132 THE RHYMED CHRONICLE OF JOHN HARESTAFFE. 



For w ch lewde termes and venome of her tonge, 



She gave a sharpe account ere it was longe : 



Beinge sued ith' Audience Court* for defamation, 



And sclander gainst her Sisters reputation. 



Wherof she justlie was convicted there 



And afterwards was cyted to appeare, 



Here sentence there pronounc't y' she might heare. 



But shewinge contumacie in that case, 



Was excomunicate from Holy Place. 



(And soe I thinke continewes to this day.) 



Beinge tax't some twentie marks for cost to pay. 



Upon w ch suite did Mistris Vernon proove 



Her marriage fullye (as did her behoove) 



By sundrie Witnesses of honest fame, 



And by y e Priest y* solemnised y e same. 



And surely God for her did well provyde, 



That thus her private marriage should be tryed 



Whylst those fewe Witnesses were livinge yet, 



To testify for her the truth of it : 



For why. Her Adver?aries fullye bent 



All their endeavo's her estate to rent, 



But God did still their purposes prevent. 



Nowe to retorne. When Hillarie terme was ended, 



And y' her brother's state was well amended : 



Beinge then from close imprisonment enlarg'd : 



And in good hope ere longe to be discharg'd : 



To take her jorney home-wards she doth frame 



And w" 1 much toyle & travell thither came. 



Where she then found her house in ill array, 



Both walles and windowes broke &: great decay, 



Much good provision wasted which she lefte, 



And manie things conveid away by theft : 



For they had rans-ackt Chests and Cofers all, 



Trunks, Cupboards, Deskes, with boxes great & small : 



* Slander was an offence dealt with exclusively by the Church ; the Audience 

 Court was a quasi private court pertaining to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 



