St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 457-468

Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a 
framed copy of this painting to the author in the 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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- 77 -

'Still in the limbeck of thy dolefull brest

These bitter fruites that from thy sinnes doe grow;

For fuel, selfe accusing thoughtes be best;

Use feare as fire, the coals let penance blow; [460]

And seeke none other quintessence but teares,

That eyes may shed what entred at thine eares.

An alembic. From a medieval MS.
Makemake (Wikipedia).

Picture an alembic, the apparatus used for distillation. 

    Thy sorrowful heart is the vessel containing the bitter fruits produced by thy sins. The fuel for heating the vessel comes from the accusations of thy conscience. Use fear as the fire and let penance blow on the coals to fan them into flame.

Thou shouldst seek to distil no essence other than tears, so that thine eyes may weep for the sins that followed on from what thine ears heard.

    Note. 457.-462. “The image of alchemical distillation expressing the process of repentance, recalls the imagery of alchemical processes in ‘The burning Babe’.” [RS-DS, p168]

    457. 'Still. Still or Distil. v. To cause to distil or fall in drops. 1576   G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health iii. f. 131v   If you styll one droppe into the water.

    limbeck. = alembic n. An early apparatus used for distilling, consisting of two connected vessels, a typically gourd-shaped cucurbit (flask) containing the substance to be distilled, a cap with a tube, and a receiver or flask in which the condensed product is collected. Heat is applied to the gourd (see illustration)

1529   in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 277   A lymbeke for stilling of watters.

a1599   E. Spenser Canto Mutabilitie vii. xxxi, in Faerie Queene (1609) sig. Ii2   The dull drops that from his purpled bill As from a limbeck did adown distill.

    460. coals. Coal. In a fire, furnace, etc.: a glowing ember; a piece of carbonized fuel burning or smouldering without flame.  a1533   Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. H.ij   The coles can not be in the embres withoute sparkes.

    penance. Repentance, penitence; amendment of one's life.

    461. quintessence. The essence which characterizes, and can be extracted from, any substance; a highly refined essence or extract, spec. (Chemistry) an alcoholic solution obtained by infusion at a gentle heat. 

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- 78 -

Come sorrowing teares, the ofspring of my griefe,

Scant not your parent of a needfull ayde;

In you I rest, the hope of wisht reliefe, [465]

By you my sinnefull debts must be defrayd:

Your power prevailes, your sacrifice is gratefull,

By loue obtaining life to men most hatefull.

    Come,  ye tears of sorrow, born of my grief; do not hold back the help which your father needs. I shall find rest in you, for you are the hoped-for relief of my prayers. By you, I can offer reparation for my sins. Your power can carry all before it. Yours will be a sacrifice pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, through love regaining life for men full of hate.

    464. Scant. v. To stint the supply of; to refrain from giving, to withhold; to be niggardly of. Now rare. †to scant out: to dole out sparingly. a1616   W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) ii. iv. 47   Doth like a Miser spoyle his Coat, with scanting A little Cloth.

    needfull. Requisite, necessary, indispensable, essential. c1595   Countess of Pembroke Psalme cxlvii. 27 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 249   [He who] Fresheth the mountaines with such needfull spring.

    ayde. aid. Help, assistance, support, esp. of a practical nature; succour, relief from difficulty or distress. 1579   G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xiii. 736   The Pope passed a seuerall promisse to the king vnder his signature, neuer to demaunde of him any ayde or succours against the Duke of Ferrara.

    467. gratefull. Grateful. Pleasing to the mind or the senses, agreeable, acceptable, welcome. 1553   J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. v. f. 72   Hys comming was very greate full vnto the kynge.   1609   T. Heywood Troia Britanica ix. ii   Chast,—nothing better; wanton,—nothing worse, The gratefulst Blessing, or the greatest Curse. 

    468. hatefull. 1. That arouses or provokes feelings of hatred; odious; detestable; repulsive. 1597   W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. i. 97   My name deare Saint is hatefull to my selfe. 2. Full of hate; malevolent; malign. 1596   M. Drayton Mortimeriados sig. T2   Within these mighty walls inclos'd, Euen as the Owles so hatefull of the light.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.