A web-based edition of early seventeenth-century political poetry from manuscript sources. It brings into the public domain over 350 poems, many of which have never before been published.
H27 The house of the Howards
Notes. This poem—which celebrates (somewhat prematurely) the fall of the Howard family at Court—does not explicitly dwell on the Overbury case. William Davenport, however, transcribed the libel as part of his materials on the Overbury affair (CCRO MS CR 63/2/19); and, indeed, there was much talk in 1615-16 that Lord Treasurer Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, consistently rumoured to be complicit in the Overbury murder, would soon follow his daughter, Frances, and his son-in-law, Robert Carr, into disgrace.
The house of the Howards
Is now growing towards
Theire wonted declining
For that generation
Nere had moderation
5In theire sunne shining.
For when they are greate
They imprison and beate
To make themselves awfull;
Yet ever and anone
10Fate drives them upon
Some instance unlawfull;
From whence itt doth arise
That wee see with oure eyes
Theire quick revolution
15They wax and they wayne
And that is the payne
Of theire absolution.1
Source. BL MS Egerton 2230, fol. 70r
Other known sources. BL MS Harley 1221, fol. 74v; BL MS Harley 6038, fol. 18v; BL MS Harley 7316, fol. 5r; CCRO MS CR 63/2/19, fol. 10v
H27
1 absolution: it is just possible that the choice of a word from the Roman Catholic penitential system is a deliberate allusion to the Howard family’s reputation for crypto-popery. <back>
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