SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 217-252/792

Yet love, was loath to part; fear, loath to die:
Stay, daunger, life, did counterplead their causes:
I, favouring stay, and life, bade daunger flie:
But daunger did except against these clauses. [220]
Yet stay, and live, I would, and daunger shunne:
And lost my selfe, while I my verdict wonne.

I stayed, yet did my staying farthest part:
I liv'd; but so, that saving life, I lost it:
Daunger I shun'd, but to my sorer smart: [225]
I gayned nought, but deeper danger crost it.
What daunger, distance, death, is worse than this:
That runnes from God, and spoyles his soul of bliss?

O John, my guide into this earthly hell,
Too well acquainted in so ill a court, [230]
Where rayling mouthes with blasphemies did swell,
With taynted breath infecting all resort.
Why didst thou lead me to this hell of evills:
To shew my selfe a feind among the divels?

Evill president, the tyde that wafts to vice, [235]
Dumme orator, that woes with silent deedes,
Writing in workes lessons of evill advise,
The doing tale that eye in practize reedes:
Taster of joyes to unacquainted hunger:
With leaven of the old seasoning the yonger. [240]

It seemes no fault to doe that all have done:
The nomber of offenders hides the sinne:
Coatch drawne, with many horse doth easely runne.
Soon followeth one where multitudes begin.
O, had I in that Court much stronger bin: [245]
Or not so strong as first to enter in!

Sharpe was the weather in that stormie place,
Best suting hearts benumb'd with hellish frost,
Whose crusted malice could admit no grace,
Where coals are kindled to the warmers cost. [250]
Where feare, my thoughts canded with ysie cold:
Heate did my toungue to perjuries unfold.

Notes

[l220] except against these clauses: To make objection; to object or take exception. From the use of Latin excipere (adversus aliquem) in Roman Law; the etymological notion being that of limiting the right alleged in an opponent's declaration by setting up a countervailing right in the defendant which excepts his case 1577   M. Hanmer tr. Socrates Scholasticus i. xxi, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 248   He excepteth against Eusebius and his adherents, as open enemyes

[l223]: I stayed, but by staying moved furthest away.

[l225] Daunger I shun'd, but to my sorer smart: I shunned danger but in so doing I suffered a more painful wound.

[l226] but deeper domage crost it: I gained nothing, but , on the contrary, suffered greater harm.

John & Peter. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[l229] John: John refers to himself in his gospel account as 'another disciple':

[15] And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. And that disciple was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest.[16] But Peter stood at the door without. The other disciple therefore, who was known to the high priest, went out, and spoke to the portress, and brought in Peter. [John 18]

[l235] president: precedent. The poet focuses in this and the following verse upon the evil of following a bad precedent or example, even if all around appear to be doing the same.

[13] Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. [14] How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!  [Matthew 7]

[l238] reedes: reads.

[l236]:woes: wooes.

[l239]: A man may hunger for what appear to be joys and pleasures but without being acquainted with their real nature

[l245] bin: been.

[l247] the weather: see Chapter 18 of Matthew's Gospel:

[18] Now the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. And with them was Peter also, standing, and warming himself. 

[l251] canded: Covered with anything crystalline or glistening, as hoar-frost.1600   E. Fairfax tr. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne vi. ciii. 114   The siluer moone..Spred frostie pearle on the canded ground. ysie: icy.

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 181-216/792

In Thabor's joyes I eger was to dwell,
An earnest friend while pleasures light did shine,
But when ecclipsed glory prostrate fell,
These zealous heates to sleepe I did reseign;
And now, my mouth hath thrise his name defil'd, [185]
That cry'd so loud three dwellings there to build.

When Christ attending the distresseful hower
With his surcharged brest did blesse the ground,
Prostrate in pangs, rayning a bleeding shower,
Me, like my selfe, a drowsie friend he found; [190]
Thrise in his care, sleepe closed by careless eye,
Presage, how him my tongue should thrise deny.

Parting from Christ my fainting force declin'd,
With lingring foote I followed him a loofe,
Base feare out of my hart his love unshrind, [195]
Huge in high words, but impotent in proofe
My vaunts did seeme hatcht under Samsons locks,
Yet woman's wordes did give me murdring knocks.

So farre luke warme desires in crasie love,
Farre off in neede with feeble foote they trayne: [200]
In tydes they swimme, low ebbes they scorne to prove,
They seeke their friends delights, but shun their paine.
Hire of a hireling minde is earned shame:
Take now thy due: beare thy begotten blame.

Ah, coole remisnes, vertues quartane fever, [205]
Pyning of love, consumption of grace:
Old in the cradle, languor dying ever,
Soules wilfull famine, sinnes soft stealing pace,
The undermining evill of zealous thought,
Seeming to bring no harmes, till all be brought. [210]

O portresse of the doore of my disgrace;
Whose toung, unlockt the trueth of vowed minde;
Whose wordes, from cowardes hart did courage chase,
And let in death-full feares my soul to blinde,
O, hadst thou bene the portresse to my tomb: [215]
When thou wert portresse to that cursed roome.

Notes

The Transfiguration. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[l181] Thabor's joyes: A reference to the Transfiguration on Mount Thabor:

[1] And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: [2] And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. [3] And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. [4] And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. [5] And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. [6] And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. [7] And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them, Arise, and fear not. [8] And they lifting up their eyes saw no one but only Jesus. [Matthew 17]

Peter himself refers to this remarkable event in one of his letters:

[16] For we have not by following artificial fables, made known to you the power, and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eyewitnesses of his greatness. [17] For he received from God the Father, honour and glory: this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. [18] And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. [19] And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: [20] Understanding this first, that no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation. [2 Peter 1]

This text is particularly pertinent to the Protestant innovation of private interpretation of scripture. On the one hand, the poet uses Peter's denial as a metaphor for the denial of their faith by Catholics of this period through fear of the illegitimate 'virgin' queen of England, Elizabeth. In another sense, many in England are being forced through fear to deny Peter (in his primacy) and thus reject the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ.

[l186] three dwellings:

[4] And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

[l197] Samsons locks: Samson's life and exploits are recounted in the Book of Judges, Chapters 13-14. He is known for his strength and for his courage. The reference to his locks is significant since Samson allowed himself to betray the secret of his strength to a woman, Dalila. He fell in love with a woman named Dalila who was bribed by the Philistines to betray him into their hands. After deceiving her three times as to the source of his strength, he finally yields to her and confesses that his power is due to the fact that his head has never been shaved. Dalila treacherously causes his locks to be shorn and he falls helpless into the hands of the Philistines who put out his eyes and cast him into prison.

[l205] remisnes: remissness. Carelessness, negligence; laxity.

[l205] quartane: A fever that recurs (by inclusive reckoning) every fourth day (i.e. at intervals of approximately seventy-two hours); a quartan fever; (a case of) quartan malaria. Now hist. and rare.

[l211] portresse: the ancilla or handmaid/maidservant whose questions prompted Peter's denials. It is interesting to note the use of the word in Mary's response to Gabriel, providing a contrast to Peter's lack of courage:

[38] And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. [Luke 1]

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 145-180/792

Their surges, depthes, and seas, unfirme by kinde, [145]
Rough gusts, and distance both from ship and shoare,
Were titles to excuse my staggering minde,
Stout feete might falter on that liquid floare.
But here, no seas, no blastes, no billowes were,
A puff of woman's winde bred all my feare. [150]

O coward troupes, far better arm'd than harted,
Whom angry words, whom blowes could not prouoke,
Whom though I taught how sore my weapon smarted,
Yet none repaide me with a wounding stroke.
Oh no: that stroke could but one moitie kill, [155]
I was reserv'd both halfes at once to spill.

Ah, whether was forgotten love exilde?
Where did the truth of pledged promise sleepe?
What in my thoughts begat this ougly child,
That could through rented soule thus fiercely creepe? [160]
O viper, feare their death by whom thou livest,
All good thy ruynes wrecke, all evels thou givest.

Threats threw me not, torments I none assayde:
My fray, with shades: conceits dyd make me yeeld,
Wounding my thoughts with feares: selfely dismayd, [165]
I neyther fought nor lost, I gave the field;
Infamous foyle: a Maidens easie breath
Dyd blow me downe, and blast my soul to death.

Titles I make untruths, am I a rocke,
That with so softe a gale was over-throwne? [170]
Am I fit Pastor for the faithfull flocke,
To guide theyr soules, that murdered thus mine owne?
A rock of ruine, not a rest to stay,
A Pastor, not to feed, but to betray.

Fidelitie was flowne, when feare was hatched, [175]
Incompatible brood in vertue's nest:
Courage can lesse with cowardise be match'd,
Prowesse nor love lodg,d in divided brest;
O Adam's child, cast by a sillie Eve.
Heyre to that Fathers toyles / foyles, and born to greeve. [180]

Notes

[l150] A puff of woman's winde: a reference to Peter's denial when questioned by a maidservant:

[69] But Peter sat without in the court: and there came to him a servant maid, saying: Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean. [70] But he denied before them all, saying: I know not what thou sayest. [71] And as he went out of the gate, another maid saw him, and she saith to them that were there: This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth. [72] And again he denied with an oath, I know not the man. [Matthew 26]

In the particular historical context, the maidservant may represent the 'virgin' queen Elizabeth. Many Catholics, questioned by her agents about their faith, would also fall into denial and betrayal, through fear of the reprisals.

[ll151-156]: A reference to Peter's use of a sword in an initial attempt to prevent Our Lord from being arrested by his enemies:

[51] And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. [52] Then Jesus saith to him: Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

[l155] moitie: a half. 1592   T. Kyd Spanish Trag. ii. sig. D   She is daughter and halfe heire, Vnto our brother heere Don Ciprian, And shall enioy the moitie of his land.

[l157] whether: whither.

[l160] rented: to rent. To rend, tear, pull apart or to pieces (a person or thing).

[ll161-2]: There are classical and medieval references to the birth of vipers. For example, the viper is so called because it gives birth by force (vi-pariat). When the viper is near to giving birth, her young do not wait for the loosening of nature but bite through her sides and burst out, killing their mother.
Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 4:10-11). 'Viper': Latin vīpera viper, snake, serpent, contracted < vīvi-pera , < vīvus alive, living, and parĕre to bring forth.

[l164] My fray, with shades: The only battle I fought (and lost) was against a) the dark shadows of fear; and/or b) shadows: shade: An unsubstantial image of something real; an unreal appearance; something that has only a fleeting existence. c1580   Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xxxix. iv   They are but shades, not true things where we live.

[l179] sillie: That provokes sympathy or compassion; that is to be pitied; unfortunate, wretched.

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 109-144/792

Is this the harvest of his sowing toyle?
Did Christ manure thy heart to breed him bryers? [110]
Or doth it need this unaccustom'd soyle,
With hellish dung to fertile heavens desires?
No, no, the Marle that perjuries doth yeeld,
May spoyle a good, not fat a barraine field.

Was this for best deserts the duest meed? [115]
Are highest worthes well wag'de with spitefull hire?
Are stoutest vowes repeal'd in greatest neede?
Should friendship at the first affront retire?
Blush, craven sott, lurke in eternall night:
Crouched in the darkest cave from loathed light. [120]

Ah wretch why was I nam'd son of a dove,
Whose speeches voyded spight, and breathed gall?
No kin I am unto the bird of love:
My stony name much better sutes my fall,
My othes were stones; my cruell tongue the sling: [125]
My God, the mark: at which my spight did fling.

Were all the Jewish tirannies too few,
To glut thy hungry lookes with his disgrace:
That these more hateful tyrannies must shew:
And spit thy poyson in thy Makers face? [130]
Didst thou to spare his foes put up thy sword:
To brandish now thy tongue against thy Lord?

Ah tongue, that didst his prayse and Godhead sound,
How wert thou stain'd with such detesting words
That every word was to his hart a wound, [135]
And launst him deeper than a thousand swordes?
What rage of man, yea what infernall spirite
Could have disgorg'd more loathsome dregs of spite?

Why did the yeelding sea like marble way,
Support a wretch more wavering then the waves? [140]
Whom doubt did plunge, why did the waters stay,
Unkind, in kindnesse; murthering while it saves ?
Oh that this toung had then been fishes food,
And I devour'd, before this cursing mood.

Notes

[l110] manure: To till or cultivate (land).1561   T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. xiv. f. 94v   The word of God..if it light vpon a soule manured with the hande of the heauenly Spirite, it will be moste fruitefull.

[l113] Marle: An earthy deposit, typically loose and unconsolidated and consisting chiefly of clay mixed with calcium carbonate, formed in prehistoric seas and lakes and long used to improve the texture of sandy or light soil. 1589   G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxv. 254   The good gardiner seasons his soyle by sundrie sorts of compost: as mucke or marle.

[l114] fat: To enrich (the soil) with nutritious and stimulating elements; to fertilize.1594   T. Blundeville Exercises v. f. 265v   The flood Nilus, which by his inundations doth yearely..fatte the Countrie of Egypt. barraine: barren.

[l115] duest meede: the most appropriate reward/recognition.

[l116] wag'de: waged, paid for, rewarded.

[l119] sott:  A foolish or stupid person; a fool, blockhead, dolt. Obsolete.

[l121] sonne of a dove: Peter  was originally 'Simon Bar-Jona', meaning Simon 'son of Jonah'. 'Jonah' means 'dove' or 'pigeon'.

[l122] voyded: to void - To evacuate; to empty the bladder; to vomit.

[l122] gall: Bitterness of spirit, asperity, rancour (supposed to have its seat in the gall. 1577   R. Stanyhurst Treat. Descr. Irelande vii. f. 27/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I   A pleasant conceyted companion, full of mirth without gall.

[l124] My stony name: At the beginning of Christ's public ministry, Andrew brought his brother Peter to meet the Messiah:

[42] And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. [John 1]

[l125] othes: oaths.

[l131] put up thy sword: A reference to Peter's reaction when Christ's enemies sought to seize him inn the garden of Gethsemane:

[10] Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.[11] Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? [John 18]

[l133] Godhead sound:

[15] Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? [16] Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

[l136] launst: lanced, pierced.

[ll139-142]: A reference to the incident described in the 14th chapter of Matthew's Gospel:

[24] But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night, he [Jesus] came to them walking upon the sea.

[26] And they seeing him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. [27] And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not. [28] And Peter making answer, said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters. [29] And he said: Come. And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. [30] But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: Lord, save me.

[31] And immediately Jesus stretching forth his hand took hold of him, and said to him: O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell:73-108/792

The borne-blind begger, for received sight,
Fast in his faith and love, to Christ remain'd,
Hee stouped to no feare, he feard no might: [75]
No change his choice: no threats his truth distain'd.
One wonder wrought him in his dutie sure:
I, after thousands did my Lord abjure.

Could servile feare of rendring nature's due,
Which growth in yeeres was shortly like to claime, [80]
So thrall my love, that I should thus eschue
A vowed death, and misse so faire an ayme?
Die, die, disloyall wretch, thy life detest:
For saving thine, thou hast forsworn the best.

Ah life, sweet drop, drownd in a sea of sowers, [85]
A flying good, posting to doubtfull end,
Still loosing months and yeeres to gaine new howers:
Faine, time to have, and spare, yet forst to spend;
Thy growth, decrease, a moment, all thou hast:
That gone, ere knowne: the rest: to come, or past. [90]

Ah! life, the maze of countlesse straying waies,
Open to erring steps, and strow'd with baits,
To winde weake sences into endlesse strayes,
A loose from vertues rough unbeaten straights;
A flower, a play, a blast, a shade, a dreame, [95]
A living death, a never-turning streame.

And could I rate so high a life so base?
Did feare with love cast so uneven account,
That for this goale I should runne Judas race,
And Caiphas rage in crueltie surmount? [100]
Yet they esteemed thirtie pence his price,
I, worse than both, for nought deny'd him thrise.

The mother sea from overflowing deepes,
Sends forth her issue by divided vaines:
Yet backe her of-spring to theyr mother creepes, [105]
To pay theyr purest streames with added gaines;
But I, that drunke the drops of heavenly flud,
Bemir'd the gyver with returning mud.

Notes

[ll73-78]: See Chapter 9 of St John's Gospel:

[1] And Jesus passing by, saw a man, who was blind from his birth: ...[14] Now it was the sabbath, when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. [15] Again therefore the Pharisees asked him, how he had received his sight. But he said to them: He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and I see...[20] His parents answered them, and said: We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:[21] But how he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: ask himself: he is of age, let him speak for himself. [22] These things his parents said, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had already agreed among themselves, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue...[23] Therefore did his parents say: He is of age, ask himself. [24] They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. [25] He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. [26] They said then to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes? [27] He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard: why would you hear it again? will you also become his disciples? [28] They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses. [29] We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not from whence he is. [30] The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he hath opened my eyes.[31] Now we know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth. [32] From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind. [33] Unless this man were of God, he could not do any thing. [34] They answered, and said to him: Thou wast wholly born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. [35] Jesus heard that they had cast him out: and when he had found him, he said to him: Dost thou believe in the Son of God?[36] He answered, and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? [37] And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen him; and it is he that talketh with thee. [38] And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him

[l76] distain'd: to distain - To defile; to bring a blot or stain upon; to sully, dishonour.

[l79] natures due: death.

[l82] A vowed death:

[35] Peter saith to him: Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. [Matthew 26]

[l85] sowers: sours. n. That which is sour, in literal or figurative senses. 1594   Shakespeare Lucrece sig. G1v   The sweets we wish for, turne to lothed sowrs . 

[l86] posting: to post - To ride, run, or travel with speed or haste; to hurry, make haste.

[l87] loosing: losing. howers: hours.

[ll88-90]: Observations on the fleeting nature of time. man may consider that he is fortunate in having in his life the gift of time, even with time to spare; but he is forced to spend the time that has been given to him. As the amount of allotted time passes (grows), the amount left decreases. All man can say that he has in his control is the present moment; that is gone in an instant, before it is known. Apart from the present moment, the rest of a man's allotted time is either past or still to come.

[l92] strow'd: strewn.

[l93] To winde: In immaterial sense: To turn or deflect in a certain direction; esp. to turn or lead (a person) according to one's will; 1586   A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. Q1v   To admonish you..to his..timely looking to, to winde him from that.

[l93] strayes: stray, n. The action of straying or wandering.1608   Shakespeare King Lear i. 199   I would not from your loue make such a stray, To match you where I hate.

[l94] loose: n. A state or condition of looseness, laxity, or unrestraint; hence, free indulgence; unrestrained action or feeling; abandonment. Chiefly in phr. at (a or the) loose: in a state of laxity or freedom; unrestrained, unbridled, lax. to take a loose: to give oneself up to indulgence. The act of letting go or parting with something.

ll99 & 101] Judas...thirtie pence: 

[14] Then went one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, to the chief priests, [15] And said to them: What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? But they appointed him thirty pieces of silver. [Matthew 26]

[l102] then: than.

[l100] Caiphas: Once the death of Jesus had been agreed, the most unscrupulous means were employed in order to bring it about, and Caiphas is chiefly to blame.

[3] Then were gathered together the chief priests and ancients of the people into the court of the high priest, who was called Caiphas: [4] And they consulted together, that by subtilty they might apprehend Jesus, and put him to death. [Matthew 26]. 

The hill south of Jerusalem where this house is said by tradition to have stood is called the 'Hill of Evil Counsel'. As high-priest, Caiphas was the official head of the Sanhedrin, and consequently responsible for the travesty of a trial to which Christ was submitted by the Jewish authorities, before they handed Him over to Pilate and stirred up the people to demand his death.

[54] And Peter followed him from afar off, even into the court of the high priest; and he sat with the servants at the fire, and warmed himself. [55] And the chief priests and all the council sought for evidence against Jesus, that they might put him to death, and found none. [56] For many bore false witness against him, and their evidences were not agreeing. [57] And some rising up, bore false witness against him, saying: [58] We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another not made with hands. [59] And their witness did not agree. [60] And the high priest rising up in the midst, asked Jesus, saying: Answerest thou nothing to the things that are laid to thy charge by these men? [61] But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said to him: Art thou the Christ the Son of the blessed God? [62] And Jesus said to him: I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. [63] Then the high priest rending his garments, saith: What need we any further witnesses? [64] You have heard the blasphemy. What think you? Who all condemned him to be guilty of death. [65] And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him: Prophesy: and the servants struck him with the palms of their hands. [Mark 14]

[l104] vaines: veins. With reference or allusion to veins as channels for water . Obsolete. 1534   J. Fewterer tr. U. Pinder Myrrour Christes Passion f. cxxxv   What drynke..dyd he desyre, whiche is the founten of the lyuely and holsome water, the veyne of lyfe, the ryuer of all pleasure.

The image suggests water which, being drawn up and received in the heavens, is purified and returns to earth to feed into streams and rivers, replenishing its own source. A man's soul is similarly uplifted from the waters of Baptism and rises heavenwards. Whilst alive, a man is duty bound to make good use of this gift of supernatural life in his soul. In the parable of the talents, Our Lord makes clear in a vivid manner what happens to those who fail to do this and instead 'bemire the giver with returning mud':

[24] But he that had received the one talent, came and said: Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. [25] And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine.

[26] And his lord answering, said to him: Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that ... I should have received my own with interest. [28] Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. [29] For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. [30] And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 25]

Saint Philip Howard - update

On Saturday 24th November, I paid a brief visit to the Tower of London. I went immediately to the Beauchamp Tower and climbed up the 27 stone steps of the narrow, spiral staircase leading to the first floor. There, I was able to examine Philip Howard's inscription which is in the stonework over the fireplace.  I made a discovery that necessitates a slight change to the information I posted on the 19th November.

Here is the image I posted earlier of the inscribed words:

PB 2018

The first two lines are indeed by Philip, dated June 22 1587:
Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto
 plus gloriae cum Christo in futuro'
'the more affliction for Christ in this world, the more glory with Christ in the next'.







From a closer examination of the letters of the next two lines, it is evident that they are by a different hand:

gloria et honore eum coronasti domine
'Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour' [Psalm 8, 6]

According to the Tower, the author of these lines was a fellow prisoner, Anthony Tuchinor. The way Tuchinor has linked graphically the word eum ('him') to Arundell's name suggests that he was linking the pronoun to Philip (Arundell): 'Thou (O Lord) hast crowned him (Arundell) with glory and honour.'

Since the Tower of London's construction by William the Conqueror in 1078, a record of every prisoner held within its bounds has been kept in what is known as The Book of Prisoners, which is actually made up of several books containing prisoners names, dates of imprisonment, place of imprisonment and their eventual fate.

Tuchinor is mentioned in the following brief entry:

1586     TUCHINER or TUCHINOR Anthony
Suspected of implication in the Babington Plot (see Beauchamp Tower inscription nos 13, 50).     Tortured 25 December. Released 1589.
Left the country and was ordained by the Pope's authority.

The 'Babington Plot'

Marty Queen of Scots, after Hilliard, 15478.NPG. Creative Commons.

The 'Babington Plot' refers to an allegation by Elizabeth's chief of spies that Mary Queen of Scots was complicit in a plot to assassinate her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, in order to usurp the throne. The allegation involved agents provocateurs and entrapment. One of the principal 'patsies' in this operation was Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of wealth. Babington and several of his friends were  arrested, tortured, tried and executed. Mary's trial then began. She freely confessed that she had always sought means of escape. As to plots against the life of Elizabeth, she protested her innocence. During the whole process of her trial and execution, Mary acted with magnificent courage worthy of her noble character and queenly rank. There can be no question that she died with the charity and magnanimity of a martyr; as also that her execution was due, on the part of her enemies, to hatred of the Faith.

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell 37-72/792

Sad subject of my sinne hath stoard my mind,
With everlasting matter of complaint:
My threnes and endless Alphabet do finde,
Beyond the panges which Jeremy doth paint. [40]
That eyes with errors may just measure keepe,
Most teares I wish that have most cause to weepe.

All weeping eyes resigne your teares to me:
A sea will scantly rince my ordur'de soul:
Huge horrours in high tides must drowned bee, [45]
Of every teare my crime exacteth tole.
These staines are deepe: few drops, take out no such:
Even salve with sore: and most, is not too much.

I fear'd with life, to die; by death to live:
I left my guide, now left, and leaving God. [50]
To breath in blisse, I fear'd my breath to give:
I fear'd for heavenly raigne an earthly rod.
These feares I fear'd, feares feeling no mishaps:
O fond, o faint, o false, o faulty laps.

How can I live, that thus my life deni'd? [55]
What can I hope, that lost my hope in feare?
What trust to one, that truth it selfe defi'de?
What good in him, that did his God forsweare?
O sinne of sinnes, of evils the very worst:
O matchlesse wretch: o caitiff most accurst! [60]

Vaine in my vaunts I vowd if friends had fail'd
Alone Christs hardest fortunes to abide:
Giant in talk, like dwarfe in triall quaild:
Excelling none, but in vntruth and pride.
Such distance is betweene high words and deeds: [65]
In proofe the greatest vaunter seldom speedes.

Ah rashness hastie rise to murdering leape,
Lavish in vowing, blind in seeing what:
Soone sowing shames, that long remorse must reape:
Nurcing with teares, that over-sight begat; [70]
Scout of repentance, harbinger of blame,
Treason to wisdome, mother of ill name.

Notes

[l37]: My mind has stored the sad subject of my sin.

[l38] complaint: grief, lamentation, grieving.1535   Bible (Coverdale) Rest of Esther xiii. E   Turne oure complaynte and sorow in to ioye.

[l39] threnes: threne - A song of lamentation; a dirge, threnody; formerly spec. (in plural) the Lamentations of Jeremiah (Septuagint θρῆνοι Ἰερεμίου, Vulgate Threni). and: an.

[l40] Jeremy: Jeremias lived at the close of the seventh and in the first part of the sixth century before Christ; a contemporary of Draco and Solon of Athens. Jeremiah's ministry as a prophet was active from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BC), until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC. Jeremias is the prophet of mourning and of symbolical suffering.

[l41-2]: Here is one possible sense: 'I, who have most cause to weep, wish for the most tears - so that my eyes may keep a just and proportionate measure with my sins.

[l43] resigne: to relinquish, surrender, yield, give up (to a person, or into a person's hands).

[l44] scantly: Scarcely, hardly, barely. arch.1585   Abp. E. Sandys Serm. x. 153   Wee are hearers of the woord, and yet skantly that.

[l44] ordur'de: Defiled with ordure; soiled; polluted; filthy;

[l48] Even: to even - To match, to make equal, to equal.

[l54] laps: lapse

[l60] catiffe: A wretched miserable person, a poor wretch, one in a piteous case. Obsolete.

[ll61-2] Vaine in my vaunts: After the Last Supper, Peter was to insist: 

[34] Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, that in this night before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice. [35] Peter saith to him: Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. 

SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 1-36/792

Launch foorth my Soule into a maine of teares,
Full fraught with griefe the traffick of thy mind:
Torne sayles will serve, thoughts rent with guilty feares:
Give care the sterne: use sighes in lieu of wind:
Remorse, thy Pilot: thy misdeede, thy Card: [5]
Torment thy Haven: Shipwracke, thy best reward.

Shun not the shelf of most deserved shame:
Stick in the sands of agonizing dread:
Content thee to be stormes and billowes game:
Divorc'd from grace thy soule to pennance wed: [10]
Flie not from forreine evils, flie from the hart:
Worse then the worst of evils is that thou art.

Give vent unto the vapours of thy brest,
That thicken in the brimmes of cloudie eyes:
Where sinne was hatch'd, let teares now wash the nest [15]
Where life was lost, recover life with cryes.
Thy trespasse foule: let not thy teares be few:
Baptize thy spotted soule in weeping dewe.

Flie mournfull plaintes, the Ecchoes of my ruth;
Whose screeches in my freighted conscience ring:[20]
Sob out my sorrowes, fruites of mine untruth:
Report the smart of sinnes infernal sting.
Tell hearts that languish in the soriest plight,
There is on earth a far more sorry wight.

A sorry wight, the object of disgrace, [25]
The monument of feare, the map of shame,
The mirrour of mishap, the staine of place,
The scorne of time, the infamy of fame:
An excrement of earth, to heaven hatefull,
Injurious to man, to God ungratefull. [30]

Ambitious heades dreame you of fortunes pride:
Fill volumes with your forged Goddesse prayse.
You fancies drudges, plung'd in follies tide:
Devote your fabling wits to lovers layes:
Be you o sharpest griefes, that ever wrung, [35]
Texte to my thoughtes, Theame to my playning tung.

Notes

El Greco (Public Domain)

[l1] maine: Short for main sea n.; the open sea. Now chiefly poet.1579   T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 472   The winde stoode full against them comming from the mayne [Fr. le uent se tourna du costé de la pleine mer].

[l5] Carde: compass card or chart

[l12] that: that which, what.

[l19] ruth: Contrition, repentance; remorse. Now rare.

[l20] freighted: heavy laden; possibly, frightened

[l24] wight: A human being, man or woman, person. Now arch. or dialect (often implying some contempt or commiseration).1567   G. Turberville Epitaphes, Epigrams f. 34   Away shee went a wofull wretched Wight.

[l35] wrung:  to wring - To twist, turn, or struggle in pain or anguish; to writhe.To suffer or undergo grief, pain, punishment, etc. (for something).

SAINT PETERS complaynt - by Robert Southwell

Introduction

Excluding the introductory address to the reader, this poem totals 792 lines of rhyming, iambic pentameter, arranged in six-line stanzas.  In view of its length, I plan to publish and annotate the poem in a series of posts.

The Author to the Reader

Deare eye that daynest to let fall a looke,
On these sad memories of Peters plaints:
Muse not to see some mud in cleerest brooke,
They once were brittle mould that now are Saints.
Theyr weaknes is no warrant to offend, [5] 
Learne by their faults, what in thine owne to mend.

If equities even-hand the balance held,
Where Peters sinnes and ours were made the weightes:
Ounce for his dramme: Pound, for his ounce we yeeld:
His ship would groane to feele some sinners freightes.[10]
So ripe is vice, so greene is vertues bud:
The world doth waxe in ill, but waine in good.

This makes my mourning Muse resolve in teares,
This theames my heavy penne to plaine in prose,
Christs thorne is sharp, no head his Garland weares:[15]
Still finest wits are stilling Venus Rose.
In paynim toyes the sweetest vaines are spent:
To Christian workes, few have their tallents lent.  

License my single penne to seeke a pheere
You heavenly sparkes of wit shew native light: [20]
Cloud not with mistie loves your Orient cleere, 
Sweet flights you shoot: learn once to levell right.
Favour my wish, well-wishing workes no ill:
I move the Suite, the Graunt rsts in your will.

Notes

Background: RS is believe to have started work on the theme of Peter's betrayal and repentance as early as 1584 in Rome where he studied Tansillo's Le Lagrime di San Pietro ('the tears of St Peter). It circulated firstly in manuscript amongst recusants and several scholars argue that it influenced Shakespeare in the Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis. At one level, the poem explores Peter's personal sins of denial, betrayal and cowardice, leading to bitter sorrow and true contrition of heart. At another level, this treatment has reference to the fear of Catholics under the harsh Elizabethan regime and to the risk of betrayal and apostasy. Finally, the poem also touches on the universal themes of sin, betrayal, cowardice and repentance.

[l3] Muse: To muse - To be affected with astonishment or surprise; to wonder, marvel. With at, of, to. Obsolete. Muse  not: Do not be surprised to...

[l4] mould: clay; earth considered as the material of the human body;1535   Bible (Coverdale) Tobit viii. 6   Thou maydest Adam of the moulde of the earth.

[l7]: equities: equity's

[l9] dramme: in Avoirdupois weight, of 271/ 3 grains = 1/ 16 of an ounce; ounce; 1/16 of a pound.

[l10] freightes: loads, burdens.

[l13] resolve: To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid. Also fig. Now rare.a1616   Shakespeare King John (1623) v. iv. 25   Euen as a forme of waxe Resolueth from his figure 'gainst the fire.

[l14]: This is the theme of my sorrowful pen (in this poem) - too plain in prose.

[l15]: Each thorn in Christ's crown of thorns is sharp and pierces painfully. No other head wears this garland (crown)

[l16]: Yet the finest minds are still distilling the perfumed essence of Venus' (love's) rose (taking for their theme romantic and physical love).

[l17] paynim: pagan, non-Christian. 1531   T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. iii. sig. Yv   Apollo, whome the paynimes honoured for god of wisedome. veins: vein - A particular, individual, or characteristic style of language or expression.

[l19] pheere: A companion, comrade, mate, partner. In one sense, the poet (the 'single penne') is looking for fellow-poets (a pheere, heavenly sparks of light) to join him and lend their talents to Christian works rather than pagan playthings and fancies. In another sense, a faithful believer is seeking companions to reflect upon the themes of the poem: sin, betrayal, repentance and forgiveness.

[l21]: Don't allow misty-eyed preoccupations with love and romance to obscure the clarity of 'your Orient': 'The Orient' is one of the titles of the Messias, the true light of the world, and the sun of justice. 

in which the Orient from on high hath visited us: [79] To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace. [Luke 1]

[l22] Sweet flights you shoot: see l17 'the sweetest vaines': Many poets made frequent references to Cupid's bow intheir 'paynim toyes': eg, Oberon's words from from Act 2 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

That very time I saw (but thou couldst not)
Flying between the cold moon and the Earth,
Cupid all armed. A certain aim he took
At a fair vestal thronèd by the west,
And loosed his love shaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.

The other poets should aim (levell) rather for what is right and true.

[l24] Suite: suit - The action or an act of suing, supplicating, or petitioning; Earnest search for or endeavour to obtain something.

   

I dye without desert - by Robert Southwell

If orphane Childe enwrapt in swathing bands
Doth move to mercy when forlorne it lyes
If none without remorse of love withstands
The pitious noyse of infantes selye cryes
Then hope my helplesse hart some tender eares [5]
Will rue thy orphane state and feeble teares.

Relinquisht Lamb in solitarye wood
With dying bleat doth move the toughest mynde
The gasping pangues of new engendred brood
Base though they be compassion use to finde [10]
Why should I then of pitty doubt to speede
Whose happ would force the hardest hart to bleede

Left orphane like in helplesse state I rue
With onely sighes and teares I pleade my case
My dying plaints I daylie do renewe [15]
And fill with heavy noyse a desert place
Some tender hart will weepe to here me mone
Men pitty may but help me god alone.

Rayne downe yee heavens your teares this case requires
Mans eyes unhable are enough to shedd [20]
If sorow could have place in heavenly quires
A juster ground the world hath seldome bredd
For right is wrong'd, and vertue wag'd with blood
The badd are blissd god murdred in the good.

A gracious plant for fruite for leafe and flower [25]
A peereless gemm for vertue proofe and price
A noble peere for prowesse witt and powre
A frend to truth a foe I was to vice
And loe alas nowe Innocente I dye
A case that might even make the stones to crye. [30]

Thus fortunes favors still are bent to flight
Thus worldly blisse in finall bale doth end
Thus vertue still pursued is with spight
But let my fall though ruefull none offend.
God doth sometymes first cropp the sweetest flowre [35]
And leaves the weede till tyme do it devoure

Notes

This poem is written in the first person and is believed believed to represent the thoughts of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, a contemporary of Robert Southwell. A short life of this remarkable Englishman follows below. For a short, informative film, see:Saint Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel English Martyr. Produced in 2011 by Mary's Dowry Productions.

Philip Howard - a short life

Philip Howard. Public Domain.

1557: born in Arundel House, the Strand, London. Philip was the only child of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and Mary FitzAlan, daughter of Henry, Earl of Arundel. He was baptized at Whitehall Palace and was named after his godfather, Philip II, King of Spain (who was married to Mary I from 1554 until her death in 1558).
1569: Philip Howard's father, the Duke of Norfolk, was arrested in 1569 for his intrigues against Queen Elizabeth.
1571: At the age of fourteen he was married to his stepsister, Anne Dacre, the Countess of Arundel and Surrey, who survived to 1630. She was a woman of remarkable generosity and courage, and became after her conversion the patroness of Father Southwell and of many priests, and eventually founded the novitiate of the Jesuits at Ghent.
1572: His father was beheaded for plotting to marry Mary Queen of Scots. His grandfather had been beheaded in 1547 on suspicion of treason. Two of his nieces married Henry VIII (Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both beheaded).
1574: After a protestant education, he graduated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1574 and became a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I.
1580: Philip Howard succeeded to his mother's inheritance becoming Earl of Arundel
1581: He witnessed a debate in the Tower of London, between Father Edmund Campion, a Jesuit, Father Ralph Sherwin and a group of Protestant theologians. He was so impressed that he experienced a spiritual conversion to the Catholic faith. He renounced his previous life and was reconciled with his wife.

The inscription in the Beauchamp Tower at the Tower of London. PB 2018

1585: Fearing punishment. he tried to escape abroad but was betrayed and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Howard scratched into a wall of his cell the words:
Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto
 plus gloriae cum Christo in futuro
  'the more affliction for Christ in this world, the more glory with Christ in the next'.
Arundell June 22 1587

gloria et honore eum coronasti domine

[5] What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? [6] Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: [7] And hast set him over the works of thy hands.[Psalm 8]

Note how Philip has intertwined 'eum' ('him') with his title-name Arundell, identifying himself personally with the words of the Psalmist and offering his humble thanks for the opporrtunity to win his crown of glory through suffering the love of his Saviour: 'Thou hast crowned me with glory and honour'.

In memoria aeterna erit justus

[7] The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord: [8] His heart is strengthened, he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies. [9] He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory. [10] The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.[Psalm 111]

The last part of the inscription is very unclear. It is possibly a reference in Latin to his age: Aetatis Suae. He would have been approaching his thirtieth birthday at the date of this inscription.

Philip & his dog (PB after statue in Arundel)

1588: With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, a wave of anti-Catholicism swept the country and he was tried again, before King’s Bench, charged falsely with praying for a Spanish victory. Beset with lies and betrayed by former friends, Philip was unable to defend himself, and was found guilty. He was sentenced to the traitor’s death – to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He was to suffer a slow martyrdom, never knowing which day would be his last. He was comforted by his dog, which served as a go-between by which Howard and other prisoners, most notably the priest Robert Southwell. His last prayer to see his wife and only son, who had been born after his imprisonment, was refused except on condition of his converting to the Protestant Church, on which terms he might also go free. With this eloquent testimony to the goodness of his cause he expired, at the early age of thirty-eight, and was buried in the same grave in the Tower Church that had received his father and grandfather.

1595: Philip Howard died alone in the Tower of London on Sunday 19 October. Charges of high treason had never been proven. He had spent ten years in the Tower, until his death of dysentery. Some have suggested he was poisoned. He was buried without ceremony beneath the floor of the church of St Peter ad Vincula, inside the walls of the Tower.
1624: Twenty-nine years later, his widow and son obtained permission from King James I of England to move the body to the Fitzalan Chapel located on the western grounds of Arundel Castle. Some of his bones are also found within his shrine at Arundel Cathedral

Notes

[l1] & [l13] orphane/orphane-like: This may have a personal reference to Philip Howard himself.  He never knew his mother Mary, who died eight weeks after his birth. His father, Thomas Howard, was executed by Elizabeth in 1572, 13 years before his own imprisonment in the Tower. In an historical sense, Philip and other Catholics found themselves in a state analogous to that of orphans. They had deprived of their mother, the Catholic Church, and their Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ on earth.  They found themselves placed under a cruel step-mother, the illegitimate Queen Elizabeth, 'Supreme Governor' of the Church of England.
[l1] swathing bands: Although wrapping newborn babies in tight bands was the common practice in this era, there are perhaps echoes here of Luke's words:

[7] And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. [Luke 2]

Philip comes unto his own people but finds there is 'no room' or welcome in Elizabethan England and he has to find places where he can be lodged in secret.

[l4] sely: Innocent, harmless. Often as an expression of compassion for persons or animals suffering undeservedly. Deserving of pity or sympathy; pitiable, miserable, ‘poor’; helpless, defenceless.

[l6] rue: To regard or think of (an event, fact, etc.) with sorrow or regret; to wish that (something) had never taken place or existed. 1557   Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes (new ed.) f. 90   It was the day on which the sunne..To rew Christs death amid his course gaue place vnto ye night.

[l7] Relinquisht Lamb: A possible echo here of Christ's own words:

[4] What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? [5] And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing: [6] And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? [7] I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. [Luke 15]

Christ's true pastors came to England to find the lost sheep and bring them back to the one, true fold.

[ll9-10] brood: a family of young hatched at once, a hatch. Fig: Of human beings: family, children. The pitiful cries of newly engendered creatures, no matter how 'base' or low in the order of creation, or in reputation, stimulate a compassionate response.

[ll11-12]: speed:  intransitive. Of persons: To succeed or prosper; to meet with success or good fortune; to attain one's purpose or desire. Now arch. The sense then appears too be: My misfortune (happ) would force the hardest heart to bleed (with compassion); why should I doubt that this will not succeed in arousing pity (for me)?

[l16] a desert place: Possibly a reference to his close confinement in the Beauchamp Tower at the Tower of London from 1585-1595.

[l23] wag'd: waged.  to wage - To pay wages to. Now rare or Obsolete. 1585   T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iii. xxii. 112 b   Besides that which is giuen vnto them of almes, they are waged either publikely, or of som in particular. ccc. 'and irtue is paid for in blood'.

[l24] blissd: blissed or blessed. To bliss - ,Transitive. To give joy or gladness to (orig. with dative); to gladden, make happy. (In 16–17th centuries blended with bless.) Obsolete.

[ll25-30]: There is something of a contrast between the words and images of this stanza and those of the previous: eg, orphane childe, feeble teares, helplelesse state, sighs, dying plaints and so on. This tension prepares for its resolution in the final stanza where 'worldly blisse in finall bale doth end.' It must be remembered that it is the poet who puts these words into Philip's mouth and they may be a reflection of the admiration Southwell had for this remarkable Earl.

[l30] A case that might even make the stones to crye: Even on a warm day, visitors to the Tower of London are aware of the cold stone blocks from which the towers are constructed. There is here perhaps a reference to the stones of the walls of the Beauchamp Tower wher philip and other recusants were imprisoned. Above the fireplace, Philip carved some words that may still be seen:

Quanto plus afflictiones pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto plus gloriae cum Christo in futuro – 'the more affliction for Christ in this world, the more glory with Christ in the next'

Philip entered the Tower where he would undergo his passion and his slow martyrdom. When Christ entered Jerusalem, He was approaching His Passion and death on the cross:

[37] And when he was now coming near the descent of mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, [38] Saying: Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high! [39] And some of the Pharisees, from amongst the multitude, said to him: Master, rebuke thy disciples. [40] To whom he said: I say to you, that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. 

[l31] still: With reference to action or condition: Without change, interruption, or cessation; continually, constantly; on every occasion, invariably; always. Obsolete exc. poet. The favours of this life are always deflected in their flight and 'worldly bliss' ends in final 'bale'.

[l32] bale:  Evil in its passive aspect; physical suffering, torment, pain, woe.  Mental suffering; misery, sorrow, grief. Opposed alliteratively to bliss, blithe. a1577   G. Gascoigne Princelie Pleasures Kenelworth sig. B.iiiv, in Whole Wks. (1587)    And turne your present blysse to after bales.
1598   B. Yong tr. G. Polo Enamoured Diana in tr. J. de Montemayor Diana 440   That still deducts my life in blisselesse bale.

Decease release - by Robert Southwell

Dum morior orior

The pounded spice both tast and sent doth please
Infading smoke the force doth incense shewe
The perisht kernell springeth with encrease
The lopped tree doth best and soonest growe.

Gods spice I was and pounding was my due [5]
In fading breath my incense savoured best
Death was the meane my kyrnell to renewe
By loppinge shott I upp to heavenly rest.

Some thinges more perfect are in their decaye
Like sparke that going out gives clerest light [10]
Such was my happ whose dolefull dying daye
Beganne my joye and termed fortunes spite

Alive a Queene now dead I am a Sainte
Once M. calld my name now Martyr is
From earthly raigne debarred by restraint [15]
In liew whereof I raigne in heavenly blisse

My life my griefe my death hath wroughte my joye
My frendes my foyle my foes my Weale procur'd
My speedy death hath shortened longe annoye
And losse of life and endles life assur'd [20]

My Skaffold was the bedd where ease I founde
The blocke a pilloe of Eternall reste
My hedman cast me in a blisfull swounde
His axe cutt off my cares from combred breste

Rue not my death rejoyce at my repose [25]
It was no death to me but to my woe
The budd was opened to lett out the Rose
The cheynes unloosed to let the captive goe

A prince by birth a prisoner by mishappe
From Crowne to crosse from throne to thrall I fell [30]
My right my ruth my titles wrought my trapp
My weale my woe my worldly heaven my hell.

By death from prisoner to a prince enhaunc'd
From Crosse to Crowne from thrall to throne againe
My ruth my right my trapp my stile advaunc'd [35]
From woe to weale from hell to heavenly raigne.

Notes

Dum morior orior: Even while I die, I rise. Decease (death in this world) releases me (to eternal life in Heaven).
dum : (conj.), while, as long as, 1.607, et al.; even while (in the act of), 6.586; until, till, 1.265; yet, as yet.morior , mortuus sum, morī, 3 and 4, dep. n.: to die, perish. orior , ortus sum, 4 (pres. oritur, 3 conj.): to rise, spring up.

Mary Queen of Scots. After Nicholas Hilliard. 1578. NPG (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Mary, Queen of Scots
In a particular sense, the poem  refers to Mary, Queen of Scots (see for example ll 13-14); in a secondary sense, it speaks for all the Catholic martyrs who were butchered under the Tudors; in a third sense, it can speak for all Christian martyrs ready to offer sacrifice for their Divine Saviour.

Her life: a summary
Mary Stuart was born at Linlithgow, 8 December, 1542 and died at Fotheringay, 8 February, 1587. She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland, the son of King James IV of Scotland and his wife Margaret Tudor (sister of Henry VIII). His death (on 14 December) followed immediately after her birth, and she became queen when only six days old. The Tudors tried to force a marriage with Edward VI of England. Mary, however, was sent to be educated in France and in 1558, she married the dauphin Francis. On the death of Henri II in 1559, she became Queen Consort of France until Francis's death in 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland in 1561. Four years later, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and in June 1566 they had a son, James.

Elizabeth I 1580s Unknown. NPG CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

In February 1567, Darnley's residence was destroyed by an explosion, and he was found murdered in
the garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge and in 1567 he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. On 24 July 1567 she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Mary had once claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own, and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586. She was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle. She was first buried in Peterborough Cathedral with great solemnity by Elizabeth's orders but James I brought the remains to Westminster Abbey in 1612. To read the Abbey's translation of her tomb inscriptions, click here: Westminster Abbey - Mary Queen of Scots.

[l1-4] tast and sent: taste and scent. Spice that has been pounded produces a pleasing taste and aroma. The paradox is the contrast between dying, on the one hand, and surprisingly good results that may ensue therefrom. Incense, for example, shows the power of its taste and scent in smoke that is fades and dies away. A kernel or seed, in dying, produces the seedling of a new plant. When a branch is cut and dies, the tree grows more vigorously.

[l5-9]: The ideas in the first stanza are now attached to a person:
I was like the spice described, God chose for my due or destiny for me to be impounded, confined and crushed; my dying breath rose Heavenwards like a sweet offering of incense; death was the means by which I might pass to a renewed life in Heaven; through being cut down in this world, I could rise up to be happy with God forever in the next.

[l5] God's spice: Towards the end of Shakespeare's King Lear is a passage that seems to contain an echo of Southwell's words. Lear is speaking to his daughter, Cordelia. Brokenhearted and disturbed in his wits, he utters words that have an astonishing, haunting wisdom.  'Come,' he says to Cordelia, 'let's away to prison':

We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies. (Act V, Scene 3)

There is considerable evidence that Shakespeare was a Catholic and that he knew Southwell. There is also evidence that the Bard was influenced by Southwell's poetry. Joseph Pearce presents a very strong case. See:

• The Quest for Shakespeare: The Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2008.
• Through Shakespeare's Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2010.

For an online summary of the evidence, see: The Catholicism of William Shakespeare.

In the quotation from Lear, it is easy to read the image of imprisonment as a reference to the reality of life under the Elizabethan regime of spies, informants and draconian penalties for any Catholics caught practising the faith of their fathers. Those prepared to give witness to their Catholic faith become in a sense counter-spies, 'spying' for Christ the King of Heaven and not for the illegitimate, upstart queen and her ministers.

[l11] happ: a chance, accident, happening; (often contextually) an unfortunate event, mishap, mischance.

[l12] termed: Term - To bring to an end or conclusion; to terminate. Obsolete.

[l14] M.: the metre  and Mary suits both sense and metre which requires a trochee here.

[ll17-18]: The syntax (the ways in which a particular word or part of speech can be arranged with other words or parts of speech) permits a number of senses, relyinng on the use of 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). Here is one reading:

My life hath wrought my grief [family losses, widowhood, loss of child and two husbands, arrest and imprisonment, false accusations, unjust condemnation and execution); my death hath wrought my joy (supernatural life through martyrdom); my friends procured my defeat and disgrace (through betrayal); my foes procured my well being (Heaven).

[l18] foyle: A repulse, defeat. A disgrace, stigma. Obsolete.

[l19] annoye: pain arising from the involuntary reception of impressions, or subjection to circumstances, which one dislikes; disturbed or ruffled feeling; discomfort, vexation, trouble.

[l23] hedman: executioner (she was beheaded).

[l23] swounde: swound, swoon - a fainting fit.

[l24] combred: encumbered, laden, oppressed

[l29] prince: male or female at this epoch.

[l30] thrall: The condition of a thrall; thraldom, bondage, servitude; captivity.

[l31] My right: Mistress of Scotland by law, of France by marriage, of England by expectation, thus blest, by a three-fold right, with a three-fold crown. The daughter, bride and mother of kings.

[31] ruthe: ruth - Mischief; calamity; ruin. Obsolete. Matter for sorrow or regret; occasion of sorrow or regret. Obsolete.

[l34] Crowne:

[7] I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. [8] As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. [2 Timothy 4]

[l35] stile: style - the ceremonial designation of a sovereign, including his various titles and the enumeration of his dominions. It matches 'titles' in l31.

 

Saint Peters remorse

Peter's Denial. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

Remorse upbraides my faultes
    Selfe blaming conscience cries
Synn claymes the hoast of humbled thoughtes
    And streames of weeping eyes
Let penance lord prevayle [5]
    Lett sorowe sue release
Lett love be umpier in my cause
    And pass the dome of peace
If dome go by desert
    My lest desert is death [10]
That robbes from soul immortall joyes
    From bodye mortall breathe.
But in so highe a god
    So base a wormes annoy
Can add no praise unto thy powre [15]
    No bliss unto thy joye
Well may I fry in flames
    Due fuell to hell fire
But on a wretch to wreake thy wrath
    Cannot be worth thyne Ire [20]
Yett sith so vile a worme
    Hath wrought his greatest spite
Of highest treasons well thou mayst
    In rigour him endite
Butt mercye may relente [25]
    And temper Justice Rod
Foe Mercy doth as nuch belonge
    As Justice to a godd.
If former tyme or place
    More right to mercy wynne [30]
Thow first wert Author of my self
    Then umpier of my synne
Did mercye spynn the thredd
    To weave in Justice Loome
Wert thow a father to conclude [35]
    With dreadfull judges Doome
It is a small reliefe
    To say I was thy childe
If as an evell deserving foe
    From grace I be exilde [40]
I was I had I Coulde
    Are wordes importing wante
They are but dust of dead supplies
    Where needfull helpes are scant

Once to have bene in blisse [45]
    That hardly can retorne
Doth but bewray from whence I fell
    And wherefore now I mourne.
All thoughtes of passed hopes
    Encrease my present Crosse [50]
Like ruynes of decayed joyes
    They still upbraide my losse
O mylde and mightye lorde
    Amend that is amisse
My synn my sore thy love my salve [55]
    Thy cure my comfort is
Confirme thy former deede
    Reforme that is defilde
I was I am I will remayne
Thy charge thy choise thy childe. [60]

Notes

[l3] hoast: Two senses: A great company; a multitude; a large number. The bread consecrated in the Eucharist, regarded as the body of Christ sacrificially offered. Sin tempted with thoughts of happiness and fulfilment but the fruit of sin was 'humiliation', a host of humiliating thoughts leading to a sense of humility.

[l6] sue:  To follow as a consequence or result. Obsolete. 1559   W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Richard II. i   Shame sueth sinne, as rayne drops do the thunder.

[l7 & l32] umpier: umpire, judge, arbitrator.

[l8] dome:  A judgement or decision, esp. one formally pronounced; a sentence;

[l9]: desert: An action or quality that deserves its appropriate recompense; that in conduct or character which claims reward or deserves punishment.

[l10] lest: least.

[l14] annoy: A mental state akin to pain arising from the involuntary reception of impressions, or subjection to circumstances, which one dislikes; disturbed or ruffled feeling; discomfort, vexation, trouble.

[l23] Treasons: A reference firstly to Peter's betrayal thgrough denying Christ; but, secondly, suggestive of the treasons committed by the 'reformers' in sixteenth century England and of the alleged 'treason' committed by faithful Catholics against the regime ('Crown').

[ll29-32]: Peter (and with him, all who have betrayed Christ through sin), pleads for mercy in recalling an earlier time and place in his life when God was his creator rather than his judge. The opposition continues:
Author (creator)           Judge
Mercy                           Justice
Father                           Judge

[l47] bewray: To reveal, divulge, disclose, declare, make known, show. Obsolete. 

[ll55-56]: My sin is my sore, Thy love is my salve, Thy cure is my comfort.

[ll59-60]: May be read horizontally (cumulatively) or vertically. Cf first stanza in Christs bloody sweate.