[38] _Sic._ [39] _Sic._ [40] _F._ adeo. [41] _Malim cum diphthongo._ [42] _Sic, pro_ deliteret. [43] _Sic, pro_ increduli. [44] _Sic._ [45] _Commate forsitan post_ Angliae _non post_ pacifice _distingui malint alii. Sed distinctioni nostrae favet Codex, quo usus sum._ [46] _Sic, pro_ cunabulis. A COMPILATION OF THE MEEKNESS AND GOOD LIFE OF KING HENRY VI. GATHERED BY Master JOHN BLAKMAN, Bachelor of Divinity and afterward monk of the Charterhouse of London. _A devout Prayer of his._ O Lord Jesu Christ, who didst create me, redeem me, and foreordain me unto that which now I am: Thou knowest what Thou wilt do with me: deal with me according to thy most compassionate will. I know and confess in sincerity that in thy hand all things are set, and there is none that can withstand Thee: Thou art Lord of all. Thou therefore, God Almighty compassionate and pitiful, in whose power are all realms and lordships, and unto whom all our thoughts, words, and works, such as have been, are, and shall be, are continually open and known, who only hast wisdom and knowledge incomprehensible: Thou knowest, Lord, what is profitable for me poor sinner: be it so done with me as pleaseth Thee and as seemeth good in the eyes of thy divine Majesty. Receive, O compassionate Father and merciful God Almighty, the prayer of me thy most unworthy servant; and let my supplications, which I offer before Thee and thy saints, come unto the ears of thy mercy. Amen. PROLOGUE. It is written that we are to praise no man before his death, but that in the end shall be the exposing of his works: hence, now that every obstacle to sincere praise is out of the way, and inasmuch as the heavens declare the glory of Almighty God, and all things that the Lord hath made praise Him by the fashion of them, I have therefore thought fit to treat of some matters to the praise of God and of the serene prince King Henry VI now deceased; whom, though I be of little skill, I have taken in hand to celebrate; and this especially because to praise the saints of God, (in the register of whom I take that excellent king to be rightly included on account of the holy virtues by him exercised all his life long) is to praise and glorify Almighty God, of whose heavenly gift it cometh that they are saints. Now of his most noble descent, how he was begotten according to the flesh of the highest blood and the ancient royal stock of England, and how in the two lands of England and France he was crowned as the rightful heir of each realm, I have purposely said nothing, as of a matter plainly known to all, and not least known because of that most unhappy fortune which befell him against all expectation in after-times. _A commendation of his virtues._