And when that they had wounded him,
The queene this thread did gette,
And went where ladye Rosamonde
Was like an angell sette.

But when the queene with stedfast eye
Beheld her beauteous face,

She was amazed in her minde

At her exceeding grace.

Cast off from thee those robes, she said, That riche and costlye bee;

And drinke thou up this deadlye draught,
Which I have brought to thee.

Then presentlye upon her knees
Sweet Rosamonde did falle;
And pardon of the queene she crav'd
For her offences all.

"Take pitty on my youthfull yeares,
Faire Rosamonde did crye;
And lett mee not with poison stronge
Enforced bee to dye.

I will renounce my sinfull life,
And in some cloyster bide;
Or else be banisht, if you please,
To range the world soe wide.

And for the fault which I have done,
Though I was forc'd theretoe,
Preserve my life, and punish mee
As you thinke meet to doe."

And with these words, her lillie handes
She wrunge full often there;

And downe along her lovely face

Did trickle many a teare.

But nothing could this furious queene
Therewith appeased bee;

The cup of deadlye poyson stronge,
As she knelt on her knee,

Shee gave this comelye dame to drinke;

Who tooke it in her hande,

And from her bended knee arose,

And on her feet did stand:

And casting up her eyes to heaven,
Shee did for mercye calle;

And drinking up the poison stronge,
Her life she lost withalle.

And when that death through everye limbe
Had showde its greatest spite,
Her chiefest foes did plaine confesse
Shee was a glorious wight.

Her body then they did entomb,
When life was fled away,

At Godstowe, neare to Oxford towne,
may be scene this day.

As

QUEEN ELEANOR'S CONFESSION.

"ELEANOR, the daughter and heiress of William Duke of Guienne, and Count of Poictou, had been married sixteen years to Louis VII. King of France, and had attended him in a croisade, which that monarch commanded against the infidels: but having lost the affections of her husband, and even fallen under some suspicions of gallantry with a handsome Saracen, Louis, more delicate than politic, procured a divorce from her, and restored her those rich provinces, which by her marriage she had annexed to the crown of France. The young Count of Anjou, afterwards Henry II. King of England, though at that time but in his nineteenth year, neither discouraged by the disparity of age, nor by the reports of Eleanor's gallantry, made such successful courtship to that princess, that he married her six weeks after her divorce, and got possession of all her dominions as a dowery. A marriage thus founded upon interest was not likely to be very happy: it happened accordingly. Eleanor, who had disgusted her first husband by her gallantries, was no less offensive to her second by her jealousy: thus carrying to extremity, in the different parts of her life, every circumstance of female weakness. She had several sons by Henry, whom she spirited up to rebel against him; and endeavouring to escape to them, disguised in man's apparel, in 1173, she was discovered and thrown into confinement, which seems to have continued till the death of her husband in 1189. She however survived him many years: dying in 1204, in the sixth year of the reign of her youngest son, John." The following ballad is altogether fabulous; no immorality being imputed to the Queen during her second marriage.

QUEENE ELIANOR was a sicke womàn
And afraid that she should dye:
Then she sent for two fryars of France
To speke with her speedilye.

RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY.

The king calld downe his nobles all,
By one, by two, by three;

"Earl marshall, Ile goe shrive the queene,
And thou shalt wend with mee.'

A boone, a boone; quoth earl marshàll,
And fell on his bended knee;

That whatsoever queene Elianor saye,
No harme therof may bee.

Ile

pawne my landes, the king then cryd, My sceptre, crowne, and all,

That whatsoere queen Elianor sayes
No harme thereof shall fall.

Do thou put on a fryar's coat,
And Ile put on another;
And we will to queen Elianor goe
Like fryar and his brother.

Thus both attired then they goe:
When they came to Whitehall,
The bells did ring, and the quiristers sing,
And the torches did lighte them all.

When that they came before the queene
They fell on their bended knee;
A boone, a boone, our gracious queene,
That you sent so hastilee.

Are you two fryars of France, she sayd,
As I suppose you bee?

But if you are two English fryars,

You shall hang on the gallowes tree.

We are two fryars of France, they sayd,
As you suppose we bee,

We have not been at any masse

Sith we came from the sea.

The first vile thing that ever I did
I will to you unfolde;

Earl marshall had my maidenhed,
Beneath this cloth of golde.

Thats a vile sinne, then sayd the king;

May God forgive it thee!

Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall;

With a heavye heart spake hee.

The next vile thing that ever I did,
To you Ile not denye,

I made a boxe of poyson strong,
To poison king Henrye.

That's a vile sinne, then sayd the king,
May God forgive it thee!

Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall;
And I wish it so may bee.

The next vile thing that ever I did,
To you I will discover;

I poysoned fair Rosamonde,

All in fair Woodstocke bower.

That's a vile sinne, then sayd the king,
May God forgive it thee!

Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall;
And I wish it so may bee.

Do you see yonders little boye,
A tossing of the balle?

That is earl marshall's eldest sonne,

And I love him the best of all.

Do you see yonders little boye,
A catching of the balle?

That is king Henrye's youngest sonne,
And I love him the worst of all.1

His head is fashyon'd like a bull;
His nose is like a boare.

No matter for that, king Henrye cryd,
I love him the better therfore.

The king pulled off his fryar's coate,

And appeared all in redde:

She shrieked, and cryd, and wrung her hands,

And sayd she was betrayde.

The king lookt over his left shoulder,

And a grimme look looked hee;

Earl marshall, he sayd, but for my oathe,

Or hanged thou shouldst bee.

1 She means that the eldest of these two was by the earl marshal, the youngest by the king.

THE STURDY ROCK.

THIS poem, subscribed M.T. [perhaps invertedly for T. Marshall] is preserved in "The Paradise of Daintie Devises."

THE sturdy rock for all his strength
By raging seas is rent in twaine :
The marble stone is pearst at length,
With little drops of drizling rain:
The oxe doth yeeld unto the yoke,
The steele obeyeth the hammer stroke.
The stately stagge, that seemes so stout,
By yalping hounds at bay is set :
The swiftest bird, that flies about,

Is caught at length in fowler's net :
The greatest fish, in deepest brooke,
Is soon deceived by subtill hooke.
Yea, man himselfe, unto whose will
All things are bounden to obey,
For all his wit and worthie skill,

Doth fade at length, and fall away.
There is nothing but time doeth waste;
The heavens, the earth consume at last.

But vertue sits triumphing still

Upon the throne of glorious fame:
Though spiteful death man's body kill,
Yet hurts he not his vertuous name:
By life or death what so betides,
The state of vertue never slides.