Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

All hail fair fruit! may every crab-tree bear
Such blossoms, and so lovely every year!
Call ye me this the slip? marry ’tis well,
Zacheus slipped to heaven, the thief to hell:
But if the saints thus give’s the slip, ’tis need
To look about us to preserve the breed.
Th’are of the running game, and thus to post
In nooses, blanks the reck’ning with their host.
Here’s more than trussum cordum I suppose
That knit this knot: guilt seldom singly goes!
A wounded soul close coupled with the sense
Of sin, pays home its proper recompense.
But hark you sir, if haste can grant the time?
See you the danger yet what ’tis to climb
In king’s prerogatives? things beyond just,
When law seems bribed to doom them, must be trussed.
But oh! I smell your plot strong through your hose,
‘Twas but to cheat the hangman of your clothes;
Else your more active hands had fairly stayed
The leisure of a psalm: Judas has prayed.
But later crimes cannot admit the pause,
They run upon effects more than the cause.
Yet let me ask one question, why alone
One member of a corporation?
‘Tis clear amongst divines, bodies and souls
As jointly active, so their judgement rowles
Concordant in the sentence; why not so
In earthly suffrings? States attended go.
But I perceive the knack: Old women say
And be’t approved, each dog should have his day.
Hence sweep the almanac: Lilly make room,
And blanks enough for the new saints to come,
All in red letters: as their faults have been
Scarlet, so limn their anniverse of sin.
And to their children’s credits and their wives’
Be it still said, they leap fair for their lives.

Comment

Comment

The poem is claimed for Cleveland in his collected verse (Cleveland 1699). The exact intention of “trussum cordum” escapes me this morning. Lilly is William Lilly, the astrologer and almanacker. To limb/limn is to draw or paint. Does “I smell your plot strong through your hose” suggest that, as is common, Hoyle fouled himself in the act?

Via Francis Drake, who comments:

I cannot omit giving an account of an odd accident which happened this year to an alderman of York, and one of our burgesses in that infamous long parliament, who upon the same day of the month of January, and as near as possible at the same hour of the day, on which the royal martyr suffered the year before, took occasion to do that justic on himself which the times denied him, by hanging himself at his house in Westminster. This man, though not considerable enough to be one of the king’s judges, or even named a commissioner, was one that went in with them in all their villainies; and whether remorse or madness, as some would please to have it, caused him to act the deed it left to the reader’s conjecture (Drake 1736).

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Original

ALL hail fair fruit! may every Crab-tree bear
Such blossomes, and so lovely every year!
Call ye me this the slip? marry ’tis well,
Zacheus slip’d to Heaven, the Thief to Hell:
But if the Saints thus give’s the slip, ’tis need
To look about us to preserve the breed.
Th’are of the Running game, and thus to post
In nooses, blanks the reckning with their Host.
Here’s more than Trussum cordum I suppose
That knit this knot: guilt seldome singly goes!
A wounded soul close coupled with the sense
Of sin, payes home its proper recompence.
But hark you Sir, if hast can grant the time?
See you the danger yet what ’tis to climbe
In Kings Prerogatives? things beyond just,
When Law seemes brib’d to doom them, must be truss’d.
But O I smell your Plot strong through your Hose,
‘Twas but to cheat the Hang-man of your Cloaths;
Else your more active hands had fairly stay’d
The leasure of a Psalm: Judas has pray’d.
But later crimes cannot admit the pause,
They run upon effects more than the cause.
Yet let me ask one question, why alone?
One Member of a Corporation?
‘Tis clear amongst Divines, Bodies and Souls
As joyntly active, so their judgement rowles
Concordant in the Sentence; why not so
In earthly Suffrings? States attended go.
But I perceive the Knack: Old women say
And bee’t approv’d, each Dogge should have his day.
Hence sweep the Almanack: Lilly make room,
And blanks enough for the new Saints to come,
All in Red letters: as their faults have bin
Scarlet, so limbe their Anniverse of sin.
And to their Childrens credits and their Wives
Be it still said, they leap fair for their lives.

336 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Almanac (3) ·
• Apple (7) ·
• Charles I (1600-49) (23), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1625 until his execution in 1649 ·
• Commonwealth of England (8) ·
• English Civil War (1642-1651) (27), a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom ·
• Gallows (2) ·
• Hanging (24) ·
• Hoyle, Thomas (1586-1650) (1), mayor of York, member of the Long Parliament ·
• Humour (26) ·
• John Cleveland (1) ·
• Judas Maccabeus (2) ·
• London (74) ·
• Long Parliament (1640-60) (4), summoned by Charles I and, following the Rump Parliament and other de facto quasi-official interruptions, finally dissolved by its members just before the Restoration ·
• Poetry (70) ·
• Red letter day (1) ·
• Rump Parliament (2) ·
• Suicide (9) ·
• Westminster (2) ·
• William Lilly (1) ·
• 📌York (164) ·

All tags.

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