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To his sister Mary: but by Henry Gray,
Then duke of Suffolk, bearing mighty sway,
With the consent, and by the pow'rful hand,
Of John, the stout duke of Northumberland,
His fourth son, Gilford Dudley, they affy'd
To fair Jane Gray, which by the mother's side
Some title claim'd: this marriage them between,
The lady Jane was here proclaimed queen.
But Mary soon prevailing by her pow'r,
Caused those two preserved in the Tow'r,

As when we liv'd untouch'd with these disgraces,
When as our kingdom was our dear embraces :
(2) At Durham palace, where sweet Hymen sang,
Whose buildings with our nuptial music rang:
When prothalamions prais'd that happy day,
Wherein great Dudley match'd with noble Gray,
When they devis'd to link, by wedlock's band,
The house of Suffolk to Northumberland;
Our fatal dukedom to your dukedom bound,
To frame this building on so weak a ground.

There to be prison'd; where, their blame to quit, For what avails a lawless usurpation,
They each to other these epistles writ.

MINE own dear lord, sith thou art lock'd from me,
In this disguise my love must steal to thee,
Since to renew all loves, all kindness past,
This refuge scarcely left, yet this the last.
My keeper coming, I of thee inquire,
Who with thy greeting answers my desire;
Which my tongue willing to return again,
Grief stops my words, and I but strive in vain:
Wherewith amaz'd, away in haste he goes, [woes
When through my lips my heart thrusts forth iny
But then the doors, that make a doleful sound,
Drive back my words, that in the noise are
drown'd;

Which somewhat hush'd, the echo doth record,
And twice or thrice reiterates my word:
When, like an adverse wind in Isis' course,
Against the tide bending his boist'rous force;
But when the flood hath wrought itself about,
He following on, doth headlong thrust it out:
Thus strive my sighs with tears ere they begin,
And breaking out, again sighs drive them in.
A thousand forms present my troubled thought,
Yet prove abortive ere they forth are brought.
"The depth of woe with words we hardly sound,
Sorrow is so insensibly profound.”

As tears do fall and rise, sighs come and go,
So do these numbers ebb, so do they flow.
These briny tears do make my ink look pale,
My ink clothes tears in this sad mourning veil;
The letters, mourners, weep with my dim eye,
The paper pale, griev'd at my misery.
Yet miserable ourselves why should we deem,
Sith none are so but in their own esteem?
"Who in distress from resolution flies,
Is rightly said to yield to miseries."
() They which begot us, did beget this sin,
They first begun what did our grief begin :
We tasted not, 'twas they which did rebel,
(Not our offence) but in their fall we fell :
They which a crown would to my lord have link'd,
All hope of life and liberty extinct;
A subject born, a sov'reign to have been,
Have made me now nor subject, nor a queen.
Ah, vile Ambition, how dost thou deceive us!
Which show'st us Heav'n, and yet in Hell

leave us.

Seldom untouch'd doth innocence escape,

dost

Which gives a sceptre, but not rules a nation?
Only the surfeit of a vain opinion:
[ininion."
"What gives content, gives what exceeds do-
(2) When first mine ears were pierced with the
Of Jane, proclaimed by a princess' name, [fame
A sudden fright my trembling heart appals:
"The fear of conscience ent'reth iron walls."
Thrice happy for our fathers had it been,
If what we fear'd, they wisely had foreseen,
And kept a mean gate in an humble path,
To have escap'd the Heav'n's impetuous wrath.
And not each bird resembling their brave kind;
The true-bred eagle strongly stems the wind,
He, like a king, doth from the clouds command
The fearful fowl, that move but near the land.

Tho' Mary be from mighty kings descended,
My blood not from Plantagenet pretended;
(*) My grandsire Brandon did our house advance,
By princely Mary, dowager of France:
The fruit of that fair stock, which did combine,
And York's sweet branch with Lancaster's entwine,
And in one stalk did happily unite

When errour cometh in good counsel's shape;
A lawful title counterchecks proud might;
The weakest things become strong props to right."
Then, my dear lord, although affliction grieve us,
Yet let our spotless innocence relieve us.
"Death but an acted passion doth appear,
Where truth gives courage, and the conscience
And let thy comfort thus consist in mine, [clear."
That I bear part of whatsoe'er is thine;

The pure vermilion rose and purer white;
Whose golden bud brings forth a diadem.
I, the untimely slip of that rich stem,
But oh! forgive me, Lord, it is not 1,
Nor do I boast of this, but learn to die:
Whilst we were as ourselves, conjoined then,
Nature to nature, now an alien.

"To gain a kingdom, who spares their next blood?
Nearness contemn'd, if sov'reignty withstood.
A diadem once dazzling the eye,

The day too dark to see affinity;

And where the arm is stretch'd to reach a crown, Friendship is broke, the dearest things thrown down."

(5) For what great Henry most strove to avoid,
The Heav'ns have built, where Earth would have
destroy'd.

And seating Edward on his regal throne,
He gives to Mary all that was his own,
By death assuring what by life is theirs,
The lawful claim of Henry's lawful heirs.
By mortal laws the bond may be divore'd,

But Heav'n's decree by no means can be forc'd:
That rules the case, when men have all decreed,
Who took him hence, foresaw who should succeed;
For we in vain rely on human laws, [cause.
When Heaven stands forth to plead the righteous
Thus rule the skies in their continual course;
That yields to fate, that doth not yield to force.
"Man's wit doth build for Time but to devour,
But Virtue's free from Time and Fortune's pow'r."

Then, my kind lord, sweet Gilford, be not griev'd,
The soul is heav'nly, and from Heaven reliev'd;
And as we once have plighted troth together,
Now let us make exchange of minds to either:

To thy fair breast take my resolved mind,
Arm'd against black Despair and all her kind:

Into my bosom breathe that soul of thine,
There to be made as perfect as is mine:
So shall our faiths as firmly be approved,
As I of thee, or thou of me be loved.

This life, no life, wert thou not dear to me,
Nor this no death, were I not woe for thee.
Thou my dear hu-band and my lord before,
But truly learn to die, thou shalt be more.
Now live by pray'r, on Heav'n fix all thy thought,
Aud surely find whate'er by zeal is sought:
For each good motion that the soul awakes,
A heav'nly figure sees, from whence it takes
That sweet resemblance, which by pow'r of kind
Forms (like itself) an image in the mind,
And in our faith the operations be,

Of that divineness which through that we see;
Which never errs, but accidentally,
By our frail flesh's imbecility;
By each temptation over-apt to slide,
Except our spirit becomes our body's guide:
For as these towers our bodies do enclose,
So our souls' prisons verily are those:
Our bodies stopping that celestial light,
As these do hinder our exterior sight;
Whereon death seizing, doth discharge the debt,
And us at blessed liberty doth set.

Then draw thy forces all up to thy heart,
The strongest fortress of this earthly part,
And on these three let thy assurance lie,
On faith, repentance, and humility,
By which, to Heav'n ascending by degrees,
Persist in pray'r upon your bended knees:
Whereon if you assuredly be stay'd,
You need in peril not to be dismay'd,
Which still shall keep you that you shall not fall,
For any peril that can you appal :

The key of Heav'n thus with you you shall bear,
And grace your guiding, get you entrance there;
And you of those celestial joys possess,
Which mortal tongue's unable to express.

Then thank the Heav'n, preparing us this room,
Crowning our heads with glorious martyrdom,
Before the black and dismal days begin,
The days of all idolatry and sin,

Not suff'ring us to see that wicked age,
When persecution vehemently shall rages
When tyranny new tortures shall invent
To inflict vengeance on the innocent.

Yet Heav'n forbid that Mary's womb should bring
England's fair sceptre to a foreign king;
(") But she to fair Elizabeth shall leave it,
Which broken, hurt, and wounded, shall receive it:
And on her temples having plac'd the crown,
Root out the dregs idolatry hath sown;
And Sion's glory shall again restore,
Laid ruin, waste, and desolate before:

And from black cinders, and rude heaps of stones,
Shall gather up the martyrs' sacred bones; *
And shall extirp the pow'r of Rome again,
And east aside the heavy yoke of Spain.

Farewel, sweet Gilford! know, our end is near,
Heav'n is our home, we are but strangers here:
Let us make haste to go unto the blest,
Which from these weary worldly labours rest.
And with these lines, my dearest lord, I greet thee,
Until in Heav'n thy Jane again shall meet thee.

ANNOTATIONS OF THE CHRONICLE HISTORY.

(') They which begot us, did beget this sin. Showing the ambition of the two dukes their

fathers, whose pride was the cause of the utter overthrow of their children.

(2) At Durham palace, where sweet Hymen sang, The buildings, &c.

The lord Gilford Dudley, fourth son to John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, married the lady Jane Gray, daughter to the duke of Suffolk, at Durham-house in the Strand.

(3) When first mine ears were pierced with the fame Of Jane, proclaimed by a princess' name.

Presently upon the death of king Edward, the lady Jane was taken as queen, conveyed by water to the Tower of London for her safety, and after proclaimed in divers parts of the realm, as so ordained by king Edward's letters patents and his will.

(*) My grandsire Brandon did our house advance By princely Mary, dowager of France.

Henry Gray, duke of Suffolk, married Frances, the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, by the French queen; by which Frances he had this lady Jane. This Mary, the French queen, was daughter to king Henry the Seventh, by Elizabeth his queen; which happy marriage conjoined the two noble families of Lancaster and York.

(5) For what great Henry most strove to avoid.

Noting the distrust that king Henry the Eighth ever had in the princess Mary his daughter, fearing she would alter the state of religion in the land, by matching with a stranger, confessing the right that king Henry's issue had to the crown. (*) But she to fair Elizabeth shall leave it.

A prophecy of queen Mary's barrenness, and of the happy and glorious reign of queen Elizabeth; her restoring of religion, the abolishing of the Romish servitude, and casting aside the yoke of Spain.

GILFORD DUDLEY TO THE LADY JANE
GRAY.

As the swan singing at his dying hour,
So I reply from my impris'ning tow'r:
O! could there be that pow'r but in my verse,
T'express the grief which my sad heart doth
The very walls, that straitly thee enclose, [pierce!
Would surely weep at reading of my woes;
Let your eyes lend, I'll pay you every tear,
Aud give you int'rest, if you do forbear;
Drop for a drop, and if you'll needs have loan,
I will repay you frankly two for one.

Perhaps you'll think (your sorrows to appease) That words of comfort fitter were than these:

True, and in you when such perfection liveth,
As in most grief, me now most comfort giveth.
But think not, Jane, that cowardly I aint,
To beg man's mercy by my sad complaint,
That death so much my courage can control,
At the departing of my living soul.
For if one life a thousand lives could be,
All those too few to consummate with thee,
When thou this cross so patiently dost bear,
As if thou wert incapable of fear,

And dost no more this dissolution fly,
Than if long age constrained thee to die.

Yet it is strange, thou art become my foe,
And only now add'st most unto my woe;
Not that I loath what most did me delight,
But that so long deprived of thy sight:

For when I speak, and would complain my wrong,
Straightways thy name possesseth all my tongue,
As thou before me evermore didst lie
The present object to my longing eye.

No ominous star did at thy birthtide shine,
That might of thy sad destiny divine;
'Tis only I that did thy fall persuade,
And thou by me a sacrifice art made,

As in those countries where the loving wives
With their kind husbands end their happy lives,
And crown'd with garlands, in their brides' attire,
Burn with his body in the fun'ral fire;
And she the worthiest reckon'd is of all,
Whom least the peril seemeth to appal.

I boast not of Northumberland's great name,
(1) (Nor of Ket conquer'd, adding to our fame)
When he to Norfolk with his armies sped,
And thence in chains the rebels captive led,
And brought safe peace returning to our doors,
Yet spread his glory on the eastern shores:
() Nor of my brothers, from whose natural grace
Virtue may spring to beautify our race;
() Nor of Gray's match, my children born by thee,
Of the great blood undoubtedly to be:
But of thy virtue only do I boast,
That wherein I may justly glory most.

I crav'd no kingdoms, tho' I thee did crave:
It me suffic'd thy only self to have:
Yet let me say, however it befell,
Methinks a crown should have becom'd thee well:
For sure thy wisdom merited, or none,
[throne;
() To have been heard with wonder from a
When from thy lips the counsel to each deed,
Doth as from some wise oracle proceed.
And more esteem'd thy virtues were to me,
Than all that else might ever come by thee:
So chaste thy love, so innocent thy life,
As being a virgin when thou wert a wife;
So great a gift the Heav'n on me bestow'd,
As giving that, it nothing could have ow'd:
Such was the good I did possess of late,
Ere worldly care disturb'd our quiet state;
Ere trouble did in ev'ry place abound,
And angry war our former peace did wound.
But to know this, ambition us affords,
"One crown is guarded with a thousand swords:
To mean estates mean sorrows are but shown,
But crowns have cares, whose workings be un-
known."

(When Dudley led his armies to the East,
Of our whole forces gen'rally possest,
What then was thought his enterprise could let,
(Whom a grave council freely did abet,
That had the judgment of the pow'rful laws
In ev'ry point to justify the cause?
The holy church a helping hand that laid,
Who would have thought that these could not have
Where Mary's right must Edward's acts repeal!
But what (alas!) can parliaments avail, [sway'd?
(') When Suffolk's pow'r doth Suffolk's hopes
withstand,
Northumberland doth leave Northumberland ;
And they that should our greatness undergo,
Us and our actions only overthrow.

Ere greatness gain'd, we give it all our heart,
But being once come, we wish it would depart,
And indiscreetly follow that so fast,
Which overtaken, punisheth our haste.

If any one do pity our offence,

Let him be sure that he be far from hence:
Here is no place for any one that shall
So much as once commiserate our fall:
And we of mercy vainly should but think,
Our timeless tears th' insatiate Earth doth drink.
All lamentations utterly forlorn,

Dying before they fully can be born.
Mothers, that should their woful children rue;
Fathers, in death to kindly bid adien;
Friends, their dear farewel lovingly to take;
The faithful servant weeping for our sake;
Brothers and sisters waiting on our bier,
Mourners to tell what we were living here:
But we (alas!) deprived are of all,
So fatal is our miserable fall!
And, where at first for safety we were shut,
Now in dark prison wofully are put,
And from the height of our ambitious state,
Lie to repent our arrogance too late.
To thy persuasion thus I then reply,
Hold on thy course, resolved still to die;
And when we shall so happily be gone,
Leave it to Heaven to give the rightful throne;
And with that health regreet I thee again,
Which I of late did gladly entertain.

ANNOTATIONS OF THE CHRONICLE HISTORY.

(') Nor of Ket conquer'd, adding to our fame.

John, duke of Northumberland, when before he was earl of Warwick, in his expedition against Ket, overthrew the rebels of Norfolk and Suffolk, encamped at Mount-Surrey in Norfolk.

(2) Nor of my brothers, from whose natural grace.

Gilford Dudley, as remembering in this place the towardness of his brothers, which were all likely indeed to have raised that house of the Dudleys, of which he was a fourth brother, if not suppressed by their father's overthrow.

(') Nor of Gray's match, my children born by thee.

Noting in this place the alliance of the lady Jane Gray by her mother, which was Frances, the daughter of Charles Brandon, by Mary the French queen, daughter to Henry the Seventh, and sister to Henry the Eighth.

(4) To have been heard with wonder from a throne.
Seldom hath it ever been known of any woman
endued with such wonderful gifts, as was this lady,
both for her wisdom and learning: of whose skill
in the tongues, one reporteth by this epigram:
Miraris Janam Graio sermone valere?
Quo primùm nata est tempore Graia fuit.
(') When Dudley led his army to the East.

power at London for his expedition against the
The duke of Northumberland prepared his
rebels in Norfolk, and making haste away, ap-
pointed the rest of his forces to meet him at New-
market-heath: of whom this saying is reported,
that passing through Shore-ditch, the lord Gray in
his company, seeing the people in great numbers
come to see him, he said, The people press to
see us, but none bid God speed us.""

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() What a grave council freely did abet.

From th' emperor therè ambassadors arrive, John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, when The kings of Denmark, Hungary and Spain; he went out against queen Mary, had his commisAnd that each thing they aptly might contrive, sion sealed for the generalship of the army, by the And both the kings there largely might complain, consent of the whole council of the land: inso-The duke of Orleance for the French doth strive much that passing through the council-chamber at his departure, the earl of Arundel wished, that he might have gone with him in that expedition, and to spend his blood in the quarrel.

To show his grievance; William Pool again,
The earl of Suffolk, doth for England stand,
Who steer'd the state then with a pow'rful hand.
For eighteen months they ratify a peace

() When Suffolk's pow'r doth Suffolk's hopes with- 'Twixt these proud realms, which Suffolk doth

stand,

Northumberland doth leave Northumberland.

The Suffolk men were the first that ever resorted to queen Mary in her distress, repairing to her succours whilst she remained both at Keninghall and at Fremingham castle, still increasing her aids, until the duke of Northumberland was left forsaken at Cambridge.

CATALOGUE OF THE HEROICAL LOVES.
THE world's fair Rose, and Henry's frosty fire,
John's tyranny, and chaste Matilda's wrong,
Th' enraged queen, and furious Mortimer,
The scourge of France, and his chaste love, I sung:
Deposed Richard, Isabel exil'd,

The gallant Tudor, and fair Catharine,
Duke Humphry, and old Cobham's hapless child;
Courageous Pool, and that brave spir'tful queen;
Edward, and the delicious London dame;
Brandon, and that rich dowager of France;
Surrey, with his fair paragon of fame;
Dudley's mishap, and virtuous Gray's mischance :
Their sev'ral loves since I before have shown,
Now give me leave at last to sing mine own.

THE

MISERIES OF QUEEN MARGARET.
I SING a woman, and a pow'rful queen,
Henry the Sixth, the king of England's wife,
The beauteous Margret, whose misgovern'd spleen
So many sorrows brought upon her life,
As upon woman's never yet were seen;
In the beginning of that fatal strife

(Th' unlucky season) when the Yorkists sought
To bring the line of Lancaster to nought.

It was the time of those great stirs in France,
Their ancient right that th' English had regain'd,
But the proud French attributing to chance,
What by mere manhood stoutly ours obtain'd,
Their late-fall'n ensigns labour'd to advance,
The streets with blood of either nation stain'd:

These strive to hold, those to cast off the yoke,
Whilst forts and towns flew up to Heav'n in
smoke.

The neighbouring princes, greatly pitying then
The Christian blood in that long quarrel shed,
Which had devour'd such multitudes of men,
That the full Earth could scarcely keep her dead;
Yet for each English, of her natives ten:
In zeal to peace these neighbouring princes led,
At Tours in Touraine set them down a diet,
(Could it be done) these clamorous feuds to
quiet.

pursue

With all his pow'rs, with hope still to increase,
The same expir'd, that it should soon renew:
He had a plot of which they never knew,
For by, his means, if so this war might cease,

To his intent which if all things went right,
He'll make the dull world to admire his might.
For having seen fair Margaret in France,
(That time's bright'st beauty) being then but
young,

His mighty heart so forcibly had stung,
Her piercing eyes with many a subtile glance
As made him think, if that he could advance
This mortal wonder, only that among

His rising fortunes should the greatest prove,
If to his queen he could advance his love.
Her eyes at all points arm'd with those deceits,
That to her sex are natural every way;
Which with more art she, at enticing baits,
For this great lord doth with advantage lay ;
As he again, that on her bosom waits,
Had found that there, which could he come to sway,
He would put fair as ever man did yet,
Upon the height of Fortune's wheel to sit.
Love and ambition spur him in such sort,
As that (alone) t'accomplish his desire,
To fall with Phaeton he would think it sport,
Tho' he should set the universe on fire:
Nor reeks he what the world of him report,
He must scorn that, who will dare to aspire ;
For thro' the air his wings him way shall make,
Tho' in his fall the frame of Heaven he shake.
Of France, the duke of Anjou, \styled king
Reyner, descended from the royal stem
Of Naples, Sicil, and Jerusalem;
Altho' in them he had not any thing,
But the poor title of a diadem;
Seeing by Suffolk greater hopes to spring,

Puts on his daughter that great lord to please,
Of England's counsels who kept all the keys.
But strange encounters strongly him oppose,
In his first entrance to this great design;
Those men were mighty that against him rose,
And came upon him with a countermine ;
That he must now play cunningly, or lose;
Cunning they were against him that combine,
Plot above plot doth strain aloft to tower,
The conflict great, 'twixt policy and power.
For Humphry, duke of Glo'ster, styl'd the Good,
With a fair princess of as royal blood,
England's protector, sought a match to make
The daughter of the earl of Alminake,
And his crown'd nephew: but stout Suffolk stood
Still for his mistress, nor will her forsake,

But make her Henry's queen in spite of all
Or she shall rise, or Suffolk swears to fall.

By the French faction when she up is cry'd,
Of all angelic excellence the prime,
Who was so dull that her not deify'd,
To be the only master-piece of time?
The praise of her extended is so wide,

As that thereon a man to Heaven night climb:
All tongues and ears enchanted with delight,
When they do talk, or hear of Margarite.

And those whom Pool about his prince had plac'd,
And for his purpose taught the tricks of court;
To this great king, and many a time had grac'd,
To make his ears more apt for their report;
Having the time most diligently trac'd,
And saw these things successfully to sort,.
Strike in a hand, and up together bear,
To make fair Margret music in his ear.
Anjou a dutchy, Main a county great,
Of which the English long had been possest ;
And Mauns a city of no stnall receit,
To which the duke pretended interest:
For the conclusion, when they came to treat,
And things by Pool were to the utmost prest,
Are to duke Reyner render'd up to hold:
To buy a Helen, thus a Troy was sold.
When of an earl, a marquess Pool is made,
Then of a marquess is a duke created;
For he at ease in Fortune's lap was laid,
To glorious actions wholly consecrated:
Hard was the thing that he could not persuade,
In the king's favour he was so instated;

Without his Suffolk who could not subsist,
So that he ruled all things as he list.
This with a strong astonishment doth strike
Th' amazed world, which knew not what to say;
What living man but did the act mislike,
If him it did not utterly dismay,
That what with blood was bought at push of pike,
Got in an age, giv'n in an hour away?

Some largely speak, and some again are dumb,
Wond'ring what would of this strange world
become.

As when some dreadful comet doth appear,
Athwart the Heaven that throws his threat'ning
light,

The peaceful people that at quiet were,
Stand with wild gazes wond'ring at the sight;
Some war, some plagues, some famine greatly fear,
Some falls of kingdoms, or of men of might:

The grieved people thus their judginents spend,
Of these strange actions what should be the end.
When Suffolk, procurator for the king,
Is shipp'd for France, t'espouse the beauteous bride,
And fitted to the full of every thing,
Follow'd with England's gallantry and pride ;
(As fresh as is the bravery of the spring)
Coming to Tours, there sumptuously affy'd;

This one, whose like no age had seen before,
Whose eyes out-shone the jewels that she wore.
Her reverent parents ready in the place,
As overjoy'd this happy day to see,
The king and queen the nuptials there to grace;
On them three dukes, as their attendants be,
Seven earls, twelve barons in their equipace,
And twenty bishops: whilst that only she,

Like to the rosy morning towards the rise,
Cheers all the church, as it doth cheer the skies.

Triumphal arches the glad town doth raise,
And tilts and turneys are perform'd at court,
Conceited masks, rich banquets, witty plays,
Besides amongst them many a pretty sport:
Poets write prothalamions in their praise,
Until mens ears were cloy'd with the report:
Of either sex, and who doth not delight
To wear the daisy for queen Margarite1?
The triumphs ended, he to England goes
With this rich gem allotted him to keep,
Still entertained with most sumptuous shows,
In passing through Normandy to Diepe,
Where like the sea the concourse daily flows,
For her departure whilst sad France doth weep;
And that the ships their crooked anchors weigh'd,
By which to England she must be convey'd.
And being fitted both for wind and tide,
Out of the harbour flies this goodly fleet, [ply'd,
And for fair Portsmouth their straight course they
Where the king stay'd his lovely bride to meet:
"Yonder she comes," when as the people cry'd,
Busy with rushes strewing every street,

The brainless vulgar little understand
The horrid plagues that ready were to land.
Which but too soon all-seeing Heaven foretold:
For she was scarcely safely put on shore,
But that the skies (O wond'rous to behold!)
O'erspread with lightning hideously do roar,
The furious winds with one another scold,
Never such tempests had been seen before :
With sudden floods whole villages were drown'd,
Steeples with earthquakes tumbled to the ground.

WHEN to their purpose things to pass were brought,
And these two brave ambitious spirits were met,
The queen and duke now frame their working

thought,

For soon they found the king could not be wrought
Into their hands the sovereignty to get:
Up to their ends, nature so low had set

His humble heart; that what they would obtain,
'Tis they must do't, by colour of his reign.
And for they found the grieved commons grutch,
At this which Suffolk desperately had done,
Who for the queen had parted with so much,
Thereby yet nothing to the realm had won,
And those that spurr'd the people on, were such,
As to oppose them openly begun ;

Therefore by them some great ones down must go,
Which if they miss'd of, they themselves must so.
York then, which had the regency in France,
They force the king ignobly to displace,
Thereto the duke of Somerset t' advance,
Their friend, and one of the Lancastrian race;
For they betwixt them turn'd the wheel of chance,
'Tis they cry up, 'tis they that do debase:

He's the first man they purpos'd to remove,
The only minion of the people's love.
This open'd wide the public way, whereby
Ruin rush'd in upon the troubled land,
Under whose weight it happen'd long to lie,
Quite overthrown with their ill-guiding hand;
For their ambition, looking over-high,
Could in no measure aptly understand

Upon their heads the danger that they drew,
Whose force, too soon, they and their faction
knew.

! Margarite in French sinigfies a daisy.

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