The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-02-17

enemies who, as she knew full we'll, were
resolved ON the deposition and destruc-
ton of her royal house. Calumnies,
many of them of the basest character,
were sown roadcast-calumnies not
ouly rejecting on her conduct as q
Queen, but on her honor rs woman.
Warwick, in particular, never spared
her, and it may be easily imagined that,
TO so spirited and impetuous q nature
Margaret's, tho shameful doubt cas-
upon the legitimacy of her beautiful
boy aroused in her tho fiercest feelings
of anger and resentment. AS Miss
Strickland graphically shows, from this
time Queen Margaret appears in a new
light The imputations cast upon her,
the repeated attempts of the House OF
York to exclude her son from the sue
cession, "roIsed her passionate ma
ternal love and pride, and converted all
the better feelings of her nature into
fierce and terrific impulses, till at length
the graceful attributes of mind and man.
ners by which the Queen, the beauty
and the patroness of learning had been
distinguished, were forg gotten in the am
azon end the avenger.
With husband wanting in resolution
and frmness, and whose mind was fire.
quently afflicted, with princely boy, to
guard whose interests the most constant
and anxious vigilance were requisite, the
Queen was imperatively called upon to
exercise to the full all the courage,
promptitude and determination she pos
sessed.
The fuctuating fortunes of those long
continued deadly Wars of the Roses
afford proof-if such be wanting-that
the influence of the Queenly Margaret
was something above and beyond that
OF an ordinary woman. Time after
time, when even veteran commander
might have reasonably concluded all
was lost, Margaret rallied fresh add
herents to her standard. So long as her
husband lived, so long as her princely
son was safe beside her, she never lost
heart, nor courage, nor energy.
From the terrible battle of Hexham
she, in mortal terror for her sons life,
fled with him on foot through the neigh
boring forest, till they encountered a
band of robbers who possessed them
selves of her jewels. While the men
were disputing over the booty, Mar
garet caught her son up in hei arms and
sped on. She had not proceeded far
when she met one of the troop alone.
With her usual spirit and self.possession
she stepped forward with her little son,
and, presenting him to the robber, ex-
claimed: "Here, my friend, save the
son of your Kipgl" The man, struck
by her beauty and majesty, as well as
by the boys interesting and helpless ap-
pearance, turned his threatened enmity
into friendliness, and he led them to a
cave where he sheltered them for two
days.
All readers OF history know how Mar
garet's heroic struggles were finally
overcome in the last brave effort of the
Lancastrians at Tewksbury, that "fatal
field that witnessed the death of "the
gallant, springlng young Plantagenet. I"
The despair of Queen Margaret at this
overwhelming disaster was lifelong.
She was brought to London with the
youthful widow of her beloved son, the
ill-fated Anne of Warwick, to grace the
train of the victor. The same night the
Queen was imprisoned in the Tower.
and to the loss of her son was added
that of her husband, who was murdered
at the same time by Richard, Duke Of
Gloucester.
After long and weary period, in
which she was conscious of nothing but
an awful sense of utter desolation, the
childless, widowed and dethroned Queen
was ransomed by her kind old father,
King Rene, at the sacrifice of his inner
itance OF Provence-of that Provence
which had once rung with joyful accla-
nations at sight OF the lovely Margaret
and her beautiful mother. So ANGUS
lone matron had now drunk too deeply
of the cup OF sorrow and bitterness to
take much interest in anything that life
could offer her. The agony and fierce
agitations she had undergone turned
the whole mass of her blood, and every
trace of her once ravishing beauty dis
appeared. She made the most strenu-
Gus efforts to obtain the bodies of her
murdered husband and son. Even this
consolation was denied her; yet up to
the last day of her life she employed
some faithful ecclesiastics in England
to perform at their humble graves the
offices deemed needful for the repose of
their souls.
The remainder of her life was passed
in the greatest seclusion. She expired
at the Chateau of Damprierre, on the
25th of August, 1880, in her 51st year.