Michael Drayton- Collected Poetical Works

by Michael Drayton

  And Englands flower remain’d amongst vs then;

  Gloster, whose counsels (Nestor-like) assist,

  Couragious Bedford, that great martiallist;

  Clarence, for vertue honoured of his foes,

  And Yorke, whose fame yet daily greater growes,

  Warwicke, the pride of Neuels haughtie race,

  Great Salisburie, so fear’d in euery place.

  That valiant Poole, whom no atchiuement dares,

  And Vere, so famous in the Irish warres,

  who though my selfe so great a Prince were borne,

  The worst of these my equall neede not scorne;

  But Henries rare perfections and his parts,

  As conquering kingdoms, so he conquer’d harts.

  As chast was I to him, as Queene might bee,

  But freed from him, my chast loue vow’d to thee;

  Beautie doth fetch all fauour from thy face,

  All perfect courtship resteth in thy grace.

  If thou discourse, thy lips such accents breake,

  As loue a spirit, foorth of thee seem’d to speake.

  The Brittish language, which our vowels wants,

  And iarrs so much vpon harsh consonants,

  Comes with such grace from thy mellifluous tong•e,

  As doe the sweet notes of a well set song,

  And runnes as smoothly from those lips of thine,

  As the pure Thuskan from the Florantine;

  Leauing such seasoned sweetnes in the eare,

  As the voyce past, yet still the found is there;

  In Nisus Tower, as when Apollo lay,

  And on his golden viall vs’d to play,

  where sencelesse stones were with such musick drownd,

  As many yeeres they did retaine the sound.

  Let not the beames that greatnes doth reflect

  Amaze thy hopes with timerous respect,

  Assure thee Tudor, maiestie can be

  As kinde in loue, as can the mean’st degree,

  And the embraces of a Queene as true,

  As theyrs (might iudge them) much aduaunc’d by you,

  when in our greatnes our affections craue

  Those secret ioyes that other women haue;

  So I (a Queene) be soueraigne in my choyse,

  Let others fawne vpon the publique voyce,

  Or what (by this) can euer hap to thee,

  Light in respect to be belou’d of mee.

  Let peeuish worldlings prate of right and wrong,

  Leaue plaints and pleas, to whom they doe belong,

  Let old men speake of chaunces and euents,

  And Lawyers talke of titles, and discents,

  Leaue fond reports to such as stories tell,

  And couenaunts to those that buy and sell;

  Loue my sweet Tudor, that becomes thee best,

  And to our good successe referre the rest.

  Notes of the Chronicle Historie.

  Great Henry sought to accomplish his desire,

  Armed, &c.

  HENRY the fift making clayme vnto the Crowne of Fraunce, first sought by Armes to subdue the French, and after sought by marriage to confirme what he got by conquest, the heate and furie of which inuasion, is alluded to the fixtion of Semele in Ouid: which by the craftie perswasion of Iuno, requested Ioue to come vnto her, as he was wont to come vnto his wife Iuno, who at her request hee yeelding vnto, destroyed her in a tempest.

  Incamp’d at Melans in wars hote alarmes,

  First, &c.

  Neere vnto Melans, vpon the Riuer of Scyne, was the appoynted place of parley, betweene the two Kings of England, and Fraunce, to which place, Isabell the Queene of Fraunce, and the Duke of Burgoyne, brought the young Princesse Katherine, where King Henry first saw her.

  And on my temples set a double Crowne.

  Henry the fift, and Queene Katherine, were taken as King and Queene of Fraunce, and during the life of Charles the French King, Henry was called King of England, and heire of Fraunce, & after the death of Henry the fift, Henry the sixt his son, then being very young, was crowned at Paris, as true and lawfull king of England & Fraunce.

  At Troy in Champaine he did first enioy,

  Troy in Champayn, was the place where that victorious king Henrie the fift maried the Princesse Katherine, in the presence of the chiefe nobilitie of the Realmes of England and Fraunce.

  Nor these great tytles vainely will I bring,

  Wife, daughter, Mother, &c.

  Few Queenes of England, or Fraunce, were euer more princelie alied then this Queene, as it hath been noted by Historiographers.

  Nor thinke so Tudor, that this loue of mine,

  Should wrong the Gaunt-borne• &c.

  Noting the descent of Henry her husband, fro¯ Iohn Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward the third, which Duke Iohn was sirnamed Gaunt, of the citty of Gaunt in Flaunders, where he was borne.

  Nor stir the English blood, the sunne and Moone,

  T’repine &c.

  Alluding the greatnes of the English line, to Phoebus & Phoebe, fained to be the children of Latona, whose heauenly kind might scorne to be ioyned with any earthlie progenie: yet withall, boasting the blood of Fraunce, as not inferiour to theirs. And with this allusion followeth on the historie of the strife betwixt Iuno and the race of Cadmus, whose issue was afflicted by the wrath of heauen. The chyldren of Niobe slaine, for which the wofull mother became a Rock, gushing forth continually a fountaine of teares.

  And Iohn and Longshanks issue, both affied,

  Lhewellin or Leolin ap Iorwerth, married Ioane, daughter to King Iohn, a most beautifull Lady. Some Authours affirme that shee was base borne, Lhewellin ap Gryfith maried Ellenor, daughter to Simon Montfort, Earle of Leicester, and Cosin to Edward Longshanks, both which Lhewellins were Princes of Wales.

  Of Camilot and all her Pentecosts,

  A Nephewes roome, &c

  Camilot, the auncient Pallace of King Arthur, to which place all the Knights of that famous order yeerely repaired at Penticost according to the lawe of the Table, and most of the famous home-borne Knights were of that Countrie, as to this day is perceiued by theyr auncient monuments.

  When bloody Rufus sought your vtter sacke,

  Noting the ill successe which that William Rufus had in two voyages he made into Wales, in which a number of his chiefe Nobilitie were slaine.

  And oft return’d with glorious victorie.

  Nothing the diuers sundry incursions that the Welchmen made into England, in the time of Rufus, Iohn, Henry the second, & Longshankes.

  Owen Tudor to Queene Katherine.

  WHEN first mine eyes beheld your princely name,

  And found from whence this friendly letter came,

  As in excesse of ioy my selfe forgot,

  whether I saw it, or I saw it not;

  My panting hart doth bid mine eyes proceede,

  My dazeled eye, inuites my tongue to reede;

  Mine eye should guide my tongue, amazed mist it,

  My lips which now should speake, are dombe, and kist it,

  And leaues the paper in my trembling hand,

  when all my sences so amazed stand;

  Euen as a mother comming to her child,

  which from her presence hath beene long exil’d,

  with tender armes his gentle necke doth straine,

  Now kissing him, now clipping him againe;

  And yet excessiue yoy deludes her so,

  As still she doubts if this be hers or no;

  At length awak’ned from this pleasing dreame,

  when passion som-what leaues to be extreame,

  My longing eyes, with their faire obiect meete,

  where euery letter’s pleasing, each word sweete.

  It was not Henries conquests, nor his Court,

  That had the power to win me by report,

  Nor was his dreadfull terror-striking name,

  The cause that I from Wales to England came,

  For Christian Rhod
es, and our religious truth,

  To great atchieuements first had wone my youth;

  Before aduenture did my valour proue,

  Before I yet knew what it was to loue;

  Nor came I hether by some poore euent,

  But by th’eternall Destinies consent,

  whose vncomprised wisedomes did fore-see,

  That you in marriage should be linck’d to mee.

  By our great Merlin, was it not fore-told,

  (Amongst his holy prophecies enrold)

  when first he did of Tudors fame diuine,

  That Kings and Queenes should follow in our line?

  And that the Helme, (the Tudors auncient Crest)

  Should with the golden Flower-delice be drest;

  And that the Leeke, (our Countries chiefe renowne)

  Should grow with Roses, in the English Crowne:

  As Charles fayre daughter, you the Lilly weare,

  As Henries Queene, the blushing Rose you beare;

  By Fraunce’s conquest, and by Englands oth,

  You are the true made dowager of both;

  Both in your crowne, both in your cheeke together,

  Ioyne Tethers loue to yours, and yours to Tether.

  Then make no future doubts, nor feare no hate,

  when it so long hath beene fore-told by Fate;

  And by the all-disposing doome of heauen,

  Before our births, vnto one bed were giuen

  No Pallas heere, nor Iuno is at all,

  when I to Venus giue the golden ball;

  Nor when the Graecians wonder I enioy,

  None in reuenge to kindle fire in Troy.

  And haue not strange euents diuin’d to vs,

  That in our loue we should be prosperous.

  When in your presence I was call’d to daunce,

  In lofty tricks whilst I my selfe aduaunce,

  And in my turne, my footing fail’d by hap,

  was’t not my chaunce to light into your lap?

  who would not iudge it fortunes greatest grace,

  Sith he must fall, to fall in such a place?

  His birth from heauen, your Tudor not deriues,

  Nor stands on tip-toes in superlatiues,

  Although the enuious English doe deuise

  A thousand iests of our hyperbolies;

  Nor doe I claime that plot by auncient deedes,

  where Phoebus pastures his fire-breathing steeds;

  Nor do I boast my God-made Grandsires skars,

  Nor Giants trophies in the Tytans wars;

  Nor faine my birth (your princely ears to please)

  By three nights getting as was Hercules,

  Nor doe I forge my long descent to runne

  From aged Neptune, or the glorious Sunne,

  And yet in Wales with them most famous bee

  Our learned Bards doe sing my pedigree,

  And boast my birth from great Cadwallader,

  From old Cair-septon, in Mount Palador,

  And from Eneons line, the South-wales King,

  By Theodor the Tudors name doe bring.

  My royall mothers princely stock began,

  From her great Grandam faire Gwenellian;

  By true descent from Leolin the great,

  As well from North-wales as faire Powslands seat;

  Though for our princely Genealogie,

  I doe not stand to make Apologie;

  Yet who with iudgements true vnpartiall eyes,

  Shall looke from whence our name at first did rise,

  Shall find that Fortune is to vs in debt;

  And why not Tudor, as Plantaginet;

  Nor that terme Croggen, nick-name of disgrace,

  Vs’d as a by-word now in euery place,

  Shall blot our blood, or wrong a Welchmans name,

  which was at first begot with Englands shame.

  Our valiant swords, our right did still maintaine,

  Against that cruell, proud, vsurping Dane;

  And buckl’d in so many dangerous fights,

  with Norwayes, Swethens, and with Muscouits,

  And kept our natiue language now thus long,

  And to this day yet neuer chang’d our tong;

  when they which now our Nation faine would tame,

  Subdu’d, haue lost their Country, and their name:

  Nor neuer could the Saxons swords prouoke,

  Our Brittaine necks to beare their seruile yoke,

  where Cambrias pleasant Countries bounded bee,

  with swelling Seuerne, and the holy Dee;

  And since great Brutus first arriu’d, haue stood,

  The onely remnant of the Troian blood.

  To euery man is not allotted chaunce,

  To boast with Henry to haue conquer’d Fraunce;

  Yet if my fortunes thus may raised be,

  This may presage a farther good to me.

  And our S. Dauid, in the Brittaines right,

  May ioyne with George, the sainted English Knight,

  And old Caer-marden, Merlins famous towne,

  Not scorn’d by London, though of such renowre,

  Ah would to God, that houre my hopes attend,

  were with my wish, brought to desired end,

  Blame me not Madame, though I thus desire,

  when eyes, with enuie doe my hap admire;

  Till now your beauty in nights bosome slept,

  what eye durst stir, where awfull Henry kept•

  Who durst attempt to saile but neere the bay,

  where that all-conquering great Alcides lay?

  Thy beauty now is set a royall prize,

  And Kings repaire to cheapen merchandize.

  If thou but walke to take the breathing ayre,

  Orithia makes me that I Boreas feare,

  If to the fire, Ioue once in lightning came,

  And faire Egina make me feare the flame.

  If in the sunne, then sad suspition dreames

  Phoebus should spread Lucothoe in his beames,

  If in a fountaine thou doo’st coole thy blood,

  Neptune I feare, which once came in a flood;

  If with thy maides, I dread Apollos rape,

  who cus•ed Chion in an old wiues shape;

  If thou doost banquet Bacchus makes me dread,

  who in a grape Erigone did feede;

  And if my selfe the chamber doore should kepe,

  Yet fea•e I Hermes, comming in a sleepe,

  Pardon (sweet Queene) if I offend in this,

  In these delayes, loue most impatient is;

  And youth wants power his hote spleene to suppresse,

  when hope alreadie banquets in excesse.

  Though Henries fame, in me you shall not find,

  Yet that which better shall content your mind;

  But onely in the title of a King

  was his aduantage, in no other thing:

  If in his loue more pleasure you did take,

  Neuer let Queene trust Brittaine for my sake.

  Yet iudge me not from modestie exempt,

  That I another Phaetons charge attempt;

  My mind that thus your fauours dare aspire,

  Declare a temper of celestiall fire;

  If loue a fault, the more is beauties blame,

  when she her selfe is author of the same.

  All men to some one quallitie incline,

  Onely to loue, is naturally mine.

  Thou art by beauty famous, as by birth.

  Ordain’d by heauen, to cheere the drouping earth,

  Adde faithfull loue vnto your greater state,

  And then a-like in all things fortunate.

  A King might promise more, I not denie,

  But yet (by heauen) he lou’d not more then I.

  And thus I leaue, till time my faith approue,

  I cease to write, but neuer cease to loue.

  Notes of the Chronicle Historie.

  And that the helme, the Tudors ancient Crest,

  THE Armes
of Tudor was the Helmes of mens heads, whereof hee speaketh as a thing prophetically fore told of Merlin.

  When in thy presence I was call’d to daunce.

  Owen Tudor, being a courtly and actiue Gentleman, commaunded once to daunce before the Queene, in a turne (not beeing able to recouer himselfe) fell into her lappe, as shee sate vppon a little stoole, with many of her Ladies about her.

  And yet with them in Wales most famous be,

  Our learned Bards, &c.

  This Berdh, as they call it in the Brittish tongue, or as wee more properly say Bard, or Bardus, be their Poets, which keepe the records of Petigrees and discents, and sing in odes and measures to the Harps, after the old manner of the Lirick Poets.

  And boast my blood from great Cadwallader.

  Cadwallader, the last King of the Brittaines, descended of the noble and auncient race of the Troyans, to whom an Angell appeared. commaunding him to goe to Rome to Pope Sergius, where he ended his life.

  Since faire Caer-Septon in mount Paladar,

  Caer-Septon, now called Shaftsbury, at whose building it was said, an Eagle prophecied (or rather one named Aquila) of the fame of that place, and of the recouerie of the Ile of the Brittaines, bringing backe with them the bones of Cadwallader from Rome.

  And from Eneons line, the South-wales King,

  From Theodor, &c.

  This Eneon was slaine by the Rebels of Gwentsland, hee was a noble and worthy Gentleman, who in his life did many noble acts, and was Father to Theodor, or Tudor Maur, of whom descended the Princes of Southwales.

  From her great Grandam faire Guenelliam,

  Guenelliam, the daughter of Rees ap Greffeth, ap Theodor, Prince of South-wales, married Edniuet Vahan, auncestor to Owen Tudor.

  By true descent from Liolin the great,

  This is the Lewhelin, called Liolinus magnus, Prince of Northwales.

  Nor that word Croggen, nick-name of disgrace.

  In the voyage that Henry the second made against the Welchmen, as his Souldiours passed Offas ditch at Croggen Castle, they were ouerthrowne by the Welchmen, which word Croggen, hath since beene vsed to the Welchmens disgrace, which was at first begun with their honour.

  And old Caer-Merdin, Merlins famous towne,

  Caer-Merdin, or Merlins Towne, so called of Merlins beeing found there. This was Ambrose Merlin, whose prophecies we• haue. There was another of that name, called Merlin Siluestris, borne in Scotland, surnamed Calidonius, of the Forrest Calidon, where he prophecied.

  And kept our natiue language now thus long.

  The Welchmen be those auncient Brittaines, which when the Picks, Danes, and Saxons inuaded heere, were first diuen into those parts, where they haue kept their language euer fince the first, without commixion with any other language.