Eleanor the daughter and heireß of William duke of Guienne, and earl of Poitou, had been married fixteen years to Louis VII. king of France, and had attended him in a croisade, which that monarch commanded against the infidels; but having loft the affections of her husband, and even fallen under fome fufpicions of galluntry with a handsome saracen, Louis more delicate, than politic, procured a divorce from her, and restored her thofe rich provinces, which by her marriage She had annexed to the crown of France. The young count of Anjou, afterwards Henry II. king of En gland, gland, tho' at that time but in his nineteenth year, neither difcouraged by the disparity of age, nor by the reports of Eleanor's gallantry, made fuch fucceßful courtship to that princeß, that he married her fix weeks after her divorce, and got poffefion of all her dominions as a dowry. A marriage thus founded upon interest was not likely to be very happy: it happened accordingly. Eleanor, who had disgusted her first bufband by her gallantries, was no leẞ offenfive to her Second by her jealousy: thus carrying to extremity, in the different parts of her life, every circumstance of female weakneß. She had several fons by Henry, whom She Spirited up to rebel against him ; and endeavouring to escape to them disguifed in man's apparel in 1173, she was discovered and thrown into a confinement, which seems to have continued till the death of her husband in 1189. She however survived him many years: dying in 1204, in the fixth year of the reign of her youngest son, John. See Hume's Hift. I. 260, 307. Speed, Stow, &c. It is needle to observe, that the following ballad (given from an old printed copy) is altogether fabulous; whatever gallantries Eleanor encouraged in the time of her first bufband, none are imputed to her in that of her second. UEENE Elianor was a ficke woman, QU And afraid that she should dye : Then fhe feat for two fryars of France To speke with her speedilye. "Earl marfhall, Ile goe fhrive the queene, And thou shalt wend with mee. >> HS A A boone, a boone; quoth earl marshall, And fell on his bended knee; ΤΟ 1 That whatsoever queene Elianor faye, Ile pawne my landes, the king then cryd, My fceptre, crowne, and all, That whatfoere queen Elianor fayes No harme therof shall fall. Do thou put on a fryars coat, And Ile put on another; And we will to queen Elianor goe Like fryar and his brother. Thus both attired then they goe: When they came to Whitehall The bells did ring, and the quirifters fing, When that they came before the queene IS 20 25 A boone, a boone, our gracious queene, Are you two fryars of France, fhe fayd, As I fuppofe you bee? 30 But if you are two Englif he fryars, You fhall hang on the gallowes tree. We are two fryars of France, they fayd, As you fuppofe we bee, We have not been at any maffe 35 Sith we came from the fea. The To you Ile not denye, I made a boxe of poyson strong, To poifon king Henrye. Thats a vile finne, then fayd the king, Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall; And I wish it fo may bee. The next vile thing that ever I did, To you I will discover; I poyfoned fair Rofamonde, All in fair Woodstockę bower. That's a vile finne, then fayd the king; May God forgive it thee! Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall; And I wish it fo may bee. Do you fee yonders little boye, A toffing of the balle? That is earl marshalls eldest fonne, And I love him the beft of all. Do 55 V.63,67. She means that the eldest of these two was by the earl marshal, the youngest by the king, She fhrieked, and cryd, and wrung her hands, 75 And fayd fhe was betrayde. The king lookt over his left fhoulder, And a grimme look looked hee, Earl marshall, he fayd, but for my oathe, Or hanged thou shouldft bee. 60 VII. GASCOIGNE'S PRAISE OF THE FAIR BRIDGES AFTERWARDS LADY SANDES. ON HER HAVING A SCAR IN HER FOREHEAD. George Gascoigne was a celebrated poet in the early part of Q. Elizabeth's reign, and appears to great advantage among the miscellaneous writers of that age. He was author of three or four plays, and of many smaller poems; one of the |