Complete Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Page 15
Which of long time hath been my guide.
Now faithful trust is in his stead,
And bids me set all fear aside.
O’ truth it is, I not deny, 5
All Lovers may not live in ease.
Yet some by hap doth hit truly;
So like may I, if that she please.
Why! so it is a gift, ye wot,
By nature one to love another. 10
And since that love doth fall by lot;
Then why not I, as well as other.
It may so be the cause is why,
She knoweth no part to my poor mind:
But yet as one assuredly 15
I speak nothing but as I find.
If Nature will, it shall so be:
No reason ruleth Fantasy.
Yet in this ease, as seemeth me,
I take all thing indifferently. 20
Yet uncertain I will rejoice,
And think to have, though yet thou hast.
I put my chance unto her choice
With patience, for power is past.
No! no! I know the like is fair 25
Without disdain or cruelty:
And so to end from all despair;
Until I find the contrary.
List of poems in chronological order
List of poems in alphabetical order
Secundus. Your fearful hope cannot prevail
YOUR fearful hope cannot prevail;
Nor yet faithful trust also.
Some thinks to hit, ofttimes do fail;
Whereby they change their wealth to woe.
What though! in that yet put no trust: 5
But always after as ye see.
For say your will, and do your lust;
There is no place for you to be.
No such within; ye are far out.
Your labour lost ye hope to save. 10
But once I put ye out of doubt;
The thing is had that ye would have.
Though to remain without remorse,
And pitiless to be opprest;
Yet is the course of Love, by force 15
To take all things unto the best.
Well! yet beware, if thou be wise:
And leave thy hope thy heat to cool:
For fear lest she thy love despise,
Reputing thee but as a fool. 20
Since this to follow of force thou must,
And by no reason can refrain;
Thy chance shall change thy least mistrust;
As thou shalt prove unto thy pain.
When with such pain thou shalt be paid, 25
The which shall pass all remedy;
Then think on this that I have said;
And blame thy foolish Fantasy.
FINIS.
The Poems
Consumed by paranoia and increasingly ill, Henry VIII became convinced that Surrey had planned to usurp the crown from his son Edward. The poet was imprisoned with his father, sentenced to death on 13 January 1547 and beheaded on Tower Hill for treason on 19 January 1547.
An execution at Tower Hill
Tower Hill today
LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORD ER
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF A LOVER, WITH SUIT TO HIS LADY, TO RUE ON HIS DYING HEART
DESCRIPTION OF SPRING, WHEREIN EVERY THING RENEWS, SAVE ONLY THE LOVER
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF A LOVER
DESCRIPTION OF THE FICKLE AFFECTIONS, PANGS, AND SLIGHTS OF LOVE
COMPLAINT OF A LOVER THAT DEFIED LOVE, AND WAS BY LOVE AFTER THE MORE TORMENTED
COMPLAINT OF A LOVER REBUKED
COMPLAINT OF THE LOVER DISDAINED
DESCRIPTION AND PRAISE OF HIS LOVE GERALDINE
THE FRAILTY AND HURTFULNESS OF BEAUTY
A COMPLAINT BY NIGHT OF THE LOVER NOT BELOVED
HOW EACH THING, SAVE THE LOVER IN SPRING, REVIVETH TO PLEASURE
A VOW TO LOVE FAITHFULLY, HOWSOEVER HE BE REWARDED
COMPLAINT THAT HIS LADY, AFTER SHE KNEW HIS LOVE, KEPT HER FACE ALWAYS HIDDEN FROM HIM
REQUEST TO HIS LOVE TO JOIN BOUNTY WITH BEAUTY
PRISONED IN WINDSOR, HE RECOUNTETH HIS PLEASURE THERE PASSED
THE LOVER COMFORTETH HIMSELF WITH THE WORTHINESS OF HIS LOVE
COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER BEING UPON THE SEA
COMPLAINT OF A DYING LOVER REFUSED UPON HIS LADY’S UNJUST MISTAKING OF HIS WRITING
COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER, BEING UPON THE SEA
A PRAISE OF HIS LOVE, WHEREIN HE REPROVETH THEM THAT COMPARE THEIR LADIES WITH HIS
TO HIS MISTRESS
TO THE LADY THAT SCORNED HER LOVER
A WARNING TO THE LOVER, HOW HE IS ABUSED BY HIS LOVE
THE FORSAKEN LOVER DESCRIBETH AND FORSAKETH LOVE
THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS RESTLESS STATE
THE LOVER EXCUSETH HIMSELF OF SUSPECTED CHANGE
A CARELESS MAN SCORNING AND DESCRIBING THE SUBTLE USAGE OF WOMEN TOWARD THEIR LOVERS
AN ANSWER IN THE BEHALF OF A WOMAN. OF AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR
THE CONSTANT LOVER LAMENTETH
A SONG WRITTEN BY THE EARL OF SURREY OF A LADY THAT REFUSED TO DANCE WITH HIM
THE FAITHFUL LOVER DECLARETH HIS PAINS AND HIS UNCERTAIN JOYS, AND WITH ONLY HOPE RECOMFORTETH SOMEWHAT HIS WOFUL HEART
THE MEANS TO ATTAIN HAPPY LIFE
PRAISE OF MEAN AND CONSTANT ESTATE
PRAISE OF CERTAIN PSALMS OF DAVID. TRANSLATED BY SIR THOMAS WYATT THE ELDER
OF THE DEATH OF SIR THOMAS WYATT
OF THE SAME
OF THE SAME
AN EPITAPH ON CLERE, SURREY’S FAITHFUL FRIEND AND FOLLOWER
ON SARDANAPALUS’S DISHONOURABLE LIFE AND MISERABLE DEATH
HOW NO AGE IS CONTENT WITH HIS OWN ESTATE, AND HOW THE AGE OF CHILDREN IS THE HAPPIEST IF THEY HAD SKILL TO UNDERSTAND IT
BONUM EST MIHI QUOD HUMILIASTI ME
EXHORTATION TO LEARN BY OTHERS’ TROUBLE
THE FANCY OF A WEARIER LOVER
A SATIRE AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF LONDON
A DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF THE LOVER WHEN ABSENT FROM THE MISTRESS OF HIS HEART
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
PROEM
PSALM LXXXVIII
PSALM LXXIII
THOUGH, LORD, TO ISRAEL
PSALM LV
PSALM VIII
SECUNDUS. YOUR FEARFUL HOPE CANNOT PREVAIL
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORD ER
A CARELESS MAN SCORNING AND DESCRIBING THE SUBTLE USAGE OF WOMEN TOWARD THEIR LOVERS
A COMPLAINT BY NIGHT OF THE LOVER NOT BELOVED
A DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF THE LOVER WHEN ABSENT FROM THE MISTRESS OF HIS HEART
A PRAISE OF HIS LOVE, WHEREIN HE REPROVETH THEM THAT COMPARE THEIR LADIES WITH HIS
A SATIRE AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF LONDON
A SONG WRITTEN BY THE EARL OF SURREY OF A LADY THAT REFUSED TO DANCE WITH HIM
A VOW TO LOVE FAITHFULLY, HOWSOEVER HE BE REWARDED
A WARNING TO THE LOVER, HOW HE IS ABUSED BY HIS LOVE
AN ANSWER IN THE BEHALF OF A WOMAN. OF AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR
AN EPITAPH ON CLERE, SURREY’S FAITHFUL FRIEND AND FOLLOWER
BONUM EST MIHI QUOD HUMILIASTI ME
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
COMPLAINT OF A DYING LOVER REFUSED UPON HIS LADY’S UNJUST MISTAKING OF HIS WRITING
COMPLAINT OF A LOVER REBUKED
COMPLAINT OF A LOVER THAT DEFIED LOVE, AND WAS BY LOVE AFTER THE MORE TORMENTED
COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER BEING UPON THE SEA
COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER, BEING UPON THE SEA
COMPLAINT OF THE LOVER DISDAINED
COMPLAINT THAT HIS LADY, AFTER SHE KNEW HIS LOVE, KEPT HER FACE ALWAYS HIDDEN FROM HIM
DESCRIPTION AND
PRAISE OF HIS LOVE GERALDINE
DESCRIPTION OF SPRING, WHEREIN EVERY THING RENEWS, SAVE ONLY THE LOVER
DESCRIPTION OF THE FICKLE AFFECTIONS, PANGS, AND SLIGHTS OF LOVE
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF A LOVER, WITH SUIT TO HIS LADY, TO RUE ON HIS DYING HEART
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESTLESS STATE OF A LOVER
EXHORTATION TO LEARN BY OTHERS’ TROUBLE
HOW EACH THING, SAVE THE LOVER IN SPRING, REVIVETH TO PLEASURE
HOW NO AGE IS CONTENT WITH HIS OWN ESTATE, AND HOW THE AGE OF CHILDREN IS THE HAPPIEST IF THEY HAD SKILL TO UNDERSTAND IT
OF THE DEATH OF SIR THOMAS WYATT
OF THE SAME
OF THE SAME
ON SARDANAPALUS’S DISHONOURABLE LIFE AND MISERABLE DEATH
PRAISE OF CERTAIN PSALMS OF DAVID. TRANSLATED BY SIR THOMAS WYATT THE ELDER
PRAISE OF MEAN AND CONSTANT ESTATE
PRISONED IN WINDSOR, HE RECOUNTETH HIS PLEASURE THERE PASSED
PROEM
PSALM LV
PSALM LXXIII
PSALM LXXXVIII
PSALM VIII
REQUEST TO HIS LOVE TO JOIN BOUNTY WITH BEAUTY
SECUNDUS. YOUR FEARFUL HOPE CANNOT PREVAIL
THE CONSTANT LOVER LAMENTETH
THE FAITHFUL LOVER DECLARETH HIS PAINS AND HIS UNCERTAIN JOYS, AND WITH ONLY HOPE RECOMFORTETH SOMEWHAT HIS WOFUL HEART
THE FANCY OF A WEARIER LOVER
THE FORSAKEN LOVER DESCRIBETH AND FORSAKETH LOVE
THE FRAILTY AND HURTFULNESS OF BEAUTY
THE LOVER COMFORTETH HIMSELF WITH THE WORTHINESS OF HIS LOVE
THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS RESTLESS STATE
THE LOVER EXCUSETH HIMSELF OF SUSPECTED CHANGE
THE MEANS TO ATTAIN HAPPY LIFE
THOUGH, LORD, TO ISRAEL
TO HIS MISTRESS
TO THE LADY THAT SCORNED HER LOVER
The Biography
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey by Hans Holbein, c.1542
HENRY HOWARD by Sidney Lee
HOWARD, HENRY, Earl of Surrey, born about 1517, was eldest son of Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards third duke of Norfolk (1473?-1554) q.v., by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham. Thomas Howard, second duke of Norfolk q. v., was his grandfather, and he was usually known in youth as ‘ Henry Howard of Kenninghall,’ one of his grandfather’s residences in Norfolk, which may have been his birthplace. He spent each winter and spring, until he was seven, at his father’s house, Stoke Hall, Suffolk, and each summer with his grandfather at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. On the death of the latter in 1524 his father became Duke of Norfolk, and he was thenceforth known by the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey. He was with his family at Kenninghall between 1524 and 1529. On 23 July 1529 he visited the priory of Butley, Suffolk, with his father, who was negotiating the sale of Staverton Park to the prior. Surrey was carefully educated, studying classical and modern literature, and making efforts in verse from an early age. Leland was tutor to his brother Thomas about 1525, and may have given him some instruction. John Clerk (d. 1552) q. v., who was domesticated about the same time with the family, seems to have been his chief instructor. In dedicating his ‘Treatise of Nobility’ (1543) to Norfolk, Clerk commends translations which Surrey made in his childhood from Latin, Italian, and Spanish. In December 1529 Henry VIII asked the Duke of Norfolk to allow Surrey to become the companion of his natural son, Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond q. v., who was Surrey’s junior by sixteen months (Bapst, pp. 164-5). He thus spent, in the words of his own poems, his ‘childish years’ (1530 to 1532) at Windsor ‘with a king’s son.’ As early as 1526 Norfolk purchased the wardship of Elizabeth, daughter of John, second lord Marney, with a view to marrying her to Surrey. But at the end of 1529 Anne Boleyn urged Henry VIII to affiance his daughter, the Princess Mary, to the youth. On 14 Sept. 1530 Chappuys, the imperial ambassador in London, wrote to his master for instructions as to the attitude he should assume towards the scheme. But in October Anne Boleyn’s views changed, and she persuaded the duke, who reluctantly consented, to arrange for Surrey’s marriage with Frances, daughter of John Vere, fifteenth earl of Oxford. The contract was signed on 13 Feb. 1531-2, and the marriage took place before April, but on account of their youth husband and wife did not live together till 1535. In October 1532 Surrey accompanied Henry VIII and the Duke of Richmond to Boulogne, when the English king had an interview with Francis I. In accordance with arrangements then made, Richmond and Surrey spent eleven months at the French court. Francis first entertained them at Chantilly, and in the spring of 1533 they travelled with him to the south. The king’s sons were their constant companions, and Surrey impressed the king and the princes very favourably. In July 1533 Pope Clement VII tried to revive the project of a marriage between Surrey and Princess Mary, in the belief that he might thus serve the interests of Queen Catherine. Surrey returned to London to carry the fourth sword before the king at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in June 1533, and finally quitted France in September 1533 (Chron. of Calais, 1846, Camden Soc., p.41), when Richmond came home to marry Surrey’s sister Mary. In March 1534 Surrey’s mother separated from his father on the ground of the duke’s adultery with Elizabeth Holland, an attendant in the duke’s nursery. In the long domestic quarrel Surrey sided with his father, and was denounced by his mother as an ‘ungracious son’ (Wood, Letters of Illustrious Ladies, ii. 225). In 1535 Surrey’s wife joined him at Kenninghall. He was in pecuniary difficulties at the time, and borrowed money of John Reeve, abbot of Bury, in June.
At Anne Boleyn’s trial (15 May 1536) Surrey acted as earl marshal in behalf of his father, who presided by virtue of his office of lord treasurer (cf. Wriothesley, Chron. i. 37). On 22 July 1536 his friend and brother-in-law, Richmond, died, and he wrote with much feeling of his loss. He accompanied his father to Yorkshire to repress the rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace in October 1536. A report went abroad that Surrey secretly sympathised with the insurgents, and in June 1537 he struck a courtier who repeated the rumour in the park at Hampton Court. The privy council ordered him into confinement at Windsor, and there he devoted himself chiefly to writing poetry. He was released before 12 Nov. 1537, when he was a principal mourner in the funeral procession of Jane Seymour from Hampton to Windsor. On New-year’s day 1538 he presented Henry VIII with three gilt bowls and a cover. Early in 1539 there was some talk at court of sending Surrey into Cleves to assist in arranging the treaty for the marriage of Henry VIII with Anne of Cleves, and later in the year he was employed to organise the defence of Norfolk, in view of a threatened invasion. On 3 May 1540 Surrey distinguished himself at the jousts held at Westminster to celebrate the marriage of Henry with Anne of Cleves (cf. ib. i. 118). Later in the year he rejoiced openly over the fall of Cromwell, which restored his father’s influence with the king. On 21 May 1541 Surrey was installed knight of the Garter, and in September was appointed steward of the university of Cambridge, in succession to Cromwell. On 8 Dec. he was granted many manors in Suffolk and Norfolk, most of which he subsequently sold, and in February 1541-2, in order apparently to clear himself from the suspicions which attached to many of his kinsmen at the time, he attended the execution of his cousin, Queen Catherine Howard.
In a recorded conversation which took place between two of Cromwell’s agents in 1539, Surrey was described by one of the interlocutors as ‘the most foolish proud boy that is in England.’ It was urged in reply that the earl was wise, and that, although his pride was great, experience would correct it (Archæologia, xxiii. 62). That he could ill control his temper, and that his pride in his ancestry passed reasonable bounds, there is much to prove elsewhere. In 1542 he quarrelled with one John à Leigh, and was committed to the Fleet by the privy council. In a petition for release he attributed his conduct to ‘the fury of reckless youth,’ and promised henceforward to bridle his ‘heady will.’ On 7 Aug. he was released on entering into recognisances in ten thousand marks to be of good behaviour, and he accompanied his father on the
expedition into Scotland in October. In the same month the death of Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder q.v. inspired a pathetic elegy by Surrey. But Surrey, although a student of Wyatt’s literary work, was not personally very intimate with him. In political and religious questions they took opposite sides. Wyatt’s son and Surrey were, however, well known to each other.
On 1 April 1543 Surrey was charged before the privy council with having eaten flesh in Lent, and with having broken at night the windows of citizens’ houses and of churches in the city of London by shooting small pebbles at them with a stone-bow. A servant, Pickering, and the younger Wyatt were arrested as his accomplices. On the first charge he pleaded a license; he admitted his guilt on the second accusation, but subsequently, in a verse ‘satire against the citizens of London,’ made the eccentric defence that he had been scandalised by the irreligious life led by the Londoners, and had endeavoured by his attack on their windows to prepare them for divine retribution. According to the evidence of a Mistress Arundel, whose house Surrey and his friends were accustomed to frequent for purposes of amusement, the affair was a foolish practical joke. The servants of the house hinted in their deposition that Surrey demanded of his friends the signs of respect usual only in the case of princes. Surrey was sent to the Fleet prison for a few months.
In October 1543 Surrey, fully restored to the king’s favour, joined the army under Sir John Wallop, which was engaged with the emperor’s forces in besieging Landrecy, then in the hands of the French. Charles V, in a letter to Henry VIII, praised Surrey’s ‘gentil cueur’ (21 Oct.). The campaign closed in November, and Surrey returned to England, after taking leave of the emperor in a special audience at Valenciennes (18 Nov.) Henry received him kindly, and made him his cupbearer. In February 1544 he was directed to entertain one of the emperor’s generals, the Duke de Najera, on a visit to England. He was then occupying himself in building a sumptuous house, Mount Surrey, near Norwich, on the site of the Benedictine priory of St. Leonards, and there, or at his father’s house at Lambeth, Hadrianus Junius resided with him as tutor to his sons, and Thomas Churchyard the poet as a page. Mount Surrey was destroyed in the Norfolk insurrection of 1549 (cf. Blomefield, Norfolk, iv. 427). In June 1544 he was appointed marshal of the army which was despatched to besiege Montreuil. The vanguard was commanded by Norfolk, Surrey’s father, who wrote home enthusiastically of his son’s bravery. On 19 Sept. Surrey was wounded in a futile attempt to storm Montreuil, and his life was only saved by the exertions of his friend Thomas Clere. When the siege was raised a few days later, Surrey removed to Boulogne, which Henry VIII had just captured in person, and seems to have returned to England with his father in December. On St. George’s day 1545 he attended a chapter of the Garter at St. James’s Palace, and in July 1545 he was at Kenninghall.