sev'ral Nation And nothing more than England hold in scorn So live as Strangers whereas they were born But thy return in this I do not read Thou art a perfect Gentleman indeed O God forbid that Howards Noble line From ancient Vertue should so far decline The Muses train whereof your self are chief Only to me participate their Grief To sooth their humors I do lend them ears He gives a Poet that his Verses hears Till thy return by hope they only live Yet had they all they all away would give The World and they so ill according be That Wealth and Poets never can agree Few live in Court that of their good have care The Muses friends are every-where so rare Some praise thy Worth that it did never know Only because the better sort do so Whose judgment never further doth extend Than it doth please the greatest to commend So great an ill upon desert doth chance When it doth pass by beastly ignorance Why art thou slack whilst no man puts his hand stand * To raise the mount where Surrey's Towers must Or Who the groundsil of that work doth lay Whilst like a Wand'rer thou abroad do'st stray Clip'd in the Arms of some lascivious Dame When thou shouldst rear an Ilion to thy Name When shall the Muses by fair Norwich dwell To be the City of the learned Well Or Phoebus Altars there with Incense heap'd As once in Cyrrha or in Thebe kept Or when shall that fair hoof-plow'd Spring distill From great Mount-Surrey out of Leonards Hill Till thou return the Court I will exchange For some poor Cottage or some Country Grange Where to our Distaves as we sit and Spin My Maid and I will tell what things have bin Our Lutes unstrung shall hang upon the Wall Our Lessons serve to wrap our Towe withal And pass the Night whiles Winter tales we tell Of many things that long ago befell Or tune such homely Carrols as were sung In Courtly Sport when we our selves were young In prety Riddles to bewray our Loves In questions purpose or in drawing Gloves The Noblest Spirits to Vertue most inclin'd These here in Court thy greatest want do find Others there be on which we feed our Eye * Like Arras-work or such like Image'ry Many of us desire Queen Kath'rines state But very few her Vertues imitate Then as Vlysses Wife write I to thee Make no reply but come thy self to me ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History Then Windsors or Fitz-Geralds Families THe cost of many Kings which from time to time have adorned the Castle at Windsor with their Princely Magnificence hath made it more Noble than that it need to be spoken of now as though obscure and I hold it more meet to refer you to your vulgar Monuments for the Founders and Finishers thereof than to meddle with matter nothing to the purpose As for the Family of the Fitz-Geralds of whence this excellent Lady was lineally descended the original was English though the Branches did spread themselves into distant Places and Names nothing consonant as in former times it was usual to denominate themselves of their Manours or Forenames as may partly appear in that which ensueth the light whereof proceeded from my learned and very worthy Friend Master Francis Thin Walter of Windsor the Son of Oterus had to Issue William of whom Henry now Lord Windsor is descended and Robert of Windsor of whom Robert the now Earl of Essex and Gerald of Windsor his third Son who married the Daughter of Rees the great Prince of Wales of whom came Nesta Paramour to Henry the First Which Gerald had Issue Maurice Fitz-Gerald Ancestor to Thomas Fitz-Maurice Justice of Ireland buryed at Trayly leaving Issue John his Eldest Son first Earl of Kildare Ancestor to Geraldine and Maurice his second Son first Earl of Desmond To raise the Mount where Surrey's Tow'rs must stand Alluding to the sumptuous House which was afterward builded by him upon Leonard's Hill right against Norwich which in the Rebellion of Norfolk under Ket in King Edward the Sixth's time was much defaced by that impure Rabble Betwixt the Hill and the City as Alexander Nevil describes it the River of Yarmouth râ—…s having West and South thereof a Wood and a little Village called Thorp and on the North the pastures of Mousholl which contain about six miles in length and breadth So that besides the stately greatness of Mount Surrey which was the Houses name the Prospect and Sight thereof was passing pleasant and commodious and no where else did that increasing evil of the Norfolk Fury enkennel it self then but there as it were for a manifest token of their intent to debase all high things and to profane all holy Like Arras-work or rather Imagery Such was he whom Juvenal taxeth in this manner Truncoque similimus Herme Nullo quippe alio vincis discrimine quam quod Illi marmorcum caput est tua vivit Imago Seeming to be born for nothing else but Apparel and the outward appearance intituled Complement with whom the ridiculous Fable of the Ape in Aesop sorteth fitly who coming into a Carver's House and viewing many Marble Works took up the Head of a Man very cunningly wrought who greatly in praising did seem to pity it that having so comely an outside it had nothing within like empty Figures walk and talk in every place at whom the Noble Geraldine modestly glanceth FINIS The Lady Jane Gray TO THE Lord GILFORD DVDLEY The ARGUMENT After the death of that vertuous Prince King Edward the Sixth the Son of that famous King Henry the Eighth Jane the Daughter of Henry Gray Duke of Suffolk by the consent of John Dudley Duke of Northumberland was proclaimed Queen of England being married to Gilford Dudley the fourth Son of the aforesaid Duke of Northumberland which Match was concluded by their ambitious Father who went about by this means to bring the Crown unto their Children and to dispossess the Princess Mary eldest Daughter of King Henry the Eighth Heir to King Edward her Brother Queen Mary rising in Arms to claim her rightful Crown taketh the said Jane Gray and the Lord Gilford her Husband being lodged in the Tower for their more safety which place being lastly their Pallace by this means becomes their Prison where being severed in sundry prisons they write these Epistles one to another MIne own dear Lord since thou art lock'd from me In this disguise my love must steal to thee Since to renue all Loves all kindness past This refuge scarcely left yet this the last My Keeper coming I of thee enquire Who with thy greeting answers my desire Which my tongue willing to return again Grief stops my words and I but strive in vain Where-with amaz'd away in hast he goes When through my Lips my Heart thrusts forth my Woes But then the doors that make a doleful sound Drive back my words that in the noise are drown'd Which somewhat hush'd the Eccho doth record And
Harford and the faithfull assurance of his Victory Oh why did Charles relieve his needy state A Vagabond c. Charles the French King her Father received the Duke of Harford and relieved him in France being so nearly allied 〈◊〉 Cousin German to King Richard his Son in Law which he did simply little thinking that he should after return to England and dispossess King Richard of the Crown When thou to Ireland took'st thy last Farewell King Richard made a Voyage with his Army into Ireland against Onell and Mackmur who rebelled at what time Henry entred here at home and robbed him of all Kingly Dignity Affirm'd by Church-men which should bear no Hate That John of Gaunt was illegitimate William Wickham in the great Quarrel betwixt John of Gaunt and the Clergy of meer Spight and Malice as it should seem reported That the Queen confessed to him on her Death-Bed being then her Confessor That John of Gaunt was the Son of a Flemming and that she was brought to Bed of a Woman-Child at Gaunt which was smothered in the Cradle by mischance and that she obtained this Child of a poor Woman making the King believe it was her own greatly fearing his displeasure Fox ex Chron. Alban No Bastards Mark doth blot his conq'ring Shield Shewing the true and indubitate Birth of Richard his Right unto the Crown of England as carrying the Arms without Blot or Difference Against their Faith unto the Crowns true Heir Their valiant Kinsman c. Edmund Mortimer Earl of March son of Earl Roger Mortimer which was Son to Lady Philip Daughter to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son to King Edward the â—hird which Edmund King Richard going into Ireland was proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown whose Aunt called Elinor this Lord Piercy had married Oh would Aumerl had sunk when he betray'd The Plot which once that Noble Abbot laid The Abbot of Westminster had plotted the Death of King Henry to have been done at a Tilt at Oxford Of which Confederacy there was John Holland Duke of Excester Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey the Duke of Aumerl Montacute Earl of Salisbury Spencer Earl of Gloucester the Bishop of Carlile Sir Thomas Blunt these all had bound themselves one to another by Indenture to perform it but were all betrayed by the Duke of Aumerl Scroop Green and Bushy dye his Fault in grain Henry going towards the Castle of Flint where King Richard was caused Scroop Green and Bushy to be executed at Bristow as vile Persons which had seduced the King to this lascivious and wicked life Damn'd be the Oath he made at Doncaster After Henries exile at his return into England he took his Oath at Doncaster upon the Sacrament not to claim the Croâ—… or Kingdom of England but only the Dukedome of Lancaster his own proper Right and the Right of his Wife And mourn for Henry Hotspur her dear Son As I for my c. This was the brave couragious Henry Hotspur that obtained so many Victories against the Scots which after falling 〈◊〉 right with the Curse of Queen Isabel was slain by Henry the Battel at Shrewsbury FINIS RICHARD the Second TO Queen ISABEL WHat can my Queen but hope for from this Hand That it should write which never could command A Kingdoms Greatness think how he should sway That wholesome Counsel never could obey Ill this rude Hand did guide a Scepter then Worse now I fear me it will rule a Pen. How shall I call my self or by what Name To make thee know from whence these Letters came Not from thy Husband for my hateful Life Makes thee a Widdow being yet a Wife Nor from a King that Title I have lost Now of that Name proud Bullenbrook may boast What I have been doth but this comfort bring No words so wofull as I was a King This lawless Life which first procur'd my Hate * This Tongue which then renounc'd my Regal State This abject Soul of mine consenting to it This Hand that was the Instrument to doe it All these be witness that I now deny All Princely Types all Kingly Soveraignty Didst thou for my sake leave thy Fathers Court Thy famous Country and thy Princely Port And undertook'st to travel dang'rous Ways Driven by aukward Winds and boyst'rous Seas * And left'st great Burbon for thy love to me Who su'd in Marriage to be link'd to thee Offering for Dower the Countries neighb'ring nigh Of fruitfull Almaine and rich Burgundie Didst thou all this that England should receive thee To miserable Banishment to leave thee And in my Down-fall and my Fortunes wrack Thus to thy Country to convey thee back When quiet Sleep the heavey Hearts Relief Hath rested Sorrow somewhat less'ned Grief My passed Greatness into mind I call And think this while I dreamed of my Fall With this Conceit my Sorrows I beguile That my fair Queen is but with drawn a while And my Attendants in some Chamber by As in the height of my Prosperity Calling a loud and asking who is there The Eccho answ'ring tels me Woe is there And when mine Arms would gladly thee enfold I clip the Pillow and the place is cold Which when my waking Eyes precisely view 'T is a true token that it is too true As many Minutes as in the Hours there be So many Hours each Minute seems to me Each Hour a Day Morn Noon-tide and a Set Each Day a Year with Miseries compleat A Winter Spring-time Summer and a Fall All Seasons varying but unseasoned all In endless Woe my thred of Life thus wears In Minutes Hours Days by Months to lingring Years They praise the Summer that enjoy the South Pomfret is closed in the Norths cold Mouth There pleasant Summer dwelleth all the Year Frost-starved-Winter doth inhabit here A place wherein Despair may fitly dwell Sorrow best suiting with a cloudy Cell * When Harford had his Judgement of Exile Saw I the People's murmuring the while Th' uncertain Commons touch'd with inward Care As though his Sorrows mutually they bare Fond Women and scarce-speaking Children mourn Bewayle his parting wishing his return * That I was forc'd t'abridg his banish'd Years When they be dew'd his Foot-steps with their Tears Yet by example could not learn to know To what his Greatness by their Love might grow * But Henry boasts of our Atchievements don Bearing the Trophies our great Fathers won And all the story of our famous War Must grace the Annals of Great Lancaster * Seven goodly Siens in their Spring did flourish Which one self-Root brought forth one Stock did nourish * Edward the top-Branch of that golden Tree Nature in him her utmost power did see Who from the Bud still blossomed so fair As all might judge what Fruit it meant to bare But I his Graft of ev'ry Weed o'er-grown And from our kind as Refuse forth am thrown * We from our Grandsire stood in one Degree But after Edward John the young'st of three Might Princely Wales beget a
thought That by their Reliques Miracles are wrought And think that Floud much vertue doth retain Which took the Bloud of famous Bohun slain Continuing the remembrance of the thing Shall make the People more abhor their King Nor shall a Spenser be he ne'er so great Possess our Wigmore our renowned Seat To raze the ancient Trophies of our Race With our deserts their Monuments to grace Nor shall he lead our valiant Marchers forth To make the Spensers famous in the North Nor be the Guardants of the British Pales Defending England and preserving Wales At first our Troubles easily recall'd But now grown head-strong hardly to be rul'd Deliberate counsel needs us to direct Where not ev'n plainess frees us from suspect By those Mishaps our Errors that attend Let us our Faults ingenuously amend Then Dear repress all peremptory Spleen Be more than Woman as you are a Queen Smother those Sparks which quickly else would burn Till Time produce what now it doth adjourn Till when great Queen I leave you though a while Live you in rest nor pity my Exile ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd up for Death ROger Mortimer Lord of Wigmore had stood publickly condemned for his Insurrection with Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Bohun Earl of Hereford the space of three Months and as report went the day of his Execution was determined to have been shortly which he prevented by his escape Twice all was taken twice thou all didst give At what time the two Mortimers this Roger Lord of Wigmore and his Uncle Roger Mortimer the elder were apprehended in the West the Queen by means of Torlton Bishop of Hereford and Beck Bishop of Duresme and Patriarch of Jerusalem being then both mighty in the State upon the submission of the Mortimers somewhat pacified the King and now secondly she wrought means for his escape Leaving the Cords to tell where I had gone With strong Ladders made of Cords provided him for the purpose be escaped out of the Tower which when the same were found fastened to the Walls in such a desperate Attempt they bred astonishment in the Beholders Ne'er let the Spencers glory in my chance The two Hugh Spencers the Father and the Son then being so highly favour'd of the King knew that their greatest safety came by his Exile whose high and turbulent Spirit could never brook any Corrival in Greatness My Grandsire was the first since Arthur's Reign That the Round Table rectified again Roger Mortimer called the great Lord Mortimer Grandfather to this Roger which was afterward the first Earl of March erected again the Round Table at Kenelworth after the antient Order of King Arthurs Table with the Retinue of an hundred Knights and an hundred Ladies in his House for the entertaining of such Adventurers as came thither from all parts of Christendome Whilst famous Longshank's Bones in Fortunes scorn Edward Longshanks willed at his Death that his Body should be boyled the Flesh from the Bones and that the Bones should be born to the Wars in Scotland which he was perswaded unto by a Prophecy which told That the English should still be fortunate in Conquest so long as his Bones were carried in the Feild The English Bloud that stained Banocksbourn In the great Voyage Edward the Second made against the Scots at the Battel at Striveling near unto the River of Banocksbourn in Scotland there was in the English Camp such Banquetting and Excess such Riot and Disorder that the Scots who in the mean time laboured for Advantage gave to the English a great Overthrow And in the Dead-Sea sink our Houses Fame From whose c. Mortimer so called of Mare Mortuum and in French Mortimer in English the Dead-Sea which is said to be where Sodom and Gomorrha once were before they were destroyed with fire from Heaven And for that hatefull Sacrilegious Sin Which by the Pope he stands accursed in Gaustellinus and Lucas two Cardinals sent into England from Pope Clement to appease the antient Hate between the King and Thomas Earl of Lancaster to whose Embassy the King seemed to yield but after their Departure he went back from his Promises for the which he was accursed at Rome Of those industrious Roman Colonies A Colony is a sort or number of People that come to inhabit a Place before not inhabited whereby he seems here to prophesie of the subversion of the Land the Pope joyning with the Power of other Princes against Edward for the breach of his Promise Charles by invasive Arms again shall take Charles the French King moved by the Wrong done unto his Sister seizeth the Provinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands stirred the rather thereto by Mortimer who sollicited her cause in France as is expressed before in the other Epistle in the Gloss upon this Point And those great Lords now after their Attaints Cannoniz'd among the English Saints After the death of Thomas Earl of Lancaster at Pomfret the People imagined great Miracles to be done by his Relicks as they did of the Body of Bohun Earl of Hereford slain at Burrough Bridge FINIS EDWARD The Black PRINCE TO ALICE Countess of Salisbury The ARGUMENT Alice Countess of Salisbury remaining at Roxborough Castle in the North in the absence of the Earl her Husband who was by the King's command sent over into Flanders and there deceased e'er his return This Lady being besieged in her Castle by the Scots Edward the Black Prince being sent by the King his Father to relieve the North Parts with an Army and to remove the Siege of Roxborough there fell in Love with the Countess when after she return'd to London he sought by divers and sundry means to win her to his youthfull Pleasures as by forcing the Earl of Kent her Father and her Mother unnaturally to become his Agents in his vain desires where after a long and assured tryal of her invincible Constancy he taketh her to his VVife to which end he only frameth this Epistle REceive these Papers from thy wofull Lord With far more Woes than they with Words are stor'd Which if thine Eye for rashness do reprove They 'll say they came from that imperious Love In ev'ry Line well may'st thou understand Which Love hath sign'd and sealed with his hand And where to farther process he refers In Blots set down to thee for Characters This cannot blâ—sh although you do refuse it Nor will reply however you shall use it All 's one to this though you should bid Despair This still entreats you this still speaks you fair Hast thou a living Soul a humane Sense To like dislike prove order and dispence The depth of Reason soundly to advise To love things good things hurtfull to despise The touch of Judgement which should all things prove Hast thou all this yet not allow'st my Love Sound moves a Sound Voice doth beget a Voice One Eccho makes another to rejoyce One well-tun'd String set
voyce did please her Babe so well As his did mine of you to hear him tell I have made short the Hours that Time made long And chain'd mine Ears to his most pleasing Tongue My Lips have waited on your Praises worth And snatcht his words e'er he could get them forth When he had spoke and something by the way 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 he When I have prais'd him but for praising thee And to proceed I would intreat and woe And yet to ease him help to praise thee too And must she now exclaim against the wrong Off'red by him whom she hath lov'd so long Nay I will tell and I durst almost swear Edward will blush when he his Fault shall hear Judge now that Time doth Youths desire asswage And Reason mildly quench the fire of Rage By upright Justice let my Cause be try'd And be thou judge if I not justly chide * That not my Father's grave and reverend years When on his Knee he beg'd me with his Tears By no perswasions possibly could win To free himself from prompting me to Sin The Woe for me my Mother did abide Whose sute but you there 's none would have deny'd Your lustfull Rage your Tyranny could stay Mine Honours Ruin further to delay Have I not lov'd you let the Truth be shown That still preserv'd your Honour with mine own Had your fond Will your foul Desires prevail'd When you by them my Chastity assail'd Though this no way could have excus'd my Fault True vertue never yielded to Assault Besides the Ill of you that had been said My Parents Sin had to your charge been laid * And I have gain'd my Liberty with shame To save my Life made Shipwrack of my Name Did Roxborough once vail her tow'ring Fanes To thy brave Ensigns on the Northern Plains And to thy Trumpets sounding from thy Tent Mine oft again thee hearty Welcome sent And did receive thee as my Soveraign Liege Coming to aid me thus me to besiege To raise a Foe that but for Treasure came To plant a Foe to take my honest Name Under pretence to have romov'd the Scot And would'st have won more then he could have got That did ingirt me ready still to flye But thou lay'dst Batt'ry to my Chastity O Modesty didst thou me not restrain How could I chide you in this angry vain A Princes Name Heav'n knows I do not crave To have those Honours Edward's Spouse should have Nor by Ambitious Lures will I be brought In my chast Breast to harbour such a Thought As to be worthy to be made a Bride A Piece unfit for Princely Edward's side Of all the most unworthy of that grace To wait on her that should enjoy that place But if that Love Prince Edward doth require Equal his Vertues and my chast desire If it be such as we may justly vaunt A Prince may sue for and a Lady grant If it be such as may suppress my Wrong That from your vain unbridled Youth hath sprung That Faith I send which I from you receive * The rest unto your Princely Thoughts I leave ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Twice as a Bride I have to Church been led THE two Husbands of which she makes mention objecting Bigamy against her self as being therefore not meet to be married with a Batchelour-Prince were Sir Thomas Holland Knight and Sir William Mountague afterward made Earl of Salisbury That not my Fathers grave and rev'rend years A thing incredible that any Prince should be so unjust to use the Fathers means for the corruption of the Daughters Chastity though so the History importeth her Father being so honourable and a Man of so singular desert though Polydore would have her thought to be Jane the Daughter to Edmund Earl of Kent Uncle to Edward the third beheaded in the Protectorship of Mortimer that dangerous Aspirer And I have gain'd my Liberty with shame Roxborough is a Castle in the North mis-termed by Bandello Salisbury Castle because the King had given it to the Earl of Salisbury in which her Lord being absent the Countess by the Scots was besieged who by the coming of the English Army were removed Here first the Prince saw her whose Liberty had been gained by her shame had she been drawn by dishonest Love to satisfie his Appetite but by her most praise-worthy Constancy she converted that humour in him to an honourable purpose and obtained the true reward of her admired Vertues The rest unto your Princely Thoughts I leave Lest any thing be left out which were worth the Relation it shall not be impertinent to annex the Opinions that are uttered concerning her whose Name is said to have been Elips but that being rejected as a Name unknown among us Froisard is rather believed who calleth her Alice Polydore contrarywise as before is declared names her Jane who by Prince Edward had Issue Edward dying young and Richard the Second King of England though as he saith she was divorced afterward because within the degrees of Consangumity prohibiting to marry The truth whereof I omit to discuss Her Husband the Lord Mountague being sent over into Flanders by King Edward was taken Prisoner by the French and not returning left his Countess a Widow in whose Bed succeeded Prince Edward to whose last and lawful Request the rejoyceful Lady sends this loving Answer FINIS Queen ISABEL TO RICHARD the Second The ARGUMENT Queen Isabel the Daughter of Charles King of France being the second Wife of Richard the second Son of Edward the Black Prince Eldest Son of King Edward the third after the said Richard her Husband was deposed by Henry Duke of Hereford eldest Son of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth Son of Edward the third this Lady being then very young was sent back into France without Dowre at what time the deposed King her Husband was sent from the Tower of London is a Prisoner unto Pomfret Castle this poor Lady bewailing her Husband's Misfortunes writeeth this Epistle to him from France AS doth the yearly Augure of the Spring In depth of Woe thus I my Sorrow sing My Tunes with Sighs yet ever mixt among A dolefull Burthen to a heavy Song Words issue forth to find my Grief some way Tears overtake them and do bid them stay Thus whilst one strives to keep the other back Both once too forward soon are both too slack If fatal Pomfret hath in former time Nourish'd the Grief of that unnat'ral Clime Thither I send my Sorrows to be fed Than where first born where sitter to be bred They unto France be Aliens and unknown England from her doth challenge these her own They say all Mischief cometh from the North It is too true my Fall doth set it forth But why should I thus limit Grief a place When all the World is fill'd
my Counsel yet this comfort is It cannot hurt although I think amiss Then live in hope in Triumph to return When clearer Days shall leave in Clouds to mourn But so hath Sorrow girt my Soul about That that word Hope me thinks comes slowly out The reason is I know it here would rest Where it might still behold thee in my Breast Farewel sweet Pool fain more I would indite But that my Tears do blot what I do write ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Or brings in Burgoin to aid Lancaster PHilip Duke of Burgoine and his Son were always great Favorites of the House of Lancaster howbeit they often dissembled both with Lancaster and York Who in the North our lawful Claim commends To win us credit with our valiant Friends The chief Lords of the North parts in the time of Henry the Sixth withstood the Duke of York at his Rising giving him two great overthrows To that Allegeance York was bound by Oath To Henry's Heirs for safety of us both No longer now he means Records shall bear it He will dispence with Heaven and will unswear it The Duke of York at the death of Henry the Fifth and at this Kings Coronation took his Oath to be true subject to him and his Heirs for ever but afterward dispensing therewith claymed the Crown as his rightful and proper Inheritance If three Sons sail she 'l make the fourth a King The Duke of York had four Sons Edward Earl of March that afterward was Duke of York and King of England when he had deposed Henry the Sixth and Edmund Earl of Rutland slain by the Lord Clifford at the Battle at Wakefield and George Duke of Clarence that was murthered in the Tower and Richard Duke of Gloucester who was after he had murthered his Brothers Sons King by the Name of Richard the Third He that 's so like his Dam her youngest Dick That foul ill-favour'd crook-back'd Stigmatick c. Till this Verse As though begot an age c. This Richard whom ironically she calls Dick that by Treason after the murther of his Nephews obtained the Crown was a Man low of stature crook-back'd the left shoulder much higher than the right and of a very crabbed and sowr countenance His Mother could not be delivered of him he was born Toothed and with his Feet forward contrary to the course of Nature To over-shaddow our Vermilion Rose The Red Rose was the Badge of the House of Lancaster and the White Rose of York which by the marriage of Henry the Seventh with Elizabeth indubitate Heir of the House of York was happily united Or who will muzzle that unruly Bear The Earl of Warwick the setter up and puller down of Kings gave for his Arms the White Bear rampant and the Ragged Staff My daisy flower which once perfum'd the Air Which for my favour Princes dayn'd to wear Now in the dust lies c. The Daisy in French is called Margarite which was Queen Margarets Badge wherewithal the Nobility and Chivalry of the Land at her first arrival were so delighted that they wore it in their Hats in token of Honour And who be Stars but Warwicks bearded Staves The ragged and bearded Staff was a part of the Arms belonging to the Earldom of Warwick Sland'ring Duke Rayner with base Beggery Rayner Duke of Anjou called himself King of Naples Cicile and Jerusalem who had neither Inheritance nor reâ—eived any Tribute from those Parts and was not able at the Marriage of the Queen at his own Charge to send her into England though be gave no Dower with her Which by the Duchess of Gloucester was often in disgrace cast in her Teeth A Kentish Rebel a base upstart Groom This was Jack Cade which caused the Kentish Men to rebel in the eight and twentieth year of King Henry the Sixth And this is he the White Rose must prefer By Clarence Daughter match'd to Mortimer This Jack Cade instructed by the Duke of York pretended to be descended from Mortimer which married Lady Philip Daughter to the Duke of Clarence And makes us weak by strengthning Ireland The Duke of York being made Deputy of Ireland first there began to practise his long pretended purpose and strengthning himself hy all means possible that he might at his return into England by open War claim that which so long before he had privily gone about to obtain Great Winchester untimely is deceas'd Henry Beauford Bishop and Cardinal Wincester Son to John of Gaunt begot in his age was a proud and ambitious Prelate favouring mightily the Queen and the Duke of Suffolk continually heaping up innumerable Treasures in hope to have been Pope as himself on his deah-bed confessed With France t' upbraid the valiant Somerset Edmund Duke of Somerset in the four and twentieth year of Henry the Sixth was made Regent of France and sent into Normandy to defend the English Territories against the French Invasions but in short time he lost all that King Henry the Fifth won for which cause the Nobles and Commons ever after hated him T' indure these storms with woful Buckingham Humphry Duke of Buckingham was a great Favorite of the Queens Faction in the time of Henry the Sixth And one foretold by Water thou shouldst dye The Witch of Eye received answer from her Spirit That the Duke of Suffolk should take heed of Water Which the Queen fore-warns him of as remembring the Witches Prophesie which afterwards came to pass FINIS EDWARD the Fourth TO Mistress SHORE The ARGUMENT Edward the Fourth Son to Richard Duke of York after he had obtained quiet possession of the Crown by deposing Henry the Sixth which Henry was after murthered in the Tower by Crook'd-back Richard hearing by report of many the rare and wonderful Beauty of Mrs. Jane Shore so called of her Husband a Goldsmith in Lombard-Sreet cometh himself disguised to London to see her where after he had once beheld her he was so surprised with her admirable Beauty that not long after he robbed her Husband of his dearest Jewel but he first by this Epistle writeth to his beauteous Paramour TO thee the fair'st that ever breath'd this Air * From English Edward to thee fairest fair Ah would to God thy Title were no more That no remembrance might remain of Shore To countermand a Monarchs high desire And barr mine Eyes of what they most admire Oh! why should Fortune make the City proud To give that more than is the Court allow'd Where they like Wretches hoord it up to spare And do ingross it as they do their Ware When Fame first blaz'd thy Beauty hear in Court Mine Ears repuls'd it as a light Report But when mine Eyes saw what mine Ear had heard They thought Report too niggardly had spar'd And strucken dumb with wonder did but mutter Conceiving more than it had words to utter Then think of what thy Husband is possest When I malign the Wealth wherewith hee 's blest When much abundance makes the
forreign King * But unto fair Elizabeth shall leave it Which broken hurt and wounded shall receive it And on her Temple having plac'd the Crown Root out the Dregs Idolatry hath sown And Sion's Glory shall again restore Laid ruine wast and desolate before And from Cinders and rude heap of Stones Shall gather up the Martyrs sacred Bones And shall extirp the power of Rome again And cast aside the heavy yoke of Spain Farewell sweet Gilford know our end is near Heaven is our home we are but Strangers here Let us make haste to go unto the blest Which from these weary worldly labours rest And with these lines my dearest Lord I greet thee Until in Heaven thy Jane again shall meet thee ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History They which begot us did beget this sin SHewing the ambition of the two Dukes their Fathers whose pride was the cause of the utter overthrow of their Children At Durham Pallace where sweet Hymen sang The buildings c. The Lord Gilford Dudley fourth Son to John Dudley Duke of Northumberland married the Lady Jane Gray Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk at Durham house in the Strand When first mine ears were pierced with the same Of Jane proclaimed by a Princess name Presently upon the death of King Edward the Lady Jane was taken as Queen conveyed by Water to the Tower of London for her safety and after proclaimed in divers places of the Realm as so ordained by King Edward's Letters-Patents and his Will My Grandsire Brandon did our House advance By Princely Mary Dowager of France Henry Gray Duke of Suffolk married Frances the eldest Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the French Queen by which Frances he had this Lady Jane This Mary the French Queen was Daughter to King Henry the Seventh by Elizabeth his Queen which happy Marriage conjoyned the Noble Families of Lancaster and York For what great Henry most strove to avoid Noting the distrust that King Henry the Eighth ever had in the Princess Mary his Daughter fearing she should alter the state of the Religion in the Land by matching with a Stranger confessing the right that King Henry's Issue had to the Crown * But unto fair Elizabeth shall leave it A Prophesie of Queen Mary's Barrenness and of the happy and glorious Reign of Queen Elizabeth her restoring of Religion the abolishing of the Romish Servitude and casting aside the Yoke of Spain The Lord Gilford Dudley TO The Lady JANE GRAY AS the Swan singing at his dying hour So I reply from my imprisoning Tow'r Oh could there be that pow'r in my Verse T' express the grief which my sad Heart doth pierce The very Walls that straitly thee inclose Would surely weep at reading of my Woes Let your Eyes lend I l'e pay you ev'ry tear And give you interest if you do forbear Drop for a drop and if you 'll needs have lone I will repay you frankly two for one Perhaps you 'll think your sorrows to appease That words of Comfort fitter were than these True and in you when such perfection liveth As in most grief me now most comfort giveth But think not Jane that cowardly I faint To beg man's mercy by my sad complaint That Death so much my Courage can controle At the departing of my living Soul For if one life a thousand lives could be All those too few to consummate with thee When thou this cross so patiently dost bear As if thou wert incapable of fear And do'st no more this dissolution fly Than if long Age constrained thee to dye Yet it is strange thou art become my Foe And only now add most unto my Woe Not that I loath what most did me delight But that so long depriv'd I'm of thy sight For when I speak complaining of my wrong Straightways thy name possesseth all my Tongue As thou before me evermore did'st lie The present Object to my longing Eye No ominous Star did at thy Birth-tide shine That might of thy sad destiny divine 'T is only I that did thy fall perswade And thou by me a Sacrifice art made As in those Countries where the loving Wives With their kind Husbands end their happy lives And crown'd with Garlands in their Brides Attire Burn with his body in the fun'ral fire And she the worthiest reck'ned is of all Whom least the peril seemeth to appall I boast not of Northumberland's great name * Nor of Ket conquer'd adding to our fame When he to Norfolk with his Armies sped And thence in chains the Rebels Captive led And brought safe peace returning to our dores Yet spread his glory on the Eastern Shores * Nor of my Brothers from whose natural grace Vertue may spring to beautifie our Race * Nor of Gray's match my Children born by thee Of the great bloud undoubtedly to be But of thy Virtue only do I boast That wherein I may justly glory most I crav'd no Kingdoms though I thee did crave It me suffic'd thy only self to have Yet let me say however it befell Methinks a Crown should have become thee well For sure thy Wisdom merited or none * To have been heard with wonder from a Throne When from thy Lips the Counsel to each deed Doth as from some wise Oracle proceed And more esteem'd thy Vertues were to me Than all that else might ever come by thee So chast thy love so innocent thy life As being a Virgin when thou wast a Wife So great a gift the Heav'n on me bestow'd As giving that it nothing could have ow'd Such was the good I did possess of late Er'e worldly care disturb'd our quiet state Er'e trouble did in ev'ry place abound And angry War our former Peace did wound But to know this Ambition us affords One Crown is guarded with a thousand swords To mean Estates mean sorrows are but show'n But Crowns have cares whose workings be unknown * When Dudley led his Armies to the East Of our whole Forces gen'rally possest What then was thought his enterprise could let * Whom a grave Council freely did abet That had the judgment of the pow'rful Laws In ev'ry point to justifie the cause The holy Church a helping hand that laid Who would have thought that these could not have swaid But what alas can Parliaments avail Where Mary's Right must Edward's Acts repeal * When Suffolk's pow'r doth Suffolk's hopes withstand Northumberland doth leave Northumberland And they that should our greatness undergo Us and our Actions only overthrow Er'e greatness gain'd we give it all our heart But being once come we wish it would depart And indiscreetly follow that so fast Which overtaken punisheth our hast If any one do pity our offence Let him be sure that he be far from hence Here is no place for any one that shall So much as once commiserate our fall And we of mercy vainly should but think Our timeless tears th' insatiate Earth doth drink All Lamentations utterly forlorn Dying before they fully can be born Mothers that should their wofull Children rue Fathers in death so kindly bid adieu Friends their dear farewell lovingly to take The faithfull Servant weeping for our sake Brothers and Sisters waiting on our Bier Mourners to tell what we were living here But we alas deprived are of all So fatal is our miserable fall And where at first for safety we were shut Now in dark prison wofully are put And from the height of our ambitious state Lie to repent our arrogance too late To thy perswasion thus I then rely Hold on thy course resolved still to dy And when we shall so happily begone Leave it to Heav'n to give the rightful Throne And with that Health I thee regreet again Which I of late did gladly entertain ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Nor of Ket conquer'd adding to our fame JOhn Duke of Northumberland when before he was Earl of Warwick in his expedition against Ket overthrow the Rebels of Norfolk and Suffolk encamped at Mount Surrey in Norfolk Nor of my Brothers from whose natural grace Gilford Dudley as remembring in this place the towardness of his Brothers which were all likely indeed to have raised that House of the Dudleys of which he was a Fourth Brother if not suppressed by their Fathers overthrow Nor of Gray's Match my Children born by thee Noting in this place the Alliance of the Lady Jane Gray by her Mother which was Frances the Daughter of Charles Brandon by Mary the French Queen Daughter to Henry the Seventh and Sister to Henry the Eighth To have been heard with wonder from a Throne Seldom hath it ever been known of any woman endued with such wonderful gifts as was this Lady both for her Wisdom and Learning of whose skill in Tongues one reporteth by this Epigram Miraris Janam Graio sermone valere Quo primum nata est tempore Graia fuit When Dudley led his Army to the East The Duke of Northumberland prepared his power at London for his expedition against the Rebels in Norfolk and making hast away appointed the rest of his forces to meet him at New-Market-Heath of whom this saying is reported that passing through Shoreditch the Lord Gray in his company seeing the people in great numbers came to see him he said The people press to see us but none bid God speed us Whom a grave Council freely did abet John Dudley Duke of Northumberland when he went out against Queen Mary had his Commission sealed for the Generalship of the Army by the consent of the whole Council of the Land insomuch that passing through the Council-Chamber at his departure the Earl of Arundel wished that he might have gone with him in that expedition and spend his bloud in the quarrel When Suffolk's pow'r doth Suffolk's hopes withstand Northumberland doth leave Northumberland The Suffolk men were the first that ever resorted to Queen Mary in her distress repairing to her succors whilst she remained both at Keningal and at Fermingham Castle still increasing her Aids until the Duke of Northumberland was left forsaken at Cambridge FINIS