6. Edward owed his success chiefly to the Earl of Warwick, the richest and most powerful nobleman in England, and considered as the last of the great feudal Barons, for it is said that he maintained no less than thirty thousand people at his own expense, who were ready to devote their lives to his service.
7. He had a great many castles in different parts of England, and a noble mansion in Warwick lane, London, which still bears that name, although it presents a very different appearance from what it did when this mighty Earl lived there like a sovereign prince, and the place was crowded with his armed retainers.
8. Edward had been very well received by the citizens of London, and crowned, with their consent, long before the death of king Henry.
9. Two battles were fought soon after his accession to the throne, one at Towton the other at Hexham; and it was after the latter, that a story is told how queen Margaret wandered about in a forest with her little boy, till they were both half dead with hunger and fatigue, when she met with a robber, and instead of trying to avoid him, told him who she was, and begged he would protect her child.
10. The man took them to a cave, and gave them food and shelter, until he found an opportunity of getting them on board a vessel that was going to Scotland.
11. People were now in hopes there would be peace; but the new sovereign was so unwise as to quarrel with the Earl of Warwick, who became his enemy, and resolved to deprive him of the crown he had helped him to win.
12. Then the war was begun again, and went on for several years longer, till Warwick was killed at the battle of Barnet, on Easter Sunday, 1471, just ten years after the battle of Towton.
13. On the day of this battle, queen Margaret, and her son, prince Edward, then a youth of eighteen, landed in England, for they had lived in France some years, and were sadly grieved at the news of Warwick’s defeat and death; but as they had a great many friends, the queen determined upon trying another battle, which was a great pity, for both herself and her son were made prisoners, and the young prince was killed in king Edward’s tent, for making a spirited answer to some insulting question put to him by the haughty monarch.
14. The miserable mother was sent to the Tower, where her husband had just died; but she was afterwards released, and ransomed by her father; and she returned to live with him in France, her native country.
15. And now, that we have done with the wars, we may begin to think of something more pleasant. Have you ever heard it was in the reign of Edward the Fourth that books were first printed in England?