For Edward's daughter is king Henry's queen: For this poor panting island, if some shreds, Orf. Margaret of Burgundy Without or heat to scorch, or light to cherish. Daw. York's headless trunk, her father; Ed ward's fate, Her brother, king; the smothering of her nephews Nor Gloster's own confusion, (all decrees Of troubles and sedition. Orf. In her age, Great sir, observe the wonder,7-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 7 Oxford's speech is principally taken from that of Henry's ambassador (Sir W. Warham) to the archduke. "It is the strangest thing in the world, that the Lady Margaret, excuse us if we name her, whose malice to the king is causeless and endless, should now, when she is old, at the time when other women give over childbearing, bring forth two such monsters, being not the births of nine or ten months, but of many years. And whereas other mothers bring forth children weak, and not able to help themselves, she bringeth forth tall striplings, able, soon after their coming into the world, to bid buttle to mighty kings." 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 Against all force and counsel of intrusion.- 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 • 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. "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." bert 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. Lam 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 cub (since he unlodg'd) from hole to hole, 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, 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. Gathers a sprightly blood. Daw. Good news; believe it. [The king reads. K. Hen. Urswick, thine ear.-Thou hast lodged him? 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 |