end of London, as the Tower is at the
lower. On arriving at Westminster, the whole party fled for refuge to
a sanctuary there. This sanctuary was a portion of the sacred
precincts of a church, from which a refugee could not be taken,
according to the ideas of those times, without committing the dreadful
crime of sacrilege. A part of the building remained standing for three
hundred years after this time, as represented in the opposite
engraving. It was a gloomy old edifice, and it must have been a
cheerless residence for princesses and a queen.

[Illustration: THE SANCTUARY.]

In this sanctuary, the queen, away from her husband, and deprived of
almost every comfort, gave birth to her first son. Some persons
living near took compassion upon her forlorn and desolate condition,
and rendered her such aid as was absolutely necessary, out of charity.
The abbot of the monastery connected with the church sent in various
conveniences, and a good woman named Mother Cobb, who lived near by,
came in and acted as nurse for the mother and the child.

The child was baptized in the sanctuary a few days after he was born.
He was named Edward, after his father. Of course, the birth of this
son of King Edward cut off Clarence and his son from the succession on
the York side. This little Edward was now the heir, and, about
thirteen years after this, as we shall see in the sequel, he became
King of England.

As soon as the Earl of Warwick reached London, he proceeded at once to
the Tower to release old King Henry from his confinement. He found the
poor king in a wretched plight. His apartment was gloomy and
comfortless, his clothing was ragged, and his person squalid and
dirty. The earl brought him forth from his prison, and, after causing
his personal wants to be properly attended to, clothed him once more
in royal robes, and conveyed him in state through London to the palace
in Westminster, and established him there nominally as King of
England, though Warwick was to all intents and purposes the real king.
A Parliament was called, and all necessary laws were passed to
sanction and confirm the dynasty. Queen Margaret, who, however, had
not yet arrived from the Continent, was restored to her former rank,
and the young Prince of Wales, now about eighteen years old, was the
object of universal interest throughout the kingdom, as now the
unquestioned and only heir to the crown.

CHAPTER VII.

THE DOWNFALL OF LANCASTER.

A.D. 147