A web-based edition of early seventeenth-century political poetry from manuscript sources. It brings into the public domain over 350 poems, many of which have never before been published.
Pi24 Thou that on topp of Fortunes wheeles did mount
Notes. Like so many of the libellous epitaphs addressed to the Duke, this poem integrates a broad selection of the scandalous charges that had been circulating at least since the mid-1620s. These charges range from the sale of offices to the breaking of parliaments, from corruption and incompetence as Lord Admiral to the poisoning of his political enemies. The poet’s pointed complaints about Buckingham’s treatment of the City of London and its citizens suggest that this verse might be the work of a Londoner.
“On the death of Georg Duke of Buckingham”
Thou that on topp of Fortunes wheeles did mount
that on mens’ shoulders wonted wast to rid1
art summond now to yeelde upp thyne account
& answer for thy treacherie & pride
Thou must appeare beefore a righteous Judge
5(’tis none of those that weere of thine owne makeing)2
to shew the cause why commons did so grudge
against thee with loude cries and hearts akeing
Thou must not hope for tryall at Kings bench3
nor at the barr of common pleas4 appeare
10the one doth say thou smelst too much of French
the other thinks hee bought his place too deare5
Thy selfe from judgment yet thou canst not hyde
thy case shall not bee seene by learned Cooke6
beefore the cheefest Judge7 thou must be tryde
15who will afright thee with his glorious looke
There thou must show an execrable thing
how thou so savage a wicked wretch could bee
to kill thy sacred soveraigne lord and king,
that had so honored & exalted thee
20Bee sure there thou questioned must bee
for Richmond Oxford Marquesse Hambleton8
for thy false dealing at the Ile of Ree9
for brave Southampton & his noble sonne10
Thou must make answer for thy admiralls place
25wherin from native place thou didst purloyne
to thyne owne mother Brittaynes great’st disgrace
great store of shipps of ordinance and coyne11
Lett who will search all moderne histories
yet by his reading hee shall never finde
30in anie man so manie treacheries
loyall to bee, whom Princs love should binde
Thou daily stood’st in feare of Parliaments
the lower house thou never could’st endure
which caus’d them broken upp in discontents12
35but now the lowest house13 will keepe thee sure
Faire London, ever to hir kings most kinde
at all times past theire wants for to releive14
could no tyme anie frendly favour finde
thy envyous mynde still stryveing her to greive
40A citizen that cravd what thou didst owe him
if hee unto thy presence weere admitted
On him thou lookdst as if thou didst not know him
or for his boldness hee was straight committed.15
Source. Bodleian MS Dodsworth 79, fol. 158v
Pi24
2 none of those...thine owne makeing: Buckingham wielded immense influence over all appointments to office during the 1620s. <back>
3 Kings bench: the court of King’s Bench, located in Westminster Hall, was the chief court for Crown prosecutions at common law. <back>
4 common pleas: the court of Common Pleas, located in Westminster Hall, was “par excellence the court for civil actions between private parties, especially for cases which involved property” (Aylmer 45). <back>
5 the one doth say...too deare: presumably a reference to the two Lord Chief Justices of King’s Bench and Common Pleas, Nicholas Hyde (appointed 1627) and Thomas Richardson (appointed 1626). The two lines incorporate a pair of charges against Buckingham: that he “smelst too much of French”, which puns on “French” as foreign and Catholic, and “the french”, slang for syphilis; and that he sold judicial offices. One contemporary noted that the “Lord Chief Justice’s place of the Common Pleas lay void a term to see who would give most. It stood at £30,000 a great while. Serjeant Richardson gave 14 M (i.e. £14000) for it”. Other news reports stated that Richardson gave £7000 or £17000 (Proceedings in Parliament, 1626, 4.349 and n.64). <back>
6 learned Cooke: Sir Edward Coke, former Lord Chief Justice. <back>
7 the cheefest Judge: i.e. God. <back>
8 There thou must show...Marquesse Hambleton: allusion to the charges—first levelled in the 1626 pamphlet, The Forerunner of Revenge, by a former royal physician, George Eglisham—that Buckingham had poisoned James I and several rival courtiers. Eglisham accused Buckingham of murdering the King and James Hamilton, Marquis of Hamilton, and hinted also that he poisoned Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox, who held the English title of Duke of Richmond. Eglisham did not explicitly allege that Buckingham had killed Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford—as claimed in “Avaunt you giddie headed multitude”—but Eglisham had noted the rumour that all Buckingham’s enemies were to be poisoned. <back>
9 false dealing at the Ile of Ree: allusion to charges of Buckingham’s misconduct during the 1627 expedition to the Ile de Ré (see Section O). <back>
10 brave Southampton & his noble sonne: in 1624, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and his eldest son James, led a troop of English volunteers to assist the Dutch against the Spanish. Both father and son became ill in the Netherlands and died. Several verse libels and George Eglisham’s 1626 pamphlet, The Forerunner of Revenge, alleged that Buckingham had poisoned Southampton. <back>
11 Thou must make answer...ordinance and coyne: reference to Buckingham’s alleged corruption and misconduct as Lord Admiral, which formed part both of the impeachment charges and the Remonstrance against him in the 1626 and 1628 Parliaments, respectively. <back>
12 Thou daily stood’st...discontents: Buckingham was the subject of parliamentary attacks throughout the 1620s, particularly in 1626 and 1628, and was frequently blamed for the Crown’s decisions to dissolve or prorogue the assemblies. <back>
13 the lowest house: i.e. hell. <back>
14 Faire London...for to releive: the cash-strapped English Crown frequently received loans from London mercantile interests. <back>
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