Not in full orbe as yet his honour shines:
True honours orbes are fild by digits; grow
By orderly additions: high designes
Doe with methodicall progression goe.
Tall Cedars by degrees advance the top.
Tis mushrome honour in a night shoots up.

Nature, the hand and instrument of heaven,
With sober pace advanceth fairely on:
Her peeces are produc'd by smooth and even
Degrees, and grow by soft accession.
Nature by mediums works, leaps not at all,
And honour leapt to seemes unnaturall.

But yet she stayes not, but doth gently pace
In her continued march: and high-borne sp'rits
Work, as a Faulcon to wring to her place
Wins aire by constant circlings, not alights,
Macedons heire could glory, he did raise
His name by expeditions, not delayes.

And though some pause to virtues acts be set,
Yet no Herculean pillars: she must not
Stand or retreat, but labour forward yet,
In great attempts plus ultra is the mot.
For virtues motion there's no period made,
And 'tis a star must not be retrograde.

Then on great Prince thou eldest sonne of Fame,
Honours first-borne; continue still to adde
Item to virtues, and weare a name
Charg'd with more well-won titles than he had:
Contest for thy inheritance in fame:
More just thy interest, more faire thy claime.

France was the Court wherein the case was tri'd,
With title so apparant, proofes so cleare,
His plea for honour could not be deni'd
By justice brib'd: nay, if more worlds there were,
And Philips sonne had triumph'd on them all,
His suit for honours birthright here should fall.

France is still sick, nor could the blood was lost
At Crescey, her integrity restore:
Her now more dangerous relapse must cost
A dearer dose than was prescrib'd before:
Th' originals of her distempers are
The spirits and the humours of Navar.

How is't Navar? too big for thy estate?
Thy own much meanes, and kingdome of thy mother?
It would take all thy thoughts to manage that,
Nor leave one thought to think upon another.
Much did I say? alas, there's nothing such,
He that ne'r had enough, had never much.

His state did ly like tinder on the fire
Of his ambition, whose subtle heat
At first did to the Constable aspire:
He must be nothing, cause he is so great.
We see some excellent worth markt out by fate,
To be the Soveraignes love, and subjects hate.

While he at truce with care, was layd a sleepe:
(Sleepe the distinction betwixt men and gods)
Navar and others enter'd, while none keepe
A guard about him, but his curtaine rods.
Where falling on him, mortally did wound him,
And haply thought, they left him as they found him.

King Iohn must temporize in this new case:
Time will be waited on by Majesty:
Tis proper to an action, as place
To bodies: when the winds are contrary,
Wise Pilots change their course: when they are for't
They veere about, and make up to their port.

Navar is promis'd favour, if he would
But aske: he did: yet they did closely mue him:
But this the Councell did but to uphold
Publique respect, and his owne merit shew him.
And for the greater state, three Queenes implore,
To beg that pardon which was given before.

Having obtein'd release, he goes away,
And his wound with him: it had better been
Those blowes had not been fastened, unlesse they
Had been playd home enough: tis often seene,
Such strokes are spurs to fury: who doth dare
To strike, and not strike sure, a sleeping bare?

He tenders up himselfe, his meanes, his friends,
To Edwards service, who could well advance
Such powerfull agents to atcheive his ends,
And use a part of France to ruine France:
You may a Kingdome enter when you please,
If you have one within that keepes the keyes.

Then he takes in some townes in Normandy,
To make his party stronger: he beleeves
His high offence must have security
By acting greater projects; and conceives
No puling suit for mercy can assure him,
Continued rebellions must secure him.

King Iohn must once againe the scene obey;
Dissembling is his ward, not open war:
He must have patience till at once he may
Both apprehend occasion, and Navar.
Time's a wilde thing, and hardly to be man'd,
And if not watch'd, will never come to hand.

Soone did occasion her lock present,
For Charles the Dolphin being now at Roan,
Navar to doe him honour thither went,
But might have left that complement undone.
Before they had halfe din'd, King Iohn did play
The servitour, and tooke this guest away.

Then from them all he culled out a messe,
And too impatient of a longer pause,
He did for them another banquet dresse,
Who died without triall of the lawes:
And without processe suffer'd in the place,
And said their Nunc dimittis for their grace.

Thus Damocles did sit at his rich fare,
And yet not thus; for there the pendant blade
Was truly held, though weakly, by a haire:
But this dropt downe, and execution made:
Our dangers and delights are neere allies;
From the same stem the rose and prickle rise.

The dreaming parties of Navar awake,
Strooke with this fright: thus in a halfe made sleepe,
When the deluding phantasie doth make
Some horrid dreame, we still our slumber keepe,
But when the fancy brings the danger neere
To touch our selves, we are rows'd up by feare.

Dreadfull confusion streamed from this blood,
Without judiciall proceeding shed:
King Iohn will be ingulfed in this flood,
Nor all the hands of France hold up his head:
His Kingdome is beheaded. To attone
The losse of these foure heads, France lost her own.

Harecourt and Philip brother of Navar
Enrag'd saile over, and in England land:
This massacre they to the King declare,
And beg no boone but justice from his hand:
Like to those Indians, that did never cry
For ought but justice to their Deity.

Lowd cry'd the murder, and they lowdly storme
Against this great injustice: to proceed
Without faire order of the Law, and forme,
The case and persons unexamined:
Till triall shall the doubtfull case assoile,
The sword of justice should ly steept in oile.

Edward imbrac'd the time; he had an eye
Could levell this advantage to his end:
He knew times declinations did ly
Poiz'd on one moment, on one point depend.
The metall's hot, and Edward must not hold,
Twill no impression take, if it be cold.

And that this expedition might be
Maintain'd, the Parliament did grant to pay
Such great taxations on their wools, that he
Might spend sixe yeeres a thousand markes a day.
That the firme base of Kingdomes may not reele,
Tis laid on mines of gold, as well as steele.

Edward resolv'd, foure thousand men did choose
To be Postillians of his greater power
Before the clouds open their lids, they ouze
Some single teares to usher downe the shower.
Glocester lands this force in Normandy,
To be the prologue of the Tragedy.

And now these martiall Revellers are set
Vpon the Neustrian stage, with habits fit
For their high parts: there forward Philip met
To act that prologue, if they yeeld him it:
As on a stage upon some fore-compact,
You see two strive, who should the prologue act.

But wisdome did their fortitudes unite,
And wed this couple in a safer tie:
When in one center many beames doe light,
The heat is rais'd by this societie:
And they conjoyn'd portended as much woe,
As Iove and Saturne in conjunction doe.

And in the quarrell of agreiv'd Navar
Prevaile in Normandy; strong cities win,
And force Carcasson; nor would fortune bar
That cities gates where they would enter in.
They shot without a counterbuffing shock,
Like to a thunderbolt through Languedock.

The townes yeeld up, only by feare agast,
Not yet beseig'd; men by timidity
Are on more dang'rous resolutions cast,
Than by the wildnesse of temerity.
Virtues defects nothing of her possesse,
But rashnesse may, for that is an excesse.

Nor was their time so cheap to cast away
Vpon a lazie seige; this action
Dies with her motion; prejudiciall stay
Had kild their fairer processe. Philips sonne
Did longer at one tedious leaguer lie,
Than he was winning Persias Monarchy.

It was their better way to overrun
And spoile the champian: fires and weapons are
The usefull instruments of destruction,
In the advancing of the justest war,
Which like a staring Basiliske doth waste,
Kill with the touch, and with the breath doth blast.

But in his conq'ring march proclaimes the cause,
And justifying title of the war;
Which was to vindicate the injurd lawes,
And to redeeme imprisoned Navar:
Which still in hold lay smother'd like a fire,
Which should breake out, and raise his fury higher.

Though many bonds doe mutuall aid invite,
Yet to be man is a sufficient tie;
Communion of nature bids us right
And shelter innocence from injurie.
States to the height of happinesse are growne,
When others injuries are thought their owne.

Nature on other creatures doth bestow
Some naturall munition; but to man
Nature gave man: who doth by nature owe
All offices of piety; nor can
The injur'd for their faults be bard tuition:
We succour not the manners, but condition.

Those wealthy summes this voyage to us gave,
Which to King Iohn those Countries yeerely paid,
Which did enervate France: though Kingdomes have
Strong bones, and joints whereon their weight is laid.
Yet all their actions dull, and sp'ritlesse prove,
If without meanes, the sinewes which must move.

But Gloster's not my theme: (though he too high
For ablest quils to reach) I must retreat
To Edwards quarters, and there vainly try
To make his greatnesse make these measures great.
The only muse I sue to, is his Name,
And uncorrupt relation of his fame.

Now France is gone to cure the wound was made
By Glosters arme; and ready to apply
His weapon-salve, he heares of Edwards blade
Drawne at a fairer marke than Normandy.
Gloster but wounded an inferiour limb;
Edward aim'd at the heart, and miss'd not him.

Led by this new occasion, and decree,
King Iohn conducts his powers from Normandy,
To entertaine yong Edwards men, for he
Was prickt to lay the scene by destiny.
Poictiers must beare the tempest of these wars,
Drawn thither by the influence of his stars.

But what makes Edward here? why doth he brave?
And in an others Court himselfe sit Lord?
Sure there's some cause; his fortitude must have
As well the scales of justice, as her sword:
For valours motion is irregular, where
Iustice is not the mover of the sphere.

And he that courting honour in the field,
Would wed her nobly to his virtue, must
Hold passion in; on a firme basis build,
And know the causes of his war be just.
Great actions if not founded deepe, will reele:
The greatest ship must have the strongest keele.

Tis th' only goodnesse of the cause, that can
Be true incentive to the imps of Mars:
For justice is mans virtue, as he's man:
Event sits Iudge, awarding in those wars
Right her desert; and wars ambiguous dy
Runs well, if cast by the hand of equity.

To procure peace, or keepe a foe at bay
By warding injuries, cals a war just;
But not to hug revenge, and make a way
For brutish ferity; but that Kings must
Keepe Kings in good opinion, that they know
What a wrong is, and how to use a foe.

Or to recover what our right hath been,
And what's detein'd unjustly to regaine:
Where justice ends, there justly wars begin.
Our Edward thus did war in Aquitaine.
Thus fierce Camillus taught the insulting Gaul
To weigh the treasure, and restore it all.

These are the sole conditions which can
Make an invasion legitimate:
Which notion printed in the Indian
By natures finger, made him wonder at
The woman-King Semiramis, that she
Would wage a war, not touch'd by injury.

Right stood for us: Navar had right in Bry:
Glocester led an army in that right:
And in his owne Edward did France defie:
For right the Prince, for right did Gloster fight.
For those false keyes which lock up justice, are
The keyes which ope Ianus his doores of war.

Edward unto the Prince that Dutchy gave,
Confirm'd it by his Charter: with intent
He should some care, as well as honour have,
And verse himselfe in rules of government.
It is an act that hath more glory in it,
To rule a conquer'd state, than first to win it.

King Iohn will settle upon Charles his sonne
This very Dutchy; which did owe her state
To Englands Edward, who confirm'd it on
The Prince, with charge his right to vindicate.
Kings do mark Kings proceedings; and to eye
Their wayes is politick necessity.

This was that Charles whom the French story write
First Dolphin: Humbert broken at the chance
Of's eldest sonnes decease, did give his right
Of Dolphiny to Philip King of France.
But with this caution confer'd the same,
They should the heire of France the Dolphin name.

He died in that noble company
(Company be's comfort) were at Crescey slaine,
Where Philip to allay his misery,
Did win the by, although he lost the maine.
He needs must owe one favour to his fate,
Although he lost himselfe he won a State.

Go vindicate thy right? a word that can
Effect a wonder on lame cowardise,
And teach it move: but to the Prince, a man
To picture prowesse by; it did but this;
Remove those lets which did his valour stay,
Streames have selfe motions, take the dams away.

Thus when a pondrous stone whose weight propends
Down to the loved center, with a stop
Hath an encounter, as it downward tends;
And with that interposure is kept up;
Whosoe'r shall displace th' impediment,
Imparts no motion but by accident.

Still had the King seene peaces smiling brow,
And smoother front, had he not bard his foes
Of that for which there was no right to show;
As once a Pope the Indies did dispose,
Which made the barbarous king to laugh at this,
One should dispose of what was none of his.

The revolution of affaires is writ
In fortunes motley booke; which is compos'd
Of pages black and white: King John thinks fit
To study both, as if he had suppos'd
Himselfe an ill proficient, should he looke
Only upon the white ones in the booke.

The unexperienc'd King dares sport with flame,
And sindge his royall pinions; he doth thinke
The bloody die of Mars is but a game;
And thirsts wars bitter potions to drinke.
His father dranke not all the viols up,
Edward's his Doctor to dresse him a cup.

He musters up his men, extracts the best
Out of the English masse; Salsbury, Lile,
Suffolk, and Warwick: men that might contest
With antique worth, and lead the right hand file:
Wise Princes have wise seconds; nor alone
Imbark in actions: eyes see more than one.

Suppose the generall wise, and valiant,
Such the Commanders: yet if be propos'd
Projects of consequence, they doe not grant
They should in one brests conclave be dispos'd;
But call a martiall Court, and there debate
Which side makes best conclusion for the state.

Captaines are armies heads; which heads must be
The seat of reason and direction, whence
Through the inferiour limbs of soldiary
Discretion is infus'd by influence.
Though ruddy Bacchus from Ioves thigh was ta'ne,
Yet armed Pallas issu'd from his braine.

Such were the soldiers here, and such the head:
Mars could not here select a soldier out,
But could command: no Captaine but could lead
The Gods, when they against the Giants fought.
Mars would have chose these soldiers in his wars,
And Mars his soldiers Edward for their Mars.
The Prince eight thousand sinewy archers brings
Armed with fatall engines which were try'd,
And never taught the foile; as if their wings
Impropriated conquest to their side.
Their whistling shafts alway victorious fly,
Feather'd with plumes were pluckt from victory.

A thousand men at armes cull'd out, did looke
Like iron statues art had taught to goe,
Which stood more firmely on the ground they tooke,
Than Macedonias Phalanx e'r could doe.
And as the Prince these fiery warriours led,
He seem'd the starre some Comet followed.

Some of the French Nobility adher'd;
Captall de Buch, Montferrand, and D'Esparre:
France knew that they were worthy to be fear'd:
We, that their helpe was soveraigne in war.
The Scorpion thus, as Nat'rallists do write.
Is the best cure against the Scorpions bite.

That which doth most distract and terrifie;
The English were in divers parts of France:
Whilst Glocester is yet in Normandy,
Wales doth in Aquitaine the war advance.
For in a war that hath more feats than one,
More feare's diffused, and more pillage won.

The Norman townes had been regain'd if Iohn
Had not from thence by Wales diverted been.
Pisa's thus saved from subversion,
And dangerous leaguer of the Florentine;
By the withdrawing of his powers from thence,
To be imployed in his owne defence.

And now my fancy sees great Edward rise,
Mars his Enthusiast: his actions were
Raptures of Valour, and deepe extasies
Of man above himselfe: for drawing here
His spirits from their matter, passed more
Himselfe, than he surpass'd the world before.

He on the stage of Aquitaine did play
That part, which none beside can personate:
In every course or found, or made a way,
And prostrates as infallible as fate.
Like to deaths harbinger his passage made,
And there death lodged, where he lodg'd his blade.

Cities of such a strength (that they had beene
Abler t'ensure the Godlings from surprize
Than lodging in strange shapes did let him in
As if he had been keeper of the keyes
And raining arrowes in a feather'd shower,
He could have peirc'd more than a brazen tower.

Some townes invited by their strength withstand,
Not out of hope to stand, but out of shame:
Some yeeld more to his name, than to his hand;
For that had conquer'd them before he came.
While some are forc'd, some yeelded as he went,
And seem'd to have been won by precedent.

Thus fall the shrubs, poore neighbours of an Oke,
Whose top kisseth the clouds, whose root sounds hell
Which vanquisht by th' assault of sturdy stroke,
With groning fall the under wood doth fell,
Small states sinke with the fall of greater states,
The same their fortunes, and the same their fates.

The strongest Cittadell, and stateliest Hold
Gave entrance at the gates, or gaping rents,
Ambitious of new landlords for their old:
And Castles like so many monuments
Gave up their men, who were strooke dead with feare,
Summon'd to rise by Edwards trumpeter.

There as through houses the mad fire was running,
They seem'd like beacons all in flames, which were
Not fir'd by France to tell the foe was comming,
But by the foe to tell that he was there:
Or else at once did those two places show
Where Comets burne, and which they threaten too

Clement the sixt of Rome, strikes in for peace,
An act of which few of them guilty are;
The Papacy arriv'd at the encrease
Of her progression by forraine war.
And since the Eagle did some plumes afford,
It thriv'd lesse by the Keyes than by the sword.

But Wales th' exact Idaea of a sonne,
And true Commander, wisely did deny't:
Vnwarranted from home had it beene done,
He had entrench'd upon his fathers right.
Th' injunctions of thy Prince must stand, not thine;
The soule of Martiall feats is discipline.

Out of this well-stor'd arcenall doe come
Weapons, which are the hands of victory,
And triumph's her rich crowne: why did old Rome
Make their Victoria a Deitie,
Which had not beene, much lesse had been divine,
If not both made, and shrin'd by Discipline.

Sterne Manlius yeelds his victorious sonne
Vnto the Lictours axe, because he fought
Without command, though challenged; and had won
The day from Metius, and rich spoiles had brought,
The losse of such a sonne doth rather choose,
Than Rome the least of discipline should lose.

Single example! sure yong Manlius saw
Conquest was feisible: why then should he
Give rather blind obedience to that law,
Than win so coy a thing as victory?
If new occasion faire advantage brings,
We may apply our selves unto the things.

No eare to lecture of soft peace is turn'd,
Mars his red letters writ with sword and speare,
Must still be read: his valour's but adjourn'd,
Tis not prorogu'd: it was no period here,
But as a breathing comma to the Prince;
Such stops as these are spurs to violence.

As I have seene come galloping amaine
A gentle Knight, who meeting on the road
An old freind long unseene, doth entertaine
Some short discourse, then with his gingling goad
Prick up Grashopper, and devoure the way,
And win with speed, what he had lost by stay.

And thus a streame proud with a fall of raine,
Topping his bankes, and scorning the controule
Of a poore chanell, winneth from the plaine,
And with impetuous violence doth roule:
But if some dam shall countercheck his waves,
It breakes the dam and more insulting raves.

The Prince shoots smoothly through without recoile,
And townes so eas'ly homag'd to his name,
As if he went but to receive the spoile
Which Fortune had told out against he came;
And with so swift dispatch effected this,
That Caesars Vici was but slow to his.

As sensitives which with most swiftnesse move,
Are fullest of best spirits: so actions are,
Whose active heat makes them succesfull prove,
And fortune waiteth most on such a war:
Edward knew this, and he like lightning shone,
At once he came, broke thorough, and was gone.

Faire fortune was ingross'd to him by fate,
Yet was he not more fortunate than wise:
Wise as Huniades, as fortunate
As Castriot, which two this one comprize.
He seem'd to take townes at a cast, and get
(As once Timoleon) cities in a net.

This happy entrance strong impression makes,
But different in the French, and English mindes:
There it works terrour, here it courage takes;
It credits ours, discredits their designes.
These faire exordiums are the wayes to win,
It is wars Rhet'rick bravely to begin.

Now shiv'ring winter fledg with feather'd raine,
Cover'd the earth with beds of watrish downe,
Which warnes the Prince to quit the open plaine,
And have his soldiers winter'd in a towne,
Who unto Burdeaux unimpeach'd retreats,
And for this yeere takes leave of Martiall feates.

The peircing frosts candi'd in Gallick skyes,
Against their countries foes would so combine,
The tunicles should not secure their eyes,
And all the humors would turne chrystalline:
In their blue channels the red streames had stood,
And spirits been congealed in that flood.

Therefore the Prince will not his men bestow
In fields unshelter'd, whilst the leagu'ring cold,
And battering engines of chill ice and snow
Assault the spirits, and surprize their hold.
Who let their men i'th' field in winter ly,
Both combat nature, and the enemy.

The Sunne surrounding with a fleet careere
On the highway of the Ecliptick line,
Had inned in his winter signes this yeere,
And at the goale his mounture did decline.
Thus Edward to his winter Tropick came,
Advancing through the Zodiack of fame.

As when a fat and teeming soile is growne
Fat, and o'rspent; and by its often birth
Threatens a barren womb, the moyling clowne
Fallowes the acres of his languisht earth:
Thus Cheifes indulge their wearied soldiers rest,
And husband valour in their fallow'd brest.

Apollos yew is not at all times bent,
It sometime feriates, and string is slackt:
The sinewes of his lyre not alway rent
With screwing torture, nor with winding rackt.
These rests, and stops with sweet variety,
Tune all our actions to a harmony.

And thus the Sun, when he takes up his light,
As 'twere to rest it in a misty shrowd:
Will shew a face more glorious, and bright
Thorough the breach of the dissolved cloud.
Nay, thus my pen by only stay will write
A smoother letter than it drew last night.

Now had the Sun rid through his winter stage,
And lighted at the lusty Ram: the earth
With herbes, as Æson, did renue her age,
And was impregnate with a numerous birth.
Flora to ope her wardrobe did begin
As 'twere to deck her at her lying in.

The constellation of the winged Steed
Rising with Sol, attempereth the aire
To the radicall humour, and doth breed
Blood in the strouting veines, and sp'rits repaire:
Soldiers in spring double their service can,
A man in winter is but halfe a man.

The speckled Snake when he hath new put on
His annuall coat, with seeming-triple tongue,
Cals for the fight; and basked in the Sun,
Is able or to give, or pay a wrong:
But when th' earth lies like one great ball of snow,
Alas, poore Snake, what mischeife can it doe.

The Prince, who had in winter seem'd to set,
Advanceth forward with th' advancing Sun:
Doth not his resolute designes forget,
Nor to consummate what he had begun.
Not to promote what we doe once commence,
Argues a weaknesse, and a diffidence.

When great ones for great actions are bound,
And sailed far i'th' voyage, they will not
Turne for their honour, but be rather drown'd;
Nor can perhaps: as those the gulfe have shot.
Or not begin or finish, is a rule
As well in Mars his as in Venus schoole.

Nerves would bee cramp'd, the lazie blood would freeze;
Limbs be unactive, should they longer ly;
And if they still should sacrifice to ease,
Valour would fall into a lethargy:
Dull lakes are choakt with melancholick mud,
Motions do cleere, and crystallize a flood.

No body's healthfull without exercise;
Iust wars are exercises of a State:
Virtue's in motion, and contends to rise
With generous ascents above a mate.
Princes in motion with the spheres contest,
Made more for veneration, than for rest.

He still will be assailant, nor attend
His dangers comming, (we may fall asleepe
In watching danger he shall best defend
His Kingdomes safty, and her honour keepe
By just invasives: they that dare assaile,
Are thought the strongest, and for that prevaile.

By this first comming on Edward translates
Danger to French from English: ancient Rome
Had her most dangerous knocks at her owne gates,
But fought with triumph, when shee fought from home.
To war abroad is best security;
Mischeifes great part is its vicinity.

With uncontrouled march he did advance
Through Bruges, Perigort, and Limosin:
And seiz'd the bosome of affrighted France;
The terrour of his acts usher'd him in.
The lowd report of his victorious name
Did execution long before he came.

As when the nurses rod cannot appease
The child; at th' hearing of some horrid name
Tis husht: thus Turky with Huniades
Stilled their children, saying that he came.
A frightfull name's as forcive as a blow
Both Edwards name and arme can overthrow.

For he like light diffused in the aire,
Spreads without opposition, meets no stay
To check his faire proceedings, nor impaire
His smoother fortune wheeling on her way.
No lets encounter'd with his fortunes yet:
They ran as smoothly as Musaeus writ.

As yet there's no abatement of his power,
No blood expended, they did nothing meet
Whereby they might disgust the wars; no sower
As yet had been attemper'd with their sweet.
Thus Arethusa slides through Neptunes bed,
And keepes her maiden streame unravished.

But what? no French that may our valour give
Life by encounter? is it their intent
To kill't by kindnesse, which by blowes must live,
And be redeemed from its languishment?
That unimployed fals in a swound, and then
With blowes, not kisses, it is fetch'd agen.

Or rather are the armes of frighted France
Pinion'd with feare? what not a Chevaleere
That for his mistresse sake dares try his lance,
If not, for's country be a champion here?
Yes: now their horsemen like a tempest come,
Acknowledg'd then the flower of Christendome.

King Iohn such unexpected haste did make,
(His spirits heated with too quick a fire)
He did the Prince at Poictiers overtake:
He wing'd his hope, and imped his desire,
As if he would his hasty fates importune,
He might outrun his father in misfortune.

Iohn, who dares say thou wert not Philips son,
Heire to his crowne, successour in his fate?
Twas thy inheritance to be undone:
Ill fortune prov'd thou wert legitimate.
The weight of Philips crowne did thee decline,
Philips was made of thornes, and so is thine.

The King mistooke it for a chase, and thought
To overtake were to surprize his foe:
As when a hound with snuffing long hath sought
Through waylesse woods, which way the game did go.
Rowses by chance a Lion for a Deere,
And thus the French did rowse a Lion here.

Vnder the heavy burthen of their power
They seem'd to make the groning center yeeld,
And with a cloud of men (able to shower
Destruction on the world) darken the field.
A whirlwind scowring from the Northerne waine,
Did ease th'oppressed, cleare the darkned plaine.

They had the ods of number six to one,
A wonder by a sixth to be withstood:
So many speares at once, and lances shone,
Did in a champaine seeme to make a wood.
But I have heard, a woolfe did never feare
A flock of sheepe, how great so e'r it were.

Let fond Tigranes in a proud despight
Laugh at Romes handfull; and in bravery
Brag to his men, they were too few for fight,
And but too many for an embassie.
They chas'd this bragart, and the conquest won,
And made his honour set before the Sun.

For 'tis not crab'd Arithmetick that must
Be judge of valour: in th' exactest rate
Of men, we weigh, not number them: nor trust
Counters, but scales to give their estimate.
Their quire was greatest, but the English are
More skil'd in th' anthemes, and sad hymnes of war.

They have the ods of country; the cause is
Try'd in their Court; and we are forc'd to play
In their owne alley: nay, they're strain'd by this
To fight: they lose their country with the day,
But in invasive wars abroad, we doe
But lose our selves, and not our country too.

Vpon the soile where thou wert borne, to flee,
Cries bastard in thy face: is it not just
To pay her life, which once did lend it thee?
Thou ne'r couldst better dy, and once thou must.
Give me a Cock that ne'r durst strike a blow,
Vpon his dunghill he will beat his foe.

Nay, as if fortune had a patent lent
For France t'ingrosse all the advantages:
Ods in conceit: conceit, an instrument,
Which though phantastick, breeds realities.
The pregnant mothers strong imagination
Hath given her womb a reall alteration.

The King of France his army did draw out,
And on a spacious plaine embattelled:
His numerous multitude he wheel'd about
Like the First mover; and the fields did spread
With traine too long, and wings too short to fly
Vnto so high a pitch as victory.

His hopes had now impos'd on his beleefe,
That he already had the victory:
He thinks that tedious, which all else thinke breife:
He meanes to joyne his battaile presently.
Desires are hasty, and when hopes are strong,
Minutes are lazy, and compendiums long.

He's highly rais'd by flattering conceit
And selfe opinion, that he might be strooke
With greater ruine from so great a height:
As when an Eagle hath some shell-fish tooke,
She beares it up aloft, that she may breake
That with a fall, she could not with her beake.

They think to scourge our Heros, and with steele
Whip this yong warriour, who now was made
Professour in his art, and scorn'd to feele
Check or correction from the proudest blade.
It will not come into their memories,
That he at Crescey fought his master prize.

Scorning the petty numbers which we brought,
They rate us pris'ners more than enemies:
And against light of truth, and nature thought,
That efficacious force in number lies.
He is blind hardy, that will dangers slight,
For they grow heavy, when they once seeme light.

'Mongst natures utensils you cannot see
A thing so poore, but may be instrument
To shape great actions; though the object be
Tough to receive, untoward to be bent.
The power that gives all actions their lawes,
Prepares the object, and exalts the cause.

If chance claim'd not an interest in tents,
And schooles of Mars; then the French numbers might
Seeme in good eyes enforcing arguments
For strong conclusions: but she claimes such right,
That 'tis a question, whether Rome had more
Set upon Virtues, or on Fortunes score.

But France hath greater opposition here
Then single fortune: had we cowards beene,
She had empark'd us like a heard of Deere:
But in so few ne'r was more valour seene.
A multitude could never make a head
Against fierce Lions, if by Lions led.

While the French, swolne with vaine and sickish hope
Of victory, are ready now to burst
In feav'rish choler on the foe; the Pope
With fatherly prevention tried first
If for such fevers any thing might be
A soveraigne cure besides phlebotomy.

To mediate betweene this mighty paire
He sent two Cardinals: the French withstood
With eares of proofe, and fortified 'gainst prayer,
Their Crosier staves could here do little good:
Nay, if the Herault of the Gods had come,
He might have broke his rod, and so flowne home.

We were too far gone in this Maze to fly,
Nor humane judgement could present a light
To shew us out: Time and necessity
Advise the Prince leane to peace, which might
Not be inglorious, and give a blow
Vpon his honour deeper than a foe.

Lest he lose all, the Prince will lose a part,
And disengage himselfe at any rate.
Wisdome adviseth the most generous heart
To bend with th'inclination of his state.
Wee meet with fortunes shocks, and beare her weights
By stooping, not by standing at our heights.

But France presuming fatally there are
Vpon her side matchlesse advantages;
Will heare no musick but the sounds of war,
The hymnes of peace are but dull aires to these.
Thus Semele the thundercrack will heare,
And die with that which only pleas'd her eare.

Their ventrous King will desperately play
To win a penny, or to lose a crowne;
And lose himselfe with losing of the day:
Yet might have stayd his hand, and not have thrown
Fish with a golden hooke, and lose that hooke,
It cann't be valu'd, with what could be tooke.

The Prince beset with strong objections,
Of opposits can no evasion see:
Would therefore yeeld to all conditions,
And yeeld up all things but himselfe, and he
Cannot be guilty of such base controule,
Whose body't selfe's no prison to his soule.

As at that sea-fight when the windes doe try
To dispossesse rugg'd Neptune of his right:
And both combine against an Argosie
Which rather would be neuter in the fight:
The master casts his goods into the sea,
As t'were the ransome that should set him free.

But they will Edward have to satisfie
Their high desires: Edward must basely yeeld
Himselfe a pris'ner: nay, he'll rather die,
Than yeeld, and liue: nay, 'fore he quits the field,
He'll take their King. Tis just, he that will choose
To take thy freedome, should his freedome lose.

He gives conditions, as if we were
Now in his hands, and really possest
In's overweening thoughts: and doth not feare
Our fortune, or our valour: but profest
Hee'd set us lawes. But Edward thought it fit
Those lawes like Draco's should in blood be writ.

His articles at first did terrour strike,
And did our minds in dark suspenses hold,
But ended things to laugh at; not unlike
The armed charets in the fields of old,
Wherein both sithes and speares were borne:
Were first a terrour, afterward a scorne.

To yeeld ones selfe, and yeeld before a blow,
Cals indignation from a Cowards brest:
He could not yeeld his honour to his foe,
For others had in that some interest.
He had deceiv'd country, and King, for he
To them for's honour must accomptant be.

Liberty is devolved to the sonne,
Which doth enhance its price: as you have seene
Something preserv'd with great religion,
Only for this. It had his grandsires beene.
Tis priz'd but by conjecturall conceit,
Like an old peece for which there is no weight.

His life and honour at the stake did ly,
Set to be throwne at in this martiall game:
He'll therefore lose his life couragiously,
To keepe from forfeit his engaged fame:
And with a fearlesse progresse dangers meet,
Life not in length, but in the use is sweet.

The King of France an errour did commit,
And wars for errours scarse have second roome:
Had he but tim'd it, and not joyned yet,
We eas'ly would to composition come.
Fortune's a market, if a while you stand,
Things will grow cheap, and fall into your hand.

Had reason given him patience to stay
Till time were ripened, we had been too weak
To fight, if elder by a month: delay
Had crumbled us, whom valour could not breake:
It is a rule Cheiftaines to Fabius ow,
To get the conquest, and not strike a blow.

We could not with provision be stor'd
He might have cut it off without a blow:
Famine had beene more forcive than the sword;
But he will fondly buckle with the foe:
And by his folly make our fortune great:
Serpents prove Dragons when they Serpents eat.

Good King; he did his resty passions ride
Without a bit: who in their wilde carere
Dash him on this, then on the other side,
Then give a fall, which he did never feare.
But to his passions attribute not all;
Something on times vicissitudes must fall.

Great actions are not molded out of hand,
They aske their time for just conception,
Lest they should prove blind issues: they demand
A first, and second agitation;
And are on arguments of counsell tost,
Or else on fortunes waves, and there are lost.

When mature counsell hath concluded what
Is to be done; and how contriv'd, we need
Dispatch, the life of things, to practise that:
Consult at leisure, prosecute with speed.
Which Titus by his emblem well descri'd,
A nimble Dolphin to an anchour ti'd.

King Iohn admits no consultation
To ripen his designes, as if 't had bin
Too short a time for his destruction:
Grapling with dangers brings them sooner in.
Actions are weakened with too hasty speed,
Thus predigestion doth diseases breed.

Heads are the wombs where actions must be
Conceiv'd, and fashioned in all their parts,
And stay the time of just delivery,
Or else the head miscarries, and aborts.
A hudling haste shapes no production right:
Iove could not get the Muses in a night.

He kens not precedents that went before,
But with erected, and ambitious eye,
Thinks on surmis'd advantages to soare,
Nor minding what's before him to mount high.
Thus a seeld Dove with right up mountures flyes,
Because she sees not, what before her lyes.

If he had but his fathers Legend read,
There had been lectures to have taught him wit:
The name of Crescey might have strooke him dead,
To think like fortune might attend us yet.
Heav'n destining a fall, muffles the eyes,
And whom it will destroy, it stupefies.

And though it could by't selfe, if it would choose,
Confound this sacrifice of ruine, yet
It doth for meanes, those dispositions use
Inherent in the person that is set
For mark. Perdition from our selfe proceeds,
As selfe disorder selfe diseases breeds.

When some did th' Emperour Charles the fourth advise
To dare the Turkish Cressant, he refus'd;
Cause through the current of all histories
He saw much blood was in those wars effus'd.
The ancient times what is the best do show,
The moderne teach what is most fit to doe.

Historians to some Courts have had recourse
By Kings commands; who did of them explore
The former age: that they might steere their course
As skilfull Pilots of great states before,
And cut out all their actions by the thred
Of ancient times. Best Doctors are the dead.

When Zeuxis did his Iuno goe about,
From the choise shapes of th' Agrigentine dames
He cull'd the rarest of perfections out.
Thus Princes do arrive at highest names;
For they the best of all examples take,
When they the Iuno of their power do make.

Their former suffrings might instructions be:
'Tis best anothers madnesse to enjoy:
They might their owne through other danger see:
And with what fate we did our shafts employ:
From fire which hath once burnt it to refraine,
Moves in the circle of an infants braine.

Though fooles from wisdome doe derive no wit;
Whose better deeds touch not their observation.
Yet from their losse wisdome hath benefit,
And in their errours reads an information.
He that shall see a ship run on a shelfe,
Is mad if he will run upon't himselfe.

When Archimedes engines once had fear'd,
And did at Syracuse the Romans maull,
Not one in all the leaguer once appeard,
But stood the space of danger from the wall.
If they a peece of rope, or wood did spy,
Supposing it an engine, they would fly.

Iohn in's owne losse will read instruction,
And try experience on himselfe; they sing
To a deafe rock who tune persuasion:
The Card'nals is dull Rhet'rick; for a King
Not to be forced, is a glorious state,
But not perswaded, is a dangerous fate.

For though the faults of private men may be
Stayd in themselves: a Princes may redound
And be reflex'd on thousands: thus at sea
Men by a shipboys fault are rarely drown'd;
But if the Pilot shall a fault commit,
They're cast upon the ground, or sunk, or split.

Wise Cheifes would purchase, were it to be sold,
A foes returne: which made that Worthy say,
If he will go, make him a bridge of gold,
No metall is too deere to pave his way.
Vnwelcome oppositions will at length
Create a sudden fury, and new strength.

Force when it meets a yeelding object, dies;
Shoot at a wall of mud, 'twill dull the blow:
But it gets life by contrarieties,
As is observ'd in motion; none can throw
A cork so far, as he can throw a stone,
'Cause this resistance makes, and that makes none.

The French well mounted did so firmely ride,
They seem'd some monster made of man and beast:
Thus rid the Centaures by Enipus side,
Invited to Perythous his feast
Nessus did fall by great Alcides bow,
Thus the French Centaures had their overthrow.

Iohn on his horse the confidence did lay,
And thinks he sooner shall upon their speed
Alight at th' hope and honour of the day;
But this opinion did an errour breed.
An eye through water measures nothing streight,
Nor wisdome through the glasse of preconceit.

His camp of so much matter did consist,
And forme so little, that it scarce could roule
That grosnesse, which inclines what way it list,
As if not actuated with a soule;
Or if it were aliue, it reeld about,
Like the vast Cyclops when his eye was out.

He sees not how the Prince had laid his men
Close in a bushy, and unequall ground;
His horse, though better, could do nothing then;
And while at once they feele the arrowes wound,
And windings of a bush, they doe mistake,
They feele the stinging of some winding snake.

A ground (as I have seene some dining roome,
Whose seeling Art hath cut in wandring Vines,
So that by nature) where no horse can come,
But is supplanted by th' intangling twines.
The creeping Vines with their erroneous course,
Were made by nature shackles for their horse.

Chance the great stickler in this worlds affaire,
(Cheifly in that of war) did Edward choose
To be the greater favourite of the paire,
And have the ground which he could wisely use:
Though Fortune wants the fortune to be ey'd,
Her pace is sure, if virtue be her guide.

He knew those places most commodious were,
And advantagious against their horse:
They could not for the ground approach too neere:
So he in place was greater, lesse in force,
And wins by that: for conquest in some case,
Is not got more by valour, than by place.

We borrow'd this advantage from the place,
The French Kings errour did another make;
No place was giv'n by merit, but by grace,
Which makes deservers cold to undertake.
When no faire aspect shineth on deserts,
There is a dearth presag'd on Armes and Arts.

Three hundred horse he culled from the rest,
The rest conceiving it a high neglect,
Think themselves worst, 'cause others are thought best,
And 'gin to envy whom he did select.
Envy's a race, in which the runners minde
Those who do run before, not who behinde.

In great designes we such impressions see
Impeach an action, where the minde must look
Point blank upon the work, not squinting be
By the affections from the bus'nesse took.
A shaking eye hath an uncertaine sight,
And minds by passion moved, aime not right.

Vext by disgrace, they discontented grow,
And thus distracted, either study why
They were rejected with dislike, or how
To be reveng'd for such an injury;
And readier are to double their despight,
Than animate their courages to fight.

Distasts that have from Envy tooke their life,
Have strongest constitutions, and doe dy
Much later than the most inhumane strife,
That had a being from an injury.
Ten yeeres will wheele Troys destiny about,
But Rome and Carthage for whole ages fought.

The Prince helpt by these errours, and the ground
Strengthen'd by nature, where his men were laid,
Vs'd art to make it stronger than 'twas found,
That it might more unpassable be made,
Rests not in what was by mere nature done,
Art is to perfect what that hath begun.

The night before, ditches and trenches cast
So wide, they might not by the horse be leapt:
His archers close behind the banks were plac'd,
From whence they shot, and were so safely kept,
That I would prove, and by no proofe but this,
The place conserveth what conteined is.

Yet it were weaknesse, if he were content
With strength of place; and therefore that he might
Have brests as fortifi'd, he did present
His men with the necessity to fight.
When a needs must commands us to begin,
We lose with honour, or with wonder win.

When soldiers hem'd in desperation stand,
They have in courage what they want in hope;
Necessity in wars strengthens the hand,
In arts the head: and there it found a Trope.
A dying serpent doth most venome cast,
Valour fights deadly, when she fights her last.

His men with obstinacy armed so,
And resolution, that the farewell breath
Of Edwards gasping men could blast a foe:
And if no friends would vindicate their death,
Yet this should be their comfort, here to dy,
Should be their birth-day to eternity.

What e'r his worth did, like Elixar, touch,
If that the metall were dispos'd to worth,
It render'd it by the contaction such:
And as the Loadstone sheds its virtue forth,
And gives it selfe to this, from this to that,
So Edward doth himselfe communicate.

And now with horrour I the French espy
Come rouling o'r the champaine like a flood:
Their swords like scourging Comets in the sky
Prognosticated deluges of blood
To drowne us in, but that the English bow,
Like the propitious meteor, sayd no.

They came, as I conceive a river made
By the dissolved snows upon a hill,
Which in the precipice cannot be stayd:
But when the weight of this impetuous rill
Hath beene unladed on the plaines beneath,
It softly creepes, as 'twere it selfe to breath.

Here you may see their foremost troop of horse,
With a resolved bravery charge the banks;
There see the ruder archers breake their course,
And spoile the method of their order'd ranks.
Thus 'gainst a rocke deepe founded in the maine,
The waves oft sally, oft repulst againe.

There see their second troope so close compact,
As if that all should but inflict one stroke,
And be but as one person in that act:
But falling on our men at armes are broke:
Thus on the stones a storme of haile doth fall,
It breaks it selfe, and doth no hurt at all.

Now see the third ride forward in a brave,
Then backward beat, then vanish out of sight:
As I have seene a straw slide on a wave,
Vntill encounter'd with a narrow streight,
Then forward, backward, and about it whirles,
And then is swallow'd in the spongy curles.

Th' edge of their razour valour soone did break,
And could not hold, because not built upon
A resolution; but that we were weak,
Remove this cause, and that effect is gone.
Rashnesse her heat but to first onsets brings,
Then slugs, like wasps, when they have lost their stings.

Yet they those weaker places flockt about,
Which did best guards and opposition want.
Thus the Rhinoceros with armed snowt
Wounds the soft belly of the Elephant.
Experience teacheth man, nature a beast,
T' assault the weakest, unattempt the rest.

We had been ouerlaid with numbers now,
And if declining had been crushed quite:
The body of our army did not bow,
But standing right is setled with the weight.
Imposed weights columnes which leane deface,
But standing streight, doth fix them on their base.

Had Plato seene this army, he would sweare,
(Ravish'd to see such wonders done by men)
Valours Idaea had existence there,
And ne'r before vouchsaf'd to lodge with men.
Valour so high, that whatso'er may be
Conceiv'd of it, is no hyperbole.

Here Edward fought, and there the French men fly,
Whilst he an alley through their quarters made:
They count it not a harme, but grace to dy,
If that their deaths were honour'd with his blade.
No Herault shows an armes of such a note,
As where his weapon gave the bloody coat.

So sublimate, and subtile was the flame
With which his spirits glow'd in this great strife:
That when Prometheus a man did frame,
And wanted fire to give his creature life.
Had he been here, he never had gone higher,
And not rob'd Heav'n, but Edward for this fire.

Tell me not of the fatall sheild of Rome,
That fell from heav'n into grave Numa's lap,
Nor of her mother Troys Palladium,
Whose losse was the vancurrier of mishap.
He was of more importance in this field,
Than either Troys Palladium, or Romes shield.

There Audley stood, thus Diomed did stand,
When he the God of Battaile did defie:
His flaming sword came lightning from a hand
Of as swift execution as his eye.
The bloody lines which there his steele did write,
Were perfect copies how the world should fight.

Renowned Audley who did vow to stand,
First in the battaile, and didst seale thy word
With many wounds; take from thy Princes hand
Five thousand marks feesimple for reward.
When such a Sun as Edward lustre showes,
Reward's the shadow that with virtue goes.

Who is that? Warwick? yes 'tis he, be gone,
He is deaths swordbearer who went before
To make death way, which else could have found none,
He slaughter'd many, and affrighted more.
The thunderdart, though but on one it fall,
Yet doth it strike a terrour on them all.

There come the common soldiers, who did light
Their valour at their Captaines; no commands
Of Leaders, but examples make them fight;
They seem'd like Briareus with's hundred hands.
And if employ'd, they could as well as he
Have rescu'd Iupiter, and set him free.

That which the Cardinall foretold, was true,
That since he could not move, the stones should cry;
For when their arrowes were consum'd, they threw
Their bowes away, and made the pibbles fly.
Their shot was stones, their arcenall the lands,
Their slings their armes, their stonebows were their hands.

So many heaps of slaughter'd men did raise
The field in swelling hils, that no man will
Have faith enough in these last faithlesse dayes,
To think the sword so many men could kill;
But rather that some stroke from heav'n did fall,
Or spreading sicknesse did infect them all.

Those who are under Sagittarius borne,
If Chaldee wizards truly calculate,
Expire not naturally, but are torne
Like twigs stript off by violence of fate:
Vnder what these were born, though none can tell,
I know they under Sagittarius fell.

The Scepticks, Pyrrohs schollers, doe beleeve
Death not concernes humanity a jot:
(For death is not when they are yet alive,
And when death is, then they themselves are not)
Could not for all the braves they write or say,
Meet death with more resolvednesse than they.

Those witty feigners of antiquity,
That with a drop was from some lover shed,
Could give a tincture to the mulbery,
And make her paler greene looke sanguine red,
Had they then lived, and this field had seene,
There had no fruit in all the world beene greene.

When all the stars in the same point are met,
Wherein they were when this great field was fought,
And shall be in the same position set,
This act (say some) shall come againe about.
But this concludeth that opinion vaine,
So high a feat cannot be done againe.

So many suffer for the Kings offence,
(The Greeks were punish'd, and the Generals sin)
Subjects are plagu'd, and in them the Prince;
It ends in them, and did begin in him.
Thus Physick makes th'ignobler members bleed
For a distemp'rature lies in the head.

See in that heap one man among the rest,
Vnder those bleeding carcasses survive;
And by the weighty multitude opprest,
Themselves unburied bury him alive.
And must be pleas'd with this unequall lot,
The living shall have graves, the dead have not.

One lower by the head, whose growth a blow
Had spoild: a blow some Curtleaxe let drive.
Kicks with his feet, as if he meant to show,
He had an anger could himselfe survive.
Thus a dismembred snake, when newly slaine,
With head topt off, will menace with his traine.

Here armes lopt off, put them in minde to use
The service of their legs in time, before
They shall those necessary members lose.
Here one that lost a leg fretted, and swore
At his owne madnesse, he so long should stay,
That now he could not run, but hop away.

There see a man, who, had his heart been good,
And perfect as his legs, had scap'd the foe;
Who in a chilling feare congealed stood,
And had the heart, yet not the heart to goe,
He's slaine in his affright: thus at a bush
The bullet striketh the amazed Thrush.

There might you see a helmet full of head,
Like to an iron monument stand out:
Here all the field with plumes of feathers spread,
Which mocked by the winds, did fly about.
The hov'ring plumes presented to their sight,
Was a presaging emblem of their flight.

Here Iohn of France with steely wand did show
Wonders, encircled in a hostile ring:
There noble Philip ran the army through
To disengage his father and his King.
Thus Affrican amongst the thickest ranks
Fought for old Scipio at Ticinus banks.

That noyse of horrour, To the King, the King
Makes all forsake him; while his valiant sonne
Bringing such aid, as single strength could bring,
Is christned Hardy for this action.
When others were cut down, these Worthies stood,
And look'd like storers in a new faln wood.

But now he's prisoner: yet did behold
His bondage with so firme, so sweet an eye,
And brow so ev'n, as if he meant to hold
Some paradoxes against liberty.
A soule resolved, and well squared man,
Fals on his base, through fortune, how she can.

But what is this I heare? ô, 'tis fly, fly,
Or a rude noise of soldiers that would live,
And in confusion for quarter cry,
Which should they sooner aske, he'd sooner give.
Valour and Mercy are the fixed Poles
On which the sphere of Edwards honour rowles.

It is the first revenge, when feare shall bow
The proud opposer; and best victory
To triumph over stomachs, and to throw
The soules, not bodies of the enemy.
And 'tis the height of punishment, to see
Thy foe for mercy humbled at thy knee.
Kings are Gods pictures, and their mercy lends
Best life unto the peeces: clemency
And gentle moderation best commends
Their acts, and doth their fortunes beautifie,
These glorious lustres are the varnish cast,
To make their deeds not only shine, but last.

Mercy declar'd unto a foe, doth show
W' are cit'zens of this world, and would not be
Cut off by ferity; and lets men know
No sep'ratists are in humanity.
Here we maintaine communion, for our hearts
Are Continents, not Iles from other parts.

King Iohn with humble state is entertein'd,
Not dealt with roughly as an enemy:
Edward by valour his first conquest gain'd,
And wins a second by his courtesie.
Base Wolves and Beares still urge a yeelding foe,
Edward's a Lion, and he cann't doe so.

Tis proper to choise spirits to releeve,
As well as conquer men, and when they dy,
It will more crowne their memory, to leave
Favours, than conquests in their diary.
But looke for ruine when a coward wins,
For feare and cruelty were ever twins.

In midst of triumph heare the cryer say,
Remember thou art man, to moderate
Thy fortune: on a steepe descent we stay
Our selves, and horse: thus in a high-rays'd state
We use a moderation, and begin
On fortunes steepe to reine our passions in.

The constitution of the soule is cleane,
That can digest great fortunes, which converts
To wind, and humour, and is rarely seene
Free from impoisoning the noblest hearts.
It is the best felicity, to be
Not foild, and vanquish'd by felicity.

So many pris'ners in this battaile tooke,
Who did into the armes of mercy yeeld,
As might have taken us: at the first looke
They seem'd enough to win againe the field;
Save that these ods did for the English stand,
One keeper can ten prisoners command.

So many noble Lords did write with blood,
And seale with wounds, that France did love her King,
As if the Nobles did not think it good,
The commons should their testimony bring
To ratifie this truth: themselves will be
Th'only subscribers to this verity.

Edward forbad the chase of those that fly,
And whilst the soldiers for the booty sought,
He joy'd in th' honour of his victory:
For pillage is beneath a Gen'rals thought:
Impli'd by him that said: Gather thou these
My freind, for thou art not Themistocles.

Then gave them sepulture, which is allow'd
By the commerce of war, and humane right:
Where earth upon the dead is not bestow'd,
They brutishly against those dead doe fight,
And passe revenges bounds: this debt we owe
To th' nature, if not person of the foe.

Edward the heav'ns doth humbly gratifie,
Whose stars had for him in their courses fought,
And led him by the hand to victory,
And like sure convoies, through his dangers brought.
Timotheus thrives not after he denies
A share to fortune in his victories.

Conquests are heav'n faln things, and Victours bayes
Are wreath'd and platted there: when Rome did send
Armies abroad, she did such Leaders raise,
Whom good successe and fortune did commend,
As well as prowesse; and did ev'ry where
More shrines to Fortune, than her Virtue reare.

Then he bestowes rich largesse on his men,
T'enflame their minds, that if they did not love
Virtue for her owne selfe, rewards should then
Win their loves to her, and their dulnesse move.
Reward is the great pillar of a state,
Which doth support as strongly as her fate.

A gen'rous spirit is not drawn, but led
To stake a life, and hazard it in war:
Soldiers their blood will liberally shed,
Where free rewards and liberall guerdons are.
Aurelian takes this counsell: to bestow
Gold on his men, and iron on his foe.

Then heightens them with commendation: praise
Is the reflexion doth from virtue rise:
These faire encomiums doe virtue raise
To higher acts: to praise is to advise;
Telling men what they are, we let them see,
And represent to them, what they should be.

And they were worthy of it: Rome n'r saw
An army yet, to which this host would yeeld;
Nor braver Chiefe than Edward e'r did draw
Her pow'rfull legions into the field.
Edward shall mate the proudest He of Rome,
Let Caesars selfe, her great Dictatour come.

When Rome had conquer'd all the world beside,
Then, and but then she durst attempt the Gaules,
Gaules who before her powers did deride,
And oft had scourged her at her owne wals.
Rome never durst the stubborne Gaul defie,
'Till she had not another enemy.

But England had another pow'rfull foe,
The hardy Scot to threaten from the North
Incursions; yet then did Edward goe
From home, and lead with him an army forth;
And spight of Oracle a conquest win,
Which said, we should with Scotland first begin.

Victorious Caesar led experienc'd men,
Custom'd as well to conquests as to fights:
Those whom Heroick Wales conducted then,
Were but mere novices in Mars his rites:
New chang'd the whip for sword, the share for sheild,
And Ceres fat for Mars his bloody field.

The Gaules indeed were resolute in war,
Whom Caesar with his legions vanquished,
Yet were those Gaules inferiour by far
Vnto the French: for the French conquered
The Gaules, who could not then themselves defend,
Ev'n when Romes selfe did them assistance lend.

Ariovistus with his Germans had
The Gaules in slavery (a great allay
To the best temper'd spirits) and had made
Factions to take their soveraignty away:
Seditions are the rils, which at the length
Weaken the current and maine streame of strength.

When Christendome did in distraction ly
Vnder the Arrian faction, and did grone
Rent by the schisme of his wilde heresie,
And fumed in this mad combustion,
Then Mechas Pseudoprophet Mahomet came,
Th'incendiary of a greater flame.

But now the French were free, a setled state,
And fixt to the obedience of one Lord:
A King for fame, and fortune, wondred at;
Vnder his colours Kings did draw the sword.
A King for whom, one did himselfe bereave
Of rule for love; and one for mony leave.

Against a state thus strong, and setled thus,
Edward durst come with an unpractis'd few:
The French had more advantages of us,
Than Caesar of those Gaules he overthrew.
And yet there were more marks of valour made
In France by th' English, than the Roman blade.

Then why hath History so copious been
In old Romes strength, as if it meant to say,
Not what should win beleefe, but wonder win:
Thus Alexander left in India
So great an armour, which should rather be
T' amaze, than to informe posterity.

Mighty Third Edward thou didst propagate
Strength in thy children, though we often see
Their seed degen'rous, and 'tis thought a fate,
The sonnes of Heroes should a blemish be:
Pure was the graine, when it at first was sowne,
But it hath many husks when it is growne.

Who hath in virtues Zenith seated beene,
Swerves farthest in his fall: a mighty spright
Highly sublim'd, is stranger to a meane,
And is not foil'd in sinne, but fals downe right.
And for the sins which such great Sires have done,
The heav'ns have oft tooke vengeance on the sonne.

And sometime too great men uxorious are,
(Such was Themistocles) and let their wives
With too indulgent education mar
The hoped fortunes of their childrens lives.
Children, like water on a table spilt,
Are eas'ly drawne into what shape thou wilt.

Or while those fathers are abroad imployd,
Lesse care is had of their minority:
Or 'tis to shew perfections are not ty'd
To the succession of a family;
For all the things and actions of the world
Are in a circular conversion whirld.

But noble Edwards fortitude descends
Downe to his sonnes. This royall Eagle breeds
An airy of true Eaglets, not commends
Doves to the world: a valiant race succeeds
This valiant father: ne'r could Heros vaunt
Of two such mighty sonnes, as Wales and Gaunt.

Who could Castile as well as France controule,
When Pedro dispossess'd, their armes requir'd:
But Ile sit downe untill some richer soule
With a diviner Calenture enfir'd,
O'r the Pirenes shall those triumphs sound,
My Muse at farthest but to France was bound.

Now farewell Lords who seeme t'have throwne despaire
Vpon the world; which feares, while it shall last
It hardly shall be crown'd with such a paire;
For nature lost the moulds where you were cast,
Or else in making you it spent such store,
That it hath scarse materials for more.

Sleepe feared soules: and 'till an Angell wake you,
Let peace seale up your monumentall stones:
And were it not a sacriledge to take you,
And weare for amulets your sacred bones,
Those bones a better omen would become,
Then mighty Castriots, or great Ziscas Drum.