" Then Calice where the English did remain / During eleven Kings reigns from her was ta'in; / Which loss so griev'd her, as she did impart, / That Calice was engraven in her heart."
— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Cottrel [etc.]
Date
1657
Metaphor
" Then Calice where the English did remain / During eleven Kings reigns from her was ta'in; / Which loss so griev'd her, as she did impart, / That Calice was engraven in her heart."
Metaphor in Context
Since first the Gospel in the Ears did ring,
Of England under Lucius the King;
Never did King or Queen the Land so stain
With Christian blood as in her four years reign
Queen Mary did: she burned in her fury
An Arch-Bishop, (and he of Canterbury)
Four Bishops, twenty one Divines or more,
Eight Gentlemen, Artif'cers eighty foure,
Husbandmen, Servants, and poor Labouring men
Five score; Wives twenty six, Widdowes twice ten;
Nine Maids, two Boyes, and two young Babes (to heaven
VVere sent) in all two hundred seventy seven.
Sixty four more for Jesus Christ his sake
VVere persecuted sore; which could not shake
Their heaven-built faith; seven whereof were strip'd
Stark naked, and most mercilesly whip'd.
Sixteen in prison perishing, had dung
(After the Nabathoean custom) flung
Upon their outcast bodies: Some did lie
In captivated chains, condemn'd to die,
But were deliv'red from approaching death
By th' happy entrance of Elizabeth,
"Our glorious Queen, our Pallas and Astræa,
"Of Grace and Virtue the divine Idea,
Many did spend, by reason of exile,
Their dayes in trouble, and their years in toile.
But as Queen Mary lavished the blood
Of her best subjects, and the truth withstood
Unto the utmost of her power; so God
Scourged her soundly with his flaming rod,
Both in her life and death; for whilst she liv'd,
What did she prosper in which she atchiev'd?
To instance in a few particulars,
And first, her fair'st and greatest man of War
Unmatch'd i'th' Christian world, cal'd the great Harry
Was burnt by heavenly flames. Then would she marry
Spanish King Philip, so expose to dangers
Poor England under barb'rous foes and strangers.
She labour'd much, but never could attain
To joyn the English to the Spanish Raign.
Then did she set about the restauration
Of Abbey-lands throughout the British nation:
Her self began according to the Popes
Directions, yet frustrate were all her hopes.
God o're her land then such a famine spred,
That her poor subjects upon Acorns fed,
Then Calice where the English did remain
During eleven Kings reigns from her was ta'in;
Which loss so griev'd her, as she did impart,
That Calice was engraven in her heart.
Again in child-birth never woman had
S'unfortunate success as she, so bad:
For if she was with child, and had e're been
In travel, why? why was it never seen?
If not, why was the Kingdom so beguild?
Some in the Pulpit for her new-born child
Returning thanks: thus her desires b'ing crost,
She then th' affections of her husband lost:
She could not him enjoy, nor might she smother
This her first love, by marrying another,
Although she did so many Judgements feel,
Yet would she not her bloody Laws repeal:
She had no minde to stop the opened vain,
Or close the bleeding Orifice again
Of dying Saints. At last the Lord did please
To strike her with a languishing disease,
VVhereof she dy'd; and having held the crown
Five years, and five months onely, laid it down.
Of England under Lucius the King;
Never did King or Queen the Land so stain
With Christian blood as in her four years reign
Queen Mary did: she burned in her fury
An Arch-Bishop, (and he of Canterbury)
Four Bishops, twenty one Divines or more,
Eight Gentlemen, Artif'cers eighty foure,
Husbandmen, Servants, and poor Labouring men
Five score; Wives twenty six, Widdowes twice ten;
Nine Maids, two Boyes, and two young Babes (to heaven
VVere sent) in all two hundred seventy seven.
Sixty four more for Jesus Christ his sake
VVere persecuted sore; which could not shake
Their heaven-built faith; seven whereof were strip'd
Stark naked, and most mercilesly whip'd.
Sixteen in prison perishing, had dung
(After the Nabathoean custom) flung
Upon their outcast bodies: Some did lie
In captivated chains, condemn'd to die,
But were deliv'red from approaching death
By th' happy entrance of Elizabeth,
"Our glorious Queen, our Pallas and Astræa,
"Of Grace and Virtue the divine Idea,
Many did spend, by reason of exile,
Their dayes in trouble, and their years in toile.
But as Queen Mary lavished the blood
Of her best subjects, and the truth withstood
Unto the utmost of her power; so God
Scourged her soundly with his flaming rod,
Both in her life and death; for whilst she liv'd,
What did she prosper in which she atchiev'd?
To instance in a few particulars,
And first, her fair'st and greatest man of War
Unmatch'd i'th' Christian world, cal'd the great Harry
Was burnt by heavenly flames. Then would she marry
Spanish King Philip, so expose to dangers
Poor England under barb'rous foes and strangers.
She labour'd much, but never could attain
To joyn the English to the Spanish Raign.
Then did she set about the restauration
Of Abbey-lands throughout the British nation:
Her self began according to the Popes
Directions, yet frustrate were all her hopes.
God o're her land then such a famine spred,
That her poor subjects upon Acorns fed,
Then Calice where the English did remain
During eleven Kings reigns from her was ta'in;
Which loss so griev'd her, as she did impart,
That Calice was engraven in her heart.
Again in child-birth never woman had
S'unfortunate success as she, so bad:
For if she was with child, and had e're been
In travel, why? why was it never seen?
If not, why was the Kingdom so beguild?
Some in the Pulpit for her new-born child
Returning thanks: thus her desires b'ing crost,
She then th' affections of her husband lost:
She could not him enjoy, nor might she smother
This her first love, by marrying another,
Although she did so many Judgements feel,
Yet would she not her bloody Laws repeal:
She had no minde to stop the opened vain,
Or close the bleeding Orifice again
Of dying Saints. At last the Lord did please
To strike her with a languishing disease,
VVhereof she dy'd; and having held the crown
Five years, and five months onely, laid it down.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "engrav" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
03/08/2005
