When horror, darkness, and her inward woe,
Began to work on her afflicted mind,
Upon her weakness tyrannizing so,
As they would do their utmost in their kind;
And as than those she need no other foe,
Such pow'r her fortune had to them assign'd,
To rack her conscience (by their torture due)
Itself t' accuse of whatsoe'er it knew.
O God! (thought she) is yet an hour scarce past,
Since that my greatness, my command more high,
And eminency wherein I was plac'd
Won me respect in ev'ry humble eye?
How am I now abused! how disgrac❜d!
Did ever queen in my dejection lie?
These things she ponder'd, as despair still brought
Their sundry forms into her troubled thought.
To London thus they March a prisoner led,
Which there had oft been courted by the queen,、
From whom his friends and his late followers fled,
Of many a gallant follow'd that had been,
Of which, there was not one durst show his head,
Much less t'abet his side that durst be seen;
Which at his fall made them to wonder more,
Who saw the pomp
wherein he liv'd before.
O misery! where once thou art possest,
See but how quickly thou canst alter kind,
And, like a Circe, metamorphosest
The man that hath not a most god-like mind:
The fainting spirit, O how thou canst infest!
Whose yielding frailty eas'ly thou canst find,
And by thy vicious presence, with a breath,
Give him up fetter'd, basely fear'd, to death.
Barons' Wars, by M. Drayton,
B. VI. st. 47-77, fol. edit.
AND now so far had their discourses gone,
That day was vanish'd, and the hour drew on,
Which for the king's design was set; from whom
A trusted squire to Montague was come.
Arm'd as he was, the youthful Lord arose,
And forth with courage flew: the like did those
That were alike engaged; a gallant band
About the person of their prince they stand.
'Mongst whom brave Edward in rich armour dight
His early manhood shows: with such a bright
Heroic visage does the blue-ey'd maid
Appear, in all her warlike tire array'd.
For yet no golden down had cloth'd his chin,
Nor twice nine painted summers had he seen,
And yet those young,
those maid-like frowns, as there They show'd, the genius of great France might fear: Much more in them the sure and present fall
Of guilty Mortimer was read by all.
Far from that castle on the side of Trent
A cave's dark mouth was found, of deep descent;
Upon the brink of which there grew around
So close a thicket, as quite hid the ground
From sight; the cave could be descry'd by none,
And had remain❜d for many years unknown;
Whose hollow womb did far from thence extend,
And under ground an uncouth passage lend
Into the castle. This dark vault was made
To serve the fort, when Danes did first invade
This fertile island; now not thought upon,
For the remembrance, as the use, was gone
Of such a place, until of late it chanc'd
Sir Robert Holland, to that charge advanc'd,
Surveying all his castle's nooks, had try'd
That horrid way, and closely certify'd
The king the truth of all: with store of light
The noble troop arrived there by night;
There void of fear into the dark descent
With his brave train heroic Edward went,
And through the ragged entrails of the cave
And baleful paths did fierce Rhamnusia wave
Her flaming brand, to guide their passage right,
And vanquish all the terrors of the night.
Her champions pass with fresh and sprightly chear
Those mouldy vaults, and air unstirred, where
So many years no human foot had trod,
Nor living thing but toads and bats abode.
Yet full of hazard did th' attempt appear,
So great a train had pompous Mortimer.
* And through the ragged entrails of the cave.] Thus Shakspeare, in a much-admired simile:
Which like a taper in some monument
Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
That shows the ragged entrails of this pit.
But they, secure of any danger nigh,
Within the castle some in jollity
Consum'd that hour of night, and some in sleep,
(For the earl himself the castle's keys did keep).
In such a fearless but a fatal plight
The wooden horse surpris'd old Troy by night.
Into her chamber the fair queen was gone,
Where with her minion Mortimer alone
She sat; but not his dearest company,
Nor love's sweet thoughts, which wont to give so high
A relish to them, now could bring delight:
They both were sad on that portentous night;
(The fates, it seem'd, into their souls had sent
A secret notice of their dire intent)
Which she could not conceal; nor Mortimer,
Although he often strove, by courting her,
To hide the inward sadness of his breast.
Caernarvon Edward's manes had possest*
The room and many strange ostents declar'd
Th' approaching ruin: in the castle yard
The dogs were heard unusually to howl:
About their windows the ill-boding owl,
Night-jars and shreiches with wide-stretched throats
From yews and hollys sent their baleful notes.
And (which increas'd their sad and ominous fears)
The beauteous queen relates, while standing tears
Began to dazzle her bright starry eyes,
That ghastly dream that did last night surprise
Her frighted fancy; Mortimer,' quoth she,
'Methought the sky was wondrous clear, when we
*Caernarvon Edward's manes had possest
The room, &c.] On Mortimer's impeachment, the first of the five articles laid to his charge was, "That he had procured Edward of Caernarvon, the king's father, to be murthered, in most heinous and tyrannous manner, within the castel of Berklie." Holinshed, p. 349.
Together walk'd in yonder court alone;
The gentle air seem'd undisturb'd: anon
Rose sudden storms, a dark and pitchy cloud
Obscur'd heaven's face, and thunder roar'd aloud:
The trembling earth about us moved round,
At last it open'd, and from under-ground
Rose Edward's pale and dismal ghost, his hand
Arm'd with a flaming sword, a threatning band
Of furies did upon the ghost attend:
He cry'd "Revenge!" With that they all 'gan bend
Their force 'gainst us, and thee methought they slew:
At which I frighted wak'd, and hardly knew
(So great the terror was) whether we were
Alive or not.' Ambitious Mortimer,
Scorning to show from any dream a fear,
Strove to divert so bad a theme, and chear
The queen with amorous discourse again.
While thus he flatters his own fate in vain,
A boist'rous noise about the doors they hear;
The maids without, that waited, shriek'd for fear;
Clashing of steel, and groans of dying men,
Approach'd their ears: for in the lobby then
Stout Turrington and Nevil both were slain,
That durst by force resist the armed train;
And in the chamber, ere the queen and he
Had time to doubt what this strange storm should be,
Sent from the king, the armed troops appear,
By whose command they seize on Mortimer;
And in an instant hurry him away:
(For at the chamber door did Edward stay)
The woeful queen at first amazed stands;
But quickly recollected wrings her hands,
Strikes her fair breast, and after them she hies
To the next lobby, weeps, and kneeling cries,
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