diet to bee kept whither came the Embassadours of the Empire Spaine Hungary Denmarke to entreate for a perpetuall peace to bee made betweene the two Kings of England and Fraunce By truo descent to weare the Diadem Of Naples Cicilie and Ierusalem Rainer Duke of Aniou father to Queene Margaret called him selfe King of Naples Cicily and Ierusalem hauing the title alone of King of those Countries A fifteene taxe in Fraunce I freely spent The Duke of Suffolke after the marriage concluded twixt King Henry and Margaret daughter to duke Rayner asked in open Parliament a whole fifteenth to fetch her into England Seene thee for England but imbarqu'd at Deepe Deepe is a towne in Fraunce bordering vpon the Sea where the Duke of Suffolke with Queene Margaret tooke shippe for England As when arriu'd in Porchester faire Roade Porchester a hauen towne in the South-west part of England where the King tarried expecting the Queenes arriuall whom from thence he conuayed to South-hamton Queene Margaret to VVilliam de-la-Poole Duke of Suffolke WHat newes sweet Pole look'st thou my liues shuld tell But like the tolling of the dolefull Bell Bidding the deaths-man to prepare the graue Expect from me no other newes to haue My brest which once was mirths imperiall throne A vast and desart wildernesse is growne Like that cold Region from the world remote On whose breeme seas the icie mountaines flote Where those poore creatures banisht from the light Do liue imprisond in continuall night No ioy presents my soules eternall eies But diuination of sad tragedies And Care takes vp her solitarie inne Where youth and ioy their court did once beginne As in September when our yeere resignes The glorious Sunne vnto the watrie signes Which through the clouds looks on the earth in scorn The little bird yet to salute the morne Vpon the naked branches sets her foote The leaues now lying on the mossie roote And there a seely chitipping dooth keepe As though she faine would sing yet fame would weep Praising faire summer that too soone is gone Or sad for winter too fast comming on In this strange plight I mourne for thy depart Because that weeping cannot ease my hart Now to our aide who stirs the neighbouring kings Or who from France a puissant armie brings Who moues the Norman to abet our warre Or stirs vp Burgoyne to ayde Lancaster Who in the North our lawfull claime commends To win vs credite with our valiant friends To whom shall I my secret griefe impart Whose breast I made the closet of my hart The ancient Heroes fame thou didst reuine And didst from them thy memorie deriue Nature by thee both gaue and taketh all Alone in Poole she was too prodigall Of so diuine and rich a temper wrought As heauen for him perfections deepe had sought VVell knew king Henry what he pleaded for when he chose thee to be his Orator VVhose Angell-eye by powerfull influence Doth vtter more than humane eloquence That when Ioue would his youthful sports haue tride But in thy shape himselfe would neuer hide which in his loue had bin of greater power Then was his Nymph his flame his swan his shower To that allegiance Yorke was bound by oath To Henries heires and safety of vs both No longer now he meanes record shall beare it He will dispence with heauen and will vnsweare it He that 's in all the worlds blacke sinnes forlorne Is carelesse now how oft he be forsworne And now of late his title hath set downe By which he make his claime vnto the Crowne And now I heare his hatefull duchesse chats And rips vp their descent vnto her brats And blesseth them as Englands lawfull heires And tells them that our diademe is theirs And if such hap her goddesse Fortune bring If three sonnes faile shee le make the fourth a King He that 's so like his Damme her yongest Dicke That foule il-fauored crooke backt stigmaticke That like a carcas stolne out of a tombe Came the wrong way out of hir mothers wombe with teeth in 's head his passage to haue torne As though begot an age ere he was borne Who now will curbe prowde Yorke when he shal rise Or armes out right against his enterprize To crop that bastard weede which daily growes To ouer-shadow our vermilian Rose Or who will muzzel that vnruly Beare Whose presence strikes our peoples harts with feare Whilst on his knees this wretched King is downe To saue them labour reaching at his Crowne Where like a mounting Cedar he should beare His plumed top aloft into the ayre And let these shrubs sit vnderneath his shrowdes Whilst in his armes he doth embrace the clowdes O that he should his fathers right inherite Yet be an alien to that mightie spirite How were those powers dispersde or whether gone Should sympathize in generation Or what apposed influence had force So much t' abuse and alter natures course All other creatures follow after kinde But man alone doth not beget the minde My Daisie-flower which erst perfumde the ayre Which for my fauours Princes once did weare Now in the dust lies troden on the ground And with Yorkes garlands euery one is crownd When now his rising waites on our decline And in our setting he beginnes to shine Now in the skies that dreadful Comet waues And who be starres but Warwickes 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 Which most haue cride God saue Queene Margarite When fame shall brute thy banishment abroade The Yorkish faction then will lay on loade And when it comes once to our westerne coast O how that hag Dame Elinor will boast And labour strait by all the meanes she can To be calld home out of the I le of Man To which I know great Warwicke will consent To haue it done by act of Parlement That to my teeth my birth she may defie Slaundring duke Rayner with base beggerie The onely way she could deuise to grieue me wanting sweete Suffolke which shouldst most relieue me And from that stocke doth sprowt another bloome A Kentish rebell a base vpstart groome And this is he the white Rose must preferre By Clarence daughter matcht with Mortimer Thus by Yorkes meanes this rascall pesant Cade Must in all haste Plantaginet be made Thus that ambitious duke sets all on worke To sound what friends affect the claime of Yorke whilst he abroad doth practise to command And makes vs weake by strengthning Ireland More his owne power still seeking to increase Then for king Henries good or Englands peace Great Winchester vntimely is deceasde That more and more my woes should be increasde Beuford whose shoulders prowdly bare vp all The Churches prop that famous Cardinall The Commons bent to mischiefe neuer let with Fraunce t' vpbraid that valiant Sommerset Rayling in tumults on his souldiers losse Thus all goes backeward crosse comes after crosse And now of
late duke Humfries old alies With banisht Elnors base complices Attending their reuenge grow wondrous crouse And threaten death and vengeance to our house And I lone the wofull remnant am T' endure these stormes with wofull Buckingham I pray thee Poole haue care how thou doost passe Neuer the Sea yet halfe so dangerous was And one foretolde by Water thou shouldst die Ah! foule befall that foule tongues prophecie And euery night am troubled in my dreames That I doe see thee tosst in dangerous streames And oft-times shipwrackt cast vpon the land And lying breathlesse on the queachy sand And oft in visions see thee in the night Where thou at Sea maintainst a dangerous fight And with thy proued target and thy sword Beatst backe the pyrate which would come aboord 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 sorrovve to belieue And in my counsell yet this comfort is It can not hurt although I thinke amisse Then liue in hope in triumph to returne When cleerer dayes shall leaue in cloudes to mourne But so hath sorrow girt my soule about That that word Hope me thinks comes slowly out The reason is I know it heere vvould rest Where it vvould still behold thee in my breast Farewell sweete Pole faine more I would indite But that my teares doe blot as I do write ¶ Notes of the Chronicle Historie Or brings in Burgoyne to ayde Lancaster PHillip Duke of Burgoyne 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 win vs credite with our valiant friends The chiefe Lords of the North parts in the time of Henry the fixt withstood the Duke of Yorke at his rising giuing him two great ouerthrowes To that allegeance Yorke was bound by oth 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 fift and at this Kings coronation tooke his oth to be true subiect to him and his heires for euer but afterward dispensing therewith claimed the crowne as his rightfull and proper inheritance If three sonnes faile shee 'le 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 sixt and Edmund Earle of Rutland slaine by the Lord Clifford at the battel at Wakefield and George Duke of Clarence that was murthered in the Tower and Richard Duke of Gloster who was after he had murthered his brothers sonnes King by the name of Richard the third He that 's so like his Dam her yongest Dicke That fowle illfauored crookeback'd Stigmaticke c. Till this verse As though begot an age c. This Richard whom ironically she heere calls Dicke that by treason after his Nephewes murthered obtained the crowne was a man low of stature crooke-back'd the left shoulder much higher then the right and of a very crabbed and sower countenance his mother could not be deliuered of him hee was borne toothd with his feet forward contrary to the course of nature To ouershadow our vermilian Rose The red Rose was the badge of the house of Lancaster and the white Rose of Yorke which by the marriage of Henry the seauenth with Elizabeth indubitate heire of the house of Yorke was happily vnited Or who will muzzell that vnruly beare The Earle of Warwicke the setter vp and puller downe of Kings gaue for his Armes the white Beare rampant and the ragged staffe My Daisie flower which erst perfumde the ayre Which for my fauour Princes once did weare c. The Daisie in French is called Margaret which was Queene Margarets badge where-withall the Nobilitie and chiualrie of the Land at the first arriuall were so delighted that they wore it in their hats in token of honour And who be starres but Warwikes bearded staues The ragged or bearded staffe was a part of the Armes belonging to the Earledome of Warwicke Slandring Duke Rayner with base beggery Rayner Duke of Aniou called himselfe King of Naples Cicile and Ierusalem hauing neither inheritance nor tribute from those parts and was not able at the marriage of the Queene of his owne charges to send her into England though he gaue no dower with her which by the Dutchesse of Glocester was often in disgrace cast in her teeth A Kentish rebell a base vpslart groome This was Iacke Cade which caused the Kentish-men to rebell in the 28. yeere of King Henry the fixth And this is he the white Rose must prefer By Clarence daughter match'd to Mortimer This Iacke Cade instructed by the Duke of Yorke pretended to be descended from Mortimer which married Lady Phillip daughter to the Duke of Clarence And makes vs weake by strengthning Ireland The Duke of Yorke being made Deputy of Ireland first there began to practise his long pretended purpose strengthning himselfe by all meanes possible that hee might at his returne into England by open warre claime that which so long he had priuily gone about to obtaine Great Winchester vntimely is deceasde Henry Benford Bishop and Cardinall of Winchester sonne to Iohn of Gaunt begot in his age was a prowd and ambitious Prelate fauouring mightily the Queene and the Duke of Suffolke continually heaping vp innumerable treasure in hope to haue beene Pope as himselfe on his death-bed confessed With France t' vpbraide the valiant Somerset Edmund Duke of Somerset in the 24. of Henry the sixth was made Regent of France and sent into Normandie to desend the English territories against the French inuasions but in short time he lost all that King Henry the fifth won for which cause the Nobles and Commons euer after hated him T' endure these stormes with wofull Buckingham Humfrey Duke of Buckingham was a great fauorite of the Queenes faction in the time of Henry the sixt And one sore-told by water thou shouldst die The Witch of Eye receiued answer from her spirit that the Duke of Suffolke should take heede of water which the Queene forwarnes him of as remembring the Witches prophecie which afterwards came to passe Finis To the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Munson Knight SIR amongst many which most deseruedly loue you though I the least yet am loth to be the last whose endeuours may make knowne how highly they esteeme of your noble and kinde disposition Let this Epistle Sir I beseech you which vnworthily weares the badge of your worthy name acknowledge my zeale with the rest though much lesse deseruing which for your sake doe honour the house of the Mounsons I know true generositie accepteth what is zealously offred though not euer deseruingly excellent yet for loue of the Art from whence it receiueth resemblance The light Phrigian harmony
at Bosworth field a braue and gallant Gentleman who was slaine by Richard there this was father to this Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke FINIS To my most deere friend Maister Henry Lucas sonne to Edward Lucas Esquire SIR to none haue I beene more beholding then to your kinde parents for I must truly confesse aboue the measure of my deserts Many there be in England of whom for some particularity I might iustly chalenge greater merit had I not beene borne in so euill an howre as to be poisoned with that gaule of ingratitude to your selfe am I ingaged for many more curtesies then I imagined could euer haue beene found in one of so few yeeres nothing doe I more desire then that those hopes of your toward and vertuous youth may proue so pure in the fruit as they are faire in the bloome long may you liue to their comfort that loue you most and may I euer wish you the encrease of all good fortunes Yours euer Mich Drayton Henry Howard Earle of Surrey to Geraldine The Argument Henry Howard that true noble Earle of Surrey and excellent Poet falling in loue with Geraldine descended of the noble family of the Fitzgeralds of Ireland a faire and modest Lady and one of the honourable maides to Queene Katherine Dowager eternizeth her praises in many excellent Poemes of rare and sundry inuentions and after some few yeares being determined to see that famous Italy the source and Helicon of all excellent Arts first visiteth that renowned Florence from whence the Geralds challenge their descent from the antient family of the Geraldi there in honour of his Mistresse be aduanceth her picture and challengeth to maintaine her beautie by deedes of Armes against all that durst appeare in the lists where after the proofe of his braue and incomparable valour whose arme crowned her beauty with eternall memory he writeth this Epistle to his deerest Mistresse FRom learned Florence long time rich in fame From whence thy race thy noble grandsires came To famous England the kinde nurse of mine Thy Surrey sends to heauenly Geraldine Yet let not Thuscan thinke I do her vvrong That I from thence write in my natiue tongue That in these harsh-tun'd cadences I sing Sitting so neare the Muses sacred spring But rather thinke her selfe adorn'd thereby That England reades the praise of Italie Though to the Thuscan I the smoothnes grant Our dialect no Maiestie doth want To set thy prayses in as hie a key As Fraunce or Spaine or Germanie or they That day I quit the Fore-land of faire Kent And that my ship her course for Flanders bent Yet thinke I with how many a heauie looke My leaue of England and of thee I tooke And did intreat the tide if it might be But to conuey me one sigh backe to thee Vp to the decke a billow lightly skips Taking my sigh and downe againe it slips Into the gulfe it selfe it headlong throwes And as a post to England-ward it goes As I sit wondring how the rough seas stird I might farre off perceiue a little bird Which as she faine from shore to shore would flie Hath lost her selfe in the broad vastie skie Her feeble wing beginning to deceiue her The sâ—aâ— of life still gaping to bereaue her Vnto the ship she makes which she discouers And there poore foole a while for refuge houers And when at length her flagging pinion failes Panting she hangs vpon the ratling sailes And being forc'd to loose her hold with paine Yet beaten off she straight lights on againe And tosst with flaws with storms with wind with wether Yet still departing thence stil turneth thether Now with the poope now with the prow doth beare Now on this side now that now here now there Me thinkes these stormes should be my sad depart The seely helplesse bird is my poore bart The ship to which for succour it repaires That is your selfe regardlesse of my cares Of euery surge doth fall or waue doth rise To some one thing I sit and moralize When for thy loue I left the Belgicke shore Diuine Erasmus and our famous Moore Whose happy presence gaue me such delight As made a minute of a winters night With whom a while I staide at Roterdame Now so renowned by Erasmus name Yet euery houre did seeme a world of time Till I had seene that soule-reuiuing clime And thought the foggy Netherlands vnfit A watry soyle to clogge a fiery wit And as that wealthy Germany I past Comming vnto the Emperours court at last Great learnd Agrippa so profound in Art Who the infernall secrets doth impart When of thy health I did desire to know Me in a glasse my Geraldine did shew Sicke in thy bed and for thou couldst not sleepe By a waxe tapâ—r set thy light to keepe I doe remember thou didst reade that Ode Sent backe whilst I in Thanet made abode Where as thou cam'st vnto the word of loue Euen in thine eies I sawe how passion stroue That snowy lawne which couered thy bed Me thought lookt white to see thy cheeke so red Thy rosie cheeke oft changing in my sight Yet still was red to see the lawne so white The little Taper which should giue thee light Me thought waxt dim to see thy eie so bright Thine eie againe supplies the Tapers turne And with his beames doth make the taper burne The shrugging ayre about thy Temple hurles And wraps thy breath in little clowded curles And as it doth ascend it strait doth ceaze it And as it sinks it presently doth raise it Canst thou by sicknes banish beautie so Which if put from thee knowes not where to goe To make her shift and for her succour seeke To euery riueld face each bankrupt cheeke If health preseru'd thou beautie still doost cherish If that neglected beauty soone doth perish Care drawes on care woe comforts woe againe Sorrow breeds sorrow one griefe brings forth twaine If liue or die as thou doost so doe I If liue I liue and if thou die I die One hart one loue one ioy one griefe one troth One good one ill one life one death to both If Howards blood thou holdst as but too vile Or not esteemst of Norsfolkes Princely stile If Scotlands coate no marke of fame can lend That Lion placde in our bright siluer bend Which as a trophie beautifies our shield Since Scottish bloud discoloured Floden field When the prowd Cheuiot our braue Ensigne beare As a rich iewell in a Ladies haire And did faire Bramstons neighbouring valies choke With clouds of Canons fire disgorged smoke Or Surreys Earledom insufficient be And not a dower so well contenting thee Yet am I one of great Apollos heires The sacred Muses chalenge me for theirs By Princes my immortall lines are sung My flowing verses grac'd with euery tung The little children when they learne to go By painfull mothers daded to and fro Are taught by sâ—gred numbers to â—â—heaâ—sâ— And haue their sweet-lips season'd with my verse When heauen
seas Such meanes in France they daily do procure That there my selfe I doubted to secure And though I chang'd my habite and my name Because I meant to liue vnknowne to any Yet swift report had so divulg'd my shame My hated life was publish'd to too many In euery streete that as I pas'd along I was the talke of euery common tongue And finding that which onely I did craue A secret meanes to send vnto the King To me certaine intelligence that gaue Of the state and course of euery thing Who labored now more euer then before Me into England safely to restore For which relying on my Soueraignes loue To whom my life had euer beene so deare Which I then now had ne're more cause to proue Striuing t' obtaine if any meane there were A dispensation for his former oth In their dispight that thereto seem'd most loth Where casting many a sundry course at length Being by marridge mightily alide And but too much presuming of my strength Resolu'd for England come what could beâ—ide And in a ship that for the iourney lay Thither my selfe did suddainely conuay And safely landed on the wished shore Vnto the Court me secretly betooke Of which the King had notice long before And for my comming euery day did looke Wisely that plotted when I should arriue All helpefull meanes my safetie to contriue Which soone being known whilst yet their blood was hote That to their strength now onely were to trust For what before was done preuailed not And for my sake the King did proue vniust Bringing thereby whilst trifling they did stand Wrong to themselues and danger to the land Now when the time did generally distaste Our lewd and inconsiderate neglect when those in Court that our high fauours plac'de Giue vs iust cause their dealings to suspect And they that view'd vs with the pleasedst eye Yet at our actions sometimes looke awric Wherefore the King inforced to prouide A present Armie trusting to his friends Repâ—irde to Yorke vntill he were supplide From whence for aide he into Scotland sends To warlike Balioll and to Wales from whence He might get power to frustrate their pretence But they his purpose wholy intercept Not now to seeke in any secret thing The marches that so vigilantly kept And yet renounce all malice to the King Only to chastice my abhorred sinne Who had the cause of all this trouble bin Thus Like a ship dismembred of the sailes Forc'd by the winde against the streamefull tide From place to place with euery billow hales And as it haps from shore to shore doth ride As that poore vessell rests my brittle stay Nearer the land still nearest cast away Corsiue of kingdoms home-begotten hate which in no limits euer yet wast bounded when didst thou seize euen on the greatest state By thee that was not vtterly confounded How many kingdome be there that doe rue thee Happy the world was till too well it knew thee Thus of our succour instantly bereft Hauing but now some little force at sea Lastly to trust to onely vs was left On which our hope infortunately lay Which he to hasten speedily doth make His former courses forced to forsake The present danger mannaging it so That did for aide importunately call Wherefore in Yorke as farthest from the foe Leaues me vnto the safegard of the wall Till his returne me further helpe might giue Whom more and more he studied to relecue From Bedford now the Armie setting on Th' appointed randy whore they gathered head When they had notice that the King was gone Vpon their way more hastily them sped Me t' afflict as purposed they were Whose presence else might force them to forbeare To Skarborough immediately I poste With the small force my fortune then did lend me A Fort best fitting standing on the coast And of all other likest to defend me And came the worst resistlesse were their might The sea should safely priuiledge my flight But they the Cittie lying round about Keepe euery passage with a watchfull spie That gaue them notice of my passing out With their light horse pursue me by and by Whereas vpon me suddainely they came E're I had time to fortifie the same Along the lands towards Oxford they conuey me Wondring my sight as birds do at the Owle And by the way continually they bray me As hungry woolues at passengers do howle Each one exulting that I now was caught That in the land such mischiefe euer wrought And being brought to Dedington at last Where the Eaâ—le of Pombrooke wild me to be staid To vnderstand 〈◊〉 further that I past Things to my charge that secretly were laid And to the King he speedily had sent T' acquaint him with the generall intent But the Earle of Warwicke lying but too neare The dog of Arden that I vsde to call That deadly hatred still to me did beare And that I euer doubted most of all Thither repairing with a powerfull band Ceazed vpon me with a violent hand And vnto Warwicke carrying me along Where he had long desired me to get With friends and tenants absolutely strong Whom all the puissant Barronry abet Since now occasion offered them such hold Hasten my death by all the meanes they could North from the Towne a mile or very neare An easie hill in publike view doth lie Blacklow then call'd of those that dwelled there Neare to the antient Hermitage of Guy Thither with arm'd bands strongly they me led Whereas I lastly forfaâ—ed my head My sundry passions hauing thus exprest In the sad tenor of my tragicke Tale Let me returne vnto the fields of rest Thither transported by a prosp'rous gale I leaue the world my destiny to view Bidding it thus for euermore a diew FINIS