most
with terror. Lady Neville advanced to the king, and, falling upon her
knees before him, she related the circumstances of the assault made by
Gloucester upon the boat in the Thames, of the cruel murder of the
passengers and boatmen, of the wound inflicted upon herself by the
dagger of the duke, and the almost miraculous manner in which she made
her escape.

[Sidenote: 1447.]

[Sidenote: Parliament.]

The duke, overwhelmed by the emotions which such a scene might have
been expected to produce upon his mind, seemed to admit that what Lady
Neville said was true. At least he could not deny it, and his
confusion and distress amounted apparently to a virtual confession of
guilt. Margaret, however, soon interrupted the proceedings by saying
to the king that the case was plainly too serious to be disposed of in
so private and informal a manner. It was for the Parliament to
consider it, she said, and decide what was to be done; and measures
ought at once to be taken for bringing it before them.

So Gloucester and Somerset were both dismissed from the royal
presence, leaving the king in a state of great distress and
perplexity.

[Sidenote: Margaret's ingenuity.]

[Sidenote: The king brought over.]

Such is the story of the private manoeuvres resorted to by Margaret
with a view to destroying the hold which the Duke of Gloucester had
upon the mind of the king, preparatory to more widely-extended plans
for ruining him with the Parliament and the nation, which is told by
one of her most celebrated biographers. Whether there was or was not
any foundation for this particular story, there is no doubt but that
she exercised all her ingenuity and talent as a manoeuvrer to
accomplish her object, and that she succeeded. The king was brought
over to her views, and so strong a party was formed against Gloucester
among the nobles and other influential personages in the land, that at
length, in 1447, a Parliament was summoned with a view of bringing the
affair to a crisis.[8]

[Footnote 8: The story of Lady Neville, and of her connection
with the great political transactions in which Margaret of
Anjou was engaged at this time, though it is in all
probability to be considered as a romance, is not an
invention of the compiler of this narrative. It is interwoven
with the history of Margaret of Anjou precisely as it is
given here, by one of her most ancient and most oft-