5.The next pretender was Perkin Warbeck.He gave out that he was the Duke of York,who,with his brother.Edward the Fifth,was said to have been murdered in the Tower;and he was so like that little prince and his father,Edward the Fourth,that many believed him to be the real duke.The King of Scotland was so sure of it,that he took him into favour,and gave him a daughter of Earl Huntly in marriage.
6.But before Warbeck could bring an army into the field,his plot was discovered.Many noblemen of his party were taken and put to death.Warbeck himself was seized,put into the stocks,made to read aloud a confession of his guilt,and afterwards hanged.His widow was taken into the service of the English Queen.
7.Henry,being now firmly seated on the throne,took great pains to increase his wealth.In doing so he was greatly helped by Empson and Dudley,who laid heavy fines on all who offended the King,and sometimes even seized for his benefit the estates of the rich.It is said that he died worth twelve million sterling.In spite of his greed for money,he was a wise and able ruler.
8.Notes of Progress.-In this reign the New World was discovered byaColumbus,who landed on the Bahama Islands.
A passage to India by the Cape
of Good Hope was discovered by Vasco de Gama.The marriage of the Princess Margaret with James the Fourth of Scotland in 1502led,about two hundred years later,to the Union of the Crowns.
中文阅读
1.随着亨利七世继位,都铎王朝正式开始。他上任后的第一件事便是将年仅15岁的沃里克伯爵关进伦敦塔,因为沃里克作为约克家族之后,本身享有更合法的王位继承权。从此之后,沃里克在此被囚整整15年,最后被处以斩首。
2.亨利后来迎娶约克家族的伊丽莎白为妻,她是爱德华四世的女儿,因此这桩a Bahama Islands.-A group in the West Indies,east of Florida.
婚姻就标志着红白玫瑰所代表的两大家族终于归于统一,在英格兰土地上导致三十多年血战的玫瑰战争自此终结,人民也终于迎来了久违的和平。
3.但王祚初定不久,一些颇具野心的冒险家们又给国政安宁带来了挑战。兰伯特·西姆内尔,一个面点厨师的儿子,假扮成年轻的沃里克伯爵,以此号令天下,而真人此时正囚禁在伦敦塔中。
4.西姆内尔在爱尔兰不断发展自己的势力,不久以爱德华六世的名号给自己加冕成国王;这时亨利无奈,只得将沃里克的真身从牢房中放出来示众,西姆内尔见骗局被戳穿,干脆撕下脸皮,率领部队挥师诺丁汉郡。在斯多克a他被王师打败,当了俘虏,最后成了亨利御膳房中的一个仆人。
5.另一位冒牌货名叫珀金·沃贝克,他宣称自己是约克公爵,而真身和他的哥哥爱德华五世据说已在伦敦塔被人杀害了。但是沃贝克长得很像这位小王子,也很像他的父王爱德华四世,因此很多人都对他的谎言信以为真,认为他就是真的约克公爵。苏格兰国王对此也毫不怀疑,甚至还将他招致麾下,将亨特利伯爵的女儿嫁给了他。
6.但还没等到起兵,沃贝克的阴谋就被人发现了,支持他的许多权贵人物全都受到牵连而被捕,最终都处以死刑。1499年,沃贝克被俘后投入死牢,最后被戴上足枷,宣读完对自己罪行的忏悔书后,上了绞刑架。他的遗孀被抓后当了英格兰王后的仆人。
7.这些事平息之后,亨利这才坐稳了自己的国王宝座,从此,他便煞费苦心地聚敛钱财。为了达此目的,恩普森和达德利二人给他出谋划策,让他颁布法令对冒犯国王的人处以重罚,还直接抓捕一些富人,抢占他们的财产。他驾崩之时,个人财产达到了一千二百万英镑。尽管有些贪财,但总体而言他算是一个明智而且能干的君王。
8.社会文明进步--在这一时期,哥伦布在巴哈马群岛b登陆美洲,发现了新大陆。达·伽马也发现了通过好望角直达印度的新航路。1502年,玛格丽特公主与苏格兰国王詹姆士四世举行了结婚典礼,为两百年后联合君主的实现埋下了伏笔。
a 斯多克:位于诺丁汉郡,地处纽瓦克西南4英里。
b 巴哈马群岛:西印度群岛的一部分,位于佛罗里达东部。
86
THE STORY OF PERKIN WARBECK
珀金·沃贝克
adventurer,pretender.
confidence,trust.
desertion,leaving;forsaking.discontented,not satisfied.discovered,found out.
impostures,cheats;frauds.reception,welcome.stanch,flrm.
tournaments,mock fights between spearmen on horseback.
1.The whole reign of Henry the Seventh is full of plots and impostures;but there is one story so romantic that it stands out from all the rest.It is the story of Perkin.Warbeck,who pretended to be the young Duke of York,one of the two princes believed to have been murdered in the Tower.
2.This adventurer made his first appearance in Ireland.His manly bearing and his wonderful story.gained over a few of the nobles in that country;but the common people did not rise in his favour.
3.Warbeck then crossed over to France.At Paris,he was treated at first with great honour;but King Charles found it convenient to make a treaty with Henry of England,under which he was obliged to expel Warbeck from France.
4.He went to Flanders,and was joyously received as “The White Rose of England”by the Duchess of Burgundy,sister of Edward the Fourth.A plot to dethrone Henry and put Perkin in his place was at once formed,and found many eager partisans in England as well as in Flanders.
5.Henry,however,found out what was going on.He discovered that Warbeck was no prince,but only a valet out of place-the son of a Jewish merchant.By means of bribes,he learned the names of the pretender‘s English supporters,and seized them all in one day.Three of them were put to death.
a
6.Perkin then made a sudden descent on Dealwith a few hundred men;but he was beaten back with the loss of two hundred prisoners,who were hanged on the shore.
a Deal.-On the coast of Kent,a few miles north of Dover.
7.After trying Ireland again,Perkin went across the North Channel to Scotland,where James the Fourth was King.As James and Henry were then on unfriendly terms,the adventurer was received with the warmest welcome at the Scottish Court,and was called “cousin”by the King,who gave splendid feasts and held tournaments in honour of his handsome guest.Perkin found in Scotland a wife as well as a warm reception;for James,in order to make plain to all the world that he considered Perkin no impostor but the real Richard,Duke of York,gave him the hand of the beautiful Catherine Gordon,daughter of the Earl of Huntly,and a near relation of his own.
8.But Perkin wanted more than such marks of confidence.He wanted King James to aid him in the invasion of England;and after a while the monarch agreed to do so.Perkin sent some men before him,to try to kindle a rebellion in his favour;but the English peasants would not take fire.By means of spies and bribed men Henry of England knew all that was going on in the Scottish camp;and one of his secret friends agreed to try to capture Warbeck in his tent during some long winter night.
9.This plan failed,however,and the pretender crossed the Border with the Scottish King.They soon went back,having fought no battle,for food grew scarce,and the Englishmen were stanch to their King.James soon made a second raid as far as to the river Tees;but he fell back on his own land,when Surrey marched northward with an English army.