St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 361-372

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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- 61 -

These blazing comets, light'ning flames of loue,

Made me their warming influence to knowe;

My frozen hart their sacred force did proue,

Which at their looks did yeeld like melting snowe:

They did not ioyes in former plentie carue, [365]

Yet sweet are crums where pined thoughts doe starue.

    These blazing comet-eyes, shooting forth flames of love like bolts of lightning, made me feel the force of their warmth within; my frozen heart melted like snow beneath their gaze and, being thus tested, bore witness to their power and their holiness. In times of apparent plenty, my thoughts had not sensed this sort of joy; but when my sorrowing thoughts were hungry for consolation in my anguish, even these few little crumbs of comfort are so sweet and satisfying.

    361. comets. 1. A celestial object typically following a greatly elongated elliptical orbit around the sun. 1584   G. Peele Araygnem. Paris i. iii. sig. Aiij   The waterie flowers and lillies on the bankes, Like blazing cometes burgen all in rankes. figurative. 2. A person who or thing which is likened to a comet. comet eyes  n. eyes that resemble a comet; eyes with a portentous, piercing, or luminous appearance or gaze. 1612   R. Daborne Christian turn'd Turke iv. sig. Fv   Forgiuenesse Voada: turne backe thy comet-eyes.

    light’ning. lighten. v. 1. 5. transitive. To kindle, ignite, light (a fire, candle, lantern, etc.). Also in figurative contexts. a1568   R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) i. f. 15v   Who haue had, in so fewe yeares, the Candel of Goddes worde, so oft lightned, so oft put out. 2. transitive. figurative and in figurative contexts. To give out or emit (something) in the manner of lightning, esp. quickly, brightly, or forcefully. 1597   W. Shakespeare Richard II iii. iii. 68   His eye..lightens forth Controlling maiestie. 3. adj. Moving or flashing with the speed of lightning; very fast; done, produced, or acting with the speed of lightning; as quick as lightning. 1576   G. Whetstone Rocke of Regard ii. 69   Your lightning ioyes, such lasting woes did brue.

    363. hart. Heart.

    prove. 1. To put (a person or thing) to the test; 1526   Bible (Tyndale) John vi. f. cxxvij   This he sayde to prove hym. For he hym sylfe knewe what he wolde do. 2. To show the existence or reality of; 1608   S. Hieron 2nd Pt. Def. Ministers Reasons 210   To prove that the devil could not foretell things contingently to come.

    364. yeeld. Yield. a. intransitive. To give way under some natural or mechanical force, so as to collapse, stretch, bend, crack, etc.; vid. 1579   T. Lodge Protogenes 26   Looke for wonders where musike worketh,..the bowels of the earth yeld where the instrument soundeth.

    365. carue. Carve. To cut into portions, and similar uses. To apportion at discretion, to assign as one's portion or lot. 1596   W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) ix. li. 234   Which of the Patriarks, Prophets, or Gods People..vnto their owne Affections caru'd.

    366. crums. Crumb. A very small particle or portion (of something immaterial), a ‘scrap’. a1535   Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 408   [Not] one crum of merit. 1541   R. Barnes Wks. (1573) 225   Some cromme of charitie within them.

    pined. adj. That has undergone pain, suffering, or punishment; tormented. Also: wasted or exhausted by suffering, hunger, or old age. 1589   J. Melvill Spirituall Propine 91   And a hearte contreete..and pinde.

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- 62 -

O liuing mirrours! seeing Whom you shew,

Which equal shadows worths with shadowed things,

Yea, make things nobler then in natiue hew,

By being shap't in those life-giuing springs; [370]

Much more my image in those eyes was grac'd,

Then in myselfe, whom sinne and shame defac'd.

    Dear eyes of Christ: you are like living mirrors because you see the person whose reflection you show. In fact, you see not only the people you look upon but you also see their inner qualities; more than this, under your gaze people appear nobler than they would naturally because they are transformed by your life-giving power, springing from your eyes.

    My own image was itself much adorned by grace in this way, whereas to me it seemed more ugly and disfigured by my sin.

    368. equal. This would appear to be a verb, the subject being the living mirrours and the object being shadows worths and shadowed things. The meaning might then be: To consider or represent as equal; to liken, compare[OED] 

    worth.  The character or standing of a person; In plural in same sense: a person's merit or excellence. a1586   Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. ii. sig. P1v   How can you him vnworthy then decree, In whose chiefe parte your worthes implanted be? 

    shadows worths. i.e., shadows’ worths: the merits or qualities of the persons “shadowed” or reflected in the “living mirrors.”

    shadowed things. the persons “shadowed” or reflected in the “living mirrors.”  

    Hence, the sense may be: The living mirrors (Christ’s eyes) see not only the shadowed things (people / sinners / Peter) but also their merits. Both, in the eyes of Christ, are seen and taken into due account.

    369. hew. 1. Form, shape, figure; appearance, aspect; species. a1592   R. Greene Hist. Orlando Furioso (1594) sig. G2v   Thrice hath Cynthia changde her hiew. 2. Colour. 1576   A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. Ep. Ded. sig. ¶iij   With leaues and blossoms of glorious hewe.

    370. springs. Spring. Here, something resembling a flow of water emerging naturally out of the ground, esp. in being refreshing or revitalizing. 1596   E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. ii. sig. B5v   Streames of bloud did rayle Adowne, as if their springs of life were spent. 

    There may also be a reference to a) to the tears of a contrite sinner.  and b) to the life-giving waters of Baptism: “Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” [John iii.5] 

    371. grac’d. Grace. v. To lend or add grace to (a person or thing); to adorn, embellish, set off. 1548   N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Pref. vnto kinges Majestie f. vv   The sawcyng of pleasures with some kind of misfortune..graceth altogether, and maketh it the more acceptable.

    defac’d. Deface. v. To mar the face, features, or appearance of; to spoil or ruin the figure, form, or beauty of; to disfigure. 1509   J. Fisher Mornynge Remembraunce Countesse of Rychemonde (de Worde) sig. Aii v   A noblenes of maners, withouten whiche the noblenes of bloode is moche defaced.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.