on a
clause very different from the pardon of the Earl of March; but it is
a difference which only tends to establish this point, that the
pardons in many cases were _formal_, and altogether independent of the
guilt or innocence of the party. The Archbishop (Arundel) is pardoned
for all treasons, felonies, and so forth, excepting some outrageous
crimes of which he was never suspected; and also provided he was not
then lying in prison as a felon convict, or as an adherent to Owyn
Glyndowr. Many such instances occur.[111]

[Footnote 110: His pardon is dated 8th August.]

[Footnote 111: Some of the best antiquaries of the
present day are disposed to pronounce, that a
pardon was never granted, unless there had existed
some cause of suspicion or offence,--something, in
short, which might have involved in trouble the
individual for whom the pardon was obtained.]

On this sad subject two original letters are preserved, addressed to
Henry by the Earl of Cambridge; they are found among the "Original
Letters" published by Sir Henry Ellis, accompanied, as is (p. 138)
usual[112] in his valuable collection, by a succinct and clear
statement of such facts as may be necessary for their elucidation. The
first contains the Earl's confession; whether written before or after
his trial, is not evident. The second sues for mercy, probably after
the jury had returned their verdict; it may be even after the sentence
was passed by the peers, though a very short portion of a day elapsed
between that sentence and his execution.

[Footnote 112: (Ellis, Second Series, vol. i. p.
44.) "This conspiracy was the first spark of the
flame which in the course of time consumed the two
houses of Lancaster and York. Richard Earl of
Cambridge was the father of Richard Duke of York,
and the grandfather of King Edward IV."]

It is curious to learn, from the first of these letters, that even
down to the year of Henry's first expedition to France, the people
were from time to time deluded by rumours that Richard II. was still
alive. The Earl of Cambridge acknowledged that the conspirators
intended to set up the Earl of March, "taking upon him the sovereignty
of this land, if yonder man's person, which they