Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/99

] towards England, and engagements were entered into, not only for the prolongation of the existing truce, but for marriage alliances. James was a widower, and Henry proposed that he should marry Elizabeth Wydville, the queen-dowager, and that his two sons should marry two of her daughters. The days were fixed for the ambassadors' meeting to determine the marriage settlements; but this was prevented by the rebellion of the Scottish nobles, to which we shall advert anon, and the scheme was finally rendered abortive by the tragic death of the king. That Henry was thus ready to advance the queen-dowager to the Scottish throne, and to place one of her daughters upon it hereafter, has been held by some modern historians as clear proof that his alleged dislike of the queen-dowager could not be real. But we may rather suppose that the king was glad of a means to remove her from his own court, and, at the same time, to conciliate by such an act of honour the Yorkist party—a policy which we see he was now pursuing. This is the more likely, because he never restored the queen-dowager to her former position in his own court—where she only appeared on particular state occasions—or restored her dower, which had been forfeited in the former reign.



The affairs on the Continent were now in a state which demanded the most serious attention, but which were by no means likely to be settled to the honour of the country by a monarch of the penurious character of Henry VII. If ever a monarch was bound by gratitude to succor another prince, it was Henry VII. He had been protected in Brittany from all the attempts of the Yorkist monarch for years. The Duke Francis, who had been his host and friend during his long exile, was now growing old. He appears never to have been of a very vigorous