Lancastrian vs. Ricardian

Polydore Virgil:

In his 1846 account of Richard III, Virgil takes a more Lancastrian point of view against the king. Describing the purpose of the things Richard III did, he says "Thus covering and cloking certane days his desire, under the colour and pretence of common welthe, he so enveglyd the myndes of the nobilitye," communicating that he believes the Richard used flattery and the excuse that everything he was doing was for the kingdom to get the noble people and aristocrats on his side. The noblemen who saw past his ruse, though, Virgil says that Richard wanted nothing more than to get them out of the way, just like he did to William Lord Hastings. Pertaining to this murder, Virgil says "...Whether yt wer that he [Richard] fearyd his [Hasting's] powr, or despearyd yt possible to draw him to his syde and opynyon, he determynyd to ryd the man owt of the way before his purpose showld be discoveryd to the resydew, whom he did not yeat fully trust," meaning that Richard was all too eager to dispose of people who may get in his way to the throne. On the murder itself, Virgil talks about how Richard hired men to kill Hastings " when he [Richard] showld geave a signe," so they could "kill him forthwith."

Horace Warpole:

Opposed to Virigl, Warpole seems to take a more Ricardian opinion of Richard III, talking about how, though the Lancastrians made Richard out to be horribly deformed, Warpole defends that Richard's shoulders may have only be slightly uneven. In his very first sentence, "With regard to the person of Richard, it appears to have been as much misrepresented as his actions," Warpole shows the reader that he believes that Richard III was not bad, in neither looks nor actions, as some Lancastrians make him out to be. Warpole drew his conclusions about Richard III by looking at paintings from that time period, and upon seeing one of them where Richard has no major deformities, he comments, "Who can believe that an eye-witness, and so minute a painter, would have mentioned nothing but the inequality of the shoulders, if Richard's form had been a compound of ugliness?" He even describes the painter, John Rous, as a self-proclaimed Lancastrian, but Rous still painted the truth of what Richard III really looks like. And Warpole, in passing on this truth and not a lie about the deformities of Richard, is Ricardian at heart, and reflects this belief in his writings.