St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 493-504

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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- 83 -

If love, if losse, if fault, if spotted fame,

If daunger, death, if wrath, or wrecke of weale,

Entitle eyes true heires to earned blame, [495]

That due remorse in such events conceale

Then want of teares might well enroll my name,

As chiefest Saint in Calender of shame.

    Consider love and the loss of that love, sin, stained reputation, timid fear, death itself, divine wrath and the destruction of hoped-for happiness: if concealing such things as these earn for a person’s unweeping eyes the right to receive well-deserved blame — then my want of tears should enroll my name as the leading saint in the unholy calendar of shame.

    493. If love, if losse. See the following verse which expands on the idea of This love I lost (503.)

spotted. Disfigured or stained with spots. Morally stained or blemished with something disgraceful or defiling. Morally stained or sullied; defiled, impure. 1548   Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xxixv   That note of infamie with the whiche his fame was iustely spotted and stayned. 1564   T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. i. f. 445v   All creatures were founde spotted in the syght of God.

    494. daunger. 1. Liability (to loss, punishment, etc.). 1526   W. Tyndale Pathway Holy Script. in Wks. (1848) I. 9   The wretched man (that knoweth himself to be..in danger to death and hell). 2. Difficulty (made or raised); hesitation, reluctance, chariness, stint, grudging; 1526   A. Dalaber in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1570) 1368/2   I made daunger of it a while at first, but afterward beyng persuaded by them..I promised to do as they would haue me.

    weal. Welfare, well-being, happiness, prosperity. 1549   M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Rom. vi. f. xv   Ye nowe are become Christes seruauntes, whose seruice is all weale and blisse.

    495. entitle. The use of the word heires suggests a metaphor drawn from the following sense: From TITLE n.   = ‘right to possession’. To furnish (a person) with a ‘title’ to an estate. Hence gen. to give (a person or thing) a rightful claim to a possession, privilege, designation, mode of treatment, etc. 1530   J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 538/1   By what meanes is he entyteled unto these landes.

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- 84 -

Love, where I lov'd, was due, and best deserv'd;

No love could aime at more love-worthy marke; [500]

No love more lov'd then mine of Him I serv'd;

Large use He gave, a flame for everie sparke.

This love I lost, this losse a life must rue;

Yea, life is short to pay the ruth is due.

    For me, the love that I felt was like a debt that I owed from my heart and it was for someone who deserved it more than any other. No love could set for its target anyone more worthy of being loved. No love was loved more in return than the love of Him I served. He was indeed generous and, just as a flame is so much greater than a little spark, He would give so much more than He received.

This is the love I lost and this loss will mean for me a lifetime of remorse. Indeed, life is too short to pay the debt of contrition and reparation that I owe.

    500. marke. 1. A target, butt, or other object set up to be aimed at with a missile or projectile. Hence also: a person or animal targeted by an archer, spear-thrower, etc. Also in figurative contexts. 1536   J. Gwynneth Confutacyon Fyrst Parte Frythes Boke xi. sig. d.iiiv   All though they were bothe, of an equall euyll, yet so myche thou arte wyde of the marke, that he is farre, the worst of them bothe. 2. a post or other object indicating the terminal point of a race. Frequently figurative: an object desired or striven for, a goal, an objective, a standard for attainment. 1561   T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. ii. viii. f. 61   Lette this bee our perpetuall marke, to ayde all men faithfully.

    501. then. Than. There seem to be two possible readings here: 

1. No love more loved than my love for Him whom I served. 

2. No love was loved more in return than the love of Him I served. 

    1. seems closer to the syntax but it seems unlikely Peter would claim such a superlative. 2. attributes the superlative more fittingly  to the Lord’s love and also links well with the following line (502.).

    502. Large. Liberal in giving; generous (†to or †toward a person). Also: lavish in expenditure; Cf. LARGESSE n. 1582   S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum xix. cxxxi. f. 417v/2   And euery Emperour to win fauour of the people, put somewhat to the measure for to be held the more large of giftes.

a1616   W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) i. i. 108   The poore King Reignier, whose large style Agrees not with the leannesse of his purse.

    504. ruth. Contrition, repentance; remorse. ?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.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.