en with a body of
twenty thousand men: but even this army, so much inferior to the enemy,
was either overawed oy the general combination of the kingdom, or seized
with the same spirit of disaffection; and they gradually deserted him,
till he found that he had not above six thousand men who followed his
standard. It appeared, therefore, necessary to retire secretly from this
small body, which served only to expose him to danger; and he fled to
the Isle of Anglesea, where he purposed to embark either for Ireland or
France, and there await the favorable opportunities which the return of
his subjects to a sense of duty, or their future discontents against
the duke of Lancaster, would probably afford him. Henry, sensible of
the danger, sent to him the earl of Northumberland, with the strongest
professions of loyalty and submission; and that nobleman, by treachery
and false oaths, made himself master of the king's person, and carried
him to his enemy at Flint Castle. Richard was conducted to London by the
duke of Lancaster, who was there received with the acclamations of the
mutinous populace. It is pretended that the recorder met him on the
road, and in the name of the city entreated him, for the public safety,
to put Richard to death, with all his adherents who were prisoners; but
the duke prudently determined to make many others participate in his
guilt, before he would proceed to these extremities. For this purpose he
issued writs of election in the king's name, and appointed the immediate
meeting of a parliament at Westminster.

Such of the peers as were most devoted to the king, were either fled
or imprisoned; and no opponents, even among the barons, dared to appear
against Henry, amidst that scene of outrage and violence which commonly
attends revolutions, especially in England during those turbulent ages,
It is also easy to imagine, that a house of commons, elected during this
universal ferment, and this triumph of the Lancastrian party, would be
extremely attached to that cause, and ready to second every suggestion
of their leaders. That order, being an yet of too little weight to
stem the torrent, was always carried along with it, and served only
to increase the violence which the public interest required it should
endeavor to control. The duke of Lancaster, therefore, sensible that he
should be entirely master, began to carry his views to the crown itself;
and he deliberated with his partisans concerning the most pr