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or not. If they had to try one of the great man's enemies, they would say that he was guilty, whether he were so or not. Even if the jurymen wished to say what was true, they were often afraid to do so. A juryman who set himself against the wishes of the

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NOBLEMAN IN ARMOUR, WITH MANTLE OF THE GARTER:
FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

great man would probably be waylaid on the way home and soundly beaten.

4. Growing Power of the King. It is easy to understand why Edward was popular. The gentlemen with small estates, the farmers and husbandmen, the shopkeepers of the towns, all wanted a king who

could keep order. They did not care much whether Parliament met often or not, because the lords who ill treated them at home were very powerful in Parliament. From the time of Edward IV., therefore, the kings began to be much stronger than they had been for a long time. A writer living about a century before this tells a story which will help us to understand the feeling of the people. He says that the mice met one day in council to determine what was kill the cat, in order that they might One little mouse, however, told them that they were very foolish to wish to kill the cat. He said that he could not deny that the cat ate a good many mice, but she also destroyed a good many rats. If the rats were allowed to multiply, they would kill many more mice than one cat did. A king like Edward IV. was like the cat. The nobles were like the rats. The mass of the people were like the mice. They supported him because he kept the nobles in order.

to be done to

live in safety.

5. Edward's Deposition and Restoration.-After ten years Edward forgot that he had need to be always on the watch to keep his power. He offended the Earl of Warwick, the King-maker, who, great noble as he was, had helped him to the throne. Warwick was the most powerful of the nobles. In the kitchen of his house at Kenilworth a huge caldron was always on the fire. Any one who pleased might come in and stick his fork into one of the pieces of meat boiling in it, and carry it off. The men who were thus fed at his expense were always ready to fight for him. He now took Henry VI. out of prison, and made him king again. Edward fled across the sea.

Queen Margaret came back to take her poor mad husband's part, and even the Duke of Clarence, Edward's next brother, joined Warwick and married his daughter. Edward, however, was not a man lightly to abandon hope. He was soon back again in England with an army. At Barnet a battle was fought which settled Edward on the throne. Clarence basely deserted the side he had chosen, and returned to his brother. Warwick was killed, Edward marched westward to Tewkesbury, and utterly defeated Margaret. After the battle was over, another Edward, the young son of Henry and Margaret, was brutally murdered. Not long afterwards Henry VI. died in the Tower, no doubt also murdered. In that long fierce struggle for power, justice and mercy were forgotten. Men said afterwards that these murders were committed by Edward's youngest brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and it is very probable, though it is not quite certain, that what they said was true.

6. The Benevolences and the Printing Press. For the rest of his life Edward reigned in peace. At least there was no more fighting. He ventured to do things which no king had done before. When he wanted money, instead of asking parliament for it, he made the rich men give him what he called a benevolence, because they were supposed to give it willingly, though, in reality, they were afraid to refuse. Once he asked a rich old lady for ten pounds. She told him that as he was so good looking he should have twenty. He gave the old woman a kiss, and she then told him that she would give him forty. It was not often that money was given him with such good will as this.

There was plenty of grumbling, but few wished to resist the king, lest they should have the old misery back again. In this reign one novelty appeared which was of far greater importance than all the victories and defeats of the Wars of the Roses. The art of printing had been invented on the Continent, and Caxton brought it into England. He set up the first printing-press at Westminster. The king and his courtiers came to wonder and applaud. on as men look who watch a pretty toy. They little thought that they were watching the birth of a power which would be stronger than kings and parliaments together.

They looked

7. The End of the Reign of Edward IV.—Edward, even in his triumph, was not without his troubles. Victory had set the crown on his head, and others began to look on the crown simply as a great prize, which might be won by fighting for it. His brother Clarence, who had first helped Warwick against Edward, and then Edward against Warwick, fancied, or was believed to fancy, that he might gain the crown for himself. He was imprisoned in the Tower, and there put to death. No one really knows how it was done, but it was afterwards reported that he was drowned in a cask of wine. Edward must have felt

himself more lonely in the world than ever. He knew that many of the great nobles hated him, and now his own brother had turned against him. He had tried pleasure in all its forms, and had lived a gay, dissolute life. Such a life, as is always the case, had been sweet to the taste at first, but in the end it was bitter as wormwood. Worn out in body and mind,

he became sad and dispirited. At last he died, a worn-out but not an old man.

8. Edward V. and the Duke of Gloucester.When Edward IV. died he left behind him two young sons, Edward and Richard, and several daughters, the eldest of which was named Elizabeth. His widow, the mother of the children, was Elizabeth Woodville, whom he had married, though she was not of any great family. He had shown much favour to her relations, and the great nobles who had taken his side were not well pleased to see men whom they despised honoured by the king. After Edward's death there were many who wanted to prevent the queen and her relations from having any power. At the head of these was the late king's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. One of his shoulders was higher than the other, and his left arm was shrunk and withered; but he was, in other respects, a handsome man, as his brother had been. He was brave and warlike, a good captain, and a man who was much loved by those amongst whom he lived, as long as they did not try to do him any harm. But he had no mercy or pity for any one who tried to prevent him from doing anything that he wanted to do. Men in those unhappy days had grown used to cruelty and murder, and Richard thought no more of killing those who stood in his way than he would have thought of killing flies. Probably he had had to do with killing Edward, the son of Henry VI., and Henry VI. himself. Probably, too, he had had to do with putting his brother Clarence to death. When he

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