---

“A Gracious answere from that blessed Saint to her whilome1 Subjects with a divine admonition and a prophetique conclusion.”

Your bold Petition Mortalls I have seene

And finde it full of passion, full of spleene

Prayers that enter Heaven and gaine a heareing

Are wing’d with charity heers noe appearing

For supplications fraught with Ire or gall

5

I doe confesse poore Soules the truth of all

And wish a period to your miseries

But first your infinite iniquities

Must have an end, alas you must beginn

To love faire vertue as you have lov’d sinne

10

You must redeeme the tyme thats lost & knowe

As Heaven hath ever bene to vengeance slowe

Soe by degrees is grace and mercie wonne

Eyes that are foule by gazing on the sunne

Increase their greifes, if you wold mercy gaine

15

From unjust actions you must first refraine

How dare a wicked servant once require

From his just maister either grace or hyre

You must putt of the shoes wherewith you trodd

The wayes of sinne ere you discourse with God

20

Give mee but ground for commendation

Incouragement, and then your supplication

I shall deliver, I left you rich ’tis true

But proud withall, you fear’d none all fear’d you

You weere soe farr from feare that you deny’d

25

To pay him feare that gave you cause of pride2

You must be humbl’d Heaven ever punisht yet

All kinde of Rankenes with an opposite

Hee that hath surfett ere hee gaine his heilth

Must strictly fast, had you satt still in wealth

30

You never would have bowed your stubborne knee

Either to God, or Saint, to heaven or Mee

I will not greive your troubled soules too much

Yet gently your ingratitude I’le touch

And that you may better knowe your errors

35

I shall into your memories call the favours

Are by you forgotten, unthankfully forgotten

Long tyme before the flesh I wore was rotten

It is noe ostentation to relate

Curtesies done to such as are ingrate.

40

I found you3 like a humbled scattered flocke

Your very soules beating against the rocke

Of ignorance and superstition4

Just in the way to blacke pardition

I plaid the shephard, and the Pylate too

45

And yet noe lambe nor fleece more then my due

Was ere exacted from the common store

Wee all alike weere rich alike weere poore

Though thyne and myne, and myne & thine weere things

Not to be knowne twixt subjects and their kings

50

Princes like the Sunn should from the Earth exhall

That which they raise, then in a showre lett fall

In every place, as they see cause a share,

And not consume it in the wanton ayre

There full Exchequour should like conduits bee

55

Open to all the rich and poore like free

And subjects should like feilds be full of springs

That naturally fall still towards their kings

The Comon wealth should alwaies be in motion

Seas flowe to brooks & brooks should fall to th’ocean

60

Such Royall such loyall comunitie

Keepe Kings, and subjects still in unitie

I cannot say I greive this place is free

From passion as from Iniquitie

But yet I muse since Scotland with it joyn’d5

65

Englands Exchequour is no better coyn’d

Sure there is false play I fear the younger brother6

Is growne too wise too craftie for the other

It is an ill made marriage where the bride

Spend faster then the husband cann provide7

70

I did mainetaine farr be vaine glorie hence

A well rigg’d Navie still for your defence

A royall fleet that like a Brazen wall

Circl’d this land the armies weere not small

The garrisons and forts I did uphold

75

Kept you like sheepe in peace within your fold

What welldeserving soldiour went away

Without reward much lesse without a pay.

To neighbour states in amitie wee lent

Money and men8 what servant ever went

80

Without his hyre; what pention was denyed

From the first houre unto the hower I dyed

In breife I seldome borowed oft did lend

Yet left enough to give enough to spend

How comes it then since neith fleet nor fort

85

Armie, nor garrison, noe house, noe court

Noe wages, noe debts nothing repair’d nought paid

Nought purchas’d, nought lent, nought built, nought made

And yet there nought remaines nought to be found

All is not perfect sure all is not sound

90

I noe lesse muse to see the woods cutt downe

The antient lands Revenues of the Crowne9

Disposed of soe to favorite to freind

That should hereditarily discend

From king to king as doth the diadem

95

The land of the crown is the Crowne cheifest geme

Customes subsedies, fines are accedents

Enough is substantiall, but the annuall rents

There are deservers sure that service doe

That must not be made knowne to heaven or you

100

Princes are Gods on earth, and subjects eyes

Upon their actions must not stand like spies

It is a daingerous and ungodly thinge

To prie into the chamber of a Kinge

The Arke of state is satisfied, and must

105

Be onely toucht by those are putt in trust

But you an answere crave to your petition

Then knowe poore Soules its given in comission

From heavens great King to tell you all thats past

To whats to come, is but a sparke a blast10

110

Your sorrowes yet alas like womans throwes11

Doe goe and come but there must follow woes

Ere England be deliver’d that will make

Your very entralls bleed your soules to quake

The dayes shall come when stowtest men shall mourne

115

And children wish they never had bene borne

The sword shall eate what plagues have overslipt

And fire consume what famine hath not ript

The Gospell sunne12 shall loose his glorious light

And ignorance13 as black as darkest night

120

Shall spread her sable wings about this Isle

And Babilons proud whore14 once more defile

Albions white cliffes, the Israelites must double

The bricks they made, yet be allowed noe stubble15

An Egiptian with an Hebrew must contend

125

Oh th’Ebrewe wants a Moses16 to his friend

There is an Execrable thing lies hidd

Such a Sinne as modestie doth forbidd

Mee for to name, till that be brought to light

And Achan punisht, be putto flight

130

Before the men of Ai you shall not stand17

Nor shall ought prosper that you take in hand

The husband from his wife shalbe divorc’t

And every poore mans Virgin shalbe forced

Uria18 shalbe murthered for his wife

135

And Naball19 sleepe in dainger of his life

You thirsted for a King,20 Heavens King releive you

And grant you pardon as I heere forgive you

You tooke a surfett of my happie raigne

And paid my well deservings with disdaine

140

But oh you cast not Mee away ’twas not I

You slighted ’twas the lord of hoasts most highe

And therefore you shall call and crye in vaine

Unlesse you shall lament, bootles complaine

From forth the North the plague is come at last

145

The Lyon’s rouzed from’s Denn that shall lye wast

Your townes, and citties, and who stands up at allas21

To stopp the gapp whereat his wrath shall passe

Hee shall by violence, and craft doe more

Then all the world could ever doe before

150

Yet know his end and last conclusion

Shalbe in miserie, and confusion.22

Hark hark Heavens organs summons me away

My comission’s ended I dare not stay

The blessed Querresters23 of heaven I heare

155

Tuning their voyces to our Soveraignes eare

Farwell poore Soules goe pray repent & fast

The deafe and unjust Judge is wonn at last

By importunitie much more will hee

That is inclin’d and proane to clemency.

160

I shall attend your prayers every houre

And to the utmost will extend my power

With him that onely cann, and may releive you

Theirs hope of Pardon if hee once reprive you

Greive for what’s past with a resolution

165

To amend your lives deferr not the’xecution

Unto the hornes of th’altar tymely flye

Tymely repent least you untimely dye.

---

Source. Bodleian MS Malone 23, pp. 14-4824

Other known sources. Commons Petition; “Poems from a Seventeenth-Century Manuscript” 162; Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. c.50, fol. 10v; Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. e.14, fol. 49v; Bodleian MS Eng. Poet. f.10, fol. 111r; Bodleian MS Rawl. D. 398, fol. 226r and fol. 230r; Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 160, fol. 18v; Bodleian MS Top. Cheshire c.7, fol. 6r; BL MS Sloane 363, fol. 15r; Brotherton MS Lt. 28, fol. 6r; Brotherton MS Lt. q.44, fol. 6r; CCRO MS CR 63/2/19, fol. 33r; Nottingham MS Portland PW V 37, p. 249; St. John’s MS K.56, no. 61 and no. 62; Beinecke MS Osborn b.197, p. 92; Folger MS V.a.275, p. 8

Niv2

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here < N0. Introduction Ni1 You men of Britaine Ni2 A Prince out of Ni3 A Prince out of the North Ni4 If 88 be past then Nii1Some say Sir Edward Nii2 Whiles thy sonnes rash Nii3 The famous Embassador Nii4 The Belgick Frogge Nii5 When we but heare Nii6 Religion the most sacred Niii1 Why? what meanes this? Niii2 Adew deere Don Niii3 Anagram on Count Niv1 If Saints in heaven Niv2 Your bold Petition Mortalls Nv1 What suddayne change Nv2 From Englands happy Nv3 I’ve read of Ilands flotinge Nv4 False on his Deanrye? Nv5 Tell mee for gods sake Nv6 The day was turnd Nv7A Phillipp once to england Nv8 The starre that rose Nv9 Since Arthure, or his Nv10 Ilium deplores, but still Nv11Our eagle is yett flowne Nv12 Poor silly wight that Nv13 Our Prince whom we Nv14 The Prince of Wales Nv15 All the newes thats Nv16 Oh for an Ovid Nv17 The Prince is now Nv18 The fift of August Nvi1O stay your teares yow Nvi2 Contemne not Gracious Nvi3 Withold thy fiery steeds

¹   whilome: one-time. <back>

²   You weere...cause of pride: i.e. in their arrogance, the English forgot to fear God, the author of their prosperity. <back>

³   I found you: i.e. at the time of Elizabeth’s accession in 1558. <back>

⁴   soules...ignorance and superstition: i.e. at the time of Elizabeth’s succession England had formally been a Catholic country for the previous five years. The theme of the Elizabethan redemption of the nation from the darkness of “popery” was common in the literary, ritual and visual symbolism that comprised the cult of Elizabeth. <back>

⁵   since Scotland with it joyn’d: i.e. since the Stuart succession in 1603. <back>

⁶   younger brother: Scotland. <back>

⁷   the bride...cann provide: the bride is Scotland, the husband England. The charge of Scottish profligacy with English wealth was commonly made (see Section E). Despite James’s best efforts—which often conceived of political union in the language of marital union—England and Scotland were not formally united until 1707. <back>

⁸   neighbour states...men: Elizabeth lent (intermittent) financial and military support to Protestants in the Netherlands and France. <back>

⁹   woods cutt downe...of the Crowne: the next few lines of the poem lament the felling of trees in the royal forests and the alienation of Crown lands by the Jacobean monarchy. <back>

¹⁰   is but a sparke a blast: i.e. is like a mere spark compared to a blast. <back>

¹¹   throwes: throes; labour pains. <back>

¹²   The Gospell sunne: Protestantism. <back>

¹³   ignorance: Catholicism, popery. <back>

¹⁴   Babilons proud whore: the Church of Rome, the Papacy. <back>

¹⁵   the Israelites...noe stubble: allusion to the labours imposed on the enslaved Israelites by the Egyptians (Exodus 1.14), and a prophecy of the enslavement of the English (Israelites, Hebrews) by Catholicism and its worldly champions (the Egyptians). Straw (“stubble”) was used in the making of bricks. <back>

¹⁶   Moses: leader of the Israelites in their liberation from the Egyptians. <back>

¹⁷   There is an Execrable thing...not stand: these five lines allude to the story of Achan in Joshua 7. After Joshua’s victory at Jericho, Achan violated God’s command by secretly stealing an “accursed thing” from the ruins of the defeated city. As a punishment for Achan’s hidden sin, God caused Joshua’s armies to be defeated by the men of the City of Ai. After Joshua identified Achan as the thief, exposed the gold and “Babylonish garment” Achan had stolen, and had Achan and his family stoned to death, God was at last appeased. The burning question here is what the “Execrable thing” is that “lies hidd” in England, but which “modestie doth forbidd” the Queen to name. One solution would be to follow the clue of the “Babylonish garment”, which might suggest that the hidden thing is “popery”, the religion of the Whore of Babylon. But the Queen’s “modestie” would hardly prevent her from naming this—indeed she has already named it. The obvious alternate reading would be to assume that the sin must be sexual in nature. The most likely candidate here might then be the King’s rumoured homosexual relationship with his favourite, Buckingham. <back>

¹⁸   Uria: Uriah, husband of Bathsheba, and sent into mortal danger on the orders of King David to allow the King to marry Bathsheba in Uriah’s stead (2 Samuel 11). <back>

¹⁹   Naball: Nabal, a rich farmer who mocked King David’s request that he supply his troops with food, and who was saved from David’s violent reprisal only at the behest of his (Nabal’s) wife Abigail’s petition. God, having prevented David soiling his hands with a vengeance killing, then killed off Nabal Himself (1 Samuel 25). <back>

²⁰   You thirsted for a King: the following lines suggest that the best reading of this phrase is that while Elizabeth was Queen, the English longed for a male ruler, a king, and disdained their female monarch’s achievements. The phrase might also allude to the famous biblical verse, 1 Samuel 8, in which God instructs Samuel to warn the king-hungry Israelites of the drawbacks of monarchical rule. <back>

²¹   who stands up at allas: possibly should read simply “who stands up, alas,”. <back>

²²   From forth the North...confusion: these eight lines are couched in the language of prophecy, thus making their meaning deliberately slippery. Yet it is clearly possible to read them in a profoundly anti-Stuart light: if the plague comes from Scotland (“the North”), the destructive lion roused from his den is none other than James I. This reading becomes more secure when the prophecy is placed side-by-side with the so-called “Merlin’s Prophecy” verse (“A Prince out of the North shall come”), in which James, as Lion, emerges from his den to lead a Protestant conquest of Catholicism and Islam. <back>

²³   Querresters: choristers. <back>

²⁴   The order of pages in this manuscript has been disrupted in binding. <back>