But this matter vnpossible long to be kept in se|cret, was at the length brought to the knowledge of king Edward; who being somewhat mooued, thought in the beginning to withstand such mischéefe, least suffering too long, & the earle growing to strength, he might be put to as great plunge for the crowne as he had bene twise before: wherwith séeing he was possessed, he grew resolute to kéepe it both by policie and puissance, maugre the open violence and priuie practises as well of his professed as secret enimies. For he ran through the pikes yer he could obteine it, and offered his bodie to manie desperate perils in hope to get it: which if he had either feared or shun|ned, it is a matter of demand whether he had euer had it. For pretious things, as principalities and such like, vnlesse they be hereditarie, as they are hard|lie kept, so are they not easilie gotten: for he that de|sireth to gather a rose, must not be tender ouer his fingers bicause of thornes; and he that would tast honie fresh out of the hiue, must not be scared with the stinging of bées, as the poet verie swéetlie noteth:

Non quisquam fruitur veris odoribus,

Hyblaeos latebris nec spoliat fauos,

Si fronti caueat si timeat rubos,

Armat spina rosas, mella tegunt apes.

Wherefore king Edward gaue in charge to Bo|dringham, ruler or shiriffe of Cornewall,Shiriffe Bo|dringham be|siegeth the mount that the earle had taken. to assem|ble such power as he could; and besieging the mount, he should either take or kill the earle of Oxford. The which the shiriffe did accordinglie, but that so feintlie and fauourablie, as he permitted the earle of Ox|ford (now in distresse) to reuittell the mount, know|ing that there was no waie to expell the earle from thence but by famine. These things thus doone (the king not pleased, and the earle not displeased) one Fortescue (which surname is deduced from the strength of his shield, whereof that familie had first originall) was with a stronger and faithfuller com|panie sent by king Edward to laie siege to the ca|stell; which he did, and long continued.The name of Fortescue wherevpon it grew. For it was not easie to be had, being (of it selfe) by nature stronglie set, by policie well vittelled, and by manhood valiant|lie defended: which mooued the king to assay an other means therefore, and to sée if policie might doo that which force could not.

For which cause, as Fortescue still continued the said siege, the K. supposed it best (if possiblie he might) to weaken the earles part,Deuises to withdraw the earles power from him. by withdrawing the strength and hearts of his people from him: which might not be doone but with rich promises and strong pardons. On which consideration he sent liberallie pardons to them, and in the end so secretlie wrought with the earles men: that if the earle (fearing the woorst, and iudging it better to trie the kings mer|cie, than to hazard the extreamitie of taking, in which rested nothing but assured death) had not wholie sub|mitted himselfe to king Edward,The earle of Oxford sub|mitteth him|selfe & yéeldeth the castell into the kings hands. he had beene by his owne men most dishonestlie betraied, and suddenlie taken prisoner. Wherevpon the earle comming foorth to Fortescue, did there yeeld himselfe and the castell into the kings hands. At what time (being the fiftéenth of Februarie, which from the first entrance of the earle into that castell being the last of sep|tember, was about foure moneths and foureteene daies) the same Fortescue entred the mount, & tooke possession thereof, finding it yet sufficientlie vittelled to haue susteined an other siege more than one halfe yeare. After all things were thus quieted, the earle, the lord Beaumont, two brothers of the said earle, and Thomas Clifford, were brought vp as prisoners vnto king Edward. And now to our present historie againe.]