satisfaction in the year 1399, after having prevailed on his

cousin and predecessor Richard the 2nd, to resign it to him, and
to retire for the rest of his life to Pomfret Castle, where he

happened to be murdered. It is to be supposed that Henry was
married, since he had certainly four sons, but it is not in my

power to inform the Reader who was his wife. Be this as it may,
he did not live for ever, but falling ill, his son the Prince of

Wales came and took away the crown; whereupon the King made a
long speech, for which I must refer the Reader to Shakespear's

Plays, and the Prince made a still longer. Things being thus
settled between them the King died, and was succeeded by his son

Henry who had previously beat Sir William Gascoigne.
HENRY the 5th

This Prince after he succeeded to the throne grew quite reformed
and amiable, forsaking all his dissipated companions, and never

thrashing Sir William again. During his reign, Lord Cobham was
burnt alive, but I forget what for. His Majesty then turned his

thoughts to France, where he went and fought the famous Battle of
Agincourt. He afterwards married the King's daughter Catherine,

a very agreable woman by Shakespear's account. In spite of all
this however he died, and was succeeded by his son Henry.

HENRY the 6th
I cannot say much for this Monarch's sense. Nor would I if I

could, for he was a Lancastrian. I suppose you know all about
the Wars between him and the Duke of York who was of the right

side; if you do not, you had better read some other History, for
I shall not be very diffuse in this, meaning by it only to vent

my spleen AGAINST, and shew my Hatred TO all those people whose
parties or principles do not suit with mine, and not to give

information. This King married Margaret of Anjou, a Woman whose
distresses and misfortunes were so great as almost to make me who

hate her, pity her. It was in this reign that Joan of Arc lived
and made such a ROW among the English. They should not have

burnt her --but they did. There were several Battles between the
Yorkists and Lancastrians, in which the former (as they ought)

usually conquered. At length they were entirely overcome; The
King was murdered--The Queen was sent home--and Edward the 4th

ascended the Throne.
EDWARD the 4th

This Monarch was famous only for his Beauty and his Courage, of
which the Picture we have here given of him, and his undaunted

Behaviour in marrying one Woman while he was engaged to another,
are sufficient proofs. His Wife was Elizabeth Woodville, a Widow

who, poor Woman! was afterwards confined in a Convent by that
Monster of Iniquity and Avarice Henry the 7th. One of Edward's

Mistresses was Jane Shore, who has had a play written about her,
but it is a tragedy and therefore not worth reading. Having

performed all these noble actions, his Majesty died, and was
succeeded by his son.

EDWARD the 5th
This unfortunate Prince lived so little a while that nobody had

him to draw his picture. He was murdered by his Uncle's
Contrivance, whose name was Richard the 3rd.

RICHARD the 3rd
The Character of this Prince has been in general very severely

treated by Historians, but as he was a YORK, I am rather inclined
to suppose him a very respectable Man. It has indeed been

confidently asserted that he killed his two Nephews and his Wife,
but it has also been declared that he did not kill his two

Nephews, which I am inclined to beleive true; and if this is the
case, it may also be affirmed that he did not kill his Wife, for

if Perkin Warbeck was really the Duke of York, why might not
Lambert Simnel be the Widow of Richard. Whether innocent or

guilty, he did not reign long in peace, for Henry Tudor E. of
Richmond as great a villain as ever lived, made a great fuss

about getting the Crown and having killed the King at the battle
of Bosworth, he succeeded to it.

HENRY the 7th
This Monarch soon after his accession married the Princess

Elizabeth of York, by which alliance he plainly proved that he
thought his own right inferior to hers, tho' he pretended to the

contrary. By this Marriage he had two sons and two daughters,
the elder of which Daughters was married to the King of Scotland

and had the happiness of being grandmother to one of the first
Characters in the World. But of HER, I shall have occasion to

speak more at large in future. The youngest, Mary, married first
the King of France and secondly the D. of Suffolk, by whom she

had one daughter, afterwards the Mother of Lady Jane Grey, who
tho' inferior to her lovely Cousin the Queen of Scots, was yet an

amiable young woman and famous for reading Greek while other
people were hunting. It was in the reign of Henry the 7th that

Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel before mentioned made their
appearance, the former of whom was set in the stocks, took

shelter in Beaulieu Abbey, and was beheaded with the Earl of
Warwick, and the latter was taken into the Kings kitchen. His

Majesty died and was succeeded by his son Henry whose only merit
was his not being quite so bad as his daughter Elizabeth.

HENRY the 8th
It would be an affront to my Readers were I to suppose that they

were not as well acquainted with the particulars of this King's
reign as I am myself. It will therefore be saving THEM the task

of reading again what they have read before, and MYSELF the
trouble of writing what I do not perfectlyrecollect, by giving

only a slight sketch of the principal Events which marked his
reign. Among these may be ranked Cardinal Wolsey's telling the

father Abbott of Leicester Abbey that "he was come to lay his
bones among them," the reformation in Religion and the King's

riding through the streets of London with Anna Bullen. It is
however but Justice, and my Duty to declare that this amiable

Woman was entirely innocent of the Crimes with which she was
accused, and of which her Beauty, her Elegance, and her

Sprightliness were sufficient proofs, not to mention her solemn
Protestations of Innocence, the weakness of the Charges against

her, and the King's Character; all of which add some
confirmation, tho' perhaps but slight ones when in comparison

with those before alledged in her favour. Tho' I do not profess
giving many dates, yet as I think it proper to give some and

shall of course make choice of those which it is most necessary
for the Reader to know, I think it right to inform him that her

letter to the King was dated on the 6th of May. The Crimes and
Cruelties of this Prince, were too numerous to be mentioned, (as

this history I trust has fully shown;) and nothing can be said in
his vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses and

leaving them to the ruinous depredations of time has been of
infinite use to the landscape of England in general, which

probably was a principalmotive for his doing it, since otherwise
why should a Man who was of no Religion himself be at so much

trouble to abolish one which had for ages been established in the
Kingdom. His Majesty's 5th Wife was the Duke of Norfolk's Neice

who, tho' universally acquitted of the crimes for which she was
beheaded, has been by many people supposed to have led an

abandoned life before her Marriage--of this however I have many
doubts, since she was a relation of that noble Duke of Norfolk

who was so warm in the Queen of Scotland's cause, and who at last
fell a victim to it. The Kings last wife contrived to survive

him, but with difficulty effected it. He was succeeded by his
only son Edward.

EDWARD the 6th
As this prince was only nine years old at the time of his

Father's death, he was considered by many people as too young to