New heaven, new warre - by Robert Southwell

Of Shepeherds he his muster makes. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Come to your heaven yowe heavenly quires
Earth hath the heaven of your desires
Remove your dwellinge to your god
A stall is nowe his best aboade
Sith men their homage doe denye [5]
Come Angells all their fault supply

His chilling could doth heate require
Come Seraphins in liew of fire
This little ark no cover hath
Let Cherubs winges his body swath [10]
Come Raphiell this babe must eate
Provide our little Tobie meate.

Let Gabriell be nowe his groome
That first tooke upp his earthly roome
Let Michell stande in his defence [15]
Whom love hath link'd to feeble sence
Let graces rocke when he doth crye
And Angells sing his Lullybye

The same you saw in heavenly seate
Is he that now suckes Maryes teate [20]
Agnize your kinge a mortal wighte
His borrowed weede letts not your sight
Come kysse the maunger where he lies
That is your blisse above the Skyes

This little Babe so fewe daies olde [25]
Is come to ryfle Satans folde
All hell doth at his presence quake
Though he himselfe for cold doe shake
For in this weake unarmed wise
The gates of hell he will surprise [30]

With teares he fightes and wynnes the feild
His naked breste stands for a sheilde
His battering shot are babishe cryes
His Arrowes lookes of weepinge eyes
His Martiall ensignes cold and neede [35]
And feeble fleshe his warriers steede

His campe is pitched in a stall
Be His bulwarke but a broken wall
The Cribb his trench hay stalks his staks
Of Shepeherds he his muster makes [40]
And thus as sure his foe to Wounde
The Angells Trumpes alarum sounde.

My soule with Christ joyne thou in fighte
Sticke to the tents that he hath pight
Within his Cribb is surest warde [45]
This little Babe will be thy garde
If thou wilt foyle thy foes with joye
Then flit not from this heavenly boy.

Notes

Background: RS was a Jesuit, a member and priest of the Society of Jesus that was founded in 1534 by St Ignatius of Loyola. Ignacio had been a soldier and was seriously wounded. When he later founded the Society of Jesus, he called it the 'Compañía de Jesús', a company being a unit in the army. The Jesuits were to wage a war on behalf of Christ's Church against Satan and sin, seeking to rescue souls and lead them to Heaven. This theme permeates the poem but with a  particular emphasis on Christ, the Head of the Church Militant, viewed as a 'babe so fewe daies old'. The oppressive Elizabethan regime directed its power at waging war against the Catholic Church in order to eliminate it from England. Many Catholics were to offer their lives in this struggle.

[l1] yowe: you

[l7] could: cold

[ll11-12] Raphiell and Tobie: a reference to Raphael and Tobias, whose story appears in the Book Of Tobit (Tobias).  The archangel  Raphael ('God has healed') cares for the young Tobias on his journey to obtain ten talents of silver left in bond by his father. Tobias while bathing in the Tigris is attacked by a large fish, catches it, and, at the advice of Raphael, keeps its heart, liver, and gall. Tobias chooses Sara for his wife and by continence and using the odour of the burning liver of the fish and the aid of Raphael, he conquers the devil who had slain the seven previous husbands of Sara. Raphael cures the blindness of the elder Tobias, on the return of his son

[l13] Gabriell: the power or strength of God. groome: a serving-man; a man-servant; a male attendant. Obsolete exc. arch.

[l21] wight: man

[l22] borrowed weede: borrowed clothes. This may be reference to the flesh with which God, the Supreme Spirit, clothes Himself in the incarnation. letts: to let - to hinder, prevent, obstruct, stand in the way of (a person, thing, action, etc.). 1584   T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxii. 189   'Much meate eaten at night, grieueth the stomacke, & letteth naturall rest.'

[l38] metre: There is an extra syllable in this line in the Waldegrave MS> In the printed edition, 'Be' is omitted. 

[l39] staks: stakes.

[l42] Trumpes: trumpets. trumpet n. 1. arch. and poet.a1530   W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. CCxiiiiv   'The day of the sounde of the claryon & trumpe of god.' alarum: A signal calling upon people to arm themselves; a call to arms.

[l44] pight: 'pitched'. transitive. = pitch ; to set up; to fix. Obsolete (arch. and poet. in later use)
1586   W. Warner Albions Eng. ii. vii. 23   'And hauing in their sight the threatned Citie of the Foe, his Tents did Affer pight.'

A childe my Choyce - by Robert Southwell

Let folly praise that phancy loves I praise and love that childe
Whose hart no thought, whose tong no word, whose hand no deed defilde
I praise him most I love him best all prayse and love is his
While him I love in him I live and cannot lyve amisse
Loves sweetest mark, lawdes highest theme, mans most desired light [5]
To love him life to leave him death to live in him delighte
He myne by gift I his by debt thus ech to other Dewe
First frende he was best frende he is all tymes will try him trewe.
Though yonge yet wise though small yet stronge though man yet god he is
As wise he knowes, as stronge he can as god he lives to blisse [10]
His knowledge rules his strength defendes his love doth cherish all
His birth our joye, his life our light, his death our end of thrall
Alas he weepes he sighes he pantes yet do his Angells singe
Out of his teares his sighes and throbbs doth bud a joyfull springe
Almightie babe whose tender armes can force all foes to flye [15]
Correct my faultes, protect my life direct me when I die.

Notes

 

The Holy Infant of Prague*

[l1] that: Of things: thăt = (the thing) that, that which, what. Very common down to 16th c.; now arch. and poetic, what being the prose form. eg, a1568   R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) i. f. 12^v   Where they should, neither see that was vncumlie, nor heare that was vnhonest.

[l1] phancy: fancy - In early use synonymous with imagination n.

[l2] hart: heart

[l4] amisse: Out of order: not in accord with the recognized good order of morality, society, custom, nature, bodily health, etc. etc.; deficient, faulty.
a1616   Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. iii. 96   Don. 'What is amisse? Macb. You are, and doe not know't.'

[l5] lawdes: lauds - Praise, high commendation.A hymn or ascription of praise.

*The statue shown here was formerly installed in Corpus Christi church, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. It was given to my family in the 1980s by the parish priest, Father Henry Dodd, when a larger one was acquired for the church. Please remember the learned and saintly Fr Dodd and his saintly housekeeper, Esther Clark, in your prayers. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,et lux perpetua luceat eis.

[l7] Dewe: due.

[l10] blisse: bless.

[l14] throbbs: throbs -  A sudden catching of the breath or similar audible expression of emotion or distress; a sob, a sigh. Obsolete.1590   Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ix. sig. Nn2v   'Still as she stood, she heard with grieuous throb Him grone, as if his hart were peeces made.'

Metre: 'fourteener'

The sixteen lines of the above poem each contain fourteen syllables. Such a line is known as a a 'quatorzain' or 'fourteener'.

1591   T. Nashe in Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella Introd.  'Put out your rush candles you poets and rimers and bequeath your quaterzayns to chandlers.'

It usually has seven stresses in an iambic metre, in which case it can also be called an iambic heptameter. There is normally a caesura after the eighth syllable.

Fourteeners, usually in rhyming couplets, were often used by English poets in the 15th and 16th centuries. 
One familiar, modern example is the nursery rhyme:

O Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.

The Assumption of our Lady - by Robert Southwell

If sinne be captive grace must finde release
From curse of sinne the innocent is free
Tombe prison is for sinners that decease
No tombe but throne to guiltless doth agree
Though thralles of sinne lye lingring in their grave [5]
Yet faultles cors with soule rewarde must have.

The daseled eye doth dymmed light require
And dying sightes repose in shadowinge shades
But Eagles eyes to brightest light aspire
And living lookes delite in loftye glades [10]
Faynte winged foule by grounde doth fayntly flye
Our Princely Eagle mountes unto the skye.

Gemm to her worth spouse to her love ascendes
Prince to her throne Queene to her heavenly kinge
Whose court with solemn pompe on her attends [15]
And Quires of Saintes with greeting notes do singe
Earth rendreth upp her undeserved praye
Heaven claymes the right and beares the prize awaye.

Notes

Background: According to the general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul.
Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.

St. John Damascene (c675-c749) spoke out with powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with her other prerogatives and privileges. “It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God.”

For more, see: Munificentissimus Deus (1950).

[l5] thralles:  thrall - One who is in bondage to a lord or master; a villein, serf, bondman, slave; also, in vaguer use, a servant, subject; transf. one whose liberty is forfeit; a captive, prisoner of war. fig. One who is in bondage to some power or influence; a slave (to something).

[l6] cors:body.

[l7] daseled: dazzled

[l11] Faynte:  Sluggish, timid, feeble.Wanting in courage, spiritless, cowardly. Obsolete or arch. Wanting in strength or vigour. foule: fowl, birds.

[l14] Prince: Mary. Applied to a female sovereign. Obsolete.1594   Willobie his Auisa iv. f. 7   'Cleopatra, prince of Nile.'

[l17] praye: prey.

The death of our Ladie - by Robert Southwell

Weepe livinge thinges of life the mother dyes
The world doth loose the summ of all her blisse
The Quene of Earth the Empresse of the skyes
By maryes death mankind an orphan is
Lett nature weepe yea lett all graces mone [5]
Their glory grace and giftes dye all in one

It was no death to her but to her woe
By which her joyes beganne her greives did end
Death was to her a frende to us a foe
Life of whose lives did on her life depende [10]
Not pray of death but praise to death she was
Whose uglye shape seemd glorious in her face

Her face a heaven two planettes were her eyes
Whose gracious light did make our clearest day
But one such heaven there was and loe it dyes [15]
Deathes dark Eclipse hath dymmed every ray.
Sunne hide thy light, thy beames untymely shine
Trew light sith wee have lost we crave not thine.

[ l1]: Weep, all living things; the mother of life dies.

[l2] summ: the sum; the summit.

[l5]: mone: moan with grief, mourn.

[ll7-8]: It is not death that Mary suffers; it is the death of (the end of) her woe. Her death ends her 'greives' (sorrows) and leads her to the joy of life in Heaven.

[35] And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. [Luke 2]

[l10]: One sense might be: 'Hers was the life of those whose lives did on her life depend.'  'Her life' may be herself or the life she bore within her and whom she bore unto the world.

[l11] pray: prey

[l15] loe: lo.

[l12]: There are attested cases of saints whose body suffered no putrefaction after death; who even seemed strangely beautiful in death. How fitting it is therefore that Our Lady's face would be gloriously and radiantly beautiful in death.

For a summary of what the Church has always held and taught on the subject of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, see: the  APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF POPE PIUS XII, MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS. November 1, 1950

Christes Childhoode - by Robert Southwell

Till twelve yeres age, how Christ his childhood spent
All earthly pennes unworthy were to write
Such actes to mortall eyes he did presente
Whose worth not men but Angells must recite
No natures blotts no childish faulted defilde [5]
Where grace was guide and god did play the childe

In springing lockes laye couched hoary Witt
In semblant younge a grave and auncient port
In lowly lookes high majestie did sitt
In tender tungue sound sense of sagest sort. [10]
Nature imparted all that she could teache
And god supplyd where nature could not reach

His mirth of modest meane a mirrhour was
His sadness tempered with a mylde aspecte
His eye to try each action was a glasse [15]
Whose lookes did goode approve and bad correct.
His natures giftes his grace his word and deede
Well shewd that all did from a god proceede

Notes

 

The Youth of Jesus. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

l[7] hoary: Of the hair, head, or beard: grey or white with age. Ancient; venerable from age, time-honoured. Witt: Wisdom, good judgement, discretion, prudence. Obsolete except in phr. like to have the wit to, which combines the notions of intelligence and good sense. Christ's youthful appearance belies His wisdom. His springing locks of hair suggest the springtime of His life in contrast with hoary, wintry whiteness of the last season of a man's life.

[l8] semblant: seeming. port: carriage, deportment.

[l13] meane:  The look, bearing, manner, or conduct of a person, as showing character, mood, etc.
1596 Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. ix. sig. Gg4 Her rare demeanure, which him seemed So farre the meane of shepheards to excell, As that [etc.]  mirrhour: mirror.

[l15] ech: each. trye: To examine and determine (a cause or question) judicially; to determine the guilt or otherwise of (an accused person) by consideration of the evidence; to sit in judgement on; to judge. glass: mirror. 1594   Shakespeare Lucrece sig. M3   Poore broken glasse, I often did behold In thy sweet semblance, my old age new borne.

Southwell: Christes returne out of Egipt

When death and hell their right in herode clayme
Christ from exile returnes to native soyle
There, with his life more deepely death to mayme
Then death did life by all the infantes spoyle
He shewd the parentes that their babes did mone [5]
That all their lives were lesse than his alone.

But hearing Herods sonne to have the crowne
An impious offspring of a bloodye syre
To Nazareth (of heaven beloved) towne,
Flower to a flowre he fittly doth retyre. [10]
For flowre he is and in a flower he bredd
And from a thorne now to a flowre he fledd.

And wel deservd this floure his fruite to vew
Where he invested was in mortall weede
Where first unto a tender budd he grewe [15]
In virgin branch unstaynd with mortall seede.
Younge flowre with flowres in flower well may he be
Ripe fruite he must with thornes hange on a tree.

Notes

 

The return from Egypt. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[Background]: Herod the Great (74-1BC) was king of Judea under Roman overlordship. Architectural achievements aside (such as rebuilding the Temple), his life was characterised by violence and cruelty. He is the one who ordered the massacre of the Holy Infants.  On his death, his son Herod Archelaus (23 BC - 18 AD) became ruler of Judea and was reputed to share his father's vicious ways ('an impious offspring of a bloody syre').

[19] But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, [20] Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.[21] Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. [22] But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. [23] And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.[Matthew 2]

[l2] native soyle: the land of Israel (as in verse 21 above). Presumably Bethlehem.

[ll3-4] life/death: Christ's life will overcome death, maiming death mortally through His own death and resurrection. The triumph of Christ's death completely obliterates the apparent victory of death over life and its 'spoyle' of the slaughtered Holy Innocents.  

[l4] spoyle: Goods, esp. such as are valuable, taken from an enemy or captured city in time of war; the possessions of which a defeated enemy is deprived or stripped by the victor; in more general sense, any goods, property, territory, etc., seized by force, acquired by confiscation, or obtained by similar means; booty, loot, plunder.
1582   N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias 163   With this spoyle the king of Calicut remained..ill contented.

[l5] mone: moan (with grief), mourn. He (Christ) showed (through His life) to the parents who were mourning the death of their babes...

[l7] Herods sonne: Archelaus.

Nazareth. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[l9] Nazareth (and flower imagery in following lines):

[23] And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.[Matthew 2]

[1] And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.
[1] Et egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet. [Isaiah 11]

In the time of St. Jerome, Nazareth was known as Nazara (in modern Arabic, en Nasirah). The Nazara derives from neser, which means 'a shoot'. The Latin Vulgate renders this word by flos, 'flower'.  Nazareth is accordingly the 'flower of Galilee'. The above Prophecy of Isaiah speaks of Christ's family tree in terms of a root, a shoot and a flower. He was descended from David (son of Jesse).

[l10] fittly: fitly - In a way that is fit; properly, aptly, becomingly, suitably, appropriately.
a1616   Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. ii. 36   Cats, that can iudge as fitly of his worth, As I can of those Mysteries. Christ is the flower who fittingly retires to Nazareth, the flower of Galilee.

[l11] in a flower he bredd: in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Rosa Mystica, Flos Carmeli.

[l12] from a thorne: the risk that Archelaus would shed His blood. This perhaps looks ahead to the Crown of Thorns and His Passion in l18. He flees to Nazareth, the flower of Galilee.

[ll12-16]: 'this floure' may refer to Nazareth (the antecedent in l12) or to Christ Himself.  In Nazareth, witness Christ came to fruition; it was here that He (a god) was clothed as a human (a mortal); where He grew from a babe, to a child, to a young man. His mother conceived Him sinlessly without the stain of human seed.

[ll17-18]: Christ lives with His family, growing up to manhood in Nazareth; but, as a man, He is destined to die nailed to a cross, wearing a crown of thorns.

Southwell: The flight into Egipt

Alas our day is forc'd to flye by nyghte
Light without light, and sunne by silent shade
O nature blushe that suffrest such a wighte
That in thy Sunne this darke Eclipse hath made
Day to his eyes, light to his steppes denye
That hates the light which graceth every eye

Sunne being fledd the starres do leese their light
And Shyninge beames in bloody streames they drenche
A Cruell storme of Herods mortall spite
Their lives and lightes with bloody showres doth quench
The Tiran to be sure of murdringe one
For feare of sparinge him doth pardon none.

O blessed babes, first flowers of Christian springe
Who though untimely cropt fayre garlands frame
With open throates and silent mouthes you singe
His praise whome age permitts you not to name
Your tunes are teares your instruments are swords
Your ditye death and bloode in liew of wordes.

Notes

Background:

The Flight into Egypt. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[12] And having received an answer in sleep that they [the wise men] should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country. [13] And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. [14] Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: [15] That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son. [16] Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. [Matthew 2] 

[First verse] day/light/sunne v nyghte/shade:  The imagery represents Christ  and His enemies, good and evil, love and hatred. The words of the ancient, Nicene Creed come to mind: Lumen de Lumine. Light from Light.Sacres scripture abounds with such imagery.

[15] Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? [Isaiah 29]

[19] And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. [20] For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. [John 3]

[5] And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.[1 John 1]

[l3] wighte: A living being in general; a creature. Obsolete. A human being, man or woman, person. 
Now arch. or dialect (often implying some contempt or commiseration). The wighte here is presumably
Herod the Great (78-1 BC), tetrarch of Galilee and father of Herod Antipas (who beheaded 
John the Baptist and had a role in the Passion of Christ.

[Second & third verses]: These verses refer to the massacre of the Holy Innocents.

The Holy Innocents. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

[l7] leese: lose. See eg, 1605   Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Aa2   'Water..doth scatter and leese it selfe in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle.' In the absence of the sun, the stars have no light. With the flight of the Son of God, baby Jesus, into Egypt, the boy babies are fated to lose the light of their lives.
the boy babies are fated to lose the light of their lives.

[l11] Tiran: the tyrant, Herod. 

[l13] first flowers: first martyrs of Christianity, their lives being taken for Christ. Compare with the use in: 'The flower of English manhood perished in the mud of Flanders.'

[l18] ditye: The words of a song, as distinguished from the music or tune; also, the leading theme or phrase; hence, Subject, matter, theme, ‘burden’. liew: lieu, place

Coda

It is salutary when studying his poetry to recall that RS was writing in 'Christian', 'God-fearing' England at a time when belief in Christ and the one, true Church He founded risked grisly martyrdom under the Virgin Queen, 'Bloody Bess'.

The slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem finds its parallel in the butchery of men and women were innocent of any crime, condemned to die for staying faithful to the faith of their fathers.

For a passionately written account of these times written by a protestant, see: Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation (edited by FA Gasquet). 






. 

Southwell: The Presentation

To be redeemd the worlds redeemer brought
Two sely turtle doves for ransome payes
O ware with Empyres worthy to be bought
This easy rate doth sounde not drowne thy praise
For sith no price can to thy worth amounte
A dove yea love dew price thou doest accounte.

Old Simeon cheap penyworth and sweete
Obteyn'd when the in armes he did embrace
His weeping eies thy smiling looks did meete
Thy love his heart thy kisses blissd his face
O eies O hart meane sights and loves avoyde
Base not your selves, your best you have enjoyed.

O Virgin pure thow do'st these Doves present
As due to lawe not as an equall price
To buy such ware thow wouldst thy life have spente
The worlds to reach hid worth could not suffice
If god were to be bought not worldly pelfe
But thow wert fittest price next god himself.

Notes

 

Presentation in Temple. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

[Preliminary]: Purification and Redemption: According to the Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth to a male child was considered unclean for seven days. After forty days, the mother was to 'bring to the temple a lamb for a holocaust and a young pigeon or turtle dove for sin'; if she was not able to offer a lamb, she was to take two turtle doves or two pigeons.  The priest prayed for her and so she was cleansed (Leviticus 12:2-8). Forty days after the birth of Christ, Mary complied with this precept and redeemed her first-born from the temple (Numbers 18:15). Our Redeemer was 'redeemed' by His mother in compliance with the law.

[22] And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: [23] As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: [24] And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons: [Luke 2]

[l1] redeemd/redeemer: to redeem- To ransom (a person) from slavery, captivity, or punishment; to save (a person's life) by paying a ransom.

[l2] selye: 'silly' - in Elizabethan/Jacobean usage can mean 'helpless, defenceless, powerless; frequently with the suggestion of innocence or undeserved suffering. Meagre, poor, trifling; of little significance, substance, or value; weak, feeble, frail; lacking strength, size, or endurance.'

[l2] payes: To construe this as a verb is attractive, as in 'pays a ransom', but sits ill with the syntax. If it is construed as a noun, the sense becomes 'ransom payment(s) (there being two doves). One contemporaneous citation would permit a singular construction of the noun: 1598   R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iv. 117   Souldiers of great experience..should be aduantaged in their payes ('salary').

[l3] O ware...bought: The little baby Jesus is compared to 'ware' (see also l15) that is worthy of being redeemed by all the riches of the world's empires.

[l4] This easye rate... thy praise: this rate of paying two turtle doves is an easy rate that sounds (proclaims) rather than drowns (or conceals) His praise.

[l6] yea: Used to introduce a statement, phrase, or word, stronger or more emphatic than that immediately preceding: = ‘indeed’; ‘and more’. dew: 'due'. If thou (referring to the Lord) dost account a dove a fitting (due) price to pay in order to redeem the firstborn, then even more so would be love in the giver's heart.

[l7] Simeon: 
[25] And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him.[26] And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. [27] And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, [28] He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: [29] Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; [30] Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, [31] Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: [32] A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.[Luke 2]

[l8] the: thee, the holy infant Jesus. For a minuscule sum (cheap penyworth), Simeon obtained a sweet privilege of taking the Holy Infant in his arms.

[l9] thy smyling looks: It is commonly attested that babies smile for the first time  around six weeks after birth (ie, some 40 days!).

[l10] blissd: to bliss and/or to bless - to give joy or gladness to; to gladden, make happy. (In 16–17th centuries blended with bless.) Obsolete. The verb is used twice in this line: 'Thy love blissed his heart, thy kisses blissed his face.' In the first two verses, the poet is addressing Christ.

[l12] Base not yourselves: Following on from the exhortation to avoid 'meane sights and loves', 'base' seems to suggest 'Do not debase yourselves', mindful that you have found satisfaction in ensuring that your eyes and heart focus on what is good (best).

[l17] pelfe: Property, material possessions; objects of value. Obsolete. Chiefly depreciative. Money, riches. 1589   G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. 217   A misers mynde thou hast, thou hast a Princes pelfe. A lewd terme to be giuen to a Princes treasure. 'If God were to be bought, no worldly lucre would suffice; but thou, Mary, would be the fittest price (next to God Himself).

Southwell: The Epiphanye

To blase the rising of this glorious sunne
A glittringe starre appeareth in the Easte
Whose sight to Pilgrimm toyles three sages wunne
To seeke the light they long had in requeste
And by this starre to nobler starr they pace
Whose armes did their desired sunne embrace

Stall was the skye wherein these planetts shynde
And want the cloude that did eclipse their rayes
Yet through this cloude their light did passage finde
And perc'd these sages harts by secret waies
Which made them knowe the ruler of the skyes
By infant tongue and lookes of babish eyes.

Heaven at her light, earth blusheth at her pride
And of their pompe these peeres ashamed bee
Their crownes, their robes their trayne they sett aside
When gods poor Cotage clouts and crewe they see
All glorious thinges their glory now dispise
Sith god contempt doth more than glory prize.

Three giftes they bringe three giftes they beare awaye
For incense myrrhe and gould, faith hope and love
And with their gifts the givers hartes do staye
Their mynde from Christ no parting can remove
His humble state, his stall his poore retynewe
They phancie more, then all their ritch revenewe.

Notes

And by this starre to nobler starr they pace. JJ Tissot, Brooklyn Museum

[Title] Epiphanye: late Latin epiphania, neuter plural (but often used as feminine singular), < late Greek ἐπιϕάνια (neuter plural of adjective *ἐπιϕάνιος), < ἐπιϕαίνειν to manifest, < ἐπί to + ϕαίνειν to show.

[l1] blase: blaze - To proclaim (as with a trumpet), to publish, divulge, make known.

[ll3-4]:  The sense would seem to be: Three sages, through their determined effort and toil, were favoured with sight of the glittering star in the East. They had spent a long time in the quest for the light of this star.

[ll5-6]: They follow the star, making their way to Mary, a nobler star (Stella Maris), whose arms enfold the sought for Sun of Justice.

[ll7-8]: One possible explanation of these lines is as follows. The created sun and stars shine in the physical firmament. Down on earth, Christ the Sun of Justice and Mary, Star of the Sea, have a stall (or primitive home) for their sky in which they ('these planets') shine. The poverty of the setting and of the Holy Family might have masked, like a cloud, the light of their souls. The poverty might have been a particular problem for the richly vested sages, with all their fine accoutrements. See the next verse.

Infant tongue and lookes of babish eyes. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Mus

[ll10-12]: But the cloud of poverty did not prevent the light from piercing the sages' hearts in secret ways, enabling them to recognise God, the ruler of the skies, through His infant sounds and looks.

[l13] her: 'their'. The genitive case of the third person plural personal pronoun : of them; of themselves. Heaven and earth blush at their pride, the pride of the richly clad sages.

[l16] clouts: 'clout' - A small piece or shred produced by tearing or rending; in later use chiefly a shred of cloth, a rag. Applied contemptuously to any article of clothing; in plural clothes.

[l16] crewe: A number of persons classed together (by the speaker) from actual connection or common characteristics; often with derogatory qualification or connotation; lot, set, gang, mob, herd.

[l18] contempt: God looks favourably upon those who are poor and lowly in the eyes of the world and viewed with 'contempt.

[23] Then Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. [24] And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 19]

[l23] retynewe: retinue. A group of people (or animals) in the service of or accompanying a person, esp. a sovereign, noble, or person in authority; a train, a suite. The little baby is Christ the King, the Prince of Peace, of the royal house of David; His mother is a Queen;  but his 'retinue' is 'poore'.

[l24] revenewe: revenue, with stress on penultimate syllable: revénue.

Southwell: The Circumcision

The Circumcision 1500. Workshop of Bellini. National Gallery.CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The head is launc't to work the bodies cure
With angring salve it smartes to heale our wounde
To faltlesse son from all offences pure
The falty vassalls scourges do redounde
The judge is cast the guilty to acquite
The sonne defac'd to lend the starre his light

The veyne of life distilleth droppes of grace
Our rock gives yssue to an heavenly springe
Teares from his eyes blood runes nfrom wounded place
Which showers to heaven of joy a harvest bringe
This sacred deaw lett Angells gather upp
Such daynty droppes best fitt their nectared cupp.

With weeping eyes his mother reu'd his smart
If bloode from him, teares rann from her as fast
The knife that cutt his fleshe did perce her hart [15]
The payne that Jesus felt did Marye tast
His life and hers hunge by one fatall twiste
Noe blow that hitt the sonne the mother mist.

Notes

[l1] the head...the bodies cure: Christ is the head and we are the body.

[17] And he is before all, and by him all things consist. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church [Colossians 1]

His blood will be our redemption, the cure of the body. Perhaps it is worth recalling another's head, a reference to Satan and his horde of demons and minions:

[15] I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. [Genesis 3]

[l1] launc't: lanced. To lance: To pierce with or as with a lance or a lancet; to cut, gash, slit. Also, to slit open; to open. Obsolete exc. poet. The word derives from the Latin lancea which is found in the Chapter 19 of St John's Gospel. Christ is cut at the beginning of the Gospels and also at the very end, after His death on the cross:

 [34] sed unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua.
 [34] But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water.

RS refers to this image of 'blood and water' throughout this poem. We are called to meditate upon the blood and watery tears of Christ during his circumcision; the water and wine of the first miracle at Cana; the water and wine at the first Mass during the Last Supper; the bloody sweat of His agony in the garden; the blood and finally water shed by our Redeemer during His passion and crucifixion; the wine and water of the Mass.

[l2] angring: angry -  inflamed, smarting, as a sore. salve: a healing ointment for application to wounds or sores. 'salve' derives originally from roots meaning butter, oil or balm. It also calls to mind 'salvation' and 'Saviour'.

[l3] sonne: Mary's son, without fault, free from stain of sin.

[l4] vassals: 'vassal' - a base or abject person; a slave common Elizabethan use. Fallen man became a slave to the evil one through sin. The Saviour will suffer in His flesh, the scourges man deserves in order to redeem him. The circumcision looks forward to the scourging at the pillar 33 years later.

[l5] cast: condemned. See eg, 1567   J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 107   Thinke you, he would determine matters, before he knew them: So might he cast Christ, and quit Barabbas.

[l5] acquite: To pay the debt of and free (a debtor who has been held in prison); to ransom (a person); (also occasionally) to redeem (a thing). Obsolete.

The sense of the line then becomes: Christ, who will come again to judge the living and the dead, is condemned in order through His passion and death to acquit guilty mankind.

[l6] The sonne: the sun, as in the Sun of Justice. God Almighty, the supreme being, permits Himself to have His glory seem to be diminished in order that His light may lead poor creatures unto salvation from sin and show them the way to Heaven.

[l8] rock: A reference to the rock struck by Moses to save his people from death and enable them to make their way to the promised land [Numbers 20]. This rock was a figure of Christ, and the water that issued out from the rock, of his precious blood, the source of all our good.

Mateo Cerezo. 1664-1665. Museo de Burgos

[l9]: The syntax here permits more than one sense. Perhaps the primary sense is: the showers of tears and blood (l8) bring to Heaven a harvest of joy. The water and blood flowing from Christ during His passion cause new life to spring from the earth like plants watered by showers of rain. The new life is the life of grace in souls no longer in thrall to sin. The waters of baptism mean that a man is born again to a new life:

[3] Jesus ... said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.[John 3]

Many artists have represented angels collecting the 'sacred dew', the precious blood from the crucified Christ, as  described in lines11-12. Cerezo's Cristo de la Sangre (left) is one example.



[l13] reu'd: rued.

[l15] did perce her hart: When Jesus was presented in the Temple at Jerusalem, Simeon prophesied to Mary that she would experience great sorrow:

Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; [35] And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. [Luke 2]

[l17] twiste: The continuation or course of life figured as a thread.  Obsolete.
1568   T. Howell Arbor of Amitie f. 4   For thin is twist or fatall threed, on mortall wheele so spoon.
A further sense signified here: an intimate union or connection.

[l18] miste: missed. RS's English syntax reflects his expertise in Latin. Here is but one of many examples of a verb ('missed') where 'the mother' could be either the subject or the direct object.

Coda: Circumcision and Baptism

St. Thomas holds that circumcision was a figure of baptism. He gives three reasons why the organ of generation rather than any other was to be circumcised:

• Abraham was to be blessed in his seed;
• The rite was to take away original sin, which comes by generation;
• It was to restrain concupiscence, which is found especially in the generative organs (III, Q. lxx, a. 3).

According to his teaching, as baptism remits original sin and actual sins committed before its reception, so circumcision remitted both, but ex opere operantis, ie, by the faith of the recipient, or, in the case of infants, by the faith of the parents.

Southwell: The Nativitye of Christ

Nativity. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Behold the father is his daughters sonne
The bird that built the nest, is hatchd therein
The old of yeres an hower hath not outrunne
Eternall life to live doth now beginne
The worde is dumm the mirth of heaven doth weepe
Might feeble is and force doth fayntly creepe.

O dyinge soules behold your living springe
O dazeled eyes behould your sunne of grace
Dull eares attend what word this word doth bringe
Up heavy hartes with joye your joy embrace
From death from darke from deaphness from despayres
This life this light this word this joy repaires

Gift better than himself god doth not knowe
Gift better then his god no man can see
This gift doth here the giver given bestowe
Gift to this gift lett ech receiver bee
God is my gift, himself he freely gave me
Gods gift am I and none but God shall have me.

Ox, ass & shepherds. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Man altered was by synn from man to best
Bestes food is haye haye is all mortall fleshe
Now god is fleshe and lyes in manger prest
As haye the brutish synner to refreshe.
O happy feilde wherein this foder grewe
Whose taste doth us from beastes to men renewe.

[First verse] paradox: an apparently absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition, or a strongly counter-intuitive one, which investigation, analysis, or explanation may nevertheless prove to be well-founded or true. A common feature of RS's writings is the paradox, well-illustrated here.

[l1] the father is his daughters sonne: because Jesus is Mary's son but He is the Son of the Father and He and the Father are one. [ [30] I and the Father are one John 10]

[l2] the bird ... hatched therein: See: [10] He was in the world, and the world was made by him [John 1]

[l3] the olde of yeres an hower hath not outrunne: Daniel prophecies the Second Coming of Jesus

[22] Till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High,[Daniel 7]

[l5] the word is dumm: In the beginning was the Word (God the Son), the Word became flesh and dwelled amongst us. But as a newborn, the Word did not utter words (though doubtless communicating like all newborn infants!).

[l5] the mirth of heaven doth weepe: 'mirthe' - Often used of religious joy and heavenly bliss. Now obsolete. The sense then seems to be that God's Heaven is bliss ('mirth') where there are no tears; but the Christ child cries like any other infant here on earth in 'this vale of tears'.

[l6] fayntly: weakly, feebly.

ll11-12]: The syntax works like an acrostic:
From death                     :    This life
from darke ('darkness')  :     this light 
from deaphnesse            :     this word
from despayres              :      this joy       repaires

[l15] gift/giver/given: the giver is God; the gift is Himself (ie His Son); He is bestowed on or given to us. He gives Himself to us through His incarnation; He gives Himself unto death as a sacrifice to redeem us, with such great love, he lays down or gives His life for His friends; He gives Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and offers to give Himself to the faithful in Holy Communion.

[l19] best: beast. Man lost the gift of freedom from from concupiscence, a desire of the lower appetite contrary to reason and hence likened here to animal impulses.

[21] I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me. [22] For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: [23] But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. [24] Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? [Ephesians 7]

[ll20-24] haye: The context here suggests an image of baby Jesus lying on hay in the manger of the stable in Bethlehem, with the ox and the ass nearby. This image conveys another meaning: God has come down from Heaven ('Now god is fleshe') and has a taste of life on earth, like one of his creatures; He lies in a manger where animals eat the hay to keep themselves alive. He will become like this hay for our sake and offer Himself to us through Mass and Communion so that we may have a taste of Heaven here on earth; and so that we, 'brutest synners', by partaking of Him, might be refreshed and have the hope one day of life with Him forever in Heaven.

There is no ass or ox in the Biblical narratives of the birth of Christ but with exception of the Child himself, the ass and the ox are the most ancient and stable elements in  the iconography of the nativity.  See The Ass and The Ox in The Nativity Icon by Jonathan Pageau at The Orthodox Arts Journal.

The ox (a clean animal, a castrated male) represents Israel (the chosen people, circumcised)  and the ass (an unclean, uncastrated animal, a beast of burden) represents the gentiles (uncircumcised of the flesh).  Together they represent the whole of mankind, as in the poem.

They feature in the prophecies of Isaiah:

[3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.[Isaiah 1]

This has an interesting parallel in St Paul:

[22] For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: [23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: [1 Corinthians 1]

Coda

Fulton Sheen provides a modern version of the use of paradox in describing the Incarnation of Christ:

“He who made his mother is born of his mother. He who made all flesh is born of flesh. The bird that built the nest is hatched therein. Maker of the sun, under the sun; molder of the earth, on this earth; ineffably wise, a little infant; filling the world, lying in a manger; ruling the stars, suckling a breast; the mirth of heaven weeps; God becomes man; Creator, a creature. Rich becomes poor; Divinity, incarnate; Majesty, subjugated; Liberty, captive; Eternity, time; Master, a servant; Truth, accused; Judge, judged; Justice, condemned; Lord scourged; Power, bound with ropes; King, crowned with thorns; Salvation wounded; Life, dead. And thought we shall live on through eternity, eternity will not be long enough for us to understand the mystery of that Child Who was a Father and of the mother who was a child.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Divine Romance, delivered in the Catholic Radio Hour 1930)

Southwell: The Visitation

The Visitation. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Proclaymed Queene and mother of a god
The light of earth the Soveraigne of Saints
With Pilgrimm foote upp tyring hils she trodd
And heavenly stile with handmayds toyle acquaints
Her youth to age her helth to sicke she lends
Her heart to god to neighbour hand she bendes.

A prince she is and mightier prince doth beare
Yet pompe of princely trayne she would not have
But doubtles heavenly quires attendant were
Her child from harme her selfe from fall to save
Word to the voyce songe to the tune she bringes
The voyce her Word, the tune her dittye sings

Eternall lightes enclosed in her breste
Shott out such percing beames of burning love
That when her voyce her Cosens eares possest
The force thereof did force her babe to move
With secret signes the children greete ech other
But open praise ech leaveth to his mother.

Notes

The Magnificat. Tissot

[l2] The light of earth the Soveraigne of Saints: This can in one sense refer to Mary who is the Stella Matutina and the Stella Maris - the Morning Star, the Star of the Sea: the 'light of the earth'. She is also honoured as a queen under various titles (thirteen in the Litany of Loreto), including Regina Omnium Sanctorum, Queen of All Saints. See also the use of 'soveraigne' in line 7 in Our Ladies Salutation'.The syntax supports a second sense whereby she is the 'mother of a god' and 'the light of the earth', Christ the 'light of the world'; and the mother of the 'Soveraigne of Saints', Christ the King.

[l3] upp tyring hils she trodd: Mary made a journey from Nazareth to a village in the hill country of Judah, Ain Karim, some 90 miles distant. Ain Karim means 'Spring of the Vineyard', an interesting name for the birthplace of John the Baptist who was to baptise Christ in the waters of the Jordan. There are many texts linking Christ to the 'vine': see, for instance:[5] I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.[John XV]

[l4] And heavenly stile: this line makes reference to the heavenly and the earthly. The angel from Heaven speaks of miraculous, Heavenly things:

[31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33] And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

[36] And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: [37] Because no word shall be impossible with God. [Luke I]

The Blessed Virgin Mary, here in her earthly home in Nazareth, replies: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. Pondering the Heavenly words in her heart, but mindful of earthly, practical concerns for her elderly kinswoman, Elizabeth, Mary journeys 'with haste' to offer help. She bends he heart to God, but to her neighbour (Elizabeth), she will lend a helping hand [l6]. This last line is a wonderful example by Mary of Jesus' answer to the scribe who asked which was the 'first commandment of all':

[29] And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God. [30] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. [31] And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

[l5] sicke: either a sickness or a person suffering (here Elizabeth). Cf 1526   Bible (Tyndale) Matt. ix. f. xj   Then sayd he vnto the sicke of the palsey.

[l7] prince: Mary. Can be applied to a female sovereign in Elizabethan usage. See eg, 1581   W. Stafford Compend. Exam. Complaints (1876) i. 29   Yea, the Prince,..as she hath most of yearely Reuenewes,..so should shee haue most losse by this dearth.

l11-12] Word, voyce, songe, tune, dittye: these two lines are rich in imagery and meaning. There is clearly at one level a reference to Mary singing the Magnificat, the 'Canticle of Mary'. She voices her ideas through words that she sings. There is another possible reference:
'Word to the voyce...she bringes': Mary bears within her womb Jesus, the 'Word made flesh', and she has brought him to John who is in the womb of his mother Elizabeth and will later say that he is the 'voice of one crying in the wilderness'.
dittye: The words of a song, as distinguished from the music or tune. See eg, 1561   Iniunctions Bishop of Norwich sig. B.iii   'That the songe in the Churche be..so deuised and vsed that the ditte may plainly be vnderstand.'

[l14-15] eternall lightes...percing beames of burning love: Jesus, the 'light of the world', enables to see the truth and the way to Heaven:

[12] Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying: I am the light of the world:
he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. [John  8, 12].

But the Divine fire that provides this light also enflames hearts. After the resurrection, two disciples met up with a stranger on their way to Emaus. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him. They did not recognise him as Jesus until the breaking of bread in the evening, when their eyes were suddenly opened.

[32] And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures? [Luke 24]

ll17-18] With secret signes... : Luke recounts the words uttered by Elizabeth and Mary. 'secret signes' can mean here a sign that is not outwardly visible, as in the coming of the Holy Ghost upon Elizabeth and her baby's dancing for joy in the womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.[Luke 1]

The angel who visited Zachary in the temple to prophesy the birth of John included the following words: 

he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.[Luke 1, 15]

John was not free from original sin at the moment of his conception but was freed from sin while he was still in his mother's womb, when the little Lamb of God arrived, Himself also in a mother's womb. This is almost like a baptism by his cousin Christ.

There may also be a reference to the 'secret signs' necessary in Elizabethan England for people to avoid falling foul of the oppressive, anti-Catholic laws. In this scene, two cousins greet each other by 'secret signes'.  Did two other cousins, Fr Southwell and Shakespeare, use such signs?

Southwell: Our Ladies Salutation

Continuing with our journey with Robert Southwell in Elizabethan England, we now turn to his next poem in his sequence on the Virgin Mary and Christ: 'Our Ladies Salutation'.

The Annunciation. Tissot (Brooklyn Museum)

Spell Eva backe and Ave shall yowe finde
The first beganne the last reversd our harmes
An Angells witching wordes did Eva blynde
An Angells Ave disinchaunts the charmes
Death first by Woemans Weakenes entred in
In woemans vertue life doth nowe beginn.

O Virgin brest the heavens to thee inclyne
In thee their joy and soveraigne they agnize
Too meane their glory is to match with thyne
Whose chaste receite god more then heaven did prize
Hayle fayrest heaven that heaven and earth dost blisse
Where vertewes starres god sonne of justice is.

With hauty mynd to godhead man aspird
And was by pride from place of pleasure chas'd
With loving mynde our manhead god desird
And us by love in greater pleasure plac'd
Man labouring to ascend procur'd our fall
God yelding to descend cutt off our thrall.

Notes

[l3] witching wordes: 'witching': 'that casts a spell; enchanting'. This is a reference to the seductive lies of the fallen Angel, Lucifer, who persuades Eve she can disobey the commandment God gave not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

[4] And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. [5] For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. [Genesis 3]

[l4] An Angells Ave: The Angel Gabriel, who fought in the victory of the good angels over Lucifer's proud hordes, begins the process of undoing the effects of the 'witching wordes', by a simple salutation: Ave...

[l5] Death:

[12] Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. [Romans V]

[l8] agnize: recognize, acknowledge. Christians acknowledge Mary as the 'Cause of our joy' (Causa nostrae laetitiae, Litany of Loreto, 12th century); and they honour her as Queen (see the thirteen titles in the same litany). Alternatively, the meaning here may be that the heavens acknowledge Jesus Christ, present body, blood, soul and divinity 'in thee', ie in the tabernacle of Mary's womb. See however lines 1-2 of The Visitation by Southwell:

Proclaymed Queene and mother of a god
The light of earth the Soveraigne of saints

[l10] receite: The act of receiving or taking in; or A place of reception or accommodation for people; a shelter, refuge.

[l11] blisse: 'bless'. Some interesting definitions from the OED: To consecrate (a person) to a sacred office. To consecrate by a prayer committing a person to God for his patronage, defence, and prospering care. To sanctify or hallow by making the sign of the cross. 'Orig. meaning (probably), To make ‘sacred’ or ‘holy’ with blood; to consecrate by some sacrificial rite.' A curious foreshadowing of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, even unto shedding the last drop of His blood for us.

Mary is apostrophized as 'fairest heaven'. She is 'Heaven' because God is dwelling in her and she is completely free from sin. 'dost' is second person singular and so the line reads as: 'O fairest Heaven, thou dost bless heaven and earth', because of the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. The second 'heaven' may be taken to mean everything above and around the earth: the sky, the sun, the moon, the starts and the planets. 'heaven and earth' therefore represent all the created world.

[l12]: Where vertewes...sonne of justice is: The uncertainty over punctuation, number and ellipsis in this line gives pause for thought. The sense may be: God, the Sun of Justice, is (there) where Virtue's Star [Mary] is. 'sonne' shows up as either 'sun' or son' in OED citations from the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. 'Sun of Justice' is a known title of Jesus Christ when He coms again in judgement of the living and the dead. see for example:

[2] But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise... [Malachi 4]

[l15] manhead: The state of being human; the condition of belonging to humanity; human nature. Esp. as opposed to godhead. An illustration of this now rare word may be found in: 'The Glorie of Christs Godhead was hid..by the sufferinges of his Manhead'.

[l18] thrall: thraldom, bondage, servitude; captivity.

Southwell: Our ladyes Spousalls

Continuing with Robert Southwell's sequence of poems on the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ, we now consider her 'spousalls' to Joseph.

By Tissot. (Brooklyn Museum)

Wife did she live yet Virgin did she die
Untowched of man, yet mother of a sonne
To save herself and childe from fatall lye
To end the webb whereof the thredd was spoone
In marriage knotts to Joseph she was tyde
Unwonted workes with wonted veyles to hide.

God lent his paradice to Josephs Care
Wherein he was to plante the tree of life
His sonne of Josephs child the title bare
Just cause to make the mother Josephs wife.
O blessed man betrothd to such a spouse
More blessd to live with such a childe in house.

No carnall love this sacred league procurde
All vaine delights were farre from their assent
Though both in wedlocke bandes themselves assurde
Yet streite by vow they seald their chaste intent.
Thus had she Virgins, wives, and widowes crowne
And by chast child-birth doubled her renowne.

Notes

Preliminary: The Joseph in the Gospels is known to all Christians as an example of chastity. It is interesting to note that his namesake, Joseph son of Jacob, also demonstrated the virtue of chastity.  When he was employed by Potiphar in Egypt, the latter's wife tried to seduce him. The story is recounted in Chapter 39 of Genesis:

[7] And after many days his (Potiphar's) mistress cast her eyes on Joseph, and said: Lie with me. [8] But he, in no wise consenting to that wicked act, said to her: Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house: [9] Neither is there any thing which is not in my power, or that he hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife: how then can I do this wicked thing, and sin against my God? [10] With such words as these day by day, both the woman was importunate with the young man, and he refused the adultery.

Potiphar's wife was so enraged by his rejection of her advances that she made a false accusation of rape against Joseph and he was thrown into prison.

St Joseph was of the City of David but was worked in Nazareth as a tekton (a carpenter according to St Justin, writing in the second century AD). St Thomas Aquinas suggests that Joseph was affianced to Mary at the time of the Annunciation and married her some time after.

[16] And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ

[18] Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. [19] Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. [20] But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. [21] And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins. [22] Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: [23] Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. [24] And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. [25] And he knew her not till [A Hebrew mode of speech connoting only what is done without any regard to the future] she brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.  [Matthew I]

[Title] spousalls: (n plural)The action of marrying someone, or of contracting to do so; the performance of a ceremony of marriage or (esp.) betrothal

Verse 1: Mary was seen to live the life of a wife and mother but remained ever a virgin up to the end of her earthly life, her dormition and her assumption into Heaven. She was untouched by any man in the sense of never having any congress, conjugal or otherwise. Though 'untouched of man', both men and women have been touched by her graces and intercessions as she spends her time in Heaven doing good on earth.

[l3] fatall: 'Producing or resulting in death, destruction, or irreversible ruin, material or immaterial; deadly, destructive, ruinous.' For the Blessed Virgin Mary, marriage to Joseph would prevent the dissemination of rumours ('lyes') that would ruin her good name and lead to dishonour for herself and also for her son.

[ll4] To end the webb ...spoone: 'spoone' is of course 'spun'. One possible image here is of a woman spinning wool or flax from a distaff into thread and twisting it onto a spindle. Such women were called 'spinsters' which came to mean an unmarried woman (with none of the pejorative connotations of modern English).

[l5] In marriage knotts ...tyde: To preserve their reputation and honour, Mary and Joseph would 'tie the knot'  of marriage, providing thereby a husband for Mary and a foster-father for Jesus.

[l6] Unwonted: Not wonted, usual, or habitual; not commonly heard, seen, practised, etc.; infrequent. Not wont to appear; rarely seen. Going beyond ordinary limits.The 'unwonted workes' are described by Gabriel in response to Mary's question: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

[35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The 'wonted veyles' are the external appearances of the betrothal and marriage, modest coverings that veil the mystery of the conception. St John records in chapter VI of his gospel of the Jews:

[42] And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

[l7] his paradice: In one sense, God's paradice refers to Mary. The image, however, suggests a further idea. . God created a beautiful garden for Adam.  Eve began as part of Adam's body, being formed from it. She was created as his friend and to be a 'helper like himself', created both to dwell in God's presence in Paradise [Genesis 2 20]. Mary, the second Eve, also begins physically joined (in her womb) to the second Adam, Jesus who is her son and her God. God places this paradise in Joseph's care. In the first as in the second state, the formula may be written thus:

Adam + Eve + freedom from sin + the real presence of God = Paradise.

Is it too fanciful to meditate upon a third state for Christians in the Church Militant?

The soul + Mary + freedom from sin + the real presence in Holy Communion = Paradise.

[l8] ...the tree of life: God planted the tree of life in the midst of Paradise. It was a gift to our first parents who, by eating of the fruit of it, would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all. The second tree of life is Jesus, our Divine Saviour, who was born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, was laid in a manger (from a word meaning 'to eat': whence the ox and ass were able to eat) and was later to explain to astonished listeners:

[51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven. [52] If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. [53] The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? [54] Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. [55] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.[John VI]

The astonishment of His listeners persists even to this day, among those who even give a second thought to the matter. Who could ever have imagined that Jesus would offer Himself as the fruit of the tree of life to us in Holy Communion? Who could ever slide into an indifferent frame of mind when approaching the Blessed Sacrament?

l11-12] O blessed...More blessed:The first sense here is that Joseph was a man blessed to be betrothed to such a spouse as Mary but was even more blessed to live in a house in the presence of the child Jesus, the son of the living God.
A second sense comes from recollecting that Fr Southwell was writing for an audience living in a land which, from once proudly proclaiming itself Mary's dowry, had become a place where recusant Catholics following the faith of their fathers, were cruelly persecuted. The Act of Uniformity of 1558 first imposed fines on all non-attenders of the new church services. These recusants may have pondered sadly on the fact that, unlike their parents and grandparents, they no longer enjoyed the blessing of their own local church, with the real presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. They no longer had easy access to Mass, Holy Communion (see previous note) and the other sacraments. The message for such Catholics would be to unite themselves to Mary and to pray that, just as the child Jesus was present in Joseph's house, He might also be present in their house, which is to say in their hearts.

[l13] this sacred league: 'league' means a covenant, compact, alliance made between parties for their mutual protection and assistance against a common enemy, the prosecution or safeguarding of joint interests, and the like. In one sense, it refers here to the betrothal and marriage between Mary and Joseph. The expression 'sacred league' may also refer to the 'Holy League' formed in 1571 as a result of the efforts of Pope St Pius V to defend Christendom from conquest by the infidel Turks. The League secured a miraculous victory against the odds at the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October that same year. The date became the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

[l16] streite: If taken adverbially, the meaning would be 'immediately, without delay'. If taken as an adjective, qualifying 'vow', the sense might include: : 'tightly drawn' (of bonds, a knot); 'close'  (of an embrace); 'rigorous, strict' (of a religious order, its rules, etc.); 'stringent, strict, allowing no evasion' (of a commandment, law, penalty, vow).