int, and calling Tyrell before him
communicated his mind to him and gave him a commission for the execution
of his murderous purpose. Tyrell went to London with a warrant
authorizing Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one night all the keys
of the Tower. Armed with this document he took possession of the place,
and proceeded to the work of death by the instrumentality of Miles
Forest, one of the four jailers in whose custody the princes were, and
John Dighton, his own groom. When the young princes were asleep, these
men entered their chamber, and, taking up the pillows, pressed them hard
down upon their mouths till they died by suffocation. Then, having caused
Sir James to see the bodies, they buried them at the foot of a staircase.
But "it was rumored," says More, "that the King disapproved of their
being buried in so vile a corner; whereupon they say that a priest of Sir
Robert Brackenbury's took up the bodies again, and secretly interred
them in such place as, by the occasion of his death, could never come to
light." Sir James, having fulfilled his mission, returned to the King,
from whom he received great thanks, and who, Sir Thomas informs us, "as
some say, there made him a knight."

It has been maintained that this story will not bear criticism. What
could have induced Richard to time his cruel policy so ill and to arrange
it so badly? The order for the destruction of the children could have
been much more easily, safely, and secretly executed when he was in
London than when he was at Gloucester or Warwick. Fewer messages
would have sufficed, and neither warrants nor letters would have been
necessary. Was it a sudden idea which occurred to him upon his progress?
If so, he might surely have waited for a better opportunity. If not, he
might at least have taken care to sift Brackenbury before leaving London,
so as to be sure of the two he intended to employ. Is it likely that
Richard would have given orders for the commission of a crime, without
having good reason to rely upon his intended agent's boldness and
depravity?

But, having tried Sir Robert's scruples, and found them somewhat stronger
than he anticipated, what follows? It might have been expected that
Sir Robert's respect for his master, if he had any, would have been
diminished; that the favor of his sovereign would have been withdrawn
from him; and perhaps that the tyrant, having seen an instance of the
untrustworthiness of men in matters criminal and