heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE SCROPES. 97
Richard, Earl of Cambridge ; while his wife's sister, Alianore Holland,
having married Roger Mortimer, he became uncle to Edmund Mortimer,
who was still
languishing in prison, and to his sister Anne, who had
married Richard, Earl of Cambridge. Thus he was, naturally, entangled in
the conspiracy promoted by the latter, thus expressed in the record of his
trial :
"
He intended to kill the usurper, Henry of Lancaster, and to set the
" Earl of March upon the throne." And as he was married and had no
children, the Earl of Cambridge calculated that the succession would at his
death come to his own son Richard. It was, in fact, very much of a revival
of the conspiracy for which the Archbishop had suffered in favour of the
house of Mortimer. Eventually, though neither in his way nor in his
life, his wishes were fulfilled, for that son Richard was the Duke of York
who was killed at the battle of Wakefield whose son was Edward IV.
But when the army was on the point of embarking, and Henry
himself had arrived at Southampton to superintend the operation, the
conspiracy was discovered, and the Earl of Cambridge, Lord Scrope, and
Thomas Grey, of Heton, in Northumberland, were arrested. Henry's action
was prompt, but legal. A jury of Commoners was summoned, and the
three conspirators were indicted before them. The Constable of Southampton
Castle swore that they had each confessed their guilt. Sir Thomas
Grey was at once condemned and executed. The Earl of Cambridge and
Lord Scrope pleaded the privilege of peerage. A Court of eighteen Barons,
presided over by the Duke of Clarence, was summoned ; the evidence given
to the jury was read to them ;
the prisoners were neither produced in court
nor examined nor heard in their own defence, but received sentence of
death, which was soon after
executed.
Shakespeare has graphically represented, in Henry V., act 2, scene i,
the exposure of this conspiracy. Henry's words to Scrope are indignant
and severe, but not more than his act of unmerited treachery had
deserved :
" But, O! what shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop; thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature !
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knewest the very bottom of my soul,
That almost might'st have coined me into gold,
Would' st thou have practised on me for thy use ?"
I know not on what authority Shakespeare has put this speech (which
extends some eighty lines more) into the mouth of Henry. It is full of deep
pathos, and such as a gallant man, stung to the quick by the unexpected
treachery of a trusted friend, could utter indignant at his perfidy, but yet
scarcely able to renounce his affection for him. His concluding words
express deep sorrow rather than passionate anger, and are at least in
harmony with the chivalrous nature of Henry V. :