---

“1628”

Justice of late hath lost her witts

Or els is growne into strange fitts

And flyes about like Ague-fitts1

With Reverend Cooke2 it would not stay

For Mountague3 drewe it away

5

From learned Lee4 and honest Crewe5

As swift as ayre away it flewe

And sith it would not theire abide

Its nowe wrapt upp within a Hyde6

Nowe boots, and shooes must needs be deere

10

For Hyde is rais’d for all this yeare.

1 Learned Cooke. 2. Mountague

3 Grave Lee. 4 honest Crewe

Two preferr’d two sett asyde7

And then upstart Sir Nicholas Hyde

15

---

Source. Bodleian MS Malone 23, pp. 119-120

Other known sources. Bodleian MS Ashmole 38, p. 143; BL Add. MS 33998, fol. 29v; Rosenbach MS 239/27, p. 46

Oi13

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here O0. Introduction Oi1. The Parliament sitts Oi2. Oh honoured England Oi3. Our digby digd’e Oi4. The base on which Oi5. There was a man Oi6. There was a great fleete Oi7. There was a Munkye Oi8. Yee Spanyards Oi9. There was some policye Oi10. The Kinge and his wyfe Oi11. Why did the fond Oi12. Fower Cheyffe Justices Oi13. Justice of late hath Oi14. Ould Ned Cooke Oi15. Rex and Grex Oi16. Come heare, Lady Muses Oi17. There is a man Oii1. when the uncivill civill Oii2. It makes mee to muse Oii3. Great Buckinghame Oii4. In reading these Oii5. And wilt thou goe Oii6. Charles would yee Prevaile Oii7. Rejoice, brave English Oii8. Why was the varlett Oii9. One askte me Oii10. Oure crossrow’s turnd Oii11. The noblest brave Oii12. And art return’d againe Oii13. All you that will goe Oii14. As sick men feare Oiii1. O Admirall! Oiii2. The wisest King Oiii3. The warrlike King Oiii4. Excuse me Eliott Oiii5. Avaunt you giddie Oiii6. Here Dr Lambe Oiii7. If heav’n rejoyce Oiii8. For Lambe go ringe Oiii9. Heare lyes the Impostar Oiii10. Our state’s a Game Oiii11. When onely one doth Oiii12. Of Brittish Beasts Oiii13. To hunt the Doe Oiii14. The Parliament of late Oiii15. A thinge gott by candle

¹   Ague-fitts: shivering fits associated with the malaria-like disease known to contemporaries as the ague. <back>

²   Reverend Cooke: Sir Edward Coke, dismissed as Lord Chief Justice in 1616. <back>

³   Mountague: Sir Henry Montagu, who succeeded Coke as Lord Chief Justice in 1616 and held the office until his promotion to Lord Treasurer in 1620. Montagu was created Viscount Mandeville around the time of the promotion and became Earl of Manchester and Lord President of the Privy Council under Charles I. <back>

⁴   learned Lee: Sir James Ley, Earl of Marlborough, succeeded Montagu as Lord Chief Justice and was promoted to Lord Treasurer late in 1624. <back>

⁵   honest Crewe: Sir Randall (or Ranulph) Crew (or Crewe) was sworn in as Lord Chief Justice early in 1625 and held the office until late 1626 when his challenge to the legality of the forced loan led to his dismissal. The adjective “honest” thus has an extra political bite here. <back>

⁶   Hyde: Sir Nicholas Hyde. The next two lines pun on Hyde’s surname to imply that his raising—the raising of Hyde—would inflate the cost of leather goods because the price of “hide” has risen. <back>

⁷   Two preferr’d two sett asyde: Montagu and Ley were “preferred”, promoted from Lord Chief Justice; Coke and Crew were “set aside”. <back>