Classic Poem

THE Argument .

Wise H UMPHREY , Duke of Gloster, nam'd the Good ,
Next to his Nephew, of the Royall Blood,
(H ENRY the sixt then being very yong )
Chosen Protector: by Ambition strong
Whose Duchesse E LINOR , violently led ,
To thinke the Crowne theirs, were yong H ENRY dead ,
Convicted was, with Sorcerers to conspire,
Which practised to hasten her desire:
For which, she her thrice-Penance was assign'd;
To th'Ile of Man and afterwards confin'd:
From whence, she writes this Letter to her Lord,
Who that sad Lady doth the like afford.

Me thinks, not knowing who these Lines should send,
Thou straight turn'st over to the latter end;
Where, thou my Name no sooner hast espy'd,
But in disdaine my Letter casts aside:
Why, if thou wilt, I will my selfe deny,
Nay, I'le affirme and sweare, I am not I;
Or if in that thy shame thou do'st perceive,
Lo, for thy deare sake, I my Name will leave.
And yet, me thinkes, amaz'd thou shouldst not stand,
Nor seeme so much appalled at my Hand;
For my Misfortunes have inur'd thine Eye,
(Long before this) to Sights of Miserie:
No, no, reade on, 'tis I, the very same,
All thou canst reade, is but to reade my shame.
Be not dismay'd, nor let my Name affright,
The worst it can, is but t' offend thy sight;
It cannot wound, nor doe thee deadly harme,
It is no dreadfull Spell, no Magick Charme;
If she that sent it, love Duke H UMPHREY so,
Is't possible her Name should be his Foe?
Yes, I am E L'NOR , I am very shee,
Who brought for Dower a Virgins Bed to thee;
Though envious B EUFORD slander'd me before,
To be Duke H UMPHREYES wanton Paramour.
And though indeed I can it not deny,
To Magick once I did my selfe apply;
I wonne thee not, as there be many thinke,
With poys'ning Philters, and bewitching Drinke;
Nor on thy person did I ever prove
Those wicked Potions, so procuring Love.
 I cannot boast, to be rich Hollands Heire,
Nor of the Bloud and Greatnesse of Baveire ;
Yet E L'NOR brought no forraine Armies in,
To fetch her backe, as did thy J ACOMIN ;
Nor clam'rous Husband follow'd me that fled,
Exclayming, H UMPHREY to defile his Bed;
Nor wast thou forc'd, the Slander to suppresse,
To send me backe as an Adulteresse:
Brabant , nor Burgoyne , claymed me by force,
Nor su'd to Rome , to hasten my Divorce;
Nor Belgia's Pompe, defac'd with Belgia's fire,
The just reward of her unjust desire:
Nor B EDFORDS Spouse, your Noble Sister A NNE ,
That Princely-issued great Burgonian ,
Need stand with me, to move a Womans strife,
To yeeld the place to the Protectors Wife;
If C OBHAMS Name my Birth can dignifie,
Or Sterborough renowne my Family.
 Where's Greenwich now, thy E L'NORS Court of late,
Where she with H UMPHREY held a Princely State?
That pleasant Kent , when I abroad should ride,
That to my pleasure laid forth all her pride?
The Thames , by Water when I tooke the ayre,
That danc'd my Barge, in lanching from the stayre?
The anch'ring Ships, which when I pass'd the Road,
Were wont to hang their chequ'red Tops abroad?
How could it be, those that were wont to stand,
To see my Pompe, so Goddesse-like to Land,
Should after see me mayl'd up in a Sheet,
Doe shamefull Penance three times in the Street?
Rung with a Bell, a Taper in my Hand,
Bare-foot to trudge before a Beadles Wand;
That little Babes, not having use of Tongue,
Stood pointing at me, as I came along.
 Where then was H UMPHREY , where was his Command?
Wast thou not Lord Protector of the Land?
Or for thy Justice, who could thee denie
The Title of the good Duke H UMPHREY ?
What Bloud, extract from famous E DWARDS Line,
Could boast it selfe to be so pure as thine?
Who else, next H ENRY , should the Realme preferre,
If it allow the Line of L ANCASTER ?
But R AYNERS Daughter must from France be fet,
And with a vengeance on our Throne be set;
Mauns, Maine , and Anjou , on that Begger cast,
To bring her home to England in such haste:
And what for H ENRY thou hadst laboured there,
To joyne the King with A RMINACK'S rich Heire,
Must all be dash'd, as no such thing had beene.
P OOLE needs must have his Darling made a Queene,
How should he with our Princes else be plac'd,
To have his Earleship with a Dukedome grac'd;
And rayse the Off-spring of his Bloud so hie,
As Lords of us and our Posteritie?
 O, that by Sea when he to France was sent,
The Ship had sunke, wherein the Traytor went;
Or that the Sands had swallow'd her, before
She e'r set foot upon the English Shore!
But all is well, nay, we have store to give,
What need we more, we by her Lookes can live:
All that great H ENRY by his Conquests heapt,
And famous B EDFORD to his glorie kept,
Is given backe to R AYNER all in post;
And by this meanes, rich Normandie is lost.
Those which have come as Mistresses of ours,
Have into England brought their goodly Dow'rs,
Which to our Coffers yeerely Tribute brings,
The Life of Subjects, and the strength of Kings;
The meanes whereby faire England ever might
Rayse Power in France , to backe her ancient Right:
But she brings Ruine here to make aboad,
And cancels all our lawfull Clayme abroad;
And she must recapitulate my Shame,
And give a thousand by-words to my Name,
And call me, Beldam, Gib, Witch, Night-mare, Trot,
With all despight that may a Woman spot.
 O, that I were a Witch but for her sake!
Y faith her Queeneship little Rest should take;
I would scratch that Face, that may not feele the Ayre,
And knit whole Ropes of Witch-knots in her Hayre:
O, I would Hag her nightly in her Bed,
And on her Brest sit like a lumpe of Lead,
And like a Fairie pinch that daintie Skin,
Her wanton Bloud is now so cocker'd in;
Or take me some such knowne familiar shape,
As she my Vengeance never should escape.
Were I a Garment, none should need the more
To sprinkle me with N ESSUS poys'ned Gore;
It were ynough, if she once put me on,
To teare both Flesh and Sinewes from the Bone:
Were I a Flower, that might her Smell delight,
Though I were not the poys'ning Aconite ,
I would send such a Fume into her Brow,
Should make her mad, as mad as I am now.
 They say, the Druides once liv'd in this Ile,
This fatall Man , the place of my Exile,
Whose pow'rfull Charmes such dreadfull Wonders wrought,
Which in the Gotish Island Tongue were taught;
O, that their Spels to me they had resign'd,
Wherewith they rays'd and calm'd both Sea and Wind!
And made the Moone pawse in her paled Sphere,
Whilst her grim Dragons drew them through the Ayre:
Their Hellish Power, to kill the Plow-mans Seed,
Or to fore-speake whole Flocks, as they did feed;
To nurse a damned Spirit with humane Bloud,
To carry them through Earth, Ayre, Fire, and Floud:
Had I this skill, that Time hath almost lost,
How like a Goblin I would haunt her ghost?
O pardon, pardon my mis-govern'd Tongue,
A Womans strength cannot endure my Wrong.
 Did not the Heavens her comming in withstand,
As though affrighted, when she came to Land?
The Earth did quake, her comming to abide,
The goodly Thames did twice keepe backe his Tide,
P AULS shooke with Tempests, and that mounting Spire,
With Lightning sent from Heav'n, was set on fire;
Our stately Buildings to the ground were blowne,
Her Pride by these prodigious signes were showne;
More fearefull Visions on the English Earth,
Then ever were at any Death, or Birth.
Ah H UMFREY , H UMFREY , if I should not speake,
My Brest would split, my very Heart would breake.
I, that was wont so many to command,
Worse now then with a Clap-dish in my hand;
A simple Mantle covering me withall,
The very'st Leper, of Cares Hospitall;
That from my State a Presence held in awe,
Glad here to kennell in a Pad of Straw;
And like an Owle, by Night to goe abroad,
Roosted all day within an Ivy Tod,
Among the Sea-Cliffes, in the dampie Caves,
In Charnell-Houses, fit to dwell in Graves.
 Saw'st thou those Eyes, in whose sweet cheerefull Looke
Duke H UMPHREY once such joy and pleasure tooke,
Sorrow hath so despoyl'd them of all grace,
Thou couldst not say, this was my E L'NORS face:
Like a foule Gorgon , whose dishevel'd Hayre
With every blast flyes glaring in the Ayre;
Some standing up like Hornes upon my Head,
Even like those Women that in Coos are bred:
My lanke Brests hang like Bladders left unblowne,
My Skin with lothsome Jaundize over-growne;
So pin'd away, that if thou long'st to see
Ruines true Picture, onely looke on mee.
Sometime, in thinking of what I have had,
I from a sudden Extasie grow mad:
Then, like a Bedlam, forth thy E L'NOR runnes,
Like one of B ACCHUS raging frantike Nunnes;
Or like a Tartar , when in strange disguise,
Prepar'd unto a dismall Sacrifice.
 That Prelate B EAUFORD , a foule ill befall him,
Prelate said I! nay, Devill I should call him:
Ah God forgive me, if I thinke amisse,
His very Name, me thinkes, my Poyson is:
Ah that vile J UDAS , our professed Foe,
My Curse pursue him, wheresoe'r he goe;
That to my Judgement, when I did appeare,
Laid to my charge those things that never were:
That I should know of B ULLENBROOKES Intents,
The hallowing of his Magicke Instruments;
That I procured S OUTHWELL to assist,
Which was by Order consecrate a Priest;
That it was I should cover all they did,
Which but for him had to this day beene hid.
Ah that vile Bastard, that himselfe dare vaunt,
To be the Sonne of thy brave Grandsire G AUNI ,
Whom he but father'd of meere Charitie,
To rid his Mother of that Infamie;
Who, if report of elder Times be true,
Yet to this day his Father never knew.
He that by Murthers blacke and odious Crime,
To H ENRIES Throne attempted once to clime,
Having procur'd by hope of golden gaine,
A fatall Hand his Soveraigne to have slaine;
Whom to his Chamber closely he convay'd,
And for that purpose fitly there had layd;
Upon whose Sword that famous Prince had dy'd,
If by a Dogge he had not beene descry'd.
 But now the Queene, her Minion P OOLE , and he,
As it please them, ev'n so must all things be;
England's no place for any one beside;
All is too little to maintaine their pride.
What, of a King, hath H ENRY , but the Name;
And now scarse that, so publike his defame?
And I pray God, I doe not live the day,
To see his Ruine, and the Realmes decay:
And yet as sure as H UMPHREY seemes to stand,
He be preserv'd from that vile Traytors hand.
From G LOSTERS Seat I would thou wert estrang'd,
Or would to God that Dukedomes Name were chang'd,
For it portends some after-ill to us;
Ah H UMPHREY , H UMPHREY , it is ominous:
Yet rather then thy hap so hard should be,
I would thou wert here banished with me.
H UMPHREY adiew, farewell true Noble Lord,
My wish is all thy E L'NOR can afford.