beeing taken vp without any wrong meant to the body it nowe lyes vnburied in a poore Coffin of bordes and with the least touch falleth into ashes Adde to these Anne the wife of Richard the third Margaret Countesse of Richmond and Darby mother to Henry the 7. Anne of Clâ—ue wife to Henry the 8. Henry 7. and Elizabeth his wife do in mine armes likewise take their euerlasting sleeps so does Elizabeth daughter to those most happy Princes So doth Margaret daughter to Edward 4. So doth Edward the 6. Sonne to that famous prince Henry 8. So doth Mary whose name serues her only as a Monument And lastly so doth Elizabeth daughter to that great wariour who if shee had no Monnument at all consecrated to memory yet were her name sufficient to eternize her Sacred worth and the wonder of her 44. years gouernement Thus besides other personages of great byrth too many in number for me to recite and too tedious for thée to heare am I compassed about with the dead bodies of 42 Kings Quéenes and the sons and daughters of Kings Quéens y e remembrance of whom is able to turn me w c sorrow into Marble but y t their statues sumptuous monuments do shine in my Temples and worke such astonishment in the eyes euen of straungers that I estéeme that hurt of mine the best part of my glory Besides all these gallant obiects The swifte-footed Thamesis daunseth all the day long in wanton Water-ringes before mee shee transformes her Christall body into a thousand shapes to delight mee Sometimes does shee chaunge her selfe into a Girdle of Siluer and then doe I weare it about my middle Sometimes lookes shee like an Amazon along curled hayre hanging loosely about her shoulders and then dooes shee fight with the windes and her combates are discharged with excellent grace Anon shall you beholde her lymbes stretcht out to an infinite but comely length and then O my worthyest Sister doe we two grow proude and take her for a Ryuer whilest shee continues in that shape thou knowest what delicate turnings and windinges shee does make euen at our féete thy habitations stande then like a rich Embrodery about the skirts of an imperial garment but my buildinges shew like so many Castles raised by Enchantment where faire Ladies locke vppe their beauties whilst knights aduenturers come armed thether with loyalty challenging them for their loues yea in such goodly in so artificial an order are my Turrets and Towers errected that the Sun at his rising makes mee beléeue they are Rockes of Burnisht Siluer with his blushing vpon them at his going downe I haue a thousande times sworne they were so many hils of Gold Bee thou nowe an indifferent Iudge O London thou fayrest Daughter of Europe if I beeing accustomed to this fulnesse of dignitie and this variety of pleasures haue not good cause to languishe when I am depriued of them all The more princely are my guests the more insufferable and more to be pittied are my passions spent for their absence Well was it for thée thou Metropolis of the world that the honours the Habits the Tryumphes the gifts of Kinges and the Reuennewes that belong to my Royaltyes are not made Thine thou swellest in thy heart enough already but then wouldst thou haue bin too proud and insolent How therefore can I choose but buffet my owne chéekes through the anguish of my Soule Teare my owne hayre to sée my selfe distressed and euen drinke mine own hart-bloud in teares to looke on my present miserie Listen to me for now O my déerest Play-fellow shalt thou heare the very true tunes of my most iust bewaylings Those throwes of sorowe come vppon mee foure times euery yéere but at one time more and with more paines then at all the rest For in the height and lustiest pride of Summer when euery little Uillage hath her Bathilers her Damosels tripping deftly about May-pols when Medowes are full of Hay-makers when the fieldes vpon the workidaies are full of Haâ—â—estars singing and the towngréenes vpon Hollydayes trodden downe by the Youthes of the Parâ—â— dancing when thou O thou beautifull but bewitching Citty by the wantonnesse of thine eye and the Musicke of thy voyce allurest people from all the corners of the Land to throng in heapes at thy Fayres and thy Theators Then euen then sit I like a Widdow in the middest of my mourning then doe my buildings shew like infected lodgings from which the Inhabitants are fledde then are my chambers empty and my common paths vntrodden then doe I not looke like thy next neighbour but like a creature forlorâ—e and vtterly forsaken Were it not that my state is vphold by fiue great Pillers the chiefe of them being so hie that Kinges and Princes sit on the top of it I should euen loose my name and the memory of mée would be buryed in the earth that now beares me vp That first and Capitall Columne on which leanes all my strength is a Pyramides whose point reaches vppe to the Starres whilest that stands in mine eye I behold a Maiesty equall to Ioues I sée a Vine whose braunches shall spread so farre and so hie that one day they shall couer Kingdomes I see likewise a Table at which sit none but Those whose heads grow white onely with the Cares of a Kingdom I sée a Row of Lords too whose flourishing doth dignify the place vppon which they grow and whose shady boughes beate backe and kéepe off from the people the violent heate of Tyrrany and oppression Besides all these do I behold a goodly Fountain large cleare strongly and curiously built out of which come a thousand pipes some greater then the rest thorough whome a swéete water flowes that giues life vnto the Soule And last of all so full is my happinesse in stead of earthly Creatures I see none but Goddesses But woe is me when this great Piller is remooued from my sight then casting vp mine eye me thinks I looke vpon nothing but my owne Ruines Nay that calamitie of mine doth euen stretch to thée for thou thy selfe for all thy loftinesse and boasting dooest at that time droope and hauge the head But note how the Rulers of this Land haue loued mee though they giue mee woundes they giue mee Balme to cure them though the Sunne goe from me yet am I comforted with the brighnesse of the Stars The Law which lyes in at euery Uacation is brought to bed in foure seuerall months of the yeare and deliuered of foure Sonnes Those Sonnes inuite me to foure kingly Feasts they kéep their Tournes and their Returnes are so many seuerall Seruices They are the Foure Elements that gouerne and giue life to my body yea so déere doe I make them vnto me that I account of them as of Foure Golden Ages Whilest any of these foure abide in my Company I am more Iocond
able to make it leape out of my Iurisdiction More Mayden-heades I verily beléeue are cut off vpon my owne feather-beds in one year than are heads of Cattell cut off in in two amongst the Butchers that serue my families But I feare O London that by dwelling so near thée thou hast infeâ—ted my houses with these two plagues that now run ouer all the Kingdome for all the world knowes that euen thy shop-kéepers and poorest Tradesmen lay by their owne occupations and fall to these Other sinnes lies gnawing like diseases at my heart for Pride sits at the doores of the rich Enuy goes vp and downe with the Begger féeding vpon Snakes Rents are layde vpon the racke euen my own sight and by my own Children that I haue borne whilst Conscience goes like a foole in pyed colours the skin of her body hanging so loose that like an Oxford Gloue thou wouldst swear there wer a false skin within her Couerousnes hath got a hundred handes and all â—â—â—se hands do nothing but tye knots on her Purse-strings but Prodigality hauing but two handes vndoes those knottes faster than the other can tie them O thou Darling of Great Brittaine thy Princes call thée Their Treasurer and thou art so But more peeces of Siluer and Gold passe not through thy fingers then oathes from the mouthes of my inhabitants Thou art held to be O London the lowdest swearer in the kingdome because some say thou hast whole shoppes and Ware-houses filled vvith oathes yet I feare I haue those about me that for filthy mouthing wil put thée down for I am haunted with some that are called Knights onely for their swearing Ranckely doe these and other stinking wéedes grow vp in my walkes and in my Gardens the sauours of them are Pestilent to my Nosthrils and are able to kill me yet much good wholesome fruits do I féed vpon that are to my life a preseruation So that for the aches that these diseases bréed in my bones I doe not languish neyther Thou knowest and I confesse it for if I should not the whole world would swear it that thou possessest the more but I the more goodly buildings thy hauses are contryued for thrist and profitable vses mine for state and pleasure thou dwe lest vnder plaine roofes I within royall Pallaces euery roome that thou lodgest in is but called a Chamber and euery Chamber I sleepe in is a Kinges Court In thine Armes lie the sonnes of England to suck wealth but in my lap sit the Princes of England to be Crowned In my bosome doe they slumber whilest they liue and when they dye they desire to bee buried betwéene my breasts To testifie this all the annoyted kinges and Queenes except one who receiued his Crowne at Glocester with all the Wiues of those kinges that haue raigned heere since that Norman Conqueror would if they were now liuing speake on my side in that behalfe for the full number of 21. Kinges and two Quéens being a payre of Sisters haue receiued the glorious Titles of Maiestie and were seen the very first day of their sitting on the English throne onely at my hands and in my presence of which that conquerour and Matilda his wife had the honour to begin for till hys time other places wer made happy by that dignity as Kingston c. which then were farre aboue me but now can no way be my equall To proue how much the Rulers of this Monarchy haue loued mee euen on their Death-beds their bodies which they haue as their richest Legacies bequethed to my kéeping are royall witnesses I can shew thee O thou Noblest of thy Nation the bones not onely of most of those kinges before-named but of some that liued here long before them But because the Graue is the vtter destroyer of al beauty yea and so defaceth the lookes and the bodies euen of the goodliest princes that men abhorre to behold them also for that it is helde an acte most impious and full of Sacriledge to offer violence to the deade I will onely giue thee the names of all those Kinges Queenes and Princes Royal bloud that now lay their heads on my knées must sléepe there till that day when all that rest in graues shal be summoned to awaken Of these was Sybert King of the East Saxons the first with his wife Aethelsoda Sybert gaue me my first being in the world and at his departure from the worlde did I giue his body an euerlasting habitation Next vnto him did I lay Harold Sir-named Hare-foot King of the West Saxons Then Edward the Confessor vppon whome king William bestowed a shryne of Syluer and Golde And then these Aegytha wife to that Conquerour Matilda wife to Henry the first and daughter to Malcoline king of Scots Henry 3. who builded a great part of that my famous Temple and whose Sepulcher was adorned with precious stones of Iasper fetched by his sonne Edwarde the 1. out of France Eleanor wife to that Henry Edmund second Sonne to that Henrie the first Earle of Lancaster Darby and Liecester wyth Auelyne hys Wife who was Daughter and heyre to the Earle of Albemarle Besides him all the Children of the sayde Henry the 3. and of Edward 1. being nine in number Edward the first who offered to the Shryne of Edward the Confessor the Chaire of Marble wherein the kinges of Scotland had wont to be crowned and in which the king that first made England and Scotlande one Monarchy was now lately inthronized Eleanor wife to that Edward 1. and Daughter to Ferdinando king of Castyle In memory of whose death so many stately Crosses as Monâ—umentes of his loue to her were erected in all those places where her body was set downe when it was sent to bee lodged with mee Eleanor Countesse of Barre Daughter of Edwarde the first Edward 3. and Phillip of Henalt his wife Wiliam of Windsore and Blanch his Sister children to Edward the third Thomas of Wood-stock sonne likewise to that Edward Iohn of Eltham Earle of Cornewall sonne to Edward the second Richard 2. that vnfortunate king with Anne his Wife Daughter of Vinceslaus king of Bohem which Anne brought vp the fashion for women to ride in side Saddles which till her time rode as men Then that Guttorum Mastix the scourge of the French Henry 5. to doe honor to whose victorious and dreaded name Katherine his wife and daughter to the King of France caused an Image to the portraiture of hir husbande to bee made of Massy Siluer all gilded ouer which was layde vpon his Monument but Couetousnes not suffering euen hallowed places and the shrines of the dead to bee frée from hir griping talents the head of that Image which was al of Massy siluer is now broke off the plates that couered the body stoln and conueyed away That royall Quéene and Bedfellow of his Lady Katherine was with mee likewise layd to rest but after
tyrranized ouer Straungers and threatned to lead me and my Inhabitantes into Captiuitâ— and so bring vpon me vtter disolation The other in those tempestuous and variable tossinges of that vertuous but wretched King Henry the sixt in the handes of Fortune when a fire of commotion was kindled by Kentish-men whose flames euen beganne to burne in my owne bosome Or had that Sonne of thine perished betwéene the rage of those two great Families the Yorkists and Lancastrians that was nourished so many yéers together with the liues honors and ouerthrowes of so many Princes of the bloud Royall and with the fall of so many Subiects that in one batâ—aile were discomfited on both sides 35111. Persons then if thou hadst not lamented for him I should worthily haue blamed thee then would I my selfe haue borne a parâ— in thy sorrow A better and not so blacke a fate hath weighted vppon That Mirror of antiquity belonging to thee than euer since the first raâ—sing hath falne vpon the Goodliest the Greatest the Highest and most Hallowed Monument of mine His miseries haue béene so many and the top of his calamities is clymbed vp to such a height that I should do his sorrows wrong to set theÌ„ to the tune of my voyce whoÌ„ no notes but his owne are able to sing them foorth Lift vp therefore thy heauy head O thou that art maintayned by the Pillers of the Church and though thou hast a leaden countenance of which may be gathered the true and full weight of that which lyes vppon thée to presse thée downe yet with a voyce lower then theirs that are daily Singers of heauenly songs in thy hearing ring thou forth the Allarâ—â— of those passionate heart-breaking vlulations which like the ruptures of Thunder force a continuall passage through thy bosome Bee thou attentiâ—e likewise thou Nurser vp of all our English Nobility and as I haue lent an erected and serious eare to those Complaints which thou powrest forth in behalfe of thy Sonne So be thou I coniure thée a silent and obseruing Auditor of these Lamentations which I sée are already striuing to make way through the lips of this afflicted Child of mine Marke him well for now he begins Paules Steeples complaint WHerein O wherein haue I â—he most infortunate of all this Kingdome offended so highly that thus often and with such dreadfull blowes I shold be smote by the hand of heauen So cruelly haue I béene strucke that euen fire to my thinking hath â—lasâ—en out at mine eye and such â—éepe woundes haue I receiued on my head that instead of teares my vary batilements haue dropt downe and in their falling haue scalded my chéekes as if they had béene shewers of molten Lead Doth this hot Uengeance fly as if it were with the swiftest winges of Lightning from aboue to seâ—ze vpon me for my owne sinnes or for his that first beganne to set me vppe But alasse How ingratefâ—ll am I to haue of my Patron so vnrighteous and so godlesse a remembraunce Ethelbert King of Kent was my Founder out of the dust of the earth did he raise mée out of the hard Rock was I fashioned to a beautifull shape and by him consecrated to a most holy and religious vse For Ethelbert that good King was the first that gaue entertainment to Augustine Melitus Iustus and Iohn who by Saint Gregory were sent hither to preach the Misteries Diuine The deuotion of which men like foure streames caused the Christian Fayth to fly into this land and that princely father of moe was the first whom they conuerted In aduauncement of Religion and to make it spread higher did hee set mee into the earth planted mée and hadde a reuerend care to haue mee grow vppe in state and beauty It cannot be therefore that so good and meritoryous a worke in him should be so ill rewarded No no it is not for his sake that I haue béene punnished but eyther for my owne or some others wicked deseruing Howsoeuer it be or in whom-soeuer the fault lyes on mée are the plagues inflicted on my head are heaped the disgraces and dishonours mine is the smart mine is the Sorrow And though the eyes of euery Straunger and of euery starting Passenger be cast vp vppon mee all of them wondering at but none pittying my misfortune because to them it appeares sleight or else it appeares to them nothing at all yet let mee stand before a Iuditious cleéere and impartiall Censor and the condition of the most wretched will not séeme so miserable and base as mine When the Hawthorne and Low Bryer are cut downe the spoyle of them is not regarded for it moones not any But when the Prince of the Forrest the mighty and sacred Oake hath the Axe layed to his roote at euery blow that is giuen the very woods send out Grones Small Cottages beeing on fire are quickly either quenched or if not quenched the wound that a Common-wealth receiues by them is easily cured But when a body so noble So antient so comely for Stature so reuerenced for State so richly adorned so full of beauty of strength of Ceremonies so followes so kneeled vnto and almost so adored as my selfe am and euer haue béene daily is defaced by flames and shaken into dust by the wrath of the breath Almighty The very sight of this is able to bréede Earthquakes in Citties that behold it And euen from such a height such a happinesse and such an honor am I fallen My head was aduanced with the loftiest in the Kingdome and so tender a care had the heauens ouer it that it was taken vp and layde in the bosome of the Clouds My aking browes rested themselues vpon the Christall Chariot of the Moone and the Crowne of my head when I stoode on Tiptoe and stretched my body to the length touched that Celestiall roofe embossed all ouer with studs of golde I did not onely ouer-looke the proudest buildinges in thée O thou Land-lady to so many thousands of houses with those also that are the inheritance of her thy next neybour But mine eye at euery opening hadde the greatest part of the kingdome as a prospect The Marriner then called mee his Sea-marke for to him I stood as a Watch-tower to guide him safely to our English shore No sooner did y e Traueller by land sée me but his heart leaped for ioy and the wearisomnesse of his way seemed to go from him because he knew he was in sight of the most goodly Cittie which he loued But how often hath this glory of mine bin Ecâ—lipsed and at such times when it was in the fulnes whether my own ambition in aspyring too high or whether the Iustice of those aboue mee in punnishing my pride were the cause of my Fall I know not But sure I am that my head hath beene often laid to the blocke and many blowes giuen to strike it off The first blow was giuen me when I had stood vntaynted