Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POLYHYMNIA, by GEORGE PEELE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POLYHYMNIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Wherefore, when thirty-two were come and gone
Last Line: And days and years as many such as she in heart can crave!
Subject(s): Elizabeth I, Queen Of England (1533-1603; Lee, Sir Henry (1532-1611)


WHEREFORE, when thirty-two were come and gone,
Years of her reign, days of her country's peace,
Elizabeth, great empress of the world,
Britannia's Atlas, star of England's globe,
That sways the massy sceptre of her land,
And holds the royal reins of Albion;
Began the gladsome sunny day to shine,
That draws in length date of her golden reign,
And thirty-three she numbereth in her throne,
That long in happiness and peace I pray
May number many to these thirty-three.
Wherefore it fares as whilom and of yore,
In armour bright and sheen fair England's knights,
In honour of their peerless sovereign,
High mistress of their service, thoughts, and lives,
Make to the tilt amain; and trumpets sound,
And princely coursers neigh and champ the bit:
When all, address'd for deeds of high devoir,
Prease to the sacred presence of their prince.
The First Couple. SIR HENRY LEE, THE EARL OF CUMBERLAND.
Mighty in arms, mounted on puissant horse,
Knight of the crown, in rich embroidery,
And costly fair caparison charg'd with crowns,
O'ershadow'd with a wither'd running vine,
As who would say, "My spring of youth is past,"
In corselet gilt of curious workmanship,
Sir Henry Lee, redoubted man-at-arms,
Leads in the troops: whom worthy Cumberland,
Thrice-noble earl, accoutred as became
So great a warrior and so good a knight,
Encounter'd first, y-clad in coat of steel,
And plumes and pendants all as white as swan,
And spear in rest, right ready to perform
What 'long'd unto the honour of the place.
Together went these champions, horse and man,
Thundering along the tilt; that at the shock
The hollow gyring vault of heaven resounds.
Six courses spent, and spears in shivers split,
The Second Couple. (THE LORD STRANGE, MASTER THOMAS GERRARD.
The Earl of Derby's valiant son and heir,
Brave Ferdinand Lord Strange, strangely embark'd
Under Jove's kingly bird the golden eagle,
Stanley's old crest and honourable badge,
As veering 'fore the wind in costly ship,
And armour white and watchet buckled fast,
Presents himself; his horses and his men
Suited in satin to their master's colours,
Well near twice-twenty squires that went him by:
And having by his truchman pardon crav'd,
Vailing his eagle to his sovereign's eyes,
As who would say, "Stoop, eagle, to this sun,"
Dismounts him from his pageant, and attonce,
Taking his choice of lusty stirring horse
Cover'd with sumptuous rich caparisons,
He mounts him bravely for his friendly foe;
And at the head he aims, and in his aim
Happily thrives, and breaks his azure staves.
Whom gentle Gerrard, all in white and green,

Colours belike best serving his conceit,
Lustily meets, mounted in seat of steel,
With flourishing plume and fair caparison;
And then at every shock the shivers fly,
That recommend their honours to the sky.
The Third Couple. (THE LORD COMPTON, MASTER HENRY NOWELL.
Next, in the virgin's colours, as before
Ran Cumberland, comes lovely Compton in;
His courser trapp'd in white, and plumes and staves
Of snowy hue, and squires in fair array,
Waiting their lord's good fortune in the field;
His armour glittering like the moon's bright rays,
Or that clear silver path, the milk-white way,
That in Olympus leads to Jove's high court.
Him noble-minded Nowell pricks to meet,
All arm'd in sables, with rich bandalier,
That baldrick-wise he ware, set with fair stones
And pearls of Inde, that like a silver bend
Show'd on his varnish'd corselet black as jet;
And beauteous plumes and bases suitable;
And on his stirrup waits a trusty train
Of servants clad in purple liveries:
And to't they go, this lord and lusty knight,
To do their royal mistress honour's right.
The Fourth Couple. (THE LORD BURKE, SIR EDWARD DENNY.
When, mounted on his fierce and foaming steed,
In riches and in colours like his peers,
With ivory plumes, in silver-shining arms,
His men in crimson dight and staves in red,
Comes in Lord Burke, a fair young Ireland lord,
Bent chiefly to the exercise of arms:
And bounding in his princely mistress' eye,
Chargeth his staff, when trumpet calls away,
At noble Denny's head, brave man-at-arms,
That furiously, with flaming sword in hand,
(As if the God of War had sent him down,
Or, if you will, to show his burning zeal
And forwardness in service of her person,
To whom those martial deeds were consecrate,)
Speeds to the tilt amain, rich as the rest;
Himself, his horse, his pages, all in green,
Green velvet, fairly garnish'd horse and man.
The Fifth Couple. (THE EARL OF ESSEX, MASTER FULK GREVILLE.
Then proudly shocks amid the martial throng
Of lusty lanciers, all in sable sad,
Drawn on with coal-black steeds of dusky hue,
In stately chariot full of deep device,
Where gloomy Time sat whipping on the team,
Just back to back with this great champion,—
Young Essex, that thrice-honourable earl;
Y-clad in mighty arms of mourner's dye,
And plume as black as is the raven's wing,
That from his armour borrow'd such a light
As boughs of yew receive from shady stream:
His staves were such, or of such hue at least,
As are those banner-staves that mourners bear;
And all his company in funeral black;
As if he mourn'd to think of him he miss'd,
Sweet Sidney, fairest shepherd of our green,
Well-letter'd warrior, whose successor he
In love and arms had ever vow'd to be:
In love and arms, O, may he so succeed
As his deserts, as his desires would speed!
With this great lord must gallant Greville run,
Fair man-at-arms, the Muses' favourite,
Lover of learning and of chivalry,
Sage in his saws, sound judge of poesy;
That lightly mounted makes to him amain,
In armour gilt and bases full of cost.
Together go these friends as enemies;
As when a lion in a thicket pent,
Spying the boar all bent to combat him,
Makes through the shrubs and thunders as he goes.
The Sixth Couple. (SIR CHARLES BLOUNT, MASTER THOMAS VAVASOR.
And then, as blithe as bird of morning's light,
Inflam'd with honour, glistering as the sun
What time he mounts the sweating lion's back,
Beset with glorious sun-shine of his train,
Bearing the sun upon his armèd breast,
That like a precious shining carbuncle,
Or Phœbus' eye, in heaven itself reflects,—
Comes Sir Charles Blount, in or and azure dight;
Rich in his colours, richer in his thoughts,
Rich in his fortune, honour, arms, and art.
And him the valiant Vavasor assails,
On fierce and ready horse, with spear in rest,
In orange-tawny, bright and beautiful,
Himself, his men, and all: and on they speed,
And haste they make to meet, and meet they do,
And do the thing for which they meet in haste;
Each in his armour amiable to see,
That in their looks bear love and chivalry.
The Seventh Couple. (MASTER ROBERT CAREY, MASTER WILLIAM GRESHAM.
By this the trump call'd Carey to the tilt,
Fair bird, fair cygnet of our silver swan;
When, like a lord in pomp and princely show,
And like a champion fitted for the war,
And not unlike the son of such a sire,
Under a plume of murrey and of white,
That like a palm-tree beautifully spread,
On mighty horse of Naples mounted fair,
And horse at hand and men and pages pight,
All with a Burning Heart greets he her grace,
Whose gracious countenance he his heaven esteems,
And to her sacred person it presents,
As who would say, "My heart and life is hers,
To whom my loyalty this heart prefers."
And at the summons out his foeman flies,
Gresham, the heir of golden Gresham's land,
That beautified New Troy with Royal Change,
Badge of his honour and magnificence:
Silver and sable, such his colours were,
And ready was his horse, and readier he,
To bound, and well behave him in her eye,
Upon whose looks his life and honour stood.
Then horse and man conspir'd to meet amain;
Along the tilt Carey and Gresham go,
Swift as the swallow, or that Greekish nymph
That seem'd to overfly the ears of corn:
And break they do, they miss not, as I ween,
And all was done in honour of their queen.
The Eighth Couple. (SIR WILLIAM KNOWLES, MASTER ANTHONY COOKE.
Then, like the three Horatii in the field,
Betwixt the Roman and the Alban camp,
That triumph'd in the royal right of Rome,
Or old Duke Aymon's glory, Dordogne's pride,
Came in the noble English Nestor's sons,
Brave Knowles his offspring, hardy champions;
Each in his plumes, his colours, and device,
Expressing warrior's wit and courtier's grace.
Against Sir William ran a lusty knight;
Fine in device he was and full of wit,
Famous beyond the chalky British cliffs,
And lov'd and honour'd in his country's bounds,
Anthony Cooke, a man of noble mind,
For arms and courtship equal to the best:
Valour and Virtue sat upon his helm,
Whom Love and lowering Fortune led along,
And Life and Death he portray'd in his show;
A liberal Hand, badge of nobility,
A Heart that in his mistress' honour vows
To task his hand in witness of his heart,
Till age shake off war's rough habiliments.
Then with such cunning can they couch their staves,
That worthily each knight himself behaves.
The Ninth Couple. (SIR THOMAS KNOWLES, SIR PHILIP BUTLER.
The youngest brother, Mars his sworn man,
That wan his knightly spurs in Belgia,
And follow'd dub of drum in fortune's grace,
Well hors'd and arm'd, Sir Philip Butler greets;
The noble Essex friend and follower,
In mourning sable dight by sympathy,
A gentle knight; and meekly at the tilt
He stands, as one that had no heart to hurt
His friendly foe: but at the trumpet's sound
He flies along; and bravely at the face
His force he bends: the rival of his fame
Spurs on his steed, nor shuns the shock for fear:
And so they meet; the armour bears the scar
Of this encounter and delightful war.
The Tenth Couple. (MASTER ROBERT KNOWLES, MASTER RALPH BOWES.
The last, not least, of these brave brethren,
Laden with honour and with golden boughs,
Entering the lists, like Titan arm'd with fire
When in the queachy plot Python he slew,
Bowes takes to task with strong and mighty arm,
Right richly mounted: horse and man it seem'd
Were well agreed to serve as roughly there
As in the enemy's reach for life they would;
And, when they ran, methought a tempest rose,
That in the storm the clattering armours sound,
As horse and man had both been borne to ground.
The Eleventh Couple. (MASTER THOMAS SIDNEY, MASTER ROBERT ALEXANDER.
Thus long hath dainty Sidney sit and seen
Honour and Fortune hover in the air,
That from the glorious beams of England's eye
Came streaming; Sidney, at which name I sigh,
Because I lack the Sidney that I lov'd,
And yet I love the Sidneys that survive.
Thus long, I say, sat Sidney and beheld
The shivers fly of many a shaken spear;
When, mounted on a courser trapp'd in white,
And throughly well-appointed he and his,
Pure sparks of virtue kindling honour's fire,
He thought he might, and, for he might, he would
Reach at this glory,—fair befall him still!—
And to the tilt, impatient of delay,
He comes, encounter'd with a threatening point
That Alexander menac'd to him fast,
A valorous and lusty gentleman,
Well-fitted with his armour and his steed;
And him young Sidney sits, and had he charg'd
The Macedonian Alexander's staff,
He had been answer'd by that valiant youth:
So well behav'd himself this fair young knight,
As Paris had to great Achilles' lance
Applied his tender fingers and his force.
The Twelfth Couple (MASTER [JOHN] NEDHAM, MASTER RICHARD ACTON.
The next came Nedham in on lusty horse,
That, angry with delay, at trumpet's sound
Would snort, and stamp, and stand upon no ground,
Unwilling of his master's tarriance:
Yet tarry must his master, and with him
His prancing steed; till trumpets sounding shrill
Made Acton spur apace, that, with applause
Of all beholders, hied him lustily,
As who would say, "Now go I to the goal:"
And then they ride, and run, and take their chance,
As death were fix'd at point of either's lance.
The Thirteenth Couple. (MASTER CHARLES DAVERS, MASTER EVERARD DIGBY.
Now drew this martial exercise to end;
And Davers here and Digby were the last
Of six-and-twenty gallant gentlemen,
Of noble birth and princely resolution,
That ran in compliment, as you have heard,
In honour of their mistress' holiday;
A gracious sport, fitting that golden time,
The day, the birth-day of our happiness,
The blooming time, the spring of England's peace.
Peace, then, my Muse; yet, ere thou peace, report,
Say how thou saw'st these actors play their parts,
Both mounted bravely, bravely minded both,
Second to few or none for their success;
Their high devoir, their deeds do say no less.

And now had England's queen, fair England's life,
Beheld her lords, and lovely lordly knights,
Do honour's service to their sovereign:
And heaven by this distill'd down tears of joy,
In memory and honour of this day.

SIR HENRY LEE resigns his place of honour at tilt to the EARL OF CUMBERLAND.

And now, as first by him intended was,
In sight of prince, and peers, and people round,
Old Henry Lee, Knight of the Crown, dismounts;
And in a fair pavilion hard at hand,
Where holy lights burn'd on the hallow'd shrine
To Virtue or to Vesta consecrate,
Having unarm'd his body, head and all,
To his great mistress his petition makes;
That, in regard and favour of his age,
It would so please her princely majesty
To suffer him give up his staff and arms,
And honourable place wherein he serv'd,
To that thrice-valiant earl whose honour's pledge
His life should be. With that he singled forth
The flower of English knights, the valiant Earl
Of Cumberland; and him, before them all,
He humbly prays her highness to accept,
And him install in place of those designs;
And to him gives his armour and his lance,
Protesting to her princely majesty,
In sight of heaven and all her lovely lords,
He would betake him to his orisons,
And spend the remnant of his waning age,
Unfit for wars and martial exploits,
In prayers for her endless happiness.
Whereat she smiles, and sighs, and seem'd to say,
"Good woodman, though thy green be turn'd to grey,
Thy age past April's prime and pleasant May,
Have thy request; we take him at thy praise:
May he succeed the honour of thy days!"
"Amen," said all, and hope they do no less;
No less his virtue and nobility,
His skill in arms and practice promiseth.
And many champions such may England live to have,
And days and years as many such as she in heart can crave!





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