Now! Then! A verse warns Charles II against his brother James, six days after the latter’s marriage to an Italian Catholic

Excerpt

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To the king

Great Charles who full of mercy wouldst command
in peace and pleasure this thy native land,
at least take pity of thy tottering throne
shook by the faults of others not thy own
let not thy life and crown together end,
destroyed by a false brother and a friend;
observe the dangers that appear so near
which all your subjects do each minute fear,
a drop of poison and a papist’s knife,
ends all the joys of England with your life,
brother it’s true by nature should be kind,
but to a zealous and ambitious mind,
bribed by a crown on earth for one above
there’s no more friendship, tenderness and love,
so in all ages what examples ever,
of monarch murdered by th’ impatient heir
hard fate of princes who will ne’er believe
till stroke be struck which they can ne’er retrieve.

This was put into the king’s private closet at the keyhole about Nov 29 1673.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

I take this to be a curious prayer. The context is the 1673 Test Act and suspicion that James was a Catholic – he had married an Italian Catholic, Mary of Modena, six days previously, on 23 November. Is James the “false brother” AND “friend”, or is someone else implicated?

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Original

To the king

Great Charles who full of mercy wouldst command
in peace and pleasure this thy native land,
at least take pity of thy tottering throne
shook by the faults of others not thy own
let not thy life and crown together end,
destroyed by a false brother and a friend;
observe the dangers that appear so near
which all your subjects do each minute fear,
a drop of poison and a papist’s knife,
ends all the joys of England with your life,
brother it’s true by nature should be kind,
but to a zealous and ambitious mind,
bribed by a crown on earth for one above
there’s no more friendship, tenderness and love,
so in all ages what examples ever,
of monarch murdered by th’ impatient heir
hard fate of princes who will ne’er believe
till stroke be struck which they can ne’er retrieve.