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 ELIZABETH OF YORK. 239 prisoners in the Tower, he did not openly oresume to usurp the throne of the elder until he had artfully arranged that he should be petitioned to accept it. This measure was accom- plished through the Duke of Buckingham's going to Guildhall, accompanied by several lords, while the mayor, aldermen and common council were there assembled, and making them a speech, in which the grievances of the reign of Edward the Fourth were painted in the darkest colors, the rights of his offspring set aside on the plea of illegitimacy, and the just claim of Richard to the throne asserted ; he, by his passionate address, won some of the crowd, who forced an entrance to the hall to cry out for King Richard. The persons thus crying out were of mean condition, being only the servants and tools of Buckingham and his friends. Nevertheless he chose to accept their voices as those of the whole body present, and ordered the mayor, aldermen and commons to attend the next day at Baynard s Castle, where the Protector was residing, to join with the lords in an address to Richard to accept the crown. The wily and ambitious plotter affected to decline the prayer ; but Buckingham, with whom probably the whole affair had been concocted, declared in the name of all present that if he refused, they should offer the succession to some other per- son, they having determined that no child of Edward the Fourth should reign. This declaration vanquished the affected scru- ples of Richard, and on the day after, the 26th of June, he went to Westminster Hall, seated himself in the chair of state his deceased brother had been wont to fill, and which had been prepared for his nephew, and the following day was proclaimed king. All the preparations made for the coronation of the unfortunate Edward the Fifth were now used for that of his wicked uncle and his victim wife Anne ; and the vast treasure amassed by the late king was employed to reward new friends and conciliate old foes. The coronation over, Richard the Third, accompanied by his queen and their son Edward, cre- ated Prince of Wales, set out for the north in the early part of September. At Coventry the royal trio appeared in regal state, wearing crowns, and Richard exercised a princely generosity to gain the good will of the people. But here news of the most unexpected nature was forwarded to him, namely, of the insurrection of the Duke of Buckingham, which called forth all the energy and courage which he displayed to preserve a throne which he had so unlawfully usurped. Perhaps, had