Chapter IX: Part III (6)

I haue played my pageant, now am I past,
Yee wot well all I was of no great elde:
Thus all thing concluded shalbe at the last,
When death approcheth then lost is the fielde:
Then seing this world me no longer vpheld,
(For nought would conserue mee here in this place)
_In manus tuas Domine_ my spirit vp I yeelde,
Humbly beseeching thee, O God, of thy grace,
O you courteous commons your heartes embrace,
Beningly now to pray for mee also,
For right well you[1229] know your king I was:
_Et ecce nunc in puluere dormio_.[1230]

[Whan this was sayd, euery man for that[1231] time tooke his
leaue of other, and departed (for then it waxed darke) appointing
a new day of meeting, which being come, we met all together
againe. And whan we had saluted one another, then one tooke the
booke, and began to read the story of king _Edward_ the fifte:
(for there wee left) and when hee came to the apprehending of the
lord _Riuers_: “Stay there I pray you,” sayd I, “for here is his
complaint. For the better vnderstanding whereof, you must imagine
that he was accompanied with the lord _Richard Gray_, _Hawt_, and
_Clappam_, whose infortunes hee bewaileth after this maner.”]

Howe Syr _Anthony Woduile_ Lord Riuers and Scales,
Gouernour of Prince _Edward_, was with his
Nephue Lord _Richard Gray_ and other
causelesse imprisoned and cruelly
murdered, Anno 1483.[1232]

1.

As seely suiters letted by delayes
To shew their prince the meaning of their minde,
That long haue bought their brokers yeas and nays,
And neuer the nyer, doe dayly wayte to finde
The prince’s grace, from waighty affaires vntwind:
Which time attaynde, by attending all the yeare,
The weried prince will than no suyters heare:

2.

My case[1233] was such not many dayes agoe,
For, after bruite had blazed all abroade,
That _Baldwine_, through the ayde of[1234] other moe,
Of fame or shame fall’n[1235] princes would vnloade,
Out from our graues wee got[1236] without abode,
And preaced forward with the ruefull[1237] rout,
That sought to haue their doinges boulted out.

3.

But whan I had long tended[1238] for my turne
To tell my tale, as diuers other did,
In hope I should no longer while soiourne,
But from my suites haue speedely ben ryd,
Whan course and place both orderly had bid
Mee shewe my minde, and I preparde to say,
The hearers pausde, arose, and went their way.

4.

These doubtfull doings draue mee to my dumpes,
Uncertaine what should moue them so to doe:
I feared least affections lothly lumpes
Or inward grudge had driuen[1239] them thereto,
Whose wicked stinges all storyes truth vndoe,
Oft causing good to bee reported ill,
Or drownd in suds of _Læthe’s_ muddy swill.

5.

For hitherto slye wryters wily wits,
Which haue engrossed princes chiefe affayres,
Haue bene like horses snaffled with the bits
Of fancy, feare, or doubts full deepe dispayres,
Whose raynes enchained to the cheifest chayres,
Haue so bene straynde of those that bare the stroke
That truth was forste to chow or els to choke.

6.

This caused such as lothed lowd to ly,
To passe with silence sundry princes lyues:
Lesse fault it is to leaue, then leade awry,
And better dround, then[1240] euer bound in gyues:
For fatall fraud this world so fondly driues,
That whatsoeuer writer’s braines may brue
Bee it neuer so false, at length is tane for true.

7.

What harme may hap by help of lying pennes,
How written lies may lewdely bee mayntainde,
The lothly rites, the diuilishe ydoll dennes,
With guiltlesse bloud of vertuous men bestaynde,
Is such a proofe as all good hartes haue plainde,
The taly groundes of stories throughly tries,
The death of martyrs vengeaunce on it cries.

8.[1241]

Far better therefore not to write at all,
Than staine the truth, for any maner cause,
For this they meane to let my story fall,
(Thought I) and ere my time theyr[1242] volume clause:
But after I knew it only was a pause
Made purposely, most for the reader’s ease,
Assure thee, _Baldwine_, highly it did mee please.

9.

For[1243] freshest wits I know will sone be weary,
In reading long what euer booke it bee,
Except it bee vaine matter, strange, or mery,
Well sauste with lies, and glared all with glee,
With which because no graue truth may agree,
The closest stile for stories is the meetest,
In rufull moanes the shortest fourme is sweetest.

10.

And sith the playnts already by thee pende,
Are briefe inough, the nomber also small,
The tediousnesse I thinke doth none offend,
Saue such as haue no lust to learne at all:
Regard none such, no matter what they brall,
Warne thou the wary least they hap to stumble,
As for the carelesse, care not what they mumble.

11.

My life is such as (if thou note it well)
May cause the witty wealthy[1244] to beware:
For their sakes therefore playnly will I tell,
How false and cumbrous worldly honours are,
How cankred foes bring carelesse folke to care,
How tyrauntes suffered and not queld in time,
Doe cut theyr throates that suffer them to clime.

12.

Neither will I hyde the chiefest point of all
Which wisest rulers least of all regarde,
That was and will bee cause of many a fall:
This cannot bee too earnestly declarde
Because it is so seeld, and slackly harde,
The abuse[1245] and scorning of God’s ordinaunces,
Is chiefest cause of care and woefull chaunces.

13.

God’s holy orders highly are abused
Whan men doe chaunge their ends for straunge respects:
They scorned are, whan they bee cleane refused,
For that they cannot serue our fond affects:
The one our shame, the other our sinne detects:
It is a shame for christians to abuse them,
But deadly sinne for scorners to refuse them.

14.

I meane not this al onely of degrees
Ordainde by God for people’s preseruation,
But of his lawe, good orders, and decrees,
Prouided for[1246] his creature’s conseruation:
And specially the state of procreation,
Wherein wee here the number of them encrease,
Which shall in heauen enioy eternall peace.

15.

The only end why God ordayned this,
Was for th’[1247] encreasing of that blessed nombre
For whom hee had preparde eternall blisse:
They that refuse it for the care or cumbre,
Being apt thereto, are in a sinfull slumbre:
No fond respect, no vayne devised vowes,
Can quit or bar what God in charge allowes.

16.

“It is not good for man to liue alone:”
Sayd God, and therfore made he him a make:
“Sole life,” sayd Christ, “is graunted few or none,
All seede sheders are bound like wiues to take:”
Yet not for lust, for landes, or riches sake,
But to beget and foster so theyr fruite,
That heauen and earth be stored with the suite.

17.

But as this[1248] state is damnably refused,
Of many apt and able thereunto,
So is it likewise wickedly abused
Of all that vse it as they should not doe:
Wherein are guilty all the greedy, who
For gayne, for friendship, landes, or honoures wed,
And these pollute the vndefiled bed.

18.

And therefore God, through iustice cannot cease
To plague these faults with sundry sortes of whips:
As disagreement, health’s, or welth’s decrease,
Or lothing sore the neuer liked lips:
Disdayne also with rigour some times nips
Presuming mates, vnequally that match:
Some bitter leauen sowers the musty batch.

19.

We worldly folke account him very wise
That hath the wit most welthely to wed:
By all meanes therefore, alwayes, wee deuise
To see our yssue rich in spousals sped:
Wee buy and sell rich orphanes, babes scant bred
Must mary, ere they know what mariage meanes,
Boyes mary old trots, old fooles wed yong queanes.

20.

Wee call this wedding, which, in any wise,
Can bee no mariage, but pollution playne:
A new found trade of humane marchaundise,
The deuil’s net, a filthy fleshly gayne,
Of kinde and nature an vnnaturall stayne,
A fowle abuse of God’s most holy order,
And yet allowde almost in euery border.

21.

Would God I were the last that shall haue cause
Agaynst this creping cankar to complayne,
That men would so regard theyr maker’s lawes,
That all would leaue the lewdenes of theyr brayne,
That holy orders holy might remayne,
That our respects in wedding should not choke
The end and fruite of God’s most holy yoke.

22.

The sage king _Solon_, after that hee sawe
What mischiefs follow missought mariages,
To barre all baits, established this lawe:
No friend nor father shall gieue herytages,
Coyne, cattell, stuffe, or other cariages,
With any mayde for dowry, or wedding sale,
By any meane, on paine of banning bale.

23.

Had this good law in _England_ beene in force,
My father had not so cruelly beene slaine,
My brother had not causles lost his corps,
Our mariage had not bred vs such disdayne,
My selfe had lackt great part of greuous payne:
We wedded wiues for dignity and landes,
And left our liues in enuie’s[1249] bloudy handes.

24.

My father hight syr _Richard Woduile_, hee
Espousde the duches of _Bedford_,[1250] and by her
Had yssue males my brother _Iohn_, and mee
Calde _Anthony_: king _Edward_ did prefer
Us farre aboue the state wherein wee were,
For hee espousde[1251] our sister _Elizabeth_,
Whom syr _Iohn Gray_ made wydow by his death.

25.

How glad were wee, thinke you, of this alyaunce?
So neerely coupled with so noble[1252] a king:
Who durst with any of vs bee[1253] at defiaunce
Thus made of might the mightyest to wring?
But fye, what cares doe highest honoures bring?
What carelesnes our selues or frendes to knowe?
What spyte and enuy both of high and lowe?

26.

Because the king had made our sister queene,
It was his honour to prefer her kin:
And sith the redyest way, as wisest weene,
Was first by wedding welthy heyres to win,
It pleasde the prince by[1254] like meane to begin:
To mee hee gaue the rich lord _Scales_ his heyre,
A vertuous mayde, in my minde very[1255] fayre.

27.

Hee ioyned to my brother _Iohn_, the olde
Duches of _Northfolke_ notable of fame:
My nephue _Thomas_ (who had in his holde
The honour and right of marquise _Dorcet’s_ name)
Espoused _Cicelie_, a right welthy dame,
Lord _Bonuile’s_ heyre: by whome hee was possest
In all the rightes where through that house was blest.

28.

The honours that my father[1256] attaynd were diuers,
First Chamberlayne, then constable hee was:
I doe omit the gaynfullest, earle _Riuers_:
Thus glistred wee to[1257] glory, clere as glasse:
Such miracles can princes bring to passe
Among theyr lieges, whom they minde to heaue
To honours false, who all theyr gestes deceiue.

29.

Honoures are like that cruell king of _Thrace_,
With new come gestes that fed his hungry horses:
Or like the tyrant _Busiris_, whose grace
Offred his gods all straungers strangled corses:
To forreyners so hard false honor’s force is,
That all her bourders, straungers, eyther geastes,
She spoyles to feede her gods and greedy beastes.

30.

Her gods be those whom God by law, or lot,
Or kinde by byrth, doth place in highest roumes,
Her beastes bee such as greedely haue got
Office, or charge, to guide the seely gromes:
These officers in law, or charge, are bromes
That sweepe away the sweete from simple wretches,
And spoyle th’[1258]enriched by theyr crafty fetches.

31.

These plucke downe those whome princes set aloft,
By wresting lawes, and false conspiracyes:
Yea kings themselues by these are spoyled oft,
When wilfull princes carelesly despise
To heare th’[1259]oppressed people’s heauy cryes,
Nor will correct theyr polling theues, then God
Doth make those reues the reckles princes’ rod.

32.

The second _Richard_ is a proofe of this,
Whom crafty lawyers by theyr lawes deposed:
Another patern good king _Henry_ is,
Whose right by them hath[1260] diuersly beene glosed,
Good while hee grew, bad whan hee was vnrosed:
And as they fodred[1261] these and diuers other,
With like deceit they vsde the king my brother.

33.

While he preuayled they sayde hee owed the crowne,
All lawes and rightes agreed with the same:
But whan by driftes hee seemed to be downe,
All lawes and right extremely did him blame,
Nought saue vsurping traytour was his name:
So constantly the judges construe lawes,
That all agree still with the stronger cause.

34.

These, as I sayde, and other like in charge
Are honour’s horses, whom shee feedes with gests:
For all whom princes frankly doe enlarge
With dignityes, these barke at in theyr brests,
Theyr spite, theyr might, theyr falsehoode neuer restes
Till they deuour them, sparing neyther bloud,
Ne lim, ne[1262] life, and all to get theyr good.

35.

The earle of _Warwicke_ was a praunsing courser,
The hawty heart of his could beare no mate:
Our welth through him waxt many a time the worser,
So cankardly hee had our kin in hate:
Hee troubled oft the kinge’s vnsteady state,
And that because hee would not bee his warde
To wed and worke, as hee should list awarde.

36.

Hee spited vs because wee were preferde
By mariage to dignityes so greate,
But craftely his malice hee deferde,
Till, traytorously, he found meanes to entreate
Our brother of _Clarence_ to assist his feate:
Whom when hee had by mariage to him bound,
Than wrought he straight our linage to confound.

37.

Through slaunderous brutes he brued many a broyle
Throughout the realme, against the king my brother:
And raysed trayterous rebels thirsting spoyle
To murder men: of whom among all other
One _Robin_ of _Riddesdale_[1263] many a soule did smother,
His rascall rable at my father wroth
Tooke sire and sonne, and quicke beheaded both.

38.

This heynous act, although the king detested,
Yet was hee fayne to pardon, for the rout
Of rebels all the realme so sore infested,
That euery way assaylde, he stoode in doubt:
And though he were of courage high and stout,
Yet hee assayde by fayre meanes to asswage
His enemies ire, reueilde by rebels rage.

39.

But _Warwicke_ was not pacified thus,
His constant rancour causeles was extreme,
No meane could serue the[1264] quarell to discus,
Till hee had driuen the king out of the realme:
Neyther[1265] would hee then be waked[1266] from his dreame:
For when my brother was come and placed agayne,
He stinted not till hee was stoutly slaine.

40.

Then grewe the king and realme to quiet rest,
Our flocke and frends still stying higher and[1267] higher:
The queene with children fruitfully was blest,
I gouernd them, it was the king’s desier:
This set theyr vncles furiously on fier,
That wee, the queene’s bloud, were assignde to gouerne
The prince, not they, the king’s owne bloud and bretherne.

41.

This causde the duke of _Clarence_ so to chafe,
That with the king hee brainlesse fell at bate:
The counsaile warely for[1268] to kepe him safe
From raising tumults, as he did of late,
Imprisoned him: where through his brother’s hate
He was condemnde, and murdered in such sort
As he himselfe hath truly made report.

42.

“Was none abhorde these mischiefs more then I,
Yet coulde I not bee therewith discontented,
Considering that his rancoure toucht mee ny:
Els would my conscience neuer haue consented
To wish him harme, could he haue beene contented:
But feare of hurt, for sauegard of our state,
Doth cause more mischiefe then desert or hate.”

43.

Such is the state that many wish to beare,
That eyther wee must with other’s bloud[1269] bee stainde,
Or leade our liues continually in feare:
You mounting myndes behold here what is gaynde
By coumbrous honour, painfully attainde:
A damned soule for murdring them that hate you,
Or doubtfull lyfe, in daunger lest they mate you.

44.

The cause, I thinke, why some of high degree
Doe deadly hate all sekers to ascend,
Is this: the cloyne[1270] contented cannot bee
With any state, till tyme hee apprehend
The highest top, for therto clymers tend:
Which seldome is attaynd without the wracke
Of those betwene, that stay and beare him backe.

45.

To saue themselues they therfore are compeld
To hate such climers, and with wit and power
To compasse meanes where through they may bee queld,
Ere they ascend their honours to deuour:
This causde the duke of _Clarence_ frowne and lowre
At mee and other, whom the king promoted
To dignities: wherin he madly doted.

46.

For seing wee were his deare allied frends,
Our furderaunce should rather haue made him glad,
Then, enmy like, to wish our wofull ends,
Wee were the nerest kinsfolke that he had:
Wee ioyed with him, his sorrowe made vs sad,
But hee esteemde so much his paynted sheath,
That he disdaynd the loue of all beneath.

47.

But see how sharply God reuengeth sinne:
As hee maligned mee, and many other
His faithfull friends, and kindest of his kin,
So _Richard_, duke of _Glocester_, his very[1271] brother,
Maligned him, and beastly did him smother:
A deuelish deede, a most vnkindly part,
Yet iust reuenge for his vnnaturall hart.

48.

Although this brother-queller, tirant fell,
Enuide our state as much and more then hee:
Yet did his cloaking flattery so excell
To all our frendes ward, chiefly vnto mee,
That hee appeard our trusty stay to bee:
For outwardly hee wrought our stay to furder,
Where inwardly he mynded nought saue murder.

49.

Thus in appearaunce who but I was blest?
The chiefest honors heaped on my head,
Belou’d of all, enioying quiet rest:
The forward prince by mee alone was led,
A noble impe, to all good vertues bred:
The king, my liege, without my counsaile knowne,
Agreed nought: though wisest were his owne.

50.

But quiet blisse in no state lasteth long
Assailed still by mischief many wayes:
Whose spoyling battry glowing hote and strong,
No flowing welth, no force nor wisdom staies,
Her smoakles poulder beaten souldiers slaies:
By open force, foule mischief oft preuailes,
By secret sleight, shee seeld her purpose failes.

51.

The king was bent too much to foolish pleasure,
In banqueting he had so[1272] greate delight:
This made him grow in grosnes out of mesure,
Which as it kindleth carnall appetite,
So quencheth it the liuelynes of the sprite:[1273]
Whereof ensue such sicknes and diseases,
As none can cure, saue death, that all displeases.

52.

Through this fault furdered by his brother’s fraud,
(Now God forgeiue me if I iudge amisse)
Or through that beast, his ribald, or his baud,
That larded still these sinfull lusts of his,
He sodainely forsooke all worldly blisse:
That loathed leach, that neuer welcome death,
Through spasmous humours stopped vp his breath.

53.

That time lay I at _Ludloe_, _Wales_ his border,
For, with the prince, the king had sent me thyther
To stay the robberies, spoyle, and foule disorder,
Of diuers outlawes gathered there together:
Whose banding tended no man wist well whither,
When these by wisdome safely were suppressed,
Came wofull newes, our souerayne was deceassed.

54.

The griefe whereof, when reason had[1274] asswaged,
Because the prince remayned in my guyde,
For his defence[1275] great store of men I waged:
Doubting the stormes which at such tyme betyde:
But while I there thus warely did prouide,
Commaundement came to send them home agayne,
And bring the king thence with his houshold trayne.

55.

This charge sent from the counsell and the queene,
Though much agaynst my mynde I beast obayed:
The deuill himselfe wrought all the drift I weene,
Because he would haue innocents betrayed:
For ere the king were halfe his way conuayed,
A sort of traytors falsly him betrapt,
I caught afore, and close in prison clapt.

56.

The duke of _Glocester_, that incarnate deuill,
Confedred with the duke of _Buckingham_,
With eke lord _Hastings_, hasty both to euill,
To meete the king in mourning habit came,
(A cruell wolfe though clothed like a lambe)
And at _Northampton_, where as then I bayted,
They tooke theire inne, as they on mee had wayted.

57.

The king that night at _Stonystratford_ lay,
A towne to small to harboure all his trayne:
This was the cause why he was gone away,
While I with other did behinde remaine:
But will yow see how falsly frendes[1276] can faine?
Not _Synon_ sly, whose fraude best fame rebukes,
Was halfe so suttle as these double dukes.

58.

First to myne inne commeth in my brother false,
Embraceth me: “Well met, good brother _Scales_:”
And weepes withall, the other me enhalse
With, “welcome cosin, now welcome out of _Wales_:
O happy day, for now all stormy gales
Of strife and rancour, vtterly are swaged,
And we your[1277] owne to liue, or dye, vnwaged.”

59.

This proferd seruice, saust with salutations
Immoderate, might cause me to suspect:
For, commonly, in all dissimulations,
Th’xcesse[1278] of glauering doth the guile detect:
Reason refuseth falsehode to dyrect:
The will therfore, for feare of being spied,
Exceedeth meane, because it wanteth guyde.

60.

This is the cause why such as fayne to weepe
Doe howle outright, or wayling cry, ah, ah,[1279]
Tearing themselues, and straining sighes most deepe:
Why such dissemblers as would seeme to laugh,
Breth not tihhee, but bray out, hah, hah, hah:
Why beggers fayning brauery are the prowd’st[1280]
Why cowards bragging boldnesse, wrangle lowd’st.[1281]

61.

For commonly all that doe counterfayte
In any thing, exceede the naturall meane,
And that for feare of fayling in their feate:
But these conspirers couched all so cleane,
Through close demeanour, that their wyles did weane
My hart from doubts, so many a false deuice,
They[1282] forged fresh, to hyde their enterprise.

62.

They supt with mee, propounding frendly talke
Of our affayres, still geuing mee the prayse:
And euer among the cups to mee ward walke:
“I drinke to you, good cuz:” each traytoure saies:
Our banquet done, when they should goe their wayes
They tooke their leaue, oft wishing mee good night,
As hartely as any creature might.

63.

A noble heart they say is lyon like,
It can not couch, dissemble, crouch, nor fayne,
How villanous were these, and how vnlike?
Of noble stocke the most ignoble stayne:
Their woluish hearts, their trayterous foxly braine,
Or proue[1283] them base, of rascall race engendred,
Or from hault lynage, bastard like, degendred.

64.

Such polling heades as prayse for prudent pollicy
False practises, I wish were pact on poales:
I mean the bastard law broode, which can molifie
All kinde of causes in their crafty noales:
These vndermine all vertue, blinde as moales,
They bolster wrong, they racke and straine the right
And prayse for lawe both malice, fraud, and might.

65.

These quenche the worthy flames of noble kynde,
Prouoking best borne to the basest vices:
Through crafts they make the bouldest courage blind,
Disliking highly valiant enterprises,
And praysing vily, villanous deuices:
These make the bore a hog, the bull an oxe,
The swan a goose, the lyon a wolfe or foxe.

66.

The lawyer _Catesby_, and his crafty feeres,
A rout that nere[1284] did good in any reame,
Are they that had transformde these noble peeres:
They turnde theire bloud to melancholicke fleume,
Their courage hault to cowardise extreame,
Their force and manhoode, into fraud and malice,
Their wit to wyles, stout _Hector_ into _Paris_.

67.

These glauerers gone, my selfe to rest I layde,
And doubting nothing, soundly fell a sleepe:
But sodainly my seruaunts, sore afrayde,
Awaked me, and drawing sighes full deepe:
“Alas,” quoth one, “my lord wee are betrayde:”
“How so,” quoth I, “the dukes are gone their waies?”
“Th’haue[1285] barde the gates, and borne away the kayes.”

68.

While he thus spake, there came into my minde
This fearefull dreame, whereout I waked was:
I saw a riuer stopt with stormes of winde,
Wheare through a swan, a bull, and bore did passe,
Fraunching the fysh and fry, with teath of brasse,
The riuer dryde vp saue a title streame,
Which at the last did water all the reame.

69.

Me thought this streame did drowne the cruell bore
In litle space, it grew so deepe and brode:
But hee had kilde the bull and swan before:
Besides all this I sawe an ougly tode
Crall towarde mee, on which mee thought I trode:
But what became of her, or what of mee,
My sodayne waking woulde not let mee see.

70.

These dreames considered with this sodayne newes
So diuers from theyr doings ouer night,
Did cause me not a litle for to muse,
I blest me, and rise[1286] in all the hast I might:
By this, _Aurora_ spred abroade the light,
Which fro the endes of _Phebus_ beames she tooke,
Who than the bulls cheife gallery forsooke.

71.

Whan I had opened the window to looke out,
There might I see the stretes ech where beset,
My inne on each side compassed about
With armed watchmen, all escapes to let:
Thus had these Neroes caught me in their net,
But to what ende I could not throughly gesse,
Such was my plainnes, such their doublenesse.

72.

My conscience was so clere, I could not doubt
Their deadly drift, which lesse apparaunt lay,
Because they causde their men retourne the rout
That rode toward _Stonystratford_, as they say,
Because the dukes will first be there to day:
For this (thought I) they hinder me in iest,
For giltlesse myndes doe easel deeme the best.

73.

By this the dukes were come into myne inne,
For they were lodged in an other by:
I gote mee to them, thinking it a sinne
Within my chamber cowardly to lye:
And merily I asked my brother, why
He vsde me so? he sterne, in euill sadnes,
Cryed out: “I arrest thee, traytour, for thy badnes.”

74.

“How so,” quoth I, “whence riseth your suspition?”
“Thou art a traytour,” quoth he, “I thee arrest:”
“Arrest,” quoth I, “why, where is your commission?”
Hee drew his weapon, so did all the rest,
Crying, “yeeld thee traytour:” I so sore distrest
Made no resistaunce, but was sent to warde,
None saue their seruants assigned to my garde.

75.

This done they sped them[1287] to the king in post,
And after theyr[1288] humble reuerence to him done,
They trayterously began to rule the rost,
They pickt a quarrell to my sister’s sonne
Lord _Richard Gray_: the king would not bee wonne
T’agree[1289] to them, yet they, agaynst all reason,
Arested him, they sayd, for haynous treason.

76.

Sir _Thomas Vaughan_ and sir _Richard Hault_
Two worthy knights, were likewise apprehended,
These all were guylty in one kind of fault,
They would not like the practise then pretended:
And seeyng the king was herewith sore offended,
Backe to _Northampton_ they brought him agayne,
And thence discharged most part of his trayne.

77.

There, loe! duke _Richard_ made himselfe protector
Of king and realme, by open proclamation,
Though neyther king nor queene were his elector,
Thus hee presumde by lawles vsurpation:
But will you see his deepe dissimulation?
Hee sent mee a dish of daynties from his bourde
That day, and with it, this false friendly worde:

78.

“Commend mee to him, all things shalbe well,
I am his friend, bid him bee of good chere:”
These newes I prayed the messenger goe tell
My nephue _Richard_, whom I lou’d full dere:
But what hee ment by well, now shall you here,
Hee thought it well to haue vs quickly murdred,
Which not long after thorowly hee furdred.

79.

For strayt from thence wee closely were conuayed,
From iayle to iayle northward, wee wist not whither:
Where, after a while wee had in[1290] sunder stayed,
At last wee met at _Pomfret_ altogither:
Sir _Richard Ratcliffe_ bade vs welcom thyther,
Who openly, all law and right contemned,
Beheaded vs, before wee were condemned.[1291]

80.

My cosin _Richard_ could not bee content
To leaue his lyfe, because hee wist not why:
Good gentleman, that neuer harme had ment,
Therefore hee asked wherefore hee should dye:
The priest, his ghostly father, did replye,
With weeping eyes: “I knowe one wofull cause,
The realme hath neyther righteous lords nor laws.”

81.

Sir _Thomas Vaughan_ chafing, cryed still:
“This tyrant _Glocester_ is the gracelesse G,
That will his brother’s children beastly kyll:”
And, least the people through his talke might see
The mischeifs toward, and thereto not agree,
Our tormentour, that false periured knight,
Bad stop our mouths, with words of high dispight.

82.

Thus dyed wee giltlesse, processe hard wee none,
No cause alleagde, no judge, nor yet accuser,
No quest empaneld passed vs vppon:
That murdrer _Ratcliffe_, law and rights refuser,
Did all to flatter _Richard_ his abuser:
Unhappy both that euer they were borne,
Through giltlesse bloud that haue their soules forlorne.

83.

In part, I graunt, I well deserued this,
Because I causde not spedy execution
Bee done on _Richard_, for that murder of his,
When first hee wrought king _Henrie’s_ close confusion:
Not for his brother’s hatefull persecution:
These cruell murders painfull death deserued,
Which had hee suffred, many had ben preserued.

84.

Warne therefore all that charge or office beare,
To see all murdrers spedely executed,
And spare them not for fauour or for feare,
By guiltles bloud the earth remaines polluted:
For lacke of justice kingdomes are transmuted:
They that saue murdrers from deserued paine
Shall, through those murdrers, miserably bee slaine.[1292]

[Whan I had read this, they liked it very well. One wished that
the combat which hee fought[1293] with the bastard of _Burgoine_,
and the honour which he wan both with speare and axe, should not
be forgotten. Another moued a question about a great matter, and
that is the variaunce of the chronicles about the lord _Thomas
Gray_ marquise _Dorcet_: whome _Fabian_ euery where calleth the
queene’s brother. Sir _Thomas More_ and _Hall_ call him the
queene’s sonne, [as hee was in very deede.][1294] _Fabian_ saith
hee was gouernour of the prince, and had the conueiaunce of him
from _Ludlo_ towards _London_. The other (whome wee followe) say
hee was than at _London_ with the queene prouiding for the king’s
coronation, and tooke sanctuary with her, as soone as he heard
of the apprehending of his vncle. This disagreing of writers
is a great hinderaunce of the truth, and no small cumbraunce
to such as bee diligent readers, besides the harme that may
happen in succession of heritages. It were therefore a worthy
and good deede for the nobility to cause all the recordes to bee
sought, and a true and perfect chronicle thereout to bee written.
Vnto which we refer the deciding of this and of all other like
controuersies, geuing this to vnderstand in the meane time, that
no man shall thinke his title either better or worse by any thing
that is written in any part of this treatise. For the only thing
which is purposed herein, is by example of other’s miseries, to
disswade all men from all sinnes and vices. If by the way wee
touch any thing concerning titles, wee follow therein _Halle’s_
chronicle. And where wee seeme to swarue from his reasons and
causes of diuers doings, there wee gather vpon coniecture such
thinges as seeme most probable, or at the lest most conuenient
for the furderaunce of our purpose. Whan the reader would haue
proceeded in the Cronicle, which straight intreateth of the
vilanous destruction of the lorde _Hastinges_, I willed him to
surcease, because I had there his tragedy very learnedly penned.
For the better vnderstanding wherof, you must imagin that you
see him newly crept out of his graue, and speaking to mee as
followeth.]

How the Lord _Hastings_ was betrayed, by trusting
too much to his euill counsaylour _Catesby_,
and vilanously murdered in the Tower
of London by _Richard_ Duke of
Glocester, the 13 of Iune,
Anno 1483.[1295]

1.

Hastings I am, whose hastned death who knewe,
My life with prayse, my death with playnt pursue:
With others fearing least my headles name
Bee wrongd, by partiall bruite of flattering fame:
Cleauing my tombe the way my fame forewent,
Though bared of loynes[1296] which body and fortune lent
Earst my prowde vaunt: present, present to thee
My honour, fall, and forced destenye.[1297]

2.

Ne feare to stayne thy credit by my tale:
In _Læthe’s_ floud, long since, in _Stygian_ vale
Selfe loue I dreint:[1298] what time hath fynde for true,
And ceaseth not, though stale, still to renue,
Recount I wil: whereof bee this the[1299] proofe,
That blase I will my prayse, and my reproofe:
Wee naked ghostes are but the very man,
Ne of our selues more than wee ought, wee scan.

3.

But doubt distract’th[1300] mee, if I should consent
To yeelde mine honourde name, a martyrde saynt:
Yf martyrdome rest in the miser’s life
Through torments wrongly reft by fatall knyfe,
How fortune’s nursling I, and dearest babe,
Ought there to stoope, none may mee well perswade:
For how may miser martyrdome betyde,
To whome in cradell fortune was affyde?

4.

See how this grosest ayre infect’th[1301] mee since,
Forgote haue I, of loyalty to my prince,
My happy meede is, martyr to bee named?
And what the heauens embrace, the world aye blamed:
For mens vniustice wreak’d but God’s iust ire,
And by wrong end, turnd wreake to iustice hire:
O iudgements iust, by vniustice iustice dealt,
Who doubts[1302] of mee may learne, the truth who felt.

5.

So therefore as my fall may many stay:
As well the prince, from violent headlong sway
Of noble peeres, from honour’s throne to dust,
As nobles lesse in tyckle[1303] state to trust:
Shonning those sinnes, that shake the golden leaues
Perforce from boughs, ere nature bare the greaues:
So, what my life profest, my death here teacheth,
And, as with word, so with example preacheth.[1304]

6.

The hilly heauens, and valey earth belowe[1305]
Yet ring his fame, whose deedes so great did grow;
_Edward_ the fourth yee know, vnnamde I meane,
Whose noble nature to mee so[1306] did leane
That I his staffe was, I his only ioy,
And euen what _Pandare_ was to him of _Troy_,
Which mou’d him first to creat[1307] mee chamberlayne,
To serue his sweetes, to my most sower payne.

7.

Wherin, to iustly praysde for secretnesse
(For now my guilt with shriking I confesse)
To him to true, to vntrue to the queene,
Such hate I wan, as lasted long betweene
Our familyes: _Shore’s_ wife was my nyce cheate,
The holy[1308] hore, and eke the wyly peate:
I fed his lust with lonely peces so,
That God’s sharpe wrath I purchast, my iust woe.

8.

See here of nobles new the diners sourse?
Some vertue rays’th,[1309] some clyme by sluttish sorts:[1310]
The fyrst, though onely of themselues begon,
Yet circlewise into themselues do ron:
Within their fame their[1311] force vnited so,
Both endlesse is, and stronger gainst their foe:
For, when end’th it[1312] that neuer hath begon?
Or by what force, may circled knot bee vndon?[1313]

9.

The other,[1314] as by wicked meanes they grew,
And raynde by flattery, or violence: so sone rue:[1315]
First tombling step from[1316] honours old, is vice:
Which once discend[1317] some linger, none arise
To former type: but they catch vertue’s spray,
Which mounteth[1318] them that clime by lawfull way:
Beware to rise by seruing princely lust,
Surely to stand, one meane is rising iust.

10.

Which learne by mee, whom let it helpe t’excuse,[1319]
That ruthfull now my selfe I do accuse,
And that my prince I euer pleasde with such
As harmed none, and him contented much:
In vice some favour, or lesse hate let win,
That I ne wryde to worser end my sinne:
But vsde my fauour to the safty[1320] of sutch,
As fury of later[1321] war to lyue did grutch.

11.

For as one durt (though durty) shin’th[1322] the sunne:
So, euen amids my vice, my vertue shoane:
My selfe I sparde with [any] his cheate to stayne,
For loue and[1323] reuerence so I could refraine:
_Gisippus_ wife erst _Titus_ would desyre
With frendship’s breach, I quencht that brutish fyre:
Manly it is, to loth the fawning[1324] lust:
Small vaunt to flye, what[1325] of constreint thou must.

12.

These therefore rasde, if thou mine office skan,[1326]
Lo, none I hurt, but furdred euery man:
My chamber _England_ was, my staffe the law,
Wereby, sauns rygour, all I held in awe:
So louing to all, so[1327] belou’d of all,
As, (what ensude vppon my bloudy fall
Though I ne felt) yet suerly this I thinke,
Full many a trickling teare their mouths did drinke.

13.

Disdayne not, princes, easie accesse, meeke cheare,
Wee knowe then angels statelier port ye beare
Of God himselfe, to massy a charge for sprites:
But then, my lords, considre, hee delights
To vayle his grace to vs pore earthly wants,
To simplest shrubs, and to the dunghill plants:
Expresse him then, in might, and mercies meane,
So shall ye winne, as now ye weld,[1328] the reame.

14.

But all to long I feare I do delay
The many meanes, whereby I did bewray
My zealous will to earne my prince’s grace,
Least thou differ to thinke mee kynde, percase:
As nought may last, so fortune’s weathry[1329] cheare
With powting lookes gan lower on my sire,
And one her wheele, aduaunst hye in his roome
The _Warwicke_ earle, mase of Christendome.[1330]

15.

Besides the tempting prowesse of the foe,
His traytour brother did my prince forgoe:[1331]
The cause was lik’d, I was his link’d[1332] allye:
Yet not the cause, nor brother’s trechery,
Nor enmies force, ne[1333] band of mingled bloud,
Made _Hastings_ beare his prince other[1334] minde then good:
But tane and scapt from _Warwick’s_ gryping pawes,
With mee hee fled through fortune’s frowards flawes.

16.

To _London_ come, at large wee might haue seemed,
Had not wee then the realme a pryson deemed:
Ech hush a barre, ech spray a banner splayed,
Ech house a fort, our passage to haue stayed:
To _Linne_ wee leape, where, while wee wayte[1335] the tyde,
My secret frends in secret I supplyde,
In mouth to mayntayne[1336] _Henry_ sixt theyr king,
By deede to deuoyre: _Edward_ to bring in.[1337]

17.

The restles tyde, that bare[1338] the empty bay,
With waltring waues roames wambling forth: ‘away,’
The mery mariner hayles,[1339] the bragging boy
To mastes hye top, vp hyes: in signe of ioy
The wauering flag is vaunst: the suttel[1340] seas
Theyr swelling ceasse: to calmest, euen peace,
Sinkth downe theyr pryde: with dronknesse gainst all care
The seamen armde, awayte theyr noble fare.

18.

On bourd wee come: the massy anchors wayde,
One _English_ ship, two hulkes of _Holland_ ayde
In such a pinch: so small tho was the trayne,
Such his constraynt, that now, that one with payne
Commaund hee might, who erst might[1341] many moe:
Then brought the ghastly _Greekes_ to[1342] _Tenedo_:
So nought is ours that wee by hap mought[1343] lose,
What nerest seemes, is farthest off in woes.

19.

As banisht wightes, such ioyes wee mought[1344] haue made,
Easde of aye threatning death, that late we dradde:
But once our countrey’s sight, not care, exempt,
No harbour shewing, that mought[1345] our feare relent,
No couert caue, no shrub to shroud our lyues,
No hollow wood, no flyght, that oft depriues
The mighty his pray, no sanctuary left,
For exilde prince, that shrowdes ech slaue from theft.

20.

In prison pent, whose woddy walles to passe
Of no lesse perill then the dying was:
With the ocean moated, battred with the waues,
(As chaind at oares, the wretched galley slaues
At mercy sit of sea and enmies shot,
And shonne with death what[1346] they with flight may not)
But greenish waues, and desert[1347] lowring skies
All comfort els forclosde our exilde eyes.

21.

Loe, loe, from hiest top, the slauish boy
Sent vp, with sight of land our harts to ioy,
Descries at hand whole[1348] flete of _Easterlinges_,
As then hote enemies of the _British_ kinges:
The mouse may somtyme helpe the lyon in neede,
The byttle bee once spilt the aegle’s breede:
O princes, seeke no foes, in your distresse,
The earth, the seas conspire your heauinessse.

22.

Our foe discryed by flight wee shon in hast,
And lade with canuas now the bending mast:
The ship was rackt to try her sayling then,
As squirels clyme the troupes of trusty men:
The steresman seekes a redier course to ronne,
The souldier stirs, the gonner hies to gonne,
The _Flemings_ sweate, the _English_ shyp disdaines
To waite behind to beare the _Fleming’s_ traines.

23.

Forth flyes[1349] the barke, as from the violent goonne
The pellet pearc’th[1350] all stayes and stops eft soone:
And swift shee swimmeth,[1351] as oft in sunny day
The dolphin fleetes in seas, in mery May:
As wee for liues, so th’ _Esterlinges_ for gayne
Thwack on the sayles, and after make amayne:
Though laden[1352] they were, and of burden great,
A king to master yet, what swayne[1353] nold sweat?

24.

So mid the vale the greyhound seeyng stert
His fearefull foe,[1354] pursu’th: before she flert’th,[1355]
And where shee turn’th, hee turn’th her there to beare:
The one pray prick’th,[1356] the other saftye’s feare:
So were wee chasde, so fled wee fore[1357] our foes:
Bet flight then fight in so vneuen close,
I end: some thinke perhaps, too long hee stay’th,[1358]
In perill present shewing his fixed fayth.

25.

This ventred I, this dread I did sustayne,
To try my trueth, my life I did disdayne:
But, loe, like tryall gaynst[1359] his ciuil foe:
Faythe’s worst is tryall, which is reseru’d[1360] to woe:
I passe our scape, and sharp retourning home,
Where we were welcomde with[1361] our wonted sone,
To battayle mayne discendes the empyre’s right,
At _Barnet_ ioynde the hoastes in bloudy fight.

26.

There ioynde three battailes, rangde in such array,
As mought for terrour _Alexander_ fray:
What should I stay to tell the long discourse?
Who wan the palme? who bare away the worse?
Suffis’th[1362] to say, by my reserued band
Our enmyes fled, wee had the vpper hand:
My iron army held her steady place,
My prince to shield, his feared foe to chase.

27.

The like successe befell [mee] in _Tewkesbury_ fielde,
My furious force, there forc’d perforce, to yeelde
The traytour foe:[1363] and render to my king
Her only sonne, least hee more bate might bring:
Thus haste [thou] a mirour of a subiect’s minde,
Such as perhaps is rare agayne to finde:
The caruing cuts, that cleue the trusty steele,
My fayth, and due alleigaunce, could not feele.

28.

But out, alas, what prayse may I recount
That is not spic’d[1364] with spot, that doth surmount
My greatest vaunt? for bloudy war[1365] to feete
A tyger was I, all for peace vnmeete:
A souldier’s handes must oft bee dyde with goare,
Least starke with rest, they finewd wax and hoare:
Peace could I win by war, but peace not vse:
Few dayes enioy[1366] hee, who warlike peace doth choose.

29.

When _Crofts_ a knight, presented _Henrye’s_ heyr
To this our prince, in furious moode, enquyre
Of him hee gan, what folly or phrensy vayne,
With armyes[1367] forc’d him to inuade his realme againe?
Whom answering that he claimde his father’s right,
With gauntlet smit, commaunded from his sight,
_Clarence_, _Glocester_, _Dorcet_, and I _Hastings_, slue:[1368]
The guylt whereof wee shortly all did rue.

30.

_Clarence_, as _Cyrus_, drownd in bloud-like wyne,
_Dorcet_ I furthered to his speedy pyne,
Of mee, my selfe am speaking president,
Nor easier fate the bristled boare is lent:
Our blouds haue payd the vengeaunce of our guilt,
His fryed bones shall broyle for bloud he spilt:[1369]
O waltsome[1370] murder that attaynts[1371] our fame,
O horrible[1372] traytours, wanting worthy name.

31.

Who more[1373] mischieuously of all states[1374] deserue,
As better they, who such did first[1375] preserue:[1376]
If those, for giftes,[1377] wee recken heauenly wightes,
These may wee well deeme fendes and damned sprites:
And while on earth they walke, disguised deuils,
Sworne foes of vertue, factours for all euils:
Whose bloudy handes torment theyr goared hartes,
Through bloudsheds horrour, in soundest sleepe he sterts.

32.

O happy world, were the lyons men,
All lyons should at least be spared then:
No surety now, no lasting league is bloud,
A meacocke is,[1378] who dreadth to see bloudshed:
Stale is the paterne, the fact must needes be rife:[1379]
While ii. were armyes: ii. the issues of first wife,
With armed heart and hand, the one bloudy brother
With cruell chase pursueth and murdereth the other.

33.

Which who defieth[1380] not? yet who ceaseth to sue?
The bloudy _Caynes_ theyr bloudy sire renew:
The horrour yet is like in common frayes:
For in ech murther, brother brother slayes:
Traytours to nature, countrey, kin and kinde,
Whome no bond serueth in brother’s zeale[1381] to bynde:
O simple age, when slaunder slaughter was,
The tongue’s small euill, how doth this mischiefe passe.

34.

Hopest thou to cloake couert thy[1382] mischiefe wrought?
Thy conscience, caytife, shall proclayme thy thought:
A vision, _Chaucer_ sheweth, discloasd[1383] thy crime:
The foxe descry the crowes and chattering pyen:
And shall thy felow felons not bewray
The guiltles death, whome guilty handes doe slay?
Unpunisht scapt for haynous cryme someone,
But vnauengde, in minde or body, none.

35.

Vengeaunce on my[1384] mynd, the freating furies take:
The sinfull coarse, lyke earthquake agewes shake:
Their frouning lookes, theyr frounced[1385] myndes bewray:
In hast they runne, and mids their race they stay,
As gidded roe: amids their speach they whist,
At meate they muse, noe where they may persist,
But some feare netleth them: ay, hang they soe,
Soe neuer wants[1386] the wicked murthrer woe.

36.

An infant rent with lyon’s ramping pawes?
Why slaunder I lyons? they feare the sacred lawes
Of princes[1387] bloud: ay mee, more brute then beast,
With princes[1388] sides, _Lycaon’s_ pye to feast?
O tyrant tigers, O insatiable[1389] wolues,
O _English_ curtesie, monstrous mawes and gulfes:
My death shall forthwith preach my earned meede,
Yf fyrst to one lyke murther I proceede.[1390]

37.

Before our prince commaunded once his death,
Our bloudy swords on him we did vnsheath,
Preuenting law, and euen our prince’s hest,
Wee hid our weapons in the yongling’s brest:
Whom not desire of reigne did driue to field,
But mother’s pride, who longd the realm to weld:
But straight my death shall shewe my worthy meede,
If first to one other murther I proceede.[1391]

38.

While _Edward_ liu’d, dissembled discord lurked,
In double hartes yet soe his reuerence worked:
But when succeding tender feble age,
Gaue open gap to tyrant’s rushing rage:
I holpe the boare, and bucke, to captiuate
Lord _Riuers_, _Gray_, sir _Thomas Vaughan_ and _Hawte_:
Yf land woulde helpe the sea, well earnd that ground
It selfe, to bee with conquering waues surround.

39.

Their speedy death by priuy doome, procured
At _Pomfret_: tho my lyfe short while endured,
My selfe I slue, when them I damned to death,
At once my throate I riued, and reft them breath:
For that selfe day, afore[1392] or neare the howre,
That withred _Atropos_ nipt that[1393] springing flowre
With vyolent hand of their forth running lyfe:
My head and body, in tower twynde like knyfe.

40.

By this my paterne, all ye peeres beware:
Oft hangeth hee himselfe, who others weenth to snare:
Spare to be ech other’s butcher: feare the kite,
Who soarth[1394] aloft, while frog and mouse doe fight
In ciuill combat, grappling, voyde of feare
Of foreyne foe, at once all both to beare:
Which playner by my pytied playnt to see,
A while anew your listning lend to mee.

41.

Too true it is two sondry assemblies kept,
At _Crosbie’s_ place, and _Baynard’s_ castle set:
The duke’s at _Crosbie’s_ but at _Baynard’s_ wee:
The one to crowne a king, the other to bee:
Suspicious is secession of foule frends,
When eyther’s drift to other’s[1395] mischiefe tends:
I fearde the end, my _Catesbie’s_ being there
Dischargde all doubts: him held I most entyre.

42.

Whose great preferment by my meanes, I thought
Some spurre, to pay the thankfulnes hee ought:
The trust hee ought mee, made mee trust him so,
That priuy hee was both to my weale and woe:
My hart’s one halfe, my chest of confidence,
My treasure’s trust,[1396] my ioy dwelt in his presence:
I lou’d[1397] him, _Baldwine_, as the apple of mine eye,
I lothde my life when _Catesby_ would mee dye.

43.

Flye from thy chanell Thames, forsake thy streames,
Leave the adamaunt iron, _Phœbus_ lay thy[1398] beames,
Ceasse heauenly sphears at last your weary warke,
Betray your charge, retourne to chaos darke:
At least, some ruthles tiger hang her whelp,
My _Catesby_ so with some excuse to help,
And mee to comfort, that I, alone, ne seme
Of all dame nature’s workes, left[1399] in extreme.

44.

A golden treasure is the tryed frend,
But who may gold from counterfayts defend?
Trust not too[1400] soone, ne all too light mistrust:[1401]
With th’one thy selfe with th’other thy frend thou hurtst:
Who twyn’th betwixt, and stear’th[1402] the golden meane,
Nor rashly lou’th,[1403] nor mistrusteth in vayne:
For frendship poyson, for safety mithridate
It is, thy frend to loue as thou wouldst hate.[1404]

45.

Of tickle credit ne had ben the mischiefe,
What needed _Virbius_ miracle doubled life?
Credulity surnamed first the _Aegean_ seas;
Mistrust, doth treason in the trustiest rayse:
Suspicious _Romulus_, staynd his walls first reard
With brother’s bloud, whom for light leape hee feard:
So not in brotherhoode ielousie may be borne,
The ielous cuckold weares th’infamous[1405] horne.

46.

A beast may preach by tryall, not foresight:
Could I haue shond this[1406] credit, nere had light
The dreaded death vpon my guilty heade:
But fooles aye wont to learne by after reade:
Had _Catesby_ kept vnstaynd the truth he plight,
Yet had yee enioyde me, and I yet the light:
All _Derbie’s_ doubts I clered with his name:
I knew, no harme could hap vs, _sauns_ his[1407] blame.

47.

But see the fruites of fickle[1408] light beliefe:
Th’[1409] ambitious dukes corrupt the traytour thiefe,
To groape mee, if allurde I would assent,
To bin a partner of theyr curst entent:
Whereto, when neyther force nor frenship[1410] vaylde,
By tyraunt force theyr purpose they assaylde,[1411]
And summond shortly a counsaile in the tower,
Of _Iune_ the fifteenth, at apoynted hower.

48.

Alas, are counsels wryed to catch the good?
Is no place[1412] now exempt from sheading bloud?
Sith counsels, that were carefull to preserue
The guiltlesse good, are meanes to make them starue,
What may not mischiefe of mad man abuse?
Religious cloake some one to vice doth chuse,
And maketh God protectoure of his cryme:
O monstrous world, well ought wee wish thy fine.

49.

The fatall skies, roll on the blackest day,
When doubled bludshed, must my bloud repay,[1413]
Others none forceth: to mee sir _Thomas Haward_
As spurre is buckled, to prouoke mee forward,
_Derby_, who fearde the party[1414] sittings yore,
Whether, much more hee knew by experience hoare,
Or vnaffected,[1415] clearer truth could see:
At midnight darke this message sendes to mee:[1416]

50.

“_Hastings_, away, in sleepe the gods foreshew
By dreadfull dreame, fell fates vnto vs two:
Mee thought a boare with tuske so rasde our throate,
That both our shoulders of the bloud did smoake:
Arise, to horse, strayght homeward let vs hye,
And sith our foe wee may not mate,[1417] O flye:
Of Chaunteclere you learne dreames soth to know,
Thence wise men conster,[1418] more then the cocke doth crow.”

51.

While thus hee spake, I held within myne arme
_Shore’s_ wife, the tender peece, to keepe mee warme:
Fye on adultry, fye on leacherous lust,
Marke in mee, yee nobles all, God’s iudgements iust:
A pandare, murtherer, and adulterer thus,
Onely such death I dye, as I ne blushe:
Now, least my dame mought feare appall[1419] my hart:
With eger moode vp in my bed I starte.

52.

“And, is thy lord,” quoth I, “a sorcerer?
A wise man now become a dreame reader?
What though so Chaunteclere crowed? I reke it not:
On my part pled’th[1420] as well dame Partelot:
Uniudgde hangth yet the case betwixt them tway,
Ne was his dreame cause of his hap I say:
Shall dreming doubts from prince my seruing[1421] slacke?
Nay, then mought[1422] _Hastings_ lyfe and liuing lacke.”

53.

Hee parteth: I sleepe, my mynde surchargde with sinne,
As _Phœbus_ beames by misty cloude kept in,
Ne coulde misgieue, ne dreame of my mishap,
As blocke I tumbled to myne enmies trap:
Security causles through my carelesse[1423] frende,
Reft mee foresight of my approaching end:
So _Catesby_ clawed mee, as when the cat doth play,
Dalieng with mouse, whom strayght shee[1424] myndes[1425]
to slay.

54.

The morow come, the latest light to mee,
On palfray mounted, to the tower I hie,
Accompanied with that _Haward_ my mortall foe,
To slaughter led, thou God wouldst haue it so:[1426]
(O deepe dissemblers, honouring with your cheare,
Whom in hid hart ye trayterously teare;)
Neuer had realme so open signes of wracke,
As I had shewde mee of my heauy[1427] hap.

55.

The vision first of _Stanley_, late descryed:
Then mirth so extreme, that neare for ioy I dyed:
Were it, that swanlyke I foresong my death,
Or mery mynde foresaw the losse of breath,
That long it coueted, from this earth’s annoy:
But euen as siker as th’end of woe is ioy,
And glorious light to obscure night doth tend:
So extreame mirth in extreame moane doth end.

56.