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It was some weeks after the date of the events last recorded. Thestorm that hung over the destinies of King Edward was dispersed forthe hour, though the scattered clouds still darkened the horizon: theEarl of Warwick had defeated the Lancastrians on the frontier, [Croyl.552] and their leader had perished on the scaffold; but Edward'smighty sword had not shone in the battle. Chained by an attractionyet more powerful than slaughter, he had lingered at Middleham, whileWarwick led his army to York; and when the earl arrived at the capitalof Edward's ancestral duchy, he found that the able and activeHastings—having heard, even before he reached the Duke ofGloucester's camp, of Edward's apparent seizure by the earl and themarch to Middleham—had deemed it best to halt at York, and to summonin all haste a council of such of the knights and barons as eitherlove to the king or envy to Warwick could collect. The report wasgeneral that Edward was retained against his will at Middleham; andthis rumour Hastings gravely demanded Warwick, on the arrival of thelatter at York, to disprove. The earl, to clear himself from asuspicion that impeded all his military movements, despatched LordMontagu to Middleham, who returned not only with the king, but thecountess and her daughters, whom Edward, under pretence of proving thecomplete amity that existed between Warwick and himself, carried inhis train. The king's appearance at York reconciled all differences;but he suffered Warwick to march alone against the enemy, and not tillafter the decisive victory, which left his reign for a while withoutan open foe, did he return to London.
Thither the earl, by the advice of his friends, also repaired, and ina council of peers, summoned for the purpose, deigned to refute therumours still commonly circulated by his foes, and not disbelieved bythe vulgar, whether of his connivance at the popular rising or hisforcible detention of the king at Middleham. To this, agreeably tothe counsel of the archbishop, succeeded a solemn interview of theheads of the Houses of York and Warwick, in which the once fair Roseof Raby (the king's mother) acted as mediator and arbiter. The earl'sword to the commons at Olney was ratified. Edward consented to thetemporary retirement of the Woodvilles, though the gallant Anthony yetdelayed his pilgrimage to Compostella. The vanity of Clarence wascontented by the government of Ireland, but, under various pretences,Edward deferred his brother's departure to that important post. Ageneral amnesty was proclaimed, a parliament summoned for the redressof popular grievances, and the betrothal of the king's daughter toMontagu's heir was proclaimed: the latter received the title of Dukeof Bedford; and the whole land rejoiced in the recovered peace of therealm, the retirement of the Woodvilles, and the reconciliation of theyoung king with his all-beloved subject. Never had the power of theNeviles seemed so secure; never did the throne of Edward appear sostable.
It was at this time that the king prevailed upon the earl and hiscountess to permit the Lady Anne to accompany the Duchess of Clarencein a visit to the palace of the Tower. The queen had submitted sograciously to the humiliation of her family, that even the haughtyWarwick was touched and softened; and the visit of his daughter atsuch a time became a homage to Elizabeth which it suited his chivalryto render.
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