v. 40. Had I wyst] i. e. Had I known,—the exclamation of one who repents of a thing done unadvisedly. It is very common in our early poetry. In The Paradyse of daynty deuises, 1576, the second copy of verses is entitled Beware of had I wyst.
v. 52. occupy] i. e. possess,—or, rather, use: “Surgyons occupy oyntmentes, &c., Vulnarii medici vtuntur,” &c. Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. I. vi. ed. 1530.
v. 53. I made the Tower stronge] “Edward iv ... fortified the Tower, and made it strong.” Stow’s Survey, B. i. 79. ed. 1720.
v. 54. I purchased Tetersall] I have not found elsewhere any mention of Edward the Fourth having possessed Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire. “It does not appear into whose hands the Tattershall estate fell after the death of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell [in 1455], until the year 1487, when Henry VII. granted the manor to his mother Margaret Countess of Richmond,” &c. Hist. of the County of Lincoln, ii. 73.
v. 55. I amendid Douer] “K. Edw. iv., by the advice of Lord Cobham, expended 10,000l. in repairing and fortifying the several works, and beautifying the apartments in it [Dover Castle].” Hasted’s Hist. of Kent, iv. 63.
Page 3. v. 56. And London I prouoked to fortify the wall]—prouoked, i. e. incited, caused.—“In the Seventeenth of Edward iv., Ralph Josceline, Maior, caused part of the Wall about the City to be repaired, to wit, between Aldgate and Aldersgate,” &c. Stow’s Survey, B. I. 10. ed. 1720.
v. 57. I made Notingam a place full royall] Leland, describing Nottingham Castle, says; “But the moste bewtifullest Part and gallant Building for lodgyng is on the Northe side, wher Edward the 4. began a right sumptuus pece of Stone Work, of the which he clerely finichid one excellent goodly Toure of 3. Hightes yn Building, and brought up the other Part likewise from the Foundation with Stone and mervelus fair cumpacid Windoes to layyng of the first soyle for Chambers and ther lefte.” Itin. i. 107. ed. 1770.
v. 58. Wyndsore] “The present magnificent fabrick [St. George’s Chapel at Windsor], which exhibits one of the most beautiful specimens in this or any other kingdom, of that richly ornamented species of architecture, which prevailed towards the close of the fifteenth and the commencement of the 16th century, was begun by King Edward IV., who having found it necessary to take down the old chapel on account of its decayed state, resolved to build another on the same site, upon a larger scale, and committed the superintendence of the building to Richard Beauchamp, bishop of Salisbury. The work was not completed till the reign of King Henry VIII.,” &c. Lysons’s Berkshire, p. 424: see too p. 468 of the same volume.—An account of the manors, &c., granted by Edward to Windsor College, will be found in Pote’s Hist. of Wind. Castle, p. 107.
—— Eltam] “K. Edw. iv. repaired this house [Eltham Palace] with much cost, and inclosed Horne-Park,” &c. Hasted’s Hist. of Kent, i. 51.