"Where cruel Richard charg'd the earl's main | Of the Lancastrian line, which happen'd on that battle, when

Proud Somerset therein, with his approved men
Stood stoutly to the shock, and flang out such a
flight
[com'd light,
Of shafts, as well near seem'd t' eclipse the wel-
Which forc'd them to fall off, on whose retreat
again,
[plain,
That great battalion next approacheth the fair
Wherein the king himself in person was to try,
Proud Warwick's utmost strength: when Warwick
by and by
[and round,
With his left wing came up, and charg'd so home
That had not his light horse by disvantageous
ground
[ward's host:
Been hinder'd, he had struck the heart of Ed-
But finding his defeat, his enterprize so lost,
He his swift couriers sends, to will his valiant bro-
ther,

And Oxford, in command being equal to the other,
To charge with the rightwing, who bravely up do
bear;
[rear,
But Hastings that before raught thither with his
And with king Edward join'd, the host too strongly
arm'd.
[charm'd,
When every part with spoil, with rape, with fury
Are prodigal of blood, that slaughter seems to
swill

Itself in human gore, and every one cries Kill.'
So doubtful and so long the battle doth abide,
That those, which to and fro, 'twixt that and
London ride,
[do bring,
That Warwick wins the day for certain news
Those following them again, said certainly the
king,

Until great Warwick found his army had the worst,
And so began to faint, alighting from his horse,
In with the foremost puts, and wades into the
throng:
[troops among,

And where he saw death stern'st, the murder'd
He ventures; as the Sun in a tempestuous day,
With darkness threaten'd long, yet sometimes
doth display
[clear eye,
His cheerful beams, which scarce appear to the
But suddenly the clouds, which on the winds do
Aly,

Do muffle him again within them, till at length
The storm (prevailing still with an unusual
strength)
[in night:
His clearness quite doth close, and shut him up
So mighty Warwick fares in this outrageous fight.
"The cruel lions thus enclose the dreaded bear,
Whilst Montacute, who strives (if any help there
were)

To rescue his belov'd and valiant brother, fell:
The loss of two such spirits at once, time shall not
tell;

The duke of Somerset, and th' earl of Oxford fled,
And Exeter being left for one amongst the dead,
At length recovering life, by night escap'd away;
York never safely sat, till this victorious day.
"Thus fortune to his end this mighty Warwick
brings,

This puissant setter-up, and plucker-down of kings,
He who those battles won, which so much blood
had cost,

At Barnet's fatal fight, both life and fortune lost. "Now Tewksbury it rests, thy story to relate, Thy sad and dreadful fight, and that most direful

fate

day

Fourth of that fatal month, that still remember'd
May:

[filed
'Twixt Edmund that brave duke of Somerset who
From Barnet's bloody field, (again there gathering
head)
[there,
And marquis Dorset bound in blood to aid hin
With Thomas Courtney earl of powerful Devon-
shire:
[there was seen,

With whom king Henry's son, young Edward
To claim his doubtless right, with that undaunted
queen
[on land,
His mother, who from France with succours came
That day when Warwick fell at Barnet, which now
stand

Their fortune yet to try upon a second fight.
And Edward who employ'd the utmost of his might.
The poor Lancastrian part (which he doth eas❜ly
feel,

By Warwick's mighty fall, already faintly reel)
By battle to subvert, and to extirp the line;
And for the present act, his army doth assign
To those at Barnet field so luckily that sped:
As Richard late did there, he here the vaward led,
The main the king himself, and Clarence took to
guide;

The rearward as before by Hastings was supply'd.

"The army of the queen, into three battles cast,
The first of which the duke of Somerset, and (fast
To him) his brother John do happily dispose;
The second, which the prince for his own safety
chose
[third
The barons of St. John, and Wenlock; and the
To Courtney that brave earl of Devonshire referr'd.
Where in a spacious field they set their armies
down;
[town,

Behind, hard at their backs, the abbey and the
To whom their foe must come, by often banks and
steep,
[deep,
Thro' quickset narrow lanes, cut out with ditches.
Repulsing Edward's power, constraining him to
[move

prove

By thund'ring cannon-shot, and culverin, to re-
Them from that chosen ground, so tedious to assail;
And with the shot came shafts, like stormy showers
of hail :

The like they sent again, which beat the other sore,
Who with the ordnance strove the Yorkists to out-
roar,
[pieces play,

And still make good their ground, that whilst the
The Yorkists basting still to hand-blows, do assay
In strong and boist'rous crowds to scale the cum-

b'rous dikes;

[pikes, But beaten down with bills, with pole-axes, and Are forced to fall off; when Richard there that led The vaward, saw their strength so little them to sted,

As he a captain was, both politic and good,
The stratagems of war, that rightly understood,
Doth seem as from the field his forces to withdraw.
His sudden, strange retire, proud Somerset that saw,
(A man of haughty spirit, in honour most precise;
In action yet far more adventurous than wise)
Supposing from the field for safety he had fled,
Straight giveth him the chase; when Richard
turning head,

By his encounter let the desperate duke to know,
'Twas done to train him out, when soon began the
show

Of slaughter every where; for scarce their equal | With many a worthy man, to Glo'ster prisoners forces

Began the doubtful fight, but that three hundred
horses,
[stay'd,
That out of sight, this while on Edward's part had
To see that near at hand no ambushes were laid,
Soon charg'd them on the side, disord'ring quite
their ranks,
[ing banks
Whilst this most warlike king had won the climb-
Upon the equal earth, and coming bravely in
Upon the adverse power, there likewise doth begin
A fierce and deadly fight, that the Lancastrian
side,

The first and furious shock not able to abide
The utmost of their strength, were forced to be-
stow,

To hold what they had got; that Somerset below,
Who from the second force had still expected
aid,

But frustrated thereof, even as a man dismay'd,
Scarce shifts to save himself, his battle overthrown;
But faring as a man that frantic had been grown,
With Wenlock happ'd to meet (preparing for his
flight)
[spite,
Upbraiding him with terms of baseness and de-
That cow'rdly he had fail'd to succour him with
[again,
Whilst Wenlock with like words requiteth him
The duke (to his stern rage, as yielding up the
reins)
[brains.

men:

With his too pond'rous ax dash'd out the baron's
"The party of the queen in every place are
kill'd,

The ditches with the dead, confusedly are fill'd,
And many in the flight, i'th' neighbouring rivers
drown'd,
[Yorkists crown'd.
Which with victorious wreaths, the conquering
Three thousand of those men, on Henry's part that
stood,
[blood,
For their presumption paid the forfeit of their
John marquis Dorset dead, and Devonshire that
day

had there

Drew his last vital breath, as in that bloody fray,
Delves, Hamden, Whittingham, and Leuknor, who
[that were,
Their several brave commands, all valiant men
Found dead upon the earth. Now all is Edward's
own,
[the town,
And through his enemies' tents he march'd into
Where quickly he proclaims, to him that forth
could bring
[king,
Young Edward, a large fee, and as he was a
His person to be safe. Sir Richard Crofts who
thought
[brought

His prisoner to disclose, before the king then
That fair and goodly youth; whom when proud
York demands,
[hands
Why thus he had presum'd by help of trait'rous
His kingdom to disturb, and impiously display'd
His ensigns: the stout prince as not a jot dismay'd
With confidence replics, To claim his ancient
right,
[might,
Him from his grandsires left; by tyranny and
By him his foe usurp'd: with whose so bold reply,
Whilst Edward throughly vext, doth seem to thrust
him by;
[that stood,

His second brother George, and Richard near
With many a cruel stab let out his princely blood;
In whom the line direct of Lancaster doth cease,
And Somerset himself surprised in the press;

led,

[fled There forfeited their lives: queen Margaret being To a religious cell, (to Tewksbury too near) Discover'd to the king, with sad and heavy cheer, A prisoner was convey'd to London, woful queen, The last of all her hopes, that buried now had

bids for thee,

Thy battle to describe, the last of that long war,
Entitled by the name of York and Lancaster;
'Twixt Henry Tudor earl of Richmond only left
Of the Lancastrian line, who by the Yorkists reft
Of liberty at home, a banish'd man abroad,
In Britany had liv'd; but late at Milford road,
Being prosperously arriv'd, though scarce two
thousand strong,
[came along,
Made out his way through Wales, where as he
First Griffith great in blood, then Morgan next
doth meet
[feet
Him, with their several powers, as offering at his
To lay their lands, and lives; sir Rice ap Thomas
then,
[expert men,
With his brave band of Welsh, most choice and
Comes lastly to his aid; at Shrewsbury arriv'd,
(His hopes so faint before, so happily reviv'd)
He on for England makes, and near to Newport
town,

The next ensuing night setting his army down,
Sir Gilbert Talbot still for Lancaster that stood,
(To Henry near ally'd in friendship as in blood)
From th' earl of Shrewsbury his nephew (under
age)
Came with two thousand men, in warlike equi-
[page,
Which much his power increas'd; when easily
setting on,
[ston,
From Litchfield as the way leads forth to Ather
Brave Bourcher and his friend stout Hungerford,
whose hopes
[troops,
On Heary long had lain, stealing from Richard's
(Wherewith they had been mix'd) to Henry do
appear,
Which with a high resclve, most strangely seem'd
[to cheer
His oft-appalled heart, but yet the man which

most

Gave sail to Henry's self, and fresh life to his host,
The stout lord Stanley was, who for he had affy'd
The mother of the earl, to him so near ally'd:'
The king who fear'd his truth, (which he to have
compell'd)
The young lord Strange his son, in hostage strongly
[held,
Which fore'd him to fall off, till he fit place could
find,

His son-in-law to meet; yet he with him combin'd
Sir William Stanley, known to be a valiant knight,
T'assure him of his aid. Thus growing tow'rds his

height,

As some old building long that hath been under- [ And his brave son lord George, for him that

And on the other side, John duke of Suffolk's | By Shrewsbury, which most of soldiers choice con

son, [begun, (John earl of Lincoln call'd) who this stern war Suborning a lewd boy, a false impostor, who By Simonds a worse priest instructed what to do, Upon him took the name of th' earl of Warwick, [for fear To George the murther'd duke of Clarence, who Lest some that favour'd York, might under-hand maintain)