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And now the king alone all open lay,
No under-prop of blood to stay him by:
None but himself stands weakly in the way,
'Twixt York and the affected sov'reignty.
Gone is that bar, that would have been the stay,
T have kept him back from mounting up so high.
"But see, (ah!) see: what state stand these meu in,
That cannot live without, nor with their kin ?”

The queen hath yet by this her full desire;
And now she with her minion Suffolk reigns:
Now she hath all authority entire,
And all affairs unto herself retains.
And only Suffolk 18 is advanced higher;
He is the man rewarded for his pains:
He, that did in her stead most chiefly stand,
And more advanc'd her than he did the land.

Which when they saw who better did expect,
Then they began their errour to descry,
And well perceive that only the defect
Was in their judgment, passion-drawn awry;
Found formal rigour fitter to direct,
Than pride and insolent inconstancy.
"Better severity that 's right and just,
Than impotent affections led with lust."

And thereupon in sorrow thus complain:
"What wondrous inconvenience do they feel,
Where as such imbecility doth reign,
As so neglects the care of commonweal?
Wherever one or other doth obtain,
So high a grace thus absolute to deal ;
The whilst th' aggrieved subject suffers still
The pride of some predominating will.

"And ever one remov'd, a worse succeeds:
So that the best that we can hope, is war,
Tumults and stirs, that this disliking breeds;
The sword must mend, what insolence doth mar.
For what rebellions, and what bloody deeds
Have ever follow'd where such courses are?
What oft removes? what death of counsellors?
What murder? what exile of officers ?

"Witness the Spencers, Gavestone, and Vere;
The mighty minions of our feeblest kings;
Who ever subjects to their subjects were,
And only the procurers of these things.
When worthy monarchs, that hold honour dear,
Master themselves and theirs; whichever brings
That universal rev'rence and respect.

For who weighs him, that doth himself neglect?

"And yet our case is like to be far worse;
Having a king, though not so bent to ill,
Yet so neglecting good; that giving force,
By giving leave, doth all good order kill;
Suff'ring a violent woman take her course,
To manage all according to her will:
Which how she doth begin, her deeds express;
And what will be the end, ourselves may guess.'

18 De la Pole is created duke of Suffolk, an. reg. 26, and is banished and murthered the next year after.

Which after follow'd ev'n as they did dread: Which now the shameful loss of France" much grieves,

Which unto Suffolk is attributed,

As who in all men's sight most hateful lives;
And is accus'd, that he 20 (with lucre led)
Betrays the state, and secret knowledge gives
Of our designs and all that we did hold,
By his corruption is or lost or sold.

And as he deals abroad, so likewise here
He robs at home the treasury no less;
Here, where he all authorities doth bear,
And makes a monopoly of offices.
He is enrich'd; he 's rais'd, and placed near:
And only he gives counsel to oppress.
Thus men object; whilst many, up in arms,
Offer to be revenged of these harms.

The queen perceiving in what case she stood,
To lose her minion, or engage ber state;
(After with long contention in her blood,
Love and ambition did the cause debate)
She yields to pride; and rather thought it good
To sacrifice her love unto their hate 21,
Than to adventure else the loss of all;
Which by maintaining him was like to fall.

Yet seeking at the first to temporize,
She tries if that some short imprisonment

Would calm their heat. When that would not suf

fice,

Then to exile him she must needs consent; Hoping that time would salve it in such wise, As yet at length they might become content, And she again might have him home at last, When this first fury of their rage was past.

But as he to his judged exile" went,
Hard on the shore he comes encountered
By some, that so far off his honour sent,
As put his back-return quite out of dread:
For there he had his rightful punishment,
Though wrongly done; and there he lost his head.
Part of his blood hath Neptune, part the sand;
As who had mischief wrought by sea and land.

19 The dutchy of Normandy was lost in the year 1449, after it had been held thirty years, conquered by Henry V. an. reg. 27.

20 Articles objected against de la Pole, duke of Suffolk.

21 At the parliament at Leicester, the lower house besought the king, that such persons as assented to the rendering of Anjou and Main, might be duly punished: of which fact, they accused as principals the duke of Suffolk, the lord Say, treasurer of England, with others. Whereupon the king, to appease the commons, sequestered them from their offices and rooms; and after banished the duke for five years.

22 As the duke was sailing into France, he was encountered with a ship of war appertaining to the duke of Exeter; who took him, and brought him back to Dover; where his head was striken off, and his body left on the sands, anno regni 27.

Whose death when swift-wing'd Fame at full con- | T' attempt with others' dangers, not his own,

vey'd

To this disturbed queen, misdonbting nought;
Despite and sorrow such affliction laid
Upon her soul, as wondrous passions wrought.
"And art thou Suffolk, thus," said she, "betray'd?
And have my favours thy destruction brought?
Is this their gain whom highness favoureth;
Who chief preferr'd, stand as preferr'd to death ?

"O fatal grace! without which men complain,
And with it perish-what prevails, that we
Must wear the crown, and other men must reign;
And cannot stand to be, that which we be?
Must our own subjects limit and constrain
Our favours, whereas they themselves decree ?
Must we our love at their appointment place?
Do we command, and they direct our grace?

"Must they our pow'r thus from our will divide?
And have we might, but must not use our might?
Poor majesty, which other men must guide;
Whose discontent can never look aright.
For evermore we see, those who abide
Gracious in ours, are odious in their sight,
Who would all-mast'ring majesty defeat

Of her best grace; that is, to make men great.

"But well;—we see, although the king be head,
The state will be the heart. This sov'reignty
Is but in place, not pow'r; and governed
By th' equal sceptre of necessity.
And we have seen more princes ruined
By their immod'rate fav'ring privately,
Than by severity in general:

For best he 's lik'd, that is alike to all."

Thus storms this lady, all disquieted;
When as far greater tumults 23 now burst out;
Which close and cunningly were practised,
By such as sought great hopes to bring about.
For up in arms in Kent were gathered
A mighty, insolent, rebellious rout,
Under a dang'rous head; who to deter
The state the more, himself nam'd Mortimer.

The duke of York, that did not idle stand,
(But seeks to work on all advantages)
Had likewise in this course a secret hand,
And hearten'd on their chiefest 'complices;
To try how here the people of the land
Would (if occasion serv'd) be in readiness
To aid that line, if one should come indeed
To move his right, and in due course proceed :

Knowing himself to be the only one
That must attempt the thing, if any should;
And therefore lets the rebel now run on,
With that false name, t' effect the best he could;
To make a way for him to work upon,
Who but on certain ground adventure would.
For if the traitor sped, the gain were his;
If not, yet he stands safe, and blameless is.

23 The commons of Kent assembled themselves in great number; and had to their captain Jack Cade, who named himself Mortimer, cousin to the dure of York; with purpose to redress the abuses of the governinent.

He counts it wisdom if it could be wrought;
And t' have the humour of the people known,
Was now that which was chiefly to be sought.
For with the best he knew himself was grown
In such account, as made him take no thought;
Having observ'd in those he meant to prove,
Their wit, their wealth, their carriage, and their love.

With whom, and with his own alliances,
He first begins to open (in some wise)
The right he had; yet with such doubtfulness,
As rather sorrow than his drift descries:
Complaining of his country's wretchedness,
In what a miserable case it lies;
And how much it imports them to provide
For their defence, against this woman's pride.

Then with the discontented he doth deal,
In sounding theirs, not utt'ring his intent;
As being advis'd not so much to reveal,
Whereby they might be made again content:
But when they grieved for the commonweal,
He doth persuade them to be patient,
And to endure-there was no other course:
Yet so persuades, as makes their malice worse.

And then with such as with the time did run,
In most upright opinion he doth stand;
As one that never cross'd what they begun,
But seem'd to like that which they took in hand:
Seeking all causes of offence to shun,
Praises the rule, and blames the unruly land;
Works so with gifts and kindly offices,
That ev'n of them he serves his turn no less.

Then as for those who were his followers,
(Being all choice men for virtues, or deserts)
He so with grace and benefits prefers,
That he becomes the monarch of their hearts.
He gets the learned for his counsellors,
And cherishes all men of rarest parts:
"To whom good done doth an impression strike
Of joy and love, in all that are alike."

And now by means of th' intermitted war,
Many most valiant men impov'rished,
Only by him fed and relieved are;
Only respected, grac'd, and honoured.
Which let him in unto their hearts so far,
As they by him were wholly to be led.
"He only treads the sure and perfect path
To greatness, who love and opinion hath."

And to have one some certain province his,
As the main body that must work the feat;
Yorkshire he chose, the place wherein he is
By title, livings, and possessions great.
No country he prefers so much as this;
Here hath his bounty her abiding seat;
Here is his justice and relieving hand,
Ready to all that in distress do stand.

What with his tenants, servants, followers, friends,
And their alliances and amities;
All that shire universally attends
His hand, held up to any enterprise.
And thus far Virtue with her pow'r extends;
The rest, touching th' event, in Fortune lies.
With which accomplements so mighty grown,
Forward he tends with hope t' attain a crown.

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THE

HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR.

BOOK VI.

THE ARGUMENT.

The bad success of Cade's rebellion.
York's open practice, and conspiracy:
His coming in; and his submission.
Th' effect of printing, and artillery.
Bourdeaux revolts; craves our protection.
Talbot, defending ours, dies gloriously.
The French wars end-and York begins again;
And at St. Alban's Somerset is slain.

THE furious train of that tumultuous rout',
Whom close sub-aiding pow'r, and good success,
Had made unwisely proud, and fondly stout,
Thrust headlong on, oppression to oppress;
And now to fulness grown, boldly give out,
That they the public wrongs meant to redress.
"Formless themselves, reforming do pretend;
As if confusion could disorder mend."

And on they march with their false-named head,
Of base and vulgar birth, though noble feign'd;
Who puff'd with vain desires, to London led
His rash, abused troops, with shadows train'd.
When as the king thereof ascertained,
Supposing some small pow'r would have restrain'd
Disorder'd rage; sends with a simple crew,
Sir Humphrey Stafford, whom they overthrew.

Which so increas'd th' opinion of their might,
That much it gave to do, and much it wrought;
Confirm'd their rage, drew on the vulgar wight,
Call'd forth the tim'rous, fresh partakers brought.
For many, though most glad their wrongs to right,
Yet durst not venture their estates for nought:
But seeing the cause had such advantage got,
Occasion makes them stir, that else would not.

1 The commons of Kent, with their leader, Jack Cade, divulge their many grievances: amongst which, that the king was driven to live only on his commons, and other men to enjoy the revenues of the crown; which caused poverty in his majesty, and the great payments of the people, now late granted to the king in parliament. Also they desire, that the king would remove all the false progeny and affinity of the late duke of Suffolk, which be openly known; and them to punish: and to take about his person the true lords of his royal blood; to wit, the mighty prince, the duke of York, late exiled by the traitorous motion of the false duke of Suffolk, and his affinity, &c. Also they crave, that they who contrived the death of the high and mighty prince, Humphrey duke of Glocester, might have punishment.

So much he errs that scorns, or else neglects
The small beginnings of arising broils;
And censures others, not his own defects,
And with a self-conceit himself beguiles:
Thinking small force will compass great effects,
And spares at first to buy more costly toils:
"When true-observing Providence, in war,
Still makes her foes far stronger than they are."

Yet this good fortune all their fortune marr'd;
"Which fools by helping ever doth suppress:"
For wareless insolence (whilst undebarr'd
Of bounding awe) runs on to such excess,
That following lust, and spoil, and blood so hard,
Sees not how they procure their own distress.
The better, loathing courses so impure,
Rather will like their wounds than such a cure.

For whilst this wild, unreined multitude
(Led with an unforeseeing, greedy mind,
Of an imagin'd good, that did delude
Their ignorance, in their desires made blind)
Ransack the city, and (with hands embru'd)
Run to all outrage in th' extremest kind;
Heaping up wrath and horrour more and more,
They add fresh guilt to mischiefs done before.

And yet seeing all this sorting to no end,
But to their own; no promis'd aid t' appear;
No such partakers as they did attend,
Nor such successes as imagin'd were;
Good men resolv'd the present to defend ;
Justice against them, with a brow severe;
Themselves fear'd of themselves; tir'd with excEF,
"Found mischief was no fit way to redress."

And as they stand in desp'rate comberment,
Environ'd round with horrour, blood, and shame;
Cross'd of their course, despairing of th' event,
A pardon (that smooth bait for baseness) came;
Which as a snare to catch the impotent, [same:
Being once pronounc'd, they straight embrace the
And as huge snowy mountains melt with heat,
So they dissolv'd with hope, and home they get;

Leaving their captain2 to discharge alone
The shot of blood, consumed in their heat;
Too small a sacrifice for mischiefs done,

Was one man's breath, which thousands did defeat.
"Unrighteous Death, why art thou but all one
Unto the small offender and the great?
Why art thou not more than thou art, to those
That thousands spoil, and thousands lives do lose?"
This fury passing with so quick an end,
Disclos'd not those that on th' advantage lay;
Who seeing the course to such disorder tend,
Withdrew their foot, asham'd to take that way;
Or else prevented whilst they did attend
Some mightier force, or for occasion stay:
But what they meant, ill fortune must not tell;
Mischief being oft made good by speeding well
Put by from this, the duke of York' designs
Another course to bring his hopes about;
And with those friends affinity combines
In surest bonds, his thoughts he poureth out;

2 Anno regni 29.

3 The duke of York, who at this time was in Ire land, (sent thither to appease a rebellion; which

THE HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. BOOK VI.

And closely feels and closely undermines
The faith of whom he had both hope and doubt;
Meaning in more apparent, open course,
To try his right, his fortune, and his force.

Love and alliance had most firmly join'd
Unto his part that mighty family,
The far distended stock of Nevil's kind;
Great by their many-issu'd progeny;
But greater by their worth, that clearly shin'd,
And gave fair light to their nobility;
So that cach corner of the land became
Enrich'd with some great worthy of that name.

But greatest in renown doth Warwick sit;
That brave king-maker, Warwick, so far grown
In grace with Fortune, that he governs it,
And monarchs makes; and made, again puts down.
What revolutions his first-moving wit
Here brought about, are more than too well known;
The fatal kindle-fire of those hot days;
Whose worth I may, whose work I cannot praise.

With him, with Richard earl of Salisbury,
Courtney and Brooke, and other his dear friends,
He intimates his mind; and openly
The present bad proceedings discommends;
Laments the state, the people's misery,
And (that which such a pitier seldom mends)
Oppression, that sharp two-edged sword,

That others wounds, and wounds likewise his lord.

495
"And seem to cry, 'What! can you thus behold
Their hateful feet upon our graves should tread ?
Your fathers' graves; who gloriously did hold
That which your shame hath left recovered?
Redeem our tombs, O spirits too too cold;
Pull back these tow'rs our arms have honoured:
These tow'rs are yours: these forts we built for you:
These walls do bear our names, and are your due.'

"Thus well they may upbraid our wretchlessness,
Whilst we (as if at league with infamy)
Riot away for nought whole provinces;
Give up as nothing worth all Normandy;
Traffic important holds, sell fortresses
So long, that nought is left but misery,
Poor Calais, and these water-walls about,
That basely pound us in from breaking out.

"And (which is worse) I fear we shall in th' end
(Thrown from the glory of invading war)
Be forc'd our proper limits to defend ;
Wherever men are not the same they are;
The hope of conquest doth their spirits extend
Beyond the usual pow'rs of valour far.
For more is he that ventureth for more,
Than who fights but for what he had before.

"Put to your hands, therefore, to rescue now
Th' endanger'd state (dear lords) from this disgrace;
And let us in our honour labour how

To bring this scorned land in better case.
No doubt but God our action will allow,
That knows my right, and how they rule the place,
Whose weakness calls up our unwillingness,

"My lords," saith he, "how things are carry'd here, As op'ning ev'n the door to our redress.

In this corrupted state, you plainly see;
What burden our abused shoulders bear,
Charg'd with the weight of imbecility:
And in what base account all we appear,
That stand without their grace that all must be;
And who they be, and how their course succeeds,
Our shame reports, and time bewrays their deeds.

"Anjou and Main, (the maim that foul appears;
Th' eternal scar of our dismember'd land)
Guien, all lost; that did three hundred years
Remain subjected under our command.
From whence methinks there sounds unto our ears
The voice of those dear ghosts, whose living hand
Got it with sweat, and kept it with their blood,
To do us (thankless us) their offspring good:

he effected in such sort, as got him and his lineage exceeding love and liking with that people ever after) returning home, and pretending great injuries to be offered him, both whilst he was in the king's service, and likewise upon his landing in North Wales; combines himself with Richard Nevil, earl of Salisbury, second son to Ralph, earl of Westmorland, (whose daughter he had married) and with Richard Nevil (the son) earl of Warwick, with other his especial friends; with whom he consults for the reformation of the government, after he had complained of the great disorders therein laying the blame, for the loss of Normandy, upon the duke of Somerset; whom, upon his returning thence, he caused to be arrested and committed.

"Though I protest, it is not for a crown
My soul is mov'd; (yet if it be my right,
I have no reason to refuse mine own)
But only these indignities to right.
And what if God (whose judgments are unknown)
Hath me ordain'd the man; that by my might
My country shall be bless'd? If so it be;
By helping me, you raise yourselves with me."

Those in whom zeal and amity had bred
A fore impression of the right he had,
These stirring words so much encouraged,
That (with desire of innovation mad)
They seem'd to run afore, not to be led,
And to his fire do quicker fuel add:
For where such humours are prepar'd before,
The op'ning them makes them abound the more.

Then counsel take they, fitting their desire:
(For nought that fits not their desire is weigh'd)
The duke is straight advised to retire
Into the bounds of Wales, to levy aid:
Which, under smooth pretence, he doth require;
T amove such persons as the state betray'd;
The charm which weakness seldom doth withstand.
And to redress th' oppression of the land;

Marches of Wales, under pretext to remove divers 4 The duke of York raiseth an army in the counsellors about the king; and to revenge the manifest injuries done to the commonwealth: and withal he publisheth a declaration of his loyalty, and the wrongs done him by his adversaries; offer

Ten thousand straight caught with this bait of | No noise of tumult ever wak'd them all;
Are towards greater look'd-for forces led; [breath,
Whose pow'r the king by all means travaileth,
In their arising to have ruined:

But their preventing head so compasseth,
That all ambushments warily are fled;
Refusing ought to hazard by the way,
Keeping his greatness for a greater day.

And to the city straight directs his course;
The city, seat of kings, and king's chief grace!
Where having found his entertainment worse
By far than he expected in that place;

Much disappointed, draws from thence his force,
And towards better trust marcheth apace;
And down in Kent, (fatal for discontents)

Only perhaps some private jar within,
For titles, or for confines, might befall;
Which ended, soon made better love begin;
But no eruption did in general

Break down their rest with universal sin:
No public shock disjointed this fair frame,
Till Nemesis from out the Orient came;

Fierce Nemesis, mother of Fate and Change!
Sword-bearer of th' eternal Providence!
(That had so long with such afflictions strange
Confounded Asia's proud magnificence,
And brought foul impious Barbarism to range
On all the glory of her excellence)

Turns her stern look at last unto the West,

Near to thy banks, fair Thames, doth pitch his tents. As griev'd to see on Earth such happy rest.

And there, intrench'd, plants his artillery;
Artillery, th' infernal instrument'

New brought from Hell, to scourge mortality
With hideous roaring and astonishment.
Engine of horrour! fram'd to terrify

And tear the Earth, and strongest tow'rs to rent:
Torment of thunder! made to mock the skies,
As more of pow'r in our calamities.

If that first fire subtle Prometheus brought,
Stol'n out of Heav'n, did so afflict mankind,
That ever since plagu'd with a curious thought
Of stirring search, could never quiet find;
What hath he done, who now by stealth hath got
Lightning and thunder both, in wondrous kind?
What plague deserves so proud an enterprise?
Tell, Muse; and how it came; and in what wise.

It was the time when fair Europa sat
With many goodly diadems address'd,
And all her parts (in flourishing estate)
Lay beautiful, in order, at their rest.
No swelling member, unproportionate,
Grown out of form, sought to disturb the rest:
The less subsisting by the greaters's might;
The greater by the lesser kept upright.

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ing to take his oath upon the blessed sacrament,
to have been ever true liege-man to the king, and
so ever to continue. Which declaration was writ-
ten from his castle of Ludlow, January 9, anno
reg. 30.
Feb. 16, the king, with the duke of
Somerset, and other lords, set forward towards the
Marches; but the duke of York took other ways,
and made up towards London.

And for Pandora calleth presently;

Pandora, Jove's fair gift, that first deceiv'd
Poor Epimetheus imbecility,

That thought he had a wondrous boon receiv'd;
By means whereof curious Mortality
Was of all former quiet quite bereav'd:

To whom being come, deck'd with all qualities,
The wrathful goddess breaks out in this wise:

"Dost thou not see in what secure estate
Those flourishing fair western parts remain ?
As if they had made covenant with Fate,
To be exempted free from others' pain;
At one with their desires, friends with debate;
In peace with pride, content with their own gain;
Their bounds contain their minds, their minds ap-
To have their bounds with plenty beautify'd. [ply'd

"Devotion (mother of Obedience)
Bears such a hand on their credulity,
That it abates the spirit of eminence,
And busies them with humble piety.
For see what works, what infinite expen se,
What monuments of zeal they edify!
As if they would (so that no stop were found)
Fill all with temples, make all holy ground.
"But we must cool this all-believing zeal,
That hath enjoy'd so fair a turn so long;
And other revolutions must reveal,
Other desires, other designs among :
Dislike of this first by degrees shall steal
Upon the souls of men, persuaded wrong;
And that abused pow'r which thus bath wrought,
Shall give herself the sword to cut her throat.

"Go therefore thou, with all thy stirring train
Of swelling sciences, the gifts of grief;

5 The use of guns, and great ordnance, began Go loose the links of that soul-binding chain,

about this time, or not long before.

This principal part of Europe, which contained the most flourishing state of Christendom, was at this time in the hands of many several princes and commonwealths, which quietly governed the same: for being so many, and none over-great, they were less attemptive to disturb others, and more careful to keep their own, with a mutual correspondence of amity. As Italy had then many more principalities and commonwealths than it hath. Spain was divided into many kingdoms. France consisted of divers free princes. Both the Germanies, of many more governments,

Enlarge this uninquisitive belief:

Call up men's spirits, that simpleness retain;
Enter their hearts, and knowledge make the thief,
To open all the doors, to let in light;
That all may all things see, but what is right.

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