WALTHAMS COMPLAINT,
IN that sixt month, whose name at first begunne
From great
Augustus, good
Octauius sonne,
When in each fertile field the flowrie graine
Shot vp on high, did bow their heads againe,
As doing humble homage to the earth,
From whence they tooke their being and their birth;
And euery fruitfull tree did seeme to groane
As burthened with the fruit that hung thereon,
Inu
[...]ting all that past by their abode,
To strip their boughes, and ease them of their lode;
Beside the bankes of
Lees delightfull brooke,
Which
Waltham Abbey.
Walthams ancient Towne doth ouerlooke.I walk'd, expecting in the dayes prime birth
The ioy, with which the morning greets the earth:
But shee, as not dispos'd to mirth, did lay
Her azure robes with siluer fring'd away;
And in their stead, whose weare the world doth glad
Was in darke russet mantle meanly clad.
[Page]A vale of mist her siluer brow did hide,
The golden tramels of her haire were tide
In fillet of blacke cloudes, and with
[...]ad looke
She mourner-like to heauen her iournie tooke:
Earth, as it had a part in sorrow bore,
Vpon her backe a cloke of vapours wore,
And, as if wanting eyes her griefe to shew,
Her grasse in stead of tear
[...]s dropt weeping dew
Into the riuer
Lee, by which I stood.
Marra
[...] Be
[...]ne and S
[...]ower with an arme called the
[...] because it devid
[...]th
[...], and Hartfordshi
[...]es.
Three other brookes, that to increase her sloodDid poore themselues, with her along did glide
As if no griefe their waters could diuide:
Which their mixt waues did mutually declare,
By breathing vaporie sighes into the aire:
Whose waters bubling o're the pible stone,
As if they would vnto the trees vpon
The bankes on either side expresse by voyce
An inward sorrow, made a murmuring noyse.
All thinges that came beneath my sight did show
As each with other would consort in wo
[...];
Which through mine eyes did steale my hearts consen
[...]
To beare a part; for I to
Waltham went,
[Page]Beside whose Abbie there a worke of prayse,
Which worthie hands in antique time did rayse,
The Lord
Dennie.
That noble Barons Hospitable sea
[...]e,Where rich and pore find bountifull intreate,
Sad spectacle of sorrow I did see,
The sight of which did much impassion mee.
On the bare ground, sitting in open field,
A faire, but forlorne, Lady I beheld,
Without remorse, now rending from her head,
Her yellow haire, like threds of gold dispred
About her siluer necke, now beating sore
Her breast, the lodge of gri
[...]fe, and euermore
Fixing her eye so stedfast on the ground,
As thence, from her owne teares, which did abound,
As from a Christall glasse, helpe she would borrow,
To see the face of her owne faces sorrow;
Whose wofull gesture did my heart so wound,
That I requested her to shew the ground
Of this her griefe, and she as loath to speake,
Yet in these wordes at last did silence breake.
In vaine, my voyce, in vaine thou dost impart
Weake words, for signes of my wo-wounded heart.
[Page]In vaine my heart doe thy sad sighes arise
From inward thoughts with teares to fill mine eyes:
In vaine mine eyes your moist teares ouerflow;
No griefe so great, that can expresse my woe.
Weak words, sad sighes, moist teares, in vaine ye bee,
Mine Honour dead I neuermore shall see.
To heare her mourning and her sad complaint,
I silent was awhile with griefes constraint;
Till sorrowes selfe did vrge me aske her name,
To which thus shee this sad reply did frame.
Waltham I was; and though some thinke I am
What I haue beene; yet beare I but the name
Of what I was; and yet in my distresse
Such is my chance, (hard chāce you wel may ghesse)
That wretched I of late through deaths despight,
Haue lost my Deare, my Da
[...]ling, my Delight,
The Light of nature, Ornament of earth,
Modell of heauen, the Pearle of grace, whose birth
Did with that Honour grace my fruitfull wombe,
Which now, shee dead, lies buried in her tombe.
For know (alas that it should ere be knowne)
My honour late is dead, is dead and gone.
[Page]Was't not enough that fortune, who takes pleasure
In humane woes, bereau'd me of that treasure,
Which daily
Lees large streame (though now a pore
And pettie brooke) did bring vnto my shore;
Till
or Alured which vpon this occasion
[...] called the Kings streame at Waltham.
Raph Holles
[...]lia, Descript. Britt.
Alfred, scourge of
Danes, that Royall KingHer larger streame to lesser brookes did bring;
When
Denmarks Nauie did on her broad breast
My sister
Hartford with long siege molest:
Where he that time his foes proud hearts did
[...]ame
And burnt their
Danish Fleet with
English flame?
Was't not enough I say, I so should bee
Bereft of comfort in beloued
Lee:
But that by death, eu'u shee, whom all did know
To be (ay me that now she is not so)
My garlands fairest flower, should be defaced,
The fairest flower, that ere my garland graced?
No hand will crop the stemme vp in despight,
That yearely yeeldeth flowers
[...]or delight;
No churle will lay his axe vnto the root
Of such a plant, that yearely yeeldeth fruit;
Yet shee, true plant of Honour (O ste
[...]ne death)
Eu'n bearing fruit was blasted by thy breath.
[Page]If euer beautie might preuaile with thee,
A ra
[...]er beautie eye did seldome see;
If euer honor; she, most noble Dame,
Was Honor selfe in nature and in name
[...]
If euer Vertue; she was that faire shrine,
Whence Vertues beames vnto the World did shine.
How could'st thou looking on her louely face,
[...]ift vp thy hand to strike, when in that place
Youth, grac'd with a
[...]l the graces heauen could giue,
Did with such beautie beg thy leaue to liue,
How could'st thou but let fal thy deadly dart,
When sad
[...]y she (at thought of which my hart
Now bleeds afr
[...]sh) distilling from her eyes
D
[...]ps pure as pearle, did shew in wofull wise
Her childed wombe, that thou should'st pitie take,
I
[...] not for hers, yet for her infants sake?
H
[...]w could'st, I say, but mildly looke vpon her,
When in her barthened wombe, that babe of Honor
Did for the mother mercie seeme to c
[...]ie,
And she againe, for her deare babe would die?
O vnrelenting death thou could'st not then
Strike, though thy hand were I f
[...]ed vp: but when
[Page]
Lucina brought the sweet babe from the throes
Of the chast mother to this world of woes,
Then, then, thy hand did crop my Honors
[...]lowre,
My Beauties bud, my Bounties Paramoure.
But why did Nature, to augment her fame,
With cunning build vp such a glorious frame,
And heau'n with her more glorious spirit grace it,
Finding no fairer mansion where to place it:
Yet leaue it, like vaine bubble made of breath,
To be a triumph to victorious death?
Poore N
[...]ture wel I see, that all thy powre
But weaknesse is: Death daily doth deuoure
Thy noblest workes: of beggars and of Kings
The generation from corruption springs.
Flesh is but dust, made vp in humane shape,
To which, weake Nature, like th'Eternals Ape,
T'ind
[...]ce vs to beleeue that she can giue
Eternitie to make it euer liue,
A liuely colour ouer it doth lay,
Which makes
[...]lesh thinke it neuer shal decay,
But flourish euer; when vnlookt-for Death
Doth in a moment blast it with his breath;
[Page]"Flesh is but flesh, the fairest things doe fall,
"The strongest stoop, Death is the end of all.
Loue-drawing load-stars, vnto whom is giuen
Shape, like the winged messengers of Heauen,
To whose sweet beauties all mens knees are bent,
Helpe me, O helpe me, kindly to lament
This honor'd Lady, Lady of all Honor,
And in your gentle hearts so thinke vpon her,
That in the glasse, when you with curious care
Trimming the tresses of your golden haire
Shall wonder at your selues, you then may say,
This beautie is but borrowed for a day,
An houre, a minute, or a moments space,
Death's heere, is there, at hand in euery place.
The Springs most hopefull bud in youthful May
Is sometime with the blossome blowne away:
The fruit sometimes doth perish in the bud,
At most it can attaine but so much good,
As to grow ripe, and drop into the shade:
Both blossome, bud, and fruit in time doe vade.
Nor doe I simply challenge Death alone
Of that late wrong, too soone alas yet done,
[Page]To the dead mirrour of all wome
[...] kind:
Th'ineuitable end of things design'd,
And written by the great Creators hand
In the star-text of Heauen, shall euer stand,
And in it selfe is good, but euery end
Vpon a mediate cause doth still depend.
And though by meanes at euil ends we aime;
Yet diuine prouidence directs the same,
And makes, when wicked we all good neglect,
An euill cause produce a good effect:
So that sad inst
[...]ument of wicked ill,
By which death doubtlesse found the way to spill
This glorious worke of nature, euil ment,
Spoile was the end and scope of his intent.
But heauen did frustrate what his purpose was;
Yet in his action suffer'd him to passe,
That so her
[...]oule, shut vp in house of clay,
Vnworthie such a guest might find a way,
Vpon deaths ladder from base earth to rise:
For death is Honors scale to climbe the skies.
But woe to thee the while, whose wicked hands
Were instruments of death t'vnknit the bands.
[Page]Which in that body held so faire a mind,
In which soule enuies selfe no fault could find;
O wretched world, whose crooked backe doth bow,
And grone beneath foure ages past, yet thou
As old in euill, as in age dost nurse
Thine owne disease, and which alasse is worse
Dost only yeeld thine aged pappes to those,
That are blacke mischiefes friends and vertues foes:
Thine iron age the worst of all the foure
In no part good, when good men did deplore
Astr
[...]as flight from hence to heauen aboue,
Was not so bad; but that it may improue
This thy last age, of clay, of dirt, of mud,
Of anything more vile or void of good
When euill spirits in shapes of men doe dwell,
And earth it selfe is made another hell:
Astraea then from earth to heauen did flie,
Because truth troden downe did helplesse lie
Beneath oppression, and to her was giuen,
That place, where now she holds the scale in heauen,
Yet Honour with vs st
[...]l did seeme to stay▪
As if from earth, heauen would not take away
[Page]Vertues reward, till Vice did so abound,
That now true vertue no where can be found:
Or if it can, yet doth it want reward;
The sonnes of Honor now haue no regard,
To baser vice greatnesse of state inclines,
Who
[...]e vpstart groomes, ech where in purple shines;
Soule-sauing vertue shames to shew her face,
To be true vertuous now is to be base,
And honestie, whence Honor takes her name,
To those professe it, is accounted shame:
Then happy she, though haplesse we lament
The absence of her noble soule, which sent
From Heauen at first, as heauenly dew did fall
Vpon this sinfull earth, and finding all
Too grosse end muddie, where shee mig
[...]t remaine,
Was through the poores of her lifes fru
[...]t againe
Exhal'd from earth by those attractiue rayes,
Which heauens bright sun of mercy thence displaies
Where vnto her all glorie now is giu'n;
Astraeas selfe and all those stars in heauen,
Which antique times did stellifie of yore,
Giue honor vnto Honor euermore:
[Page]No part of those rare parts, that did excell,
Whose worth no tongue, much lesse thy Muse could tell
[...]
Though she oblig'd by dutie gaue th'g assay,
While time doth last, on earth shal ere decay.
For heauen▪ whe
[...] liuing she did truly honor,
Now dead bes
[...]owes a liuing name vpon her;
A name to liue, while fame hath wings to flie,
For sure on earth, the fame shall neuer die
Of her true noble Syre, a patron knowne
Vnto weake want, and second vnto none
For great good deeds, which Enuie cannot blame,
Nor to this Lord denie; but yeeld, what fame
To
[...], and his deare daughter dead doth giue,
That she by him, and he by her may liue;
May liue in those two noble pla
[...]ts which shee,
True honor'd
[...]o
[...]d, hath liuing le
[...]t to thee:
In whom, that so t
[...]ine image and her owne
May vnto all posteritie be knowne,
Heauen giue them le
[...]gth of dayes, & blesse them so,
That from suc
[...] plants fruit euerm
[...]re may grow:
Who in all
[...] times may claime the crowne
Of that il
[...]st
[...]ate deed, which doth renowne
[Page]Their Fathers name, of which if these bad dayes
Which slights best things would hearken to my layes,
My Mus
[...] (great Lord) should strike so high a string,
T
[...]at boldest Bardes should cease to heare her sing.
And on thy Faulcons wings alost should soare,
To tel of thy great Ancessors of yore,
And of their valour, whence deriued came
Those armes, that now nobiliate thy name.
When like a tempest that proud Pagan hoast
F
[...]om the North seas ariu'd on
[...]
Scotlands coast,Where neere
[...]
Loncart the noble
[...]iuer T
[...]yFrom that sad sight, as grieu'd, did glide away.
When she beheld her countries lot sinke downe
And fame in fight her foes with conquest crowne.
Till with his plough-beame glory-thirs
[...]ing
Hay
Aided by his two sonnes did crosse the way,
And forc't his flying countrie-men againe
With courage to
[...] head vpon on the
Dane,
Whose hoast destroy'd, with a plough-beame that day
He sau'd his
[...]
King and countrie
[...]rom decay,Of which vpon that field, the
Hay
[...] own land,
The
Faulcons stone a trophe still doth stand.
[Page]But backe my Muse, their glory may not bee
Thy subiect now; yet we by this may see,
That by him liuing, bles
[...] is she now dead,
Who made him blessed by a frui
[...]ful bed:
She dead, he liuing both blest euermore
In that fatre fruit, which her chast bosome bore;
Her chastest bosome, which was once the bowre,
Where vertues Queene did keepe her court, whose
[...]lowre,
Which from a plant in paradise did spring,
Set in her thoughts faire garden forth did bring,
The fruit of chast desire and spotlesse loue:
For which her happie soule now sits aboue
Those, that for other vertues praysed beene;
In women chastitie is vertues Queene,
Which through that grace, which vnto her was giu'n,
For her true zeale vnto the King of heau'n,
Without the which none can possesse the same,
While life did last, she kept from touch of blame:
(Ye nobler Dames) that all vaine thoughts despise,
Who would preserue from theft of hungrie eyes
Your
[...]lowre of beautie, and would quench the fires,
Which fal
[...]e term'd loue hath tin'd in base desires,
[Page]Ensue her steps in grace and pietie,
Which are the guardians of true chastitie;
O let not those shape-shifters, that doe steale
By false pretence of sanctimonious zeale,
Into the closet of your thoughts, intice
Your eares from truth, who by a new deuise
Teaching to be vnchast, to be no crime
Or veial at the least, abuse the time:
Nor let those Pallace parasites, those apes,
VVho putting on the gestures and the shapes
Of grauer men, with their pro
[...]aner lips
To make their Ladies laugh, spit forth court quips
Against deuotion, mocking holy things,
Improue your sanctitie, whence all good springs:
Shame not to shew in publike, as she did
Your zeale to heau'n, true zeale will not be hid;
Ioyne outward action to your inward will,
Not to doe good, she knew, was to doe ill.
But from her faith the efficient cause of good,
And those diuiner vertues vnderstood
Of heauenly soules, in which she did excell,
Let me proceed her other gifts to tell.
[Page]Least courtly ease, of great ones counted state,
To wanton Vice might open Vertues gate,
Her studi
[...]us soule was exercised sti
[...]l;
For where ease is, 'tis easie to doe ill.
When shee herself to solace did dispose
To passe the time, no vaine delights she chsse:
If in her needle she did tak
[...] delight,
What fairer patterne then her hands faire white?
If shee by art the I illies white would show;
Then if not there, where did white Lillies grow?
If azure brookes winding the lands about
In their true figure she would portrait out,
Then th
[...]se blew veines were such, which on her hand
Made little Ilands in a little land.
Would she worke roses with a perfect red,
Her lips, as often as she did beh
[...]d
The si
[...]e growne short with pearle-like teeth, had power
To giue a
[...]imson colour to each flowre,
Which on her w
[...]ke so like the life did show,
As if h
[...]y by her eyes faire be
[...]ames did grow,
And th
[...]ough her t
[...]uch for sent did so excell,
As if her brea
[...]h had giu'n them fragrant smell.
She seem'd with
Pallas to contend for
[...]ame.
Sometimes her daintie voyce with breath as sweet
As April
Zephyr's gentle gales, that g
[...]eet
Our sent with odor of the mornings rose,
Sweet ditties did in such sweet tunes compose,
That all
[...]hat h
[...]ard her so am
[...]zed were,
As if their soules were only in the eare:
While her soft hand wou
[...]d gently touch the Lute,
And sometimes bid the Violl not be mute,
VVho taught by her, as if they did reioyce
To beare a part to so diuine a voyce,
Such heauenly musicke to the eare wou
[...]d bring,
That
[...]oues nine daughters could no better sing:
VVith whom shee (honor'd Lady) nights and daies
VVould spend in hearing their melodious layes,
And vnto learni
[...]g euer being a friend
To hopefull wits her helpe she would extend.
But here (pe
[...]haps) if thou doe hap to write
Her noble worth, which now I doe recite,
Vertues companion black mouth'd Enuie sayes,
Thy pen doth drop a mercenarie prayse;
[Page]But to acquit thee heere the world may know,
She liu'd not (noble Ladie) to bestow
Her purpos'd fauours on thy forlorne Muse,
In whom, her worth yet, which I more abuse
Then truly blazon, cannot silent sleep;
Of her great worth what Muse can silence keep?
Ye thrice three sisters of that sacred spring,
About whose bankes ye sit and sadly sing
Your heau'nly skils contempt and learning
[...] scorne,
Double your griefe; for greater cause to mourne
How can ye haue? your art must now need
[...] perish,
Since all are dead with her, that arts did cherish.
Looke not in Court or Citie anie more
To find that grace, was giuen you of yore,
Now gentle blouds train'd vp in fancies schoole,
Doe giue the due of learning to the
[...]oole;
Your art is base, your skill is counted shame,
You must be poore with those professe the same;
A
[...]d thou vnhappie Swaine whose Muse did rayse
An image of her Honor, poore
[...]ssay
[...]s
In hast compil'd in hope her grace to gaine,
Neglect of which sorc'd absence did constraine,
[Page]This Ladies losse may most of all lament,
Too hastie death did all thy hast preuent;
What boot
[...] it here to bid thy Muse be sad,
Who now more grieues, that she may say shee had
Hope in good hap, till that vnhappy day,
That death with her tooke hope and hap away;
Then iustly hast thou part in my complaint,
To waile the losse of that now heau'nly Saint;
For who like her (ah none like her is left)
Will deigne to heare thee sing, thou art bere
[...]t
Of future hopes, who spake thee faire, forlorne,
Now mock thy hopes and laugh thy eares to scorne;
Breake then thy pipe, that was thy wonted blisse,
Whose tunes once pleasd, if some thinke not amisse,
Ne let thy Clioes trump, whose sound did bring
The dead to life, when Enuies eares did ring,
To heare the prayses of
Elizas name,
Be euer heard to sound the deeds of fame,
May none aliue, that doe the Muses wrong
Once dead, be nam'd in any Muses song.
Ne let the painted Theater be gr
[...]e'd
With tragick s
[...]aene from thee; Wit so misplac'd.
[Page]Hath weau'd the webs of folly, neither let
Thy Muse henceforth more serious things,
[...]orget,
To please the world: who best deserues, shall finde
Best friends wax cold, and all the world vnkinde.
Then henceforth silent sit in thy sad cell,
And euermore bid such delights farewell.
Or in thy thoughts, if to thy selfe thou raise
A shrine to vertue, where to offer praise,
To whom so chast, yet faire as eye could finde,
To whom so faire, and yet so meeke in minde;
To whom so meeke, yet borne in Honors Throne,
Canst offer it but vnto her alone?
In them that liue, what now is worthy found,
Who only vaunt to heare false flatterie sound
Their painted beauties, chiefly they prouide
Them Parasites to praise their foolish pride,
Slie Apes, that can but congie with a leg,
Doe gaine their grace, while learned wits may beg.
Goe then,
[...]h goe thou to you sacred Fane,
In which her chast dead body doth remaine;
For left to me poore
Wal
[...]ham nothing is
Of my deare Honor now, excepting this,
[Page]That buriall to her body dead I giue,
Who gaue it birth at first, when it did liue:
There as thou didst before her liuing shed
Thy sisters Teares for Royall
Henrie dead,
Vnto her Tomb, let teares thy dutie tell,
And from sad
Wal
[...]ham bid a sad farewell.
This said, shee sigh'd, and as that sigh did rise,
Shee rose and vanisht from before mine eies,
Which not so maz'de to see, as grieu'd to know
Her cause of griefe, I to that place did goe,
To seeke the graue and blesse that happie stone,
Which keeps the shrine wher
Honor kept her throne
Where when I came, the doores did say me nay,
From whence debar'd with griefe I went my way,
Else on her Tomb, whose soule now liues in bl
[...]sse,
I had imposd this
Honors Pyramis.
FINIS.