Poems: by Michaell Draiton Esquire

William de la Pole Duke of Suf∣folke, to Queene Margaret.

The Argument.

William de la Pole, first Marques, and after created Duke of Suffolke, being sent into France by King Henry the sixt, concluded a marriage betweene the King his Ma∣ster, and Margaret, daughter to Rayner, Duke of Aniou, who onely had the title of the King of Cicily and Ierusa∣lem. This marriage being made, contrary to the liking of the Lords and Counsell of the Realme (by reason of the yeel∣ding vp of Aniou and Maine into the Dukes hands, which shortly after proued the losse of all Aquitaine,) they euer after continually hated the Duke, and after, (by meanes of the Commons) banished him at the Parlement at Berry; where after he had the iudgement of his exile, being then ready to depart, hee writeth backe to the Queene this E∣pistle.

IN my disgrace (deere Queene) rest thy content, And Margarets health from Suffolkes banishment, Not one day seemes fiue yeeres exile to mee, But that so soone I must depart from thee; Where thou not present, it is euer night, All be exilde that liue not in thy sight. Those Sauages which worship the Sunnes rise, Would hate their God, if they beheld thine eyes; The worlds great light, might'st thou be seene abroad, Would at our noone-stead neuer make aboad;

And make the poore Antipodes to mourne, Fearing lest he would neuer more returne, Wert not for thee, it were my great'st exile, To liue within this sea-inuirond Ile. Poles courage brookes not limmitting in bands, But that (great Queene) thy soueraignty commands: Our Falcons kinde cannot the cage endure, Nor buzzard-like dooth stoope to euery lure; Their mounting broode in open ayre doth roue, Nor will with Crowes be coop'd within a groue; We all do breath vpon this earthly ball, Likewise one heauen encompasseth vs all, No banishment can be to him assignde, Who doth retaine a true resolued minde. Man in himselfe, a little world doth beare, His soule the Monarch, euer ruling there, Where euer then his body doth remaine, He is a King that in himselfe doth raigne, And neuer feareth Fortunes hot'st alarmes, That beares against her Patience for his Armes, This was the meane prowd Warwicke did inuent, To my disgrace at Leister Parlement, That onely I, by yeelding vp of Maine, Should be the losse of fertile Aquitaine, With the base vulgar sort to win him fame, To be the heire of good Duke Humfreys name; And so by treason spotting my pure blood, Make this a meane to raise the Neuels brood. With Salsbury his vile ambitions syre, In Yorkes sterne breast, kindling long hidden fire, By Clarence title working to supplant,

The Eagle ayrie of great Iohn of Gaunt. And to this end did my exile conclude, Thereby to please the rascall multitude; Vrg'd by these enuious Lords to spend their breath, Calling reuenge on the Protectors death, That since the old decrepit Duke is dead, By me of force he must be murthered. If they would know who rob'd him of his life, Let him call home Dame Ellinor his wife, Who with a taper walked in a sheete, To light her shame at noone through London street; And let her bring her Negromanticke booke, That fowle hag Iordane, Hun, and Bullenbrooke, And let them call the spirits from hell againe, To know how Humfrey died, and who shall raigne. For twenty yeeres and haue I serude in France, Against great Charles and bastard Orleance? And seene the slaughter of a World of men, Victorious now, and conquered agen; And haue I seene Vernoylas batfull fields, Strew'd with ten thousand helms, ten thousand shields, Where famous Bedford did our fortune try, Or France, or England for the victory? The sad innesting of so many Townes, Scorde on my breast in honorable wounds; When Mountacute and Talbot of such name, Vnder my Ensigne both first won their fame, In heate and cold all fortunes haue indurde, To rowze the French, within their walls immurde; Through all my life, these perrills haue I past, And now to feare a banishment at last?

Thou knowst how I (thy beauty to aduance) For thee refusde the infant Queene of France, Brake the contract Duke Humfrey first did make, Twixt Henry and the Princesse Arminacke; Onely (sweete Queene) thy presence I might gaine, I giue Duke Rayner, Aniou, Mauns and Maine, Thy peerelesse beutie for a dower to bring, To counterpoize the wealth of Englands King; And from Aumerle with-drew my warlike powers, And came my selfe in person first to Towers, Th'Ambassadors for truce to entertaine, From Belgia, Denmarke, Hungary and Spaine, And telling Henry of thy beauties story, I taught my tongue a louers Oratory, As the report it selfe did so indite, And make it ravish teares with such delight; And when my speech did cease (as telling all) My lookes shewde more that was Angelicall. And when I breathde againe and pawsed next, I left mine eyes dilating on the text; Then comming of thy modesty to tell, In musickes numbers my voyce rose and fell: And when I came to paint thy glorious stile, My speech in greater cadences to file, By true descent to weare the Diadem, Of Naples, Cicils and Ierusalem, And from the Gods thou didst deriue thy birth, If heauenly kinde could ioyne with broode of earth; Gracing each title that I did recite, With some mellifluous pleasing Epethite, Nor left him not, till he for loue was sicke,

Beholding thee in my sweete Rhetoricke. A fifteenes taxe in France I freely spent In triumphs, at thy nuptiall tournament; And solemnizde thy marriage in a gowne, Valude at more then was thy fathers Crowne; And onely striuing how to honour thee, Gaue to my King what thy loue gaue to mee. Iudge if his kindenesse haue not power to moue, Who for his loues sake gaue away his loue. Had he which once the prize to Greece did bring, (Of whom old Poets long agoe did sing) Seene thee for England but imbarqu'd at Deepe, Would ouer-boord haue cast his golden sheepe, As too vnworthy ballace to be thought, To pester roome, with such perfection fraught. The briny seas which saw the ship enfold thee, Would vaut vp to the hatches to behold thee, And falling backe, themselues in thronging smother, Breaking for griefe, ennying one another; When the prowd Barke, for ioy thy steps to feele, Scornd the salt waues shuld kisse her furrowing keele, And trick'd in all her flags, her selfe she braues, Capring for ioy vpon the siluer waues; When like a Bull from the Phenician strand, Ioue with Europa, tripping from the land, Vpon the bosome of the maine doth scud, And with his swannish breast cleauing the floud, Tow'rd the faire fields, vpon the other side, Beareth Agenors ioy, Ph••••icias pride. All heauenly beauties ioyne themselues in one, To shew their glory in thine eye alone;

Which when it turneth that celestiall ball, A thousand sweet starres rise, a thousand fall. Who iustly saith, mine banishment to bee, When onely France for my recourse is free? To view the plaines where I haue seene so oft, Englands victorious engines raisde aloft, When this shall be my comfort in my way, To see the place where I may boldly say, Heere mighty Bedford forth the vaward led, Heere Talbot charg'd, and heere the Frenchmen fled, Heere with our Archers valiant Scales did lie, Heere stood the Tents of famous Willoughbie; Heere Mountacute rangde his conquering band, Heere forth we march'd, and heere we made a stand. What should we stand to mourne and grieue all day, For that which time doth easily take away? What fortune hurts, let patience onely heale, No wisedome with extreamities to deale. To know our selues to come of humane birth, These sad afflictions crosse vs heere on earth. A taxe imposde by heauens eternall law, To keepe our rude rebellious will in awe. In vaine we prize that at so deere a rate, Whose best assurance is a fickle state, And needelesse we examine our intent, When with preuention, we cannot preuent; When we ourselues fore-seeing cannot shun, That which before, with destinie doth run, Henry hath power, and may my life depose, Mine honour mine, that none hath power to lose; Then be as cheerefull, (beauteous royall Queene)

As in the Court of France we erst haue beene; As when arriu'd in Porchesters faire road, (Where, for our comming Henry made aboad) When in mine armes I brought thee safe to land, And gaue my loue to Henries royall hand, The happy howres we passed with the King, At faire South-hampton, long in banquetting, With such content as lodg'd in Henries breast, When he to London brought thee from the West; Through golden Cheape, when he in pompe did ride, To Westminster, to entertaine his Bride,

Notes of the Chronicle Historie.

Our Falcons kinde cannot the cage indure.

HE alludes in these verses to the Falcon, which was the antient deuice of the Poles, comparing the greatnesse and hawtinesse of his spirit, to the nature of this bird.

This was the meane prowd Warwicke did inuent, To my disgrace, &c.

The Commons at this Parlement, through Warwicks meanes, accused Suffolke of treason, and vrged the accusation so vehe∣mently, that the king was forced to exile him for fiue yeeres.

That onely I by yeelding vp of Maine, Should be the losse of fertile Aquitaine.

The Duke of Suffolke being sent into France to conclude a peace, chose Duke Rainers daughter, the Lady Margaret, whom he espoused for Henry the sixt, deliuering for her to her father, the Countries of Aniou and Maine, and the Citty of Mauns. Where∣upon the Earle of Arminach (whose daughter was before promi∣sed to the King) seeing himselfe to bee deluded, caused all the Englishmen to be expulsed Aquitino Gascoyne and Guyen.

With the base vulgar sort to win him same, To be the heyre of good Duke Humfreys name.

This Richard that was called the great Earle of Warwicke, when Duke Humfrey was dead, grew into exceeding great fauour with the Commons.

With Salisburie, his vile ambicious Sire, In Yorks sterne breast, kindling long hidden fire, By Clarence title, working to supplant, The Eagle Ayrie of great Iohn of Gaunt.

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Yorke, in the time of Henry the sixt, claimed the Crowne (being assisted by this Richard Nea••ll Earle of Salisburie, and father to the great Earle of Warwicke, who fauoured exceedingly the house of Yorke) in open Parlia∣ment, as heir to Lionell Duke of Clarence, the third sonne of Ed∣ward the third, making his title by Anne his Mother, wife to Ri∣chard Earle of Cambridge, sonne to Edmund of Langley, Duke of Yorke; which Anne was daughter to Roger Mortimer Earle of March, which Roger was sonne & heire to Edmund Mortimer that married the Ladie Philip, daughter and heire to Lionell Duke of Clarence, the third sonne of King Edward, to whom the crowne after King Richard the seconds death, linealy descended, he dying without issue. And not to the heires of the Duke of Lancaster, that was yonger brother to the Duke of Clarence. Hall. cap. 1. Tit. Yor. & Lanc.

Vrg'd by these enuious Lords to spend their breath, Calling reuenge on the Protectors death.

Humfrey Duke of Glocester, & Lord Protector in the 25. yeare of Henry the sixt, by the meanes of the Queene, and the Duke of Suffolke was arrested by the Lord Beumond, at the Parliament holden at Berrie, and the same night after murthered in his bed.

If they would know who robd him, &c. To this verse, To know how Humfrey died, and who shall raigne.

In these verses he iests at the Protectors wife, who (being accused & conuicted of treason, because with Iohn Hun a priest, Roger Bul∣lingbrooke a Negromancer, & Margery Iordan, called the Witch of Eie, she had consulted by sorcery to kil the king) was adiudged to

perpetuall prison in the Ile of Man, and to doe penance openly in three publique places in London.

For twentie yeares and haue I seru'd in Fraunce,

In the sixt yeare of Henry the sixt, the Duke of Bedford being deceased, then Lieutenant generall, and Regent of Fraunce; this Duke of Suffolke, was promoted to that dignity, hauing the Lord Talbot, Lord Scales, and the Lord Mountacute to assist him.

Against great Charles, and bastard Orleance.

This was Charles the seauenth, and after the death of Henry the fifth obtained the crowne of France, and recouered againe much of that his father had lost. Bastard Orleance, was sonne to the Duke of Orleance, begotten of the Lord Cawnies wife, preferred highly to many notable offices, because hee being a most valiant Captaine, was continuall enemie to the Englishmen, dayly infe∣sting them with diuerse incursions.

And haue I seene Vernoyla's batfull fields.

Vernoyle is that noted place in Fraunce, where the great battell was fought in the beginning of Henrie the sixt his raigne, where the most of the French Chiualrie were ouercome by the Duke of Bedford.

And from Aumerle with-drew my warlike powers,

Aumerle is that strong defenced towne in France, which the Duke of Suffolke got after 24. great assaults giuen vnto it.

And came my selfe in person first to Towers Th'Embassadours for truce to entertaine, From Belgia, Denmarke, Hungary and Spaine.

Towers is a Cittie in France, built by Brutus as hee came into Britaine, where, in the twentie and one yeare of the raigne of Henry the sixt, was appoynted a great diet to bee kept, whither came the Embassadours of the Empire, Spaine, Hungary, & Den∣marke, to entreate for a perpetuall peace, to bee made betweene the two Kings of England and Fraunce.

By truo descent to weare the Diadem, Of Naples, Cicilie, and Ierusalem.

Rainer Duke of Aniou, father to Queene Margaret, called him selfe King of Naples, Cicily, and Ierusalem, hauing the title alone of King of those Countries.

A fifteene taxe in Fraunce I freely spent.

The Duke of Suffolke, after the marriage concluded twixt King Henry and Margaret, daughter to duke Rayner, asked in open Parliament a whole fifteenth to fetch her into England.

Seene thee for England but imbarqu'd at Deepe.

Deepe is a towne in Fraunce, bordering vpon the Sea, where the Duke of Suffolke with Queene Margaret, tooke shippe for England.

As when arriu'd in Porchester faire Roade.

Porchester, a hauen towne in the South-west part of England, where the King tarried, expecting the Queenes arriuall, whom from thence he conuayed to South-hamton.