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“On the duke of Buckingham”

What once was said by valiant Tomyris

to mightie Cirus haveing lost his head1

applied to thee will not bee thought amisse

for thou more worthie blood then hee hast shedd2

The witch thy mother3 that old rotten drabb4

5

with hir inchantments & her conjuring tricks

could not defend thy bodie from the stabb

nor keepe thy soule from Acharon & Stix5

Thanks to our God for thou art well dispatcht

I trust that shee thy ghost shall shortly follow

10

more plotts by damme6 and sonne weere never hatcht

pretending faire but haveing hart most hollow

And now that thou art dead wee will rejoyce

and meerly spend the time both night and daie

the fidlers boy that hath the lowdest voyce

15

shall sing thy song the cleane contrary waie7

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Source. Bodleian MS Dodsworth 79, fol. 158r

Pi25

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Select page here P0. Introduction Pi1. lett Charles & george Pi2. Sith number with thy Pi3. Thy numerous name Pi4. Anagram of George Pi5. A yere of wonder Pi6. The Shepheards struck Pi7. Thus Buck-in-game Pi8. England was sick Pi9. Lord, what are wee Pi10. Beehold this Obsequie Pi11. This little Grave Pi12. The pale horse Pi13. Here lies Leachery Pi14. Here lyes great George Pi15. Great Buckingham’s Pi16. Pride lies heere Pi17. Fortunes darling Pi18. Heere lies a gratious Pi19. Had our great duke Pi20. Great potent Duke Pi21. And art thou dead! Pi22. Pale death, with Iron Pi23. Great Gorge, and art Pi24. Thou that on topp Pi25. What once was said Pi26. If good mens graces Pi27. Great Duke, which art Pi28. At Portsmouth Duke Pi29. Make haste I pray Pi30. No sooner had the Pi31. Great Duke, Although Pi32. Away, away, great George Pi33. My honour, favour, life Pi34. I that my countrey Pi35. Mother / My humble Pi36. The Argument is cold Pi37. Ye gastly Spiritts Pii1. Anagram on John Felton Pii2. Anagram on John Felton Pii3. Felton, awake Pii4. The heavens approve Pii5. Some say the Duke Pii6. The Duke is dead Pii7. Why: is our Age Pii8. Immortall Man of glorie Pii9. I mmortal man of glory Pii10. Enjoy thy Bondage Pii11. Sir, I your servant Pii12. You auntient Lawes Pii13. Feare not brave Pii14. Sorrow and Joy Pii15. Heere uninterr’d Pii16. Here uninterd suspends Pii17. Wants hee a grave Pii18. Is Felton dead? Pii19. Here Lyes the bonnes Pii20. Awake, sad Brittaine Piii1. M alignant characters Piii2. Heere lyes the best Piii3. Dearling off Kings Piii4. You braveing spiritts Piii5. I did not flatter thee Piii6. Yee snarling Satyrs Piii7. Heere lyes thy Urne Piii8. Sooner I may some Piii9. Yet weere Bidentalls Piii10. Reader stand still Piii11. Our countrie Merry Piii12. Honor, worth, greatnes Piii13. What! shall I say now Piii14. Who ever lov’d man Piii15. When Poets use to Piii16. Might Teares Revive Piii17. Death come thy selfe Piii18. Hee that can reade Piii19. Nourishd with sighs Piii20. When in the brazen Piii21. Reader when these Piii22. Noe Poets triviall rage

¹   What once was said...lost his head: Herodotus reports the speech of the Massagetae Queen Tomyris over the corpse of Cyrus, King of the Persians, killed in battle c.530 BC. “After the battle Tomyris ordered a search to be made amongst the Persian dead for the body of Cyrus; and when it was found she pushed his head into a skin which she had filled with human blood, and cried out as she committed this outrage: “Though I have conquered you and live, yet you have ruined me by treacherously taking my son. See now—I fulfil my threat: you have your fill of blood” (1.214). <back>

²   more worthie blood...hast shedd: the worthy blood here is that of James I and several court nobles allegedly poisoned by Buckingham in the mid-1620s. The poisoning allegations were first levelled in George Eglisham’s 1626 Forerunner of Revenge, and later circulated in libels and other underground media. <back>

³   The witch thy mother: Buckingham’s mother, Mary Compton, Countess of Buckingham, was a known Catholic and rumoured witch. <back>

⁴   drabb: whore. <back>

⁵   Acharon & Stix: Acheron and Styx, two of the rivers of Hades, the classical realm of the dead. <back>

⁶   damme: mother. <back>

⁷   the fidlers boy...cleane contrary waie: the notorious libellous ballad against Buckingham, “Come heare, Lady Muses, and help mee to sing”, performed by fiddlers at Ware and at Staines in the spring of 1627, includes the refrain, “The clean contrary way”. <back>