leaders slain far exceeds that in
any other war.

Up to this time Warwick's conception of the war was merely the natural
struggle of the one party with the other for power, using as their
means the rude arguments of the time. He still maintained his loyalty
to King Henry, and when the Duke of York, after the battle of
Northampton, presented his claim to the throne Warwick opposed him,
and prevailed upon him to waive it till the death of the king. But
naturally such a state of things could not long endure. Warwick, while
respecting the person of the king, was fighting against his orders,
and so, while professing loyalty, was actually a rebel.

Soon the struggle blazed out anew, and in December, 1460, the Duke of
York was defeated and slain at Wakefield. Early in 1461 Warwick was
defeated in the second battle of St. Albans, but the royalists not
taking advantage of their victory, Edward, son of the Duke of York,
accompanied by Warwick, marched on London, and was proclaimed king as
Edward IV. Soon after the Yorkists gained a complete victory at Towton
(1461), the bloodiest field of the whole war. Nearly all the
Lancastrian chiefs were slain, Henry's cause was lost, and ere long he
was captured by Warwick and lodged in the Tower. The credit of the
crowning victory of Towton does not rest with Warwick alone, for he
had the help of young Edward, perhaps as great a military genius as
himself. Little is known of the details of the fighting, but we are
told that wherever the Earl of Warwick was, there the fight raged
hottest.

[Illustration: York and Lancaster--The White and Red Roses.]

The earl was now the greatest man in England. His extended connections
and immense possessions were joined to the most distinguished personal
qualities, intrepidity, decision, and all the military virtues,
eloquence and general talent, an affability and frankness of bearing
that captivated equally all classes, a boundless hospitality and
magnificence that enthroned him in the hearts of the commons. Wherever
he resided, we are told he kept open house, and the number of people
daily fed at his various mansions, when he was at the height of his
prosperity, exceeded thirty thousand. "When he came to London," says
Stowe in his "Chronicle," "he held such an house that six oxen were
eaten at a breakfast, and every tavern was full of his meat; for
who that had any acquaintance in that house he should have had as much
sodden and roast as he might ca