But now touching the dooings about the new K. You shall vnderstand,
that by reason of his yoong yeares, as yet he was not able to gouerne
himselfe, and therefore Iohn duke of Lancaster, and Edmund earle of
Cambridge, with other péeres of the realme, were appointed to haue the
administration. He was of good disposition and towardnesse, but his
age being readie to incline which way soeuer a man should bend it,
those that were |716| appointed to haue the gouernement of his person,
did what laie in them now at the first, to keepe him from all maner
of light demeanor. But afterwards, when euerie one began to studie
more for his owne priuate commoditie, than for the aduancement of the
commonwealth, they set open the gates to other, which being readie to
corrupt his good nature, by little and little grew familiar with him,
and dimming the brightnesse of true honour, with the counterfeit shine
of the contrarie, so maskered his vnderstanding, that in the end they
brought him to tract the steps of lewd demeanour, and so were causers
both of his and their owne destruction. This séemeth to be touched by
C. Okland, who speaking of the death of the old king and the erection
of the new, saith of him according to our annales, as followeth:
[Sidenote: _In Angl. præl._]
Vndecimum puer hic nondum transegerat annum,
Cùm iuuenile caput gessit diademate cinctum.
Qui postquam princeps iustis adoleuerat annis,
Dicere non facile est quantum distaret auitis
Moribus atque animo, fuit hic quàm disparemente,
Dissimili ingenio claræ matríque patríque.
[Sidenote: _Froissard._
Berwicke castell woone by the Scots.