---

Staye Conick soule thy errante

And lett the beste alone1

The worst skornes forged warrante2

Thy Patron now is gonn

The lyes thou gave so hott

5

Returnes into thy throte.

The Courte hathe settled suernes

In bannishinge sutche bouldnes:

The Churtche reteynes her puernes

Though Atheysts shewe theyr couldnes3

10

The Courte and Churtch though4

Turnes Lyes into thy face

The Potentates reply

Thow base by them advanced

Sinisterly sores hye

15

And at theyr actions glanced.5

They for this thanck-less parte

Turnes Lyes into thy harte.

States-men seeke common good

And shunn bothe hate and faction

20

Adventure welthe and blud

To maynteyn cuntryes action

And these with grete detest

Turnes Lyes into thy brest.

The Courtes attending trayne

25

Brave Sovereynes servyce tender

For vertues worth agayne

She6 recompence doth tender

The Lyes that these have hearde

They turne into thy bearde

30

Both zeale and Love thoue slan7

With thy envenomed tunge

Tyme motions fleshly dangers

To the thow dust and dunge

And till that thow be deade8

35

Turnes Lyes uppon thy heade.

Age, Honor, Beuty, Favour

As lyekes the9 now thow changest

Thow all of change doest savoure

And in those humors raungest10

40

These for reportes unkyende

Turnes Lyes into thy myende.

Detractor bothe from witt

And wisedoms sacred skill

A Curb11 and cutting bitt12

45

Must reave13 thy wresting will

These lykewyse by assynement

Turnes Lyes into thy judgement

Phisick and Charitye

Wronged by skill-less rayling14

50

Lawe termed enmity

Fyends thy opinions fayling

And for those termes unfitt

Turnes Lyes into thy witt

Fortune was blyende to rayse the15

55

By nature, frendshipps foe

Justice indeed delayse the

From whither thow must goe

And these whome thow doste mayme

Trust16 lyes into thy name.

60

Thow art-less, gibes at Art

And scoffes att schooles of lerning

Schollers skorne this prowde parte

And gives thee (witless17

And f     his sharpe contro18

65

Turne       into thy hou19

Citty thy faythe hath proved,

Cuntry, glad of thy assence20

Mannhoode and vertue moved

To hear thy senceless sentence

70

They, for thow art prone to stryfe

Gives Lyes to all thy Lyefe.

Now Blabber soone repent the

Of this thy Lyinge vayne

Eatche state wil ells torment the

75

When thow returnes agayne

Mean whyle unto thy shame

They Bastonade21 thy fame.

---

Source. Bodleian MS Tanner 306*, fol. 188r-v

Other known sources. Ralegh, Poems 42

A3c

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here A0. Introduction A1 The Word of Deniall A2 The Disease of the stomack A3a Goe soule & b Flye soule A3c Staye Conick soule A4 Courts scorne A5 Courts commender A6 Go Eccho of the minde A7 Where Medwaye greetes A8 Admir-all weaknes A9 Proude and ambitious A10 Essex prayes A11England thy early prime A12 He that in Belgia fought A13 Chamberlaine Chamberlaine A14 England men say of late A15 This day is made Knight A16 Essex did spend

¹   Staye Conick...alone: i.e. the “conick” soul should abandon its errand and cease criticizing the high and mighty. Although its general meaning is clear, the word “conick” is somewhat problematic. It may be “conical” (i.e. crooked or irregular in motion and purpose) or perhaps “cunning” (i.e. clever, sly). <back>

²   The worst...warrante: even the least honorable members of society (i.e. those most likely to be jealous of “the best” and willing to see them slandered) reject the claim to truth (made in “Goe soule the bodies gueste”) and recognize this criticism as unjustified. The “truth” claimed by the author of “Goe soule” is here described as being exposed as a “forged warrante”—hence “thy Patron” (i.e. the supposed “truth”) is claimed in the following line to be “now...gonn”. <back>

³   Though Atheysts...couldnes: another allusion to the “atheism” which was so widely associated with Ralegh and his friends. <back>

⁴   The Courte and Churtch though: this line is marred by a probable scribal error and a missing word at the end of the line, lost due to damage to the manuscript; read “The Courte and Churtch through grace”. <back>

⁵   Thow base...glanced: although potentates advance base men, the actions of those who soar high by indirect means are censured. <back>

⁶   She: i.e. Elizabeth I, the “brave Sovereyne”. <back>

⁷   slan: damaged manuscript; read “slander”. <back>

⁸   Tyme motions...deade: i.e. time brings fleshly dangers closer to thee, thou dust and dung, (and will continue to do so) until thou be dead. <back>

⁹   As lyekes the: i.e. as it pleases thee. <back>

¹⁰   raungest: ranges, roams about. <back>

¹¹   Curb: a strap passing under the jaw of a horse and attaching to the ends of the bit. <back>

¹²   cutting bitt: a form of bit which cuts the mouth of an unruly horse. <back>

¹³   reave: remove, or take possession of, by force. <back>

¹⁴   skill-less rayling: irrational and baseless criticizing. The use of the word “skill” here also suggests a contrast between the intellectual accomplishments required in medicine and the mere “rayling” of the author of “Goe soule the bodies guest”. <back>

¹⁵   Fortune was blyende to rayse the: another allusion to Ralegh, who was strongly associated with “Fortune”, as the supposed author of “Goe soule the bodies guest”. During the period of his meteoric rise to royal favour in the mid-1580s, the connection between Ralegh and “Fortune” was made by his enemies to suggest that he had won success that was entirely undeserved by birth or honorable conduct. Ralegh’s subsequent career gave his association with “Fortune” even greater piquancy. As Sir Robert Naunton (writing several years after Ralegh’s execution) observed: “Sir Walter Ralegh was one that it seems fortune had picked out of purpose of whom to make an example or to use as a tennis ball thereby to show what she could do, for she tossed him up of nothing, and to and fro, and thence down to little more than wherein she found him, a bare gentleman” (71). <back>

¹⁶   Trust: probable scribal error; “Thrust” would be a better reading. <back>

¹⁷   And gives thee (witless: damaged manuscript; a word is missing from the end of this line. <back>

¹⁸   And f     his sharpe contro: damaged manuscript. <back>

¹⁹   Turne       into thy hou: damaged manuscript. <back>

²⁰   assence: perhaps the obsolete form of the word “essence”, here meaning “importance”. <back>

²¹   Bastonade: bastinado; to thrash with a stick (OED). Cudgeling a gentleman in this manner was an extreme and calculated form of humiliation, reducing him to the level of a servant or child who could be punished in this way. <back>