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| The author received a framed copy of this painting in the early 1980s. Please pray for the soul of the donor: Esther Clark. R.I.P. |
These posts contain revised and expanded notes to St Peter's Complaynt, considered by many to be the last poem written by St Robert Southwell ("RS") before his martyrdom on the 21st of February 1595. The original series of posts was first published in 2018 on our sister site, Mary's English Dowry. I have expanded my original notes so as to provide a more detailed critical apparatus - with fairly extensive use of quotations from the period in which RS wrote. I have also included paraphrases with the aim of making the poet's language more accessible to modern readers.
The work is offered to Our Blessed Mother on behalf of EEKPTEE&EA.
👈The Tears of St Peter (1587-1596)
El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614
Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, Mexico.
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- 46 -
O milde Reuenger of aspiring pride!
Thou canst dismount high thoughts to low effects;
Thou mad'st a cocke me for my fault to chide,
My lofty boasts this lowely bird corrects.
Well might a cocke correct me with a crowe, [275]
Whom hennish cackling first did ouerthrowe.
O gracious and loving Lord, exacting in this way a merciful revenge for the sin of my overweening pride! Thou canst bring down to earth those with highest conceits. In this case, thou madest use of a cockerel to rebuke me for my sin; this lowly bird was used by Thee to correct my lofty boasts.
It is quite fitting for a cockerel to correct me with his cockcrow since it was the hennish comments of a woman that first overthrew me in the court of the high priest.
271. milde. Mild. With reference to a person having power, e.g. a ruler: gracious, clement, merciful, kind, indulgent; not harsh or severe. Of God, Christ, or the Virgin Mary (in Christian belief): gracious, merciful. 1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 84 Thow blissit Virgin mylde. 1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 121 Libertie would auaile me nothing, if Christ by his most milde incarnation had not taken away our captiuitie.
revenger. A person who takes revenge; an avenger. Common in the 16th and 17th centuries. a1540 R. Barnes Lawfull for Priestes to marry Wiues in W. Tyndale et al. Wks. (1573) ii. 326/2 Let not men doubt..that God wyll bee a reuenger of such wrongfull violence.
Revenge. An act of repaying a wrong or injury suffered. Repayment of an injury or wrong by the infliction of hurt or harm. Punishment of a wrongdoer; chastisement. 1592 R. Greene Philomela sig. G Therfore haue I here produced them in open court, that my dishonors may end in their reuenge.
aspiring. Aspire. To have an ardent desire for, to pant or long for, to be ambitious of, aim at. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. ix. sig. V2 How for to depryue Mercilla of her crowne, by her aspyred.
Ardently desirous of advancement or distinction; of lofty aim, ambitious. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. v. sig. K.vv/1 We which are not of that aspiring mynde.
272. dismount. To come down from (a height or elevated place); to descend. 1589 R. Robinson Golden Mirrour sig. Cf Dismounting thus the hill, I did retyre. To set, put, or bring down from an elevated position; to lower. 1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. L2 His watrie eies he did dismount, Whose sightes till then were leaueld on my face.
effects. Effect. An outward manifestation, sign, token, symptom; an appearance or phenomenon in nature. Frequently in plural. 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. iii. 107 What effects of passion shewes she?
276. hennish. Characteristic or reminiscent of a hen; resembling a hen. 1572 Treat. Treasons against Q. Elizabeth ii. f. 88 His hennish hart & courage, which twise already hath been wel proued, to be as base & deiect at ye sight of any storme of aduerse fortune, as euer was Hennes hart at the sight of a Fox.
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- 47 -
Weake weapons did Goliah's fumes abate,
Whose storming rage did thunder threats in vaine:
His bodie huge, harnest with massie plate,
Yet Dauid's stone brought death into his braine: [280]
With staff and sling as to a dog he came,
And with contempt did boasting furie tame.
The weapons were simple enough that succeeded in putting an end to the contemptuous anger of Goliath; in vain did he rage and thunder forth his threats. His huge frame was clad in massy plates of armour and yet it took only one of David’s little pebbles to strike his head and knock him senseless. David approached Goliath just as he would a dog, armed with nothing but a staff and his sling; and with disdain he silenced the furious boasts of Goliath.
Note. The scriptural texts concerning Goliath and his defeat by David include the following:
And there went out a man baseborn from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span: And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass: And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron: and his armourbearer went before him. [1 Kings xvii. 4-7]
And he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd's scrip, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine. And the Philistine came on, and drew nigh against David, and his armourbearer before him. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. For he was a young man, ruddy, and of a comely countenance. And the Philistine said to David: Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff? [1 Kings xvii. 40-43]
And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And as David had no sword in his hand,He ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. [1 Kings xvii. 49-51]277. Goliah. Goliath. [1 Kings xvii. 40-43]
fumes. Fume. A fit of anger, an irritable or angry mood. 1535 G. Joye Apol. Tindale sig. D.iij Softe & pacient, good wordis Tindale: & no furiouse fumes. 1539 R. Taverner Garden of Wysdom sig. D.ii He was in suche fume that he ran vpon the yonge man, to haue beaten hym.
There may be a reference here to Goliath’s curses when David offered him combat:
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.[1 Kings xvii. 43]
abate. To put an end to (a condition, state of affairs, etc.). To knock or tear down (a structure); to destroy, demolish, raze to the ground. 1576 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent 162 Bycause it [sc. Apultre] was not of sufficient strength for their defence and conuerture, they abated [it] to the ground.
279. harnest. Harnessed. Harness. noun. The defensive or body armour of a man-at-arms or foot-soldier; all the defensive equipment of an armed horseman, for both man and horse; military equipment or accoutrement. 1591 H. Savile tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. i. 44 A kind of harnish..composed of iron plates or stiffe bend-lether.
Verb. Transitive.To equip in ‘harness’ or armour; to arm, to accoutre. Archaic. ?1562 Thersytes sig. A.iv When I am harnessed well.
massie. Massy. Dense in texture or consistency; compact, substantial. 1597 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. f. 6 I can march all day in massie steele.
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- 48 -
Yet Dauid had with beare and lyon fought,
His skilful might excus'd Goliah's foile:
The death is eas'd that worthy hand hath wrought,
Some honour lives in honourable spoyle;
But I, on whom all infamies must light,
Was hist to death with words of woman's spight.
It should be remembered that David had already fought with a bear and with a lion; his prowess and skill in a certain sense explains Goliath’s defeat. When someone is vanquished in combat by a valiant warrior, his death is somehow easier to accept and a degree of honour persists in honourable spoils; but I am someone on whose head all infamies must descend, I am someone who was sent to his death by the mere words of a maidservant’s hissing spite.
283. Yet David . . . with beare and lyon fought. See the text in Scripture:
And Saul said to David: Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth. And David said to Saul: Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock: And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. [1 Kings xvii. 33-36]
284. excus’d. Of things, circumstances, etc.: To serve as an excuse or exculpation for. a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 21 Such ignorance excusyth not erronys in mannys lyfe.
foile. Foil. A repulse, defeat in an onset or enterprise; a baffling check. 1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 13 Considering what a foul shame and foil it had alreddi bene unto me.
285. eas’d. Ease. To relieve, lighten, set free (a person, etc.) of (†from) a burden, pain, anxiety, or trouble. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxx.[lxxxi.] 6 He eased his shulder from the burthen.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xii. 198 If this Law were obserued the people shold be eased of great expenses, iudges & iustices of great trauel.
286. spoyle. Spoil. Goods, esp. such as are valuable, taken from an enemy. The arms and armour of a slain or defeated enemy as stripped off and taken by the victor. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. vi. 43 That we look'd For no lesse Spoile, then Glory.
288. hist. Hissed, from Hiss. To express disapproval of (a person or thing) by making this sound. 1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. iv. sig. D6 Would not some freshman..Hisse, and deride such blockish foolerie?
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke Pref. 12 The poetes doe hisse the olde goddes out of place.
spight. Spite. A strong feeling of (†contempt,) hatred or ill-will; intense grudge or desire to injure; rancorous or envious malice. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. viii. 42 This Poet being full of poeticall spyte and indignation.
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Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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