St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 349-360

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

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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- 59 -

You flames diuine, that sparkle out your heats,

And kindle pleasing fires in mortall harts; [350]

You nectar'd Aumbryes of soule feeding meates;

You gracefull quivers of loue's dearest darts;

You did vouchsafe to warme, to wound, to feast,

My cold, my stony, my now famishde breast.

    These eyes shoot out flames of divine ardour, setting the hearts of mortal men on fire with a pleasant warmth. They are like sweet treasure chests storing all that is needed to nourish the human soul; or like attractive and grace-giving quivers full of love’s best and dearest darts for piercing the human heart.

    These eyes did graciously show themselves willing to warm my cold heart, to touch and pierce my stony-heartedness, to provide a feast for my heart, hungry for love.

    349. heats. Heat. Intensity or great warmth of feeling; fervour, ardour, animation, vehemence, eagerness, excitement. 1565   J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 238   Amplifications, or heats of speech, the better to stirre vp, and to enflame the minds of the Hearers.

    350. kindle. To start or light (a fire); to set fire to, ignite. To arouse, give rise to, or inflame (a feeling, emotion, etc.). a1547   Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Aiiiv   This kindled vs more egre to enquire.

    harts. Hearts.

    351. nectar’d. Filled, flavoured, or impregnated with nectar (literally or figuratively); deliciously sweet or fragrant.

    Aumbryes.  Aumbry. 1. A container for storing books, a bookcase; (occasionally) a room where books or other documents are stored, a library, an archive. 2. Formerly also: †a repository or compendium of knowledge, such as a chronicle or commentary. c1593   in J. Raine Descr. Anc. Monuments Church of Durham (1842) 71   Over against the carrells against the church wall did stande sertaine great almeries [1672 Ambries] of waynscott all full of Bookes. 

figurative. A repository or plentiful source of something. 1578   T. Newton in W. Hunnis Hyve Full of Hunnye (facing ‘Argument’)   What golden Giftes lodge in thy Breast, and Aumbry of thy Minde.

    meates. Meat. Food, as nourishment for people. figurative. A means of support or strength; 1611   Bible (King James) John iv. 32   1582. I haue meate to eate that ye know not of.  1582. Douay Rheims New Testament."But he said to them: I have meat to eat, which you know not." [John iv. 32]

    352. gracefull. Graceful. 1. Full of or showing divine grace; (of a person) holy. 1596   Prayer Thankesgiuing & Continuance Successe to her Maiesties Forces (new ed.) (single sheet)    Blesse vs with thy gracefull hand to the endlesse prayse of thy holy Name. 2. In early use: pleasant, having pleasing and attractive qualities. a1586   Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. ii. sig. Ii8v   Their countenaunces full of a gracefull grauitie. 3. Favourably disposed, friendly. Used exclusively of an eye. a1616   W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. ii. 64   I Your Partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought, Could not with gracefull eyes attend those Warres Which fronted mine owne peace.

    quivers. A portable case or bag for holding arrows. The contents of a quiver; a quiverful. Also figurative. Obsolete.

1600   W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 253   Nay, if Cupid haue not spent all his quiuer in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

    darts. A pointed missile weapon thrown by the hand; a light spear or javelin; also applied to pointed missiles in general, including arrows, etc. figurative. 1509   S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure xli. i   Deth with his darte arest me sodenly.

    353-354. The three verbs in 353. have their objects in 354. in the same order: to warme my cold breast, to wound my stony breast, to feast my now famishde breast.

    353. vouchsafe. To show a gracious readiness or willingness, to grant readily, to condescend or deign, to do something:1579   W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue Brief Descr. sig. ☞.iijv   For the testimony of the truth hereof vouchsafe good reader to read the booke.

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- 60 -

The matchlesse eyes, matcht onely each by other, [355]

Were pleas'd on my ill matched eyes to glaunce;

The eye of liquid pearle, the purest mother,

Broach't teares in mine to weepe for my mischance;

The cabinets of grace vnlockt their treasure,

And did to my misdeed their mercies measure.[360]

    These eyes, that have no equal and are matched only by each other, these kindly eyes cast a glance at my own ill-matched eyes. 

    Like a beautiful liquid pearl, the very purest mother-of-pearl, the Lord’s gaze pierced me in such a way as to make me weep tears for my sinful betrayal. These stores of grace unlocked their precious treasure and matched their mercy to my iniquity.

357. mother. Perhaps mother-of-pearl. A smooth, shining, iridescent substance forming the inner layer of the shell of some molluscs. 1547   Inventory in MS Harl. 1419A f. 130v   A Table of mother of perle in roundells of the birthe and passion of christe.

358. broach’t. Broach. v. To pierce, stab, thrust through. Perhaps more specifically here, To pierce (a cask, etc.) so as to draw the liquor; to tap. transferred and figurative. To pierce or break into, in order to liberate or extract something; 1592   R. Greene Disput. Conny-catcher Ep. sig. A2   I haue broacht vp the secretes of vice. 1650   T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 371   A Countrey..where God broached a rich vein of gold for this particular purpose. 

359. cabinets. Cabinet. In early use: a (typically portable) case for storing precious objects such as jewels, valuable letters, etc. ?a1549   Inventory Henry VIII (1998) I. 258/2   One fayer lardge Cabonett the foreparte and sides couered with crymsen vellat..with the kinges armes crowned. a1631   J. Donne Serm. (1959) IV. 49   The best Jewell in the best Cabinet.

360. measure. To apportion by measure; to mete or deal out in a specific or regulated quantity. Frequently used of immaterial things (as mercy, punishment, etc.). 1530   J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 635/1   By the same mesure that you mesure to other men wyll men mesure by to you. 1582    Rheims New Testament. IYDGE not , that you be not iudged. For in what Judgment you iudge, you fhal be iudged : and in what meafure you mete, -it fhal be meafured to you agayne.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.