The Somersetshire TRAGEDY:
OR, THE
Wronged Ladys Lamentation, and Untimely DEATH.
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SIR William, a Knight of six thousand a year,
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He courted fair Susan of Somersetshire:
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The beautifullest creature that ever was seen,
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A Lady by birth, tho her fortune was mean:
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What passed between them Ill tell you in brief,
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Who hear it may sigh with a heart full of grief.
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To her he pretended the greatest of Love,
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And held her in hand for three months and above;
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Inviting her often to feast at his hall,
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At length he to wanton embraces did fall;
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Which when she perceived, she sighing would say,
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Dont ruin an innocent Lady I pray.
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O talk not of ruin, thou Joy of my heart,
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So long as we live, Love, we never will part;
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So sure as I give thee this amorous Kiss:
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Then let me arrive at this rapture of Bliss:
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If ever Im false or disloyal to thee,
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May Gods divine vengeance then fall upon me.
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The innocent Lady then struck with surprise,
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Besought him with sorrowful tears in her eyes,
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That he would not tempt her to any such thing,
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The which without question her ruin would bring;
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Yet still with new arguments her he assaild,
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Tho long she resisted, at length he prevaild.
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He having obtaind his earnest request,
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She proved with child, then with sorrows opprest,
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He left her, whom once he did seem to adore,
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And all his rash vows he regarded no more;
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No creature so false and deceitful as he,
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That swears to be true, and yet perjurd will be.
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The innocent Lady with sorrows opprest,
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With tears in her eyes, with sobs from her breast;
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She cryd theres no sorrow, no sorrows like mine,
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O why had Sir William so base a design!
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Before I consented, O that I had dyd!
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Im ruined, Im ruind, Im ruind, she cryd.
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Against you Sir William, I needs must exclaim,
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You courted for lust, and have cloathd me with shame,
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A sorrow which I am unable to bear,
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My honour is gone: I will die in despair:
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And haunt you by night with my wandering ghost,
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That you may not have any reason to boast.
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You shall have no pleasure, but constantly find,
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The Cries of your conscience, the trouble of mind:
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Both sleeping and waking wherever you go,
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For seeking my Ruin and sad Overthrow;
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And breaking the Vows that you solemnly made,
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Before you my innocent Virtue betrayd.
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Retird from Friends her close chamber she kept,
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Where for her misfortunes she bitterly wept:
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And finding her folly she no ways could hide,
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With grief she miscarryd, in sorrow she dyd;
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Whose wandering Ghost then did often affright
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Her false-hearted Lover and treacherous Knight.
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Sometimes to his chamber at midnight she came;
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The room being filld with a terrible flame:
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Her trembling ghost near the curtains would stand
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With either a dagger or sword in her hand;
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As if she would stab this false Knight where he lay,
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And then with a shriek she would vanish away.
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But once above all a strange groaning he heard,
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And strait with a child in her arms she appeard,
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Which then in his bed she laid close on his side;
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This frighted him so that he sickend and dyd
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Within a week after the same he beheld;
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To all that he told it, with wonder were filld.
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Now as in a frightfu condition he lay,
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To all his dear friends he was pleased to say
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I wronged a Lady, I needs must confess,
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And brought her to sorrow, to shame, and distress:
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And now since the glass of my life is near run,
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Im going to answer for what I have done.
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I was false to my love, and my oath I have broke,
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And death now stands ready at one fatal stroke,
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To send me away, but I cannot tell where,
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I have done amiss, and must die in despair:
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Let me be a warning to all that shall hear,
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Of my death, for being false to my Deear.
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