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.
Mi5 Oyes
Notes. This poem, which adapts the conventions of official news distribution (via royal proclamation), targets in turn four of the monopolists pursued in the 1621 Parliament. One version (BL Add. MS 33998) names them in marginal notes: Mompesson, Michell, Sir Robert Flood, and Bacon. The stanza on Bacon was occasionally transcribed as a separate poem, and was in some cases extended into a longer version (see “Stand fast thou shaking quaking keeper”). The poem is discussed in McRae, Literature 38-40.
“A Proclamation”
Oyes,
Can any tell true tideings
of a Monopolist
Knight of the Post for rideing1
’cause hee wist,2
5It argue’d no small cunning
To make his leggs the instruments
To save his necke by running.
Come forth
Thou bawdy house Protector3
10Pattentee of froth4
Of signe posts the Erector5
Our true worth,
Thy Quorum shall not checke,6
For thou shalt unto Newgate7 ryde,
15With Canns about thy necke.
Stand by
Thou faire ingross’d transcription
Your Fludd is very high8
But sluces of reversion
20drawe it dry,9
So crost by just opinions
Our Cossen must be forc’t to walke
To Walls to feed on Onyons.10
Sitt sure,
25Thou quakeing quivering Keeper,11
A tent12 thou must indure,
Least thy wounds grow deeper,
and past the cure,
For if thy faults prove common
30Thou soone shalt feele a Nimble Coke13
Slice collops14 from thy Gammon.
Source. BL MS Harley 4955, fol. 86r
Other known sources. Bodleian MS Ashmole 38, p. 124; BL Add. MS 33998, fol. 65r
Known sources of the shorter version. BL Add. MS 22118, fol. 38v; Beinecke MS Osborn b.197, p. 182
Mi5
1 Knight...for rideing: unclear; possibly describing Mompesson as a “Knight of the Post” (i.e. notorious perjurer) because he has cheated justice by “rideing” (i.e. fleeing). <back>
3 bawdy house Protector: Francis Michell; the impropriety alleged in his capacity as a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex. <back>
4 Pattentee of froth: allusion to Michell’s patent for alehouses. <back>
5 signe posts the Erector: unclear; perhaps also linked to the patent for licensing alehouses (which would lead to the erection of alehouse signs). <back>
6 Thy Quorum...checke: unclear; perhaps a reference to Michell’s position as one of the justices of the peace whose presence was necessary to constitute a bench (literally, the “quorum”). <back>
7 Newgate: i.e. Newgate prison. <back>
8 Thou...high: heavily punning allusion to Sir Robert Flood, clerk of the office of the patent for wills. The patent involved charge for the engrossing (i.e. formal legal preparation) of all wills and inventories. <back>
9 But sluces...dry: the patent of sole engrossing of wills and inventories was suspended 18 July 1621 <back>
10 Our Cossen...Onyons: unclear; presumably refering to Flood’s lack of income after the suspension of the patent, and/or his expulsion from the House of Commons, 21 March 1621. <back>
11 Thou...Keeper: i.e. Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper. <back>
12 tent: surgical probe. <back>
13 Coke: i.e. Sir Edward Coke, a leading figure in the Commons and long-time rival of Bacon. <back>
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