FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 1]: The first mention that I find of the real arquibuse, or match lock, is in an account of the household of the Duke of Burgundy in 1474; but small cannons, called in France coulverines á la main, were used long before. They are represented in the old miniatures, as resting on the shoulder of one soldier, while another takes the aim from behind, and the first applies the match at the word of command.
[Footnote 2]: For an account of the terrible effect--approaching to madness--of the death of Edward, Prince of Wales, upon Richard III. and his queen, see the history of Croyland Abbey.
[Footnote 3]: Richard's attempt to obtain possession of the person of Richmond by bribing Landais, the duke of Britanny's minister, is too well known to need particular notice.
[Footnote 4]: He referred, of course, to the superstitious notion prevalent not alone at that time but for long afterwards, that if the body of a murdered man was touched by the hand of his assassin, the wound of which he died would bleed. I may remark that such superstitions were recognised even in Scottish courts of justice long after they were extinct in England.
[Footnote 5]: This singular adventure of the earl of Richmond, when on his way between Lichfield and Tamworth, and the fact of his passing the night at a farm house, are not inventions of a romance writer, but historical facts.