History Am I at Home pursu'd with private Hate And War comes raging to my Palace Gate RObert Earl of Leicester who took part with young King Henry entred into England with an Army of three thousand Flemings and spoiled the Countries of Norfolk and Suffolk being succoured by many of the King 's private Enemies And am I branded with the Curse of Rome King Henry the Second the first Plantaginet accused for the Death of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury slain in that Cathedral Church was accursed by Pope Alexander although he urged sufficient proof of his Innocency in the same and offered to take upon him any Pennance so he might avoid the Curse and Interdiction of his Realm And by the Pride of my rebellious Son Rich Normandy with Armies over-run Henry the young King whom King Henry had caused to be Crowned in his Life as he hoped both for his own good and the good of his Subjects which indeed turned to his own Sorrow and the trouble of the Realm for he rebelled against him and raising a Power by the means of Lewis King of France and William King of Scots who took part with him and invaded Normandy Unkind my Children most unkind Wife Never King more unfortunate then King Henry in the disobedience of his Children First Henry then Geoffrey then Richard then John all at one time or other first or last unnaturally rebelled against him then the Jealousie of Elinor his Queen who suspected his Love to Rosamond Which grievous troubles the Devout of those Times attributed to happen to him justly for refusing to take on him the Government of Jerusalem offered to him by the Patriarch there which Country was mightily afflicted by the Souldan Which only Vaughan thou and I do know This Vaughan was a Knight whom the King exceedingly loved who kept the Palace at Woodstock and much of the Kings Jewels and Treasure to whom the King committed many of his Secrets and in whom he reposed such trust that he durst commit his Love unto his Charge FINIS KING JOHN TO MATILDA The ARGUMENT After King John had assayed by all means possible to win the fair and chast Matilda to his unchast and unlawfull Bed and by unjust Courses and false accusation banish'd the Lord Robert Fitzwater her Noble Father and many other Allies who justly withstood the desire of this wanton King seeking the dishonour of his fair and vertuous Daughter This chast Lady still solicited by the lascivious King flies unto Dunmow in Essex where she becomes a Nun the King still persisting in his Suit sollicites her by this Epistle her Reply confirms her vow'd and invincible Chastity making known to the King her pure unspotted Thoughts WHen these my Letters thy bright Eyes shall view Think them not forc'd or feign'd or strange or new Thou know'st no way no means no course exempted Left now unsought unprov'd on unattempted All Rules Regards all secret Helps of Art What Knowledge Wit Experience can impart And in the old Worlds Ceremonies doted Good days for Love Times Hours Minute noted And where Art left Love teacheth more to find By signs in presence to express the Mind Oft hath mine Eye told thine Eye Beauty griev'd it And begg'd but for one Look to have reliev'd it And still with thine Eyes motion mine Eye mov'd Lab'ring for Mercy telling how it lov'd You blusht I blusht your Cheek pale pale was mine My Red thy Red my Whiteness answer'd thine You sigh'd I sigh'd we both one Passion prove But thy sigh is for Hate my sigh for Love If a word pass'd that insufficient were To help that word mine Eye let forth a Tear And if that Tear did dull or senseless prove My Heart would fetch a Throb to make it move Oft in thy Face one Favour from the rest I singled forth that pleas'd my Fancy best This likes me most another likes me more A third exceeding both those lik'd before Then one as Wonder were derived thence Then that whose rareness passeth excellence Whilst I behold thy Globe-like rowling Eye Thy lovely Cheek me thinks stands smiling by And tells me those are Shadows and Supposes But bids me thither come and gather Roses Looking on that thy Brow doth call to me To come to it if Wonders I will see Now have I done and then thy dimpled Chin Again doth tell me newly I begin And bids me yet to look upon thy Lip Lest wond'ring least the great'st Loverslip My gazing Eye on this and this doth sease Which surfeits yet cannot Desire appease Now like I Brown O lovely Brown thy Hair Only in Browness Beauty dwelleth there Then love I Black think Eye-ball black as Jet Which in a Globe pure Crystalline is set Then White but Snow nor Swan nor Ivory please Then are thy Teeth whiter by much then these In Brown in Black in Pureness and in White All Love all Sweets all Rareness all Delight Thus my stol'n Heart sweet Thief thou hence do'st carry And now thou fly'st into a Sanctuary Fie peevish Girl ingratefull unto Nature Was it for this she fram'd thee such a Creature That thou her Glory should'st encrease thereby And thou alone do'st scorn Society Why Heav'n made Beauty like her self to view Not to be lock'd up in a smoaky Mew A Rosie-tincted Feature is Heav'ns Gold Which all Men joy to touch all to behold It was enacted when the World begun So rare a Beauty should not live a Nun But if this Vow thou needs wilt undertake Oh were mine Arms a Cloyster for thy sake Still may his Pains for ever be augmented This Superstition idly that invented Ill might he thrive who brought this Custome hither That holy People might not live together A happy Time a good World was it then When holy Women liv'd with holy Men. But Kings in this yet priviledg'd may be I 'll be a Monk so I may live with thee Who would not rise to ring the Morning's Knell When thy sweet Lips might be the sacring Bell Or what is he not willingly would fast That on those Lips might feast his Lips at last Who to his Mattins early would not rise Might he but read by th' Light of thy fair Eyes On Worldly Pleasures who would ever look That had thy Curls his Beads thy Brows his Book Wert Thou the Cross to Thee who would not creep And wish the Cross still in his Arms to keep Sweet Girl I 'll take this holy Habit on me Of meer Devotion that is come upon me Holy Matilda Thou the Saint of mine I 'll be thy Servant and my Bed thy Shrine When I do offer be thy Breast the Altar And when I pray thy Mouth shall be my Psalter The Beads that we will bid shall be sweet Kisses Which we will number if one Pleasure misses And when an Ave comes to say Amen We will begin and tell them o'er again Now all good Fortune give me happy Thrift As I should joy t' absolve thee after Shrift But see
woo'd me whilst Wars did yet increase I woo my Tudor in sweet calms of Peace To force Affection he did Conquest prove I come with gentle Arguments of Love * Incamp'd at Melans in Wars hot Alarms First saw I Henry clad in Princely Arms At pleasant Windsor First these Eyes of mine My Tudor judg'd for wit and shape divine Henry abroad with Puissance and with Force Tudor at home with Courtship and Discourse He then thou now I hardly can judge whether Did like me best Plantaginet or Tether A March a Measure Battel or a Dance A Courtly Rapier or a conqu'ring Launce His Princely Bed hath strength'ned my Renown * And on my Temples set a double Crown Which glorious Wreath as Henrys lawfull Heir Henry the sixth upon his Brow doth bear * At Troy in Champain he did first enjoy My Bridal Rites to England brought from Troy In England now that Honour thou shalt have Which once in Champain famous Henry gave I seek not Wealth three Kingdoms in my Power If these suffice not where shall be my Dower Sad Discontent may ever follow her Which doth base Pelf before true Love prefer If Titles still could our Affections tye What is so great but Majesty might buy As I seek thee so Kings doe me desire To what they would thou eas'ly may'st aspire That sacred Fire once warm'd my Heart before The Fuell fit the Flame is now the more And means to quench it I in vain doe prove We may hide Treasure but not hide our Love And since it is thy Fortune thus to gain it It were too late nor will I now restrain it * Nor these great Titles vainly will I bring Wife Daughter Mother Sister to a King Of Grandfire Father Husband Son and Brother More thou alone to me then all these other * Nor fear my Tudor that this love of mine Should wrong the Gaunt-born great Lancastrian Line * Or make the English Blood the Sun and Moon Repine at Lorain Burdon Alanson Nor doe I think there is such different ods They should alone be numbred with the Gods Of Cadmus Earthly Issue reck'ning us And they from Jove Mars Neptune Eolus Of great Latonas O'ff-spring onely they And wee the Brats of wofull Niobe Our famous Grandsires as their own bestrid That Horse of Fame that God-begotten Steed Whose bounding Hoof plow'd that Boetian Spring Where those sweet Maids of Memory doe sing I claim not all from Henry but as well To be the Child of Charles and Isabel Nor can I think from whence their Grief should grow That by this Match they be disparag'd so * When John and Longshanks Issue were affy'd And to the Kings of Wales in Wedlock ty'd Shewing the greatness of your Blood thereby Your Race and Royal Consanguinity And Wales as well as haughty England boasts * Of Camilot and all her Pentecosts To have precedence in Pendragons Race At Arthur's Table challenging the Place If by the often Conquest of your Land They boast the Spoiles of their victorious Hand If these our ancient Chronicles be true They altogether are not free from you * When bloody Rufus sought your Towns to sack Twice entring Wales yet twice was beaten back When famous Cambria wash'd her in the Flood Made by th' effusion of the English Blood * And oft return'd with glorious Victory From Worcester Her'ford Chester Shrewsbury Whose Power in ev'ry Conquest so prevails As once expuls'd the English out of Wales Although my Beauty made my Countries Peace And at my Bridal former Broils did cease More then his Power had not his Person been I had not come to England as a Queen Nor took I Henry to supply my want Because in France that time my choice was scant When it had robb'd all Christendom of Men And Englands Flower remain'd amongst us then Gluoster whose Counsels Nestor-like assist Couragious Bedford that great Martiallist Clarence for Vertue honour'd of his Foes And York whose Fame yet daily greater grows Warwick the pride of Nevil's haughty Race Great Salisbury so fear'd in ev'ry place That valiant Pool whom no Atchievement dar's And Vere so famous in the Irish Wars Who though my self so great a Princess born The best of these my equal need not scorn But Henry's rare Perfections and his parts As conqu'ring Kingdoms so he conquer'd Hearts As chaste was I to him as Queen might be But freed from him my chaste love vow'd to thee Beauty doth fetch all Favour from thy Face All perfect Court-ship resteth in thy Grace If thou discourse my Lips such Accents break As Love a Spirit forth of thee seem'd to speak The Brittish Language which our Vowels wants And jarrs so much upon harsh Consonants Comes with such grace from thy mellifluous Tongue As the sweet Notes doe of a well-set Song And runs as smoothly from those Lips of thine As the pure Tuskan from the Florentine Leaving such seas'ned sweetness in the Ear That the Voyce past the sound abides still there In Nisus Tower as when Apollo lay And on his golden Viol us'd to play Where senceless Stones were with such Musick drown'd As many years they did retain the Sound Let not the Beams that Greatness doth reflect Amaze thy Hopes with timerous respect Assure thee Tudor Majesty can be As kind in love as can the mean'st degree And the embraces of a Queen as true As theirs which think them much advanc'd by you When in our Greatness our Affections crave Those secret Joyes that other Women have So I a Queen be soveraign in my choice Let others fawn upon the publick voice Or what by this can ever hap to thee Light in respect to be belov'd of me Let pevish Wordlings prate of Right and Wrong Leave Plaints and Pleas to whom they doe belong Let old Men speak of Chances and Events And Laywers talk of Titles and Descents Leave fond Reports to such as Stories tell And Covenants to those that buy and sell Love my sweet Tudor that becomes thee best And to our good success refer the rest ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Incamp'd at Melans in Wars hot Alarms First c. NEar unto Melans upon the River of Seyne was the appointed place of Parley between the two Kings of England and France to which place Isabel the Queen of France and the Duke of Rurgoyne brought the young Princess Katherine where King Henry first saw her And on my Temples set a double Crown Henry the fifth and Queen Katherine were taken as King Queen of France and during the life of Charles the French King Henry was called King of England and Heir of France and after the death of Henry the fift Henry the fixth his son then being very young was crown'd at Paris as true and lawfull King of England and France At Troy in Champaine he did first enjoy Troy in Champaine was the place where that victorious King Henry the fift married the Princess Katherine in the presence of the chief Nobility of the Realms of
to Modesty though they offending therein were buried quick A sharp Law for them who may say as Shores Wife does When though abroad restraining us to rome They very hardly keep us safe at home FINIS Mary the French Queen TO Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk The ARGUMENT Mary the Daughter of that Renowned Prince King Henry the Seventh being very young at her Fathers death was after by her Brother King Henry the Eight given in marriage to Lewis King of France being a man old and decrepit This fair and beautiful Lady long before had placed her Affections on Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk a brave and couragious young Gentleman and an especial Favorite of the King her Brother and a Man raised by him King Lewis the Husband of the beautiful Queen died not long after he was married and Charles Brandon having Commission from the King to bring her back to England but being delayed by some sinister means the French Queen writeth this Epistle to hasten the Duke forward on his intended voyage to France SUch health from Heav'n my self may wish to me Such health from France Queen Mary sends to thee Brandon how long mak'st thou excuse to stay And know'st how ill we Women brook delay If one poor Channel thus can part us two Tell me unkind what would an Ocean do Leander had an Hellespont to swim Yet this from Hero could not hinder him His Bark poor Soul his Breast his Arms his Oares But thou a Ship to land thee on our Shores And opposite to famous Kent doth lie The pleasant Fields of flowry Picardy Where our fair Callice walled in her Sands In kenning of the Cliffy Dover stands Here is no Bedlam Nurse to pout nor lour When wantoning we revel in my Towre Nor need I top my Turret with a Light To guide thee to me as thou swim'st by Night Compar'd with me wert thou but half so kind Thy Sighs should stuff thy Sails though wanting Wind But ah thy Breast's becalm'd thy Sighs be slack And mine too stiff and blow thy broad Sayls back Perhaps thou'lt say that I should blame the Flood Because the Wind so full against thee stood Nay blame it not that it did roughly blow For it did chide thee that thou wast so slow Think not it came to keep thee in the Bay T' was sent from me to bid thee come away But that thou vainly let'st occasion slide Thou might'st have wasted hither with the Tide If when thou com'st I knit mine angry Brow Blame me not Brandon thou hast broke thy Vow Yet if I meant to frown I might be dumb For this may make thee stand in doubt to come Nay come sweet Charles have care thy Ship to guide Come my sweet Heart in Faith I will not chide When as my Brother and his lovely Queen In sad Attire for my depart were seen * The utmost date expired of my stay * When I from Dover did depart away Thou know'st what Woe I suff'red for thy sake How oft I fain'd of thee my leave to take God and thou know'st with what an heavy heart I took my farwel when I should depart And being ship'd gave signal with my Hand Up to the Cliff where I did see thee stand Nor could refrain in all the peoples view But cry'd to thee Sweet Charles adieu adieu Look how a little Infant that hath lost The thing wherewith it was delighted most Weary with seeking to some corner creeps And there poor Soul it sits it down and weeps And when the Nurse would fain content the mind Yet still it mourns for that it cannot find Thus in my careful Cabbin did I lye When as the Ship out of the Road did flie * Think'st thou my Love was faithful then to thee When young Castle to England su'd for me Be judge thy self if it were not of power When I refus'd an Empire for my Dower To Englands Court when once report did bring How thou in France didst revel with the King * When he in triumph of his victory * Under a rich imbroid'red Canopy * Entred proud Tournay which did trembling stand To beg for mercy at his conqu'ring hand To hear of his endearments how I joy'd But see this calm was suddenly destroy'd * When Charles of Castile there to banquet came * With him his Sister that ambitious Dame * Savoy's proud Dutches knowing how long she * All means had try'd to win my love from me Fearing my absence might thy vows acquite To change thy Mary for a Margarite * When in King Henries Tent of Cloth of Gold She often did thee in her Arms enfold Where you were feasted more deliciously Than Cleopatra did Mark Anthony Where sports all day did intertain your sight And then in Masks you pass'd away the night But thou wilt say 't is proper unto us That we by nature all are jealous I must confess 't is oft found in our Sex But who not love not any thing suspects True love doth look with pale suspitious eye Take away love if you take jealousie Turwin and Turney when King Henry took For this great change who then did ever look * When Maximilian to those wars addrest * Wore Englands Cross on his Imperial breast * And in our Army let his Eagle flie * That view'd our Ensigns with a wond'ring Eye Little thought I when Bullen first was won Wedlock should end what angry War begun From which I vow I yet am free in thought * But this alone by Wolseies wit was wrought To his advice the King gave free consent That will I nill I I must be content My Virgins right thy state could not advance But now enriched with the Dower of France Then but poor Suffolk's Dutchess had I been Now the great Dowager the most Christian Queen But I perceive where all thy grief doth lie Lewis of France had my Virginity He had indeed but shall I tell thee what Believe me Brandon he had scarcely that Good feeble King he could not do much harm But Age must needs have something that is warm Small drops God knows do quench that heatless fire When all the strength is only in desire And I could tell if Modesty might tell There 's somewhat else that pleaseth Lovers well To rest his Cheek upon my softer Cheek Was all he had and more he did not seek So might the little Baby clip the Nurse And it content she never a whit the worse Then think this Brandon if that make thee frown He on my Head for Maydenhead set a Crown Who would not change a Kingdom for a Kiss Hard were the Heart that would not yield him this And time yet half so swiftly doth not pass Nor yet full five Months elder then I was When thou to France conducted wast by Fame With many Knights which from all Countries came To see me at Saint Dennis on my Throne Where Lewes held my Coronation * Where the proud Dolphin for thy valour sake * Chose thee at Tilt
That now a Spenser should succeed in all And that his Ashes should another breed Which in his Place and Empire should succeed That wanting One a Kingdoms Wealth to spend Of what that left this now shall make an end To waste all that our Father won before Nor leave our Son a Sword to conquer more Thus but in vain we fondly doe resist Where Pow'r can doe ev'n all things as it list And of our Right with Tyrants to debate Lendeth them means to weaken our Estate Whilst Parliaments must remedy their Wrongs And we must wait for what to us belongs Our Wealth but Fuel to their fond Excess And all our Fasts must feast their Wantonness Think'st thou our Wrongs then insufficient are To move our Brother to religious War * And if they were yet Edward doth detain Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitain And if not that yet hath he broke the Truce Thus all accurr to put back all excuse The Sister 's Wrong joyn'd with the Brother 's Right Methinks might urge him in this cause to fight Are all those People senseless of our Harms Which for our Country oft have manag'd Arms Is the brave Normans Courage quite forgot Have the bold Britains lost the use of Shot The big-bon'd Almans and stout Brabanders Their Warlike Pikes and sharp-edg'd Scymiters Or do the Pickards let their Cross-bows lie Once like the Centaur's of old Thessaly Or if a valiant Leader be their lack Where Thou art present who should beat them back I do conjure Thee by what is most dear By that great Name of famous Mortimer * By ancient Wigmore's honourable Crest The Tombs where all thy famous Grandsires rest Or if then these what more may Thee approve Ev'n by those Vows of thy unfeigned Love In all thou canst to stir the Christian King By forreign Arms some Comfort yet to bring To curb the Pow'r of Traytors that rebell Against the Right of Princely Isabel Vain witless Woman why should I desire To add more heat to thy Immortal fire To urge thee by the violence of Hate To shake the Pillars of thine own Estate When whatsoever we intend to doe Our most Misfortune ever sorteth too And nothing else remains for us beside But Tears and Coffins onely to provide * When still so long as Burrough bears that name Time shall not blot out our deserved shame And whilst clear Trent her wonted course shall keep For our sad Fall she evermore shall weep All see our Ruin on our Backs is thrown And we too weak to bear it out are grown * Torlton that should our Business direct The general Foe doth vehemently suspect For dangerous Things get hardly to their End Whereon so many watchfully attend What should I say My Griefs do still renew And but begin when I should bid adieu Few be my Words but manifold my Woe And still I stay the more I strive to go Then till fair Time some greater Good affords Take my Loves-payment in these airey Words ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Oh how I fear'd that sleepy Juyce I sent Might yet want power to further mine intent MOrtimer being in the Tower ordaining a Feast in honour of his Birth-day as he pretended inviting thereunto Sir Stephen Seagrave Constable of the Tower with the rest of the Officers belonging to the same he gave them a sleepy Drink provided by the Queen by which means he made his Escape I stole to Thames as though to take the Air And ask'd the gentle Floud as it doth glide Mortimer being got out of the Tower swam the River of Thames into Kent whereof she having intelligence doubteth of his strength to escape by reason of his long Imprisonment being almost the space of three years Did Bulloyn once a Festival prepare For England Almane Cicill and Navarre Edward Carnarvan the first Prince of Wales of the English Blood married Isabel Daughter of Phillip the Fair a Bulloine in the presence of the Kings of Almain Navarre and Cicill with the chief Nobility of France and England Which Marriage was there solemnized with exceeding Pomp and Magnificence And in my place upon his Regal Throne To set that Girl-boy wanton Gaveston Noting the effeminacy and luxurious wantonness of Gaveston the Kings Minion his Behaviour and Attire ever so Womanlike to please the Eye of his lascivious Master That a foul Witches Bastard should thereby It was urged by the Queen and the Nobility in the disgrace of Pierce Gaveston that his Mother was convicted of Witchcraft and burned for the same and that Pierce had bewitched the King And of our Princely Jewels and our Dowres Let us enjoy the least of what is ours A Complaint of the Prodigality of King Edward giving unto Gaveston the Jewels and Treasure which was left him by the ancient Kings of England and enriching him with the goodly Mannor of Wallingford assigned as parcel of the Dower to the Queen of this famous Isle And match'd with the brave Issue of our Blood Allie the Kingdom to their cravand Brood Edward the Second gave to Pierce Gaveston in Marriage the Daughter of Gilbert Clare Earl of Gloucester begot of the Kings Sister Joan of Acres married to the said Earl of Gloucester Albania Gascoign Cambria Ireland Albania Scotland so called of Albanact the second Son of Brutus and Cambria Wales so called of Camber the third Son The four Realms and Countries brought in subjection by Edward Longshanks Should give away all that his Father won To back a Stranger King Edward offered his Right in France to Charles his Brother in law and his Right in Scotland to Robert Bruce to be ayded against the Barons in the Quarrel of Pierce Gaveston And did great Edward on his Death-bed give Edward Longshankes on his Death-bed at Carlile commanded young Edward his Son on his Blessing not to call back Gaveston who for the misguiding of the Princes Youth was before banished by the whole Council of the Land That after all that fearfull Massacre The Fall of Beauchamp Lacy Lancaster Thomas Earl of Lancaster Guy Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Lincoln who had taken their Oath before the deceased King at his Death to withstand his Son Edward if he should call Gaveston from exile being a thing which he much feared now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers Commandment rise in Arms against the King which was the cause of the Civil War and the Ruin of so many Princes And gloried I in Gaveston's great Fall That now a Spenser should succeed in all The two Hugh Spensers the Father and the Son after the Death of Gaveston became the great Favourites of the King the Son being created by him Lord Chamberlain and the Father Earl of Winchester And if they were yet Edward doth detain Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitain Edward Longshanks did Homage for those Cities and Territories to the French King which Edward the second neglecting moved the French King by the subornation of Mortimer to seize
those Countries into his hands By ancient Wigmore's honourable Crest Wigmore in the Marches of Wales was the ancient House of the Mortimers that Noble and Couragious Family When still so long as Burrough bears that name The Queen remembreth the great Overthrow given to the Barons by Andrew Herckley Earl of Carlile at Burrough Bridge after the Battel at Burton Torlton that should our Business direct This was Adam Torlton Bishop of Hereford that great Politician who so highly favoured the Faction of the Queen and Mortimer whose evil counsel afterward wrought the destruction of the King MORTIMER TO QUEEN ISABEL AS thy Salutes my Sorrows doe adjourn So back to thee their int'rest I return Though not in so great Bounty I confess As thy Heroick Princely Lines express For how should Comfort issue from the Breath * Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd up for Death From Murthers Rage thou didst me once repreive My Hopes in Exile now thou do'st revive * Twice all was taken twice thou all didst give And thus twice dead thou mak'st me twice to live This double life of mine your only due You gave to me I give it back to you Ne'er my Escape had I adventur'd thus As did the Skie-attempting Dedalus And yet to give more safetie to my flight Did make a Night of Day a Day of Night Nor had I backt the proud aspiring Wall Which held without my Hopes within my Fall Leaving the Cords to tell where I had gone For Gazers with much fear to look upon But that thy Beauty by a pow'r divine Breath'd a new Life into this Spirit of mine Drawn by the Sun of thy celestial Eyes With fiery Wings which bare me through the Skies The Heav'ns did seem the charge of me to take And Sea and Land befriend me for thy sake Thames stop'd his Tide to make me way to goe As thou hadst charg'd him that it should be so The hollow murm'ring Winds their due time kept As they had rock'd the World while all things slept One Billow bare me and another drave me This strove to help me and that strove to save me The brisling Reeds mov'd with soft Gales did chide me As they would tell me that they meant to hide me The pale-fac'd Night beheld thy heavie cheare And would not let one little Star appeare But over all her smoaky Mantle hurl'd And in thick Vapours muffled up the World And the sad Ayre became so calm and still As it had been obedient to my will And every thing dispos'd it to my Rest As on the Seas when th' Halcion builds her Nest When those rough Waves which late with Fury rush'd Slide smoothly on and suddenly are hush'd Nor Neptune let his Surges out so long As Nature is in bringing forth her Young * Ne'r let the Spensers glorie in my Chance In that I live an Exile here in France That I from England banished should be But England rather banished from me More were her want France our great Bloud should bear Then Englands loss can be to Mortimer * My Grandsire was the first since Arthurs raign That the Round-Table rectifi'd again To whose great Court at Kenelworth did come The peereless Knighthood of all Christendom Whose Princely Order honour'd England more Than all the Conquests she atchiev'd before Never durst Scot set foot on English Ground Nor on his Back did English bear a Wound Whilst Wigmore flourish'd in our Princely Hopes And whilst our Ensigns march'd with Edwards Troops * Whilst famous Longshanks Bones in Fortunes scorn As sacred Reliques to the Field were born Nor ever did the valiant English doubt Whilst our brave Battels guarded them about Nor did our Wives and wofull Mothers mourn * The English Bloud that stained Banocksbourn Whilst with his Minions sporting in his Tent Whole Days and Nights in Banquetting were spent Until the Scots which under safeguard stood Made lavish Havock of the English Blood Whose batt'red Helms lay scatt'red on the Shore Where they in Conquest had been born before A thousand Kingdoms will we seek from far As many Nations waste with Civil War Where the dishevell'd gastly Sea-Nymph sings Or well-rig'd Ships shall stretch their swelling Wings And drag their Anchors through the sandy Fome About the World in ev'ry Clime to rome And those unchrist'ned Countries call our own Where scarce the Name of England hath been known * And in the dead Sea sink our Houses Fame From whose vast Depth we first deriv'd our Name Before foul black-mouth'd Infamy shall sing That Mortimer e'er stoop'd unto a King And we will turn stern-visag'd Fury back To seek his Spoyl who sought our utter Sack And come to beard him in our Native Isle E'er he march forth to follow our Exile And after all these boyst'rous stormy Shocks Yet will we grapple with the chaulky Rocks Nor will we steal like Pyrats or like Thieves From Mountains Forrests or Sea-bord'ring Clifts But fright the Air with Terror when we come Of the stern Trumpet and the bellowing Drum And in the Field advance our plumey Crest And march upon fair Englands flowry Breast And Thames which once we for our Life did swim Shaking our dewy Tresses on his Brim Shall bear my Navy vaunting in her pride Falling from Tanet with the pow'rfull Tide Which fertile Essex and fair Kent shall see Spreading her Flags along the pleasant Lee When on her stemming Poop she proudly bears The famous Ensigns of the Belgick Peers And for that hatefull Sacrilegious Sin Which by the Pope he stands accursed in The Cannon Text shall have a common Gloss Receipts in Parcels shall be paid in Gross This Doctrine preach'd Who from the Church doth take At least shall treble Restitution make For which Rome sends her Curses out from far Through the stern Throat of Terror-breathing War Till to th' unpeopl'd Shores she brings Supplys * Of those industrious Roman Colonies And for his Homage by the which of old Proud Edward Guyne and Aquitan doth hold * Charles by invasive Arms again shall take And send the English Forces o'er the Lake When Edward's Fortune stands upon this Chance To lose in England or to forfeit France And all those Towns great Longshanks left his Son Now lost which one he fortunately won Within their strong Port-culliz'd Ports shal lye And from their Walls his Sieges shall defie And by that firm and undissolved Knot Betwixt their neighb'ring French and bord'ring Scot. Bruce shall bring on his Red-shanks from the Seas From th' Isled Orcads and the Eubides And to his Western Havens give free pass To land the Kern and Irish Galiglass Marching from Tweed to swelling Humber Sands Wasting along the Northern Nether-Lands And wanting those which should his Power sustain Consum'd with Slaughter in his Bloody Reign Our Warlike Sword shall drive him from his Throne Where he shall lye for us to tread upon * And those great Lords now after their Attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints And by the superstitious People
thought That by their Reliques Miracles are wrought And think that Floud much vertue doth retain Which took the Bloud of famous Bohun slain Continuing the remembrance of the thing Shall make the People more abhor their King Nor shall a Spenser be he ne'er so great Possess our Wigmore our renowned Seat To raze the ancient Trophies of our Race With our deserts their Monuments to grace Nor shall he lead our valiant Marchers forth To make the Spensers famous in the North Nor be the Guardants of the British Pales Defending England and preserving Wales At first our Troubles easily recall'd But now grown head-strong hardly to be rul'd Deliberate counsel needs us to direct Where not ev'n plainess frees us from suspect By those Mishaps our Errors that attend Let us our Faults ingenuously amend Then Dear repress all peremptory Spleen Be more than Woman as you are a Queen Smother those Sparks which quickly else would burn Till Time produce what now it doth adjourn Till when great Queen I leave you though a while Live you in rest nor pity my Exile ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd up for Death ROger Mortimer Lord of Wigmore had stood publickly condemned for his Insurrection with Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Bohun Earl of Hereford the space of three Months and as report went the day of his Execution was determined to have been shortly which he prevented by his escape Twice all was taken twice thou all didst give At what time the two Mortimers this Roger Lord of Wigmore and his Uncle Roger Mortimer the elder were apprehended in the West the Queen by means of Torlton Bishop of Hereford and Beck Bishop of Duresme and Patriarch of Jerusalem being then both mighty in the State upon the submission of the Mortimers somewhat pacified the King and now secondly she wrought means for his escape Leaving the Cords to tell where I had gone With strong Ladders made of Cords provided him for the purpose be escaped out of the Tower which when the same were found fastened to the Walls in such a desperate Attempt they bred astonishment in the Beholders Ne'er let the Spencers glory in my chance The two Hugh Spencers the Father and the Son then being so highly favour'd of the King knew that their greatest safety came by his Exile whose high and turbulent Spirit could never brook any Corrival in Greatness My Grandsire was the first since Arthur's Reign That the Round Table rectified again Roger Mortimer called the great Lord Mortimer Grandfather to this Roger which was afterward the first Earl of March erected again the Round Table at Kenelworth after the antient Order of King Arthurs Table with the Retinue of an hundred Knights and an hundred Ladies in his House for the entertaining of such Adventurers as came thither from all parts of Christendome Whilst famous Longshank's Bones in Fortunes scorn Edward Longshanks willed at his Death that his Body should be boyled the Flesh from the Bones and that the Bones should be born to the Wars in Scotland which he was perswaded unto by a Prophecy which told That the English should still be fortunate in Conquest so long as his Bones were carried in the Feild The English Bloud that stained Banocksbourn In the great Voyage Edward the Second made against the Scots at the Battel at Striveling near unto the River of Banocksbourn in Scotland there was in the English Camp such Banquetting and Excess such Riot and Disorder that the Scots who in the mean time laboured for Advantage gave to the English a great Overthrow And in the Dead-Sea sink our Houses Fame From whose c. Mortimer so called of Mare Mortuum and in French Mortimer in English the Dead-Sea which is said to be where Sodom and Gomorrha once were before they were destroyed with fire from Heaven And for that hatefull Sacrilegious Sin Which by the Pope he stands accursed in Gaustellinus and Lucas two Cardinals sent into England from Pope Clement to appease the antient Hate between the King and Thomas Earl of Lancaster to whose Embassy the King seemed to yield but after their Departure he went back from his Promises for the which he was accursed at Rome Of those industrious Roman Colonies A Colony is a sort or number of People that come to inhabit a Place before not inhabited whereby he seems here to prophesie of the subversion of the Land the Pope joyning with the Power of other Princes against Edward for the breach of his Promise Charles by invasive Arms again shall take Charles the French King moved by the Wrong done unto his Sister seizeth the Provinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands stirred the rather thereto by Mortimer who sollicited her cause in France as is expressed before in the other Epistle in the Gloss upon this Point And those great Lords now after their Attaints Cannoniz'd among the English Saints After the death of Thomas Earl of Lancaster at Pomfret the People imagined great Miracles to be done by his Relicks as they did of the Body of Bohun Earl of Hereford slain at Burrough Bridge FINIS EDWARD The Black PRINCE TO ALICE Countess of Salisbury The ARGUMENT Alice Countess of Salisbury remaining at Roxborough Castle in the North in the absence of the Earl her Husband who was by the King's command sent over into Flanders and there deceased e'er his return This Lady being besieged in her Castle by the Scots Edward the Black Prince being sent by the King his Father to relieve the North Parts with an Army and to remove the Siege of Roxborough there fell in Love with the Countess when after she return'd to London he sought by divers and sundry means to win her to his youthfull Pleasures as by forcing the Earl of Kent her Father and her Mother unnaturally to become his Agents in his vain desires where after a long and assured tryal of her invincible Constancy he taketh her to his VVife to which end he only frameth this Epistle REceive these Papers from thy wofull Lord With far more Woes than they with Words are stor'd Which if thine Eye for rashness do reprove They 'll say they came from that imperious Love In ev'ry Line well may'st thou understand Which Love hath sign'd and sealed with his hand And where to farther process he refers In Blots set down to thee for Characters This cannot blâ—sh although you do refuse it Nor will reply however you shall use it All 's one to this though you should bid Despair This still entreats you this still speaks you fair Hast thou a living Soul a humane Sense To like dislike prove order and dispence The depth of Reason soundly to advise To love things good things hurtfull to despise The touch of Judgement which should all things prove Hast thou all this yet not allow'st my Love Sound moves a Sound Voice doth beget a Voice One Eccho makes another to rejoyce One well-tun'd String set
Harford and the faithfull assurance of his Victory Oh why did Charles relieve his needy state A Vagabond c. Charles the French King her Father received the Duke of Harford and relieved him in France being so nearly allied 〈◊〉 Cousin German to King Richard his Son in Law which he did simply little thinking that he should after return to England and dispossess King Richard of the Crown When thou to Ireland took'st thy last Farewell King Richard made a Voyage with his Army into Ireland against Onell and Mackmur who rebelled at what time Henry entred here at home and robbed him of all Kingly Dignity Affirm'd by Church-men which should bear no Hate That John of Gaunt was illegitimate William Wickham in the great Quarrel betwixt John of Gaunt and the Clergy of meer Spight and Malice as it should seem reported That the Queen confessed to him on her Death-Bed being then her Confessor That John of Gaunt was the Son of a Flemming and that she was brought to Bed of a Woman-Child at Gaunt which was smothered in the Cradle by mischance and that she obtained this Child of a poor Woman making the King believe it was her own greatly fearing his displeasure Fox ex Chron. Alban No Bastards Mark doth blot his conq'ring Shield Shewing the true and indubitate Birth of Richard his Right unto the Crown of England as carrying the Arms without Blot or Difference Against their Faith unto the Crowns true Heir Their valiant Kinsman c. Edmund Mortimer Earl of March son of Earl Roger Mortimer which was Son to Lady Philip Daughter to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son to King Edward the â—hird which Edmund King Richard going into Ireland was proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown whose Aunt called Elinor this Lord Piercy had married Oh would Aumerl had sunk when he betray'd The Plot which once that Noble Abbot laid The Abbot of Westminster had plotted the Death of King Henry to have been done at a Tilt at Oxford Of which Confederacy there was John Holland Duke of Excester Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey the Duke of Aumerl Montacute Earl of Salisbury Spencer Earl of Gloucester the Bishop of Carlile Sir Thomas Blunt these all had bound themselves one to another by Indenture to perform it but were all betrayed by the Duke of Aumerl Scroop Green and Bushy dye his Fault in grain Henry going towards the Castle of Flint where King Richard was caused Scroop Green and Bushy to be executed at Bristow as vile Persons which had seduced the King to this lascivious and wicked life Damn'd be the Oath he made at Doncaster After Henries exile at his return into England he took his Oath at Doncaster upon the Sacrament not to claim the Croâ—… or Kingdom of England but only the Dukedome of Lancaster his own proper Right and the Right of his Wife And mourn for Henry Hotspur her dear Son As I for my c. This was the brave couragious Henry Hotspur that obtained so many Victories against the Scots which after falling 〈◊〉 right with the Curse of Queen Isabel was slain by Henry the Battel at Shrewsbury FINIS RICHARD the Second TO Queen ISABEL WHat can my Queen but hope for from this Hand That it should write which never could command A Kingdoms Greatness think how he should sway That wholesome Counsel never could obey Ill this rude Hand did guide a Scepter then Worse now I fear me it will rule a Pen. How shall I call my self or by what Name To make thee know from whence these Letters came Not from thy Husband for my hateful Life Makes thee a Widdow being yet a Wife Nor from a King that Title I have lost Now of that Name proud Bullenbrook may boast What I have been doth but this comfort bring No words so wofull as I was a King This lawless Life which first procur'd my Hate * This Tongue which then renounc'd my Regal State This abject Soul of mine consenting to it This Hand that was the Instrument to doe it All these be witness that I now deny All Princely Types all Kingly Soveraignty Didst thou for my sake leave thy Fathers Court Thy famous Country and thy Princely Port And undertook'st to travel dang'rous Ways Driven by aukward Winds and boyst'rous Seas * And left'st great Burbon for thy love to me Who su'd in Marriage to be link'd to thee Offering for Dower the Countries neighb'ring nigh Of fruitfull Almaine and rich Burgundie Didst thou all this that England should receive thee To miserable Banishment to leave thee And in my Down-fall and my Fortunes wrack Thus to thy Country to convey thee back When quiet Sleep the heavey Hearts Relief Hath rested Sorrow somewhat less'ned Grief My passed Greatness into mind I call And think this while I dreamed of my Fall With this Conceit my Sorrows I beguile That my fair Queen is but with drawn a while And my Attendants in some Chamber by As in the height of my Prosperity Calling a loud and asking who is there The Eccho answ'ring tels me Woe is there And when mine Arms would gladly thee enfold I clip the Pillow and the place is cold Which when my waking Eyes precisely view 'T is a true token that it is too true As many Minutes as in the Hours there be So many Hours each Minute seems to me Each Hour a Day Morn Noon-tide and a Set Each Day a Year with Miseries compleat A Winter Spring-time Summer and a Fall All Seasons varying but unseasoned all In endless Woe my thred of Life thus wears In Minutes Hours Days by Months to lingring Years They praise the Summer that enjoy the South Pomfret is closed in the Norths cold Mouth There pleasant Summer dwelleth all the Year Frost-starved-Winter doth inhabit here A place wherein Despair may fitly dwell Sorrow best suiting with a cloudy Cell * When Harford had his Judgement of Exile Saw I the People's murmuring the while Th' uncertain Commons touch'd with inward Care As though his Sorrows mutually they bare Fond Women and scarce-speaking Children mourn Bewayle his parting wishing his return * That I was forc'd t'abridg his banish'd Years When they be dew'd his Foot-steps with their Tears Yet by example could not learn to know To what his Greatness by their Love might grow * But Henry boasts of our Atchievements don Bearing the Trophies our great Fathers won And all the story of our famous War Must grace the Annals of Great Lancaster * Seven goodly Siens in their Spring did flourish Which one self-Root brought forth one Stock did nourish * Edward the top-Branch of that golden Tree Nature in him her utmost power did see Who from the Bud still blossomed so fair As all might judge what Fruit it meant to bare But I his Graft of ev'ry Weed o'er-grown And from our kind as Refuse forth am thrown * We from our Grandsire stood in one Degree But after Edward John the young'st of three Might Princely Wales beget a
Son so base That to Gaunt's Issue should give Soveraign place * He that from France brought John his Prisoner home As those great Caesars did their Spoyls to Rome * Whose Name obtained by his fatal Hand Was ever fearfull to that conquer'd Land His Fame encreasing purchas'd in those Wars Can scarcely now be bounded with the Stars With him is Valour from the base World fled Or here in me is it extinguished Who for his Vertue and his Conquests sake Posterity a Demy-god shall make And judge this vile and abject Spirit of mine Could not proceed from temper so divine What Earthly Humour or what vulgar Eye Can look so low as on our Misery When Bullenbrook is mounted to our Throne And makes that his which we but call'd our own Into our Counsels he himself intrudes And who but Henry with the Multitudes His Power desgrades his dreadfull Frown disgraceth He throws them down whom our Advancement placeth As my disable and unworthy Hand Never had Power belonging to Command He treads our sacred Tables in the dust * And proves our Acts of Parliment unjust As though he hated that it should be said That such a Law by Richard once was made Whilst I deprest before his Greatness lye Under the weight of Hate and Infamy My Back a Foot-stool Bullenbrook to raise My Looseness mock'd and hatefull by his praise Out-live mine Honour bury my Estate And leave my self nought but my Peoples Hate Sweet Queen I le take all Counsel thou canst give So that thou bidst me neither hope nor live Succour that comes when Ill hath done his worst But sharpens Grief to make us more accurst Comfort is now unpleasing to mine Eare Past cure past care my Bed become my Bier Since now Misfortune humbleth us so long Till Heaven be grown unmindfull of our Wrong Yet it forbid my Wrongs should ever dye But still remembred to Posterity And let the Crown be fatal that he wears And ever wet with wofull Mothers Tears Thy Curse on Percy angry Heavens prevent Who have not one Curse left on him unspent To scourge the World now borrowing of my store As rich of Woe as I a King am poor Then cease dear Queen my Sorrows to bewaile My Wound 's too great for Pity now to heale Age stealeth on whilst thou complainest thus My Grief be mortal and infectious Yet better Fortunes thy fair Youth may try That follow thee which still from me doth fly ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History This Tongue which then denounc'd my Regal State RIchard the Second at the Resignation of the Crown to the Duke of Harford in the Tower of London delivering the same with his own hand there confessed his disability to govern vtterly denouncing all Kingly Authority And left'st great Burbon for thy love to me Before the Princess Isabel was married to the King Lewes Duke of Burbon sued to have had her in Marriage which was thought he had obtained if this Motion had not fallen out in the mean time This Duke of Burbon sued again to have received her at her coming into France after the imprisonment of King Richard but King Charles her Father then crossed him as before and gave her to Charles son to the Duke of Orleans When Harford had his Judgement of Exile When the Combate should have been at Coventry betwixt Henry Duke of Harford and Thomas Duke of Norfolk where Harford was adjudged to Banishment for ten years the Commons exceedingly lamented so greatly was be ever favoured of the People Then being forc'd t' abridge his banish'd years When the Duke came to take his leave of the King being then at Eltham the King to please the Commons rather then for any love he bare to Harford repealed four years of his Banishment But Henry boasts of our Atchievements done Henry the eldest son of John Duke of Lancaster at the first Earle of Darby then created Duke of Harford after the death of Duke John his father was Duke of Lancaster and Hartford Earl of Darby Liecester and Lincoln and after he had obtained the Crown was called by the name of Bullenbrook which is a Town in Lincolnshire as vsually all the Kings of England bare the name of the place where they were born Seven goodly Siens in their Spring did flourish Edward the third had seven sons Edward Prince of Wales after called the Black-Prince William of Hatfield the second Lionel Duke of Clarence the third John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth Edmund of Langley Duke of York the fifth Thomas of Woodstock Dukes of Glocester the sixt William of Windsor the seventh Edward the top-branch of that golden Tree As disabling Henry Bullenbrook being but Son of the fourth Brother William and Lionel being both before John of Gaunt He that from France brought John his Prisoner home Edward the Black-Prince taking John King of France Prisoner at the Battel of Poictiers brought him into England where at the Savoy he died Whose Name atchieved by his fatal hand Called the Black-Prince not so much of his Complexion as of the famous Battels he fought as is shewed before in the Gloss upon the Epistle of Edward to the Countess of Salisbury And proves our Acts of Parliament unjust In the next Parliament after Richard's Resignation of the Crown Henry caused to be annihilated all the Laws made in the Parliament called the Wicked Parliament held in the twentieth year of King Richards Reign FINIS Queen KATHERINE TO OWEN TUDOR The ARGUMENT After the Death of Henry the fifth Queen Katherine Dowager of England and France Daughter to Charles the French King holding her Estate with Henry her Son then Sixth of that name falleth in Love with Owen Tudor a Welchman a brave and gallant Gentleman of the Wardrobe to the young King her Son yet fearing if her Love should be discov'red the Nobility would cross her purposed Marriage or if her Princely promise should not assure his good success the high and great Attempt might perhaps daunt the forwardness of this modest and shamefull Youth She therefore writes to him this following Epistle JUdge not a Princes worth impeach'd hereby That Love thus triumphs over Majesty Nor think less Vertue in this Royal Hand That it intreats and wonted to command For in this sort tho' humbly now it woo The day hath been thou would'st have kneel'd unto Nor think that this submission of my State Proceeds from Frailty rather judge it Fate Alcides ne'r more fit for Wars stern Shock Then when with Women spinning at the Rock Never less Clouds did Phoebus glory dim Then in a Clowns shape when he covered him Joves great Command was never more obey'd Then when a Satyrs Antick parts he play'd He was thy King who su'd for love to me And she his Queen who sues for love to thee When Henry was my love was only his But by his death it Owen Tudors is My love to Owen him my Henry giveth My love to Henry in my Owen liveth Henry
conquer'd France Yet if my Fortunes be thus rais'd by thee This may presage a further good to me And our Saint David in the Britains Right May joyn with George the Sainted English Knight * And old Caermarden Merlin's famous Town Not scorn'd by London though of such renown Ah would to God that Hour my Hopes attend Were with my Wish brought to desired end Blame me not Madam though I thus desire Many there be that after you enquire Till now your Beauty in Nights Bosome slept What Eye durst stir where awfull Henry kept Who durst attempt to sail but near the Bay Where that all-conqu'ring great Alcides lay Your Beauty now is set a Royal Prize And Kings repair to cheapen Merchandize If you but walk to take the breathing Ayre Orithia makes me that I Boreas fear If to the Fire Jove once in Lightning came And fair Egina makes me fear the flame If in the Sun then sad Suspicion dreams Phoebus should spread Lucothoe in his Beams If in a Fountain you do cool your Blood Neptune I fear which once came in a Floud If with your Maids I dread Apollo's Rape Who cous'ned Chion in an old Wives shape If you do banquet Bacchus makes me dread Who in a Grape Erigone did feed And if my self your Chamber-door should keep Yet fear I Hermes coming in a Sleep Pardon sweet Queen if I offend in this In these Delays Love most impatient is And Youth wants pow'r his hot Spleen to suppress When Hope already banquets in Excess Though Henry's Fame in me you shall not find Yet that which better shall content your mind But onely in the Title of a King VVas his advantage in no other thing If in his love more pleasure you did take Never let Queen trust Britain for my sake Yet judge me not from Modesty exempt That I another Phaetons Charge attempt My Mind that thus your Favours dare aspire Shews that 't is touch't with a celestial fire If I 'm in fault the more is Beauties blame VVhen she her self is author of the same All Men to some one quality incline Onely to Love is naturally mine Thou art by Beauty famous as by Birth Ordain'd by Heav'n to cheer the drooping Earth Add faithfull Love unto your greater State And be alike in all things fortunate A King might promise more I not deny But yet by Heav'n he lov'd not more then I. And thus I leave till time my Faith approve I cease to write but never cease to love ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History And that the Helm the Tudors antient Crest THE Arms of Tudor was three Helmets whereof he speaketh as a thing prophetically foretold of Merlin When in thy presence I was call'd to dance Owen Tudor being a courtly and active Gentleman commanded once to dance before the Queen in a Turn not being able to recover himself fell into her Lap as she sat upon a little Stool with many of her Ladies about her And yet with them in Wales that famous be Our learned Bards c. This Berdh as they call it in the Brittish Tongue or as we more properly say Bard or Bardus be their Poets which keep the Records of Pedigrees and Descents and sung in Odes and Measures to their Harps after the old manner of the Lyrick Poets And boast my Blood from great Cadwallader Cadwallader the last King of the Britains descended of the Noble and ancient Race of the Trojans to whom an Angel appeared commanding him to goe to Rome to Pope Sergius where he ended his Life From old Caer-Septon in Mount Palador Caer-Septon now called Shaftsbury at whose Building it was said an Eagle prophesied or rather one named Aquila of the fame of that Place and of the recovery of the Isle by the Britains bringing back with them the Bones of Cadwallader from Rome And from Encons Line the South-Wales King From Theodor c. This Encon was slain by the Rebels of Gwentland he was a notable and worthy Gentleman who in his life did many noble Acts and was Father to Theodor or Tudor Maur of whom descended the Princes of South-Wales From her great Grandam fair Gwenellian Gwenellian the daughter of Rees ap Grisseth ap Theodor Prince of South-Wales married Ednivet Vaughan Ancestor to Owen Tudor By true descent from Leolin the Great This is the Lowhelin called Leolinus Magnus Prince of North-Wales Nor that word Croggen Nick-name of disgrace In the Voyage that Henry the Second made against the Welshmen as his Souldiers passed Offas Ditch at Croggen Castle they were overthrown by the Welshmen which word Croggen hath since been used to the Welshmen's Disgrace which was at first begun with their Honour And kept our Native Language now thus long The Welshmen be those ancient Britains which when the Picts Danes and Saxons invaded here were first driven into those parts where they have kept their Language ever since the first without commixtion with any other And old Caer-Marden Merlins famous Town Caer-Marden or Merlin's Town so called of Merlin's being found there This was Ambrose Merlins whose Prophesies we have There was another of that Name called Merlin Sylvestris born in Scotland sirnamed Calidonius of the Forrest Calidon where he prophesied FINIS ELINOR COBHAM TO Duke HVMPHREY The ARGUMENT Elinor Daughter to the Lord Cobham of Sterborough and Wife to Humphrey Plantaginet Duke of Gloucester the Son of Henry the fourth King of England sirnamed Bullingbrook This noble Duke for his great wisdom and justice called the good was by King Henry the fifth Brother to the Duke at his Death appointed Protector of the Land during the nonage of Henry the sixth this Elinor Dutchess of Gloucester a Proud and Ambitious Woman knowing that if young Henry died without issue the Duke her Husband was the nearest of the blood Conspired with one Bullingbrook a Great Magitian Hun a Priest and Jourdan Witch of Eye by sorcery to make away the King and by conjuration to know who should succeed Of this being justly convicted she was adjudged to do pennance three several times openly in London and then to perpetual banishment to the Isle of Man from whence she writes this Epistle MEthinks not knowing who these Lines should send Thou straight turn'st over to the latter end Where thou my Name no sooner hast espy'd But in disdain my Letter casts aside Why if thou wilt I will my self deny Nay I 'll affirm and swear I am not I Or if in that thy shame thou do'st perceive For thy dear sake loe I my Name will leave And yet methinks amaz'd thou shouldst not stand Nor seem so much appalled at my Hand For my Misfortunes have inur'd thine Eye Long before this to Sights of Misery No no read on 't is I the very same All thou canst read is but to read my shame Be not dismay'd nor let my Name affright The worst it can is but t' offend thy sight It cannot wound nor doe thee deadly harm It is no dreadfull Spell
of famous Willoughby Here Montacute rang'd his unconquer'd Band Here march'd we out and here we made a stand What should we sit to mourn and grieve all day For that which Time doth easily take away What Fortune hurts let Suff'rance only heal No wisdom with Extremities to deal To know our selves to come of humane Birth These sad Afflictions cross us here on Earth A punishment from the eternal Law To make us still of Heav'n to stand in awe In vain we prize that at so dear a rate Whose long'st assurance bear 's a Minutes date Why should we idly talk of our Intent When Heav'ns Decree no Counsel can prevent When our fore-sight not possibly can shun That which the Fates determine shall be don Henry hath Power and may my life depose Mine Honour 's mine that none hath power to lose Then be as chearful beautious Royal Queen As in the Court of France we oft have been * As when arriv'd in Porcesters fair Road Where for our coming Henry made aboad When in mine Arms I brought thee safe to Land And gave my Love to Henry's Royal Hand The happy Hours we passed with the King At fair Southampton long in Banqueting With such content as lodg'd in Henries Breast When he to London brought thee from the West Through golden Cheap when he in Pomp did ride To Westminster to entertain his Bride ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History Our Faulkons kind cannot the Cage endure HE alludes in these Verses to the Faulcon which was the ancient Device of the Pools comparing the greatness and haughtiness of his spirit to the nature of this Bird. This was the mean proud Warwick did invent To my disgrace c. The Commons at this Parliament through Warwicks means accused Suffolk of Treason and urged the Accusation so vehemently that the King was forced to exile him for five years That only I by yielding up of Main Should be the loss of fertile Aquitain The Duke of Suffolk being sent into France to conclude a Peace chose Duke Rayners Daughter the Lady Margaret whom he espoused for Henry the sixth delivering for her to her Father the Countries of Anjou and Main and the City of Mauns Whereupon the Earl of Arminack whose Daughter was before promised to the King seeing himself to be deluded caused all the Englishmen to be expulsed Aquitain Gascoyne and Guyne With the base vulgar sort to win him fame To be the Heir of good Duke Humphry's name This Richard that was called the great Earl of Warwick when Duke Humphry was dead grew into exceeding great favour with the Commons With Salisbury his vile ambitious Sire In York's stern Breast kindling long hidden fire By Clarence Title working to supplant The Eagle-Airy of great John of Gaunt Richard Plantaginet Duke of York in the time of Henry the Sixth claymed the Crown being assisted by this Richard Nevil Earl of Salisbury and Father to the great Earl of Warwick who favoured exceedingly the House of York in open Parliament as Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of Edward the Third making his Title by Ann his Mother Wife to Richard Earl of Cambridge Son to Edmund of Langley Duke of York Which Ann was Daughter to Roger Mortimer Earl of March which Roger was Son and Heir to Edmund Mortimer that married the Lady Philip Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of King Edward to whom the Crown after King Richard the Seconds Death lineally descended he dying without Issue and not to the Heir of the Duke of Lancaster that was younger Brother to the Duke of Clarence Hall cap. 1. Tit. Yor. Lanc. Urg'd by these envious Lords to spend their breath Calling revenge on the Protectors death Humphry Duke of Glouster and Lord Protector in the five and twentieth year of Henry the Sixth by means of the Queen and the Duke of Suffolk was arrested by the Lord Beaumont at the Parliament holden at Bury and the same Night after murthered in his Bed If they would know who rob'd him c To this Verse To know how Humphry dy'd and who shall reign In these Verses he jests at the Protectors Wife who being accused and convicted of Treason because with John Hun a Priest Roger Bullenbrook a Necromancer and Margery Jordan called the Witch of Eye she had consulted by Sorcery to kill the King was adjudged to perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and to do Penance openly in three publick places in London For twenty years and have I serv'd in France In the sixth year of Henry the Sixth the Duke of Bedford being deceased then Lieutenant General and Regent of France this Duke of Suffolk was promoted to that Dignity having the Lord Talbot Lord Scales and the Lord Mountacute to assist him Against great Charles and Bastard Orleance This was Charles the Seventh who after the death of Henry the Fifth obtained the Crown of France and recovered again much of that his Father had lost Bastard Orleance was Son to the Duke of Orleance begotten of the Lord Cawnies Wife preferred highly to many notable Offices because be being a most valiant Captain was a continual Enemy to the Englishmen dayly infesting them with divers Incursions And have I seen Vernoyla's batful Fields Vernoyle is that noted place in France where the great Battle was fought in the beginning of Henry the Sixth his Reign where most of the French Chivalrie were overcome by the Duke of Bedford And from Aumerle withdrew my Warlike Powers Aumerle is that strong defenced Town in France which the Duke of Suffolk got after four and twenty great Assaults given unto it And came my self in person first to Tours Th'Embassadours for Truce to entertain From Belgia Denmark Hungary and Spain Tours is a City in France built by Brutus as he came into Brittain where in the one and twentieth year of the Reign of Henry the Sixth was appointed a great Diet to be kept whither came Embassadors of the Empire Spain Hungary and Denmark to intreat for a perpetual Peace to be made between the two Kings of England and France By true descent to wear the Diadem Of Naples Cicil and Jerusalem Rayner Duke of Anjou Father to Queen Margaret called himself King of Naples Cicily and Jerusalem having the Title alone of the King of those Countries A fifteenth Tax in France I freely spent The Duke of Suffolk after the Marriage concluded between King Henry and Margaret Daughter to Rayner asked in open Parliament a whole Fifteenth to fetch her into England Seen thee for England but imbarqu'd at Deep Deep is a Town in France bordering upon the Sea where the Duke of Suffolk with Queen Margaret took Ship for England As when arriv'd at Porchesters fair Rhoad Porchester a Haven Town in the South-West part of England where the King tarried expecting the Queens arrival whom from thence be conveyed to Southampton Queen MARGARET TO WILLIAM DE-LA-POOLE Duke of SUFFOLK WHat news sweet Pool look'st
Affection ministreth small occasion of Historical Notes for had he mentioned the many Battels betwixt the Lancastrian Faction and him or other Warlike Dangers it had been more like to Plautus boasting Souldier than a Kingly Courtier Notwithstanding it shall not be amiss to annex a Line or two From English Edward to the fairest fair Edward the Fourth was by nature very Chivalrous and very Amorous applying his sweet and aimable Aspect to attain his wanton Appetite the rather which was so well known to Lewis the French King who at their interview invited him to Paris that as Comineus reports being taken at his word he notwithstanding brake off the matter fearing the Parisian Dames with their witty conversation would detain him longer than should be for his benefit by which means Edward was disappointed of his Journey And albeit Princes whilst they live have nothing in them but what is admirable yet we need not mistrust the flattery of the Court in those times For certain it is that his share was excellent his Hair drew near to a black making the favour of his Face seem more delectable though the smalness of his Eyes full of a shining moisture as it took away some Comeliness so it argued much sharpness of Understanding and Cruelty mingled together And indeed George Beucanan that imperious Scot chargeth him and other Princes of those Times with affection of Tyranny as Richard the third manifestly did When first attracted by thy heavenly Eyes Edwards intemperate desires with which he was wholly overcome how tragically they in his Off-spring were punished is universally known A Mirrour representing their Oversight that rather leave their Children what to possess than what to imitate How silly is the Polander and Dane To bring us Crystal from the frozen Main Alluding to their Opinions who imagine Crystal to be a kind of Ice and therefore it is likely they who come from those frozen parts should bring great store of that transparent Stone which is thought to be congealed with extream Cold. Whether Crystal be Ice or some other liquor I omit to dispute yet by the examples of Amber and Coral there may be such an induration for Solinus out of Pliny mentioneth That in the Nothern Region a yellow Gelly is taken up out of the Sea at low Tides which he called Succinum we Amber so likewise out of the Ligustic Deep a part of the Mediterranean Sea a greenish Stalk is gathered which hardened in the Air comes to be Coral either white or red Amber notwithstanding is thought to drop out of Trees as appears by Martials Epigram Et latet lucet Phaetontide condita gutta Ut videatur apis nectare clausa suo Dignum tantorum pretium tulit ille laborum Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori To behold a Bee inclosed in Electrum is not so rare as that a Boys Throat should be cut with the fall of an Ice-sicle the which Epigram is excellent the 18. li. 4. He calls it Phaetontis Gutta because of that Fable which Ovid reherseth concerning the Heliades or Phaetons Sisters metamorphosed into those Trees whose Gum is Amber where Flies alighting are oftentimes tralucently imprisoned THE EPISTLE OF Mistress SHORE TO King EDWARD the Fourth AS the weak Child that from the Mothers wing Is taught the Lutes delicious fingering At ev'ry Strings soft touch is mov'd with fear Noting his Masters curious list'ning Ear Whose trembling Hand at ev'ry strain bewrays In what doubt he his new-set Lesson plays As this poor Child so sit I to indite At ev'ry word still quaking as I write * Would I had led an humble Shepheards life * Nor known the name of Shores admired Wife And liv'd with them in Countrey fields that range Nor seen the golden Cheap nor glitt'ring Change Here like a Comet gaz'd at in the Skies Subject to all Tongues object to all Eyes Oft have I heard my Beauty prays'd of many But never yet so much admir'd of any A Princes Eagle-Eye to find out that Which common Men do seldom wonder at Makes me to think Affection flatters Sight Or in the Object something exquisite To housed Beauty seldom stoop's Report Fame must attend on that which lives in Court What Swan of bright Apollo's Brood doth sing To vulgar Love in Courtly Sonneting Or what immortal Poets sacred Pen Attends the glory of a Citizen Oft have I wondred what should blind your Eye Or what so far seduced Majesty That having choice of Beauties so divine Amongst the most to chuse this least of mine More glorious Suns adorn fair Londons pride Then all rich Englands Continent beside That who t'account their Multitudes would wish * Might number Rumney's Flowers or Isis Fish Who doth frequent our Temples Walkes and Streets Noting the sundry Beauties that he meets Thinks not that Nature left the wide World poor And made this place the Chequer of her store As Heav'n and Earth had lately faln at jars And grown to vying Wonders dropping Stars That if but some one Beauty should incite Some sacred Muse some ravish'd Spirit to write Here might he fetch the true Promethian fire That after-Ages should his Lines admire Gathering the Hony from the choicest Flow'rs Scorning the wither'd Weeds in Country Bow'rs Here in this Garden only springs the Rose In ev'ry common Hedge the Bramble grows Nor are we so turn'd Neapolitan * That might incite some foul-mouth'd Mantuan To all the World to lay out our defects And have just cause to rail upon our Sex To prank old Wrinckles up in new Attire To alter Natures course prove time a Lyer To abuse Fate and Heav'ns just Doom reverse On Beauties Grave to set a Crimson Hearse With a deceitful Foil to lay a ground To make a Glass to seem a Diamond Nor cannot without hazard of our Name In Fashion follow the Venetian Dame Nor the fantastick French to imitate Attir'd half Spanish half Italionate With Waste nor Curl Body nor Brow adorn That is in Florence or in Genoa born But with vain boasts how witless fond am I Thus to draw on mine own Indignity And what though married when I was but young Before I knew what did to Love belong Yet he which now 's possessed of the room Crop'd Beauties Flower when it was in the bloom And goes away enriched with the Store Whilst others glean where he hath reap'd before And he dares swear that I am true and just And shall I then deceive his honest trust Or what strange hope should make you to assail Where the strong'st Batt'ry never could prevail Be like you think that I repuls'd the rest To leave a King the Conquest of my Breast And have thus long preserv'd my life from all To have a Monarch glory in my fall Yet rather let me die the vilest death Than live to draw that sin-polluted breath But our kind Hearts Mens Tears cannot abide And we least angry oft when most we chide Too well know Men what our Creation made us
twice or thrice reiterates my word When like an adverse wind in Isis course Against the Tide bending his boistrous force But when the floud hath wrought it self about He following on doth headlong thrust it out Thus strive my sighs with tears er'e they begin And breaking out again sighs drive them in A thousand forms present my troubled thought Yet prove abortive ere they forth are brought The depth of Woe with words we hardly sound Sorrow is so insensibly profound As tears do fall and rise sighs come and go So do these numbers ebb so do they flow These briny tears do make my Ink look pale My Ink Cloaths tears in this sad mourning vail The Letters Mourners weep with my dim Eye The Paper pale griev'd at my misery Yet miserable our selves why should we deem Since none are so but in their own esteem Who in distress from resolution flies Is rightly said to yield to miseries * They which begot us dld beget this sin They first begun what did our grief begin We tasted not 't was they which did rebel Not our offence but in their fall we fell They which a Crown would to my Lord have link'd All hope of life and liberty extinct A Subject born a Soveraign to have been Hath made me now nor Subject nor a Queen Ah vile Ambition how do'st thou deceive us Which shew'st us Heaven and in Hell do'st leave us Seldom untouch'd doth innocence escape When errour cometh in good counsels shape A lawful title counterchecks proud might The weakest things become strong props to right Then my dear Lord although affliction grieve us Yet let our spotless innocence relieve us Death but an acted passion doth appear Where truth gives courage and the conscience clear And let thy comfort thus consist in mine That I bear part of whatso'ere is thine And when we liv'd untouch'd with these disgraces When as our Kingdom was our sweet embraces At Durham Pallace where sweet Hymen sang Whose buildings with our Nuptial Musick rang When Prothalamions prais'd that happy day Wherein great Dudley match'd with noble Gray When they devis'd to link by Wedlocks band The House of Suffolk to Northumberland Our fatal Dukedom to your Dukedom bound To frame this building on so weak a ground For what avails a lawless Usurpation Which gives a Sceptre but not rules a Nation Only the surfeit of a vain opinion What gives content gives what exceeds Dominion * When first my ears were pierced with the same Of Jane proclaimed by a Princess name A suddain fright my trembling Heart appalls The fear of Conscience entreth Iron Walls Thrice happy for our Fathers had it been If what we fear'd they wisely had foreseen And kept a mean Gate in an humble path To have escap'd the Heav'ns impetuous wrath The true bred Eagle strongly stems the wind And not each Bird resembling their brave kind He like a King doth from the Clouds command The fearful Fowl that moves but near the Land Though Mary be from mighty Kings descended My Bloud not from Plantaginet pretended * My Grandsire Brandon did our House advance By Princely Mary Dowager of France The fruit of that fair stock which did combine And York's sweet branch with Lancaster's entwine And in one stalk did happily unite The pure vermilion Rose and purer white I the untimely slip of that rich Stem Whose golden Bud brings forth a Diadem But oh forgive me Lord it is not I Nor do I boast of this but learn to die Whilst we were as our selves conjoyned then Nature to Nature now an Alien To gain a Kingdom who spares their next blood Nearness contemn'd if Sov'raignty withstood A Diadem once dazeling the Eye The day's too dark to see Affinity And where the Arm is stretch'd to reach a Crown Friendship is broke the dearest things thrown down * For what great Henry most strove t' avoid The Heav'ns have built where Earth would have destroy'd And seating Edward on his Regal Throne He gives to Mary all that was his own But death assuring what by life is theirs The lawfull claim of Henry's lawfull Heirs By mortal Laws the bond may be divorc'd But Heav'ns decree by no means can be forc'd They rule the case when men have all decreed Who took him hence foresaw who should succeed For we in vain relie on humane Laws When Heaven stands forth to plead the righteous cause Thus rule the Skies in their continual Course That yields to Fate that doth not yield to force Mans Wit doth build for Time but to devour Vertues free from Time and Fortunes pow'r Then my kind Lord sweet Gilford be not griev'd The Soul is Heav'nly and from Heav'n reliev'd And as we once have plighted troth together Now let us make exchange of minds to either To thy fair breast take my resolved mind Arm'd against black Despair and all her kind Into my bosome breath that Soul of thine There to be made as perfect as is mine So shall our Faiths as firmly be approv'd As I of thee or thou of me belov'd This life no life wert thou not dear to me Nor this no death were I not woe for thee Thou my dear Husband and my Lord before But truly learn to die thou shalt be more Now live by prayer on Heaven fix all thy thought And surely find what ere by zeal is sought For each good motion that the Soul awakes A Heavenly figure sees from whence it takes That sweet resemblance which by power of kind Forms like it self an Image in the mind And in our Faith the operations be Of that divineness which through that we see Which never errs but accidentally By our frail Fleshes imbecillity By each temptation over-apt to slide Except our spirit becomes our bodies guide For as these Towers our bodies do inclose So our Souls prisons verily are those Our Bodies stopping that Celestial Light As these do hinder our exteriour sight Whereon death seizing doth discharge the debt And us at blessed liberty doth set Then draw thy forces all up to thy heart The strongest fortress of this Earthly part And on these three let thy assurance lie On Faith Repentance and Humility By which to Heaven ascending by degrees Persist in Prayer upon your bended Knees Whereon if you assuredly be staid You need in peril not to be dismaid Which still shall keep you that you shall not fall For any peril that can you appall The Key of Heav'n thus with you you shall bear And Grace you guiding get you entrance there And if you these Celestial Joys possess Which mortal Tongue 's unable to express Then thank the Heaven preparing us this Room Crowning our heads with glorious Martyrdom Before the black and dismal days begin The days of Idolatry and Sin Not suffering us to see that wicked Age When Persecution vehemently shall rage When Tyranny new Torture shall invent Inflicting vengeance on the Innocent Yet Heaven forbids that Mary's Womb should bring England's fair Scepter to a