Chap XVIII from the Conquest,

jj | i 4 ^ 3 . NoC keeping Word with the Puke ofVje'fffrg rBuckingham, his principal Agent in per-® Uc kingham P etrat ' n g all his Villanies, he soon con-c ° n sp!res a- spired against him ; and, as he hadc hard been the chief Instrument of placing him

upon the Throne, contributed the mostto his Ruin. This he did, by declaring forHe ;ry ,Ear\ of Richmond,the Head of theLa„castrian Family, then in Bretagne ;jj. and proposing to unite the two Houses

H e Fs n - of York and La;, ca si er, by marrying himwith Elizabeth, the eldest Daughter ofEdward IV, He did not, however,H e is ^ live to fee the Execution of his Project ;sty ed, and Fut, being betrayed in the Beginning ofehe aded. the Conlpiracy, was by Richards Or-ders beheaded, without any legal Pro-cess. Henry, was in the mean Time,informed of the Design, by his Mother,the Countess of Richmond, who was letinto the Secret; And not only the lateQueen had given her Consent to theMarriage ; But the Duke of Bretagne,in whose Hand Henry was, hadrengag-^ ed to supply him with Men and Ships.

°/'st\y EarZ He even made an unsuccessful Attempt^ond, at _ this Year, and, imagining that all went*af ts to in ~ * n Angland to his Wish, failed from St.

Malcds, the twelfth of October, with fiveThousand Men, and forty Ships, whichjhpi n . he had obtained from the Duke of Bre-0l bsh. tagne. A Storm having dispersed his

$ Fleet, he arrived with one single Ship

Tet reats; on the Coast of Cornwal, (d) where hewas very near being decoyed on Shoar,by the Militia posted there by Richardto receive him : But having discoveredthe Design, he put to Sea again, andarrived in Normandy.

tar*

Wead.

(d) Echard and Holinjhead say, the Coast ofDorsetjhire, near the Town of Poole- And thelatter says, the Ship the Earl was in was accom-panied by one Bark more.

(?) He was warned by John Morton , Bishopof Ely, who was then in Flanders , and sent oneChristopher Urswick with the Message, who, up-on his Arrival in Bretagne, was immediately dis-patched, by the Earl, to the Court of France, toobtain Leave to retire thither.

to the Death of A Mary !. 75

The next Year, Henry narrowly e- 1484^scaped being delivered up to Richard, & in_Dan~by Landais , prime Minister of the Duk Q strayedof Bretagne ; But being warned of it, (e) Richard,he secured himself by retiring intoFrance. After Henry's first Attempt, Richard fitsRichard had fitted out a Fleet to oppose Dut a Flect 'his Passage, if he should endeavour a gsecond Descent: But thinking himself orders tt toafterwards out of Danger, he ordered be. laid up.the Ships to be laid up and unrigged inSpring. This encouraged Henry to sol-licit Aid of the King of France, andhaving obtained a Promise of two Thou-sand Men, with Ships to transport them,and a Sum of Mony, he repaired toRoan, where the Troops were to assem-ble. Here he received such Invitationsfrom England as hastened his Departure. Henry’jHe embarked with his Troops at H;r- second Jt-jieur, set Sail the last Day of July, and tempt andarrived at Miljord-Haven, the sixth of Succe f S -August. The twenty-second of thesame Month was famous for the decisiveBattle of Bostworth, (st) an ancientMar- The Battleket town in Leicestershire, between these c/Bosworth,two great Competitors for the EnglistoCrown. In this Battle, which was thelast between the two Houses of Tork andLancaster, Richard lost his Life, with filled. arhis Crown, which, being found by aSoldier in the Field of Battle, was car-ried to the Lord Stanley, who placed itupon the Earl of Richmond's Head, andsaluted him King, from which Time hekept the Regal Title, and acted asSovereign.

(/) This Battle , tho’ generally called theBattle of Bofiuorth, was fought about three Milesoff of that Town. The very Spot of Ground isdiscovered by Pieces of Armour, Weapons, anda great Number of Arrow-heads, of an uncom-mon Size, which are frequently found there.There is, likewise, a little Mount, on which itis reported, that the Earl of Richmond haran-gued his Soldiers.

U

CHAP