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.
I8 Who best did Calculate the life of man
Notes. This curious epigram is built upon an error. Although Ralegh’s exact date of birth has not been established, biographers typically date it sometime between 1552 and 1554, which would mean that Ralegh was, at the most, only sixty-six years of age at the time of his execution.
“An Epigram of Sr Walter Rawely beheaded at 74 years of his age”
Who best did Calculate the life of man
found threscore & ten years made up his span
If more then to survive, be, to be dead
Life lost not Raweley when he lost his head
Source. PRO SP 14/103/61x (fol. 99r)
Other known sources. Ralegh, Poems 192
I8
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