e truth of them, and brought forward
many witnesses to prove them. Of course, whether the charges were true
or false, there could be no difficulty in finding plenty of witnesses
to give the required testimony. The lords listened to the charges and
the defense with a sort of solemn awe. Indeed, all England, as it
were, stood by, silenced and appalled at the progress of this dreadful
fraternal quarrel, and at the prospect of the terrible termination of
it, which all could foresee must come.

[Illustration: THE MURDERERS COMING FOR CLARENCE.]

Whatever the members of Parliament may have thought of the truth or
falsehood of the charges, there was only one way in which it was
prudent or even safe for them to vote, and Clarence was condemned to
death.

Sentence being passed, the prisoner was remanded to the Tower.

Edward seems, after all, to have shrunk from the open and public
execution of the sentence which he had caused to be pronounced against
his brother. No public execution took place, but in a short time it
was announced that Clarence had died in prison. It was understood that
assassins were employed to go privately into the room where he was
confined and put him to death; and it is universally believed, though
there is no positive proof of the fact, that Richard was the person
who made the arrangements for the performance of this deed.[I]

[Footnote I: There was a strange story in respect to the manner of
Clarence's death, which was very current at the time, namely, that he
was drowned by his brothers in a butt of Malmsey wine. But there is no
evidence whatever that this story was true.]

After Clarence was dead, and the excitement and anger of the quarrel
had subsided in Edward's mind, he was overwhelmed with remorse and
anguish at what he had done. He attempted to drown these painful
thoughts by dissipation and vice. He neglected the affairs of his
government, and his duties to his wife and family, and spent his time
in gay pleasures with the ladies of his court, and in guilty
carousings with wicked men. In these pleasures he spent large sums of
money, wasting his patrimony and all his resources in extravagance and
folly. Among other amusements, he used to form hunting-parties, in
which the ladies of his court were accustomed to join, and he used to
set up gay silken tents for their accommodation on the hunting-ground.
He spent vast sums, too, upon his dress, being very vain of his
personal attractions, and