Page:The Queens of England.djvu/278

 238 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. between Edward the Fourth and the Lady Eleanor Talbot, his marriage with the Lady Grey was null and void, and his offspring by her illegitimate. The marriage between Edward and the Lady Eleanor Tal- bot was said to have been solemnized by Dr. Stillington, af- terwards Bishop of Bath and Chancellor of England, who, being urged by the Shrewsbury family to seek some repara- tion for this ill-used lady at the hands of the king, and being too mindful of his own interest to risk offending his master, declined doing so. They then addressed themselves to the Duke of Gloucester with the same prayer, and he — perhaps desirous to make the king feel that his secret was known to him — revealed the affair to his brother, who, far from afford- ing any satisfaction to the woman he had betrayed, took ven- geance on Dr. Stillington, whom he blamed for making the marriage known. He removed him from his privy council, and condemned him to prison, where he was long confined, and only released on the payment of a heavy fine. Such a secret in the possession of so artful and ambitious a man as the Duke of Gloucester was a dangerous weapon to use against the queen and her children, and he failed not to take advan- tage of it. He had consulted some learned civilians on the case and they had declared the marriage of the late king illegal, in consequence of the former contract, and the children ille- gitimate, and consequently incapable of inheriting. The at- tainder of the late Duke of Clarence having rendered his off- spring likewise incapable of inheriting, the Duke of Glouces- ter was pronounced to be the rightful heir to the throne. The partisans of Gloucester, and enemies of the Woodvilles, alike lent credence to this opinion, so that Richard found himself, through his own crooked policy and the exertions of his friends, addressed by a large body of the spiritual and temporal lords to accept the throne, to which they asserted he was entitled. Not content with declaring the marriage of Edward with Eliz- abeth Grey illegal, they accused her of having accomplished it by her sorcery and the witchcraft of her brother. Nay more, Richard himself in council bared his withered arm and declared his infirmity to have been produced by the same cause, wrought by the same persons, although it was well known that he had been deformed since his birth. But although Richard left nothing undone to prejudice the people against the claims of his nephews, whom he kept. close