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.
D4 Heere lieth Robbin Crookt back, unjustly reckond
Notes. This is one of two poems that develop parallels between the crooked-back Robert Cecil and the crooked-back late medieval tyrant Richard III. Croft (“Reputation” 55-56) discusses the political resonance of the Ricardian comparison. In one source, this libel is accompanied by a Latin translation (Folger MS V.a.103).
Heere lieth Robbin1 Crookt back, unjustly reckond
A Richard the third, he was Judas 2
In their lives they agree, in their deaths somewhat alter,
The more pitty the poxe3 soe cousend the halter.
Richard, or Robert, which is the worse?
5A Crookt back great in state is Englands curse.
Source. Bodleian MS Tanner 299, fol. 13r
Other known sources. Bodleian MS Malone 23, p. 4; Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. e.14, fol. 95v; Nottingham MS Portland PW V 37, p. 37; Folger MS V.a.103, fol. 20r; Folger MS V.a.160, p. 2; Huntington MS HM 116, p. 130
D4
1 Robbin: commonplace contemporary diminutive of Robert. <back>
2 Judas: presumably an allusion to Cecil’s alleged betrayal of Essex. <back>
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