other of my allies and each of you with other either of kinred or affinity which is the very spirituall affinity and kinred in Christ as all partakers of the Sacraments of Christs Church The weight of which consanguinity if we did beare as would to God wee did then should wee more be moved to spirituall charity then to fleshly consanguinity Our Lord forbid that you love the worse together for the selfe-same cause that you ought to love the better and yet that hapneth for no where finde wee so deadly debate as amongst them which by nature and law most ought to agree together Such a Serpent is ambition and desire of vaine glory and soveraignty while amongst estates when he is once entred he creepeth forth so farre till with division and variance hee turneth all to mischiefe First longing to be next to the best afterward equall with the best and at the last chiefe and above the best Of which immoderate appetite of worship and the debate and dissention that grew thereby what losse what sorrow what trouble hath within these few yeeres growne within this Realme I pray God as well to forget as wee well remember which thing if I could as well have foreseene as I have with my more paine then pleasure proved by God his blessed Lady that was his common oath I would never have won the courtesies oâ— mens knees with the losse of so many heads But sith things passed cannot be called againe much more ought we to beware by what occasion we have taken so great hurt before that wee presently fall not into that occasion againe Now be these griefs pâ—ssed and all is quiet thanked bee God and likely well to prosper in wealthfull peace under your Cousins my children if God send them life and you love and concord Of which two things the lesse losse were they by whom although God did his pleasure yet should this Realme alwayes finde Kâ—ngs and peradventure as good Kings as they But if you amongst your selves in a childes Raigne fall at debate many a good man shall innocently perish and hee and you also ere this Land finde peace and quiet againe wherefore in these last words that ever I look to speak to you I exhort and require you all for the love that you have borne to mee and for the love that I have borne to you and for the love that our Lord beareth to us all From this time forward all griefes forgotten each of you love other which I verily trust you will if you any thing regard God or your Kings affinity or kindred this Realme your owne Country or your owne safety and wealth And therewithall the King for faintnesse no longer enduring to sit up layed him downe on his right side his face toward them And there was none present that could forbeare weeping but the Lords comforted him with as good words as they could and answered for the time as they thought should stand with his pleasure And there in his presence as by their words appeared each forgave other and joyned their hands together when as it after appeared by their deedes their hearts were farre asunder And so within a few dayes this Noble Prince deceased at Westminster the ninth day of April in the yeere of our Lord 1483. after that he had raigned 22. yeeres one month and eight dayes and was with great Funerall pompe conveiged to Windsore leaving behinde him two sons Edward the Prince of whom this story entreateth a childe of 13. yeeres of age Richard Duke of Yorke two yeeres yonger then the Prince and five daughters Elizabeth which by Gods Grace was married to King Henry the seventh and Mother to King Henry the 8. Cicile not so fortunate as faire first wedded to the Vicount Wâ—llâ—â— after to one Kyne and lived not in great wealth Bridâ—â—â—â—rofessed â—rofessed her selfe a close Nunne at Sâ—on Anne was marrieâ— to Lord Thomas Howard Earle of Surrâ—y and Duke of Norfolk Katherine the youngest daughter was married to Lord William Courtney sonne to the Eâ—rle of Devonshire which long time â—â—ssed in either fortune sometime in wealth after in adversity till the benignity of her Nephew King Henry the eighth brought her into a sure estate according to her degree and Progeny This King Edward was such a Prince of Governance and behaviour in the time of peace for in the time of warre each must bee others enemy that there was never any King in this Realme attaining the Crowne by warre and battaile so heartily beloved with the more substance of his people nor hee himselfe so specially favoured in any part of his life as at the time of his death which favour and affection yet after his death by the cruelty mischiefe and trouble of the tempestuous world that followed highly towards him more encreased At such time as he dyed the displeasure of those that bare him a grudge for King Henry the sixth his sake whom he deposed was well asswaged and in effect quenched within the space of 22. yeeres which is a great part of a mans life and some were reconciled and growne into his favour of the which he was never strange when it was with true heart demanded Hee was goodly of Personage and Princely to behold of heart couragious politicke in counsell and in adversity nothing abashed in prosperity rather joyfull then proud in peace just and mercifull in war sharpe and fierce in the Field bold and hardy and yet neverthelesse no farther then reason and policie would adventure whose warres whosoever circumspectly and advisedly considereth hee shall no lesse commend his wisedome and policie where he avoided them then his manhood where hee vanquished them Hee was of visage full-faced and lovely of body mighty strong and clean made with over-liberall and wanton dyet he waxed something corpulent and burly but neverthelesse not uncomely Hee was in youth greatly given to fleshly wantonnesse from the which health of body in great prosperity and fortune without an especiall grace hardly refraineth This fault little grieved his people for neither could any one mans pleasure stretch or extend to the displeasure of very many nor a multitude bee grieved by a private mans fantasie or voluptuousnesse when it was done without violence And in his latter dayes he left all wild dalliance and fell to gravity so that hee brought his Realme into a wealthy and prosperous estate all feare of outward enemies were cleerely extinguisheâ— and no warre was in hand nor none toward but such as no man looked for The people were toward their Prince not in a constrained feare but in a true loving and wilfull obedience among themselves and the Commons were in good peace The Lords whom hee knew at variance hee on his death bed as hee thought brought to good concord love and amity And a little before his death he had left gathering of money of his subjects which is the onely thing that draweth the hearts of English men from their Kings and Princes
with the last nights cheere in so few houres so great a change marvellously misliked it Howbeit sith hee could not get away hee determined not to keepe himselfe close lest hee should seeme to hide himselfe for some secret feare of his owne fault whereof he saw no such cause in himselfe wherefore on the surety of his owne conscience hee determined to goe to them and to inquire what this matter might meane Whom as soone as they saw they began to quarrell with him affirming that he pretended to set distance betweene the King and them to bring them to confusion which should not lye in his power and when he began as he was an eloquent and well-spoken man in goodly wise to excuse himselfe they would not heare his answer but tooke him by force and put him in ward And then they mounted on horsebacke and came in haste to Stony Stratford where the King was going to horsebacke because hee would leave the lodging for them for it was too straight for both the companies And when they came to his presence they alighted and their company about them and on their knees saluted him and hee them gently received nothing earthly knowing nor mistrusting as yet The Duke of Buckingham said aloud On afore Gentlemen and Yeomen keepe your roomes and therewith in the Kings presence they picked a quarrell to the Lord Richard Grey the Queenes sonne and Brother to the Lord Marquesse and halfe Brother to the King saying that hee and the Marquesse his Brother and the Lord Rivers his Uncle had compassed to rule the King and the Realme and set variance betweene the estates and to subdue and destroy the Noble Bloud of the Realme And toward the accomplishment of the same they said the Lord Marquesse had entred into the Tower of London and thence had taken out treasure and sent men to the Sea which things these Dukes knew well were done for a good purpose and as very necessary appointed by the whole Counsell at London but somewhat they must say Unto the which words the king answered what my Brother Marquesse hath done I cannot say but in good faith I dare well answer for my Uncle Rivers and my Brother here that they bee innocent of such matters Yea my Liege quoth the Duke of Buckingham they have kept the dealing of these matters farre from the knowledge of your good Grace And forth-with they arrested the Lord Richard and Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Hawte knights in the Kings presence and brought the King and all backe to Northampton where they tooke farther counsell in their affaires And there they sent from the King whom it pleased them and set about him such servants as better pleased them then him At which dealing he wept and was not content but it booted not And at dinner the Duke of Gloucester sent a dish from his owne Table to the Lord Rivers praying him to be of good cheere and all should be well hee thanked him and prayed the Messenger to beare it to his Nephew the Lord Richard with like words whom he knew to have need of comfort as one to whom such adversity was strange but hee himselfe had beene alwayes enured therewith and therefore could beare it the better But for all this message the Duke of Gloucester sent the Lord Rivers the Lord Richard and Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Hawte into the North parts into divers prisons but at last all came to Pomfret where they all foure were beheaded without judgement In this manner as you have heard the Duke of Gloucester tooke on him the Governance of the young King whom with much reverence hee conveighed towards London These tydings came hastily to the Queene before midnight by a very sore report that the King her sonne was taken and that her Brother and her other son and other her friends were arrested and sent no man knew whither With this heavie tidings the Queene bewailed her childs ruine her friends mischance and her owne misfortune cursing the time that ever she was perswaded to leave the gathering of people to bring up the King with a great power but that was passed and therefore now she tooke her younger sonne the Duke of Yorke and her daughter and went out of the Palace of Westminster into the Sanctuary and there lodged in the Abbots place and shee and all her children and company were registred for Sanctuary persons The same night there came to Doctor Rotheram Archbishop of Yorke and Lord Chancelour a messenger from the Lord Chamberlaine to Yorke place beside Westminster the Messenger was brought to the Bishops Bed side and declared to him that the Dukes were gone back with the young King to Northampton and declared further that the Lord Hastings his master sent him word that hee should feare nothing for all should be well Well quoth the Archbishop be it as well as it will it will never be so well as wee have seene it and then the messenger departed Whereupon the Bishop called up all his servants and tooke with him the great Seale and came before day to the Queen about whom hee found much heavinesse rumble haste businesse conveyance and carriage of her stuffe into Sanctuary every man was busie to carry beare and convey stuffe chests and fardels no man was unoccupied and some carried more then they were commanded to another place The Queene sat alone below on the Rushes all desolate and dismaid whom the Archbishop comforted in the best manner that he could shewing her that the matter was nothing so sore as she took it for and that hee was put in good hope and out feare by the message sent to him from the Lord Hastings A woe worth him quoth the Queene for it is hee that goeth about to destroy me and my bloud Madame quoth he be of good comfort and I assure you if they crowne any other King then your sonne whom they now have we shall on the morrow crowne his Brother whom you have here with you And here is the Great Seale which in likewise as your Noble Husband delivered it to mee so I deliver it to you to the use of your Son therewith delivered her the Great Seale and departed home in the dawning of the day And when hee opened his windowes and looked on the Thames hee might see the River full of Boats of the Duke of Gloucester his servants watching that no person should goe to Sanctuary nor none should passe unsearched Then was there great rumour and commotion in the Citie and in other places the people diversly divined upon this dealing And divers Lords Knights and Gentlemen either for favour of the Queene or for feare of themselves assembled companies and went stocking together in harnesse And many also for that they recounted this demanour attempted not so specially against other Lords as against the King himselfe in disturbance of his Coronation therefore they assembled by and by together to commune of this matter
it in the meane season there came to make a sute to the King by Petition Dame Elizabeth Gray which after was his Queene then a widdow borne of noble blood specially by her mother which was Dutches of Bedford and she was married to sir Richard Woodvile Lord Rivers her Father Howbeit this Elizabeth being in service with Queene Margaret wife to King Henry the sixt was married to one Iohn Grey Esquier whom King Henry made Knight at the last battell of Saint Albons but little while hee enjoyed his knighthood for at the same field he was slaine After when King Edward was King and the Earle of Warwicke beeing on his Embassage this poore Lady made her sute to the King to bee restored to such small lands as her husband had given her in joynture whoÌ„ when the King beheld and heard her speak as she was both faire and of good favour moderate of stature well made and very wise he not alone pitched on her but also waxed enamored on her and taking her secretly aside began to enter into talking more familiarly whose appetite when shee perceived shee vertuously denyed him but that shee did so wisely and that with so good manner and words so well set that shee rather kindled his desire then quenched it And finally after many a meeting much wooing and many great promises she well perceived the Kings affection towards her so greatly increased that shee durst somewhat the more boldly say her minde as to him whose heart she perceived more fervently set then to fall off for a word And in conclusion shee shewed him plaine that as shee thought her selfe too simple to bee his wife so shee thought her selfe too good to be his concubine The King much marvelling at her constancy as hee that had not beene before elswhere so stiffely said nay so much esteemed her continency and chastity that he set her vertue in stead of possession and riches And thus taking counsell of his owne desire determined in haste to marry her And after that hee was thus appointed and had betwâ—ene them twaine assured her then asked he counsell of his secret friends and that in such manner that they might easily perceive that it booted them not to say nay Notwithstanding the Dutches of York his mother was so sore moved therewith that she disswaded that marriage as much as shee possible might alleaging that it was his honour profit and surety to marry in some noble progeny out of his Realme whereupon depended great strength to his estate by that affinity and great possibility of increase of his dominions And that hee could not well otherwise doe considering the Earle of Warwicke had so farforth entred into the matter already which was not like to take it well if all his voyage were in such wise frustrate and his appointment deluded And she said further that it was not Princely to marry his owne Subject no greater occasion leading there unto no possessions nor other commoditie depending thereupon but onely as a rich man would marry his maiden onely for a little wanton dotage upon her person In which marriage many men commend more the maidens fortune then the mans wisedome and yet shee said that there was more honesty then honour in this marriage for asmuch as there is not betweene a Merchant and his maide so great a difference as betweene a King and his Subject a great Prince and a poore widdow In whose person although there were nothing to bee misliked yet was there said shee nothing so excellent but that it might bee found in divers other that were more mee quoth she for your estate yea and maidens also the onely widowhood of Dame Elizabeth Grey although she were in all other points and things convenient for you should suffice as I thâ—nke to refraine you from her marriage since it is an unfitting thing and a great blemish to the sacred Majesty of a Prince that ought as neere to approach priesthood in cleannesse as he doth in dignity to be defiled with bigamy in his first marriage The King made his Mother an answer part in earnest and part in play merrily as hee that knew himselfe out of her rule and albeit he would gladly that shee should take it well yet was hee at a point in his owne minde tooke shee it well or otherwise Howbeit somewhat to satisfie her hee said that albeit marriage being a spirituall thing ought rather to be made for the respect of God where his grace inclineth the parties ought to incline to love together as he trusted it was in his case rather then for the regard of any temporall advantage yet neverthelesse he deemed this marriage well considered not to be unprofitable for hee reckoned the amity of no earthly Nation to be so necessary for him as the friendship of his owne which hee thought likely to beare him so much the more hearty favour in that hee disdained not to marry with one of his owne Land and yet if outward alliance were thought so requisite he would finde the meanes to enter thereunto much better by other of his kin where all parties could be contented then to marry himselfe wherein hee should never haply love and for the possibility of possessions lose the fruit and pleasure of this that he had already For small pleasure taketh a man of all that ever he hath beside if hee be wived against his appetite and I doubt not quoth he but there be as you say others that be in every point comparable with her and therefore I let not them that like them to marry them no more is it reason that it mislike any man that I marry where it liketh me And I am sure that my Cousin of Warwicke neither loveth me so little to grudge at that that I love nor is so unreasonable to looke that I should in choice of a wife rather be ruled by his eye then by mine owne as though I were a ward that were bound to marry by the appointment of a Guardian I would not be a King with that condition to forbeare mine owne liberty in choice of mine owne marriage As for possibility of more inheritance by new affinity in strange Lands is oft the occasion of more trouble then profit And wee have already title by that meanes as sufficeth to so much as sufficeth to get and keepe well in one mans dayes That she is a widdow and hath already children By God his blessed Lady I am a Batchelor and have some too and so each of us hath a proofe that neither of us is like to be barren And therefore Madame I pray you be content I trust to God she shall bring forth a young Prince that shall please you And as for the bigamy let the Bishop hardly lay it to my charge when I come to take orders for I understand it is forbidden a Priest but I never knew that it was forbidden a Prince The Dutchesse with these words nothing appeased and seeing the
King so set on that she could not pluck him backe so highly she disdained it that under pretence of her duty toward God shee devised to disturbe this marriage and rather to helpe that hee should marry one Dame Elizabeth Lucie whom the King not long before had gotten with childe wherefore the Kings Mother objected openly against this marriage as it were in discharge of her conscience that the King was sure to Dame Elizabeth Lucy and her husband before God by reason of which words such obstacle was made in that matter that either the Bishop durst not or the King would not proceed to the solemnization of the marriage till his fame were cleerely purged and the truth well and openly testified Whereupon Dame Elizabeth Lucy was sent for and albeit shee was by the Kings Mother and many other put in good coÌ„fort that she was ensured to the King yet when she was solemnly sworne to say the truth she confessed she was never ensured Howbeit shee said his Grace spake such loving words to her that shee verily hoped that he would have married her and if such kinde words had not been she would never have shewed such kindenesse to him to let him so kindly get her with child This examination solemnely taken it was cleerely proved that there was no impediment to let the King to marry wherefore he shortly after at Grafton beside Stony Stratford married the Lady Elizabeth Grey very privily which was his enemies wife and had prayed heartily for his losse in the which God loved her better then to grant her her boon for then had shee not been his wife And after that shee was crowned Queene and her father was created Earle Rivers and her sonne created Marquesse Dorset But when the Earle of Warwicke understood of this marriage he took it so highly that thereof ensued much blood-shed as is declared before in the Story of Edward the fourth I have rehearsed this marriage somewhat the more at length because it might thereby the better appeare upon how slippery a ground the Protector builded his colour by which he pretended King Edwards children to be Bastards but the invention as simple as it was liked them to whom it sufficeth to have somewhat to say while they were sure to bee compelled to no larger proofe then themselves list to make Now to returne where I left as I began to shew you it was by the Protector and his Councell concluded that this Doctor Shaw should in a Sermon at Pauls Crosse signifie to the people that neither King Edward himselfe nor the Duke of Clarence were lawfully begotten nor were the very children of the Duke of Yorke but begotten unlawfully by other persons by adultery of the Dutchesse their Mother And Dame Elizabeth Lucy was the very wife of King Edward and so Prince Edward and all the children begotten on the Queen were Bastards And according to this device Doctor Shaw the Sunday after at Paules Crosse in a great audience as alwayes a great number assembled to his preaching came into the Pulpit taking for his Theme Spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altos Sapien. 4. that is to say Bastard slippes shall never take deepe rootes Whereupon when he had shewed the great grace that God giveth and secretly infundeth in right generation after the Lawes of Matrimony then declared hee that those children commonly lacked that grace and for the punishment of their parents were for the most part unhappy which were ilegitimate and especially in adultery of which though some by the ignorance of the world and truth hid from knowledge have inherited for a season other mens Lands yet God alwayes so provideth that it continueth not in their bloud long but the truth comming to light the rightfull inheritors be restored and the bastard slippes plucked up ere it can be rooted deepe And when hee had layed for the proofe and confirmation of this sentence examples taken out of the old and new Testament and other ancient Histories then began he to descend to the praise of the Lord Richard Duke of Yorke calling him father to the Protector and declared his Title to the Crowne by inheritance and also by entaiâ—e authorised by Parliament after the death of King Henry the sixth Then shewed he that the Lord Protector was only the right heire of his body lawfully begotten Then declared hee that King Edward was never lawfully married to the Queene but his wife before God was Dame Elizabeth Lucy and so his children were Bastards And besides that that neither King Edward himselfe nor the Duke of Clarence amongst them that were secret in the Duke of Yorkes houshold were never reckoned surely to be the children of the Noble Duke as those that by their favours more resembled other knowne men then him from whose vertuous conditions hee said also that King Edward was farre off But the Lord Protector quoth hee that very Noble Prince the speciall Patron of Knightly Prowesse as well in all Princely behavior as in the lineaments and favour of his visage representeth the very face of the Noble Duke his Father This is quoth he the Fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very print of his visage the sure undoubted image the plaine expresse likenesse of that Noble Duke Now was it before devised that in the speaking of these words the Protector should have come in amongst the people to the Sermon to the end that these words so meeting with his presence might have beene taken amongst the hearers as though the Holy Ghost had put them in the Preachers mouth and should have moved the people even there to have cryed King Richard that it might have been after said that he was specialy chosen by God and in manner by miracle but this device quailed either by the Protectors negligence or the Preachers over-hasty diligence For while the Protector found by the way tarrying lest he should have prevented these words the Doctor fearing that he should come ere his Sermon could come to those words hasting his matter thereto he was come to them and past them and entred into other matters ere the Protector came whom when hee beheld comming hee left the matter in hand and out of all order and out of all frame began to repeat those words againe This is the very Noble Prince the especiall Patrone of Knightly prowesse which aswell in all Princely behaviviour as in the lineaments and favour of his visage representeth the very face of the Noble Duke of York his father This is his Fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very print of his visage the sure undoubted image the plaine expresse likenesse of that Noble Duke whose remembrance can never dye while hee liveth While these words were speaking the Protector accompanied with the Duke of Buckingham went through the people up into the place where the Doctors stand where they heard out the Sermon but the people were so farre from crying King Richard that they stood
as they had beene turned into stones for wonder of this shamefull Sermon after which once ended the Preacher gat him home and never after durst looke out for shame but kept him out of sight as an owle and when hee asked any of his old friends what the people talked of him although that his owne conscience will shew him that they talked no good yet when the other answered him that there was in every mans mouth of him much shame spoken it so strooke him to the heart that in few dayes after hee withered away Then on the Tuesday after next following this Sermon being the seventeenth day of Iune there came to Guild Hall London the Duke of Buckingham and divers Lords and Knights more then happily knew the message that they brought And at the East end of the Hall where the Hoystings be kept the Duke and the Major and the other Lords sate downe and the Aldermen also all the commons of the Citty being assembled and standing before them After silence commanded upon a great paine in the Protectours name The Duke stood up and as hee was well learned and of nature marvelously well spoken he said to the people with a cleare and a loud voyce Friends for the the zeale and hearty favour that we bare you we bee come to breake off a matter right great and weightie and no lesse weightie then pleasing to God and profitable to the Realme nor to no part of the Realme more profitable then to you the Citizens of this noble Citie For why the thing that you have long lacked and as we well know sore longed for that you would have gone farre to fetch that thing we be come hither to bring you without your labour paine cost adventure or danger What thing is that Certainely the surety of your owne bodies the quiet of your wives and daughters and the safegard of your wives and daughters and the safegard of your goods Of all which things in times past you stood in doubt For who was hee of you all that could reckon himselfe Lord of his owne goods amongst so many gynnes and trappes as were set for them among so much pilling and polling among so many taxes and talliages of the which there was never end and often times no neede or if any were it grew rather of riot or of unreasonable wast then any necessary honorable chaâ—ge so that there was daily plucked and pilled from good and honest men great substance of goods to bee lashed out among unthrifts so farre forth that fifteenes sufficed not nor any usuall termes of knowne taxes but under an easie name of benevolence and good will the commissioners tooke so much of every man as no man would with his good will have given As though the name of benevolence had signified that every man should pay not what he of himselfe of his good will list to grant but what the King of his good will list to take who never asked little but every thing was haunsed above the measure amercements turned into fines fines into treason where I thinke that no man looketh that wee shall remember you of examples by name as though Burdet were forgotten which was for a word spoken in haste cruelly beheaded This Burdet was a Merchant dwelling in Cheapeside at the signe of the Crowne which now is the signe of the Flower-de-luce over against Soper-lane This man merily in the ruffling time of King Edward the fourths raigne said to his owne sonne that hee would make him inheritor of the Crowne meaning his owne house but these words King Edward made to be misconstrued and interpreted that Burdet meant the Crowne of the Realme wherfore within lesse space then foure houres he was apprehended judged drawne and quartered in Cheapeside by the misconstruing of the lawes of the Realme for the Princes pleasure with no lesse honour to Markam chiefe Justice then which lost his office rathen then hee would assent to that judgement What neede I to speake of sir Thomas Cooke Alderman and Mayor of this noble Cittie who is of you either for negligence that wotteth not or so forgetfull that hee remembreth not or so hard-hearted that he pittieth not that worshipfull mans losse what speake I of losse his wonderfull spoyle and undeserved destruction onely because it happened him to favour them whom the Prince favored not We need not rehearse of these any more by name sith I doubt not that here be many present that either in themselves or their nigh friends aswell their goods as their persons were greatly endangered either by fained quarrells or small matters aggravated with hainous names and also there was no crime so great of which there could lacke a pretext For sith the King preventing the time of his inheritance attained the Crowne by battell it sufficed in a rich man for a pretext of treason to have beene of kinred or aliance neere of familiaritie or longer of acquaintance with any of those that were at any time the Kings enemies which was at one time or another more then halfe the Realm Thus were neither your goods nor lands in surety and yet they brought your bodies in jeopardie besides the common adventure of open warre which albeit that it is ever the will and occasion of much mischiefe yet it is never so mischievous as where any people fall in division 〈◊〉 distance among theâ—selves and in no Realme earthly so deadly and so pesâ—ilent as when it happeneth amongst us And among us never contiued so long dissention nor so many battels in any season nor so cruell nor so deadly fought as were in the Kings daies that is dead In whose time and by whose occasion what about the getting of the Garland keeping it leesing and winning it againe it hath cost more English blood then hath the twice winning of France In which inward war amongst our selves hath beene so great effusion of the ancient noble blood of this Realme that scarcely the halfe remaineth to the great enfeebling of this noble land besides many a good towne ransaked and spoyled by them that have been going to the field or returning from thence and peace after not much surer then warre So that no time was there in the which rich men for their money and great men for their lands or some other for some feare or for some displeasure were out of perill For whom trusted hee that mistrusted his owne brother Whom spared hee that killed his owne Brother Could not such manner of folke that he most favoured doe somewhat wee shall for his honour spare to speake howbeit this you know well all that whoso was best bare ever the least rule and more suite in his dayes was to Shores wife a vile and abominable strumpet then to all the Lords in England except unto those that made her their Protector which simple woman was yet well named and honest till the King for his wanton lust and sinfull affection bereft her of her Husband a right
win favour Hee was first upon the part of King Henry while that part was in wealth and neither left it nor forsooke it in woe but fled the Realme with the Queene and the Prince And while King Edward had King Henry in prison hee never returned but to the field at Barnet after which field lost and utterly subdued and all par-takings extinguished King Edward for his fast faith wisedome was not onely content to receive him but also wooed him to come and had him from thenceforth both in secret trust and speciall favour whom he never deceived For hee being after King Edwards death first taken by the tyrant for his truth to the King found the meanes to set the Duke in his toppe and joyned gentlemen together in aide of the Earle of Richmond which after was named King Henry the sevenâ—h First devising the marriage betweene the Lady Elizabeth daughter to King Edward the fourth by the which his faithfull and true service declared to both his masters at once was an infinite benift to the Realme by the conjunction of the bloods of Lancaster and Yorke whose funerall titles had long unquieted the Realme This man afterwards escaped from the Duke and fled the Realme and never returned and went to Rome never minded to meddle with the world till King Henry the seventh sent for him and after made him Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England and after was made Cardinall and lived well to all mens judgements and died well But to returne to the former purpose he by the long and often alternate proofe as well of prosperity as adverse fortune had gotten by great experience the very mother and mistris of wisedome and deepe insight in politike and worldly drifts wherby perceiving now the Duke to commune with him fed him with faire words and many prayses and perceiving by the griefe of their communications the Dukes pride now and then to balke out a little brayd of envie towards the glory of the King and thereby feeling him easie to fall out if the matter were well handled hee craftily sought the waies to pricke him forward taking alwaies the occasion of his comming and also keeping himself close within his bands that he rather seemed to follow him then to leade him For when the Duke began first to praise and boast the King to shew how much profit the Realme should take by his reigne Bishop Morton answered surely my Lord folly it were for mee to lie for I am sure if I would sweare the contrary ye would not once beleeve mee but if the world would have begunne as I would have wished that King Henries sonne had had the Crowne and not King Edward then would I have beene his true and faithfull subject but after that God had ordained him to lose it and King Edward to raigne I was never so mad with a dead man to strive against the quicke so was I ever to King Edward a faithfull and true chaplin and glad would have beene that his children should have succeeded him howbeit if the secret judgement of God have otherwise provided I purpose not to spurne against the prick nor labour to set up that God pulleth downe And as for the late protector and now King and with that word hee left saving that he said that he had already medled too much with the world and would from that day meddle with his booke and beades and no further Then longed the Duke sore to heare what hee would have said because hee ended with the King and there so sodainely stopped and exhorted him familiarly betweene them both to be bold and to say whatsoever hee thought whereof he faithfully promised there should never come hurt and peradventure more good then hee would thinke And that hee himselfe intended to use his faithfull secret advice and counsaile which he said was the onely cause for the which hee procured of the King to have him in his custody where he might reckon himselfe at home or else hee had beene put in the hands of them with whom he should not have found like favour The Bishop right humbly thanked him and said in good faith my Lord I love not much to talke of Pâ—inces as of a thing not all out of perill although the word bee without fault but yet it must be as it pleaseth the Prince to construe it And ever I thinke on Aesops talke that when the Lyon had proclamed that on paine of death there should no horned beasts come into the wood one beast that had a bunch of flesh growing out of his head fled a great pace the foxe that saw him flie with all the hast asked him whither he fled In faith quoth he I neither know nor care so I were once hence because of the proclamation made against horned beasts What foole quoth the foxe the Lyon never meant it by thee for that which thou hast is no horne in thy head No marry quoth hee I know that well enough but if hee say it is a horne where am I then The Duke laughed merrily at the tale and said my Lord I warrant you neither the Lyon nor the Bore shall picke any matter at any thing here spoken for it shall never come neere their eares In good faith sir said the Bishop if it did the thing that I was about to say taken as well as before God I meant it could deserve but thankes and yet taken as I thinke it would might happen to turne mee to little good and you to lesse Then longed the Duke much more to know what it was Whereupon the Bishop said In good faith my Lord as for the late Protector sith hee is now King in possession I purpose not to dispute his title but for the wealth of this realme wherof his grace hath now the governance and whereof I my selfe am a poore member I was about to wish that to those good abilities whereof hee hath already right many little needing my praise yet might it have pleased God for the better store to have given him some of such other excellent vertues meet for the rule of the Realme as our Lord hath planted in the person of your grace and there left off againe The Duke somewhat marvelling at his sodaine pauses as though they were but parentheses with a high countenance said my Lord I evidently perceive and no lesse note your often breathing and sudden stopping in your communication so that to my intelligence your words neither come to any direct or perfect sentence in conclusion whereby either I might perceive and have knowledge what your inward intent is now toward the King or what affectioÌ„ you beare toward me For the comparison of good qualities ascribed to us both for the which I my selfe knowledge and recognise to have none nor looke for no praise of any creature for the same maketh me not a little to muse thinking that you have some other privie Imagination by love or by grudge ingraved and
my selfe have heard spoken and that upon great presumptions more times then once so againe by my ayde and favour hee of a Protectour was made a King and of a subject made a Governour at which time he promised mee upon his fidelitie laying his hand in mine at Baynards Castle that the two yong Princes should live and that hee would so provide for them and so maintaine them in honorable estate that I and all the Realme ought and should bee content But when he was once Crowned King and in full possession of the whole Realme he cast away his old conditions as the Adder doth his skinne verifying the old proverbe honours change manners as the Parish Priest remembreth not that he was ever Parish Clarke For when I my selfe sued to him for my part of the Earle of Hartfords lands which his brother King Edward wrongfully detyned and withheld from mee and also required to have the office of the high Constable ship of England as divers of my noble ancestors before this time have had and in long discent continued In this my first suite shewing his good minde towards me he did not onely first delay me and afterward deny me but gave me such unkind words with â—uch taunts and retaunts yea in manner checke and check mate to the uttermost proofe of my patience As though I had never furthered him but hindred him as though I had put him downe and not set him up yet al these ingratitudes undeserved unkindnesses I bare closely and suffer patiently and covertly remeÌ„bred outwardly dissembling that I inwardly thought and so with a painted countenance I passed the last summer in his last company not without many faire promises but without any good deedes But when I was credibly informed of the death of the two young innocents his owne naturall Nephewes contrary to his faith and promise to the which God bee my judge I never agreed nor condiscended O Lord how my veines panted how my body trembled and my heart inwardly grudged in so much that I so abhorred the sight and much more the company of him that I could no longer abide in his court except I should bee openly revenged The end whereof was doubtfull and so I fained a cause to depart and with a merry countenance and a dispightful heart I tooke my leave humbly of him hee thinking nothing lesse then that I was displeased and so returned to Brecknocke to you But in the journey as I returned whether it were by the inspiration of the holy Ghost or by Melancolous disposition I had divers and sundry imaginations how to deprive this unnaturall Vncle and bloody butcher from his royall seate and princely dignity First I fantasied that if I list to take upon me the Crowne and imperiall Scepter of the Realme now was the time fit and convenient For now was the way made plaine and the gate opened and occasion given which now neglected should peradventure never take such effect and conclusion For I saw hee was disdained of the Lords temporall execrate and accursed of the Lords spiritual detested of all gentlemen and despised of all the commonaltie So that I saw my chance as perfectly as I saw my owne Image in a glasse that there was no person if I had beene greedy to attempt the enterprise could nor should have won the ring or got the gole before me And on this point I rested in imagination secretly with my selfe two dayes at Teukesbury And from thence sojourning I mused thought it was not best nor convenient to take vpon me as a conquerour for then I knew that all men and especially the nobilitie would with all their power withstand me both for rescuing of possessions and tenours as also for subverting of the whole estate Lawes and Customes of the Realme Such a power hath a conquerour as you know well enough my Lord. But at the last in all this doubtfull case there sprang a new branch out of my head which surely I thought should have brought forth faire flowers but the sunne was so hot that they turned to dry weedes for I suddenly remembred that Lord Edmond Duke of Somerset my Grandfather was with King Henry the sixt in the second and third degrees from Iohn Duke of Lancaster lawfully begotten So that I thought sure my mother being eldest daughter to Duke Edmond that I was next to King Henry the sixt of the house of Lancastâ—r This title pleased well such as I made privie of my counsell but much more it encouraged my foolish desire and elevated my ambitious intent in so much that I clerely judged and in mine own minde was determinately resolved that I was indubitated heire of the house of Lancaster and thereupon concluded to make my first foundation and erect my new building But whether God so ordered or by fortune it so chanced while I was in a mase either to conclude sodainely on this title and to set it open amongst the common people or to keepe it secret a while see the chance as I rode betweene Worcester and Bridgnorth I encountered with the lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond now wife to the Lord Stanley which is the very daughter and sole heyre to Iohn Duke of Somerset my grandfathers elder brother Which was as cleane out of my minde as though I had never never seene her so that shee and her sonne the Earle of Richmond be both bulwarke and portcolice betweene and the gate to enter into the majesty royall and getting of the Crowne And when wee had communed a little concerning her sonne as I shall shew you after and were departed shee to our Lady of Worcester and I toward Shrewsbury I then new changed and in manner amased began to dispute with my selfe litle considering that thus my earnest was turned even to a tittle not woth esteeme Presently I imagined whether I were best to take upon me by the election of the nobilitie and commonaltie which me thought easie to be done the usurper King thus being in hatred and abhorred of this whole Realme or to take it by power which standeth in fortunes chance and difficile to bee atchieved and brought to passe Thus rumbling tossing in the waves of ambiguitie betweene the stone and sacrifice I considered first the office duty and paine of a King which surely thinke that no mortall man can justly and truely observe except hee bee called elected and specially appointed by God as King David and divers others have beene But further I remembred that if I once tooke on mee the Scepter and the governance of the Realme That of two extreame enemies I was daily sure but of one trusty friend which now adayes bee gone a pilgrimage I was neither assured nor credibly ascertained such is the worlds mutation for I manifestly perceived that the daughters of King Edward and their alies and friends which be no small number being both for his sake much beloved and also for the great injurie manifest tyranni done
ancient times past in divers Realmes it hath beene accustomed and this was the first signe and token of his good lucke and felicitie I must put you here in remembrance how that King Richard putting some diffidence in the Lord Stanley which had with him as an hostage the Lord Strange his eldest sonne which Lord Stanley as you have heard before joyned not at the first with his sonne in lawes army for feare that King Richard would have slaine the Lord Strange his heire When King Richard was come to Bosworth he sent a pursevant to the Lord Stanley commanding him to advance forward with his company and to come to his presence which thing if hee refused to doe he swore by Christs passion that hee would strike off his sonnes head before hee dined The Lord Stanley answered the Pursevant that if the King did so hee had more sons alive and to come to him he was not then so determined when King Richard heard this answer hee commanded the Lord Strange incontinent to bee beheaded which was at that very same season when both the armies had â—ight each of the other The Councellors of King Richard pondering the time and the cause knowing also the Lord Strange to be innocent of his fathers offence perswaded the King that it was now time to fight and not time to execution advising him to keepe the Lord Strange as a prisoner till the battell was ended and then at leisure his pleasure might bee accomplished So as God would King Richard infringed his holy oath and the Lord wâ—s â—elivered 〈◊〉 the keepers of the Kings tenâ— to bee kept as a prisoner which when the field was done and their master slaine and proclamation made to know where the child was they submitted themselves as prisoners to the Lord Strange and hee gently received them and brought them to the new proclamed King where of him and of his father hee was received with great joy and gladnesse After this the whole campe removed with bag and baggage and the same night in the evening King Henry with great pompe came to the towne of Leicester Where as well for the refreshing of his people and souldiers as for preparing all things necessary for his journey toward London hee rested and reposed himselfe two dayes In the meane season the dead corps of King Richard was as shamefully carried to the towne of Leicester as hee gorgiously the day before with pompe and pride departed out of the same towne For his body was naked and despoyled to the skin and nothing left about him not so much as a clout to cover his privie members and was trussed behind a pursevant of armes called Blaunche Senglier or white Boare like a hogge or a calfe the head and armes hanging on the one side of the horse and the legges on the other side and all besprinkled with mire and blood was brought to the Gray Fryers Church within the towne and there laid like a miserable spectacle but surely considering his mischievous acts and Facinorous doings men may worthily wonder at such a caitive and in the said Church hee was with no lesse funerall pompe and solemnitie interred then hee would to bee done at the burying of his innocent Nephewes whom hee caused cruelly to bee murthered and unnaturally to be quelled When his death was known few lamented and many rejoyced the proud bragging white Boare which was his badge was violently rased and plucked downe from every signe and place where it might be espied so ill was his life that men wished the memorie of him to bee buried with his carren corpes Hee raigned two yeares two moneths and one day As he was small and little of stature so was he of body greatly deformed the one shoulder higher then the other his face small but his countenance was cruell and such that a man at the first aspect would judge it to savour and smell of malice fraude and deceit when hee stood musing hee would bite and chew beasly his nether lippe as who said that his fierce nature in his cruell body alwaies chafed stirred and was ever unquiet besides that the dagger that hee wore hee would when hee studied with his hand plucke up and downe in the sheath to the midst never drawing it fully out his wit was pregnant quicke and ready wille to â—iegne and apt to dissemble hee had a proud minde and an arrogant stomacke the which accompanied him to his death which hee rather desiring to suffer by dent of sword then being forsaken and destitute of his untrue companions would by coward flight preserve and save his uncertaine life Which by malice sicknesse or condigne punishment â—ight chanâ—e shortly after to come to confusion Thus ended this Prince his mortall life with infamie and dishonour which never preferred fame or honesty before ambition tyranny and mischiefe And if hee had continued still Protectour and suffered his Nephewes to have lived and raigned no doubt but the Realme had prospered and hee much praysed and beloved as hee is now abhorred and vilipended but to God which knew his interior cogitations at the hower of his death I commit the punishment of his offences committed in his life FINIS This Kings time with some part of King Richard the third as shall appeare by a note made at that place was written by Sir Thomas Moore Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke The 3. sonnes of Richard Duke of Yorke described George Duke of Clarence drowned in a But of Maâ—msey The Description of Richard the 3. King Henry the 6. slaine in the Tower by Richard the 3. An Exhortation of King Edward the 4. on his death bed Edmund Shaw Maior of London Of Sanctuaries The discription of Shores wife The discription of King Edwards three Concubines The destruction of King Edwards Children King Edwards Children murthered