The Eleventh Song

The Muse, her natiue earth to see,
Returnes to England ouer Dee;
Visits stout Cheshire, and there showes
To her and hers, what England owes;
And of the Nymphets sporting there
In Wyrrall, and in Delamere.
Weeuer, the great deuotion sings
Of the religious Saxon Kings;
Those Riuerets doth together call,
That into him, and Mersey fall;
Thence bearing to the side of Peake,
This zealous Canto off doth breake.

WIth as vnwearied wings, and in as high a gate
As when we first set forth, obseruing euery state,
The Muse frō Cambria comes, with pinions summ'd and sound:
And hauing put her selfe vpō the English ground,
First •eiseth in her course the noblest Cestrian shore;
Of our great English bloods as carefull heere of yore,
As Cambria of her Brutes, now is, or could be then;
For which, our prouerbe calls her, Cheshire, chiefe of men.
And of our Countries, place of Palatine doth hold,
And thereto hath her high Regalities enrold:
Besides, in many Fields since Conquering William came,
Her people shee hath prou'd, to her eternall fame.
All, children of her owne, the Leader and the Led,
The mightiest men of boane, in her full bosome bred:
And neither of them such as cold penurious need
Spurs to each rash attempt; but such as soundly feed,
Clad in warme English cloth; and maym'd should they returne
(Whom this false ruthless world else frō their doores would spurne)
Haue liuelihood of their owne, their ages to sustaine.
Nor did the Tenants pay, the Land-lords charge maintaine:
But as abroad in warre, he spent of his estate;
Returning to his home, his hospitable gate
The richer and the poore stood open to receaue.
They, of all England, most to ancient customes cleaue,
Their Yeomanry and still endeuoured to vphold.
For rightly whilst her selfe braue England was of old,
And our courageous Kings vs forth to conquests led,
Our Armies in those times (neere through the world so dred)
Of our tall Yeomen were, and foot-men for the most;
Who (with their Bills, and Bowes) may confidently boast,
Our Leopards they so long and brauely did advance
Aboue the Flower-delice, euen in the hart of France.
O! thou thrice happy Shire, confined so to bee
Twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee.
Thy Dee vpon the West from Wales doth thee divide:
Thy Mersey on the North, from the Lancastrian side,
Thy naturall sister Shire; and linkt vnto thee so,
That Lancashire along with Cheshire still doth goe.
As tow'rds the Derbian Peake, and Moreland (which doe draw
More mountainous and wild) the high-crown'd Shutlingslawe
And Molcop be thy Mounds, with those proud hills whence roue
The louely sister Brooks, the siluery Dane and Doue;
Cleere Doue, that makes to Trent; the other to the West.
But, in that famous Towne, most happy of the rest
(From which thou tak'st thy name) faire Chester, call'd of old
Carelegion; whilst proud Rome her conquests heere did hold
Of those her legions known the faithfull station then,
So stoutly held to tack by those neere North-wales men;
Yet by her owne right name had rather called bee,
As her the Britaine tearm'd, The Fortresse vpon Dee,
Then vainly shee would seeme a Miracle to stand,
Th'imaginary worke of some huge Giants hand:
Which if such euer were, Tradition tells not who.
But, backe awhile my Muse: to Weeuer let vs goe,
Which (with himselfe compar'd) each British flood doth scorne;
His fountaine and his fall, both Chesters rightly borne;
The Country in his course, that cleane through doth diuide,
Cut in two equall shares vpon his either side:
And, what the famous Flood farre more then that enriches,
The bracky Fountaines are, those two renowned Wyches,
The Nant-wyche, and the North; whose either brynie Well,
For store and sorts of Salts, make Weeuer to excell.
Besides their generall vse, not had by him in vaine,
But in him selfe thereby doth holinesse retuine
Aboue his fellow Floods: whose healthfull vertues taught,
Hath of the Sea-gods oft, caus'd Weeuer to be sought.
For physick in their need: and Thetis oft hath seene,
When by their wanton sports her Nereides haue beene
So sick, that Glaucus selfe hath failed in their cure:
Yet Weeuer, by his Salts, recouery durst assure.
And Amphitrite oft this Wisard Riuer led
Into her secret walks (the Depths profound and dread)
Of him (suppos'd so wise) the hid euents to knowe
Of things that were to come, as things done long agoe.
In which he had beene prou'd most exquisite to bee;
And bare his fame so farre, that oft twixt him and Dee,
Much strife there hath arose in their prophetick skill.
But to conclude his praise, our Weeuer heere doth will
The Muse, his sourse to sing; as how his course he steres:
Who from his naturall Spring, as from his neighboring Meres
Sufficiently supply'd, shootes forth his siluer breast,
As though he meant to take directly toward the East;
Vntill at length it proues he loytreth, but to play
Till Ashbrooke and the Lee o're-take him on the way,
Which to his iourneys end him earnestly doe haste•
Till hauing got to Wyche, hee taking there a taste
Of her most sauory Salt, is by the sacred tuch,
Forc't faster in his course, his motion quickned much
To North-wyche: and at last, as hee approacheth neere,
Dane, Whelock drawes, then Crock, from that black ominous Mere,
Accounted one of those that Englands wonders make;
Of neighbours, Black-mere nam'd, of strangers, Breretons-Lake;
Whose property seemes farre from Reasons way to stand:
For, neere before his death that's owner of the Land,
Shee sends vp stocks of trees, that on the top doe float;
By which the world her first did for a wonder note.
His handmayd Howty next, to Weeuer holds her race:
When Peever with the helpe of Pickmere, make apace
To put-in with those streames his sacred steps that tread,
Into the mighty waste of Mersey him to lead.
Where, when the Riuers meet, with all their stately traine,
Proud Mersey is so great in entring of the Maine,
As hee would make a shewe for Empery to stand,
And wrest the three-forkt Mace from out grym Neptunes hand;
To Cheshire highly bound for that his watry store,
As to the grosser Loughs on the Lancastrian shore.
From hence he getteth Goyt downe from her Peakish spring,
And Bollen, that along doth nimbler Birkin bring
From Maxfields mightie wildes, of whose shagg'd Syluans shee
Hath in the Rocks been woo'd, their Paramour to bee:
Who in the darksome holes, and Cauerns kept her long,
And that proud Forrest made a party to her wrong.
Yet could not all intreat the pretty Brooke to stay;
Which to her sister streame, sweet Bollen, creeps away.
To whom, vpon their road shee pleasantly reports
The many mirthfull iests, and wanton woodish sports
In Maxfield they haue had; as of that Forrests fate:
Vntill they come at length, where Mersey for more state
Assuming broder banks, himselfe so proudly beares,
That at his sterne approach, extended Wyrrall feares,
That (what betwixt his floods of Mersey, and the Dee)
In very little time deuoured he might bee:
Out of the foaming surge till •ilbre lifts his head,
To let the fore-land see how richly he had sped.
Which Mersey cheeres so much, that with a smyling brow•
He fawnes on both those Floods; their amorous armes that throw
About his goodly neck, and bar'd their swelling breasts:
On which whilst lull'd with ease, his pleased cheeke he rests,
The Naiades, sitting neere vpon the aged Rocks,
Are busied with their combes, to brayd his verdant locks,
Whilst in their crystall eyes he doth for Cupids looke:
But Delamere from them his fancie quickly tooke,
Who shewes her selfe all drest in most delicious flowers;
And sitting like a Queene, sees from her shady Bowers
The wanton Wood-Nymphs mixt with her light-footed Fawnes,
To lead the rurall routs about the goodly Lawnds,
As ouer Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;
And oft at Barly-breake, and Prison-base, to tell
(In carrolds as they course) each other all the ioyes,
The passages, deceits, the sleights, the amorous toyes
The subtile Sea-Nymphs had, their Wyrralls loue to win.
But Weeuer now againe to warne them doth begin
To leaue these triuiall toyes, which inly hee did hate,
That neither them beseem'd, nor stood with his estate
(Beeing one that gaue him selfe industriously to know
What Monuments our Kings erected long agoe:
To which, the Flood himselfe so wholly did apply,
As though vpon his skill, the rest should all rely)
And bent himselfe to shewe, that yet the Britains bold,
Whom the laborious Muse so highly had extold,
Those later Saxon Kings exceld not in their deeds,
And therefore with their praise thus zealously proceeds;
Whilst, the celestiall Powers th'arriued time attend
When o're this generall Ile the Britaines raigne should end,
And for the spoyling Pict heere prosp'rously had wrought,
Into th'afflicted Land which strong invasion brought,
And to that proud attempt, what yet his power might want,
The ill-disposed heauens, Brutes ofspring to supplant,
Their angry plagues downe-pour'd, insatiate in their waste
(Needs must they fall, whom heauen doth to destruction haste.)
And that which lastly came to consummate the rest,
Those prouder Saxon powers (which liberally they prest
Against th'invading Pict, of purpose hired in)
From those which payd them wage, the Iland soone did win;
And sooner ouerspred, beeing Masters of the Field;
Those, first for whom they fought, too impotent to wield,
A Land within it selfe that had so great a Foe;
And therefore thought it fit them wisely to bestow:
Which ouer Severne heere they in the Mountaines shut,
And some vpon that poynt of Cornwall sorth they put.
Yet forced were they there their stations to defend.
Nor could our men permit the Britains to descend
From Ioue or Mars alone; but brought their blood as hie,
From Woden, by which name they stiled Mercurie.
Nor were the race of Brute, which ruled heere before,
More zealous to the Gods they brought vnto this shore
Then Hengists noble heyres; their Idols that to raise
Heere put their German names vpon our weekly daies.
These noble Saxons were a Nation hard and strong,
On sundry Lands and Seas, in warfare nuzzled long;
Affliction throughly knew; and in proud Fortunes spight,
Euen in the iawes of Death had dar'd her vtmost might:
Who vnder Hengist first, and Horsa, their braue Chiefes,
From Germany arriu'd, and with the strong reliefes
Of th'Angles and the l•tes, them ready to supply,
Which anciently had beene of their affinitie,
By Scythia first sent out, which could not giue them meat,
Were forc't to seeke a soyle wherein themselues to seat.
Them at the last on Dansk their lingring fortune draue,
Where Holst vnto their troups sufficient harbor gaue.
These with the Saxons went, and fortunatly wan:
Whose Captaine, Hengist, first a kingdome heere began
In Kent; where his great heires, ere other Princes rose
Of Saxonies descent, their fulness to oppose,
With swelling Humbers side their Empire did confine.
And of the rest, not least renowned of their Line,
Good Ethelbert of Kent, th'first christned English King,
To preach the faith of Christ, was first did hither bring
Wise Augustine the Monke, from holy Gregory sent.
This most religious King, with most deuout intent
That mightie Fane to Paule, in London did erect,
And priuiledges gaue, this Temple to protect.
His equall then in zeale, came Ercombert againe,
From that first christned King, the second in that raigne.
The gluttony then vs'd seuerely to suppresse,
And make men fit to prayer (much hindred by excesse)
That abstinence from flesh for forty dayes began,
Which by the name of Lent is knowne to euery man.
As mighty Hengist heere, by force of Armes had done,
So Ella comming in, soone from the Britaines wonne
The Countries neighboring Kent: which lying from the Maine,
Directly to the South did properly obtaine
The Southerne Saxons name; and not the last thereby
Amongst the other raignes which made the Heptarchy:
So in the high descent of that South-Saxon King,
We in the bead-roule heere of our religious bring
Wise Ethelwald: alone who Christian not became,
But willing that his folke should all receiue the name,
Saint Wilfrid (sent from Yorke) into his Realme receiu'd
(Whom the Northumbrian folke had of his See bereau'd)
And on the South of Thames, a seat did him afford,
By whom that people first receiu'd the sauing Word,
As likewise from the loynes of Erehinwin (who rais'd
Th'East-Saxons kingdome first) braue Sebert may be prais'd:
Which, as that King of Kent, had with such cost and state
Built Paules; his Greatness so (this King to imitate)
Began the goodly Church of Westminster to reare:
The Primer English Kings so truly zealous were.
Then Sebba of his seed, that did them all surpasse,
Who fitter for a shryne then for a scepter was,
(Aboue the power of flesh, his appetite to sterue
That his desired Christ he strictly might obserue)
Euen in his height of life, in health, in body strong,
Perswaded with his Queene, a Lady faire and young,
To separate themselues, and in a sole estate,
After religious sort themselues to dedicate.
Whose Nephew Vffa next, inflam'd with his high praise
(Enriching that proud Fane his Grandsire first did raise)
Abandoned the world he found so full of strife,
And after liu'd in Rome a strict religious life.
Nor these our Princes heere, of that pure Saxon straine,
Which tooke vnto themselues each one their seuerall raigne,
For their so godly deeds, deserued greater fame
Then th'Angles their Allies, that hither with them came;
Who sharing-out themselues a kingdome in the East,
With th'Easterne Angles name their circuit did invest,
By Vffa in that part so happily begun:
Whose successors the Crowne for martyrdome haue won
From all before or since that euer suffred heere;
Redwalds religious sonnes: who for their Sauiour deere,
By cruell heathenish hands vnmercifully slaine,
Amongst vs euer-more remembred shall remaine,
And in the roule of Saints must haue a speciall roome,
Where Derwald to all times with Erpenwald shall come.
When in that way they went, next Sebert them succeeds,
Scarce seconded againe for sanctimonious deeds:
Who for a priuate life when he his rule resign'd,
And to his Cloyster long had strictly him confin'd,
A Corslet for his Cowle was glad againe to take
His Country to defend (for his religions sake)
Against proud Penda, com'n with all his Pagan power,
Those christned Angels then of purpose to deuour:
And suffring with his folke, by Penda's heathenish pride,
As hee a Saint had liu'd, a constant Martyr dy'd.
When, after it fell out, that Offa had not long
Held that by cruell force, which Penda got by wrong,
Adopting for his heire young Edmond, brought him in,
Euen at what time the Danes this Iland sought to win:
Who christned soone became, and as religious growne
As those most heathenish were who set him on his throne,
Did expiate in that place his predecessors guilt,
Which so much Christian blood so cruelly had spilt.
For, taken by the Danes, who did all tortures try,
His Sauiour Iesus Christ to force him to deny;
First beating him with bats, but no advantage got,
His body full of shafts then cruelly they shot;
The constant martyr'd King, a Saint thus iustly crown'd.
To whom euen in that place, that Monument renown'd
Those after-Ages built to his eternall fame.
What English hath not heard Saint Edmonds Buries name?
As of those Angles heere, so from their loynes againe,
Whose hands hew'd out their way to the West-Sexian raigne
(From Kenrick, or that claime from Cerdick to descend)
A partnership in fame great Ina might pretend
With any King since first the Saxons came to shore.
Of all those christned heere, who highlier did adore
The God-head, then that man? or more that did apply
His power t'advance the Church in true sincerity?
Great Glastenbury then so wondrously decay'd,
Whose old foundation first the ancient Britains lay'd,
He gloriously rebuilt, enriching it with plate,
And many a sumptuous Cope, to vses consecrate:
Ordayning godly lawes for gouerning this Land,
Of all the Saxon Kings the Solon hee shall stand.
From Otta (borne with him who did this Ile invade)
And had a conquest first of the Northumbrians made,
And tributarie long of mightier Hengist held,
Till Ida (after borne) the Kentish power expeld,
And absolutely sate on the Dierian seat,
But afterward resign'd to Ethelfrid the Great:
An Army into Wales who for invasion led,
At Chester and in fight their forces vanquished;
Into their vtter spoyle, then publique way to make,
The long Religious house of goodly Bangor brake,
And slew a thousand Monks, as they deuoutly pray'd.
For which his cruell spoyle vpon the Christians made
(Though with the iust consent of Christian Saxons slaine)
His blood, the hethenish hands of Redwald did distaine.
That murtherers issue next, this kingdome were exil'd:
And Edwyn tooke the rule; a Prince as iust and mild
As th'other faithlesse were: nor could time euer bring
In all the seauen-fold rule an absoluter King,
And more t'aduance the fayth, his vtmost power that lent:
Who reordained Yorke a Bishops gouernment;
And so much lov'd the poore, that in the waies of trade,
Where Fountaines fitly were, hee Iron dishes made,
And fastned them with chaynes the way farer to ease,
And the poore Pilgrims thirst, there resting, to appease.
As Mercia, mongst the rest, sought not the least to raise
The sauing Christian sayth, nor merits humbler praise.
Nor those that from the stem of Saxon Creda came
(The Britains who expulst) were any whit in fame,
For pietie and zeale, behind the others best;
Though heathenish Penda long and proudly did infest
The christned neighboring Kings, and forc't them all to bow;
Till Oswy made, to God, a most religious vow,
Of his aboundant grace would hee be pleas'd to grant,
That he this Panim Prince in battell might supplant,
A Recluse he would giue his daughter and delight,
Sweet Alfled then in youth, and as the Morning, bright:
And hauing his request, hee gaue as hee obtayn'd;
Though his vnnaturall hands succeeding Wulpher stayn'd
In his owne childrens blood, whom their deare mother had
Confirm'd in Christs beliefe, by that most reuerent Chad:
Yet to embrace the fayth when after he began
(For the vnnaturalst deed that e're was done by man)
If possible it were to expiate his guilt,
Heere many a goodly house to holy vses built:
And shee (to purge his crime on her deere children done)
A crowned Queene, for him, became a vased Nun.
What Age a godlier Prince then Etheldred could bring?
Or then our Kinred heere, a more religious King?
Both taking them the Cowle, th'one heere his flesh did tame,
The other went to Rome, and there a Monke became.
So, Ethelbald may well be set the rest among:
Who, though most vainly giuen when he was hot and young;
Yet, by the wise reproofe of godly Bishops brought
From those vnstay'd delights by which his youth was caught,
Hee all the former Kings of Mercia did exceed,
And (through his Rule) the Church from taxes strongly freed.
Then to the Easterne sea, in that deepe watry Fen
(Which seem'd a thing so much impossible to men)
Hee that great Abby built of Crowland; as though hee
Would haue no others worke like his foundation bee.
As, Offa greater farre then any him before:
Whose conquests scarcely were suffic'd with all the shore;
But ouer into Wales adventurously hee shot
His Mercia's spacious Meere, and Powsland to it got.
This King, euen in that place, where with rude heapes of stones
The Britains had interr'd their Proto-martyrs bones,
That goodly Abby built to Alban; as to showe
How much the sonnes of Brute should to the Saxons owe.
But when by powerfull heauen, it was decreed at last,
That all those seauen-fold Rules should into one be cast
(Which quickly to a head by Britriks death was brought)
Then Egbert, who in France had carefully been taught,
Returning home, was King of the West-Sexians made.
Whose people, then most rich and potent, him perswade
(As once it was of old) to Monarchize the Land.
Who following their advise, first with a warlike hand
The Cornish ouer-came; and thence, with prosperous sailes,
O're Severne set his powers into the hart of Wales;
And with the Mercians there, a bloody battell wag'd:
Wherein he wan their Rule; and with his wounds enrag'd,
Went on against the rest. Which, sadly when they sawe
How those had sped before, with most subiectiue awe
Submit them to his sword: who prosperously alone
Reduc't the seauen-fold Rule, to his peculiar throne
(Extirping other stiles) and gaue it Englands name
Of th'Angles, from whose race his nobler fathers came.
When scarcely Egbert heere an entire Rule began,
But instantly the Dane the Iland ouer-ran;
A people, that their owne those Saxons payd againe.
For, as the Britaines first they treacherously had slaine,
This third vpon their necks a heauier burthen lay'd
Then they had vpon those whom falsly they betray'd.
And for each others states, though oft they here did toyle,
A people from their first bent naturally to spoyle,
That crueltie with them from their beginning brought.
Yet when the Christian fayth in them had throughly wrought,
Of any in the world no story shall vs tell,
Which did the Saxon race in pious deeds excell:
That in these drowsie times should I in publique bring
Each great peculiar Act of euery godly King,
The world might stand amaz'd in this our Age to see
Those goodly Fanes of theirs, which irreligious wee
Let euery day decay; and yet we onely liue
By the great Freedoms then those Kings to these did giue.
Wise Segbert (worthy praise) preparing vs the seat
Of famous Cambridge first, then with endowments great
The Muses to maintaine, those Sisters thither brought.
By whose example, next, religious Alfred taught,
Renowned Oxford built t'Apollo's learned brood;
And on the hallowed banke of Isis goodly Flood,
Worthy the glorious Arts, did gorgeous Bowres prouide.
He into seuerall Shires the kingdome did divide.
So, valiant Edgar, first, most happily destroy'd
The multitudes of Wolues, that long the Land annoy'd.
And our good Edward heere, the Confessor and King
(Vnto whose sumptuous Shrine our Monarchs offrings bring)
That cankred Euill cur'd, bred twixt the throat and iawes.
When Physick could not find the remedy nor cause,
And much it did afflict his sickly people heere,
Hee of Almightie God obtain'd by earnest pray'r,
This Tumour by a King might cured be alone:
Which he an heyre-•oome left vnto the English Throne.
So, our Saint Edward heere, for Englands generall vse,
Our Countries Common lawes did faithfully produce,
Both from th'old British writ, and from the Saxon tongue.
Of Forrests, Hills, and Floods, when now a mighty throng
For Audience cry'd aloud; because they late had heard,
That some high Cambrian hills the Wrekin proudly dar'd
With words that very much had stirr'd his rancorous spleene.
Where, though cleere Severne set her Princely selfe betweene
The English and the Welsh, yet could not make them cease.
Heere, Weeuer, as a Flood affecting godly peace,
His place of speech resignes; and to the Muse refers
The hearing of the Cause, to stickle all these stirs.