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 ex ample! Which shews the difference between noble na tures And the base-born: but for the upstart duke, The new-revived York, Edward's second son, Murder'd long since i' th' Tower; he lives again, And vows to be your king. 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, 8 [Daw.] And but idols, &c.] The 4to, by mistake, gives this short speech also to Oxford. It is much in Dawbeney's manner. Our Great Ones, should give countenance and courage To trim duke Perkin; you will all confess Daw. Unthankful beasts, K. Hen. Dawbeney, let the guilty Keep silence; I accuse none, though I know Foreign attempts against a state and kingdom Are seldom without some great friends at home. Stan. Sir, if no other abler reasons else Of duty or allegiance could divert A headstrong resolution, yet the dangers • Simmel'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." 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 turn-spit in his own kitchen, and subsequently to that of an under-falconer. Are precedents sufficient to forewarn K. Hen. Stanley, we know thou lov'st us, and thy heart Is figured on thy tongue; nor think we less This gewgaw to oppose us; there the Geraldines again, T' infect some grosser air:' and now we learn (Maugre the malice of the bastard Nevill, Yet all this, &c.] "When Perkin was come to the court of France, the king received him with great honour.-At the same time there remained to him divers Englishmen of quality, Sir James Neville, Sir John Taylor, and about an hundred more.-But all this, on the French king's part, was but a trick, the better to bow king Henry to peace; and therefore upon the first grain of incense, that was sacrificed upon the altar of peace at Boloign, Perkin was smoked away." Sir Taylor is a very unusual mode of designating a knight; but perhaps the king does it in scorn. Sir Taylor, and a hundred English rebels) That nurs'd 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." Daw. Jolly gentleman! More fit to be a swabber to the Flemish, After a drunken surfeit. 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.-Thou hast lodged him? 2 Urswick, thine ear.] Christopher Urswick was at this time almoner to the king. He had been chaplain to the Countess of Richmond, who afterwards 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 communicated was evidently that of his having privately Urs. Strongly safe, sir. K. Hen. Enough,-is Barley come too? K. Hen. No matter--phew! he's but a running weed, At pleasure to be pluck'd up by the roots; 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 clear ing. [Flourish.-Exeunt. 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. 3 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." |