howsoeuer they be marshalled how can I be iustly appeached of vnaduisement For the third because the worke might in truth be iudged brainish if nothing but amorous humor were handled therein I haue enter wouen matters historicall which vnexplaned might defraud the minde of much content as for example in Queene Margarites Epistle to VVilliam dela Pole My Daizie flower which once perfum'd the ayre Margarite in French signifies a Daizie which for the allusion to her name this Queene did giue for her deuise and this as others more haue seemed to me not vnworthy the explaning Now though no doubt I had neede to excuse other thinges beside yet these most especially the rest I ouerpasse to eschue tedious recitall or to speake as malicious enuy may for that in truth I ouersee them If they be as harmlesly taken as I meant them it shall suffice to haue onely tâ—uched the cause of the title of the dedications and of the notes whereby emboldned to publish the residue these not beeing accounted in mens opinions relishlesse â— shall not lastly be afrayd to beleeue and acknowledge thee a gentle Reader M. D. To M. Michaell Drayton HOw can he write that broken hath his pen Hath rent his paper throwne his Inke away Detests the world and company of men Because they grow more hatefull day by day Yet with these broken reliques mated mind And what a iustly-greeued thought can say I giue the world to know I nere could find A worke more like to liue a longer day Goe verse an obiect for the proudest eye Disdaine those which disdaine to reade thee ouer Tell them they know not how they should discry The secret passions of a wittie louer For they are such as none but those shall know whom Beauty sâ—hooles to hold the blind Boyes bow Once I had vow'd ô who can all vowes keepe Hence-forth to smother my vnlucky Muse Yet for thy sake she started out of sleepe Yet now she dies Then doe as kindsfolks vse Close vp the eyes of my now-deing-stile As I haue op'ned thy sweet babes ere-while E. Sc. Gent. Duris decus omen To M. Michaell Drayton LOng haue I wish'd and hop'd my weaker Muse In nothing strong but my vnhappy loue VVould giue me leaue my fortune to approue And view the world as named Poets vse But still her fruitlesse bosome doth refuse To blesse me with indifferencie of praise Not daring like to many to abuse That title which true worth should onely raise Thus bankerout and dispairing of mine owne I set my wish and hope kind friend on thee vvhose fruite approu'd and better fortune knowne Tels me thy Muse my loues sole heire must be So barren wombes embrace their neighbours yong So dumbe men speake by them that haue a tong Thomas Hassall Gent. To M. Michaell Drayton NOw I perceaue Pythagoras deuin'd vvhen he that mocked Maxim did maintaine That spirits once spoyl'd reuested were againe Though chang'd in shape remaining one in mind These loue-sicke Princes passionate estates VVho feeling reades he cannot but allow That Ouids soule reuiues in Drayton now Still learn'd in loue still rich in rare conceits This pregnant spirit affecting further skill Oft alt'ring forme from vulgar wits retir'd In diuers Ideoms mightily admir'd Did prosecute that sacred studie still vvhile to a full perfection now attain'd He sings so sweetly that himselfe is stain'd VVilliam Alexander Scotus To the excellent Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford MAdam after all the admired wits of this excellent age which haue laboured in the sad complaints of faire and vnfortunate Rosamond and by the excellency of inuention haue sounded the depth of her sundry passions I present to your Ladiship this Epistle of hers to King Henry whom I may rather call her louer then beloued Heere must your Ladishippe behold variablenes in resolution woes constantly grounded laments abruptly broken off much confidence no certainty words begetting teares teares confounding matter large complaints in little papers and many deformed cares in one vniformed Epistle I striue not to effect singularity yet would faine flie imitation prostrate mine own wants to other mens perfections Your iudiciall eye must modell foorth what my pen hath layd together much would she say to a King much would I say to a Countesse but that the methed of my Epistle must conclude the modesty of hers which I wish may recommend my euer vowed seruice to your honour Michaell Drayton The Epistle of Rosamond to King Henrie the second ¶ The Argument Henry the second of that name King of England the sonne of Geffrey Plantaginet Earle of Aniou and Maude the Empresse hauing by long sute and princely gifts wonne to his vnlawfull desire faire Rosamond the daughter of the Lord VValter Clyfford and to auoyde the danger of Ellinor his iealous Queene had caused â— Labyrinth to be made within his Pallace at VVoodstocke in the center whereof he had lodged his beauteous paramore VVhilst the King is absent in his warres in Normandie this poore distressed Lady inclosed in this solitarie place tutcht with remorse of conscience writes vnto the King of her distresse and miserable estate vrging him by all meanes and perswasions to cleere himselfe of this infamie and her of the griefe of minde by taking away her wretched life IF yet thine eyes great Henry may endure These tainted lines drawne with a hand impure vvhich faine would blush but feare keepes blushes back And therefore suted in dispayring black This in loues name ô that these lips might craue But that sweet name vile I prophaned haue Punish my fault or pittie mine estate Reade it for loue if not for loue for hate If with my shame thine eyes thou faine wouldst feede Heere let them surfeit on my shame to reede This scribled paper which I send to thee If noted rightly doth resemble mee As this pure ground whereon these letters stand So pure was I ere stained by thy hand Ere I was blotted with this foule offence So cleere and spotlesse was mine innocence Now like these marks which taint this hatefull scroule Such the black sinnes which spot my leprous soule O Henry why by losse thus should'st thou win To get by conquest to enrich with sinne VVhy on my name this slaunder doost thou bring To make my fault renowned by a King Fame neuer stoopes to things but meane and poore The more our greatnes makes our fault the more Lights on the ground themselues doe lessen farre But in the ayre each small sparke seemes a starre VVhy on a womans frailtie would'st thou lay This subtile plot mine honour to betray Or thy vnlawfull pleasure should'st thou buy vvith vile expence of kingly maiestie T was not my minde consented to this ill Then had I beene transported by my will For what my body was ensorst to doe Heauen knowes my soule did not consent vnto For through mine eyes had she her liking seene Such as my loue such had my Louer beene True loue is simple like his mother Truth Kindly
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 Hotspur her deere sonne As I for my sweet Mortimer 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 comfort to woe Yet much me thinks of comforter I could say If from my hart pale feare were rid away Some thing there is which tels me 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 time POmfret Castle euer a fatall place to the Princes of England and most ominous to the blood of Plantaginet Oh how euen yet I hate these wretched eyes And in my glasse c. When Bullingbrooke returned to London from the West bringing Richard a prisoner with him the Queene who little knew of her Husbands hard successe stayd to behold his comming in little thinking to haue seene her Husband thus ledde in tryumph by his foe and nowe seeming to hate her eyes that so much had graced her mortall enemie Wherein great Norfolks forward course was stayd She remembreth the meeting of the two Dukes of Herforde and Norfolke at Couentry vrging the iustnes of Mowbrayes quarrell against the Duke of Herford the faithfull assurance of his victorie O why did Charles relieue his needie state A vagabond c. Charles the French King her father receiued the Duke of Herford in his Court and releeued him in Fraunce beeing so neerely alied as Cosin german to king Richard his sonne in Lawe which he did simply little thinking that he should after returne into England and dispossesse King Richard of the Crowne When thou to Ireland took'st thy last farewell King Richard made a voyage with his Armie into Ireland against Onell Mackemur which rebelled at what time Henry entred here at home and robd him of all kinglie dignitie Affirm'd by Church-men which should beare no hate That Iohn of Gaunt was illegitimate William Wickham in the great quarrell betwixt Iohn of Gaunt and the Clergy of meere spight and malice 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 mischaunce and that she obtained this chylde of a poore woman making the king belieue it was her own greatlie fearing his displeasure Fox ex Chron. Albanâ— 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 theyr fayth vnto the Crownes true heire Their noble kindsman c. Edmund 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 Edmund king Richard going into Ireland was proclaimed heyre apparant to the Crowne whose Aunt called Ellinor this Lord Fiercie had married O would Aumerle had suncke when he betrayd The complot which that holy Abbot layd The Abbot of Westminster had plotted the death of king Henry to haue been done at a Tylt at Oxford of which confederacie there was Iohn Holland Duke of Excester Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey the Duke of Aumerle Mountacute Earle of Salisbury Spenser Earle of Gloster the Bishop of Carlile Sir Thomas Blunt these all had bound themselues one to another by Indenture to performe it but were all betrayd by the Duke of Aumerle Scroope Greene and Bushie die his fault in graine Henry going towards the Castle of Flint where King Richard was caused Scroope Greene Bushie to be executed at Bristow as vile persons which had seduced this king to this lasciuious wicked life Damn'd be the oath he made at Doncaster After Henries exile at his returne into England he tooke his oath at Doncaster vpon the Sacrament not to claime the crown or kingdom of England but onely the Dukedome of Lancaster his own proper right and the right of his wife And mourne for Henry Hotspur her deere sonne As I for my c. This was the braue couragious Henry Hotspur that obtained so many victories against the Scots which after falling out right with the curse of Queene Isabell was slaine by Henry at the battaile at Shrewsburie Richard the second to Queene Isabell. WHat may my Queene but hope for from that hand Vnfit to write vnskilful to command A kingdoms greatnes hardly can he sway That wholesome counsaile neuer did obey Ill this rude hand did guide a Scepter then VVorse now I feare me gouerneth a pen How shall I call my selfe or by what name To make thee know from whence these letters came Not from thy husband for my hatefull life Hath made thee widdow being yet a wife Nor from a King that title I haue lost Now of that name proud Bulling brooke may boast vvhat I haue beene doth but this comfort bring That no woe is to say I was a King This lawlesse life which first pâ—ocur'd my hate This tong which then denounc'd my regall state This abiect mind that did consent vnto it This hand that was the instrument to doe it All these be witnes that I doe denie All passed hopes all former soueraigntie Didst thou for my sake leaue thy fathers Court Thy famous Country and thy virgine port And vndertook'st to trauaile dangerous waves Driuen by aukward winds and boyst'rous seas And left 's great Burbon for thy loue to me vvho su'd in marriage to be linck'd to thee Offring for dower the Countries neighbouring nie Of fruitfull Almaine and rich Burgundie Didst thou all this that England should receaue thee To miserable banishment to leaue thee And in my downfall and my fortunes wracke Forsaken thus to Fraunce to send thee backe VVhen quiet sleepe the heauie harts reliefe Hath rested sorrow somwhat lesned griefe My passed greatnes vnto minde I call And thinke this while I dreamed of my fall vvith this conceite my sorrowes I beguile That my fayre Queene is but with-drawne awhile And my attendants in some chamber by As in the height of my prosperitie Calling aloud and asking who is there The Eccho answering tells me VVoe is there And when mine armes would gladly thee enfold I clip the pillow and the place is cold vvhich when my waking eyes precisely view T is a true token that it is too true
my counsell yet this comfort is It cannot hurt although I thinke amisse Then liue in hope in tryumph to returne vvhen cleerer dayes shall leaue in clowdes to mourne But so hath sorrow girt my soule about That that word hope me thinks comes slowly out The reason is I know it heere would rest vvhere it would still behold thee in my brest Farewell sweete Pole faine more I would indite But that my teares doe blot as I doe write Notes of the Chronicle Historie Or brings in Burgoyne to ayde Lancaster PHillip Duke of Burgoyne and his sonne were alwayes 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 6. withstoode the Duke of Yorke at his risingâ— giuing him two great ouerthrowes To that allegeance Yorke was bound by oath To Henries heyres and safetie of vs both No longer now he meanes records shall beare it He will dispence with heauen and wil vnsweare it The duke of Yorke at the death of Henry the fift at this kings coronation tooke his oath to be true subiect to him and his heyres for euer but afterward dispensing therewith claymed the crowne as his rightfull and proper inhearitance 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 Edmond Earle of Rutland slaine by the lord Clifford at the battell at Wakefield George duke of Clarence that was murthered in the Tower and Richard duke of Glocester vvho was after he had murthered his brothers sonnes King by the name of Richard the third 〈◊〉 that 's so like his Dam her youngest Dicke That foule â—fauoured crookback'd Stigmaticke c. Till this verse As though begot an age c. This Richard whom ironically she here calls Dicke that by treason after his Nephewes murthered obtained the crowne was a man low of stature crookeback'd the left shoulder much higher then the right of a very crabbed sower countenaunce his mother could not be deliuered of him he was borne toothed with his feete forward contrarie to the course of nature To ouershadow our vermilian Rose The redde 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 heyre of the house of Yorke was happilie vnited Or who will muzzell that vnrulie beare The Earle of Warwicke the setter vp and puller downe of Kings gaue for his Armes the white Beare rampant the ragged staffe My Daysie flower which erst perfum'd the ayre Which for my â—auour Priâ—â—â—es once did were c. The Daysie in French is called Margaret which was Queene Margarets badge where-withall the Nobilitie and chiualrie of the Lande at the first arriuall were so delighted that they wore it in theyr Hats in token of honour And who be starres but Warwicks bearded slaues The ragged or bearded staffe was a part of the Armes belonging to the Earledome of Warwick Slaundring Duke Rayner with base baggary Rayner Duke of Aniou called himselfe King of Naples Cicile and Ierusalem hauing neither inhearitance nor tribute from those parts 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 Dutches of Glocester was often in disgrace cast in her teeth A Kentish Rebell a base vpstart Groome This was Iacke Cade which caused the Kentish-men to rebell in the 28. yeere of Henry the sixth 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 beganne to practise his long pretended purpose strengthning himselfe by all meanes possible that he 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 deceas'd Henry Beuford Bishop and Cardinall of Winchester sonne to Iohn of Gaunt begot in his age was a proude ambitious Prelate fauouring mightily the Queene the Duke of Suffolke continually heaping vp innumerable treasure in hope to haue beene Pope as himselfe on his death bed confessed With Fraunce t' vpbrayd the valiant Somerset Edmund Duke of Somerset in the 24. of Henry the sixt was made Regent of Fraunce and sent into Normandie to defend the English territories against the French inuasions but in short time hee lost all that King Henry the fifth won for which cause the Nobles and the Commons euer after hated him T' endure these stormes with wofull Buckingham Humfry duke of Buckingham was a great fauorite of the Queenâ— Faction in the time of Henry the sixt And one fore-told by water thou should'st die The Witch of Eye receiued aunswer by her spirit that the duke of Suffolke should take heede of water which the Queene forwarnes him of as remembring the Witches prophecie which afterward came to passe FINIS To the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Munson Knight SIR amongst many which most deseruedly loue you though â— the least yet am loth to be the last whose endeuours may make knowne howe highly they esteeme of your noble and kind disposition Let this Epistle Sir I beseech you which vnworthily weares the badge of your woorthy 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 offered though not euer deseruingly excellent yet for loue of the Art froÌ„ whence it receiueth resemblance The light Phrigian harmony stirreth delight as well as the melancholy Doricke moueth passion both haue theyr motion in the spirit as the liking of the soule moueth the affection Your kinde acceptance of my labourâ— shall giue some life to my Muse which yet â—ouers in the vncertainetie of the generall censure Mich Drayton Edward the fourth to Shores wife ¶ The Argument This Mistres Shore king Edward the fourths beautious paramour was so called of her husband a Goldsmith dwelling in Lombard streete Edward the fourth sonne to Richard Duke of Yorke after hee had obtained the crowne by deposing Henry the sixth which Henry was after murthered in the Tower by Richard Crookeback after the battel fought at Barnet where the famous Earle of VVarwicke was slaine and that King Edward quietly possessed the crowne hearing by report of many the rare and wonderfull beautie of the aforesaid Shores wife commeth himselfe disguised to London to see her where after he had once beheld her he was so
our renowned seate To raze the auncient Trophies of our race vvith our deserts theyr monuments to grace Nor shall he leade 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 easily recul'd But now growne head-strong hardly to be rul'd vvith grauest counsell all must be directed vvhere plainest shewes are openly suspected For where mishap our error doth assault There doth it easiliest 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 Lorde of Wigmore had stoode publiquely condemned for his insurrection with Thomas Earle of Lancaster and Bohun Eale of Herford by the space of three moneths 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 â—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 Queene by meanes of Torlton Bishop of Hereford and Becke Bishop of Duresme and Patriarke of Ierusalem being then both mightie in the state vpon the submission of the Mortimers somewhat pacified the King and now secondly she wrought meanes for his escape Leauing the cords to tell where I had gone With strong ladders made of cords prouided him for the purpose he escaped out of the Tower which when the same were found fastened to the walls in such a desperate attempt they bred astonishment to the beholders Nor let the Spensers glory in my chance The two Hugh Spensers the Father and the Sonne then beeing so highly fauoured of the King knew that their greatest safety came by his exile vvhose high and turbulent spirit could neuer brooke any corriuall in greatnes My Grandsire was the first since Arthurs raigne That the round-table rectifi'd againe 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 Kenelwoorth after the auncient order of King Arthurs table with the retinue of a hundred Knights a hundred Ladyes in his house for the entertayning 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 and that the bones should be borne to the warres in Scotland which he 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 Stâ—iueling 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 ouerthrow And in the Dead-sea sincke our houses fame From whose c. Mortimer so called of Mare Mortuum and in French Mortâ—mer in English the Dead-sea which is said to be where Sodome Gomorra once were before they were destroyed by fire from heauen And for that hatefull sacriligious sin Which by the Pope he stands accursed in Gaeustelinus and Lucas two Cardinalls sent into England froÌ„ Pope Clement to appease the auncient hate betweene the King and Thomas Earle of Lancaster to whose Embassy the King seemed to yeeld but after theyr departure he went back from his promises for which hee was accursed at Rome Of those industrious Romaine Colonies A Colony is a sort or number of people that come to inhabite a place before not inhabited whereby hee seemeth heere to prophecie of the subuersion of the Land the Pope ioyning with the power of other Princes against Edward for the breach of his promise Charles by iâ—uasiue Armes againe shall take Charles the French King mooued by the wrong done vnto hys sister ceazeth the Prouinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands stirred the ratheâ— 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 theyr attaints Canonized among the English Saints After the death of Thomas Earle of Lancaster at Pomfret the people imagined great miracles to be doone by his reliques as they did of the body of Bohun Earle of Herford slaine at Borough bridge FINIS ¶ To my worthy and honoured friend Maister VValter Aston SIR though without suspition of flatterie I might in more ample and freer tearmes intymate my affection vnto you yet hauing so sensible a tast of your generous and noble disposition which without this habit of ceremony can estimate my loue I will rather affect breuitie though it shoulde seeme my fault then by my tedious complement to trouble mine owne opinion setled in your iudgement and discretion I make you the Patron of this Epistle of the Black-Prince which I pray you accept till more easier howers may offer vp from me some thing more worthy of your view and my trauell Yours truly deuoted Mich Drayton Edward the blacke Prince to Alice Countesse of Salisburie ¶ The Argument Alice Countesse of Salisburie remaining at Roxborough Castle in the North in the absence of the Earle her husband who was by the Kings commaund sent ouer into Flaunders and there deceased ere his returne This Lady being besieged in her Castle by the Scots Edward the blacke Prince being sent by the King his Father to relieue the North-parts with an Armie and to remoue the siege of Roxborough there fel in loue with the Countesse when after she returned to London hee sought by diuers and sundry means to winne her to his youthfull pleasures as by forcing the Earle of Kent her Father her Mother vnnaturally to become his Agents in his vaine desire where after a long and assured trial of her inuincible constancie hee taketh her to his wife to which end hee onelie frameth this Epistle REceiue these papers from thy wofull Lord vvith far more woes then they with words are stor'd vvhich if thine eye with rashnes doe reproue They 'le say they came from that imperious loue In euery Letter thou maist vnderstand vvhich Loue hath sign'd and sealed with his hand And where no farther processe he refers In blots set downe for other Characters This cannot blush although you doe refuse it Nor will reply
my Bridall bed How can that beauty yet be vndestroy'd That yeeres haue wasted and two men enioy'd Or should be thought fit for a Princes store Of which two subiects were possess'd before Let Spaine let Fraunce or Scotland so prefer Their infant Queenes for Englands dowager That blood should be much more then halfe diuineâ— That should be equall euery way with thine Yet Princely Edward though I thus reproue you As mine owne life so deerely do I loue you My noble husband which so loued you That gentle Lord that reuerend Mountague Nere mothers voice did please her babe so well As his did mine of you to heare him tell I haue made short the houres that time made long And chain'd mine eares vnto his pleasing tong My lips haue waited on your praises worth And snatch'd his words ere he could get them forth vvhen he hath spoke and somthing by the wayâ— Hath broke off that he was about to say I kept in mind where from his tale he fell Calling on him the residue to tell Oft he would say how sweet a Prince is hee vvhen I haue prais'd him but for praising thee And to proceed I would entreat and wooe And yet to ease him helpe and prayse thee too Must she be forc'd t'exclaime th'iniurious wrong Offred by him whom she hath lou'd so long Nay I will tell and I durst almost sweare Edward will blush when he his fault shall heare Iudge now that time doth youths desire asswage And reason mildly quench'd the fire of rage By vpright iustice let my cause be tride And be thou iudge if I not iustly chide That not my Fathers graue and reuerent yeeres His bending knee his cheeke-bedewing teares His prayers perswasions nor entreats could win To free himselfe as guiltlesse of my sin My mothers cries her shreeks her pittious mones Her deepe-fetch'd sighs her sad hart-breaking grones Thy lustfull rage thy tyranny could stay Mine honours ruine further to delay Haue I not lou'd you say can you say no That as mine owne preseru'd your honour so Had your â—ond will your foule desires preuail'd vvhen you by them my chastitie assail'd Though this no way could haue excus'd my fault True vertue neuer yeelded to assault Yet what a thing were this it should be said My parents sin should to your charge be laid And I haue gain'd my liberty with shame To saue my life made shipwrack of my name Did Roxborough once vaile her towring sane To thy braue ensigne on the Northerne plaine And to thy trumpet sounding from thy Tent Often replie with ioy and merriment And did receiue thee as my soueraigne liege Comming to ayde thou shouldst againe besiege To raise a foe but for my treasure came To plant a foe to take my honest name Vnder pretence to haue remou'd the Scot And wouldst haue wone more then he could haue got That did ingirt me readie still to flie But thou laid'st batterie to my chastitie O modestie didst thou me not restraine How I could chide you in this angrie vaine A Princes name heauen knowes I doe not craue To haue those honours Edwards spouse should haue Nor by ambitious lures will I be brought In my chast brest to harbour such a thought As to be worthy to be made a Bride An Empresse place by mighty Edwards side Of all the most vnworthy of that grace To waite on her that should enioy that place But if that loue Prince Edward doth require Equall his vertues and my chast desire If it be such as we may iustly vaunt A Prince may sue for and a Lady graunt If it be such as may suppresse my wrong That from your vaine vnbridled youth hath sprong That faith I send that I from you receaue The rest vnto your Princely thoughts I leaue Notes of the Chronicle Historie Twice as a Bride I haue to Church beene led THe two husbands of which she maketh mention obiecting Bigamay against her selfe as beeing therefore not meete to be maried with a Batcheler-Prince were Sir Thomas Holland Knight Sir William Mountague afterward made Earle of Salisburie That not my Fathers graue and reuerent yeeres A thing incredible that any Prince should be so vniust to vse the Fathers meanes for the corruption of the daughters chastitie though so the historie importeth her Father being so honourable and a man of so singuler desert though Polidore would haue her thought to be Iane the daughter to Edmund Earle of Kent Vncle to Edward the third beheaded in the Protectorship of Mortimer that daungerous aspirer And I haue gain'd my libertie with shame Roxborough is a Castle in the North mistermed by Bandello Salisburie Castle because the king had giuen it to the Earle of Salisburie in which her Lord being absent the Countesse by the Scots was besieged who by the coÌ„ming of the English Armie were remoued Heere first the Prince saw her whose liberty had been gained by her shame had she been drawne by dishonest loue to satisfie his appetite but by her most prayse-worthy constancie she conuerted that humor in him to an honourable purpose obtained the true reward of her admired vertues The rest vnto your princely thoughts I leaue Least any thing be left out which were worth the relation it shall not be impertinent to annex the opinions that are vttered concerning her whose name is said to haue been Aâ—lips but that beeing reiected as a name vnknowne among vs Froisard is rather belieued who calleth her Alice Polidore contrariwise as before is declared names her Iane who by Prince Edward had issue Edward dying young and Richard the second King of England though as he saith she was deuorced afterwards because within the degrees of consanguinitie prohibiting to marrie the truth whereof I omit to discusse her husband the Lord Montague being sent ouer with the Earle of Suffolke into Flaunders by King Edward was taken prisoner by the French not returning left his Countesse a widow in whose bed succeeded Prince Edward to whose last and lawfull request the reioycefull Ladie sends this louing aunswere 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 vnited hath long since deuoted my true and zealous affection to your honourable seruice and my Poems to the protection of my noble Ladie 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 hee was whose patience pleased to beare with the imperfections of my heedlesse and vnstated youth That excellent and matchlesse Gentleman was the first cherrisher of my Muse which had beene by his death left a poore Orphan to the world had hee not before bequeathed it to that Lady whoÌ„â—e so deerly loued Vouchsafe then my deere Lord
ouerthrowne by the Welchmen which word Croggen hath since beene vsed to the Welchmens disgrace which was at first begun with their honour And old Caer-Merdin Merlins famous towne Caer-Merdin or Merlins Towne so called of Merlins beeing found there This was Ambrose Merlin whose prophecies weâ— haue There was another of that name called Merlin Siluestris borne in Scotland surnamed Calidonius of the Forrest Calidon where he prophecied And kept our natiue language now thus long The Welchmen be those auncient Brittaines which when the Picks Danes and Saxons inuaded heere were first diuen into those parts where they haue kept their language euer fince the first without commixion with any other language FINIS To my worthy and deerely esteemed Friend Maister Iames Huish SIR your owne naturall inclination to vertue your loue to the Muses assure mee of your kinde acceptance of my dedication It is seated by custome from which wee are now bolde to assume authoritie to beare the names of our friends vpon the fronts of our bookes as Gentlemen vse to set theyr Armes ouer theyr gates Some say this vse beganne by the Heroes and braue spirits of the old world which were desirous to bee thought to patronize learning and men in requitall honour the names of those braue Princes But I thinke some after put the names of great men in their bookes for that men shoulde say there was some thing good onely because indeed their names stoode there But for mine owne part not to dissemble I find no such vertue in any of theyr great titles to doe so much for anie thing of mine and so let them passe Take knowledge by this I loue you in good faith worthy of all loue I thinke you which I pray you may supply the place of further complement Yours euer M. Drayton Elinor Cobham to Duke Humfrey The Argument Elinor Cobham daughter to the Lord Cobham of Sterborough and wife to Humfry Plantaginet Duke of Glocester the son of Henry the fourth King of England sirnamed Bullingbrooke This noble Duke for his great wisedome and iustice called the good was by King Henry the fift brother to this Duke at his death appointed Protector of the Land during the nonage of Henry the sixt this Elinor Duches of Glocester a proud and ambitious woman knowing that if young Henry died without issue the duke her husband was the neerest of the blood conspired with one Bullenbrooke otherwise called Onely a great Magitian Hun a priest and Iourdane witch of Eye by sorcery to make away the king by coniuration to know who should succeede Of this beeing iustly conuicted she was adiudged to do penance three seuerall times openly in London then to perpetuall banishment in the I le of Man from whence she writeth this Epistle ME thinks not knowing who these lines should send Thou straight turn'st ouer to the latter end VVhere thou my name no sooner hast espi'd But in disdaine my letters casts aside VVhy if thou wilt I will my selfe denie Nay I 'le affirme and sweare I am not I Or if in that thy shame thou doost perceiue I le leaue that name that name my selfe shall leaue And yet me thinks amaz'd thou shouldst not stand Nor seeme so much appauled at my hand For my misfortunes haue inur'd thine eye Long before this to sights of misery No no read on t is I the very same All thou canst read is but to reade my shame Be not dismaid nor let my name afright The worst it can is but t' offend thy sight It cannot wound nor doe thee deadly harme It is no dreadfull spell nor magique charme If shee that sent it loue Duke Humfrey so I st possible her name should be his foe Yes I am Elnor I am very shee vvho brought for dower a virgins bed to thee Though enuious Beuford slaunder'd me before To be Duke Humfreys wanton Paramore And though indeed I can it not denie To magique once I did my selfe apply I won thee not as there be many thinke vvith poysoning Philters and betwitching drinke Nor on thy person did I euer proue Those wicked potions so procuring loue I cannot boast to be rich Hollands heyre Nor of the blood and greatnes of Bauier Yet Elnor brought no forraine Armies in To fetch her backe as did thy Iacomin Nor clamorous husbands folowed me that fled Exclaiming Humfrey to defile his bed Nor wast thou forc'd the slaunder to suppresse To send me backe as an adulteresse Brabant nor Burgoyne claimed me by force Nor su'd to Rome to hasten my deuorce Nor Belgias pompe defac'd with Belgias fire The iust reward of her vniust desire Nor Bedfords spouse your noble sister Anne That princely-issued great Burgunnian Should stand with me to moue a womans strife To yeeld the place to the Protectors wife If Cobhams name my birth can dignifie Or Sterborough renowne my familie VVhere 's Greenewich now thy Elnors Court of late vvhere she with Humfrey held a princely state That pleasant Kent when I abroade should ride That to my pleasure layd forth all her pride The Thames by water when I tooke the ayre Daunc'd with my Barge in lanching from the stayre The anchoring ships that when I pass'd the roade vvere wont to hang their chequered tops abroad How could it be those that were wont to stand To see my pompe so goddesse-like on land Should after see mee mayld vp in a sheete Doe shamefull penance three times in the streete Rung with a bell a Taper in my hand Bare-foote to trudge before a Beedles wand That little babes not hauing vse of tongue Stoode poynting at me as I came along VVher 's Humfreys power where was his great command vvast thou not Lord-protector of the Land Or for thy iustice who can thee denie The title of the good Duke Humfrey Hast thou not at thy life and in thy looke The seale of Gaunt the hand of Bullingbrooke VVhat blood extract from famous Edwards line Can boast it selfe to be so pure as thine vvho else next Henry should the Realme prefer If it allow of famous Lancaster But Rayners daughter must from Fraunce be fet And with a vengeance on our throne be set Mauns Maine and Aniou on that begger cast To bring her home to England in such hast And what for Henry thou hast laboured there To ioyne the King with Arminacks rich heyre Must all be dash'd as no such thing had been Poole needs must haue his darling made a Queen How should he with our Princes else be plac'd To haue his Earleship with a Dukedome grac'd And raise the ofspring of his blood so hie As Lords of vs and our posteritie O that by Sea when he to Fraunce was sent The ship had sunck wherein the traytor went Or that the sands had swallowed her before Shee ere set foote vpon the English shore But all is well nay we haue store to giue vvhat need we more we by her lookes can liue All that great Henries conquests
much desaced by that impure rable Betwixt the hill and the Citie as Alexander Neuell describes it the Riuer of Yarmouth runnes hauing West and South thereof a wood and a little Village called Thorp and on the North the pastures of Moushol which containes about sixe miles in length and breadth So that besides the stately greatnes of Mount-Surrey which was the houses name the prospect and site thereof was passing pleasant and commodious and no where else did that encreasing euill of the Norfolke furie enkennell it selfe but then there as it were for a manifest token of their intent to debase all high things and to prophane all holy Like Arras worke or other imagerie Such was he whom Iuvenall taxeth in this manner truncoque similimus Herme Nullâ— quippe alio vincis discrimine quamquod Illi marmoreum caput est tua viuit imago Beeing to be borne for nothing else but apparell and the outward appearance intituled Complement with whom the ridiculous fable of the Ape in Esope sorteth sitly who comming into a Caruers house and viewing many Marble works tooke vp the head of a man very cunningly wrought who greatly in praising did seeme to pittie it that hauing so comly an outside it had nothing within like emptie figures walke and talke in euery place at whom the noble Geraldiâ—e modestly glanceth FINIS To the vertuous Ladie the Lady Frauncis Goodere wife to Sir Henry Goodere Knight MY verie gracious and good Mistres the loue and dutie I bare to your Father whilst hee liued now after his deceasase is to your hereditarie to whom by the blessing of your birth he left his vertues VVho bequeathed you those which were his gaue you whatsoeuer good is mine as deuoted to his he being gone whom I honoured so much whilst hee liued which you may iustly challenge by all lawes of thankefulnes My selfe hauing beene a witnes of your excellent education and mild disposition as I may say euer from your Cradle dedicate this Epistle of this vertuous and goodly Ladie to your selfe so like her in all perfection both of wisedome and learning which I pray you accept til time shall enable me to leaue you some greater monument of my loue Mich Drayton The Ladie Iane Gray to the Lord Gilford Dudley The Argument After the death of that vertuous young Prince King Edward the sixt the sonne of that famous King Henry the eight Iane the daughter of Henry Gray Duke of Suffolke by the consent of Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland was proclaimed Queene of England being married to Gilford Dudley the fourth sonne of the fore-said Duke of Northumberland which match was concluded by their ambitious Fathers who went about by this meanes to bring the Crowne vnto their children and to dispossesse the Princesse Mary eldest daughter of King Henry the eight â—eire to King Edward her brother Queene Mary rising in Armes to claime her rightfull crowne taketh the said Iane Gray and the Lord Gilford her husband beeing lodged in the Tower for their more safetie which place being lastly their Pallace by this meanes became their prison where being seuered in sundry prisons they write these Epistles one to another MIne own deere Lord sith thou art lock'd from mee In this disguise my loue must steale to thee Since to renue all loues all kindnes past This refuge scarcely left yet this the last My Keeper comming I of thee enquire vvho with thy greeting aunswers my desire vvhich my tongue willing to returne againe Griefe stops my words and I but striue in vaine vvhere-with amaz'd away in hast he goes vvhen through my lips my hart thrusts forth my woes vvhen as the doores that make a dolefull sound Driue backe my words that in the noyse are drownd vvhich some-what hush'd the eccho doth record And twice or thrice reiterates my word vvhen like an aduerse winde in Isis course Against the tyde bending his boystrous force But when the flood hath wrought it selfe about He following on doth head-long thrust it out Thus striue my sighes with teares ere they begin And breaking out againe sighes driue them in A thousand formes present my troubled thought Yet proue abortiue when they forth are brought From strongest woe we hardly language wrest The depth of griefe with words are sounded least As teares doe fall and rise sighes come and goe So doe these numbers ebb so doe they flow These briny teares doe make my Incke looke pale My Inck clothes teares in this sad mourning vaile The letters mourners weepe with my dim eye The paper pale greeu'd at my misery Yet miserable our selues why should we deeme Sith none is so but in his owne esteeme VVho in distresse from resolution flies Is rightly said to yeeld to miseries They which begot vs did beget this sin They first begun what did our griefe begin vvee tasted not t' was they which did rebell Not our offence but in theyr fall we fell They which a Crowne would to my Lord haue linck'd Aâ—ll hope all life all libertie extinct A subiect borne a Soueraigne to haue beene Hath made me now nor subiect nor a Queene Ah vile ambition how doost thou deceaue vs vvhich shew'st vs heauen and yet in hell doost leaue vs Sildome vntouch'd doth innocence escape vvhen error commeth in good counsailes shape A lawfull title counterchecks proude might The weakest things become strong props to right Then my deere Lord although affliction grieue vs Yet let our spotlesse innocence relieue vs. Death but an acted passion doth appeare vvhere truth giues courage and the conscience cleere And let thy comfort thus consist in mine That I beare part of vvhatsoere is thine As when we liu'd vntouch'd with these disgraces vvhen as our kingdome was our sweet embraces At Durham Pallaceâ— where sweet Hymen sang vvhose buildings with our nuptiall musick rang vvhen Prothalamions praysd that happy day vvherein great Dudley match'd with noble Gray vvhen they deuisd to linck by wedlocks band The house of suffolke to Northumberland Our fatall Dukedom to your Dukedome bound To frame this building on so weake a groundâ— For what auailes a lawlesse vsurpation vvhich giues a scepter but not rules a nation Onely the surfeit of a vaine opinion vvhat giues content giues what exceeds dominion VVhen first mine eares were persed with the fame Of Iane proclaimed by a Princesse name A suddaine fright my trembling hart appalls The feare of conscience entreth yron walls Thrice happy for our Fathers had it beene If what we fear'd they wisely had fore-seene And kept a meane gate in an humble path To haue escap'd these furious tempests wrath The Cedar-building Eagle heares the wind And not the Faulcon though both Hawkes by kind That kingly bird doth from the clowdes commaund The fearefull foule that moues but neere the Land Though Mary be from mightie Kings descended My blood not from Plantaginet pretended My Gransire Brandon did our house aduaunce By princely Mary Dowager of Fraunce The fruite of that faire stocke which did
seeke safety in a forraine Coast Your wiues and children pittied you before But when your owne blood your owne swords imbrue vvho pitties them which once did pitty you 19 The neighbouring groues dispoyled of their trees For boates and tymber to assay this flood vvhere men are labouring as the Summer bees Some hollowing truncks some bynding heapes of wood Some on their breasts some working on their knees To winne the banck whereon the Barrons stood vvhich o're this current they by strength must tew To shed that blood that many ages rew 20 Some sharpen swords some on their Murrians set The Greaues and pouldrons others riuet fast The Archers now their bearded arrowes whet vvhilst euery where the clamerous Drums are bra'st Some taking view where surest ground to get And euery one aduantage doth fore-cast In ranks and fyles each plaine and medow swarmes As though the Land were clad in angry Armes 21 The Crests and honours of the English name Against their owne opposed rudely stand As angry with th'atchieuements whence they came That to theyr vertues gaue that generous brand O you vnworthy of your auncient fame Against your selues to lift your conquering hand Since forraine swords your height could not abate By your owne power your selues to ruinate 22 Vppon his surcoate valient Neuell bore A siluer saltoyre grac'd on martiall red A Ladyes sleeue hie-spirited Hastings wore Ferrer his Taberd with rich verry spred vvell knowne in many a warlike match before A Rauen sat on Corbets warlike head Cou'ring his Helmet Culpepper inrayld On mayden Armes a bloody bend engrayld 23 The noble Percy in this furious day vvith a bright Cressant in his guid-home came In his fayre Cornet Verdooâ— doth display A Geuly fret priz'd in this mortall game That had beene task'd in many a doubtful fray His Launces pennons stayned with the same The angry horse chaf'd with the stubborne bit The ruinous earth with rage horror smit 24 I could the summe of Staffords arming show vvhat cullours Courtney Rosse VVarren hold Each sundry blazon I could let you know And all the glorious circumstance haue told vvhat all the Ensignes standing in a row But wailing Muse ah me thou art controld vvhen in remembrance of this horred deed My pen for inck euen drops of blood doth sheede 25 Th' imperiall standard in this place is pitch'd vvith all the hatchments of the English crowne Great Lancaster with all his power enrich'd Sets the same Leopards in his Colours downe O if with furie you be not bewitch'd Haue but remembrance on your selfe you frowne A little note or difference is in all How can the same stand when the same doth fall 26 Behold the Eagles Lyons Talbots Beares The badges of your famous ancestries And shall they now by their inglorious heires Stand thus opposd against their famelies More honoured marks no Christian nation weares Reliques vnworthy of their progenies Those beasts you beare doe in their kindes agree O that then beasts more sauage man should be 27 But whilst the King no course concluded yit In his directions variably doth houer See how misfortunes still her time can fit Such as were sent the Country to discouer As vp and downe from place to place they flit Had found a foord to land their forces ouer Ill-newes hath wings and with the wind doth goe Comforts a Cripple and comes â—uer flow 28 VVhen Edward fearing Lancasters supplies Proud Richmond Surry and â—reat Penbrooke sent On whose successe his chiefest hope relies Vnder whose conduct halfe his Army went The neerest way conducted by the Spies And he himselfe and Edmond Earle of Kent Vpon the hill in sight of â—â—â—ton lay vvatehing to take aduantage of the day 29 Stay Surry stay thou mai'st too soone be gone Pause till this rage be somewhat ouer-past VVhy runn'st thou thus to thy destruction Richmond and Penbrooke whether doe you hast You labour still to bring more horror on Neuer seeke sorrow for it comes too fast vvhy doe you striue to passe this fatall flood To fetch new wounds and shed your natiue blood 30 Great Lancaster sheath vp thy angry sword On Edwards Armes whose edge thou should'st not whet Thy naturall kinsman and thy soueraigne Lord Are you not one both true Plantaginet Call but to mind thy once-engaged word Canst thou thy oath to Longshancks thus forget Consider well before all other things Our vowes be kept we make to Gods and Kings 31 The winds are â—ush'd no little breath doth blow vvhich seemes so still as though it listning stood vvith trampling crouds the very earth doth bow And through the smoke the sunne appeares like blood vvhat with the shout and with the dreadfull show The heards and flocks runne bellowing to the wood vvhen drums and trumpets giue the fearefull sound As they would shake the cloudes vnto the ground 32 The Earles then charging with their power of horse Taking a signall when they should begin Beeing in view of the imperiall force vvhich at the time assay'd the bridge to win That now the Barrons change th' intended course T' auoyde the danger they were lately in VVhich on the suddaine had they not fore-cast Of their black day this howre hâ—d beene the last 33 VVhen from the hill the Kings maine power comes downe vvhich had Aquarius to their valiant guide Braue Lancaster and Herford from the towne Now issue forth vpon the other side Peere against Peere the crowne against the crowne The one assailes the other munifi'd Englands red Crosse vpon both sides doth flie Saint George the King S. George the Barrons cry 34 Like as an exhalation hote and dry Amongst the ayre-bred moisty vapors throwne Spetteth his lightning forth outragiously Rending the grosse cloudes with the thunderstone vvhose fiery splinters through the thin ayre flie That with the terror heauen and earth doth grone vvith the like clamor and confused woe To the dread shocke these desperate Armies goe 35 Now might you see the famous English Bowes So fortunate in times we did subdue Shoote their sharpe arrowes in the face of those vvhich many a time victoriously them drew Shunning theyr ayme as troubled in the loose The winged weapons mourning as they flew Cleaue to the string now impotent and slack As to the Archers they would â—aine turne back 36 Behold the remnant of Troves auncient stock Laying on blowes as Smiths on Anuils strike Grapling together in this feareâ—ull shocke VVhere as the like incountreth with the like As firme and ruthlesse as th' obdurate Rock Deadly opposed at the push of pyke Still as the wings or battels brought together VVhen fortune yet giues vanâ—age vnto neither 37 From battered Casks with euery enuious blow The scattered plumes flie loosly heere and there vvhich in the ayre doth seeme as drifts of snow vvhich eu'ry light breath on his wings doth beare As they had â—ence and feeling of our woe And thus affrighted with the present â—eare Now back now forward such strange windings make As though vncertaine
bestow vvhich as a quarry on the soyld earth lay Seasd on by conquest as a glorious pray 58 Heere noble Bohun that braue-issued peere Herford so hie in eu'ry gracious hart Vnto his country so receiu'd and deere vvounded by treason in the lower part As o're the bridge his men returning were Through those ill-ioyn'd plancks by an enuious dart But Lancaster whose lot not yet to die Taken reseru'd to greater infamie 59 O subiect for some sadder Muse to sing Of fiue great Earldoms happily possest Of the direct line of the English King vvith fauours friends and earthly honours blest If so that all these happines could bring Or could endowe assurednes of rest But what estate stands free from fortunes power The Fates haue guidance of our time and howre 60 Some few themselues in sanctuaries hide In mercie of that priuiledged place Yet are their bodies so vnsanctifi'd As scarce their soules can euer hope for grace vvhereas they still in want and feare abide A poore dead life this draweth out a space Hate stands without and horror sits within Prolonging shame but pard'ning not their sin 61 Here is not death contented with the dead As though of some thing carelesly deni'd Till which might firmly be accomplished His vtmost fully were not specifi'd That all exactly might be perfected A further torment vengeance doth prouide That dead men should in misery remaine To make the liuing die with greater paine 62 You soueraine Citties of th' afflicted Ile In Cipresse wreaths and widowed attire Prepare yee now to build the funerall pile Lay your pale hands vnto this latest â—â—re All mirth and comfort from your streets exile Till you be purg'd of this infectious â—â—e The noblest blood yet liuing to be shed That euer dropt from your rebellious dead 63 VVhen this braue Lord great Lancaster who late This puisant force had now thus long retayn'd As the first Agent in this strange debate At fatall Pomfret for these facts aâ—ayn'd Gainst whom of all things they articulate To whom these factions chiefly appertain'd vvhose proofes apparant so directly sped As from his body reâ—t a reuerent head 64 Yet Lancaster it is not thy deere breath Can raunsome back the safety of the Crowne Nor make a league of so great power with death To warrant what is rightfully our owne But they must pay the â—orfait of their faith vvhich fondly broke with their ambiâ—ion vvhen now reueâ—ge vnto the vtmost rack'd The Agents iustly suffer with the actâ— 65 Euen in that place where he had lately led As this darke path vnto the rest to show It was not long ere many followed In the same steps that he before did goe London thy freedome is prohibited The first in place ô would the first in woe Others in blood did not excell thee farre That now deuour the remnant of this warre 66 O parents ruthfull and hart-renting sight To see that sonne thy tender bosome fed A mothers ioy a fathers sole delight That with much cost yet with more care was bred A spectacle euen able to affright Th'most sencelesse thing and terrifie the dead His blood so deere vpon the cold earth powr'd His quarter'd coarse of birds and beasts deuour'd 67 But t is not you that beere complaine alone Or to your selues this fearefull portion share Heer 's choyce and strange varietie of moane Poore childrens teares with widdowes mixed are Many a friends sigh many a maydens grone So innocent so simply pure and rare As though euen nature that long silent kept Burst out in playnts and bitterly had wept 68 O wretched age had not these things beene done I had not now in these more calmer times Into the search of former troubles runne Nor had my virgine impoluted rimes Altred the course wherein they first begun To sing these bloody and vnnaturall crimes My layes had still beene to Ideas bower Of my deere Ankâ—r or her loued Stoure 69 Or for our subiect your faire worth to chuse Your birth your vertue and your hie respects That gently dayne to patronize our Muse vvho our free soule ingeniously elects To publish your deserts and all your dues Mauger the Momists and Satyrick sects vvhilst my great verse eternally is song You still may liue with me in spight of wrong 70 But greater things reserued are in store Vnto this taske my Armed Muse to keepe Still offering me occasion as before Matter whereof my tragick verse may weepeâ— And as a vessell beeing neere tâ—e shore By aduerse winds enforced to the deepe Am driuen backe from whence I came of late Vnto the bus'nes of a troubled state The end of the second Canto The third Booke of the Barrons warres The Argument By a sleepie potion that the Queene ordaines Lord Mortimer escapes out of the Tower And by false slights and many subtile traines Shee gets to Fraunce to raise a â—orraine power The French King leaues his sister need constraines The Queene to Henault in a happy bowre Edward her sonne to Phillip is affi'd And for iâ—uasion presently prouide 1 SCarce had these passed miseries their ends vvhen other troubles instantly begun As still new matter mischiefe apprehends By things that inconâ—id'ratly were done And further yet this insolence extends vvhilst all not yeelded that the sword had wonneâ— For some there were that â—ecretly did he That to this bus'nes had a watchfull eye 2 VVhen as the King whilst things thus fairely went VVho by this happy victory grew strong Summons at Yorke a present Parlement To plant his right and helpe the Spensers wrong By which he thinks t' establish his intent vvhence more and more his Mineons greatnes sprong vvhose counsels still in all proceedings crost Th' inraged Queene whom all misfortunes tost 3 VVhen now the eld'st a man extreamly hated vvhom yet the King not aptly could prefer The edge of their sharpe insolence abated This parlement makes Earle of VVinchester vvhere Herckley Earle of Carlell is created And Baldock likewise is made Chauncelor One whom the King had for his purpose wrought A man as subtile so corrupt and naught 4 VVhen now mishapp's that sildome come alone Thicke in the necks of one another fell The Scot pretends a new inuasion And Fraunce doth thence our vse-full power expell Treasons suspected to attend his throne The greeued Commons eu'ry day rebell Mischiefe on mischiefe curse doth follow curse One ill scarse past when after comes a worse 5 For Mortimer this wind yet fitly blew Troubling theyr eyes which else perhaps might see vvhilst the wise Queene who all aduantage knew Is closly plotting his deliuery vvhich now she doth with all her powers pursue Aptly contryu'd by her deepe pollicie Against opinion and the course of might To worke her will euen through the iawes of spight 6 A sleepie drinke she secretly hath made vvhose operation had such wonderous power As with cold numnes could the sence invade And mortifie the patient by an howre The liuelesse corse in such a slumber layd As
controld Their earthly weaknes euermore explaines Exalting whom they please not whom they should vvhen their owne fall showes how they fondly er'd Procur'd by those vnworthily prefer'd 62 Merit goes vnregarded and vngrac'd vvhen by his fauters ignorance held in And Parasites in wisemens roomes are plac'd Onely to sooth the great ones in their sin From such whose gifts and knowledge is debac'd There 's many strange enormities begin Forging great wits into most factious tooles vvhen mightiest men oft proue the mightiest fooles 63 But why so vainly doe I time bestow The foule abuse of th'wretched world to chide vvhose blinded iudgement eu'ry howre doth show vvhat folly weake mortality doth guide vvise was the man that laugh'd at all thy woe My subiect still more sorrow doth prouide And this late peace more matter still doth breed To hasten that which quickly must succeed The end of the fourth Canto The fifth Booke of the Barrons warres The Argument Th' imprisoned King his gouernment forsakes And to the Peeres his weakenes so excused VVho him ere long from Leisters keeping takes That with much woe his soueraigne Lord refused◠His torturer of him a mockery makes And basely and reprochfully abused By secret wayes to Berckley beeing led And cruelly in prison murthered 1 THe wretched King vnnaturally betrayd By lewd corruption of his natiue Land From thence with speede to Kenelworth conuayd By th' Earle of Leister with a mighty band Some few his fauourers quickly ouer-wayd And now a present Parlement in hand To ratifie the generall intent His resignation of the gouernment 2 Falne through the frailty of intemperate will That with his fortunes it so weakely far'd To vndergoe that vnexpected ill For his deserued punishment prepar'd The measure of that wretchednes to fill To him alotted as a iust reward Armes all with malice either lesse or more To strike at him that strooke at all before 3 And beeing a thing the commons daily craue To which the great are resolutely bent Such forward helpes on eu'ry side to haue T' effect their strong and forcible intent vvhich now that speede vnto their action gaue That ratifi'd by generall consent Still hastneth on to execute the thing vvhich for one ill twoworse should shortly bring 4 Bishops Earles Abbots and the Barrons all Each in due order as becomes the state Set by the Heraults in that goodly hall The Burgesses for places corporate vvhom this great busnes at this time doth call For the Cinque-ports the Barrons conuocate And other Knights for the whole body sent Both on the South and on the North of Trent 5 From his impris'ning chamber clad in blacke Before th' assembly sadly he is brought A dolefull hearse vpon a dead-mans backe vvhose heauy lookes might tell his heauier thought In which there doth no part of sorrow lacke Nor fained action needs to greefe be taught His funerall solemniz'd in his cheere His eyes the mourners and his legges the Beere 6 Torleton as one select to this intent The best experienc'd in this great affaire A man graue subtill stout and eloquente First with faire speech th' assembly doth prepare Then with a voyce austeere and eminent Doth his abuse effectually declare As winnes each sad eye with a reuerent feare vvith due attention drawing eu'ry eare 7 The great exactions raised by the King vvith whose full plenty he his Mineons fed Himselfe and subiects so impourishing And that deere blood he lauishly had shed vvhich desolation to the Land should bring And the chiefe cause by his leud riots bred The losse in warre sustained through his blame The during scandall to the English name 8 Proceeding forward to the future good That their dissignments happily intend And with what vpright pollicie it stood No after hopes their fortunes to amend The resignation to his propper blood That might the action lawfully defend The present need that wild it strictly so vvhose imposition they might not forslow 9 Pardon me art that striuing to be short To this intent a speech deliuering And that at full I doe not heare report Matters that tuch deposing of the King My faithfull Muse ô doenot thou exhort The after times to so abhord a thing To show the reasons forcibly were layd Out of thy feelings what he might haue said 10 The strong deliu'ry of whose vehement speech Borne with a dauntlesse and contracted brow That with such sterne seuerity did teach His reasons more autentique to alow vvhich the more easly made the dangerous breach By the remembrance of a generall vow To which they here must openly contest vvhen Edward comes to consumate the rest 11 His faire cheeke couer'd in pale sheers of shame And as a dumbe shew in a swoune began vvhere passion doth such sundry habits frame As eu'ry sence a right tragedian Truly to show from whence his sorrow came Beyond the compasse of a common man vvhere nature seemes a practiser in art Teaching dispaire to act a liuely part 12 Ah pitty doost thou liue or wert thou not Mortals by such sights haue to flint beene turned Or what men haue beene hath their seede forgot Or was it neuer knowne that any mourned In what so strangely are we ouer-shot Against our owne selfe hath our frailty spurned Or teares hence forth abandon humane eyes And neuer-more to pitty miseries 13 He takes the crowne yet scornefully vnto him vvith slight regard as scarcely thinking on it As though not sencelesse that it should forgoe him And sildome casts a scornefull eye vpon it vvould seeme to leaue it and would haue it woe him Then snatching it as loth to haue forgone it Yet putsit from him yet he will not so vvould faine retaine what faine he would forgoe 14 In this confused conflict of the mind Teares drowning sighes and sighes confounding teares Yet when as neither libertie could find Oppressed with the multitude of feares Stands as a man affrighted from his kinde Greefe becomes sencelesse when too much it beares vvhilst speech silence striues which place should take From his full bosome thus his sorrowes brake 15 If that my title rightfully be planted Vpon a true indubitate succession Confirm'd by nations as by nature granted That freely hath deliuerd me possession Impute to heauen sufficiency t' haue wanted vvhich must denie it power or you oppression VVhich into question by due course may bring The grieued wrongs of an annointed King 16 That hallowed vnction by a sacred hand vvhich once was powr'd on this emperious head vvhich wrough th'indument of a strict commaund And round about me the rich verdure spred Either my right in greater sted must stand Or why in vaine was it so idely shed vvhose prophanation and vnreuerent tuch Iust heauen hath often punish'd alwayes much 17 VVhen from the bright beames of our soueraine due Descends the strength of your enated right And prosperously deriues it selfe to you As from our fulnes taking borrowed light vvhich to your safeties alwaies firme and true vvhy thus repugne you by
prepost'rous might But what heauen lent me vertuously t' haue vsed Leaues to your power what weakenesse hath abused 18 But heere I doe resigne it to your King Pausing hereat as though his tongue offended vvith griping throwes seemes foorth that word to bring Sighing a full point as he there had ended O how that sound his grieued hart doth wring vvhich he recalling gladly would haue mended Things of small moment we can scarcely hold But greefes that touch the hart are hardly told 19 But beeing past he prosecutes in teares Calming that tempest with a shower of raine As he had stroue to keepe it from his eares Quoth he the leedgman to your soueraigne O in his lips how vile that word appeares vvhereat asham'd doth sadly pause againe Yes yes euen say so vnto him you beare it I ft be young Edward that you meane shall weare it 20 Let him account his bondage from that day That he is with the Diadem inuested A glittering crowne hath made this hayre so gray vvithin whose circle he is but arested To true content this not the certaine way vvith sweeter cates a meane estate is feasted And when his proude feete scorne to tuch the mold His head a pris'ner in a gayle of gold 21 His subiects numbred numbring of his care And when with shouts the people doe begin Let him suppose th' applause but prayers are T' escape the danger that they see him in vvherein t'aduenture he so boldly dare The multitude hath multitudes of sin And he that 's first to cry God saue the King Is the first man doth newes of sorrow bring 22 Appeasing tumults hate cannot appease So oth'd with deceits and fed with flatteries Thy selfe displeasing other sought to please Obey'd asmuch as he shall tyrannize The least in safety beeing most at ease Feare forcing friends inforcing enemies And when he sitteth in his great'st estate His footstoole danger and his chayre is hate 23 Rayne he alone whilst he no King was one Disarm'd of power and here deiected is By whose deposing he enioyes a throne Nor should I suffer that nor he doe this I must confesse th' inheritance his owne But whilst I liue it should be none of his The sonne clymes vp to thrust the father downe And thus the crowned left without a crowne 24 Hauing perform'd this hard constrained part His speech his raine the day all ioyntly ended Strangly transform'd not beeing what thou art Car'd for of none vnlook'd on vnattended Sadly departing with a heauy hart To his strong lodging straightly recommended Left to bemoane his miserable plight To the rude walls and solitarie night 25 VVhilst things are thus disastrously decreed Sedicious libels eu'ry day are spred By such as like not of their violent deede That he by force should be deliuered vvhether his wrong remorce in some did breed That him at last vntimely pittied Or else deuisd in pollicie by some To cloake that mischiefe afterward to come 26 And hate that each-where harkning still doth lurke And yet suspitious Edward is not sure Thinking what blood with Leicester might worke Or else what friends his name might him procure vvhich yet their thoughts continually doth yrck The time he should at Kenelworth endure Fore-thinke some place t'which secretly conuayde Vnknowne his beeing be secur'd from ayde 27 And though the great to hide their close intent Seeme nere so cleere from knowing those know ill Not vnprouided of the instrument VVhich they keepe ready to performe their will Such haue th'in store to their damnation bent In villanie notorious for their skill Dishonest desperate mercilesse and rude To all vyle actions ready to intrude 28 Matreuers and base Gurney are the men In this leud act that must confedered be VVhose hatefull names pollute our maiden pen But I intreate you be not grieu'd with me To whom the same doe worthily perteyne Some boughes grow crooked from the straightest treeâ— Nor shall you be partakers of their shame The fault lies in their deede not in your name 29 These secretly to Killing worth dispatch'd Fitted of all things that their harts desire At such a time as few their purpose watch'd After whose busnes none is to enquire vvhich by their warrant subtilly was match'd Onely to them knowne whether to retyre Taking the King his guardian to acquit And to bestow him where they thought most sit 30 VVith a crue of ribalds villanous and naught As their coagents in this hatefull thing To th' Earle of Leister their commission brought Commaunding the deliu'ry of the King vvhich with much griefe they lastly from him wrought About the Castell closely houering VVatching a time till silence and the night Might with conuenience priuiledge their flight 31 VVith shamefull scoffes and barbarous disgrace Him on a leane ill-faâ—our'd Iade they set In a vile garment beggerly and base vvhich it should seeme they purposely did get And in a wretched miserable case Benum'd and beaten with the cold and wet Depriu'd of all repose and naturall rest VVith thirst and hunger grieuously oprest 32 Yet still suspitious that he should be knowne They shaâ—e away his ornament of hayre The last thing his that he could call his owne Neuer left fortune any wight so bare Such tyranny on King was neuer shone Thus voide of comfort were he voide of care No no our ioyes are shadowes and deceaue vs But till our death our sorrowes neuer leaue vs. 33 To which intent when farthest from resort Forcing him light from his poore weary beast Vpon a mole-hili ô most sad report vvith puddle-water him they leudly drest VVhilst at his woes and miseries they sport An yron skull the Bason like the rest vvhose lothing eyes in this more lothed glasse vvell may discerne how much deformd he was 34 Th'aboundant drops that from his eyes doe fall A poole of teares still rising by this raine vvhich wrastling with the water and withall A troubled circle makes it to retaine His endlesse griefes vnto his minde might call Billow'd with sighes like to a little maine vvater with teares contending whether should Make water warme or make the warme teares cold 35 Vile traytors hold of your vnhallowed hands His brow the state of maiestie still beares Dare you thus keepe your soueraigne Lord in bands How can your eyes behold th'annointeds teares Or if your sight thus all remorce withstands Are not your harts euen perced through your eares The mind is free what ere afflict the man Hee 's yet a King doe fortune what she can 36 VVho 's he should take what God himselfe hath giuen Or spill that life his holy spirit infused All powers be subiect to the power of heauen VVrongs passe not vnreueng'd how are excused If of all sence griefe hath thee not bereauen Rise Maiestie when thou art thus abused O whether shall authoritie betake vvhen in this sort it doth it selfe forsake 37 And in despight and mockery of a Crowne A wreath of grasse they for his temples make VVhich when he
iust wise and sage In all things happy but in him his sonne For whom euen nature did herselfe engage More then in man in this Prince to haue done VVhose happy raigne recur'd the former rage By the large bounds he to his Empire wone As the first Edward had the second beene O what a flow of glory had we seene 58 Turning the leafe as finding vnawares vvhat day young Edward Prince of VVales was borne vvhich letters seeme like magique charracters Or to despight him they were made in scorne Marking the paper like dis-figuring stars O let that name quoth he from bookes be torne Least in that place the sad displeased earth Doe loathe it selfe as slandered with my birth 59 From thence heereafter humaine birth exil'd By th' earth deuour'd or swallowed by the sea And fame enquiring for that lucklesse child Say t was abortiue or else stolne away And least ô time thou be therewith defil'd In thy vnnumbred course deuoure that day Let all be done that power can bring to passe Onely forget that such there euer was 60 The troubled teares now standing in his eyes Through which as glasses he is forc'd to looke Make letters seeme as rondlets that arise By a stone cast into a standing brooke Appearing to him in such various wise And at one time such sundry fashions tooke vvhich like deluding Monsters doe affright And with their foule shapes teâ—rifie his sight 61 VVhen on his saint bed falling downe at last His troubled spirit foretelling danger nie vvhen forth the doores a fearefull howling cast To let those in by whom a King should die vvhereat he starts amazed and agast These ruthlesse villaines all vppon him flie Sweet Prince alas in vaine thou call'st for ayde By these accursed homecides betrayd 62 O be not authors of so vile an act My blood on your posteritie to bring which after times with horror shall distract vvhen fame euen hoarce with age your shame shall ring And by recounting of so vile a fact Mortalitie so much astonishing That they shall count theyr wickednes scarce sinne To that which long before their time hath beene 63 And if your hate be deadly let me liue For that aduantage angry heauen hath left That except life takes all that it could giue But for iust vengeance should not quite bereft Me yet with greater misery to grieue Reserue a while this remnant of their theft That that which spent from th' rest should interdict me Alone remaining doth withall afflict me 64 Thus spake this wofull and distressed Lord As yet his breath found passage to and fro vvith many a short pant many a broken word Many a sore grone many agrieuous throw vvhilst yet his spirit could any strength affoord Though with much paine disburd'ning of his woe Till lastly gasping by their maist'ring strength His kingly hart subiects it selfe at length 65 VVhen twixt two beds they close his wearied corse Basely vncou'ring of his secret part vvithout all humane pitty and remorce vvith burning yron thrust him to the hart O that my Muse had but sufficient force T'explane the torment in the which thou art vvhich whilst with words we coldly doe expresse Thy paine made greater that we make it lesse 66 VVhen those in dead and depth of all the night Good simple people that are dwelling neare From quiet sleepe whom care did now affright That his last shreeke and wofull cry doe heare Euen pittying that miserable wight As twixt compassion and obedient feare Lift theyr sad eyes with heauy sleepe opprest Praying to heauen to giue the soule good rest 67 Still let the buildings figh his bitter grones And euermore his sad complaints repeate And let the dull walls and the sencelesse stones By the impression of his torment sweat As wanting sounds where-with to shew his mones vvith all sharpe paine and agony repleate That all may thether come that shall be told it As in a mirror cleerely to behold it 68 VVhen now the Genius of this wofull place Beeing the guide to his affrightfull ghost vvith hayre disheueld and a gastly face Shall haunt the prison where his life was lost And as the denne of horror and disgrace Let it be fearefull vnto all the coast That those heereafter that doe trauell neere Neuer behold it but with heauy cheere The end of the fith Canto The sixth Booke of the Barrons warres The Argument Lord Mortimer made Earle of March when he And the faire Queene rule all things by their might The pompe wherein at Notting ham they be The cost wherewith their amorous court is dight Enuide by those their hatefull pride that see The King attempts the dreadfull Caue by night Entring the Castell taketh him from thence And March at London dies for the offence 1 INforc'd of other accidents to sing Bearing fayre showes of promised delite Somewhat to slacke this melancholy string That new occasions to our Muse excite To our conceit strange obiects fashioning Doth our free numbers liberally inuite Matter of moment much to be respected Must by our pen be seriously directed 2 And now the time more cunningly redeeming These fraudfull courses fitly to contriue How ill so ere to beare the fayrest seeming For which they now must diligently striue Casting all waies to gaine thesame esteeming That to the world it prosperously might thriue This farre gone on now with the hand of might Vpon this wrong to build a lasting right 3 The pompous synod of these earthly Gods At Salsbury selected by theyr King To set all euen that had beene at ods And into fashion their dissignes to bring And strongly now to settle their abodes That peace might after from their actions spring Firmly t' establish what was well begone Vnder which colour mighty things were done 4 VVhen Mortimer pursuing his desire VVhilst eu'ry engine had his temperate heate To b'Earle of March doth suddainly aspire T' increase the honour of his auncient seate That his commaund might be the more entire VVho now but onely Martimer is great vvho knew a kingdome as her lot was throwne vvhich hauing all would neuer starue her owne 5 Now stand they firme as those celestiall Poles Twixt which the starres in all their course doe moue vvhose strenght this frame of gouernment vpholds An argument their wisedomes to approue vvhich way so ere the time in motion roles So perfect is the vnion of their loue For might is still most absolute alone vvhere power and fortune kindly meete in one 6 VVhilst Edwards nonage giues a further speede To th' ancient foe-man to renew the warre vvhich to preuent they must haue speciall heede Matters so strangly manag'd as they are vvhich otherwise if their neglect should breede Nothing yet made it might not easily marre vvhich with the most reseruing their estate Inforc'd to purchase at the deerest rate 7 So much t'release the homage as suffic'd Mongst which that deed nam'd Ragman of renowne By which the Kings of Scotland had deuisd Their fealty vnto the English crowne
make vvhen I am growne familiar with my woe And nothing can th' afflicted conscience grieue But he can pardon that doth all forgiue 87 And thus thou most adored in my hart vvhose thoughts in death my humbled spirit doth raise Lady most fayre most deere of most desart VVorthy of more then any mortall praise Condemned Marcb thus lastly doth depart From her the greatest Empresse of her dayes Nor in the dust mine honor I inter Thus Caesar dy'd and thus dies Mortimer 88 To Nottingham this Letter brought vnto her vvhich is subscrib'd with her Emperious stile Puts her in mind how once that hand did wooe her vvith this short thought to please herselfe awhile Thus sorrow can so subtilly vndoe her That with such flattery doth her sence beguile To giue a sharper feeling to that paine vvhich her grieu'd hart was shortly to sustaine 89 Putting her fingers to vnrip the seale Cleauing to keepe those sorrowes from her eyes As it were loth the tydings to reueale vvhence griefe should spring in such varieties But strongly vrg'd doth to her will appeale vvhen the soft waxe vnto her touch implies Sticking vnto her fingers bloody red To shew the bad newes quickly followed 90 Thus by degrees she easâ—y doth begin As the small fish playes with the bayted hooke Then more and more to swallow sorrow in As threatning death at eu'ry little looke vvhere now she reads th'expences of her sin Sadly set downe in this blacke dreadfull booke And those deere summes were like to be defray'd Before the same were absolutely pay'd 91 An hoast of woes her suddainly assayle As eu'ry letter wounded like a dart As though contending which should most preuaile Yet eu'ry one doth piâ—rce her to the hart As eu'ry word did others case bewaile And with his neighbour seem'd to beare a part Reason of griefe eâ—ch sentence is to her And eu'ry line a true remembrancer 92 Greefe makes her reade yet straightwaies bids her leaue vvith which ore-charg'd shee neither sees nor heares Her sences now theyr Mistris so deceiue The words doe wound her eyes the sound her eares And eu'ry organe of the vse bereaues vvhen for a fescue she doth vse her teares That when some line she loosly ouer-past The drops doe tell her where she left the last 93 O now she sees was neuer such a sight And seeing curs'd her sorrow-seeing eye Yet thinks she is deluded by the light Or is abusd by the orthography And by some other t' is deuis'd for spight Or pointed false her schollership to try Thus when we fondly sooth our owne desires Our best conceits oft proue the greatest lyers 94 Her trembling hand as in a feuer shakes vvhere-with the paper doth a little stirre vvhich she imagines at her sorrow shakes And pitties it who she thinks pitties her Each small thing somewhat to the greater makes And to the â—umor some thing doth infer VVhich when so soone as shee her tongue could free O worthy Earle deere-loued Lord quoth shee 95 I will reserue thy ashes in some Vrne vvhich as a relique I will onely saue Mix'd with the teares that I for thee shall mourne vvhich in my deare breast shall theyr buriall haue From whence againe they neuer shall returne Nor giue the honor to another graue But in that Temple euer be preserued vvhere thou a Saint religiously art serued 96 VVhen she breakes out to cursing of her sonne But March so much still runneth in her mind That she abruptly ends what she begunne Forgets her selfe and leaues the rest behind From this she to another course doth runne To be reueng'd in some notorious kind To which shee deeply doth ingage her troth Bound by a strong vow and a solemne oth 97 For pen and incke she calls her mayds without And the Kings dealings will in griefe discouer But soone forgetting what she went about Shee now begins to write vnto her louer Heere she sets downe and there she blotteth out Her griefe and passion doe so strongly moue her vvhen turning backe to read what she had writ She teares the paper and condemns her wit 98 And thus with contrarieties araysed As waters chilnesse wakeneth from a swound Comes to her selfe the agony appeased VVhen colder blood more sharply feeles the wound And griefe her so incurably hath seaized That for the same no remedie is found As the poore refuge to her restlesse woes This of her griese she lastly doth dispose 99 That now vnkind King as thou art my sonne Leauing the world some legacie must giue thee My harts true loue the dying March hath wonne Yet that of all I will not quite bereaue thee The wrong and mischiefe to thy mother done I thee bequeath so bound that they out-liue thee That as my breast it hourely doth torment Thou maist enioy it by my Testament 100 Hence forth within this solitary place Abandoning for euer generall sight A priuate life I willingly embrace No more reioycing in the obuious light To consumaâ—e the weary lingering space Till death inclose me with continuall night Each small remembrance of delight to flie A conuertite and penitently die FINIS To the Reader SEeing these Epistles are now to the world made publique it is imagined that I ought to bee accountable of my priuate meaning cheefely for mine owne discharge least beeing misttaken I fall in hazard of a iust and vniuersall reprehension for Hae nugae feria ducent In mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre Three poynts are especially therefore to be explained First why I entitle this worke Englands heriocall Epistles theÌ„ why I obserue not the persons dignitie in the dedication lastly why I haue annexed notes to euery Epistles end For the first the title I hope carrieth reason in it selfe for that the most and greatest persons herein were English or else that theyr loues were obtained in England And though heriocall be properly vnderstood of demi-gods as of Hercules and AEneas whose parents were said to be the one celestiall the other mortall yet is it also transferred to them who for the greatnes of mind come neere to Gods For to be borne of a celestiall Incubus is nothing else but to haue a great and mightie spirit farre aboue the earthly weakenesse of men in which sence Ouid whose imitator I partly professe to be doth also vse heroicall For the second seeing none to whom I haue dedicated any two Epistles but haue theyr states ouermatched by them who are made to speake in the Epistles how euer the order is in dedication yet in respect of their degrees in my deuotion and the cause before recited I hope they suffer no disparagement seeing euery one is the first in theyr particuler interest hauing in some sort sorted the complexion of the Epistles to the character of theyr iudgements to whom I dedicate theÌ„ excepting onely the blamefulnesse of the persons passion in those poynts wherein the passion is blamefull Lastly such manifest difference being betwixt euery one of them where or
King committed many of his secrets in whom he reposed such trust that he durst commit his loue vnto his charge FINIS King Iohn to Matilda ¶ The Argument After that King Iohn had assaied by all meanes possible to win the faire chast Matilda to his vnchast and vnlawful bed and by vniust courses and false accusation had banished the Lord Robert Fitzwater her noble Father and many other of his allies who iustlie withstoode the desire of this wanton King seeking the dishonour of his faire and vertuous daughter this chast Lady still solicited by this lasciuious King flies vnto Dunmowe in Essex where in a Nunnery she becomes a Nunne whether the King still persisting in his sute solicites her by his Epistle her reply confirmes her vowed and inuincible chastitie making knowne to the King her pure vnspotted thoughts WHen these my Letters come vnto thy view Thinke them not forc'd or saind or strange or new Thou know'st no way no meanes no course exempted Left now vnsought vnproou'd or vnattempted All rules regards all secret helps of Art vvhat knowledge wit experience can impart And in the old worlds Ceremonies doted Good dayes for loue times howres minutes noted And where Arte left loue teacheth more to finde By signes in presence to expresse the minde Oft hath mine eye told thine eye beautie grieu'd it And begd but for one looke to haue relieu'd it And still with thine eyes motion mine eye mou'd Labouring for mercy telling how it lou'd If blush'd I blush'd thy cheeke pale pale was mine My red thy red my whitnes answered thine If sigh'd I sigh'd alike both passion proue But thy sigh is for griefe my sigh for loue If a word past that insufficient were To helpe that word mine eyes let forth a teare And if that teare did dull or sencelesse proue My hart would fetch a sigh to make it moue Oft in thy face one fauour from the rest I singled forth that likes my fancie best This likes me most another likes me more A third exceeding both those lik'd before Then one that doth deriue all wonder thence Then one whose rarenes passeth excellence VVhilst I behold thy Globe-like rowling eye Thy louely cheeke me thinks stands smiling by And tels me those but shadowes and supposes And bids me thether come and gather Roses Looking on that thy brow doth call to mee To come to it if wonders I will see Now haue I doâ—e and now thy dimpled chin Againe doth tell me I but new begin And bids me yet to looke vpon thy lip Least wondring least the great'st I ouerslip My gazing eye on this and this doth ceaze vvhich surfets yet cannot desire appease Then like I browne ô louely browne thy haire Onely in brownenes beautie dwelleth there Then loue I blacke thine eye-ball black as Iet Then cleere that ball is there in Christall set Then white but snow nor swan nor Iuorie please Then are thy teeth more whiter then all these In browne in black in purenes and in white All loue all sweets all rarenes all delight Thus thou vile theefe my stolne hart hence doo'st carry And now thou fliest into a Sanctuarie Fie peeuish girle ingratefull vnto nature Did she to this end frame thee such a creatureâ— That thou her glory should'st increase thereby And thou alone doost scorne societie VVhy heauen made beauty like herselfe to view Not to be lock'd vp in a smoky Mew A rosy-tainted feature is heanens gold vvhich all men ioy to touch all to behold It was enacted when the world begun That so rare beautie should not liue a Nun. But if this vow thou needs wilt vndertake O were mine armes a Cloister for thy sake Still may his paines for euer be augmented This superstition that at first inuented Ill might he thriue that brought this custome hether That holy people might not liue together A happy time a good world was it then vvhen holy women liu'd with holy men But Kings in this yet priuiledg'd may be I le be a Munke so I may liue with thee VVho would not rise to ring the mornings knell vvhen thy sweet lips might be the sacring bell Or what is he not willingly would fast That on those lips might feast his lips at last VVho vnto Mattens earely would not rise That might reade by the light of thy faire eyes On worldly pleasures who would euer looke That had thy curles his beades thy browes his booke VVert thou the Crosse to thee who would not creepe And wish the Crosse still in his armes to keepe Sweet girle I le take this holy habite on mee Of meere deuotion that is come vpon mee Holy Matilda thou the Saint of mine I le be thy seruaunt and my bed thy shrine VVhen I doe offer be thy brest the Altar And when I pray thy mouth shall be my Psalter The beads that we will bid shall be sweet kisses vvhich we will number if one pleasure misses And when an Auie comes to say Amen vve will begin and tell them or'e againe Now all good fortune giue me happy thrift As I should ioy t'absolue thee after shrift But see how much I doe my selfe beguile And doe mistake thy meaning all this while Thou took'st this vow to equall my desire Because thou wouldst haue me to be a Frier And that we two should comfort one another A holy sister and a holy brother Thou as a Votresse vnto me alone Shee is most chast that 's but enioyd of one Yea now thy true deuotion doe I find And sure in this I much commend thy mind Els heere thou doost but ill ensample giue And in a Nunry thus thou shouldst not liue Is 't possible the house that thou art in Should not be tucht though with a veniall sin vvhen such a she-priest comes her masse to say Twenty to one they all forget to pray vvel may we wish they would their harts amend vvhen we be witnes that theyr eyes offend All creatures haue desires or else some lie Let them thinke so that will so will not I. Doost thou not thinke our auncestors were wise That these religious Cels did first deuise As Hospitalls were for the sore and sicke These for the crook'd the hault the stigmatick Least that their seede mark'd with deformitie Should be a blemish to posteritie VVould heau'n her beautie should be hid from sight Nere would she thus herselfe adorne with light VVith sparkling lamps nor would she paint her throne But she delighteth to be gaz'd vpon And when the golden glorious sun goes downe vvould shee put on her star-bestudded crowne And in her masking sute the spangled skie Come forth to bride it in her reuelrie And gaue this gift to all things in creation That they in this should imitate her fashion All things that faire that pure that glorious beene Offer themselues of purpose to be seene In sinks and vaults the vgly Toades doe dwell The deuils since most vgly they in hell Our mother earth nere
with ayre Yet sometime doth our greatest griefe appease To double sorrow after little ease Like that which thy lasciuious will doth craue vvhich if once had thou neuer more canst haue vvhich if thou get in getting thou doost wast it Taken is lost and perrish'd if thou hast it vvhich if thou gain'st thou nere the more hast wone I loosing nothing yet am quite vndone And yet of that if that a King depraue me No King restores though he a kingdome gaue me Doost thou of Father and of friends depriue me And tak'st thou from me all that heauen did giue me vvhat nature claimes by blood alies or neernes Or friendship challenge by regard or deernes Mak'st me an Orphan ere my Father die A vvofull widdow in virginitie Is thy vnbrideled lust the cause of all And now thy flattering tongue bewayles my fall The dead mans graue with fained teares to fill So the deuouring Crocodile doth kill To harbor hate in shew of sweetest things So in the Rose the poisned serpent stings To lurke farre off yet lodge destruction by The Basiliske doth poyson with the eye To call for ayde and then to lie in waite So the Hiena murthers by deceite By sweet inticements suddaine death to bring So from the Rocks th'alluring Mermaids sing In greatest wants t' inflict the greatest woe This is the vtmost tyrannie can doe But where I see the tempest thus preuailes vvhat vse of Ankors or what neede of sailes Aboue vs blustring winds and dreadfull thunder The waters gape for our destruction vnder Heere on this side the furious billowes flie There rocks there sands and dangerous whir-pooles lie Is this the meane that mightines approues And in this sort doe Princes wooe their Loues Mildnes would better sute with maiestie Then rash reuenge and rough seueritie O in what safetie Temperance doth rest Obtayning harbour in a soueraigne brest VVhich if so praisefull in the meanest men In powerfull Kings how glorious is it then Alas and fled I hether from my fo That innocence should be betrayed so Is Court and Country both her enemie And no place found to shroud in chastitie Each house for lust a harbour and an Inne And euery Cittie a receite for sinne And all doe pittie beautie in distresse If beautie chast then onely pittilesse Thus is she made a tempting stale to lust Or vnreleeued needsly perrish must Lasciuious Poets which abuse the truth vvhich oft teach age to sinne infecting youth For the vnchast make trees stones to mourne Or as they please to other shapes doe turne Cinyras daughter whose incesteous mind Made her wrong nature and dishonour kind Long since by them is turn'd into a Mir vvhose dropping liquor euer weepes for her And in a fountaine Biblis doth deplore Her fault so vile and monsterous before Silla which once her Father did betray Is now a bird if all be true they say She that with Phoebus did the foule offence Now metamorphiz'd into Frankensence Other to flowers to odors and to gum At least Ioues Lemmon is a starre become And more they faine a thousand fond excuses To hide their scapes and couer theyr abuses The virgin onely they obscure and hide vvhilst the vnchast by them are deifide Yet if a Vestals name be once exprest She must be set together with the rest I am not now as when thou saw'st me last That fauour soone is vanished and past That Rosie-blush lapp'd in a Lilly-vale Now with the Morphew ouer-growne and pale And downe my cheekes with showers of swelling teares Remaine the furrowes that continuance weares And in the circles of my withered eyes In aged wrinkles beautie buried lyes And in my grace my presence iesture cheere Ruine distresse woe anguish doth appeare That brest that hand that cheeke that eye that brow Faded decayed fallen darkned wrinkled now Such was my beauty once now is it such Once thought most rare now altred more then much Nor I regard all that thou canst protest My vow is taken I a Nun profest This Vestall habite doth content me more Then all the robes that yet I euer wore Had Rosamond a recluse of our sort Taken our Cloister left the wanton Court Shadowing that beauty with a holy vale vvhich she alas too loosely set to sale She neede not like an vgly Minotaur Haue beene lock'd vp from iealious Ellenor But beene as famous by thy mothers wrongs As by thy father subiect to all tongues To shadow sinne might can the most pretend Kings but the conscience all things can defend A stronger hand restaines our wilfull powers A will must rule aboue this will of ours Not following what our vaine desires doe wooe For vertues sake but what we onely doe And hath my Father chose to liue exild Before his eyes should see my youth defild And to withstand a Tyrants lewd desire Beheld his Towers and Castles razd with fire Yet neuer tuch'd with griefe so onely I Exempt from shame might with true honor die And shall this iewell which so deerely cost Now after all by my dishonour lost No no his reuerend words his holy teares Yet in my soule too deepe impression beares His latest fare-well at his last depart More deepely is ingraued in my hart Nor shall that blot by me his name shall haue Bring his gray haires with sorrow to his graue Better his teares to fall vpon my Tombe Then for my birth to curse my mothers wombe Though Dunmow giue no refuge heere at all Dunmow can giue my body buriall If all remorcelesse no teare-shedding eye My selfe will moane my selfe so liue so dye Notes of the Chronicle Historie THis Epistle containeth no particuler points of historie more then the generality of the argument layeth open for after the banishment of the Lord Robert Fitzwater and that Matilda was become a Recluse at Dunmowe from whence this replie is imagined to bee written the King still earnestly persisting in his â—ute Matilda with this chast constant deniall hopeth yet at length to finde some comfortable remedy and to rid her selfe of doubts by taking vpon her this monastick habite to shew that she still beareth in mind his former cruelty bred by the impatience of his lust she remembreth him of her Fathers banishment the lawlesse exile of her alies and friends Dost thou of Father and of friends depriue me Then complaining of her distresse that flying thether thinking there to find releefe she sees her selfe most assaild where she hoped to haue found most safety Alas and fled I hether from my foe That c. After againe standing vpon the precise points of conscience not to cast off this habite she had taken My vow is taken I a Nun profest And at last laying open more particulerly the miseries sustained by her Father in England the burning of his Castles and houses which she proueth to be for her sake as respecting onely her honour more then his natiue Countrey and his owne fortunes And to withstand a Tyrants lewd desire Beheld
his Towers and Castles set on fire Knitting vp her Epistle with a great and constant resolution Though Dunmow giue no refuge heere at all Dunmow can giue my body buriall FINIS To the vertuous Lady the Lady Anne Harrington wife to the honourable Gentleman Sir Iohn Harrington Knight MY singuler good Lady your many vertues knowne in generall to all and your gracious fauours to my vnwoorthy selfe haue confirmed that in mee which before I knew you I onelie sawe by the light of other mens iudgements Honour seated in your breast findes herselfe adorned as in a rich pallace making that excellent which makes her admirable which like the Sunne from thence begetteth most precious things of this earthly worlde onely by the vertue of his rayes not the nature of the mould VVorth is best discerned by the worthie deiected mindes want that pure fire which should giue vigor to vertue I referre to your great thoughts the vnpartiall Iudges of true affection the vnfained zeale I haue euer borne to your honorable seruice and so rest your Ladiships humbly to commaund Mich Drayton Queene Isabell to Mortimer ¶ The Argument Queene Isabell the wife of Edward the second called Edward Carnaruan beeing the daughter of Phillip de Beau King of Fraunce forsaken by the King her husband who delighted onely in the companie of Piers Gaueston his minion and fauorite and after his death seduced by the euill counsaile of the Spensers This Queene thus left by her husband euen in the glory of her youth drewe into her especiall fauour Roger Mortimer Lorde of VVigmore a man of a mightie and inuinsible spirit This Lord Mortimer rising in armes against the King with Thomas Earle of Lancaster and the Barons was taken ere he could gather his power and by the King committed to the Tower of London During his imprisonment he ordained a feast in honour of his birth-day to which he inuited Sir Stephen Segraue Lieutenant of the Tower and the rest of the officers where by meanes of a drinke prepared by the Queene hee cast them all into a heauie sleepe and with Ladders of cords beeing ready prepared for the purpose he escapeth and flieth into Fraunce whether shee sendeth this Epistle complaining her owne misfortunes and greatly reioycing at his safe escape THough such sweet comfort comes not now from her As Englands Queene hath sent to Mortimer Yet what that wants which might my power approue If lines can bring thys shall supply with loue Me thinks affliction should not fright me so Nor should resume these sundry shapes of woe But when I faine would find the cause of this Thy absence shewes me where the errout is Oft when I thinke of thy departing hence Sad sorrow then posseth ' euery sence But finding thy deere blood preseru'd thereby And in thy life my long-wish'd libertie vvith that sweet thought my selfe I onely please Amidst my griefe which somtimes giues me ease Thus doe extreamest ils a ioy possesse And one woe makes another woe seeme lesse That blessed night that milde-aspected howre vvherein thou mad'st escape out of the Tower Shall consecrated euer-more remaine VVhat gentle Planet in that howre did raigne And shall be happy in the birth of men vvhich was chiefe Lord of the Ascendant then O how I feard that sleepy iuyce I sent Might yet want power to further thine intent Or that some vnseene misterie might lurke vvhich wanting order kindly should not worke Oft did I wish those dreadfull poysoned lees That clos'd the euer-waking Dragons eyes Or I had had those sence-bereauing stalkes That grow in shady Proserpines darke walkes Or those blacke weedes on Lethe bankes below Or Lunary that doth on Latmus flow Oft did I feare this moist and foggie clime Or that the earth waxt barraine now with time Should not haue hearbes to help me in this case Such as doe thriue on Indias parched face That morrow when the blessed sunne did rise And shut the lids of all heauens lesser eyes Forth from my pallace by a secret stayre I steale to Thames as though to take the ayre And aske the gentle flood as it doth glide Or thou didst passe or perrish by the tide If thou didst perrish I desire the streame To 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 seeme to knit theyr browes Euen as this suddaine passion doth affright me The cheerefull sunne breakes from a clowde to light mee Then doth the bottome euident appeare As it would shew me that thou wast not there VVhen as the water flowing where I stand Doth seeme to tell me thou art safe on land Did Bulloyne once a festiuall prepare For England Almaine Cicile 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 shameles 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 heyres vvhen we can boast câ—r birth is onely theyrs vvhen base dissembling flatterers shall deceiue vs Of all our famous Auncestors did leaue vs And of our princely iewels and our dowers vvee but enioy the least of what it ours vvhen Minions heads must weare our Monarchs crownes To raise vp dunghils with our famous townes vvhen beggers-brats are wrapt in rich perfumes Their buzzard wings impt with our Eagles plumes And match'd 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 Caernaruan 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 afterwards should liue That that proude Gascoyne banished the Land No more should tread vpon the English sand And haue these great Lords in the quarrell stood And seald his last will with theyr deerest blood That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beauchamp Lasy Lancasterâ— Another faithlesse fauorite should arise To cloude the sunne of our Nobilities And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That now a Spenser should succeede in all And that his ashes should another breed vvhich in his place and empire should succeede That wanting one a kingdoms wéalth to spend Of what that left thys now shall make an end To wast all that our Father won before Nor leaue our sonne a sword to conquer more Thus but in vaine we fondly 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 parlements must still redresse theyr wrongs And we must starue for what to vs belongs Our wealth but fuell to theyr fond excesse And we must fast to feast theyr wantonnesse Think'st thou our wrongs then insufficient are To moue our brother to religious war And if they were yet Edward doth detaine Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquytaine And if not that yet hath he broke the truce Thus all accur to put backe all excuse The sisters wrong ioynd with the brothers right Me thinks might vrge him in this cause to fight Be all those people sencelesse of our harmes vvhich for our country ought haue manag'd armes Is the braue Normans courage now forgot Or the bold Brittaines lost the vse of shot The big-bon'd Almaines and stout Brabanders Theyr warlike Pikes and sharp-edg'd Semiters Or doe the Pickards let theyr Crosbowes lie Once like the Centaurs of old Thessalie Or if a valiant Leader be theyr Lacke vvhere thou art present who should driue them backe I doe coniure thee by what is most deere By that great name of famous Mortimer By auncient VVigmors honourable Crest The Tombes 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 vvitlesse woman why should I desire To adde more heate to thy immortall fire To vrge thee by the violence of hate To shake the pillers of thine owne estate vvhen whatsoeuer 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 Torlton 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 stay the more I striue to goe As accents issue forth griefes enter in And where I end mee thinks I but begin Till then fayre time some greater good affoords 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 byrth-day as hee pretended and inuiting there-vnto sir Stephen Segraue Constable of the Tower with the â—est of the officers belonging to the same he gaue them a sleepie drinke prouided him by the Queene by which meanes he 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 got out of the Tower swam the riuer of Thames into Kent whereof she 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 Naeuarre 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 England which marriage was there solemnized with exceeding pompe and magnificence And in my place vpon his regall throne To set that girle-boy wanton Gaueston Noting the effeminacie luxurious wantonnesse 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 Gauestone that his mother was conuicted of witchcraft burned for the same and that Piers had bewitched the King Albania Gascoyne Cambria Ireland Albania Scotland so called of Albanact the second sonne of Brutus and Cambria Wales so called of Camber the third son the foure Realmes countries brought in subiection by Edward Longshankes When of our princely Iewels and our dowers We but enioy the least of what is ours A complaint of the prodigalitie of King Edward giuing vnto Gaueston the iewels treasure which was left him by the auncient Kings of England and enriching him with the goodly Manor of Wallingford assigned as parcel of the dower to the queens of this famous I le And ioyn'd with the braue issue of our blood Alie our kingdome to their crauand brood Edward the second gaue to Piers Gaueston in mariage the daughter of Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester begot of the Kings sister Ione of Acres maried to the said Earle of Glocester Should giue away all that his Father won To backe a stranger King Edward offered his right in Fraunce to Charles his brother in law and his right in Scotland to Robert Bruse to be ayded against the Barrons in the quarrell of Piers Gaueston And did great Edward on his death-bed giue Edward Longshanks on his death-bed at Carlile commanded yong Edward his sonne on his blessing not to call backe Gaueston which for the misguiding of the Princes youth was before banished by the whole counsell of the Land That after all this fearefull massaker The fall of Beuchamp Lasy Lancaster Thomas Earle of Lancaster Guy Earle of Warwick Henry Eaâ—le of Lincolne who had taken their oaths before the deceased King at his death to withstand his sonne Edward if hee should call Gauestone from exile being a thing which he much feared now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers coÌ„maundement rise in Armes against the king which was the cause of the ciuill war the ruine of so many Princes And gloried I in Gauestons great fall That now a Spenser should succeed in all The two Hugh Spensers the Father the sonne after the death of Gaueston became the great fauourites of the King the sonne beeing created by him lord Chamberlaine the father Earle of Winchester And if they were yet Edward doth detaine Homaage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitaine Edward Longshanks did homage for those Citties and Territories to the French King which Edward the second neglecting moued the French King by the subornation of Mortimer to cease those Countries into his hands By auncient Wigmors honourable Crest Wigmore in the marches of Wales was the auncient house of the Mortimers that noble and couragious familie That still so long as Borrough beares that name The Queene remembreth the great
ouerthrowe giuen to the Barrons by Andrew Herckley Earle of Carlill at Borrough bridge after the battaile at Burton And Torlton now whose counsels should direct This was Adam Torlton Bishop of Herford that great Polititian who so highly fauoured the faction of the Queene and Mortimer whose euill counsell afterward wrought the destruction of the King Mortimer to Queene Isabell. AS thy salutes my sorrowes doe adiourne So backe to thee their interest I returne Though not in so great bountie I confesse As thy heroicke princely lines expresse For how should comfort issue from the breath Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd vp in death From murthers rage thou didst me once repriue Now in exile my hopes thou doost reuiue Twice all was taken twice thou all didst giue And thus twice dead thou mak'st me twice to liue This double life of mine your onely due You gaue to me I giue it back to you Nere my escape had I aduentur'd thus As did the skie-attempting Daedalus And yet to giue more safety to my flight Haue made a night of day a day of night Nor had I backt the proud aspiring wall vvhich held without my hopes within my fall Leauing the cords to tell where I had gone For gazing eyes with feare to looke vpon But that thy beauty by a power diuine Breath'd a new life into this spirit of mine Drawne by the sunne of thy celestiall eyes vvith fiery wings made passage through the skies The heauens did seeme the charge of me to take And sea and land befriend me for thy sake Thames stopt her tide to make me way to go As thou hadst charg'd her that it should be so The hollow murmuring winds their due time kept As they had rock'd the world whilst all things slept One billow bore me and another draue me This stroue to helpe me and that stroue to saue me The brisling Reedes mou'd with the ayre did chide me As they would tell me that they meant to hide me The pale-fac'd night beheld thy heauie cheere And would not let one little starre appeare But ouer all her smokie mantle hurl'd And in thick vapours muffled vp the world And the pure ayre became so clame and still As it had beene obedient to my will And euery thing disposd vnto my rest As when on Seas the Alcâ—on builds her nest VVhen those rough waues which late with fury rusht Slide smoothly on and sodainly are husht Nor Neptune lets his surges our so long As Nature is in bringing forth her yong Nor let the Spensers glory in my chance That I should liue an exile heere in France That I from England banished should be But England rather banished from me More were her want France our great blood should beare Then Englands losse should be to Mortimer My Grandsire was the first since Arthurs raigne That the Round-table rectifi'd againe To whose great Court at Kenelworth did come The peerelesse knighthood of all Christendome vvhose Princely order honoured England more Then all the conquests she atchiu'd before Neuer durst Scot set foote on English ground Nor on his backe did English beare a wound vvhilst VVigmore flourisht in our Princely hopes And whilst our Ensigne march'd with Edwards troupes vvhilst famous Longshanks bones in fortunes scorne As sacred reliques to the field were borne Nor euer did the valiant English doubt vvhilst our braue battailes guarded them about Nor did our wiâ—es and wofull mothers mourne The English blood that stained Banocksburne vvhilst with his Minions sporting in his Tent vvhole dayes and nights in banquetting were spent Vntill the Scots which vnder safegard stood Made lauish hauocke of the English blood And battered helmes lay scattered on the shore vvhere they in conquest had beene borne before A thousand Kingdoms will we seeke from far As many Nations wast with ciuill war vvhere the disheuel'd gastly Sea-nimph sings Or well-rigd ships shall stretch their swelling wings And drag their ankors through the sandy foame About the world in euery Clime to roame And those vnchristned Countries call our owne vvhere scarce the name of England hath beene knowne And in the dead-sea sinke our houses fame From whose sterne waues we first deriu'd our Name Before foule black-mouth'd infamie shall sing That Mortimer ere stoop'd vnto a King And we will turne sterne-visag'd furie backe To seeke his spoile who sought our vtter sacke And come to beard him in our natiue Ile Ere he martch forth to follow our exile And after all these boistrous 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 fright the ayre with terror when we come Of the sterne trumpet and the bellowing drum And in the field aduance our plumy Crest And martch vpon faire Englands flowrie brest And Thames which once we for our life did swim Shaking our dewy tresses on her brim Shall beare my Nauie vaunting in her pride Falling from Tanet with the powerfull tide vvhich fertile Essex and faire Kent shall see Spreading her flags along the pleasant lee vvhen on her stemming poope she proudly beares The famous Ensignes of the Belgicke peeres And for the hatefull sacreligious sin vvhich by the Pope he stands accursed in The Cannon text shall haue a common glosse Receits in parcels shall be paid in grosse This doctrine preach'd who from the Church doth take At least shall treble restitution make For which Rome sends her curses out from farre Through the sterne throate of terror-breathing warre Till to th' vnpeopled shores she brings supplies Of those industrious Romaine Colonies And for his homage by the which of old Proud Edward Guyne and Aquitaine 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 expuls'd from Fraunce And all those townes great Longshanks left his son Now lost againe which once his father won VVithin their strong perculliz'd Ports shall lie And from their walls his sieges shall defie And by that firme and vndissolued knot Betwixt the neighbouring French and bordering Scot Bruse now shall bring his redshanks from the seas From th'Iled Orcad's and the Hebrydes And to his VVesterne Hauens giue free passe To land the vvarlike Irish Galiglasse Marching from Tweede to swelling Humber sands vvasting along the Northerne netherlands And wanting those which should his power sustaine Consum'd with slaughter in his bloody raigne Our warlike sword shall driue him from his throne vvhere he shall lie for vs to tread vpon And those great Lords now after theyr attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints And by the superstitious people thought That by their 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 abhor theyr King Nor shall a Spenser be he nere so great Possesse our VVigmore
combine And Yorks sweet branch with Lancasters entwine And in one stalke did happily vnite The pure vermilion Rose with purer white I the vntimely slip of that rich stem vvhose golden bud brings forth a Diadem But oh forgiue me Lord it is not I Nor doe I boast of this but learne to die vvhilst we were as our selues conioyned then Nature to nature now an alien The purest blood polluted is in blood Neerenes contemn'd if soueraignty withstood A Diadem once dazeling the eye The day too darke to see affinitie And where the arme is stretch'd to reach a Crowne Friendship is broke the deerest things throwne downe For what great Henry most stroue to auoyde The heauens haue built where earth would haue destroyd And seating Edward on his regall throne He giues to Mary all that was his owne By death assuring what by life is theyrs The lawfull claime of Henries lawfull heyres By mortall lawes the bound may be diuorc'd But heauens decree by no meanes can be forc'd That rules the case when men haue all decreed vvho tooke him hence foresaw who should succeede In vaine be counsels statutes humaine lawes vvhen chiefe of counsailes pleades the iustest cause Thus rule the heauens in theyr continuall course That yeelds to fate that doth not yeeld to force Mans wit doth build for time but to deuoure But vertu's free from time and fortunes power Then my kinde Lord sweet Gilford be not grieu'd The soule is heauenly and from heauen relieu'd And as we once haue plighted troth together Now let vs make exchange of mindes to eyther To thy faire breast take my resolued minde Arm'd against blacke dispayre and all her kinde And to my bosome breathe that soule of thine There to be made as perfect as is mine So shall our faith as firmely be approued As I of thee or thou of me beloued This life no life wert thou not deere to mee Nor this no death were I not woe for thee Thou my deere husband and my Lord before But truly learne to die thou shalt be more Now liue by prayer on heauen fixe all thy thought And surely finde what ere by zeale is sought For each good motion that the soule awakes A heauenly figure sees from whence it takes That sweet resemblance which by power of kinde Formes like it selfe an Image in the minde And in our faith the operations bee Of that diuinenes which by fayth we see vvhich neuer errs but accidentally By our fraile fleshes imbecillitie By each temptation ouer-apt to slide Except our spirit becomes our bodies guide For as our bodies prisons be these towers So to our soules these bodies be of ours vvhose fleshly walls hinder that heauenly light As these of stone depriue our wished sight Death is the key which vnlocks miserie And lets them out to blessed libertie Then draw thy forces all vnto thy hart The strongest fortresse of this earthly part And on these three let thy assurance lie On fayth repentance and humilitie Humilitie to heauen the step the staire Is for deuotion sacrifice and Prayer The next place doth to true repentance fall A salue a comfort and a cordiall He that hath that the keyes of heauen hath That is the guide that is the port the path Faith is thy fort thy shield thy strongest ayde Neuer controld nere yeelded nere dismaid vvhich doth dilate vnfold fore-tell expresseth vvhich giues rewards inuesteth and possesseth Then thanke the heauen preparing vs this roome Crowning our heads with glorious martirdome Before the blacke and dismall dayes begin The dayes of all Idolatry and sin Not suffering vs to see that wicked age vvhen persecution vehemently shall rage vvhen tyrannie new tortures shall inuent Inflicting vengeance on the innocent Yet heauen forbids that Maries wombe shall bring Englands faire Sceptâ—r to a forraine King But vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it vvhich broken hurt and wounded shall receaue it And on her temples hauing plac'd the Crowne Roote out the dregs Idolatry hath sowne And Syons glory shall againe restore Layd ruine wast and desolate before And from black sinders and rude heapes of stones Shall gather vp the Martyrs scattred bones And shall extirpe the power of Rome againe And cast aside the heauy yoke of Spayne Farewell sweet Gilford know our end is neere Heauen is our home we are but strangers heere Let vs make hast to goe vnto the blest vvhich from these weary worldly labours rest And with these lines my deerest Lord I greete thee Vntill in heauen thy Iane againe shall meete thee Notes of the Chronicle Historie They which begot vs did beget this sin SHewing the ambition of the two Dukes their Fathers whose pride was the cause of the vtter ouerthrow of theyr chyldren At Durham Pallace where sweet Hymen sang The buildings c. The Lord Gilford Dudley fourth sonne to Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland married the Lady Iane Gray daughter to the duke of Suffolke at Durham house in the Strand When first mine eares were persed with the fame Of Iane proclaimed by a Princesse name Presently vpon the death of King Edward the Lady Iane was taken as Queene conueyed by water to the Tower of London for her safetie and after proclaimed in diuers parts of the Realme as so ordained by King Edwards Letters-pattents and his will My Grandsire Brandon did our house aduaunce By princely Mary dowager of Fraunce Henry Gray Duke of Suffolk married Frauncis the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the French queene by which Frauncis he had this Lady Iane this Mary the French Queene vvas daughter to king Henry the seauenth by Elizabeth his Queene which happy mariage coÌ„ioyned the two noble families of Lancaster York For what great Henrie most stroue to auoyde Noting the distrust that King Henry the eyght euer had in the Princesse Mary his daughter â—earing she should alter the state of Religion in the Land by matching with a stranger confessing the right that King Henries issue had to the Crowne And vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it A prophecy of queene Maries barrenâ—es of the happy glorious raigne of Queene Elizabeth her restoring of Religion the abolishing of the Romish seruitude casting aside the yoke of Spayne The Lord Gilford Dudley to the Lady Iane Gray AS Swan-like singing at thy dying howre Such my reply returning from this tower O if there were such power but in my verse As in these woes my wounded hart doe pierce Stones taking sence th' obdurate flint that heares Should at my plaints dissolue it selfe to teares Lend me a teare I le pay thee with a teare And interest to if thou the stocke forbeare vvoe for a woe and for thy interest lone I will returne thee frankly two for one And if thou thinke too soone one sorrow ends Another twice so long shall make amends Perhaps thow'lt iudge in such extreames as these That words of comfort might far better please But such strange power in thy perfection
to accept this Epistle which I dedicate as zealously as I hope you will patronize willingly vntill some more acceptable seruice may be witnesse of my loue to 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 deâ—osed from his crowne and kingly dignitie by Henry Duke of Herford the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lankaster 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 senâ— from the Tower of London as a prisoner vnto Pomfret Castle VVhether this poore Lady bewailing her husbands misfortunes writeth this Epistle from Fraunce AS doth the yeerely Auger of the spring In depth of woe thus I my sorrow sing vvords tun'd with sighs teares falling oft among A dolefull burâ—hen to a heauie song VVords issue forth to finde my griefe some way Teares ouertake them and doe bid them stay Thus whilst one striues to keepe the other back Both once too forward now are both too slack If fatall Pomfret hath in former time Nurrish'd the griefe of that vnnaturall Clime Thether I send my sorrowes 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 own They say al mischiefe commeth from the North It is too true my fall doth set it forth 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 resists the more we doe restraine it Oh how euen yet I hate these wretched eyes And in my glasse oft call them faithlesse spies Prepard for Richard that vnwares did looke Vpon that traytor Henry Bollingbrooke But that excesse of ioy my sence bereau'd So much my sight had neuer been deceau'd Oh how vnlike to my lou'd Lord was hee vvhom rashly I sweet Richard tooke for thee I might haue seene the Coursers selfe did lack That princely rider should bestride his back Hee that since nature her great work began Shee made to be the mirrhor of a man That when she ment to forme som matchles lim Still for a patterne tooke some part of him And ielous of her cunning brake the mould In his proportion done the best she could Oh let that day be guiltie of all sin That is to come or heeretofore hath bin vvherein great Norfolkes forward course was staid To proue the treasons he to Herford layd vvhen with sterne furie both these Dukes enrag'd Theyr vvarlike gloues at Couentry engag'd vvhen first thou didst repeale thy former grant Seal'd to braue Mowbray as thy Combatant From his vnnumbred houres let time deuide it Least in his minutes he should hap to hide it Yet on his brow continually to beare it That when it comes all other dayes may feare it And all ill-boding Planets by consent That day may hold theyr dreadfull parlement Be it in heauens Decrees enroled thus Blacke dismall fatall inauspitious Proude Herford then in height of all his pride Vnder great Mowbrayes valiant hand had dy'de Nor should not thus from banishment retyre The fatall brand to set our Troy on fire O why did Charles relieue his needie state A vagabond and stragling runnagate And in his Court with grace did entertaine This vagrant exile this abiected Caine VVho 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 Thy parting hence what pompe did not adorne At thy returne who laugh'd thee not to scorne VVho to my Lord a looke vouchsaf'd to lend Then all too few on Herford to attend Princes like sunnes be euermore in sight All see the clowdes betwixt them and their light Yet they which lighten all downe from theyr skies See not the cloudes offending others eyes And â—eeme 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 illegittimate 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 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 hee attempt our haplesse shore Nor set his foote on fatall Rauenspore Nor durst his slugging Hulkes approch the strand Nor stoope a top as signall to the land Had not the Percyes promisd ayde to bring Against theyr oath vnto theyr lawfull King Against theyr faith vnto our Crownes true heyre Theyr valiant kinsman Edmond Mortimer VVhen I to England came a world of eyes Like starrs attended on my faire arise At my decline like angry Planets frowne And all are set before my going downe The smooth-fac'd aâ—re did on my comming smile But with rough stormes are driuen to exile But Bullingbrooke deuisd we thus should part Fearing two sorrowes should possesse one hart To make affliction stronger doth denie That one poore comfort left our misery He had before diuorc'd thy crowne and thee vvhich might suffice and not to widow mee But that to proue the vtmost of his hate To make our fall the greater by our state Oh would Aumeâ—le had sunck when he betraid The complâ—t which that holy Abbot layd vvhen he infring'd the oath which he first tooke For thy reuenge on periur'd Bullingbrooke And been the raunsome of our friends deere blood Vntimely lost and for the earth too good And we vntimely mourne our hard estate They gone too soone and we remaine too late And though with teares I from my Lord depart This curse on Herford fall to ease my hart If the foule breach of a chast nuptiall bed May bring a curse my curse light on his head If muâ—thers 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 disioynd for vengeance cannot call Let them vnited strongly curse him all And for the Percyes heauen may heare my prayer That Bullingbrooke now plac'd in Richards chaire Such cause of woe vnto theyr wiues may be As those rebellious Lords haue beene to me And that proude Dame which now controlleth all And in her pompe