Looke to it; FOR, Ile Stabbe ye (nonfiction)

Front cover of Looke to it; FOR, Ile Stabbe ye by Samuel Rowlands (1604).

Looke to it; for Ile stabbe ye is a poem by Samuel Rowlands, in which Death describes the tyrants, careless divines and other evil-doers whom he will destroy.

Date: 1604.

Excerpt

There is a Humour vs'd of late,
By eue'ry Rascall swagg'ring mate,
To giue the Stabbe: Ile Stabbe (sayes hee)
Him that dares take the wall of me.
If you to pledge a health denie,
Out comes his Poniard; there you lie.
If his Tabacco you dispraise,
He sweares, a Stabbe shal end your daies.
If you demaund the Debt he owes,
Into your guts his Dagger goes.
Death seeing this, doth take his Dart,
and he performes the Stabbing part.
he spareth none, be who it will:
his lisence is the World to kill

Source

Fiction cross-reference

• Poem

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Poem (nonfiction)
• Samuel Rowlands (nonfiction)

External links:

• Looke to it; for Ile stabbe ye @ umich.edu
• Samuel Rowlands @ Wikipedia