❧The purgacion of the ryght honourable lord Wentworth, concerning the crime layde to his charge, made the. x. of Ianuarie. Anno. M. D. L. viii.
ALas where is the man,
that liueth and doth not rue:
To see how falsely I am charged,
with thinges that be vntrue.
My seruice true is knowen,
howe ready I haue bene:
Both with my body and my goodes,
to serue the Kyng and Quene:
And yet some haue deuisde,
to
charge[?] me with vntruth:
which euermore hath bene my shielde,
euen from my very youth.
Alas to what intent,
all eyes maye easely see:
That theyr deuise and practise is,
to make an ende of mee.
Alas they seeke my lyfe,
and not for my desertes:
But by consent of wycked men,
which haue vngodly hartes.
Suche haue conspired my death,
as nowe euen so beforne:
That I may say wo woorth the tyme,
that euer they were borne.
Alas there is no man,
more innocent then I.
And yet the wicked seeke my lyfe,
and know no iust cause why.
For there is not a man,
that lyueth and hath breath:
Can iustly say for my vntrothe,
that I am worthy death.
Though they say what they please,
as they can wel deuise:
Yet all theyr trauell in this thyng,
is knowen to be but lyes.
Alas what hartes haue they,
that cannot lyue content:
Tyll they haue spoyled the lyfe of hym,
that is an innocent.
As touching the sayde cryme.
or any parte therein:
I doo protest for verye thought,
that I am voyde of synne.
But thys wyll not suffise,
to mitigate theyr yre:
Nor nothing els that can be sayde,
wyll pease theyr long desyre.
Yet shall my truthe appeare,
whych they would fayne conceale:
And my obedience to the crowne,
and to the common weale.
Though truth be now subiect,
vnto a frowarde wyll:
Yet shall it euermore appeare,
I neuer ment no yll.
Eyther vnto my Prince,
to whom I am most bounde:
Nor yet vnto the common weale,
but it must needes be founde.
Wherefore I saye alas,
bewaylyng my estate:
A noble pere, a subiect true,
rewarded thus with hate.
And thus I make an ende,
wyth woordes that be vnfaynde:
Though I am nowe a prysoner,
my truth cannot be staynde.
God keepe our noble Queene,
God prosper her intent:
God shorten all her enmies dayes,
or graunt them to repent.
Thys is the wyshed daye,
to see her in this place:
God graunt vs true obedience.
vnto her noble grace.
Finis
quod Iohn Markant.
¶Imprinted at London by Owen Rogers, dwellyng in Smithfield. Anno. M. D. L. ix. the. xxviii. of April.