seemeth here to prophecie of the subuersion of the Lande the Pope ioyning with the power of other Princes against Edward for the breach of his promise Charles by inuasiue Armes againe shall take Charles the French King mooued by the wrong done vnto his sister ceazeth the Prouinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands stirred the rather thereto by Mortimer who solicited her cause in Fraunce as is expressed before in the other Epistle in the Glosse vpon this poynt And those great Lords now after their attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints After the death of Thomas Earle of Lancaster at Pomfret the the people imagined great miracles to be done by his reliques as they did of the body of Bohun Earle of Herford slaine at Borough bridge FINIS ¶ To the Right Honourable and my very good Lord Edward Earle of Bedford THrice noble and my gracious Lord the loue I haue euer borne to the illustrious house of Bedford and to the honourable familie of the Harringtons to the which by marriage your Lordship is happily united hath long since deuoted my true and zealous affection to your honourable seruice and my Poems to the protection of my noble Lady your Countesse to whose seruice I was first bequeathed by that learned and accomplished Gentleman Sir Henry Goodere not long since deceased whose I was whilst he was whose patience pleased to beare with the imperfections of my beedlesse and vnstaied youth That excellent and matchlesse Gentleman was the first cherisher of my Muse which had been by his death left a poore Orphane to the worlde had hee not before bequeathed it to that Lady whom he so deerly loued Vouchsafe then my deere Lord to accept this Epistle which I dedicate as zealously as I hope you will patronize willingly vntill some more acceptable seruice may be witnes of my loue towards your honour Your Lordships euer Michaell Drayton Queene Isabell to Richard the second * The Argument Queene Isabell the daughter of Charles king of Fraunce being the second wife of Richard the second the sonne of Edward the blacke Prince the eldest sonne of King Edward the third After the said Richard her husband was deposed from his crowne and kingly dignitie by Henry Duke of Herford the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth sonne of Edward the third this Lady beeing then very young was sent backe againe into Fraunce without dowre at what time the deposed King her husband was sent from the Tower of London as a prisoner vnto Pomfret Castle VVhether this poore Lady bewayling her husbands misfortunes writeth this Epistle from Fraunce AS doth the yeerely Augur of the spring In depth of woe thus I my sorrow sing VVords tun'd with sighs teares falling oft among A dolefull burthen to a heauie song VVords issue forth to finde my griefe some way Teares ouer-take them and doe bid them stay Thus whilst one striues to keepe the other backe Both once too forward now are both too slack O how I flatter griefe and doe intreate it Griefe flatters me so oft as I repeate it And to it selfe hath sorrow chang'd mee so That woe is turn'd to mee I turn'd to woe If fatall Pomfret hath in former times Nourish'd the griefe begot in hoter Clymes Thether I send my woes there to be fed But where first borne where fitter to be bred They vnto Fraunce be aliens and vnknowne England from her doth challenge these her owne They say all mischife commeth from the North It is too true my fall doth set it forth And where bleake winters stormes do euer rage There should my sighes finde surest anchorage Except that breeme ayre holds the Northerne part Doe freese that Aetna which so burnes my hart But why should I thus limmit griefe a place vvhen all the world is fild with our disgrace And we in bounds thus striuing to containe it The more abounds the more we doe restraine it O how euen yet I hate my loathed eyes And in my glasse oft call them faythlesse spyes That were so haplesse with one louing looke To grace that Traytour periur'd Bullenbrooke But that of sence ioy had all sence bereau'd They neuer should haue beene so much deceau'd Proude was the Courser which my Lord bestrid vvhen Richard like his conquering Grandsire rid For all the world in euery looke alike The Rosie Ilands in his Lilly cheeke His silken Amber curles so would he tie So carried he his princely Eagle eye From top to toe his like in euery lim All looke on Edward that did looke on him The perfit patterne Nature chose alone VVhen at the first shee fram'd proportion Reseru'd till then that all the world should view it And praise th'insample by the which she drew it O let that day be guiltie of all sin That is to come or euer yet hath bin VVherein great Norfolks forward course was staid To proue the treasons he to Herford layd VVhen with sterne furie both these Dukes enrag'd Their gauntlets then at Couentry engag'd vvhen first thou didst repeale thy former grant Seal'd to braue Mowbray as thy Combatant From tymes vnnumbred howers let time deuide it Least in his minutes he should hap to hide it Yet on his browes let wrinckled age still beare it That when it comes all other howers may feare it And all ill-boading Planets by consent That day may hold their wicked parliament And in heauens large Decrees enrole it thus Blacke dismall fatall inauspitious For then should he in height of all his pride Vnder great Mowbrays valiant hand haue died Nor should not nowe from banishment retire The fatall brand to set our Troy on fire O why did Charles relieue his needy state A vagabond and stragling runnagate And in his Court with grace did entertaine This vagrant exile this abiected Caine That with a thousand mothers curses went Mark'd with the brands of ten yeeres banishment VVhen thou to Ireland took'st thy last farewell Millions of knees vpon the pauements fell And euery where th'applauding ecchoes ring The ioyfull shouts that did salute a King Thou went'st victorious crown'd in triumph borne But cam'st subdu'd vncrown'd and laugh'd to scorne And all those tongues which tit'led thee theyr Lord Grace Henries glorious stile with that great word And all those eyes dyd with thy course ascend Now all too few on Herford to attend Princes like sunnes be euermore in sight All see the clowdes which doe eclipse their light Yet they which lighten all downe from their skyes See not the clowdes offending others eyes And deeme their noone-tide is desir'd of all VVhen all expect cleere changes by theyr fall VVhat colour seemes to shadow Herfords claime vvhen law and right his Fathers hopes doth maime Affirm'd by Church-men which should beare no hate That Iohn of Gaunt was illigittimate vvhom his reputed mothers tongue did spot By a base Flemish Boore to be begot vvhom Edwards Eglets mortally did shun Daring with them to gaze against the
lay thee softly on her siluer teame And bring thee to me to the quiet shore That with her teares thou might'st haue some teares more VVhen suddainly doth rise a rougher gale vvith that me thinks the troubled waues looke pale And sighing with that little gust that blowes vvith this remembrance seemes to knit her browes Euen as this suddaine passion doth 〈◊〉 mee The cheerfull sunne breakes from a clowde to light mee Then doth the bottom euident appeare As it would tell mee that thou 〈◊〉 not there VVhen as the water flowing where I stand Doth seeme to tell mee thou 〈◊〉 safe on land Did Bulloyne once a festiuall prepare For England 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Nauarre VVhen Fraunce enuied those buildings onely blest Grac'd with the Orgies of my bridall feast That English Edward should refuse my bed For that incestuous shamelesse Ganimed And in my place vpon his regall throne To set that girle-boy wanton Gaueston Betwixt the feature of my face and his My glasse assures me no such difference is That a foule witches bastard should thereby Be thought more worthy of his loue then I. VVhat doth auaile vs to be Princes heires vvhen we can boast our birth is onely theirs VVhen base dissembling flatterers shall deceaue vs Of all our famous Auncestors did leaue vs And of our princely iewels and our dowers vvee but enioy the least of what is ours when Minions heads must weare our Monarches crownes To raise vp dunghills with our famous townes VVhen beggers-brats are wrapt in rich perfumes And sore aloft impt with our Eagles plumes And ioynd with the braue issue of our blood Alie the kingdome to theyr crauand brood Did Longshanks purchase with his conquering hand Albania Gascoyne Cambria Ireland That young Carnaruan his vnhappy sonne Should giue away all that his Father wonne To backe a stranger proudly bearing downe The braue alies and branches of the crowne And did great Edward on his death-bed giue This charge to them which afterward should liue That that proude Gascoyne banished the land No more should tread vppon the English sand And haue these great Lords in the quarrell stood And seald his last will with their deerest blood That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beuchamp Lasey Lancaster Another faithlesse fauorite should arise To cloude the sunne of our Nobilities And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That nowe a Spenser should succeede in all And that his ashes should another breed vvhich in his place and Empire should succeed That wanting one a kingdoms wealth to spend Of what that left thys now should make an end To wast all that our father wonne before Nor leaue 〈◊〉 sword to conquer more Thus but in vaine we 〈◊〉 doe resist vvhere power can doe euen all things as it list And with vniust men to debate of lawes Is to giue power to hurt a rightfull cause VVhilst parliaments must still redresse their wrongs And we must 〈◊〉 for what to vs belongs Our wealth but fuell to theyr fond excesse And we must fast to feast their wantonnesse Think'st thou our wrongs then insufficient are To moue our Brother to religious warre And if they were yet Edward doth 〈◊〉 Homage for 〈◊〉 Guyne and Aquitaine And if not that yet hath he broke the truce Thus all accur to put backe all excuse The Sisters wrong ioyn'd with the Brothers right Me thinks might vrge him in this cause to fight Be all those people sencelesse of our 〈◊〉 vvhich for our Country oft haue manag'd Armes Is the braue Normans courage now forgot Or the bold Brittons lost the vse of shot The big-bon'd Almaines and stout Brabanders Their warlike Pykes and sharp edg'd Semiters Or doe the Pickards let theys 〈◊〉 lie Once like the Centaurs of olde Thessalie Or if a valiant Leader be theyr lack vvhere thou art present who should driue them back I doe coniure thee by what is most deere By that great Name of famous Mortimer By auncient VVigmors honourable Crest The 〈◊〉 where all thy famous Grandsires rest Or if then these what more may thee approue Euen by those vowes of thy vnfained loue That thy great hopes may moue the Christian King By forraine Armes some comfort yet to bring To curbe the power of Traytors that rebell Against the right of princely Isabell. Vaine witlesse woman why should I desire To adde more spleene to thy immortall fire To vrge thee by the violence of hate To shake the pyllars of thine owne estate VVhen what soeuer we intend to doe To our misfortune euer sorts vnto And nothing els remaines for vs beside But teares and Coffins onely to prouide VVhen still so long as Burrough beares that name Time shall not blot out our deserued shame And whilst cleere Trent her wonted course shall keepe For our sad fall her christall drops shall weepe All see our ruine on our backs is throwne And to our selues our sorrowes are our owne And Tarlton now whose counsell should direct The first of all is slaundred with suspect For dangerous things dissembled sildome are vvhich many eyes attend with busie care VVhat should I say my griefes doe still renew And but begin when I should bid adiew Few be my words but manifold my woe And still I staie the more I striue to goe As accents issue forth griefes enter in And where I end mee thinks I but begin Then till faire tyme some greater good affords Take my loues payment in these ayrie words Notes of the Chronicle historie O how I feard that sleepie drinke I sent Might yet want power to further thine intent MOrtimer beeing in the Tower and ordayning a feast in honour of his birth-day as he pretended and inuiting there-vnto Sir Stephen Segraue Constable of the Tower with the rest of the officers belonging to the same hee gaue them a sleepie drinke prouided him by the Queene by which meanes hee got libertie for his escape I steale to Thames as though to take the ayre And aske the gentle streame as it doth glide Mortimer being gotte out of the Tower swamme the riuer of Thames into Kent whereof shee hauing intelligence doubteth of his strength to escape by reason of his long imprisonment being almost the space of three yeeres Did Bulloyne once a festiuall prepare For England Almaine Cicile and Naudrre Edward Carnaruan the first prince of Wales of the English blood married Isabell daughter of Phillip the faire at Bulloyne in the presence of the Kings of Almaine Nauarre and Cicile with the chiefe Nobilitie of Fraunce and Englande which marriage vvas there solemnized with exceeding pompe and magnificence And in my place vpon his regall throne To set that girle-boy wanton Gaucston Noting the effeminacie and luxurious wantonnes of Gaueston the Kings Minion his behauiour and attire euer so womanlike to please the eye of his lasciuious Prince That a foule witches bastard should thereby It was vrged by the Queene and the Nobilitie in the disgrace of Piers Gaueston that his mother was conuicted of
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