---

“Certaine verses made when my Lo: Cooke was made highe Sheriffe of Buckingham:”

There was some pollicie I doe beleive,

out of an old cast Judge,1 to make a Shreive2

for hee soe longe at lawe had beene a Pedler,

that hee was growne as ripe as anie Medler.3

And is thought fitt by good Sir Simon Harvies4

5

judgment, to come now in the later service

Soe he that was for lawe soe well reputed

now may stand by, and see them executed.

Corage my Lord, yow shall growe yonge againe,

and bee attended by A Gallant trayne

10

your liveries & your feathers bothe shall showe,

that yow your office of Sherive knowe

I would not have you flye into a Cottage,

nor plead against it, with a writt of Dotage5

But beare it bravely, that it may bee spoke

15

How bountifull a house is kept at Stoke6

for all the people prayeth for your healthe

as beeinge Patron of the Common Wealthe

Now when yow ride amonge your feathered troope

Shew your selfe curteous, & to each man stoope

20

Give largely to the poore, that throughe the Countie

each man may freely speake, of your great bounty

As for the charge yow knowe that in the sheere

whats in the hundred lost is gained cleere

Besides yow have not reigned soe longe in Courts

25

and filld the Towne and Cuntry with reports7

But that yow have both furnished your Chest

and as your Capp, soe feathered your Nest,

Now sittinge on the benche although hee grudge

pray undertake yow to direct the Judge,

30

offer to give the charge I know yow cann

and bee against the savinge of a mann

Then whisper to the Judge if yow bee wise

your private Judgment of each Nisi prise8

yow have the name yow will not have things rawe,

35

as others doe that doe not knowe the lawe,

your wife9 & frends will all bee gladd to heare

that yow are made highe sheriffe of the sheire

P10 your sonne in lawe that roareinge boye

will now growe madd againe11 for very joye

40

his wife12 will wishe, shee hathe beene often trickt

her husband were like to her father prickt13

But shee will have it all by night or daye

if it bee Inter quatuor Maria14

And throughe this great Alliance sure it came

45

that yow was prickt highe sheriffe of Buckingham15

But harke yow now some foolishe fellowe urges,

and sayes a Sheriffe cannott bee a Burges,16

Aske your man Samon17 hee can all relate

followe his counsaile hee hathe a knavish pate

50

Make him your undersheriff with resolucion

none fitter is to goe to execucion

The towne of Coventrye18 doe not overslipp

if yow doe meane to have a Burgeshipp

Goe write your letters, and dispatche them thither

55

and lett them know, that yow with hatt and feather

will come & sitt, onely with theire consent

as Lord cheif Burges of the Parliament19

There call a strickt account of all the treasure20

that hathe beene spent, of late without all measure

60

Bringe grave examples from the ancient Kings21

howe they with lesser charge did Greater things

Nowe as for Subsidies22 pray lett them tarry

for this is but a Warre thats voluntary23

Twere better the Palatinate were lost

65

then that it should soe much the kingdome cost

And still remember them that sitt at Helme

my Lords take heed, how yow exhaust the Realme

Speake stoutlie for the Publique to your power

Soe may yow bee kept safe as in a Tower

70

Soe may the winde make your riches feathers wagge

Soe may noe raine at Sires24 make them flagge

Soe may yow bee and say yow hadd a Cave

made Pagadore25 in cheif of all the Navie

Soe may yow live to see the joyfull day

75

to bee Lord Chancelor of Virginia26

When yow were Lord cheif Cooke27 they went to pott

Monson28 did scape a scouringe, did hee not?

Oh then yow were as hott as any toast

yow tooke away the scumme, and ruld the roast

80

yow might have beene Lord Keeper29 longe agoe

hadd yow beene wise, that all the world dothe knowe

But yow on point of lawe, did stand soe strickt30

that now too late yow finde that yow are prickt,

Well tis noe matter better to plodd on

85

then rise & fall as Francis did & John31

When B. was but B:32 hadd hee spar’d

hee longe ere this, hadd proved dainty lard

but hee in stead of Lard must bee a lord

when hee grewe very leane not fitt for bord

90

Thoughe hee was greazed, well about the flanck

and was sett up to fatt in a brawne francke

All was to litle for at last hee brought

his fleshe to Albones which is all to nought

My lord said that hee was like to one

95

That soone hadd brought his Gamon to a bone

Another said, and sharpely if yow marke it

That he brought his hoggs, to a faire markett

A third concludeinge, all the case thus handles

hoggs greaze dothe waste to fast to make good candles

100

Why did the late lord Keeper33 loose the Seale

did hee injustice, in the office deale?

Did hee take bribes? for bribes are to bee taken

by order of his Predecessor Bacon34

Or was hee too conceited in his will

105

as armed with resolucion more then skill

Or did hee shewe himselfe at Oxford bace

practizinge the house to question my lord Grace35

Or was hee thought too good, and then a worse

must take the Seale, and bringe with him a purse36

110

I cannott tell, but I see by my bookes

the Divell sometimes over Lincolne lookes.37

                    [the following lines appear only in BL MS Harley 4955, fol. 73r]                        

If that your vertuous Lady38 felt it too,

she woulde be humble, & fall downe and doo

you better service for when you doe rise

115

Then she is patient, But she seemeth wise

if once you fall, & leaves you for another

Soe she will serve both Husband Childe, & Brother

for all this I say nott shee will dalley

though you live privatelie in ram Alley39

120

she lives to her selfe, & makes a hapy life

as ever woman did that was a wife.

Being seperated from her Husbande

for still she keepes both Juells, plate, & land

and never askt you Counsayle for to drawe

125

an instrument to setle it by lawe

she had a better of her one invention

for when she maried this was her intention

she meant the premess off her mariage Jurney

should be well don, & not by an atturney.

130

O this ladye worthelye doth meritt

for she is hye, & a mightie spiritt

If she take wrong Ile be bound to eate her

for let a Dutches wronge her, she’ll beate her

---

Source. BL Add. MS 15226, fols. 22v-24r

Other known sources. BL MS Harley 4955, fol. 72r; NLW MS 5309D, p. 447; Huntington MS 198, 1.56

Oi9

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   old cast Judge: Coke had been one of the leading judges of England until his dismissal as Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in 1616. <back>

²   Shreive: sheriff; one of the most significant legal officers in a county. <back>

³   Medler: a pun on “meddler” and “medlar”, a type of fruit. <back>

⁴   Sir Simon Harvies: Sir Simon Harvey, a former Grocer and now a financial official in the royal household (Clerk of the Greencloth), whom Coke had attacked in an August 1625 speech in parliament on the King’s fiscal woes. <back>

⁵   Dotage: Coke was in his mid-seventies at the time of his appointment as sheriff. <back>

⁶   Stoke: Coke had a residence at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire. <back>

⁷   reports: allusion to Coke’s legal reports, published (in French and Latin) 1600-1615. <back>

⁸   Nisi prise: “nisi prius”—literally meaning “unless previously”—was the name of a legal writ. <back>

⁹   your wife: Lady Elizabeth Coke. <back>

¹⁰   P: John Villiers, Viscount Purbeck and brother of the favourite Buckingham, was married to Coke’s daughter, Frances. <back>

¹¹   growe madd againe: Purbeck suffered from notorious bouts of mental illness. <back>

¹²   his wife: Frances, Lady Purbeck, had been charged in 1625 with an adulterous relationship with Sir Robert Howard, who was rumoured to be the father of her baby boy. The following lines on Lady Purbeck are quite obscure, though it is possible they allude to this scandal. <back>

¹³   prickt: men were chosen as sheriff by pricking a hole in parchment next to the chosen person’s name. In the context of the poem’s discussion of the marriage of the Purbecks, the term probably bears bawdy innuendo. Similarly, it might also allude to Lady Purbeck’s hope that her husband would be chosen sheriff and thus be forced to reside in his county while she pursued her adulterous liaisons. <back>

¹⁴   Inter quatuor Maria: “between the four seas”; i.e. on English soil. <back>

¹⁵   throughe this great Alliance...of Buckingham: the marriage of Coke’s daughter allied him to the family of the favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. <back>

¹⁶   a Sheriffe cannott bee a Burges: sheriffs could not serve as MPs (a burgess is an MP from an incorporated town). <back>

¹⁷   Samon: identity unknown; presumably one of Coke’s servants or clerks. <back>

¹⁸   Coventrye: Coke had been MP (burgess) for Coventry in the 1624 Parliament. <back>

¹⁹   Lord cheif Burges of the Parliament: not a real office; rather, mocking Coke’s leadership of the Commons, and alluding to his former royal office as Lord Chief Justice. <back>

²⁰   strickt account of all the treasure: an allusion, perhaps, to Coke’s critical remarks on royal financial governance during the 1625 Parliament. <back>

²¹   grave examples from the ancient Kings: legal-historical precedents, which formed the substance of Coke’s parliamentary rhetoric. <back>

²²   Subsidies: parliamentary taxation granted to the King. <back>

²³   a Warre thats voluntary: i.e. England’s war with Spain, the supposed goals of which included the recovery of the Palatinate from Spanish and Bavarian occupation, and the reinstallation of Charles I’s brother-in-law Frederick V as Elector Palatine. <back>

²⁴   Sires: lords, gentlemen. <back>

²⁵   Pagadore: pay-master. <back>

²⁶   Lord Chancelor of Virginia: Coke is being mocked here for his continued pursuit of high legal office—Lord Chancellor of England being the most important such office. The English settlement in Virginia enjoyed a precarious existence in the 1620s. <back>

²⁷   Lord cheif Cooke: Coke was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas 1606-1613 and of the Court of King’s Bench from 1613 until his dismissal in 1616. The next few lines pun on “Coke” and “cook”. <back>

²⁸   Monson: Sir Thomas Monson, imprisoned as a suspect in the conspiracy to murder Sir Thomas Overbury. As Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench (and chief prosecutor of the Overbury murder), Coke attempted to bring Monson to trial on two occasions in 1615; on both attempts, Coke was forced to postpone proceedings. Monson was eventually released without trial. <back>

²⁹   Lord Keeper: Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, another high office Coke was known to have coveted. <back>

³⁰   But yow...soe strickt: probably an allusion to Coke’s disputes over matters of law with Lord Chancellor Ellesmere and the King which led to Coke’s fall in 1616. <back>

³¹   Francis did & John: Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper, who lost office in 1621; and John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, who succeeded Bacon as Lord Keeper and, having fallen foul of Buckingham, was dismissed in October 1625. <back>

³²   When B. was but B: “when Bacon was but Bacon”; i.e. before he was elevated to Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Albans. The next thirteen lines include a series of puns on “Bacon” and “bacon”. <back>

³³   late lord Keeper: John Williams. <back>

³⁴   for bribes...Predecessor Bacon: Bacon was impeached by the 1621 Parliament for taking bribes. <back>

³⁵   at Oxford...my lord Grace: under attack in the Oxford session of the 1625 Parliament, Williams may have tried to shift blame onto the Duke. Buckingham seems to have believed that Williams was working with his enemies during the 1625 session. <back>

³⁶   bringe with him a purse: i.e. pay a bribe for the office. <back>

³⁷   the Divell...Lincolne lookes: Williams was Bishop of Lincoln; the “Divell” here might be taken to be the Duke of Buckingham. “The Devil looks over Lincoln” was a proverbial phrase that referred to a large devil gargoyle on Lincoln College, Oxford. <back>

³⁸   your vertuous Lady: Coke’s wife, Lady Elizabeth Coke. The Cokes’ marriage was notoriously volcanic, and the two had fallen out when Coke attempted to marry their daughter to John Villiers against Lady Elizabeth’s wishes. The lines that follow allude to the quarrel and the property disputes that surrounded it. <back>

³⁹   ram Alley: a narrow passage near Coke’s residence in the Inner Temple in London. <back>