Great Britain -- History -- Poetry; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources
Then to _Maglaurus_ Prince, with _Albany_ hee gaue
My sister _Gonerell_, the eldest of vs all:
And eke my sister _Ragan_ to _Hinniue_ to haue,
And for her dowry _Camber_ and _Cornwall_.
These after him should haue his Kingdome all.
Betweene them both hee gaue it franke and free,
But nought at all hee gaue of dowry mee.
14.
At last it chaunst a Prince of _Fraunce_ to heare my fame.
My beauty braue, my wit was blaz’d abroad ech where.
My noble vertues prais’d mee to my father’s blame,
Who did for flattery mee lesse friendly fauour beare.[469]
Which when this worthy Prince (I say) did heare,
Hee sent ambassage lik’d mee more then life,
And soone obtayned mee to bee his wife.
15.
Prince _Aganippus_ reau’d mee of my woe,
And that for vertues sake, of dowryes all the best:
So I contented was to _Fraunce_ my father fro
For to depart, and hoapt t’enioy some greater rest.
Where liuing well belou’d, my ioyes encreast:
I gate more fauour in that Prince his sight,
Then euer Princesse of a Princely wight.
16.
But while that I these ioyes so well enioy’d in _Fraunce_,
My father _Leire_ in _Britayne_ waxt vnweldy old.
Whereon his daughters more themselues aloft t’aduaunce
Desir’d the Realme to rule it as they wolde.
Their former loue and friendship waxed cold,
Their husbands rebels voyde of reason quite
Rose vp, rebeld, bereft his crowne and right:
17.
Caus’d him agree they might in parts equall[470]
Deuide the Realme, and promist him a gard
Of sixty Knights on him attending still at call.[471]
But in six monthes such was his hap to hard,
That _Gonerell_ of his retinue barde
The halfe of them, shee and her husband reft:
And scarce alow’d the other halfe they left.
18.
Eke as in _Albany_ lay hee lamenting fates,[472]
When as my sister so sought all his vtter spoyle:
The meaner vpstart courtiers thought themselues his mates,
His daughter him disdayn’d and forced not his foyle.
Then was hee fayne for succoure his to toyle
With halfe his trayne to _Cornwall_, there to lie
In greatest neede, his _Ragan’s_ loue to try.
19.
So when hee came to _Cornwall_, shee with ioy
Receiued him, and Prince _Maglaurus_ did the like.
There hee abode a yeare, and liu’d without anoy:
But then they tooke all his retinue from him quite
Saue only ten, and shew’d him daily spite:
Which hee bewayl’d complayning durst not striue,
Though in disdayne they last alow’d but fiue.
20.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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