the Saints our Robert Grosted lent A perfect godly man most learn'd and eloquent Then whom no Bishop yet walkt in more vpright wayes Who durst reprooue proud Rome in her most prosperous dayes Whose life of that next age the Iustice well did show Which we may boldly say for this we clearely know Had Innocent the fourth the Churches Suffrage led This man could not at Rome haue been Canonized Her sainted Bishop Iohn so Ely addes to these Yet neuer any one of all 〈◊〉 seuerall Sees Northumber land like thine haue to these times been blest Which sent into this Isle so many men profest Whilst Hagustald had then a Mother-Churches stile And Lindisferne of vs now cald the Holy-Ile Was then a See before that Durham was so great And long ere Carleill came to be a Bishops seat Aidan and Finan both most happily were found Northumber land in thee euen whilst thou didst abound With Paganisme which them thy Oswin that good King His people to conuert did in from Scotland bring As Etta likewise hers from Malrorse that arose Being Abbot of that place whom the Northumbers chose The Bishopricke of Ferne and Hagustald to hold And Cuthbert of whose life such Myracles are told As Storie scarcely can the truth thereof maintaine Of th' old Scotch-Irish Kings descended from the straine To whom since they belong I from them here must swerue And till I thither come their holinesse reserue Proceeding with the rest that on those Sees haue showne As Edbert after these borne naturally our owne The next which in that See Saint Cuthbert did succeed His Church then built of wood and thatch'd with homely reed He builded vp of stone and couered sayre with Lead Who in Saint Cuthberts Graue they buried being dead As his sad people he at his departing wild So Higbald after him a Saint is likewise held Who when his proper See as all the Northren Shore Were by the Danes destroyd he not dismayd the more But making shift to get out of the cruell flame His Cleargie carrying foorth preach'd wheresoere he came And Alwyn who the Church at Durham now begun Which place before that time was strangely ouerrun With shrubs and men for corne that plot had lately eard Where he that goodly Phane to after ages reard And thither his late Seat from * Lindisferne translated Which his Cathedrall Church by him was consecrated So Acca we account mongst those which haue been cald The Saints of this our See which sate at Hagenstald Of which he Bishop was in that good age respected In Calenders preseru'd in th'Catalogues neglected Which since would seeme to shew the Bishops as they came Then Edilwald which some since Ethelwoolph doe name At Durham by some men supposed to reside More rightly but by some at Carleill iustifide The first which rul'd that See which * Beauclerke did preferre Much gracing him who was his only Confessor Nor were they Bishops thus related Saints alone Northumberland but thou besides hast many a one Religious Abbots Priests and holy Hermits then Canonized as well as thy great Mytred men Two famous Abbots first are in the ranke of these Whose Abbayes touch'd the walls of thy two ancient Seas Thy Roysill in his time the tutillage that had Of Cuthbert that great Saint whose hopes then but a lad Exprest in riper yeares how greatly he might merit The man who had from God a prophesying Spirit Foretelling many things and growing to be old His very hower of death was by an Angell told At Malroyes this good man his Sainting well did earne Saint Oswald his againe at holy Lindisferne With Ine a godly Priest supposd to haue his lere Of Cuthbert and with him was Herbert likewise there His fellow-pupill long who as mine Authour saith So great opinion had of Cuthbert and his faith That at one time and place he with that holy man Desir'd of God to dye which by his prayer he wan Our venerable Bede so forth that Country brought And worthily so nam'd who of those ages sought The truth to vnderstand impartially which he Deliuered hath to time in his Records that we Things left so farre behind before vs still may read Mongst our canoniz'd sort who called is Saint Bede A sort of Hermits then by thee to light are brought Who liu'd by Almes and Prayer the world respecting nought Our Edilwald the Priest in Ferne now holy I le Which standeth from the firme to Sea nine English mile Sate in his reuerent Cell as Godrick thou canst show His head and beard as white as Swan or driuen Snow At Finchall threescore yeeres a Hermits life to lead Their solitary way in thee did Alrick tread Who in a Forrest neere to Carleill in his age Bequeath'd himselfe to his more quiet Hermitage Of Wilgusse so in thee Northumberland we tell Whose most religious life hath merited so well Whose blood thou boasts to be of thy most royall straine That Alkwin Master to that mightie Charlemaigne In Verse his Legend writ who of our holy men He him the subiect chose for his most learned pen. So Oswyn one of thy deare Country thou canst show To whom as for the rest for him we likewise owe Much honour to thy earth this godly man that gaue Whose Reliques that great house of Lesting long did saue To sinders till it sanke so Benedict by thee We haue amongst the rest for Saints that reckoned bee Of Wyremouth worship'd long her Patron buried there In that most goodly Church which he himselfe did reare Saint Thomas so to vs Northumberland thou lent'st Whom vp into the South thou from his Country sent'st For sanctitie of life a man exceeding rare Who since that of his name so many Saints there are This man from others more that times might vnderstand They to his christened name added Northumberland Nor in one Country thus our Saints confined were But through this famous Isle dispersed here and there As Yorkshire sent vs in Saint Robert to our store At Knarsborough most knowne whereas he long before His blessed time bestowd then one as iust as he If credit to those times attributed may be Saint Richard with the rest deseruing well a roome Which in that Country once at Hampoole had a toombe Religious Alred so from Rydall we receiue The Abbot who to all posteritie did leaue The fruits of his staid faith deliuered by his Pen. Not of the least desert amongst our holiest men One Eusac then we had but where his life he led That doubt I but am sure he was Canonized And was an Abbot too for sanctity much fam'd Then Woolsey will we bring of Westminster so nam'd And by that title knowne in power and goodnesse great And meriting as well his Sainting as his Seat So haue we found three Iohns of sundry places here Of which three reuerent men two famous Abbots were The first Saint Albans shew'd the second Lewes had Another godly Iohn we to these former add To make them
deafe nor Ganges so much praise That where he narrowest is eight miles in broadnesse layes His bosome nor so much hereafter shall be spoke Of that but lately found Guyanian Orenoque Whose * Cateract a noyse so horrible 〈◊〉 keepe That it euen Neptune frights what Flood comes to the Deepe Then Humber that is heard more horribly to rore For when my * Higre comes I make my either shore Euen tremble with the sound that I afarre doe send No sooner of this speech had Humber made an end But the applauding Floods sent foorth so shrill a shout That they were eas'ly heard all Holdernesse about Aboue the Beachy Brack amongst the Marshes rude When the East-Riding her Oration to conclude Goes on My Sisters boast that they haue little Shires Their subiects I can shew the like of mine for theirs My Howdon hath as large a Circuit and as free On Ouse and Humbers banks and as much graceth me My Latitude compar'd with those that me oppugne Not Richmond nor her like that doth to them belong Doth grace them more then this doth me vpon my coast And for their wondrous things whereof so much they boast Vpon my Easterne side which iutts vpon the Sea Amongst the white-scalp'd Cleeues this wonder see they may The Mullet and the Awke my Fowlers there doe finde Of all great Britain brood Birds of the strangest kind That building in the Rocks being taken with the hand And cast beyond the Cliffe that poynteth to the land Fall instantly to ground as though it were a stone But put out to the Sea they instantly are gone And flye a league or two before they doe returne As onely by that ayre they on their wings were borne Then my Prophetick Spring at Veipsey I may show That some yeares is dry'd vp some yeares againe doth flow But when it breaketh out with an immoderate birth It tells the following yeare of a penurious dearth Here ended shee her speech the Ridings all made friends And from my tyred hand my labored Canto ends The nine and twentieth Song THE ARGVMENT The Muse the Bishopricke assayes And to her fall sings downe the Teis Then takes shee to the dainty Wer And with all braueries fitted her Tyne tells the Victories by vs got In soughten Fields against the Scot. Then through Northumberland shee goes The Floods and Mountaines dotb dispose And with their glories doth proceed Not staying till shee come to Tweed THe Muse this largest Shire of England hauing sung Yet seeing more then this did to her taske belong Looks still into the North the Bishopricke and viewes Which with an eager eye whilst wistly she pursues Teis as a bordering Flood who thought her selfe diuine Confining in her Course that Countie Palatine And Yorke the greatest Shire doth instantly begin To rouze her selfe quoth shee Doth euery Rillet win Applause for their small worth's and I that am a Queene With those poore Brooks compar'd shall I alone be seene Thus silently to passe and not be heard to sing When as two Countries are contending for my Spring For Cumberland to which the Cumri gaue the name Accounts it to be hers Northumberland the same Will needsly hers should bee for that my Spring doth rise So equallytwixt both that he were very wise Could tell which of these two me for her owne may claime But as in all these Tracts there 's scarce a Flood of fame But shee some Vally hath which her braue name doth beare My Teisdale nam'd of me so likewise haue I heare At my first setting foorth through which I nimbly slide Then Yorkshire which doth lye vpon my Setting side Me Lune and Bauder lends as in the Song before Th' industrious Muse hath shew'd my * Dunelmenian shore Sends 〈◊〉 to helpe my course with some few other Becks Which 〈◊〉 as it should seeme so vtterly neglects That they are namelesse yet then doe I bid adiew To 〈◊〉 battelled Towers and seriously pursue My course to Neptunes Court but as forthright I runne The Skern a dainty Nymph saluting Darlington Comes in to giue me ayd and being prowd and ranke Shee chanc'd to looke aside and spieth neere her Banke Three blacke and horrid pits which for their boyling heat That from their lothsome brimms doe breath a sulpherous sweat Hell-kettles rightly cald that with the very sight This Water-Nymph my Skern is put in such 〈◊〉 That with vnusuall speed she on her Course doth hast And rashly runnes her selfe into my widened waste In pompe I thus approch great Amphetrites state But whilst Teis vndertooke her Story to relate Wer waxeth almost wood that she so long should stand Vpon those loftie tearmes as though both sea and land Were tyde to heare her talke quoth Wer what wouldst thou say Vaine-glorious bragging Brooke hadst thou so cleere a way T' aduance thee as I haue hadst thou such meanes and might How wouldst thou then exult O then to what a height Wouldst thou put vp thy price hadst thou but such a Trine Of Rillets as I haue which naturally combine Their Springs thee to beget as these of mine doe me In their consenting sounds that doe so well agree As Kellop comming in from Kellop-Law her Syre A Mountaine much in fame small Wellop doth require With her to walke along which Burdop with her brings Thus from the full conflux of these three seuerall Springs My greatnesse is begot as Nature meant to show My future strength and state then forward doe I flow Through my delicious Dale with euery pleasure rife And Wyresdale still may stand with Teisdale for her life Comparing of their Scites then casting on my Course So satiate with th' excesse of my first naturall source As petty Bournes and Becks I scorne but once to call Wascrop a wearish Gyrle of name the first of all That I vouchsafe for mine vntill that I ariue At Aukland where with force me forward still to driue Cleere Gauntlesse giues her selfe when I begin to gad And whirling in and out as I were waxed mad I change my posture oft to many a Snakie Gyre To my first fountaine now as seeming to retyre Then suddenly againe I turne my watry trayle Now I endent the earth and then I it engrayle With many a turne and trace thus wandring vp and downe Braue Durham I behold that stately seated Towne That Dunholme hight of yore euen from a Desart wonne Whose first foundation Zeale and Piety begun By them who thither first Saint Cutberts body brought To saue it from the Danes by fire and sword that sought Subuersion of those things that good and holy were With which beloued place I seeme so pleased here As that I clip it close and sweetly hug it in My cleare and amorous armes as iealous time should win Me further off from it as our diuorce to be Hence like a lustie Flood most absolutely free None mixing then with me as I doe mix with none But scorning a Colleague nor
it the more Which in his mightie spirit still rooted did remaine By his too much default whom he imputed slaine At Shrewsbury before to whom if he had brought Supplies that bloody field when they so brauely fought They surely it had wonne for which to make amends Being furnished with men amongst his forraine friends By Scotland entred here and with a violent hand Vpon those Castles ceaz'd within Northumberland His Earledome which the King who much his truth did doubt Had taken to himselfe and put his people out Toward Yorkshire comming on where soone repaid his owne At Bramhams fatall More was fowly ouerthrowne Which though it were indeed a long and mortall fight Where many men were maim'd and many slaine outright Where that couragious Earle all hopes there seeing past Amongst his murthered troups euen fought it to the last Yet for it was atchieu'd by multitudes of men Which with Ralfe Roksby rose the Shreefe of Yorkshire then No well proportion'd fight we of description quit Amongst our famous fields nor will we here admit That of that Rakehel Cades and his rebellious crue In Kent and Sussex raisd at Senok fight that slue The Staffords with their power that thither him pursu'd VVho twice vpon Black heath back'd with the Commons rude Incamp'd against the King then goodly London tooke There ransoming some rich and vp the prisons broke His sensuall beastly will for Law that did preferre Beheaded the Lord Say then Englands Treasurer And forc'd the King to flight his person to secure The Muse admits not here a rabble so impure But brings that Battell on of that long dreadfull warre Of those two Houses nam'd of Yorke and Lancaster In faire Saint Albans fought most fatally betwixt Richard then Duke of Yorke and Henry cald the sixt For that ill-gotten Crowne which him his * Grandsire left That likewise with his life he from King Richard reft When vnderhand the Duke doth but promoue his claime Who from the elder sonne the Duke of Clarence came For which he raised Armes yet seem'd but to abet The people to plucke downe the Earle of Somerset By whom as they gaue out we Normandy had lost And yet he was the man that onely rul'd the roast With Richard Duke of Yorke into his faction wonne Salsbury and Warwicke came the father and the sonne The Neuils nobler name that haue renown'd so farre So likewise with the King in this great action are The Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham with these Were thrice so many Earles their stout accomplices As Pembroke great in power and Stafford with them stand With Deuonshire Dorset Wilt and fierce Northumber land VVith Sidley Bernes and Rosse three Barons with the rest VVhen Richard Duke of Yorke then marching from the west Towards whom whilst with his power King Henry forward set Vnluckily as 't hapt they at Saint Albans met Where taking vp the Street the buildings them enclose Where Front doth answer Front strength doth strength oppose Whilst like two mightie walls they each to other stand And as one sinketh downe vnder his enemies hand Another thrusting in his place doth still supply Betwixt them whilst on heaps the mangled bodies lie The Staules are ouerthrowne with the vnweldy thrust The windowes with the shot are shiuered all to dust The Winters Sleet or Hayle was neuer seene so thicke As on the houses sides the bearded arrowes sticke Where Warwicks courage first most Comet-like appeard Who with words full of Spirit his fighting Souldiers cheerd And euer as he saw the slaughter of his men He with fresh forces fil'd the places vp agen The valiant * Marchmen thus the battell still maintaine That when King Henry found on heaps his Souldiers slaine His great Commanders cals who when they sadly saw The honour of the day would to the Yorkists draw Their persons they put in as for the last to stand The Duke of Somerset Henry Northumberland Of those braue warlike Earles the second of that name The Earle of Stafford sonne to th' Duke of Buckingham And Iohn Lord Clifford then which shed their noble gore Vnder the Castles signe of which not long before A Prophet bad the Duke of Somerset beware With many a valiant Knight in death that had his share So much great English blood for others lawlesse guilt Vpon so little ground before was neuer spilt Proud Yorke hath got the gole the King of all forfaken Into a cottage got a wofull prisoner taken The Battell of Blore-heath the place doth next supply Twixt Richard Neuill that great Earle of Salisbury Who with the Duke of Yorke had at Saint Albans late That glorious Battell got with vncontrouled Fate And Iames Lord Audley stir'd by that reuengefull Queene To stop him on his way for the inueterate spleene Shee bare him for that still he with the Yorkists held Who comming from the North by sundry wrongs compeld To parley with the King the Queene that time who lay In Staffordshire and thought to stop him on his way That valiant Tuchet stir'd in Cheshire powerfull then T' affront him in the field where Cheshire Gentlemen Diuided were th' one part made valiant Tuchet strong The other with the Earle rose as he came along Incamping both their powers diuided by a Brooke Whereby the prudent Earle this strong aduantage tooke For putting in the field his Army in aray Then making as with speed he meant to march away He caus'd a flight of Shafts to be discharged first The enemy who thought that he had done his worst And cowardly had fled in a disordred Rout Attempt to wade the Brooke he wheeling soone about Set fiercely on that part which then were passed ouer Their Friends then in the Reare not able to recouer The other rising banke to lend the Vaward ayd The Earle who found the plot take right that he had layd On those that forward prest as those that did recoyle As hungry in reuenge there made a rauenous spoyle There Dutton Dutton kils A Done doth kill a Done A Booth a Booth and Leigh by Leigh is ouerthrowne A Venables against a Venables doth stand And Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand There Molineux doth make a Molineux to die And Egerton the strength of Egerton doth trie O Chesshire wert thou mad of thine owne natiue gore So much vntill this day thou neuer shedst before Aboue two thousand men vpon the earth were throwne Of which the greatest part were naturally thine owne The stout Lord Audley slaine with many a Captaine there To Salsbury it sorts the Palme away to beare Then faire Northampton next thy Battell place shall take Which of th' Emperiall warre the third fought Field doth make Twixt Henry cald our sixt vpon whose partie came His neere and deare Allies the Dukes of Buckingham And Somerset the Earle of Shrewsbury of account Stout Vicount Beaumount and the yong Lord Egremount Gainst Edward Earle of March sonne to the Duke of Yorke With
And trumpets euery way sound to the dreadfull charge Vpon the Yorkists part there flew the irefull Beare On the Lancastrian side the Cressant wauing there The Southerne on this side for Yorke a Warwicke crie A Percy for the right the Northerne men reply The two maine Battels ioyne the foure large Wings doe meet What with the shouts of men and noyse of horses feet Hell through the troubled earth her horrour seem'd to breath A thunder heard aboue an earth-quake felt beneath As when the Euening is with darknesse ouerspread Her Star-befreckled face with Clouds inuelloped You oftentimes behold the trembling lightning flie VVhich suddenly againe but turning of your eye Is vanished away or doth so swiftly glide That with a trice it touch t'Horizons either side So through the smoke of dust from wayes and fallowes raisd And breath of horse and men that both together ceasd The ayre one euery part sent by the glimmering Sunne The splendor of their Armes doth by reflection runne Till heapes of dying men and those already dead Much hindred them would charge and letted them that fled Beyond all wonted bounds their rage so farre extends That sullen night begins before their fury ends Ten howers this fight endur'd whilst still with murthering hands Expecting the next morne the weak'st vnconquered stands Which was no sooner come but both begin againe To wrecke their friends deare blood the former euening slaine New Battels are begun new fights that newly wound Till the Lancastrian part by their much lesning found Their long expected hopes were vtterly forlorne When lastly to the foe their recreant backs they turne Thy Channell then O * Cock was fild vp with the dead Of the Lancastrian side that from the Yorkists fled That those of Edwards part that had the Reare in chase As though vpon a Bridge did on their bodies passe That Wharfe to whose large banks thou contribut'st thy store Had her more Christall face discoloured with the gore Of fortie thousand men that vp the number made Northumberland the great and Westmerland there layd Their bodies valiant Wels and Dacres there doe leaue Their carkases whose hope too long did them deceiue Trolop and Neuill found massacred in the field The Earle of VViltshire forc'd to the sterne foe to yeeld King Henry from fayre Yorke vpon this sad mischance To Scotland fled the Queene sayld ouer into France The Duke of Somerset and Excester doe flie The rest vpon the earth together breathlesse lie Muse turne thee now to tell the Field at Hexam struck Vpon the Yorkists part with the most prosp'rous luck Of any yet before where to themselues they gain'd Most safetie yet their powers least damage there sustain'd Twixt Iohn Lord Mountacute that Neuill who to stand For Edward gathered had out of Northumber land A sort of valiant men consisting most of Horse Which were againe suppli'd with a most puisant force Sent thither from the South and by King Edward brought In person downe to Yorke to ayd if that in ought His Generall should haue need for that he durst not trust The Northerne which so oft to him had been vniust Whilst he himselfe at Yorke a second power doth hold To heare in this rough warre what the Lancastrians would And Henry with his Queene who to their powers had got The liuely daring French and the light hardy Scot To enter with them here and to their part doe get Their faithfull lou'd Allie the Duke of Somerset And Sir Ralfe Percie then most powerfull in those parts Who had beene reconcil'd to Edward but their hearts Still with King Henry stay'd to him and euer true To whom by this reuolt they many Northerne drew Sir William T aylboys cald of most the Earle of Kime With Hungerford and Rosse and Mullins of that time Barons of high account with Neuill T unstall Gray Hussy and Finderne Knights men bearing mighty sway As forward with his force braue Mountacute was set It hap'd vpon his way at Hegly More he met With Hungerford and Rosse and Sir Ralph Percy where In signe of good successe as certainly it were They and their vtmost force were quickly put to slight Yet Percy as he was a most couragious Knight Ne'r boudg'd till his last breath but in the field was slaine Proud of this first defeat then marching forth againe Towards Liuells a large Waste which other plaines out-braues Whose Verge fresh * Dowell still is watring with her waues Whereas his posting Scouts King Henries power discri'd Tow'rds whom with speedy march this valiant Generall hied Whose haste there likewise had such prosperous euent That lucklesse Henry yet had scarcely cleer'd his Tent His Captaines hardly set his Battels nor enlarg'd Their Squadrons on the field but this great Neuill charg'd Long was this doubtfull fight on either side maintain'd That rising whilst this falls this loosing whilst that gain'd The ground which this part got and there as Conquerors stood The other quickly gaine and firmely make it good To either as blind Chance her fauors will dispose So to this part it eb'd and to that side it flowes At last till whether 't were that sad and horrid sight At Saxton that yet did their fainting spirits affright With doubt of second losse and slaughter or the ayd That Mountacute receau'd King Henries power dismayd And giuing vp the day dishonourably fled Whom with so violent speed the Yorkists followed That had not Henry spur'd and had a Courser swift Besides a skilfull guide through woods and hilles to shift He sure had been surpriz'd as they his Hench-men tooke With whom they found his Helme with most disastrous lucke To saue themselues by flight ne'r more did any striue And yet so many men ne'r taken were aliue Now Banbury we come thy Battell to report And show th' efficient cause as in what wondrous sort Great VVarmicke was wrought in to the Lancastrian part When as that wanton King so vex'd his mightie heart Whilst in the Court of France that Warriour he bestow'd As potent here at home as powerfull else abroad A marriage to intreat with Bona bright and sheene Of the Sauoyan Blood and sister to the Queene Which whilst this noble Earle negotiated there The widdow Lady Gray the King espoused here By which the noble Earle in France who was disgrac'd In England his reuenge doth but too quickly hast T' excite the Northerne men doth secretly begin With whom he powerfull was to rile that comming in He might put in his hand which onely he desir'd Which rising before Yorke were likely to haue fierd The Citie but repuls'd and Holdorn them that led Being taken for the cause made shorter by the head Yet would not they disist but to their Captaines drew Henry the valiant sonne of Iohn the Lord Fitz-Hugh With Coniers that braue Knight whose valour they preferre With Henry Neuill sonne to the Lord Latimer By whose Allies and friends they euery day grew strong And so in
that height in zeale whereto he did attaine There by his fellow Monkes most cruelly was slaine So Cambria Beno bare and Gildas which doth grace Old Bangor and by whose learn'd writings we imbrace the knowledge of those times the fruits of whose iust pen Shall liue for euer fresh with all truth-searching men Then other which for hers old Cambria doth auerre Saint Senan and with him wee set Saint Deiferre Then Tather will we take and Chyned to the rest With Brauk who so much the I le of Bardsey blest By his most powerfull prayer to solitude that liu'd And of all worldly care his zealous Soule depriu'd Of these some liu'd not long some wondrous aged were But in the Mountaines liu'd all Hermits here and there O more then mortall men whose Faith and earnest prayers Not onely bare ye hence but were those mightie stayres By which you went to heauen and God so clearely saw As this vaine earthly pompe had not the power to draw Your eleuated soules but once to looke so low As those depressed paths wherein base worldlings goe What mind doth not admire the knowledge of these men But zealous Muse returne vnto thy taske agen These holy men at home as here they were bestow'd So Cambria had such too as famous were abroad Sophy King Gulicks sonne of Northwales who had seene The Sepulchre three times and more seuen times had beene On Pilgrimage at Rome of Beniuentum there The painfull Bishop made by him so place we here Saint Mackloue from Northwales to little Britaine sent That people to conuert who resolutely bent Of Athelney in time the Bishop there became Which her first title chang'd and tooke his proper name So she her Virgins had and vow'd as were the best Saint Keyne Prince Brechans child a man so highly blest That thirtie borne to him all Saints accounted were Saint Inthwar so apart shall with these other beare Who out of false suspect was by her brother slaine Then VVinifrid whose name yet famous doth remaine Whose Fountaine in Northwales intitled by her name For Mosse and for the Stones that be about the same Is sounded through this I le and to this latter age Is of our Romists held their latest Pilgrimage But when the Saxons here so strongly did reside And surely seated once as owners to abide When nothing in the world to their desire was wanting Except the Christian Faith for whose substantiall planting Saint Augustine from Rome was to this Iland sent And comming through large France ariuing first in Kent Conuerted to the faith King Ethelbert till then Vnchristened that had liu'd with all his Kentishmen And of their chiefest Towne now Canterbury cald The Bishop first was made and on that See instauld Foure other and with him for knowledge great in name That in this mighty worke of our conuersion came Lawrence Melitus then with Iustus and Honorius In this great Christian worke all which had beene laborious To venerable age each comming in degree Succeeded him againe in Canterbury See As Peter borne in France with these and made our owne And Pauline whose great zeale was by his Preaching showne The first to Abbots state wise Austen did preferre And to the latter gaue the See of Rochester All canoniz'd for Saints as worthy sure they were For establishing the Faith which was receiued here Few Countries where our Christ had ere been preached then But sent into this I le some of their godly men From Persia led by zeale so Iue this Iland sought And neere our Easterne Fennes a fit place finding taught The Faith which place from him the name alone deriues And of that sainted man since called is Saint-Iues Such reuerence to her selfe that time Deuotion wan So Sun-burnt Affrick sent vs holy Adrian Who preacht the Christian Faith here nine and thirtie yeere An Abbot in this Isle and to this Nation deare That in our Countrey two Prouinciall Synods cald T'reforme the Church that time with Heresies enthrald So Denmarke Henry sent t' encrease our holy store Who falling in from thence vpon our Northerne shore In th' Isle of * Cochet liu'd neere to the mouth of Tyne In Fasting as in Prayer a man so much diuine That onely thrice a weeke on homely cates he fed And three times in the weeke himselfe he silenced That in remembrance of this most abstenious man Vpon his blessed death the English men began By him to name their Babes which it so frequent brings Which name hath honoured been by many English Kings So Burgundy to vs three men most reuerent bare Amongst our other Saints that claime to haue their share Of which was Felix first who in th'East-Saxon raigne Conuerted to the faith King Sigbert him againe Ensueth Anselme whom Augusta sent vs in And Hugh whose holy life to Christ did many win By * Henry th' Empresse sonne holpe hither and to haue Him wholly to be ours the See of Lincolne gaue So Lumbardy to vs our reuerent Lanfranck lent For whom into this land King William Conqueror sent And Canterburies See to his wise charge assign'd Nor France to these for hers was any whit behind For Grimbald shee vs gaue as Peter long before Who with Saint Austen came to preach vpon this shore By Alsred hither cald who him an Abbot made Who by his godly life and preaching did perswade The Saxons to beleeue the true and quickning word So after long againe she likewise did afford Saint O smond whom the See of Salsbury doth owne A Bishop once of hers and in our conquest knowne When hither to that end their Norman William came Remigius then whose mind that worke of ours of fame Rich Lincolne Minster shewes where he a Bishop sat Which it should seeme he built for men to wonder at So potent were the powers of Church-men in those dayes Then Henry nam'd of Bloys from France who crost the Seas With Stephen Earle of Bloys his brother after King In VVinchesters rich See who him establishing He in those troublous times in preaching tooke such paine As he by them was not canonized in vaine As other Countries here their holy men bestow'd So Britaine likewise sent her Saints to them abroad And into neighbouring France our most religious went Saint Clare that natiue was of Rochester in Kent At Volcasyne came vow'd the French instructing there So early ere the truth amongst them did appeare That more then halfe a God they thought that reuerent man Our Iudock so in France such fame our Nation wan For holinesse where long an Abbots life he led At Pontoyse and so much was honoured that being dead And after threescore yeares their latest period dated His body taken vp was solemnly translated As Ceofrid that sometime of Wyremouth Abbot was In his returne from Rome as he through France did passe At Langres left his life whose holinesse euen yet Vpon his reuerent graue in memory doth sit Saint Alkwin so for ours we English boast
vp a Trine the name of Saints that wonn Who was a Yorkshire man and Prior of Berlington So Biren can we boast a man most highly blest With the title of a Saint whose ashes long did rest At Dorchester where he was honoured many a day But of the place he held books diuersly dare say As they of Gilbert doe who founded those Diuines Monasticks all that were of him nam'd Gilbertines To which his Order here he thirteene houses built When that most thankfull time to shew he had not spilt His wealth on it in vaine a Saint hath made him here At Sempringham enshrin'd a towne of Lincolneshire Of sainted Hermits then a company we haue To whom deuouter times this veneration gaue As Gwir in Cornwall kept his solitary Cage And Neoth by Hunstock there his holy Hermitage As Guthlake from his youth who liu'd a Souldier long Detesting the rude spoyles done by the armed throng The mad tumultuous world contemptibly forsooke And to his quiet Cell by Crowland him betooke Free from all publique crowds in that low Fenny ground As Bertiline againe was neere to Stafford found Then in a Forrest there for solitude most fit Blest in a Hermits life by there enioying it An Hermit Arnulph so in Bedfordshire became A man austere of life in honour of whose name Time after built a Towne where this good man did liue And did to it the name of Arnulphsbury giue These men this wicked world respected not a hayre But true Professors were of pouertie and prayer Amongst these men which times haue honoured with the Stile Of Confessors made Saints so euery little while Our Martyrs haue com'n in who sealed with their blood That faith which th' other preach'd gainst them that it withstood As 〈◊〉 who had liu'd a Herdsman left his Seat Though in the quiet fields whereas he kept his Neat And leauing that his Charge he left the world withall An Anchorite and became within a Cloystred wall Inclosing vp himselfe in prayer to spend his breath But was too soone alas by Pagans put to death Then Woolstan one of these by his owne kinsman slaine At Eusham for that he did zealously maintaine The veritie of Christ. As Thomas whom we call Of Douer adding Monke and 〈◊〉 therewithall For that the barbarous Danes he brauely did withstand From ransacking the Church when here they put on land By them was done to death which rather he did chuse Then see their Heathen hands those holy things abuse Two Boyes of tender age those elder Saints ensue Of Norwich William was of Lincolne little Hugh Whom 〈◊〉 Iewes rebellious that abide In mockery of our Christ at Easter ciucifi'd Those times 〈◊〉 euery one should their due honour haue His freedome or his life for Iesus Christ that gaue So Wiltshire with the rest her Hermit Vlfrick hath Related for a Saint so famous in the Faith That 〈◊〉 ages since his Cell haue sought to find At Hasselburg who had his Obijts him assign'd So 〈◊〉 we many Kings most holy here at home As 〈◊〉 of meaner ranke which haue attaind that roome Northumberland thy seat with Saints did vs supply Of thy 〈◊〉 Kings of which high Hierarchy Was Edwin for the Faith by Heathenish hands inthrald Whom Penda which to him the Welsh Cadwallyn cald Without all mercy slew But he alone not dide By that proud Mercian King but Penda yet beside Iust Oswald likewise slew at Oswaldstree who gaue That name vnto that place as though time meant to saue His memory thereby there suffring for the Faith As one whose life deseru'd that memory in death So likewise in the Roule of these Northumbrian Kings With those that Martyrs were so foorth that Country brings Th'annoynted Oswin next in Deira to ensue Whom Osway that bruit King of wild Bernitia slue Two kingdomes which whilst then Northumberland remain'd In greatnesse were within her larger bounds contain'd This Kingly Martyr so a Saint was rightly crown'd As Alkmond one of hers for sanctity renown'd King Alreds Christned sonne a most religious Prince Whom when the Heathenish here by no meanes could conuince Their Paganisme a pace declining to the wane At Darby put to death whom in a goodly Phane Cald by his glorious name his corpse the Christians layd What fame deseru'd your faith were it but rightly wayd You pious Princes then in godlinesse so great Why should not full-mouthd Fame your praises oft repeat So 〈◊〉 her King Northumbria notes againe In 〈◊〉 the next though not the next in raigne Whom his false Subiects slue for that he did deface The Heathenish Saxon gods and bound them to embrace The liuely quickning Faith which then began to spread So for our Sauiour Christ as these were martyred There other holy Kings were likewise who confest Which those most zealous times haue Sainted with the rest King Alfred that his Christ he might more surely hold Left his Northumbrian Crowne and soone became encould At Malroyse in the land whereof he had been King So Egbert to that Prince a Paralell we bring To Oswoolph his next heire his kingdome that resign'd And presently himselfe at Lindisferne confin'd Contemning Courtly state which earthly fooles adore So Ceonulph againe as this had done before In that religious house a cloystred man became Which many a blessed Saint hath honoured with the name Nor those Northumbrian Kings the onely Martyrs were That in this seuen-fold Rule the scepters once did beare But that the Mercian raigne which Pagan Princes long Did terribly infest had some her Lords among To the true Christian Faith much reuerence which did add Our Martyrologe to helpe so happily shee had Rufin and Vlfad sonnes to Wulphere for desire They had t' imbrace the Faith by their most cruell Sire Were without pittie slaine long ere to manhood growne Whose tender bodies had their burying Rites at * Stone So Kenelme that the King of Mercia should haue beene Before his first seuen yeares he fully out had seene Was slaine by his owne Guard for feare lest waxing old That he the Christian Faith vndoubtedly would hold So long it was ere truth could Paganisme expell Then Fremund Offa's sonne of whom times long did tell Such wonders of his life and sanctitie who fled His fathers kingly Court and after meekly led An Hermits life in Wales where long he did remaine In Penitence and prayer till after he was slaine By cruell Oswayes hands the most inueterate foe The Christian faith here found so Etheldred shall goe With these our martyred Saints though onely he confest Since he of Mercia was a King who highly blest Faire Bardncy where his life religiously he spent And meditating Christ thence to his Sauiour went Nor our West-Saxon raigne was any whit behind Those of the other rules their best whose zeale wee find Amongst those sainted Kings whose fames are safeliest kept As Cedwall on whose head such praise all times haue heapt That from a Heathen Prince a holy Pilgrim turn'd Repenting in
his heart against the truth t' haue spurn'd To Rome on his bare feet his patience exercis'd And in the Christian faith there humbly was baptiz'd So Ethelwoolph who sat on Cedwalls ancient Seat For charitable deeds who almost was as great As any English King at Winchester enshrin'd A man amongst our Saints most worthily deuin'd Two other Kings as much our Martyrologe may sted Saint Edward and with him comes in Saint Ethelred By Alfreda the first his Stepmother was slaine That her most loued sonne young Ethelbert might raigne The other in a storme and deluge of the Dane For that he Christned was receau'd his deadly bane Both which with wondrous cost the English did interre At Wynburne this first Saint the last at Winchester Where that West-Saxon Prince good Alfred buried was Among our Sainted Kings that well deserues to passe Nor were these Westerne Kings of the old Saxon straine More studious in those times or stoutlier did maintaine The truth then these of ours the Angles of the East Their neer'st and deer'st Allies which strongly did invest The * Island with their name of whose most holy Kings Which iustly haue deseru'd their high Canonizings Are Sigfrid whose deare death him worthily hath crownd And Edmund in his end so wondrously renownd For Christs sake suffring death by that blood-drowning Dane To whom those times first built that Citie and that Phane Whose ruines Suffolke yet can to her glory show When shee will haue the world of her past greatnesse know As Ethelbert againe alur'd with the report Of more then earthly pompe then in the Mercian Court From the East-Angles went whilst mighty Offa raign'd Where for he christned was and Christian-like abstain'd To Idolatrize with them fierce Quenred Offa's Queene Most treacherously him slew out of th'inueterate spleene Shee bare vnto the Faith whom we a Saint adore So Edwald brother to Saint Edmund sang before A Confessor we call whom past times did interre At Dorcester by Tame now in our Calender Amongst those kingdomes here so Kent account shall yeeld Of three of her best blood who in this Christian Field Were mighty of the which King Ethelbert shall stand The first who hauing brought Saint Augustine to land Himselfe first christned was by whose example then The Faith grew after strong amongst his Kentishmen As Ethelbrit againe and Ethelred his pheere To Edbald King of Kent who naturall Nephewes were For Christ there suffring death assume them places hye Amongst our martyred Saints commemorate at Wye To these two brothers so two others come againe And of as great discent in the 〈◊〉 straine Arwaldi of one name whom ere King Cedwall knew The true and liuely Faith he tyranously slew Who still amongst the Saints haue their deserued right Whose Vigils were obseru'd long in the Isle of Wight Remembred too the more for being of one name As of th' East-Saxon line King Sebba so became A most religious Monke at London where he led A strict retyred life a Saint aliue and dead Related for the like so Edgar we admit That King who ouer eight did soly Monarch sit And with our holyest Saints for his endowments great Bestow'd vpon the Church With him we likewise seat That sumptuous shrined King good Edward from the rest Of that renowned name by Confessor exprest To these our sainted Kings remembred in our Song Those Mayds and widdowed Queenes doe worthily belong Incloystred that became and had the selfe same style For Fasting Almes and Prayer renowned in our Isle As those that foorth to France and Germany we gaue For holy charges there but here first let vs haue Our Mayd-made-Saints at home as Hilderlie with her We Theorid thinke most fit for whom those times auerre A Virgin strictlyer vow'd hath hardly liued here Saint Wulfshild then we bring all which of Barking were And reckoned for the best which most that house did grace The last of which was long the Abbesse of that place So Werburg Wulpheres child of Mercia that had been A persecuting King 〈◊〉 Ermineld his Queene At Ely honoured is where her deare mother late A Recluse had remain'd in her sole widdowed state Of which good Audry was King Ina's daughter bright Reflecting on those times so cleare a Vestall light As many a Virgin-breast she fired with her zeale The fruits of whose strong faith to ages still reueale The glory of those times by liberties she gaue By which those Easterne Shires their Priuiledges haue Of holy Audries too a sister here we haue Saint VVithburg who her selfe to Contemplation gaue At Deerham in her Cell where her due howres she kept Whose death with many a teare in Norfolke was bewept And in that Isle againe which beareth Elies name At Ramsey Merwin so a Vayled Mayd became Amongst our Virgin-Saints where 〈◊〉 is enrold The daughter that is nam'd of noble Ethelwold A great East-Anglian Earle of Ramsey Abbas long So of our Mayden-Saints the Female sex among With Milburg Mildred comes and Milwid daughters deere To Meruald who did then the Mercian Scepter beare At VVenlock Milburg dy'd a most religious mayd Of which great Abbay shee the first foundation layd And Thanet as her Saint euen to this age doth herye Her Mildred Milwid was the like at Canterbury Nor in this vtmost Isle of Thanet may we passe Saint Eadburg Abbesse there who the deare daughter was To Ethelbert her Lord and Kents first Christened King Who in this place most first we with the former bring Translated as some say to Flanders but that I As doubtfull of the truth here dare not iustifie King Edgars sister so Saint Edith place may haue With these our Maiden-Saints who to her Powlsworth gaue Immunities most large and goodly liuings layd Which Modwen long before a holy Irish mayd Had founded in that place with most deuout intent As Eanswine Eadwalds child one of the Kings of Kent At Foulkston found a place giuen by her father there In which she gaue her selfe to abstinence and prayer Of the West-Saxon rule borne to three seuerall Kings Foure holy Virgins more the Muse in order brings Saint Ethelgiue the child to Alfred which we find Those more deuouter times at Shaftsbury enshrin'd Then Tetta in we take at Winburne on our way Which Cuthreds sister was who in those times did sway On the West-Saxon Seat two other sacred Mayds As from their Cradels vow'd to bidding of their beads Saint Cuthburg and with her Saint Quinburg which we here Succeedingly doe set both as they Sisters were And Abbesses againe of VVilton which we gather Our Virgin-Band to grace both hauing to their father Religious Ina red with those which ruld the West Whose mothers sacred wombe with other Saints was blest As after shall be shew'd an other Virgin vow'd And likewise for a Saint amongst the rest allow'd To th' elder Edward borne bright Eadburg who for she As fiue related Saints of that blest name there be Of VVilton Abbasse was they
neere me any one To Neptunes Court I come for note along the Strond From Hartlepoole euen to the poynt of Sunder land As farre as * Wardenlaws can possibly suruey There 's not a Flood of note hath entrance to the sea Here ended shee her Speech when as the goodly Tyne Northumberland that parts from this Shire Palatine Which patiently had heard looke as before the Wer Had taken vp the Teis so Tyne now takes vp her For her so tedious talke Good Lord quoth she had I No other thing wherein my labor to imply But to set out my selfe how much well could I say In mine owne proper praise in this kind euery way As skilfull as the best I could if I did please Of my two Fountaines tell which of their sundry wayes The South and North are nam'd entitled both of Tyne As how the prosperous Springs of these two Floods of mine Are distant thirty miles how that the South-Tyne nam'd From Stanmore takes her Spring for Mines of Brasse that 's fam'd How that nam'd of the North is out of Wheel-fell sprung Amongst these English Alpes which as they runne along England and Scotland here impartially diuide How South-Tyne setting out from Cumberland is plide With Hartley which her hasts and Tippall that doth striue By her more sturdy Streame the Tyne along to driue How th' Allans th' East and West their bounties to her bring Two faire and full-brim'd Floods how also from her Spring My other North-nam'd Tyne through Tyndale maketh in Which She le her Hand-mayd hath and as she hasts to twin With th' other from the South her sister how cleere Rhead With Perop comes prepar'd and Cherlop me to lead Through Ridsdale on my way as farre as Exham then Dowell me Homage doth with blood of Englishmen VVhose Streame was deeply dy'd in that most cruell warre Of Lancaster and Yorke Now hauing gone so farre Their strengths me their deare Tyne doe wondrously enrich As how cleere Darwent drawes downe to Newcastle which The honour hath alone to entertaine me 〈◊〉 As of those mighty ships that in my mouth I beare Fraught with my country Coale of this * Newcastle nam'd For which both farre and neere that place no lesse is fam'd Then India for her Mynes should I at large declare My glories in which Time commands me to bee spare And I but slightly touch which stood I to report As freely as I might yee both would fall too short Of me but know that Tyne hath greater things in hand For to tricke vp our selues whilst trifling thus we stand Bewitch'd with our owne praise at all we neuer note How the Albanian Floods now lately set afloat With th' honour to them done take heart and lowdly crie Defiance to vs all on this side Tweed that lye And hearke the high-brow'd Hills alowd begin to 〈◊〉 With sound of things that Forth prepared is to sing When once the Muse ariues on the Albanian shore And therefore to make vp our forces here before The on-set they begin the Battels wee haue got Both on our earth and theirs against the valiant Scot I vndertake to tell then Muses I intreat Your ayd whilst I these Fights in order shall repeat When mighty Malcolme here had with a violent hand As he had oft before destroy'd Northumberland In Rufus troubled Raigne the warlike Mowbray then This Earledome that 〈◊〉 with halfe the power of men For conquest which that King from Scotland hither drew At Anwick in the field their Armies ouerthrew Where Malcolme and his sonne braue Edward both were found Slaine on that bloody field So on the English ground When Dauid King of Scots and Henry his sterne sonne Entitled by those times the Earle of Huntingdon Had forradg'd all the North beyond the Riuer Teis In Stephens troubled raigne in as tumultuous dayes As England euer knew the Archbishop of Yorke Stout Thurstan and with him ioynd in that warlike work Ralfe both for wit and Armes of Durham Bishop then Renownd that called were the valiant Clergy men With th' Earle of Aubemarle Especk and Peuerell Knights And of the Lacies two oft try'd in bloody fights Twixt Aluerton and Yorke the doubtfull battell got On Dauid and his sonne whilst of th' inuading Scot Ten thousand strew'd the earth and whilst they lay to bleed Ours followed them that fled beyond our sister Tweed And when * Fitz-Empresse next in Normandy and here And his rebellious sonnes in high combustions were William the Scottish King taking aduantage then And entring with an Host of eighty thousand men As farre as Kendall came where Captaines then of ours Which ayd in Yorkshire raisd with the Northumbrian powers His forces ouerthrew and him a prisoner led So Long shanks Scolands scourge him to that Country sped Prouoked by the Scots that England did inuade And on the Borders here such spoyle and hauock made That all the land lay waste betwixt the Tweed and me This most coragious King from them his owne to free Before proud Berwick set his puisant army downe And tooke it by strong siege since when that warlike towne As Cautionary long the English after held But tell me all you Floods when was there such a Field By any Nation yet as by the English wonne Vpon the Scottish power as that of Halidon Seauen Earles nine hundred Horse and of Foot-souldiers more Neere twenty thousand slaine so that the Scottish gore Ranne downe the Hill in streames euen in Albania's sight By our third Edwards prowesse that most renowned Knight As famous was that Fight of his against the Scot As that against the French which he at Cressy got And when that conquering King did afterward aduance His Title and had past his warlike powers to France And Dauid King of Scots heere entred to inuade To which the King of France did that false Lord perswade Against his giuen Faith from France to draw his Bands To keepe his owne at home or to fill both his hands With warre in both the Realmes was euer such a losse To Scotland yet befell as that at Neuills Crosse Where fifteene thousand Scots their soules at once forsooke Where stout Iohn Copland then King Dauid prisoner tooke I' th head of all his troups that brauely there was seene VVhen English Philip that braue Amazonian Queene Encouraging her men from troupe to troupe did ride And where our Cleargy had their ancient Valourtride Thus often comming in they haue gone out too short And next to this the fight of Nesbit I report VVhen Hebborn that stout Scot and his had all their hire VVhich in t' our Marches came and with inuasiue fire Our Villages laid waste for which defeat of ours When doughty Douglasse came with the Albanian powers At Holmdon doe but see the blow our 〈◊〉 gaue To that bold daring Scot before him how he draue His Armie and with shot of our braue English Bowes Did wound them on the backs whose
brests were hurt with blows Ten thousand put to sword with many a Lord and Knight Some prisoners wounded some some others 〈◊〉 outright And entring Scotl'and then all 〈◊〉 o'r-ran Or who a brauer field then th' Earle of Surrey wan Where their King Iames the fourth himselfe so brauely bore That since that age wherein he liu'd nor those before Yet neuer such a King in such a Battell saw Amongst his fighting friends where whilst he breath could draw Hee brauely fought on foot where Flodden Hill was 〈◊〉 With bodies of his men welneere to mammocks hew'd That on the Mountaines side they couered neere a mile Where those two valiant Earles of Lenox and Arguyle Were with their Soueraigne slaine Abbots and Bishops there Which had put Armor on in hope away to beare The Victory with them before the English fell But now of other Fields it 〈◊〉 the Muse to tell As when the Noble Duke of Norfolke made a Road To Scotland and therein his hostile 〈◊〉 bestow'd On welneere thirtie Townes and staying there so long Till victuall waxed weake the Winter waxing strong Returning ouer Tweed his Booties home to 〈◊〉 Which to the very heart did vex the Scottish King The fortune of the Duke extreamely that did grutch Remaining there so long and doing there so much Thinking to spoyle and waste in England as before The English men had done on the Albanian shore And gathering vp his force before the English fled To Scotlands vtmost bounds thence into England sped When that braue Bastard sonne of 〈◊〉 and his friend Iohn Musgraue which had charge the Marches to attend With Wharton a proud Knight with scarce foure hundred Horse Encountring on the Plaine with all the Scottish force Thence from the Field with them so many prisoners brought Which in that furious fight were by the English caught That there was scarce a Page or Lackey but had store Earles Barrons Knights Esquires two hundred there and more Of ordinary men seuen hundred made to yeeld There scarcely hath been heard of such a foughten field That Iames the fifth to thinke that but 〈◊〉 very few His vniuersall power so strangely should subdue So tooke the same to heart that it abridg'd his life Such foyles by th' English giuen amongst the Scots were rife These on the English earth the English men did gaine But when their breach of faith did many times constraine Our Nation to inuade and carry conquests in To Scotland then behold what our successe hath bin Euen in the latter end of our eight Henries dayes Who Seymor sent by Land and Dudley sent by Seas With his full forces then O Forth then didst thou beare That Nany on thy Streame whose Bulke was fraught with feare When Edenbrough and Leeth into the ayre were blowne With Powders sulphurous smoke twenty townes were throwne Vpon the trampled earth and into ashes trod As in t ' Albania when we made a second Road In our sixt Edwards dayes when those two Martiall men Which conquered there before were thither sent agen But for their high desarts with greater Titles grac'd The first created Duke of Somerset the last The Earle of Warwicke made at Muscleborough Field Where many a doughty Scot that did disdaine to yeeld VVas on the earth layd dead where as for fiue miles space In length and foure in bredth the English in the chase With carkeises of Scots strew'd all their naturall ground The number of the slaine were fourteene thousand found And fifteene hundred more ta'n Prisoners by our men So th' Earle of Sussex next to Scotland sent agen To punish them by warre which on the Borders here Not onely rob'd and spoyl'd but that assistants were To those two puisant Earles Northumberland who rose With Westmerland his Peere suggested by the foes To great Eliza's raigne and peacefull gouernment Wherefore that puisant Queene him to Albania sent Who fiftie Rock-reard Pyles and Castles hauing cast Farre lower then their Scites and with strong fires 〈◊〉 Three hundred townes their wealth with him worth carrying To England ouer Tweed when now the floods besought brought The Tyne to hold her tongue when presently began A rumour which each where through all the Country ran Of this proud Riuers speech the Hills and Floods among And Lowes a Forrest-Nymph the same so lowdly sung That it through Tindale straight and quite through 〈◊〉 ran And sounded shriller there then when it first began That those high Alpine Hills as in a row they stand Receiu'd the sounds which thus went on from hand to hand The high-rcar'd Red-Squire first to Aumond Hill it told When Aumond great therewith nor for his life could hold To Kembelspeth againe the businesse but relate To Black-Brea he againe a Mountaine holding state With any of them all to Cocklaw he it gaue And Cocklaw it againe to Cheuiot who did raue With the report thereof hee from his mighty stand Resounded it againe through all Northumberland That White-Squire lastly caught and it to Berwick sent That braue and warlike Towne from thence incontinent The sound from out the South into Albania came And many a lustie Flood did with her praise inflame Affrighting much the Forth who from her trance awooke And to her natiue strength her presently betooke Against the Muse should come to the Albanian Coast. But Pictswall all this while as though he had been lost Not mention'd by the Muse began to fret and fume That euery petty Brooke thus proudly should presume To talke and he whom first the Romans did inuent And of their greatnesse yet the longst-liu'd monument Should this be ouer-trod wherefore his wrong to wreake In their proud presence thus doth aged Pictswall speake Me thinks that Offa's ditch in Cambria should not dare To thinke himselfe my match who with such cost and care The Romans did erect and for my safeguard set Their Legions from my spoyle the proling Pict to let That often In roads made our earth from them to win By Adrian beaten back so he to keepe them in To Sea from East to West begun me first a wall Of eightie myles in length twixt Tyne and Edens fall Long making mee they were and long did me maintaine Nor yet that Trench which tracts the Westerne Wiltshire Plaine Of Woden Wansdyke cal'd should paralell with me Comparing our descents which shall appeare to be Mere vpstarts basely borne for when I was in hand The Saxon had not then set foot vpon this land Till my declining age and after many a yeare Of whose poore petty Kings those the small labors were That on Newmarket-Heath made vp as though but now Who for the Deuils worke the vulgar dare auow Tradition telling none who truly it began Where many a reuerent Booke can tell you of my Man And when I first decayd Seuerus going on What Adrian built of turfe he builded new of stone And after many a time the Britans me repayr'd To keepe me
still in plight nor cost they euer spar'd Townes stood vpon my length where Garrisons were laid Their limits to defend and for my greater ayd VVith turrets I was built-where Sentinels were plac'd To watch vpon the Pict so me my Makers grac'd With hollow Pipes of Brasse along me still that went By which they in one Fort still to another sent By speaking in the same to tell them what to doe And so from Sea to Sea could I be whispered through Vpon my thicknesse three march'd eas'ly breast to breast Twelue foot was I in height such glory I possest Old Pictswall with much pride thus finishing his plea Had in his vtmost course attain'd the Easterne Sea Yet there was Hill nor Flood once heard to clap a hand For the Northumbrian Nymphs had come to vnderstand That Tyne exulting late o'r Scotland in her Song Which ouer all that Realme report had loudly rung The Calidonian * Forth so highly had displeas'd And many an other Flood which could not be appeas'd That they had vow'd reuenge and Proclamation made That in a learned warre the foe they would inuade And like stout Floods stand free from this supputed shame Or conquered giue themselues vp to the English name Which these Northumbrian Nymphs with doubt terror strook Which knew they from the foe for nothing were to looke But what by skill they got and with much care should keepe And therefore they consult by meeting in the Deepe To be deliuered from the ancient enemies tage That they would all vpon a solemne Pilgrimage Vnto the Holy-Isle the vertue of which place They knew could very much auaile them in this case For many a blessed Saint in former ages there Secluded from the world to Abstinence and Prayer Had giuen vp themselues which in the German Maine And from the shore not farre did in it selfe conteine Sufficient things for food which from those holy men That to deuotion liu'd and sanctimony then It Holy-Isle was call'd for which they all prepare As I shall tell you how and what their number are With those the farthest off the first I will begin As Pont a pearlesse Brook brings Blyth which putteth in With her then Wansbeck next in wading to the Maine Neere Morpet meets with Font which followeth in her traine Next them the little Lyne alone doth goe along When Cocket commeth downe and with her such a throng As that they seeme to threat the Ocean for with her Comes Ridley Ridland next with Vsway which preferre Their Fountaines to her Flood who for her greater fame Hath at her fall an Isle call'd Cocket of her name As that great Neptune should take notice of her state Then Alne by Anwicke comes and with as proud a gate As Cocket came before for whom at her faire fall In brauery as to show that she 〈◊〉 past them all The famous Isle of Ferne and Staples aptly stand And at her comming foorth doe kisse her Christall hand Whilst these resolu'd vpon their Pilgrimage proceed Till for the loue shee beares to her deare Mistris Tweed Of Bramish leaues the name by which shee hath her birth And though shee keepe her course vpon the English earth Yet Bowbent a bright Nymph from Scotland comming in To goe with her to Tweed the wanton Flood doth winne Though at this headstrong Stream proud Flodden from his height Doth daily seeme to fret yet takes he much delight Her louelinesse to view as on to Tweed she straines Where whilst this Mountaine much for her sweet sake sustaines This Canto we conclude and fresh about must cast Of all the English Tracts to consummate the last The thirtieth Song THE ARGVMENT Of Westmerland the Muse now sings And fetching Eden from her Springs Sets her along and Kendall then Surueying beareth backe agen And climing Skidows loftie Hill By many a Riuer many a Rill To Cumberland where in her way Shee Copland calls and doth display Her Beauties backe to Eden goes Whose Floods and Fall shee aptly showes YEt cheerely on my Muse no whit at all dismay'd But look alost tow'rds heauen to him whose powerfull ayd Hath led thee on thus long through so sundry soiles Steep Mountains Forrests rough deepe Riuers that thy toyles Most sweet refreshings seeme and still thee comfort sent Against the Bestiall Rout and Boorish rabblement Of those rude vulgar sots whose braines are onely Slime Borne to the doting world in this last yron Time So stony and so dull that Orpheus which men say By the inticing Straines of his melodious Lay Drew Rocks and aged Trees to whether he would please He might as well haue moou'd the Vniuerse as these But leaue this Frie of Hell in their owne filth defilde And seriously pursue the sterne Westmerian Wilde First ceazing in our Song the South part of the Shire Where Westmerland to West by wide Wynander Mere The Eboracean fields her to the Rising bound Where Can first creeping forth her feet hath scarcely found But giues that Dale her name where Kendale towne doth stand For making of our Cloth scarce match'd in all the land Then keeping on her course though hauing in her traine But Sput a little Brooke then VVinster doth retaine Tow'rds the Vergiuian Sea by her two mighty Falls Which the braue Roman tongue her Catadupae calls This eager Riuer seemes outragiously to rore And counterfetting Nyle to deafe the neighboring shore To which she by the sound apparantly doth show The 〈◊〉 foule or faire as then the wind doth blow For when they to the North the noyse doe easliest heare They constantly affirme the weather will be cleere And when they to the South againe they boldly say It will be clouds or raine the next approaching day To the Hibernick Gulfe when soone the Riuer hasts And to those queachy Sands from whence her selfe she casts She likewise leaues her name as euery place where she In her cleare course doth come by her should honored be But backe into the North from hence our course doth lye As from this fall of Can still keeping in our eye The source of long liu'd Lun I long-liu'd doe her call For of the British Floods scarce one amongst them all Such state as to her selfe the Destinies assigne By christning in her Course a Countie Palatine For Luncaster so nam'd the Fort vpon the Lun And Lancashire the name from Lancaster begun Yet though shee be a Flood such glory that doth gaine In that the British Crowne doth to her state pertaine Yet Westmerland alone not onely boasts her birth But for her greater good the kind Westmerian earth Cleere Burbeck her bequeaths and Barrow to attend Her grace till shee her name to Lancaster doe lend With all the speed we can to Cumberland we hye Still longing to salute the vtmost Albany By Eden issuing out of Husseat-Moruill Hill And pointing to the North as then a little Rill There simply takes her leaue of her sweet sister Swale Borne to the
avonton the towne vpon the North of Auon So called of his many wells or Fonntaines A place in the North part of Northomtonshire excellent for coursing with Greyhonnds The Hare-finder A description of a Course at the Hare A Curre When one Greyhound outstrips the other in the Course The Fountaine of VVelland An ancient Prophecie of the 〈◊〉 of VVelland The conrse of VVellana to the Sea Saints in the Primitiue British Church Britain sendeth her holy men to other countries The Cambro British Saints Those that came from forraine parts into this I le were canonized here for Saints An Islet vpon the coast of Scotland in the German Sea How the name of Henry came so frequent among the English Henry the second Natiue English 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 parts canonized Bishops of this land canonized Saints An Isle neere to Scotland lying into the German Ocean since that called Holy Iland as you may read in the next page following Henry the first Saxon Kings canonized for Saints A Towne in 〈◊〉 A people of the Saxons who gaue the name to England of Angles land Saint Edmunsbury Holy women Canonized Saints Saint Audries Liberties Wild. geese falling downe if they fly ouer the place Holland diuided into two parts the Lower and the Higher The iength of Holland by the Sea shore from the coast of Norsolke to VVainfleet The Description of the VVashes Hollands Orztion A Nymph supposed to haue the charge of the Shore Fuell cut out of the Marsh. Brookes and Pooles worne by the water into which the rising floods haue recourse The word in Palconry for a company of Teale Salt water The pleasures of the Fennes Kestiuens Oration Ancaster Heath No Tract can 〈◊〉 so braue Churches A Towne so called Lincolne anciently dyed the best greene of England Botulphs towne contractedly Boston Lyndsies oration VVytham Eele and Ancum Pyke In all the world there is none syke The Bounds of Kestiven The Vale of Beuer bordreth vpon 3. Shires Not a more pleasant Vale in all great Britaine then Beuer. The 2. famous Wayes of England See to the 13. Song A little Village at the rising of Soare Lecester Forrest A Simily of Soare Two mightie Rocks in the Forrest A Hill in the Forrest A Simily of Charnvvood Forrest Two Riuers of one name in one Shire Whence Trent is supposed to deriue her name See to the 12. Song The 〈◊〉 Robin Hoods Story A Riueret parting the two Shires The Peakes Wonders The Diuels-arse in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hole Elden Hole Saint Anne of Buskston 〈◊〉 Sandy Hill The Peake Forrest Darvvin of the British Doure Guin which is White water Darby from thence as the place by the water The Irish Sea The circuit and true demension of 〈◊〉 The Lancashire Horne-pipe Ervvels oration He that wilfish for a Lancashire man at any time or tide Must 〈◊〉 his booke with a good 〈◊〉 or an Apple with a red side A wonder in Nature A part of Lancashire so called Jngleborovv Pendle and Penigent The highest Hils betwixt Barvvick and Trent See to the 28. Song Lunesdale Lancashire Faire women Lancashire Breed of cattel the best Lancashire Deepe mouthd Hounds Lancashire Bowmen The White and Red 〈◊〉 See to the sixt Song Llun in the British sulnesse A part of Lancashire iutting out into the Jrish Sea The Calfe of Man a little Island A mountaine in the Isle of Man Barnacles one of the 〈◊〉 Wonders A scarre is a Rock A great brauery of Yorkshire The VVest Ridings oration Much Ewe and Elme vpon the Bank of Don. A strange opinion held by those of the neighboring Villages Beheading which we call Halifax Law Robin Hoods burying place See to the 22. Song 〈◊〉 Forrest Pendle Hill is neere vpon the verge of this Tract but standeth in Lancashire Scotland The Metamorphosis of that Fountaine Nymphs of the Mountaines The supposed Genius of the place Your the chiefest Riuer of Yorkshire who alter her long course by the confluence of other floods gets the name of Ouse The North-Ridings Oration The Simily Rippon Fayre The reason why Svvale is called Holy Richmondshire within Yorkeshire A Countie within YorkeShire Nymphs of the Woods A Simily of Yorkshire The Bishoprick of 〈◊〉 A Catalogue of the wonders of the North-Riding The East-Ridings 〈◊〉 Yorks 〈◊〉 The Church of 〈◊〉 The marks how farre he is called Number The length of the East Riding vpon the Sea Quzes Oration The title of the house of Yorke to the Crowne The Oration of Humber A fall of water The roring of the waters at the comming in of the Tyde A Liberty in the 〈◊〉 Some wonders of the East Riding The Bishoprick of Durham 〈◊〉 springeth out of Stanmore which lyeth almost equally between Cumberland 〈◊〉 The Bishoprick of Durham A Mountaine on that part of the Shire Nevvcastle Coale The 〈◊〉 of Anvvicke See to the 18. Song The Battell of 〈◊〉 Henry the second The second Battell at Anvvicke The Battell at Halidon The Battell at Neuils Crosse. The Battell of 〈◊〉 The Battell of Flodden A Road into Scotland by the Duke of Norfolke The Siege of Leeth The Road into Scotland by the Earle of Sussex A repetition of the Hils parting Northumberland and Scotlād as they lye from South to North. 〈◊〉 vvall See to the 〈◊〉 Song The great Riuer on which Edenborough standeth The Holy Island A Catalogue of the Riuers of Northumberlād as they run into the German sea vpon the East part of the countrey betwixt the Fals of Tine and 〈◊〉 See to the 〈◊〉 end of the 27. Song See to the 27. Song The first place of note which shee runnes through Two fountains the one in the South th' other in Northvvales See to the 5. 10. and 27. Song Nymphes of the Forrest The Isle of Darvvent The Mynes Royall A Hill in Scotland See to the 29. Song The West end of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why 〈◊〉 so called