For if wee thinke that prophecyes be true, We must beleue it cannot but betyde, Which God in them foresheweth shall ensue, For his decrees vnchaunged doe abide: Which to be true my brethren both haue tryed, Whose wicked warkes warne princes to detest, That other’s harmes may keepe them better blest.[1213] [By that this tragedy was ended, night was so nere come that wee could not conueniently tary together any longer: and therefore sayd maister _Ferrers_: “It is best my maisters to stay here. For wee be come now[1214] to the end of _Edward_ the fourth’s raigne.[1215] For the last whom wee finde vnfortunate therein, was the duke of _Clarence_: in whose behalfe I commend much that which hath bene noted. Let vs therefore for this time leaue with him, and this day seauen nights hence, if your busines will so suffer, let vs all meete here together[1216] agayne. And you shall see that in the meane season I will not only deuise vpon this my selfe, but cause diuers other of my acquayntance, which can doe very well, to helpe vs forwarde with the rest.” To this euery man gladly agreed. “Howbeit,” sayd[1217] another, “seing we shall end at _Edward_ the fourth’s end, let himselfe make an ende of our daye’s labour, with the same oration which maister _Skelton_ made in his name, the tenour whereof, so far as I remember, is as foloweth.”][1218] Howe King _Edward_ the fourth[1219] through his surfeting and vntemperate life, sodaynly dyed in the middest of his prosperity, the nynth of Aprill, Anno 1483. 1. _Miseremini mei_ yee that bee my frendes, This world hath formed mee downe to fall: How may I endure whan that euery thing ends? What creature is borne to be eternall? Now there is no more but pray for mee all, Thus say I, _Edward_, that late was your king, And twenty-two[1220] yeares ruled this imperiall,[1221] Some vnto pleasure and some to no lyking: Mercy I aske of my misdoyng, What avayleth it frendes to bee my foe? Sith I cannot resist, nor amend your complayning, _Quia ecce[1222] nunc in puluere dormio_. 2. I sleepe now in mould as it is naturall, As earth vnto earth hath his reuerture: What ordayned God to bee terrestriall,[1223] Without recourse to the earth by nature? Who to liue euer may himselfe assure? What is it to trust to mutability? Sith that in this worlde nothing may endure: (For now am I gone that was late in prosperity) To presume thereuppon it is but[1224] vanity: Not certayne, but as a chery fayre full of wo: Raigned not I of late in great prosperity?[1225] _Et ecce in nunc puluere dormio._ 3.