As doth the yearly augur of the spring,
In depth of woe thus I my forrow fing;
My tunes with fighs yet ever mixt among,
A doleful burthen to a heavy fong:
Words iffue forth, to find my grief fome way,
Tears overtake them, and do bid them stay;
Thus whilst one strives to keep the other back,
Both once too forward, foon are both too flack.
(a) If fatal Pomfret hath in former time
Nourish'd the grief of that unnatural clime,
Thither I fend my forrows to be fed;
Than where first born, where fitter to be bred?
They unto France be aliens and unknown,
England from her doth challenge these her own.
They fay, all mischief cometh from the North;
It is too true, my fall doth fet it forth :
But why should I thus limit grief a place,
When all the world is fill'd with our difgrace?
And we in bonds thus ftriving to contain it,
The more refifts, the more we do restrain it.
VOL. III.

(b) Oh, how even yet I hate thefe wretched eyes, And in my glafs oft call them faithlefs fpies! (Prepar'd for Richard) that unawares did look Upon that traitor Henry Bullenbrook : But that excefs of joy my fenfe bereav'd So much, my fight had never been deceiv'd. Oh, how unlike to my lov'd lord was he, Whom rafhly I (fweet Richard) took for thee! I might have feen, the courfer's felf did lack That princely rider to beitride his back; He that fince nature her great work began, She only made the mirror of a man, That when he meant to form fome matchlefs limb, Still for a pattern took fome part of him, And jealous of her cunning, brake the mould, When the in him had done the beft fhe could.

Oh, let that day be guilty of all fin That is to come, or heretofore hath been, [stay'd, (c) Wherein great Norfolk's forward courfe was To prove the treafons he to Hertford lay'd,

С

When (with flern fury) both thefe dukes enrag'd,

Their warlike gloves at Coventry engag'd,
When first thou didit repeal thy former grant,
Seal'd to brave Mowbray as thy combatant'
From his unnumber'd hours let Time divide it,
Left in his minutes he fhould hap to hide it;
Yet on his brow continually to bear it,
That when it comes, all other hours may fear it,
And all ill-boding planets, by confent,
In it may hold their dreadful parliament:
Be it in heav'n's decrees inrolled thus,
Black, difmal, fatal, inaufpicious.

Proud Hertford then in height of all his pride,
Under great Mowbray's valiant hand had dy'd;
And never had from banishment retir'd,
The fatal brand wherewith our Troy was fir'd.
() Oh! why did Charles relieve his needy
ftate?

A vagabond and ftruggling runnagate;
And in his court with grace did entertain
That vagrant exile, that vile bloody Cain,
Who with a thousand mothers curfes went,
Mark'd with the brand of ten years banishment?
(e) When thou to Ireland took'ft thy last fare-
wel,

Millions of knees upon the pavements fell,
And ev'ry where th' applauding echoes ring
The joyful fhouts that did falute a king.
Thy parting hence, the pomp that did adorn,
Was vanquish'd quite when as thou didst re-

turn;

Who to my lord one look vouchfaf'd to lend? Then, all too few on Hertford to attend. "Princes (like funs) be evermore in fight,. "All fee the clouds betwixt them and their

"light:

"Yet they which lighten all down from their "kies,

"See not the clouds offending others eyes, "And deem their noon-tide is defir'd of all, "When all expe&t clear changes by their fall."

What colour feems to fhadow Hertford's claim, When law and right his father's hopes do maim? (ƒ) Affirm'd by churchmen (which should bear no hate)

That John of Gaunt was illegitimate;
Whom his reputed mother's tongue did spot,
By a bafe Flemmifh boor to be begot :
Whom Edward's eaglets mortally did fhun,
Daring with them to gaze against the fun :
Where lawful right and conqueft doth allow
A triple crown on Richard's princely brow;
Three kingly lions bears his bloody field,

(g) No baftard's mark doth blot his conqu'ring fhield:

Never durft he attempt our hapless fhore,
Nor fet his foot on fatal Ravenfpore;
Nor durft his flugging hulks approach the ftrand,
Nor floop a top as fignal to the land,
Had not the Piercies promis'd aid to bring,
Against their oath unto their lawful king,
(b) Against their faith unto our crown's true heir,
'Their valiant kinfman Edmond Mortimer.

When I to England came, a world of eyes,
Like ftars, attended on my fair arife,
Which now (alas!) like angry planets frown,
And are all fet, before my going down.
The fmooth-fac'd air did on my coming fmile,
But I with ftorms am driven to exile :
But Bullenbrook devis'd we thus fhould part,
Fearing two forrows fhould poffefs one heart,
To add to our affliction, to deny

That one poor comfort left our mifery.
He had before divorc'd thy crown and thee,
Which might fuffice, and not to widow me;
But fo to prove the utmost of his hate,
To part us in this miferable ftate.

(i) Oh, would Aumerle had funk, when he betray'd

The plot, which once that noble abbot laid!
When he infring'd the oath which he first took,
For thy revenge on perjur'd Bullenbrook,
And been the ranfom of our friends dear blood,
Untimely loft, and for the earth too good!
And we untimely do bewail their state,
They gone too foon, and we remain too late!

And though with tears I from my lord depart, This curfe on Hertford fall, to ease my heart: If the foul breach of a chafte nuptial bed May bring a curfe, my curfe light on his head : If murther's guilt with blood may deeply ftain, (4) Green, Scroop, and Bufbie dye his fault in grain :

If perjury may heaven's pure gates debar,
(1) Damn'd be the oath he made at Doncafter:
If the depofing of a lawful king,

Thy curfe condemn him, if no other thing:
If thefe disjoin'd, for vengeance cannot call,
Let them united strongly curfe him all.
And for the Piercies, heav'n may hear my pray'r,
That Bullenbrook, now plac'd in Richard's chair,
Such caufe of woe to their proud wives may be,
As thofe rebellious lords have been to me!
And that coy dame, which now controuleth all,
And in her pomp triumpheth in my fall,
For her great lord may water her fad eyne,
With as falt tears, as I have done for mine:
(m) And mourn for Henry Hotspur her dear
fon,

As I for my dear Mortimer have done;
And as I am,
fo fuccourlefs be fent,
Lafly to tafte perpetual banishment!

Then lofe thy care, when first thy crown was
loft,

Sell it fo dearly, for it dearly coft:

And fith it did of liberty deprive thee,
Burying thy hope, let nothing elfe outlive thee.
But hard (God knows) with forrow doth it go,
When woe becomes a comforter to woe:
Yet much (methinks) of comfort I could fay,
If from my heart fome fears were rid away;
Something there is, that danger ftill doth fhew,
But what it is, that heaven alone doth know.
"Grief to itself moft dreadful doth appear,
"And never yet was forrow void of fear;
But yet in death doth forrow hope the best,
And, Richard, thus I wish thee happy reft.

Yet by example could not learn to know,
To what his greatnefs by their love might grow.
(e) But Henry boasts of our achievements done,
Bearing the trophies our great fathers won;
And all the ftory of our famous war,
Muft grace the annals of great Lancaster.

(f) Seven goodly fcions in their fpring did flourish,

Which one self-root brought forth, one stock did nourish,

() Edward, the top-branch of that golden tree, Nature in him her utmoft power did fee, Who from the bud ftill bloffomed so fair, As all might judge what fruit it meant to bear : But I his graft, of ev'ry weed o'ergrown, And from our kind, as refuse forth am thrown. We from our grandfire stood in one degree, (b) But after Edward, John the young'ft three.

of

Might Princely Wales beget a fon fo base, That to Gaunt's iffue fhould give fovereign place?

(i) He that from France brought John his pris'ner home,

As thofe great Cæfars did their spoils to Rome,
(4) Whose name, obtained by his fatal hand,
Was ever fearful to that conquer'd land :
His fame increasing, purchas'd in those wars,
Can scarcely now be bounded with the stars;
With him is valour from the bafe world fled,
(Or here in me it is extinguished)
Who for his virtue, and his conquests fake,
Pofterity a demy-god fhall make;
And judge, this vile and abject spirit of mine,
Could not proceed from temper fo divine.

What earthly humour, or what vulgar eye
Can look fo low, as on our mifery?
When Bullenbrook is mounted to our throne,
And makes that his, which we but call'd our

Into our councils he himself intrudes,
And who but Henry with the multitudes?
His power degrades, his dreadful frown dif-
graceth,

He throws them down whom our advancement placeth;

As my difable and unworthy hand

Never had power, belonging to command.
He treads our facred tables in the duft,
(1) And proves our acts of parliament unjuft;
As though he hated that it should be faid,
That fuch a law by Richard once was made:
Whilft I depreft before his greatness, lie
Under the weight of hate and infamy.
My back, a foot-ftool Bullenbrook to raife,
My loofenefs mock'd, and hateful by his praife,
Outlive mine honour, bury my estate,
And leave myself nought, but my people's hate.
Sweet queen, I'll take all counfel thou canst
give,

So that thou bid'ft me neither hope nor live:
"Succour that comes, when ill hath done his
"worst,

"But fharpens grief, to make us more accurft." Comfort is now unpleafing to mine ear,

Paft cure, paft care, my bed become my bier :
Since now misfortune humbleth us fo long,
Till heaven be grown unmindful of our wrong;
Yet it forbid my wrongs fhould ever die,
But ftill remember'd to pofterity:

And let the crown be fatal that he wears,
And ever wet with woful mother's tears.

Thy curfe on Piercy angry heavens prevent,
Who have not one curfe left, on him unfpent,
To fcourge the world, now borrowing of my
ftore,

As rich of woes, as I a king am poor.
Then ceafe (dear queen) my forrows to bewail,
My wound's too great for pity now to heal.
Age ftealeth on, whilft thou complaineft thus,
My griefs be mortal and infectious:
Yet better fortunes thy fair youth may try,
That follow thee, which still from me do fly.

a) This tongue, which then renounc'd my regal fiate.

Richard the Second, at the refignation of the crown to the Duke of Hertford in the tower of London, delivering the fame with his own hand, there confeffed his difability to govern, utterly renouncing all kingly authority.

(b) And left'ft great Bourbon, for thy love to me. Before the Princefs Ifabel was married to the king, Lewis Duke of Bourbon sued to have had her in marriage; which was thought he had obtained, if this motion had not fallen out in the mean time. This Duke of Bourbon fued again to have received her at her coming into France