The Project Gutenberg EBook of Richard III, by Jacob Abbott

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Richard III
Makers of History

Author: Jacob Abbott

Release Date: April 12, 2009 [EBook #28561]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHARD III ***

Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)

Makers of History

Richard III.

By JACOB ABBOTT

WITH ENGRAVINGS

NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1901

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.

Copyright, 1886, by BENJAMIN VAUGHAN ABBOTT, AUSTIN ABBOTT, LYMAN
ABBOTT, AND EDWARD ABBOTT.

[Illustration: THE ROYAL CHAMPION.]

PREFACE.

King Richard the Third, known commonly in history as Richard the
Usurper, was perhaps as bad a man as the principle of hereditary
sovereignty ever raised to the throne, or perhaps it should rather be
said, as the principle of hereditary sovereignty ever _made_. There is
no evidence that his natural disposition was marked with any peculiar
depravity. He was made reckless, unscrupulous, and cruel by the
influences which surrounded him, and the circumstances in which he
lived, and by being habituated to believe, from his earliest
childhood, that the family to which he belonged were born to live in
luxury and splendor, and to reign, while the millions that formed the
great mass of the community were created only to toil and to obey. The
manner in which the principles of pride, ambition, and desperate love
of power, which were instilled into his mind in his earliest years,
brought forth in the end their legitimate fruits, is clearly seen by
the following narrative.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

I. RICHARD'S MOTHER 13

II. RICHARD'S FATHER 33