King Henry of famous memory the eight that no Kingdome in the earth more flourished His sonne the Father of our Elizabeth was to his Enemies dreadfull to his friends gracious vnder whose Ensigne the Emperour himselfe serued so potent a Prince he was besides so liberall and bounteous that he seemed like the Sunne in his Meridian to showre downe gold round about the Horizon But hee died too and left vs three Princely hopes all which haue seuerally succeeded other royallie maintaining the right of England and resisted with power all forraine wrong For King Edward our late Soueraignes Brother though he died young in yeeres left instance hee was no Infant in vertues his learning towardnes and zeale was thought fitter for the societie of Angels than men with whom no doubt his spirit liues eternally Such assurance haue wee of the happines of that royall gracious and worthy Ladie Mary his eldest sister who in her death exprest the care of her Kingdomes so much lamenting one Townes losse that she told her attendant Ladies if they would rip her heart when shee was dead they should finde Callice written in it O Thenot with all you other Nymphs and Swaines setting by her affection to Papall religion wherein shee was borne and liued learne by this worthy Queene the care of Soueraignes how heart-sick they are for their subiects losse and think what felicity wee poore wormes liue in that haue such royall Patrons who cark for our peace that we may quietly eate the bread of our owne labour and tend our flocks in safetie asking of vs nothing but feare and duty which humanity allowes and heauen commaunds With this Thenot interrupted Collin telling him there were a number of true shepheards misliked that Princes life and ioyed greatly at her death withall beginning to shew some reasons but Collin quickly interrupted him in these words Peace Thenot peace Princes are sacred things It fits not Swaines to thinke amisse of Kings For saith he the faults of Rulers if any be faultie are to be reprehended by them that can amend them and seeing none is superiour to a King but God to him alone referre their actions And where thou termest them true shepheards that so enuied that Ladies gouernment thou art deceiued for the true shepheards indeede that suffered in her time by the malice of Romish Prelates prayed hartily for her euen in the fire and taught the people to obey her gouernment but such as rayld at her are still as they then were proud phanatike spirited counterfaites expert in nothing but ignorance such as hate all rule for who resisteth correction more than fooles though they deserue it most Beleeue mee Thenot and all you well affected Swaines there is no greater marke for a true shepheard to be knowne by than Humilitie which God hee knowes these mad men most want too much experience haue wee of their threed-bare pride who bite the dead as liuing Curres may Lyons not contented with their scandals of that Royal Lady our late Soueraignes Sister but they haue troubled the cleare springs of our Mistresse Elizabeths blessed gouernment nay my selfe haue seene and heard with glowing eares some of them euen in the fields of Calydon when his Excellence that is now our Emperiall shepheard was onely Lord of their foldes speake of his Maiestie more audaciouslie malapertly than any of vs would doe of the meanest officer For as I said euen now if Rulers chance to slip it is most vnsufferable that euery impudent rayler should with the breath of his mouth stirre the chaffie multitude whose eares itch for nouelties whose mindes are as their numbers diuers not able to iudge themselues much lesse their Soueraignes But they ought if they be true Pastors to follow the great Pan the Father of all good shepheards Christ who teacheth euery of his Swaines to tell his brother priuatly of his fault and againe and againe by that glorious number three including numbers numberlesse before it be tolde the Church If then they must being true shepheards deale so with their brethren how much more ought their followers doe to their Soueraignes being Kings and Queenes And not in the place where sacred and morall manners should be taught contrarily to teach the rude to be more vnmannerly instructing euery Punie to compare with the most reuerend Prelate and that by that example to haue euerie Cobler account himselfe a King Oh said Thenot Collin there are some would ill thinke of you should they heare you thus talke for they reproue all out of zeale and must spare none Peace to thy thoughts Thenot answered Collin I know thou knowest there is a zeale that is not with knowledge acquainted but let them and their mad zeale passe let vs forget their raylings against Princes And beginne with her beginning after her Royall Sisters ending who departing from this earthly Kingdome the seuenteenth of Nouember in the yeere of our Lord 1558. immediatlie thereupon Elizabeth the hand-maide to the Lord of Heauen and Empresse of all Maides Mothers Youth and men then liuing in this English Earth was proclaimed Queene with generall applause being much pittied for that busie slander and respectlesse enuie had not long before brought her into the disfauour of her Royall Sister Mary whom wee last remembred In the continuance of whose displeasure stil stil made greater by some great Enemies how she scap't needes no repeating being so wel knowne Preserued shee was from the violence of death her blood was precious in the sight of GOD as is the blood of all his Saints it was too deere to be poured out like water on the greedy earth she liued and wee haue liued vnder her fortie and odde yeeres so wonderfully blest that all Nations haue wondred at their owne afflictions and our prosperity and shee died as she liued with vs still careful of our peace finishing euen then the greatest wonder of all our deserts considered by appointing the Kingdome to so iust and lawfull a Ruler to succeede her whom all true English knew for their vndoubted Lord immediatly after her death But least wee end ere we begin I wil returne to her who being seated in the Throne of Maiestie adorned with all the vertues diuine and morall appeared to vs like a goodly Pallace where the Graces kept their seuerall Mansions First faith aboundantly shone in her then young lost not her brightnes in her age for shee beleeued in her Redeemer her trust was in the King of Kings who preserued her as the Apple of his eye from all treacherous attempts as many being made against her life as against any Princesse that euer liued yet she was stil confident in her Sauiour whose name shee glorified in all her actions confessing her victories preseruings dignities to be all his as appeared by many luculent examples this one seruing for the rest that after the dissipation of the Spanish Armatho accounted inuincible shee came in person to Paules crosse and there among the meanest of
ENGLANDS Mourning Garment Worne heere by plaine Shepheards in memorie of their sacred Mistresse ELIZABETH Queene of Vertue while she liued and Theame of Sorrow being dead To the which is added the true manner of her Emperiall Funerall With many new additions being now againe the second time reprinted which was omitted in the first Impression After which followeth the Shepheards Spring-Song for entertainment of King IAMES our most potent Soueraigne Dedicated to all that loued the deceased Queene and honour the liuing KING Imprinted at London for Thomas Millington and are to be sold at the signe of the Crane in Paules Churchyard by Walter Burre 1603. To all true Louers of the right gracious Queene Elizabeth in her life being vndoubtedly those faithfull Subiects that now honour and affect our most potent Lord King Iames after her death MY Epistle to you is like the litle Towne that the Cynicke would haue perswaded the Citizens was readie to runne out at the great gates being scarce so long as the Title In a word the negligence of many better able hath made me bold to write a small Epitomie touching the abūdant vertues of Elizabeth our late sacred Mistris Intreating of her Princely birth chast life royall gouernment and happie death being a Lady borne liuing raigning dying all for Englands good The manner is handled between Shepheards the forme of speech like the persons rude Affection exceedeth Eloquence and I haue not shewne much Art but exprest the dutie of a louing hart Shead some teares in reading our Shepheards sorrow and in that true passion let your loue to our royall Lord be shewne who hateth hypocrites as iust men hell Farewell all of you that giue the dead Queene a sad Farewell and the liuing King a glad Welcome the rest are Time-pleasers and I write not to them Foelicem fuisse infaustum Englands Mourning Garment Worne by plaine Shepheardes for the death of that most excellent Empresse Elizabeth Queene of Vertue while she liued and Theame of Sorrow being dead THENOT COLLIN Thenot. COllin thou lookst as lagging as the day When the Sun setting toward his westerne bed Shewes that like him all glory must decay And frolique life with murkie clouds o re-spred Shall leaue all earthly beautie mongst the dead Such is the habite of thy new aray Why art thou not preparde to welcome May In whose cleare Moone thy younglings shall be fed With nights sweete dewes and open flowers of day Collin I aunswer thee with woe and wel away I am in sable clad sith she cannot be had That me and mine did glad there 's all I 'le say Thenot. Well spoken Swaine let me thy sorrow ken Rich soule though wrong'd by idle Antike men And driuen by falshood to a cloudie den Tell me thy griefe Collin O it is past releefe and which is worst of worst Bayards and beasts accurst with grosest flattery nurst Haue sung her sacred name and prais'd her to their shame Of mayden Queenes who was our last and first Thenot. Deere Collin doe not checke the humblest song The will is euer maister of the worke Those that can sing haue done all Shepheards wrong Like Lozels in their cottages to lurke The ayres the ayre though it be thicke and murke If they to whom true Pastorals belong In needefull layes vse neither pipe nor tong Shall none the vertuous raise Collin Yes those that merit Bayes though teares restraine their layes Some weeping houres or dayes will finde a time To honour Honour still not with a rurall quill But with the soule of skill to blesse their rime Aye me why should I dote on rimes on songs or note Confusion can best quote sacred Elizaes losse Whose praise doth grace all verse that shal the same reherse No gold neede decke her herse to her all gold is drosse With that Collin in discontent brake his pipe and in that passion as if his heart had beene like his pipe parted each peece from the other hee fell without sense on the earth not then insensible of his sorrowe for it yeelded wept and groand at once with his fall his weepings and his sighs Poore Th. showted for help at whose call came some Nymphs full of sorrow for their Soueraigne and no whit amazed to see him lie as dead their hearts were so dead with thinking of that which had astonied his But yet as gathering of companies draw more more to wonder so prooued it among the Shepheards that left none but their curres to attend their flockes themselues flocking about Thenot Collin who now recouered from his trance and all asking the reason of his griefe with teares abounding in his eyes that likewise drew more aboundantly from theirs he distractedly answered Illum nec enim reprehendere fas est Qui fleat hanc cuius fregerunt stamina parcae Solus honor sequitur mortales ille misellos And therewithall making a signe for the Shepheards and Nymphs to sit downe he told them they had lost that sacred Nymph that carefull Shepheardesse ELIZA but if it pleased them to lend attention he would repeate somthing of her worth memorie that should liue in despite of death whereupon a still silence seizd them all sauing only now and then by sighing they exprest their hearts sorrow and Collin thus began Seeing Honor onely followeth mortals and the works of the vertuous die not with their deaths and yet those workes neuerthelesse with the honours and rites due to the departed might be much blemished if there were no gratitude in their successors let vs poore Rurals though no other wayes able to erect Statues for our late dread Soueraigne worthy all memory among our selues repeate part of her excellent Graces and our benefite obtained by her Gouernment for to reckon all were Opus infinitum alabour without end She was the vndoubted issue of two royall Princes Henry of Lancaster and Elizabeth of Yorke In whose vnion the quiet of vs poore Swaines began for till that blessed mariage England was a shambles of slaughtred men so violent was the blood of ambition so potent the factions and so implacable their heads whose eyes were neuer cleard till they were washt in blood euen in the deare blood of their Obiects hearts This King Grandfather to our late Queene was the first Brittish King that manie a hundred yeeres before wore the Emperiall Diademe of England France Ireland in him began the name of Tewther descended from the ancient Brittish King to florish the issue male of royal Plantagenet ending in his beginning his wife Grandmother to our late Elizabeth being the last Plantagenet whose Temples were heere circled with a sphere of gold Which King and Queene liued and loued and now lie intoombed in that most famous Chappell built at his Kingly charge in the Abbey of Westminster King Henry dying in a good age left England rich beautifull and full of peace and so blest with his issue after royally matcht to Scotland France besides his vndoubted heire
how her Highnesse in one of her Progresses walking in the Garden of a house where she was receiued being somewhat neere the highway heard on a suddaine a market woman crie and from an Arbour behelde one of her owne seruants a Taker vp of prouision vse the woman vnciuillie whereupon the cause being examined and the poore woman found by the same fellowe to be wrongd as well afore as then her Highnesse causd him presently to be dischargd of her seruice and punished yet the fault being but slight the Taker was countenanced to make sute to be restord and some halfe yeere after fell downe before her Maiestie desiring mercie and restoring her Highnesse pittying his distresse commaunded him to be prouided for in some place where he could not wrong her poore subiects but in any case not to make him a Taker Manie such false ones she hath punished with death and those that haue by power friends or fauour scapd let then Zacheus restore least their ends be worse than their beginnings I could in this as all the rest reckon multitudes of examples but I will end with her Excellence in this Act of Charitie extended to her neighbours whom shee hath by her bountie deliuered from the tyrannie of oppression and ayded the right of others against rebellious subiects others assisted to recouer their Kingdomes not sparing millions to sustaine the quarrell of the righteous The reward of which mercy and charitie she now findes being done for his cause that leaueth no deed of mercy vnrecompenced As shee was richly stored with diuine graces so in morall vertues no Princesse euer-liuing in the earth can be remembred to exceede her Her wisedome was without question in her life by any vnequalled shee was sententious yet gracious in speech So expert in Languages that she answered most Embassadors in their Natiue tongues her capacitie was therewith so apprehensiue and inuention so quicke that if anie of them had gone beyond their bounds with gracious maiestie she would haue limitted them within the verge of their duties as shee did royallie wiselie and learnedlie the last strutting Poland Messenger that thought with stalking lookes and swelling words to daunt her vndaunted Excellence But as he came proud he returned not without repentance hauing no other wrong heere but the shame of his owne sausinesse Manie such examples I could set downe but I will satisfie you with one more When the Spaniards hauing their Armatho readie temporisde with her Highnesse Commissioners in the low Countries thinking to find her vnprouided at last when they accounted all sure they sent her their Kings choise either of peace or warre wittilie included in foure Latine verses portending that if she would cease to defend the Lowe Countries restore the goods taken by reprisall from the Spaniards build vp the Religious houses diuerted in her Fathers time and let the Romane Religion bee receiued through her land why then she might haue peace if not it was too late to expect any Which proud commaunding Embassie with royall magnanimitie gratious wisedome and fluent wit she answered instantly in one knowne prouerbiall line which she sodainly made into a Verse Ad Graecas haec fiant mandata Kalendas O Thenot did not assurance of our kingly Poets loue to the Muses somewhat comfort me I should vtterly dispaire euer to heare Pastorall song againe fild with anie conceit seeing her Excellence whose braine was the Hellican of all our best and quaint inuentions is dried vp by the ineuitable heate of death Her owne iustice was such as neuer any could truly complaine of her neither did shee pardon faultes vnpardonable as murder rape Sodomie that sin almost not to be namd neither was there in her with her knowlege extremitie of iustice showne to other malefactors if any such did fall it was either by falshood or malice of the euidence practise of corrupt men or some other secret wherwith poore Shepheards are vnacquainted only this we are taught that God sometime punisheth the sins of parents on their children to many generations But for her selfe she was alwaies so enclined to equity that if she left Iustice in any part it was in shewing pittie as in one generall punishment for murder it appeared whereas before time there was extraordinary torture as hanging wilfull muderers aliue in chaines shee hauing compassion like a true Shepheardnesse of their soules though they were of her erring and vtterly infected flocke said their death satisfied for death aud life for life was all could bee demāded affirming more that much torture distracted a dying man in particular she saued many Among some vnworthy of her mercy that proud fellow who vniustly named himselfe Doctor Parry and an other as I remember called Patrick an Irish man the first hauing offended in burglary against a lawier able willing to take away his life therto vrged by many misdemeanours and for that Parry doubted his attempt to kill act of fellony was without compasse of pardon considering the place where it was done and against whom thought a lease of his life safest which of her benigne mercy he obtained for 21. yeares but ere 3. of thē were past he did vnnaturally attempt her death that had giuē him life for which traiterous ingratitude he worthily was cut off the Irish man likewise being pardoned for a man slaughter proued vnthankfull and ended as he liued shamefully Besides she was so inclinable to mercy that her iust and seuere Iudges told her how some desperate malefactors building on friends and hopes of pardon cared not for offending but euen scoffed at authority wherof when she heard she tooke speciall care considering it was as great iniustice to pity some as spare others taking order to signe no pardon except the Iudges hand were at it first which truly knew the cause why the party was condemned by which meanes murderers and presumptuous offenders were cut off from all hope One notable example of her iustice among many I wil here remember Certaine condemned for Piracie hauing made some end with them they wronged lay for their liues at her mercy and the Iudge of her Admiraltie hauing signified fauourably of the qualitie of their offence she was moued to pittie them and had commanded their pardon to be drawne In the meane time two of them trained vp in the fashion of our cōmon Cutters that I may tel thee Thenot swarm rather like deuils than men about the country that sweare as if they had license to blaspheme stab men as if they had authority nay sometime themselues for very trifles two such I say were in the company of these condemned Pyrates hourely hoping for their liues and brauing either other of their manhoode saying one durst more than the other the eldest being Maister of their late ship wherein they had sailed to that place of sorrow slyces his owne flesh with a knife asking the other if he durst doo as much the Younker was very readie and two or three times