For payne whereof I died within a weeke.[644]
40.
See, Baldwine, see the vncertayne glory,[645]
How sodayne mischief dasheth all to dust,
And warne all princes by my broken story,
The happiest fortune chiefly to mistrust:
Was neuer man that alway had his lust:
Then such be[646] fooles, in fancy more then mad,
Which hope to haue that neuer any had.[647]
[This straunge aduenture of the good earle draue vs all into a dumpe, inwardly lamenting his woefull destiny, out of which wee were awaked after this sort. “To what end,” sayde[648] one, “muse we so much on the matter. This earle is neyther first nor last[649] whom fortune hath foundred in the height of theyr prosperity. For all through the raigne of this vnfortunate king Henry, we shall finde many which haue beene likewise serued, whose chaunces sith they be martiall, and therefore honourable, may the better be omitted. And therefore wee will let goe the lordes Molines, and Poyninges, slayne both at the siege of Orleaunce, shortly after the death of this earle. Also the valiaunt earle of Arundel destroyed with a bowlet at the assault of Gerborye,[650] whose stories neuerthelesse are worth the hearing. And to quicken vp your spirites, I will take vpon mee a tragicall person in deede, I meane king Iamy slayn by his seruauntes in his priuy chamber: who although he be a Scot, yet seeing hee was brought vp in England, where hee learned the language, his example also so notable, it were not meete it should bee forgotten. And therfore marke, Baldwine, what, I thinke, he may say.”]