MARGARET BEAUFORT, COUNTESS OF RICHMOND AND DERBY - MY LORD, IT is with feelings of extreme satisfaction that I do myself the honor of dedicating to your Lordship the following Memoir of the illustrious consort of your great progenitor, Sir Thomas Stanley, first Earl of Derby. Under no patronage could-the life of MAR GARET GARET BEAUFOR a T p pear with so much propriety as that of her lineal descendant, and the present representative of the noble personage, who on the field of Bosworth placed the Crown upoil tile l c i s r o i t l s o - I - , I itlg tIc nry 11111 Scycntll, l first l Ilim as hlolr r. cll of Ellglantl, ailcl who receirctl from l i sll ni tlst hat Title vlliclr, drlring tllr long period of tllrcc cei t uriehs, a s cyer been spotless and 9 7 trcv from stain. . fTitll the ancient dignities, and vast possessiolla f your illustrious house, your Lordship has inherited the eminent virtues, steadfast loyalty, ancl lofty patriotisrr of your ancestors to which, permit me to add, are united n gracr ancl kilrtl-Iless peculiarly your own. I lla-e the l oilourt o reinaii, My Lord, Your Lortlships ldiged, nd most obcdicnt S e . n i l t - PREFACE - THE Crown of England after a lapse of glorious years again encircles the brow of a female Sovereign. Though few Queens have swayed the sceptre of these realms, they have all been descended scended from The , eminent lady whose eventful career is recorded in the following pages. As the progenitrix of the present Royal family of England, her name alone would attract attention, even were it not connected with the pedigree on which King Henry the Seventh founded his chief prebnsion to the Throne. But, the Countess of Richrnond has higher claims to respect than any arising from mere 1 hereditary distinctions. It is her goodness, and the benefits which she has conferred upon her country by her encouragement of literature and, her munificent endowments, that c0nstitut. e the charm which for centuries has rendered the Venerable Margaret an object of gratitude and admiration. It is her Christian character, her moral virtues, her high integrity during that dark period when temptations to disloyalty and ambition assailed the collateral branches of Royalty to a degree scarcely comprehensible in the present age, that has secured for this illustrious Princess so exalted a position among the most dignified females of England. It is hardly credible that a paucity of material should have kept in shade so distinguished a person as the Lady Margaret, or that little should be known of her, besides the brief, though enthusiastic, notices which coinmemorate her name. Unhappily, however, no portion of the national records is so defective and confused as those relating to the reigns of Henry the Sixth Ed vard the Fourth, and Richard the Third. The art of printing by which knowledge has been so wonderfully diffused, tended nevertheless at its introduction, to retard the authentic detail of passing events. Its astonishing powers by superseding the use of manuscripts, deterred the PREFACE... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.