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.
A3 Goe soule the bodies guest [and A3b Flye soule the bodies guide]
Notes. Sir Walter Ralegh’s poem “The Lie” (or, as here, the “Farewell”) is a relatively conventional satire, which hardly warrants inclusion in the present edition. It assumes greater significance, however, because it elicited several answer-poems, which focused hostile attention on Ralegh himself. Although the poem initially circulated anonymously, these responses show that its authorship clearly became widely known. Ralegh’s poem is typically transcribed alone (as is the case in most, if not all, of the other known sources listed below), but perhaps the most enlightening way of presenting “The Lie” and one of the answer poems is simply to follow the scribe of Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 212. The following text intersperses stanzas from Ralegh’s poem (marked as “Far[ewell]”) with stanzas from the answer-poem (marked “Ans[wer]”), attributed to “Dr. Lateware” (“Latworth” in some manuscript copies). As these attributions suggest, the apparent author of the “Answer” is Dr. Richard Latewar, a chaplain of Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, whose long and openly adulterous relationship with Essex’s sister Penelope, Lady Rich, made him the Earl’s de facto brother-in-law during the 1590s. The earliest date associated with “The Lie” among its many manuscript copies is 1595 (Ralegh, Poems 33), by which time Ralegh had endured three years of exclusion from court for lying about his secret marriage to Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen’s maids of honour. Ralegh finally recovered his position at court in May 1597, thanks to his cultivation of Cecil and Essex. During the naval expedition to the Azores that summer, however, the relationship between Ralegh and Essex collapsed and it seems likely that the anti-Ralegh rhymes by Essexians such as Latewar were written after Ralegh re-emerged as an opponent of Essex in late 1597. Here Ralegh’s bitter “farewell” to the courtly life from which he had been excluded is transmuted to become a poem urging respect for the institutions scorned by Ralegh and instead wishing good riddance to Ralegh himself, whose name is mocked as “Rawhead” and “raw-lye made against all stats”. Latewar’s “Answer” also repeatedly condemns qualities and actions associated with Ralegh, such as excessive “ambition”, “pride” and “spendinge”. As indicated in the textual notes, the version of Ralegh’s poem answered in this manuscript lacks one stanza found in some other copies which circulated in the 1590s. Since A3c (“Staye Conick soule thy errante”) is another answer to “Goe soule the bodies guest”, we provide below the capacity to also view that poem alongside A3 and A3b (html version only).
| “W R farewell made by D: Lat:” Far: Goe soule the bodies guest Upon a thanckles arrante1 Spare not to tuch the best The truth shalbee thy warrante Goe since I needs must dye 5And give the world the lye. Ans: flye soule the bodies guide with speede in honors arrante feare not to touch prince pride duty shall bee thy warrante And since thou needs must flye 5Give him againe the lye f: Say to the court it glowes And shines like rotten woode Say to the church it showes whats good, yet doth no good 10If Courte or Church replye Give Courte & Church the lye A: Say to the Courte it shines Gone is that rotten woode from courte & church devine which never there did good 10If Rawhead2 this denye Tell him that hee doth lye f: Tell potentats they live Actinge but others actions3 Not lovd unles they give 15Not stronge but by a faction If potentats replye Give potentats the lye A: Say potentats neare4 leave - off Actinge princelye actions Well lovd though groomes deceave 15Stronge to subdew their factions And if hee this denye Give him againe the lye. f: Tell men of high condition That rule affaires of state 20Their purpose is ambition Their practise onlye hate And if they once replye Then give them all the lye A: Say men of high condition Rule well affaires of state 20They plucke downe proude ambition which only breedeth hate If Rawhead this denye Tell him his tongue doth lye f: Tell those that brave it most 25They begg for more by spendinge who in their greatest coste Seek nothinge but commendinge And if they make replye Give each of them the lye 30A: Tell him that bravd5 it most 25whose begginge gott his spendinge6 was at such thankles coste As well deserved hanginge Which if hee doe denye Tell him that hee doth lye. 30f: Tell zeale it wants devotion7 Tell love it is but lost8 Tell time it meets9 but motion Tell flesh it is but dust And wish them not replye 35for thou must give the lye A: ——— deest10 f: Tell age it dayly wasteth Tell honor how it alters Tell bewty how it blasteth11 Tell favour how it falters 40And as they shall replye Give every one the lye12 A: ——— deest f: Tell Physicke13 of her boldnes Tell skill14 it is prevention15 Tell charity of coldnes 45Tell lawe it is contention And if they doe replye Straight give them all the lye A: Say Physickes skill is bolde diseases to prevente And charities not colde 35The law goodmen contente If Rawhead this denye Tell him that hee doth lye f: Tell fortune of her blindnes Tell nature of decaye 50Tell frindshippe of unkindnes Tell justice of delaye And if they doe replye Give all of them the lye A: ——— deest f: Tell arts16 they have noe soundnes 55But vary by esteeminge Tell schooles they lacke profoundnes And stand to much on seeminge If arts & schooles replye Give arts & schooles the lye 60A: Say arts weare neare more sounde 40By learnings deepe esteeminge Nor schools weare more profounde Then in this age is seeminge17 If Rawhead this denye Arts schooles & schollers give the lye 45f: Tell fayth is18 fledd the cittye Tell how the country erreth Tell manhoode shakes off pittye Tell vertue least preferreth19 And if they doe replye 65feare not to give the lye A: Say fayth is in the cittye In country erres not one In men is manly pittye Now prince of beggers gone. Whose raw-lye made against all stats 50deserves both prince & subjects hates. f: Soe when thou hast as I Commaunded thee done blabbinge Although to give the lye deserve noe lesse then stabbinge 70Stabbe at thee hee that will No stabbe thy sowle can kill A: Now since thy taske is done And dutye showne by blabbinge Though little thou hast wonne That though20 deservst noe stabbing 55for all men out did crye Returne prince pride his lye. | Compare with A3c, “Staye Conick soule thy errante” |
Source. Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 212, fols. 88r-90r Other known sources for A3a. Poetical Rapsodie 17; Dr Farmer Chetham Manuscript 114; First and Second Dalhousie Manuscripts 110 and 181; Bodleian MS Ashmole 51, fol. 6r; Bodleian MS Douce f.5, fol. 11r; Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. d.3, fol. 2v; Bodleian MS Firth d.7, fol. 146r; Bodleian MS Firth e.4, p. 3; Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 172, fol. 12v; BL Add. MS 29764, fol. 9r; BL Add. MS 69847A, fol. 5r; BL MS Harley 2296, fol. 135r; BL MS Harley 6910, fol. 141v; Doctor Williams’s Library MS Jones B.60, p. 257; Nottingham MS Portland PW V 37, p. 138; Folger MS V.a.103, fol. 67r; Folger MS V.a.345, p. 176; Folger MS V.b.198, fol. 2r; Rosenbach MS 1083/15, p. 32 A3 1 arrante: i.e. errand. <back> 2 Rawhead: often used in a phrase with “bloody-bones” as the name of a bug-bear to terrify children (OED), but also an obvious allusion to Ralegh’s name. The reference to Ralegh as “rotten woode” expelled “from courte & church devine” turns the wording of his poem “Goe soule the bodies guest” against him; however, the allusion also presumably reflects more directly on Ralegh’s own career—specifically his sequestration from court in 1592 and the curious investigation of charges of atheism against him and his friends held in Dorset in March 1594. <back> 3 Actinge but others actions: i.e. acting only by means of the actions of others. This line, like the verse as a whole, could mean either that a prince can only be strong by working through others, or only if factional politics among the courtiers permit him to seem strong. The former reading makes the prince a puppet-master, while the latter makes him a puppet—a proposition repugnant to official Tudor notions of royal authority (as the answering verse shows). <back> 5 bravd: put on an impressive display to the world. <back> 6 whose begginge gott his spendinge: Ralegh’s wealth was heavily dependent upon the royal grants he won from the Queen in the 1580s. <back> 7 zeale...devotion: i.e. excessive commitment to the display of faith results in losing the essential qualities that make it laudable. This could be a comment on either Catholic or Puritan extremism (or both). <back> 8 lost : probable scribal error; read “lust”. <back> 10 deest: “it is lacking”. <back> 11 blasteth: is blasted, worn away. <back> 12 lye: a variant of Ralegh’s poem, dated 1595, includes another stanza at this point: “Tell wyt how mutche it wrangles, / In tyckle poynts of nycenes / tell wysdom shee intangles / her sellfe in others wysenes / and when they do replye / strayght gyve them boothe the lye” (Ralegh, Poems 32; ll. 43-48). <back> 13 Physicke: medicine or, more generally, natural philosophy. The “Answer” focuses on the former meaning. <back> 14 skill: the human capacity to reason. <back> 15 prevention: anticipation; more specifically action to avoid ill-effects. <back> 16 arts: i.e. the liberal arts. <back> 17 seeminge: appropriate. <back> 18 is: probable scribal error; read “it’s”. <back> |
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