your head, ye sayd Sir Tho. I dye in wright, beware you dye not in wrong, and so that good knight was beheaded and the other three and buried naked in the monastery at Pounfrete." Many a crime, deem'd innocent on earth,

Is register'd in heav'n; and these no doubt,

Have each their record, with a curse annex'd.

Richard having seized the crown and usurped the throne, by the title of King Richard III. in the second year of his reign granted a charter to this town, whereby he incorporated it, and appointed John Hill the first mayor thereof, in July, 1484. This charter was confirmed by parliament the 9th of August following.

Richard, who, to the most consummate hypocrisy, added the most ferocious cruelty, and ascended the throne by the murder of his king, was not permitted to enjoy it long in peace. The Duke of Buckingham, a character equally depraved as his own, by whose assistance Richard had hitherto met with success, soon formed a scheme to dethrone him, and unite the houses of York and Lancaster. Thus it frequently happens that associates in guilt, become the instruments of each others punishment; and the ways of providence are justified in rendering to them their deserts.

The scheme devised met with general approbation; and measures were soon adopted to carry it into execution. Buckingham lost his life in the first attempt, and many of his friends were taken and executed. Richmond, the heir of the house of Lancaster, not discouraged by this event, but having collected some troops in France, at length landed at Milford-haven.

T

The people flocked to his standard, and he soon found himself at the head of an army suf ficiently powerful to encounter Richard.

The two armies met at Bosworth, where Richard lost his crown and his life. This battle was fought on the 22d August, 1485. At this time was also slain the above mentioned Sir Richard Ratcliffe, the governor of Pontefract castle, with many other persons of rank. The crown being found in the field of battle, Lord Stanley put it upon the head of Richmond, who was immediately proclaimed king, by the title of Henry VII. amidst the acclamations of the whole army; and, by his marriage with the princess Elizabeth, he put an end to the dreadful contests of the kingdom, by the union of the houses of York and Lancaster.

No more the thirsty entrance of this soil

Shall damp her lips with her own children's blood:
No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hostile paces. Those opposed files,
Which like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery,

Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way; and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred and allies:
The edge of war like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master.

SECTION X.

Historical events from the death of Richard III. till the commencement of the civil war.

WHEN raised to the throne, Henry VII. might justly have concluded, that as he had no competitors to fear, his reign would not be disgraced by those intestine feuds and animosities which had so long prevailed. He, however, soon found that the spirit of enmity had acquired strength by time, and nothing but the strong hand of power could repress or subdue it. The nobles had been so long accustomed to assume and exercise an authority above all law; and the people to follow them implicitly as leaders and commanders, that the former could, whenever they chose, excite commotions, disturb the peace, and endanger the throne.

Though the houses of York and Lancaster were happily united, by the marriage of Henry with Elizabeth, the same factions still continued, and the friends of the latter naturally expected that the king would reward their fidelity, and restore their forfeited estates and honours. The Yorkists, who had feasted on the spoils of their enemies for near twenty years, and had no wish to relinquish what they had obtained, soon perceived their danger; and by encouraging false pretenders to the throne, and raising partial insurrections, involved themselves in those very calamities they wished to avoid, and lost both their lives and fortunes.

In the second of his reign, Henry made a tour into the northern countries, and visited Pontefract, the ancient patrimony of his family, where he resided some days. He then hastened to York, and while he remained there, an insurrection broke out, headed by the Staffords in the south, and by Lord Lovel in the north, who pursued Henry with a body of three or four thousand troops. This insurrection was quelled, and tranquillity for a short season restored.

soon

In the fourth of Henry VII. (1488,) a rebellion broke out in the northern counties, in consequence of a heavy tax imposed by parliament. The people instigated by a popular incendiary, named John a Chambre, a man who delighted in war and plunder, rose in arms; and choosing one Sir John Egremont, a factious partisan of the house of York, they declared they would march to London, and give battle to the king. Henry was no sooner informed of this disturbance, than he sent a body of troops against the rebels, under the command of the Earl of Surry, whom he had lately received into favour. That nobleman marched with all speed against the insurgents, who had reached the village of Ackworth, near this place, on their way to London. On the first attack they were routed, and John a Chambre taken prisoner; but their commander, Sir John Egremont, had the good fortune to escape. John a Chambre and the rebel captains were executed at York; but the rest were pardoned at the intercession of the Earl of Surry, by which he gained the favour of the country.

Henry this year renewed and confirmed the

above mentioned charter of Richard III. to the borough of Pontefract, dated 1st Dec. 1488.

During the latter part of the reign of Henry VII. and the former of that of Henry VIII. few events of importance occur respecting this place. Henry VII. had the felicity to have outlived the spirit of faction, and to leave the kingdom in peace. In the course of his reign he had amassed much wealth, of which his son and successor, Henry VIII. was extremely prodigal. His amours and intrigues, his cruel and unjust treatment of those he denominated his wives, ultimately led him to quarrel with the pope, and to encourage the reformation.

Henry had emptied his coffers by extravagance and dissipation. Some measure was necessary to relieve his pressing wants; and the spirit of the times according with his inclination, he determined to seize the wealth of the religious, and wholly to suppress the monastic orders. The authority which the pope had hitherto enjoyed, Henry assumed and exercised; and he and his his successors were declared to be the supreme head of the church of England.

The religious orders could not behold with indifference the gathering storm, which threatened to overwhelm their elegant mansions, and their richly ornamented temples; and to strip them of all that wealth which had been conferred by the piety or superstition of past ages. They were not disposed to give up their all without a struggle; and had not various circumstances favoured Henry, this struggle might have proved fatal to his crown and life, and also to the reformation in this kingdom.