Prince Henrys Obsequies, Title page – Dedication 2
PRINCE HENRIES OBSEQVIES OR MOVRNEFVLL ELEGIES VPONUPON HIS DEATH: VVith A supposed Inter-locution betweene the Ghost of Prince Henrie and Great Brittaine. By George Wyther.
LONDON, Printed by Ed: Allde, for Arthur Iohnson, at the white Horse neere vntounto the great North doore of Saint Paul 1612
TO THE WHOLE WORLD IN GENERALL AND MORE PERTICVlarly to the Iles of great Brittaine and Ireland. &c.
BIg-swolne with sighes, & almost drown'd with teares
My Muse out of a dying traunce vp-reares;
Who yet not able to expresse her moanes,
In steede of better vtterance, here groanes.
And least my close-breast should her health impaire,
Is come amongst you, for to take the ayre,
I neede not name the greefes, that on her seaze,
Th'are knowne by this, beyond th' Antipodes.
But to your view some heauy rounds she brings,
That you may beare the burthen, when she sings:
And that's but Woe: which you so high should straine,
That heauens vault might Eccho't backe againe,
Then, though I hauehave not striued to seeme witty,
Yet read, and reading note, and noting pitty.
What though ther's others show, in this more Art?
I hauehave as true; as sorowfull a hart:
What though Opinion giuegive me not a Name,
And I was ne're beholding yet to Fame?
Fate would (perhapps) my Muse, as yet vnknowne,
Should first in Sorrowes liuery be showne.
Then, be the witnes of my discontent,
And see, if greefes hauehave made me Eloquent:
For here I mourne, for your our publike losse;
And doe my pennance, at the Weeping Crosse.
The most sorrowfull G. W.
DEath (that by stealth did wound Prince H: hart)
Is now tane Captiue, and doth act the part
Of one o'recome, by being too too fierce,
And lies himselfe dead vnderunder Henries hearse:
He therefore now in Heauenly tunes doth Sing,
Hell, wher's thy triumph? Death, where is thy Sting?
Faults escaped.
Elegy 16 read Henry dead? line 14 read be in hart, Eleg. 23. line 13 r carryes him. El. 2…. l. 1. r my tongue El. 28. l. 14. r hadadrimmon, in the second page of the Iterlocution. li. 5. r with still. line. 8. r vinnaugh. Eleg: 29. line 5 read walkes.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE ROBERT Lord Sidney of Penshurst, Vicount Lisle, Lord Chamberlaine to the Queenes Maiestie, and Lord Gouernour of Vlushing, and the Castle of Ramekins.
George VVither presents these Elegiak-sonnets, and wisheth double Comfort after his two-fold sorrow.
Anagrams on the name of Sir William Sidney Knight, deceased.
Gulielmus Sidneius
En vilis, gelidus sum.
*But*
Ei' nilluge, sidus sum.
BEside our great and Vniuersall care,
(Wherein you one of our chiefe sharers are)
To adde more griefe vntounto your griefs begunne,
Whilst we a Father lost, you lost a Sonne,
Whose hapelesse want had more apparant beene,
But darkened by the Other 'twas vnseene,
Which well perceiuing, loth indeed was I,
The Memory of one so deare should die:
And thereupon I the occasion tooke
For to present your Honor with this Booke,
(Vnfained, and true mournefull Elegies,
And for our HENRIE, my last Obsequies)
That he, which did your Sonnes late death obscure,
Might be the Meane to make his fame endure:
But this may but renew your former woe:
Indeed and I, might well hauehave doubted soe,
Had not I knowne, that Vertue which did place you
Aboue the common sort, did also grace you
With guifts of Minde, to make you more excell,
And farre more able, Passions rage to quell:
You can, and may with moderation moane,
For all your comfort is not lost with one,
Children you hauehave, whose Vertues may renew;
The comfort of decaying Hopes in you.
Praised be God, for such great blessngs giuing,
And happy you, to hauehave such comforts liuing.
Nor doe I thinke it can be rightly sed,
You are vnhappy in this One that's dead:
For notwithstanding his first Anagram,
Frights, with *The English …f his Ana…rams.Behold, now cold, and vile I am:
Yet in his last, he seemes more cherefull farre,
And Ioyes, with *The English …f his Ana…rams.Soft, Mourne not, I am a Starre,
Oh great preferment: what could he aspire
That was more high, or you could more desire?
Well, since his soule in heau'n such glory hath,
My LoueLove bequeathes his Graue, this Epitaph.
Here vnderunder lies a SIDNEY: And what than?
Dost thinke here lies but relicks of a man?
Know;…pitaph. 'tis a Cabanet did once include,
VVIT, BEAVTIE, SVVEETNES, COVRT'SEY, FORTITVDE.
So let him rest, to Memory still deare,
Till his Redeemer in the Clowdes appeare
The while, accept his VVill, who meaning plaine,
Doth neither write for praise, nor hope of Gaine:
And now your Teares, and priuate Griefe, forbeare,
And turne againe, to this our Publike care.
Your Honours true honorer George Wyther.