Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A20825
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The legend of great Cromvvel. By Michael Drayton Esquier
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Drayton, Michael, 1563-1631.
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1607
(1607)
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STC 7204; ESTC S105399
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16,702
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48
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had me succourd nerely being driuen As things to me that idely were not giuen What tongue so slow the tale shall not report Of hospitable Friscobald and mee And shew in how reciprocall a sort My thankes did with his curtesie agree When as my meanes in Italy were short That me relieu'd lesse great that would not bee When I of England Chancellor was made His former bounties librally repaid The maner briefly gentler Muse relate Since oft before it wisely hath been told The sudden change of vnauoided fate That famous Merchant reuerend Friscobald Grew poore and the small remnant of his state Was certaine goods to England he had sold Which in the hands of Creditors but bad Small hope to get yet lesser meanes he had Hither his wants him forcibly constrain'd Though with long trauell both by land and seas Led by this hope that only now remain'd Whereon his fortune finally he laies And if he found that friendship here were fain'd Yet at the worst it better should him please Farre out of sight to perish here vnknowne Then vnrelieu'd bee pitied of his owne It chanc'd as I toward VVestminster did ride Mongst the great concourse passing to and fro An aged man I happily espide Whose outward looks much inward griefe did show Which made me nere him and the more I ey'd Him me thought more precisely I should know Reuoluing long it came into my minde This was the man to me had been so kinde Was therewithall so ioyed with his sight With the deare sight of his so reuerend face That I could scarsely keepe me from t' alight And in mine armes him openly embrace Weighing yet well what some imagine might He being a stranger and the publike place Checkt my affection till some fitter hower On him my loue effectually might shower Neuer quoth I was fortune so vniust As to doe wrong vnto thy noble hart What man so wicked could betray the trust Of one so vpright of so good desart And though obey necessitie thou must As when the great'st the same to me thou art Let me alone the last be left of all That from the rest declin'd not with thy fall And calling to a Gentleman of mine Wise and discreete that well I knew to bee Shew'd him that stranger whose deiected eyne Fixt on the earth nere once lookt vp at mee Bid yonder man come home to me and dine Quoth I bespeake him reuerently you see Scorne not his habit little canst thou tell How rich a minde in those meane rags doth dwell He with my name that kindly did him greete Slowly cast vp his deadly-mouing eye That long time had been fixed on his feete To looke no higher then his miserie Thinking him more calamitie did greete Or that I had supposed him some Spye With a deepe sigh that from his heart he drew Quoth he his will accomplisht be by you My man departed and the message done He whose sad heart with strange impressions strooke To thinke vpon this accident begun And on himselfe suspitiously to looke Into all doubts he fearfully doth runne Oft himselfe cheering oft himselfe forsooke Strangely perplext vnto my house doth come Not knowing why iudg'd nor dreading yet his doome My seruants set his comming to attend That were therein not common for their skill Whose vsage yet the former did amend He hop'd not good nor guiltie was of ill But as a man whose thoughts were at an end Fortune quoth he then worke on me thy will Wiser then man I thinke he were that knew Whence this may come or what therof ensue His honoured presence so did me inflame That though being then in presence of my Peeres Daine not the lesse to meete him as he came That very hardly could containe my teares Kindly salute him call him by his name And oft together aske him how he cheeres With still along maintaining the extreame Yet thought the man he had been in a dreame At length t'wake him gently I began With this demaund if once he did not know One Thomas Cromwell a poore Englishman By him relieu'd when he was driuen low When I perceiu'd he my remembrance wan Yet with his teares it silently did show I wept for woe to see mine host distrest But he for ioy to see his happie guest Him to the Lords I publisht by my praise And at my table carefully him set Recounting them the many sundrie waies I was vnto this gentleman indebt How great he was in Florence in those daies With all that grace or reuerence him might get Which all the while yet silently he heares Moisting among his viands with his teares And to lend fulnes lastly to his fate Great summes I gaue him and what was his due Made knowne my selfe became his aduocate And at my charge his creditors I sue Recouering him vnto his former state Thus he the world began by me anew That shall to all posteritie expresse His honored bountie and my thankfulnesse But Muse recount before thou further passe How this great change so quickly came about And what the cause of this sad downfall was In euery part the spatious Realme throughout Being effected in so little space Leaue not thereof posteritie to doubt That with the world obscured else may bee If in this place reuealed not by thee If the whole land did on the Church relie Hauing full power Kings to account to call That to the world read only policie Besides Heauens keyes to stop or let in all Let me but know from her supremacie How she should come so suddenly to fall T was more then chance sure put a hand thereto That had the power so great a thing to do Or ought there were had biding vnder Sunne Who would haue thought those edifices great Which first Religion holily begun The Church approu'd and wisdome richly seate Deuotion nourish'd faith allowance wonne And all that them might any way compleate Should in their ruines lastly buried lye But that begun and ended from the skye And the King late obedient to her lawes Against the Clerke of Germany had writ As he that first stird in the Churches cause Against him greatliest that oppugned it And wan from her so gratefull an applause Then in her fauour chiefly that did sit That as the prop whereon she only stai'th Him she instyl'd Defender of the faith But not their power whose wisdomes them did place In the first ranke the oracles of state Who that opinion strongly did embrace Which through the land receiued was of late Then ought at all preuailed in this case O powerfull doome of vnauoided fate Whose depth not weake mortality can know Who can vphold what heauen will ouerthrow When time now vniuersally did show The power to her peculiarly annex'd With most abundance then when she did flow Yet euery hower still prosp'rously she wex'd But the world poore did by loose riots grow Which serued as an excellent pretext And colour gaue to pluck her from her pride Whose only greatnes suffred none