Henry Howard. An Epitaph on Clere, Surrey's Faithful Friend and Follower. "Norfolk sprang thee, Lambeth holds thee dead."

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY

AN EPITAPH ON CLERE, SURREY'S FAITHFUL
FRIEND AND FOLLOWER.

NORFOLK sprung thee, Lambeth holds thee dead ;
Clere, of the Count of Cleremont, though hight¹
Within the womb of Ormond's race thou bred,
And saw'st thy cousin crowned in thy sight.
Shelton for love, Surrey for Lord thou chase ;²
(Aye, me ! whilst life did last that league was tender)
Tracing whose steps thou sawest Kelsal blaze,
Landrecy burnt, and batter'd Boulogne render.
At Montreuil gates, hopeless of all recure,
Thine Earl, half dead, gave in thy hand his will ;
Which cause did thee this pining death procure,
Ere summers four times seven thou couldst fulfill.
Ah ! Clere ! if love had booted, care, or cost,
Heaven had not won, nor earth so timely lost.

¹ These lines were inscribed, with the epitaph above, on a table
in Lambeth Church : —
“ Epitaphium Thomæ Clere, qui fato functus est 1545 auctore
Henrico Howard, Comite Surrey. In cujus faelicis ingenii spe-
cimen, et singularis facundiae argumentum, appensa fuit haec
Tabula per W. Howard, filium Thomae nuper Ducis Norfolci-
ensis, filii ejusdem Henrici Comitis.”
This epitaph occurs, with some trifling variations, in Camden's
Remains, Aubrey's History of Surrey, v. 247, and in Bloomfield's
Norfolk. Thomas Clere was the youngest son of Sir Robert
Clere, of Ormesby in Norfolk, (the descendant of Clere, of Clere-
mont in Normandy,) by Alice, daughter of Sir William Boleyn,
by Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, Earl of
Ormond. He was consequently first “cousin” of Queen Anne
Boleyn, whom “he saw crowned” in 1533, and was connected
with “Ormond's race.” “Shelton” is presumed to have been
a daughter of Sir John Shelton, of Shelton in Norfolk, but it
does not appear that Clere married her. He died on the 14th
of April, 1545, and was buried at Lambeth. These facts explain
most of the allusions in the epitaph, and the others are noticed
in the Memoir of Surrey.
² Didst choose.

Source:
Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of.
The Poetical Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854. 62-63.

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