thé for souccour, to thé for helpe I call,
Mine homely rudnes and dryghnes to expell
With the freshe waters of Elyconys well.
Of noble actes aunciently enrolde
Of famous pryncis and lordes of astate,
By thy report ar wont to be extold,
Regestringe trewly euery formare date;
Of thy bountie after the vsuall rate
Kyndell in me suche plenty of thy nobles, 20
These sorowfulle dites that I may shew expres.
In sesons past, who hath herde or sene
Of formar writyng by any presidente
That vilane hastarddis in their furious tene,
Fulfylled with malice of froward entente,
Confetered togeder of commonn[184] concente
Falsly to slee[185] theyr moste singuler good lord?
It may be regestrede of shamefull recorde.
So noble a man, so valiaunt lord and knyght,
Fulfilled with honor, as all the world[186] doth ken; 30
At his commaundement which had both day and nyght
Knyghtes and squyers, at euery season when
He calde vpon them, as meniall houshold men:
Were not[187] these commons vncurteis karlis of kind
To slo their owne lord? God was not in their mynd.
And were not they to blame, I say, also,
That were aboute him, his o[w]ne[188] seruants of trust,
To suffre him slayn of his mortall fo?
Fled away from hym, let hym ly in the dust;
They bode not till the reckenyng were discust: 40
What shuld I flatter? what shuld I glose or paint?
Fy, fy for shame, their hartes were to faint.
In England and Fraunce which gretly was redouted,
Of whom both Flaunders and Scotland stode in drede,
To whom great estates obeyed and lowted,
A mayny of rude villayns made hym for to blede;
Unkyndly they slew him, that holp[189] them oft at nede:
He was their bulwark, their paues, and their wall,
Yet shamfully they slew hym; that shame mot them befal!
I say, ye comoners, why wer ye so stark mad? 50
What frantyk frensy fyll in your brayne?
Where was your wit and reson ye should haue had?
What wilful foly made yow to ryse agayne
Your naturall lord? alas, I can not fayne:
Ye armyd you with will, and left your wit behynd;
Well may you[190] be called comones most vnkynd.
He was your chefteyne, your shelde, your chef defence,
Redy to assyst you in euery time of nede;
Your worshyp depended of his excellence:
Alas, ye mad men, to far ye did excede; 60
Your hap was vnhappy, to ill was your spede:
What moued you againe him to war or to fyght?
What alyde you to sle[191] your lord again all ryght?
The ground of his quarel was for his souerain lord,
The well concerning of all the hole lande,
Demandyng suche duties as nedes most acord
To the ryght of his prince, which shold not be withstand;
For whose cause ye slew him with your owne hand:
But had his noble men done wel that day,
Ye had not bene able to haue sayd hym nay. 70
But ther was fals packing, or els I am begylde;
How be it the mater was euydent and playne,
For if they had occupied their spere and their shilde,
This noble man doutles had not bene[192] slayne.
But men say they wer lynked with a double chaine,
And held with the comones vnder a cloke,
Which kindeled the wild fyr that made al this smoke.
The commons renyed ther taxes to pay,
Of them demaunded and asked by the kynge;
With one voice importune they plainly sayd nay; 80
They buskt them on a bushment themselfe in baile to bring,
Againe the kyngs plesure to wrestle or to wring;
Bluntly as bestis with boste and with crye
They sayd they forsed not, nor carede not to dy.
The nobelnes of the north, this valiant lord and knight,
As man that was innocent of trechery or traine,
Presed forth boldly to withstand the myght,
And, lyke marciall Hector, he faught them agayne,
Vygorously vpon them with might and with maine,
Trustyng
