Oxf. In her age— Great sir, observe the wonder-she grows fruitful, Who, in her strength of youth, was always barren:; Nor are her births as other mothers' are, At nine or ten months' end; she has been with child Eight, or seven years at least; whose twins being born (A prodigy in nature), even the youngest Is fifteen years of age at his first entrance, As soon as known i' th' world tall striplings, strong And able to give battle unto kings; Idols of Yorkish malice. [Daw.] And but idols; A steely hammer crushes them to pieces. K. Hen. Lambert, the eldest, lords, is in our service, Preferr'd by an officious care of duty From the scullery to a falconer; strange example! Stan. The throne is fill'd, sir. K. Hen. True, Stanley; and the lawful heir sits on it: A guard of angels, and the holy prayers Of loyal subjects are a sure defence Against all force and counsel of intrusion. But now, my lords, put case, some of our nobles, Our Great Ones, should give countenance and courage To trim duke Perkin; you will all confess Daw. Unthankful beasts, Dogs, villains, traitors! K. Hen. Dawbeney, let the guilty Keep silence; I accuse none, though I know A headstrong resolution, yet the dangers Which can be but impostorous in a title. K. Hen. Stanley, we know thou lov'st us, and thy heart Is figur'd on thy tongue; nor think we less 1 Simnel's party.] Simnel's party (for he himself was a mere puppet in the hands of the Earl of Lincoln) was utterly defeated in the battle of Newark. 2" Bold Martin Swart," one of the most celebrated of those soldiers of fortune who, in that age, traversed Europe with a band of mercenaries, ready to fight for the first person that would pay them, fell in this action, after "performing bravely," as the noble historian says, "with his Germans." Lambert was taken prisoner. Henry saved his life, for which Bacon produces many good reasons, and advanced him first to the dignity of a turnspit in his own kitchen, and subsequently to that of an under-falconer.-GIFFORD. Dissembled him the lawful heir of England; This smoke of straw was pack'd from France again, That nursed this eager whelp, Margaret of Burgundy. But we will hunt him there too! we will hunt him, Hunt him to death, even in the beldam's closet, Though the archduke were his buckler! Sur. She has styled him, "The fair white rose of England." More fit to be a swabber to the Flemish, Enter URSWICK. Urs. Gracious sovereign, Please you peruse this paper. Dur. The king's countenance Gathers a sprightly blood. Daw. Good news; believe it. [The king reads. K. Hen. Urswick, thine ear.2-Thou hast lodged him? 1 Sir Taylor is a very unusual method of designating a knight; but perhaps the king does it in scorn.-GIFFORD. 2 Urswick, thine ear.] Christopher Urswick was at this time almoner to the king. He had been chaplain to the Countess of Richmond, who afterward married Thomas Lord Stanley, the elder brother of Sir W. Stanley, the person here implicated; and was trusted by this nobleman with the correspondence between him and Richmond (Henry VII.), and therefore, perhaps, much in his confidence and esteem. His eager importunity to betray the brother of his former patron argues but little for his character; but in those days much consistency is rarely to be found. Weaver, who gives his epitaph (by which it appears that he possessed and resigned several high stations in the church), concludes thus-"Here let him rest, as an example for all unjust prelates to admire, and for few or none to imitate."-The news which Urswick now communi Urs. Strongly safe, sir. K. Hen. Enough, is Barley come too? K. Hen. No matter-phew! he 's but a running weed, At pleasure in be pluck'd up by the roots; But more of this anon.-I have bethought me. From Westminster to the Tower: we will lodge Stan. The Tower!-[Aside.]-I shall, sir. K. Hen. Come, my true, best, fast friends, these clouds will vanish, The sun will shine at full; the heavens are clearing. [Flourish.-Exeunt. cated was evidently that of his having privately brought the double traitor Clifford, the confidential agent of Warbeck's party, to England. Sir Robert Clifford and Master William Barley, Lord Bacon says, "were the only two who adventured their fortunes openly-sent, indeed, from the party of the conspirators here to understand the truth of what passed in Flanders, and not without some help of money from hence, to be provisionally delivered, if they were satisfied that there was truth in these pretences." Clifford, it appears, was soon won to give up his employers. Master Barley, for whom Henry next inquires, did not betray his cause quite so speedily, nor trust quite so readily to the king's clemency as Clifford; in the end, however, he also returned to England, and was pardoned.GIFFORD. 1 Lord Bacon well accounts for this sudden resolution of the king. "The place of the Tower was chosen to that end, that if Clifford should accuse any of the great ones, they might, without suspicion, or noise, or sending abroad of warrants, be presently attached: the court and prison being within the cincture of one wall."-GIFFORD. SCENE II. Edinburgh.-An Apartment in Lord HUNTLEY'S Enter HUNTLEY and DALYELL.1 Hunt. You trifle time, sir. Dal. Oh, my noble lord, You construe my griefs to so hard a sense, Hunt. "Much mirth," lord Dalyell! Not so, I vow. Observe me, sprightly gallant. I scorn not thy affection to my daughter, I have spoke all at once. Dal. Sir, with this truth, You mix such wormwood, that you leave no hope For my disorder'd palate e'er to relish There were two persons of this name, William and Robert Dalyell, grandsons of Sir John Dalyell (or Daliell as Ford writes), either of whom, from the date, might be meant for the character here introduced. Of the former nothing is recorded. The latter, Douglas says, "was killed at Dumfries, in a skirmish between Maxwell and Crichton, July, 1508."-GIFFORD. 2 George, the eldest son of Alexander Seton, and second Earl of Huntley (the person here meant), married Anabella, daughter of James I.: hence "the piece of royalty that was stitched up in his Kate's blood."" VOL. I.-21 |