CHAPTER XLIII.
Confusion and agitation pervaded England from end to end. Men gatheredtogether in the streets and talked. Couriers passed between house andhouse. The fat citizen gossipped with his neighbour, over the eventsof the day, and looked big and important, as he doled out the news tohis better half at home. The peasantry too were moved by feelings oftheir own. The village green and the alehouse had their politicians.The good wife looked anxious, lest Hob should be taken for a soldier;and the old men and women recalled the days when the feuds of York andLancaster were at their height, and hoped that such times were notcoming again.
Still, however, the news spread far and wide, that the earl ofRichmond had landed on the Welsh coast, and was marching towardsLondon to grasp the crown. From castle to castle, and city to city,and cottage to cottage, the rumour rolled on. He was there--actuallythere, upon English ground; the long-expected blow was struck; thelong anticipated enterprise had begun.
Busy emissaries, too, whispered in every ear, that Richmond wasaffianced to the heiress of the house of York. There was no longer aquestion of York and Lancaster. It was no longer a fratricidal warbetween the descendants of the same ancestor; but York and Lancasterwere united; and the long rival factions took their stand, andunfurled their banners, side by side, against one who was equallyinimical to both. Every evil act which Richard had committed wascalled to memory, denounced, and exaggerated. False facts werefabricated, many of which have been transmitted to the present day, toblacken his character, and misrepresent his conduct. His views, hisdeeds, his very person, were all distorted, and the current of popularopinion was turned strongly against him. Still the prudent, the timid,and the idle, counselled together, and prepared to follow atemporising policy.
"Take my advice," said an old man to his neighbours, "keep quitequiet; take part with neither; let Lancaster cut York's throat or YorkLancaster's, or both join to destroy Richard, we have nothing to dowith such things. We shall suffer enough, whichever wins the day; butbetter to suffer in pocket than to die or get wounds in a cause whichconcerns us very little. One king is for us just as good as another;and as to the question of right, as no doctors have settled it, howshould we be able to decide? Keep quiet, and let them fight it outamongst themselves."
Such was very commonly the feeling amongst the lower classes ofthe people; and many of a higher rank were moved by the sameconsiderations. "If we fight for Richmond," they thought, "he may losea battle; and then we are at the mercy of Richard. If on the contrarywe march under the banners of Richard, he may be defeated, andRichmond have our fate in his hands."
The higher nobility, indeed, pursued a different course. They began togather men; they made preparations for war; but they kept as secret aspossible, in what direction they intended to act. They were in generalvery silent as to their intentions, though exceedingly busy and activein their preparation; and constant communications were passing fromone to the other, the nature of which was not discovered.
The only one who seemed inactive in the realm was the king himself.He, so energetic and daring in the camp and the field, so astute andcautious in the council-chamber, for a time seemed to do very little.The first news of Richmond's armament, indeed, had almost cast himinto a state of frenzy; but, when he learned that the earl had landedat Milford-haven with but three thousand men, his rage appeared tosink into contempt. He treated his coming as a mere bravado, andseemed to scorn the display of any extraordinary measures against sopitiful an attack.
"Sir Walter Herbert will give a good account of him," he said, whensome of his courtiers spoke of the invasion. "Herbert has full fivethousand men, choice soldiers, ready and fit to rid our soil of theseFrench weeds, or I know nought of gardening. We shall soon hear newsof him."
He did soon hear news; but it was that Richmond marched on unopposedthrough the land, that he had been joined by Rice ap Thomas, with athousand men, that Savage had gone over to him, that Herbert made nomovement to oppose his progress, that Wales was rising rapidly in hisfavour, that friends and supplies were pouring into his camp, and thathe was rapidly advancing upon Shrewsbury. Then it was that Richard notonly felt the necessity of energy, but became sensible of his danger,and began to act with that fierce and impatient eagerness which hadformerly characterized him. His messengers hastened over all thecountry, calling every one he could count upon to arms, and orderingthose who were doubtful to join him at Nottingham, without an hour'sdelay. Norfolk and Northumberland were summoned in the same terms; butwhile the one hastened to obey, with all the promptitude of zealousattachment, the other made no professions, but slowly raised men, andmarched with tardy steps, into such a position that he could act as hejudged fit, whenever the moment for action came. Catesby hurried upwith all the men that he could raise; and many others came in withextraordinary speed; for though disaffection had spread wide, it wasby no means universal; and many of those who were discontented werenot willing to aid in hurling Richard from the throne. The armyincreased in number daily; and when the king compared his own forcewith that of Richmond, even after the latter had reached Shrewsbury,and had been joined by the young earl of that name, and the LordTalbot, he laughed all fears of danger to scorn, and prepared to casthimself in the way of his enemy, in whatever direction he might bendhis steps. Lord Calverly was sent to raise all his tenantry anddependants; and, amongst others to whom messengers were despatched, tocall them immediately to the aid of the crown, were Fulmer andChartley. The courier sent to the former found him on the full marchfrom Dorsetshire, and returned to Richard with this reply to hissummons--
"The Lord Fulmer craves the king's pardon, for moving without hiscommands; but having learned that the earl of Richmond had landed inWales, he thought he could not be far wrong in marching at once, tooffer his sword and his troops to his sovereign's service."
Richard was surrounded by many persons, when these words werereported; but shortly after, he whispered to Ratcliffe, who stood nearhim, saying--
"This youth Fulmer deserves well. He shall have his bride. But notyet, Ratcliffe--not yet. We must crush this Breton-nurtured youngRichmond, and then we will have gay days and bridals. The girl must bebrought to a place of security. We will send her to York."
"But your grace forgets that she is not at the abbey," repliedRatcliffe, who took the king's words for a command. "She must befound, before she can be sent to York."
Richard smiled, with one of his dark looks of serpent subtlety, inwhich a slight touch of scorn mingled with an expression of triumphantcunning.
"She needs not to be found," he answered; "but what said the youngLord Chartley to our summons? Has he returned no answer?"
"He called for his horse at the first word, sire," replied Ratcliffe,"and said, that in four days his tenants should be in the field."
"Impetuous ever!" said Richard; but then he fell into a fit of musing,and his brow grew somewhat dark. "Four days," he repeated, "four daysThat argues preparation. He has a two days' journey, speed as he will.His tenants shall be in the field--Ay, but for whom? Send some oneafter him. Bid him join us at Broughton, and let him be well watched."
"At Broughton, sire?" said Ratcliffe, in a doubtful tone.
"Yes," answered Richard; "we march tomorrow for Leicester. AtBroughton we have him at our will. Have you heard from Lord Stanley,or his brother, Sir William?"
"He is true, I doubt not, sire," replied Ratcliffe; "the last news wasthat he had fallen back somewhat from Lichfield, upon the advance ofRichmond, not having force to oppose him, since the defection of SirGeorge Talbot and the earl of Shrewsbury. But 'tis said his brotherWilliam is marching to join him with two thousand men, and they willfight the traitor as soon as they meet."
"That must not be," said Richard, with a stern thoughtful look. "Ifthey win the field, a subject gains the honour which the crown shouldhave. If they fail, they plume this gosshawk's wings with the eaglepens of victory, and many will draw to him after a won battle, manyfall from us. There is ever, Ratcliffe, a light and f
ickle crowd, thatflutters round success, heedless of right or merit, as clouds gatherround the rising sun to gild their empty vapours in the beams thatsuck them up ere it be noon. No, no! We will have no one either snatchRichmond from our hand, or try and fail. Bid them fall back as headvances, till, with our kingly force, we overwhelm him like a rat ina torrent. Send off a post to-night; and, in the meanwhile, watch wellthe young Lord Strange. His neck is better security than his goodfather's faith. We will to Leicester early, before the army. But itmust not lag behind. One day's march lost, and Richmond would slip by.He must not reach St. Paul's."
Thus saying, he turned to the rest of the courtiers, and spoke ofother things.