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THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY, FROM THE CLOSE of the ELEVENTH TO THE COMMENCEMENT of the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED TWO DISSERTATIONS. I. ON THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. II. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND.

VOL. III.

TO THIS VOLUME IS PREFIXED A THIRD DISSERTATION ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM.

By THOMAS WARTON, B. D. FELLOW of TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, and of the SOCIETY of ANTIQUARIES, and late PROFESSOR of POETRY in the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD.

LONDON: Printed for, and ſold by, J. DODSLEY, Pall-Mall; J. WALTER, Charing-Croſs; J. ROBSON, New Bond-Street; G. ROBINSON, and J. BEW, Pater-noſter-Row; and Meſſrs. FLETCHER, at Oxford. M. DCC. LXXXI.

CONTENTS OF THE SECTIONS in the THIRD VOLUME.

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SECTION XIX. p. 1.
PETRARCH'S ſonnets. Lord Surrey. His education, travels, miſtreſs, life, and poetry. He is the firſt writer of blankverſe. Italian blank-verſe. Surrey the firſt Engliſh claſſic poet.
SECTION XX. p. 28.
Sir Thomas Wyat. Inferior to Surrey as a writer of ſonnets. His [...]fe. His genius characteriſed. Excels in moral poetry.
SECTION XXI. p. 41.
The firſt printed Miſcellany of Engliſh poetry. Its contributors. Sir Francis Bryan, Lord Rochford, and Lord Vaulx. The firſt true paſtoral in Engliſh. Sonnet-writing cultivated by the nobility. Sonnets by king Henry the eighth. Literary character of that king.
SECTION XXII. p. 60.
The ſecond writer of blank-verſe in Engliſh. Specimens of early blank [...]verſe.
[iv]SECTION XXIII. p. 70.
Andrew Borde. Bale. Anſlay. Chertſey. Fabyll's ghoſt a poem. The Merry Devil of Edmonton. Other minor poets of the reign of Henry the eighth.
SECTION XXIV. p. 87.
John Heywood the epigrammatiſt. His works examined. Antient unpubliſhed burleſque poem of Sir Penny.
SECTION XXV. p. 97.
Sir Thomas More's Engliſh poetry. Tournament of Tottenham. Its age and ſcope. Laurence Minot. Alliteration. Digreſſion illuſtrating comparatively the language of the fifteenth century, by a ſpecimen of the metrical Armoric romance of Ywayn and Gawayn.
SECTION XXVI. p. 135.
The Notbrowne Mayde. Not older than the ſixteenth century. Artful contrivance of the ſtory. Miſrepreſented by Prior. Metrical romances, Guy, ſyr Bevys, and Kynge Apolyn, printed in the reign of Henry. The Scole howſe, a ſatire. Chriſtmas carols. Religious libels in rhyme. Merlin's propheſies. Laurence Minot. Occaſional diſquiſition on the late continuance of the uſe of waxen tablets. Pageantries of Henry's court. Dawn of taſte.
SECTION XXVII. p. 161.
Effects of the Reformation on our poetry. Clement Marot's Pſalms. Why adopted by Calvin. Verſion of the Pſalms by Stern [...]old and Hopkins. Deſects of this ver [...]ion, which is patroniſed by the puritans in oppoſition to the Choral Service.
[v]SECTION XXVIII. p. 180.
Metrical verſions of ſcripture. Archbiſhop Parker's Pſalms in metre. Robert Crowley's puritanical poetry.
SECTION XXIX. p. 190.
Tye's Acts of the Apoſtles in rhyme. His merit as a muſician. Early piety of king Edward the ſixth. Controverſial ballads and plays. Tranſlation of the Bible. Its effects on our language. Arthur Kelton's Chronicle of the Brutes. Firſt Drinkingſong. Gammar Gurton's Needle.
SECTION XXX. p. 209.
Reign of queen Mary. Mirrour of Magiſtrates. Its inventor, Sackville lord Buckhurſt. His life. Mirrour of Magiſtrates continued by Baldwyn and Ferrers. Its plan and ſtories.
SECTION XXXI. p. 220.
Sackville's Induction to the Mirrour of Magiſtrates. Examined. A prelude to the Fairy Queen. Comparative view of Dante's Inferno.
SECTION XXXII. p. 256.
Sackville's Legend of Buckingham in the Mirrour of Magiſtrates. Additions by Higgins. Account of him. View of the early editions of this Collection. Specimen of Higgins's Legend of Cordelia, which is copied by Spenſer.
SECTION XXXIII. p. 269.
View of Niccols's edition of the Mirrour of Magiſtrates. High eſtimation of this Collection. Hiſtorical plays, whence.
[vi]SECTION XXXIV. p. 283.
Richard Edwards. Principal poet, player, muſician, and buffoon, to the courts of Mary and Eliſabeth. Anecdotes of his life. Cotemporary teſtimonies of his merit. A contributor to the Paradiſe of daintie Deviſes. His book of comic hiſtories, ſuppoſed to have ſuggeſted Shakeſpeare's Induction of the Tinker. Occaſional anecdotes of Antony Munday and Henry Chettle. Edwords's ſongs.
SECTION XXXV. p. 298.
Tuſſer. Remarkable circumſtances of his life. His Huſbandrie, one of our earlieſt didactic poems, examined.
SECTION XXXVI. p. 311.
William Forreſt's poems. His Queen Catharine, an elegant manuſcript, contains anecdotes of Henry's divorce. He collects and preſerves antient muſic. Puritans oppoſe the ſtudy of the claſſics. Lucas Shepherd. John Pullayne. Numerous metrical verſions of Solomon's Song. Cenſured by Hall the ſatiri [...]t. Religious rhymers. Edward More. Boy-biſhop, and miracle-plays, revived by queen Mary. Minute particulars of an antient miracle-play.
SECTION XXXVII. p. 329.
Engliſh language begins to be cultivated. Earlieſt book of Criticiſm in Engliſh. Examined. Soon followed by others. Early critical ſyſtems of the French and Italians. New and ſuperb editions of Gower and Lydgate. Chaucer's monument erected in Weſtminſterabbey. Chaucer eſteemed by the reformers.
[vii]SECTION XXXVIII. p. 355.
Sackville's Gordobuc. Our firſt regular tragedy. Its fable, conduct, characters, and ſtyle. Its defects. Dumb-ſhow. Sackville not aſſiſted by Norton.
SECTION XXXIX. p. 372.
Claſſical drama revived and ſtudied. The Phoeniſſae of Euripides tranſlated by Gaſcoigne. Seneca's Tragedies tranſlated. Account of the tranſlators, and of their reſpective verſions. Queen Eliſabeth tranſlates a part of the Hercules Oetaeus.
SECTION XL. p. 395.
Moſt of the claſſic poets tranſlated before the end of the ſixteenth century. Phaier's Eneid. Completed by Twyne. Their other works. Phaier's Ballad of Gad's-hill. Stanihurſt's Eneid in Engliſh hexameters. His other works. Fleming's Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics. His other works. Webbe and Fraunce tranſlate ſome of the Bucolics. Fraunce's other works. Spenſer's Culex. The original not genuine. The Ceiris proved to be genuine. Nicholas Whyte's Story of Jaſon, ſuppoſed to be a verſion of Valerius Flaccus. Golding's Ovid's Metamorphoſes. His other works. Aſcham's cenſure of rhyme. A tranſlation of the Faſti revives and circulates the ſtory of Lucrece. Euryalus and Lucretia. Detached fables of the Metamorphoſes tranſlated. Moraliſations in faſhion. Underdowne's Ovid's Ibis. Ovid's Elegies tranſlated by Marlowe. Remedy of Love, by F. L. Epiſtles by Turberville. Lord Eſſex a tranſlator of Ovid. His literary character. Churchyard's Ovid's Triſtia. Other detached verſions from Ovid. Antient meaning and uſe of the word Ballad. Drant's Horace. Incidental criticiſm on Tully's Oration pro Archia.
[viii]SECTION XLI. p. 432.
Kendal's Martial. Marlowe's verſions of Coluthus and Muſeus. General character of his Tragedies. Teſtimonies of his cotemporaries. Specimens and eſtimate of his poetry. His death. Firſt Tranſlation of the Iliad by Arthur Hall. Chapman's Homer. His other works. Verſion of Clitophon and Leucippe. Origin of the Greek erotic romance. Palingenius tranſlated by Googe. Criticiſm on the original. Specimen and merits of the tranſlation. Googe's other works. Incidental ſtricture on the philoſophy of the Greeks.
SECTION XLII. p. 461.
Tranſlation of Italian novels. Of Boccace. Paynter's Palace of Pleaſure. Other verſions of the ſame ſort. Early metrical verſions of Boccace's Theodore and Honoria, and Cymon and Iphigenia. Romeus and Juliet. Bandello tranſlated. Romances from Bretagne. Plot of Shakeſpeare's Tempeſt. Miſcellaneous Collections of tranſlated novels before the year 1600. Pantheon. Novels arbitrarily licenced or ſuppreſſed. Reformation of the Engliſh Preſs.
SECTION XLIII. p. 490.
General view and character of the poetry of queen Eliſabeth's age.

A DISSERTATION ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM.

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TALES are the learning of a rude age. In the p [...]og [...]eſs of letters, ſpeculation and enquiry commence with refinement of manners. Literature becomes ſentimental and diſcurſive, in proportion as a people is poliſhed: and men muſt be inſtructed by facts, either real or imaginary, before they can apprehend the ſubtleties of argument, and the force of ref [...]ection.

Vincent of Beauvais, a learned Dominican of France, who flouriſhed in the thirteenth century, obſerves in his MIRROR of HISTORY, that it was a practice of the preachers of his age, to rouſe the indifference and relieve the languor of their hearers, by quoting the fables of Eſop: yet, at the ſame time, he recommends a ſparing and prudent application of theſe profane fancies in the diſcuſſion of ſacred ſubjects a. Among the Harleian [ii] manuſcripts in the Britiſh Muſeum we find a very antient collection of two hundred and fifteen ſtories, romantic, allegorical, religious, and legendary, which were evidently compiled by a profeſſed preacher, for the uſe of monaſtic ſocieties. Some of theſe appear to have been committed to writing from the recitals of bards and minſtrels: others to have been invented and written by troubadours and monks b. In the year 1389, a grand ſyſtem of divinity appeared at Paris, afterwards tranſlated by Caxton under the title of the COURT OF SAPYENCE, which abounds with a multitude of hiſtorical examples, parables, and apologues; and which the writer wiſely ſuppoſes, to be much more likely to intereſt the attention and excite the devotion of the people, than the authority of ſcience, and the parade of theology. In conſequence of the expediency of this mode of of inſtruction, the Legends of the Saints were received into the ritual, and rehearſed in the courſe of public worſhip. For religious romances were nearly allied to ſongs of chivalry; and the ſame groſs ignorance of the people, which in the early centuries of chriſtianity created a neceſſity of introducing the viſible pomp of theatrical ceremonies into the churches, was taught the duties of devotion, by being amuſed with the achievements of ſpiritual knight-errantry, and impreſſed with the examples of pious heroiſm. In more cultivated periods, the DECAMERON of Boccace, and other books of that kind, ought to be conſidered as the remnant of a ſpecies of writing which was founded on the ſimplicity of mankind, and was adapted to the exigencies of the infancy of ſociety.

Many obſolete collections of this ſort ſtill remain, both printed and manuſcript, containing narratives either fictitious or hiſtorical,

—Of king and heroes old,
Such as the wiſe Demodocus once told
In ſolemn ſongs at king Alcinous' feaſt c.

[iii] But among the antient ſtory-books of this character, a Latin compilation entitled GESTA ROMANORUM ſeems to have been the favorite.

This piece has been before incidentally noticed: but as it operated powerfully on the general body of our old poetry, affording a variety of inventions not only to Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, but to their diſtant ſucceſſors, I have judged it of ſufficient importance to be examined at large in a ſeparate diſſertation: which has been deſignedly reſerved for this place, for the purpoſe both of recapitulation and illuſtration, and of giving the reader a more commodious opportunity of ſurveying at leiſure, from this intermediate point of view, and under one comprehenſive detail, a connected diſplay of the materials and original ſubjects of many of our paſt and future poets.

Indeed, in the times with which we are now about to be concerned, it ſeems to have been growing more into eſteem. At the commencement of typography, Wynkyn de Worde publiſhed this book in Engliſh. This tranſlation wasre printed, by one Robinſon, in 1577. And afterwards, of the ſame tranſlation there were ſix impreſſions before the year 1601 d. There is an edition in black letter ſo late as the year 1689. About the year 1596, an Engliſh verſion appeared of ‘"Epitomes des cent HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES, partie extraictes des ACTES DE [...] ROMAINS et autres, &c."’ From the popularity, or rather familiarity, of this work in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, the title of GESTA GRAYORUM was affixed to the hiſtory of the acts of the Chriſtmas Prince at Grays-inn, in 1594 e. In Sir GILES GOOSECAP, an anonymous comedy, preſented by the Children of the Chapel in the year 1606, we have, ‘"Then for your lordſhip's quips and quick jeſts, why GESTA ROMANORUM were nothing to them f."’ And in George Chapman's MAY-DAY, a comedy, printed at London in 1611, a man of the higheſt literary taſte for the pieces in vogue is characteriſed, [iv] "One that has read Marcus Aurelius, GESTA ROMANORUM, the Mirrour of Magiſtrates, &c.—to be led by the noſe like a blind beare that has read nothing g!"’ The critics and collectors in black-letter, I believe, could produce many other proofs.

The GESTA ROMANORUM were firſt printed without date, but as it is ſuppoſed before or about the year 1473, in folio, with this title, Incipiunt HISTORIE NOTABILES collecte ex GESTIS ROMANORUM et quibuſdam aliis libris cum applicationibus eorundem h. This edition has one hundred and fifty-two chapters, or GESTS, and one hundred and ſeventeen leaves i. It is in the Gothic letter, and in two columns. The firſt chapter is of king Pompey, and the laſt of prince, or king, Cleonicus. The initials are written in red and blue ink. Thi [...] [...]dition, ſlightly mutilated, is among biſhop Tanner's printed books in the Bodleian library. The reverend and learned doctor Farmer, maſter of Emanuel college in Cambridge, has the ſecond edition, as it ſeems, printed at Louvain, in quarto, the ſame or the ſubſequent year, by John de Weſtfalia, under the title, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM HISTORIE NOTABILES de viciis virtutibuſque tractantes cum applicationibus moraliſatis et myſticis. And with this colophon, GESTA ROMANORUM cum quibuſdam aliis HISTORIIS eiſdem annexis ad MORALITATES dilucide redacta hic finem habent. Quae, diligenter correctis aliorum viciis, impreſſit Joannes de Weſtfalia in alma Vniverſitate Louvanienſi. It has one hundred and eighty-one chapters k. That is, twenty-nine more than are contained in the former edition: the firſt of the additional chapters being the ſtory of Antiochus, or the ſubſtance of the romance of APOLLONIUS of TYRE. The initials are inſerted [v] in red ink l. Another followed ſoon afterwards, in quarto, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM Hiſtorie notabiles moralizatae, per Girardum Lieu, GOUDAE, 1480. The next edition, with the uſe of which I have been politely favoured by George Maſon eſquire, of Aldenham-Lodge in Hertfordſhire, was printed in folio, and in the year 1488, with this title, GESTA RHOMANORUM cum Applicationibus moraliſatis et miſticis. The colophon is, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM cum pluribus applicatis Hiſtoriis de virtutibus et viciis myſtice ad intellectum tranſſumptis Recollectorii finis. Anno nre ſalutis MCCCCLXXX viij kalendas vero februarii xviij. A general, and alphabetical, table, are ſubjoined. The book, which is printed in two columns, and in the Gothic character, abounding with abbreviations, contains ninety-three leaves. The initials are written or flouriſhed in red and blue, and all the capitals in the body of the text are miniated with a pen. There were many other later editions m. I muſt add, that the GESTA ROMANORUM were tranſlated into Dutch, ſo early as the year 1484. There is an old French verſion in the Britiſh Muſeum.

This work is compiled from the obſolete Latin chronicles of the later Roman or rather German ſtory, heightened by romantic inventions, from Legends of the Saints, oriental apologues, and many of the ſhorter fictitious narratives which came into Europe with the Arabian literature, and were familiar in the ages of ignorance and imagination. The claſſics are ſometimes cited for authorities; but theſe are of the lower order, ſuch as Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, Aulus Gallius, Seneca, Pliny, and Boethius. To every tale a MORALISATION is ſubjoined, reducing it into a chriſtian or moral leſſon.

Moſt of the oriental apologues are taken from the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA, or a latin Dialogue between an Arabian Philo [...]opher [vi] and Edricn his ſon, never printed o, written by Peter Alphonſus, a baptized Jew, at the beginning of the twelfth century, and collected from Arabian fables, apothegms, and examples p. Some are alſo borrowed from an old Latin tranſlation of the CALILAH U DAMNAH, a celebrated ſett of eaſtern fables, to which Alphonſus was indebted.

On the whole, this is the collection in which a curious enquirer might expect to find the original of Chaucer's Cambuſcan:

Or,—if aught elſe great bards beſide
In ſage and ſolemn tunes have ſung,
Of turneys and of trophies hung,
Of foreſts and inchantments drear,
Where more is meant than meets the ear q.

Our author frequently cites GESTA ROMANORUM, the title of his own work. By which I underſtand no particular book of that name, but the Roman Hiſtory in general. Thus in the title of the SAINT ALBANS CHRONICLE, printed by Caxton, Titus Livyus de GESTIS ROMANORUM is recited. In the year 1544, Lucius Florus was printed at Paris under the ſame title r. In the Britiſh Muſeum we find ‘"LES FAIS DE ROMAINS juſques a la [...]in de l' empire Domician, ſelon Oroſe, Juſtin, Lucan, &c."’ A plain hiſtorical deduction s. The ROMULEON, an old manuſcript hiſtory of Rome from the foundation of the city to Conſtantine the Great, is alſo called de GESTIS ROMANORUM. This manuſcript occurs both in Latin and French: and a French copy, among the royal man [...]ſcripts, [vii] has the title, ‘"ROMULEON, ou des FAIS DE ROMAINS t."’ Among the manuſcript books written by Lapus de Caſtellione, a Florentine civilian, who flouriſhed about the year 1350, there is one, De Origine URBIS ROMAE et de GESTIS ROMANORUM u. Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, often introduces Roman ſtories with the Latin preamble, Hic ſecundum GESTA. Where he certainly means the Roman Hiſtory, which by degrees had acquired ſimply the appellation of GESTA. Herman Korner, in his CHRONICA NOVELLA, written about the year 1438, refers for his vouchers to Bede, Oroſius, Valerius Maximus, Joſephus, Euſebius, and the Chronicon et GESTA ROMANORUM. Moſt probably, to ſay no more, by the CHRONICON he means the later writers of the Roman affairs, ſuch as Iſidore and the monkiſh compilers; and by GESTA the antient Roman hiſtory, as related by Livy and the more eſtabliſhed Latin hiſtorians.

Neither is it poſſible that this work could have been brought as a proof or authority, by any ſerious annaliſt, for the Roman ſtory.

For though it bears the title of GESTA ROMANORUM, yet this title by no means properly correſponds with the contents of the collection: which, as has been already hinted, comprehends a multitude of narratives, either not hiſtorical; or, in another reſpect, ſuch as are either totally unconnected with the Roman people, or perhaps the moſt prepoſterous miſrepreſentations of their hiſtory. To cover this deviation from the promiſed plan, which, by introducing a more ample variety of matter, has contributed to encreaſe the reader's entertainment, our collector has taken care to preface almoſt every ſtory with the name or reign of a Roman emperor; who, at the ſame time, is often a monarch that never exiſted, and who ſeldom, whether real or ſuppoſitious, has any concern with the circumſtances of the narrative.

[viii] But I haſten to exhibit a compendious analyſis of the chapters which form this very ſingular compilation: intermixing occaſional illuſtrations ariſing from the ſubject, and ſhortening or lengthening my abridgement of the ſtories, in proportion as I judge they are likely to intereſt the reader. Where, for that reaſon, I have been very conciſe, I have yet ſaid enough to direct the critical antiquarian to this collection, in caſe he ſhould find a ſimilar tale occurring in any of our old poets. I have omitted the mention of a very few chapters, which were beneath notice. Sometimes, where common authors are quoted, I have only mentioned the author's name, without ſpecifying the ſubſtance of the quotation. For it was neceſſary that the reader ſhould be made acquainted with our collector's track of reading, and the books which he uſed. In the mean time, this review will ſerve as a full notification of the edition of 1488, which is more comprehenſive and complete than ſome others of later publication, and to which all the reſt, as to a general criterion, may be now comparatively referred.

CHAP. i. Of a daughter of king Pompey, whoſe chamber was guarded by five armed knights and a dog. Being permitted to be preſent at a public ſhew, ſhe is [...]educed by a duke, who is afterwards killed by the champion of her father's court. She is reconciled to her father, and betrothed to a nobleman: on which occaſion, ſh [...] receives from her father an embroidered robe and a crown of gold, from the champion a gold ring, another from the wiſe man who pacified the king's anger, another from the king's ſon, another from her couſin, and from her ſpouſe a ſeal of gold. All theſe preſents are inſcribed with proverbial ſentences, ſuitable to the circumſtances of the princeſs.

The latter part of this ſtory is evidently oriental. The feudal manners, in a book which profeſſes to record the achievements of the Roman people, are remarkable in the introductory circumſtances. But of this mixture we ſhall ſee many ſtriking inſtances.

CHAP. ii. Of a youth taken captive by pirates. The king's [ix] daughter falls in love with him; and having procured his eſcape, accompanies him to his own country, where they are married.

CHAP. vi. An emperor is married to a beautiful young princeſs. In caſe of death, they mutually agree not to ſurvive one other. To try the truth of his wife, the emperor going into a diſtant country, orders a report of his death to be circulated. In remembrance of her vow, and in imitation of the wives of India, ſhe prepares to throw herſelf headlong from a high precipice. She is prevented by her father; who interpoſes his paternal authority, as predominating over a raſh and unlawful promiſe.

CHAP. vii. Under the reign of Diocleſian, a noble knight had two ſons, the youngeſt of which marries a harlot.

This ſtory, but with a difference of circumſtances, ends like the beautiful apologue of the Prodigal Son.

CHAP. viii. The emperor Leo commands three female ſtatues to be made. One has a gold ring on a finger pointing forward, another a beard of gold, and the third a golden cloak and purple tunic. Whoever ſteals any of theſe ornaments, is to be puniſhed with an ignominious death.

This ſtory is copied by Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS: but he has altered ſome of the circumſtances. He ſuppoſes a ſtatue of Apollo.

Of plate of golde a berde he hadde,
The wiche his breſt all ovir ſpradde:
Of golde alſo, without fayle,
His mantell was, of large entayle,
Beſette with perrey all aboute:
Forth ryght he ſtraught his fynger oute,
Upon the whiche he had a rynge,
To ſeen it was a ryche thynge,
A fyne carbuncle for the nones
Moſte precious of all ſtones w.

[x] In the ſequel, Gower follows the ſubſtance of our author.

CHAP. x. Veſpaſian marries a wife in a diſtant country, who refuſes to return home with him, and yet declares ſhe will kill herſelf if he goes. The emperor ordered two rings to be made, of a wonderous efficacy; one of which, in the ſtone, has the image of Oblivion, the other the image of Memory: the ring of Oblivion he gave to the empreſs, and returned home with the ring of Memory.

CHAP. xi. The queen of the ſouth ſends her daughter to king Alexander, to be his concubine. She was exceedingly beautiful, but had been nouriſhed with poiſon from her birth. Alexander's maſter, Ariſtotle, whoſe ſagacity nothing could eſcape, knowing this, entreated, that before ſhe was admitted to the king's bed, a malefactor condemned to death might be ſent for, who ſhould give her a kiſs in the preſence of the king. The malefactor, on kiſſing her, inſtantly dropped down dead. Ariſtotle, having explained his reaſons for what he had done, was loaded with honours by the king, and the princeſs was diſmiſſed to her mother.

This ſtory is founded on the twenty-eighth chapter of Ariſtotle's SECRETUM SECRETORUM: in which, a queen of India is ſaid to have treacherouſly ſent to Alexander, among other coſtly preſents, the pretended teſtimonies of her friendſhip, a girl of exquiſite beauty, who having been fed with ſerpents from her infancy, partook of their nature y. If I recollect right, in Pliny there are accounts of nations whoſe natural food was poiſon. Mithridates, king of Pontus, the land of venomous herbs, and the country of the ſorcereſs Medea, was ſuppoſed to [xi] eat poiſon. Sir John Maundeville's Travels, I believe, will afford other inſtances.

CHAP. xii. A profligate prieſt, in the reign of the emperor Otto, or Otho, walking in the fields, and neglecting to ſay maſs, is reformed by a viſion of a comely old man.

CHAP. xiii. An empreſs having loſt her huſband, becomes ſo doatingly fond of her only ſon, then three years of age, as not to bear his abſence for a moment. They ſleep together every night, and when he was eighteen years of age, ſhe proves with child by him. She murthers the infant, and her left hand is immediately marked with four circles of blood. Her repentance is related, in conſequence of a viſion of the holy virgin.

This ſtory is in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1250 z.

CHAP. xiv. Under the reign of the emperor Dorotheus, a remarkable example of the filial piety of a young man, who redeems his father, a knight, from captivity.

CHAP. xv. Eufemian, a nobleman in the court of the emperor of Rome, is attended by three thouſand ſervants girt with golden belts, and cloathed in ſilken veſtments. His houſe was crouded with pilgrims, orphans, and widows, for whom three tables were kept every day. He has a ſon, Allexius; who quits his father's palace, and lives unknown ſeventeen years in a monaſtery in Syria. He then returns, and lives ſeventeen years undiſcovered as a pilgrim in his father's family, where he ſuffers many indignities from the ſervants.

Allexius, or Alexis, was canoniſed. This ſtory is taken from his Legend a. In the metrical Lives of the Saints, his life is told in a ſort of meaſure different from that of the reſt, and not very common in the earlier ſtages of our poetry. It begins thus.

Leſteneth alle and herkeneth me,
Ȝonge and olde, bonde and fre,
[xii] And ich ȝow telle ſone,
How a ȝought man, gent and fre,
By gan this worldis wele to fle,
Y born he was in Rome.
In Rome was a doȝty man
That was y cleped Eufemian,
Man of moche myȝte;
Gold and ſeluer he hadde ynouȝ,
Hall and boures, oxſe and plouȝ,
And ſwith wel it dyȝte.

When Alexius returns home in diſguiſe, and aſks his father about his ſon, the father's feelings are thus deſcribed.

So ſone ſo he ſpake of his ſone,
The guode man, as was his wone,
Gan to ſike ſore b;
His herte felc ſo colde ſo ſton,
The teres felle to his ton d,
On her berd hore.

At his burial, many miracles are wrought on the ſick.

With mochel ſiȝt e, and mochel ſong,
That holy cors, hem alle among,
Biſchoppis to cherche bere.
Amyddes riȝt the heȝe ſtrete f,
So moche folke hym gone mete
That they reſten a ſtonde,
All the ſikeg that to him come,
I heled wer ſwithe ſone
Of feth and eke of honde:
[xiii]
The blinde come to harei ſiȝt,
The croked gonne ſone riȝt k,
The lame for to go:
That dombe wer fongel ſpeeche,
Theȝ heredem god the ſothe leche n,
And that halweo alſo.
The day ȝede and drouȝ to nyȝt,
No lenger dwellep they ne myȝt,
To cherche they moſte wende;
The bellen they gonne to rynge,
The clerkes heȝeq to ſynge,
Everich in his ende r.
Tho the corſe to cherche com
Glad they wer everichon
That there ycure wer,
The pope and the emperour
By fore an auter of ſeynt Savour
Ther ſette they the bere.
Aboute the bere was moche liȝt
With proude palle was bediȝt,
I beten al with golde s.

The hiſtory of Saint Alexius is told entirely in the ſame words in the GESTA ROMANORUM, and in the LEGENDA AUREA of Jacobus de Voragine f, tranſlated, through a French medium, by Caxton. This work of Jacobus does not conſiſt [xiv] ſolely of th [...] legends of the ſaints, but is interſperſed with multis aliis pulcherrimis et peregrinis hiſtoriis, with many other moſt beautiful and ſtrange hiſtories t.

CHAP. xvi. A Roman emperor in digging for the foundation of a new palace, finds a golden ſarcophagus, or coffin, inſcribed with myſterious words and ſentences. Which being explained, prove to be ſo many moral leſſons of inſtruction for the emperor's future conduct.

CHAP. xvii. A poor man named Guido, engages to ſerve an emperor of Rome in ſix ſeveral capacities, or employments. One of theſe ſervices is, to ſhew the beſt way to the holy land. Acquitting himſelf in all with ſingular addreſs and fidelity, he is made a knight, and loaded with riches.

CHAP. xviii. A knight named Julian is hunting a ſtag, who turns and ſays, ‘"you will kill your father and mother."’ On this he went into a diſtant country, where he married a rich Lady of a caſtle. Julian's father and mother travelled into various lands to find their ſon, and at length accidentally came to this caſtle, in his abſence; where telling their ſtory to the lady, who had heard it from her huſband, ſhe diſcovered who they were, and gave them her own bed to ſleep in. Early in the morning, while ſhe was at maſs in the chapel, her huſband Julian unexpectedly returned; and entering his wife's chamber, perceived two perſons in the bed, whom he immediately ſlew with his ſword, haſtily ſuppoſing them to be his wife and her adulterer. At leaving the chamber, he met his wife coming from the chapel; and with great aſtoniſhment aſked her, who the perſons were ſleeping in her bed? She anſwered, ‘"They are your parents, who have been ſeeking you ſo long, and whom I have honoured with a place in our own bed."’ Afterwards they founded a ſumptuous hoſpital for the accommodation of travellers, on the banks of a dangerous river.

This ſtory is told in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE u, and in [xv] the metrical Lives of the Saints w. Hence Julian, or Saint Julian, was called hoſpitator, or the gode herberjour; and the Pater Noſter became famous, which he uſed to ſay for the ſouls of his father and mother whom he had thus unfortunately killed x. The peculiar excellencies of this prayer are diſplayed by Boccace y. Chaucer ſpeaking of the hoſpitable diſpoſition of his FRANKELEIN, ſays,

Saint Julian he was in his own countre z.

This hiſtory is, like the laſt, related by our compiler, in the words of Julian's Legend, as it ſtands in Jacobus de Voragine a. Bollandus has inſerted Antoninus's account of this ſaint, which appears alſo to be literally the ſame b. It is told, yet not exactly in the ſame words, by Vincent of Beauvais c.

I take this opportunity of obſerving, that the Legends of the the Saints, ſo frequently referred to in the GESTA ROMANORUM, often contain high ſtrokes of fancy, both in the ſtructure and decorations of the ſtory. That they ſhould abound in extravagant conceptions, may be partly accounted for, from the ſuperſtitious and viſionary caſt of the writer: but the truth is, they derive this complexion from the eaſt. Some were originally forged by monks of the Greek church, to whom the oriental fictions and mode of fabling were familiar. The more early of the Latin lives were carried over to Conſtantinople, where they were tranſlated into Greek with new embelliſhments of eaſtern imagination. Theſe being returned into Europe, were tranſlated into Latin, where they naturally ſuperſeded the old Latin archetypes. Others of the Latin lives contracted this tincture, from being written after the Arabian literature became common in Europe. The following ideas in the Life of Saint Pelagian [xvi] evidently betray their original. ‘"As the bysſhop ſange maſſe in the cyte of Uſanance, he ſaw thre dropes ryghte clere all of one grateneſſe whiche were upon the aulter, and al thre ranne to gyder in to a precyous gemme: and whan they had ſet thys gemme in a croſſe of golde, al the other precyous ſtones that were there, fyllend out, and thys gemme was clere to them that were clene out of ſynne, and it was obſcure and darke to ſynners e, &c."’ The peculiar caſt of romantic invention was admirably ſuited to ſerve the purpoſes of ſuperſtition.

Poſſevin, a learned Jeſuit, who wrote about the cloſe of the ſixteenth century, complains, that for the laſt five hundred years the courts of all the princes in Europe had been infatuated by reading romances: and that, in his time, it was a mark of inelegance, not to be familiarly acquainted with Lancelot du Lake, Perceforeſt, Triſtan, Giron the Courteous, Amadis de Gaul, Primaleon, Boccace's Decameron, and Arioſto. He even goes ſo far as to ſay, that the devil inſtigated Luther to procure a tranſlation of Amadis from Spaniſh into French, for the purpoſe of facilitating his grand ſcheme of overthrowing the catholic religion. The popularity of this book, he adds, warped the minds of the French nation from their antient notions and ſtudies; introduced a neglect of the ſcriptures, and propagated a love for aſtrology, and other fantaſtic arts f. But with the leave of this zealous catholic I would obſerve, that this ſort of reading was likely to produce, if any, an effect quite contrary. The genius of romance and of popery was the ſame; and both were ſtrengthened by the reciprocation of a ſimilar ſpirit of credulity. The dragons and the caſtles of the one, were of a piece with the viſions and pretended miracles of the other. The ridiculous theories of falſe and unſolid ſcience, which, by the way, had been familiariſed to the French by other romances, long before the tranſlation of Amadis, were ſurely more likely to be advanced under the influence of a religion founded on [xvii] deception, than in conſequence of Luther's reformed ſyſtem, which aimed at purity and truth, and which was to gain its end by the ſuppreſſion of antient prejudices.

Many of the abſurdities of the catholic worſhip were perhaps, as I have hinted, in ſome degree neceſſary in the early ages of the church, on account of the ignorance of the people; at leaſt, under ſuch circumſtances they were natural, and therefore excuſable. But when the world became wiſer, thoſe mummeries ſhould have been aboliſhed, for the ſame reaſon that the preachers left off quoting Eſop's fables in their ſermons, and the ſtage ceaſed to inſtruct the people in the ſcripture-hiſtory by the repreſentation of the MYSTERIES. The advocates of the papal communion do not conſider, that in a cultivated age, abounding with every ſpecies of knowledge, they continue to retain thoſe fooleries which were calculated only for chriſtians in a condition of barbariſm, and of which the uſe now no longer ſubſiſts.

CHAP. xix. When Julius Ceſar was preparing to paſs the Rubicon, a gigantic ſpectre appeared from the middle of the river, threatening to interrupt his paſſage, if he came not to eſtabliſh the peace of Rome. Our author cites the GESTA ROMANORUM for this ſtory.

It was impoſſible that the Roman hiſtory could paſs through the dark ages, without being infected with many romantic corruptions. Indeed, the Roman was almoſt the only antient hiſtory, which the readers of thoſe ages knew: and what related even to pagan Rome, the parent of the more modern papal metropolis of chriſtianity, was regarded with a ſuperſtitious veneration, and often magnified with miraculous additions.

CHAP. xx. The birth of the emperor Henry, ſon of earl Leopold, and his wonderful preſervation from the ſtratagems of the emperor Conrade, till his acceſſion to the imperial throne.

This ſtory is told by Caxton in the GOLDEN LEGENDE, under the life of Pelagian the pope, entitled, Here foloweth the lyf of Saynt Pelagyen the pope, with many other hyſtoryes and [xviii] geſtys of the Lombardes, and of Machomete, with other cronycles g. The GESTA LONGOBARDORUM are fertile in legendary matter, and furniſhed Jacobus de Voragine, Caxton's original, with many marvellous hiſtories h. Caxton, from the geſtes of the Lombardis, gives a wonderful account of a peſtilence in Italy, under the reign of king Gilbert i.

There is a LEGENDA SANCTORUM, [...]ive HISTORIA LOMBARDICA, printed in 1483. This very uncommon book is not mentioned by Maittaire. It has this colophon. ‘"Expliciunt quorundam Sanctorum Legende adjuncte poſt Lombardicam hiſtoriam. Impreſſa Argentine, M. CCCC. LXXXIII k."’ That is, the latter part of the book contains a few Saints not in the hiſtory of the Lombards, which forms the firſt part. I have neither time nor inclination to examine whether this is Jacobus's LEGENDA: but I believe it to be the ſame. I think I have ſeen an older edition of the work, at Cologne 1470 l.

I have obſerved that Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE is taken from Jacobus de Voragine. This perhaps is not preciſely true. Caxton informs us in his firſt preface to the firſt edition of 1483 m, that he had in his poſſeſſion a Legend in French, another in Latin, and a third in Engliſh, which varied from the other two in many places: and that MANY HISTORIES were contained in the Engliſh collection, which did not occur in the French and Latin. Therefore, ſays he, ‘"I have wryton ON [...] OUTE of the ſayd three bookes: which I have orderyd otherwyſe than in the ſayd Englysſhe Legende, which was ſo to fore made."’ Caxton's Engliſh original might have been the old METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS.

CHAP. xxi. A ſtory from Juſtin, concerning a conſpiracy of the Spartans againſt their king.

[xix] CHAP. xxii. How the Egyptians deified Iſis and Oſiris. From ſaint Auſtin. As is the following chapter.

CHAP. xxiv. Of a magician and his delicious garden, which he ſhews only to fools and to his enemies.

CHAP. xxv. Of a lady who keeps the ſtaff and ſcrip of a ſtranger, who reſcued her from the oppreſſions of a tyrant: but being afterwards courted by three kings, ſhe deſtroys thoſe memorials of her greateſt benefactor.

CHAP. xxvi. An emperor, viſiting the holy land, commits his daughter and his favorite dog, who is very fierce, to the cuſtody of five knights, under the ſuperintendance of his ſeneſhall. The ſeneſhall neglects his charge: the knights are obliged to quit their poſt for want of neceſſaries; and the dog, being fed with the proviſions aſſigned to the knights, grows fiercer, breaks his three chains, and kills the lady who was permitted to wander at large in her father's hall. When the emperor returns, the ſeneſhall is thrown into a burning furnace.

CHAP. xxviii. The old woman and her little dog.

CHAP. xxx. The three honours and three diſhonours, decreed by a certain king to every conqueror returning from war.

CHAP. xxxi. The ſpeeches of the philoſophers on ſeeing king Alexander's golden ſepulchre.

CHAP. xxxiii. A man had three trees in his garden, on which his three wives ſucceſſively hanged themſelves. Another begs an offset from each of the trees, to be planted in the gardens of his married neighbours. From Valerius Maximus, who is cited.

CHAP. xxxiv. Ariſtotle's ſeven rules to his pupil Alexander.

This, I think, is from the SECRETA SECRETORUM. Ariſtotle, for two reaſons, was a popular character in the dark ages. He was the father of their philoſophy: and had been the preceptor of Alexander the Great, one of the principal heroes of romance. No [...] was Ariſtotle himſelf without his romantic hiſtory; in which he falls in love with a queen of Greece, who quickly confutes his ſubtleſt ſyllogiſms.

[xx] CHAP. xxxv. The GESTA ROMANORUM cited, for the cuſtom among the antient Romans of killing a lamb for pacifying quarrels.

CHAP. xxxvi. Of a king who deſires to know the nature of man. Solinus, de MIRABILIBUS MUNDI, is here quoted.

CHAP. xxxvii. Pliny's account of the ſtone which the eagle places in her neſt, to avoid the poiſon of a ſerpent.

CHAP. xxxix. Julius Ceſar's mediation between two brothers. From the GESTA ROMANORUM.

We muſt not forget, that there was the Romance of JULIUS CESAR. And I believe Antony and Cleopatra were more known characters in the dark ages, than is commonly ſuppoſed. Shakeſpeare is thought to have formed his play on this ſtory from North's tranſlation of Amyot's unauthentic French Plutarch, publiſhed at London in 1579. Montfaucon, among the manuſcripts of monſieur Lancelot, recites an old piece written about the year 1500, ‘"LA VIE ET FAIS DE MARC ANTOINE le triumvir et de ſa mie CLEOPATRA, tranſlatè de l' hiſtorien Plutarque pour tres illuſtre haute et puiſſante dame Madame Françoiſe de Fouez Dame de Châteaubriand n."’ I know not whether t [...]is piece was ever printed. At leaſt it ſhews, that the ſtory was familiar at a more early period than is imagined; and leads us to ſuſpect, that there might have been other materials uſed by Shakeſpeare on this ſubject, than thoſe hitherto pointed out by his commentators.

That Amyot's French verſion of Plutarch ſhould contain corruptions and innovations, will eaſily be conceived, when it is remembered that he probably tranſlated from an old Italian verſion o. A new exhibition in Engliſh of the French caricature [xxi] of this moſt valuable biographer by North, muſt have ſtil [...] more widely extended the deviation from the original.

CHAP. xl. The infidelity of a wife proved by feeling her pulſe in converſation. From Macrobius.

CHAP. xlii. Valerius Maximus is cited, concerning a column at Rome inſcribed with four letters four times written.

CHAP. xliv. Tiberius orders a maker of ductile glaſs, which could not be broken, to be beheaded, le [...]t it ſhould become more valuable than ſilver and gold.

This piece of hiſtory, which appears alſo in Cornelius Aggrippa DE VANITATE SCIENTIARUM q, is taken from Pliny, or rather from his tranſcriber Iſidore p. Pliny, in relating this ſtory, ſays, that the temperature of glaſs, ſo as to render it flexible, was diſcovered under the reign of Tiberius.

In the ſame chapter Pliny obſerves, that glaſs is ſuſceptible of all colours. ‘"Fit et album, et murrhinum, aut hyacinthos ſapphiroſque imitatum, et omnibus aliis coloribus. Nec eſt alia nunc materia ſequacior, aut etiam PICTURAE ACCOMMODATIOR. Maximus tamen honor in candido r."’ But the Romans, as the laſt ſentence partly proves, probably never uſed any coloured glaſs for windows. The firſt notice of windows of a church made of coloured glaſs occurs in chronicles quoted by Muratori. In the year 802, a pope built a church at Rome, and, ‘"feneſtras ex vitro diverſis coloribus concluſit atque decoravit s."’ And in 856, he produces ‘"feneſtras vero vitreis coloribus, &c t."’ This however was a ſort of moſaic in glaſs. To expreſs figures in glaſs, or what we now call the art of [xxii] painting in glaſs, was a very different work: and, I believe, I can ſhew it was brought from Conſtantinople to Rome before the tenth century, with other ornamental arts. Guiccardini, who wrote about 1560, in his Deſcrittione de tutti Paeſi Baſſi, aſcribes the invention of baking colours in glaſs for churchwindows to the Netherlanders u: but he does not mention the period, and I think he muſt be miſtaken. It is certain that this art owed much to the laborious and mechanical genius of the Germans; and, in particular, their deep reſearches and experiments in chemiſtry, which they cultivated in the dark ages with the moſt indefatigable aſſiduity, muſt have greatly aſſiſted its operations. I could give very early anecdotes of this art in England. But, with the careleſs haſte of a lover, I am anticipating what I have to ſay of it in my HISTORY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.

CHAP. xlv. A king leaves four ſons by his wife, only one which is lawfully begotten. They have a conteſt for the throne. The diſpute is referred to the deceaſed king's ſecretary, who orders the body to be taken from the tomb; and decrees, that the ſon who can ſhoot an arrow deepeſt into it ſhall be king. The firſt wounds the king's right hand: the ſecond his mouth: the third his heart. The laſt wound is ſuppoſed to be the ſucceſsful one. At length the fourth, approaching the body, cried out with a lamentable voice, ‘"Far be it from me to wound my father's body!"’ In conſequence of this ſpeech, he is pronounced by the nobles and people preſent to be the true heir, and placed on the throne.

CHAP. xlviii. Dionyſius is quoted for the ſtory of Perillus's braſen bull.

Gower in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS has this ſtory; which he prefaces by ſaying that he found it in a Cronike w. In Caxton's Golden Legende, Macrobius is called a chronicle. ‘"Macrobius ſayth in a cronike x."’ Chronicles are naturally the firſt efforts [xxiii] of the literature of a barbarous age. The writers, if any, of thoſe periods are ſeldom equal to any thing more than a bare narration of facts: and ſuch ſort of matter is ſuitable to the taſte and capacity of their cotemporary readers. A further proof of the principles advanced in the beginning of this Diſſertation.

CHAP. xlix. The ducheſs Roſmilla falls in love with Conan, king of Hungary, whom ſhe ſees from the walls of the city of Foro-Juli, which he is beſieging. She has four ſons and two daughters. She betrays the city to Conan, on condition that he will marry her the next day. Conan, a barbarian, executed the contract; but on the third day expoſed her to his whole army, ſaying, ‘"ſuch a wife deſerves ſuch a huſband."’

Paulus, that is, Paulus Diaconus, the hiſtorian of the Longobards is quoted. He was chancellor of Deſiderius, the laſt king of the Lombards; with whom he was taken captive by Charlemagne. The hiſtory here referred to is entitled GESTA LONGOBARDORUM y.

CHAP. l. From Valerius Maximus.

CHAP. li. From Joſephus.

CHAP. lii. From Valerius Maximus.

CHAP. liii. From the ſame.

CHAP. liv. The emperor Frederick's marble portico near Capua.

I wonder there are not more romances extant on the lives of the Roman emp [...]rors of Germany; many of whom, to ſay no more, were famous in the cruſades. There is a romance in old German rhyme, called TEUERDANK, on Maximilian the firſt, written by Melchior Pfinzing his chaplain. Printed at Nuremberg in 1517 z.

[xxiv] CHAP. lv. Of a king who has one ſon exceedingly beautiful, and four daughters, named Juſtice, Truth, Mercy, and Peace.

CHAP. lvi. A nobleman invited a merchant to his caſtle, whom he met accordingly upon the road. At entering the caſtle, the merchant was aſtoniſhed at the magnificence of the chambers, which were overlaid with gold. At ſupper, the nobleman placed the merchant next to his wife, who immediately ſhewed evident tokens of being much ſtruck with her beauty. The table was covered with the richeſt dainties; but while all were ſerved in golden diſhes, a pittance of meat was placed before the lady in a diſh made out of a human ſcull. The merchant was ſurpriſed and terrified at this ſtrange ſpectacle. At length he was conducted to bed in a fair chamber [...] where, when left alone, he obſerved a glimmering lamp in a nook or corner of the room, by which he diſcovered two dead bodies hung up by the arms. He was now filled with the moſt horrible apprehenſions, and could not ſleep all the night. When he roſe in the morning, he was aſked by the nobleman how he liked his entertainment? He anſwered, ‘"There is plenty of every thing; but the ſcull prevented me from eating at ſupper, and the two dead bodies which I ſaw in my chamber from ſleeping. With your leave therefore I will depart."’ The nobleman anſwered, ‘"My friend, you obſerved the beauty of my wife. The ſcull which you ſaw placed before her at ſupper, was the head of a duke, whom I detected in her embraces, and which I cut off with my own ſword. As a memorial of her crime, and to teach her modeſt behaviour, her adulterer's ſcull is made to ſerve for her diſh. The bodies of the two young men hanging in the chamber are my two kinſmen, who were murthered by the ſon of the duke. To keep up my ſenſe of revenge for their blood, I viſit their dead bodies every day. Go in peace, and remember to judge nothing without knowing the truth."’

Caxton has the hiſtory of Albione, a king of the Lombards, who having conquered another king, ‘"lade awaye wyth hym [xxv] Roſamounde his wyf in captyvyte, but after he took hyr to hys wyf, and he dyde do make a cuppe of the ſkulle of that kynge and cloſed in fyne golde and ſylver, and dranke out of it a."’ This, by the way, is the ſtory of the old Italian tragedy of Meſſer Giovanni Rucellai planned on the model of the antients, and acted in the Rucellai gardens at Florence, before Leo the tenth and his court, in the year 1516 b. Davenant has alſo a tragedy on the ſame ſubject, called ALBOVINE king of the Lombards his Tragedy.

A moſt ſanguinary ſcene in Shakeſpeare's TITUS ADRONICUS, an incident in Dryden's, or Boccace's, TANCRED and SIGISMONDA, and the cataſtrophe of the beautiful metrical romance of the LADY of FAGUEL, are founded on the ſame horrid ideas of inhuman retaliation and ſavage revenge: but in the two laſt pieces, the circumſtances are ſo ingeniouſly imagined, as to loſe a conſiderable degree of their atrocity, and to be productive of the moſt pathetic and intereſting ſituations.

CHAP. lvii. The enchanter Virgil places a magical image in the middle of Rome c, which communicates to the emperor Titus all the ſecret offences committed every day in the city d.

This ſtory is in the old black-lettered hiſtory of the necromancer Virgil, in Mr. Garrick's collection.

Vincent of Beauvais relates many wonderful things, mirabiliter actitata, done by the poet Virgil, whom he repreſents as a magician. Among others, he ſays, that Virgil fabricated thoſe brazen ſtatues at Rome, called Salvacio Romae, which were the gods of the Provinces conquered by the Romans. Every one of theſe ſtatues held in its hand a bell framed by magic; and [xxvi] when any province was meditating a revolt, the ſtatue, or idol, of that country ſtruck his bell e. This fiction is mentioned by the old anonymous author of the MIRABILIA ROMAE, written in the thirteenth century, and printed by Montfaucon f. It occurs in Lydgate's BOCHAS. He is ſpeaking of the Pantheon.

Whyche was a temple of old foundacion,
Ful of ydols, up ſet on hye ſtages;
There throughe the worlde of every nacion
Were of theyr goddes ſet up great ymages,
To every kingdom direct were their viſages,
As poetes and Fulgensg by hys live
In bokes olde plainly doth dyſcrive.
Every ymage had in his hande a bell,
As apperteyneth to every nacion,
Which, by craft ſome token ſhould tell
Whan any kingdom fil in rebellion, &c h.

This fiction is not in Boccace, Lydgate's original. It is in the above-cited Gothic hiſtory of Virgil. Gower's Virgil, I think, belongs to the ſame romance.

And eke Virgil of acqueintance
I ſigh, where he the maiden prayd,
Which was the doughter, as men ſayd,
Of the emperour whilom of Rome i.

CHAP. lviii. King Aſmodeus pardons every malefactor condemned to death, who can tell three indiſputable truths or maxims.

[xxvii] CHAP. lix. The emperor Jovinian's hiſtory.

On this there is an antient French MORALITE, entitled, L'Orgueil et pre [...]omption de l'Empereur JOVINIAN k. This is alſo the ſtory of ROBERT king of Sicily, an old Engliſh poem, or romance, from which I have given copious extracts l.

CHAP. lx. A king has a daughter named Roſimund, aged ten years; exceedingly beautiful, and ſo ſwift of foot, that her father promiſes her in marriage to any man who can overcome her in running. But thoſe who fail in the attempt are to loſe their heads. After many trials, in which ſhe was always victorious, ſhe loſes the race with a poor man, who throws in her way a ſilken girdle, a garland of roſes, and a ſilken purſe incloſing a golden ball, inſcribed, ‘"whoſo plays with me will never be ſatiated with play."’ She marries the poor man, who inherits her father's kingdom.

This is evidently a Gothic innovation of the claſſical tale of Atalanta. But it is not impoſſible that an oriental apologue might have given riſe to the Grecian fable.

CHAP. lxi. The emperor Claudius marries his daughter to the philoſopher Socrates.

CHAP. lxii. Florentina's picture.

CHAP. lxiii. Veſpaſian's daughter's garden. All her lovers are obliged to enter this garden before they can obtain her love, but none return alive. The garden is haunted by a lion; and has only one entrance, which divides into ſo many windings, that it never can be found again. At length, ſhe furniſhes a knight with a ball or clue of thread, and teaches him how to foil the lion. Having achieved this adventure, he marries the lady.

Here ſeems to be an alluſion to Medea's hiſtory.

CHAP. lxiv. A virgin is married to a king, becauſe ſhe makes him a ſhirt of a piece of cloth three fingers long and broad.

CHAP. lxv. A croſs with four inſcriptions.

[xxviii] CHAP. lxvi. A knight offers to recover a lady's inheritance, which had been ſeized by a tyrant; on condition, that if he is ſlain, ſhe ſhall always keep his bloody armour hanging in her chamber. He regains her property, although he dies in the attempt; and as often as ſhe was afterwards fued for in marriage, before ſhe gave an anſwer, ſhe returned to her chamber, and contemplating with tears her deliverer's bloody armour, reſolutely rejected every ſollicitation.

CHAP. lxvii. The wiſe and fooliſh knight.

CHAP. lxviii. A woman underſtands the language of birds. The three cocks.

CHAP. lxix. A mother gives to a man who marries her daughter a ſhirt, which can never be torn, nor will ever need waſhing, while they continue faithful to each other.

CHAP. lxx. The king's daughter who requires three impoſſible things of her lovers.

CHAP. lxxii. The king who reſigns his crown to his ſon.

CHAP. lxxiv. The golden apple.

CHAP. lxxv. A king's three daughters marry three dukes, who all die the ſame year.

CHAP. lxxvi. The two phyſicians.

CHAP. lxxix. The fable of the familiar aſs.

CHAP. lxxx. A devout hermit lived in a cave, near which a ſhepherd folded his flock. Many of the ſheep being ſtolen, the ſhepherd was unjuſtly killed by his maſter as being concerned in the theft. The hermit ſeeing an innocent man put to death, began to ſuſpect the exiſtence of a divine Providence; and reſolved no longer to perplex himſelf with the uſeleſs ſeveties of religion, but to mix in the world. In travelling from his retirement, he was met by an angel in the figure of a man; who ſaid, ‘"I am an angel, and am ſent by God to be your companion on the road."’ They entered a city; and begged for lodging at the houſe of a knight, who entertained them at a ſplendid ſupper. In the night, the angel roſe from his bed, and ſtrangled the knight's only child who was aſleep in the [xxix] cradle. The hermit was aſtoniſhed at this barbarous return for ſo much hoſpitality, but was afraid to make any remonſtrance to his companion. Next morning they went to another city. Here they were liberally received in the houſe of an opulent citizen; but in the night the angel roſe, and ſtole a golden cup of ineſtimable value. The hermit now concluded, that his companion was a Bad Angel. In travelling forward the next morning, they paſſed over a bridge; about the middle of which they met a poor man, of whom the angel aſked the way to the next city. Having received the deſired information, the angel puſhed the poor man into the water, where he was immediately drowned. In the evening they arrived at the houſe of a rich man; and begging for a lodging, were ordered to ſleep in a ſhed with the cattle. In the morning the angel gave the rich man the cup which he had ſtolen. The hermit, amazed that the cup which was ſtolen from their friend and benefactor ſhould be given to one who refuſed them a lodging, began to be now convinced that his companion was the devil; and begged to go on alone. But the angel ſaid, ‘"Hear me, and depart. When you lived in your hermitage a ſhepherd was killed by his maſter. He was innocent of the ſuppoſed offence: but had he not been then killed, he would have committed crimes in which he would have died impenitent. His maſter endeavours to atone for the murther, by dedicating the remainder of his days to alms and deeds of charity. I ſtrangled the child of the knight. But know, that the father was ſo intent on heaping up riches for this child, as to neglect thoſe acts of public munificence for which he was before ſo diſtinguiſhed, and to which he has now returned. I ſtole the golden cup of the hoſpitable citizen. But know, that from a life of the [...]tricteſt temperance, he became, in conſequence of poſſeſſing this cup, a perpetual drunkard; and is now the moſt abſtemious of men. I threw the poor man into the water. He was then honeſt and religious. But know, had he walked one half of a mile further, he would [xxx] have murthered a man in a ſtate of mortal ſin. I gave the golden cup to the rich man who refuſed to take us within his roof. He has therefore received his reward in this world; and in the next, will ſuffer the pains of hell for his inhoſpitality."’ The hermit fell proſtrate at the angel's feet; and requeſting forgiveneſs, returned to his hermitage, fully convinced of the wiſdom and juſtice of God's government.

This is the fable of Parnell's HERMIT, which that elegant yet original writer has heightened with many maſterly touches of poetical colouring, and a happier arrangement of circumſtances. Among other proofs which might be mentioned of Parnell's genius and addreſs in treating this ſubject, by reſerving the diſcovery of the angel to a critical period at the cloſe of the fable, he has found means to introduce a beautiful deſcription, and an intereſting ſurpriſe. In this poem, the laſt inſtance of the angel's ſeeming injuſtice, is that of puſhing the guide from the bridge into the river. At this, the hermit is unable to ſuppreſs his indignation.

Wild ſparkling rage inflames the Father's eyes,
He burſts the bonds of fear, and madly cries,
"Deteſted wretch!"—But ſcarce his ſpeech began,
When the ſtrange partner ſeem'd no longer man:
His youthful face grew more ſerenely ſweet,
His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet;
Fair rounds of radiant points inveſt his hair;
Celeſtial odours fill the purple air:
And wings, whoſe colours glitter'd on the day,
Wide at his back their gradual plumes diſplay.
The form ethereal burſts upon his ſight,
And moves in all the majeſty of light.

The ſame apologue occurs, with ſome ſlight additions and variations for the worſe, in Howell's LETTERS; who profeſſes to have taken it from the ſpeculative ſir Philip Herbert's CONCEPTIONS [xxxi] to his Son, a book which I have never ſeen m. Theſe Letters were publiſhed about the year 1650. It is alſo found in the DIVINE DIALOGUES of doctor Henry More n, who has illuſtrated its important moral with the following fine reflections. ‘"The affairs of this world are like a curious, but intricately contrived Comedy; and we cannot judge of the tendency of what is paſt, or acting at preſent, before the entrance of the laſt Act, which ſhall bring in Righteouſneſs in triumph: who, though ſhe hath abided many a brunt, and has been very cruelly and deſpightfully uſed hitherto in the world, yet at laſt, according to our deſires, we ſhall ſee the knight overcome the giant. For what is the reaſon we are ſo much pleaſed with the reading romances and the fictions of the poets, but that here, as Ariſtotle ſays, things are ſet down as they ſhould be; but in the true hiſtory hitherto of the world, things are recorded indeed as they are, but it is but a teſtimony, that they have not been as they ſhould be? Wherefore, in the upſhot of all, when we ſhall ſee that come to paſs, that ſo mightily pleaſes us in the reading the moſt ingenious plays and heroick poems, that long afflicted vertue at laſt comes to the crown, the mouth of all unbelievers muſt be for ever ſtopped. And for my own part, I doubt not but that it will ſo come to paſs in the cloſe of the world. But impatiently to call for vengeance upon every enormity before that time, is rudely to overturn the ſtage before the entrance into the fifth act, out of ignorance of the plot of the comedy; and to prevent the ſolemnity of the general judgement by more paltry and particular executions o."’

Parnell ſeems to have chiefly followed the ſtory as it is told by this Platonic theologiſt, who had not leſs imagination than learning. Pope uſed to ſay, that it was originally written in [xxxii] Spaniſh. This I do not believe: but from the early connection between the Spaniards and Arabians, this aſſertion tends to confirm the ſuſpicion, that it was an oriental tale.

CHAP. lxxxi. A king violates his ſiſter. The child is expoſed in a cheſt in the ſea; is chriſtened Gregory by an abbot who takes him up, and after various adventures he is promoted to the popedom. In their old age his father and mother go a pilgrimage to Rome, in order to confeſs to this pope, not knowing he was their ſon, and he being equally ignorant that they are his parents: when in the courſe of the confeſſion, a diſcovery is made on both ſides.

CHAP. lxxxix. The three rings.

This ſtory is in the DECAMERON p, and in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE q: and perhaps in Swift's TALE OF A TUB.

CHAP. xcv. The tyrant Maxentius. From the GESTA ROMANORUM, which are cited.

I think there is the romance of MAXENCE, Conſtantine's antagoniſt.

CHAP. xcvi. King Alexander places a burning candle in his hall; and makes proclamation, that he will abſolve all thoſe who owe him forfeitures of life and land, if they will appear before the candle is conſumed.

CHAP. xcvii. Prodigies before the death of Julius Ceſar, who is placed in the twenty-ſecond year of the city. From the CRONICA, as they are called.

CHAP. xcix. A knight ſaves a ſerpent who is fighting in a foreſt with a toad r, but is afterwards bit by the toad. The knight languiſhes many days: and when he is at the point of death, the ſame ſerpent, which he remembers, enters his chamber, and ſucks the poiſon from the wound.

[xxxiii] CHAP. ci. Of Ganterus, who for his proweſs in war being elected a king of a certain country, is on the night of his coronation conducted to a chamber, where at the head of the bed is a fierce lion, at the feet a dragon, and on either ſide a bear, toads, and ſerpents. He immediately quitted his new kingdom; and was quickly elected king of another country. Going to reſt the firſt night, he was led into a chamber furniſhed with a bed richly embroidered, but ſtuck all over with ſharp razors. This kingdom he alſo relinquiſhes. At length he meets a hermit, who gives him a ſtaff, with which he is directed to knock at the gate of a magnificent palace, ſeated on a lofty mountain. Here he gains admittance, and finds every ſort of happineſs unembittered with the laeſt degree of pain.

The king means every man advanced to riches and honour, and who thinks to enjoy theſe advantages without interruption and alloy. The hermit is religion, the ſtaff penitence, and the palace heaven.

In a more confined ſenſe, the firſt part of this apologue may be ſeparately interpreted to ſignify, that a king, when he enters on his important charge, ought not to ſuppoſe himſelf to ſucceed to the privilege of an exemption from care, and to be put into immediate poſſeſſion of the higheſt pleaſures, conveniencies, and felicities of life; but to be ſenſible, that from that moment, he begins to encounter the greateſt dangers and difficulties.

CHAP. cii. Of the lady of a knight who went to the holy land. She commits adultery with a clerk ſkilled in necromancy. Another magician diſcovers her intrigues to the abſent knight by means of a poliſhed mirror, and his image in wax.

In Adam Davie's GEST or romance of ALEXANDER, Nectabanus, a king and magician, diſcovers the machinations of his enemies by embattelling them in figures of wax. This is the moſt extenſive necromantic operation of the kind that I remember, and muſt have formed a puppet-ſhew equal to the moſt ſplendid pantomime.

[xxxiv]
Barounes weore whilom wys and gode,
That this arss wel undurſtode:
Ac on ther was Neptanamous
Wist in this ars and malicious:
Whan kyng other eorlu cam on him to weorre w
Quyk he loked in the ſteorre x;
Of wax made him popetts y,
And made heom fyȝhte with battes:
And ſo he learned, je vous dy,
Ay to aquellez hys enemye,
With charms and with conjuriſons:
Thus he aſaied the regiouns,
That him cam for to aſaile,
In puyra manyr of bataile b;
By cler candel in the nyȝt,
He mad uchonc with othir to fyȝt,
Of alle manere nacyouns,
That comen by ſchip or dromouns.
At the laſte, of mony londe
Kynges therof haden gret onde d,
Well thritty y gadred beoth e,
And by ſpekith al his deth f.
Kyng Philippg of grete thede
Maiſter was of that fede h:
He was a mon of myȝty hond,
With hem brouȝte, of divers lond,
Nyne and twenty ryche kynges,
To make on hym bataylynges:
[xxxv] Neptanamous hyt underſtod;
Ychaunged was al his mod;
He was aferde ſore of harme:
Anon he deedei caſte his charme [...]
His ymage he madde anon,
And of his barounes everychon,
And afterward of his fone k;
He dude hem to gedere to gon l
In a baſyn al by charme:
He ſaȝh on himm fel theo harme;
He ſeyȝ flyen of his barounes
Of al his lond diſtinctiouns,
He lokid, and kneow in the ſterre,
Of al this kynges theo grete werre o, &c. p

Afterwards he frames an image of the queen Olympias, or Olympia, while ſleeping, whom he violates in the ſhape of a dragon.

Theo lady lyȝt onq hire bedde,
Yheoledr wel with ſilken webbe,
In a chayſel s ſmok ſcheo lay,
And yn a mantell of doway:
Of theo bryȝtnes of hire face
Al about ſchone the place t.—
[xxxvi] Herbes he tok in an herber,
And ſtamped them in a morter,
And wrongx hit in a box:
After he tok virgyn wox
And made a popet after the quene,
His ars-tabl [...] y he can unwrene;
The quenes name in the wax he wrot [...]
Whil hit was ſumdel hot:
In a bed he hit dyȝt
Al aboute with candel lyȝt,
And ſpreyndz theron of the herbus [...]
Thus charmed Neptanabus.
The lady in hir bed lay
Abouȝt mydnyȝt, ar the day a,
Whiles he made conjuryng,
Scheob ſawe fle c, in her metyng d,
Hire thought, a dragoun lyȝt,
To hire chaumbre he made his flyȝt,
In he cam to her bour
And crept undur hir covertour,
Mony ſithese he hire kuſt f
And faſt in his armes pruſt,
And went away, ſo dragon wyld,
And grete he left hire with child g.

[xxxvii] Theocritus, Virgil, and Horace, have left inſtances of incan [...]ations conducted by figures in wax. In the beginning of the laſt century, many witches were executed for attempting the lives of perſons, by fabricating repreſentations of them in wax and clay. King James the firſt, in his DAEMONOLOGIE, ſpeaks of this practice [...]s very common; the efficacy of which he peremptorily aſcribes to the power of the devil h. His majeſty's arguments, intended to prove how the magician's image operated on the perſon repreſented, are drawn from the depths of moral, theological, phyſical, and metaphyſical knowledge. The Arabian magic abounded with theſe infatuations, which were partly founded on the doctrine of ſympathy.

But to return to the GESTA ROMANORUM. In this ſtory one of the magicians is ſtyled Magiſter peritus, and ſometimes ſimply Magiſter. That is, a cunning-man. The title Magiſter in our univerſities has its origin from the uſe of this word in the middle ages. With what propriety it is now continued I will not ſay. Myſtery, antiently uſed for a particular art i, or ſkill in general, is a ſpecious and eaſy corruption of Maiſtery or Maſtery, the Engliſh of the Latin MAGISTERIUM, or Artificium; in French Maiſtriſe, Meſtier, Meſtrie, and in Italian Magiſterio, with the ſame ſenſe k. In the French romance of CLEOMEDES, a phyſician is called ſimply Mait [...]e l.

Lie ſont de chou qu'il n'y a
Peril et que bien garira:
Car il li MAISTRE ainſi dit leur ont.

[xxxviii] And the medical art is ſtyled Meſtrie. ‘"Quant il (the ſurgeon) aperçut que c'eſtoit maladie non mie curable par nature et par MESTRIE, et par medicine, &c m."’ Maiſtriſe is uſed for art or workmanſhip, in the CHRONICON of Saint Denis, ‘"Entr [...] [...]es autres preſens, li envoia une horologe de laton, ouvrez par marveilleuſe MAISTRISE n."’ That the Latin MAGISTERIUM has preciſely the ſame ſenſe appears from an account of the contract for building the conventual church of Caſino in Italy, in the year 1349. The architects agree to build the church in the form of the Lateran at Rome. ‘"Et in caſu ſi aliquis [defectus] in eorum MAGISTERIO appareret, promiſerunt reſarcire o."’ Chaucer, in the ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, uſes MAISTRIS [...] [...]or artifice and workmanſhip.

Was made a toure of grete maiſtriſe,
A fairer ſaugh no man with ſight,
Large, and wide, and of grete might, &c p.

And, in the ſame poem, in deſcribing the ſhoes of MIRTH.

And ſhode he was, with gr [...]te maiſtrie,
With ſhone decopid and with lace q.

MAYSTRYE occurs in the deſcription of a lady's ſaddle, in SYR LAUNFAL'S romance.

Her ſadell was ſemely ſett,
The ſambus r were grene felvett,
[xxxix] I paynted with ymagerye;
The bordure was of belles s
Of ryche golde and nothynge elles
That any man myȝt aſpie:
In the arſounist before and behynde
Were [...]wey ſtones of Ynde
Gay for the mayſtrye.
The paytrellu of her palfraye
Was worth an earldom, &c.

‘"In the ſaddle-bow were two jewels of In [...]ia, very beautiful [xl] to be ſeen, in conſequence of the great art with which they were wrought x."’ Chaucer calls his Monke,

—fayre for the Maiſtrie,
An outrider, that lovid venery y.

Fayre for the Maiſtrie means, ſkilled in the Maiſtrie of the game, La Maiſtriſe du Venerie, or the ſcience of hunting, then ſo much a favorite, as ſimply and familiarly to be called the maiſtrie. From many other inſtances which I could produce, I will only add, that the ſearch of the Philoſopher's Stone is called in the Latin Geber, INVESTIGATIO MAGISTERII.

CHAP. ciii. The merchant who ſells three wiſe maxims to the wife of Domitian.

CHAP. [...]iv. A knight in hunting meets a lion, from whoſe foot he extracts a thorn. Afterwards he becomes an outlaw; and being ſeized by the king, is condemned to be thrown into a deep pit to be devoured by a hungry lion. The lion fawns on the knight, whom he perceives to be the ſame that drew the thorn from his paw. Then ſaid the king, ‘"I will learn forbearance from the beaſts. As the lion has ſpared your life, when it was in his power to take it, I therefore grant you a free pardon. Depart, and be admoniſhed hence to live virtuouſly."’

The learned reader muſt immediately recollect a ſimilar ſtory of one Androclus, who being expoſed to fight with wild beaſts in the Roman amphitheatre, is recogniſed and unattacked by a moſt ſavage lion, whom he had formerly healed exactly in the ſame manner. But I believe the whole is nothing more than an oriental apologue on gratitude, written much earlier; and that it here exiſts in its original ſtate. Androclus's ſtory is related by Aulus Gellius, on the authority of a Greek writer, one Appion, called Pliſtonices, who flouriſhed under Tiberius. The character of Appion, with which Gellius prefaces this tale, in ſome meaſure invalidates his credit; notwithſtanding he pretends to [xli] have been an eye witneſs of this extraordinary fact. ‘"Ejus libri, ſays Gellius, non incelebres feruntur; quibus, omnium ferme quae mirifica in Aegypto viſuntur audiunturque, hiſtoria comprehenditur. Sed in his quae audiviſſe et legiſſe [...]eſe dicit, fortaſſe a vitio ſtudioque oſtentationis [...]it loquacior, &c z."’ Had our compiler of the GESTA taken this ſtory from Gellius, it is probable he would have told it with ſome of the ſame circumſtances: eſpecially as Gellius is a writer whom he frequently follows, and even quotes; and to whom, on this occaſion, he might have been obliged for a few more ſtrokes of the marvellous. But the two writers agree only in the general ſubject. Our compiler's narrative has much more ſimplicity than that of Gellius; and contains marks of eaſtern manners and life. Let me add, that the oriental fabuliſts are fond of illuſtrating and enforcing the duty of gratitude, by feigning inſtances of the gratitude of beaſts towards men. And of this the preſent compilation, which is ſtrongly tinctured with orientaliſm, affords ſeveral other proofs.

CHAP. cv. Theodoſius the bl [...]d emperor ordained, that the cauſe of every injured perſon ſhould be heard, on ringing a bell placed in a public part of his palace. A ſerpent had a neſt near the ſpot where the bell-rope fell. In the abſence of the ſerpent, a toad took poſſeſſion of her neſt. The ſerpent twiſting herſelf round the rope, rang the bell for juſtice; and by the emperor's ſpecial command the toad was killed. A few days afterwards, as the king was repoſing on his couch, the ſerpent entered the chamber, bearing a precious ſtone in her mouth. The ſerpent creeping up to the emperor's face, laid the precious ſtone on his eyes, and glided out of the apartment. Immediately the emperor was reſtored to his ſight.

This circumſtance of the Bell of Juſtice occurs in the real hiſtory of ſome eaſtern monarch, whoſe name I have forgot.

[xlii] In the Arabian philoſophy, ſerpents, either from the brightneſs of their eyes, or becauſe they inhabit the cavities of the earth, were conſidered as having a natural, or occult, connection with precious ſtones. In Alphonſus's CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA, a ſnake is mentioned, whoſe eyes were real jacinths. In Alexander's romantic hiſtory, he is ſaid to have found ſerpents in the vale of Jordian, with collars of huge emeralds growing on their necks a. The toad, under a vulgar indiſcriminating idea, is ranked with the reptile race: and Shakeſpeare has a beautiful compariſon on the traditionary notion, that the toad has a rich gem incloſed within its head. Milton gives his ſerpent eyes of carbuncle b.

CHAP. cvi. The three fellow-travellers, who have only one loaf of bread.

This apologue is in Alphonſus.

CHAP. cvii. There was an image in the city of Rome, which ſtretched forth its right hand, on the middle finger of which was written STRIKE HERE. For a long time none could underſtand the meaning of this myſterious inſcription. At length a certain ſubtle Clerk, who came to ſee this famous image, obſerved, as the ſun ſhone againſt it, the ſhadow of the inſcribed finger on the ground at ſome diſtance. He immediately took a ſpade, and began to dig exactly on that ſpot. He came at length to a flight of ſteps which deſcended far under ground, and led him to a ſtately palace. Here he entered a hall, where he ſaw a king and queen ſitting at table, with their nobles and a multitude of people, all clothed in rich garments. But no perſon ſpake a word. He looked towards one corner, where he ſaw a poliſhed carbuncle, which illuminated the whole room c. In [xliii] the oppoſite corner he perceived the figure of a man ſtanding, having a bended bow with an arrow in his hand, as prepared to ſhoot. On his forehead was written, ‘"I am, who am. Nothing can eſcape my ſtroke, not even yonder carbuncle which ſhines ſo bright."’ The Clerk beheld all with amazement; and entering a chamber, ſaw the moſt beautiful ladies working at the loom in purple d. But all was ſilence. He then entered a ſtable full of the moſt excellent horſes and aſſes: he touched ſome of them, and they were inſtantly turned into ſtone. He next ſurveyed all the apartments of the palace, which abounded [xliv] with all that his wiſhes could deſire. He again viſited the hal [...], and now began to reflect how he ſhould return; ‘"but, ſays he, my report of all theſe wonders will not be believed, unleſs I carry ſomething back with me."’ He therefore took from the principal table a golden cup and a golden knife, and placed them in his boſom. When, the man who ſtood in the corner with the bow, immediately ſhot at the carbuncle, which he ſhattered into a thouſand pieces. At that moment the hall became dark as night. In this darkneſs not being able to find hi [...] way, he remained in the ſubterraneous palace, and ſoon died a miſerable death.

In the MORALISATION of this ſtory, the ſteps by which the Clerk deſcends into the earth are ſuppoſed to be the Paſſions. The palace, ſo richly ſtored, is the world with all its vanities and temptations. The figure with the bow bent is Death, and the carbuncle is Human Life. He ſuffers for his avarice in coveting and ſeizing what was not his own; and no ſooner has he taken the golden knife and cup, that is, enriched himſelf with the goods of this world, than he is delivered up to the gloom and horrors of the grave.

Spenſer in the FAERIE QUEENE, ſeems to have diſtantly remembered this fable, where a fiend expecting ſir Guyon will be tempted to ſnatch ſome of the treaſures of the ſubterraneous HOUSE OF RICHESSE, which are diſplayed in his view, i [...] prepared to faſten upon him.

Thereat the fiend his gnaſ [...]ing teeth did grate,
And griev'd ſo long to lack his greedie pray;
For well he weened that ſo glorious bayte
Would tempt his gueſt to take thereof aſſay:
Had he ſo doen, he had him ſnatcht away
More light than culver in the faucon's fiſt e.

This ſtory was originally invented of pope Gerbert, or Sylveſter [xlv] the ſecond, who died in the year 1003. He was eminently learned in the mathematical ſciences, and on that account was ſtyled a magician. William of Malmeſbury is, I believe, the firſt writer now extant by whom it is recorded: and he produces it partly to ſhew, that Gerbert was not always ſucceſsful in thoſe attempts which he ſo frequently practiſed to diſcover treaſures hid in the earth, by the application of the necromantic arts. I will tranſlate Malmeſbury's narration of this fable, as it varies in ſome of the circumſtances, and has ſome heightenings of the fiction. ‘"At Rome there was a brazen ſtatue, extending the forefinger of the right hand; and on its forehead was written Strike here. Being ſuſpected to conceal a treaſure, it had received many bruiſes from the credulous and ignorant, in their endeavours to open it. At length Gerbert unriddled the myſtery. At noon-day obſerving the reflection of the forefinger on the ground, he marked the ſpot. At night he came to the place, with a page carrying a lamp. There by a magical operation he opened a wide paſſage in the earth; through which they both deſcended, and came to a vaſt palace. The walls, the beams, and the whole ſtructure, were of gold: they ſaw golden images of knights playing at cheſs, with a king and queen of gold at a banquet, with numerous attendants in gold, and cups of immenſe ſize and value. In a receſs was a carbuncle, whoſe luſtre illuminated the whole palace: oppoſite to which ſtood a figure with a bended bow. As they attempted to touch ſome of the rich furniture, all the golden images ſeemed to ruſh upon them. Gerbert was too wiſe to attempt this a ſecond time: but the page was bold enough to ſnatch from the table a golden knife of exquiſite workmanſhip. At that moment, all the golden images roſe up with a dreadful noiſe; the figure with the bow ſhot at the carbuncle; and a total darkneſs enſued. The page then replaced the knife, otherwiſe, they both would have ſuffered a cruel death."’ Malmeſbury afterwards mentions a brazen bridge, framed by the enchantments of Gerbert, beyond which [xlvi] were golden horſes of a gigantic ſize, with riders of gold richly illuminated by the moſt ſerene meridian ſun. A large company attempt to paſs the bridge, with a deſign of ſtealing ſome pieces of the gold. Immediately the bridge roſe from its foundations, and ſtood perpendicular on one end: a brazen man appeared from beneath it, who ſtruck the water with a mace of braſs, and the ſky was overſpread with the moſt horrible gloom. Gerbert, like ſome other learned necromancers of the Gothic ages, was ſuppoſed to have fabricated a brazen head under the influence of certain planets, which anſwered queſtions. But I forbear to ſuggeſt any more hints for a future collection of Arabian tales. I ſhall only add Malmeſbury's account of the education of Gerbert, which is a curious illuſtration of what has been often inculcated in theſe volumes, concerning the introduction of romantic fiction into Europe f. ‘"Gerbert, a native of France, went into Spain for the purpoſe of learning aſtrology, and other ſciences of that caſt, of the Saracens; who, to this day, occupy the upper regions of Spain. They are ſeated in the metropolis of Seville; where, according to the cuſtomary practice of their country, they ſtudy the arts of divination and enchantment.—Here Gerbert ſoon exceeded Ptolemy in the aſtrolabe, Alchind in aſtronomy, and Julius Firmicus in fatality. Here he learned the meaning of the flight and language of birds, and was taught how to raiſe ſpectres from hell. Here he acquired whatever human curioſity has diſcovered for the deſtruction or convenience of mankind. I ſay nothing of his knowledge in arithmetic, muſic, and geometry; which he ſo fully underſtood as to think them beneath his genius, and which he yet with great induſtry introduced into France, where they had been long forgotten. He certainly was the firſt who brought the algorithm from the Saracens, and who illuſtrated it with [xlvii] ſuch rules as the moſt ſtudious in that ſcience cannot explain. He lodged with a philoſopher of that ſect g, &c."’

I conclude this chapter with a quotation from the old metrical romance of SYR LIBEAUX DIASCONIOS, where the knight, in his attempt to diſenchant the Lady of Sinadone, after entering the hall of the caſtle of the necromancers, is almoſt in ſimilar circumſtances with our ſubterraneous adventurers. The paſſage is rich in Gothic imageries; and the moſt ſtriking part of the poem, which is mentioned by Chaucer as a popular romance.

Syr Lybeaus, knyȝt corteys h,
Rode ynto the palys,
And atte the halle alyȝte i:
Trompes, ſhalmuſes k,
He ſeyȝ, be fore the heyȝ deys l,
Stonde in hys ſyȝte.
A mydde the halle flore,
A fere, ſterke and ſtore m,
Was lyȝt, and brende bryȝt n.
Ner the dor he ȝede o,
And laddep yn hys ſtede
That wont was help hym in fyȝt.
Lybeaus innerq gan pace
To ſe eche a place r,
[xlviii] The haless in the halle,
Of mayne mor ne laſſe
Ne ſawe he body ne face t,
But meneſtrelles yclothen yn palle, &c. u
So much melodye
Was never with ynne walle.
Before ech menſtrell ſtode
A torche ferw and gode,
Brennynge fayre and bryȝt.
Inner more he ȝede,
To wyte, with egre mode
Who ſcholdex with hym fyȝt:
He ȝede ynto the corneres,
And loked on the pileres,
That ſelcouth wer of ſyȝt,
Of jaſper and of fyn cryſtall, &c.
The dores wer of bras;
The windowes wer of glas
Ffloryſſed with imagerye y [...]
The halle ypaynted was z [...]
No rycher never ther was
That he hadde ſeye with eye a.
He ſette hym on the hye deys b,
The mynſtrelles were yn pes c,
That were ſo gode and trye d.
The torches that brende bryȝt e.
Quenched anon ryȝt f;
The menſtrelles were awaye g:
[xlix] Dores, and wyndowes alle,
Beten yn the halle
As hyt wer voys of thunder, &c.—
As he ſate tho diſmayde,
And helde hymſelfe betrayde,
Steedes herde he naye, &c h.

This caſtle is called, ‘"A paleys queynt of gynne,"’ and, ‘"by negremancye ymaketh of fayrye i."’

CHAP. cviii. The mutual fidelity of two thieves.

CHAP. cix. The cheſt and the three paſties.

A like ſtory is in Boccace's DECAMERON k, in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE l, and in Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS m.

The ſtory, however, as it ſtands in Gower, ſeems to be copied from one which is told by the hermit Barlaam to king Avenamore, in the ſpiritual romance, written originally in Greek about the year 800, by Joannes Damaſcenus a Greek monk n, and tranſlated into Latin before the thirteenth century, entitled, BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT o. But Gower's immediate author, if not Boccace, was perhaps Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1290, and who has incorporated Damaſcenus's hiſtory of Barlaam and Joſaphat p, who were canoniſed, into his SPECULUM HISTORIALE q. As Barlaam's fable is probably the remote but original ſource of Shakeſpeare's CASKETTS in the MERCHANT OF VENICE, I will give the reader a tranſlation of the paſſage in which it occurs, from the Greek original, never yet printed. ‘"The king commanded four cheſts to be made: two of which were covered with gold, and ſecured by golden locks, but [l] filled with the rotten bones of human carcaſſes. The other two were overlaid with pitch, and bound with rough cords; but repleniſhed with pretious ſtones and the moſt exquiſite gems, and with ointments of the richeſt odour. He called his nobles together; and placing theſe cheſts before them, aſked which they thought the moſt valuable. They pronounced thoſe with the golden coverings to be the moſt pretious, ſuppoſing they were made to contain the crowns and girdles of the king r. The two cheſts covered with pitch they viewed with contempt. Then ſaid the king, I preſumed what would be your determination: for ye look with the eyes of ſenſe. But to diſcern baſeneſs or value, which are hid within, we muſt look with the eyes of the mind. He then ordered the golden cheſts to be opened, which exhaled an intolerable ſtench, and filled the beholders with horror s."’ In the METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, written about the year 1300, theſe cheſts are called four fates, that is, four vats or veſſels t.

I make no apology for giving the reader a tranſlation from the ſame Greek original, which is now before me, of the ſtory of the Boy told in the DECAMERON. ‘"A king had an only ſon. As ſoon as he was born, the phyſicians declared, that if he was allowed to ſee the ſun, or any fire, before he arrived at the age of twelve years, he would be blind. The king commanded an apartment to be hewed within a rock, into which no light could enter; and here he ſhut up the boy, totally in the dark, yet with proper attendants, for twelve years. At the end of which time, he brought him abroad from his gloomy chamber, and placed in his view, men, women, gold, pretious ſtones, rich garments, chariots of exquiſite workmanſhip [li] drawn by horſes with golden bridles, heaps of purple tapeſtry, armed knights on horſeback, oxen and ſheep. Theſe were all diſtinctly pointed out to the youth: but being moſt pleaſed with the women, he deſired to know by what name they were called. An eſquire of the king jocoſely told him, that they were devils who catch men. Being brought to the king, he was aſked which he liked beſt of all the fine things he had ſeen. He replied, the devils who catch men, &c."’ I need not enlarge on Boccace's improvements u.

This romantic legend of Barlaam and Joſaphat, which is a hiſtory of conſiderable length, is undoubtedly the compoſition of one who had an intercourſe with the eaſt: and from the ſtrong traces which it contains of the oriental mode of moraliſing, appears plainly to have been written, if not by the monk whoſe name it bears, at leaſt by ſome devout and learned aſcetic of the Greek church, and probably before the tenth century.

Leland mentions DAMASCENUS DE GESTIS BARLAAM ET JOSAPHAT, as one of the manuſcripts which he ſaw in Nettleyabbey near Southampton w.

CHAP. cx. The life of the knight Placidus, or Placidas x, afterwards called Euſtacius.

It occurs in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE y. Among the Cotton manuſcripts there is a metrical legend or romance on this ſtory z.

CHAP. cxi. The claſſical ſtory of Argus and Mercury, with ſome romantic additions. Mercury comes to Argus in the character of a minſtrel, and lulls him to ſleep by telling him tales and ſinging, incepit more hiſtrionico fabulas dicere, et plerumque cantare.

[lii] CHAP. cxii. The ſon of king Gorgonius is beloved by hi [...] ſtep-mother. He is therefore ſent to ſeek his fortune in a foreign country, where he ſtudies phyſic; and returning, heals his father of a dangerous diſeaſe, who recovers at the ſight of him. The ſtep-mother, hearing of his return, falls ſick, and dies at ſeeing him.

CHAP. cxiii. The tournaments of the rich king Adonias [...] A party of knights arrive the firſt day, who lay their ſhields aſide, in one place. The ſame number arrives the ſecond day, each of whom chuſes his antagoniſt by touching with his ſpear the ſhield of one of the firſt day's party, not knowing the owner.

The moſt curious anecdote of chivalry, now on record, occurs in the eccleſiaſtical hiſtory of Spain. Alphonſus the ninth, about the year 1214, having expelled the Moors from Toledo, endeavoured to eſtabliſh the Roman miſſal in the place of ſaint Iſidore's. This alarming innovation was obſtinately oppoſed by the people of Toledo; and the king found that his project would be attended with almoſt inſuperable difficulties. The conteſt at length between the two miſſals grew ſo ſerious, that it was mutually reſolved to decide the controverſy, not by a theological diſputation, but by ſingle combat; in which the champion of the Toletan miſſal proved victorious a.

Many entertaining paſſages relating to trials by ſingle combat may be ſeen in the old Imperial and Lombard laws. In Caxton's BOKE OF THE FAYTTES OF ARMES AND OF CHIVALRYE, printed at Weſtminſter in the year 1489, and tranſlated from the French of Chriſtine of Piſa, many of the chapters towards the end are compiled from that ſingular monument of Gothic legiſlation.

CHAP. cxv. An intractable elephant is lulled aſleep in a foreſt by the ſongs and blandiſhments of two naked virgins. One of them cuts off his head, the other carries a bowl of his blood to [liii] the king. Rex vero gaviſus eſt valde, et ſtatim fecit fieri PURPURAM, et multa alia, de eodem ſanguine.

In this wild tale, there are circumſtances enough of general analogy, if not of peculiar paralleliſm, to recall to my memory the following beautiful deſcription, in the manuſcript romance of SYR LAUNFAL, of two damſels, whom the knight unexpectedly meets in a deſolate foreſt.

As he ſate in ſorowe and ſore,
He ſawe come out of holtes hore
Gentyll maydenes two;
Thar kertelles were of Inde ſandel b
I laſſedc ſmalle, jolyf and wel;
Thar myȝtd noon gayer go.
Thar manteles were of grene felwette e
Ybordured with golde ryȝte welle yſette,
I peluredf with gris and gro g;
Har heddysh wer dyȝt well withall,
Everych hadde on a jolyf coronall,
With ſixty gemmys and mo i.
Har faces was whyte as ſnowe on downe,
Har rodek was red, har eyn were broune,
I ſawe never none ſwyche l.
The oon bar of gold a baſyn,
That other a towayle whyt and fyn,
Of ſylk that was goode and ryche.
Har kercheves wer well ſchyre m
Arayd with ryche gold wyre, &c. n

CHAP. cxvi. The queen of Pepin king of France died in childbed, leaving a ſon. He married a ſecond wife, who bore [liv] a ſon within a year. Theſe children were ſent abroad to be nurſed. The ſurviving queen, anxious to ſee her child, deſired that both the boys might be brought home. They were ſo exceedingly alike, that the one could not be diſtinguiſhed from the other, except by the king. The mother begged the king to point out her own ſon. This he refuſed to do, till they were both grown up; left ſhe ſhould ſpoil him by too fond a partiality. Thus they were both properly treated with uniform affection, and without exceſs of indulgence.

A favorite old romance is founded on the indiſtinctible likeneſs of two of Charlemagne's knights, Amys and Amelion; originally celebrated by Turpin, and placed by Vincent of Beauvais under the reign of Pepin o.

CHAP. cxvii. The law of the emperor Frederick, that whoever reſcued a virgin from a rape might claim her for his wife.

CHAP. cxviii. A knight being in Egypt, recovers a thouſand talents which he had entruſted to a faithleſs friend, by the artifice of an old woman.

This tale is in Alphonſus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE p.

CHAP. cxix. A king had an oppreſſive Seneſhall, who paſſing through a foreſt, fell into a deep pit, in which were a lion, an ape, and a ſerpent. A poor man who gathered ſticks in the foreſt hearing his cries, drew him up: together with the lion, the ape, and the ſerpent. The Seneſhall returned home, promiſing to reward the poor man with great riches. Soon afterwards the poor man went to the palace to claim the promiſed reward; but was ordered to be cruelly beaten by the ſeneſhall. In the mean time, the lion drove ten aſſes laden with gold to the poor man's cottage: the ſerpent brought him a pretious ſtone of three colours: and the ape, when he came to the foreſt on his daily buſineſs, laid him heaps of wood. The poor man, in conſequence of the virtues of the ſerpent's pretious ſtone, [lv] which he ſold, arrived to the dignity of knighthood, and acquired ample poſſeſſions. But afterwards he found the pretious ſtone in his cheſt, which he preſented to the king. The king having heard the whole ſtory, ordered the ſeneſhall to be put to death for his ingratitude, and preferred the poor man to his office.

This ſtory occurs in Symeon Seth's tranſlation of the celebrated Arabian fable-book called CALILAH U DUMNAH q. It is recited by Matthew Paris, under the year 1195, as a parable which king Richard the firſt, after his return from the eaſt, was often accuſtomed to repeat, by way of reproving thoſe ungrateful princes who refuſed to engage in the cruſade r. It is verſified by Gower, who omits the lion, as Matthew Paris does the ape, in the fifth book of the CONFESSIO AMANTIS s. He thus deſcribes the ſervices of the ape and ſerpent to the poor man [...] who gained his livelihood by gathering ſticks in a foreſt.

He gan his ape anone behold,
Which had gadred al aboute,
Of ſtickes here and there a route,
And leyde hem redy to his honde,
Whereof he made his truſſe and [...]ond
From daie to daie.—
Upon a time and as he drough
Towarde the woodde, he ſigh beſide
The great gaſtly ſerpent glide,
Till that ſhe came in his preſence,
And in hir kynde a reverence
She hath hym do, and forthwith all
A ſtone more bright than a chriſtall
Out of hir mouth to fore his waye
She lett down fall.—

[lvi] In Gower alſo, as often as the poor man ſells the pretious ſtone, on returning home, he finds it again among the money in his purſe.

The acquiſition of riches, and the multiplication of treaſure, by inviſible agency, is a frequent and favorite fiction of the Arabian romance. Thus, among the preſents given to Sir Launfal by the Lady Triamore, daughter of the king of Faerie.

I will the ȝevet an Alver u,
I mad of ſylver and gold cler,
With fayre ymages thre:
As ofte thou putteſt thy honde ther ynne,
A marke of golde thou ſhalt wynne w,
In wat place ſhalt thou be x.

CHAP. XX. King Darius's legacy to his three ſons. To the eldeſt he bequeathes all his paternal inheritance: to the ſecond, all that he had acquired by conqueſt: and to the third, a ring and necklace, both of gold, and a rich cloth. All the three laſt gifts were endued with magical virtues. Whoever wore the ring on his finger, gained the love or favour of all whom he deſired to pleaſe. Whoever hung the necklace over his breaſt, obtained all his heart could deſire. Whoever ſate down on the cloth, could be inſtantly tranſported to any part of the world which he choſe.

From this beautiful tale, of which the opening only is here given, Occleve, commonly called Chaucer's diſciple, framed a poem in the octave ſtanza, which was printed in the year 1614, by William Browne, in his ſet of Eclogues called the SHEPHEARDS PIPE. Occleve has literally followed the book before us, and has even tranſlated into Engliſh proſe the MORALISATION annexed y. He has given no ſort of embelliſhment to his [lvii] original, and by no means deſerves the praiſes which Browne in the following elegant paſtoral lyrics has beſtowed on his performance, and which more juſtly belong to the genuine Gothic, or rather Arabian, inventor.

Well I wot, the man that firſt
Sung this lay, did quenche his thirſt
Deeply as did ever one
In the Muſes Helicon.
Many times he hath been ſeene
With the faeries on the greene,
And to them his pipe did ſound
As they danced in a round;
Mickle ſolace would they make him,
And at midnight often wake him,
And convey him from his roome
To a fielde of yellow broome,
Or into the medowes where
Mints perfume the gentle aire,
And where Flora ſpreads her treaſure
There they would beginn their meaſure.
If it chancd night's ſable ſhrowds
Muffled Cynthia up in clowds,
Safely home they then would ſee him,
And from brakes and quagmires free him.
There are few ſuch ſwaines as he
Now a dayes for harmonie z.

The hiſtory of Darius, who gave this legacy to his three ſons, is incorporated with that of Alexander, which has been decorated with innumerable fictions by the Arabian writers. There is alſo a ſeparate romance on Darius. And on Philip of Macedon a.

[lviii] CHAP. cxxiv. Of the knights who intercede for their friend with a king, by coming to his court, each half on horſe back and half on foot.

This is the laſt novel in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE.

CHAP. cxxvi. Macrobius is cited for the addreſs and humour of an ingenuous boy named Papirius.

This is one of the moſt lively ſtories in Macrobius a.

CHAP. cxxviii. The forged teſtament of the wicked knight, under the reign of Maximian.

CHAP. cxxix. A young prince is ſent on his travels. His three friends.

CHAP. cxxxii. The four phyſicians.

CHAP. cxxxiii. The king and his two greyhounds.

CHAP. cxxxiv. A ſtory from Seneca.

CHAP. cxxxv. The ſtory of Lucretia, from ſaint Auſtin's CITY OF GOD.

A more claſſical authority for this ſtory, had it been at hand, would have been ſlighted for ſaint Auſtin's CITY OF GOD, which was the favorite ſpiritual romance; and which, as the tranſition from religion to gallantry was antiently very eaſy, gave riſe to the famous old French romance called the CITY OF LADIES.

CHAP. cxxxvii. The Roman emperor who is baniſhed for his impartial diſtribution of juſtice. From the CRONICA of Euſebius.

CHAP. cxxxviii. King Medro.

CHAP. cxxxix. King Alexander, by means of a mirrour, kills a cockatrice, whoſe look had deſtroyed the greateſt part of his army.

Aelian, in his VARIOUS HISTORY, mentions a ſerpent which appearing from the mouth of a cavern, ſtopped the march of Alexander's army through a ſpacious deſert. The wild beaſts, ſerpents, and birds, which Alexander encountered in marching through India, were moſt extravagantly imagined [lix] by the oriental fabuliſts, and form the chief wonders of that monarch's romance b.

CHAP. cxl. The emperor Eraclius reconciles two knights.

This ſtory is told by Seneca of Cneius Piſo c. It occurs in Chaucer's SOMPNOUR'S TALE, as taken from Senec, or Seneca d.

CHAP. cxli. A knight who had diſſipated all his ſubſtance in frequenting tournaments, under the reign of Fulgentius, is reduced to extreme poverty. A ſerpent haunted a chamber of his houſe; who being conſtantly fed with milk by the knight, in return made his benefactor rich. The knight's ingratitude and imprudence in killing the ſerpent, who was ſuppoſed to guard a treaſure concealed in his chamber.

Medea's dragon guarding the golden fleece is founded on the oriental idea of treaſure being guarded by ſerpents. We are told in Vincent of Beauvais, that there are mountains of ſolid gold in India guarded by dragons and griffins e.

CHAP. cxliii. A certain king ordained a law, that if any man was ſuddenly to be put to death, at ſun-riſing a trumpet ſhould be ſounded before his gate. The king made a great feaſt for all his nobles, at which the moſt ſkilful muſicians were preſent f. But amidſt the general feſtivity, the king was ſad and ſilent. All the gueſts were ſurpriſed and perplexed at the king's melancholy; but at length his brother ventured to aſk him the cauſe. [lx] The king replied, ‘"Go home, and you ſhall hear my anſwer to morrow."’ The king ordered his trumpeters to ſound early the next morning before his brother's gate, and to bring him with them to judgement. The brother, on hearing this unexpected dreadful ſummons, was ſeized with horror, and came before the king in a black robe. The king commanded a deep pit to be made, and a chair compoſed of the moſt frail materials, and ſupported by four ſlight legs, to be placed inclining over the edge of the pit. In this the brother, being ſtripped naked, was ſeated. Over his head a ſharp ſword was hung by a ſmall thread of ſilk. Around him four men were ſtationed with ſwords exceedingly ſharp, who were to wait for the king's word, and then to kill him. In the mean time, a table covered with the moſt coſtly diſhes was ſpread before him, accompanied with all ſorts of muſic. Then ſaid the king, ‘"My brother, why are you ſo ſad? Can you be dejected, in the midſt of this delicious muſic, and with all theſe choice dainties?"’ He anſwered, ‘"How can I be glad, when I have this morning heard the trumpet of death at my doors, and while I am ſeated in this tottering chair? If I make the ſmalleſt motion, it will break, and I ſhall fall into the pit, from which I ſhall never ariſe again. If I lift my head, the ſuſpended ſword will penetrate my brain; while theſe four tormentors only wait your command to put me to death."’ The king replied, ‘"Now I will anſwer your queſtion, why I was ſad yeſterday. I am exactly in your ſituation. I am ſeated, like you, in a frail and periſhable chair, ready to tumble to pieces every moment, and to throw me into the infernal pit. Divine judgement, like this ſharp ſword, hangs over my head: and I am ſurrounded, like you, with four executioners. That before me is Death, whoſe coming I cannot tell; that behind me, my Sins, which are prepared to accuſe me before the tribunal of God; that on the right, the Devil, who is ever watching for his prey; and that on the left, the Worm, who is now [...] after my fleſh. Go in peace, my [lxi] deareſt brother: and never aſk me again why I am ſad at a feaſt."’

Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, may perhaps have copied the circumſtance of the morning trumpet from this apologue. His king is a king of Hungary.

It ſo befell, that on a dawe
There was ordeined by the lawe
A Trompe with a ſterne breathe,
Which was cleped the Trompe of deathe:
And in the court where the kyng was,
A certaine man, this trompe of braſſe
Hath in kepyng, and therof ſerveth,
That when a lorde his deathe deſerveth,
He ſhall this dredfull trompe blowe
To fore his gate, to make it knowe,
Howe that the jugement is yeve
Of deathe, whiche ſhall not be foryeve.
The kyng whan it was night anone,
This man aſſent, and bad him gone,
To trompen at his brothers gate;
And he, whiche mote done algate,
Goth foorth, and doth the kyng's heſte.
This lorde whiche herde of this tempeſt
That he tofore his gate blewe,
Tho wiſt he by the lawe, and knewe
That he was ſchurly deade, &c g.

But Gower has connected with this circumſtance a different ſtory, and of an inferior caſt, both in point of moral and imagination. The truth is, Gower ſeems to have altogether followed this ſtory as it appeared in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais h, who took it from Damaſcenus's romance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT i. Part of it is thus [lxii] told in Caxton's tranſlation of that legend k. ‘"And the kynge hadde ſuche a cuſtome, that whan one ſholde be delyvered to deth, the kynge ſholde ſende hys cryar wyth hys trompe that was ordeyned therto. And on the euen he ſente the cryar wyth the trompe tofore hys brother's gate, and made to ſoune the trompe. And whan the kynges brother herde this, he was in deſpayr of ſauynge of his lyf, and coude not ſlepe of alle the nyght, and made his teſtament. And on the morne erly, he cladde hym in blacke: and came with wepyng with hys wyf and chyldren to the kynges paleys. And the kynge made hym to com tofore hym, and ſayd to hym, a fooll that thou art, that thou haſt herde the meſſager of thy brother, to whom thou knoweſt well thou haſt not treſpaced and doubteſt ſo mooche, howe oughte not I then ne doubte the meſſageres of our lorde, agaynſte whom I haue ſoo ofte ſynned, which ſignef [...]ed unto me more clerely the deth then the trompe?"’

CHAP. cxlv. The philoſopher Socrates ſhews the cauſe of the inſalubrity of a paſſage between two mountains in Armenia, by means of a poliſhed mirrour of ſteel. Albertus is cited; an abbot of Stade, and the author of a Chronicle from Adam to 1256.

CHAP. cxlvi. Saint Auſtin's CITY OF GOD is quoted for an anſwer of Diomedes the pirate to king Alexander.

CHAP. cxlviii. Aulius Gellius is cited.

Aulus Gellius is here quoted, for the ſtory of Arion l, throwing himſelf into the ſea, and carried on the back of a dolphin to king Periander at Corinth m. Gellius relates this ſtory from Herodotus, in whom it is now extant n.

CHAP. cliii. The hiſtory of Apollonius of Tyre.

This ſtory, the longeſt in the book before us, and the groundwork [lxiii] of a favorite old romance, is known to have exiſted before the year 1190.

In the Prologue to the Engliſh romance on this ſubject, called KYNGE APOLYNE OF THYRE, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510, we are told. ‘"My worſhypfull mayſter Wynkyn de Worde, havynge a lytell boke of an auncyent hyſtory of a kynge ſomtyme reygnyne in the countree of Thyre called Appolyn, concernynge his malfortunes and peryllous adventures right eſpouventables, bryefly compyled and pyteous for to here; the which boke, I Robert Coplandeo have me applyed for to tranſlate out of the Frensſhe language into our maternal Englysſhe tongue, at the exhortacyon of my forſayd mayſter, accordynge dyrectly to myn auctor: gladly followynge the trace of my mayſter Caxton, begynnynge with ſmall ſtoryes and pamf [...]etes and ſo to other."’ The Engliſh romance, or the French, which is the ſame thing, exactly correſponds in many paſſages with the text of the GESTA. I will inſtance in the following one only, in which the complication of the fable commences. King Appolyn dines in diſguiſe in the hall of king Antiochus.—‘"Came in the kynges daughter, accompanyed with many ladyes and damoyſelles, whoſe ſplendente beaute were too long to endyte, for her roſacyate coloure was medled with grete favour. She dranke unto hir fader, and to all the lordes, and to all them that had ben at the play of the Shelde p. And as ſhe behelde here and there, ſhe eſpyed kynge Appolyn, and then ſhe ſayd unto her fader, Syr, what is he that ſytteth ſo hye as by you, it ſemeth by hym that he is angry or ſorrowfull? The kynge ſayd, I never ſawe ſo nimble and pleaſaunt a player at the ſhelde, and therfore [lxiv] have I made hym to come and ſoupe with my knyghtes. And yf ye wyll knowe what he is, demaunde hym; for peradventure he wyll tell you ſooner than me. Methynke that he is departed from ſome good place, and I thinke in my mynde that ſomethynge is befallen hym for which he is ſorry. This ſayd, the noble dameyſell wente unto Appolyn and ſaid, "Fayre Syr, graunt me a boone. And he graunted her with goode herte. And ſhe ſayd unto hym, albeyt that your vyſage be tryſt and hevy, your behavour ſheweth nobleſſe and facundyte, and therefore I pray you to tell me of your affayre and eſtate. Appolyn anſwered, Yf ye demaunde of my rycheſſes, I have loſt them in the ſea. The damoyſell ſayd, I pray you that you tell me of your adventures q."’ But in the GESTA, the princeſs at entering the royal hall kiſſes all the knights and lords preſent, except the ſtranger r. Voſſius ſays, that about the year 1520, one Alamanus Rinucinus a Florentine, tranſlated into Latin this fabulous hiſtory; and that the tranſlation was corrected by Beroaldus. Voſſius certainly cannot mean, that he tranſlated it from the Greek original s.

CHAP. cliv. A ſtory from Gervaſe of Tilbury, an Engliſhman, who wrote about the year 1200, concerning a miraculous ſtatue of Chriſt in the city of Edeſſa.

CHAP. clv. The adventures of an Engliſh knight named Albert in a ſubterraneous paſſage, within the biſhoprick of Ely.

This ſtory is ſaid to have been told in the winter after ſupper, in a caſtle, cum familia divitis ad focum, ut Potentibus moris eſt, RECENSENDIS ANTIQUIS GESTIS operam daret, when the family of a rich man, as is the cuſtom with the Great, was ſitting round the fire, and telling ANTIENT GESTS. Here is a traite of the private life of our anceſtors, who wanted the diverſions and engagements of modern times to relieve a tedious evening. Hence we learn, that when a company was aſſembled, if a [lxv] jugler or a minſtrel were not preſent, it was their cuſtom to entertain themſelves by relating or hearing a ſeries of adventures. Thus the general plan of the CANTERBURY TALES, which at firſt ſight ſeems to be merely an ingenious invention of the poet to ſerve a particular occaſion, is in great meaſure founded on a faſhion of antient life: and Chaucer, in ſuppoſing each of the pilgrims to tell a tale as they are travelling to Becket's ſhrine, only makes them adopt a mode of amuſement which was common to the converſations of his age. I do not deny, that Chaucer has ſhewn his addreſs in the uſe and application of this practice.

So habitual was this amuſement in the dark ages, that the graver ſort thought it unſafe for eccleſiaſtics, if the ſubjects admitted any degree of levity. The following curious injunction was deemed neceſſary, in a code of ſtatutes aſſigned to a college at Oxford in the year 1292. I give it in Engliſh. ‘"CH. xx.—The fellows ſhall all live honeſtly, as becomes Clerks.—They ſhall not rehearſe, ſing, nor willingly hear, BALLADS or TALES of LOVERS, which tend to laſciviouſneſs and idleneſs t."’ Yet the libraries of our monaſteries, as I have before obſerved, were filled with romances. In that of Croyland-abbey we find even archbiſhop Turpin's romance, placed on the ſame ſhelf with Robert Tumbeley on the Canticles, Roger Dymock againſt Wickliffe, and Thomas Waleys on the Pſalter. But their apology muſt be, that they thought this a true hiſtory: at leaſt that an archbiſhop could write nothing but truth. Not to mention that the general ſubject of thoſe books were the triumphs of chriſtianity over paganiſm u.

CHAP. clvi. Ovid, in his TROJAN WAR, is cited for the ſtory of Achilles diſguiſed in female apparel.

Gower has this hiſtory more at large in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS: but he refers to a Cronike, which ſeems to be the BOKE OF TROIE, mentioned at the end of the chapter w.

[lxvi] CHAP. clvii. The porter of a gate at Rome, who taxes all deformed perſons entering the city. This tale is in Alphonſus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE x.

CHAP. clviii. The diſcovery of the gigantic body of Pallas, ſon of Evander, at Rome, which exceeded in height the wa [...]s of the city, was uncorrupted, and accompanied with a burning lamp, two thouſand two hundred and forty years after the deſtruction of Troy. His wound was freſh, which was four feet and a half in length.

It is curious to obſerve, the romantic exaggerations of the claſſical ſtory.

CHAP. clix. Joſephus, in his book de Cauſis rerum naturalium, is quoted, for Noah's diſcovery of wine.

I know not any book of Joſephus on this ſubject. The firſt editor of the Latin Joſephus was Ludovicus Cendrata of Verona, who was ignorant that he was publiſhing a modern tranſlation. In the Dedication he complains, that the manuſcript was brought to him from Bononia ſo ill-written, that it was often impoſſible even to gueſs at Joſep [...]us's words. And in another place he ſays, Joſephus firſt wrote the ANTIQUITATES in Hebrew, and that he afterwards tranſlated them from Hebrew into Greek, and from Greek into Latin y.

The ſubſtance of this chapter is founded on a Rabbinical tradition, related by Fabricius z. When Noah planted the vine, Satan attended, and ſacrificed a ſheep, a lion, an ape, and a ſow. Theſe animals were to ſymboliſe the gradations of ebriety. When a man begins to drink, he is meek and ignorant as the lamb, then becomes bold as the lion, his courage is ſoon tranſformed into the fooliſhneſs of the ape, and at laſt he wallows in the mire like the ſow. Chaucer hence ſays in the MANCIPLES PROLOGUE, as the paſſage is juſtly corrected by Mr. Tyrwhitt,

[lxvii]
I trowe that ye have dronken wine of ape,
And that is when men plaien at a ſtrawe a.

In the old KALENDRIER DES BERGERS, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has remarked, Vin de ſinge, vin de mouton, vin de lyon, and vin de porceau, are mentioned, in their reſpective operations on the four temperaments of the human body.

CHAP. clxi. Of a hill in a foreſt of England, where if a hunter ſate after the chace, he was refreſhed by a miraculous perſon of a mild aſpect, bearing a capacious horn, adorned with gems and gold b, and filled with the moſt delicious liquor. This perſon inſtantly diſappeared after adminiſtering the draught; which was of ſo wonderful a nature, as to diſpel the moſt oppreſſive laſſitude, and to make the body more vigorous than before. At length, a hunter having drank of this horn, ungratefully refuſed to return it to the friendly apparition; and his maſter, the lord of the foreſt, leſt he ſhould appear to countenance ſo atrocious a theft, gave it to king Henry the elder c.

This ſtory, which ſeems imperfect, I ſuppoſe, is from Gervaſe of Tilbury.

CHAP. clxii. The ſame author is cited for an account of a hill in Caſtile, on which was a palace of demons.

Whenever our compiler quotes Gervaſe of Tilbury, the reference is to his OTIA IMPERIALIA: which is addreſſed to the emperor Otho the fourth, and contains his Commentarius de regnis Imperatorum Romanorum, his Mundi Deſcriptio, and his Tractatus de Mirabilibus Mundi. All theſe four have been improperly ſuppoſed to be ſeparate works.

CHAP. clxiii. King Alexander's ſon Celeſtinus.

CHAP. clxvii. The archer and the nightingale.

This fable is told in the Greek legend of BARLAAM AND [lxviii] JOSAPHAT, written by Johannes Damaſcenus d. And in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE e. It is alſo found in the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonſus.

CHAP. clxviii. Barlaam is cited for the ſtory of a man, who, flying from a unicorn, and falling into a deep and noiſom pit, hung on the boughs of a lofty tree which grew from the bottom. On looking downward, he ſaw a huge dragon twiſted round the trunk, and gaping to devour him. He alſo obſerved two mice gnawing at the roots of the tree, which began to totter. Four white vipers impregnated the air of the pit with their poiſonous breath. Looking about him, he diſcovered a ſtream of hony diſtilling from one of the branches of the tree, which he began eagerly to devour, without regarding his dangerous ſituation. The tree ſoon fell: he found himſelf ſtruggling in a loathſome quagmire, and was inſtantly ſwallowed by the dragon.

This is another of Barlaam's apologues in Damaſcenus's romance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT: and which has been adopted into the Lives of the Saints by Surius and others f. A MORALISATION is ſubjoined, exactly agreeing with that in the GESTA g.

CHAP. clxix. Trogus Pompeius is cited, for the wiſe legiſlation of Ligurius, a noble knight.

Our compiler here means Juſtin's abridgement of Trogus; which, to the irreparable injury of literature, ſoon deſtroyed its original. An early epitome of Livy would have been attended with the ſame unhappy conſequences.

CHAP. clxx. The dice player and ſaint Bernard.

This is from ſaint Bernard's legend h.

CHAP. clxxi. The two knights of Egypt and Baldach.

This is the ſtory of Boccace's popular novel of TITO AND [lxix] GISIPPO, and of Lydgate's T [...]le of two Marchants of Egypt and of Baldad, a manuſcript poem in the Britiſh Muſeum, and lately in the library of doctor Aſkew i. Peter Alphonſus is quoted for this ſtory; and it makes the ſecond Fable of his CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA.

I take the liberty of introducing a ſmall digreſſion here, which refers to two pieces of the poet laſt-mentioned, never enumerated among his works. In the year 1483, Caxton printed at Weſtminſter, ‘"The PYLGREMAGE [...] OF THE SOWLE tranſlated oute of Frensſhe into Englisſhe. Full of devout maters touching the ſowle, and many queſtyons aſſoyled to cauſe a man to lyve the better, &c. Emprinted at Weſtminſter by William Caxton the firſt yere of kynge Edward V. 1483."’ The French book, which is a viſion, and has ſome degree of imagination, is probably the PELERIN DE L'AME, of Guillaume prior of Chaulis k. This tranſlation was made from the French, with additions, in the year 1413. For in the colophon are theſe words. ‘"Here endeth the dreme of the PYLGREMAGE OF THE SOWLE tranſlated out of Frenſche into Englisſhe, with ſomwhat of Addicions, the yere of our lorde M. CCCC. and thyrteen, and endethe in the vigyle of ſeint Bartholomew."’ The tranſlator of this book, at leaſt the author of the Addicions, which altogether conſiſt of poetry in ſeven-lined ſtanzas, I believe to be Lydgate. Not to inſiſt on the correſpondence of time and ſtyle, I obſerve, that the thirty-fourth chapter of Lydgate's metrical LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY is literally repeated in the thirtyfourth chapter of this Tranſlation. This chapter is a digreſſion of five or ſix ſtanzas in praiſe of Chaucer; in which the writer feelingly laments the recent death of his maiſter Chaucer, poete of Britaine, who uſed to amende and correcte the wronge traces of my rude penne. No writer beſides, in Lydgate's own life-time, can be ſuppoſed, with any ſort of grace or propriety, to have mentioned thoſe perſonal aſſiſtances of Chaucer, in Lydgate's own [lxx] words. And if we ſuppoſe that the Tranſlation, or its Addicions, were written by Lydgate before he wrote his LIFE OF THE VIRGIN, the proof will be the ſame k.

Another piece probably written by Lydgate, yet never ſuppoſed or acknowledged to be of his compoſition, is a poem in the octave ſtanza, containing thirty-ſeven leaves in folio, and entitled LABEROUS AND MARVEYLOUS WORKE OF SAPIENCE. After a long debate between MERCY and TRUTH, and JUSTICE and PEACE, all the products of nature and of human knowledge are deſcribed, as they ſtand arranged in the palace and dominions of WISDOM. It is generally allowed to have been printed by Caxton: it has not the name of the printer, nor any date. Had it been written by Caxton, as I once haſtily ſuſpected, or by any of his cotemporaries, the name of Lydgate would have appeared in conjunction with thoſe of Gower and Chaucer, who are highly celebrated in the Prologue as erthely gods expert in poeſie: for theſe three writers were conſtantly joined in panegyric, at leaſt for a century, by their ſucceſſors, as the diſtinguiſhed triumvirate of Engliſh poetry. In the ſame Prologue, the author ſays he was commanded to write this poem by the king. No poet cotemporary with Caxton was of conſequence enough to receive ſuch a command: and we know that Lydgate compiled many of his works by the direction, or under the patronage, of king Henry the fifth. Lydgate was born in Suffolk: and our author from the circumſtance of having lived in a part of England not of a very poliſhed dialect, apologiſes for the rudeneſs of his language, ſo that he cannot delycately endyte. It is much in the ſtyle and manner of Lydgate: and I believe it to have been one of his early performances l.

CHAP. clxxii. A king of England has two knights, named [lxxi] Guido and Tirius. Guido having achieved many ſplendid exploits for the love of a beautiful lady, at length married her. Three days after his marriage he ſaw a viſion, which ſummoned him to engage in the holy war. At parting ſhe gave him a ring; ſaying, ‘"as often as you look on this ring, remember me."’ Soon after his departure ſhe had a ſon. After various adventures, in which his friend Tirius has a ſhare, at the end of ſeven years he returned to England in the habit of a pilgrim. Coming to his caſtle, he ſaw at the gate his lady ſitting, and diſtributing alms to a croud of poor people; ordering them all to pray for the return of her lord Guido from the holy land. She was on that day accompanied by her ſon a little boy, very beautiful, and richly apparelled; and who hearing his mother, as ſhe was diſtributing her alms, perpetually recommending Guido to their prayers, aſked, if that was his father? Among others, ſhe gave alms to her huſband Guido, not knowing him in the pilgrim's diſguiſe. Guido, ſeeing the little boy, took him in his arms, and kiſſed him: ſaying, ‘"O my ſweet ſon, may God give you grace to pleaſe him!"’ For this boldneſs he was reproved by the attendants. But the lady, finding him deſtitute and a ſtranger, aſſigned him a cottage in a neighbouring foreſt. Soon afterwards falling ſick, he ſaid to his ſervant, ‘"Carry this ring to your lady, and tell her, if ſhe deſires ever to ſee me again, to come hither without delay."’ The ſervant conveyed the ring; but before ſhe arrived, he was dead. She threw herſelf on his body, and exclaimed with tears, ‘"Where are now my alms which I daily gave for my lord? I ſaw you receive thoſe alms, but I knew you not.—You beheld, embraced, and kiſſed your own ſon, but did not diſcover yourſelf to him nor to me. What have I done, that I ſhall ſee you no more?"’ She then interred him magnificently.

The reader perceives this is the ſtory of Guido, or Guy, earl of Warwick; and probably this is the early outline of the life and death of that renowned champion.

Many romances were at firſt little more than legends of devotion, [lxxii] containing the pilgrimage of an old warrior. At length, as chivalry came more into vogue, and the ſtores of invention were increaſed, the youthful and active part of the pilgrim's life was alſo written, and a long ſeries of imaginary martial adventures was added, in which his religious was eclipſed by his heroic character, and the penitent was loſt in the knight-errant. That which was the principal ſubject of the ſhort and ſimple legend, became only the remote cataſtrophe of the voluminous romance. And hence by degrees it was almoſt an eſtabliſhed rule of every romance, for the knight to end his days in a hermitage. Cervantes has ridiculed this circumſtance with great pleaſantry, where Don Quixote holds a grave debate with Sancho, whether he ſhall turn ſaint or archbiſhop.

So reciprocal, or rather ſo convertible, was the pious and the military character, that even ſome of the apoſtles had their romance. In the ninth century, the chivalrous and fabling ſpirit of the Spaniards transformed ſaint James into a knight. They pretended that he appeared and fought with irreſiſtible fury, completely armed, and mounted on a ſtately white horſe, in moſt of their engagements with the Moors; and [...]cauſe, by his ſuperior proweſs in theſe bloody conflicts, he was ſuppoſed to have freed the Spaniards from paying the annual tribute of a hundred chriſtian virgins to their infidel enemies, they repreſented him as a profeſſed and powerful champion of diſtreſſed damſels. This apotheoſis of chivalry in the perſon of their own apoſtle, muſt have ever afterwards contributed to exaggerate the characteriſtical romantic heroiſm of the Spaniards, by which it was occaſioned; and to propagate through ſucceeding ages, a ſtronger veneration for that ſpecies of military enthuſiaſm, to which they were naturally devoted. It is certain, that in conſequence of theſe illuſtrious achievements in the Mooriſh wars, ſaint James was conſtituted patron of Spain; and became the founder of one of the moſt magnificent ſhrines, and of the moſt opulent order of knighthood, now exiſting in chriſtendom. [lxxiii] The Legend of this invincible apoſtle is inſerted in the Moſarabic liturgy.

CHAP. clxxiii. A king goes to a fair, carrying in his train, a maſter with one of his ſcholars, who expoſe ſix bundles, containing a ſyſtem of ethics, to ſale s.

Among the revenues accruing to the crown of England from the Fair of ſaint Botolph at Boſton in Lincolnſhire, within the HONOUR of RICHMOND, mention is made of the royal pavilion, or booth, which ſtood in the fair, about the year 1280. This fair was regularly frequented by merchants from the moſt capital trading towns of Normandy, Germany, Flanders, and other countries. ‘"Ibidem [in feria] ſunt quaedam domus quae dicuntur BOTHAE REGIAE, quae valent per annum xxviii, l. xiii, s. iiii, d. Ibidem ſunt quaedam domus quas MERCATORES DE YPRE tenent, quae valent per annum, xx, l. Et quaedam domus quas MERCATORES DE CADOMOt ET OSTOGANIOu tenent, xi, l. Et quaedam domus quas MERCATORES DE ANACOw tenent, xiii, l. vi, s. viii, d. Et quaedam domus quas MERCATORES DE COLONIA tenent, xxv, l. x, s x."’ The high rent of theſe lodges, is a proof that they were conſiderable edifices in point of ſize and accommodation.

CHAP. clxxiv. The fable of a ſerpent cheriſhed in a man's boſom y.

About the year 1470, a collection of Latin fables, in ſix books, diſtinguiſhed by the name of Eſop, was publiſhed in Germany. The three firſt books conſiſt of the ſixty anonymous elegiac fables, printed in Nevelet's collection, under the title of Anonymi Fabulae Aeſopicae, and tranſlated in 1503, by Wynkyn de Worde, with a few variations: under each is a fable in proſe on the ſame ſubject from ROMULUS, or the old proſe LATIN [lxxiv] ESOP, which was probably fabricated in the twelfth century. The fourth book has the remaining fables of Romulus in proſe only. The fifth, containing one or two fables only which were never called Eſop's, is taken from Alphonſus, the GESTA ROMANORUM, the CALILA U DAMNAH, and other obſcure ſources. The ſixth and laſt book has ſeventeen fables ex tranſlatione Rinucii, that is Rinucius, who tranſlated Planudes's life of Eſop, and ſixty-nine of his fables, from Greek into Latin, in the fifteenth century. This collection ſoon afterwards was circulated in a French verſion, which Caxton tranſlated into Engliſh.

In an antient general Chronicle, printed at Lubec in 1475, and entitled RUDIMENTUM NOVITIORUM y, a ſhort life of Eſop is introduced, together with twenty-nine of his fables. The writer ſays, ‘"Eſopus adelphus claruit tempore Cyri regis Perſarum.—Vir ingenioſus et prudens, qui confinxit fabulas el [...] gantes. Quas Romulus poſtmodum de greco tranſtulit in latinum, et filio ſuo Tibertino direxit, &c z."’ The whole of this paſſage about Eſop is tranſcribed from Vincent of Beauvais a.

CHAP. clxxvii. The feaſt of king Ahaſuerus and Eſther.

I have mentioned a metrical romance on this ſubject b. And I have before obſerved, that Thomas of Elmham, a chronicler, calls the coronation-feaſt of king Henry the ſixth, a ſecond feaſt of Ahaſuerus c. Hence alſo Chaucer's alluſion at the marriage of January and May, while they are at the ſolemnity of the wedding-dinner, which is very ſplendid.

Quene Eſther loked ner with ſoch an eye
On Aſſuere, ſo meke a loke hath ſhe d.

Froiſſart, an hiſtorian, who ſhares the merit with Philip de Comines of deſcribing every thing, gives this idea of the ſolemnity [lxxv] of a dinner of Chriſtmas-day, at which he was preſent, in the hall of the caſtle of Gaſton earl of Foiz at Ortez in Bevern, under the year 1388. At the upper or firſt table, he ſays, [...]ate four biſhops, then the earl, three viſcounts, and an Engliſh knight belonging to the duke of Lancaſter. At another table, five abbots, and two knights of Arragon. At another, many barons and knights of Gaſcony and Bigorre. At another, a great number of knights of Bevern. Four knights were the chief ſtewards of the hall, and the two baſtard brothers of the earl ſerved at the high table. ‘"The erles two ſonnes, ſir Yvan of Leſchell was ſewer, and ſir Gracyen bare his cuppe m. And there were many mynſtrelles, as well of his owne as of ſtraungers, and eche of them dyde their devoyre in their faculties. The ſame day the erle of Foiz gave to harauldes and mynſtrelles, the ſomme of fyve hundred frankes: and gave to the duke of Touraynes mynſtrelles, gownes of clothe [lxxvi] of golde furred with ermyns, valued at two hundred frankes. This dinner endured four houres n."’ Froiſſart, who was entertained in this caſtle for twelve weeks, thus deſcribes the earl's ordinary mode of ſupping. ‘"In this eſtate the erle of Foiz lyved. And at mydnyght whan he came out of his chambre into the halle to ſupper, he had ever before hym twelve torches brennyng, borne by twelve varlettes [valets] ſtandyng before his table all ſupper o: they gave a grete light, and the hall ever full of knightes and ſquyers; and many other tables dreſſed to ſuppe who wolde. Ther was none ſhulde ſpeke to hym at his table, but if he were called. His meate was lightlye wylde foule.—He had great pleſure in armony of inſtrumentes, he could do it right well hymſelfe: he wolde have ſonges ſonge before hym. He wolde gladlye ſe conſeytes [conceits] and fantaſies at his table. And when he had ſene it, then he wolde ſend it to the other tables.—There was ſene in his hall, chambre, and court, knyghtes and ſquyers of honour goyng up and downe, and talkyng of armes and of amours, &c p."’ After ſupper, Froiſſart was admitted to an audience with this magnificent earl; and uſed to read to him a book of ſonnets, rondeaus, and virelays, written by a gentyll duke of Luxemburgh q.

[lxxvii] In this age of curioſity, diſtinguiſhed for its love of hiſtorical anecdotes and the inveſtigation of antient manners, it is extraordinary that a new tranſlation ſhould not be made of Froiſſart from a collated and corrected original of the French. Froiſſart is commonly ranked with romances: but it ought to be remembered, that he is the hiſtorian of a romantic age, when thoſe manners which form the fantaſtic books of chivalry were actually practiſed. As he received his multifarious intelligence from ſuch a variety of vouchers, and of different nations, and almoſt always collected his knowledge of events from report, rather than from written or recorded evidence, his notices of perſons and places are frequently confuſed and unexact. Many of theſe petty incorrectneſſes are not, however, to be imputed to Froiſſart: and it may ſeem ſurpriſing, that there are not more inaccuracies of this kind in a voluminous chronicle, treating of the affairs of England, and abounding in Engliſh appellations, compoſed by a Frenchman, and printed in France. Whoever will take the pains to compare this author with the coeval records in Rymer, will find numerous inſtances of his truth and integrity, in relating the more public and important tranſactions of his own times. Why he ſhould not have been honoured with a modern edition at the Louvre, it is eaſy to conceive: the French have a national prejudice againſt a writer, who has been ſo much more complaiſant to England, than to their own country. Upon the whole, if Froiſſart ſhould be neglected by the hiſtorical reader for his want of preciſion and authenticity, he will at leaſt be valued by the philoſopher for his ſtriking pictures of life, drawn without reſerve or affectation from real nature with a faithful and free pencil, and by one who had the beſt opportunities of obſervation, who was welcome alike to the feudal caſtle or the royal palace, and who mingled in the buſtle and buſineſs of the world, at [...]hat very curious period of ſociety, when manners are very far refined, and yet retain a conſiderable tincture of barbariſm. But I cannot better expreſs my ſentiments on this ſubject, than in the words of Montaigne. ‘"J'ayme les Hiſtorien [...] [lxxviii] ou fort ſimples ou excellens. Les ſimples qui n'ont point de quoy y meſler quelque choſe du leur, et qui n'y apportent que le ſoin et la diligence de ramaſſer tout ce qui vient a leur notice, et d'enregiſtrer a la bonne foy toutes choſes ſans chois et ſans triage, nous laiſſent le jugement entier pour la conoiſſance de la verité. Tel eſt entre autres pour example le bon Froiſſard, qui a marchè en ſon enterpriſe d'une ſi franche naïfueté, qu'ayant fait une faute il ne craint aucunement de la reconnoiſtre et corriger en l'endroit, ou il en a eſté adverty: et qui nous repreſente la diverſité meſme des bruits qui couroient, et les differens rapports qu'on luy faiſot. C'eſt la matiere de l'Hiſtoire nuï et informe; chacun en peut faire ſon proffit autant qu'il a d'entendement r."’

CHAP. clxxviii. A king is deſirous to know how to rule himſelf and his kingdom. One of his wiſe men preſents an allegorical picture on the wall; from which, after much ſtudy, he acquires the deſired inſtruction.

In the original eaſtern apologue, perhaps this was a piece of tapeſtry. From the cultivation of the textorial arts among the orientals, came Darius's wonderful cloth abovementioned e; and the idea of the robe richly embroidered and emboſſed with ſtories of romance and other imageries, in the unprinted romance of EMARE, which forms of one the fineſt deſcriptions of the kind that I have ſeen in Gothic poetry, and which I ſhall therefore not ſcruple to give at large.

Soon after, yn a whyle,
The ryche kynge of Ceſyle f
To the Emperour gan wende g;
A ryche preſent wyth hym he browght,
A clothe that was wordylyeh wroght,
He welcomed hym as the hende i.
[lxxix] Syr Tergaunte, that nobyll knyȝt,
He preſented the emperour ryȝt,
And ſette hym on hys kne k,
Wyth that cloth rychyly dyght;
Full of ſtones thar hyt was pyght,
As thykke as hyt myght be:
Off topaze and of rubyes,
And other ſtones of myche prys,
That ſemely wer to ſe;
Of crapoutes and nakette,
As thykhe as they ſette,
For ſothe as y ſay the l.
The cloth was dyſplayed ſone:
The emperour loked thar upone
And myght hytm not ſe;
For glyſterynge of the ryche ſtone,
Redy ſyght had he non,
And ſayde, how may this be?
The emperour ſayde on hygh,
Sertes n, thys is a fayry o,
Or ellys a vanyte.
The kyng of Cyſyle anſwered than,
So ryche a jewellp ys ther non
In all cryſtyante.
The amerayles dowȝter of hethenes q
Made thys cloth, withouten lees r,
[lxxx] And wroȝte hyt all wyth pryde;
And portreyed hyt wyth grete honour,
With ryche golde and aſour s,
And ſtones on ylkat ſyde.
And as the ſtory telles yn honde,
The ſtones that on this cloth ſtonde
Sowȝtu they wer full wyde:
Seven wynter hyt was yn makynge,
Or hyt was browght to endynge,
In hert ys not to hyde.
In that on korner made was
YDOYNE and AMADAS w.
Wyth love that was ſo trewe;
For they loveden hemx wyth honour,
Portreyed they wer wyth trewe love flour
Of ſtones bryght of hewe.
Wyth carbunkull, and ſafere y,
Kalſydonys, and onyx ſo clere,
Sette in golde newe;
Deamondes and rubyes,
And othyr ſtones of mychyll pryſe,
And menſtrellys wyth her gle z.
In that othyr korner was dyght
TRYSTRAM and ISOWDE ſo bryȝt a,
That ſemely wer to ſe;
And for they loved hem ryght,
As full of ſtones ar they dyght,
As thykke as they may be.—
[lxxxi] In the thryddeb korner wyth grete honour
Was FLORYS and BLAUNCHEFLOUR c [...]
As love was hem betwene,
For they loved wyth honour,
Portrayed they wer with trewe loveflour,
With ſtones bryȝht and ſhene.—
In the fourth korner was oon
Of Babylone the ſowdans ſonn,
The amerayles dowȝter hym by:
For hys ſake the cloth was wrowght,
She loved hym in hert and thowght,
As teſtymoyneth thys ſtorye.
The fayr mayden her byforn,
Was portrayed an unikorn,
Wyth hys horn ſo hye;
Flowres and bryddes on ylka ſyde,
Wyth ſtones that wer ſowght wyde,
Stuffed wyth ymagerye.
When the cloth to ende was wrowght,
To the Sowdan ſoned hyt was browȝt,
That ſemely was of ſyȝte;
My fadyr was a nobyll man,
Of the Sowdan he hyt wan
Wyth mayſtrye and wyth myȝte e.

Chaucer ſays in the ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, that RICHESSE wore a robe of purple, which,

—Ful wele
With orfraies laid was everie dele,
[lxxxii] And purtraied in the ribaninges
Of DUKIS STORIES and of KINGES f.

And, in the original,

Portraictes y furent d'orfroys
Hyſtoryes d'empereurs et roys g.

CHAP. clxxix. Ceſarius, ſaint Baſil, the Goſpel, Boethius, and Ovid, are quoted to ſhew the deteſtable guilt of gluttony and ebriety.

Ceſarius, I ſuppoſe, is a Ciſtercian monk of the thirteenth century; who, beſide voluminous Lives, Chronicles, and Homilies, wrote twelve Books on the Miracles, Viſions, and Examples, of his own age. But there is another and an older monkiſh writer of the ſame name. In the Britiſh Muſeum, there is a narrative taken from Ceſarius, in old northern Engliſh, of a lady deceived by the fiends, or the devil, through the pride of rich clothing h.

CHAP. clxxx. Paul, the hiſtorian of the Longobards, is cited, for the fidelity of the knight Onulphus.

CHAP. clxxxi. The ſagacity of a lion.

This is the laſt chapter in the edition of 1488.

Manuſcript copies of the GESTA ROMANORUM are very numerous i. A proof of the popularity of the work. There are two in the Britiſh Muſeum; which, I think, contain, each one hundred and two chapters k. But although the printed copies have one hundred and eighty-one ſtories or chapters, there are many in the manuſcripts which do not appear in the editions. The ſtory of the CASKETTS, one of the principal incidents in Shakeſpeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE, is in one of the manuſcripts of the Muſeum l. This ſtory, however, is in [lxxxiii] an old Engliſh tranſlation printed by Wynkyn de Worde, without date; from which, or more probably from another edition printed in 1577, and entitled A RECORD OF ANCIENT HYSTORYES in Latin GESTA ROMANORUM, corrected and bettered, Shakeſpeare borrowed it. The ſtory of the BOND in the ſame play, which Shakeſpeare perhaps took from a tranſlation of the PECORONE of Ser Florentino Giovanni m, makes the fortyeighth chapter of the laſt-mentioned manuſcript n. Giovanni flouriſhed about the year 1378 o. The tale of Gower's FLORENT p, which reſembles Chaucer's WIFE OF BATH, occurs in ſome of the manuſcripts of this work. The ſame may be ſaid of a tale by Occleve, never printed; concerning the chaſte conſort of the emperor Gerelaus, who is abuſed by his ſteward, in his abſence. This is the firſt ſtanza. A larger ſpecimen ſhall appear in its place.

In Roman Actis writen is thus,
Somtime an emperour in the citee
Of Rome regned, clept Gerelaus,
Wich his noble aſtate and his dignite
Governed wiſely, and weddid had he
The douȝtir of the kyng of Vngrye,
A faire lady to every mannes ye.

At the end is the MORALISATION in proſe q.

[lxxxiv] I could point out other ſtories, beſide thoſe I have mentioned, for which Gower, Lydgate, Occleve, and the author of the DECAMERON, and of the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE, have been indebted to this admired repoſitory r. Chaucer, as I have before remarked, has taken one of his Canterbury tales from his collection; and it has been ſuppoſed that he alludes to it in the following couplet,

And ROMAIN GESTIS makin remembrance
Of many a veray trewe wife alſo f.

The plot alſo of the knight againſt Conſtance, who having killed Hermegild, puts the bloody knife into the hand of Conſtance while aſleep, and her adventure with the ſteward, in the MAN OF LAWES TALE, are alſo taken from that manuſcript chapter of this work, which I have juſt mentioned to have been verſified by Occleve. The former of theſe incidents is thus treated by Occleve.

She with this ȝonge childe in the chambre lay
Every niȝt where lay the earle and the counteſſe s,
Bitween whoſe beddis brente a lampe alway.
[lxxxv]
And he eſpied, by the lampes liȝt,
The bedde where that lay this emprice
With erlis douȝtur t, and as blyve riȝt,
This feendly man his purpoſe and malice
Thouȝteu for to fulfille and accomplice;
And ſo he dide, a longe knife out he drouȝe w,
And ther with alle the maiden childe he ſlouȝe x.
Hir throte with the knyfe on two he kutte
And as this emprice lay ſleeping;
Into her honde this bloody knyfe he putte,
Ffor men ſhoulde have noon othir deemyng y
But ſhe had gilty ben of this murdring:
And whanne that he had wrouȝte this curſidneſſe,
Anoone oute of the chambre he gan hem dreſſe z.
The counteſs after hir ſlepe awakid
And to the empereſſe bedde gan caſte hir look
And ſya the bloody knyfe in hir hande nakid,
And, for the feare ſhe tremblid and quook.—

She awakens the earl, who awakens the empreſs.

And hir awook, and thus to hir he cried,
"Woman, what is that, that in thin hand I ſee?
"What haſt thou doon, woman, for him that diede [...]
"What wickid ſpirit hath travaylid the?"
And as ſone as that adawed was ſhe,
The knyfe fel oute of hir hand in the bedde,
And ſhe bihilde the cloothis al forbledde,
[lxxxvi] And the childe dead, "Allas, ſhe cried, allas,
"How may this be, god woot alle I note howe,
"I am not privy to hir hevy caas,
"The gilte is not myne, I the childe not ſlowe b."
To which ſpake the counteſſe, "What ſaiſt thou?
"Excuſe the not, thou maiſt not ſaie nay,
"The knyfe all bloody in thin hand I ſay c."d

This ſtory, but with ſome variation of circumſtances, is told in the HISTORICAL MIRROUR of Vincent of Beauvais e.

But I haſten to point out the writer of the GESTA ROMANORUM, who has hitherto remained unknown to the moſt diligent enquirers in Gothic literature. He is Petrus Berchorius, or Pierre Bercheur, a native of Poitou, and who died Prior of the Benedictine convent of ſaint Eloi at Paris, in the year 1362.

For the knowledge of this very curious circumſtance, I am obliged to Salomon Glaſſius, a celebrated theologiſt of SaxeGotha, in his PHILOLOGIA SACRA f, written about the year 1623 g. In his chapter DE ALLEGORIIS FABULARUM, he cenſures thoſe writers who affect to interpret allegorically, not only texts of ſcripture, but alſo poetical fables and profane hiſtories, which they arbitrarily apply to the explication or confirmation of the myſteries of chriſtianity. He adds, ‘"Hoc in ſtudio excelluit quidam Petrus Berchorius, Pictavienſis, ordinis divi Benedicti: qui, peculiari libro, GESTA ROMANORUM, necnon Legendas Patrum, aliaſque aniles fabulas, allegorice ac myſtice expoſuit h."’ That is, ‘"In this art excelled one Peter Berchorius, a Benedictine; who, in a certain peculiar [lxxxvii] book, has expounded, myſtically and allegorically, the Roman GESTS, legends of ſaints, and other idle tales i."’ He then quotes for an example, the whole one hundred and ſeventieth chapter of the GESTA ROMANORUM, containing the ſtory of ſaint Bernard and the Dice-player, together with its moraliſation.

Berchorius was one of the moſt learned divines of his country, and a voluminous writer. His three grand printed works are, I. REDUCTORIUM MORALE ſuper totam Bibliam, in twentyfour books. II. REPERTORIUM [or Reductorium] MORALE, in fourteen books k. III. DICTIONARIUM MORALE. Whoever ſhall have the patience or the curioſity to turn over a few pages of this immenſe treaſure of multifarious erudition, will ſoon ſee this aſſertion of Glaſſius abundantly verified; and will be convinced beyond a doubt, from a general coincidence of plan, manner, method, and execution, that the author of theſe volumes, and of the GESTA ROMANORUM, muſt be one and the ſame. The REDUCTORIUM SUPER BIBLIAMl contains all the ſtories and incidents in the Bible, reduced into allegories m. The REPERTORIUM MORALE is a dictionary of things, perſons, and places; all which are ſuppoſed to be myſtical, and which are therefore explained in their moral or practical ſenſe. The DICTIONARIUM MORALE is in two parts, and ſeems principally deſigned to be a moral repertory for ſtudents in theology.

[lxxxviii] The moraliſation, or moral explanation, which is added to every ar [...]cle, is commonly prefaced, as in the GESTA, with the introductory addreſs of CARISSIMI. In the colophon, the GESTA is called Ex geſtis Romanorum RECOLLECTORIUM: a word much of a piece with his other titles of REPERTORIUM and REDUCTORIUM. Four of the ſtories occurring in the GESTA, The Diſcovery of the gigantic body of Pallas n, The ſubterraneous golden palace o, The adventures of the Engliſh knight in the biſhoprick of Ely p, and The miraculous horn q, are related in the fourteenth book of the REPERTORIUM MORALE. For the two laſt of theſe he quotes Gervaſe of Tilbury, as in his GESTA r. As a further proof of his allegoriſing genius I muſt add, that he moraliſed all the ſtories in Ovid's Metamorphoſis, in a work entitled, Commentarius MORALIS, five ALLEGORIAE in Libros quindecim Ovidii Metamorphoſeon f, and now remaining in manuſcript in the library of the monaſtery of ſaint Germains s. He ſeems to have been ſtrongly impreſſed with whatever related to the Roman affairs, and to have thought their hiſtory more intereſting than that of any other people. This appears from the following paſſage, which I tranſlate from the article ROMA, in his DICTIONARIUM MORALE, and which will alſo contribute to throw ſome other lights on this ſubject. ‘"How many remarkable facts might be here collected concerning the virtues and vices of the Romans, did my deſign permit me to drop Moralities, and to enter upon an hiſtorical detail! For [lxxxix] that moſt excellent hiſtorian Livy, unequalled for the dignity, brevity, and difficulty of his ſtyle, (whoſe eloquence is ſo highly extolled by ſaint Jerome, and whom I, however unworthy, have tranſlated from Latin into French with great labour t, at the requeſt of John the moſt famous king of France,) records ſo many wonderful things of the prudence, fortitude, fidelity, and friendſhip, of the Roman people; as alſo of their quarrels, envy, pride, avarice, and other vices, which are indeed allied to virtues, and are ſuch, to ſay the truth, as I never remember to have heard of in any nation beſides. But becauſe I do not mean to treat of hiſtorical affairs in the preſent work, the matter of which is entirely moral, I refer the hiſtorical reader to Livy himſelf, to Trogus Pompeius, Juſtin, Florus, and Oroſius, who have all written hiſtories of Rome; as alſo to Innocent, who in his book on the Miſeries of human nature u, ſpeaks largely of the vices of the Romans w."’ In the mean time we muſt remember, that at this particular period, the Roman hiſtory had become the grand object of the public taſte in France. The king himſelf, as we have juſt ſeen, recommended a tranſlation of Livy. French tranſlations alſo of Salluſt, Ceſar, and Lucan, were now circulated. A Latin hiſtorical compilation called ROMULEON was now juſt publiſhed by a gentleman of France, which was ſoon afterwards tranſlated into French. A collection of the GESTA ROMANORUM was therefore a popular ſubject, at leaſt it produced a popular title, and was dictated by the faſhion of the times.

I have here mentioned all Berchorius's works, except his Comment on a Proſody called Doctrinale metricum, which was [xc] uſed as a ſchool-book in France, till Deſpauterius's manual on that ſubject appeared x. Some biographers mention his TROPOLOGIA, his COSMOGRAPHIA, and his BREVIARIUM. But the TROPOLOGIAy is nothing more than his REDUCTORIUM on the Bible; and probably the BREVLARIUM is the ſame z. The COSMOGRAPHIA ſeems to be the fourteenth book of his REPERTORIUM MORALE; which treats of the wonders of various countries, and is chiefly taken from Solinus and Gervaſe of Tilbury a. He is ſaid by the biographers to have written other ſmaller pieces, which they have not named or deſcribed. Among theſe perhaps is comprehended the GESTA: which we may conceive to have been thus undiſtinguiſhed, either as having been neglected or proſcribed by graver writers, or rather as having been probably diſclaimed by its author, who ſaw it at length in the light of a juvenile performance, abounding in fantaſtic and unedifying narrations, which he judged unſuitable to his character, ſtudies, and ſtation b. Baſilius Johannes Heroldus, however, mentions Berchorius as the author of a CHRONICON, a word which may imply, though not with exact propriety, his GESTA ROMANORUM. It is in the Epiſtle dedicatory of his edition of the Chronicles of Marianus Scotus, and Martinus Polonus, addreſſed to our queen Eliſabeth; in which he promiſes to publiſh many Latin CHRONICA, that is, thoſe of Godfrey of Viterbo, Hugo Floriacenſis, Conrade Engelhus, Hermannus Edituus, Lanfranc, Ivo, Robert of Saint Victor, PETER BERCHORIUS, and of many others, qui de TEMPORIBUS ſcripſerunt, who have written of times c. Paulus Langius, [xci] who wrote about the year 1400, in his enumeration of Berchorius's writings, ſays nothing of this compilation d.

Had other authentic evidences been wanting, we are ſure of the age in which Berchorius flouriſhed, from the circumſtance of his being employed to tranſlate Livy by John king of France, who acceded to the throne in the year 1350, and died in the year 1364. That Berchorius died, and probably an old man, in the year 1362, we learn from his epitaph in the monaſtery of ſaint Eloy at Paris, which is recited by Sweertius, and on other accounts deſerves a place here.

HIC JACET VENERABILIS MAGNAE PROFUNDAEQUE SCIENTIAE, ADMIRABILIS ET SUBTILIS ELOQUENTIAE, F. PETRUS BERCOTH e, PRIOR HUJUS PRIORATUS. QUI FUIT ORIUNDUS DE VILLA S. PETRI DE ITINEREf IN EPISCOPATU MAILLIZANCENSIg IN PICTAVIA. QUI TEMPORE SUO FECIT OPERA SUA SOLEMNIA, SCILICET DICTIONARIUM, REDUCTORIUM, BREVIATORIUM, DESCRIPTIONEM MUNDI h, TRANSLATIONEM CUJUSDAM LIBRI VETUTISSIMIi DE LATINO IN GALLICUM, AD PRAECEPTUM EXCELLENTISS. JOANNIS REGIS FRANCORUM. QUI OBIIT ANNO M. CCC. LXII k.

[xcii] Berchorius was conſtituted grammatical preceptor to the novices of the Benedictine Congregation, or monaſtery, at Clugni, in the year 1340 l. At which time he drew up his Notes on the Proſody, and his Commentary on Ovid, for the uſe of his ſcholars. About the ſame time, and with a view of rendering their exerciſes in Latinity more agreeable and eaſy by an entertaining Latin ſtory-book, yet reſoluble into leſſons of religion, he probably compiled the GESTA: perpetually addreſſing the application of every tale to his young audience, by the paternal and affectionate appellation of CARISSIMI m. There was therefore time enough for the GESTA to become a faſhionable book of tales, before Boccace publiſhed his DECAMERON. The action of the DECAMERON being ſuppoſed in 1348, the year of the great peſtilence, we may ſafely conjecture, that Boccace did not begin his work till after that period. An exact and ingenious critic has proved, that it was not finiſhed till the year 1358 n.

I have juſt obſerved, that Berchorius probably compiled this work for the uſe of his grammatical pupils. Were there not many good reaſons for that ſuppoſition, I ſhould be induced to think, that it might have been intended as a book of ſtories for the purpoſe of preachers. I have already given inſtances, that it was antiently faſhionable for preachers to enforce the ſeveral moral duties by applying fables, or exemplary narratives: and, in the preſent caſe, the perpetual recurrence of the addreſs of CARISSIMI might be brought in favour of this hypotheſis. But I will here ſuggeſt an additional reaſon. Soon after the age of [xciii] Berchorius, a ſimilar collection of ſtories, of the ſame caſt, was compiled, though not exactly in the ſame form, profeſſedly deſigned for ſermon writers, and by one who was himſelf an eminent preacher: for, rather before the year 1480, a Latin volume was printed in Germany, written by John Herolt a Dominican friar of Baſil, better known by the adopted and humble appellation of DISCIPULUS, and who flouriſhed about the year 1418. It conſiſts of three parts. The firſt is entitled ‘"Incipiunt Sermones pernotabiles DISCIPULI de Sanctis per anni circulum."’ That is, a ſet of Sermons on the Saints of the whole year. The ſecond part, and with which I am now chiefly concerned, is a PROMPTUARY, or ample repoſitory, of examples for compoſing ſermons: and in the Prologue to this part the author ſays, that ſaint Dominic always abundabat exemplis in his diſcourſes, and that he conſtantly practiced this popular mode of edification. This part contains a variety of little hiſtories. Among others, are the following. Chaucer's Friar's tale. Ariſtotle falling in love with a queen, who compels him to permit her to ride upon his back o. The boy who was kept in a dark cave till he was twelve years of age; and who being carried abroad, and preſented with many ſtriking objects, preferred a woman to all he had ſeen p. A boy educated in a deſert is brought into a city, where he ſees a woman whom he is taught to call a fine bird, under the name of a gooſe: and on his return into the deſert, deſires his ſpiritual father to kill him a gooſe for his dinner q. Theſe two laſt ſtories Boccace has worked into one. The old woman and her little dog r. This, as we have ſeen, is in the GESTA ROMANORUM s. The ſon who will not ſhoot at his father's dead body t. I give theſe as ſpecimens of the collection. The third part contains [xciv] ſtories for ſermon writers, conſiſting only of ſelect miracles of the Virgin Mary. The firſt of theſe is the tale of the chaſt [...] Roman empreſs, occurring in the Harleian manuſcripts of the GESTA, and verſified by Occleve; yet with ſome variation t. This third part is cloſed with theſe words, which alſo end the volume. ‘"Explicit tabula Exemplorum in tractatulo de Exemplis glorioſe Virginis Marie contentorum."’ I quote from the firſt edition, which is a clumſy folio in a rude Gothic letter, in two volumes; and without pagings, ſignatures, or initials. The place and year are alſo wanting; but it was certainly printed before 1480 u, and probably at Nuremburgh. The ſame author alſo wrote a ſet of ſermons called Sermones de tempore w. In theſe I findx Alphonſus's ſtory, which in the GESTA ROMANORUM is the tale of the two knights of Egypt and Baldach y; and, in Boccace's DECAMERON, the hiſtory of TITO and GESIPPO: Parnell's HERMIT z: and the apologue of the king's brother who had heard the trumpet of Death a: both which laſt are alſo in the GESTA b. Such are the revolutions of taſte, and ſo capricious the modes of compoſition, that a Latin homily-book of a German monk in the fifteenth century, ſhould exhibit outlines of the tales of Boccace, Chaucer, and Parnell [...]

It may not be thought impertinent to cloſe this diſcourſe with a remark on the MORALISATIONS, ſubjoined to the ſtories of the GESTA ROMANORUM. This was an age of viſion and myſtery: and every work was believed to contain a double, or [xcv] ſecondary, meaning. Nothing eſcaped this eccentric ſpirit of refinement and abſtraction: and, together with the bible, as we have ſeen, not only the general hiſtory of antient times was explained allegorically, but even the poetical fictions of the claſſics were made to ſignify the great truths of religion, with a degree of boldneſs, and a want of a diſcrimination, which in another age would have acquired the character of the moſt profane levity, if not of abſolute impiety, and can only be defended from the ſimplicity of the ſtate of knowledge which then prevailed.

Thus, God creating man of clay, animated with the vital principle of reſpiration, was the ſtory of Prometheus, wh [...] formed a man of ſimilar materials, to which he communicated life by fire ſtolen from heaven. Chriſt twice born, of his father God and of his mother Mary, was prefigured by Bacchus, who was firſt born of Semele, and afterwards of Jupiter. And as Minerva ſprung from the brain of Jupiter, ſo Chriſt proceeded from God without a mother. Chriſt born of the Virgin Mary was expreſſed in the fable of Danae ſhut within a tower, through the covering of which Jupiter deſcended in a ſhower of gold, and begot Perſeus. Acteon, killed by his own hounds, was a type of the perſecution and death of our Saviour. The poet Lycophron relates, that Hercules in returning from the adventure of the Golden Fleece was ſhipwrecked; and that being devoured by a monſtrous fiſh, he was diſgorged alive on the ſhore after three days. Here was an obvious ſymbol of Chriſt's reſurrection. John Waleys, an Engliſh Fr [...]nciſcan of the thirteenth century, in his moral expoſition of Ovid's Metamorphoſes c, affords many other inſtances equally ridiculous; and who forgot that he was deſcribing a more heterrogeneous chaos, than that which makes ſo conſpicuous a figure in his author's exordium, and which combines, amid the monſtrous and indigeſted aggregate of its unnatural aſſociations,

—Sine pondere habentia pondus d.

[xcvi] At length, compoſitions profeſſedly allegorical, with which that age abounded, were reſolved into allegories for which they were never intended. In the famous ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, written about the year 1310, the poet couches the difficulties of an ardent lover in attaining the object of his paſſion, under the allegory of a Roſe, which is gathered in a delicious but almoſt inacceſſible garden. The theologiſts proved this roſe to be the white roſe of Jericho, the new Jeruſalem, a ſtate of grace, divine wiſdom, the holy Virgin, or eternal beatitude, at none of which obſtinate heretics can ever arrive. The chemiſts pretended, that it was the philoſopher's ſtone; the civilians, that it was the moſt conſummate point of equitable deciſion; and the phyſicians, that it was an infallible panacea. In a word, other profeſſions, in the moſt elaborate commentaries, explained away the lover's roſe into the myſteries of their own reſpective ſcience. In conformity to this practice, Taſſo allegoriſed his own poem: and a flimſy ſtructure of morality was raiſed on the chimerical conceptions of Arioſto's ORLANDO. In the year 1577, a tranſlation of a part of Amadis de Gaule appeared in France; with a learned preface, developing the valuable ſtores of profound inſtruction, concealed under the naked letter of the old romances, which were diſcernible only to the intelligent, and totally unperceived by common readers; who, inſtead of plucking the fruit, were obliged to reſt contented with le ſimple FLEUR de la Lecture litterale. Even Spenſer, at a later period, could not indulge his native impulſe to deſcriptions of chivalry, without framing ſuch a ſtory, as conveyed, under the dark conceit of ideal champions, a ſet of hiſtoric tranſactions, and an exemplification of the nature of the twelve moral virtues. He preſents his fantaſtic queen with a rich romantic mirrour, which ſhewed the wonderous achievements of her magnificent anceſtry.

And thou, O faireſt princeſs under ſky,
In this fayre mirrour maiſt behold thy face,
[xcvii] And thine own realmes in Lond of Faery,
And in this antique image thy great anceſtry c.

It was not, however, ſolely from an unmeaning and a wanton ſpirit of refinement, that the faſhion of reſolving every thing into allegory ſo univerſally prevailed. The ſame apology may be offered for the cabaliſtical interpreters, both of the claſſics and of the old romances. The former not willing that thoſe books ſhould be quite exploded which contained the antient mythology, laboured to reconcile the apparent abſurdities of the pagan ſyſtem to the chriſtian myſteries, by demonſtrating a figurative reſemblance. The latter, as true learning began to dawn, with a view of ſupporting for a while the expiring credit of giants and magicians, were compelled to palliate thoſe monſtrous incredibilities, by a bold attempt to unravel the myſtic web which had been wove by fairy hands, and by ſhewing that truth was hid under the gorgeous veil of Gothic invention.

[]THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY.

SECT. XIX.

OUR communications and intercourſe with Italy, which began to prevail about the beginning of the ſixteenth century, not only introduced the ſtudies of claſſical literature into England, but gave a new turn to our vernacular poetry. At this period, Petrarch ſtill continued the moſt favorite poet of the Italians; and had eſtabliſhed a manner, which was univerſally adopted and imitated by his ingenious countrymen. In the mean time, the courts both of France and England were diſtinguiſhed for their elegance. Francis the firſt had changed the ſtate of letters in France, by mixing gallantry with learning, and by admitting the ladies to his court in company with the eccleſiaſtics a. His carouſals were celebrated with a brilliancy and a feſtivity unknown to the ceremonious ſhews of former princes. Henry the eighth vied with Francis in theſe gaieties. His ambition, which could not bear a rival even in diverſions, [2] was ſeconded by liberality of diſpoſition and a love of oſtentation. For Henry, with many boiſterous qualities was magnificent and affable. Had he never murthered his wives, his politeneſs to the fair ſex would remain unimpeached. His martial ſports were unincumbered by the barbaric pomp of the antient chivalry, and ſoftened by the growing habits of more rational manners. He was attached to thoſe ſpectacles and public amuſements, in which beauty aſſumed a principal ſhare; and his frequent maſques and tournaments encouraged a high ſpirit of romantic courteſy. Poetry was the natural accompaniment of theſe refinements. Henry himſelf was a leader and a chief character in theſe pageantries, and at the ſame time a reader and a writer of verſes. The language and the manners of Italy were eſteemed and ſtudied. The ſonnets of Petrarch were the great models of compoſition. They entered into the genius of the faſhionable manners: and in a court of ſuch a complexion, Petrach of courſe became the popular poet. Henry Howard earl Surrey, with a miſtreſs perhaps as beautiful as Laura, and at leaſt with Petrarch's paſſion if not his taſte, led the way to great improvements in Engliſh poetry, by a happy imitation of Petrarch, and other Italian poets, who had been moſt ſucceſsful in painting the anxieties of love with pathos and propriety.

Lord Surrey's life throws ſo much light on the character and ſubjects of his poetry, that it is almoſt impoſſible to conſider the one, without exhibiting a few anecdotes of the other. He was the ſon and grandſon of two lords treaſurers dukes of Norfolk; and in his early childhood diſcovered the moſt promiſing marks of lively parts and an active mind.

While a boy, he was habituated to the modes of a court at Windſor-caſtle; where he reſided, yet under the care of proper inſtructors, in the quality of a companion to Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond, a natural ſon of king Henry the eighth, and of the higheſt expectations.

This young nobleman, who alſo bore other titles and honours, was the child of Henry's affection: not ſo much on account of [3] hi [...] hopeful abilities, as for a reaſon inſinuated by lord Herbert, and at which thoſe who know Henry's hiſtory and character will not be ſurpriſed, becauſe he equally and ſtrongly reſembled both his father and mother.

A friendſhip of the cloſeſt kind commencing between theſe two illuſtrious youths, about the year 1530, they were both removed to cardinal Wolſey's college at Oxford, then univerſally frequented, as well for the excellence as the novelty of its inſtitution; for it was one of the firſt ſeminaries of an Engliſh univerſity, that profeſſed to explode the pedantries of the old barbarous philoſophy, and to cultivate the graces of polite literature. Two years afterwards, for the purpoſe of acquiring every accompliſhment of an elegant education, the earl accompanied his noble friend and fellow-pupil into France, where they received king Henry, on his arrival at Calais to viſit Francis the firſt, with a moſt magnificent retinue. The frienſhip of theſe two young noblemen was ſoon ſtrengthened by a new tie; for Richmond married the lady Mary Howard, Surrey's ſiſter. Richmond, however, appears to have died in the year 1536, about the age of ſeventeen, having never cohabited with his wife b. It was long, before Surrey forgot the untimely loſs of this amiable youth, the friend and aſſociate of his childhood, and who nearly reſembled himſelf in genius, refinement of manners, and liberal acquiſitions.

The FAIR GERALDINE, the general object of lord Surrey's paſſionate ſonnets, is commonly ſaid to have lived at Florence, and to have been of the family of the Gera [...]i of that city. This is a miſtake, yet not entirely without grounds, propagated by an eaſy miſapprehenſion of an expreſſion in one of our poet's odes, and a paſſage in Drayton's heroic epiſtles. She was undoubtedly one of the daughters of Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare. But it will be neceſſary to tranſcribe what our author himſelf has ſaid of this celebrated lady. The hiſtory of one [4] who cauſed ſo memorable and ſo poetical a paſſion naturally excites curioſity, and will juſtify an inveſtigation, which, on many a ſimilar occaſion, would properly be cenſured as frivolous and impertinent.

From Tuſkane came my ladies worthy race;
Faire Florence was ſumtyme herc auncient ſeat:
The weſterne yle, whoſe pleſant ſhore doth face
Wild Camber's cliffs, did gyve her lively heate:
Foſtred ſhe was with milke of Iriſhe breſt;
Her ſire an earle: her dame of princes blood:
From tender yeres in Britain ſhe doth reſt
With kinges child, where ſhe taſteth coſtly food.
Hunſdon did firſt preſent her to mine yien:
Bright is her hewe, and Geraldine ſhe hight.
Hampton me taught to wiſh her firſt mine,
And Windſor alas! doth chaſe me from her ſight d.

Theſe notices, it muſt be confeſſed, are obſcure and indirect. But a late elegant biographer has, with the moſt happy ſagacity, ſolved the difficulties of this little enigmatical ode, which had been before either neglected and unattempted as inexplicable, or rendered [...] more unintelligible by falſe conjectures. I readily adopt Mr. Walpole's key to the genealogy of the matchleſs Geraldine e.

Her poetical appellation is almoſt her real name. Gerald Fitzgerald, abovementioned, earl of Kildare in the reign of Henry the eighth, married a ſecond wife, Margaret daughter of Thomas Gray, marquis of Dorſet: by whom he had three daughters, Margaret, Eliſabeth, and Cicely. Margaret was born deaf and dumb; and a lady who could neither hear nor anſwer her lover, and who wanted the means of contributing to the moſt endearing reciprocations, can hardly be ſuppoſed to have [5] been the cauſe of any vehement effuſions of amorous panegyric. We may therefore ſafely pronounce Eliſabeth or Cicely to have been Surrey's favorite. It was probably Eliſabeth, as ſhe ſeems always to have lived in England.

Every circumſtance of the ſonnet evidently coincides with this ſtate of the caſe. But, to begin with the firſt line, it will naturally be aſked, what was lady Eliſabeth Gerald's connection with Tuſcany? The beginnings of noble families, like thoſe of nations, often owe ſomewhat to fictitious embelliſhment: and our genealogiſts uniformly aſſert, that the family of Fitzgerald derives its origin from Otho, a deſcendant of the dukes of Tuſcany: that they migrated into England under the reign of king Alfred, whoſe annals are luckily too ſcanty to contradict ſuch an account, and were from England ſpeedily tranſplanted into Ireland. Her father was an Iriſh earl, reſident at his earldom of Kildare; and ſhe was conſequently born and nurſed in Ireland. Her mother, adds the ſonnet, was of princely parentage. Here is a no leſs exact correſpondence with the line of the lady's pedigree: for Thomas, marquis of Dorſet, was ſon of queen Eliſabeth Gray, daughter of the ducheſs of Bedford, deſcended from the royal houſe of Luxemburgh. The poet acquaints us, that he firſt ſaw her at Hunſdon. This notice, which ſeems of an indifferent nature and quite extraneous to the queſtion, abundantly corroborates our conjecture. Hundſdon-houſe in Hertfordſhire was a new palace built by Henry the eighth, and chiefly for the purpoſe of educating his children. The lady Eliſabeth Fitzgerald was ſecond couſin to Henry's daughters the princeſſes Mary and Eliſabeth, who were both educated at Hunſdon f. At this royal nurſery ſhe therefore taſted of coſtly foode with kinges childe, that is, lived while a girl with the young princeſſes her relations, as a companion in their education. At the ſame time, and on the ſame plan, our earl of Surrey reſided at Windſor-caſtle, as I have already remarked, with the young [6] duke of Richmond. It is natural to ſuppoſe, that he ſometimes viſited the princeſſes at Hunſdon, in company with the young duke their brother, where he muſt have alſo ſeen the fair Geraldine: yet by the nature of his ſituation at Windſor, which implied a degree of confinement, he was hindered from viſiting her at Hunſdon ſo often as he wiſhed. He therefore pathetically laments,

Windſor, alas, doth chaſe me from her ſight!

But although the earl firſt beheld this lady at the palace of Hunſdon, yet, as we further learn from the ſonnet, he was firſt ſtruck with her incomparable beauty, and his paſſion commenced, at Hampton-court.

Hampton me taught to wiſh her firſt for mine!

That is, and perhaps on occaſion of ſome ſplendid maſque or carouſal, when the lady Eliſabeth Fitzgerald, with the princeſſes Mary and Eliſabeth, and their brother Richmond, with the young lord Surrey, were invited by the king to Hampton-court.

In the mean time we muſt remember, that the lord Leonard Gray, uncle to lord Gerald Fitzgerald, was deputy of Ireland for the young duke of Richmond: a connection, excluſive of all that has been ſaid, which would alone account for Surrey's acquaintance at leaſt with this lady. It is alſo a reaſon, to ſay no more, why the earl ſhould have regarded her from the firſt with a particular attention, which afterwards grew into the moſt paſſionate attachment. She is ſuppoſed to have been Maid of honour to queen Catharine. But there are three of Henry's queens of that name. For obvious reaſons, however, we may venture to ſay, that queen Catharine Howard was Geraldine's queen.

It is not preciſely known at what period the earl of Surrey began his travels. They have the air of a romance. He made the tour of Europe in the true ſpirit of chivalry, and with the [7] ideas of an Amadis; proclaiming the unparalleled charms of his miſtreſs, and prepared to defend the cauſe of her beauty with the weapons of knight-errantry. Nor was this adventurous journey performed without the intervention of an enchanter. The firſt city in Italy which he propoſed to viſit was Florence, the capital of Tuſcany, and the original ſeat of the anceſtors of his Geraldine. In his way thither, he paſſed a few days at the emperor's court; where he became acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa, a celebrated adept in natural magic. This viſionary philoſopher ſhewed our hero, in a mirror of glaſs, a living image of Geraldine, reclining on a couch, ſick, and reading one of his moſt tender ſonnets by a waxen taper g. His imagination, which wanted not the flattering repreſentations and artificial incentives of illuſion, was heated anew by this intereſting and affecting ſpectacle. Inflamed with every enthuſiaſm of the moſt romantic paſſion, he haſtened to Florence: and, on his arrival, immediately publiſhed a defiance againſt any perſon who could handle a lance and was in love, whether Chriſtian, Jew, Turk, Saracen, or Canibal, who ſhould preſume to diſpute the ſuperiority of Geraldine's beauty. As the lady was pretended to be of Tuſcan extraction, the pride of the Florentines was flattered on this occaſion: and the grand duke of Tuſcany permitted a general and unmoleſted ingreſs into his dominions of the combatants of all countries, till this important trial ſhould be decided. The challenge was accepted, and the earl victorious h. The ſhield which he preſented to the duke before the tournament began, is exhibited in Vertue's valuable plate of the Arundel family, and was actually in the poſſeſſion of the late duke of Norfolk i.

Theſe heroic vanities did not, however, ſo totally engroſs the time which Surrey ſpent in Italy, as to alienate his mind from letters: he ſtudied with the greateſt ſucceſs a critical knowledge [8] of the Italian tongue, and, that he might give new luſtre to the name of Geraldine, attained a juſt taſte for the peculiar graces of the Italian poetry.

He was recalled to England for ſome idle reaſon by the king, much ſooner than he expected: and he returned home, the moſt elegant traveller, the moſt polite lover, the moſt learned nobleman, and the moſt accompliſhed gentleman, of his age. Dexterity in tilting, and gracefulneſs in managing a horſe under arms, were excellencies now viewed with a critical eye, and practiſed with a high degree of emulation. In 1540, at a tournament held in the preſence of the court at Weſtminſter, and in which the principal of the nobility were engaged, Surrey was diſtinguiſhed above the reſt for his addreſs in the uſe and exerciſe of arms. But his martial ſkill was not ſolely diſplayed in the parade and oſtentation of theſe domeſtic combats. In 1542, he marched into Scotland, as a chief commander in his father's army; and was conſpicuous for his conduct and bravery at the memorable battle of Flodden-field, where James the fourth of Scotland was killed. The next year, we find the career of his victories impeded by an obſtacle which no valour could reſiſt. The cenſures of the church have humiliated the greateſt heroes: and he was impriſoned in Windſor-caſtle for eating fleſh in Lent. The prohibition had been renewed or ſtrengthened by a recent proclamation of the king. I mention this circumſtance [...] not only as it marks his character, impatient of any controul, and careleſs of very ſerious conſequences which often ariſe from a contempt of petty formalities, but as it gave occaſion to one of his moſt ſentimental and pathetic ſonnets k. In 1544, he was field-marſhal of the Engliſh army in the expedition to Bologne, which he took. In that age, love and arms conſtantly went together: and it was amid the fatigues of this protracted campaign, that he compoſed his laſt ſonnet called the FANSIE of a wearied Lover l.

[9] But as Surrey's popularity encreaſed, his intereſt declined with the king; whoſe caprices and jealouſies grew more violent with his years and infirmities. The brilliancy of Surrey's character, his celebrity in the military ſcience, his general abilities, his wit, learning, and affability, were viewed by Henry with diſguſt and ſuſpicion. It was in vain that he poſſeſſed every advantageous qualification, which could adorn the ſcholar, the courtier, and the ſoldier. In proportion as he was amiable in the eyes of the people, he became formidable to the king. His riſing reputation was miſconſtrued into a dangerous ambition, and gave birth to accuſations equally groundleſs and frivolous [...] He was ſuſpected of a deſign to marry the princeſs Mary; and, by that alliance, of approaching to a poſſibility of wearing the crown. It was inſinuated, that he converſed with foreigners, and held a correſpondence with cardinal Pole.

The addition of the eſcocheon of Edward the Confeſſor to his own, although uſed by the family of Norfolk for many years, and juſtified by the authority of the heralds, was a ſufficient foundation for an impeachment of high treaſon. Theſe motives were privately aggravated by thoſe prejudices, with which Henry remembered the miſbehaviour of Catharine Howard, and which were extended to all that lady's relations. At length, the earl of Surrey fell a ſacrifice to the peeviſh injuſtice of a mercileſs and ungrateful maſter. Notwithſtanding his eloquent and maſculine defence, which even in the cauſe of guilt itſelf would have proved a powerful perſuaſive, he was condemned by the prepared ſuffrage of a ſervile and obſequious jury, and beheaded on Tower-hill in the year 1547 m. In the mean time we ſhould remember, that Surrey's public conduct was not on all occaſions quite unexceptionable. In the affair of Bologne he had made a falſe ſtep. This had offended the king. But Henry, when once offended, could never forgive. And when Hertford was ſent into France to take the command, he could not refrain from [10] dropping ſome reproachful expreſſions againſt a meaſure which ſeemed to impeach his perſonal courage. Conſcious of his high birth and capacity, he was above the little attentions of caution and reſerve; and he too frequently neglected to conſult his own ſituation, and the king's temper. It was his misfortune to ſerve a monarch, whoſe reſentments, which were eaſily provoked, could only be ſatisfied by the moſt ſevere revenge. Henry brought thoſe men to the block, which other monarchs would have only diſgraced.

Among theſe anecdotes of Surrey's life, I had almoſt forgot to mention what became of his amour with the fair Geraldine. We lament to find, that Surrey's devotion to this lady did not end in a wedding, and that all his gallantries and verſes availed ſo little! No memoirs of that incurious age have informed us, whether her beauty was equalled by her cruelty; or whether her ambition prevailed ſo far over her gratitude, as to tempt her to prefer the ſolid glories of a more ſplendid title and ample fortune, to the challenges and the compliments, of ſo magnanimous, ſo faithful, and ſo eloquent a lover. She appears, however, to have been afterwards the third wife of Edward Clinton, earl of Lincoln. Such alſo is the power of time and accident over amorous vows, that even Surrey himſelf outlived the violence of his paſſion. He married Frances, daughter of John earl of Oxford, by whom he left ſeveral children. One of his daughters, Jane counteſs of Weſtmoreland, was among the learned ladies of that age, and became famous for her knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages n.

Surrey's poems were in high reputation with his cotemporaries, and for many years afterwards. He is thus characteriſed by the author of the old ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, whoſe opinion remained long as a rule of criticiſm. ‘"In the latter end of the ſame kinges [Henry] raigne, ſpronge up a new company of courtly makers, of whom ſir Thomas Wyat the [11] elder and Henry earle of Surrey were the two CHIEFTAINES, who having travailed into Italie, and there taſted the ſweete and ſtately meaſured and ſtile of the Italian poeſie, as novices newly crept out of the ſchooles of Dante, Arioſto, and Petrarch, they greatly poliſhed our rude and homely manner of vulgar poeſie from that it had bene before, and for that cauſe may juſtly be ſayd the firſt reformers of our Engliſh meeter and ſtile o."’ And again, towards the cloſe of the ſame chapter. ‘"Henry earle of Surrey, and ſir Thomas Wyat, between whom I finde very little difference, I repute them (as before) for the two chief lanternes of light to all others that have ſince employed their pennes upon Engliſh poeſie: their conceits were loftie, their ſtiles ſtately, their conveyance cleanly, their termes proper, their meetre ſweete and well-proportioned, in all imitating very naturally and ſtudiouſly their maiſter Francis Petrarcha p."’ I forbear to recite the teſtimonies of Leland, Sydney, Tuberville, Churchyard, and Drayton. Nor have theſe pieces, although ſcarcely known at preſent, been without the panegyric of more recent times. Surrey is praiſed by Waller, and Fenton; and he ſeems to have been a favorite with Pope. Pope, in WINDSOR-FOREST, having compared his patron lord Granville with Surrey, he was immediately reprinted, but without attracting many readers q. It was vainly imagined, that all the world would eagerly wiſh to purchaſe the works of a neglected antient Engliſh poet, whom Pope had called the GRANVILLE of a former age. So rapid are the revolutions of our language, and ſuch the uncer [...]ainty of literary fame, that Philips, Milton's nephew, who wrote about the year 1674, has remarked, that in his time Surrey's poetry was antiquated and totally forgotten r.

Our authors SONGES AND SONNETTES, as they have been ſtiled, were firſt collected and printed at London by Tottell, [12] in 1557 s. As it happens in collections of this kind, they are of various merit. Surrey is ſaid, by the ingenious author of the MUSES LIBRARY, to have been the firſt who broke through the faſhion of ſtanzas, and wrote in the heroic couplet. But all Surrey's poems are in the alternate rhyme; nor, had this been true, is the other poſition to be granted. Chaucer's Prologues and moſt of the Canterbury Tales are written in long verſe: nor was the uſe of the couplet reſumed, till late in the reign of Eliſabeth.

In the ſonnets of Surrey, we are ſurpriſed to find nothing of that metaphyſical caſt which marks the Italian poets, his ſuppoſed maſters, eſpecially Petrarch. Surrey's ſentiments are for the moſt part natural and unaffected; ariſing from his own feelings, and dictated by the preſent circumſtances. His poetry is alike unembarraſſed by learned alluſions, or elaborate conceits. If our author copies Petrarch, it is Petrarch's better manner: when he deſcends from his Platonic abſtractions, his refinements of paſſion, his exaggerated compliments, and his play upon oppoſite ſentiments, into a track of tenderneſs, ſimplicity, and nature. Petrarch would have been a better poet had he been a worſe ſcholar. Our author's mind was not too much overlaid by learning.

The following is the poem abovementioned, in which he laments his impriſonment in Windſor-caſtle. But it is rather an elegy than a ſonnet.

So cruel priſon, how coulde betyde, alas,
As proude Windſor t! where I, in luſt and joye u,
With a kynges ſonnew my childiſhe yeres did paſſe,
In greater feaſt than Priam's ſonnes of Troye.
Where eche ſwete place returnes a taſte full ſower:
The large grene courtes where we were wont to hove x,
[13] With eyes caſt up into the mayden's tower y,
And eaſie ſighes, ſuch as men drawe in love:
The ſtately ſeates, the ladies bright of hewe,
The daunces ſhorte, long tales of great delight,
With wordes and lookes that tigers could but rewe z;
Where ech of us did pleade the others right.
The palme-play a, where, diſpoyled for the game b,
With dazed yies c, oft we by gleames of love,
Have miſt the ball, and got ſight of our dame,
To bayted her eyes which kept the leads above e,
The gravell grounde f, with ſleves tied on the helme g,
On fomyng horſe, with ſwordes and frendly hartes;
With cheareh as though one ſhould another whelme i,
Where we have fought and chaſed oft with dartes.—
The ſecret groves, which ofte we made reſounde
Of pleaſaunt playnt, and of our ladies praiſe,
[14] Recording ofte what gracek ech one had founde,
What hope of ſpeede l, what drede of long delayes.
The wilde foreſt, the clothed holtes with grene,
With raynes avayled m, and ſwift ybreathed horſe,
With crie of houndes, and merry blaſtes betwene
Where we did chaſe the fearful harte of force.
The wide vales n n eke, that harbourd us ech night,
Wherewith, alas, reviveth in my breſt
The ſweete accorde! Such ſlepes as yet delight:
The pleaſant dreames, the quiet bed of reſt.
The ſecret thoughtes imparted with ſuch truſt;
The wanton talke, the divers chan [...]e of play;
The frendſhip ſworne, eche promiſe kept ſo juſt,
Wherewith we paſt the winter night away.
[15]
And with this thought the bloud forſakes the face;
The teares berayne my chekes of deadly hewe,
The whych as ſone as ſobbing ſighes, alas,
Upſupped have, thus I my plaint renewe!
"O place of bliſſe, renewer of my woes!
"Give me accompt, where is my noble fere o,
"Whom in thy walles thou doſtp ech night encloſe,
"To other leefe q, but unto me moſt dere!"
Eccho, alas, that doth my ſorrow rew r,
Returnes therto a hollow ſounde of playnte.
Thus I alone, where all my fredom grewe,
In priſon pine, with bondage and reſtrainte.
And with remembrance of the greater greefe
To baniſh th' leſſe, I find my chief releefe s.

In the poet's ſituation, nothing can be more natural and ſtriking than the reflection with which he opens his complaint. There is alſo much beauty in the abruptneſs of his exordial exclamation. The ſuperb palace, where he had paſſed the moſt pleaſing days of his youth with the ſon of a king, was now converted into a tedious and ſolitary priſon! This unexpected viciſſitude of fortune awakens a new and intereſting train of thought. The compariſon of his paſt and preſent circumſtances recals their juvenile ſports and amuſements; which were more to be regretted, as young Richmond was now dead. Having deſcribed ſome of theſe with great elegance, he recurs to his firſt idea by a beautiful apoſtrophe. He appeals to the place of his confinement, once the ſource of his higheſt pleaſures: ‘"O place of bliſs, renewer of my woe [...]! And where is now my noble friend, my companion is theſe delights, who was once your [16] inhabitant! Echo alone either pities or anſwers my queſtion, and returns a plaintive hollow ſound!"’ He cloſes his complaint with an affecting and pathetic ſentiment, much in the ſtyle of Petrarch. ‘"To baniſh the miſeries of my preſent diſtreſs, I am forced on the wretched expedient of remembering a greater!"’ This is the conſolation of a warm fancy. It is the philoſophy of poetry.

Some of the following ſtanzas, on a lover who preſumed to compare his lady with the divine Geraldine, have almoſt the eaſe and gallantry of Waller. The leading compliment, which has been uſed by later writers, is in the ſpirit of an Italian fiction. It is very ingenious, and handled with a high degree of elegance.

Give place, ye Lovers, here before
That ſpent your boſtes and bragges in vaine:
My Ladie's bewty paſſeth more
The beſt of yours, I dare wel ſaine,
Than doth the ſunne the candle light,
Or brighteſt day the darkeſt night.
And therto hath a troth as juſt
As had Penelope the faire;
For what ſhe ſayth, ye may it truſt,
As it by writing ſealed were:
And vertues hath ſhe many moe
Than I with pen have ſkill to ſhowe.
I could reherſe, if that I would,
The whole effect of NATURE'S plaint,
When ſhe had loſt the perfite mould,
The like to whom ſhe could not paint.
With wringyng handes how ſhe did cry!
And what ſhe ſaid, I know it, I.
[17]
I knowe, ſhe ſwore with ragyng minde,
Her kingdom only ſet apart,
There was no loſſe, by lawe of kinde,
That could have gone ſo neare her hart:
And this was chefely all her paine
She could not make the like againe t.—

The verſification of theſe ſtanzas is correct, the language poliſhed, and the modulation muſical. The following ſtanza, of another ode, will hardly be believed to have been produced in the reign of Henry the eighth.

Spite drave me into Boreas' raigne u,
Where hory froſtes the frutes do bite;
When hilles were ſpred and every plaine
With ſtormy winter's mantle white w.

In an Elegy on the elder ſir Thomas Wyat's death, his character is delineated in the following nervous and manly quatraines.

A viſage, ſterne and mylde; where both did growe [...]
Vice to contemne, in vertue to rejoyce;
Amid great ſtormes, whom grace aſſured ſo,
To live upright, and ſmile at fortune's choyce.—
A toung that ſerv'd in forein realmes his king,
Whoſe courteous talke to vertue did enflame
Eche noble hart; a worthy guide to bring
Our Engliſh youth by travail unto fame.
An eye, whoſe judgement none affectx could blind [...]
Friends to allure, and foes to reconcile:
[18] Whoſe perſingy looke did repreſent a minde
With virtue fraught, repoſed, voyd of gile.
A hart, where dreade was never ſo impreſt
To hide the thought that might the truth advance;
In neither fortune loſt, nor yet repreſt,
To ſwell in welth, or yeld unto miſchance z.—

The following lines on the ſame ſubject are remarkable.

Divers thy deth do diverſly bemone:
Some that in preſence of thy livelyhede
Lurked, whoſe breſtes envy with hate had ſwolne,
Yeld Ceſar's teares upon Pompeius' head a.

There is great dignity and propriety in the following Sonnet on Wyat's PSALMS.

The Macedon, that out of Perſia chaſed
Darius, of whoſe power all Aſia rong,
In the riche arkeb Dan Homer's rimes he placed,
Who fained geſtes of heathen princes ſong.
What holy grave, what worthy ſepulture c,
To Wyat's Pſalmes ſhould Chriſtians then purchàſe?
Where he doth paint the lively faith and pure;
The ſtedfaſt hope, the ſwete returne to grace
Of juſt David by perfite penitence.
Where rulers may ſee in a mirrour clere
The bitter fruite of falſe concupiſcence:
How Jewry bought Uria's deth ful dere.
In princes hartes God's ſcourge imprinted depe
Ought them awake out of their ſinful ſlepe d.

[19] Probably the laſt lines may contain an oblique alluſion to ſome of the king's amours.

Some paſſages in his Deſcription of the reſtleſſe ſtate of a Lover, are pictures of the heart, and touched with delicacy.

I wiſh for night, more covertly to plaine,
And me withdrawe from every haunted place;
Leſt by my cheree my chance appeare too plaine.
And in my mynde I meſure, pace by pace,
To ſeke the place where I myſelf had loſt,
That day, when I was tangled in the lace,
In ſeming ſlack that knitteth ever moſt.—
Lo, if I ſeke, how I do finde my ſore!
And if I flee, I carry with me ſtill
The venom'd ſhaft, which doth its force reſtore
By haſte of flight. And I may plaine my fill
Unto myſelf, unleſſe this carefull ſong
Print in your hart ſome parcel of my tene f.
For I, alas, in ſil [...]nce all too long,
Of mine old hurt yet fele the wound but grene g.

Surrey's talents, which are commonly ſuppoſed to have been confined to ſentiment and amorous lamentation, were adapted to deſcriptive poetry and the repreſentations of rural imagery. A writer only that viewed the beauties of nature with poetic eyes, could have ſelected the vernal objects which compoſe the following exquiſite ode h.

The ſoote ſeaſon, that bud and blome forth brings,
With grene hath clad the hill, and eke the val [...];
The nightingale with fethers new ſhe ſings;
The turtle to her mate hath told her tale:
[20] Somer is come, for every ſpray now ſprings.
The hart hath hong his old hed on the pale:
The buck in brake his winter coate he flings:
The fiſhes flete with new repayred ſcale;
The adder all her ſlough away ſhe flings:
The ſwift ſwalow purſueth the flies ſmale:
The buſy bee her hony now ſhe mings.
Winter is worne that was the flowers bale i.

I do not recollect a more faithful and finiſhed verſion of Martial's HAPPY LIFE than the following.

MARTIAL, the thinges that doe attain
The happy life, be theſe I finde.
The richeſſe left, not got with pain,
The fruitfull grounde, the quiet minde.
The equall frend, no grudge, no ſtrife,
No charge of rule, nor governaunce;
Without diſeaſe, the healthful life:
The houſhold of continuance.
The diet meane k, no delicate fare,
Trewe wiſdom joynde with ſimpleneſſe:
The night diſcharged of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppreſſe.
The faithful wife without debate,
Such ſlepes as may begile the night:
Contented with thine owne eſtate,
Ne wiſh for death, ne feare his might l.

But Surrey was not merely the poet of idleneſs and gallantry. He was fitted both from nature and ſtudy, for the more ſolid and laborious parts of literature. He tranſlated the ſecond and fourth books of Virgil into blank verſe m: and it ſeems probable, that [21] his active ſituations of life prevented him from completing a deſign of tranſlating the whole Eneid.

This is the firſt compoſition in blank verſe, extant in the Engliſh language. Nor has it merely the relative and accidental merit of being a curioſity. It is executed with great fidelity, yet not with a proſaic ſervility. The diction is often poetical, and the verſification varied with proper pauſes. This is the deſcription of Dido and Eneas going to the field, in the fourth book.

—At the threſhold of her chaumber-dore,
The Carthage lords did on the Quene attend:
The trampling ſteed, with gold and purple trapt,
Chawing the foming bit ther fercely ſtood.
Then iſſued ſhe, awayted with great train,
Clad in a cloke of Tyre embrawderd riche.
Her quyver hung behinde her backe, her treſſe
Knotted in gold, her purple veſture eke
Buttned with gold. The Trojans of her train
Before her go, with gladſom Iulus.
Aeneas eke, the goodlieſt of the route,
Makes one of them, and joyneth cloſe the throng.
Lyke when Apollo leaveth Lycia,
His wintring place, and Xanthus' flood likewiſe,
To viſit Delos, his mother's manſion,
Repairing eft and furniſhing her quire:
The Candians, and the folke of Driopes,
With painted Agathyrſies, ſhoute and crye,
Environing the altars round about;
When that he walkes upon mount Cynthus' top,
His ſparkled treſſe repreſt with garlandes ſofte
Of tender leaves, and truſſed up in golde:
His quiveringn dartes clattering behind his back.
So freſh and luſtie did Aeneas ſeme.—
But to the hils and wilde holtes when they came,
From the rockes top the driven ſavage roſe.
[22] Loe from the hills above, on thother ſide,
Through the wide lawns they gan to take their courſe.
The harts likewiſe, in troupes taking their flight,
Rayſing the duſt, the mountain-faſt forſake.
The childe Iu [...]us, blithe of his ſwift ſteede p
Amids the plaine, now pricks by them, now theſe;
And to encounter, wiſheth oft in minde,
The foming bore, in ſteede of fearfull beaſts,
Or lion brown, might from the hill deſcend.

The firſt ſtages of Dido's paſſion, with its effects on the riſing city, are thus rendered.

—And when they al were gone,
And the dimme moone doth eft withold her light;
And ſlidingq ſtarres provoked unto ſlepe:
Alone ſhe mournes within her palace voide,
And ſits her downe on her forſaken bed:
And abſent him ſhe heares, when he is gone,
And ſeeth eke. Oft in her lappe ſhe holdes
Aſcanius, trapped by his father's forme.
So to begile the love cannot be told r!
The turrettes now ariſe not, erſt begonne:
Neither the youth welde armes, nor they avance
The portes, nor other mete defence for warr.
Broken there hang the workes, and mighty frames
Of walles high raiſed, thretening the ſkie.

The introduction of the wooden horſe into Troy, in the ſame book, is thus deſcribed.

We cleft the walles, and cloſures of the towne,
Whereto all helpe: and underſet the feet
[23] With ſliding rolles, and bound his neck with ropes.
The fatal gin thus overclambe our walles,
Stuft with armd men: about the which there ran
Children and maides s, that holy carolles ſang.
And well were they whoes hands might touch the cordes!
With thretning chere, thus ſlided through our town
The ſubtill tree, to Pallas temple-ward.
O native la [...]d, Ilion, and of the goddes
The manſion placce! O warlik walles of Troy!
Four times it ſtopt in thentrie of our gate,
Four times the harneſſet clatterd in the wombe.

The ſhade of Hector, in the ſame book, thus appears.

Ah me! What one? That Hector how unlike,
Which erſt, returnd clad with Achilles ſpoiles!
Or when he threw into the Grekiſh ſhippes
The Trojan flame! So was his beard defiled,
His criſped lockes al cluſtred with his blood:
With al ſuch woundes as many he received,
About the walles of that his native towne!
Whom franckly thus, methought, I ſpake unto,
With bitter teres, and dolefull deadly voice.
"O Trojan light! O only hope of thine!
"What lettes ſo long thee ſtaid? Or from what coſtes,
"Our moſt deſired Hector, doſt thou come?
"Whom, after ſlaughter of our many frends,
"And travail of thy people, and thy towne,
"Alweried, (lord!) how gladly we behold!
[24] "What ſory chaunce hath ſtained thy lively face?
"Or why ſee I theſe woundes, alas ſo wide!"
He anſweard nought, nor in my vain demaundes
Abode: but from the bottom of his breſt
Sighing he ſayd: "Flee, flee, O goddeſſe ſon!
"And ſave thee from the furie of this flame!"

This was a noble attempt to break the bondage of rhyme. But blank verſe was now growing faſhionable in the Italian poetry, the ſchool of Surrey. Felice Figlinei, a Saneſe, and Surrey's cotemporary, in his admirable Italian commentary on the ETHICS of Ariſtotle, entitled FILOSOSIA MORALE SOPRA IL LIBRI D' ETHICA D'ARISTOTILE, declaims againſt the barbarity of rhyme, and ſtrongly recommends a total rejection of this Gothic ornament to his countrymen. He enforces his precept by his own example; and tranſlates all Ariſtotle's quotations from Homer and Euripides into verſe without rhyme. Gonſalvo Perez, the learned ſecretary to Philip of Spain, had alſo recently tranſlated Homer's Odyſſey into Spaniſh blank-verſe. How much the excellent Roger Aſcham approved of Surrey's diſuſe of rhyme in this tranſlation from Virgil, appears from the following paſſage in his SCHOLEMASTER, written about the year 1566 u. ‘"The noble lord Thomas earle of Surrey, FIRST OF ALL ENGLISHMEN, in tranſlating the fourth [and ſecond] booke of Virgill: and Gonſalvo Perez, that excellent learned man, and ſecretarie to king Philip of Spayne w, in tranſlating the ULYSSES of Homer out of the Greeke into Spaniſh, have both by good judgement avoyded the FAULT OF RYMING.—The ſpying of this fault now is not the curioſitie of Engliſh eyes, but even the good judgement alſo of the beſt [25] that write in theſe dayes in Italie.—And you, that be able to underſtand no more than ye find in the Italian tong: and never went further than the ſchoole of PETRARCH and ARIOSTO abroade, or elſe of CHAUCER at home, though you have pleaſure to wander blindlie ſtill in your foule wronge way, envie not others, that ſeeke, as wiſe men have done before them, the FAYREST and RYGHTEST way.—And therefore, even as Virgill and Horace deſerve moſt worthie prayſe, that they, ſpying the unperfitneſs in Ennius and Plautus, by trewe imitation of Homer and Euripides, brought poetrie to the ſame perfectnes in Latin as it was in Greeke, even ſo thoſe, that by the ſame way would BENEFIT THEIR TONG and country, deſerve rather thankes than diſprayſe x."’

The revival of the Greek and Roman poets in Italy, excited all the learned men of that country to copy the Roman verſification, and conſequently baniſhed the old Leonine Latin verſe. The ſame claſſical idea operated in ſome degree on the vernacular poetry of Italy. In the year 1528, Triſſino publiſhed his ITALIA LIBERATA DI GOTI, or, ITALY DELIVERED FROM THE GOTHS, an heroic poem, profeſſedly written in imitation of the Iliad, without either rhyme, or the uſual machineries of the Gothic romance. Triſſino's deſign was to deſtroy the TERZA RIMA of Dante. We do not, however, find, whether it be from the facility with which the Italian tongue falls into rhyme, or that the beſt and eſtabliſhed Italian poets wrote in the ſtanza, that theſe efforts to reſtore blank-verſe, produced any laſting effects in the progreſs of the Italian poetry. It is very probable, that this ſpecimen of the Eneid in blank-verſe by Surrey, led the way to Abraham Fleming's blank-verſe tranſlation of Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics, although done in Alexandrines, publiſhed in the year 1589 y.

Lord Surrey wrote many other Engliſh poems which were never [26] publiſhed, and are now perhaps entirely loſt. He tranſlated the ECCLESIASTES of Solomon into Engliſh verſe. This piece is cited in the Preface to the Tranſlation of the Pſalms, printed at London in 1567. He alſo tranſlated a few of the Pſalms into metre. Theſe verſions of Scripture ſhew that he was a friend to the reformation. Among his works are alſo recited, a Poem on his friend the young duke of Richmond, an Exhortation to the citizens of London, a Tranſlation of Boccace's Epiſtle to Pinus, and a ſett of Latin epiſtles. Aubrey has preſerved a poetical Epitaph, written by Surrey on ſir Thomas Clere, his faithful retainer and conſtant attendant, which was once in Lambeth-church y; and which, for its affection and elegance, deſerves to be printed among the earl's poems. I will quote a few lines.

Shelton for love, Surrey for lord thee chaſe z:
(Aye me, while life did laſt that league was tender!)
Tracing whoſe ſteps, thou ſaweſt Kelſall blaſe,
Launderſey burnt, and batterd Bulleyn's render a:
At Mortrell gates b, hopeleſs of all recure,
Thine earle halfe dead gave in thy hand his Will;
Which cauſe did thee this pining death procure,
Ere ſummers foure tymes ſeven thou couldſt fulfill.
Ah, Clere! if love had booted care or coſt,
Heaven had not wonne, nor earth ſo timely loſt c!

John Clerc, who travelled into Italy with Pace, an eminent linguiſt of thoſe times, and ſecretary to Thomas duke of Norfolk father of lord Surrey, in a dedication to the latter, prefixed to his TRETISE OF NOBILITIE printed at London in 1543 d, has mentioned, with the higheſt commendations, many tranſlations done by Surrey, from the Latin, Italian, French, and [27] Spaniſh languages. But theſe it is probable were [...]othing more than juvenile exerciſes.

Surrey, for his juſtneſs of thought, correctneſs of ſtyle, and purity of expreſſion, may juſtly be pronounced the firſt Engliſh claſſical poet. He unqueſtionably is the firſt polite writer of loveverſes in our language. It muſt, however, be allowed, that there is a ſtriking native beauty in ſome of our love-verſes written much earlier than Surrey's. But in the moſt ſavage ages and countries, rude nature has taught elegance to the lover.

SECT. XX.

[28]

WITH Surrey's Poems, Tottel has joined, in his editions of 1557 and 1565, the SONGES and SONNETTES of ſir Thomas Wyat the elder a, and of Uncertain Auctours.

Wyat was of Allington-caſtle in Kent, which he magnificently repaired, and educated in both our univerſities. But his chief and moſt ſplendid accompliſhments were derived from his travels into various parts of Europe, which he frequently viſited in the quality of an envoy. He was endeared to king Henry the eighth, who did not always act from caprice, for his fidelity and ſucceſs in the execution of public buſineſs, his ſkill in arms, literature, familiarity with languages, and lively converſation. Wood, who degrades every thing by poverty of ſtyle and improper repreſentations, ſays, that ‘"the king was in a high manner delighted with his witty jeſts b."’ It is not perhaps improbable, that Henry was as much pleaſed with his repartees as his politics. He is reported to have occaſioned the reformation by a joke, and to have planned the fall of cardinal Wolſey by a ſeaſonable ſtory c. But he had almoſt loſt his popularity, either from an intimacy with queen Anne Boleyn, which was called a connection, or the gloomy cabals of biſhop Bonner, who could not bear his political ſuperiority. Yet his prudence and integrity, no leſs than the powers of his oratory, juſtified his innocence. He laments his ſevere and unjuſt impriſonment on that trying occaſion, in a ſonnet addreſſed to ſir Francis Bryan: inſinuating his ſollicitude, that although the wound would be healed, the ſcar would [29] remain, and that to be acquitted of the accuſation would avail but little, while the thoughts of having been accuſed were ſtill freſh in remembrance d. It is a common miſtake, that he died abroad of the plague in an embaſſy to Charles the fifth. Being ſent to conduct that emperor's embaſſador from Falmouth to London, from too eager and a needleſs deſire of executing his commiſſion with diſpatch and punctuality, he caught a fever by riding in a hot day, and in his return died on the road at Shirburn, where he was buried in the great conventual church, in the year 1541. The next year, Leland publiſhed a book of Latin verſes on his death, with a wooden print of his head prefixed, probably done by Holbein e. It will be ſuperfluous to tranſcribe the panegyrics of his cotemporaries, after the encomium of lord Surrey, in which his amiable character owes more to truth, than to the graces of poetry, or to the flattery of friendſhip.

We muſt agree with a critic above quoted, that Wyat cooperated with Surry, in having corrected the roughneſs of our poetic ſtyle. But Wyat, although ſufficiently diſtinguiſhed from the common verſifiers of his age, is confeſſedly inferior to Surrey in harmony of numbers, perſpicuity of expreſſion, and facility of phraſeology. Nor is he equal to Surrey in elegance of ſentitiment, in nature and ſenſibility. His feelings are diſguiſed by affectation, and obſcured by conceit. His declarations of paſſion are embarraſſed by wit and fancy; and his ſtyle is not intelligible, in proportion as it is careleſs and unadorned. His compliments, like the modes of behaviour in that age, are ceremonious and ſtrained. He has too much art as a lover, and too little as a poet. His gallantries are laboured, and his verſification negligent. The truth is, his genius was of the moral and didactic ſpecies: and his poems abound more in good ſenſe, ſatire, and obſervations on life, than in pathos or imagination. Yet there [30] is a degree of lyric ſweetneſs in the following lines to his lute, in which, The lover complaineth of the unkindneſs of his love.

My Lute awake, performe the laſt
Labour, that thou and I ſhall waſt;
And end that I have now begonne:
And when this ſong is ſung and paſt,
My lute be ſtill, for I have done.
As to be heard where care is none,
As leade to grave in marble ſtone;
My ſong, now pearſe her hart as ſone.
Should we then ſigh, or ſing, or mone?
No, no, my lute, for I have done.
The rockes do not ſo cruelly
Repulſe the waves continually,
As ſhe my ſute and affection:
So that I am paſt remedy.
Wherebyf my lute and I have done.
Proude of the ſpoile which thou has gotte
Of ſimple hartes, through Loves ſhotte,
By whom unkinde thou haſt them wonne;
Thinke not he hath his bowe forgotte,
Although my lute and I have done.
Vengeance ſhall fall on thy diſdaine,
That makeſt but game on earneſt paine:
Thinke not alone under the ſunne
Unquitg to cauſe thy lovers plaine:
Although my lute and I have done.
May chaunce theeh lie withered and olde
In winter nightes that are ſo colde,
Plaining in vaine unto the mone i:
Thy wiſhes then dare not be tolde:
Care then who liſt, for I have done.
[31]
And then may chaunce thee to repent
The time that thou haſt loſt and ſpent,
To cauſe thy lovers ſighe and ſwowne;
Then ſhalt thou know beautie but lent,
And wiſh and want as I have done.
Now ceaſe my lute, this is the laſt
Labour, that thou and I ſhall waſt;
And ended is that that we begonne.
Now is this ſong both ſong and paſt,
My lute be ſtill, for I have done k.

Our author has more imitations, and even tranſlations, from the Italian poets than Surrey: and he ſeems to have been more fond of their conceits. Petrarch has deſcribed the perplexities of a lover's mind, and his ſtruggles betwixt hope and deſpair, a ſubject moſt fertile of ſentimental complaint, by a combination of contrarieties, a ſpecies of wit highly reliſhed by the Italians. I am, ſays he, neither at peace nor war. I burn, and I freeze. I ſoar to heaven, and yet grovel on the earth. I can hold nothing, and yet graſp every thing. My priſon is neither ſhut, nor is it opened. I ſee without eyes, and I complain without a voice. I laugh, and I weep. I live, and am dead. Laura [...] to what a condition am I reduced, by your cruelty!

Pace non trovo, e non ho da far guerra;
E temo, e ſpero, ed ardo, e ſon en un ghiaccio:
E volo ſopra'l cielo, e giaccio in terra:
E nulla ſtringo, e tutto l'mondo abraiccio.
Tal m'ha in prigion, che non m'apre nè ſerra l;
Nè per ſuo mi rittien, ne ſcioglie il laccio;
E non m'uccide Amor, e non mi sferra;
Ni mi vuol vivo, ni mi trae d'impaccio.
[32] Veggio ſenz' occhi, e non ho lingua, e grido;
E bramo di perir, e cheggio aita;
Ed ho in odio me ſteſſo, ed amo altrui:
Paſcomi di dolor, piangendo rido.
Egualmente mi ſpiace morte, e vita:
In queſto ſtato ſon, Donna, per vui m.

Wyat has thus copied this ſonnet of epigrams.

I finde no peace, and all my warre is done:
I fear and hope, I burne and freſe likewyſe:
I flye aloft, and yet cannot aryſe;
And nought I have, and at the world I ſeaſon;
That lockesn nor loſeth, [nor] holdeth me in priſon.
And holdes me not, yet can I ſcape no wiſe;
Nor lettes me live, nor dye, at my devi [...]e,
And yet of death it giveth me occaſion.
Without eye I ſe, without tong I playne:
I wiſh to periſh, yet I aſke for helth;
I love another, and I hate myſelfe;
I fede me in ſorow, and laugh in all my paine.
Lo thus diſpleaſeth me both death and life
And my delight is cauſer of this ſtrife o.

It was from the capricious and over-ſtrained invention of the Italian poets, that Wyat was taught to [...]orture the paſſion of love by prolix and intricate compariſons, and unnatural alluſions. At one time his love is a galley ſteered by cruelty through ſtormy ſeas and dangerous rocks; the ſails torn by the blaſt of tempeſtuous ſighs, and the cordage conſumed by inceſſant ſhowers of tears: a cloud of grief envelopes the ſtars [...] reaſon is drowned, [33] and the haven is at a diſtance p. At another q, it is a ſpring trickling from the ſummit of the Alps, which gathering force in its fall, at length overflows all the plain beneath r. Sometimes, it is a gun, which being overcharged, expands the flame within itſelf, and burſts in pieces s. Sometimes it is like a prodigious mountain, which is perpetually weeping in copious fountains, and ſending forth ſighs from its foreſts: which bears more leaves than fruits: which breeds wild-beaſts, the proper emblems of rage, and harbours birds that are always ſinging f. In another of his ſonnets, he ſays, that all nature ſympathiſes with his paſſion. The woods reſound his elegies, the rivers ſtop their courſe to hear him complain, and the graſs weeps in dew. Theſe thoughts are common and fantaſtic. But he adds an image which is new, and has much nature and ſentiment, although not well expreſſed.

The hugy okes have rored in the winde,
Eche thing, methought, complaining in theyr kinde.

This is a touch of the penſive. And the apoſtrophe which follows is natural and ſimple.

Ah ſtony hart, who hath thus framed thee
So cruel, that art clothed with beautie t!

And there is much ſtrength in theſe lines of the lover to his bed.

The place of ſlepe, wherein I do but wake,
Beſprent with tears, my bed, I thee forſake u!

But ſuch paſſages as theſe are not the general characteriſtics of Wyat's poetry. They ſtrike us but ſeldom, amidſt an impracticable [34] maſs of forced reflections, hyperbolical metaphors, and complaints that move no compaſſion.

But Wyat appears a much more pleaſing writer, when he moraliſes on the felicities of retirement, and attacks the vanities and vices of a court, with the honeſt indignation of an independent philoſopher, and the freedom and pleaſantry of Horace. Three of his poetical epiſtles are profeſſedly written in this ſtrain, two to John Poines v, and the other to ſir Francis Bryan: and we muſt regret, that he has not left more pieces in a ſtyle of compoſition for which he ſeems to have been eminently qualified. In one of the epiſtles to Poines on the life of a courtier, are theſe ſpirited and manly reflections.

Myne owne John Poines, ſince ye delite to know
The cauſes why that homewarde I me drawe,
And flee the preaſew of courtes, where ſo they go x;
Rather than to live thrall under the awe
Of lordly looks, wrapped within my cloke;
To will and luſt learning to ſet a law:
It is not that, becauſe I ſcorne or mocke
The power of them, whom Fortune here hath lent
Charge over us, of Righty to ſtrike the ſtroke:
But true it is, that I have alwayes ment
Leſſe to eſteeme them, (than the common ſort)
Of outwarde thinges that judge, in their entent,
Without regarde what inward doth reſort.
I graunt ſometime of glory that the fire
Doth touch my heart. Me liſt not to report z
Blame by honour, nor honour to deſire.
But how can I this honour now attaine,
That cannot die the colour black a liar?
[35] My Poines, I cannot frame my tunea to faine,
To cloke the truth, &c.

In purſuit of this argument, he declares his indiſpoſition and inability to diſguiſe the truth, and to flatter, by a variety of inſtances. Among others, he proteſts he cannot prefer Chaucer's TALE of SIR THOPAS to his PALAMON AND AR [...]ITE.

Prayſe SIR THOPAS for a noble tale,
And ſcorne the STORY that the KNIGHT tolde;
Praiſe him for counſell that is dronke of ale:
Grinne when he laughes, that beareth all the ſway;
Frowne when he frownes, and grone when he is pale:
On others luſt to hang both night and day, &c.

I mention this circumſtance about Chaucer, to ſhew the eſteem in which the KNIGHT'S TALE, that noble epic poem of the dark ages, was held in the reign of Henry eighth, by men of taſte.

The poet's execration of flatterers and courtiers is contraſted with the following entertaining picture of his own private life and rural enjoyments at Allingham-caſtle in Kent.

This is the cauſe that I could never yet
Hang on their ſleeve [...], that weigh, as thou maiſt ſe,
A chippe of chaunce more than a pounde of wit:
This maketh me at home to hunt and hawke,
And in fowle wether at my booke to ſit;
In froſt and ſnowe then with my bow to ſtalke;
No man doth marke whereſo I ride or go:
In luſty leasb at liberty I walke:
And of theſe newes I fele no weale nor wo:
[36] Save that a clogge doth hange yet at my hele c;
No force for that, for it is ordred ſo,
That I may leape both hedge and dike ful wele.
I am not now in Fraunce, to judge the wine, &c.
But I am here in Kent and Chriſtendome,
Among the Muſes, where I reade and rime;
Where if thou liſt, mine owne John Poines to come,
Thou ſhalt be judge how do I ſpende my time d.

In another epiſtle to John Poines, on the ſecurity and happineſs of a moderate fortune, he verſifies the fable of the City and Country Mouſe with much humour.

My mother's maides, when they do ſowe and ſpinne,
They ſing a ſong made of the feldiſhe mouſe, &c.

This fable appoſitely ſuggeſts a train of ſenſible and pointed obſervations on the weakneſs of human conduct, and the deluſive plans of life.

Alas, my Poines, how men do ſeke the beſt,
And finde the worſe by errour as they ſtray:
And no marvell, when ſight is ſo oppreſt,
And blindes the guide: anone out of the way
Goeth guide and all, in ſeking quiet lyfe.
O wretched myndes! There is no golde that may
Graunt that you ſeke: no warre, no peace, no ſtrife:
No, no, although thy head were hoopt with golde:
Serjaunt at mace, with hawbert e, ſworde, nor knife,
Cannot repulſe the care that folow ſhoulde.
Eche kinde of life hath with him his diſeaſe:
Live in delites, even as thy luſt would,
[37] And thou ſhalt finde, when luſt doth moſt thee pleaſe,
It irketh ſtrait, and by itſelf doth fade.
A ſmall thing is it, that may thy minde appeaſe?
None of you al there is that is ſo madde,
To ſeke for grapes on brambles or on breeres g;
Nor nonne, I trowe, that hath a wit ſo badde,
To ſett his hay for conneyes oer rivères.
Nor yet ſet not a drag net for a hare:
And yet the thing that moſt is your deſire
You do miſſeke, with more travell and care.
Make plaine thine hart, that it be not knotted
With hope or dreade: and ſe thy will be bare h
From all affects i, whom vice hath never ſpotted.
Thyſelf content with that is thee aſſinde k;
And uſe it wel that is to the allotted.
Then ſeke no more out of thyſelf to fynde,
The thing that thou haſt ſought ſo long before,
For thou ſhalt feele it ſticking in thy mynde.—

Theſe Platonic doctrines are cloſed with a beautiful application of virtue perſonified, and introduced in her irreſiſtible charms of viſible beauty. For thoſe who deviate into vain and vicious purſuits,

None other paine pray I for them to be,
But when the rage doth leade them from the right,
That, loking backwarde, VIRTUE they may ſe
Even as ſhe is, ſo goodly faire and bright l!

With theſe diſintereſted ſtrains we may join the following ſingle ſtanza, called THE COURTIERS LIFE.

[38]
In court to ſerve, decked with freſhe aray,
Of ſugredm meates feeling the ſwete repaſte;
The life in bankets, and ſundry kindes of play,
Amid the preaſe of worldly lookes to waſte:
Hath with it joinde oft times ſuch bitter taſte,
That whoſo joyes ſuch kind of life to hold,
In priſon joyes, fettred with chaines of gold n.

Wyat may juſtly be deemed the firſt poliſhed Engliſh ſatiriſt. I am of opinion, that he miſtook his talents when, in compliance with the mode, he became a ſonnetteer; and, if we may judge from a few inſtances, that he was likely to have treated any other ſubject with more ſucceſs than that of love. His abilities were ſeduced and miſapplied in fabricating fine ſpeeches to an obdurate miſtreſs. In the following little ode, or rather epigram, on a very different occaſion, there is great ſimplicity and propriety, together with a ſtrain of poetic alluſion. It is on his return from Spain into England.

Tagus farewel, that weſtward with thy ſtremes
Turnes up the graines of gold al redy tride o!
For I with ſpurre and [...]ayle go ſeke the Temes p,
Gainward the ſunne that ſhewes her welthy pride:
And to the town that Brutus ſought by dremes q,
Like bended mooner that leanes her luſtys ſide;
My king, my countrey I ſeke, for whom I live:
O mighty Jove, the windes for this me give t!

Among Wyat's poems is an unfiniſhed tranſlation, in Alexandrine verſe, of the Song of Iopas in the firſt book of Virgil's Eneid u. Wyat's and Surrey's verſions from Virgil are the firſt [39] regular tranſlations in Engliſh of an antient claſſic poet: and they are ſymptoms of the reſtoration of the ſtudy of the Roman writers, and of the revival of elegant literature. A verſion of David's Pſalms by Wyat is highly extolled by lord Surrey and Leland. But Wyat's verſion of the PENITENTIAL PSALMS ſeems to be a ſeparate work from his tranſlation of the whole Pſaltery, and probably that which is praiſed by Surrey, in an ode above quoted, and entitled, Praiſe of certain Pſalmes of David, tranſlated by Sir T. Wyat the elder w. They were printed with this title, in 1549. ‘"Certaine Pſalmes choſen out of the Pſalmes of David commonly called vij penytentiall Pſalmes, drawen into Engliſhe meter by ſir Thomas Wyat knyght, whereunto is added a prolog of the aucthore before every Pſalme very pleaſant and profettable to the godly reader. Imprinted at London in Paules Churchyarde at the ſygne of the ſtarre by Thomas Raynald and John Harryngton, cum previlegio ad imprimendum ſolum, MDXLIX."’ Leland ſeems to ſpeak of the larger verſion.

Tranſtulit in noſtram Davidis carmina linguam,
Et numeros magna reddidit arte pares.
Non morietur OPUS terſum, SPECTABILE, ſacrum x.

But this verſion, with that of Surrey mentioned above, is now loſt y: and the pious Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins are the only immortal tranſlators of David's Pſalms.

A ſimilarity, or rather ſameneſs of ſtudies, as it is a proof, ſo perhaps it was the chief cement, of that inviolable friendſhip which is ſaid to have ſubſiſted between Wyat and Surrey. The principal ſubject of their poetry was the ſame: and they both treated the paſſion of love in the ſpirit of the Italian poets, [40] and as profeſſed diſciples of Petrarch. They were alike devoted to the melioration of their native tongue, and an attainment of the elegancies of compoſition. They were both engaged in tranſlating Virgil, and in rendering ſelect portions of Scripture into Engliſh metre.

SECT. XXI.

[41]

TO the poems of Surrey and Wyat are annexed, as I have before hinted, in Tottell's editions, thoſe of uncertain authors a. This latter collection forms the firſt printed poetical miſcellany in the Engliſh language: although very early manuſcript miſcellanies of that kind are not uncommon. Many of theſe pieces are much in the manner of Surrey and Wyat, which was the faſhion of the times. They are all anonymous; but probably, ſir Francis Bryan, George Boleyn earl of Rochford, and lord Vaulx, all profeſſed rhymers and ſonnet-writers, were large contributors.

Drayton, in his elegy To his dearly loved friend HENRY REYNOLDS OF POETS AND POESIE, ſeems to have blended all the ſeveral collections of which Tottell's volume conſiſts. After Chaucer he ſays,

They with the Muſes who converſed, were
That princely Surrey, early in the time
Of the eighth Henry, who was then the prime
Of England's noble youth. With him there came
Wyat, with reverence whom we ſtill do name
Amongſt our poets: Bryan had a ſhare
With the two former, which accounted are
That time's beſt Makers, and the authors were
Of thoſe ſmall poems which the title bear
Of Songes and Sonnetts, wherein oft they hit
On many dainty paſſages of wit b.

[42] Sir Francis Bryan was the friend of Wyat, as we have ſeen; and ſerved as a commander under Thomas earl of Surrey in an expedition into Brittany, by whom he was knighted for his bravery c. Hence he probably became connected with lord Surrey the poet. But Bryan was one of the brilliant ornaments of the court of king Henry the eighth, which at leaſt affected to be polite: and from his popular accompliſhments as a wit and a poet, he was made a gentleman of the privy-chamber to that monarch, who loved to be entertained by his domeſtics d. Yet he enjoyed much more important appointments in that reign, and in the firſt year of Edward the ſixth; and died chief juſticiary of Ireland, at Waterford, in the year 1548 e. On the principle of an unbiaſſed attachment to the king, he wrote epiſtles on Henry's divorce, never publiſhed; and tranſlated into Engliſh from the French, Antonio de Guevara's Spaniſh Diſſertation on the life of a courtier, printed at London in the year laſt mentioned f. He was nephew to John Bourchier, lord Berners, the tranſlator of Froiſſart; who, at his deſire, tranſlated at Calais from French into Engliſh, the GOLDEN BOKE, or Life of Marcus Aurelius, about 1533 g. Which are Bryan's pieces I cannot aſcertain.

George Boleyn, viſcount Rochford, was ſon of ſir Thomas Boleyn, afterwards earl of Wiltſhire and Ormond; and at Oxford diſcovered an early propenſity to polite letters and poetry. He was appointed to ſeveral dignities and offices by king Henry the eighth, and ſubſcribed the famous declaration ſent to Pope Clement the ſeventh. He was brother to queen Anne Boleyn, with whom he was ſuſpected of a criminal familiarity. The chief accuſation againſt him ſeems to have been, that he was ſeen to whiſper with the queen one morning while ſhe was in [43] bed. As he had been raiſed by the exaltation, he was involved in the misfortunes of that injured princeſs, who had no other fault but an un [...]uarded and indiſcrete frankneſs of nature; and whoſe character has been blackened by the bigotted hiſtorians of the catholic cauſe, merely becauſe ſhe was the mother of queen Eliſabeth. To gratify the oſtenſible jealouſy of the king, who had conceived a violent paſſion for a new object, this amiable nobleman was beheaded on the firſt of May, in 1536 h. His elegance of perſon, and ſpritely converſation, captivated all the ladies of Henry's court. Wood ſays, that at the ‘"royal court he was much adored, eſpecially by the female ſex, for his admirable diſcourſe, and ſymmetry of body i."’ From theſe irreſiſtible allurements his enemies endeavoured to give a plauſibility to their infamous charge of an inceſtuous connection. After his commitment to the Tower, his ſiſter the queen, on being ſent to the ſame place, aſked the lieutenant, with a degree of eagerneſs, ‘"Oh! where is my ſweet brother k?"’ Here was a ſpecious confirmation of his imagined guilt: this ſtroke of natural tenderneſs was too readily interpreted into a licentious attachment. Bale mentions his RHYTHMI ELEGANTISSIMI l, which Wood calls, ‘"Songs and Sonnets, with other things of the like nature m."’ Theſe are now loſt, unleſs ſome, as I have inſinuated, are contained in the preſent collection; a garland, in which it appears to have been the faſhion for every FLOWERY COURTIER to leave ſome of his bloſſoms. But Boleyn's poems cannot now be diſtinguiſhed.

The lord Vaulx, whom I have ſuppoſed, and on ſurer proof, to be another contributor to this miſcellany, could not be the Nicholas lord Vaux, whoſe gown of purple velvet, plated with gold, eclipſed all the company preſent at the marriage of prince Arthur; who ſhines as a ſtateſman and a ſoldier with uncommon luſtre in the hiſtory of Henry the ſeventh, and continued [44] to adorn the earlier annals of his ſucceſſor, and who died in the year 1523. Lord Vaux the poet, was probably Thomas lord Vaux, the ſon of Nicholas, and who was ſummoned to parliament in 1531, and ſeems to have lived till the latter end of the reign of queen Mary n. All our old writers mention the poetical lord Vaux, as rather poſterior to Wyat and Surrey; neither of whom was known as a writer till many years after the death of lord Nicholas. George Gaſcoyne, who wrote in 1575, in his panegyric on the ENGLISH POETS, places Vaux after Surrey.

Piers Plowman was full playne,
And Chaucer's ſpreet was greate;
Earle Surrey had a goodly vayne,
LORD VAUX the marke did beate.

Puttenham, author of the ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, having ſpoken of Surrey and Wyat, immediately adds, ‘"In the SAME TIME, or NOT LONG AFTER, was the lord Nicholaso Vaux, a man of much facilitie in vulgar making p."’ Webbe, in his DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POETRIE, publiſhed in 1586, has a ſimilar arrangement. Great numbers of Vaux's poems are extant in the PARADISE OF DAINTY DEVISES; and, inſtead of the rudeneſs of Skelton, they have a ſmoothneſs and facility of manner, which does not belong to poetry written before the year 1523, in which lord Nicholas Vaux died an old man q. The PARADISE OF DAINTY DEVISES was publiſhed in 1578, and he is there ſimply ſtyled Lord Vaulx the elder: this was to diſtinguiſh him from his ſon lord William, then living. If lord Nicholas was a writer of poetry, I will venture to aſſert, that none of his performances now remain; notwithſtanding the [45] teſtimony of Wood, who ſays, that Nicholas, ‘"in his juvenile years was ſent to Oxon, where by reading humane and romantic, rather than philoſophical authors, he advanced his genius very much in poetry and hiſtory r."’ This may be true of his ſon Thomas, whom I ſuppoſe to be the poet. But ſuch was the celebrity of lord Nicholas's public and political character, that he has been made to monopoliſe every merit which was the property of his ſucceſſors. All theſe difficulties, however, are at once adjuſted by a manuſcript in the Britiſh Muſeum: in which we have a copy of Vaux's poem, beginning I lothe that I did love, with this title: ‘"A dyttye or ſonet made by the lord Vaus, in the time of the noble quene Marye, repreſenting the image of Death s."’ This ſonnet, or rather ode, entitled, The aged lover renounceth love, which was more remembered for its morality than its poetry, and which is idly conjectured to have been written on his death-bed t, makes a part of the collection which I am now examining u. From this ditty are taken three of the ſtanzas, yet greatly diſguiſed and corrupted, of the Grave-digger's Song in Shakeſpeare's HAMLET w. Another of lord Vaux's poems in the volume before us, is the ASSAULT OF CUPIDE UPON THE FORT IN WHICH THE LOVER'S HEART LAY WOUNDED x. Theſe two are the only pieces in our collection, of which there is undoubted evidence, although no name is prefixed to either, that they were written by lord Vaux. From palpable coincidencies of ſtyle, ſubject, and other circumſtances, a ſlender ſhare of critical ſagacity is ſufficient to point out many others.

Theſe three writers were cotemporaries with Surrey and Wyat: but the ſubjects of ſome of the pieces will go far in aſcertaining the date of the collection in general. There is one on the death [46] of ſir Thomas Wyat the elder, who died, as I have remarked, in 1541 y. Another on the death of lord chancellor Audley, who died in 1544 z. Another on the death of maſter Devereux, a ſon of lord Ferrers, who is ſaid to have been a Cato for his counſel a; and who is probably Richard Devereux, buried in Berkyng church b, the ſon of Walter lord Ferrers, a diſtinguiſhed ſtateſman and general under Henry the eighth c. Another on the death of a lady Wentworth d. Another on the death of [...]r Antony Denny, the only perſon of the court who dared to inform king Henry the eighth of his approaching diſſolution, and who died in 1551 e. Another on the death of Phillips, an eminent muſician, and without his rival on the lute f. Another on the death of a counteſs of Pembroke, who is celebrated for her learning, and her perfect virtues linked in a chaine g: probably Anne, who was buried magnificently at ſaint Pauls, in 1551, the firſt lady of ſir William Herbert the firſt earl of Pembroke, and ſiſter to Catharine Parr, the ſixth queen of Henry the eighth h. Another on maſter Henry Williams, ſon of ſir John Williams, afterwards lord Thame, and a great favorite of Henry the eighth i. On the death of ſir James Wilford, an officer in [47] Henry's wars, we have here an elegy k, with ſome verſes on his picture l. Here is alſo a poem on a treaſonable conſpiracy, which is compared to the ſtratagem of Sinon, and which threatened immediate extermination to the Britiſh conſtitution, but was ſpeedily diſcovered m. I have not the courage to explore the formidable columns of the circumſtantial Hollingſhed for this occult piece of hiſtory, which I leave to the curioſity and conjectures of ſome more laborious inveſtigator. It is certain that none of theſe pieces are later than the year 1557, as they were publiſhed in that year by Richard Tottell the printer. We may venture to ſay, that almoſt all of them were written between the years 1530 and 1550 n. Moſt of them perhaps within the firſt part of that period.

The following nameleſs ſtanzas have that elegance which reſults from ſimplicity. The compliments are ſuch as would not diſgrace the gallantry or the poetry of a poliſhed age. The thoughts ſupport themſelves, without the aid of expreſſion, and the affectations of language. This is a negligence, but it is a negligence produced by art. Here is an effect obtained, which it would be vain to ſeek from the ſtudied ornaments of ſtyle.

Give place, ye ladies, and be gone,
Boaſt not yourſelves at all:
For here at hand approcheth one
Whoſe face will ſtaine you all.
The vertue of her lively lokes
Excels the precious ſtone:
I wiſh to have none other bokes
To reade or loke upon.
[48]
In eche of her two criſ [...]all eyes
Smileth a naked boye:
It would you all in hart ſuffice
To ſe that lampe of joye.
I thinke Nature hath loſt the moulde o
Where ſhe her ſhape did take;
Or els I doubt if Nature coulde
So faire a creature make.—
In life ſhe is Diana chaſte,
In truth Penelopey;
In worde and eke in dede ſtedfaſt.
What would you more we ſey?
If all the worlde were ſought ſo farre,
Who could finde ſuch a wight?
Her beuty twinkleth like a ſtarre
Within the froſty night.
Her roſial colour comes and goes
With ſuch a comly grace,
(More ruddy too than is the roſe)
Within her lively face.
At Bacchus feaſte none ſhall her mete,
Ne at no wanton play,
Nor gaſing in an open ſtrete,
Nor gadding as aſtray.
The modeſt mirth that ſhe doth uſe
Is mixt with ſhamefa [...]tneſſe;
Al vice ſhe doth wholy refuſe,
And hateth ydleneſſe.
O lord, it is a world to ſee
How vertue can repaire
And decke in her ſuch honeſtie,
Whom nature made ſo faire!—
Howe might I do to get a graffe
Of this unſpotted tree?
[49] For all the reſt are plaine but chaffe [...]
Which ſeme good corn to be p.—

Of the ſame ſort is the following ſtanza on Beauty.

Then BEAUTY ſtept before the barre,
Whoſe breaſt and neck was bare;
With haire truſt up, and on her head
A caule of golde ſhe ware q.

We are to recollect, that theſe compliments were penned at a time, when the graces of converſation between the ſexes were unknown, and the dialogue of courtſhip was indelicate; when the monarch of England, in a ſtyle, which the meaneſt gentleman would now be aſhamed to uſe, pleaded the warmth of his affection, by drawing a coarſe alluſion from a preſent of veniſon, which he calls fleſh, in a love-letter to his future queen, Anne Boleyn, a lady of diſtinguiſhed breeding, beauty, and modeſty r.

In lord Vaux's ASSAULT OF CUPIDE, abovementioned, theſe are the moſt remarkable ſtanzas.

When Cupide ſcaled firſt the fort,
Wherin my hart lay wounded ſore;
The batry was of ſuch a ſort,
That I muſt yelde, or die therfore.
There ſawe I Love upon the wall
How he his baner did diſplay;
Alarme, Alarme, he gan to call,
And bade his ſouldiours kepe away.
The armes the which that Cupid bare,
Were pearced hartes, with teares beſprent.—
[50]
And even with the trumpettes ſowne
The ſcaling ladders were up ſet;
And BEAUTY walked up and downe,
With bow in hand, and arrowes whet.
Then firſt DESIRE began to ſcale,
And ſhrouded him under his targe, &c s.

Puttenham ſpeaks more highly of the contrivance of the allegory of this piece, than I can allow. ‘"In this figure [counterfait action] the lord Nicholast Vaux, a noble gentleman, and much delighted in vulgar making u, and a man otherwi [...]e of no great learning, but having herein a marvelous facilitie, made a dittie repreſenting the Battayle and Aſſault of Cupid ſo excellently well, as for the gallant and propre aplication of his fiction in every part, I cannot chooſe but ſet downe the greateſt part of his ditty, for in truth it cannot be amended: When Cupid ſcaled, &c w."’ And in another part of the [...]ame book. ‘"The lord Vaux his commendation lyeth chiefly in the facilitie of his meetre, and the aptneſſe of his deſcriptions, ſuche as he taketh upon him to make, namely in ſundry of his ſonges, wherein he ſheweth the COUNTERFAIT ACTION very lively and pleaſantly x."’ By counterfait action the critic means fictitious action, the action of imaginary beings expreſſive of fact and reality. There is more poetry in ſome of the old pageants deſcribed by Hollingſhed, than in this allegory of Cupid. Vaux ſeems to have had his eye on Sir David Lyndſey's GOLDEN TERGE y.

In the following little ode, much pretty deſcription and imagination is built on the circumſtance of a lady being named Bayes. So much good poetry could hardly be expected from a pun.

[51]
In Bayes I boaſt, whoſe braunch I beare:
Such joye therein I finde,
That to the death I ſhall it weare,
To eaſe my carefull minde.
In heat, in cold, both night and day,
Her vertue may be ſene;
When other frutes and flowers decay,
The Bay yet growes full greene.
Her berries feede the birdes ful oft,
Her leaves ſwete water make;
Her bowes be ſet in every loft,
For their ſwete ſavour's ſake.
The birdes do ſhrowd them from the cold
In her we dayly ſee:
And men make arbers as they wold,
Under the pleaſant tree z.—

From the ſame collection, the following is perhaps the firſt example in our language now remaining, of the pure and unmixed paſtoral: and in the erotic ſpecies, for eaſe of numbers, elegance of rural alluſion, and ſimplicity of imagery, excels every thing of the kind in Spenſer, who is erroneouſly ranked as our earlieſt Engliſh bucolic. I therefore hope to be pardoned for the length of the quotation.

Phyllida was a faire mayde,
As freſh as any flour;
Whom Harpalus the herdman prayde
To be her paramour.
Harpalus and eke Corin
Were herdmen both yfere a:
And Phyllida could twiſt and ſpin,
And thereto ſing full clere.
[52]
But Phyllida was all to coy
For Harpalus to winne;
For Corin was her only joy
Who forſt her not a pinne b.
How often would ſhe flowers twine?
How often garlandes make
Of couſlips and of columbine?
And al for Corin's ſake.
But Corin he had hawkes to lure,
And forced more the fielde c;
Of lovers lawe he toke no cure,
For once he was begilde d.
Harpalus prevailed nought,
His labour all was loſt;
For he was fardeſt from her thought,
And yet he loved her moſt.
Therefore waxt he both pale and leane,
And drye as clote of clay;
His fleſhe it was conſumed cleane,
His colour gone away.
His beard it had not long be ſhave,
His heare hong all unkempt f;
A man fit even for the grave,
Whom ſpitefull love had ſpent.
His eyes were red, and all forewatched g,
His face beſprent with teares;
It ſemde Vnhap had him long hatched
In mids of his diſpaires.
His clothes were blacke and alſo bare,
As one forlorne was he:
Upon his head alwayes he ware
A wreath of wyllow tree.
[53]
His beaſtes he kept upon the hyll
And he ſate in the dale;
And thus with ſighes and ſorowes ſhryll
He gan to tell his tale.
"O Harpalus, thus would he ſay,
"Unhappieſt under ſunne!
"The cauſe of thine unhappy day
"By love was firſt begunne!
"For thou wentſt firſt by ſute to ſeke
"A tigre to make tame,
"That ſettes not by thy love a leeke,
"But makes thy grief her game.
"As eaſy it were to convert
"The froſt into the flame,
"As for to turne a froward hert
"Whom thou ſo faine wouldſt frame.
"Corin he liveth carèleſſe,
"He leapes among the leaves;
"He eates the frutes of thy redreſſe h,
"Thou reapes, he takes the ſheaves.
"My beaſtes, awhile your foode refraine,
"And hark your herdſmans ſounde;
"Whom ſpitefull love, alas, hath ſlaine
"Through-girt i with many a wounde!
"O happy be ye, beaſtes wilde,
"That here your paſture takes!
"I ſe that ye be not begilde
"Of theſe your faithfull makes k.
"The hart he fedeth by the hinde,
"The buck hard by the do:
"The turtle dove is not unkinde
"To him that loves her ſo.—
[54]
"But, welaway, that nature wrought,
"Thee, Phyllida, ſo faire;
"For I may ſay, that I have bought
"Thy beauty all too deare! &c l."

The illuſtrations in the two following ſtanzas, of the reſtleſſneſs of a lover's mind, deſerve to be cited for their ſimple beauty, and native force of expreſſion.

The owle with feble ſight
Lyes lurking in the leaves;
The ſparrow in the froſty night,
May ſhroud her in the eaves.
But wo to me, alace!
In ſunne, nor yet in ſhade,
I cannot finde a reſting place
My burden to unlade m.

Nor can I omit to notice the ſentimental and expreſſive metaphor contained in a ſingle line.

Walking the path of penſive thought n.

Perhaps there is more pathos and feeling in the Ode, in which The Lover in deſpaire lamenteth his Caſe, than in any other piece of the whole collection.

Adieu deſert, how art thou ſpent!
Ah dropping tears, how do ye waſte!
Ah ſcalding ſighes, how ye be ſpent,
To pricke Them forth that will not haſte!
Ah! pained hart, thou gapſt for grace o,
Even there, where pitie hath no place.
[55]
As eaſy tis the ſtony rocke
From place to place for to remove,
As by thy plaint for to provoke
A froſen hart from hate to love.
What ſhould I ſay? Such is thy lot
To fawne on them that forcep thee not!
Thus mayſt thou ſafely ſay and ſweare,
That rigour raignes where ruthq doth faile,
In thankleſſe thoughts thy thoughts do weare:
Thy truth, thy faith, may nought availe
For thy good will: why ſhouldſt thou ſo
Still graft, where grace it will not grow?
Alas! poore hart, thus haſt thou ſpent
Thy flowring time, thy pleaſant yeres?
With ſighing voice wepe and lament,
For of thy hope no frute apperes!
Thy true meaning is paide with ſcorne,
That ever ſoweth and repeth no corne.
And where thou ſekes a quiet port,
Thou doſt but weigh againſt the winde:
For where thou gladdeſt woldſt reſort,
There is no place for thee aſſinde r.
Thy deſtiny hath ſet it ſo,
That thy true hart ſhould cauſe thy wo s.

Theſe reflections, reſulting from a retroſpect of the vigorous and active part of life, deſtined for nobler purſuits, and unworthily waſted in the tedious and fruitleſs anxieties of unſucceſsful love, are highly natural, and are painted from the heart: but their force is weakened by the poet's alluſions.

T [...]is miſcellany affords the firſt pointed Engliſh epigram that I remember; and which deſerves to be admitted into the modern collections of that popular ſpecies of poetry. Sir Thomas More [56] was one of the beſt jokers of that age: and there is ſome probability, that this might have fallen from his pen. It is on a ſcholar, who was purſuing his ſtudies ſucceſsfully, but in the midſt of his literary career, married unfortunately.

A ſtudent, at his boke ſo plaſt t,
That welth he might have wonne,
From boke to wife did flete in haſt,
From welth to wo to run.
Now, who hath plaid a feater caſt,
Since jugling firſt begonne?
In knitting of himſelf ſo faſt,
Himſelf he hath undonne u.

But the humour does not ariſe from the circumſtances of the character. It is a general joke on an unhappy match.

Theſe two lines are ſaid to have been written by Mary queen of Scots with a diamond on a window in Fotheringay caſtle, during her impriſonment there, and to have been of her compoſition.

From the toppe of all my truſt
Miſhap hath throwen me in the duſt w.

But they belong to an elegant little ode of ten ſtanzas in the collection before us, in which a lover complains that he is caught by the ſnare which he once defied x. The unfortunate queen only quoted a diſtich applicable to her ſituation, which ſhe remembered in a faſhionable ſett of poems, perhaps the amuſement of her youth.

The ode, which is the compariſon of the author's faithful and painful paſſion with that of Troilus y, is founded on Chaucer's [57] poem, or Boccace's, on the ſame ſubject. This was the moſt favorite love-ſtory of our old poetry, and from its popularity was wrought into a drama by Shakeſpeare. Troilus's ſufferings for Creſſida were a common topic for a lover's fidelity and aſſiduity. Shakeſpeare, in his MERCHANT OF VENICE, compares a night favorable to the ſtratagems or the meditation of a lover, to ſuch a night as Troilus might have choſen, for ſtealing a view of the Grecian camp from the ramparts of Troy.

And ſigh'd his ſoul towards the Grecian tents
Where Creſſid lay that night z.—

Among theſe poems is a ſhort fragment of a tranſlation into Alexandrines of Ovid's epiſtle from Penelope to Ulyſſes a. This is the firſt attempt at a metrical tranſlation of any part of Ovid into Engliſh, for Caxton's Ovid is a looſe paraphraſe in proſe. Nor were the heroic epiſtles of Ovid tranſlated into verſe till the year 1582, by George Tuberville. It is a proof that the claſſics were ſtudied, when they began to be tranſlated.

It would be tedious and intricate to trace the particular imitations of the Italian poets, with which theſe anonymous poems abound. Two of the ſonnetsb are panegyrics on Petrarch and Laura, names at that time familiar to every polite reader, and the patterns of poetry and beauty. The ſonnet on The diverſe and contrarie paſſions of the lover c, is formed on one of Petrarch's ſonnets, and which, as I have remarked before, was tranſlated by ſir Thomas Wyat d. So many of the nobility, and principal perſons about the court, writing ſonnets in the Italian ſtyle, is a circumſtance which muſt have greatly contributed to circulate this mode of compoſition, and to encourage the ſtudy of the Italian poets. Beſide lord Surrey, ſir Thomas Wyat, lord Boleyn, lord Vaux, and ſir Francis Bryan, already mentioned, Ed [...]und [58] lord Sheffield, created a baron by king Edward the ſixth, and killed by a butcher in the Norfolk inſurrection, is ſaid by Bale to have written ſonnets in the Italian manner e.

I have been informed, that Henry lord Berners tranſlated ſome of Petrarch's ſonnets f. But this nobleman otherwiſe deſerved notice here, for his proſe works, which co-operated with the romantic genius and the gallantry of the age. He tranſlated, and by the king's command, Froiſſart's chronicle, which was printed by Pinſon in 1523. Some of his other tranſlations are profeſſed romances. He tranſlated from the Spaniſh, by deſire of the lady of ſir Nicholas Carew, THE CASTLE OF LOVE. From the French he tranſlated, at the requeſt of the earl of Huntingdon, SIR HUGH OF BOURDEAUX, which became exceedingly popular. And from the ſame language, THE HISTORY OF ARTHUR an Armorican knight. Bale ſays g, that he wrote a comedy called Ite in vineam, or the PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD, which was frequently acted at Calais, where lord Berners reſided, after veſpers h. He died in 1532.

I have alſo been told, that the late lord Eglintoun had a genuine book of manuſcript ſonnets, written by king Henry the eighth. There is an old madrigal, ſet to muſic by William Bird, ſuppoſed to be written by Henry, when he firſt fell in love with Anne Boleyn i. It begins,

The eagles force ſubdues eche byrde that flyes,
What metal can reſyſte the flamyng fyre?
Doth not the ſunne dazle the cleareſte eyes,
And melt the yce, and makethe froſte retyre?

[59] It appears in Bird's PSALMES, SONGS, AND SONNETS, printed with muſical notes, in 1611 k. Poetry and muſic are congenial; and it is certain, that Henry was ſkilled in muſical compoſition. Eraſmus atteſts, that he compoſed ſome church ſervices l: and one of his anthems ſtill continues to be performed in the choir of Chriſt-church at Oxford, of his foundation. It is in an admirable ſtyle, and is for four voices. Henry, although a ſcholar, had little taſte for the claſſical elegancies which now began to be known in England. His education ſeems to have been altogether theological: and, whether it beſt ſuited his taſte or his intereſt, polemical divinity ſeems to have been his favorite ſcience. He was a patron of learned men, when they humoured his vanities; and were wiſe enough, not to interrupt his pleaſures, his convenience, or his ambition.

SECT. XXII.

[60]

TO theſe SONGES and SONNETTES of UNCERTAIN AUCTOURS, in Tottell's edition are annexed SONGES WRITTEN BY N. G.a By the initials N. G. we are to underſtand Nicholas Grimoald, a name which never appeared yet in the poetical biography of England. But I have before mentioned him incidentally b. He was a native of Huntingdonſhire, and received the firſt part of his academical inſtitution at Chriſt's college in Cambridge. Removing to Oxford in the year 1542, he was elected fellow of Merton College: but, about 1547, having opened a rhetorical lecture in the refectory of Chriſt-church, then newly founded, he was tranſplanted to that ſociety, which gave the greateſt encouragement to ſuch ſtudents as were diſtinguiſhed for their proficiency in criticiſm and philology. The ſame year, he wrote a Latin tragedy, which probably was acted in the college, entitled, ARCHIPROPHETA, [...]ive JOHANNES BAPTISTA, TRAGAEDIA, That is, The Arch-prophet, or Saint John Baptiſt, a tragedy, and dedicated to the dean Richard Cox c. In the year 1548 d, he explained all the four books of Virgil's Georgics in a regular proſe Latin paraphraſe, in the public hall of his college e. He wrote alſo explanatory commentaries or lectures on the Andria of Terence, the Epiſtles of Horace, and many pieces of Cicero, perhaps for the ſame auditory. He tranſlated Tully's Offices into Engliſh. This tranſlation, which is dedicated to the learned Thirlby biſhop of Ely, was printed at London, [61] 1553 f. He alſo familiariſed ſome of the pureſt Greek claſſics by Engliſh verſions, which I believe were never printed. Among others was the CYROPAEDIA. Bale the biographer and biſhop of Oſſory, ſays, that he turned Chaucer's TROILUS into a play: but whether this piece was in Latin or Engliſh, we are ſtill to ſeek: and the word Comedia, which Bale uſes on this occaſion, is without preciſion or diſtinction. The ſame may be ſaid of what Bale calls his FAME, a comedy. Bale alſo recites his Syſtem of Rhetoric for the uſe of Engliſhmen g, which ſeems to be the courſe of the rhetorical lectures I have mentioned. It is to be wiſhed, that Bale, who appears to have been his friend h, and therefore poſſeſſed the opportunities of information, had given us a more exact and full detail, at leaſt of ſuch of Grimoald's works as are now loſt, or, if remaining, are unprinted i. Undoubtedly this is the ſame perſon, called by Strype one Grimbold, who was chaplain to biſhop Ridley, and who was employed by that prelate, while in priſon, to tranſlate into Engliſh, Laurentio Valla's book againſt the fiction of Conſtantine's DONATION, with ſome other popular Latin pieces againſt the papiſts k. In the eccleſiaſtical hiſtory of Mary's reign, he appears to have been impriſoned for hereſy, and to have ſaved his life, if not his credit, by a recantation. But theology does not ſeem to have been his talent, nor the glories of martyrdom to have made any part of his ambition. One of his plans, but which never took effect, was to print a new edition of Joſephus Iſcanus's poem on the TROJAN WAR, with emendations from the moſt correct manuſcripts l.

I have taken more pains to introduce this Nicholas Grimoald to the reader's acquaintance, becauſe he is the ſecond Engliſh poet after lord Surrey, who wrote in blank-verſe. Nor is it his [62] only praiſe, that he was the firſt who followed in this new path of verſification. To the ſtyle of blank-verſe exhibited by Surrey, he added new ſtrength, elegance, and modulation. In the diſpoſition and conduct of his cadencies, he often approaches to the legitimate ſtructure of the improved blank-verſe: but we cannot ſuppoſe, that he is entirely free from thoſe diſſonancies and aſp [...] rities, which ſtill adhered to the general character and ſtate of our diction.

In his poem on the DEATH OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO are theſe lines. The aſſaſſins of Cicero are ſaid to relent,

—When
They his bare neck behelde, and his hore heares,
Scant could they hold the teares that forth gan burſt,
And almoſt fell from bloody handes the ſwoordes.
Onely the ſterne Herennius, with grym looke,
Daſtardes, why ſtande ye ſtill? he ſaith: and ſtraight
Swapt off the head with his preſumptuous yrone.
Ne with the ſlaughter yet is he not filled:
Fowle ſhame on ſhame to hepe, is his delite.
Wherefore the handes alſo he doth off-ſmyte,
Which durſt Antonius' life ſo lively paint.
Him, yelding ſtrained ghoſte m, from welkin hie
With lothly chere lord Phebus gan beholde;
And in black clowde, they ſay, long hid his hed.
The Latine Muſes, and the Grayes n, they wept,
And for his fall eternally ſhall wepe.
And lo! hart-perſing PITHO o, ſtrange to tell,
Who had ſuffiſde to him both ſence and wordes,
When ſo he ſpake, and dreſt with nectar ſoote
That flowyng toung, when his windpipe diſcloſde,
Fled with her fleeing friend p; and, out, alas!
Hath left the earth, ne will no more returne.

[63] Nor is this paſſage unſupported by a warmth of imagination, and the ſpirit of pathetic poetry. The general caſt of the whole poem ſhews, that our author was not ill qualified for dramatic compoſition.

Another of Grimoald's blank-verſe poems, is on the death of Zoroas an Egyptian aſtronomer, who was killed in Alexander's firſt battle with the Perſians. It is opened with this nervous and animated exordium.

Now clattering armes, now ragyng broyls of warre,
Gan paſſe the noyes of dredfull trompets clang q;
Shrowded with ſhafts the heaven, with clowd of darts
Covered the ayre. Againſt full-fatted bulls
As forceth kindled yre the lyons keene,
Whoſe greedy gutts the gnawing honger pricks,
So Macedonians 'gainſt the Perſians fare r.

In the midſt of the tumult and hurry of the battle, appears the ſage philoſopher Zoroas: a claſſical and elegant deſcription of whoſe ſkill in natural ſcience, forms a pleaſing contraſt amidſt images of death and deſtruction; and is inſerted with great propriety, as it is neceſſary to introduce the hiſtory of his cataſtrophe.

Shakyng her bloody hands Bellone, among
The Perſes, ſowth all kynde of cruel deth.—
Him ſmites the club; him wounds far-ſtrikyng bow;
And him the ſlyng, and him the ſhining ſwoord.—
Right over ſtood, in ſnow-white armour brave s,
The Memphite Zoroas, a cunning clarke,
To whom the heaven lay open as his boke:
[64] And in celeſtiall bodies he could tell
The moving, meting, light, aſpect, eclips,
And influence, and conſtellacions all.
What earthly chances would betide: what yere
Of plentyt ſtord: what ſigne forwarned derth:
How winter gendreth ſnow: what temperature
In the prime tideu doth ſeaſon well the ſoyl.
Why ſommer burnes: why autumne hath ripe grapes:
Whether the circle quadrate may become:
Whether our tunes heavens harmony can yeld w:—
What ſtar doth letx the hurtfull ſirey to rage,
Or him more milde what oppoſition makes:
What fire doth qualify Mavorſesz fire, &c a.

Our aſtronomer, finding by the ſtars that he is deſtined to die ſpeedily, chuſes to be killed by the hand of Alexander, whom he endeavours to irritate to an attack, firſt by throwing darts, and then by reproachful ſpeeches.

—Shameful ſtain
Of mothers bed! Why lo [...]eſt thou thy ſtrokes
Cowards among? Turne thee to me, in caſe
Manhode there be ſo much left in thy hart:
Come, fight with me, that on my helmet weare
Apolloes laurel, both for learnings laude,
And eke for martial praiſe: that in my ſhielde
The ſevenfold ſophie of Minerve contain.
A match more mete, ſir king, than any here.

Alexander is for a while unwilling to revenge this inſult on a man eminent for wiſdom.

[65]
The noble prince amoved takes ruthe upon
The wilful wight; and with ſoft wordes, ayen:
O monſtrous man, quoth he, What ſo thou art!
I pray thee live, ne do not with thy death
This lodge of lore b, the Muſes manſion mar,
That treaſure-houſe this hand ſhall never ſpoyl.
My ſword ſhall never bruſe that ſkilfull braine,
Long-gathered heapes of Science ſone to ſpill.
O how faire frutes may you to mortal man
From WISDOM'S garden give! How many may,
By you, the wiſer and the better prove!
What error, what mad moode, what frenſy, thee
Perſwades, to be downe ſent to depe Averne,
Where no arts floriſh, nor no knowledge 'vails
For all theſe ſawes c? When thus the ſoveraign ſayd,
Alighted Zoroas, &c d.—

I have a ſuſpicion, that theſe two pieces in blank-verſe, if not fragments of larger works, were finiſhed in their preſent ſtate, as proluſions, or illuſtrative practical ſpecimens, for our author's courſe of lectures in rhetoric. In that caſe, they were written ſo early as the year 1547. There is poſitive proof, that they appeared not later than 1557, when they were firſt printed by Tottell.

I have already mentioned lord Surrey's Virgil: and for the ſake of juxtapoſition, will here produce a third ſpecimen of early blank-verſe, little known. In the year 1590, William Vallans publiſhed a blank-verſe poem, entitled, A TALE OF TWO SWANNES, which, under a poetic fiction, deſcribes the ſituation and antiquities of ſeveral towns in Hertfordſhire. The author, a native or inhabitant of Hertfordſhire, ſeems to have been connected [66] with Camden and other ingenious antiquaries of his age. I cite the exordium.

When Nature, nurſe of every living thing,
Had clad her charge in brave and new array;
The hils rejoiſt to ſee themſelves ſo fine:
The fields and woods grew proud thereof alſo:
The meadowes with their partie-colour'd coates,
Like to the rainebow in the azurd ſkie,
Gave juſt occaſion to the cheerfull birdes
With ſweeteſt note to ſinge their nurſe's praiſe.
Among the which, the merrie nightingale
With ſwete and ſwete, her breaſt againſt a thorne,
Ringes out all night, &c e.

Vallans is probably the author of a piece much better known, a hiſtory, by many held to be a romance, but which proves the writer a diligent ſearcher into antient records, entitled, ‘"The HONOURABLE PRENTICE, Shewed in the Life and Death of Sir JOHN HAWKEWOOD ſometime Prentice of London, interlaced with the famous Hiſtory of the noble FITZWALTER Lord of Woodham in Eſſex f, and ofthe poiſoning of his faire daughter. Alſo of the merry Cuſtomes of DUNMOWE, &c. Whereunto is annexed the moſt lamentable murther of Robert Hall at the High Altar in Weſtminſter Abbey g."’

The reader will obſerve, that what has been here ſaid about early ſpecimens of blank-verſe, is to be reſtrained to poems not [67] written for the ſtage. Long before Vallans's TWO SWANNES, many theatrical pieces in blank-verſe had appeared; the firſt of which is, The TRAGEDY OF GORDOBUCKE, written in 1561. The ſecond is George Gaſcoigne's JOCASTA, a tragedy, acted at Grays-inn, in 1566. George Peele had alſo publiſhed his tragedy in blank-verſe of DAVID and BETHSABE, about the year 1579 h. HIERONYMO, a tragedy alſo without rhyme, was acted before 1590. But this point, which is here only tranſiently mentioned, will be more fully conſidered hereafter, in its proper place. We will now return to our author Grimoald.

Grimoald, as a writer of verſes in rhyme, yields to none of his cotemporaries, for a maſterly choice of chaſte expreſſion, and the conciſe elegancies of didactic verſification. Some of the couplets, in his poem IN PRAISE OF MODERATION, have all the ſmartneſs which marks the modern ſtyle of ſententious poetry, and would have done honour to Pope's ethic epiſtles.

The auncient Time commended not for nought
The Mean. What better thing can there be ſought?
In meane is virtue placed: on either ſide,
Both right and left, amiſſe a man may ſlide.
Icar, with ſirei hadſt thou the midway flown,
Icarian beakk by name no man known.
If middle path kept had proud Phaeton,
No burning brande this earth had falne upon.
Ne cruel power, ne none too ſoft can raign:
That kepesl a meane, the ſame ſhal ſtil remain.
Thee, Julie m, once did too much mercy ſpill:
Thee, Nero ſterne, rigor extreme did kill.
How could Auguſtn ſo many yeres wel paſſe?
Nor overmeke, nor overfierce, he was.
[68] Worſhip not Jove with curious fancies vain,
Nor him deſpiſe: hold right atween theſe twain.
No waſtefull wight, no greedy groom is praizd:
Stands Largeſſe juſt in equal ballance paizd o.
So Catoes meat ſurmountes Antonius chere,
And better fame his ſober fare hath here.
Too ſlender building bad, as bad too groſſe p;
One an eye ſore, the other falls to loſſe.
As medcines help in meaſure, ſo, god wot,
By overmuch the ſick their bane have got.
Unmete, meſemes, to utter this mo waies;
Meaſure forbids unmeaſurable praiſe q.

The maxim is enforced with great quickneſs and variety of illuſtration: nor is the colliſion of oppoſite thoughts, which the ſubject ſo naturally affords, extravagantly purſued, or indulged beyond the bounds of good ſenſe and propriety. The following ſtanzas on the NINE MUSES are more poetical, and not leſs correct r.

Impss of king JOVE and queen REMEMBRANCE, lo,
The ſiſters nyne, the poets pleaſant feres t,
Calliope doth ſtately ſtile below,
And worthy praiſes paintes of princely peres.
Clion in ſolem ſonges reneweth all day,
With preſent yeres conjoining age bypaſt.
Delighteful talke loues comicall Thaley;
In freſh grene youth who doth like lawrell laſt.
With voyces tragicall ſoundes Melpomen,
And, as with cheins, thallured eare ſhe bindes.
Her ſtringes when Terpſechor doth touche, euen then
She toucheth hartes, and raigneth in mens mindes.
[69]
Fine Erato, whoſe looke a liuely chere
Preſents, in dauncing keepes a comely grace.
With ſemely geſture doth Polymnie ſtere,
Whoſe wordes whole routes of rankes do rule in place.
Uranie, her globes to view all bent,
The ninefold heauen obſerues with fixed face.
The blaſtes Euterpe tunes of inſtrument,
With ſolace ſweete, hence heauie dumps to chaſe.
Lord Phebus in the mids, (whoſe heauenly ſprite
Theſe ladies doth inſpire) embraceth all.
The Graces in the Muſes weed, delite
To lead them forth, that men in maze they fall.

It would be unpardonable to diſmiſs this valuable miſcellany, without acknowledging our obligations to its original editor Richard Tottell: who deſerves highly of Engliſh literature, for having collected at a critical period, and preſerved in a printed volume, ſo many admirable ſpecimens of antient genius, which would have mouldered in manuſcript, or perhaps from their detached and fugitive ſtate of exiſtence, their want of length, the capriciouſneſs of taſte, the general depredations of time, inattention, and other accidents, would never have reached the preſent age. It ſeems to have given birth to two favorite and celebrated collections of the ſame kind, THE PARADISE OF DAINTY DEVISES, and ENGLAND'S HELICON, which appeared in the reign of queen Eliſabeth . 252.

SECT. XXIII.

[70]

IT will not be ſuppoſed, that all the poets of the reign of Henry the eighth were educated in the ſchool of Petrarch. The graces of the Italian muſe, which had been taught by Surrey and Wyat, were confined to a few. Nor were the beauties of the claſſics yet become general objects of imitation. There are many writers of this period who ſtill rhymed on, in the old proſaic track of their immediate predeceſſors, and never ventured to deviate into the modern improvements. The ſtrain of romantic fiction was loſt; in the place of which, they did not ſubſtitute the elegancies newly introduced.

I ſhall conſider together, yet without an exact obſervation of chronological order, the poets of the reign of Henry the eighth who form this ſubordinate claſs, and who do not bear any mark of the character of the poetry which diſtinguiſhes this period. Yet ſome of theſe have their degree of merit; and, if they had not neceſſarily claimed a place in our ſeries, deſerve examination.

Andrew Borde, who writes himſelf ANDREAS PERFORATUS, with about as much propriety and as little pedantry as Buchanan calls one Wiſehart SOPHOCARDIUS, was educated at Wincheſter and Oxford a; and is ſaid, I believe on very ſlender proof, to have been phyſician to king Henry the eighth. His BREVIARY OF HEALTH, firſt printed in 1547 b, is dedicated to the [71] college of phyſicians, into which he had been incorporated. The firſt book of this treatiſe is ſaid to have been examined and approved by the Univerſity of Oxford in 1546 c. He chiefly practiced in Hampſhire; and being popiſhly affected, was cenſured by Poynet, a Calviniſtic biſhop of Wincheſter, for keeping three proſtitutes in his houſe, which he proved to be his patients d. He appears to have been a man of great ſuperſtition, and of a weak and whimſical head: and having been once a Carthuſian, continued ever afterwards to profeſs celibacy, to drink water, and to wear a ſhirt of hair. His thirſt of knowledge, diſlike of the reformation, or rather his unſettled diſpoſition, led him abroad into various parts of Europe, which he viſited in the medical character. Wood ſays, that he was ‘"eſteemed a noted poet, a witty and ingenious perſon, and an excellent phyſician."’ Hearne, who has plainly diſcovered the origin of Tom Thumb, is of opinion, that this facetious practitioner in phyſic gave riſe to the name of MERRY ANDREW, the Fool on the mountebank's ſtage. The reader will not perhaps be diſpleaſed to ſee that antiquary's reaſons for this conjecture: which are at the ſame time a vindication of Borde's character, afford ſome new anecdotes of his life, and ſhew that a Merry Andrew may be a ſcholar and an ingenious man. ‘"It is obſervable, that the author [Borde] was as fond of the word DOLENTYD, as of many other hard and uncooth words, as any Quack can be. He begins his BREVIARY OF HEALTH, Egregious doctours and Mayſters of the eximious and archane ſcience of Phyſicke, of your urbanite exaſperate not your ſelve, &c. But notwithſtanding this, will any one from hence infer or aſſert, that the author was either a pedant or a ſuperficial ſcholar? I think, upon due conſideration, he will judge the contrary. Dr. Borde was an ingenious man, and knew how to humour and pleaſe his patients, readers, and auditors. In [72] his travells and viſits, he often appeared and ſpoke in public: and would often frequent markets and fairs where a conflux of people uſed to get together, to whom he preſcribed; and to induce them to flock thither the more readily, he would make humorous ſpeeches, couched in ſuch language as cauſed mirth, and wonderfully propagated his fame: and 'twas for the ſame end that he made uſe of ſuch expreſſions in his Books, as would otherwiſe (the circumſtances not conſidered) be very juſtly pronounced bombaſt. As he was verſed in antiquity, he had words at command from old writers with which to amuſe his hearers, which could not fail of pleaſing, provided he added at the ſame time ſome remarkable explication. For inſtance, if he told them that [...] was an old braſs medal among the Greeks, the oddneſs of the word, would, without doubt, gain attention; tho nothing near ſo much, as if withall he ſignified, that 'twas a braſs medal a little bigger than an Obolus, that uſed to be put in the mouths of perſons that were dead.—And withall, 'twould affect them the more, if when he ſpoke of ſuch a braſs medal, he ſignified to them, that braſs was in old time looked upon as more honourable than other metals, which he might ſafely enough do, from Homer and his ſcholiaſt. Homer's words are &c. A paſſage, which without doubt HIERONYMUS MAGIUS would have taken notice of in the fourteenth chapter of his Book DE TINTINNABULIS, had it occurred to his memory when in priſon he was writing, without the help of books before him, that curious Diſcourſe. 'Twas from the Doctor's method of uſing ſuch ſpeeches at markets and fairs, that in aftertimes, thoſe that imitated the like humorous, jocoſe language, were ſtyled MERRY ANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our ſtages o."’

He is ſuppoſed to have compiled or compoſed the MERRY TALES of the mad men of Gotham, which, as were told by Wood, ‘"in the reign of Henry the eighth, and after, was accounted a book full [73] of wit and mirth by ſcholars and gentlemen f."’ This piece, which probably was not without its temporary ridicule, and which yet mantains a popularity in the nurſery, was, I think, firſt printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Hearne was of opinion, that theſe idle pranks of the men of Gotham, a town in Lincolnſhire, bore a reference to ſome cuſtomary law-tenures belonging to that place or its neighbourhood, now grown obſolete; and that Blount might have enriched his book on ANTIENT TENURES with theſe ludicrous ſtories. He is ſpeaking of the political deſign of REYNARD THE FOX, printed by Caxto [...]. ‘"It was an admirable Thing. And the deſign, being political, and to repreſent a wiſe government, was equally good. So little reaſon is there to look upon this as a poor deſpicable book. Nor is there more reaſon to eſteem THE MERRY TALES OF THE MAD MEN OF GOTHAM (which was much valued and cried up in Henry the eighth's time tho now ſold at ballad-ſingers ſtalls) as altogether a romance: a certain ſkillfull perſon having told me more than once, that he was aſſured by one of Gotham, that they formerly held lands there, by ſuch Sports and Cuſtoms as are touched upon in this book. For which reaſon, I think particular notice ſhould have been taken of it in Blount's TENURES, as I do not doubt but there would, had that otherwiſe curious author been appriſed of the matter. But 'tis ſtrange to ſee the changes that have been made in the book of REYNARD THE FOX, from the original editions g!"’

Borde's chief poetical work is entitled, ‘"The firſt Boke of the INTRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE, the which doth teach a man to ſpeake parte of al maner of languages, and to knowe the uſage and faſhion of al maner of countryes: and for to knowe the moſt parte of al maner of coynes of money, the [74] whych is currant in every region. Made by Andrew Borde of phiſyk doctor."’ It was printed by the Coplands, and is dedicated to the king's daughter the princeſs Mary. The dedication is dated from Montpelier, in the year 1542. The book, containing thirty-nine chapters, is partly in verſe and partly in proſe; with wooden cuts prefixed to each chapter. The firſt is a ſatire, as it appears, on the fickle nature of an Engliſhman: the ſymbolical print prefixed to this chapter, exhibiting a naked man, with a pair of ſheers in one hand and a roll of cloth in the other, not determined what ſort of a coat he ſhall order to be made, has more humour, than any of the verſes which follow h. Nor is the poetry deſtitute of humour only; but of every embelliſhment, both of metrical arrangement and of expreſſion. Borde has all the baldneſs of alluſion, and barbarity of verſification, belonging to Skelton, without his ſtrokes of ſatire and ſeverity. The following lines, part of the Engliſhman's ſpeech, will not prejudice the reader in his favour.

What do I care, if all the world me faile?
I will have a garment reach to my taile.
Then am I a minion, for I weare the new guiſe,
The next yeare after I hope to be wiſe,
Not only in wearing my gorgeous aray,
For I will go to learning a whole ſummers day.

In the ſeventh chapter, be gives a fantaſtic account of his travels i, and owns, that his metre deſerves no higher appellation than ryme d [...]grell. But this delineation of the fickle Engliſhman is perhaps to be reſtricted to the circumſtances of the author's [75] age, without a reſpect to the national character: and, as Borde was a rigid catholic, there is a probability, notwithſtanding in other places he treats o [...] natural diſpoſitions, that a ſatire is deſigned on the laxity of principle, and revolutions of opinion, which prevailed at the reformation, and the eaſy compliance of many of his changeable countrymen with a new religion for lucrative purpoſes.

I tranſcribe the character of the Welſhman, chiefly becauſe he ſpeaks of his harp.

I am a Welſhman, and do dwel in Wales,
I have loved to ſerche budgets, and looke in males:
I love not to labour, to delve, nor to dyg,
My fyngers be lymed lyke a lyme-twyg.
And wherby ryches I do not greatly ſet,
Syth all hys [is] fysſhe that cometh [...]o the net.
I am a gentylman, and come of Brutes blood,
My name is ap Ryce, ap Davy, ap Flood:
I love our Lady, for I am of hyr kynne,
He that doth not love her, I beſhrewe his chynne.
My kyndred is ap Hoby, ap Jenkin, ap Goffe.
Bycauſe I go barelegged, I do catch the coffe.
Bycauſe I do go barelegged it is not for pryde.
I have a gray cote, my body for to hyde.
I do love cawſe boby k, good roſted cheeſe,
And ſwysſhe metheglyn I loke for my fees.
And yf I have my HARPE, I care for no more,
It is my treaſure, I kepe it in ſtore.
For my harpe is made of a good mare's ſkyn,
The ſtrynges be of horſe heare, it maketh a good dyn.
My ſonge, and my voyce, and my harpe doth agree,
Much lyke the buſſing of an homble bee:
Yet in my country I do make paſtyme
In tellyng of prophyces which be not in ryme l.

[76] I have before mentioned ‘"A ryght pleaſant and merry Hiſtory of the MYLNER OF ABINGTON m, with his wife and his faire, daughter and of two poor ſcholars of Cambridge,"’ a meagre epitome of Chaucer's MILLER'S TALE. In a blank leaf of the Bodleian copy, this tale is ſaid by Thomas Newton of Cheſhire, an elegant Latin epigrammatiſt of the reign of queen Eliſabeth, to have been written by Borde n. He is alſo ſuppoſed to have publiſhed a collection of ſilly ſtories called SCOGIN'S JESTS, ſixty in number. Perhaps Shakeſpeare took his idea from this jeſt-book, that Scogan was a mere buffoon, where he ſays that Falſtaffe, as a juvenile exploit, ‘"broke Scogan's head at the court-gate o."’ Nor have we any better authority, than this publication by Borde, that Scogan was a graduate in the univerſity, and a jeſter to a king p. Hearne, at the end of Benedictus Abbas, has printed Borde's ITINERARY, as it may be called; which is little more than a ſtring of names, but is quoted by Norden in his SPECULUM BRITANNIAE q. Borde's circulatory peregrinations, in the quality of a quack-doctor, might have furniſhed more ample materials for an Engliſh topography. [77] Beſide the BREVIARY OF HEALTH, mentioned above, and which was approved by the univerſity of Oxford, Borde has left the DIETARIE OF HEALTH, reprinted in 1576, the PROMPTUARIE OF MEDICINE, the DOCTRINE OF URINES, and the PRINCIPLES OF ASTRONOMICAL PROGNOSTICATIONS r: which are proofs of attention to his profeſſion, and ſhew that he could ſometimes be ſerious s. But Borde's name would not have been now remembered, had he wrote only profound ſyſtems in medicine and aſtronomy. He is known to poſterity as a buffoon, not as a philoſopher. Yet, I think, ſome of his aſtronomical tracts have been epitomiſed and bound up with Erra Pater's Almanacs.

Of Borde's numerous books, the only one that can afford any degree of entertainment to the modern reader, is the DIETARIE OF HELTHE: where, giving directions as a phyſician, concerning the choice of houſes, diet, and apparel, and not ſuſpecting how little he ſhould inſtruct, and how much he might amuſe, a curious poſterity, he has preſerved many anecdotes of the private life, cuſtoms, and arts, of our anceſtors t. This work is dedicated to Thomas duke of Norfolk, lord treaſurer under Henry the eighth. In the dedication, he ſpeaks of his [78] being called in as a phyſician to ſir John Drury, the year when cardinal Wolſey was promoted to York; but that he did not chuſe to preſcribe without conſulting doctor Buttes, the king's phyſician. He apologiſes to the duke, for not writing in the ornate phraſeology now generally affected. He alſo hopes to be excuſed, for uſing in his writings ſo many wordes of mirth: but this, he ſays, was only to make your grace merrie, and becauſe mirth has ever been eſteemed the beſt medicine. Borde muſt have had no ſmall ſhare of vanity, who could think thus highly of his own pleaſantry. And to what a degree of taſte and refinement muſt our antient dukes and lords treaſurers have arrived, who could be exhilarated by the witticiſms and the lively language of this facetious philoſopher?

John Bale, a tolerable Latin claſſic, and an eminent biographer, before his converſion from popery, and his advancement to the biſhoprick of Oſſory by king Edward the ſixth, compoſed many ſcriptural interludes, chiefly from incidents of the New Teſtament. They are, the Life of Saint John the Bap [...]iſt, written in 1538. Chriſt in his twelfth year. Baptiſm and Temptation. The Reſurrection of Lazarus. The Council of the High-prieſts. Simon the Leper. Our Lord's Supper, and the Waſhing of the feet of his Diſciples. Chriſt's Burial and Reſurrection. The Paſſion of Chriſt. The Comedie of the three Laws of Nature, Moſes, and Chriſt, corrupted by the Sodomites, Phariſees, and Papiſts, printed by Nicholas Bamburgh in 1538: and ſo popular, that it was reprinted by Colwell in 1562 u. God's Promiſes to Man w. Our author, in his Vocacyon to the Biſhoprick of Oſſory, informs us, that his COMEDY of John the Baptiſt, and his TRAGEDY of God's Promiſes, were acted by the youths upon a Sunday, at the market croſs of Kilkenny x. What ſhall we think of the ſtate, I will not ſay of the ſtage, but of common ſenſe, when theſe deplorable dramas could be [79] endured? Of an age, when the Bible was profaned and ridiculed from a principle of piety? But the faſhion of acting myſteries appears to have expired with this writer. He is ſaid, by himſelf, to have written a book of Hymns, and another of jeſts and tales: and to have tranſlated the tragedy of PAMMACHIUS y; the ſame perhaps which was acted at Chriſt's college in Cambridge in 1544, and afterwards laid before the privy council as a libel on the reformation z. A low vein of abuſive burleſque, which had more virulence than humour, ſeems to have been one of Bale's talents: two of his pamphlets againſt the papiſts, all whom he conſidered as monks, are entitled the MASS OF THE GLUTTONS, and the ALCORAN OF THE PRELATES a. Next to expoſing the impoſtures of popery, literary hiſtory was his favorite purſuit: and his moſt celebrated performance is his account of the Britiſh writers. But this work, perhaps originally undertaken by Bale as a vehicle of his ſentiments in religion, is not only full of miſrepreſentations and partialities, ariſing from his religious prejudices, but of general inaccuracies, proceeding from negligence or miſinformation. Even thoſe more antient Lives which he tranſcribes from Leland's commentary on the ſame ſubject, are often interpolated with falſe facts, and impertinently marked with a miſapplied zeal for reformation. He is angry with many authors, who flouriſhed before the thirteenth century, for being catholics. He tells us, that lord Cromwell frequently ſcreened him from the fury of the more bigotted biſhops, on account of the comedies he had publiſhed b. But whether plays in particular, or other compoſitions, are here to be underſtood by comedies, is uncertain.

Brian Anſlay, or Anneſley, yeoman of the wine cellar to Henry the eighth about the year 1520, tranſlated a popular French poem into Engliſh rhymes, at the exhortation of the [80] gentle earl of Kent, called the CITIE OF DAMES, in three books. It was printed in 1521, by Henry Pepwell, whoſe prologue prefixed begins with theſe unpromiſing lines,

So now of late came into my cuſtode
This forſeyde book, by Brian Anſlay,
Yeoman of the ſeller with the eight king Henry.

Another tranſlator of French into Engliſh, much about the ſame time, is Andrew Chertſey. In the year 1520, Wynkyn de Worde printed a book with this title, partly in proſe and partly in verſe, Here foloweth the paſſyon of our lord Jeſu Criſt tranſlated out of French into Englyſch by Andrew Chertſey gentleman the yere of our lord MDXX c. I will give two ſtanzas of Robert Copland's prologue, as it records the diligence, and ſome other performances, of this very obſcure writer.

The godly uſe of prudent-wytted men
Cannot abſteyn theyr auncyent exerciſe.
Recorde of late how beſiley with his pen
The tranſlator of the ſayd treatyſe
Hath him indevered, in moſt godly wyſe,
Bokes to tranſlate, in volumes large and fayre,
From French in proſe, of gooſtly exemplaire.
As is, the floure of Gods commaundements,
A treatyſe alſo called Lucydarye,
With two other of the ſevyn ſacraments,
One of criſten men the ordinary,
The ſeconde the craft to lyve well and to dye.
With dyvers other to mannes lyfe profytable,
A vertuoſe uſe and ryght commendable.

The Floure of God's Commaundements was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in folio, in 1521. A print of the author's arms, with [81] the name CHERTSEY, is added. The Lucydayre is tranſlated from a favorite old French poem called Li Luſidaire. This is a tranſlation of the ELUCIDARIUM, a large work in dialogue, containing the ſum of chriſtian theology, by ſome attributed to Anſelm archbiſhop of Canterbury in the twelfth century d. Chertſey's other verſions, mentioned in Copland's prologue, are from old French manuals of devotion, now equally forgotten, Such has been the fate of volumes fayre and large! Some of theſe verſions have been given to George Aſhby, clerk of the ſignet to Margaret queen of Henry the ſixth, who wrote a moral poem for the uſe of their ſon prince Edward, on the Active policy of a prince, finiſhed in the author's eightieth year. The prologue begins with a compliment to ‘"Maiſters Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate,"’ a proof of the eſtimation which that celebrated triumvirate ſtill continued to maintain. I believe it was never printed. But a copy, with a ſmall mutilation at the end, remains among biſhop More's manuſcripts at Cambridge e.

In the diſperſed library of the late Mr. William Collins, I ſaw a thin folio of two ſheets in black letter, containing a poem in the octave ſtanza, entitled, FABYL'S GHOSTE, printed by John Raſtell in the year 1533. The piece is of no merit; and I ſhould not perhaps have mentioned it, but as the ſubject ſerves to throw light on our early drama. Peter Fabell, whoſe apparition ſpeaks in this poem, was called The Merrie Devil of Edmonton, near London. He lived in the reign of Henry the ſeventh, and was buried in the church of Edmonton. Weever, in his ANTIENT FUNERAL MONUMENTS, publiſhed in 1631, ſays under Edmonton, that in the church ‘"lieth interred under a ſeemlie tombe without inſcription, the body of Peter Fabell, as the report goes, upon whom this fable was fathered, that he by his wittie deviſes beguiled the devill. Belike he was ſome ingenious-conceited gentleman, who did uſe ſome [82] ſleighte trickes for his own diſportes. He lived and died in the raigne of Henry the ſeventh, ſaith the booke of his merry Pranks f."’ The book of Fabell's Merry Pranks I have never ſeen. But there is an old anonymous comedy, written in the reign of James the firſt, which took its riſe from this merry magician. It was printed in 1617, and is called the MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON, as it hath been ſundry times acted by his majeſties ſervants at the Globe on the Banke-ſide g. In the Prologue, Fabell is introduced, reciting his own hiſtory.

Tis Peter Fabell a renowned ſcholler,
Whoſe fame hath ſtill beene hitherto forgot
By all the writers of this latter age.
In Middle-ſex his birth, and his aboade,
Not full ſeauen mile from this great famous citty:
That, for his fame in ſlights and magicke won,
Was cald the Merry Fiend of Edmonton.
If any heere make doubt of ſuch a name,
In Edmonton yet freſh vnto this day,
Fixt in the wall of that old ancient church
His monument remaineth to be ſeene:
His memory yet in the mouths of men,
That whilſt he liu'd he could deceiue the deuill.
Imagine now, that whilſt he is retirde,
From Cambridge backe vnto his natiue home,
Suppoſe the ſilent ſable viſage night,
Caſts her blacke curtaine ouer all the world,
And whilſt he ſleepes within his ſilent bed,
Toyl'd with the ſtudies of the paſſed day:
The very time and howre wherein that ſpirite
That many yeares attended his command;
And oftentimes 'twixt Cambridge and that towne,
Had in a minute borne him through the ayre,
[83] By compoſition 'twixt the fiend and him,
Comes now to claime the ſcholler for his due.
Behold him here laid on his reſtleſſe couch,
His fatall chime prepared at his head,
His chamber guarded with theſe ſable ſlights,
And by him ſtands that necromanticke chaire,
In which he makes his direfull inuocations,
And binds the fiends that ſhall obey his will.
Sit with a pleaſed eye vntill you know
The commicke end of our ſad tragique ſhow.

The play is without abſurdities, and the author was evidently an attentive reader of Shakeſpeare. It has nothing, except the machine of the chime, in common with FABYLL'S GHOSTE. Fabell is mentioned in our chronicle-hiſtories, and from his dealings with the devil, was commonly ſuppoſed to be a friar h.

In the year 1537, Wilfrid Holme, a gentleman of Huntington in Yorkſhire, wrote a poem called The Fall and evil Succeſs of Rebellion. It is a dialogue between England and the author, on the commotions raiſed in the northern counties on account of the reformation in 1537, under Cromwell's adminiſtration. It was printed at London in 1573. Alliteration is here carried to the moſt ridiculous exceſs: and from the conſtraint of adhering inviolably to an identity of initials, from an affectation of coining prolix words from the Latin, and from a total ignoranc [...] of proſodical harmony, the author has produced one of the moſt obſcure, rough, and unpleaſing pieces of verſification in our language. He ſeems to have been a diſciple of Skelton. The poem, probably from its political reference, is mentioned by Hollinſhed i. Bale, who overlooks the author's poetry in his piety, thinks that he has learnedly and perſpicuouſly diſcuſſed the abſurdities of popery k.

[84] One Charles Banſley, about the year 1540, wrote a rhyming ſatire on the pride and vices of women now a days. I know not if the firſt line will tempt the reader to ſee more.

"Bo peep, what have we ſpied!"

It was printed in quarto by Thomas Rainolde; but I do not find it among Ames's books of that printer, whoſe laſt piece is dated 1555. Of equal reputation is Chriſtopher Goodwin, who wrote the MAYDEN'S DREME, a viſion without imagination, printed in 1542 l, and THE CHANCE OF THE DOLORUS LOVER, a lamentable ſtory without pathos, printed in 1520 m. With theſe two may be ranked, Richard Feylde, or Field, author of a poem printed in quarto by Wynkyn de Worde, called THE TREATISE OF THE LOVER AND JAYE. The prologue begins.

Though laureate poetes in old antiquite.

I muſt not forget to obſerve here, that Edward Haliwell, admitted a fellow of King's college Cambridge in 1532, wrote the Tragedy of Dido, which was acted at ſaint Paul's ſchool in London, under the conduct of the very learned maſter John Rightwiſe, before cardinal Wolſey n. But it may be doubted, whether this drama was in Engliſh. Wood ſays, that it was written by Rightwiſe o. One John Hooker, fellow of Magdalene college Oxford in 1535, wrote a comedy called by Wood PISCATOR, or The Fiſher caught p. But as latinity ſeems to have been his object, I ſuſpect this comedy to have been in Latin, and to have been acted by the youth of his college.

The fanaticiſms of chemiſtry ſeem to have remained at leaſt till the diſſolution of the monaſteries. William Blomefield, otherwiſe Rattelſden, born at Bury in Suffolk, bachelor in [85] phyſic, and a monk of Bury-abbey, was an adventurer in queſt of the philoſopher's ſtone. While a monk of Bury, as I preſume, he wrote a metrical chemical tract, entitled, BLOMEFIELD'S BLOSSOMS, or the CAMPE OF PHILOSOPHY. It is a viſion, and in the octava ſtanza. It was originally written in the year 1530, according to a manuſcript that I have ſeen: but in the copy printed by Aſhmole q, which has ſome few improvements and additional ſtanzas, our author ſays he began to dream in 1557 r. He is admitted into the camp of philoſophy by TIME, through a ſuperb gate which has twelve locks. Juſt within the entrance were aſſembled all the true philoſophers from Hermes and Ariſtotle, down to Roger Bacon, and the canon of Bridlington. Detached at ſome diſtance, appear thoſe unſkilful but ſpecious pretenders to the tranſmutation of metals, lame, blind, and emaciated, by their own pernicious drugs and injudicious experiments, who defrauded king Henry the fourth of immenſe tr [...]aſures by a counterfeit elixir. Among other wonders of this myſterious region, he ſees the tree of philoſophy, which has fifteen different buds, bearing fifteen different fruits. Afterwards Blomfield turning proteſtant, did not renounce his chemiſtry with his religion, for he appears to have dedicated to queen Eliſabeth another ſyſtem of occult ſcience, entitled, THE RULE OF LIFE, OR THE FIFTH ESSENCE, with which her majeſty muſt have been highly edified s.

Although lord Surrey and ſome others ſo far deviated from the dullneſs of the times, as to copy the Italian poets, the ſame taſte does not ſeem to have uniformly influenced all the nobility of the court of king Henry the eighth who were fond of writing verſes. Henry Parker, lord Morley, who died an old man in the latter end of that reign, was educated in the beſt literature which our univerſities afforded. Bale mentions his TRAGEDIES and COMEDIES, which I ſuſpect to be nothing more [86] than grave myſteries and moralities, and which probably would not now have been loſt, had they deſerved to live. He mentions alſo his RHYMES, which I will not ſuppoſe to have been imitations of Petrarch t. Wood ſays, that ‘"his younger years were adorned with all kinds of ſuperficial learning, eſpecially with dramatic poetry, and his elder with that which was divine u."’ It is a ſtronger proof of his piety than his taſte, that he ſent, as a new year's gift to the princeſs Mary, HAMPOLE'S COMMENTARY UPON SEVEN OF THE FIRST PENITENTIAL PSALMS. The manuſcript, with his epiſtle prefixed, is in the royal manuſcripts of the Britiſh Muſeum w. Many of Morley's tranſlations, being dedicated either to king Henry the eighth, or to the princeſs M [...]ry, are preſerved in manuſcript in the ſame royal repoſitory x. They are chiefly from Solomon, Seneca, Eraſmus, Athanaſius, Anſelm, Thomas Aquinas, and Paulus Jovius. The authors he tranſlated ſhew his track of reading. But we ſhould not forget his attention to the claſſics, and that he tranſlated alſo Tully's DREAM OF SCIPIO, and three or four lives of Plutarch, although not immediately from the Greek y. He ſeems to have been a rigid catholic, retired and ſtudious. His declaration, or paraphraſe, on the ninety-fourth Pſalm, was printed by Berthelette in 1539. A theological commentary by a lord, was too curious and important a production to be neglected by our firſt printers.

SECT. XXIV.

[87]

JOHN HEYWOOD, commonly called the epigrammatiſt, was beloved and rewarded by Henry the eighth for his buffooneries. At leaving the univerſity, he commenced author, and was countenanced by ſir Thomas More for his facetious diſpoſition. To his talents of jocularity in converſation, he joined a ſkill in muſic, both vocal and inſtrumental. His merriments were ſo irreſiſtible, that they moved even the rigid muſcles of queen Mary; and her ſullen ſolemnity was not proof againſt his ſongs, his rhymes, and his jeſts. He is ſaid to have been often invited to exerciſe his arts of entertainment and pleaſantry in her preſence, and to have had the honour to be conſtantly admitted into her privy-chamber for this purpoſe a.

Notwithſtanding his profeſſional diſſipation, Heywood appears to have lived comfortably under the ſmiles of royal patronage. What the FAIRY QUEEN could not procure for Spenſer from the penurious Eliſabeth and her preciſe miniſters, Heywood gained by puns and conceits.

His comedies, moſt of which appeared before the year 1534, are deſtitute of plot, humour, or character, and give us no very high opinion of the feſtivity of this agreeable companion. They conſiſt of low incident, and the language of ribaldry. But perfection muſt not be expected before its time. He is called our firſt writer of comedies. But thoſe who ſay this, ſpeak without determinate ideas, and confound comedies with moralities and interludes. We will allow, that he is among the firſt of our [88] dramatiſts who drove the Bible from the ſtage, and introduced repreſentations of familiar life and popular manners. Theſe are the titles of his plays. The PLAY called the four P. s, being a new and merry ENTERLUDE OF A PALMER, PARDONER, POTICARY, AND PEDLAR, printed at London in quarto, without date or name of the printer, but prob [...]bl [...] from the preſs of Berthelette or Raſtell. The PLAY of LOVE, or a new and very mery ENTERLUDE of all maner of WEATHERS, printed in quarto by William Raſtell, 1533, and again by Robert Wyer b. A mery PLAY betweene the PARDONER and the FRERE, the CURATE, and neybour PRATTE, in quarto, by William Raſtell, dated the fifth day of April, 1533. The PLAY of Gentlenes and Nobilitie, i [...] two parts, at London, without date. The PINNER of Wakefield, a COMEDIE. Philotas Scotch, a COMEDIE. A mery PLAY betweene JOHAN JOHAN the huſband, TYB the wife, and ſyr JOHAN the preeſte, by William Raſtell, in quarto, 1533.

His EPIGRAMS, ſix hundred in number c, are probably ſome of his jokes verſified; and perhaps were often extemporaneou [...] ſallies, made and repeated in company. Wit and humour are ever found in proportion to the progreſs of politeneſs. The miſerable drolleries and the contemptible quibbles, with which theſe little pieces are pointed, indicate the great want of refinement, not only in the compoſition but in the converſation of our anceſtors. This is a ſpecimen, on a piece of humour of Wolſey's Fool, A ſaying of PATCHE my lord Cardinale's FOOLE.

[89]
Maiſter Sexton d, a perſon of knowen wit,
As he at my lord Cardinale's boord did ſit,
Gredily raughte at a goblet of wine:
Drinke none, ſayd my lord, for that fore leg of thy [...]:
I warrant your Grace, ſaith Sexton, I provide
For my leg: I drinke on the tother ſide f.

The following is rather a humorous tale than an epigram, yet with an epigrammatic turn.

Although that a Fox have been ſeene there ſeelde g,
Yet there was lately in Finſbery Feelde h
A Fox ſate in ſight of certaine people,
Noddinge, and bliſſinge i, ſtaring on Paules ſteeple.
A Maide toward market with hennes in a band
Came by, and with the Fox ſhe fell in hand k.
"What thing is it, Rainard, in your braine ploddinge [...]
"What bringeth this buſy bliſſinge, and noddinge?
"I notherl nod for ſleepe ſweete hart, the Foxe ſaide,
"Nor bliſſe for ſpirytes m, except the divell be a maide:
"My noddinge and bliſſinge breedth of wonder n
"Of the witteo of Poules Weathercocke yonder.
"There is more witte in that cockes onely head
"Than hath bene in all mens heds that be dead.
"And thus—by all common report we fynde,
"All that be dead, died for lacke of wynde:
"But the Weathercockes wit is not ſo weake
"To lacke winde—the winde is ever in his beake.
"So that, while any winde blowth in the ſkie,
"For lacke of winde that Weathercocke will not die."
[90] She caſt downe hir hennes, and now did ſhe blis p,
"Jeſu, quod ſhe, in nomine patris!
"Who hath ever heard, at any ſeaſon,
"Of a Foxe forging ſo feat a reaſon?"
And while ſhe prayſed the Foxes wit ſo,
He gat her hennes on his necke, and to go q.
"Whither away with my hennes, Foxe, quoth ſhe?
"To Poules pigr as faſt as I can, quoth he.
"Betwixt theſe Hennes and yond Weathercocke,
"I will aſſay to have chickens a flocke;
"Which if I may get, this tale is made goode,
"In all chriſtendome not ſo Wiſe a broode s!"—

The other is on the phraſe, wagging beards.

It is mery in hall, when beardes wagge all.
Huſband, for this theſe woordes to mind I call;
This is ment by men in their merie eatinge,
Not to wag their beardes in brawling or threatinge:
Wyfe, the meaning hereof differeth not two pinnes,
Betweene wagginge of mens beardes and womens chinnes t.

On the faſhion of wearing Verdingales, or farthingales.

Alas! poore verdingales muſt lie ith' ſtreete,
To houſe them no doore ith' citee made meete.
Syns at our narrow doores they in cannot win u,
Send them to Oxforde, at brodegate to gett in w.

Our author was educated at Broadgate-hall in Oxford, ſo called from an uncommonly wide gate or entrance, and ſince [91] converted into Pembroke college. Theſe EPIGRAMS are mentioned in Wilſon's RHETORIKE, publiſhed in 1553.

Another of Heywood's works, is a poem in long verſe, entitled, A DIALOGUE contayning in effect the number of all the PROVERBES in the Engliſh tongue compact in a matter concerning two marriages. The firſt edition I have ſeen, is dated 1547 x. All the proverbs of the Engliſh language are here interwoven into a very ſilly comic tale.

The lady of the ſtory, an old widow now going to be married again, is thus deſcribed, with ſome degree of drollery, on the bridal day.

In this late old widow, and than old new wife,
Age and Appetite fell at a ſtronge ſtrife.
Her luſt was as yong, as her lims were olde.
The day of her wedding, like one to be ſolde,
She ſett out herſelf in fyne apparell:
She was made like a beere-pott, or a barell.
A crooked hooked noſe, beetle browde, blere eyde,
Many men wiſht for beautifying that bryde.
Her waſt to be gyrde in, and for a boone grace,
Some wel favoured viſor on her yll favoured face;
But with viſorlike viſage, ſuch as it was,
She ſmirkt and ſhe ſmyld, but ſo liſped this las,
That folke might have thought it done onely alone
Of wantonneſſe, had not her teeth been gone.
Upright as a candle ſtandeth in a ſocket,
Stoode ſhe that day, ſo ſimpre de cocket y.
Of auncient fathers ſhe tooke no cure ne care,
She was to them as koy as Crokers mare.
She tooke the entertainment of yong men,
All in daliaunce, as nice as a nunnes hen z.
[92] I ſuppoſe, That day her eares might wel glow,
For all the town talkt of her high and low [...]
One ſayde a wel favoured old woman ſhe is:
The divill ſhe is, ſayde another: and to this
In came the third with his five egges, and ſayde,
Fifty yere ago I knew her a trim mayde.
Whatever ſhe were then, ſayde one, ſhe is nowe,
To become a bryde, as meete as a ſowe,
To beare a ſaddle. She is in this marriage,
As comely as a cowe in a cage.
Gup with a gald back, Gill, come up to ſupper,
What my old mare would have a new crupper,
And now mine olde hat muſt have a new band, &c a.

The work has its value and curioſity as a repertory of proverbs made at ſo early a period. Nor was the plan totally void of ingenuity, to exhibit theſe maxims in the courſe of a narrative, enlivened by facts and circumſtances. It certainly was ſuſceptible of humour and invention.

Heywood's largeſt and moſt laboured performance is the SPIDER AND THE FLIE, with wooden cuts, printed at London by Thomas Powell, in 1556 b. It is a very long poem in the octave ſtanza, containing ninety-eight chapters. Perhaps there never was ſo dull, ſo tedious, and trifling an apologue: without fancy, meaning, or moral. A long tale of fictitious manners will always be tireſome, unleſs the deſign be burleſque: and then the ridiculous, ariſing from the contraſt between the ſolemn and the light, muſt be ingeniouſly ſupported. Our author ſeems to have intended a fable on the burleſque conſtruction: but we know not when he would be ſerious and when witty, whether he means to make the reader laugh, or to give him advice. We muſt indeed acknowledge, that the age was not yet ſufficiently [93] refined, either to reliſh or to produ [...]e, burleſque poetry c. Harriſon, the author of the DESCRIPTION OF BRITAINE, prefixed [94] to Hollinſhed's Chronicle, has left a ſenſible criticiſm on this poem. ‘"One hath made a boke of the SPIDER AND [95] FLIE, wherin he dealeth ſo profoundly, and beyond all meaſure of ſkill, that neither he himſelf that made it, neither any one that readeth it, can reach unto the meaning thereof d."’ It is a proof of the unpopularity of this poem, that it never was reprinted. Our author's EPIGRAMS, and the poem of PROVERBS, were in high vogue, and had numerous editions within the year 1598. The moſt lively part of the SPIDER and FLIE is perhaps the mock-fight between the ſpiders and flies, an awkward imitation of Homer's BATRACHOMUOMACHY. The preparations for this bloody and eventful engagement, on the part of the ſpiders, in their cobweb-caſtle, are thus deſcribed.

Behold! the battilments in every loope:
How th' ordinance lieth, flies far and nere to fac [...]:
Behold how everie peace, that lieth there in groope e,
Hath a ſpider gonner, with redy-f [...]red match.
Behold on the wals, ſpiders making ware wach:
The wach-ſpider in the towre a larum to ſtrike,
At aproch of any nomber ſhewing warlike.
Se th' enprenabillf fort, in every border,
How everie ſpider with his wepon doth ſtand,
So thorowlie harneſt g, in ſo good order:
The capitalh ſpider, with wepon in hand,
For that ſort of ſowdiers ſo manfully mand,
With copwebs like caſting nets all flies to quell:
My hart ſhaketh at the ſight: behold it is hell i!

The beginning of all this confuſion is owing to a fly entering the poet's window, not through a broken pane, as might be preſumed, but through the lattice, where it is ſuddenly entangled in a cobweb k. The cobweb, however, will be allowed to be ſufficiently [96] deſcriptive of the poet's apartment. But I mention this circumſtance as a probable proof, that windows of lattice, and not of glaſs, were now the common faſhion l.

John Heywood died at Mechlin in Brabant about the year 1565. He was inflexibly attached to the catholic cauſe, and on the death of queen Mary quitted the kingdom. Antony Wood remarks m, with his uſual acrimony, that it was a matter of wonder with many, that, conſidering the great and uſual want of principle in the profeſſion, a poet ſhould become a voluntary exile for the ſake of religion.

SECT. XXV.

[97]

I KNOW not if ſir Thomas More may properly be conſidered as an Engliſh poet. He has, however, left a few obſolete poems, which although without any ſtriking merit, yet, as productions of the reſtorer of literature in England, ſeem to claim ſome notice here. One of theſe is, A MERY JEST how a SERGEANT would learne to play the FREERE. Written by Maiſter Thomas More in hys youth a. The ſtory is too dull and too long to be told here. But I will cite two or three of the prefatory ſtanzas.

He that hath lafteb the Hoſier's crafte,
And fallth to makyng ſhone c;
The ſmyth that ſhall to paynting fall,
His thrift is well nigh done.
A black draper with whyte paper,
To goe to writing ſcole,
An old butler becum a cutler,
I wene ſhal prove a fole.
And an old trot, that can, god wot,
Nothyng but kyſſe the cup,
With her phiſicke will kepe one ſicke,
Till ſhe hath ſouſed hym up.
A man of law that never ſawe
The wayes to bye and ſell,
Wenyng to ryſe by marchandyſe,
I praye god ſpede hym well!
[98] A marchaunt eke, that wyll goo ſeke
By all the meanes he may,
To fall in ſ [...]te tyll he diſpute
His money cleane away;
Pletyng the lawe for every ſtrawe,
Shall prove a thrifty man,
With bated and ſtrife, but by my life,
I cannot tell you whan.
Whan an h [...]tter will ſmatter
In philoſophy;
Or a pedlar waxe a medlar
In theology.

In theſe lines, which are intended to illuſtrate by familiar examples, the abſurdity of a ſerjeant at law aſſuming the buſineſs of a friar, perhaps the reader perceives but little of that feſtivity, which is ſuppoſed to have marked the character and the converſation of ſir Thomas More. The laſt two ſtanzas deſerve to be tranſcribed, as they prove, that this tale was deſigned to be ſung to muſic by a minſtrel, for the entertainment of company.

Now Maiſters all, here now I ſhall
End then as I began;
In any wyſe, I would avyſe,
And counſayle every man,
His own cra [...]te uſe, all new refuſe,
And lyghtly let them gone:
Play not the FREERE, Now make good cheere.

This piece is mentioned, among other popular ſtory-books in 1575, by Laneham, in his ENTERTAINMENT AT KILLINGWORTH CASTLE in the reign of queen Eliſabeth e.

In CERTAIN METERS, written alſo in his youth, as a prologue for his BOKE OF FORTUNE, and forming a poem of conſiderable [99] length, are theſe ſtanzas, which are an attempt at perſonification and imagery. FORTUNE is repreſented ſitting on a lofty throne, ſmiling on all mankind who are gathered around her, eagerly expecting a diſtribution of her favours.

Then, as a bayte, ſhe bryngeth forth her ware,
Silver and gold, rich perle and precious ſtone;
On whiche the maſed people gaſe and ſtare,
And gape therefore, as dogges doe for the bone.
FORTUNE at them laugheth: and in her trone
Amyd her treaſure and waveryng rycheſſe
Prowdly ſhe hoveth as lady and empreſſe.
Faſt by her ſyde doth wery Labour ſtand,
Pale Fere alſo, and Sorow all bewept;
Diſdayn, and Hatred, on that other hand,
Eke reſtles Watch from ſlepe with travayles kept:
Before her ſtandeth Daunger and Envy,
Flattery, Dyſceyt, Miſchiefe, and Tiranny f.

Another of ſir Thomas More's juvenile poems is, A RUFULL LAMENTATION on the death of queen Eliſabeth, wife of Henry the ſeventh, and mother of Henry the eighth, who died in childbed, in 1503. It is evidently formed on the tragical ſoliloquies, which compoſe Lydgate's paraphraſe of Boccace's book DE CASIBUS VIRORUM ILLUSTRIUM, and which gave birth to the MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES, the origin of our hiſtoric dramas. Theſe ſtanzas are part of the queen's complaint at the approach of death.

Where are our caſtels now, where are our towers?
Goodly Rychemonde g, ſone art thou gone from me!
At Weſtmynſter that coſtly worke of yours
[100] Myne owne dere lorde, now ſhall I never ſe h!
Almighty God vouchſafe to graunt that ye
For you and your children well may edify,
My palace byldyd is, and lo now here I ly.—
Farewell my doughter, lady Margaret i!
God wotte, full oft it greved hath my mynde
That ye ſhould go where we ſhould ſeldom mete,
Now I am gone and have left you behynde.
O mortall folke, that we be very blynde!
That we leſt feere, full oft it is moſt nye:
From you depart I muſt, and lo now here I lye.
Farewell, madame, my lordes worthy mother k!
Comforte your ſon, and be ye of good chere.
Take all a worth, for it will be no nother,
Farewell my doughter Katharine, late the fere
To prince Arthur myne owne chyld ſo dere l.
It boteth not for me to wepe and cry,
Pray for my ſowle, for lo now here I lye.
Adew lord Henry, my loving ſonne adew m,
Our lord encreaſe your honour and eſtate,
Adew my doughter Mary, bright of hew n,
God make you vertuous, wyſe, and fortunate.
Adew ſwete hart, my little doughter Kate o,
Thou ſhalt, ſwete babe, ſuch is thy deſtiny,
Thy mother never know, fo [...] lo now here I ly p.

[101] In the fourth ſtanza, ſhe reproaches the aſtrologers for their falſity in having predicted, that this ſhould be the happieſt and moſt fortunate year of her whole life. This, while it is a natural reflection in the ſpeaker, is a proof of More's contempt of a futile and frivolous ſcience, then ſo much in eſteem. I have been prolix in my citation from this forgotten poem: but I am of opinion, that ſome of the ſtanzas have ſtrokes of nature and pathos, and deſerved to be reſcued from total oblivion.

More, when a young man, contrived in an apartment of his father's houſe a goodly hangyng of fyne painted clothe, exhibiting nine pageants, or allegoric repreſentations, of the ſtages of man's life, together with the figures of Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity. Under each picture he wrote a ſtanza. The firſt is under CHILDHOODE, expreſſed by a boy whipping a top.

I am called CHILDHOD, in play is all my mynde,
To caſt a coyte q, a cokſtele r, or a ball;
A toppe can I ſet, and dryve in its kynde:
But would to God, theſe hatefull bookes all
Were in a fyre ybrent to pouder ſmall!
Then myght I lede my lyfe alwayes in play,
Which lyfe God ſende me to myne endyng day.

Next was pictured MANHOD, a comely young man mounted on a fleet horſe, with a hawk on his fiſt, and followed by two greyhounds, with this ſtanza affixed.

MANHOD I am, therefore I me delyght
To hunt and hawke, to nouriſhe up and fede
The grayhounde to the courſe, the hawke to th' flyght,
And to beſtryde a good and luſty ſtede:
Theſe thynges become a very man in dede.
Yet thinketh this boy his peviſhe game ſweter,
But what, no force, his reaſon is no better.

[102] The perſonification of FAME, like RUMOUR in the Chorus to Shakeſpeare's HENRY THE FIFTH, is ſurrounded with tongues s.

Tapeſtry, with metrical legends illuſtrating the ſubject, was common in this age: and the public pageants in the ſtreets were often exhibited with explanatory verſes. I am of opinion, that the COMOEDIOLAE, or little interludes, which More is ſaid to have written and acted in his father's houſe, were only theſe nine pageants t.

Another juvenile exerciſe of More in the Engliſh ſtanza, is annexed to his proſe tranſlation of the LYFE of John Picus Mirandula, and entitled, TWELVE RULES OF JOHN PICUS MIRANDULA, partely exciting partely directing a man in SPIRITUAL BATAILE u. The old collector of his ENGLISH WORKES has alſo preſerved two ſhorte ballettes w, or ſtanzas, which he wrote for his paſtyme, while a priſoner in the tower x.

It is not my deſign, by theſe ſpecimens, to add to the [...]ame of ſir Thomas More; who is reverenced by poſterity, as the ſcholar who taught that erudition which civiliſed his country, and as the philoſopher who met the horrours of the block with that fortitude which was equally free from oſtentation and enthuſiaſm: as the man, whoſe genius overthrew the fabric of falſe learning, and whoſe amiable tranquillity of temper triumphed over the malice and injuſtice of tyranny.

To ſome part of the reign of Henry the eighth I aſſign the TOURNAMENT OF TOTTENHAM, or The wooeing, winning, and wedding of TIBBE the Reeves Daug [...]ter there. I preſume it will not be ſuppoſed to be later than that reign: and the ſubſtance of its phraſeology, which I diveſt of its obvious innovations, is not altogether obſolete enough for a highe [...] period. I am aware, that in a manuſcript of the Britiſh Muſeum it is referred to the time of Henry the ſixth. But that manuſcript [103] affords no poſitive indication of that date y. It was publiſhed from an antient manuſcript in the year 1631, and reduced to a more modern ſtyle, by William Bedwell, rector of Tottenham, and one of the tranſlators of the Bible. He ſays it was written by Gilbert Pilkington, ſuppoſed to have been rector of the ſame pariſh, and author of an unknown tract, called PASSIO DOMINI JESU. But Bedwell, without the leaſt comprehenſion of the ſcope and ſpirit of the piece, imagines it to be a ſerious narrative of a real event; and, with as little ſagacity, believes it to have been written before the year 1330. Allowing that it might originate from a real event, and that there might be ſome private and local abuſe at the bottom, it is impoſſible that the poet could be ſerious. Undoubtedly the chief merit of this poem, although not deſtitute of humour, conſiſts in the deſign rather than the execution. As Chaucer, in the RIME OF SIR THOPAS z, traveſtied the romances of chivalry, the TOURNAMENT [104] OF TOTTENHAM is a burleſque on the parade and [...]opperies of chivalry itſelf. In this light, it may be conſidered as a curioſity; and does honour to the good ſenſe and diſcernment of the writer, who ſeeing through the [...]olly of theſe faſhionable exerciſes, was ſenſible at the ſame time, that they were too popular to be attacked by the more ſolid weapons of reaſon and argument. Even on a ſuppoſition that here is an alluſion to real facts and characters, and that it was intended to expoſe ſome popular ſtory of the amours of the daughter of the Reve of Tottenham, we muſt acknowledge that the ſatire is conveyed in an ingenious mode. He has introduced a parcel of clowns and ruſtics, the inhabitants of Tottenham, Iſlington, Highgate, and Hackney, places then not quite ſo poliſhed as at preſent, who imitate all [105] the ſolemnities of the barriers. The whole is a mock-parody on the challenge, the various events of the encounter, the exhibition of the prize, the devices and eſcocheons, the diſplay of arms, the triumphant proceſſion of the conqueror, the oath before the combat, and the ſplendid feaſt which followed, with every other ceremony and circumſtance which conſtituted the regular tournament. The reader will form an idea of the work from a ſhort extract a.

He that bear'th him beſt in the tournament,
Shal be graunted the greeb by the common aſſent,
For to winne my daughter with doughtineſſe of dent c,
And Copple my broode hen that was brought out of Kent,
And my dunned cow:
For no ſpenced will I ſpare,
For no cattell will I care.
He ſhall have my gray mare, and my ſpotted ſow.
There was many a bold lad their bodyes to bede e;
Then they toke their leave, and hamward they hede f;
And all the weke after they gayed her wede g,
Till it come to the day that they ſhould do their dede h:
They armed them in mattes;
They ſett on their nowls i
Good blacke bowls k,
To keep their powlsl from battering of battes m.
They ſewed hem in ſheepſkinnes for they ſhould not breſt n,
And every ilko of them had a blacke hatte inſtead of a creſt;
[106] A baſkett or panyer before on their breſt,
And a flayle in her hande, for to fight preſt p,
Forthe con thei fare q.
There was kidr mickle force.
Who ſhould beſt fends his corſe,
He that had no good horſe, borrowed him a mare, &c t.

It appears to me, that the author, to give dignity to his narrative, and to heighten the ridicule by ſtiffening the familiarity of his incidents and characters, has affected an antiquity of ſtyle. This I could prove from the caſt of its fundamental diction and idiom, with which many of the old words do not agree. Perhaps another of the author's affectations is the alliterative manner. For although other ſpecimens of alliteration, in ſmaller pieces, are now to be found, yet it was a ſingularity. To thoſe which I have mentioned, of this reign, I take this opportunity of adding an alliterative poem, which may be called the FALCON AND THE PIE, who ſupport a DYALOGUE DESENSYVE FOR WOMEN AGAYNST MALICYOUS DETRACTOURS, printed in 1542 u. The author's name Robert Vaghane, [107] or Vaughan, is prefixed to ſome ſonnets which form a ſort of epilogue to the performance.

For the purpoſe of aſcertaining or illuſtrating the age of pieces which have been lately or will be ſoon produced, I here ſtop to [108] recall the reader's attention to the poetry and language of the laſt century, by exhibiting ſome extracts from the manuſcript romance of YWAIN and GAWAIN, which has ſome great outlines of Gothic painting, and appears to have been written in the reign of king Henry the ſixth w. I premiſe, that but few circumſtances happened, which contributed to the improvement of our language, within that and the preſent period.

The following is the adventure of the enchanted foreſt attempted by ſir Colgrevance, which he relates to the knights of the round table at Cardiff in Wales x.

[109]
A fayre foreſt ſone I fand y,
Me thought mi hapz thare [...]el ful hard
For thar was mani a wide bayard a,
Lions, beres, both bul and bare,
That rewfully gan ropeb and rare c.
Away I droghd me, and with that,
I ſawe ſone whar a man ſat
On a lawnd, the [...]owleſt wight,
That ever ȝite man ſaw in ſyght:
He was a lathlyf creatur,
For fowl he was out of meſur;
A wonder maceg in hand he hade,
And ſone mi way to him I made;
His hevyd h, me thoght, was als grete
Als of a rowncy or a nete i.
Unto his belt hangk his hare l;
And eft that byheld I mare m,
To his forhede byheld I than
Was braddern than twa large ſpan;
He had ereso alsp an olyfant,
And was wel moreq than a geant,
His face was ful brade and flat,
His naſer was cutted as a cat,
His browes war like litel buſkes s,
And his [...]ethe like bare tuſkes;
A ful grete bulget open his bak,
Thar was noght made with outen lacu;
[110] His chin was faſt untilw his breſt,
On his mace he gan him reſt.
Alſo it was a wonder wede x
That the cherley yn ȝede z,
Nowthera of wolb ne of line c,
Was the wede that he went yn.
When he me ſagh, he ſtode up right,
I fraynedd him if he wolde fight,
For tharto was I in gude will,
Bot alse a beſte than ſtode he ſtill:
I hopidf that he no wittes kowth g,
Ne reſon for to ſpeke with mowth.
To him I ſpak ful hardily,
And ſaid, What ertow h, belamy i?
He ſaid ogain, I am a man.
I ſaid, Swilkk ſaw I never nane l.
What ertowm alſone n, ſaid he?
I ſaid, Swilk also you her may ſe.
I ſaid, What doſep you here allane q?
He ſaid, I kepe thisr beſtes ilkane s.
I ſaid, That es mervaile, think me,
For I herd never of man bot the,
In wildernes, ne in foreſtes,
That kepeing had of wilde beſtes,
Bott thai war bunden faſt in halde u.
He ſayd, Of thirſesw none ſo balde,
[111] Nowther by day ne by night,
Anesx to pas out of mi ſight.
I ſayd, How ſo, tel me thi ſtill.
Per fay, he ſaid, gladly I will.
He ſaid, In al this fair foreſt
Es thar non ſo wilde beſt,
That renney dar z, bot ſtil ſtand a
Whan I am to him cumand b;
And ay when that I will him fang c
With my fingers that erd ſtrang,
I gere him cri on ſwilk manere,
That al the beſtes when thai him here,
Obout me than cum thai all,
And to mi fete faſt thai fall
On thair maner, merci to cry.
Bot onderſtond now redyli [...]
Olyvef esg thar lifandh no ma i,
Bot I, that durſt amang them ga k,
That he ne ſold ſone be altorent l;
Bot thai ar at my comandment,
To me thai cum whan I tham call,
And I am maiſter of tham all.
Than he aſked onone right,
What man I was? I ſaid, a knyght,
That ſoght avents in that lande,
My body to aſaim and fand n;
And I the pray of thi kounſayle
You teche me to ſum mervayle o.
[112] He ſaid, I can no wonders tell,
Bot her beſyde es a Well;
Wend yeder p, and do als I ſay,
You paſſes noght al quite oway,
Folow forth this ilk ſtrete q,
And ſone ſum mervayles ſal you mete:
The well es under the faireſt Tre
That ever was in this cuntre;
By that Well hingesr a Bacyne s
That es of golde gude and fyne,
With a cheyne, trewly to tell,
That will reche in to the Well.
Thare as a Chapel nere thar by,
That nobil es and ful lufely t:
By the well ſtandes a Stane u,
Take the bacyn ſone onane w,
And caſt on water with thi hand,
And ſone you ſal ſe new tithand x:
A ſtorme ſal riſe and a tempeſt,
Al obout, by eſt and weſt,
You ſal herey mani thonorz blaſt
Al obout thea the blawandb faſt,
And thar ſal cum ſikec ſlete and rayne
That unneſed ſal you ſtand ogayne:
Of lightnese ſal you ſe a lowe,
Unnethes you ſal thi ſelvanf knowe;
[113] And if you pas with owten grevance,
Than has thou the faireſt chance
That ever ȝit had any knyght,
That theder come to kythg his myght.
Than toke I leve, and went my way,
And rade unto the midday;
By than I com whare I ſold be,
I ſaw the Chapel and the Tre:
Thare I fand the fayreſt thorne
That ever groued ſen Godh was born:
So thik it was with leves grene
Might no rayn cum tharby twene i;
And that grenesk laſtes ay,
For no winter derel yt may.
I fand the Bacyn, als he talde,
And the Well with water kalde m.
An emerawdn was the Stane o,
Richer ſaw I never nane,
On fowr rubyes on heght ſtandand p,
Thair light laſted over al the land.
And whan I ſaw that ſemely ſyght,
It made me bath joyful and lyght.
I toke the Bacyn ſone onane
And helt water opon the Stane:
The wederq wex than wonder blak,
And the thonerr faſt gan crak;
Thar cum ſlikes ſtormes of hayl and rayn,
Unnethest I might ſtand thare ogayn:
The ſtoreu windes blew ful lowd,
So kene cam never arew of clowd.
[114] I was drevyn with ſnawe and ſlete,
Unnethes I might ſtand on my fete.
In my face the leveningx ſmate y,
I wend have brent z, ſo was it hate a:
That weder made me ſo will of rede,
I hopidb ſone to have my dede c;
And ſertes d, if it lang had laſt,
I hope I had never thethine paſt.
Bot thorgh his might that tholedf wownd
The ſtorme ſeſed within a ſtownde g:
Then wex the weder fayr ogayne,
And tharof was I wonder fayne;
For beſt comforth of al thing
Es ſolace after miſlykeing.
Then ſaw I ſone a mery ſyght,
Of al the fowles that er in flyght,
Lighted ſo thik opon that tre,
That bogh ne lefe none might I ſe;
So merily than gon thai ſing,
That al the wode bigan to ring;
Ful mery was the melody
Of thaire ſang and of thaire cry;
Thar herd never man none ſwilk,
Both if ani had herd that ilk.
And when that mery din was done,
Another [...] din than herd I ſone,
Als it war of hors men,
Mo than owtheri nyenk or ten.
Sone than ſaw I cum a knyght,
In riche armure was he dight;
[115] And ſone whan I gan on him loke,
Mi ſhelde and ſper to me I toke.
That knight to me hied ful faſt,
And kene wordes out gan he caſt:
He bad that I ſold tell him lite l
Why I did him ſwilk deſpite,
With wedersm wakend him of reſt,
And done him wrang in his Foreſt;
Thar fore, he ſayd, You ſal aby n:
And with that come he egerly,
And ſaid, I had ogayn reſowne o
Done him grete deſtrucciowne,
And might it nevermore amend;
Tharfor he bad, I ſold me fend:
And ſone I ſmate him on the ſhelde,
Mi ſchaft brac out in the felde;
And then he bar me ſon bi ſtrenkith
Out of my ſadel my ſperes lenkith:
I wat that he was largely
By the ſhuldres marep than I;
And by the dedq that I ſal thole r,
Mi ſtede by his was bot a fole.
For mates I lay down on the grownde,
So was I ſtonaydt in that ſtownde:
A worde to me wald he noght ſay,
Bot toke my ſtede, and went his way.
Ffull ſarilyu than thare I ſat,
For waw I wiſt noght what was what:
With mi ſtede he went in hy,
The ſame way that he come by;
[116] And I durſt folow him no ferr
For dout me ſolde bite werr,
And alſo ȝit by Goddes dome x,
I ne wiſt whar he bycome.
Than I thoght how I had hight y,
Unto myne oſt the hende knyght,
And alſo till his lady bryght,
To come ogayn if that I myght.
Mine armurs left I thare ylkane,
For els myght I noght have gane z;
Unto myne ina I come by day:
The hende knyght and the fayre may,
Of mi come war thai ful glade,
And nobil ſemblant thai me made;
In al thinges thai have tham born
Als thai did the night biforn.
Sone thai wiſt whar I had bene,
And ſaid, that thai had never ſene
Knyght that ever theder come
Take the way ogayn home.—

I add Sir Ywain's achievement of the ſame Adventure, with its conſequences.

Whan Ywayn was withowten town,
Of his palfray lighted he down,
And dight him right wele in his wede,
And lepe up on his gude ſtede.
Furth he rade on right,
Until it neghed nereb the nyght:
He paſſed many a high mountayne
In wildernes, and many a playne,
[117] Til he come to that leyirc ſty d
That him byhoved paſs by:
Than was he ſeker for to ſe
The Wel, and the fayre Tre;
The Chapel ſaw he at the laſt,
And thedere hyed he ful faſt.
More curtayſli and more honowr
Fandf he with tham in that towr g,
And mare comforth by mony falde h,
Than Colgrevance had him of talde.
That night was he herberedi thar,
So wel was he never are k.
At morn he went forth by the ſtrete,
And with the cherell ſone gan he mete
That ſold tel to him the way;
He ſaynedm him, the ſothe to ſay,
Twenty ſith n, or ever he blan o,
Swilke mervayle had he of that man,
For had wonder p, that nature
Myght mak ſo foul a creature.
Than to the Wel he rade gude paſe,
And down he lighted in that plaſe;
And ſone the bacyn has he tane,
And keſtq water opon the Stane;
[118] And ſone thar wax, withowten fayle,
Wind and thonor, rayn and hayle:
Whan it was ſeſed, than ſaw he
The fowles light opon the tre,
Thai ſang ful fayr opon that thorn
Right als thai had done byforn.
And ſone he ſaw cumandr a knight,
As faſt ſo the fowl in flyght,
With rude ſembland f, and ſterne chere,
And haſtily he neghed nere;
To ſpeke of lufs na time was thare,
For aither hated uther ful ſare t.
Togeder ſmertly gan thai drive,
Thair ſheldes ſon bigan to ryve,
Thair ſhaftes cheverdu to thair hand
Bot thai war buth ful wele ſyttand w.
Out thai droghx thair ſwerdes kene,
And delt ſtrakes tham bytwene;
Al to pieces thai hewed thair ſheldes,
The culponsy fleghz out in the feldes.
On helmes ſtrake thay ſo with yre,
At ilka ſtrake out braſt the fyr;
Ayther of tham gude buffettes bede a,
And nowther wald ſtyr of the ſtede.
Ful kenely thai kydb thair myght,
And feyned tham noght for to fyght:
Thair hauberkes that men myght ken
The blode out of thair bodyes ren.
Ayther on other laid ſo faſt,
The batayl might noght lang laſt:
[119] Hauberks erc broken, and helmes reven,
Styf ſtrakes war thar gyfen;
Thai foght on hors ſtifly always,
The batel was wele more to prays;
Bot at the laſt ſyr Ywayne
On his felow kyd his mayne,
So egerly he ſmate him than,
He clefe the helme and the herne pan d:
The knyght wiſt he was nere ded,
To fly than was his beſt rede e;
And faſt he fled with al hys mayne,
And faſt folowe ſyr Ywayne,
Bot he ne might him overtake,
Tharfore grete murning gan he make:
He folowd him ful ſtowtlyk f,
And wold have tane him ded or quik;
He folowed him to the cetè g,
Naman lyfandh met he.
Whan thai come to the kaſtel ȝate,
In he folowed faſt tharate:
At aither entre was, I wys,
Straytly wroght a port culis,
Shod wele with yren and ſtele,
And alſo grundeni wonder wele:
Under that then was a ſwyke k
That made ſyr Y wayn to myſlike,
His hors fote toched thare on;
Than fel the port culis onone l,
[120] Bytwyx him and his arſown,
Thorgh ſadel and ſtede it ſmate al down,
His ſporesm of his heles it ſchare n:
Than had Ywayne murnyngo mare p,
Bot ſo he wend have paſſed quite q,
That fel the totherr biforn alſtyte.
A faire grace that fel him ſwa s,
Al if it did his hors in twa t,
And his ſpors of aither hele,
That himſelf paſſed ſo wele.

While ſir Ywaine remains in this perilous confinement, a lady looks out of a wicket which opened in the wall of the gateway, and releaſes him. She gives him her ring,

I ſal leve the har mi Ring u,
Bot ȝelde it me at myne aſkyng:
Whan thou ert broght of al thi payn
Ȝeldew it than to me ogayne:
Als the bark hillesx the tre,
Right ſo ſal my Ring do the;
When you in hand has the ſtane y,
Derz ſal thai do the nane,
For the ſtane es of ſwilk might,
Of the ſal men have na ſyght a.
Wit ȝeb wel that ſir Ywayne
Of thir wordes was ful fayne c;
In at the dore ſho hem led,
And did him ſit opon hir bed,
[121] A quylte ful nobil lay tharon,
Richer ſaw he never none, &c.

Here he is ſecreted. In the mean time, the Lord of the caſtle dies of his wounds, and is magnificently buried. But before the interment, the people of the caſtle ſearch for ſir Ywayne.

Half his ſtede thar fand thai d
That within the ȝatese lay;
Bot the knight thar fand thai noght:
Than was thar mekil ſorow unſoght,
Dore ne window was thar nane,
Whar he myght oway gane.
Thai ſaid he ſold thare be laft f,
Or els he cowth of weche craft g,
Or he cowth of nygromancy,
Or he had wenges to fly.
Haſtily than went thai all
And ſoght him in the maydens hall,
In chambers high es noght at hide,
And in ſolersh on ilka ſide.
Sir Ywayne ſaw ful wele al that,
And ſtill opon the bed he ſat:
Thar was nane that anes mynt
Unto the bed at ſmytei a dynt k:
Al about thai ſmate ſo faſt,
That mani of thair wapins braſt;
Mekyl ſorow thai made ilkane,
For thai ne myght wreke thair lord bane.
Thai went oway with dreri chere,
And ſone thar efter come the Bere l;
[122] A lady folowd white ſo mylk,
In al that lond was none ſwilk:
Sho wrang her fingers, outbraſte the blode,
For mekyl wam ſho was nere wode n;
Hir fayr har ſcho alto drogh o,
And ful oft fel ſho down in ſwogh p;
Sho wepe with a ful dreri voice.
The hali water, and the croyce,
Was born bifore the proceſſion;
Thar folowd mani a moder ſon.
Bifor the cors rade a knyght
On his ſtede that was ful wight q;
In his armurs wele arayd,
With ſpere and target gudely grayd.
Than ſir Ywayne herd the cry
Of the dole of tha [...] fayr lady, &c.

Sir Ywayne deſires the damſel's permiſſion to look at the lady of the deceaſed knight through a window. He falls in love with her. She paſſes her time in praying for his ſoul.

Unto his ſaul was ſho ful hulde r:
Opon a ſawter al of gulde s,
To ſay the ſal-mast faſt ſho bigan.

The damſel u, whoſe name is Lunet, promiſes ſir Ywaine an interview with the Lady. She uſes many arguments to the Lady, and with much art, to ſhew the neceſſity of her marrying again, for the defence of her caſtle.

[123]
The mayden redies hir ful rath w,
Bilive ſhe gert ſyr Ywayne bath x,
And clad hym ſeym in gude ſcarlet,
Forordey wel, and with gold fret z;
A girdel ful riche for the nones,
Of perry and of precious ſtones.
Sho talde him al how he ſold do
Whan that he come the lady to.

[124] He is conducted to her chamber.

Bot ȝit ſir Ywayne had grete drede,
Whan he unto chamber ȝede;
The chamber, flore, and als the bed,
With klothes of gold was al over ſpread a.

[125] After this interview, ſhe is reconciled to him, as he only in ſelf-defence has ſlain her huſband, and ſhe promiſes him marriage.

Than haſtily ſho went to Hall,
Thar abode her barons all,
For to hald thair parlement b,
And maric her by thair aſent.

They agree to the marriage.

Than the lady went ogayne
Unto chamber to Ywayne;
Sir, ſho ſaid, ſo God me ſave,
Other lord will I nane have:
If I the leftd I did noght right,
A king ſon, and a noble knyght.
Now has the maiden done hir thoght e,
Syr Ywayne out of anger broght.
The Lady led him unto Hall,
Ogainsf him roſe the barons all,
And at thai ſaid ful ſekerly,
This Knight ſal wed the Lady:
And ilkane ſaid thamſelfg bitwene,
So fayr a man had thai noght ſene,
For his bewte in hal and bowr:
Him ſemes to be an emperowr.
[126] We walde that thai war trowth plight,
And weded ſone this ilk nyght.
The lady ſet hir on the deſe h,
And cumand al to hald thair peſe i;
And bad hir ſteward ſumwhat ſay,
Ork men went fra cowrt away.
The ſteward ſaid, Sirs, underſtandes,
Worl is waxenm in this landes;
The king Arthur is redy dight
To be here by this fowre tenyght:
He and his menȝen ha thoght
To win this land if thai moght:
Thai wateo ful wele, that he is ded
That was lorde here in this ſtede p:
None es ſo wight wapinsq to welde,
Ne that ſo boldly mai us belde,
And wemen may maintene no ſtowr r,
Thai moſt nedes have a governowr:
Tharfor mi lady moſt nede
Be weded haſtily for drede s,
And to na lord wil ſho take tent t,
Bot if it be by ȝowr aſſent.
Than the lordes al on raw u
Held them wele payd of this ſaw w.
[127] Al aſſented hyr untill x
To tak a lord at hyr own wyll.
Than ſaid the lady onone right,
How hald ȝe ȝow payd of this knight?
He profers hym on al wyſe
To myne honor and my ſervyſe,
And ſertes, ſirs, the ſoth to ſay,
I ſaw him never, er this day;
Bot talde unto me has it bene
He es the kyng ſon Uriene:
He es cumen of high parage y,
And wonder doghty of vaſſalage z,
War and wiſe, and ful curtayſe,
He ȝernesa me to wife alwayſe;
And nere the leſe, I wate, he might
Have wele better, and ſo war right.
With a voice halelyb thai ſayd,
Madame, ful wele we hald us payd:
Bot haſtes faſt al that ȝe may,
That ȝe war wedded this ilk day:
And grete prayer gan thai make
On alwiſe, that ſho ſuld hym take.
Sone unto the kirk thai went,
And war wedded in thair preſent;
Thar wedded Ywain in plevyne c
The riche lady ALUNDYNE,
The dukes doghter of Landuit,
Els had hyr lande bene deſtruyt.
[128] Thus thai made the maryage
Amang al the riche barnage d:
Thai made ful mekyl mirth that day,
Ful grete feſtes on gude aray;
Grete mirthes made thai in that ſtede,
And al forgetyn es now the dede e
Of him that was thair lord fre;
Thai ſay that this es worth ſwilk thre.
And that thai lufed him mekil more
Than him that lord was thare byfore.
The bridal f ſat, for ſoth to tell,
Till king Arthur come to the well
[129] With al his knyghtes ever ilkane,
Byhind leved thar noght ane g.—
The king keſt water on the ſtane,
The ſtorme raſe ful ſone onane
With wikked h weders, kene and calde,
Als it was byfore hand talde.
[130] The king and his men ilkane
Wend tharwith to have bene ſlane,
So blew it ſtorei with ſlete and rayne:
And haſtily gan ſyr Ywayne k,
Dight him graythlyl in his gere,
With nobil ſhelde, and ſtrong ſpere:
When he was dight in ſeker wede,
Than he umſtradem a nobil ſtede:
Him thoght that he was als lyght
Als a fowl es to the flyght.
Unto the Well faſt wendes he,
And ſone when thai myght him ſe,
Syr Kay, for he wald noght fayle,
Smertly aſkes the batayle.
And alſone than ſaid the kyng,
Sir Kay, I grante thine aſkyng.

Sir Ywaine is victorious, who diſcovers himſelf to king Arthur after the battle.

And ſone ſir Ywayne gan him tell
Of al his fare how it byfell,
With the knight how that he ſped,
And how he had the Lady wed;
And how the Mayden him helped well:
Thus talde he to hym ilka dele.
Syr kyng, he ſayd, I ȝow byſeke,
And al ȝowr menȝe milde and meke,
That ȝe wald grante to me that grace,
Atn wend with me to my purchaſe,
And ſe my Kaſtle and my Towre,
Than myght ȝe do me grete honowre.
[131] The kyng granted him ful right
To dwel with him a fouretenyght.
Sir Ywayne thanked him oft ſith n,
The knyghtes war al glad and blyth,
With ſir Ywayne for to wend:
And ſone a ſquier has he ſend
Unto the kaſtel, the way he nome,
And warned the Lady of thair come,
And that his Lord come with the kyng.
And when the Lady herd this thing,
It es no lifand man with mowth
That half hir cumforth tel kowth.
Haſtily that Lady hende
Cumand al her men to wende,
And dight tham in thair beſt aray,
To kepe the king that ilk day:
Thai kepedo him in riche wede
Rydeand on many a nobil ſtede;
Thai hailſedp him ful curtayſly,
And alſo al his cumpany:
Thai ſaid he was worthy to dowt q,
That ſo fele folk led obowt r:
Thar was grete joy, I ȝow bihete s,
With clothes ſperedt in ilka ſtrete,
And damyſels danceand ful wele,
With trumpes, pipes, and with friſtele:
The Caſtel and the Cetee rang
With mynſtralſi and nobil ſang.
Thai ordand tham ilkane in fere
To kepe the king on faire manere.
The Lady went withowten towne,
And with her many balde barowne,
[132] Cled in purpure and ermyne,
With girdels al of golde ful fyne.
The Lady made ful m [...]ri chere,
Sho was al dight with drewriesu dere;
Abowt hir was ful mekyl thrang,
The puple cried and ſayd omang,
Welcum ertou, kyng Arthoure,
Of al this werld thou beres the floure!
Lord kyng of all kynges,
And bliſſed be he that the brynges!
When the Lady the Kyng ſaw,
Unto him faſt gan ſho draw,
To hald his ſterap whils he lyght;
Bot ſone when he of hir had ſyght,
With mekyl mirth thai ſamenv met,
With hende wordes ſho him gret;
A thouſand ſithes welkum ſho ſays,
And ſo es ſyr Gawayne the curtayſe.
The king ſaid, Lady white ſo flowr,
God gif ye joy and mekyl honowr,
For thou ert fayr with body gent:
With that he hir in armes hent,
And ful fayre he gan her falde w,
Thar was many to bihalde:
Et es no man with tong may tell
The mirth that was tham omell;
Of maidens was thar ſo gude wane x,
That ilka knight myght take ane.

The king ſtays here eight days, entertained with various ſports.

And ilk day thai had ſolace ſere
Of huntyng, and als of revere y:
[133] For thar was a ful fayre cuntre,
With wodes and parkes grete plente;
And caſtels wroght with lyme and ſtane,
That Ywayne with his wife had tane z.

SECT. XXVI.

[135]

I FEAR I ſhall be pronounced a heretic to modern criticiſm, in retracting what I have ſaid in a preceding page, and in placing the NOTBROWNE MAYDE under ſome part of this reign. Prior, who, about the year 1718, paraphraſed this poem, without improving its native beauties, ſuppoſes it to have been three hundred years old. It appears from two letters preſerved in the Britiſh Muſeum, written by Prior to Wanley, lord Oxford's librarian, that Prior conſulted Wanley about this antient ballad a. It is, however, certain, that Wanley, an antiquarian of unqueſtionable ſkill and judgement in theſe niceties, whatever directions and information he might have imparted to Prior on this ſubject, could never have communicated ſuch a deciſion. He certainly in theſe letters gives no ſuch opinion b. This is therefore the haſty conjecture of Prior; who thought that the curioſity which he was preſenting to the world, would derive proportionable value from its antiquity, who was better employed than in the petty labour of aſcertaining dates, and who knew much more of modern than antient poetry.

The NOT-BROWNE MAYDE firſt appeared in Arnolde's CHRONICLE, or CUSTOMS OF LONDON, which was firſt printed about the year 1521. This is perhaps the moſt heterogeneous and multifarious miſcellany that ever exiſted. The collector ſets out with a catalogue of the mayors and ſheriffs, the cuſtoms and charters, of the city of London. Soon afterwards we have [136] receipts to pickle ſturgeon, to make vinegar, ink, and gunpowder; how to raiſe parſley in an hour; the arts of brewery and ſoap-making; an eſtimate of the livings in London; an account of the laſt viſitation of ſaint Magnus's church; the weight of Eſſex cheeſe, and a letter to cardinal Wolſey. The NOT-BROWNE MAYDE is introduced, between an eſtimate of ſome ſubſidies paid into the exchequer, and directions for buying goods in Flanders. In a word, it ſeems to have been this compiler's plan, by way of making up a volume, to print together all the notices and papers, whether antient or modern, which he could amaſs, of every ſort and ſubject. It is ſuppoſed, that he intended an antiquarian repertory: but as many recent materials were admitted, that idea was not at leaſt uniformly obſerved; nor can any argument be drawn from that ſuppoſition, that this poem exiſted long before, and was inſerted as a piece of antiquity.

The editor of the PROLUSIONS infers c, from an identity of rhythmus and orthography, and an affinity of words and phraſes, that this poem appeared after ſir Thomas More's JEST OF THE SERJEANT AND FREER, which, as I have obſerved, was written about the year 1500. This reaſoning, were not other arguments obvious, would be inconcluſive, and might be turned to the oppoſite ſide of the queſtion. But it is evident from the language of the NOTBROWNE MAYDE, that it was not written earlier than the beginning, at leaſt, of the ſixteenth century. There is hardly an obſolete word, or that requires a gloſſary, in the whole piece: and many parts of Surry and Wyat are much more difficult to be underſtood. Reduce any two ſtanzas to modern orthography, and they ſhall hardly wear the appearance of antient poetry. The reader ſhall try the experiment on the two following, which occur accidentally d.

HE.
[137]
Yet take good hede, for ever I drede
That ye could nat ſuſtayne,
The thornie wayes, the depe valèis,
The ſnowe, the froſt, the rayne,
The colde, the hete: for, dry or wete,
We muſt lodge on the playne;
And us abofec none other rofe
But a brake buſh, or twayne.
Which ſone ſholde greve you, I believe;
And ye wolde gladly than,
That I had to the grene wode go
Alone a banyſhed man.—
SHE.
Among the wylde dere, ſuch an archère,
As men ſay that ye be,
May ye not fayle of good vitayle
Where is ſo grete plentè:
And water clere of the ryvère
Shall be full ſwete to me;
With which in hele, I ſhall ryght wele
Endure, as ye ſhall ſee:
And, or we go, a bedde or two
I can provyde anone.
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.

The ſimplicity of which paſſage Prior has thus decorated and dilated.

HENRY.
Thoſe limbs, in lawn and ſofteſt ſilk array'd,
From ſun-beams guarded, and of winds afraid;
[138] Can they bear angry Jove? can they reſiſt
The parching dog-ſtar, and the bleak north-eaſt?
When, chill'd by adverſe ſnows and beating rain,
We tread with weary ſteps the longſome plain;
When with hard toil we ſeek our evening food,
Berries and acorns from the neighbouring wood;
And find among the cliffs no other houſe,
But the thin covert of ſome gather'd boughs;
Wilt thou not then reluctant ſend thine eye
Around the dreary waſte; and weeping try
(Though then, alas! that trial be too late)
To find thy father's hoſpitable gate,
And ſeats, where eaſe and plenty brooding ſate?
Thoſe ſeats, whence long excluded thou muſt mourn;
That gate, for ever barr'd to thy return:
Wilt thou not then bewail ill-fated love,
And hate a baniſh'd man, condemn'd in woods to rove?
EMMA.
Thy riſe of fortune did I only wed,
From it's decline determin'd to recede;
Did I but purpoſe to embark with thee
On the ſmooth ſurface of a ſummer's ſea:
While gentle Zephyrs play in proſperous gales,
And Fortune's favour fills the ſwelling ſails;
But would forſake the ſhip, and make the ſhore,
When the winds whiſtle, and the tempeſts roar?
No, Henry, no: one ſacred oath has tied
Our loves; one deſtiny our life ſhall guide;
Nor wild nor deep our common way divide.
When from the cave thou riſeſt with the day,
To beat the woods, and rouſe the bounding prey,
The cave with moſs and branches I'll adorn,
And cheerful ſit, to wait my lord's return:
[139] And, when thou frequent bring'ſt the ſmitten deer
(For ſeldom, archers ſay, thy arrows err,)
I'll fetch quick fuel from the neighbouriug wood,
And ſtrike the ſparklng flint, and dreſs the food;
With humble duty and officious haſte,
I'll cull the fartheſt mead for thy repaſt;
The choiceſt herbs I to thy board will bring,
And draw thy water from the freſheſt ſpring:
And, when at night with weary toil oppreſt,
Soft ſlumbers thou enjoy'ſt, and wholeſome reſt;
Watchful I'll guard thee, and with midnight prayer
Weary the Gods to keep thee in their care;
And joyous aſk, at morn's returning ray,
If thou haſt health, and I may bleſs the day.
My thoughts ſhall fix, my lateſt wiſh depend,
On thee, guide, guardian, kinſman, father, friend:
By all theſe ſacred names be Henry known
To Emma's heart; and grateful let him own,
That ſhe, of all mankind, could love but him alone!

What degree of credit this poem maintained among our earlier anceſtors, I cannot determine. I ſuſpect the ſentiment was too refined for the general taſte. Yet it is enumerated among the popular tales and ballads by Laneham, in his narrative of queen Eliſabeth's entertainment at Kenilworth-caſtle in 1575 f. I have never ſeen it in manuſcript. I believe it was never reprinted from Arnolde's Chronicle, where it firſt appeared in 1521, till ſo late as the year 1707. It was that year revived in a collection called the MONTHLY MISCELLANY, or MEMO [...]RS FOR THE CURIOUS, and prefaced with a little eſſay on our antient poets and poetry, in which it is ſaid to have been three hundred old. Fortunately for modern poetry, this republication ſuggeſted it to the notice of Prior, who perhaps from the ſame ſource might [140] have adopted or confirmed his hypotheſis, that it was coeval with the commencement of the fifteenth century.

Whoever was the original inventor of this little dramatic dialogue, he has ſhewn no common ſkill in contriving a plan, which powerfully detains our attention, and intereſts the paſſions, by a conſtant ſucceſſion of ſuſpence and pleaſure, of anxiety and ſatisfaction. Betwixt hopes perpetually diſappointed, and ſolicitude perpetually relieved, we know not how to determine the event of a debate, in which new difficulties ſtill continue to be raiſed, and are almoſt as ſoon removed. In the midſt of this viciſſitude of feelings, a ſtriking contraſt of character is artfully formed, and uniformly ſupported, between the ſeeming unkindneſs and ingratitude of the man, and the unconquerable attachment and fidelity of the woman, whoſe amiable compliance unexpectedly defeats every objection, and continually furniſhes new matter for our love and compaſſion. At length, our fears ſubſide in the triumph of ſuffering innocence and patient ſincerity. The Man, whoſe hard ſpeeches had given us ſo much pain, ſuddenly ſurpriſes us with a change of ſentiment, and becomes equally an object of our admiration and eſteem. In the diſentanglement of this diſtreſsful tale, we are happy to find, that all his cruelty was tenderneſs, and his inconſtancy the moſt invariable truth; his levity an ingenious artifice, and his perverſity the friendly diſguiſe of the firmeſt affection. He is no longer an unfortunate exile, the profligate companion of the thieves and ruffians of the foreſt, but an opulent earl of Weſtmoreland; and promiſes, that the lady, who is a baron's daughter, and whoſe conſtancy he had proved by ſuch a ſeries of embarraſſing propoſals, ſhall inſtantly be made the partner of his riches and honours. Nor ſhould we forget to commend the invention of the poet, in imagining the modes of trying the lady's patience, and in feigning ſo many new ſituations: which, at the ſame time, open a way to deſcription, and to a variety of new ſcenes and images.

I cannot help obſerving here, by the way, that Prior has miſconceived [141] and eſſentially marred his poet's deſign, by ſoftening the ſternneſs of the Man, which could not be intended to admit of any degree of relaxation. Henry's hypocriſy is not characteriſtically nor conſiſtently ſuſtained. He frequently talks in too reſpectful and complaiſant a ſtyle. Sometimes he calls Emma my tender maid, and my beauteous Emma; he fondly dwells on the ambroſial plenty of her flowing ringlets gracefully wreathed with variegated ribbands, and expatiates with rapture on the charms of her ſnowy boſom, her ſlender waiſt, and harmony of ſhape. In the antient poem, the concealed lover never abates his affectation of rigour and reſerve, nor ever drops an expreſſion which may tend to betray any traces of tenderneſs. He retains his ſeverity to the laſt, in order to give force to the concluſion of the piece, and to heighten the effect of the final declaration of his love. Thus, by diminiſhing the oppoſition of intereſts, and by giving too great a degree of uniformity to both characters, the diſtreſs is in ſome meaſure deſtroyed by Prior. For this reaſon, Henry, during the courſe of the dialogue, is leſs an object of our averſion, and Emma of our pity. But theſe are the unavoidable conſequences of Prior's plan, who preſuppoſes a long connection between the lovers, which is attended with the warmeſt profeſſions of a reciprocal paſſion. Yet this very plan ſuggeſted another reaſon, why Prior ſhould have more cloſely copied the caſt of his original. After ſo many mutual promiſes and proteſtations, to have made Henry more obdurate, would have enhanced the ſufferings and the ſincerity of the amiable Emma.

It is highly probable, that the metrical romances of RICHARD CUER DE LYON, GUY EARL OF WARWICK, and SYR BEVYS OF SOUTHAMPTON, were moderniſed in this reign from more antient and ſimple narrations. The firſt was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1528 h. The ſecond without date, but about the ſame time, by William Copland. I mean that which begins thus,

[142]
Ithen the tyme that God was borne,
And cryſt [...]ndome was ſet and ſworne.

With this colophon. ‘"Here endeth the booke of the moſt victoryous prynce Guy earle of Warwyk. Imprinted at London in Lothbury, over againſt ſaynt Margaret's church by Wyllyam Copland i."’ Richard Pinſon prin [...]ed SIR BEVYS without date. Many quarto proſe romances were printed between the years 1510 and 1540 k. Of theſe, KYNGE APPOLYN OF THYRE is not one of the worſt.

In the year 1542, as it ſeems, Robert Wyer printed, ‘"Here begynneth a lytell boke named the SCOLE HOWSE. wherein every man may rede a goodly Prayer of the condycyons of women."’ Within the leaf is a border of naked women. This is a ſatire againſt the female ſex. The writer was wiſe enough to ſuppreſs his name, as we may judge from the following paſſage.

Trewly ſome men there be,
That lyve alwaye in greate horroure;
And ſay, it goth by deſtenye
To hange or wed, both hath one houre:
And whether it be, I am well ſure,
Hangynge is better of the twayne,
Sooner done, and ſhorter payne.

In the year 1521, Wynkyn de Worde printed a ſett of Chriſtmas Carols l. I have ſeen a fragment of this ſcarce book, and it preſerves this colophon. ‘"Thus endeth the Chriſtmaſſe carolles newly imprinted at London in the Flete-ſtrete at the ſygne of the ſonne by Wynkyn de Worde. The yere of our Lorde, M. D. XXI m."’ Theſe were feſtal chanſons for enlivening [143] the merriments of the Chriſtmas celebrity: and not ſuch religious ſongs as are current at this day with the common people under the ſame title, and which were ſubſtituted by thoſe enemies of innocent and uſeful mirth the puritans. The boar's head ſouſed, was antiently the firſt diſh on Chriſtmas day, and was carried up to the principal table in the Hall with great ſtate and ſolemnity. Hollinſhead ſays, that in the year 1170, upon the day of the young prince's coronation, king Henry the firſt ‘"ſerved his ſonne at the table as ſewer, bringing up the BORES HEAD with trumpets before it according to the manner n."’ For this indiſpenſable ceremony, as alſo for others of that ſeaſon, there was a Carol, which Wynkyn de Worde has given us in the miſcellany juſt mentioned, as it was ſung in his time, with the title, ‘"A CAROL bryngyng in the bores head."’

Caput Apri defero,
Reddens laudes Domino.
The bores head in hande bringe I,
With garlandes gay and roſemary.
I pray you all ſynge merely,
Qui eſtis in convivio.
The bores head, I underſtande,
Is the chefe ſervyceo in this lande:
Loke wherever it be fande p
Servite cum cantico.
Be gladde lordes, both more and laſſe q,
For this hath ordayned our ſtewarde
To chere you all this chriſtmaſſe,
The bores head with muſtarde.

[144] This carol, yet with many innovations, is retained at Queen's college in Oxford. Other antient Chriſtmas carols occur with Latin Burthens or Latin intermixtures. As thus,

Puer nobis natus eſt de Virgine Maria.
Be glad lordynges, be the more or leſſe,
I brynge you tydynges of gladneſſe r.

The Latin ſcraps were baniſhed from theſe jocund hymns, when the Reformation had eſtabliſhed an Engliſh liturgy. At length appeared, ‘"Certaine of David's Pſalmes intended for Chriſtmas Carolls fitted to the moſt ſollempne tunes every where familiarlie uſed, by William Slatyer, printed by Robert Yong 1630 s."’

It was impoſſible that the Reformation of religion could eſcape without its rhyming libels. Accordingly, among others, we have, ‘"An Anſwer to a papyſtical exhortation, pretending to avoyd falſe doctrine, under that colour to mayntayne the ſame,"’ printed in 1548, and beginning,

Every pildet pedlar
Will be a medlar.

In the year 1533, a proclamation was promulged, prohibiting evil-diſpoſed perſons to preach, either in public or private, ‘"After their own braine, and by playing of enterludes, and printing of falſe fond bookes, ballades, rhymes, and other lewd treatyſes in the Engliſh tongue, concerning doctrines in matters now in queſtion and controverſie, &c u."’ But this popular mode of attack, which all underſtood, and in which the idle and unlearned could join, appears to have been more powerful than royal interdictions and parliamentary cenſures.

In the year 1540, Thomas lord Cromwell, during the ſhort [145] interval which Henry's haſty paſſion for Catharine Howard permitted between his commitment and execution, was inſulted in a ballad written by a defender of the declining cauſe of popery, who certainly ſhewed more zeal than courage, in reproaching a diſgraced miniſter and a dying man. This ſatire, however unſeemly, gave riſe to a religious controverſy in verſe, which is preſerved in the archives of the antiquarian ſociety.

I find a poem of thirty octave ſtanzas, printed in 1546, called the DOWFAL OF ANTICHRISTES MAS, or Maſs, in which the nameleſs ſatiriſt is unjuſtly ſevere on the diſtreſſes of that ingenious claſs of mechanics who got their living by writing and ornamenting ſervice-books for the old papiſtic worſhip, now growing into decay and diſuſe; inſinuating at the ſame time, in a ſtrain of triumph, the great blow their craft had received, by the diminution of the number of churches in the diſſolution of the monaſteries w. It is, however, certain, that this buſy and lucrative occupation was otherwiſe much injured by the invention and propagation of typography, as ſeveral catholic rituals were printed in England: yet ſtill they continued to employ [146] writers and illuminators for this purpoſe. The fineſt and the lateſt ſpecimen of this ſort I have ſeen, is Cardinal Wolſey's LECTIONARY, now preſerved at Chriſt-church in Oxford, a prodigious folio on vellum, written and embelliſhed with great ſplendor and beauty by the moſt elegant artiſts, either for the uſe of his own private chapel, or for the magnificent chapel which he had projected for his college, and peculiarly characteriſtic of that prelate's predominant ideas of eccleſiaſtic pomp.

Wynkyn de Worde printed a TRETISE OF MERLYN, or his propheſies in verſe, in 1529. Another appeared by John Hawkyns, in 1533. Metrical and proſaic propheſies attributed to the magician Merlin, all originating from Geoffrey of Monmouth's hiſtorical romance, and of oriental growth, are numerous and various. Merlin's predictions were ſucceſſively accommodated by the minſtrel-poets to the politics of their own times. There are many among the Cotton manuſcripts, both in French and Engliſh, and in other libraries x. Laurence Minot above-cited, who wrote about 1360, and in the northern dialect, has applied ſome of them to the numerous victories of Edward the third y. As thus.

Men may rede in Romance z ryght,
Of a grete clerke that MERLIN hight:
Ful many bokes er of him wreten,
Als thir clerkes wele may witten a;
And ȝitb in many prive nokes c
May men find of Merlin bokes.
Merlin ſaid thus with his his mouth,
Out of the North into the Sowth,
[147] Suld cum a Bared over the ſe,
That ſuld mak many men to fle;
And in the ſe, he ſaid, ful right,
Suld he ſchewe ful mekill myght:
And in France he ſuld bigin f
To make tham wrath that are thare in:
Untill the ſe his taile reche ſale g,
All folk of France to mekill bale h.
Thus have I mater for to make
For a nobill Princei ſake.
Help me, God, my wit is thin k,
Now LAURENCE MINOT will bigin.
A Bore is broght on bankes bare l,
With ful batail bifor his breſt,
For Johnm of France will he noght ſpare
In Normandy to take his reſt.—
At Creſſy whan tha [...] brak the brig n,
That ſaw Edward with both his ine o;
Than liked him no langer to lig p,
Ilk Inglis man on others rig q;
Over that watir er thai went r,
To batail er thai baldly big,
With brade ax s, and with bowes bent,
With bent bowes thai war ful bolde,
For to fell oft the Frankiſh men.
Thai gertu them lig with cares cold.
Full ſariw was ſir Philipx then:
[148] He ſaw the town of Ferrumy bren z,
And folk for ferd war faſt fleand a:
The teres he let ful rathlyb ren
Out of his eghen c, I underſtand.
Than cum Philip, ful redy dight,
Toward the toun with all his rowt;
With him come mani a kumly knight,
And all umſetc the Boar obout:
The Boar made them ful law to lout,
And delt tham knokkes to thair mede d,
He gert tham ſtumbell that war ſtowt.
Thar helpid noather ſtaf ne ſtede e.
Stedes ſtrong bileved ſtill f
Biſide Creſſy opon the grene g.
Sir Philip wanted all his will
That was wele on his ſemblandh ſene,
With ſpere and ſchelde, and helmis ſchene i,
Thai Bare than durſt thai noght habide k.
The king of Bemel was cant and kene m,
Bot thaire he left both play and pride.
Pride in preſe ne prais I noght n.
Omong thair princes proud in pall,
Princes ſhould be well bithoght o
When kinges ſuld them tellp Counſaill call.

[149] The ſame boar, that is, Edward the third, is introduced by Minot as reſiſting the Scottiſh invaſion in 1347, at Nevil's croſs near Durham p.

Sir David the Bruſe q
Was at diſtance,
When Edward the baliolfe r,
Radef with his lance:
[150] The north end of Ingland,
Teached him to dance,
When he was met on the more,
With mekill miſchance.
Sir Philip the Valayce,
May him not avance s,
The flowres that faire wer,
Ert fallen in France!
The flowres er now fallen,
That fersu wer and fell,
A Barew with his bataille,
Has done tham to dwell.
Sir David the Bruſe,
Said he ſulde fonde x
To ride thurgh all Ingland,
Wold he noght wonde y:
At the Weſtminſter Hall,
Sulde his ſtedes ſtonde,
Whils oure king Edward
War out of the londe z.

Alſo in Edward's victory over the Spaniards in a ſea-fight, in 1350, a part of Minot's general ſubject.

I wold noght ſpare for to ſpeke,
Wiſt I to ſpede,
Of wight men with wapin a,
And worthly in wede.
That now are driven to dale b,
And ded all thaire dede,
Thai ſaile in the ſea-gronde c,
[151] Fiſches for to fede!
Feled Fiſches thai fede,
For all thaire grete fare e,
It was in the waniand f
That thai come thare.
Thai ſailed furth in the Swin
In a ſomers tyde,
With trompès and taburnes g,
And mikell other pryde h.

I have ſeen one of Merlin's PROPHESIES, probably tranſlated from the French, which begins thus.

Liſteneth now to Merlin's ſaw,
And I woll tell to aw i,
What he wrat for men to come,
Nother by greffe ne by plume k.

The public pageantries of this reign are proofs of the growing familiarity and national diffuſion of claſſical learning. I [152] will ſelect an inſtance, among others, from the ſhews exhibited with great magnificence at the coronation of queen Anne Boleyn, in the year 1533. The proceſſion to Weſtminſter abbey, began from the Tower; and the queen, in paſſing through Gracechurch ſtreet, was entertained with a repreſentation of mount Parnaſſus. The fountain of Helicon, by a bold fiction unknown to the bards of antiquity, ran in four ſtreams of Rheniſh wine from a baſon of white marble. On the ſummit of the mountain ſate Apollo, and at his feet Calliope. On either ſide of the declivity were arranged four of the Muſes, playing on their reſpective [153] muſical inſtruments. Under them were written epigrams and poeſies in golden letters, in which every Muſe praiſed the queen, according to her character and office. At the Conduit in Cornhill appeared the three Graces; before whom, with no great propriety, was the ſpring of Grace perpetually running wine. But when a conduit came in the way, a religious alluſion was too tempting and obvious to be omitted. Before the ſpring, however, [...]ate a poet, deſcribing in metre the properties or functions of every Grace: and then each of theſe four Graces allotted [154] in a ſhort ſpeech to the queen, the virtue or accompliſhment over which ſhe ſeverally preſided. At the Conduit in Cheapſide, as my chronicler ſays, ſhe was ſaluted with ‘"a rich pageaunt full of melodie and ſong."’ In this pageant were Pallas, Juno, and Venus: before them ſtood Mercury, who preſented to her majeſty, in the name of the three goddeſſes, a golden ball or globe divided into three parts, ſignifying wiſdom, riches, and felicity. At entering ſaint Paul's gate, an antient portal leading into the church-yard on the eaſt, and long ſince deſtroyed, three ladies richly attired ſhowered on her head wafers, in which were contained Latin diſtichs. At the eaſtern ſide of ſaint Paul's Church-yard, two hundred ſcholars of ſaint Paul's School, addreſſed her in choſen and appoſite paſſages from the Roman poets, tranſlated into Engliſh rhymes. On the leads of ſaint Martin's church ſtood a choir of boys and men, who ſung, not ſpiritual hymns, but new balads in praiſe of her majeſty. On the conduit without Ludgate, where the arms and angels had been refreſhed, was erected a tower with four turrets, within each of which was placed a Cardinal Virtue, ſymbolically habited. Each of theſe perſonages in turn uttered an oration, promiſing to protect and accompany the queen on all occaſions l. Here we ſee the pagan hiſtory and mythology predominating in thoſe ſpectacles, which were once furniſhed from the Golden Legend. Inſtead of ſaints, prophets, apoſtles, and confeſſors, we have Apollo, Mercury, and the Muſes. Inſtead of religious canticles, and texts of ſcripture, which were uſually introduced in the courſe of theſe ceremonies, we are entertained with profane poetry, tranſlations from the claſſics, and occaſional verſes; with exhortations, not delivered by perſonified doctors of the church, but by the heathen divinities.

[155] It may not be foreign to our purpoſe, to give the reader ſome diſtinct idea of the polite amuſements of this reign, among which, the Maſque, already mentioned in general terms, ſeems to have held the firſt place. It chiefly conſiſted of muſic, dancing, gaming, a banquet, and a diſplay of groteſque perſonages and fantaſtic dreſſes. The performers, as I have hinted, were often the king, and the chief of the nobility of both ſexes, who under proper diſguiſes executed ſome preconcerted ſtrategem, which ended in mirth and good humour. With one of theſe ſhews, in 1530, the king formed a ſcheme to ſurpriſe cardinal Wolſey, while he was celebrating a ſplendid banquet at his palace of Whitehall m. At night his majeſty in a maſque, with twelve more maſquers all richly but ſtrangely dreſſed, privately landed from Weſtminſter at Whitehall ſtairs. At landing, ſeveral ſmall pieces of canon were fired, which the king had before ordered to be placed on the ſhore near the houſe. The cardinal, who was ſeparately ſeated at the banquet in the preſence-chamber under the cloth of ſtate, a great number of ladies and lords being ſeated at the ſide-tables, was alarmed at this ſudden and unuſual noiſe: and immediately ordered lord Sandys, the king's chamberlain, who was one of the gueſts, and in the ſecret, to enquire the reaſon. Lord Sandys brought anſwer, that thirteen foreign noblemen of diſtinction were juſt arrived, and were then waiting in the great hall below; having been drawn thither by the report of the cardinal's magnificent banquet, and of the beautiful ladies which were preſent at it. The cardinal ordered them immediately into the banquetting-room, to which they were conducted from the hall with twenty new torches and a concert of drums and fifes. After a proper refreſhment, they requeſted in the French language to dance with the ladies, whom they kiſſed, and to play with them at mum-chance n; producing at the ſame time a great golden cup filled with many hundred crowns. Having played for ſometime with the ladies, they de [...]ignedly [156] loſt all that remained in the cup to the cardinal; whoſe ſagacity was not eaſily to be deceived, and who now began, from ſome circumſtances, to ſuſpect one of them to be the king. On finding their plot in danger, they anſwered, ‘"If your grace can point him out, he will readily diſcover himſelf."’ The cardinal pointed to a maſque with a black beard, but he was miſtaken, for it was ſir Edward Nevil. At this, the king could not forbear laughing aloud: and pulling off his own and ſir Edward Nevil's maſque, convinced the cardinal, with much arch complaiſance, that he had for once gueſſed wrong. The king and the maſquers then retired into another apartment to change their apparel: and in the meantime the banquet was removed, and the table covered afreſh with perfumed clothes. Soon afterwards the king, with his company, returned, and took his ſeat under the cardinal's canopy of ſtate. Immediately two hundred diſhes of the moſt coſtly cookery and confectionary were ſerved up; the contrivance and ſucceſs of the royal joke afforded much pleaſant converſation, and the night was ſpent in dancing, dice-playing, banketting and other triumphs o. The old chronicler Edward Hall, a cotemporary and a curious obſerver, acquaints us, that at Greenwich, in 1512, ‘"on the daie of the Epiphanie at night, the king with eleven others was diſguiſed after the maner of Italie, called a Maſke, a thing not ſeene before in England: they were apparalled in garments long and broad, wrought all with gold, with viſors and caps of gold. And after the banket doone, theſe maſkers came in, with ſix gentlemen diſguiſed in ſilke, bearing ſtaffe-torches and deſired the ladies to danſe; ſome were content, and ſome refuſed; and after they had danſed and communed togither, as the faſhion of the maſke is, they tooke their leave and departed, and ſo did the queene and all the ladies p."’

I do not find that it was a part of their diverſion in theſe entertainments to diſplay humour and character. Their chief aim [157] ſeems to have been, to ſurpriſe, by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the viſors, and by the ſingularity and ſplendor of the dreſſes. Every thing was out of nature and propriety. Frequently the Maſque was attended with an exhibition of ſome gorgeous machinery, reſembling the wonders of a modern pantomime. For inſtance, in the great hall of the palace, the uſual place of performance, a vaſt mountain covered with tall trees aroſe ſuddenly, from whoſe opening caverns iſſued hermits, pilgrims, ſhepherds, knights, damſels, and gypſies, who being regaled with ſpices and wine danced a moriſco, or morris-dance. They were then again received into the mountain, which with a ſymphony of rebecs and recorders cloſed its caverns; and tumbling to pieces, was replaced by a ſhip in full ſail, or a caſtle beſieged. To be more particular. The following device was ſhewn in the hall of the palace at Greenwich. A caſtle was reared, with numerous towers, gates, and battlements; and furniſhed with every military preparation for ſuſtaining a long ſiege. On the front was inſcribed Le fortreſſe dangereux. From the windows looked out ſix ladies, cloathed in the richeſt ruſſet ſattin, ‘"laid all over with leaves of gold, and every one knit with laces of blew ſilk and gold, on their heads coi [...]s and caps all of golde."’ This caſtle was moved about the hall; and when the queen had viewed it for a time, the king entered the hall with five knights, in embroidered veſtments, ſpangled and plated with gold, of the moſt curious and coſtly workmanſhip. They aſſaulted the caſtle; and the ſix ladies, finding them to be champions of redoubted proweſs, after a parley, yielded their perilous fortreſs, deſcended, and danced with their aſſailants. The ladies then led the knights into the caſtle, which immediately vaniſhed, and the company retired q. Here we ſee the repreſentation of an action. But all theſe magnificent mummeries, which were their evening-amuſements on feſtivals, notwithſtanding a parley, which my hiſtorian calls a communication, [158] is here mentioned, were yet in dumb ſhew r, and without dialogue.

But towards the latter part of Henry's reign, much of the old cumberſome ſtate began to be laid aſide. This I collect from a ſet of new regulations given to the royal houſhold about the year 1526, by cardinal Wolſey. In the Chapter For keeping the Hall and ordering of the Chapel, it is recited, that by the frequent intermiſſion and diſuſe of the ſolemnities of dining and ſupping in the great hall of the palace, the proper officers had almoſt forgot their duty, and the manner of conducting that very long and intricate ceremonial. It is therefore ordered, that when his majeſty is not at Weſtminſter, and with regard to his palaces in the country, the formalities of the Hall, which ought not entirely to fall into deſuetude, ſhall be at leaſt obſerved, when he is at Windſor, Beaulieu, or Newhall s, in Eſſex, Richmond, Hampton-court, Greenwich, Eltham, and Woodſtock. And that at theſe places only, the whole choir of the chapel ſhall attend. This attempt to revive that which had began to ceaſe from the nature of things, and from the growth of new manners, perhaps had but little or no laſting effect. And with reſpect to the Chapel, my record adds, that when the king is on journies or progreſſes, only ſix ſinging boys and ſix gentlemen of the choir ſhall make a part of the royal retinue; who ‘"daylie in abſence of the [...]eſidue of the chapel ſhall have a Maſſe of our Ladie bi [...]ore noon, and on Sondaies and holidaies, maſſe of the day beſides our Lady-maſſe, and an anthempne in the afternoone: [159] for which purpoſe, no great carriage of either veſtiments or bookes ſhall require t."’ Henry never ſeems to have been ſo truly happy, as when he was engaged in one of theſe progreſſes: in other words, moving from one ſeat to another, and enjoying his eaſe and amuſements in a ſtate of royal relaxation. This we may collect from a curious paſſage in Hollinſhead; who had pleaſed and perhaps informed us leſs, had he never deſerted the dignity of the hiſtorian. ‘"From thence the whole court remooved to Windſor, then beginning his progreſſe, and exerciſing himſelfe dailie in ſhooting, ſinging, danſing, wreſtling, caſting of the barre, plaieing at the recorders, flute, virginals, in ſetting of ſonges, and making of ballades.—And when he came to Okingu there were kept both juſtes turneies w."’ I make no apology for theſe ſeeming digreſſions. The manners and the poetry of a country are ſo nearly connected, that they mutually throw light on each other.

The ſame connection ſubſiſts between the ſtate of poetry and of the arts; to which we may now recall the reader's attention with as little violation of our general ſubject.

We are taught in the mythology of the antients, that the three Graces were produced at a birth. The meaning of the fable is, that the three moſt beautiful imitative arts were born and grew up together. Our poetry now beginning to be diveſted of its monaſtic barbariſm, and to advance towards elegance, was accompanied by proportionable improvements in Painting and Muſic. Henry employed many capital painters, and endeavoured to invite Raphael and Titian into England. Inſtead of allegorical tapeſtry, many of the royal apartments were adorned with hiſtorical pictures. Our familiarity with the manners of Italy, and affectation of Italian accompliſhments, influenced the tones and enriched [160] the modulation of our muſical compoſition. Thoſe who could read the ſonnets of Petrarch muſt have reliſhed the airs of Paleſtrina. At the ſame time, Architecture, like Milton's lion pawing to get free, made frequent efforts to diſentangle itſelf from the maſſy incumbrances of the Gothic manner; and began to catch the correct graces, and to copy the true magnificence, of the Grecian and Roman models. Henry was himſelf a great builder; and his numerous edifices, although conſtructed altogether on the antient ſyſtem, are ſometimes interſperſed with chaſte ornaments and graceful mouldings, and often marked with a legitimacy of proportion, and a purity of deſign, before unattempted. It was among the literary plans of Leland, one of the moſt claſſical ſcholars of this age, to write an account of Henry's palaces, in imitation of Procopius, who is ſaid to have deſcribed the palaces of the emperor Juſtinian. Frequent ſymptoms appeared, that perfection in every work of taſte was at no great diſtance. Thoſe clouds of ignorance which yet remained, began now to be illuminated by the approach of the dawn of truth.

SECT. XXVII.

[161]

THE reformation of our church produced an alteration for a time in the general ſyſtem of ſtudy, and changed the character and ſubjects of our poetry. Every mind, both learned and unlearned, was buſied in religious ſpeculation; and every pen was employed in recommending, illuſtrating, and familiariſing the Bible, which was now laid open to the people.

The poetical annals of king Edward the ſixth, who removed thoſe chains of bigottry which his brother Henry had only looſened, are marked with metrical tranſlations of various parts of the ſacred ſcripture. Of theſe the chief is the verſification of the Pſalter by Sternhold and Hopkins: a performance, which has acquired an importance, and conſequently claims a place in our ſeries, not ſo much from any merit of its own, as from the circumſtances with which it is connected.

It is extraordinary, that the proteſtant churches ſhould be indebted to a country in which the reformation had never begun to make any progreſs, and even to the indulgence of a ſociety which remains to this day the grand bulwark of the catholic theology, for a very diſtinguiſhing and eſſential part of their ritual.

About the year 1540, Clement Marot, a valet of the bedchamber to king Francis the firſt, was the favorite poet of France. This writer, having attained an unuſual elegance and facility of ſtyle, added many new embelliſhments to the rude ſtate of the French poetry. It is not the leaſt of his praiſes, that La Fontaine uſed to call him his maſter. He was the inventor [162] of the rondeau, and the reſtorer of the madrigal: but he became chiefly eminent for his paſtorals, ballads, fables, elegies, epigrams, and tranſlations from Ovid and Petrarch. At length, being tired of the vanities of profane poetry, or rather privately tinctured with the principles of Lutheraniſm, he attempted, with the aſſiſtance of his friend Theodore Beza, and by the encouragement of the profeſſor of Hebrew in the univerſity of Paris, a verſion of David's Pſalms into French rhymes. This tranſlation, which did not aim at any innovation in the public worſhip, and which received the ſanction of the Sorbonne as containing nothing contrary to ſound doctrine, he dedicated to his maſter Francis the firſt, and to the Ladies of France. In the dedication to the Ladies or les Dames de France, whom he had often before addreſſed in the tendereſt ſtrains of paſſion or compliment, he ſeems anxious to deprecate the raillery which the new tone of his verſification was likely to incur, and is embarraſſed how to find an apology for turning ſaint. Conſcious of his apoſtacy from the levities of life, in a ſpirit of religious gallantry, he declares that his deſign is to add to the happineſs of his fair readers, by ſubſtituting divine hymns in the place of chanſons d' amour, to inſpire their ſuſceptible hearts with a paſſion in which there is no torment, to baniſh that fickle and fantaſtic deity CUPID from the world, and to fill their apartments with the praiſes, not of the little god, but of the true Jehovah.

E voz doigts ſur les eſpinettes
Pour dire SAINCTES CHANSONETTES.

He adds, that the golden age would now be reſtored, when we ſhould ſee, the peaſant at his plough, the carman in the ſtreets, and the mechanic in his ſhop, ſolacing their toils with pſalms and canticles: and the ſhepherd and ſheperdeſs, repoſing in the ſhade, and teaching the rocks to echo the name of the Creator.

[163]
Le Laboureur a ſa charruë,
Le Charretier parmy le ruë,
Et l'Artiſan a en ſa boutique,
Avecques un PSEAUME ou CANTIQUE,
En ſon labour ſe ſoulager.
Heureux qui orra le Berger
Et la Begere au bois eſtans,
Fair que rochers et eſtangs,
Apres eux chantant la hauteur
Du ſainct nom de createur a.

Marot's Pſalms ſoon eclipſed the brilliancy of his madrigals and ſonnets. Not ſuſpecting how prejudicial the predominant rage of pſalm-ſinging might prove to the antient religion of Europe, the catholics themſelves adopted theſe ſacred ſongs as ſerious ballads, and as a more rational ſpecies of domeſtic merriment. Thy were the common accompaniments of the fiddle. They were ſold ſo rapidly, that the printers could not ſupply the public with copies. In the feſtive and ſplendid court of Francis the firſt, of a ſudden nothing was heard but the pſalms of Clement Marot. By each of the royal family and the principal nobility of the court a pſalm was choſen, and fitted to the ballad-tune which each liked beſt. The dauphin prince Henry, who delighted in hunting, was fond of Ainſi qu'on oit le cerf bruire, or, Like as the Hart deſireth the water-brooks, which he conſtantly ſung in going out to the chaſe. Madame de Valentinois, between whom and the young prince there was an attachment, took Du fond de ma penſée, or, From the depth of my heart, O Lord. The queen's favorite was, Ne uveilles pas, O Sire, that is, O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation, which ſhe ſung to a faſhionable jig. Antony king of Navarre ſung, Revenge moy, pren le querelle, or, Stand up, O Lord, to revenge my quarrel, to [164] the air of a dance of Poitou b. It was on very different principles that pſalmody flouriſhed in the gloomy court of Cromwell. This faſhion does not ſeem in the leaſt to have diminiſhed the gaiety and good humour of the court of Francis.

At this period John Calvin, in oppoſition to the diſcipline and doctrines of Rome, was framing his novel church at Geneva: in which the whole ſubſtance and form of divine worſhip was reduced to praying, preaching, and ſinging. In the laſt of theſe three, he choſe to depart widely from the catholic uſage: and, either becauſe he thought that novelty was ſure to ſucceed, that the practice of antiphonal chanting was ſuperſtitious, or that the people were excluded from bearing a part in the more ſolemn and elaborate performance of eccleſiaſtical muſic, or that the old papiſtic hymns were unedifying, or that verſe was better remembered than proſe, he projected, with the advice of Luther, a ſpecies of religious ſong, conſiſting of portions of the pſalms intelligibly tranſlated into the vernacular language, and adapted to plain and eaſy melodies, which all might learn, and in which all might join. This ſcheme, either by deſign or accident, was luckily ſeconded by the publication of Marot's metrical pſalms at Paris, which Calvin immediately introduced into his congregation at Geneva. Being ſet to ſimple and almoſt monotonous notes by Guillaume de Franc, they were ſoon eſtabliſhed as the principal branch in that reformer's new devotion, and became a characteriſtical mark or badge of the Calviniſtic worſhip and profeſſion. Nor were they ſung only in his churches. They exhilarated the convivial aſſemblies of the Calviniſts, were commonly heard in the ſtreets, and accompanied the labours of the artificer. The weavers and woollen manufacturers of Flanders, many of whom left the loom and entered into the miniſtry, are ſaid to have been the capital performers into this ſcience. At length Marot's pſalms formed an appendix to the catechiſm of Geneva, and were interdicted to the catholics under the moſt [165] ſevere penalties. In the language of the orthodox, pſalm-ſinging and hereſy were ſynonimous terms.

It was Calvin's ſyſtem of reformation, not only to ſtrip religion of its ſuperſtitious and oſtenſible pageantries, of crucifixes, images, tapers, ſuperb veſtments, and ſplendid proceſſions, but of all that was eſtimable in the ſight of the people, and even of every ſimple ornament, every ſignificant ſymbol, and decent ceremony; in a word, to baniſh every thing from his church which attracted or employed the ſenſes, or which might tend to mar the purity of an abſtracted adoration, and of a mental intercourſe with the deity. It is hard to determine, how Calvin could reconcile the uſe of ſinging, even when purged from the corruptions and abuſes of popery, to ſo philoſophical a plan of worſhip. On a parallel principle, and if any artificial aids to devotion were to be allowed, he might at leaſt have retained the uſe of pictures in the church. But a new ſect always draws its converts from the multitude and the meaneſt of the people, who can have no reliſh for the more elegant externals. Calvin well knew that the manufacturers of Germany were no judges of pictures. At the ſame time it was neceſſary that his congregation ſhould be kept in good humour by ſome kind of pleaſurable gratification and allurement, which might qualify and enliven the attendance on the more rigid duties of praying and preaching. Calvin therefore, intent as he was to form a new church on a ſevere model, had yet too much ſagacity to exclude every auxiliary to devotion. Under this idea, he permitted an exerciſe, which might engage the affections, without violating the ſimplicity of his worſhip: and ſenſible that his chief reſources were in the rabble of a republic, and availing himſelf of that natural propenſity which prompts even vulgar minds to expreſs their more animated feelings in rhyme and muſic, he conceived a mode of univerſal pſalmody, not too refined for common capacities, and fitted to pleaſe the populace. The rapid propagation of Calvin's religion, and his numerous proſelytes, are a ſtrong proof of his addreſs in planning ſuch a ſort of ſervice. France [166] and Germany were inſtantly infatuated with a love of pſalmſinging: which being admirably calculated to kindle and diffuſe the flame of fanaticiſm, was peculiarly ſerviceable to the purpoſes of faction, and frequently ſerved as the trumpet to rebellion. Theſe energetic hymns of Geneva, under the conduct of the Calviniſtic preachers, excited and ſupported a variety of popular inſurrections; they filled the moſt flouriſhing cities of the Low-countries with ſedition and tumult, and fomented the fury which defaced many of the moſt beautiful and venerable churches of Flanders.

This infectious frenzy of ſacred ſong ſoon reached England, at the very critical point of time, when it had juſt embraced the reformation: and the new pſalmody was obtruded on the new Engliſh liturgy by ſome few officious zealots, who favoured the diſcipline of Geneva, and who wiſhed to aboliſh, not only the choral mode of worſhip in general, but more particularly to ſuppreſs the TE DEUM, BENEDICTUS, MAGNIFICAT, JUBILATE, NUNC DIMITTIS, and the reſt of the liturgic hymns, which were ſuppoſed to be contaminated by their long and antient connection with the Roman miſſal, or at leaſt in their proſaic form, to be unſuitable to the new ſyſtem of worſhip.

Although Wyat and Surrey had before made tranſlations of the Pſalms into metre, Thomas Sternhold was the firſt whoſe metrical verſion of the Pſalms was uſed in the church of England. Sternhold was a native of Hampſhire, and probably educated at Wincheſter college. Having paſſed ſome time at Oxford, he became groom of the robes to king Henry the eighth. In this department, either his diligent ſervices or his knack at rhyming ſo pleaſed the king, that his majeſty bequeathed him a legacy of one hundred marks. He continued in the ſame office under Edward the ſixth, and is ſaid to have acquired ſome degree of reputation about the court for his poetry. Being of a ſerious diſpoſition, and an enthuſiaſt to reformation, he was much offended at the laſcivious ballads which prevailed among the courtiers: and, with a laudable deſign to check theſe indecencies, undertook [167] a metrical verſion of the Pſalter, ‘"thinking thereby, ſays Antony Wood, that the courtiers would ſing them inſtead of their ſonnets, but did not, only ſome few excepted c."’ Here was the zeal, if not the ſucceſs, of his fellow labourer Clement Marot. A ſingular coincidence of circumſtances is, notwithſtanding, to be remarked on this occaſion. Vernacular verſions for general uſe of the Pſalter were firſt publiſhed both in France and England, by laymen, by court-poets, and by ſervants of the court. Nor were the reſpective tranſlations entirely completed by themſelves: and yet they tranſlated nearly an equal number of pſalms, Marot having verſified fifty, and Sternhold fifty-one. Sternhold died in the year 1549. His fifty-one pſalms were printed the ſame year by Edward Whitchurch, under the following title. ‘"All ſuch Pſalms of David as Thomas Sternholde late grome of the kinges Maieſtyes robes did in his ly [...]e tyme drawe into Englysſhe metre."’ They are without the muſical notes, as is the ſecond edition in 1552. He probably lived to prepare the firſt edition for the preſs, as it is dedicated by himſelf to king Edward the ſixth.

Cotemporary with Sternhold, and his coadjutor, was John Hopkins: of whoſe life nothing more is known, than that he was a clergyman and a ſchoolmaſter of Suffolk, and perhaps a graduate at Oxford about the year 1544. Of his abilities as a teacher of the claſſics, he has left a ſpecimen in ſome Latin ſtanzas prefixed to FOX'S MARTYROLOGY. He is rather a better Engliſh poet than Sternhold; and tranſlated fifty eight of the pſalms, diſtinguiſhed by the initials of his name.

Of the reſt of the contributors to this undertaking, the chief, at leaſt in point of rank and learning, was William Whyttingham, promoted by Robert earl of Leiceſter to the deanery of Durham, yet not without a ſtrong reluctance to comply with the uſe of the canonical habiliments. Among our religious exiles in the reign of Mary, he was Calvin's principal [168] favorite, from whom he received ordination. So pure was his faith, that he was thought worthy to ſucceed to the congregation of Geneva, ſuperintended by Knox, the Scotch reformer; who, from a deteſtation of idols, proceeded to demoliſh the churches in which they were contained. It was one of the natural conſequences of Whyttingham's tranſlation from Knox's paſtorſhip at Geneva to an Engliſh deanery, that he deſtroyed or removed many beautiful and harmleſs monuments of antient art in his cathedral. To a man, who had ſo highly ſpiritualiſed his religious conceptions, as to be convinced that a field, a ſtreet, or a barn, were fully ſufficient for all the operations of chriſtian worſhip, the venerable ſtructures raiſed by the magnificent piety of our anceſtors could convey no ideas of ſolemnity, and had no other charms than their ample endowments. Beſide the pſalms he tranſlated d, all which bear his initials, by way of innovating ſtill further on our eſtabliſhed formularly, he verſified the Decalogue, the Nicene, Apoſtolic, and Athanaſian Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the TE DEUM, the Song of the three Children, with other hymns which follow the book of pſalmody. How the Ten Commandments and the Athanaſian Creed, to ſay nothing of ſome of the reſt, ſhould become more edifying and better ſuited to common uſe, or how they could receive improvement in any reſpect or degree, by being reduced into rhym [...], it is not eaſy to perceive. But the real deſign was, to render that more tolerable which could not be entirely removed, to accommodate every part of the ſervice to the pſalmodic tone, and to clothe our whole liturgy in the garb of Geneva. All theſe, for he was a lover of muſic, were ſung in Whyttingham's church of Durham under his own directions. Heylin ſays, that from vicinity of ſituation, he was enabled to lend conſiderable aſſiſtance to his friend Knox in the introduction of the preſbyterian hierarchy into Scotland. I muſt indulge the reader with a ſtanza or two of this dignified fanatic's divine poetry [169] from his Creeds and the Decalogue. From the Athanaſian Creed.

The Father God is, God the Son,
God Holy Ghoſt alſo,
Yet are there not three Gods in all
But one God and no m [...].

From the Apoſtolic Creed.

From thence ſhall he come for to judge,
All men both dead and quick;
I in the holy ghoſt believe,
And church that's catholick.

The Ten Commandments are thus cloſed.

Nor his man-ſervant, nor his maid,
Nor oxe, nor aſſe of his;
Nor any other thing that to
Thy neighbour proper is.

Theſe were alſo verſified by Clement Marot.

Twenty-ſeven of the pſalms were turned into metre by Thomas Norton e, who perhaps was better employed, at leaſt as a poet, in writing the tragedy of GORDOBUCKE in conjunction with lord Buckhurſt. It is certain that in Norton's pſalms we ſee none of thoſe ſublime ſtrokes which ſir Philip Sydney diſcovered in that venerable drama. He was of Sharpenhoe in Bedfordſhire, a barriſter, and in the opinion and phraſeology of the Oxford biographer, a bold and buſy Calviniſt about the beginning of the reign of queen Eliſabeth. He was patroniſed by the Protector Somerſet; at whoſe deſire he tranſlated an epiſtle addreſſed by Peter Martyr to Somerſet, into Engliſh, in 1550. Under the ſame patronage he probably tran [...]lated alſo Calvin's Inſtitutes.

[170] Robert Wiſdome, a proteſtant fugitive in the calamitous reign of queen Mary, afterwards archdeacon of Ely, and who had been nominated to an Iriſh biſhoprick by king Edward the ſixth, rendered the twenty-fifth pſalm of this verſion f. But he is chiefly memorable for his metrical prayer, intended to be ſung in the church, againſt the Pope and the Turk, of whom he ſeems to have conceived the moſt alarming apprehenſions. It is probable, that he thought popery and mahometaniſm were equally dangerous to chriſtianity, at leaſt the moſt powerful and the ſole enemies of our religion. This is the firſt ſtanza.

Preſerve us, Lord, by thy dear word,
From POPE and TURK defend us, Lord!
Which both would thruſt out of thy throne
Our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, thy dear ſon!

Happily we have hitherto ſurvived theſe two formidable evils! Among other orthodox wits, the facetious biſhop Corbet has ridiculed theſe lines. He ſuppoſes himſelf ſeized with a ſudden impulſe to hear or to pen a puritanical hymn, and invokes the ghoſt of Robert Wiſdome, as the moſt ſkilful poet in this mode of compoſition, to come and aſſiſt. But he adviſes Wiſdome to ſteal back again to his tomb, which was in Carfax church at Oxford, ſilent and unperceived, for fear of being detected and intercepted by the Pope or the Turk. But I will produce Corbet's epigram, more eſpecially as it contains a criticiſm written in the reign of Charles the firſt, on the ſtyle of this ſort of poetry.

TO THE GHOST OF ROBERT WISDOME.

Thou once a body, now but ayre,
Arch-botcher of a pſalm or prayer,
[171] From Carfax come!
And patch us up a zealous lay,
With an old ever and for ay,
Or all and ſome.
Or ſuch a ſpirit lend me,
As may a hymne down ſende me
To purge my braine:
But, Robert, looke behind thee,
Leſt TURK or POPE do find thee,
And go to bed againe g.
g
POEMS, Lond. 1647. duod. p. 49.

The entire verſion of the pſalter was at length publiſhed by John Day, in 1562, attached for the firſt time to the common prayer, and entitled, ‘"The whole Booke of Pſalmes collected into Engliſh metre by T. Sternhold, J. Hopkins, and others, conferred with the Ebrue, with apt Notes to [...]ing them withall."’ Calvin's muſic was intended to correſpond with the general parſimonious ſpirit of his worſhip: not to captivate the paſſions, and ſeduce the mind, by a levity, a variety, or a richneſs of modulation, but to infuſe the more ſober and unraviſhing ecſtaſies. The muſic he permitted, although ſometimes it had wonderful effects, was to be without grace, elegance, or elevation. Theſe apt notes were about forty tunes, of one part only, and in one uniſonous key; remarkable for a certain uniform ſtrain of ſombrous gravity, and applicable to all the pſalms in their turns, as the ſtanza and ſenſe might allow. They alſo appear in the ſubſequent impreſſions, particularly of 1564, and 1577. They are believed to contain ſome of the original melodies, compoſed by French and German muſicians. Many of them, particularly the celebrated one of the hundredth pſalm, are the tunes of Goudimel and Le Jeune, who are among the firſt compoſers of Marot's French pſalms h. Not a few were probably [172] imported by the proteſtant manufacturers of cloth, of Flanders, and the Low Countries, who fled into England from the perſecution of the Duke de Alva, and ſettled in thoſe counties where their art now chiefly flouriſhes. It is not however unlikely, that ſome of our own muſicians, who lived about the year 1562, and who could always tune their harps to the religion of the times, ſuch as Marbeck, Tallis, Tye, Parſons, and Munday, were employed on this occaſion; yet under the reſtriction of conforming to the jejune and unadorned movements of the foreign compoſers. I [...]reſume much of the primitive harmony of all theſe antient tunes is now loſt, by additions, variations, and tranſpoſitions.

This verſion is ſaid to be conferred with the Ebrue. But I am inclined to think, that the tranſlation was altogether made from the vulgate text, either in Latin or Engliſh.

It is evident that the proſe pſalms of our liturgy were chiefly conſulted and copied, by the perpetual aſſumption of their words and combinations: many of the ſtanza [...] are literally nothing more than the proſe-verſes put into rhyme. As thus,

Thus were they ſtained with the workes
Of their owne filthie way;
And with their owne inve [...]tions did
A whoring go aſtray i.

Whyttingham however, who had travelled to acquire the literature then taught in the foreign univerſities, and who joined in the tranſlation of Coverdale's Bible, was undoubtedly a ſcholar, and an adept in the Hebrew language.

It is certain that every attempt to clothe the ſacred Scripture in verſe, will have the effect of miſrepreſenting and debaſing the dignity of the original. But this general inconvenience, ariſing from the nature of things, was not the only difficulty which our verſifiers of the pſalter had to encounter, in common [173] with all other writers employed in a ſimilar taſk. Allowing for the ſtate of our language in the middle of the ſixteenth century, they appear to have been but little qualified either by genius or accompliſhments for poetical compoſition. It is for this reaſon that they have produced a tranſlation entirely deſtitute of elegance, ſpirit, and propriety. The truth is, that they undertook this work, not ſo much from an ambition of literary fame, or a conſciouſneſs of abilities, as from motives of piety, and in compliance with the caſt of the times. I preſume I am communicating no very new criticiſm when I obſerve, that in every part of this tranſlation we are diſguſted with a languor of verſification, and a want of common proſody. The moſt exalted effuſions of thankſgiving, and the moſt ſublime imageries of the divine majeſty, are lowered by a coldneſs of conception, weakened by frigid interpolations, and disfigured by a poverty of phraſeology. Thomas Hopkins expoſtulates with the deity in theſe ludicrous, at leaſt trivial, expreſſions.

Why dooſt withdrawe thy hand aback,
And hide it in thy lappe?
O plucke it out, and be not ſlack
To give thy foes a rappe k!

What writer who wiſhed to diminiſh the might of the ſupreme Being, and to expoſe the ſtyle and ſentiments of Scripture, [174] could have done it more ſkilfully, than by making David call upon God, not to conſume his enemies by an irreſiſtible blow, but to give them a rap? Although ſome ſhadow of an apology may be ſuggeſted for the word rap, that it had not then acquired its preſent burleſque acceptation, or the idea of a petty ſtroke, the vulgarity of the following phraſe, in which the practice or profeſſion of religion, or more particularly God's covenant with the Jews, is degraded to a trade, cannot eaſily be vindicated on any conſideration of the fluctuating ſenſe of words.

For why, their hearts were nothing bent
To him, nor to his trade l.

Nor is there greater delicacy or conſiſtency in the following ſtanza.

Confound them that apply
And ſeeke to worke my ſhame;
And at my harme do laugh, and cry,
So, So, there goeth the game m.

The pſalmiſt ſays, that God has placed the ſun in the heavens, ‘"which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber."’ Here is a compariſon of the ſun riſing, to a bridegroom; who, according to the Jewiſh cuſtom, was uſhered from his chamber at midnight, with great ſtate, preceded by torches and muſic. Sternhold has thus metrified the paſſage n.

In them the Lord made for the ſun,
A place of great renown,
Who like a bridegroom ready trimm'd
Doth from his chamber come.

The tranſlator had better have ſpared his epithet to the bridegroom; which, even in the ſenſe of ready-dreſſed, is derogatory to [175] the idea of the compariſon. But ready-trimm'd, in the language of that time, was nothing more than freſh-ſhaved. Sternhold as often impairs a ſplendid deſcription by an impotent redundancy, as by an omiſſion or contraction of the moſt important circumſtances.

The miraculous march of Jehovah before the Iſraelites through the wilderneſs in their departure from Egypt, with other marks of his omnipotence, is thus imaged by the inſpired pſalmiſt. ‘"O God, when thou wenteſt forth before the people, when thou wenteſt through the wilderneſs: the earth ſhook, and the heavens dropped at the preſence of God; even as Sinai alſo was moved at the preſence of God, who is the God of Iſrael. Thou, O God, ſentedſt a gracious rain upon thine inheritance, and refreſhedſt it when it was weary.—The chariots of God are twenty thouſand, even thouſands of angels; and the Lord is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai."’ Sternhold has thus repreſented theſe great ideas.

When thou didſt march before thy folk
The Egyptians from among,
And brought them from the wildernes,
Which was both wide and long:
The earth did quake, the raine pourde downe,
Heard were great claps of thunder;
The mount Sinai ſhooke in ſuch ſorte,
As it would cleave in ſunder.
Thy heritage with drops of rain
Abundantly was waſht,
And if ſo be it barren was,
By thee it was refreſht.
[176]
God's army is two millions,
Of warriours good and ſtrong,
The Lord alſo in Sinai
Is preſent them among o.

If there be here any merit, it ariſes ſolely from preſerving the expreſſions of the proſe verſion. And the tranſlator would have done better had he preſerved more, and had given us no feeble or foreign enlargements of his own. He has ſhewn no independent ſkill or energy. When once he attempts to add or dilate, his weakneſs appears. It is this circumſtance alone, which ſupports the two following well-known ſtanzas p.

The Lord deſcended from above,
And bowde the heavens high;
And underneath his feet he caſt
The darkneſſe of the ſkie.
On Cherubs and on Cherubims
Full roiallie he rode;
And on the winges of all the windes
Came flying all abrode.

Almoſt the entire contexture of the proſe is here literally transferred, unbroken and without tranſpoſition, allowing for the ſmall deviations neceſſarily occaſioned by the metre and rhyme. It may be ſaid, that the tranſlator has teſtified his judgment in retaining ſo much of the original, and proved he was ſenſible the paſſage needed not any adventitious ornament. But what may ſeem here to be judgment or even taſte, I fear, was want of expreſſion in himſelf. He only adopted what was almoſt ready done to his hand.

To the diſgrace of ſacred muſic, ſacred poetry, and our eſtabliſhed worſhip, theſe pſalms ſtill continue to be ſung in [177] the church of England. It is certain, had they been more poetically tranſlated, they would not have been acceptable to the common people. Yet however they may be allowed to ſerve the purpoſes of private edification, in adminiſtering ſpiritual conſolation to the manufacturer and mechanic, as they are extrinſic to the frame of our liturgy, and incompatible with the genius of our ſervice, there is perhaps no impropriety in wiſhing, that they were remitted and reſtrained to that church in which they ſprung, and with whoſe character and conſtitution they ſeem ſo aptly to correſpond. Whatever eſtimation in point of compoſition they might have attracted at their firſt appearance in a ruder age, and however inſtrumental they might have been at the infancy of the reformation in weaning the minds of men from the papiſtic ritual, all theſe conſiderations can now no longer ſupport even a ſpecious argument for their being retained. From the circumſtances of the times, and the growing refinements of literature, of courſe they become obſolete and contemptible. A work grave, ſerious, and even reſpectable for its poetry, in the reign of Edward the ſixth, at length in a cultivated age, has contracted the air of an abſolute traveſtie. Voltaire obſerves, that in proportion as good taſte improved, the pſalms of Clement Marot inſpired only diſguſt: and that although they charmed the court of Francis the firſt, they ſeemed only to be calculated for the populace in the reign of Lewis the fourteenth r.

To obviate theſe objections, attempts have been made from time to time to moderniſe this antient metrical verſion, and to render it more tolerable and intelligible by the ſubſtitution of more familiar modes of diction. But, to ſay nothing of the unſkilfulneſs with which theſe arbitrary corrections have been conducted, by changing obſolete for known words, the texture and integrity of the original ſtyle, ſuch as it was, has been deſtroyed: and many ſtanzas, before too naked and weak, like a [178] plain old Gothic edifice ſtripped of its few ſignatures of antiquity, have loſt that little and almoſt only ſtrength and ſupport which they derived from antient phraſes. Such alterations, even if executed with prudence and judgment, only corrupt what they endeavour to explain; and exhibit a motley performance, belonging to no character of writing, and which contains more improprieties than thoſe which it profeſſes to remove. Hearne is highly offended at theſe unwarrantable and incongruous emendations, which he pronounces to be abominable in any book, ‘"much more in a ſacred work;"’ and is confident, that were Sternhold and Hopkins ‘"now living, they would be ſo far from owning what is aſcribed to them, that they would proceed againſt the innovators as CHEATS s."’ It is certain, that this tranſlation in its genuine and unſophiſticated ſtate, by aſcertaining the ſignification of many radical words now perhaps undeſervedly diſuſed, and by diſplaying original modes of the Engliſh language, may juſtly be deemed no inconſiderable monument of our antient literature, if not of our antient poetry. In condemning the practice of adulterating this primitive verſion, I would not be underſtood to recommend another in its place, entirely new. I reprobate any verſion at all, more eſpecially if intended for the uſe of the church.

In the mean time, not to inſiſt any longer on the incompatibility of theſe metrical pſalms with the ſpirit of our liturgy, and the barbariſm of their ſtyle, it ſhould b [...] remembered, that they were never admitted into our church by lawful authority. They were firſt introduced by the puritans, and afterwards continued by connivance. But they never received any royal approbation or parlia [...]entary ſanction, notwithſtanding it is ſaid in their title page, that they are ‘"ſet forth and ALLOWED to be ſung in all churches of all the people together before and after evening prayer, and alſo before and after ſermons: and moreover in private houſes for their godly ſolace and comfort, [179] laying apart all ungodly ſongs and ballads, which tend only to the nouriſhing of vice and the corrupting of youth."’ At the beginning of the reign of queen Eliſabeth, when our eccleſiaſtical reformation began to be placed on a ſolid and durable eſtabliſhment, thoſe Engliſh divines who had fled from the ſuperſtitions of queen Mary to Franckfort and Geneva, where they had learned to embrace the oppoſite extreme, and where, from an abhorrence of catholic ceremonies, they had contracted a diſlike to the decent appendages of divine worſhip, endeavoured, in conjunction with ſome of the principal courtiers, to effect an abrogation of our ſolemn church ſervice, which they pronounced to be antichriſtian and unevangelical. They contended that the metrical pſalms of David, ſet to plain and popular muſic, were more ſuitable to the ſimplicity of the goſpel, and abundantly adequate to all the purpoſes of edification: and this propoſal they reſted on the authority and practice of Calvin, between whom and the church of England the breach was not then ſo wide as at preſent. But the queen and thoſe biſhops to whom ſhe had delegated the buſineſs of ſuperviſing the liturgy, among which was the learned and liberal archbiſhop Parker, objected, that too much attention had already been paid to the German theology. She declared, that the foreign reformers had before interpo [...]ed, on [...]imilar deliberations, with unbecoming forwardneſs: and that the Common Prayer of her brother Edward had been once altered, to quiet the ſcruples, and to gratify the cavils, of Calvin, Bucer, and Fagius. She was therefore invariably determined to make no more conceſſions to the importunate partiſans of Geneva, and peremptorily decreed that the choral formalities ſhould ſtill be continued in the celebration of the ſacred offices t.

SECT. XXVIII.

[180]

THE ſpirit of verſifying the pſalms, and other parts of the Bible, at the beginning of the reformation, was almoſt as epidemic as pſalm-ſinging. William Hunnis, a gentleman of the chapel under Edward the ſixth, and afterwards chapel-maſter to queen Eliſabeth, rendered into rhyme many ſelect pſalms, which had not the good fortune to be reſcued from oblivion by being incorporated into Hopkins's collection, nor to be ſung in the royal chapel. They were printed in 1550, with this title, ‘"Certayne Pſalmes choſen out of the Pſalter of David, and drawen furth into Englyſh meter by William Hunnis ſervant to the ryght honourable ſyr William Harberd knight. Newly collected and imprinted a."’

I know not if among theſe are his SEVEN SOBS of a ſorrowful ſoul for ſ [...], comprehending the SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS in metre. They are dedicated to Frances counteſs of Suſſex, whoſe attachment to the goſpel he much extols, and who was afterwards the foundreſs of Sydney college in Cambridge. Hunnis alſo, under the happy title of a HANDFUL OF HONEYSUCKLES, publiſhed Bleſſings out of Deuteronomie, Prayers to Chriſt, Athanaſius's Creed, and Meditations, in metre with muſical notes. But his ſpiritual noſegays are numerous. To ſay nothing of his RECREATIONS on Adam's baniſhment, Chriſt his Cribb, and the Loſt Sheep, he tranſlated into Engliſh rhyme the whole book of GENESIS, which he calls a HIVE FULL OF HONEY b. But his honey-ſuckles and his honey are now no longer delicious. He was a large contributor to the PARADISE [181] OF DAINTY DEVISES, of which more will be ſaid in its place. In the year 1550, were alſo publiſhed by John Hall, or Hawle, a ſurgeon or phyſician of Maidſtone in Kent, and author of many tracts in his profeſſion, ‘"Certayne chapters taken out of the proverbes of Solomon, with other chapters of the holy Scripture, and certayne Pſalmes of David tranſlated into Engliſh metre by John Hall c."’ By the remainder of the title it appears, that the proverbs had been in a former impreſſion unfairly attributed to Thomas Sternhold. The other chapters of Scripture are from Eccleſiaſticus and ſaint Paul's Epiſtles. We muſt not confound this John Hall with his cotemporary Eliſeus Hall, who pretended to be a miſſionary from heaven to the queen, propheſied in the ſtreets, and wrote a ſet of metrical viſions d. Metre was now become the vehicle of enthuſiaſm, and the puritans ſeem to have appropriated it to themſelves, in oppoſition to our ſervice, which was in proſe.

William Baldwyn, of whom more will be ſaid when we come to the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, publiſhed a Phraſelike declaration in Engliſh meeter on the CANTICLES or SONGS OF SOLOMON, in 1549. It is dedicated to Edward the ſixth e. Nineteen of the pſalms in rhyme are extant by Francis Seagar, printed by William Seres in 1553, with muſical notes, and dedicated to lord Ruſſel f.

Archbiſhop Parker alſo verſified the pſalter; not from any oppoſition to our liturgy, but, either for the private amuſement and exerciſe of his religious exile, or that the people, whoſe [182] predilection for pſalmody could not be ſuppreſſed, might at leaſt be furniſhed with a rational and proper tranſlation. It was finiſhed in 1557. And a few years afterwards printed by Day, the archbiſhop's printer, in quarto, with this title, ‘"The whole Pſalter tranſlated into Engliſh metre, which contayneth an hundredth and fifty pſalmes. The firſt Quinquagene g. Quoniam omnis terrae deus, pſallite ſapienter. Ps. 14. 47. Imprinted at London by John Daye, dwelling over Alderſgate beneath Saint Martyn's. Cum privilegio per decennium h."’ Without date of the printer i, or name of the tranſlator. In the metrical preface prefixed, he tries to remove the objections of thoſe who cenſured verſifications of Scripture, he pleads the comforts of ſuch an employment to the perſecuted theologiſt who ſuffers voluntary baniſhment, and thus diſplays the power of ſacred muſic.

The pſalmiſt ſtayde with tuned ſonge
The rage of myndes agaſt,
As David did with harpe among
To Saule in fury caſt.
With golden ſtringes ſuch harmonie
His harpe ſo ſweete did wreſt,
That he relieved his phreneſie
Whom wicked ſprites poſſeſt k.

Whatever might at firſt have been his deſign, it is certain that his verſion, although printed, was never publiſhed: and notwithſtanding the formality of his metrical preface abovementioned, [183] which was profeſſedly written to ſhew the ſpiritual efficacy or virtue of the pſalms in metre, and in which he directs a diſtinct and audible mode of congregational ſinging, he probably ſuppreſſed it, becauſe he ſaw that the practice had been abuſed to the purpoſes of fanaticiſm, and [...]dopted by the puritans in contradiction to the national worſhip; or at leaſt that ſuch a publication, whatever his private ſentiments might have been, would not have ſuited the nature and dignity of his high office in the church. Some of our muſical antiquaries, however, have juſtly conjectured, that the archbiſhop, who was ſkilled in muſic, and had formerly founded a muſic-ſchool in his college of Stoke Clare, intended theſe pſalms, which are adapted to complicated tunes of four parts probably conſtructed by himſelf and here given in ſcore, for the uſe of cathedrals; at a time, when compoſitions in counterpoint were uncommon in the church, and when that part of our choir-ſervice called the motet or anthem, which admits a more artificial diſplay of harmony, and which is recommended and allowed in queen Eliſabeth's earlieſt eccleſiaſtical injunctions, was yet almoſt unknown, or but in a very imperfect ſtate. Accordingly, although the direction is not quite comprehenſible, he orders many of them to be ſung by the rector chori, or chantor, and the quier, or choir, alternately. That at leaſt he had a taſte for muſic, we may conclude from the following not inelegant ſcale of modulation, prefixed to his eight tunes abovementioned.

"THE NATURE OF THE EYGHT TUNES.
The firſt is meke, devout to ſee,
The ſecond ſad, in maieſty:
The third doth rage, and roughly brayth,
The fourth doth fawne, and flattry playth:
The fifth deligth, and laugheth the more,
The ſixt bewayleth, it wepeth full ſore.
The ſeventh tredeth ſtoute in froward race,
The eyghte goeth milde in modeſt pace."

[184]What follows is another proof, that he had propoſed to introduce theſe pſalms into the choir-ſervice. ‘"The tenor of theſe partes be for the people when they will ſyng alone, the other partes put for the greater quiers, or to ſuche as will ſyng or play them privately l."’

How far this memorable prelate, perhaps the moſt accompliſhed ſcholar that had yet filled the archbiſhoprick of Canterbury, has ſucceeded in producing a tranſlation of the pſalter preferable to the common one, the reader may judge from theſe ſtanzas of a pſalm highly poetical, in which I have exactly preſerved the tranſlator's peculiar uſe of the hemiſtic punctuation.

To feede my neede: he will me leade
To paſtures greene and fat:
He forth brought me: in libertie,
To waters delicate.
My ſoule and hart: he did convart,
To me he ſhewth the path:
Of right wiſneſs: in holineſs,
His name ſuch vertue hath.
Yea though I go: through Death his wo
His vale and ſhadow wyde:
I feare no dart: with me thou art
With rod and ſtaffe to guide.
[185]
Thou ſhalt provyde: a table wyde,
For me againſt theyr ſpite:
With oyle my head: thou haſt beſpred,
My cup is fully dight m.

I add, in the more ſublime character, a part of the eighteenth pſalm, in which Sternhold is ſuppoſed to have exerted his powers moſt ſucceſsfully, and without the interruptions of the pointing which perhaps was deſigned for ſome regulations of the muſic, now unknown.

The earth did ſhake, for feare did quake,
The hils theyr baſes ſhooke;
Removed they were, in place moſt fayre,
At God's ryght fearfull looke.
Darke ſmoke roſe to hys face therefro,
Hys mouthe as fire conſumde,
That coales at it were kyndled bright
When he in anger fumde.
The heavens full lowe he made to bowe,
And downe dyd he enſue n;
And darkneſs great was underſete
His feete in clowdy hue.
He rode on hye, and dyd ſo flye,
Upon the Cherubins;
He came in ſight, and made his flight
Upon the wyng of wyndes.
The Lorde from heaven ſent downe his leaven
And thundred thence in ire;
He thunder caſt in wondrous blaſt
With hayle and coales of fyre o.

[186] Here is ſome degree of ſpirit, and a choice of phraſeology. But on the whole, and eſpecially for this ſpecies of ſtanza [...] Parker will be found to want facility, and in general to have been unpractiſed in writing Engliſh verſes. His abilities were deſtined to other ſtudies, and adapted to employments of a more ar [...]hiepiſcopal nature.

The induſtrious Strype, Parker's biographer, after a diligent ſearch never could gain a ſight o [...] this tranſlation: nor is it even mentioned by Ames, the inquiſitive collector of our typographical antiquities. In the late Mr. Weſt's library there was a ſuperb copy, once belonging to biſhop Kennet, who has remarked in a blank page, that the archbiſhop permitted his wife dame Margaret to preſent the book to ſome of the nobility. It is certainly at this time extremely ſcarce, and would be deſervedly deemed a fortunate acquiſition to thoſe capricious ſtudents who labour only to collect a library of rarities. Yet it is not generally known, that there are two copies in the Bodleian library of this anonymous verſion, which have hitherto been given to an obſcure po [...]t by the name of John Keeper. One of them, in 1643, appears to have been the property of biſhop Barlow: and on the oppoſite ſide of the title, in ſomewhat of an antient hand, is this manuſcript inſertion. ‘"The auctor of this booke is one John Keeper, who was brought upp in the cloſe of Wells."’ Perhaps Antony Wood had no better authority than this ſlender unauthenticated note, for ſaying, that John Keeper, a native of Somerſetſhire, and a graduate at Oxford in the year 1564, and who afterwards ſtudied muſic and poetry at Wells, ‘"tranſlated The whole Pſalter into Engliſh metre which containeth 150 pſalms, etc. printed at London by John Day living over Alderſgate, about 1570, in quarto: and added thereunto The Gloria Patri, Te Deum, The Song of the three Children, Quicunque vult, Benedictus, &c. all in m [...]tre. At the end of which, are muſical notes ſet in four parts to ſeveral pſalms. What other things, he adds, of poetry, muſic, or other faculties, he has publiſhed, I know [187] not, nor any thing more; yet I ſuppoſe he had ſome dignity in the church of Wells p."’ If this verſion ſhould really be the work of Keeper, I fear we are ſtill to ſeek for archbiſhop Parker's pſalms, with Strype and Ames q.

A conſiderable contributor to the metrical theology was Robert Crowley, educated in Magdalene college at Oxford, where he obtained a fellowſhip in 1542. In the reign of Edward the ſixth, he commenced printer and preacher in London. He lived in Ely-rents in Holborn: ‘"where, ſays Wood, he ſold books, and at leiſure times exerciſed the gift of preaching in the great city and elſewhere r."’ In 1550 he printed the firſt edition of PIERCE PLOWMAN'S VISION, but with the ideas of a controverſialiſt, and with the view of helping forward the reformation by the revival of a book which expoſed the abſurdities of popery in ſtrong ſatire, and which at preſent is only valuable or uſeful, as it ſerves to gratify the harmleſs reſearches of thoſe peaceable philoſophers who ſtudy the progreſſion of antient literature. His pulpit and his preſs, thoſe two prolific ſources of faction, happily cooperated in propagating his principles of predeſtination: and his ſhop and his ſermons were alike frequented. Poſſeſſed of thoſe talents which qualified him for captivating the attention and moving the paſſions of the multitude, under queen Eliſabeth he held many dignities in a church, whoſe doctrines and polity his undiſcerning zeal had a tendency to deſtroy. He tranſlated into popular rhyme, not only the pſalter, but the litany, with hymns, all which he printed together in 1549. In the ſame year, and in the ſame meaſure, he publiſhed The Voice of the laſt Trumpet blown by the ſeventh angel. This piece contains twelve ſeveral leſſons, for the inſtruction or amendment of thoſe who ſeemed at that time chiefly to need advice; and among whom he enumerates lewd prieſts, ſcholars, phyſicians, beggars, yeomen, gentlemen, [188] magiſtrates, and women. He alſo attacked the abuſes of his age in thirty-one EPIGRAMS, firſt printed in 1551. The ſubjects are placed alphabetically. In his firſt alphabet are Abbayes, Alehouſes, Alleys, and Almeſhouſes. The ſecond, Bailiffs, Bawds, Beggars, Bear-bayting, and Brawlers. They diſplay, but without ſpirit or humour, the reprehenſible practices and licentious manners which then prevailed. He publiſhed in 1551, a kind of metrical ſermon on Pleaſure and Pain, Heaven and Hell. Many of theſe, to ſay nothing of his almoſt innumerable controverſial tracts in proſe, had repeated editions, and from his own preſs. But one of his treatiſes, to prove that Lent is a human invention and a ſuperſtitious inſtitution, deſerves notice for its plan: it is a Dialogue between Lent and Liberty. The perſonification of Lent is a bold and a perfectly new proſopopeia. In an old poem of this age againſt the papiſts, written by one doctor William Turner a phyſician, but afterwards dean of Wells, the Maſs, or miſtreſs MISSA, is perſonified, who, arrayed in all her meretricious trappings, muſt at leaſt have been a more theatrical figure s. Crowley likewiſe wrote, and printed in 1588, a rhyming manual, The School of Vertue and Book of good Nurture. This is a tranſlation into metre, of many of the leſs exceptionable Latin hymns antiently uſed by the catholics, and ſtill continuing to retain among the proteſtants a degree of popularity. One of theſe begins, Jam Lucis orto ſydere. At the end are prayers and graces in rhyme. This book, which in Wood's time had been degraded to the ſtall of the ballad-ſinger, and is now only to be found on the ſhelf of the antiquary, was intended to ſuperſede or aboliſh the original Latin hymns, which were only offenſive becauſe they were in Latin, and which were the recreation of ſcholars in our univerſities after dinner on feſtival days. At an archiepiſcopal viſitation of Merton college in Oxford, in the year 1562, it was a matter of enquiry, whether the ſuperſtitious hymns appointed to [189] be ſung in the Hall on holidays, were changed for the pſalms in metre: and one of the fellows is accuſed of having attempted to prevent the ſinging of the metrical Te Deum in the refectory on All-ſaints day t.

It will not be foreign to our purpoſe to remark here, that when doctor Coſins, prebendary of Durham, afterwards biſhop, was cited before the parliament in 1640, for reviving or ſupporting papiſtic uſages in his cathedral, it was alledged againſt him, that he had worn an [...]mbroidered cope, had repaired ſome ruinous cherubims, had uſed a conſecrated knife for dividing the ſacramental bread, had renovated the blue cap and golden beard of a little image of Chriſt on biſhop Hatfield's tomb, had placed two lighted tapers on the altar which was decorated with emblematic ſculpture, and had forbidden the pſalms of Sternhold and Hopkins to be ſung in the choir u.

SECT. XXIX.

[190]

BUT among the theological verſifiers of theſe times, the moſt notable is Chriſtopher Tye, a doctor of muſic at Cambridge in 1545, and muſical preceptor to prince Edward, and probably to his ſiſters the princeſſes Mary and Eliſabeth. In the reign of Eliſabeth he was organiſt of the royal chapel, in which he had been educated. To his profeſſion of muſic, he joined ſome knowledge of Engliſh literature: and having been taught to believe that rhyme and edification were cloſely connected, and being perſuaded that every part of the Scripture would be more inſtructive and better received if reduced into verſe, he projected a tranſlation of the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES into familiar metre. It appears that the BOOK OF KINGS had before been verſified, which for many reaſons was more capable of ſhining under the hands of a tranſlator. But the moſt ſplendid hiſtorical book, I mean the moſt ſuſceptible of poetic ornament, in the Old or New Teſtament, would have become ridiculous when clothed in the faſhionable eccleſiaſtical ſtanza. Perhaps the plan of ſetting a narrative of this kind to muſic, was ſtill more prepoſterous and exceptionable. However, he completed only the firſt fourteen chapters: and they were printed in 1553, by William Serres, with the following title, which by the reader, who is not acquainted with the peculiar complexion of this period, will hardly be ſuſpected to be ſerious. ‘"The ACTES OF THE APOSTLES tranſlated into Englyſhe metre, and dedicated to the kinges moſt excellent maieſtye by Criſtofer Tye, doctor in muſyke, and one of the [191] Gentylmen of hys graces moſt honourable Chappell, with notes to eche chapter to ſynge and alſo to play upon the Lute, very neceſſarye for ſtudentes after theyr ſtudye to fyle their wittes, and alſoe for all chriſtians that cannot ſynge, to reade the good and godlye ſtoryes of the lives of Chriſt his apoſtles."’ It is dedicated in Sternhold's ſtanza, ‘"To the vertuous and godlye learned prynce Edward the ſixth."’ As this ſingular dedication contains, not only anecdotes of the author and his work, but of his majeſty's eminent attention to the ſtudy of the ſcripture, and of his ſkill in playing on the lute, I need not apologiſe for tranſcribing a few dull ſtanzas; eſpecially as they will alſo ſerve as a ſpecimen of the poet's native ſtyle and manner, unconfined by the fetters of tranſlation.

Your Grace may note, from tyme to tyme,
That ſome doth undertake
Upon the Pſalms to write in ryme,
The verſe pleſaunt to make:
And ſome doth take in hand to wryte
Out of the Booke of Kynges;
Becauſe they ſe your Grace delyte
In ſuche like godlye thynges a.
And laſt of all, I youre poore man,
Whoſe doinges are full baſe,
Yet glad to do the beſt I can
To give unto your Grace,
[192]
Have thought it good now to recyte
The ſtories of the Actes
Even of the Twelve, as Luke doth wryte,
Of all their worthy factes.—
Unto the text I do not ad,
Nor nothyng take awaye;
And though my ſtyle be gros and bad,
The truth perceyve ye may.—
My callynge is another waye,
Your Grace ſhall herein fynde
My notes ſet forth to ſynge or playe,
To recreate the mynde.
And though they be not curious b,
But for the letter mete;
Ye ſhall them fynde harmonious,
And eke pleaſaunt and ſwete.

A young monarch ſinging the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES in verſe to his lute, is a royal character of which we have ſeldom heard. But he proceeds,

That ſuch good thynges your Grace might move
Your Lute when ye aſſaye,
In ſtede of ſonges of wanton love,
Theſe ſtories then to play.
So ſhall your Grace pleſe God the lorde
In walkyng in his waye,
His lawes and ſtatutes to recorde
In your heart night and day.
[193]
And eke your realme ſhall floriſh ſtyll,
No good thynge ſhall decaye,
Your ſubjectes ſhall with right good will,
Theſe wordes recorde and ſaye:
"Thy lyf, O kyng, to us doth ſhyne,
"As God's boke doth thee teache;
"Thou doſt us feede with ſuch doctrine
"As God's elect dyd preache."

From this ſample of his original vein, my reader will not perhaps haſtily predetermine, that our author has communicated any conſiderable decorations to his ACTS OF THE APOSTLES in Engliſh verſe. There is as much elegance and animation in the two following initial ſtanzas of the fourteenth chapter, as in any of the whole performance, which I ſhall therefore exhibit.

It chaunced in Iconium,
As theyc oft tymes did uſe,
Together they into did come
The Sinagoge of Jues.
Where they did preache and only ſeke
God's grace them to atcheve;
That ſo they ſpeke to Jue and Greke
That many did bileve.

Doctor Tye's ACTS OF THE APOSTLES were ſung for a time in the royal chapel of Edward the ſixth. But they never became popular. The impropriety of the deſign, and the impotency of the execution, ſeem to have been perceived even by his own prejudiced and undiſcerning age. This circumſtance, however, had probably the fortunate and ſeaſonable effect, of [194] turning Tye's muſical ſtudies to another and a more rational ſyſtem: to the compoſition of words judiciouſly ſelected from the proſe pſalms in four or five parts. Before the middle of the reign of Eliſabeth, at a time when the more ornamental and intricate muſic was wanted in our ſervice, he concurred with the celebrated Tallis and a few others in ſetting ſeveral anthems, which are not only juſtly ſuppoſed to retain much of the original ſtrain of our antient choral melody before the reformation, but in reſpect of harmony, expreſſion, contrivance, and general effect, are allowed to be perfect models of the genuine eccleſiaſtic ſtyle. Fuller informs us, that Tye was the chief reſtorer of the loſs which the muſic of the church had ſuſtained by the deſtruction of the monaſteries d. Tye alſo appears to have been a tranſlator of Italian. The Hiſtory of Naſtagio and Traverſari tranſlated out of Italian into Engliſh by C. T. perhaps Chriſtopher Tye, was printed at London in 1569 e.

It is not my intention to purſue any farther the mob of religious rhymers, who, from principles of the moſt unfeigned piety, devoutly laboured to darken the luſtre, and enervate the force, of the divine pages. And perhaps I have been already too prolix in examining a ſpecies of poetry, if it may be ſo called, which even impoveriſhes proſe; or rather, by mixing the ſtile of proſe with verſe, and of verſe with proſe, deſtroys [195] the character and effect of both. But in ſurveying the general courſe of a ſpecies of literature, abſurdities as well as excellencies, the weakneſs and the vigour of the human mind, muſt have their hiſtorian. Nor is it unpleaſing to trace and to contemplate thoſe ſtrange incongruities, and falſe ideas of perfection, which at various times, either affectation, or caprice, or faſhion, or opinion, or prejudi [...]e, or ignorance, or enthuſiaſm, preſent to the conceptions of men, in the ſhape of truth.

I muſt not, however, forget, that king Edward the ſixth is to be ranked among the religious poets of his own reign. Fox has publiſhed his metrical inſtructions concerning the euchariſt, addreſſed to ſir Antony Saint Leger. Bale alſo mentions his comedy called the WHORE OF BABYLON, which Holland the heroologiſt, who perhaps had never ſeen it, and knew not whether it was a play or a ballad, in verſe or proſe, pronounces to be a moſt elegant perfo [...]mance f. Its elegance, with ſome, will not perhaps apologiſe or atone for its ſubject: and it may ſeem ſtrange, that controverſial ribaldry ſhould have been ſuffered to enter into the education of a great monarch. But the genius, habits, and ſituation; of his age ſhould be conſidered. The reformation was the great political topic of Edward's court. Intricate diſcuſſions in divinity were no longer confined to the ſchools or the clergy. The new religion, from its novelty, as well as importance, intereſted every mind, and was almoſt the ſole object of the general attention. Men emancipated from the ſeverities of a ſpiritual tyranny, reflected with horror on the ſlavery they had ſo long ſuffered, and with exultation on the triumph they had obtained. Theſe feelings were often expreſſed in a ſtrain of enthuſiaſm. The ſpirit of innovation, which had ſeized the times, often tranſgreſſed the bounds of truth. Every change of religion is attended with thoſe ebullitions, which growing more moderate by degrees, afterwards appear eccentric and ridiculous.

[196] We who live at a diſtance from this great and national ſtruggle between popery and proteſtantiſm, when our church has been long and peaceably eſtabliſhed, and in an age of good ſenſe, of politeneſs and philoſophy, are apt to view theſe effuſions of royal piety as weak and unworthy the character of a king. But an oſtentation of zeal and example in the young Edward, as it was natural ſo it was neceſſary, while the reformation was yet immature. It was the duty of his preceptors, to impreſs on his tender years, an abhorrence of the principles of Rome, and a predilection to that happy ſyſtem which now ſeemed likely to prevail. His early diligence, his inclination to letters, and his ſeriouſneſs of diſpoſition, ſeconded their active endeavours to cultivate and to bias his mind in favour of the new theology, which was now become the faſhionable knowledge. Theſe and other amiable virtues his cotemporaries have given young Edward in an eminent degree. But it may be preſumed, that the partiality which youth always commands, the ſpecious proſpects excited by expectation, and the flattering promiſes of religious liberty ſecured to a diſtant poſterity, have had ſome ſmall ſhare in dictating his panegyric.

The new ſettlement of religion, by counteracting inveterate prejudices of the moſt intereſting nature, by throwing the clergy into a ſtate of contention, and by diſſeminating theological opinions among the people, excited ſo general a ferment, that even the popular ballads and the ſtage, were made the vehicles of the controverſy between the papal and proteſtant communions g.

The Ballad of LUTHER, the POPE, a CARDINAL, and a HUSBANDMAN, written in 1550, in defence of the reformation, has ſome ſpirit, and ſupports a degree of character in the ſpeakers. There is another written about the ſame time, which is a lively ſatire on the Engliſh Bible, the vernacular liturgy, and the book of homilies h. The meaſure of the laſt is that of [197] PIERCE PLOWMAN, with the addition of rhyme: a ſort of verſification which now was not uncommon.

Strype has printed a poem called the PORE HELP, of the year 1550, which is a lampoon againſt the new preachers or goſpellers, not very elegant in its alluſions, and in Skelton's ſtyle. The anonymous ſatiriſt mentions with applauſe Mayſter Huggarde, or Miles Hoggard, a ſhoemaker of London, and who wrote ſeveral virulent pamphlets againſt the reformation, which were made important by extorting laboured anſwers from ſeveral eminent divines i. He alſo mentions a nobler clarke, whoſe learned Balad in defence of the holy Kyrke had triumphed over all the raillery of its numerous opponents k. The ſame induſtrious annaliſt has alſo preſerved A Song on biſhop Latimer, in the octave rhyme, by a poet of the ſame perſuaſion l. And in the catalogue of modern Engliſh prohibited books delivered in 1542 to the pariſh prieſts, to the intent that their authors might be diſcovered and puniſhed, there is the Burying of the Maſs in Eagliſh rithme m. But it is not my intention to make a full and formal collection of theſe fugitive religious paſquinades, which died with their reſpective controverſies.

In the year 1547, a proclamation was publiſhed to prohibit preaching. This was a t [...]mporary expedient to ſuppreſs the turbulent harangues of the catholic miniſters, who ſtill compoſed no ſmall part of the parochial clergy: for the court of augmentations took care perpetually to ſupply the vacant benefices with the diſincorporated monks, in order to exonerate the exchequer from the payment of their annuities. Theſe men, both from inclination and intereſt, and hoping to reſtore the church to its antient orthodoxy and opulence, exerted all their powers of declamation in combating the doctrines of proteſtantiſm [198] and in alienating the minds of the people from the new doctrines and reformed rites of worſhip. Being ſilenced by authority, they had recourſe to the ſtage: and from the pulpit removed their polemics to the play-houſe. Their farces became more ſucceſsful than their ſermons. The people flocked eagerly to the play-houſe, when deprived not only of their antient pageantries, but of their paſtoral diſcourſes, in the church. Archbiſhop Cranmer and the protector Somerſet were the chief objects of theſe dramatic invectives n. At length, the ſame authority which had checked the preachers, found it expedient to controul the players: and a new proclamation, which I think has not yet appeared in the hiſtory of the Britiſh drama, was promulgated in the following terms o. The inquiſitive reader will obſerve, that from this inſtrument plays appear to have been long before a general and familiar ſpecies of entertainment, that they were acted not only in London but in the great towns, that the profeſſion of a player, even in our preſent ſenſe, was common and eſtabliſhed; and that theſe ſatirical interludes are forbidden only in the Engliſh tongue. ‘"Foraſmuch as a great number of thoſe that be COMMON PLAYERS of ENTERLUDES and PLAYES, as well within the city of London as elſewhere within the realm, doe for the moſt part play ſuch ENTERLUDES, as contain matter tending to ſedition, and contemning of ſundry good orders and laws; whereupon are grown and daily are likely to growe and enſue much diſquiet, diviſion, tumults and uprores in this realm p: the Kinges Majeſty, by the advice and conſent of his deareſt [199] uncle Edward duke of Somerſet, and the reſt of his highneſſe Privie Councell, ſtraightly chargeth and commandeth all and everie his Majeſties ſubjects, of whatſoever ſtate, order, or degree they be, that from the ninth day of this preſent month of Auguſt untill the feaſt of All-ſaints next comming, they nor any of them, openly or ſecretly PLAY IN THE ENGLISH TONGUE, any kind of ENTERLUDE, PLAY, DIALOGUE, or other matter ſet forth in form of PLAY, in [200] any place publick or private within this realm, upon pain, that whoſoever ſhall PLAY in ENGLISH any ſuch PLAY, ENTERLUDE, DIALOGUE, or other MATTER, ſhall ſuffer impriſonment, or other puniſhment at the pleaſure of his Majeſtie q."’ But when the ſhort date of this proclamation expired, the reformers, availing themſelves of the ſtratagems of an enemy, attacked the papiſts with their own weapons. One the comedies on the ſide of reformation ſtill remains r. But the writer, while his own religion from its ſimple and impalpable form was much leſs expoſed to the ridicule of ſcenic exhibition, has not taken advantage of that opportunity which the papiſtic ceremonies ſo obviouſly afforded to burleſque and drollery, from their viſible pomp, their number, and their abſurdities: nor did he perceive an effect which he might have turned to his own uſe, ſuggeſted by the practice of his catholic antagoniſts in the drama, who, by way of recommending their own ſuperſtitious ſolemnities, often made them contemptible by theatrical repreſentation.

This piece is entitled, An Enterlude called LUSTY JUVENTUS: lively deſcribing the Frailtie of youth: of Nature prone to Vyce: by Grace and Good Councell traynable to vertue f. The author, of whom nothing more is known, was one R. Wever, as appears from the colophon. ‘"Finis, quod R. Wever. Imprinted at London in Paules churche yarde by Abraham Vele at the ſigne of the Lambe."’ Hypocriſy is its beſt character: who laments the loſs of her ſuperſtitions to the devil, and recites a long catalogue of the trumpery of the popiſh worſhip in the metre and manner of Skelton s. The chapter and verſe of Scripture are often announced: and in one ſcene, a perſonage, called GOD'S MERCYFULL PROMISES, cites Ezekiel as from the pulpit.

[201]
The Lord by his prophet Ezekiel ſayeth in this wiſe playnlye,
As in the xxiii chapter it doth appere:
Be converted, O ye children, &c t.

From this interlude we learn, that the young men, which was natural, were eager to embrace the new religion, and that the old were unwilling to give up thoſe doctrines and modes of worſhip, to which they had been habitually attached, and had paid the moſt implicit and reverential obedience, from their childhood. To this circumſtance the devil, who is made to repreſent the Scripture as a novelty, attributes the deſtruction of his ſpiritual kingdom.

The old people would beleve ſtil in my lawes,
But the yonger ſort lead them a contrary way;
They wyll not beleve, they playnly ſay,
In old traditions as made by men,
But they wyll 'leve as the Scripture teacheth them u.

The devil then, in order to recover his intereſt, applies to his ſon Hypocriſy, who attempts to convert a young man to the antient faith, and ſays that the Scripture can teach no more, than that God is a good man w, a phraſe which Shakeſpeare with great humour has put into the mouth of Dogberry x. But he adds an argument in jeſt, which the papiſts ſometimes ſeriouſly uſed againſt the proteſtants, and which, if we conſider the poet's ultimate intention, had better been ſuppreſſed.

The world was never ſo mery,
Since children were ſo bolde:
Now every boy will be a teacher,
The father a foole, the chylde a pr [...]acher y.

[202] It was among the reproaches of proteſtantiſm, that the inexperienced and the unlearned thought themſelves at liberty to explain the Scriptures, and to debate the moſt abſtruſe and metaphyſical topics of theological ſpeculation. The two ſongs in the character of YOUTH, at the opening and cloſe of this interlude, are flowery and not inelegant z.

The proteſtants continued their plays in Mary's reign: for Strype has exhibited a remonſtrance from the Privy-council to the lord Preſident of the North, repreſenting, that ‘"certain lewd [ignorant] perſons, to the number of ſix or ſeven in a company, naming themſelves to be ſervants of ſir Frauncis Lake, and wearing his livery or badge on their ſleeves, have wandred about thoſe north parts, and repreſenting certain Plays and Enterludes,"’ reflecting on her majeſty and king Philip, and the formalities of the maſs a. Theſe were familyminſtrels or players, who were conſtantly diſtinguiſhed by their maſter's livery or badge.

When the Engliſh liturgy was reſtored at the acceſſion of Eliſabeth, after its ſuppreſſion under Mary, the papiſts renewed their hoſtilities from the ſtage; and again tried the intelligible mode of attack by ballads, farces, and interludes. A new injunction was then neceſſary, and it was again enacted in 1559, that no perſon, but under heavy forfeitures, ſhould abuſe the Common Prayer in ‘"any Enterludes, Plays, ſongs or rimes b."’ But under Henry the eighth, ſo early as the year 1542, before the reformation was fixed or even intended on its preſent liberal eſtabliſhment, yet when men had begun to diſcern and to reprobat [...] [203] many of the impoſtures of popery, it became an object of the legiſlature to curb the bold and ſeditious ſpirit of popular poetry. No ſooner were the Scriptures tranſlated and permitted in Engliſh, than they were brought upon the ſtage: they were not only miſinterpreted and miſunderſtood by the multitude, but profaned or burleſqued in comedies and mummeries. Effectually to reſtrain theſe abuſes, Henry, who loved to create a ſubject for perſecution, who commonly proceeded to diſannul what he had juſt confirmed, and who found that a freedom of enquiry tended to ſhake his eccleſiaſtical ſupremacy, framed a law, that not only Tyndale's Engliſh Bible, and all the printed Engliſh commentaries, expoſitions, annotations, defences, replies, and ſermons, whether orthodox or heretical, which it had occaſioned, ſhould be utterly aboliſhed; but that the kingdom ſhould alſo be purged and cleanſed of all religious plays, interludes, rhymes, ballads, and ſongs, which are equally peſtiferou [...] and noyſome to the peace of the church c.

Henry appears to have been piqued as an author and a theologiſt in adding the clauſe concerning his own INSTITUTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN, which had been treated with the ſame ſort of ridicule. Yet under the general injunction of ſuppreſſing all Engliſh books on religious ſubjects, he formally excepts, among others, ſome not properly belonging to that claſs, ſuch as the CANTERBURY TALES, the works of Chaucer and Gower, CRONICLES, and STORIES OF MENS LIVES d. There is alſo an exception added about plays, and thoſe only are allowed which were called MORALITIES, or perhaps interludes of r [...]al character and action, ‘"for the rebuking and reproaching of vices and the ſetting forth of virtue."’ MYSTERIES are totally rejected e. The reſervations which follow, concerning the uſe of a corrected Engliſh Bible, which was permitted, are curious for their quaint partiality, and they ſhew the embarraſſment [204] of adminiſtration, in the difficult buſineſs of confining that benefit to a few, from which all might reap advantage, but which threatened to become a general evil, without ſome degrees of reſtriction. It is abſolutely forbidden to be read or expounded in the church. The lord chancellor, the ſpeaker of the houſe of commons, captaines of the wars, juſtices of the peace, and recorders of cities, may quote paſſages to enforce their public harangues, as has been accuſtomed. A nobleman or gentleman may read it, in his houſe, orchards, or garden, yet quietly, and without diſturbance ‘"of good order."’ A merchant alſo may read it to himſelf privately. But the common people, who had already abuſed this liberty to the purpoſe of diviſion and diſſenſions, and under the denomination of women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, and ſervingmen, are to be puniſhed with one month's impriſonment, as often as they are detected in reading the Bible either privately or openly.

It ſhould be obſerved, that few of theſe had now learned to read. But ſuch was the privilege of peerage, that ladies of quality might read ‘"to themſelves and alone, and not to others,"’ any chapter either in the Old or New Teſtament f. This has the air of a ſumptuary law, which indulges the nobility with many ſuperb articles of finery, that are interdicted to thoſe of inferior degree g. Undoubtedly the ducheſſes and counteſſes of this age, if not from principles of piety, at leaſt from motives of curioſity, became eager to read a book which was made [205] inacceſſible to three parts of the nation. But the partial diſtribution of a treaſure to which all had a right could not long remain. This was a MANNA to be gathered by every man. The claim of the people was too powerful to be overruled by the bigottry, the prejudice, or the caprice of Henry.

I muſt add here, in reference to my general ſubject, that the tranſlation of the Bible, which in the reign of Edward the ſixth was admitted into the churches, is ſuppoſed to have fixed our language. It certainly has tranſmitted and perpetuated many antient words which would otherwiſe have been obſolete or unintelligible. I have never ſeen it remarked, that at the ſame time this tranſlation contributed to enrich our native Engliſh at an early period, by importing and familiariſing many Latin words h.

Theſe were ſuggeſted by the Latin vulgate, which was uſed as a medium by the tranſlators. Some of theſe, however, now interwoven into our common ſpeech, could not have been underſtood by many readers even above the rank of the vulgar, when the Bible firſt appeared in Engliſh. Biſhop Gardiner had therefore much leſs reaſon than we now imagine, for complaining of the too great clearneſs of the tranſlation, when with an inſidious view of keeping the people in their antient ignorance, he propoſed, that inſtead of always uſing Engliſh phraſes, many Latin words ſhould ſtill be preſerved, becauſe they contained an inherent ſignificance and a genuine dignity, to which the common tongue afforded no correſpondent expreſſions of ſufficient energy i.

To the reign of Edward the ſixth belongs Arthur Kelton, a native of Shropſhire or Wales. He wrote the CRONICLE OF [206] THE BRUTES in Engliſh verſe. It is dedicated to the young king, who ſeems to have been the general patron; and was printed in 1547 k. Wood allows that he was an able antiquary; but laments, that he ‘"being withall poetically given, muſt forſooth write and publiſh his lucubrations in verſe; whereby, for rhime's ſake, many material matters, and the due timing of them, are omitted, and ſo conſequently rejected by hiſtorians and antiquarians l."’ Yet he has not ſupplied his want of genealogical and hiſtorical preciſion with thoſe ſtrokes of poetry which his ſubject ſuggeſted; nor has his imagination been any impediment to his accuracy. At the end of his CRONICLE is the GENEALOGY OF THE BRUTES, in which the pedigree of king Edward the ſixth is lineally drawn through thirty-two generations, from Oſiris the firſt king of Egypt. Here too Wood reproaches our author for his ignorance in genealogy. But in an heraldic enquiry, ſo difficult and ſo new, many miſtakes are pardonable. It is extraordinary that a Welſhman ſhould have carried his genealogical reſearches into Egypt, or rather ſhould have wiſhed to prove that Edward was deſcended from Oſiris: but this was with a deſign to ſhew, that the Egyptian monarch was the original progen [...]tor of Brutus, the undoubted founder of Edward's family. Bale ſays that he wrote, and dedicated to ſir William Herbert, afterwards earl of Pembroke, a moſt elegant poetical panegyric on the Cambro-Britons m. But Bale's praiſes and cenſures are always regulated according to the religion of his authors.

The firſt CHANSON à BOIRE, or DRINKING-BALLAD, of any merit, in our language, appeared in the year 1551. It has a vein of eaſe and humour, which we ſhould not expect to have been inſpired by the ſimple beverage of thoſe times. I believe I ſhall not tire my reader by giving it at length; and am only afraid that in this ſpecimen the tranſition will be thought [207] too violent, from the poetry of the puritans to a convivial and ungodlie ballad.

I cannot eat, but little meat,
My ſtomach is not good;
But ſure I think, that I can drink
With him that weares a hood n.
Though I go bare, take ye no care,
I nothing am a colde;
I ſtuffe my ſkin ſo full within,
Of joly goode ale and olde.
Backe and ſide go bare, go bare,
Booth foot and hand go colde;
But, belly, God ſend thee good ale inoughe,
Whether it be new or olde!
I love no roſt, but a nut-browne toſte,
And a crab laid in the fire;
A little bread ſhall do me ſtead,
Moche bread I noght deſire.
No froſt no ſnow, no winde, I trowe,
Can hurt me if I wolde,
I am ſo wrapt, and throwly lapt
Of joly good ale and olde.
Backe and ſide, &c.
And TIB my wife, that as her life
Loveth well good ale to ſeeke,
Full oft drinkes ſhee, till ye may ſee
The teares run downe her cheeke.
Then doth ſhe trowle to me the bowle
Even as a mault-worm ſholde;
And o, "ſaith, ſweet heart, I tooke my part
"Of this joly good ale and olde."
Backe and ſide, &c.
[208]
Now let them drinke, till they nod and winke [...]
Even as good fellows ſhould do:
They ſhall not miſſe to have the bliſſe
Good ale doth bringe men to.
And al goode ſowles that have ſcoured bowles,
Or have them luſtely trolde,
God ſave the lives [...] of them and their wives,
Whether they be yong or olde!
Backe and ſide, &c.

This ſong opens the ſecond act of GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE, a comedy, written and printed in 1551 p, and ſoon afterwards acted at Chriſt's College in Cambridge. In the title of the old edition it is ſaid to have been written ‘"by Mr. S. maſter of artes,"’ who probably was a member of that ſociety. This is held to be the firſt comedy in our language: that is, the firſt play which was neither Myſtery nor Morality, and which handled a comic ſtory with ſome diſpoſition of plot, and ſome diſ [...]rimination of character q. The writer has a degree of jocularity which ſometimes riſes above buffoonery, but is often diſgraced by lowneſs of incident. Yet in a more poliſhed age he would have choſen, nor would he perhaps have diſgraced, a better ſubject. It has been thought ſurpriſing that a learned audience could have endured ſome of theſe indelicate ſcenes. But the eſtabliſhed feſtivities of ſcholars were groſs and agreeable to their general habits: nor was learning in that age always accompanied by gentleneſs of manners. When the ſermons of Hugh Latimer were in vogue at court, the univerſity might be juſtified in applauding GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.

SECT. XXX.

[209]

TRUE genius, unſeduced by the cabals and unalarmed by the dangers of faction, defies or neglects thoſe events which deſtroy the peace of mankind, and often exerts its operations amidſt the moſt violent commotions of a ſtate. Without patronage and without readers, I may add without models, the earlier Italian writers, while their country was ſhook by the inteſtine tumults of the Guelfes and Guibelines, continued to produce original compoſitions both in proſe and verſe, which yet ſtand unrivalled. The age of Pericles and of the Peloponneſian war was the ſame. Careleſs of thoſe who governed or diſturbed the world, and ſuperior to the calamities of a quarrel in which two mighty leaders contended for the prize of univerſal dominion, Lucretius wrote his ſublime didactic poem on the ſyſtem of nature, Virgil his bucolics, and Cicero his books of philoſophy. The proſcriptions of Auguſtus did not prevent the progreſs of the Roman literature.

In the turbulent and unpropitious reign of queen Mary, when controverſy was no longer confined to ſpeculation, and a ſpiritual warfare polluted every part of England with murthers more atrocious than the ſlaughters of the moſt bloody civil conteſt, a poem was planned, although not fully completed, which illuminates with no common luſtre that interval of darkneſs, which occupies the annals of Engliſh poetry from Surrey to Spenſer, entitled, A MIRROUR FOR MAGISTRATES.

More writers than one were concerned in the execution of this piece: but its primary inventor, and moſt diſtinguiſhed [210] contributor, was Thomas Sackville the firſt lord Buckhurſt, and firſt earl of Dorſet. Much about the ſame period, the ſame author wrote the firſt genuine Engliſh tragedy, which I ſhall conſider in its proper place.

Sackville was born at Buckhurſt, a pricipal ſeat of his antient and illuſtrious family in the pariſh of Withiam in Suſſex. His birth is placed, but with evident inaccuracy, under the year 1536 a. At leaſt it ſhould be placed ſix years before. Diſcovering a vigorous underſtanding in his childhood, from a domeſtic tuition he was removed, as it may reaſonably be conjectured, to Hart-hall, now Hertford college, in Oxford. But he appears to have been a maſter of Arts at Cambridge b. At both univerſities he became celebrated as a Latin and Engliſh poet; and he carried his love of poetry, which he ſeems to have almoſt ſolely cultivated, to the Inner Temple. It was now faſhionable for every young man of fortune, before he began his travels, or was admitted into parliament, to be initiated in the ſtudy of the law. But inſtead of purſuing a ſcience, which could not be his profeſſion, and which was unaccommodated to the bias of his genius, he betrayed his predilection to a more pleaſing ſpecies of literature, by compoſing the tragedy juſt mentioned, for the entertainment and honour of his fellow-ſtudents. His high birth, however, and ample patrimony, ſoon advanced him to more important ſituations and employments. His eminent accompliſhments and abilities having acquired the confidence and eſteem of queen Eliſabeth, the poet was ſoon loſt in the ſtateſman, and negotiations and embaſſies extinguiſhed the milder ambitions of the ingenuous Muſe. Yet it ſhould be remembered, that he was uncorrupted amidſt the intrigues of an artful court, that in the character of a firſt miniſter he preſerved the integrity of a private man, and that his family refuſed the offer of an apology to his memory, when it was inſulted by the malicious [211] inſinuations of a rival party. Nor is it foreign to our purpoſe to remark, that his original elegance and brilliancy of mind ſometimes broke forth, in the exerciſe of his more formal political functions. He was frequently diſguſted at the pedantry and official barbarity of ſtyle, with which the public letters and inſtruments were uſually framed: and Naunton relates, that his ‘"ſecretaries had difficulty to pleaſe him, he was ſo facete and choice in his ſtyle c."’ Even in the deciſions and pleadings of that rigid tribunal the ſtar-chamber, which was never eſteemed the ſchool of rhetoric, he practiced and encouraged an unaccuſtomed ſtrain of eloquent and graceful oratory: on which account, ſays Lloyd, ‘"ſo flowing was his invention, that he was called the ſtar-chamber bell d."’ After he was made a peer by the title of lord Buckhurſt, and had ſucceeded to a moſt extenſive inheritance, and was now diſcharging the buſineſs of an envoy to Paris, he found time to prefix a Latin epiſtle to Clerke's Latin tranſlation of Caſtilio's COURTIER, printed at London in 1571, which is not an unworthy recommendation of a treatiſe remarkable for its polite Latinity. It was either becauſe his miſtreſs Eliſabeth paid a ſincere compliment to his ſingular learning and fidelity, or becauſe ſhe was willing to indulge an affected fit of indignation againſt the object of her capricious paſſion, that when Sackville, in 1591, was a candidate for the chancellorſhip of the univerſity of Oxford, ſhe condeſcended earneſtly to ſollicit the univerſity in his favour, and in oppoſition to his competitor the earl of Eſſex. At leaſt ſhe appears to have approved the choice, for her majeſty ſoon afterwards viſited Oxford, where ſhe was entertained by the new chancellor with ſplendid banquets and much ſolid erudition. It is neither my deſign nor my province, to develope the profound policy with which he conducted a peace with Spain, the addreſs with which he penetrated or baffled the machinations of Eſſex, and the circumſpection and ſucceſs with which he managed the [212] treaſury of two opulent ſovereigns. I return to Sackville as a poet, and to the hiſtory of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES e.

About the year 1557, he formed the plan of a poem, in which all the illuſtrious but unfortunate characters of the Engliſh hiſtory, from the conqueſt to the end of the fourteenth century, were to paſs in review before the poet, who deſcends like Dante into the infernal region, and is conducted by SORROW. Although a deſcent into hell had been ſuggeſted by other poets, the application of ſuch a fiction to the preſent deſign, is a conſpicuous proof of genius and even of invention. Every perſonage was to recite his own misfortunes in a ſeparate ſoliloquy. But Sackville had leiſure only to finiſh a poetical preface called an INDUCTION, and one legend, which is the life of Henry Stafford duke of Buckingham. Relinquiſhing therefore the deſign abruptly, and haſtily adapting the cloſe of his INDUCTION to the appearance of Buckingham, the only ſtory he had yet written, and which was to have been the laſt in his ſeries, he recommended the completion of the whole to Richard Baldwyne and George Ferrers.

Baldwyne ſeems to have been graduated at Oxford about the year 1532. He was an eccleſiaſtic, and engaged in the education of youth. I have already mentioned his metrical verſion of SOLOMON'S SONG, dedicated to king Edward the ſixth f. His patron was Henry lord Stafford g.

George Ferrers, a man of ſuperior rank, was born at ſaint Albans, educated at Oxford, and a ſtudent of Lincolns-inn. Leland, who has given him a place in his ENCOMIA, informs us, that he was patroniſed by lord Cromwell h. He was in parliament [213] under Henry the eighth; and, in 1542, impriſoned by that whimſical tyrant, perhaps very unjuſtly, and for ſome cabal now not exactly known. About the ſame time, in his juridical capacity, he tranſlated the MAGNA CHARTA from French into Latin and Engliſh, with ſome other ſtatutes of England h. In a ſcarce book, William Patten's Expedition into Scotlande of the moſt woorthely fortunate prince Edward duke of Somerſet, printed at London in 1548 i, and partly incorporated into Hollinſhead's hiſtory, it appears from the following paſſage that he was of the ſuite of the protector Somerſet. ‘"George Ferrers a gentleman of my lord Protectors, and one of the commiſſioners of the carriage of this army."’ He is ſaid to have compiled the hiſtory of queen Mary's reign, which makes a part of Grafton's CHRONICLE k. He was a compoſer almoſt by profeſſion of occaſional interludes for the diverſion of the court: and in 1553, being then a member of Lincolns-inn, he bore the office of LORD OF MISRULE at the royal palace of Greenwich during the twelve days of Chriſtmas. Stowe ſays, ‘"George Ferrers gentleman of Lincolns-inn, being lord of the diſportes all the 12 days of Chriſtmas anno MDLIII l, at Greenwich: who ſo pleaſantly and wiſely behaved himſelf, that the king had great delight in his paſtymes m."’ No common talents were required for theſe feſtivities. Bale ſays that he wrote ſome rhymes, rhythmos aliquot n. He died at Flamſtead in Hertfordſhire in 1579. Wood's account of George Ferrers, our author, who miſled by Puttenham the author of the ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, has confounded him with Edward Ferrers a writer of plays, is full of miſtakes and inconſiſtencies o. Our author [214] wrote the epitaph of his friend Thomas Phayer, the old tranſlator of the Eneid into Engliſh verſe, who died in 1560, and is buried in the church of Kilgarran in Pembrokeſhire.

Baldwyne and Ferrers, perhaps deterred by the greatneſs of the attempt, did not attend to the ſeries preſcribed by Sackville; but inviting ſome others to their aſſiſtance, among which are Churchyard and Phayer, choſe ſuch lives from the newly publiſhed chronicles of Fabyan and Hall, as ſeemed to diſplay the moſt affecting cataſtrophes, and which very probably were pointed out by Sackville. The civil wars of York and Lancaſter, which Hall had compiled with a laborious inveſtigation of the ſubject, appear to have been their chief reſource.

Theſe legends with their authors, including Sackville's part, are as follows. Robert Treſilian chief Juſtice of England, in 1388, by Ferrers. The two Mortimers, ſurnamed Roger, in 1329, and 1387, by Baldwyne. Thomas of Woodſtock duke of Glouceſter, uncle to Richard the ſecond, murdered in 1397, by Ferrers. Lord Mowbray, preferred and baniſhed by the ſame king in 1398, by Churchyard. King Richard the ſecond, depoſed in 1399, by Baldwyne. Owen Glendour, the pretended prince of Wales, ſtarved to death in 1401, by Phayer. Henry Percy earl of Northumberland, executed at York in 1407, by Baldwyne. Richard Plantagenet earl of Cambridge, executed at Southampton in 1415, by Baldwyne. Thomas Montague earl of Saliſbury, in 1428, by Baldwyne. James the firſt of Scotland, by Baldwyne. William de la Poole duke of Suffolk, 961 [215] baniſhed for deſtroying Humphry duke of Glouceſter in 1450, by Baldwyne. Jack Cade the rebel in 1450, by Baldwyne. Richard Plantagenet duke of Yorke, and his ſon the earl of Rutland, killed in 1460, by Baldwyne. Lord Clifford, in 1461, by Baldwyne. Tiptoft earl of Worceſter, in 1470, by Baldwyne. Richard Nevil earl of Warwick, and his brother John lord Montacute, killed in the battle of Barnet, 1471, by Baldwyne. King Henry the ſixth murthered in the Tower London, in 1471, by Baldwyne. George Plantagenet, third ſon of the duke of York, murthered by his brother Richard in 1478, by Baldwyne. Edward the fourth, who died ſuddenly in 1483, by Skelton q. Sir Anthony Woodville, lord Rivers and Scales, governor of prince Edward, murthered with his nephew lord Gray in 1483, by Baldwyne r. Lord Haſtings betrayed by Cateſby, and murthered in the Tower by Richard duke of Glouceſter, in 1483 s. Sackville's INDUCTION. Sackville's Duke of Buckingham. Collingbourne, cruelly executed for making a fooliſh rhyme, by Baldwyne. Richard duke of Glouceſter, ſlain in Boſworth field by Henry the ſeventh, in 1485, by Francis Seagers t. Jane Shore, by Churchyard u. Edmund duke of Somerſet killed in the firſt battle of Saint Albans in 1454, by Ferrers. Michael Joſeph the blackſmith and lord Audely, in 1496, by Cavyl.

It was injudicious to chooſe ſo many ſtories which were then recent. Moſt of theſe events were at that time too well known [216] to become the proper ſubject of poetry, and muſt have loſt much of their ſolemnity by their notoriety. But Shakeſpeare has been guilty of the ſame fault. The objection, however, is now worn away, and age has given a dignity to familiar circumſtances.

This collection, or ſet of poems, was printed in quarto, in 1559, with the following title. ‘"A MYRROVRE FOR MAGISTRATES, Wherein may be ſeen by example of others, with howe greuous plages vices are puniſhed, and howe frayl and vnſtable worldly proſperitie is founde, euen of thoſe whom Fortvne ſeemeth moſt highly to favour. Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum. Anno 1559. Londini, in aedibus Thomae Marſhe."’ A Mirrour was a favorite title of a book, eſpecially among the old French writers. Some anecdotes of the publication may be collected from Baldwyne's DEDICATION TO THE NOBILITIE, prefixed. ‘"The wurke was begun and parte of it prynted in Queene Maries tyme, but hyndred by the Lord Chancellour that then was w: nevertheles, through the meanes of my lorde Stafford x, the fyrſt parte was licenced, and imprynted the fyrſt yeare of the raygne of this our moſt noble and vertuous queene y, and dedicated then to your honours with this preface. Since whych time, although I have been called to another trade of lyfe, yet my good lord Stafford hath not ceaſſed to call upon me to publyſhe ſo much as I had gotten at other mens hands, ſo that through his lordſhyppes earneſt meanes I have now alſo ſet furth another parte, conteyning as little of myne owne as the fyrſt parte doth of other mens z."’

The plan was confeſſedly borrowed from Boccace's DE CASIBUS [217] PRINCIPUM, a book tranſlated, as we have ſeen, by Lydgate, but which never was popular, becauſe it had no Engliſh examples. But Baldwyne's ſcope and conduct, with reſpect to this and other circumſtances, will beſt appear from his Preface, which cannot eaſily be found, and which I ſhall therefore inſert at large. ‘"When the printer had purpoſed with him [...]elfe to printe Lydgate's booke of the FALL OF PRINCES, and had made pryvye therto many both honourable and worſhipfull, he was counſayled by dyvers of them, to procure to have the ſtory contynewed from where as Bochas left, unto this preſent time; chiefly of ſuch as Fortune had dalyed with in this ylande.—Which advyſe lyked him ſo well, that he requyred me to take paines therin. But becauſe it was a matter paſſyng my wit and ſkyll, and more thankles than gaineful to meddle in, I refuſed utterly to undertake it, except I might have the help of ſuche, as in wit were apte, in learnyng allowed, and in judgement and eſtymacyon able to wield and furnyſh ſo weighty an enterpryſe, thinkyng even ſo to ſhift my handes. But he, earneſt and diligent in his affayres, procured Atlas to ſet under his ſhoulder. For ſhortly after, divers learned men, whoſe manye giftes nede fewe prayſes, conſented to take upon them parte of the travayle. And when certaine of them, to the numbre of ſeven, were through a general aſſent at an appoynted tyme and place gathered together to devyſe thereupon, I reſorted unto them, bearing the booke of Bochas tranſlated by Dan Lidgate, for the better obſervation of his order. Which although we liked wel, yet would it not cumly ſerve, ſeeing that both Bochas and Lidgate were dead; neither were there any alive that meddled with like argument, to whom the UNFORTUNATE might make make their mone. To make therefore a ſtate mete for the matter, they all agreed that I ſhould uſurpe Bochas rowme, and the WRETCHED PRINCES complayne unto me: and take upon themſelves every man for his parte to be ſundry perſonages, and in their behalfes to bewaile unto ME their [218] greevous chances, heavye deſtinies, and wofull misfortunes. This done, we opened ſuch bookes of Cronicles as we had there preſent. And maiſter Ferrers, after he had found where Bochas left, which was about the ende of kinge Edwarde the thirdes raigne, to begin the matter ſayde thus."’

‘"I marvayle what Bochas meaneth, to forget among his MISERABLE PRINCES ſuch as wer of our nacion, whoſe numbre is as great, as their adventures wunderfull. For to let paſſe all, both Britons, Danes, and Saxons, and to come to the laſt Conqueſt, what a ſorte are theya, and ſome even in his [Boccace's] owne time! As for example, king Richard the fyrſt, ſlayne with a quarleb in his chyefe proſperitie. Alſo king John his brother, as ſum ſaye, poyſoned. Are not their hiſtories rufull, and of rare example? But as it ſhould appeare, he being an Italian, minded moſt the Roman and Italike ſtory, or els perhaps he wanted our countrey Cronicles. It were therefore a goodly and a notable matter, to ſearch and diſcourſe our whole ſtory from the firſt beginning of the inhabiting of the yle. But ſeeing the printer's minde is, to have us folowe where Lidgate left, we will leave that great labour to other that may intend it, and (as blinde Bayard is alway boldeſt) I will begyn at the time of Rychard the ſecond, a time as unfortunate as the ruler therein. And foraſmuch, frend Baldwyne, as it ſhal be your charge to note and pen orderlye the whole proces, I will, ſo far as my memorie and judgemente ſerveth, ſumwhat further you in the truth of the ſtorye. And therefore omittinge the ruffle of Jacke Strawe and his meyney c, and the murther of manye notable men which therby happened, for Jacke, as ye knowe, was but a poore prynce; I will begin with a notable example which within a while after enſued. And although he be no Great Prynce, yet ſithens he had a princely office, I will take upon me the miſerable perſon of ſyr ROBERT TRESILIAN [219] chyefe juſtyce of England, and of other which ſuffered with him. Therby to warne all of his authoritye and profeſſion, to take hede of wrong judgements, miſconſtruynge of lawes, or wreſting the ſame to ſerve the princes turnes, which ryghtfully brought theym to a miſerable ende, which they may juſtly lament in manner enſuing d."’ Then follows ſir ROBERT TRESILIAN'S legend or hiſtory, ſuppoſed to be ſpoken by himſelf, and addreſſed to Baldwyne.

Here we ſee that a company was feigned to be aſſembled, each of which, one excepted, by turns perſonates a character of one of the great Unfortunate: and that the ſtories were all connected, by being related to the ſilent perſon of the aſſembly, who is like the chorus in the Greek tragedies, or the Hoſt in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The whole was to form a ſort of dramatic interlude, including a ſeries of independent ſoliloquies. A continuity to this imagined repreſentation is preſerved by the introduction, after every ſoliloquy, of a proſe epilogue, which alſo ſerves as a prologue to the ſucceeding piece, and has the air of a ſtage-direction. Boccace had done this before. We have this interpoſition, which I give as a ſpecimen, and which explains the method of the recital, between the tragedies of king RICHARD THE SECOND and OWEN GLENDOUR. ‘"Whan he had ended this ſo wofull a tragedye, and to all PRINCES a right worthy inſtruction, we pauſed: having paſſed through a miſerable tyme, full of pyteous tragedyes. And ſeyng the reygne of Henry the fourth enſued, a man more ware and proſperous in hys doynges, although not untroubled with warres both of outforthe and inward enemyes, we began to ſerch what Pyers [peers] were fallen therein, wherof the number was not ſmall: and yet becauſe theyr examples were not muche to be noted for our purpoſe, we paſſed over all the Maſkers, of whom kynge Rycharde's brother was chiefe: whych were all ſlayne and put to death for theyr trayterous [220] attempt. And fyndynge Owen Glendoure next one of Fortune's owne whelpes, and the Percyes his confederates, I thought them unmete to be overpaſſed, and therefore ſayd thus to the ſylent cumpany, What, my mayſters, is every one at once in a browne ſtudy, and hath no man affection to any of theſe ſtoryes? You mynd ſo much ſome other belyke, that thoſe do not move you. And to ſay the trouth, there is no ſpecial cauſe why they ſhould. Howbeyt Owen Glendoure, becaus he was one of Fortune's darlynges, rather than he ſhould be forgotten, I will tel his tale for him, under the privelidge of Martine hundred. Which OWEN, cuming out of the wilde mountains lyke the Image of Death in al pointes, (his darte onlie excepted,) ſo ſore hath famyne and hunger conſumed hym, may lament his folly after this maner."’ This proceſs was a departure from Sackville's idea: who ſuppoſes, as I have hinted, the ſcene laid in hell, and that the unfortunate princes appeared to him in ſucceſſion, and uttered their reſpective complaints, at the gates of Elyſium, under the guidance of SORROW.

Many ſtanzas in the legends written by Baldwynee and Ferrers, and their friends, have conſiderable merit, and often ſhew a command of language and verſification f. But their performances have not the pathos which the ſubject ſo naturally ſuggeſts. They give us, yet often with no common degree of elegance and perſpicuity, the chronicles of Hall and Fabyan in verſe. I ſhall therefore, in examining this part of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, confine my criticiſm to Sackville's INDUCTION and Legend of Buckingham.

SECT. XXXI.

[221]

SACKVILLE'S INDUCTION, which was to have been placed at the head of our Engliſh tragical ſtory, and which loſes much of its dignity and propriety by being prefixed to a ſingle life, and that of no great hiſtorical importance, is opened with the following poetical landſcape of winter a.

The wrathfull winter, prochinge on apace,
With bluſtring blaſts had all ybard the treene;
And old Saturnus with his froſty face
With chilling colde had pearſt the tender greene:
The mantels rent, wherein enwrapped been
The gladſom groves, that nowe laye overthrowen,
The tapets torne, and every bloom downe blowne.
The ſoile that earſt ſo ſeemly was to ſeen,
Was all deſpoyled of her beauty's hewe;
And ſoote freſhe flowres, wherewith the ſommers queen
Had clad the earth, now Boreas blaſtes downe blewe;
And ſmall fowles flocking in theyr ſong did rewe
The winters wrath, wherewith eche thinge defaſte
In wofull wiſe bewayld the ſommer paſte.
Hawthorne had loſt his motley lyverye,
The naked twigges were ſhivering all for colde;
And droppinge downe the teares abundantly,
Eche thing, methought, with weping [...]ye me tolde
The cruell ſeaſon, bidding me witholde
[222] Myſelfe within: for I was gotten out
Into the feldes where as I walkt about.
When loe the night, with miſtie mantels ſpred,
Gan darke the daye, and dim the azure ſkies, &c.

The altered ſcene of things, the flowers and verdure of ſummer deformed by the froſts and ſtorms of winter, and the day ſuddenly overſpread with darkneſs, remind the poet of the uncertainties of human life, the tranſient ſtate of honour, and the inſtability of proſperity.

And ſorrowing I to ſee the ſommer flowers,
The lively greene, the luſty leas forlorne,
The ſturdy trees ſo ſhattred with the ſhowers,
The fieldes ſo fade, that flooriſht ſo beforne;
It taught we wel, all earthly thinges be borne
To dye the death, for nought long time may laſt:
If ſommors beauty yeelds to winters blaſt.
Then looking upwards to the heavens beams,
With nightès ſtarres thick-powdred every where,
Which erſt ſo gliſtened with the golden ſtreames
That chearfull Phebus ſpred downe from his ſphere,
Beholding darke, oppreſſing day, ſo neare;
The ſodayne ſight reduced to my mynde
The ſundry chaunges that in earth we fynde.

Immediately the figure of SORROW ſuddenly appears, which ſhews the poet in a new and bolder mode of compoſition.

And ſtrayt forth ſtalking with redoubled pace,
For that I ſawe the night drew on ſo faſt,
In black all clad there fell before my face
A piteous wight, whom woe had all forwaſt;
Furth from her iyen the cryſtall teares outbraſt,
[223] And ſyghing ſore her haunds ſhe wronge and folde,
Tare al her haire that ruth was to beholde.
Her body ſmall, forwithered and foreſpent,
As is the ſtalke that ſommers drought oppreſt;
Her wealked face with wofull teares beſprent,
Her colour pale, and, as it ſeemed her beſt,
In woe and playnt repoſed was her reſt:
And as the ſtone that droppes of water weares,
So dented were her cheekes with fall of teares.—
I ſtoode agaſt, beholding all her plight,
Tween dread and dolour ſo diſtreynd in hart,
That while my heares upſtarted with the ſight,
The teares outſtreamde for ſorowe of her ſmatt.
But when I ſawe no ende, that could aparte
The deadly dole which ſhe ſo ſore dyd make,
With dolefull voyce then thus to her I ſpake.
Unwrap thy woes, whatever wight thou be!
And ſtint betime to ſpill thyſelfe with playnt.
Tell what thou art, and whence, for well I ſee
Thou canſt not dure with ſorowe thus attaynt.
And with that worde, of ſorrowe all forfaynt,
She looked up, and proſtrate as ſhe laye,
With piteous ſounde, lo! thus ſhe gan to ſaye.
Alas, I wretche, whom thu [...] thou [...]eeſt diſtrayned,
With waſting woes, that never ſhall aſlake,
SORROWE I am, in endeles tormentes payned,
Among the Furies in the infernall lake;
Where Pluto god of hell ſo grieſlie blake
Doth holde his throne, and Lethes deadly taſte
Doth reive remembrance of [...]che thyng forepaſt.
[224]
Whence come I am, the drery deſtinie,
And luckles lot, for to bemone of thoſe,
Whom Fortune in this maze of miſerie,
Of wretched chaunce, moſt wofull myrrours choſe:
That when thou [...]ee [...]t how lightly they did loſe
Theyr pompe, theyr power, and that they thought moſt ſure,
Thou mayeſt ſoon deeme no earthlye joye may dure.

SORROW then conducts the poet to the claſſical hell, to the place of torments and the place of happineſs.

I ſhall thee guyde firſt to the grieſly lake,
And thence unto the bliſsfull place of reſt:
Where thou ſhalt ſee and heare the playnt they make,
That whilom here bare ſwingeb among the beſt.
This ſhalt thou ſee. But great is the unreſt
That thou muſt byde, before thou canſt attayne
Unto the dreadfull place where thoſe remayne.
And with theſe wordes as I uprayſed ſtood
And gan to folowe her that ſtraight forth paſte,
Ere I was ware, into a deſert wood
We nowe were come: where hand in hand embraced,
She led the way, and through the thicke ſo traced
As, but I had beene guyded by her might,
It was no waye for any mortal wight.
But loe! while thus amid the deſert darke
We paſſed on, with ſteppes and pace unmeete,
A rumbling roar confuſde, with howle and barke
Of dogs, ſhooke all the grounde under our feete,
And ſtrooke the din within our eares ſo deepe,
As half diſtraught unto the ground I fell,
Beſought returne, and not to viſit hell.—
[225]
An hydeous hole al vaſt, withouten ſhape,
Of endles depth, orewhelmde with ragged ſtone,
With oughly mouth and grieſly jawes doth gape,
And to our ſight confounds itſelf in one.
Here entred we, and yedingc forth, anone
An horrible lothly lake we might diſcerne,
As black as pitche, that clepedd is Averne.
A deadly gulfe where nought but rubbiſh growes,
With fowle blake ſwelth in thickened lumpes that lyes,
Which upp in th' ayre ſuch ſtinking vapour throwes,
That over there may flye no fowle, but dyes
Choakt with the noyſom vapours that aryſe.
Hither we come, whence forth we ſtill did pace,
In dreadfull feare amid the dreadfull place.

Our author appears to have felt and to have conceived with true taſte, that very romantic part of Virgil's Eneid which he has here happily copied and heightened. The imaginary beings which ſate within the porch of hell, are all his own. I muſt not omit a ſingle figure of this dreadful groupe, nor one compartment of the portraitures which are feigned to be ſculptured or painted on the SHIELD of WAR, indented with gaſhes deepe and wide.

And, firſt, within the porch and jaws of hell
Sat deep REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE, all beſprent
With tears; and to herſelf oft would ſhe tell
Her wretchedneſs, and, curſing, never ſtent
To ſob and ſigh, but ever thus lament
With thoughtful care; as ſhe that, all in vain,
Would wear and waſte continually in pain:
[226]
Her eyes unſtedfaſt, rolling here and there,
Whirl'd on each place, as place that vengeance brought,
So was her mind continually in fear,
Toſt and tormented with the tedious thought
Of thoſe deteſted crimes which ſhe had wrought;
With dreadful cheer, and looks thrown to the ſky,
Wiſhing for death, and yet ſhe could not die.
Next, ſaw we DREAD, all trembling how he ſhook,
With foot uncertain, profer'd here and there,;
Benumb'd with ſpeech; and, with a gaſtly look,
Search'd every place, all pale and dead for fear,
His cap born up with with ſtaring of his hair;
'Stoin'd and amazed at his own ſhade for dread,
And fearing greater dangers than was need.
And, next, within the entry of this lake,
Sat fell REVENGE, gnaſhing her teeth for ire;
Deviſing means how ſhe may vengeance take;
Never in reſt, 'till ſhe have her deſire;
But frets within ſo far forth with the fire
Of wreaking flames, that now determines ſhe
To die by death, or 'veng'd by death to be.
When fell REVENGE, with bloody foul pretence,
Had ſhow'd herſelf, as next in order ſet,
With trembling limbs we ſoftly parted thence,
'Till in our eyes another ſight we met;
When fro my heart a ſigh forthwith I fet,
Ruing, alas, upon the woeful plight
Of MISERY, that next appear'd in ſight:
His face was lean, and ſome-deal pin'd away [...]
And eke his hands conſumed to the bone;
But, what his body was, I cannot ſay,
[227] For on his carkaſs rayment had he none,
Save clouts and patches pieced one by one;
With ſtaff in hand, and ſcrip on ſhoulders caſt,
His chief defence againſt the winter's blaſt:
His food, for moſt, was wild fruits of the tree,
Unleſs ſometime ſome crums fell to his ſhare,
Which in his wallet long, God wot, kept he,
As on the which full daint'ly would he fare;
His drink, the running ſtream, his cup, the bare
Of his palm cloſed; his bed, the hard cold ground:
To this poor life was MISERY ybound.
Whoſe wretched ſtate when we had well beheld,
With tender ruth on him, and on his feers,
In thoughtful cares forth then our pace we held;
And, by and by, another ſhape appears
Of greedy CARE, ſtill bruſhing up the breers;
His knuckles knob'd, his fleſh deep dinted in,
With tawed hands, and hard ytanned ſkin:
The morrow grey no ſooner hath begun
To ſpread his light, e'en peeping in our eyes,
But he is up, and to his work yrun;
But let the night's black miſty mantles riſe,
And with foul dark never ſo much diſguiſe
The fair bright day, yet ceaſeth he no while,
But hath his candles to prolong his toil.
By him lay heavy SLEEP, the couſin of Death,
Flat on the ground, and ſtill as any ſtone,
A very corpſe, ſave yielding forth a breath;
Small keep took he, whom fortune frowned on,
Or whom ſhe lifted up into the throne
Of high renown, but, as a living death,
So, dead alive, of life he drew the breath:
[228]
The body's reſt, the quiet of the heart,
The travel's eaſe, the ſtill night's feer was he,
And of our life in earth the better part;
Rever of ſight, and yet in whom we ſee
Things oft that chance and oft that never be;
Without reſpect, eſteemed equally
King CROESUS' pomp and IRUS' poverty.
And next, in order ſad, OLD-AGE we found:
His beard all hoar, his eyes hollow and blind;
With drooping cheer ſtill poring on the ground,
As on the place where nature him aſſign'd
To reſt, when that the ſiſters had untwin'd
His vital th [...]ad, and ended with their knife
The fleeting courſe of faſt-declining life:
There heard we him with broken and hollow plaint
Rue with himſelf his end approaching faſt,
And all for nought his wretched mind torment
With ſweet remembrance of his pleaſures paſt,
And freſh delights of luſty youth forewaſte;
Recounting which, how would he ſob and ſhriek,
And to be young again of JOVE beſeek!
But, an' the cruel fates ſo fixed be
That time forepaſt cannot return again,
This one requeſt of JOVE yet prayed he,—
That, in ſuch wither'd plight, and wretched pain,
As eld, accompany'd with her lothſome train,
Had brought on him, all were it woe and grief,
He might a while yet linger forth his lief,
And not ſo ſoon deſcend into the pit;
Where Death, when he the mortal corpſe hath ſlain,
With rechleſs hand in grave doth cover it;
[229] Thereafter never to enjoy again
The gladſome light, but, in the ground ylain,
In depth of darkneſs waſte and wear to nought,
As he had ne'er into the world been brought:
But who had ſeen him ſobbing how he ſtood
Unto himſelf, and how he would bemoan
His youth forepaſt,—as though it wrought him good
To talk of youth, all were his youth foregone,—
He would have mus'd, and marvel'd much, whereon
This wretched Age ſhould life deſire ſo fain,
And knows full well life doth but length his pain:
Crook-back'd he was, tooth-ſhaken, and blear-eyed;
Went on three feet, and, ſometimes, crept on four;
With old lame bones, that rattled by his ſide;
His ſcalp all pil'd, and he with eld forelore,
His wither'd fiſt ſtill knocking at death's door;
Fumbling, and driveling, as he draws his bread;
For brief, the ſhape and meſſenger of Death.
And faſt by him pale MALADY was placed:
Sore ſick in bed, her colour all foregone;
Bereft of ſtomach, ſavour, and of taſte,
Ne could ſhe brook no meat but broths alone;
Her breath corrupt; her keepers every one
Abhorring her; her ſickneſs paſt recure,
Deteſting phyſick, and all phyſick's cure.
But, O, the doleful ſight that then we ſee!
We turn'd our look, and on the other ſide
A griſly ſhape of FAMINE mought we ſee:
With greedy looks, and gaping mouth, that cry'd
And roar'd for meat, as ſhe ſhould there have dy'd;
Her body thin and bare as any bone,
Whereto was left nought but the caſe alone,
[230]
And that, alas, was gnaw'n on every where,
All full of holes; that I ne mought refrain
From tears, to ſee how ſhe her arms could tear,
And with her teeth gnaſh on the bones in vain,
When, all for nought, ſhe fain would ſo ſuſtain
Her ſtarven corpſe, that rather ſeem'd a ſhade
Than any ſubſtance of a creature made:
Great was her force, whom ſtone-wall could not ſtay:
Her tearing nails ſnatching at all ſhe ſaw;
With gaping jaws, that by no means ymay
Be ſatisfy'd from hunger of her maw,
But eats herſelf as ſhe that hath no law;
Gnawing, alas, her carkaſs all in vain,
Where you may count each ſinew, bone, and vein.
On her while we thus firmly fix'd our eyes,
That bled for ruth of ſuch a dreary ſight,
Lo, ſuddenly ſhe ſhright in ſo huge wiſe
As made hell gates to ſhiver with the might;
Wherewith, a dart we ſaw, how it did light
Right on her breaſt, and, therewithal, pale DEATH
Enthrilling it, to reve her of her b [...]eath:
And, by and by, a dumb dead corpſe we ſaw,
Heavy, and cold, the ſhape of Death aright,
That daunts all earthly creatures to his law,
Againſt whoſe force in vain it is to fight;
Ne peers, ne princes, nor no mortal wight,
No towns, ne realms, cities, ne ſtrongeſt tower,
But all, per [...]orce, muſt yield unto his power:
His dart, anon, out of the corpſe he tooke,
And in his hand (a dreadful ſight to ſee)
With great triumph [...]tſoons the ſame he ſhook,
[231] That moſt of all my fears affrayed me;
His body dight with nought but bones, pardy;
The naked ſhape of man there ſaw I plain,
All ſave th [...] fleſh, the ſinew, and the vein.
Laſtly, ſtood WAR, in glittering arms yclad,
With viſage grim, ſtern look'd, and blackly hued:
In his right hand a naked ſword he had,
That to the hilts was all with blood imbrued;
And in his left (that kings and kingdoms rued)
Famine and fire he held, and therewithal
He razed towns, and threw down towers and all:
Cities he ſack'd, and realms (that whilom flower'd
In honour, glory', and rule, above the reſt)
He overwhelm'd, and all their fame devour'd,
Conſum'd, deſtroy'd, waſted, and never c [...]as'd
'Till he their wealth, their name, and all oppreſs'd:
His face forehew'd with wounds; and by his ſide
There hung his TARGE, with gaſhes deep and wide:
In mids of which depainted there we found
Deadly DEBATE, all full of ſnaky hair
That with a bloody fillet was ybound,
Outbreathing nought but diſcord every where:
And round about were pourtray'd, here and there,
The hugy hoſts; DARIUS and his power,
His kings, his princes, peers, and all his flower.—
XERXES, the Perſian king, yet ſaw I there,
With his huge hoſt, that drank the rivers dry,
Diſmounted hills, and made the vales uprear;
His hoſt and all y [...]t ſaw I ſlain, pardy:
Thebes too I ſaw, all razed how it did lie
In heaps of ſtones; and Tyrus put to ſpoil,
With walls and towers flat- [...]ven'd with th [...] ſoil.
[232]
But Troy, (alas!) methought, above them all,
It made mine eyes in very tears conſume;
When I beheld the woeful word befall,
That by the wrathful will of gods was come,
And JOVE'S unmoved ſentence and foredoom
On PRIAM king and on his town ſo bent,
I could not lin but I muſt there lament;
And that the more, ſith deſtiny was ſo ſtern
As, force perforce, there might no force avail
But ſhe muſt fall: and, by her fall, we learn
That cities, towers, wealth, world, and all ſhall quail;
No manhood, might, nor nothing mought prevail;
All were there preſt, full many a prince and peer,
And many a knight that ſold his death full dear:
Not worthy HECTOR, worthieſt of them all,
Her hope, her joy, his force is now for nought:
O Troy, Troy, Troy, there is no boot but bale!
The hugy horſe within thy walls is brought;
Thy turrets fall; thy knights, that whilom fought
In arms amid the field, are ſlain in bed;
Thy gods defil'd, and all thy honour dead:
The flames upſpring, and cruelly they creep
From wall to roof, 'till all to cinders waſte:
Some fire the houſes where the wretches ſleep;
Some ruſh in here, ſome run in there as faſt;
In every where or ſword, or fire, they taſte:
The walls are torn, the towers whirl'd to the ground;
There is no miſchief but may there be found.
CASSANDRA yet there ſaw I how they hal'd
From PALLAS' houſe, with ſpercled treſs undone,
Her wriſts faſt bound, and with Greek rout impal'd;
[233] And PRIAM eke, in vain how he did run
To arms, whom PYRRHUS with deſpite hath done
To cruel death, and bath'd him in the baign
Of his ſon's blood before the altar ſlain.
But how can I deſcrive the doleful ſight
That in the ſhield ſo lively fair did ſhine?
Sith in this world, I think, was never wight
Could have ſet forth the half not half ſo fine:
I can no more, but tell how there is ſeen
Fair ILIUM fall in burning red gledes down,
And, from the ſoil, great Troy, NEPTUNUS' town.

Theſe ſhadowy inhabitants of hell-gate are conceived with the vigour of a creative imagination, and deſcribed with great force of expreſſion. They are delineated with that fulneſs of proportion, that invention of pictureſqu [...] [...]tributes, diſtinctneſs, animation, and amplit [...]de, of which Spenſer is commonly ſuppoſed to have given the firſt ſpecimens in our language, and which are characteriſtical of his poetry. We may venture to pronounce that Spenſer, at leaſt, caught his manner of deſigning allegorical perſonages from this model, which ſo greatly enlarged the former narrow bounds of our ideal imagery, as that it may juſtly be deemed an original in that ſtyle of painting. For we muſt not forget, that it is to this INDUCTION that Spenſer alludes, in a ſonnet prefixed to his Paſtorals, in 1579, addreſſed To the right honourable THE LORD OF BUCKHURST, one of her maieſties priuie councell.

In vaine I thinke, right honourable lord,
By this rude rime to memorize thy name,
Whoſe learned Muſe hath writ her owne record
In golden verſe, worthy immortal fame.
[234] Thou much more fit, were leiſure for the ſame,
Thy gracious ſoveraignes prayſes to compile,
And her imperiall m [...]jeſtie to frame
In loftie numbers and heroick ſtile.

The readers of the FAERIE QUEENE will eaſily point out many particular paſſages which Sackville's INDUCTION ſuggeſted to Spenſer.

From this ſcene SORROW, who is well known to Charon, and to Cerberus the hideous hound of hell, leads the poet over the loathſome lake of rude Acheron, to the dominions of Pluto, which are deſcribed in numbers too beautiful to have been reliſhed by his cotemporaries, or equalled by his ſucceſſors.

Thence come we to the horrour and the hell,
The large great kyngdomes, and the dreadful raygne
Of Pluto in his trone where he dyd dwell,
The wide waſte places, and the hugie playne;
The waylinges, ſhrykes, and ſundry ſorts of payne,
The ſyghes, the ſobbes, the depe and deadly groane,
Earth, ayer, and all reſounding playnt and moane e.
Thence did we paſſe the threefold emperie
To the utmoſt boundes where Rhadamanthus raignes,
Where proud folke waile their wofull miſerie;
Where dreadfull din of thouſand dragging chaines,
And baleful ſhri [...]kes of ghoſts in deadly paines
[235] Torturd eternally are heard moſt brim f
Through ſilent ſhades of night ſo darke and dim.
From hence upon our way we forward paſſe,
And through the groves and uncoth pathes we goe,
Which leade unto the Cyclops walles of braſſe:
And where that mayne broad flood for aye doth floe,
Which parts the gladſome fields from place of woe:
Whence none ſhall ever paſſe t' Elizium plaine,
Or from Elizium ever turne againe.

Here they are ſurrounded by a troop of men, the moſt in armes bedight, who met an untimely death, and of whoſe deſtiny, whether they were ſentenced to eternal night or to bliſsfull peace, it was uncertain.

Loe here, quoth SORROWE, Princes of renowne
That whilom ſate on top of Fortune's wheele,
Now laid full low, like wretches whurled downe
Even with one frowne, that ſtaid but with a ſmile, &c.

They paſs in order before SORROW and the poet. The firſt is Henry duke of Buckingham, a principal inſtrument of king Richard the third.

Then firſt came Henry duke of Buckingham,
His cloake of blacke, all pild, and quite forlorne,
Wringing his handes, and Fortune oft doth blame,
Which of a duke hath made him now her ſkorne;
With gaſtly lokes, as one in maner lorne,
Oft ſpred his armes, ſtr [...]tcht handes he joynes as faſt,
With rufull cheere and vapored eyes up [...]aſt.
[236]
His cloake he rent, his manly breaſt he beat;
His hair al torne, about the place it layne:
My heart ſo moltg to ſee his grief ſo great,
As feelingly, methought, it dropt away:
His eyes they whurled about withouten ſtaye:
With ſtormy ſyghes the place did ſo complayne,
As if his hart at eche had burſt in twayne.
Thryſe he began to tell his doleful tale,
And thryſe the ſyghes did ſwalowe up his voyſe;
At eche of whiche he ſhryked ſo withale,
As though the heavens ryved with the noyſe:
Til at the laſt recovering his voyſe;
Supping the teares that all his breaſt beraynde
On cruell Fortune weping thus he playnde.

Nothing more fully illuſtrates and aſcertains the reſpective merits and genius of different poets, than a juxtapoſition of their performances on ſimilar ſubjects. Having examined at large Sackville's Deſcent into Hell, for the ſake of throwing a ſtill ſtronger light on his manner of treating a fiction which gives ſo large a ſcope to fancy, I ſhall employ the remainder of this Section in ſetting before my reader a general view of Dante's Italian poem, entitled COMMEDIA, containing a deſcription of Hell, Paradiſe, and Purgatory, and written about the year 1310. In the mean time, I preſume that moſt of my readers will recollect and apply the ſixth Book of Virgil: to which, however, it may be neceſſary to refer occaſionally.

Although I have before inſinuated that Dante has in this poem uſed the ghoſt of Virgil for a myſtagogue, in imitation of Tully, who in the SOMNIUM Scipionis ſuppoſes Scipio to have ſhewn the other world to his anceſtor Africanus, yet at the ſame time in the invention of his introduction, he ſeems to have had an eye on the exordium of an old forgotten Florentine [237] poem called TESORETTO, written in Frottola, or a ſhort irregular meaſure, exhibiting a cyclopede of theoretic and practic philoſophy, and compoſed by his preceptor Brunetto Latini about the year 1270 h. Brunetto ſuppoſes himſelf loſt in a wood, at the foot of a mountain covered with animals, flowers, plants, and fruits of every ſpecies, and ſubject to the ſupreme command of a wonderful Lady, whom he thus deſcribes. ‘"Her head touched the heavens, which ſerved at once for a veil and an ornament. The ſky grew dark or ſerene at her voice, and her arms extended to the extremities of the earth i."’ This bold perſonification, one of the earlieſt of the rude ages of poetry, is NATURE. She converſes with the poet, and deſcribes the creation of the world. She enters upon a moſt unphiloſophical and indeed unpoetical detail of the phyſical ſyſtem: developes the head of man, and points out the ſeat of intelligence and of memory. From phyſics ſhe proceeds to morals: but her principles are here confined to theology and the laws of the church, which ſhe couches in technical rhymes k.

Dante, like his maſter Brunetto, is bewildered in an unfrequented foreſt. He attempts to climb a mountain, whoſe ſummit is illuminated by the riſing ſun. A furious leopard, preſſed by hunger, and a lion, at whoſe aſpect the air is affrighted, accompanied by a ſhe-wolf, oppoſe his progreſs; and force him [238] to fly precipitately into the profundities of a pathleſs valley, where, ſays the poet, the ſun was ſilent.

Mi ripingeva dove'l ſol tace l.

In the middle of a vaſt ſolitude he perceives a ſpectre, of whom he implores pity and help. The ſpectre haſtens to his cries: it was the ſhade of Virgil, whom Beatrix, Dante's miſtreſs, had ſent, to give him courage, and to guide him into the regions of hell m. Virgil begins a long diſcourſe with Dante; and expoſtulates with him for chuſing to wander through the rough obſcurities of a barren and dreary vale, when the top of the neighbouring mountain afforded every delight. The converſation of Virgil, and the name of Beatrix, by degrees diſſipate the fears of the poet, who explains his ſituation. He returns to himſelf, and compares this revival of his ſtrength and ſpirits to a flower ſmitten by the froſt of a night, which again lifts its ſhrinking head, and expands its vivid colours, at the firſt gleamings of the morning-ſun.

Qual' il fioretti dal notturno gelo
Chinati et chiuſi, &c n.—

Dante, under the conduct of Virgil, penetrates hell. But he does not on this occaſion always avail himſelf of Virgil's deſcriptions and mythologies. At leaſt the formation of Dante's imageries are of another ſchool. He feigns his hell to be a prodigious and almoſt bottomleſs abyſs, which from its aperture to its loweſt depth preſerves a rotund ſhape: or rather, an immenſe [239] perpendicular cavern, which opening as it deſcends into different circles, forms ſo many diſtinct ſubterraneous regions. We are ſtruck with horror at the commencement of this dreadful adventure.

The firſt object which the poet perceives is a gate of braſs, over which were inſcribed in characters of a dark hue, di colore oſcuro, theſe verſes.

Per me ſi và nella città dolente:
Per me ſi và nel eterno dolore:
Per me ſi và trà la perduta gente.
Giuſtizia moſſe'l mio alto fattore:
Fece me li divina poteſtate,
La ſomma Sapienzia, e l'primo Amore o.
Dinanzi a me non fur coſe create:
Se non eterne, el io duro eterno.
Laſſate ogni ſperanza voi ch'entraſte p.

That is, ‘"By me is the way to the woeful city. By me is the way to the eternal pains. By me is the way to the damned race. My mighty maker was divine Juſtice and Power, the Supreme Wiſdom, and the Firſt Love. Before me nothing was created. If not eternal, I ſhall eternally remain. Put away all hope, ye that enter."’

There is a ſevere ſolemnity in theſe abrupt and comprehenſive ſentences, and they are a ſtriking preparation to the ſcenes that enſue. But the idea of ſuch an inſcription on the brazen portal of hell, was ſuggeſted to Dante by books of chivalry; in which the gate of an impregnable enchanted caſtle, is often inſcribed with words importing the dangers or wonders to be found within. Over the door of every chamber in Spenſer's necromantic palace of Buſyrane, was written a threat to the champions who preſumed to attempt to enter q. This total excluſion of hope from [240] hell, here ſo finely introduced and ſo forcibly expreſſed, was probably remembered by Milton, a diſciple of Dante, where he deſcribes,

Regions of ſorrow, dolefull ſhades, where peace
And reſt can never dwell, HOPE NEVER COMES
THAT COMES TO ALL r.—

I have not time to follow Dante regularly through his dialogues and adventures with the crouds of ghoſts, antient and modern, which he meets in the courſe of this infernal journey. In theſe interviews, there is often much of the party and politics of his own times, and of alluſion to recent facts. Nor have I leiſure particularly to diſplay our author's puniſhments and phantoms. I obſerve in general, that the ground-work of his hell is claſſical, yet with many Gothic and extravagant innovations. The burning lakes, the foſſes, and fiery towers which ſurround the city of DIS, and the three Furies which wait at its entrance, are touched with new ſtrokes s. The Gorgons, the Hydra, the Chimera, Cerberus, the ſerpent of Lerna, and the reſt of Virgil's, or rather Homer's, infernal apparitions, are dilated with new touches of the terrible, and ſometimes made ridiculous by the addition of comic or incongruous circumſtances, yet without any intention of burleſque. Becauſe Virgil had mentioned the Harpies in a ſingle word only t, in one of the lothſome groves which Dante paſſes, conſiſting of trees whoſe leaves are black, and whoſe knotted boughs are hard as iron, the Harpies build their neſts u.

Non frondi verdi, ma di color foſco,
Non rami ſchietti, ma nodoſi e'nvolti,
Non pomi v'eran, ma ſtecchi con toſco.

Cacus, whom Virgil had called Semifer in his ſeventh book, [241] appears in the ſhape of a Centaur covered with curling ſnakes, and on whoſe neck is perched a dragon hovering with expanded wings w. It is ſuppoſed that Dante took the idea of his INFERNO from a magnificent nightly repreſentation of hell, exhibited by the pope in honour of the biſhop of Oſtia on the river Arno at Florence, in the year 1304. This is mentioned by the Italian critics in extenuation of Dante's choice of ſo ſtrange a ſubject. But why ſhould we attempt to excuſe any abſurdity in the writings or manners of the middle ages? Dante choſe this ſubject as a reader of Virgil and Homer. The religious MYSTERY repreſented on the river Arno, however magnificent, was perhaps a ſpectacle purely orthodox, and perfectly conformable to the ideas of the church. And if we allow that it might hint the ſubject, with all its inconſiſtencies, it never could have furniſhed any conſiderable part of this wonderful compound of claſſical and romantic fancy, of pagan and chriſtian theology, of real and fictitious hiſtory, of tragical and comic incidents, of familiar and heroic manners, and of ſatirical and ſublime poetry. But the groſſeſt improprieties of this poem diſcover an originality of invention, and its abſurdities often border on ſublimity. We are ſurpriſed that a poet ſhould write one hundred cantos on hell, paradiſe, and purgatory. But this prolixity is partly owing to the want of art and method: and is common to all early compoſitions, in which every thing is related circumſtantially and without rejection, and not in thoſe general terms which are uſed by modern writers.

Dante has beautifully enlarged Virgil's ſhort compariſon of the ſouls lingering on the banks of Lethe, to the numerous leaves falling from the trees in Autumn.

Come d'Autumno ſi levan le foglie
L'un appreſſo del'altra, infin che'l ramo
Vede a la terre tutte le ſue ſpoglie;
[242] Similmente, il mal ſeme d'Adamo
Getta ſi di quel lito ad una ad una
Per cenni, com'augel per ſuo richiamo y.

In the Fields inhabited by unhappy lovers he ſees Semiramis, Achilles, Paris, and Triſtan, or ſir Triſtram. One of the old Italian commentators on this poem ſays, that the laſt was an Engliſh knight born in Cornovaglio, or Cornwall, a city of England z.

Among many others of his friends, he ſees Franciſca the daughter of Guido di Polenta, in whoſe palace Dante died at Ravenna, and Paulo one of the ſons of Malateſta lord of Rimini. This lady fell in love with Paulo; the paſſion was mutual, and ſhe was betrothed to him in marriage: but her family choſe rather that ſhe ſhould be married to Lanciotto, Paulo's eldeſt brother. This match had the moſt fatal conſequences. The injured lovers could not diſſemble or ſtifle their affection: they were ſurpriſed, and both aſſaſſinated by Lanciotto. Dante finds the ſhades of theſe diſtinguiſhed victims of an unfortunate attachment at a diſtance from the reſt, in a region of his INFERNO deſolated by the moſt violent tempeſts. He accoſts them both, and Franciſca relates their hiſtory: yet the converſation is carried on with ſome difficulty, on account of the impetuoſity of the ſtorm which was perpetually raging. Dante, who from many circumſtances of his own amours, appears to have poſſeſſed the moſt refined ſenſibilities about the delicacies of love, enquires in what manner, when in the other world, they firſt communicated their paſſion to each other. Franciſca anſwers, that they were one day ſitting together, and reading the romance of LANCELOT; where two lovers were repreſented in the ſame critical ſituation with themſelves. Their changes of colour and countenance, while they were reading, often tacitly betrayed [243] their yet undiſcovered feelings. When they came to that paſſage in the romance, where the lovers, after many tender approaches, are gradually drawn by one uniform reciprocation of involuntary attraction to kiſs each other, the book dropped from their hands. By a ſudden impulſe and an irreſiſtible ſympathy, they are tempted to do the ſame. Here was the commencement of their tragical hiſtory.

Noi leggiavam' un giorno per diletto
Di LANCILOTTO, comme amor le ſtrinſe;
Soli eravamo, et ſenza alcun ſoſpetto.
Per più fia [...]e gli occhi ci ſoſpinſe
Quella lettura et ſcolorocc' il viſo:
Ma ſol un punto fù qual che ci vinſe.
Quando legemmo il diſiato riſo
Eſſer baciato dà cotanto amante
Queſti che mai da me no fia diviſo
La bocca mi baſciò tutto tremante:
GALEOTTOa fù il libro, et chi lo ſcriſſe
Quel giorno più non vi legemmo avante b.

But this picture, in which nature, ſentiment, and the graces are concerned, I have to contraſt with ſcenes of a very different nature. Salvator Roſa has here borrowed the pencil Correggio. Dante's beauties are not of the ſoft and gentle kind.

—Through many a dark and dreary vale
They paſs'd, and many a region dolorous,
O'er many a frozen many a fiery Alp c.

A hurricane ſuddenly riſing on the banks of the river Styx is thus deſcribed.

[244]
Et gia venia ſù per le torbid onde
Un fracaſſo d'un ſuon pien di ſpavento,
Per cui tremavan amendue le ſponde;
Non altrimenti fatto che d'un vento
Impetuoſo per gli avverſi ardori
Che fier la ſalva ſenz' alcun rattento
Gli rami ſchianta i abatte, et porta i fiori,
Dinanzi polveroſo và ſuperbo,
Et fa fuggir le fiere et glipaſtori d.

Dante and his myſtagogue meet the monſter Geryon. He has the face of a man with a mild and benign aſpect, but his human form ends in a ſerpent with a voluminous tail of immenſe length, terminated by a ſting, which he brandiſhes like a ſcorpion. His hands are rough with briſtles and ſcales. His breaſt, back, and ſides have all the rich colours diſplayed in the textures of Tartary and Turkey, or in the labours of Arachne. To ſpeak in Spenſer's language, he is,

—A dragon, horrible and bright e.

No monſter of romance is more ſavage or ſuperb.

Lo doſſo, e'l petto, ad amenduo le coſte,
Dipinte avea di nodi, e di rotelle,
Con più color ſommeſſe e ſopprapoſte
Non fur ma [...] in drappo Tartari ne Turchi,
Ne fur tar tale per Aragne impoſte f.

The conformation of this heterogeneous beaſt, as a fabulous hell is the ſubject, perhaps immediately gave riſe to one of [245] the formidable ſhapes which ſate on either ſide of the gates of hell in Milton. Although the fiction is founded in the cla [...]ics.

The one ſeem'd woman to the waſte and fair,
But ended foul in many a ſcaly fold
Voluminous and vaſt, a ſerpent arm'd
With mortal ſting g.—

Virgil, ſeeming to acknowledge him as an old acquaintance, mounts the back of Geryon. At the ſame time Dante mounts, whom Virgil places before, ‘"that you may not, ſays he, be expoſed to the monſter's venomous ſting."’ Virgil then commands Geryon not to move too rapidly, ‘"for, conſider, what a new burthen you carry!"’

—"Gerion muoviti omai,
"Le ruote large, e lo ſcender ſia poco:
"Penſa la nuova ſoma che tu hai h."

In this manner they travel in the air through Tartarus: and from the back of the monſter Geryon, Dante looks down on the burning lake of Phlegethon. This imagery is at once great and ridiculous. But much later Italian poets have fallen into the ſame ſtrange mixture. In this horrid ſituation ſays Dante,

I ſentia già dalla man deſtra il gorgo
Far ſotto noi un orribile ſtroſcio:
Perche con gli occhi in giù la teſta ſporſi
Allor fu io più timido allo ſcoſcio
Perioch i vidi fuochi, e ſente pianti,
Oud' io tremando tutto mi rancoſco i.

This airy journey is copied from the flight of Icarus and Phaeton, and at length produced the Ippogrifo of Arioſto. Nor [246] is it quite improbable, that Milton, although he has greatly improved and dignified the idea, might have caught from hence his fiction of Satan ſoaring over the infernal abyſs. At length Geryon, having circuited the air like a faulcon towering without prey, depoſits his burthen and vaniſhes k.

While they are wandering along the banks of Phlegethon, as the twilight of evening approaches, Dante ſuddenly hears the ſound of a horn more loud than thunder, or the horn of Orlando l.

Ma io ſenti ſonare alto corno:—
Non ſono ſi terribilimente Orlando m.

Dante deſcries through the gloom, what he thinks to be many high and vaſt towers, molte alti torri. Theſe are the giants who warred againſt heaven, ſtanding in a row, half concealed within and half extant without an immenſe abyſs or pit.

Gli orribili giganti, cui minaccia
Giove del cielo ancora quando tuona n.

But Virgil informs Dante that he is deceived by appearances, and that theſe are not towers but the giants.

Sappi, che non ſon torri ma giganti
E ſon nel pezzo intorno della ripa
D'all umbilico in guiſo, tutti quanti o.

One of them cries out to Dante with horrible voice. Another, Ephialtes, is cloathed in iron and bound with huge chains. [247] Dante wiſhes to ſee Briareus: he is anſwered, that he lies in an interior cavern biting his chain. Immediately Ephialtes aroſe from another cavern, and ſhook himſelf like an earthquake.

Non fu tremuoto già tanto rubeſto,
Che ſchoteſſe una torri cosi forte,
Come Fialte a ſcuoterſi fu preſto p.

Dante views the horn which had ſounded ſo vehemently hanging by a leathern thong from the neck of one of the giants. Antaeus, whoſe body ſtands ten ells high from the pit, is commanded by Virgil to advance. They both mount on his ſhoulders, and are thus carried about Cocytus. The giant, ſays the poet, moved off with us like the maſt of a ſhip q. One cannot help obſerving, what has been indeed already hinted, how judiciouſly Milton, in a ſimilar argument, has retained the juſt beauties, and avoided the childiſh or l [...]dicrous exceſſes of theſe bold inventions. At the ſame time we may remark, how Dante has ſometimes heightened, and ſometimes diminiſhed by improper additions or miſrepreſentations, the legitimate deſcriptions of Virgil.

One of the torments of the Damned in Dante's INFERNO, is the puniſhment of being eternally confined in lakes of ice.

Eran l'ombre dolenti nell ghiaccia
Mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna r.

The ice is deſcribed to be like that of the Danube or Tanais. This ſpecies of infernal torment, which is neither directly warranted by ſcripture, nor ſuggeſted in the ſyſtems of the Platonic fabuliſts, and which has been adopted both by Shakeſpeare and [248] Milton, has its origin in the legendary hell of the monks. The hint ſeems to have been taken from an obſcure text in the Book of JOB, dilated by ſaint Jerom and the early commentators r. The torments of hell, in which the puniſhment by cold is painted at large, had formed a viſionary romance, under the name of ſaint Patrick's Purgatory or Cave, long before Dante wrote s. The venerable Bede, who lived in the ſeventh century, has framed a future manſion of exiſtence for departed ſouls with this mode of torture. In the hands of Dante it has aſſumed many fantaſtic and groteſque circumſtances, which make us laugh and ſhudder at the ſame time.

In another department, Dante repreſents ſome of his criminals rolling themſelves in human ordure. If his ſubject led him to ſuch a deſcription, he might at leaſt have uſed decent expreſſions. But his diction is not here leſs ſordid than his imagery. I am almoſt afraid to tranſcribe this groſs paſſage, even in the diſguiſe of the old Tuſcan phraſeology.

—Quindi giù nel foſ [...]o
Vidi gente attuffata in uno ſterco,
Che dagli uman privati para moſſo;
Et mentre che laggiu con l'occhio cerco:
Vidi un, co'l capo ſi da merda lordo,
Che non parea s'era laico, o cherco t.

The humour of the laſt line does not make amends for the naſtineſs of the image.

It is not to be ſuppoſed, that a man of ſtrong ſenſe and genius, whoſe underſtanding had been cultivated by a moſt exact education, and who had paſſed his life in the courts of ſovereign princes, would have indulged himſelf in theſe diſguſting fooleries, had he been at all apprehenſive that his readers would have been diſguſted. But rude and early poets deſc [...]ib [...] [249] every thing. They follow the public manners: and if they are either obſcene or indelicate, it ſhould be remembered that they wrote before obſcenity or indelicacy became offenſive.

Some of the Guilty are made objects of contempt by a transformation into beaſtly or ridiculous ſhapes. This was from the fable of Circe. In others, the human figure is rendered ridiculous by diſtortion. There is one ſet of criminals whoſe faces are turned round towards their backs.

—E'l piante de gli occhi
Le natiche bagnava per lo feſſo u.

But Dante has diſplayed more true poetry in deſcribing a real event than in the beſt of his fictions. This is in the ſtory of Ugolino count of Piſa, the ſubject of a very capital picture by Reynolds. The poet, wandering through the depths of hell, ſees two of the Damned gnawing the ſculls of each other, which was their daily food. He enquires the meaning of this dreadful repaſt.

La bocca ſollevò dal fiero paſto
Quel peccator, forbendola a capelli
Del capo ch'egli havea di retro guaſto w.

Ugolino quitting his companion's half-devoured ſcull, begins his tale to this effect. ‘"We are Ugolin count of Piſa, and archbiſhop Ruggieri. Truſting in the perfidious counſels of Ruggieri, I was brought to a miſerable death. I was committed with four of my children to the dungeon of hunger. The time came when we expected food to be brought. Inſtead of which, I heard the gates of the horrible tower more cloſely barred. I looked at my children, and could not ſpeak.’

—"L'hora s'appreſſava
"Che'l cibo ne ſoleva eſſere adotto;
"E per ſuo ſogno ciaſcun dubitava:
[250] "Ed io ſenti chiavar l'uſcio di ſotto
"A l'ORRIBILE TORRE, ond'io guardai
"Nel viſo à miei figliuoli, ſenza far metta.
"I could not complain. I was petrified. My children cried: and my little Anſelm, Anſelmuccio mio, ſaid, Father, you look on us, what is the matter?
—"Tu guardi ſi, padre, che hai?"
I could neither weep, nor anſwer, all that day and the following night. When the ſcanty rays of the ſun began to glimmer through the dolorous priſon,
"Com'un poco di raggio ſi fù meſſo
"Nel doloroſo carcere,—
and I could again ſee thoſe four countenances on which my own image was ſtamped, I gnawed both my hands for grief. My children ſuppoſing I did this through a deſire to eat, lifting themſelves ſuddenly up, exclaimed, O father, our grief would be leſs, if you would eat us!
"Ambo le mani per dolor mi morſi:
"E quei penſando ch'io'l feſſi per voglia
"Di manicar, di ſubito levorſi
"Et diſſer, Padre, aſſai ci fia men doglia
"Se tu mangi di noi!—

‘"I reſtrained myſelf that I might not make them more miſerable. We were all ſilent, that day and the following. Ah cruel earth, why didſt thou not ſwallow us up at once! "Quel di, et l'altro, ſtemmo tutta muti. "Ahi! dura terra, perche non l'apriſti? The fourth day being come, Gaddo falling all along at my feet, cried out, My father, why do not you help me, and died. [251] The other three expired, one after the other, between the fifth and ſixth days, famiſhed as you ſee me now. And I being ſeized with blindneſs began to crawl over them, ſovra ciaſcuno, on hands and feet; and for three days after they were dead, continued calling them by their names. At length, famine finiſhed my torments."’ Having ſaid this, the poet adds, with diſtorted eyes he again fixed his teeth on the mangled ſcull x. It is not improbable, that the ſhades of unfortunate men, who deſcribed under peculiar ſituations and with their proper attributes, are introduced relating at large their hiſtories in hell to Dante, might have given the hint to Boccace's book DE CASIBUS VIRORUM ILLUSTRIUM, On the Misfortunes of Illuſtrious Perſonages, the original model of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES.

Dante's PURGATORY is not on the whole leſs fantaſtic than his HELL. As his hell was a vaſt perpendicular cavity in the earth, he ſuppoſes Purgatory to be a cylindric maſs elevated to a prodigious height. At intervals are receſſes projecting from the outſide of the cylinder. In theſe receſſes, ſome higher and ſome lower, the wicked expiate their crimes, according to the proportion of their guilt. From one department they paſs to another by ſteps of ſtone exceedingly ſteep. On the top of the whole, or the ſummit of Purgatory, is a plat-form adorned with trees and vegetables of every kind. This is the Terreſtrial Paradiſe, which has been tranſported hither we know not how, and which forms an avenue to the Paradiſe Celeſtial. It is extraordinary that ſome of the Gothic painters ſhould not have given us this ſubject.

Dante deſcribes not diſagreeably the firſt region which he traverſes on leaving Hell. The heavens are tinged with ſapphire, and the ſtar of love, or the ſun, makes all the orient laugh. He ſees a venerable ſage approach. This is Cato of Utica, who, aſtoniſhed to ſee a living man in the manſion of ghoſts, queſtions Dante and Virgil about the buſineſs which brought them hither. 1023 [252] Virgil anſwers: and Cato adviſes Virgil to waſh Dante's face, which was ſoiled with the ſmoak of hell, and to cover his head with one of the reeds which grew on the borders of the neighbouring river. Virgil takes his advice; and having gathered one reed, ſees another ſpring up in its place. This is the golden bough of the Eneid, uno avulſo non deficit alter. The ſhades alſo, as in Virgil, croud to be ferried over Styx: but an angel performs the office of Charon, admitting ſome into the boat, and rejecting others. This confuſion of fable and religion deſtroys the graces of the one and the majeſty of the other.

Through adventures and ſcenes more ſtrange and wild than any in the Pilgrim's Progreſs, we at length arrive at the twentyfirſt Canto. A concuſſion of the earth announces the deliverance of a ſoul from Purgatory. This is the ſoul of Statius, the favorite poet of the dark ages. Although a very improper companion for Virgil, he immediately joins our adventurers, and accompanies them in their progreſs. It is difficult to diſcover what pagan or chriſtian idea regulates Dante's diſpenſation of rewards and puniſhments. Statius paſſes from Purgatory to Paradiſe, Cato remains in the place of expiation, and Virgil is condemned to eternal torments.

Dante meets his old acquaintance Foreſe, a debauchee of Florence. On finiſhing the converſation, Foreſe aſks Dante when he ſhall have the pleaſure of ſeeing him again. This queſtion in Purgatory is diverting enough. Dante anſwers with much ſerious gravity, ‘"I know not the time of death: but it cannot be too near. Look back on the troubles in which my country is involved z!"’ The diſpute between the pontificate and the empire, appears to have been the predominant topic of Dante's mind. This circumſtance has filled Dante's poem with ſtrokes of ſatire. Every reader of Voltaire muſt remember that lively writer's paraphraſe from the INFERNO, of the ſtory of count Guido, in which are theſe inimitable lines. A Franciſcan friar abandoned to Beelzebub thus exclaims.

[253]
—"Monſieur de Lucifer!
"Je ſuis un Saint; voyes ma robe griſe:
"Je fus abſous par le Chef de l'Egliſe.
"J'aurai, toujours, repondit le Demon,
"Un grand reſpect pour l'Abſolution;
"On eſt lavè de ſes vielles ſotiſes,
"Pourvu qu'après autres ne ſoient commiſes.
"J'ai fait ſouvent cette diſtinction
"A tes pareils: et, grâce a l'Italie,
"Le Diable ſait la Theologie.
"Il dit et rit. Je ne repliquai rien
"A Belzebut, il raiſonnoit trop bien.
"Lors il m'empoigne, et d'un bras roide et ferme
"Il appliqua ſur ma triſte épiderme
"Vingt coups de fouet, dont bien fort il me cuit:
"Que Dieu le rend à Boniface huit."

Dante thus tranſlated would have had many more readers than at preſent. I take this opportunity of remarking, that our author's perpetual reference to recent facts and characters is in imitation of Virgil, yet with this very material difference. The perſons recogniſed in Virgil's ſixth book, for inſtance the chiefs of the Trojan war, are the cotemporaries of the hero not of the poet. The truth is, Dante's poem is a ſatirical hiſtory of his own times.

Dante ſees ſome of the ghoſts of Purgatory advancing forward, more meagre and emaciated than the reſt. He aſks how this could happen in a place where all live alike without nouriſhment. Virgil quotes the example of Meleager, who waſted with a firebrand, on the gradual extinction of which his life depended. He alſo produces the compariſon of a mirror reflecting a figure. Theſe obſcure explications do not ſatisfy the doubts of Dante. Statius, for his better inſtruction, explains how a child grows in the womb of the mother, how it is enlarged, and by degrees receives life and intellect. The drift of our [254] author is apparent in theſe profound illuſtrations. He means to ſhew his ſkill in a ſort of metaphyſical anatomy. We ſee ſomething of this in the TESORETTO of Brunetto. Unintelligible ſolutions of a ſimilar ſort, drawn from a frivolous and myſterious philoſophy, mark the writers of Dante's age.

The PARADISE of Dante, the third part of this poem, reſembles his PURGATORY. Its fictions, and its allegories which ſuffer by being explained, are all conceived in the ſame chimerical ſpirit. The poet ſucceſſively views the glory of the ſaints, of angels, of the holy Virgin, and at laſt of God himſelf.

Heaven as well as hell, among the monks, had its legendary deſcription; which it was hereſy to diſbelieve, and which was formed on perverſions or miſinterpretations of ſcripture. Our author's viſion ends with the deity, and we know not by what miraculous aſſiſtance he returns to earth.

It muſt be allowed, that the ſcenes of Virgil's ſixth book have many fine ſtrokes of the terrible. But Dante's colouring is of a more gloomy temperature. There is a ſombrous caſt in his imagination: and he has given new ſhades of horror to the claſſical hell. We may ſay of Dante, that

—Hell
Grows DARKER at his FROWN a.—

The ſenſations of fear impreſſed by the Roman poet are leſs harraſſing to the repoſe of the mind: they have a more equable and placid effect. The terror of Virgil's tremendous objects is diminiſhed by correctneſs of compoſition and elegance of ſtyle. We are reconciled to his Gorgons and Hydras, by the grace of expreſſion, and the charms of verſification.

In the mean time, it may ſeem a matter of ſurpriſe, that the Italian poets of the thirteenth century who reſtored, admired, and ſtudied the claſſics, did not imitate their beauties. But while they poſſeſſed the genuine models of antiquity, their [255] unnatural and eccentric habits of mind and manners, their attachments to ſyſtem, their ſcholaſtic theology, ſuperſtition, ideal love, and above all their chivalry, had corrupted every true principle of life and literature, and conſequently prevented the progreſs of taſte and propriety. They could not conform to the practices and notions of their own age, and to the ideas of the antients, at the ſame time. They were dazzled with the imageries of Virgil and Homer, which they could not always underſtand or apply: or which they ſaw through the miſt of prejudice and miſconception. Their genius having once taken a falſe direction, when recalled to copy a juſt pattern, produced only conſtraint and affectation, a diſtorted and unpleaſing reſemblance. The early Italian poets disfigured, inſtead of adorning thei [...] works, by attempting to imitate the claſſics. The charms which we ſo much admire in Dante, do not belong to the Greeks and Romans. They are derived from another origin, and muſt be traced back to a different ſtock. Nor is it at the ſame time leſs ſurpriſing, that the later Italian poets, in more enlightened times, ſhould have paid ſo reſpectful a compliment to Dante as to acknowledge no other model, and with his excellencies, to tranſcribe and perpetuate all his extravagancies.

SECT. XXXII.

[256]

I NOW return to the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, and to Sackville's Legend of Buckingham, which follows his INDUCTION.

The Complaynt of HENRYE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, is written with a force and even elegance of expreſſion, a copiouſneſs of phraſeology, and an exactneſs of verſification, not to be found in any other parts of the collection. On the whole, it may be thought tedious and languid. But that objection unavoidably reſults from the general plan of theſe pieces. It is impoſſible that ſoliloquies of ſuch prolixity, and deſigned to include much hiſtorical and even biographical matter, ſhould every where ſuſtain a proper degree of ſpirit, pathos, and intereſt. In the exordium are theſe nervous and correct couplets.

Whom flattering Fortune falſely ſo beguilde,
That loe, ſhe ſlew, where earſt ful ſmooth ſhe ſmilde.

Again,

And paynt it forth, that all eſtates may knowe:
Have they the warning, and be mine the woe.

Buckingham is made to enter thus rapidly, yet with much addreſs, into his fatal ſhare of the civil broils between York and Lancaſter.

But what may boot to ſtay the ſiſters three,
When Atropos perforce will cut the thred?
The dolefull day was come, when you might ſee
Northampton field with armed men oreſpred.

[257] In theſe lines there is great energy.

O would to God the cruell diſmall day
That gave me light fyrſt to behold thy face,
With foule eclipſe had reft my ſight away,
The unhappie hower, the time, and eke the day, &c.

And the following are an example of the ſimple and ſublime united.

And thou, Alecto, feede me with thy foode!
Let fall thy ſerpents from thy ſnaky heare!
For ſuch reliefe well fits me in my moode,
To feed my plaint with horroure and with feare!
With rage afreſh thy renomd worme areare.

Many compariſons are introduced by the diſtreſſed ſpeaker. But it is common for the beſt poets to forget that they are deſcribing what is only related or ſpoken. The captive Proteus has his ſimile of the nightingale; and Eneas decorates his narrative of the diſaſtrous conflagration of Troy with a variety of the moſt laboured compariſons.

Buckingham in his reproaches againſt the traiterous behaviour of his antient friend Banaſtre, utters this forcible exclamation, which breathes the genuine ſpirit of revenge, and is unloaded with poetical ſuperfluities.

Hat [...]d be thou, diſdainde of everie wight,
And pointed at whereever thou ſhalt goe:
A traiterous wr [...]tch, unworthy of the light
Be thou eſteemde: and, to encreaſe thy woe,
The ſound be hatefull of thy name alſoe.
And in this ſort, with ſhame and ſharpe reproch,
Leade thou thy life, till greater grief approch.

The ingenious writers of theſe times are perpetually deſerting propriety for the ſake of learned alluſions. Buckingham exhorts the peers and princes to remember the fate of ſome of the moſt [258] renowned heroes of antiquity, whoſe lives and misfortunes he relates at large, and often in the moſt glowing colours of poetry. Alexander's murther of Clitus is thus deſcribed in ſtanzas, pronounced by the poet and not by Buckingham.

And deeply grave within your ſtonie hart [...]
The dreerie dole, that mightie Macedo
With teares unfolded, wrapt in deadlie ſmarts,
When he the death of Clitus ſorrowed ſo,
Whom erſt he murdred with the deadlie blow;
Raught in his rage upon his friend ſo deare,
For which, behold loe how his panges appeare!
The launced ſpeare he writhes out of the wound,
From which the purple blood ſpins in his face:
His heinous guilt when he returned found,
He throwes himſelf uppon the corps, alas!
And in his armes howe oft doth he imbrace
His murdred friend! And kiſſing him in vaine,
Forth flowe the floudes of ſalt repentant raine.
His friendes amazde at ſuch a murther done,
In fearfull flockes begin to ſhrinke away;
And he thereat, with heapes of grief fordone,
Hateth [...]imſelfe, wiſhing his latter day.—
He calls for death, and loathing longer life,
Bent to his bane ref [...]ſeth kindlie foode,
And plungde in depth of death and dolours ſtrife
Had quelda himſelfe, had not his friendes withſtoode.
Loe he that thus has ſhed the guiltleſſe bloode,
Though he were king and keper over all,
Yet choſe he death, to guerdon death withall.
[259]
This prince, whoſ [...] peere [...]as never under ſunne,
Whoſe gliſtening [...]ame the earth did overglide,
Which with his power the worlde welnigh had wonne,
His bloudy handes himſel [...]e could no [...] abide,
But folly bent with famine to have dide;
The worthie prince deemed in his regard
That death for death could be but juſt reward.

Our MIRROUR, having had three new editions in 1563 b, 1571 [...] and 1574 c, was reprinted in quarto in the year 1587 d, with the addition of many new lives, under the conduct of John Higgins.

Higgins lived at Winſham in Somerſetſhire e. He was educated at Oxford, was a clergyman, and engaged in the inſtruction of youth. As a preceptor of boys, on the plan of a former collection by Nicholas Udal, a celebrated maſter of Eton ſchool, he compiled the FLOSCULI OF TERENCE, a manual famous in its time, and applauded in a Latin epigram by the elegant Latin encomiaſt Thomas Newton of Cheſhire f. In the pedagogic character he alſo publiſhed ‘"HOLCOT'S DICTIONARIE, newlie corrected, amended, ſet in order, and enlarged, with many names of men, townes, beaſtes, fowles, etc. By which you may finde the Latine or Frenche of anie Engliſhe worde you will. By John Higgins, late ſtudent in Oxeforde g."’ In an engraved title-page are a few Engliſh verſes. It is in folio, and printed for Thomas Marſhe at London, 1572. The dedication to ſir George Peckham knight, is written by Higgins, and is a [260] good ſpecimen of his claſſical accompliſhments. He calls Peckham his [...]principal friend, and the moſt eminent patron of letters. A recommendatory copy of verſes by Churchyard the poet is prefixed, with four Latin epigrams by others. Another of his works in the ſame profeſſion is the NOMENCLATOR of Adrian Junius, tranſlated into Engliſh, in conjunction with Abraham Flemming, and printed at London, for Newberie and Durham, in 1585 h. It is dedicated in Latin to his moſt bountiful patron Doctor Valentine, maſter of Requeſts, and dean of Wells, from Winſham i, 1584. From this dedication, Higgins ſeems to have been connected with the ſchool of Ilminſter, a neighbouring town in Somerſetſhire k. He appears to have been living ſo late as the year 1602. For in that year he publiſhed an Anſwer to William Perkins, a forgotten controverſialiſt, concerning Chriſt's deſcent into hell, dedicated from Winſham.

To the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES Higgins wrote a new INDUCTION in the octave ſtanza; and without aſſiſtance of friends, began a new ſeries from Albanact the youngeſt ſon of Brutus, and the firſt king of Albanie or Scotland, continued to the emperor Caracalla l. In this edition by Higgins, among the pieces after the conqueſt, firſt appeared the Life of CARDINAL WOLSEY, by Churchyard m; of SIR NICHOLAS BURDET, by Baldwine n; and of ELEANOR COBHAM o, and of HUMFREY DUKE OF GLOUCESTER p, by Ferrers. Alſo the Legend of KING JAMES THE FOURTH OF SCOTLAND q, [261] ſaid to have been penned fiftie yeares ago r, and of FLODDEN FIELD, ſaid to be of equal antiquity, and ſubſcribed FRANCIS DINGLEY s, the name of a poet who has not otherwiſe occurred. Prefixed is a recommendatory poem in ſtanzas by the abovementioned Thomas Newton of Cheſhire t, who underſtood much more of Latin than of Engliſh poetry.

The moſt poetical paſſage of Higgins's performance in this collection is in his Legend of QUEENE CORDILA, or Cordelia, king Lear's youngeſt daughter u. Being impriſoned in a dungeon, and coucht on ſtrawe, ſhe ſees amid the darkneſs of the night a grieſly ghoſt approach,

Eke nearer ſtill with ſtealing ſteps ſhee drewe:
Shee was of colour pale and deadly hewe.

Her garment was figured with various ſorts of impriſonment, and pictures of violent and premature death.

Her clothes reſembled thouſand kindes of thrall,
And pictures plaine of haſtened deathes withall.

Cordelia, in extreme terror, aſks,

—What wight art thou, a foe or fawning [...]rend?
If Death thou art, I pray thee [...]ake an end—
But th' art not Death!—Art thou ſome Fury ſent
My woefull corps with paynes more to torment?
With that ſhe ſpake, "I am thy frend DESPAYRE.—
* * * * * * * * * *
"Now if thou art to dye no whit afrayde
"Here ſhalt thou chooſe of Inſtruments, beholde,
"Shall rid thy reſtleſſe life."—

[262] DESPAIR then, throwing her robe aſide, ſhews Cordelia a thouſand inſtruments of death, knives, ſharpe ſwordes, and ponyards, all bedyde with bloode and poyſons. She preſents the ſword wit [...] which queen Dido ſlew herſelf.

"Lo! here the blade that D [...]do' of Carthage hight, &c.

Cordelia takes this ſword, but doubtfull yet to dye. DESPAIR then repreſents to her the ſtate and power which ſhe enjoyed in France, her troops of attendants, and the pleaſures of the court ſhe had left. She then points out her preſent melancholy condition and dreary ſituation.

She ſhewde me all the dongeon where I ſate,
The dankiſh walles, the darkes, and bade me ſmell
And byde the [...]avour if I like it well.

Cordelia gropes f [...]r the ſword, or fatall knife, in the dark, which DESPAIR places in her hand.

DESPAYRE to ayde my ſenceleſs limmes was glad,
And gave the blade: to end my woes ſhe bad.

At length Cordelia's ſ [...]ght fails her ſo that ſhe can ſee only DESPAIR who exhorts her to ſtrike.

And by her elbowe DEATH for me did watch.

DESPAIR at laſt gives the blow. The temptation of the R [...]dcroſſe knight by DESPAIR in Spenſer' [...] FAERIE QUEENE, ſeems to have been copied, yet with high improvements, from this ſcene. Theſe ſtanzas of Spenſer bear a ſtrong reſ [...]mblance to what I have cited from CORDELIA'S Legend.

Then gan the villainew him to oueraw,
And brought unto him ſwords, rope [...], poyſons, fire,
And all that might him to perdition draw;
[263] And bade him chuſe what death he would deſire:
For death was due [...]o him that had prouokt God's ire.
But when as none of them he ſawe him take,
He to him raught a dagger ſharpe and keene,
And gaue it him in hand: his hand did quake
And tremble like a leaſe of aſpin greene,
And troubled bloud through his pale face was ſeene
To come and goe, with tydinges from the hart,
As it a running meſſenger had beene.
At laſt, reſolv'd to worke his finall ſmart
He lifted up his hand that backe againe did ſtart x.

The three firſt books of the FAERIE QUEENE were publiſhed in 1590. Higgins's Legend of Cordelia in 1587.

At length the whole was digeſted anew with additions, in 1610, by Richard Niccols, an ingenious poet, of whom more will be ſaid hereafter, under the following title. ‘"A MIRROUR FOR MAGISTRATES y, being a true Chronicle-h [...]ſtory of the untimely falles of ſuch unfortunate princes and men of note as have happened ſince the firſt entrance of Brute into this Iland untill this our age. NEWLY ENLARGED with a laſt part called a WINTER NIGHT'S VISION being an addition of ſuch Tragedies eſpecially famous as are exempted in the former Hiſtorie, with a poem annexed called ENGLANDS ELIZA. At London, imprinted by Felix Kyngſton, 1610 z."’ Niccols arranged his edition thus. Higgins's INDUCTION is at the head of the Lives from Brutus to the Conqueſt. Thoſe from the conqueſt to LORD CROMWELL'S lege [...]d written by Drayton and now [264] firſt added a, are introduced by Sackville's INDUCTION, After this are placed ſuch lives as had been before omitted, ten in number, written by Niccols himſelf, with an INDUCTION b. As it illuſtrates the hiſtory of this work, eſpecially of Sackville's ſhare in it, I will here inſert a part of Niccols's preface prefixed to thoſe TRAGEDIES which happened after the conqueſt, beginning with that of Robert Treſili [...]n. ‘"Hauing hitherto continued the ſtorie from the firſt entrance of BRVTE into this iland, with the FALLES of ſvch PRINCES as were neuer before this time in one volume compriſed, I now proceed with the reſt, which take their beginning from the Co [...]queſt: whoſe penmen being many and diuerſe, all diuerſlie affected in the method of this their MIRROUR, I purpoſe onlie to follow the intended ſcope of that moſt honorable perſonage, who by how mvch he did ſurpaſſe the reſt in the eminence of [...]s noble condition, by ſo mvch he hath exceeded them all in the excellencie of his heroicall ſtile, which with golden pen he hath limmed out to poſteritie in that worthie object of his minde the TRAGEDIE OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, and in his Preface then intit [...]led MASTER SACK [...]ILS INDUCTION. This worthy preſident of learning intended to perfect all this ſtorie of himſelfe from the Conqueſt. Being called to a more ſerious expence of his time in the great ſtate affaires of his moſt royall ladie and ſoueraigne, he left the diſpoſe therof to M. Baldwine, M. Ferrers, and others, the compoſe [...]s of theſe Tragedies: who continving their methode, which was by way of dialogue or interlocvtion betwixt euerie Tragedie, gaue it onlie place before the dvke of Bvckingham's COMPLAINT. Which order I ſince hauing altered, haue placed the INDUCTION in the beginninge, with euerie Tragedie following according to ſvcceſſion and ivſt compvtation of time, which before was not obſerued c."’

[265] In the Legend of king Richard the Thir [...], Niccols appears to have copied ſome paſſages from Shakeſpeare's Tragedy on that hiſtory. In the opening of the play Richard ſays,

Now are our brows bound with victorious w [...]eaths,
Our bruiſed arms hung up for monuments:
Our ſtern alarums changed to merry meetings;
Our dreadfull marches to delightfull meaſures.
Grim-viſag'd War hath ſmooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, inſtead of mounting barbed ſteeds,
To fright the ſouls of fearfull adverſaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the laſcivious pleaſing of a lute c.

Theſe lines evidently gave riſe to part of Richard's ſoliloquy in Niccols's Legend.

—The battels fought in field before
Were turn'd to meetings of ſweet amitie:
The war-god's thundring cannons dreadfull rore,
And rattling drum-ſounds warlike harmonie,
To ſweet-tun'd noiſe of pleaſing min [...]tralſ [...]e.—
God Mars laid by his Launce and tooke his Lute,
And turn'd his rugged frownes to ſmiling lookes;
In ſtead of crimſon fields, warres fatall fruit,
He bathed his limbes in Cypre's warbling brookes,
And ſet his thoughts upon her wanton lookes d.

Part of the tent-ſcene in Shakeſpeare is alſo imitated by Niccols. Richard, ſtarting from his horrid dream, ſays,

[266]
Methought the ſouls of all that I had murder'd
Came to my tent, and every one did threat
To morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard e.

So Niccols,

I thought that all thoſe murthered ghoſts, whom I
By death had ſent to their vntimely graue,
With balefull noiſe about my tent did crie,
And of the heauens with ſad complaint did craue,
That they on guiltie wretch might vengeance haue:
To whom I thought the i [...]dge of heauen gaue eare,
And gainſt me gaue a iudgement full of feare f.

But ſome of the ſtanzas immediately following, which are formed on Shakeſpeare's ideas, yet with ſome original imagination, will give the reader the moſt favourable idea of Niccols as a contributor to this work.

For loe, eftſoones, a thouſand helliſh hags,
Leauing th' abode of their infernall cell,
Seaſing on me, my hatefull body drags
From forth my bed into a place like hell,
Where fiends did naught but bellow, howle and yell,
Who in ſterne ſtrife ſtood gainſt each other bent,
Who ſhould my hatefull bodie moſt torment.
[267]
Tormented in ſuch trance long did I lie,
Till extreme feare did rouze me where I lay,
And caus'd me from my naked bed to flie:
Alone within my tente I durſt not ſtay,
This dreadfull dreame my ſoule did ſo affray:
When wakt I was from ſleepe, I for a ſpace
Thought I had beene in ſome infernall place.
About mine eares a buzzing feare ſtill flew,
My fainting knees languiſh for want of might;
Vpon my bodie ſtands an icie dew;
My heart is dead within, and with affright
The haire vpon my head doth ſtand vpright:
Each limbe abovt me quaking, doth reſemble
A riuers ruſh, that with the wind doth tremble.
Thus with my guiltie ſoules ſad torture torne
The darke nights diſmall houres I paſt away:
But at cockes crowe, the meſſage of the morne,
My feare I did conceale, &c g.

If internal evidence was not a proof, we are ſure from other evidences that Shakeſpeare's tragedy preceded Niccols's legend. The tragedy was written about 1597. Niccols, at eighteen years of age, was admitted into Magdalene college in Oxford, in the year 1602 h. It is eaſy to point out other marks of imitation. Shakeſpeare has taken nothing from Seagars's Richard the third, printed in Baldwine's collection, or firſt edition, in the year 1559. Shakeſpeare, however, probably catched the idea of the royal ſhades, in the ſame ſcene of th [...] tragedy before us, appearing in ſucceſſion and ſpeaking to Richard and [268] Richmond, from the general plan of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES: more eſpecially, as many of Shakeſpeare's ghoſts there introduced, for inſtance, King Henry the ſixth, Clarence, Rivers, Haſtings, and Buckingham, are the perſonages of five of the legends belonging to this poem.

SECT. XXXIII.

[269]

BY way of recapitulating what has been ſaid, and in order to give a connected and uniform view of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES in its moſt complete and extended ſtate, its original contents and additions, I will here detail the ſubjects of this poem as they ſtand in this laſt or Niccols's edition of 1610, with reference to two preceding editions, and ſome other incidental particularities.

Niccols's edition, after the Epiſtle Dedicatorie prefixed to Higgins's edition of 1587, an Advertiſement To the Reader by Niccols, a Table of Contents, and Thomas Newton's recommendatory verſes abovementioned, begins with an Induction called the AUTHOR'S INDUCTION, written by Higgins, and properly belonging to his edition. Then follow theſe Lives.

Albanact youngeſt ſon of Brutus a. Humber king of the Huns. King Locrine eldeſt ſon of Brutus. Queen Elſtride concubine of Locrine. Sabrina daughter of Locrine. King Madan. King Malin. King Mempric. King Bladud. Queen Cordelia. Morgan king of Albany. King Jago. Ferrex. Porrex. King Pinnar ſlain by Molucius Donwallo. King Stater. King Rudacke of Wales. King Kimarus. King Morindus. King Emerianus. King Cherinnus. King Varianus. Irelanglas couſin to Ca [...]ibelane. Julius Ceſar. Claudius Tiberius Nero. Caligula. King Guiderius. Lelius Hamo. Tiberius Druſus. Domitius Nero. Galba. Vitellius. Londric the Pict. Severus. Fulgentius a Pict. Geta. Caracalla b. All theſe from Albanact, and in th [...] [270] ſame order, form the firſt part of Higgins's edition of the year 1587 c. But none of them are in Baldwyne's, or the firſt, collection, of the year 1559. And, as I preſume, theſe lives are all written by Higgins. Then follow in Niccols's edition, Carauſius, Queen Helena, Vortigern, Uther Pendragon, Cadwallader, Sigebert, Ebba, Egelred, Edric, and Harold, all written by Thomas Blener Haſſet, and never before printed. We have next a new title d, ‘"The variable Fortvne and vnhappie Falles of ſvch princes as hath happened ſince the Conqueſt. Wherein may be ſeene, &c. At London, by Felix Kyngſton. 1609."’ Then, after an Epiſtle to the Reader, ſubſcribed R. N. that is Richard Niccols, follow, Sackville's INDUCTION. Cavyll's Roger Mortimer. Ferrers's Treſilian. Ferrers's Thomas of Woodſtock. Churchyard's Mowbray. Ferrers's King Richard the ſecond. Phaer's Owen Glendour. Henry Percy. Baldwyne's Richard earl of Cambridge. Baldwyne's Montague earl of Saliſbury. Ferrers's Eleanor Cobham. Ferrers's Humfrey duke of Glouceſter. Baldwyne's William De La Poole earl of Suffolk. Baldwyne's Jack Cade. Ferrers's Edmund duke of Somerſet. Richard Plantagenet duke of York. Lord Clifford. Tiptoft earl of Worceſter. Richard lord Warwick. King Henry the ſixth. George Plantagenet duke of Clarence. Skelton's King Edward the fourth. Woodvile lord Rivers. Dolman's Lord Haſtings. Sackville's Duke of Buckingham. Collingburne. Cavyll's Blackſmith. Higgins's Sir Nicholas Burdet. Churchyard's Jane Shore. Churchyard's Wolſey. Drayton's Lord Cromwell. All theſe e, Humfrey, Cobham, Burdet, Cromwell, and Wolſey, excepted, form the whole, but in a leſs chronological diſpoſition, of Baldwyne's collection, or edition, of the year 1559, as we have ſeen above: from whence they were reprinted, with the addition of Humfrey, Cobham, Burdet, and Wolſey, by Higgins, in his edition aforeſaid of 1587, and where Wolſey cloſes the work. Another title then appears in Niccols's [271] edition f, ‘"A WINTER NIGHTS VISION. Being an Addition of ſvch Princes eſpecially famovs, who were exempted in the former HISTORIE. By Richard Niccols, Oxon. Magd. Hall. At London, by Felix Kyngſton, 1610."’ An Epiſtle to the Reader, and an elegant Sonnet to Lord Charles Howard lord High Admiral, both by Niccols, are prefixed g. Then follows Niccols's INDUCTION to theſe new lives h. They are, King Arthur. Edmund Ironſide. Prince Alfred. Godwin earl of Kent. Robert Curthoſe. King Richard the firſt. King John. King Edward the ſecond. The two Young Princes murthered in the Tower, and King Richard the third i. Our author, but with little propriety, has annexed ‘"ENGLAND'S ELIZA, or the victoriovs and trivmphant reigne of that virgin empreſſe of ſacred memorie Elizabeth Queene of England, &c. At London, by Felix Kyngſton, 1610."’ This is a title page. Then follows a Sonnet to the virtuous Ladie the Lady Eliſabeth Clere, wife to ſir Francis Clere, and an Epiſtle to the Reader. A very poetical INDUCTION is prefixed to the ELIZA, which contains the hiſtory of queen Eliſabeth, then juſt dead, in the octave ſtanza. Niccols, however, has not entirely preſerved the whole of the old collection, although he made large additions. He has omitted King James the firſt of Scotland, which appears in Baldwyne's edition of 1559 k, and in Higgins's of 1587 l. He has alſo omitted, and probably for the ſame obvious reaſon, king James the fourth of Scotland, which we find in Higgins m. Nor [272] has Niccols retained the Battle of Flodden-field, which is in Higgins's edition n. Nicc [...]ls has alſo omitted Seagars's King Richard the Third, which firſt occurs in Baldwyne's edition of 1559 o, and afterwards in Higgins's of 1587 p. But Niccols has written a new Legend on this ſubject, cited above, and one of the beſt of his additional lives q. This edition by Niccols, printed by Felix Kyngſton in 1610, I believe was never reprinted. It contains eight hundred and ſeventy-five pages.

The MIRROUR of MAGISTRATES is obliquely ridiculed in biſhop Hall's SATIRES, publiſhed in 1597.

Another, whoſe more heavie-hearted ſaint
Delights in nought but notes of ruefull plaint,
Urgeth his melting muſe with ſolemn teares,
Rhyme of ſome drearie fates of LUCKLESS PEERS.
Then brings he up ſome BRANDED WHINING GHOST
To tell how old Misfortunes have him toſt r.

That it ſhould have been the object even of an ingenious ſatiriſt, is ſo far from proving that it wanted either merit or popularity, that the contrary concluſion may be juſtly inferred. It was, however, at length ſuperſeded by the growing reputation of a new poetical chronicle, entitled ALBION'S ENGLAND, publiſhed before the beginning of the reign of James the firſt. [273] That it was in high eſteem throughout the reign of queen Eliſabeth, appears, not only from its numerous editions, but from the teſtimony of ſir Philip Sidney, and other cotemporary writers f. It is ranked among the moſt faſhionable pieces of the times, in the metrical preface prefixed to Jaſper Heywood's THYESTES of Seneca, tranſlated into Engliſh verſe, and publiſhed in 1560 s. It muſt be remembered that only Baldwyne's part had yet appeared, and that the tranſlator is ſuppoſed to be ſpeaking to Seneca.

In Lyncolnes Inne, and Temples twayne,
Grayes Inne, and many mo,
Thou ſhalt them fynde whoſe paynefull pen
Thy verſe ſhall floriſhe ſo;
That Melpomen, thou wouldſt well weene,
Had taught them for to wright,
And all their woorks with ſtately ſtyle
And goodly grace to endight.
There ſhalt thou ſe the ſelfe ſame Northe,
Whoſe woork his witte diſplayes;
And DYALL doth of PRINCES paynte,
And preache abroade his prayſe t.
There Sackvyldes SONNETSu ſweetly ſauſte,
[274] And featlye ſyned bee:
There Norton'sw Ditties do delight,
There Yelverton'sx do flee
Well pewrde with pen: ſuch yong men three
As weene thou mightſt agayne,
To be begotte as Pallas was
Of myghtie Jove his brayne.
There heare thou ſhalt a great reporte
Of BALDWYNE'S worthie name,
Whoſe MIRROUR doth of MAGISTRATES
Proclayme eternall fame.
And there the gentle Blunduilley is
By name and eke by kynde,
Of whom we learne by Plutarches lore
What frute by foes to fynde.
There Bauande bydes z, that turnde his toyle
A common wealth to frame,
And greater grace in Engliſh gyves
To woorthy authors name.
There Googe a gratefull name has gotte,
Reporte that runneth ryfe;
Who crooked compaſſe doth deſcribe
And Zodiake of lyfe a.—
[275] A pryncely place in Parnaſſe hill
For theſe there is preparde,
Whence crowne of glitteryng glorie hangs
For them a right rewarde.
Whereas the lappes of Ladies nyne,
Shall dewly them defende,
That have preparde the lawrell leafe
About theyr heddes to bende.
And where their pennes ſhall hang full high, &c.

Theſe, he adds, are alone qualified to tranſlate Seneca's tragedies.

In a ſmall black-lettered tract entitled the TOUCH-STONE OF WITTES, chiefly compiled, with ſome ſlender additions, from William Webbe's DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POETRIE, written by Edward Hake, and printed at London by Edmund Botifaunt in 1588, this poem is mentioned with applauſe. ‘"Then have we the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES lately augmented by my friend mayſter John Higgins, and penned by th [...] choyſeſt learned wittes, which for the ſtately-proportioned uaine of the heroick ſtyle, and good meetly proportion of uerſe, may challenge the beſt of Lydgate, and all our late rhymers b."’ That ſenſible old Engliſh critic Edmund Bolton, [276] in a general criticiſm on the ſtyle of our moſt noted poets before the year 1600, places the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES in a high rank. It is under that head of his HYPERCRITICA, entitled ‘"Prime Gardens for gathering Engliſh according to the true gage or ſtandard of the tongue about fifteen or ſixteen years ago."’ The extract is a curious piece of criticiſm, as written by a judicious cotemporary. Having mentioned our proſe writers, the chief of which are More, Sidney, queen Eliſabeth, Hooker, Saville, cardinal Alan, Bacon, and Raleigh, he proceeds thus. ‘"In verſe there are Edmund Spenſer's HYMNES c. I cannot adviſe the allowance of other his poems as for practick Engliſh, no more than I can Jeffrey Chaucer, Lydgate, Pierce Plowman, or LAUREATE Skelton. It was laid as a fault to the charge of Saluſt, that he uſed ſome old outworn words ſtoln out of Cato in his books de Originibus. And for an hiſtorian in our tongue to affect the like out of thoſe our poets, would be accounted a foul overſight.—My judgement is nothing at all in poems or poeſie, and therefore I dare not go far; but will ſimply deliver my mind concerning thoſe authors among us, whoſe Engliſh hath in my conceit moſt propriety, and is neareſt to the phraſe of court, and to the ſpeech uſed among the noble, and among the better ſort in London: the two ſovereign ſeats, and as it were parliament tribunals, to try the queſtion in. Brave language are Chapman's Iliads.—The works of Samuel Daniel containe ſomewhat [277] aflat, but yet withal a very pure and copious Engliſh [...] and words as warrantable as any mans, and fitter perhaps for proſe than meaſure. Michael Drayton's Heroical Epiſtles are well worth the reading alſo for the purpoſe of our ſubject, which is to furniſh an Engliſh hiſtorian with choice and copy of tongue. Queen Elizabeth's verſes, thoſe which I have ſeen and read, ſome exſtant in the elegant, witty, and artificial book of the ART OF ENGLISH POETRIE, the work, as the fame is, of one of her gentlemen-penſioners, Puttenham, are princely as her proſe. Never muſt be forgotten St. PETER'S COMPLAINT, and thoſe other ſerious poems ſaid to be father Southwell's: the Engliſh whereof, as it is moſt proper, ſo the ſharpneſs and light of wit is very rare in them. Noble Henry Conſtable was a great maſter in Engliſh tongue, nor had any gentleman of our nation a more pure, quick, or higher delivery of conceit, witneſs among all other that Sonnet of his before his Majeſty's LEPANTO. I have not ſeen much of ſir Edward Dyer's poetry. Among the leſſer late poets, George Gaſcoigne's Works may be endured. But the beſt of theſe times, if Albion's England be not preferred, for our buſineſs, is the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, and in that MIRROUR [...] Sackvil's INDUCTION, the work of Thomas afterward earl of Dorſet and lord treaſurer of England: whoſe alſo the famous Tragedy of GORDOBUC, was the beſt of that time, even in ſir Philip Sidney's judgement; and all ſkillful Engliſhmen cannot but aſcribe as much thereto, for his phraſe and eloquence therein. But before in age, if not alſo in noble, courtly, and luſtrous Engliſh, is that of the Songes and Sonnettes of Henry Howard earl of Surrey, (ſon of that victorious prince, the duke of Norfolk, and father of that learned Howard his moſt lively image Henry earl of Northampton,) written chiefly by him, and by ſir Thomas Wiat, not the dangerous commotioner, but his worthy father. Nevertheleſs, they who commend thoſe poems and exerciſes of honourable wit, if they have [278] ſeen that incomparable earl of Surrey his Engliſh tranſlation of Virgil's Eneids, which, for a book or two, he admirably rendreth, almoſt line for line, will bear me witneſs that thoſe other were foils and ſportives. The Engliſh poems of ſir Walter Raleigh, of John Donne, of Hugh Holland, but eſpecially of ſir Foulk Grevile in his matchleſs MUSTAPHA, are not eaſily to be mended. I dare not preſume to ſpeak of his Majeſty's exerciſes in this heroick kind. Becauſe I ſee them all left out in that which Montague lord biſhop of Wincheſter hath given us of his royal writings. But if I ſhould declare mine own rudeneſs rudely, I ſhould then confeſs, that I never taſted Engliſh more to my liking, nor more ſmart, and put to the height of uſe in poetry, than in that vital, judicious, and moſt practicable language of Benjamin Jonſon's poems d."’

[279] Among ſeveral proofs of the popularity of this poem afforded by our old comedies, I will mention one in George Chapman's MAY-DAY printed in 1611. A ge [...]tleman of the moſt elegant taſte for reading, and highly accompliſhed in the current books of the times, is called ‘"One that has read Marcus Aurelius e, Geſta Romanorum, and the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES f."’

The books of poetry which abounded in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, and were more numerous than any other kinds of writing in our language, gave birth to two collections of FLOWERS ſelected from the works of the moſt faſhionable poets. The [280] firſt of theſe is, ‘"ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS. Or, the choyſeſt Flowers of our moderne Poets, with their poeticall Compariſons, Deſcriptions of Bewties, Perſonages, Caſtles, Pallaces, Mountaines, Groues, Seas, Springs, Riuers, &c. Whereunto are annexed other various Diſcourſes g both pleaſaunt and profitable. Imprinted at London for N. L. C. B. and Th. Hayes [...] 1600 h."’ The collector is probably Robert Allot i, whoſe initials R. A. appear ſubſcribed to two Sonnets prefixed, one to ſir Thomas Mounſon, and the other to the Reader. The other compilation of this ſort is entitled, ‘"BELVIDERE, or the Garden of the Muſes. London, imprinted for Hugh Aſtly, 1600 k."’ The compiler is one John Bodenham. In both of [281] theſe, eſpecially the former, the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES is cited at large, and has a conſpicuous ſhare k. At the latter end of the reign of queen Eliſabeth, as I am informed from ſome curious manuſcript authorities, a thin quarto in the black letter was publiſhed, with this title, ‘"The MIRROUR OF MIRROVRS, or all the tragedys of the Mirrovr for Magiſtrates abbreuiated in breefe hiſtories in proſe. Very neceſſary for thoſe that haue not the Cronicle. London, imprinted for James Roberts in Barbican, 1598 l."’ This was an attempt [282] to familiariſe and illuſtrate this favorite ſeries of hiſtoric ſoliloquies: or a plan to preſent its ſubjects, which were now become univerſally popular in rhyme, in the dreſs of proſe.

It is reaſonable to ſuppoſe, that the publication of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES enriched the ſtores, and extended the limits, of our drama. Theſe lives are ſo many tragical ſpeeches in character. We have ſeen, that they ſuggeſted ſcenes to Shakeſpeare. Some critics imagine, that HISTORICAL Plays owed their origin to this collection. At leaſt it is certain, that the writers of this MIRROUR were the firſt who made a poetical uſe of the Engliſh chronicles recently compiled by Fabyan, Hall, and Hollinſhed, which opened a new field of ſubjects and events; and, I may add, produced a great revolution in the ſtate of popular knowledge. For before thoſe elaborate and voluminous compilations appeared, the Hiſtory of England, which had been ſhut up in the Latin narratives of the monkiſh annaliſts, was unfamiliar and almoſt unknown to the general reader.

SECT. XXXIV.

[283]

IN tracing the gradual acceſſions of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, an incidental departure from the general line of our chronologic ſeries has been incurred. But ſuch an anticipation was unavoidable, in order to exhibit a full and uninter [...]upted view of that poem, which originated in the reign of Mary, and was not finally completed till the beginning of the ſeventeenth century. I now therefore return to the reign of queen Mary.

To this reign I aſſign Richard Edwards, a native of Somerſetſhire about the year 1523. He is ſaid by Wood to have been a ſcholar of Corpus Chriſti college in Oxford: but in his early years, he was employed in ſome department about the court. This circumſtance appears from one of his poems in the PARADISE OF DAINTIE DEVISES, a miſcellany which contains many of his pieces.

In youthfull yeares when firſt my young deſires began
To pricke me forth to ſerve in court, a ſlender tall young man,
My fathers b [...]eſſing then, I aſked upon my knee,
Who bleſſing me with trembling hand, theſe wordes gan ſay to me,
My ſonne, God guide thy way, and ſhield thee from miſchaunce,
And make thy juſt deſartes in court, thy poore eſtate to advance, &c a.

In the year 1547, he was appointed a ſenior ſtudent of Chriſtchurch in Oxford, then newly founded. In the Britiſh Muſeum [284] there is a ſmall ſet of manuſcript ſonnets ſigned with his initials, addreſſed to ſome of the beauties of the courts of queen Mary, and of queen Eliſabeth b. Hence we may conjecture, that he did not long remain at the univerſity. About this time he was probably a member of Lincoln's-inn. In the year 1561, he was conſtituted a gentleman of the royal chapel by queen Eliſabeth, and maſter of the ſinging boys there. He had received his muſical education, while at Oxford, under George Etheridge c.

When queen Eliſabeth viſited Oxford in 1566, ſhe was attended by Edwards, who was on this occaſion employed to compoſe a play called PALAMON AND ARCITE, which was acted before her majeſty in Chriſt-church hall d. I believe it was never printed. Another of his plays is DAMON AND PYTHIAS, which was acted at court. It is a miſtake, that the firſt edition of this play is the ſame that is among Mr. Garrick's collection, [285] printed by Richard Johnes, and dated 1571 e. The firſt edition was printed by William How in Fleet-ſtreet, in 1570, with this title, ‘"The tragical comedie of DAMON AND PITHIAS, newly imprinted as the ſame w [...]s playde before the queenes maieſtie by the children of her graces chapple. Made by Mayſter Edward then being maſter of the children f."’ There is ſome degree of low humour in the dialogues between Grimme the collier and the two lacquies, which I preſume was highly pleaſing to the queen. He probably wrote many other dramatic pieces now loſt. Puttenham having mentioned lord Buckhurſt and Maſter Edward Ferrys, or Ferrers, as moſt eminent in tragedy, gives the prize to Edwards for Comedy and Interlude g. The word Interlude is here of wide extent. For Edwards, beſides that he was a writer of regular dramas, appears to have been a contriver of maſques, and a compoſer of poetry for pageants. In a word, he united all thoſe arts and accompliſhments which miniſter to popular pleaſantry: he was the firſt fiddle, the moſt faſhionable ſonnetteer, the readieſt rhymer, and the moſt facetious mimic, of the court. In conſequence of his love and his knowledge of the hiſtrionic art, he taught the choriſters over which he preſided to act plays; and they were formed into a company of players, like thoſe of ſaint Paul's cathedral, by the queen's licence, under the ſuperintendency of Edwards h.

The moſt poetical of Edward's ditties in the PARADISE OF DAINTIE DEVISES is a deſ [...]ription of May i. The reſt are moral ſentences in ſtanzas. His SOUL-KNELL, ſuppoſed to [286] have been written on his death-bed, was once celebrated k. His popularity ſeems to have altogether ariſen from thoſe pleaſing talents of which no ſpecimens could be tranſmitted to poſterity, and which prejudiced his partial cotemporaries in favour of his poetry. He died in the year 1566 l.

In the Epitaphs, Songs, and Sonets of George Turbervile, printed in 1570, there are two elegies on his death; which record the places of his education, aſcertain his poetical and muſical character, and bear ample teſtimony to the high diſtinction in which his performances, more particularly of the dramatic kind, were held. The fiſt is by Turbervile himſelf, entitled, ‘"An Epitaph on Maiſter Edwards, ſometime Maiſter of the Children of the Chappell and gentleman of Lyncolnes inne of court."’

Ye learned Muſes nine
And ſacred ſiſters all;
Now lay your cheerful cithrons downe,
And to lamenting fall.—
For he that led the daunce,
The chiefeſt of your traine,
I meane the man that Edwards height,
By cruell death is ſlaine.
Ye courtiers chaunge your cheere,
Lament in waſtefull wiſe;
For now your Orpheus has reſignde,
In clay his carcas lies.
O ruth! he is bereft,
That, whilſt he lived here,
For poets penne and paſſinge wit
Could have no Engliſh peere.
[287] His vaine in verſe was ſuch,
So ſtately eke his ſtile,
His feate in forging ſugred ſonges
With cleane and curious file m [...]
As all the learned Greekes,
And Romaines would repine,
If they did live againe, to vewe
His verſe with ſcornefull eine n.
From Plautus he the palm
And learned Terence wan, &c o.

The other is written by Thomas Twyne, an aſſiſtant in Phaer's Tranſlation of Virgil's Eneid into Engliſh verſe, educated a few years after Edwards at Corpus Chriſti college, and an actor in Edwards's play of PALAMON AND ARCITE before queen Eliſabeth at Oxford in 1566 p. It is entitled, ‘"An Epitaph vpon the death of the worſhipfull Mayſter Richarde [288] Edwardes late Mayſter of the Children in the queene [...] maieſties chapell."’

O happie houſe, O place
Of Corpus Chriſti q, thou
That plantedſt firſt, and gauſt the root
To that ſo braue a bow r:
And Chriſt-church s, which enioydſte
The fruit more ripe at fill,
Plunge up a thouſand ſighes, for griefe
Your trickling teares diſtill.
Whilſt Childe and Chapell dure t,
[289] Whilſt court a court ſhall be;
Good Edwards, eche aſtatu ſhall much
Both want and wiſh for thee!
Thy tender tunes and rhymes
Wherein thou wontſt to play,
Eche princely dame of court and towne
Shall beare in minde away.
Thy DAMONw and his Friend x,
[290] ARCITE and PALAMON,
With mo [...] y full fit for princes eares, &c z.

Francis Meres, in his ‘"PALLADIS TAMIA, Wits Treaſurie, being the ſecond part of WITS COMMONWEALTH,"’ publiſhed in 1598, recites Maiſter EDWARDES of her maieſties chapel as one of the beſt for comedy, together with ‘"Edward earle of Oxforde, doctor Gager of Oxford a, maiſter Rowly once a rare ſcholler of Pembrooke Hall in Cambridge, eloquent and wittie John Lillie, Lodge, Gaſcoygne, Greene, Shakeſpeare, Thomas Naſh, Thomas Heywood, Anthony Mundye b, our [291] beſt plotter, Chapman, Porter, Wilſon, Hathway, and Henry Chettle c."’ Puttenham, the author of the Arte of Engliſh [292] Poe [...]ie, mentions the ‘"earle of Oxford, and maiſter Edwardes of her majeſties chappel, for comedy and enterlude d."’

Among the books of my friend the late Mr. William Collins [293] of Chicheſter, now diſperſed, was a Collection of ſhort comic ſtories in proſe, printed in the black letter under the year 1570, ‘"ſett forth by maiſter Richard Edwardes mayſter of her maieſties reuels."’ Undoubtedly this is the ſame Edwards: who from this title expreſsly appears to have been the general conductor of the court feſtivities: and who moſt probably ſucceeded in this office George Ferrers, one of the original authors of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES e. Among theſe tales was that [294] of the INDUCTION OF THE TINKER in Shakeſpeare's TAMING OF THE SHREW: and perhaps Edwards's ſtory-book was the immediate ſource from which Shakeſpeare, or rather the author of the old TAMING OF A SHREW, drew that diverting apologue f. If I recollect right, the circumſtances almoſt exactly tallied with an incident which Heuterus relates, from an Epiſtle of Ludovicus Vives, to have actually happened at the marriage of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, about the year 1440. I will give it in the words, either of Vives, or of that perſpicuous annaliſt, who flouriſhed about the year 1580. ‘"Nocte quadam a caena cum aliquot praecipuis amicorum per urbem deambulans, jacentem conſpicatus eſt medio foro hominem de plebe ebrium, altum ſtertentem. In eo viſum eſt experiri quale eſſet vitae noſtrae ludicrum, de quo illi interdum eſſent collocuti. Juſſit hominem deferri ad Palatium, et lecto Ducali collocari, nocturnum Ducis pileum capiti ejus imponi, exutaque ſordida veſte linea, aliam e tenuiſſimo ei lino indui. De mane ubi evigilavit, praeſto fuere pueri nobiles et cubicularii Ducis, qui non aliter quam ex Duce ipſo quaererent an luberet ſurgere, et quemadmodum vellet eo die veſtiri. Prolata ſunt Ducis veſtimenta. Mirari homo ubi ſe eo lo [...]i vidit. Indutus eſt, prodiit e cubiculo, adfuere proceres qui illum ad ſacellum deducerent. Interfuit ſacro, datus eſt illi oſculandus liber, et reliqua penitus ut Duci. A ſacro ad prandium inſtructiſſimum. A prandio cubicularius attulit chartas luſorias, pecuniae acervum. Luſit cum magnatibus, ſub ſerum [295] deambulavit in hortulis, venatus eſt in leporario, et cepit aves aliquot aucupio. Caena peracta eſt pari celebritate qua prandium. Accenſis luminibus inducta ſunt muſica inſtrumenta, puellae atque nobiles adoleſcentes ſaltarunt, exhibitae ſunt fabulae, dehinc comeſſatio quae hilaritate atque invitationibus ad potandum producta eſt in multam noctem. Ille vero largiter ſe vino obruit praeſtantiſſimo; et poſtquam collapſus in ſomnum altiſſimum, juſſit eum Dux veſtimentis prioribus indui, atque in eum locum reportari, quo prius fuerat repertus: ibi tranſegit noctem totam dormiens. Poſtridie experrectus caepit ſecum de vita illa Ducali cogitare, incertum habens fuiſſetne res vera, an viſum quod animo eſſet per quietem obſervatum. Tandem collatis conjectu [...]is omnibus atque argumentis, ſtatuit ſomnium fuiſſe, et ut tale uxori liberis ac viris narravit. Quid intereſt inter diem illius et noſtros aliquot annos? Nihil penitus, niſi quod hoc eſt paulo diuturnius ſomnium, ac ſi quis unam duntaxat horam, alter vero decem ſomniaſſet g."’

To an irreſiſtible digreſſion, into which the magic of Shakeſpeare's name has inſenſibly ſeduced us, I hope to be pardo [...]d for adding another narrative of this frolic, from the ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY by Democritus junior, or [...] Burton, a very learned and ingenious writer of the reign of king James the firſt. ‘"When as by reaſon of unſeaſonable weather, he could neither hawke nor hunt, and was now tired with ca [...]ds and dice, and ſuch other domeſticall ſports, or to ſee ladies dance with ſome of his courtiers, he would in the evening walke diſguiſed all about the towne. It ſo fortuned, as he was walking late one night, he found a country fellow dead drunke, ſnorting on a bulke: hee cauſed his followers to bring him to his palace, and then ſtripping him of his old clothes, and attyring him in the court-faſhion, when he wakened, he and they were all ready to attend upon his Excellency [296] and perſuaded him he was ſome great Duke. The poore fellow admiring how he came there, was ſerved in ſtate all day long: after ſupper he ſaw them dance, heard muſicke, and all the reſt of thoſe court-like pleaſures. But late at night, when he was well tipled, and againe faſte aſleepe, they put on his old robes, and ſo conveyed him to the place where they firſt found him. Now the fellowe had not made there ſo good ſport the day before, as he did now when he returned to himſelfe; all the jeſt was, to ſee how he looked upon it. In concluſion, after ſome little admiration, the poore man told his friends he had ſeene a viſion, conſtantly believed it, would not otherwiſe be perſuaded, and ſo the joke ended h."’ If this is a true ſtory, it is a curious ſpecimen of the winter-diverſions of a very polite court of France in the middle of the fifteenth century. The merit of the contrivance, however, and comic effect of this practical joke, will atone in ſome meaſure for many indelicate circumſtances with which it muſt have neceſſarily been attended. I preſume it firſt appeared in Vives's Epiſtle. I have ſeen the ſtory of a tinker diſguiſed like a lord in recent collections of humorous tales, probably tranſmitted from Edwards's ſtory-book, which I wiſh I had examined more carefully.

I have aſſigned Edwards to queen Mary's reign, as his reputation in the character of general poetry ſeems to have been then at its height. I have mentioned his ſonnets addreſſed to the court-beauties of that reign, and of the beginning of the reign of queen Eliſabeth i.

[297] If I ſhould be thought to have been diſproportionately prolix in ſpeaking of Edwards, I would be underſtood to have partly intended a tribute of reſpect to the memory of a poet, who is one of the earlieſt of our dramatic writers after the reformation of the Britiſh ſtage.

SECT. XXXV.

[298]

ABOUT the ſame time flouriſhed Thomas Tuſſer, one of our earlieſt didactic poets, in a ſcience of the higheſt utility, and which produced one of the moſt beautiful poems of antiquity. The viciſſitudes of this man's life have uncommon variety and novelty for the life of an author, and his hiſtory conveys ſome curious traces of the times as well as of himſelf. He ſeems to have been alike the ſport of fortune, and a dupe to his own diſcontented diſpoſition and his perpetual propenſity to change of ſituation.

He was born of an antient family, about the year 1523, at Rivenhall in Eſſex; and was placed as a choriſter, or ſingingboy, in the collegiate chapel of the caſtle of Wallingford in Berkſhire a. Having a fine voice, he was impreſſed from Wallingford college into the king's chapel. Soon afterwards he was admitted into the choir of ſaint Paul's cathedral in London; where he made great improvements under the inſtruction of John Redford the organiſt, a famous muſician. He was next ſent to Eton-ſchool, where, at one chaſtiſement, he received fifty-three ſtripes of the rod, from the ſevere but celebrated maſter Nicholas Udall b. His academical education was at Trinity-hall in Cambridge: but Hatcher affirms, that he was from Eton admitted a ſcholar of King's college in that univerſity, [299] under the year 1543 c. From the univerſity he was called up to court by his ſingular and generous patron William lord Paget, in whoſe family he appears to have been a retainer d. In this department he lived ten years: but being diſguſted with the vices, and wearied with the quarrels of the courtiers, he retired into the country, and embraced the profeſſion of a farmer, which he ſucceſſively practiſed at Ratwood in Suſſex, Ipſwich in Suffolk, Fairſtead in Eſſex, Norwich, and other places e. Here his patrons were ſir Richard Southwell f, and Saliſbury dean of Norwich. Under the latter he procured the place of a ſinging-man in Norwich cathedral. At length, having perhaps too much philoſophy and too little experience to ſucceed in the buſineſs of agriculture, he returned to London: but the plague drove him away from town, and he took ſhelter at Trinity college in Cambridge. Without a tincture of careleſs imprudence, or vicious extragance, this deſultory character ſeems to have thrived in no vocation. Fuller ſays, that his ſtone, which gathered no moſs, was the ſtone of Siſyphus. His plough and his poetry were alike unprofitable. He was by turns a fiddler and a farmer, a graſier and a poet with equal ſucceſs. He died very aged at London in 1580, and was buried in ſaint Mildred's church in the Poultry g.

Some of theſe circumſtances, with many others of leſs conſequence, are related by himſelf in one of his pieces, entitled the AUTHOR'S LIFE, as follows.

[300]
What robesh how bare, what colledge fare!
What bread how ſtale, what pennie ale!
Then WALLINGFORD, how wert thou abhord
Of ſillie boies!
Thence for my voice, I muſt, no choice,
Away of forſe, like poſting horſe;
For ſundrie men had placardes then
Such child to take.
The better breſt i, the leſſer reſt,
To ſerue the queer, now there now heer:
For time ſo ſpent, I may repent,
And ſorowe make.
But marke the chance, myſelf to vance,
By friendſhips lot, to PAULES I got;
So found I grace a certaine ſpace,
Still to remaine.
With REDFORD there, the like no where,
For cunning ſuch, and vertue much,
By whom ſome part of muſicke art,
So did I gaine.
From PAULES I went, to EATON ſent,
To learne ſtraighte waies the Latin phraies,
Where fiftie three ſtripes giuen to me
At once I had:
The fault but ſmall, or none at all,
[301] It came to pas, thus beat I was:
See, Udall, ſee, the mercie of thee
To me, poore lad!
To LONDON hence, to CAMBRIDGE thence,
With thankes to thee, O TRINITE,
That to thy HALL, ſo paſſinge all,
I got at laſt.
There ioy I felt, there trim I dwelt, &c.

At length he married a wife by the name of Moone, from whom, for an obvious reaſon, he expected great inconſtancy, but was happily diſappointed.

Through Uenus' toies, in hope of ioies,
I chanced ſoone to finde a Moone,
Of cheerfull hew:
Which well and fine, methought, did ſhine,
And neuer change, a thing moſt ſtrange,
Yet kept in ſight, her courſe aright,
And compas trew, &c k.

Before I proceed, I muſt ſay a few words concerning the very remarkable practice implied in theſe ſtanzas, of ſeizing boys by a warrant for the ſervice of the king's chapel. Strype has printed an abſtract of an inſtrument, by which it appears, that emiſſaries were diſpatched into various parts of England with full powers to take boys from any choir for the uſe of the chapel of king Edward the ſixth. Under the year 1550, ſays Strype, there was a grant of a commiſſion ‘"to Philip Van Wilder gentleman of the Privy Chamber, in anie churches or chappells within England to take to the king's uſe, ſuch and as many [302] ſinging children and choriſters, as he or his deputy ſhall think good l."’ And again, in the following year, the maſter of the king's chapel, that is, the maſter of the king's ſinging-boys, has licence ‘"to take up from time to time as many children [boys] to ſerve in the king's chapel as he ſhall think fit m."’ Under the year 1454, there is a commiſſion of the ſame ſort from king Henry the ſixth, De miniſtrallis propter ſolatium regis providendis, for procuring minſtrels, even by force, for the ſolace or entertainment of the king: and it is required, that the minſtrels ſo procured, ſhould be not only ſkilled in arte minſtrallatus, in the art of minſtrelſy, but membris naturalibus elegantes, handſome and elegantly ſhaped n. As the word Minſtrel is of an extenſive ſignification, and is applied as a general term to every character of that ſpecies of men whoſe buſineſs it was to entertain, either with oral recitation, muſic, geſticulation, and ſinging, or with a mixture of all theſe arts united, it is certainly difficult to determine, whether ſingers only, more particularly ſingers for the royal chapel, were here intended. The laſt clauſe may perhaps more immediately ſeem to point out tumblers or poſture-maſters o. But in the regiſter of the capitulary acts of York cathedral, it is ordered as an indiſpenſable qualification, that the choriſter who is annually to be elected the boy-biſhop, ſhould be competenter corpore formoſus. I will tranſcribe an article of the regiſter, relating to that ridiculous ceremony. ‘"Dec. 2. 1367. Joannes [303] de Quixly confirmatur Epiſcopus Puerorum, et Capitulum ordinavit, quod electio epiſcopi Puerorum in eccleſia Eboracenſi de cetero fieret de Eo, qui diutius et magis in dicta eccleſia laboraverit, et magis idoneus repertus fuerit, dum tamen competenter ſit corpore formoſus, et quod aliter facta electio non valebit p."’ It is certainly a matter of no conſequence, whether we underſtand theſe Minſtrels of Henry the ſixth to have been ſingers, pipers, players, or poſture-maſters. From the known character of that king, I ſhould rather ſuppoſe them performers for his chapel. In any ſenſe, this is an inſtance of the ſame oppreſſive and arbitrary privilege that was practiſed on our poet.

Our author Tuſſer wrote, during his reſidence at Ratwood in Suſſex, a work in rhym [...] entitled FIVE HUNDRED POINTES OF GOOD HU [...]BANDRIE, which was printed at London in 1557 q. But it was ſoon afterwards reprinted, with additions and improvements, under the following title, ‘"Five hundreth pointes of good Huſbandrie as well for the Champion or open countrie, as alſo for the Woodland or Severall, mixed in euerie moneth with Huſwiferie, ouer and beſides the booke of HUSWIF [...]RIE. Corrected, better ordered, and newlie augmented a fourth part more, with diuers other leſſons, as a diet for the farmer, of the properties of windes, planets, hops, herbs, bees, and approved remedies for the ſheepe and cattell, with [304] manie other matters both profitabell and not vnpleaſant for the Reader. Alſo a table of HUSBANDRIE at the beginning of this booke, and another of HUSWIFERIE at the end, &c. Newlie ſet foor [...]h by THOMAS TUSSER gentleman r."’

It muſt be acknowledged, that this old Engliſh georgic has much more of the ſimplicity of Heſiod, than of the elegance of Virgil: and a modern reader would ſuſpect, that many of its ſalutary maxims originally decorated the margins, and illuſtrated the calendars, of an antient almanac. It is without invocations, digreſſions, and deſcriptions: no pleaſing pictures of rural imagery are drawn from meadows covered with flocks and fields waving with corn, nor are Pan and Ceres once named. Yet it is valuable, as a genuine picture of the agriculture, the rural arts, and the domeſtic economy and cuſtoms, of our induſtrious anceſtors.

I muſt begin my examination of this work with the apology of Virgil on a ſimilar ſubject,

Poſſum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre,
Ni refugis, tenueſque piget cognoſcere curas s.

I firſt produce a ſpecimen of his directions for cultivating a hop-garden, which may, perhaps not unprofitably, be compared with the modern practice.

Whom fanſie perſwadeth, among other crops,
To haue for his ſpending, ſufficient of hops,
[305] Muſt willingly follow, of choiſes to chooſe,
Such leſſons approued, as ſkilful do vſe.
Ground grauellie, ſandie, and mixed with claie,
Is naughtie for hops, anie maner of waie;
Or if it be mingled with rubbiſh and ſtone,
For drineſſe and barrenneſſe let it alone.
Chooſe ſoile for the hop of the rotteneſt mould,
Well doonged and wrought, as a garden-plot ſhould;
Not far from the water, but not ouerflowne,
This leſſon well noted is meete to be knowne.
The ſun in the ſouthe, or elſe ſouthlie and weſt,
Is ioie to the hop, as a welcomed gueſt;
But wind in the north, or elſe northerlie eaſt,
To the hop, is as ill as a fraie in a feaſt.
Meet plot for a hop-yard, once found as is told,
Make thereof account, as of iewell of gold:
Now dig it and leaue it, the ſunne for to burne,
And afterward fence it, to ſerue for that turne.
The hop for his profit I thus doo exalt:
It ſtrengtheneth drinke, and it fauoreth malt;
And being well brewed, long kept it will laſt,
And drawing abide—if ye drawe not too faſt t.

[306] To this work belongs the well known old ſong, which begins,

The Ape, the Lion, the Fox, and the Aſſe,
Thus ſett [...] foorth man in a glaſſe, &c u.

For the farmer's general diet he aſſigns, in Lent, red herrings, and ſalt fiſh, which may remain in ſtore when Lent is paſt: at Eaſter, veal and bacon: at Martinmas, ſalted beef, when dainties are not to be had in the country: at Midſummer, when mackrel are no longer in ſeaſon, graſſe, or ſallads [...] freſh beef, and peaſe: at Michaelmas, freſh herrings, with fatted crones, or ſheep: at All Saints, pork and peaſe, ſprats and ſpurlings: at Chriſtmas, good cheere and plaie. The farmer's weekly fiſh-days, are Wedneſday, Friday, and Saturday; and he is charged to be careful in keeping embrings and faſt-days w.

Among the Huſbandlie Furniture are recited moſt of the inſtruments now in uſe, yet with ſeveral obſolete and unintelligible names of farming utenſils x. Horſes, I know not from what ſuperſtition, are to be annually blooded on ſaint Stephen's day y. Among the Chriſtmas huſbandlie fare, our author recommends good drinke, a good fire in the Hall, brawne, pudding and ſouſe, and muſtard withall, beef, mutton, and pork, ſhred, or minced, pies of the beſt, pig, veal, gooſe, capon, and turkey, cheeſe, apples, and nuts, with jolie carols. A Chriſtmas carol is then introduced to the tune of King Salomon z.

[307] In a compariſon between Champion and Severall, that is, open and incloſed land, the diſputes about incloſures appear to have been as violent as at preſent a. Among his Huſwifelie Admonitions, which are not particularly addreſſed to the farmer, he adviſes three diſhes at dinner, which being well dreſſed, will be ſufficient to pleaſe your friend, and will become your Hall b. The prudent houfewife is directed to make her own tallowcandles c. Servants of both ſexes are ordered to go to bed at ten in the ſummer, and nine in the winter: to riſe at five in the winter, and four in the ſummer d. The ploughman's feaſting days, or holidays, are PLOUGH-MONDAY, or the firſt Monday after Twelfth-day, when ploughing begins, in Leiceſterſhire. SHROF-TIDE, or SHROVE-TUESDAY, in Eſſex and Suffolk, when after ſhroving, or confeſſion, he is permitted to go threſh the fat hen, and ‘"if blindfold [you] can kill her then giue it thy men,"’ and to dine on fritters and pancakes e. SHEEP-SHEARING, which is celebrated in Northamptonſhire with wafers and cakes. The WAKE-DAY, or the vigil of the church ſaint, when everie wanton maie danſe at her will, as in Leiceſterſhire, and the oven is to be filled with flawnes. HARVEST-HOME, [308] when the harveſt-home gooſe is to be killed. SEED-CAKE, a feſtival ſo called at the end of wheat-ſowing in Eſſex and Suffolk, when the village is to be treated with ſeedcakes, paſties, and the frumentie-pot. But twice a week, according to antient right and cuſtom, the farmer is to give roaſtmeat, that is, on Sundays and on Thurſday-nights f. We have then a ſet of poſies or proverbial rhymes, to be written in various rooms of the houſe, ſuch as ‘"Huſbandlie poſies for the Hall, Poſies for the Parlour, Poſies for the Gheſts chamber, and Poſies for thine own bedchamber g."’ Botany appears to have been eminently cultivated, and illuſtrated with numerous treatiſes in Engliſh [...] throughout the latter part of the ſixteenth century h. In this work are large enumerations of plants, as well for the medical as the culinary garden.

Our author's general precepts have often an expreſſive brevity, and are ſometimes pointed with an epigrammatic turn and a ſmartneſs of alluſion. As thus,

Saue wing for a threſher, when gander doth die;
Saue fethers of all things, the ſofter to lie:
Much ſpice is a theefe, ſo is candle and fire;
Sweet ſauſe is as craftie as euer was frier i.

Again, under the leſſons of the houſewife.

Though cat, a good mouſer, doth dwell in a houſe,
Yet euer in dairie haue trap for a mouſe:
[309] Take heed how thou laieſt the banek for the rats,
For poiſoning thy ſervant, thyſelf, and thy brats l.

And in the following rule of the ſmaller economics.

Saue droppings and ſkimmings, however ye doo,
For medcine, for cattell, for cart, and for ſhoo m.

In theſe ſtanzas on haymaking, he riſes above his common manner.

Go muſter thy ſeruants, be captain thyſelfe,
Prouiding them weapons, and other like pelfe:
Get bottells and wallets, keepe fielde in the heat,
The feare is as much, as the danger is great.
With toſſing, and raking, and ſetting on cox,
Graſſe latelie in ſwathes, is haie for an oxe.
That done, go to cart it, and haue it awaie:
The battell is fought, ye haue gotten the daie n.

A great variety of verſe is uſed in this poem, which is thrown into numerous detached chapters o. The HUSBANDRIE is divided into the ſeveral months. Tuſſer, in reſpect of his antiquated diction, and his argument, may not improperly be ſtyled the Engliſh Varro.

[310] Such were the rude beginnings in the Engliſh language of didactic poetry, which, on a kindred ſubject, the preſent age has ſeen brought to perfection, by the happy combination of judicious precepts with the moſt elegant ornaments of language and imagery, in Mr. Maſon's ENGLISH GARDEN.

SECT. XXXVI.

[311]

AMONG Antony Wood's manuſcripts in the Bodleian library at Oxford, I find a poem of conſiderable length written by William Forreſt, chaplain to queen Mary a. It is entitled, ‘"A true and moſt notable Hiſtory of a right noble and famous Lady produced in Spayne entitled the ſecond GRESIELD, practiſed not long out of this time in much part tragedous as delectable both to hearers and readers."’ This is a panegyrical hiſtory in octave rhyme, of the life of queen Catharine, the firſt queen of king Henry the eighth. The poet compares Catharine to patient Griſild, celebrated by Petrarch and Chaucer, and Henry to earl Walter her huſband b. Catharine had certainly the patience and conjugal compliance of Griſild: but Henry's cruelty was not, like Walter's, only artificial and aſſumed. It is dedicated to queen Mary: and Wood's manuſcript, which was once very ſuperbly bound and emboſſed, and is elegantly written on vellum, evidently appears to have been the book preſented by the author to her majeſty. Much of its antient finery is tarniſhed: but on the braſs boſſes at each corner is ſtill diſcernible AVE, MARIA GRATIA PLENA. At the end [312] is this colophon. ‘"Here endeth the Hiſtorye of Gryſilde the ſecond, dulie meanyng Queene Catharine mother to our moſt dread ſoveraigne Lady queene Mary, fynyſched the xxv day of June, the yeare of owre Lorde 1558. By the ſymple and unlearned Syr Wylliam Forreſt preeiſte, propria manu."’ The poem, which conſiſts of twenty chapters, contains a zealous condemnation of Henry's divorce: and, I believe, preſerves ſome anecdotes, yet apparently miſrepreſented by the writer's religious and political bigotry, not extant in any of our printed hiſtories. Forreſt was a ſtudent at Oxford, at the time when this notable and knotty point of caſuiſtry proſtituted the learning of all the univerſities of Europe, to the gratification of the capricious amours of a libidinous and implacable tyrant. He has recorded many particulars and local incidents of what paſſed in Oxford during that tranſaction c. At the end of the poem is a metrical ORATION CONSOLATORY, in ſix leaves, to queen Mary.

In the Britiſh Muſeum is another of Forreſt's poems, written in two ſplendid folio volumes on vellum, called ‘"The tragedious troubles of the moſt chaſt and innocent Joſeph, ſon to the holy patriarch Jacob,"’ and dedicated to Thomas Howard duke of Norfolk d. In the ſame repoſitory is another of his pieces, never printed, dedicated to king Edward the ſixth, ‘"A notable warke called The PLEASANT POESIE OF PRINCELIE PRACTISE, compoſed of late by the ſimple and unlearned ſir William Forreſt prieſt, much part collected out of a booke entitled the GOVERNANCE OF NOBLEMEN, which booke the wyſe philoſopher Ariſtotle wrote to his diſciple Alexander [313] the Great e."’ The book here mentioned is Aegidius Romanus de REGIMINE PRINCIPIUM, which yet retained its reputation and popularity from the middle age f. I ought to have obſerved before, that Forreſt tranſlated into Engliſh metre fifty of David's Pſalms, in 1551, which are dedicated to the duke of Somerſet, the Protector g. Hence we are led to ſuſpect, that our author could accommodate his faith to the reigning powers. Many more of his manuſcript pieces both in proſe and verſe, all profeſſional and of the religious kind, were in the hands of Robert earl of Aileſbury h. Forreſt, who muſt have been living at Oxford, as appears from his poem on queen Catharine, ſo early as the year 1530, was in reception of an annual penſion of ſix pounds from Chriſt-church in that univerſity, in the year 1555 i. He was eminently ſkilled in muſic: and with much diligence and expence, he collected the works of the moſt excellent Engliſh compoſers, that were his cotemporaries. Theſe, being the choiceſt compoſitions, of John Taverner of Boſton, organiſt of Cardinal-college now Chriſt-church at Oxford, John Merbeck who firſt digeſted our preſent church-ſervice from the notes of the Roman miſſal, Fairfax, Tye, Sheppard, Norman, and others, falling after Forreſt's death into the poſſeſſion of doctor William Hether, founder of the muſical praxis and profeſſorſhip at [314] at Oxford in 1623, are now fortunately preſerved at Oxford, in the archives of the muſic-ſchool aſſigned to that inſtitution.

In the year 1554, a poem of two ſheets, in the ſpirit and ſtanza of Sternhold, was printed under the title, ‘"The VNGODLINESSE OF THE HETHNICKE GODDES, or The Downfall of Diana of the Ephe [...]ians, by J. D. an exile for the word, late a miniſter in London, MDLIV k."’ I preſume it was printed at Geneva, and imported into England with other books of the ſame tendency, and which were afterwards ſuppreſſed by a proclamation. The writer, whoſe arguments are as weak as his poetry, attempts to prove, that the cuſtomary mode of training youths in the Roman poets encouraged idolatry and pagan ſuperſtition. This was a topic much laboured by the puritans. Prynne, in that chapter of his HISTRIOMASTIX, where he expoſes ‘"the obſcenity, ribaldry, amorouſneſſe, HEATHENISHNESSE, and prophaneſſe, of moſt play-bookes, Arcadias, and fained hiſtories that are now ſo much in admiration,"’ acquaints us, that the infallible leaders of the puritan perſuaſion in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, among which are two biſhops, h [...]ve ſolemnly prohibited all chriſtians, ‘"to pen, to print, to ſell, to read, or ſchool-maſters and others to teach, any amorous wanton Play-bookes, Hiſtories, or Heathen authors, eſpecially Ovid's wanton Epiſtles and Bookes of love, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Martiall, the Comedies of Plautus, Terence, and other ſuch amorous bookes, ſavoring either of Pagan Gods, of Ethnicke rites and ceremonies, of ſcurrility, amorouſneſſe, and prophaneſſe l."’ But the claſſics were at length condemned by a much higher authority. In the year 1582, one Chriſtopher Ocland, a ſchoolmaſter of Cheltenham, publiſhed two poems in Latin hexameters, one entitled ANGLORUM PRAELIA, the other ELIZABETHA m. To theſe [315] poems, which are written in a low ſtyle of Latin verſification, is prefixed an edict from the lords of privy council, ſigned, among others, by Cowper biſhop of Lincoln, Lord Warwick, Lord Leiceſter, ſir Francis Knollys, ſir Chriſtopher Hatton, and ſir Francis Walſingham, and directed to the queen's eccleſiaſtical commiſſioners, containing the following paſſage. ‘"Foraſmuche as the ſubject or matter of this booke is ſuch, as is worthie to be read of all men, and eſpecially in common ſchooles, where diuers HEATHEN POETS are ordinarily read and taught, from which the youth of the realme doth rather receiue infection in manners, than aduancement in uertue: in place of ſome of which poets, we thinke this Booke fit to read and taught in the grammar ſchooles: we haue therefore thought, as wel for the encouraging the ſaid Ocklande and others that are learned, to beſtowe their trauell and ſtudies to ſo good purpoſes, as alſo for the benefit of the youth and the removing of ſuch laſciuious poets as are commonly read and taught in the ſaide grammar-ſchooles (the matter of this booke being heroicall and of good inſtruction) to praye and require you vpon the ſight hereof, as by our ſpecial order, to write your letters vnto al the Biſhops throughout this realme, requiring them to giue commaundement, that in al the gramer and free ſchooles within their ſeuerall dioceſſes, the ſaid Booke de ANGLORUM PRAELIIS, and [316] peaceable Gouernment of hir majeſtie, [the ELIZABETHA,] may be in place of ſome of the heathen poets receyued, and publiquely read and taught by the ſcholemaſters n."’ With ſuch abundant circumſpection and ſolemnity, did theſe profound and pious politicians, not ſuſpecting that they were acting in oppoſition to their own principles and intentions, exert their endeavours to bring back barbariſm, and to obſtruct the progreſs of truth and good ſenſe o.

Hollingſhead mentions Lucas Shepherd of Colcheſter, as an eminent poet of queen Mary's reign p. I do not pretend to any great talents for decyphering; but I preſume, that this is the ſame perſon who is called by Bale, from a moſt injudicious affectation of Latinity, Lucas OPILIO. Bale affirms, that his cotemporary, Opilio, was a very facetious poet: and means to pay him a ſtill higher compliment in pronouncing him not inferior even to Skelton for his rhimes q. It is unlucky, that Bale, by diſguiſing his name, ſhould have contributed to conceal this writer ſo long from the notice of poſterity, and even to counteract his own partiality. Lucas Shepherd, however, appears to have been nothing more than a petty pamphleteer in the cauſe of Calviniſm, and to have acquired the character of a poet from a metrical tranſlation of ſome of David's Pſalms about the year 1554. Bale's narrow prejudices are well known. The puritans never ſuſpected that they were greater bigots than the papiſts. I believe one or two of Shepherd's pieces in proſe are among biſhop Tanner's books at Oxford.

Bale alſo mentions metrical Engliſh verſions of ECCLESIASTES, of the hiſtories of ESTHER, SUSANNAH, JUDITH, and of the TESTAMENT OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS, printed and written about this period, by John Pullaine, one of the original ſtudents of Chriſt-church at Oxford, and at length archdeacon of Colcheſter. He was chaplain to the ducheſs of [317] Suffolk; and, either by choice or compulſion, imbibed ideas of reformation at Geneva q. I have ſeen the name of John Pullayne, affixed in manuſcript to a copy of an anonymous verſion of Solomon's Song, or ‘"Salomon's balads in metre,"’ abovementioned r, in which is this ſtanza.

She is ſo young in Chriſtes truth,
That yet ſhe hath no teates;
She wanteth breſtes, to feed her youth
With ſound and perfect meates s.

There were numerous verſions of Solomon's SONG before the year 1600: and perhaps no portion of ſcripture was ſelected with more propriety to be cloathed in verſe. Beſide thoſe I have mentioned, there is, ‘"The SONG OF SONGS, that is the moſt excellent Song which was Solomon's, tranſlated out of the Hebrue into Engliſhe meater with as little libertie in departing from the wordes as anie plaine tranſlation in proſe can vſe, and interpreted by a ſhort commentarie."’ For Richard Schilders, printer to the ſtates of Zealand, I ſuppoſe at Middleburgh, 1587, in duodecimo. Nor have I yet mentioned Solomon's Song, tranſlated from Engliſh proſe into Engliſh verſe by Robert Fletcher, a native of Warwickſhire, and a member of Merton college, printed at London, with notes, in 1586 t. The CANTICLES in Engliſh verſe are among the loſt poems of Spenſer u. Biſhop Hall, in his nervous and elegant ſatires [318] printed in 1597, meaning to ridicule and expoſe the ſpiritual poetry with which his age was overwhelmed, has an alluſion to a metrical Engliſh verſion of Solomon's Song w. Having mentioned SAINT PETER'S COMPLAINT, written by Robert Southwell, and printed in 1595, with ſome other religious effuſions of that author, he adds,

Yea, and the prophet of the heavenly lyre,
Great Solomon, ſinges in the Engliſh quire;
And is become a new-found Sonnetiſt,
Singing his love, the holie ſpouſe of Chriſt,
Like as ſhe were ſome light-ſkirts of the reſt x,
In mightieſt inkhorniſmes he can thither wreſt.
Ye Sion Muſes ſhall by my dear will,
For this your zeal and far-admired ſkill,
Be ſtraight tranſported from Jeruſalem,
Unto the holy houſe of Bethlehem.

It is not to any of the verſions of the CANTICLES which I have hitherto mentioned, that Hall here alludes. His cenſure is levelled at ‘"The Poem of Poems, or SION'S MUSE. Contaynyng the diuine Song of King Salomon deuided into eight [319] Eclogues. Bramo aſſai, poco ſpero, nulla chieggio. At London, printed by James Roberts for Mathew Lownes, and are to be ſolde at his ſhop in ſaint Dunſtones church-yarde, 1596 y."’ The author ſigns his dedication, which is addreſſed to the ſacred virgin, diuine miſtreſs Elizabeth Sydney, ſole daughter of the euer admired ſir Philip Sydney, with the initials J. M. Theſe initials, which are ſubſcribed to many pieces in ENGLAND'S HELICON, ſignify Jarvis, or Iarvis, Markham z.

Although the tranſlation of the ſcriptures into Engliſh rhyme was for the moſt part an exerciſe of the enlightened puritans, the recent publication of Sternhold's pſalms taught that mode of writing to many of the papiſts, after the ſudden revival of the maſs under queen Mary. One Richard Beearde, parſon of ſaint Mary-hill in London, celebrated the acceſſion of that queen in a godly pſalm printed in 1553 a. Much about the ſame time, George Marſhall wrote A compendious treatiſe in metre, declaring the firſt original of ſacrifice and of building churches and aultars, and of the firſt receiving the criſten faith here in England, dedicated to George Wharton eſquire, and printed at London in 1554 b.

In 1556, Miles Hoggard, a famous butt of the proteſtants, publiſhed ‘"a ſhorte treatiſe in meter vpon the CXXIX pſalme of David called De profundis. Compiled and ſet forth by Miles Huggard [...] ſervante to the quenes maieſtie c."’ Of the oppoſite or heretical perſuaſion was Peter Moone, who wrote a metrical tract on the abuſes of the maſs, printed by John Oſwen at [320] Ipſwich, about the firſt year of queen Mary d. Nearly the ſame period, a tranſlation of ECCLESIATES into rhyme by Oliver Starkey occurs in biſhop Tanner's library, if I recollect right, together with his Tranſlation of Salluſt's two hiſtories. By the way, there was another vernacular verſification of ECCLESIASTES by Henry Lok, or Lock, of whom more will be ſaid hereafter, printed in 1597. This book was alſo tranſlated into Latin hexameters by Drant, who will occur again in 1572. The ECCLESIASTES was verſified in Engliſh by Spenſer.

I have before mentioned the SCHOOL-HOUSE OF WOMEN, a ſatire againſt the fair ſex e. This was anſwered by Edward More of Hambledon in Buckinghamſhire, about the year 1557, before he was twenty years of age. It required no very powerful abilities either of genius or judgment to confute ſuch a groundleſs and malignant invective. More's book is entitled, The DEFENCE OF WOMEN, eſpecially Engliſh women, againſt a book intituled the SCHOOL-HOUSE OF WOMEN. It it dedicated to Maſter William Page, ſecretary to his neighbour and patron ſir Edward Hoby of Biſham-abbey, and was printed at London in 1560 f.

[321] With the catholic liturgy, all the pageantries of popery were reſtored to their antient ſplendour by queen Mary. Among others, the proceſſion of the boy-biſhop was too popular a mummery to b [...] forgotten. In the preceding reign of king Edward the ſixth, Hugh Rhodes, a gentleman or muſician of the royal chapel, publiſhed an Engliſh poem with the title, THE BOKE OF NURTUR for men ſeruants and children, or of the gouernaunc [...] of youth, with STANS PUER AD MENSAM g. In the following reign of Mary, the ſame poet printed a poem conſiſting of thirty-ſix octave ſtanzas, entitled, ‘"The SONG of the CHYLDBYSSHOP, as it was ſongeh before the queenes maieſtie in her priuie chamber at her manour of ſaynt James in the ffeeldes on ſaynt Nicholas day and Innocents day this yeare nowe preſent, by the chylde bysſhope of Poules churchei with his company. LONDINI, in aedibus Johannis Cawood typographi reginae, 1555. Cum privilegio, &c k."’ By admitting this ſpectacle into her preſence, it appears that her majeſty's bigotry condeſcended to give countenance to the moſt ridiculous and unmeaning ceremony of the Roman ritual. As to the ſong itſelf, it is a fulſome panegyric on the queen's devotion: in which ſhe is compared to Judith, Eſther, the queen of Sheba, and the [322] virgin Mary l. This ſhow of the boy-biſhop, not ſo much for its ſuperſtition as its levity and abſurdity, had been formally abrogated by king Henry the eighth, fourteen years before, in the year 1542, as appears by a ‘"Proclamation deviſed by the Kings Majeſty by the advys of his Highneſs Counſel the xxii day of Julie, 33 Hen. viij, commanding the ffeaſts of ſaint Luke, ſaint Mark, ſaint Marie Magdalene, Inuention of the Croſſe, and ſaint Laurence, which had been abrogated, ſhould be nowe againe celebrated and kept holie days,"’ of which the following is the concluding clauſe. ‘"And where as heretofore dyuers and many ſuperſtitious and chyldyſh obſeruances have be vſed, and yet to this day are obſerued and kept, in many and ſundry partes of this realm, as vpon ſaint Nicholas m, [323] ſaint Catharine n, ſaint Clement o, the holie Innocents, and and ſuch like p, Children [boys] be ſtrangelie decked and apparayled, to counterfeit Prieſtes, Bisſhopes, and Women, and ſo be ledde with Songes and Dances from houſe to houſe, bleſſing the people, and gathering of money; and Boyes do ſinge maſſe, and preache in the pulpitt, with ſuch other vnfittinge and inconuenient vſages, rather to the deryſyon than anie true glorie of God, or honor of his ſayntes: The Kynges maieſtie therefore, myndinge nothinge ſo moche as to aduance the true glory of God without vain ſuperſtition, wylleth and commandeth, that from henceforth all ſvch ſvperſtitious obſeruations be left and clerely extinguiſhed throwout all this his realme and dominions, for-as moche as the ſame doth reſemble rather the vnlawfull ſuperſtition of gentilitie, than the pvre and ſincere religion of Chriſte."’ With reſpect to the diſguiſings of theſe young fraternities, and their proceſſions from houſe to houſe with ſinging and dancing, ſpecified in this edict, [324] in a very mutilated fragment of a COMPUTUS, or annual Accompt-roll, of ſaint Swithin's cathedral Priory at Wincheſter, under the year 1441, a diſburſement is made to the ſinging-boys of the monaſtery, who, together with the choriſters of ſaint Eliſabeth's collegiate chapel near that city, were dreſſed up like girls, and exhibited their ſports before the abbeſs and nuns of ſaint Mary's abbey at Wincheſter, in the public refectory of that convent, on Innocent's day q. ‘"Pro Pueris Eleemoſynariae una cum Pueris Capellae ſanctae Elizabethae, ornatis more puellarum, et ſaltantibus, cantantibus, et ludentibus, coram domina Abbatiſſa et monialibus Abbathiae beatae Mariae virginis, in aula ibidem in die ſanctorum Innocentium r."’ And again, in a fragment of an Accompt of the Celerar of Hyde Abbey at Wincheſter, under the year 1490. ‘"In larvis et aliis indumentis Puerorum viſentium Dominum apud Wulſey, et Conſtabularium Caſtri Winton, in apparatu ſuo, necnon ſubintrantium omnia monaſteria civitatis Winton, in ffeſto ſancti Nicholai s."’ That is, ‘"In furniſhing maſks and dreſſes for the boys of the convent, when they viſited the biſhop at [325] Wulveſey-palace, the conſtable of Wincheſter-caſtle, and all the monaſteries of the city of Wincheſter, on the feſtival of ſaint Nicholas."’ As to the divine ſervice being performed by children on theſe feaſts, it was not only celebrated by boys, but there is an injunction given to the Benedictine nunnery of Godſtowe in Oxfordſhire, by archbiſhop Peckham, in the year 1278, that on Innocent's day, the public prayers ſhould not any more be ſaid in the church of that monaſtery PER PARVULAS, that is, by little girls t.

The ground-work of this religious mockery of the boy-biſhop, which is evidently founded on modes of barbarous life, ma [...] perhaps be traced backward at leaſt as far as the year 867 u. At the Conſtantinopolitan ſynod under that year, at which were preſent three hundred and ſeventy-three biſhops, it was found to be a ſolemn cuſtom in the courts of princes, on certain ſtated days, to dreſs ſome layman in the epiſcopal apparel, who ſhould exactly perſonate a biſhop both in his tonſure and ornaments: as alſo to create a burleſque patriarch, who might make ſport for the company w. This ſcandal to the clergy was anathematiſed. But eccleſiaſtical ſynods and cenſures have often proved too weak to ſuppreſs popular ſpectacles, which take deep root in the public manners, and are only concealed for a while, to ſpring up afreſh with new vigour.

After the form of a legitimate ſtage had appeared in England, MYSTERIES and MIRACLES were alſo revived by queen Mary, as an appendage of the papiſtic worſhip.

—En, iterum crudelia retro
Fata vocant x!—

[326] In the year 1556, a goodly ſtage-play of the PASSION OF CHRIST was preſented at the Grey friers in London, on CorpusChri [...]ti day, before the lord mayor, the privy-council, and many great eſtates of the realm y. Strype alſo mentions, under the year 1557, a ſtage-play at the Grey-friers, of the Paſſion of Chriſt, on the day that war was proclaimed in London againſt France, and in honour of that occaſion z. On ſaint Olave's day in the ſame year, the holiday of the church in Silver-ſtreet which is dedicated to that ſaint, was kept with much ſolemnity. At eight of the clock at night, began a ſtage-play of goodly matter, being the miraculous hiſtory of the life of that ſaint a, which continued four hours, and was concluded with many re [...]gious ſongs b.

Many curious circumſtances of the nature of theſe miracleplays, appear in a roll of the church-wardens of Baſſingborne in Cambridgeſhire, which is an accompt of the expences and receptions for acting the play of SAINT GEORGE at Baſſingborne, on the feaſt of ſaint Margaret in the year 1511. They collected upwards of four pounds in twenty-ſeven neighbouring pariſhes for furniſhing the play. They diſburſed about two pounds in the repreſentation. Theſe diſburſements are to four minſtrels, or waits, of Cambridge for three days, v, s. vj, d. To the players, in bread and ale, iij, s. ij, d. To the garnementman for garnements, and propyrts c, that is, for dreſſes, decorations, [327] and implements, and for play-books, xx, s. To John Hobard brotherhoode preeſte, that is, a prieſt of the guild in the church, for the play-book, ij, s. viij d. For the crofte, or field in which the play was exhibited, j, s. For propyrte-making, or furniture, j, s. iv, d. ‘"For fiſh and bread, and to ſetting up the ſtages, iv, d."’ For painting three fanchoms and four tormentors, words which I do not underſtand, but perhaps phantoms and devils ... The reſt was expended for a feaſt on the occaſion, in which are recited, ‘"Four chicken for the gentilmen, iv, d."’ It appears from the manuſcript of the Coventry plays, that a temporary ſcaffold only, was erected for theſe performances. And Chaucer ſays, of Abſolon a pariſh-clerk, and an actor of king Herod's character in theſe dramas, in the MILLER'S TALE,

And for to ſhew his lightneſſe and maiſtry
He playith Herawdes on a SCAFFALD HIE d.

Scenical decorations and machinery which employed the genius and invention of Inigo Jones, in the reigns of the firſt James and Charles, ſeem to have migrated from the ma [...]ques at court to the public theatre. In the inſtrument here cited, the prieſt who wrote the play, and received only two ſhillings and eight pence for his labour, ſeems to have been worſe paid in proportion than any of the other perſons concerned. The learned Oporinus [...] [328] in 1547, publiſhed in two volumes a collection of religious interludes, which abounded in Germany. They are in Latin, and not taken from legends but the Bible.

The puritans were highly offended at theſe religious plays now revived e. But they were hardly leſs averſe to the theatrical repreſentation of the chriſtian than of the gentile ſtory. Yet for different reaſons. To hate a theatre was a part of their creed, and therefore plays were an improper vehicle of religion. The heathen fables they judged to be dangerous, as too nearly reſembling the ſuperſtitions of popery.

SECT. XXXVII.

[329]

IT appears, however, that the cultivation of an Engliſh ſtyle began to be now regarded. At the general reſtoration of knowledge and taſte, it was a great impediment to the progreſs of our language, that all the learned and ingenious, aiming at the character of erudition, wrote in Latin. Engliſh books were written only by the ſuperficial and illiterate, at a time when judgment and genius ſhould have been exerted in the nice and critical taſk of poliſhing a rude ſpeech. Long after the invention of typography, our vernacular ſtyle, inſtead of being ſtrengthened and refined by numerous compoſitions, was only corrupted with new barbariſms and affectations, for want of able and judicious writers in Engliſh. Unleſs we except ſir Thomas More, whoſe DIALOGUE ON TRIBULATION, and HISTORY OF RICHARD THE THIRD, were eſteemed ſtandards of ſtyle ſo low as the reign of James the firſt, Roger Aſcham was perhaps the firſt of our ſcholars who ventured to break the ſhackles of Latinity, by publiſhing his TOXOPHILUS in Engliſh; chiefly with a view of giving a pure and correct model of Engliſh compoſition, or rather of ſhewing how a ſubject might be treated with grace and propriety in En [...]liſh as well as in Latin. His own vindication of his conduct in attempting this great innovation is too ſenſible to be omitted, and reflects light on the revolutions of our poetry. ‘"As for the Lattine or Greeke tongue, euerye thinge is ſo excellentlye done in Them, that none can do better. In the Engliſhe tongue contrary, euery thing in a maner ſo meanlye, both for the matter and handelinge, tha [...] no man can do worſe. For therein the learned for the moſt [330] part haue bene alwayes moſt redye to write. And they which had leaſt hope in Lattine haue bene moſt bould in Engliſhe: when ſurelye euerye man that is moſt ready to talke, is not moſt able to write. He that will write well in any tongue, muſt folow this counſell of Ariſtotle; to ſpeake as the common people do, to thinke as wiſe men do. And ſo ſhoulde euerye man vnderſtand him, and the iudgement of wiſe men alowe him. Manye Engliſhe writers haue not done ſo; but vſinge ſtraunge wordes, as Lattine, French, and Italian, do make all thinges darke and harde. Ones I communed with a man, which reaſoned the Engliſhe tongue to be enriched and encreaſed thereby, ſayinge, Who will no [...] prayſe that feaſt where a man ſhall drincke at a dinner both wyne, ale, and beere? Truly, quoth I, they be al good, euery one taken by himſelfe alone; but if you put Malmeſye and ſacke, redde wyne and white, ale and beere, and al in one pot, you ſhall make a drinke neither eaſye to be knowen, nor yet holſome for the bodye. Cicero in folowing Iſocrates, Plato, and Demoſthenes, encreaſed the Lattine tongue after another ſort. This way, becauſe diuers men that write do not know, they can neyther folow it becauſe of their ignoraunce, nor yet will prayſe it for uery arrogancy: two faultes ſeldome the one out of the others companye. Engliſhe writers by diuerſitie of tyme haue taken diuers matters in hand. In our fathers tim [...] nothing was red, but bookes of fayned cheualrie, wherein a man by readinge ſhould be led to none other ende but only to manſlaughter and baudrye. If anye man ſuppoſe they were good enough to paſſe the time withall, he is deceiued. For ſurely vaine wordes do worke no ſmal thinge in vaine, ignorant, and yong mindes, ſpecially if they be geuen any thing thervnto of their owne nature. Theſe bookes, as I haue heard ſay, were made the moſt part in abbayes and monaſteries, a very likely and fit fruite of ſuch an ydle and blind [331] kind of liuing a. In our time now, whan euery man is geuen to know much rather than liue wel, very many do write, but after ſuch a faſhion as very many do ſhoote. Some ſhooters take in hande ſtronger bowes than they be able to maintaine. This thinge maketh them ſometime to ouerſhoote the marke, ſometime to ſhoote far wyde and perchance hurt ſome that loke on. Other, that neuer learned to ſhoote, nor yet knoweth good ſhaft nor bowe, will be as buſie as the beſt b.’

Aſcham's example was followed by other learned men. But the chief was Thomas Wilſon, who publiſhed a ſyſtem of LOGIC and RHETORIC both in Engliſh. Of his LOGIC I have already ſpoken. I have at preſent only to ſpeak of the latter, which is not only written in Engliſh, but with a view of giving rules for compoſing in the Engliſh language. It appeared in 1553, the firſt year of queen Mary, and is entitled, THE ARTE OF RHETORIKE for the vſe of all ſuche as are ſtudious of Eloquence, ſette forthe in Engliſhe by THOMAS WILSON c. Leonarde Cox, a ſchoolmaſter, patroniſed by Farringdon the laſt abbot of Reading, had publiſhed in 1530, as I have obſerved, an Engliſh tract on rhetoric, which is nothing more than a technical and elementary man [...]al. Wilſon's treatiſe is more liberal, and diſcurſive; illuſtrating the arts of eloquence by example, and examining and aſcertaining the beauties of compoſition with the ſpeculative ſkill and ſagacity of a critic. It may therefore be juſtly conſidered as the firſt book or ſyſtem of criticiſm in our language. A few extracts [334] from ſo curious a performance need no apology; which will alſo ſerve to throw light on the preſent period, and indeed on our general ſubject, by diſplaying the ſtate of critical knowledge, and the ideas of writing, which now prevailed.

I muſt premiſe, that Wilſon, one of the moſt accompliſhed ſcholars of his times, was originally a fellow of King's College d, where he was tutor to the two celebrated youths Henry and Charles Brandon dukes of Suffolk. Being a doctor of laws, he was afterwards one of the ordinary maſters of requeſts, maſter of ſaint Katharine's hoſpital near the Tower, a frequent embaſſador from queen Eliſabeth to Mary queen of Scots, and into the Low countries, a ſecretary of ſtate and a privy counſellor, and at length, in 1579, dean of Durham. He died in 1581. His remarkable diligence and diſpatch in negotiation is ſaid to have reſulted from an uncommon ſtrength of memory. It is another proof of his attention to the advancement of our Engliſh ſtyle, that he tranſlated ſeven orations of Demoſthenes, which, in 1570, he dedicated to ſir William Cecill e.

Under that chapter of his third book of RHETORIC which treats of the four parts belonging to elocution, Plainneſſe, Aptneſſe, Compoſicio [...], Exornacion, Wilſon has theſe obſervations on ſimplicity of ſtyle, which are immediately directed to thoſe who write in the Engliſh tongue. ‘"Among other leſſons this ſhould firſt be learned, that we neuer affect any ſtraunge ynkehorne termes, but to ſpeake as is commonly receiued: neither ſeking to be ouer fine, nor yet liuing ouer careleſſe, vſing our ſpeache as moſte men do, and ordering our wittes as the feweſt haue doen. Some ſeke ſo farre for outlandiſhe Engliſhe, that they forget altogether their mothers language. And I dare [335] ſweare this, if ſome of their mothers were aliue, thei were not able to tel what thei ſaie: and yet theſe fine Engliſhe clerkes wil ſaie thei ſpeake in their mother tongue, if a man ſhould charge them for counterfeityng the kinges Engliſhe. Some farre iournied gentlemen at their returne home, like as thei loue to go in forrein apparel, ſo thei will pouder their talke with ouerſea language. He that cometh lately out of Fraunce will talke Frenche Engliſhe, and neuer bluſhe at the matter. Another choppes in with Engliſhe Italianated, and applieth the Italian phraiſe to our Engliſhe ſpeakyng: the whiche is, as if an Oration that profeſſeth to vtter his mynde in plaine Latine, would needes ſpeake Poetrie, and farre fetched colours of ſtraunge antiquitie. The lawier will ſtore his ſtomacke with the prating of pedlers. The auditour, in makyng his accompt and reckenyng, cometh in with ſiſe ſould, and cater denere, for vj. s. and iiij. d. The fine courtier will talke nothyng but CHAUCER. The miſticall wiſemen, and poeticall clerkes, will ſpeake nothyng but quainte prouerbes, and blinde allegories; delightyng muche in their owne darkneſſe, eſpecially when none can tel what thei do ſaie. The vnlearned or foliſhe phantaſticall, that ſmelles but of learnyng (ſvche fellowes as haue ſeene learned men in their daies) will ſo Latine their tongues, that the ſimple cannot but wonder at their talke, and thinke ſurely thei ſpeake by ſome reuelacion. I know Them, that thinke RHETORIKE to ſtande wholie vpon darke wordes; and he that can catche an ynkehorne terme by the taile, hym thei compt to be a fine Engliſhman and a good rhetorician f. And the rather to ſet out this folie, [336] I will adde here ſvche a letter as William Sommerg himſelf, could not make a better for that purpoſe,—deuiſed by a Lincolne [...]hire [337] man for a voide benefice h."’ This point he illuſtrates with other familiar and pleaſant inſtances i.

In enforcing the application and explaining the nature of fables, for the purpoſe of amplification, he gives a general idea of the Iliad and Odyſſey. ‘"The ſaying of poetes, and al their fables, are not to be forgotten. For by them we maie talke at large, and win men by perſwaſion, if we declare before hand, that theſe tales wer not fained of ſuche wiſemen without cauſe, neither yet continued vntill this time, and kept in memorie without good conſideracion, and therevpon declare the true meanyng of all ſvche writynge. For vndoubtedly, there is no one Tale among all the poetes, but vnder the ſame is comprehended ſomethyng that perteyneth either to the amendement of maners, to the knowledge of truthe, to the ſettyng forth natures worke, or els to the vnderſtanding of ſome notable thing doen. For what other is the painful trauaile of Vliſſes, deſcribed ſo largely by Homere, but a liuely picture of mans miſerie in this life? And as Plutarche ſaith, and likewiſe Baſilius Magnus, in the ILIADES are deſcribed ſtrength and valiauntneſſe of bodie: in ODISSEA, is ſet forthe a liuely paterne of the mynde. The Poetes are Wiſemen, and wisſhed in harte the redreſſe of thinges, the which when for feare thei durſt not openly rebuke, they did in colours paint them out, and tolde men by ſhadowes what thei ſhold do in good ſothe: or els, becauſe the wicked were vnworthy to heare the trueth, thei ſpake ſo [338] that none might vnderſtande but thoſe vnto whom thei pleaſe to vtter their meanyng, and knewe them to be men of honeſt conuerſacion i."’

Wilſon thus recommends the force of circumſtantial deſcription, or, what he calls, An euident or plaine ſetting forthe of a thing as though it were preſently doen. ‘"An example. If our enemies ſhal inuade and by treaſon win the victory, we ſhal all die euery mothers ſonne of vs, and our citee ſhal be deſtroied, ſticke and ſtone: I ſe our children made ſlaues, our daughters rauiſhed, our wiues carried away, the father forced to kill his owne ſonne, the mother her daughter, the ſonne his father, the ſucking childe ſlain in his mothers boſom, one ſtandyng to the knees in anothers blood, churches ſpoiled, houſes plucte down, and al ſet on fire round about vs, euery one cvrſing the daie of their birth, children criyng, women wailing, &c. Thus, where I might haue ſaid, We ſhal al be deſtroied, and ſay [no] more, I haue by deſcription ſet the euill forthe at large k."’ It muſt be owned that this picture of a ſacked city is literally tranſlated from Quintilian. But it is a proof, that we were now beginning to make the beauties of the antients our own.

On the neceſſity of a due preſervation of character he has the following precepts, which ſeem to be directed to the writers of Hiſtorical Plays. ‘"In deſcribyng of perſons, there ought alwaies a comelineſſe to be vſed, ſo that nothing be ſpoken which may be thought is not in them. As if one ſhold deſcribe Henry the ſixt, He might call hym jentle, milde of nature, ledde by perſwacion, and ready to forgiue, careleſſe for wealth, ſuſpecting none, mercifull to al, fearful in aduerſitie, and without forecaſt to eſpie his misfortvne. Againe, for Richarde the thirde, I might brynge him in cruell of harte, ambicious by nature, enuious of minde, a deepe diſſembler, a cloſe man for weightie matters, hardie to reuenge and fearefull [339] to loſe hys high eſtate, truſtie to none, liberall for a purpoſe, caſtyng ſtill the worſte, and hoping euer for the beſt l. By this figurem alſo, we imagine a talke for ſome one to ſpeake, and accordyng to his perſone we frame the oration. As if one ſhoulde bryng in noble Henry the eight of famous memory, to enuegh againſt rebelles, thus he might order his oration. What if Henry the eight were aliue, and ſawe ſuche rebellion in the realme, would he not ſaie thus and thus? Yea methinkes I heare hym ſpeake euen nowe. And ſo ſette forthe ſuche wordes as we would haue hym to ſ [...]y n."’ Shakeſpeare himſelf has not delineated the characters of theſe Engliſh monarchs with more truth. And the firſt writers of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, who imagine a talke for ſome one to ſpeake, and according to his perſon frame the oration, appear to have availed themſelves of theſe directions, if not to have catched the notion of their whole plan from this remarkable paſſage.

He next ſhews the advantages of perſonification in enlivening a compoſition. ‘"Some times it is good to make God, the Countray, or ſome one Towne, to ſpeake; and looke what we would ſaie in our owne perſone, to frame the whole tale to them. Such varietie doeth much good to auoide tediouſneſſe. For he that ſpeaketh all in one ſorte, though he ſpeake thinges neuer ſo wittilie, ſhall ſone weary his hearers. Figures therefore were inuented, to auoide ſatietie, and cauſe delite: to refreſh with pleaſure and quicken with grace the dulneſſe of mans braine. Who will looke on a white wall an houre together where no workemanſhippe is at all? Or who will eate ſtill one kynde of meate and neuer deſire chaunge o?"’

[340] Prolix Narratives, whether jocoſe or ſerious, had not yet ceaſed to be the entertainment of polite companies: and rules for telling a tale with grace, now found a place in a book of general rhetoric p. In treating of pleaſaunt ſporte made rehearſyng of a whole matter, he ſays, ‘"Thei that can liuely tell pleaſaunt tales and mery dedes doen, and ſet them out as wel with geſture as with voice, leauing nothing behinde that maie ſerue for beautifying of their matter, are moſt mete for this purpoſe, [341] whereof aſſuredly ther are but fewe. And whatſoeuer he is, that can aptlie tell his tale, and with countenaunce, voice, and geſture, ſo temper his reporte, that the hearers may ſtill take delite, hym coompte I a man worthie to be highlie eſtemed. For vndoubtedly no man can doe any ſuch thing excepte that thei haue a greate mother witte, and by experience confirmed ſuche their comelineſſe, whervnto by nature thei were moſt apte. Manie a man readeth hiſtories, heareth fables, ſeeth worthie actes doen, euen in this our age; but few can ſet them out accordinglie, and tell them liuelie, as the matter ſelfe requireth to be tolde. The kyndes of delityng in this ſort are diuers: whereof I will ſet forth many.—Sporte moued by tellyng of olde tales.—If there be any olde tale or ſtraunge hiſtorie, well and wittelie applied to ſome man liuyng, all menne loue to heare it of life. As if one were called Arthure, ſome good felowe that were wel acquainted with KYNG ARTHURES BOOKE and the Knightes of his Rounde Table, would want no matter to make good ſport, and for a nede would dubbe him knight of the Rounde Table, or els proue hym to be one of his kynne, or elſe (which were muche) proue him to be Arthur himſelf. And ſo likewiſe of other names, merie panionsq would make madde paſtyme. Oftentymes the deformitie of a mannes body giueth matter enough to be right merie, or elles a picture in ſhape like another manne will make some to laugh right hartelye r, &c."’ This is no unpleaſing image of the arts and accompliſhments, which ſeaſoned the mirth, and enlivened the converſations of our forefathers. Their wit ſeems to have chiefly conſiſted in mimicry s.

[342] He thus deſcribes the literary and ornamental qualifications of a young nobleman which were then in faſhion, and which he exemplifies in the characters of his lamented pupils, Henry duke of Suffolk and lord Charles Brandon his brother t. ‘"I maie commende hym for his learnyng, for his ſkill in the French or in the Italian, for his knowledge in coſmographie, for his ſkill in the lawes, in the hiſtories of al countrees, and for his gift of enditing. Againe, I maie commende him for playing at weapons, for running vpon a great horſe, for chargyng his ſtaffe at the tilt, for vauting, for plaiyng upon inſtrumentes, yea and for painting, or drawing of a plat, as in olde time noble princes muche delited therin u."’ And again, ‘"Suche a man is an excellent fellowe, ſaithe one, he can ſpeake the tongues well, he plaies of inſtrumentes, fewe men better, he feigneth to the lvte marveilous ſweetlie w, he [...]ndites excellentlie: but for al this, the more is the pitee, he hath his faultes, he will be dronke once a daie, he loues women well, &c x."’

The following paſſage acquaints us, among other things, that many now ſtudied, and with the higheſt applauſe, to write elegantly in Engliſh as well as in Latin. ‘"When we haue learned vſuall and accvſtomable wordes to ſet forthe our meanynge, we ought to ioyne them together in apte order, that the eare maie delite in hearyng the harmonie. I knowe ſome Engliſhemen, that in this poinct haue ſuche a gift in the Engliſhe as fewe in Latin haue the like; and therefore delite the Wiſe and Learned ſo muche with their pleaſaunte compoſition, [343] that many reioyce when thei maie heare ſuche, and thinke muche learnyng is gotte when thei maie talke with them y."’ But he adds the faults which were ſometimes now to be found in Engliſh compoſition, among which he cenſures the exceſs of alliteration.—‘"Some will bee ſo ſhorte, and in ſuch wiſe curtall [344] their ſentences, that thei had neede to make a commentary immediatelie of their meanyng, or els the moſte that heare them ſhal be forced to kepe counſaile. Some wil ſpeake oracles, that a man can not tell, which waie to take them. Some will be ſo fine, and ſo poeticall withall, that to their ſeming there ſhall not ſtande one heare [hair] amiſſe, and yet euery bodie els ſhall think them meter [fitter] for a ladies chamber, than for an earneſt matter in any open aſſembly.—Some vſe overmuche repetition of one letter, as pitifull povertie prayeth for a penie, but pu [...]ed preſumpcion paſſeth not a poinct, pamperyng his panche with peſtilent pleaſure, procuryng his paſſeport to poſte it to hell pitte, there to be puniſhed with paines perpetuall."’ Others, he blames for the affectation of ending a word with a vowel and beginning the next with another. ‘"Some, he ſays, ende their ſentences al alike, makyng their talke [ſtyle] rather to appere rimed meter, than to ſeme plaine ſpeache.—I heard a preacherz delityng muche in this kinde of compoſicion, who vſed ſo often to ende his ſentence with woordes like vnto that which went before, that in my iudgemente, there was not a doſen ſentences in his whole ſermon but thei ended all in rime for the moſte parte. Some, not beſt diſpoſed, wiſhed the Preacher a Lute, that with his rimed ſermon he might vſe ſome pleaſaunte melodie, and ſo the people might take pleaſure diuers waies, and daunce if thei liſte."’ Some writers, he obſerves, diſturbed the natural arrangement of their words: others were copious when they ſhould be conciſe. The moſt frequent fault ſeems to have been, the rejection of common and proper phraſes, for thoſe that were more curious, refined, and unintelligible a.

[345] The Engliſh RHETORIC of Richard Sherry, ſchool-maſter of Magdalene college at Oxford, publiſhed in 1555 b, is a jejune and a very different performance from Wilſon's, and ſeems intended only as a manual for ſchool-boys. It is entitled, ‘"A treatiſe of the figures of grammar and rhetorike, profitable to all that be ſtudious of eloquence, and in eſpeciall for ſuch as in grammar ſchole [...] doe reade moſte eloquente poetes and oratours. Wherevnto is ioygned the Oration which Cicero made to Ceſar, geuing thankes vnto him for pardonyng and reſtoring again of that noble man Marcus Marcellus. Sette fourth by Richarde Sherrye Londonar, 1555 c."’ William Fullwood, in his Enemie of idleneſs, teaching the manner and ſtyle howe to endyte and write all ſorts of epiſtles and letters, ſet forth in Engliſh by William Fullwood merchant, publiſhed in 1571 d, written partly in proſe and partly in verſe, has left this notice. ‘"Whoſo will more circumſpectly and narrowly entreat of ſuch matters, let them read the retorike of maiſter doctour Wilſon, or of maiſter Richard Rainolde e."’ I have never ſeen Richard Rainolde's RHETORIC, nor am I ſure that it was ever printed. The [346] The author, Rainolde, was of Trinity college in Cambridge, and created doctor of medicine in 1567 f. He wrote alſo a Latin tract dedicated to the duke of Norfolk, on the condition of princes and noblemen g: and there is an old CRONICLE in quarto by one Richard Reynolds h. I truſt it will be deemed a pardonable anticipation, if I add here, for the ſake of connection, that Richard Mulcaſter, who from King's college in Cambridge was removed to a Studentſhip of Chriſt-church in Oxford about the year 1555, and ſoon afterwards, on account of his diſtinguiſhed accompliſhments in philology, was appointed the firſt maſter of Merchant-Taylor's ſchool in London i, publiſhed a book which contains many judicious criticiſms and obſervations on the Engliſh language, entitled, ‘"The firſt part of the ELEMENTARIE, which entreateth chefely of the right writing of the Engliſh tung, ſett forth by Richard Mulcaſter, Lond. 1582 k."’ And, as many of the precepts are delivered in metre, I take this opportunity of obſerving, that William Bullokar publiſhed a ‘"Bref grammar for Engliſh, Imprinted at [347] London by Edmund Bollifant, 1586 l."’ This little piece is alſo called, ‘"W. Bullokar's abbreuiation of his Grammar for Engliſh extracted out of his Grammar at larg for the ſpedi parcing of Engliſh ſpech, and the eazier coming to the knowledge of grammar for other langages m."’ It is in the black letter, but with many novelties in the type, and affectations of ſpelling. In the preface, which is in verſe, and contains an account of his life, he promiſes a dictionary of the Engliſh language, which, he adds, will make his third work n. His firſt work I apprehend to be ‘"A Treatiſe of Orthographie in Engliſhe by William Bullokar,"’ licenced to Henry Denham in 1580 o. Among Tanner's books is a copy of his bref grammar abovementioned, interpolated and corrected with the author's own hand, as it appears, for a new impreſſion. In one of theſe manuſcript inſertions, he calls this [...] ‘"the firſt grammar for Engliſhe that euer waz, except my grammar at large p."’

The French have vernacular critical and rhetorical ſyſtems at a much higher period. I believe one of their earlieſt is ‘"Le JARDIN de plaiſance et FLEUR de rhetorique, contenant pluſieurs beaux livres."’ It is in quarto, in the gothic type with wooden cuts, printed at Lyons by Olivier Arnoullet for Martin Boullon, and without date. But it was probably printed early in 1500 q. In one of its poems, LA PIPEE ou chaſſe de dieu d'amour, is cited the year 1491 r. Another edition, in the ſame letter, [348] but in octavo, appeared at Paris in 1547, Veuve de Jehan Tréperel et Jehan Jehannot. Beſide the Syſtem of Rhetoric, which is only introductory, and has the ſeparate title of L'ART DE RHETORIQUE, de ſes couleurs, figures et eſpeces s, it comprehends a miſcellaneous collection of Balades, rondeaux, chanſons, dictiés, comedies, and other entertaining little pieces t, chiefly on the ſubject of the ſentimental and ceremonious love which then prevailed. The whole, I am ſpeaking of the oldeſt edition, contains one hundred and ninety leaves. The RHETORIC is written in the ſhort French rhyme: and the tenth chapter conſiſts of rules for compoſing Moralities, Farces, Myſteries, and other ROMANS. That chapter is thus introduced, under the Latin rubric PROSECUTIO.

Expediez ſont neuf chapitres,
Il faut un dixiéme expoſer:
Et comme auſſi des derniers titers,
Qu'on doit a ſe propos poſer,
Et comme l'on doit compoſer
Moralités, Farces, Miſteres;
Et d'autres Rommans diſpoſer
Selon les diverſes matieres.

The Latin rubrics to each ſpecies are exceedingly curious. ‘"Decimum Capitulum pro forma compilandi MORALITATES.—Pro COMEDIS u.—Pro MISTERIIS compilandis."’ Receipts to make poems have generally been thought dull. But what ſhall we think of dull receipts for making dull poems? Gratian du Pont, a gentleman of Tholouſe, printed in 1539 the ‘"Art et Science de Rhetorique metri [...]iée w."’ It muſt be [349] remembered, that there had been an early eſtabliſhment of prizes in poetry at Tholouſe, and that the ſeven troubadours or rhetoricians at Tholouſe, were more famous in their time than the ſeven ſages of Greece x. But the ‘"Grand et vrai Art de [350] plein Rhetorique"’ in two books, written by Pierre Fabri, properly Le Fevre, an eccleſiaſtic of Rouen, for teaching elegance in proſe as well as rhyme, is dated ſtill higher. Goujet mentions a Gothic edition of this tract in 1521 y. It contains remarks on the verſification of myſteries and farces, and throws many lights on the old French writers.

But the French had even an ART OF POETRY ſo early as the year 1548. In that year Thomas Sibilet publiſhed his Art poetique at Paris, Veuve François Regnault z. This piece preſerves many valuable anecdotes of the old French poetry: and, among other particulars which develope the ſtate of the old French drama, has the following ſenſible ſtrictures. ‘"The French farce contains little or nothing of the Latin comedy. It has neither acts nor ſcenes, which would only ſerve to introduce a tedious prolixity: for the true ſubject of the French farce, or SOTTIE, is every ſort of foolery which has a tendency to provoke laughter.—The ſubject of the Greek and Latin comedy was totally different from every thing on the French ſtage. For it had more morality than drollery, and often as much truth as fiction. Our MORALITIES hold a place indifferently between tragedy and comedy: but our farces are [351] really what the Romans called mimes, or Priapées, the intended end and effect of which was exceſſive laughter, and on that account they admitted all kinds of licentiouſneſs, as our farces do at preſent. In the mean time, their pleaſantry does not derive much advantage from rhymes, however flowing, of eight ſyllables a."’ Sibilet's work is chiefly founded on Horace. His definitions are clear and juſt, and his precepts well explained. The moſt curious part of it is the enumeration of the poets who in his time were of moſt repute. Jacques Pelletier du Mans, a phyſician, a mathematician, a poet, and a voluminous writer on various ſubjects both in proſe and verſe, alſo publiſhed an ART POETIQUE at Lyons, in 1555 b. This critic had ſufficient penetration to perceive the falſe and corrupt taſte of his cotemporaries. ‘"Inſtead of the regular ode and ſonnet, our language is ſophiſticated by ballads, roundeaux, lays, and triolets. But with theſe we muſt reſt contented, till the farces which have ſo long infatuated our nation are converted into comedy, our martyr-plays into tragedy, and our romances into heroic poems c."’ And again, ‘"We have no pieces in our language written in the genuine comic form, except ſome affected and unnatural MORALITIES, and other plays of the ſame character, which do not deſerve the name of comedy. The drama would appear to advantage, did it but reſume its proper ſtate and antient dignity. We have, however, ſome tragedies in French learnedly tranſlated, among which is the HECUBA of Euripides by Lazare de Baïf, &c d."’ Of rhyme the ſame writer ſays, ‘"S'il n'etoit queſtion que de parler ornement, il ne faudroit ſinon écrire en proſe, ou s'il n'etoit queſtion que de rimer, il ne faudroit, ſinon rimer en farceur: mais en poeſie, il faut faire tous les deux, et BIEN DIRE, et [352] BIEN RIMER e."’ His chapters on IMITATION and TRANSLATION have much more philoſophy and reflection than are to be expected for his age, and contain obſervations which might edify modern critics f. Nor muſt I forget, that Pelletier alſo publiſhed a French tranſlation of Horace's ART OF POETRY at Paris in 1545 g. I preſume, that Joachim du Bellay's Deffenſe et Illuſtration de la LANGUE FRANÇOISE was publiſhed at no great diſtance from the year 1550. He has the ſame juſt notion of the drama. ‘"As to tragedies and comedies, if kings and ſtates would reſtore them in their antient glory, which has been uſurped by farces and MORALITIES, I am of opinion that you would lend your aſſiſtance; and if you wiſh to adorn our language, you know where to find models h."’

The Italian vernacular criticiſm began chiefly in commentaries and diſcourſes on the language and phraſeology of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccace. I believe one of the firſt of that kind is, ‘"Le tre Fontane di Nicolò Liburnio ſopra la grammatica, e l'eloquenza di Dante, del Petrarcha, e del Boccacio. In Venezia, per Gregorio Gregori, 1526 i."’ Numerous expoſitions, lectures, annotations, and diſcourſes of the ſame ſort, eſpecially on Dante's Inferno, and the Florentine dialect, appeared ſoon afterwards. Immediately after the publication of their reſpective poems, Arioſto, whoſe ORLANDO FURIOSO was ſtyled the nuova poeſia, and Taſſo, were illuſtrated or expounded by commentators more intricate than their text. One of the earlieſt of theſe is, ‘"Spoſizione de Simon Fornari da Reggio ſopra l'Orlando Furioſo di Lodovico Arioſto. In Firenze per Lorenzo Torrentino 1549 k."’ Perhaps the firſt criticiſm on what the Italians call the Volgar Lingua is by Pietro Bembo, ‘"Proſe di Pietro Bembo della volgar Lingua diviſe in tre libri. In [353] Firenze per Lorenzo Torrentino, 1549 l."’ But the firſt edition ſeems to have been in 1525. This ſubject was diſcuſſed in an endleſs ſucceſſion of Regole grammaticali, Oſſervazioni, Avvertimenti, and Ragionamenti. Here might alſo be mentioned, the annotations, although they are altogether explanatory, which often accompanied the early tranſlations of the Greek and Latin claſſics into Italian. But I reſign this labyrinth of reſearch to the ſuperior opportunities and abilities of the French and Italian antiquaries in their native literature. To have ſaid nothing on the ſubject might have been thought an omiſſion, and to have ſaid more, impertinent. I therefore return to our own poetical annals.

Our three great poets, Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, ſeem to have maintained their rank, and to have been in high reputation, during the period of which we are now treating. Splendid impreſſions of large works were at this time great undertakings. A ſumptuous edition of Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS was publiſhed by Berthelette in 1554. On the ſame ample plan, in 1555, Robert Braham printed with great accuracy, and a diligent inveſtigation of the antient copies, the firſt correct edition of Lydgate's TROYBOKE m. I have before incidentally remarked n, that Nicholas Briggam, a polite ſcholar, a ſtudent at Oxford and at the Inns of Court, and a writer of poetry, in the year 1555, depoſited the bones of Chaucer under a new tomb, erected at his own coſt, and inſcribed with a new epitaph, in the chapel of biſhop Blaſe in Weſtminſter abbey, which ſtill remains o. Wilſon, as we have juſt ſeen in a citation from his RHETORIC, records an anecdote, that the more accompliſhed and elegant courtiers were perpetually quoting Chaucer. Yet [354] this muſt be reſtricted to the courtiers of Edward the ſixth. And indeed there is a peculiar reaſon why Chaucer, excluſive of his real excellence, ſhould have been the favorite of a court which laid the foundations of the reformation of religion. It was, that his poems abounded with ſatyrical ſtrokes againſt the corruptions of the church, and the diſſolute manners of the monks. And undoubtedly Chaucer long before, a lively and popular writer, greatly aſſiſted the doctrines of his cotemporary Wickliffe, in opening the eyes of the people to the abſurdities of popery, and expoſing its impoſtures in a vein of humour and pleaſantry. Fox the martyrologiſt, a weak and a credulous compiler, perhaps goes too far in affirming, that Chaucer has undeniably proved the pope to be the antichriſt of the apocalypſe p.

Of the reign of queen Mary, we are accuſtomed to conceive every thing that is calamitous and diſguſting. But when we turn our eyes from its political evils to the objects which its literary hiſtory preſents, a fair and flouriſhing ſcene appears. In this proſpect, the mind feels a repoſe from contemplating the fates of thoſe venerable prelates, who ſuffered the moſt excruciating death for the purity and inflexibility of their faith; and whoſe unburied bodies, diſſipated in aſhes, and undiſtinguiſhed in the common maſs, have acquired a more glorious monument, than if they had been interred in magnificent ſhrines, which might have been viſited by pilgrims, loaded with ſuperſtitious gifts, and venerated with the pomp of miſtaken devotion.

SECT. XXXVIII.

[355]

THE firſt poem which preſents itſelf at the commencement of the reign of queen Eliſabeth, is the play of GORDOBUC, written by Thomas Sackville lord Buckhurſt, the original contriver of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES a. Thomas Norton, already mentioned as an aſſociate with Sternhold and Hopkins in the metrical verſion of David's Pſalms, is ſaid to have been his coadjutor b.

It is no part of my plan, accurately to [...]ark the progreſs of our drama, much leſs to examine the merit of particular plays. But as this piece is perhaps the firſt ſpecimen in our language of an heroic tale, written in blank verſe, divided into acts and ſcenes, and cloathed in all the formalities of a regular tragedy, [356] it ſeems juſtly to deſerve a more minute and a diſtinct diſcuſſion in this general view of our poetry.

It was firſt exhibited in the great Hall of the Inner Temple, by the ſtudents of that Society, as part of the entertainment of a grand Chriſtmas, and afterwards before queen Eliſabeth at Whitehall, on the eighteenth day of January in 1561. It was never intended for the preſs. But being ſurreptitiouſly and very careleſſly printed in 1565, an exact edition, with the conſent and under the inſpection of the authors, appeared in 1571, in black letter, thus entitled. ‘"The TRAGIDIE OF FERREX AND PORREX, ſet forth without addition or alteration, but altogether as the ſame was ſhowed on ſtage before the queenes Majeſtie about nine yeare paſt, viz. The xviij day of Januarie, 1561. By the gentlemen of the Inner [...]Temple. Seen and allowed, &c. Imprinted at London by John Daye dwelling ouer Alderſgate."’ It has no date, nor notation of pages, and contains only thirty-one leaves in ſmall octavo c. In the edition of 1565, it is called the TRAGEDIE OF GORDOBUC. The whole title of that edition runs thus. ‘"The Tragedie of Gordobuc, whereof three actes were wrytten by Thomas Nortone and the two laſte by Thomas Sackvyle. Sett forthe as the ſame was ſhewed before the queenes moſt excellent maieſtie in her highnes court of Whitehall, the 18 Jan. 1561. By the gentlemen of thynner Temple in London. Sept. 22. 1565."’ Printed by William Griffith at the ſign of the falcon in Fleet-ſtreet, in quarto d. I have a moſt incorrect black lettered [357] copy in duodecimo, without title, but with the printer's monogram in the laſt page, I ſuſpect of 1569, which once belonged to Pope e, and from which the late Mr. Spence moſt faithfully printed a modern edition of the tragedy, in the year 1736. I believe it was printed before that of 1571, for it retains all the errors of Griffith's firſt or ſpurious edition of 1565. In the Preface prefixed to the edition of 1571, is the following paſſage. ‘"Where [whereas] this tragedy was for furniture of part of the grand Chriſtmaſſe in the Inner-temple, firſt written about nine years ago by the right honourable Thomas now lord Buckhurſt, and by T. Norton; and afterwards ſhowed before her maieſtie, and neuer intended by the authors thereof to be publiſhed: Yet one W. G. getting a copie thereof at ſome young mans hand, that lacked a little money and much diſcretion, in the laſt great plague anno 1565, about fiue yeares paſt, while the ſaid lord was out of England, and T. Norton far out of London, and neither of them both made priuy, put it forth exceedingly corrupted, &c."’ W. G. is William Griffith, the printer in Fleet ſtreet, abovementioned. Mr. Garrick had another old quarto edition, printed by Alde, in 1590.

Theſe are the circumſtances of the fable of this tragedy. Gordobuc, a king of Britain about ſix hundred years before Chriſt, made in his life-time a diviſion of his kingdom to his ſons Ferrex and Porrex. The two young princes within five years quarrelled for univerſal ſovereignty. A civil was enſued, and Porrex [...]lew his elder brother Ferrex. Their mother Viden, who loved Ferrex beſt, revenged his death by entering Porrex's chamber in the night, and murthering him in his ſleep. The people, exa [...]perated at the cruelty and treachery of this murther, roſe in rebellion, and killed both Viden and Gordobuc. The nobility then aſſembled, collected an army, and deſtroyed the [358] rebels. An inteſtine war commenced between the chief lords: the ſucceſſion of the crown became uncertain and arbitrary, for want of the lineal royal iſſue: and the country, deſtitute of a king, and waſted by domeſtic ſlaughter, was reduced to a ſtate of the moſt miſerable deſolation.

In the dramatic conduct of this tale, the unities of time and place are eminently and viſibly violated: a defect which Shakeſpeare ſo frequently commits, but which he covers by the magic of his poetry. The greater part of this long and eventful hiſtory is included in the repreſentation. But in a ſtory ſo fertile of bloodſhed, no murther is committed on the ſtage. It is worthy of remark, that the death of Porrex in the bed-chamber is only related. Perhaps the players had not yet learned to die, nor was the ponyard ſo eſſential an article as at preſent among the implements of the property-room. Nor is it improbable, that to kill a man on the ſtage was not now avoided as a ſpectacle ſhocking to humanity, but becauſe it was difficult and inconvenient to be repreſented. The writer has followed the ſeries of facts related in the chronicles without any material variation, or fictitious embarraſſments, and with the addition only of a few neceſſary and obvious characters.

There is a Chorus of Four Antient and Sage Men of Britain, who regularly cloſe every Act, the laſt excepted, with an ode in long-lined ſtanzas, drawing back the attention of the audience to the ſubſtance of what has juſt paſſed, and illuſtrating it by recapitulatory moral reflections, and poetical or hiſtorical alluſions. Of theſe the beſt is that which terminates the fourth Act, in which prince Porrex is murthered by his mother Viden. Theſe are the two firſt ſtanzas.

When greedie luſt in royall ſeat to reigne,
Hath reft all care of goddes, and eke of men,
And Cruell Heart, Wrath, Treaſon, and Diſdaine,
Within th' ambicious breaſt are lodged, then
[359] Behold howe MISCHIEFE wide herſelfe diſplaies,
And with the brothers hand the brother ſlaies!
When blood thus ſhed doth ſtaine the heauens face,
Crying to Joue for vengeaunce of the deede,
The mightie god euen moueth from his place,
With wrath to wreak. Then ſendes he forth with ſpede
The dreadful Furies, daughters of the night,
With ſerpents girt, carrying the whip of ire,
With haire of ſtinging ſnakes, and ſhining bright
With flames and blood, and with a brande of fire.
Theſe for reuenge of wretched murder done
Do make the mother kill her onelie ſon!
Blood aſketh blood, and death muſt death requite:
Joue, by his iuſt and euerlaſting doom,
Juſtly hath euer ſo required it, &c f.

In the imagery of theſe verſes, we diſcern no faint traces of the hand which drew the terrible guardians of hell-gate, in the INDUCTION to the MIRROUR of MAGISTRATES.

The moral beauties and the ſpirit of the following ode, which cloſes the third act, will perhaps be more pleaſing to many readers.

The luſt of kingdomg knowes no ſacred faithe,
No rule of reaſon, no regarde of right,
No kindlie loue, no feare of heauens wrathe:
But with contempt of goddes, and man's deſpight,
Through blodie ſlaughter doth prepare the waies
To fatall ſcepter, and accurſed reigne:
The ſonne ſo lothes the fathers lingerynge daies,
Ne dreads his hande in brothers blode to ſtaine!
[360]
O wretched prince! ne doſt thou yet recorde
The yet fresſh murthers done within the lande,
Of thie forefathers, when the cruell ſworde
Bereft Morgain his liefe with coſyn's hande?
Thus fatall plagues purſue the giltie race,
Whoſe murderous hand, imbrued with giltles bloode,
Aſkes vengeaunce ſtill h, before the heauens face,
With endles miſchiefes on the curſed broode.
The wicked child thusi bringes to wofull [...]ier
The mournefull plaintes, to waſte his weryk life:
Thus do the cruell flames of civyll [...]ier
Deſtroye the parted reigne with hatefull ſtrife:
And hence doth ſpring the well, from which doth flo,
The dead black ſtreames of mourning l, plaint, and wo m.

Every Act is introduced, as was the cuſtom in our old plays, with a piece of machinery called the DUMB SHOW, ſhadowing by an allegorical exhibition the matter that was immediately to follow. In the conſtruction of this ſpectacle and its perſonifications, much poetry and imagination was often diſplayed. It is ſome apology for theſe prefigurations, that they were commonly too myſterious and obſcure, to foreſtal the future events with any degree of clearneſs and preciſion. Not that this mute mimicry was always typical of the enſuing incidents. It ſometimes ſerved for a compendious introduction of ſuch circumſtances, as could not commodiouſly be comprehended within the bounds of the repreſentation. It ſometimes ſupplied deficiencies, and covered the want of buſineſs. Our anceſtors were eaſily ſatified with this artificial ſupplement of one of the moſt important unities, which abundantly filled up the interval that was neceſſary to paſs, while a hero was expected from the Holy Land, or a princeſs was imported, married, and brought to bed. [361] mean time, the greater part of the audience were probably more pleaſed with the emblematical pageantry than the poetical dialogue, although both were alike unintelligible.

I will give a ſpecimen in the DOMME SHEWE preceding the fourth act. ‘"Firſt, the muſick of howeboies began to plaie. Duringe whiche, there came forth from vnder the ſtage, as thoughe out of hell, three Furies, ALECTO, MEGERA, and CTESIPHONE n, clad in blacke garments ſprinkled with bloud and flames, their bodies girt with ſnakes, their heds ſpread with ſerpents inſtead of heare, the one bearing in her hande [...] ſnake the other a whip, and the thirde a burning firebrande: eche driuynge before them a kynge and a queene, which moued by Furies vnnaturally had ſlaine their owne children. The names of the kinges and queenes were theſe, TANTALUS, MEDEA, ATHAMAS, INO, CAMBISES, ALTHEA. After that the Furies, and theſe, had paſſed aboute the ſtage thriſe, they departed, and then the muſicke ceaſed. Hereby was ſignified the vnnaturall murders to followe, that is to ſaie, Porrex ſlaine by his owne mother. And of king Gordobuc and queene Viden killed by their owne ſubjectes."’ Here, by the way, the viſionary proceſſion of kings and queens long ſince dead, evidently reſembles our author Sackville's original model of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES; and, for the ſame reaſon, reminds us of a ſimilar train of royal ſpectres in the tentſcene of Shakeſpeare's KING RICHARD THE THIRD.

I take this opportunity of expreſſing my ſurpriſe, that this oſtenſible comment of the Dumb Shew ſhould not regularly appear in the tragedies of Shakeſpeare. There are even proofs that he treated it with contempt and ridicule. Although ſome critics are of opinion, that becauſe it is never deſcribed in form at the cloſe or commencement of his acts, it was therefore never introduced. Shakeſpeare's aim was to collect an audience, and for this purpoſe all the common expedients were neceſſary. No [362] dr [...]matic writer of his age has more battles or ghoſts. His repreſentations abound with the uſual appendages of mechanical terror, and he adopts all the ſuperſtitions of the theatre. This problem can only be reſolved into the activity or the ſuperiority of a mind, which either would not be entangled by the formality, or which ſaw through the futility, of this unnatural and extrinſic ornament. It was not by declamation or by pantomime that Shakeſpeare was to fix his eternal dominion over the hearts of mankind.

To return to Sackville. That this tragedy was never a favorite among our anceſtors, and had long fallen into general oblivion, is to be attributed to the nakedneſs and unintereſting nature of the plot, the tedious length of the ſpeeches, the want of a diſcrimination of character, and almoſt a total abſence of pathetic or critical ſituations. It is true that a mother kills her own ſon. But this act of barbarous and unnatural impiety, to ſay nothing of its almoſt unexampled atrocity in the tender ſex, proceeds only from a brutal principle of ſudden and impetuous revenge. It is not the conſequence of any deep machination, nor is it founded in a proper preparation of previous circumſtances. She is never before introduced to our notice as a wicked or deſigning character. She murthers her ſon Porrex, becauſe in the commotions of a civil diſſenſion, in ſelf-defence, after repeated provocations, and the ſtrongeſt proofs of the baſeſt ingratitude and treachery, he had ſlain his rival brother, not without the deepeſt compunction and remorſe for what he had done. A mother murthering a ſon is a fact which muſt be received with horror; but it required to be complicated with other motives, and prompted by a cooperation of other cauſes, to rouſe our attention, and work upon our paſſions. I do not mean that any other motive could have been found, to palliate a murther of ſuch a nature. Yet it was poſſible to heighten and to divide the di [...]treſs, by rendering this bloody mother, under the notions of human frailty, an object of our compaſſion as well as of our abhorrence. But perhaps theſe artifices were not yet known [363] or wanted. The general ſtory of the play is great in its political conſequences; and the leading incidents are important, but not ſufficiently intricate to awaken our curioſity, and hold us in ſuſpence. Nothing is perplexed and nothing unravelled. The oppoſition of intereſts is ſuch as does not affect our nicer feelings. In the plot of a play, our pleaſure ariſes in proportion as our expectation is excited.

Yet it muſt be granted, that the language of GORDOBUC has great purity and perſpicuity; and that it is entirely free from that tumid phraſeology, which does not ſeem to have taken place till play-writing had become a trade, and our poets found it their int [...]reſt to captivate the multitude by the falſe ſublime, and by thoſe exaggerated imageries and pedantic metaphors, which are the chief blemiſhes of the ſcenes of Shakeſpeare, and which are at this day miſtaken for his capital beauties by too many readers. Here alſo we perceive another and a ſtrong reaſon why this play was never popular.

Sir Philip Sydney, in his admirable DEFENCE OF POESIE, remarks, that this tragedy is full of notable moralitie. But tragedies are not to inſtruct us by the intermixture of moral ſentences, but by the force of example, and the effect of the ſtory. In the firſt act, the three counſellors are introduced debating about the diviſion of the kingdom in long and elaborate ſpeeches, which are replete with political advice and maxims of civil prudence. But this ſtately ſort of declamation, whatever eloquence it may diſplay, and whatever policy it may teach, is undramatic, unanimated, and unaffecting. Sentiment and argument will never ſupply the place of a [...]tion upon the ſtage. Not to mention, that theſe grave harangues have ſome tincture of the formal modes of addreſs, and the ceremonious oratory, which were then in faſhion. But we muſt allow, that in the ſtrain of dialogue in which they are profeſſedly written, they have uncommon merit, even without drawing an apology in their favour from their antiquity: and that they contain much dignity, ſtrength of reflection, and good ſenſe, couched in clear expreſſion [364] and poliſhed numbers. I ſhall firſt produce a ſpecimen from the ſpeech of Aroſtus who is ſtyled a Coun [...]ellor to the King, and who is made to defend [...] ſpecious yet perhaps the leaſt rational ſide of the queſtion.

And in your lyfe, while you ſhall ſo beholde
Their rule, their vertues, and their noble deede [...],
Such as their kinde behighteth to vs all;
Great be the profites that ſhall growe thereof:
Your age in quiet ſhall the longer laſt,
Your laſtinge age ſhall be their longer ſtaie:
For cares of kynges, that rule, as you haue rulde,
For publique wealth, and not for private ioye,
Do waſte mannes lyfe, and haſten crooked age,
With furrowed face, and with enfeebled lymmes,
To drawe on creepynge Death a ſwifter pace.
They two, yet yonge, ſhall beare the partedo regne
With greater eaſe, than one, now olde, alone,
Can welde the whole: for whom, muche harder is
With leſſened ſtrength the double weight to beare [...]
Your age, your counſell, and the graue regarde
Of father p, yea of ſuche a fathers name,
Nowe at beginning of their ſondred reigne,
When isq the hazarde of their whole ſucceſſe,
Shall bridle ſo the force of youthfull heates,
And ſo reſtraine the rage of inſolence
Whiche moſt aſſailes the yong and noble minds,
And ſo ſhall guide and traine in tempred ſtaie
Their yet greene bending wittes with reuerent awe,
Asr now inured with vertues at the firſt.
Cuſtom, O king, ſhall bringe delightfulnes:
By vſe of vertue, vice ſhall growe in hate.
But if you ſo diſpoſe it, that the daye
[365] Which endes your life, ſhal firſt begin their reigne,
Great is the perill. What will be the ende,
When ſuche beginning of ſuche liberties
Voide of ſuche ſtayess as in your life do lye,
Shall leaue them free to randomt of their will,
An open prey to traiterous flattery,
The greateſt peſtilence of noble youthe:
Which perill ſhal be paſt, if in your life,
Their tempred youth, with aged fathers awe,
Be brought in vre of ſkilfull ſtaiedneſs, &c u.

From an obſequious complaiſance to the king, who is preſent, the topic is not agitated with that oppoſition of opinion and variety of arguments which it naturally ſuggeſts, and which would have enlivened the diſputation and diſplayed diverſity of character. But Eubulus, the king's ſecretary, declares his ſentiments with ſome freedom, and ſeems to be the moſt animated of all our three political orators.

To parte your realme vnto my lords your ſonnes,
I think not good, for you, ne yet for them,
But worſt of all for this our native land:
Withinw one lande one ſingle rule is beſt.
Diuided reignes do make diuided hartes,
But peace preſerues the countrey and the prince.
Suche is in man the gredie minde to reigne,
So great is his deſire to climbe alo [...]t
In wordly ſtage the ſtatelieſt partes to beare,
That faith, and iuſtice, and all kindlyx loue,
Do yelde vnto deſire of ſoueraigntie.
Where egall ſtate doth raiſe an egall hope,
To winne the thing that either wold attaine.
Your grace remembreth, howe in paſſed yeres
[366] The mightie Brute, firſt prince of all this lande,
Poſſeſſed the ſame, and ruled it well in one:
He, thinking that the compaſſe did ſuffice,
For his three ſonnes three kingdoms eke to make,
Cut it in three, as you would nowe in twaine:
But how much Brittiſhy blod hath ſincez been ſpilt,
What princes ſlaine before their timely hour a,
To ioyne againe the ſondred vnitie?
What waſt of townes and people in the lande?
What treaſons heaped on murders and on ſpoiles?
Whoſe iuſt reuenge euen yet is ſcarcely ceaſed,
Ruthfull remembraunce is yet rawb in minde, &c c.

The illuſtration from Brutus is here both appoſite and poetical.

Spence, with a reference to the ſituation of the author lord Buckhurſt in the court of queen Eliſabeth, has obſerved in his preface to the modern edition of this tragedy, that ‘"'tis no wonder, if the language of kings and ſtateſmen ſhould be leſs happily imitated by a poet than a privy counſellor."’ This is an inſinuation that Shakeſpeare, who has left many hiſtorical tragedies, was leſs able to conduct ſome parts of a royal ſtory than the ſtateſman lord Buckhurſt. But I will venture to pronounce, that whatever merit there is in this play, and particularly in the ſpeeches we have juſt been examining, it is more owing to the poet than the privy counſellor. If a firſt miniſter was to write a tragedy, I believe the piece will be the better, the leſs it has of the firſt miniſter. When a ſtateſman turns poet, I ſhould not wiſh him to fetch his ideas or his language from the canbinet. I know not why a king ſhould be better qualified than a private man, to make kings talk in blank verſe.

The chaſte elegance of the following deſcription of a region abounding in every convenience, will gratify the lover of claſſical purity.

[367]
Yea, and that half, which ind abounding ſtore
Of things that ſerue to make a welthie realme,
In ſtatelie cities, and in frutefull ſoyle,
In temperate breathing of the milder heauen,
In thinges of nedeful vſe, whiche friendlie ſea
Tranſportes by traffike from the forreine partes e,
In flowing wealth, in honour and in force, &c f.

The cloſe of Marcella's narration of the murther of Porrex by the queen, which many poets of a more enlightened age would have exhibited to the ſpectators, is perhaps the moſt moving and pathetic ſpeech in the play. The reader will obſerve, that our author, yet to a good purpoſe, has transferred the ceremonies of the tournament to the court of an old Britiſh king.

O queene of adamante! O marble breaſte!
If not the fauour of his comelie face,
If not his princelie chere and countenaunce,
His valiant active armes, his manlie breaſte,
If not his faier and ſemelie perſonage,
His noble lymmes in ſuche proporciong caſte,
As would have wrappedh a ſillie womans thought,
If this mought not haue moued thyi bloodie harte,
And that moſt cruell hande, the wretched weapon
Euen to let fall, and kiſſek him in the face,
With teares for ruthe to reaue ſuche one by death:
Should nature yet conſent to ſlaye her ſonne?
O mother thou, to murder thus thie childe!
Euen Joue, with Juſtice, muſt with lightening flames
From heauen ſend downe ſome ſtrange reuenge on thee.
Ah! noble prince, how oft have I beheld
[368] Thee mounted on thy fierce and traumpling ſtede,
Shyning in armour bright before thy tylte,
And with thy miſtreſſe [...] ſleaue tied on thy helme,
And charge thy ſtaffe, to pleaſe thy ladies eie,
That bowed the head peece of thy frendly foe?
Howe oft in armes on horſe to bende the mace l?
How oft in arms on foote to breake the ſworde?
Which neuer now theſe eyes may ſee againe m!

Marcella, the only lady in the play except the queen, is one of the maids of honour; and a modern writer of tragedy would have made her in love with the young prince who is murthered.

The queen laments the loſs of her eldeſt and favorite ſon, whoſe defeat and death had juſt been announced, in the following [...]oliloquy. The ideas are too general, although happily expreſſed: but there is ſome imagination in her wiſhing the old maſſy palace had long ago fallen, and cruſhed her to death.

Why ſhould I lyue, and lynger forth my time
In longer liefe, to double my diſtreſſe?
O me moſt wofull wight, whome no miſhap
Long ere this daie could haue bereued hence!
Mought not theſe handes, by fortune or by fate,
Haue perſt this breſt, and life with iron re [...]?
Or in this pallaice here, where I ſo longe
Haue ſpent my daies, could not that happie houre
Ones, ones, haue hapt, in which theſe hugie frames
With death by fall might haue oppreſſed me!
Or ſhould not this moſt hard and cruell ſoile,
So oft where I haue preſt my wretched ſteps,
Somtyme had ruthe of myne accurſed liefe [...]
To rend in twaine, and ſwallowe me therin!
So had my bones poſſeſſed nowe in peace
Their happie graue within the cloſed grounde,
[369] And greadie wormes had gnawen this pyned hart
Without my feelynge paine! So ſhould not now [...]
This lyvynge breſt remayne the ruthefull tombe
Wherein my hart, yelden to dethe, is graued, &c n.

There is ſome animation in theſe imprecations of prince Ferrex upon his own head, when he proteſts that he never conceived any malicious deſign, or intended any injury, againſt his brother Porrex o.

The wrekefull gods poure on my curſed head
Eternall plagues, and neuer dyinge woes!
The helliſh princep adiudge my dampned ghoſte
To Tantalesq thirſte, or proude Ixions wheele,
Or cruel gripe r, to gnaw my growing harte;
To durynge tormentes and vnquenched flames;
If euer I conceiued ſo foule a thought,
To wiſhe his ende of life, or yet of reigne.

It muſt be remembered, that the antient Britons were ſuppoſed to be immediately deſcended from the Trojan Brutus, and that conſequently they were acquainted with the pagan hiſtory and mythology. Gordobuc has a long alluſion to the miſeries of the ſiege of Troy s.

In this ſtrain of correct verſification and language, Porrex explains to his father Gordobuc, the treachery of his brother Ferrex.

When thus I ſawe the knot of loue unknitte;
All honeſt league, and faithfull promiſe broke,
The lawe of kindt and trothe thus rent in twaine,
His hart on miſchiefe ſet, and in his breſt
[368] [...][369] [...]
[370] Blacke treaſon hid: then, then did I diſpaier
That euer tyme coulde wynne him frende to me;
Then ſawe I howe he ſmyled with ſlaying knife
Wrapped vnder cloke, then ſawe I depe deceite
Lurke in his face, and death prepared for mee, &c u.

As the notions of ſubordination, of the royal authority, and the divine inſtitution of kings, predominated in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, it is extraordinary, that eight lines, inculcating in plain terms the doctrine of paſſive and unreſiſting obedience to the prince, which appeared in the fifth act of the firſt edition of this tragedy, ſhould have been expunged in the edition of 1571, publiſhed under the immediate inſpection of the authors w. It is well known, that the Calviniſts carried their ideas of reformation and refinement into government as well as religion: and it ſeems probable, that theſe eight verſes were ſuppreſſed by Thomas Norton, Sackville's ſuppoſed aſſiſtant in the play, who was not only an active and I believe a ſenſible puritan, but a licencer of the publication of books under the commiſſion of the biſhop of London x.

As to Norton's aſſiſtance in this play, it is ſaid on better authority than that of Antony Wood, who ſuppoſes GORDOBUC to have been in old Engliſh rhime, that the three firſt acts were written by Thomas Norton, and the two laſt by Sackville. But the force of internal evidence often prevails over the authority of aſſertion, a teſtimony which is diminiſhed by time, and may be rendered ſuſpicious from a variety of other circumſtances. Throughout the whole piece, there is an invariable uniformity of diction and verſification. Sackville has two poems of conſiderable [371] length in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, which fortunately furniſh us with the means of compariſon: and every ſcene of GORDOBUC is viſibly marked with his characteriſtical manner, which conſiſts in a perſpicuity of ſtyle, and a command of numbers, ſuperior to the tone of his times y. Thomas Norton's poetry is of a very different and a ſubordinate caſt: and if we may judge from his ſhare in our metrical pſalmody, he ſeems to have been much more properly qualified to ſhine in the miſerable mediocrity of Sternhold's ſtanza, and to write ſpiritual rhymes for the ſolace of his illuminated brethren, than to reach the bold and impaſſioned elevations of tragedy.

SECT. XXXIX.

[372]

THIS appearance of a regular tragedy, with the diviſion of acts and ſcenes, and the accompaniment of the antient chorus, repreſented both at the Middle-temple and at Whitehall, and written by the moſt accompliſhed nobleman of the court of queen Eliſabeth, ſeems to have directed the attention of our more learned poets to the ſtudy of the old claſſical drama, and in a ſhort time to have produced vernacular verſions of the JOCASTA of Euripides, as it is called, and of the ten Tragedies of Seneca. I do not find that it was ſpeedily followed by any original compoſitions on the ſame legitimate model.

The JOCASTA of Euripides was tranſlated by George Gaſcoigne and Francis Kinwelmerſh, both ſtudents of Grays-inn, and acted in the refectory of that ſociety, in the year 1566. Gaſcoigne tranſlated the ſecond, third, and fifth acts, and Kinwelmerſh the firſt, and fourth. It was printed in Gaſcoigne's poems, of which more will be ſaid hereafter, in 1577, under the following title, ‘"JOCASTA, a Tragedie written in Greeke by Euripides. Tranſlated and digeſted into Acte, by George Gaſcoigne and Francis Kinwelmerſhe of Graies inn, and there by them preſented, An. 1566."’ The Epilogue was written in quatraines by Chriſtopher Yelverton, then one of their brother ſtudents. So ſtrongly were our audiences ſtill attached to ſpectacle, that the authors did not venture to preſent their play, without introducing a DUMB SHEW at the beginning of every act. For this, however, they had the example and authority of GORDOBUC. Some of the earlieſt ſpecimens of Inigo Jones's Grecian architecture are marred by Gothic ornaments.

[373] It muſt, however, be obſerved, that this is by no means a juſt or exact tranſlation of the JOCASTA, that is the PHOENISSAE, of Euripides. It is partly a paraphraſe, and partly an abridgement, of the Greek tragedy. There are many omiſſions, retrenchments, and tranſpoſitions. The chorus, the characters, and the ſubſtance of the ſtory, are entirely retained, and the tenor of the dialogue is often preſerved through whole ſcenes. Some of the beautiful odes of the Greek chorus are neglected, and others ſubſtituted in their places, newly written by the tranſlators. In the favorite addreſs to Mars a, Gaſcoigne has totally deſerted the rich imagery of Euripides, yet has found means to form an original ode, which is by no means deſtitute of pathos or imagination.

O fierce and furious Mars! whoſe harmefull hart
Reioiceth moſt to ſhed the giltleſſe blood;
Whoſe headie will doth all the world ſubvart,
And doth enuie the pleaſant merry mood
Of our eſtate, that erſt in quiet ſtood:
Why doſt thou thus our harmleſſe towne annoy,
Whych mighty Bacchus gouerned in ioy?
Father of warre and death, that dooſt remoue,
With wrathfull wrecke, from wofull mothers breſt
The truſty pledges of their tender loue!
So graunt the goddes, that for our finall reſt
Dame Venus' pleaſant lookes may pleaſe thee beſt:
Whereby, when thou ſhalt all amazed ſtand,
The ſword may fall out of thy trembling hand b:
And thou mayſt proue ſome other way ful wel
The bloody proweſs of thy mighty ſpeare,
[374] Wherewith thou raiſeſt from the depth of hel
The wrathful ſprites of all the Furies there;
Who, when they wake, do wander euery where,
And neuer reſt to range about the coſtes,
T' enrich that pit with ſpoyle of damned ghoſtes.
And when thou haſt our fields forſaken thus,
Let cruel DISCORD beare thee company,
Engirt with ſnakes and ſerpents venemous;
Euen She, that can with red vermilion die
The gladſome greene that floriſht pleaſantly;
And make the greedy ground a drinking cvp,
To ſup the blood of murdered bodies vp.
Yet thou returne, O Ioie, and pleaſant Peace!
From whence thou didſt againſt our willes depart:
Ne let thy worthie mind from trauel ceaſe,
To chaſe diſdayne out of the poyſned heart,
That rayſed warre to all our paynes and ſmart,
Euen from the breaſt of Oedipus his ſonne
Whoſe ſwelling pride hath all this iarre begon, &c c.

I am of opinion, that our tranſlators thought the many mythological and hiſtorical alluſions in the Greek chorus, too remote and unintelligible, perhaps too cumberſome, to be exhibited in Engliſh. In the ode to CONCORD, which finiſhes the fourth act, tranſlated by Kinwelmerſhe, there is great elegance of expreſſion and verſification. It is not in Euripides.

O bliſſefull CONCORD, bred in ſacred breſt
Of hym that rules the reſtleſſe-rolling ſkie,
That to the earth, for mans aſſured reſt,
From height of heauens vouchſafeſt downe to flie!
[375] In thee alone the mightie power doth lie,
With ſweet accorde to keepe the frowning ſtarres,
And euerie planet els, from hurtful warres.
In thee, in thee, ſuch noble vertue bydes,
As may commaund the mightieſt gods to bend:
From thee alone ſuch ſugred frendſhip ſlydes
As mortall wights can ſcarcely comprehend.
To greateſt ſtrife thou ſetſt deliteful end.
O holy Peace, by thee are only found
The paſſing ioyes that euerie where abound!
Thou only, thou, through thy celeſtiall might,
Didſt firſt of all the heauenly pole devide
From th' old confuſed heap, that Chaos hight:
Thou madſte the ſunne, the moone, the ſtarres, to glyde
With ordred courſe, about this world ſo wyde:
Thou haſt ordaynde Dan Tytans ſhining light
By dawne of day to change the darkſome night.
When tract of time returnes the luſty ver d,
By thee alone the buds and bloſſoms ſpring,
The fields with flours be garniſht euery where;
The blooming trees aboundant fruite doe bring,
The chereful byrdes melodiouſly doe ſing:
Thou doeſt appoynt the crop of ſummers ſeede,
For mans releefe, to ſerue the winters neede.
Thou doſt inſpire the hearts o [...] princely peers,
By prouidence proceeding from aboue,
In flowring youth to chooſe their proper feeres e;
With whom they liue in league of laſting loue,
Till fearfull death doth flitting life remoue:
[376] And looke howe faſt to death man payes his due!
So faſt agayne doeſt thou his ſtock renue.
By thee the baſeſt thing aduanced is:
Thou euery where doeſt graffe ſuch golden peace,
As filleth man with more than earthly bliſſe:
The earth by thee doth yeelde her ſweete increaſe,
At beck of thee al bloody diſcords ceaſe.
And mightieſt realmes in quyet do remayne,
Whereas thy hand doth hold the royall rayne.
But if thou fayle, then all things gone to wrack:
The mother then doth dread her natural childe;
Then euery towne is ſubject to the ſack,
Then ſpotles maydes, then virgins be defilde;
Then rigour rules, then reaſon is exilde;
And this, thou woful THEBES! to ovr greate payne,
With preſent ſpoyle art likely to ſuſtayne.
Methink I heare the waylful-weeping cryes
Of wretched dames in euery coaſt reſound!
Methinks I ſee, howe vp to heauenly ſkies,
From battred walles the thundring-claps rebound:
Methink I heare, howe al things go to ground:
Methink I ſee how ſouldiers wounded lie
With gaſping breath, and yet they cannot die, &c f.

The conſtant practice of ending every act with a long ode ſung by the chorus, ſeems to have been adopted from GORDOBUC g.

[377] But I will give a ſpecimen of this performance as a tranſlation, from that affecting ſcene, in which Oedipus, blind and exiled from the city, is led on by his daughter Antigone, the rival in filial fidelity of Lear's Cordelia, to touch the dead and murthered bodies of his queen Jocaſta, and his ſons Eteocles and Polynices. It appears to be the chief fault of the tranſlators, that they have weakened the force of the original, which conſiſts in a pathetic brevity, by needleſs dilatations, and the affectations of circumlocution. The whole dialogue in the original is carried on in ſingle lines. Such, however, is the pregnant ſimplicity of the Greek language, that it would have been impoſſible to have rendered line for line in Engliſh.

OEDIPUS.
Daughter, I muſt commend thy noble heart.
ANTIGONE.
Father, I will not liue in company h,
And you alone wander in wildernes.
OEDIPUS.
O yes, dear daughter, leaue thou me alone
Amid my plagues: be merry while thou mayſt.
ANTIGONE.
And who ſhall guide theſe aged feete of yours,
That baniſht beene, in blind neceſſitie?
OEDIPUS.
I will endure, as fatal lot me driues,
Reſting theſe crooked ſory ſides of mine
[378] Where ſo the heauens ſhall lend me harborough.
And, in exchange of rich and ſtately towres,
The woods, the wildernes, the darkeſome dennes,
Shall be the boure of mine unhappy bones.
ANTIGONE.
O father, now where is your glory gone?
OEDIPUS.
One happy day did rayſe me to renowne,
One haples day hath throwen mine honor downe.
ANTIGONE.
Yet wil I beare a part of your miſhaps.
OEDIPUS.
That fitteth not amyd thy pleaſant yeres.
ANTIGONE.
Deare father, yes: let youth geue place to age.
OEDIPUS.
Where is thy mother? Let me touch her face:
That with theſe hands I may yet feele the harme
That theſe blind eyes forbid me to behold.
ANTIGONE.
Here father, here her corps, here put your hand.
OEDIPUS.
O wife, O mother! O, both woful names!
O woful mother, and O woful wife!
[379] O would to God, alas! O would to God,
Thou nere had been my mother, nor my wife!
But where now lie the paled bodies two
Of mine vnluckie ſonnes? O where be they?
ANTIGONE.
Lo, here they lie, one by another dead!
OEDIPUS.
Stretch out this hand, deare daughter, ſtretch this hand
Vpon their faces.
ANTIGONE.
Lo father, loe, now you do touch them both.
OEDIPUS.
O bodies deare! O bodies deerely bought
Vnto your father! Bought with hard miſhap!
ANTIGONE.
O louely name of my dear Polynice!
Why cannot I of cruel Creon crave,
Ne with my death now purchaſe thee, a graue?
OEDIPUS.
Now comes Apollo's oracle to paſſe,
That I in Athens towne ſhould end my dayes.
And ſince thou doeſt, O daughter mine, deſire
In this exile to be my wofull mate,
Lend me thy hand, and let vs goe together.
ANTIGONE.
[380]
Loe here all preſt i, my deare beloued father [...]
A feeble guyde, and eke a ſimple ſcoute,
To paſſe the perils ink a doubtful way l.
OEDIPUS.
Vnto the wretched be a wretche guyde.
ANTIGONE.
In this alonly equall to my father.
OEDIPUS.
And where ſhal I ſet foorth my trembling feete?
O reach me yet ſome ſurer ſtaffe m, to ſtay
My ſtaggering pace amyd theſe wayes vnknowen.
ANTIGONE.
Here, father, here, and here, ſet foorth your feete.
OEDIPUS.
Nowe can I blame none other for my harmes
But ſecret ſpite of [...]ore-decreed fate.
Thou art the cauſe, that crooked, old, and blind,
I am exilde farre from my countrey ſoyle, &c n.

That it may be ſeen in ſome meaſure, how far theſe two poets, who deſerve much praiſe for even an attempt to introduce the Grecian drama to the notice of our anceſtors, have [381] ſucceeded in tranſlating this ſcene of the tendereſt expoſtulation, I will place it before the reader in a plain literal verſion.

"OED. My daughter, I praiſe your filial piety. But yet—ANT. But if I was to marry Creon's ſon, and you, my father, be left alone in baniſhment? OED. Stay at home, and be happy. I will bear my own misfortunes patiently. ANT. But who will attend you, thus blind and helpleſs, my father? OED. I ſhall fall down, and be found lying in ſome field on the ground, as it may chance to happen n. ANT. Where is now that Oedipus, and his famous riddle of the Sphinx? OED. He is loſt! one day made me happy, and one day deſtroyed me! ANT. Ought I not, therefore, to ſhare your miſeries? OED. It will be but a baſe baniſhment of a princeſs with her blind father! ANT. To one that is haughty: not to one that is humble, and loves her father. OED. Lead me on then, and let me touch the dead body of your mother. ANT. Lo, now your hand is upon her o. OED. O my mother! O my moſt wretched wife! ANT. She lies a wretched corpſe, covered with every woe. OED. But where are the dead bodies of my ſons Eteocles and Polynices? ANT. They lie juſt by you, ſtretched out cloſe to one another. OED. Put my blind hand upon their miſerable faces! ANT. Lo now, you touch your dead children with your hand. OED. O, dear, wretched, carcaſes of a wretched father! ANT. O, to me the moſt dear name of my brother Polynices p! OED. Now, my daughter, the oracle of Apollo proves true. ANT. What? Can you tell any more evils than thoſe which have happened? OED. That I ſhould die an exile at Athens. ANT. What city of Attica will take you in? OED. The ſacred Colonus, the houſe of equeſtrian Neptune. Come, then, lend your aſſiſtance to this blind father, ſince you mean [382] to be a companion of my flight. ANT. Go then i [...]to miſerable baniſhment! O my antient father, ſtretch out your dear hand! I will accompany you, like a favourable wind to a ſhip. OED. Behold, I go! Daughter, be you my unfortunate guide! ANT. Thus, am I, am I, the moſt unhappy of all the Theban virgins! OED. Where ſhall I fix my old feeble foot? Daughter, reach to me my ſtaff. ANT. Here, go here, after me. Place your foot here, my father, you that have the ſtrength only of a dream. OED. O moſt unhappy baniſhment! Creon drives me in my old age from my country. Alas! alas! wretched, wretched things have I ſuffered, &c q."

So ſudden were the changes or the refinements of our language, that in the ſecond edition of this play, printed again with Gaſcoigne's poems in 1587, it was thought neceſſary to affix marginal explanations of many words, not long before in common uſe, but now become obſolete and unintelligible. Among others, are beheſt and quell r. This, however, as our author ſays, was done at the requeſt of a lady, who did not underſtand poetical words or termes s.

Seneca's ten Tragedies were tranſlated at different times and by different poets. Theſe were all printed together in 1581, under this title, ‘"SENECA HIS TENNE TRAGEDIES, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. Mercurii Nutrices horae. IMPRINTED AT LONDON IN FLEETSTREETE neare vnto ſaincte Dunſtons church by Thomas Marſhe, 1581 t."’ The book is dedicated, from Butley in Cheſhire, to ſir Thomas Henneage, [383] treaſurer of the queen's chamber. I ſhall ſpeak of each man's tranſlation diſtinctly u.

The HYPPOLITUS, MEDEA, HERCULES OETEUS, and AGAMEMNON, were tranſlated by John Studley, educated at Weſtminſter ſchool, and afterwards a ſcholar of Trinity college in Cambridge. The HYPPOLITUS, which he calls the fourth and moſt ruthfull tragedy, the MEDEA, in which are ſome alterations of the chorus w, and the HERCULES OETEUS, were all firſt printed in Thomas Newton's collection of 1581, juſt mentioned x. The AGAMEMNON was firſt and ſeparately publiſhed in 1566, and entitled, ‘"The eyght Tragedie of Seneca entituled AGAMEMNON, tranſlated out of Latin into Engliſh by John Studley ſtudent in Trinitie college in Cambridge. Imprinted at London in Flete ſtreete beneath the Conduit at the ſigne of S. John. Euangelyſt by Thomas Colwell A. D. M. D. LXVI y."’ This little book is exceedingly ſcarce, and hardly to be found in the choiceſt libraries of thoſe who collect our poetry in black letter z. Recommendatory verſes are prefixed, in praiſe of our tranſlator's performance a. It is dedicated to ſecretary Cecil. To the end of the fifth act our tranſlator has added a whole ſcene: for the purpoſe of relating the death of Caſſandra, the impriſonment of Electra, and the flight of Oreſtes. Yet theſe circumſtances were all known and told before. The narrator is Euribates, who in the commencement of the third act had informed Clitemneſtra of Agamemnon's return. Theſe efforts, however imperfect or improper, to improve the plot of a drama by a new conduct or contrivance, deſerve particular [384] notice at this infancy of our theatrical taſte and knowledge. They ſhew that authors now began to think for themſelves, and that they were not always implicitly enſlaved to the preſcribed letter of their models. Studley, who appears to have been qualified for better ſtudies, miſapplied his time and talents in tranſlating Bale's Acts of the Popes. That tranſlation, dedicated to Thomas lord Eſſex, was printed in 1574 b. He has left twenty Latin diſtichs on the death of the learned Nicholas Carr, Cheke's ſucceſſor in the Greek profeſſorſhip at Cambridge c.

The OCTAVIA is tranſlated by T. N. or Thomas Nuce, or Newce, a fellow of Pembroke-hall in 1562, afterwards rector of Oxburgh in Norfolk, Beccles, Weſton-Market, and vicar of Gayſley, in Suffolk d; and at length prebendary of Ely cathedral in 1586 e. This verſion is for the moſt part executed in the heroic rhyming couplet. All the reſt of the tranſlators have uſed, except in the chorus, the Alexandrine meaſure, in which Sternhold and Hopkins rendered the pſalms, perhaps the moſt unſuitable ſpecies of Engliſh verſification that could have been applied to this purpoſe. Nuce's OCTAVIA was firſt printed in 1566 f. He has two very long copies of verſes, one in Engliſh and the other in Latin, prefixed to the firſt edition of Studley's AGAMEMNON in 1566, juſt mentioned.

Alexander Nevyle, tranſlated, or rather paraphraſed, the OEDIPUS, in the ſixteenth year of his age, and in the year 1560, not printed till the year 1581 g. It is dedicated to doctor Wootton, a privy counſellor, and his godfather. Notwithſtanding [385] the tranſlator's youth, it is by far the moſt ſpirited and elegant verſion in the whole collection, and it is to be regretted that he did not undertake all the reſt. He ſeems to have been perſuaded by his friends, who were of the graver ſort, that poetry was only one of the lighter accompliſhments of a young man, and that it ſhould ſoon give way to the more weighty purſuits of literature. The firſt act of his OEDIPUS begins with theſe lines, ſpoken by Oedipus.

The night is gon, and dreadfull day begins at length t' apeere,
And Phoebus, all bedimde with clowdes, himſelfe aloft doth reere:
And gliding forth with deadly hue, a dolefull blaſe in ſkies
Doth beare: great terror and diſmay to the beholders eyes!
Now ſhall the houſes voyde be ſeene, with Plague deuoured quight,
And ſlaughter which the night hath made, ſhall day bring forth to light.
Doth any man in princely throne reioyce? O brittle ioy!
How many ills, how fayre a face, and yet how much annoy,
In thee doth lurk, and hidden lies? What heapes of endles ſtrife?
They iudge amiſſe, that deeme the Prince to haue the happie life h.

Nevyl was born in Kent, in 1544 i, and occurs taking a maſter's degree at Cambridge, with Robert earl of Eſſex, on the ſixth day of July, 1581 k. He was one of the learned men whom archbiſhop Parker retained in his family l: and at the time of the archbiſhop's death, in 1575, was his ſecretary m. He wrote a Latin narrative of the Norfolk inſurrection under Kett, which is dedicated to archbiſhop Parker, and was printed [386] in 1575 n. To thi [...] he added a Latin account of Norwich, printed the ſame year, called NORVICUS, the plates of which were executed by Lyne and Hogenberg, archbiſhop Parker's domeſtic engravers, in 1574 o. He publiſhed the Cambridge verſes on the death of ſir Philip Sydney, which he dedicated to lord Leiceſter, in 1587 p. He projected, but I ſuſpect never completed, an Engliſh tranſlation of Livy, in 1577 q. He died in 1614 r.

The HERCULES FURENS, THYESTES, and TROAS, were tranſlated into Engliſh by Jaſper Heywood. The HERCULES FURENS was firſt printed at London in 1561 s, and dedicated to William Herbert lord Pembroke, with the following pedantic Latin title. ‘"Lucii Annaei Senecae tragoedia prima, quae inſcribitur HERCULES FURENS, nuper recognita, et ab omnibus [387] bus mendis quibus ſcatebat ſedulo purgata, et in ſtudioſae juventutis utilitatem in Anglicum tanta [...]ide converſa, ut carmen pro carmine, quoad Anglica lingua patiatur, pene redditum videas, per Jaſperum Heywodum Oxonienſem."’ The THYESTES, ſaid to be faithfully Engliſhed by Iaſper Heywood felow of Alſolne colledge in Oxenforde, was alſo firſt ſeparately printed by Berthelette at London, in 1560 t. He has added a ſcene to the fourth act, a ſoliloquy by Thyeſtes, who bewails his own misfortunes, and implores vengeance on Atreus. In this ſcene, the ſpeaker's application of all the torments of hell, to Atreus's unparalleled guil [...] of feaſting on the bowels of his children, furniſhes a ſort of nauſeous bombaſt, which not only violates the laws of criticiſm, but provokes the abhorrence of our common ſenſibilities. A few of the firſt lines are tolerable.

O kyng of Dytis dungeon darke, and gryſly ghoſt of hell,
That in the deepe and dreadfull denne of blackeſt Tartare dwell,
Where leane and pale Diſeaſes lye, where Feare and Famyne are,
Where Di [...]cord ſtandes with bleeding browes, where euery kinde of care;
[388] Where Furies fight on beds of ſteele, and heares of crauling ſnakes,
Where Gorgon gremme, where Harpies are, and lothſom limbo lakes,
Where moſt prodigious u vgly things the hollow hell doth hyde,
If yet a monſter more miſhapt, &c.

In the TROAS, which was firſt faultily printed in or before 1560 w, afterwards reprinted in 1581 by Newton, he has taken greater liberties. At the end of the chorus after the firſt act, he has added about ſixty verſes of his own invention. In the beginning of the ſecond act, he has added a new ſcene, in which he introduces the ſpectre of Achilles raiſed from hell, and demanding the ſacrifice of Polyxena. This ſcene, which is in the octave ſtanza, has much of the air of one of the legends in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES. To the chorus of this act, he has ſubjoined three ſtanzas. Inſtead of tranſlating the chorus of the third act, which abounds with the hard names of the antient geography, and which would both have puzzled the tranſlator and tired the Engliſh reader, he has ſubſtituted a new ode. In his preface to the reader, from which he appears to be yet a fellow of All Souls college, he modeſtly apologiſes for theſe licentious innovations, and hopes to be pardoned for his ſeeming arrogance, in attempting ‘"to ſet forth in Engliſh this preſent piece of the flowre of all writers Seneca, among ſo many fine wittes, and towardly youth, with which England this day floriſheth x."’ Our tranſlator Jaſper Heywood has ſeveral poems extant in the Paradiſe of Daintie Deuiſes, publiſhed in 1573. He was the ſon of John Heywood, commonly called the epigrammatiſt, and born in London. In 1547, at twelve [389] years of age, he was ſent to Oxford, and in 1553 elected fellow of Merton college. But inheriting too large a ſhare of his father's facetious and free diſpoſition, he ſometimes in the early part of life indulged his feſtive vein in extravagancies and indiſcretions, for which being threatened with expulſion, he reſigned his fellowſhip y. He exerciſed the office of Chriſtmasprince, or lord of miſrule, to the college: and ſeems to have given offence, by ſuffering the levities and jocularities of that character to mix with his life and general converſation z. In the year 1558, he was recommended by cardinal Pole, as a polite ſcholar, an able diſputant, and a ſteady catholic, to ſir Thomas Pope founder of Trinity college in the ſame univerſity, to be put in nomination for a fellowſhip of that college, then juſt founded. But this ſcheme did not take place a. He was, however, appointed fellow of All Souls college the ſame year. Diſſatisfied with the change of the national religion, within four years he left England, and became a catholic prieſt and a Jeſuit at Rome, in 1562. Soon afterwards he was placed in the theological chair at Dilling in Switzerland, which he held for ſeventeen years. At length returning to England, in the capacity of a popiſh miſſionary, he was impriſoned, but releaſed by the intereſt of the earl of Warwick. For the deliverance from ſo perilous a ſituation, he complimented the earl in a copy of Engliſh verſes, two of which, containing a moſt miſerable paronomaſy on his own name, almoſt bad enough to have condemned the writer to another impriſonment, are recorded in Harrington's Epigrams b. At length he retired to Naples, where he died in 1597 c. He is ſaid to have been an accurate critic in the Hebrew language d. His tranſlation of the TROAS, not of Virgil as it [390] ſeems, is mentioned in a copy of verſes by T. B e. prefixed to the firſt edition, abovementioned, of Studley's AGAMEMNON. He was intimately connected abroad with the biographer Pitts, who has given him rather too partial a panegyric.

Thomas Newton, the publiſher of all the ten tragedies of Seneca in Engliſh, in one volume, as I have already remarked, in 1581 f, himſelf added only one to theſe verſions of Studley, Nevile, Nuce, and Jafper Heywood. This is the THEBAIS, probably not written by Seneca, as it ſo eſſentially differs in the [...]ataſtrophe from his OEDIPUS. Nor is it likely the ſame poet ſhould have compoſed two tragedies on the ſame ſubject, even with a variation of incidents. It is without the chorus and a fifth act. Newton appears to have made his tranſlation in 1581, and perhaps with a view only of completing the collection. He is more proſaic than moſt of his fellow-labourers, and ſeems to have paid the chief attention to perſpicuity and fidelity. In the general EPISTLE DEDICATORY to ſir Thomas Henneage, prefixed to the volume, he ſays, ‘"I durſt not haue geuen the aduenture to approch your preſence, vpon truſt of any ſingularity, that in this Booke hath vnſkilfully dropped out of myne owne penne, but that I hoped the perfection of others artificiall workmanſhip that haue trauayled herein, as well as myſelfe, ſhould ſomewhat couer my nakedneſſe [...] and purchaſe my pardon.—Theirs I knowe to be deliuered with ſingular dexterity: myne, I confeſſe to be an vnflidge [unfledged] neſtling, vnable to flye; an vnnatural abortion [...] and an vnperfect embryon: neyther throughlye laboured at Ariſtophanes and Cleanthes candle, neither yet exactly waighed in Critolaus his preciſe ballaunce. Yet this I dare ſaye, I haue deliuered myne authors meaning with as much perſpicuity as ſo [391] meane a ſcholar, out of ſo meane a ſtoare, in ſo ſmal a time, and vpon ſo ſhort a warning, was well able to performe, &c g."’

Of Thomas Newton, a ſlender contributor to this volume, yet perhaps the chief inſtrument of bringing about a general tranſlation of Seneca, and otherwiſe deſerving well of the literature of this period, ſome notices ſeem neceſſary. The firſt letter of his Engliſh THEBAIS is a large capital D. Within it is a ſhield exhibiting a ſable Lion rampant, croſſed in argent on the ſhoulder, and a half moon argent in the dexter corner, I ſuppoſe his armorial bearing. In a copartment, towards the head, and under the ſemicircle, of the letter, are his initials, T. N. He was deſcended from a reſpectable family in Cheſhire, and was ſent while very young, about thirteen years of age, to Trinity college in Oxford h. Soon afterwards he went to Queen's college in Cambridge; but returned within a very few years to Oxford, where he was readmitted into Trinity college i. He quickly became famous for the pure elegance of his Latin poetry. Of this he has left a ſpecimen in his ILLUSTRIA ALIQUOT ANGLORUM [392] ENCOMIA, publiſhed at London in 1589 k. He is perhaps the firſt Engliſhman that wrote Latin elegiacs with a claſſical clearneſs and terſeneſs after Leland, the plan of whoſe ENCOMIA and TROPHAEA he ſeems to have followed in this little work l. Moſt of the learned and ingenious men of that age, appear to have courted the favours of this polite and popular encomiaſt. His chief patron was the unfortunate Robert earl of Eſſex. I have often incidentally mentioned ſome of Newton's recommendatory verſes, both in Engliſh and Latin, prefixed to cotemporary books, according to the mode of that age. One of his earlieſt philological publications is a NOTABLE HISTORIE OF THE SARACENS, digeſted from Curio, in three books, printed at London in 1575 m. I unavoidably anticipate in remarking here, that he wrote a poem on the death of queen Eliſabeth, called ‘"ATROPOION DELION,"’ or, ‘"the Death of Delia with the Tears of her funeral. A poetical excuſive diſcourſe of our late Eliza. By T. N. G. Lond. 1603 n."’ The next year he publiſhed a flowery romance, ‘"A pleſant new hiſtory, or a fragrant poſie made of three flowers Roſa, Roſalynd, and Roſemary, London, 1604 o."’ Philips, in his THEATRUM POETARUM, attributes to Newton, a tragedy in two parts, called TAMBURLAIN THE GREAT, OR THE SCYTHIAN SHEPHERD. But this play, printed at London in 1593, was written by Chriſtopher Marloe p. He ſeems to have been a partiſan of the puritans, from his pamphlet of CHRISTIAN FRIENDSHIP, with an Invective againſt dice-play and other profane games, printed at London, 1586 q. For ſome time our author practiſed phyſic, and, in [393] the character of that profeſſion, wrote or tranſlated many medical tracts. The firſt of theſe, on a curious ſubject, A direction for the health of magiſtrates and ſtudents, from Gratarolus, appeared in 1574. At length taking orders, he firſt taught ſchool at Macclesfield in Cheſhire, and afterwards at Little Ilford in Eſſex, where he was beneficed. In this department, and in 1596, he publiſhed a correct edition of Stanbridge's Latin Proſody r. In the general character of an author, he was a voluminous and a laborious writer. He died at Little Ilford, and was interred in his church, in 1607. From a long and habitual courſe of ſtudious and induſtrious purſuits he had acquired a conſiderable fortune, a portion of which he bequeathed in charitable legacies.

It is remarkable, that Shakeſpeare has borrowed nothing from the Engliſh Seneca. Perhaps a copy might not fall in his way. Shakeſpeare was only a reader by accident. Hollinſhed and tranſlated Italian novels ſupplied moſt of his plots or ſtories. His ſtorehouſe of learned hiſtory was North's Plutarch. The only poetical fable of antiquity, which he has worked into a play, is TROILUS. But this he borrowed from the romance of Troy. Modern fiction and Engliſh hiſtory were his principal reſources. Theſe perhaps were more ſuitable to his taſte: at leaſt he found that they produced the moſt popular ſubjects. Shakeſpeare was above the bondage of the claſſics.

I muſt not forget to remark here, that, according to Ames, among the copies of Henry Denham recited in the regiſter of the Company of Stationers s, that printer, is ſaid, on the eighth of January, in 1583, among other books, to have yielded into the hands and diſpoſitions of the maſter, wardens, and aſſiſtants, of [394] that fraternity, ‘"Two or three of Seneca his tragedies t."’ Theſe, if printed after 1581, cannot be new impreſſions of any ſingle plays of Seneca, of thoſe publiſhed in Newton's edition of all the ten tragedies.

Among Hatton's manuſcripts in the Bodleian library at Oxford u, there is a long tranſlation from the HERCULES OETAEUS of Seneca, by queen Eliſabeth. It is remarkable that it is blank verſe, a meaſure which her majeſty perhaps adopted from GORDOBUC; and which therefore proves it to have been done after the year 1561. It has, however, no other recommendation but its royalty.

SECT. XL.

[395]

BUT, as ſcholars began to direct their attention to our vernacular poetry, many more of the antient poets now appeared in Engliſh verſe. Before the year 1600, Homer, Muſaeus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Martial, were tranſlated. Indeed moſt of theſe verſions were publiſhed before the year 1580. For the ſake of preſenting a connected diſplay of theſe early tranſlators, I am obliged to treſpaſs, in a ſlight degree, on that chronological order which it has been my preſcribed and conſtant method to obſerve. In the mean time we muſt remember, that their verſions, while they contributed to familiariſe the ideas of the antient poets to Engliſh readers, improved our language and verſification; and that in a general view, they ought to be conſidered as valuable and important acceſſions to the ſtock of our poetical literature. Theſe were the claſſics of Shakeſpeare.

I ſhall begin with thoſe that were tran [...]lated firſt in the reign of Eliſabeth. But I muſt premiſe, that this inquiry will neceſſarily draw with it many other notices much to our purpoſe, and which could not otherwiſe have been ſo conveniently diſpoſed and diſplayed.

Thomas Phaier, already mentioned as the writer of the ſtory of OWEN GLENDOUR in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, a native of Pembrokeſhire, educated at Oxford, a ſtudent of Lincoln's Inn, and an advocate to the council for the Marches of Wales, but afterwards doctorated in medicine at Oxford, tranſlated the ſeven firſt books of the Eneid of Virgil, on his retirement to his patrimonial ſeat in the foreſt of Kilgarran [396] in Pembrokeſhire, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557. They were printed at London in 1558, for Ihon Kyngſton, and dedicated to queen Mary a. He afterwards finiſhed the eighth book on the tenth of September, within forty days, in 1558. The ninth, in thirty days, in 1560. Dying at Kilgarran the ſame year, he lived only to begin the tenth b. All that was thus done by Phaier, one William Wightman publiſhed in 1562, with a dedication to ſir Nicholas Bacon, ‘"The nyne firſt books of the Eneidos of Virgil conuerted into Engliſh verſe by Thomas Phaer doctour of phyſick, &c c."’ The imperfect work was at length completed, with Maphaeus's ſupplemental or thirteenth book, in 1583, by Thomas Twyne, a native of Canterbury, a phyſician of Lewes in Suſſex, educated in both univerſities, an admirer of the myſterious philoſophy of John Dee, and patroniſed by lord Buckhurſt the poet d. The ninth, tenth, eleventh, [397] and twelfth books, were finiſhed at London in 1573 e. The whole was printed at London in 1584, with a dedication, dated that year from Lewes, to Robert Sackville f, the eldeſt ſon of lord Buckhurſt, who lived in the diſſolved monaſtery of the Cluniacs at Lewes g. So well received was this work, that it was followed by three new editions in 1596 h, 1607, and 1620 i. Soon after the laſt-mentioned period, it became obſolete and was forgotten k.

Phaier undertook this tranſlation for the defence, to uſe his own phraſe, of the Engliſh language, which had been by too many deemed incapable of elegance and propriety, and for the ‘"honeſt recreation of you the nobilitie, gentlemen, and ladies, who ſtudie in Latine."’ He adds, ‘"By mee firſt this gate is ſet open. If now the young writers will uouchſafe to enter, they may finde in this language both large and abvndant camps [fields] of uarietie, wherein they may gather innumerable ſortes of moſt beavtifull flowers, figures, and phraſes, not only to ſupply the imperfection of mee, but alſo to garniſh all kinds of their own verſes with a more cleane and compendiovs order of meeter than heretofore hath bene accuſtomed l."’ Phaier has omitted, miſrepreſented, and paraphraſed many paſſages; but his performance in every reſpect is evidently ſuperior to Twyne's continuation. The meaſure is the fourteen-footed [398] Alexandrine of Sternhold and Hopkins. I will give a ſhort ſpecimen from the ſiege of Troy, in the ſecond book. Venus addreſſes her ſon Eneas.

Thou to thy parents heſt take heede, dread not, my minde obey:
In yonder place, where ſtones from ſtones, and bildings huge to ſway,
Thou ſeeſt, and mixt with duſt and ſmoke thicke ſtremes of reekings riſe,
Himſelfe the god Neptùne that ſide doth furne in wondersm wiſe;
With forke threetinde the wall vproots, foundations allto ſhakes [...]
And quite from vnder ſoile the towne, with groundworks all vprakes.
On yonder ſide with Furies moſt, dame Iuno fiercely ſtands,
The gates ſhe keeps, and from the ſhips the Greeks, her friendly bands,
In armour girt ſhe calles.
Lo! there againe where Pallas ſits, on fortes and caſtle-towres,
With Gorgons eyes, in lightning cloudes incloſed grim ſhe lowres.
The father-god himſelfe to Greeks their mights and courage ſteres,
Himſelfe againſt the Troyan blood both gods and armour reres.
Betake thee to thy flight, my ſonne, thy labours ende procure,
I will thee neuer faile, but thee to reſting place aſſure.
She ſaid, and through the darke night-ſhade herſelfe ſhe drew from ſight:
Appeare the griſly faces then, Troyes en'mies vgly dight.

The popular ear, from its familiarity, was tuned to this meaſure. It was now uſed in moſt works of length and gravity, but ſeems to have been conſecrated to tranſlation. Whatever abſolute and original dignity it may boaſt, at preſent it is almoſt [399] ridiculous, from an unavoidable aſſociation of ideas, and becauſe it neceſſarily recalls the tone of the verſification of the puritans. I ſuſpect it might have acquired a degreee of importance and reverence, from the imaginary merit of its being the eſtabliſhed poetic vehicle of ſcripture, and its adoption into the celebration of divine ſervice.

I take this opportunity of obſerving, that I have ſeen an old ballad called GADS-HILL by Faire, that is probably our tranſlator Phaier. In the Regiſters of the Stationers, among ſeven Ballettes licenced to William Bedell and Richard Lante, one is entitled ‘"The Robery at Gads hill,"’ under the year 1558 n. I know not how far it might contribute to illuſtrate Shakeſpeare's HENRY THE FOURTH. The title is promiſing.

After the aſſociated labours of Phaier and Twyne, it is hard to ſay what could induce Robert Stanyhurſt, a native of Dublin, to tranſlate the four firſt books of the Eneid into Engliſh hexameters, which he printed at London, in 1583, and dedicated to his brother Peter Plunket, the learned baron of Duſanay in Ireland o. Stanyhurſt at this time was living at Leyden, having left England for ſome time on account of the change [...] religion. In the choice of his meaſure, he is more unfortunate than his predeceſſors, and in other reſpects ſucceeded worſe. It may be remarked, that Meres, in his WITS TREASURIE, printed in 1598, among the learned tranſlators, mentions only ‘"Phaier, for Virgil's Aeneads p."’ And William Webbe, in his DISCOURSE [400] OF ENGLISH POETS printed in 1586 q, entirely omits our author, and places Phaier at the Head of all the Engliſh tranſlators r. Thomas Naſhe, in his APOLOGY OF PIERCE PENNILESSE, printed in 1593, obſerves, that ‘"Stanyhurſt the otherwiſe learned, trod a foul, lumbring, boiſterous, wallowing meaſure in his tranſlation of Virgil.—He had neuer been praiſed by Gabriel Harveys for his labour, if therein he had not been ſo famouſly abſurdt."’ Harvey, Spenſer's friend, was one of the chief patrons, if not the inventor, of the Engliſh hexameter, here uſed by Stanyhurſt. I will give a ſpecimen in the firſt four lines of the ſecond book.

With tentiue liſtning each wight was ſetled in harkning;
Then father Aeneas chronicled from loftie bed hautie:
You bid me, O princeſſe, to ſcarifie a feſtered old ſore,
How that the Troians were preſt by the Grecian armie u.

With all this fooliſh pedantry, Stanyhurſt was certainly a ſcholar. But in this tranſlation he calls Chorebus, one of the Trojan chiefs, a bedlamite, he ſays that old Priam girded on his ſword Morglay, the name of a ſword in the Gothic romances, that Dido would have been glad to have been brought to bed even of a cockney, a Dandiprat hopthumb, and that Jupiter, in kiſſing his daughter, buſt his pretty prating parrot. He was admitted at Univerſity college, in 1563, where he wrote a ſyſtem [401] of logic in his eighteenth year w. Having taken one degree, he became ſucceſſively a ſtudent at Furnival's and Lincoln's Inn. He has left many theological, philoſophical, and hiſtorical books. In one of his EPITAPHS called COMMVNE DEFUNCTORUM, he mentions Julietta, Shakeſpeare's Juliet, among the celebrated heroines x. The title, and ſome of the lines, deſerve to be cited, as they ſhew the poetical ſquabbles about the Engliſh hexameter. ‘An Epitaph againſt rhyme, entituled COMMVNE DEFUNCTORUM ſuch as our vnlearned Rithmours accuſtomably make vpon the death of euerie Tom Tyler, as if it were a laſt for euerie one his foote, in which the quantities of ſyllables are not to be heeded."’

A Sara for goodneſſe, a great Bellona for budgeneſſe,
For myldneſſe Anna, for chaſtitye godlye Suſanna.
Heſter in a good ſhift, a Iudith ſtoute at a dead lift:
Alſo IULIETTA, with Dido rich Cleopatra:
With ſundrie nameleſſe, and women many more blameleſſe, &c y.

His Latin DESCRIPTIO HIBERNIAE, tranſlated into Engliſh, appears in the firſt volume of Hollinſhed's Chronicles, printed in 1583. He is ſtyled by Camden, ‘"Eruditiſſimus ille nobilis Richardus Stanihurſtus z."’ He is ſaid to have been careſſed for his literature and politeneſs by many foreign princes a. He died at Bruſſels in 1618 b.

[402] Abraham Fleming, brother to Samuel c, publiſhed a verſion of the BUCOLICS of Virgil, in 1575, with notes, and a dedication to Peter Oſborne eſquire. This is the title, ‘"The BUKOLIKES of P. Virgilius Maro, with alphabeticall Annotations, &c. Drawne into plaine and familiar Engliſhe verſe by Abr. Fleming ſtudent, &c. London by John Charlewood, &c. 1575."’ His plan was to give a plain and literal tranſlation, verſe for verſe. Theſe are the five firſt lines of the tenth Eclogue.

O Arethuſa, graunt this labour be my laſt indeede!
A few ſonges vnto Gallo, but let them Lycoris reede:
Needes muſt I ſinge to Gallo mine, what man would ſonges deny?
So when thou ronneſt vnder Sicane ſeas, where froth doth fry,
Let not that bytter Doris of the ſalte ſtreame mingle make.

Fourteen years afterwards, in 1589, the ſame author publiſhed a new verſion both of the BUCOLICS and GEORGICS of [403] Virgil, with notes, which he dedicated to John Whitgift archbiſhop of Canterbury d. This is commonly ſaid and ſuppoſed to be in blank verſe, but it is in the regular Alexandrine without rhyme. It is entitled, ‘"The BUKOLIKES of P. Virgilius Maro, &c. otherwiſe called his paſtoralls or Shepherds Meetings. Together with his GEORGICS, or Ruralls, &c. All newly tranſlated into Engliſh verſe by A. F. At London by T. O. for T. Woodcocke, &c. 1589."’ I exhibit the five firſt verſes of the fourth Eclogue.

O Muſes of Sicilia ile, let's greater matters ſinge!
Shrubs, groves, and buſhes lowe, delight and pleaſe not every man:
If we do ſinge of woodes, the woods be worthy of a conſul.
Nowe is the laſt age come, whereof Sybilla's verſe foretold;
And now the Virgin come againe, and Saturnes kingdom come.

The fourth Georgic thus begins.

O my Mecenas, now will I diſpatch forthwith to ſhew
The heauenly gifts, or benefits, of airie honie ſweet.
Look on this piece of worke likewiſe, as thou haſt on the reſt.

Abraham Fleming ſuperviſed, corrected, and enlarged the ſecond edition of Hollinſhed's chronicle in 1585 e. He tranſlated Aelian's VARIOUS HISTORY into Engliſh in 1576, which he dedicated to Goodman dean of Weſtminſter, ‘"Aelian's Regiſtre [404] of Hyſtories by Abraham Fleming f."’ He publiſhed alſo Certaine ſelect epiſtles of Cicero into Engliſh, in 1576 g. And, in the ſame year, he imparted to our countrymen a fuller idea of the elegance of the antient epiſtle, by his ‘"PANOPLIE OF EPISTLES from Tully, Iſocrates, Pliny, and others, printed at London 1576 h."’ He tranſlated Syneſius's Greek PANEGYRIC on BALDNESS, which had been brought into vogue by Eraſmus's MORIAE ENCOMIUM i. Among ſome other pieces, he Engliſhed many celebrated books written in Latin about the fifteenth century and at the reſtoration of learning, which was a frequent practice, after it became faſhionable to compoſe in Engliſh, and our writers had begun to find the force and uſe of their own tongue k. Sir William Cordall, the queen's ſolicitorgeneral, was his chief patron l.

William Webbe, who is ſtyled a graduate, tranſlated the GEORGICS into Engliſh verſe, as he himſelf informs us in the DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POETRIE, lately quoted, and printed in 1586 m. And in the ſame diſcourſe, which was written in [405] defence of the new faſhion of Engliſh hexameters, he has given us his own verſion of two of Virgil's BUCOLIC [...], written in that unnatural and impracticable mode of verſification n. I muſt not forget here, that the ſame Webbe ranks Abraham Fleming as a tranſlator, after Barnabie Googe the tranſlator of Palingenius's ZODIAC, not without a compliment to the poetry and the learning of his brother Samuel, whoſe excellent Inventions, he adds, had not yet been made public.

Abraham Fraunce, in 1591, tranſlated Virgil's ALEXIS into Engliſh hexameters, verſe for verſe, which he calls The lamentation of Corydon for the love of Alexis o. It muſt be owned, that the ſelection of this particular Eclogue from all the ten for an Engliſh verſion, is ſomewhat extraordinary. But in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, I could point out whole ſets of ſonnets written with this ſort of attachment, for which perhaps it will be but an inadequate apology, that they are free from direct impurity of expreſſion and open immodeſty of ſentiment. Such at leaſt is our obſervance of external propriety, and ſo ſtrong the principles of a general decorum, that a writer of the preſent age who was to print love-verſes in this ſtyle, would be ſeverely reproached, and univerſally proſcribed. I will inſtance only in the AFFECTIONATE SHEPHERD of Richard Barnefielde, printed in 1595. Here, through the courſe of twenty ſonnets, not inelegant, and which were exceedingly popular, the poet bewails his unſucceſsful love for a beautiful youth, by the name of Ganimede, in a ſtrain of the moſt tender paſſion, yet with profeſſions of the chaſteſt affection p. Many deſcriptions and incidents [406] which have a like complexion, may be found in the futile novels of Lodge and Lilly.

Fraunce is alſo the writer of a book, with the affected an [...] unmeaning title of the ‘"ARCADIAN RHETORIKE, or the preceptes of Rhetoricke made plaine by examples, Greeke, Latyne, Englisſhe, Italyan, Frenche, and Spaniſhe."’ It was printed in 1588, and is valuable for its Engliſh examples q.

In conſequence of the verſions of Virgil's Bucolics, a piece appeared in 1584, called ‘"A Comoedie of Titerus and Galathea r."’ I ſuppoſe this to be Lilly's play called GALLATHEA, played before the queen at Greenwich on New Year's day by the choriſters of ſaint Pauls.

It will perhaps be ſufficient barely to mention Spenſer's CULEX, which is a vague and arbitrary paraphraſe, of a poem not properly belonging to Virgil. From the teſtimony of many early Latin writers it may be juſtly concluded, that Virgil wrote an elegant poem with this title. Nor is it improbable that in the CU [...]EX at preſent attributed to Virgil, ſome very few of the original phraſes, and even verſes, may remain, under the accumulated incruſtation of critics, imitators, interpolators, and paraphraſts, which corrupts what it conceals. But the texture, the character, and ſubſtance, of the genuine poem is almoſt entirely loſt. The CEIRIS, or the fable of Niſus and Scylla, which follows, although never mentioned by any writer of antiquity, has much fairer pretenſions to genuineneſs. At leaſt the CEIRIS, allowing for uncommon depravations of time and tranſcription, appears in its preſent ſtate to be a poem of the Auguſtan age, and is perhaps the identical piece dedicated to the Meſſala whoſe patronage it ſolicits. It has that rotundity of verſification, which ſeems to have been ſtudied after the Roman poetry emerged from barbariſm. [407] It has a general ſimplicity, and often a native ſtrength, of colouring; nor is it tinctured, except by the caſual innovation of grammarians, with thoſe ſophiſtications both of ſentiment and expreſſion, which afterwards of courſe took place among the Roman poets, and which would have betrayed a recent forgery. It ſeems to be the work of a young poet: but its digreſſions and deſcriptions which are often too prolix, are not only the marks of a young poet, but of early poetry. It is interſperſed with many lines, now in the Eclogues, Georgics, and Eneid. Here is an argument which ſeems to aſſign it to Virgil. A cotemporary poet would not have ventured to ſteal from poems ſo well known. It was natural, at leaſt allowable, for Virgil to ſteal from a performance of his youth, on which he did not ſet any great value, and which he did not ſcruple to rob of a few ornaments, deſerving a better place. This conſideration excludes Cornelius Gallus, to whom Fontanini, with much acute criticiſm, has aſcribed the CEIRIS. Nor, for the reaſon given, would Virgil have ſtolen from Gallus. The writer has at leaſt the art of Virgil, in either ſuppreſſing, or throwing into ſhade, the trite and unintereſting incidents of the common fabulous hiſtory of Scylla, which were incapable of decoration, or had been preoccupied by other poets. The dialogue between the young princeſs Scylla, who is deeply in love, and her nurſe, has much of the pathos of Virgil. There are ſome traces which diſcover an imitation of Lucretius: but on the whole, the ſtructure of the verſes, and the predominant caſt and manner of the compoſition, exactly reſemble the ARGONAUTICA of Catullus, or the EPITHALAMIUM of PELEUS AND THETIS. I will inſtance in the following paſſage, in which every thing is diſtinctly and circumſtantially touched, and in an affected pomp of numbers. He is alluding to the ſtole of Minerva, interwoven with the battle of the giants, and exhibited at Athens in the magnificent Panathenaic feſtival. The claſſical reader will perceive one or two interpolations: and lament, that this rich piece of embroidery [408] has ſuffered a little from being unſkilfully darned by another and a more modern artificer.

Sed magno intexens, ſi fas eſt dicere, peplo,
Qualis Erectheis olim portatur Athenis,
Debita cum caſtae [...]olvuntur vota Minervae,
Tardaque confecto redeunt quinquennia luſtro,
Cum levis alterno Zephyrus concrebuit Euro,
Et prono gravidum provexit pondere curſum.
Felix ille dies, felix et dicitur annus:
Felices qui talem annum videre, diemque!
Ergo Palladiae texuntur in ordine pugnae:
Magna Gigantaeis ornantur pepla tropaeis,
Horrida ſanguineo pinguntur praelia cocco.
Additur aurata dejectus cuſpide Typho,
Qui prius Oſſaeis conſternens aethera ſaxis,
Emathio celſum duplicabat vertice Olympum.
Tale deae velum ſolemni in tempore portant s.

The ſame ſtately march of hexameters is obſervable in Tibullus's tedious panegyric on Meſſala: a poem, which, if it ſhould not be believed to be of Tibullus's hand, may at leaſt, from this reaſoning be adjudged to his age. We are ſure that Catullus could not have been the author of the CEIRIS, as Meſſala, to whom it is inſcribed, was born but a very few years before the death of Catullus. One of the chief circumſtances of the ſtory is a purple lock of hair, which grew on the head of Niſus king of Megara, and on the preſervation of which the ſafety of that city, now beſieged by Minos, king of Crete, entirely depended. Scylla, Niſus's daughter, falls in love with Minos, whom ſhe ſees from the walls of Megara: ſhe finds means to cut off this ſacred ringlet, the city is taken, and ſhe is married to Minos. I am of opinion that Tibullus, in the following paſſage, alludes to the CEIRIS, then newly publiſhed, [409] and which he points out by this leading and fundamental fiction of Niſus's purple lock.

Pieridas, pueri, doctos et amate poetas;
Aurea nec ſuperent munera Pieridas!
CARMINE PURPUREA eſt Niſi coma: carmina ni ſint,
Ex humero Pelopis non nituiſſet ebur t.

Tibullus here, in recommending the ſtudy of the poets to the Roman youth, illuſtrates the power of poetry; and, for this purpoſe, with much addreſs he ſelects a familiar inſtance from a piece recently written, perhaps by one of his friends.

Spenſer ſeems to have ſhewn a particular regard to theſe two little poems, ſuppoſed to be the work of Virgil's younger years. Of the CULEX he has left a paraphraſe, under the title of VIRGIL'S GNAT, dedicated to lord Leiceſter, who died in 1588. It was printed without a title page at the end of the ‘"TEARES OF THE MUSES, by Ed. Sp. London, imprinted for William Ponſonbie dwelling in Paules church-yard at the ſign of the biſhops head, 1591 u."’ From the CEIRIS he has copied a long paſſage, which forms the firſt part of the legend of Britomart in the third book of the FAIRY QUEEN.

Although the ſtory of MEDEA exiſted in Guido de Columna, and perhaps other modern writers in Latin, yet we ſeem to have had a verſion of Valerius Flaccus in 1565. For in that year, I know not if in verſe or proſe, was entered to Purfoote, ‘"The ſtory of Jaſon, how he gotte the golden flece, and howe he did begyle Media [Medea], oute of Laten into Englisſhe by Nycholas Whyte w."’ Of the tranſlator Whyte, I know nothing more.

Of Ovid's METAMORPHOSIS, the four firſt books were tranſlated by Arthur Golding in 1565 x. ‘"The fyrſt fower bookes of the Metamorphoſis owte of Latin into Engliſh meter by [410] Arthur Golding, gentleman, &c. Imprinted at London by Willyam Seres 1565 y."’ But ſoon afterwards he printed the whole, or, ‘"The xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naſo entytuled METAMORPHOSIS, tranſlated out of Latin into Engliſh meetre, by Arthur Golding Gentleman. A worke uery pleaſant and delectable. Lond. 1575."’ William Seres was the printer, as before z. This work became a favorite, and was reprinted in 1587, 1603, and 1612 a. The dedication, an epiſtle in verſe, is to Robert earl of Leiceſter, and dated at Berwick, April 20, 1567. In the metrical Preface to the Reader, which immediately follows, he apologiſes for having named ſo many fictitious and heathen gods. This apology ſeems to be intended for the weaker puritans b. His ſtyle is poetical and ſpirited, and his verſification clear: his manner ornamental and diffuſe, yet with a ſufficient obſervance of the original. On the whole, I think him a better poet and a better tranſlator than Phaier. This will appear from a few of the firſt lines of the ſecond book, which his readers took for a deſcription of an enchanted caſtle.

The princely pallace of the Sun, ſtood gorgeous to behold,
On ſtately pillars builded high, of yellow burniſht gold;
Beſet with ſparkling carbuncles, that like to fire did ſhine,
The roofe was framed curiouſly, of yuorie pure and fine.
The two-doore-leves of ſiluer clere, a radiant light did caſt:
But yet the cunning workemanſhip of thinges therein far paſt
The ſtuffe whereof the doores were made: for there a perfect plat
Had Vulcane drawne of all the world, both of the ſourges that
[411] Embrace the earth with winding waves, and of the ſtedfaſt ground,
And of the heauen itſelf alſo, that both encloſeth round.
And firſt and foremoſt of the ſea, the gods thereof did ſtand,
Loude-ſounding Tryton, with his ſhrill and writhen trumpe in hand,
Unſtable Protew, changing aye his figure and his hue,
From ſhape to ſhape a thouſand ſights, as liſt him to renue.—
In purple robe, and royall throne of emerauds freſhe and greene,
Did Phoebus ſit, and on each hand ſtood wayting well beſeene,
Dayes, Months, Yeeres, Ages, Seaſons, Times, and eke the equall Houres;
There ſtood the SPRINGTIME, with a crowne of freſh and fragrant floures:
There wayted SUMMER naked ſtarke, all ſaue a wheaten hat:
And AUTUMNE ſmerde with treading grapes late at the preſſingvat:
And laſtly, quaking for the colde, ſtood WINTER all forlorne,
With rugged head as white as doue, and garments al to torne;
Forladenc with the iſycles, that dangled vp and downe,
Upon his gray and hoarie beard, and ſnowie frozen crowne.
The Sunne thus ſitting in the midſt, did caſt his piercing eye, &c.

But I cannot reſiſt the pleaſure of tranſcribing a few more lines, from the transformation of Athamas and Ino, in the fourth book. Tiſiphone addreſſes Juno d.

The hatefull hag Tiſiphone, with hoarie ruffled heare e,
Remouing from her face the ſnakes, that looſely dangled theare,
Said thus, &c.

He proceeds,

The furious fiend Tiſiphone, doth cloth her out of hand,
In garment ſtreaming gory blood, and taketh in her hand
[412] A burning creſſete ſteept in blood, and girdeth her about
With wreathed ſnakes, and ſo goes forth, and at her going out,
Feare, terror, griefe, and penſiueneſſe, for company ſhe tooke,
And alſo madneſſe with his flaight and gaſtly-ſtaring looke.
Within the houſe of Athamas no ſooner foote ſhe ſet,
But that the poſtes began to quake, and doores looke blacke as iet.
The ſunne withdrewe him: Athamas and eke his wife were caſt
With ougly ſightes in ſuch a feare, that out of doores agaſt
They would have fled. There ſtood the fiend, and ſtopt their paſſage out;
And ſplayingf foorth her filthy armes beknit with ſnakes about,
Did toſſe and waue her hatefull head. The ſwarme of ſcaled ſnakes
Did make an yrkſome noyce to heare, as ſhe her treſſes ſhakes.
About her ſhoulders ſome did craule, ſome trayling downe her breſt,
Did hiſſe, and ſpit out poiſon greene, and ſpirt with tongues infeſt.
Then from amid her haire two ſnakes, with venymd hand ſhe drew,
Of which ſhe one at Athamas, and one at Ino threw.
The ſnakes did craule about their breſts, inſpiring in their heart
Moſt grieuous motions of the minde: the body had no ſmart
Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell ſtinges.
A poyſon made in ſyrup-wiſe, ſhe alſo with her brings,
The filthy [...]ome of Cerberus, the caſting of the ſnake
Echidna, bred among the fennes, about the Stygian lake.
Deſire of gadding forth abroad, Forgetfullneſs of minde,
Delight in miſchie [...]e, Woodneſſe g, Tears, and Purpoſe whole inclinde
To cruell murther: all the which, ſhe did together grinde.
And mingling them with new-ſhed blood, ſhe boyled them in braſſe,
And ſtird them with a hemlock ſtalke. Now while that Athamas
[413] And Ino ſtood, and quakt for feare, this poyſon ranke and fell
She turned into both their breſts, and made their hearts to ſwell.
Then whiſking often round about her head, her balefull brand,
She made it ſoone, by gathering winde, to kindle in her hand.
Thus, as it were in tryumph-wi [...]e, accompliſhing her heſt,
To duſkie Pluto's emptie realme, ſhe gets her home to reſt,
And putteth off the ſnarled ſnakes that girded-in her breſt.

We have here almoſt as horrid a mixture as the ingredients in Macbeth's cauldron. In theſe lines there is much enthuſiaſm, and the character of original compoſition. The abruptneſſes of the text are judiciouſly retained, and perhaps improved. The tranſlator ſeems to have felt Ovid's imagery, and this perhaps is an imagery in which Ovid excells.

Golding's verſion of the METAMORPHOSIS kept its ground, till Sandys's Engliſh Ovid appeared in 1632. I know not who was the author of what is called a ballet, perhaps a tranſlation from the Metamorphoſis, licenced to John Charlewood, in 1569, ‘"The vnfortunate ende of Iphis ſonne vnto Teucer kynge of Troye h."’Nor muſt I omit The tragicall and lamentable ‘"Hiſtorie of two faythfull mates Ceyx kynge of Thrachine, and Alcione his wife, drawen into Engliſh meeter by William Hubbard, 1569 i."’ In ſtanzas.

Golding was of a gentleman's family, a native of London, and lived with ſecretary Cecil at his houſe in the Strand k. Among his patrons, as we may collect from his dedications, were alſo ſir Walter Mildmay, William lord Cobham, Henry earl of Huntington, lord Leiceſter, ſir Chriſtopher Hatton, lord Oxford, and Robert earl of Eſſex. He was connected with ſir Philip [414] Sydney: for he finiſhed an Engliſh tranſlation of Philip Mornay's treatiſe in French on the Truth of Chriſtianity, which had been begun by Sydney, and was publiſhed in 1587 l. He enlarged our knowledge of the treaſures of antiquity by publiſhing Engliſh tranſlations, of Juſtin's Hiſtory in 1564 m, of Ceſar's Commentaries in 1565 n, of Seneca's BENEFITS in 1577 o, and of the GEOGRAPHY of Pomponius Mela, and the POLYHISTORY of Solinus, in 1587, and 1590 p. He has left verſions of many modern Latin writers, which then had their uſe, and ſuited the condition and opinions of the times; and which are now forgotten, by the introduction of better books, and the general change of the ſyſtem of knowledge. I think his only original work is an account of an Earthquake in 1580. Of his original poetry I recollect nothing more, than an encomiaſtic copy of verſes prefixed to Baret's ALVEARE publiſhed in 1580. It may be regretted, that he gave ſo much of his time to tranſlation. In GEORGE GASCOIGNE'S PRINCELY PLEASURES OF KENILWORTH-CASTLE, an entertainment in the year 1575, he ſeems to have been a writer of ſome of the verſes, ‘"The deuiſe of the Ladie of the Lake alſo was maſter Hunnes—The verſes, as I think, were penned, ſome by maſter Hunnes, ſome by maſter Ferrers, and ſome by maſter Goldingham q."’ The want of exactneſs through haſte or careleſſneſs, in writing or pronouncing names, even by cotemporaries, is a common fault, eſpecially in our old writers; and I ſuſpect Golding is intended in the laſt name r. He is ranked among the celebrated tranſlators by Webbe and Meres.

[415] The learned Aſcham wiſhes that ſome of theſe tranſlators had uſed blank verſe inſtead of rhyme. But by blank verſe, he ſeems to mean the Engliſh hexameter or ſome other Latin meaſure. He ſays, ‘"Indeed, Chauſer, Thomas Norton of Briſtow, my Lord of Surry, M. Wiat, Thomas Phaier, and other gentlemen, in tranſlating Ouide, Palingenius, and Seneca, haue gone as farre to their great praiſe as the coppy they followed could cary them. But if ſuch good wittes, and forward diligence, had been directed to followe the beſt examples, and not haue beene caryed by tyme and cuſtome to content themſelves with that barbarous and rude Ryming, amongeſt theyr other woorthye prayſes which they haue iuſtly deſerued, this had not been the leaſt, to be counted among men of learning and ſkill, more like vnto the Grecians than the Gothians in handling of theyr verſe s."’ The ſentiments of another cotemporary critic on this ſubject were ſomewhat different. ‘"In queene Maries time floriſhed abou [...] any other doctour Phaier, one that was learned, and excellently well tranſlated into Engliſh verſe heroicall, certaine bookes of Virgil's Aeneidos. Since him followed maiſter Arthur Golding, who with no leſs commendation turned into Engliſh meetre the Metamorphoſis of Ouide, and that other doctour who made the ſupplement to thoſe bookes of Virgil's Aeneidos, which maiſter Phaier left vndoone."’ Again, he commends ‘"Phaier and Golding, for a learned and well connected verſe, ſpecially in tranſlation cleare, and uery faithfully anſwering their authours intent t."’

I learn from Coxeter's notes, that the FASTI were tranſlated into Engliſh verſe before the year 1570. If ſo, the many little pieces now current on the ſubject of LUCRETIA, although her legend is in Chaucer, might immediately originate from this ſource. In 1568, occurs, a Ballett called ‘"the grevious complaynt of Lucrece u."’ And afterwards, in the year 1569, is [416] licenced to James Robertes, ‘"A ballet of the death of Lucryſſia w."’ There is alſo a ballad of the legend of Lucrece, printed in 1576. Theſe publications might give riſe to Shakeſpeare's RAPE OF LUCRECE, which appeared in 1594. At this period of our poetry, we find the ſame ſubject occupying the attention of the public for many years, and ſucceſſively preſented in new and various forms by different poets. Lucretia was the grand example of conjugal fidelity throughout the Gothic ages x.

The fable of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, in the fourth book of the METAMORPHOSIS, was tranſlated by Thomas Peend, or De la Peend, in 1565 y. I have ſeen it only among Antony Wood's books in the Aſhmolean Muſeum. An Epiſtle is prefixed, addreſſed to Nicolas Saint Leger eſquire, from the writer's ſtudie in Chancery-lane oppoſite Serjeant's-inn. At the end of which, is an explanation of certain poetical words occurring in the poem. In the preface he tells us, that he had tranſlated great part of the METAMORPHOSIS; but that he abandoned his deſign, on hearing that another, undoubtedly Golding, was engaged in the ſame undertaking. Peend has a recommendatory [417] poem prefixed to Studley's verſion of Seneca's AGAMEMNON, in 1566. In 1562, was licenced ‘"the boke of Perymus and Theſbye,"’ copied perhaps in the MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM. I ſuppoſe a tranſlation from Ovid's fable of Pyramus and Thiſbe z.

The fable of Narciſſus had been tranſlated, and printed ſeparately in 1560, by a nameleſs author, ‘"The fable of Ovid treting of Narciſſus tranſlated out of Latin into Engliſh mytre, with a moral thereunto, very pleſante to rede, Lond. 1560 a."’ The tranſlator's name was luckily ſuppreſſed. But at the cloſe of the work are his initials, ‘"Finis. T. H."’ Annexed to the fable is a moraliſation of twice the length [418] in the octave ſtanza. Almoſt every narrative was antiently ſuppoſed or made to be allegorical, and to contain a moral meaning. I have enlarged on this ſubject in the DISSERTATION ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. In the reign of Eliſabeth, a popular ballad had no ſooner been circulated, than it was converted into a practical inſtruction, and followed by its MORALISATION. The old regiſters of the Stationers afford numerous inſtances of this cuſtom, which was encouraged by the encreaſe of puritaniſm b. Hence in Randolph's MUSE'S [419] LOOKING-GLASS, where two pu [...]itans are made ſpectators of a play, a player, to reconcile them in ſome degree to a theatre, promiſes to moraliſe the plot: and one of them anſwers,

—That MORALIZING
I do approve: it may be for inſtruction c.

Ovid's IBIS was tranſlated, and illuſtrated with annotations, by Thomas Underdowne, born, and I ſuppoſe educated, at Oxford. It was printed at London in 1569 d, with a dedication to Thomas Sackville, lord Buckhurſt, the author of GORDOBUC, and entitled, ‘"Ouid his inuective againſt Ibis Tranſlated into meeter, whereunto is added by the tranſlator a ſhort draught of all the ſtories and tales contayned therein uery pleaſant to read. Imprinted at London by T. Eaſt and H. Middleton, Anno Domini 1569."’ The notes are large and hiſtorical. There was a ſecond edition by Binneman in 1577 e. This is the firſt ſtanza.

Whole fiftie yeares be gone and paſt
Since I alyue haue been
Yet of my Muſe ere now there hath
No armed verſe be ſeene.

The ſame author opened a new field of romance, and which ſeems partly to have ſuggeſted ſir Philip Sydney's ARCADIA, in tranſlating into Engliſh proſe the ten books of Heliodorus's Ethiopic hiſtory, in 1577 f. This work, the beginning of [420] which was afterwards verſified by Abraham Fraunce in 1591, is dedicated to Edward earl of Oxford. The knights and dames of chivalry, ſir Triſtram and Bel Iſoulde, now began to give place to new lovers and intrigues: and our author publiſhed the Excellent hiſtorie of Theſeus and Ariadne, moſt probably ſuggeſted by Ovid, which was printed at London in 1566 g.

The ELEGIES of Ovid, which convey the obſcenities of the brothel in elegant language, but are ſeldom tinctured with the ſentiments of a ſerious and melancholy love, were tranſlated by Chriſtopher Marlowe belowmentioned, and printed at Middleburgh without date. This book was ordered to be burnt at Stationers hall, in 1599, by command of the archbiſhop of Canterbury and the biſhop of London h.

Ovid's REMEDY OF LOVE had an anonymous tranſlator in 1599 i. But this verſion was printed the next year under the title of ‘"Ovidius Naſo his REMEDIE OF LOVE, tranſlated and entituled to the youth of England, by F. L. London 1600 k."’

The HEROICAL EPISTLES of Ovid, with Sabinus's Anſwers, were ſet out and tranſlated by Thomas Turberville, a celebrated writer of poems in the reign of queen Eliſabeth, and of whom more will be ſaid in his proper place l. This verſion was printed in 1567, and followed by two editions m. It is dedicated to Thomas Howard viſcount Byndon n. Six of the Epiſtles are [421] rendered in blank verſe. The reſt in four-lined ſtanzas. The printer is John Charlewood, who appears to have been printer to the family of Howard, and probably was retained as a domeſtic for that liberal purpoſe in Arundel-houſe, the ſeat of elegance and literature till Cromwell's uſurpation o. Turberville was a polite ſcholar, and ſome of the paſſages are not unhappily turned. From Penelope to Ulyſſes.

To thee that lingreſt all too long
Thy wife, Vlyſſes, ſends:
'Gaine write not, but by quicke returne
For abſence make amendes.—
O that the ſurging ſeas had drencht
That hatefull letcher tho',
When he to Lacedaemon came
Inbarkt, and wrought our woe!

I add here, that Mantuan, who had acquired the rank of a claſſic, was alſo verſified by Turberville in 1594 p.

Coxeter ſays, that he had ſeen one of Ovid's Epiſtles tranſlated by Robert earl of Eſſex. This I have never ſeen; and, if it could be recovered, I truſt it would only be valued as a curioſity. A few of his ſonnets are in the Aſhmolean Muſeum, which have no marks of poetic genius. He is a vigorous and elegant writer of proſe. But if Eſſex was no poet, few noblemen of his age were more courted by poets. From Spenſer to the loweſt rhymer he was the ſubject of numerous ſonnets, or popular ballads. I will not except Sydney. I could produce evidence to prove, that he ſcarce ever went out of England, or even left London, on the moſt frivolous enterpriſe, without a paſtoral in his praiſe, or a panegyric in metre, which were ſold and ſung in [422] the ſtreets. Having intereſted himſelf in the faſhionable poetry of the times, he was placed high in the ideal Arcadia now juſt eſtabliſhed: and among other inſtances which might be brought, on his return from Portugal in 1589, he was complimented with a poem, called ‘"An Egloge gratulatorie entituled to the right honorable and renowned ſhepherd of Albions Arcadie Robert earl of Eſſex and for his returne lately into England q."’ This is a light in which lord Eſſex is ſeldom viewed. I know not if the queen's fatal partiality, or his own inherent attractions, his love of literature, his heroiſm, integrity, and generoſity, qualities which abundantly overbalance his preſumption, his vanity, and impetuoſity, had the greater ſhare in dictating theſe praiſes. If adulation were any where juſtifiable, it muſt be when paid to the man who endeavoured to ſave Spenſer from ſtarving in the ſtreets of Dublin, and who buried him in Weſtminſter-abbey with becoming ſolemnity. Spenſer was perſecuted by Burleigh, becauſe he was patroniſed by Eſſex.

Thomas Churchyard, who will occur again, rendered the three firſt of the TRISTIA, which he dedicated to ſir Chriſtopher Hatton, and printed at London in 1580 r.

Among Coxeter's papers is mentioned the ballet of Helen's epiſtle to Paris, from Ovid, in 1570, by B. G. I ſuſpect this B. G. to be the author of a poem called ‘"A booke intituled a new tragicall hiſtorye of too lovers,"’ as it is entered in the regiſter of the Stationers, where it is licenced to Alexander Lacy, under the year 1563 s. Ames recites this piece as written by Ber. Gar. [423] perhaps Bernard Gardiner f. Unleſs Gar, which I do not think, be the full name. The title of BALLET was often applied to poems of conſiderable length. Thus in the regiſter of the Stationers, Sackville's LEGEND OF BUCKINGHAM, a part of the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, is recited, under the year 1557, among a great number of ballads, ſome of which ſeem to be properly ſo ſtyled, and entitled, ‘"The murninge of Edward duke of Buckynham."’ Unleſs we ſuppoſe this to be a popular epitome of Sackville's poem, then juſt publiſhed u. A romance, or Hiſtory, verſified, ſo as to form a book or pamphlet, was ſometimes called a ballad. As ‘"A ballett entituled an hiſtory of Alexander Campaſpe and Apelles, and of the faythfull fryndeſhippe betweene theym,’ printed for Colwell, in 1565 w. This was from the grand romance of Alexander x. Sometimes a Ballad is a work in proſe. I cannot ſay whether, ‘"A ballet intitled the incorraggen all kynde of men to the reedyfyinge and buyldynge Poules ſteeple againe,"’ printed in 1564 y, was a pathetic ditty, or a pious homily, or both. A play or interlude was ſometimes called a ballet, as, ‘"A Ballet intituled AN ENTERLUDE, The cruel detter by Wayer,"’ printed for Colwell, in 1565 z. Religious ſubjects were frequently called by this vague and indiſcriminating name. In 1561, was publiſhed ‘"A new ballet of iiij commandements a."’ That is, four of the Ten Commandments in metre. Again, among many others of the ſame kind, as puritaniſm gained ground, ‘"A [424] ballet intituled the xvijth chapter of the iiijth [ſecond] boke of Kynges b."’ And I remember to have ſeen, of the ſame period, a Ballet of the firſt chapter of Geneſis. And John Hall, abovementioned, wrote or compiled in 1564, ‘"The COURTE OF VERTUE, contaynynge many holy or ſpretuall ſonges, ſonettes, pſalmes, balletts, and ſhorte ſentences, as well of holy ſcriptures, as others c."’

It is extraordinary, that Horace's ODES ſhould not have been tranſlated within the period of which we are ſpeaking d. In the year 1566, Thomas Drant publiſhed, what he called, ‘"A MEDICINABLE MORALL, that is, the two bookes of Horace his ſatyres Engliſhed, according to the preſcription of ſaint Hierome, &c e. London, for Thomas Marſhe, 1566 f."’ It is dedicated to ‘"my Lady Bacon and my Lady Cecill fauourers of learning and vertue."’ The following year appeared, ‘"Horace his Arte of Poetrie, Piſtles, and Satyrs Engliſhed, and to the earle of Ormounte by Thomas Drant addreſſed g. Imprinted at London in Fleteſtrete nere to S. Dunſtones churche, by Thomas Marſhe, 1567 h."’ This verſion is very paraphraſtic, [425] and ſometimes parodical. In the addreſs to the reader prefixed, our tranſlator ſays of his Horace, ‘"I haue tranſlated him ſumtymes at randun. And nowe at this laſt time welnye worde for worde, and lyne for lyne. And it is maruaile that I, being in all myne oth [...]r ſpeaches ſo playne and perceauable, ſhould here deſyer or not ſhun to be harde, ſo farre forth as I can kepe the lerninge and ſayinges of the author."’ What follows is too curious not to be tranſcribed, as it is a picture of the popular learning, and a ridicule of the idle narratives, of the reign of queen Eliſabeth. ‘"But I feare me a number do ſo thincke of thys booke, as I was aunſwered by a prynter not long agone: Though ſayth he, ſir, your boke be wyſe and ful of learnyng, yet peradventure it wyl not be ſaleable: Signifying indeede, that flim flames, and gue gawes, be they neuer ſo ſleight and ſlender, are ſooner rapte vp thenne are thoſe which be lettered and clarkly makings. And no doubt the cauſe that bookes of learnynge ſeme ſo hard is, becauſe ſuch and ſo greate a ſcull of amarouſe [amorous] pamphlets haue ſo preoccupyed the eyes and eares of men, that a multytude beleue ther is none other ſtyle or phraſe ells worthe gramercy i. No bookes ſo ryfe or ſo frindly red, as be theſe [426] bokes.—But if the ſettyng out of the wanton tricks of a payre of louers, as for example let theym be cauled ſir Chaunticleare and dame Partilote, to tell howe their firſte combination of loue began, howe their eyes floted, and howe they anchered, their beames mingled one with the others bewtye. Then, of their perplexed thowghts, their throwes, their fancies, their dryrie driftes, now interrupted now vnperfyted, their loue days, their ſugred words, and their ſugred ioyes. Afterward, howe enuyous fortune, through this chop or that chaunce, turned their bleſs to bale, ſeuerynge two ſuch bewtiful faces and dewtiful hearts. Laſt, at partynge, to ad-to an oration or twane, interchangeably had betwixt the two wobegone perſons, the one thicke powderd with manly paſſionat pangs, the other watered with womaniſh teares. [427] Then to ſhryne them vp to god Cupid, and make martirres of them both, and therwyth an ende of the matter."’ Afterwards, reverting to the peculiar difficulty of his own attempt, he adds, ‘"Neyther any man which can iudge, can iudge it one and the like laboure to tranſlate Horace, and to make and tranſlate a loue booke, a ſhril tragedye, or a ſmoth and platleuyled poeſye. Thys can I trulye ſay of myne owne experyence, that I can ſoner tranſlate twelve verſes out of the Greeke Homer than ſixe out Horace."’ Horace's ſatirical writings, and even his Odes, are undoubtedly more difficult to tranſlate than the narrations of epic poetry, which depend more on things than words: no [...] is it to be expected, that his ſatires and epiſtles ſhould be happily rendered into Engliſh at this infancy of ſtyle and taſte, when his delicate turns could not be expreſſed, his humour and his urbanity juſtly reliſhed, and his good ſenſe and obſervations on life underſtood. Drant ſeems to have ſucceeded beſt in the exquiſite Epiſtle to Tibullus, which I will therefore give entire.

To Albius Tibullus, a deuiſor k.
Tybullus, frend and gentle iudge
Of all that I do clatter l,
What doſt thou all this while abroade,
How might I learne the matter?
Doſt thou inuente ſuch worthy workes
As Caſſius' poemes paſſe?
Or doſte thou cloſelie creeping lurck [...]
Amid the wholſom graſſe?
Addicted to philoſop [...]ie,
Contemning not a whitte
That'sm ſeemlie for an honeſt man,
And for a man of witte n.
[428] Not thou a bodie without breaſt!
The goddes made thee t' excell
In ſhape, the gods haue lent thee goodes,
And arte to vſe them well.
What better thing vnto her childe
Can wiſh the mother kinde?
Than wiſedome, and, in fyled frame p,
To vtter owte his minde:
To haue fayre fauoure, fame enoughe,
And perfect ſtaye, and health;
Things trim at will, and not to feele
The emptie ebb of wealth.
Twixt hope to haue, and care to kepe,
Twixt feare and wrathe, awaye
Conſumes the time: eche daye that cummes,
Thinke it the latter daye.
The hower that cummes unlooked for
Shall cum more welcum aye.
Thou ſhalt Me fynde fat and well fed,
As pubbleq as may be;
And, when thou wilt, a merie mate,
To laughe and chat with thee r.

Drant undertook this verſion in the character of a grave divine, and as a teacher of morality. He was educated at ſaint John's college in Cambridge; where he was graduated in theology, in the year 1569 s. The ſame year he was appointed prebendary of Chicheſter and of ſaint Pauls. The following year he was inſtal [...]ed archdeacon of Lewes in the cathedral of Chicheſter. Theſe preferments he probably procured by the intereſt of Grindall archbiſhop of York, of whom he was a domeſtic chaplain t. [429] He was a tolerable Latin poet. He tranſlated the ECCLESIASTES into Latin hexameters, which he dedicated to ſir Thomas Henneage, a common and a liberal patron of theſe times, and printed at London in 1572 u. At the beginning and end of this work, are ſix ſmaller pieces in Latin verſe. Among theſe are the firſt ſixteen lines of a paraphraſe on the book of JOB. He has two miſcellanies of Latin poetry extant, the one entitled SYLVA, dedicated to queen Eliſabeth, and the other POEMATA VARIA ET EXTERNA. The laſt was printed at Paris, from which circumſtance we may conclude that he travelled w. In the SYLVA, he mentions his new verſion of David's pſalms, I ſuppoſe in Engliſh verſex. In the ſame collection, he ſays he had begun to tranſlate the Iliad, but had gone no further than the fourth book y. He mentions alſo his verſion of the Greek EPIGRAMS of Gregory Nazianzen z. But we are at a loſs to diſcover, whether the latter were Engliſh or Latin verſions. The indefatigably inquiſitive biſhop Tanner has collect [...]d [430] our tranſlator's Sermons, ſix in number, which are more to be valued for their type than their doctrine, and at preſent are of little more uſe, than to fill the catalogue of the typographical antiquary a. Two of them were preached at ſaint Mary's hoſpital b. Drant's lateſt publication is dated in 1572.

Hiſtorical ballads occur about this period with the initials T. D. Theſe may eaſily be miſtaken for Thomas Drant, but they ſtand for Thomas Deloney, a famous ballad writer of theſe times, mentioned by Kemp, one of the original actors in Shakeſpeare's plays, in his NINE DAIES WONDER. Kemp's miraculous morris-dance, performed in nine days from London to Norwich, had been miſrepreſented in the popular ballads, and he thus remonſtrates againſt ſome of their authors. ‘"I haue made a priuie ſearch what priuate jig-monger of your jolly number had been the author of theſe abhominable ballets written of me. I was told it was the great ballade maker T. D. or Thomas Deloney, chronicler of the memorable Lives of the SIX YEOMEN OF THE WEST, JACK OF NEWBERY c, THE GENTLE CRAFT d, and ſuch like honeſt men, omitted [431] by Stowe, Hollinſhed, Grafton, Hall, Froyſart, and the reſt of thoſe welldeſeruing writers e."’

I am informed from ſome manuſcript authorities, that in the year 1571, Drant printed an Engliſh tranſlation from Tully, which he called, The choſen eloquent oration of Marcus Tullius Cicero for the poet Archias, ſelected from his orations, and now firſt publiſhed in Engliſh f. I have never ſeen this verſion, but I am of opinion that the tranſlator might have made a more happy choice. For in this favorite piece of ſuperficial declamation, the ſpecious orator, when he is led to a formal defence of the value and dignity of poetry, inſtead of illuſtrating his ſubject by inſiſting on the higher utilities of poetry, its political nature, and its importance to ſociety, enlarges only on the immortality which the art confers, on the poetic faculty being communicated by divine inſpiration, on the public honours paid to Homer and Ennius, on the eſteem with which poets were regarded by Alexander and Themiſtocles, on the wonderful phenomenon of an extemporaneous [...]ffuſion of a great number of verſes, and even recurs to the trite and obvious topics of a ſchool-boy in ſaying, that poems are a pleaſant relief after fatigue of the mind, and that hard rocks and ſavage beaſts have been moved by the power of ſong. A modern philoſopher would have conſidered ſuch a ſubject with more penetration, comprehenſion, and force of reflection. His excuſe muſt be, that he was uttering a popular harangue.

SECT. XLI.

[432]

THE EPIGRAMS of Martial were tranſlated in part by Timothy Kendall, born at North Aſton in Oxfordſhire, ſucceſſively educated at Eton and at Oxford, and afterwards a ſtudent of the law at Staple's-inn. This performance, which cannot properly or ſtrictly be called a tranſlation of Martial, has the following title, ‘"FLOWRES OF EPIGRAMMES out of ſundrie the moſt ſingular authors ſelected, etc. By Timothie Kendall late of the vniuerſitie of Oxford, now ſtudent of Staple Inn. London, 1577 a."’ It is dedicated to Robert earl of Leiceſter. The epigrams tranſlated are from Martial, Pictorius, Borbonius, Politian, Bruno, Textor, Auſonius, the Greek anthology, Beza, ſir Thomas More, Henry Stephens, Haddon b, Parkhurſt c, and others. But by much the greater part is from Martial d. It is charitable to hope, that our tranſlator Timothy Kendall waſted no more of his time at Staples-inn in culling theſe fugitive bloſſoms. Yet he has annexed to theſe verſions his TRIFLES or juvenile epigrams, which are dated the ſame year e.

[433] Meres, in his WITS TREASURY, mentions doctor Johnſon, as the tranſlator of Homer's BATRACHOMUOMACHY, and Watſon of Sophocles's ANTIGONE, but with ſuch ambiguity, that it is difficult to determine from his words whether theſe verſions are in Latin or Engliſh f. That no reader may be miſled, I obſerve here, that Chriſtopher Johnſon, a celebrated headmaſter of Wincheſter ſchool, afterwards a phyſician, tranſlated Homer's FROGS AND MICE into Latin hexameters, which appeared in quarto, at London, in 1580 g. Thomas Watſon author of a HUNDRED SONNETS, or the paſſionate century of Love, publiſhed a Latin ANTIGONE in 1581 h. The latter publication, however, ſhews at this time an attention to the Greek tragedies.

Chriſtopher Marlowe, or Marloe, educated in elegant letters at Cambridge, Shakeſpeare's cotemporary on the ſtage, often applauded both by queen Eliſabeth and king James the firſt, as a judicious player, eſteemed for his poetry by Jonſon and Drayton, and one of the moſt diſtinguiſhed tragic poets of his age, tranſlated Coluthus's RAPE OF HELEN into Engliſh rhyme, in the year 1587. I have never ſeen it; and I owe this information to the manuſcript papers of a diligent collector of theſe fugacious anecdotes i. But there is entered to Jones, in 1595, ‘"A booke entituled RAPTUS HELENAE, Helens Rape, by the Athenian duke Theſeus k."’ Coluthus's poem was probably brought into vogue, and ſuggeſted to Marlowe's notice, by being paraphraſed in Latin verſe the preceding year by Thomas Watſon, the writer [434] of ſonnets juſt mentioned l. Before the year 1598, appeared Marlowe's tranſlation of the LOVES OF HERO AND LEANDER, the elegant proluſion of an unknown ſophiſt of Alexandria, but commonly aſcribed to the antient Muſaeus. It was left unfiniſhed by Marlowe's death; but what was called a ſecond part, which is nothing more than a continuation from the Italian, appeared by one Henry Petowe, in 1598 m. Another edition was publiſhed, with the firſt book of Lucan, tranſlated alſo by Marlowe, and in blank verſe, in 1600 n. At length George Chapman, the tranſlator of Homer, completed, but with a ſtriking inequality, Marlowe's unfiniſhed verſion, and printed it at London in quarto, 1606 o. Tanner takes this piece to be one [435] of Marlowe' [...] plays. It probably ſuggeſted to Shakeſpeare the alluſion to Hero and Leander, in the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, under the player's blunder of Limander and Helen, where the interlude of Thiſbe is preſented p. It has many nervous and poliſhed verſes. His tragedies manifeſt traces of a juſt dramatic conception, but they abound with tedious and unintereſting ſcenes, or with ſuch extravagancies as proceeded from a want of judgment, and thoſe barbarous ideas of the times, over which it was the peculiar gift of Shakeſpeare's genius alone to triumph and to predominate q. His TRAGEDY OF DIDO QUEEN OF CARTHAGE was completed and publiſhed by his friend Thomas Naſhe, in 1594 r.

Although Jonſon mentions Marlowe's MIGHTY MUSE, yet the higheſt teſtimony Marlowe has received, is from his cotemporary Drayton; who from his own feelings was well qualified to decide on the merits of a poet. It is in Drayton's Elegy, T [...] my dearly loved friend Henry Reynolds of Poets and Poeſie.

[436]
Next Marlowe, bathed in the Theſpian ſpringes,
Had in him thoſe braue tranſlunarys thinges,
That the firſt poets had: his raptvres were
All air, and fire, which made his verſes clear:
For that fine madneſs ſtill he did retaine
Which rightly ſhould poſſeſſe a poet's braine t.

In the RETURN FROM PARNASSUS, a ſort of critical play, acted at Cambridge in 1606, Marlowe's buſkined MUSE is celebrated u. His cotemporary Decker, Jonſon's antagoniſt, having allotted to Chaucer and graue Spenſer, the higheſt ſeat in the Eliſian grove of Bayes, has thus arranged Marlowe. ‘"In another companie ſat learned Atchlow and, (tho he had ben a player molded out of their pennes, yet becauſe he had been their louer and regiſter to the Muſe) inimitable Bentley: theſe were likewiſe carowſing out of the holy well, &c. Whilſt Marlowe, Greene, and Peele, had gott under the ſhadow of a large vyne, laughing to ſee Naſhe, that was but newly come to their colledge, ſtill haunted with the ſame ſatyricall ſpirit that followed him here vpon earth w."’

Marlowe's wit and ſpritelineſs of converſation had often the unhappy effect of tempting him to ſport with ſacred ſubjects; more perhaps from the prepoſterous ambition of courting the caſual applauſe of profligate and unprincipled companions, than [437] from any ſyſtematic diſbelief of religion. His ſcepticiſm, whatever it might be, was conſtrued by the prejudiced and peeviſh puritans into abſolute atheiſm: and they took pains to repreſent the unfortunate cataſtrophe of his untimely death, as an immediate judgment from heaven upon his execrable impiety x. He was in love, and had for his rival, to uſe the ſignificant words of Wood, ‘"A bawdy ſervingman, one rather fitter to be a pimp, than an ingenious amoretto, as Marlowe conceived himſelf to be y."’ The conſequence was, that an affray enſued; in which the antagoniſt having by ſuperior agility gained an opportunity of ſtrongly graſping Marlow's wriſt, plunged his dagger with his own hand into his own boſom. Of this wound he died rather before the year 1593 z. One of Marlowe's tragedies is, The tragical hiſtory of the life and death of doctor John Fauſtus a. A proof of the credulous ignorance which ſtill prevailed, and a ſpecimen of the ſubjects which then were thought not improper for tragedy. A tale which at the cloſe of the ſixteenth century had the poſſeſſion of the public theatres of our metropolis, now only frightens children at a puppet-ſhow in a country-town. But that the learned John Fauſt continued to maintain the character of a conjuror in the ſixteenth century even by authority, appears from a ‘"Ballad of the life and death of doctor Fauſtus the great congerer,"’ which in 1588 was licenced to be printed by the learned Aylmer biſhop of London b.

[438] As Marlowe, being now conſidered as a tranſlator, and otherwiſe being generally ranked only as a dramatic poet, will not occur again, I take this opportunity of remarking here, that the delicate ſonnet called the PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE, falſely attributed to Shakeſpeare, and which occurs in the third act of THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, followed by the nymph's Reply, was written by Marlowe c. Iſaac Walton in his COMPLEAT ANGLER, a book perhaps compoſed about the year 1640, although not publiſhed till 1653, has inſerted this ſonnet, with the reply, under the character of ‘"that ſmooth ſong which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at leaſt fifty years ago: and—an Anſwer to it which was made by ſir Walter Raleigh in his younger days: old faſhioned poetry, but choicely good."’ In ENGLAND'S HELICON, a miſcellany of the year 1600, it is printed with Chriſtopher Marlowe's name, and followed by the Reply, ſubſcribed IGNOTO, Raleigh's conſtant ſignature d. A page or two afterwards, it is imitated by Raleigh. That Marlowe was admirably qualified for what Mr. Maſon, with a happy and judicious propriety, calls PURE POETRY, will appear from the following paſſage of his forgotten tragedy of EDWARD THE SECOND, written in the year 1590, and firſt printed in 1598. The higheſt entertainments, then in faſhion, are contrived for the gratification of the infatuated Edward, by his profligate minion Piers Gaveſton.

I muſt haue wanton poe [...]s, pleaſant wits,
Muſicians, that with touching of a ſtring
May drawe the plyant king which way I pleaſe.
Muſic and poetry are his delight;
Therefore I'll haue Italian maſques by night,
Sweet ſpeeches, comedies, and pleaſing ſhewes.
And in the day, when he ſhall walke abroad,
[439] Like ſylvan Nymphs my pages ſhall be clad,
My men like Satyrs, grazing on the lawnes,
Shall with their goat-feet dance the antick hay.
Sometimes a Louely Boy, in Dian's ſhape e,
With haire that gildes the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearle about his naked armes,
And in his ſportfull handes an oliue-tree,
Shall bathe him in a ſpring: and there hard by,
One, lyke Acteon, peeping through the groue,
Shall by the angry goddeſs be transform'd.—
Such thinges as theſe beſt pleaſe his maieſtie.

It muſt be allowed that theſe lines are in Marlowe's beſt manner. His chief fault in deſcription is an indulgence of the florid ſtyle, and an accumulation of conceits, yet reſulting from a warm and brilliant fancy. As in the following deſcription of a river.

I walkt along a ſtreame, for pureneſſe rare,
Brighter than ſunſhine: for it did acqvaint
The dulleſt ſight with all the glorious pray,
That in the pebble-paved chanell lay.
No molten chryſtall, but a richer mine;
Euen natvre's rareſt alchemie ran there,
Diamonds reſolu'd, and ſvbſtance more diuine;
Throvgh whoſe bright-gliding current might appeare
A thouſand naked Nymphes, whoſe yuorie ſhine
Enameling the bankes, made them more deare f [...]
Than euer was that gloriovs pallace-gate,
Where the day-ſhining Sunne in trivmph ſate g.
[440]
Vpon this brim, the eglantine, and roſe,
The tamariſke, oliue, and the almond-tree,
(As kind companions) in one vnion growes,
Folding their twining armes: as ofte we ſee
Turtle-taught louers either other cloſe,
Lending to dullneſſe feeling ſympathie:
And as a coſtly vallance h oer a bed,
So did their garland-tops the brooke oerſpred.
Their leaues that differed both in ſhape and ſhowe,
(Though all were greene, yet difference ſuch in greene
Like to the checkered bend of Iris' bowe)
Prided, the running maine as it had beene, &c i.

Philips, Milton's nephew, in a work which I think diſcovers many touches of Milton's hand, calls Marlowe, ‘"A ſecond Shakeſpeare, not only becauſe he roſe like him from an actor to be a maker of plays, though inferiour both in fame and merit, but alſo, becauſe in his begun poem of Hero and Leander, he ſeems to have a reſemblance of that CLEAR UNSOPHISTICATED wit, which is natural to that incomparable poet k."’ Criticiſms of this kind were not common, after the national taſte had been juſt corrupted by the falſe and capricious refinements of the court of Charles the ſecond.

Ten books of Homer's ILIAD were tranſlated from a metrical French verſion into Engliſh by A. H. or Arthur Hall eſquire, of Grantham, and a member of parliament l, and printed at London by Ralph Newberie, in 1581 m. This tranſlation has no other merit than that of being the firſt appearance of a part of the Iliad in an Engliſh dreſs. I do not find that he uſed any [441] known French verſion. He ſometimes conſulted the Latin interpretation, where his French copy failed. It is done in the Alexandrine of Sternhold. In the Dedication to ſir Thomas Cecil, he compliments the diſtinguiſhed tranſlators of his age, Phaier, Golding, Jaſper Heywood, and Googe; together with the worthy workes of lord Buckhurſt, ‘"and the pretie pythie Conceits of M. George Gaſcoygne."’ He adds, that he began this work about 1563, under the advice and encouragement of, ‘"Mr. Robert Aſkame n, a familiar acquaintance of Homer."’

But a complete and regular verſion of Homer was reſerved for George Chapman. He began with printing the Shield of Achilles, in 1596 o. This was followed by ſeven books of the ILIAD the ſame year p. Fifteen books were printed in 1600 q. At length appeared without date, an entire tranſlation of the ILIADr under the following title, ‘"The ILIADS OF HOMER Prince of Poets. Neuer before in any language truely tranſlated. With a comment uppon ſome of his chief places: Done according to the Greeke by George Chapman. At London, printed for Nathaniell Butter s."’ It is dedicated in Engliſh heroics to Prince Henry. This circumſtance proves that the book was printed at leaſt after the year 1603, in which James the firſt acceded to the throne t. Then follows an anagram on the name of his gracious Mecenas prince Henry, and a ſonnet to the ſole empreſſe of beautie queen Anne. In a metrical addreſs to the reader he remarks, but with little truth, that the Engliſh language, abounding in conſonant monoſyllables, is eminently adapted [442] to rhythmical poetry. The doctrine that an allegorical ſenſe was hid under the narratives of epic poetry had not yet ceaſed; and he here promiſes a poem on the myſteries he had newly diſcovered in Homer. In the Preface, he declares that the laſt twelve books were tranſlated in fifteen weeks: yet with the advice of his learned and valued friends, Maſter Robert Hews u, and Maſter Harriots. It is certain that the whole performance betrays the negligence of haſte. He pays his acknowledgements to his ‘"moſt ancient, learned, and right noble friend, Maſter Richard Stapilton w, the firſt moſt deſertfull mouer in the frame of our Homer."’ He endeavours to obviate a popular objection, perhaps not totally groundleſs, that he conſulted the proſe Latin verſion more than the Greek original. He ſays, ſenſibly enough, ‘"it is the part of euery knowing and iudicious interpreter, not to follow the number and order of words, but the materiall things themſelues, and ſentences to weigh diligently; and to clothe and adorne them with words, and ſuch a ſtile and forme of oration, as are moſt apt for the language into which they are conuerted."’ The danger lies, in too laviſh an application of this ſort of cloathing, that it may not diſguiſe what it ſhould only adorn. I do not ſay that this is Chapman's fault: but he has by no means repreſented the dignity or the ſimplicity Homer. He is ſometimes paraphraſtic and redundant, but more frequently retrenches or impoveriſhes what he could not feel and expreſs. In the mean time, he labours with the inconvenience of an aukward, inharmonious, and unheroic meaſure, impoſed by cuſtom, but diſguſtful to modern ears. Yet he is not always without ſtrength or ſpirit. He has enriched our language with many compound epithets, ſo much in the manner [443] of Homer, ſuch as the ſilver-footed Thetis, the ſilver-throned Juno, the triple-feathered helme, the high-walled Thebes, the faire- [...]aired boy, the ſilver-flowing floods, the hugely-peopled towns, the Grecians navy-bound, the ſtrong-winged lance, and many more which might be collected. Dryden reports, that Waller never could read Chapman's Homer without a degree of tranſport. Pope is of opinion, that Chapman covers his defects ‘"by a daring fiery ſpirit that animates his tranſlation, which is ſomething like what one might imagine Homer himſelf to have writ before he arrived to years of diſcretion."’ But his fire is too frequently darkened, by that ſort of fuſtian which now disfigured the diction of our tragedy.

He thus tranſlates the compariſon of Diomed to the autumnal ſtar, at the beginning of the fifth book. The lines are in his beſt manner.

From his bright helme and ſhield did burne, a moſt unwearied fire,
Like rich Autumnus' golden lampe, whoſe brightneſſe men admire
Paſt all the other hoſt of ſtarres, when with his chearefull face
Freſh-waſht in loftie ocean waues, he doth the ſkie enchaſe x.

The ſublime imagery of Neptune's proceſſion to aſſiſt the Grecians, is thus rendered.

The woods, and all the great hils neare, trembled beneath the weight
Of his immortall mouing feet: three ſteps he only tooke,
Before he farr-off Aege reach'd: but, with the fourth, it ſhooke
With his dread entire. In the depth of thoſe ſeas, did he hold
His bright and glorious pallace, built of neuer-ruſting gold:
And there arriu'd, he put in coach his brazen-footed ſteeds
All golden-maned, and paced with wings y, and all in golden weeds
[444] Himſelfe he clothed. The golden ſcourge, moſt elegantly done z,
He tooke, and mounted to his ſeate, and then the god begun
To drive his chariot through the waues. From whirlpools euery way
The whales exulted under him, and knewe their king: the ſea
For ioy did open, and his horſea ſo ſwift and lightly flew,
The vnder axeltree of braſſe no drop of water drew b.

My copy once belonged to Pope; in which he has noted many of Chapman's abſolute interpolations, extending ſometimes to the length of a paragraph of twelve lines. A diligent obſerver will eaſily diſcern, that Pope was no careleſs reader of his rude predeceſſor. Pope complains that Chapman took advantage of an unmeaſureable length of line. But in reality Pope's lines are longer than Chapman's. If Chapman affected the reputation of rendering line for line, the ſpecious expedient of chuſing a protracted meaſure which concatenated two lines together, undoubtedly favoured his uſual propenſity to periphraſis.

Chapman's commentary is only incidental, contains but a ſmall degree of critical excurſion, and is for the moſt part a pedantic compilation from Spondanus. He has the boldneſs ſeverely to cenſure Scaliger's impertinence. It is remarkable that he has taken no illuſtrations from Euſtathius, except through the citations of other commentators. But of Euſtathius there was no Latin interpretation.

This volume is cloſed with ſixteen Sonnets by the author, addreſſed to the chief nobility c. It was now a common practice, by theſe unpoetical and empty panegyrics, to attempt to conciliate the attention, and ſecure the protection, of the great, [445] without which it was ſuppoſed to be impoſſible for any poem to ſtruggle into celebrity. Habits of ſubmiſſion, and the notions of ſubordination, now prevailed in a high degree; and men looked up to peers, on whoſe ſmiles or frowns they believed all ſublunary good and evil to depend, with a reverential awe. Henry Lock ſubjoined to his metrical paraphraſe of Eccleſiaſtes, and his Sundry Chriſtian Paſſions contayned in two hundred Sonnets, both printed together for Field, in 1597, a ſet of ſecular ſonnets to the nobility, among which are lord Buckhurſt and Anne the amiable counteſs of Warwick d. And not to multiply more inſtances, Spenſer in compliance with a diſgraceful cuſtom, or rather in obedience to the eſtabliſhed tyranny of patronage, prefixed to the FAIRY QUEENE fifteen of theſe adulatory pieces, which in every reſpect are to be numbered among the meaneſt of his compoſitions e.

In the year 1614, Chapman printed his verſion of the ODYSSEY, which he dedicated to king James's favorite, Carr earl of Somerſet. This was ſoon followed by the BATRACHOMUOMACHY, and the HYMNS, and EPIGRAMS. But I find long before Chapman's time, ‘"A Ballett betweene the myce and the frogges,"’ licenced to Thomas Eaſt the printer, in 1568 f. And there is a ballad, ‘"A moſte ſtrange weddinge of the frogge and the mouſe,"’ in 1580 g.

He is alſo ſuppoſed to have tranſlated Heſiod. But this notion ſeems to have ariſen from theſe lines of Drayton, which [446] alſo contain a general and a very honourable commendation of Chapman's ſkil [...] as a tranſlator h.

Others againe there liued in my days,
That haue of us deſerued no leſs prayſe
For their TRANSLATIONS, than the daintieſt wit
That on Parnaſſus thinks he high'ſt doth ſit,
And for a chair may mongſt the Muſes call
As the moſt curious Maker of them all:
As reuerend Chapman, who hath brought to vs
Muſaeus, Homer, and Heſiodvs,
Out of the Greeke: and by his ſkill hath rear'd
Them to that height, and to our tongue endear'd,
That were thoſe poets at this day aliue
To ſee their books thus with vs to ſuruiue,
They'd think, hauing neglected them ſo long,
They had been written in the Engliſh tongue i.

I believe Chapman only tranſlated about fourteen lines from the beginning of the ſecond book of Heſiod's WORKS AND DAYS, ‘"as well as I could in haſte,"’ which are inſerted in his commentary on the thirteenth Iliad for an occaſional illuſtration k. Here is a proof on what ſlight grounds aſſertions of this ſort are often founded, and, for want of examination, tranſmitted to poſterity l.

As an original writer, Chapman belongs to the claſs of dramatic poets, and will not therefore be conſidered again at the period in which he is placed by the biographers m. His tranſlations, [447] therefore, which were begun before the year 1600, require that we ſhould here acquaint the reader with ſome particulars of his life. He wrote eighteen plays, which although now forgotten, muſt have contributed in no inconſiderable degree to enrich and advance the Engliſh ſtage. He was born in 1557, perhaps in Kent. He paſſed about two years at Trinity college in Oxford, with a contempt of philoſophy, but in a cloſe attention to the Greek and Roman claſſics n. Leaving the univerſity about 1576, he ſeems to have been led to London in the character of a poet; where he ſoon commenced a friendſhip with Spenſer, Shakeſpeare, Marlowe, and Daniel, and attracted the notice of ſecretary Walſingham. He probably acquired ſome appointment in the court of king James the firſt; where untimely death, and unexpected diſgrace, quickly deprived him of his liberal patrons Prince Henry and Carr. Jonſon was commonly too proud, either to aſſiſt, or to be aſſiſted; yet he engaged with Chapman and Marſton in writing the Comedy of EASTWARD HOE, which was performed by the children of the revels in 1605 o. But this aſſociation gave Jonſon an opportunity of throwing out many ſatirical parodies on Shakeſpeare with more ſecurity. All the three authors, however, were in danger of being pilloried for ſome reflections on the Scotch nation, which were too ſeriouſly underſtood by James the firſt. When the ſocieties of Lincoln's-inn and the Middle-temple, in 1613, had reſolved to exhibit a ſplendid maſque at Whitehall in honour of the nuptials of the Palſgrave and the princeſs Eliſabeth, [448] Chapman was employed for the poetry, and Inigo Jones for the machinery. It is not clear, whether Dryden's reſolution to burn annually one copy of Chapman's beſt tragedy BUSSY D'AMBOISE, to the memory of Jonſon, was a cenſure or a compliment p. He ſays, however, that this play pleaſed only in the repreſentation, like a ſtar which glitters only while it ſhoots. The manes of Jonſon perhaps required ſome reconciliatory rites: for Jonſon being delivered from Shakeſpeare, began unexpectedly to be diſturbed at the riſing reputation of a new theatric rival. Wood ſays, that Chapman was ‘"a perſon of moſt reverend aſpect, religious and temperate, QUALITIES RARELY MEETING IN A POET q!"’ The truth is, he does not ſeem to have mingled in the diſſipations and indiſcretions, which then marked his profeſſion. He died at the age of ſeventy-ſeven, in 1634, and was buried on the ſouth ſide of ſaint Giles's church in the Fields. His friend Inigo Jones planned and erected a monument to his memory, in the ſtyle of the new architecture, which was unluckily deſtroyed with the old church r. There was an intimate friendſhip between our author, and this celebrated reſtorer of Grecian palaces. Chapman's MUSAEUS, not that begun by Marlowe, but publiſhed in 1616, has a dedication to Jones: in which he is addreſſed as the moſt ſkilful and ingenious architect that England had yet ſeen.

As a poetical novel of Greece, it will not be improper to mention here, the CLITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE of Achilles Tatius, under the title of ‘"The moſt delectable and pleſant Hiſtorye of Clitophon and Leucippe from the Greek of Achilles Statius, &c. by W. B. Lond. 1577 s."’ The preſident Monteſquieu, whoſe refined taſte was equal to his political wiſdom, is of opinion, that a certain notion of tranquillity in the fields of Greece, gave riſe to the deſcription of ſoft and [449] amorous ſentiments in the Greek romance of the middle age. But that gallantry ſprung from the tales of Gothic chivalry. ‘"Une certaine idée de tranquillité dans les campagnes de la Greece, fit decrire les ſentimens de l'amour. On peut voir les Romans de Grecs du moyen age. L'idée des Paladins, protecteurs de la vertu et de la beauté des femmes, conduiſit à celle de la galanterie t."’ I have mentioned a verſion of Heliodorus.

As Barnaby Googe's ZODIAC of Palingenius was a favorite performance, and is conſtantly claſſed and compared with the poetical tranſlations of this period, by the cotemporary critics, I make no apology for giving it a place at the cloſe of this review u. It was printed ſo early as the year 1565, with the following title w. ‘"The ZODIAKE OF LIFE, written by the godly and learned poet Marcellus Pallingenius Stellatus, wherein are conteyned twelue bookes diſcloſing the haynous crymes and wicked vices of our corrupt nature: And plainlye declaring the pleaſaunt and perfit pathway vnto eternall life, beſides a number of digreſſions both pleaſaunt and profitable. Newly tranſlated into Engliſhe verſe by Barnabee Googe. Probitas laudatur et alget. Imprinted at London by Henry [450] Denham for Rafe Newberye dwelling in Fleet-ſtreate. Anno 1565. Aprilis 18 x."’ Biſhop Tanner, deceived by Wood's papers, ſuppoſes that this firſt edition, which he had evidently never ſeen, and which is indeed uncommonly rare, contained only the firſt ſeven books. In the epiſtle dedicatory to ſecretary ſir William Cecill, he mentions his ‘"ſimple trauayles lately dedicated vnto your honor."’ Theſe are his ſet of miſcellaneous poems printed in 1563, or, ‘"Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnetes, newly written by Barnabe Googe, 15 Marche, for Rauve [Raufe] Newbury dwelling in Flete-ſtrete a little aboue the Conduit in the late ſhop of Thomas Berthelet y."’ He apologiſes for attempting this work, three books of which, as he had underſtood too late, were ‘"both eloquentely and excellently Engliſhed by Maiſter Smith, clark vnto the moſt honorable of the queenes maieſties counſell. Whoſe doings as in other matters I haue with admiration behelde, &c z."’ Googe was [451] firſt a retainer to Cecill, and afterwards in 1563, a gentlemanpenſioner to the queen a. In his addreſs to the vertuous and frendley reader, he thus, but with the zeal of a puritan, defends divine poetry. ‘"The diuine and notable Prophecies of Eſay, the Lamentation of Jeremie, the Songs and Ballades of Solomon, the Pſalter of Dauid, and the Booke of Hiob b, were written by the firſt auctours in perfect and pleaſaunt hexameter verſes. So that the deuine and canonicall volumes were garniſhed and ſet forth with ſweete according tunes and heauenly ſoundes of pleaſaunt metre. Yet wyll not the graceleſſe company of our pernicious hypocrites allow, that the Pſalmes of Dauid ſhould be tranſlated into Engliſhe metre. Marry, ſaye they, bycauſe they were only receiued to be chaunted in the church, and not to be ſong in euery coblers ſhop. O monſtrous and malicious infidels!—do you abhorre to heare [God's] glory and prayſe ſounding in the mouth of a poore chriſtian artificer? &c."’ He adds, that ſince Chaucer, ‘"there hath flouriſhed in England ſo fine and filed phraſes, and ſo good and pleaſant poets, as may counteruayle the doings of Virgill, Ouid, Horace, Iuuenal, Martial, &c."’ There was a ſecond edition in 1588, in which the former prefatory matters of every kind are omitted c. This edition is dedicated to lord Buckhurſt d.

From the title of this work, ZODIACUS VITAE, written in Latin hexameters by Marcello Palingeni, an Italian, about the year 1531, the reader at leaſt expects ſome aſtronomical alluſions. But it has not the moſt diſtant connection with the ſtars: except that the poet is once tranſported to the moon, not to meaſure her diameter, but for a moral purpoſe; and that he once takes occaſion, in his general ſurvey of the world, and in reference to his title, to introduce a philoſophic explanation of the zodiacal ſyſtem e. The author meaning to divide his poem into twelve books, choſe to diſtinguiſh each with a name of the celeſtial [452] ſigns: juſt as Herodotus, but with leſs affectation and inconſiſtency, marked the nine books or diviſions of his hiſtory with the names of the nine Muſes. Yet ſo ſtrange and pedantic a title is not totally without a conceit, as the author was born at Stellada, or Stellata, a province of Ferrara, and from whence he calls himſelf Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus f.

This poem is a general ſatire on life, yet without peeviſhneſs or malevolence; and with more of the ſolemnity of the cenſor, than the petulance of the ſatiriſt. Much of the morality is couched under allegorical perſonages and adventures. The Latinity is tolerably pure, but there is a mediocrity in the verſification. Palingenius's tranſitions often diſcover more quickneſs of imagination, and fertility of reflection, than ſolidity of judgment. Having ſtarted a topic, he purſues it through all its poſſible affinities, and deviates into the moſt diſtant and unneceſſary digreſſions. Yet there is a facility in his manner, which is not always unpleaſing: nor is the general conduct of the work void of art and method. He moraliſes with a boldneſs and a liberality of ſentiment, which were then unuſual; and his maxims and ſtrictures are ſometimes tinctured with a ſpirit of libertiniſm, which, without expoſing the opinions, muſt have offended the gravity, of the more orthodox eccleſiaſtics. He fancies that a confident philoſopher, who raſhly preſumes to ſcrutiniſe the remote myſteries of nature, is ſhewn in heaven like an ape, for the public diverſion of the gods. A thought evidently borrowed by Pope g. Although he ſubmits his performance to the ſentence of the church, he treats the authority of the popes, and the voluptuous lives of the monks, with the ſevereſt acrimony. It was the laſt circumſtance that chiefly contributed to give this poem almoſt the rank of a claſſic in the reformed countries, and probably produced an early Engliſh tranſlation. After his death, he was pronounced an heretic; and his body was taken up, and committed to the flames. A meaſure [453] which only contributed to ſpread his book, and diſſeminate his doctrines.

Googe ſeems chiefly to have excelled in rendering the deſcriptive and flowery paſſages of this moral ZODIAC. He thus deſcribes the Spring.

The earth againe doth floriſhe greene,
The trees repaire their ſpringe;
With pleaſaunt notes the nightingale
Beginneth new to ſing.
With flowers freſh their heads bedeckt,
The Fairies dance in fielde:
And wanton ſonges in moſſye dennes
The Drids and Satirs yielde.
The wynged Cupide faſt doth caſt
His dartes of gold yframed, &c h.

There is ſome poetic imagination in SAGITTARIUS, or the ninth book, where a divine myſtagogue opens to the poet's eyes an unknown region of infernal kings and inhabitants. But this is an imitation of Dante. As a ſpecimen of the tranſlation, and of the author's fancy, I will tranſcribe ſome of this imagery.

Now open wyde your ſprings, and playne
Your caues abrode diſplaye,
You ſiſters of Parnaſſus hyll
Beſet about with baye!
And vnto me, for neede it is,
A hundred tongues in verſe
Sende out, that I theſe ayrie kings
And people may rehearſe.—
Here fyrſt, whereas in chariot red
Aurora fayre doth ryſe,
And bright from out the ocean ſeas
Appeares to mortal eyes,
[454] And chaſet [...] hence the helliſh night
With bluſhing beauty fayre,
A mighty King I might diſcerne,
Placde hi [...] in lofty chayre:
Hys haire with fyry garland deckt
Puft vp in fiendiſh wiſe;
Wyth browes full broade, and threatning loke,
And fyry-flaming eyes.
Two monſtrous hornes and large he had,
And noſtrils wide in ſight;
Al black himſelf, (for bodies black
To euery euyll ſpright,
And ugly ſhape, hath nature dealt,)
Yet white his teeth did ſhowe;
And white his grenning tuſkes ſtode,
Large winges on him did growe,
Framde like the wings of flindermice;
His fete of largeſt ſiſe,
In faſhion as the wilde-duck beares,
Or gooſe that creaking cries:
His tayle ſuch one as lions haue:
All naked ſate he there,
But bodies couered round about
Wyth lothſome ſhagged haire,
A number great about him ſtoode, &c i.

After viewing the wonders of heaven, his guide Timalphes, the ſon of Jupiter and Arete, ſhews him the moon, whoſe gates are half of gold and half of ſilver. They enter a city of the moon.

The loftie walles of diamonde ſtrong
Were rayſed high and fr [...]mde;
The bulwarks built of carbuncle
That all as fyer yflamde.—
[455] And wondred at the number great
That through the city ſo,
Al clad in whyte, by thouſands thick,
Amyd the ſtreates did go.
Their heads beſet with garlands fayre:
In hand the lillies white
They ioyfull beare k.—

Then follows a mixture of claſſical and chriſtian hiſtory and mythology. This poem has many ſymptoms of the wildneſs and wanderings of Italian fiction.

It muſt be confeſſed, that there is a perſpicuity and a freedom in Googe's verſification. But this metre of Sternhold and Hopkins impoveriſhed three parts of the poetry of queen Eliſabeth's reign. A hermit is thus deſcribed, who afterwards proves to be ſir EPICURE, in a part of the poem which has been copied by ſir David Lyndeſey.

His hoary beard with ſiluer heares
His middle fully rought l;
His ſkin was white, and ioyfull face:
Of diuers colours wrought,
A flowry garland gay he ware
About his ſemely heare, &c m.

The ſeventh book, in which the poet looks down upon the world, with its various occupations, follies, and vices, is opened with theſe nervous and elegant ſtanzas.

My Muſe aloft! raiſe vp thyſelf,
And vſe a better flite:
Mount vp on hie, and think it ſcorn [...]
Of baſe affayres to write.
[456] More great renoune, and glory more,
In hautye matter lyes:
View thou the gods, and take thy courſe
Aboue the ſtarrye ſkies:
Where ſpring-tyme laſts for euermore,
Where peace doth neuer quayle;
Where Sunne doth ſhyne continuallye,
Where light doth neuer fayle.
Clowd-cauſer ſouthwinde none there is,
No boyſtrous Boreas blowes;
But mylder breathes the weſtern breeze
Where ſweet ambroſia growes.
Take thou this way, and yet ſometimes
Downe falling faſt from hye,
Nowe vp, nowe downe, with ſundry ſort
Of gatesn aloft go flye.
And as ſome hawty place he ſeekes
That couets farre to ſee,
So vp to Joue, paſto ſtarres to clyme,
Is nedefull nowe for thee.
There ſhalt thou, from the towry top
Of cryſtall-colour'd ſkie,
The plot of all the world beholde
With viewe of perfit eye p.

One cannot but remark, that the conduct and machinery of the old viſionary poems is commonly the ſame. A rural ſcene, generally a wilderneſs, is ſuppoſed. An imaginary being of conſummate wiſdom, a hermit, a goddeſs, or an angel, appears; and having purged the poet's eye with a few drops of ſome celeſtial elixir, conducts him to the top of an inacceſſible mountain, which commands an unbounded plain filled with all nations. A cavern opens, and diſplays the torments of the damned: he next is introduced into heaven, by way of the moon, the [457] only planet which was thought big enough for a poetical viſit. Although ſuddenly deſerted by his myſtic intelligencer, he finds himſelf weary and deſolate, on the ſea-ſhore, in an impaſſable foreſt, or a flowery meadow.

The following is the paſſage which Pope has copied from Palingenius: and as Pope was a great reader of the old Engliſh poets, it is moſt probable that he took it immediately from our tranſlator, or found it by his direction q.

An Ape, quoth ſhe, and ieſting-ſtock
Is Man, to god in ſkye,
As oft as he doth truſt his wit
Too much, preſuming hie,
Dares ſearche the thinges of nature hid,
Her ſecrets for to ſpeake;
When as in very deed his minde
Is dull, and all to weake r.

Theſe are the lines of the original.

Simia caelicolum riſuſque jocuſque deorum eſt,
Tunc Homo, cum temere ingenio confidit, et audet
Abdita naturae ſcrutari, arcanaque rerum;
Cum revera ejus craſſa imbecillaque ſit mens s.

Googe, ſuppoſed to have been a native of Alvingham in Lincolnſhire, was a ſcholar, and was educated both at Chriſt's college in Cambridge, and New-college in Oxford. He is complimented more than once in Turberville's SONNETS t. He publiſhed [458] other tranſlations in Engliſh. I have already cited his verſion of Naogeorgus's hexametrical poem on ANTICHRIST, or the PAPAL DOMINION, printed at London in 1570, and dedicated to his chief patron ſir William Cecill u. The dedication is dated from Staples-inn, where he was a ſtudent. At the end of the book, is his verſion of the ſame author's SPIRITUAL AGRICULTURE, dedicated to queen Eliſabeth w. Thomas Naogeorgus, a German, whoſe real name is Kirchmaier, was one of the many moral or rather theological Latin poets produced by the reformation x. Googe alſo tranſlated and enlarged Conrade Hereſbach's treatiſe on agriculture, gardening, orchards, cattle, and domeſtic fowls y. This verſion was printed in 1577, and dedicated from Kingſton to ſir William Fiztwilliams z. Among Crynes's curious books in the Bodleian at Oxford a, is Googe's tranſlation from the Spaniſh of Lopez de Mendoza's PROVERBES, dedicated to Cecill, which I have never ſeen elſewhere, printed at London by R. Watkins in 1579 b. In this book the old Spaniſh paraphraſt mentions Boccace's THESEID c.

But it was not only to theſe later and degenerate claſſics, and to modern tracts, that Googe's induſtry was confined. He alſo tranſlated into Engliſh what he called Ariſtotle's TABLE OF THE TEN CATEGORIES d, that capital example of ingenious but [459] uſeleſs ſubtlety, of method which cannot be applied to practice, and of that affectation of unneceſſary deduction and frivolous inveſtigation, which characteriſes the philoſophy of the Greeks, and which is conſpicuous not only in the demonſtrations of Euclid, but in the Socratic diſputations recorded by Xenophon. The ſolid ſimplicity of common ſenſe would have been much leſs ſubject to circumlocution, embarraſſment, and ambiguity. We do not want to be told by a chain of proofs, that two and two make four. This ſpecific character of the ſchools of the Greeks, is perhaps to be traced backwards to the loquacity, the love of paradox, and the fondneſs for argumentative diſcourſe, ſo peculiar to their nation. Even the good ſenſe of Epictetus was not proof againſt this captious phrenzy. What patience can endure the ſolemn quibbles, which mark the ſtoical conferences of that philoſopher perſerved by Arrian? It is to this ſpirit, not ſolely from a principle of invidious malignity, that Tully alludes, where he calls the Greeks, ‘"Homines contentionis quam veritatis cupidiores e."’ And in another part of the ſame work he ſays, that it is a principal and even a national fault of this people, ‘"Quocunque in loco, quoſcunque inter homines viſum eſt, de rebus aut DIFFICILLIMIS aut non NECESSARIIS, ARGUTISSIME DISPUTARE f."’ The natural livelineſs of the Athenians, heightened by the free politics of a democracy, ſeems to have tinctur [...]d their converſation with this ſort of declamatory diſputation, which they frequently practiced under an earneſt pretence of diſcovering the truth, but in reality to indulge their native diſpoſition to debate, to diſplay their abundance of words, and their addreſs of argument, to amuſe, ſurpriſe, and perplex. Some of Plato's dialogues, profeſſing a profundity of ſpeculation, have much of this talkative humour.

[460] Beſide theſe verſions of the Greek and Roman poets, and of the antient writers in proſe, incidentally mentioned in this review, it will be ſufficient to obſerve here in general, that almoſt all the Greek and Roman claſſics appeared in Engliſh before the year 1600. The effect and influence of theſe tranſlations on our poetry, will be conſidered in a future ſection.

SECT. XLII.

[461]

BUT the ardour of tranſlation was not now circumſcribed within the bounds of the claſſics, whether poets, hiſtorians, orators, or critics, of Greece and Rome.

I have before obſerved, that with our frequent tours through Italy, and our affectation of Italian manners, about the middle of the ſixteenth century, the Italian poets became faſhionable, and that this circumſtance, for a time at leaſt, gave a new turn to our poetry. The Italian poets, however, were but in few hands; and a practice of a more popular and general nature, yet ſtill reſulting from our communications with Italy, now began to prevail, which produced ſtill greater revolutions. This was the tranſlation of Italian books, chiefly on fictitious and narrative ſubjects, into Engliſh.

The learned Aſcham thought this novelty in our literature too important to be paſſed over without obſervation, in his reflections on the courſe of an ingenuous education. It will be much to our purpoſe to tranſcribe what he has ſaid on this ſubject: although I think his arguments are more like the reaſonings of a rigid puritan, than of a man of liberal views and true penetration; and that he endeavours to account for the origin, and to ſtate the conſequences, of theſe tranſlations, more in the ſpirit of an early calviniſtic preacher, than as a ſenſible critic or a polite ſcholar. ‘"Theſe be the inchauntments of Circe, brought out of Italie to marre mens manners in England: much, by example of ill life, but more by precepts of fonde bookes, of late tranſlated oute of Italian into Engliſh, ſolde in euery ſhop in London, commended by honeſt titles, the ſooner to corrupt [462] honeſt manners, dedicated ouer boldly to vertuous and honorable perſonages, the eaſelyer to beguile ſimple and honeſt wittes. It is pitty, that thoſe which haue authoritie and charge to allow and diſallow works to be printed, be no more circumſpect herein than they are. Ten Sermons at Paules Croſſe doe not ſo much good for moouing men to true doctrine, as one of theſe bookes does harme with inticing men to ill living. Yea I ſay farther, theſe bookes tend not ſo much to corrupt honeſt liuing, as they do [...] to ſubuert true religion. More papiſts be made by your merry bookes of Italy, than by your earneſt bookes of Louain a.—When the buſie and open papiſts could not, by their contentious bookes, turne men in Englande faſte inough from troth and right iudgemente in doctrine, then the ſuttle and ſecret papiſts at home procured bawdie bookes to be tranſlated out of the Italian toong, whereby ou [...]rmany yong willes and witts, allured to wantonnes, doe now boldly conte [...]ne all ſeuere bookes that ſound to honeſtie and godlines. In our forefathers time, when papiſtrie, as a ſtanding poole, couered and ouerflowed all England, few bookes were red in our toong, ſauyng certayne Bookes of Chiualrie, as they ſayd for paſtime and pleaſure, which, as ſome ſay, were made in monaſteries by idle monkes or wanton chanons: as one for example, MORTE ARTHUR, the whole pleaſure of which booke ſtandeth in two ſpecyall poyntes, in open mans ſlaghter and bolde bawdrie: in which booke thoſe be counted the noble [...]t knights that doe kill moſt men without any quarrell, and commit fowleſt aduoulteries by ſutleſt ſhifts: as, ſyr Launcelote with the wife of king Arthure his maiſter: ſyr Triſtram with the wife [...] of king Marke his vn [...]le: ſyr Lamerocke with the wife of king Lote that was his own aunte. This is good ſtuffe for wiſe men to laughe at, or honeſt men to take pleaſure at. Yet I knowe when God's Bible was baniſhed the court, and [463] MORTE ARTHUR receaued into the princes chamber. What toyes the dayly reading of ſuch a booke may worke in the will of a yong ientleman, or a yong maide, that liueth welthely and idlely, wife men can iudge, and honeſt men doe pittie. And yet ten MORTE ARTHURES doe not the tenth part ſo much harme, as one of theſe bookes made in Italie, and tranſlated in England. They open, not fond and common ways to vice, but ſuch ſuttle, cunning, new and diuerſe ſhifts, to carry yong willes to vanitie and yong wittes to miſchiefe, to teache old bawdes new ſchoole pointes, as the ſimple head of an Engliſhman is not hable to inuent, nor neuer was heard of in England before, yea when papiſtrie ouerflowed all. Suffer theſe bookes to be read, and they ſhall ſoon diſplace all bookes of godly learning. For they, carrying the will to vanitie, and marring good manners, ſhall eaſily corrupt the minde with ill opinions, and falſe judgement in doctrine: firſt to thinke ill of all true religion, and at laſt, to thinke nothing of God himſelfe, one ſpeciall poynt that is to be learned in Italie and Italian bookes. And that which is moſt to be lamented, and therefore more nedefull to be looked to, there be more of theſe vngracious bookes ſet out in print within theſe fewe moneths, than haue been ſeene in England many ſcore yeares before. And becauſe our Engliſhmen made Italians cannot hurt but certaine perſons, and in certaine places, therefore theſe Italian bookes are made Engliſh, to bringe miſchie [...]e inough openly and boldly to all ſtates b, great and meane, yong and old, euery where.—Our Engliſh men Italianated haue more in reuerence the TRIUMPHES of Petrarche c, than the GENESIS of Moyſes. They make more accompt of Tullies Offices, than ſaint Paules [464] Epiſtles: of a Tale in Boccace, than the Story of the Bible, &c d."’

Aſcham talkes here exactly in the ſtyle of Prynne's HISTRIOMASTIX. It muſt indeed be confeſſed, that by theſe books many pernicious obſcenities were circulated, and perhaps the doctrine of intrigue more accurately taught and exemplified than before. But every advantage is attended with its inconveniencies and abuſes. That to procure tranſlations of Italian tales was a plot of the papiſts, either for the purpoſe of facilitating the propagation of their opinions, of polluting the minds of our youth, or of diffuſing a ſpirit of ſcepticiſm, I am by no means convinced. But I have nothing to do with the moral effects of theſe verſions. I mean only to ſhew their influence on our literature, more particularly on our poetry, although I reſerve the diſcuſſion of this point for a future ſection. At preſent, my deſign is to give the reader a full and uniform view of the chief of theſe tranſlations from the Italian, which appeared in England before the year 1600.

I will begin with Boccace. The reader recollects Boccace's THESEID and TROILUS, many of his Tales, and large paſſages from Petrarch and Dante, tranſlated by Chaucer. But the golden mine of Italian fiction opened by Chaucer, was ſoon cloſed and forgotten. I muſt however premiſe, that the Italian language now began to grow ſo faſhionable, that it was explained in lexicons and grammars, written in Engliſh, and with a view to the illuſtration of the three principal Italian poets. So early as 1550, were publiſhed, ‘"Principal rules of the Italian grammar, with a dictionarie for the better vnderſtanding of Boccaſe, Petrarche, and Dante, g [...]thered into this tonge by William Thomas e."’ It is dedicated to ſir Thomas Chaloner, an accompliſhed ſcholar. [465] The third edition of this book is dated in 1567. Scipio Lentulo's Italian grammar was tranſlated into Engliſh in 1578, by Henry Grantham f. Soon afterwards appeared, in 1583, ‘"CAMPO DI FIOR, or The Flourie Field of four Languages of M. Claudius Deſainliens, for the furtherance of the learners of the Latine, French, and Engliſh, but chieflie of the Italian tongue g."’ In 1591, Thomas Woodcock printed, ‘"Florio's ſecond frutes to be gathered of twelve trees of divers but delightfull taſtes to the tongues of Italian and Engliſhmen. To which is annexed a gardine of recreation yelding 6000 Italian prouerbs h."’ Florio is Shakeſpeare's Holophernes in Love's Labour Loſt i. And not to extend this catalogue, which I fear is not hitherto complete, any further, The ITALIAN SCHOOLEMASTER was publiſhed in 1591 k. But to proceed.

Before the year 1570, William Paynter, clerk of the Office of Arms within the Tower of London, and who ſeems to have been maſter of the ſchool of Sevenoaks in Kent, printed a very conſiderable part of Boccace's novels. His firſt collection is entitled, ‘"The PALACE OF PLEASURE, the firſt volume, containing ſixty novels out of Boccacio, London, 1566."’ It is dedicated to lord Warwick l. A ſecond volume ſoon appeared, ‘"The PALLACE OF PLEASURE the ſecond volume containing thirty-four novels, London, 1567 m."’ This is dedicated to ſir George Howard; and dated from his houſe near the Tower, as is the former volume. It would be ſuperfluous to point out here the uſes which Shakeſpeare made of theſe volumes, after the full inveſtigation which his antient alluſions and his plots have ſo lately received. One William Painter, undoubtedly the ſame, tranſlated William Fulk's ANTIPROGNOSTICON, a treatiſe written [466] to expoſe the aſtrologers of thoſe times n. He alſo prefixed a Latin tetraſtic to Fulk's original, printed in 1570 o.

With Painter's PALACE OF PLEASURE, we muſt not confound ‘"A petite Pallace of Pettie his pleſure,"’ although properly claiming a place here, a book of ſtories from Italian and other writers, tranſlated and collected by William Pettie [...] a ſtudent of Chriſt-church in Oxford about the year 1576 p. It is ſaid to contain, ‘"manie prettie hiſtories by him ſet forth in comely colors and moſt delightfully diſcourſed."’ The firſ [...] edition I have ſeen was printed in 1598, the year before our author's death, by James Roberts. The firſt tale is SINORIX AND CAMMA, two lovers of Sienna in Italy, the laſt ALEXIUS q. Among Antony Wood's books in the Aſhmolean Muſeum, is a ſecond edition dated 1608 r. But Wood, who purchaſed and carefully preſerved this performance, ſolely becauſe it was writ [...]en by his great-uncle, is of opinion, that ‘"it is now ſo far from being excellent or fine, that it is more fit to be read by a ſchool-boy, or ruſticall amoretto, than by a gentleman of mode and language s."’ Moſt of the ſtories are claſſical, perhaps ſupplied by the Engliſh Ovid, yet with a variety of innovations, and a mixture of modern manners.

[467] Painter at the end of his ſecond volume, has left us this curious notice. ‘"Bicauſe ſodaynly, contrary to expectation, this Volume is riſen to greater heape of leaues, I doe omit for this preſent time SUNDRY NOUELS of mery deviſe, reſeruing the ſame to be joyned with the reſt of an other part, wherein ſhall ſucceede the remnant of Bandello, ſpecially ſutch, ſuffrable, as the learned French man François de Belleforreſt hath ſelected, and the choyſeſt done in the Italian. Some alſo out of Erizzo, Ser Giouanni Florentino, Paraboſco, Cynthio, Straparole, Sanſouino, and the beſt liked out of the Queene of Nauarre, and other Authors. Take theſe in good part, with thoſe that haue and ſhall come forth."’ But there is the greateſt reaſon to believe, that no third volume ever appeared. And it is probable, that Painter by the intereſt of his bookſellers, in compliance with the prevailing mode of publication, and for the accommodation of univerſal readers, was afterwards perſuaded to print his ſundry novels in the periſhable form of ſeparate pamphlets, which cannot now be recovered.

Boccace's FIAMETTA was tranſlated by an Italian, who ſeems to have borne ſome office about the court, in 1587, with this title, ‘"AMOROUS FIAMETTA, wherein is ſette downe a catalogve of all and ſingvlar paſſions of loue and iealouſie incident to an enamored yong gentlewoman, with a notable caueat for all women to eſchew deceitfull and wicked loue, by an apparent example of a Neapolitan lady, her approued and long miſeries, and wyth many ſound dehortations from the ſame. Fyrſt written in Italian by maſter John Boccace, the learned Florentine, and poet lavreat. And now done into Engliſh by B. Giouanno del M. Temp t."’ The ſame year was alſo printed, ‘"Thirteene moſt pleaſaunt and delectable queſtions entituled A DISPORT of diuers noble perſonages [468] from Boccace. Imprinted at London by A. W. for Thomas Woodcock, 1587 u."’

Several tales of Boccace's DECAMERON were now tranſlated into Engliſh rhymes. The celebrated ſtory of the friendſhip of TITUS AND GESIPPUS was rendered by Edward Lewicke, a name not known in the catalogue of Engliſh poets, in 1562 w. The title is forgotten with the tranſlator. ‘"The moſt wonderfull and pleaſaunt hiſtory of Titus and Giſippus, whereby is fully declared the figure of perfect frendſhyp drawen into Engliſh metre by Edwarde Lewicke. Anno 1562. For Thomas Hacket x."’

It is not ſuſpected, that thoſe affecting ſtories, the CYMON AND IPHIGENIA, and the THEODORE AND HONORIA, of Boccace, ſo beautifully paraphraſed by Dryden, appeared in Engliſh verſe, early in the reign of queen Eliſabeth.

THEODORE AND HONORIA was tranſlated, in 1569, by doctor Chriſtopher Tye, the muſician, already mentioned as a voluminous verſifier of ſcripture in the reign of Edward the ſixth. The names of the lovers are diſguiſed, in the following title. ‘"A notable hiſtorye of Naſtagio and Trauerſari, no leſs pitiefull than pleaſaunt, tranſlated out of Italian into Engliſh verſe by C. T. Imprinted at London in Poules churchyarde, by Thomas Purefoote dwelling at the ſigne of the Lucrece. Anno. 1569 y."’ Tye has unluckily applied to this tale, the ſame ſtanza which he uſed in tranſlating the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. The knight of hell purſuing the lady, is thus deſcribed.

He ſawe approche with ſwiftie foote
The place where he did ſtaye,
[469] A dame, with ſcattred heares vntruſſde,
Bereft of her araye.—
Beſides all this, two maſtiffes great
Both fierce and full he ſawe,
That fiercely pinchde her by the flanke
With greedie rauening rawe.
And eke a Knight, of colour ſwarthe,
He ſawe behinde her backe,
Came pricking after, flinging forthe
Vpon a courſer blacke:
With gaſtlye thretning countenaunce,
With armyng ſworde in hande;
His looke wold make one feare, his eyes
Were like a fiery brande, &c z.

About the ſame time appeared the tale of CYMON AND IPHIGENIA, ‘"A pleaſaunt and delightfull Hiſtory of Galeſus, Cymon, and Iphigenia, deſcribing the fickleneſſe of fortune in love. Tranſlated out of Italian into Engliſhe verſe by T. C. gentleman. Printed by Nicholas Wyer in ſaint Martin's pariſh beſides Charing Croſs a."’ It is in ſtanzas. I know not with what poet of that time the initials T. C. can correſpond, except with Thomas Churchyard, or Thomas Campion. The latter is among the poets in ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS printed in 1600, is named by Camden with Spenſer, Sidney, and Drayton; and, among other pieces, publiſhed ‘"Songs, bewailing the untimely death of Prince Henry, ſet forth to bee ſung to the lute or viol by John Coprario, in 1613 b."’ But he ſeems rather too [470] late to have been our tranſlator. Nicholas Wyer the printer of this piece, not mentioned by Ames, perhaps the brother of Robert, was in vogue before or about the year 1570.

It is not at all improbable, that theſe old tranſlations now entirely forgotten and obſolete, ſuggeſted theſe ſtories to Dryden's notice. To Dryden they were not more antient, than pieces are to us, written ſoon after the reſtoration of Charles the ſecond: and they were then of ſufficient antiquity not to be too commonly known, and of ſuch mediocrity, as not to preclude a new tranſlation. I think we may trace Dryden in ſome of the rhymes and expreſſions c.

It muſt not be forgot, that Sachetti publiſhed tales before Boccace. But the publication of Boccace's DECAMERON gave a ſtability to this mode of compoſition, which had exiſted in a rude ſtate before the revival of letters in Italy. Boccace collected the common tales of his country, and procured others of Grecian origin from his friends and preceptors the Conſtantinopolitan exiles, which he decorated with new circumſtances, and delivered in the pureſt ſtyle. Some few perhaps are of his own invention. He was ſoon imitated, yet often unſucceſsfully, by many of his countrymen, Poggio, Bandello, the anonymous author of LE CIENTO NOVELLE ANTIKE, Cinthio, Firenzuola, Maleſpini, and others. Even Machiavel, who united the livelieſt wit with the profoundeſt reflection, and who compoſed two comedies while he was compiling a political hiſtory of his country, condeſcended to adorn this faſhionable ſpecies of writing with his NOVELLA DI BELFEGOR, or the tale of Belphegor.

[471] In Burton's MELANCHOLY, there is a curious account of the diverſions in which our anceſtors paſſed their winter-evenings. They were not totally inelegant or irrational. One of them was to read Boccace's novels aloud. ‘"The ordinary recreations which we haue in winter, are cardes, tables and dice, ſhouelboard, cheſſe-play, the philoſopher's game, ſmall trunkes, balliardes, muſicke, maſkes, ſinging, dancing, vle-games d, catches, purpoſes, queſtions: merry tales, of errant-knights, kings, queenes, louers, lords, ladies, giants, dwarfes, thieves, fayries, BOCCACE'S NOUELLES, and the reſt e."’

The late ingenious and induſtrious editors of Shakeſpeare have revived an antient metrical paraphraſe, by Arthur Brooke, of Bandello's hiſtory of Romeo and Juliet. ‘"THE TRAGICALL HYSTORY OF ROMEUS AND JULIET: Contayning in it a rare example of true Conſtancie, with the ſubtill Counſels and practiſes of an old [...]ryer and ther ill event. Imprinted at London in Fleete-ſtreete within Temple Barre at the ſigne of the hand and ſtarre by Richard Tottill the xix [...]ay of November. Ann. Dom. 1562 f."’ It is evident from a coincidence of abſurdities and an identity of phraſeology, that this was Shakeſpeare's original, and not the meagre outline which appears in Painter. Among the copies delivered by Tottel the printer to the ſtationers of London, in 1582, is a booke called ROMEO AND JULETTA g. But I believe there were two different tranſlations in verſe. It muſt be remembered here, that the original writer of this ſtory was Luigi da Porto, a gentleman of Verona, who died in 1529. His narrative appeared at Venic [...] in 1535, under the title of LA GIULIETTA, and was ſoon afterwards adopted by Bandello. Shakeſpeare, miſled by the Engliſh [472] poem, miſſed the opportunity of introducing a moſt affecting ſcene by the natural and obvious concluſion of the ſtory. In Luigi's novel, Juliet awakes from her trance in the tomb before the death of Romeo. From Turberville's poems printed in 1567, we learn, that Arthur Brooke was drowned in his paſſage to New-haven, and that he was the author of this tranſlation, which was the diſtinguiſhed proof of his excellent poetical abilities.

Apollo lent him lute for ſolace ſake,
To ſound his verſe by touch of ſtately ſtring;
And of the neuer fading baye did make
A laurell crowne, about his browes to clinge,
In proofe that he for myter did excell,
As may be iudge by Iulyet and her Mate;
For ther he ſhewde his cunning paſſing well
When he the tale to Engliſh did tranſlate.—
Aye mee, that time, thou crooked dolphin, where
Waſt thou, Aryon's help and onely ſtay,
That ſafely him from ſea to ſhore didſt beare,
When Brooke was drownd why was thou then away? &c h.

The enthuſiaſts to Shakeſpeare muſt wiſh to ſee more of Arthur Brooke's poetry, and will be grati [...]ied with the dulleſt anecdotes of an author to whom perhaps we owe the exiſtence of a tragedy at which we have all wept. I can diſcover nothing more of Arthur Brooke, than that he tranſlated from French into Engliſh, The Agreement of ſundrie places of Scripture ſeeming to iarre, which was printed at London in 1563. At the end is a copy of verſes written by the editor Thomas Brooke the younger, I ſuppoſe his brother; by which it appears, that the author Arthur Brooke was ſhipwrecked before the year 1563 i. Juliet ſoon furniſhed a female name to a new novel. For in 1577, [473] Hugh Jackſon printed ‘"The renowned Hiſtorie of Cleomenes and Juliet k."’ Unleſs this be Brooke's ſtory diſguiſed and altered.

Biſhop Tanner, I think, in his correſpondence with the learned and accurate Thomas Baker of Cambridge, mentions a proſe Engliſh verſion of the NOVELLE of Bandello, who endeavoured to avoid the obſcenities of Boccace and the improbabilities of Cinthio, in 1580, by W. W. Had I ſeen this performance, for which I have ſearched Tanner's library in vain, I would have informed the inquiſitive reader, how far it accommodated Shakeſpeare in the conduct of the Tragedy of ROMEO AND JULIET. As to the tranſlator, I make no doubt that the initials W. W. imply William Warner the author of ALBION'S ENGLAND l, who was eſteemed by his cotemporaries as one of the refiners of our language, and is ſaid in Meres's WIT'S TREASURY, to be one of thoſe by whom ‘"the Engliſh tongue is mightily enriched, and gorgeouſly inveſted in rare ornaments and reſplendent habiliments m."’ Warner was alſo a tranſlator of Plautus; and wrote a novel, or rather a ſuite of ſtories, much in the ſtyle of the adventures of Heliodorus's Ethiopic romance, dedicated to lord Hunſdon, entitled, ‘"SYRINX, or a ſeauenfold Hiſtorie, handled with varietie of pleaſant and profitable, both commicall and tragicall, argument. Newly peruſed and amended by the firſt author W. WARNER. At London, printed by Thomas Purfoote, &c. 1597 n."’ Warner [474] in his ALBION'S ENGLAND, commonly ſuppoſed to be firſt printed in 1592 o, ſays, ‘"Written haue I already in Proſe, allowed of ſome, and now offer I Verſe, attending indifferent cenſvres."’

In 1598 was publiſhed, as it ſeems, ‘"A fyne Tuſcane hyſtorye called ARNALT AND LUCINDA."’ It is annexed to ‘"The ITALIAN SCHOOLEMAISTER, conteyninge rules for pronouncynge the Italyan tongue p."’

Among George Gaſcoigne's WEEDES printed in 1576, is the Tale of Ferdinando Jeronimi, or ‘"The pleaſant fable of Ferdinando Ieronimi and Leonora de Valaſco, tranſlated out of the Italian riding tales of Bartello."’ Much poetry is interwoven into the narrative. Nor, on the mention of Gaſcoigne, will it be foreign to the preſent purpoſe to add here, that in the year 1566, he tranſlated one of Arioſto's comedies called SUPPOSITI, which was acted the ſame year at Gray's-inn. The title is, ‘"SVPPOSES. A comedie written in the Italian tongue by Arioſto, Engliſhed by George Gaſcoigne of Graies inne eſquire, and there preſented, 1566 q."’ This comedy was firſt written in proſe by Arioſto, and afterwards reduced into rhyme. Gaſcoigne's tranſlation is in proſe. The dialogue is ſupported with much ſpirit and eaſe, and has often the air of a modern converſation. As Gaſcoigne was the firſt who exhibited on our ſtage a ſtory from Euripides, ſo in this play he is the firſt that produced an Engliſh comedy in proſe. By the way, the quaint name of Petruchio, and the incident of the maſter and ſervant changing habits and characters, and perſuading the Sceneſe to perſonate the father, by frightening him with the hazard of his travelling from Sienna to Ferrara againſt the commands of government, [475] was transferred into the TAMING OF THE SHREW. I doubt not however, that there was an Italian novel on the ſubject. From this play alſo the ridiculous name and character of Doctor Dodipoll ſeems to have got into our old drama r. But to return.

In Shakeſpeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Beatric [...] [...]uſpects ſhe ſhall be told ſhe had ‘"her good wit out of the HUNDRED MERRY TALES s."’ A tranſlation of LES CENT NOUVELLES NOUVELLES, printed at Paris before the year 1500, and ſaid to have been written by ſome of the royal family of France, but a compilation from the Italians, was licenced to be printed by John Waly, in 1557, under the title of ‘"A Hundreth mery tayles,"’ together with The freere and the boye, ſtans puer ad menſam, and youthe, charite, and humylite t. It was frequently reprinted, is mentioned as popular in Fletcher's NICE VALOUR; and in the LONDON CHAUNTICLERES, ſo late as 1659, is cried for ſale by a ballad-vender, with the SEVEN WISE MEN OF GOTHAM u, and Scogan's JESTS w.

In 1587, George Turberville the poet, already mentioned as the tranſlator of Ovid's EPISTLES, publiſhed a ſet of tragical tales in proſe, ſelected from various Italian noveliſts. He was a [...]kilful maſter of the modern languages, and went into Ruſſia in the quality of ſecretary to Thomas Randolph eſquire, envoy to the emperor of Ruſſia x. This collection, which is dedicated to his brother Nicholas, is entitled, ‘"TRAGICAL TALES, tranſlated [476] by Turberville in time of his troubles, out of ſundrie Italians, with the argument and lenvoy to each tale y."’

Among Mr. Oldys's books, was the ‘"Life of Sir Meliado a Brittiſh knight z,"’ tranſlated from the Italian, in 1572. By the way, we are not here to ſuppoſe that BRITTISH means Engliſh. A BRITTISH knight means a knight of Bretagne or Britanny, in France. This is a common miſtake, ariſing from an equivocation which has converted many a French knight into an Engliſhman. The learned Nicholas Antonio, in his SPANISH LIBRARY, affords a remarkable example of this confuſion, and a proof of its frequency, where he is ſpeaking of the Spaniſh tranſlation of the romance of TIRANTE THE WHITE, in 1480. ‘"Ad fabularum artificem ſtylum convertimus, Joannem Martorell Valentiae regni civem, cujus eſt liber hujus commatis, TIRANT LE BLANCH inſcriptus, atque anno 1480, ut aiunt, Valentiae in folio editus. MORE HIC ALIORUM TALIUM OTIOSORUM CONSUETO, fingit ſe hunc librum ex ANGLICA in Luſitanam, deinde Luſitana in Valentinam linguam, anno, 1460, tranſtuliſſe, &c a."’ That is, ‘"I now turn to a writer of fabulous adventures, John Martorell of the kingdom of Valencia, who wrote a book of this caſt, entitled TIRANTE THE WHITE, printed in folio at Valencia in 1480. This writer, according to a practice common to ſuch idle hiſtorians, pretends he tranſlated this book from Engliſh into Portugueze, and from thence into the Valencian language."’ The hero is a gentleman of Bretagne, and the book was firſt written in the language of that country. I take this opportunity of obſerving, that theſe miſtakes of England for Britanny, tend to confirm my hypotheſis, that Bretagne, or Armorica, was antiently a copious ſource of romance: an hypotheſis, which I have the happineſs to find was the opinion of the moſt learned [477] and ingenious M. La Croze, as I am but juſt now informed from an entertaining little work, Hiſtoire de la vie et des ouvrages de Monſieur La Croze, printed by M. Jordan at Amſterdam, in 1741 b. La Croze's words, which he dictated to a friend, are theſe. ‘"Tous les ROMANS DE CHEVALERIE doivent leur origin á la BRETAGNE, et au pays de Galles [Wales] dont notre Bretagne eſt ſortie. Le Roman D'AMADIS DE GAULE commençe par un Garinter roi de la PETITE BRETAGNE, de la Poquenna Bretonne, et ce roi fut ayeul maternel d'Amadis. Je ne dis rien ici de LANCELOT DU LAC, et de pluſieurs autres qui ſont tous BRETONS. Je n'en excepte point le Roman de PERCEFOREST, dont j'ai vu un tres-beau manuſcrit en velin dans la bibliotheque du roi de France.—Il y a un fort belle Preface ſur l'origine de notre BRETAGNE ARMORIQUE.—Si ma ſanté le comportoit, je m'étendrois davantage et je pourrois fournir un Supplement aſſez amuſant au Traitè du docte M. Huet ſur L'ORIGINE DES ROMANS c."’

I know not from what Italian fabler the little romance called the BANISHMENT OF CUPID, was taken. It is ſaid to have been tranſlated out of Italian into Engliſh by Thomas Hedly, in 1587 d. I conceive alſo ‘"The fearfull fantyſes of the Florentyne Cowper,"’ to be a tranſlation from the Italian e.

Nor do I know with what propriety the romance of AURELIO AND ISABELLA, the ſcene of which is laid in Scotland, may be mentioned here. But it was printed in 1586, in one volume, in Italian, French, and Engliſh f. And again, in Italian, Spaniſh, [478] French, and Engliſh, in 1588 g. I was informed by the late Mr. Collins of Chicheſter, that Shakeſpeare's TEMPEST, for which no origin is yet aſſigned, was formed on this favorite romance. But although this information has not proved true on examination, an uſeful concluſion may be drawn from it, that Shakeſpeare's ſtory is ſomewhere to be found in an Italian novel, at leaſt that the ſtory preceded Shakeſpeare. Mr. Collins had ſearched this ſubject with no leſs fidelity, than judgment and induſtry: but his memory failing in his laſt calamitous indiſpoſition, he probably gave me the name of one novel for another. I remember he added a circumſtance, which may lead to a diſcovery, that the principal character of the romance, anſwering to Shakeſpeare's Proſpero, was a chemical necromancer, who had bound a ſpirit like Ariel to obey his call and perform his ſervices. It was a common pretence of the dealers in the occult ſciences to have a demon at command. At leaſt Aurelio, or Orelio, was probably one of the names of this romance, the production and multiplication of gold being the grand object of alchemy. Taken at large, the magical part of the TEMPEST is founded in that ſort of philoſophy which was practiſed by John Dee and his aſſociates, and has been called the Roſicruſian. The name Ariel came from the Talmudiſtic myſteries with which the learned Jews had infected this ſcience.

To this head muſt alſo be referred, the Collections which appeared before 1600, of tales drawn indiſcriminately from French and Spaniſh, as well as Italian authors, all perhaps originally of Italian growth, and recommended by the general love of fable and fiction which now prevailed. I will mention a few.

In point of ſelection and ſize, perhaps the moſt capital miſcellany of this kind is Fenton's book of tragical novels. The title is, ‘"Certaine TRAGICALL DISCOURSES written oute of [479] French and Latin, by Geffraie Fenton, no leſſe pro [...]itable than pleaſaunt, and of like neceſſitye to al degrees that take pleaſure in antiquityes or forraine reportes. Mon be [...]r viendra. Imprinted at London in Flete-ſtrete nere to ſainct Dunſtons Churche by Thomas Marſhe. Anno Domini, 1567 h."’ This edition never was ſeen by Ames, nor was the book known to Tanner. The dedication is dated from his chamber at Paris, in 1567 i, to the Lady Mary Sydney, and contains many ſenſible reflections on this of reading. He ſays, ‘"Neyther do I thynke that oure Engliſhe recordes are hable to yelde at this daye a ROMANT more delicat and chaſte, treatynge of the veraye th [...]am [...] and effect [...]s of loue, than theis HYSTORIES, of no leſſe credit than ſufficient authoritie, by reaſon the moſte of theym were within the compaſſe of memorye, &c k."’ Among the recommendatory poems pr [...]fixed l, there is one by George Turberville, who laviſhes much praiſe on Fenton's curious fyle, which could frame this paſſing-pleaſant booke. He adds,

The learned ſtories erſte, and ſugred tales that laye
Remoude from ſimple common ſence, this writer doth diſplaye:
Nowe men of meaneſt ſkill, what BANDEL wrought may vew,
And tell the tale in Engliſhe well, that erſt they neuer knewe:
Diſcourſe of ſundrye ſtrange, and tragicall affaires,
Of louynge ladyes haples haps, theyr deathes, and deadly cares, &c.

Moſt of the ſtories are on Italian ſubjects, and many from Bandello, who was ſoon tranſlated into French. The laſt tale, [480] the Penance of Don Diego on the Pyrenean mountains for the love of Genivera la blonde, containing ſome metrical inſcriptions, is in Don Quixote, and was verſified in the octave ſtanza apparently from Fenton's publication, by R. L. in 1596, at the end of a ſet of ſonnets called DIELLA m.

Fenton was a tranſlator of other books from the modern languages. He tranſlated into Engliſh the twenty books of Guicciardin's Hiſtory of Italy, which he dedicated to queen Eliſabeth from his apartment near the Tower, the ſeventh day of January, 1578 n. The predominating love of narrative, more eſpecially when the exploits of a favorite nation were the ſubject, rendered this book very popular; and it came recommended to the public by a title page which promiſed almoſt the entertainment of a romance, ‘"The Hiſtorie of Guiccardin, containing the warres of Italie, and other partes, continued for many yeares under ſundry kings and princes, together with the variations of the ſame, Diuided into twenty bookes, &c. Reduced into Engliſh by Geffrey Fenton. Mon heur viendra o."’ It is probably to this book that Gabriel Harvey, Spenſer's Hobbinol, alludes, where he ſays, ‘"Even Guiccardin's ſiluer Hiſtorie, and Arioſto's golden Cantos, growe out of requeſt, and the counteſs of Pembrooke's Arcadia is not greene enough for queaſie ſtomaches but they muſt haue Greene's Arcadia, &c p."’ Among his verſions are alſo, the GOLDEN EPISTLES of Antonio de Guevara, the ſecretary of Charles the fifth, and now a favorite author, addreſſed to Anne counteſs of Oxford, from his chamber at the Dominican or black friars, the fourth of February, 1575 q. I apprehend him to be the ſame ſir Jeffrey Fenton, who [481] is called ‘"a privie counſellor in Ireland to the queen,"’ in the BLAZON OF JEALOUSIE written in 1615 r, by R. T. the tranſlator of Arioſto's Satires, in 1608 s. He died in 1608 t.

With Fenton's DISCOURSES may be mentioned alſo, ‘"Foure ſtraunge lamentable tragicall hiſtories tranſlated out of Frenche into Engliſhe by Robert Smythe,"’ and publiſhed, as I apprehend, in 1577 u.

A work of a ſimilar nature appeared in 1571, by Thoms Forteſcue. It is divided into four books, and called ‘"The FOREST or collection of Hiſtoryes no leſſe profitable, than pleaſant and neceſſary, doone out of Frenche into Engliſh by Thomas Forteſcue w."’ It is dedicated to John Forteſcue eſquire, keeper of the wardrobe. The genius of theſe tales may be diſcerned from their hiſtory. The book is ſaid to have been written in Spaniſh by Petro de Meſſia, then tranſlated into Italian, thence into French by Claude Cruget a citizen of Paris, and laſtly from French into Engliſh by Forteſcue. But many of the ſtories ſeem to have originally migrated from Italy into Spain x.

[482] The learned doctor Farmer has reſtored to the public notice a compilation of this claſs, unmentioned by any typographic annaliſt, and entitled, ‘"The ORATOR, handling a hundred ſeuerall Diſcourſes in form of Declamations: ſome of the Arguments being drawne from Titus Liuius, and other ancient writers, the reſt of the author's own Invention. Part of which are of matters happened in our age. Written in French by Alexander Silvayn, and Engliſhed by L. P. [or [483] "Lazarus Pilot.] London, printed by Adam Iſlip, 1596y."’ The ſubject of the ninety-fifth DECLAMATION is, Of a Jew who would for his debt haue a pound of the fleſh of a Chriſtian z. We have here the incident of the BOND, in Shakeſpeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE, which yet may be traced to a much higher ſource a. This Alexander Sylvain compiled in French Epitomes de cent Hiſtoires Tragiques partie extraictes des Actes des Romains et autres, a work licenced to Iſlip to be tranſlated into Engliſh in 1596 b. Perhaps the following paſſage in Burton's MELANCHOLY, may throw light on theſe DECLAMATIONS. ‘"In the Low Countries, before theſe warres, they had many ſolemne feaſtes, playes, challenges, artillery [archery] gardens, colledges of rimers, rhetoricians, poets, and to this day, ſuch places are curiouſly maintained in Amſterdam. In Italy, they have ſolemne Declamations of certaine ſelect yonge gentlemen in Florence, like theſe reciters in old Rome, &c c."’

In 1582, a ſuite of tales was publiſhed by George Whetſtone, a ſonnet-writer of ſome rank, and one of the moſt paſſionate among us to bewaile the perplexities of love d, under the title of HEPTAMERON, and containing ſome novels from Cinthio e. Shakeſpeare, in MEASURE FOR MEASURE, has fallen into great improprieties by founding his plot on a hiſtory in the HEPTAMERON, [484] imperfectly copied or tranſlated from Cinthio's original f. Many faults in the conduct of incidents for which Shakeſpeare's judgement is arraigned, often flowed from the caſual book of the day, whoſe miſtakes he implicitly followed without looking for a better model, and from a too haſty acquie [...]cence in the preſent accommodation. But without a book of this ſort, Shakeſpeare would often have been at a loſs for a ſubject. Yet at the ſame time, we look with wonder at the ſtructures which he forms, and even without labour or deliberation, of the baſeſt materials g.

Ames recites a large collection of novels in two volumes, dedicated to ſir George Howard maſter of the armory, and printed for Nicholas England in 1567 h. I have never ſeen them, but preſume they are tranſlations from Boccace, Cinthio, and Bandello i. In 1589, was printed the CHAOS OF HISTORYES k. And in 1563, ‘"A boke called Certaine noble ſtoryes contaynynge rare and worthy matter l."’ Theſe pieces are perhaps to be catalogued in the ſame claſs.

[485] In the year 1590, ſir James Harrington, who will occur again in his place as an original writer, exhibited an Engliſh verſion of Arioſto's ORLANDO FURIOSO m: which, although executed without ſpirit or accuracy, unanimated and incorrect, enriched our poetry by a communication of new ſtores of fiction [...]nd imagination, both of the romantic and comic ſpecies, of Gothic machinery and familiar manners.

Fairfax is commonly ſuppoſed to be the firſt tranſlator of Taſſo. But in 1593, was licenced ‘"A booke called Godfrey of Bolloign an heroycall poem of S. Torquato Taſſo, Engliſhed by R. E. eſquire n."’ In conſequence of this verſion, appeared the next year ‘"An enterlude entituled Godfrey of Bolloigne [486] with the Conqueſt of Jeruſalem o."’ Hall in his Satires publiſhed in 1597, enumerates among the favorite ſtories of his time, ſuch as, Saint George, Brutus, king Arthur, and Charlemagne,

What were his knights did SALEM'S SIEGE maintayne,

To which he immediately adds Arioſto's Orlando p.

By means of the ſame vehicle, tranſlation from Italian books, a preciſe and ſyſtematical knowledge of the antient heathen theology ſeems to have been more effectually circulated among the people in the reign of queen Eliſabeth. Among others, in 1599 was publiſhed, ‘"THE FOUNTAINE OF ANTIENT FICTION, wherein is depictured the images and ſtatues of the gods of the antients with their proper and particular expoſitions. Done into Engliſhe by Richard Linche gentleman p. Tempe è figliuola di verità. London, imprinted by Valentine Sims, 1599 q."’ This book, or one of the ſame ſort, is cenſured in a puritanical pamphlet, written the ſame year, by one H. G. a painfull miniſter of God's word in Kent, as the Spawne of Italian Gallimawfry, as tending to corrupt the pure and unidolatrous worſhip of the one God, and as one of the deadly ſnares of popiſh deception r. In the hiſtory of the puritans, their apprehenſions that the reformed faith was yet in danger from paganiſm, are not ſufficiently noted. And it ſhould be remembered, that a PANTHEON had before appeared; rather indeed with a view of expoſing the heathen ſuperſtitions, and of ſhewing their conformity to the papiſtic, than of illuſtrating the religious fable of antiquity. But the ſcope and deſign of the writer will appear [487] from his title, which from its archneſs alone deſerves to be inſerted. ‘"The GOLDEN BOOKE OF THE LEADEN GODDES, wherein is deſcribed the vayne imaginations of the heathen pagans, and counterfeit chriſtians. With a deſcription of their ſeverall tables, what each of their pictures ſignified s."’ The writer, however, doctor Stephen Batman, had been domeſtic chaplain to archbiſhop Parker, and is better known by his general chronicle of prodigies called Batman's DOOM t. He was alſo the laſt tranſlator of the Gothic Pliny, BARTHOLOMEUS DE PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM, and collected more than a thouſand manuſcripts for archbiſhop Parker's library.

This enquiry might be much farther enlarged and extended. But let it be ſufficient to obſerve here in general, that the beſt ſtories of the early and original Italian noveliſts, either by immediate tranſlation, or through the mediation of Spaniſh, French, or Latin verſions, by paraphraſe, abridgement, imitation, and often under the diſguiſe of licentious innovations of names, incidents, and characters, appeared in an Engliſh dreſs, before the cloſe of the reign of Eliſabeth, and for the moſt part, even before the publication of the firſt volume of Belleforreſt's grand repoſitory of tragical narratives, a compilation from the Italian writers, in 1583. But the CENT HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES of Belleforreſt himſelf, appear to have been tranſlated ſoon afterwards u. In the meantime, it muſt be remembered, that many tranſlations of Tales from the modern languages were licenced to be printed, but afterwards ſuppreſſed by the intereſt of the puritans. It appears from the regiſter of the Stationers, that among others, in the year 1619 [...] ‘"The DECAMERON of Mr. John Boccace Florentine,"’ was revoked by a ſudden inhibition of Abbot, archbiſhop of Canterbury w. But not only the clamours of the Calviniſts, but caprice and ignorance, perhaps partiality, ſeem to have had ſome ſhare in this buſineſs of [488] licencing books. The rigid arbiters of the preſs who condemned Boccace in the groſs, could not with propriety ſpare all the licentious cantos of Arioſto. That writer's libertine friar, metamorphoſis of Richardetto, Alcina and Rogero, Anſelmo, and hoſt's tale of Aſtolfo, are ſhocking to common decency. When the four or five firſt books of AMADIS DE GAUL in French were delivered to Wolfe to be tranſlated into Engliſh and to be printed, in the year 1592, the ſignature of biſhop Aylmer was affixed to every book of the original x. The romance of PALMERIN OF ENGLAND was licenced to be printed in 1580, on condition, that if any thing reprehenſible was found in the book after publication, all the copies ſhould be committed to the flames y. Notwithſtanding, it is remarkable, that in 1587, a new edition of Boccace's DECAMERON in Italianz by Wolfe, ſhould have been permitted by archbiſhop Whitgift a: and the Engliſh AMOROUS FIAMETTA of Boccace, abovementioned, in the ſame year by the biſhop of London b.

But in the year 1599, the Hall of the Stationers underwent as great a purgation as was carried on in Don Quixote's library. Marſton's Pygmalion, Marlowe's Ovid, the Satires of Hall and Marſton, the Epigrams of Davies and others, and the CALTHA POETARUM, were ordered for immediate conflagration, by the prelates Whitgift and Bancroft c. By the ſame authority, all the books of Naſh and Gabriel Harvey were anathematiſed; and, like thieves and outlaws, were ordered to be taken whereſoever they maye be found. It was decreed, that no S [...]tires of Epigrams ſhould be printed for the future. No plays were to be printed without the inſpection and permiſſion of the archbiſhop of Canterbury [489] and the biſhop of London, nor any Engliſhe Hiſtoryes, I ſuppoſe novels and romances, without the ſanction of the Privy-council. Any pieces of this nature, unlicenced, or now at large and wandering abroad, were to be diligently ſought, recalled, and delivered over to the eccleſiaſtical arm at London-houſe d.

If any apology ſhould be thought neceſſary for ſo prolix and intricate an examination of theſe compoſitions, I ſhelter this ſection under the authority of a polite and judicious Roman writer, ‘"Sit apud te honos ANTIQUITATI, ſit ingentibus factis, ſit FABULIS quoque e."’

SECT. XLIII.

[490]

ENOUGH has been opened of the reign of queen Eliſabeth, to afford us an opportunity of forming ſome general reflections, tending to eſtabliſh a full eſtimate of the genius of the poetry of that reign; and which, by drawing concluſions from what has been ſaid, and directing the reader to what he is to expect, will at once be recapitulatory and preparatory. Such a ſurvey perhaps might have ſtood with more propriety as an introduction to this reign. But it was firſt neceſſary to clear the way, by many circumſtantial details, and the regular narration of thoſe particulars, which lay the foundation of principles, and ſuggeſt matter for diſcurſive obſervation. My ſentiments on this ſubject ſhall therefore compoſe the concluding ſection of the preſent volume.

The age of queen Eliſabeth is commonly called the golden age of Engliſh poetry. It certainly may not improperly be ſtyled the moſt POETICAL age of theſe annals.

Among the great features which ſtrike us in the poetry of this period, are the predominancy of fable, of fiction, and fancy, and a predilection for intereſting adventures and pathetic events. I will endeavour to aſſign and explain the cauſe of this characteriſtic diſtinction, which may chiefly be referred to the following principles, ſometimes blended, and ſometimes operating ſingly: The revival and vernacular verſions of the claſſics, the importation and tranſlation of Italian novels, the viſionary reveries or refinements of falſe philoſophy, a degree of ſuperſtition ſufficient for the purpoſe [...] of poetry, the adoption of [491] the machineries of romance, and the frequency and improvements of allegoric exhibition in the popular ſpectacles.

When the corruptions and impoſtures of popery were aboliſhed, the faſhion of cultivating the Greek and Roman learning became univerſal: and the literary character was no longer appropriated to ſcholars by profeſſion, but aſſumed by the nobility and gentry. The eccleſiaſtics had found it their intereſt to keep the languages of antiquity to themſelves, and men were eager to know what had been ſo long injuriouſly concealed. Truth propagates truth, and the mantle of myſtery was removed not only from religion but from literature. The laity, who had now been taught to aſſert their natural privileges, became impatient of the old monopoly of knowledge, and demanded admittance to the uſurpations of the clergy. The general curioſity for new diſcoveries, heightened either by juſt or imaginary ideas of the treaſures contained in the Greek and Roman writers, excited all perſons of leiſure and fortune to ſtudy the claſſics. The pedantry of the preſent age was the politeneſs of the laſt. An accurate comprehenſion of the phraſeology and peculiarities of the antient poets, hiſtorians, and orators, which yet ſeldom went farther than a kind of technical erudition, was an indiſpenſable and almoſt the principal object in the circle of a gentleman's education. Every young lady of faſhion was carefully inſtituted in claſſical letters: and the daughter of a ducheſs was taught, not only to diſtil ſtrong waters, but to conſtrue Greek. Among the learned females of high diſtinction, queen Eliſabeth herſelf was the moſt conſpicuous. Roger Aſcham, her preceptor, ſpeaks with rapture of her aſtoniſhing progreſs in the Greek nouns; and declares with no ſmall degree of triumph, that during a long reſidence at Windſor-caſtle, ſhe was accuſtomed to read more Greek in a day, than ‘"ſome prebendary of that church did Latin, in one week a."’ And although perhaps a princeſs looking out words in a lexicon, and writing down hard phraſes [492] from Plutarch's Lives, may be thought at preſent a more incompatible and extraordinary character, than a canon of Windſor underſtanding no Greek and but little Latin, yet Eliſabeth's paſſion for theſe acquiſitions was then natural, and reſulted from the genius and habitudes of her age.

The books of antiquity being thus familiariſed to the great, every thing was tinctured with antient hiſtory and mythology. The heathen gods, although diſcountenanced by the Calviniſts on a ſuſpicion of their tending to cheriſh and revive a ſpirit of idolatry, came into general vogue. When the queen paraded through a country-town, almoſt every pageant was a pantheon. When ſhe paid a viſit at the houſe of any of her nobility, at entering the hall ſhe was ſaluted by the Penates, and conducted to her privy-chamber by Mercury. Even the paſtry-cooks were expert mythologiſts. At dinner, ſelect transformations of Ovid's metamorphoſes were exhibited in confectionary: and the ſplendid iceing of an immenſe hiſtoric plumb-cake, was emboſſed with a delicious baſſo-relievo of the deſtruction of Troy. In the afternoon, when ſhe condeſcended to walk in the garden, the lake was covered with Tritons and Nereids: the pages of the family were converted into Wood-nymphs who peeped from every bower: and the footmen gamboled over the lawns in the figure of Satyrs. I ſpeak it without deſigning to inſinuate any unfavourable ſuſpicions, but it ſeems difficult to ſay, why Eliſabeth's virginity ſhould have been made the theme of perpetual and exceſſive panegyric: nor does it immediately appear, that there is leſs merit or glory in a married than a maiden queen. Yet, the next morning, after ſleeping in a room hung with the tapeſtry of the voyage of Eneas, when her majeſty hunted in the Park, ſhe was met by Diana, who pronouncing our royal prude to be the brighteſt paragon of unſpotted chaſtity, invited her to groves free from the intruſions of Acteon. The truth is, ſhe was ſo profuſely flattered for this virtue, becauſe it was eſteemed the characteriſtical ornament of the heroines, as fantaſtic honour was the chief pride of the champions, of the old barbarous romance. [] It was in conformity to the ſentiments of chivalry, which ſtill continued in vogue, that ſhe was celebrated for chaſtity: the compliment, however, was paid in a claſſical alluſion.

Queens muſt be ridiculous when they would appear as women. The ſofter attractions of ſex vaniſh on the throne. Eliſabeth ſought all occaſions of being extolled for her beauty, of which indeed in the prime of her youth ſhe poſſeſſed but a ſmall ſhare, whatever might have been her pretenſions to abſolute virginity. Notwithſtanding her exaggerated habits of dignity and ceremony, and a certain affectation of imperial ſeverity, ſhe did not perceive this ambition of being complimented for beauty, to be an idle and unpardonable levity, totally inconſiſtent with her high ſtation and character. As ſhe conquered all nations with her arms, it matters not what were the triumphs of her eyes. Of what conſequence was the complexion of the miſtreſs of the world? Not leſs vain of her perſon than her politics, this ſtately coquet, the guardian of the proteſtant faith, the terror of the ſea, the mediatrix of the factions of France, and the ſcourge of Spain, was infinitely mortified, if an embaſſador, at the firſt audience, did not tell her ſhe was the fineſt woman in Europe. No negociation ſucceeded unleſs ſhe was addreſſed as a goddeſs. Encomiaſtic harangues drawn from this topic, even on the ſuppoſition of youth and beauty, were ſurely ſuperfluous, unſuitable, and unworthy; and were offered and received with an equal impropriety. Yet when ſhe rode through the ſtreets of the city of Norwich, Cupid, at the command of the mayor and aldermen, advancing from a groupe of gods who had left Olympus to grace the proceſſion, gave her a golden arrow, the moſt effective weapon of his well-furniſhed quiver, which under the influence of ſuch irreſiſtible charms was ſure to wound the moſt obdurate heart. ‘"A gift, ſays honeſt Hollinſhed, which her majeſty, now verging to her fiftieth year, received very thankfullie b."’ In one of the fulſome interludes at [494] court, where ſhe was preſent, the ſinging-boys of her chapel preſented the ſtory of the three rival goddeſſes on mount Ida, to which her majeſty was ingeniouſly added as a fourth: and Paris was arraigned in form for adjudging the golden apple to Venus, which was due to the queen alone.

This inundation of claſſical pedantry ſoon infected our poetry. Our writers, already trained in the ſchool of fancy, were ſuddenly dazzled with theſe novel imaginations, and the divinities and heroes of pagan antiquity decorated every compoſition. The perpetual alluſions to antient fable were often introduced without the leaſt regard to propriety. Shakeſpeare's Mrs. Page, who is not intended in any degree to be a learned or an affected lady, laughing at the cumberſome courtſhip of her corpulent lover Falſtaffe, ſays, ‘"I had rather be a gianteſs and lie under mount Pelion c."’ This familiarity with the pagan ſtory was not, however, ſo much owing to the prevailing ſtudy of the original authors, as to the numerous Engliſh verſions of them, which were conſequently made. The tranſlations of the claſſics, which now employed every pen, gave a currency and a celebrity to theſe fancies, and had the effect of diffuſing them among the people. No ſooner were they delivered from the pale of the ſcholaſtic languages, than they acquired a general notoriety. Ovid's metamorphoſes juſt tranſlated by Golding, to inſtance no farther, diſcloſed a new world of fiction, even to the illiterate. As we had now all the antient fables in Engliſh, learned alluſions, whether in a poem or a pageant, were no longer obſcure and unintelligible to common readers and common ſpectators. And here we are led to obſerve, that at this reſtoration of the claſſics, we were firſt ſtruck only with their fabulous inventions. We did not attend to their regularity of deſign and juſtneſs of ſentiment. A rude age, beginning to read theſe writers, imitated their extravagancies, not their natural beauties. And theſe, like other novelties, were purſued to a blameable exceſs.

[495] I have before given a ſketch of the introduction of claſſical ſtories, in the ſplendid ſhow exhibited at the coronation of queen Anne Boleyn. But that is a rare and a premature inſtance: and the pagan fictions are there complicated with the barbariſms of the catholic worſhip, and the doctrines of ſcholaſtic theology. Claſſical learning was not then ſo widely ſpread, either by ſtudy or tranſlation, as to bring theſe learned ſpectacles into faſhion, to frame them with ſufficient ſkill, and to preſent them with propriety.

Another capital ſource of the poetry peculiar to this period, conſiſted in the numerous tranſlations of Italian tales into Engliſh. Theſe narratives, not dealing altogether in romantic inventions, but in real life and manners, and in artful arrangements of fictitious yet probable events, afforded a new gratification to a people which yet retained their antient reliſh for taletelling, and became the faſhionable amuſement of all who profeſſed to read for pleaſure. They gave riſe to innumerable plays and poems, which would not otherwiſe have exiſted; and turned the thoughts of our writers to new inventions of the ſame kind. Before theſe books became common, affecting ſituations, the combination of incident, and the pathos of cataſtrophe, were almoſt unknown. Diſtreſs, eſpecially that ariſing from the conflicts of the tender paſſion, had not yet been ſhewn in its moſt intereſting forms. It was hence our poets, particularly the dramatic, borrowed ideas of a legitimate plot, and the complication of facts neceſſary to conſtitute a ſtory either of the comic or tragic ſpecies. In proportion as knowledge encreaſed, genius had wanted ſubjects and materials. Theſe pieces uſurped the place of legends and chronicles. And although the old hiſtorical ſongs of the minſtrels contained much bold adventure, heroic enterpriſe, and ſtrong touches of rude delineation, yet they failed in that multiplication and diſpoſition of circumſtances, and in that deſcription of characters and events approaching nearer to truth and reality, which were demanded by a more [496] diſcerning and curious age. Even the rugged features of the original Gothic romance were ſoftened by this ſort of reading: and the Italian paſtoral, yet with ſome mixture of the kind of incidents deſcribed in Heliodorus's Ethiopic hiſtory now newly tranſlated, was engrafted on the feudal manners in Sydney's ARCADIA.

But the reformation had not yet deſtroyed every deluſion, nor diſinchanted all the ſtrong holds of ſuperſtition. A few dim characters were yet legible in the mouldering creed of tradition. Every goblin of ignorance did not vaniſh at the firſt glimmerings of the morning of ſcience. Reaſon ſuffered a few demons ſtill to linger, which ſhe choſe to retain in her ſervice under the guidance of poetry. Men believed, or were willing to believe, that ſpirits were yet hovering around, who brought with them airs from heaven, or blaſts from hell, that the ghoſt was duely releaſed from his priſon of torment at the ſound of the curfue, and that fairies imprinted myſterious circles on the turf by moonlight. Much of this credulity was even conſecrated by the name of ſcience and profound ſpeculation. Proſpero had not yet broken and buried his ſtaff, nor drowned his book deeper than did ever plummet ſound. It was now that the alchymiſt, and the judicial aſtrologer, conducted his occult operations by the potent intercourſe of ſome preternatural being, who came obſequious to his call, and was bound to accompliſh his ſevereſt ſervices, under certain conditions, and for a limited duration of time. It was actually one of the pretended feats of theſe fantaſtic philoſophers, to evoke the queen of the Fairies in the ſolitude of a gloomy grove, who, preceded by a ſudden ruſtling of the leaves, appeared in robes of tranſcendent luſtre d. The Shakeſpeare of a more inſtructed and poliſhed age, would not have given us a magician darkening the ſun at noon, the ſabbath of the witches, and the cauldron of incantation.

[497] Undoubtedly moſt of theſe notions were credited and entertained in a much higher degree, in the preceding periods. But the arts of compoſition had not then made a ſufficient progreſs, nor would the poets of thoſe periods have managed them with ſo much addreſs and judgement. We were now arrived at that point, when the national credulity, chaſtened by reaſon, had produced a ſort of civilized ſuperſtition, and left a ſet of traditions, fanciful enough for poetic decoration, and yet not too violent and chimerical for common ſenſe. Hobbes, although no friend to this doctrine, obſerves happily, ‘"In a good poem both judgement and fancy are required; but the fancy muſt be more eminent, becauſe they pleaſe for the EXTRAVAGANCY, but ought not to diſpleaſe by INDISCRETION e."’

In the mean time the Gothic romance, although ſomewhat ſhook by the claſſical fictions, and by the tales of Boccace and Bandello, ſtill maintained its ground: and the daring machineries of giants, dragons, and inchanted caſtles, borrowed from the magic ſtorehouſe of Boiardo, Arioſto, and Taſſo, began to be employed by the epic muſe. Theſe ornaments have been cenſured by the bigotry of preciſe and ſervile critics, as abounding in whimſical abſurdities, and as unwarrantable deviations from the practice of Homer and Virgil. The author of AN ENQUIRY INTO THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HOMER is willing to allow a fertility of genius, and a felicity of expreſſion, to Taſſo and Arioſto; but at the ſame time complains, that, ‘"quitting life, they betook themſelves to aerial beings and Utopian characters, and filled their works with Charms and Viſions, the modern Supplements of the Marvellous and Sublime. The beſt poets copy nature, and give it ſuch as they find it. When once they loſe ſight of this, they write falſe, be their talents ever ſo great f."’ But what ſhall we ſay of thoſe Utopians, the Cyclopes and the Leſtrigons in the Odyſſey? The hippogrif of Arioſto may be oppoſed to the harpies of Virgil. If leaves [498] are turned into ſhips in the Orlando, nymphs are transformed into ſhips in the Eneid. Cacus is a more unnatural ſavage than Caliban. Nor am I convinced, that the imagery of Iſmeno's necromantic foreſt in the Gieruſalemme Liberata, guarded by walls and battlements of fire, is leſs marvellous and ſublime, than the leap of Juno's horſes in the Iliad, celebrated by Longinus for its ſingular magnificence and dignity g. On the principles of this critic, Voltaire's Henriad may be placed at the head of the modern epic. But I forbear to anticipate my opinion of a ſyſtem, which will more properly be conſidered, when I come to ſpeak of Spenſer. I muſt, however, obſerve here, that the Gothic and pagan fictions were now frequently blended and incorporated. The Lady of the Lake floated in the ſuite of Neptune before queen Eliſabeth at Kenilworth; Ariel aſſumes the ſemblance of a ſea-nymph, and Hecate, by an eaſy aſſociation, conducts the rites of the weird ſiſters in Macbeth.

Allegory had been derived from the religious dramas into our civil ſpectacles. The maſques and pageantries of the age of Eliſabeth were not only furniſhed by the heathen divinities, but often by the virtues and vices imperſonated, ſignificantly decorated, accurately diſtinguiſhed by their proper types, and repreſented by living actors. The antient ſymbolical ſhews of this ſort began now to loſe their old barbariſm and a mixture of religion, and to aſſume a degree of poetical elegance and preciſion. Nor was it only in the conformation of particular figures that much fancy was ſhewn, but in the contexture of ſome of the fables or devices preſented by groupes of ideal perſonages. Theſe exhibitions quickened creative invention, and reflected back on poetry what poetry had given. From their familiarity and public nature, they formed a national taſte for allegory; and the allegorical poets were now writing to the people. Even romance was turned into this channel. In the Fairy Queen, allegory is wrought upon chivalry, and the feats and figments of Arthur's round table [499] are moraliſed. The virtues of magnificence and chaſtity are here perſonified: but they are imaged with the forms, and under the agency, of romantic knights and damſels. What was an afterthought in Taſſo, appears to have been Spenſer's premeditated and primary deſign. In the mean time, we muſt not confound theſe moral combatants of the Fairy Queen with ſome of its other embodied abſtractions, which are purely and profeſſedly allegorical.

It may here be added, that only a few critical treatiſes, and but one ART OF POETRY, were now written. Sentiments and images were not abſolutely determined by the canons of compoſition: nor was genius awed by the conſciouſneſs of a future and final arraignment at the tribunal of taſte. A certain dignity of inattention to niceties is now viſible in our writers. Without too cloſely conſulting a criterion of correctneſs, every man indulged his own capriciouſneſs of invention. The poet's appeal was chiefly to his own voluntary feelings, his own immediate and peculiar mode of conception. And this freedom of thought was often expreſſed in an undiſguiſed frankneſs of diction. A circumſtance, by the way, that greatly contributed to give the flowing modulation which now marked the meaſures of our poets, and which ſoon degenerated into the oppoſite extreme of diſſonance and aſperity. Selection and diſcrimination were often overlooked. Shakeſpeare wandered in purſuit of univerſal nature. The glancings of his eye are from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. We behold him breaking the barriers of imaginary method. In the ſame ſcene, he deſcends from his meridian of the nobleſt tragic ſublimity, to puns and quibbles, to the meaneſt merriments of a plebeian farce. In the midſt of his dignity, he reſembles his own Richard the ſecond, the ſkipping king, who ſometimes diſcarding the ſtate of a monarch,

Mingled his royalty with carping fools h.

[500] He ſeems not to have ſeen any impropriety, in the moſt abrupt tranſitions, from dukes to buffoons, from ſenators to ſailors, from counſellors to conſtables, and from kings to clowns. Like Virgil's majeſtic oak,

—Quantum vertice ad auras
Aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit i.

No Satires, properly ſo called, were written till towards the latter end of the queen's reign, and then but a few. Pictures drawn at large of the vices of the times, did not ſuit readers who loved to wander in the regions of artificial manners. The Muſe, like the people, was too ſolemn and reſerved, too ceremonious and pedantic, to ſtoop to common life. Satire is the poetry of a nation highly poliſhed.

The importance of the female character was not yet acknowledged, nor were women admitted into the general commerce of ſociety. The effect of that intercourſe had not imparted a comic air to poetry, nor ſoftened the ſeverer tone of our verſification with the levities of gallantry, and the familiarities of compliment, ſometimes perhaps operating on ſerious ſubjects, and impe [...]ceptibly ſpreading themſelves in the general habits of ſtyle and thought. I do not mean to inſinuate, that our poetry has ſuffered from the great change of manners, which this aſſumption of the gentler [...]ex, or rather the improved ſtate of female education, has produced, by giving elegance and variety to life, by enlarging the ſphere of converſation, and by multiplying the topics and enriching the ſtores of wit and humour. But I am marking the peculiarities of compoſition: and my meaning was to ſuggeſt, that the abſence of ſo important a circumſtance from the modes and conſtitution of ant [...]ent life, muſt have influenced the cotemporary poetry. Of the ſtate of manners among our anceſtors reſpecting this point, many traces remain. Their ſtyle of courtſhip may be collected from the love-dialogues of Hamlet, young [501] Percy, Henry the fifth, and Maſter Fenton. Their tragic heroines, their Deſdemonas and Ophelias, although of ſo much conſequence in the piece, are degraded to the back-ground. In comedy, their ladies are nothing more than MERRY WIVES, plain and chearful matrons, who ſtand upon the charineſs of their honeſty. In the ſmaller poems, if a lover praiſes his miſtreſs, ſhe is complimented in ſtrains neither polite nor pathetic, without elegance and without affection: ſhe is deſcribed, not in the addreſs of intelligible yet artful panegyric, not in the real colours, and with the genuine accompliſhments, of nature, but as an eccentric ideal being of another ſyſtem, and as inſpiring ſentiments equally unmeaning, hyperbolical, and unnatural.

All or moſt of theſe circumſtances, contributed to give a deſcriptive, a pictureſque, and a figurative caſt to the poetical language. This effect appears even in the proſe compoſitions of the reign of Eliſabeth. In the ſubſequent age, proſe became the language of poetry.

In the mean time, general knowledge was encreaſing with a wide diffuſion and a haſty rapidity. Books began to be multiplied, and a variety of the moſt uſeful and rational topics had been diſcuſſed in our own language. But ſcience had not made too great advances. On the whole, we were now arrived at that period, propitious to the operations of original and true poetry, when the coyneſs of fancy was not always proof againſt the approaches of reaſon, when genius was rather directed than governed by judgement, and when taſte and learning had ſo far only diſciplined imagination, as to ſuffer its exceſſes to paſs without cenſure or controul, for the ſake of the beauties to which they were allied.

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
Notes
a
SPECUL. HIST. Lib. iii. c. viii. [...]ol. 31. b. edit. Ven. 1591.
b
MSS. HARL. 463. membran. fol.
c
Milton. AT A VACATION EXERCISE, &c.
d
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 18. ſeq.
e
Printed, or reprinted, in 1688. 4to.
f
Lond. Printed for John Windet. 1606. 4to.
g
Act iii. pag. 39.
h
Much the ſame title occurs to a manuſcript of this work in the Vatican, ‘"Hiſtoriae Notabiles collectae ex Geſtis Romanorum et quibuſdam aliis libris cum explicationibus [...]orundem."’ Montfauc. Bibl. MANUSCR. tom. i. pag. 17. Num. 172.
i
Without initials, paging, ſignatures, or catch-words.
k
The firſt is of king Pompey, as before. The la [...]t is entitled De ADULTERIO.
l
It h [...]s ſignatures to K k.
m
For which ſee ſupr. vol. ii. p. 15.
n
EDRIC was the name of ENOCH among the Arabians, to whom they attribute many fabulous compoſitions. Herbelot, in V. Lydgate's CHORLE and THE BIRD, mentioned above, is taken form the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonſus.
o
MSS. HARL. 3861. And in many other libraries. It occurs in old French verſ [...], MSS. DI [...]. 86. membran. ‘"L [...] Romaunz de Peres Aunfour coment il apriſt et chaſtia ſon fils belement."’ [See ſupr. vol. ii. EMEND. and ADD. at pag. 103.]
p
See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. iv. p. 325. ſeq.
q
Milton's IL PENSEROSO.
r
Apud Vaſcoſan. 4to.
s
MSS. RE [...]. 20 C i.
t
MS. 19 E. v.
u
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 19.
w
Lib. v. fol. 122. b.
y

[See ſupr. vol. i. p. 132.] This I now cite from a Latin tranſlation, without date, but evidently printed before 1500. It is dedicated to Guido Vere de Valencia biſhop of Tripoly, by his moſt humble Clerk, Philippus: who ſays, that he found this treatiſe in Arabic at Antioch, quo [...]ar [...]bant L [...]ini, and that therefore, and becauſe the Arabic copies were ſcarce, he tranſlated it into Latin [...]

This printed copy does not exactly correſpond with MS. BODL. 495. membr. 4to. In the laſt, Alexander's miraculous horn is mentioned at fol. 45. b. In the former, in ch. lxxii. The dedication is the ſame in both.

z
Lib. vii. cap. 93. ſeq. f. 86. b. edit. Ven.
a
See Caxton, GOLD. LEG. f. ccclxiii. b.
b
Sigh.
c
Felt.
d
Feet.
e
Sig [...]s.
f
High-ſtreet.
g
They ſighed.
h
Feet.
i
Their.
k
Strait.
l
Found.
m
The true phyſician.
n
Heried. Bleſſed.
o
Hallowed.
p
Tarry.
q
High.
r
At his ſeat in the choir.
s
MSS. Coll. Trin. Oxon. Cod. 57. ſupr. citat.
f
HYSTOR. lxxxix. f. clviii. edit. 1479. fol. And in Vincent of Beauvais, who quotes GESTA ALLEXII. SPECUL. HIST. Lib. xviii. cap. 43. ſeq. f. 241. b.
t
In the Colophon.
u
Fol. 90. edit. 1493.
w
MSS. BODL. 1596. f. 4.
x
Ibid.
y
DECAM. D. ii. N. 2.
z
PROL. v. 342. See ſupr. vol. i. S [...]CT. xvii. p. 438.
a
HYSTOR. xxxii. f. lxii. a.
b
ACT. SANCTOR. tom. ii. JANUAR. p. 974. Antv. 1643.
c
SP [...]CUL. HIST. Lib. ix. c. 115. f. 115. Venet. 1591.
d
Fell out.
e
Caxton's GOLD. LEG. f. ccclxxxxviii.
f
BI [...]LIOTH. SELECT. Lib. i. cap. 25. p. 113. edit. 1593.
g
Fol. ccclxxxxvii. b.
h
See his LEGEND. AUR. fol. cccxv.
i
Ubi ſupr. f. lxxvi.
k
Fol.
l
Fol. See alſo ‘"Legenda Sanctorum quae et LOMBARDICA dicitur."’ Lugd. 1509. fol.
m
Fol [...] at Weſtminſter. This is one of the [...]neſt of Caxton's publications.
n
Bibl. MANUSCR. tom. ii. p. 1669. col. 2.
o
See BIBL. FR. de la Croix, &c. tom. i. p. 388. Amyot was a great tranſlator of Greek books; but I fear, not always from the Greek. It is remarkable, that he wa [...] rewarded with an abba [...]y for tranſlating the THEAGENES and CHARICLEA of Heliodorus: for writing which, the author was deprived of [...] biſhoprick. He died about 1580.
q
Sandford's Engliſh TRANSLAT. cap. 90. p. 159. a. edit. Lond. 1569. 4to.
p

ORIG. lib. xvi. cap. xv. p. 1224. Apud Auct. LING. LAT. 1602.

Iſidore's was a favorite R [...]PERTORY of the middle age. He is cited for an account of the nature and qualities of the Falcon, in the Prologue to the ſecond or metrical part of the old Phebus de deduiz de la chaſſ [...] des B [...]ſtes ſauvages et des oyſeaux d [...] Proye, printed early at Paris without date, and written, as appears by the rubric of the laſt ſection, by Le Comte de Tankarville.

r
NAT. HIST. Lib. xxxvi. cap. xvi. p. 725. edit. Lugd. 1615.
s
DISSERT. ANTICHIT. ITAL. tom. i. c. xxiv. p. 287.
t
Ibid. p. 281.
u
Antw. Plantin. 1580. fol.
w
Lib. vii. f. 161. b. col. 1.
x
Fol. lxii. b.
y
See Lib. iv. cap. xxviii. Apud Muratorii SCR [...]PTOR. ITAL. i. p. 465. edit. Mediolan. 1723. Where ſhe is called Romilda. The king is Cacan, or Cacanus, a king of the Huns. There are ſome [...]ine circumſtances of diſtreſs in Paulus's deſcription of this ſiege.
z
Fol. on vellum. It is not printed with moveable types: but every page is graved in wood or braſs. With wooden cuts. It is a moſt beautiful book.
a
GOLDEN LE [...]. f. ccclxxxxvii. a. edit. 1493. The compilers of the SANCTILOG [...] probably took this ſtory from Paulus Diaconus, GE [...]T. LON [...]OBARD. ut ſupr. Lib. ii. cap. xxviii. p. 435. ſeq. It has been adopted, as a romantic tale, into the HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES of Bellef [...]reſt, p. 297. edit. 1580. The Engliſh reader may find it in Heylin's COSMOGRAPHI [...], B. i. col. i. p. 57. And in Machiavel's HISTORY OF FLORENCE, in Engliſh, Lond. 1680. B. i. p. 5. ſeq. See alſo Lydgate's BOCHAS, B. ix. ch. xxvii.
b
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 411.
c
For the necromancer Virgil, ſee ſupr. vol. ii. p. 229.
d
In the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE. Nov. vii.
e
SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. iv. cap. 61. f. 66. a.
f
DIAR. ITAL. cap. xx. p. 288. edit. 1702. Many wonders are alſo related of Rome, in an old metrical romance called THE STACYONS OF ROME, in which Romulus is ſaid to be born of the duches of Troye. MSS. Cotton. CALIO. A. 2. fol. 81.
g
Fulgen [...]ius.
h
Tragedies of BOCHAS, B. ix. ch. i. [...]t. 4. Compare ſupr. vol. ii. p. 69.
i
CONFESS. AMANT. L. viii. f. clxxxix. a. col. 2.
k
See EMEND. and ADD. to vol. i. at p. 197.
l
Vol. i. p. 184.
m
Vol. iv. LE [...]. iv. p. 7. edit. 1655. 8vo [...]
n
PART i. p. 321. DIAL. ii. edit. Lond. 1668. 12mo. I muſt not forget that it occurs, as told in our GESTA, among a collection of Latin Apologues, quoted above, MSS. HARL. 463. fol. 8. a. The rubric is, D [...] Angelo qui duxit Heremitam ad diverſa Hoſpitia.
o
Ibid. p. 335.
p
i. 3.
q
Nov. lxxi.
r
The ſtories, perhaps fabulous, of the ſerpent fighting with his inveterate enemy the weazel, who eats rue before the attack begins, and of the ſerpent fighting with and being killed by the ſpider, originate from Pliny, NAT. HIST. x. 84. xx. 13.
s
Art. Necromancy.
t
Wiſe.
u
Or earl.
w
War.
x
Stars.
y
Puppets.
z
Conquer.
a
Very. Re [...]l.
b
See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Chaucer's CANT. T. ver. 1281.
c
Each one.
d
Had great jealouſy or anger.
e
Near thirty were gathered, or confederated.
f
All reſolved to deſtroy him.
g
Philip of Macedon.
h
Felde, Field. Army.
i
He did.
k
Enemies.
l
He made them [...]ight.
m
He ſaw the harm fall on, or againſt, Himſelf.
n
Saw fly.
o
The great war of all theſe kings.
p
MSS. (Bod. Bibl.) LAUD. I. 74. f. 54.
q
Laid.
r
Covered.
s
In the romanc [...] of ATI [...] et PORPHILION. Cod. Reg. Par. 7191.
Un chemi [...] de chaiſil
De [...]il, et d'oevre moult ſoutil.
t
Perhap [...] in SYR LAUNFAL, the ſame [...]tuation is more eleg [...]ntly touched. MSS. Cotton. CALI [...]. A. 2. fol. 35. a.
In the pavyloun he found a bed of prys,
Y heled with purpure bys
That ſemyly was of ſyȝte;
With inne lay that lady gent [...],
That aft [...]r ſyr Launfal hadde ſente,
That lefsom beamed bryȝt:
For hete her clothes doun ſhe de [...].
Almoſt to her gerdylſtede;
Than lay ſhe uncovert:
Sche was as whyt as lyly [...] in May [...],
Or ſnowe that ſnoweth yn wynterys day [...]
He ſeygh nevir non ſo pert,
The rede roſe whan ſche is new [...]
Aȝen [...] her rode n [...]s nauȝt of hew [...],
Y dar ſay yn ſert
Her hare ſchon as gold wyre, &c.
x
Wrung.
y
This is deſcribed above, f. 55 [...]
Of gold he made a table
Al ful of ſteorron [ſtars].—
An aſtrolable is intended.
z
Sprinkled.
a
Before day.
b
She.
c
Fly.
d
Dream.
e
Times.
f
Kiſſed her.
g
Fol. 57. The text is here given from MSS. BODL. ut ſupr. Compared with MSS. HOSPIT. LINCOLN. 150. See Gower's CON [...]ESS. AMANT. Lib. vi. fo [...] cxxxviii. a. col. 1. ſeq.
And through the crafte of artemage,
Of waxe he forged an ymage, &c.
Gower's dragon, in approaching the queen [...] is courteis and debonaire.
With al the cher [...] that he maie,
Towarde the bedde ther as ſhe laie,
Till he came to hir the beddes ſide
And ſhe lai [...] ſtill, and nothyng cride;
For he did all hys thynges faire,
And was curteis and debonaire.
Ibid. col. 2. I could not reſiſt the temptation of tranſcribing this gallantry of a dragon. Gower's whole deſcription of this interview, as will appear on compariſon, ſeems to be taken from Beauvais, ‘"Nectabanus ſe transformat in illum draconis ſeductiorem tractum, tricliniumque penetrat reptabundus, ſpecie ſpectabilis, tum majeſtate totius corporis, tum etiam ſibilorum acumine adeo terribilis, ut pariete [...] etiam ac fundamenta domus quati viderentur, &c."’ HIST. S [...]ECUL. fol. 41. b. ut ſupr. S [...] Aul. Gell. NOCT. ATT. [...]ii. 1.
h
Edit. 1603. 4to. B. ii. ch. iv. p. 44 [...] ſeq.
i
For inſtance, ‘"the Art and Myſtery of Printing."’
k
In a ſtatute of Henry the eighth, inſtead of the words in the laſt note, we [...]ave ‘"The Science and Craft of Printing."’ Ann. reg. 25. A. D. 1533. For many reaſons, My [...]ry anſwering to the Latin Myſt [...]rium, never could have been originally applied in theſe caſes.
l
MSS. Cod. Reg. Pariſ. 7539.
m
MIRAC. S. Ludov. edit. reg. p. 438.
n
Tom. v. Collect. Hiſtor. Franc. pag. [...]54. Thus expreſſed in the Latin ANNALES FRANCIAE, ibid. p. 56. ‘"Horologium [...]x aurichalco art [...] mechanica mirifice compoſitum."’
o
HI [...]T. CASI [...]. tom. ii. pag. 545. col. ii. Chart. [...]nn. 1349.
p
R. R. v. 4172.
q
Ibid. v. 842.
r
I know not what ornament or implement of the antient horſe-furnitur [...] is here intended, unleſs it is a ſaddle-cloth; nor can I find this word in any gloſſary. But Sambu [...] occurs, evidently under the very ſame ſignification, in the beautiful manuſcript French romance of GARIN, written in the twelfth century.
Li palefrois ſur coi la dame [...]i [...]t
Eſtoit plus blanc qu [...] nule [...]lor d [...] li [...]
Le loreins vaut mils [...]ols pari [...]s,
Et la SAU [...]U [...] nul pl [...] rich [...] n [...] viſt.
‘"The palfrey on which the lady ſate, was whiter than any flower de lis: the bridle was worth a thouſand Pariſian ſols, and a richer Saubue never was ſeen."’ The French word however, is properly written Sambu [...], and is not uncommon in old French wardro [...]e rolls, where it appears to be a female ſadd [...]e-cloth, or houſing. So in Le ROMAN DE LA ROSE.
Comme royne fuſt veſtue,
Et chevauchaſt à grand SAMBUE.
The Latin word, and in the ſame reſtrained ſenſe, is ſometimes SAMBUA, but moſt commonly SAMBUCA. Ordericus Vitalis, Lib. viii. p. 694. edit. Par. 1619. ‘"Mannos et mulas cum SAMBUCI [...] muliebribus proſpexit."’ Vincent of Beauvais ſays, that the Tartarian women, when they ride, have CAMBUCAS of painted leather, embroidered with gold, hanging down on either ſide of the horſe. SPECUL. HIST. x. 85. But Vincent's CAMBUCAS was originally written çambucas, or Sambucas. To ſuch an enormity this article of the trappings of female horſemanſhip had ariſen in the middle ages, that Frederick king of Sicily reſtrained it by a ſumptuary law; which enjoined, that no woman, even of the higheſt rank, ſhould preſume to uſe a Sambu [...]a, or ſaddle-c [...]oth, in which were gold, ſilver, or pearls, &c. CONSTITUT. cap. 92. Queen Olympias, in Davie's G [...]ST of Alexander, ha [...] a Samb [...]e of ſilk [...] fol. 54. [Supr. vol. i. 221.]
A mule alſo whyte ſo mylke,
With ſadel of golde, ſambue of ſylke, &c.
s

Of this faſhion I have already given many inſtances. The lateſt I remember is in the year 1503, at the marriage of the princeſs Margaret. ‘"In ſpecyall the Erle of No [...]thumberlannd ware on a goodly gowne of tynſill, [...]ourred with hermynes [...] He was mounted upon a fayre courſer, hys harnays of goldſmyth worke, and thorough thát ſam was ſawen ſmall belles, that maid a mellodyous noyſe."’ Leland. COLL [...] ad calc. tom. iii. p. 276.

In the NONNES PREESTES PROLOGUE, Chaucer from the circumſtance of the Monke's bridle being decorated with bells, takes occaſion to pu [...] an admirable ſtroke of humour and ſatire into the mouth of the HOSTE, which at once ridicules that inconſiſtent piece of affectation, and cenſures the monk for the dullneſs of his tale. Ver. 14796.

Swiche talking is not worth a boter [...]ie,
For therin is ther no diſport ne game:
Therefore [...]ire monke, dan Piers by your name,
I pray you hert [...]ly tell us ſomwhat [...]lles,
Forſikerly, n'ere clinking of your belles
That on your bridel ha [...]ge on every ſide,
By heven king that for us alle dide,
I ſhoulde or this have fallen down for ſlepe,
Although the ſlough had been never ſo depe.
t
Saddle-bow. See ſupr. vol. i p. 165.
u
Breaſt [...]plate.
x
MS. fol. 40. a.
y
PROL. v. 165.
z
NOCT. ATT [...]C. Lib. v. cap. xiv. See another fabulous ſtory, of which Appio [...] was an eye witneſs, ibid. L. vii. cap. viii. It is of a boy beloved by a dolphin.
a
Vincent Beauvais, SPECUL. HIST. Lib. iv. c. 58. fol. 42. a.
b
PARAD. L. ix. 500.
c
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 229. So in the romance, or LAY, of SYR LAUNFAL. MSS. Cotton. CALIG. A. 2. [...]ol. 35. a.
And whan he come to the foreſt on hyȝ,
A pavyloun y teld he ſyȝ:
The pavyloun was wrouth forſothe ywys
All of werk of Sarſynys 1,
The pomells2 of cryſtall.—
On the top was a beaſt,
Of bournedde golde, ryche and good,
I [...]loryſched with ryche amall 3;
His eyen wer carbonkeles bryȝt,
As the mon4 they ſchon anyȝt,
That ſpreteth out ovir all:
Alyſaundre the conquerour,
Ne kyng Artour yn hys moſt hend
Ne hadde non ſcwych quell.
He found yn the pavyloun,
The kynges douȝter of Olyroun,
Dame Triamour that hyȝte,
Her fadyr was kyng of Fayre.
And in the alliterative romance, called the SEGE OF JERUSALEM. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 122. b.
Tytus tarriedde noȝte5 for that, but to the tempul rode.
That was rayled in the roofe with rubyes ryche,
With perles and with perytotes6 all the place ſette,
That glyſtered as coles in the fyre, on the golde ryche;
Th [...] dores with dyamondes dryven were thykke,
And made alſo marveylouſly with margery7 perles,
That ever lemede the lyȝt, and as a lampe ſhewed:
The clerkes had none other lyȝte.—
1.
Saracen-work.
2.
Balls. Pinnacl [...]s.
3.
Enamel.
4.
Moon.
5.
Nought.
6.
On the [...]inger of Becket, when he wa [...] killed, wa [...] a jewel called Peretot [...] MONA [...]T [...] ANGL. i. 6 [...]
7.
Margarit [...]s.
d
The original is, ‘"mulieres pulcherrimas in purpura et pallo operantes invenit."’ fol. L. a. col. 1. This may mean either the ſenſe in the text, or that the ladies were cloathed in purpura et pallo, a phraſe which I never ſaw before in barbarous latinity: but which tallies with the old Engliſh expreſſion purple and pall. This is ſometimes written purple pall. As in SYR LAUNFAL, ut ſupr. fol. 40. a.
The lady was clad yn purpure palle.
Antiently Pallium, as did Purpura, ſignified in general any rich cloth. Thus there were ſaddles, de pallio et ebore; a bed, de pallio; a cope, de pallio, &c &c. See Dufreſne, LAT. GLOSS. V. PALLIUM. And PELLUM, its corruption. In old French, to cover a hall with tapeſtry was called paller. So in SYR LAUNFAL, u [...] ſupr. fol. 40. a.
Thyn halle agyrde, and hele [cover] the walles
With [...]lodes [clothes], and wyth ryche palles,
A ȝens [againſt] my Lady Tryamour.
Which alſo illuſtrates the former meaning. In A. Davie's GEST of Alexander we have,
Her bed was made forſothe
With pallis and with riche clothe,
The chambre was hangid with clothe of gold. fol. 57.
e
B. ii. C. vii. ſt [...] 34.
f
See DISS. i. And vol. i. 400. ſeq.
g
De GEST. REG. ANGL. lib. ii. cap. 10. p. 36. a. b. 37 a. b. edit. Savil. Lond. 1596. fol. Afterwards Malmeſbury mentions his horologe, which was not of the nature of the modern clock: but which yet is recorded as a wonderful invention by his cotemporary Ditmar, CHRON. Lib. vi. fol. 83. edit. 1580. Vincent of Beauvais has tranſcribed all that William of Malmeſbury has here ſaid about Gerbert, SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. xxiv. c. 98. ſeq [...] f. 344. a. Compare Platina, VIT. PONTIF. fol. 122. edit. 1485. See alſo L'Hiſtoire Literaire de France [...] by the Benedictines, tom. vi. ad calc.
h
Courteous.
i
Alighted.
k
Inſtruments of muſic.
l
He ſaw at th [...] high table.
m
A Fire, large and ſtrong. Stor [...] is flour.
n
Lighted, and burned bright.
o
Yede. Went into the door of the hall, with his horſe.
p
Led.
q
Farther in.
r
To ſee, to view, every place or thing.
s
Perhaps, Holes, i. e. corners.
t
He ſaw no man.
u
Clothed in rich attire.
w
A torch fair and good.
x
To know, in angry mood what knight would, &c.
y
Painted glaſs.
z
The walls were painted with hiſtories.
a
Had ſeen.
b
He ſate down in the principal ſeat.
c
Were ſuddenly ſilent.
d
Tried. Excellent. Chaucer, RIM. SIR THOP. p. 146. Urr. v. 3361.
With ſinger that is tri [...].
e
Burned ſo bright.
f
Were inſtantly quenched, or extinguiſhed.
g
Vaniſhed away [...]
h
MSS. Cotton. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 52. b. ſeq.
i
Ibid. f. 52. b.
k
x. 1.
l
Nov. lxv.
m
Lib. v. fol. 96. a.
n
See Joan. Damaſceni OPERA nonnul. HISTOR. ad calc. pag. 12. Baſil. 1548. fol. The cheſts are here called Arcellae.
o
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 17. And ibid. EM. and ADDIT. to pag. 342.
p
It is extant in Surius, and other collections.
q
DE REGE AUEMUR, &c. Lib. xiv. f. 196. Ven. 1591. It contains ſixty-four chapters.
r
In doctor Johnſon's abridgement of a tale like this from Boccace, which he ſuppoſes to have been Shakeſpeare's original, the king ſays, that in one of the Caſkets was ‘"contained his crown, ſceptre and jewels, &c."’ See Steeven [...]'s SHAKESPEARE, vol. iii. p. 255. edit. 1779.
s
MSS. LAUD. C. 72. Bibl. Bodl. Compare Caxton's GOLDEN LEGEND [...] fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. And Surius, VIT. SANCTOR. Novembr. 27. Ann. 383. pag. 560. Colon. Agrippin. 1618.
t
MSS. BODL. 779. f. 292. b.
u
Thi [...] fabl [...] occur [...] in an old Collection of Apologue [...] above-cited, MSS. HA [...]L. 463. fol. 2. a.
w
COLL [...]CTAN. tom. iii. p. 149. edit. 1770.
x
Sir Placidas i [...] the name of a knight in the FA [...]RIE QUE [...]NE.
y
Fol. cccxxiii. b. S [...] vol. ii. p. 190. And METRIC. LIVES S. MSS. Bodl. 779. f. 164. a.
z
CALIG. [...] A. 2. fol. 135. b. Thi [...] is a tranſlation from the French. MSS. Reg. Pariſ. Cod. 3031.
a
See the MOZARA [...]ES, or Miſſal of ſaint Iſidore, p [...]inted at Toledo, by the command of Cardinal Ximenes, A. D [...] 1500. fol.
b
Indian ſilk. Cendal. Fr. See Dufreſne, LAT. GL. V. CENDALUM.
c
Laced.
d
There might.
e
Velvet.
f
Furred. Pelura. Pellis.
g
Gris is fur. Gris and gray is common in the metrical romances.
h
Their heads.
i
More.
k
Ruddineſs.
l
Such.
m
Cut.
n
MSS. Cotton. CALI [...]. A. 2. fol. 35. a.
o
SPECUL. HIST. xxiii. c. 162. f. [...]29. b.
p
Nov. lxx [...]v.
q
P. 444. This work was tranſlated into Engli [...] under the title of ‘"Donies MORALL PHILOSOPHIE, tranſlated from the Indian tongue, 1570."’ Black Letter with woodden cuts. 4to. But Doni was the Italian tranſlator.
r
HIST. MA [...]. p. 179. Edit. Wats.
s
fol. 110. b.
t
Give thee.
u
Perhaps Almer, or Almere, a cabinet or cheſt.
w
Get. Find.
x
SYR LAUN [...]AL. MSS. Cott. CALI [...]. A. 2. fol 35. b.
y
Viz. MSS. S [...]LD. Sup. 53. Where is a prologue of many ſtanzas not printed by Browne. See alſo MSS. Dio [...]. 185. MSS. LAUD. K. 78. [See ſupr. vol. ii. 38.]
z
EGL. i.
a
Bibl. REG. Pariſ. MSS. Cod. 3031.
a
SATURNAL. Lib. i. c. 6. pag. 147. Londin. 1694.
b
In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a long fabulous Hiſtory of Alexander, tranſcribed partly from Simeon Seth. SPEC. HIST. Lib. iv. c. i. f. 41. a. ſeq. edit. Ven. 1591. fol.
c
De IR A. Lib. i. c. 8.
d
Ver. 7600. Tyrwh.
e
SPECUL. HIST. Lib. i. c. 64. fol. 9. b.
f
In the days of chivalry, a concert of a variety of inſtruments of muſic conſtantly made a part of the ſolemnity of a ſplendid feaſt. Of this many inſtances have been given. I will here add another [...] from the unprinted metrical romance of EMAR [...]. MSS. Cott. CALI [...]. A. 2. fol. 71. [...].
Syre Ladore latte make a feſte,
That was ſayre and honeſte,
With his lord the kynge;
Ther was myche minſtralſe,
Trompus, tabors, and ſawtre,
Both harpe, and fydyllynge:
The lady was gentyll and ſmall,
In kurtell alone ſerved in hall
By fore that nobull kynge;
The cloth upon her ſchone ſo bryȝth,
When ſhe was th [...]r yn dyȝth,
She ſemed non erdly thynge, &c.
And in Chaucer, JAN. AND MAY, v. 1234.
Att everie cours came the loud minſtralſie.
g
Lib. i. fol. xix. b. col. i.
h
Ubi ſupr. p. xlix.
i
OPP. ut ſupr. pag. 12.
k
See Caxton's GOLDEN LE [...]NDE, fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. See alſo METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, MSS. BODL. 779. f. 292. a.
l
It is printed Amon.
m
NOCT. ATTIC. Lib. xvi. cap. xix.
n
Lib. viii.
o
The printer of that name. He alſo tranſlated from the French, at the deſire of Edward duke of Buckingham, the romance of the KNYGHT OF THE SWANNE. See his PROLOGUE.
p
The tournament. To tourney is often called ſimply to play. As thus in SYR LAUNFAL, MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 37.
Hym thoȝte he brente bryȝte
But he my [...]te with Launfal pleye
In the felde be tweene ham twey
To juſty or to fyȝte.
And in many other places.
q
CAP. xi.
r
Fol. lxxii. b. col. 2.
s
HIST. LAT. Lib. iii. c. 8. pag. 552. edit. 1627. 4to.
t
CANTILENA [...] VEL FABULAS DE AMASIIS, &c. MS. Regiſtr. Univ. Oxon. D. b. f. 76. See ſupr. vol. i. 92.
u
Leland. COLL. iii. p. 30.
w
Lib. v. fol. 99. b. col. 2. See fol. 101. a. col. 1. 2.
x
Nov. 50.
y
At Verona. 1480. By Peter Mauffer a Frenchman. It is a moſt beautiful and coſtly book, printed on vellum in folio.
z
COD. PSEUD [...]IGR. VET. TESTAM. vol. i. p. 275.
a
Ver. 16993. Tyrwh.
b
The text ſays, ‘"Such a one as is uſed at this day."’
c
That is, Henry the Firſt, king of England.
d
OPP. ut ſupr. p. 22. See alſo Suriu [...], ut ſupr. Novembr. 27. pag. 565.
e
Fol. ccclxxxxii. b.
f
See Caxton's GOLDEN L [...]GEND [...] [...]ol. cccclxxxxiiii. a.
g
See Damaſcenus, ut ſupr. pag. 31. And METRICAL LIVES OF SAINTS, MSS. BODL. 779. f. 293. b.
h
See Caxton's GOLD. LEG. f. cxxix. b [...]
i
R. Edwards has a play on this ſtory, 1582.
k
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 120.
k
Stowe mentions Lydgate's ‘"PILGRIMAGE OF THE WORLD by the commaundement of the earle of Saliſburie, 1426."’ But this muſt be a different work. Ad calc. Opp. Chauc. fol. 376, col. 1.
l
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 194. I know not if this is the poem recited by Stowe and called, ‘"The Courte of Sapience in heaven for redemption of mankind."’ Ubi ſupr. col. i.
s
Compare Matth. Pariſ. edit. Watts. p. 927. 40.—And p. 751. 10.
t
Caen in Normandy.
u
Perhaps, Oſtend.
w
Perhaps Le Pais d'Aunis, between the Provinces of Poictou and Santone, where is Rochelle, a famous port and mart.
x
Regiſtr. HONORIS DE RICHMOND. Lond. 1722. fol. Num, viii. APPEND. p. 39.
y
This fable is in Alphonſus's CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA.
y
In this work th [...] following queſtion is diſcuſſed, originally, I believe, ſtarted by ſaint Auſtin, and perhaps determined by Thomas Aquinas, An Angeli poſſi [...]t coir [...] cum Muli [...]rib [...], [...]t generar [...] Gigantes?
z
Fol. 237. a.
a
SP [...]CUL. HIST. L. iii. c. ii.
b
Vol. ii. p. 178.
c
Vol. ii. p. 35.
d
MARCH TALE, v. 1260. Urr.
m
In the old romance, or LAY, of EMARE, a beautiful uſe is made of the Lady Emare's ſon ſerving as cup-bearer to the king of Galicia: by which means, the king diſcovers the boy to be his ſon, and in conſequence finds out his queen Emare, whom he had long loſt. The paſſage alſo points out the duties of this office. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. [...]. f. 69. Emare ſays to the young prince, her ſon.
To morrowe thou ſhall ſerve yn halle
In a kurtyll of ryche palle 1,
Byfore thys nobull kynge;
Loke, ſone 2, ſo curtois thou be,
That no man fynde chalange to the
In no manere thynge 3.
When the kynge is ſerved of ſpycerye,
Knele thou downe haſtylye,
And take hys hond yn thyne;
And when thou haſt ſo done,
Take the kuppe of golde, ſone,
And ſerve hym of the wyne.
And what that he ſpeketh to the
Cum anon and tell me,
On goddys bleſſyng and myne.
The chylde4 wente ynto the hall
Among the lordes grete and ſmall
That lufsume wer unther lyne 5 [...]
Then the lordes, that wer grete,
Wyſh 6, and wente to her mete;
Menſtrelles browȝt yn the kours 7,
The chylde hem ſerved ſo curteyſly,
All hym loved that hym ſy 8,
And ſpake hym grete honowres.
Then ſayde all that loked hym upon,
So curt [...]ys a chyld ſawe they never non,
In halle, ne yn bowres:
The kynge ſayde to hym yn game,
Swete ſone, what ys thy name?
Lorde, he ſayd, y hyȝth9 Segramowres.
Then that nobull kyng
Toke up a grete ſykynge 1,
For hys ſone2 hyght ſo:
Certys, without leſynge,
The teres out of hys yen3 gan wryng.
In hert [...] he was full woo:
Nevertheleſe, he lette be [...]
And loked on the chylde ſo fre 4,
And mykell5 he loved hem thoo 6.—
Then the lordes that wer grete
Whesſhen aȝeyn 7, aftyr mete,
And then com ſpycerye 8.
The chyld, that was of chere ſwete,
On hys kne downe he ſ [...]te 9,
And ſerved hem curteyſlye.
The kynge called the burgeys hym tyll,
And ſayde, Syr, yf hyt be thy wyll,
Ȝyf me this lytyll body 10;
I ſhall hym make lorde of town and towre,
Of hye halles, and of bowre,
I love hym ſpecyally, &c.
1.
A tunic of rich cl [...]th.
2.
Son.
3.
May accuſ [...] thee of want of court [...]ſy.
4.
The [...]oy.
5.
[...]chly [...]pparelled.
6.
W [...]ſhed.
7.
Courſ [...].
8.
Saw.
9.
I am c [...]ll [...]d.
1.
Sighing.
2.
Hi [...] ſon.
3.
Eyen. Eye [...].
4.
The boy ſo beautiful.
5.
Greatly.
6.
Then.
7.
Waſhed again.
8.
Spic [...]ry. Spi [...]d Wine.
9.
Bow [...]d his knee.
10.
Give me this boy.
n
CRON. vol. ii. fol. xxxvi. a. Tranſl. Bern. 1523.
o
It appears that candles were borne by domeſtics, and not placed on the table, at a very early period in France. Gregory of Tours mentions a piece of ſavage merriment practiſed by a feudal lord at ſupper, on one of his valets de chandelle, in conſequence of this cuſtom. Greg. Turon. HIST. Lib. v. c. iii. fol. 34. b. edit. 1522. It is probable that our proverbial ſcoff, You are not [...]it to hold a candl [...] to him, took its riſe from this faſhion. See Ray's PROV. C. p. 4. edit. 1670. And Shakeſp. ROMEO AND JULIET, i. 4.
I'll be a Candle-holder, and look on.
p
Ibid. [...]ol. xxx. a. col. 2.
q
Ibid. col. [...].
r
ESSAIS. Libr. i [...]. ch. x. p. 409. edit. 1598. 8vo.
e
CHA [...]. xx.
f
Sicily.
g
Went to.
h
Worthily.
i
Courteouſly. But, I beli [...]ve there i [...] a ſlight corruption.
k
He preſented it kneeling.
l
I tell thee.
m
Could not it.
n
Certainly.
o
An illuſion, a piece of enchantment.
p
JEWEL was antiently any pretious thing.
q
The daughter of the Amerayle of the Saracens. AMI [...]AL in the eaſtern languages was the governor, or prince, of a province, from the Arabic EMIR, Lord. In this ſenſe, AMRAYL is uſed by Robert of Glouceſter. Hence, by corruption the word ADMIRAL, and in a reſtricted ſenſe, for the commander of a fleet: which Milton, who knew the original, in that ſenſe write [...] AMMIRAL. PARAD. L. i. 294. Dufreſne thinks, that our naval Amiral, i. e. Admiral [...] came from the cruſades, where the Chriſtians heard it uſed by the Saracens (in conſequence of its general ſignification) for the title of the leader of their fleets: and that from the Mediterran [...]an ſtates it was propagated over Europe.
r
Lying.
s
Azure.
t
Every.
u
Sought.
w
On one corner, or ſide, was embroidered the hiſtory of Idonia and Amadas. For their Romance, ſee ſupr. vol. ii. p. 24.
x
Loved each other.
y
Sapphire.
z
Figures of minſtrels, with their muſic, or muſical inſtruments.
a
Sir Triſtram and Bel I [...]olde, famous in king ARTHUR'S Romance.
b
Third.
c
See what I have ſaid of their romance above, vol. i. p. 351. A manuſcript copy of it in French metre was deſtroyed in the fire which happened in the Cotton Library. Boccace has the adventures of FLORIO and BIANCOFLORE, in his PHILOCOPO. FLORIS and BLANCAFLOR are mentioned as illuſtrious lovers by Matfres Eymegau de B [...]zers, a bard of Languedoc, in his BREVIARI D'AMOR, dated in the year 1288. MSS. Re [...]. 19 C. i. fol. 199. See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. iv. p. 169.
d
Soldan's ſon.
e
MSS. Cott. (ut ſupr.) CALI [...]. A. 2. fol. 69. ver. 80. ſeq.
f
Ver. 1076.
g
Ver. 1068.
h
MSS. HARL. 1022. 4.
i
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 19.
k
MSS. HARL. 2270. And 5259.
l
Viz. CHAP. x [...]ix. [...]ol. 78. b [...] MSS. HARL. 2270. In the CLERI [...]ALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonſus, there is a narrative of a king who kept a [...]A [...]ULATOR, or ſtory-teller, to lull him to ſleep every night. The king on ſome occaſion being ſeized with an unuſual diſquietude of mind, ordered his FABULATOR to tell him longer ſtories, for that otherwiſe he could not fall aſleep. The FABULATOR begins a longer ſtory, but in the midſt falls aſleep himſelf, &c. I think I have ſeen this tale in ſome manuſcript of the GESTA ROMANORUM.
m
GIORN. iv. Nov. 5. In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a ſtory of a bond between a Chriſtian and a Jew; in which the former uſes a deception which occaſions the converſion of the latter. HIST. SPECUL. fol. 181. a. edit. ut ſupr. Jews, yet under heavy reſtrictions, were originally tol [...]rated in the Chriſtian kingdoms of the dark ages, for the purpoſe of borrowing money, with which they ſupplied the exigencies of the ſtate, and of merchants, or others, on the moſt lucrative uſ [...]riou [...] contracts.
n
Fol. 43. a. In this ſtory MAGISTER VIRG [...]LIUS, or Virgil the cunning man, is conſulted.
o
See Johnſon's and Steevens's SHAK [...] SPEARE, iii. p. 247. edit. ult. And Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, iv. p. 332. 334.
p
CON [...]ESS. AMANT. Lib. i. f. xv. b. See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 31.
q
MSS. SELD. Sup. 53. Bibl. Bodl. De quadam bona et n [...]bili Imperatrice. It is introduced with ‘"A Tale the which I in the Roman dedis, &c."’ Viz. MSS. L [...]U [...]. ibid. K. 78. See alſo MSS. DIGB. 185. Where, in the firſt line of the poem, we have, ‘"In the Roman je [...]ys writen is this."’ It is in other manuſcripts of Occleve. This ſtory is in the GESTA ROMANORUM, MSS. HARL. 2270. chap. 101. fol. 80. a. Where Ger [...]laus is Menelaus.
r
Bonifacio Vannozzi, in D [...]lle LETTERE MISCELLAN [...]E alle Academia V [...] neta [...] ſays, that Boccace borrowed [Nov. i. D. iii.] the Novel of Maſeto da Lamporecchio, with many other parts of the DECAMERON, from an older Collection of Novels. ‘"In uno libro de Novelle, et di Parlare Gentile, ANTERIORE al Boccacio, &c."’ In Venetia, 1606. 4to. pag. 580. ſeq. I believe, however, that many of the tales are of Boccace's own invention. He tells us himſelf, in the GENEALOGIA DEORUM, that when he was a little boy, he was fond of making FICTIUNCULAE. Lib. xv. cap. x. p. 579. edit. Baſil. 1532. fol.
f
MARCHANT'S TALE, ver. 10158. edit. Tyrw. This may ſtill be doubted, as from what has been ſaid above, the ROMAN GESTS were the Roman hiſtory in general.
s
Here we ſee the antient practice, even in great families, of one and the ſame bed-chamber ſerving for many perſons. Much of the humour in Chaucer's TROMPINGTON MILLER ariſes from this circumſtance. See the Romance of SYR TRYAMORE. And Gower, CONF. AM. ii. f. 39. a.
t
Earl's daughter.
u
Thought.
w
Drew.
x
Sl [...]w.
y
Opinion.
z
He haſtened, &c.
a
Saw.
b
Slew.
c
Saw.
d
Ut ſupr. viz. MS. SELD. SUP. 45. Qu. iiii.
e
SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. vii. c. 90. fol. 86. a.
f
PHILOLO [...]IAE SACRAE, qua totius ſacroſanctae veteris et novi teſtamenti ſcripturae tum ſtylus et literatura, tum ſenſus et genuinae interpretationis ratio expenditur, Libri quinque, &c. edit. tert. Francof. et Hamb. 1653.
g
From the date of the Dedication. For his other works, which are very numerous, ſee the DIARIUM BIOGRAPHICUM of H. Witte, ſub Ann. 1665. Gedani, 1688. 4to.
h
LIB. ii. Part. i. TRACTAT. ii. Sect. iii. Artic. viii. pag 312.
i
Salmeron, a profound ſchool-divine, who flouriſhed about 1560, cenſures the unwarrantable liberty of the GESTA ROMANORUM, in accommodating hiſtories and fables to Chriſt and the church. COMM. in EVANGEL. HIST. i. pag. 356. PROL. xix. CAN. xxi.—Colon. Agrippin. 1602. fol.
k
I uſe a folio edition of all theſe three works, in three volumes, printed at Venice in 1583. Theſe pieces were all printed very early.
l
This was firſt printed, Argentorat. 1473. fol. There was a very curious book in lord Oxford's library, I am not ſure whether the ſame, entitled MORALIZATIONES BIBLIAE, Ulmae 1474. fol. With this colophon in the laſt page. Infinita dei clementia. Finitus eſt liber Moralizationum Bibliarum in ejuſdem laudem et gloriam compilatus. Ac per indu [...]rium Joannem Zeiner de Reutlingen Artis impreſſoriae magiſtrum non penna ſed ſcagneis characteribus in oppido Ulmenſi arti [...]icialiter [...]ffigiatus. Anno Incarnationis Domini milleſimo quadriugenteſſimo ſeptuag [...]ſſimo quarto Aprilis nono. This book is not mentioned by Maittaire.
m
To this work Alanus de Lynne, a Carmelite of Lynne in Norfolk, wrote an Index or Tabula, about the year 1240. It is in MSS. RE [...]. 3 D. 3. 1.
n
CAP. xlix. f. 643. He quotes CHRONICA, and ſays, that this happened in the reign of the emperor Henry the ſecond. [See GEST. ROM. c. clviii.]
o
CAP. lxxii. f. 689. col. 1. 2. He quotes for this ſtory [GEST. ROM. c. cvii.] William of Malmeſbury, but tells it in the words of Beauvais, ut ſupr.
p
Fol. 610. col. 2. [GEST. ROM. c. clv.] Here alſo his author is Gervaſe of Tilbury: from whom, I think in the ſame chapter, he quotes part of king Arthur's Romance. See OTIA IMPERIAL. Dec. ii. c. 12.
q
Fol. 610. ut ſupr. [GEST. ROM. c. lxi.]
r
A MORALISATION is joined to theſe ſtories, with the introduction of CARISSIMI.
f
See what he ſays of the Fabulae Poetarum, REPERTOR. MORAL. lib. xiv. cap. i. f. 601. col. 2. ad calc.
s
Oudin. COMMENT. SCRIPTOR. ECCLES. iii. p. 1064. Lipſ. 1723. fol. I doubt whether this work was not tranſlated into French by Guillaume Nangis, at the beginning of the fourteenth century. See MEM. LIT. xx. 751. 4to.
t
I have mentioned this work before, vol. ii. p. 114. It is remarkable, that a copy of this manuſcript in the Britiſh Muſeum is entitled, ‘"TITUS LIVIUS Des FAIS DES ROMAINS tranſlate par Pierre Bertheure."’ MSS. REG. 15 D. vi.
u
Pope Innocent the third, about the year 1200, wrote three Books De Contemptu Mundi, [...]ive De Miſeria humanae Conditionis, printed, Colon. 1496.
w
DICTION. MORAL. P. iii. vol. ii. f. 274. col. 2. edit. 1583.—S [...]e ſupr. vol. ii. p. 114.
x
Oudin, ubi ſupr.
y
I have ſeen a very old black-letter edition with the title, ‘"Tropologiarum myſticarumque enarrationum, &c."’ Without date.
z
But ſee Bibl. Sangerm. Cod. MS. 687. And G. Serpilii VIT. SCRIPTOR. BIBLIC. tom. vii. part. 2. pag. 44. Alſo Poſſevin. APPARAT. SACR. ii. p. 241. Colon. 1608.
a
This is in ſome meaſure hinted by Oudin, ubi ſupr. ‘"Egreſſus autem a PROFANIS et grammaticis Berchorius, animum SOLIDIORIBUS applicuit, &c."’
b
Geſner adds, reciting his works, that he wrote ‘"alia multa."’ EPITOM. BIBL. f. 147. b. Tig. 1555. fol. And Trith [...] mius, ‘"parvos ſed multos tractatus."’ De ILLUSTR. BENED. Lib. ii. c. 131.
c
Dat. 1559. Edit. Baſil. Oporin. No Date. fol.
d
CHRON. CITIZ. f. 841. Apud Piſtorii ILLUSTR. VIT. SCRI [...]TOR. &c. Francof. 1583. fol. Compare the CHRON. of Philippus Bergom. ad ann. 1355.
e
Read BERCHEUR.
f
That is, of the village of ſaint Pierre du C [...]min. Three leagues from Poictiers.
g
Of Maille [...]ais.
h
The COSMOGRAPHIA abovementioned.
i
Of Livy.
k
Sweertii EPITAPHIA Joco-ſeri [...]. edit. Colon. 1645. p. 158. It muſt not be diſſembled, that in the MORALISATION of the hundred and forty-fifth chapter, a proverb is explained, vulgariter, in the German language. Fol. 69. a. col. 2. And in the hundred and forty-third chapter, a hunter has eight dogs who have German names. Fol. 67. a. col. 1. ſeq. I ſuſpect, nor is it improbable, that thoſe German words were introduced by a German editor or printer. Mr. Tyrwhitt ſuppoſes, that we may reaſonably conjecture one of our countrymen to have been the compiler, becauſe three couplets of Engliſh verſes and ſome Engliſh n [...]mes, appear in many of the manuſcripts. But theſe are not to be found in any of the Editions; and there is no anſwering for the licentious innovations of tranſcribers. CANT. T. vol. iv. 331.
l
Oudin. ubi ſupr. p. 1063.
m
This, by habit, and otherwiſe with no impropriety, he ſeems to have retained in his later and larger works.
n
See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, iv. 115. ſeq.
o
EXEMPL. lxvii. Sub litera, M. ‘"De regina quae equitavit Ariſtotelem."’ He cites Jacobus de Vitriaco. [See ſupr. p. xix.]
p
EXEMPL. xxiv. Sub Litera, L.
q
Ibid. EXEMPL. xxiii. [See ſupr. p. l.]
r
EXEMPL. xii. Sub. lit. V.
s
CH. xxviii.
t
This is alſo in the GESTA, CH. xlv.—EXEMPL. viii. Lit. B.
t
See ſupr. p. lxxxiii.
u
For the ſecond edition is at Nuremburgh, 1482. fol. Others followed, before 1500.
w
The only edition I have ſeen, with the addition of the S [...]MONES DE SANCTIS, and the PROMPTUARIUM EXEMPLORUM abovementioned, was printed by M. Fl [...]cius, Argentin. 1499. fol. But there is an earlier edition. At the cloſe of the laſt Sermon, he tells us why he choſe to be ſtyled DISCI [...]ULUS. Becauſe, ‘"non ſubtilia per modum MAGI [...]TRI, ſed ſimplicia per modum DISCIPULI, conſcripſi et collegi."’ I have ſeen alſo early impreſſions of his SERMONES QUADRAGESIMALES, and of other pieces of the ſame ſort. All his works were publiſhed together in three volumes, Mogunt. 1612. 4to. The EXAMPLES appeared ſeparately, Daventr. 1481. Colon. 1485. Argentorat. 1489. 1490. Hagen. 1512. 1519. fol.
x
SERM. cxxi. col. ii. Signat. C 5.
y
CH. clxxi.
z
SERM. liii.
a
SERM. cix.
b
CH. lxxx. cxliii.
c
I have before mentioned Berchorius's OVID MORALISED.
d
M [...]TAM. L. i. 20.
c
B. ii. INTROD. St. vi.
a
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 414.
b
Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 68.
c
i. e. their.
d
Fol. 5. edit. 1557.
e
CATAL. Roy. and Noble Authors, vol. i. p. 105. edit. 1759.
f
Strype, ECCL. MEM. vol. i. APPEND. Numb. 71.
g
Drayton, HER. EPIST.—HOWARD to GERALDINE, v. 57.
h
Wood, ubi ſupr.
i
Walpole, AN [...]CD. PAINT. i. 76.
k
Fol. 6. 7.
l
Fol. 18. See Dudg [...] BARONAG [...] ii. p. 275.
m
See Stowe, CHRON [...] p. 592. Challoner, de REPUBL. ANGL. INSTAURAND [...] lib. ii [...] p. 45.
n
Dugd. BARON. i. 533. ii. 275.
o
Lib. i. ch. xxxi. p. 48. edit. 1589.
p
Ibid. p. 50.
q
By Sewell 1717. Reprinted by Curl, ib.
r
TH [...]ATR. PO [...]TAR. p. 67. edit. 1674. 12mo.
s
In quarto. It is extraordinary, that A. Wood ſhould not have known this edition. Another edition appeared in 1565. Others, in 1574.—1585.—1587.—Others appeared afterwards.
t
How could the ſtately caſ [...]le of Windſor become ſo miſerable a priſon.
u
In unreſtrained gaiety and pleaſure.
w
With the young duke of Richmond.
x
To hover, to loiter in expectation. So Chaucer, TROIL. CRESS. B. 5. ver. 33.
But at the yate there ſhe ſhould outride
With certain folk he lovid her t' abide.
y
Swift's joke about the Maids of honour being lodged at Windſor in the round tower, in queen Anne's time, is too well known and too indelicate to be repeated here. But in the preſent inſtance, Surrey ſpeaks looſely and poetically in making the MAIDEN-TOWER, the true reading, the reſidence of the women. The maidentower was common in other caſtles, and means the principal tower, of the greateſt ſtrength and defence. MAIDEN is a corruption of the old French Mag [...]e, or Mayne, great. Thus Maidenhead (properly Maydenhithe) in Berkſhire, ſignifies the great port or wharf on the river Thames. So alſo, Mayden-Bradley in Wiltſhire is the great Bradley. The old Roman camp near Dorcheſter in Dorſetſhire, a noble work, is called Maiden caſtle, the capital fortreſs in thoſe parts. We have Maiden-down in Somertſetſhire with the ſame ſignification. A thouſand other inſtances might be given. Hearne, not attending to this etymology, abſurdly ſuppoſes, in one of his Prefaces, that a ſtrong baſtion in the old walls of the city of Oxford, called the MAIDENTOWER, was a priſon for con [...]ining the proſtitu [...]es of the town.
z
Pity.
a
At ball.
b
Rendered unfit, or unable, to play.
c
Dazzled eyes.
d
To tempt, to catch.
e
The ladies were ranged on the lead [...], or battlements, of the caſtle to ſee the play.
f
The ground, or are [...], was ſtrown with gravel [...] where they were trained in chivalry.
g
At tournaments they [...]ixed the [...]leeves of their miſtreſſes on ſome part of their armour.
h
Looks.
i
Deſtroy.
k
Favour with his miſtreſs.
l
Or, Succeſs.
m
The holtes, or thick woods, clothed in green. So in another place he ſays, fol. 3.
My ſpecled cheeks with Cupid's hue.
That is, ‘"Cheeks ſpeckled with, &c."’
n
With looſened reins. So, in his fourth Aeneid, the fleet is ‘"ready to avale."’ That is, to looſen from ſhore. So again, in Spenſer's FEBRUARIE.
They wont in the wind wagge their wriggle tayles
Pearke as a peacocke, but now it AVAYLES.
‘"Avayle their tayles,"’ to drop or lower. So alſo in his DECEMBER.
By that the welked Phebus gan AVAYLE
His wearie waine.—
And in the Faerie Queene, with the true ſpelling, i. 1. 21. Of Nilus.
But when his latter ebbe gins to AVALE.
TO VALE, or avale, the bonnet, was a phraſe for lowering the bonnet, or pulling off the hat. The word occurs in Chaucer, TR. CRESS. iii. 627.
That ſuch a [...]aine from heaven gan AVAILE.
And in the fourth book of his BOETHIUS, ‘"The light fire ariſeth into height, and the hevie yerthes AVAILEN by their weightes."’ pag. 394. col. 2. edit. Urr. From the French verb AVALER, which is from their adverb AVAL, downward. See alſo Hearne's GLOSS. ROB. BR. p. 524. Drayton uſes this word, where perhaps it is not properly underſtood. ECL. iv. p. 1404. edit. 1753.
With that, ſhe gan to VALE her head,
Her cheeks were like the roſes red,
But not a word ſhe ſaid, &c.
That is, ſhe did not veil, or cover, but valed, held down her head for ſhame.
n
Probably the true reading is wales or walls. That is, lodgings, apartments, &c. Theſe poems were very corruptly printed by Tottel.
o
Companion.
p
We ſhould read, didſt.
q
Dear to others, to all.
r
Pity.
s
Fol. 6. 7.
t
Fol. 10.
u
Her anger drove me into a colder climate.
w
Fol. 13.
x
Paſſion.
y
Piercing.
z
Fol. 17.
a
Fol. 16.
b
Cheſt.
c
Repoſitory.
d
Fol. 16.
e
Behaviour. Looks.
f
Sorrow.
g
Fol. 2.
h
Fol. 2.
i
Deſtruction.
k
Moder [...]te.
l
Fol. 16.
m
They were firſt printed in 1557. 12mo.
n
Perhaps the true reading is, inſtead of quivering, ‘"quiver and darts."’
p
So Milton in COMUS, v. 59.
—Frolick of his [...]ull-grown age.
q
Falling.
r
Which cannot, &c.
s
That is, Boys and girls, pueri innupta [...]que puellae. Antiently Child (or Children) was reſtrained to the young of the male ſex. Thus, above, we have, ‘"the Child Iulus,"’ in the original Puer Aſcanius. So the Children of the chapel, ſignifies the Boys of the king's chapel. And in the royal kitchen, the Children, i. e. the Boys of the Scullery. In the weſtern counties, to this day, Maid ſimply and diſtinctly means Girl: as, ‘"I have got a Boy and a Maid."’‘"My wife is brought to bed of a Maid, &c. &c."’
t
Arms. Armour.
u
I know of no Engliſh critic beſides, who has mentioned Surrey's Virgil, except Bolton, a great reader of old Engliſh books. HYPERCRIT. p. 237. Oxon. 1772.
w
Among Aſcham's Epiſtles, there is one to Perez, inſcribed Clariſſimo viro D. Gonſalvo Periſio Regis Catbolici Secretario primario et Conſiliario intimo, Amico m [...]o cariſſimo. In which Aſcham recommends the embaſſador ſir William Cecil to his acquaintance and friendſhip. EPISTOL. LIB. UN. p. 228. b. edit. Lond. 1581.
x
B. ii. p. 54. b. 55. a. edit. 1589. 4to.
y
London, 4to.
y
See Aubrey's SURREY, V. 247.
z
Choſe.
a
Surrender.
b
Towns taken by lord Surrey in the Bologne expedition.
c
He died in 1545. See Stowe's CHRON. p. 586. 588. edit. 1615.
d
Lond. 12mo. A tranſlation from the French.
a
Wyat's begin at fol. 19.
b
ATH. OXON. i. 51.
c
S [...]e MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES. Numb. ii. pag. 16. Printed at Strawberryhill, 1772. 4to.
d
Fol. 44.
e
NAEN [...]AE in mortem T. Viati, Lond. 1542. 4to. See alſo Leland's ENCOM [...] p. 358.
f
Wherefore.
g
Unacquitted. Free.
h
It may chance you may, &c.
i
Moon.
k
Fol. 33.
l
Thi [...] paſſage is taken from Meſſen Jordi, a Provencial poet of Valen [...]i [...].
m
Sonn. ciii. There is a Sonnet in imitation of this, among thoſe of the UNCERTAIN AUCTOURS at the end of Surrey' [...] Poems [...] fol. 107. And in Daviſon's POEMS, B. ii. CANZON. viii. p. 108. 4th edit. Lond. 1621. 12mo.
n
That which locks, i. e. a key.
o
Fol. 21, 22.
p
Fol. 22.
q
Fol. 25.
r
Fol. 25.
s
Fol. 29.
f
Fol. 36.
t
Fol. 24.
u
Fol. 25.
v
He ſeems to have been a perſon about the court. See LIFE of Sir Thomas Pope, p. 46.
w
Preſs. Croud.
x
The court was perpetually moving from one palace to another.
y
Juſtice.
z
To ſpeak favourably of what is bad.
a
Perhaps the re [...]ding is tongue.
b
In large fields. Over fruitful grounds.
c
Probably he alludes to ſome office which he ſtill held at court; and which ſometimes recalled him, but not too frequently, from the country.
d
Fol. 47.
e
Halbert. A parade of guards, &c. The claſſical alluſion is obvious.
g
So read, inſtead of bry [...]rs,
h
Free.
i
Paſſions.
k
Aſſigned.
l
Fol. 45, 46.
m
Delicious.
n
Fol. 44.
o
Pure gold.
p
The Thames.
q
A tradition in Geoffrey of Monmouth.
r
The old city from the river appeared in the ſhape of a creſcent.
s
Strong, flouriſhing, populous, &c.
t
Fol. 44.
u
Fol. 49.
w
Fol. 16. [See ſupr. p. 18.]
x
N [...]N. ut ſupr.
y
See Hollinſh. CHR [...]N. iii. p. 978. col. 2.
a
They begin at fol. 50.
b
WORKS, vol. iv [...] p. 1255. edit. Lond. 1759. 8vo.
c
Dugd. BAR. ii. 273. a.
d
Rymer, FO [...]D. xiv. 380.
e
Hollinſh. CHRON. i. 61. And Ibid. Hooker's CONTIN. tom. ii. P. ii. pag. 110. See alſo FOX, MARTYR. p. 991.
f
Cod. Impreſſ. A. Wood, Muſ. Aſhmol. Oxon.
g
See the COLOPHON. It was printed by Thomas Berthelett, in 1536, quarto. Often afterwards. Lord Berners was, deputy-general of Calais, and its Marches.
h
See Dugd. BARON. iii. p. 306. a.
i
Ath. Oxon. i. 44.
k
Strype, MEM. i. p. 280.
l
ii. 103.
m
Ubi ſupr.
n
See what I have ſaid of his ſon lord William, in the LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, p. 221. In 1558, ſir Tho. Pope leaves him a legacy of one hundred pounds, by the name of lord Vaulx.
o
The chriſtian name is a miſtake, into which it was [...]aſy to fall.
p
Fol. 48.
q
See Percy's BALL. ii. 49. edit. 1775.
r
ATH. OXON. i. 19.
s
MSS. HARL. 1703. 25.
t
G. Gaſcoyne ſays, ‘"The L. Vaux his dittie, beginning thus I loath, was thought by ſome to be made upon his d [...]ath-bed, &c."’ EPISTL [...] TO THE YOUNG GENTLEMEN, prefixed to his Poems.
u
Fol. 72.
w
Act V.
x
Fol. 71.
y
Fol. 89.
z
Fol. 69.
a
Fol. 51.
b
Stowe, SURV. LOND. p. 131. fol. ed.
c
Who died in 1558. See Dugd. BAR. ii. 177.
d
Fol. 73. Margaret. See Dugd. BAR. ii. 310.
e
Fol. 78. There is ſir John Cheek's EPITAPHIUM in Anton. Denneium. Lond. 1551. 4to.
f
Fol. 71. One Philips is mentioned among the famous Engliſh muſicians, in Meres's Wits Treſurie, 1598. fol. 288. I cannot aſcertain who this Phillips, a muſician, was. But one Robert Phillips, or Phelipp, occurs among the gentlemen of the royal chapel under Edward the ſixth and queen Mary. He was alſo one of the ſingingmen of ſaint George's chapel at Windſor: [...]nd Fox ſays, ‘"he was ſo notable a ſinging-man, wherein he gloried, that whereſoever he came, the longeſt ſong with moſt counterverſes in it ſhould be ſet up againſt him."’ Fox adds, that while he was ſinging on one ſide of the choir of Windſor chapel, O Redemptrix et Salvatrix, he was anſwered by one Teſtwood a ſinger on the other ſide, Non Redemptrix nec Salvatrix. For this irreverence, and a few other ſlight hereſies, Teſtwood was burnt at Windſor. ACTS and MONUM. vol. ii. p. 543, 544. I muſt add, that ſir Thomas Phelyppis, or Philips, is mentioned as a muſician before the reformation. Hawki [...]s, HIST. MUS. ii. 533.
g
Fol. 85.
h
Strype, MEM. ii. p. 317.
i
Fol. 99. See LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, p. 232.
k
Fol. 36.
l
Fol. 62.
m
Fol. 94. 95.
n

There is an epitaph by W. G. made on himſelf, with an anſwer, [...]ol. 98, 99. I cannot explain thoſe initials. At fol. 111. a lady, called Arundel, is highly celebrated for her incomparable beauty and accompliſhments: perhaps of lord Arundel's family.

Thus A [...]UND [...]L ſits throned ſtill with Fam [...], &c.

o
See this thought in Surrey, ſupr. [...]itat. p. 16.
p
Fol. 67.
q
Fol. 84.
r
See Hearne's AVESBURY, APPEND. p. 354.
s
Fol. 71, 72.
t
For Thomas.
u
Engliſh poetry.
w
Pag. 200.
x
Pag. 51.
y
See ſupr. Vol. ii. p. 270.
z
Fol. 109.
a
Together.
b
Loved her not in the leaſt.
c
More engaged in field-ſports.
d
Deceived. Had once been in love.
e
Clod.
f
Uncombed.
g
Over-watched. That is, her eyes w [...]r [...] always awake, never cloſed by ſleep.
h
Labour. Pains.
i
Pierce through. So fol. 113. infr.
His entrails with a lance through-gird [...]d quite.
k
Mates.
l
[...]ol. 55.
m
Fol. 71.
n
Fol. 87.
o
Favour.
p
Love.
q
Pity.
r
Aſſigned.
s
Fol. 109.
t
So purſuing his ſtudies. Plaſt, ſo ſpelled for the rhyme, is placed.
u
Fol. 64.
w
See Ballard's LEARN. LAD. p. 161.
x
Fol. 53.
y
Fol. 81.
z
Act V. Sc. i.
a
Fol. 89.
b
Fol. 74.
c
Fol. 107.
d
Supr. p. 31.
e
See Tanner BIBL. p. 668. Dugd. BAR. iii. 386.
f
MSS. Oldys.
g
Cent. ix. p. 706.
h
ATH. OXON. i. 33. It is not known, whether it was in Latin or Engliſh. Stowe ſays, that in 1528, at Greenwich, after a grand tournament and banquet, there was the ‘"moſt goodlieſt Diſguiſing or Interlude in Latine, &c."’ CHRON. p. 539. edit. fol. 1615. But poſſibly this may be Stowe's way of naming and deſcribing a comedy of Plautus. See ſupr. vol. ii. 363.
i
I muſt not forget, that a ſong is aſcribed to Anne Boleyn, but with little probability, called her COMPLAINT. See Hawkins, HIST. MUS. iii. 32. v. 480.
k
See alſo NUGAE ANTIQUAE, ii. 248.
l
See Hawkins, HIST. MUS. ii. 533.
a
They begin with fol. 113.
b
See vol. ii. 342.
c
Printed, Colon. 1548. 8vo. [See ſupr. vol. ii. 379.]
d
ii Edw. vi.
e
Printed at London in 1591. 8vo.
f
In octavo. Again, 1574.—1596.
g
Rhetorica in uſum Britannorum.
h
Bale cites his comment, or paraphraſe on th [...] firſt Eclogue of Virgil, addreſſed ad Amicum Joannem Bal [...]um, viii. 99.
i
Titles of many others of his pieces may be ſeen in Bale, ubi ſupr.
k
See Strype's CRANMER, B. iii. c. 11. p. 343. And GRINDAL, 8. Fox, edit. i. 1047. And Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 178.
l
Bale, ubi ſupr.
m
His conſtrained ſpirit.
n
Grai [...]. Greek.
o
P [...]itho, th [...] goddeſs of perſuaſion.
p
Fol. 117.
q
The reader muſt recollect Shakeſpeare' [...],
Loud larums, neighing ſteeds, and TRUMPETS CLANG.
r
Fol. 115.
s
Brav [...], is richly decked.
t
With plenty.
u
Spring. Printemps.
w
Whether any muſic made by man [...]n reſemble that of the Spheres.
x
Hinder.
y
Saturn.
z
Of Mavors, or the planet M [...]rs.
a
Fol. 115.
b
His head.
c
Leſſons of wiſdom.
d
Fol. 115. 116.
e
London, Printed by Roger Ward for Robert Sheldrake, MDXC. 4to. 3. Sheets. He mentions moſt of the Seats in Hertfordſhire then exiſting, belonging to the queen and the nobility. See Hearne's LEL. ITIN. V. Pr. p iv. ſeq. ed. 2.
f
The founder of Dunmowe Priory, afterwards mentioned, in the reign of Henry the third.
g
There are two old [...]ditions, at London, in 1615, and 1616, both for Henry Goſſon, in 5 ſh. 4to. They have only the author's initials W. V. See Hearne, ut modo ſupr. iii. p. v. ii. p. xvi.
h
Shakeſpeare did not begin writing for the ſtage till 1591. Jonſon, about 1598.
i
Icarus, with thy father.
k
Strait. Sea.
l
That which.
m
Julius Ceſar.
n
Auguſtus Ceſar.
o
Poiſed.
p
Thick. Maſſy.
q
Fol. 113.
r
Fol. 113.
s
Daughters.
t
Companions.
252
u The reader will obſerve, that I have followed the paging and arrangement of Tottell's ſecond edition in 1565. 12mo. In his edition of 1557, there is much confuſion. A poem is there given to Grimoald, on the death of lady Margaret Lee, in 1555. Alſo among Grimoald's is a poem on Sir James Wilford, mentioned above, who appears to have [...]ought under Henry the eighth in the the wars ef France and Scotland. This edition, of 1557, is not in quarto, as I have called it by an overſight, but in ſmall duodecimo, and only with ſignatures. It is not mentioned by Ames, and I have ſeen it only among Tanner's printed books at Oxford. It has this colophon. ‘"Imprinted at London in Flete ſtrete within Temple barre, at the ſygne of the hand and ſtarre by Richard Tottel, the ſifte day of June. An. 1557. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum ſolum."’
a
See his INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE, ut infr. cap. xxxv.
b
‘"Compyled by Andrewe Boorde of Phyſicke Doctoure an Englysſhe man."’ It was reprinted by William Powell in 1552, and again in 1557. There was an impreſſion by T. Eaſt, 1587, [...]4to. Others alſo in 1548, and 1575, which I have never ſeen. The lateſt is by Eaſt in 1598, 4to.
c
At the end of which is this Note. ‘"Here [...]ndeth the firſt bok [...] Examined in Oxforde in the yere of our Lord [...] MCCCCCXLVI, &c."’
d
See Againſt Mart [...]n, &c. p. 48.
o
Hearne's BENEDICT. ABB. Tom. i. P [...]AE [...]AT. p. 50. edit. Oxon. 1735.
f
ATH. OXON. i. 74. There is an edition in duodecimo by Henry Wikes, without date, but about 1568, entitled, MERIE TALES of the madmen of Gotam, gathered together by A. B. of phyſicke doctour. The oldeſt I have ſeen, is London, 1630, 12mo.
g
Hearne's NOT. ET SPICILEG. ad Gul. Neubrig. vol. iii. p. 744. See alſo BENEDICT. ABB. ut ſupr. p. 54.
h
Harriſon, in his DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND, having mentioned this work by Borde, add [...], ‘"Suche is our mutabili [...]ie, that to daie there is none [equal] to the Spaniſh guiſe, to morrow the Fr [...]nch toies are moſt fine and d [...]lectable, yer [ere] long no ſuch apparel as that which is after the Almaine faſhion: by and [...]y the Turkiſh maner otherwiſe the Moriſc [...] gowns, the Barbarian ſleves, the mandilion worne to Collie Weſton ward, and the ſhorte French breeches, &c."’ B. ii. ch. 9. p. 172.
i
Prefixed to which, is a wooden cut of the author Borde, ſtanding in a ſort of pew or ſtall, under a canopy, habited in an academical gown, a laurel-crown on his head, with a book before him on a deſk.
k
That is, toaſ [...]d ch [...]ſ [...], next mentioned.
l
Ch. ii. In the proſe deſcription of Wales he ſays, there are many beautiful and ſtrong caſtles ſtanding yet. ‘"The [...]aſtels and the countre of Wales, and the people of Wales, be much lyke to the caſtels and the country of the people of Caſtyle and Biſcayn."’ In deſcribing Gaſcony, he ſays, that at Bordeaux, ‘"in the cathedrall church of Saint Andrews, is the faireſt and the greateſt payre of orgyns [organs] in al Chryſtendome, in the which orgins be many inſtrumentes and vy [...]es [devices] as gians [giants] heads and ſtarres, the which doth move and wagge with their jawes and [...]is [eyes] as faſt as the player playeth."’ ch. xxiii.
m
A village near Cambridge.
n
See ſupr. vol. i. p. 432.
o
See. P. Hen. iv. Act. iii. Sc. ii.
p
It is hard to ſay whence Jonſon got his account of Scogan, MASQUE OF THE FORTUNATE ISLES, vol. iv. p. 192.
Merefool.

Skogan? What was he?

Johphiel.

O, a fine gentleman, and a Maſter of Arts

Of Henry the Fourth's time, that made diſguiſes
For the king's ſones, and writ in balad. royal
Daintily well.
Merefool.

But wrote he like a gentleman?

Johphiel.

In rhyme, fine tinkling rhyme, and flowand verſe.

With now and then ſome ſenſe; and he was paid for't,
Regarded and rewarded, which few poets
Are now adays.—
See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. v. AN ACCOUNT, &c. p. xx. And compare what I have ſaid of Scogan, ſupr. vol. ii. p. 135. Drayton, in the Preface to his ECLOGUES, ſays, ‘"the COLIN CLOUT OF SKOGGAN under Henry the ſeventh is pretty."’ He muſt mean Skelton.
q
Pag. 13. MIDDLESEX. i. P.
r
The Princyples of Aſtronamye th [...] whiche diligently perſcrutyd is in a maner a prognoſticacyon to the worldes ende. In thirteen chapters. For R. Copland, without date, 12mo. It is among biſhop More's collection at Cambridge, with ſome other of Borde's books.
s
See Ames, HIST. PRINT. p. 152. Pitſ. p. 735.
t
In his rules for building or planning a Houſe, he ſuppoſes a quadrangle. The Gate-houſe, or Tower, to be exactly oppoſite to the Portico of the Hall. The Privy Chamber to be annexed to the Chamber of State. A Parlour joining to the Buttery and Pantry at the lower end of the Hall. The Paſtry-houſe and Larder annexed to the Kitchen. Many of the chambers to have a view into the Chapel. In the outer quadrangle to be a ſtable, but only for horſes of pleaſure. The ſtables, dairy, and ſlaughter-houſe, to be a quarter of a mile from the houſe. The Moat to have a ſpring falling into it, and to be often ſcowered. An Orchard of ſundry fruits is convenient: but he rather recommends a Garden filled with aromatic herbs. In the Garden a Pool or two, for fiſh. A Park filled with deer and conies. ‘"A Dove-houſe alſo is a neceſſary thyng about a manſyon-place. And, among other thynges, a Payre of Buttes is a decent thynge about a manſyon. And otherwiſe, for a great man neceſſary it is for to paſſe his tyme with bowles in an aly, when al this is finiſhed, and the manſyon repleniſhed with implements."’ Ch. iv. Sign. C. ii. Dedication dated 1542.
u
Both in quarto. At the end is A Song of Benedictus, compiled by Johan Bale.
w
This was written in 1538. And firſt printed under the name of a TRAGEDIE or ENTE [...]LUDE, by Ch [...]lewood. 1577. 4to.
x
Fol. 24.
y
CENT. viii. 100. p. 702. And Verheiden, p. 149.
z
See vol. ii. p. 377. Bale ſays, ‘"Pammachii tragoedias tranſtuli."’
a
Ibid.
b
‘"Ob editas COMAEDIAS."’ Ubi ſupr.
c
In quarto.
d
Wynkyn de Worde printed, Here begynneth a lytell treatyſe called the Lycydarye. With wooden cuts. No date. In quarto.
e
MSS. MOR [...], 492. It begins, ‘"Right and myghty prince and my ryght good lorde."’.
f
Pag. 534.
g
In quarto, Lond.
h
See alſo Norden's SPECULUM BRITANNIAE, written in 1596. MIDDLESEX, p. 18. And Fuller' [...] WORTHI [...]S, MIDDLESEX, p. 186. edit. fol. 1662.
i
Chron. iii. p. 978.
k
ix. 22.
l
In 4to. Pr. ‘"Behold you young ladies of high parentage."’
m
In 4to. Pr. ‘"Upon a certain tyme as i [...] befell."’
n
See ſupr. Vol. ii. 434.
o
Compare Tanner, BIBL. pag. 632. 372. ATH. OXON. i. 17.
p
ATH. OXON. i. 60. [See ſupr. Vol. ii. p. 387.]
q
See Stanz. 5.
r
See Aſhmole's THEATRUM CH [...]MICUM, p. 305. 478.
s
MSS. MORE, autograph. 430. Pr. ‘"Althoughe, moſt redoubted, ſuffran lady."’ See FOX, MARTYR. edit. i. p. 479.
t
SCRIPT. BRIT. par. p. ſt. 103.
u
ATH. OXON. i. 52.
w
MSS. 18 B. xxi.
x
But ſee MSS. GR [...]SHAM. 8.
y
See MSS. (Bibl. Bodl.) LAUD. H. 17. MSS. Bibl. RE [...]. 17 D. 2.—17 D. xi.—18 A. lx. And Walpole, ROY. and NO [...], AUTH. i. p. 92. ſeq.
a
Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 150.
b
In duodecimo. No date. Pr. ‘"Jupiter ryght far ſo far longe as now were to recyte."’
c
See three hundred Epigrammes on three hundred Proverbes. Pr. ‘"If every man mend one."’ London, without date, but certainly before 1553. Again, 1577.—1587.—1598. The firſt hundred Epigrammes. Pr. ‘"Ryme without reaſon."’ Lond. 1566.—1577.—1587. 4to. The fourth hundred of Epigrammes, Lond. without date. Again, 1577.—1587.—1597. 4to. Pr. PROL. ‘"Ryme without reaſon, and reaſon."’ The fifth [...]nd ſixth hundredth of Epigramme [...]. Pr. ‘"Were it as perillous to deal cards as play."’ Lond. 1566.—1577.—1587.—1597. 4to. See JOHN HEYWOODES WOORKES, Anno domini 1576. Imprinted at London in Fleeteſtreate, etc. by Thomas Marſhe. In qua [...]to. The colophon has 1577. This edi [...]ion is not mentioned by Ame [...].
d
The real name of PATCH, Wolſey's Fool.
e
Reached.
f
FIRST HUNDRED. Epigr. 44.
g
Seldom.
h
Finſbury field.
i
Bowing and Bleſſing.
k
Joined company.
l
Ne [...]ther.
m
To drive away evil ſpirits.
n
Proceeds from wonder.
o
Wiſdom.
p
Croſs herſelf.
q
Began to ſteal off.
r
Pike, i. e. ſpire, or ſteeple.
s
The FIRST HUNDRED. Epigr. 10. There are ſix more lines, which are ſuper- [...]HOUS.
t
EPIGRAMMES on PROVERBES. Epigram 2.
u
Enter in. WIN is probably a contraction for go in. But ſee Tyrwhitt's GLOSS. Ch.
w
FI [...]T [...] HUNDRED. Epigr. 55.
x
In quarto. Others followed, 1566.—1576.—1587.—1598. 4to.
y
I do not underſtand this, which is marked for a proverb.
z
An admirable proverbial ſimile. It is uſed in Wilſon's ART [...] OF R [...]ETORIK [...], ‘"I knewe a prieſt that was as nice as a Nunnes Hen, when he would ſay maſſe he would never ſaie DOMINU [...] VOBISCUM, but Dominus Vobic [...]m [...]"’ fol. 112. a. edit. 1567. 4to.
a
S [...]COND PART. ch. i.
b
In quarto.
c
But I muſt not forget Chaucer's SIR THOPAS: and that among the Cotton manuſcripts, there is a [...] anonymous poem, perhaps coeval with Chaucer, in the ſtyle of allegorical burleſque, which deſcribes the power of money, with great humour, and in no common vein of ſatire. The hero of the piece is SIR PENNY. MSS. Cott. CAL. 7. A. 2.
IN [...]IPIT NARRACIO DE DNO DENARIO.
In erth it es a littill thing,
And regnes [...]lsa a riche king,
Whare he es lent in land;
SIR PENI es his name calde,
He makes both yong and alde b
Bow untillc his hand:
Papes, kinges, and empoures,
Biſſchoppes, abbottes, and priowres,
Perſon, preſt, and knyght,
Dukes, erles, and ilk barowne,
To ſerue him erd thai ful boune e,
Both biday and nyght.
SIR PENI chaunges man's mode,
And gers them off do doun thaire hode f
And to riſe him agayn [...] g.
Men honors him with grete reuerence,
Makes ful mekell obedience
Vnto that litill ſwaine.
In kinges court es it no bote h,
Ogaines SIR PENI for to mote i,
So mekill es he of myght,
He es ſo witty and ſo ſtrang,
That be it neuer ſo mekill wrang,
He will mak it right.
With PENY may men wemen till k
Be thai neuer ſo ſtrange of will,
So oft may it be ſene,
Lang with him will thai noght chide,
For he may ger tham trayl ſyde l
In gude ſkarlet and grene.
He may bym both heuyn and hell,
And ilka thing that es to ſell.
In erth has he ſwilk grace,
He may leſen and he may bind.
The pouer er ay put bihind,
Whare he cumes in place.
When he bigines him to mell o,
He makes meke that are was fell.
And waikp that bald has bene.
All ye nedes ful ſone er ſped q,
Bath withowten borgh a [...]d wed r,
Whare PENI gaſe bitwene f.
The domes mens he maſet ſo blind
That he may noght the right find
Ne the ſuthu to ſe.
For to gif domew tham e [...] ful lath x,
Tharwith to mak SIR PENI wrath.
Ful dere with tham es he,
Tharey ſtrif was PENI makes peſe z,
Of all angers he may releſe,
In land whare he will lende,
Of faſea may he mak frendes ſad,
Of counſail thar tham neuer be rad b [...]
That may haue him to frende.
That SIRE es ſet on high deſe c,
And ſerued with mani riche meſe d
At the high burde e.
The more he es to men plente,
The more ȝernidf alway es he:
And halden dere in horde.
He makes mani be forſworne,
And ſum life and ſaul forlorne g,
Him to get and wyn.
Other god will thai none haue,
Bot that litil round knaue,
Thaire balesh for to blin i.
On him halelyk thaire hertes ſett,
Him for to lufl will thai noght let m,
Nowther for gude ne ill.
All that he will in erth haue done,
Ilka man grantes it ful ſone,
Right at his awin will.
He may both lenen and gyf;
He may ger both ſla and lif o,
Both by frith and fell p.
PENI es a gude felaw,
Men welcums him in dede and ſaw q.
Cum he neuer ſo oft,
He es noght welkumd als a geſt,
Bot euermore ſerued with the beſt,
And made atr ſit ful ſoft.
Who ſo es ſted in any nede s,
With SIR PENI may thai ſpede.
How ſo euer they betyde t.
He that SIR PENI es with all,
Sal haue his will in ſtede and ſtall.
When other er ſet byſide u,
SIR PENY gers, in riche wede,
Ful mani go and ride on ſtede w,
In this werldes wide.
In ilkax gamin and ilka play,
The mayſtri es gifen ay
To PENY, for his pride.
SIR PENY over all gettes the gre y,
Both in burgh and in cete z,
In caſtell and in towre.
Withowten owther ſpere or ſchelde a,
Es he the beſt in frith or felde,
And ſtalwortheſt in ſtowre b.
In ilka place, the ſuth es ſene c,
SIR PENI es ouer albidene,
Maiſter moſt in mode.
And all es als he will cumand:
Ogains his ſtevynd dar no man ſtand,
Nowther by land ne flode.
SIR PENY mai ful mekill availe e
To tham that has nede of cownſail,
Als ſene es in aſſize f:
He lenkethesg life and ſaues fro ded h.
Bot luf it noght ouer wele I rede i,
For ſin of couaityſe k.
If thou haue happ treſore to win,
Delite the noght to mekill tharin l.
Ne nythingm thareof be,
But ſpend it als wele als thou can,
So that thou luf both god and man
In per [...]ite charite.
God grante vs grace with hert and will,
The gudes that he has gifen vs till n,
Wele and wiſely to ſpend.
And ſo oure liues here for to lede,
That we may haue his blis to mede o,
Euer withowten end. Amen.
An old Scotch poem called SIR PENNY has been formed from this, printed in ANTIENT SCOTTISH POEMS, p. 153. Edinb. 1770. [See ſupr. vol. i. 9.]
a
A [...].
b
Old.
c
Unto.
d
Are.
e
Ready.
f
Make [...]. Cauſe [...]. Compel [...].
g
Againſt. Befor [...].
h
Uſe.
i
Diſpute.
k
Approach. Gain.
l
Make them walk.
m
Buy.
n
Looſe.
o
Meddle.
p
Weak.
q
All you want i [...] ſoon done.
r
Borrowing or pledging.
f
Goes between.
s
Jud [...]e [...].
t
Monks.
u
Truth.
w
Judgement.
x
Loath.
y
Where.
z
Peace.
a
Fo [...].
b
Vold.
c
Sect.
d
Meſ [...].
e
High-table [...]
f
Coveted.
g
Deſpiſe. Quit.
h
Eyes.
i
Blind.
k
Wholly.
l
Love.
m
Never ceaſe.
n
Lend.
o
Kill and ſave.
p
Se [...] and land.
q
Do [...]ng and ſpeaking.
r
To ſit.
s
Under any difficulty.
t
Whatever happens.
u
Deſpiſed.
w
Cauſes many to ride, &c.
x
Every.
y
Degree. Pre-eminence.
z
Town and city.
a
Either.
b
Stouteſt in battle.
c
Truth i [...] ſeen.
d
Voice. Sound.
e
Be of much power.
f
As appears in the place of judicature, Or, in paſſing ſentence.
g
Lengthens.
h
Death.
i
Love money not too much, I adviſe.
k
Covetouſneſs.
l
Too much therein.
m
Nyding. Be not too careleſs of it.
n
To [...]s.
o
Our reward.
d
DESCRIPT. BRIT. p. 226. Hollinſh. CHRON. tom. i.
e
In rows.
f
Impregnable.
g
Clad in armour.
h
Perhaps, Capitayne.
i
Cap. 57. Signat. B b.
k
Cap. i.
l

See his EPIGRAMMES. Epig. 82. FIRST HUNDRED. And Puttenham's ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, Lib. i. c. 31. p. 49. One of Heywood's Epigrams is deſcriptive of his life and character. FIFTE HUNDRED. Epigr. 100.

OF HEYWOOD.
Art thou Heywood with the mad mery wit?
Yea forſooth, mayſter, that ſame is even hit.
Art thou Heywood that applieth mirth more than thrift?
Ye ſir, I take mery mirth a golden gift.
Art thou Heywood that hath made many mad Playes?
Yea many playes, few good woorkes in all my dayes.
Art thou Heywood that hath made men mery long?
Yea and will, if I be made mery longe.
Art thou Heywood that would be made mery nowe?
Yea, ſir, help me to it now I beſeech yow.

In the CONCLUSION to the SPIDER and FLIE, Heywood mentions queen Mary and king Philip. But as moſt of his pieces ſeem to have been written ſome time before, I have placed him under Henry the eighth.

m
ATH. OXON. i. 150.
a
WORKERS, Lond. 1557. in folio. Sign. C. i.
b
Left.
c
Shoes.
d
Debate.
e
Fol. 44. ſeq.
f
Ibid. Sign. C. iiii.
g
The palace of Richmond.
h
King Henry the ſeventh's chapel, begun in the year 1502. The year before the queen died.
i
Married in 1503, to James the fourth, king of Scotland.
k
Margaret counteſs of Richmond.
l
Catharine of Spain, wi [...]e of her ſon [...]rince Arthur, now dead.
m
Afterwards king Henry the eighth.
n
Afterwards queen of France. Remarried to Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk.
o
The queen died within a few days after ſhe was delivered of this in [...]ant, [...]he princeſs Catharine, who [...]id not long ſurvive her mother's death.
p
WORKES, ut ſupr.
q
A quoit.
r
A ſtick for throwing at a cock. STELE is handl [...], Sax.
s
Ibid. Sign. C. iii.
t
See ſupr. Vol. ii. p. 387.
u
Theſe pieces were written in the reign of Henry the ſeventh. But as Mor [...] flouriſhed in the ſucceeding reign, I have placed them accordingly.
w
Ibid. b. iii.
x
Ut ſupr. fol. 1432.
y
MSS. HARL. 5396.
z
I take this opportunity of obſerving, that the ſtanza of one of Laurence Minot's poems on the wars of Edward the third, is the ſame as Chaucer's SIR TOPAS. Minot was Chaucer's cotempary. MSS. Cott. GAL [...]. E. ix.
Edward oure cumly king
In Braband has his woning,
With mani a cumly knight,
And in that land, trewly to tell,
Ordains he ſtill for to dwell,
To time he think to [...]ight.
Now God that es of mightes maſte [...]
Grant him grace of the Haly Gaſ [...]e,
His heritage to win;
And Mari moder of mercy fre,
Save oure king, and his menȝe,
Fro ſorow, and ſchame, and ſyn.
Thus in Braband has he bene,
Whare he bifore was ſeldom ſene,
For to prove thaire japes;
Now no langer wil he ſpare,
Bot unto Fraunce faſt will he fare,
To con [...]ort him with grapes.
Furth he fe [...]d into France,
God ſave him fro miſchance,
And all his cumpany;
The nobill duc of Braband
With him went into that land,
Redy to lif or dy.
Than the riche floure de lice
Wan thare ful litill priſe,
Faſt he fled for ferde;
The right airea of that [...]untree
Es cumen with all his knightes fre
To ſchacb him by the berd.
Sir Philip the Valayſe,
Wit his men in tho dayes,
To batale had he thoght;
He bad his men tham purvay
Withowten longer delay [...]
Bot he ne held it noght.
He broght folk ful grete wone,
Ay ſevyn [...]gains one,
That ful wele wapind were c;
Bot ſone when he herd aſcry,
That king Edward was nere thereby,
Tha [...] durſt he noght cum nere.
In t [...]at morning fell a myſt;
And when oure Ingliſs men it wiſt,
It changed all thair [...] chere:
Oure king unto God made his bone,
And God ſent him gude confort ſone,
The weder wex ful clere.
Oure king and his men held the felde,
Stalworthy with ſpere and ſchelde,
And thoght to win his right;
With lordes and with knightes kene,
And other doghty men bydene,
That war ful frek to fight.
When ſir Phili [...] of France herd tell,
That king Edward in feld walld dwell,
Than gayned him no gle;
He traiſted of no better bote,
Bot bo [...]h on hors and on fote,
He haſted him to fle.
It ſemid he was ferd for ſtr [...]kes,
Whe [...] he did fell his grete okes
Obout his pavilyoune.
Abated was than all his pride,
For langer thare durſt he noght bide,
His boſt was broght all doune.
The king of Beme had cares colde,
That was fur, hardy, and bolde,
A ſtede to amſtride:
The king als of Naverne
War faire feld in t [...]e ferene,
Thaire heviddes for to hide.
And leves wele, it is no lye,
And felde hat Flemangrye
That king Edward was in;
With princes that war ſtif and bolde,
And dukes that war doghty tolde,
In batayle to begin.
The princes that war rich on raw,
Gert nakers ſtrikes and [...]mpes blaw a,
And made mirth at thaire might;
Both arlblaſt and many a bow
War redy railed upon a row,
And full frek for to fight.
Gladly thai gaf mete and drink,
So that thai ſuld the better ſwink,
The wight men that thar ware:
Sir Philip of Fraunce fled for dout,
And hied him hame with all his rout,
Coward God gi [...]f him care.
For thare than had the lely flowre
Lorn all halely his honowre,
T [...]at ſo gat [...]led for ferd;
Bot oure king Edwa [...]d com [...] ful ſtill,
When that he [...]rowed [...]o harm till [...]
And keped him in the b [...]rde.
a
H [...]ir.
b
Shake.
c
Weaponed. Armed.
a
In glitt [...]r [...]ng r [...]nks, made the drums, &c.
a
V. 42.
b
Prize.
c
Strength of blows.
d
Expence.
e
Bid. Offer.
f
Hied.
g
Made their cloaths gay.
h
Fight for the lady.
i
Heads.
k
Inſtead of helmets.
l
Poles.
m
Cudgels.
n
They ſewed themſelves up in [...]heep ſkins, by way of armour, to avoid being hurt.
o
Each.
p
Ready.
q
On they went.
r
Kithed, i. e. ſhewn.
s
Deſend.
t

I have before obſerved, that it was a diſgrace to chivalry to ride a mare.

The poems of this manuſ [...]ript do not ſeem to be all preciſely of the ſame hand, and might probably once have been ſeparate papers, here ſtitched together. At the end of one of them, viz. fol. 46. The lyſom ledys the Blynde, mention is inſerted of an accompt ſettled ann. 34. H [...]n. vi. And this is in the hand and ink of that poem, and of ſome others. The TOURNAMENT OF TOTT [...]N [...]AM, which might once have been detached from the preſent collection, comes at ſome diſtance afterwards, and cannot perhaps for a certainty be pronounced to be of the ſame writing. I take this opportunity of correcting a wrong reference to SIR P [...]NI juſt cited, at p. 93. It belongs to GAL [...]. E. 9 [...] MSS. Cott.

u

Coloph. ‘"Thus endeth the faucon and pie anno dni 1542. Imprynted by me Rob. Wyer for Richarde Bankes."’

I have an antient manuſcript alliterative poem, in which a deſpairing lover bids farewel to his miſtreſs. At the end is written, ‘"Explicit Amōr p. Ducem Ebōrr nuper fact."’ I will here cite a few of the ſtanzas of this unknown prince.

Farewell Ladè of grete pris,
Farewell wyſe, both faire and free,
Farewell freefull [...]lourdelys,
Farewell beril, bright of ble!—
Farewell mirthe that I do miſſ [...],
Farewell Proweſſe in purpell pall!
Fa [...]ewell creature comely to kiſſe,
Farewell Faucon, fare you be [...]all!
Farewell amorouſe and amyable,
Farewell worthy, witty, and wy [...],
Farewell pris priſable,
Farewell ryal roſe in the rys.—
Farewell dereworth of dignite,
Farewell grace of governaunce,
However y fare, farewell ye,
Farewell primeroſe my pleſaunce!

For the uſe of thoſe who collect ſpecimens of alliteration, I will add an inſtance in the reign of Edward the third from the BANOCBURN of Laurence Minot, all whoſe pieces, in ſome degree, are tinctured with it. MSS. Cott. GALB. E. ix. ut ſupr.

Skottes out of Berwick and of Abirdene,
At the Bannockburn war ȝe to kene;
Thare ſlogh ȝe many ſackles a, als it was ſene.
And now has king Edward wroken it I wene;
It es wroken I wene wele wurth the while,
War ȝit with the Skottes for thai er ful of gile.
Whare er ȝe Skottes of ſaint Johnes toune?
The boſte of ȝowre baner es betin all doune;
When ȝe b [...]ſting willb bede, ſir Edward es boune,
For to kindel ȝow care and crak ȝowre crowne:
He has crakked ȝowre croune wele worth the while,
Schame bityde the Skottes for thai er ful of gile.
Skottes of Striflin war ſterenc and ſtout,
Of God ne of gude men had thai no dout;
Now have thai the pelers priked obout,
Bot at the laſt ſir Edward ri [...]ild thaire rout;
He has ri [...]ild thaire rout wele wurth the while,
Bot euer er thai under bot gaudes and gile.
Rughfute riueling now kindels thi care,
Bere bag with thi boſte thi bigingd is bare;
Fals wretche and forſworn, whider wiltou fare?
Buſk the unto Brig and abide thare.
Thare wretche ſaltou won and wery the while,
Thi dwelling in Donde es done for thi gile.
The Skottes gaſee in burghes and betes the ſtretes,
All thiſe Inglis men harmes he hetes;
Faſt makes he his mone to men that he metes,
Bot ſone frendes he finds that his bale betes;
Sune betes his bale wele wurth the while,
He uſes all threting with gaudes and gile.
Bot many man thretes and ſpekes full ill,
That ſumtyme war better to be ſtane ſtill;
The Skot in his wordes has wind for to ſpill,
For at the laſt Edward ſall haue al his will:
He had his will at Berwick wele wurth the while,
Skottes broght him the kayes, bot get for thaire gile.

A VISION on vellum, perhaps of the ſame age, is alliterative. MSS. Cott. NERO, A. x. Theſe are ſpecimens.

Ryȝt as the maynful mone con rys f,
Er theven the day glem dryve aldon g,
So ſodenly, on a wonder wyſe,
I was war of a proſeſſyoun h:
This noble cite of ryche enpreſſe
Was ſodanly full, withouten ſomoun i,
Of ſuch vergynes in the ſame gyſe
That was my blisful an under croun,
A corone wernallek of the ſame faſoun,
Depaynt in perles and wedes qwhyt [...] l.
Again,
On golden gates that glentm as glas.
Again,
But mylde as mayden ſen [...] at mas.
The poem begins,
Perle pleſant to princes raye,
So clanly clos in golde ſo cler n.

In the ſame manuſcript is an alliterative poem without rhyme, exactly in the verſification of PIERCE PLOWMAN, of equal or higher antiquity, viz.

Olde Abraham in erdeo over he ſyttes,
Even byfor his houſe doore under an oke grene,
Bryȝt blikk [...]d the bemp of the brod heven
In the hyȝe heteq therof Abraham bides.
The hand-writing of theſe two laſt [...]mentioned pieces cannot be later than Edward the third. [See ſupr. Vol. i. p. 312.]
a
Naked.
b
Allow it.
c
Stern.
d
Clothing.
e
Go.
f
As the moon began to riſe.
g
The even drove down the day-light.
h
Proceſſion.
i
Summons. Notice.
k
All wore [...] crown.
l
White robes.
m
Glanced. Shone.
n
Cleanly. A pearl beautifully incloſed or [...]tt in gold.
o
Earth.
p
Bright ſhone the beam.
q
High heat.
w
MSS. Cotton. GALB. E. ix.
x
—King Arthur,
He made a feſ [...]e, the [...]othe to ſay,
Opon the Witſonenday,
At Kerdyf, that es in Wales,
And efter mete thar in the hales r,
Ful gret and gay was the aſſemble
Of lordes and ladies of that cuntre.
And als of knightes, war and wyſe,
And dameſeles of mykel pryſe,
Ilkan with other made grete gamen,
And grete ſolas, als thai war ſamen,
Faſt thai carped, and curtayſli,
Of dedes of arms and of veneri,
And of gude knyghtes, &c.

It is a piece of conſiderable length, and contains a variety of GESTS. Sir YWAIN is ſir EWAINE, or OW [...]N, in MORTE ARTHUR. None of theſe advent [...]res belong to that romance. But ſee B. iv. c. 17. 27. etc. The ſtory of the lion and the dragon in this romance, is told of a Chriſtian champion in the Holy War, by Berchorius, RE [...]UCTOR. p. 661. See ſupr. DISS. p. lxxxvii. And GEST. ROMANOR. ch. civ. The lion being delivered from the dragon by ſir YWAIN, ever afterwards accompanies and defends him in the greateſt dangers. Hence Spenſer's Una attended by a lion. F. QU. i. iii. 7. See ſir Percival's lion in MORTE ARTHUR, B. xiv. c. 6. The dark ages had many ſtories and traditions of the lion's gratitude and generoſity to man. Hence in Shakeſpeare, Troilus ſays, TR. CR [...]S [...]. Act V. Sc. iii.

Brother you have a vice of mercy in you
Which better fits a lion than a man.
r
H [...]ll [...].
y
Found.
z
Chance. Fortune.
a
Wil [...] bayard, i. e. horſe.
b
R [...]mp.
c
Roar.
d
Drew.
e
Yet.
f
Loathly.
g
[...]lub.
h
Head.
i
Horſe, or ox.
k
Hung.
l
Hair.
m
More.
n
Broader.
o
Ears.
p
As.
q
Bigger.
r
Noſe.
s
Buſhes.
t
Bunch.
u
Lack.
w
To.
x
Wonderous dreſs.
y
Churl.
z
Went in.
a
Neither.
b
Wool.
c
Linen.
d
A [...]ked.
e
As.
f
Suppoſed. Apprehended.
g
Had no underſtanding.
h
Art thou.
i
My Friend.
k
Such.
l
None.
m
Art thou.
n
Alſo.
o
As.
p
Do.
q
Alone.
r
Theſe.
s
Every one.
t
Except.
u
Hold.
w
Theſe.
x
Once.
y
Runs.
z
There.
a
Stands ſtill.
b
Coming.
c
Take.
d
Are ſtrong.
e
Cauſe.
f
Alive.
g
Is.
h
Living.
i
Man.
k
Go.
l
All rent to pieces.
m
Exerciſe.
n
Fend, defend.
o
Tell me of ſome wonder. So Alexander, in the deſerts of India, meets two old cheorlis, or churls, from whom he defires to learn,
Any merveilles by this wayes,
That y my [...]tc do in ſtory,
That men han in memorie.
They tell him, that a little farther he will ſee the Trees of the Sun and Moon, &c. GEST [...] O [...] ALEXANDER, MS. p. 231.
p
Go thither.
q
Way. Road.
r
Hangs.
s
A helmet, or baſon.
t
Lovely.
u
Stone.
w
Perhaps, In hand.
x
Tidings. Wonders.
y
Hear.
z
Thunder.
a
Thee.
b
Blowing.
c
Such.
d
Scarcely.
e
Lightening.
f
Self.
g
Know. Prove.
h
Chriſt.
i
There between.
k
Verdure.
l
Hurt.
m
Cold.
n
Emerald.
o
Stone.
p
Standing high.
q
Weather.
r
Thunder.
s
Such.
t
Hardly.
u
Strong.
w
Air.
x
Lightening.
y
Smote.
z
I thought I ſhould be burnt.
a
It was ſo hot.
b
Feared. See Johnſ. Steev. SHAKE [...]PEARE, Vol. v. p. 273. edit. 1779.
c
Death.
d
Surely.
e
Thence.
f
Suffered.
g
Ceaſed on a ſudden.
h
Unleſs.
i
Either.
k
Nine.
l
Soon.
m
The ſtorm.
n
Abide. Stay.
o
Againſt reaſon or law.
p
Greater.
q
Death.
r
Suffer.
s
Sleep.
t
Aſtoniſhed. Stunned.
u
Sorrily.
w
Wo [...].
x
God's ſentence, the crucifixion.
y
Hette. Promiſed.
z
Gone.
a
Lodging.
b
Drew near.
c
Wicked, bad.
d
That is, the foreſt. But I do not preciſely know the meaning of fty. It is thus uſed in the LAY OF EMARE. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 59.
Meſſengeres forth he ſent
Aftyr the mayde fayre and gent
That was bryȝt as ſomeres day:
Meſſengeres dyȝte hem in hye,
With myche myrthe and melodye
Forthe gon they fare
Both by ſtretes and by STYE
Aftyr that fayr lady.
And again in the ſame romance.
e
That way.
f
Found.
g
i. e. The caſtle.
h
Manifold.
i
Lodged.
k
Ever.
l
Churl, i. e. the Wild-man.
m
Viewed.
n
Times.
o
Ceaſed.
p
He wondered.
q
Caſt.
r
Coming.
f
Countenance.
s
Friendly.
t
Sore.
u
Shivered.
w
Seated.
x
Drew.
y
Pieces.
z
Flew.
a
Abided.
b
Shewed.
c
Are.
d
So in Minot's Poems. MSS. Cott. GALB. E. ix. ut ſupr.
And ſum lay knoked out their hernes.
e
Counſel.
f
Stoutly.
g
City.
h
No man living.
i
Ground. Sharpened.
k
Switch. Twig.
l
Traps of this kind are not uncommon in romance. Thus ſir Lancelot, walking round the chambers of a ſtrange caſtle, treads on a board which throws him into a cave twelve fathoms deep. MORT. ARTH. B. xix. ch. vii.
m
Spurs.
n
Cut.
o
Mourning.
p
More.
q
But even ſo he thought to have paſſed forward, through.
r
The other portcullis [...]
s
So.
t
Twain.
u
This ring is uſed in another adventure.
w
Yeld.
x
Covers.
y
Stone.
z
Harm.
a
No man will ſee you.
b
Know ye.
c
Glad.
d
They found.
e
Gates.
f
He ſtill was there.
g
Underſtood witchcraft.
h
High chambers.
i
i. e. On account of the ring.
k
Never once minded, or thought, t [...] ſtrike at the bed, not ſeeing him there.
l
Bier.
m
Great grief.
n
Mad.
o
Drew. So in the LAY OF THE ERLE OF THOLOUSE, MSS. Muſ. Aſhmol. 45.
The erle hymſelfe an ax [...] DROGH,
A hundred men that day he ſlough.
p
Swoon.
q
Swi [...]t.
r
Bound. Obligated.
s
Pſaltery, a harp, of gold.
t
Soul maſs. The maſs of requi [...]m.
u
There is a damſel of this name in MORTE ARTHUR, B. vii. ch. xvi.
w
Early. Soon.
x
Made him bathe immediately.
y
Furrured [...] Furred.
z

In another part of this romance, a knight is dreſſed by a lady.

A damiſel come unto me,
Lufsumer lifeda never in land;
Hendly ſchob toke me by the hand,
And ſone that gentyl c [...]eature
Al unlaced myne armure;
Into a chamber ſcho me led,
And with a mantel ſcho me cled,
It was of purpur fayr and fine,
And the panec of riche ermine:
Al the folk war went us fra d,
And thare was none than bot we twa e;
Scho ſerved me hendely to hend,
Her maners might no man amend,
Of tong ſcho was trew and renable f,
And of her ſemblantg ſoft and ſtabile;
Ful fain I wald h, if that I might,
Have wonedi with that ſwete wight.

In MORTE ARTHUR, ſir Launcelot going into a nunnery is unarmed in the abbeſs's chamber. B. xiii. ch. i. In MORTE ARTHUR, ſi [...] Galahad is diſ [...]rmed, and cloathed ‘"in a cote of red ſendall and a mantell furred with fyne ERMYNES, &c."’ B. xiii. ch. i. In the Britiſh LAY or romance, of LAUNVAL (MSS. Cott [...] VESPAS. B. 14. 1.) we have,

Un cher mantel de BLANCHE ERMINE,
Couvert de purpre Alexandrine.

There is a ſtatute, made in 1337, prohibiting any under 100l. per annum, to wear fur. I ſuppoſe the richeſt fur was Ermine; which, before the manufactures of gold and ſilver, was the greateſt article of finery in dreſs. But it continued in uſe long afterwards, as appears by antient portraits. In the Statutes of Cardinal Wolſey's College at Oxford, given in the year 1525, the ſtudents are enjoned, ‘"Ne magis pretioſis aut ſumptuoſis utantur PELLIBUS."’ De VESTITU, &c. fol. 49. MSS. Cott. TIT. F. iii. This injunction is a proof that rich furs were at that time a luxury of the ſecular life. In an old poem written in the reign of Henry the ſixth, about 1436, entitled the ENGLISH POLICIE, exhorting all England to keepe the ſea, a curious and valuable record of the ſtate of our traffick and mercantile navigation at that period, it appears that our trade with Ireland, for furs only, was then very conſiderable. Speaking of Ireland, the writer ſays,

—Martens goode been her marchandie,
Hertes hides, and other of venerie,
Skinnes of otter [...] ſquirrell, and Iriſh hare;
Of ſheepe, lambe, and foxe, is her chaffare.

See Hacklvyt's VOIAGES, Vol. i. p. 199. edit. 1598.

At the ſacking of a town in Normandy, Froiſſart ſays, ‘"There was founde ſo moche rycheſſe, that the boyes and vyllaynes of the hooſte ſette nothynge by goode FURRED gownes."’ Berners's Tranſl. tom. i. fol. lx. a.

a
Lovelier lived.
b
Courteouſly ſhe [...]
c
Border.
d
From.
e
Two.
f
Reaſonable.
g
Look.
h
Would.
i
Lodged.
a
In the manners of romance, it was not any indelicacy for a lady to pay amorous courtſhip to a knight. Thus in Davie's GESTE OF ALEXANDER, written in 1312, queen Candace openly endeavours to win Alexander to her love. MS. penes me, p. 271. [Cod. Hoſpit. Linc. 150.] She ſhews Alexander, not only her palace, but her bed-chamber.
—Quoth the quene,
Go we now myn eſteris to ſeone a:
Oure mete ſchol, thar bytweone b,
Ygraithedc and redy beone d.
Scheoe ladde him to an halle of nobleys,
Then he dude of his harneys f:
Of Troye was ther meng the ſtorye h
How Gregoysi had the victorye:
Theo bemes ther weorek of bras.
Theo wyndowes weoren of riche glas l:
Theo pinnesm weore of ivorye.
The king went with the ladye,
Himſelf alone, from bour to bour,
And ſyȝen much riche treſour,
Gold and ſeolver, and preciouſe ſtones,
Baudekynso made for the nones p,
Mantellis, robes, and pavelounes q,
Of golde and ſeolver riche foyſounes r;
And heof him aſked, par amour,
Ȝef he ſyȝe ever ſuche a treſour.
And he ſaid, in his contray
Treſour he wiſtes of grete noblay.
Heot thoȝte more that heo ſaide.
To anothir ſtude ſheo he gan him lede u,
That hir owne chambre was,
In al this world richer none nas.
Theo atyrw was therein ſo riche
In al thys world nys him non lyche x.
Heo ladde him to a ſtage,
And him ſchewed one ymage,
And ſaide, Alexander leif thou me y,
This ymage is made after the z;
Y dude hit in ymagoure a,
And caſte hit after thy vigoure b;
This othir ȝeir, tho thou nolde c
To me come for love ne for golde,
Het is the ylyche d, leove brother e,
So any fauconf is anothir.
O Aliſaunder, of grete renoun,
Thou taken art in my priſoun!
Al thy ſtreynthe helpethe the nowȝt,
For womman the haveth bycowȝt g,
For womman the heveth in hire las h.
O, quoth Aliſaunder, alas,
That I were yarmedi wel,
And hed my ſweord of browne ſtel,
Many an heid wolde y cleove,
Ar y wolde yn priſon bileve k.
Alyſaunder, heo ſaide, thou [...]aiſt ſoth,
Beo noither adrad no wroth l;
For here, undir thi [...] covertour,
Y wil have the to myn amour, &c.
a
To ſee my apartmen [...]s.
b
Our dinner ſhall, meanwhile [...]
c
Prepared.
d
Be.
e
She.
f
Put off his armour.
g
For ther m [...]n, read therein, [...] MS. LAUD. 1. 74. Bibl. Bodl.
h
The ſtory of Tro [...] was in the tapeſtry, or painted on the walls of the hall.
i
Creek [...].
k
The rafters were.
l
Painted glaſ [...].
m
Of the window [...].
n
Saw.
o
Rich clothe [...].
p
That i [...] for the occaſion. So the paint [...]ng or tapeſtry, before mentioned, repreſenting the Greek [...] v [...]c [...]or [...]u [...], was in complime [...]t to Alexander.
q
Pavilions.
r
Stores.
f
She.
s
Knew.
t
She.
u
[...]ted [...]. Lodging [...]
w
The furniture.
x
None like it.
y
Believe.
z
Them.
a
Imagery.
b
Figure.
c
Would [...]ſt not.
d
Lik [...].
e
Dear Brother, or Friend.
f
A [...] one f [...]ulcon. In MSS. LAUD. I. 174. ut ſupr. it is p [...]ny, for faulcon.
g
Catched.
h
Her lace.
i
Here [...] y i [...] the Saxon i. See Hearne' [...] GL [...] RO [...]. GLOUC. p. 738.
k
Be le [...]t. Stay. Even.
l
Neither a [...]righted nor angry.
b
Aſſembly. Conſultation.
c
Marry.
d
Was I not to marry you.
e
Intention.
f
Againſt. Before.
g
Among themſelves.
h

Deis. The high-table. In the GESTE OF ALEXANDER we have the phraſe of [...]lding the deis, MS. ut ſupr. p. 45.

There was gynnyng a new feſte,
And of gleomen many a geſte,
King Philip was in mal eſe,
Aliſaundre HELD THE DES [...].
i
Peace.
k
Ere.
l
War.
m
Growing.
n
Knights.
o
Know.
p
Manſion. Caſtle.
q
Active to wield weapons.
r
Fight.
s
Fear.
t
Attention.
u
On a row.
w
Opinion. Word. It is of extenſive ſignification, EMARE, MS. ut ſupr.
I have herd minſtrelles ſyng in SAW.
x
Unto. So Rob. Brunne, of Stonehenge, edit. Hearne, p. cxci.
In Afrik were thai compaſt and wrought,
Geantz TILLE Ireland from thithen tham brought.
That is, ‘"Giants brought them from Africa into Ireland."’
y
Kindred. So in the GESTE OF ALEXAND [...]R, MS. p. 258.
They wer men of gret parage,
And haden fowrty wynter in age.
z
Courage.
a
Eagerly wiſhes.
b
Wholly.
c
Fr. Plevine. See Du Freſne. PLEVINA.
d
Baronage.
e
Death.
f

Bridal is Saxon for the nuptial feaſt. So in Davie's GESTE OF ALEXANDER. MS. fol. 41. penes me.

He wiſt nouȝt of this BRIDALE,
Ne no man tolde him the tale.

In GAMELYN, or the COKE'S. Tale, v. 1267.

At every BRIDALE he would ſing and hop.

Spenſer, FAERIE QU. B. v. C. ii. ſt. 3.

—Where and when the BRIDALE cheare
Should be ſolemniſed.—

And, vi. x. 13.

—Theſeus her unto his BRIDALE bore.

See alſo Spenſer's PROTHALAMION. The word has been applied adjectively, for CONNUBIAL. Perhaps Milton remembered or retained its original uſe in the following paſſage of SAMSON AGONISTES, ver. 1196.

And in your ci [...]y held my nuptial feaſt:
But your ill-meaning politician lords,
Under pretence of BRIDAL friends and gueſts,
Appointed to await me thirty ſpies.

‘"Under pretence of friends and gueſts invited to the BRIDAL."’ But in PARA [...]I [...]E LOST, he ſpeaks of the evening ſtar haſtening to light the BRIDAL LAMP, which in another part of the ſame poem he calls the NUPTIAL TORCH. viii. 520. xi. 590. I preſume this Saxon BRIDALE is Bride-Ale, the FEAST in honour of the bride or marriage. ALE, ſimply put, is the feaſt or the merry-making, as in PIERCE PLOWMAN, fol. xxxii. b. edit. 1550. 4to.

And then ſatten ſome and ſonge at the ALE [nale.]

Again, fol. xxvi. b.

I am occupied everie daye, holye daye and other,
With idle tales at the ALE, and otherwhile in churches.

So Chaucer of his FREERE, Urr. p. 87. v. 85.

And they were only glad to fill his purſe,
And maden him grete feſtis at the NALE.

Nale is ALE. ‘"They feaſted him, or entertained him, with particular reſpect, at the pariſh [...]feaſt, &c."’ Again, PLOWMAN'S TALE, p. 125. v. 2110.

At the Wreſtling, and at the Wake,
And the chief chaunters at the NALE.

See more inſtances ſupr. vol. i. 60. That ALE is feſtival, appears from its ſenſe in compoſition; as, among others, in the word [...] Leet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitſon-ale, Clerkale, and Church-ale. LEET-ALE, in ſome parts of England, ſignifies the Dinner at a court-leet of a manor for the jury and cuſtomary tenants. LAMB-ALE is ſtill uſed at the village of Kirtlington in Oxfordſhire, for an annual feaſt or celebrity at lambſhearing. WHITSON-ALE, is the common name in the midland counties, for the rural ſports and feaſting at Whit [...]ontide. CLERK-ALE occurs in Aubrey's manuſcript Hiſtory of WILTSHIRE. ‘"In the Eaſter holidays was the CLARKES-ALE, for his private benefit and the ſolace of the neighbourhood."’ MSS. Muſ. ASHM. Oxon. CHURCH-ALE, was a feaſt eſtabliſhed for the repair of the church, or in honour of the church-ſaint, &c. In Dodſworth's Manuſcripts, there is an old indenture, made before the Reformation, which not only ſhews the deſign of the Church-ale, but explains this particular uſe and application of the word Ale. The pariſhioners of Elveſton and Okebrook, in Derbyſhire, agree jointly, ‘"to brew four ALES, [...]nd every ALE of one quarter of malt, betwixt this and the feaſt of ſaint John Baptiſt next coming. And that every inhabitant of the ſaid town of Okebrook ſhall be at the ſeveral ALES. And every huſband and hi [...] wife ſhall pay two pence, every cottager one penny, and all the inhabitants of Elveſton ſhall have and receive all the profits and advantages coming of the ſaid ALES, to the uſe and behoof of the ſaid church of Elveſton. And the inhabitants of Elveſton ſhall brew eight ALES betwixt this and the feaſt of ſaint John Baptiſt, at the which ALES the inhabitants of Okebrook ſhall come and pay as before reherſed. And if he be away at one ALE, to pay at the toder ALE for both, &c."’ MSS. Bibl. Bodl. vol. 148. f. 97. See alſo our CHURCH-CANONS, given in 1603. CAN. 88. The application of what is here collected to the word BRIDALE, is obvious. But Mr. Aſtle has a curious record, about 1575, which proves the BRIDE-ALE ſynonimous with the WEDDYN-ALE. During the courſe of queen Eliſabeth's entertainments at Kenilworthcaſtle, in 1575, a BRYDE-ALE was celebrated with a great variety of ſhews and ſports. Laneham's LETTER, dated the ſame year. fol. xxvi. ſeq. What was the nature of the merriment of the CHURCHALE, we learn from the WITCHES-SONG in Jonſon's MASQUE OF QUEENS at Whitehall in 1609, where one of the Witches boa [...]ts to have killed and ſtole the fat of an infant, begotten by a piper at a CHURCH-ALE. S. 6.

Among biſhop Tanner's manuſcript additions to Cowell's Law-Gloſſary in the Bodleian library, is the following Note, from his own Collections. [Lit. V.] ‘"A. D. 1468. Prior Cant. et Commiſſarii viſitationem fecerunt (dioceſi Cant. vacante per mortem archiepiſcopi) et ibi publicatum erat, quod Potationes factae in eccleſiis, vulgariter dictae YEVEALYS a, vel BREDEALYS b, non eſſent ulterius in uſu ſub paena excommunicationis majoris."’

Had th [...] learned author of the Diſſertation on BARLEY WINE been as well acquainted with the Britiſh as the Grecian literature, this long note would perhaps have been unneceſſary.

a
Give-ales, or gift-ales.
b
Bride-ales.
g
One.
h
Wicked is here, accurſed. In which ſeuſe it is uſed by Shakeſpeare's Caliban, TEMP. Act i. Sc. ii.
As WICKED dew as e'er my mother bruſh'd
With raven's feather, &c.
i
Strong.
k
To defend the fountain, the office of the lord of this caſtle.
l
Readily.
m
Beſtrode.
n
To.
n
Oft-times.
o
Waited on. See Tyrwh. GL. Ch.
p
Saluted.
q
To [...]ear.
r
So large a train of knights.
s
Promiſe you.
t
Tapeſtry ſpread on the walls.
u
Gallantries. Jewels. Davie ſays, that in one of Alexander' [...] battles, many a lady loſt her drewery. GESTE AL [...]XANDER, MS. p. 86. Athens is called the Drywery of the world. ibid.
v
Together.
w
Fold.
x
Aſſembly.
y
Hawking. River.
z

There are three old poems on the exploits of Gawain, one of the heroes of this romance. There is a fourth in the Scotch dialect, by Clerke of Tranent, an old Scotch poet. See LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF THE MAKKARIS, ſt. xvii.

Clerke of Tranent eke has [death] tane
That made the Aventers of GAWANE.

ANC. SCOTT. P. 1576.

The two heroes of this romance, YWAIN and GAWAIN, are mentioned jointly in a very old French verſion of the Britiſh or Armorican LAY OF LAUNVAL, of which there is a beautiful vellum manuſcript. MSS. Cott. VESPAS. B. xiv. 1. [ſupr. modo citat.]

Enſemble od eus GAWAYNS,
E ſis coſins li beus YWAYNS.

This LAY, or SONG, like the romance in the text, is opened with a feaſt celebrated at Whitſontide by king Arthur at Kardoyl, a French corruption from Carliol, by which is meant Cairleon in Wales, ſometimes in romances confounded with Cardiff. [See Geoffr. Monm. ix 12.]

"Jci commence le Lay de LAUNVAL."
Laventure de un Lay,
Cum de avint uns cunteray,
Fait fu dun gentil vaſſal,
En Bretaigne lapelent LAUNVAL:
A Kardoyl ſuiornoit li reys
Arthur, li prouz, e li curteys,
Pur les Eſcot, e pur les Pis,
Ki deſtrueient le [...] pays;
En la terre de Logresa le trououent,
Mult ſouent le damagouent:
A la Pentecuſte en eſtè,
I aveit li reys ſojournè,
A les i dona riches du [...]s,
E al cuntes b, e al baruns,
A uns de la Table R [...]nde, &c.

That is, ‘"HERE BEGINS THE LAY OF LAUNVAL.—The Adventure of a certain LAY, which has been related of old, made of a gentle vaſſal, whom in Bretaigne they called LAUNVAL. The brave and courteous king Arthur ſojourned at Kardoyl, for making war againſt the Scots and Picts, who deſtroyed the country. He found them in the land of Logres, where they committed frequent outrages. The king was there at the feaſt of Pentecoſt, where he gave rich gifts to the counts and barons, and the knights of the round table, &c."’

The writing of this manuſcript of LAUNVAL ſeems about 1300. The compoſition is undoubtedly much earlier. There is another, MSS. HARL. 978. §. 112. This I have cited in the FIRST DISSERTATION. From this French LAUNVAL is tranſlated, but with great additions, the Engliſh LAUNFALL, of which I have given ſeveral extracts in the DISSERTATION prefixed to this Volume, p. lxxv. &c. [See alſo ſupr. Vol. ii. EMEND. ADD. ad Pag. 103.]

I preſume this romance of YWAYN and GAWAYNE is tranſlated from a French one of the ſame title, and in the reign of Henry the ſixth; but not by Thomas Cheſtre, who tranſlated, or rather paraphraſed, LAUNVAL, or Sir LAUNFALL, and who ſeems to have been maſter of a more copious and poetic ſtyle. It is not however unlikely, that Cheſtre tranſlated from a more modern Fre [...]ch copy of LAUNVAL, heightened and improved from the old ſimple Armorican tale, of which I have here produced a ſhort extract. [See ſupr. Vol. ii. p. 102.] The ſame perhaps may [134] be ſaid of the Engliſh metrical romance EMARE, who marries the king of Galys, or Wales, originally an Armorican tale, before quoted. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 69. [See ſupr. DISS. p. lxxviii.] The laſt ſtanza confirms what has been advanced in the FIRST DISSERTATION, concerning the connection between Cornwall and Bretagne, or Armorica. fol. ult.

A grette feſte thar was holde
Of erles and barons bolde [...]
As teſtymonieth thys ſtory:
Thys is on of BRYTAYNE LAYES,
That was uſed in olde dayes,
Men callys playn the GARYE.

I believe the laſt line means, ‘"Made for an entertainment,"’‘"Which men call playing the GARYE."’ The reader may perhaps recollect, that the old Corniſh Miracle interlude was called the Guary Mirakil, that is, the Miracle Play. [See ſupr. Vol. i. p. 237.] In Corniſh, Plán an guare is the level place, the plain of ſport and paſtime, the theatre of games, &c. Guare is a Corniſh verb, to ſport, to play. In affinity with which, is probably Gariſh, gay, ſplendid. Milton, IL PENS. v. 141. Day's gariſh eye. Shakeſpeare, ROM. JUL. iii. 4. The gariſh ſun. KING RICHARD THE THIRD. A gariſh flag. Compare Lye, Sax. Dict. V. Zeapp [...]an. To dreſs fine.

Who was the tranſlator of EMARE, it is not known. I preſume it was tranſlated in the reign of Henry the ſixth, and very probably by Thomas Cheſtre, the tranſlator of LAUNVAL.

a
Logres, or Loegria, from Locrine, was the middle part of Britain.
b
Counts. So in ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, we have CONTAS [...] for coun [...]eſs, On which word his editor Hearne obſerves, that king James the firſ [...] uſed to call a Counteſs a cuntys. And he quotes one of James' [...] letters, ‘"Come and b [...]ing the three Cuntys [for co [...]nteſſes] with you."’ GLOS [...], p. 635.
a
MSS. HARL. 3777.
b
Theſe letters are printed in the ADDITIONS TO POPE'S WORKS, in two volumes, publiſhed about two years ago.
c
PROLUSIONS, or ſelect pieces of antient Poetry, Lond. 1760. 4to. Pref. p. vii.
d
V. 168.
c
i. e. Above.
f
[...]ol. 34 [...]
h
In quarto. See ſupr. Vol. i [...] p, 150. ſeq.
i
In octavo.
k
See ſupr. p. 58.
l
For many ſmall miſcellaneous pieces under the reign of Henry viii, the more inquiſitive reader is referred to MSS. Cott. VESP. A. 25.
m
In quarto.
n
CHRON. iii. 76. See alſo Polyd. Virg. HIST. p [...] 212. 10. ed. 1534.
o
That is, the chief diſh ſerved at a feaſt.
p
Found.
q
Great and ſmall.
r
MSS. HARL. 5396. fol. 4. fol. 18.
s
In octavo.
t
P [...]lled, i. e. bald.
u
FOX, MARTYROLOG. f. 1339. edit. 1576.
w
In a roll of John Morys, warden of Wincheſter college, an. xx Ric. ii. A. D. 1397, are large articles of diſburſement for grails, legends, and other ſervice-books for the choir of the chapel, then juſt founded. It appears that they bought the parchment; and hired perſons to do the buſineſs of writing, illuminating, noting, and binding, within the walls of the college. As thus. ‘"Item in xi doſeyn iiij pellibus emptis pro i legenda integra, que incipit folio ſecundo Quia dixerunt, continente xxxiiij quaterniones, (pret. doſeyn iiij s. vi d. pret. pellis iiij d. ob.) li s. Item in ſcriptura ejuſdem Legende, lxxij s. Et in illuminacione et ligacione ejuſdem, xxx [...]. Item in vj doſeyn de velym emptis pro factura vj Proceſſionalium, quorum quilibet continet xv quaterniones, (pret. doſeyn iiij [...]. vi d) xxvij [...]. Et in ſcrip [...]ura, notacione, illuminacione, et ligacion [...] corundem, xxxiij s."’ The higheſt coſt of one of theſe books is, 7l. 13 s. Vellum, for this purpoſe, made an article of ſtaurum or ſtore. As, ‘"Item in vj doſeyn de velym emptis in ſtaurum pro aliis libris inde faciendis, xxxiiij s. xj d."’ The books were covered with deer-ſkin. As, ‘"Item in vj p [...]llibus cervinis emptis pro libris predictis cooperiendis, xiij s. iiij d."’ In another roll (xix Ric. ii. A. D. 1396.) of warden John Morys abovementioned, diſburſements of diet for SCRIPTORES enter into the quarterly account of that article. ‘"EXPENSE extraneorum ſuperveniencium, iij SCRIPTORUM, viij ſerviencium, et x choriſtarum, ix l. iiij s. x d."’ The whole diet expences this year, for ſtrangers, writers, ſervants, and choriſters, amount to 20l. 19s. 10d. In another roll of 1399, (Rot. Co [...]p. B [...]rſſ. 22 Ric. ii.) writers are in commons weekly with the regular members of the ſociety.
x
See Geoffr. Monm. vii. 3. And Rob. Glouc. p. 132. 133. ſeq. 254. 256. Of the authority of Merlin's Propheſies in England in 1216, See Wykes's CHRON. ſub ann. Merlin's Propheſies w [...]re printed in French at Paris, in 1498. And MERLINI VITAE ET PROPHETIAE, at Venice, 1554.
y
MS. GAL [...]. E. ix. ut ſupr.
z
In another place Minot calls the book on which his narrative is founded, the ROMANCE.
How Edward, als the Rom [...]nce ſai [...]s,
Held his ſege before Calais.
a
As ſcholars well know.
b
And yet.
c
Privy nooks.
d
Should come a Boar. This Boar is king Arthur in Merlin's Propheſies.
e
Should he ſhew.
f
Begin.
g
His tail ſhall reach to the ſea.
h
To the great deſtruction of the French.
i
That is, king Edward the third.
k
Weak. Tenuis.
m
King John.
n
Bridge.
o
Eyne. Eye [...].
p
Lie idle.
q
The Engliſh ran over one another. Preſſed forward.
r
Fro [...]ſſart calls this the paſſage or ford of Blanch taque. B. i. ch. cxxvii. Berners's Tranſl. fol. lxiii. a.
s
Broad [...]ax. Battle-ax.
t
Fall upon.
u
Cau [...]ed.
w
Sorry.
x
Philip of Valois, ſon of John king of France.
y
Perhaps Vernon.
z
Burn.
a
Flying for fear.
b
Quickly. Faſt, run.
c
Eyes.
c
Beſet.
d
Reward.
e
Lance [...] and horſes were now of no ſervice.
f
Stood ſtill. Bleve. Sax. Chauc. TR. CR. iv. 1357.
g
A plain. So in Minot's Siege of Tournay, MSS. ibid.
A Bore with brenis bright
Es broght opon ȝowre grene,
That as a ſemely ſ [...]ȝht,
With ſchilterouns faire and ſch [...]n [...].
h
Countenance.
i
Bright helmets.
k
They could no longer withſtand the Boar.
l
John king of Bohemia. Ey Froiſſart he is called inaccurately the king of Behaigne, or Charles of Luxemburgh. See Froiſſart, ut ſupr. fol. lxiv. b. The lord Charles of Bohemia, [...]is ſon, was alſo in the battle and killed, being lately elected emperor. Hollinſh. iii. 372.
m
Gay. Alert.
n
I cannot praiſe the mer [...] pomp of royalty.
o
Adviſed. Prepared.
p
To.
p

The reader will recollect, that this verſification is in the ſtructure of that of the LIVES OF THE SAINTS, where two lines are thrown into one. [See ſupr. Vol. ii. EM. ADD. at p. 14.] viz. VNDECIM MILLIA VIRGINUM. MSS. Coll. Trin. Oxon. 57.

Ellevene thouſand virgines, that fair companye was,
Imartird wer for godis ſone, ich wille telle that cas.
A kyng ther was in Bretaygne, Maur was his name,
A douȝter he hadde that het Vrſe, a mayde of guod fame.
So fair woman me nyſte non, ne ſo guod in none poynte,
Criſtene was al hire ken, ſwithe noble and queynte:
Of hire fairhede and guodneſſe me told in eche ſonde ſide,
That the word com into Engelonde, and elles wher wide.
A kyng ther wa [...] in Engelonde, man of gret powèr,
Of this maide he herde telle gret nobleiȝe far and ner.

The minſtrel, who uſed the perpetual return of a kind of plain chant, made his pauſe or cloſe at every hemiſtic. In the ſame manner, the verſes of the following poem were divided by the minſtrel. MSS. Cott. JUL. V. fol. 175. Pergamen. [The tranſcript is not later than the year 1300.]

Als ẏ yod on a Monday, by twene Wittingdon and Walle,
Me ane after brade way, a litel man ẏ mette withalle,
The le [...]t man that ever ẏ ſathe, to ſay owther in boure other in halle,
His robe was nother grene ne gray, bot alle yt was of riche palle.
On me he cald and bade me bide, well ſtill ẏ ſtoode ay little ſpace;
Fro Lancheſter the Parke ſyde, then he come wel faire his pace:
I biheld that litell man, bi the ſtrete al [...] we gon gae a,
His berde was ſyde ay large ſpan, and glided als the fether of pae b.
His hevedc was whyte as any ſnawe, his higehend were gret and grai, &c.
His robe was al golde biganne, well criſtlik made i undurſtande,
Botones aſurd everwick ane, from his elbouthe to his hande e.

They enter a caſtle.

The bankers on the binkes lay f, and faire lordes ſette ẏ fonde,
In ilk ay hirn ẏ herd ay lay, and levedys ſouthe me loud ſonge g.
a
Went on.
b
Hi [...] beard w [...] a ſp [...]n broad, and ſhone like a peacock' [...] plumage.
c
Head.
d
Eyes.
e
Buttons, every one of them azure, fr [...]m hi [...] [...]lbow [...]o his hand.
f
Cuſhions, or t [...]peſtry, on the benche [...] laid.
g
In every corner I h [...]rd [...] L [...]y, and l [...]die [...], &c.
q
David Bruce, king of Scotland. See P. LANGTOET, p. 116.
r
Warlike.
f
Rode.
s
Could do him no ſervice.
t
Are.
u
Fierce.
w
Boar.
x
Should attempt.
y
Wander in going.
z
MSS. ut ſupr. GALB. E. ix.
a
Active with weapons.
b
Sorrow.
c
Sea-bottom.
d
Many.
e
Feaſting.
f
Q. Waning of the Moon?
g
Tambourins. Tabours or drums. In Chaucer we have TABOURE, Fr. to drum.
h
MSS. ut ſupr.
i
All.
k

I know not when this piece was written. But the word greffe is old French for Graphium, or Stylus. It is generally ſuppoſed, and it has been poſitively aſſerted by an able French antiquary, that the antient Roman practice of writing with a ſtyle on wa [...]en tablets, laſted not longer than the fifth century. Hearne alſo ſuppoſes that the pen had ſucceeded to the ſtyle long before the age of Alfred. Lel. ITIN. Vol. vii. PREF. p. xxi. I will produce an inſtance of this practice in England ſo late as the year 1395. In an accompt-roll of Wincheſter college, of that year, is the following diſburſement. ‘"Et in i tabula ceranda cum viridi c [...]ra pro intitulatione capellanorum et clericorum Capelle ad miſſas et alia pſallenda, viij d a."’ This very curious and remarkable article ſignifies, that a tablet covered with green wax was kept in the chapel, for noting down with a ſtyle, the reſpective courſes of daily or weekly portions of duty, alternately aſſigned to the officers of the choir. So far, indeed, from having ceaſed in the fifth century, it appears that this mode of writing continued throughout all the dark ages. Among many expreſs proofs that might be produced of the centuries after that period, Du Cange cites theſe verſes from a French metrical romance, written about the year 1376. Lat. GLOSS. V. GRAPHIUM b.

Les uns ſe prennent a ecrire,
Des greffesc en tables de cire;
Les autres ſuivent la couſtume
De fournir lettres a la plume.

Many ample and authentic records of the royal houſhold of France, of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, written on waxen tablets, are ſtill preſerved. Waxen tablets were conſtantly kept in the French religious houſes, for the ſame purpoſe as at Wincheſter college. Thus in the Ordinary of the Priour of ſaint Lo at Rouen, printed at Rouen, written about the year 1250. ‘"Qui, ad miſſam, lectiones aut tractus dicturi ſunt, in tabula cerea primitus recitentur."’ pag. 261. Even to this day, ſeveral of the collegiate bodies in France, more eſpecially the chapter of the cathedral of Rouen, retain this uſage of marking the ſucceſſive rotation of the miniſters of the choir. See the Sieur le Brun's VOYAGE LITURGIQUE, 1718. p. 275. The ſame mode of writing was uſed for regiſtering the capitular acts of the monaſteries in France. Du Cange, in reciting from an antient manuſcript the Signs injoined to the monks of the order of ſaint Victor at Paris, where the rule of ſilence was rigorouſly obſerved, gives us, among others, the tacit ſignals by which they called for the ſtyle and tablet. ‘"Pro SIGNO Grafii.—Signo metalli praemiſſo, extenſo pollice cum indice ſimila [ſimula] ſcribentem. Pro SIGNO Tabularum.—Manus ambas complica, et ita disjunge quaſi aperiens Tabulas."’ GLOSS. ut ſupr. V. SIGNA. tom iii. p. 866. col. 2. edit. vet. Among the implements of writing allowed to the Carthuſians, Tabulae and Graphium are enumerated. Statut. Antiq. CARTHUSIAN. 2 part. cap. xvi. §. 8. This, however, at Wincheſter college, is the only expreſs ſpecification which I have found of the practice, in the religious houſes of England d. Yet in many of our old col [...]egiate eſtabliſhments it ſeems to be pointed out by [...]mplication: and the article here extracted from the roll at Wincheſter college, explains the manner of keeping the following injunction in the Statutes of ſaint Eliſabeth's college at Wincheſter, now deſtroyed, which is a direction of the ſame kind, and cannot be well underſtood without ſuppoſing a waxen tablet. Theſe ſtatutes were given in 1301. ‘"Habeat itaque idem praecentor unam Tabulam ſemper in capella appenſam, in qua ſcribat quolib [...]t die ſabbati poſt prandium, et ordinet, qualem Miſſam quis corum capellanorum in ſequenti ſeptimana debeat celebrare; quis qualem lectionem in craſtino legere debeat; Et ſic de caeteris divinis officiis in praedicta capella faciendis. Et ſic cotidie poſt prandium ordinet idem praecentor de ſervicio diei ſequentis: hoc diligentius obſervando, quod capellani Miſſam, ad quam die ſabbati, ut praemittitur, intitulantur, per integram celebrent ſeptimanam."’ Dugd. MONAST. tom. iii. ECCLES. COLL. i. 10. Nothing could have been a more convenient method of temporary notation, eſpecially at a time when parchment and paper were neither cheap nor common commodities, and of carrying on an account, which was perpetually to be obliterated and renewed: for the written ſurface of the wax being eaſily ſmoothed by the round or blunt end of the ſtyle, was ſoon again prepared for the admiſſion of new characters. And among the Romans, the chief uſe of the ſtyle was for fugitive and occaſional entries. In the ſame light, we muſt view the following parallel paſſage of the Ordination of biſhop Wykeham's ſepulchral chantry, founded in Wincheſter cathedral, in the year 1404. ‘"Die ſabbati cujuſlibet ſeptimanae futurae, monachi prioratus noſtri in ordine ſacerdotali conſtituti, valentes et diſpoſiti ad celebrandum, ordinentur et intitulentur in Tabula ſeriatim ad celebrandum Miſſas praedictas cotidie per ſeptimanam tunc ſequentem, &c."’ B. Lowth's WYKEHAM. Append. p. xxxi. edit. 1777. Without multiplying ſuperfluous citations e, I think we may fairly conclude, that whenever a Tabula pro Clericis intitulandis occurs in the more antient rituals of our eccleſiaſtical fraternities, a PUGILLARE or waxen tablet, and not a ſchedule of parchment or paper, is intended. The inquiſitive reader, who wiſhes to ſee more foreign evidences of this mode of writing during the courſe of the middle ages, is referred to a Memoir drawn up with great diligence and reſearch by M. L'Abbé Lebeuf. MEM. LITT. tom. xx. p. 267 [...] edit. 4to.

The reaſonings and conjectures of Wiſe and others, who have treated of the Saxon AESTEL, more particularly of thoſe who contend that king Alfred's STYLE is ſtill in being at Oxford, may perhaps receive elucidation or correction from what is here caſually collected on a ſubject, which needs and deſerves a full inveſtigation.

To a Note already labouring with its length I have only to add, that without ſuppoſing an alluſion to this way of writing, it will be hard to explain the following lines in Shakeſpeare's TIMON OF ATHENS, Act i. Sc. i.

—My free drift
Halts not particularly, but moves itſelf
"In a wide ſea of wax."—

Why Shakeſpeare ſhould here allude to this peculiar and obſolete faſhion of writing, to expreſs a poet's deſign of deſcribing general life, will appear, if we conſider the freedom and facility with which it is executed. It is not yet, I think, diſcovered, on what original Shakeſpeare formed this drama.

a
Viz. ‘"COMPUTUS magiſtri Johis Morys Cuſtodis a die Sabbati proxime poſt ſeſtum Annunciationis beate Mari [...] anno regni Regis Ricardi ſecundi poſt conqueſtum xv [...]j [...], uſque diem Veneris proxime ante [...]eſtum ſancti Micha [...]lls extunc proxime ſequens anno regis predicti xviijvo, vidlt per xxvj ſeptimanas."’ It is indorſed, ‘"Computus primus poſt ingreſ [...]um in Colle [...]ium, Anno octavo poſt inceptionem Operis."’
b
See ibid. STYLI [...]ONU [...].
c
Styl [...]. Lat. Grapbium.
d
But ſee Wanley's account of the text of S. Chad CATAL. Codd. Anglo-S [...]x. p. 289. ſeq.
e
See Statut. Eccleſ. Cath. Lich [...]. Dugd. MON. iii. p. 244. col. 2. 10. p. 247. col. 2. 20. Statut. Eccle [...]. Colleglat [...] de Tonge, ibid. ECCLE [...]. COLL. p. 1 [...]. col. 2. 40.
l
Hall's CHRONICLE, fol. ccxii. Among the Orations ſpoken to the Queen, is one too curious to be omitted. At Leadenhall ſate ſaint Anne with her numerous progeny, and Mary Cleophas with her four children. One of the children made‘"a goodlie oration to the queene, of the fruitfulnes of ſaint Anne, and of her generation; truſting the like fruit ſhould come of hir."’
m
It th [...]n belonged to Wolſey.
n
A game of hazard with dic [...].
o
Hollinſh. CHRON. iii. 921. ſeq.
p
CHRON. fol. xv. [See ſupr. Vol. i. p. 239.]
q
Hollinſh. iii. 812 [...]
r
But at a moſt ſumptuous Diſguiſing in 1519, in the hall at Greenwich, the figure of FAME is introduced, who, ‘"in French, declared the meaning of the trees, the rocke, and turneie."’ But as this ſhew was a political compliment, and many foreigners preſent, an explanation was neceſſary. See Hall, CHRON. fol. lxvi. This was in 1512. But in the year 1509, a more rational evening-amuſement took place in the Hall of the old Weſtminſter-palace, ſeveral foreign embaſſadors being preſent. ‘"After ſupper, his grace [the king] with the queene, lords, and ladies, came into the White Hall, which was hanged richlie; the hall was ſcaffolded and railed on all parts. There was an ENTERLUDE of the gentlemen of his chapell before his grace, and diverſe freſhe ſonges."’ Hall, CHRON. fol. xi. xii. [See ſupr. ii. 204.]
s
A new houſe built by Henry the eighth. Hollinſh [...] CHRON. iii. 852.
t
‘"ORDENAUNCES made for the kinges houſehold and chambres."’ Bibl. Bodl. MSS. LAUD. K. 48. fol. It is the original on vellum. In it, Sir Thomas More is mentioned as Chancellour of the Duchie of Lancaſter.
u
Woking in Surrey, near Guildford, a royal ſeat.
w
Chron. iii. 806.
a
Les OEVVRE [...] de Clement Marot de Cahors, valet de chambre du roy, &c. A Lyon, 1551. 12mo. See ad calc. TRADUCTIONS, &c. p. 192.
b
See Bayle' [...] DICT. V. MAROT.
c
ATH. Oxon. i. 76.
d
Among them is the hundreth, and the hundred and nineteenth.
e
Marked N.
f
See Strype's CRANMER, p. 274. 276. [...]77. PSALMS 70, 104, 112, 122, 125, and 134, are marked with W. K. PSALM 136, with T. C. It is not known to whom theſ [...] initials belong.
h
See this matte [...] traced with great ſkill and accuracy by Hawkins, HIST. MUS. iii. 518.
i
PSALM cvi. 38.
k
Ps. lxxiv. 12. Perhaps this verſe is not much improved in the tranſlation of king James the firſt, who ſeems to have reſted entirely on the image of why withdrawe [...]t thou not thine hand, which he has expreſſed in Hopkins's manner.
Why doſt thou thus withdraw thy hand,
Even thy right hand reſtraine?
Out of thy boſom, for our good,
Drawe backe the ſame againe!
In another ſtanza he has preſerved Hopkins's rhymes and expletives, and, if poſſible, lowered his language and cadences. Ps. lxxiv. 1.
Oh why, our God, for ev [...]rmore
Haſt thou neglected us?
Why ſmoaks thy wrath againſt the ſheep
Of thine owne paſture thus?
Here he has chiefly diſplayed the ſmoking of God's wrath, which kindles in Hopkins. The particle thus was never ſo diſtinguiſhed and dignified. And it is hard to ſay, why his majeſty ſhould chuſe to make the divine indignation ſmoke, rather than burn, which is ſuggeſted by the original.
l
Ps [...] lxviii. 37.
m
Ps [...] lxx. 3.
n
Ps. xix. 4.
o
Ps. lxviii. 7. ſeq.
p
Ps. xviii. 9. 10.
r
HIST. MOD. ch. ccvii.
s
GLOSS. ROB. GL. p. 699.
t
See CANONS and INJUNCTIONS, A. D. 1559. NUM. xlix.
a
I have alſo ſeen Hunnis's ‘"Abridgement or brief meditation on certaine of the Pſalmes in Engliſh metre,"’ printed by R. Wier, 4to.
b
Printed by T. Marſhe, 1578. 4to.
c
There is an edition i [...] quarto dedicated to king Edward the ſixth with this title, ‘"The Pſalmes of David tranſlated into Engliſh metre by T. Sternhold, ſir T. Wyat, and William Hunnis, with certaine chapters of the Proverbes and ſelect Pſalms by John Hall."’ I think I have ſeen a book by Hall called the COURT OF VIRTUE, containing ſome or all of theſe ſacred ſongs, with notes, 1565. 8vo. He has a copy of verſes prefixed to Gale's ENCHI [...]IDION OF SU [...]GERY, Lond. 1563. See John Reade's Preface to his tranſlation of F. Arcaeus's ANATOMY.
d
Strype, ANN. i. p. 291. ch. xxv. ed. 1725.
e
In quarto. I have ſeen alſo ‘"The Ballads or Canticles of Solomon in Proſe and Verſe."’ Without date, or name of printer or author.
f
At the end is a poem entitled, ‘"A Deſcription of the Lyfe of Man, the World and Vanities [...]hereof."’ Princ. ‘"Who on earth can juſtly rejoyce."’
g
The ſecond quinquagene follows, fol. 146. The third and laſt, fol. 280.
h
In black letter. Among the prefaces are four lines from lord Surrey's ECCLESIASTES. Attached to every pſalm is a proſe collect. At the end of the pſalms are verſions o [...] Te Deum, Benedictus, Quicunqu [...] vult, &c. &c.
i
Day had a licence, Jun. 3, 1561, to print the pſalms in metre. Ames, p. 238.
k
He thus remonſtrates againſt the ſecular ballads,
Ye ſonges ſo nice, ye ſonnets all,
Of lothly lovers layes,
Ye worke mens myndes but bitter gall
By phanſies peeviſh playes.
l
As the ſinging-pſalms were never a part of our liturgy, no rubrical direction [...] are any where given for the manner of performing them. In one of the PREFACES, written about 1550, it is ordered, ‘"Whereas heretofore there hath been great diverſitie of ſaying and ſinging in churches within this realm, ſome following Saliſbury uſe, ſome Hereford uſe, ſome the uſe of Bangor, ſome of York, ſome of Lincoln; now from henceforth all the whole realm ſhall have but one uſe."’ But this is ſaid in reference to the chants, reſponds, ſuffrages, verſicles, introites, kyrie-eleeyſo [...]s, doxologies, and other melodies of the Book of Common Prayer, then newly publiſhed under lawful authority, with muſical notes by Marbeck, and which are ſtill uſed; that no arbitrary variations ſhould be made in the manner of ſinging theſe melodies, as had been lately the caſe with the Roman miſſal, in performing which ſome cathedrals affected a manner of their own. The Saliſbury mi [...]al was moſt famous and chie [...]ly followed.
m
Fol. 13.
n
Follow.
o
Fol. 35.
p
ATH. OXON. i. 181.
q
There is a metrical Engliſh verſion of the Pſ [...]lm [...] among the Cotton manuſcripts about the year 1320, which has merit. S [...] alſo ſupr. Vol. i. 23.
r
ATH. OXON. i. 235.
s
See Strype, ECC [...]. MEM. ii. p. 138. S [...] the ſpeakers in Ochin' [...] Di [...]logu [...] againſt the Pope, engliſhed by Poyne [...], printed in 1549. Strype, ibid. 198.
t
Strype's Parker, B. 11. Ch. ii. pag. 116, 117. Compare LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, 2d edit. p. 354.
u
Neale's HIST. PURIT. vol. ii. ch. vii. pag. 387. edit. 1733. Nalſon's COLLECTIONS, vol. i. pag. 789.
a
Strype ſays, that ‘"Sternhold compoſed ſeveral pſalms at firſt for his own ſolace. For he ſet and ſung them to his organ. Which muſic king Edward vi. ſometime hearing, for he was a Gentleman of the privy-chamber, was much delighted with them. Which occaſioned his publication and dedication of them to the ſaid king."’ ECCLES. MEMOR. B. i. ch. 2. p. 86.
b
That is, they are plain and uniſonous: the eſtabliſhed character of thi [...] ſort of muſic.
c
Apoſtles.
d
WORTHI [...]S, ii. 244. Tallis here mentioned, at the begin [...]ing of the reign of Eliſabeth, and by proper authority, enriched the muſic of Marbeck's liturgy. He ſet to muſic the T [...] DEUM, BENEDICTUS, MAGNIFICAT, NUNC DIMITTIS, and other offices, to which Marbeck had given only the canto fi [...]mo, or plain chant. He compoſed a new Litany ſtill in uſe; and improved the ſimpler modulation of Marbeck's Suffrages, Kyries after the Commandments, and other verſicle [...], as they are ſung at preſ [...]nt. There are two chants of Tallis, one to the VENITE EXULTEMUS, and another to the Athanaſian Cre [...]d.
e
In duod [...]cimo.—I had almoſt forgot to obſerve, that John Mardiley, clerk of the king's Mint, called Suffolk-houſe in Southwark, tranſlated twenty-four of David's Pſalms into Engliſh verſe, about 1550. He wrote alſo Religious Hymns. Bale, par. poſt. p. 106. There is extant his Complaint againſt the ſti [...]necked papiſt in verſe. Lond. by T. Raynold, 1548. 8vo. And, a Short Reſytal of certyu [...] holie doctors, againſt the real preſence, collected in myter [metre] by John Mardiley. Lond. 12mo. Se [...] another of his pieces on the ſame ſubject, and in rhyme, preſented and dedicated to queen Eliſabeth, MSS. R [...]. 17 B. xxxvii. The Protector Somerſet was his patron.
f
HEROOLOG. p. 27.
g
See inſtances already given, before the Reformation had actually taken place, ſupr. p. 144.
h
See Percy BALL. ii. 102.
i
One of theſe pieces is, ‘"A Confutation to the anſwer of a wicked ballad,"’ printed in 1550. Crowley abovementioned wrote, ‘"A Confutation of Miles Hoggar [...]'s wicked ballad made in defence of the tranſubſtantiation of the Sacrament."’ Lond. 1548. octavo.
k
Strype, ECCL. MEM. ii. APP [...]ND, i. p. 34.
l
Ibid. vol. i. APPEND. xliv. p. 121.
m
Burnet, HIST. REF. vol. i. R [...]C. Num. xxvi. p. 257.
n
Fuller, CH. HIST. B. vii. Cent. xvi. p. 390.
o
Dat. 3. Edw. vi. Aug. 8.
p

It ſhould, however, be remarked, that the reformers had themſelves ſhewn the way to this ſort of abuſe long before. Bale's comedy OF THE THREE LAWS, printed in 1538, is commonly ſuppoſed to be a Myſ [...]ery, and merely doctrinal: but it is a ſatirical play again [...]t [...]opery, and perhaps the [...]rſt of the kind in our language. I have mentioned it in general terms before, under Bale as a poet; but I reſerved a more particular notice of it for this place. [See ſupr. p. 78.] It is exceedingly ſcarce, and has this colophon. ‘"Thus endeth thys Comedy concernynge the thre lawes, of Nature, Moſes, and Chriſt, co [...]rupted by the Sodomytes, Phariſees, and Papyſ [...]es, moſt wycked. Compyled by Johan Bal [...]. Anno M. D. XXXVIII. And lately imprented per Nicolaum Bamburgenſem."’ duod. It has theſe directions about the dreſſes, the firſt I remember to have ſeen, which ſhew the ſcope and ſpirit of the piece. SIGNAT. G. ‘"The apparellynge of the ſix Vyces or frutes of Infydely [...]e.—Let Idolatry be decked lyke an olde wytche, Sodomy lyke a monke of all ſectes, Ambycyon lyke a byſhop, Covetouſneſſe [...]yke a Phariſee or ſpyrituall lawer, Falſe Doctrine lyke a popyſh doctour, and Hypocreſy lyke a graye fryre. The reſt of the partes are eaſye ynough to conjecture."’ A ſcene in the ſecond Act is thus opened by INFIDELITAS.—‘"Poſt cantionem, Infidelitas alta voce dicat. OREMUS. Omnipotens ſempiterne Deus, qui ad imaginem et ſimilitudinem noſtram formaſti laicos, da, quaeſumus, ut ſicut eorum ſudoribus vivimus, ita [...]orum uxoribus, filiabus, et domicelli [...] perpetuo frui mereamur, per dominum noſtrum Papam."’ Bale, a clergyman, and at length a biſhop in Ireland, ought to have known, that this profane and impious parody was more o [...]enſive and injurious to true religion than any part of the miſſal which he means to ridicule. INFIDELITY then begins in Engliſh verſe a converſation with LEX MOYSIS, containing the moſt low and licentious obſcenity, which I am aſhamed to tranſcribe, concerning the words of a Latin a [...]teme, between an old fryre, or friar, with ſpectacles on hys noſe, and dame Iſabel an old nun, who crows like a capon. This is the moſt tolerable part of INFIDELITY'S dialogue. SIGNAT. C. iiij.

It was a good world, when we had ſech wholſome ſtoryes
Preached in our churche, on ſondayes and other f [...]ryes a.
With us was it mer [...]e
When we went to Berye b,
And to our Lady of Grace:
To the Bloud of Hayles
Where no good chere fayles,
And other holye place.
When the preſts myght walke,
And with yonge wyves talke,
Then had we chyldren plentye;
Then cuckoldes myght leape
A ſcore on a heape,
Now is there not one to twentye.
When the monkes were fatte, &c.

In another place, the old philoſophy is ridiculed. SIGNAT. E. v. Where HYPOCRISY ſays,

And I wyll rays up in the unyverſitees
The ſeven ſleepers there, to advance the pope's decrees:
As Dorbel, and Duns, Durande, and Thomas of Aquyne,
The Maſtre of Sentens, with Bachon the great devyne:
Henricus de Gandavo [...] and theſe ſhall read ad Clerum
Ariſtotle, and Albert de ſecretis mulier [...]m:
With the commentaryes of Avic [...]n and Averoyes, &c [...]
a
Holidays.
b
Bury Saint Edmunds.
q
Fuller, ibid. p. 391. See alſo STAT. 2, 3. Edw. vi. A. D. 1 [...]48. Gibſ. COD. i. p 261. edit. 1761.
r
See ſupr. vol. i. 241. ii. 378. 397. And Gibſ. COD. i. p. 191. edit. 1761.
f
See Hawkins's OLD PLAY [...], i. p. 135.
s
From Bale's THREE LAWES abovementioned, SIGN. B. v.
Here have I pratye gynnes,
Both brouches, beades, and pynnes,
With ſoch as the people wynnes
Unto idolatrye, &c.
t
Ibid. p. 159.
u
Ibid. p. 133.
w
Ibid. 141.
x
MUCH ADO. iii. 8.
y
Ibid. p. 143.
z
Ibid. p. 121. 153.
a

ECCL. MEM. iii. APPEND. iii. p. 185. Dat. 1556. Sir Francis Lake is ordered to correct his ſervants ſo offending.

One Henry Nicholas a native of Amſterdam, who imported his own tranſlations of many enthuſiaſtic German books into England, about the year 1550, tranſlated and publiſhed, ‘"COMOEDIA, a worke in rhyme, conteyning an interlude of Myndes witneſſing man's fall from God and Cryſt, ſet forth by H. N. and by him newly peruſed and amended. Tranſlated out of baſe Almayne into Englyſh."’ Without date, in duodecimo. It ſeems to have been printed abroad. Our author was the founder of one of the numerous offsets of calviniſtic fanaticiſ [...], called the FAMILY OF LOVE.

b
Ann. i. Eliz.
c
STAT. Ann. 34, 35. Henr. viii. Cap. i. Tyndale's Bible was printed at Paris 1536.
d
Ibid. Artic. vii.
e
Ibid. Artic. ix.
f
Ibid. Artic. x. ſeq.
g

And of an old DIETARIE FOR THE CLER [...]Y, I think by archbiſhop Cranmer, in which an archbiſhop is allowed to have two ſwans or two capons in a diſh, a biſhop two. An archbiſhop ſix blackbirds at once, [...] biſhop five, a dean four, an archdeacon two. If a dean has four diſhes in his firſt courſe, he is not afterward [...] to have cuſtard [...] or [...]ritter [...]. An archbiſhop may have [...]ix ſnip [...], an archdeacon only two. Rabbit [...], lark [...], ph [...] ſant [...], and partridges, are allowed in theſe proportions. A canon reſidentiary is to have a ſwan only on a Sunday. A rector of ſixteen marks, only three blackbirds in a week. See a ſimilar inſtrument, Strype's PARKER, APPEND. p. 65.

In the Britiſh Muſeum, there is a beautiful manuſcript on vellum of a French tranſlation of the Bible, which was found in the [...]ent of king John, king of France, after the battle of Poictiers. Perhaps hi [...] m [...]jeſty poſſ [...]ſſed this book on the plan of an excluſive royal right.

h
More particularly in the Latin derivative ſubſtantives, ſuch as, divination, perdition, adoption, manifeſtatio [...], conſolation, contribution, adminiſtration, conſummation, reconciliation, operation, communication, retribution, preparation, immortality, principality, &c. &c. And in other words, fruſtrate, inexcuſable, tran [...]figure, concupiſcence, &c. &c.
i
Such as, Idololatria, contritus, holocauſta, ſacramentum, elementa, humilitas, ſatisfactio, ceremonia, abſolutio, myſterium, penitentia, &c. See Gardiner's propoſals in Burnet, HIST. REF. vol. i. B. iii. p. 315. And Fuller, CH. HI [...]T. B. v. Cent. xvi. p. 238.
k
Lond. Octavo. Pr. ‘"In the golden time when all things."’
l
ATH. OXON. i. 73.
m
Bale, xi. 97.
n
A monk.
o
Having drank ſh [...] ſays.
p
On the authority of MSS. Oldys. A valuable black-letter copy, in the poſſeſſion of Mr. Steevens, i [...] the oldeſt I have ſeen.
q
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 378.
a
Archbiſhop Abbot, in Sackville's Funeral-ſermon, ſays he was aged 72 when he died, in the year 1608. If ſo, he was not twenty years of age when h [...] wrote GORDOBUCK.
b
Wood, ATH. OXON. i. [...]. 767.
c
FRAGM. REGAL. p. 70.
d
Lloyd' [...] WO [...]THI [...]S, p. 678.
e
Many of his L [...]tter [...] are in the CA [...]ALA. And in the univerſity regiſter at Oxford, (Mar. 21. 1591.) ſee his Letter about the Habits [...] See alſo Howard' [...] COLL. p. 297.
f
See ſupr. 181.
g
Ut in [...]r. He wrote alſo Three book [...]s of M [...]ral Philoſop [...]y. And The Liv [...] and Sayings of Philoſoph [...]rs, Emperors, Kings, [...]tc. dedicated to lord Stafford, often printed at London in quarto. Altered by Thomas [...] Pal [...]r [...]ym [...]n, Lond. 1608. 12mo. Alſo, Similies and Prover [...]s. And The Uſ [...] of Adagies. Bale ſays, that he wrote, ‘"Comoedias etiam aliquot."’ pag. 108.
h
Fol. 66.
h
For Robert Redman. No date. After 1540. At the end he is called George Ferrerz. In duodecimo. Redman printed MA [...]NA CHARTA in French, 1529. Duodecim. oblong.
i
Dedicated to ſir William Paget. Duodecimo. Compare Leland, ut ſupr. fol. 66.
k
Stowe, CHRON. p. 632.
l
Hollinſhead ſays 1552. fol. 1067.
m
CHRON. p. 608. [See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 382.]
n
p. 108. SCRIPT. NOSTR. TEMP.
o
ATH. OXON. i. 193. The ſame miſtake is in Mere [...]'s WITS TREASURY, printed in 1598. In reciting the dramatic poets of thoſe times he ſays, ‘"Maiſter Edward Ferris the authour of the MIRROUR FOR MAGISTRATES."’ fol. 282. None of his plays, which, Puttenham ſays, ‘"were written with much ſkill and magnificence in his meter, and wherein the king had ſo much good recreation that he had thereby many good rewards,"’ are now remaining, and as I ſuppoſe were never printed. He died and was buried in the church of Bade [...]ley-Clinton in Warwickſhire 1564. He was of Warwickſhire, and educated at Oxford. See Philip [...]'s TH [...]ATR. PO [...]T. p. 221. SUPPL. Lond. 1674. 12mo. Another Ferris [Richard] wrote The dangerous adventure of Richard Ferris and others who undertooke to rowe from Tower whar [...]e to Briſtowe i [...] a ſmall wherry-boate, Lond. 1590. 4to. I believe the names of all three ſhould be written FERRERS.
961
p Hall's Union of the two noble and illuſtrious families of Yorke and Lancaſter was printed at London, for Berthelette, 1542. fol. Continued by Grafton the printer, from Hall's manuſcripts, Lond. 1548. fol.
q
Printed in his WORKS. But there is an old edition of this piece alone, without date, in duodecimo.
r
The SECONDE PARTE begins with this Life.
s
Subſcribed in Niccols's edition, ‘"Maſter D."’ that is, John Dolman. It was intended to introduce here The two Princes murthered in the tower, ‘"by the lord Vaulx, who undertooke to penne it, ſays Baldwyne, but what he hath done therein I am not certaine."’ fol. cxiiii. b. Dolman abovementioned was of the Middle-temple. He tranſlated into Engliſh Tully's TUSCULANE QUESTIONS, dedicated to Jewel biſhop of Saliſbury, and printed in 1561, duodecimo.
t
A tranſlator of the PSALMS, ſee ſupr. p. 181.
u
In the Prologue which follows, Baldwyne ſays, he was ‘"exhorted to procure Maiſter Churchyarde to undertake and to penne as many more of the remaynder, as myght be attayned, &c."’ fol. clvi. a.
w
This chancellor muſt have been biſhop Gardiner.
x
Henry lord Stafford, ſon and heir of Edward laſt duke of Buckingham, a ſcholar and a writer. See Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 108. One of his books is dedicated to the Protector Somerſet. Aubrey gives us a rhyming epitaph in Howard's chapel in Lambeth church, written by this nobleman to his ſiſter the ducheſs of Norfolk. SURREY, vol. v. p. 236. It is ſubſcribed ‘"by thy moſt bounden brother Henry lord Stafford."’ Bale ſays that he was ‘"vir multarum rerum ac diſciplinarum notitia ornatus,"’ and that he died in 1558. par. poſt. 112.
y
Eliſabeth.
z
SIGNAT. C ii.
a
How many they are [...] [...]l [...]ude. Crew.
b
Q [...]ar [...]ll. The bol [...] of a croſ [...]-bow.
c
Mu [...]
d
SI [...]NAT. A [...] ii.
e
That is, Baldwyne had previouſly prepared and written his l [...]gend or monologue, and one of the company was to act his part, and aſſume this appearance [...] fol. xviii [...] b.
f
Theſe lines in COLLINGBOURNE'S legend are remarkable, fol. cxliiii. a.
Like Pegaſus a poet muſt have wynges,
To ſlye to heaven, or where him liketh beſt;
He muſt have knowledge of eternal thynges,
Almighti [...] Jove muſt harbor in his breſt.
a
See fol. cxvi.
b
Sway.
c
Going.
d
Called.
e
The two next ſtanzas ar [...] not in the firſt edition, of 1559. But inſtead of the [...], the following ſtanza.
Here pul'd the babes, and here the maids unwed
With folded hands their ſorry chance bewayl'd;
Here wept the guiltleſ [...] Slain, and lovers dead
That ſlew themſelves when nothing elſe avayl'd.
A thouſand ſorts of ſorrows here that wayl'd
With ſighs, and teares, ſobs, ſhricks, and all yfere,
That, O alas! it was a hell to here, &c.
f
Breme, i. [...]. curel.
g
Melted:
h
See ſupr. vol. ii. 219.
i
See ſupr. vol. ii. 263.
k
Brunetto's TESORETTO was abſtracted by himſelf from his larger proſe work on the ſame ſubject, written in old French and never printed, entitled TESORO. See ſupr. vol. ii. 116. 222. And HIST. ACAD. INSCRIPT. tom. vii. 296. ſeq. The TESORO was afterwards tranſlated into Italian by one Bono Giamboni, and printed at Treviſa, viz. ‘"IL T [...]SORO di Meſſer Brunetto Latino, Fiorentino, Precettore del divino poeta Dante: nel qual ſi tratta di tutte le coſe che a mortali ſe appartengeno.’ In Triviſa, 1474. fol. After a table of chapters is another title, ‘"Qui inchomincia el Teſoro di S. Brunetto Latino di firenze: e parla del naſcimento e della natura di tutte le coſe."’ It was printed again at Venice, by Marchio Seſſa, 1533. octavo. Mabillon ſeems to have confounded this Italian tranſlation with the French original. IT. ITALIC. p. 169. See alſo Salviat [...], AVERTIS. DECAM. ii. xii. Dante int [...]oduces Brunetto in the fifteenth Can [...]o of the INFERNO: and after the colophon of the firſt edition of the Italian TESORO abovementioned, is this inſertion. ‘"Riſpoſta di Dante a Brunetto Latino ritrovado da lui nel quintodecimo canto nel ſuo inferno."’ The TESORETTO or Little Treaſure, mentioned above in the text, has been printed, but is exceedingly ſcarce.
l
INF. CANT. i. The ſame bold metaphor occurs below, CANT. v.
Evenni in luogo d'ogni LUCE MUTO.
m
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 219.
n
CANT. ii. In another part of the INFERNO, Virgil is angry with Dante, but is ſoon reconciled. H [...]re the poet compares himſelf to a cottager in the early part of a promiſing ſpring, who looks out in the morning from his humble ſhed, and ſee [...] the fields covered with a ſevere and unexpected froſt. But the ſun ſoon melts the ground, and he drives his goats a [...]ield. CANT. xxiv. This poem abound [...] in compariſons, Not one of the worſt is a comic one, in which a perſon looking ſharply and eagerly, is compared to an old taylor threading a needle. INP. CANT. xv.
o
He means the Platonic [...]. The Italian expoſitors will have it to be the Holy Ghoſt.
p
CANT. iii.
q
FAIR. QU. iii. xi. 54.
r
PAR. L. i. 65.
s
See CANT. ix. vii.
t
Gorgones, HARPYIAEQUE. vi. 289.
u
CANT. xiii.
w
CANT. xxv.
y
CANT. iii.
z
In the ſixteenth Canto of the PARADISO, king Arthur's queen GENEURA, who belongs to [...]ir Triſtram's romance, is mentioned.
a
He is one of the knights of the Round Table, and is commonly called Sir GALHAAD, in ARTHUR'S romance.
b
CANT. v.
c
Milton, PAR. L. ii. 618.
d
CANT. ix.
e
FAIR. QU. i. ix. 52.
f
CANT. xvii. Dante ſays, that he [...]ay on the banks of a river like a Beaver, the CASTOR. But this fooliſh compariſon is affectedly introduced by our author for a diſplay of his natural knowledge from Pliny, or rather from the TESORO of his m [...]ſter Brunetto.
g
PAR. L. ii. 649.
h
CANT. xvii.
i
Ibid.
k
In the thirty-fourth CANTO, Dante and Virgil return to light on the back of Lucifer, who (like Milton's Satan, ii. 927.) is deſcribed as having wings like ſails,
Vele di mar non vid' io mai eſt celi.
And again,
—Quando l'ale [...]uro aperte aſſai.
This Canto begins with a Latin line,
Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni.
l
Or Roland, the ſubject of archbiſhop Turpin's romance. See ſupr. vol. i. 132.
m
CANT. xxxi.
n
Ibid.
o
Ibid.
p
Ibid.
q
Dante ſays, if I underſtand the paſſage right, that the face of one of the giants reſembled the Cupola, ſhaped like a pine-apple, of ſaint Peter's church at Rome, ibid. CANT. xxxi.
Come la pina di ſan Pietro a Roma.
r
CANT. xxxii.
r
JOB, xxiv. 19.
s
See ſupr. vol. ii. 199. And ADD. EMEND. ibid.
t
CANT. xviii.
u
CANT. xx.
w
CANT. xxxiii. They are both in the lake of ice.
x
Ibid. See ſupr. vol. i. 390. And ESSAY ON POPE, p. 254.
1023
y PURGAT. CANT. i.
z
CANT. xxiv.
a
PAR. L. ii. 720.
a
Killed. Manqueller is murderer.
b
This edition, printed by Thomas Marſhe, has clx leaves, with a table of contents at the end.
c
This edition, printed alſo for T. Marſhe, is improperly enough entitled ‘"The Laſt Parte of the MIRROUR FOR MAGISTRATES, &c."’ But it contains all that is in the foregoing editions, and ends with JANE SHORE, or SHORE'S WIFE. It has 163 leaves. In the title page the work is ſaid to be ‘"Newly corrected and amended."’ They are all in quarto, and in black letter.
d
But in the Preface Higgins ſays h [...] began to prepare it twelve years before. In imitation of the title, a ſtory-book was publiſhed called the MIRR [...]UR OF MIRTH, by R. D. 1583. bl. lett. 4to. Alſo The MIRROUR OF THE MATHEMATIKES, A MIRROUR OF MONST [...]RS, &c.
e
DEDICATION, ut in [...]r.
f
In TERENT [...] FLOSCULOS N. Udalli et J. Higgini opera decerptos. ENCOM. fol. 128. It alſo pre [...]ixed to the book, with others.
g
Perhaps at Trinity college, where one of both his names occurs in 1566.
h
Octavo.
i
The D [...]dication of his MIRROUR TO MAGISTRATES is from the ſame place.
k
He ſays, that he tranſlated it in London. ‘"Quo facto, novus interpres Waldenus, Ilm [...]ſt [...]iae gymnaſiarcha, moriens, priuſquam manum [...]peri ſummam admoviſſet, me ami [...]um veter [...]m ſuum omnib [...]s libri [...] ſuis et hoc imprimis Nom [...]nclatore [his tranſlation] donavit."’ But Higgins [...]ound his own v [...]rſion better, which he therefore publiſhed, yet with a part of his friend's.
l
At [...]ol. 108. [...]. The two l [...]ſt lives in the latt [...]r [...] or what may be call [...]d B [...]ldwin's part of this edition, are JANE SHORE and CARDINAL WOLSEY by Churchyard. Colophon, ‘"Imprinted at London by Henry Marſhe, being th [...] aſſigne of Thomas Marſhe near [...] to ſaint Dunſtanes churche in Fleeteſtreete, 1587."’ It has 272 leaves. The laſt ſignature is M m 4.
m
Fol. 265. b.
n
Fol. 244. a.
o
Fol. 140. b.
p
Fol. 146. a.
q
Fol. 253. b.
r
Fol. 255. b.
s
Fol. 258. b.
t
Subſcribed THOMAS NEWTONUS C [...]yſtr [...]ſhyrius, 1587.
u
Fol. 36. [...].
w
That i [...], D [...]SPAIR.
x
FAER. QU [...] i. x. 50.
y
Of the early uſe in the middle ages of the word SP [...]CULUM as the title of a book, ſee Joh. Finnaeus's DISS [...]RTATIOHISTORICA-LITT [...]RARIA, prefixed to the KONGS-SKUGG-SIO, or ROYAL MIRROUR, an antient proſe work in Norvegian, written about 1170, printed in 1768, 4to. fol. xviii.
z
A thick quarto.
a
Drayton wrote three other legends on this plan, Robert duke of Normandy, Matilda, and Pierce Gaveſton, of which I ſhall [...]pe [...] more particularly under that writer.
b
Fol. 555.
c
Fol. 253. Compare Baldwyne's Prologue at fol. cxiv. b. [...]dit. 1559. ut ſupr.
c
Act i. Sc. i.
d
Pag. 753.
e
Act v. Sc. ult. Drayton has alſo deſcribed theſe viſionary terrors of Richard. POLYOL [...]. S. xxii.
When to the guilty king, the black [...]orerunning night,
Appear the dreadful ghoſts of Henry and his Son,
Of his owne brother George and his two nephewes, done
Moſt cruelly to death, and of his Wife, and friend
Lord Haſtinges, with pale hands prepared as they would rend
Him peacemeal: at which o [...]t he roar [...]t [...] in his ſleep.
The POLYOL [...]ION was publiſhed in 1612. fol.
f
Pag. 764.
g
Pag. 764.
h
Regiſtr. Univ. Oxon. He retired to Magdalene Hall, where he was graduated in Arts, 1606. Ibid.
a
Pag. 1.
b
Ending with pag. 185.
c
Where they end at fol. 108. a.
d
After p. 250.
e
That is, from p. 250.
f
After p. 547.
g
From the Sonnet it appears, that our author Niccols was on board Howard's [...]hip the ARKE, when Cadiz was taken. This was in 1596. See alſo pag. 861. ſtanz. iv.
h
From pag. 555.
i
Ending with pag. 769.
k
At fol. xlii. b.
l
Fol. 137. b.
m
Fol. 253. a. In Ulpian Fullwell's FLOWER OF FAME, an old quarto book both in proſe and verſe, in praiſe of the reign of Henry the eighth, and printed by W. [...]oſkyns in 1575, is a tragic monologue, in the octave ſtanza, of James the fourth of Scotland, and of his ſon. fol. 22. b. The whole title is, ‘"THE FLOWER OF FAME, containing the bright renowne and moſ [...] fortunate reigne of Henry viii. Wherein is mention of matters by the reſt of our chronographers overpaſſed. Compyled by Vlpian Fullwell."’ Annexed is a panegyric of three of the ſame Henry's noble and vertuous queenes. And ‘"The ſervice done at Haddington in Scotland the ſeconde year of the reigne of king Edward the ſixt."’ Bl. lett. F [...]llwell will occur hereafter in his proper place.
n
Fol. 256. a.
o
Fol. cxlvii. b.
p
Fol. 230. b.
q
Pag. 750.
r
B. i. Sat. v. duodecim. But in CER [...]AINE SATYRES by John Marſton, ſubjoined to his PY [...]MALIONS IMAGE, an academical critic is abuſed for affecting to cenſure this poem. Lond. 1598. SAT. iv. This is undoubtedly our author Hall juſt quoted. [See Marſton's SCOVRGE OF VILLANIE, printed 1599. Lib. iii. SAT. x.]
Fond cenſurer! why ſhould thoſe Mirrors ſeeme
So vile to thee? which better [...]udgements deeme
Exquiſite then, and in our poliſh'd tim [...]s
May run for ſencefull tollerable lines.
What not [...]ediocra firma from thy ſpight?
But muſt thy enuious hungry fangs needs light
On MAGISTRATES MIRROUR? Muſt thou needs detract
And ſtr [...]ue to worke his antient honors wrack?
What ſhall not Roſamond, or Gaueſton,
Ope their ſweet lips without detraction?
But muſt our moderne Critticks enuious eye, &c.
The two laſt pieces indeed do not properly belong to this collection, and are only on the ſame plan. Roſamond is Daniel's COMPLAINT OF ROSAMOND, and Gaueſton is Drayton's monologue on that ſubject.
f
Sydney ſays, ‘"I eſteem the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES to be furniſhed of beautifull partes."’ He then mentions Surrey's Lyric pieces. DEFENCE OF POESIE, fol. 561. ad calc. ARCAD. Lond. 1629. fol. Sidney died in 1586. So that this wa [...] written before Higgins's, and conſequently Niccols's, additions.
s
Coloph. ‘"Imprinted at London in Fleteſtrete in the houſe late Thomas Berthelettes. Cum priv. &c. Anno M. D [...] LX."’ duodecim. bl. lett. It is dedicated in verſe to ſir John Maſon.
t
Sir Thomas North, ſecond ſon of Edward lord North of Kirtling, tranſlated from French into Engliſh Antonio Guevara's HOROLOGIUM PRINCIPUM. This tranſlation was printed in 1557, and dedicated to Queen Mary, fol. Again, 1548, 1582, 4to. This is the book mentioned in the text. North ſtudied in Lincoln's Inn in the reign of queen Mary. I am not ſure that the tranſlator of Plutarch's LIVES in 1579 is the ſame. There is Doni's MORALL PHILOSOPHI [...] from the Italian by ſir Thomas North, in 1601.
u
Sackville lord Buckhurſt, the contributor to the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES. I have never ſeen his SONNETS, which would be a valuable acceſſion to our old poetry. But probably the term ſonnets here means only verſes in general, and may ſignify nothing more than his part in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, and his GORDOBUCKE.
w
Norton is Sackville's coadjutor in GORDOBUCKE.
x
The Epilogue to Gaſcoigne's JOCASTA, acted at Grays-inn in 1566, was written by Chriſtopher Yelverton, a ſtudent of that inn, afterwards a knight and a Judge. I have never ſeen his DITTIES here mentioned.
y
Thomas Blundeville of Newton-Flotman in Norſolk, from whence his dedication to lord Leiceſter of an Engliſh verſion of Furio's Spaniſh tract on COUNSELS AND COUNSELORS is dated, Apr. 1. 1570. He printed many other proſe pieces, chiefly tranſlations. His P [...]UTARCH mentioned in the text, is perhaps a manuſcript in the Britiſh Muſeum, PLUTARC [...]S COMMENTARY that learning is requiſite to a prince, tranſlated into Engliſh meeter by Thomas Blundevile, MSS. RE [...]. 18. A. 43.
z
William Bavande, a ſtudent in the Middle-Temple, tranſlated into Engliſh Ferrarius Montanus DE RECTA REIPUBLICAE ADMINISTRATIONE. Dated from the Middle-Temple, in a Dedication to queen Eliſabeth, Decemb. 20. 1559 [...] 4to. Bl. L [...]tt. Printed by John Kingſton. ‘"A woorke of Joannes Ferrarius Montanus touchinge the good orderinge of a common weale, &c. Engliſhed by William Bauande."’ He was of Oxford.
a
Barnaby Googe's Palingenius will be ſpoken of herea [...]ter.
b
Fol. vii. a. duodecim. I know but little more of this forgotten writer, than that he wrote alſo, ‘"A TOUCHESTONE for this time preſent, expreſsly declaring ſuch ruines, enormities, and abuſes, as trouble the church of God and our chriſtian commonwealth at this daye, &c. Newly ſett foorth by E. H. Imprinted at London by Thomas Hacket, and are to be ſolde at his ſhop at the Greene Dragon in the Royall Exchange [...] 1574."’ duodec. At the end of the ‘"Epiſtle dedicatorie to his knowne friende Mayſter Edward Godfrey, merchant,"’ his name EDWARD HAKE is ſubſcribed at length. Annexed is, ‘"A Compendious ſourme of education, to be diligently obſerued of all parentes and ſcholemaſters in the trayning vp of their children and ſchollers in learning. Gathered into Engliſhe meeter by Edward Hake."’ It is an epitome of a Latin tract D [...] pueris ſtatim ac liberaliter inſtituendis. In the dedication, to maiſter John Harlowe his approoued friende, he calls himſelf an attourney in the Common Pleas, obſerving at the ſame time, that the ‘"name of an Attourney in the common place [pleas] is now a dayes growen into contempt."’ He adds another circumſtance of his life, that he was educated under John Hopkins, whom I ſuppoſe to be the tranſlator of the pſalms. [See ſupr. p. 167.] ‘"You being trained vp together with me your poore ſchool [...]ellow, with the inſtructions of that learned and exquiſite teacher, Maiſter JOHN HOPKINS, that worthy ſchoolemaiſter, nay rather that moſt worthy parent vnto all children committed to his charge of education. Of whoſe memory, if I ſhould in ſuch an oportunity as this is, be [...]orgetful, &c."’ I will give a ſpecimen of this little piece, which ſhews at leaſt that he learned verſification under his maſter Hopkins. He is ſpeaking of the Latin tongue. (Signat. G. 4.)
Wheret [...], as hath been ſayde before,
The Fables do inuite,
With morall ſawes in couert tales:
Whereto agreeth rite
Fine Comedies with pleaſure ſawſt,
Which, as it were by play,
Do teache unto philoſophie
A perfit ready way.—
So as nathles we carefull be
To auoyde all bawdi [...] rimes,
And wanton ieſtes of poets vayne,
That teache them filthie crimes.
Good ſtories from the Bible chargde,
And from ſome civill ſtyle
As Quintus Curtius and ſuch like,
To reade them other while, &c.
Compare Ames, p. 322. 389.
c
The pieces mentioned in this extract will be conſidered in their proper places.
d

Bolton's HYPERCRITICA, ‘"Or a Rule of Judgement for writing or reading our Hiſtorys."’ ADDRESSE, iv. SECT. iii. pag. 235. ſeq. Firſt printed by Anthony Hall, (at the end of Trivet. Annal. Cont. And Ad. Murimuth. Chron.) Oxford, 1722. octavo. The manuſcript is among Cod. MSS. A. WOOD, Muſ. ASHMOL. 8471. 9. quarto [...] with a few notes by Wood. This judicious little tract was occaſioned by a paſſage in ſir Henry Saville's Epiſtle prefixed to his edition of our old Latin hiſtorians, 1596. HYPERCRIT. p. 217. Hearne has printed that part of it which contains a Vindication of Jeffrey of Monmouth, without know [...]g the author's name. Gul. Neubrig. PRAEFAT. APPEND. Num. iii. p. lxxvii. vol. i. See HYPERCRIT. p. 204. Bolton's principal work now extant is ‘"NERO CAESAR, or Monarchie depraved, an Hiſtorical Worke."’ Lond. 1624. fol. This ſcarce book, which is the life of that emperor, and is adorned with plates of many curious and valuable medals, is dedicated to George duke of Buckingham, to whom Bolton ſeems to have been a retainer. (See Hearne' [...] Lel. COLLECTAN. vol. vi. p. 60. edit. 1770.) In it he ſupports a ſpecious theory, that Stonehenge was a monument erected by the Britons to Boadicea. ch. xxv. At the end is his HISTORICAL PARALLEL, ſhewing the difference between epitomes and juſt hiſtories, ‘"heretofore privately written to my good and noble friend Endymion Porter, one of the gentlemen of the Prince's chamber."’ He inſtances in the accounts given by Florus and Polybius of the battle between Hannibal and Scipio: obſerving, that generalities are not ſo intereſting as facts and circumſtances, and that Florus gives us ‘"in proper words the [...]lowers and tops of noble matter, but Polybius ſets the things themſelves, in all their neceſſary parts, before our eyes."’ He therefore concludes, ‘"that all ſpacious mindes, attended with the felicities of means and leiſure, will fly abridgements as bane."’ He publiſhed, however, an Engliſh verſion of Florus. He wrote the Life of the Emperor Tiberius, never printed. NER. CAES. ut ſupr. p. 82. He deſigned a General Hiſtory of England. HYPERCRIT. p. 240. In the Britiſh Muſeum, there is the manuſcript draught of a book entitled ‘"AGON HEROICUS, or concerning arms and armories, by Edmund Boulton."’ MSS. COTT. Fauſ [...]in. E. 1. 7. fol. 63. And in the ſame library, his PROSOPOPEIA BASILICA, a Latin Poem upon the tranſlation of the body of Mary queen of Scots in 1612, from Peterborough to Weſtminſter [...]abbey. MSS. COTT. Tit. A. 13. 23. He compiled the Life of king Henry the ſecond for Speed's Chronicle: but Bolton being a catholic, an [...] ſpeaking too favourably of Be [...]ket, another Life was written by Doctor John Barcham, dean of Bocking. See THE SURFEIT TO A. B. C. Lond. 12mo. 1656. p. 22. Written by Dr. Ph. King, author of poems in 16 [...]7, ſon of King biſhop of London. Compare HYPERCRIT. p. 220. Another work in the walk of philological antiquity, was his ‘"VINDICIAE BRITANNICAE, or London righted, &c."’ Never printed, but prepared for the preſs by the author. Among other ingenious paradoxes, the principal aim of this treatiſe is to prove, that London was a great and [...]louriſhing city in the time of Nero; and that conſequent [...] Julius Ceſar's general deſcription of a [...] the Britiſh towns, in his COMMENTARIES, is falſe and unjuſt. Hugh Howard, eſquire, (ſee GEN. DICT. iii. 446.) had a fair manuſcript of this book, very accurately written in a thin [...]olio of forty [...]ive pages. It is not known when or where he died. One Edmund Bolton, moſt probably the ſame, occurs as a CONVICTOR, that is, an independent member, of Trinity college Ox [...]ord, under the year 1586. In Archiv. ibid. Wood (MS. Notes, ut ſupr.) ſuppoſed the HYP [...]RCRITICA to have been written about 1610. But our author himſelf, (HYPERCRIT. p. 237.) mentions king James's Works publiſhed by biſhop Montague. That edition is dated 1616.

A few particularities relating to this writer's NERO CAESAR, and ſome other of his pieces, may be ſeen in Hearne's MSS. COLL. Vol 50. p. 125. Vol. 132. p. 94. Vol. 52. pp. 171. 192. 186. See alſo Original Letters from Anſtis t [...] Hearne. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. RAWLINS. I add, that Edmund Bolton has a Latin copy of recommendatory verſes, in company with George Chapman, Hugh Holland, Donne, Selden [...] Beaumont, Fletcher, and others, prefixed to the old folio edition of Benjamin Jonſon' [...] Works in 1616.

e
‘"Lord Berners's Golden boke of MARCUS AURELIUS emperour and eloquent oratour."’ See ſupr. p. 42. The firſt edition I have ſeen was by Berthelette, 1536. quarto. It was often repri [...]ted. But ſee Mr. Steevens's [...]AK [...]SPEARE, vol. i. p. 91. edit. 1778. MAR [...]US AURELIUS is among the COPPIE [...] of James Roberts, a conſiderable printer from 1573, down to below 1600. MSS. Coxeter. S [...]e Ames, HIST. PRINT. p. 341.
f
ACT iii. [...]ol. 39. 4to. S [...]e DISS [...]RTAT. ſupr. p. iv. I take this opportunity of remarking, that Ames recites [...] printed for Richard [...]ones, ‘"The MIROUR OF MAJESTRATES by G. Whe [...]ſtone, 1584,"’ quarto. HIST. PRINT. p. 347. I have never ſeen it, but believe it has nothing t [...] do with this work.
g
Poetical extracts.
h
In duodecimo. cont. 510 pages.
i
A copy which I have ſeen has R. Allot, inſtead of R. A. There is a cotemporary bookſeller of that name. But in a little book of EPIGRAMS by John Weever, printed in 1599, (12mo.) I fi [...]d the following compliment.
"Ad Robertum Allot et Chriſtopherum Middleton.
Quicke are your wits, ſharpe your con [...]eit [...],
Short, and more ſweet, your lays:
Quick but no wit, ſharp no conceit,
Short and l [...]ſſe ſweet my Praiſe."
k
‘"Or ſentences gathered out of all kinds of poets, referred to certaine methodical heads, profitable for the uſe of theſe times to rhyme upon any occaſion at a little warning."’ Octavo. But the compiler does not cite the names of the poets with the extracts. This work is ridiculed in an anonymous old play, ‘"The RETURN FROM PA [...]NASSUS, Or the Scourge of Simony, publickly acted by the ſtudents in Saint John's College Cambridge, 1606."’ quarto. JUDICIO ſays, ‘"Conſidering the furies of the times, I could better ſee theſe young can-qua [...]ing huckſters ſhoot o [...]f their pelletts, ſo they could keep them from theſe EN [...] LISH FLOR [...]S POETARUM; but now the world is come to that paſs, that there ſtarts up every day an old gooſe that ſits hatching up theſe eggs which have been filched from the neſt of crowes and keſtrells, &c."’ ACT i. Sc. ii. Then follows a criticiſm on Spenſer, Conſtable [...] Lodge, Daniel, Watſon, Drayton, Davis, Marſton, Marlowe, Churchyard, Naſhe, Locke, and Hudſon. Churchyard is commended for his Legend of SHORE'S WIF [...] in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES.
Hath not Shores Wife, although a lightſkirts ſhe,
Given him a long and laſting memory?
By the way, in the Regiſter of the Stationers, jun. 19. 1594, The lamentable end of SHORE'S WIFE is mentioned as a part of Shakeſpeare's Richard the third. And in a pamphlet called PYMLICO OR RUN AWAY REDCAP, printed in 1596, the well-frequented play of SHORE is mentioned with PERICLES PRINCE of TYRE. From Beaumont and Fletcher's KKIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE, written 1613, JANE SHORE appears to have been a celebrated tragedy. And in the Stationer's Regiſter (Oxenbridge and Buſby, Aug. 28. 1599.) occurs ‘"The Hiſtory of the Life and Death of Maſter Shore and JANE SHORE his wife, as it was lately acted by the earl Derbie his ſervants."’
k
Allot' [...] i [...] much the moſt complete perf [...]rmance of the two. The method is by f [...]r more judicious, the extracts more copious, and made with a degree of taſte. With the extracts he reſpectively cite [...] the names of the poets, which are as follows. Thomas ACHELLY. Thomas BASTARD. George CHAPMAN. Thomas CHURCHYARD. Henry CONSTABLE. Samuel DANIEL. John DAVIES. Michael DRAYTON. Thomas DEKKAR. Edmund FAIRFAX. Charles FITZ [...]JEFFREY. Abraham FRAUNCE. George GASCOIGNE. Edward GILPIN. Sir [...]ohn HARRINGTON. John HIGGINS. Thomas HUDSON. JAME [...] King of Scots. [i. e. James the Firſt.] Benjamin JONSON. Thomas KYD. Thomas LODGE. [M. M. i. e. MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES.] Chriſtopher MARLOWE. Jarvis MARKHAM. John MARSTON. Chriſtopher MIDDLETON. Thomas NASHE. [Vaulx] Earl of Oxford. George PEELE. Matthew RAYDON. Maſter SACKVILE. William SHAKESPEARE. Sir Philip SI [...] NEY. Edmund SPENSER. Thomas STORER. [H. Howard] Earl of SURR [...]Y. John SYLVESTER. George TURBERVILLE. William WARNER. Thomas WATSON. John, and William, WEEVER. Sir Thomas WYAT. I ſuſpect that Wood, by miſtake, has attributed this collection by Allot, to Charles Fitz-jeffr [...]y abovementioned, a poet before and after 1600, and author of the AFFANIAE. But I will quote Wood's words. ‘"Fitz-jeffrey hath alſo made, as ti [...] ſaid, A Collection of choice Flowers and D [...]ſ [...]riptions, a [...] well out of his, as the works of ſeveral others the moſt renowned poets of our nation, collected about the beginning of the reign of King James I. But this tho I have been years ſeeking after, yet I cannot get a ſight of it."’ ATH. OXON. p. 606. But the moſt comprehenſive and exact COMMON-PLACE of the works of our moſt eminent poets thr [...]ughout the reign of queen Eliſabeth, and afterwards, was publiſhed about forty years ago, by Mr. Thomas Hayward of Hungerford in Berkſhire, viz. ‘"The BRITISH MUSE, A Collection of THOUGHTS, MORAL, NATURAL, and SUBLIME, of our ENGLISH POETS, who flouriſhed in the ſixteenth and ſeventeenth Centuries. With ſeveral curious Topicks, and beautiful Paſſages, never before extracted, from Shakeſpeare, Jonſon, Beaumont, Fletcher, and above a Hundred more. The whole digeſted alphabetically, &c. In three volume [...]. London, Printed for F. Cogan, &c. 1738."’ 12mo. The PREFACE, of twenty pages, was written by Mr. William Oldys, with the ſuperviſal and corrections of his friend doctor Cam [...] bell. This aneodote I learn from a manuſcript i [...]ſertion by Oldy [...] in my copy of Allot' [...] ENGLANDS PARNASSUS, abovementioned, which once belonged to Oldys.
l
From manuſcripts of Mr. Co [...]eter, of Trinity college Oxford, lately in the hands of Mr. Wiſe Radclivian Librarian at Oxford, containing extracts from the copyrights of our old printers, and regiſters of the Stationers, with ſeveral other curious notices of that kind. Ames had many of Coxeter's papers. He died in Lon [...]on about 1745.
a
Edit. 1585. 4to. CARM. 7.
b
MSS. COTTON. Tit. A. xxiv. ‘"To ſome court Ladies."’—Pr. ‘"Howarde is not hawghte, &c."’
c
George Etheridge, born at Thame in Oxfordſhire, was admitted Scholar of Corpus Chriſti college Oxford, under the tuition of the learned John Shepreve, in 1534. Fellow; in 1539. In 1553, he was made royal profeſſor of Greek at Oxford. In 1556, he was recommended by lord Williams of Thame, to Sir Thomas Pope founder of Trinity college in Oxford, to be admitted a fellow of his college at its firſt foundation. But Etheridge chuſing to purſue the medical line, that ſcheme did not take effect. He was perſecuted for popery by queen Eliſabeth at her acceſſion: but afterwards practiſed phyſic at Oxford with much reputation, and eſtabliſhed a private ſeminary there for the inſtruction of catholic youths in the claſſi [...]s, muſic, and logic. Notwithſtanding his active perſeverance in the papiſtic perſuaſion, he preſented to the queen when ſhe viſited Oxford in 1566 [...] an E [...]comium in Gre [...]k verſe on her father Henry, now in the Britiſh Muſeum, MSS. B [...]L. REG. 16 [...] C. x. He prefixed a not inelegant pre [...]ace in Latin verſe to his tutor Sheprev [...]' [...] HY [...] POLYTUS, an Anſwer to Ovid's PHAEDRA, which he publiſhed in 1584. Pits his cotemporary ſays, ‘"He was an able mathematician, and one of the moſt excellent vocal and inſtrumental muſicians in England, but he chiefly delighted in the lute and lyre. A moſt elegant poet, and a moſt exact compoſer of Engliſh, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, verſes, which he uſed to ſet to his harp with the greateſt ſkill."’ ANGL. SCRIPT. p. 784. Pariſ. 1619. Pits add [...], that he tranſlated ſeveral of David's Pſalms into a ſhort Hebrew metre for muſic. Wood mentions his muſical compoſitions in manuſcript. His familiar friend Leland addreſſes him in an encomiaſtic epigram, and aſſerts that his many excellent writings were highly pleaſing to king Henry the eighth. ENCOM. Lond. 1589. p. 111. His chief patrons ſeem to have been Lord Williams, Sir Thomas Pope, Sir Walter Mildmay, and Robertſon dean of Durham. He died in 1588, at Oxford. I have given [...]theridge ſo long a note, becauſe he appears from Pits to have been an Engliſh poet. Compare Fox, MARTY [...]OLOG. iii. 500.
d
See ſupr. vol. ii. 382.
e
Quarto. Bl. lett.
f
Quarto. Bl. lett. The third edition is among Mr. Garrick's Plays. 4to. Bl. L. dated 1582.
g
ARTE OF ENGLISH POETRY. fol. 51.
h
See ſupr. vol. ii. 393.
i
CARM. 6. edit. 1585. It ſeems to have been a favorite, and is complimented in another piece, A reply to M. Edwardes May, ſubſcribed M. S. ibid. CARM. 29. This miſcellany, of which more will be ſaid hereafter, is ſaid in the title to ‘"be deviſed and written for the moſt parte by M. Edwardes ſometime of her maieſti [...]s Chappell."’ Edwards however had been dead twelve years when the firſt edition appeared, viz. in 1578.
k
It is mentioned by G. Gaſcoigne in his Epiſtl [...] to the young Gentlemen, before his works, 1587. qu.
l
Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 151. See alſo, ibid. FA [...]T. 71.
m
Shakeſpeare has inſerted a part of Edwards's ſong In Commendation of Muſick [...], extant at length in the PARADISE OF DAINTIE DEUISES, (fol. 34. b.) in ROMEO AND JULIET. ‘"When griping grief, &c."’ ACT iv. SC. 5. In ſome Miſcellany of the reign of Eliſabeth, I have ſeen a ſong called The WILLOW-GARLAND, attributed to Edwards: and the ſame, I think, that is licenced to T. Colwell in 1564, beginning, ‘"I am not the fyrſt that hath taken in hande, The wearynge of the willow [...] garlande."’ This ſong, often reprinted [...] ſeems to have been written in conſequence of that ſung by Deſdemona in OTHELLO, with the burden, Sing, O the greene willowe ſhall be my garland. OTHELL. ACT iv. SC. 3. See REGISTER OF THE STATIONERS, A. fol. 119. b. Hence the antiquity of Deſdemona's ſong may in ſome degree be aſc [...]rtained. I take this opportunity of obſerving, that the ballad of SUSANNAH, part of which is ſung by ſir Toby in TWELFTH NIGHT, was licenced to T. Colwell, in 1562, with the title, ‘"The godlye and conſtante wyfe Suſanna."’ Ibid. fol. 89. b. There is a play on this ſubject, ibid. fol. 176. a. See TW. N. ACT ii. SC. 3. And COLLECT. PEPYSIAN. tom. i. p. 33. 496.
n
Eyes.
o
Fol. 142. b.
p
Miles Winſore of the ſame college was another actor in that play, and I ſuppoſe his performance was much liked by the queen. For when her maj [...]ſty left Oxford, after this viſit, he was appointed by the univerſity to ſpeak an or [...]tion before her at lord Windſor's at Bradenham in Bucks: and when he had done ſpeaking, the queen turning to Gama de Sylva, the Spaniſh ambaſſador, and looking wiſtly on Winſore, ſaid to the ambaſſador, I [...] not this a pretty young man? Wood, A [...]. OXON. i. 151. 489. Winſore proved afterwards a diligent [...]ntiquary.
q
Corpus Chriſti college at Oxford.
r
Bough. Branch.
s
At Oxford.
t

While the royal chapel and its ſinging-boys remain.

In a puritanical pamphlet without name, printed in 1569, and entitled, ‘"The Children of the Chapel ſtript and whipt,"’ among biſhop Tanner's books at Oxford, it is ſaid, ‘"Plaies will neuer be ſuppreſt, while her maieſties unfledged minions flaunt it in ſilkes and ſattens. They had as well be at their popiſh ſervice, in the deuils garments, &c."’ fol. xii. a. 12mo. This is perhaps the earlieſt notice now to be found in print, of this young company of comedians, at leaſt the earlieſt proof of their celebrity, From the ſame pamphlet we learn, that it gave ſtill greater offence to the puritans, that they were ſuffered to act plays on profane ſubjects in the royal chapel itſ [...]lf. ‘"Even in her maieſties chappel do theſe pretty vpſtart youthes profane the Lordes Day by the laſcivious writhing of their tender limbs, and gorgeous decking of their apparell, in feigning bawdie fables gathered from the idolatrous heathen poe [...]s, &c."’ ibid. fol. xiii. b. But this practice ſoon ceaſed in the royal chapels. Yet in one of Stephen Goſ [...]on's books againſt the ſtage, written in 1579, i [...] this paſſage. ‘"In playes, either thoſe thinges are fained that neuer were, as CUPID AND PSYCHE plaid at PAULES, and a great many comedies more at the Black-friars, and in euerie playhouſe in London, &c."’ SIGNAT. D 4 [...] Undoubtedly the actors of this play of CUPID AND PSYCHE were the choriſters of ſaint Paul's cathedral: but it may be doubted, whether by Paule [...] we are here to underſtand the Cathedral or its Singing ſchool, the laſt of which was the uſual theatre of thoſe choriſters. See Goſſon's ‘"PLAYES CONFUTED IN FIVE ACTIONS, &c. Prouing that they are not to be ſuffred in a chriſtian common weale, by the waye both the cauils of Thomas Lodge, and the Play of Playes, written in their defence, and other obj [...]ctions of Players frendes, are truely ſet downe and directly aunſweard."’ Lond. Impr. for T. Goſſon, no date. Bl. Lett. 12mo. We are ſure that RELIGIOU [...] plays were preſented in our churches long after the re [...]ormation [...] Not to repeat or multiply inſtances, ſee SECOND AND THIRD BLAST OF RETRAIT FROM PLAIES, printed 1580, pag. 77. 12mo. And Goſſon's SCHOOLE OF A [...]USE, p. 24. b. edit. 1579. As to the exhibition of plays on SUNDAYS after the reformation, we are told by John Field, in his DECLARATION OF GOD'S JUDGEMENT at Paris Garden, that in the year 1580, ‘"The Magiſtrates of the citty of London obteined from queene Elizabeth, that all heatheniſh playes and enterludes ſhould be baniſhed upon ſabbath dayes."’ fol. ix. Lond. 1583. 8vo. It appears from this pamphlet, that a prodigious concourſe of people were aſſembled at Paris Garden, to ſee plays and a bear-baiting, on Sunday Jan. 13, 1583, when the whole theatre fell to the ground, by which accident many of the ſpectators were killed. [See alſo Henry Cave's Narration of the Fall of Paris Garden, Lond. 1588. And D. Beard's Theater of Gods Judgements, edit. 3. Lond. 1631. lib. i. c. 35. pag. 212. Alſo Refutation of Heywood's Apologi [...] for Actors, p. 43. by J. G. Lond. 1615. 4to. And Stubbs's Anatomie of Abuſes, p. 134, 135. edit. Lond. 1595.] And we learn from Richard Reulidges's Monſter lately found out and diſcovered, or the Scourging of Tiplers, a circumſtance not generally known in our dramatic hiſtory, and perhaps occaſioned by theſe profanations of the ſabbath, that ‘"Many godly citizens and wel-diſpoſed gentlemen of London, conſidering that play-houſes and dicing-houſe [...] were traps for yong gentlemen and others,—made humble ſuite to queene Elizabeth and her Privy [...]councell, and obtained leave from her Majeſty, to thruſt the Players out of the citty; and to pull downe all Play-houſes and Dicing-houſes within their Liberties [...] which accordingly was effected, and the Play-houſes, in GRACIOUS [Grace-church] STREET, B [...] SHOPS GATE STREET, that nigh PAUL [...]S, that on LUDGATE-HILL, and the WHITE-FRIERS, were quite put downe and ſuppreſſed, by the care of theſe religious ſenators."’ Lond. 1628. pp. 2, 3 [...] 4. Compare G. Whetſtone's MIRROUR FOR MAGISTRATES OF CITTIES. Lond. 1586. fol. 24. But notwithſtanding theſe preciſe meaſures of the city magiſtrates and the privy-council, the queen appears to have been a conſtant attendant at plays, eſpecially thoſe preſented by the children of her chapel.

u
Eſtate. Rank of life.
w
Hamlet calls Horatio, O Damon dear, in alluſion to the friendſhip of Damon and Pythias, celebrated in Edwards's play. HAML. ACT iii. Sc. 2.
x
Pythias. I have ſaid above, that the firſt edition of Edwards's DAMON AND PYTHIAS was printed by William Howe in Fleet-ſtreet, in the year 1570, ‘"The tragicall comedie, &c."’ See ſupr. p. 285. But perhaps it may be neceſſary to retract this aſſertion. For in the Regiſter of the Stationers, under the year 156 [...], a receipt is entered for the licence of Alexander Lacy to print, ‘"A ballat entituled tow [two] lamentable Songes PITHIAS and DAMON."’ REGISTR. A. fol. 136. b. And again [...] there is the receipt for licence of Richard James in 1566, to print ‘"A boke entituled the tragicall [...]omedye of Damonde and Pithyas."’ Ibid. fol. 161. b. In the ſame Regiſter I find, under the year 1569-70, ‘"An ENTERLUDE, a lamentable Tragedy full of pleaſant myrth,"’ licenced to John Alde. Ibid. fol. 184. b. This I take to be the firſt edition of Preſton's CAMBYSES, ſo frequently ridiculed by his cotemporaries.
y
More.
z
Ibid. fol. 78. b. And not to multiply in the text citations in proof of Edwards's popularity from forgotten or obſ [...]ure poet [...], I obſerve at the bottom of the page, that T. B in a recommendatory poem prefixed to John Studley's Engliſh verſion of Seneca's AGAMEMNON, printed in 1566, ranks our author Edwards with Phaer the tranſlator of Virgil, Jaſper Haywood the tranſlator of Seneca's TROAS and HERCULES FURENS, Nevile the tranſlator of Seneca's OEDIPUS, Googe, and Golding the tranſlator of Ovid, more particularly with the latter.
With him alſo, as ſeemeth me,
Our EDWARDS may compare;
Who nothyng gyuing place to him
Doth he ſyt in agall chayre.
a
A famous writer of Latin plays at Oxford. See ſupr. vol. ii. 384.
b

I have never ſeen any of Antony Munday's plays. It appears from Kemp's NINE DAIES WONDER, printed in 1600, that he was famous for writing ballads. In The Requeſt to the impudent generation of Ballad-makers, Kemp calls Munday ‘"one whoſe employment of the pageant was utterly ſpent, he being knowne to be Elderton's immediate heire [...] &c."’ SIGNAT. D 2. See the next note. He ſeems to have been much employed by the bookſellers a [...] a publiſher and compiler both in verſe and proſe. He was bred at Rome in the Engliſh college, and was thence uſually called the Pope's ſcholar. See his pamphlet The Engliſhman's Roman Life, or how Engliſhmen live at Rome. Lond. 1582. 4to. But he afterwards tu ned proteſtant. He publiſhed ‘"The Diſcoverie of Edmund Campion the Jeſuit,"’ in 1582. 12mo. Lond. for E. White. He publiſhed alſo, and dedicated to the earl of Leiceſter, Two godly and learned Sermons made by that famous and worthy [...]inſtrument in God's church M. Jo [...]n Calvin, tranſlated into Engliſh by Horne biſhop of Wincheſter, during his exile. ‘"Publiſhed by A. M."’ For Henry Ca [...], Lond. 1584. 12mo. Munday frequently uſed his initials only. Alſo, a Brief CHRONICLE from the Creation to this time, Lond. 1611. 8vo. This ſeems to be cited by Hutten, ANTIQUIT. OX [...]. p. 281. edit. Hearne. See REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 143. b.

He was a city-poet, and a compoſer and contriver of the city [...]pageants. Theſe are, CHRYSO-TRIUMPHOS, &c. deviſed and written by A. Munday, 1611.—TRIUMPHS OF OLD DRAPERY, &c. by A. M. 1616.—METROPOLIS CORONATA, &c. by A. M. 1615. with the Story of ROBIN-HOOD. Printed by G. Purſtowe.—CHRYSANAL [...]IA, [The golden-fiſhery] or the honor of fiſhmongers, concerning Mr. John Lemans being twice Lord [...]mayor, by A. M. 1616. 4to.—THE TRIUMPHS OF REUNITED BRITANNIA, &c. by A. Munday, citizen and draper of London, 4to. [...]robably Meres, as in the text, calls him the beſt plotter, from his invention in theſe or the like ſhows. William Webbe in the Diſcourſe of ENGLISH POETRIE, printed in 1586, ſays, that he has ſeen by Anthony Munday, ‘"an earneſt traveller in this art, very excellent works, eſpecially upon nymphs and ſhepherds, well worthy to be viewed, and to be eſteemed as rare poetry."’ In an old play attributed to Jonſon, called The Caſe is altered, he is ridiculed under the name of ANTONIO BALLADINO, and as a pageant-poet. In the ſame ſcene, there is an oblique ſtroke on Meres, for calling him the BEST PLOTTER. ‘"You are in pri [...]t already for the BEST PLOTTER."’ With his city-pageants, I ſuppoſe he was DUMB-SHOW maker to the ſtage.

Munday's DISCOVERY OF CAMPION gave great offence to the catholics, and produced an anonymous reply called ‘"A True Reporte of [...]he deth and martyrdom of M. Campion, &c. Whereunto is annexed certayne verſes made by [...]undrie perſons."’ Without date of year or place. Bl. Lett. Never ſeen by Wood, [ATH. OXON. col. 166.] Pub [...]iſhed, I ſuppoſe, in 1583, 8vo. At the end is a CAUEAT, containing ſome curious anecdotes of Munday. ‘"Munday was firſt a ſtage player; after an aprentiſe, which time he well ſerued by with deceeuing of his maſter. Then wandring towards Italy, by his owne reporte, became a coſener in his journey. Coming to Rome, in his ſhorte abode there, was charitably relieued, but neuer admitted in the [...]eminary, as he pleſeth to lye in the ti [...]le of his boke; and being wery of well doing, returned home to his firſt vomite, and was hiſt from his ſtage for folly. Being thereby diſc [...]uraged, he ſet forth a balet againſt playes,—tho he afterwards began again to ruffle upon the ſtage. I omit among other places h [...] behaviour in Barbican with his good miſtres, and mother. Two thinges however muſt not be paſſed over of this boyes infelicitie two ſeuerall way [...]s of late notorious. Firſt, he writing upon the death of Everaud Haunſe was immediately controled and diſproued by one of his owe hatche. And ſhortly after ſetting forth the Aprehenſion of Mr. Campion, &c."’ The laſt piece is, ‘"a breef Diſcourſe of the Taking of Edmund Campion, and divers other papiſts in Barkſhire, &c. Gathered by A. M."’ For W. Wrighte, 1581.

He publiſhed in 1618, a new edition of Stowe's SURVEY OF LONDON, with the addition of materials which he pretends to have received from the author's own hands. See DEDICATION. He was a citizen of London, and is buried in Coleman-ſtreet church; where his epitaph gives him the character of a learned antiquary. SEYMOUR'S SURV. LOND. i. 322. He collected the Arms of the county of Middleſex, lately transferred from ſir Simeon Stuart's library to the Britiſh Muſeum.

c
Fol. 282. I do not recollect to have ſeen any of Chettle's comedies. He wrote a little romance, with ſome verſes intermixed, entitled, ‘"PIERS PLAINNES ſeauen yeres Prentiſhip, by H. C. Nuda Veritas. Printed at London by J. Danter for Thomas Goſſon, and are to be ſold at his ſhop by London-bride gate, 1595."’ 4to. Bl. Lett. He wrote another pamphlet, containing anecdotes of the petty literary ſquabbles, in which he was concerned with Greene, Naſhe, Tarleton, and the players, called ‘"KINDE-HARTS DREAME. Containing five Apparitions with their Inuectiues againſt abuſes raigning. Deliuered by ſeuerall Ghoſts vnto him to be publiſht af [...]er Piers Penileſſe Poſt had refuſed the carriage. Inuita Inuidia. By H. C. Imprinted at London for William Wright."’ 4to. without date. Bl. Lett. In the Epiſtle prefixed, To the Gentlemen Readers, and ſigned Henrie Chettle, he ſays, ‘"About three moneths ſince died M. Robert Gre [...]ne, [in 1592] leaving many papers in ſundry Booke ſellers handes, among others his GROATS WORTH OF WIT, in which a letter written to diuers PLAY-MAKERS is offenſibly by one or two of them taken, &c."’ In the ſame, he mentions an Epiſtle prefixed to the ſecond part of GERILEON, falſely attributed to Naſhe. The work conſiſts of four or five Addreſſes. The firſt is an ironical Admonition to the Ballad-ſingers of London, from Antonie Now Now, or Antony Munday, juſt mentioned in the text, a great Ballad-writer. From this piece it appears, that the antient and reſpectable profeſſion of ballad-making, as well as of balladſinging, was in high repute about the metropolis and in the country fairs. SIGNAT. C. ‘"When I was liked, ſays Anthonie, there was no thought of that idle vpſtart generation of ballad-ſingers, neither was there a printer ſo lewd that would ſet his finger to a laſciuious line."’ But now, he adds, ‘"ballads are abuſively chanted in every ſtreet; and from London this evil has overſpread Eſſex and the adjoining counties. There is many a tradeſman, of a worſhip [...]ull trade, yet no ſtationer, who after a little bringing vppe apprentices to ſinging brokerie, takes into his ſhoppe ſome freſh men, and truſtes his olde ſervauntes of a two months ſtanding with a doſſen groates worth of ballads. In which if they prove thriftie, he makes them prety chapmen, able to ſpred more pamphlets by the ſtate forbidden, than all the bookſellers in London, &c."’ The names of many ballads are here alſo recorded, WATKINS ALE, The CARMANS WHISTL [...], CHOPPING-KNIVES, and FRIER FOX-TAILE. Out-roaringe Dick, and Wat Wimbars, two celebrated trebles, are ſaid to have got twenty ſhillings a day by ſinging at Braintree fair in Eſſex. Another of theſe Addreſſes is from Robert Greene to Peirce Pennileſſe. SIGNAT. E. Another from Tarleton the Player to all [...]aligners of honeſt mirth. E 2. ‘"Is it not lamentable, ſays he, that a man ſhould ſpende his two pence on plays in an afternoone!—If players were ſuppreſſed, it would be to the no ſmal profit of the Bowlinge Alleys in Bedlam and other places, that were [are] wont in the afternoones to be left empty by the recourſe of good fellowes into that vnprofitable recreation of ſtageplaying. And it were not much amiſſe woulde they ioine with the Dicinghouſes to make ſute againe for their longer reſtrainte, though the Sickneſſe ceaſe.—While Playes are uſde, halfe the daye is by moſt youthes that haue libertie ſpent vppon them, or at leaſt the greateſt company drawne to the places where they frequent, &c."’ This is all in pure irony. The laſt addreſs is from William Cuckowe, a famous maſter of legerdemain, on the tricks of juglers. I could not ſuffer this opportunity, accidentally offered, to paſs, of giving a note to a forgotten old writer of comedy, whoſe name may not perhaps occur again. But I muſt add, that the initials H. C. to pieces of this period do not always mean Henry Chettle. In ENGLAND'S HELICON are many pieces ſigned H. C. Probably for Henry Conſtable, a noted ſonnet-writer of theſe times. I have ‘"DIANA, or the excellent conceitfull Sonnets of H. C. Augmented with diuers quatorzains of honorable and learned pe [...]ſonages, Diuided into vii [...] Decads. Vincitur a facibus qui jacit ipſe faces."’ At Lond. 1596. 16mo. Theſe are perhaps by Henry Conſtable. The laſt Sonnet is on a Lady born 1588. In my copy, thoſe by H. C. are marked H. C. with a pen. Henry Conſtable will be examined in his proper place. Chettle is mentioned, as a player I think, in the laſt page of Dekker's KNIGHTS CONJURING, printed in 1607.
d
Lib. i. ch. xxxi. fol. 51. a.
e

Who had certainly q [...]itted that office before the year 1575. For in George Gaſcoigne's Narrative of queen Eliſabeth's ſplendid viſit at Kenilworth-caſtle in Warwickſhire, entitled the PRINCELIE PLEASURES OF KENILWORTH-CASTLE, the octav [...] ſtanzas ſpoken by the Lady of the Lake, are ſaid to have been ‘"deviſed and penned by M. [Maſter] Ferrers, ſometime Lord of Miſrule in the Court."’ Signat. A. iij. See alſo Signat. B. ij. This was GEORGE FERRERS mentioned in the text, a contributor to the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES. I take this opportunity of inſinuating my ſuſpicions, that I have too cloſely followed the teſtimony of Philips, Wood, and Tanner, in ſuppoſing that this GEORGE Ferrers, and EDWARD Ferrer [...] a writer of plays, were two diſtinct perſons. See ſupr. p. 213. I am now convinced that they have been confounded, and that they are one and the ſame man. We have already ſeen, and from good authority, that GEORGE Ferrers was Lord of Miſrule to the cou [...]t, that is, among other things of a like kind, a writer of court interludes or plays; and that king Edward the ſixth had great delight in his paſtimes. See ſupr. vol. ii. 381. The confuſion appears to have originated from Puttenham, the author of the ARTE OF ENGLISH PO [...]SIE, who has inadvertently given to GEORGE the chriſtian name of EDWARD. But his account, or character, of this EDWARD Ferrers has ſerved [...]o lead us to the truth. ‘"But the principall man in this profeſſion [poetry] at the ſame time [of Edward the ſix [...]h] was maiſter EDWARD Ferrys, a man of no leſſe mirth and felici [...]ie that way, but of much more ſkil and magnificence in his meeter, and therefore wrate for the moſt part to the ſtage in Tragedie and ſometimes in Comedie, or Enterlude, wherein he gave the king ſo much good recreation, as he had thereby many good rewardes."’ Lib. i. ch. xxxi. pag. 49. edit. 1589. And again, ‘"For Tragedie the Lord Buckhurſt, and maiſter Edward Ferrys, for ſuch doinges as I have ſene of theirs, deſerve the higheſt price."’ Ibid. p. 51. His Tragedies, with the magnificent meeter, are perhaps nothing more than the ſtately monologues in the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES; and he might have written others either for the ſtage in general, or the more private entertaiment of the court, now loſt, and probably never printed. His Comedie and Enterlude are perhaps to be underſtood, to have [...]een, not ſo much regular and profeſſed dramas for a theatre, as little dramatic mumm [...]ries for the courtholidays, or other occaſional feſtivities. The court-ſhows, like this at Kenilworth, were accompanied with perſonated dialogues in verſe, and the whole pageantry was often ſtyled an interlude. This reaſoning alſo accounts for Puttenham's ſ [...]eming omiſſion, in not having enumerated the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, by name, among the ſhining poems of his age. I have before obſerved, what is much to our purpoſe, that no plays of an EDWARD Ferrers, (or Ferrys, which i [...] the ſame,) in print or manuſcript, are now known to exiſt, nor are mentioned by any writer of the times with which we are now concerned. GEORGE Ferrers at leaſt, from what actually remains of him, has ſome title to the dramatic character. Our GEORGE Ferrers, from the part he bore in the exhibitions at Kenilworth, appears to have been employed as a writer of metrical ſpeeches or dialogues to b [...] ſpoken in character, long after he had left the office of lord of miſrule. A proof of hi [...] reputed [...]xcellence in compoſition [...] of this nature, and of the celebrity with which he filled that department.

I alſo take this opportunity, the earlieſt which has occurred, of retracting ano [...]her ſlight miſtake. See ſupr. p. 272. There was a ſecond edition of Niccols's MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES, printed for W. Aſpley, Lond. 1621. 4to.

f
See SIX OLD PLAYS, Lond. 1779. 12mo.
g
Heuterus, RER. BURGUND. Lib. iv. p. 150. edit. Plantin. 1584. fol. Heuterus ſays, this ſtory was told to Vives by an old officer of the duke's court.
h
Burton's ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. Part ii. §. 2. pag. 232. fol. Oxon. 1624. There is an older edition in quarto.
i
Viz. Tit. A. xxiv. MSS. COTT. (See ſupr. p. 284.) I will here cite a few lines.
HAWARDE is not haugte, but of ſuch ſmylynge cheare,
That wolde alure eche gentill harte, hir love to holde fulle deare:
DACARS is not dangerus, hir talke is nothinge coye,
Hir noble ſtature may compare with Hector's wyfe of Troye, &c.
At the end, ‘"Finis R. E."’ I have a faint recollection, that ſome of Edwards's ſongs are in a poetical miſcellany, printed by T. Colwell in 1567, or 1568. ‘"Newe Sonettes and pretty pamphlettes, &c."’ Entered to Colwell in 1567-8. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 163. b. I cannot quit Edwards's ſongs, without citing the firſt ſtanza of his beautiful one in the Paradiſe of Daintie Deuiſes, on Terence's apothegm of Amantium irae amoris integratio eſt. NUM. 50. SIGNAT. G. ii. edit. 1585.
In going to my naked bed, as one that would have ſlept,
I heard a wife ſing to her child, that long before had wept:
She ſighed ſore, and ſang full ſweete, to bring the babe to reſt,
That would not ceaſe, but cried ſtill, in ſucking at her breſt.
She was full wearie of her watch, and greeved with her childe;
She rocked it, and rated it, till that on her it ſmilde.
Then did ſhe ſay, now haue I found this Prouerbe true to proue,
The falling out of faithfull frendes renuyng is of loue.
The cloſe of the ſecond ſtanza is prettily conducted.
Then kiſſed ſhe her little babe, and ſware by God aboue,
The falling out of faithfull frendes, renuyng is of loue.
a
This chapel had a dean, ſix prebendaries, ſix clerks, and four choriſ [...]ers. It was diſſolved in 1549.
b
Udall's Engliſh interludes, mentioned above, were perhaps written for his ſcholars. Thirty-five lines of one of them are quoted in Wilſon's ARTE OF LOGIKE, edit. 1567. fol. 67. a. ‘"Suete maiſtreſſe whereas, &c."’
c
MSS. Catal. Praepos. Soc. Schol. Coll. Regal. Cant.
d
Our author's HUSBANDRIE is dedicated to his ſon Lord Thomas Paget of Beaudeſert, fol. 7. ch. ii. edit. ut in [...]r.
e
In Peacham's MINERVA, a book of emblems printed in 1612, there is the device of a whetſtone and a ſcythe with theſe lines, fol. 61. edit. 4to.
They tell me, TUSSER, when thou wert alive,
And hadſt for pro [...]it turned euery ſtone,
Where ere thou ca [...]eſt thou couldſt neuer thriue,
Though heereto beſt couldſt counſel every one,
As it may in thy HUSBANDRIE appeare
Wherein afreſh thou liuſt among vs here.
So like thy ſelfe a number more are wont,
To ſharpen others with advice of wit,
When thy themſelues are like the whetſtone blunt, &c.
f
See LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, 2d edit. p. 218.
g
See his Epitaph in Stowe's SURV. LOND. p. 474. edit. 1618. 4to. A [...]d F [...]ller's WORTHIES, p. 334.
h
The livery, or veſtis liberata, often called robe, allowed annually by the col [...]ege.
i
To the paſſages lately collected by the commentators on Shakeſpeare, to prove that Breaſt ſignifies voice, the following may be added from Aſcham's TOXOPHILUS. He is ſpeaking of the expediency of educating youth in ſinging. ‘"Trulye two degrees of men, which haue the higheſt offices under the king in all this realme, ſhall greatly lacke the vſe of ſinginge, preachers and lawyers, becauſe they ſhall not, withoute this, be able to rule theyr BRESTES for euerye purpoſe, &c."’ fol. 8. b. Lond. 1571. 4to. Bl. Lett.
k
Fol. 155. edit. 1586. See alſo THE AUTHORS EPISTL [...] to the lat [...] lord William Paget, wher [...]in h [...] doth diſcourſe of his owne bringing up [...] &c. fol. 5. And the EPISTL [...] to Lady Paget, fol. 7. And his rules for training a boy in muſic, fol. 141.
l
Dat. April. Strype's MEM. ECCL. ii. p. 538.
m
Ibi [...]. p. 539. Under the ſame year, a yearly allow [...]nce of 80l, i [...] ſpeci [...]ed, ‘"to find ſix ſinging children for the king's privy chamber."’ Ibid. I preſume this appointment was tranſmitted from preceding reigns.
n
Rym [...] FOED. xi. 375.
o
Even ſo late as the preſent reign of qu [...]n Mary, we find tumblers introduced for the diverſion of the court. In 1556, at a grand military review of the queen's penſioners in Greenwich park, ‘"came a Tumbler and played many pretty ſeats, the queen and cardinal [Pole] looking on; whereat ſhe was obſerved to laugh heartily, &c."’ Strype's ECCL. MEM. iii. p. 312. ch. xxxix. Mr. Aſtle has a roll of ſome private expences of king Edward the ſecond: among which it appears, that fifty ſhillings were paid to a perſon who danced before the king on a [...]able, ‘"et lui [...]t [...]re [...]-grandement ri [...]e."’ And that twenty ſhillings were allowed to another, who rode before his majeſty, and o [...]ten fell from his horſe, at which his majeſty laughed heartily, de queux roi rya grantement. The laughter of kings was thought worthy to be recorded.
p
Regiſtr. Archiv. Eccleſ. Ebor. MSS. In the Saliſbury-miſſal, in the office of EPISCOPUS PUERORUM, among the ſuffrages we read, ‘"Corpore enim formoſus es O [...]ili, et diffuſa eſt gratia in labiis tuis, &c."’ In further proof of the ſolemnity with which this farce was conducted, I will cite another extract from the chapter-regiſters at York. ‘"xj febr. 1370. In Scriptoria capituli Ebor. dominus Johannes Giſſon, magiſter choriſtarum eccleſiae Eboracenſis, liberavit Roberto de Holme choriſtae, qui tunc ultimo fuerat epiſcopus puerorum, iij libras, xvs. id. ob. de perquiſitis ipſius epiſcopi per ipſum Johannem receptis, et dictus Robertus ad ſancta dei evangelia per ipſum corporaliter tacta juravit, quod nunquam moleſtaret dictum dominum Johannem de ſumma pecuniae praedicta."’ REGISTR. E [...]OR.
q
Quarto. Bl. Lett. In 1557, John Daye has licence to print ‘"the hundreth poyntes of good Huſſerie."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 23. a. In 1559-60 [...] ju [...]. 20, T. Marſhe has licence to print ‘"the boke of Huſbandry."’ Ibid. fol. 48. b. This laſt title occurs in theſe regiſters much lower.
r

The oldeſt edition with this title which I have ſeen is in quarto, dated 1586, and printed at London, ‘"in the now dwelling houſe of Henrie Denham in Alderſgate ſtreete at the ſigne of the ſtarre."’ In black letter, containing 164 pages. The next edition is for H. Yardley, London 1593. Bl. Lett. 4to. Again at London, p [...]inted by Peter Short, 1597. Bl. Lett. 4to. The laſt I have ſeen is dated 1610. 4to.

In the Regiſter of the Stationers, a receipt of T. Hackett is entered for licence for printing ‘"A dialoge of wyvynge and thryvynge of Tusſhers with ij leſſons for olde and yonge,"’ in 1562 or 1563. REGISTR. STAT. COMP. LOND. notat. A. fol. 74. b. I find licenced to Alde in 1565, ‘"An hundreth poyntes of evell huſwyfraye,"’ I ſuppoſe a ſatire on Tuſſer. Ibid. fol. 131. b. In 1561, Richard Tottell was to print ‘"A booke inti [...]uled one hundreth good poyntes of huſboundry lately maryed unto a hundreth good poyntes of Huſwiffry newly corrected and amplyfyed."’ Ibid. fol. 74. a.

s
GEOK [...]IC. i. 176.
t
CHAP. 42. fol. 93. In this ſtanza, is a copy of verſes by one William Kethe, a divine of Geneva, pre [...]ixed to Dr. Chriſtopher's Goodman's abſurd and factious pamphlet againſt queen Mary, How ſuperior Powers, &c. Printed at Geneva by John Criſpin, 1558. 16mo.
Whom f [...]ry long foſterd by ſufferance and awe,
Have right rule ſubverted, and made will their lawe,
Whoſe pride how to temper, this truth will thee t [...]ll,
So as thou reſiſt mayſt, and yet not rebel, &c.
u
Chap. 50. fol. 107.
w
Chap. 12. fol. 25, 26.
x
Chap. 15. fol. 31, 32, 33.
y
Fol. 52.
z
Chap. 30. fol. 37. Theſe are four of the line [...].
Euen Chriſt, I meane, that virgins child, In Bethlem born:
That lambe of God, that prophet mild, Crowned with thorne!
Mar. 4. 1559, there is a receipt from Ralph Newbery for his licence for printing a balled called ‘"Kynge Saloman."’ REGISTR. STATION. COMP. LOND. notat. A. fol. 48. a. Again, in 1561, a licence to print ‘"iij balletts, the one entituled Newes out [...] of Kent; the other, a new [...] ballat af [...]er th [...] tune of kynge SOLOMON; and the other, Newes out of Heaven and Hell."’ Ibid. fol. 75. a. See Lycence of John Tyſdale for printing ‘"Certayne goodly Carowles to be ſonge to the glory of God,"’ in 1562. Ibid. fol. 86. a. Again, ibid. ‘"Creſtenmas Carowles auctori [...]ſhed by my lord of London."’ A ballad of Solomon and the queen of Sheba is entered in 1567. Ibid. fol. 166. a. In 1569, is entered an ‘"Enterlude for bo [...]es to handle and to paſſe tyme at Chriſtimas."’ Ibid. fol. 183. b. Again, in the ſame year, fol. 185. b. More inſtances follow.
a
Chap. 52. fol. 111.
b
Fol. 133.
c
Fol. 135.
d
Fol. 137.
e
I have before mentioned Shrove [...]Tueſday as a day dedicated to feſtivities. See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 387. In ſome parts of G [...]rmany it was uſual to celebrate Shrovetide with bon [...]ires. Lavaterus o [...] GHOSTES, &c. tranſ [...]ated into Engliſh by R. H. Lond. 1572 4to. fol. 51. Bl. Le [...]t. Polydore Virgil ſays, that ſo early as the year 1170, it was the cuſtom of the Engliſh nation to celebrate their Chriſtmas with plays, maſque [...], and the moſ [...] magnificent ſpectacles; together with games at dice, and dancing [...] This practice he adds, was not conformable to the uſage of moſt other nations, who permitted theſe diverſions, not at Chriſtmas, but a few days before Lent, about the time of Shrovetide. HIST. A [...]GL. Lib. xiii. f. 211. Baſil. 1534. By the way, Polydore Virgil obſerves, that the Chriſtma [...] prince or Lo [...]d of Miſ [...]ule, is almoſt peculiar to the Engliſh. De RER. INVENTOR. lib. v. cap. ii. Shrove-Tueſday [...]eems to have been ſometimes conſidered as the laſt day of Chriſtmas, and on that account might be celebrated as a feſtival. In the year 1440, on Shrove-Tueſday, which that year was in March, at Norwich there was a ‘"Diſport in the [...]ſtreets, when one rode through the ſtreets havyng his hors trappyd with tyn-ſoyle, and other nyſe diſgyſyngs, coronned as Kyng of CRESTEMASSE, in tokyn that ſeſon ſhould end with the twelve moneths of the yere: aforn hym went yche [each] Moneth dyſguſyſyd after the ſeſon requiryd, &c."’ Blomf. NORF. ii. p. 111. This very poetical pagea [...]try reminds me of a ſimilar and a beautiful proceſſion at Rome, deſcribed by Lucretius, where the SEASONS, with their accompaniments, walk perſoni [...]ied. Lib. v. 736.
It VER [...]t VENUS, et Veneris praenuntius ante
Pinnatus ZEPHYRUS graditur veſtigia propter [...]
FLORA quibus mater praeſpergens ante viai
Cuncta coloribus egregii [...] et odoribus opplet.—
Inde AUTUMNUS adit, &c.
f
Fol. 138.
g
Fol. 144, 145. See Inſcriptions of this ſort in ‘"The Welſpring of wittie Conceights,"’ tranſlated from the Italian by W. Phiſt. Lond. for R. Jones, 1584. Bl. Lett. 4to. SIGNAT. N 2.
h
See the Preface to Johnſon's edition of Gerharde's HERBAL, printed in 1633. [...]ol.
i
Fol. 134.
k
Poiſon.
l
Fol. 131.
m
Fol. 134.
n
Fol. 95. CH. 44.
o
In this book I firſt find the metre of Prior's ſ [...]ng,
"Deſpairing beſide a clear ſtream."
For inſtance.
What looke ye, I praie you ſhew what?
Termes painted with rhetorike [...]ine?
Good huſbandrie ſeeketh not that,
Nor iſt anie meaning of mine.
What lookeſt thou, ſpeeke at the laſt,
Good leſſons for thee and thy wife?
Then keepe them in memorie faſt
To helpe as a comfort to life.
See PREFACE TO THE BUIER OF THIS [...]OOKE, ch. 5. fol. 14. In the ſame meaſure is the COMPARISON B [...]TWEEN [...] CHAMPION COUNTRIE AND SEVERALL, ch. 52. fol. 108.
a
In folio. MSS. Cod. A. Wood. Num. 2. They were purchaſed by the univerſity after Wood's death.
b
The affecting ſtory of PATIENT GRISILD ſeems to have long kept up its celebrity. In the books of the Stationers, in 1565, Owen Rogers has a licence to print ‘"a ballat intituled the ſonge of pacyent Greſſell vnto hyr make."’ REGISTR. A. fol. 132. b. Two ballads are entered in 1565, ‘"to the tune of pacyente Greſſell."’ Ibid. fol. 135. a. In the ſame year, T. Colwell has licence to print," ‘"The hiſtory of meke and pacyent Greſell."’ Ibid. fol. 139. a. Colwell ha [...] a ſecond edition of this hiſtory in 1568. Ibid. fol. 177. a. Inſtances occur much lower.
c
In the firſt chapter, he thus ſpeaks of the towardlineſs of the princeſs Catharine's younger years.
With ſtoole and needyl ſhe was not to ſeeke,
And other practiſeingis for ladyes meete;
To paſtyme at tables, ticktacke, or gleeke,
Cardys, dyce, &c.
He adds, that ſhe was a pure virgin when married to the king: and that her firſt huſband prince Hen [...]y, on account of his tender years, never ſlept with her.
d
MSS. REG. 18 C. xiii. It appears to have once belonged to the library of John Theyer of Cooperſhill near Glouceſter. There is another copy in Univerſity-college Library, MSS. G. 7. with gilded leaves. This, I believe, once belonged to Robert earl of Ayleſbury. Pr. ‘"In Canaan that country opulent."’
e
MSS. REG. 17 D. iii. In the Preface twenty-ſeven chapters are enumerated [...] but the book contains only twenty-four.
f
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 39. Not long before, Robert Copland, the printer, author of the TESTAMENT OF JULIAN OF BRENTFORD, tranſlated from the French and printed, ‘"The SECRETE of SECRETES of Ariſtotle, with the governayle of princes and [...]u [...]ri [...] manner of eſtate, with rules of health for bodie [...]nd ſoule."’ Lond. 1528. 4to. To what I have before ſaid of Robert Copland as a poet (ſupr. vol. ii. p. 300.) may be added, that he prefixed an Engliſh copy of verſes to the Mirrour of the Church of ſaynt Auſtin [...] of Abyngdon, &c. Printed by himſelf, 1521. 4to. Another to Andrew Chertſey's PASSIO DOMINI, ibid. 1521. 4to. (See ſupr. p. 80.) He and his brother William printed ſ [...]veral romances before 1530.
g
MSS. REG. 17 A. xxi.
h
Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 124. Fox ſays, that he paraphraſed the PATER NOSTER in Engliſh verſe, Pr. ‘"Our Father which in heaven doth ſit."’ Alſo the TE DEUM, as [...] thankſgiving hymn for queen Mary, Pr. ‘"O God thy name we magnifie."’ Fox, MART. p. 1139. edit. vet.
i
MSS. Le Neve. From a long chapter in his KATHARINE, about the building of Chriſt-church and the regimen of it, he appears to have been of that college.
k
Bl. Lett. 12mo.
l
Pag 913. 916.
m
Londini. Apud Rad. Neubery ex aſſignatione Henrici Bynneman typographi. Anno 1582 [...] Cum priv. 12mo. The whole title is this, ‘"ANGLORUM PRAELIA ab A. D. 1327, anno nimirum primo inclytiſſimi principis Edwardi eius nominis tertii, uſque ad A. D. 1558, carmine ſummatim perſtricta. ITEM De pacatiſſimo Angliae ſtatu, imperante Elizabetha, compendioſa Narratio. Author [...] CHRISTOPHORO OCLANDO, primo Scholae Southwa [...]kienſis prope Londinum, dein Cheltennamenſis, quae ſunt a ſereniſſima ſua majeſtate fundatae, moderatore. Haec duo poemata, tam ob argumenti grauitatem, quam carminis facilitatem, nobiliſſimi regiae majeſtatis conſiliarii in omnibus regni ſcholis praelegenda pueris prae ſcrip ſ [...]runt. Hijs Alexandri Neuilli KETTUM, tum propter argumenti ſimilitudinem, tum prop [...]er orationis elegantiam, adiunximus. Londini, &c."’ Prefixed to the ANGLORUM PRAELIA is a Latin elegiac copy by Thomas Newton of Cheſhire: to the ELIZABETHA, which is dedicated by the author to the learned lady Mildred Burleigh, two more; one by Richard Mulcaſter the celebrated maſter of Merchanttaylor's ſchool, the other by Thomas Watſon an elegant writer of ſonnets. Our author was a very old man, as appears by the laſt of theſe copies. Whence, ſay [...] biſhop Hall, SAT. iii. B. iv.
Or cite olde Ocland's verſe, how they did wi [...]ld
The wars, in Turwin or in Turney field.
n
Signat. A. ij. Then follows an order from the eccleſiaſtical commiſſioners to all the biſhops for this purpoſe.
o
See ſupr. vol. ii. 461.
p
CHRON. vol. iii. p. 1168.
q
Par. poſt. p. 109.
q
Bale ix. 83. Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 148.
r
‘"Imprinted at London by William Baldwine ſervaunt with Edwarde Whitchurch."’ Nor date, nor place. Cum privileg. 4to. This WILLIAM BALDWINE is perhaps Baldwin the poet, the contributor to the MIRROUR OF MAGISTRATES. At leaſt that the poet Baldwin was connected with Whitchurch the printer, appears from a book printed by Whitchurch, quoted above, ‘"A treatiſe of moral philoſophie contaygning the Sayings of the Wiſe, gathered and Englyſhed by Wylliam Baldwyn, 20 of January, MDXLVII."’ Compoſitors at this time often were learned men: and Baldwin was perhaps occaſionally employed by Whitchurch, both as a compoſitor and an author."
s
SIGNAT. m. iij.
t
In duodecimo.
u
A metrical commentary was written on the CANTICLES by one Dudley Fenner, a puritan, who retired to Middleburgh to enjoy the privilege and felicity of preaching endleſs ſermons without moleſtation. Middleb. 15 [...]7. 8vo.
w
B. i. SAT. viii. But for this abuſe of the divine ſonnetters, Marſton not inelegantly retorts againſt Hall. CERTAYNE SATYRES, Lond. for E. Matts, 1598. 12mo. SAT. iv.
Come daunce, ye ſtumbling Satyres, by his ſide,
If he liſt once the SYON MUSE deride.
Ye Granta's white Nymphs come, and with you bring
Some ſillabub, whilſt he does ſweetly ſing
Gainſt Peters Teares, and Maries mouing Moane;
And like a ſierce-enraged boar [...] doth [...]oame
At Sacred Sonnets, O daring hardiment!
At Bartas ſweet Semainesa raile impudent.
At Hopkins, Sternhold, and the Scottiſh king,
At all Tranſlators that do ſtriue to bring
That ſtranger language [...]o our vulgar tongue, &c.
a
Du Bartas's Divine Weeks.
x
Origen and Jerom ſay, that the youth of the Jews were not permitted to read SOLOMON'S SONG till they were thirty years of age, for fear they ſhould in [...]lame their paſſions by drawing the ſpiritual allegory into a carnal ſenſe. Orig. Homil. in CANTIC. CANT. apud Hieronymi Opp. Tom. viii. p. 122. And Opp. Origen. ii. fol. 68. Hieron. Proem. in Ezech. iv. p. 330. D.
y
16mo.
z
Some of the prefatory Sonnet [...] to Ja [...] vi [...] Markham's poem, entitled, ‘"The moſt honorable Tragedie of ſir Richard Grinuile knight,"’ (At London, printed by J. Roberts for Richard Smith, 1595. 16mo.) are [...]gned J. M. But the dedication, to Charles lord Montioy, has his name at length.
a
In duodecimo, viz.
A godly pſalm of Mary queen, which brought us comfort all,
Thro God whom we of deuty praiſe that give her foes a fall.
With pſalm [...]tune [...] in four parts. Se [...] Strype's ELIZ. p. 20 [...]. New [...]. REP. i. 451. See what is ſaid above of Miles Hoggard.
b
In quarto. Bl. Lett.
c
In quarto. Bl. Lett. for R. Caley. Jan. 4. with Grafton's copartment.
d
A ſhort treatiſe of certayne thinges abuſed,
In the popiſh church long uſed;
But now abolyſhed to our conſolation,
And God's word advanced, the light of our ſalvation.
In eight leaves, quarto, Bl. L [...]tt. Fox mentions one William Punt, author of a ballade made againſt the Pope and Popery under Edward the ſixth, and of other tracts of the ſame tendency under queen Mary. MARTYR. p. 1605. edit. vet. Punt's printer was William Hyll at the ſign of the hill near the weſt door of ſaint Pauls. See in Strype, an account of Underhill's Sufferings in 1553, for writing a ballad againſt the Queen, he ‘"being a witty and facetious gentleman."’ ECCL. MEM. iii. 60, 61. ch. vi. Many rhimes and Ballads were written againſt the Spaniſh match, in 1554. Strype, ibid. p. 127. ch. xiv. Fox has preſerved ſome hymns in Sternhold's metre ſung by the proteſtant martyrs in Newgate, in 1555. MAR [...]. fol. 1539. edit. 1597. vol. ii.
e
Supr. p. 142 [...]
f
In quarto. PRINCIP.
"Venus unto thee for help, good Lady do I call."
Our author, if I remember right, has furniſhed ſome arguments to one William Heale of Exeter college; who wrote, in 1609, AN APOLOGY FOR WOMAN, in oppoſition to Dr. Gager abovementioned, who had maintained at the Public Act, that it was lawful for huſbands to beat their wives. Wood ſays, that Heale ‘"was always eſteemed an ingenious man, but weak, as being too much devoted to the female ſex."’ ATH. OXON. i. 314.
g
In quarto. Bl. Lett. P [...]. Prol. ‘"There is few things to be underſtood."’ The poem begins, ‘"Alle ye that wolde learn and wolde be called wyſe."’
h
In the church of York, no choriſter was to be elected boy-biſhop, ‘"niſi habu [...]rit claram vocem pu [...]ril [...]m."’ Regiſtr. Capitul. Eccleſ. Ebor. ſub ann. 1390. MS. ut ſupr.
i
In the old ſtatut [...] of ſaint Pauls, are many orders about this mock-ſolemnity. One is, that the canon, called STAGIARIUS, ſhall find the boy-biſhop his robe [...], and ‘"equitatum honeſtum."’ MS. fol. 86. Dic [...]to dean. In the ſtatutes of Saliſbury cathedral, it is orderd, that the boy-biſhop ſhall not make a feaſt, ‘"ſed in domo communi cum ſocii [...] conv [...]rſ [...]tur, niſi eum ut Choriſtam, ad domum Canoni [...]i, cauſa ſolatii, ad menſam contigerit evocari."’ Sub anno 1319. Tit. xlv. De STATU CHORISTARUM. MS.
k
In quarto. Bl. Lett. Strype ſays, that in 1556, ‘"On S. Nicolas even, Saint Nicolas, that is a boy habited like a biſhop in pontificalibus went abroad in moſt parts of London, ſinging after the old faſhion, and was received with many ignorant but well-diſpoſed people into their houſes; and had as much good che [...]r as ever was wont to be had before."’ ECCL. MEM. iii. 310. ch. xxxix. See alſo p. 387. ch. [...]. In 1554, Nov. 13. an edict was iſſued by the biſhop of London, to all the cl [...]rgy of his dioceſe, t [...] have a boy-biſhop in proceſſion, &c. Strype, ibid. p. 202. ch [...] xxv. S [...] alſo p. 205, 206. ch. xxvi.
l
In a poem by Llodowyke Lloyd, in the Paradiſe of daintie De [...]iſes, (edit, 1585.) on the death of ſir Edward Saunders, queen Eliſabeth is complimented much in the ſame manner. NUM. 32. SIGNAT. E. 2.
—O ſacred ſeate, where Saba ſage doth ſit [...]
Like Suſan ſound, like Sara ſad, with Heſter's mace in hand,
With Iudithes ſword, Bellona-like, to rule this noble land.
m

In Barnabie Googe's POPISH KINGDOM, a tranſlation from Naogeorgius's REGNUM ANTICHRISTI, fol. 55. Lond. 1570. 4to.

Saint Nicholas monie vſde to give to maydens ſecretlie,
Who that be ſtill may vſe his wonted liberalitie:
The mother all their children on the Eeve do cauſe to faſt,
And wh [...]n they [...]uerie on [...] at night in ſenſeleſſe ſleepe are caſt,
Both apples, nuts and payres they bring, and other thinges beſide,
As cappes, and ſhoes, and petticoates, with kertles they hide,
And in the morning [...]ound, they ſay, "Saint Nicholas this brought, &c."

S [...] a curious paſſage in biſhop Fiſher's Sermon of the MONTHS MINDE of Margaret counteſs of Richmond. Where it is ſaid, that ſhe praied to S. Nicholas the patron and helper of all true maydens, when nine years old, about the choice of a huſband: and that the ſaint appeared in a viſion, and announced the [...]arl of Richmond. Edit [...] Baker, pag. 8. There is a pre [...]pt iſſued to the ſheriff of Oxford from Edward the firſt, in 1305, to prohibit tournaments being intermixed with the ſports of the ſchola [...]s on ſaint Nicholas's day. Rot. Clauſ. 33 Edw. i. memb. 2.

I have already given [...]races of this practice in the colleges of Wincheſter and Eton. [ſee ſupr. vol. ii. p. 389.] To which I here add another. Regiſtr. Coll. Wint. ſub ann. 1427. ‘"Crux deaurata de cupro [copper] cum Baculo, pro EPI [...]COPO PUERORUM."’ But it appears that the practice ſubſiſted in common g [...]ammarſchools. ‘"Hoc anno, 1464, in feſto ſancti Nicolai non erat EPI [...]COPUS PU [...]ORUM in ſchola grammaticali in civitat [...] Cantuariae ex defectu Magiſtrorum, viz. J. Sidney et T. Hikſon, &c."’ Lib. Johannis Stone, Monachi Eccleſ. Cant. ſc. D [...] Obitibus et ali [...]s Memorabilibus ſui ca [...]obii ab anno 1415 ad annum 1467. MS. C. C. C. C. Q. 8. The abuſes of this cuſtom in Wells cathedral are mentioned ſo early as Decemb. 1. 1298. Regiſtr. Eccl. Wellenſ. [See ſupr. vol. i. 248. ii. 375. 389.]

n
The reader will recollect the old play of Saint Catharine, LUDUS CATHARINAE, exhibited at ſaint Albans abbey in 1160. Strype ſays, in 1556, ‘"On Saint Katharines day, at ſix of the clock at night, S. Katharine went about the battlements of S. Paul's church accompanied with fine ſinging and great lights. This was ſaint Katharine's Proceſſion."’ ECCL. MEM. iii. 309. ch. xxxix. Again, her proceſſion, in 1553, is celebrated with five hundred g [...]eat lights, round ſaint Paul's ſteeple, &c. Ibid. p. 51. ch. v. And p. 57. ch. v.
o
Among the church-proceſſions revived by Queen Mary, that of S. Clement's church, in honour of this ſaint, was by far the moſt ſplendid of any in London. Their proceſſion to S. Pauls in 1557, ‘"was made very pompous with fourſcore ba [...]ners and ſtreamers, and the waits of the city playing, and threeſcore prieſts and clarkes in copes. And divers of the Inns of Court were there, who went next the prieſts, &c."’ Strype, ubi ſupr. iii. 377. ch. xlix.
p
In the SYNODUS CARNOTENSIS, under the year 1526, It is ordered, ‘"In feſto ſancti Nicholai, Catharinae, Innocentium, aut alio quovis die, praetextu recreationis, ne Scholaſtici, Clerici, Sacerdoteſve, ſtultum aliquod aut ridiculum faciant in eccleſia. Denique ab eccleſia ejiciantur VESTES fatuorum perſonas SCENICAS agentium."’ See Bochellus, Decret. ECCLES. GALL. lib. iv. TIT. vii. C. 43. 44. 46. p. 586. Yet theſe ſports ſeem to nave remained in France ſo late as 1585. For in the Synod of Aix, 1585, it is enjoined, ‘"Ceſſent in die Sanctorum Innocentium ludibria omnia [...]t pueriles ac theatrales luſus."’ Bochell. ibid. C. 45. p. 586. A Synod of Tholouſe, an. 1590, removes plays, ſpectacles, and hiſtrionum circulationes, from churches and their cemeteries. Bochell. ibid. lib. iv. TIT. 1. C. 98. p. 560.
q
In the Regiſter of Wodeloke biſhop of Wincheſter, the following is an article among the INJUNCTIONS given to the nuns of the convent of Rumſey in Hampſhire, in conſequence of an epiſcopal viſitation, under the year 1310. ‘"Item prohibemus, ne cubent in dormitorio pueri maſculi cum monialibus, vel foemellae, nec per moniales ducantur in Chorum, dum ibidem divinum officium celebratur."’ fol. 134. In the ſame Regiſter theſe Injunctions follow in a literal French tranſlation, made for the convenience of the nun [...].
r
MS. in Archiv. Wulveſ. apud Winton. It appears to have been a practice for itinerant players to gain admittance i [...]to the nunneries, and to play Latin MYSTERIES before the nuns. There is a curious Canon of the COUNCIL of COLOGNE, in 1549, which is to this effect. ‘"We have been informed, that certain Actors of Comedies, [...]ot contented with the ſtage and theaters, have even entered the nunneries, in order to recreate the nuns, ubi virginibus commoveant voluptatem, with their profane, amorous, and ſecular geſticulations. Which ſpectacles, or plays, although they conſiſted of ſacr [...]d and pious ſubjects, can yet notwithſtanding leave little good, but on the contrary much harm, in the minds of the nuns, who behold and admire the outward geſtures of the performers, and underſtand not the word [...]. Therefore we decree, that henceforward no Plays, Comedias, ſhall be admitted into the convents of nuns, &c."’ Sur. CONCIL. tom. iv. p. 852. Binius, tom. iv. p. 765.
s
MS. Ibid. See ſupr. p. 303.
t
Harpsfield, HIST. ECCL. ANGL. p. 441. edit. 1622. [See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 362.]
u
Or, 870.
w
Sur [...]us, CONCIL. iii. 529. 539. Baron. ANNAL. Ann [...] 869. §. 11. See CONCIL. Baſil. num. xxxii. The French have a miracle [...]play [...] BEAU MIRACLE DE S. NICOLAS, to be acted by twenty four perſonage [...], printed at Paris, for Pierre Sergeant, in quarto, without date, Bl. Lett.
x
Virgil, Georg. iv. 495.
y
MSS. Cott. VITELL. E. 5. STRYPE. See LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, PREF. p. xii.
z
ECCL. MEM. vol. iii. ch. xlix.
a
Strype [...] ibid. p. 379. With the religious pageantries, other antient ſports and ſpectacles alſo, which had fallen into diſuſe in the reign of Edward the ſixth, beg [...]n to be now revived. As thus, ‘"On the 30th of May was a goodly Maygame in Fenchurch-ſtreet, with drums, and gun [...], and pikes, with the NIN [...] WORTHIES who rid. And each made his ſpeech. There was alſo the Moricedance, and an elephant and caſtle, and the Lord and Lady of the May appeared to make up thi [...] ſhow."’ Strype, ibid. 376. ch. xl [...]x.
b
Ludovicus Vives relates, that it was cuſtomary in Brabant to preſent annual plays in honour of the reſpective ſaints to which the churches were dedicated: and he betrays his great credulity in adding a wonderful ſtory in conſequence of this cuſtom. NOT. in Auguſtin. De CIVIT. DEI. lib. xii. cap. 25. C.
c
The property-room is yet known at our theatres.
d
Mill. T. v. 275. Urr. Mr. Steevens and Mr. Malone have ſhewn, that the accommodations in our early regular theatre [...] were but little better. That the old ſcenery was very ſimple, may partly be collected from an entry in a Computus of Wincheſter-college, under the year 1579. viz. COMP. BURS. Coll. Winton. A. D. 1573. Eliz. xvo.—‘"CUSTUS AULAE. Item, pro diverſis expenſis circa Scaffoldam erigendam et deponendam, et pro Domunculis de novo compoſitis cum carriagio et [...]ecarriagio ly joyſtes, et aliorum mut [...]atorum ad eandem Scaffoldam, cum vj lin [...]kes et jo [uno] duodeno candelarum, pro lumine expenſis, tribus noctibus in Ludis comediarum et [...]ragediarum, xxv, s. viij, d."’ Again in the next quarter, ‘"Pro vij ly linckes deli [...]er [...]ti [...] pueris per M. Informatorem [the ſchool-maſter] pro Ludis, iij, s."’ Again, in the laſt quarter, ‘"Pro [...]emovendis Organis e t [...]mplo in Aulam et praeparandis eiſdem erga Ludos, v, s."’ By DOMUNCULIS I underſtand little c [...]lls of board, raiſed on each ſide of the ſtage, for dreſſing-rooms, or retiring plac [...]s. Strype, under the yea [...] 1559, ſays, that after a grand feaſt at Guildhall, ‘"the ſame day was a Scaffold ſet up in the hall for [...] play."’ ANN [...] REF. i. 197. edit. 1725.
e
A very late ſcripture-play is, ‘"A newe merry and witte [...]omedie or enterlude, newlie imprinted treating the hiſtory of JACOB AND ESAU, &c."’ for H. Bynneman, 1568. 4to. Bl. Lett. But this play had appeared in queen Mary's reign, ‘"An enterlude vpon the hiſtory of Jacobe and Eſawe, &c."’ Licenced to Henry Sutton, in 1557. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 23. a. It is certain, however, that the faſhion of religious interludes was not entirely diſcontinued in the reign of queen Eliſabeth. For, I find licenced to T. Hackett in 1561, ‘"A newe enterlude of the ij ſynnes of kynge Da [...]yde."’ Ibid. fol. 75. a. And to Pickeringe in 1560-1, the play of queen Eſther. Ibid. fol. 62. b. Again, there is licenced to T. Colwell, in 1565, ‘"A playe of the ſtory of kyng Darius from Eſdras."’ Ibid. fol. 133. b. Alſo ‘"A pleaſaunte recytall worthy of the readinge contaynynge the effecte of iij worthye ſquyres of Daryus the kinge of Perſia,"’ licenced to Griffiths in 1565. Ibid. fol. 132 [...] b. Often reprinted. And in 1566 [...] John Charlewood is licenced to print ‘"An enterlude of the repentance of Mary Magdalen."’ Ibid. fol. 152. a. Of this piece I have cited an antient manuſcript. Alſo, not to m [...]ltiply inſtances, Colwell in 1568, is licenced to print ‘"The playe of Suſanna."’ Ibid. fol. 176. a. Ballads on ſcripture ſubjects are now innumerable. Peele's DAVID AND BATHSHEBA is a remain of the faſhion of ſcriptureplays. I have mentioned the play of HOLOFERNES acted at Hatfield in 1556. LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, p. 87. In 1556, was printed ‘"A ballet intituled the hiſtorye of Judith and Holyfernes."’ REGISTR. ut ſupr. fol. 154. b. And Regiſtr. B. fol. 227. In Hearne's [...]anuſcript COLL [...]CTANEA there is a licence dated 1571, from the queen, directed to the officers of Middleſex, permitting one John Swinton Powlter, ‘"to have and uſe ſome playes and games at or uppon nine ſeverall ſondaies,"’ within the ſaid county. And becauſe greate reſorte of people is lyke to come thereunto, he is required, for the preſervation of the peace, and for the ſake of good order, to take with him four or five diſcreet and ſub [...]tantial men of thoſe places where the games ſhall be put in practice, to ſuperintend duringe the contynuance of the games or playes. Some of the exhibitions are then ſpecified, ſuch as, Shotinge with the brod [...] arrow [...], The lepping for men, The pytchynge of the barr [...], and the like. But then follows this very general clauſe, ‘"With all ſuche other games, as haue at anye time heretofore or [...]ow be lycenſed, uſed, or played."’ COLL. MSS. Hearne, tom. lxi. p. 78. One wiſhes to know, whether any interludes, and whether religious or profane, were included in this inſtrument.
a
He ſays in his SCHOOLEMASTER, written ſoon after the year 1563 [...] ‘"There be more of theſe vngracious bookes ſet out in print within theſe few mone [...]hes, than have bene ſeene in England many ſcore years before."’ B [...] i. fol. 26. a. edit. 1589. 4to.
b
To all the Gentlemen and Yomen of ENGLAND. Prefixed to TOXOPHILUS, The Schole or partition of ſhooting, Lond. 1545. 4to.
c
Lond. 1553. 4to. Dedicated to John Dudley, earl of Warwick. In the Dedication he ſays, that he wrote great part of this treatiſe during the laſt ſummer vacation in the country, at the houſe of ſir Edward Dimmoke. And that it originated from a late converſation with his lordſhip, ‘"emonge other talke of learnyng."’ It was reprinted by Jhon Kynſton in 1570. Lond. 4to. With ‘"A Prologue to the Reader,"’ dated Dec. 7. 1560. Again, 1567. 4to. And 1585. 4to. In the PROLOGU [...], he mentions his eſcape at Rome, which I have above related: and adds, ‘"If others neuer gette more by bookes than I have doen, it wer better be a carter than a ſcholar, for worldlie pro [...]ite."’
d
Admitted ſcholar in 1541. A native of Lincolnſhire. MS. Hatcher.
e
Which had b [...]en alſo tranſlated into Latin by Nicholas Carr. To whoſe verſion Hatcher prefixed this diſtich. [MSS. More. 102. Carr' [...] Autograph. MS.]
Haec [...]adem patrio Thomas ſermone polivit
Wilſonus, patrii gloria prima ſoli.
Wilſon publiſhed many other things. In Gabriel Harvey's SMITHUS, dedicated to ſir Walter Mildmay, and printed by Binneman in 1578, he is ranked with his learned cotemporaries. See SIGNAT. D iij.—E ij.—I j.
f
Puttenham, in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, where he treats of ſtyle and language, brings ſome illuſtrations from the practice of oratory in the reign of queen Mary, in whoſe court he lived: and although his book is dated 1589, it was maniſeſtly written much earlier. He refers to ſir Nicholas Bacon, who began to be high in the departments of the law in queen Mary's time, and died in 1579. Having told a ſtory from his own knowledge in the year 1553, of a ridiculous oration made in parliament by a new ſpeaker of the houſe, who came from Yorkſhire, and had more knowledge in the affairs of his county, and of the law, than gracefulneſs or delicacy of language, he proceeds, ‘"And though graue and wiſe counſellours in their conſultations do not vſe much ſuperſtitious [...]loquence, and alſo in their iudiciall hearings do much miſlike all ſcholaſticall rhetoricks: yet in ſuch a caſe as it may be (and as this parliament was) if the lord chancelour of England or archbiſhop of Canterbury himſelfe were to ſpeke, he ought to do it cunningly and eloquently, which cannot be without the vſe of figures: and neuertheleſſe, none impeachment or blemiſh to the grauitie of their perſons or of the cauſe: wherein I report me to them that knew ſir Nicholas Bacon lord Keeper of the great ſeale, or the now lord treaſurer of England, and haue bene conuerſant in their ſpeeches made in the parliament houſe and ſtarre chamber. From whoſe lippes I haue ſeene to proceede more graue and naturall eloquence, than from all the oratours of Oxford and Cambridge.—I have come to the lord Keeper ſir Nicholas Bacon, and found him ſitting in his gallery alone, with the workes of Quintilian before him. In deede he was a moſt eloquent man and of rare learning and wiſdome as euer I knew England to breed, and one that ioyed as much in learned men and men of good witts."’ Lib. iii. ch. ii. pag. 126. ſeq. What follows ſoon afterwards is equally appoſite. ‘"This part in our maker or poet muſt be heedyly looked vnto, that it [his [...]language] be naturall, pure, and the moſt vſuall of all his countray: and for the ſame purpoſe, rather that which is ſpoken in the kinges court, or in the good townes and cities within the land, than in the marches or frontiers, or in port townes where ſtraungers haunt for traffike ſake, or yet in vniuerſities where ſchollars vſe much peeviſh affectation of words out of the primitiue languages; or finally, in any vplandiſh village or corner of the realme, &c. But he ſhall follow generally the better brovght vp ſort, ſuch as the Greekes call chari [...]ntes, men ciuill and graciouſly behauored and bred. Our maker thereſo [...]e at theſe dayes ſhall not follow P [...]ERS PLOWMAN, nor Gower, nor Lydgate, nor yet Chaucer, for their language is now out of vſe with vs: neither ſhall he take the termes of northerne men, ſuche as they vſe in daily talke, whether they be noblemen or gentlemen, or of their beſt clarkes, all is a matter, &c. Ye ſhall therefore take the vſuall ſpeach of the court, and that of London, and the ſhires lying abovt London within lx myles, and not mvch aboue. I ſay not this, bvt that in euery ſhyre of England there be gentlemen and others that ſpeke, but ſpecially write, as good Sovtherne as we of Middleſex and Surrey do, bvt not the common people of euery ſhire, to whom the gentlemen, and alſo their learned clarkes, do for the moſt part condeſcend: but herein we are ruled by the Engliſh Dictionaries, and other bookes written by learned men. Albeit peraduenture ſome ſmall admonition be not impertinent; for we finde in our Engliſh writers many wordes and ſpeeches amendable, and ye ſhall ſee in ſome many inkhorne termes ſo ill affected brought in by men of learning, as preachers and ſchoolemaſters, and many ſtraunge termes of other languages by ſecretaries and marchaunts and traueillours, and many darke wordes and not vſuall nor well ſounding, though they be daily ſpoken at court."’ Ibid. Ch. iii. fol. 120, 121.
g
King Henry's Jeſter. In another place he gives us one of Somner's jeſts. ‘"William Sommer ſeying muche adoe for accomptes makyng, and that Henry the eight wanted money, ſuch as was due to him, And pleaſe your grace, q [...]oth he, you haue ſo many Frauditours, ſo many Conueighers, and ſo many Deceiuers, to get vp your money, that thei get all to themſelues."’ That is, Auditors, Surveyors, and Receivers. fol. 102. b. I have ſeen an old narrative of a progreſs of king Henry the eighth and queen Katharine, to Newbery in Berkſhire, where Somner, who had accompanied their majeſties as court-buffoon, ſell into diſgrace with the people for his impertinence, was detained, and obliged to ſubmit to many ridiculous indignities: but extricated himſelf from all his diſſiculties by comic expedients and the readineſs of his wit. On returning to court, he gave their majeſties, who were inconſolable for his long abſence, a minute account of theſe low adventures, with which they were infinitely entertained. What ſhall we think of the manners of ſuch a court?
h
Viz. ‘"Ponderyng, expendyng, and reuolutyng with myſelf, your ingent affabilitie, and ingenious capacitie, for mundane affaires, I cannot but celebrate and extoll your magnificall dexteritie above all other. For how could you have adapted ſuche illuſtrate prerogative, and dominiall ſuperioritie, if the [...]ecunditie of your ingenie had not been ſo fertile and wonderfull pregnaunt, &c.'.’ It is to the lord Chancellor. See what is ſaid of A. Bordes's ſtyle, ſupr. p. 71.
i
B. iii. fol. 82. b. edit. 1567.
i
Lib. iii. fol. 99. b.
k
Fol. 91. a.
l
Richard the third ſeems to have been an UNIVERSAL character for exemplifying a cruel diſpoſition. Our author, meaning to furniſh a chamber with perſons famous for the greateſt crimes, ſays in another place. ‘"In the bedſtede I will ſet Richarde the third kinge of Englande, or ſomelike notable murtherer."’ fol. 109. b. Shakeſpeare was not the firſt that exhibited this tyrant upon the ſtage. In 1586, a ballad was printed called a ‘"tragick report of kinge Richarde the iii."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 210. b.
m
Lively Deſcription.
n
Fol. 91. b.
o
Fol. 91. b. 92. a.
p
Yet he has here alſo a reference to the utility of tales both at the Bar and in the Pulpit. For in another place, profeſſedly both ſpeaking of Pleadings and Sermons, he ſays, ‘"If tyme maie ſo ſerue, it were good when menne be wearied, to make them ſomewhat merie, and to begin with ſome pleaſaunte tale, or take occaſion to ieſte wittelie, &c."’ fol. 55. b. Again, ‘"Men commonlie tarie the ende of a merie Plaie, and cannot abide the half hearyng of a ſower checkyng Sermon. Therefore euen theſe aunciente preachers muſte nowe and then plaie the fooles in the pulpite to ſerue the tickle eares of their fletyng audience, &c."’ fol. 2. a. I know not if he means Latimer here, whom he commends, ‘"There is no better preacher among them al except Hugh Latimer the father of al preachers."’ fol. 63. a. And again, ‘"I would thinke it not amiſſe to ſpeake muche accordyng to the nature and phanſie of the ignorant, that the rather thei might be wonne through fables to learne more weightie and graue matters. For al men cannot brooke ſage cauſes and auncient collations, but will like earneſt matters the rather, if ſome be ſpoken there among agreeing to their natures. The multitude, as Horace doth ſaie, is a beaſt or rather a monſter that hath many hedde [...], and therefore, like vnto the diuerſitie of natvres, varietie of inuention muſt alwaies be vſed. Talke altogether of moſte graue matters, or deppely ſearc [...]e out the ground of thynges, or vſe the quiddities of Duns [Scotus] to ſet forth Gods miſteries, you ſhal ſe the ignorant, I warrant you, either fall aſlepe, or els bid you farewell. The multitude muſt nedes be made merry; and the more fooliſh your talke is, the more wiſe will thei compt it to be. And yet it is no fooliſhnes but rather wiſdome to win men, by telling of fables to heare Gods goodnes."’ fol. 101. a. See alſo fol. 52. a. 69. a. Much to the ſame purpoſe he ſays, ‘"Euen in this our tyme, ſome offende muche in tediouſneſſe, whoſe parte it were to comfort all men with cherefulneſſe. Yea, the preachers of God mind ſo muche edi [...]iyng of ſoules, that thei often forgette we have any bodies. And therefore, ſome doe not ſo muche good with tellyng the truthe, as thei doe harme with dullyng the hearers; beyng ſo farre gone in their matters, that oftentimes thei cannot tell when to make an ende."’ fol. 70. a. Yet ſtill he allows much praiſe to the preachers in general of his age. ‘"Yea, what tell I nowe of ſuche leſſons, ſeeyng God hath raiſed ſuche worthy preachers in this our tyme, that their godlie and learned doynges maie be a moſt iuſte example for all other to followe."’ fol. 55. b. By the way, although a zealous goſpeller, in another place he obliquely cenſures the rapacity with which the reformation was conducted under Edward the ſixth. [See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 452.] ‘"I had rather, ſaid one, make my child a cobler than a preacher, a tankard-bearer than a ſcholer. For what ſhall my ſonne ſeke for learnyng, when he ſhall neuer get thereby any livyng? Set my ſonne to that whereby he mai [...] get ſomewhat. Doe you not ſee, how euery one catcheth and pulleth from the churche what thei can? I feare me, one daie they will plu [...]ke downe churche and all. Call you this the GOSPELL, when men ſeke onlie for to prouide for their bellies, and care n [...]t a groate though their ſoules go to helle? A patrone of a benefice will haue a poore yngrame ſoule, to beare the name of a parſone for twentie marke, or tenne pounde: and the patrone hymſelf will take vp, for his ſnapſhare, as good as an hundred marke: Thus, God is robbed, learnyng decaied, England diſhonoured, and honeſtie not regarded."’ fol. 9. a.
q
Companions. A cant word.
r
Fol. 74. a.
s
See [...]ol. 70. a.
t
He gives a curious reaſon why a young nobleman had better be born in London than any other place. ‘"The ſhire or towne helpeth ſomewhat towardes the encreaſe of honour. As, it is much better to be borne in Paris than in Picardie, in London than in Lincolne. For that bothe the aire is better, the people more ciuil, and the wealth much greater, and the menne for the moſt parte more wiſe."’ fol. 7. a.
u
Fol. 7. a.
w
He mentions the Lute again, ‘"The tongue giueth a certaine grace to euery matter, and beauti [...]ieth the cauſe, in like maner a [...] a ſweete ſoundyng lute muche ſetteth forth a meane deuiſed ballade."’ fol. 111. a.
x
Fol. 67. a.
y

This work is enlivened with a variety of little illuſtrative ſtories, not ill told, of which the following is a ſpecimen. ‘"An Italian havyng a ſute here in Englande to the archbusſhoppe of Yorke that then was, and commynge to Yorke when one of the Prebendaries there brake his bread, as they terme it, and therevpon made a ſolemne longe diner, the whiche perhaps began at eleuen and continued well nigh till fower in the afternoone, at the whiche dinner this bisſhoppe was: It fortvned that as they were ſette, the Italian knockt at the gate, vnto whom the porter, perceiuing his errand, anſwered, that my lorde bisſhoppe was at diner. The Italian departed, and retourned betwixte twelve and one; the porter aunſwered they were yet at dinner. He came againe at twoo of the clocke; the porter tolde hym thei had not half dined. He came at three a clocke, vnto whom the porter in a heate a [...]ſwered neuer a worde, but churliſhlie did ſhutte the gates vpon him. Wherevpon, o [...]hers told the Italian, that ther was no ſpeaking with my Lord, almoſte all that daie, for the ſolemne diner ſake. The gentilman Italian, wonderyng muche at ſuche a long ſitting, and greatly greued becauſe he could not then ſpeake with the archbysſhoppes grace, departed ſtraight towardes London; and leauyng the diſpatche of his matters with a der [...] frende of his, toke his iourney towardes Italie. Three yeres after, it hapened that an Engliſhman came to Rome, with whom this Italian by chaunce fallyng acquainted, aſked him if he knewe the archbisſhoppe of Yorke? The Engliſhman ſaid, he knewe hym right well. I praie you tell me, quoth the Italian, hath that archbiſhop yet dined?"’ The Italian explaining himſelf, they both laughed heartily. fol. 78. b. 79. a.

He commends Dr. Haddon's latinity, which is not always of the pureſt caſt. ‘"There is no better Latine man within England, except Gualter Haddon the lawier."’ fol. 63. a. Again, he commends a proſopopeia of the ducheſs of Suffolk, in Haddon's Oratio de vita et obitu fratrum Suffolcienſium Henrici et Caroli Brandon. [edit. Hatcher, Lond. 1577. 4to. p. 89. viz. LUCU [...]RATIONES G. Haddon.] fol. 94. a.

He mentions John Heiwood's PROVERBS. [See ſupr. p. 91.] ‘"The Engliſhe Proverbes gathered by Jhon Heiwoode helpe well in this behaulfe [allegory], the which commonlie are nothyng els but Allegories, and dark deuiſed ſentences."’ fol. 90. a. Again, for furniſhing ſimilitudes, ‘"The Prouerbes of Heiwood helpe wonderfull well for thys purpoſe."’ fol. 96. b.

He condemns, in an example, the growing practice of mothers who do not ſuckle their own children, which he endeavours to prove to be both againſt the law of nature and the will of God. fol. 56. a. Here is an early proof of a cuſtom, which may ſeem to have originated in a more luxurious and delicate age.

To theſe miſcellaneous extracts I ſhall only add, that our author who was always eſteemed a ſincere advocate for proteſtantiſm, and never ſuſpected of leaning to pop [...]ry, ſpeaking of an artificial memory, ha [...] this theory concerning the uſe of images in churches. ‘"When I ſee a lion, the image thereof abideth faſter in my minde, than if I ſhould heare ſome reporte made of a lion. Emong all the ſences, the iye [eye] ſight is moſt quicke, and conteineth the impreſſion of thinges more aſſuredlie than any of the other ſences doe. And the rather, when a manne both heareth and ſeeth a thing, (as by artificiall memorie he do [...]th almoſt ſ [...] thinges liuely,) he doeth remember it muche the better. The ſight printeth thinges in a mans memorie as a ſeale doeth printe a mans name in waxe. And therefore, heretofore Ima [...]s were ſett [...] vp for remembraunce of ſainctes, to be LAI [...] [...]ENNES BOOK [...]S, that the rather by ſeying [ſeein [...]] the pictures of ſuche men, thei might be ſtirred to followe their good living.—Marry, for this purpoſe whereof we now write, this would haue ſerued gailie well."’ fol. 111. a.

z
Preaching and controverſial tracts occaſioned much writing in Engliſh after the reformation.
a
Fol. 85. a. b. 86. a. One Thomas Wilſon tranſlated the DIANA of Montomayer, a paſ [...]oral Spaniſh romance, about the year 1595, which has been aſſigned as the original of the TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. He could hardly be our author, unleſs that verſion was one of his early juvenile exerciſes. This tranſlator Wilſon I preſume is the perſon mentioned by Meres as a poet, ‘"Who for learning and extemporall witte in this facultie is without compare or compeere, as to his great and eternall commendations he manifeſted in his challenge at the Swanne on the Bank ſide."’ WITS TREAS. edit. 1598. 12mo. ut ſupr. fol. 285. p [...] 2. Again, he mentions one Wilſon as an eminent dramatic writer, perhaps the ſame. Ibid. fol. 282. There is, by one Thomas Wilſon, an EXPOSITION ON TH [...] PSALMS, Lond. 1591. 4to. And an EXPOSITION ON THE PROVERBS, Lond. 1589. 4to. Among the twelve players ſworn the queen's ſervants in 1583, were ‘"two rare men, viz. Thomas Wilſon for a quicke, delicate, reſined extemporall witte, and Richard Tarleton, &c."’ Stowe's ANN. edit. 1615. fol. 697.
b
But there ſeems to have been a former edition by Richard Day, 1550, in octavo.
c
For Richard Tottell. 12mo. In 74 leaves.
d
In four books, 12mo. It is dedicated to the maſter, wardens, and company of Merchant Taylors London. ‘"Think not Apelles painted piece."’ PR. ‘"The ancient poet Lucanus."’ The ſame perſon tranſlated into Engliſh, THE CASTLE OF MEMORIE, from William Gratarol, dedicated to lord Robert Dudly, maſter of the horſe to the queen, Lond. for W. Howe in Fleetſtreet, 1573. 8vo. DED. begins, ‘"Syth noble Maximilian kyng."’
e
Fol. 7. a. In 1562, ‘"the Boke of Retoryke,"’ of which I know no more, is entered to John Kyngeſton [...] REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 87. b.
f
MSS. Cat. Graduat. Univ. Cant.
g
MSS. Stillingfl. 160. ‘"De ſtatu nobilium virorum et principum."’
h
Of the Emperors, from Julius Ceſar to Maximilian. Licenced to T. Marſhe, in 1566. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 154. b.
i
In 1561. It was then juſt founded as a proſeminary for ſaint John's college Oxford, in a houſe called the Manour of the Roſe in ſaint Lawrence Pounteney, by the company of Merchant-Taylors. Saint John's college had been then eſtabliſhed about ſeven years, which Mulcaſter ſoon filled with excellent ſcholars till the year 1586. In the Latin plays acted before queen Eliſabeth and James the firſt at Oxford, the ſtudents of this college were diſtinguiſhed. This was in conſequence of their being educated under Mulcaſter. He was afterwards, in 1596, maſter of ſaint Paul's ſchool. He was a prebendary of Saliſbury, and at length was rewarded by the queen with the opulent rectory of Standford-Rivers in Eſſex, where he died in 1611. He was elected ſcholar of King's college Cambridge in 1548. MSS. Hatcher. And Contin. Hatch. Celebrated in its time was his CATECHISMUS PAULINUS in uſum Scholae Paulinae conſcriptus, Lond. 1601. 8vo. &c. It is in long and ſhort verſe. Many of Mulcaſter's panegyrics in Latin verſe may be ſeen prefixed to the works of his cotemporaries. A copy of his Latin verſes was ſpoken before queen Eliſabeth at Kenilworth [...]caſtle in 1575. See G. Gaſcoyne's NARRATIVE, &c. Signat. A. iij.
k
Moſt elegantly printed, in the white letter, by Thomas Vautrollier in quarto. It contains 272 pages. The ſecond part never appeared. His ‘"POSITIONS, wherein thoſe primitive circumſtances be examined which are neceſſ [...]rie for the training vp of children either for ſkill in their booke or health in their bodies [...]"’ [Lond. 1581. 1587. 4to.] have no connection with this work.
l
Coloph. ‘"Qd W. Bullokar."’ 12mo. It contains 68 pages.
m
Fol. 1.
n
Here he ſays alſo, that he has another volume lying by him of more fame, which is not to ſee the light till chriſtened and called forth by the queen.
o
Jun. 10. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 169. a. But I muſt not forget, that in 1585, he publiſhed, ‘"Eſop's fables in tru orthography, with grammer notz. Her-unto ar alſo coioned the ſhorte ſentencez of the wyz Cato, imprinted with lyke form and order: both of which [...]uthorz ar tranſlated out of Latin intoo Engliſh by William Bullokar."’ 12mo.
p
Fol. 68. In his metrical preface he ſays, that he ſerved in the army under ſir Richard Wingfield in queen Mary's time. There is ‘"A petee ſchole of ſpellinge [...]nd writinge Engliſhe,"’ licenced to Butter, Jul. 20. 1580. REGISTR. B. fol. 171. a.
q
There is another, I ſuppoſe a ſecond, edition, without date, in black letter, with wooden cuts, in folio, containing two hundred and forty-eight leaves, excluſive of the tables. This has ſome improvements.
r
Stance, 22. fol. 134.
s
From fol. 2. a. to fol. 14. a.
t
But the compiler has introduced ‘"Le DONNET, traitè de grammaire baillé au [...]eu roi [...]harles viii."’ fol. 20. a. One of the pieces is a MORISQU [...], in which the actors are Amorevſe grace, Enuieuſe jalouſie, Eſpoir de parvenir, Tout habandonne, Sot penſer. fol. 32. b.
u
The farce, or comedy, muſt have,
"Choſe qui [...]oit mélodieuſe,
"Matiere qui [...]oit comédieuſe, &c."
w
Par N. Viellard. 4to.
x

See Verdier ii. 649. From an ingenious correſpondent, who has not given me the honour of his name, and who appears to be well acquainted with the manners and literature of Spain, I have received the following notices relating to this inſtitution, of which other particulars may be ſeen in the old French Hiſtory of Languedoc. ‘"At the end of the ſecond volume of Mayan's ORIGINES DE LA LINGUA ESPANOLA, printed in duodecimo at Madrid in 1737, is an extract from a manuſcript entitled, Libro de la Arte de Trovar, ò Gaya Sciencia, por Don Enrique de Villena, ſaid to exiſt in the library of the cathedral of Toledo, and perhaps to be found in other libraries of Spain. It has theſe particulars.—The TROVADORES had their origin at Tholouſe, about the middle of the twelfth century. A CONSISTORIO de la Gaya Sciencia was there founded by Ramon Vidal de Beſalin, containing more than one hundred and twenty celebrated poets, and among theſe, princes, kings, and emperors. Their art was extended throughout Europe, and gave riſe to the Italian and Spaniſh poetry, ſervio el Garona de Hippocrene. To Ramon Vidal de Beſalin ſucceeded Jofre de Foxa, Monge negro, who enlarged the plan, and wrote what he called Continuacion de trovar. After him Belenguer de Troya came from Majorca, and compiled a treatiſe de Figuras y Colores Rhetoricos. And next Gul. Vedal of Majorca wrote La Suma Vitulina. To ſupport the GAYA SCIENCIA at the poetical college of Tholouſe, the king of France appropriated privileges and rev [...]nues: appointing ſeven Ma [...]tenedores, qu [...] licieſſen L [...]yes. Theſe conſtituted the LAWS OF LOVE, which were afterwards abridged by Guill. Moluier under the title Tratado de las Flores. Next Fray Ramon framed a ſyſtem called Doctrinal, which was cenſured by Caſtilnon. From thence nothing was written in Spaniſh on the ſubject, till the time of Don Enrique de Villena.—So great was the credit of the GAY SCIENCE, that Don Juan the firſt king of Arragon, who died 1393, ſent an embaſſy to the king of France, requeſting that ſome Troubadours might be tranſmitted to teach this art in his kingdom. Accordingly two Mantenedores were diſpatched from Tholouſe, who founded a college for poetry in Barcelona, conſi [...]ting of four Mantenedores, a Cavalier, a Maſter in Theology, a Maſ [...]er in Laws, and an honourable Citizen. Diſputes about Don Juan's ſucceſſor occaſioned the removal of the college to Tortoſa. But Don Ferdinand being elected King, Don Enrique de Villena was taken into his ſervice: who reſtored the college, and was choſen principal. The ſubjects he propoſed, were ſometimes, the Praiſes of the Holy Virgin, of Arms, of Love, y de buenas Coſtumbres. An account of the ceremonies of their public Acts then follows, in which every compoſition was recited, being written en papeles Damaſquinos de diverſas colores, con letras de oro y de plata, et illuminaduras formoſas, lo major qua cada una podio. The beſt performance had a crown of gold placed upon it: and the author, being preſented with a joya, or prize, received a licence to cantar y decir in public [...]. He was afterwards conducted home in form, eſcorted among others by two Mantenedores, and preceded by minſtrels and trumpets, where he gave an entertainment of confects and wine."’—[See ſupr. vol. i. 149. 467.]

There ſeems to have been a ſimilar eſtabliſhment at Amſterdam, called R [...]ederiicke [...] camer, or the CHAMBER OF RHETORICIANS, mentioned by Iſaacus Pontanus. Who adds, ‘"Sunt autem hi rhetores viri amaeni et poetici ſpiritus, qui lingua vernacula, aut proſa aut vorſa oratione, comoedias, trago [...]dias, ſubindeque et mutas perſonas, et facta maiorum notantes, magna ſpectantium voluptate exhibent."’ RER. ET URB. AMST. Lib. ii. c. xvi. pag. 118. edit. 1611. fol. In the preceding chapter, he ſays, that this fraternity of rhetoricians erected a temporary theatre, at the ſolemn entry of prince Maurice in [...]o Amſterdam in 1594, where they exhibited in DUM [...] SHOW the hiſtory of David and Golia [...]. Ibid. c. xv. p. 117.

Meteranus, in his Belgic hiſtory, ſpeaks largely of the annual prizes, aſſemblies, and conte [...]ts, of the guilds or colleges of the rhetoricians, in Holland and the Low Countries. They anſwered in rhyme, queſtions propoſed by the dukes of Burgundy and Brabant. At Ghent in 1539, twenty of theſe colleges met with great pomp, to diſcuſs an ethical queſtion, and each gave a ſolution in a moral com [...]dy, magnificently preſented in the public theatre. In 1561, the rhetorical guild of Antw [...]rp, called the VIOLET, challenged all the neighbouring cities to a deciſion of the ſame ſort. On this occaſion, three hundred and forty rhetoricians of Bruſſels appeared on horſeback, richly but fantaſtically habited, accompanied with an infinite variety of pageantries, ſports, and ſhows. Theſe had a garland, as a reward for the ſuperior ſplendor of their entry. Many days were ſpent in determining the grand queſtions: during which, there were [...]eaſtings, bonfires, farces, tumbling, and every popular diverſion. BEL [...]. HISTOR. VNIVERSAL. fol. 1597. Lib. i. pag. 31, 32.

y
BI [...]L. FR. 361. He mentions another edition in 1539. Both at Paris, 12mo.
z
In 16mo.
a
Liv. ii. ch. viii. At the end of Sibilet's work is a critical piece of Quintil againſt Ch. Fontaine, firſt printed ſeparately at Paris, 1538. 16mo.
b
By Jean de Tournes. 8vo.
c
Ch. de L'ODE.
d
Ch. DE LA COMEDIE ET DE LA TRAGEDIE. See alſo, to the ſame purpoſe, Collettet Sur la poeſie morale, and Guillaume des Autels, Repos d' [...]n plus grand [...] travail.
e
Liv. ii. ch. i. De la RIM [...].
f
See Liv. i. ch. v. and vi.
g
Par Michel Vaſcoſan. 8vo.
h
Liv. ii. ch. iv.
i
In quarto. Again, per Marchio Seſſa, 1534. 8vo.
k
In 8vo. The Seconde Partie appeared ibid. 1550. 8vo.
l
In quarto.
m
Nothing can be more incorrect than the firſt edition in 1513.
n
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 44.
o
Undoubtedly Chaucer was originally buried in this place. Leland [...]ites a Latin elegy, or NAENIA, of thirty-four lines, which he ſays was compoſed by Stephanus Surigonius of Milan, at the requeſt of William Caxton the printer: and which, Leland adds, was written on a white tablet by Surigoniu [...], on a pillar near Chaucer's grave in the ſouth ile at Weſtminſter. SCRIPT. BRIT. GALPRID. CHAUCERUS. See Caxton's EPILOGUE to Chaucer's BOOKE OF FAME, in Caxton's CHAUCER. Wood ſays, that Briggam ‘"exerci [...]d his muſe much in poetry, and took great delight in the works of Jeffrey Chaucer: for whoſe memory he had ſo great a reſpect, that he removed his bones into the ſouth croſs-ile or tranſept of S. Peter's church, &c."’ ATH. OXON. i. 130. I do not apprehend there was any removal, in this caſe, from one part of the abbey to another. Chaucer's [...]omb has appropriated this aile, or tranſept, to the ſepulture or to the honorary monuments of our poets.
p
Tom. ii. p. 42. edit. 1684.
a
It is ſcarcely worth obſerving, that one Thomas Brice, at the acceſſion of Eliſabeth, printed in Engliſh metre a Regiſter of the Martyrs and Confeſſors under queen Mary, Lond. for R. Adams, 1559. 8vo. I know not how far Fox might profit by this work. I think he has not mentioned it. In the Stationers regiſters, in 1567, were entered to Henry Binneman, SON [...]S and SONNETTS by Thomas Brice. REGISTR. A. fol. 164. a. I have never ſeen the book. In 1570, an elegy, called ‘"An epitaph on Mr. Bryce preacher"’ occurs, licenced to John Alde. Ibid. fol. 205. b. Again, we have the COURT OF VENUS, I ſuppoſe a ballad, MORALISED, in 1566, by Thomas Bryce, for Hugh Singleton. Ibid. fol. 156. a.
b
See ſupr. p. 169. See Preface to GORDO [...]UC, edit. 1571. Strype ſays, that Thomas Norton was a clergyman, a puritan, a man of parts and learning, well known to ſecretary Cecil and archbiſhop Parker, and that he was ſuſpected, but without foundation, of writing an anſwer to Whitgift's book againſt the puritans, publiſhe [...] in 1572. LIFE OF PARKER, p. 364. LIFE OF WHITGIFT, p. 28. I forgot to mention before, that Norton has a copy of recommendatory ve [...]ſes pre [...]ixed to Turner's PRESERVATIVE, a tract againſt the Pelagians, dedicated to Hugh Latimer, printed Lond. 1551. 12mo. In the Conferences in the Tower with Campion the Jeſuit, in 1581, one Norton, but not our author, ſeems to have been employed as a notary. See ‘"A TRUE REPORTE OF THE DISPUTATION, &c."’ Lond. 1583. Bl. Lett. 4to. SIGNAT. A a. iij.
c
For the benefit of thoſe who wiſh to gain a full and exact information about this edition, ſo as to diſtinguiſh it from all the reſt, I will here exhibit the arrangement of the lines of the title page. ‘"The Tragidie of Ferrex | and Porrex, | ſet forth without addition or alteration | but altogether as the ſame was ſhewed | on ſtage before the queenes maieſtie, | about nine yeares paſt, vz. the | xviij daie of Januarie. 1561. by the Gentlemen of the | Inner Temple. | Seen and allowed &c. | Imprinted at London by | John Daye, dwelling ouer Alderſgate."’ With the Bodleian copy of this edition, are bound up four pamphlets againſt the papiſts by Thomas Norton.
d
On the books of the Stationers, ‘"Th [...] Tragedie of GORDO [...]UC where iij actes were written by Thomas Norton and the laſte by Thomas Sackvyle,"’ is entered in 1565-6, with William Grif [...]iths. REGIST [...]. A. fol. 132. b.
e
In the year 1717, my father, then a fellow of Magdalene college at Oxford, gave this copy to Mr. Pope, as appears by a letter of Pope to R. Digby, dat. Jun. 2. 1717. See Pope's LETTERS [...] vol. ix. p. 39. edit. 12mo. 1754. ‘"Mr. Warton forced me to take Gordobuc, &c."’ Pope gave it to the late biſhop Warburton, who gave it to me about ten years ago, 1770.
f
Act iv. Sc. ult.
g
Kingdoms, edit. 1565.
h
Still, omitt. edit. 1565.
i
This, edit. 1565.
k
Very, a worſe reading, in edit. 1571.
l
Mournings, edit. 1565.
m
Act iii. Sc. ult.
n
Tiſiphone.
o
Partie, edit. 1565.
p
Father [...], edit. 1565.
q
It is, edit. 1565.
r
And, edit. 1565.
s
States, edit. 1565.
t
To free randon, edit [...] 1565.
u
Act i. Sc. ii.
w
For with, edit. 1565.
x
Natural.
y
Brutiſh, edit. 15 [...]5.
z
Sithence, edit. 1565.
a
Honour, edit. 1565.
b
Had, edit. 1565.
c
Ibid.
d
Within, edit. 1565.
e
Portes, edit. 1565.
f
Act ii. Sc. i.
g
In the edition of 1565, this word is preparacion. I mention this, as a ſpecimen of the great incorrectneſs of that edition.
h
Wrapped, rapt, i. e. raviſhed. I once conjectured warped. We have ‘"wrapped in wo."’ Act iv. Sc. ii.
i
The, edit. 1565.
k
Ki [...]e, edit. 1565.
l
The ſha [...]t of the lauce.
m
Act iv. S [...]. ii.
n
Act iv. Sc. i.
o
Act ii. Sc. i.
p
Pluto.
q
Tantalus, edit. 1565.
r
The vulture of Prometheus.
s
Act iii. Sc. i.
t
Nature.
u
Act iv. Sc. ii.
w
See Signat. D. V. edit. 1571.
x
For inſ [...]ance, ‘"Seven ſteppes to heaven, alſo The ſeven p [...]almes reduced into meter by W. Hunnys, The honny ſuccles, &c."’ by Hunnys. Nov. 8, 1581, to Denham. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 185. a. Alſo, in the ſame year, ‘"The picture of two pernicious varlettes called Prig Pickthank and Clem Clawbacke deſcribed by a peeviſhe painter."’ Ibid. fol. 184. a. All ‘"under the hands of Mr. THOMAS NORTON."’ Et alibi paſ [...]im. ‘"The STAGE OF POPISHE TOYES, written by T. N."’ perhaps the ſame, is licenced to Binneman, feb. 22. 1580. Ibid. fol. 178. a.
y
The ſame may be ſaid of Sackville's SONNET prefixed to Thomas Hoby's Engliſh verſion of Caſtiglio's I [...] CORTEGIANO, firſt printed in 1556. The third part, on the behaviour of Court-ladies, appears to have been tranſlated in 1551, at the requeſt of the marchioneſs of Northampton.
a

See PHOENISS. pag. 140. edit. Barneſ.

[...]
[...]
[...], &c.
b
So Tibullus, where he cautions Mar [...] not to gaze on his miſtreſs. Lib. iv. ii. 3.
. . . . . At tu, violente, caveto,
Ne tibi miranti turpiter arma cadant.
c
Act ii. Sc. ult.
d
Spring.
e
Mates.
f
Act iv. Sc. ult.
g
It may be proper to obſerve here, that the tragedy of TANCRED and GISMUND, acted alſo before the queen at the Innertemple, in 1568, has the chorus. The title of this play, not printed till 1592, ſhews the quick gradations of taſte. It is ſaid to be ‘"Newlie revived and poliſhed according to the decorum of theſe daies, by R. W. Lond. printed by T. Scarlet, &c. 1592."’ 4to. R. W. is Robert Wilmot, mentioned with applauſe as a poet in Webbe's DISCOURSE, Signat. C 4. The play was the joint-production of five ſtudents of the ſociety. Each ſeems to have taken an act. At the end of the fourth is Compoſuit Chr. Hatton, or ſir Chriſtopher Hatton, undoubtedly the ſame that was afterwards exalted by the queen to the office of lord Keeper for his agility in dancing.
h
I will not marry.
i
Ready.
k
Road. Path.
l
Read, of.
m
‘"She giueth him a ſtaffe and ſtayeth him herſelf [...] alſo."’ Stage-direction.
n
Act v. Sc. ult.
n
It is impoſſible to repreſent the Greek, v. 1681.
[...]
o
‘"The dear old woman,"’ in the Greek.
p
Creon had refuſed Polynices the rites of ſepulture. This was a great aggravation of the diſtreſs.
q
PHOENISS. v. 1677. ſeq. pag. 170. edit. Barneſ.
r
Command. Kill. By the way, this is done throughout this edition of Gaſcoigne's Poems. So we have Nill, will not, &c.
s
Pag. 128. Among others, words not of the obſolete kind are explained, ſuch as Monarchie, Diademe, &c. Gaſcoigne is celebrated by Gabriel Harvey, as one of the Engliſh poets who have written in praiſe of women. GRATULAT. VALIDENS. edit. Binneman, 1578. 4to. Lib. iv. p. 22.
CHAUCERUSQUE adſit, SURREIUS et inclytus adſit,
GASCOIGNOQUE aliquis ſit, mea Corda, locus.
t
Coloph. ‘"IMPRINTED AT LONDON IN FLEETSTREETE Near vnto Sainct Dunſ [...]on's church by Thomas Marſhe, 1581."’ Containing 217 leaves.
u
I know not the purport of a book licenced to E. Matts, ‘"Diſcourſes on Seneca the tragedian,"’ Jun. 22, 1601. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 71. b.
w
See NEWT. edit. fol. 121. a.
x
But I muſt except the MEDEA, which is entered as tranſlated by John Studley of Trinity college in Cambridge, in 1565-6, with T. Colwell. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 140. b. I have never ſeen this ſeparate edition. Alſo the HIPPOLITUS, is entered to Jones and Charlewood, in 1579. REGISTR. B. In 1566-7, I find an entry to Henry Denham, which I do not well underſtand, ‘"for printing the fourth part of Seneca's workes."’ REGISTR. A. fol. 152. b. HIPPOLITUS is the fourth Tragedy.
y
Bl [...] Lett. 12mo.
z
Entered in 1565-6. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 136. b.
a
See ſupr. p. 290.
b
In quarto. Bl. Lett. ‘"The pageaunt of POPES, &c. &c. Engliſhed with ſundrye additions, by J. S."’ For Thomas Marſhe, 1574.
c
At the end of Bartholomew Dodington's EPISTLE of Carr's Life and Death, addreſſed to ſir Walter Mildmay, and ſubjoined to Carr's Latin Tranſlation of ſeven Orations of Demoſthenes. Lond. 1571. 4to. Dodington, a fellow of Trinity college, ſucceeded Carr in the Greek chair, 1560. See Camden's MONUM. Eccleſ. Coll. Weſtmon. edit. 1600. 4to. Signat. K 2.
d
Where he died in 1617, and is buried with an epitaph in Engliſh rhyme. See Bentham's ELY. p. 251.
e
Feb. 21.
f
For in that year, there is a receipt for licence to Henry Denham to print it. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 148. b.
g
But in 1563, is a receipt for Thomas Colwell's licence to print ‘"a boke entituled the Lamentable Hiſtory of the prynce Oedypus."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 89. a.
h
Fol. 78. a.
i
Lambarde, PERAM [...]. KENT. p. 72.
k
MS. Catal. Grad. Univ. Cant.
l
Strype's GRINDAL, p. 196.
m
Strype, LIFE OF PARKER, p. 497. He is ſtyled ARMIGER. See alſo the Dedication to his KETTUS.
n
Lond. 4to. The title is, ‘"KETTUS, [...]ive de furoribus Norfolcienfium Ketto duce."’ Again at London, 1582, by Henry Binneman, 8vo. And in Engliſh, 1615, and 1623. The diſturbance was occaſioned by an incloſure in 1549, and began at an annual play, or ſpectacle, at Wymondham, which laſted two days and two nights, according to antient cuſtom, p. 6. edit. 1582. He cites part of a [...]allad ſung by the rebels, which had a moſt powerful effect in ſpreading the commotion, p. 88. Prefixed is a copy of Latin verſes on the death of his patron archbiſhop Parker. And a recommendatory Latin copy by Thomas Drant, the firſt tranſlator of Horace. See alſo Strype's PARKER, p. 499. N [...]vile has another Latin work, APOLOGIA AD WALLIAE P [...]OCE [...]ES, Lond. for Binneman, 1576. 4to. He is mentioned in that part of G. Gaſcoi [...]e's poem [...] called DEVISES. His name, and the date 1565, are inſcribed on the CARTULARIUM S. GREGORII CANTUARIAE, among biſhop More's books, with two Latin lines which I hope he did not intend for hexameters.
o
It is ſometimes accompanied with an engraved map of the Saxon and Britiſh kings. See Hollinſh. CHRON. i. 139.
p
Lond. 4to. viz. ‘"Academiae Cantabrigie [...]ſis Lacrymae tumulo D. Philippi Sidneii ſacratae."’
q
See Note in the Regiſter of the Stationers Company, dated May 3, 1577. Regiſtr. B. fol. 139. b. It was not finiſhed in 1597.
r
Octob. 4. Batteley's CANTERB. App. 7. Where ſee his Epitaph. He is buried in a chapel in Canterbury cathedral with his brother Thomas, dean of that church. The publication of Seneca's OEDIPUS in Engliſh by Studley, or rather Gaſcoigne's JOCASTA, produced a metrical tale of ETROCLES AND POLYNICES, in ‘"THE FORREST OF FANCY, wherein is contained very pretty APOTHEGMES, and PLEASANT HISTORIES, both in meeter and proſe, SONGES, SONETS, E [...]IGRAMS, and EPISTLES, & [...]. Imprinted at London by Thomas Pur [...]oote, &c. 1579."’ 4to. See SIGNAT. Bij. Perhaps Henry Chettle, or Henry Con [...]able, is the writer or compiler. [See ſupr. p. 292.] At leaſt the colophon is, ‘"Fini [...], H. C."’ By the way, it appears, that Chettle was the publiſher of Greene's GROATSWORTH OF WIT in 1592. It is entered to W. Wrighte, Sept. 20. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 292. b.
s
In 12mo.
t
In 12mo. It is dedicated in verſe to ſir John Maſon. Then follows in verſe alſo, ‘"The tranſlatour to the booke."’ From the metrical Preface which next follows [...] I h [...]v [...] cited many ſtanza [...] See ſupr. p. 273. This is a Viſion of the poet Seneca, containing 27 pages. In the courſe of thi [...] PREFACE, he laments a promiſing youth juſt dead, whom he means to compliment by ſaying, that he now ‘"lyues with Jo [...]e, another Ganymede."’ But he is happy that the father ſurvives, who ſeem [...] to be ſ [...] John Maſon. Among the old Roman poets he mentions Palingenius. After Seneca has delivered him the THYESTES to tranſlate, he feels an unuſual agitation, and implores Megaera to inſpire him with tragic rage.
"O thou Megaera, then I ſayd,
"If might of thyne it bee
"(Wherewith thou Tantall drouſte from hell)
"That thus dyſturbeth mee,
"Enſpyre my pen!"—
This ſayde, I felt the Furies force
Enflame me more and more:
And ten tymes more now cha [...]te I was
Than e [...]er yet before.
My haire ſtoode vp, I waxed wood a,
My ſynewes all dyd ſhake:
And, as the [...]urye had me vext,
My teethe began to quake.
And thus en [...]lamede, &c.
He then enters on his tranſlation. Nothing is here wanting but a better ſtanza.
a
Mad.
u

So Milton, on the ſame ſubject, and in the true ſenſe of the word, PAR. L. ii. 625.

—All monſtrous, all PRODIGIOUS things.
w
I have never ſeen this edition of 1560 or before, but he ſpeaks of it himſelf in the METRICAL PREFACE to the THYESTES juſt mentioned, and ſays it was moſt careleſsly printed at the ſign of the hand and ſtar. This muſt have been at the ſhop of Richard Tottel within Temple Bar.
x
Fol. 95. a.
y
See Harrington's Epigrams, ‘"Of old Haywood's ſonnes."’ B. ii. 102.
z
Among Wood's papers, there is an oration DE LIGNO ET FOEN [...], ſpoken by Heywood's cotemporary and fellow-collegian, David de la Hyde, in commendation of his execution of this office.
a
MS. Collectan. Fr. Wiſe. See LIF [...] OF SIR T. POPE.
b
EPIGR. lib. iii. Epigr. i.
c
ATH. OXON. i. 290.
d
H. Morus, HIST. PROVIN [...]. ANGL. SOC. JES. Lib. iv. num. 11. ſub ann. 1585.
e
With theſe initials, there is a piece pre [...]ixed to Gaſ [...]oigne's poems, 1579.
f
There is a receipt from Marſh for ‘"Seneca [...]s Tragedies in Engliſhe."’ Jul. 2. 1581. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 181. b. The Engliſh verſion ſeems to have produced an edition of the original for Man and Brome, Sept. 6. 1585. Ibid. fol. 205. b.
g

Dated. ‘"From Butley in Cheſhyre the 24. of Aprill. 1581."’

I am informed by a manuſcript note of Oldys, that Richard Robinſon tranſlated the THEBAIS. Of this I know no more, but R. Robinſon was a large writer both in verſe and proſe. Some of his pieces I have already mentioned. He wrote alſo ‘"CHRISMAS RECREATIONS of hiſtories and moralizations aplied for our ſolace and conſolacions,"’ licenced to T. Eaſt, Dec. 5. 1576. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 136. b. And, in 1 [...]69, is entered to Binneman, ‘"The ruefull tragedy of H [...] midos, &c. by Richard Robinſon."’ REGISTR. A. fol. 190. a. And, to T. Dawſon in 1579, Aug. 26, ‘"The Vineyard of Vertue a booke gathered by R. Robinſon."’ REGISTR. B. fol. 163. a. He was a citizen of London. The reader recollects hi [...] Engliſh GESTA ROMANORUM, in 1577. He wrote alſo ‘"The avncient order, ſocietie, and vnitie laudable, of PRINCE ARTHURE, and his knightly armory of the ROUND TABLE. With a threefold aſſertion, &c. Tranſlated and collected by R. R."’ Lond. for J. Wol [...]e, 1583. Bl. Lett. 4to. This work is in metre, and the armorial bearings of the knights are in verſe. Prefixed is a poem by Churchyard, in praiſe of the Bow. His tranſlation of Leland's ASSERTIO ARTHURI (Bl. Lett. 4to.) is entered to J. Wolfe, Jun. 6, 1582. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 189. b. I find, licenced to R. James in 1565, ‘"A boke intituled of very pleaſaunte ſonnettes and ſtoryes in myter [metre] by Clement Robynſon."’ REGISTR. B. fol. 141. a.

h
REGISTR. ibid.
i
Ibid.
k
His maſter John Brunſwerd, at Macclesfield [...]ſchool, in Cheſhire, was no bad Latin poet. See his PROGYMNASMATA ALQUOT POEMATA, Lond. 1590. 4to. See Newton's ENCOM. p. 128. 131. Brunſwerd died in 1589, and his [...]pitaph, made by his ſcholar Newton, yet remains in the chancel of the church of Macclesfield.
Alpha poetarum, coryphaeus grammaticorum,
Flos [...], hac ſepelitur humo.
l
Lond. 1589. 4to. Reprinted by Hearne, Oxon. 1715. 8vo.
m
In quarto. With a SUMMARY annexed on the ſame ſubject.
n
In quarto. For W. Johnes.
o
In quarto.
p
See Heywood's Prologue to Marlow's JEW OF MALTA, 1633.
q
In octavo. From the Latin of Lamb [...] Danaeus.
r
‘"Vocabula magiſtri Stanbrigii ab infinitis quibus ſcatebant mendis repurgata, obſervata interim (quoad ejus [...]ieri potuit) carminis ratione, et meliuſc [...]le etiam correcta, ſtudio et induſtria Thomae Newtoni Ceſtreſhyrii. Edinb. excud. R. Waldegrave."’ I know not if this edition, which is in octavo, is the firſt. See our author's ENCOM. p. 128. Our author publiſhed one or two tranſlations on theological ſubjects.
s
I find nothing of this in REGISTER. B.
t
They are mentioned by Ames, with theſe pieces, viz. ‘"Paſquin in a traunce. The hoppe gardein. Ovid's metamorphoſis. The courtier. Ceſar's commentaries in Engliſh. Ovid's epiſtles. Image of idleneſſe. Flower of frendſhip. Schole of vertue. Gardener's laborynth. Demoſthene's orations."’ I take this opportunity of acknowledging my great obligations to that very reſpectable ſociety, who in the moſt liberal manner have indulged me with a free and unreſerved examination of their original records: particularly to the kind aſſiſtance and attention of one of its members, Mr. Lockyer Davies, Bookſeller in Holbourn.
u
MSS. MUS. BODL. 55. 12. [Olim HYPER. BODL.] It begins,
"What harminge hurle of Fortune's arme, &c."
a

In quarto. Bl. Lett. At the end of the ſeventh book is this colophon, ‘"Per Thomam Phaer in foreſta Kilgerran finitum iij. Decembris. Anno 1557. Opus xij dierum."’ And at the end of every book is a ſimilar colophon, to the ſame purpoſe. The firſt book was finiſhed in eleven days, in 1555. The ſecond in twenty days, in the ſame year. The third in twenty days, in the ſame year. The fourth in fifteen days, in 1556. The fifth in twenty-four days, on May the third, in 1557, ‘"poſt periculum eius Karmerdini,"’ i. e. at Caermarthen. The ſixth in twenty days, in 1557.

Phaier has left many large works in his ſeveral profeſſions of law and medicine. He is pathetically lamented by ſir Thomas Chaloner as a moſt ſkilful phyſician, ENCOM. p. 356. Lond. 1579. 4to. He has a recommendatory Engliſh poem prefixed to Philip Betham's MILITARY PRECEPTS, tranſlated from the Latin of James earl of Purlilias, dedicated to lord Studley, Lond. 1544. 4to. For E. Whitchurch.

There is an entry to Pur [...]oot in 1566, for printing ‘"ſerten verſes of Cupydo by Mr. Fayre [Phaier]."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 154. a.

b
Ex coloph. ut ſupr.
c
In quarto. Bl. Lett. For Rowland Hall.
d

See ſupr. p. 287. His father was John Twyne of Bolington in Hampſhire, an eminent a [...]tiquary, author of the Commentary DE REBUS ALBIONICIS, &c. Lond. 1590. It is addreſſed to, and publiſhed by, with an epiſtle, his ſaid ſon THOMAS. Laurence, a fellow of All Souls and a civilian, and John Twyne, both THOMAS's brothers, have copies of verſes prefixed to ſeveral cotemporary books, about the reign of queen Eliſabeth. THOMAS wrote and tranſlated many tracts, which it would be ſuperfluous and tedious to enumerate here. To his BREVIARIE OF BRITAINE, a tranſlation from the Latin of Humphrey Lhuyd, in 1573, are prefixed recommendatory verſes, by Browne prebendary, and Grant the learned ſchoolmaſter, of Weſtminſter, Llodowyke Lloyd a poet in the PARADISE OF DAINTIE DEVISES, and his two brothers, aforeſaid, Laurence and John.

Our tranſlator, THOMAS TWYNE, died in 1613, aged 70, and was buried in the chancel of ſaint Anne's church at Lewes, where his epitaph of fourteen verſes ſtill, I believe, remains on a braſs plate affixed to the eaſtern wall.

Large antiquarian and hiſtorical manuſcript collections, by the father JOHN TWYNE, are now in Corpus Chriſti library at Oxford. In his COLLECTANEA VARIA, (ibid. vol. iii. fol. 2.) he ſays he had written the Lives of T. Robethon, T. Lupſet, Rad. Barnes, T. Eliot, R. Sampſon, T. Wriotheſle, Gul Paget, G. Day, Joh. Chriſtopherſon, N. Wooton. He is in Leland's ENCOMIA, p. 83.

e
Coloph. ut ſupr.
f
In quarto. Bl. Lett. For Abraham Veale.
g
Now ruined. But to this day called, Lord's Place.
h
For Thomas Creed.
i
All in quarto. Bl. Lett. In the edition of 1607, printed at London by Thom [...]s Creede, it is ſaid to ‘"be newly ſet forth for the delight of ſuch as are ſtudious in poetrie."’
k
In 1562, are entered with Nicholas England ‘"the fyrſte and ix parte of Virgill."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 85. a. I ſuppoſe Phaier's firſt nine books of the Eneid. And, in 1561-2, with W. Copland, the ‘"booke of Virgill in 4to."’ Ibid. fol. 73. b. See REGISTR. C. fol. 8. a. ſub ann. 1595.
l
See ‘"Maiſter Phaer's Concluſion to his interpretation of the Aeneidos of Virgil, by him conuerted into Engliſh ver [...]e."’
m
Wonderous.
n
REGISTR. A. fol. 32. b. See Clavell's RECANTATION, a poem in quarto, Lond. 1634. Clavell was a robber, and here recites his own adventures on the high-way. His firſt depredations are on Gad's-hill. See fol. 1.
o
In octavo. Licenced to Binneman, Jan. 24. 1582. ‘"By a copie printed at Leiden."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 192. b. At the end of the Virgil are the four firſt of David's pſalms Engliſhed in Latin meaſures, p. 82. Then follow ‘"Certayne Poetical Conceits (in Latyn and Engliſh) Lond. 1583."’ Afterwards are printed Epitaphs written by our author, both in Latin and Engliſh. The firſt, in Latin, is on James earl of Ormond, who died at Ely-houſe, Octob. 18. 1546. There is anot [...]er on his father, James Stanyhurſt, Recorder of Dublin, who died, aged 51, Dec. 27, 1573. With tranſlations from More's Epigrams. Stanyhurſt has a copy of recommendatory verſes prefixed to Verſtegan's RESTITUTION OF DECAYED INTELLIGENCE, Antwerp, 1605. 4to.
p
Fol. 289. p. 2.
q
For John Charlewood. But there is a former edition for Walley, 1585, 4to. I know not to which tranſlation of Virgil, Puttenham in THE ART [...] OF ENGLISH POESIE refers, where he ſays, ‘"And as one who tranſlating certaine bookes of Virgil's AENEIDOS into Engliſh meetre, ſaid, that Aeneas was fayne to trudge out of Troy, which terme became better to be ſpoken of a beggar, or of a rouge or a lackey, &c."’ Lib. iii. ch. xxiii. p. 229.
r
Fol. 9.
s
Gabriell Harvey, in his FOURE LETTERS AND CERTAINE SONNETS, ſays, ‘"I cordially recommend to the deare louers of the Muſes, and namely to the profeſſed ſonnes of the ſame, Edmond Spencer, Richard Stanihurſt, Abraham Fraunce, Thomas Watſon, Samuell Daniel, Thomas Naſhe, and the reſt, whom I affectionately thancke for their ſtudious endeuours commendably employed in enriching and poliſhing their natiue tongue, &c."’ LETT. iii. p. 29. Lond. 1592. 4to.
t
Signat. B.
u
Fol. 21.
w
‘"Harmonia [...]ive Catena Dialectica in Porphyrianas conſtitutiones,"’ a commentary on Porphyry's ISAGOGE. Lond. 1570. fol. Campion, then of S. John's college, afterwards the Jeſuit, to whom it was communicated in manuſcript, ſays of the author, ‘"Mirifice laetatus ſum, eſſe adoleſcentem in academia noſtra, tali familia, eruditione, probitate, cujus extrema pueritia cum multis laudabili maturita [...]e viris certare poſſit."’ EPISTOL. edit. Ingoldſtat. 1602. fol. 50. Four or five of Campion's EPISTLES are addreſſed to Stanyhurſt.
x
Meres mentions Stanyhurſt and Gabriel Harvey, as ‘"Jambical poets."’ Ubi ſupr. fol. 282. p. 2. Stanyhurſt tranſlated ſome epigrams of ſir Thomas More. They are at the end of his Virgil.
y
At the end of his Virgil. SIGNAT [...] H iij. He mentions the friends Damon and Pythias in the ſame piece.
z
In HI [...]RNIA. Com. WEST [...]MEATH.
a
In the title of his H [...]BDOMADA MARIANA he ſtyles himſelf ‘"Sereniſſimorum principum SAC [...]LLANUS."’ That is, Albert archduke of Auſtria and his princeſs Iſabell. Antw. 1609. 8vo.
b
Coxeter ſays a miſcellany was printed in the latter end of Eliſabeth's reign ‘"by R. S. that is, R. Stanyhurſt."’ I preſume he may probably mean, a collection called ‘"The PHOENIX NEST, Built vp with moſt rare and re [...]ined workes of noble men, woorthy knights, gallant gentlemen, Maſters of Art, and braue ſchollars. Full of varietie, excellent inuention, and ſingvlar delight, &c. Sett forth by R. S. of the Inner Temple gentleman. Imprinted at London by John Jackſon, 1593."’ 4to. But I take this R. S. to be Richard Stapylton, who has a copy of verſes prefixed to Greene's MAMILLIA, printed in 1593. Bl. Lett. By the way, in this miſcellany there is a piece by ‘"W. S. Gent."’ p. 77. Perhaps by William Shakeſpeare. But I rather think by William Smyth, whoſe ‘"CLORIS, or the Complaynt of the Paſſion of the deſpiſed Sheppard,"’ was licenced to E. Bolifaunt, Oct. 5, 1596. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 14. a. The initials W. S. are ſubſcribed to ‘"Corin's dreame of his faire CHLORIS,"’ in ENGLANDS HELICON. (Signat. H. edit. 1614,) And prefixed to the tragedy of LOCRINE, edit. 1595. Alſo ‘"A booke called AMOURS by J. (or G.) D. with certen other Sonnetts by W. S."’ is entered to Eleazar Edgar, Jan. 3, 1599. REGISTR. C. fol. 55. a. The initials W. S. are ſubſcribed to a copy of verſes prefixed to N. Breton's WIL OF WIT, &c. 1606. 4to.
c
They were both born in London. Thinne apud Hollinſh. vol. ii. 1590. Samuel wrote an elegant Latin Life of queen Mary, never printed. He has a Latin recommendatory poem prefixed to Edward Grant's SPICILEGIUM of the Greek tonge, a Dialogue, dedicated to Lord Burleigh, and printed at London in 1575. 8vo.
d
The Bucolics and Georgics, I think theſe, are entered, 1600. REGISTR. STAT. See alſo under 1595, ibid.
e
His brother Samuel aſſiſted in compiling the INDEX [...] a very laborious work, and made other improvements.
f
In quarto.
g
Lond. in quarto.
h
Quarto. For Ralph Newbery.
i
Lond. 1579. 12mo. At the end, is his FABLE of HERMES.
k
See ſupr. p. 260 [...] Among his original pieces are, ‘"A memorial of the charitable almes deedes of William Lambe, gentleman of the chapel under Henry 8th, and citizen of London, Lond. 1580. 8vo.—The Battel between the Virtues and Vices [...] Lond. 1582. 8vo.—The Diamant of Devotion in ſix parts, Lond. 1586. 12mo.—The Cundyt of Comfort, for Denham, 1579."’ He prefixed a recommendatory Latin poem in iambics to the VO [...]AGE of Dennis Settle, a retainer of the earl of Cumberland, and the companion of Martin Frobiſher, Lond. 1577. 12mo. Another, in Engliſh, to Kendal's FLOWRES OF EPIGRAMMES, Lond. 1577. 12mo. Another to John Baret's ALVEARE, or quadruple Lexicon of Engliſh, Latin, Greek, and French. Dedicated to Lord Burleigh, Lond. 1580. fol. edit. 2. [See MUS. ASHMOL. Oxon. 835.] Another to W. Whetſtone's ROCK OF REGARD. I take this opportunity of obſerving, that the works of one John Fleming an antient Engliſh poet, are in Dubliucollege library, of which I have no farther notice, than that they are numbered, 304. See REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 160. a. 171. a. 168. a.
l
His PANOPLIE is dedicated to Cordall. See LIFE OF SIR THOMAS POPE, p. 226. edit. 2.
m
For the ſake of juxtapoſition, I obſerve here, that Virgil's Bucolics and fourth Georgic were tranſlated by one Mr. Brimſly, and licenced to Man, Sept. 3, 1619. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 305. a. And the ‘"ſecond parte of Virgill's Aeneids in Engliſh, tranſlated by ſir Thomas Wroth knight,"’ Apr. 4, 1620. Ibid. fol. 313. b.
n
In 1594, Richard Jones publiſhed ‘"PAN HIS PIPE, conteyninge Three Paſtorall Eglog [...] in Englyſhe hexamiter with other delightfull verſes."’ Licenced Jan. 3. R [...]GISTR. STATION [...] B. fol. 316. b.
o
At the end of the counteſſe of Pembroke's J [...]y-church, in the ſame meaſure, Lond. 8vo. He wrote alſo in the ſame verſe, The lam [...]ntation of Amyntas for the death of Phillis [...] Lond. 1587. 4to. He tranſlated i [...]to Engliſh hexameters the beginning of H [...]liodorus's ETHIOPICS. Lond. 1591. 8vo.
p
At London, for H. Lownes, 1596. 16mo. Another edition appeared the ſame year, with hi [...] CYNTHIA and Legend of CASSANDRA. For the ſame, 1596. 16mo. In the preface of this ſecond edition he apologiſes for his Sonnets, ‘"I will vnſhaddow my conceit: being nothing elſe but an imitation of Virgill in the ſecond Eclogue of ALEXIS."’ But I find, ‘"CYNTHIA with certeyne SONNETTES and the Legend of CASSANDRA,"’ entered to H. Lownes [...] Jan. 1 [...], 1594. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 317. a.
q
Entered to T. Gubbyn and T. Newman, Jun. 11, 1588. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 229. b.
r
Entered April 1, to Cawood. Ibid. fol. 203. b. Lilly's GALATEA, however, appears to be entered as a new copy to T. Man, Oct. 1, 1591. Ibid. fol. 280. b.
s
Ver. 21. ſeq.
t
ELEG. Lib. i. iv. 61.
u
In quarto. White Lett. Containing twenty-four leaves.
w
REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 134. a.
x
Lond. Bl. Lett. 4to.
y
It is entered ‘"A boke entituled Ovidii Metamorphoſes."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 117. b.
z
Bl. Lett. 4to. It is ſuppoſed that there were earlier editions, viz. 1567, and 1576. The laſt i [...] mentioned in Coxeter's papers, who ſaw it in Dr. Rawlinſon's collection.
a
All in Bl. Lett. 4to. That of 1603, by W. W. Of 1612, by Thomas Purfoot.
b
Afterwards he ſays, of his author,
And now I have him made ſo well acquainted with our toong,
As that he may in Engliſh verſe as in his owne be ſoong,
Wherein although for pleſant ſtile, I cannot make account, &c.
c
Ove [...]lad [...]n.
d
Fol. 50. a. edit. 1603.
e
Hair.
e
A torch. The word is uſed by Milton.
f
Diſplaying.
g
Madneſs.
h
REGISTR. STATION. A. [...]ol. 186. a. See Malone's SUPPL. SHAKESP. i. 60. ſeq.
i
Impr at London, by W. Howe for R. Johnes. Bl. Lett. 12mo. In eight leaves
k
His dedication to the four firſt books of Ovid is from Cecil-houſe, 1564. See his Dedication to his Engliſh verſion of Peter A [...]etine's WAR OF ITALY WITH THE GOTHS, Lond. 1563. 12mo. To this he has prefixed a long preface on the cauſes of the irruption of the Goths into Italy. He appears to have alſo lived in the pariſh of All Saints ad murum, London-wall, in 1577. EPIST. prefixed to his SENECA. His POSTILS of Chytraeus are dedicated from Pauls Belchamp t [...] ſir W. Mildmay, March 10, 1570.
l
In quarto. It was afterwards corrected and printed by Thomas Wilcox, 1604.
m
Lond. 4to. Again 1578. There is the PSALTER in Engliſh, printed with Henry Middleton, by Arthur Golding. Lond. 1571. 4to.
n
The Dedication to Cecil is dated from Pauls Belchamp, 12 Octob. Lond. 12mo. Again, 1590. There was a tranſlation by Tipto [...]t earl of Worceſter, printed by Ra [...] [...]all. No date. I ſuppoſe about 1530.
o
Lond. 4to. To ſir Chriſtopher Hatton.
p
Lond. 4to.
q
Signat. B ij.
r
But I muſt obſerve, that one Henry Goldingham is mentioned as a geſticulator, and one who was to perform Arion on a dolphin's back, in ſome ſpectacle before queen Eliſabeth. M [...]RY PASSAGES AND JEASTS, MSS. HARL. 6395. One B. Goldingham is an actor and a poet, in 1579. in the pageant before queen Eliſabeth at Norwich. Hollinſh. C [...]RON. iii. f. 1298. col. 1.
s
Fol. 52. a. 53. b. edit. 1589. 4to.
t
Puttenham's A [...]TE O [...] ENGLISH PO [...] SIE, Lond. 1589. 4to. Lib. i. ch. 30. fol. 49. 51.
u
REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 174. a. To John Alde. The ſtory might however have been taken from Livy: as was ‘"The Tragedy of Appiu [...] and Virginia,"’ inverſe. This, reprinted in 1575, is entered to R. Jones, in 1567. Ibid. fol. 163. a. And there is the Terannye of judge Apius, a ballad, in 1569. Ibid. fol. 184. b.
w
REGISTR. A. fol. 192. b.
x

It is remarkable, that the ſign of Berthelette the king's printer in Fleet-ſtreet, who flouriſhed about 1540, was the Lucretia, or as he writes it, LUCRETIA ROMANA.

There is another Lucretia belonging to our old poetic ſtory. Laneham, in his Narrative of the queen's viſit at Kenilworth-caſtle in 1575, mentions among the favorite ſtory-books ‘"Lucres and Eurialus."’ p. 34. This is, ‘"A boke of ij lovers Euryalus and Lucreſſie [Lucretia] pleaſaunte and dilectable,"’ entered to T. Norton, in 1569. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 189. a. Again, under the title of ‘"A booke entituled the excellent hiſtorye of Euryalus and Lucretia,"’ to T. Creede, Oct. 19, 1596. REGISTR. C. fol. 14. b. This ſtory was firſt written in Latin proſe, and partly from a real event, about the year 1440, by Aeneas Sylvius, then imperial poet and ſecretary, afterwards pope Pius the ſecond. It may be ſeen in EPISTOLARUM LACONICARUM ET SELECTARUM FARRAGINES DUAE, collected by Gilbertus Cognatus, and printed at Baſil, 1554. 12mo. (See FARRAG. ii. p. 386.) In the courſe of the narrative, Lucretia is compared by her lover to Polyxena, Venus, and AEMILIA. The laſt is the Emilia of Boccace's Theſeid, or Palamon and Arcite. p. 481.

y
It is licenced to Colwell that year, with the title of the ‘"pleaſaunte fable of Ovide intituled Salmacis and Hermaphroditus."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 135. a.
z
In quarto. Lond. for T. Hackett. Bl. Lett.
a

REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 92. a. To William Griffiths. I know not whether the following were regular verſions of Ovid, or poems formed from his works now circulating in Engliſh. Such as, ‘"the Ballet of Pygmalion,"’ to R. Jones, in 1568. Ibid. fol. 176. a. Afterwards reprinted and a favorite ſtory. There is the ‘"Ballet of Pygmalion,"’ in 1568. Ibid. fol. 176. a.—‘"A ballet intituled the Golden Apple,"’ to W. Pickering, in 1568. Ibid. fol. 175. a.—‘"A ballet intituled Hercules and his Ende,"’ to W. Griffiths, in 1563. Ibid. fol. 102. b. There is alſo, which yet may be referred to another ſource, ‘"A ballet intituled the Hiſtory of Troilus, whoſe troth had well been tryed,"’ to Purfoote, in 1565. Ibid. fol. 134. b. This occurs again in 1581, and 1608. The ſame may be ſaid of the ‘"Hiſtory of the tow [two] mooſte noble prynces of the worlde Aſtio [...]ax and Polixene [Aſtyanax] of Troy,"’ to T. Hackett, in 1565. Ibid. fol. 139. a. Again, in 1567, ‘"the ballet of Acriſious"’ that is, Acriſius the father of Dan [...]e [...] Ibid. fol. 177. b. Alſo, ‘"A ballet of the meſyrable ſtate of king Medas,"’ or Midas, in 1569. Ibid. fol. 185. b. Theſe are a few and early inſtances out of many. Of the METAMORPHOSIS of PIGMALIONS IMAGE, by Marſton, printed 1598, and alluded to by Shakeſpeare, [MEAS. MEAS. iii. 2.] more will be ſaid hereafter.

There is likewiſe, which may be referred hither, a ‘"booke intitled Procris and Cephalus divided into four parts,"’ licenced Oct. 22, 1598, to J. Wolfe, perhaps a play, and probably ridiculed in the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, under the title Shefalus and Procrus. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 302 [...] a.

There is alſo, at leaſt originating from the Engliſh Ovid, a paſtoral play, preſented by the queen's choir-boys, Peele's ARRAIGNEMENT OF PARIS, in 1584. And I have ſeen a little novel on that ſubject, with the ſame compliment to the queen, by Dickenſon, in 1593. By the way, ſome paſſages are transferred from that novel into another written by Dickenſon [...] ‘"ARISBAS, Euphues amidſt his ſlumbers, or Cupid's Iourney to hell, &c. By J. D. Lond. For T. Creede, 1594. 4to."’ One of them, where Pomona falls in love with a beautiful boy named Hyalus, is as follows. Signat. E 3. ‘"She, deſirous to winne him with ouer-cloying kindneſſe, ſed him with apples, gaue him plumes, preſented him peares. Having made this entrance into her future ſolace, ſhe would vſe oft his company, kiſſe him, coll him, check him, chucke him, walke with him, weepe for him, in the [...]ields, neere the fountaines, ſit with him, [...]ue to him, omitting no kindes of dalliance to to woe him, &c."’ I have ſelected this paſſage, becauſe I think it was recollected by Shakeſpeare in the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, where he deſcribes the careſſes beſtowed by the queen of the fairies on her loved boy, ACT v. Sc. i.

Come ſit thee down upon this flowery bed
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And ſtick muſk roſes in thy ſleek ſmooth head.—
I have a ventrous fairy that ſhall ſeek
The ſquirrel's hoard, &c.

See alſo, ACT ii. Sc. i. In the ARRAIGNEMENT OF PARIS juſt mentioned, we have the ſame ſubject and language.

Playes with Amyntas lu [...]ty boye, and coyes him in the dales.

To return. There is, to omit later inſtances, ‘"A proper ballet dialogue-wiſe between Troylus and Creſſida,"’ Jun. 23, in 1581. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 180. b. ‘"Endimion a [...]d Phebe,"’ a booke, to John Buſbye, April 12, 1595. Ibid. fol. 131 [...] b. A ballad, ‘"a mirror meete for wanton and inſolent dames by example of Meduſa kinge of Phorcius his daughter."’ Feb. 13, 1577. Ibid. fol. 145. b. ‘"The Hiſtory of Glau [...]us and Scylla,"’ to R. Jones, Sept. 22, 1589. Ibid fol. 248. b. Narciſſus and Phaeton were turned into plays before 1610. See Heywood's APOLOG. ACTORS. Lilly's SAPPHO and PHAO, ENDIMION, and MIDAS, are almoſt too well known to be enumerated her [...]. The two laſt, with his GALATH [...]A, were licenced to T. Man, Oct. 1, 1590. [But ſee ſupr. p. 406.] Of PENELOPES WEBBE, unleſs Greene's, I can ſay nothing, licenced to E. Aggas, Jun. 26, 1587. Ibid. fol. 219. b. Among Harrington's EPIGRAMS, is one entitled, ‘"Ouid's Confeſſion tranſlated into Engliſh for General Norreyes, 1593."’ EPIGR. 85. lib. iii. Of this I know no more. The ſubject of this note might be much further illuſtrated.

b
As, ‘"Maukin was a Coventry mayde,"’ moraliſed in 1563. REGISTR. A. fol. 102. a. With a thouſand others. I have ſeen other moraliſations of Ovid's ſtories by the puritans. One by W. K. or William Kethe, a Scotch divine, no unready rhymer, mentioned above, p. 305. In our ſingingpſalms, the pſalms 70, 104, 122, 125, 134, are ſignatured with W. K. or William Kethe. Theſe initials have been hitherto undecyphered. At the end of Knox's APPELLATION to the Scotch biſhops, printed at Geneva in 1558, is pſalm 93 [...] turned into metre by W. Kethe. 12mo. He wrote, about the ſame time, A ball [...]d on the fall of the whore of Babylon, called ‘"Tye the m [...]re Tom-boy."’ See ſupr. p. 170. n. And Strype, ANN. REF. vol. ii. B. i. ch. 11. pag. 102. edit. 1725. Another is by J. K. or John Kepyer, mentioned above as another coadjutor of Sternhold and Hopkins, (ſee ſupr. p. 186.) and who occurs in ‘"The ARBOR OF AMITIE, wherein is compriſed pleſaunt poems and pretie poe [...]ies, ſet foorth by Thomas Howell gentleman, anno 1568."’ Imprinted at London, J. H. Denham, 12mo. Bl. Lett. Dedicated to ladie Anne Talbot. Among the recommendatory copies is one ſigned, John Keeper, ſtudent. See alſo ‘"J. K. to his friend H."’ fol. 27. a. And ‘"H. to K."’ ibid. Again, fol. 33. b. 34. a. and 38, 39, &c.
c
ACT i. SC. ii. edit. Oxf. 1638. 4to. Again, Mrs. Flowerdew ſays, ‘"Pray, ſir, continue the MORALIZING."’ ACT iii. SC. [...].
d
See REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 177. b.
e
Both are in octavo. Salma [...]s and Hermaphroditus was tranſlated by F. Beaumont, 1602. He alſo tranſlated part of Ovid's REMEDY OF LOVE. As did ſir T. Overbury the whole ſoon afterwards, Lond. 1620. 8vo. But I believe there is a former editi [...]n, no date. 8vo.
f
Bl Lett. Lo d. 4to. A ſecond edition appeared in 1587. But in 1 [...]68 [...]9, there is an entry to Francis Coldocke to print ‘"a boke entit [...] the end of the xth boke"’ of Heliodorus's Ethiopics. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 178. b.
g
In octavo. Bl. Lett.
h
REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 316. a. b. There were two impreſſions.
i
Dec. 25. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 55. a. To Brown and Jagger. Under the ſame year occur, Ovydes Epiſtles in Englyſhe, and Ovydes Metamorphoſes in Englyſhe. Ibid. fol. 57. a. There ſeems to have been ſome difficulty in procuring a licence for the ‘"Comedie of Sappho,"’ Apr. 6, 1583. REGISTR. B. fol. 198. b.
k
In quarto.
l
‘"The Heroycall Epiſtles of the learned poet Publius Naſo in Engliſh verſe, ſet out and tranſlated by George Turberville gentleman, with Aulus Sabinus anſwere to certain of the ſame."’ Lond. for Henry Denham, 1 [...]67. 12mo.
m
In 1569 and 1600. All at Lond. Bl. Lett.
n
I find entered to Henry Denham, in 1565-6, a boke called ‘"the fyrſte epeſtle of Ovide."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 148. b. Again the ſame year, to the ſame, ‘"An epeſtle of Ovide beynge the iiijth epeſtle."’ Ibid. fol. 149. a. In the ſame year, to the ſame, the reſt of Ovid's Epiſt [...]es. Ibid. fol. 152. a. There is ‘"A booke entit. Oenone to Paris, wherein is deciphered the extremitie of Love, &c."’ To R. Jones, May 17, 1594. REGISTR. B. fol. 307. b.
o
In the Defenſative againſt the poyſon of ſuppoſed propheſies, written by Henry Howard, afterwards earl of Northampton and lord privy-ſeal, and printed (4to.) in 1583, the printer, John Charlewood, ſtyles himſelf printer to Philip earl of Arundel. And in many others of his books, he calls himſelf printer to lord Arundel. Otherwiſe, he lived in Barbican, at the ſign of the Half eagle and Key.
p
The four firſt Eclogues of Mantuan, I ſuppoſe in Engliſh, were entered to Binneman in 1566. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 151. b. And ‘"the reſt of the egloggs of Mantuan,"’ to the ſame, in 1566. Ibid. fol. 154. b.
q
Licenced to R. Jones, Aug. 1, 1589. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 246. b.
r
In quarto. An entry appears in 1577, and 1591. REGISTR. STATION.
s
REGISTR. A. fol. 102. It was reprinted, in 1568, for Griffiths, ibid. fol. 174. b. Again, the ſ [...]me year, for R. Jones, ‘"The ballet intituled the ſtory of ij faythfull lovers."’ Ibid. fol. 177. b. Again, for R. Tottell, in 1564, ‘"A tragicall hiſtorye that happened betweene ij Engliſhe lovers."’ Ibid. fol. 118. a. I know not if this be ‘"The famooſte and notable hiſtory of two faythfull lover [...] named Alfayns and Archelaus in myter,"’ for Colwell, in 1565. Ibid fol. 133. a. There is alſo ‘"A proper hiſtorye of ij Duche lovers,"’ for Purfoote, in 1567. Ibid. fol. 163. a. Alſo, ‘"The moſte famous hiſtory of ij Span [...]ſhe lovers,"’ to R. Jones, in 1569. Ibid. fol. 192. b. A poem, called The tragical hiſtory of DIDACO AND VIOLENTA, was printed in 1576.
f
HIST. PRINT. 532. 551.
u
I will exhibit the mode of entry more at large. ‘"To John Kynge THESE BOOKES FOLOWYNGE, Called A Noſegaye, The ſcole howſe of women, and alſo a Sacke full of Ne [...]ves"’ Then another paragraph begins, ‘"To Mr. John Wallis, and Mrs. Toye, theſe BALLETS FOLOWYNGE, that ys to ſaye,—."’ Then follow about forty pieces, among which is this of the Duke of Buckingham. REGISTR. A. fol. 22. a. But in theſe records, BOOK and BALLET are often promiſcuouſly uſed.
w
REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 137. b.
x
There is, printed in 1565, ‘"A ballet intituled Apelles and Pygmalyne, to the tune of the fyrſt Apelles."’ Ibid. fol. 140. b. And, under the year 1565, ‘"A ballet of kynge Polliceute [f. Polyeuctes] to the tune of Appelles."’ Ibid. fol. 133. b. Alſo, ‘"The Songe of Appelles,"’ in the ſame year. Ibid. fol. 138. a. By the way, Lilly's Campaſpe, firſt printed in 1591, might originate from theſe pieces.
y
Ibid. fol. 116. a.
z
Ibid. fol. 138. a.
a
Ibid. fol. 75. b.
b
Ibid. fol. 166. a.
c
For T. Marſhe. Ibid. fol. 118. b. [See ſupr. p. 181.]
d
I believe they were firſt tranſlated by ſir Thomas Hawkins, knight, in 1625.
e
That is, Quod malum eſt muta, quod bonum eſt prode, from his Epiſtle to Ru [...]inus.
f
At the end of this tranſlation, are, ‘"The waylings of the prophet Hieremiah done into Engliſhe verſe. Alſo Epigrammes. T. Drant, A [...]tidoti ſalutaris amator. Peruſed and allowed accordyng to the queenes maieſties iniunctions."’ Of the Epigrams, four are in Engliſh, and ſeven in Latin. This book is ſaid to be authoriſed by the biſhop of London. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 140. b. I know not whether or no the EPIGRAMS were not printed ſeparate: for in 1567, is licenced to T. Marſhe, ‘"A boke intituled Epygrams and Sentences ſpirituall by Draunte."’ Ibid. fol. 165. a. The argument of the JEREMIAH, which he compared with the Hebrew and the Septuagint, begins,
Jeruſalem is iuſtlie plagude,
And left diſconſolate,
The queene of townes the prince of realmes
Deueſted from her ſtate.
In 1586, Mar. 11, are entered to J. Wolfe, ‘"LAMENTATION OF JEREMYE in proſe and meeter in Engliſh, with Tremellius's Annotations to the proſe."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 216. a. See Donne's POEMS, p. 306. ſeq. edit. 1633. 4to.
g
With a Greek motto.
h
In quarto. Bl. L [...]tt. In the front of the Dedication he ſtyles himſelf ‘"Maiſter of Arte, and Student in Diuinitye."’ There is a licence in 1566-7, to Henry Week [...]s for ‘"Orace epeſtles in Engli [...]ſhe."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 155. a [...] And there is an entry of the EPISTLES in 1591. REGISTR. B. I find alſo entered to Colwell, ‘"The fyrſte twoo ſatars and peyſels of Orace Englesſhed by Lewis Evans ſchoolemaiſter,"’ in 1564. REGISTR. A. fol. 121. a. This piece is not catalogued among Evans's works in Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 178. Nor in Tanner, BIBL. p. 270.
i

We have this paſſage in a poem called PASQUILL'S MADNESSE, Lond. 1600. 4to. fol. 36.

And tell proſe writers, ſtories are ſo ſtale,
That pennie ballads make a better ſ [...]le.

And in Burton's Melancholy, [...]ol. 122. edit. 1624. ‘"If they reade a booke at any time ' [...]is an Engliſh Cronicle, ſir Huon of Bourdeaux, or Amadis de Gaule, a playe booke, or ſome pamphle [...]t of newes."’ Hollinſhed's and Stowe's CRONICLES became at length the only faſhionable reading. In The Guls Hornbook, it is ſaid, ‘"The top [the leads] of ſaint Paules containes more names than Stowe's Cronicle."’ Lond. 1609. 4to. p. 21. Bl. Lett. That the ladies now began to read novels we find from this paſſage, ‘"Let them learne plaine workes of all kinde, ſo they take heed of too open ſeaming. Inſteade of ſonges and muſicke, let them learne cookerie and laundrie. And inſtead of reading ſir Philip Sidney's ARCADIA, let them reade the Gr [...]undes of good Huſwi [...]ry. I like not a female poeteſſe at any hand.—Th [...]re is a pretty way of breeding young maides in an Exchange-ſhop, or Saint Martines le Grand. But many of them gett ſuch a [...]ooliſh trick with carrying their band-box to gentlemens chambers, &c."’ TOM OF ALL TRADES, or the plaine Path way to Preferment. &c." By Thomas Powell, Lond. 1631. 4to. p. 47, 48.

Female writers of poetry ſeem to have now been growing common: for, in his ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, Puttenham ſays, ‘"Darke worde, or doubtfull ſpeach, are not ſo narrowly to be looked vpon in a large poeme, nor ſpecially in the pretie poeſies and deuiſes of Ladies and Gentlewomen-makers, [poeteſſes,] whom we would not haue too preciſe poets, leaſt with their ſhrewd wits, when they were married, they might become a little too fantaſticall wiues."’ Lib. iii. ch. xxi. p. 209. Decker, in the GULS HORNBOOK, written in 1609, in the chapter How a gallant ſhould behave himſelf in a play-houſe, mentions the neceſſity of hoarding up a quantity of play-ſcraps, to be ready for the attacks of the ‘"Arcadian and Euphuiſed gentlewomen."’ Ch. vi. p. 27. ſeq. Edward Hake, in A Touchſtone for this time preſent, ſpeaking of the education of young ladies, ſays, that the girl is ‘"eyther altogither kept from exerciſes of good learning, and knowledge of good letters, or el [...]e ſhe is ſo nouſeled in AMOROU [...] bookes, vaine STORIES, and [...]onde trifeling fancies, &c."’ Lond. by Thomas Hacket, 1574, 12mo. SIGNAT. C 4. He adds, after many ſevere cenſures on the impiety of dancing, that ‘"the ſubſtaunce which is conſumed in twoo yeares ſpace vppon the apparaill of one meane gentlemans daughter, o [...] vppon the daughter or wife of one citizen, woulde bee ſufficient to finde a poore ſtudent in the vniuerſitye by the ſpace of foure or five yeares at the leaſt."’ Ibid. SIGNAT. D 2. But if girls are bred to learning, he ſays, ‘"It is for no other ende, but to make them companions of carpet knights, and giglots for amorous louers."’ Ibid. SIGNAT. C 4. Gabriel Harvey, in his elegy DE AULICA, or character of the Maid of Honour, ſays, among many other requiſite accompliſhments,

Saltet item, pingatque eadem, DOCTUMQUE POEMA
Pangat, nec Muſas neſciat illa meas.

See his GRATULATIONES VALDINENSES, Lond. Binneman, 1578. 4to. Lib. iv. p. 21. He adds, that ſhe ſhould have in her library, Chaucer, lord Surrey, and Gaſcoign [...], together with ſome medical books. Ibid. p. 22.

k
An inventor, a poet.
l
He means to expreſs the looſe and rough ver [...]ification of the SERMONES.
m
That which is.
n
Knowledge, wiſdom. Sapient [...]
p
Having a comely perſon. Or, to ſpeak with elegance.
q
I have never ſeen this word, which is perhaps provincial. The ſenſe is obvious.
r
Signat. C iiij.
s
Catal. Grad. Cant. MS.
t
MS. Tann.
u
For Thomas Daye. In quarto. The title is, ‘"In Solomonis regis ECCLESIASTEM, ſeu de Vanitate mundi Concionem, paraphraſis poetica. Lond. per Joan. Dayum 1572."’ There is an entry to Richard Fielde of the ‘"Eccleſiaſtes in Engliſhe verſe."’ Nov. 11, 1596. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 15. a. And, by Thomas Granger, to W. Jones, Apr. 30, 1620. Ibid. fol. 313. b.
w
Drant has two Latin poems prefixed to Nevill's KETTUS, 1575. 4to. Another, to John Seton's LOGIC with Peter Carter's annotations, Lond. 1574. 12mo. And to the other editions. [Seton was of ſaint John's in Cambridge, chaplain to biſhop Gardiner for ſeven years, and highly eſteemed by him. Made D. D. in 1544. Inſtalled prebendary of Wincheſter, Mar. 19, 1553. Rector of Henton in Hampſhire, being then forty-two years old, and B. D. See A. Wood, MS. C. 287. He is extolled by Leland for his diſtinguiſhed excellence both in the claſſics and philoſophy. He publiſhed much Latin poetry. See Strype's ELIZ. p. 242. Carter was alſo of S. John's in Cambridge.] Another, with one in Engliſh, to John Sadler's Engliſh verſion of Vegetius's TACTICS, done at the requeſt of ſir Edmund Brudenell, and addreſſed to the earl of Bedford, Lond. 1572. 4to. He has a Latin epitaph, or elegy, on the death of doctor Cuthbert Scot, deſigned biſhop of Cheſter, but depoſed by queen Eliſabeth for popery, who died a fugitive at Louvaine, Lond. 1565. He probably wrote this piece abroad. There is licenced to T. Marſh, in 1565, ‘"An Epigrame of the death of Cuthbert Skotte by Roger Sherlock, and replyed agaynſte by Thomas Drant."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 134. b. A Latin copy of verſes, DE SEIPSO, is prefixed to his HORACE.
x
Fol. 56.
y
Fol. 75.
z
Fol. 50.
a
Codd. Tanner Oxon. Two are dedicated to Thomas Heneage. Three to ſir Francis Knollys. Date of the earlieſt, 1569. Of the lateſt, 1572. In that preached at court 1569, he tells the ladies, he can give them a better cloathing than any to be found in the queen's wardrobe: and mentions the ſpeedy downfal of their ‘"high plumy heads."’ Signat. K v. Lond. 1570. 12mo. I find the following note by biſhop Tanner. ‘"Thomae Drantae Angli Andvordingamii PRAESUL. Dedicat. to Archbiſhop Grindal. PR. DED.—Illuxit ad extremum dies ille."’—I preſume, that under the word Andvording [...]amii is concealed our author's n [...]tive place. His father's name was Thomas.
b
At ſaint Maries Spittle. In the ſtatutes of many of the antient colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, it is ordered, that the candidates in divinity ſhall preach a ſermo [...], not only at Paul's-croſs, but at ſaint Mary's Hoſpital in Biſhopſgate-ſtreet, ‘"ad Hoſpitale beatae Mariae."’
c
Entered to T. Myllington, Mar. 7, 1596. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 20. b.
d
I preſume he means, an anonymous comedy called ‘"THE SHOEMAKERS HOLYDAY or the GENTLE CRAFT. With the humorous li [...]e of ſir John Eyre ſhoemaker, and Lord Mayor of London."’ Acted before the queen on New Year's Day by Lord Nottingham's players. I have an edition, Lond. for J. Wright, 1618. Bl. Lett. 4to. Prefixed are the firſt and ſecond THREE MAN'S SONGS. But there is an old proſe hiſtory in quarto called the GENTLE CRAFT, which I ſuppoſe is the ſubject of Harrington's Epigram, ‘"Of a Booke called the GENTLE CRAFT."’ B. iv. 11. ‘"A Booke called the GENTL [...] CRAFTE intreating of Shoemakers,"’ is entered to Ralph Blore, Oct. 19, 1597. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 25. a. See alſo ibid. fol. 63. a.
e
Edit. 1600. 4to. SIGNAT. D 2.
f
MSS. Coxeter.
a
In duodecimo. They are entered at Stationers Hall, Feb. 25, 1576. REGISTR. B. fol. 138. a. To John Sheppard.
b
Walter Haddon's POEMATA, containing a great number of metrical Latin epitaphs, were collected, and publiſhed with his LIFE, and verſes at his death, by Giles Fletcher and others, in 1576. See T. Baker's Letters to biſhop Tanner, MS. Bibl. Bodl. And by Hatcher, 1567. 4to.
c
John Parkhurſt, biſhop of Norwich, a great re [...]ormer, publiſhed, LUDICRA SEU EPIGRAMMATA JUVENILIA, Lond. 1572. 4to. Alſo, EPIGRAMMATA SERIA, Lond. 1560. 8vo. He died in 1574. See Wilſon's Collection of EPITAPHIA on Charles and Henry Brandon, Lond. 1552.
d
Kendal is mentioned among the Engliſh EPIGRAMMATISTS by Meres, ubi ſupr. fol. 274.
e
The firſt line is,
"Borbon in France bears bell awaie."
That is, Nicholas Borbonius, whoſe NUGAE, or Latin Epigrams, then celebrated, have great elegance. But Joachim du Bellai made this epigram on the Title.
Paule, tuum inſcribis NUGARUM nomine librum,
In toto libro nil melius titulo.
Our countryman Owen, who had no notion of Borbonius's elegant ſimplicity, was ſtill more witty.
Quas tu dixiſti NUGAS, non eſſe putaſti,
Non dico NUGAS eſſe, ſe [...] eſſe puto.
f
Fol. 289. p. 2.
g
Entered to T. Purfoote, Jan. 4, 1579. With ‘"certen orations of Iſocrates."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 165. a.
h
In quarto. Licenced to R. Jones. Jul. 31, 1581. Ibid. fol. 182. b.
i
MSS. Coxeter.
k
April 12. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 1 [...]1 [...] b.
l
Printed at Lond. 1586. 4to.
m

For Pur [...]oot, 4to. See Petowe's Preface, which has a high panegyric on Marlowe. He ſays he begun where Marlowe left off. In 1593, Sept. 28, there is an entry to John Wolfe of ‘"A book entitled Hero and Leander, beinge an amorous poem deviſed by Chriſtopher Marlowe."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 300. b. The tranſlation, as the entire work of Marlowe, is mentioned twice in Naſhe's LENTEN STUFF, printed in 1599. It occurs again in the regiſters of the Stationers, in 1597, 1598, and 1600. REGISTR. C. fol. 31. a. 34. a. I learn from Mr. Malone, that Marlowe finiſhed only the two firſt Seſtiads, and about one hundred lines of the third. Chapman did the remainder. Petowe publiſhed the Whipping of Runawaies [...] for Burbie, in 1603.

There is an old ballad on Jephtha judge of Iſrael, by William Petowe. In the year 1567, there is an entry to Alexander Lacy, of ‘"A ballett intituled the Songe of Jeſphas dowghter at his death."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 162. a. Perhaps this is the old ſong of which Hamlet in joke throws out ſome ſcraps to Polonius, and which has been recovered by Mr. Steevens. HAMLET, ACT ii. Sc. 7. [See alſo J [...]ffa judge o [...] Iſrael, in REGISTR. D. fol. 93. D [...]c. 14, 1624.] This is one of the pieces which Hamlet calls pious chanſons, and which taking their riſe from the reformation, abounded in the reign of Eliſabeth. Hence, by the way, we ſee the propriety of reading pious chanſons, and not po [...]s chanſons, or ballads ſung on bridges, with Pope. Rowe arbitrarily ſubſtituted Rubric, not that the titles of old ballads were ever printed in red. Rubric came at length ſimply to ſignify title, becauſe, in the old manuſcripts, it was the cuſtom to write the titles or heads of chapters in red ink. In the Statutes of Wincheſter and New college, every ſtatu [...]e is therefore called a RUBRICA.

n
But this verſion of Lucan is entered, as above, Sept. 28, 1593 [...] to John Wolfe, Ibid. fol. 300. b. Nor does it always apappear at the end of MUSAEUS in 1600. There is an edition that year by P. Short.
o
There is another edition in 1616, and 1629. 4to. The edition of 1616, with Chapman's name, and dedicated to Inigo Jones, not two inches long and ſcarcely one broad, is the moſt diminutive product of Engliſh typography. But it appears a different work from the edition of 1606. The [...]Ballad of Hero and Le [...]nder"’ is entered to J. White, Jul. 2, 1614. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 252. a. Burton, an excellent Grecian, having occaſion to quote MUSAEUS, cites Marlowe's verſion, MELANCHOLY, pag. [...]72. [...]eq. fol. edit. 1624.
p
Act v. Sc. ult.
q
Naſhe in his Elegy prefixed to Marlowe's DIDO, mentions five of his plays. Mr. Malone is of opinion, from a ſimilarity of ſtyle, that the Tragedy of LOCRINE, publiſhed in 1595, attributed to Shakeſpeare, was written by Marlowe. SUPPL. SHAKESP. ii. 190. He conjectures alſo Marlowe to be the author of the old KING JOHN. Ibid. i. 163. And of TITUS ANDRONICUS, and of the lines ſpoken by the players in the interlude in HAMLET. Ibid. i. 371.
r
In quarto. At London, by the widow Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke. Played by the children of the chapel. It begins,
"Come gentle Ganimed!"
It has been frequently confounded with John Rightwiſe's play on the ſame ſubject performed at ſaint Paul's ſchool before Cardinal Wolſey, and afterwards before queen Eliſabeth at Cambridge, in 1564. I have before mentioned the Latin tragedy of Dido and Eneas, performed at Oxford, in 1583, before the prince Alaſco. [See ſupr. ii. 383.] See what Hamlet ſays to the firſt Player on this favorite ſtory. In 1564, was entered a ‘"ballet of a lover blamynge his fortune by Dido and Eneas for thayre vntruthe."’ REGISTR. STATION. A fol. 116. a. In the TEMPEST, Gonzalo mentions the ‘"widow Dido."’ ACT iii. SC. i. On old ballads we read the Tune of queen Dido. Perhaps from ſome ballad on the ſubject, Shakeſpeare took his idea of Dido ſtanding with a willow in her hand on the ſea-ſhore, and beckoning Eneas back to Carthage. MERCH. VEN. ACT. v. SC. i. Shakeſpeare has alſo ſtrangely falſified Dido's ſtory, in the S. P. of K. HENRY THE SIXTH. ACT iii. SC. ii. I have before mentioned the interlude of Dido and Eneas at Cheſter.
s
Langbaine, who cites theſe lines without ſeeming to know their author, by a pleaſant miſtake has printed this word ſublunary. DRAM. POETS, p. 342.
t
Lond. edit. 1753. iv. p. 1256. That Marlowe was a favorite with Jonſon, appears from the Preface to one Boſworth's poems; who ſays, that Jonſon uſed to call the mighty lines of Marlowe's MUSOEUS fitter for admiration than parallel. Thomas Heywood, who publiſhed Marlowe's JEW OF MALTA, in 1633, wrote the Prologue, ſpoken at the Cockpit, in which Marlowe is highly commended both as a player and a poet. It was in this play that Allen, the founder of Dulwich college, acted the JEW with ſo much applauſe.
u
Hawkins's OLD PL. iii. p. 215. Lond. 1607. 4to. But it is entered in 1605, Oct. 16, to J. Wright, where it is ſaid to have been acted at ſaint John's. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 130. b. See other cotemporary teſtimonies of this author, in OLD PLAYS. (in 12 Vol.) Lond. 1780. 12mo. Vol. ii. 308.
w
A KNIGHT'S CONJURING, Signat. L. 1607. 4to. To this company Henry Chettle is admitted, [ſee ſupr. p. 291.] and is ſaluted in bumpers of Helicon on his arrival.
x
See Beard's THEATRE OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS, lib. i. ch. xxiii. And ‘"Account of the blaſphemous and damnable opinions of Chriſt. Marley and 3 others who came to a ſudden and fearfull end of this life."’ MSS. HARL. 6853. 80. fol. 320.
y
ATH. OXON. i. 338. See Meres, WITS TR. fol. 287.
z
Marſton ſeems to allude to this cataſtrophe, CERTAINE SATYRES. Lond. for Edmond Matts, 1598, 12mo. SAT. ii.
Tis looſe-leg'd Lais, that ſame common drab,
For whom good Tubro tooke the mortall ſtab.
By the way, Marlowe in his EDWARD THE SECOND, ſeems to have ridiculed the puritans under the character of the ſcholar Spencer, who ‘"ſays a long grace at a tables end, wears a little band, buttons like pins heads, and
—"is curate-like in his attire,
"Though inwardly licentious enough, &c."
a
Entered, I think for the firſt time, to T. Buſhell, Jan. 7, 1600. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 67. b. Or rather 1610, Sept. 13, to J. Wright. Ibid. fol. 199. b.
b
REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 241. b.
c
See Steevens's SHAKESP. vol. i. p. 297. edit. 1778.
d
Signat. P. 4. edit. 1614.
e
That is, acting the part of Diana.
f
Pretious.
g
The deſcription of the palace of the ſun wa [...] a favorite paſſage in Golding's Ovid.
h
Canopy. Shakeſpeare means a rich bed-canopy in SEC. P. HENR. iv. ACT iii. SC. i.
Under the canopies of coſtly ſtate.
i
See ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS, Lond. [...]600. 12mo. fol. 465.
k
THEATR. POETAR. MOD. P. p. 24. edit. 1680.
l
See a proceſs againſt Hall, in 1580, for writing a pamphlet printed by Binneman, related by Ames, p. 325.
m
In quarto. Bl. Lett. Novemb. 25, 1580, H. Binneman is licenced to print ‘"tenne bookes of the Iliades of Homer."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 175. a.
n
He me [...]ns the learned Roger Aſcham. It begins,
"I thee beſeech, O goddeſs milde, the hatefull hate to plaine."
o
Lond. 4to.
p
Lond. 4to.
q
In a thin folio.
r
He ſays in his COMMENTARY on the firſt book, that he had wholly tranſlated again his firſt and ſecond books [...] but that he did not even correct the ſeventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth. And that he believed his verſion of the twelve laſt to be the beſt. Butter's edit. ut infr. fol. 14. Meres, who wrote in 1598, mentions ‘"Chapman's inchoate Homer."’ fol. 285. p. 2. Ubi ſupr.
s
It is an engraved title-page by William Hole, with figures of Achilles and Hector, &c. In folio.
t
I ſuppoſe, by an entry in the regiſter of the Stationers, in 1611, April [...]. REGISTR. C. fol. 207. [...].
u
This Robert Hues, or Huſius, was a ſcholar, a good geographer and mathematician, and publiſhed [...] tr [...]ct in Latin on the Globes, Lond. 1593. 8vo. With other pieces in that way. There was alſo a Robert Hughes who wrote a Dictionary of the Engliſh and Perſic. See Wood, ATH. OXON. i. 571. HIST. ANTIQUIT. UNIV. OXON. Lib. ii. p. 288. b.
w
Already mentioned a [...] the publiſher of a poetical miſcellany in 1593. Supr. p. 401. ‘"The ſpiritu [...]ll poems or hymnes of R. S."’ are entered to J. Buſbie, Oct. 17, 1595. R [...]GI [...]TR. STATION. C. fol. 3. b.
x
Fol. 63.
y
Having wings on their feet.
z
Wrought. Finiſhed.
a
For Horſes.
b
Fol. 169, ſeq.
c
To the Duke of Lenox, the lord Chancellor, Lord Saliſbury lord treaſurer, earl of Suffolk, earl of Northampton, earl of Arundel, earl of Pembroke, earl of Montgomery, lord Liſle, counteſs of Montgomery, lady Wroth, counteſs of Bedford, earl of Southampton, earl of Suſſex, lord Walden, and ſir Thomas Howard. Lady Mary Wroth, here mentioned, wife of ſir Robert Wroth, was much courted by the wits of this age. She wrote a romance called URANIA, in imitation of [...]ir Philip Sydney's ARCADIA. See Jonſon's EPIGR. 103. 105.
d
In quarto.
e
This practice is touched by a ſatiriſt of thoſe times, in PASQUILL'S MAD CAPPE, Lond. Printed by J. V. 1600. 4to. fol. 2. Speaking of every great man.
He ſhall have ballads written in his praiſe,
Bookes dedicate vnto his patronage;
Wittes working for his pleaſure many waies:
Petegrues ſought to mend his parentage.
f
REGISTR [...] STATION [...] A. fol. 177. b. Mr. Steevens informs us, of an anonymous interlude, called THERSYTES his humours and conceits, in 1598. See Shakeſp. vol. ix. p. 166. See ibid. p. 331. And the verſions of Homer perhaps produced a ballad, in 1586, ‘"The Lamentation of Hecuba and the Ladies of Troye."’ Aug. 1, to E. White. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 209. a. Again to W. Matthews, Feb. 22, 1593, ‘"The Lamentation of Troye for the death of Hector."’ Ibid. fol. 305. a.
g
Licenced to E. White, Nov. 21, 1580. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 174. b.
h
See alſo Bolton's opinion of Chapman, ſupr. p. 276.
i
Elegy to Reynold [...], ut ſupr.
k
Fol. 185. ſeq.
l
Since this was written, I have diſcovered that ‘"Heſiod's Georgic [...] tranſlated by George Chapman,"’ were licenced to Miles Patrich, May 14, 1618. But I doubt if the book was printed. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 290. b.
m

But this is ſaid not without ſome degree of reſtriction. For Chapman wrote ‘"OVID'S BANQUET OF SAUC [...], A Coronet for his miſtreſs Philoſophy and his amorous Zodiac. Lond. 1595. 4to."’ To which is added, ‘"The AMOROUS CONTENTION of Phillis and Flora,"’ a tranſlation by Chapman from a Latin poem, written, as he ſays, by a Frier in the year 1400. There is alſo his PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA, dedicated in a prolix metrical Epiſtle to Carr earl of Som [...]rſet and Frances his counteſs. Lond. 1614. 4to. Chapman wrote a vindication of this pie [...]e, both in proſe and verſe, called, A free and offenceleſs Juſtification of a late publiſhed and miſinterpreted poem entitled ANDROMEDA LIBERATA. Lond. 1614. 4to.

Among Chapman's pieces recited by Wood, the following does not appear. ‘"A booke called Petrarkes ſeauen penitentiall pſalmes in verſe, paraphraſtically tranſlated, with other poems philoſophicall, and a hymne to Chriſt upon the croſſe, written by Geo. Chapman."’ To Matthew Selman, Jan. 13, 1611. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 215. a.

n
From the information of Mr. Wiſe, late Radcliffe's librarian, and keeper of the Archives, at Oxford.
o
The firſt of Chapman's plays, I mean with his name, which appears in the Stationers Regiſters, is the Tragedy of CHARLES DUKE OF BYRON. Entered to T. Thorp, Jun. 5, 1608. REGISTR. C. fol. 168. b.
p
Preface to SPANISH FRYER.
q
ATH. OXON. i. 592.
r
Wood has preſerved part of the epi [...]aph, ‘"Georgius Chapmannus, poeta Homericus, philoſophus verus (etſi chriſtianus poeta) pluſquam celebris, &c."’ Ubi ſupr.
s
In quarto. T. Creede.
t
Eſprit des Loix, Liv. xxvii. ch. 22.
u

I know not if tranſlations of Plautus and Terence are to be mentioned here with propriety. I obſerve however in the notes, that Plautus's MENAECHMI, copied by Shakeſpeare, appeared in Engliſh by W. W. or William Warner, author of Albion's England. Lond. 1595. Tanner ſays that he tranſlated but not printed all Plautus. MSS. Tann. Oxon. Raſtall printed TERENS IN ENGLISH, that is, the ANDRIA. There is alſo, ‘"ANDRIA the firſt Comedye of Terence,"’ by Maurice Ky [...]lin, Lond. 1588. 4to. By the way, this Kyffyn, a Welſhman, publiſhed a poem called ‘"The Bleſſedneſs of Brytaine, or a celebration of the queenes holy [...]ay."’ Lond. 1588. 4to. For John Wolfe. The EUNUCHUS was entered at Stationers Hall, to W. Leche, in 1597. And the ANDRIA and EUNUCHUS, in 1600. REGISTR. C [...] fol. 20 a. Richard Bernard publiſhed Terence in Engliſh, Cambr. 1598. 4to. A fourth edition was printed at London, ‘"Opera ac induſtria R. B. in Axholmienſi in [...]ula Lincolneſherii Epwortheatis."’ By John Legatt, 1614. 4to.

Three or four verſions of Cato, and one of Aeſop's Fables, are entered in the regiſter of the Stationers, between 1557 and 1571. REGISTR. A.

w
A receipt for Ralph Newbery' licence is entered for printing ‘"A boke called Pallingenius,"’ I ſuppoſe the original, 1560. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 48 a.
x
In [...]2mo. Bl. Lett. Not paged. The [...]aſt ſignature is Y y iiij. The colophon, ‘"Imprinted at London by Henry Denham, &c."’ On the ſecond leaf after the title, is an armorial coat with ſix copartments, and at the top the initials B. G. Then follow Latin commendatory verſes, by G [...]lbert Duke, Chriſtopher Carli [...]e doctor in divinity, James Itzwert, George Chatterton fellow of Chriſt college in Cambridge, and David Bell, with ſome anonymous. Doctor Chri [...]topher Carlile was of Cambridge, and a learned orientaliſt, about 1550. He pu [...]liſhed many tracts in divinity. He was a writer of Greek and Latin verſes. He has ſome in b [...] languages on the death of Bucer in 1551 [...] See Bucer's ENGLISH WORKS, Baſ [...]l. [...]ol. 1577. f. 903. And in the Collection on the death of the two Brandons, 1551. 4to. ut ſupr. Others, before his Reply to Richard Smyth, a papiſtic divine, Lond. 1582. 4to. He prefixed four Latin copies to Drant's ECCLESIASTES abovementioned, Lond. 1572. 4to. Two, to one of doctor John Jones's books on BATHS, Lond. 1572. 4to. A Sapphic ode to Sadler's verſion of Vegetius, Lond. 1572. 4to. A Latin copy to Chaloner's DE REP. ANGLORUM, Lond. 1579. 4to. A Latin hexa [...]tic to Batman's DOOM, Lond. 1581. 4to. Two of his Latin poems IN PAPAM, are (MS. Bale.) in MSS. Cotton. TIT. D. x. f. 77. He tranſlated the Pſalms into Engliſh proſe, with learned notes. Finiſhed Jun. 24, 1573. Among MSS. MORE, 206. Colomeſius has publiſhed a fragment of a Latin Epiſtle from him to Caſtalio, dat. kal. Maii, 1562. CL. VIROR. EPIST. SINGUL. Lond. 1694. 12mo.
y
In 12mo. Bl. Lett. See REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 88. b.
z
It is doubtful whether he means ſir Thomas Smith, the ſecretary. Nor does it appear, whether this tranſlation was in verſe or proſe. Sir Thomas Smith, however, has left ſome Engliſh poetry. While a priſoner in the Tower in 1549, he tranſlated eleven of David's Pſalms into Engliſh metre, and compoſed three Engliſh metrical prayers, with three Engliſh copies of verſes beſides. Theſe are now in the Britiſh Muſeum, MSS. REG. 17 A. xvii. I ought to have mentioned this before.
a
Strype's PARKER, p. 144.
b
Job.
c
Bl. Lett. 4to.
d
At the end is a ſhort copy of verſes by Abraham Fleming. See ſupr. p. 404.
e
B. [...]i. AQUARIUS.
f
It ſhould have been STELLATENSIS.
g
See ESSAY ON POPE, p. 94.
h
B. ii. TAURUS. Signat. B iij.
i
B. ix. Signat. H H ii [...]j.
k
Ibid. Signa [...]. G G iiij.
l
Reached.
m
Lib. iii. E j.
n
Going.
o
Beyond.
p
Signat. N j.
q
Pope's lines are almoſt too well-known to be tranſcribed.
Superiour beings, whe [...] of late they ſaw
A mo [...]tal man unfold all nature's law,
Admir'd ſuch wiſdom in an earthy ſhape,
And ſhew'd a Newton as we ſhew an Ape.
r
B. vi. Signat. Q iij.
s
B. vi. v. 186.
t
See fol. 8. b. 11. a. 124. a. edit. 1571.
u
I ſuſpect there is a former edition for W. Pickering, Lond. 1566. 4to.
w
In quarto.
x
Kirchmaier [...]ignifies the ſame in German as his aſſumed Greek name ΝΑΟΓΕΟΡΓΟΣ, a labourer in the church. He wrote beſides, five books of Satires, and two tragedies in Latin. He died in 1578. See ‘"Thomae Naogeorgii REGNUM PAP [...]STICUM, cui adjecta ſunt qua [...]dam alia ejuſdem argumenti. Baſil. 1553."’ 8vo. Ibid. 1559. One of his Latin tragedies called HAMAN [...]S, is printed among Oporin [...]'s DRAMATA SACRA, or plays from the Old Teſtament, in 1547, many of which are Latin verſions from the vernacular German. S [...]e Oporin. DRAM. S. vol. ii. p. 107.
y
In quarto, for Richard Watkins. In the Preface to the firſt edition, he ſays, ‘"For my ſafety in the vniuerſitie, I craue the aid and appeal to the defence of the famous Chriſt-college in Cambridge whereof I was on [...] an vnprofitable member, and [of] the ancient mother of learned men the New-college in Oxford."’
z
Feb. 1, 1577. There were other editions, 1578, 1594. Lond. 4to.
a
Cod. CRYNES, 886.
b
Sm. 8vo.
c
Fol. 71. a.
d
MSS. Coxeter.
e
De ORATORE, Lib. i. §. xi.
f
Ibid. Lib. ii. §. iv.
a
Serious book [...] in divinity, written by the papiſts. The ſtudy of controverſial theology flouriſhed at the univ [...]rſity of Louvain.
b
Conditions of life.
c
In ſuch univerſal vogue were the TRIUMPHS of Petrarch, or h [...] TRIONFI D' AMOUR, that they were made into a public pageant at the entrance, I think, of Charles th [...] fifth into Madrid.
d
Aſcham's SCHOOLEMASTER, edit. 1589. fol. 25. a. ſeqq. This book was begun ſoon after the year 1563. PREFACE, p. 1.
e
In quarto, for T. Berthelett. Again, 4to, 1561. For T. Powell. Again, 4to. 1567. For H. Wykes. It was written at Padua in 1548. Thomas, a bachelor in civil law at Oxford, and a clergyman, is ſaid to have been rewarded by Edward the ſixth with ſeveral preferments. See Strype's GRINDAL, p. 5.
f
For T. Vautrollier. 8vo.
g
For Vautrollier. 12mo.
h
But his Firſt Frute, or, Dialogues in Italian and Engliſh, with inſtruction for the Italian, appeared in 1578. His Italian dictionary, in 1595.
i
See ACT iv. Sc. ii.
k
For Thomas Purfoot. 12mo.
l
A ſecond edition was printed for H. Binneman, Lond. 1575. 4to.
m
A ſecond edition was printed by Thomas Marſh, in octavo. Both volumes appeared in 1575. 4to.
n
Lond. 1570. 12mo. At the end is an Engliſh tract againſt the aſtrologers, very probably written by Painter. Edward Dering, a fellow of Chriſt's college Cambridge, in a copy of recommendatory verſes prefixed to the ſecond edition o [...] Googe's Palingenius, attacks PAINTER, [...]ucas, and others, the abettors of Fulk's ANTIPROGNOSTICON, and the cenſu [...]rs of aſtrology. In the antient regiſters of the Stationers company, an Almanac is uſually joined with a PROGNOSTICATION. See REGISTR. A. fol. 59. b. 61. a.
o
In 1563, is a receipt for a licence to William Joiner for printing ‘"The Citye of Cyvelite, tranſlated into Englesſhe by William Paynter."’ REGISTR [...] A [...] ut ſupr. fol. 86. b. In 1565, there is a receipt for licence to W. James to print ‘"Serten hiſtoryes collected oute of dyvers ryghte good and profitable authors by William Paynter."’ Ibid. fol. 134. b. The ſecond part of the ‘"Palice of Pleaſur [...],"’ i [...] entered with Nicholas Englonde, in 1565. Ibid. fol. 156. a.
p
Entered that year, Aug. 5. to Watkins. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 134. a.
q
There is an Epiſtle to the Reader by R. W. In 1569, there is an entry with Richard James for printing ‘"A ballet int [...]tuled Sinorix Canna and Sinnatus."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 191. b. In Pettie' [...] tale, Camma is wife to Sinnatus.
r
There was a third in 1613. By. G. Eld. Lond. 4to. Bl. Lett.
s
ATH. OXON. i. 240. Pattie in conjunction with Bartholomew Young, tranſlated the Civil [...] Converſation of Stephen [...] Guazzo, 1586. 4to.
t
In quarto, for Thomas Gubbins.
u
In quarto. There is entered with Richard Smyth, in 1566, ‘"A boke intituled the xiij queſtions compoſed in the Italian by John Boccace."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 153. a.
w
See ſupr. vol. ii. p. 342 And EM. ADD.
x
In 12mo Ad calc. ‘"FINIS quod Edward L [...]wick."’ There is entered, in 1570, with H. Binneman, ‘"The pet [...]full hiſtory of ij lovyng Italians."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 204. b.
y
In 12mo. Bl. Lett. In that year Purfoot has licence to print ‘"the Hiſtory of Noſtagio."’ The ſame book. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 183. b. [See ſupr. p. 194.]
z
SIGNAT. A v.
a
In 12mo. Bl. Lett.
b
See alſo Meres, ubi ſupr. fol. 280. Under his name at length are ‘"Obſeruations on the Art of Engliſh Poeſie, Lond. by R. Field, 1602."’ 12mo. Dedicated to lord Buckhurſt, whom he calls ‘"the nobleſt judge of poeſie, &c."’ This piece is to prove that Engliſh is capable of all the Roman meaſures. He gives a ſpecimen of Lincenti [...]te Iambickes in Engliſh, our preſent blank verſe, p. 12. More of this hereafter. T. C. in our ſinging-pſalms, is affixed to pſalm 136. See above, p. 170. I believe he is the author of a Maſque preſented on Saint Stephen's Night, 1604.
c
In 1569, Thomas Colwell has licence to print ‘"A ballet of two faythfull frynds beynge bothe in love with one lady."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 193. a. This ſeems to be PALAMON AND ARCIT [...]. I know not whether I ſhould mention here, Robert Wilmot's tragedy of TANCRED AND GISMUND, acted before queen Eliſabeth at the Inner-temple, in 1568, [...]nd printed in 1592, as the ſtory, originally from Boccace, is in Paynter's Collection, and in an old Engliſh poem. [See ſupr. vol. ii. 238.] There is alſo an old French poem called GUICHARD ET SIGISMONDE, tranſlated from Boccace into Latin by Leo Aretine, and thence into French verſe by Jean Fleury. Paris. Bl. Lett. 4to. See DECAM [...]RON, Giorn. iv. Nov. i.
d
[...] games. See what is ſaid above of UL [...], vol. ii. p. 315.
e
P. ii. §. 2. pag. 230. edit. fol. 1624.
f
Under which year is entered in the regiſter of the Stationers, ‘"Recevyd of Mr. Tottle for his licenſe for pryntinge of the Tragicall hiſtory of the ROMEU [...] AND JULIETT with Sonnettes."’ REGISTR. A. fol. 86. a. It is again entered in theſe Regiſters to be printed, viz. Feb. 18, 1582, for Tottel. And Aug. 5, 1596 [...] as a n [...]we ballet, for Edward White. REGISTR. C. fol. 12. b.
g
REGI [...]TR. B. fol. 193. a. See laſt Note.
h
Fol. 143. b. 144. a. Epitaph on th [...] Death of Maiſter Arthur Brook [...]. edit. 2. 12mo. 1570.
i
In octavo. PRINC. ‘"Some men heretofore h [...]ue attempted."’
k
Oct. 14. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 142. b.
l
But W. W. may mean William Webbe, author of the DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POETRIE, 1586. I remember an old book with theſe initials; and which is entered to Richard Jones, in 1586, ‘"A hiſtory entituled a ſtrange and petifull nouell, dyſcourſynge of a noble lorde and his lady, with their tragicall ende of them and thayre ij children executed by a blacke morryon."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 187. b. There is a [...]ine old pathetic ballad, rather too bloody, on this ſtory, I think in Wood's collection of ballads in the Aſhmolean Muſeum.
m
Fol. 280. edit. 1598.
n
In quarto. Bl. Lett. This is the ſecond edition. The firſt being full of faults. TO THE READER, he ſays, ‘"One in penning pregnanter, and a ſchollar better than myſelfe, on whoſe graue the graſſe now groweth green, whom otherwiſe, though otherwiſe to me guilti [...], I name not, hath borrowed out of [...]uerie CALAMUS [of the Syri [...]x,] of the Storie herein handl [...]d, argument and inuention to ſeuerall bookes by him publiſhed. Another of late, hauing (fayning the ſame a Tranſlation) ſet foorth an hiſtorie of a Duke of Lancaſter neuer before authored, hath vouchſafed to incerte therein whole pages verbatim as they are herein extant, &c."’ The firſt edition i [...] entered to Pur [...]oot, Sept. 22, 1584. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 201. a.
o
Lond. by T. Orwin. 4to. Bl. Lett. But it is entered to Thomas Tadman, Nov. 7, 1586. REGISTR. B. fol. 212. b. As printed.
p
Entered to the two Purfootes, Aug. 19, REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 40. b.
q
See Gaſcoigne's HEAR [...]S, fol. 1.
r
See fol. 4, &c. See alſo Naſhe's Preface to G. Harvey's Hunt is up: printed in 1596. ‘"The wiſdome of doctor Dodepole plaied by the children of Paules,"’ is entered to R. Olyffe, Oct. 7, 1600. REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 65. b.
s
Act ii. Sc [...] i.
t
REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 22. a. See alſo B. ſub ann. 1581. fol. 186. a.
u
Of theſe, ſee ſupr. p. 72. There is an entry to R. Jones, Jan. 5, 1595, ‘"A COMEDIE entitled A KNACK TO KNOWE A KNAVE, newlye ſett fourth, as it hath ſundrye tymes ben plaid by Ned Allen and his companie, with Kemp's MERYMENTES OF THE MEN OF GOTHEHAM."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 304. a.
w
Under a licence to T. Colwell, in 1565, ‘"The geyſtes of Skoggon gathered together in th [...]s volume."’ REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 134. a.
x
It may be doubted whether the trea [...]iſe on Hunting reprinted with his Falconrie, in 1611, and called a tranſlation, with verſes by Gaſcoigne, is to be aſcribed to him. One or both came out firſt in 1575. The Dedication and Epilogue to the Falconrie, are ſigned by Turbe [...]vill [...].
y
Lond. for Abel Jeffes, 15 [...]7. 12mo.
z
Meliadu [...] del Eſpinoy, and M [...]liadus le noir Oeil, are the thirty-ſeventh and thirty-eighth knights of the ROUND TA [...]LE, in R. Robinſon's AVNCIENT ORDER, &c. Lond. 1583. 4to. Bl. Lett. Chiefly a French tranſlation.
a
BIBL. HISPAN. L. x. c. ix. p. 193. num. 490.
b
Chez François Changuion, 12mo.
c
Pag. 219. ſeq. See Creſcimben. HIST. POES. VULGAR. L. v. ch. 2, 3, 4. ‘"The Hiſtorye of twoe Brittaine louers,"’ that is of Britanny, is entered to Charlewood, Jan [...] 4, 1580. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 176. b. Again, ‘"Philocaſander and Elamira the fayre ladye of Brytayne,"’ to Purfoot, Aug. 19, 1598. REGISTR. C. fol. 40. b. Our king Arthur wa [...] ſometimes called Arthur of Little Brittayne, and there is a romance with that title, reprinted in 1609.
d
Lond. For Thomas Marſhe, 12mo. It is among Sampſon Awdeley's copies, a [...] a former grant, 1581. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 186. a.
e
Licenced in 1567. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 164. b. There is an edition in 15 [...]9. Bl. Lett. 8vo. Purfoot.
f
Licenced to E. White, Aug. 8, 1586. R [...]GISTR. STATION. B. fol. 209. b. I have ‘"L'HI [...]TOI [...] D'AU [...]LIO ET ISABELLA en Italien et Françoiſe,"’ printed at Lyons by G. Rouille, in 1555. 16mo [...] Annexed [...]s LA D [...]IPHIRE, by the author of the romance, as I apprehend, LeonBaptiſta Alberti [...] in Italian and French.
g
Licenced to Aggas, Nov. 20, 1588. RE [...]ISTR. B. fol. 237. a.
h
In 4to. Bl. Lett. Cont. 612 pages. See licence from the archbiſhop of Canterbury, 1566. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 156. a. See ibid. fol. 162. b. Ames mentions another edition by Marſhe, 1579. 4to.
i
Jun. 22.
k
He commends his illuſtrious patroneſs, for ‘"you [...] worthi [...] participation with the excellent gifts of temperance and wonderfull modeſtie in the ii. moſte famous erles of Leiceſter and Warwike your bretherne, and moſt [...] vertuous and renowned ladye the counteſſe of Huntington your ſy [...]ter, &c."’
l
Sir John Conway, M. H. who writes in Latin, and Peter Beverley. The latter wrote in verſe ‘"The tragecall and pleaſaunte hiſtory of Ariodanto and Jen [...]ura daughter vnto the kynge of Scots,"’ licenced to H. We [...]kes, 1565. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 140. b. There is an edition dedicated from Staples inn, for R. Wa [...]kins, 1600. 12mo.
m
‘"DIELLA, Certaine Sonnets adioy [...] ing to the amorous poeme of Dom Diego and Gineura. By R. L. Gentleman. Ben balla á chi fortu [...]a ſuona. At London, Printed for Henry Olney, &c. 1596."’ 16mo. The ſonnets are twenty-eight in number.
n
I obſerve here, that there is a receipt from T. Marſhe for printing the ‘"Storye of Italie,"’ Jun. 24, 1560. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 62. b.
o
For Norton, with his rebus, Lond, 1579. Fol. There were other editions, in 1599. 1618. Fol.
p
Foure Letters, &c. Lond. 1592. 4to. LETT. 3. p. 29.
q
Lond. 1577. 4to. His FAMILIAR EPISTLES were tranſlated by Edward Hellowes groome of the Leaſhe, 1574. 4to. Fenton alſo tranſlated into Engliſh, a Latin DISPUTATION held at the Sorbonne, Lond. 1571. 4to. And, an Epiſtle about obedience to the paſtors of the Flemiſh church at Antwerp, from Antonio de Carro, Lond. 1570. 8vo. His Diſcourſes on the civil wars in France under Charles the ninth, in 1569, are entered with Harriſon and Biſhop. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 191. a. There was an Edward Fenton, who tranſlated from various authors. ‘"Certaine ſecretes and wonders of nature, &c."’ Dedicated to lord Lumley, 1569. 4to. For H. Binneman. See Fuller, WORTH. ii. 318. MSS. Aſhmol. 816.
r
Lond. 1615. 4to. See fol. 60. 63.
s
For R. Jackſon.
t
Ware, 137. There is an old Art of Engliſh Poetry by one Fenton.
u
Licenced to Hugh Jackſon, Jul. 30. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 142. a. I have never [...]een a work by Tarleton the player, licenced to J. Charlewood, Feb. 5, 1577. ‘"Tarketib's TRAGICALL TREATISES conteyninge ſundrie diſcourſes and pretie conceiptes both in proſe and verſe."’ Ibid. 145. a.
w
Lond. 4to. Bl. Lett. A ſecond edition was printed in 1576. For John Day, 4to. It is licenced with W. Jones in 1570, and with the authority of the biſhop of London. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 205. b. Again with Danter, Nov. 8, 1596. REGISTR. C. fol. 15. a. Similar to this is the ‘"PARAGON of pleaſaunt Hiſtoryes, or the this Nutt was new cracked, contayninge a diſcourſe of a noble kynge and his three ſonnes,"’ with Ponſonby, Jan. 20. 1595. Ibid. fol. 7. a.
x

Among many others that might be mentioned I think is the romance or novel entitled, ‘"A MARGARITE OF AMERICA. By T. Lodge. Printed for John Buſbie, &c. 1596."’ 4to. Bl. Lett. This piece has never yet been recited among Lodge's works. In the Dedication to Lady Ruſſell, and Pre [...]ace to the gentlemen rea [...]ers, he ſays, that being at ſea four years before with M. Cavendiſh, he found this hiſtory in the Spaniſh tongue in the lib [...]ary of the Jeſuits [...]f Sanctum; and that he tranſlated it in the ſhip, in paſſing through the Straits of Magellan. Many ſonnets and metrical inſcriptions are intermixed. One of the ſonnets is ſaid to be in imitation of Dolce the Italian. SIGNAT. C. Again, SIGNAT. K 3. About the walls of the chamber of prince Protomachus, ‘"in curious imagerie were the Seuen Sages of Greece, ſet forth with their ſeuerall vertues eloquently diſcouered in Arabicke verſes."’ The arch of the bed is of ebonie ſett with pretious ſtones, and depictured with the ſtages of man's life from infancy to oldage. SIGNAT. B 3. The chamber of Margarite, in the ſame caſtle, is much more ſumptuous. Over the portico were carved in the whiteſt marble, Diana bluſhing at the ſudden intruſion of Acteon, and her ‘"naked Nymphes, who with one hand couering their owne ſecret pleaſures, with bluſhes, with the other caſt a beautifull vaile ouer their miſtreſſe daintie nakedneſs. The two pillars of the doore were beautified with the two Cupides of Anacreon, which well-ſhaped Modeſtie often ſeemed to whip, le [...]t they ſhould growe ouer-wanton."’ Within, ‘"All the chaſte Ladies of the world inchaſed out of ſiluer, looking through faire mirrours of chriſolites, carbuncles, ſapphires, and greene emeraults, fixed their eyes on the picture of Eternitie, &c."’ In the tape [...] try, was the ſtory of Orpheus, &c. SIGN. B 3. A ſonnet of ‘"that excellent poet of Itali [...] Lodouico Paſcale,"’ is introduced, SIGNAT. L. Another, ‘"in imitation of Martelli, hauing the right nature of an Italian melancholie,"’ SIGNAT. L. He mentions [...] ‘"the ſweet conceites of Philip du Portes, whoſe poeticall writings being alreadie for the moſt part Engliſhed, and ordinarilie in euerie man's hands,"’ are not here tranſlated. SIGNAT. L 2.

I think I have alſo ſeen in Italian ‘"The ſtraunge and wonderfull aduentures of Simonides a gentilman Spaniarde. Conteyning uerie pleaſaunte diſcourſe. Gathered as well for the recreation of our noble yong gentilmen as our honourable courtly ladies. By Barnabe Riche gentilman. London, for Robert Walley, 1581."’ Bl. Lett. 4to. Much poetry is intermixed. A recommendatory poem in the octave ſtanza is prefixed by Lodge, who ſays he corrected the work, and has now laid his muſe aſide. There is another in the ſame ſtanza by R. W. But it would be endleſs to purſue publications of this ſort. I only add, that Barnabe Riche abovementioned wrote in proſe THE HONESTIE OF THIS AGE, &c. Lond. 1615. 4to, A curious picture of the times. Alſo ‘"the PATHWAY TO MILITARY PRACTICE, with a kalendar for the ymbattallinge of men, newly written by Barnabie Riche,"’ entered to R. Walley, 22 March, 1586. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 216. b. Riche in the title-page to his IRISH HUBBUB (Lond. 1617. 4to.) call [...] that book his twenty-ſixth. I have ſeen moſt of them.

y
I know not exactly what connection this piece may have with an entry, under the year 1590, to Aggas and Wo [...]fe, ‘"Certen tragicall caſes conteyninge Lv Hyſtories with their ſeu [...]rall declamations both accuſative and defenſive, written in ffrenſhe by Alexander Vandenbrygt alias Silvan, tranſlated into Engliſhe by R. A."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 263. b. Perhaps R. A. is Robert Allot, the publiſher of ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS in 1600. See ſupr. p. 280. And add, that he has ſome Latin hexameters prefixed to Chriſtopher Middleton's LEGEND OF DUKE HUMPHREY, Lond. 1600. 4to.
z
See fol. 401.
a
See ſupr. DISS. GEST. ROMAN. lxxxiii.
b
Jul. 15. REGISTR. C. fol. 12. a.
c
P. ii. §. 2. p. 229. edit. 1624.
d
Meres, ubi ſupr. fol. 284. W. Webbe, a cotemporary, calls him ‘"A man ſingula [...]ly well ſkilled in this faculty of poetry."’
e
This title adopted from the queen of Navarre was popular. There is entered to Jones, Jan. 11, 1581, ‘"An HEPTAMERON of civill diſcourſes vnto the Chriſtmas exerciſes of ſundry well courted gentlemen and gentlewomen."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol 185. b. I ſuppoſe a book of tales. There is alſo, Auguſt 8, 1586, to E. White, ‘"MORANDO, the TRITAMERON OF LOV [...]."’ Ibid. fol. 209. b.
f
See Whetſtone's RIGHT EXCELLENT AND FAMOUS HISTORYE OF PROMOS AND CASSANDRA, Divided into Commical DISCOURSES, printed in 1578. Entered to R. Jones, 31 Jul. 1578. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 150. b.
g
In the Prologue to a comedy called CUPID'S WHIRLIGIG, As it hath bene ſundrie times acted by the Chil [...]ren of his Maieſties Reuel [...], written by E. S. and printed in quarto by T. Creede in 1616, perhaps before, an oblique ſtroke ſeems intended at ſome of Shakeſpeare's plots.
Our author' [...] pen loues not to ſwimme in blood,
He dips no inke from oute blacke Acheron:
Nor croſſes ſeas to get a forraine plot.—
Nor doth he touch the falls of mighty kings,
No ancient hyſtorie, no ſhepherd's love,
No ſtateſman's life, &c.
He blames ſome other dramatic writers for their plots of heathen gods. So another, but who ſurely had forgot Shakeſpeare, in PASQUI [...]L'S MADCAPPE'S MESSAGE, p. 11. Lond. 1600. Printed by V. S. 4to.
Go, bid the poets ſtuddie better matter,
Than Mars and Venus in a tragedie.
h
Pag. 328.
i
Cont. 856 leaves [...] 8vo.
k
REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 246. a. Jul. 28, to Abell Jeffes.
l
To Berys. REGISTR. A. fol. 89. b. I have here thrown together many pieces of the ſame ſort, before 1585, from the regiſters of the Stationers. Mar. 10 [...] 1594, to T. Creede, ‘"MOTHER REDD-CAPPE her laſt will and teſtament, conteynyng ſundrye conceipted and pleaſant tales furniſhed with muche varyeti [...] to move delighte."’ REGISTR. B. fol. 130. a.—Nov. 3 [...] 1576, to H. Bynneman, ‘"MERY TALES, wittye queſtions, and quicke anſwers."’ Ibid fol. 135. b.—April 2, 1577, to R. Jones, ‘"A FLORISHE UPON FANCIE, as gallant a gloſe of ſuche a triflinge a texte as euer was written, compiled by N. B. gent. To which are a [...]nexe [...] manie pretie pamphlets for pleaſaunte heades to paſſe away idell time withall compiled by the ſame author."’ Ibid. fol. 138. b. And by the ſame author, perhaps Nicholas Breton, Jun. 1, 1577, to Watkins, afterwards T. Dawſon, ‘"The woo [...]kes o [...] a yong witte truſte up, with a FARDELL of pretie fantaſies pro [...]itable to yong poets, compiled by N. B. gent."’ Ibid. fol. 139. b.—Jun. 5, 1577, to R. Jones, ‘"A HANDEFULL OF HIDDEN S [...]CRETS, conteyninge therein certayne Sonnettes and other pleaſaunte deviſes, pickt out of the cloſet of ſundrie worthie writers, and collected by R. Williams."’ [N. B. This is otherwiſe entitled, The GALLERY OF GALLANT INUENTIONS.] Ibid. fol. 140. a.—Jun. 23 [...] 1584, to T. Hacke [...], two books, ‘"A DIALL for daintie darlings,"’ and ‘"the B [...]NQUET of daintie conceipts."’ Ibid. fol. 200. b.—‘"The parlour of pleaſaunte delyghtes,"’ to Yarret James, Jan. 13, 1580. Ibid. fol. 177. b.—‘"A ballad of the traiterous and vnbrideled crueltye of one Lucio a knyght executed ouer Eriphile daughter to Hortenſia Caſtilion of Genoway in Italy,"’ to H. Carre, Sept. 3, 1580. Ibid. fol. 171. b.—‘"The deceipts in loue diſcourſed in a Comedie of ij Italyan gentlemen and tranſlated into Engli [...]ſhe,"’ to S. Waterſon, Nov. 10, 1584. Ibid. fol. 202. a. Moſt of theſe pieces I have ſeen: and although perhaps they do not all exactly coincide with the claſs of books pointed out in the text, they illuſtrate the general ſubject of this [...]ection.
m
At leaſt in that year, Feb. 26, was entered to Richard Field, under the hands of the archbiſhop of Canterbury and the biſhop of London, ‘"A booke enti [...]uled John Harrington's Orlando Furioſo, &c."’ REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 271. b. But there is entered to Cuthbert Burbye, to be printed by Danter, May 28, 1594, ‘"The Hiſtorie o [...] Orlando Furioſo."’ Ibid. fol. 306. b. See alſo fol. 303. a. And Arioſto's ſtory of Rogero and Rhodomont, tranſlated from the French of Philip de Portes, by G. M. [Gervis Markham] is entered to N. Linge, Sept. 15, 1598. Ibid. C. fol. 41. b.
n
To Chriſtopher Hunt, Jan. 25. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 304. b. The ſame verſion of T [...]ſſo is again entered Nov. 22, 1599. REGISTR. C. fol. 54. a. Among Rawlinſon's manuſcripts are two fair copies in large folio of a tranſlation of Taſſo in octave ſtanzas, by ſir G. T. An inſerted note ſays this is George Turberville, the poet of queen Eliſabeth's reign [...] and that he was knighted by the queen while ambaſſador.
o
To John Danter, Jun. 19. Ibid. fol. [...]09. b.
p
B. vi. Sat. i.
p
B. vi. Sat. i.
q
In quarto. From ſome other book of the kind, ſays John Marſton in his SATYRES, Lond. for E. Matts, 1593. 12mo. SAT. ii.
Reach me ſome poets Index that will ſhew
IMAGINES DEORUM. Booke of Epithites,
Natalis Comes, thou, I know, recites,
And mak'ſt anatomie of poeſie.
With this might have been bound up ‘"A treaſorie and ſtorehouſe of ſimilis,"’ for T. Creede, 1600.
r
In 1599 was publiſhed by G. Potter, ‘"A commendacion of true poetry and a diſcommendacion of all baudy, pybald, and paganizde [paganiſed] poets, &c."’ See REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 55. b.
s
In quarto, for Thomas Marſhe, 1577. It contains only 72 pages. Licenced Aug. 26, 1577. REGISTR. STATION. B. fol. 142. b.
t
Lond. 1581. 4to.
u
See, under 1596, REGISTR. STATION. C.
w
REGISTR. C. fol. 311. a.
x
RE [...]ISTR. STATION. B. fol. [...]86. a. Hence D [...]kker's familiarity of alluſion, in The VNTRUSSING OF THE HUMOROUS PO [...] ‘"Farewell my [...] [...] d [...] Gaule!"’ Lond. 1602. 4to. Signat. D 2.
y
To John Charlewood, Feb. 13. Ibid. fol. 177. [...].
z
Two or three other Italian book [...], [...] proof of the popularity of the language, were allowed to b [...] printed in 1588. Ibid. fol. 233. b. fol. 234 [...] b.
a
Sept. 13. Together with the Hiſtori [...] of Chi [...] [...]oth in Itali [...]n a [...]d Engliſh.
b
Ibid. Sept. 18.
c
There are alſo r [...]cited, ‘"The Shadowe of Truth [...] in Epigram [...] and S [...]tires. Sn [...]ing Satyres. The book [...] againſte women. The xv ioyes of marriage."’
d
REGISTR. STATION. C. fol. 316. a. b.
e
Plin. EPIST. viii. 24.
a
SCHOOLEMASTER. p [...] 19. b. edit. 1589. 4to.
b
CHRON. iii. f. 1297.
c
MERRY W. Act. ii. Sc. i.
d
Lilly's LIFE, p. 151.
e
LEVIATH. Part i. ch. viii.
f
SECT. V. p. 69.
g
IL [...]AD, V. 770. Longin. §. ix.
h
FIRST P. HENRY iv. Act iii. Sc. ii.
i
GEOR [...]. ii. 29 [...].
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TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 5310 The history of English poetry from the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the eighteenth century To which are prefixed two dissertations By Thomas Warton pt 3. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5A2D-E