A brief recommendation ensues of the deeds in arms of that mightiful prince of renommee Henry the Fifth and the three full mighty and noble princes his brethren; where, in the commendation of Humphrey duke of Gloucester, the second hand has inserted a note of his "bokys yovyng, as yt ys seyd to the value of Ml marks, of the vij sciences, of dyvinite, as of law spirituall and cyvyle, to the universite of Oxford."
Allusion is made (p. [46]) to the order of the Garter, "founded (as yt ys seyd) in token of worship that he being in bataile, what fortune fille, shulde not voide the feeld, but abide the fortune that God lust sende;" of which fellowship sir John Chandos, seneschal of Poictou, had been a right noble exemplar. The historical reminiscences of the author then again lead him on to the disastrous period during which the continental possessions of England had been lost, "within the space of one year and fourteen (fifteen) weeks, that is to wete, from the xv. day of May in the year 1449 unto the xv. day of August in the year 1450, that every castle, fortress, and town defensable of the said duchies were delivered up by force or composition to the adverse party."
After a break (p. [50]), in consequence of the loss of a leaf of the Manuscript, we find ourselves in the midst of a discussion of the merits of astrology. The author addresses himself to combat the prevalent confidence in prophecies and in the influence of the stars: "which judgments (he avers) be not necessarily true;" but merely contingent or likely, and, he adds, "as likely not to be as to be." For if, he puts the case, "a constellation or a prophecy signified that such a year or within
such a time there should fall war, pestilence, or dearth of vitaile to a country or region, or privation of a country, it is said but dispositively, and not of necessity or certainty; for then it should follow that the prophecies, constellations, and influence of the stars were masters over God's power, and that would soune to a heresy, or else to a great error." After this pious determination upon a question that at that period presented great difficulties, the author adds, that he believed God to have bestowed that sovereignty upon man's soul, that, having a clean soul, he might even turn the judgment of constellations or prophecies to the contrary disposition: to which effect he quotes the bold assertion of the famous astrologian Ptolemy,
Quod homo sapiens dominatur astris.
With these sentiments, rising superior to the general prejudices of the age, our author proceeds confidently to censure the moral causes of the recent calamities, which in his judgment had ensued "for lak of prudence and politique governaunce in dew time provided," and from "havyng no consideracion to the comon wele, but rather to magnifie and enriche one silfe by singler covetise, using to take gret rewardis and suffering extorcions over the pore peple." On this subject he subsequently speaks still more plainly.
This leads him to reflect upon the fate of many realms and countries that had been ruined by sin and misgovernance: as the old Bretons were, when driven out of England by the Saxons into Cornwall and Wales. "And where (he exclaims[[13]]) is Nynnyve, the gret cite of thre daies? and Babilon, the gret toure, inhabited now withe wilde bestis? the citeis of Troy and Thebes, ij. grete magnified citeis? also Athenes, that was the welle of connyng and of wisdom?" Carthage, "the victorioux cite of gret renomme," had been burnt to ashes by the Romans. Rome
herself had for the greater part been overthrown; and Jerusalem had shared the like fate.
In the succeeding portions of his work the compiler takes much of his matter from Roman history: which he derives from the decades of Titus Livius, either directly, or through the medium of the "Tree of Batailes." Tullius and Cato are also repeatedly cited.
It is unnecessary to notice here all the historical anecdotes thus introduced, as they will at once be seen on turning over the pages; but attention should be directed to one of the most remarkable passages in the book, in which the writer quotes the sentiments of "myne autor," sir John Fastolfe:—