There was an Italyan in that place,
Was as well beloved as ever was hee,
Lord David was his name,

Chamberlaine to the queene was hee.

If the king had risen forth of his place,
He wold have sate him downe in the cheare,
And tho itt beseemed him not so well,

Altho the kinge had beene present there.

Some lords in Scotlande waxed wroth,

And quarrelled with him for the nonce; I shall you tell how it befell,

Twelve daggers were in him att once.

15

20

When the queene saw her chamberlaine was slaine, 25 For him her faire cheeks shee did weete,

And made a vowe for a yeare and a day

The king and shee wold not come in one sheete.

Then some of the lords they waxed wrothe,
And made their vow all vehementlye;
For the death of the queenes chamberlaine,
The king himselfe, how he shall dye.

With gun-powder they strewed his roome,
And layd greene rushes in his way;
For the traitors thought that very night
This worthye king for to betray.

To bedd the king he made him bowne;
To take his rest was his desire;

He was noe sooner cast on sleepe,
But his chamber was on a blasing fire.

Ver. 15, sic MS.

30

35

40

Up he lope, and the window brake,
And hee had thirtye foote to fall;
Lord Bodwell kept a privy watch,
Underneath his castle wall.

'Who have wee here?' lord Bodwell sayd.
'Now answer me, that I may know.'
'King Henry the eighth my uncle was;
For his sweete sake some pitty show.'

'Who have we here?' lord Bodwell sayd,
'Now answer me when I doe speake.'
'Ah, lord Bodwell, I know thee well;
Some pitty on me I pray thee take.'

'Ile pitty thee as much,' he sayd,

'And as much favor show to thee,
As thou didst to the queenes chamberlaine,
That day thou deemedst him to die.'1

Through halls and towers the king they ledd,
Through towers and castles that were nye,

Through an arbor into an orchard,

There on a peare-tree hanged him hye.

When the governor of Scotland heard
How that the worthye king was slaine;
He persued the queen so bitterlye,

That in Scotland shee dare not remaine.

But she is fledd into merry England,

And here her residence hath taine;

And through the queene of Englands grace,
In England now shee doth remaine.

1 Pronounced after the northern manner dee.

XV.

A SONNET BY Q. ELIZABETH.

The following lines, if they display no rich vein of poetry, are yet so strongly characteristic of their great and spirited authoress that the insertion of them will be pardoned. They are preserved in Puttenham's 'Arte of English Poesie:' a book in which are many sly addresses to the queen's foible of shining as a poetess. The extraordinary manner in which these verses are introduced shews what kind of homage was exacted from the courtly writers of that age, viz.

'I find,' says this antiquated critic, 'none example in English metre, so well maintaining this figure [Exargasia, or the Gorgeous, Lat Expolitio] as that dittie of her majesties owne making, passing sweete and harmonicall; which figure beyng as his very originall name purporteth the most bewtifull and gorgious of all others, it asketh in reason to be reserved for a last complement, and desciphred by a ladies penne, herselfe beying the most bewtifull, or rather bewtie of queenes.' And this was the occasion: our soveraigne lady perceiving how the Scottish queenes residence within this realme at so great libertie and ease (as were skarce meete for so great and dangerous a prysoner) bred secret factions among her people, and made many of the nobilitie incline to favour her partie: some of them desirous of innovation in the state others aspiring to greater fortunes by her libertie and life: The queene our soveraigne ladie to declare that she was nothing ignorant of those secret practizes, though she had long with great wisdome and pacience dissembled it, writeth this dittie most sweete and sententious, not hiding from all such aspiring minds the daunger of their ambition and disloyaltie: which afterward fell out most truly by th' exemplary chastisement of sundry persons, who in fauour of the said Sc. Q. declining from her Maiestie, sought to interrupt the quiet of the Realme by many euill and vndutiful practizes.' (p. 207.)

This sonnet was probably written in 1584, not long before Hen. Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland was imprisoned on suspicion of plotting with F. Throckmorton, Tho. Lord Paget, and the Guises, for invading England, and liberating the Q. of Scots, &c. (See Collins's Peerage, 1779, II. 405.) The original is written in long lines or alexandrines, each of which is here, on account of the narrowness of the page, subdivided into two; but her majesty's orthography, or at least that of her copyist, is exactly followed.

In the first edition of Harrington's 'Nugæ Antiquæ,' 1st Vol. 1769, 12mo. p. 58, is a copy of this poem, with great variations, the best of which are noted below. It is there accompanied with a very curious letter, in which this sonnet is said to be of her Highness own enditing . . . My Lady Willoughby did covertly get it on her Majesties tablet, and had much hazard in so doing; for the Queen did find out the thief, and chid for spreading evil bruit of her writing such toyes, when other matters did so occupy her employment at this time; and was fearful of being thought too lightly of for so doing.'***

1 She was at that time near three-score.

THE doubt of future foes,

Exiles my present ioy,

And wit me warnes to shun such snares

As threaten mine annoy.

For falshood now doth flow,

And subiect faith doth ebbe,

Which would not be, if reason rul'd

Or wisdome weu'd the webbe.

But clowdes of tois vntried,

5

Then dazeld eyes with pride,

Which great ambition blinds,

Shal be vnseeld by worthy wights,
Whose foresight falshood finds.

The daughter of debate,1

That eke discord doth sowe,

Shal reap no gaine where former rule
Hath taught stil peace to growe.

No forreine bannisht wight

Shall ancre in this port,

Ver. 1, dread. Harrington's Ed.-Ver. 6, subjects. Har.-Ver. 7, should. Har. Ver. 8, wove. Har.-Ver, 9, joys. Har.-Ver. 11, raigne. Puttenham. —Ver. 22, That discorde aye. Har.—Ver. 23, formor. Put.

1 Scil. the Queen of Scots.

Our realme it brookes no strangers force,
Let them elsewhere resort.

Our rusty sworde with rest,
Shall first his edge employ,

To polle their toppes, that seeke such change,
And
gape for [such like] ioy.

330

†† I cannot help subjoining to the above sonnet another distich of Elizabeth's preserved by Puttenhamn (p. 197.) which (says he) our soveraigne lady wrote in defiance of fortune.'

Never thinke you, Fortune can beare the sway,

Where Vertue's force can cause her to obay.

The slightest effusion of such a mind deserves attention.

XVI.

KING OF SCOTS AND ANDREW BROWNE.

This ballad is a proof of the little intercourse that subsisted between the Scots and English, before the accession of James I. to the crown of England. The tale which is here so circumstantially related does not appear to have had the least foundation in history, but was probably built upon some confused hearsay report of the tumults in Scotland during the minority of that prince, and of the conspiracies formed by different factions to get possession of his person. It should seem from ver. 97 to have been written during the regency, or at least before the death, of the Earl of Morton, who was condemned and executed June 2, 1581; when James was in his 15th year.

The original copy (preserved in the archives of the Antiquarian Society, London) is intitled, 'A new Ballad, declaring the great treason conspired against the young king of Scots, and how one Andrew Browne an Englishman, which was the king's chamberlaine, prevented the same. To the tune of Milfield, or els to Green-sleeves.' At the end is subjoined the name of the author W. Elderton.' Imprinted at London for Yarathe James, dwelling in Newgate Market, over against Ch. Church,' in black-letter, folio.

This Elderton, who had been originally an attorney in the sheriffs' courts of London, and afterwards (if we may believe Oldys) a comedian, was a facetious fuddling companion, whose tippling and rhymes rendered him famous among his contemporaries. He was author of many popular songs and ballads;

Ver. 27, realme brookes no seditious Sects. Har.-Ver. 32, such like is supplied from Harrington's Ed. in which are other variations, that seem mere mistakes of the transcriber, or printer.