After the fate of England had been decided by the battle of Bosworth, on the 22d of August, 1485[349], the joy of the nation was clouded by a mortal disease which thinned the ranks of the warriors, and following in the rear of Henry’s victorious army, spread in a few weeks from the distant mountains of Wales to the metropolis of the empire. It was a violent inflammatory fever, which, after a short rigor, prostrated the powers as with a blow; and amidst painful oppression at the stomach, headache and lethargic stupor, suffused the whole body with a fetid perspiration. All this took place in the course of a few hours, and the crisis was always over within the space of a day and night[350]. The internal heat which the patient suffered was intolerable, yet every refrigerant was certain death. The people were seized with consternation when they saw that scarcely one in a hundred escaped[351], and their first impression was that a reign commencing with such horrors would doubtless prove most inauspicious[352]. At first the new foe was scarcely heeded; citizens and peasants went in joyful processions to meet the victorious army. Henry’s march from Bosworth towards London resembled a triumph, which was everywhere celebrated by festivals; for the nation, after its many years of civil war, looked forward to happier days than they had enjoyed under the blood-thirsty Richard. Very shortly, however, after the king’s entry into the capital on the 28th of August[353], the Sweating Sickness[354], as the disease was called, began to spread its ravages among the densely peopled streets of the city. Two lord mayors and six aldermen died within one week[355], having scarcely laid aside their festive robes; many who had been in perfect health at night, were on the following morning numbered among the dead. The disease for the most part marked for its victims robust and vigorous men; and as many noble families lost their chiefs, extensive commercial houses their principals, and wards their guardians, the festivities were soon converted into grief and mourning. The coronation of the king, which was expected to overcome the scruples that many entertained of his right to the throne, was of necessity postponed in this general distress[356], and the disease, in the mean time, spread without interruption and over the whole kingdom from east to west[357].