allowed, at twenty-pence a-piece; and these seem also to be all eat salted, except between Lammas and Michaelmas, p. 5. Only twenty-five hogs are allowed at two shillings a-piece; twenty-eight veals at twentypence; forty lambs at ten-pence or a shilling, p. 7. These seem to be reserved for my lord's table, or that of the upper servants, called the knight's table. The other servants, as they eat salted meat almost through the whole year, and with few or no vegetables, had a very bad and unhealthy diet: so that there cannot be anything more erroneous than the magnificent ideas formed

p. 73. 75. Mass is ordered to be said at six o'clock, in order, says the household-book, that all my lord's servants may rise early, p. 170. Only twenty-four fires are allowed, beside the kitchen and hall; and most of these have only a peck of coals a day allowed them, p. 99. After Lady-day no fires permitted in the rooms except half-fires in my lord's and lady's, and lord Piercy's and the nursery, p. 101. It is to be observed that my lord kept house in Yorkshire, where there is certainly much cold weather after Lady-day. Eighty chalders of coals, at four shillings and twopence a chalder, suffices throughout the whole year; and because coal will not burn without wood, says the household-book, sixty-four loads of great wood are also allowed, at twelve-pence a load, p. 22. This is a proof that grates were not then used. Here is an article: "It is devised that from henceforth no capons to be bought but only for my lord's own mess, and that the said capons shall be bought for twopence a-piece, lean, and fed in the poultry, and master chamberlain and the stewards be fed with capons, if there be strangers sitting with them," p. 102. Pigs are to be bought at threepence ora groat a-piece; geese at the same price; chiokens at a halfpenny; hens at twopence, and only for the abovementioned tables. Here is another article: "Item, it is thought good that no plovers be bought at no season but only in Christmas and principal feasts, and my lord to be served therewith, and his board-end, and none other, and to be bought for a penny a-piece, or a penny halfpenny at most," p. 103. Woodcocks are to be bought at the same price. Partridges at twopence, p. 104, 105. Pheasants a shilling; peacocks the same, p. 106. My lord keeps only twenty-seven horses in his stable at his own charge: his upper servants have allowance for maintaining their own horses, p. 126. These horses are, six gentle horses as they are called, at hay and hard meat throughout the whole year, four palfreys, three hobbies and nags, three sumpter-horses, six horses for those servants to whom my lord furnishes a horse, two sumpter-horses more, and three mill-horses, two for carrying the corn, and one for grinding it; whence we may infer, that mills, either water or windmills, were then unknown; at least, very rare: besides these, there are seven great trotting horses for the chariot or waggon. He allows a peck of oats a day, besides loaves made of beans, for his principal horses; the oats at twenty pence, the beans at two shillings a quarter. The load of hay is at two shillings and eightpence. When my lord is on a journey he carries thirty-six horsemen along with him; together with bed and other accommodation, p. 157. The inns, it seems, could afford nothing tolerable. My lord passes the year in three country seats, all in Yorkshire, Wrysel, Leckenfield, and Topclyffe: but he has furniture only for one: he carries everything along with him, beds, tables, chairs kitchen