Great Britain -- History -- Poetry; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources
72.
That I, alas, in this calamitie
Alone was left, and to my selfe mought[1628] playne
This treason, and this wretched cowardye,
And eake with tears beweepen and complayne
My hatefull hap, still loking to bee slayne:
Wandring in woe, and to the gods[1629] on hye
Cleaping for vengeaunce of this treacherye.
73.
And as the turtle that hath lost her make,[1630]
Whom griping sorrowe doth so sore attaint,
With dolefull voice and sound that[1631] shee doth make,
Mourning her losse, fills all the groue with plaint:
So I, alas, forsaken, and forfaynt,
With restlesse foote the wood rome vp and downe,
Which of my dole all shiuering doth resowne.
74.
And being thus, alone, and all forsake,
Amid the thicke, forwandred in despayre,
As one dismayde, ne wist what way to take,
Untill at last gan to my mynd repayre,
A man of myne, calde _Humfrey Banastaire_:
Wherwith mee feeling much recomforted,
In hope of succour, to his house I fled.
75.
Who being one whom erst I had vp brought
Euen from his youth, and lou’d[1632] and liked best,
To gentry state auaunciug him from nought,
And had in secret trust, aboue the rest
Of speciall trust, now, being thus distrest,
Full secretly to him I mee conueyde,
Not doubting there but I should fynd some ayde.
76.
But out, alas, on cruell trecherie,
When that this caytife once an inkling hard,
How that king _Richard_ had proclaimde, that hee
Which mee descryde should haue for his rewarde
A thousand pounds, and farther bee prefarde,
His truth so turnde to treason, all distaynde,
That fayth quite fled, and I by trust was traynde.
77.
For by this wretch I being straite betrayed
To one _Ihon Mitton_, shiriffe of _Shropshire_ then,
All sodaynly was taken, and conuayed
To _Salisburie_, with rout of harnest men,
Unto king _Richard_ there, encamped then
Fast by the cittie with a mighty host:
Withouten dome where head and life I lost.
78.
And with these wordes, as if the axe euen there
Dismembred had his head and corps aparte,
Dead fell hee downe: and wee in woefull feare
Stoode mazed when hee would to lyfe reuert:
But deadly griefs still grew about his hart,
That still hee lay, sometime reuiude with payne,
And with a sigh becomming dead agayne.
79.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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