OCR Text |
Show ) 72 ATROCLO ::) J"CDGE ~ . [A. D. 1-!70. · · · d ,r0 cn 11 only COllj·e ·turo the cunning rn o:-tns he tlus cns1s, an ' n 1 .1 ·t to n 11cl the rwetenc:es he would ·cL up, to keep ,,·on u resor , .. ~ 1 · 1 c1 to escape 1)unishment. Certain it i5 that within us p ace an < • • c d f om the time v;hcn II 'nry w nt 1n proccst-1011 a. 1ew R-YS r from hi pri on in the Tower to hi,; palace at 1\' •stmin-ster, with the crown on his hc:td, while n lm o: l all o thcr fu nctionuri~ of tho late government hau il ec1, or w 'rc ·hut up in jail, a writ paosed the great seal, Lenrinil; date the 49th ycm· of his reign, by which he as' i gn ed " h iB t l'l1 ~I}' ami wellbeloved Sir John Billing, 1\.:night, a · his chief ju:-;ticc to hold pleas in hi court before him." There an he a.· lit tle doubt that he was present at the ParliamenL which wn sutnn1oneL1 immediately after in Henry's name, when the crown " ''"' entailed on IIenry and hi· is.'ue, Edward wa declar ~d a u -·urper, hi~ most active adherents were aLtaintetl anc.l all the L tatule: which had pa . cJ during his reign w 're l'(' pcnl d. I t i' not improbable that there had been a ccreL under._ta ndirw between Billing and the Earl of \Vnn' ick, (the king maker,) who hi1nsclf so often changed :-;illes, an<l who wa: now in po · se"'s1on of the whole authority of the govennnent. While Edward was a fugitive in foreign part.', th' doctrine of divine right wa , no <loubt, at a di:·count in l~ngbn<l, and Billing may have again bolted hi :-; argumen1.· about the power of the people to choose their rulers; nlthongh, according to the super tition of the ag , he n1oro probably count ·nauccd the belief that IIenry was a :,aiHt, and that he was rc'torcd by the direct iPterpo. ition of II eaven . But one would 1hink he mn:,t have l.H•<'ll at hi. wits' end when, in the prin()' of the followin cr )'C'n.l' }1_.Jwan1 rv. landed b u ' at Ravenspurg, gained the battle of Barnet, and, aJter the murder of Henry VI. and the Prince of \Vales, was again A. D. 147:2.] TllO)lAS BlLLI.:\1..~. 73 on the thron<', without a ri\·al. Hilling doc.· ('Cll1 to have found great <liillculty in making his p ace. Thou~h he was di. mis~c<l ii·01n hi. oiftcr~ it "'as u How eel to r cma111 Yflcant about a twcl Yelnonth, during wh il'11 1 i rnc he i;-; . ·u ppo ~cd to hnse been in hi<ling. But he had Yowc<l that, what c\·er chang'S 1nighL ta.ke plat:t~ on the thron(', he hinl e1f ~hould die chief ju tiec of the IGng';-; Ben('h; atl<l he contriv(·d Lo be as good a hi~ word. By hi· own r cprc:cntat io11:-: or the interct::':-;ion of friend~, or the hope of the good scn·icc~ he 1night yet r 'nder in l]·etting riJ of troubleson1 opponent', the king wn: in<1u ccd lo declare his bcli 'f thaL he who bad ~at on the t rin b of '\ \r alker and Burdot had unwillingly , ubmittrd to force <1nring the late usurpation; an<l on the 17th of ~TunC', 1472, a writ pns. ed tho great seal, by whieh hi.::; n1 nje~ty assigned "his right tru. ty and well-beloved ~ ir John Dilling, 1Cni ght, as Uhief J u t ice to hold plea before hi: l\Injest y hin1 'C1 f.'' For nearly nine ye:-trs nCLer, h -- continu cl iu the po:-:f'e ::;ion of hi"' office, without beinror driYell anr~ "aia iO chanDrr c hi6 l)rinci-plc"' or his par1y. One good d< rd h did, which should he reconlc<l of hi1n- in ~H.1Yisin()· E<1wnn1 IV. to rrrant a 1w.nlon " C" to an old Lanca:-;trian, Sir John Fortr~cue. But for the pur-po. e of r educing this illuslrion: j udgc to the r eproach of 1ncon i ·tency, which he knew 1nade hi.' own na1nc a l>y-word, he imposed a condition tbnt the a nth or of De L a ad iuus ·houlcl publish a new tr eati.'e, to r .fute that which he hnd before compo eJ, proving the r ight of the house of Lunca~ter to the throne; and for cccl hin1 to present tho pctitiou in -whieh h ) ns.:ures the king '' that he hath o clear1y disproved all the urgmnents that have been 1nade again ·t his right and tiLle, that now there re1naineth no color or n1attcr of argument to the 7 |