and P._, i., 490.] [Footnote 73: See the present writer's _England under Protector Somerset_, p.

38.] * * * * * To the office of king thus developed and magnified, the young Prince who stood upon the steps of the throne brought personal qualities of the highest order, and advantages to which his father was completely a stranger.

His title was secure, his treasury overflowed, and he enjoyed the undivided affections of his people.

There was no alternative claimant.

The White Rose, indeed, had languished in the Tower since his surrender by Philip, and the Duke of Buckingham had some years before been mentioned as a possible successor to the throne;[74] but their claims only served to remind men that nothing but Henry's life stood between them and anarchy, for his young brother Edmund, Duke of Somerset, had preceded Arthur to an early grave.