---

The noblest brave profession

that ether is or hath bene

was for to bee, A souldeir true

and theire to live, and dye in,

when great Elyza1 raigned

5

the glorie of all weomen

her souldyers Fame, rounge through the world

theire deedes yet matched by noe man.

Ould Souldyers heades, were decked

with bayes2 and not with willowes,3

10

theire armes were then theire cheeife delighte

theire armores, were their pillowes.

Her Generalls noblye valient

performed the partes of Cæsar,4

her Captaynes Acts were lyke to Kinges,

15

comparde, to most off these are,

From all the partes of Belgyke

that states have in submission,

The Englishe beate the Spaniars awaye,5

to Fight the6 had Commission.

20

Ould Souldyers heades, were decked

with bayes and not with willowes,

theire Armes, were then theire cheiffe delight

theire Armores, were theire pillowes.

When Noblemen, were Leaders,

25

New uppstartes,7 not Commaunders,

Our English, bare the pryze from Cales,8

and Newport9 too, in Flaunders,

Through all the world then sounded,

the glorie off this Nation

30

Our Captaynis victors, came awaye

they fought not by Commission.10

Ould souldyers heades, were decked

with bayes and not with willowes

theire Armes, weare then theire cheiffe delighte

35

theire Armors, weare theire pillowes.

Lett bragginge Frenchmen pratle

off Rees, late treacherous glorie

but see, iff Poytyers11 can bee found,

within theire ancyent storye

40

Our redd Cross12 that daye dasseled

the eyes off theire St. Dennys13

as Englandes henries,14 men did playe

with Frenchmens heades at Tennyes

Ould Souldyers heades were decked

45

with bayes, and not with willowes,

theire Armes were all theire cheeff delight

theire Armors, were theire pillowes.

St. Gorge,15 had once the name

to leade, our English collours,

50

Duke Gorge, doth now usurpe the same

which causeth all our dolors,

come now his mynions16 brave

that, this proffession enterde

Letts heare the acts, you have nobley donne

55

with him since first you venterde

decke not youre heades with bayes

For feare off after willowes

First bloude youre armes, trye iff youre heades

can sleepe on Iron pillowes

60

You traveled once to Cades17

some secrett plott to cover,

More honnor, had you gotte at home,

Dunkerkes, to have kepte from Dover,18

Ould honnored Essex stepps,

65

his noble sonne, was treadinge,

Commission basely, cald him backe,

and blamed, his Forward leadinge.19

See that you decke youre heades

noe more with bayes, but willowes,

70

goe change youre Armes, For liverie cloakes20

and make youre plumes, youre pillowes.

Youre False pretence, For Rochell21

made the Enymie, laughe and wonder,

Youre Ordinance, would have made you awaye

75

lyke lighteninge joynde with thunder,

waste Feare benummed youre sensces,

or that False Lordes22 Commission?

whose projects shew he would christians drawe,

to Anticristes profession23

80

Youre heades in steadd off bayes,

are deckt, with beades and crosses24

t’were better, you had noe heades att all,

then bringe, these shames & losses

Youre Action late att Ree

85

would it, might bee Forgotten,

the Shame off it, will still remaine,

when youre base bonnes, are rotten,

the Loss off roall Ratclyffe,25

whose bloode, lyke Abells, (cryinge,

90

with Rich and Brett,26 and brave men moe)

on great Gorge, For revenginge.

The Bayes, should decke youre heades,

crowne those true honnored graves,

that, bravelye Fought, and nobley dyed,

95

when you runne, most lyke slaves.

It is not Crates off Feasants,

off partridge, quailes, and Rayles,

to batter downe St. Martin’s Forte,27

nought, pastye crust avayles.

100

was it Ignorance or Feare,

his grace, that soe distracted,

naye rather, it was some treacherous plott,

in blood, that must be acted

Keepe home, and plaunt younge willowes,

105

send valyent men for trenches,28

youre armores, change for reevellinge sutes,

and dance, amounge youre wenches.

Foole Lambe,29 that lewde Impostar

his Maister saffe to enable,

110

sent a devill armed lyke his Lorde,

that close sate, coyld in cable

this Generalls, generous action,

to his glorie be it spoaken,

Deserves, to have Sejanus ende30

115

or in the Geamonies31 broaken

In stead off honoringe Lawrell

If fortune, happ to Faltere

A hatchett32 I hope will crowne his head

or decke him with a halter33

120

---

Source. CCRO MS CR 63/2/19, fols. 62v-63r

Oii11

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   Elyza: Elizabeth I. <back>

²   bayes: the laurel wreath of victory. <back>

³   willowes: a sign of mourning. <back>

⁴   Cæsar: Julius Caesar, the great Roman general. <back>

⁵   From all the partes...Spaniars awaye: allusion to English military assistance to the Netherlandish rebellion against the Spanish during Elizabeth’s reign, which had resulted in the creation of the United Provinces (the “states”) in the northern part of the Netherlands. <back>

⁶   the: i.e. “they”. <back>

⁷   New uppstartes: socially obscure men promoted to office and position, with Buckingham being the intended contemporary example. <back>

⁸   Cales: Cadiz. The allusion is to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex’s, capture of Cadiz in 1596. <back>

⁹   Newport: Nieuwpoort, a town in Flanders. An English contingent fought in the (at best) pyrrhic Dutch victory at Nieuwpoort in 1600. <back>

¹⁰   they fought not by Commission: the meaning of this phrase is a little opaque. It may refer here to the disputes in 1627 about who was—and who was not—the recepient of a military commission in Buckingham’s expeditionary force. <back>

¹¹   Poytyers: Poitiers. An English army under the command of Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III, inflicted a major defeat on the French at the battle of Poitiers in 1356. <back>

¹²   redd Cross: the red cross of St. George; the English battle flag. <back>

¹³   St. Dennys: St. Denis, patron saint of France. The French battle flag, the oriflamme, was the flag of St. Denis. <back>

¹⁴   Englandes henries: the poet seems to have confused his English kings here; Edward, the Black Prince, not Henry V, was the victor at the battle of Poitiers. <back>

¹⁵   St. Gorge: St. George, patron saint of England, whose flag was the battle standard of the English. <back>

¹⁶   mynions: minions; favourites. <back>

¹⁷   Cades: Cadiz. The English had tried but failed to attack Cadiz in a naval expedition in 1625. <back>

¹⁸   Dunkerkes...from Dover: i.e. the fleet would have won more honour if it had focused on protecting English ports like Dover from the ravages of the Dunkirk pirates. <back>

¹⁹   Ould honnored Essex...Forward leadinge: Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and son of the great Elizabethan hero, was one of the commanders in the 1625 voyage to Cadiz. These lines appear to refer to an incident on the voyage in which Essex was forced to abandon an attempt to seize Spanish ships because of lack of support (Lockyer 282). <back>

²⁰   liverie cloakes: cloaks bearing the badge of a person’s lord. <back>

²¹   False pretence, For Rochell: this may refer to the planned fleet to succour the Huguenots of La Rochelle early in 1626. The mission was aborted, thus perhaps prompting the allegation that the help promised the Huguenots had never been sincerely intended. <back>

²²   False Lordes: presumably a reference to Buckingham. The poem is still addressing the Duke’s “minions”. <back>

²³   Anticristes profession: i.e. Catholicism. In transcribing the poem, William Davenport inserts in the margin, as though considering an alternate reading, the word “submission”. <back>

²⁴   beades and crosses: rosary beads and crosses, symbols of Catholicism. <back>

²⁵   Ratclyffe: Colonel Sir John Radcliffe, killed in the retreat from Ré, 29 October 1627. <back>

²⁶   Rich and Brett: Sir Charles Rich and Sir Alexander Brett, both killed in the retreat from Ré, 29 October 1627. <back>

²⁷   St. Martin’s Forte: the citadel of St. Martin on Ré. The English laid siege to St. Martin for several months before attempting an assault late in October 1627. <back>

²⁸   trenches: trenchers; plates and knives for feasting. <back>

²⁹   Foole Lambe: John Lambe, astrologer, magician and convicted witch and rapist, who was believed to be Buckingham’s assistant. <back>

³⁰   Sejanus ende: Sejanus, the mighty favourite of the corrupt Roman Emperor Tiberius, was executed on the order of the Senate and his body dragged to the Tiber by the Roman mob. <back>

³¹   Geamonies: the scala Gemoniae, “steps on the Aventine Hill [in Rome] leading to the Tiber, to which the bodies of executed criminals were dragged to be thrown into the river” (OED). <back>

³²   A hatchett: allusion to the executioner’s axe. <back>

³³   halter: hangman’s noose. <back>