Ch. 20 - Henry the Fourth - Page 2

then to take him by surprise
and kill him. This murderous enterprise, which was agreed upon at
secret meetings in the house of the Abbot of Westminster, was
betrayed by the Earl of Rutland - one of the conspirators. The
King, instead of going to the tournament or staying at Windsor
(where the conspirators suddenly went, on finding themselves
discovered, with the hope of seizing him), retired to London,
proclaimed them all traitors, and advanced upon them with a great
force. They retired into the west of England, proclaiming Richard
King; but, the people rose against them, and they were all slain.
Their treason hastened the death of the deposed monarch. Whether
he was killed by hired assassins, or whether he was starved to
death, or whether he refused food on hearing of his brothers being
killed (who were in that plot), is very doubtful. He met his death
somehow; and his body was publicly shown at St. Paul's Cathedral
with only the lower part of the face uncovered. I can scarcely
doubt that he was killed by the King's orders.

The French wife of the miserable Richard was now only ten years
old; and, when her father, Charles of France, heard of her
misfortunes and of her lonely condition in England, he went mad:
as he had several times done before, during the last five or six
years. The French Dukes of Burgundy and Bourbon took up the poor
girl's cause, without caring much about it, but on the chance of
getting something out of England. The people of Bordeaux, who had
a sort of superstitious attachment to the memory of Richard,
because he was born there, swore by the Lord that he had been the
best man in all his kingdom - which was going rather far - and
promised to do great things against the English. Nevertheless,
when they came to consider that they, and the whole people of
France, were ruined by their own nobles, and that the English rule
was much the better of the two, they cooled down again; and the two
dukes, although they were very great men, could do nothing without
them. Then, began negotiations between France and England for the
sending home to Paris of the poor little Queen with all her jewels
and her fortune of two hundred thousand francs in gold. The King
was quite willing to restore the young lady, and even the jewels;
but he said he really could not part with the money. So, at last
she was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune, and then the
Duke of Burgundy (who was cousin to the French King) began to
quarrel with the Duke of Orleans (who was brother to the French
King) about the whole matter; and those two dukes made France even
more wretched than ever.

As the idea of conquering Scotland was still popular at home, the
King marched to the river Tyne and demanded