Perhaps the most curious part of the whole matter is the Earl’s hatred of his brother. The reason may lie in some long-forgotten offence, but as far as can be known there were wrongs on both sides in their early quarrels. Sir Thomas was the more deeply injured when his brother set aside his claim and that of his young sons to inherit his lands; yet he seems to have felt a kind of personal loyalty to the Earl as head of his house, while the Earl constantly refused even to speak with his brother. Easily swayed in most matters, he had all a weak man’s unreasoning obstinacy when driven to desperation. To modern eyes he seems a pathetically frail figure; but it was an age of strong men, and he inspired more curses than pity then. Sir Thomas Percy was the darling of the people, always sympathetic to the disinherited; he was the favourite of his mother, the dowager countess, to whom he was much attached[126]; it was to him rather than to the Earl that the helpless appealed in times of trouble[127]. Like his father, the Magnificent Earl, he delighted in gorgeous array and warlike adventures[128]; he was fearless and honest as Hotspur himself. But he was as lawless as the Border thieves who were often his followers and allies. Feuds were still pursued with great earnestness in the north, but his methods were rather out of date. On the first opportunity he followed the rude old plan of spoiling his enemy’s goods, laying waste his lands, and chasing him into his fastnesses with blood-curdling threats. Whatever may be thought of the Percys’ habits, they were no worse than those of the Cliffords, the staunch supporters of the government. Henry Clifford, first Earl of Cumberland, was the son of Henry Lord Clifford, the “Shepherd Lord,” by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir John St John of Bletsoe. The future Earl was born in 1493, and brought up with the sons of Henry VII. He married first Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, and second another Margaret, daughter of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, the Magnificent Earl; his second wife was the mother of his children. In disposition the Earl of Cumberland resembled his grandfather “the Butcher”—the Black Clifford of “Henry VI”—rather than his father, “the Shepherd.” In his youth he was extravagant, and supplied his need of money by robbery and violence[129]. After he succeeded his father, he followed the same course of action. Several cases were brought against his unruly servants in the Court of Star Chamber[130]. The Earl himself was too great a man to be touched, and the local courts were powerless to supply any remedy for his aggressions. He was a hard landlord and well hated in his own county, but he enjoyed the King’s favour without interruption, and his son Henry, Lord Clifford, was permitted to marry Eleanor the daughter of the Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, the King’s sister, a somewhat dangerous honour[131].