. 205.

****** Comines, liv, iii. chap. 6.

{1471.} He equipped four large vessels, in the name of some private
merchants, at Terveer, in Zealand; and causing fourteen ships to be
secretly hired from the Easterlings, he delivered this small squadron
to Edward, who, receiving also a sum of money from the duke, immediately
set sail for England. No sooner was Charles informed of his departure
than he issued a proclamation inhibiting all his subjects from giving
him countenance or assistance;[*] an artifice which could not deceive
the earl of Warwick, but which might serve as a decent pretence, if that
nobleman were so disposed, for maintaining friendship with the duke of
Burgundy.

Edward, impatient to take revenge on his enemies, and to recover his
lost authority, made an attempt to land with his forces, which exceeded
not two thousand men, on the coast of Norfolk; but being there repulsed,
he sailed northwards, and disembarked at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire.
Finding that the new magistrates, who had been appointed by the earl of
Warwick, kept the people every where from joining him, he pretended, and
even made oath, that he came not to challenge the crown, but only the
inheritance of the house of York, which of right belonged to him;
and that he did not intend to disturb the peace of the kingdom. His
partisans every moment flocked to his standard: he was admitted into the
city of York: and he was soon in such a situation as gave him hopes of
succeeding in all his claims and pretensions. The marquis of Montague
commanded in the northern counties; but from some mysterious reasons,
which, as well as many other important transactions in that age, no
historian has cleared up, he totally neglected the beginnings of an
insurrection which he ought to have esteemed so formidable. Warwick
assembled an army at Leicester, with an intention of meeting and of
giving battle to the enemy; but Edward, by taking another road, passed
him unmolested, and presented himself before the gates of London. Had he
here been refused admittance, he was totally undone: but there were many
reasons which inclined the citizens to favor him. His numerous friends,
issuing from their sanctuaries, were active in his cause; many rich
merchants, who had formerly lent him money, saw no other chance for
their payment but his restoration; the city dames who had been liberal
of their favors to him, and who still retained an affection for this
young and gallant