John Wilson, A Copy of Verses ... On the sudden Death of Mr. Joseph Brisco (broadside, 1657/8)

“A Copy of Verses Made by that Reverend Man of God Mr. John Wilson, Pastor to the first Church in Boston; On the sudden Death of Mr. Joseph Brisco, Who was translated from Earth to Heaven Jan.

1. 1657,” printed at Cambridge by Samuel Green. Built on the anagram “Job cries hopes.” It names the cause of death, “Not by a Fiery Chariot as Elisha was, / But by the Water, which was the outward cause,” and, in Joseph’s voice, “What if I was so soon in Waters drown’d, / And when I cry’d to men, no help I found.” Wilson was a first cousin of Joseph’s father, William Briscoe (NEHGR 178).