EPITAPHIUM IN HENRICUM SEPTIMUM.
Page 178. Henry the Seventh died April 21st, 1509, in the 24th year of his reign (see Sir H. Nicolas’s Chron. of Hist. pp. 333, 350. sec. ed.), and in the 52d (according to some authorities, the 53d) year of his age; and was interred in the splendid chapel which bears his name.
“Here lieth buried in one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe, both for the Chappell, and for the Sepulchre, the body of Henry the seuenth.... This glorious rich Tombe is compassed about with verses, penned by that Poet Laureat (as he stiles himselfe) and Kings Orator, Iohn Skelton: I will take onely the shortest of his Epitaphs or Eulogiums, and most to the purpose.
Septimus hic situs est Henricus, gloria Regum
Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt,
Ingenio atque opibus gestarum et nomine rerum,
Accessere quibus nature dona benigne:
Frontis honos, facies augusta, heroica forma,
Junctaque ei suauis coniux, perpulchra, pudica,
Et fecunda fuit: felices prole parentes,
Henricum quibus octauum terra Anglia debes.”
Weever’s Anc. Fun. Mon., p. 476. ed. 1631.
But the above lines are not in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes; nor are they assigned to him in Reges, Reginæ, Nobiles, et alii in Ecclesia Collegiata B. Petri Westmonasterii sepulti, &c. 1603,—where they occur, sig. D.
—— ad sinceram contemplationem reverendi in Christo patris ac domini, domini Johannis Islippæ abbatis Westmonasteriensis] So Skelton again in his Replycacion, &c. “ad cujus auspicatissimam contemplationem, sub memorabili prelo gloriosæ immortalitatis, præsens pagella felicitatur, &c.” vol. i. 206; and in his Garlande of Laurell,—
“Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun,
Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose,
Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrinacioun,
He dyd translate,” &c.
v. 1219. vol. i. 410.
Compare also Hollinshed; “At the contemplation of this cardinall, the king lent to the emperour a great summe of monie.” Chron. (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 839. ed. 1587. Concerning the Abbot Islip, see Account of Skelton and his Writings.
Page 179. v. 19. sua] Used for ejus.
—— Leo candidior Rubeum necat ense Leonem] Leo candidior, i. e. the Earl of Surrey, whose badge was a White Lion: Rubeum Leonem, i. e. King James the Fourth, slain at Flodden, who bore the royal arms of Scotland, a Red Lion. See note on the poem Against the Scottes, p. 220. v. 135.