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Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 2 by William Wordsworth
page 96 of 99 (96%)
some writers would have him, but able to bear arms, being sixteen or
seventeen years of age, as is evident from this (say the Memoirs of
the Countess of Pembroke, who was laudably anxious to wipe away, as
far as could be, this stigma from the illustrious name to which she
was born); that he was the next Child to King Edward the Fourth,
which his mother had by Richard Duke of York, and that King was then
eighteen years of age: and for the small distance betwixt her
Children, see Austin Vincent in his book of Nobility, page 622,
where he writes of them all. It may further be observed, that Lord
Clifford, who was then himself only twenty-five years of age, had
been a leading Man and Commander, two or three years together in the
Army of Lancaster, before this time; and, therefore, would be less
likely to think that the Earl of Rutland might be entitled to mercy
from his youth.--But, independent of this act, at best a cruel and
savage one, the Family of Clifford had done enough to draw upon them
the vehement hatred of the House of York: so that after the Battle
of Towton there was no hope for them but in flight and concealment.
Henry, the subject of the Poem, was deprived of his estate and
honours during the space of twenty-four years; all which time he
lived as a shepherd in Yorkshire, or in Cumberland, where the estate
of his Father-in-law (Sir Lancelot Threlkeld) lay. He was restored
to his estate and honours in the first year of Henry the Seventh. It
is recorded that, "when called to parliament, he behaved nobly and
wisely; but otherwise came seldom to London or the Court; and rather
delighted to live in the country, where he repaired several of his
Castles, which had gone to decay during the late troubles." Thus far
is chiefly collected from Nicholson and Burn; and I can add, from my
own knowledge, that there is a tradition current in the village of
Threlkeld and its neighbourhood, his principal retreat, that, in the
course of his shepherd life, he had acquired great astronomical
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