B16 Immodest death that wouldst not once conferre

Notes. Copies of this libel typically identify its target as Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, 1st Earl of Dorset, and James I’s Lord Treasurer, who died at the Privy Council table on 19 April 1608. This version of the poem incorporates into a single work two segments—the opening four lines and the concluding six—that also circulated as separate poems. The verse opens by accusing Buckhurst of accepting bribes—the kind of everyday corruption expected of government servants—and then switches to allude to Buckhurst’s bitter and protracted legal battle with Sir John Leveson. (One of the copies of the concluding six lines as a distinct poem is titled “On the L. Treas: Buckhurst, who died at the Councell Table swearing falsely against Sir J. Luson” (Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. e.14, fol. 96r)). The battle concerned the large estate left by Sir Richard Leveson to Sir John Leveson’s son. Buckhurst connived in the forging of a will that left the estate to one of Sir Richard’s cousins, Mary Curzon, who was married to Buckhurst’s grandson.