mine vncle chiefly as he sayed Who in his mouth no other matter had Saue punish such as had my brother trayed The faut wherof epparantly he layed To good duke Murdo his elder brothers sonne Whose father dyed long ere this dede was doen. My cursed vncle â—lyer than the snake Which would by craft vnto the crowne aspier Because he sawe this Murdo was a stake That stayed vp the stop of his desier For his elder brother was Duke Murdoes fier He thought it best to haue him made away So was he suer I goen to haue his pray And by his craftes the traytour brought to passe That I destroyed Duke Murdo and his kin Poore innocentes my louing frendes alas O kinges and Princes what plight stand we in A trusted traytour shal you quickely winne To put to death your kin and frendes most iust Take hede therfore take hede whose rede ye trust And at the last to bring me hole in hate With god and man at home and eke abrode He counsayled me for surance of my state To helpe the Frenchmen then nye overtrode By Englishmen and more to lay on lode With power and force al England to invade Against the othe and homage that I made And though at first my conscience did grudge To breake the bondes of frendship knit by oth Yet after profe see mâ—schiefe I did iudge It madnes for a king to kepe his troth And semblably with all the world it goth Sinnes ofte assayed are thought to be no sinne So sinne doth soyle the soule it sinketh in But as diseases common cause of death Bring daunger most whan least they pricke smart Which is a signe they haue expulst the breth Of liuely heat which doth defende the hart Euen so such sinnes as felt are on no part Haue conquered grace and by their wicked vre So kild the soule that it can haue no cure And grace agate vice stil suceedeth vice And all to haste the vengeaunce for the furst I arede therfore all people to be wise And stoppe the bracke whan it begins to burst At taste no poyson vice is venim wurst It mates the mind beware eke of to much All kil through muchnes sum with only touche Whan I had learned to set my othe at nought And through much vse the sence of sinne exyled Agaynst king Henry what I could I wrought My fayth my othe vniustly foule defiled And while sly Fortune at my doinges smiled The wrath of God which I had wel deserued Fell on my necke for thus loe was I serued Ere I had raygned fully fiftene yere While time I laye at Pertho at my place With the Quene my wife children me to chere My murdring vncle with the double face That longed for my kingdome and my mace To sâ—ay me there suborned Robert Gram With whom his nephew Robert Stuart cam And whan they time fit for their purpose found Into my priuy chaumber they aâ—â—art Where with their sweardes they gave me many a wound And slue al such as stucke vnto my parte There loe my wife dyd shewe her louing harte Who to defende me felled one or twayne And was sore wounded ere I coulde be slayne See Baldwin Baldwin the vnhappy endes Of suche as passe not for theyr lawfull oth Of those that causâ—les leaue theyr fayth or frendes And murdre kynsfolke through their foes vntroth Warne warne all princes all lyke sinnes to loth And chiefely suche as in my Realme be borne For God hates hyghly suche as are forsworne WHan this was sayd let King Iamy go ê™ mayster Ferrers returne we to our owne story se what broyls wer amoÌ„g the nobility in y e kinges minority How y e cardinal Bewford maligneth the estate of good duke HuÌ„frey the kinges vncle protector of y e realme by what driftes he first banisheth his wife froÌ„ him And lastly howe the good duke is murderously made away through conspiracy of Quene Margaret and other both whose tragedies I entend at leasure to declare for they be notable Do so I pray you ê™ another But take hede ye demurre not vpon them And I to be occupied the meane time will shewe what I haue noted in the duke of Suffolkes doinges one of the chiefest of duke Humfreyes destroyers who by the prouidens of God came shortly after in such hatred of the people that the King him selfe could not saue hym from astraunge and notable death which he may lament after this maner Hovv Lorde VVilliam Delapole Duke of Suffolke vvas vvorthily punyshed for abusing his Kyng and causing the destruction of good Duke Humfrey HEauy is the hap wherto all men be bound I meane the death which no estate may flye But to be banisht headed so and drownd In sinke of shame from top of honors hye Was never man so served I thinke but I And therfore Baldwin fro thy grave of griefe Reiect me not of wretched princes chiefe My only life in all poyntes may suffise To shewe howe base all baytes of Fortune be Which thaw like yse through heate of enuies eyes Or vicious dedes which much possessed me Good hap with vices can not long agree Which bring best fortunes to the basest fall And happiest hap to enuy to be thrall I am the prince duke William De la Poole That was so famous in Quene Margets dayes That found the meane Duke Humfreyes blud to coole whose vertuous paynes deserve eternal prayse Wherby I note that Fortune can not raise Any one aloft without sum others wracke Fluds drowne no fieldes before they find a bracke But as the waters which do breake their walles Do loose the course they had within the shore And dayly rotting stinke within their stalles For fault of moouing which they found before Euen so the state that over high is bore Doth loose the lyfe of peoples love it had And rots it selfe vntil it fall to bad For while I was but Erle eche man was glad To say and do the best by me they might And Fortune ever since I was a lad Did smile vpon me with a chereful sight For whan my Kyng had doubed me a Knight And sent me furth to serve at warre in Fraunce My lucky spede mine honor dyd enhaunce Where to omit the many feitâ—s I wrought Under others gyde I do remember one Which with my souldyers valiantly was fought None other captayne save my selfe alone I meane not now the apprinze of Pucel Ione In which attempte my travayle was not smal Though the Duke of Burgoyn had the prayse of al. But the siege of Awmarle is the â—eate I prayse A strong built towne with castes walles vaultes With men and weapon armed at al assayes To which I gave nâ—â— five times five assaultes Tyl at the last they yelded it for naughtes Yet Lord Rambures like a valiaunt Knight Defended it as long as euer he might But what prevayled it these townes to winne Which shortly after must be lost againe Wherby I see there is
debate The loue of you our lewde hartes doth allure To lese our sâ—lues by seking you vnsure Because my broâ—her Edmund Mortimer Whose eldest sister was my wedded wife I meane that Edmund that was prisoner In Wales so long through Owens busy strife Because I say that after Edmundes life His rightes and titles must by law be mine For he ne had nor could encrease his line Because the right of realme crowne was ours I serched meanes to helpe him thervnto And where the Henries held it by their powers I sought a shift their tenures to vndo Which being force sith force or sleyt must do I voyde of might because their power was strong Set privy sleyte agaynst theyr open wrong But sith the deathes of most part of my kâ—â—ne Did dash my hope throughout the fathers dayes I let it slip and thought it best beginne Whan as the sâ—nne shuld dred lest such assayes For force through spede sleyght spedeth through delayes And seeld doth treason time so fitly find As whan al dangers most be out of minde Wherfore while Henry of that name the fifte Prepared his army to go conquer Fraunce Lord Skrope and I thought to attempt a drifte To put him downe my brother to avaunce But werâ— it gods wil my luck or his good chaunce The king wist wholy wherabout we went The night before the king to shâ—pward bent Then were we strayt as traytours apprehended Our purpose spied the cause therof was hid And therfore loe a false cause we pretended Wherthrough my brother was fro daunger ryd We sayd for hier of the French kinges coyne we did Behight to kil the king and thus with shame We stayned our selves to save our frend fro blame Whan we had thus confest so foule a treason That we deserved we suffred by the lawe Se Baldwin see and note as it is reason How wicked dedes to wofull endes do drawe All force doth fayle no crafte is wurth a stra'â— To attayne thinges lost and therfore let them go For might ruleth right and wil though God say no. WHan stout Richarde had stoutly sayd his mind belike ê™ one this Rychard was but a litle man or els litle fauoured of wryters for our Cronicles speake very litle of him But seyng we be cum now to king Henries viage into Fraunce we can not lack valyant men to speake of for among so many as were led and sent by the Kyng out of thys realme thyther it can not be chosen but sum and that a great summe were â—layne among theym wherfore to speake of them all I thynke not nedefull And therfore to let passe Edwarde Duke of Yorke and the Earle of Suffolke slayne both at the battayle of Agine courte as were also many other Let vs ende the time of Henry the fyfth and cum to hys sunne Henry the syxt whose nonage brought Fraunce and Normandy out of bondage and was cause that fewe of our noble men died aged Of whom to let passe the numbre I wyll take vppon me the person of Thomas Mountague earle of Salysburye whose name was not so good at home and yet he was called the good erle as it was dreadful abrode who exclaming vpon the mutability of fortune iustly may say thus Hovv Thomas Montague the earle of Salysbury in the middes of his glory vvas chaunceably slayne vvith a piece of ordinaunce WHat fooles be we to trust vnto our strength Our wit our courage or our noble fame Which time it selfe must nedes deuour at length Though froward Fortune could not foyle the same But seing this Goddes gideth al the game Which still to chaunge doth set her onely lust Why toyle we so for thinges so hard to trust A goodly thing is surely good reporte Which noble hartes do seke by course of kinde But seen the date so doubtful and so short The wayes so rough wherby we do it find I can not chuse but prayse the princely minde That preaseth for it though we find opprest By soule defame those that deserve it best Concerning whom marke Baldwin what I say I meane the vertuous hindred of their brute Among which number reken wel I may My valiaunt father Iohn lord Montacute Who lost his life I iudge in iust pursute I say the cause and not the casual spede Is to be wayed in euery kinde of dede This rule obserued how many shall we find For vertues sake with infamy opprest How many agayn through helpe of fortune blind For yll attemptes atchiued with honour blest Succes is wurst ofttimes whan cause is best Therfore say I god send them sory happes That iudge the causes by their after clappes The ende in dede is iudge of euery thing Which is the cause or latter poynt of time The first true verdyct at the first may bryng The last is slow or slipper as the slime Oft chaunging names of innocence and crime Duke Thomas death was Iustice two yeres long And euer sence sore tiranny and wrong Wherfore I pray the Baldwin waye the cause And prayse my father as he doth deserue Because erle Henry king agaynst all lawes Endeuoured king Richard for to starve In iayle wherby the regal crowne might swarve Out of the line to which it than was due Wherby God knowes what euil might ensue My lord Iohn Holland duke of Excester Which was dere cosin to this wretched king Did mooue my father and the erle of Glocester With other lordes to ponder well the thyng Who seing the mischiefe that began to spring Did all consent this Henry to depose And to restore kyng Richard to the rose And while they did deuise a prety trappe Wherby to bring their purpose bettre about Which was in maske this Henry to haue slayne The duke of Awmerle blew their counsayâ—e out Yet was their purpose good there is no doubt What cause can be more wurthy for a knight Than save his king and helpe true heires to right For this with them my father was destroyed And buryed in the doungâ—â—l of defame Thus evil chaunce theyr glory did auoyde Wheras their cause doth clayme eternal 〈◊〉 Whan dedes therfore vnluckely do frame Men ought not iudge the authours to 〈◊〉 naught For right through might is often overraught And God doth suffer that it should be so But why my wit is feble to decise Except it be to heape vp wrath and wo Upon their heades that iniuries devise The cause why mischiefes many times arise And light on them that wold mens wronges redresse Is for the rancour that they beare I gesse God hateth rigour though it furder right For sinne is sinne how euer it be vsed And therfore suffereth shame and death to light To punish vice though it be wel abused Who furdereth right is not therby excused If through the same he do sum other wrong To every vice due guerdon doth belong What preach I now I am a man of warre And that my body I dare say doth professe Of cured woundes beset with many a
Southhampton whose commocion made in Kent was cause of sely Henries destruccion And seing king Henrye him selfe was cause of the destruccion of many noble princes being of all other most vnfortunate him selfe I will declare what I have noted in his vnlucky lyfe who wounded in prison with a dagger maye lament his wretchedues in maner falowing Hovv king Henry the syxt a vertuous prince vvas after many other miseries cruelly murdered in the Tovver of London IF ever woful wight had cause to rue his state Or by his rufull plight to move men moane his fate My piteous playnt may preace my mishaps to rehearce wherof the least most lightly heard the hardest hart may pearce What hart so hard can heare of innocens opprest By fraude in worldly goodes but melteth in the brest Whan giltles men be spoylde imprisoned for theyr owne who wayleth not their wretched case to whoÌ„ the cause is knoweÌ„ The Lyon licketh the sores of selly wounded shepe The deadmans corse may cause the Crocodile to wepe The waves that waste the rockes refresh the rotten redes Such ruth the wracke of innocens in cruel creature bredes What hart is than so hard but wyl for pitye blede To heare so cruell lucke so cleare a life succede To see a silly soule with woe and sorowe souste A king deprived in prison pente to death with daggars doust Woulde god the day of birth had brought me to my beere Than had I never felt the chaunge of Fortunes cheere Would god the grave had gript me in her gredy woumbe Whan crowne in cradle made mâ—king w t 〈…〉 Would god the rufull toumbe had bene my royall trone So should no kingly charge have made me make my mone O that my soule had flowen to heaven with the ioy When one sort cryed God save the king another Vive le roy So had I not been washt in waves of worldly woe My mynde to quyet bent had not bene tossed so My frendes had bene alyve my subiectes vnopprest But death or cruell destiny denyed me this rest Alas what should we count the cause of wretches cares The starres do styrre them vp Astronomy declares Or humours sayth the leache the double true divines To the will of god or yll of man the doubtfull cause assignes Such doltish heades as dreame that all thinges drive by haps Count lack of former care for cause of afterclaps Astributing to man a power fro God bereft Abusing vs and robbing him through their most wicked theft But god doth gide the world and every hap by skyll Our wit and willing power are paysed by his will What wyt most wisely wardes and wil most deadly vrkes Though al our power would presse it downe doth dash our warest wurkes Than destiny our sinne Gods wil or els his wreake Do wurke our wrethed woes for humours bâ— to weake Except we take them so as they prouoke to sinne For through our lust by humours fed al vicious dedes beginne So sinne and they be one both wurking like effect And cause the wrath of God to wreake the soule infect Thus wrath and wreake divine mans sinnes and humours yll Concur in one though in a sort ech doth a course fulfill If likewise such as say the welken fortune warkes Take Fortune for our fate and sterres therof the markes Then destiny with fate and Gods wil al be one But if they meane it otherwise skath causers skyes be none Thus of our heavy happes chiefe causes be but twayne Wheron the rest depende and vnderput remayne The chiefe the wil diuine called destiny and fate The other sinne through humours holpe which god doth highly hate The first appoynteth payne for good mens exercise The second doth deserve due punishment for vice This witnesseth the wrath and that the love of God The good for love the bad for sinne God beateth with his rod. Although my sundry sinnes do place me with the wurst My happes yet cause me hope to be among the furst The eye that searcheth all and seeth every thought Doth know how sore I hated sinne and after vertue sought The solace of the soule my chiefest pleasure was Of wordly pompe of fame or game I did not pas My kingdomes nor my crowne I prised not a crum In heaven wer my rytches heapt to which I sought to cum Yet wer my sorowes such as never man had like So divers stormes at once so often did me strike But why God knowes not I except it wer for this To shew by patarne of a prince how britle honour is Our kingdomes are but cares our state deuoyde of stay Our riches redy snares to hasten our decay Our pleasures priuy prickes our vices to prouoke Our poÌ„pe a pumpe our fame a flame our power a smouldring smoke I speake not but by proofe and that may many rue My life doth crie it out my death doth trye it true Wherof I will in briefe rehearce my heavy hap That Baldwin in his woful warpe my wretche dues may wrap In Windsore borne I was â–ª and bare my fathers name Who wanne by war all Fraunce to his eternall fame And left to me the crowne to be receyued in peace Through mariage made with Charles his haire vpon his lifes decease Which shortly did ensue yet died my father furst And both their realmes were mine ere I a yere were nurst Which as they fell to soone so faded they as fast For Charles and Edward got them both or fortye yeres were past Thiâ— Charles was eldest sonne of Charles my father in law To whom as heire of Fraunce the Frenchmen did them draw But Edward was the heire of Richard duke of Yorke The hayer of Roger Mortimer slayne by the kerne of Korke Before I came to age Charles had recovered Fraunce And kilde my men of warre so lucky was his chaunce And through a mad contract I made with Rayners daughter I gave and lost all Normandy the cause of many a slaughter First of mine vncle Humfrey abhorring sore this acte Because I therby brake a better precontracte ThaÌ„ of the flattring duke that first the mariage made The iust rewarde of such as dare their princes yll perswade And I poore sely wretche abode the brunt of all My mariage iust so swete was 〈…〉 My wife was wise and good had 〈…〉 Wherfore warne men beware how they iust promise breake Least proofe of paynful plagues do cause them waile the wreke Aduise wel ere they graunt but what they graunt perfourme For god wil plage all doublenes although we feele no wourme I falsly borne in hand beleved I did wel But al thinges be not true that learned men do tell My cleargy sayd a prince was to no promis bounde Whose wordes to be no gospel tho I to my griefe haue found For after mariage ioynde Quene Margarete and me For one mishap afore I dayly met with three Of Normandy and Fraunce Charles got away my crowne The Duke of Yorke other sought at home to put me
Beholde his woundes howe blew they be about Whych whyle he lived thought neuer to decay Me thinke I heare the people thus deuise And therfore Baldwin sith thou wilt declare How princes fell to make the liuing wise My vicious story in no poynt see thou spare But paynt it out that rulers may beware Good counsayle lawe or vertue to despyse For realmes haue rules and rulers haue a syse Which if they kepe not doubtles say I dare That eythers gryefes the other shall agrise Till the one be lost the other brought to care I am a Kyng that ruled all by lust That forced not of vertue ryght or lawe But alway put false Flatterers most in trust Ensuing such as could my vices clawe By faythful counsayle passing not a strawe What pleasure pryckt that thought I to be iust I set my minde to feede to spoyle to iust Three meales a day could skarce content my mawe And all to augment my lecherous minde that must To Uenus pleasures alway be in awe For mayntenannce wherof my realme I polde Through Subsidies sore fines loanes many a prest Blanke charters othes shiftes not knowen of olde For whych my Subiectes did me sore detest I also made away the towne of Brest My fault wherin because mine vncle tolde For Prynces vyces may not be controlde I found the meanes his bowels to vnbrest The Piers and Lordes that did his cause vphold With death exile or greuous sines opprest Neyther lakt I ayde in any wicked dede For gaping Gulles whom I promoted had Woulde furder all in hope of higher mede A king can neuer imagine ought so bad But most about him will perfourme it glad For sickenes seldome doth so swiftely brede As vicious humors growe the griefe to feede Thus kinges estates of all be wurst bastad Abusde in welth abandoned at nede And nerest harme whan they be least adrad My life and death the truth of this can trye For while I fought in Ireland with my foes Mine vncle Edmunde whom I left to gide My realme at heme right trayteously arose To helpe the Percies plying my depose And cald fro Fraunce Erle Bolenbroke whom I Condemned ten yeres in eryle to lye Who cruelly did put to death all those That in myne ayde durst looke but once awry Whose number was but slender I suppose For whan I was cum back this stur to stay The Erle of Worcester whom I trusted moste Whiles we in Wales at Flint our castell lay Both to refresh and multiply mine oste Did in my hall in â—ight of least and moste Be breake his staffe my houshold office stay Bad eche man shiâ—te and rode him selfe away See princes see the power wherof we boste Whome most we trust at nede do vs betray Through whose false faith my land and life I lost For whan my trayterous Stuard thus was goen My seruauntes shranke away on euery side That caught I was and caryed to my foen Who for theyr prince a prison dyd provide And therin kept me til duke Henryes pride Dyd cause me yeld him vp my crowne and throne Whych shortly made my frendly foes to grene For Henry seing in me their falshode tryde Abhorde them all and would be rulde by none For whych they sought to stoppe him strayt a tyde The chiefe conspirde by death to drive him down For which exployte a solemne othe they swore To render me my libertie and crown Wherof them selues deprived me before But salues helpe seeld an overlong suffred sore To stoppe the brech no boote to runne or rowne When swelling fluds have overflowen the town Til sailes be spred the ship may kepe the shore The Ankers wayed though al the frayte do frowne With streame and steere perforce it shalbe bore For though the piers set Henry in his state Yet could they not displace him thence agayne And where they easily put me downe of late They could restore me by no maner payne Thinges hardly mende but may be mard amayne And whan a man is falne in froward fate Still mischeves light one in anothers pate And wel meant meanes his mishaps to restraine Ware wretched moues wherby his ioyes abate Due proofe wherof in me appereth playne For whan king Henry knew that for my cause His lordes in maske would kil him if they might To dash all dowtes he tooke no farther pause But sent sir Pierce of Erton a traytrous knight To Pomfret Castell with other armed light Who causeles kild me there agaynst all lawes Thus lawles life to lawles deth ey drawes Wherfore byd Kynges be rulde and rule by right Who wurketh his wil shunneth wisedomes sawes In flateries clawes shames foule pawes shal light WHan he had ended this so wofull a tragedy and to all Princes a ryght wurthy instruction we paused hauing passed through a miserable time full of piteous tragedyes And seing the reyne of Henry the fourth ensued a man more ware prosperous in hys doynges although not vntroubled with warres both of outforth and inward enemies we began to serch what Piers were fallen therin wherof the number was not small and yet because their examples were not much to be noted for our purpose we passed ouer all the Maskers of whom King Richardes brother was chiefe which were all slayne and put to death for theyr trayterous attempt And finding Owen Glendour next one of fortunes owne whelpes and the Percyes his confederates I thought them vnmete to be over passed and therfore sayde thus to the silent cumpany what my maysters is euery man at once in a browne study hath no man affeccion to any of these storyes you minde so much sum other belyke that these do not move you And to say the troth there is no speciall cause why they should Howbeit Owen Glendour because he was one of fortunes darlinges rather than he should be forgotten I wil tel his tale for him vnder the priuilege of Martine Hundred whych Owen cumming out of the wilde mountaynes like the Image of death in all poyntes his dart onely excepted so sore hath famine and hunger consumed hym may lament his folly after thys maner Hovve Ovven Glendour seduced by false prophesies tooke vpon him to be prince of VVales and vvas by Henry then prince therof chased to the mountaynes vvhere he miserably dyed for lacke of foode I Pray the Baldwin sith thou doest entend To shewe the fall of such as clymbe to hye Remember me whose miserable ende May teache a man his vicious life to flye Oh Fortune Fortune out on her I crye My body and fame she hath made leane and slender For I poore wretch am steruen Owen Glendour A Welshman borne and of a gentle blud But ill brought vp wherby full wel I find That neither birth nor linage make vs good Though it be true that Cat wil after kinde Fleshe gendreth fleshe so doeth not soule or minde They gender not but fowly do degender When men to vice from vertue them do surrender Ech thing by nature
same We thre tryumphed in king Richards time Til Fortune ought both him and vs a spite But chiefly me whom clere from any crime My king did banish from his favour quite And openly proclaymed trayterous knight Wherethrough false slaunder forced me to be That which before I did most deadly flee Let men beware how they true folke defame Or threaten on them the blame of vices nought For infamy bredeth wrath wreke foloweth shames Eke open slaunder oftentimes hath brought That to effect that erst was neuer thought To be misdemed men suffer in a sort But none can beare the griefe of misreport Because my king did shame me wrongfully I hated him and in dede became his foe And while he did at war in Ireland lye I did conspire to turne his weale to woe And through the duke of Yorke and other moe All royall power from him we quickely tooke And gaue the same to Henry Boleynbroke Neyther dyd we this alonely for this cause But to say truth force drave vs to the same For he dispising god and all good lawes Slew whom he would made sinne a very game And seing neither age nor counsayle could him tame We thought it wel done for the kingdomes sake To leaue his rule that did al rule forsake But whan sir Henry had attaynde his place He strayt becam in all poyntes wurse than he Destroyed the piers slewe kyng Rychards grace Agaynst his othe made to the lordes and me And seking quarelles how to disagre He shamelesly required me and my sonne To yeld him Scottes which we in field had wun My Nephew also Edmund Mortymer The very heyre apparaunt to the Crowne Whom Owen Glendour held as prisoner Uilely bound in dungeon depe cast downe He would not raunsum but did felly frowne Agaynst my brother and me that for him spake And him proclaymed traytour for our sake This sowle despite did cause vs to conspire To put him downe as we did Richard erst And that we might this matter set on fyre From Owens â—ayle our cosin we remerst And vnto Glendour all our griefes reherst Who made a bonde with Mortymer and me To pryue the king and part the realme in thre But whan king Henry heard of this devise Toward Owen Gleudour he sped him very quyck Mynding by force to stop our enterprise And as the deuell would then fell I sick Howbeit my brother sonne more politike Than prosperous with an oast fro ScotlaÌ„d brought Encountred him at Shrewsbury wher they fought The one was tane and kild the other slayne And shortly after was Owen put to flight By meanes wherof I forced was to fayne That I knew nothing of the former fight Fraude oft avayles more than doth sturdy might For by my fayning I brought him in belief I knew not that wherin my part was chief And while the king thus tooke me for his frend I sought all meanes my former wrong to wreake Which that I might bring to the sooner ende To the bishop of Yorke I did the matter breake And to Therle Marshall likewise did I speake Whose father was through Henries cause exyled The bishops brother with trayterous death defiled These strayt assented to do what they could So did lorde Hastinges and lord Fauconbridge Which altogether promised â—hey would Set all their power the kinges dayes to abridge But se the spite before the byrdes wer flidge The king had woord and seysoned on the nest Wherby alas my frendes wer al opprest The bluddy tyrant â—â—ought them all to ende Excepted me which into Scotland skapte To George of Dunbar therle of March my frend Who in my cause al that he could ey skrapte And when I had for greater succour gapte Both at the Frenchman and the Flemminges hand And could get none I toke such as I sand And with the helpe of George my very frend I did invade Northumberlande ful bold Whereas the folke drew to me stil vnend Bent to the death my party to vphold Through helpe of these ful many a fort and hold The which the king right manfully had manâ— I easely wunne and seysed in my hand Not so content for vengeaunce drave me on I entred Yorkeshire there to waste and spoyle But ere I had far in the countrey gon The shirif therof Rafe Rekesby did assoyle My troubled hoost of much part of our toyle For he assauting freshly tooke through power Me and lord Bardolph both at Bramham more And thence conueyed vs to the towne of Yorke Until he knew what was the kinges entent There loe Lord Bardolf kinder than the Storke Did lose his head which was to London sent With whom for frendshippe urine in like case went This was my hap my forâ—une or my fawte This life I led and thus I came to naught Wherfore good Baldwin wil the pyers take hede Of slaunder malyce and conspiracy Of couetise whence al the rest procede For couetise ioynt with contumacy Doth cause all mischief in mens hartes to brede Ad therfore this to Esperance my wurd Who causeth bludshed shall not skape the swurd BY that this was ended I had found out the storie of Richard earle of Cambridge and because it conteyned matter in it though not very notable yet for the better vnderstanding of the rest I thought it mete to touche it and therfore sayd as foloweth You haue sayd wel of the Percies and favourably For in dede as it should appere the chyefe cause of theyr conspiracie agaynst kyng Henry was for Edmund Mortimer theyr cosins sake whom the king very maliciously proclaymed to haue yelded hym selfe to Owen colourably whan as in deede he was takeÌ„ forcibly against his wil very cruelly ordered in prison And seing we are in haÌ„d with Mortimers matter I wyll take vppon me the person of Richard Plantagenet Earle of Cambridge who for his sake likewise died And therfore I let passe Edmund Holland erle of Kent whom Henry the fowerth made Admirall to skoure the Seas because the Buttons were abrode whiche Earle as many thynges happen in warre was slayne with an arrowe at the assaulte of Briake shortly after whose death thys king dyed and his sonne Henry the fyft of that name succeded in his place In the beginning of this Henry the fyfts rayne dyed this Rychard and with him Henry the lord Scrope others in whose behalfe this may be sayd Hovv Richard erle of Cambridge entending the kinges destruction vvas put to death at Southhampton HAst maketh wast hath commonly ben sayd And secrete mischiefe seeld hath lucky spede A murdering mind with proper pryze is wayd Al this is true I find it in my Crede And therfore Baldwin warne all states take hede How they conspire any other to betrappe Least mischiefe meant light in the miners lappe For I lord Richard heyre Planâ—agenet Was Erle of Cambridge and right fortunate If I had had the grace my wit to set To have content me with mine owne estate But o false honours broders of
belike you mind our matters very much So I do in dede ê™ I For I dreame of them And whan I had rehearced my dreame we had long talke concerning the natures of dreames which to stint and to bring vs to our matter againe thus sayde one of them I am glad it was your chaunce to dreame of Duke Richard for it had bene pity to have overpassed him And as coÌ„cerning this lord Clyfford whych so cruelly killed his sonne I purpose to geve you notes who as he welde served came shortly after to a sodayne death yet to good for so cruell a tiraunt Wherfore as you thought you sawe and heard the headles duke speake thorow his necke so suppose you see this lord Clifford all armed save his head with his brest plate all gore bloud running from his throte wherin an hedles arrow sticketh thrugh which wound he sayeth thus Hovv the lord Clyfford for his straunge and abhominable cruelty came to as straunge and sodayne a death OPen confession areth open penaunce And wisedome would a maÌ„ his shame to hide Yet sith forgeuenes cummeth through repentaunce I thinke it best that men their crimes ascried For nought so secrete but at length is spied For couer fire and it wil neuer linne Til it breake furth in like case shame and sinne As for my selfe my faultes be out so playne And published so brode in every place That though I would I can not hide a grayne All care is bootles in a cureles case To learne by others griefe sum haue the grace And therfore Baldwin write my wretched fall The brief wherof I briefly vtter shall I am the same that slue duke Richardes childe The louely babe that begged life with teares Wherby my honour fowly I defilde Poore selly lambes the Lyon neuer teares The feble mouse may lye among the beares But wrath of man his rancour to requite Forgets all reason ruth vertue quite I mean by rancour the parentall wreke Surnamde a vertue as the vicious say But litle know the wicked what they speake In boldning vs our enmyes kin to slay To punish sinne is good it is no nay They wreke not sinne but merit wreke for sinne That wreke the fathers faultes vpon his kyn Because my father lord Iohn Clifford died Slayne at S. Albons in his princes ayde Agaynst the duke my hart for malyce fryed So that I could from wreke no way be stayed But to avenge my fathers death assayde All meanes I might the duke of Yorke to annoy And all his kin and frendes to kill and stroy This made me with my bluddy daggar wound His giltles sunne that never agaynst me sturde His fathers body lying dead on ground To pearce with speare eke with my cruell swurd To part his necke and with his head to bourd Envested with a paper royal crowne From place to place to beare it vp and downe But cruelty can never skape the skourge Of shame of horror and of sodayne death Repentaunce selfe that other sinnes may pourge Doth flye scâ—oâ—â— this so sore the soule it slayeth Dispayre dissolves the tirauntes bitter breath â–ª For sodayne vengeaunce sodaynly alightes On cruell heades to quite thier cruel spightes The infamous ende of Lord Iohn Tiptoft Earle of VVurcester for cruelly executing his princes butcherly commaundementes THe glorious man is not so loth to lurke As the infamous glad to lye vnknowen Which maketh me Baldwin disalow thy wurke Where princes faultes so openly be blowen I speake not this alonely for mine owne Which wer my princes if that they wer any But for my Pyers in numbre very many Or might report vprightly vse her tong It would lesse greve vs to augment thy matter But suer I am thou shalt be forst among To frayne the truth the living for to â—atter And otherwhiles in poyntes vnknowen to smatter For time never was nor ever I thinke shall be That truth vnshent should speake in all thinges fre This doeth appere I dare say by my story Which divers writers diversly declare But story writers ought for neyther glory Feare nor favour truth of thinges to spare But still it fares as alway it did fare Affection feare or doubtes that dayly brue Do cause that stories never can be true Unfruytfull Fabyan folewed the face Of time and dâ—des but let the causes â—ip Whych Hall hath added but with double grace For feare I thinke least trouble might him trip For this or that sayeth he he felt the whip Thus story writers leave the causes out Or so rehears them as they wer in dout But seing causes are the chiefest thinges That should be noted of the story wryters That men may learne what endes al causes bringes They be vnwurthy the name of Croniclers That leave them cleane out of their registers Or doubtfully report them for the fruite Of reading stories standâ—th in the suite And therfore Baldwin eyther speake vpright Of our affayres or touche them not at all As for my selfe I waye al thinges so light That nought I passe how men report my fall The truth wherof yet playnly shew I shall That thou mayst write and other therby rede What thinges I did wherof they should take hede Thou hast heard of Tiptoftes erfes of Wurcester I am that Iohn that lived in Edwardes dayes The fourth and was his frend and counsayler And Butcher to as common rumor sayes But peoples voyce is neyther shame nor prayse For whom they would alive devour to day To morow dead they wil wurship what they may But though the peoples â—erdit go by chauneâ— Yet was there cause to cal me as they did For I enforst by meane of gouernaunce Did execute what euer my king did byd From blame herein my selfe I can not ryd But fye vpon the wretched state that must Defaine it selfe to serue the princes lust The chiefest crime wherwith men do me charge Is death of the Earle of Desmundes noble sonnes Of which the kinges charge doth me clere discharge By strayt commaundement and Iniunctions Theffect wherof so rigorously runnes That eyther I must procure to se them dead Or for contempt as a traytour lose my head What would mine enemies do in such a case Obey the king or proper death procure They may wel say their fancy for a face But life is swete and love hard to recure They would haue doen as I did I am sure For seldome wil a welthy man at ease For others cause his prince in ought displease How much lesse I which was lieutenant than In the Irishe yle preferred by the king But who for love or dread of any man Consentes to accomplish any wicked thing Although chiefe fault therof from other spring Shall not eskape Gods vengeaunce for his dede Who sauseth none that dare do yl for drede This in my king and me may wel appere Which for our faultes did not eskape the scourge For whan we thought our states most sure and clere The wind of Warwick blew vp such a sourge
downe Bellona rang the bell at home and all abrode With whose mishaps amayne fel Fortune did me lode In Fraunce I lost my fortes at home the soughten fielde My kindred slaine my frendes opprest my selfe enforste to yelde Duke Richard tooke me twise and forst me to resigne My crowne and titles due vnto my fathers ligne And kept me as a warde did all thinges as him list Til time my wife through bluddy sword had â—ane me from his fyst But though she slew the duke my sorowes did not slake But like to hiders head stil more and more awake For Edward through the ayde of Warwick and his brother From one field drave me to the Skots and toke me in another Then went my freÌ„des to wracke for Edward ware the crowne For which for nine yeres space his prison held me downe Yet thence through Warwikes wurke I was againe releast And Edward driven fro the realme to seke his frendes by East But what prevayleth payn or prouidens of man To helpe him to good hap whom destiny doth ban Who moyleth to remove the rocke out of the mud Shall myer him selfe hardly skape the swelling of the flud This al my frendes have found and I have felt it so Ordayned to be the touche of wretchednes and woe For ere I had a yeare possest my seat agayne I lost both it and liberty my helpers all were slayne For Edward first by stelth and sith by gadered strength Arrived and got to Yorke and London at the length Tooke me and tyed me vp yet Warwike was so stout He came with power to Barnet fyelde in hope to helpe me out And there alas was slayne with many a wurthy knight O Lord that ever such luck should hap in helping right Last came my wife and sonne that long lay in exyle Defyed the King and fought a fyelde I may bewalle the whsle For there mine only sonne not thirtene yere of age Was tane and murdered strayte by Edward in his rage And shortly I my selfe to stynt al furder strife Stabbed with his brothers bluddy blade in prison lost my life Loe here the heauy happes which happened me by heape See here the pleasaunt fruytes that many princes reape The payneful plagues of those that breake their lawful bandes Their mede which may wil not save their frendes fro bluddy handes God graunt my woful haps to greuous to rehearce May teache all states to know how depely daungers pearce How frayle al honours are how brittle worldly blisse That warned through my feareful fate they feare to do amys THis tragedy ended an other said eyther you or king Henry are a good philosopher so narowly to argue the causes of misfortunes but ther is nothing to experience which taught or might teach y e king this lesson but to procede in our matter I finde mencion here shortly after y e death of this king of a duke of Excester found dead in the sea betwene Dover and Calays but what he was or by what adventure he died master Fabian hath not shewed and master Hall hath overskipped him so that excepte we bee frendlier vnto him he is like to be double drowned both in the sea and in the gulfe of forgetfulnes About this matter was much talke but because one tooke vppon him to seeke out that story that charge was coÌ„mitted to him And to be occupied the meane while I found the storye of one drowned likewise and that so notably though priuily that al the world knew of it wherfore I sayd because night approcheth and that we wil lose no time ye shall heare what I have noted concerning the duke of Clarens king Edwardes brother who al to be washed in wine may bewayle his infortune after this maner Hovv George Plantagenet third sonne of the Duke of Yorke vvas by his brother King Edvvard vvrongfully imprisoned and by his brother Richard miserably murdered THe foule is fowle men say that files the nest which maketh me loath to speak now might I chuse But seing time vnburdened hath her brest And fame blowen vp the blast of all abuse My silence rather might my life accuse Than shroud our shame though fayne I would it so For truth wil out though all the world say no. And therfore Baldwin hartely I the beseche To pause awhile vpon my heauy playnt And though vnneth I vtter spedy spech No fault of wit or folly maketh me saynt No heady drinkes have geven my tounge attaynâ—e Through quaffing craft yet wine my wits confouÌ„d Not which I dranke of but wherin I dround What prince I am although I nede not shewe Because my wine bewrayes me by the smell For never was creature sowst in Bacchus dewâ— To death but I through Fortunes rigour fel Yet that thou mayst my story better tell I will declare as briefly as I may My welth my woe and causers of decay The famous house sournamed Plantagenet Wherat dame Fortune frowardly did frowne White Bolenbroke vniustly sought to set His lord king Richard quite beside the crowne Though many a day it wanted due renowne God so preserved by prouidens and grace That lawful heires did never faile the race For Lionell king Edwardes elder childe Both vncle and haire to Richard yssulesse Begot a doughter Philip whom vnfilde The earle of March espousde and god did blesse With fruyte assinde the kingdome to possesse I mean sir Roger Mortimer whose hayer The earle of Cambridge maried Anne the fayer This earle of Cambridge Richard clept by name Was sonne to Edmund Langley duke of Yorke Which Edmund was fift brother to the same Duke Lyonel that al this line doth korke Of which two houses ioyned in a forke My father Richard prince Plantagenet True duke of Yorke was lawful heire beget Who tooke to wife as you shal vnderstand A mayden of a noble house and olde Raulfe Nebels daughter Earle of Westmerland Whose sonne Earle Richard was a baron bolde Aâ—d had the right of Salysbury in bolde Through mariage made with good Earle Thomas hayer Whose earned prayses never shal appaire The duke my father had by this his wife Fower sonnes of whom the eldest Edward hight The second Iohn who lost in youth his life At wakefield slayne by Clifford cruell knight I George am third of Clarence duke by right The fowerth borne to the mischiefe of vs all Was duke of Glocester whom men Richard call Whan as our syer in sute of right was slayne Whose life and death him selfe declared curst My brother Edward plyed his cause amayne And got the crowne as Warwick hath rehearst The pride wherof so depe his stomacke pearst That he forgot his frendes dispisde his kin Of oth or office passing not a pinne Which made the earle of Warwike to maligne My brothers state and to attempt a waye To bring from prison Henry selly king To helpe him to the kingdome if he may And knowing me to be the chiefest staye My brother had he did me vndermine To cause me to