---

In reading these my Lord youll see I’ve gott

What Dives1 in the Parable could not

Hee could not send abroad amongst his frends

The storie of his prison, and the feinds,

Or tell the yet free people what intent

5

Heaven had on him in his imprisonment2

In this full point wee differ too I thinke

Hee had the greatest fire I the most drinke3

Nor cann it be deny’d him damned wee knowe

For what the miser had, I what I owe

10

Hee but one debt, one reckoning had to pay

One creditor, one judge, one judgment day.

But I of all these have a tallie more

Then Lazarus had ulcers4 at his doore.

Onely my blessing is I’ve leave to tell.

15

The storie and condition of my hell

The spiritts which confine, not guard mee heere

Whome wee call keepers, and the case is cleere,

They keep indeed our feet they should not stray

Yett wee keepe them and for our mischeifes pay5

20

These feed on the leane soules of captiv’d men

And what is left by Fortune must feast them,

Of all sorts and conditions heere remaine

Soules by the Mercer and the Taylor slaine

The bankerupt Tradesman & the needy knight

25

The outlaw’d Lawyer, and whose damn’d outright

The thirstie Prodigall young gent, or hee

Who hath nought left of his last legacie

All ages, all degrees, all sorts heere lye

From Jew to Christian, truth to honestie

30

And as Saint Peter as the storie teach’t

Unto the soules which weere in Lymbo preacht

Soe hither to bewaile our Martyrdomes

A travelling Apostle sometimes comes

Who for our Saboath, Turnips, Irish beefe

35

Gives to our Soules, as poore and thinne releife

Journinen6 Levits,7 who are more perplext

Where they shall dyne, then to devid there text

Heere a perpetuall parliament doth sitt

Which I doe not comend for speach or witt,

40

Att this wee all are speakers, and each brings

Affaires of state to light, closett of kings

Wee knewe at first the Duke8 but mock’t the people

And durst not goe from sight of old Powles9 steeple

That the shipp beife would stincke & make him sicke

45

His wife and mother10 would growe Luniticke

If hee departed, That the Queene11 should pray

And kneele unto my soveraigne for his stay,

That the Northampton knights12 when hee is gone

Will pay their mony doubly every one.

50

And in last session heere it was inserted

The Queene should nowe be crown’d shee was converted,13

When Durham preacht, for which with us ’tis sayd

His honor was one of the counsell made14

And though wee heere noe subsedies can give

55

Since more then halfe our court can hardly live,

But in the strength of hope, and such strang newes

As their invention, and tymes frailtie brewes.

Yet I could wish the king could find a tricke

Like what is done in our state polliticke

60

I meane for thrift, what food it would preserve

Within his store, yet not the soldiours sterve,

If all his fighting men could be content

As wee doe heere, to make the whole yeare lent

Wee have our femall spiritts heereto, but my lord

65

I must not of these creatures talke a word

For knewe the people of the world what sport

Wee have in hell, heere, with this wanton sort

They would confesse in this wee are divine

Where every Pluto has his Proserpine15

70

Heere is Elizium16 too, a Garden where

The ground & trees noe grasse, noe fruit do beare,

And heere I could upon this barren plott

Discourse as freely as it wanted not

The blessings stored fruitfull Eden, noe

75

I will noe further in this story goe.

Lett it suffice Elizium comes to mee

When I your favour & your person see.

---

Source. Bodleian MS Malone 23, pp. 58-61

Other known sources. Folger MS V.a.276, part 2, fol. 33v

Oii4

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   Dives: “The Rich Man”. The parable of Dives and Lazarus is told in Luke 16.19-31. <back>

²   Hee could not send...his imprisonment: tormented in hell, Dives was unable to send a message back to his brethren to warn them of the costs of their sinful living (Luke 16.27-31). <back>

³   Hee had the greatest fire...drinke: in Luke 16.24, Dives begs Abraham to send Lazarus, to him “that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”. <back>

⁴   Lazarus had ulcers: Lazarus, lying at Dives’ gate, is described as “full of sores” (Luke 16.20). <back>

⁵   wee keepe them...mischeifes pay: early modern prisoners paid fees to their keepers. <back>

⁶   Journinen: probable scribal error; “Journeymen” is a better reading. <back>

⁷   Levits: preachers, priests. <back>

⁸   Duke: Buckingham. <back>

⁹   Powles: St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. <back>

¹⁰   wife and mother: Buckingham’s wife, Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham; and mother, Mary Villiers (subsequently married to Sir Thomas Compton), Countess of Buckingham. News reports circulating in this period claimed that Buckingham’s mother was convinced her son would be assassinated on the voyage to Ré. <back>

¹¹   Queene: Henrietta Maria. <back>

¹²   Northampton knights: allusion to the group of Northamptonshire gentry, led by Richard Knightley, who refused to pay the extra-parliamentary tax (commonly known as the Forced Loan) levied by the King in the aftermath of the 1626 Parliament (Cust, Forced Loan 233-34). <back>

¹³   The Queene...was converted: Charles I was crowned in February 1626; his wife, the Catholic French princess Henrietta Maria, refused to be crowned alongside him because of her religious scruples at participating in a Protestant religious service. Henrietta Maria never converted to Protestantism. <back>

¹⁴   When Durham preacht...one of the counsell made: Richard Neile, Bishop of Durham, and a leading Arminian cleric, was appointed to the Privy Council in April 1627. <back>

¹⁵   Pluto...Proserpine: Pluto, the king of Hades, and Proserpina, the queen. <back>

¹⁶   Elizium: Elysium, the residence of the blessed in the land of the dead. <back>