sweare Forsworne in loue with louers oathes doth beare Loue causelesse still doth aggrauate his cause It is his law to violate all lawes His reason is in onely wanting reason And were vntrue not deepely tuch'd with treason Th'vnlawfull meanes doth make his lawfull gaine Hee speakes most true when he the most doth faine Pardon the faults that haue escapde by mee Against faire vertue chastitie and thee If Gods can their owne excellence excell Is it in pardoning mortalls that rebell When all thy trialls are enrol'd by fame And all thy sexe made glorious by thy name Then I a captiue shall be brought heereby To adorne the triumph of thy chastitie I sue not now thy Paramore to bee But as a husband to be linck'd to thee I am Englands heire I thinke thou wilt confesse Wert thou a Prince I hope I am no lesse But that thy birth doth make thy stocke diuine Else durst I boast my blood as good as thine Disdaine me not nor take my loue in scorne Whose brow a crowne heereafter may adorne But what I am I call mine owne no more Take what thou wilt and what thou wilt restore Onely I craue what ere I did intend In faithfull loue now happily may end Farewell sweete Lady so well maist thou fare To equall â—oy with measure of my care Thy vertues more then mortall tongue can tell A thousand thousand times farewell farewell Notes of the Chronicle history Receiue these papers from thy wofull Lord. BAndello by whoÌ„ this history was made famous being an ItaliaÌ„ as it is the peoples custom in that clime rather to faile somtime in the truth of circumstance then to forgoe the grace of their conceit n like manner as the Grecians of whom the Satyrist Et quicquid Graetia mendax Audet in historia Thinking it to be a greater triall that a Countesse should be sude vnto by a King then by the sonne of a King and conseqently that the honour of her chastitie should be the more hath caused it to be generally taken so but as by Polidore Fabian and Froisard appeares the contrarie is true Yet may Bandello be very well excused as being a stranger whose errors in the truth of our historie are not so materiall that they should neede an inuectiue lest his wit should bee defrauded of any part of his due which were not lesse were euery part a fiction Howbeit lest a common error should preuaile against a truth these Epistles are conceiued in those persons who were indeede the actors to wit Edward surnamed the Blacke 〈◊〉 not so much of his complexion as of the dismall battells which he fought in France in like sence as we may say a blacke day for some tragicall euent though the Sunne shine neuer so bright therein And Alice the Countesse of Salsburie who as it is certaine was beloued of Prince Edward so it is as certaine that many points now current in the receiued story can neuer hold together with likelihoode of such enforcement had it not beene shewed vnder the title of a King And when thou let'st downe that transparent lid Not that the lid is transparent for no part of the skin is transparent but for the gemme which at that closure is said to containt is transparent for otherwise how could the minde vnderstand by the eye should not the images slide through the same and replenish the stage of the phantasie But this belongs to Optickes The Latines call the eye lid cilium I will not say of celando as the eye brow supercilium and the haire on the eye lids palpebra perhaps quod palpitet all which haue their distinct and necessary vses Alice Countesse of Salsbury to the Blacke Prince AS one would grant yet gladly would deny Twixt hope and feare I doubtfully reply A womans weakenesse lest I should discouer Answering a Prince and writing to a louer And some say Loue with Reason doth dispence And wrest our plaine words to another sence Thinke you not then poore women had not neede Be well aduisde to write what men should reade When being silent moouing but awry Giues cause of scandall and of obloquy Whilst in our hearts our secret thoughts abide Th'inuenom'd tongue of slander yet is tide But if once spoke deliuered vp to Fame Hers the report but ours returnes the shame About to write yet newly entring in Me thinkes I end ere I can well begin When I would end then something makes me stay And then me thinkes I should haue more to say And some one thing remaineth in my breast For want of words that cannot be exprest What I would say as said to thee I faine Then in thy person I reply againe Then in thy cause vrge all I can obiect Then what againe mine honour must respect O Lord what sundry passions do I trie Striuing to hate you forcing contrarie Being a Prince I blame you not to proue The greater reason to obtaine your loue That greatnesse which doth challenge no deniall The onely rest that doth allow my triall Edward so great the greater were his fall And my offence in this were capitall To men is granted priuiledge to tempt But in that charter women be exempt Men win vs not except we giue consent Against our selues except our selues are bent Who doth impute it is a fault to you You proue not false except we be vntrue It is your vertue being men to try And it is ours by vertue to deny Your fault it selfe serues for the faults excuse And makes it ours though yours be the abuse Beautie a beggar fie it is too bad When in it selfe sufficiencie is had Not made a Lure t' entice the wandring eye But an attire t' adorne sweete modestie If modestie and women once do seuer We may bid farewell to our fame for euer Let Iohn and Henry Edwards instance be Matilda and faire Rosamond for me A like both woo'd alike su'd to be wonne Th' one by the father th' other by the sonne Henry obtaining did our weakenesse wound And laies the fault on wanton Rosamond Matilda chaste in life and death all one By her deniall lâ—â—es the fault on Iohn By these we proue men accessary still But women only principalls of ill What praise is ours but what our vertues get If they be lent so much we be in debt Whilst our owne honours vertue doth defend All force too weake what euer men pretend If all the world else should suborne our fame T is we our selues that ouerthrow the same And howsoe're although by force you win Yet on our weakenes still returnes the sin A vertuous Prince who doth not Edward call And shall I then be guiltie of your fall Now God for bid yet rather let me die Then such a sin vpon my soule should lie Where is great Edward whither is he led At whose victorious name whole armies fled Is that braue spirit that conquerd so in France Thus ouercome and vanquisht with a glance Is that great hart that did aspire
to vying wonders dropping starres That if but some one beautie should incite Some sacred Muse some rauisht spirit to write Heere might he fetch that true Promethian fire As after ages should his lines admire Gathering the honny from the choisest flowers Scorning the wither'd weedes in Country bowers Heere in this garden onely springs the Rose In euery common hedge the Bramble growes Nor are we so turnde Neapolitan That might incite some fowle-mouth Mantuan To all the world to lay out our defects And haue iust cause to raile vpon our sexe To prancke old wrinckles vp in new attire To alter Natures course proue Time a lier Abusing fate and heauens iust doome reuerse On beauties graue to set a crimson hearse With a deceitfull foile to lay a ground To make a glasse to seeme a Diamond Nor cannot without hazard of our name In fashion follow the Vâ—netian Dame Nor the fantasticke French to imitate Attirde halfe Spanish halfe Italionate Nor wast nor curle body nor brow adorne That is in Florence or in Genoa borne But with vaine boasts how witlesse fond am I Thus to draw on mine owne indignitie And what though married when I was but yong Before I knew what did to loue belong Yet he which now 's possessed of the roome Cropt beauties flower when it was in the bloome And goes away enriched with the store Whilst others gleane where he hath reapt before And he dares sweare that I am true and iust And shall I then deceiue his honest trust Or what strange hope should make you to assaile Where strongest battery neuer could preuailt Belike you thinke that I repulst the rest To leaue a King the conquest of my breast Or haue thus long preserude my selfe from all A Monarch now should glory in my fall Yet rather let me die the vildest death Then liue to draw that sinne-polluted breath But our kinde hearts mens teares cannot abide And we least angry oft when most we chide Too well know men what our creation made vs And nature too well taught them to inuade vs. They know but too well how what when and where To write to speake to sue and to forbeare By signes by sighs by motions and by tears When vows shuld serue when oths when smiles when praiers What one delight our humors most doth moue Onely in that you make vs nourish loue If any naturall blemish blot our face You doe protest it giues our beautie grace And what attire we most are vsde to weare That of all other excellentst you sweare And if vve vvalke or sit or stand or lie It must resemble some one deitie And vvhat you knovve vve take delight to heare That are you euer sounding in our eare And yet so shamelesse vvhen you tempt vs thus To lay the fault on beautie and on vs. Romes vvanton Oâ—id did those rules impart O that your nature should be helpt vvith Arte. Who vvould haue thoght a King that cares to raigne Inforcde by loue so Poet-like should faine To say that Beauty Times sterne rage to shunne In my cheekes Lillies hid her from the Sunne And vvhen she meant to triumph in her Maie Made that her East and heere she broke her day And swearst that summer still is in my sight And but vvhere I am all the vvorld is night As though the fairst ere since the vvorld beganne To me a Sunne-burnt base Egyptian But yet I knovve more than I meane to tell O would to God you knew it not too well That women oft their most admirers raise Though publikely not flattering their owne praise Our churlish husbands which our youth enioy'd Who with our dainties haue their stomackes cloyd Do lothe our smooth hand with their lips to feele T' enrich our fauours by our beds to kneele At our command to waite to send to goe As euery howre our amorous seruants doe Which makes a stolne kisle often we bestow In earnest of a greater good we owe When he all day torments vs with a frowne Yet sports with Venus in a bed of dowlne Whose rude embracement but too ill beseemes Her span broad waste her white and dainty limmes And yet still preaching abstinence of meate When hee himselfe of euery dish will eate Blame you our husbands then if they denie Our publike walking our loose libertie If with exception still they vs debar The circuite of the publike Theater To heare the smooth-tongude Poets Syren vaine Sporting in his lasciuious Comicke scene Or the young wanton wits when they applawd The slie perswasions of some subtile Bawd Or passionate Tragedian in his rage Acting a loue-sicke passion on the stage When though abroad restraining vs to rome They very hardly keepe vs safe at home And oft are touch'd with feare and inward griefe Knowing rich prizes soonest tempt a theeefe What sports haue we whereon our mindes to set Our dogge our Parrat or our Marmuzet Or once a weeke to walke into the field Small is the pleasure that those toyes do yielde But to this griefe a medicine you applie To cure restraint with that sweete libertie And soueraignty O that bewitching thing Yet made more great by promise of a King And more that honour which doth most intice The holiest Nunne and she that 's ne're so nice Thus still we striue yet ouer-come at length For men want mercy and poore women strength Yet grant that we could meaner men resist when Kings once come they conquer as they list Thou art the cause Shore pleaseth not my sight That his embraces giue me no delight Thou art the cause I to my selfe am strange Thy comming is my full thy set my change Long winter nights be minutes if thou heere Short minutes if thou absent be a yeere And thus by strength thou art become my fate And mak'st me loue euen in the midst of hate ¶ Notes of the Chronicle Historie Would I had led an humble Sheep heards life Nor knowne the name of Shores admired wife TWo or three Poemes written by sundry men haue magnified this womans beautie whom that ornament of England and Londons more particular glory Sir Thomas Moore very highly hath praised for her beautie she being aliue in his time though being poore and aged Her stature was meane her haire of a dark yellow her face round ful her eie gray delicate harmony being betwixt each parts proportion each proportions colour her body fat white and smooth her countenance cheerefull and like to her condition That picture which I haue seen of hers was such as she rose out of her bed in the morning hauing nothing on but a rich mantle cast vnder one arme ouer her shoulder and sitting in a chaire on which her naked arme did lie What her fathers name was or where she was borne is not certainly known but Shore a yong man of right good person wealth and behauiour abandoned her bed after the king had made her his Concubine Richard the third causing her to do open penance in Paules
so hie So soone transpersed with a womans eie He that a king at Poictiers battell tooke Himselfe led captiue with a wanton looke Twice as a Bride to church I haue bin led Twice haue two Lords enjoyd my Bridale bed How can that beauty yet be vndestroyd That yeeres haue wasted and two men enioyd Or should be thought fit for a Princes store Of which two subiects were possest before Let Spaine let France or Scotland so preferre Their infant Queenes for Englands dowager That bloud should be much more than halfe diuine That should be equall euery way with thine Yet princely Edward though I thus reproue you As mine owne life so deerely doe I loue you My noble husband which so loued you That gentle Lord that reuerend Mountague Nere mothers voyce did please her babe so well As his did mine of you to heare him tell I haue made short the houres that time made long And chaind mine eares vnto his pleasing tong My lips haue waited on your praises worth And snatcht his words ere he could get them forth When he hath spoke and something by the way Hath broke off that he was about to say I kept in minde where from his tale he fell Calling on him the residue to tell Oft he would say how sweet a Prince is he When I haue praisde him but for praising thee And to proceede I would intreate and wooe And yet to ease him help to praise thee too Must she be forcde t'exclaime th'iniurious wrong Offred by him whom she hath lou'd so long Nay I will tell and I durst almost sweare Edward will blush when he his fault shall heare Iudge now that time doth youths desire asswage And reason mildely quencht the fire of rage By vpright iustice let my cause be tride And be thou iudge if I not iustly chide That not my fathers graue and reuerend yeeres When on his knee he beggd me with his teares By no perswasions possibly could winne To free himselfe as guiltlesse of my sinne The woe for me my mother did abide Whose sute but you there 's none would haue denide Your lust full rage your tyranny could stay Mine honours ruine further to delay Haue I ot lou'd you let the truth be showne That still preseru'd your honour with mine owne Had your fond will your foule desires preuailde When you by them my chastitie assailde Though this no way could haue excusde my fault True vertue neuer yeelded to assault Yet what a thing were this it should be said My parents sin should to your charge be laide And I haue gainde my libertie with shame To saue my life made ship wracke of my name Did Roxborough once vaile her towring fane To thy braue ensigue on the Northerne plaine And to thy trumpet sounding from thy tent Often replide as to my succor sent And did receiue thee as my souâ—raigne liege Comming to ayde thou shouldst againe besiege To raise a foâ— but for my treasure came To plant a foe to take my honest name Vnder pretence to haue remou'd the Scot And wouldst haue won more than he could haue got That did ingirt me ready still to flie But thou laidst batt'ry to my chastitie O modestie didst thou me not restraine How I could chide you in this angry vaine A Princes name heauen knowes I doe not craue To haue those honours Edwardâ— spouse should haue Nor by ambitious lures will I be brought In my chaste breast to harbour such a thought As to be worthy to be made a Bride An Empresse place by mighty Edwards side Of all the most vnworthy of that grace To waite on her that should enioy that place But if that loue Prince Edward doth require Equall his vertues and my chaste desire If it be such as we may iustly vaunt A Prince may sue for and a Lady graunt If it be such as may suppresse my wrong That from your vaine vnbrideled youth hath sprong That faith I send that I from you receaue The rest vnto your Princely thoughts I leaue ¶ Notes of the Chronicle Historie Twice as a Bride I haue to Church beene led THe two husbands of which she makes mention obiecting bigamy against herselfe as being therefore not meet to be married with a batcheller-Prince were sir Thomas Holland knight sir Willlam Montague afterward made Earle of Salisbury That not my fathers graue and reuerend yeeres A thing incredible that any Prince should be so vniust to vse the fathers meanes for the corruption of the daughters chastitie though so the historie importeth her father being so honourable and a man of so singular desert though Polidore would haue her thought to be Iane the daughter to Edmund earle of Kent vncle to Edward the third beheaded in the Protectoriship of Mortimer that dangerous aspirer And I haue gainde my libertie with shame Roxborough is a castle in the North mis-termed by Bandello Salisbury castle because the king had giuen it to the Earle of Salisbury in which her Lorde being absent the Countesse by the Scots was besieged who by the comming of the English Armie were remoued Here first the Prince saw her whose libertie had bin gained by her shame had shee bin drawne by dishonest loue to satisfie his appetite but by her most praise-worthy constancie she conuerted that humor in him to an honourable purpose and obtained the true reward of her admired vertues The rest vnto your princely thoughts I leaue Lest any thing be left out which were woorth the relation it shall not be impertinent to annex the opinions that are vttered concerning her whose name is said to haue bin Aclips but that being rejected as a name vnknowne among vs Froisard is rather beleeued who calleth her Alice Polidore contrariwise as before is declared names her Iane who by Prince Edward had issue Edward dying yong and Richard the second king of England thogh as he saith she was diuorced afterwards because within the degrees of consanguinitie prohibiting to many the trueth whereof I omit to discusse her husband the Lord Montague being sent ouer into Flaunders by king Edward was taken prisoner by the French and not returning left his Countesse a widow in whose bed succeeded Prince Edward to whose last and lawsull request the reioycesull Lady sends this louing answere Finis ¶ To the right Honourable and my very good Lord Edward Earle of Bedford THrice noble and my gratious 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 vnited hath long since deuoted my true and zealous affection to your honourable seruice and my Poems to the protection of my noble Ladie your Countesse to whose seruice I was furst bequeathed by that learnd accomplisht gentleman sir Henry Goodere not long since deceased whose I was whilst hee was whose patience pleased to beare with the imperfections of my heedles and vnstaied youth That excellent and