a number of large guns. In this way, more than in any other, the power of the nobles, in all Europe,

way of fighting was on horseback, only those who were

rich enough to keep good horses and to buy expen sive armour could make good soldiers. We have seen how the English showed at Crecy and Agincourt that an arrow could go through the air faster than a horse, and so could kill a man on horseback before he could reach the archer. Any man who had time to practise shooting could make a good archer, and the nobles could as easily find archers to follow them as the king could. But cannons were expensive, and not easily to be got, and when once a king became master of his kingdom, he would take care that no one but himself had any. In this way rebellions became more difficult than they had been before.

2. Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. In one way Henry had taken care to make the friends of the House of York unwilling to rise against him. Soon after he became king he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. Their children would therefore be descended from both Houses. As a sign that the two Houses were united, the Tudor kings took for their badge a double rose, partly white and partly red. Yet Henry could not expect to remain on the throne without having to fight for it. Twice in this reign attempts were made to overthrow the king. A certain Lambert Simnel pretended to be the Earl of Warwick, the son of the Duke of Clarence who had been put to death in the Tower, and afterwards Perkin Warbeck pretended to be Richard Duke of York, the younger of the two murdered princes. Both these impostors were overpowered. Henry contented himself with employing

Simnel, who was but a lad, as a scullion in his kitchen. Warbeck was older, and had imposed upon so many persons that he was more dangerous, and was therefore executed.

wear.

3. Henry makes the Nobles obedient.-As Henry did not allow the nobles to possess cannons, he did not allow them to give out liveries, or, as we should say, to put their men into uniform. The habit was dangerous to the peace of the country, because these men in liveries were ready to fight for the noblemen from whom they received them, as modern soldiers are ready to fight for the queen whose uniform they There was a law made against these liveries in the time of Edward IV., but Edward had not been strong enough to see that it was obeyed. Henry took care to carry it out. One day he paid a visit to the Earl of Oxford, a nobleman who had fought heartily for the Lancastrian side, on which Henry was, in the Wars of the Roses. When he left the house the Earl drew up a large number of his servants dressed in his livery to do honour to the king. 'My Lord,' said Henry, I thank you for your entertainment, but my Attorney must speak to you.' The Attorney-General brought the Earl before a court and had him fined 10,000l. It has often been thought hard to have had him punished after he had done his best to welcome the king. On the other hand, it was well that the king should show that he would not favour his own best friends, and that even those who had served him most must be compelled to obey the laws which had been made in order that the country might be at peace.

4. Henry VII. gathers Money.-Whether this was in Henry's mind or not there can be little doubt that he was very glad to get the 10,000l. He loved money, not as a miser loves it, in order to please his eye with the sight of a heap of gold and silver, but because he knew that it made him powerful. At the same time he did not like to cause ill-will by laying on taxes which the poor would have to pay as well as the rich. He thought it wiser to get as much as he could from the rich, and whenever any one of these had broken any law, even if it was unintentionally, the king sold him a pardon instead of punishing him. Then too he revived the system of benevolences which had been invented by Edward IV. There is a story told of his chief minister, Cardinal Morton, that he used to ask rich citizens for money for the king in a way which was known as Cardinal Morton's fork, because if he did not hit a man with one point of his argument, he did with the other. If he heard that the citizen had been living with a great show, and had a fine house and many servants, he would say to him, 'You spend so much money that you are plainly very rich, and can well afford to give the king a good sum of money.' If he found a man who lived very shabbily, and had a small house and few servants, he would say to him, 'You are very economical, and must have saved a great deal, and can well afford to give the king a good sum of money.'

5. The Court of Star Chamber.-Another means which Henry adopted to keep down the nobles was by setting up the Court of Star Chamber. A hundred and

fifty years later this court became very cruel; but when it was set up by Henry VII. it did much good. The nobles oppressed people around them, and prevented them from getting justice in the courts when the judges came round for the Assizes.

Juries would be

afraid to give honest verdicts for fear of giving offence to the noblemen. The Court of Star Chamber was

CIVIL AND MILITARY COSTUME ABOUT 1496.

made up of one of the judges and some of the king's officers, who were not the least afraid of any nobleman in England. When therefore any conspiracy was heard of, or any riot or disturbance, a nobleman who took part in it could be brought before this court and fined and imprisoned as easily as if he had been a farmer or a blacksmith,