LXIII.
French.
La Dame seule au Regne demurée,
L’unique esteint premier au lict d’honneur,
Sept ans sera de douleur epleurée,
Puis longue vie au regne par bonheur.
English.
The Lady shall be left to reign alone,
The only one being extinguished, first in the Bed of Honour,
Seven years she shall weep for grief,
After that she shall live long in the Reign by good luck.
ANNOT.
The second and fourth Verses perswade me, that this Stanza came to pass in the time of Catharine of Medicis, wife to Henry II. because she lived long, and the King died in the bed of Honour, and thus he saith, that she was left to Reign alone; because her four Sons were all little ones, so that she alone was Regent in France.
The second Verse saith, The holy one being extinguished, first, in the Bed of Honour.
By this word the only one, the Author meaneth not the only Son, but the only one living, such as Henry II. was to her, who was extinguished in the Bed of Honour, and died of the wound he received at Tilting.
The third Verse saith, that after his death, her mourning lasted seven years, that is, from the first of August 1559. to the first of August 1566. because that all those 16 Months that Francis II. she had nothing but continual sorrow, by the conspiracy of Amboise, the secret practises of the King of Navarre, and Prince of Condé his Brother, by the insurrection of the Protestants, when Charles IX. visited his Kingdom, Anno 1556. after which she put off her mourning.
The fourth Verse signifieth, that she should be long lived; for she lived above 60 years, He saith also, that she was Regent by great luck, that is, great luck for her self, but not for the Kingdom, for it was most unhappy in her time.