Greece the terrible legends Ovid has clothed in gloomy fire, which a
similar civilization produced no less in the Middle Ages, whether of
Italy or the North,--that period when crime took a grandeur from its
excess; when power was so great and absolute that its girth burst the
ligaments of conscience; when a despot was but the incarnation of
WILL; when honour was indeed a religion, but its faith was valour, and
it wrote its decalogue with the point of a fearless sword.

The youth of Edward IV. was as the youth of an ancient Titan, of an
Italian Borgia; through its veins the hasty blood rolled as a
devouring flame. This impetuous and fiery temperament was rendered
yet more fearful by the indulgence of every intemperance; it fed on
wine and lust; its very virtues strengthened its vices,--its courage
stifled every whisper of prudence; its intellect, uninured to all
discipline, taught it to disdain every obstacle to its desires.
Edward could, indeed, as we have seen, be false and crafty, a
temporizer, a dissimulator; but it was only as the tiger creeps,--the
better to spring, undetected, on its prey. If detected, the cunning
ceased, the daring rose, and the mighty savage had fronted ten
thousand foes, secure in its fangs and talons, its bold heart and its
deadly spring. Hence, with all Edward's abilities, the astonishing
levities and indiscretions of his younger years. It almost seemed, as
we have seen him play fast and loose with the might of Warwick, and
with that power, whether of barons or of people, which any other
prince of half his talents would have trembled to arouse against an
unrooted throne,--it almost seemed as if he loved to provoke a danger
for the pleasure it gave the brain to baffle or the hand to crush it.
His whole nature coveting excitement, nothing was left to the
beautiful, the luxurious Edward, already wearied with pomp and
pleasure, but what was unholy and forbidden. In his court were a