An elegy upon the death of the right Honourable & most renowned, ROBERT Devereux, Earl of ESSEX and Ewe, Viscount Hereford, Lord Ferrer of Chartley, Bourchier and Louvain, late general of the Forces of the PARLIAMENT of England, who deceased the 14. of September, 1646.  
CAn England's noble Champion [ESSEX] die?  
That kept us safe from hostile tyranny)  
Can he (I say) from us to's dust depart,  
(Ne'er to return) and we not lay't to heart?  
Can we (whose Shield he was) not sensibly  
Bewail our loss of him with weeping eye?  
O Heavens forbid! unworthy Nation we,  
Should we of his great worth unmindful be.  
Though he's extinct, yet let Posterity  
Keep up his name, that did (our Liberty  
Safely for us and them to keep) expose  
Himself, unsafely, to the rage of Foes.  
He pricked the timpany of their great pride,  
Teaching refluxes to the flowing-tide  
Of those that fought so for Prerogative;  
Therefore, (though He be dead) His Name will live.  
He first did lay our present Strengths foundation,  
(Which prospers well) t' unslave our British Nation,  
And oft did hazard's life in bloody fight,  
Yet knew no quarrel but the public right,  
For which he forced Foes fortitude to flight:  
Therefore we grieve his obsequy to write.  
He that the Victor was, is now the Prize:  
For he which got us many Victories,  
Is vanquished himself, and forced to lie  
At feet of death, who hath the victory.  
" See then that prowess, though it purchase praise,  
" Purchase it cannot health, or length of days.  
" Both great, and good, yea valiant men must die,  
" When death (Impartial) strikes them, they must lie  
" In dust: the passing bell will toll for them,  
" That rang, erewhile, the beggar's Requiem.  
" The way he's gone, is not a way untrod,  
" But is decreed by the eternal God,  
" To be the way, that every man must go:  
" as well a Friend, as he that is a Foe.  
" Death takes excize of all, and his is paid,  
" His soul's at's place, his body's to be laid  
" Where they in their best judgements do think fit,  
" Who with what else he left, have right to it.  
But is there not more in good ESSEX'S death  
Then yet I've said? let's fear he's gone from th'earth  
As one we were unworthy of: because  
Our sins against God's sin-forbidding laws  
Have th' Almighty incensed and made him frown,  
And in his wrath against us, to cast down  
This so great Pillar, that he might be set  
In better place, and there more glory get,  
For sins (we know) bring sorrows back with fears.  
And we may now lie pickled up in tears,  
For that our Patriots so fast do die  
Before our peace be made up perfectly.  
" Great God let thy offended wrath surcease,  
" Behold thy people, send thy people peace:  
" Turn not so fast our Nobles into dust:  
" Be merciful (dear God) as well as just.  
" If thou proceed to do as thou've begun,  
" We shall be dross when all the gold is gone.  
" 'Tis thou, 'tis thou alone, didst send this grief,  
" 'Tis thou, 'tis thou alone must send relief.  
" O then recruit our loss, increase our friends;  
" And so for what thou've done make us amends.  
" To thee alone our sorrows do appeal,  
" Earth hath no wound too hard for Heaven to heal.  
William Rowland.   

AN EPITAPH FOR HIS tomb.  
ALL you who pass here by draw near;  
And with your tears bedew what's here.  
For they've as marble eyes as hearts,  
That cannot weep a tear in parts,  
But, like dull Stoics, quite forbear,  
When they do see, and read, or hear,  
Who lies herein: that ESSEX is  
The man, an Earl renowned by his  
Most noble birth: whose father Queen  
Eliza had in great esteem.  
And he himself, by Parliament,  
To b'Englands general had consent,  
And fought our battles. Now he's dead,  
Do not you rudely o'er Him tread,  
Who hath So stout a Champion proved,  
And was therefore So greatly loved,  
That Fame hath his victorious brows  
Oft duly crowned with laurel boughs.  
Who then to grieve will spare the cost,  
That England such a peer hath lost?  
And that no more of that same Blood  
Is left, to do England more good.  
William Rowland.   


AEtatis Suae 56  
A mournful cloud over vaylinge the face of England for the sorrowful death of his excellence Robert Devourux Earl of Essex and Ewe Vicout Herryford Lord Ferreres of Chartley Boucher and Louvain Lord General of all the parliaments forces, & and died the 24 of September 1646.  
BASIS Virtutum CONSTANTIA   depiction of tomb 
Hîc jacet in tumulo, praeclaro Sanguine natus; ROBERTUS DAVEREUX, Miles fortissimus Armis.   
W. R.   

EPITAPHIUM in obitum ROBERTI DEVEREUX, Nobilissimi & Illustrissimi ESSEXIAE COMITIS.  
ESSEX Castellum Patriae, fortissimus HECTOR,  
Belligerans validè, generoso Stemmate natus,  
Civibus & murus, necnon tutela COLONIS,  
Bellonae Conjux armatos duxit apertè,  
Et Patriae fixus, Regique fidelis in ARMIS,  
Candida Magnificis floruerunt cuncta potenti,  
Invictus, stabilis, necnon quo justior ALTER  
Haud Pietate fuit, nec Bello Major & Armis.  
Vota, proces, lachrymas, jam desine (Candide Lector,)  
Invito scelere, ac fortuna reposuit Altis:  
Parce tuis lachrymis, donârunt Numina CAELOS:  
Flebilis in tumulo, multi doluere Colores.  

Epilogus.  
Coeli animam, terrae Corpus, fortesque dolorem,  
Et Mundus Nomen, claraque facta ferunt.  
XIV. Calend. Novemb. M. Dc.iul. Tho. Thorne Londinensis.    

Published according to Order.   

London, Printed by R. Austin. 1646.