in wages which serued vnder him during those warres But this alone by VVoolseys wit was wrought Thomas Woolsey the Kings Almoner then Bishop of Lincolne a man of great aucthority with the King and afterward Cardinall was the cheese cause that the Lady Mary was married to the old French King with whom the French King had dealt vnder hand to befriend him in that match When the proud Dolphin for thy valure sake Chose thee at tylt his princely part to take Frauncis Duke of Valoys and Dolphin of Fraunce at the mariage of the Lady Mary in honour thereof proclaimed a Iusts where he chose the Duke of Suffolke and the Marques Dorset for his aydes at all Martiall exercises Galeas and Bounarme matchles for their might This County Galeas at the Iusts ranne a course with a Speare which was at the head 5. inches square on euery side and at the But 9. inches square whereby hee shewed his wonderous force and strength This Bounarme a Gentleman of Fraunce at the same time came into the field armed at all poynts with 10. Speares 〈◊〉 him in each 〈◊〉 3 vnder each thigh one one vnder his left arme and one in his hand and putting his horse to the carere neuer stopped him till he had broken euery staffe Hall ¶ Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke to Mary the French Queene BVt that thy fayth commaunds mee to forbeare The fault thine owne if I impatient were VVere my dispatch such as should be my speed I should want time thy louing lines to reed Heere in the Court Camelion like I fare And liue God knowes of nothing but of ayre All day I waite and all the night I watch And starue mine eares to heare of my dispatch If Douer were th'Abydos of my rest Or pleasant Callice were my Maryes Cest Thou should'st not need faire Queene to blame me so Did not the distance to desire say no No tedious night from trauell should be free Till through the waues with swimming vnto thee A snowy path I made vnto thy Bay So bright as is that Nectar-stayned way The restlesse sunne by trauailing doth vveare Passing his course to finish vp his yeere But Paris locks my loue within the maine And London yet thy Brandon doth detaine Of thy firme loue thou put'st me still in mind But of my fayth not one word can I finde VVhen Long auile to Mary was affied And thou by him wast made King Lewis bride How oft I wish'd that thou a prize mights bee That I in Armes might combat him for thee And in the madnes of my loue distraught A thousand times his murther haue fore-thought But that th'all-seeing powers which sit aboue Regard not mad mens oathes nor faults in loue And haue confirm'd it by the graunt of heauen That louers sinnes on earth should be forgiuen For neuer man is halfe so much distrest As he that loues to see his loue possest Comming to Richmond after thy depart Richmond where first thou stol'st away my hart Mee thought it look'd not as it did of late But wanting thee forlorne and desolate In whose faire walkes thou often hast been seene To sport with Katberine Henries beautious Queene Astonishing sad-vvinter with thy sight As for thy sake the day hath put back night That the Byrds thinking to approch the spring Forgot themselues and haue begun to sing So oft I goe by Thames so oft returne Mee thinks for thee the Riuer yet doth mourne vvho I haue seene to let her streame at large vvhich like a Hand-mayde wayted on thy Barge And if thou hapst against the flood to row VVhich way it ebd before now would it flow Letting her drops in teares fall from thy oares For ioy that shee had got thee from the shoares The siluer swannes with musicke that those make Ruffing theyr plumes come glyding on the lake As the fleet Dolphins by Arions strings vvere brought to land with musicks rauishings The flocks and heards that pasture neere the flood To gaze vpon thee haue forborne theyr foode And sat downe sadlie mourning by the brim That they by nature were not made to swim VVhen as the Post to Englands royall Court Of thy hard passage brought the true report Hovv in a storme thy well rigg'd shyps were tost And thou thy selfe in danger to be lost I knew twas Venus loth'd that aged bed vvhere beautie so should be dishonoured Or fear'd the Sea-Nymphs haunting of the Lake If thou but seene theyr Goddesse should forsake And whirling round her Doue-drawne Coach about To view thy Nauie nowe in launching out Her ayrie mantle loosly doth vnbind vvhich fanning forth a rougher gale of vvind vvafted thy sayles with speede vnto the land And runnes thy shyp on Bullens harboring strand How should I ioy of thy arriue to heare But as a poore sea-faring passenger After long trauaile tempest-torne and wrack'd By some vnpittying Pyrat that is sack'd Heares the false robber that hath stolne his wealth Landed in some safe harbor and in health Enriched with inualuable store For which he long hath traueled before VVhen thou to Abaile held'st th'appointed day vve heard how Lewes met thee on the way vvhere thou in glittering Tissue strangly dight Appear'dst vnto him like the Queene of light In Cloth of siluer all thy virgine traine In beautie sumptuous as the Northerne waine And thou alone the formost glorious starre vvhich lead'st the teame of that great VVagoner VVhat could thy thought be but as I doe think VVhen thine eyes tasted what mine eares did drinke A Cripple King layd bedrid long before Yet at thy comming crept out of the dore T'was well he rid he had no legs to goe But this thy beauty forc'd his body to For whom a cullice had more fitter beene Then in a golden bed a gallant Queene To vse thy beauty as the miser gold vvhich hoards it vp but onely to behold Still looking on it with a iealous eye Fearing to lend yet louing vsurie O Sacriledge if beauty be deuine The prophane hand should tuch the halowed shrine To surfet sicknes on the sound mans dyet To rob Content yet still to liue vnquiet And hauing all to be of all be guild And yet still longing like a little child VVhen Marques Dorset and the valiant Grayes To purchase farme first crost the narrow Seas vvith all the Knights that my associates went In honour of thy riuptiall turnament Thinkst thou I ioy'd not in thy Beauties pride vvhen thou in tryumph didst through Paris ride VVhere all the streets as thou didst pace along vvith Arras Bisse and Tapestry were hong Ten thousand gallant Cittizens prepar'd In ritch attire thy Princely selfe to guard Next them three thousand choise religeous men In golden vestments followed them agen And in precession as they came along vvith 〈◊〉 sang thy marriage song Then fiue 〈◊〉 Dukes as did their places fall To each 〈◊〉 a Princely Cardinall Then thou on thy imperiall Chariot set Crown'd with a rich imperled Coronet vvhilst the Parisian Dames
This Richard whom ironiacally shee heere calls Dicke that by treason after his Nephewes murthered obtained the Crowne was a man lowe of stature crooke-back'd the left shoulder much higher then the right and of a very crabbed and sower countenance his Mother could not be deliuered of him vncut and he was borne toothed and with his feete forward contrary to the course of nature To ouershadow our vermilion Rose The red Rose was the badge of the house of Lancaster and the white Rose of Yorke which by the marriage of Henry the seauenth with Elizabeth indubitate heire of the house of Yorke was conioyned and vnited Or who doth muzzle that vnruly Beare The Earle of Warwicke the setter vp and puller downe of Kings gaue for his Armes the white Beare rampant and the Ragged staffe His glorious conquest got at Agyncourt Agincourt is a Teritory in Fraunce where King Henry the fifth discomfited the whole French puissance beeing 60000. horsemen besides foote-men and Pages and slewe at the same battell 8000 of their Nobility Knights and Gentlemen And almost all the Princes of Fraunce besides such as were taken prisoners Who fill'd the ditches of besieged Caen With mangled bodies c. Caen is a meruailous strong Towne of Normandy which after long famine and extreame misery was yeelded vp to King Henry the fifth who fortified the Towne and Castle to the vse of the English My Daysie flower which erst perfum'd the ayre Which for my fauour Princes once did weare c. The Daysie in French is called Margarit which was Queene Margarits badge where-with all the Nobility and chiualry of the Land at the first ariuall were so delighted that they wore it in their Hats in token of honour And who be Starres but Warwicks bearded staues The ragged or bearded staffe was a part of the Armes belonging to the Earldome of VVarwicke Slaundering Duke Rayner with base beggery Rayner Duke of Aniou called himselfe King of Naples Cicile and Ierusalem hauing neither inheritance nor tribute from those parts and was not able at the marriage of the Queene of his owne charges to send her into England though he gaue no dower with her which by the Dutches of Glocester was often in disgrace cast in her teeth A Kentish Rebell a base vpstart Groome This was Iack Cade which caused the Kentish-men to rebell in the 28. yeare of Henry the 6. And this is he the white Rose must prefer By Clarence Daughter match'd to Mortimer This Iack Cade instructed by the Duke of Yorke pretended to be decended from Mortimer which married Lady Phillip Daughter to the Duke of Clarence And makes vs weake by strengthning Ireland The Duke of Yorke beeing made Deputy of Ireland first there began to practise his long pretended purpose strengthning himselfe by all meanes possible that he might at his returne into England by open warre to claime that which so long he had priuily gone about to obtaine Great Winchester vntimely is deceas'd Henry Beuford Bishop and Cardinall of Winchester Sonne to Iohn of Gaunt begot in his age was a proud and ambitious Prelat fauouring mightily the Queene and the Duke of Suffolke continually heaping vp innumerable treasure in hope to haue beene Pope as himselfe on his death-bed confessed With Fraunce t'vpbraide the valiant Somerset Edmond Duke of Somerset in the 24. of Henry the 6 was made Regent of Fraunce and sent into Normandy to defend the English Territories against the French inuasions but in short time he lost all that King Henry the fifth wone for which cause the Nobles and the Commons cuer after hated him T'endure these stormes with wofull Buckingham Humfrey Duke of Buckingham was a great fauorite of the Queenes Faction in the time of Henry the 6. And one foretold by water thou shouldst dye The Witch of Eye receaued aunswer by her spirit that the Duke of Suffolke should take heede of water which the Queene forwarnes him of as remembring the Witches prophecie which afterward came to passe FINIS To the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Mounson Knight SIR amongst many which most deseruedly loue you though I the least yet am loth to be the last whose endeuours may make knowne how highly they esteeme of your noble and kinde disposition let this Epistle Sir I beseech you which vnwoorthily weares the Badge of your woorthy name acknowledge my zeale with the rest though much lesse deseruing which for your sake doe honour the house of the Mounsons I knowe true generositie accepteth what is zelously offered though not euer deseruingly excellent yet for loue of the Art from whence it receiueth resemblance The light Phrigian harmony stirreth delight as well as the melancholy Doricke moueth passion both haue their motion in the spirit as the lyking of the soule moueth the affection Your kinde acceptance of my labour shall giue some life to my Muse which yet houers in the vncertaintie of the generall censure Michaell Drayton Edward the fourth to Shores wife * The Argument This Mistresse Shore King Edward the fourths beautious paramore was so called of her husband a Goldsmith awelling in Lumbard street Edward the fourth sonne to Richard Duke of Yorke after hee had obtained the Crowne by deposing Henry the sixt which Henry was after murthered in the Tower by Richard Crookebacke and after the battell fought at Barnet where that famous Earle of VVarwicke was slaine and that King Edward quietly possessed the Crowne hearing by report of many the rare and wonderfull beauty of the afore-said Shores wife commeth himselfe disguised to London to see her where after he had once bebeld her he was so surprised with her admirable beautie as not long after he robbed her husband of his deerest iewel but first by this Epistle he writeth vnto her VNto the fayr'st that euer breath'd thys ayre From English Edward to that fairest faire Ah would to God thy title were no more That no remembrance might remaine of Shore To countermaund a Monarchs high desire And barre mine eyes of what they most admire O why should Fortune make the Citty proude To giue that more then is the Court alow'd VVhere they like wretches hoard it vp to spare And doe engrosse it as they doe theyr ware VVhen fame first blaz'd thy beauty heere in Court Mine eares repulsd it as a light report But when mine eyes sawe what mine eare had hard They thought report too niggardly had spard And strooken dumbe with wonder did but mutter Conceiuing more then shee had words to vtter Then thinke of what thy husband is possest vvhen I enuy that Shore should so be blest vvhen much abundance makes the needy mad And hauing all yet knowes not what is had Into fooles bosoms thys good fortune creepes And wealth comes in the whilst the miser sleepes If now thy beauty be of such esteeme vvhich all of so rare excellencie deeme vvhat would it be and prized at what rate vvere it adorned with a kingly state vvhich beeing now but in so meane a bed Is
Lords command By me shall kisse thy sweet and dainty hand Notes of the Chronicle historie THis Epistle of Edward to Shores wife and of hers to him being of vnlawfull affection ministreth small occasion of historicall Notes for had he mentioned the many battailes betwixt the Lancastrian faction and him or other warlike dangers it had been more like to Plautus boasting Souldiour then a kingly Courtier Notwithstanding it shall not be amisse to annexe a line or two From English Edward to the fairest faire Edward the fourth was by nature very chiualrous and very amorous applying his sweet and amiable aspect to attaine his wanton appetite the rather which was so well knowne to Lewes the French King who at their interuiew inuited him to Paris that as Cominaeus reports being taken at his word he notwithstanding brake off the matter fearing the Parisian dames with their witry conuersation would detaine him longer then should be for his benefit by 〈◊〉 meanes Edward was disapointed of his iourney and albeit Princes whilst they liue haue nothing in them but what is admirable yet we neede not mistrust the flattery of the Court in those times for certaine it is that his shape was excellent his haire drew neere to a blacke making his faces fauour seeme more delectable Though the smalenes of his eyes full of a shining moisture as it tooke away some comlines so it argued much sharpnes of vnderstanding and cruelty mingled therewith And in deede 〈◊〉 Buchanan that imperious Scot chargeth him and other Princes of those times with affection of tiranny as Richard the third manifestly did When first attracted by thy heauenly eyes Edwards intemperate desires with which he was wholy ouercome how tragically they in his ofspring were punished is vniuersally knowne A mirrour representing their ouer-sight that rather leaue their children what to possesle then what to imitate How silly is the Polander and Dane To bring vs Christall from the frozen maine Alluding to their opinions who imagine Christall to be a kind of Ice and therefore it is likely they who come from the frozen parts should bring great store of that transparent stone which is thought to be congealed with extreame cold Whether Christall be Ice or some other liquor I omit to dispute yet by the examples of Amber and Corall there may be such an induration for Solinus out of Pliny mentioneth that in the Northerly Regions a yellow ielly is taken vp out of the Sea at low tides which he calls Succinum wee Amber so likewise out of the Ligustick deepe a part of the Mediterrin Sea a greenish stalke is gathered which hardned in the ayre becomes to be Corall either white or red Amber notwithstanding is thought to drop out of trees as appeares by Martials Epigram Et latet et lucet Phaethontide condita 〈◊〉 Vt videatur apis necture clausa sub Dignum 〈◊〉 pretium tulit ille laborum Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori To behold a Bee inclosde in Electrum is not so rare as that a Boyes throat should be cut with the fall of an Icesickle the which Epigram is excellent the 18 lib. 4. He calls it Phaethontis gutta because of that fable which Ouid rehearseth concerning the Heliades or Phaetons Sisters metamorphozed into those trees whose gum is Amber where Flies alighting are often times tralucently imprisoned ¶ The Epistle of Shores wife to King Edward the Fourth AS the weake chyld that from the Mothers wing Is taught the Lutes delicious fingering At euery strings soft touch is mou'd with feare Noting his Maisters curious listning eare VVhose trembling hand at euery straine bewrayes In what doubt hee his new set lesson playes As this poore chylde so sit I to indite At euery word still quaking as I write VVould I had led an humble Shepheards life Nor knowne the name of Shores admired wife And liu'd with them in Country fields that range Nor seene the golden Cheape nonglittering Change To stand a Cometgaz'd at in the skyes Subiect to all tongues obiect to all eyes Oft haue I heard my beauty praisd of many But neuer yet so much admir'd of any A Princes Eagle eye to finde out that vvhich vulgar sights doe sildome wonder at Makes mee to thinke affection flatters sight Or in the obiect some-thing exquisite To housed beauty sildome stoopes report Fame must attend on that which liues in Court VVhat swanne of great Apollos brood doth sing To vulgar loue in courtly Sonetting O what immortall Poets sugred pen Attends the glory of a Citizen Oft haue I wondred what should blinde your eye Or what so farre seduced Maiestie That hauing choyce of beauties so diuine Amongst the most to choose this least of mine More glorious sunnes adorne faire Londons pride Then all rich Englands continent beside vvho takes in hand to make account of this May number Rumneys flowers or Isis fish vvho doth frequent our Temples walks and streets Noting the sundry beauties that hee meets Thinks not that Nature left the wide world poore And made thys place the Chequer of her store As heauen and earth were lately fallne at larrs And growne to vying wonders dropping starrs That if but some one beautie should incite Some sacred Muse some rauisht spirit to write Heere might he fetch such true Promethian fire As after ages should his lynes admire Gathering the honny from the choysest flowers Scorning the wither'd weedes in Countrie bowers Heere in thys Garden onely spings the Rose In euery common hedge the Bramble growes Nor are we so turn'd Neapolitan That might incite some foule-mouth'd Mantuan To all the world to lay out our defects And haue iust cause to rayle vpon our sex To pranck old wrinkels vp in new attire To alter natures course proue tyme a lyer Abusing fate and heauens iust doome reuerse On beauties graue to set a Crimson hearse vvith a deceitfull foyle to lay a ground To make a glasse to seeme a Diamond Nor cannot without hazard of our name In fashion follow the Venetian Dame Nor the fantastick French to imitate Attir'd halfe Spanish halfe Italionate Nor wast nor curle body nor brow adorne That is in Florence or in Genoa borne But with vaine boasts how witlesse 〈◊〉 am I Thus to draw on mine owne indignity 〈◊〉 And what though married when I was but young Before I knew what dyd to loue belong Yet he which now's possessed of the roome Cropt beauties flower when it was in the bloome And goes away enriched with the store vvhilst others gleane where he had reapt before And he dares sweare that I am true and iust And shall I then deceiue his honest trust Or what strange hope should make you to assaile vvhere strongest battery neuer could preuaile Belike you thinke that I repulsd the rest To leaue a King the conquest of my brest Or haue thus long preseru'd my selfe from all A Monarch now should glory in my fall Yet rather let mee die the vilest death Then lyue to draw such
being seuered in sundry prisons they write these Epistles one to another MIne owne deere Lord sith thou art lock'd frō mee In this disguise my loue must steale to thee Since to renew all loues all kindnes past This refuge scarcely left yet this the last My Keeper comming I of thee enquire 〈◊〉 with thy greeting aunswers my desire vvhich my tongue willing to returne againe Griefe stops my words and I but striue in vaine VVhere-with amaz'd away in hast he goes vvhen through my lips my hart thrusts forth my woes vvhen as the doores that make a dolefull sound Driue backe my words that in the noyse are drownd vvhich some-what hush'd the eccho doth record And twice or thrice reiterats my word vvhen like an aduerse wind in Isis course Against the tyde bending his boystrous force But when the flood hath wrought it selfe about Hee following on doth headlong thrust it out Thus striue my sighes with teares ere they begin And breaking out againe sighes driue them in A thousand formes present my troubled thought Yet proue abortiue when they forth are brought From strongest woe we hardly language wrest The depth of griefe with words is sounded least As teares doe fall and rise sighes come and goe So doe these numbers ebb so doe they flow These briny teares doe make my Inke looke pale My Inck clothes tears in thys sad mourning vaile The Letters mourners weepe with my dim eye The paper pale greeu'd at my misery Yet miserable our selues why should we deeme Sith none is so but in his owne esteeme vvho in distresse from resolution flies Is rightly sayd to yeeld to miseries That life is onely miserable and vile From which faire patience doth it selfe exile They which begot vs did beget this sinne They first begun what dyd our griefe begin VVee tasted not t'was they which dyd rebell Not our offence but in theyr fall we fell They which a Crowne would to my Lord haue linck'd All hope all life all libertie extinct A subiect borne a Princesse to haue beene Hath made me now nor subiect nor a Queene Ah vile ambition how doost thou deceaue vs VVhich shew'st vs heauen and yet in hell doost leaue vs Sildome vntouch'd doth innocens escape vvhen error commeth in good counsailes shape A lawfull title counterchecks proude might The weakest things become strong props to right Then my deere Lord although affliction grieue vs Yet let our spotlesse innocens relieue vs. Death but an acted passion doth appeare vvhere truth giues courage and the conscience cleere And let thy comfort thus consist in mine That I beare part of what so ere is thine As when we liu'd vntouch'd with these disgraces vvhen as our kingdome was our sweet embraces At Durham Pallace where sweet Himen sang vvhose buildings with our nuptiall musick rang vvhen Prothalamions praysd that happy day vvherein great Dudley match'd with noble Gray vvhen they deuisd to linck by wedlocks band The house of Suffolke to Northumberland Our fatall Dukedome to your Dukedome bound To frame this building on so weake a ground For what auailes a lawlesse vsurpation vvhich giues a scepter but not rules a nation Onely the surfit of a vaine opinion vvhat giues content giues more then all dominion VVhen first mine eares were persed with the same Of Iane proclaimed by a Princes name A suddaine fright my trembling hart appalls The feare of conscience entreth yron walls Thrice happy for our Fathers had it beene If what we fear'd they wisely had fore-seene And kept a meane gate in an humble path To haue escap'd these furious tempests wrath The Cedar-building Eagle beares the winde And not the Faulcon though both Hawkes by kind That kingly byrd doth from the cloudes commaund The fearefull foule that moues but neere the land Though Mary be from mighty Kings descended My blood not from Plantaginet pretended My Grandsire Brandon did our house aduaunce By princely Mary dowager of Fraunce The fruite of that fayre stocke which did combine And Yorks sweet branch with Lancasters entwine And in one stalke did happily vnite The pure vermilion Rose with purer white I the vntimely slip of that rich stem vvhose golden bud brings forth a Diadem But oh forgiue me Lord it is not I Nor doe I boast of this but learne to die VVhilst we weare as our selues conioyned then Nature to nature now an alien The purest blood polluted is in blood Neerest contemnd if soueraignty withstood A Diadem once dazeling the eye The day too darke to see affinitie And where the arme is stretch'd to reach a Crowne Friendshyp is broke the deerest things thrown downe For what great Henry most stroue to auoyd The heauens haue built what earth woulde haue destroyd And seating Edward on his regall throne Hee giues to Mary all that was his owne By death assuring what by life is theyrs The lawfull clayme of Henries lawfull heyres By mortall lawes the bond may be diuorc'd But heauens decree by no meanes can be forc'd The rule the case when men haue all decreed vvho tooke him hence knew well who should succeed In vaine be counsells statuts humaine lawes vvhen cheefe of counsailes pleads the iustest cause Thus rule the heauens in theyr continuall course That yeelds to fate that doth not yeeld to force Mans wit doth build for tyme but to deuoure But vertu's free from tyme and fortunes power vvhat vertue gets once got doth neuer wast And hauing this thys thou for euer hast Then my kind Lord sweet Gilford bee not greeu'd The soule is heauenly and from heauen releeu'd And as we once haue plighted troth together Now let vs make exchange of mindes to eyther To thy faire breast take my resolued minde Arm'd against black Dispaire and all her kind And to my bosome breathe that soule of thine There to be made as perfect as is mine So shall our fayths as firmely bee approued As I of thee or thou of mee beloued Thys life no life wert thou not deere to mee Nor thys no death were I not woe for thee Thou my deere husband and my Lord before But truely learne to die thou shalt be more Now lyue by prayer on heauen fixe all thy thought And surely finde what ere by zeale is sought For each good motion that the soule awakes A heauenly figure sees from whence it takes That sweet resemblance which by power of kind Formes like it selfe an Image in the mind And in our fayth the operations bee Of that diuinenes which by faith we see vvhich neuer errs but accidentally By our fraile fleshes imbicillitie By each temptation ouer-apt to slide Except our spirit becomes our bodies guide For as our bodyes prisons be these Towers So to our soules these bodies be of ours vvhose fleshly walls hinder that heauenly light As these stone walls depriue our wished sight Death is the key which vnlocks misery And lets them out to blessed liberty Then draw thy forces all vnto thy hart The strongest fortresse of thys earthly part And on