Notes. This cryptic poem twists on the final half-line, which punctures the official mourning for Cecil’s death. In its only known source, a single manuscript sheet, it is transcribed along with three more straightforward libels.

Heere lyeth our great Lord Treasorer of late

Deere to his Countrye deere to his Kinge:

Quietus est1 in Heaven we may conceyte,

All things being justly weighed but no such thing:

His friends say most unworthy he doth dye

of this one age, they say so, soe saye I

though they lye

Source. NCRO MS IL 4304

D22

¹   Quietus est: “he is quit”; legal term, typically used to mark the settling of accounts. <back>