A pleasant history of a gentleman in Thracia which had foure sonnes, and three of them none of his own; shewing how miraculously the true heire came to enioy his inheritance. To the tune of, Chevy Chace. 1633 Approx. 9 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A13750 STC 24047 ESTC S101989 99837792 99837792 2135 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A13750) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 2135) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1039:16) A pleasant history of a gentleman in Thracia which had foure sonnes, and three of them none of his own; shewing how miraculously the true heire came to enioy his inheritance. To the tune of, Chevy Chace. M. P. (Martin Parker), d. 1656?, attributed author. 1 sheet ([1] p.) : ill for H. G[osson], Printed at London : [1633] Sometimes attributed to Martin Parker. Printer's name and publication date from STC. Verse - "In searching ancient chronicles,". In two parts. Reproductions of the originals in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Ballads, English -- 17th century. 2007-08 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2007-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A pleasant History of a Gentleman in Thracia , which had foure Sonnes , and three of them none of his own ; shewing how miraculously the true heire came to enioy his Inheritance . To the tune of , Chevy Chace . IN searching ancient Chronicles , it was my chance to finde A story worth the writing out , in my conceit and mind ; It is an admonition good , that Children ought to haue , With reuerence for to thinke vpon their Parents laid in graue . In Thracia liu'd a Gentleman , of Noble Progeny , Who rul'd his houshold with great fame and true integrity ; This Gentleman did take to wife , a neat and gallant Dame , Whose outward shew and beauty bright did many hearts inflame . The luster that came from her lookes , her carriage and her grace , Like beautious Cynthia did outshine each Lady in that place ; And being puffed vp in pride , with ease and iollity , Her Husband could not her content , she other men must try . Lasciuiously long time she liu'd , yet bore it cunningly , For she had those that watcht so well , that he could nought espy ; With bribes and gifts she so bewitcht the hearts of some were néere , That they conceal'd her wickednesse , and kept it from her deare . Thus spending of her time away in extreme wantonnesse , Her priuate friends when she did please , vnto her had accesse ; But the all séeing Eye of heauen , such sinnes will not conceale , And by some meanes at last will he the truth of all reueale . Vpon a time sore sicke she fell , yea to the very death , And her Physician told her plaine , she must resigne her brèath ; Diuines did likewise visit her , and holy counsell gaue , And bade her call vpon the Lord , that He her soule might saue . Amongst the rest , she did desire they would her husband bring , I haue a secret to reueale , ( she said ) My heart doth s●ing ; Then he came posting presently , vnto her where she lay , And wéeping , then he did desire , what she to him would say ? She did intreat that all might voyd the roome , and he would stay : Your pardon , husband , I beséech , ( vnto him she did say ; ) For I haue wrong'd your marriage bed , and plaid the wanton wife , To you the truth I will reueale , ere I depart this life , FOure hopefull sonnes you think you haue , to me it best is knowne , And thrée of them are none of yours , of foure but one's your owne ; And by your selfe on me begot , which hath so wanton béen , These dying teares forgiuenesse beg , let mercy then be seene . This stroke her husband in a dumpe , his heart was almost dead , But rouzing of his spirits vp , these words to her he said ; I doe forgiue thée with my heart , so thou the truth wilt tell , Which of the foure is my owne sonne , and all things shall be well . O pardon me , my husband deare , vnto him she did say , They are my children euery one , and so she went away . Away he goes with heauy heart , his griefes he did conceale , And like a wise and prudent man , to none did it reueale . Not knowing which to be his owne , each of his loue did share , And to be train'd in vertues paths , of them he had a care ; In learning great and gentle grace , they were brought vp and taught , Such deare affection in the hearts of Parents God hath wrought . They now were grown to mens estates , and liu'd most gallantly ; Each had his horse , his hawke , his hound and did their manhood try ; The ancient man did ioy thereat , but yet he did not know , Which was his sonne amongst the foure that bred in him much woe . At length his glasse of life was run , the Fates doe so decrée . For poore and rich they all must dye , and death will take no fée ; Vnto some Iudges he did send , and Counsell that were graue , Who presently to him did come , to know what he would haue . They comming then to his beds side , vnto them he did say , I know you all to be my friends , most faithfull euery way ; And now before I leaue the world , I beg this at your hands , To haue a care which of my sonnes shall haue my goods and lands . And to them all he did relate what things his wife had done ; There is but one amongst the foure that is my natiue sonne ; And to your iudgement I commit , when I am laid in graue , Which is my sonne , and which is fit my lands and goods to haue . He dying , they in Councell sa●e what best were to be done , For 't was a taske of great import , to iudge which was his sonne : The brothers likewise were at strife , which should the liuing haue ; When as the ancient man was dead , and buried in his graue . The Iudges must decide the cause , and thus they did decrée , The dead mans body vp to take , and tye it to a Trée ; A Bow each brother he must haue , and eke an arrow take , To shoot at their dead fathers corps , as if he were a stake . And he whose Arrow néerest hit his heart as he did stand , They 'd iudge him for to be right heire , and fit to haue the land : On this they all did streight agrée , and to the field they went , Each had a man his shaft to beare , and Bow already bent . Now ( quoth the Iudges ) try your skill vpon your Father there , That we may quickly know who shall vnto the Land be heire ; The eldest tooke his Bow in hand , and shaft where as he stood , Which pierc'd so déep the dead mans brest that it did run with blood . The second brother then must shoot , who straight did take his aime , And with his Arrow made a wound , that blood came from the same : The third likewise must try his skill , the matter to decide , Whose shaft did make a wound most déep into the dead mans side . Vnto the fourth and youngest then , a Bow and shaft was brought ; Who said , Dée thinke that are my heart could harbour such a thought , To shoot at my deare Fathers heart , although that he be dead , For all the Kingdomes in the world that farre and wide are spred ? And turning of him round about , the teares ran downe amaine , He flung his Bow vpon the ground , and broke his shaft in twaine : The Iudges séeing his remorse , they then concluded all , He was the right , the other thrée , they were vnnaturall . And so he straight possest the Lands , being made the heire of all , And heauen by nature in this kind , vnto his heart did call ; His brothers they did enuy him , but yet he néed not care , And of his wealth in portions large , vnto them he did share . FINIS . Printed at London for H. G.