fenced off from the remainder of it, and planted with red and white roses, which must naturally be supposed to have been done to commemorate the battle, or the death of the Duke of York. {65a} CHAPTER V. THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF MORTIMER’S CROSS. {67a} _Edward_.—“Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “’Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of. I think it cites us, brother, to the field, That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet, Each one already blazing by our meeds, Should notwithstanding join our lights together, And overshine the earth, as this the world. Whate’er it bodes, henceforward will I bear Upon my target, three fair shining suns.” SHAKESPEARE’S _Henry VI._ part iii. act 2, scene 1. (_Near Mortimer’s Cross_.) THE victory gained by the Lancastrians, at the battle of Wakefield, seemed at the first view, to decide the fate of the adverse party. Richard Duke of York, the claimant to the throne, and the leader of the Yorkists, was slain; Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, was wounded, taken prisoner, and afterwards beheaded at Pontefract; and the army of which they were commanders, was completely destroyed. A most formidable enemy, however, soon presented himself to notice. Edward Earl of March, {67b} the eldest son of the Duke of York, was considered by great numbers of persons, as the rightful heir to the throne of England; he was descended from the Mortimers, Earls of March, and had claims to the crown, from his descent through his mother’s side, from Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., through Philippa (the only daughter and heiress of the Duke of Clarence), who married Roger Mortimer, third Earl of March and Lord of Wigmore; besides which, he was also descended from Edward III. in another manner, because his great-grandfather, Edmund of Langley, was the fifth son of Edward III. He was a young man whose personal appearance and manners were very prepossessing; he gained the hearts of men in a warlike age, by his courage and excellence in martial exercises; and his noble and powerful alliances, combined with his lineal descent from the great families of Plantagenet and Mortimer, had a potent influence in his favour, with vast numbers of all ranks; besides which, he was young, talented, and daring, and was well qualified under those circumstances to fight his way to a throne.