dge, take, and repute you, Edward, Prince of
Wales, Duke of Cornwayll, and Erl of Chestre, furste begoten
son of oure sovereigne lord, as to the corones and reames of
England and of France, and lordship of Ireland; and promette
and swere that in case hereafter it happen you by Goddis
disposition do outlive our sovereigne lord, I shall then
take and accept you for true, veray and righteous King of
England, and of France, and of Ireland; and feith and trouth
to you shall here, and yn all thyngs truely and feithfully
behave me towardes you and youre heyres, as a true and
feithful subject oweth to behave him to his sovereigne lord
and righteous King of England, France, and Ireland; so help
me God, and Holidome, and this holy Evangelist.

Richard took this oath with the rest. How he kept it will hereafter
appear.

The Lady Anne, the second daughter of the Earl of Warwick, who had
been betrothed to the Prince of Wales, King Henry's son, was left, by
the fall of the house of Lancaster and the re-establishment of King
Edward the Fourth upon the throne, in a most forlorn and pitiable
condition. Her father, the earl, was dead, having been killed in
battle. Her betrothed husband, too, the Prince of Wales, with whom she
had fondly hoped one day to sit on the throne of England, had been
cruelly assassinated. Queen Margaret, the mother of the prince, who
might have been expected to take an interest in her fate, was a
helpless prisoner in the Tower. And if the fallen queen had been at
liberty, it is very probable that all her interest in Anne would prove
to have been extinguished by the death of her son; for Queen Margaret
had never felt any personal preference for Anne, and had only
consented to the marriage very reluctantly, and from political
considerations alone. The friends and connections of her father's
family, a short time since so exalted in station and so powerful, were
now scattered and destroyed. Some had been killed in battle, others
beheaded by executioners, others banished from the realm. The rest
were roaming about England in terror and distress, houseless,
homeless, friendless, and only intent to find some hiding-place where
they might screen themselves from Edward's power and vengeance.

There was one exception, indeed, the Lady Isabella, Clarence's wife,
who, as the reader will recollect, was Warwick's oldest daughter, and,
of course, the sister of Lady