decided to stay his hand no longer, and, with the general approbation of his suhjects, prepared to settle his account, once and for all, with Louis. L[, was in the midst of his preparations when he died on April 9th, 1483.

The reign of Edward's ytung son, Edward V., lasted for less than three months, and was, not Ulmatur;dly, barren of naval incident. Richard, Duke of GI,,ucester, the king's uncle, foually accepted the crown on June 25, 1483, and was crowned on July 5th, following, the late king, and his y,,unger hrother, the Duke of 5ork, disappearing soon afterwards, having been, as is generally helleyed, murdered in their prison in the Tower by Richard's orders. Richard III., who had been Lord High Admiral for many years, surrendered the office immcdiatcly after his accession to John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, the "Jockey of 1q'orfolk" of the ancient couplet.

The naval events of the reign are almost entirely connected with the efforts of Henry, Earl of Richmond, to secure the crown. These may be briefly narrated.

Henry was, at the time of I,ichard's accc'ssiou, in iBrittany, as guest of the Duke Francis, a weak potentate with a strong minister in the person of Iierre bandais, who, being of low origin, was very unpopular with the Ireton nobility. Landtis knew of Henry's aspirations, and of the project for marrying him to the Princcss Elizabeth, daughter of Edwrd IV., and for thus uniting the Houses of Lancaster and York; and he seems to have believed that if he aided Henry to win a throne, Henry would help him to crush the nobles who troubled him. Hc therefore enabled Hem'y to procm'c a squadron of forty ships and about five thousand men, with which a! abortive attempt at invasion was made in 1483. Sir Thomas Ventworth was at that time in command of a strong force of English ships in the Chamml, and vessels from the Cinque I'orts were cruising to observe the movements of the Iretons. 5loreover, craft to assist in the defence of the country had been specially Irocured hy Richard from Sl;dn; so that the invader had everything ,gaiust him. To make things worse, his squadron was dispersed by a gale, and as the coast was found to be careffily guru'deal, Ienry was obliged to return. - lu the meantime, Richard had I

Fabian, 516.

Hall, L 16b; Grafton, 824-826; Stowe, 465; Polyd. Vergil, xxv.; Holingshed, ii. 745; Argentr's ' Hist. de Bretagne,' xii.; Daniel, vi. 601.