Review of the Character, Laws, Causes of Unpopularity, THE RICH. HI. IE confession of our old chroniclers, who sO REIGN OF little favor Richard, that if he had continued to be lord protector only, and to have suffered his nephew to have lived and reigned, "the realm would have prospered; and he would have been as much praised and beloved, as he is now abhorred and despised; and the declaration of lord Bacon, who has adopted every prejudice against him, that he was yet a king jealous for the honor of the English nation," are expressive panegyrics, which imply that he must have had some merits, that are inconsistent with that general abuse, by which our elder historians, and their modern copyists, have uniformly defamed him. ' Grafton, 853. VOL. IV. 2 2 Bacon's Hist. Henry VII. p. 2. B V. REIGN OF RICH. JII. "3 BOOK Even the philosopher of Verulam, instead of calmly stating to us his laudable qualities and actions, has contented himself with declaring, that "his cruelties and parricides, in the opinion of all men, weighed down his virtues; "3 thus admitting the existence of what he will not particularize; and he is even so unkind to his memory, as to give the king no credit for the reality of what he felt that he possessed; for he adds, that wise men thought these virtues not to be ingenerate," but "forced and affected."4 So that whatever worth Richard possessed or displayed, he is the only king of England, of whom we are to believe, that nothing which seemed good in him could be genuine; but that he must have been altogether and unceasingly that "malicious, envious, and deep dissembling" demon, which More and Polydore Virgil' have, rather passionately, depicted. Even the little habit of "biting continually his under lip when in deep thought,' is considered by the latter, to be the mark of a ferocious nature, a human wild beast; as if some of the most harmless and best-principled of men have not had the same habit, or customs as terrific, of knitting, unconsciously, the brow into stern frowns; or of cutting or biting their nails, till the blood has issued, while absorbed in profound and interesting contemplation. Bacon himself lived to know and prove, that a great and noble mind may, by circumstances, be led to commit some obnoxious deeds, without lessening the merit and utility of many virtues, and of a beneficial life. And Richard may justly complain, if his voice could be heard from his bespattered tomb, that his good actions were 3 Bacon's Hist. Henry VII. p. 2. 4 Ib. 5 More, p. 154. Pol. V. 565. • Pol. V. 565. I. RICH. III. written in water; but that his bad ones have been CHAP. engraved on monumental brass. The first have been so studiously covered with oblivion, that we can only REIGN OF imperfectly trace them now, by catching some gleams of a light that has been repressed; or by inferences and conjectures, from the few materials which time has spared. The latter have been blazoned with a vituperation, which does more honor to the feeling than to the judgment of our historical censors. It is the moral feelings of mankind which he outraged, by one flagitious catastrophe, that have consigned Richard to their indiscriminating detestation. He loved, he courted, the applause of his people. He exerted himself to deserve it; and his intelligence, penetration, activity, temperance, patronage of the rising arts, encouragement of commerce, moral demeanor, attention to religion, and desire to reform the abuses of law and power, that were afflicting the country, were calculated to have produced great celebrity to himself, and lasting advantages to the nation. But, by basing his throne on principles which shook every man's safety and comfort, no merit and no benefit could compensate for the moral evil which would have followed thro society, if he could have obtained a peaceful and triumphant reign. He had linked his name and reign with every parent's dread of the chances of evil, from elder kinsmen to fatherless children, which his successful example had created. We expect selfishness, competition, and danger from strangers; but the heart takes refuge in the bosom of natural kinship, as a consecrated home of unquestionable honor and security, if not of affection. We rely on nature as our pledge, that here we shall not be deceived nor dis V. RICH. III. BOOK appointed, whatever fraud or violence may be agitating society beyond the circle of our affinity. But REIGN OF till mankind were taught, by Richard's downfall, that such unnatural crimes ended in a discomfiture so signal and unexpected as to seem to be judicial, selfishness was losing its curb, and the ties of nature their most commanding security. When he fell a just victim to the safety of the orphan, the ward, the kinsman, and the minor king, human confidence regained its assurance, and society its sweetest feeling, and most important comfort; but yet his fate, however useful, has been peculiar. Ingratitude to Richard. 7 Several kings have reigned, even in England, under circumstances that also called for the moral indignation of the country, who were neither deserted nor deposed like Richard III. Henry I. took the throne, against the right of an elder brother, whom he blinded, and imprisoned till he died, if he did not produce his death. John seized his nephew's throne, and caused him to be murdered." Edward III. came to his crown on the deposition of his father, who was soon after put to death." Richard II. and Henry IV. were the sons of two brothers, yet Henry deprived him of his sceptre; and permitted, if he did not authorize his assassination. All these kings reigned, till a natural death without violence introduced new accessions. Why, then, we may ask, was Richard so peculiarly obnoxious? Did the difference arise, from his age being an era of distinguished virtue? If we look among the great and well-born at that time, we see rapacity, violence, perjury, rebellion, treachery, and 7 See volume I. of this History, p. 180. 10 Ib. p. 350. I. RICH. III. unbridled revenge and licentiousness, always before CHAP. us. Besides his public conduct, as king, which his enemies have extolled, his liberality to his friends reign of was bounded only by his means of giving, at last, failing from the abundance of his favors. This fact does not rest merely on the general phrases in the chronicler;" but in the register of his grants, that still remain, we see numerous pardons; annuities to all classes, and of all sums from 2000 l. down to twenty shillings, to earls and lords, to yeomen, priests, and anchoresses; perpetual gifts of manors, lands, honors, offices, and pecuniary presents; exemptions from taxes and fines; and several remissions from forfeitures, and revocations of outlawries.13 The amount of these donations, in a two years' reign, appears to have no parallel; and yet conspiracies multiplied against him during his life, and execration ever since. Those who had partaken of his generosities; the Stanleys, Northumberland," Kidwelly, 14 12 "More, after calling him ' malicious and envious,' adds, that he was 'free of dispense, and, above his power, liberal.' p. 154. I am not aware that the malicious and envious are unusually liberal, or freely spending their wealth. The latter qualities are inconsistent with the preceding epithets. 12 See the valuable Harl. MS. No 433, which contains extracts, or copies, of a great quantity of these grants of annuities. I began to select them, but I found them too numerous to be inserted here. Among these are anchoresses; one in Pomfret, p. 28; and one at Westminster, p. 41; Their annuities were, forty shillings, and six marcs. To lord Surrey, I observe two annuities, of 1000 l. and 11007.. 13 See the same MS. It contains from 2000 to nearly 2500 official documents (for all of them are not noticed in the printed catalogue,) most of which are the king's beneficial grants. 14 Lord Stanley was made constable of England. Harl. MS. p. 28. An annuity of 100l. was granted to him, p. 31; many castles, lordships, and manors, p. 70; and farms, 82. Castle and lordship of Kimbolton, 120. Sir William Stanley was knight of the body, and chamberlain of the county of Chester. Ib. p. 115. Several annuities were given to him, p. 32-40; the constableship of Carnarvon, p. 45; several castles, towns, and lordships, p. 88; the lordship of Thornbury, 122. 15 To Northumberland, besides the Great Powney estate, Richard also |