¶A Cōmendation of the aduēterus viage of the wurthy Captain. M. Thomas Stutely Esquyer and others, towards the Land called Terra florida.
IF Fortunes force procure,
The valiant noble hart:
In trauail, pain & daūgers great,
In warres to haue his part.
If losse of goods insue,
Through valiant enterprise:
Or for slaknes, or the foresight,
Of diligent aduise.
Yet of his wurthy praise,
I can not speak tomiche:
Who ventreth bothe his goods and life,
His Contrey to enriche.
The worldly wise doo muse,
And also doo invay:
At noble harts when that their welths,
Doo fall vnto decay.
As now of late I knew,
And saw the euidence:
Of one whose part it was to shew,
The like experience.
A noble hart in deed,
And wurthy great renowne:
Whose fortune was not to remain,
In Cittie nor in Towne.
A yung Eneas bolde,
With hart and courage stout:
Whose enterprise was only pight,
Straunge things to bring about.
And though that all men seemd,
His dooings to deride:
Yet this his fact he would not leue,
Nor throwe it so a side.
But stil he dooth procure,
With boldned hart and minde:
That thing whiche erst he had assayd,
By trauail now to finde.
Into a land vnknowne,
To win hym wurthy fame:
As exequies and memory,
Of his moste noble name.
Whiche if it fall his lot,
With fortunes helping hand:
He may wel make a law hing stock,
Of them whiche him withstand.
Same terme it Stolida,
And Sordida it name:
And to be plain they doo it mock,
As at a foolishe game.
If reasons sence be cause,
Of this forespoken talke:
Or fayned folly be the ground,
Why mennes tungs thus doo walke.
Then might it seem to me,
The Frenches labour lost:
Their careful pain and trauail eke,
That they therein haue tost.
The cronicles also,
Whiche only seem as trew:
And writ by them that of that place,
Before did take the vew.
The spaniards eke doo shew,
And verify the same:
To be described as a thing,
Deseruing suche a name.
The Portingales doo say,
The crownacles be iust:
And all that trauaild haue that coste:
The same confes it must.
If that in times before,
Through talkes men haue refraind:
Whiche for the loue of trauail sore,
Their harts haue long been paind.
Columbus as I re [...]d,
The space of many yeeres:
Was counted as vnwise also,
As in writers appeeres.
His ernest sute denied,
Yet in the finall ende:
His wurds & deeds did seem at length,
On reason to depend.
The like assay in hand,
He did at last procure:
Whose life and lucky viages,
Good fortune did assure.
At thend in sauety home,
At lenght he did retourn:
And quenched all their mocking harts
Whiche erst did seem to burn.
For fire of force must needs,
Declare his burning heat:
Though for a time ī smothering smoke
It seemes it self to beat.
So talk of tungs may not,
By smothering through be tame:
But bursting out at length wil turn,
Into a firye flame.
And then the mallice gon,
The fire falleth down:
And quenched quite as by this man,
Whiche was of great renowne.
Now Stuetley hoice thy sail,
Thy wisshed land to finde:
And neuer doo regard vain talke,
For wurds they are but winde.
And in reproof of all.
I wil not once refrain:
With prayer for to wish that thou,
Maist safely come again.
And that sum frute at length,
By trauail thou maist finde:
With riches for to satisfy,
Thy manly modest minde.
Finis.
ꝙ Robert Seall.