---

“Whope doe mee no harme”1

Our eagle is yett flowne,2 to a place unknowne

To meete with the Phoenex of Spaine3

Fethered many moe, will after him goe

To waite & attend on his traine.4

I here some men say, the Dutchmen5 must pay

5

Great summes to make matters even,

And wee shall have gold, more then London can hold

Were the walls built as high as heaven.

The Potents of Spaine will loade Charles his waine6

And fill up the Brittans with Glee

10

God knowes what pearle, will be given to that Girle7

By Ladys of every degree.

A Chappell8 shall bee, new built you shall see

The walls shall be peeces of eight9

Within it the floore shall be paved all ore

15

With gold of I know not what weight.

The Citty shall thrive, there weomen shall swive,10

Exchange time11 in the morne

I heard it right now, each Cuckold shall blowe

And Guild the tippe of his horne.

20

The Mayors of townes, in there Conny-skin12 gownes,

Shall noddinge ride in the rout,

It shall bee there grace, to ride the fooles pace,

And at night see the sconce13 be hunge out.

The Lawyers no more, shall coson the poore

25

In Westminster hall,14 nor in Towne.

There Greene Earthen pitcher, shall be silver or Richer

And each goose weare A Barristers gowne.

The Schollars15 shall loath, chopt mutton in broth

30

For Woodcocke in Plate shall be brought

To every messe, there shall not bee lesse,

Then a brace the colledge throughout.

The Gentry shall spend, even world without end,

35

They all there meanes shall out live,

Yett never bee poore, for there pockefyed16 whore

Shall helpe them to what shee can give.

Our state shall forgett, they ever had witt,

Our councell shall now not bee grave,

40

The clergy shall drinke like Dutchmen, I thinke

Each shall a third benefice17 have.

The Keeper of cash, shall count it as trash

Great houses shall bigger be made,

The chappell wherein, to laugh was a sin

45

Shall be stord with bedds for the trade.18

At court they shall Quaffe, great whole blacke Jacks19 off

To Grandyes that shall come ore

And After perhappe D. shall have a clappe20

What can six & fifty doe more.

50

The reason of this, I take not amisse,

Will in our clymate appeare

When that our northpole shall bee putt in the hole

Of the Southerne inferior beare.21

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Source. Beinecke MS Osborn b.197, pp. 110-11

Other known sources. Bodleian MS Rawl. D. 398, fols. 188r and 229r; Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 160, fol. 176v

Nv11

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   Whope doe mee no harm: “Whoop! do me no harm good man” was a well-known ballad tune, and had been used for a libellous ballad on the Overbury murder (“There was an ould ladd rode on an ould padd”) in 1615-16. Simpson (777-780) gives a transcription of the tune. <back>

²   Our eagle is yett flowne: Prince Charles (“Our eagle”) left for Spain in February 1623. <back>

³   Phoenex of Spaine: the Spanish Infanta Maria. <back>

⁴   Fethered many moe...traine: other courtiers followed Charles to Madrid in the weeks after the Prince’s departure. <back>

⁵   Dutchmen: the Dutch, who were at war with Spain, had a great interest in seeing the Spanish Match fail, or in at least countering its diplomatic effects. <back>

⁶   waine: wagon. <back>

⁷   that Girle: the Spanish Infanta Maria. <back>

⁸   Chappell: any marriage treaty with Spain would require the English to allow the construction of a Catholic chapel for the Infanta to worship in. Inigo Jones began construction of a chapel for the Infanta in May 1623. <back>

⁹   peeces of eight: Spanish gold coins. <back>

¹⁰   swive: have sex. <back>

¹¹   Exchange time: unclear; probably a reference to the morning hours of business at the Old and New Exchange, and hence a bawdy suggestion that city wives exploit the time when their husbands are out of the house on business. <back>

¹²   Conny-skin: rabbit skin. <back>

¹³   sconce: lantern. <back>

¹⁴   Westminster hall: location of a number of law courts. <back>

¹⁵   The Schollars: i.e. of Oxford and Cambridge. <back>

¹⁶   pockefyed: syphilitic. <back>

¹⁷   third benefice: a third clerical living. The joke is that many clergymen already hold two benefices—the problem of pluralism was a matter of some dispute in the English Church. <back>

¹⁸   the trade: prostitution. <back>

¹⁹   blacke Jacks: large jugs of beer. <back>

²⁰   D. shall have a clappe: this line is a little obscure. A plausible reading is to take “D.” as an abbreviation for “Duke” and thus for Buckingham, and “have a clappe” as “have a misfortune”. This line and the one that follows then perhaps evoke the great celebratory drinking that might occur should Buckingham fall. <back>

²¹   When that our northpole...beare: the merging of constellations offers a thin fig-leaf for a rather crude evocation of the consummation of a marriage between Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta Maria. <back>