What fatal news is this I hear? On earth who shall my standard bear? For Lag who was my champion brave, Is dead and now laid in his grave, The want of him is a great grief, He was as my manager and chief, Who fought my kingdom to promove, And to my laws he had great love, Could such a furious fiend as I, Shed tears, my cheeks could never dry; But I could mourn both night and day, ’Cause Lag from earth is ta’en away. It is no wonder I am sad, A better friend I never had, Through all the large tract of his time, He never did my ways decline: He was my trusty constant liege, Who at all times did me oblige; But now what shall I think or say? By death at last he’s ta’en away. He was a man of meikle zeal, Who in my service did not fail; He was no coward to relent; No man dare say he did repent, Of the good service done to me, For as he liv’d so did he die, He bore my image on his brow, My service he did still avow, He had no other deity, But this world, the flesh, and me; Unto us he did homage pay, And did us worship every day. The thing that he delighted in, Was that which pious folk call sin, Adultery, whoredom, and such vice, Such pleasures were his paradise. To curse, to swear, and to blaspheme, He gloried in and thought no shame; To excess he drank beer and wine, Till he was drunken like a swine. No Sabbath day regarded he, But spent it in profanity; ’Mongst other vices, as some say, He ravish’d virgins on that day; But that which rais’d his fame so high, Was the good service done to me, In bearing of a deadly feud, ’Gainst people who did pray and read, And sought my kingdom to impair, These were the folk he did not spare, Any who reads the scriptures through, I’m sure they’ll find but very few Of my best friends that’s mentioned there, That could with Grier of Lag compare; Though Cain was a bloody man, He to Lag’s latches never came, In shedding of the blood of those, Who did my laws and ways oppose. Like Saul, who David did pursue, He rais’d on them the cry and hue, And cruelly he did oppress, Such as religion did profess. Doeg the Edomite did slay, Fourscore and five priests in one day; But if you’ll take the will for deed, Brave Lag did Doeg far exceed. He of the blood royal was come, Of Ahab he was a true son; For he did sell himself to me, To work sin and iniquity. Herod for me had great zeal, Though his main purpose far did fail, He many slew by a decree, But did not toil so much for me, As Lag, who in his person went, To every place where he was sent,