these three let thy assurance lye On fayth repentance and humilitie Humilitie to heauen the step the stayre Is for deuotion sacrifice and prayer The next place doth to true repentance fall A salue a comfort and a cordiall Hee that hath that the keyes of heauen hath That is the guide that is the port the path Fayth is thy Fort thy shield thy strongest ayde Neuer controld nere yeelded nere dismayd vvhich doth dilate vnfold fore-tell expresseth vvhich giues rewards inuesteth and possesseth Then thanke the heauen preparing vs this roome Crowning our heads with glorious martirdome Before the black and dismall dayes begin The dayes of all Idolatry and sinne Not suffering vs to see that wicked age VVhen persecution vehemently shall rage vvhen tiranny new tortures shall inuent Inflicting vengeance on the innocent Yet heauen forbids that Maries wombe shall bring Englands faire Scepter to a forraine King But vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it vvhich broken hurt and wounded shall receaue it And on her temples hauing plac'd the Crowne Roote out the dregs Idolatry hath sowne And Syons glory shall againe restore Layd ruine wast and desolate before And from black sinders and rude heapes of stones Shall gather vp the Martirs scattered bones And shall exterpe the power of Rome againe And cast aside the heauy yoake of Spaine Farewell sweet Gilford know our end is neere Heauen is our home we are but strangers heere Let vs make hast to goe vnto the blest vvhich from these weary worldly labours rest And with these lines my dearest Lord I greete thee Vntill in heauen thy Iane againe shall meete thee Notes of the Chronicle history They which begot vs did beget this sinne SHewing the ambition of the two Dukes their Fathers whose pride was the cause of the vtter ouerthrow of their children At Durham Pallace where sweete Hymen sang The buildings c. The Lord Gilford Dudley fourth Sonne to Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland married the Lady Iane Gray Daughter to the Duke of Suffolke at Durham house in the Strand When first mine eares were pearced with the fame Of Iane proclaimed by a Princesse name Presently vpon the death of King Edward the Lady Iane was taken as Queene conueyed by water to the Tower of London for her safety and after proclaimed in diuers parts of the Realme as so ordayned by King Edwards Letters-pattents and his will My Grandsire Brandon did our house aduaunce By Princely Mary Dowager of Fraunce Henry Gray Duke of Suffolke married Frauncis the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke by the French Queene by which Frauncis hee had this Lady Iane this Mary the French Queene was Daughter to King Henry the seauenth by Elizabeth his Queene which happy marriage conioyned the two Noble families of Lancaster and Yorke For what great Henry most stroue to auoyde Noting the distrust that King Henry the eight euer had in the Princesse Mary his Daughter fearing she should alter the state of Religion in the Land by matching with a Stranger confessing the right that King Henries issue had to the Crowne And vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it A Prophecie of Queene Maries barrennes of the happy and glorious raigne of Queene Elizabeth her restoring of Religion the abollishing of the Romish seruitude and casting aside the yoake of Spaine The Lord Gilford Dudley to the Lady Iane Gray THus from the strongest treble-walled Tower Swan-like I sing before my dying hower O if there were such power but in my verse As in these woes my wounded hart doe pierce Stones taking sence th'obdurate flint that heares Should at my plaints dissolue it selfe to teares Lend mee a teare Ile pay thee with a teare And interest to if thou the stock forbeare vvoe for a woe and for thy interest lone I will returne thee franckly two for one Ile giue thee howers of woe and yeares of sorrow And turne the day to night the night to morrow And if thou think'st tyme yet doth passe to soone vvhen euening comes wee'll make it but our noone And if a griefe proue weake and not of force I will exchange a better for a worse And if thou thinke too quickly sorrowe ends Another twice so long shall make amends Perhaps thou'lt iudge in such extreames as these That words of comfort might farre better please But such strange power in thy perfection liueth As smyles in teares and teares in gladnes giueth Yet thinke not Iane that cowardly I faint As begging mercy by thys sad complaint Or yet suppose my courage daunted so That thou shouldst stand betwixt mee and my foe That grym-aspected death should now controule And seeme fo fearefull to my parting soule For were one life a thousand lifes to mee Yet were all those too few to die with thee vvhen thou thy woes so patiently doost beare As if in death no cause of sorrow were And no more doost lyfes dissolution shun Then if colde age his longest course had run Thou which didst once giue comfort to my woe Now art alone become my comforts foe Not that I leaue wherein I did delight But that thou art debarr'd my wished sight For if I speake and would complaine my wrong Straightwayes thy name doth come into my tongue And thou art present as thou still didst lie Or in my hart or in my lypps or eye No euill plannet raigned at thy birth Nor was that hower prodigious heere on earth No fatall marke of froward destenie Could be diuin'd in thy natiuitie Tis onely I that dyd thy fall deuise And thou by mee art made a sacrifice As in the East whereas the louing wiues Doe with theyr husbands euer end theyr liues And crown'd with garlands in theyr brydes attire Goe with theyr husbands to that holy fire And shee vnworthy thought to liue of all vvhom feare of death or danger doth appall I boast not of Northumberlands great name Nor of Ketts conquest which adornes the same VVhen he to Norfolke led his troupes from farre And yok'd the Rebells in the chayne of warre vvhen our VVhite-beare dyd furiously respire The flames that sing'd theyr Villages with fire And brought sweet peace in safetie to our dores Yet left our fame vpon the Easterne shores Nor of my princely Brothers which might grace And plant true honour in the 〈◊〉 race Nor of Grayes match my chydren borne by thee Alied to Yorke and Lancaster should be But of thy vertues proudly boast I dare That shee is mine whom all perfections are I crau'd no kingdome though I thee did craue And hauing thee I wish'd no more to haue Yet let me say how ere thys fortune fell Mee thinks a Crowne should haue becom'd thee well Mee thinks thy wisedome was ordaind alone To blesse a scepter beautifie a throne Thy lyps a sacred oracle retaine vvhere in all holy prophecies remaine More highly priz'd thy vertues were to mee Then Crownes then Kingdoms or then Scepters bee So chast thy loue so innocent thy life A wifed virgine and a
alas too loosely set to sale Shee need not like an vgly Minataur Haue been lock'd vp from iealious Ellinor But beene as famous by thy mothers wrongs As by thy Father subiect to all tongues To shadow sinne might can the most pretend Kings but the conscience all things can defend A stronger hand restraines our wilsull powers A will must rule aboue this will of ours Not following what our vaine desires doe wooe For vertues sake but what we onely doe And hath my Father chose to liue exild Before his eyes should see my youth defild And to withstand a Tyrants lewd desire Beheld his Towers and Castles razd with fire Yet neuer tuch'd with griefe so onely I Exempt from shame might with true honour die And shall this iewell which so deerely cost Now after all by my dishonour lost No no his reuerend words his holy teares Yet in my soule too deepe impression beares No no his fare-well at his last depart More deepely is engrauen in my hart Nor shall that blot by mee his name shall haue Bring his gray haires with sorrow to his graue Rather with pitty weepe vpon my Tombe Then for my birth to curse my mothers wombe Though Dunmowe giue no refuge heere at all Dunmowe can giue my body buriall If all remorcelesse no teare-shedding eye My selfe will moane my selfe so liue so die Notes of the Chronicle historie THis Epistle containeth no particuler poynts of historie more then the generallity of the argument layeth open for after the banishment of the Lord Robert Fitzwater and that 〈◊〉 was become a Recluse at Dunmowe from whence this reply is imagined to bee written the King still earnestly persisting in his sute Matilda with this chast constant deniall hopeth yet at length to find some comfortable remedy and to rid herselfe of doubts by taking vpon her this monasticke habite and to shew that shee still beareth in minde his former crueltie bred by the impatience of his lust she remembreth him of her fathers banishment the lawlesse exile of her alies and friends Doost thou of Father and of friends depriue mee Then complayning of her distresse that flying thether thinking there to finde releefe she sees herselfe most assayld where she hoped to haue found most safetie Alas and fled I hether from my foe That c. After againe standing vpon the precise poynts of conscience not to cast off this habite she had taken My vowe is taken I a Nunne profest And at last laying open more particulerly the miseries sustained by her Father in England the burning of his Castles and houses which she proueth to be for her sake as respecting onely her honour more then his natiue country and his owne fortunes And to withstand a Tyrants lowde desire Beheld his Towers and Castels set on fire Knitting vp her Epistle with a great and constant resolution Though Dunmow giue no refuge heere at all Dunmow can giue my body burià ll FINIS To the vertuous Lady the Lady Anne Harrington wife to the honourable Gentleman Sir Iohn Harrington Knight MY singuler good Lady your many vertues knowne in generall to all and your gracious fauours to my vnworthy selfe haue confirmed that in mee which before I knew you I onely sawe by the light of other mens iudgements Honour seated in your breast findes herselfe adorned as in a rich pallace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which makes her admirable which like the sunne from thence begetteth most precious things of this earthly world onely by the vertue of his rayes not the nature of the mould Worth is best 〈◊〉 by the worthie deiected mindes want that pure fire which should giue vigor to vertue I refer to your owne great thoughts the vnpartiall Judges of true affection the vnfained zeale I haue euer borne to your honorable seruice and so rest your Ladiships humbly at commaund Michaell Drayton Queene Isabell to Mortimer * The Argument Queene Isabell the wife of Edward the seconde called Edward Carnaruan being the daughter of Phillip le Beau King of Fraunce forsaken by the King her husband who delighted onely in the company of Piers Gaueston his minion and fauorite and after his death seduced by the euill counsaile of the Spensers This Queene thus left by her husband euen in the glory of her youth drewe into her especiall fauour Roger Mortimer Lorde of VVigmore a man of a mightie and inuinsible spirit This Lord Mortimer rising in Armes against the King with Thomas Earle of Lancaster and the Barrons was taken ere hee could gather his power and by the King committed to the Tower of London During his imprisonment he ordained a feast in honor of his birth-day to which he inuited Sir Stephen Segraue Lieutenant of the Tower and the rest of the officers where by meanes of a drinke prepared him by the Queene hee cast them all into a beauie sleepe and with ladders of cordes beeing ready prepared for the purpose hee escapeth and flyeth into Fraunce whether shee sendeth this Epistle complayning her owne misfortunes and greatly reioycing at his safe escape THough such sweet comfert comes not now from her As Englands Queene hath sent to Mortimer Yet what that wants which might my power approue If lines can bring this shall supply with loue Mee thinks affliction should not fright mee so Nor should resume these sundry shapes of wo But when I faine would finde the cause of this Thy absence shewes mee where the erroris Oft when I thinke of thy departing hence Sad sorrow then possesseth euery sence But finding thy deere blood preseru'd thereby And in thy life my long-wish'd libertie vvith that sweet thought my selfe I onely pleuse Amid'st my griefe which sometimes giues me ease Thus doe extreamest ills a ioy possesse And one woe makes another woe seeme lesse That blessed night that mild-aspected howre VVherein thou mad'st escape our of the Towre Shall consecrated euer-more remaine VVhat gentle Planet in that howre did raigne And shall be happy in the birth of men vvhich was chiefe Lord of the Ascendant then Oh how I fear'd that sleepie iuyce I sent Might yet want power to further thine intent Or that some vnseene misterie might lurke VVhich wanting order kindly should not worke Oft did I wish those dreadfull poysoned lees That clos'd the euer-waleing Dragons eyes Or I had had those sence 〈◊〉 stalkes That grow in shadie Proserpines darke walkes Or those blacke weedes on Lethe bankes below Or Lunary that doth on Latmus flow Oft did I feare thys moyst and foggie Clime Or that the earth waxt barraine nowe with time Should not haue hearbes to helpe me in this case Such as doe thriue on Indias parched face That morrow when the blessed sunne did rise And shut the lidds of all heauens lesser eyes Forth from my 〈◊〉 by a secret staire I steale to 〈◊〉 as though to take the ayre And aske the gentle stood as it did glide Or thou didst 〈◊〉 or perish by the tide If thou didst perish I desire the streame To
witchcraft and burned for the same and that Piers had bewitched the King Albania Gascoyne Cambria Ireland Albania Scotland so called of Albanact the seconde sonne of Brutus and Cambria Wales so called of Camber the third sonne the foure 〈◊〉 and Countries brought in subiection by Edward Longshanks When of our Princely iewells and our dowers We but enioy the least of what is ours A complaynt of the prodigalitie of King Edward giuing vnto Gaueston the iewells treasure which was left him by the auncient Kings of England and enriching him with the goodly Manor of Wallingforde assigned as parcell of the dower to the Queenes of this famous Ile And ioynd with the braue issue of our blood Alie our kingdome to theyr crauand brood Edward the second gaue to Piers Gaueston in marriage the daughter of Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester begot of the Kinges sister Ioane of Acres married to the said Earle of Gloster Should giue away all that his Father wonne To backe a stranger King Edward offered his right in Fraunce to Charles his brother in law and his right in Scotland to Robert Bruse to bee ayded against the Barrons in the quarrell of Piers Gaueston And did great Edward on his death-bed giue Edward Longshanks on his death-bed at Carlile commaunded young Edward his sonne on his blessing not to call backe Gaueston which for the misguiding of the Princes youth was before banished by the whole counsell of the land That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beuchamp Lasey Lancaster Thomas Earle of Lancaster Guy Earle of VVarwicke Henry Earle of Lincolne who had taken theyr oathes before the deceassed King at his death to withstand his sonne Edward if he should call Gaueston from exile beeing a thing which hee much feared now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers commaundement rise in Armes against the King which was the cause of the ciuile war and the ruine of so many Princes And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That nowe a Spenser should succeed in all The two Hugh Spensers the Father the sonne after the death of Gaueston became the great fauorites of the King the sonne being created by him Lord Chamberlaine and the Father Earle of Winchester And if they were yet Edward doth detaine Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitaine Edward Longshanks did homage for those Citties and territories to the French King which Edward the second neglecting moued the French King by the subbornation of Mortimer to ceaze those Countries into his hands By auncient Wigmors honourable Crest Wigmore in the marches of Wales was the ancient house of the Mortimers that noble and couragious familie That still so long as Borrough beares that name The Queene remembreth the great ouerthrowe giuen to the Barrons by Andrew Herckley Earle of Carlill at Borrough bridge after the battaile at Burton And Torlton now whose counsells should direct Thys was Adam Torlton bishop of Herford that great polititian who so highly fauoured the faction of the Queene and Mortimer whose euill counsell afterward wrought the destruction of the King Mortimer to Queene Isabell. AS thy saluts my sorrowes doe adiourne So backe to thee their interest I returne Though not in so great bountie I confesse As thy heroicke princely lines expresse For how should comfort issue from the breath Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd vp in death From murthers rage thou didst me once repriue Now in exile my hopes thou doost reuiue Twice all was taken twice thou all didst giue And thus twice dead thou mak'st me twice to liue This double life of mine your onely due You gaue to mee I giue it backe to you Nere my escape had I aduentur'd thus As did the skye-attempting Daedalus And yet to giue more safetie to my flight Haue made a night of day a day of night Nor had I backt the proude aspyring wall vvhich held without my hopes within my fall Leauing the cordes to tell where I had gone For gazing eyes with feare to looke vpon But that thy beautie by a power diuine Breath'd a new life into this spirit of mine Drawne by the sunne of thy celestiall eyes vvith fiery wings made passage through the skyes The heauens did seeme the charge of me to take And sea and land be friend mee for thy sake Thames stopt hen tide to make me way to goe As thou had'st charg'd her that it should be so The hollow murmuring winds their due time kept As they had rock'd the world whilst all things slept One billow bore me and another draue mee This stroue to helpe me and that stroue to saue mee The brisling Reedes mou'd with the ayre did chide mee As they would tell me that they moant to hide mee The pale-fac'd night beheld thy heauie cheere And would not let one little starre appeare But ouer all her smoakie mantle hurl'd And in thick vapours muffled vp the world And the pure ayre became so calme and still As it had beene obedient to my will And euery thing disposd vnto my rest As when one Seas the Alcion buildes her nest And those rough waues which late with furie rusht Slide smoothlie on and suddainly are husht Nor Neptune lets his surges out so long As Nature is in bringing forth her yong Nor let the Spensers glory in my chaunce That thus I liue an exile now in Fraunce That I from England banished should be But England rather banished from me More were her want Fraunce our great blood shold beare Then Englands losse should be to Mortimer My Grandsire was the first since Authurs raigne That the Round-table lastly did ordaine To whose great Court at Kenelworth did come The peerlesse knighthood of all Christendome VVhose princely order honoured England more Then all the conquests shee atchiu'd before Neuer durst Scot set foote on English ground Nor on his backe did English beare a wound vvhilst VVigmore flourisht in our princely hopes And whilst our Ensigne march'd with Edwards troupes VVhilst famous Longshanks bones in Fortunes scorne As sacred reliques to the fielde were borne Nor euer did the valiant English doubt VVhilst our braue battailes guarded them about Nor did our wiues and wofull mothers mourne The English blood that stained Banocksburn VVhilst with his Minions sporting in his Tent VVhole dayes and nights in banquetting were spent Vntill the Scots which vnder safeguard stoode Made lauish hauock of the English blood And battered helmes lay scattered on the shore vvhere they in conquest had beene borne before A thousand kingdoms will we seeke from farre As many Nations wast with ciuill warre vvhere the disheuel'd gastly Sea-nymphe sings Or well-rigd shyps shall stretch theyr swelling wings And dragge theyr Ankors through the sandie foame About the world in euery Clime to roame And those vnchristned Countries call our owne vvhere scarce the name of England hath been knowne And in the Dead-sea sinck our houses fame From whose sterne waues we first deriu'd our Name Before foule black-mouth'd infamie shall sing That