Mompesson flyes,1 and manie Pattents fall

and true complaints are heard amongst them all.

A manie foule enormities are righted

and blinded Justice is made nowe quickesighted.

For Englands loftie Chancellor is founde

405

a foule delinquent,2 and on speciall grounde

Is to the Tower as a prisoner sente:

nor cares the state, who showe their discontente.

And yet he scapes not soe. for some sharpe witts

(in their full charged & disordered fitts)

410

observe it thus. that once a Clergie man

(when Queene Elizabeth her raigne began)

kept the greate seale (one Doctor Heath by name)

and gives it unto Bacon of good fame.3

But wise kinge James, from Bacon takes the same,

415

of purpose to prevent all future shame,

and to a Clergie man gives it againe4

regardinge not who murmur or Complaine:

And they do reason yeelde. & with a trice

that the greate Seale, is a pure pearle of price

420

which in a supreame throne must dailie shine,

and therefore is not fitt to be lefte with swine;5

Well, let them passe: But god shall have the praise

whoe such a Daniell for us all did raise;

to vexe the Judges, who meant to beguile,

425

and would Susanna’s chastitie defile.6

But all concludes, solucion of this doubt

that Fortunes wheele is quicklie turn’de aboute.

Yet for all this men will noe warninge take,

nor naturall infirmities forsake.

430

The kinges chiefe Justice must a Courtier bee

and Montague doth to the same agree:7

But will not change, except supreamely seated,

and soe he is Lorde Treasurer created:

with character of Vicounte in greate state

435

supposinge that his honors breed noe hate.

But some doe laugh outright, and some doe smile

to marke how Fortune doth this man beguile.

For whie? before he warme is in his seate,

faults are founde out intollerably greate,

440

and he deposed is:8 yet doth the kinge

another way unto him Comforte bringe:

and of the Councell makes him Præsident9

wich diverse Courtiers thought a merryment.

For Cranfeilde presentlie stepps in the place10

445

not careinge for the others strange disgrace

soe that the kinge be pleas’de. But nether he,

nor yet the kinge, can nowe well pleased bee.

For whie? the busines of the Parliamente

doth his greate majestie much discontente,

450

K1ix

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here K0. Introduction K1i. Some would complaine K1ii. K1iii. K1iv. K1v. K1vi. K1vii. K1viii. K1ix. K1x. K2. Bridewell I come

¹   Mompesson flyes: Sir Giles Mompesson, a commissioner for gold and silver thread and also for licensing inns, fled the country in order to avoid facing charges in the 1621 Parliament. <back>

²   Chancellor...delinquent: Bacon was impeached by the Parliament for accepting bribes from suitors. <back>

³   once a Clergie man...fame: although Queen Elizabeth kept the great seal herself on her accession, the duties of the office were performed by Sir Nicholas Bacon, who assumed the post of Lord Keeper in place of the existing Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York, Nicholas Heath. <back>

⁴   But wise...againe: after confessing to corruption, the great seal was taken from Francis Bacon, and he was succeeded as Lord Keeper by Bishop John Williams. <back>

⁵   lefte with swine: i.e. punning, like many contemporary poems, on Bacon’s name. <back>

⁶   such a Daniell...defile: allusion to a story from Daniel 13 (placed in the Apocrypha in the Authorized Version). When Susanna rejects the advances of two elders, they accuse her of illicit relations with a young man. The young Daniel saves her by exposing discrepancies in the men’s testimony. <back>

⁷   The kinges...agree: Sir Henry Montagu, previously Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, became Lord High Treasurer (a court position), and Viscount Mandeville, in 1620. <back>

⁸   before he warme...deposed is: at Buckingham’s insistence, Montagu resigned the lord-treasurership in 1621, to make way for Lionel Cranfield. <back>

⁹   of the Councell...Præsident: Montagu was made President of the Council soon after resigning the lord-treasurership. <back>

¹⁰   Cranfeilde...the place: Lionel Cranfield replaced Montagu as Lord Treasurer. <back>