THE Life and Death of william Long beard the most famous and witty English Traitor borne in the Citty of London Accompanied with manye other most pleasant and prettie histories By T. L. of Lincolns Inne Gent. Printed at London by Rychard Yardley and Peter Short dwelling on Breadstreat hill at the Signe of the Starre 1593. ¶ THE LIFE AND death of William Long beard Howe Willyam Long beard betraied his elder brother vnto his death of his falling in acquaintance with the Abbot of Cadonence in Normandy and how cunningly and coulourably they got authority from the Kinge to accomplish their ambitious pretences WHilst all the world was in vprore and schismes raigned in the Church when God by prodigious signes threatened pestilent plagues at suche time as two sunnes appéered in our Horizon in England and three Moones were discouered in the West in Italie William with the longe beard was borne in the famous Cittie of London of greater minde then of high parentage a graft of mightie hope at the first though as it afterwards proued his parents spent too much hope on so little vertue This frée Cittizen borne tenderlie fostered in his infancie was afterwards trained vp in good letters wherin he profited so suddenlie that most men wondered at his capacitie and the wisest were afraid of the conclusion And for that the age wherein hee was bread being the third yeare of Henrie the Second was full of troubles this yoong mans rare guifts were raked vp in the embers little regarded because not yet ripened but at last as years increased the minde ordained for mightie thinges began to mount the rather because ambition sealed his eies which made him with the Doue soare so hie till his own cunning and labour made him be ouerturned for when he perceiued his fathers foote alreadie prepared for the graue his mother seazed by age and more besotted with affection himselfe at mans estate without maintenance he thus began the first fruites of his impietie the sequell whereof exceedeth all conceit and testifieth his deuilish and damnable nature He had a brother elder than himselfe in yeares but yoonger in policie who hauing by his owne frugalitie gotten great wealth was called to be a Burgesse of the cittie a man beloued of all men for his vpright dealing and lamented of al men for his vntimelie death For William little regarding the benefites he had receiued of him in his youth the brotherlie kindnesse the bountifull curtesies sought all means possible to betray him who had trained him vp to suck his hart bloud who had sought his harts rest and to that intent séeing the opportunitie fitted him in the raigne of Richard the first that noble Prince of famous memorie he suborned certeine lewd and smister confederates of his to accuse him of Treason for which cause poore innocent man being suddenlie apprehended his goods were confiâ—…cate his body imprisoned his wife and children left succourlesse whilst wicked William being both complotter informer and witnes wrought so cunningly with the kings councell that the goods were his which his brother with his long labour had gotten and the poore innocent man brought out before the Iudges with wéeping eies beheld his yoonger brother both reuelling in his ritches and reiocing at his ruine Many were his obtestations before God and protestations to the Iudges manie his exhortations to his brother and detestations of his periurie But William whose hart was the very harbour of all impietie ceased not in his owne person to solicite and by his companions to incense the Iudges in such sort that his brother was at last by them condemned and adiudged to death as some Writers suppose for coining And being led forth to his execution like an harmelesse innocent the people mustering about the place the curssed brother the occasion and compactor of his confusion accompanie him with these or such like words he finished his life Thou God that knowest the cause of my vntimelie death canst in iuâ—…ice punish my vniust accusers meane while take mercie on my poore soule who am forsaken of my priuate friends be thou a safeguard vnto me whoe am left without succors and helpe the desolate widdow with hir distressed children This said after some priuate conference by permission betwéene his brother and him he suffered torment But William hauing gotten wealth began to take vpon him state and vnderstanding his father and mother through hartie griefe were in their extreame age committed to the graue he seazed on their goods carrieng such a countenance in London that all men wondered at him In wit he was pregnant in publike affaires pollitike in reuenges constant in speeches affable in countenance graue in apparell gorgeous yea so cunning was he to insinuate himselfe among the Commons that as the report went he had more Prentises clubs at his command then the best Courtier had seruants to attend him And as the custome is whilest thus he behaued himselfe it fortuned that hee fell in companie and conference with the Abbot of Cadonence in Normandie a man as high minded as himselfe and more subtill than Sinon by whose aduise and directions he grew so craftilie conceited that vnder a holie pretert he wrought more mischiefe than either the Councell of England could for a long time remedie or by industrie reuerse and thus it fortuned After that the noble and warlike Richard the firste of that name had to his immortall glorie recouered his rights in France established peace with the French king and by the perswasions of his mother Dame Elianor reconciled his brother Iohn who had before that time béene at deadlie â—…d with him It plesed his Maiestie partlie for his owne recreation sake partlie to remedie the discontents of his subiects to goe on Progresse in the eight yeare of his reigne and in the yeare of our Lord 1197. at which time the Abbot of Cadonence and William watching an occasion and oportunitie so cunninglie wrought she matter that they had audience at his Maiesties hands and attained vnder the broad seale the whole summe of their requests The Abbot couloured his stratagem vnder the coppie of conscience assuring the king that the corruption of his officers were the chiefest groundes of publike contention praieng him in the bounty of an heroick and princelie potentate to take some order for she correction of them least at the last it should turne to his owne confusion His maiestie that had euer regard of the poore with gratious good words thanked him for his good will giuing him warrant and authoritie to redresse those inconueniences and promising him great promotions if he tooke any profite by his pollicie William now that hath the second subtiltie to enact suted his lookes in all sobrietie and stroaking his long beard which he curiouslie fostered euen from the beginning tolde the king of the insolence and outrage of rich men who spared their owne and pilled the poore robbed Irus and clawed Midas beséeching in the commons behalfe a remedie
sufficeth to condemne me for this and al I am hartilie sorie My God I repent me from my soule my God Which said lifting vp his eies to heauen he praied a long time verie vehementlie and after manie fruitfull exhortations finished his life to the comfort of those who wished his soules health The reste his confederates after their seuerall confessions were serued with the same sauce and thus ended the troubles with their tragedies Their bodies cut downe were buried by their friends and happie was he among the poorer sort that had any thing to inritch the funerall of William Long beard and notwithstanding his confession at his death and diuers other euidences at his condemnation yet were there diuers whoe after his death held him for a saint casting out slanderous libels against the Archbishop terming him the bloudsucker of good men There were manie superstitious women who in their deuotion were wont to pray to him and after his death digged vp the ground about the gallowes trée affirming that manie had beene healed of sundrie sicknesses by the touch thereof All this their idolatrous constructions at first began by reason of a priest a néere alie to William who openlie preached that by vertue of a chaine wherewith William was bound during the time of his imprisonment ther were diuers men healed of hot feauers the bloud that fell from him at such time as he was quartered they cléerelie scraped vp leauing nothing that could yéeld any memorie of him either vnsought or vngotten But at last the Archbishop of Canturburie remedied all these thinges who firste accursed the Priest that brought vp the fables and after that caused the place to be watched where through such idolatrie ceased and the people were no more seduced But for that William wrote many notable Poems and translations in the prison which if you pervse will notifie vnto you his singular wit I haue thought good to subscribe them desiring your fauourable censure of them William Long beards Epitaph VNtimely death and my found fruits of Treason My lawlesse lust my murthers long concealed Haue ship wract life amids my Aprill season Thus couerd things at last will be reuealed A shamefull death my sinfull life succeedeth And feare of heauenly iudge great terror breedeth My mangled members in this graue included Haue answered lawes extreames to my confusion Oh God let not my murthers be obtruded Against my soule wrongd through my earthes illusion And as the graue my liuelesse limmes containeth So take my soule to thee where rest remaineth Thou trauailer that treadest on my toombe Remembreth thee of my vntimely fall Preuent the time forethinke what may become See that thy wil be to thy reason thrall Scorne worlds delights esteeme vaine honor small So maist y u die with fame where men of conscience foule Perish with shame and hazard of their soule I haue here vnto annexed likewise some other of his spirituall hymnes and songs whereby the vertuous may gather how sweet the fruits be of a reconciled and penitent soule The First That pitty Lord that earst thy hart inflamed To enterteine a voluntarie death To ransome man by lothed sinnes defamed From hel and those infernal paines beneath Vouchsafe my God those snares it may vnlose Wherein this blinded world hath me intrapped That whilst I traffique in this world of woes My soule no more in lusts may be intrapped Great are my faults O me most wilfull witted But if each one were iust there were no place To shew thy power that sinnes might be remitted Let then O Lord thy mercy quite displace The lewd and endlesse sinnes I haue committed Trough thine vnspeakeable and endlesse grace The Second Such darke obscured clouds at once incombred My mind my hart my thoughts from grace retired With swarmes of sinnes that neuer may be numbred That hope of vertue quite in me expired When as the Lord of hosts my gratious father Bent on my dulled powers his beames of brightnesse And my confused spirits in one did gather Too long ensnard by vanitie and lightnesse A perfect zeale not office of my sences So seazde my iudgement smothered in his misse That heauen I wisht and loathd this earthly gaile My hart disclaimd vile thoughts and vaine pretences And my desires were shut in seemely vaile So that I said Lord what a world is this After such time as he had receiued his iudgement he grew into this meditation of the miseries of life which I dare anow is both worthie the reading and noting yea euen among the learnedst The Third A shop of shame a gaine of liue-long griefe A heauen for fooles a hel to perfect wise A theater of blames where death is chiefe A golden cup where poison hidden lies A storme of woes without one calme of quiet A hiue that yeeldeth hemlock and no hony A boothe of sinne a death to those that trie it A faire where cares are sold withouten mony A fleshlieioy a graue ofrotten bones A spring of teares a let of true delight A losse of time a laborinth of mones A pleasing paine a prison of the sprite Is this my life why cease I then resolued To pray with Paule and wish to be dissolued Thus endeth the life of William Long beard a glasse for all sorts to looke into wherein the high minded may learne to know the meane and corrupt consciences may reade the confusion of their wickednes let this example serue to with draw the bad minded from Bedlem insolence and incorage the good to followe godlinesse So haue I that fruit of my labour which I desire and God shall haue the glory to whom be all praise FINIS Of manie famous pirats who in times past were Lordes of the Sea THere were manie worthie Pirates in our forefathers daies but among all of greatest reckoning Dionides was not least who exercised his larcenies in the Leuant Seas in the time of Alexander the great and Darius disdaining either to serue the one or submit himselfe to the other yea so resolute was he in his robberies and dissolute in his life that he neither spared friend nor sauoured foe but robd all in generall Against this man Alexander leuied a great armie and by strong hand subdued him and afterward calling him into his presence he said thus vnto him Tell me Dionides whie hast thou treubled all the Seas to whome he thus replied Tell me Alexander whie hast thou ouerrun the whole worlde and robbed the whole sea Alexander answered him bicause I am a king and thou art a Pirat trulie replied Dionides D Alexander both thou and I are of one nature and the selfe same office the onelie difference is that I am called a Pyrat for that I assault other men with a little armie and thou art called a prince because thou subduest and signiorest with a mightic hoast But if the Gods would be at peace with me and Fortune should shewe her selfe peruerse towards thée in such sort as Dionides mighte he
for this inconuenience wherevnto the king easilie condiscended so that he likewise was authorized to redresse such enormities and both he and his fellowe Abbot were with manie princelie fauours dismissed Mounted thus vpon the whéele of Fortune which euerie waie sheweeth hir selfe as fickle as she is fauourable as ful of gall as she hath honie they both of them depart for London carrieng so high countenances as euerie one were amazed at their manners My lord Abbot first suted in his Pontificallbus called forth diuers officers purposing to examine their accounts taunting them with vntowarde languages and accompanieng threates with imprisonment But as the Giants that threatened the heauens were ouer throwne in their most hautinesse and as Phaeton vsurping his fathers seat was confounded for his ambitious pride by vntimelie death so the Abbot of Cadonence when he thoght to cauell at all accompts was called to accompt himselfe before she Tribunall iustice seat of God and died in midest of his iollitie But William who towred with the Phaenix to burne in the sunne and aduentured to crosse the troblesome seas of this world to perish with ouermuch wrastling in the same now began his pageant exhorting and stirringe the commons to loue and imbrace libertie to fight and labour for freedome brieflie to detest and blame the excesse and outrage of ritch men whoe as he tolde them reaped the sweet whilst they poore soules sweat for it Heerevnto wrested he manie stories of antiquitie First the Laconian state next the popular gouernement of Athens wherein peace neuer flourished better said he than when the Commons had fréedome of speech With these and such like honie spéech he so animated the multitude that like a second Hercules he drew them by the eares thorow the honie of his eloquence And to his words he annexed action vndertaking manie poore mens causes who were ouerborne by the rich handeling his matters with such pollicie as that he was held for a second God among the poore and for a long time esteemed for a good subiect by the Prince Yet notwithstanding this the mightie maligned him greatlie for that he had informed the king that by their meanes his Maiestie lost manie forfeits and â—…scheats which were due vnto him and for that his detested subtleties may be more apparant where through he cloked his succéeding treacheries I haue thought good to sette downe some one of them which may giue a taste to those tragike miseries which shall ensue How William with the long beard handled the cause of Peter Nowlay a Cobler who was iniuried by Robert Besant sometime Bailife of London DUring the time that William long beard flourished after this manner in all pompe and pleasure attended dailie and hourelie by hole troops of Citizens it fortuned that one Peter Nowlay a cobler a man of little capacitie liued in London whoe hauing gotten vppe by his owne handie labour and endeuour the summe of fortie marks and not knowing the meanes how to employ the same to his best commoditie solicited one Robert Besaunt sometimes Baylife of London to take the same money into his hands and to employ it to some good vse to the ende that after his decease his poore infants which were twoe in number might haue some succour and maintenance This money Robert Besaunt accepted hauing the vse thereof for the space of ten yeares accustoming poore Peter as these great men are wont to doo to a Sundaies dinner and swéet words which in these our daies is the verie poison of this world in that time was no small pestilence At last pleased God to call the Cobler to his mercie where through his poore wife liued distressed his children complaine theyr miserie and all his neighbors considering the honestie of the man in his life were compassionate and pittied his Orphans after his death The poore mother seeing hir necessities increase and hir abilitie quite ouerthrowne separated apart from all companie began to wéepe verie tenderlie recommending hir poore babes to his mercy who had no doubt lent them hir to a better end than famishment Ahlas said she my God if the least Sparrow is not vncared for by thee what letteth me to trust my childrens helth vnto thée who hauing bestowed breath vpon them mayest likewise in fauour bestow bread vpon them Thou séest Lord their friend is taken from them and the mothers neastlings without thy helpe must become staruelings Woe is me would God I had forgon my life or forgotten loue oâ—… would my handes were as plentifull as my heart is pittifull Ah Pellican I must imitate thée and pierce mine owne breast to the end I may foster my babes otherwise the helpe is vaine which hope yéeldeth since charitie is cold which should feede hope Woe is me where should I begin to mourne that haue no end of mone Shall I lament my marriage no the heauens ordained it shall I complaine of Fortune no for then I suppose an enimie where there is none shall I blame my fruitfulnes how vaine were that since it is a felicitie to enioy babes What then shall I doo truelie put my whole trust and confidence in Gods mercie whoe being Lord of all plentie can best of all relieue necessities Scarsly bad she ended these words when as hir yoong ones the one imbracing hir necke cried for meate the other kissing hir hands moorninglie bewraied his wants whilst she like Mirrha hauing tears to bewail them no tresure to relieue them sung this wofull Lullabie vnto them whilst the musicke of hir voice enforced them to listen hir Lullabie Ah little Laddes Giue ceaselesse sorow end with lullabie Suck vp my teares That streame from out the fountaines of mine eie Feed feed on me whom no good hope or Fortune glads Oh set me free From those incessant and pursuing feares which waken vp my woes and kil my pleasure Lullabie Weepe weepe no more But let me weepe and weeping weepe life hence That whilst you want I may not see false Fortunes proud pretence When I am dead My God perhaps will send you store Oh smile in need Poore hungry babes let smiles be nothing scant I teares yow smiles both haue no better treasure To bring these woes exceeding meane or measure To Lullabie Noe sooner had she finished hir song but Robert Besaunt entered the house who though altogither giuen ouer to couetousnesse yet beholding the wofull estate of the poore wife and children he comforted them the best he might sending for some little sustenance to yéeld hir and hir little ones som succour and after some conference about hir husbands state his maner of death he desired colourablie to see hir writings to the ende he might couenablie conuaie out of her hands the bill of fortie marks which he had past vnto Peter hir husband in his time The sillie soule supposing his almes deeds was vnattended by trecherie drew out of an olde till certeine briefes which she had vsing these or such like terms Maister Besaunt