Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/552

538  against her, because she abridged the power of their nobles, and favoured the clergy; but she was exceeded by none in prudence, policy and true magnanimity. Modern History. Anderson's Origin of Commerce, &c.

was however the most accomplished princess of that age, both in body and mind; and the rival parties of the cardinal of Winchester and the Duke of Gloucester, being then ambitious of choosing a wife for the young Henry II, King of England, that of the former prevailed, and Margaret was elected, who seemed to possess those qualities, which would enable her to acquire an ascendant over Henry, and to supply all his defects and weaknesses. In 1443, the treaty of marriage was ratified in England; and Margaret, on her arrival, fell immediately into close connections with the cardinal and his party; who, fortified by her powerful patronage, resolved on the final ruin of the Duke of Gloucester, and that good prince at length fell a sacrifice to court intrigues, after being accused of treason and thrown into prison, where he was soon after found dead in his bed; and, although his body bore no marks of outward violence, no one doubted but he had fallen a victim to the vengeance of his enemies.

Henry being a mere cypher in the government, the admi-