---

“George Duke of Buckingham to that part of his Countrie-men who are worst affected to his life & memorie A Funerall Prosopopæia.”1

Our countrie Merry England (once so styl’d)

Great & Brave nation, never was defyl’d

With trecherous assassinate, till nowe,

A publique Murther staines the publique browe

I was displeasing by the common fate

5

Of Favorites of kings; I was your hate

Yee have my blood in sacrifice prophane

A private hand hath lawless vengeance tane

Upon my life, and wreck’t your mortall wrath

And beyond that (I hope) it nothing hath

10

If blood soe shedd shall not asswagement give,

Why did yee not much rather lett me live?

The Altars of Busiris2 never heere

Blacke Egipt made to blush; nor allwaies deere

Diana did appease;3 Men Scythia slew4

15

And Affricks Saturne did his beames imbrewe

In blood of Babes,5 as Taranis in gall6

Her kingly syre sawe Iphigenia fall

A virgin-victime;7 and there was a tyme

When humane Heccatombes8 engrav’d this clyme

20

With healthes of blood drunke to infernall Elves

But both the Druids9 rites, and Druids selves

The Romans banisht, and did purge our Isle

And all their Empire from a cryme soe vile.

But those of you, who blesse the Murtherers hand

25

(Against all lawes) and each where gazing stand

About his picture,10 as an Idoll sett

Humanitie (alas) too much forgett

And make it seeme, as if from Hell againe

That superstition weere return’d to raigne.

30

Is Moloch11 Brittaines God? you then doe well

To celebrate the deeds of night, and hell

Is Druidisme come backe? Then Rome did ill

To drive it hence, if Just it be, to kill

An unattainted and untryed Peere

35

Lett kings bewarr That Doctrine striketh neere

Ordain’d selfe-arbiters to please, and such

As would old Patriotts seeme, ascribeing much

To th’antient Pagan schooles of Greece & Rome

Who liveing under Monarchies become

40

Hott popularians,12 and in crosse of kings

Love Cantons, Leagues, and states13 as better things.

Returne to Natures sence, the Man putt on

With generous sighes; and since the deed is done

O lett my wyde wound be th’eternall grave

45

Both of your Ire, and of his guilt who gave

That thunderbolted blowe; and may noe age

Behold the like againe upon our stage.

The topp, and the topp gallant of my style14

The common Envie weere of Albions Isle15

50

My plumes of titles in my crest of fame

The fanns to coole good will, and spight t’inflame;

Those blazing lures of flyes, the blynding skreen

Wise Providence, and headlong waies betweene

Meere stands for vanitie; a grove to hyde

55

Their ambuscado’s16 who noe light abyde

That weight too great, made me there Atlas17 fall

Few please a Multitude, and none please all.

My youth and two kings18 favours well might make

Great Buckingham forgett, and much to take

60

Above his strength, who finds he was a man;

And be unto him such in all yee cann.

The rest lett others care for, who survive.

Myne Exit wants applause: But if alive

I had remain’d, and still king Charles my frend

65

My merritt should have woo’d a fairer end

For to recover favour was the scope

Of all my counsells, as it was their hope

Or on myne owne sword in the sight of all

You should have seene me voluntarie fall:

70

For life allreadie was become to bee

A greivance and A burthen unto mee;

Untill I had by noblest proofe made knowne

That Buckingham was yours, or not his owne

These my last vowes Heavens witnes it, are true

75

Soe under goe my clouds, and bidd adiewe.

---

Source. Bodleian MS Malone 23, pp. 135-38

Piii11

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here P0. Introduction Pi1. lett Charles & george Pi2. Sith number with thy Pi3. Thy numerous name Pi4. Anagram of George Pi5. A yere of wonder Pi6. The Shepheards struck Pi7. Thus Buck-in-game Pi8. England was sick Pi9. Lord, what are wee Pi10. Beehold this Obsequie Pi11. This little Grave Pi12. The pale horse Pi13. Here lies Leachery Pi14. Here lyes great George Pi15. Great Buckingham’s Pi16. Pride lies heere Pi17. Fortunes darling Pi18. Heere lies a gratious Pi19. Had our great duke Pi20. Great potent Duke Pi21. And art thou dead! Pi22. Pale death, with Iron Pi23. Great Gorge, and art Pi24. Thou that on topp Pi25. What once was said Pi26. If good mens graces Pi27. Great Duke, which art Pi28. At Portsmouth Duke Pi29. Make haste I pray Pi30. No sooner had the Pi31. Great Duke, Although Pi32. Away, away, great George Pi33. My honour, favour, life Pi34. I that my countrey Pi35. Mother / My humble Pi36. The Argument is cold Pi37. Ye gastly Spiritts Pii1. Anagram on John Felton Pii2. Anagram on John Felton Pii3. Felton, awake Pii4. The heavens approve Pii5. Some say the Duke Pii6. The Duke is dead Pii7. Why: is our Age Pii8. Immortall Man of glorie Pii9. I mmortal man of glory Pii10. Enjoy thy Bondage Pii11. Sir, I your servant Pii12. You auntient Lawes Pii13. Feare not brave Pii14. Sorrow and Joy Pii15. Heere uninterr’d Pii16. Here uninterd suspends Pii17. Wants hee a grave Pii18. Is Felton dead? Pii19. Here Lyes the bonnes Pii20. Awake, sad Brittaine Piii1. M alignant characters Piii2. Heere lyes the best Piii3. Dearling off Kings Piii4. You braveing spiritts Piii5. I did not flatter thee Piii6. Yee snarling Satyrs Piii7. Heere lyes thy Urne Piii8. Sooner I may some Piii9. Yet weere Bidentalls Piii10. Reader stand still Piii11. Our countrie Merry Piii12. Honor, worth, greatnes Piii13. What! shall I say now Piii14. Who ever lov’d man Piii15. When Poets use to Piii16. Might Teares Revive Piii17. Death come thy selfe Piii18. Hee that can reade Piii19. Nourishd with sighs Piii20. When in the brazen Piii21. Reader when these Piii22. Noe Poets triviall rage

¹   Prosopopæia: i.e. prosopopoeia, “A rhetorical figure by which an imaginary or absent person is represented as speaking or acting” (OED). <back>

²   The Altars of Busiris: in the Hercules legends, Busiris, a ruler of Egypt, sacrificed to the gods any foreigner who entered his kingdom. <back>

³   nor allwaies deere / Diana did appease: the goddess Diana was a huntress and deer were sacred to her. <back>

⁴   Men Scythia slew: ancient historians described the Scythians as a savage people. <back>

⁵   Affricks Saturne...blood of Babes: the god Saturn was said to have devoured his own children, thus imbruing (defiling) his “beames” (probably “eyes” here) with the “blood of Babes”. <back>

⁶   Taranis in gall: according to hostile Roman commentators, the ancient Gauls offered human sacrifices to their thunder god Taranis. <back>

⁷   Her kingly syre...A virgin-victime: King Agamemnon attempted to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease the wrath of the goddess Artemis/Diana. <back>

⁸   humane Heccatombes: mass human sacrifices. <back>

⁹   Druids: the priests of pre-Roman Britain and Gaul. Roman accounts alleged that the Druids performed human sacrifice. <back>

¹⁰   his picture: a number of contemporaries allude to a picture or pictures of Felton. The one extant engraving of the assassin—depicted standing, with boots spurred, his hat under his left arm, and a dagger poised in his right hand—is entitled “The lively Portraiture of John Felton who most miserably kil’d The right Hono:ble George Villiers Duke of Buckingham: August ye 23 1628”. The copy owned by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is reproduced in Wolfe (image 9). <back>

¹¹   Moloch: i.e. Molech; an ancient Middle-Eastern deity to whom children were sacrificed (see, e.g., 2 Kings 23.10; Jeremiah 32.35). <back>

¹²   popularians: courters of the people, seditionists and, in this context, republicans. <back>

¹³   Cantons, Leagues, and states: names for early modern republican polities; e.g. the Swiss (“Cantons”) and the Dutch United Provinces (“states”). <back>

¹⁴   The topp...of my style: this line uses nautical terminology (the top and top-gallant are parts of a ship’s mast) to connote the elevation of Buckingham’s status that prompted such envy. <back>

¹⁵   Albions Isle: England. <back>

¹⁶   ambuscado’s: ambushes. <back>

¹⁷   Atlas: in classical mythology, Atlas held aloft the heavens. <back>

¹⁸   two kings: James I and Charles I. <back>