Tyrant which happened by a fall the prediction was fulfilled and explicated because that he having fallen in a place where Hemlock grew an inconsiderate person who came running after thinking to wipe and stop the blood of his wound with that herb had hastened his death yet that he understood somewhat more than these flatterers knew and that the cruel death of the poor Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence had not fulfilled the Prophesie either but that that unfortunate Prince having escaped from the superstitious scrupulosity of one of his Uncles and being confined to a Castle by the other was secretly married to a Daughter of Charles Hemlock Brother-in-law to himself who commanded in that place by whom he had a Son and that not to hold him long in suspense he was that Son At these words Brandon cried out as if he had been struck with Thunder and the Lord Hastings his Uncle in vain endeavoured to perswade him that though he had reason to be surprised at the relation yet he ought to believe it for he still maintained that it was but a tale devised to excite in him greater Courage At length Hastings by reason of the sensible danger to which he exposed himself by discovering that secret began to gain ground upon him He made appear to him that he must either have been a fool or weary of life to have invented such a fable and more fully to convince him he recounted to him the whole story of the marriage of the Earl of Warwick his Father and that Anne Hemlock his real Mother dying in Child-bed of him the Lady Brandon substituted him in place of one of her Children which just then died having been born but a few days before him He put him in mind of what he had been told heretofore of the repugnance that the Lady made whom he believed to be his Mother when she was invited to be Nurse to the King And then perceiving him to be a little moved he had no great difficulty to convince him that he was the secret cause of that unwillingness which was so variously discoursed of amongst people and adding to this several other passages of his education which being all of the same strain and character gave evidence enough that there had always been some mystery in his fortune he past them but slightly over that at the same time he might insinuate that if he loved his life it behoved him not to remember them He only hinted to him that the secret of his birth should encourage him to resist his Rivals who believed themselves better descended than he and that if he could keep the secret as well as the Prince his Father had done who had seen him a hundred times out of his prison-Windows and who went to death accompanied with Frier Patrick without speaking a word of it heaven possibly had designed him for great matters That after all he was the only remaining bud of the White Rose whereof Merlin spake in his Prophesie and that his Mothers name so plainly expressed by the word Hemlock made it past all doubt seeing that in effect the Blood of York was fallen into that of Hemlock by his Birth But that these following words of the Astrologer Yet too much zeal doth oft annoy For an inn'cent maid shall it destroy put him in great perplexity That though the punishment of Simonel and death of Peter Warbeck who gave themselves out for Princes of the House of York were instances terrible enough to hinder him from bragging of his extraction yet as it was his opinion that he should continue his love to the Princess so that passion made him very apprehensive That he imagined already that he would discover to her all that had been told him and that though she might still love him yet it might too really happen that she should become the innocent maid that might destroy him if he concealed not from her as well as from every body else that important secret Hastings thus ending his discourse fell on his knees to Brandon that he might once in his life render him the respect which the interest of his safety suffered him not to pay in any other place and that he might beseech him never to entertain thoughts that any such honours were due to him But what difficulty soever this new Prince of York had at first to believe it yet he found at length all things that had been told him so well circumstantiated and so conform to the inclinations of his heart that he had no more power to doubt of the truth of what was told him He promised to be cautious and to conceal his birth and the Lord Hastings who was still his great Uncle by the Mother-side died shortly after either of old age or for fear lest the secret which he had revealed should be discovered In the mean time Brandon whom we must for some time still name so found his Courage by little and little raised by the knowledg of what he was He thereby grew more brisk and agreeable with the Princess more courteous and majestick with others and by the prudent management of the estate left him by Hastings became so considerable that the King himself took pleasure to see him imploy new measures one day to deserve all that he wished him the enjoyment of On the other hand his Rivals being returned from the Pyrenean hills where the designs of the King of Spain who had fallen upon Navar hindered them from atchieving any great exploits found him again of an humour less disposed to yield to them than formerly Sommerset after his return from Scotland could not regain that height upon him which he always pretended to before and Bourchier cured of his wound durst never on that account express to him the least discontent They all appeared to have submitted themselves to their fortunes and whilst Howard and Talbot the one made Admiral and the other Master of the Horse stifled their love by the satisfaction of their ambition Gray and the rest found it impossible for them to delight their eyes but by living in good correspondence with Brandon Their care therefore was only to out-do him in greatness of services and obsequiousness towards the Princess he was the man that was most assiduous that way who gave demonstration of greatest complaisance and there happened some days when it seemed that that Conduct might prove successful they obtained thereby at least more access to her and although through the favours which she was pleased sometimes to show them they perceived too well that they had no share in her affection yet at what rate soever they resolved to persist in rendering her their Services So true it is that with small pains and little care a lovely person is able to produce great effects in the minds of those who are captivated with its beauty Insomuch that all these Rivals began to live together with less contention and contributing severally to the
the particular design which men had ground to suspect since he many times in discourse approved the ancient custom of his Kingdom of not giving in marriage the Daughters or Sisters of the Kings out of the Island for which he was so applauded by all that even those of his Council who were the least complaisant made it by little and little as he did a reason of State to forget the proposals of Calais So that now the Princess Mary being free from the engagement of the late King her Father and the great Men of England eying her as a blessing to be enjoyed by the most happy she found her self amidst a croud of lovers who in the peace and quiet of the Kingdom made it their whole business to disquiet themselves Amongst the most sparkling and assiduous pretenders Edward Gray Son to the Marquess of Dorset and Henry Bourchier Son to Thomas Earl of Essex appeared the chief Charles Son to Sir Charles Sommerset Lord High Chamberlain came next and Thomas Howard Son to Thomas Earl of Surrey Lord High Treasurer with William Talbot Son to George Earl of Shrewsbury Steward of the Kings Houshold put in amongst the rest These five Rivals being already very considerable by the Quality of their Fathers all chief Ministers of State immediately declared their pretensions with magnificence suitable to the Dignity of the fair Princess to whom they made love they were all alike well received and the courteous and obliging humour of the Lady Mary made every one of them easily believe in a short time to become her greatest favourite But love blinded their eyes for a sixth and more secret Rival gained the prize that all contended for and though his Quality did not seem to capacitate him to contest with them in any thing yet the Kings favour and his own worth largely supplied what otherways he wanted His name was Charles the pretended Son of Robert Brandon of a noble Family in Suffolk and an unblemished life Yet he had greater respect given him as being the Nephew of William Brandon and Edward Hastings the former of great Renown in the Battel of Bosworth where carrying the Standard of Henry the Seventh he was killed by Richard the Usurper himself as he endeavoured to stop his flight and the other still alive was no less famous in the Battel of Black-heath where the seditious Flammock with the Rebels of Kent and Cornhil were overthrown To this Uncle by the Mother it was that he owed the greatest part of his merit having had from him a most ingenious and liberal education for after the death of those that were believed to be his Parents who died in that fatal plague which made so great havock in England in the beginning of that Age he was always the sole object of his care His supposed Mother named Anne Hastings a woman of great Parts and sufficient Beauty to make her the subject of some slanderous and detracting Tongues had been pitched upon for Nurse to the King not only because of the noble blood of which she was descended but also of that to which she was allied but at first she made some difficulty of accepting the charge which was then only imputed to the haughtiness inspired into her either by the nobility of her extraction of which she seemed always a little vain or by the remains of some self-love which she still retained though she had other reasons for it Nor would she undertake that care till she had assurance that the child whom she called her Son should be bred with her at Court And Henry the Seventh having afterward entertained her at Court in consideration of the services that he had received of her Brother-in-law and did daily receive from her own Brother and finding the young Henry much more vigorous and healthy than Arthur Prince of Wales and the Princess Margaret his two first Children which gave him reason to congratulate his having so good a Nurse it happened luckily that six years after she having proved with child at the same time that the Queen was big of the Princess Mary he would have her employed again in the bringing up of that fourth child that was to be born to him notwithstanding that Robert Brandon her Husband being at that time troubled with some peevish fits of jealousie designed to carry her back into the Countrey By this means Charles having known the Princess Mary from the Cradle had always as being her Nurses Son freer access unto her than his Rivals with all their greatness could pretend to Besides this during the absence of Edward Hastings who alone remained alive to take the care of him the Dutchess of Bedford chief Governess of the Children of the Royal Family having taken him into protection allowed him free liberty at all hours of the day to visit her appartment and the Lady Latimer Sub-governess who desired still to be thought young and fair and was not far beyond the bounds of either entertained for her part somewhat more than esteem for the lovely Brandon All put together gave him great Priviledges with the young Princess and Henry the Eighth by promoting daily the affairs of Old Hastings to whom he was to be sole heir seemed sufficiently to authorise all the ambition that the young Nephew was capable of He had already great intimacy with the Prince and was the Confident of his most secret Pleasures and as he daily heaped Favours and Honours upon him he was often heard say That he could not do too much for the handsomest Gentleman in his Kingdom besides he was beautiful like himself and of the same age and stature his Meen and Presence shewed even somewhat more accomplished and by the sweetness of his disposition and generosity in many rancounters he gained the very esteem of his envious competitours The too young age and immaturity of Princess Mary of England was the reason that during the Reign of the late King and until the project of her marriage with the Prince of Spain he had not discovered to her his love but by looks and sighs whereof in all probability she understood not as yet the secret language but in a conjuncture so troublesom to a lover as that was taking counsel only of his passion that he might bewail his destiny he spake to her in a more intelligible strain This happened at Windsor where Henry the Seventh drawing toward his end desired only to be attended with a small Train The satisfaction that the Princess might have to be one day Wife to a King of Spain served for pretext to Brandon who passionately told her That as it was most reasonable that she should rejoyce to marry a Prince who was to carry so many Crowns so it was no less that he should grieve to lose her for ever at length lifting his eyes and hands to Heaven he mournfully cryed That it was very terrible and cruel for such a wretch as he to love the Daughter of his King more than
much the day following and to make it the more credible strangers were forbidden to walk abroad in the night upon pain of death None but the Rivals of BRANDON whispered secretly what they knew but by the absolute Command which the KING had given to the Earl of Essex that he should impute the wound of his Son to those who were no ways concerned in it and by the fierce threats he made to that Earl for the suspicions that he endeavoured to insinuate against the Princess his Sister so high as that he replied in rage that knowing better than he what her carriage was it was only in respect of his age that he pardoned so insolent a Calumny In a word by the secret rumour that began to spread that the King himself was a Party they by little and little diving into his intrigue with Cecile Blunt found all their Fortunes good so that a private reason hindered him from taking publick revenge Gray went away with the Marquess of Dorset his Father who carried six thousand English to Fontarabie to assist the King of Spain in invading Guyenne according to an Article of the League Howard and Talbot though they were not no more than he at that fatal Rancounter beg'd leave to serve in the same Army and Sommerset went to Scotland upon some pretext of his own So that there remaining none but Bourchier whose wound kept him long from the publick Brandon found himself in a few days delivered from all his Enemies But in their absence they did him more mischief than they had done in person and whether it was an effect of their malice or of the sequel of things which being with difficulty concealed time brings to light at length men began to speak more openly than they had been accustomed to do of the Amours of the Princess and Brandon The King was so far from being offended herewith that he seemed rather to applaud it some who impertinently discourse of the carriage of Princes wherein there is not always so great ground of reasoning as is believed imagined that all that he did that way was a politick fetch to break the Grandees of his Kingdom of the designs they might have for his Sister others who are not always willing to infect the Court with false notions kept themselves to what they saw and more wisely believed that it was only out of a natural complaisance that he entertained for all sorts of gallantry But though all that was said of the Princess and Brandon redounded still to his Honour yet he reaped nothing from it but vexation and grief neither could his truly generous and noble soul relish that honour which he received at the cost of what he loved He was far more affected with the reproaches that the Princess Mary might have talkt of him though indeed she never made any of him On the contrary he having sometimes expressed himself to her concerning these things in a very sorrowful manner she had always the goodness to tell him that he should follow the example and not trouble himself with the discourse of people But this obliging carriage served only to encrease his pain and as two hearts that are truly smitten are unwilling to be behind in duty to one another so he concerned himself the more in the glory of the Princess that she seemed to slight it for the love of him Insomuch that falling very pensive and melancholick notwithstanding the pains that she took to comfort him and having no other thoughts but to leave the Kingdom that he might remove the occasions of detraction he acquainted my Lord Hastings his Uncle to whom he told all his affairs with his design He being a fierce Old Soldier took him at first up sharply for the little Courage he made shew of afterward falling in discourse about the Earls of Surrey and Essex he told him that the race of Howards and Bourchiers was indeed ancient and raised to vast Estates and eminent Dignities by the merits of many predecessors but that yet they were not the only nobles who could brag of as great antiquity and the glory of as many heroical Actions nor that they had any such advantages as might give them ground to insult over the Brandons and Hastings and that therefore it behoved him not at all for the railery of some jealous Rivals to abandon the Prospects which both the King and Princess did countenance However all this made no great impression on the mind of Brandon He adhered to his resolution and had already taken his measures for withdrawing when at length the good Old man Hastings being unable to retain him by his reasons found himself obliged to discover to him what he had promised never to reveal The resolution was doubtless great and cost the Old man dear besides the weakness of old age he had more reason than any other to be dismayed which made him long complain of the violence that his Nephew put upon him before he began that dangerous discourse And that he might in some manner prepare him for it having brought out a manuscript of all Merlins Prophesies he made him read that which was the cause of the death of the Duke of Clarence conceived in these words When the White Rose shall the Red subdue G. Of that race shall change its Hue And the Red o're it shall bloom anew There shall remain of the White stock But one bud fallen on Hemlock Yet too much zeal doth oft annoy For an inn'cent maid shall it destroy When he had read the Prophesie the ancient Gentleman tracing matters as far back as was necessary explained to him the beginning of the prediction according as the event had made it evident In the first verse he let him see the Victory of Edward of York designed by the White Rose over HENRY the Sixt of Lancaster who carried the Red. In the second he discovered to him the deplorable mistake of that Victorious Prince who having caused his younger Brother George Duke of Clarence to be put to death in a pipe of Malmsey because the first letter of his name was a fatal G. gave his other Brother Richard Duke of Glocester of whom he had no suspicion by his last will opportunity of murthering his two Sons and in the third he shewed him the return of Prince Henry Earl of Richmont who in the blood of that Tyrant made the red Roses flourish again But having thus interpreted the three first verses which had given matter of much discourse in that time Hastings his countenance changed colour and being deeply affected with the importance of the secret that he was about to reveal concluding in a fret what with reason he had begun he told him that the world had indeed sufficiently understood by the event of things the beginning of the Prophesie of Merlin but that few understood the rest That though the flatterers of the late King had perswaded him that by the death of the only Son of Richard the
publick pomp whilst the preparations for a War with France were vigorously carried on there was nothing to be seen at London but Plays Horse-races Balls and Dancing where the Ladys in rich dresses setting off the beauty which might procure them praise and esteem obliged likewise their Lovers to imploy their greatest advantages On these occasions the lovely Brandon gained signal honour and whether it was for his good meen or his dexterity in all the exercises of body there was no Gentleman in the Kingdom that seemed not his inferiour So that amongst so many competitors who contended with him for the favour of the Princess there was not any so fortunate as to gain the least of it to his prejudice and though Edward Strafford the young Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Kildare Son to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland both of them lovely and handsom Gentlemen had newly declared themselves his Rivals yet it was without either jealousie or disquiet to him Mary of Lancaster adored by all had no passion for any but him But amidst the pleasures by which the Court of England the most gallant and pompous of that age prepared so sumptuously for the War of France the death of Cecile Blunt Daughter to the Lord Latimer occasioned there great alteration Her Mother seeming comfortless as women of her humour affect always to appear retired into the Countrey The Dutchess of Bedford falling deaf and oppressed with many other infirmities of old age took likewise the occasion to withdraw The Countess of Pembrock was put in her place until the Arrival of Princess Margaret of York Dutchess of Salisbury Daughter of the unfortunate Duke of Clarence and her self as unfortunate in the sequel as her Brother the Earl of Warwick The King sometime before for reasons of state had designed her for that charge and the Lady Dacres was ordered to supply the place of the Lady Latimer until she were recovered from her grief so that there remained of the ancient servants of the Princess hardly any but Judith Kiffen who being the most dexterous person in the world for that service and lying commonly at the foot of her bed she was become too useful to her to let her be removed and that revolution in the Family of the Princess Mary was a forerunner of the disorder which shortly appeared in the mind of the King What care soever he had had to conceal his love for his late Mistris he had not the power to dissemble his affliction for her death He began to condemn the intrigues of his Court with which he had always used to make himself merry He went so far as to defeat the measures of several Lovers by giving them new employments under pretext of the War of France and though Brandon met not with so great crosses yet he was one of the first that perceived the King to be out of humour when being no more the Confident of his affliction as he had been of his pleasures he saw a new favourite admitted into his place one Thomas Woolsey Bishop of Lincoln to whom Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester had left vast riches at his death This man of low Birth but sublime Parts as sometimes bad men are knew very well that HENRY the Eight notwithstanding the great Qualities which rendered him formidable to his neighbours was a restless Prince and that being unable after the hurry of business to remain idle and unactive he stood in need of some amusing toy that might refresh his mind by seizing his heart In a word he understood that repose being uneasie to him without pleasures and wantonness he must needs be provided of women and that possibly was the reason that it was said that to comfort him for the death of the Mistris whom he had just before lost he made no scruple to advise him to bestow his affection with all expedition on some other It was besides alledged that he himself being smitten with the lovely eyes of the Princess Mary and not so foolish as to expect any enjoyment of her had wrought him to fix his eyes upon her But I think that that is to be looked upon as a Calumny of those who reproached him with all kinds of crimes because he had pursued them with all sorts of evils Ambitious men such as Woolsey are either not very sensible of love or would not be so tame as to give to another what they love themselves However it be whether it was an effect of the counsel of that bad Minister or that the Beauty of Mary which daily encreased had awakened some desire in the mind of HENRY the Eight it is certain that that Prince after the death of Cecile Blunt did speak of love to the Princess his Sister She understood him not at first or to say better she would not understand him but the account that she gave of it to Brandon had almost killed him with grief And although he never dreamt of any such thing yet the indifferency wherewith the King for some time had used him gave sufficient evidence of the change of his fortune and as till then he had doubted what might be the cause of that disgrace imputing it sometime to some fault of his own and sometime to the natural inconstancy of the King so he believed that he had then found it out So that to remove himself from trouble and following no other counsel but that of his jealousie or fear he beg'd leave of the King to go to Calais with the first Troops that were then drawing out for the War of France Though the King had not altogether the Sentiments which Brandon suspected yet he well understood his thoughts and without any farther discovery he thought it enough to answer that it behoved him to moderate that impatience seeing he intended to have him by him the first time that he drew his sword But notwithstanding of this obliging answer Brandon's disturbance had no end insomuch that some days after finding occasion to speak again to the King he renewed to him the same suit adding that if he could a little train himself in the matters of War before he undertook it he would deserve better to follow His Majesty Upon this the King by a return of affection for a man whom he had so much loved being willing wholly to undeceive him told him smiling That he well perceived what he had in his thoughts but that sure he was not more dangerous than another and that he should not take the allarm so hot for a little gallantry which he used with his Sister only to divert him from thinking on poor Cecile Nothing certainly in that juncture of affairs could have been better said and it answered all objections Nevertheless diffidence which is natural to all true Lovers made Brandon think these words the more to be suspected the less that they appeared so He imagined that his dangerous Rival under an affected repugnancy cloaked a real desire to see him at a
distance which he discoursed of with the Princess in so prepossessed a manner that she was constrained in reason to approve of what his weakness proposed But before he asked the third time permission from the King to depart and took his leave of her he resolved in an excessive fit of love to acquaint her with what he had learned concerning his Birth The Princess Mary was no less surprised at the relation which from his Uncle he had made to her of that matter than he himself was at first and though the whole story of the marriage of the Earl of Warwick with Ann Hemlock founded on the prediction of Merlin or the report of Old Hastings lately dead might appear suspicious in the mouth of a Lover yet she entertained not the least thought of that nature On the contrary notwithstanding the favourable opinion that she had of the truth of all her surprise appeared visibly in her eyes as he was speaking and so soon as he had made an end being desirous to have all things better cleared she told him with a tenderness which the novelty of the matter and the emotion of her mind rendered very extraordinary that she loved him no better for being a Prince of York but that she loved her self somewhat more on that account and that being well-pleased that she had cause to reverence in him what till then she had but esteemed she rejoyced that she had no reason to fear those stirrings of pride in her heart which might be sometimes troublesom to a person of her Quality in regard of the condition she took him to be of That all that notwithstanding was but a dangerous Idea with which they ought never to entertain themselves That he was dear enough to her as the Son of Brandon and that he would but create her disquiet as a Prince of the Blood of York That so he would not do well to be jealous of the greatness of his Birth that he ought to renounce that for her sake and that bounding all his ambition with the favour of being beloved so tenderly as she loved him he should never attempt to make himself known for the man he was Brandon being at the same time amazed and charmed to hear her speak in so obliging terms could make her no other answer but that she was too gracious and that when he resolved to disclose to her his secret it was not so much to engage her to more goodness towards him as to put her in a condition of punishing him if it ever happened that he should prove unworthy of her favours But the fair Princess stopping him there replied softly That he had no reason to suspect that she should one day punish him unless he thought that he might one day offend her That nevertheless he needed not be afraid though he should even become her Enemy and that she was not the innocent maid of whom Merlin spake afterward without giving him time to answer and considering with more reason than she had at first thought on the design he had projected of removing from Court for a time she represented to him That he ought to have special care not to betray himself by looking on the Dutchess of Salisbury and her Daughter who were expected within a few days at Court as his Aunt and Cousin She added that his true Birth rendered a little suspected to her the choice that the King had made of that Princess for her Conduct having so many times testified that he loved her not She told him that he ought on that occasion distrust him and that though the kindnesses wherewith he had thought fit to entertain her in some Rancounters were certainly nothing else but some exercises and frolicks of wit seeing he did not persist in them yet it was possible there might be in it some hidden mystery which time might discover In fine continued she my Knight and Brother these were the names that she gave him in her Child-hood and commonly still when they were by themselves let us distrust all the world distrust me if you please and above all things have a care to continue still to be Brandon leaving to me the care of the Prince of York and you shall find that whether you be necessitated to depart or have the liberty to abide at Court it shall be more pleasant for you to be reputed what you are in my heart than to appear so in the eyes of the world Thus ended their conversation which as it was the most important interview that they could enjoy so was it also the longest that ever they had had But the Earl of Kildare who had three times presented himself in the Anti-Chamber of the Princess and had been by her Maids still dismissed on frivolous reasons seeing Brandon come forth conceived so great indignation thereat that he followed him with a purpose to quarrel and left him not till he saw him enter into the Kings Apartment This Earl being Son to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and buoyed up besides by the protection of Woolsey and some concerns that he had with the Lady Dacres thought that he might have better success than the rest in the service of the Princess Mary He had not as yet seen any impediment to his design but Brandon and promising himself already great advantages from the apparent disgrace whereof some began to pity his danger he stood not upon examination of what he designed against him He received moreover a new ground of jealousie upon the Arrival of Margaret of York Dutchess of Salisbury which put him out of all patience for being with him at Richmont at the reception which the Princess conducted by the Queen was there to give to that illustrious Widow the first ceremonies being past he unluckily observed a little but very obliging sign that she had made to his Enemy to draw near her chair He afterwards perceived by her eyes and actions that she spake to him with much goodness and in effect the Princess Mary being taken with some features that the Ladies of Salisbury had in common with Brandon she could not forbear telling him at the very instant the trouble that that sight occasioned her so that it was sufficiently observed that she spake to him with somewhat of tenderness and Brandon on the other hand whether for joy to find her so well perswaded of the truth of what he had told her concerning his Birth or to divert her from the officious fears that she had for his sake answering in a composed and contented manner made it almost past all doubt Insomuch that the Earl of Kildare mad of jealousie and being no longer master of himself went forth with a resolution to take his satisfaction in what place soever he could meet him But the King being come likewise to that visit before his going to Greenwich to see a great match of hunting Brandon who was to wait upon him gave not his Enemy the occasion so soon as he expected
Most part of them entered the Town to visit their friends Others scorched with heat alighted from their great horses and to refresh themselves mounted their ambling Nags and almost all of them having drunk and made merry came in disorder some in a huddle together and the rest in file one after another to view the English Camp Brandon being informed how matters went and withal vexed at the victualling of the Town which the King his Master thinking the occasion might prove too hot for him would not suffer him to oppose came to ask leave to charge those at least who had done it in their retreat He moved the King a little at first by representing to him how easie a matter it was to cut them all to pieces or at least to take them Prisoners by the foolish confidence they were in and speaking to that not only as an able Captain for Conduct but likewise as a resolute Soldier for execution there being no time to be lost the King at last consented to it So that whilst there were some detachments making against the parties of Fonterailles and la Palisse to beat back the one and break the other Brandon with Colonel Davers marching at the head of four thousand horse eight hundred foot and six pieces of Cannon passes the River Lis near to Derlet and lyes in wait for the Enemies at the passage of Hutin They retreated with great assurance marching in confusion as he had foreseen for being pursued by none after the false allarm which was purposely given them was over and missing none of their number but the young Count D'anton Son to the Seignior of Bouchage and some others that could not get out of Therowenne they dreamt not of any greater mischief when Brandon appearing of a sudden so sharply charged them that having no leisure to mount their great Horses again nor to put on their head-pieces they began to be in disorder The brave la Palisse notwithstanding of the stout resistance he made was already taken and the undaunted Chevalier Bayard having almost singlely defended the bridg of Hutin became companion in the bad fortune of Clairmont D'anjow and of Bussy D'amboise to whose assistance he came There remained none but the Duke of Longueville to head the subdued who being mounted on a stout charging-horse compleatly armed it seemed no easie matter for one man hand to hand to get the better of him and besides a considerable body of the French Army advanceing in order of Battel those that had been put to flight began to rally So that Brandon perceiving that the total rout of the Enemies depended on the overthrow of this Warriour and by the riches of his arms taking him for a French Prince he left la Palisse in the hands of some Gentlemen who kept him not long and with sword in hand set upon him whose resistance hindered his Victory The Duke of Longueville received him valiantly but at length after the interchanging of many blows Brandon with the danger of a wound which he received in the thigh dismounted the Duke who disjoynted his shoulder by the fall The French upon this turned back upon those that were coming to their aid and put their own men in as great disorder as the Enemy would have done and seeing in this Battel their horses heels had done them better service than the points of their swords it was called the Battel of Spurs But it had been far better for Brandon that the Duke of Longueville had escaped with the rest for the injury that he did him afterward was so great that all the Glory he obtained in overcoming him and all the praise that he gained thereby was not enough to make amends for it Time sensibly discovering to him that fortune by great evils can be repayed of her greatest favours After this there happened no more considerable action on either side Brandon's wound kept him a fortnight a-bed and the King of France though he had lost but very few men being unwilling to expose his Kingdom to the danger of a Battel thought it best to give Therowenne to the fortune of his Enemies Teligny after two months siege rendered it on composition Victuals and Ammunition failing him before his Courage and the King of England and the Emperour not agreeing betwixt themselves about the propriety of the place the one claiming it by right of Inheritance and the other by Conquest it was presently demolished In the mean time Lowis the Twelfth that he might put a stop to his bad success by employing a General in whose safety all his Subjects might be concerned caused the young Duke of Valois to advance to Blangy But neither the merit of that Prince nor the great Forces that daily joyned him hindered the progress of the King of England for whilst the Duke Longueville and the other Prisoners were on their way to London he lay down before the City of Tournay which having no hope of relief as lying in the midst of the Low-Countreys made no long resistance And having now reduced that place under his Obedience and beginning to have some jarring with the Emperour who in many things was chargeable to him and in others unfaithful he returned back into England Never was Prince better satisfied for besides his own Conquests of Therowenne and Tournay the Victory which the Earl of Surrey's Lieutenant had just then obtained over the Scots raised him to the highest pitch of fortune that he could almost pretend to and though his Fleet had received some rustle in the Bay of Brest yet the death of the King of Scotland killed in the Battel of Floudon which he fought only for the interest of France though he was his Brother-in-law revenged him fully of that and of the damage which Pregent and Primanguet had done him on his Wastes Insomuch that he entred London in triumph where to reward those who had fought so valiantly for his Glory he made Brandon Duke of Suffolk gave the Title of Duke of Norfolk to the Earl of Surrey and to his Son the Admiral that of Surrey and Talbot Gray and Sommerset who had behaved themselves stoutly on all occasions were created the one Earl of Shrewsbury in the place of his Father who desired it the other Marquess of Dorset his Father being lately dead and the last Earl of Worcester But these are matters wide of my Subject and I should not remark them by the by but for avoiding confusion in the names of those who may have some share in the sequel of this History My business should be to relate the joy that the English Princess conceived upon the return of Brandon to which the title of Duke of Suffolk as from henceforth he must be named added but little for a real virtue once known needs no other Ornaments And the affectionate rebukes she gave him for having so often exposed himself to dangers would without doubt require a more exact description than I make were it not that
contradict such Propositions as any one judged fit and the Shields or Argent Sable and Gules were only to distinguish what Combats were to be on foot what on horseback what at lance and what at sword And the fifth of Azure in the middle of the other four denounced the defence of the triumphal Arch which was contrived by way of a Fortress where twenty Champions were to defend the Assault against sixty There was no difficulty in ordering the Courses and Combats for they were not to enter the Lists but in Squadrons where they had placed themselves according to their inclination and the Duke of Valois the Counts of Vendosm S. Poll and Guise that led the four first having their march regulated by their Birth the Duke of Suffolk and Marquess of Dorset who conducted the other two under the devices of the Queen easily ordered theirs There was no contest but about the chusing of the Defendants and Assailants of the Fortress by which the Carrousel was to conclude because every one desired to be first as in the place where there was greatest honour to be acquired But at length the Duke of Valois who must have had the place had he still persisted in the dispute having taken upon him the part to attack by order of the King that he might the better represent the Siege of Milan which he had in his head the matter was referred to Lot amongst the other Competitours and it fell upon the Count of Guise and the Duke of Suffolk of whom the latter in the sequel amidst the troubles that oppressed him had some particular reasons to be better satisfied than another The new Conquests that the young Queen made so soon as she appeared in France occasioned him quickly new vexations and though in seeing him suffer and she suffering perhaps as much as he a part of his cares were suspended yet that admirable Beauty which had so soveraingly triumphed over the subjects of the King her Brother to his continual disquiet had no less efficacy on those of the King her husband It would be too great an enterprise to speak of all those who were smitten by her Many sighed and few durst complain so loud as they would willingly have done for besides that Kings cannot endure the declared Lovers of their Queens the Duke of Valois who was one of the first was not of an humour to suffer Rivals This young Prince of an heroical stature and of a constitution as amorous as his age and eyes testified him to be returned not from Boulogne in the same tranquillity that he went Mary of England at first sight made a powerful impression on his heart and after he had entertained her some time he was no sooner retired with the Seigneur de Chabot one of his favorites but that repenting his marriage with Claudia of France he told him that he came from the sight of one who would have been far more acceptable to his heart and that considering the age and infirmity of the King it was cruelty to give him so young and beautiful a wife Acquaintance and conversation smothered not these first Sentiments The tender and passionate air of the young Queen which promised that which she never bestowed daily quickened them and as she thereby diverted her self that she might have occasion by such a confidence to divert the pensive Suffolk so the Duke of Valois mistaken by an outside which deceived all people gave many times the reins to desires that led him farther than was fitting for his repose To this may be added that the Duke of Longueville provoked by the aversion which the Queen expressed to him after the treaty of her marriage instigated that young Prince by the pretended facility of the Conquest The foolish thoughts which he entertained at London turned into despight at Paris where by means of a ransom payable within a certain time he found himself at liberty and whilst his arm which he carried still in a scarf since his fall at Therowenne suffered him not to be of the Carrousel all his thoughts were how to create her trouble So that having procured to be admitted into the confidence or the Duke of Valois as a person who could instruct him better than any other in the ways of satisfying his passion he was the boutefeau that incessantly pushed him forward to the utmost enterprises In fine he inflamed the heart of that Prince who was naturally very susceptible of such flames to that pass that the young Queen could no longer doubt but that he was in love with her and as she was neither fierce nor ungentle so she appeared neither surprised nor offended thereat There was none possibly in all the Court but the King who perceived it not and Madam being already accustomed to palliate the youthful disorders of her husband never spake of it but to enjoyn silence to others But the Protonotary Du prat who governed all the house of Angoulesm was not so easie He was astonished at that which charmed the Duke of Valois his Master and judging as rashly of the virtue of Mary of England as the Duke of Longueville had done he sensibly represented to him that he having the greatest interest in the world not to solicite her to incontinence she had the like not to be chaste so that as if no body but he could have hazarded with the Queen what Du prat feared he himself began likewise to dread it Besides he would not have gone to Boulogne to espouse her for the King his Father-in-law but upon the word of Francieres his chief Physician who had assured him that he would have no Issue by that marriage so that the matter was of highest consequence The passion that LOWIS the Twelfth had always to have a Son would have hindered him from prying into any mystery It is possible he would have been glad to have been deceived as he smiling told the General of Normandy upon the first proposals that were made to him of marrying so young a Princess and besides he had a pretty good opinion of himself still to think that he could not be mistaken that way Moreover considering the zeal that the French have for the blood of their Kings and the joy that they would have to see a Dolphin there were none in France who could not take all that could be said on such an occasion for a meer Calumny Insomuch that these important considerations having slackned the pursuit of the Duke of Valois and being unwilling to lose a Crown for a Song he only retained the delightful notion of a good fortune which he thought very easie to be attained and which was perhaps in the highest degree of impossibility But though he left off speaking of Love yet he ceased not to be amorous His flame encreased by the desire he had to quench it And he became even so much the more jealous of his desired bless that not daring himself to pretend to it it continually ran in his head