combine And Yorks sweet branch with Lancasters entwine And in one stalke did happily vnite The pure vermilion Rose with purer white I the vntimely slip of that rich stem vvhose golden bud brings forth a Diadem But oh forgiue me Lord it is not I Nor doe I boast of this but learne to die vvhilst we were as our selues conioyned then Nature to nature now an alien The purest blood polluted is in blood Neerenes contemn'd if soueraignty withstood A Diadem once dazeling the eye The day too darke to see affinitie And where the arme is stretch'd to reach a Crowne Friendship is broke the deerest things throwne downe For what great Henry most stroue to auoyde The heauens haue built where earth would haue destroyd And seating Edward on his regall throne He giues to Mary all that was his owne By death assuring what by life is theyrs The lawfull claime of Henries lawfull heyres By mortall lawes the bound may be diuorc'd But heauens decree by no meanes can be forc'd That rules the case when men haue all decreed vvho tooke him hence foresaw who should succeede In vaine be counsels statutes humaine lawes vvhen chiefe of counsailes pleades the iustest cause Thus rule the heauens in theyr continuall course That yeelds to fate that doth not yeeld to force Mans wit doth build for time but to deuoure But vertu's free from time and fortunes power Then my kinde Lord sweet Gilford be not grieu'd The soule is heauenly and from heauen relieu'd And as we once haue plighted troth together Now let vs make exchange of mindes to eyther To thy faire breast take my resolued minde Arm'd against blacke dispayre and all her kinde And to my bosome breathe that soule of thine There to be made as perfect as is mine So shall our faith as firmely be approued As I of thee or thou of me beloued This life no life wert thou not deere to mee Nor this no death were I not woe for thee Thou my deere husband and my Lord before But truly learne to die thou shalt be more Now liue by prayer on heauen fixe all thy thought And surely finde what ere by zeale is sought For each good motion that the soule awakes A heauenly figure sees from whence it takes That sweet resemblance which by power of kinde Formes like it selfe an Image in the minde And in our faith the operations bee Of that diuinenes which by fayth we see vvhich neuer errs but accidentally By our fraile fleshes imbecillitie By each temptation ouer-apt to slide Except our spirit becomes our bodies guide For as our bodies prisons be these towers So to our soules these bodies be of ours vvhose fleshly walls hinder that heauenly light As these of stone depriue our wished sight Death is the key which vnlocks miserie And lets them out to blessed libertie Then draw thy forces all vnto thy hart The strongest fortresse of this earthly part And on these three let thy assurance lie On fayth repentance and humilitie Humilitie to heauen the step the staire Is for deuotion sacrifice and Prayer The next place doth to true repentance fall A salue a comfort and a cordiall He that hath that the keyes of heauen hath That is the guide that is the port the path Faith is thy fort thy shield thy strongest ayde Neuer controld nere yeelded nere dismaid vvhich doth dilate vnfold fore-tell expresseth vvhich giues rewards inuesteth and possesseth Then thanke the heauen preparing vs this roome Crowning our heads with glorious martirdome Before the blacke and dismall dayes begin The dayes of all Idolatry and sin Not suffering vs to see that wicked age vvhen persecution vehemently shall rage vvhen tyrannie new tortures shall inuent Inflicting vengeance on the innocent Yet heauen forbids that Maries wombe shall bring Englands faire Sceptâ—r to a forraine King But vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it vvhich broken hurt and wounded shall receaue it And on her temples hauing plac'd the Crowne Roote out the dregs Idolatry hath sowne And Syons glory shall againe restore Layd ruine wast and desolate before And from black sinders and rude heapes of stones Shall gather vp the Martyrs scattred bones And shall extirpe the power of Rome againe And cast aside the heauy yoke of Spayne Farewell sweet Gilford know our end is neere Heauen is our home we are but strangers heere Let vs make hast to goe vnto the blest vvhich from these weary worldly labours rest And with these lines my deerest Lord I greete thee Vntill in heauen thy Iane againe shall meete thee Notes of the Chronicle Historie They which begot vs did beget this sin SHewing the ambition of the two Dukes their Fathers whose pride was the cause of the vtter ouerthrow of theyr chyldren At Durham Pallace where sweet Hymen sang The buildings c. The Lord Gilford Dudley fourth sonne to Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland married the Lady Iane Gray daughter to the duke of Suffolke at Durham house in the Strand When first mine eares were persed with the fame Of Iane proclaimed by a Princesse name Presently vpon the death of King Edward the Lady Iane was taken as Queene conueyed by water to the Tower of London for her safetie and after proclaimed in diuers parts of the Realme as so ordained by King Edwards Letters-pattents and his will My Grandsire Brandon did our house aduaunce By princely Mary dowager of Fraunce Henry Gray Duke of Suffolk married Frauncis the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the French queene by which Frauncis he had this Lady Iane this Mary the French Queene vvas daughter to king Henry the seauenth by Elizabeth his Queene which happy mariage coÌ„ioyned the two noble families of Lancaster York For what great Henrie most stroue to auoyde Noting the distrust that King Henry the eyght euer had in the Princesse Mary his daughter â—earing she should alter the state of Religion in the Land by matching with a stranger confessing the right that King Henries issue had to the Crowne And vnto faire Elizabeth shall leaue it A prophecy of queene Maries barrenâ—es of the happy glorious raigne of Queene Elizabeth her restoring of Religion the abolishing of the Romish seruitude casting aside the yoke of Spayne The Lord Gilford Dudley to the Lady Iane Gray AS Swan-like singing at thy dying howre Such my reply returning from this tower O if there were such power but in my verse As in these woes my wounded hart doe pierce Stones taking sence th' obdurate flint that heares Should at my plaints dissolue it selfe to teares Lend me a teare I le pay thee with a teare And interest to if thou the stocke forbeare vvoe for a woe and for thy interest lone I will returne thee frankly two for one And if thou thinke too soone one sorrow ends Another twice so long shall make amends Perhaps thow'lt iudge in such extreames as these That words of comfort might far better please But such strange power in thy perfection
is shewed in this verse following Brabant nor Burgoyne claimed me by force Nor su'd to Rome to hasten my deuorce Caused great warres by reason that the Duke of Burgoyne tooke part with Brabant against the Duke of Glocester which being arbittated by the Pope the Ladie was adiudged to be deliuered backe to her former husband Nor Bedfords spouse your noble sister Anne That Princely issued braue Burgunian Iohn Duke of Bedford that scourge of Fraunce and the glory of the Englishmen married Anne sister to the Duke of Burgundy a vertuous and beautifull Ladie by which marriage as also by his victories attained in Fraunce he brought great strength to the English nation Where 's Greenewich now thy Elnors Court of late That faire and goodly Pallace of Greenewich was first builded by that famous Duke whose rich and pleasant situation might remaine an assured monument of his wisedome if there were no other memorie of the same They say the Druides once liued in this I le It would seeme that there were two Ilands both of them called Mona though now distinquished the one by the name of Man the other by the name of Anglesey both which were full of many infernall ceremonies as may appeare by Agricolaes voyage made into the hither most Man described by his sonne in law Cornelius Tacitus And as superstition the daughter of bararisme and ignorance so amongst these northerly nations like as in America Magicke was most esteemed Druidae were the publique ministers of their religion as throughly taught in all rites thereof their doctrine concerned the immortalitie of the soule the contempt of death and all other points which may conduce to resolution fortitude and magnanimitie their abode was in Groues and Woods whereupon they haue their name their power extended it selfe to maister the soules of men diseased and to confer with Ghosts and other spirits about the successe of things Plutarch in his profound and learned discourse of the defect of Oraâ—les reporteth that the outmost Brittish Iles were the prison of I wote not what Demigods but it shall not need to speake any farther of the Druidae then that which Lucan doth Et vos barbaricus ritus moremque sinestrum Sacrorum Druidae positis repetistis ab armis Did not the heauens her comming in withstand Noting the prodigious and fearefull signes that were seene in England a little before her comming in which Elinor expresseth in this Epistle as fore-shewing the dangers which should casue vpon this vnlucky marriage The hallowing of the magique instruments The instruments which Bullenbrooke vsed in his coniurations according to the deuillish ceremonies and customes of these vnlawfull Artes were dedicated at a Masse in the Lodge in Harnsey Parke by Southwell Priest of Westminster Hauing procur'd by hopes of golden gaine This was one of the Articles that Duke Humfrey vrg'd against the Cardinall Beuford that conspired the death of Henry the fift by conuaying a villaine into his chamber which in the night should haue murthered him but what ground of truth he had for the same I leaue to dispute Duke Humfrey to Elinor Cobham ME thinks thou should'st not doubt I could forget Her whom so many doe remember yet No no our ioyes away like shadowes slide But sorrowes firme in memory abide Nay I durst answere thou doo'st nothing lesse But moou'd with passion vrg'd by thy distresse No Elnor no thy wooes thy greefe thy wrong Haue in my breast beene resident too long Oh when report in euery place had spred My Elnor was to sanctuarie fled with cursed Onley and the vvitch of Eye As guilty of their vile conspiracie The dreadfull spirits when they did inuocate For the succession and the Realmes estate vvhen Henries Image they in waxe had wrought By which he should vnto his death be brought That as his picture did consume away His person so by sicknes should decay Griefe that before could nere my thoughts controule That instant tooke possession of my soule Ah would to God I could forget thine ill As for mine owne let that instruct me still But that before hath taken too sure hold Forget it said I would to God I could Of any woe if thou hast but one part I haue the whole remaining in my hart I haue no neede of others cares to borrow For all I haue is nothing else but sorrow No my sweet Nell thou took'st not all away Though thou went'st hence here still thy woes doe stay Though from thy husband thou wert forst to goe Those still remaine they will not leaue me so No eye bewailes my ill moanes my distresse Our greefe is more but yet our debt is lesse vve owe no teares no mourning daies are kept For those that yet for vs haue neuer wept vve hold no obijts no sad exequies Vpon the death-daies of vnweeping eyes Alas good Nell what should thy patience moue T' vpbraid thy kind Lord with a forraine loue Thou might'st haue bidd all former ils adue Forgot the old we haue such store of new Did I omit thy loue to entertaine vvith mutuall griefe to answere griefe againe Or think'st thou I vnkindly did forbeare To bandy woe for woe and teare for teare Did I omit or carelesly neglect Those shewes of loue that Ladies so respect In mournefull blacke was I not seene to goe By outward shewes to tell my inward woe Nor drerie words were wasted in lament Nor clowdy brow bewraid my discontent Is this the cause if this be it know then One griefe conceal'd more grieuous is then ten If in my breast those sorrowes sometimes were And neuer vtter'd still they must be there And if thou know'st they many were before By time increasing they must needs be more England to me can challenge nothing lent Let her cast vp what is receiu'd what spent If I her owne can she from blame be free If she but proue a stepdame vnto me That if I should with that proud bastard striue To plead my birth-right and prerogatiue If birth alow I should not need to feare it For then my true nobility should beare it If counsell ayde that Fraunce will tell I know vvhose townes lie wast before the English foe vvhen thrice we gaue the conquered French the foyle At Agincourt at Crauant and Vernoyle If faith auaile these armes did Henry hold To claime his crowne yet scarcely nine month 's old If Countries care haue leaue to speake for me Gray haires in youth my witnes then may be If peoples tongues giue splendor to my fame They adde a title to Duke Humfreys name If toyle at home French treason English hate Shall tell my skill in managing the state If forraine trauell my successe may try In Flaunders Almaine Boheme Burgundy That Robe of Rome proud Beuford now doth weare In euery place such sway should neuer beare The crosier staffe in his imperious hand To be the Scepter that controules the land That home to England despensations drawes vvhich are of power to abrogate our lawes That
euer Michaell Drayton Henry Howard Earle of Surrey to Geraldine The Argument Henry Howard that true noble Earle of Surrey and excellent Poet falling in loue with Geraldine descended of the noble family of the Fitzgeralds of Ireland a faire modest Lady and one of the honourable maids to Quene Katherine Dowager eternizeth her prayses in many excellent Poems of rare and sundrie inuentions and after some few yeares beeing determined to see that famous Italy the source and Helicon of all excellent Arts first visiteth that renowned Florence from whence the Geralds challence their descent from the ancient familie of the Geraldi there in honour of his mistresse be aduanceth her picture and challengeth to maintaine her beauty by deeds of Armes against all that durst appeare in the lists where after the proofe of his braue and incomparable valour whose arme crowned her beauty with eternall memorie he writeth this Epistle to his deerest Mistres FRom learned Florence long time rich in same From whence thy race thy noble Grandsires came To famous England that kind nurse of mine Thy Surrey sends to heauenly Geraldine Yet let not Thuscan thinke I doe her wrong That I from thence write in my natiue tongue That in these harsh-tun'd cadences I sing Sitting so neere the Muses sacred spring But rather thinke her selfe adorn'd thereby That England reads the praise of Italy Though to the Thuscans I the smoothnes grant Our dialect no maiestie doth want To set thy prayses in as hie a key As Fraunce or Spaine or Germany or they That day I quit the Fore-land of faire Kent And that my ship her course for Flandersbent Yet thinke I with how many a heauy looke My leaue of England and of thee I tooke And did intreat the tide if it might be But to conuey me one sigh backe to thee Vp to the decke a billow lightly skips Taking my sigh and downe againe it slips Into the gulfe it selfe it headlong throwes And as a Post to England-ward it goes As I sit wondring how the rough seas stird I might far off perceiue a little bird vvhich as she faine from shore to shore would flie Hath lost her selfe in the broad vastie skie Her feeble wing beginning to deceiue her The seas of life still gaping to bereaue her Vnto the ship she makes which she discouers And there poore foole a while for refuge houers And when at length her flagging pineon failes Panting she hangs vpon the ratling failes And being forc'd to loose her hold with paine Yet beaten off she straight lights on againe And tost with flawes with stormes with wind with wether Yet still departing thence still turneth thether Now with the Poope now with the Prow doth beare Now on this side now that now heerâ— now there Me thinks these stormes should be my sad depart The silly helpelesse bird is my poore bart The ship to which for succour it repaires That is your selfe regardlesse of my cares Of euery surge doth fall or waue doth rise To some one thing I sit and moralize VVhen for thy loue I left the Belgick shore Diuine Erasmus and our famous Moore vvhose happy presence gaue me such delight As made a minute of a winters night vvith whom a while I stai'd at Roterdame Now so renowned by Erasmus name Yet euery houre did seeme a world of time Till I had seene that soule-reuiuing clime And thought the foggy Netherlands vnfit A watry soyle to clog a fiery wit And as that wealthy Germany I past Comming vnto the Emperors Court at last Great learn'd Agrippa so profound in Art vvho the infernall secrets doth impart vvhen of thy health I did desire to know Me in a glasse my Geraldine did shew Sicke in thy bed and for thou couldst net sleepe By a watch Taper set thy light to keepe I doe remember thou didst read that Ode Sent backe whilst I in Thanet made abode vvhere as thou cam'st vnto the word of loue Euen in thine eyes I saw how passion stroue That snowy Lawne which couered thy bed Me thought look'd white to see thy cheeke so red Thy rosie cheeke oft changing in my sight Yet still was red to see the Lawne so white The little Taper which should giue thee light Me thought wax'd dim to see thy eye so bright Thine eye againe supplies the Tapers turne And with his beames doth make the Taper burne The shrugging ayre about thy Temple hurles And wraps thy breath in little clouded curles And as it doth ascend it straight doth ceaze it And as it sinks it presently doth raise it Canst thou by sicknes banish beauty so VVhich if put from thee knowes not where to goe To make her shift and for her succour seeke To euery riueld face each bankrupt cheeke If health preseru'd thou beauty still doost cherish If that neglected beauty soone doth perish Care drawes on care woe comforts woe againe Sorrow breeds sorrow one griefe brings forth twaine If liue or die as thou doost so doe I If liue I liue and if thou die I die One hart one loue one ioy one griefe one troth One good one ill one life one death to both If Howards blood thou hold'st as but too vile Or not esteem'st of Norfolks Princely stile If Scotlands coate no marke of fame can lend That Lion plac'd in our bright siluer bend vvhich as a Trophy beautifies our shield Since Scottish blood discoloured Floden field VVhen the proud Cheuiot our braue Ensigne beare As a rich iewel in a Ladies haire And did faire Bramstons neighbouring valies choke vvith clouds of Canons fire disgorged smoke Or Surreys Earldome insufficient be And not a dower so well contenting thee Yet am I one of great Apollos heires The sacred Muses challenge me for theirs By Princes my immortall lines are sung My flowing verses grac'd with euery tung The little children when they learne to goe By painefull mothers daded to and fro Are taught my sugred numbers to rehearse And haue their sweet lips season'd with my verse vvhen heauen would striue to doe the best it can And put an Angels spirit into a man The vtmost power in that great worke doth spend vvhen to the world a Poet it doth intend That little difference twixt the Gods and vs By them confirm'd distinguish'd onely thus vvhom they in birth ordaine to happie daies The Gods commit their glory to our praise To eternall life when they dissolue that breath vve likewise share a second power by death VVhen time shall turne those Amber curles to gray My verse againe shall guild and make them gay And trick them vp in knotted curles anew And in the autumne giue a sommers hue That sacred power that in my Inke remaines Shall put fresh blood into thy wither'd vaines And on thy red decay'd thy whitenes dead Shall set a white more white a red more red VVhen thy dim sight thy glasse cannot discry Thy crazed mirrhor cannot see thine eye My verse to tell what eye what mirrhor was Glasse to
liueth As smiles in teares and teares in gladnes giuethâ— Yet thinke not Iane that cowardly I faint As begging mercy by this sad complaint Or yet suppose my courage daunted so That thou shouldst stand betwixt me and my so That grim-aspected death should now controule And seeme so fearefull to my parting soule For were one life a thousand lifes to me Yet were all those too few to die with thee vvhen thou my woes so patiently dost beare As if in death no cause of sorrow were And no more doost lifes dissolution shunne Then if cold age his longest course had runne Thou which didst once giue comfort in my woe Now art alone becom my comforts foe Not that I leaue wherein I did delight But that thou art debarr'd my wished sight For if I speake and would complaine my wrong Straight-waies thy name doth come into my tongâ— And thou art present as thou still didst lye Or in my hart or in my lips or eye No euill plannet raigned at thy birth Nor was that houre prodigious heere on earth No fatall marke of froward destinie Could be diuin'd in thy natiuitie T is onely I that did thy fall deuise And thou by me art made a sacrifice As in those Countries where the louing wiues Doe with their husbands euer end their liues And crown'd with garlands in their brides attire Goe with their husbands to that holy fire And she vnworthy thought to liue of all vvhen feare of death or danger doth appall I boast not of Northumberlands great name Nor of Kets conquest which adornes the same vvhen he to Norfolke led his troupes from far And yok'd the rebels in the chaine of war vvhen our white Beare did furiously respireâ— The flames that sing'd their Villages with fire And brought sweet peace in safety to our doores Yet left our fame vpon the Easterne shores Nor of my princely brothers which might grace And plant true honour in the Dudleys race Nor of Grayes match my children borne by thee Alied to great Plantaginet should bee But of thy vertues proudly boast I dare That she is mine whom all perections are I crau'd no Kingdome though I thee did craue And hauing thee I wish'd no more to haue Yet let me say how euer it befell Me thinks a Crowne should haue becom'd thee well Me thinks thy wisedome was ordain'd alone To blesse a Scepter beautifie a throme Thy lips a sacred Oracle retaine vvherein all holy prophecies remaine More highly priz'd thy vertues were to me Then crownes then Kingdomes or then Scepters bâ— So chast thy loue so innocent thy life A wiued virgine and a mayded wife The greatest gifts that heauen could giue me heere Nothing on earth to me was halse so deere This was the ioy wherin we liu'd of late Ere worldly cares did vs excruciate Before these troubles did our peace confound By war by weapon massacre or wound Ere dreadfull Armies did disturbe our shores Or walls were shaken with the Cannons roares Suspect bewrayes our thoughts bewrayes our words One Crowne is guarded with a thousand swords To meane estate but common woes are showne But Crownes haue cares that euer be vnknowne And we by them are to those dangers led Of which the least we are experienced VVhen Dudley led his Armies to the East Of all the bosome of the land possest vvhat Earthly comfort was it that he lack'd That with a Counsels warrantie was back'd That had a Kingdome and the power of lawes Still to maintaine the iustnes of his cause And with the Clergies helpe the Commons ayd In euery place the peopled Kingdome swayd But what alas can Parliaments auaile vvhen Maries right must Edwards acts repealeâ— VVhen suffolks power doth Suffolks hopes withstand Northumberland doth leaue Northumberland And those which should our greatnes vnder prop Raze our foundation ouerthrow our top Ere greatnes come we wish it with our hart But being come desire it would depart And indiscretly follow that so fast which when it comes brings perrill at the last If any man doe pittie our offence Let him be sure to get him far from hence Heere is no place no comfort heere at all For any one that shall bewaile our fall And we in vaine of mercy should but thinke Our briny teares the fullen earth doth drink O that all teares for vs should be forlorne And all should die so soone as they be borne Mothers that should their childrens fortunes rue Fathers in death too kindly bid adue Friends of their friends a kind farwell to take The faithful seruant mourning for our sake Brothers and sisters waiting on our Beere Mourners to tell what we were liuing heere Those eares are stopt which should bewaile our fall And wee the Mourners and the dead and all And that which first our Pallace was ordain'd The prison which our libertie restrain'd And where our Court we held in princely state There now alone are left disconsolate Thus then resolu'd as thou resolu'd am I. Die thou for me and I for thee will die And yet that heauen Elizabeth may blesse Be thou sweet Iane a faithfull Prophetesse VVith that health gladly resaluting thee VVhich thy kind farwell wish'd before to mee Notes of the Chronicle Historie Nor of Kets conquest which adornes the same IOhn Duke of Northumberland when before he was Earle of Warwicke in his expedition against Ket ouerthrew the rebels of Norfolk and suffolk encamped at Mount-Surrey in Norfolke Nor of my princely brothers which might grace Gilford Dudley as remembring in this place the towardnesse of his brothers which were all likely indeed to haue raised that house of the Dudleyes of which he was a fourth brother if not suppressed by their Fathers ouerthrow Nor of Grayes match my children borne by thee Noting in this place the alliance of the Ladie Iane Gray by her mother which was Frauncis the daughter of Charles Brandon by Mary the French Queene daughter to Henry the seuenth and sister to Henry the eight To blesse a Septer beautifie a threne Sildome hath it euer been known of any woman endued with such wonderfull gifts as was this Ladie both for her wisedome and learning of whose skill in the tongues one reporteth by this Epigram Miraris Ianam Graio sermone â—alere Quâ— primum nata est tempore Graia Fuit When Dudley led his armies to the East The Duke of Northumberland prepared his power at London for his expedition against the Rebels in Norfolke and making hast away appointed the rest of his forces to meete him at Newmarket Heath of whom this saying is reported that passing through Shorditch the Lord Gray in his company seeing the people in great numbers came to see him hee said the people presse to see vs but none bid God speede vs. That with the Counsels warranty was back'd Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland when he went out against Queene Mary had his Commission sealed for the generalship of the Armie by the consent of the whole Counsell of the Land
power this outrage to represse vvhich might thy zeale and sanctitie enrole Come thou in purenes meekely with the word Lay not thy hand to the vnhallowed sword 7 Blood-thirsting warre arising first from Hell And in progression ceazing on this I le vvhere it before neere forty yeeres did dwell And with pollution horribly defile By which so many a worthy English fell By our first Edward banished awhile Transferd by fortune to the Scottish meare To ransack that as it had rauin'd heere 8 VVhere houering still vvith inauspicious vvings About the verge of thâ—se distempered climes Returning now new error hether brings To stir vs vp to these disastrous crimes vveakeneth our power by oft diminishings And taking hold on these vnsetled times Forcing our frailty sensually at length Crackt the stiffe nerues that knit our auncient strength 9 vvhose frightfull vision at the first approach vvith violent madnes strooke that desperate age So many sundry miseries abroach Giuing full speede to their vnbrideled rage That did our auncient libertie encroach And in these stronge conspiracies ingage The worthiest blood the subiects losse to bring By innaturall wrongs vnto their naturall king 10 VVhen in the North whilst horror yet was young These dangerous seasons swiftly comming on vvhilst o're our heads portentious meteours hung And in the skyes sterne Comets brightly shone Prodigious births oft intermixt among Such as before to times had beene vnknowne In bloody issues forth the earth doth breake vveeping for vs whose woes it could not speake 11 vvhen by the ranknes of contagious ayre A mortall plague inuadeth man and beast vvhich soone disperst and raging euery where In doubt the same too quickly should haue ceast More to confirme the certaintie of feare By cruell famine haplesly encreast As though the heauens in their remisful doome Tooke those best lou'd from worset dayes to come 12 The leuell course that we propose to goe Now to th' intent you may more plainly see And that we euery circumstance may show The state of things and truly what they be And with what skill or proiect we bestow As our accurrents happen in degree From these portents we now diuert our view To bring to birth the horrors that ensue 13 The calling backe of banisht Gaueston Gainst which the Barrons were to Longshanks sworne That insolent lasciuious Minion A Soueraignes blemish and a countries scorne The signiories and great promotion Him in his lawlesse courses to subborne Stirres vp that hatefull and outragious strife That cost ere long so many an English life 14 O worthy Lacy hadst thou spar'd that breath vvhich shortly after nature thee deny'd To Lancaster deliuered at thy death To whom thy onely daughter was affy'd That this sterne warre too quickly publisheth To ayde the Barrons gainst that Minions pride Thy Earldoms lands and titles of renowne Had not so soone returnd vnto the Crowne 15 The Lordships Bruse vnto the Spensers past Crossing the Barrons vehement desire As from Ioues hand that fearefull lightning cast vvhen fifty townes lay spent in enuious fire Alas too vaine and prodigall a wast The strong effect of theyr conceiued ire Vrging the weake King with a violent hand T' abiure those false Lords from the troubled land 16 VVhen the fayre Queene that progressing in Kent Lastly deny'd her entrance into Leeds vvhom Badlesmere vnkindly doth preuent vvho gainst his Soueraigne in this course proceeds As adding further to this discontent One of the springs which this great mischiefe feeds Heaping on rage and horror more and more To thrust on that which went too fast before 17 VVhich more and more a kingly rage increast Moou'd with the wrongs of Gaueston disgraded vvhich had so long beene setled in his breast That all his powers it wholy had inuaded Giuing the Spensers an assured rest By whom his reasons chiefly are perswaded By whose lewd counsels he is onely led To leaue his true Queene and his lawfull bed 18 That now herselfe who while she stood in grace Applied her powers these disoords to appease vvhen yet confusion had not fully place Nor former times so dangerous as these A party now in theyr afflicted case A willing hand to his destruction layes That time whose soft palme heales the wound of warre May cure the soare but neuer close the scarre 19 In all this heate his greatnes first began The serious subiect of our sadder vaine Braue Mortimer that euer-matchlesse man Of the old Heroes great and God-like straine For whom invention dooing best it can His weight of honour hardly can sustaine Bearing his name immortaliz'd and hie vvhen he in earth vnnumbred times shall lie 20 That vncle now whose name this Nephew bare The onely comfort of the wofull Queene vvho from his cradle held him as his care In whom the hope of that great name was seene For this young Lord now wisely doth prepare vvhilst yet this deepe hart-goaring wound is greene And on this faire aduantage firmly wrought To place him highly in her princely thought 21 At whose deliberate and vnusuall byrth The heauens were said to counsell to retire And in aspects of happines and mirth Breath'd him a spirit insatiatly t' aspire That tooke no mixture of the ponderous earth But all comprest of cleere ascending fire So well made vp that such an one as he Ioue in a man like Mortimer would be 22 The temper of that nobler moouing part vvith such rare purenes rectified his blood Raysing the powers of his resolued hart Too proud to be lockt vp within a flood That no misfortune possibly could thwart vvhich from the natiue greatnes where it stood Euen by the vertue of a piercing eye Shew'd that his pitch was boundlesse as the sky 23 VVorthy the grand-child of so great a Lord vvho whilst first Edward fortunately raign'd Reedifi'd great Arthurs auncient boord The seate at goodly Kennelworth ordain'd The order of old Knighthood there restor'd To which a hundreth duly appertain'd vvith all the grace beauties of a Court As best became that braue and martiall sport 24 The hart-swolne Lords with fury set on fire vvhoÌ„ Edwards wrongs to vengeance still prouoke vvith Lancaster Hartfoord now conspire No more to beare the Spensers seruile yoke And thus whilst all a mutuall change desire The auncient bonds of their allegeance broke Resolu'd with blood their liberty to buy And in this quarrell vow'd to liue and dye 25 VVhat priuiledge hath our free birth say they Or in our blood what vertue doth remaine To each lasciuious Minion made a pray That vs and our nobilitie disdaine vvhilst they tryumphing boast of our decay Either those spirits we doe not now retaine That were our fathers or by fate we fall Both from their greatnes liberty and all 26 Honour deiected from that soueraigne state From whence at first it challenged a beeing Now prostitute to infamy and hate As with it selfe in all things disagreeing So out of order disproportionate From her faire course preposterously flying vvhilst others
bestow vvhich as a quarry on the soyld earth lay Seasd on by conquest as a glorious pray 58 Heere noble Bohun that braue-issued peere Herford so hie in eu'ry gracious hart Vnto his country so receiu'd and deere vvounded by treason in the lower part As o're the bridge his men returning were Through those ill-ioyn'd plancks by an enuious dart But Lancaster whose lot not yet to die Taken reseru'd to greater infamie 59 O subiect for some sadder Muse to sing Of fiue great Earldoms happily possest Of the direct line of the English King vvith fauours friends and earthly honours blest If so that all these happines could bring Or could endowe assurednes of rest But what estate stands free from fortunes power The Fates haue guidance of our time and howre 60 Some few themselues in sanctuaries hide In mercie of that priuiledged place Yet are their bodies so vnsanctifi'd As scarce their soules can euer hope for grace vvhereas they still in want and feare abide A poore dead life this draweth out a space Hate stands without and horror sits within Prolonging shame but pard'ning not their sin 61 Here is not death contented with the dead As though of some thing carelesly deni'd Till which might firmly be accomplished His vtmost fully were not specifi'd That all exactly might be perfected A further torment vengeance doth prouide That dead men should in misery remaine To make the liuing die with greater paine 62 You soueraine Citties of th' afflicted Ile In Cipresse wreaths and widowed attire Prepare yee now to build the funerall pile Lay your pale hands vnto this latest â—â—re All mirth and comfort from your streets exile Till you be purg'd of this infectious â—â—e The noblest blood yet liuing to be shed That euer dropt from your rebellious dead 63 VVhen this braue Lord great Lancaster who late This puisant force had now thus long retayn'd As the first Agent in this strange debate At fatall Pomfret for these facts aâ—ayn'd Gainst whom of all things they articulate To whom these factions chiefly appertain'd vvhose proofes apparant so directly sped As from his body reâ—t a reuerent head 64 Yet Lancaster it is not thy deere breath Can raunsome back the safety of the Crowne Nor make a league of so great power with death To warrant what is rightfully our owne But they must pay the â—orfait of their faith vvhich fondly broke with their ambiâ—ion vvhen now reueâ—ge vnto the vtmost rack'd The Agents iustly suffer with the actâ— 65 Euen in that place where he had lately led As this darke path vnto the rest to show It was not long ere many followed In the same steps that he before did goe London thy freedome is prohibited The first in place ô would the first in woe Others in blood did not excell thee farre That now deuour the remnant of this warre 66 O parents ruthfull and hart-renting sight To see that sonne thy tender bosome fed A mothers ioy a fathers sole delight That with much cost yet with more care was bred A spectacle euen able to affright Th'most sencelesse thing and terrifie the dead His blood so deere vpon the cold earth powr'd His quarter'd coarse of birds and beasts deuour'd 67 But t is not you that beere complaine alone Or to your selues this fearefull portion share Heer 's choyce and strange varietie of moane Poore childrens teares with widdowes mixed are Many a friends sigh many a maydens grone So innocent so simply pure and rare As though euen nature that long silent kept Burst out in playnts and bitterly had wept 68 O wretched age had not these things beene done I had not now in these more calmer times Into the search of former troubles runne Nor had my virgine impoluted rimes Altred the course wherein they first begun To sing these bloody and vnnaturall crimes My layes had still beene to Ideas bower Of my deere Ankâ—r or her loued Stoure 69 Or for our subiect your faire worth to chuse Your birth your vertue and your hie respects That gently dayne to patronize our Muse vvho our free soule ingeniously elects To publish your deserts and all your dues Mauger the Momists and Satyrick sects vvhilst my great verse eternally is song You still may liue with me in spight of wrong 70 But greater things reserued are in store Vnto this taske my Armed Muse to keepe Still offering me occasion as before Matter whereof my tragick verse may weepeâ— And as a vessell beeing neere tâ—e shore By aduerse winds enforced to the deepe Am driuen backe from whence I came of late Vnto the bus'nes of a troubled state The end of the second Canto The third Booke of the Barrons warres The Argument By a sleepie potion that the Queene ordaines Lord Mortimer escapes out of the Tower And by false slights and many subtile traines Shee gets to Fraunce to raise a â—orraine power The French King leaues his sister need constraines The Queene to Henault in a happy bowre Edward her sonne to Phillip is affi'd And for iâ—uasion presently prouide 1 SCarce had these passed miseries their ends vvhen other troubles instantly begun As still new matter mischiefe apprehends By things that inconâ—id'ratly were done And further yet this insolence extends vvhilst all not yeelded that the sword had wonneâ— For some there were that â—ecretly did he That to this bus'nes had a watchfull eye 2 VVhen as the King whilst things thus fairely went VVho by this happy victory grew strong Summons at Yorke a present Parlement To plant his right and helpe the Spensers wrong By which he thinks t' establish his intent vvhence more and more his Mineons greatnes sprong vvhose counsels still in all proceedings crost Th' inraged Queene whom all misfortunes tost 3 VVhen now the eld'st a man extreamly hated vvhom yet the King not aptly could prefer The edge of their sharpe insolence abated This parlement makes Earle of VVinchester vvhere Herckley Earle of Carlell is created And Baldock likewise is made Chauncelor One whom the King had for his purpose wrought A man as subtile so corrupt and naught 4 VVhen now mishapp's that sildome come alone Thicke in the necks of one another fell The Scot pretends a new inuasion And Fraunce doth thence our vse-full power expell Treasons suspected to attend his throne The greeued Commons eu'ry day rebell Mischiefe on mischiefe curse doth follow curse One ill scarse past when after comes a worse 5 For Mortimer this wind yet fitly blew Troubling theyr eyes which else perhaps might see vvhilst the wise Queene who all aduantage knew Is closly plotting his deliuery vvhich now she doth with all her powers pursue Aptly contryu'd by her deepe pollicie Against opinion and the course of might To worke her will euen through the iawes of spight 6 A sleepie drinke she secretly hath made vvhose operation had such wonderous power As with cold numnes could the sence invade And mortifie the patient by an howre The liuelesse corse in such a slumber layd As
And all the prisons desolutely freed Both field and towne with wretchednes to fill London first author of our latest shame Soon'st that repent'st most plagued for the same 42 VVhos 's giddy commons mercilesse and rude Let loose to mischiefe in this cursed day Their hands in blood of Edwards friends imbrude Neuer content till they were made away Th' implacable and wicked multitude On the Lieuetenant Staplâ—ton doe pray vvho drag'd and torne by this tumultuous heape Cut off his head before the Crosse in Cheape 43 Read wofull Citty on thy ruin'd vvall Thy sad destruction which is drawing nie vvhere on thy gates is charractred thy fall In mangled bodies thine Anatomy Now thy lewd errors to a reckning call vvhich may exstract teares from thy ruthlesse eye And if the thicke ayre dim thy hatefull sight Thy buildings are on fire to giue thee light 44 Thy chanels serue for inck for paper stones And on the ground write murther incest rape And for thy pennes a heape of dead-mens bones Let eu'ry letter be some monstrous shape Thy poynts and accents be departing groanes And let no vile nor desperate act escape And when with pride thou art againe ore'gon Then take this booke and sadly looke thereon 45 Poore wretch dispoyl'd of thy late virgins name Now for thy sinne what impious villaine shent Black is my inck but blacker thy defame vvho shall reuenge whilst I thy state lament vvhat might be done to remedy thy shame vvhen now too late these mischiefes to preuent Against these horrors thou doo'st idely striue Thou seest thy selfe deuoured yet aliue 46 Thou want'st redresse and tyrannie remorce To whom should'st thou thy helplesse woes complaine But yeeld thy selfe to the adulterers force Thy words vntimely and returne in vaine The more thou grieu'st thy fault is still the worse This remedy there onely doth remaine Dispoyld of fame be prodigall of breath And make thy life cleere by a resolute death 47 For worlds that were the present times complaine vvhen men might haue beene buried when they di'de And children safely in their cradles laine And when the husband might enioy his bride vvhen in some bounds ill could it selfe containe The sonne haue kneeld by 's fathers death-bed side The liuing wrong'd the dead no right can haue The father sees his sonne to want a graue 48 But t' is too late thy head-strong course t'recall Depriu'd all feeling of externall feare These deadly sounds by theyr continuall fall Settle confusion in thy deafned eare This is the last ô would the worst of all Shreeks be the musick thou deligt'st to heare Armes thy attire and wounds be all thy good Thy end consists in rapine and in blood 49 Inglorious age of whom it should be said That all these mischieues did abound in thee That all these sinnes should to thy charge be laid From no calumnious nor vile action free O let not time vs with thy ills vpbrayd Leaft feare what hath beene argue what may be And fashoning so a habit in the minde Make vs alone the haters of our kind 50 O powerfull heauen in whose all-soueraine raine Those thy pure bodies moue in harmonie And by a strong and euerlasting chaine Together linck'd in sacred vnitie In which you doe continually remaine Stayd in one certaine course eternally VVhy his due motion keepeth eu'ry star Yet what they gouerne so irregular 51 Muse in the course of this vnnaturall warre Tell me from whence this height of mischiefe grew That in so short time spread it selfe so farre vvhereon such strange calamities ensue The true occasions faithfully declare O men religious was the fault in you vvhich euen growne resâ—ie by your power with-draw Your stifned necks as freed from ciuill awe 52 VVhat wonder then the people grow prophane vvhen Churchmens liues giue lay men leaue to fall Their former Doue-like humblenes disdaine For coates of hayre now clad in costly pall The holy Ephod made a cloke for gaine And what most cunning most cannonicall And blinde promotion shunnes that dangerous road vvhich the old Prophets diligently troad 53 Hence ist that God so slightly is ador'd The rock remoou'd whereon our faith is grounded Conscience esteem'd but as an idle word vvhich weake before by vaine opinion wounded Professors liues so little fruite affoord And in her sects religion lies confounded The sacred things a merchandize become None talkes of texts and prophecying dumbe 54 And of the former beeing thus possest Like to the venom of infectious ayre That hauing got into the secret breast Is not prescrib'd nor long times staies it there But from this ground to seaze vpon the rest The rancke contagion spreading eu'ry where That ere this euill hath the vtmost done The solid body lastly ouer-runne 55 Cauels breake forth to cancell wholesome lawes And catching hold vpon the publique weale vvhere doubts should cease they rise in eu'ry clause The sword that wounds ordaind a salue to heale One mischiefe still another forward drawes Each striuing others vilenesse to conceale By lewde corruptions in a needfull vse Right cloakes all wrong and couers all abuse 56 VVhen now the King late taken to this hold And in this poore imprisoned libertie Liuing a death in hunger want and cold Euen in depth of woe and misery By hatefull treason secretly is sold Before he could the trecherous drift espy For when oppression's vp vnto the chin vvho lends not hand to thrust him boldly in 57 In th'lucklesse fortunes of this wretched King vvhose person 's ceased by th' invading part Vnto his friends sad matters menacing vvith bloodlesse terror striking eu'ry hart All expectation now discouraging vvhen no euasion from the foe to start And that the cloude which threatned greatest feare Rose whence their hopes most brightest did appeare 58 VVhich breaking in now with a generall force On the two Spensers from whose onely hate This warre first sprung distracted in their course Their latest power confined by their fate Of whom there 's none takes pitty or remorce vvhich to auoyde as cankers of the state The eldest first to death at Bristow led vvhere hangd to death his body quartered 59 VVhen as the heyre to VVinchester late dead The bloody lot to th' Earle of Gloster fell Reding the Marshall marshald with the dead vvhen soone succeedes the Earle of Arundell To pay the forfaite of a reuerent head Then Muchelden and wofull Daniell VVho followed him in his lasciuious wayes Must goe before him to his fatall dayes 60 Euen like some piller on whose goodly height A pond'rous building onely doth depend vvhich when not able to sustaine the weight And that his strong backe hath begun to bend As quite depriued of his former might The massy load vnto the ground doth send Crushing the lesser props and murdring all That stand within the compasse of the fall 61 That state whereon the strength of Princes leanes vvhose hie ascent we trembling doe behold From whence by coynesse of their chast disdaines Subiection is imperiously
the deepe As the ground leuell or vnleuell lay And now direct now anguler doth creepe Nor in the course keepes any certaine stay Till in the Castell in a secret place He casts the foule Maske from his cloudy face 48 By which the King with a selected crue Of such as he with his intent aquainted And well affected to this action knew That in reuenge of Edward neuer fainted And to their vtmost zealously pursue Such whose cleere blood no time had euer taynted Adâ—entures now this Labirinth t' assay To rouze the beast which kept them all at bay 49 VVhat time the Sunne with his day-labouring teames Is dryuing downe vnto the VVest apace T'refresh his cauples in the Ocean streames And coole the feruor glowing in his face VVhich now appeares by his hie-coloured beames To rest him from our Hemisphere a space Leauing foule darknes to possesse the skies The fittest time for bloody tragedies 50 VVith torches now attempting the sad Caue vvhich at their entrance seemeth in a fright At the reflection that the brightnes gaue As till that time it neuer saw the light vvhere light and darknes with the power they haue Strongly for the preheminence doe fight And each confounding other both appeare As to their owne selues they contrary were 51 The craggy cleeues which crosse them as they goe Make as theyr passage they would haue denyde And threatning therâ— their iourny to forslow As angry with the path that was their guide As they their griefe and discontent would show Cursing the hand that did them first deuide The combrous falls and risings seeme to say This wicked action could not brooke the day 52 The gloomy lamps this troope still forward led Forcing the shadowes follow on their backe Are like the mourners waiting on the dead And as the deede so are they vgly blacke Hate goes before confusion followed The sad portents of blood-shed and of wrack These faint dym-burning lights as all amazed At those deformed shades whereon they gazed 53 The clattering Armes their Maisters seeme to chide As they would reason wherefore they should wound And striking with the poâ—nts from side to side As though euen angry with the hollow ground That it this vile and ruthlesse act should hide vvhose stony roofe lock'd in their dolefull sound And hanging in the creekes draw backe againe As willing them from murther to refraine 54 Now wexing late and after all these things Vnto her chamber is the Queene withdrawne To whom a choyce Musition playes and sings Reposing her vpon a state of Lawne In night attyre diuinely glittering As th'approching of the cheerefull dawne Leaning vpon the breast of Mortimer vvhose voyce more then the Musicke pleasd her eare 55 VVhere her fayre breasts at liberty are let vvhere violet vaines in curious branches flow vvhere Venus Swans and milkie Doues are set Vpon the swelling mounts of driuen snow vvhere Loue whilst he to sport himselfe doth get Hath lost his course nor finds which way to goe Inclosed in this Labyrinth about vvhere let him wander still yet nere get out 56 Her loose gold hayre ô gold thou art too base vvere it not sinne to name those silke threds hayre Declyning downe to kisse herfayrer face But no word fayre enough for thing so fayre O what hie wondrous Epethite can grace Or giue the due prayse to a thing so rare But where the pen fayles pensill cannot show it Nor can be knowne vnlesse the mind doe know it 57 She layes those fingers on his manly cheeke The Gods pure scepters and the darts of loue vvhich with a touch might make a Tyger meeke Or the maine Atlas from his place remoue So soft so feeling delicate and sleeke As Nature ware the Lillies for a gloue As might beget life where was neuer none And put a spirit into the flinty stone 58 The fire of precious wood the lights perfume vvhose perfect cleernes on the painting shone As eu'ry thing to sweetnesse did consume Or eu'ry thing had sweetnes of it owne And to it selfe this portrayed did resume The smell where with his naturall is growne That light gaue colour on each thing it fell And to the colour the perfume gaue smell 59 Vpon the sundry pictures they deuise And from one thing they to another runne Now they commend that body then those eyes How well that bird how well that flower was done Now this part shaddowed and how that doth rise This top is clouded and that traile is spunne The landskip mixtures and dilineatings And in that Art a thousand curious things 60 Looking vpon proude Phaeton wrapd in fire The gentle Queene doth much bewaile his fall But Mortimer more praysing his desire To loose a poore life or to gouerne all And though he did ambitiously aspire And by his minde is made proude Fortunesthrall Yet in despight when she her worst hath done Hee perish'd in the Chariot of the Sunne 61 The Queene saith Phoebus is much forc'd by Art Nor can she find how his embraces be But Mortimer now takes the Painters part vvhy thus great Empresse thus and thus quoth he Thus holds the Boy thus clips his fainting hart Thus twyne their armes and thus their lips you see You shall be Phoebus Hyacinthus I It were a life thus eu'ry howre to die 62 By this time neere into the vpperhall Is rudely entred this disordered rout vvhen they within suspecting least of all Discharg'd the guard that should haue watch'd without O see how mischiefe suddainly doth fall And steales vpon vs beeing free'st from doubt How ere the life the end is euer sure And oft in death fond man is most secure 63 VVhilst his lou'd Neuill and deere Turrington Amongst the Ladies that attended there Relating things that anciently were done vvith such discourse as women loue to heare Staying delight whilst time so fast doth runne Thus in the Lobby as they freely were Charg'd on the suddaine by this armed trayne Both in the entrance miserably slaine 64 As from the snow-crown'd Skidos lofty cleeues Some fleet-wing'd haggard towards the euening hower Stooping amongst the More-bred Mallard driues And th' ayre of all her feath'red flocks doth skower vvhen backe vnto her former pitch she striues The silly fowle all prostrate to her power Such a sharpe shreeke doth ring through all the vault Made by the Ladies at the first assault 65 March now vnarm'd she onely in his armes Too faire a shield not made for fouler blowes That least of all expected these alarmes And to be thus intrapped by his foes vvhen he is most inprouident of harmes O had he had but weapons like his woes Either his valure had his breath redeem'd Or in her sight dy'd happily esteem'd 66 Amongst the others looking for the King In this blacke show that he assures him is Though much disguis'd yet him imagining By the most perfect lyneaments of his Quoth he the man thee to the Crowne did bring Might at thy hands the least haue look'd for this And in
make vvhen I am growne familiar with my woe And nothing can th' afflicted conscience grieue But he can pardon that doth all forgiue 87 And thus thou most adored in my hart vvhose thoughts in death my humbled spirit doth raise Lady most fayre most deere of most desart VVorthy of more then any mortall praise Condemned Marcb thus lastly doth depart From her the greatest Empresse of her dayes Nor in the dust mine honor I inter Thus Caesar dy'd and thus dies Mortimer 88 To Nottingham this Letter brought vnto her vvhich is subscrib'd with her Emperious stile Puts her in mind how once that hand did wooe her vvith this short thought to please herselfe awhile Thus sorrow can so subtilly vndoe her That with such flattery doth her sence beguile To giue a sharper feeling to that paine vvhich her grieu'd hart was shortly to sustaine 89 Putting her fingers to vnrip the seale Cleauing to keepe those sorrowes from her eyes As it were loth the tydings to reueale vvhence griefe should spring in such varieties But strongly vrg'd doth to her will appeale vvhen the soft waxe vnto her touch implies Sticking vnto her fingers bloody red To shew the bad newes quickly followed 90 Thus by degrees she easâ—y doth begin As the small fish playes with the bayted hooke Then more and more to swallow sorrow in As threatning death at eu'ry little looke vvhere now she reads th'expences of her sin Sadly set downe in this blacke dreadfull booke And those deere summes were like to be defray'd Before the same were absolutely pay'd 91 An hoast of woes her suddainly assayle As eu'ry letter wounded like a dart As though contending which should most preuaile Yet eu'ry one doth piâ—rce her to the hart As eu'ry word did others case bewaile And with his neighbour seem'd to beare a part Reason of griefe eâ—ch sentence is to her And eu'ry line a true remembrancer 92 Greefe makes her reade yet straightwaies bids her leaue vvith which ore-charg'd shee neither sees nor heares Her sences now theyr Mistris so deceiue The words doe wound her eyes the sound her eares And eu'ry organe of the vse bereaues vvhen for a fescue she doth vse her teares That when some line she loosly ouer-past The drops doe tell her where she left the last 93 O now she sees was neuer such a sight And seeing curs'd her sorrow-seeing eye Yet thinks she is deluded by the light Or is abusd by the orthography And by some other t' is deuis'd for spight Or pointed false her schollership to try Thus when we fondly sooth our owne desires Our best conceits oft proue the greatest lyers 94 Her trembling hand as in a feuer shakes vvhere-with the paper doth a little stirre vvhich she imagines at her sorrow shakes And pitties it who she thinks pitties her Each small thing somewhat to the greater makes And to the â—umor some thing doth infer VVhich when so soone as shee her tongue could free O worthy Earle deere-loued Lord quoth shee 95 I will reserue thy ashes in some Vrne vvhich as a relique I will onely saue Mix'd with the teares that I for thee shall mourne vvhich in my deare breast shall theyr buriall haue From whence againe they neuer shall returne Nor giue the honor to another graue But in that Temple euer be preserued vvhere thou a Saint religiously art serued 96 VVhen she breakes out to cursing of her sonne But March so much still runneth in her mind That she abruptly ends what she begunne Forgets her selfe and leaues the rest behind From this she to another course doth runne To be reueng'd in some notorious kind To which shee deeply doth ingage her troth Bound by a strong vow and a solemne oth 97 For pen and incke she calls her mayds without And the Kings dealings will in griefe discouer But soone forgetting what she went about Shee now begins to write vnto her louer Heere she sets downe and there she blotteth out Her griefe and passion doe so strongly moue her vvhen turning backe to read what she had writ She teares the paper and condemns her wit 98 And thus with contrarieties araysed As waters chilnesse wakeneth from a swound Comes to her selfe the agony appeased VVhen colder blood more sharply feeles the wound And griefe her so incurably hath seaized That for the same no remedie is found As the poore refuge to her restlesse woes This of her griese she lastly doth dispose 99 That now vnkind King as thou art my sonne Leauing the world some legacie must giue thee My harts true loue the dying March hath wonne Yet that of all I will not quite bereaue thee The wrong and mischiefe to thy mother done I thee bequeath so bound that they out-liue thee That as my breast it hourely doth torment Thou maist enioy it by my Testament 100 Hence forth within this solitary place Abandoning for euer generall sight A priuate life I willingly embrace No more reioycing in the obuious light To consumaâ—e the weary lingering space Till death inclose me with continuall night Each small remembrance of delight to flie A conuertite and penitently die FINIS To the Reader SEeing these Epistles are now to the world made publique it is imagined that I ought to bee accountable of my priuate meaning cheefely for mine owne discharge least beeing misttaken I fall in hazard of a iust and vniuersall reprehension for Hae nugae feria ducent In mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre Three poynts are especially therefore to be explained First why I entitle this worke Englands heriocall Epistles theÌ„ why I obserue not the persons dignitie in the dedication lastly why I haue annexed notes to euery Epistles end For the first the title I hope carrieth reason in it selfe for that the most and greatest persons herein were English or else that theyr loues were obtained in England And though heriocall be properly vnderstood of demi-gods as of Hercules and AEneas whose parents were said to be the one celestiall the other mortall yet is it also transferred to them who for the greatnes of mind come neere to Gods For to be borne of a celestiall Incubus is nothing else but to haue a great and mightie spirit farre aboue the earthly weakenesse of men in which sence Ouid whose imitator I partly professe to be doth also vse heroicall For the second seeing none to whom I haue dedicated any two Epistles but haue theyr states ouermatched by them who are made to speake in the Epistles how euer the order is in dedication yet in respect of their degrees in my deuotion and the cause before recited I hope they suffer no disparagement seeing euery one is the first in theyr particuler interest hauing in some sort sorted the complexion of the Epistles to the character of theyr iudgements to whom I dedicate theÌ„ excepting onely the blamefulnesse of the persons passion in those poynts wherein the passion is blamefull Lastly such manifest difference being betwixt euery one of them where or
glorious in her fruite Till by the sun clad in her Tinsell sute Nor doth shee euer smile him in the face Till in his glorious armes he her embrace vvhich proues she hath a soule sence delight Of generations feeling appetite vvell hipocrite in faith wouldst thou confesse vvhat ere thy tongue say thy hart saith no lesse Note but this one thing if nought els perswade Nature of all things male and female made Shewing herselfe in our proportion plaine For neuer made she any thing in vaine For as thou art should any haue beene thus Shee would haue left ensample vnto vs. The Turtle that 's so true and chast in loue Shewes by her mate something the spirit doth moue Th'arabian bird that neuer is but one Is onely chast because she is alone But had our mother Nature made them two They would haue done as Doues and Sparrowes doe But therefore made a Martyr in desire And doth her pennance lastly in the fire So may they all be rosted quicke that be Apostataes to nature as is shee Find me but one so young so faire so free vvoo'd su'd sought by him that now seekes thee But of thy minde and heere I vndertake Straight to erect a Nunry for her sake O hadst thou tasted of these rare delights Ordaind each where to please great Princes sights To haue their beauties and their wits admird vvhich is by nature of your sexe desired Attended by our traines our pompe our port Like Gods ador'd abroade kneeld to in Court To be saluted with the cheerefull cry Of highnes grace and soueraigne maiestie But vnto them that know not pleasures price Al 's one a prison and a Paradice If in a dungion closd vp from the light There is no difference twixt the day and night vvhose pallate neuer tasted daintie cates Thinks homely dishes princely delicates Alas poore girle I pitty thine estate That now thus long hast liu'd disconsolate VVhy now at length let yet thy hart relent And call thy Father back from banishment And with those princely honours heere inuest him That aukeward loue not hate hath dispossest him Call from exile thy deere alies and friends To whom the furie of my griefe extends And if thou take my counsaile in this case I make no doubt thou shalt haue better grace And leaue that Dunmow that accursed Cell There let black night and melancholie dwell Come to the Court where all ioyes shall receiue thee And till that howre yet with my griefe I leaue thee Notes of the Chronicle Historie THis Epistle of King Iohn to Matilda is much more poeticall then historicall making no mention at al of the occurrents of the time or state touching onely his loue to her the extremitie of his passions forced by his desires rightly fashioning the humour of this king as hath been truely noted by the best and most autenticall Writers whose nature and disposition is truliest discerned in the course of his loue first iesting at the ceremonies of the seruices of those times thē going about by all strong and probable arguments to reduce her to pleasures and delights next with promises of honor which he thinketh to be last and greatest meane to haue greatest power in her sexe with promise of calling home of her freends which he thought might be a great inducement to his desires Matilda to King Iohn NO sooner I reciu'd thy letters here Before I knew from whom or whence they were But suddaine feare my bloodlesse vaines doth fill As though diuining of some future ill And in a shiuering extasie I stood A chilly coldnes runnes through all my blood Opening thy letters I shut vp my rest And let strange cares into my quiet brest As though thy hard vnpittying hand had sent mee Some new deuised torture to torment me vvell had I hop'd I had beene now forgot Cast out with those things thou remembrest not And that proud beauty which inforst me hether Had with my name now perished together But ô I see our hoped good deceaues vs But what we would forgoe that sildome leaues vs Thy blamefull lines bespotted so with sin Mine eyes would clense ere they to reade begin But I to wash an Indian goe about For ill so hard set on is hard got out I once determin'd still to haue beene mute Onely by silence to refell thy sute But this againe did alter mine intent For some will say that silence doth consent Desire with small incouraging growes bold And hope of euery little thing takes hold I set me downe at large to write my mind But now nor pen nor paper can I find For dread and passion or so powerfull ore me That I descerne not things that stand before me Finding the pen the paper and the waxe This at commaund and now inuention lacks This sentence serues and that my hand out-strikes That pleaseth well and this as much mislikes I write indite I point I raze I quote I enterline I blot correct I note I hope dispaire take courage faint disdaine I make alledge I imitate I faine Now thus it must be and now thus and thus Bold shamefast fearelesse doubtfull timerous My faint hand writing when my full eye reedes From euery word strange passion still proceedes O when the soule is fettered once in wo T is strange what humors it doth force vs to A teare doth drowne a teare sigh sigh doth smother This hinders that that interrupts the other Th'ouer-watched weakenes of a sicke conceite Is that which makes small beauty seeme so great Like things which hid in troubled waters lie vvhich crook'd seeme straight if straight seeme contrarie And this our vaine imagination showes it As it conceiues it not as iudgement knowes it As in a Mirrhor if the same be true Such as your likenes iustly such are you But as you change your selfe it changeth there And showes you as you are not as you were And with your motion doth your shadow moue If frowne or smile such the conceite of loue VVhy tell me is it possible the mind A forme in all deformitie should finde VVithin the compasse of mans face we see How many sorts of seuerall fauours be And that the chin the nose the brow the eye If great if small flat sharpe or if awry Alters proportion altereth the grace And makes a mighty difference in the face And in the world scarce two so likely are One with the other which if you compare But being set before you both together A iudging sight doth soone distinguish eyther How woman-like a weakenes it it then O what strange madnes so possesseth men Bereft of sence such sencelesse wonders seeing vvithout forme fashion certaintie or being For which so many die to liue in anguish Yet cannot liue if thus they should not languish That comfort yeelds not yet hope denies not A life that liues not and a death that dies not That hates vs most when most it speakes vs faire Doth promise all things alwayes paies
treason Th'vnlawfull meanes doth make his lawfull gaine Hee speakes most true when he the most doth faine Pardon the faults that haue escap'd by mee Against fayre vertue chastitie and thee If Gods can theyr owne excellence excell It is in pardoning mortalls that rebell VVhen all thy tryalls are enroul'd by fame And all thy sexe made glorious by thy name Then I a captiue shall be brought hereby To adorne the tryumph of thy chastitie I sue not now thy Paramore to be But as a husband to be linck'd to thee I am Englands heyre I thinke thou wilt confesse VVert thou a Prince I hope I am no lesse But that thy birth doth make thy stocke diuine Else durst I boast my blood as good as thine Disdaine me not nor take my loue in scorne vvhose brow a crowne heereafter may adorne But what I am I call mine owne no more Take what thou wilt and what thou wilt restore Onely I craue what ere I did intend In faithfull loue now happily may end Farewell sweet Lady so well maist thou fare To equall ioy with measure of my care Thy vertues more then mortall tongue can tell A thousand thousand times farewell farewell Notes of the Chronicle Historie Receaue these papers from thy wofull Lord. BAndello by whom this history was made famous being an Italian as it is the peoples custome in that climbeâ— rather to faile sometime in the truth of circumstance then toforgoe the grace of their 〈◊〉 in like manner as the Grecians of whom the Satyrist Et quicquid Graecia mendax Audet in historia Thinking it to be a greater tryall that a Countesse should be sude vnto by a King then by the sonne of a King and consequently that the honor of her chastitie should be the more hath causd it to be generally taken so but as by Polidore Fabian and Froisard appeares the contrarie is true Yet may Bandello be very well excused as beeing a stranger whose errors in the truth of our historie are not so materiall that they should neede an inuectiue least his wit should be defrauded of any part of his due which were not lesse were euery part a fiction Howbeit least a common errour should preuaile against a truth these Epistles are conceiued in those persons who were indeed the actors to wit Edward surnamed that Black Prince not so much of his complexion as of the dismall battels which he fought in Fraunce in like sence as we may say a black day for some tragicall euent though the sunne shine neuer so bright therein And Alice the Countesse of Salisbury who as it is certaine was beloued of Prince Edward so it is as certaine that many points now current in the receiued story can neuer hold together with likelihood of such enforcement had it not been shewed vnder the title of a King And when thou let'st downe that transparent lid Not that the lid is transparent for no part of the skin is transparent but for the gemme which that closure is sayd to containe is transparent for otherwise how could the mind vnderstand by the eye should not the images slide through the same and replenish the stage of the fantasie but this belongs to Opticks The Latines call the eye lid cilium I will not say of celande as the eye brow supercilium and the haire on the eye lyds palpebra perhaps quod palpitet all which haue their distinct and necessary vses Alice Countesse of Salisburie to the blacke Prince AS one would grant yet gladly would denie Twixt hope and feare I doubtfully reply A womans weakenes least I should discouer Answering a Prince and writing to a louer And some say loue with reason doth dispence And wrest our plaine words to another sence Thinke you not then poore women had not neede Be well aduis'd to write what men should reede vvhen being silent moouing but awry Giues cause of scandall and of obloquy vvhilst in our harts our secret thoughts abide Th'inuenom'd tongue of slaunder yet is tide But if once spoke deliuered vp to fame Hers the report but ours returnes the shame About to write yet newly entring in Me thinks I end ere I can well begin VVhen I would end then somthing makes me stay And then me thinks I should haue more to say And some one thing remaineth in my brest For want of words that cannot be exprest vvhat I would say and said to thee I faine Then in thy person I reply againe Then in thy cause vrge all I can obiect Then what againe mine honour must respect O Lord what sundry passions doe I try Striuing to hate you forcing contrarie Being a Prince I blame you not to proue The greater reason to obtaine your loue That greatnes which doth challenge no deniall The onely rest that doth allow my triall Edward so great the greater were his fall And my offence in this were capitall To men is granted priuiledge to tempt But in that charter women be exempt Men win vs not except we giue consent Against our selues except our selues are bent VVho doth impute it is a fault to you You proue not false except we be vntrue It is your vertue being men to trie And it is ours by vertue to denie Your fault it selfe serues for the faults excuse And makes it ours though yours be the abuse Beauty a begger fie it is too bad vvhen in it selfe sufficiencie is had Not made a lure t' intice the wandring eye But an attire t' adorne sweet modestie If modestie and women once doe seuer Farewell our fame farewell our name for euer Let Iohn and Henry Edwards instance be Matilda and faire Rosamond for me A like both woo'd alike â—u'd to be wonne Th' one by the Father th' other by the Sonne Henry obtaining did our weakenes wound And layes the fault on wanton Rosamond Matilda chaâ—t in life and death all one By her deniall layes the fault on Iohn By these we proue men accessarie still But women onely principals of ill VVhat prayse is ours but what our vertues get If they be lent so much we be in debt vvhilst our owne honours vertue doth defendâ— All force too weake what euer men pretend If all the world else should suborne our fame T is we our selues that ouerthrow the same And how so ere although by force you win Yet on our weakenes still returnes the sin You are a vertuous Prince so thought of all And shall I then be guiltie of your fall Now God forbid yet rather let me die Then such a sinne vpon my soule should lie VVhere is great Edward whether is he led At whose victorious name whole Armies fled Is that braue spirit that conquer'd so in France Thus ouercome and vanquish'd with a glance Is that great hart that did aspire so hie So soone transpersed with a womans eye He that a King at Poycters battell tooke Himselfe led captiue with a wanton looke Twice as a bride to Church I haue beene led Twice haue two Lords enioy'd
sencelesse stones were with such musick drownd As many yeeres they did retaine the sound Let not the beames that greatnes doth reflect Amaze thy hopes with timerous respect Assure thee Tudor maiestie can be As kinde in loue as can the mean'st degree And the embraces of a Queene as true As theyrs might iudge them much aduaunc'd by you vvhen in our greatnes our affections craue Those secret ioyes that other women haue So I a Queene be soueraigne in my choyse Let others fawne vpon the publique voyce Or what by this can euer hap to thee Light in respect to be belou'd of mee Let peeuish worldlings prate of right and wrong Leaue plaints and pleas to whom they doe belong Let old men speake of chaunces and euents And Lawyers talke of titles and discents Leaue fond reports to such as stories tell And couenaunts to those that buy and sell Loue my sweet Tudor that becomes thee best And to our good successe referre the rest Notes of the Chronicle Historie Great Henry sought to accomplish his desire Armed c. HEnry the fift making clayme vnto the Crowne of Fraunce first sought by Armes to subdue the French and after sought by marriage to confirme what he got by conquest the heate and furie of which inuasion is alluded to the fixtion of Semele in Ouid which by the craftie perswasion of Iuno requested Ioue to come vnto her as he was wont to come vnto his wife Iuno who at her request hee yeelding vnto destroyed her in a tempest Incamp'd at Melans in wars hote alarmes First c. Neere vnto Melans vpon the Riuer of Scyne was the appoynted place of parley betweene the two Kings of England and Fraunce to which place Isabell the Queene of Fraunce and the Duke of Burgoyne brought the young Princesse Katherine where King Henry first saw her And on my temples set a double Crowne Henry the fift and Queene Katherine vvere taken as King and Queene of Fraunce and during the life of Charles the French King Henry was called King of England and heire of Fraunce after the death of Henry the fift Henry the sixt his son then being very young was crowned at Paris as true and lawfull king of England Fraunce At Troy in Champaine he did first enioy Troy in Champayn was the place where that victorious king Henrie the fift maried the Princesse Katherine in the presence of the chiefe nobilitie of the Realmes of England and Fraunce Nor these great tytles vainely will I bring Wife daughter Mother c. Few Queenes of England or Fraunce were euer more princelie alied then this Queene as it hath been noted by Historiographers Nor thinke so Tudor that this loue of mine Should wrong the Gaunt-borne◠c. Noting the descent of Henry her husband frō Iohn Duke of Lancaster the fourth son of Edward the third which Duke Iohn was sirnamed Gaunt of the citty of Gaunt in Flaunders where he was borne Nor stir the English blood the sunne and Moone T'repine c. Alluding the greatnes of the English line to Phoebus Phoebe fained to be the children of Latona whose heauenly kind might scorne to be ioyned with any earthlie progenie yet withall boasting the blood of Fraunce as not inferiour to theirs And with this allusion followeth on the historie of the strife betwixt Iuno and the race of Cadmus whose issue was afflicted by the wrath of heauen The chyldren of Niobe slaine for which the wofull mother became a Rock gushing forth continually a fountaine of teares And Iohn and Longshanks issue both affied Lhewellin or Leolin ap Iorwerth married Ioane daughter to King Iohn a most beautifull Lady Some Authours affirme that shee was base borne Lhewellin ap Gryfith maried Ellenor daughter to Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester and Cosin to Edward Longshanks both which Lhewellins were Princes of Wales Of Camilot and all her Pentecosts A Nephewes roome c Camilot the auncient Pallace of King Arthur to which place all the Knights of that famous order yeerely repaired at Penticost according to the lawe of the Table and most of the famous home-borne Knights were of that Countrie as to this day is perceiued by theyr auncient monuments When bloody Rufus sought your vtter sacke Noting the ill successe which that William Rufus had in two voyages he made into Wales in which a number of his chiefe Nobilitie were slaine And oft return'd with glorious victorie Nothing the diuers sundry incursions that the Welchmen made into England in the time of Rufus Iohn Henry the second Longshankes Owen Tudor to Queene Katherine WHen first mine eyes beheld your princely name And found from whence this friendly letter came As in excesse of ioy my selfe forgot vvhether I saw it or I saw it not My panting hart doth bid mine eyes proceede My dazeled eye inuites my tongue to reede Mine eye should guide my tongue amazed mist it My lips which now should speake are dombe and kist it And leaues the paper in my trembling hand vvhen all my sences so amazed stand Euen as a mother comming to her child vvhich from her presence hath beene long exil'd vvith tender armes his gentle necke doth straine Now kissing him now clipping him againe And yet excessiue yoy deludes her so As still she doubts if this be hers or no At length awak'ned from this pleasing dreame vvhen passion som-what leaues to be extreame My longing eyes with their faire obiect meete vvhere euery letter 's pleasing each word sweete It was not Henries conquests nor his Court That had the power to win me by report Nor was his dreadfull terror-striking name The cause that I from VVales to England came For Christian Rhodes and our religious truth To great atchieuements first had wone my youth Before aduenture did my valour proue Before I yet knew what it was to loue Nor came I hether by some poore euent But by th' eternall Destinies consent vvhose vncomprised wisedomes did fore-see That you in marriage should be linck'd to mee By our great Merlin was it not fore-told Amongst his holy prophecies enrold vvhen first he did of Tudors fame diuine That Kings and Queenes should follow in our line And that the Helme the Tudors auncient Crest Should with the golden Flower-delice be drest And that the Leeke our Countries chiefe renowne Should grow with Roses in the English Crowne As Charles fayre daughter you the Lilly weare As Henries Queene the blushing Rose you beare By Fraunce's conquest and by Englands oth You are the true made dowager of both Both in your crowne both in your cheeke together Ioyne Tethers loue to yours and yours to Tether Then make no future doubts nor feare no hate vvhen it so long hath beene fore-told by Fate And by the all-disposing doome of heauen Before our births vnto one bed were giuen No Pallas heere nor Iuno is at all vvhen I to Venus giue the golden ball Nor when the Graecians wonder I enioy None in reuenge to kindle fire in
not come in Stix or Phlegiton The thrice three Muses but too wanton be Like they that lust I care not I will none Spightfull Errinis frights mee with her lookes My manhood dares not with foule Ate mell I quake to looke on Heccats charming bookes I still feare bugbeares in Apollos Cell I passe not for Minerua nor Astrea Onely I call vpon diuine Idea Sonnet 44. MY hart the Anuile where my thoughts doe beate My words the hammers fashioning my desire My breast the forge including all the heate Loue is the fuell which maintaines the fire My sighes the bellowes which the flame increaseth Filling mine eares with noise and nightlie groning Toyling with paine my labour neuer ceaseth In greeuous passions my woes still bemoning Mine eyes with teares against the fire striuing vvhose scorching gleed my hart to cinders turneth But with those drops the flame againe reuiuing Still more and more vnto my torment burneth VVith Sisiphus thus doe I role the stone And turne the wheele with damned â—xion Sonnet 45. WHy doe I speake of ioy or write of loue vvhen my hart is the very den of horror And in my soule the paines of hell I proue vvith all his torments and infernall terror VVhat should I say what yet remaines to doe My braine is dry with weeping all too long My sighes be spent in vttring of my woe And I want words wher-with to tell my wrong But still distracted in loues Lunacie And Bedlam like thus rauing in my greefe Now raile vpon her haire now on her eye Now call her Goddesse then I call her theefe Now I denie her then I doe confesse her Now doe I curse her then againe I blesse her Sonnet 46. MY loue makes hote the fire whose heate is spent The water moisture from my teares deriueth And my strong sighes the ayres weake force reâ—iueth This loue tears sighs maintaine each one his elementâ— The fire vnto my loue compare a painted fire The water to my teares as drops to Oceans be The ayre vnto my sighs as Eagle to the flie The passions of dispaire but ioyes to my desire Onely my loue is in the fire ingraued Onely my teares by Oceans may be gessed Onely my sighes are by the ayre expressed Yet fire water ayre of nature not depriued VVhilst fire water ayre twixt heauen earth shall be My loue my teares my sighes extinguisht cannot be Sonnet 47. SOme men there be which like my method well And doe commend the strangenes of my vaine Some say I haue a passing pleasing straine Some say that in my humor I excell Some who not kindly relish my conceite They say as Poets doe I vse to faine And in bare words paint out my passions paine Thus sundry men their sundry minds repeate I passe not I how men affected be Nor who commends or discommends my verse It pleaseth me if I my woes rehearse And in my lines if she my loue may see Onely my comfort still consists in this VVriting her praise I cannot write amisse Sonnet 48. WHilst thus my pen striues to eternize thee Age rules my lines with wrincles in my face VVhere in the Map of all my miserie Is modeld out the world of my disgrace vvhilst in despight of tyrannizing times Medea like I make thee young againe Proudly thou scorn'st my world-outwearing rimes And murther'st vertue with thy coy disdaine And though in youth my youth vntimely perrish To keepe thee from obliuion and the graue Ensuing ages yet my rimes shall cherrish VVhen I entomb'd my better part shall saue And though this earthly body fade and die My name shall mount vpon eternitie Sonnet 49. MVses which sadlie sit about my chaire Drownd in the teares extorted by my lines vvith heauie sighs whilst thus I breake the ayre Painting my passions in these sad dissignes Since she disdaines to blesse my happie verse The strong built Trophies to her liuing fame Euer hence-forth my bosome be your hearse vvherein the world shall now entombe her name Enclose my musicke you poore sencelesse walls Sith shee is dease and will not heare my mones Soften your selues with euerie teare that falls vvhilst I like Orpheus sing to trees and stones vvhich with my plaints seeme yet with pittie moued Kinder then shee who I so long haue loued Sonnet 50. CVpid dumb Idoll peeuish saint of loue No more shalt thou nor saint nor Idoll be No God art thou Loues Goddesse she doth proue Of all thine honour she hath robbed thee Thy bowe halfe broke is peec'd with old desire Her bow is beautie with ten thousand strings And euery one of purest golden wyer The least of force to conquer hoasts of Kings Thy shafts be spent and she to war appointed Hides in those christall quiuers of her eyes More arrowes with hart-piercing mettle pointed Then there be stars at midnight in the skyes vvith these she steales mens harts for her releefe Yet happie hee that 's robd of such a theefe Sonnet 51. THou leaden braine which censur'st what I write And say'st my lines be dull and doe not moue I meruaile not thou feel'st not my delight vvhich neuer feltst my fierie tuch of loue But thou whose pen hath like a Pack-horse seru'd vvhose stomack vnto gaule hath turn'd thy foode vvhose sences like poore prisoners hunger-staru'd vvhose griefe hath parch'd thy body dry'd thy blood Thou which hast scorned life and hated death And in a moment mad sober glad and sorry Thou which hast band thy thoughts curst thy birth vvith thousand plagues more then in purgatorie Thou thus whose spirit Loue in his fire refines Come thou and read admire applaud my lineâ— An alusion to Dedalus and Icarus Sonnet 52. MY hart imprisoned in a hopelesse I le Peopled with Armies of pale iealous eyes The shores beset with thousand secret spies Must passe by ayre or else die in exile He fram'd him wings with feathers of his thought vvhich by their nature learn'd to mount the skie And with the same he practised to flie Till he himselfe this Eagles Art had taught Thus soring still not looking once below So neere thine eyes celestiall sunne aspired That with the rayes his wafting pineons fired Thus was the wanton cause of his owne woe Downe fell he in thy beauties Ocean drenched Yet there he burnes in fire that 's neuer quenched Another to the Riuer Ankor Sonnet 53. CLeere Ankor on whose siluer-sanded shore My soule shrin'd Saint my faire Idea lyes O blessed Brooke whose milk-white Swans adore That Christall streame refined by her eyes VVhere sweet Mirrh-breathing Zephire in the spring Gently distils his Nectar-dropping showers vvhere Nightingales in Arden sit and sing Amongst those daintie dew-empearled flowers Say thus faire Brooke when thou shalt see thy Queene Loe heere thy sheepheard spent his wandring yeeres And in these shades deere Nimph he oft hath beene And heere to thee he sacrifiz'd his teares Faire Arden thou my Tempe art alone And thou sweet Ankor art my Helicon Sonnet 54. YEt