This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen
and David Widger
The Chronicles inform us, that two or three days after the entrance ofWarwick and Clarence,—namely, on the 6th of October,—those twoleaders, accompanied by the Lords Shrewsbury, Stanley, and a numerousand noble train, visited the Tower in formal state, and escorted theking, robed in blue velvet, the crown on his head, to publicthanksgivings at St. Paul's, and thence to the Bishop's Palace, [notto the Palace at Westminster, as some historians, preferring theFrench to the English authorities, have asserted,—that palace was outof repair] where he continued chiefly to reside.
The proclamation that announced the change of dynasty was receivedwith apparent acquiescence through the length and breadth of thekingdom, and the restoration of the Lancastrian line seemed yet themore firm and solid by the magnanimous forbearance of Warwick and hiscouncils. Not one execution that could be termed the act of a privaterevenge stained with blood the second reign of the peaceful Henry.One only head fell on the scaffold,—that of the Earl of Worcester.[Lord Warwick himself did not sit in judgment on Worcester. He wastried and condemned by Lord Oxford. Though some old offences in hisIrish government were alleged against him, the cruelties whichrendered him so odious were of recent date. He had (as we before tookoccasion to relate) impaled twenty persons after Warwick's flight intoFrance. The "Warkworth Chronicle" says, "He was ever afterwardesgreatly behated among the people for this disordynate dethe that heused, contrary to the laws of the lande."] This solitary execution,which was regarded by all classes as a due concession to justice, onlyyet more illustrated the general mildness of the new rule.
It was in the earliest days of this sudden restoration that Alwynfound the occasion to serve his friends in the Tower. Warwick waseager to conciliate all the citizens, who, whether frankly orgrudgingly, had supported his cause; and, amongst these, he was sooninformed of the part taken in the Guildhall by the rising goldsmith.He sent for Alwyn to his house in Warwick-lane, and aftercomplimenting him on his advance in life and repute, since Nicholashad waited on him with baubles for his embassy to France, he offeredhim the special rank of goldsmith to the king.
The wary, yet honest, trader paused a moment in some embarrassmentbefore he answered,—
"My good lord, you are noble and gracious eno' to understand andforgive me when I say that I have had, in the upstart of my fortunes,the countenance of the late King Edward and his queen; and though thepublic weal made me advise my fellow-citizens not to resist yourentry, I would not, at least, have it said that my desertion hadbenefited my private fortunes."
Warwick coloured, and his lip curled. "Tush, man, assume not virtueswhich do not exist amongst the sons of trade, nor, much I trow,amongst the sons of Adam. I read thy mind. Thou thinkest it unsafeopenly to commit thyself to the new state. Fear not,—we are firm."
"Nay, my lord," returned Alwyn, "it is not so. But there are manybetter citizens than I, who remember that the Yorkists were everfriends to commerce. And you will find that only by great tendernessto our crafts you can win the heart of London, though you have passedits gates."
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