Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Mr. Fullers Complaint

Alexander Brome

“Mr. Fullers Complaint” as printed in Rump Songs (1662).

Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics Text 25 1662 · historical text
Public domainPolitical songHistorical song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Rump Songs, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

England once Europes joy,

Now her scorn;

Ambitious to be forlorn,

Self, by self torn;

Stand amaz’d?

Thy woes are blaz’d,

By silence best,

And wanting words, even wonder out the rest.

Verse 2

Help Gracious King,

The source and spring

Of all our bliss,

Alas the fault’s not his;

Good Prince how is he griev’d,

That he’s mistook?

Or what’s a Curse,

Far worse, he is not believ’d.

Verse 3

Help long-wisht for Parliament,

If so good by your intent;

And will,

And skill,

Why ill is your successe?

Alas Malignant humors lurk,

And cause the Physick not to work,

To give our woes redresse.

Verse 4

Help in the Law, ye Learned Sages,

Studied well in former ages:

But our Rents

Are above all Presidents;

In fight, what’s might,

Thafs right:

For Statutes are by Lawyers awed,

And Common-law by Canon-law out-lawed.

Verse 5

Help ye Divines our souls to plaister,

Settle the Legacy which your Master

Bequeath’d to his own at his decease,

Even Peace:

Alas alas in Gilead,

Where is no balm for to be had;

O Cruell,

They that should holy water bring, bring fiery fuell.

Verse 6

No help, no help,

Why then ’tis vain

For to complain;

And why men sin with all their heart,

Sorrow only but in part;

And still they cry

That all is ill,

And love to make’t and keep’t so still.

Verse 7

Since then our wounds

Are grown so wide,

And all means try’d,

And all deny’d;

Good God help us at last,

Before all help be past,

For this is sure, (cure.

Men made the wounds, but God alone can help the

Credits

Written by Alexander Brome

Words by Alexander Brome. Historical text published in Rump Songs (1662); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Rump Songs (1662), “Mr. Fullers Complaint”

This 1662 collection (Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to the Late Times, 1639-1661) is credited to Alexander Brome (died 1666); every contributor died more than 330 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide, and the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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