nobles and citizens of London offered the
crown to Richard. He accepted it, and began to reign as Richard III.
And, according to a confession afterwards made by Sir James Tyrell,
one of Richard's officers, the two young princes remained in the
Tower, being put to death by their Uncle Richard's orders. Thus,
atrociously, began the reign of the murderous usurper,

RICHARD THE THIRD.

The King kept his first Christmas at Kenilworth Castle, having
previously visited the city of Coventry, at the festival of _Corpus
Christi_, to see the plays. The accounts of Kenilworth Castle show
that in 1484 John Beaufitz was paid L20 "for divers reparacions made
in the Castell of Kyllingworth" by order of Richard III. At this time,
says Philip de Comines, "he was reigning in greater splendour and
authority than any king of England for the last hundred years." The
following year Richard kept Christmas in the great hall at
Westminster, celebrating the festival with great pomp and splendour,
encouraging the recreations usual at the season, and so attentively
observing the ancient customs that a warrant is entered for the
payment of "200 marks for certain new year's gifts bought against the
feast of Christmas." The festivities continued without interruption
until the day of the Epiphany, when they terminated with an
entertainment of extraordinary magnificence given by the monarch to
his nobles in Westminster Hall--"the King himself wearing his crown,"
are the words of the Croyland historian, "and holding a splendid feast
in the great hall, similar to that of his coronation." "Little did
Richard imagine that this would be the last feast at which he would
preside--the last time he would display his crown in peace before his
assembled peers."[33] An allusion to this Christmas festival, and to
the King's wicked nature, is contained in a note to Bacon's "Life of
King Henry VII.," which says: "Richard's wife was Anne, the younger
daughter of Warwick the King-maker. She died 16th March, 1485. It was
rumoured that her death was by poison, and that Richard wished to
marry his niece Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV. It is
said that in the festivities of the previous Christmas the Princess
Elizabeth had been dressed in robes of the same fashion and colour as
those of the Queen. Ratcliffe and Catesby, the King's confidants, are
credited with having represented to Richard that this marriage of so
near a kinswoman would be an object of h