sun VVhere lawfull right and conquest doth allow A triple crowne on Richards princely brow Three kingly Lyons beares his bloody field No bastards marke doth blot his conquering shield Neuer durst he attempt our haplesse shore Nor set his foote on satall Rauenspore Nor durst his slugging Hulks approch the strand Nor stoop'd a top as signall to the Land Had not the Percyes promisd ayde to bring Against theyr oath vnto theyr lawfull King Against theyr fayth vnto our Crownes true heyre Theyr valiant kinsman Edmond Mortimer VVhen I to England came a world of eyes vvere there attending on my fayre arise vvhen I came back those fatall Plannets frowne And all are set before my going downe The smooth-fac'd Ayre did on my comming smile But with rough stormes are driuen to exile But Bullenbrooke deuisd we thus should part Fearing two sorrowes should possesse one hart That we should thus complaine our griefes alone Least one should liue in two two liue in one Inflicting woe and yet doth vs denie But that poore ioy is found in miserie Hee hath before diuors'd thy Crowne and thee vvhich might suffice and not to widdow mee Nor will one place our pouertie containe vvhich in our pompe both in one bed haue laine VVhich is to proue the greatnes of his hate How much our fall exceedeth our estate VVhen England first obtaind mee by thy loue Nor did a kingdome my affection moue Before a Crownes sad cares I yet did try Nor thought of Empire but loues Emperie Before I learn'd to sooth a publique vaine And onely thought to loue had been to raigne I would to God that princely Anne of Beame Might still haue worne the English Diademe That shee whose youth first deck'd thy bridall bed Had kept that fatall wreath vppon her head VVould God shee still might haue enioy'd her roome Possest my throne and I haue had her Toombe Or would Aumerle had sunck when he betrayd The complot which that holy Abbot layd VVhen he infring'd the oath which he first tooke To end that proude vsurping Bullenbrooke And been the ransome of our friends deere blood Vntimelie lost and for the earth too good And we vntimely mourne our hard estate They dead too soone and we doe liue too late Death seuers them and life doth vs inclose Their helpe decreased doth augment our woes And though with teares I from my loue depart This curse on Herford fall to ease my hart If the foule breach of a chast lawfull bed May bring a curse my curse light on his head If murthers guilt with blood may deeply staine Greene Scroope and Bushie die his fault in graine If periurie may heauens pure gates debar Damn'd be the oath he made at Doncaster If the deposing of a lawfull King Thy curse condemne him if no other thing If these disioyn'd for vengeance cannot call Let them vnited strongly curse him all And for the Percies heauen yet heare my prayer That Bullenbrooke now plac'd in Richards chayre Such cause of woe vnto their wiues may bee As those rebellious Lords haue been to mee And that proude Dame which now controleth all And in her pompe triumpheth in my fall For her great Lord may water her sad eyne vvith as salt teares as I haue done for mine And mourne for Henry Hote-spurre her deere sonne As I for my sweet Mortymer haue done And as I am so succourlesse be sent Lastly to taste perpetuall banishment Then loose thy care where first thy crowne was lost Sell it so deerely for it deerely cost And sith they did of libertie depriue thee Burying thy hope let not thy care out-liue thee But hard God knowes with sorrow doth it goe vvhen woe becomes a comforter to woe Yet much mee thinks of comfort I could say If from my hart pale feare were rid away Some-thing there is which tells mee still of woe But what it is that heauen aboue doth know Griefe to it selfe most dreadfull doth appeare And neuer yet was sorrow voyde of feare But yet in death doth sorrow hope the best And with this farewell wish thee happy rest Notes of the Chronicle historie If fatall Pomfret hath in former times POmfret Castle euer a fatall place to the Princes of England most ominous to the blood of Plantaginet O how euer yet I hate my lothed eyes And in my glasse c. When Bullenbrooke returned to England from the West bringing Richard a prisoner with him the Queene who little knewe of her husbands hard successe stayd to behold his comming in little thinking to haue seene her husband thus led in triumph by his foe and now seeming to hate her eyes that so much had graced her mortall enemie Wherein great Norfolkes forward course was staid She remembreth the meeting of the two Dukes of Herford and Norfolke at Couentry vrging the iustnes of Mowbrayes quarrell against the Duke of Herforde and the faithfull assurance of his victory Oh why did Charles releeue his needy siate A vagabond c. Charles the French King her father receiued the Duke of Herford into his Court and releeu'd him in Fraunce being so neerly alied as Cosin german to King Richard his sonne in Lawe which hee did simply little thinking that hee shoulde after returne into England and dispossesse King Richard of the crowne When thou to Ireland took'st thy last fare-well King Richard made a voyage with his Armie into Ireland against Onell and Mackemur which rebelled at what time Henry entred heere at home and rob'd him of all kingly dignitie Affirm'd by Church-men which should beare no hate That Iohn of Gaunt was illigitimate William Wickham in the great quarrell betwixt Iohn of Gaunt the Clergie of meere spight and mallice as it should seeme reported that the Queene confessed to him on her death-bed being then her Confessor that Iohn of Gaunt was the sonne of a Flemming that she was brought to bed of a woman child at Gaunt which was smothered in the cradle by mischance and that shee obtained this child of a poore woman making the King beleeue it was her owne greatly fearing his displeasure Fox ex Chron. Albani No Bastards marke doth blot our conquering shield Shewing the true and indubitate birth of Richard his right vnto the Crowne of England as carrying the Armes without blot or difference Against their fayth vnto the Crownes true heyre Theyr noble kinsman c. Edmond Mortimer Earle of March sonne of Earle Roger Mortimer which was sonne to Lady Phillip daughter to Lionell Duke of Clarence the third sonne to King Edward the third which Edmond King Richard going into Ireland was proclaimed heyre apparant to the Crowne whose Aunt called Ellinor this Lorde Percie had married I would to God that princely Anne of Beame Richard the second his first wife was Anne daughter to the K. of Beame which liued not long with him and after hee married this Isabell daughter to Charles King of Fraunce This Princesse was very young and not marriageable when shee came
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
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
VVarwicke the pride of Neuels haughtie race Great Salsbury so fear'd in euery place That valiant Poole whom no atchiuement dares And Vere so famous in the Irish warres VVhom though I were a mighty Princesse borne Yet of the worst no whit I neede to scorne But Henries rare perfections and his parts As his sword kingdoms so those conquer'd harts As chast was I to him as Queene might bee But freed from him my chast loue vow'd to thee Beauty doth fetch all fauor from thy face All perfit courtship resteth in thy grace If thou discourse thy lipps such accents breake As loue a spirit forth of thee seem'd to speake The Brittish language which sweet vowels wants And iarrs so much vpon harsh consonants Comes with such grace srom thy mellifluous tongue As doe the sweet notes of a well set song And runnes as smoothly from those lypps of thine As the pure Thuskan from the Florantine Leauing such seasoned sweetnes in the eare As the voyce past yet still the sound is there Like Nisus Tower where once Apollo lay And on his golden viall vs'd to play vvhere sencelesse stones were with such musick drownd As many yeeres they did retaine the sound Had he which dar'd proud Perseus to the field Caried my Tudors picture in his shield The sight there of should haue subdu'd alone That Gorgons head which turn'd men to a stone If Ioue should take my Tudors louely eye And with heauens lights should place it in the skye The wandring starrs would leaue theyr endlesse maze And fixe themselues vpon that starre to gaze If faire Alcmenas three nights-gotten sonne vvhen he his twelue great labours first had done Had knowne one lock of thy delicious ore Kept by the Dragon Lyon Serpent Bore Twelue labours more for that he would sustaine And where he ended would begin againe Yet let not this make thee thy selfe forget Nor my affection now so firmely set Nor with repulse my forwardnes reproue To boast the conquest of a princely loue No my sweet Tudor I will aunswer no Thy gentle brow doth mildly warrant so VVhen Nature shew'd her wonders in thy face Shee made that mount Loues royall sporting place vvhere sweet content doth banquet all the yere Nor coy disdaine yet euer dwelled there Let peeuish worldlings speake of right and wrong Leaue plaints and pleas to whom they doe belong Let old men speak of chaunces and euents And Lawyers talke of titles and discents Leaue fond reports to such as stories tell And couenaunts to such as buy and sell Loue my sweet Tudor that becomes thee best And to our good successe referre the rest Notes of the Chronicle historie Great Henry sought to accomplish his desire Armed c. HEnry the 〈◊〉 making clayme vnto the Crowne of Fraunce first sought by Armes to subdue the French and after sought by marriage to confirme what he got by conquest the heate and furie of which inuasion is aluded to the fiction of Semele in Ouid which by the craftie perswasion of Iuno requested Ioue to come vnto her as he was wont to come vnto his wife Iuno who at her request he yeelding vnto destroyed her in a tempest Incamp'd at Melans in warres hote alarmes First c. Neere vnto Melans vpon the riuer of Seyne was the appointed place of parley between the two Kings of England Fraunce to which place Isabell the Queene of Fraunce and the Duke of Burgoyne brought the young Princesse Katherine where King Henry first saw her And on my temples set a double Crowne Henry the fift and Queene Katherine were taken as King and Queene of Fraunce during the life of Charles the French king Henry was called King of England and heire of Fraunce and after the death of Henry the fift Henry the sixt his sonne then beeing very young was crowned at Paris as true and lawfull King of England and Fraunce At Troy in Champayne he did first enioy Troy in Champayne was the place where that victorious king Henry the fift married the Princesse Katherine in the presence of the chiefe Nobilitie of the Realmes of England and of Fraunce Nor these great titles vainely will I bring Wife daughter mother c. Fewe Queenes of England or Fraunce were euer more princely alied then this Queene as it hath beene noted by Historiographers Nor thinke so Tudor that this loue of mine Should wrong the Gaunt-borne c. Noting the descent of Henry her husband from Iohn Duke of Lancaster the fourth sonne of Edward the third which Duke Iolm was surnamed Gaunt of the Cittie of Gaunt in Flaunders where he was borne Nor stirre the English blood the Sunne and Moone T'repine c. Aluding the greatnes of the English line to Phoebus and Phoebe fained to be the children of Latona whose heauenly kinde might scorne to be ioyned with any earthly progenie yet withall boasting the blood of Fraunce as not inferior to theirs And with this allusion followeth on the history of the strife betwixt Iuno the race of Cadmus whose issue was afflicted by the wrath of heauen The chyldren of Niohe slaine for which the wofull mother became a Rocke gushing forth continually a fountaine of teares And Iohn and Longshanks issue both affied Lhewellin or Leolin ap Iorwerth marryed Ioan daughter to King Iohn a most beautifull Lady Some Authors affirme shee was base borne Lhewellin ap Gryfith maried Ellinor daughter to Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester and Cosin to Edward Longshankes both which Lhewellins were Princes of Wales Of Camilot and all her Penticosts A nephewes roome c. Camilot the auncient Pallace of King Arthur to which place all the Knights of that famous order yeerely repayred at Penticost according to the law of the Table most of the famous home-borne Knights were of that Country as to this day is perceaued by theyr auncient monuments When bloody Rufus sought your vtter sacke Noting the ill successe which that William Rufus had in two voiages he made into Wales in which a number of his chiefe Nobilitie were slaine And oft return'd with glorious victory Noting the diuers sundry incursians that the Welchmen made into England in the time of Rufus Iohn Henry the second and Longshanks Owen Tudor to Queene Katherine WHen first mine eyes beheld thy princely name And found from whence these friendly letters came As in excesse of ioy my selfe forgot VVhether I saw it or I saw it not My panting hart doth bid mine eyes proceed My dazeled eye inuites my tongue to reed Mine eye should guide my tongue amazed mist it My lips which now should speake are dombe and kist it And leaues the paper in my trembling hand vvhen all my sences so amazed stand Euen as a mother comming to her child vvhich from her presence hath been long exil'd vvith tender armes his gentle necke doth straine Now kissing him now clipping him againe And yet excessiue ioy delndes her so As still shee doubts if this be hers or no At length awak'ned
virginitie He had indeede but shall I tell thee what Beleeue mee Brandon he had scarcely that Good feeble King he could not doe much harme But age must needes haue some-thing that is warme Small drops God knowes doe quench that heatles fire vvhen all the strength is onely in desire And I could tell if modestie might tell There's some-what else that pleaseth Louers well To rest his cheeke vpon my softer cheeke vvas all he had and more he did not seeke So might the little babie clip the nurse And it content shee neuer a whit the worse Then thinke thys Brandon if that make thee frowne For mayden-head hee on my head set a Crowne vvho would exchange a kingdome for a kisse Hard were the hart that would not yeeld him this And time yet halfe so swiftly doth not passe Not full fiue months yet elder then I was VVhen thou to Fraunce conducted was by fame vvith many Knights which from all Countries came Installed at S. Dennis in my throne vvhere Lewes held my coronation vvhere the proude Dolphin for thy valure sake Chose thee at tilt his princely part to take vvhen as the staues vpon thy caske did light Grieued there-with I turn'd away my sight And spake aloude when I my selfe forgot 〈◊〉 my sweet Charles my Brandon hurt him not But when I fear'd the King perceiued this Good silly man I pleasd him with a kisse And to extoll his valiant sonne began That Europe neuer bred a brauer man And when poore King he simply praysed thee Of all the rest I ask'd which thou should'st be Thus I with him dissembled for thy sake Open confession now a mends must make VVhilst this old King vpon a pallet lyes And onely holds a combat vvith mine eyes Mine eyes from his by thy sight stolne away vvhich might too well theyr Mistres thoughts bewray But vvhen I savv thy proude vnconquered Launce To beare the prize from all the flower of Fraunce To see vvhat pleasure did my soule imbrace Might easily be discerned in my face Looke as the devv vpon a Damaske-Rose Hovv through that cleerest pearle his blushing showes And when the soft ayre breathes vppon his top From those svveet leaues falls easily drop by drop Thus by my cheeke downe rayning from mine eyes One teare for ioy anothers roome supplies Before myne eye like Touch thy shape did proue Mine eye condemn'd my too too partiall loue But since by others I the same doe try My loue condemns my too too partiall eye The precious stone most beautifull and rare vvhen vvith it selfe vve onely doe compare vvee deeme all other of that kinde to be As excellent as that we onely see But vvhen vve iudge of that with others by Too credulous wee doe condemne our eye vvhich then appeares more orient and more bright As from their dimnes borrowing greater light Alansoon a fine timbered man and tall Yet wants the shape thou art adorn'd withall Vandom good carridge and a pleasing eye Yet wants my Suffolks Lyons maiestie Couragious Burbon a sweet manlie face But yet he wants my Brandons courtly grace Proude Longauile our Court iudg'd had no peere A man scarce made was thought whilst thou wast heere Countie S. Paule brau'st man at Armes in Fraunce vvould yeeld himselfe a Squire to beare thy Launce Galleas and Bounarme matchlesse for theyr might Vnder thy towring blade haue couch'd in fight If with our loue my Brother angry be Ile say for his sake I first loued thee And but to frame my liking to his minde Neuer to thee had I beene halfe so kind Should not the sister like as doth the brother The one of vs should be vnlike the other VVorthy my loue the vulgar iudge no man Except a Yorkist or Lancastrian Nor thinke that my affection should be set But in the line of great Plantaginet I passe not what the idle Commons say I pray thee Charles make hast and come away To thee what's England if I be not there Or what to mee is Fraunce if thou not here Thy absence makes me angry for a while But at thy presence I must needsly smile VVhen last of mee his leaue my Brandon tooke Hee sware an oath and made my lyps the booke Hee would make hast which now thou doost denie Thou art for sworne ô wilfull periurie Sooner would I with greater sinnes dispence Then by intreatie pardon thys offence But yet I thinke if I should come to shriue thee Great were the fault that I should not forgiue thee Yet wert thou here I should reuenged be But it should be with too much louing thee The vtmost date expired of my stay When I from Douer did depart away KIng Henry the 8. with the Queene and Nobles in the 6. yeare of his raigne in the month of September brought this Lady to Douer where she tooke shipping sor Fraunce Think'st thou my loue was faithfull vnto thee When young Castile to England sued for me It was agreed and concluded twixt Hen. the 7 and Phillip King of Castile Sonne to Maximilian the Emperour that Charles eldest Sonne of the said Phillip should marry the Lady Mary Daughter to King Henry when they came to age which agreement was afterward in the 8. yeare of Hen. the 8. annihilated When he in tryumph of his victory Vnder a rich embrodred Canapy Entred proud Turnay which did trembling stand c. Henry the 8. after the long seege of Turnay which was deliuered to him vpon composition entred the Citty in tryumph vnder a Canapy of cloth of gold borne by foure of the cheefe and most noble Cittizens the King himselfe mounted vppon a gallant Courser barded with the Arms of England Fraunce and Ireland When Charles of Castile there to banquet came With him his Sister that ambitious Dame Sauoys proud Dutches. The King beeing at Turnay there came to him the Prince of Castile and the Lady Margarit Dutches of Sauoy his Sister to whom King Hen. gaue great entertainment Sauoys proud Dutches knowing how long she By her loue sought to winne my loue from 〈◊〉 At this time there was speech of a marriage to be concluded betweene Charles Brandon then L. Lisle the Dutches of Sauoy the L. Lisle being highly fauored and exceedingly beloued of the Dutches. When in King Henryes Tent of cloth of gold The King caused a ritch Tent of cloth of gold to be erected where he feasted the Prince of Castile and the Dutches and entertayned them with sumptuous maskes and banquets during their aboade When Maximilian to those warres adrest Wore Englands Crosse on his imperiall brest The Emperour Maximilian with all his Souldiours which serued vnder King Henry wore the crosse of Saint George with the Rose on their breasts And in our Army let his Eagle flye The blacke Eagle is the badge imperiall which heere is vsed for the displaying of his ensigne or standard And had his pay from Henries treasurie Henry the 8 at his warres in Fraunce retayned the Emperour and all his Souldiours
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