Richard III as Duke of Gloucester and King of England. Vol. 2

London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1844. - 570 p.It has long been acknowledged, that the ara of King Richard the Third comprehends the darkest, the most complex, and the worst authenticated portion of the English annals. The general historian, whose course through the middle ages is guided by a long series of trustworthy chroniclers, finds himself when near the close of that important period forsaken by the great body of his authorities, and those who remain are swayed by the violent prejudices and strong antipathies which are natural amongst a people who have long been a prey to civil discord. Shrinking jfirom such corrupt and uncertain authority, history becomes silent ; she resigns the doubtful and the mysterious to the poet, whose imagination weaves out of such materials the dark and terrible tragedies by which he seeks to awe and to instruct. Thus it has been with the period of Richard the Third.