St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 337-348

Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave
a copy of this painting to the author in the early 1980's. 

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 on behalf of my family to Our Blessed Lady, Regina Martyrum et Consolatrix afflictorum. 

For 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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- 57 -

Sweet volumes, stoard with learning fit for saints,

Where blissfull quires imparadize their minds;

Wherein eternall studie neuer faints,

Still finding all, yet seeking all it finds: [340]

How endlesse is your labyrinth of blisse,

Where to be lost the sweetest finding is!

    Thine eyes speak volumes, for they contain a rich store of learning perfectly suited for saints, raising the heart and mind to Paradise. Here, ceaseless wonder at the eternal is a study that never loses its brightness; continually making discoveries about everything, yet continuing to seek out that all that it finds.

    How endless are the possibilities in exploring the myriad pathways to joy, where those lost in wonder find all that is most wonderful.

 

    337. stoard. Stored. 

    338. quires. Choir / Quire. 1. gen. A company of singers; spec. an organized body of singers, transferred and figurative of angels, birds, echoes, etc. 1593   W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Fijv   Still the quier of ecchoes answer. 

Cf. "Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery." [Psalm cxlix. 3]

    2. Each of the nine orders of angels in the heavenly hierarchy. 1641   R. Carpenter Experience, Hist., & Divinitie iii. iv. 17   Say, that there are nine Orders, or Quires of Angels.

    imparadize. Imparadise. transitive. To place in, or as in, Paradise; to bring into a state of rapture or supreme happiness; to transport, ravish. 1598   J. Florio Worlde of Wordes   Paradisare, to emparadize.

1610   G. Fletcher Christs Victorie 81   As in his burning throne he [David] sits emparadis'd.

Cf. the exchange off glances between penitent thief and Christ on the Cross:

"And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." [Luke xxiii. 43]

    339. studie. Study. 1. A state of amazement, astonishment, or wonder. 1596   T. Lodge Diuel Coniured sig. Giv   The star wrought nought els by his apparance but astonishment, studie, and amase in them, to discerne what it might intend.

2. The activity of studying; the application of the mind to the acquisition of learning; devotion of time and effort to the pursuit of knowledge, esp. by means of written sources. 1581   W. Allen Apol. Two Eng. Colleges f. 21v   The persons which first put them selues together in the Vniuersitie of Duay the yere 1568, yelding to Collegial forme of studie and discipline vnder one President.

    faints. Faint. To become faint, grow weak or feeble, decline. 1530   J. Rastell New Bk. Purgatory ii. xviii. sig. e   His..vnderstandynge begynnyth to faynt. To lose colour or brightness; to fade, die away. 

    340. still. 3. a. With reference to action or condition: Without change, interruption, or cessation; continually, constantly; on every occasion, invariably; always. 1609   W. Shakespeare Sonnets cxxvi. sig. H3   She may detaine, but not still keepe her tresure!

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- 58 -

Ah wretch! how oft haue I sweet lessons read

In those deare eyes, the registers of truth!

How oft haue I my hungrie wishes fed, [345]

And in their happy ioyes redrest my ruth!

Ah! that they now are heralds of disdaine,

That erst were euer pittiers of my paine!

    Oh what a wretched soul am I! How often have I read and contemplated the sweet lessons to be learned from those dear eyes, containing the texts of Truth incarnate! How often have my heart’s desires hungered for help, and found in these eyes the happy joy of consolation for my sorrows!  

    But these same eyes, that once showed understanding and pity for my suffering, now proclaim the contempt of my betrayal.

    343-344. The poet continues with the image of the eyes as sweet volumes (see l 337).

    343. read. Read.To study, observe, or interpret (a phenomenon, an object) as though by reading. To discern or discover (something) in (or on) the face, look, etc., of a person.  a1586   Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 2   In Stellas face I reede, What loue and beauty be.

    344. registers. Register. A book or volume in which important items of information of a particular kind are regularly and accurately recorded; 1581   J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 129 b   It is not needefull to make a Register of all ye testimonies of writers. a1616   W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 182   As you haue one eye vpon my follies, as you heare them vnfolded, turne another into the Register of your owne.

    346. ruth. Contrition, repentance; remorse. Vid. ?a1603   E. Grymeston Miscelanea (1604) sig. F4v   Thou pardon promisest Where hearts true ruth is showne. Sorrow, grief, distress; lamentation.  1591   E. Spenser tr. Petrarch Visions ii, in Complaints sig. Z2   O how great ruth and sorrowfull assay, Doth vex my spirite with perplexitie.

    347. disdain. The feeling entertained towards that which one thinks unworthy of notice or beneath one's dignity; scorn, contempt. Indignation; anger or vexation arising from offended dignity; dudgeon. The quality which excites aversion; loathsomeness. 1590   E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A5   Most lothsom, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine.

    348. erst. At first, as opposed to afterwards.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.