space of one hower, and then sleepeth one quarter of an hower, and
after she hath slept she contynueth in prayer until the first
peale of even songe.
"In the tyme of supper she reciteth the lecture that was had at
dynner to those that be in her presence. After supper she
disposeth herself to be famyliare with her gentlewomen to the
seasoning of honest myrthe, and one hower before her going to bed
she taketh a cup of wine, and after that goeth to her pryvie
closette, and taketh her leave of God for all nighte, makinge end
of her prayers for that daye, and by eighte of the clocke is in
bedde."
The going to bed at eight o'clock was in keeping with the other arrangements of the day, for we find by a record of the rules and orders of the duchess's household that the dinner-hour was eleven, and the supper was at four.
This lady, Richard's mother, during her married life, had no less than twelve children. Their names were Anne, Henry, Edward, Edmund, Elizabeth, Margaret, William, John, George, Thomas, Richard, and Ursula. Thus Richard, the subject of this volume, was the eleventh, that is, the last but one. A great many of these, Richard's brothers and sisters, died while they were children. All the boys died thus except four, namely, Edward, Edmund, George, and Richard. Of course, it is only with those four that we have any thing to do in the present narrative.
Several of the other children, however, besides these three, lived for some time. They resided generally with their mother while they were young, but as they grew up they were often separated both from her and from their father-the duke, their father, being often called away from home, in the course of the various wars in which he was engaged, and his wife frequently accompanied him. On such occasions the boys were left at some castle or other, under the care of persons employed to take charge of their education. They used to write letters to their father from time to time, and it is curious that these letters are the earliest examples of letters from children to parents which have been preserved in history. Two of the boys were at one time under the charge of a man named Richard Croft, and the boys thought that he was too strict with them. One of the letters, which has been preserved, was written to complain of this strictness, or, as the boy expressed it, "the odieux rule and demeaning" of their tutor, and also to ask for some "fyne bonnets," which the writer wished to have sent for himself and for his little brother. There is another long letter extant which was written at nearly the same time. This letter was written, or at least signed, by two of the boys, Edward and Edmund, and was addressed to their father on the occasion of some of his victories. But, though signed by the boys' names, I suspect, from the lofty language in which it is expressed, and from the many high-flown expressions of duty which it contains, that it was really written for the boys by their mother or by one of their teachers. Of this, however, the reader can judge for himself on perusing the letter. In this copy the spelling is modernized so as to make it more intelligible, but the language is transcribed exactly from the original.
"Right high and mighty prince, our most worshipful and
greatly redoubted lord and father:
"In as lowly a wise as any sons can or may, we recommend us
unto your good lordship, and please it to your highness to
wit, that we have received your worshipful letters yesterday
by your servant William Clinton, bearing date at York, the
29th day of May.[A]
"By the which William, and by the relation of John Milewater,
we conceive your worshipful and victorious speed against your
enemies, to their great shame, and to us the most
comfortable things that we desire to hear. Whereof we thank
Almighty God of his gifts, beseeching him heartily to give
you that good and cotidian[B] fortune hereafter to know your
enemies, and to have the victory over them.
"And if it please your highness to know of our welfare, at
the making of this letter we were in good health of body,
thanked be God, beseeching your good and gracious fatherhood
for our daily blessing.
"And whereas you command us by your said letters to attend
specially to our learning in our young age, that should cause
us to grow to honor and worship in our old age, please it
your highness to wit, that we have attended to our learning
since we came hither, and shall hereafter, by the which we
trust to God your gracious lordship and good fatherhood shall
be pleased.
"Also we beseech your good lordship that it may please you to
send us Harry Lovedeyne, groom of your kitchen, whose service
is to us right agreeable; and we will send you John Boyes to
wait upon your lordship.
"Right high and mighty prince, our most worshipful and
greatly redoubted lord and father, we beseech Almighty God
to give you as good life and long as your own princely heart
can best desire.
"Written at your Castle of Ludlow, the 3d of June.
"Your humble sons,
"E. MARCHE.
"E. RUTLAND."
[Footnote A: There were no postal arrangements in those days, and all letters were sent by private, and generally by special messengers.]
[Footnote B: Daily.]
The subscriptions E. March and E. Rutland stand for Edward, Earl of March, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland; for, though these boys were then only eleven and twelve years of age respectively, they were both earls. One of them, afterward, when he was about seventeen years old, was cruelly killed on the field of battle, where he had been fighting with his father, as we shall see in another chapter. The other, Edward, became King of England. He came immediately before Richard the Third in the line.
The letter which the boys wrote was superscribed as follows:
"To the right high and mighty prince, our most worshipful and greatly redoubted lord and father, the Duke of York, Protector and Defender of England."
[Illustration: LUDLOW CASTLE.]
The castle of Ludlow, where the boys were residing when this letter was written, was a strong fortress built upon a rock in the western part of England, not far from Shrewsbury. The engraving is a correct representation of it, as it appeared at the period when those boys were there, and it gives a very good idea of the sort of place where kings and princes were accustomed to send their families for safety in those stormy times. Soon after the period of which we are speaking, Ludlow Castle was sacked and destroyed. The ruins of it, however, remain to the present day, and they are visited with much interest by great numbers of modern travelers.
Lady Cecily, as we have already seen, was in many respects a noble woman, and a most faithful and devoted wife and mother; she was, however, of a very lofty and ambitious spirit, and extremely proud of her rank and station. Almost all her brothers and sisters-and the family was very large-were peers and peeresses, and when she married Prince Richard Plantagenet, her heart beat high with exultation and joy to think that she was about to become a queen. She believed that Prince Richard was fully entitled to the throne at that time, for reasons which will be fully explained in the next chapter, and that, even if his claims should not be recognized until the death of the king who was then reigning, they certainly would be so recognized then, and she would become an acknowledged queen, as she thought she was already one by right. So she felt greatly exalted in spirit, and moved and acted among all who surrounded her with an air of stately reserve of the most grand and aristocratic character.
[Illustration: CASTLE AND PARK OF THE MIDDLE AGES.]
In fact, there has, perhaps, no time and place been known in the history of the world in which the spirit of aristocracy was more lofty and overbearing in its character than in England during the period when the Plantagenet family were in prosperity and power. The nobles formed then, far more strikingly than they do now, an entirely distinct and exalted class, that looked down upon all other ranks and gradations of society as infinitely beneath them. Their only occupation was war, and they regarded all those who were engaged in any employments whatever, that were connected with art or industry, with utter disdain. These last were crowded together in villages and towns which were formed of dark and narrow streets, and rude and comfortless dwellings. The nobles lived in grand castles scattered here and there over the country, with extensive parks and pleasure-grounds around them, where they loved to marshal their followers, and inaugurate marauding expeditions against their rivals or their enemies. They were engaged in constant wars and contentions with each other, each thirsting for more power and more splendor than he at present enjoyed, and treating all beneath him with the utmost haughtiness and disdain. Richard's mother exhibited this aristocratic loftiness of spirit in a very high degree, and it was undoubtedly in a great manner through the influence which she exerted over her children that they were inspired with those sentiments of ambition and love of glory to which the crimes and miseries into which several of them fell in their subsequent career were owing.