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

offend or hurt no man. As for such as have neither
the grace, nor the good gift, to do well themselves, nor the common
honesty to speak well of others, I must (as I may) hear and bear their
baitings with patience.
Yours devoted in his ability,
R. WILMOT.

A PREFACE TO THE QUEEN'S MAIDENS OF HONOUR.[5]
1. A SONNET 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