perswasions to clear himself of this Infamy and her of the Grief of Mind by taking away her wretched Life IF yet thine Eyes Great Henry may endure These tainted Lines drawn with a Hand impure Let me for Love's sake their acceptance crave But that sweet Name vile I prophaned have The Innocent may write to Kings in Gold But my Dispair I must in Black unfold Punish my Fault or pitty mine estate Read them for Love if not for Love for Hate If with my Shame thine Eyes thou fain would'â—… feed Here let them surfeit of my Shame to read This scribled Paper which I send to thee If noted rightly doth resemble me As this pure Ground whereon these Letters stand So pure was I e'er stained by thy Hand E'er I was blotted with this foul Offence So clear and spotless was mine Innocence Now like these Marks which taint this hateful Scroul Such the black Sins which spot my Lep'rous Soul What by this Conquest canst thou hope to win Where thy best Spoil is but the Act of Sin Why on my Name this slander do'st thou bring To make my Fault renowned by a King Fame never stoops to things but mean and poor The more our Greatness is our Fault 's the more Lights on the Ground themselves do lessen far But in the Air each Spark doth seem a Star Why on my Woman-frailty should'st thou lay So strong a Plot mine Honour to betray Or thy unlawfull Pleasure should'st thou buy With thine own Shame and my black Infamy 'T was not my Mind consented to this Ill Then had I been transported by my Will For what my Body was inforc'd to doe Heav'n knows my Soul yet ne'er consented to For through mine Eyes had she her liking seen Such as my Love such had my Lover been True Love is simple like his Mother-Truth Kindly Affection Youth to love with Youth No greater corsive to our blooming Years Then the cold Badge of Winter-blasted Hairs Thy Royal power may well withstand thy Foes But cannot keep back Age with Time it grows Though Honour our ambitious Sex doth please Yet in that Honour's Age a foul Disease Nature hath her free Course in all and then Age is alike in Kings and other Men. Which all the World will to my shame impute That I my self did basely prostitute And say that Gold was Fuel to the Fire Gray Hairs in Youth not kindling green Desire O no that wicked Woman wrought by thee My Tempter was to that forbidden Tree That subtil Serpent that seducing Devil Which bad me tast the Fruit of Good and Evil That Circe by whose soft Magick I was charm'd And to this monst'rous shape am thus transform'd That vip'rous Hag the Foe to her own Kind That dev'lish Spirit to damn the weaker Mind Our Frailtie's Plague our Sex's only Curse Hell's deep'st Damnation the worst Evils worse But Henry how canst thou affect me thus T' whom thy remembrance now is odious My hapless Name with Henry's Name I found Cut in the Glass with Henry's Diamond That Glass from thence fain would I take away But then I fear the Air would me betray Then doe I strive to wash it out with Tears But then the same more evident appears Then doe I cover't with my guilty Hand Which that Names witness doth against me stand Once did I sin which Memory doth cherish Once I offended but I ever perish What Grief can be but Time doth make it less But Infamy Time never can suppress Sometimes to pass the tedious irksome Hours I climb the top of Woodstocks mounting Towr's Where in a Turret secretly I lye To view from far such as do travel by Whither me-thinks all cast their Eyes at me As through the Stones my Shame did make them see And with such Hate the harmless Walls do view As ev'n to Death their Eyes would me pursue The married Women curse my hatefull Life Wronging so fair a Queen and vertuous Wife The Maidens wish I buried quick may dye And from each place near my abode do fly * Well knew'st thou what a Monster I would be When thou didst build this Labyrinth for me * Whose strange Meanders turning ev'ry way Be like the course wherein my Youth did stray Only a Clue doth guide me out and in But yet still walk I circular in sin As in the Gallery this other day I and my Woman past the time away ' Mongst many Pictures which were hanging by The silly Girl at length hapt to espy Lucrece's Image and desires to know What she should be her self that murther'd so Why Girl quoth I this is that Roman Dame Not able then to tell the rest for shame My babling Tongue doth mine own Guilt betray With that I sent the prattling Wench away Lest when my lisping guilty Tongue should hault My Looks might prove the Index to my Fault As that Life-bloud which from the Heart is sent In Beauty's Field pitching her Crimson Tent In lovely Sanguine sutes the Lilly Cheek Whilst it but for a resting place doth seek And changing oft its Station with Delight Converts the White to Red the Red to White The Blush with Paleness for the place doth strive The Paleness thence the Blush would gladly drive Thus in my Breast a thousand Thoughts I carry Which in my Passion diversly do vary When as the Sun hales tow'rds the Western shade And the Trees shadows hath much taller made Forth go I to a little Current near Which like a wanton Trail creeps here and there Where with mine Angle casting in the Bait The little Fishes dreading the deceit With fearfull nibbling fly th' inticing Gin By Nature taught what danger lyes therein Things Reasonless thus warn'd by Nature he Yet I devour'd the Bait was lay'd for me Thinking thereon and breaking into Grones The bubbling Spring which trips upon the Stones Chides me away lest sitting but too nigh I should pollute that Native purity * Rose of the World so doth import my Name Shame of the World my Life hath made the same And to th' unchast this Name shall given be Of Rosamond deriv'd from Sin and Me. The Clifford's take from me that Name of theirs Which hath been famous for so many years They blot my Birth with hatefull Bastardie That I sprang not from their Nobilitie They my Alliance utterly refuse Nor will a Strumpet shou'd their Name abuse Here in the Garden wrought by curious hands Naked Diana in the Fountain stands With all her Nymphs got round about to hide her As when Acteon had by chance espy'd her This sacred Image I no sooner view'd But as that metamorphos'd Man pursu'd By his own Hounds so by my Thoughts am I Which chase me still which way soe'er I fly Touching the Grass the Honey-dropping Dew Which falls in Tears before my limber shooe Upon my Foot consumes in weeping still As it would say Why went'st thou to this Ill Thus to no Place in safety can I goe But every thing doth give me cause of
twice or thrice reiterates my word When like an adverse wind in Isis course Against the Tide bending his boistrous force But when the floud hath wrought it self about He following on doth headlong thrust it out Thus strive my sighs with tears er'e they begin And breaking out again sighs drive them in A thousand forms present my troubled thought Yet prove abortive ere they forth are brought The depth of Woe with words we hardly sound Sorrow is so insensibly profound As tears do fall and rise sighs come and go So do these numbers ebb so do they flow These briny tears do make my Ink look pale My Ink Cloaths tears in this sad mourning vail The Letters Mourners weep with my dim Eye The Paper pale griev'd at my misery Yet miserable our selves why should we deem Since none are so but in their own esteem Who in distress from resolution flies Is rightly said to yield to miseries * They which begot us dld beget this sin They first begun what did our grief begin We tasted not 't was they which did rebel Not our offence but in their fall we fell They which a Crown would to my Lord have link'd All hope of life and liberty extinct A Subject born a Soveraign to have been Hath made me now nor Subject nor a Queen Ah vile Ambition how do'st thou deceive us Which shew'st us Heaven and in Hell do'st leave us Seldom untouch'd doth innocence escape When errour cometh in good counsels shape A lawful title counterchecks proud might The weakest things become strong props to right Then my dear Lord although affliction grieve us Yet let our spotless innocence relieve us Death but an acted passion doth appear Where truth gives courage and the conscience clear And let thy comfort thus consist in mine That I bear part of whatso'ere is thine And when we liv'd untouch'd with these disgraces When as our Kingdom was our sweet embraces At Durham Pallace where sweet Hymen sang Whose buildings with our Nuptial Musick rang When Prothalamions prais'd that happy day Wherein great Dudley match'd with noble Gray When they devis'd to link by Wedlocks band The House of Suffolk to Northumberland Our fatal Dukedom to your Dukedom bound To frame this building on so weak a ground For what avails a lawless Usurpation Which gives a Sceptre but not rules a Nation Only the surfeit of a vain opinion What gives content gives what exceeds Dominion * When first my ears were pierced with the same Of Jane proclaimed by a Princess name A suddain fright my trembling Heart appalls The fear of Conscience entreth Iron Walls Thrice happy for our Fathers had it been If what we fear'd they wisely had foreseen And kept a mean Gate in an humble path To have escap'd the Heav'ns impetuous wrath The true bred Eagle strongly stems the wind And not each Bird resembling their brave kind He like a King doth from the Clouds command The fearful Fowl that moves but near the Land Though Mary be from mighty Kings descended My Bloud not from Plantaginet pretended * My Grandsire Brandon did our House advance By Princely Mary Dowager of France The fruit of that fair stock which did combine And York's sweet branch with Lancaster's entwine And in one stalk did happily unite The pure vermilion Rose and purer white I the untimely slip of that rich Stem Whose golden Bud brings forth a Diadem But oh forgive me Lord it is not I Nor do I boast of this but learn to die Whilst we were as our selves conjoyned then Nature to Nature now an Alien To gain a Kingdom who spares their next blood Nearness contemn'd if Sov'raignty withstood A Diadem once dazeling the Eye The day's too dark to see Affinity And where the Arm is stretch'd to reach a Crown Friendship is broke the dearest things thrown down * For what great Henry most strove t' avoid The Heav'ns have built where Earth would have destroy'd And seating Edward on his Regal Throne He gives to Mary all that was his own But death assuring what by life is theirs The lawfull claim of Henry's lawfull Heirs By mortal Laws the bond may be divorc'd But Heav'ns decree by no means can be forc'd They rule the case when men have all decreed Who took him hence foresaw who should succeed For we in vain relie on humane Laws When Heaven stands forth to plead the righteous cause Thus rule the Skies in their continual Course That yields to Fate that doth not yield to force Mans Wit doth build for Time but to devour Vertues free from Time and Fortunes pow'r Then my kind Lord sweet Gilford be not griev'd The Soul is Heav'nly and from Heav'n reliev'd And as we once have plighted troth together Now let us make exchange of minds to either To thy fair breast take my resolved mind Arm'd against black Despair and all her kind Into my bosome breath that Soul of thine There to be made as perfect as is mine So shall our Faiths as firmly be approv'd As I of thee or thou of me belov'd This life no life wert thou not dear to me Nor this no death were I not woe for thee Thou my dear Husband and my Lord before But truly learn to die thou shalt be more Now live by prayer on Heaven fix all thy thought And surely find what ere by zeal is sought For each good motion that the Soul awakes A Heavenly figure sees from whence it takes That sweet resemblance which by power of kind Forms like it self an Image in the mind And in our Faith the operations be Of that divineness which through that we see Which never errs but accidentally By our frail Fleshes imbecillity By each temptation over-apt to slide Except our spirit becomes our bodies guide For as these Towers our bodies do inclose So our Souls prisons verily are those Our Bodies stopping that Celestial Light As these do hinder our exteriour sight Whereon death seizing doth discharge the debt And us at blessed liberty doth set Then draw thy forces all up to thy heart The strongest fortress of this Earthly part And on these three let thy assurance lie On Faith Repentance and Humility By which to Heaven ascending by degrees Persist in Prayer upon your bended Knees Whereon if you assuredly be staid You need in peril not to be dismaid Which still shall keep you that you shall not fall For any peril that can you appall The Key of Heav'n thus with you you shall bear And Grace you guiding get you entrance there And if you these Celestial Joys possess Which mortal Tongue 's unable to express Then thank the Heaven preparing us this Room Crowning our heads with glorious Martyrdom Before the black and dismal days begin The days of Idolatry and Sin Not suffering us to see that wicked Age When Persecution vehemently shall rage When Tyranny new Torture shall invent Inflicting vengeance on the Innocent Yet Heaven forbids that Mary's Womb should bring England's fair Scepter to a
Widow hears Is it a King drys up the Orphans Tears Is it a King regards the Clyents Cry Gives Life to him by Law condemn'd to dye Is it his Care the Common-wealth that keeps As doth the Nurse her Babie whilst it sleeps And that poor King of all those Hope 's prevented Unheard unhelp'd unpittty'd unlamented Yet let me be with Poverty opprest Of Earthly Blessings robb'd and dispossest Let me be scorn'd rejected and revil'd And from my Kingdom let me live exil'd Let the Worlds Curse upon me still remain And let the last bring on the first again All Miserie 's that wretched Man may wound Leave for my Comfort only Rosamond For Thee swift Time his speedy Course doth stay At thy Command the Destinies obey Pity is dead that comes not from thine Eyes And at thy Feet ev'n Mercy prostrate lyes If I were feeble rheumatick or cold These were true signs that I were waxed old But I can march all day in massie Steel Nor yet my Arms unwieldy weight do feel Nor wak'd by night with Bruise or bloudy Wound The Tent my Bed no Pillow but the Ground For very Age had I lain Bedrid long One Smile of Thine again could make me Young Were there in Art a Power but so divine As is in that sweet Angel-Tongue of Thine That great Enchantress which once took such pains To put young Bloud into old Aeson's Veins And in Groves Mountain and the Moorish Fen Sought out more Herbs then had been known to Men And in the pow'rfull Potion that she makes Put Bloud of Men of Birds of Beasts and Snakes Never had needed to have gone so far To seek the Soyles where all those Simples are One Accent from thy Lips the Bloud more warms Then all her Philters Exorcisms and Charms Thy Presence hath repaired in one day What many Years with Sorrows did decay And made fresh Beauty in her flower to spring Out of the wrinkles of Times ruining Ev'n as the hungry Winter-starved Earth When she by nature labours tow'rds her Birth Still as the Day upon the dark World creeps One Blossom forth after another peeps Till the same Flower whose Root at last unbound Gets from the frosty Prison of the Ground Spreading the Leaves unto the pow'rfull noon Deck'd in fresh Colours smiles upon the Sun Never unquiet Care lodg'd in that Breast Where but one Thought of Rosamond did rest Nor Thirst nor Travel which on War attend Ere the long Day brought to desired end Nor yet pale Fear did or lean Famine live Where hope of Thee did any Comfort give Ah what Injustice then is this of Thee That thus the Guiltless do'st condemn for me When only she by means of my Offence Redeems thy Pureness and thy Innocence When to our Wills perforce obey they must That 's just in them what e'er in us unjust Of what we do not them account we make The Fault craves pardon for th' Offenders sake And what to work a Prince's VVill may merit Hath deep'st impression in the gentlest Spirit If 't be my Name that doth thee so offend No more my self shall be mine own Names Friend If it be that which Thou dost only hate That Name in my Name lastly hath his date Say 't is accurst and fatal and dispraise it If written blot it if engraven raze it Say that of all Names 't is a Name of Woe Once a King's Name but now it is not so And when all this is done I know 't will grieve thee And therefore Sweet why should I now belive thee For shouldst thou think those Eyes with Envy lowre Which passing by thee gaze up to thy Towre But rather praise thine own which be so clear VVhich from the Turret like two Stars appear Above the Sun doth shine beneath thine Eye Mocking the Heav'n to make another Skye The little Stream which by thy Tow'r doth glide VVhere oft thou spend'st the weary Ev'ning Tide To view thee well his Course would gladly stay As loth from thee to part so soon away And with Salutes thy self would gladly greet And offer some small Drops up at thy Feet But finding that the envious Banks restrain it T' excuse it self doth in this sort complain it And therefore this sad bubling Murmur keeps And for thy want within the Channel weeps And as thou do'st into the Water look The Fish which see thy shadow in the Brook Forget to feed and all amazed lye So daunted with the lustre of thine Eye And that sweet Name which thou so much do'st wrong In time shall be some famous Poet's Song And with the very sweetness of that Name Lyons and Tygers Men shall learn to tame The carefull Mother at her pensive Breast VVith Rosamond shall bring her Babe to Rest The little Birds by Mens continual sound Shall learn to speak and prattle Rosamond And when in April they begin to sing VVith Rosamond shall welcome in the Spring And she in whom all Rarities are found Shall still be said to be a Rosamond The little Flowers dropping their honied Dew VVhich as thou writ'st do weep upon thy Shoe Not for thy Fault sweet Rosamond do moan Only lament that thou so soon art gone For if thy Foot touch Hemlock as it goes That Hemlock's made much sweeter then the Rose Of Jove or Neptune how they did betray Speak not of Jo or Amimone VVhen she for whom Jove once became a Bull Compar'd with Thee had been a Tawny Trull He a white Bull and she a whiter Cow Yet he nor she ne'er half so white as Thou Long since thou know'st my Dear I've careful been To lodge thee safe free from my jealous Queen The Labyrinths Conveyance guides thee so * VVhich only Vaughan thou and I do know Tho' she should watch thee with an hundred Eyes I 'll antidote her furious Mercuries And with an Argus Mind my Phoenix keep VVith Eyes that ne'er were overcome by sleep And those Stars which look in but look to see Wond'ring what Star here on the Earth should be As oft the Moon amidst the silent Night Hath come to joy us with her friendly Light And by the Curtain help'd mine Eye to see What envious night and darkness hid from me When I have wish'd that she might ever stay And other Worlds might still enjoy the Day What should I say words tears and sighs be spent And want of Time doth further Help prevent My Camp resounds with fearfull shocks of War Yet in my Breast more dang'rous Conflicts are Yet is my Signal to the Battels sound The blessed Name of beauteous Rosamond Accursed be that Heart that Tongue that Breath Should think should speak or whisper of thy Death For in one Smile or Lowre from thy sweet Eye Consists my Life my Hope my Victory Sweet Woodstock where my Rosamond doth rest Be blest in her in whom thy King is blest For though in France a while my Body be My Heart remains dear Paradise in thee ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle
those Countries into his hands By ancient Wigmore's honourable Crest Wigmore in the Marches of Wales was the ancient House of the Mortimers that Noble and Couragious Family When still so long as Burrough bears that name The Queen remembreth the great Overthrow given to the Barons by Andrew Herckley Earl of Carlile at Burrough Bridge after the Battel at Burton Torlton that should our Business direct This was Adam Torlton Bishop of Hereford that great Politician who so highly favoured the Faction of the Queen and Mortimer whose evil counsel afterward wrought the destruction of the King MORTIMER TO QUEEN ISABEL AS thy Salutes my Sorrows doe adjourn So back to thee their int'rest I return Though not in so great Bounty I confess As thy Heroick Princely Lines express For how should Comfort issue from the Breath * Of one condemn'd and long lodg'd up for Death From Murthers Rage thou didst me once repreive My Hopes in Exile now thou do'st revive * Twice all was taken twice thou all didst give And thus twice dead thou mak'st me twice to live This double life of mine your only due You gave to me I give it back to you Ne'er my Escape had I adventur'd thus As did the Skie-attempting Dedalus And yet to give more safetie to my flight Did make a Night of Day a Day of Night Nor had I backt the proud aspiring Wall Which held without my Hopes within my Fall Leaving the Cords to tell where I had gone For Gazers with much fear to look upon But that thy Beauty by a pow'r divine Breath'd a new Life into this Spirit of mine Drawn by the Sun of thy celestial Eyes With fiery Wings which bare me through the Skies The Heav'ns did seem the charge of me to take And Sea and Land befriend me for thy sake Thames stop'd his Tide to make me way to goe As thou hadst charg'd him that it should be so The hollow murm'ring Winds their due time kept As they had rock'd the World while all things slept One Billow bare me and another drave me This strove to help me and that strove to save me The brisling Reeds mov'd with soft Gales did chide me As they would tell me that they meant to hide me The pale-fac'd Night beheld thy heavie cheare And would not let one little Star appeare But over all her smoaky Mantle hurl'd And in thick Vapours muffled up the World And the sad Ayre became so calm and still As it had been obedient to my will And every thing dispos'd it to my Rest As on the Seas when th' Halcion builds her Nest When those rough Waves which late with Fury rush'd Slide smoothly on and suddenly are hush'd Nor Neptune let his Surges out so long As Nature is in bringing forth her Young * Ne'r let the Spensers glorie in my Chance In that I live an Exile here in France That I from England banished should be But England rather banished from me More were her want France our great Bloud should bear Then Englands loss can be to Mortimer * My Grandsire was the first since Arthurs raign That the Round-Table rectifi'd again To whose great Court at Kenelworth did come The peereless Knighthood of all Christendom Whose Princely Order honour'd England more Than all the Conquests she atchiev'd before Never durst Scot set foot on English Ground Nor on his Back did English bear a Wound Whilst Wigmore flourish'd in our Princely Hopes And whilst our Ensigns march'd with Edwards Troops * Whilst famous Longshanks Bones in Fortunes scorn As sacred Reliques to the Field were born Nor ever did the valiant English doubt Whilst our brave Battels guarded them about Nor did our Wives and wofull Mothers mourn * The English Bloud that stained Banocksbourn Whilst with his Minions sporting in his Tent Whole Days and Nights in Banquetting were spent Until the Scots which under safeguard stood Made lavish Havock of the English Blood Whose batt'red Helms lay scatt'red on the Shore Where they in Conquest had been born before A thousand Kingdoms will we seek from far As many Nations waste with Civil War Where the dishevell'd gastly Sea-Nymph sings Or well-rig'd Ships shall stretch their swelling Wings And drag their Anchors through the sandy Fome About the World in ev'ry Clime to rome And those unchrist'ned Countries call our own Where scarce the Name of England hath been known * And in the dead Sea sink our Houses Fame From whose vast Depth we first deriv'd our Name Before foul black-mouth'd Infamy shall sing That Mortimer e'er stoop'd unto a King And we will turn stern-visag'd Fury back To seek his Spoyl who sought our utter Sack And come to beard him in our Native Isle E'er he march forth to follow our Exile And after all these boyst'rous stormy Shocks Yet will we grapple with the chaulky Rocks Nor will we steal like Pyrats or like Thieves From Mountains Forrests or Sea-bord'ring Clifts But fright the Air with Terror when we come Of the stern Trumpet and the bellowing Drum And in the Field advance our plumey Crest And march upon fair Englands flowry Breast And Thames which once we for our Life did swim Shaking our dewy Tresses on his Brim Shall bear my Navy vaunting in her pride Falling from Tanet with the pow'rfull Tide Which fertile Essex and fair Kent shall see Spreading her Flags along the pleasant Lee When on her stemming Poop she proudly bears The famous Ensigns of the Belgick Peers And for that hatefull Sacrilegious Sin Which by the Pope he stands accursed in The Cannon Text shall have a common Gloss Receipts in Parcels shall be paid in Gross This Doctrine preach'd Who from the Church doth take At least shall treble Restitution make For which Rome sends her Curses out from far Through the stern Throat of Terror-breathing War Till to th' unpeopl'd Shores she brings Supplys * Of those industrious Roman Colonies And for his Homage by the which of old Proud Edward Guyne and Aquitan doth hold * Charles by invasive Arms again shall take And send the English Forces o'er the Lake When Edward's Fortune stands upon this Chance To lose in England or to forfeit France And all those Towns great Longshanks left his Son Now lost which one he fortunately won Within their strong Port-culliz'd Ports shal lye And from their Walls his Sieges shall defie And by that firm and undissolved Knot Betwixt their neighb'ring French and bord'ring Scot. Bruce shall bring on his Red-shanks from the Seas From th' Isled Orcads and the Eubides And to his Western Havens give free pass To land the Kern and Irish Galiglass Marching from Tweed to swelling Humber Sands Wasting along the Northern Nether-Lands And wanting those which should his Power sustain Consum'd with Slaughter in his Bloody Reign Our Warlike Sword shall drive him from his Throne Where he shall lye for us to tread upon * And those great Lords now after their Attaints Canonized amongst the English Saints And by the superstitious People
truly to the like Struck near at hand doth make another strike How comes it then that our Affections jar What Opposition doth beget this War I know that Nature frankly to thee gave That measure of her Bounty that I have And as to me she likewise to thee lent For ev'ry Sense a several Instrument But ev'ry one because it is thine own Doth prize it self unto it self alone Thy dainty hand when it it self doth touch That feeling tells it that there is none such When in thy Glass thine Eye it self doth see That thinks there 's none like to it self can be And ev'ry one doth judge it self divine Because that thou dost challenge it for thine And each it self Narcissus-like doth smother Loving it self nor cares for any other Fie be not burn'd thus in thine own desire 'T is needless Beauty should it self admire The Sun by which all Creatures light'ned be And seeth all it self yet cannot see And his own Brightness his own foil is made And is to us the cause of his own shade When first thy Beauty by mine Eye was prov'd It saw not then so much to be belov'd But when it came a perfect view to take Each Look of one doth many Beauties make In little Circles first it doth arise Then somewhat larger seeming in mine Eyes And in this circling Compass as it goes So more and more the same in Greatness grows And as it yet at liberty is let The Motion still doth other Forms beget Until at length look any way I could Nothing there was but Beauty to behold Art thou offended that thou art belov'd Remove the cause th' effect is soon remov'd Indent with Beauty how far to extend Set down Desire a Limit where to end Then charm thine Eyes that they no more may wound And limit Love to keep within a bound If this thou do'st then shalt thou doe much more And bring to pass what never was before Make Anguish sportive craving all Delight Mirth solemn sullen and inclin'd to Night Ambition lowly envy speaking well Love his Relief for Niggardize to sell Our Warlike Fathers did these Forts devise As surest Holds against our Enemies Places wherein your Sex might safeliest rest Fear soon is setled in a Womans Breast Thy Breast is of another temper far And then thy Castle fitter for the War Thou do'st not safely in thy Castle rest Thy Castle should be safer in thy Breast That keeps out Foes but doth thy Friends inclose But ah thy Breast keeps out both Friends and Foes That may be batter'd or be undermin'd Or by straight Siege for want of succour pin'd But thy hard Heart 's invincible to all And more obdurate then thy Castle Wall Of all the shapes that ever Jove did prove Wherewith he us'd to entertain his Love That likes me best when in a golden Showre He rain'd himself on Danae in her Towre Nor did I ever envy his command In that he bears the Thunder in his Hand But in that showry shape I cannot be And as he came to her I come to thee Thy Tow'r with Foes is not begirt about If thou within they are besieg'd without One Hair of thine more vigour doth retain To bind thy Foe then any Iron Chain Who might be giv'n in such a golden String Would not be captive though he were a King Hadst thou all India heap'd up in thy Fort And thou thy self besieged in that sort Get thou but out where they can thee espye They 'll follow thee and let the Treasure lye I cannot think what force thy Tower should win If thou thy self do'st guard the same within Thine Eye retains Artillery at will To kill whoever thou desir'st to kill For that alone more deeply wounds Mens Hearts Than they can thee though with a thousand Darts For there intrenched little Cupid lyes And from those Turrets all the World defies * And when thou let'st down that transparent Lid Of Entrance there an Army doth forbid And as for Famine her thou need'st not fear Who thinks of Want when thou art present there Thy onely sight puts Spirit into the Blood And comforts Life without the taste of Food And as thy Souldiers keep their Watch and Ward Thy Chastity thy inward Breast doth guard Thy modest Pulse serves as a Larum Bell Which watched by some wakefull Sentinell Is stirring still with every little Fear Warning if any Enemy be near Thy vertuous Thoughts when all the others rest Like carefull Scouts pass up and down thy Breast And still they round about that place do keep Whilst all the blessed Garrison do sleep But yet I fear if that the truth were told That thou hast rob'd and fly'st into this Hold I thought as much and didst this Fort devise That thou in safety here might'st tyranize Yes thou hast robb'd the Heaven and Earth of all And they against thy lawless Theft do call Thine Eyes with mine that wage continual Wars Borrow their brightness of the twinkling Stars Thy Lips from mine that in thy Mask be pent Have filch'd the Blushing from the Orient Thy Cheek for which mine all this Pennance proves Steals the pure whiteness both from Swans Doves Thy Breath for which mine still in Sighs consumes Hath robb'd all Flowers all Odours and Perfumes O mighty Love bring hither all thy Pow'r And fetch this Heav'nly Thief out of her Tow'r For if she may be suff'red in this sort Heavens store will soon be hoarded in this Fort. When I arriv'd before that State of Love And saw thee on that Battlement above I thought there was no other Heaven but there And thou an Angel didst from thence appear But when my Reason did reprove mine Eye That thou wert subject to Mortality I then excus'd what the bold Scot had done No marvel that he would the Fort have won Perceiving well those envious Walls did hide More wealth then was in all the World beside Against thy Foe I came to lend thee aid And thus to thee my self I have betray'd He is besieg'd the Siege that came to raise There 's no Assault that not my Breast assays Love grown extream doth find unlawfull Shifts The Gods take shapes and do allure with Gifts Commanding Jove that by great Styx doth swear Forsworn in Love with Lovers Oaths doth bear Love causeless still doth aggravate his cause It is his Law to violate all Laws His Reason is in only wanting Reason And were untrue not deeply touch'd with Treason Unlawfull Means doth make his lawfull Gain He speaks most true when he the most doth fain Pardon the Faults that have escap'd by Me Against fair Vertue Chastity and Thee If Gods can their own Excellence excell It is in pard'ning Mortals that rebell When all thy Trials are enroll'd by Fame And all thy Sex made glorious by thy Name Then I a Captive shall be brought hereby T' adorn the Triumph of thy Chastity I sue not now thy Paramour to be But as a Husband to be link'd to thee I 'm
left unblown My Skin with lothsome Jaundize over-grown So pin'd away that if thou long'st to see Ruin's true Picture only look on me Sometime in thinking of what I have had I from a sudden Extasie grow mad Then like a Bedlam forth thy El'nor runs Like one of Bacchus raging frantick Nuns Or like a Tartar when in strange disguise Prepar'd unto a dismal Sacrifice That Prelate Beaufort a foul ill befal him Prelate said I nay Devil I should call him Ah God forgive me if I think amiss His very Name me thinks my Poyson is Ah that vile Judas our professed Foe My Curse pursue him wheresoe'r he goe That to my Judgment when I did appear Laid to my charge those things that never were That I should know of Bullenbrooks Intents The hallowing of his Magick Instruments That I procured Southwell to assist Which was by Order consecrate a Priest That it was I should cover all they did Which but for him had to this day been hid Ah that vile Bastard that himself dare vant To be the Son of thy brave Grandsire Gaunt Whom he but father'd of meer Charity To rid his Mother of that Infamy Who if Report of elder Times be true Yet to this day his Father never knew He that by Murthers black and odious Crime To Henries Throne attempted once to clime Having procur'd by hope of golden gain A fatal Hand his Soverain to have slain Whom to his Chamber closely he convey'd And for that purpose fitly there had laid Upon whose Sword that famous Prince had dy'd If by a Dog he had not been descry'd But now the Queen her Minion Pool and he As it please them ev'n so must all things be England's no place for any one beside All is too little to maitain their pride situation might remain an assured Monument of his Wisdome if there were no other memory of the same They say the Druides once lived in this Isle It should seem that there were two Islands both of them called Mona though now distinguished the one by the name of Man the other by the Name of Anglesey both which were full of many infernal Ceremonies as may appear by Agricola's Voyage made into the hithermost Man described by his Son-in-Law Cornelius Tacitus And as Superstition the Daughter of Barbarism and Ignorance so amongst those Northerly Nations like as in America Magick was most esteemed Druidae were the publick Ministers of their Religion as throughly taught in all Rites thereof Their Doctrine concerned the Immortality of the Soul the Contempt of Death and all other Points which may conduce to Resolution Fortitude and Magnanimity Their abode was in Groves and Woods whereupon they have their Name Their pewer extended it self to master the Souls of Men deceased and to confer with Ghosts and other Spirits about the success of things Plutarch in his profound and learned Discourse of the defect of Oracles reporteth That the outmost British Isles were the Prison of a sort of fictious Demi-gods But it shall not need to speak any farther of the Druidae then that which Lucan doth Et vos barbaricos ritus moremque sinistrum Sacrorum Druidae positis repetistis ab armis Did not the Heavens her coming in withstand Noting the prodigious and fearful signs that were seen England a little before her coming in which Elinor expresseth in this Epistle as afore-shewing the Dangers which should ensue upon this unlucky Marriage The hallowing of the Magick Instruments The Instruments which Bullenbrook used in his Conjurations according to the divelish Ceremonies and Customs of these unlawful Arts were dedicated at a Mass in the Lodge in Harnsey Park by Southwel Priest of Westminster Having procur'd by hope of golden gain This was one of the Articles that Duke Humphry urged against Cardinal Beauford That he conspired the death of Henry the fifth by conveying a Villain into his Chamber which in the Night should have murthered him but what ground of Truth he had for the same I leave to dispute Duke HVMPHRY TO ELINOR COBHAM ME thinks thou shouldst not doubt I could forget Her whom so many do remember yet No no our joys away like shaddows slide But Sorrows firm in memory abide Nay I durst answer thou do'st nothing less But into Passion urg'd by thy distress No El'nor no thy Woes thy Grief thy Wrong Have in my breast been resident too long Oh when Report in ev'ry place had spred My El'nor was to Sanctuary fled With cursed Oneley and the Witch of Eye As guilty of their vile Conspiracy The dreadfull Spirits when they did invocate For the Succession and the Realm's Estate When Henry's Image they in Wax had wrought By which he should have to his death been brought That as his Picture did consume away His Person so by Sickness should decay Grief that before could ne'r my thoughts controul That instant took possession of my Soul Ah would to God I could forget thine ill As for mine own let that inflict 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 have the whole remaining in my heart I have no need of others Cares to borrow For all I have is nothing else but Sorrow No my sweet Nell thou took'st not all away Though thou went'st hence here still thy Woes do stay Though from thy Husband thou wert forc'd to go Those still remain they will not leave him so No eye bewails my Ill mones thy distress Our Grief 's the more but yet our debt the less We owe no Tears no Mourning days are kept For those that yet for us have never wept We hold no Obijts no sad Exequies Upon the Death-days of unweeping Eyes Alas good Nell what should thy patienee move T' upbraid thy kind Lord with a forreign love Thou might'st have bid all former ills adue Forgot the old we have such store of new Did I omit thy love to entertain With mutual Grief to answer Grief again Or think'st thou I unkindly did forbear To bandy Woe for Woe and Tear for Tear Did I forget or carelesly neglect Those shews of Love that Ladies so respect In mounful black was I not seen to goe By outward signs t' express my inward Woe Did I thy loss not publickly lament Nor by my Looks bewray'd my Discontent Is this the cause If this be it know then One Grief conceal'd more grieveous is than ten If in my breast those Sorrows sometimes were And never utt'red they must still 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 up what is receiv'd what spent If I her own can she from blame me free If she but prove a step-mother to me That if I should with that proud Bastard strive To plead for Birth-right my Prerogative Be that allow'd I should not need to fear it For then my true
Nobility should bear it If Counsel aid that France will tell I know Whose Towns lye wast before the English Foe When thrice we gave the conquer'd French the foil * At Agincourt at Cravant and Vernoyle If Faith avail these Arms did Henry hold To claym his Crown yet scarcely nine months old If Countries care have leave to speak for me Gray hairs in youth my witness then may be If peoples tongues give splendor to my Fame They add a Title to Duke Humphry's Name If Toyle at home French Treason English Hate Shall tell my skill in mannaging the State If forreign Travel my success may try * Then Flanders Almain Boheme Burgundie That Robe of Rome proud Beauford now doth wear In every place such sway should never bear * The Crosier staff in his imperious Hand To be the Scepter that controules the Land That home to England Dispensations draws Which are of power to abrogate our Laws And for those Sums the wealthy Church should pay Upon the needy Comm'nalty to lay His ghostly Counsels only do advise * The means how Langley's Progeny may rise Pathing young Henry's unadvised ways A Duke of York from Cambridge house to raise Which after may our Title undermine Grafted since Edward in Gaunts famous Line Us of Succession falsely to deprive Which they from Clarence fainedly derive Knowing the will old Cambridge ever bore To catch the Wreath that famous Henry wore With Gray and Scroop when first he layd the Plot From us and ours the Garland to have got As from the March-born Mortimer to reign Whose Title Glendour stoutly did maintain When the proud Percies haughty March and he Had shar'd the Land by equal parts in three * His Priesthood now stern Mowbray will restore To stir the fire that kindled was before Against the Yorkists that shall their Claim advance To steel the point of Norfolk's sturdy Lance. Upon the Breast of Harford's issue bent In just revenge of ancient Banishment He doth advise to let our Pris'ner go And doth inlarge the faithless Scotish Foe * Giving our Heirs in Marriage that their Dow'rs May bring invasion upon us and ours Ambitious Suffolk so the Helm doth guide With Beauford's damned Policies suppl'd He and the Queen in Counsel still confer How to raise him who hath advanced her But my dear Heart how vainely do I dream And fly from thee whose Sorrows are my Theam My love to thee and England thus divided Which hath the most how hard to be decided Or thou or that to censure I am loath So near are you so dear unto me both 'Twixt that and thee for equal love I find England ingrateful and my El'nor kind But though my Country justly I reprove Yet I for that neglected have my love Nevertheless thy Humphry's to the now As when fresh Beauty triumph'd on thy Brow As when thy Graces I admired most Or of thy Favours might the frankly'st boast Those Beauties were so infinite before That in abundance I was only poor Of which though Time hath taken some again I ask no more but what doth yet remain Be patient gentle Heart in thy distress Thou art a Princess not a whit the less Whilst in these Breasts we bear about this Life I am thy Husband and thou art my Wife Cast not thine eye on such as mounted be But look on those cast down as low as we For some of them which proudly pearch so hie Ere long shall come as low as thou or I. They weep for joy and let us laugh in Woe We shall exchange when Heav'n will have it so We mourn and they in after-time may mourn Woe past may once laugh present Woe to scorn And worse then hath been we can never tast Worse cannot come then is already past In all extream's the only depth of ill Is that which comforts the afflicted still Ah would to God thou couldst thy Griefs deny And on my back let all the Burthen lye Or if thou canst resign make them mine own Both in one Carriage to be undergone Till we again our former hopes recover And prosp'rous Times blow these Misfortunes over For in the thought of those fore-passed years Some new resemblance of old Joy appears Mutual our Care so mutual be our Love That our Affliction never can remove So rest in peace where peace hath hope to live Wishing thee more then I my self can give ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History At Agincourt at Cravant and Vernoyle THe three famous Battels fought by the Englishmen in France Agincourt by Henry the fifth against the whole Power of France Cravant fought by Montacute Earl of Salisbury and the Duke of Burgoyne against the Dolphin of France and William Stuart Constable of Scotland Vernoyle fought by John Duke of Bedford against the Duke of Alanson and with him most of the Nobility of France Duke Humphry an especial Counsellor in all these Expeditions Then Flanders Almaine Boheme Burgundy Here remembring the ancient Amity which in his Embassies he had concluded betwixt the King of England and Sigismund Emperor of Almain drawing the Duke of Burgoyne into the same League giving himself as an Hostage for the Duke at Saint Omers while the Duke came to Calice to confirm the League With his many other Imployments to forreign Kingdomes That Crosier staff in his imperious hand Henry Beauford Cardinal of Winchester that proud and haughty Prelate received the Cardinals Hat at Calice by the Popes Legate which dignity Henry the fifth his Nephew forbad him to take upon him knowing his haughty and malicious spirit unfit for that Robe and Calling The means how Langley's Progeny may rise As willing to shew the House of Cambridge to be descended of Edmund Langley Earl of York a younger Brother to John of Gaunt his Grandfather as much as in him lay to smother the Title that the Yorkists made to the Crown from Lionel of Clarence Gaunts elder Brother by the Daughter of Mortimer His Priesthood now stern Mowbray doth restore Noting the ancient Grudge between the House of Lancaster and Norfolk ever since Moubray Duke of Norfolk was banished for the Accusation of Henry Duke of Harford after that King of England Father to Duke Humphry Which Accusation he came as a Combatant to have made good in the Lists at Coventry Giving our Heirs in Marriage that their Dow'rs James Stuart King of Scots having been long Prisoner in England was released and took to Wife the Daughter of John Duke of Somerset Sister to John Duke of Somerset Neice to the Cardinal and the Duke of Excester and Cousin-German removed to the King This King broke the Oath he had taken and became afterward a great Enemy to England FINIS WILLIAM DE-LA-POOLE Duke of SUFFOLK TO Queen MARGARET The ARGUMENT William De-La-Pool first Marquess and after created Duke of Suffolk being sent into France by King Henry the Sixth concluded a Marriage between the King his Master and Margaret Daughter to Rayner Duke of Anjou who only had the
points with ten Spears about him in each Stirrop three under each Thigh one one under his left Arm and one in his Hand and putting his Horse to the Career never stopped him till he had broken every Staff Hall Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk TO Mary the French Queen BUT that my Faith commands me to forbear The fault 's your own if I impatient were Were my dispatch such as should be my speed I should want time your loving Lines to read Here in the Court Camelion-like I fare And as that Creature only feed on Air All Day I wait and all the Night I watch And starve mine Ears to hear of my dispatch If Dover were th' Abydos of my Rest Or pleasant Calice were my Maries Cest You should not need bright Queen to blame me so Did not the Distance to Desire say no No tedious Night from Travel should be free Till through the Seas with swimming still to thee A snowy Path I made unto thy Bay So bright as is that Nectar-stained Way The restless Sun by travelling doth wear Passing his Course to finish up the Year But Paris locks my Love within the Main And London yet thy Brandon doth detain Of thy firm love thou put'st me still in mind But of my Faith not one word can I find * When Longavile to Mary was affy'd And thou by him wast made King Lewis's Bride How oft I wish'd that thou a Prize might'st be That I in Arms might combate him for thee And in the madness of my love distraught A thousand times his Murther have fore-thought But that th' all-seeing Pow'rs which sit above Regard not Mad-mens Oaths nor faults in Love And have confirm'd it by the grant of Heaven That Lovers sins on Earth should be forgiven For never Man is half so much distress'd As he that loves to see his Love possess'd Coming to Richmond after thy depart Richmond where first thou stol'st away my heart Me thought it look'd not as it did of late But wanting thee forlorn and desolate In whose fair walks thou often hast been seen To sport with Cath'rine Henries beautious Queen Astonishing sad Winter with thy sight So that for thee the day hath put back night And the small Birds as in the pleasant Spring Forgot themselves and have begun to sing So oft as I by Thames go and return Me thinks for thee the River yet doth mourn Whom I have seen to let his Stream at large Which like an Hand-maid waited on thy Barge And if thou hap'st against the Flood to row Which way it eb'd it presently would flow Weeping in Drops upon the labouring Oares For joy that it had got thee from the Shoares The Swans with musick that the Rowers make Ruffing their plumes came gliding on the Lake As the swift Dolphins by Arions strings Were brought to Land with Syren ravishings The flocks and heards that pasture near the Flood To gaze on thee have oft forborn their food And sat down sadly mourning by the brim That they by Nature were not made to swim When as the Post to Englands Royal Court Of thy hard passage brought the true report * How in a storm thy well-rigg'd Ships were tost And thou thy self in danger to be lost I knew 't was Venus loath'd that aged Bed Where Beauty so should be dishonoured Or fear'd the Sea-Nymphs haunting of the Lake If thou but seen their Goddess should forsake And whirling round her Dove-drawn Coach about To view the Navy then in lanching out Her ayrie Mantle loosely doth unbind Which fanning forth a rougher gale of wind Wafted thy Sails with speed unto the Land And ran thy Ships on Bullins harb'ring strand How should I joy of thy arrive to hear But as a poor Sea-faring passenger After long travail tempest torn and wrack'd By some unpitty'ng Pyrat that is sack'd Hears the false Robber that hath stoln his wealth Landed in some safe Harbour and in health Inrich'd with the invaluable store For which he long had travelled before * When thou to Abvile held'st th' appointed day We heard how Lewis met thee on the way Where thou in glitt'ring Tissue strangely dight * Appear'dst unto him like the Queen of Light In Cloath of Silver all thy Virgin Train In Beauty sumptuous as the Nothern Wain And thou alone the foremost glorious Star Which led'st the Team of that great Waggoner What could thy Thought be but as I did think When thine Eyes tasted what mine Ears did drink * A cripple King layd bed-rid long before Yet at thy coming crept out of the door 'T was well he rid he had no leggs to go But this thy Beauty forc'd his Body to For whom a Cullice had more fitter been Than in a golden Bed a gallant Queen To use thy Beauty as the Miser Gold Which hoards it up but only to behold Sill looking on it with a jealous Eye Fearing to lend yet loving Usury O Sacriledge if Beauty be divine The prophane Hand to touch the hallowed Shrine To surfeit sickness on the sound mans Diet To rob content yet still to live unquiet And having all to be of all beguil'd And yet still longing like a little Child * When Marquess Dorset and the valiant Grays To purchase Fame first crost the narrow Seas With all the Knights that my Associates went In honour of thy Nuptial Tournament Think'st thou I joy'd not in thy Beauties pride * When thou in Triumph didst through Paris ride Where all the Streets as thou didst pace along With Arras Biss and Tapestry were hung Ten thousand gallant Citizens prepar'd In rich Attire thy Princely self to guard Next them three thousand choice Religious Men In golden Vestments follow'd on agen And in Procession as they came along With Hymen sweetly sang thy Marriage Song * Next these five Dukes as did their places fall With each of them a Princely Cardinal Then thou on thy Imperial Chariot set Crown'd with a rich impearled Coronet Whilst the Parisian Dames as thy Train past Their precious incense in abundance cast As Cynthia from her wave-embattel'd Shrowds Op'ning the West comes streaming through the Clouds With shining Troops of Silver-tressed Stars Attending on her as her Torch-bearers And all the lesser Lights about her Throne With admiration stand as lookers on Whilst she alone in height of all her pride The Queen of Light along her Sphere doth glide When on the Tilt my Horse like Thunder came No other Signal had I but thy Name Thy Voyce my Trumpet and my Guide thine Eyes And but thy Beauty I esteem'd no prize * That large lim'd Almain of the Giants Race Which bare strength on his Breast fear in his Face Whose sinew'd Arms with his steel-temper'd Blade Through Plate and Male such open passage made Upon whose Might the Frenchmens glory lay And all the hope of that victorious day Thou saw'st thy Brandon beat him on his Knee Off'ring his Shield a conquer'd Spoil to thee But thou wilt say perhaps I vainly
boast And tell thee that which thou already know'st No sacred Queen my Valour I deny It was thy Beauty not my Chivalry One of thy tressed Curls there falling down As loath to be imprisoned in thy Crown I saw the soft Ayr sportively to take it And into strange and sundry forms to make it Now parting it to four to three to twain Now twisting it then it untwist again Then make the threads to dally with thine Eye A Sunny Candle for a golden Fly At length from thence one little tear it got Which falling down as though a Star had shot My up-turn'd Eye pursu'd it with my Sight The which again redoubled all my Might 'T is but in vain of my Descent to boast When Heav'ns Lamp shines all other Lights be lost Faulcons seem poor the Eagle sitting by Whose Brood surveyes the Sun with open Eye * Else might my blood find Issue from his force * Who beat the Tyrant Richard from his Horse On Bosworth Plain whom Richmond chose to wield His glorious Ensign in that conqu'ring Field And with his Sword in his dear Sov'reigns sight To his last breath stood fast in Henries Right Then beautious Empress think this safe delay Shall be the Even to a joyful Day Fore-sight doth still on all advantage lye Wise-men give place forc'd by necessity To put back ill our good we must forbear Better first fear then after still to fear 'T were over-sight in that at which we aim To put the Hazzard on an after-Game With patience then let us our Hopes attend And till I come receive these Lines I send ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History When Longavile to Mary was affy'd THe Duke of Longavile who was Prisoner in England upon the Peace to be concluded between England and France was delivered and married to the Princess Mary for Lewis the French King his Master How in a storm thy well-ri'd Ships were tost And thou c. As the Queen sayled for France a mighty storm arose at Sea so that the Navy was in great danger and was severed some driven upon the Coast of Flanders some on Brittain the Ship wherein the Queen was driven into the Haven at Bullen with very great danger When thou to Abvile held'st th' appointed day King Lewis met her by Abvile near to the Forrest of Arders and brought her into Abvile with great Solemnity Appeard'st unto him like the Queen of Light Expressing the sumptuous Attye of the Queen and her Train attended by the chief of the Nobility of England with six and thirty Ladies all in Cloth of Silver their Horses trapped with Crimson Velvet A criple King laid Bedrid long before King Lewis was a man of great years troubled much with the Gout so that he had long time before little use of his Legs When Marques Dorset and the valiant Grayes The Duke of Suffolk when the Proclamation came into England of Justs to be holden in France at Paris be for the Queens sake his Mistress obtained of the King to go thither With whom went the Marquess Dorset and his four Brothers the Lord Clinton Sir Edward Nevil Sir Giles Capel Thomas Cheyney which went all over with the Duke as his Assistants When thou in Triumph didst through Paris ride A true description of the Queens entring into Paris after her Coronation performed at St. Denis Then five great Dukes as did their Places fall The Dukes of Alanson Burbon Vandom Longavile Suffolk with five Cardinals That larg-lim'd Almain of the Giants Race Francis Valoys the Dolphin of France envying the glory that the English Men had obtained at the Tilt brought in an Almain secretly a Man thought almost of incomparable strength which inccuntred Charles Brandon at the Barriers but the Duke grappling with him so beat him about the Head with the Pummel of his Sword that the blood came out of the sight if his Caske Else might my Blood find issue from his force Who beat c. Sir William Brandon Standard bearer to the Earl of Richmond after Henry the Seventh at Bosworth-Field a brave and gallant Gentleman who was slain by Richard there this was Father to this Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk FINIS Henry Howard Earl of Surrey TO THE Lady GERALDINE The ARGUMENT Henry Howard that truly noble Earl of Surrey and excellent Poet falling in love with Geraldine descended of the Noble Family of the Fitzs-Gerarlds of Ireland a fair and modest Lady and one of the honourable Maids to Queen Catharine Dowager eternizeth her praises in many excellent Poems of rare and sundry inventions and after some few years being determined to see Italy that famous Source and Helicon of all excellent Arts first visiteth the renowned City of Floreoe from whence the Geralds challenge their descent from the anctient Family of the Geraldi there in honour of his Mistress he advanceth her Picture and challengeth to maintain her Beauty by deeds of Arms against all that durst appear in the Lifts where after the proof of his incomparable valour whose Arms crowned her Beauty with eternal Memory he writeth this Epistle to his dearest Mistress * FRom learned Florence long time rich in fame From whence thy Race thy noble Grandsiers came To famous England that kind Nurse of mine Thy Surrey sends to heav'nly Geraldine Yet let not Tuscan think I do it wrong That I from thence write in my Native Tongue That in these harsh-tun'd Cadences I sing Sitting so near the Muses sacred Spring But rather think it self adorn'd thereby That England reads the praise of Italy Though to the Tuscans I the smoothness grant Our Dialect no Majesty doth want To set thy praises in as high a Key As France or Spain or Germany or they That day I quit the Fore-land of fair Kent And that my Ship her course for Flanders bent With what regret and how heavy a look My leave of England and of thee I took I did intreat the Tide if it might be But to convey me one sigh back to thee Up to the Deck a Billow lightly skips Taking my sigh and down again it slips Into the Gulf it self it headlong throws And as a Post to England-ward it goes As I sate wondring how the rough Seas stir'd I might far off perceive a little Bird Which as she fain from Shore to Shore would flie Had lost her self in the broad vasty Skie Her feeble Wing beginning to deceive her The Seas of life still gaping to bereave her Unto the Ship she makes which she discovers And there poor fool a while for refuge hovers And when at lengeh her flagging Pinnion fails Painting she hangs upon the ratling Sails And being forc'd to loose her hold with pain Yet beaten off she strait lights on again And tos'd with flaws with storms with wind with weather Yet still departing thence still turneth thither Now with the Poop now with the Prow doth bear Now on this side now that now here now there Me thinks these Storms should be my sad depart