That now a Spenser should succeed in all And that his Ashes should another breed Which in his Place and Empire should succeed That wanting One a Kingdoms Wealth to spend Of what that left this now shall make an end To waste all that our Father won before Nor leave our Son a Sword to conquer more Thus but in vain we fondly doe resist Where Pow'r can doe ev'n all things as it list And of our Right with Tyrants to debate Lendeth them means to weaken our Estate Whilst Parliaments must remedy their Wrongs And we must wait for what to us belongs Our Wealth but Fuel to their fond Excess And all our Fasts must feast their Wantonness Think'st thou our Wrongs then insufficient are To move our Brother to religious War * And if they were yet Edward doth detain Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitain And if not that yet hath he broke the Truce Thus all accurr to put back all excuse The Sister 's Wrong joyn'd with the Brother 's Right Methinks might urge him in this cause to fight Are all those People senseless of our Harms Which for our Country oft have manag'd Arms Is the brave Normans Courage quite forgot Have the bold Britains lost the use of Shot The big-bon'd Almans and stout Brabanders Their Warlike Pikes and sharp-edg'd Scymiters Or do the Pickards let their Cross-bows lie Once like the Centaur's of old Thessaly Or if a valiant Leader be their lack Where Thou art present who should beat them back I do conjure Thee by what is most dear By that great Name of famous Mortimer * By ancient Wigmore's honourable Crest The Tombs where all thy famous Grandsires rest Or if then these what more may Thee approve Ev'n by those Vows of thy unfeigned Love In all thou canst to stir the Christian King By forreign Arms some Comfort yet to bring To curb the Pow'r of Traytors that rebell Against the Right of Princely Isabel Vain witless Woman why should I desire To add more heat to thy Immortal fire To urge thee by the violence of Hate To shake the Pillars of thine own Estate When whatsoever we intend to doe Our most Misfortune ever sorteth too And nothing else remains for us beside But Tears and Coffins onely to provide * When still so long as Burrough bears that name Time shall not blot out our deserved shame And whilst clear Trent her wonted course shall keep For our sad Fall she evermore shall weep All see our Ruin on our Backs is thrown And we too weak to bear it out are grown * Torlton that should our Business direct The general Foe doth vehemently suspect For dangerous Things get hardly to their End Whereon so many watchfully attend What should I say My Griefs do still renew And but begin when I should bid adieu Few be my Words but manifold my Woe And still I stay the more I strive to go Then till fair Time some greater Good affords Take my Loves-payment in these airey Words ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History Oh how I fear'd that sleepy Juyce I sent Might yet want power to further mine intent MOrtimer being in the Tower ordaining a Feast in honour of his Birth-day as he pretended inviting thereunto Sir Stephen Seagrave Constable of the Tower with the rest of the Officers belonging to the same he gave them a sleepy Drink provided by the Queen by which means he made his Escape I stole to Thames as though to take the Air And ask'd the gentle Floud as it doth glide Mortimer being got out of the Tower swam the River of Thames into Kent whereof she having intelligence doubteth of his strength to escape by reason of his long Imprisonment being almost the space of three years Did Bulloyn once a Festival prepare For England Almane Cicill and Navarre Edward Carnarvan the first Prince of Wales of the English Blood married Isabel Daughter of Phillip the Fair a Bulloine in the presence of the Kings of Almain Navarre and Cicill with the chief Nobility of France and England Which Marriage was there solemnized with exceeding Pomp and Magnificence And in my place upon his Regal Throne To set that Girl-boy wanton Gaveston Noting the effeminacy and luxurious wantonness of Gaveston the Kings Minion his Behaviour and Attire ever so Womanlike to please the Eye of his lascivious Master That a foul Witches Bastard should thereby It was urged by the Queen and the Nobility in the disgrace of Pierce Gaveston that his Mother was convicted of Witchcraft and burned for the same and that Pierce had bewitched the King And of our Princely Jewels and our Dowres Let us enjoy the least of what is ours A Complaint of the Prodigality of King Edward giving unto Gaveston the Jewels and Treasure which was left him by the ancient Kings of England and enriching him with the goodly Mannor of Wallingford assigned as parcel of the Dower to the Queen of this famous Isle And match'd with the brave Issue of our Blood Allie the Kingdom to their cravand Brood Edward the Second gave to Pierce Gaveston in Marriage the Daughter of Gilbert Clare Earl of Gloucester begot of the Kings Sister Joan of Acres married to the said Earl of Gloucester Albania Gascoign Cambria Ireland Albania Scotland so called of Albanact the second Son of Brutus and Cambria Wales so called of Camber the third Son The four Realms and Countries brought in subjection by Edward Longshanks Should give away all that his Father won To back a Stranger King Edward offered his Right in France to Charles his Brother in law and his Right in Scotland to Robert Bruce to be ayded against the Barons in the Quarrel of Pierce Gaveston And did great Edward on his Death-bed give Edward Longshankes on his Death-bed at Carlile commanded young Edward his Son on his Blessing not to call back Gaveston who for the misguiding of the Princes Youth was before banished by the whole Council of the Land That after all that fearfull Massacre The Fall of Beauchamp Lacy Lancaster Thomas Earl of Lancaster Guy Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Lincoln who had taken their Oath before the deceased King at his Death to withstand his Son Edward if he should call Gaveston from exile being a thing which he much feared now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers Commandment rise in Arms against the King which was the cause of the Civil War and the Ruin of so many Princes And gloried I in Gaveston's great Fall That now a Spenser should succeed in all The two Hugh Spensers the Father and the Son after the Death of Gaveston became the great Favourites of the King the Son being created by him Lord Chamberlain and the Father Earl of Winchester And if they were yet Edward doth detain Homage for Pontiu Guyne and Aquitain Edward Longshanks did Homage for those Cities and Territories to the French King which Edward the second neglecting moved the French King by the subornation of Mortimer to seize
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
Son so base That to Gaunt's Issue should give Soveraign place * He that from France brought John his Prisoner home As those great Caesars did their Spoyls to Rome * Whose Name obtained by his fatal Hand Was ever fearfull to that conquer'd Land His Fame encreasing purchas'd in those Wars Can scarcely now be bounded with the Stars With him is Valour from the base World fled Or here in me is it extinguished Who for his Vertue and his Conquests sake Posterity a Demy-god shall make And judge this vile and abject Spirit of mine Could not proceed from temper so divine What Earthly Humour or what vulgar Eye Can look so low as on our Misery When Bullenbrook is mounted to our Throne And makes that his which we but call'd our own Into our Counsels he himself intrudes And who but Henry with the Multitudes His Power desgrades his dreadfull Frown disgraceth He throws them down whom our Advancement placeth As my disable and unworthy Hand Never had Power belonging to Command He treads our sacred Tables in the dust * And proves our Acts of Parliment unjust As though he hated that it should be said That such a Law by Richard once was made Whilst I deprest before his Greatness lye Under the weight of Hate and Infamy My Back a Foot-stool Bullenbrook to raise My Looseness mock'd and hatefull by his praise Out-live mine Honour bury my Estate And leave my self nought but my Peoples Hate Sweet Queen I le take all Counsel thou canst give So that thou bidst me neither hope nor live Succour that comes when Ill hath done his worst But sharpens Grief to make us more accurst Comfort is now unpleasing to mine Eare Past cure past care my Bed become my Bier Since now Misfortune humbleth us so long Till Heaven be grown unmindfull of our Wrong Yet it forbid my Wrongs should ever dye But still remembred to Posterity And let the Crown be fatal that he wears And ever wet with wofull Mothers Tears Thy Curse on Percy angry Heavens prevent Who have not one Curse left on him unspent To scourge the World now borrowing of my store As rich of Woe as I a King am poor Then cease dear Queen my Sorrows to bewaile My Wound 's too great for Pity now to heale Age stealeth on whilst thou complainest thus My Grief be mortal and infectious Yet better Fortunes thy fair Youth may try That follow thee which still from me doth fly ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History This Tongue which then denounc'd my Regal State RIchard the Second at the Resignation of the Crown to the Duke of Harford in the Tower of London delivering the same with his own hand there confessed his disability to govern vtterly denouncing all Kingly Authority And left'st great Burbon for thy love to me Before the Princess Isabel was married to the King Lewes Duke of Burbon sued to have had her in Marriage which was thought he had obtained if this Motion had not fallen out in the mean time This Duke of Burbon sued again to have received her at her coming into France after the imprisonment of King Richard but King Charles her Father then crossed him as before and gave her to Charles son to the Duke of Orleans When Harford had his Judgement of Exile When the Combate should have been at Coventry betwixt Henry Duke of Harford and Thomas Duke of Norfolk where Harford was adjudged to Banishment for ten years the Commons exceedingly lamented so greatly was be ever favoured of the People Then being forc'd t' abridge his banish'd years When the Duke came to take his leave of the King being then at Eltham the King to please the Commons rather then for any love he bare to Harford repealed four years of his Banishment But Henry boasts of our Atchievements done Henry the eldest son of John Duke of Lancaster at the first Earle of Darby then created Duke of Harford after the death of Duke John his father was Duke of Lancaster and Hartford Earl of Darby Liecester and Lincoln and after he had obtained the Crown was called by the name of Bullenbrook which is a Town in Lincolnshire as vsually all the Kings of England bare the name of the place where they were born Seven goodly Siens in their Spring did flourish Edward the third had seven sons Edward Prince of Wales after called the Black-Prince William of Hatfield the second Lionel Duke of Clarence the third John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth Edmund of Langley Duke of York the fifth Thomas of Woodstock Dukes of Glocester the sixt William of Windsor the seventh Edward the top-branch of that golden Tree As disabling Henry Bullenbrook being but Son of the fourth Brother William and Lionel being both before John of Gaunt He that from France brought John his Prisoner home Edward the Black-Prince taking John King of France Prisoner at the Battel of Poictiers brought him into England where at the Savoy he died Whose Name atchieved by his fatal hand Called the black-Black-Prince not so much of his Complexion as of the famous Battels he fought as is shewed before in the Gloss upon the Epistle of Edward to the Countess of Salisbury And proves our Acts of Parliament unjust In the next Parliament after Richard's Resignation of the Crown Henry caused to be annihilated all the Laws made in the Parliament called the Wicked Parliament held in the twentieth year of King Richards Reign FINIS Queen KATHERINE TO OWEN TUDOR The ARGUMENT After the Death of Henry the fifth Queen Katherine Dowager of England and France Daughter to Charles the French King holding her Estate with Henry her Son then Sixth of that name falleth in Love with Owen Tudor a Welchman a brave and gallant Gentleman of the Wardrobe to the young King her Son yet fearing if her Love should be discov'red the Nobility would cross her purposed Marriage or if her Princely promise should not assure his good success the high and great Attempt might perhaps daunt the forwardness of this modest and shamefull Youth She therefore writes to him this following Epistle JUdge not a Princes worth impeach'd hereby That Love thus triumphs over Majesty Nor think less Vertue in this Royal Hand That it intreats and wonted to command For in this sort tho' humbly now it woo The day hath been thou would'st have kneel'd unto Nor think that this submission of my State Proceeds from Frailty rather judge it Fate Alcides ne'r more fit for Wars stern Shock Then when with Women spinning at the Rock Never less Clouds did Phoebus glory dim Then in a Clowns shape when he covered him Joves great Command was never more obey'd Then when a Satyrs Antick parts he play'd He was thy King who su'd for love to me And she his Queen who sues for love to thee When Henry was my love was only his But by his death it Owen Tudors is My love to Owen him my Henry giveth My love to Henry in my Owen liveth Henry
England and France Nor these great Titles vainly will I bring Wife Daughter Mother c. Few Queens of England or France were ever more Princely allied then this Queen as it hath been noted by Historiographers Nor fear my Tudor that this love of mine Should wrong the Gaunt-born c. Noting the Descent of Henry her Husband from John Duke of Lancaster the fourth son of Edward the third which Duke John was sirnamed Gaunt of the City of Gaunt in Flanders where he was born Or make the English Blood the Sun and Moon Repine c. Alluding the Greatness of the English Line to Phoebus and Phoebe fained to be the Children of Latona whose Heavenly kind might scorn to be joyned with any Earthly Progeny yet withall boasting the Blood of France as not inferiour to theirs And with this Allusion followeth on the History of the strife betwixt Juno and the Race of Cadmus whose Issue was afflicted by the Wrath of Heaven The Children of Niobe slain for which the wofull Mother became a Rock gushing forth continually a Fountain of Tears When John and Longshanks Issue were affy'd Lewellin or Leolin ap Jorwith Married Joan daughter to King John a most beautifull Lady Some Authors affirm that she was base born Lewellinap Gryfith Married Elinor daughter to Simon Monfort Earl of Leicester and Cousin to Edward Longshanks both which Lewellins were Princes of Wales Of Camilot and all her Pentecosts To have precedence c. Camilot the Ancient Palace of King Arthur to which place all the Knights of that famous Order yearly repaired at Pentecost according to the Law of the Table and most of the famous home born Knights were of that Country as to this day is perceived by their ancient Monuments When bloody Rufus sought your utter sack Noting the ill success which William Rufus had in two Voyages he made into Wales in which a number of his chief Nobility were slain And oft return'd with glorious Victory Noting the divers sundry Incursions that the Welshmen made into England in the time Rufus John Henry the second and Longshanks OWEN TUDOR TO Queen KATHERINE WHen first mine Eyes beheld your Princely Name And found from whence this friendly Letter came As in excess of Joy I had forgot Whether I saw it or I saw it not My panting Heart doth bid mine Eyes proceed My daz'led Eyes invite my Tongue to read Which wanting their direction dully mist it My Lips which should have spoke were dumb and kist it And left the Paper in my trembling Hand When all my Senses did amazed stand Ev'n as a Mother coming to her Child Which from her presence hath been long exil'd With gentle Arms his tender Neck doth strain Now kissing it now clipping it again And yet excessive Joy deludes her so As still she doubts if this be hers or no. At length awakened from this pleasing Dream When Passion some what left to be extream My longing Eyes with their fair Object meet Where ev'ry Letter 's pleasing ev'ry Word is sweet It was not Henry's Conquest nor his Court That had the power to win me by report Nor was his dreadfull Terror-striking Name The cause that I from Wales to England came For Christian Rhodes and our Religious Truth To great Atchieuement first had won my Youth This brave Adventure did my Valour prove Before I e'er knew what it was to love Nor came I hither by some poor event But by th' Eternal Destinies consent Whose uncomprised Wisedom did fore-see That you in Marriage should be link'd to me By our great Merlin was it not fore-told Amongst his holy Prophesies enrol'd When first he did of Tudors Name divine That Kings and Queens should follow in our Line * And that the Helm the Tudors ancient Crest Should with the golden Flower-de-luce be drest As that the Leek our Countries chief Renown Should grow with Roses in the English Crown As Charles his Daughter you the Lilly were As Henry's Queen the blushing Rose you bear By France's Conquest and by Englands Oath You are the true made Dowager of both Both in your Crown both in your Cheek together Joyn Tethers love to yours and yours to Tether Then cast no future Doubts nor fear no Hate When it so long hath been fore-told by Fate And by the all-disposing doom of Heav'n Before our Births we to one Bed were giv'n No Pallas here nor Juno is at all When I to Venus yeild the golden Ball Nor when the Grecians Wonder I enjoy None in revenge to kindle fire in Troy And have not strange events divin'd to us That in our love we should be prosperous * When in thy presence I was call'd to dance In lofty Tricks whilst I my self advance And in a Turn my footing fail'd by hap Was 't not my chance to light into your Lap Who would not judge it Fortunes greatest grace Since he must fall to fall in such a place His Birth from Heav'n your Tudor not derives Nor stands on tip-toes in Superlatives Although the envious English doe devise A thousand Jests of our Hyperbolies Nor doe I claim that Plot by ancient Deeds Where Phoebus pastures fire-brreathing Steeds Nor doe I boast my God-made Grandfires Scars Nor Gyants Trophies in the Titan's Wars Nor fain my Birth your Princely Ears to please By three Nights getting as was Hercules Nor doe I forge my long Descent to run From aged Neptune or the glorious Sun * And yet in Wales with them that famous be Our learned Bards doe sing my Pedigree * And boast my Birth from great Cadwallader * From old Caer-Septon in Mount Pallador * And from Eneons Line the South-Wales King By Theodor the Tudors Name doe bring My Royal Mothers Princely Stock began * From her great Grandam fair Gwenellian By true descent from Leoline the Great As well from North-Wales as fair Powslands Seat Though for our Princely Genealogy I doe not stand to make Apology Yet who with Judgments true impartial Eyes Shall look from whence our Name at first did rise Shall find that Fortune is to us in debt And why not Tudor as Plantaginet * Nor that term Croggen Nick-name of disgrace Us'd as a by-word now in ev'ry place Shall blot our Blood or wrong a Welshman's Name Which was at first begot with England's shame Our valiant Swords our Right did still maintain Against that cruel proud usurping Dane Buckling besides in many dang'rous Fights With Norways Sweethens and with Muscovites * And kept our Native Language now thus long And to this day yet never chang'd our Tongue When they which now our Nation fain would tame Subdu'd have lost their Country and their Name Nor ever could the Saxons Swords provoke Our Britain Necks to bear their servile Yoke Where Cambria's pleasant Countries bounded be With swelling Severn and the holy De And since great Brutus first arriv'd have stood The only remnant of the Trojan Blood To every Man is not allotted Chance To boast with Henry to have
conquer'd France Yet if my Fortunes be thus rais'd by thee This may presage a further good to me And our Saint David in the Britains Right May joyn with George the Sainted English Knight * And old Caermarden Merlin's famous Town Not scorn'd by London though of such renown Ah would to God that Hour my Hopes attend Were with my Wish brought to desired end Blame me not Madam though I thus desire Many there be that after you enquire Till now your Beauty in Nights Bosome slept What Eye durst stir where awfull Henry kept Who durst attempt to sail but near the Bay Where that all-conqu'ring great Alcides lay Your Beauty now is set a Royal Prize And Kings repair to cheapen Merchandize If you but walk to take the breathing Ayre Orithia makes me that I Boreas fear If to the Fire Jove once in Lightning came And fair Egina makes me fear the flame If in the Sun then sad Suspicion dreams Phoebus should spread Lucothoe in his Beams If in a Fountain you do cool your Blood Neptune I fear which once came in a Floud If with your Maids I dread Apollo's Rape Who cous'ned Chion in an old Wives shape If you do banquet Bacchus makes me dread Who in a Grape Erigone did feed And if my self your Chamber-door should keep Yet fear I Hermes coming in a Sleep Pardon sweet Queen if I offend in this In these Delays Love most impatient is And Youth wants pow'r his hot Spleen to suppress When Hope already banquets in Excess Though Henry's Fame in me you shall not find Yet that which better shall content your mind But onely in the Title of a King VVas his advantage in no other thing If in his love more pleasure you did take Never let Queen trust Britain for my sake Yet judge me not from Modesty exempt That I another Phaetons Charge attempt My Mind that thus your Favours dare aspire Shews that 't is touch't with a celestial fire If I 'm in fault the more is Beauties blame VVhen she her self is author of the same All Men to some one quality incline Onely to Love is naturally mine Thou art by Beauty famous as by Birth Ordain'd by Heav'n to cheer the drooping Earth Add faithfull Love unto your greater State And be alike in all things fortunate A King might promise more I not deny But yet by Heav'n he lov'd not more then I. And thus I leave till time my Faith approve I cease to write but never cease to love ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History And that the Helm the Tudors antient Crest THE Arms of Tudor was three Helmets whereof he speaketh as a thing prophetically foretold of Merlin When in thy presence I was call'd to dance Owen Tudor being a courtly and active Gentleman commanded once to dance before the Queen in a Turn not being able to recover himself fell into her Lap as she sat upon a little Stool with many of her Ladies about her And yet with them in Wales that famous be Our learned Bards c. This Berdh as they call it in the Brittish Tongue or as we more properly say Bard or Bardus be their Poets which keep the Records of Pedigrees and Descents and sung in Odes and Measures to their Harps after the old manner of the Lyrick Poets And boast my Blood from great Cadwallader Cadwallader the last King of the Britains descended of the Noble and ancient Race of the Trojans to whom an Angel appeared commanding him to goe to Rome to Pope Sergius where he ended his Life From old Caer-Septon in Mount Palador Caer-Septon now called Shaftsbury at whose Building it was said an Eagle prophesied or rather one named Aquila of the fame of that Place and of the recovery of the Isle by the Britains bringing back with them the Bones of Cadwallader from Rome And from Encons Line the South-Wales King From Theodor c. This Encon was slain by the Rebels of Gwentland he was a notable and worthy Gentleman who in his life did many noble Acts and was Father to Theodor or Tudor Maur of whom descended the Princes of south-South-Wales From her great Grandam fair Gwenellian Gwenellian the daughter of Rees ap Grisseth ap Theodor Prince of south-South-Wales married Ednivet Vaughan Ancestor to Owen Tudor By true descent from Leolin the Great This is the Lowhelin called Leolinus Magnus Prince of north-North-Wales Nor that word Croggen Nick-name of disgrace In the Voyage that Henry the Second made against the Welshmen as his Souldiers passed Offas Ditch at Croggen Castle they were overthrown by the Welshmen which word Croggen hath since been used to the Welshmen's Disgrace which was at first begun with their Honour And kept our Native Language now thus long The Welshmen be those ancient Britains which when the Picts Danes and Saxons invaded here were first driven into those parts where they have kept their Language ever since the first without commixtion with any other And old Caer-Marden Merlins famous Town Caer-Marden or Merlin's Town so called of Merlin's being found there This was Ambrose Merlins whose Prophesies we have There was another of that Name called Merlin Sylvestris born in Scotland sirnamed Calidonius of the Forrest Calidon where he prophesied FINIS ELINOR COBHAM TO Duke HVMPHREY The ARGUMENT Elinor Daughter to the Lord Cobham of Sterborough and Wife to Humphrey Plantaginet Duke of Gloucester the Son of Henry the fourth King of England sirnamed Bullingbrook This noble Duke for his great wisdom and justice called the good was by King Henry the fifth Brother to the Duke at his Death appointed Protector of the Land during the nonage of Henry the sixth this Elinor Dutchess of Gloucester a Proud and Ambitious Woman knowing that if young Henry died without issue the Duke her Husband was the nearest of the blood Conspired with one Bullingbrook a Great Magitian Hun a Priest and Jourdan Witch of Eye by sorcery to make away the King and by conjuration to know who should succeed Of this being justly convicted she was adjudged to do pennance three several times openly in London and then to perpetual banishment to the Isle of Man from whence she writes this Epistle MEthinks not knowing who these Lines should send Thou straight turn'st over to the latter end Where thou my Name no sooner hast espy'd But in disdain my Letter casts aside Why if thou wilt I will my self deny Nay I 'll affirm and swear I am not I Or if in that thy shame thou do'st perceive For thy dear sake loe I my Name will leave And yet methinks amaz'd thou shouldst not stand Nor seem so much appalled at my Hand For my Misfortunes have 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 read my shame Be not dismay'd nor let my Name affright The worst it can is but t' offend thy sight It cannot wound nor doe thee deadly harm It is no dreadfull Spell
with our Disgrace And we in bonds thus striving to contain it The more resists the more we do restrain it * Oh how ev'n yet I hate these wretched Eyes And in my Glass oft call them faithless Spys Prepar'd for Richard that unawares did look Upon that Traytor Henry Bullenbrook But that excess of Joy my Sense bereav'd So much my Sight had never been deceiv'd Oh how unlike to my lov'd Lord was he Whom rashly I sweet Richard took for thee I might have seen the Courser's self did lack That Princely Rider to bestride his Back He that since Nature her great work began She onely made the Mirrour of a Man That when she meant to form some matchless Lim Still for a Pattern took some part of him And jealous in her Cunning brake the Mould When she in him had done the best she could Oh let that Day be guilty of all Sin That is to come or heretofore hath been * Wherein great Norfolk's forward Course was stay'd To prove the Treasons he to Harford lay'd When with stern Fury both these Dukes enrag'd Their Warlike Gloves at Coventry engag'd When first thou didst repeal thy former Grant Seal'd to brave Mowbray as thy Combatant From his unnumbred Houres let Time divide it Lest in his Minutes he should hap to hide it Yet on his Brow continually to bear it That when it comes all other Hours may fear it And all ill-boding Planets by consent In it may hold their dreadfull Parliament Be it in Heav'ns Decrees enrolled thus Black dismal fatal inauspitious Proud Harford then in height of all his Pride Under great Mowbray's valiant Hand had dy'd And never had from Banishment retir'd The fatal Brand wherewith our Troy was fir'd * Oh why did Charles relieve his needy state A Vagabond and stragling Runagate And in his Court with grace did entertain That vagrant Exile that vile bloody Cain Who with a thousand Mothers Curses went Mark'd with the Brand of ten years Banishment * When thou to Ireland took'st thy last Farewell Millions of Knees upon the Pavements fell And ev'ry where th' applauding Ecchoes ring The joyfull shouts that did salute a King Thy parting hence the Pomp that did adorn Was vanish'd quite when as thou didst return Who to my Lord one Look vouchsaf'd to lend Then all too few on Harford to attend Princes like Suns be evermore in sight All see the Clouds betwixt them and their Light Yet they which lighten all beneath their Skies See not the Clouds offending others Eyes And deem their Noon-tide is desir'd of all When all expect clear Changes by their Fall What colour seems to shadow Harford's claim When Law and Right his Fathers Hope do mayme * Affirm'd by Church-men which should bear no Hate That John of Gaunt was illegitimate Whom his reputed Mothers Tongue did spot By a base Flemish Boor to be begot Whom Edward's Eaglets mortally did shun Daring with them to gaze against the Sun Where lawfull Right and Conquest doth allow A tripple Crown on Richard's Princely Brow Three Kingly Lyons bears his Bloody Field * No Bastard's Mark doth blot his conqu'ring Shield Never durst he attempt our hapless Shore Nor set his foot on fatal Ravenspore Nor durst his slugging Hulks approach the Strand Nor stoop a Top as signal to the Land Had not the Piercies promis'd ayd to bring Against their Oath unto their lawfull King * Against their Faith unto our Crown 's true Heir Their valiant Kinsman Edmund Mortimer When I to England came a World of Eyes Like Stars attended on my fair Arise Which now alas like angry Planets frown And are all set before my going down The smooth-fac'd Air did on my coming smile But I with Storms am driven to Exile But Bullenbrook devis'd we thus should part Fearing two Sorrows should possess one Heart To add to our affliction to deny That one poor Comfort left our Misery He had before divorc'd thy Crown and thee Which might suffice and not to Widow me But so to prove the utmost of his hate To part us in this miserable state * Oh would Aumerl had sunk when he betray'd The Plot which once that noble Abbot laid When he infring'd the Oath which he first took For thy Revenge on perjur'd Bullenbrook And been the ransome of our Friends dear Blood Untimely lost and for the Earth too good And we untimely do bewail their state They gone too soon and we remain too late And though with Tears I from my Lord depart This Curse on Harford fall to ease my Heart If the foul breach of a chaste Nuptial Bed May bring a Curse my Curse light on his Head If Murthers guilt with Bloud may deeply stain * Green Scroop and Bushy dye his fault in grain If Perjury may Heav'ns pure Gates debar * Damn'd be the Oath he made at Doncaster If the deposing of a lawfull King Thy Curse condemn'd him if no other thingâ— If this dis-joyn'd for Vengeance cannot call Let them united strongly curse him all And for the Piercies Heav'n may hear mp Pray'r That Bullenbrook now plac'd in Richard's Chair Such cause of Woe to their proud Wives may be As those rebellious Lords have been to me And that coy Dame which now controlleth all And in her Pomp triumpheth in my Fall For her great Lord may water her sad Eyne With as salt Tears as I have done for mine * And mourn for Henry Hotspur her dear Son As I for my dear Mortimer have done And as I am so succourless be sent Lastly to tast perpetual Banishment Then lose thy Care when first thy Crown was lost Sell it so dearly for it dearly cost And since it did of Liberty deprive thee Burying thy Hope let nothing else out-live thee But hard God knows with Sorrow doth it go When Woe becomes a comforter to Woe Yet much me thinks of Comfort I could say If from my Heart some Fears were rid away Something there is that danger still doth show But what it is that Heaven alone doth know Grief to it self most dreadfull doth appear And never yet was Sorrow void of fear But yet in Death doth Sorrow hope the best And Richard thus I wish thee happy Rest ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History If fatal Pomfret hath in former time POmfret Castle ever a fatal place to the Princes of England and most ominous to the Bloud of Plantaginet Oh how even yet I hate these wretched Eyes And in my Glass c. When Bullenbrook returned to London from the West bringing Richard a Prisoner with him the Queen who little knew of her Husbands hard Success stayed to behold his coming in little thinking to have seen her Husband thus led in Triumph by his Foe and now seeming to hate her Eyes that so much had graced her mortal Enemy Wherein great Norfolk's forward Course was stay'd She remembreth the meeting of the two Dukes of Harford and Norfolk at Coventry urging the justness of Mowbray's Quarrel against the Duke of
no Magick Charm If she that sent it love Duke Humphry so Is' t possible her Name should be his Foe Yes I am Elinor I am very she Who brought for Dower a Virgins Bed to thee * Though envious Beauford slander'd me before To be Duke Humphry's wanton Paramour And though indeed I can it not deny * To Magick once I did my self apply I won thee not as there be many think With poys'ning Philters and bewitching Drink Nor on thy Person did I ever prove Those wicked Potions so procuring Love I cannot boast to be rich Holland's Heir Nor of the Blood and Greatness of Baveire * Yet Elinor brought no forreign Armies in To fetch her back as did thy Jacomin Nor clam'rous Husband follow'd me that fled Exclaiming Humphry to defile his Bed Nor wast thou forc'd the Slander to suppress To send me back as an Adulteress * Brabant nor Burgoyne claimed me by force Nor su'd to Rome to hasten my Divorce Nor Belgia's Pomp defac'd with Belgia's Fire The just reward of her unjust desire * Nor Bedford's Spouse your noble Sister Ann That Princely-issued great Burgonian Need stand with me to move a Womans strife To yield the place to the Protector 's VVife If Cobham's Name my Birth can dignifie Or Sterborough renown my Family * VVhere 's Greenwich now thy Elinor's Court of late Where she with Humphry held a Princely State That pleasant Kent when I abroad should ride That to my pleasure laid forth all her Pride The Thames by Water when I took the air That danc'd my Barge in lanching from the stayre The anch'ring Ships which when I pass'd the Road Were wont to hang their chequ'red Tops abroad How could it be those that were wont to stand To see my Pomp so Goddess-like to Land Should after see me mayl'd up in a Sheet Do shamefull Pennance three times in the Street Rung with a Bell a Taper in my Hand Bare-foot to trudge before a Beadle's VVand That little Babes not having use of Tongue Stood pointing at me as I came along Where then was Humphrey where was his Command Wast thou not Lord Protector of the Land Or for thy Justice who could thee deny The Title of the good Duke Humphry What Bloud extract from famous Edward's Line Could boast it self to be so pure as thine Who else next Henry should the Realm prefer If it allow the Line of Lancaster But Rayner's Daughter must from France be set And with a vengeance on our Throne be set Mauns Main and Anjou on that Beggar cast To bring her home to England in such hast And what for Henry thou hadst laboured there To joyn the King with Arminack's rich Heir Must all be dash'd as no such thing had been Pool needs must have his Darling made a Queen How should he with our Princes else be plac'd To have his Earlship with a Dukedome grac'd And raise the Off-spring of his Blood so high As Lords of us and our Posterity O that by Sea when he to France was sent The Ship had sunk wherein the Traytor went Or that the Sands had swallow'd her before She e'er set foot upon the English Shore But all is well nay we have store to give What need we more we by her Looks can live All that great Henry by his Conquests heapt And famous Bedford to his glory kept Is given back to Rayner all in post And by this means rich Normandy is lost Those which have come as Mistresses of ours Have into England brought their goodly Dow'rs Which to our Coffers yearly Tribute brings The Life of Subjects and the strength of Kings The means whereby fair England ever might Raise Power in France to back her antient Right But she brings Ruine here to make aboad And cancels all our lawfull Claim abroad And she must recapitulate my Shame And give a thousand by-words to my Name And call me Beldam Gib Witch Night-mare Trot With all despight that may a Woman spot Oh that I were a Witch but for her sake Faith then her Queenship little Rest should take I 'd scratch that Face that may not feel the Air And knit whole Ropes of Witch-knots in her Hair O how I 'd Hag her nightly in her Bed And on her Brest sit like a lump of Lead And like a Fairy pinch that dainty Skin Her wanton Blood is now so cocker'd in Or take me some such known familiar shape As she my Vengeance never should escape Were I a Garment none should need the more To sprinkle me with Nessus poys'ned Gore It were enough if she once put me on To tear both Flesh and Sinews from the Bone Were I a Flower that might her Smell delight Though I were not the poys'ning Aconite I would send such a Fume into her Brow Should make her mad as mad as I am now * They say the Druides once lived in this Isle This fatall Man the place of my Exile Whose pow'rfull Charms such dreadfull Wonders wrought Which in the Gotish Island Tongue were taught Oh that their Spels to me they had resign'd Wherewith they rais'd and calm'd both Sea and Wind And made the Moon pawse in her paled Sphere Whilst her grim Dragons drew them through the Air Their Hellish Power to kill the Plow-mans Seed Or to fore-speak whole Flocks as they did feed To nurse a damned Spirit with humane Blood To carry them through Earth Air Fire and Floud Had I this skill that Time hath almost lost How like a Goblin I would haunt her ghost O pardon pardon my mis-govern'd Tongue A Womans strength cannot endure my Wrong * Did not the Heav'ns her coming in withstand As though affrighted when she came to Land The Earth did quake her coming to abide The goodly Thames did twice keep back his Tide Pauls shook with Tempests that mounting spire With Lightning sent from Heav'n was set on fire Our stately Buidings to the ground were blown Her Pride by these prodigious signs were shown More fearfull Visions on the English Earth Then ever were at any Death or Birth Ah Humphry Humphry if I should not speak My Breast would split my very Heart would break I that was wont so many to command Worse now than with a Clap-dish in my hand A simple Mantle covering me withal The very'st Leper of Cares Hospital That from my State a Presence held in awe Glad here to kennel in a Pad of Straw And like an Owl by Night to goe abroad Roosted all day within an Ivy Tod Among the Sea-Cliffs in the dampy Caves In Charnel-Houses fit to dwell in Graves Saw'st thou those Eyes in whose sweet cheerfull Look Duke Humphry once such joy and pleasure took Sorrow hath so despoil'd them all of grace Thou couldst not say this was my El'nors face Like a foul Gorgon whose dishevell'd Hair With every blast flyes glaring in the Air Some standing up like Horns upon my Head Even like Those Women that in Coos are bred My lank Breasts hang like Bladders
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
his Princely part to take When as the Staves upon thy Cask did light Grieved therewith I turn'd away my sight And spake aloud when I my self forgot 'T is my sweet Charles my Brandon hurt him not But when I fear'd the King perceived this Good silly Man I pleas'd him with a Kiss And to extoll his valiant Son began That Europe never bred a braver Man And when poor King he simply praised thee Of all the rest I ask'd which thou shouldst be Thus I with him dissembled for thy sake Open confession now amends must make Whilst this old King upon a Pallat lies And only holds a combat with mine Eyes Mine Eyes from his by thy sight stoln away Which might too well their Mistress Thoughts bewray But when I saw thy proud unconquer'd Launce To bear the Prize from all the flow'r of France To see what pleasure did my Soul embrace Might eas'ly be discerned in my Face Look as the Dew upon a Damask Rose How through that liquid Pearl his blushing shows And when the gentle air breaths on his top From the sweet Leaves falls eas'ly drop by drop Thus by my Cheek distilling from mine Eyes One Tear for Joy anothers Room supplies Before mine Eye like Touch thy shape did prove Mine Eye condemn'd my too too partial Love But since by others I the same do try My Love condemns my too too partial Eye The precious stone most beautiful and rare When with it self we only it compare We deem all other of that kind to be As excellent as that we only see But when we judge of that with others by Too credulous we do condemn our Eye Which then appears more orient and more bright Having a Boyl whereon to shew its light Alanson a fine timb'red Man and tall Yet wants the shape thou art adorn'd withal Vandome good Carriage and a pleasing Eye Yet hath not Suffolk's Princely Majesty Couragious Burbon a sweet Manly Face Yet in his Looks lacks Brandon's Courtly Grace Proud Longavile suppos'd to have no Peer A man scarce made was thought whilst thou wast here The Count Saint-Paul our best at Arms in France Would yield himself a Squire to bear thy Lauce * Galleas and Bounarm matchless for their might Under thy towring Blade have couch'd in fight If with our Love my Brother angry be I 'le say to please him I first fancied thee And but to frame my liking to his mind Never to thee had I been half so kind Worthy my love the Vulgar judge no man Except a Yorkist or Lancastrian Nor think that my affection should be set But in the Line of great Plantaginet I mind not what the idle Commons say I pray thee Charles make hast and come away To thee what 's England if I be not there Or what to me is France if thou not here Thy absence makes me angry for a while But at thy presence I should gladly smile When last of me his leave my Brandon took He sware an Oath and made my Lips the Book He would make hast which now thou do'st denie Thou art forsworn O wilful Perjury Sooner would I with greater sins dispence Than by intreaty pardon this Offence But then I think if I should come to shrive thee Great were the Fault that I should not forgive thee Yet wert thou here I should revenged be But it should be with too much loving thee I that is all that thou shalt fear to taste I pray thee Brandon come sweet Charles make hast ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History The utmost date expired of my stay When I for Dover did depart away KIng Henry the Eight with the Queen and Nobles in the sixth year of his Reign in the Month of September brought this Lady to Dover where she took shipping for France Think'st thou my love was faithful unto thee When young Castile to England su'd for me It was agreed and concluded betwixt Henry the seventh and Philip King of Castile Son to Maximilian the Emperor That Charles eldest Son of the said Philip should marry the Lady Mary Daughter to King Henry when they came to age Which agreement was afterwards in the eight year of Henry the Eight annihilated When he in triumph of his Victory Under a rich imbroyd'red Canopy Entred proud Turney which did trembling stand c. Henry the Eight after the long Siege of Turney which was delivered to him upon composition entred the City in Triumph under a Canopy of Cloth of Gold born by four of the Chief and most Noble Citizens the King himself mounted upon a gallant Courser barbed with the Arms of England France and Ireland When Charles of Castile there to banquet came With him his Sister that ambitious Dame Savoy's proud Dutchess The King being at Turney there came to him the Prince of Castile and the Lady Margaret Dutches of Savoy his Sister to whom King Henry gave great intertainment Savoy's proud Dutchess knowing how long she All means had try'd to win my love from me At this time there was speech of a Marriage to be concluded between Charles Brandon then Lord Lisle and the Dutchess of Savoy the Lord Lisle being highly favoured and exceedingly beloved of the Dutchess When in King Henries Tent of Cloth of Gold The King caused a rich Tent of Cloath of Gold to be erected where he feasted the Prince of Castile and the Dutchess and entertained them with sumptuous Masks and Banquets during their abode When Maximilian to those Wars adrest Wore Englands Cross on his Imperial Breast Maximilian the Emperor with all his Souldiers which served under King Henry wore the Cross of Saint George with the Rose on their Breasts And in our Army let his Eagle flie The black Eagle is the Badge Imperial which here is used for the displaying of his Ensign or Standard That view'd our Ensigns with a wond'ring Eye Henry the Eighth at his Wars in France retained the Emperor and all his Souldiers in Wages which served under him during those Wars But this alone by Wolsey's wit was wrought Thomas Wolsey the Kings Almoner then Bishop of Lincoln a Man of great Authority with the King and afterward Cardinal was the chief cause that this Lady Mary was married to the old French King with whom the French had dealt under-hand to befriend him in that Match Where the proud Dolphin for thy Valour sake Chose thee at Tilt his Princely part to take Francis Duke of Valoys and Dolphin of France at the Marriage of the Lady Mary in honour thereof proclaimed a Justs where be chose the Duke of Suffolk and the Marquess of Dorset for his aids at all Martial Exercises Galeas and Bounarme matchless for their might This Count Galeas at the Justs ran a Course with a Spear which was at the Head five inches square on every side and at the But nine Inches square whereby be shewed his wondrous force and strength This Bounarm a Gentleman of France at the same time came into the field armed at all
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