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.
Pi26 If good mens graces in heaven with them abide
Notes. Like “What once was said by valiant Tomyris”, this libel’s conclusion alludes to the infamous ballad against Buckingham, “Come heare, Lady Muses, and help mee to sing”, which includes the refrain, “The clean contrary way”. The opening three lines depend in part on a pun on grace, as both divine grace and the approriate form of address for a duke.
If good mens graces in heaven with them abide,
Then sure the Duke his Grace is stept aside.
All rimers now make Musick of his Grace;
’Twere noe good part to play upon the base.
What fidlers sung, now all may freely say,
5The Duke is gone, the clean contrary way.
Source. Bodleian MS Tanner 465, fol. 104r
Pi26
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