Page:The Queens of England.djvu/258

220 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. Notwithstanding what has been said of Henry VII. 's harsh and unfeeling conduct to his mother-in-law, no proof of this exists ; while, on the contrary, it is recorded, on the best evi- dence, that a month after the marriage of her daughter to Henry VII. she was put into possession of the dower palaces of Waltham, Farnham, Maplebury, and Baddow, besides a pension of two hundred pounds per annum; to which was added, in 1490, an annuity of four hundred pounds. The as- sertion that she fell into disgrace with the king for abetting the schemes of the Earl of Lincoln and Lambert Simnel — the one appointed by Richard the Third to usurp the place of her own children on the English throne, the other the sup- posed son and grandson of her bitterest enemies, Clarence and Warwick — seems really too absurd to be credited, and is indeed disproved by the fact that she appeared at court on sev- eral occasions afterwards, and was chosen by Henry as god- mother to his first-born son. It appears that the king, wishing to establish a firmer league with Scotland, conceived the singular plan of making up a marriage between the queen dowager and James the Third ; but the death of the young monarch, who was many years the junior of his proposed wife, put an end to the scheme. About the year 1490, Elizabeth retired into the convent of Bermondsey, where, being seized with a fatal illness, she made a will. In this will, dated April 10, 1492, a copy of which is given in Sir Harris Nicolas's "Memoir of Lady Jane Grey," the great-great-granddaughter of this queen, she earnestly re- quested that she might be buried, as simply and unostenta- tiously as possible, beside her husband at Windsor; and she shortly after expired, surrounded by her daughters. Thus ended the eventful and melancholy career of Elizabeth Wood- ville, who, whatever may have been the defects of her charac- ter, certainly, by her cruel misfortunes, commands more the pity than the censure of posterity.