sent out of the way, without any tittle of reason. Then Jaques answered meekly, and said: Certainly, sirs, of the treasure of Flanders I never took nothing; withdraw yourselves patiently into your houses, and come again tomorrow in the morning, and I shall make you so good account, that of reason ye shall be content. Then all they answered and said, Nay, we will have account made incontinent, ye shall shall not scape us so; we know, for truth, that ye have sent great riches into England, without our knowledge; wherefore ye shall die. When he heard that word, he joined his hands together, and sore weeping, said, Sirs, such as I am ye have made, and ye have sworn to me,' or this, to defend me against all persons, and now ye would slay me without reason; ye may do it and ye will, for I am but one man among you all; for God's sake take better advice and remember the time past, and consider the great graces and courtesies that I have done to you: ye would now render to me a small reward for the great goodness that I have done to you, and to your town in time past; ye know right well merchandise was nigh lost in all this country, and by my means it is recovered; also I have governed you in great peace and rest, for in the time of my governing, ye have had all things as ye would wish, corn, riches, and all other merchandise. Then they all cried with one voice, Come down to us and preach not so high, and give us account of the great treasure of Flanders, that ye have governed so long without any account making, the which pertaineth not to an officer to do, as to receive the goods of his lord, or of a country, without account. When Jacques saw that he could not appease them, he drew in his head, and closed his window, and so thought to steal out on the back side into a church that joined to his house; but his house was so broken that four hundred persons were entered into his house; and finally, there he was taken and slain without 1 Fre, i. e., before. mercy, and one Thomas Denys gave him his death stroke. Thus Jacques Dartuel ended his days, who had been a great master in Flanders; poor men mounteth up, and unhappy1 men slayeth them at the end. These tidings anon spread abroad the country; some were sorry thereof, and some were glad. Translation of Froissart. III. THE BATTLE OF OTTERBURNE. KNIGHTS and squires were of good courage on both parties to fight valiantly; cowards there had no place, but hardiness reigned with goodly feats of arms, for knights and squires were so joined together with hard strokes, that archers had no place of neither party. There the Scots showed great hardiness, and fought merrily, with great desire of honour. The Englishmen were three to one: howbeit, I say not but Englishmen did nobly acquit themselves; for ever the Englishmen had rather been slain or taken in their place than to fly. Thus, as I have said, the banners of Douglas and Percy and their men here met each against other, envious who should win the honour of that journey. 2. At the beginning, the Englishmen were so strong that they recoiled back their enemies. Then the Earl Douglas, who was of great heart and high of enterprize, seeing his men recoil back, then to recover the place and to shew knightly valour, he took his axe in both his hands, and entered so into the press, that he made himself way in such wise that none durst approach near him, and he was so well armed that he fare well of such strokes as he received. Thus he went ever forward like a hardy Hector, willing alone to conquer the field and to discomfit his enemies; but at last he was encountered with three spears all at once; the one strake him on the shoulder, the other on the breast, and the stroke 2 Day's work. 1 Discontented. glented down to his belly; and the third strake him on the thigh, and sore hurt with all three strokes, so that he was borne perforce to the earth, and after that he could not be again relieved. Some of his knights and squires followed him, but not all, for it was night, and no light but by the shining of the moon. Translation of Froissart. GEORGE CAVENDISH.-Circa 1550. I. QUEEN KATHERINE'S DEFENCE. "SIR," quoth she, "I beseech you, for all the loves that hath been between us, and for the love of God, let me have justice and right; take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman and a stranger, torn out of your dominion, and have here no assured friend, and much less indifferent counsel. I flee to you as to the head of justice within this realm. Alas! sir, wherein have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I shewed you, intending thus to put me from you after this sort? I take God, and all the world, to witness, that I have been to you a true, humble, and obedient wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did anything to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance, whether it were little or much, without grudge or countenance of discontentation or displeasure. I loved, for your sake, all men whom you loved, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or my enemies. I have been your true wife this twenty years or more, and by me you have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no default in me." Life of Wolsey. 1 Glanced. II. Who list to read and consider, with an indifferent eye, this history, may behold the wondrous mutability of vain honours, the brittle assurance of abundance, the uncertainty of dignities, the flattering of feigned friends, and the fickle favour of worldly princes. Whereof this lord cardinal hath felt both of the sweet and the sour in each degree; as fleeting from honours, losing of riches, deposed from dignities, forsaken of friends, and the inconstantness of princes' favour; of all which things he had in this world the full felicity, as long as fortune smiled upon him; but when she began to frown, how soon was he deprived of all these dreaming joys and vain pleasures. That which in twenty years with great travail and study he obtained, was in one year and less with great care and sorrow lost and consumed. O madness! O foolish desire! O fond hope! O greedy desire of vain honours, dignities, and riches! O what inconstant trust and assurance is in rolling fortune! Wherefore the prophet said full well, Thesaurizat, et ignorat, cui congregabit ea, who is certain that he shall leave his riches, which he hath gathered in this world, unto them whom he hath purposed! The wise man saith, that another, whom peradventure he hated in this life, shall spend it out, and consume it. Life of Wolsey. HOLINSHED. I. 1526-1580. I HAVE heard by credible report of such as were secret with his chamberlain, that after this abominable deed done, he never had a quiet mind. Than the which there can be no greater torment. For a guilty conscience inwardly accusing and bearing witness against an offended, is such a plague and punishment, as hell itself (with all the fiends therein) cannot afford one of greater horror and affliction ; the poet implying no less in this tristichon :— Pœna autem vehemens, et multo sævior illis, He never thought himself sure. Where he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his body privily fenced, his hand ever upon his dagger, his countenance and manner like one always ready to strike again, he took ill rest at nights, lay long waking and musing, sore wearied with care and watch, rather slumbered than slept, troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly sometime start up, leapt out of his bed, and ran about the chamber; so was his restless heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression and strong remembrance of his abominable deed. History of King Richard III. II. He was a man of body but lean and spare, albeit mighty and strong therewith, of personage and stature somewhat higher than the mean sort of men, of a wonderful beauty and fair complection, of countenance merry and smiling, especially in his communication, his eyes grey, his teeth single, and hair thin, of wit in all things quick and prompt, of a princely stomach, and haughty courage. In great perils, doubtful affairs, and matters of importance, supernatural and in manner divine; for he ordered all his doings advisedly and with great deliberation. Besides this, he was sober, moderate, honest, courteous, bounteous, and so much abhorring pride and arrogancy, that he was ever sharp and quick to them that were noted with that fault. He was also an indifferent and upright justicer, by the which one thing he allured to him the hearts of many people, and yet to this 1 Wherever. |