Classic Poem

XXI .

Seek not due reverence onely to procure,
With shows of soveraignty, and guards oft lewd,
So Nero did, yet could not so assure
The hated diademe with bloud imbru'd;
Nor as the Persian kings, who liv'd obscure,
And of their subjects rarely would be view'd;
So one of them was secretly o're-thrown,
And in his place the murtherer raign'd unknown.

XXII .

No, onely goodnesse doth beget regard,
And equity doth greatest glory winne,
To plague for vice, and vertue to reward,
What they intend, that, bravely to begin;
This is to soveraigntie a powerfull guard,
And makes a princes praise o're all come in:
Whose life (his subjects law) clear'd by his deeds,
More then Iustinians toyls, good order breeds.

XXIII .

All those who o're unbaptiz'd nations raign'd,
By barbarous customes sought to foster feare,
And with a thousand tyrannies constrain'd
All them whom they subdu'd their yoke to beare,
But those whom great Iehovah hath ordain'd,
Above the Christians lawfull thrones to reare:
Must seek by worth, to be obey'd for love,
So having raign'd below, to raigne above.

XXIV .

O happy Henrie , who art highly borne,
Yet beautifi'st thy birth with signs of worth,
And (though a childe) all childish toyes do'st scorne,
To shew the world thy vertues budding forth,
Which may by time this glorious isle adorne,
And bring eternall trophees to the north,
While as thou do'st thy fathers forces leade,
And art the hand, whileas he is the head.

XXV .

Thou, like that gallant thunder-bolt of warre,
Third Edwards sonne, who was so much renown'd,
Shalt shine in valour as the morning starre,
And plenish with thy praise the peopled round;
But like to his, let nought thy fortune marre,
Who, in his fathers time, did dye uncrown'd:
Long live thy syre, so all the world desires,
But longer thou, so Natures course requires.

XXVI .

And, though time once thee, by thy birth-right owes,
Those sacred honours which men most esteeme,
Yet flatter not thy selfe with those faire showes,
Which often-times are not such as they seeme,
Whose burd'nous weight, the bearer but o're-throws,
That could before of no such danger deeme:
Then if not, arm'd in time, thou make thee strong,
Thou dost thy selfe, and many a thousand wrong.

XXVII .

Since thou must manage such a mighty state,
Which hath no borders, but the seas, and skies,
Then even as he who justly was call'd great,
Did (prodigall of paines where fame might rise)
With both the parts of worth in worth grow great,
As learn'd, as valiant, and as stout as wise:
So now let Aristotle lay the ground,
Whereon thou after may thy greatnesse found.

XXVIII .

For if transported with a base repose,
Thou did'st (as thou dost not) mispend thy prime,
O! what a faire occasion would'st thou lose,
Which after would thee grieve, though out of time!
To vertuous courses now thy thoughts dispose,
While fancies are not glu'd with pleasures lyme:
Those who their youth to such like paines engage,
Do gain great ease unto their perfect age.

XXIX .

Magnanimous, now, with heroicke parts,
Shew to the world what thou dost ayme to be,
The more to print in all the peoples hearts,
That which thou would'st they should expect of thee,
That so (preoccupi'd with such desarts)
They after may applaud the heavens decree
When that day comes: which if it come too soone,
Then thou and all this isle would be undone.

XXX .

And otherwise what trouble should'st thou finde,
If first not seiz'd of all thy subjects love;
To ply all humours till thy worth have shin'd,
That even most mal-contents must it approve,
For else a number would suspend their minde,
As doubting what thou afterwards might'st prove,
And when a states affections thus are cold,
Of that advantage forreiners take hold.

XXXI .

I grant in this thy fortune to be good,
That art t' inherit such a glorious crowne,
As one descended from that sacred bloud,
Which oft hath fill'd the world with true renowne:
The which still on the top of glory stood,
And not so much as once seem'd to look downe:
For who thy branches to remembrance brings,
Count what he list, he cannot count but kings.

XXXII .

And pardon me, for I must pause a while,
And at a thing of right to be admir'd,
Since those, from whom thou cam'st, reign'd in this isle,
Loe, now of yeares even thousands are expir'd,
Yet none could there them thrall, nor thence exile,
Nor ever fail'd the lyne so much desir'd:
The hundred and seventh parent living free,
A never conquer'd crowne may leave to thee.

XXXIII .

Nor hath this onely happened as by chance,
Of alterations, then there had beene some,
But that brave race which still did worth enhaunce,
Would so presage the thing that was to come;
That this united Isle should once advance,
And, by the Lyon led, all realmes o're-come:
For if it kep't a little, free before,
Now having much (no doubt) it must do more.

XXXIII .

Nor hath this onely happened as by chance,
Of alterations, then there had beene some,
But that brave race which still did worth enhaunce,
Would so presage the thing that was to come;
That this united Isle should once advance,
And, by the Lyon led, all realmes o're-come:
For if it kep't a little, free before,
Now having much (no doubt) it must do more.

XXXV .

Of Englands Mary , had it beene the chance
To make King Philip father of a sonne,
The Spaniards high designes so to advance,
All Albions beauties had beene quite o're-runne:
Or yet if Scotlands Mary had heir'd France ,
Our bondage then had by degrees begun:
Of which, if that a stranger hold a part,
To take the other that would meanes impart.

XXXVI .

Thus from two dangers we were twise preserv'd,
When as we seem'd without recovery lost,
As from their freedome those who freely swerv'd,
And suffer'd strangers of our bounds to boast;
Yet were we for this happy time reserv'd,
And, but to hold it deare, a little crost:
That of the Stewarts the illustrious care,
Might, like their mindes, a monarchie embrace.

XXXVII .

Of that blest progeny, the well known worth
Hath, of the people, a conceit procur'd,
That from the race it never can go forth,
But long hereditary, is well assur'd,
Thus (sonne of that great monarch of the north)
They to obey, are happily inur'd:
O're whom thou art expected once to raigne,
To have good ancestours one much doth gaine.

XXXVIII .

He who by tyranny his throne doth reare,
And dispossesse another of his right,
Whose panting heart dare never trust his care,
Since still made odious in the peoples sight,
Whil'st he both hath, and gives, great cause of feare,
Is (spoyling all) at last spoil'd of the light:
And those who are descended of his bloud,
Ere that they be beleev'd, must long be good.

XXXIX .

Yet though we see it is an easie thing,
For such a one his state still to maintaine,
Who by his birth-right borne to be a king,
Doth with the countreys love, the crowne obtaine,
The same doth many to confusion bring,
Whil'st, for that cause, they care not how they raigne.
" O never throne establish'd was so sure,
" Whose fall a vitious prince might not procure! "

XL .

Thus do a number to destruction runne,
And so did Tarquin once abuse his place,
Who for the filthy life he had begun,
Was barr'd from Rome , and ruin'd all his race;
So he whose father of no king was sonne,
Was father to no king; but, in disgrace
From Sicile banish'd, by the peoples hate,
Did dye at Corinth in an abject state.