Notes. This poem on James I’s Privy Council is very difficult to date with any precision.

Seventh Henryes Counsayle was of great renowne

That joynd the white & red rose1 in the crowne

And th’eight Henryes Counsayle weare no babies

That supprest popery & put downe the Abbeyes2

But King James his counsayle wins the prise

For they make wise men mad, & mad men wise.

Source. V&A MS D25.F.39, fol. 82v

B21

¹   joynd the white & red rose: Henry VII’s 1486 marriage to Elizabeth of York united the warring Houses of Lancaster (the red rose) and York (the white). The Tudor badge was a pink rose that blended red and white. <back>

²   And th’eight Henryes...put downe the Abbeyes: allusion to Henry VIII’s break with the Church of Rome and his enforced dissolution of the monasteries during the 1530s. <back>