THE fate of Queen Margaret, after the battle of Hexham, is too singular not to be recorded. Flying, after her defeat, into a forest, where she endeavoured to conceal herself, she was best, in the thick darkness of the evening, by robbers, who stripped her of some jewels she had about her, which were very valuable, and treated her with great indignity. When the thieves were separating the booty, it raised a great quarrel between / them; and, while their attention was thus engaged, she took the opportunity of escaping with her son into a thicker part of the forest, where she wandered about some time, exhausted with hunger, fatigue, terror, and affliction. In this wretched condition she saw a robber approach, with a drawn sword. Seeing no possible means of an escape, she resolved to trust to his generosity, and, advancing towards him, she presented to him the prince, calling out to him – ‘Here, my friend, I commit to your care the safety of your king's son.’

The man, whose generous feeling were not entirely extinct by his vicious course of life, struck with this accident, felt charmed by the confidence the queen reposed in him; and vowed he would not only abstain from injuring her, but devote himself entirely to her service. By means / of this man, she dwelt, for a time, concealed in the vicinity of the forest; and he at last conducted her to the sea coast, whence she escaped to Flanders.

In the mean time the successful Edward was revelling in scenes of pleasure to an excess of satiety, that defeated his pursuits after felicity. Ill health, from frequent inebriation and midnight banquetings, brought reflection to the thoughtless mind of the dissipated prince, and now Lady Elizabeth began to see her weakening power in the way to be triumphant.