t)
_mine other son, now King, was born and kept in his cradle,
and preserved to a more prosperous fortune...._ And I pray
God that my son's palace may be as great a safeguard unto
him now reigning, as this place was sometime unto the king's
enemy.

Gallantly had the poor mother fought for her child's liberty; and at
last wearied out she ended with a fierce and terrible denunciation of
her persecutors:

I can no more, but _whosoever he be that breaketh this holy
sanctuary, I pray God shortly to send him need of sanctuary
where he may not come to it_. For taken out of sanctuary
would I not my mortal enemy were.[39]

At length, pledging both "body and soul," the archbishop prevailed; and
the Queen determined to deliver up Prince Richard as a sacred trust.
Then turning to the child she took leave of him in those well-known and
most pathetic words:

"Farewell mine owne sweete sonne, God send you good keeping;
let me kisse you yet once ere you go, for God knoweth when
we shall kisse togither againe." And therewith she kissed
him and blessed him, turned her back and wept and went her
way, leaving the child weeping as fast.[40]

Poor mother! Her fears were only too well founded. She never saw her
sons again. When little Richard was taken into the Star Chamber, the
Protector took him in his arms and kissed him saying, "Now welcome, my
Lord, even with all my heart." The boy was then conveyed to the Bishop
of London's palace, where his brother, the young king, met him with
delight. This was in the beginning of June; and the two children were
next removed to the Tower (under pretext of preparing for the coronation
fixed for the twenty-second), "out of the which," says Sir Thomas More,
"after that day they never came abroad."

Richard Duke of Gloucester's policy had been developing fast since the
day he took possession of the young king at Stony Stratford. The Queen's
party were all in prison--many of them awaiting execution. Shakespeare
has vividly described how Richard ridded himself of Lord Hastings,[41]
the late king's favorite adviser, who was the only remaining check on
his plans. After Hastings' execution the Protector declared that Edward
the Fourth's marriage was invalid, and that his children could not
therefore succeed to the crown. After a faint show of reluctance he
allowed himself to be proclaimed king, under the title of Richard the
Third, and was crowne