---

Watt1 I wot2 well thy overweeninge3 witt

lead by ambitious humours wrought thy fall

Like Phaeton that did presume to sitt

in Phœbus chaire to guide the golden ball

Which overturn’d did sett the worlde on fire

5

& burnt him selfe in prime of his desire.4

So thou that didst in thought aspire so hie

to manage the affaires for Englands Crowne

And didst like Icarus5 attempt to flie

beyond thy limitts, now art tumbling downe

10

Thy waxen winges are melted by the Sunne

& in thy fall the thred of life is spunn.

From thee the Sonne doth turne away his face

from thee the pale facd Moone doth take hir flight

From thee the Starres do fall away a pace

15

from thee thy freinds are fled & shun thy sight

All fly from thee exceptinge only hope

which yet to breathe sad accents give thee scope.

Thou hast byn counted passinge wise & wittie

hadst thou hast grace high treason to avoyed

20

Then give me leave dread soveraigne Lord to pittie

so rare a witt should be so ill imployed

Yea suche a witt as I could praise in reason

for any point, exceptinge only treason

I pitty that the Sommers Nightingale

25

immortall Cinthia6 sometime dere delighte

that us’d to singe so sweete a Madrigale

should like an Owle go wander in the nighte

Hated of all, but pittied of none

though Swan-like now he makes his dyinge mone

30

Hadst thou continued loyall to the kinge7

as to the Queene thou evermore was true

My Muse thy praise might uncontrolled singe

which now is forcst thy dismall happ to rue.

And in this sable Caracters to wrighte

35

the downfall of a sometime worthy Knighte.

Ah where is Cinthia now whose golden thred

mighte leade thee from this laborinth of errours8

She to hir soliar9 Celestiall back is fledd

& nothinge lefte for thee but shame & terrours

40

Thy Candle is put out, thy glass10 is ronne

the grave must be thy Tombe when all is donn

Proude Gaveston & both the Spencers fell

yet theis were somtime favorites of a Kinge11

But thou against thy Soveraigne didst rebell

45

which to thy Conscience needes must be a stinge

Ill was their happ farr worse is thy estate

whom both the Prince doth scorne & People hate.

Humilitie in Statesmen is a praise

yet to imbrace this vertue thou didst scorne,

50

Supposinge that faire Cinthias golden daies

should still on earth this Iron age12 adorne

The Common people that did hate thy pride

in chaunge of state thy follies to deride.

Renowned Essex13 as he past the streets

55

would vaile his Bonnett14 to an Oyster wife

And with a kinde of humble Congie15 greete

the vulger sorte that did admire his life

And now sith he hath spent his livinge breath

they will not cease yet to lament his death

60

But thou like Midas surfettinge with golde16

those gentle salutacions didst reject

And when thou wast in greatest Pompe extolde

not poore Mens love but feare thou didst effect.

This makes those Men whom thou didst lately scorne

65

Disdaine thee now, & laugh while thou dost moorne.

Perhapps likewise that Essex angrie spirite

pursues thy life & for revenge doth crie17

And so the Heavens accordinge to thy merite

in his behalfe do acte this Tragedie.

70

Essex was made the Prologue to the playe

which thou didst penn in an unluckie daye

Herein the Kinge should play a tragique parte

Graye18 as a Champion stoutly should have fought

Rawleigh should play the Divell by his Arte,

75

Cobham19 should play the foole as he was taught

Lame Brooke20 should holde the booke & sitt him still

to prompt if any mist or Acted ill

This Tragedy was plotted but not acted,

herein was treason cunningly contrived,

80

By thee o Rawlye was the same compacted

for which of worldly Joye thou art deprived

Thy life, thy wealth thy liberty & lande

only at mercy of the Kinge doth stande.

If please the Kinge to pardon thy offence

85

no doubt thou maist a faithfull Subject prove

And by thy witt & wisedomes Quintessence

recover to thy selfe thy Soveraignes love,

But little hope remaines when faith is fled

& when thy handes seeke bloud beware thy head

90

God that foresaw thy treason did reveale it

and blest the Kinge in crossinge thy intent

In vaine could man by policie conceale it

when Heaven against thy purposes is bent.

And Man that unto worldlinges seemeth wise

95

is but a foole to him that rules the skies.

---

Source. BL Add. MS 22601, fols. 64r-65v

Other known sources. Ralegh, Poems 182-85; Bodleian MS Don. c.54, fol. 9v; Bodleian MS Eng. Hist. c.272, fol. 46v; Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 172, fol. 14r; BL Add. MS 38139, fol. 192v; BL MS Harley 3910, fol. 14r; BL MS Harley 6947, fol. 212r; BL MS Stowe 962, fol. 84r; Folger MS V.a.339, fol. 211v; Folger MS V.a.345, p. 177; Folger MS X.d.241, fol. 1v

B4

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here B0. Introduction B1. Nevil for the protestant B2. The Great Archpapist B3. Come all you Farmers B4. Watt I wot well B5. Wilye watt, wilie B6. Water thy plaints B7. To whome shall cursed B8. I speake to such B9. As Cats over houses B10. Who doubts of Providence B11. The prelats Pope B12. A Romane right B13. The Divell men say B14. Here lyes the Lady B15. Heere lye’s a Lord B16. Immodest death B17. Here Lyes Dick B18. Here lieth one who B19. Heer lye’s my Lord’s B20. Bancroft Was for Playes B21. Seventh Henryes

¹   Watt: common contraction of Walter. <back>

²   wot: know; and a pun on Wat/Walter. <back>

³   overweeninge: arrogant, presumptuous, conceited. <back>

⁴   Like Phaeton...prime of his desire: allusion to the mythological story of Phaeton, who persuaded his father Phoebus, the sun god, to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun, with disastrous consequences. The myth was widely used in this period to attack courtiers who overstepped the proper bounds of their station. <back>

⁵   Icarus: Icarus, son of Daedalus, escaped from Minos with his father, flying with wings attached by wax; when he flew too near the sun, the wax melted and Icarus plunged to his death. <back>

⁶   immortall Cinthia: Elizabeth I. Poets and painters routinely portrayed the Queen as Cynthia, goddess of the moon. <back>

⁷   the kinge: James I. <back>

⁸   Cinthia now...laborinth of errours: allusion to the myth of Ariadne, whose thread helped Theseus escape from the Labyrinth. <back>

⁹   soliar: Rudick (Ralegh, Poems 183), working from Folger MS X.d.241, reads this word as “spheare”. <back>

¹⁰   glass: i.e. hourglass. <back>

¹¹   Proude Gaveston...favorites of a Kinge: allusion to the falls of the favourites of King Edward II (reigned 1307-1327): Piers Gaveston, and the Spensers (or Despensers), Hugh the elder and Hugh the younger. <back>

¹²   this Iron age: in classical mythology, the decayed, present age. <back>

¹³   Essex: Ralegh’s bitter court rival in the 1590s, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who was executed for treason in 1601. <back>

¹⁴   vaile his Bonnett: remove his hat. <back>

¹⁵   Congie: congee; a bow. <back>

¹⁶   But thou like Midas...golde: King Midas of Phrygia was granted his wish that all he touched should turn to gold. This line might refer to the riches Ralegh accumulated as the holder of various lucrative patents and monopolies under Elizabeth I. <back>

¹⁷   Essex angrie spirite...doth crie: Ralegh was widely suspected of involvement in the alleged plot to destroy Essex. This charge is the main theme of the contemporary verse, “To whome shall cursed I my Case complaine”. <back>

¹⁸   Graye: Thomas, Lord Grey of Wilton, participant in the Bye Plot. <back>

¹⁹   Cobham: Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, implicated in both the Bye and Main Plots, whose evidence was crucial to the prosecution case against Ralegh. <back>

²⁰   Brooke: George Brooke, younger brother of Lord Cobham, and participant in the Bye Plot. <back>