A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) | Page 5

OF THE QUEEN'S MAIDS.
They which tofore thought that the heaven's throne Is placed above the skies, and there do feign The gods and all the heavenly powers to reign, They err, and but deceive themselves alone. Heaven (unless you think mo be than one) Is here in earth, and by the pleasant side Of famous Thames at Greenwich court doth 'bide. And as for other heaven is there none. There are the goddesses we honour so: There Pallas sits: there shineth Venus' face: Bright beauty there possesseth all the place: Virtue and honour there do live and grow: There reigneth she such heaven that doth deserve, Worthy whom so fair goddesses should serve.
2. ANOTHER TO THE SAME.
Flowers of prime, pearls couched all in gold, Light of our days, that glads the fainting hearts Of them that shall your shining gleams behold, Salve of each sore, recure of inward smarts, In whom virtue and beauty striveth so As neither yields: behold here, for your gain, Gismund's unlucky love, her fault, her woe, And death; at last her cruel father slain Through his mishap; and though you do not see, Yet read and rue their woful tragedy. So Jove, as your high virtues done deserve, Grant you such pheers[6] as may your virtues serve With like virtues; and blissful Venus send Unto your happy loves an happy end.
3. ANOTHER TO THE SAME.
Gismund, that whilome liv'd her father's joy And died his death, now dead, doth (as she may) By us pray you to pity her annoy. And, to requite the same, doth humbly pray, Heavens to forefend[7] your loves from like decay. The faithful earl doth also make request, Wishing those worthy knights whom ye embrace, The constant truth that lodged in his breast. His hearty love, not his unhappy case, Befall to such as triumph in your grace. The king prays pardon of his cruel hest,[8] And for amends desires it may suffice. That by his blood he warneth all the rest Of fond fathers, that they in kinder wise Intreat the jewels where their comfort lies. We, as their messengers, beseech ye all On their behalfs to pity all their smarts. And for ourselves (although the worth be small) We pray ye to accept our humble hearts, Avow'd to serve with prayer and with praise Your honours, all unworthy other ways.[9]

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.[10]
CUPID. TANCRED, the King. GISMUNDA, _the King's Daughter_. LUCRECE, her Aunt. GUISCARD, Count Palurin. RENUCHIO, Captain of the Guard. JULIO, Lord Chamberlain. MEGAERA. CHORUSES.[11]

ARGUMENT OF THE TRAGEDY.[12]
Tancred, the Prince of Salerne, overloves His only daughter (wonder of that age) Gismund, who loves the County[13] Palurin Guiscard, who quites her likings with his love: A letter in a cane describes the means Of their two meetings in a secret cave. Unconstant fortune leadeth forth the king To this unhappy sight, wherewith in rage The gentle earl he doometh to his death, And greets his daughter with her lover's heart. Gismunda fills the goblet with her tears, And drinks a poison which she had distill'd, Whereof she dies, whose deadly countenance So grieves her father, that he slew himself.
ANOTHER OF THE SAME, MORE AT LARGE, IN PROSE.[14]
Tancred, King of Naples and Prince of Salerne, gave his only daughter Gismund (whom he most dearly loved) in marriage to a foreign prince, after whose death she returned home to her father, who having felt great grief of her absence whilst her husband lived, immeasurably esteeming her, determined never to suffer any second marriage to bereave him of her. She, on the other side, waxing weary of that her father's purpose, bent her mind to the secret love of the County Palurin: to whom (he being likewise inflamed with love of her) by a letter subtly enclosed in a cloven cane, she gave to understand a convenient way for their desired meetings, through an old ruinous vault, whose mouth opened directly under her chamber floor. Into this vault when she was one day descended (for the conveyance of her lover), her father in the mean season (whose only joy was in his daughter) came to her chamber, and not finding her there, supposing her to have been walked abroad for her[15] disport, he threw him down on her bed, and covered his head with a curtain, minding to abide and rest there till her return. She, nothing suspecting this her father's unseasonable coming, brought up her lover out of the cave into her chamber, where her father espied their secret love: and he (not espied of them) was upon this sight stricken with marvellous grief; but either for that the sudden despite had amazed him, and taken from him all use of speech, or for that he resolved himself to a more convenient revenge, he then spake nothing, but noted their return into the