Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 2, Part 1

Great Britain -- History -- Poetry; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources

For while the duke of _Yorke_ in life remaynde,
        Mine vncle deare, I was his happy hand:
        In all attempts my purpose I attaynde,
        Though king, and queene, and most lordes of the land,
        With all their power did often mee withstand:
          For God gaue fortune, and my good behauiour
          Did from their prince steale mee the people’s fauour.

    4.

        So that through mee in fieldes right manly fought,
        By force myne vncle tooke king _Henry_ twise:
        As for my cosin _Edward_ I so[1119] wrought,
        When both our siers were slaine through rash aduice,
        That hee atchiefde his father’s enterprise:
          For into _Scotland_ king and queene wee chased,
          By meane whereof the kingdome hee embraced.

    5.

        Which after hee had enioyed[1120] in quiet peace,
        (For shortly after was king _Henry_ take,
        And put in prison)[1121] his power to encrease,
        I went to _Fraunce_ and match[1122] him with a make
        The _French_ kinge’s daughter, whome hee did forsake:
          For while with paine I brought this sute to passe,
          Hee to a widdowe rashely wedded was.

    6.

        This made the _French_ king shrewdly to mistrust,
        That all my treaties had but ill pretence,
        And when I sawe my king so bent to lust,
        That with his fayth hee past not to dispence,
        Which is a prince’s honour’s chiefe defence:
          I could not rest till I had found a meane
          To mend his misse, or els to marre him cleane.

    7.

        [Wherefore] I mee allied[1123] with his brother _George_,
        Incensing him his brother to maligne,
        Through many a tale I did against him forge:
        So that through power that wee from[1124] _Calais_ bring
        And found at home, wee frayed so the king,
          That hee did flie to[1125] _Freseland_ ward amayne,
          Whereby king _Henry_ had the crowne againe.

    8.

        Than put wee th’earle[1126] of _Worcester_ to death,
        King _Edward’s_ friend, a man to foule[1127] defamed:
        And in the while came _Edward_ into breath:
        For with the duke of _Burgoine_ so hee framed,
        That with the power that hee to him had named,
          Unlooked for hee came to _England_ streight,
          And got to _Yorke_, and tooke the towne by sleight.

    9.

        And after through the sufferaunce of my brother,
        Which like a beast occasion fouly lost,
        Hee came to _London_ safe with many other,
        And tooke the towne to good king _Henrie’s_ cost:
        Who was through him from post to piller tost,
          Till th’earle[1128] of _Oxforde_, I, and other more,
          Assembled power his freedome to restore.

    10.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 2, Part 1

Great Britain -- History -- Poetry; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources

For while the duke of _Yorke_ in life remaynde,
        Mine vncle deare, I was his happy hand:
        In all attempts my purpose I attaynde,
        Though king, and queene, and most lordes of the land,
        With all their power did often mee withstand:
          For God gaue fortune, and my good behauiour
          Did from their prince steale mee the people’s fauour.

    4.

        So that through mee in fieldes right manly fought,
        By force myne vncle tooke king _Henry_ twise:
        As for my cosin _Edward_ I so[1119] wrought,
        When both our siers were slaine through rash aduice,
        That hee atchiefde his father’s enterprise:
          For into _Scotland_ king and queene wee chased,
          By meane whereof the kingdome hee embraced.

    5.

        Which after hee had enioyed[1120] in quiet peace,
        (For shortly after was king _Henry_ take,
        And put in prison)[1121] his power to encrease,
        I went to _Fraunce_ and match[1122] him with a make
        The _French_ kinge’s daughter, whome hee did forsake:
          For while with paine I brought this sute to passe,
          Hee to a widdowe rashely wedded was.

    6.

        This made the _French_ king shrewdly to mistrust,
        That all my treaties had but ill pretence,
        And when I sawe my king so bent to lust,
        That with his fayth hee past not to dispence,
        Which is a prince’s honour’s chiefe defence:
          I could not rest till I had found a meane
          To mend his misse, or els to marre him cleane.

    7.

        [Wherefore] I mee allied[1123] with his brother _George_,
        Incensing him his brother to maligne,
        Through many a tale I did against him forge:
        So that through power that wee from[1124] _Calais_ bring
        And found at home, wee frayed so the king,
          That hee did flie to[1125] _Freseland_ ward amayne,
          Whereby king _Henry_ had the crowne againe.

    8.

        Than put wee th’earle[1126] of _Worcester_ to death,
        King _Edward’s_ friend, a man to foule[1127] defamed:
        And in the while came _Edward_ into breath:
        For with the duke of _Burgoine_ so hee framed,
        That with the power that hee to him had named,
          Unlooked for hee came to _England_ streight,
          And got to _Yorke_, and tooke the towne by sleight.

    9.

        And after through the sufferaunce of my brother,
        Which like a beast occasion fouly lost,
        Hee came to _London_ safe with many other,
        And tooke the towne to good king _Henrie’s_ cost:
        Who was through him from post to piller tost,
          Till th’earle[1128] of _Oxforde_, I, and other more,
          Assembled power his freedome to restore.

    10.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 2, Part 1

Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 2, Part 1

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