Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1

J >> J. Endell Tyler >> Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1

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"A permanent estate to trust unto.
Therefore to Him that died upon the rood
(And was content and willing so to do,
And for mankind did shed his precious blood,)
Lift up your minds, and pray with humble heart
That He his aid unto you will impart.
For, though you be of extreme force and might,
Without his help it will you nought avail;
And He doth give man victory in fight,
And with a few is able to prevail,
And overcome an army huge and strong:
And by his grace makes kings and princes long

"To reign here on the earth in happiness; (p. 397)
And tyrants, that to men do offer wrong
And violence, doth suddenly suppress,
Although their power be ne'er so great and strong.
And in his hand his blessings all reserveth
For to reward each one as he deserveth.

"To whom I pray with humble mind and heart,
And so I hope all you will do no less,
That of his grace He would vouchsafe to impart
And send all joy, welfare, and happiness,
Health, victory, tranquillity, and honour,
Unto the high and mighty conqueror.

"King Henry the Fifth, that his great name
May here on earth be extolled and magnified
While life doth last; and when he yields the same
Into his hands, he may be glorified
In heaven among the saints and angels bright,
There to serve the God of power and might.

"At whose request this work I undertook,
As I have said.
God He knows when I this work began,
I did it not for praise of any man,

"But for to please the humour and the hest
Of my good lord and princely patron,
Who [dis]dained not to me to make request
To write the same, lest that oblivion
By tract of time, and time's swift passing by,
Such valiant act should cause obscured to be;

"As also 'cause his princely high degree
Provokes him study ancient histories,
Where, as in mirror, he may plainly see
How valiant knights have won the masteries
In battles fierce by prowess and by might,
To run like race, and prove a worthy knight.

"And as they sought to climb to honour's seat, (p. 398)
So doth my Lord seek therein to excel,
That, as his name, so may his fame be great,
And thereby likewise idleness expel;
For so he doth to virtue bend his mind,
That hard it is his equal now to find.

"To write his princely virtues, and declare
His valour, high renown, and majesty,
His brave exploits and martial acts, that are
Most rare, and worthy his great dignity,
My barren head cannot devise by wit
To extol his fame by words and phrases fit.

"This worthy Prince, whom I so much commend,
(Yet not so much as well deserves his fame,)
By royal blood doth lineally descend
From Henry King of England, Fourth by name,
His eldest son, and heir to the crown,
And, by his virtues, Prince of high renown.

"For by the graft the fruit men easily know,
Encreasing the honour of his pedigree;
His name Lord Henry, as our stories show,
And by his title Prince of Wales is he.
Who with good right, his father being dead,
Shall wear the crown of Britain on his head.

"This mighty Prince hath made me undertake
To write the siege of Troy, the ancient town,
And of their wars a true discourse to make;
From point to point as Guido set it down,
Who long since wrote the same in Latin verse,
Which in the English now I will rehearse."

In the poem called the "Siege of Troy," written in different metre,
Lydgate, addressing Henry, "O most worthy Prince! of Knighthood (p. 399)
source and well!" thus proceeds to state the circumstances under which
he wrote his work:

"God I take highly to witness
That I this work of heartily low humbless
Took upon me of intention,
Devoid of pride and presumption,
For to obey without variance
_My Lord's bidding fully and pleasance_;
Which hath desire, soothly for to sayn,
Of very knighthood to remember again
The wortheness (if I shall not lie)
And the prowess of old chivalry,
Because _he hath joy and great dainty_
To _read in books of antiquity_
To _find only virtue_ to sow
By example of them, and also to eschew
The cursed vice of sloth and idleness;
So he enjoyeth in _virtuous_ business,
In all that longeth to manhood, dare I sayn,
He busyeth ever. And thereto is so fain
To haunt his body in plays martial,
Through exercise to exclude sloth at all,
(After the doctrine of Vigetius.)
Thus is he both _manful_ and _virtuous_,
More passingly than I can of him write;
I want cunning his high renown to indite,
So much of manhood men may in him seen.
And for to wit whom I would mean,
The eldest son of the noble King
Henry the Fourth; of knighthood well and spring;
In whom is showed of what stock that he grew,
The root is virtue;
Called Henry eke, the worthy Prince of Wales,
Which me commanded the dreary piteous tale
Of them of Troy in English to translate;
The siege, also, and the destruction,
Like as the Latin maketh mention,
For to complete, and after Guido make, (p. 400)
So I could, and write it for his sake;
Because he would that to high and low
The noble story openly were knowe
In our tongue, about in every age,
And written as well in our language
As in Latin and French it is;
That of the story the truth we not miss,
No more than doth each other nation;
This was the fine of his intention.
The which emprise anon I 'gin shall
In his worship for a memorial.
And of the time to make mention,
When I began on this translation,
It was the year, soothly to sayn,
Fourteen complete of his Father's reign."

Though this Preface was written when Henry was still Prince of Wales,
the work was not finished till he had ascended the throne; when the
poet sent it into the world with this charge, which he calls
"L'Envoy:"

"Go forth, my book! veiled with the princely grace
Of him that is extolled for excellence
Throughout the world, but do not show thy face
Without support of his magnificence."

TESTIMONY OF OCCLEVE. (p. 401)

The interesting circumstances under which the poet represents the
following dialogue to have taken place are detailed in the body of the
work.[351] The old man addresses Occleve as his son, and the poet
calls his aged monitor father.

[Footnote 351: See page 331.]

_Father._ "My Lord the Prince,--knoweth he thee not?
If that thou stood in his benevolence,
He may be salve unto thine indigence."

_Son._ "No man better: next his father,--our Lord the Liege
His father,--he is my good gracious Lord."

_F._ "Well, Son! then will I me oblige,
And God of heaven vouch I to record,
That, if thou wilt be fully of mine accord,
Thou shalt no cause have more thus to muse,
But heaviness void, and it refuse.
Since he thy good Lord is, I am full sure
His grace shall not to thee be denied.
Thou wotst well he _benign_ is and _demure_
To sue unto: not is his ghost maistried[352]
With danger; but his heart is full applied
To grant, and not the needy to warn his grace.
To him pursue, and thy relief purchase.
What shall I call thee--what is thy name?"

_S._ "Occlive[353] (Father mine), men callen me."

_F._ "Occlive? Son!"--_S._ "Yes, Father, the same."

_F._ "Thou wert acquainted with Chaucer 'pardie?" (p. 402)

_S._ "God save his soul! best of any wight."

_F._ "Syn thou mayst not be paid in the Exchequer,
Unto my Lord the Prince make instance
That thy patent unto the Hanaper
May changed be."--_S._ "Father, by your sufferance,
It may not so: because of the ordinance,
Long after this shall no grant chargeable
Over pass. Father mine, this is no fable."

_F._ "An equal charge, my Son, in sooth
Is no charge, I wot it well indeed.
What! Son mine! Good heart take unto thee.
Men sayen, 'Whoso of every grass hath dread,
Let him beware to walk in any mead.'
Assay! assay! thou simple-hearted ghost;
What grace is shapen thee, thou not wost.
----Now, syn me thou toldest
My Lord the Prince is good Lord thee to;
No maistery is to thee, if thou woldest
To be relieved, wost thee what to do.
_Write to him a goodly tale or two_,
_On which he may disport him by night_,
And his free grace shall on thee light.
Sharp thy pen, and write on lustily;
Let see, my Son, make it fresh and gay,
Utter thine art if thou canst craftily;
_His high prudence hath insight very_
_To judge if it be well made or nay._
Wherefore, Son, it is unto thee need
Unto thy work take thee greater heed.
But of one thing be well ware in all wise,
On flattery that thou thee not found,
For thereof (Son) Solomon the Wise,
As that I have in his Proverbs found,
Saith thus: 'They that in feigned speech abound,
And glossingly unto their friends talk,
Spreaden a net before them, where they walk.'
This false treason common is and rife;
Better were it thou wert at Jerusalem (p. 403)
Now, than thou wert therein defective.
Syn my Lord the Prince is (_God hold his life!_)
To thee good Lord, good servant thou thee quit
To him and true, and it shall thee profit.
Write him _nothing that sowneth to vice_,
Kyth[354] thy love in matter of sadness.
Look if thou find canst any treatise
Grounded on his estate's wholesomeness;
Which thing translate, and unto his highness,
As humbly as thou canst, it thou present.
Do thus, my Son."--_S._ "Father! I assent,
With heart as trembling as the leaf of asp."[355]

[Footnote 352: The Author has not formed any
satisfactory opinion as to the meaning of the
phrase "his ghost maistried with danger." Perhaps
it implies that the spirit of the Prince was not
under the _control_ of such passions as would
render it a service of _danger_ to prefer a suit to
him.]

[Footnote 353: In some MSS. it is "Hoccleve."]

[Footnote 354: "Kyth thy love," means "make thy
love known." Our word "kith," in the proverb "kith
and kin," means persons of our acquaintance.]

[Footnote 355: Bib. Reg. 17. D. 6. p. 34.]

END OF VOLUME I.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.

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