---

“The Copie of his Graces most excellent Rotomontados1 sent by his Servant the Lord Grimes2 in answere to the Lower house of Parliament. 1628.”

Avaunt you giddie-headed Multitude,

And doe your worst of spight: I never su’d

To gaine your Votes, though well I know your ends

To ruin mee, my Fortunes, and my Frends;

Which had I fear’d, how easie had it been

5

By quick prevention to avoyde your teene,

And eas’d your tedious Journies, Speeches, Witts

At first, by once prohibiting the Writts

That calld you hither to a good intent,

Not cause a brabling confus’d Parliament?

10

For in my power it was (maugre each Foe)

To say it should, or it should not bee soe.

Or fear’d I yet your Malice or your spight

(Too weake poore Men at once mee to affright)

Is not my Power as great, and eake the same

15

To send you home as wise as when you came?

Tis not your threat to take mee from the King

That on my passions worketh any thing;

Nor questioning my counsells or commaunds,

How with the honour of the State it stands,

20

That I lost Ree,3 and with such losse of Men

As scarcely Time can e’er repaire againe

Shall aught affright mee; Or the care to see

The Narrow Seas from Dunkirks cleere and free;4

Or that you can inforce the King beleive

25

I from the Pirats a third share receive;

Or that I correspond with forreyne states

(Whether the Kings Foes or confederates)

To plott the Ruine of the King and State,

As er’st you thought of the Palatinate;5

30

Or that 500 thousand pounds doe lye

In Venice Banke to Spaine his Majestie;

Or that 300 thousand more doe rest

In Dunkirke for the Arch-duchesse6 to contest

With England, whensoe’re th’occasion offers;

35

Or that by Rapine I fill up my coffers;

Nor that an Office, in Church, State, or Court

Is freelie given, but they must pay mee for’t;

Nor shall you ever prove I had a hand

Ith poisoning of the Monarch of this land,

40

Or the like hand by poison to intox

Southampton, Oxford, Hamilton, Lenox;7

Nor shall you ever prove, by Magick charmes

I wrought the Kings Affection, or his harmes,

Or that I need Lambes Philters8 to incite

45

Chast Ladies to give my fowle lust delight;

Nor feare I if tenn Vitrii9 were heere,

Since I have thrice tenn Ravillacks10 as neere.

My power shalbee unbounded in each thing,

If once I use these words: I, and the King.

50

Seeme wise, and cease then to perturb the Realme,

Or strive with him that sitts and guides the helme,

I know your Reading will informe you soone

What creatures ’twere that barkt against the Moone,11

I’le give you better counsell, as a Frend,

55

Coblers their latchetts12 ought not to transcend.

Meddle with common matters, common Wrongs,

To th’ howse of Commons common things belongs,

Th’are extra sphæram13 that you treate of now,

And Ruine to yourselves will bring, I vowe,

60

Except you doe desist, and learne to beare

What Wisdome ought to teach you, or your Feare,

Leave him the Oare that best knowes how to rowe,

And State to him that best the State doth knowe.

If I, by Industry, deepe Reache, or Grace,

65

Am now arriv’d at this or that great place,

Must I, to please your inconsiderate Rage,

Throwe downe my Honours? Will naught ells asswage

Your furious Wisedomes? True shall the Verse bee yet,

There’s noe lesse Witt requir’d to keepe then gett.

70

Though Lambe bee dead,14 I’le stand, and you shall see

I’le smile at them that can but barke at mee.

From Non-such15 June 21. 1628.

Yours as you use him

---

Source. BL MS Sloane 826, fols. 157r-159r

Other known sources. Bodleian MS Ashmole 36-37, fol. 57r; Bodleian MS Ashmole 38, p. 44; Bodleian MS Locke c. 32, fol. 1r; Bodleian MS Malone 23, p. 113; BL Add. MS 47126, fol. 138v; BL MS Egerton 2725, fol. 80v; CUL Add. MS 79, fol. 47r; CCRO MS CR 63/2/19, fol. 69v; Hatfield House, Salisbury MS 140, fol. 126r; Huntington MS HM 198, 1.157

Oiii5

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here O0. Introduction Oi1. The Parliament sitts Oi2. Oh honoured England Oi3. Our digby digd’e Oi4. The base on which Oi5. There was a man Oi6. There was a great fleete Oi7. There was a Munkye Oi8. Yee Spanyards Oi9. There was some policye Oi10. The Kinge and his wyfe Oi11. Why did the fond Oi12. Fower Cheyffe Justices Oi13. Justice of late hath Oi14. Ould Ned Cooke Oi15. Rex and Grex Oi16. Come heare, Lady Muses Oi17. There is a man Oii1. when the uncivill civill Oii2. It makes mee to muse Oii3. Great Buckinghame Oii4. In reading these Oii5. And wilt thou goe Oii6. Charles would yee Prevaile Oii7. Rejoice, brave English Oii8. Why was the varlett Oii9. One askte me Oii10. Oure crossrow’s turnd Oii11. The noblest brave Oii12. And art return’d againe Oii13. All you that will goe Oii14. As sick men feare Oiii1. O Admirall! Oiii2. The wisest King Oiii3. The warrlike King Oiii4. Excuse me Eliott Oiii5. Avaunt you giddie Oiii6. Here Dr Lambe Oiii7. If heav’n rejoyce Oiii8. For Lambe go ringe Oiii9. Heare lyes the Impostar Oiii10. Our state’s a Game Oiii11. When onely one doth Oiii12. Of Brittish Beasts Oiii13. To hunt the Doe Oiii14. The Parliament of late Oiii15. A thinge gott by candle

¹   Rotomontados: i.e. rodomontades; boastful speeches. <back>

²   Lord Grimes: probably Richard Graham, Buckingham’s friend and master of the Duke’s horse. <back>

³   Ree: allusion to Buckingham’s failed 1627 expedition to the Ile de Ré. The parliamentary Remonstrance noted the “miserable disasters and ill success that has accompanied all your late designs and actions”, and asserted that, contrary to Buckingham’s reports of only “a few hundreds” dead at Ré, the real number of casualties was “six or seven thousand” (Proceedings in Parliament, 1628 4.315). <back>

⁴   Or the care...cleere and free: the Remonstrance blamed Buckingham for the failure to guard the Narrow Seas, allowing the Dunkirk pirates to raid English shipping with impunity (Proceedings in Parliament, 1628 4.316). <back>

⁵   As er’st you thought...Palatinate: allusion to rumours that Buckingham had connived in the fall of the Palatinate to Catholic forces earlier in the decade. <back>

⁶   Arch-duchesse: the Archduchess Isabella, ruler of the Spanish Netherlands. <back>

⁷   Nor shall you ever...Hamilton, Lenox: allusion to the widely circulated charges, initially made in a 1626 pamphlet, The Forerunner of Revenge, by James I’s former physician, George Eglisham, that Buckingham had poisoned the King and several courtiers. Eglisham accuses Buckingham directly of murdering the King and James Hamilton, Marquis of Hamilton. He also hints at evidence that Buckingham also poisoned Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton and Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox. Eglisham does not explicitly allege Buckingham had killed Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford, but the rumour could be connected to Eglisham’s allusion to “the bruit” (i.e. rumour) that “went through London...that all the noblemen that were not of Buckinghams faction should be poysoned, and so removed out of his way” (C2r). In their 1626 attempt to impeach the Duke, the House of Commons had accused Buckingham of “transcendent presumption” in meddling with James I’s medical treatment. The 1628 Parliament did not return to the charge. <back>

⁸   Lambes Philters: love potions prepared by the astrologer-physician and convicted witch John Lambe, who was widely believed to be in Buckingham’s employ. <back>

⁹   Vitrii: a variant reading, “Vitryes” (Hatfield House MS Cecil Papers Cecil Papers 140), suggests that “Vitrii” is a corrupt (or confusingly latinized) form of the plural of Vitry, the name of a captain of the royal guard for Henri IV of France at the time of his assassination in 1610 (Mousnier 24). <back>

¹⁰   Ravillacks: allusion to François Ravaillac, the Catholic assassin who murdered King Henri IV of France in 1610. <back>

¹¹   barkt against the Moone: to bark against the moon like a dog means “to rail uselessly, especially at those in high places” (Brewer 79). <back>

¹²   latchetts: latchets are thongs used to tie shoes. To “go beyond one’s latchet” is a proverbial phrase for meddling with matters that do not concern one (OED). <back>

¹³   extra sphæram: beyond or outside the sphere; i.e. beyond parliament’s competence. <back>

¹⁴   Though Lambe bee dead: John Lambe was murdered in the streets of London on 13 June 1628. <back>

¹⁵   Non-such: the royal palace at Nonsuch, Surrey. <back>