Of laureat Phebus holy the eloquence, 160 O yonge lyon, bot tender yet of age, And geve the grace to be more fortunate, I pray God fende the profperous lyf and long, All flattringe faytors abhor and from the caft, Wythe hevy chere, with dolorous hart and mynd, 165 170 175 Allgyf Englond and Fraunce were thorow faught. More fpecially barons, and thofe knygtes bold, In fee, as menyall men of his houfold, 185 To forow full weping they ought to be conftreynd, As oft as thei call to ther remembraunce, Of ther good lord the fate and dedely chaunce. O perlefe prince of hevyn emperyalle, 190 That with one worde formed al thing of noughte; Hevyn, hell, and erth obey unto thi kall; Which to thy resemblance wonderfly haft wrought All mankynd, whom thou full dere haft boght, With thy blode precious our finaunce thou dyd pay, 195 And us redemed, from the fendys pray : To the pray we, as prince incomperable, As thou art of mercy and pite the well, Thou bringe unto thy joye etermynable The fowle of this lorde from all daunger of hell, 2co In endles blis with the to byde and dwell In thy palace above the orient, Where thou art lorde, and God omnipotent. O quene of mercy, O lady full of grace, Maiden mofte pure, and goddis moder dere, To forowful harts chef comfort and folace, Of all women O floure withouten pere, Pray to thy fon above the starris clere, He to vouchefaf by thy mediatioun To pardon thy fervant, and bringe to falvacion. In joy triumphaunt the hevenly yerarchy, With all the hole forte of that glorious place, His foule mot receyve into ther company 205 210 Thorowe Thorowe bounte of hym that formed all folace : 215 The father, the fon, and the holy gofte In Trinitate one God of myghts mofte. ttt I have placed the foregoing poem of SKELTON's before the following extract from HAWES, not only because it was written first, but because I think SKELTON is in general to be confidered as the earlier poet; many of his poems being written long before HAWES's Graunde Amour. THE X. TOWER OF DOCTRINE. The reader has bere a fpecimen of the defcriptive powers of STEPHEN HAWES, a celebrated poet in the reign of Hen. VII. tho' now little known. It is extracted from an alle"The gorical poem of his (written in 1505.) intitled, "Hift. of Graunde Amoure & La Belle Pucel, called the "Palace of Pleafure, &c." 4to. 1555. See more of Hawes in Ath. Ox. v. 1. p. 6. and Warton's Obferv. v. 2. p. 105. The following Stanzas are taken from Chap. III. and IV. "How Fame departed from Graunde Amour and left him "with Governaunce and Grace, and howe he went to the "Tower of Doctrine, &c."-As we are able to give no fmall lyric piece of Hawes's, the reader will excufe the infertion of this extract. I Loked about and faw a craggy roche, Farre in the weft neare to the element, And as I dyd then unto it approche, Upon the toppe I fawe refulgent The royal tower of MORALL DOCUMENT, Made of fine copper with turrettes fayre and hye, Which against Phebus fhone foe marveylously, That for the very perfect bryghtnes What of the tower, and of the cleare funne, Of that palaice, whereas Doctrine did wonne : Then to the tower I drewe nere and nere, 5 10 15 Gargeyld with grayhoundes, and with many lyons, za Made of fyne golde; with divers fundry dragons. The little turrett' with ymages of golde About was fet, whiche with the wynde aye moved With propre vices, that I did well beholde About the tower, in fundry wyse they hoved With goodly pypes, in their mouthes ituned, That with the wynd they pyped a daunce Iclipped Amour de la bault plefaunce. 25 The K. 22. turrets. PC V. 25. towers. PC. The toure was great of marveylous wydnes, To whyche ther was no way to paffe but one, A grece there was ychefyld all of ftone Tyll that I came unto a ryall gate, Where I fawe ftondynge the goodly Portres, Her name, fhe fayd, was called COUNTENAUNCE; 30 40 45 Of whyche there flowed foure ryvers ryght clere, 50 Sweter than Nylus ‡ or Ganges was ther odoure; Tygrys or Eufrates unto them no pere: I dyd . 44. befy courte. PC. V. 49. partyes. PC. Nyfus. PC. †This alludes to a former part of the Poem. |