A Metrical History of England Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin |
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
196
“The sequent reign beheld the beggar'd shore
“Grim with Italian usurers, prepared
“To lend, for griping unexampled hire
“To lend, what Rome might pillage uncontroll'd
Shenstone.
“Grim with Italian usurers, prepared
“To lend, for griping unexampled hire
“To lend, what Rome might pillage uncontroll'd
Shenstone.
“Les hommes plus estimables sont encore hommes, et
montrent encore quelques restes des foiblesses de l'humanité
parmi les pieges innombrables & les embarras inséperables
de la Royauté.—Tel Critique aujourd'hui impitoyablement
les Rois, qui gouvernoroit demain moins
bien qu'eux, & qui feroit les memes fautés avec d'autres
infiniment plus grandes, si on lui confisit la meme puissance.”
Fenelon.
“Mercy,
“Is mightiest in the mightiest! it becomcs
“The throned monarch better than his crown;
“It is an attribute to God himself,
“And earthly power doth then shew likest God's,
“When mercy seasons justice!”
Shakespeare.
“Is mightiest in the mightiest! it becomcs
“The throned monarch better than his crown;
“It is an attribute to God himself,
“And earthly power doth then shew likest God's,
“When mercy seasons justice!”
Shakespeare.
HENRY THE THIRD.
Howe'er historians may our Henry blame,
Mercy was ever blended with his name,
Nor should his foibles in our memory live,
Who knew his worst opposers to forgive;
Humane, indulgent, (haply to a fault,)
Tho' wanting energy when cares assault,
Henry of Winchester, an instance brings,
Of “Mercy throned in the hearts of Kings.”
Mercy was ever blended with his name,
Nor should his foibles in our memory live,
Who knew his worst opposers to forgive;
Humane, indulgent, (haply to a fault,)
Tho' wanting energy when cares assault,
197
Of “Mercy throned in the hearts of Kings.”
Eleven years, no more, the Prince had known,
When Pembroke's aid secured him England's throne:
The gallant Regent, Lord of Lincoln fight,
Asserted Henry's, and the kingdom's right;
Compell'd French Louis to depart the land,
And held 'till death, the reins with equal hand.
When Pembroke's aid secured him England's throne:
The gallant Regent, Lord of Lincoln fight,
Asserted Henry's, and the kingdom's right;
Compell'd French Louis to depart the land,
And held 'till death, the reins with equal hand.
Hubert de Burgh and Winchester combined,
Rule Albion, one in pow'r, but two in mind;
Each Regent disapproves the other's act,
And jarring counsels the young Prince distract:
The Prelate Winchester is first displaced,
Restored, and Hubert in his turn disgraced.
Successless war with France the state alarms,
And a new Pembroke calls the land to arms;
Against the King, his rebel sword he tries,
Fortune first smiles, deserts him, and he dies;
And, Winchester a second time expell'd,
The people's discontents are somewhat quell'd.
Rule Albion, one in pow'r, but two in mind;
Each Regent disapproves the other's act,
And jarring counsels the young Prince distract:
The Prelate Winchester is first displaced,
Restored, and Hubert in his turn disgraced.
Successless war with France the state alarms,
And a new Pembroke calls the land to arms;
Against the King, his rebel sword he tries,
Fortune first smiles, deserts him, and he dies;
198
The people's discontents are somewhat quell'd.
Not long in quiet did the realm remain,
The flames of evil warfare rage again;
The Sov'reign, whether wisely, or misled,
Fair Eleanor of Provence having wed,
The Barons, jealous of her former friends,
Relume the brand, which far and wide extends;
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, heads
The martial Nobles, and their army leads;
Aw'd by their active union, Henry signs
The Oxford statutes, and his pow'r resigns
To a Conservative Commission; framed
One half by him, the rest the Barons named;
Again, ill reconciled, the crown and Peers
Are foes, and Civil Broil her standard rears
At Lewes; Henry and each haughty Lord
“Refer decision to the sharpest sword.”
The King, his brother, son, and nephew, ta'en,
Submit to Montfort, and his Barons reign;
We know not if the end what means they tried
May sanction, but it cannot be denied,
To Leicester and his friends, our nation owes
The source whence all her independence flows,
The Commons' Senate, and the People's Voice.
Long may it's fabric rest upon their choice,
And by it's Freedom tell the nations round,
Safety alone with Liberty is found.
The fate of war, capricious, now ordains
That Edward, Henry's son, shall break his chains;
A third intestine feud at E'sham vale,
Sees Montfort fall, and Henry's son prevail;
Young Leicester's and De Gourdon's prompt defeat,
And Gloucester's fall, submission now compleat
The fame of Edward; and his father's life
Closes unchecquer'd by succeeding strife;
Yet not a Chief of those subdued,
With blood the vengeful axe imbued;
Nor scarce a subject died, as records tell,
Save those who in the sanguine contest fell.
The flames of evil warfare rage again;
The Sov'reign, whether wisely, or misled,
Fair Eleanor of Provence having wed,
The Barons, jealous of her former friends,
Relume the brand, which far and wide extends;
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, heads
The martial Nobles, and their army leads;
Aw'd by their active union, Henry signs
The Oxford statutes, and his pow'r resigns
To a Conservative Commission; framed
One half by him, the rest the Barons named;
Again, ill reconciled, the crown and Peers
Are foes, and Civil Broil her standard rears
At Lewes; Henry and each haughty Lord
“Refer decision to the sharpest sword.”
The King, his brother, son, and nephew, ta'en,
Submit to Montfort, and his Barons reign;
We know not if the end what means they tried
May sanction, but it cannot be denied,
To Leicester and his friends, our nation owes
The source whence all her independence flows,
199
Long may it's fabric rest upon their choice,
And by it's Freedom tell the nations round,
Safety alone with Liberty is found.
The fate of war, capricious, now ordains
That Edward, Henry's son, shall break his chains;
A third intestine feud at E'sham vale,
Sees Montfort fall, and Henry's son prevail;
Young Leicester's and De Gourdon's prompt defeat,
And Gloucester's fall, submission now compleat
The fame of Edward; and his father's life
Closes unchecquer'd by succeeding strife;
Yet not a Chief of those subdued,
With blood the vengeful axe imbued;
Nor scarce a subject died, as records tell,
Save those who in the sanguine contest fell.
The kingdom in peace, we're by chronicles told,
With the fame that young Edward acquired
“To Palestine hasten'd the hero so bold,”
In whose absence King Henry expired.
And thus the longest reign in Britain ended—
The present cou'd our warmth of wish extend it
In length, as glory should exceed it far,
And peace, and plenty, cure the ills of war.
These times, 'tis said, old Mathew Paris graced,
Among respectable historians placed,
And those who love worn out poetic lays,
May read two specimens of Henry's days.
With the fame that young Edward acquired
“To Palestine hasten'd the hero so bold,”
In whose absence King Henry expired.
200
The present cou'd our warmth of wish extend it
In length, as glory should exceed it far,
And peace, and plenty, cure the ills of war.
These times, 'tis said, old Mathew Paris graced,
Among respectable historians placed,
And those who love worn out poetic lays,
May read two specimens of Henry's days.
Son of the late Regent; he afterwards died miserably through the artifices of the Bishop of Winchester, who was himself quickly disgraced by the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Lockman.
Robert of Glocestere, his Character of English Towns.
“In the countrie of Canterburie plenty of fish is;“And most chase of wild beasts about Salsbrie, I wis, is;
“At London, ships most; and wine at Winchestere;
“At Hartford, sheepe and oxe; and fruit at Worcestere;
“Sope, about Coventry; iron, at Glocestere;
“Metals, lead and tyn, in the countrie of Excestere;
“Evorwick, for fairest wood; Lincolne for fairest men, &c. &c.”
201
Part of a Ballad on Richard of Cornwell, King of the Romans,—written 1255.
Richard of Alemayne, while he was King,
He spende alle his tresour upon swyving,
Haveth he nought of Wallingford oferling?
Let him have, as he brew, bale to drying.
Maugre Wyndesore.
He spende alle his tresour upon swyving,
Haveth he nought of Wallingford oferling?
Let him have, as he brew, bale to drying.
Maugre Wyndesore.
By God that is above us, he deede much sin,
That let passen over see th' Erl of Warynne,
He hath robb'd Englonde, the mores and the fenne,
The gold and the silver, and y beren henne.
For love of Wyndesore.
That let passen over see th' Erl of Warynne,
He hath robb'd Englonde, the mores and the fenne,
The gold and the silver, and y beren henne.
For love of Wyndesore.
Sir Simon de Montfort hath sworn by ys chyn
Hevede he now here the Erl of Warynne,
Shulde he never more come to ys inn,
Ne with shelde, ne with spere, ne with other gyn,
To help of Wyndesore.
Hevede he now here the Erl of Warynne,
Shulde he never more come to ys inn,
Ne with shelde, ne with spere, ne with other gyn,
To help of Wyndesore.
202
Sir Simon de Montfort hath sworn by ys fot,
Hevede he now here Sire Hue de Bigot,
Ah! he shulde grant here twelf moneth scot,
Shulde he never more, with his sot pot,
To helpe Wyndesore.
Hevede he now here Sire Hue de Bigot,
Ah! he shulde grant here twelf moneth scot,
Shulde he never more, with his sot pot,
To helpe Wyndesore.
Reliques of English Poetry.
| A Metrical History of England | |