CHAPTER VI. THE SUBTLE CRAFT OF RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER.
It was some weeks after the defeat of Sir Geoffrey Gates, and Edwardwas at Shene, with his gay court. Reclined at length within a pavilionplaced before a cool fountain, in the royal gardens, and surroundedby his favourites, the king listened indolently to the music of hisminstrels, and sleeked the plumage of his favourite falcon, perched uponhis wrist. And scarcely would it have been possible to recognize inthat lazy voluptuary the dauntless soldier, before whose lance, as deerbefore the hound, had so lately fled, at bloody Erpingham, the chivalryof the Lancastrian Rose; but remote from the pavilion, and in one of thedeserted bowling alleys, Prince Richard and Lord Montagu walked apart,in earnest conversation. The last of these noble personages had remainedinactive during these disturbances, and Edward had not seemed toentertain any suspicion of his participation in the anger and revengeof Warwick. The king took from him, it is true, the lands and earldom ofNorthumberland, and restored them to the Percy, but he had accompaniedthis act with gracious excuses, alleging the necessity of conciliatingthe head of an illustrious House, which had formally entered intoallegiance to the dynasty of York, and bestowed upon his earlyfavourite, in compensation, the dignity of marquis. [Montagu saidbitterly of this new dignity, "He takes from me the Earldom and domainsof Northumberland, and makes me a Marquis, with a pie's nest to maintainit withal."--STOWE: Edward IV.--Warkworth Chronicle.] The politic king,in thus depriving Montagu of the wealth and the retainers of thePercy, reduced him, as a younger brother, to a comparative povertyand insignificance, which left him dependent on Edward's favour, anddeprived him, as he thought, of the power of active mischief; at thesame time more than ever he insisted on Montagu's society, andsummoning his attendance at the court, kept his movements in watchfulsurveillance.
"Nay, my lord," said Richard, pursuing with much unction theconversation he had commenced, "you wrong me much, Holy Paul be mywitness, if you doubt the deep sorrow I feel at the unhappy events whichhave led to the severance of my kinsmen! England seems to me to havelost its smile in losing the glory of Earl Warwick's presence, andClarence is my brother, and was my friend; and thou knowest, Montagu,thou knowest, how dear to my heart was the hope to win for my wife andlady the gentle Anne."
"Prince," said Montagu, abruptly, "though the pride of Warwick and thehonour of our House may have forbidden the public revelation of thecause which fired my brother to rebellion, thou, at least, art privy toa secret--"
"Cease!" exclaimed Richard, in great emotion, probably sincere, for hisface grew livid, and its muscles were nervously convulsed. "I would nothave that remembrance stirred from its dark repose. I would fain forgeta brother's hasty frenzy, in the belief of his lasting penitence." Hepaused and turned his face, gasped for breath, and resumed: "The causejustified the father; it had justified me in the father's cause, hadWarwick listened to my suit, and given me the right to deem insult tohis daughter injury to myself."
"And if, my prince," returned Montagu, looking round him, and in asubdued whisper, "if yet the hand of Lady Anne were pledged to you?"
"Tempt me not, tempt me not!" cried the prince, crossing himself.Montagu continued,--
"Our cause, I mean Lord Warwick's cause, is not lost, as the king deemsit."
"Proceed," said Richard, casting down his eyes, while his countenancesettled back into its thoughtful calm.
"I mean," renewed Montagu, "that in my brother's flight, his retainerswere taken by surprise. In vain the king would confiscate his lands,--hecannot confiscate men's hearts. If Warwick to-morrow set his armed heelupon the soil, trowest thou, sagacious and clear-judging prince, thatthe strife which would follow would be but another field of Losecote?[The battle of Erpingham, so popularly called, in contempt of the rebellions runaways.] Thou hast heard of the honours with which King Louishas received the earl. Will that king grudge him ships and moneys? Andmeanwhile, thinkest thou that his favourers sleep?"
"But if he land, Montagu," said Richard, who seemed to listen with anattention that awoke all the hopes of Montagu, coveting so powerful anally--"if he land, and make open war on Edward--we must say the wordboldly--what intent can he proclaim? It is not enough to say King Edwardshall not reign; the earl must say also what king England should elect!"
"Prince," answered Montagu, "before I reply to that question, vouchsafeto hear my own hearty desire and wish. Though the king has deeplywronged my brother, though he has despoiled me of the lands, which were,peradventure, not too large a reward for twenty victories in his cause,and restored them to the House that ever ranked amongst the strongholdsof his Lancastrian foe, yet often when I am most resentful, the memoryof my royal seigneur's past love and kindness comes over me,--above all,the thought of the solemn contract between his daughter and my son; andI feel (now the first heat of natural anger at an insult offered tomy niece is somewhat cooled) that if Warwick did land, I could almostforget my brother for my king."
"Almost!" repeated Richard, smiling.
"I am plain with your Highness, and say but what I feel. I would evennow fain trust that, by your mediation, the king may be persuaded tomake such concessions and excuses as in truth would not misbeseem him,to the father of Lady Anne, and his own kinsman; and that yet, ere itbe too late, I may be spared the bitter choice between the ties of bloodand my allegiance to the king."
"But failing this hope (which I devoutly share),--and Edward, it must beowned, could scarcely trust to a letter,--still less to a messenger, theconfession of a crime,--failing this, and your brother land, and I sidewith him for love of Anne, pledged to me as a bride,--what king would heask England to elect?"
"The Duke of Clarence loves you dearly, Lord Richard," replied Montagu."Knowest thou not how often he hath said, 'By sweet Saint George, ifGloucester would join me, I would make Edward know we were all one man'ssons, who should be more preferred and promoted than strangers of hiswife's blood?'" [Hall.]
Richard's countenance for a moment evinced disappointment; but he saiddryly: "Then Warwick would propose that Clarence should be king?--andthe great barons and the honest burghers and the sturdy yeomen would,you think, not stand aghast at the manifesto which declares, not thatthe dynasty of York is corrupt and faulty, but that the younger sonshould depose the elder,--that younger son, mark me! not only unknown inwar and green in council, but gay, giddy, vacillating; not subtle of witand resolute of deed, as he who so aspires should be!--Montagu, a vaindream!"--Richard paused and then resumed, in a low tone, as to himself,"Oh, not so--not so are kings cozened from their thrones! a pretextmust blind men,--say they are illegitimate, say they are too young, toofeeble, too anything, glide into their place, and then, not war--notwar. You slay them not,--they disappear!" The duke's face, as hemuttered, took a sinister and a dark expression, his eyes seemed to gazeon space. Suddenly recovering himself as from a revery, he turned, withhis wonted sleek and gracious aspect, to the startled Montagu, and said,"I was but quoting from Italian history, good my lord,--wise lore, butterrible and murderous. Return we to the point. Thou seest Clarencecould not reign, and as well," added the prince, with a slightsigh,--"as well or better (for, without vanity, I have more of a king'smettle in me), might I--even I--aspire to my brother's crown!" Here hepaused, and glanced rapidly and keenly at the marquis; but whetheror not in these words he had sought to sound Montagu, and that glancesufficed to show him it were bootless or dangerous to speak moreplainly, he resumed with an altered voice, "Enough of this: Warwick willdiscover the idleness of such design; and if he land, his trumpetsmust ring to a more kindling measure. John Montagu, thinkest thou thatMargaret of Anjou and the Lancastrians will not rather win thy brotherto their side? There is the true danger to Edward,--none elsewhere."
"And if so?" said Montagu, watching his listener's countenance. Richardstarted, and gnawed his lip. "Mark me," continued the marquis, "I repeatthat I would fain hope yet that Edward may appease the earl; but if not,and, rather than rest dishonoured and aggrieved, Warwick link himselfwith Lancaster, and th
ou join him as Anne's betrothed and lord, whatmatters who the puppet on the throne?--we and thou shall be the rulers;or, if thou reject," added the marquis, artfully, as he supposed,exciting the jealousy of the duke, "Henry has a son--a fair, and theysay, a gallant prince--carefully tutored in the knowledge of our Englishlaws, and who my lord of Oxford, somewhat in the confidence of theLancastrians, assures me would rejoice to forget old feuds, and callWarwick 'father,' and my niece 'Lady and Princess of Wales.'"
With all his dissimulation, Richard could ill conceal the emotions offear, of jealousy, of dismay, which these words excited.
"Lord Oxford!" he cried, stamping his foot. "Ha, John de Vere, pestilenttraitor, plottest thou thus? But we can yet seize thy person, and willhave thy head."
Alarmed at this burst, and suddenly made aware that he had laid hisbreast too bare to the boy, whom he had thought to dazzle and seduce tohis designs, Montagu said falteringly, "But, my lord, our talk is butin confidence: at your own prayer, with your own plighted word of princeand of kinsman, that whatever my frankness may utter should not passfarther. Take," added the nobleman, with proud dignity--"take my headrather than Lord Oxford's; for I deserve death, if I reveal to one whocan betray the loose words of another's intimacy and trust!"
"Forgive me, my cousin," said Richard, meekly; "my love to Annetransported me too far. Lord Oxford's words, as you report them, hadconjured up a rival, and--but enough of this. And now," added theprince, gravely, and with a steadiness of voice and manner that gave acertain majesty to his small stature, "now as thou hast spoken openly,openly also will I reply. I feel the wrong to the Lady Anne as tomyself; deeply, burningly, and lastingly, will it live in my mind; itmay be, sooner or later, to rise to gloomy deeds, even against Edwardand Edward's blood. But no, I have the king's solemn protestationsof repentance; his guilty passion has burned into ashes, and he nowsighs--gay Edward--for a lighter fere. I cannot join with Clarence,less can I join with the Lancastrians. My birth makes me the prop of thethrone of York,--to guard it as a heritage (who knows?) that may descendto mine,--nay, to me! And, mark me well if Warwick attempt a war offratricide, he is lost; if, on the other hand, he can submit himself tothe hands of Margaret, stained with his father's gore, the success of anhour will close in the humiliation of a life. There is a third wayleft, and that way thou hast piously and wisely shown. Let him, likeme, resign revenge, and, not exacting a confession and a cry of peccavi,which no king, much less King Edward the Plantagenet, can whimper forth,let him accept such overtures as his liege can make. His titles andcastles shall be restored, equal possessions to those thou hast lostassigned to thee, and all my guerdon (if I can so negotiate) as all myambition, his daughter's hand. Muse on this, and for the peace and wealof the realm so limit all thy schemes, my lord and cousin!"
With these words the prince pressed the hand of the marquis, and walkedslowly towards the king's pavilion.
"Shame on my ripe manhood and lore of life," muttered Montagu, enragedagainst himself, and deeply mortified. "How sentence by sentence andstep by step yon crafty pigmy led me on, till all our projects, all ourfears and hopes, are revealed to him who but views them as a foe. Annebetrothed to one who even in fiery youth can thus beguile and dupe!Warwick decoyed hither upon fair words, at the will of one whom Italy(boy, there thou didst forget thy fence of cunning!) has taught how thegreat are slain not, but disappear! no, even this defeat instructs menow. But right, right! the reign of Clarence is impossible, and thatof Lancaster is ill-omened and portentous; and after all, my son standsnearer to the throne than any subject, in his alliance with the LadyElizabeth. Would to Heaven the king could yet--But out on me! this isno hour for musing on mine own aggrandizement; rather let me fly atonce and warn Oxford--imperilled by my imprudence--against that dark eyewhich hath set watch upon his life."
At that thought, which showed that Montagu, with all his worldliness,was not forgetful of one of the first duties of knight and gentleman,the marquis hastened up the alley, in the opposite direction to thattaken by Gloucester, and soon found himself in the courtyard, where agoodly company were mounting their haquenees and palfreys, to enjoy asummer ride through the neighbouring chase. The cold and half-slightingsalutations of these minions of the hour, which now mortified theNevile, despoiled of the possessions that had rewarded his long andbrilliant services, contrasting forcibly the reverential homage he hadformerly enjoyed, stung Montagu to the quick.
"Whither ride you, brother Marquis?" said young Lord Dorset (Elizabeth'sson by her first marriage), as Montagu called to his single squire, whowas in waiting with his horse. "Some secret expedition, methinks, forI have known the day when the Lord Montagu never rode from his king'spalace with less than thirty squires."
"Since my Lord Dorset prides himself on his memory," answered thescornful lord, "he may remember also the day when, if a Nevile mountedin haste, he bade the first Woodville he saw hold the stirrup."
And regarding "the brother marquis" with a stately eye that silenced andawed retort, the long-descended Montagu passed the courtiers, androde slowly on till out of sight of the palace; he then pushed into ahand-gallop, and halted not till he had reached London, and gained thehouse in which then dwelt the Earl of Oxford, the most powerful of allthe Lancastrian nobles not in exile, and who had hitherto temporizedwith the reigning House.
Two days afterwards the news reached Edward that Lord Oxford and Jasperof Pembroke--uncle to the boy afterwards Henry VII.--had sailed fromEngland.
The tidings reached the king in his chamber, where he was closeted withGloucester. The conference between them seemed to have been warm andearnest, for Edward's face was flushed, and Gloucester's brow wasperturbed and sullen.
"Now Heaven be praised!" cried the king, extending to Richard the letterwhich communicated the flight of the disaffected lords. "We havetwo enemies the less in our roiaulme, and many a barony the more toconfiscate to our kingly wants. Ha, ha! these Lancastrians only serve toenrich us. Frowning still, Richard? smile, boy!"
"Foi de mon ame, Edward," said Richard, with a bitter energy, strangelyat variance with his usual unctious deference to the king, "yourHighness's gayety is ill-seasoned; you reject all the means to assureyour throne, you rejoice in all the events that imperil it. I prayed youto lose not a moment in conciliating, if possible, the great lord whomyou own you have wronged, and you replied that you would rather loseyour crown than win back the arm that gave it you."
"Gave it me! an error, Richard! that crown was at once the heritage ofmy own birth and the achievement of my own sword. But were it as yousay, it is not in a king's nature to bear the presence of a power moreformidable than his own, to submit to a voice that commands rather thancounsels; and the happiest chance that ever befell me is the exile ofthis earl. How, after what hath chanced, can I ever see his face againwithout humiliation, or he mine without resentment?"
"So you told me anon, and I answered, if that be so, and your Highnessshrinks from the man you have injured, beware at least that Warwick, ifhe may not return as a friend, come not back as an irresistible foe. Ifyou will not conciliate, crush! Hasten by all arts to separate Clarencefrom Warwick. Hasten to prevent the union of the earl's popularity andHenry's rights. Keep eye upon all the Lancastrian lords, and see thatnone quit the realm where they are captives, to join a camp where theycan rise into leaders. And at the very moment I urge you to place strictwatch upon Oxford, to send your swiftest riders to seize Jasper ofPembroke, you laugh with glee to hear that Oxford and Pembroke are goneto swell the army of your foes!"
"Better foes out of my realm than in it," answered Edward, dryly.
"My liege, I say no more," and Richard rose. "I would forestall adanger; it but remains for me to share it."
The king was touched. "Tarry yet, Richard," he said; and then, fixinghis brother's eye, he continued, with a half smile and a heightenedcolour, "though we knew thee true and leal to us, we yet know also,Richard, that thou hast personal interest in thy counsels. Thou wouldstby one means or another softe
n or constrain the earl into giving theethe hand of Anne. Well, then, grant that Warwick and Clarence expel KingEdward from his throne, they may bring a bride to console thee for theruin of a brother."
"Thou hast no right to taunt or to suspect me, my liege," returnedRichard, with a quiver in his lip. "Thou hast included me in thymeditated wrong to Warwick; and had that wrong been done--"
"Peradventure it had made thee espouse Warwick's quarrel?"
"Bluntly, yes!" exclaimed Richard, almost fiercely, and playing with hisdagger. "But" (he added, with a sudden change of voice) "I understandand know thee better than the earl did or could. I know what in theeis but thoughtless impulse, haste of passion, the habit kings form offorgetting all things save the love or hate, the desire or anger, of amoment. Thou hast told me thyself, and with tears, of thy offence; thouhast pardoned my boy's burst of anger; I have pardoned thy evil thought;thou hast told me thyself that another face has succeeded to the briefempire of Anne's blue eye, and hast further pledged me thy kinglyword, that if I can yet compass the hand of a cousin dear to me fromchildhood, thou wilt confirm the union."
"It is true," said Edward. "But if thou wed thy bride, keep her alooffrom the court,--nay, frown not, my boy, I mean simply that I would notblush before my brother's wife!"
Richard bowed low in order to conceal the expression of his face,and went on without further notice of the explanation. "And allthis considered, Edward, I swear by Saint Paul, the holiest saint tothoughtful men, and by Saint George, the noblest patron to high-bornwarriors, that thy crown and thine honour are as dear to me as if theywere mine own. Whatever sins Richard of Gloucester may live to harbourand repent, no man shall ever say of him that he was a recreant to thehonour of his country [so Lord Bacon observes of Richard, with thatdiscrimination, even in the strongest censure, of which profound judgesof mankind are alone capable, that he was "a king jealous of the honorof the English nation"], or slow to defend the rights of his ancestorsfrom the treason of a vassal or the sword of a foreign foe. Therefore, Isay again, if thou reject my honest counsels; if thou suffer Warwickto unite with Lancaster and France; if the ships of Louis bear to yourshores an enemy, the might of whom your reckless daring undervalues,foremost in the field in battle, nearest to your side in exile,shall Richard Plantagenet be found!" These words, being uttered withsincerity, and conveying a promise never forfeited, were more impressivethan the subtlest eloquence the wily and accomplished Gloucester everemployed as the cloak to guile, and they so affected Edward, that hethrew his arms around his brother; and after one of those bursts ofemotion which were frequent in one whose feelings were never deep andlasting, but easily aroused and warmly spoken, he declared himselfreally to listen to and adopt all means which Richard's art couldsuggest for the better maintenance of their common weal and interests.
And then, with that wondrous, if somewhat too restless and over-refiningenergy which belonged to him, Richard rapidly detailed the scheme of hisprofound and dissimulating policy. His keen and intuitive insight intohuman nature had shown him the stern necessity which, against their verywill, must unite Warwick with Margaret of Anjou. His conversation withMontagu had left no doubt of that peril on his penetrating mind. Heforesaw that this union might be made durable and sacred by the marriageof Anne and Prince Edward; and to defeat this alliance was his firstobject, partly through Clarence, partly through Margaret herself. Agentlewoman in the Duchess of Clarence's train had been arrested on thepoint of embarking to join her mistress. Richard had already seen andconferred with this lady, whose ambition, duplicity, and talent forintrigue were known to him. Having secured her by promises of the mostlavish dignities and rewards, he proposed that she should be permittedto join the duchess with secret messages to Isabel and the duke, warningthem both that Warwick and Margaret would forget their past feud inpresent sympathy, and that the rebellion against King Edward, insteadof placing them on the throne, would humble them to be subordinates andaliens to the real profiters, the Lancastrians. [Comines, 3, c. 5; Hall;Hollinshed] He foresaw what effect these warnings would have upon thevain duke and the ambitious Isabel, whose character was known to himfrom childhood. He startled the king by insisting upon sending, at thesame time, a trusty diplomatist to Margaret of Anjou, proffering to givethe princess Elizabeth (betrothed to Lord Montagu's son) to the youngPrince Edward. ["Original Letters from Harleian Manuscripts." Edited bySir H. Ellis (second series).] Thus, if the king, who had, as yet, noson, were to die, Margaret's son, in right of his wife, as well as inthat of his own descent, would peaceably ascend the throne. "Need Isay that I mean not this in sad and serious earnest?" observed Richard,interrupting the astonished king. "I mean it but to amuse the Anjouite,and to deafen her ears to any overtures from Warwick. If she listen,we gain time; that time will inevitably renew irreconcilable quarrelbetween herself and the earl. His hot temper and desire of revengewill not brook delay. He will land, unsupported by Margaret andher partisans, and without any fixed principle of action which canstrengthen force by opinion."
"You are right, Richard," said Edward, whose faithless cunningcomprehended the more sagacious policy it could not originate. "All beit as you will."
"And in the mean while," added Richard, "watch well, but anger not,Montagu and the archbishop. It were dangerous to seem to distrust themtill proof be clear; it were dull to believe them true. I go at once tofulfil my task."