Michael Drayton- Collected Poetical Works

by Michael Drayton

  Expressing both the wealth and brauery of the Land.

  (So many sumptuous Bowres, within so little space,

  The All-beholding Sun scarse sees in all his race.)

  And on by London leads, which like a Crescent lies,

  Whose windowes seem to mock the Star-befreckled skies;

  Besides her rising Spyres, so thick themselues that show,

  As doe the bristling reeds, within his Banks that growe.

  There sees his crouded Wharfes, and people-pestred shores,

  His Bosome ouer-spread, with shoales of labouring ores:

  With that most costly Bridge, that doth him most renowne,

  By which he cleerely puts all other Riuers downe.

  Thus furnished with all that appertain’d to State,

  Desired by the Floods (his Greatnes which awayt)

  That as the rest before, so somewhat he would sing,

  Both worthy of their praise, and of himselfe their King;

  A Catalogue of those, the Scepter heer that swayd,

  The Princely Tames recites, and thus his Song he laid;

  As Bastard William first, by Conquest hither came,

  And brought the Norman Rule, vpon the English name:

  So with a tedious warre, and almost endlesse toyles,

  Throughout his troubled raigne, here held his hard-got spoyles.

  Deceasing at the last, through his vnsetled State,

  Left (with his ill-got Crown) vnnaturall debate.

  For, dying at his home, his eldest sonne abroad

  (Who, in the Holy-warre, his person then bestow’d)

  His second Rufus next vsurpt the wronged raigne:

  And by a fatall dart, in his New Forrest slaine,

  Whilst in his proper right religious Robert slept,

  Through craft into the Throne, the younger Beau-cleark crept.

  From whom his Scepter, then, whil’st Robert stroue to wrest,

  The other (of his power that amply was possest)

  With him in battell ioyn’d: and, in that dreadfull day

  (Where Fortune shew’d her selfe all humane power to sway)

  Duke Robert went to wrack; and taken in the flight,

  Was by that cruell King depriu’d of his sight,

  And in close prison put; where miserably he dy’d:

  But Henries whole intent was by iust heauen deny’d.

  For, as of light, and life, he that sad Lord bereft;

  So his, to whom the Land, he purpos’d to haue left,

  The raging Seas deuowr’d, as hitherward they saild.

  When, in this Line direct, the Conquerors issue faild,

  Twixt Henries Daughter Mauld, the Almayne Emperours Bride

  (Which after to the Earle of Aniou was affi’d)

  And Stephen Earle of Bloys, the Conquerors Sisters son,

  A fierce and cruell war immediately begun;

  Who with their seuerall powers, arriued here from France,

  By force of hostile Armes, their Titles to aduance.

  But, Stephen, what by coyne, and what by forraine strength,

  Through Worlds of danger gain’d the glorious goale at length.

  But, left without an heyre, the Empresse issue next,

  No Title else on foote; vpon so faire pretext,

  The second Henry soon vpon the Throne was set,

  (Which Mauld to Ieffrey bare) the first Plantaginet.

  Who held strong wars with Wales, that his subiection spurn’d:

  Which oftentimes he beat; and, beaten oft, return’d:

  With his sterne Children vext: who (whil’st he stroue t’aduance

  His right within this Ile) rays’d war on him in France.

  With his hie fame in fight, what colde brest was not fir’d?

  Through all the Westerne world, for wisedome most admyr’d.

  Then Richard got the Rule, his most renowned sonne.

  Whose courage, him the name of Cure De Lion won.

  With those first earthly Gods, had this braue Prince been borne,

  His darling hand had from Alcides shoulders torne

  The Nemean Lyon’s hyde: who in the Holy-land

  So dreadfull was, as though from Ioue and Neptunes hand,

  The thundring three-forkt Fire, and Trident he had reft,

  And him to rule their charge they only then had left.

  Him Iohn againe succeeds; who, hauing put-away

  Yong Arthur (Richards sonne) the Scepter took to sway.

  Who, of the common-wealth first hauock hauing made,

  His sacrilegious hands vpon the Churches laid,

  In cruelty and rape continuing out his raigne;

  That his outrageous lust and courses to restraine,

  The Baronage were forc’t defensiue Armes to raise,

  Their daughters to redeeme, that he by force would seise.

  Which the first Ciuill warre in England here begun.

  And for his sake such hate his sonne young Henry won,

  That to depose their Prince, th’reuengefull people thought;

  And from the Line of France yong Lewes to haue brought,

  To take on him our Rule: but, Henry got the Throne,

  By his more forcefull friends: who, wise and puissant growne,

  The generall Charter seiz’d: that into slauery drew

  The freest borne English blood. Of which such discord grew,

  And in the Barons breasts so rough combustions rais’d,

  With much expence of blood as long was not appeaz’d,

  By strong and tedious gusts held vp on either side,

  Betwixt the Prince and Peeres, with equall power and pride.

  He knew the worst of warre, matcht with the Barons strong;

  Yet victor liu’d, and raign’d both happily and long.

  This long-liu’d Prince expyr’d: the next succeeded; he,

  Of vs, that for a God might well related be.

  Our Long-shanks, Scotlands scourge: who to the Orcads raught

  His Scepter, and with him from wilde Albania brought

  The reliques of her Crowne (by him first placed here)

  The seat on which her Kings inaugurated were.

  He tam’d the desperate welsb, that out so long had stood,

  And made them take a Prince, sprong of the English blood.

  This Ile, from Sea to Sea, he generally controld,

  And made the other parts of England both to holde.

  This Edward, first of ours, a second then ensues;

  Who both his Name and Birth, by loosenes, did abuse:

  Faire Ganimeds and Fools who rais’d to Princely places;

  And chose not men for wit, but only for their faces.

  In parasites and knaues, as he repos’d his trust,

  Who sooth’d him in his wayes apparantly vniust;

  For that preposterous sinne wherein he did offend,

  In his posteriour parts had his preposterous end.

  A third then, of that name, amends for this did make:

  Who from his idle sire seem’d nought at all to take.

  But as his Grand-sire did his Empires verge aduance:

  So led he his powers, into the heart of France.

  And fastning on that Right, he by his mother had,

  Against the Salique law, which vtterly forbad

  Their women to enherite; to propagate his Cause,

  At Cressey with his sword first cancelled those Lawes:

  Then like a furious storme, through troubled France he ran;

  And by the hopefull hand of braue Black-Edward wan

  Proud Poytiers, where King Iohn he valiantly subdew’d,

  The miserable French and there in mammocks hew’d;

  Then with his battering Rams made Earth-quakes in their Towres,

  Till trampled in the dust her felfe she yeelded ours.

  As mighty Edwards heyre, to a second Richard then

  (Son to that famous Prince Black Edward, Man of Men,

&nb
sp; Vntimely that before his conquering father dy’d)

  Too soon the Kingdom fell: who his vaine youth apply’d

  To wantonnesse and spoyle, and did to fauour drawe

  Vnworthy ignorant sots, with whose dull eyes he sawe:

  Who plac’t their like in Court, and made them great in State

  (Which wise and vertuous men, beyond all plagues, might hate.)

  To whom he blindly gaue: who blindly spent againe,

  And oft opprest his Land, their riot to maintaine.

  He hated his Allyes, and the deseruing steru’d;

  His Minions and his will, the Gods he only seru’d:

  And finally, depos’d, as he was euer friend

  To Rybaulds, so againe by Villaines had his end.

  Henry the Sonne of Gaunt, supplanting Richard, then

  Ascended to the Throne: when discontented men,

  Desirous first of change, which to that height him brought,

  Deceiued of their ends, into his actions sought;

  And, as they set him vp, assay’d to pluck him down:

  From whom he hardly held his ill-atchieued Crown;

  That, Treasons to suppresse which oft he did disclose,

  And raysing publike Armes, against his powerfull foes,

  His vsurpation still being troubled to maintaine,

  His short disquiet dayes scarse raught a peacefull raigne.

  A fift succeeds the fourth: but how his father got

  The Crown, by right or wrong, the Sonne respecteth not.

  Nor further hopes for that ere leaueth to pursue;

  But doth his claime to France, courageously renew;

  Vpon her wealthy shores vn-lades his warlike fraught;

  And, shewing vs the fields where our braue fathers fought,

  First drew his sun-bright Sword, reflecting such a light,

  As put sad guilty France, into so great a fright,

  That her pale Genius sank; which trembling seem’d to stand,

  When first he set his foot on her rebellious Land.

  That all his Grand-sires deeds did ouer, and thereto

  Those hie atcheeuements adde the former could not doe:

  At Agincourts proud fight, that quite put Poytiers down;

  Of all, that time who liv’d, the King of most renowne.

  Whose too vntimely end, the Fates too soon did hast:

  Whose nine yeares noble acts, nine Worlds deserue to last.

  A sixt in name succeeds, borne great, the mighty sonne

  Of him, in Englands right that spacious France had wonne.

  Who coming young to raigne, protected by the Peeres

  Vntill his Non-age out: and growne to riper yeeres,

  Prov’d vpright, soft, and meeke, in no wise louing warre;

  But fitter for a Cowle, then for a Crowne by farre.

  Whose mildnes ouer-much, did his destruction bring:

  A wondrous godly man, but not so good a King.

  Like whom yet neuer man tri’d fortunes change so oft;

  So many times throwne-down, so many times aloft

  (When with the vtmost power, their friends could them afford,

  The Yorkists, put their right vpon the dint of sword)

  As still he lost and wonne, in that long bloody warre,

  From those two Factions stil’d, of York and Lancaster.

  But by his foes inforc’t to yeeld him to their power,

  His wretched raigne and life, both ended in the Tower.

  Of th’Edwards name the fourth put on the Regall Wreath:

  Whom furious bloody warre (that seem’d a while to breath)

  Not vtterly forsooke. For, Henries Queene and heyre

  (Their once possessed raigne still seeking to repaire)

  Put forward with their friends, their title to maintaine.

  Whose blood did Barnets Streets and Teuksburyes distaine,

  Till no man left to stirre. The Title then at rest,

  The old Lancastrian Line, being vtterly supprest,

  Himselfe the wanton King to amourous pleasures gaue;

  Yet iealous of his right descended to his Graue.

  His Sonne an infant left: who had he liu’d to raigne,

  Edward the fift had been. But iustly see againe,

  As he a King and Prince before had cau’d to die

  (The father in the Tower, the sonne at Teuksbury)

  So were his children yong, being left to be protected

  By Richard; who nor God, nor humane lawes respected.

  This Viper, this most vile deuowrer of his kinde

  (Whom his ambltious ends had strooke so grosly blind)

  From their deare mothers lap, them seising for a pray

  (Himselfe in right the next, could they be made away)

  Most wrongfully vsurpt, and them in prison kept;

  Whom cruelly at last he smothered as they slept.

  As his vnnaturall hands, were in their blood imbru’d:

  So (guilty in himselfe) with murther he pursu’d

  Such, on his haynous acts as lookt not faire and right;

  Yea, such as were not his expresly, and had might

  T’oppose him in his course; till (as a monster Ioth’d,

  The man, to hell and death himselfe that had betroth’d)

  They brought another in, to thrust that Tyrant down;

  In battell who at last resign’d both life and Crown.

  A seauenth Henry, then, th’emperiall seate attain’d,

  In banishment who long in Britanne had remain’d,

  What time the Yorkists sought his life to haue bereft,

  Of the Lancastrian House then only being left

  (Deriv’d from Iohn of Gaunt) whom Richmond did beget,

  Vpon a daughter borne to Iohn of Sommerset.

  Elizabeth of York this Noble Prince affi’d,

  To make his Title strong, thereby on either side.

  And grafting of the White and Red Rose firme together,

  Was first, that to the Throne aduanc’t the name of Tether.

  In Bosworths fatall Field, who hauing Richard slaine,

  Then in that prosperous peace of his successfull raigne,

  Of all that cuer rul’d, was most precise in State,

  And in his life and death a King most fortunate.

  This Seauenth, that was of ours, the Eightth succeeds in name:

  Who by Prince Arthurs death (his elder Brother) came

  Vnto a Land with wealth aboundantly that flow’d:

  Aboundantly againe, so he the same bestow’d,

  In Banquets, Mask’s, and Tilts, all pleasures prone to try,

  Besides his secret scapes who lou’d Polygamy.

  The Abbayes he supprest; a thousand lingring yeere,

  Which with reuenewes large the World had sought to reare.

  And through his awfull might, for temporall ends did saue,

  To other vses earst what frank deuotion gaue;

  And here the papall power, first vtterly deny’d,

  Defender of the Faith, that was instil’d and dy’d.

  His sonne the Empire had, our Edward sixt that made;

  Vntimely as he sprang, vntimely who did fade.

  A Protestant being bred; and in his infant raigne,

  Th’religion then receiv’d, here stoutly did maintaine:

  But e’re he raught to man, from his sad people reft,

  His Scepter he againe vnto his Sisters left.

  Of which the eldest of two, Queen Mary, mounts the Chaire:

  The ruin’d Roman State who striuing to repaire,

  With persecuting hands the Protestants pursew’d;

  Whose Martyred ashes oft the wondring Streets bestrew’d.

  She matcht her selfe with Spaine, and brought King Philip hither,

  Which with an equall hand, the Scepter sway’d togither.

  But issuless she dy’d; and vnder six yeeres raigne,

  To her wise Sister gaue the Kingdome vp againe.
r />   Elizabeth, the next, this falling Scepter hent;

  Digressing from her Sex, with Man-like gouernment

  This Iland kept in awe, and did her power extend

  Afflicted France to ayde, her owne as to defend;

  Against th’Iberian rule, the Flemmings sure defence:

  Rude Ireland’s deadly scourge; who sent her Nauies hence

  Vnto the either Inde, and to that shore so greene,

  Virginia which we call, of her a Virgin Queen:

  In Portugall gainst Spaine, her English ensignes spred,

  Took Cales, when from herayde the brav’d Iberia fled.

  Most flourishing in State: that, all our Kings among,

  Scarse any rul’d so well: but two, that raign’d so long.

  Here suddainly he staid: and with his kingly Song,

  Whil’st yet on euery side the City loudly rong,

  He with the eddy turn’d, a space to look about:

  The Tide, retiring soon, did strongly thrust him out.

  And soon the pliant Muse, doth her braue wing aduance,

  Tow’rds those Sea-bordring shores of ours, that point at France;

  The harder Surrian Heath, and the Sussexian Downe.

  Which with so great increase though Nature do not crowne,

  As many other Shires, of this inuiron’d Ile:

  Yet on the Weathers head, when as the sunne doth smile,

  Nurst by the Southern Winds, that soft and gently blowe,

  Here doth the lusty sap as soon begin to flowe;

  The Earth as soon puts on her gaudy Summers sute;

  The Woods as soon in green, and orchards great with fruit.

  To Sea ward, from the seat where first our Song begun,

  Exhaled to the South by the ascending sunne,

  Fower stately Wood Nymphs stand on the Sussexian ground,

  Great Andredsweld’s sometime: who, when she did abound,

  In circuit and in growth, all other quite supprest:

  But in her wane of pride, as she in strength decreast,

  Her Nymphs assum’d them names, each one to her delight.

  As, Water-downe, so call’d of her depressed site:

  And Ash-Downe, of those Trees that most in her do growe,

  Set higher to the Downes, as th’other standeth lowe.

  Saint Leonards, of the seat by which she next is plac’t,

  And Whord that with the like delighteth to be grac’t.

  These Forrests as I say, the daughters of the Weald

  (That in their heauie breasts, had long their greefs conceal’d)

  Foreseeing, there decay each howre so fast came on,

  Vnder the axes stroak, fetcht many a grieuous grone,

  When as the anuiles weight, and hammers dreadfull sound,