ssession of the Duke of York's party. The poor
boy was cut down mercilessly by the same Lord Clifford who has already
been spoken of, notwithstanding all that his tutor could do to save
him.

[Sidenote: Margaret's cruelties.]

[Sidenote: Her exultation.]

Other most atrocious murders were committed at the close of this
battle. The Earl of Salisbury was beheaded, and his head was set up
upon a pike on the walls of York, by the side of the duke's. Margaret
was almost beside herself at the results of this victory. Her armies
triumphant, the great leader of the party of her enemies, the man who
had been for years her dread and torment, slain, and all his chief
confederates either killed or taken prisoners, and nothing now
apparently in the way to prevent her marching in triumph to London,
liberating her husband from his thraldom, and taking complete and
undisputed possession of the supreme power, there seemed, so far as
the prospect now before her was concerned, to be nothing more to
desire.

[Illustration: Murder of Richard's Child.]

CHAPTER XVII.

MARGARET AN EXILE.

[Sidenote: A new reverse.]

Bright as were the hopes and prospects of Margaret after the battle of
Wakefield, a few short months were sufficient to involve her cause
again in the deepest darkness and gloom. The battle of Wakefield, and
the death of the Duke of York, took place near the last of December,
in 1460. In March, three months later, Margaret was an exile from
England, outlawed by the supreme power of the realm, and placed under
such a ban that it was forbidden to all the people of England to have
any communication with her.

[Sidenote: Reaction.]

[Sidenote: Head of the Duke of York.]

This fatal result was brought about, in a great measure, by the
reaction in the minds of the people of the country, which resulted
from the shocking cruelties perpetrated by her and by her party after
the battle of Wakefield. The accounts of these transactions spread
through the kingdom, and awakened a universal feeling of disgust and
abhorrence. It was said that when Lord Clifford carried the head of
the Duke of York to Margaret on the point of a lance, followed by a
crowd of other knights and nobles, he said to her,

"Look, madam! The war is over! Here is the ransom for the king!"

Then all the by-standers raised a shout of exultation, and began
pointing at the ghastly head, with mockings and derisive laughter.
They had put a paper crown u