ing the entire inheritance? This must be done, if possible. Let every good man do his part. Do your best to keep it out of their hands. How is this to be done?

Good people must employ suitable energy.In our days very little can be accomplished without earnest effort. The easy-going folk have in these times a poor chance, and are likely to have. In rare instances men may become rich by some unlooked-for occurrence. There is a little hill at the head of a Welsh valley which a short time ago was regarded as almost worthless. A "company" was formed to commence mining operations. Many people have been ruined by speculating in mining shares. But the "Van Lead Mine" proved a splendid success. It is affirmed that, in one year, the market value of that small, bare-looking hill was augmented by about a million sterling. Some people must have found themselves suddenly rich. But a share of the inheritance is rarely indeed acquired in any such way. Good people, however excellent their intentions, must not dream and loiter, but find their place of toil, and there work with all their strength. Unless we are prepared to be industrious, and frugal, and thoughtful, and persevering, we shall certainly effect nothing to prevent the prizes being seized and held by the unworthy.

Good people must not become roguish.-I may, in trade, or in some other way, be striving with all my heart and strength to get hold of what I regard as a fair share of the good things around me. My competitors, however, are unscrupulous. It seems that unless I depart somewhat from the line of rectitude, and truth, and kindness, I shall get little or nothing. In that case all that we are contending for will fall into unworthy hands. What I do not secure will be secured by rogues. Still I must not become roguish. That is not the way to get property into good hands. If all, in my little corner of the arena, are unscrupulous but myself, and I cast away my integrity, the good things are sure to fall into bad hands. Whether I win or lose, in this respect it will be alike. A rogue in each case will prevail, and if one of them should happen to have my name, and wear

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my coat, and live at my house, and be myself, the evil becomes no less. I would not have the rogues' tribe to get all the spoil; but I shall not prevent this by being enrolled among them.

Good people must not become avaricious.Energy united to integrity may lead on to wealth. Many have, by this road, perhaps after many struggles, reached a position of affluence. Then comes the temptation to be greedy. There now seems something worth hoarding. We may all discern that avarice is a miserable sort of vice. But rich people are in great danger. It doubtless makes the man wretched. It has been well said: Charity gives itself rich, while covetousness hoards itself poor." Too often the man who has acquired vast wealth becomes " an amateur pauper." Beware of this, if industry and honesty do, after a time, make you rich. Do not, while in God's service, acquire a thousand pounds, or ten thousand, and then, while exulting that so much has been kept from the hands of the unworthy, transfer the entire money to the keeping of a miserable and despicable miser, by becoming one yourself.

Good people must not become spendthrifts.— In our age, luxury, practically, has no limits. So far as a man has money he may find luxuries for himself which will employ it all. If his wealth is increased a hundred-fold there need be nothing left for God's cause or the poor. If that Welsh hill, when its resources were fully developed, and a million sterling added to its value in a year, had all belonged to one man, he might have so indulged his appetites, pride, and caprice, as to have "nothing to give." The stream, so abundant that myriads might be blessed thereby, may be so used as to benefit none, and ruin all that is lovely in the man's soul to whose control it is for a little time committed. That is a sad spectacle in the sight of earth and heaven. If successful, take heed that the property of which you have the fee-simple be not held by a spendthrift, either disreputable or refined. Toil and gain as God enables; then employ all as God's faithful stewards. Thus, so far, property shall be in worthy hands. B. S.

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A

Edward when he climbed to the un

certain height of the English throne.

was fought about ten miles from York, near

storm and strife. The harsh tempest of civil war yet raged, and as he advanced to his regal seat he knew that his accession was opposed, and that his claims would be contested by a strong party, which had at that moment an army of sixty thousand men arrayed against him.

To meet this formidable host he marched, in company with Earl Warwick, towards York, and, after some desultory skirmishing, the two armies met in terrible conflict on Palm Sunday, March 29th, 1461. The battle

the contest for a long time appeared doubtful, but at length victory rested on the banners of Edward, and the Lancastrians were put to the rout and fled towards Tadcaster. It is said that nearly one half of the Lancastrian force were slain upon the field.

Margaret, Henry, and their son fled northwards, finding refuge in Scotland.

Having, as it appeared, made his throne secure, Edward returned to the capital, where

on the 29th of June he was crowned.

To signalize this event the King created

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ham, nearly completed the ruin of the house of Lancaster. Henry, after this latter terrible defeat on the field of Hexham, fled to the wilds of Lancashire, where, undergoing many humiliations and hardships, he remained hidden, until basely betrayed at Waddington in 1465. He was taken to London and cast into the Tower.

To the family of the Nevilles, of which Warwick was the head, Edward had been greatly indebted for his advancement to the throne. In return for their services many lucrative and honourable offices had been distributed among them. But a breach now occurred between the Sovereign and his powerful friends and supporters. In 1464 Edward privately espoused Elizabeth Woodville, Lady Grey, daughter of Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta his wife, who was the widow of the Duke of Bedford. When Edward felt his position secure he avowed his marriage, and his wife Elizabeth was crowned as his Queen-consort.

With imprudent haste the King at once surrounded himself with the members of her family, and advanced them to place and emoluments. Sir Richard Woodville was created Earl Rivers and made Lord High Constable, while the Queen's brothers and sisters were united in marriage with noble and wealthy families.

The favour thus displayed to the Woodvilles aroused the jealousy of the Neville family. Coolness was followed by absolute estrangement, and then ensued an open feud. The Queen disliked Warwick because of the great influence he had exercised over the King, and urged Edward to assert his royal independence.

The Duke of Clarence, who soon after married the eldest daughter of Warwick, espoused the "king-maker's" cause.

In 1469 a revolt of the peasantry broke out in the north of England, which was encouraged and used by the enemies of the King for their own ends. What had at first been merely a local riot developed into a political rebellion, and the leaders of the insurgents became so bold as to accuse the Queen's mother of witchcraft, and to demand the dismissal from office of all members of the Woodville family.

The King sought the aid of Warwick and Clarence, but before they could arrive from Calais (of which place Warwick was Governor) the royal forces had been defeated, near Banbury, and the Queen's father and brother captured and beheaded.

The

pre

sence of Warwick speedily overawed the rebels, and they disbanded; but the King fell into the power of the mighty Earl, and became de facto his prisoner at Middleham.

For two years the kingdom was in a greatly disturbed condition. The Lancastrian party took occasion to make a new attempt for power, and thus compelled Warwick to make terms with Edward, who was liberated and restored to authority. The peace thus obtained was only short-lived, for in 1470 an insurrection broke out in the counties of York and Lincoln, in which both Warwick and Clarence were concerned, though professing loyalty to the King. Striking a prompt and vigorous blow, the King completely defeated the rebels, at Erpingham, in Rutlandshire-the scene of the fight receiving the name of "Lose-coat Field," from the fact that, in their eagerness to escape, the fugitive insurgents cast off their coats of armour. Apprised of the treachery of Warwick and Clarence, Edward issued a proclamation against them, and they were compelled to seek refuge at the court of Louis XI. of France.

Here the great Earl and Margaret of Anjou, two deadly enemies, met; but in their equal hatred of Edward, they made common cause against him. Prince Edward, Margaret's son, was married to Anne, daughter of Warwick, and the Earl undertook to place Henry again upon the throne. Thus the politic Earl, who was influenced by personal motives rather than patriotic principles, had secured, as he thought, in any case, the exaltation of his family to the throne. For if no heir were born to Prince Edward and Anne Neville, the crown was to descend to Clarence, who had married Warwick's eldest daughter. This arrangement was, however, by no means agreeable to the Duke of Clarence, who, regarding himself as the heir-apparent to the throne, determined to return to his former allegiance to his brother as soon as possible. In September, 1470, Warwick and Clarence landed at Plymouth, and an immense following soon rallied to the standard of the redoubtable Earl. Edward fled to Holland, and Henry of Lancaster was released from the Tower and reinstated in the sovereignty.

In the following March, having received men, money, and ships from his brother-inlaw, the Duke of Burgundy, Edward landed at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. His success was as rapid and complete as Warwick's had been. Clarence forsook his father-in-law and joined his brother's standard, and on Easter Sunday the battle of Barnet was fought, the Lancas

trians totally defeated, and Richard Neville, the "king-maker," and his brother Montague, with every other notable leader in the ranks of the Red Rose, slain upon the bloody field.

On the same day Margaret and her son landed at Plymouth, to be met by the crushing tidings of this terrible defeat. Three

weeks later, having been induced to attempt a conjunction with certain forces in Wales, her army was met by Edward at Tewkesbury and utterly defeated, while she and her son became prisoners. Brutally smitten on the face by the mailed hand of Edward, the young Prince was murderously despatched by the daggers of Clarence and Gloucester in the King's own tent ere the field was quitted. Margaret was conveyed to London, and after remaining for five years in the power of her captor, was ransomed by Louis of France, and for six years after lived in seclusion and lone widowhood in her own country.

On the day after the King's triumphal entry into London the body of Henry was found lifeless in the Tower, there being every reason to suspect that he perished by violence, the victim of political expediency.

Comparative tranquillity now pervaded the country, and the King again gave himself to sensual and immoral indulgences.

up

A feud broke out between Gloucester and Clarence in reference to the estates of Warwick. Richard had sought an alliance with Anne Neville, the widow of the murdered Prince Edward, which union Clarence was anxious to prevent, being desirous of possessing the whole inheritance. For months Clarence kept the helpless Anne in durance and concealment, but at length she was discovered, and, by the King's direction, she was married to Gloucester, who was made High Constable of England, the estates of Warwick being divided between the King's two brothers.

The old and fascinating idea of a claim to the French crown was now revived by the King. In order to obtain supplies for this project he had recourse to the original plan of raising money by benevolences, which was simply demanding presents of money from those who dared not refuse to make them.

Upon invading France, Edward did not meet with the aid upon which he had calculated, and an overture of peace from Louis came most opportunely and welcomely. A bridge was thrown across the Somme at Pecquigny, near Amiens. Midway a strong barricade of woodwork was erected, and

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through the wooden grating the two monarchs laid their hands upon missal and crucifix, and swore to observe the Treaty.

The Duke of Clarence having ventured to denounce the execution of Stacey, his friend, who had been put to death on the charge of practising "the black art," the King's anger was aroused against him. The Duke was brought to trial, convicted of treason, and privately executed in the Tower. Tradition states that he was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

The labours and debaucheries of Edward at length broke down his frame, and attacked by what at first seemed but a slight illness, he rapidly declined, and with unexpected suddenness expired on April 9th, 1483, while in the prime of his days, being only in his forty-second year.

As a man Edward IV. was chiefly distinguished by his licentiousness of character. He indulged to the full "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." As a monarch he was avaricious, unscrupulous, and cruel. He advanced to his throne by pathways of blood; he maintained it by an unsleeping vigilance and an unsparing sword.

The event which gives greatest lustre to this period is the introduction of the art of printing into England. In 1471 William Caxton translated from the French "The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye," and printed it in English at Ghent. Two years later he set up a press in Westminster Abbey, and in 1474, was issued the first book printed in England-"The Game and Playe of Chesse.'

Germany claims the honour of the grand discovery of the art of printing-a claim which is disputed by the Dutch. Laurence Coster, of Haarlem, it was who first applied block-printing to the production of books, and so far, it would seem Holland set up the first printing-press. But, assisted by the skill and capital of Faust, a merchant of Mayence, Gutenberg invented cut metal types, and used them in printing the earliest edition of the Bible, which appeared in 1450. Peter Schoeffer, their servant, devised the mode of casting type in matrices, the first work printed with these improved types being published in 1459. To these first printers a monument has been erected at Frankfort, Gutenberg appearing in the centre, with Faust on his right and Schoeffer on his left. JAMES YEAMES.