 |
| 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. |
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.
+ + +
- 87 -
Come shame, the liverie of offending minde,
The ougly shroude that ouershadoweth blame;
The mulct at which fowle faults are iustly fynde;
The dampe of sinne, the common sluce of fame, [520]
By which impostum'd tongues their humours purge;
Light shame on me, I best deserve the scourge.
Come shame, the distinctive garb for a mind that has sinned, like an ugly cloth that overshadows the guilt it covers;
Shame, the standard rate at which vile sins are with justice punished;
Shame, the noxious vapour of sin; fame’s common sluice through which the humours of festering tongues pour forth their poison.
Do thou, O shame, descend upon me for I have fully merited this punishment.
517. - 518. Perhaps developing the theme in 511 (supra): If Adam sought a veyle to scarfe his sinne.
517. liverie. Livery. 1. The distinctive dress worn by the liverymen of a Guild or City of London livery company. More generally: the distinctive dress or uniform provided for and worn by an official, retainer, or employee. 1599 George a Greene sig. F1v Two liueries will I giue thee euerie yeere, And fortie crownes shall be thy fee. 2. Something assumed or bestowed as a distinguishing feature; a characteristic garb or covering; a distinctive guise, marking, or outward appearance. 1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Rogation Week iv, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 495 Love and charity, which is the only livery of a Christian man.
518. ougly. Ugly. 1. Offensive or repulsive to the eye; unpleasing in appearance; of disagreeable or unsightly aspect: 2. Morally offensive or repulsive; base, degraded, loathsome, vile. 1583 G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. i. 62 Sight of ouglie sinne lodging still in mee..will make mee praise his name.
shroude. 1.A garment; an article of clothing; 2. The white cloth or sheet in which a corpse is laid out for burial; a winding-sheet.
overshadoweth. overshadow. To cast a shadow over; to cover or obscure with shadow, darkness, or clouds. 1563 A. Neville tr. Seneca Lamentable Trag. Œdipus sig. Aiij No star on hygh at all doth shyne but all the Skies are couered, With black and hellyke hewe & mistie stenche, quight ouershadowed.
519. mulct. A fine imposed for an offence. Also occasionally in extended use: a compulsory payment, a tax. A penalty or punishment of any kind. 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus Famous Hyst. ii. f. 94 The 5 other cityes..sequestred Halicarnassus, beyng the sixth, from the right and freedome of the temple: leviying a mulct or feine [Gk. ζημίη] uppon the whole citye.
fowle. foul. Grossly offensive to the senses; revolting, loathsome. a1535 T. More Wks. (1557) 477 Lest he finally fall into the fowle smoke of helle, where he shall neuer see after.
fynde. fined.
520. dampe. Perhaps linked with the word humours in 521. (vid. Infra). 1. An exhalation, a vapour or gas, of a noxious kind. 1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxliii. 281 All infected in a manner at one instant, by reason of a dampe or miste which arose..within the Castle yeard. 2. A dazed or stupefied condition; loss of consciousness or vitality, stupor. 1542 T. Becon Dauids Harpe 150 b He was in a trauns, that is to say in a dampe, a stupour, abashement, and soden privacion of sence or fealyng. 3. A state of dejection; depression of spirits. 1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. 22 a Their heartes were stricken into a great dampe, and were so discouraged, that [etc.].
sluce. 1. A structure of wood or masonry, a dam or embankment, for impounding the water of river, canal, etc., provided with an adjustable gate or gates by which the volume of water is regulated or controlled. Also, rarely, the body of water so impounded or controlled. 2. figurative. 1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 283 The number of them being verie small, who would not willingly make (as we say) a sluce to their consciences.
521. impostum'd. Imposthumed. Imposthume. v. To gather into an impostume or abscess; = impostumate.
To swell into an impostume, to form an ulcerous tumour; to fester. 1607 G. Markham Cavelarice vii. 70 When those kernels do swel and impostumate outwardly. 1712 J. Arbuthnot Law is Bottomless-pit viii. 15 The Bruise imposthumated, and afterwards turn'd to a stinking Ulcer.
humours. In ancient and medieval physiology and medicine: any of four fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, choler, and so-called melancholy or black bile) believed to determine, by their relative proportions and conditions, the state of health and the temperament of a person or animal. In early use also: †any of the four qualities (hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness) believed to be associated with these. 1598 F. Meres Palladis Tamia f. 146 The foure humors of the body (heate, coldnes, drines, and moisture) are the causes of all welfare and ill fare in the body.
522. light. Here perhaps in the following sense: With on, upon, or (rarely) †to. Of good fortune, misery, a curse, etc.: to fall or descend upon a person, place, etc.; to be the fate or lot of someone. 1607 E. Sharpham Cupids Whirligig ii. sig. D3v The plague of Egipt light vppon you all.
+ + +
- 88 -
Caines murdering hand imbrude in brothers blood,
More mercy then my impious toung may crave;
He kild a ryvall with pretence of good, [525]
In hope Gods doubled love alone to have.
But feare so spoild my vanquisht thoughts of loue,
That periurde oathes my spightfull hate did prove.
Cain slew Abel and yet even Cain's murdering hand, stained with Abel's blood, has more of a claim to God’s mercy than my wicked tongue.
Cain killed his rival with what he thought was a good reason, for he thought to double God’s love and have it all for himself alone; but in my case, any thoughts of love that I had were vanquished, being stripped away by my abject fear. I broke my oath of faithfulness and this proved my shameful and detestable betrayal.
523. Cain’s murder of his brother Abel is set in chapter iv. of Genesis:
“And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth.” [Gen iv. 8-12]
imbrude. imbrue. v. To stain, dirty, defile. To stain, dye (one's hand, sword, etc.) in or with (blood, slaughter, etc.). 1577 M. Hanmer tr. Socrates Scholasticus iv. xxix, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 340 Thy right hand is imbrued with slaughter and bloodshed.
Said of blood or bleeding wounds. 1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres iii. lxxxii. sig. Q2v There lies that comely body all imbrude With that pure bloud, mixt with that fowle he shed.
524. impious. Not pious; without piety or reverence for God and his ordinances; presumptuously irreligious, wicked, or profane: 1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xi. 173 If magistrates should commaund that which is impious..we haue our answere well warranted,..It is better to obey God than men.
toung. tongue.
525. pretence. An assertion of a right, title, etc.; the putting forth of a claim; a claim. An alleged reason; an excuse or pretext. In later use chiefly: a trivial, groundless, or fallacious excuse or reason.
528. spightful. spiteful. Full of, possessed or animated by, spite; malicious, malevolent. 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. (1634) i. 70 He is of nature froward, spiteful, and malicious.
1591 J. Lyly Endimion iv. iii. sig. G3v Belike you cannot speake except you bee spightfull.
+ + +
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment