'and others with her, see how they have wasted my body by their sorcery and witchcraft.' Those present knew that his arm had always been as it was, and were much surprised. Yet they did not dare to say what they thought. Certainly, my lord,' said Hastings, if they have done so heinously, they are worthy of heinous punishment.' Richard pretended to fly into a rage. What!' he said; 'dost thou answer me with ifs and ands? I tell thee they have done it, and that I will make good on thy body, traitor!' He struck the table with his fist, and Richard's men, who were standing outside, rushed into the room. He swore that he would not dine till Hastings was dead. Hastings was dragged out, and his head was cut off at once upon a log of timber lying outside. The Tower 10. The Duke of Gloucester becomes King Richard III.—Richard then made the queen give up her youngest son. He and his brother, the king, were lodged in the Tower of London. was not then a prison, as it afterwards became. It was a palace, in which the kings lived when they wanted to be in safety from their enemies behind its strong walls, whilst when they had no fear they lived at Westminster, in the palace which then stood where part of the Houses of Parliament stands now. Richard next spread a story which was probably true, that the father of the boys had promised to marry a lady before he married their mother. In those days, if a man promised to marry a woman and married somebody else instead, he was not considered to be properly married. Richard therefore said that Edward IV. had never been properly married to the queen, so that his sons could not inherit the crown. He summoned a parliament, which set aside the young princes, and declared their uncle to be King Richard III. 11. Murder of the Princes.-Richard had been allowed to place himself on the throne for the same reason that Edward IV. had been allowed to make himself king. The great mass of Englishmen wanted some one to keep order, and they did not think that a child could keep crder any better than a madman. But it was impossible that they should be very eager to support a man who had been so cruel, and it was not long before he did a deed which was more cruel than anything that he had done before. The two boys in the Tower were not dangerous as long as they were boys, because they were not old enough to govern. But they would soon be men, and then every one who had any quarrel with Richard would be sure to take their part. Richard therefore determined that they should never grow up to be men. He employed Sir James Tyrell to get rid of the boys. Tyrell sent two men to do the wicked deed. These men went into the room where the children were asleep in bed, and smothered them with pillows. For many a year no one knew where the bodies of the murdered princes were buried. At last, nearly two hundred years afterwards, some workmen found at the foot of a staircase two skeletons which, from their size, must have belonged to boys of the age of the two brothers. 12. Richard's Defeat and Death.-Richard soon found out that he had lost more than he had gained by his cruelty. A king was sure to make enemies amongst the great nobles, and they could hope to be able to overthrow him now that he had ceased to be popular. He disappointed the Duke of Buckingham, who had helped him to the Crown, by not giving him all the reward that he had promised him. He was still strong enough to overpower Buckingham, and the Duke was executed at Salisbury. A more powerful enemy than Buckingham came next. Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was descended through his mother from John of Gaunt, and though no one of the House of Lancaster had any claim by right of birth to the throne, he thought that Richard's enemies would be sure to support him whether he had any right or not. He set out from Brittany, where he was then living, and landed in Wales with a small force. By his father he was of Welsh descent, and he was therefore welcomed by the Welsh. One Welshman had sworn to Richard that if Henry came he should not land except over his body. He meant that he would fight till he died rather than allow it, but when Henry appeared he could not find it in his heart to resist a man who was of a Welsh family; and in order to keep his promise literally, he laid himself down on the beach and let Henry step over him. Henry found no more resistance than this for some time. He had not a large army, but neither had Richard. The two rivals met at Bosworth in Leicestershire. Richard had no chance of winning, for in the middle of the battle K Lord Stanley with all his men deserted to Henry, and the Earl of Northumberland, who had also come to fight for Richard, locked on without fighting at all. Richard knew that he was lost, and, like a brave man as he was, he plunged into the midst of his enemies, striking out manfully till he was slain. Sir William Stanley, Lord Stanley's brother, picked up his battered crown and placed it on Henry's head. From that day Henry ruled England as Henry VII. CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST TUDOR KING. (HENRY VII., 1485.) 1. Beginning of the Reign of Henry VII.-The new king was not the kind of man to be very warmly loved. He was cold and reserved, never mixing much in the amusements of the people. But he knew how to keep order, and he had never shocked the feelings of his subjects by murdering any one. He was always ady to put down rebellions when they arose, and he took good care always to have plenty of money, and a large number of cannons. The use of guns war had been increasing for some time. It is said that guns were first used at the Battle of Crecy, and though this is not quite certain, there is no doubt that they were first used about that time. By the ime of Henry VII. every king who went to war had in |