returne And was I forc'd t'abridge his banish'd yeares vvhen they bedew'd his footsteps with theyr teares Yet could not see mine owne insuing fall Not seeing that which sauing that saw all Neuer our treasure stuft with greater store Neuer our strength neuer our power was more Neuer more large bounds to our Emperie Neuer more counsaile wisedome policie Neuer did all so suddainly decline But iustice is the heauens the fault is mine Kings pallaces stand open to let in The soothing Traytor and the guide to sin Many we haue in tryumphs to attend vs But few are left in perrill to defend vs Amongst the most the worst we best can chuse Tis easie to desire but hard to vse Oh famous Gloster thou fore-saw'st my end The curse that did my lawlesse youth attend His death is newe and I in sinne am old vvho my destruction Prophet-like fore-told And like Laocan crying from his tower Foreshow'd the horse which hid the Grecian power Is this the thing for which we toyle and sweat For which the great doe kneele vnto the great Is thys the thing in seeking to attaine All payne is pleasure and all losse is gaine Is thys the iewell which we prize so hie At heauen at fame at life at libertie And vnto thys in striuing to aspire Are we made slaues vnto our fond desire Yet on steepe Icie banks heere still we dwell And if we slip our fall is into hell Sweet Queene Ile take all counsell thou canst giue So that thou bid me neither hope nor liue Counsell that comes when ill hath done his worst Blesseth our ill but makes our good accurst Comfort is now vnpleasing to mine eare Past cure past care my bed is now my Beere Since thus misfortune keepes vs heere so long Till heauen be growne vnmindfull of our wrong VVe may in warre some-time take truce with foes But in dispaire we cannot with our woes O let this name of Richard neuer die Yet still be fatall to posteritie And let a Richard from our line arise To be the scourge of many families And let the Crowne be fatall that he beares And wet with sad lamenting mothers teares Thy curse on Percy heauen doth now preuent vvho hath not one curse left on me vnspent To scourge the world now borrowing of my store As rich in plagues as I in wealth am pore Then cease deere Queene my sorrowes to bewaile My wounds too great for pittie now to heale Age stealeth on whilst thou complainest thus My griefes be mortall and infectious Yet better fortunes thy faire youth may trie That follow thee which still from me doth flie Notes of the Chronicle historie This tongue which first denounc'd my kingly state RIchard the second at the resignation of the Crowne to his Cosin Henry in the Tower of London at the deliuery of the same with his owne hand confessed himselfe to be vnable to gouerne denounced all kingly dignitie so that hee might onely haue his life And left'st great Burbon for thy loue to mee Who sued in marriage to be linck'd to thee Before the Princesse Isabell was married to Richard the second Lewes Duke of Burbon sued to haue had her in marriage which it was thought he had obtained if this motion had not 〈◊〉 out in the meane time this Duke of Burbon sued againe to haue receiued her at her comming into Fraunce after the imprisonment of King Richard but King Charles her Father then crost him as before and gaue her to Charles sonne to the Duke of Orleance Let Herford vaunt of our atchiuements done Henry the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster which at the first was Earle of Darbie then created Duke of Herford but after the death of Iohn of Gaunt his Father was Duke of Lancaster and Herford Earle of Darby Leicester and Lincolne and after he had obtained the Crowne was called by the name of Henry of Bullenbrooke which is a towne in Lincolne shiere as vsually all the Kings of England bare the name of the places where they were borne Of famous Cressy where his keene sword lopp'd The flowers of Fraunce which all had ouertopp'd Remembring the famous victory Edward the third their Grandfather obtained at Cressy where were almost slaine all the Nobilitie of Fraunce where the Frenchmen lost all their ancient glory And with their Flower-delices set the walke Where our c. Edward the third by the conquest of Fraunce ioyned the Lillies or Flower-delices which is the Armes of Fraunce with the Lyons the Armes of England which coate first came from Normandie by the Conquerer remaining in the right of his possession Seauen goodly syens from one stocke began Edward the third had seauen sonnes his eldest Edward Prince of Wales after called the blacke Prince William of Hatfielde his second Lionell Duke of Clarence the third Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth Edmond of Langley Duke of Yorke the fift Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Gloster the sixt and William of Windsore the seauenth My princely Father was the straightest stem Truely boasting himselfe to bee the eldest sonne of the eldest Brother which was Edward the blacke Prince Yet after Edward Iohn the young'st of three By this disabling Henry Bullenbrooke beeing the sonne but of a fourth brother William Lionell being both before Iohn of Gaunt When that vsurping bastard sonne of Spayne Noting the courage of his Father which set Petro the King of Castile in his kingdome when hee was expulsed by his bastard brother A conquered King from Fraunce to England led The blacke Prince tooke King Iohn of Fraunce prysoner at the battaile of Poycters and brought him into England where hee dyed at the Sauoy And by a home-nurst begger ouer-borne By this reprouing his owne weakenes and cowardize who had suffered himselfe to be expulsed his kingdome by a subiect and one so much inferior to himselfe in greatnes And proues our acts of parliaments vniust In the first parliament that Henry called after Richard had resigned the Crowne hee anihilated all the lawes that were made in the parliament called the wicked parliament held in the 20. yeere of King Richards raigne Saw I the loue the Zeale the faith the care The Commons still c. When the Combat shoulde haue beene at Couentry betwixt Henry Duke of Herford and Mowbray Duke of Norfolke the Cōmons mourned exceedingly after they heard that Herford was adiuged by the King to be banished for tenne yeeres so greatlie was he alwaies fauoured of the people And was I forc'd to abridge his banish'd yeeres When Henry Duke of Herford came to Eltham to take his leaue of King Richard the King to please the Commons rather then for any loue he bare to Herford plucked backe foure yeeres of his banishment O famous Gloster thou fore-saw'st the end Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Gloster the Kings vnckle who had oftr reproued this youthfull Kings insolence was put to death at Callice by the commaundement of this Richard his vnnaturall
lay thee softly on her siluer teame And bring thee to me to the quiet shore That with her teares thou might'st haue some teares more VVhen suddainly doth rise a rougher gale vvith that me thinks the troubled waues looke pale And sighing with that little gust that blowes vvith this remembrance seemes to knit her browes Euen as this suddaine passion doth 〈◊〉 mee The cheerfull sunne breakes from a clowde to light mee Then doth the bottom euident appeare As it would tell mee that thou 〈◊〉 not there VVhen as the water flowing where I stand Doth seeme to tell mee thou 〈◊〉 safe on land Did Bulloyne once a festiuall prepare For England 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Nauarre VVhen Fraunce enuied those buildings onely blest Grac'd with the Orgies of my bridall feast That English Edward should refuse my bed For that incestuous shamelesse Ganimed And in my place vpon his regall throne To set that girle-boy wanton Gaueston Betwixt the feature of my face and his My glasse assures me no such difference is That a foule witches bastard should thereby Be thought more worthy of his loue then I. VVhat doth auaile vs to be Princes heires vvhen we can boast our birth is onely theirs VVhen base dissembling flatterers shall deceaue vs Of all our famous Auncestors did leaue vs And of our princely iewels and our dowers vvee but enioy the least of what is ours when Minions heads must weare our Monarches crownes To raise vp dunghills with our famous townes VVhen beggers-brats are wrapt in rich perfumes And sore aloft impt with our Eagles plumes And ioynd with the braue issue of our blood Alie the kingdome to theyr crauand brood Did Longshanks purchase with his conquering hand Albania Gascoyne Cambria Ireland That young Carnaruan his vnhappy sonne Should giue away all that his Father wonne To backe a stranger proudly bearing downe The braue alies and branches of the crowne And did great Edward on his death-bed giue This charge to them which afterward should liue That that proude Gascoyne banished the land No more should tread vppon the English sand And haue these great Lords in the quarrell stood And seald his last will with their deerest blood That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beuchamp Lasey Lancaster Another faithlesse fauorite should arise To cloude the sunne of our Nobilities And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That nowe a Spenser should succeede in all And that his ashes should another breed vvhich in his place and Empire should succeed That wanting one a kingdoms wealth to spend Of what that left thys now should make an end To wast all that our father wonne before Nor leaue 〈◊〉 sword to conquer more Thus but in vaine we 〈◊〉 doe resist vvhere power can doe euen all things as it list And with vniust men to debate of lawes Is to giue power to hurt a rightfull cause VVhilst parliaments must still redresse their wrongs And we must 〈◊〉 for what to vs belongs Our wealth but fuell to theyr fond excesse And we must fast to feast their wantonnesse Think'st thou our wrongs then insufficient are To moue our Brother to religious warre And if they were yet Edward doth 〈◊〉 Homage for 〈◊〉 Guyne and Aquitaine And if not that yet hath he broke the truce Thus all accur to put backe all excuse The Sisters wrong ioyn'd with the Brothers right Me thinks might vrge him in this cause to fight Be all those people sencelesse of our 〈◊〉 vvhich for our Country oft haue manag'd Armes Is the braue Normans courage now forgot Or the bold Brittons lost the vse of shot The big-bon'd Almaines and stout Brabanders Their warlike Pykes and sharp edg'd Semiters Or doe the Pickards let theys 〈◊〉 lie Once like the Centaurs of olde Thessalie Or if a valiant Leader be theyr lack vvhere thou art present who should driue them back I doe coniure thee by what is most deere By that great Name of famous Mortimer By auncient VVigmors honourable Crest The 〈◊〉 where all thy famous Grandsires rest Or if then these what more may thee approue Euen by those vowes of thy vnfained loue That thy great hopes may moue the Christian King By forraine Armes some comfort yet to bring To curbe the power of Traytors that rebell Against the right of princely Isabell. Vaine witlesse woman why should I desire To adde more spleene to thy immortall fire To vrge thee by the violence of hate To shake the pyllars of thine owne estate VVhen what soeuer we intend to doe To our misfortune euer sorts vnto And nothing els remaines for vs beside But teares and Coffins onely to prouide VVhen still so long as Burrough beares that name Time shall not blot out our deserued shame And whilst cleere Trent her wonted course shall keepe For our sad fall her christall drops shall weepe All see our ruine on our backs is throwne And to our selues our sorrowes are our owne And Tarlton now whose counsell should direct The first of all is slaundred with suspect For dangerous things dissembled sildome are vvhich many eyes attend with busie care VVhat should I say my griefes doe still renew And but begin when I should bid adiew Few be my words but manifold my woe And still I staie the more I striue to goe As accents issue forth griefes enter in And where I end mee thinks I but begin Then till faire tyme some greater good affords Take my loues payment in these ayrie words Notes of the Chronicle historie O how I feard that sleepie drinke I sent Might yet want power to further thine intent MOrtimer beeing in the Tower and ordayning a feast in honour of his birth-day as he pretended and inuiting there-vnto Sir Stephen Segraue Constable of the Tower with the rest of the officers belonging to the same hee gaue them a sleepie drinke prouided him by the Queene by which meanes hee got libertie for his escape I steale to Thames as though to take the ayre And aske the gentle streame as it doth glide Mortimer being gotte out of the Tower swamme the riuer of Thames into Kent whereof shee hauing intelligence doubteth of his strength to escape by reason of his long imprisonment being almost the space of three yeeres Did Bulloyne once a festiuall prepare For England Almaine Cicile and Naudrre Edward Carnaruan the first prince of Wales of the English blood married Isabell daughter of Phillip the faire at Bulloyne in the presence of the Kings of Almaine Nauarre and Cicile with the chiefe Nobilitie of Fraunce and Englande which marriage vvas there solemnized with exceeding pompe and magnificence And in my place vpon his regall throne To set that girle-boy wanton Gaucston Noting the effeminacie and luxurious wantonnes of Gaueston the Kings Minion his behauiour and attire euer so womanlike to please the eye of his lasciuious Prince That a foule witches bastard should thereby It was vrged by the Queene and the Nobilitie in the disgrace of Piers Gaueston that his mother was conuicted of
witchcraft and burned for the same and that Piers had bewitched the King Albania Gascoyne Cambria Ireland Albania Scotland so called of Albanact the seconde sonne of Brutus and Cambria Wales so called of Camber the third sonne the foure 〈◊〉 and Countries brought in subiection by Edward Longshanks When of our Princely iewells and our dowers We but enioy the least of what is ours A complaynt of the prodigalitie of King Edward giuing vnto Gaueston the iewells treasure which was left him by the auncient Kings of England and enriching him with the goodly Manor of Wallingforde assigned as parcell of the dower to the Queenes of this famous Ile And ioynd with the braue issue of our blood Alie our kingdome to theyr crauand brood Edward the second gaue to Piers Gaueston in marriage the daughter of Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester begot of the Kinges sister Ioane of Acres married to the said Earle of Gloster Should giue away all that his Father wonne To backe a stranger King Edward offered his right in Fraunce to Charles his brother in law and his right in Scotland to Robert Bruse to bee ayded against the Barrons in the quarrell of Piers Gaueston And did great Edward on his death-bed giue Edward Longshanks on his death-bed at Carlile commaunded young Edward his sonne on his blessing not to call backe Gaueston which for the misguiding of the Princes youth was before banished by the whole counsell of the land That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beuchamp Lasey Lancaster Thomas Earle of Lancaster Guy Earle of VVarwicke Henry Earle of Lincolne who had taken theyr oathes before the deceassed King at his death to withstand his sonne Edward if he should call Gaueston from exile beeing a thing which hee much feared now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers commaundement rise in Armes against the King which was the cause of the ciuile war and the ruine of so many Princes And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That nowe a Spenser should succeed in all The two Hugh Spensers the Father the sonne after the death of Gaueston became the great fauorites of the King the sonne being created by him Lord Chamberlaine and the Father Earle of Winchester And if they were yet Edward doth detaine Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitaine Edward Longshanks did homage for those Citties and territories to the French King which Edward the second neglecting moued the French King by the subbornation of Mortimer to ceaze those Countries into his hands By auncient Wigmors honourable Crest Wigmore in the marches of Wales was the ancient house of the Mortimers that noble and couragious familie That still so long as Borrough beares that name The Queene remembreth the great ouerthrowe giuen to the Barrons by Andrew Herckley Earle of Carlill at Borrough bridge after the battaile at Burton And Torlton now whose counsells should direct Thys was Adam Torlton bishop of Herford that great polititian who so highly fauoured the faction of the Queene and Mortimer whose euill counsell afterward wrought the destruction of the King Mortimer to Queene Isabell. AS thy saluts my sorrowes doe adiourne So backe to thee their interest I returne Though not in so great bountie I confesse As thy heroicke princely lines expresse For how should comfort issue from the breath Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd vp in death From murthers rage thou didst me once repriue Now in exile my hopes thou doost reuiue Twice all was taken twice thou all didst giue And thus twice dead thou mak'st me twice to liue This double life of mine your onely due You gaue to mee I giue it backe to you Nere my escape had I aduentur'd thus As did the skye-attempting Daedalus And yet to giue more safetie to my flight Haue made a night of day a day of night Nor had I backt the proude aspyring wall vvhich held without my hopes within my fall Leauing the cordes to tell where I had gone For gazing eyes with feare to looke vpon But that thy beautie by a power diuine Breath'd a new life into this spirit of mine Drawne by the sunne of thy celestiall eyes vvith fiery wings made passage through the skyes The heauens did seeme the charge of me to take And sea and land be friend mee for thy sake Thames stopt hen tide to make me way to goe As thou had'st charg'd her that it should be so The hollow murmuring winds their due time kept As they had rock'd the world whilst all things slept One billow bore me and another draue mee This stroue to helpe me and that stroue to saue mee The brisling Reedes mou'd with the ayre did chide mee As they would tell me that they moant to hide mee The pale-fac'd night beheld thy heauie cheere And would not let one little starre appeare But ouer all her smoakie mantle hurl'd And in thick vapours muffled vp the world And the pure ayre became so calme and still As it had beene obedient to my will And euery thing disposd vnto my rest As when one Seas the Alcion buildes her nest And those rough waues which late with furie rusht Slide smoothlie on and suddainly are husht Nor Neptune lets his surges out so long As Nature is in bringing forth her yong Nor let the Spensers glory in my chaunce That thus I liue an exile now in Fraunce That I from England banished should be But England rather banished from me More were her want Fraunce our great blood shold beare Then Englands losse should be to Mortimer My Grandsire was the first since Authurs raigne That the Round-table lastly did ordaine To whose great Court at Kenelworth did come The peerlesse knighthood of all Christendome VVhose princely order honoured England more Then all the conquests shee atchiu'd before Neuer durst Scot set foote on English ground Nor on his backe did English beare a wound vvhilst VVigmore flourisht in our princely hopes And whilst our Ensigne march'd with Edwards troupes VVhilst famous Longshanks bones in Fortunes scorne As sacred reliques to the fielde were borne Nor euer did the valiant English doubt VVhilst our braue battailes guarded them about Nor did our wiues and wofull mothers mourne The English blood that stained Banocksburn VVhilst with his Minions sporting in his Tent VVhole dayes and nights in banquetting were spent Vntill the Scots which vnder safeguard stoode Made lauish hauock of the English blood And battered helmes lay scattered on the shore vvhere they in conquest had beene borne before A thousand kingdoms will we seeke from farre As many Nations wast with ciuill warre vvhere the disheuel'd gastly Sea-nymphe sings Or well-rigd shyps shall stretch theyr swelling wings And dragge theyr Ankors through the sandie foame About the world in euery Clime to roame And those vnchristned Countries call our owne vvhere scarce the name of England hath been knowne And in the Dead-sea sinck our houses fame From whose sterne waues we first deriu'd our Name Before foule black-mouth'd infamie shall sing That
seemeth here to prophecie of the subuersion of the Lande the Pope ioyning with the power of other Princes against Edward for the breach of his promise Charles by inuasiue Armes againe shall take Charles the French King mooued by the wrong done vnto his sister ceazeth the Prouinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands stirred the rather thereto by Mortimer who solicited her cause in Fraunce as is expressed before in the other Epistle in the Glosse vpon this poynt And those great Lords now after their attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints After the death of Thomas Earle of Lancaster at Pomfret the the people imagined great miracles to be done by his reliques as they did of the body of Bohun Earle of Herford slaine at Borough bridge FINIS ¶ To the Right Honourable and my very good Lord Edward Earle of Bedford THrice noble and my gracious Lord the loue I haue euer borne to the illustrious house of Bedford and to the honourable familie of the Harringtons to the which by marriage your Lordship is happily united hath long since deuoted my true and zealous affection to your honourable seruice and my Poems to the protection of my noble Lady your Countesse to whose seruice I was first bequeathed by that learned and accomplished Gentleman Sir Henry Goodere not long since deceased whose I was whilst he was whose patience pleased to beare with the imperfections of my beedlesse and vnstaied youth That excellent and matchlesse Gentleman was the first cherisher of my Muse which had been by his death left a poore Orphane to the worlde had hee not before bequeathed it to that Lady whom he so deerly loued Vouchsafe then my deere Lord to accept this Epistle which I dedicate as zealously as I hope you will patronize willingly vntill some more acceptable seruice may be witnes of my loue towards your honour Your Lordships euer Michaell Drayton Queene Isabell to Richard the second * The Argument Queene Isabell the daughter of Charles king of Fraunce being the second wife of Richard the second the sonne of Edward the blacke Prince the eldest sonne of King Edward the third After the said Richard her husband was deposed from his crowne and kingly dignitie by Henry Duke of Herford the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth sonne of Edward the third this Lady beeing then very young was sent backe againe into Fraunce without dowre at what time the deposed King her husband was sent from the Tower of London as a prisoner vnto Pomfret Castle VVhether this poore Lady bewayling her husbands misfortunes writeth this Epistle from Fraunce AS doth the yeerely Augur of the spring In depth of woe thus I my sorrow sing VVords tun'd with sighs teares falling oft among A dolefull burthen to a heauie song VVords issue forth to finde my griefe some way Teares ouer-take them and doe bid them stay Thus whilst one striues to keepe the other backe Both once too forward now are both too slack O how I flatter griefe and doe intreate it Griefe flatters me so oft as I repeate it And to it selfe hath sorrow chang'd mee so That woe is turn'd to mee I turn'd to woe If fatall Pomfret hath in former times Nourish'd the griefe begot in hoter Clymes Thether I send my woes there to be fed But where first borne where fitter to be bred They vnto Fraunce be aliens and vnknowne England from her doth challenge these her owne They say all mischife commeth from the North It is too true my fall doth set it forth And where bleake winters stormes do euer rage There should my sighes finde surest anchorage Except that breeme ayre holds the Northerne part Doe freese that Aetna which so burnes my hart But why should I thus limmit griefe a place vvhen all the world is fild with our disgrace And we in bounds thus striuing to containe it The more abounds the more we doe restraine it O how euen yet I hate my loathed eyes And in my glasse oft call them faythlesse spyes That were so haplesse with one louing looke To grace that Traytour periur'd Bullenbrooke But that of sence ioy had all sence bereau'd They neuer should haue beene so much deceau'd Proude was the Courser which my Lord bestrid vvhen Richard like his conquering Grandsire rid For all the world in euery looke alike The Rosie Ilands in his Lilly cheeke His silken Amber curles so would he tie So carried he his princely Eagle eye From top to toe his like in euery lim All looke on Edward that did looke on him The perfit patterne Nature chose alone VVhen at the first shee fram'd proportion Reseru'd till then that all the world should view it And praise th'insample by the which she drew it O let that day be guiltie of all sin That is to come or euer yet hath bin VVherein great Norfolks forward course was staid To proue the treasons he to Herford layd VVhen with sterne furie both these Dukes enrag'd Their gauntlets then at Couentry engag'd vvhen first thou didst repeale thy former grant Seal'd to braue Mowbray as thy Combatant From tymes vnnumbred howers let time deuide it Least in his minutes he should hap to hide it Yet on his browes let wrinckled age still beare it That when it comes all other howers may feare it And all ill-boading Planets by consent That day may hold their wicked parliament And in heauens large Decrees enrole it thus Blacke dismall fatall inauspitious For then should he in height of all his pride Vnder great Mowbrays valiant hand haue died Nor should not nowe from banishment retire The fatall brand to set our Troy on fire O why did Charles relieue his needy state A vagabond and stragling runnagate And in his Court with grace did entertaine This vagrant exile this abiected Caine That with a thousand mothers curses went Mark'd with the brands of ten yeeres banishment VVhen thou to Ireland took'st thy last farewell Millions of knees vpon the pauements fell And euery where th'applauding ecchoes ring The ioyfull shouts that did salute a King Thou went'st victorious crown'd in triumph borne But cam'st subdu'd vncrown'd and laugh'd to scorne And all those tongues which tit'led thee theyr Lord Grace Henries glorious stile with that great word And all those eyes dyd with thy course ascend Now all too few on Herford to attend Princes like sunnes be euermore in sight All see the clowdes which doe eclipse their light Yet they which lighten all downe from their skyes See not the clowdes offending others eyes And deeme their noone-tide is desir'd of all VVhen all expect cleere changes by theyr fall VVhat colour seemes to shadow Herfords claime vvhen law and right his Fathers hopes doth maime Affirm'd by Church-men which should beare no hate That Iohn of Gaunt was illigittimate vvhom his reputed mothers tongue did spot By a base Flemish Boore to be begot vvhom Edwards Eglets mortally did shun Daring with them to gaze against the
hatefull Dutches chatts And rips vp theyr decent vnto her brats And blesseth them as Englands lawfull heyrs And tells them that our Diadem is theyrs And if such hap her Goddesse fortune bring If three sonnes faile she'le make the fourth a King Hee that's so like his Dam her youngest Dick That foule ilfauored crookback'd stigmatick That like a carkase stolne out of a Tombe Came the wrong way out of his mothers wombe vvith teeth i'ns head his passage to haue torne As though begot an age ere he was borne VVho now dare curbe proude Yorke if he doe rise And stoope that haggard which so threats the skyes To crop that bastard weede which daily growes To ouer-shadow our vermilion Rose Or who will muzzell that vnruly Beare From whose sterne presence all doe flie for feare vvhilst on his knees the silly King is downe To saue theyr labour reaching at his Crowne VVhere like a mounting Cedar he should beare His plumed top aloft into the ayre And let these shrubs sit vnderneath his shrowdes vvhilst in his armes he doth imbrace the clowdes But he with error in deuotion led Lets others rase the Crowne from of his head And like a woman sits him downe to weepe VVhere hee in Armes his kingly right should keepe As ill beseeming Henries royall sonne As when Alcides at the distaffe spunne O that he should his Fathers right inherit Yet by an alien to that mightie spirit That field the VVesterne world with his report His glorious conquest got at Agyncourt VVhose name to Fraunce dyd greater terror bring Then to the foule the presence of theyr King VVho fild the ditches of besiged Cane vvith mangled bodyes of our Nation slaine And made the Normans eate theyr horse for foode Yet staru'd for hunger made them drunke with blood Nor can he come from Lancasters great line Or from the wombe of beautious Katherine All other creatures follow after kind But man alone doth not beget the minde My Daysie-flower which erst perfum'd the ayre vvhich for my fauours Princes once did weare Now in the dust lyes troden on the ground And with Yorks garlands euery one is crownd Those flattering starrs which followed our faire rise Now towards our set are vanish'd from our eyes Yorks rising sonnes now altogether shine And our light dim towards euening doth decline Now in the skyes his dreadfull Comet waues And who be starrs but VVarwicks bearded staues And all those knees which bended once so low Grow stiffe as though they had forgot to bow And none like them pursue me with despite vvhich most haue cryde God saue Queene Margarite VVhen fame shall brute thy banishment abroade The Yorkish faction then will lay on loade And when it comes once to our VVesterne Coast O how that hagge Dame Elinor will boast And labour straight by all the means shee can To be calld home out of the Ile of Man To which I know great VVarwicke will consent To haue it done by acte of Parliament That to my teeth my birth she may defie Slaundring Duke Rayner with base beggery The onely way she could deuise to grieue mee vvanting sweet Suffolke which should most releeue 〈◊〉 And from that stocke doth sprout another bloome A Kentish Rebell a base vpstart groome And this is hee the VVhite-Rose must prefer By Clarence daughter match'd with Mortimer Thus by Yorks meanes this rascall pesant Cade Must in all hast Plantaginet be made Thus that ambitious Duke sets all on worke To sound what friends affect the claime of Yorke VVhilst he abroade doth practise to commaund And makes vs weake by strength'ning Ireland More his owne power still seeking to encrease Then for King Henries good or Englands peace Great VVinchester vntimely is deceas'd That more and more my woes should be encreas'd Beuford whose shoulders proudly bare vp all The Churches prop that famous Cardinall The Commons bent to mischiefe neuer let vvith Fraunce t'vpbrayd that valiant Somerset Rayling in tumults on his souldiers losse Thus all goes backward crosse comes after crosse And-nowe of late Duke Humfreys old alies vvith banish'd Elnors base accomplices Attending theyr reuenge grow wondrous crouse And threaten death and vengeaunce to our house And I alone the wofull remnant am T'endure these stormes with wofull Buckingham I pray thee Pole haue care how thou dost passe Neuer the Sea yet halfe so dangerous was And one fore-told by vvater thou should'st die Ah foule befall that foule tongues prophecie And euery night am troubled in my dreames That I doe see thee tost in dangerous streames And oft-times shipwrackt cast vpon the land And lying breathlesse on the queachie sand And oft in vision see thee in the night vvhere thou at sea maintain'st a dangerous fight And with thy proued Target and thy sword Beat'st backe the Pyrate which would come abord Yet be not angry that I warne thee thus The truest loue is most suspitious Sorrow doth vtter what vs still doth grieue But hope forbids vs sorrow to belieue And in my counsell yet this comfort is It cannot hurt although I thinke amisse Then liue in hope in tryumph to returne vvhen cleerer dayes shall leaue in clowdes to mourne But so hath sorrow girt my soule about That that word hope mee thinks comes slowly out The reason is I know it here would rest vvhere it may still behold thee in my brest Farewell sweet Pole faine more I would endite But that my teares doe blot as I doe write Notes of the Chronicle historie Or brings in Burgoyn to ayde Lancaster PHillip Duke of Burgoyn and his sonne were alwaies great fauorites of the house of Lancaster howbeit they often dissembled both with Lancaster and Yorke Who in the North our lawfull claime commends To winne vs credite with our valiant friends The chiefe Lords of the North-parts in the time of Henry the 6. withstoode the Duke of Yorke at his rysing giuing him two great ouerthrowes To that aleageance Yorke was bound by oath To Henries heires and safety of vs both No longer now he meanes records shall beare it He will dispence with heauen and will vnsweare it The Duke of Yorke at the death of Henry the fifth and at this Kings coronation tooke his oath to be true subiect to him and his heires for euer but afterward dispensing there-with claimed the Crowne as his rightfull and proper inheritance If three Sonnes faile shee'l make the fourth a King The Duke of Yorke had foure Sonnes Edward Earle of March that afterward was Duke of Yorke and King of England when he had deposed Henry the 6. and Edmond Earle of Rutland slaine by the Lord Clifford at the battell at Wakefield and George Duke of Clarence that was murthered in the Tower and Richard Duke of Glocester who was after he had murthered his Brothers sons King by the name of Richard the third He that's so like his Dam her youngest Dicke That foule ill fauoured crookback'd Stigmaticke c. Till this verse As though begot an age c.
as thy trayne past Their precious Incence in aboundance cast As Cinthia from the waue-embatteld shrouds Opening the west comes streaming through the clouds vvith shining troupes of siluer-tressed starres Attending on her as her Torch-bearers And all the lesser lights about her throne vvith admiration stand as lookers on VVhilst she alone in height of all her pride The Queene of light along her spheare doth glide vvhen on the tylt my Horse like thunder came No other signall had I but thy name Thy voyce my Trumpet and my guide thine eyes And but thy beauty I esteem'd no prize That large-limd Almaine of the Gyants race vvhich bare strength on his breast feare in his face vvhose senewed armes with his steele-tempered blade Through plate and male such open passage made Vpon whose might the French-mens glory lay And all the hope of that victorious day Thou saw'st thy Brandon beate him on his knee Offring his shield a conquered spoile to thee But thou wilt say perhaps I vainly boast And tell thee that which thou already knowest No sacred Queene my valure I deny It was thy beauty not my chiualry One of thy tressed Curles which falling downe As loth to be imprisoned in thy Crowne I saw the soft ayre sportiuely to take it To diuers shapes and sundry formes to make it Now parting it to foure to three to twayne Now twisting it and then vntwist againe Then make the threds to dally with thine eye A sunny candle for a golden flie At length from thence one little teare it got vvhich falling downe as though a starre had shot My vp-turnd eye pursues it with my sight The which againe redoubleth all my might Tis but in vaine of my descent to boast vvhen heauens Lampe shines all other lights be lost Faulcons looke not the Eagle sitting by vvhose broode doth gaze the sunne with open eye Else might my blood finde issue from his force In Bosworth plaine beat Richard from his horse vvhose puissant Armes great Richmond chose to weeld His glorious Colours in that conquering feeld And with his sword in his deere soueraignes sight To his last breath stood fast in Henries right Then beautious Empresse thinke thys safe delay Shall be the euen to a ioyfull day Fore-sight doth still on all aduantage lye vvise-men must giue place to necessitie To put backe ill our good we must forbeare Better first feare then after still to feare Tweare ouer-sight in that at which we ayme To put the hazard on an after game vvith patience then let vs our hopes attend And tell I come receaue these lines I send Notes of the Chronicle historie When Longauile to Mary was affied THE Duke of Longauile which was prisoner in England vpon the peace to be concluded betweene England and Fraunce was deliuered and married the Princesse Mary for Lewes the French King his Maister How in a storme thy well-rigd ships were tost And thou c. As the Queene sayled for Fraunce a mighty storme arose at Sea so that the Nauy was in great danger and was seuered some driuen vpon the Coast of Flaunders some on Britaine the ship wherein the Queene was was driuen into the Hauen at Bullen with very great danger When thou to Abuile heldst th'apoynted day King Lewes met her by Abuile neere to the Forrest of Arders and brought her into Abuile with great solemnity Appear'dst vnto him like the Queene of Light Expressing the sumptuous attire of the Queene and her traine attended by the cheefe of the Nobility of Kngland with 36. Ladies all in cloath of siluer theyr Horses trapped with Crimson veluet A Cripple King layd bedrid long before King Lewes was a man of great yeares troubled much with the goute so that he had had of long time before little vse of his legs When Marques Dorset and the valiant Grayes The Duke of Suffolke when the proclaimation came into England of Iusts to be holden in Fraunce at Paris he for the Queenes sake his Mistres obtayned of the King to goe thether with whom went the Marques Dorset and his foure Brothers the Lord Clynton Sir Edward Neuill Sir Gyles Capell Tho. Cheyney which went all ouer with the Duke as his assistants When thou in tryumph didst through Paris ride A true discription of the Queenes entring into Paris after her 〈◊〉 performd at Saint Denis Then fiue great Dukes as did their places fall The Dukes of Alansoon Burbon Vadome Longauile Suffolke with fiue Cardinalls That large-limd Almayne of the Gyants race Frauncis Valoys the Dolphin of Fraunce 〈◊〉 the glory that the English-men had obtayned at the tilt brought in an Almayne secretly a man thought almost of incomparable strength which incountred Charles Brandon at Barriers but the Duke 〈◊〉 with him so beate him about the head with the pomell of his sword that the blood came out of the sight of his Caske Else might my blood finde issue from his force In Bosworth c. Sir William Brandon standerd-bearer to the Earle of Richmond after Henry the 7 at Bosworth field a braue and gallant Gentleman who was slaine by Richard there this was Father to this Charles Brandon after Duke of Suffolke FINIS To the modest and vertuous Gentlewoman Mistres Frauncis Goodere Daughter to Sir Henry Goodere Knight and wife to Henry Goodere Esquire My very gracious and good Mistres the loue and duty I bare to your Father whilst hee liued now after his decease is to you hereditary to whom by the blessing of your birth he left his vertues Who bequeathed you those which were hit gaue you what so euer good is mine as deuoted to his he being gone whom I honored so much whilst he liued which you may iustly chalenge by al lawes of thankfulnes My selfe hauing been a witnes of your excellent education and milde disposition as I may say euer from your Cradle dedicate this Epistle of this vertuous and goodly Lady to your selfe so like her in all perfection both of wisedom and learning which I pray you accept till time shall enable me to leaue you some greater monument of my loue Michaell Drayton The Lady Iane Gray to the Lord Gilford Dudley * The Argument After the death of that vertuous young Prince King Edward the sixt the sonne of that famous King Henry the eyght Iane the daughter of Henry Gray Duke of Suffolke by the consent of Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland was proclaimed Queene of England beeing married to Gilford Dudley the fourth sonne of the foresayde Duke of Northumberland which match was concluded by theyr ambitious Fathers who went about by this meanes to bring the Crowne vnto theyr Children and to dispossesse the Princesse Mary eldest daughter of King Henry the eyght heire to King Edward her Brother Queene Mary rising in Armes to clayme her rightfull Crowne taketh the sayd Iane Gray and the Lorde Gilford her husband beeing lodged in the Tower for theyr more safety which place being lastly theyr Pallace by this meanes becomes their prison where
Mortimer ere stoop'd vnto a King And we will turne sterne-visag'd Furie backe To seeke his spoyle who sought our vtter sack And come to beard him in our natiue Ile Ere hee march forth to follow our exile And after all these boystrous stormie shocks Yet will we grapple with the chaulkie Rocks Nor will we come like Pyrats or like theeues From mountaine Forrests or sea-bordering Cleeues But 〈◊〉 the ayre with terror when we come Of the sterne trumpet and the bellowing drum And in the field aduaunce our plumie Crest And march vpon faire Englands flowrie brest And Thames which once we for our life did swim Shaking our dewie tresses on her brim Shall beare my Nauy vaunting in her pryde Falling from Tanet with the powerfull tyde VVhich fertile Essex and faire Kent shall see Spreading her flagges along the pleasant lee VVhen on her stemming poopes she proudly beares The famous Ensignes of the Belgicke Peeres And for the hatefull sacriligious sin VVhich by the Pope he stands accursed in The Cannon text shall haue a common glesse Receits in parcels shall be paide in 〈◊〉 This doctrine preach'd vvho from the Church doth take At least shall trebble restitution make For which Rome sends her curses out from farre Through the sterne throate of terror-breathing warre Till to th'vnpeopled shore shee brings supplies Of those industrious Romaine Colonies And for his homage by the which of old Proude Edward Guyne and Aquitane doth hold Charles by inuasiue Armes againe shall take And send the English forces o're the Lake vvhen Edwards fortune stands vpon this chaunce To loose in England or expusd from Fraunce And all those townes great Longshanks left his sonne Now lost againe which once his Father wonne VVithin their strong Percullisd Ports shall lie And from theyr walls his sieges shall defie And by that firme and vndissolued knot Betwixt the neighbouring French and bordering Scot Bruse nowe shall bring his Redshanks from the seas From th'Iled Orcad's and the Hebrydes And to his VVesterne Hauens gyue free passe To land the warlike Irish Galiglasse Marching from Tweed to swelling Humber sands vvasting along the Northern nether-lands And wanting those which should his power sustaine Consum'd with slaughter in his bloodie 〈◊〉 Our warlike sword shall driue him from his shrone vvhere hee shall lye for ys to tread vpon And those great Lords now after theyr attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints And by the superstitious people thought That by theyr Reliques miracles are wrought And thinke that flood much vertue doth retaine vvhich tooke the blood of famous Bohun slaine Continuing the remembrance of the thing To make the people more abhorre theyr King Nor shall a Spenser be he nere so great Possesse our VVigmore our renowned seate To raze the auncient Trophies of our race vvith our deserts theyr monuments to grace Nor shall he lead our valiant marchers forth To make the Spensers famous in the North Nor be the Gardants of the Brittish pales Defending England and preseruing VVales At first our troubles seemed calme enough But now are growne more boyst'rous and more rough vvith grauest counsell all must be directed vvhere plainest shewes are openly suspected For where mishaps our errors doth assault There doth it easilest make vs see our fault Then sweet represse all fond and wilfull spleene Two things to be a woman and a Queene Keepe close the cyndars least the fire should burne It is not this which yet must serue our turne And if I doe not much mistake the thing The next supply shall greater comfort bring Till when I leaue my Princesse for a while Liue thou in rest though I liue in exile Notes of the Chronicle historie Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd vp in death ROger Mortimer Lord of Wigmore had stood publiquely condemned for his insurrection with Thomas Earle of Lancaster and Bohun Earle of Herford by the space of three months and as the report went the day of his execution was determined to haue beene shortly after which he preuented by his escape Twice all was taken twice thou all didst giue At what time the two Mortimers this Roger Lord of Wigmore and his vncle Roger Mortimer the elder were apprehended in the West the Qeene by meanes of Torlton Bishop of Herford and Becke Bishop of Duresme and Patriarck of Ierusalem beeing then both mightie in the state vpon the submission of the Mortimers somewhat pacified the King and nowe secondly shee wrought meanes for his escape Leauing the cordes to tell where I had gone With strong ladders made of cordes prouided him for the purpose he escaped out of the Tower which when the same vvere found fastened to the walls in such a desperate attempt they bred astonishment to the beholders Nor let the Spensers glory in my chaunce The two Hugh Spensers the Father and the sonne then beeing so highly fauoured of the King knew that theyr greatest safety came by his exile whose high and turbulent spirit could neuer brooke any corriuall in greatnes My Grandstre was the first since Arthurs ralgne That the Round-table lastly did ordaine Roger Mortimer called the great Lorde Mortimer Grandfather to this Roger which was afterward the first Earle of March reerected againe the Round-table at Kenelworth after the auncient order of King Arthurs table with the retinue of a hundred knights and a hundred Ladies in his house for the entertaining of such aduentures as came thether from all parts of Christendome Whilst famous Longshanks bones in fortunes scorne Edward Longshanks willed at his death that his body should bee boyled the flesh from the bones that the bones should be borne to the warres in Scotlande which hee was perswaded vnto by a prophecie which told that the English should still be fortunate in conquest so long as his bones were carried in the field The English blood that stained Banocksburne In the great voyage Edward the second made against the Scots at the battell at Striueling neere vnto the riuer of Banocksburne in Scotland where there was in the English Campe such banquetting excesse such riot and misorder that the Scots who in the meane time laboured for aduantage gaue to the English a great and fearefull ouerthrowe And in the Dead-sea sincke our houses fame From whose c. Mortimer so called of Mare Mortuum in French Mort mer in English the Dead sea which is sayd to be where Sodome and Gomorra once were before they were destroyed by fire frō heauen And for that hatefull sacriligious sinne Which by the Pope he stands accursed in Gaustelinus and Lucas two Cardinalls sent into England from Pope Clement to appease the auncient hate betweene the King Thomas Earle of Lancaster to whose Embassie the King seemed to yeeld vnto but after theyr departure he went backe from his promises for which he was accursed at Rome Of those industrious Romaine Colonies A Colonie is a sort or number of people that came to inhabite a place before not inhabited whereby he