A Metrical History of England :: :: University of Virginia Library

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

Dibdin, Thomas (1771-1841)

THE SAXON LINE RESTORED.

II.

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The death of Bedford matters didn't mend,
Each day we gain'd a foe or lost a friend;
Each day our gallic fortune met reverse,
And bad news only came to herald worse.
King Henry some time after this got married,
A match which gave his subjects little pleasure,
For all his wishes, save the Queen, miscarried,
And folks grew discontented out of measure.

290

To Margaret, we hope with falsehood's breath,
The people laid the good Duke Humphrey's death;
His nephew Beaufort 'twere as just to deem
An agent too,—his constant wrangling strife,
Embitter'd the deceased protector's life.
Beaufort not long survived, at it should seem
And left, sans sign of grace, this world's unequal dream.
Affairs in France proceed as ill as ever,
Normandy, Gascony, their interests sever;
While Somerset in France is losing ground,
At home dissentions and distrust abound.
The Duke of York that flame 'gins light,
Which, fed by Roses red and white,
Produced to hundreds, then unborn,
Many a sharp and burning thorn;

291

Accused of good Duke Humphry's end,
Suffolk is banished; on his way a friend
Of York's, turn'd pirate, as 'tis said,
Makes Suffolk shorter by the head.

When the Dauphin, after being crowned, was advised to demolish the Regent's decent monument of black marble, “Let him repose”, said the generous monarch, “in peace, and be thankful that he does repose; were he awake, he would make the stoutest among us tremble.”

To Margaret of Anjou, Daughter to Reigner, King of Sicily,

Cardinal Beaufort had been a Bishop fifty years; he left an illegitimate daughter, and founded the Abbey of Saint Cross, at Winton; as Legate from Rome, and as an ambitious meddling Priest, he was universally dreaded. He survived his uncle, the good Duke, whom he had greatly persecuted, but a few days.

Soon after having been seized by the Queen's party on a charge of treason, he was found dead in his bed. His wife Eleanor had been ignominiously punished on a charge of sorcery, and was not permitted to enjoy her jointure after her husband's death. The Duke has the credit of having founded the Bodliean Library.