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diff --git a/old/10598-8.txt b/old/10598-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e881e3c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10598-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11798 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and +Ireland (1753), by Theophilus Cibber + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) + Volume I. + +Author: Theophilus Cibber + +Release Date: January 5, 2004 [EBook #10598] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF POETS, V1 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +Anglistica & Americana + +A Series of Reprints Selected by Bernhard Fabian, Edgar Mertner, Karl +Schneider and Marvin Spevack + +1968 + +GEORG OLMS VERLAGSBUCHHANDLUNG HILDESHEIM + + + + +Theophilus Cibber + + +The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) + +Vol. I + +1968 + +The present facsimile is reproduced from a copy in the possession of +the Library of the University of Gottingen. Shelfmark: H. lit. biogr. +I 8464. + +Although the title-page of Volume I announces four volumes, the work +is continued in a fifth volume of the same date. Like Volumes II, III, +and IV, it is by "Mr. CIBBER, and other Hands" and is "Printed for R. +GRIFFITHS". + +M.S. + + + +THE + +LIVES + +OF THE + +POETS + +OF + +GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, + + + +To the TIME of + +DEAN _SWIFT_. + +Compiled from ample Materials scattered in a Variety of Books, and +especially from the MS. Notes of the late ingenious Mr. COXETER and +others, collected for this Design, + + + +By Mr. CIBBER. + +In FOUR VOLUMES. + + +VOL. I. + +MDCCLIII. + +VOLUME I. + +Contains the + +LIVES + +O F + +Chaucer +Langland +Gower +Lydgate +Harding +Skelton +Barclay +More +Surry Earl +Wyat +Sackville +Churchyard +Heywood +Ferrars +Sidney +Marloe +Green +Spenser +Heywood +Lilly +Overbury +Marsten +Shakespear +Sylvester +Daniel +Harrington +Decker +Beaumont and Fletcher +Lodge +Davies +Goff +Greville L. Brooke +Day +Raleigh +Donne +Drayton +Corbet +Fairfax +Randolph +Chapman +Johnson +Carew +Wotton +Markham +T. Heywood +Cartwright +Sandys +Falkland +Suckling +Hausted +Drummond +Stirling Earl +Hall +Crashaw +Rowley +Nash +Ford +Middleton + + +THE LIVES OF THE POETS. + + + * * * * + + +GEOFFRY CHAUCER. + +It has been observed that men of eminence in all ages, and +distinguished for the same excellence, have generally had something in +their lives similar to each other. The place of Homer's nativity, has +not been more variously conjectured, or his parents more differently +assigned than our author's. Leland, who lived nearest to Chaucer's +time of all those who have wrote his life, was commissioned by king +Henry VIII, to search all the libraries, and religious houses in +England, when those archives were preserved, before their destruction +was produced by the reformation, or Polydore Virgil had consumed such +curious pieces as would have contradicted his framed and fabulous +history. He for some reasons believed Oxford or Berkshire to have +given birth to this great man, but has not informed us what those +reasons were that induced him to believe so, and at present there +appears no other, but that the seats of his family were in those +countries. Pitts positively asserts, without producing any authority +to support it, that Woodstock was the place; which opinion Mr. Camden +seems to hint at, where he mentions that town; but it may be suspected +that Pitts had no other ground for the assertion, than Chaucer's +mentioning Woodstock park in his works, and having a house there. But +after all these different pretensions, he himself, in the Testament of +Love, seems to point out the place of his nativity to be the city of +London, and tho' Mr. Camden mentions the claim of Woodstock, he +does not give much credit to it; for speaking of Spencer (who was +uncontrovertedly born in London) he calls him fellow citizen to +Chaucer. + +The descent of Chaucer is as uncertain, and unfixed by the critics, +as the place of his birth. Mr. Speight is of opinion that one Richard +Chaucer was his father, and that one Elizabeth Chaucer, a nun of St. +Helen's, in the second year of Richard II. might have been his sister, +or of his kindred. But this conjecture, says Urry,[1] seems very +improbable; for this Richard was a vintner, living at the corner of +Kirton-lane, and at his death left his house, tavern, and stock to the +church of St. Mary Aldermary, which in all probability he would not +have done if he had had any sons to possess his fortune; nor is it +very likely he could enjoy the family estates mentioned by Leland in +Oxfordshire, and at the same time follow such an occupation. Pitts +asserts, that his father was a knight; but tho' there is no authority +to support this assertion, yet it is reasonable to suppose that he +was something superior to a common employ. We find one John Chaucer +attending upon Edward III. and Queen Philippa, in their expedition to +Flanders and Cologn, who had the King's protection to go over sea +in the twelfth year of his reign. It is highly probable that +this gentleman was father to our Geoffry, and the supposition is +strengthened by Chaucer's first application, after leaving the +university and inns of law, being to the Court; nor is it unlikely +that the service of the father should recommend the son. + +It is universally agreed, that he was born in the second year of the +reign of King Edward III. A.D. 1328. His first studies were in the +university of Cambridge, and when about eighteen years of age he wrote +his Court of Love, but of what college he was is uncertain, there +being no account of him in the records of the University. From +Cambridge he was removed to Oxford in order to compleat his studies, +and after a considerable stay there, and a strict application to the +public lectures of the university, he became (says Leland) "a ready +logician, a smooth rhetorician, a pleasant poet, a great philosopher, +an ingenious mathematician, and a holy divine. That he was a great +master in astronomy, is plain by his discourses of the Astrolabe. That +he was versed in hermetic philosophy (which prevailed much at that +time), appears by his Tale of the Chanons Yeoman: His knowledge in +divinity is evident from his Parson's Tale, and his philosophy from +the Testament of Love." Thus qualified to make a figure in the world, +he left his learned retirement, and travelled into France, Holland, +and other countries, where he spent some of his younger days. Upon his +return he entered himself in the Inner Temple, where he studied the +municipal laws of the land. But he had not long prosecuted that dry +study, till his superior abilities were taken notice of by some +persons of distinction, by whole patronage he then approached the +splendor of the court. The reign of Edward III. was glorious and +successful, he was a discerning as well as a fortunate Monarch; he had +a taste as well for erudition as for arms; he was an encourager of men +of wit and parts, and permitted them to approach him, without reserve. +At Edward's court nothing but gallantry and a round of pleasure +prevailed, and how well qualified our poet was to shine in the soft +circles, whoever has read his works, will be at no loss to determine; +but besides the advantages of his wit and learning, he possessed those +of person in a very considerable degree. He was then about the age of +thirty, of a fair beautiful complexion, his lips red and full, his +size of a just medium, and his air polished and graceful, so that he +united whatever could claim the approbation of the Great, and charm +the eyes of the Fair. He had abilities to record the valour of the +one, and celebrate the beauty of the other, and being qualified by his +genteel behaviour to entertain both, he became a finished courtier. +The first dignity to which we find him preferred, was that of page +to the king, a place of so much honour and esteem at that time, that +Richard II. leaves particular legacies to his pages, when few others +of his servants are taken notice of. In the forty-first year of Edward +III. he received as a reward of his services, an annuity of twenty +marks per ann. payable out of the Exchequer, which in those days was +no inconsiderable pension; in a year after he was advanced to be of +his Majesty's privy chamber, and a very few months to be his shield +bearer, a title, at that time, (tho' now extinct) of very great +honour, being always next the king's person, and generally upon signal +victories rewarded with military honours. Our poet being thus eminent +by his places, contracted friendships, and procured the esteem of +persons of the first quality. Queen Philippa, the Duke of Lancaster, +and his Duchess Blanch, shewed particular honour to him, and lady +Margaret the king's daughter, and the countess of Pembroke gave him +their warmest patronage as a poet. In his poems called the Romaunt, +and the Rose, and Troilus and Creseide, he gave offence to some court +ladies by the looseness of his description, which the lady Margaret +resented, and obliged him to atone for it, by his Legend of good +Women, a piece as chaste as the others were luxuriously amorous, and, +under the name of the Daisy, he veils lady Margaret, whom of all his +patrons he most esteemed. + +Thus loved and honoured, his younger years were dedicated to pleasure +and the court. By the recommendation of the Dutchess Blanch, he +married one Philippa Rouet, sister to the guardianess of her grace's +children, who was a native of Hainault: He was then about thirty years +of age, and being fixed by marriage, the king began to employ him in +more public and advantageous posts. In the forty-sixth year of his +majesty's reign, Chaucer was sent to Venice in commission with others, +to treat with the Doge and Senate of Genoa, about affairs of great +importance to our state. The duke of Lancaster, whose favourite +passion was ambition, which demanded the assistance of learned +men, engaged warmly in our poet's interest; besides, the duke was +remarkably fond of Lady Catherine Swynford, his wife's sister, who +was then guardianess to his children, and whom he afterwards made his +wife; thus was he doubly attached to Chaucer, and with the varying +fortune of the duke of Lancaster we find him rise or fall. Much about +this time, for his successful negociations at Genoa, the king granted +to him by letters patent, by the title of Armiger Noster, one +pitcher of wine daily in the port of London, and soon after made him +comptroller of the customs, with this particular proviso, that he +should personally execute the office, and write the accounts relating +to it with his own hand. But as he was advanced to higher places +of trust, so he became more entangled in the affairs of state, the +consequence of which proved very prejudicial to him. The duke of +Lancaster having been the chief instrument of raising him to dignity, +expected the fruits of those favours in a ready compliance with him +in all his designs. That prince was certainly one of the proudest and +most ambitious men of his time, nor could he patiently bear the name +of a subject even to his father; nothing but absolute power, and the +title of king could satisfy him; upon the death of his elder brother, +Edward the black prince, he fixed an eye upon the English crown, and +seemed to stretch out an impatient hand to reach it. In this view he +sought, by all means possible, to secure his interest against the +decease of the old king; and being afraid of the opposition of the +clergy, who are always strenuous against an irregular succession, he +embraced the opinions and espoused the interests of Wickliff, who now +appeared at Oxford, and being a man of very great abilities, and much +esteemed at court, drew over to his party great numbers, as well +fashionable as low people. In this confusion, the duke of Lancaster +endeavoured all he could to shake the power of the clergy, and to +procure votaries amongst the leading popular men. Chaucer had no small +hand in promoting these proceedings, both by his public interest and +writings. Towards the close of Edward's reign, he was very active in +the intrigues of the court party, and so recommended himself to the +Prince successor, that upon his ascending the throne, he confirmed to +him by the title of Dilectus Armiger Noster, the grant made by the +late king of twenty marks per annum, and at the same time confirmed +the other grant of the late King for a pitcher of wine to be delivered +him daily in the port of London. In less than two years after this, we +find our poet so reduced in his cirumstances, (but by what means is +unknown) that the King in order to screen him from his creditors, took +him under his protection, and allowed him still to enjoy his former +grants. The duke of Lancaster, whose restless ambition ever excited +him to disturb the state, engaged now with, all the interest of +which he was master to promote himself to the crown; the opinions of +Wickliff gained ground, and so great a commotion now prevailed amongst +the clergy, that the king perceiving the state in danger, and being +willing to support the clerical interest, suffered the archbishop of +Canterbury to summon Wickliff to appear before him, whose interest +after this arraignment very much decayed.[2] The king who was devoted +to his pleasures, resigned himself, to some young courtiers who hated +the duke of Lancaster, and caused a fryar to accuse him of an attempt +to kill the king; but before he had an opportunity of making out the +charge against him, the fryar was murdered in a cruel and barbarous +manner by lord John Holland, to whose care he had been committed. This +lord John Holland, called lord Huntingdon, and duke of Exeter, was +half brother to the King, and had married Elizabeth, daughter of +the duke of Lancaster. He was a great patron of Chaucer, and much +respected by him. With the duke of Lancaster's interest Chaucer's +also sunk. His patron being unable to support him, he could no longer +struggle against opposite parties, or maintain his posts of honour. +The duke passing over sea, his friends felt all the malice of an +enraged court; which induced them to call in a number of the populace +to assist them, of which our poet was a zealous promoter. One John +of Northampton, a late lord mayor of London was at the head of these +disturbances; which did not long continue; for upon beheading one of +the rioters, and Northampton's being taken into custody, the commotion +subsided. Strict search was made after Chaucer, who escaped into +Hainault; afterwards he went to France, and finding the king resolute +to get him into his hands, he fled from thence to Zealand. Several +accomplices in this affair were with him, whom he supported in their +exile, while the chief ringleaders, (except Northampton who was +condemned at Reading upon the evidence of his clerk) had restored +themselves to court favour by acknowledging their crime, and now +forgot the integrity and resolution of Chaucer, who suffered exile to +secure their secrets; and so monstrously ungrateful were they, that +they wished his death, and by keeping supplies of money from him, +endeavoured to effect it;--While he expended his fortune in removing +from place to place, and in supporting his fellow exiles, so far from +receiving any assistance from England, his apartments were let, and +the money received for rent was never acccounted for to him; nor could +he recover any from those who owed it him, they being of opinion +it was impossible for him ever to return to his own country. The +government still pursuing their resentment against him and his +friends, they were obliged to leave Zealand, and Chaucer being unable +to bear longer the calamities of poverty and exile, and finding no +security wherever he fled, chose rather to throw himself upon the laws +of his country, than perish abroad by hunger and oppression. He had +not long returned till he was arrested by order of the king, and +confined in the tower of London. The court sometimes flattered +him with the return of the royal favour if he would impeach his +accomplices, and sometimes threatened him with immediate destruction; +their threats and promises he along while disregarded, but +recollecting the ingratitude of his old friends, and the miseries he +had already suffered, he at last made a confession, and according to +the custom of trials at that time, offered to prove the truth of it by +combat. What the consequence of this discovery was to his accomplices, +is uncertain, it no doubt exposed him to their resentment, and +procured him the name of a traytor; but the king, who regarded him as +one beloved by his grandfather, was pleased to pardon him. Thus fallen +from a heighth of greatness, our poet retired to bemoan the fickleness +of fortune, and then wrote his Testament of Love, in which are many +pathetic exclamations concerning the vicissitude of human things, +which he then bitterly experienced. But as he had formerly been the +favourite of fortune, when dignities were multiplied thick upon him, +so his miseries now succeeded with an equal swiftness; he was not only +discarded by his majesty, unpensioned, and abandoned, but he lost the +favour of the duke of Lancaster, as the influence of his wife's sister +with that prince was now much lessened. The duke being dejected with +the troubles in which he was involved, began to reflect on his +vicious course of life, and particularly his keeping that lady as +his concubine; which produced a resolution of putting her out of his +house, and he made a vow to that purpose. Chaucer, thus reduced, and +weary of the perpetual turmoils at court, retired to Woodstock, to +enjoy a studious quiet; where he wrote his excellent treatise of the +Astrolabe; but notwithstanding the severe treatment of the government, +he still retained his loyalty, and strictly enjoined his son to pray +for the king. As the pious resolutions of some people are often the +consequence of a present evil, so at the return of prosperity they are +soon dissipated. This proved the case with the duke of Lancaster: his +party again gathered strength, his interest began to rise; upon which +he took again his mistress to his bosom, and not content with heaping +favours, honours, and titles upon her, he made her his wife, procured +an act of parliament to legitimate her children, which gave great +offence to the duchess of Gloucester, the countess of Derby, and +Arundel, as she then was entitled to take place of them. With her +interest, Chaucer's also returned, and after a long and bitter storm, +the sun began to shine upon him with an evening ray; for at the +sixty-fifth year of his age, the king granted to him, by the title of +Delectus Armiger Noster, an annuity of twenty marks per annum +during his life, as a compensation for the former pension his needy +circumstances obliged him to part with; but however sufficient that +might be for present support, yet as he was encumbered with debts, +he durst not appear publickly till his majesty again granted him his +royal protection to screen him from the persecution of his creditors; +he also restored to him his grant of a pitcher of wine daily, and a +pipe annually, to be delivered to him by his son Thomas, who that year +possessed the office of chief butler to the king. + +Now that I have mentioned his son, it will not be improper, to take +a view of our author's domestical affairs, at least as far as we are +enabled, by materials that have descended to our times. + +Thomas his eldest son, was married to one of the greatest fortunes in +England, Maud, daughter and heir of Sir John Burgheershe, knight of +the garter, and Dr. Henry Burghurshe bishop of Lincoln, chancellor +and treasurer of England. Mr. Speight says this lady was given him in +marriage by Edward III. in return of his services performed in his +embassies in France. His second son Lewis was born in 1381, for when +his father wrote the treatise of the Astrolabe, he was ten years +old; he was then a student in Merton college in Oxford, and pupil to +Nicholas Strade, but there is no further account of him. Thomas who +now enjoyed the office of chief butler to his majesty, had the same +place confirmed to him for life, by letters patent to king Henry IV, +and continued by Henry VI. In the 2d year of Henry IV, we find him +Speaker of the House of Commons, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, +and Constable of Wallingford castle and Knaresborough castle during +life. In the 6th year of the same prince, he was sent ambassador to +France. In the 9th of the same reign the Commons presented him their +Speaker; as they did likewise in the 11th year. Soon after this Queen +Jane, granted to him for his good service, the manor of Woodstock, +Hannerborough and Wotten during life; and in the 13th year, he was +again presented Speaker as he was in the 2d of Henry V, and much +about that time he was sent by the king, to treat of a marriage +with Catherine daughter to the duke of Burgundy; he was sent again +ambassador to France, and passed thro' a great many public stations. +Mr. Stebbing says that he was knighted, but we find no such title +given him in any record. He died at Ewelm, the chief place of his +residence, in the year 1434. By his wife Maud he had one daughter +named Alice, who was thrice married, first to Sir John Philips, and +afterwards to Thomas Montacute earl of Salisbury: her third husband +was the famous William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, who lost his head +by the fury of the Yorkists, who dreaded his influence in the opposite +party, tho' he stood proscribed by the parliament of Henry VI. for +misguiding that easy prince. Their son John had three sons, the second +of whom, Edmund, forfeited his life to the crown for treason against +Henry VII, by which means the estates which Chaucer's family possessed +came to the crown. But to return to our poet: By means of the duke +of Lancaster's marriage with his sister in law, he again grew to a +considerable share of wealth; but being now about seventy years of +age, and fatigued with a tedious view of hurried greatness, he quitted +the stage of grandeur where he had acted so considerable a part with +varied success, and retired to Dunnigton castle[3] near Newbury, to +reflect at leisure upon past transactions in the still retreats of +contemplation. In this retirement did he spend his few remaining +years, universally loved and honoured; he was familiar with all men of +learning in his time, and contracted friendship with persons of the +greatest eminence as well in literature as politics; Gower, Occleve, +Lidgate, Wickliffe were great admirers, and particular friends +of Chaucer; besides he was well acquainted with foreign poets, +particularly Francis Petrarch the famous Italian poet, and refiner of +the language. A Revolution in England soon after this happened, +in which we find Chaucer but little concerned; he made no mean +compliments to Henry IV, but Gower his cotemporary, though then very +old, flattered the reigning prince, and insulted the memory of his +murdered Sovereign. All acts of parliament and grants in the last +reign being annulled, Chaucer again repaired to Court to get fresh +grants, but bending with age and weakness, tho' he was successful in +his request, the fatigue of attendance so overcame him, that death +prevented his enjoying his new possessions. He died the 25th of +October in the year 1400, in the second of Henry IV, in the 72d of +his age, and bore the shock of death with the same fortitude and +resignation with which he had undergone a variety of pressures, and +vicissitudes of fortune. + +Dryden says, he was poet laureat to three kings, but Urry is of +opinion that Dryden must be mistaken, as among all his works not one +court poem is to be found, and Selden observes, that he could find no +poet honoured with that title in England before the reign of Edward +IV, to whom one John Kaye dedicated the Siege of Rhodes in prose by +the title of his Humble Poet Laureat. + +I cannot better display the character of this great man than in the +following words of Urry. "As to his temper, says he, he had a mixture +of the gay, the modest and the grave. His reading was deep and +extensive, his judgment sound and discerning; he was communicative of +his knowledge, and ready to correct or pass over the faults of his +cotemporary writers. He knew how to judge of and excuse the slips of +weaker capacities, and pitied rather than exposed the ignorance of +that age. In one word, he was a great scholar, a pleasant wit, a +candid critic, a sociable companion, a stedfast friend, a great +philosopher, a temperate oeconomist, and a pious christian." As to +his genius as a poet, Dryden (than whom a higher authority cannot be +produced) speaking of Homer and Virgil, positively asserts, that our +author exceeded the latter, and stands in competition with the former. + +His language, how unintelligible soever it may seem, is almost as +modern as any of his cotemporaries, or of those who followed him at +the distance of 50 or 60 years, as Harding, Skelton and others, and +in some places it is so smooth and beautiful, that Dryden would not +attempt to alter it; I shall now give some account of his works in +the order in which they were written, so far as can be collected from +them, and subjoin a specimen of his poetry, of which profession as he +may justly be called the Morning Star, so as we descend into later +times; we may see the progress of poetry in England from its great +original, Chaucer, to its full blaze, and perfect consummation in +Dryden. + +Mr. Philips supposes a greater part of his works to be lost, than what +we have extant of him; of that number may be many a song, and many a +lecherous lay, which perhaps might have been written by him while he +was a student at Cambridge. + +The Court of Love, as has been before observed, was written while he +resided at Cambridge in the 18th year of his age. + +The Craft Lovers was written in the year of our Lord, 1348, and +probably the Remedy of Love was written about that time, or not long +after. + +The Lamentation of Mary Magdalen taken from Origen, was written by him +in his early years, and perhaps Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiæ +was translated by him about the same time. + +The Romaunt of the Rose, is a translation from the French: this poem +was begun by William de Lerris, and continued by John de Meun, both +famous French poets; it seems to have been translated about the +time of the rise of Wickliffe's Opinions, it consisting of violent +invectives against religious orders. + +The Complaint of the Black Knight, during John of Gaunt's courtship +with Blanch is supposed to be written on account of the duke of +Lancaster's marriage. + +The poem of Troilus and Creseide was written in the early part of +his life, translated (as he says) from Lollius an historiographer in +Urbane in Italy; he has added several things of his own, and borrowed +from others what he thought proper for the embellishment of this work, +and in this respect was much indebted to his friend Petrarch the +Italian poet. + +The House of Fame; from this poem Mr. Pope acknowledges he took the +hint of his Temple of Fame. + +The book of Blaunch the Duchess, commonly called the Dreme of Chaucer, +was written upon the death of that lady. + +The Assembly of Fowls (or Parlement of Briddis, as he calls it in his +Retraction) was written before the death of queen Philippa. + +The Life of St. Cecilia seems to have been first a single poem, +afterwards made one of his Canterbury Tales which is told by the +second Nonne: and so perhaps was that of the Wife of Bath, which he +advises John of Gaunt to read, and was afterwards inserted in his +Canterbury Tales. + +The Canterbury Tales were written about the year 1383. It is certain +the Tale of the Nonnes Priest was written after the Insurrection of +Jack Straw and Wat Tyler. + +The Flower and the Leaf was written by him in the Prologue to the +Legend of Gode Women. + +Chaucer's ABC, called la Priere de nostre Damê, was written for the +use of the duchess Blaunch. + +The book of the Lion is mentioned in his Retraction, and by Lidgate in +the prologue to the Fall of Princes, but is now lost, as is that. + +De Vulcani vene, i. e. of the Brocke of Vulcan, which is likewise +mentioned by Lidgate. + +La belle Dame sans Mercy, was translated from the French of Alain +Chartier, secretary to Lewis XI, king of France. + +The Complaint of Mars and Venus was translated from the French of Sir +Otes de Grantson, a French poet. + +The Complaint of Annilida to false Arcite. + +The Legend of Gode Women (called the Assembly of Ladies, and by some +the Nineteen Ladies) was written to oblige the queen, at the request +of the countess of Pembroke. + +The treatise of the Conclusion of the Astrolabie was written in the +year 1391. + +Of the Cuckow and Nightingale, this seems by the description to have +been written at Woodstock. + +The Ballade beginning In Feverre, &c. was a compliment to the countess +of Pembroke. + +Several other ballads are ascribed to him, some of which are justly +suspected not to have been his. The comedies imputed to him are no +other than his Canterbury Tales, and the tragedies were those the +monks tell in his Tales. + +The Testament of Love was written in his trouble the latter part of +his life. + +The Song beginning Fly fro the Prese, &c. was written in his +death-bed. + +Leland says, that by the content of the learned in his time, the +Plowman's Tale was attributed to Chaucer, but was suppressed in the +edition then extant, because the vices of the clergy were exposed in +it. Mr. Speight in his life of Chaucer, printed in 1602, mentions a +tale in William Thynne's first printed book of Chaucer's works more +odious to the clergy than the Plowman's Tale. One thing must not be +omitted concerning the works of Chaucer. In the year 1526 the bishop +of London prohibited a great number of books which he thought had a +tendency to destroy religion and virtue, as did also the king in 1529, +but in so great esteem were his works then, and so highly valued by +the people of taste, that they were excepted out of the prohibition of +that act. + +The PARDONERS PROLOGUE. + + Lordings! quoth he, in chirch when I preche, + I paine mee to have an have an hauteine speche; + And ring it out, as round as doth a bell; + For I can all by rote that I tell. + My teme is always one, and ever was, + (Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas) + First, I pronounce fro whence I come, + And then my bills, I shew all and some: + Our liege--lords seal on my patent! + That shew I first, my body to warrent; + That no man be so bold, priest ne clerk, + Me to disturb of Christ's holy werke; + And after that I tell forth my tales, + Of bulls, of popes, and of cardinales, + Of patriarkes, and of bishops I shew; + And in Latin I speake wordes a few, + + To faver with my predication, + And for to stere men to devotion, + Then shew I forth my long, christall stones, + Ycrammed full of clouts and of bones; + Relickes they been, as were they, echone! + Then have I, in Latin a shoder-bone, + Which that was of an holy Jewes shepe. + Good men, fay, take of my words kepe! + If this bone be washen in any well, + If cow, or calfe, shepe, or oxe swell + That any worm hath eaten, or hem strong, + Take water of this well, and wash his tong. + And it is hole a-non: And furthermore, + Of pockes, and scabs, and every sore + Shall shepe be hole, that of this well + Drinketh a draught: Take keep of that I tell! + If that the good man, that beasts oweth, + Woll every day, ere the cocke croweth, + Fasting drink of this well, a draught, + (As thilk holy Jew our elders taught) + His beasts and his store shall multiplie: + And sirs, also it healeth jealousie, + For, though a man be fall in jealous rage, + Let make with this Water his potage, + And never shall he more his wife mistrist, + Thughe, in sooth, the defaut by her wist: + All had she taken priests two or three! + Here is a mittaine eke, that ye may see. + He that has his hand well put in this mittaine; + He shall have multiplying of his graine, + When he hath sowen, be it wheat or otes; + So that he offer good pens or grotes! + +Those who would prefer the thoughts of this father of English poetry, +in a modern dress, are referred to the elegant versions of him, +by Dryden, Pope, and others, who have done ample justice to their +illustrious predecessor. + + +[Footnote 1: Life of Chaucer prefixed to Ogle's edition of that author +modernized.] + +[Footnote 2: Some biographers of Chaucer say, that pope Gregory IX. +gave orders to the archbishop of Canterbury to summon him, and that +when a synod was convened at St. Paul's, a quarrel happened between +the bishop of London and the duke of Lancaster, concerning Wickliff's +sitting down in their presence.] + +[Footnote 3: Mr. Camden gives a particular description of this +castle.] + + * * * * * + + +LANGLAND. + +It has been disputed amongst the critics whether this poet preceded +or followed Chaucer. Mrs. Cooper, author of the Muses Library, is of +opinion that he preceded Chaucer, and observes that in more places +than one that great poet seems to copy Langland; but I am rather +inclined to believe that he was cotemporary with him, which accounts +for her observation, and my conjecture is strengthened by the +consideration of his stile, which is equally unmusical and obsolete +with Chaucer's; and tho' Dryden has told us that Chaucer exceeded +those who followed him at 50 or 60 years distance, in point of +smoothness, yet with great submission to his judgment, I think there +is some alteration even in Skelton and Harding, which will appear to +the reader to the best advantage by a quotation. Of Langland's family +we have no account. Selden in his notes on Draiton's Poly Olbion, +quotes him with honour; but he is entirely neglected by Philips and +Winstanly, tho' he seems to have been a man of great genius: Besides +Chaucer, few poets in that or the subsequent age had more real +inspiration or poetical enthusiasm in their compositions. One cannot +read the works of this author, or Chaucer, without lamenting the +unhappiness of a fluctuating language, that buries in its ruins even +genius itself; for like edifices of sand, every breath of time defaces +it, and if the form remain, the beauty is lost. The piece from which I +shall quote a few lines, is a work of great length and labour, of +the allegoric kind; it is animated with a lively and luxurious +imagination; pointed with a variety of pungent satire; and dignified +with many excellent lessons of morality; but as to the conduct of +the whole, it does not appear to be of a piece; every vision seems a +distinct rhapsody, and does not carry on either one single action or +a series of many; but we ought rather to wonder at its beauties than +cavil at its defects; and if the poetical design is broken, the +moral is entire, which, is uniformly the advancement of piety, and +reformation of the Roman clergy. The piece before us is entitled the +Vision of Piers the Plowman, and I shall quote that particular part +which seems to have furnished a hint to Milton in his Paradise Lost, +b. 2. 1. 475. + + Kinde Conscience tho' heard, and came out of + the planets, + And sent forth his sorrioues, fevers, and fluxes, + Coughes, and cardicales, crampes and toothaches, + Reums, and ragondes, and raynous scalles, + Byles, and blothes, and burning agues, + Freneses, and foul euyl, foragers of kinde! + * * * * * + There was harrow! and help! here cometh Kinde + With death that's dreadful, to undone us all + Age the hoore, he was in vaw-ward + And bare the baner before death, by right he it + claymed! + Kinde came after, with many kene foxes, + As pockes, and pestilences, and much purple + shent; + So Kinde, through corruptions killed full many: + Death came driving after, and all to dust pashed + Kyngs and bagaars, knights and popes. + + * * * * * +MILTON. + + ----------Immediately a place + Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisom, dark, + A lazar-house it seem'd; wherein were laid + + Numbers of all diseased: all maladies + Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms + Of heartsick agony, all fev'rous kinds, + Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, + Intestine stone and ulcer, cholic-pangs + Demoniac phrenzy, moping melancholy + And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, + Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, + Dropsies and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums; + Dire was the tossing! deep the groans! despair + Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch: + And over them, triumphant death his dart + Shook. P. L. b. xi. 1. 477. + + * * * * * + + +Sir JOHN GOWER + +Flourished in the reign of Edward III, and Richard II. He was +cotemporary with Chaucer and much esteemed and honoured by him, as +appears by his submitting his Troilus and Cressida to his censure. +Stow in his Survey of London seems to be of opinion that he was no +knight, but only an esquire; however, it is certain he was descended +of a knightly family, at Sittenham in Yorkshire. He received his +education in London, and studied the law, but being possessed of a +great fortune, he dedicated himself more to pleasure and poetry than +the bar; tho' he seems not to have made any proficiency in poetry, for +his works are rather cool translations, than originals, and are quite +destitute of poetical fire. Bale makes him Equitem Auratum & Poetam +Laureatum, but Winstanly says that he was neither laureated nor +bederated, but only rosated, having a chaplet of four roses about his +head in his monumental stone erected in St. Mary Overy's, Southwark: +He was held in great esteem by King Richard II, to whom he dedicates a +book called Confessio Amantis. That he was a man of no honour appears +by his behaviour when the revolution under Henry IV happened in +England. He was under the highest obligations to Richard II; he had +been preferred, patronized and honoured by him, yet no sooner did that +unhappy prince (who owed his misfortunes in a great measure to his +generosity and easiness of nature) fall a sacrifice to the policy of +Henry and the rage of rebellion, but he worshiped the Rising Sun, +he joined his interest with the new king, and tho' he was then +stone-blind, and, as might naturally be imagined, too old to desire +either riches or power, yet he was capable of the grossest flattery +to the reigning prince, and like an ungrateful monster insulted the +memory of his murdered sovereign and generous patron. He survived +Chaucer two years; Winstanly says, that in his old age he was made a +judge, possibly in consequence of his adulation to Henry IV. His death +happened in the year 1402, and as he is said to have been born some +years before Chaucer, so he must have been near fourscore years of +age: He was buried in St. Mary Overy's in Southwark, in the chapel of +St. John, where he founded a chauntry, and left money for a mass to be +daily sung for him, as also an obit within the church to be kept on +Friday after the feast of St. Gregory. He lies under a tomb of stone, +with his image also of stone over him, the hair of his head auburn, +long to his shoulders, but curling up, and a small forked beard; +on his head a chaplet like a coronet of roses; an habit of purple, +damasked down to his feet, and a collar of gold about his neck. Under +his feet the likeness of three books which he compiled; the first +named Speculum Meditantis, written in French; the second Vox +Clamantis, in latin; the third Confessio Amantis, in English; this +last piece was printed by one Thomas Berthalette, and by him dedicated +to King Henry VIII. His Vox clamantis, with his Chronica Tripartita, +and other works, both in Latin and French, Stow says he had in his +possession, but his Speculum Meditantis he never saw. Besides on the +wall where he lies, there were painted three virgins crowned, one of +which was named Charity, holding this device, + + En toy quies fitz de Dieu le pere, + Sauve soit, qui gist fours cest pierre. + +The second writing MERCY, with this device; + + O bene Jesu fait ta mercy, + A'lame, dont la corps gisticy. + +The third writing PITY, with this decree; + + Pour ta pitie Jesu regarde, + Et met cest a me, en sauve garde. + +His arms were in a Field Argent, on a Chevron Azure, three Leopards +heads or, their tongues Gules, two Angels supporters, and the crest a +Talbot. + +His EPITAPH. + + Armigeri soltum nihil a modo fert sibi tutum, + Reddidit immolutum morti generale tributum, + Spiritus exutum se gaudeat esse solutum + Est ubi virtutum regnum sine labe est statum. + +I shall take a quotation from a small piece of his called the Envious +Man and the Miser; by which it will appear, that he was not, as +Winstanley says, a refiner of our language, but on the other hand, +that poetry owes him few or no obligations. + +Of the Envious MAN and the MISER. + + Of Jupiter thus I find ywrite, + How, whilom, that he woulde wite, + Upon the plaintes, which he herde + Among the men, how that it farde, + As of her wronge condition + To do justificacion. + And, for that cause, downe he sent + An angel, which aboute went, + That he the sooth knowe maie. + +Besides the works already mentioned our poet wrote the following: + +De Compunctione Cordi, in one book. + +Chronicon Ricardi secundi. + +Ad Henricum Quartum, in one book. + +Ad eundem de Laude Pacis, in one book. + +De Rege Henrico, quarto, in one book. + +De Peste Vitiorum, in one book. + +Scrutinium Lucis, in one book. + +De Regimine Principum. + +De Conjugii Dignitate. + +De Amoris Varietate. + + * * * * * + + +JOHN LYDGATE, + +Commonly called the monk of Bury, because a native of that place. He +was another disciple and admirer of Chaucer, and it must be owned far +excelled his master, in the article of versification. After sometime +spent in our English universities, he travelled thro' France and +Italy, improving his time to the accomplishment of learning the +languages and arts. Pitseus says, he was not only an elegant poet, and +an eloquent rhetorician, but also an expert mathematician, an acute +philosopher, and no mean divine. His verses were so very smooth, and +indeed to a modern ear they appear so, that it was said of him by his +contemporaries, that his wit was framed and fashioned by the Muses +themselves. After his return from France and Italy, he became tutor +to many noblemen's sons, and for his excellent endowments was much +esteemed and reverenced by them. He writ a poem called the Life +and Death of Hector, from which I shall give a specimen of his +versification. + + I am a monk by my profession + In Bury, called John Lydgate by my name, + And wear a habit of perfection; + (Although my life agree not with the same) + That meddle should with things spiritual, + As I must needs confess unto you all. + + But seeing that I did herein proceed + At[1] his commands whom I could not refuse, + I humbly do beseech all those that read, + Or leisure have this story to peruse, + If any fault therein they find to be, + Or error that committed is by me, + + That they will of their gentleness take pain, + The rather to correct and mend the same, + Than rashly to condemn it with disdain, + For well I wot it is not without blame, + Because I know the verse therein is wrong + As being some too short, and some too long. + +His prologue to the story of Thebes, a tale (as he says) he was +constrained to tell, at the command of his host of the Tabard in +Southwark, whom he found in Canterbury with the rest of the pilgrims +who went to visit St. Thomas's shrine, is remarkably smooth for +the age in which he writ. This story was first written in Latin by +Chaucer, and translated by Lydgate into English verse, Pitseus says +he writ, partly in prose and partly in verse, many exquisite learned +books, amongst which are eclogues, odes, and satires. He flourished in +the reign of Henry VI. and died in the sixtieth year of his age, ann. +1440. and was buried in his own convent at Bury, with this epitaph, + + Mortuus sæclo, superis superstes, + Hic jacet Lydgate tumulatus urna: + Qui suit quondam celebris Britannæ, + Fama poesis. + +Which is thus rendered into English by Winstanly; + + Dead in this world, living above the sky, + Intomb'd within this urn doth Lydgate lie; + In former times fam'd for his poetry, + All over England. + +[Footnote 1: K. Henry V.] + + * * * * * + + +JOHN HARDING. + +John Harding, the famous English Chronologer, was born (says Bale) in +the Northern parts, and probably Yorkshire, being an Esquire of an +eminent parentage. He was a man addicted both to arms and arts, in the +former of which he seems to have been the greatest proficient: +His first military exploit was under Robert Umsreuil, governor of +Roxborough Castle, where he distinguished himself against the Scots, +before which the King of Scotland was then encamped, and unfortunately +lost his life. He afterwards followed the standard of Edward IV. to +whose interest both in prosperity and distress he honourably adhered. +But what endeared him most to the favour of that Prince, and was +indeed the masterpiece of his service, was his adventuring into +Scotland, and by his courteous insinuating behaviour, so far +ingratiating himself into the favour of their leading men, that he +procured the privilege of looking into their records and original +letters, a copy of which he brought to England and presented to the +King. This successful achievement established him in his Prince's +affections, as he was solicitous to know how often the Kings of +Scotland had taken oaths of fealty and subjected themselves to the +English Monarchs in order to secure their crown. These submissions +are warmly disputed by the Scotch historians, who in honour of their +country contend that they were only yielded for Cumberland and some +parcels of land possessed by them in England south of Tweed; and +indeed when the warlike temper and invincible spirit of that nation is +considered, it is more than probable, that the Scotch historians in +this particular contend only for truth. Our author wrote a chronicle +in verse of all our English Kings from Brute to King Edward IV. for +which Dr. Fuller and Winstanly bestow great encomiums upon him; but +he seems to me to be totally destitute of poetry, both from the +wretchedness of his lines, and the unhappiness of his subject, a +chronicle being of all others the driest, and the least susceptible of +poetical ornament; but let the reader judge by the specimen subjoined. +He died about the year 1461, being then very aged. From Gower to +Barclay it must be observed, that Kings and Princes were constantly +the patrons of poets. + +On the magnificent houshold of King Richard II, + + Truly I herd Robert Irelese say, + Clark of the Green Cloth, and that to the houshold, + Came every day, forth most part alway, + Ten thousand folk by his messes told; + That followed the house, aye as they wold, + And in the kitchen, three hundred scruitours, + And in eche office many occupiours, + And ladies faire, with their gentlewomen + Chamberers also, and launderers, + Three hundred of them were occupied then; + There was great pride among the officers, + And of all men far passing their compeers, + Of rich arraye, and much more costous, + Then was before, or sith, and more precious. + + * * * * * + + +JOHN SKELTON + +Was born of an ancient family in Cumberland, he received his education +at Oxford, and entering into holy orders was made rector of Dysso in +Norfolk in the reign of Henry VIII. tho' more probably he appeared +first in that of Henry VII. and may be said to be the growth of that +time. That he was a learned man Erasmus has confirmed, who in his +letter to King Henry VIII. stileth him, Britanicarum Literarum Lumen +& Decus: Tho' his stile is rambling and loose, yet he was not without +invention, and his satire is strongly pointed. He lived near fourscore +years after Chaucer, but seems to have made but little improvement in +versification. He wrote some bitter satires against the clergy, and +particularly, his keen reflections on Cardinal Wolsey drew on him +such severe prosecutions, that he was obliged to fly for sanctuary to +Westminster, under the protection of Islip the Abbot, where he died in +the year 1529. It appears by his poem entitled, The Crown of Laurel, +that his performances were numerous, and such as remain are chiefly +these, Philip Sparrow, Speak Parrot, the Death of King Edward IV, a +Treatise of the Scots, Ware the Hawk, the Tunning of Elianer Rumpkin. +In these pieces there is a very rich vein of wit and humour, tho' much +debased by the rust of the age he lived in. His satires are remarkably +broad, open and ill-bred; the verse cramped by a very short measure, +and encumbered with such a profusion of rhimes, as makes the poet +appear almost as ridiculous as those he endeavours to expose. In his +more serious pieces he is not guilty of this absurdity; and confines +himself to a regular stanza, according to the then reigning mode. +His Bouge of Court is a poem of some merit: it abounds with wit and +imagination, and shews him well versed in human nature, and the +insinuating manners of a court. The allegorical characters are finely +described, and well sustained; the fabric of the whole I believe +entirely his own, and not improbably may have the honour of furnishing +a hint even to the inimitable Spencer. How or by whose interest he was +made Laureat, or whether it was a title he assumed to himself, cannot +be determined, neither is his principal patron any where named; but if +his poem of the Crown Lawrel before mentioned has any covert meaning, +he had the happiness of having the Ladies for his friends, and the +countess of Surry, the lady Elizabeth Howard, and many others united +their services in his favour. When on his death-bed he was charged +with having children by a mistress he kept, he protected that in his +conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife: And such was his +cowardice, that he chose rather to confess adultery than own marriage, +a crime at that time more subjected to punishment than the other. + +The PROLOGUE to the BOUGE COURTS. + + In autumne, whan the sunne in vyrgyne, + By radyante hete, enryped hath our corne, + When Luna, full of mucabylyte, + As Emperes the dyademe hath worne + Of our Pole artyke, smylynge half in scorne, + At our foly, and our unstedfastnesse, + The tyme when Mars to warre hym did dres + + I, callynge to mynde the great auctoryte + Of poetes olde, whiche full craftely, + Under as couerte termes as coulde be, + Can touche a trouthe, and cloke subtylly + With fresh Utterance; full sentcyously, + Dyverse in style: some spared not vyce to wryte, + Some of mortalitie nobly dyd endyte. + +His other works, as many as could be collected are chiefly these: + +Meditations on St. Ann. + +--------on the Virgin of Kent. + +Sonnets on Dame Anne, + +Elyner Rummin, the famous alewife of England, often printed, the last +edition 1624. + +The Peregrinations of human Life. + +Solitary Sonnets. + +The Art of dying well. + +--------Speaking eloquently. + +Manners of the Court. + +Invective against William Lyle the Grammarian. + +Epitaphs on Kings, Princes, and Nobles, + +Collin Clout. + +Poetical Fancies and Satires. + +Verses on the Death of Arthur Prince of Wales. + + * * * * * + + +ALEXANDER BARCLAY. + +He was an author of some eminence and merit, tho' there are few things +preserved concerning him, and he has been neglected by almost all the +biographers of the poets. That excellent writer Mrs. Cooper seems to +have a pretty high opinion of his abilities; it is certain that he +very considerably refined the language, and his verses are much +smoother than those of Harding, who wrote but a few years before him. +He stiles himself Priest, and Chaplain in the College of St. Mary, +Otory, in the county of Devon, and afterwards Monk of Ely. His +principal work is a translation of a satirical piece, written +originally in high Dutch, and entitled the Ship of Fools: It exposes +the characters, vices, and follies of all degrees of men, and tho' +much inferior in its execution to the Canterbury Tales, has yet +considerable merit, especially when it is considered how barren and +unpolite the age was in which he flourished. In the prologue to this +he makes an apology for his youth, and it appears that the whole was +finished Anno Dom.-1508, which was about the close of the reign of +Henry VII. In elegancy of manners he has the advantage of all his +predecessors, as is particularly remarkable in his address to Sir +Giles Alington, his patron. The poet was now grown old, and the knight +desiring him to abridge and improve Gower's Confessio Amantis, he +declines it in the politest manner, on account of his age, profession, +and infirmities; 'but tho' love is an improper subject, 'says he, I +am still an admirer of the sex, and shall 'introduce to the honour of +your acquaintance, 'four of the finest ladies that nature ever framed, +'Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Magnanimity;' the whole of the +address is exceeding courtly, and from this I shall quote a few lines, +which will both illustrate his politeness and versification + + To you these accorde; these unto you are due, + Of you late proceeding as of their head fountayne; + Your life as example in writing I ensue, + For, more then my writing within it can contayne: + Your manners performeth and doth there attayne: + So touching these vertues, ye have in your living + More than this my meter conteyneth in writing. + My dities indited may counsell many one, + But not you, your maners surmounteth my + doctrine + Wherefore, I regard you, and your maners all + one, + After whose living my processes, I combine: + So other men instrusting, I must to you encline + Conforming my process, as much as I am able, + To your sad behaviour and maners commendable. + +He was author of the following pieces. + +Lives of several of the Saints. + +Salust's History of the Jugurthiam war translatcd into English. + +The Castle of Labour, translated from the French into English. + +Bale gives this author but an indifferent character as to his morals; +he is said to have intrigued with women, notwithstanding his clerical +profession: It is certain he was a gay courtly man, and perhaps, tho' +he espoused the Church in his profession, he held their celebacy and +pretended chastity in contempt, and being a man of wit, indulged +himself in those pleasures, which seem to be hereditary to the poets. + + * * * * * + + +Sir THOMAS MORE. + +Tho' poetry is none of the excellencies in which this great man was +distinguished, yet as he wrote some verses with tolerable spirit, and +was in almost every other respect one of the foremost geniusses our +nation ever produced, I imagine a short account of his life here will +not be disagreable to the readers, especially as all Biographers of +the Poets before me have taken notice of him, and ranked him amongst +the number of Bards. Sir Thomas More was born in Milk-street, London, +A.D. 1480. He was son to Sir John More, Knight, and one of the +Justices of the King's-Bench, a man held in the highest esteem at +that time for his knowledge in the law and his integrity in the +administration of justice. It was objected by the enemies of Sir +Thomas, that his birth was obscure, and his family mean; but far +otherwise was the real case. Judge More bore arms from his birth, +having his coat of arms quartered, which proves his having come to his +inheritance by descent. His mother was likewise a woman of family, and +of an extraordinary virtue. + +Doctor Clement relates from the authority of our author himself, a +vision which his mother had, the next night after her marriage. She +thought she saw in her sleep, as it were engraven in her wedding ring, +the number and countenances of all the children she was to have, of +whom the face of one was so dark and obscure, that she could not well +discern it, and indeed she afterwards suffered an untimely delivery of +one of them: the face of the other she beheld shining most gloriously, +by which the future fame of Sir Thomas was pre-signified. She also +bore two daughters. But tho' this story is told with warmth by his +great grandson, who writes his life, yet, as he was a Roman Catholic, +and and disposed to a superstitious belief in miracles and visions, +there is no great stress to be laid upon it. Lady More might perhaps +communicate this vision to her son, and he have embraced the belief +of it; but it seems to have too little authority, to deserve credit +from posterity. + +Another miracle is related by Stapleton, which is said to have +happened in the infancy of More. His nurse one day crossing a river, +and her horse stepping into a deep place, exposed both her and the +child to great danger. She being more anxious for the safety of the +child than her own, threw him over a hedge into a field adjoining, and +escaping likewise from the imminent danger, when she came to take him +up, she found him quite unhurt and smiling sweetly upon her. + +He was put to the free-school in London called St. Anthony's, under +the care of the famous Nicholas Holt, and when he had with great +rapidity acquired a knowledge of his grammar rules, he was placed by +his father's interest under the great Cardinal Merton, archbishop of +Canterbury, and Lord High Chancellor, whose gravity and learning, +generosity and tenderness, allured all men to love and honour him. +To him More dedicated his Utopia, which of all his works is +unexceptionably the most masterly and finished. The Cardinal finding +himself too much incumbered with business, and hurried with state +affairs to superintend his education, placed him in Canterbury +College in Oxford, whereby his assiduous application to books, his +extraordinary temperance and vivacity of wit, he acquired the first +character among the students, and then gave proofs of a genius that +would one day make a great blaze in the world. When he was but +eighteen years old such was the force of his understanding, he wrote +many epigrams which were highly esteemed by men of eminence, as +well abroad as at home. Beatus Rhenanus in his epistle to Bilibalus +Pitchemerus, passes great encomiums upon them, as also Leodgarius à +Quercu, public reader of humanity at Paris. One Brixius a German, who +envied the reputation of this young epigramatist, wrote a book against +these epigrams, under the title of Antimorus, which had no other +effect than drawing Erasmus into the field, who celebrated and +honoured More; whose high patronage was the greatest compliment the +most ambitious writer could expect, so that the friendship of Erasmus +was cheaply purchased by the malevolence of a thousand such critics as +Brixius. About the same time of life he translated for his exercise +one of Lucian's orations out of Greek into Latin, which he calls his +First Fruits of the Greek Tongue; and adds another oration of his own +to answer that of Lucian; for as he had defended him who had slain a +tyrant, he opposed against it another with such forcible arguments, +that it seems not to be inferior to Lucian's, either in invention or +eloquence: When he was about twenty years old, finding his appetites +and passions very predominant. He struggled with all the heroism of a +christian against their influence, and inflicted severe whippings and +austere mortifications upon himself every friday and on high fasting +days, left his sensuality would grow too insolent, and at last subdue +his reason. But notwithstanding all his efforts, finding his lusts +ready to endanger his soul, he wisely determined to marry, a remedy +much more natural than personal inflictions; and as a pattern of life, +he proposed the example of a singular lay-man, John Picas Earl of +Mirandula, who was a man famous for chastity, virtue, and learning. He +translated this nobleman's life, as also many of his letters, and his +twelve receipts of good life, which are extant in the beginning of his +English works. For this end he also wrote a treatise of the four last +things, which he did not quite finish, being called to other studies. + +At his meals he was very abstemious, nor ever eat but of one dish, +which was most commonly powdered beef, or some such saltmeat. In his +youth he abstained wholly from wine; and as he was temperate in his +diet, so was he heedless and negligent in his apparel. Being once told +by his secretary Mr. Harris, that his shoes were all torn, he bad him +tell his man to buy him new ones, whose business it was to take care +of his cloaths, whom for this cause he called his tutor. His first +wife's name was Jane Cole, descended of a genteel family, who bore him +four children, and upon her decease, which in not many years happened, +he married a second time a widow, one Mrs. Alice Middleton, by whom he +had no children. This he says he did not to indulge his passions (for +he observes that it it harder to keep chastity in wedlock than in a +single life,) but to take care of his children and houshold affairs. +Upon what principle this observation is founded, I cannot well +conceive, and wish Sir Thomas had given his reasons why it is harder +to be chaste in a married than single life. This wife was a worldly +minded woman, had a very indifferent person, was advanced in years, +and possessed no very agreeable temper. Much about this time he became +obnoxious to Henry VII for opposing his exactions upon the people. +Henry was a covetous mean prince, and entirely devoted to the +council of Emson and Dudley, who then were very justly reckoned the +caterpillars of the state. The King demanded a large subsidy to bestow +on his eldest daughter, who was then about to be married to James IV. +of Scotland. Sir Thomas being one of the burgesses, so influenced the +lower house by the force of his arguments, (who were cowardly enough +before not to oppose the King) that they refused the demands, upon +which Mr. Tiler of the King's Privy-Chambers went presently to +his Majesty, and told him that More had disappointed all their +expectations, which circumstance not a little enraged him against +More. Upon this Henry was base enough to pick a quarrel without a +cause against Sir John More, his venerable father, and in revenge to +the son, clapt him in the Tower, keeping him there prisoner till he +had forced him to pay one hundred pounds of a fine, for no offence. +King Henry soon after dying, his son who began his reign with some +popular acts, tho' afterwards he degenerated into a monstrous tyrant, +caused Dudley and Emson to be impeached of high treason for giving bad +advice to his father; and however illegal such an arraignment might +be, yet they met the just fate of oppressors and traitors to their +country. + +About the year 1516, he composed his famous book called the Utopia, +and gained by it great reputation. Soon after it was published, it +was translated both into French and Italian, Dutch and English. Dr. +Stapleton enumerates the opinions of a great many learned men in its +favour. This work tho' not writ in verse, yet in regard of the fancy +and invention employed in composing it, may well enough pass for an +allegorical poem. It contains the idea of a compleat Commonwealth in +an imaginary island, (pretended to be lately discovered in America) +and that so well counterfeited, that many upon reading it, mistook it +for a real truth, in so much (says Winstanly) that some learned men, +as Budeus, Johannes Plaudanus, out of a principle of fervent zeal, +wished that some excellent divines might be sent hither to preach +Christ's Gospel. + +Much about the same time he wrote the history of Richard III. which +was likewise held in esteem; these works were undertaken when he was +discharged from the business of the state. + +Roper, in his life of our author, relates that upon an occasion in +which King Henry VIII. and the Pope were parties in a cause tryed in +the Star Chamber, Sir Thomas most remarkably distinguished himself, +and became so great a favourite with that discerning monarch, that he +could no longer forbear calling him into his service. + +A ship of the Pope's, by the violence of a storm was driven into +Southampton, which the King claimed as a forfeiture; when the day of +hearing came on before the Lord High Chancellor, and other Judges, +More argued so forcibly in favour of the Pope, that tho' the Judges +had resolved to give it for the King, yet they altered their opinion, +and confirmed the Pope's right. In a short time after this, he was +created a Knight, and after the death of Mr. Weston, he was made +Treasurer of the Exchequer, and one of the Privy Council. He was now +Speaker of the House of Commons, and thus exalted in dignity, the +eyes of the nation were fixed upon him. Wolsey, who then governed the +realm, found himself much grieved by the Burgesses, because all their +transactions were so soon made public, and wanting a fresh subsidy, +came to the house in person to complain of this usage. When the +burgesses heard of his coming, it was long debated whether they should +admit him or no, and Sir Thomas strongly urged that he should be +admitted, for this reason, that if he shall find fault with the +spreading of our secrets, (says he) we may lay the blame upon those +his Grace brought with him. The proud Churchman having entered the +House, made a long speech for granting the subsidy, and asked several +of the Members opinion concerning it; they were all so confounded as +not to be able to answer, and the House at last resolved that their +Speaker should reply for them. Upon this Sir Thomas shewed that the +cardinal's coming into the House was unprecedented, illegal, and a +daring insult on the liberty of the burgesses, and that the subsidy +demanded was unnecessary; upon which Wolsey suddenly departed in +a rage, and ever after entertained suspicions of More, and became +jealous of his great abilities. Our author's fame was not confined +to England only; all the scholars and statesmen in every country in +Europe had heard of, and corresponded with him, but of all strangers +he had a peculiar esteem for Erasmus, who took a journey into England +in order to converse with him, and enter more minutely into the merit +of one whose learning he had so high an opinion of. They agreed to +meet first at my Lord Mayor's table, and as they were personally +unknown, to make the experiment whether they could discover one +another by conversation. They met accordingly, and remained some hours +undiscovered; at last an argument was started in which both engaged +with great keenness, Erasmus designedly defended the unpopular side, +but finding himself so strongly pressed, that he could hold it no +longer, he broke out in an extasy, aut tu es Morus, aut Nullus. Upon +which More replied, aut tu es Erasmus, aut Diabolus, as at that time +Erasmus was striving to defend very impious propositions, in order to +put his antagonist's strength to the proof. + +When he lived in the city of London as a justice of peace, he used +to attend the sessions at Newgate. There was then upon the bench a +venerable old judge, who was very severe against those who had their +purses cut; (as the phrase then was) and told them that it was by +their negligence that so many purse-cutters came before him. Sir +Thomas, who was a great lover of a joke, contrived to have this +judge's purse cut from him in the sessions house by a felon. When the +felon was arraigned, he told the court, that if he were permitted to +speak to one of the judges in private, he could clear his innocence to +them; they indulged him in his request, and he made choice of this old +judge, and while he whispered something in his ear, he slily cut away +his purse; the judge returned to the bench, and the felon made a sign +to Sir Thomas of his having accomplished the scheme. Sir Thomas moved +the court, that each of them should bestow some alms on a needy person +who then stood falsly accused, and was a real object of compassion. +The motion was agreed to, and when the old man came to put his hand in +his purse, he was astonished to find it gone, and told the court, +that he was sure he had it when he came there. What, says More in +a pleasant manner, do you charge any of us with felony? the judge +beginning to be angry, our facetious author desired the felon, to +return his purse, and advised the old man never to be so bitter +against innocent men's negligence, when he himself could not keep his +purse safe in that open assembly. + +Although he lived a courtier, and was much concerned in business, yet +he never neglected his family at home, but instructed his daughters +in all useful learning, and conversed familiarly with them; he was +remarkably fond of his eldest daughter Margaret, as she had a greater +capacity, and sprightlier genius than the rest. His children often +used to translate out of Latin, into English, and out of English into +Latin, and Dr. Stapleton observes, that he hath seen an apology of Sir +Thomas More's to the university of Oxford, in defence of learning, +turned into Latin by one of his daughters, and translated again into +English by another. Margaret, whose wit was superior to the rest, writ +a treatise on the four last things, which Sir Thomas declared was +finer than his; she composed several Orations, especially one in +answer to Quintilian, defending a rich man, which he accused for +having poisoned a poor man's bees with certain venomous flowers in his +garden, so eloquent and forcible that it may justly rival Quintilian +himself. She also translated Eusebius out of Greek. + +Tho' Sir Thomas was thus involved in public affairs and domestic +concerns, yet he found leisure to write many books, either against +Heretics, or of a devotional cast; for at that time, what he reckoned +Heresy began to diffuse itself over all Germany and Flanders. He built +a chapel in his parish church at Chelsea, which he constantly attended +in the morning; so steady was he in his devotion. He hired a house +also for many aged people in the parish, which he turned into an +hospital, and supported at his own expence. He at last rose to the +dignity of Lord High Chancellor upon the fall of Wolsey, and while he +sat as the Chief Judge of the nation in one court, his father, +aged upwards of 90, sat as Chief Justice in the King's Bench; a +circumstance which never before, nor ever since happened, of a father +being a Judge, and his son a Chancellor at the same time. Every day, +as the Chancellor went to the Bench, he kneeled before his father, and +asked his blessing. The people soon found the difference between the +intolerable pride of Wolsey, and the gentleness and humility of More; +he permitted every one to approach him without reserve; he dispatched +business with great assiduity, and so cleared the court of tedious +suits, that he more than once came to the Bench, and calling for a +cause, there was none to try. As no dignity could inspire him with +pride, so no application to the most important affairs could divert +him from sallies of humour, and a pleasantry of behaviour. It once +happened, that a beggar's little dog which she had lost, was presented +to lady More, of which me was very fond; but at last the beggar +getting notice where the dog was, she came to complain to Sir Thomas +as he was sitting in his hall, that his lady withheld her dog from +her; presently my lady was sent for, and the dog brought with her, +which he taking in his hand, caused his wife to stand at the upper end +of the hall, and the beggar at the other; he then bad each of them +call the dog, which when they did, the dog went presently to the +beggar, forsaking my lady. When he saw this, he bad my lady be +contented for it was none of hers. My Lord Chancellor then gave the +woman a piece of gold, which would have bought ten such dogs, and bid +her be careful of it for the future. + +A friend of his had spent much time in composing a book, and went to +Sir Thomas to have his opinion of it; he desired him to turn it +into rhime; which at the expence of many years labour he at last +accomplished, and came again to have his opinion: Yea marry, says he, +now it is somewhat; now it is rhime, but before it was neither rhime +nor reason. + +But fortune, which had been long propitious to our author, began now +to change sides, and try him as well with affliction as prosperity, +in both which characters, his behaviour, integrity and courage were +irreproachable. The amorous monarch King Henry VIII, at last obtained +from his Parliament and Council a divorce from his lawful wife, and +being passionately fond of Anna Bullen, he married her, and declared +her Queen of England: This marriage Sir Thomas had always opposed, and +held it unlawful for his Sovereign to have another wife during his +first wife's life. The Queen who was of a petulant disposition, and +elated with her new dignity could not withhold her resentment against +him, but animated all her relations, and the parties inclined to the +protestant interest, to persecute him with rigour. Not long after the +divorce, the Council gave authority for the publication of a book, +in which the reasons why this divorce was granted were laid down; an +answer was soon published, with which Sir Thomas More was charged as +the author, of which report however he sufficiently cleared himself in +a letter to Mr. Cromwel, then secretary, and a great favourite with +King Henry. In the parliament held in the year 1534, there was an +oath, framed, called the Oath of Supremacy, in which all English +subjects should renounce the pope's authority, and swear also to the +succession of Queen Ann's children, and lady Mary illegitimate. This +oath was given to all the clergy as well bishops as priests, but no +lay-man except Sir Thomas More was desired to take it; he was summoned +to appear at Lambeth before archbishop Cranmer, the Lord Chancellor +Audley, Mr. Secretary Cromwel, and the abbot of Westminster, appointed +commissioners by the King to tender this oath. More absolutely +refused to take it, from a principle of conscience: and after various +expostulations he was ordered into the custody of the abbot of +Westminster; and soon after he was sent to the tower, and the +lieutenant had strict charge to prevent his writing, or holding +conversation with any persons but those sent by the secretary. The +Lord Chancellor, duke of Norfolk, and Mr. Cromwel paid him frequent +visits, and pressed: him to take the oath, which he still refused. +About a year after his commitment to the tower, by the importunity of +Queen Ann, he was arraign'd at the King's Bench Bar, for obstinately +refusing, the oath of supremacy, and wilfully and obstinately opposing +the King's second marriage. He went to the court leaning on his staff, +because he had been much weakened by his imprisonment; his judges +were, Audley, Lord Chancellor; Fitz James, Chief Justice; Sir John +Baldwin, Sir Richard Leister, Sir John Port, Sir John Spelman, Sir +Walter Luke, Sir Anthony Fitzherbert: The King's attorney opened +against him with a very opprobrious libel; the chief evidence were +Mr. secretary Cromwell, to whom he had uttered some disrespectful +expressions of the King's authority, the duke of Suffolk and earl +of Wiltshire: He replied to the accusation with great composure and +strength of argument; and when one Mr. Rich swore against him, he +boldly asserted that Rich was perjured, and wished he might never see +God's Countenance in mercy, if what he asserted was not true; besides +that, Rich added to perjury, the baseness of betraying private +conversation. But notwithstanding his defence, the jury, who were +composed of creatures of the court, brought in their verdict, guilty; +and he had sentence of death pronounced against him, which he +heard without emotion. He then made a long speech addressed to the +Chancellor, and observed to Mr. Rich, that he was more sorry for his +perjury, than for the sentence that had just been pronounced against +him: Rich had been sent by the secretary to take away all Sir Thomas's +books and papers, during which time some conversation passed, which +Rich misrepresented in order to advance himself in the King's favour. +He was ordered again to the Tower till the King's pleasure should be +known. When he landed at Tower Wharf, his favourite daughter Margaret, +who had not seen him since his confinement, came there to take her +last adieu, and forgetting the bashfulness and delicacy of her sex, +press'd thro' the multitude, threw her arms about her father's neck +and often embraced him; they had but little conversation, and their +parting was so moving, that all the spectators dissolved in tears, and +applauded the affection and tenderness of the lady which could enable +her to take her farewel under so many disadvantages. + +Some time after his condemnation Mr. secretary Cromwel waited on Sir +Thomas, and entreated him to accept his Majesty's pardon, upon the +condition of taking the oath, and expressed great tenderness towards +him. This visit and seeming friendship of Cromwel not a little +affected him, he revolved in his mind the proposal which he made, +and as his fate was approaching, perhaps his resolution staggered +a little, but calling to mind his former vows, his conscience, his +honour, he recovered himself again, and stood firmly prepared for his +fall. Upon this occasion it was that he wrote the following verses, +mentioned both by Mr. Roper and Mr. Hoddeson, which I shall here +insert as a specimen of his poetry. + + Ey flattering fortune, loke thou never so fayre, + Or never so pleasantly begin to smile, + As tho' thou would'st my ruine all repayre, + During my life thou shalt not me begile, + Trust shall I God to entre in a while + His haven of heaven sure and uniforme, + Ever after thy calme loke I for a storme. + +On the 6th of July, 1534, in the 54th year of his age, the sentence of +condemnation was executed upon him on Tower Hill, by severing his head +from his body. As he was carried to the scaffold, some low people +hired by his enemies cruelly insulted him, to whom he gave cool and +effectual answers. Being now under the scaffold, he looked at it with +great calmness, and observing it too slenderly built, he said merrily +to Mr. Lieutenant, "I pray you, Sir, see me safe up, and for my +coming down let me shift for myself." When he mounted on the +scaffold, he threw his eyes round the multitude, desired them to pray +for him, and to bear him witness that he died for the holy catholic +church, a faithful servant both to God and the King. His gaiety and +propension to jesting did not forsake him in his last moments; when he +laid his head upon the block, he bad the executioner stay till he +had removed aside his beard, saying, "that that had never committed +treason." When the executioner asked his forgiveness, he kissed him +and said, "thou wilt do me this day a greater benefit than any mortal +man can be able to give me; pluck up thy spirit man, and be not afraid +to do thy office, my neck is very short, take heed therefore that thou +strike not awry for saving thy honesty." + +Thus by an honest but mistaken zeal fell Sir Thomas More; a man of wit +and parts superior to all his contemporaries of integrity unshaken; +of a generous and noble disposition; of a courage intrepid; a +great scholar and a devout christian. Wood says that he was but an +indifferent divine, and that he was very ignorant of antiquity and the +learning of the fathers, but he allows him to be a man of a pleasant +and fruitful imagination, and a statesman beyond any that succeeded +him. + +His works besides those we have already mentioned are chiefly these, + +A Merry Jest, How a Serjeant will learn to play a Friar, written in +verse. + +Verses on the hanging of a Painted Cloth in his Father's House. + +Lamentations on Elizabeth Queen of Henry VII, 1503. + +Verses on the Book of Fortune. + +Dialogue concerning Heresies. + +Supplication of Souls, writ in answer to a book called the +Supplication of Beggars. + +A Confutation of Tindal's Answer to More's Dialogues, printed 1533. + +The Debellation of Salem and Bizance, 1533. + +In answer to another book of Tindal's. + +Treatise on the Passion of Chrift. + +----Godly Meditation. + +------Devout Prayer. + +Letters while in the Tower, all printed 1557. + +Progymnasmata. + +Responsio ad Convitia Martini Lutheri, 1523. + +Quod pro Fide Mors fugienda non est, written in the Tower 1534. + +Precationes ex Psalmis. + + * * * * * + + +HENRY HOWARD, Earl of SURRY + +Was son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward, +duke of Buckingham. The father of our author held the highest places +under King Henry VIII, and had so faithfully and bravely served him, +that the nobility grew jealous of his influence, and by their united +efforts produced his ruin. After many excellent services in France, he +was constituted Lord Treasurer, and made General of the King's whole +army design'd to march against the Scots: At the battle of Flodden, +in which the Scots were routed and their Sovereign slain, the earl of +Surry remarkably distinguished himself; he commanded under his father, +and as soon as the jealousy of the Peers had fastened upon the one, +they took care that the other should not escape. He was the first +nobleman (says Camden) that illustrated his high birth with the beauty +of learning; he was acknowledged by all, to be the gallantest man, +the politest lover, and the most compleat gentleman of his time. He +received his education at Windsor with a natural son of Henry VIII, +and became first eminent for his devotion to the beautiful Geraldine, +Maid of Honour to Queen Catherine; the first inspired him with poetry, +and that poetry has conferred immortality on her: So transported was +he with his passion, that he made a tour to the most elegant courts +in Europe, to maintain her peerless beauty against all opposers, +and every where made good his challenge with honour. In his way +to Florence, he touched at the emperor's court, where he became +acquainted with the learned Cornelius Agrippa, so famous for magic, +who shewed him the image of his Geraldine in a glass, sick, weeping on +her bed, and melting into devotion for the absence of her lord; upon +sight of this he wrote the following passionate sonnet, which for +the smoothness of the verse, the tenderness of expression, and the +heartfelt sentiments might do honour to the politest, easiest, most +passionate poet in our own times. + + All soul, no earthly flesh, why dost thou fade? + All gold; no earthly dross, why look'st thou + pale? + Sickness how darest thou one so fair invade? + Too base infirmity to work her bale. + Heaven be distempered since she grieved + pines, + Never be dry, these my sad plaintive lines. + + Pearch thou my spirit on her silver breasts, + And with their pains redoubled musick beatings, + Let them toss thee to world where all toil rests, + Where bliss is subject to no fears defeatings, + Her praise I tune, whose tongue doth tune + the spheres, + And gets new muses in her hearers ears. + + Stars fall to fetch fresh light from the rich eyes, + Her bright brow drives the fun to clouds beneath. + Her hair reflex with red strakes paints the skyes, + Sweet morn and evening dew flows from her + breath: + Phoebe rules tides, she my tears tides forth + draws. + In her sick bed love fits, and maketh laws. + + Her dainty lips tinsel her silk-soft sheets, + Her rose-crown'd cheeks eclipse my dazled sight. + O glass with too much joy, my thoughts thou + greets, + And yet thou shewest me day but by twilight. + I'll kiss thee for the kindness I have felt. + Her lips one kiss would into nectar melt. + +From the emperor's court he went to the city of Florence, the pride +and glory of Italy, in which city his beauteous Geraldine was born, +and he had no rest till he found out the house of her nativity, +and being shewn the room where his charmer first drew air, he was +transported with extasy of joy, his tongue overflowed with her +praises, and Winstanly says he eclipsed the sun and moon with +comparisons of his Geraldine, and wrote another sonnet in praise +of the chamber that was honoured (as he says) with her radiant +conception; this sonnet is equally amorous and spirited with that +already inserted. In the duke of Florence's court he published a proud +challenge against all comers, whether Christians, Turks, Canibals, +Jews, or Saracens, in defence of his mistress's beauty; this challenge +was the better received there, as she whom he defended was born in +that city: The duke of Florence however sent for him, and enquired of +his fortune, and the intent of his coming to his court; of which when +the earl informed him, he granted to all countries whatever, as well +enemies and outlaws, as friends and allies, free access into his +dominions unmolested till the trial were ended. + +In the course of his combats for his mistress, his valour and skill +in arms so engaged the Duke to his interest, that he offered him the +highest preferments if he would remain at his court. This proposal +he rejected, as he intended to proceed thro' all the chief cities in +Italy; but his design was frustrated by letters sent by King Henry +VIII. which commanded his speedy return into England. + +In the year 1544, upon the expedition to Boulogne in France, he was +made field marshal of the English army, and after taking that town, +being then knight of the garter, he was in the beginning of September +1545 constituted the King's lieutenant, and captain-general of all his +army within the town and county of Boulogne[1]. During his command +there in 1546, hearing that a convoy of provisions of the enemy was +coming to the fort at Oultreaw, he resolved to intercept it; but +the Rhinegrave, with four thousand Lanskinets, together with a +considerable number of French under the de Bieg, making an obstinate +defence, the English were routed, Sir Edward Poynings with divers +other gentlemen killed, and the Earl himself obliged to fly, tho' it +appears, by a letter to the King dated January 8, 1548, that this +advantage cost the enemy a great number of men. But the King was +so highly displeased with this ill success, that from that time he +contracted a prejudice against the Earl, and soon after removed him +from his command, and appointed the Earl of Hertford to succeed him. +Upon which Sir William Page wrote to the Earl of Surry to advise him +to procure some eminent post under the Earl of Hertford, that he might +not be unprovided in the town and field. The Earl being desirous in +the mean time to regain his former favour with the King, skirmished +with the French and routed them, but soon after writing over to the +King's council that as the enemy had cast much larger cannon than had +been yet seen, with which they imagined they should soon demolish +Boulogne, it deserved consideration whether the lower town should +stand, as not being defensible; the council ordered him to return to +England in order to represent his sentiments more fully upon those +points, and the Earl of Hertford was immediately sent over in his +room. This exasperating the Earl of Surry, occasioned him to let fall +some expressions which favoured of revenge and dislike to the King, +and a hatred of his Councellors, and was probably one cause of his +ruin, which soon after ensued. The Duke of Norfolk, who discovered the +growing power of the Seymours, and the influence they were likely +to bear in the next reign, was for making an alliance with them; he +therefore pressed his son to marry the Earl of Hertford's daughter, +and the Dutchess of Richmond, his own daughter, to marry Sir Thomas +Seymour; but neither of these matches were effected, and the Seymours +and Howards then became open enemies. The Seymours failed not to +inspire the King with an aversion to the Norfolk-family, whose power +they dreaded, and represented the ambitious views of the Earl of +Surry; but to return to him as a poet. + +That celebrated antiquary, John Leland, speaking of Sir Thomas Wyat +the Elder, calls the Earl, 'The conscript enrolled heir of the said +Sir Thomas, in his learning and other excellent qualities.' The author +of a treatise, entitled, 'The Art of English Poetry, alledges, that +Sir Thomas Wyat the Elder, and Henry Earl of Surry were the two +chieftains, who having travelled into Italy, and there tasted the +sweet and stately measures and stile of the Italian poetry, greatly +polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar poetry, from what it had +been before, and therefore may be justly called, The Reformers of our +English Poetry and Stile.' Our noble author added to learning, wisdom, +fortitude, munificence, and affability. Yet all these excellencies of +character, could not prevent his falling a sacrifice to the jealousy +of the Peers, or as some say to the resentment of the King for his +attempting to wed the Princess Mary; and by these means to raise +himself to the Crown. History is silent as to the reasons why the +gallantries he performed for Geraldine did not issue in a marriage. +Perhaps the reputation he acquired by arms, might have enflamed +his soul with a love of glory; and this conjecture seems the more +probable, as we find his ambition prompting him to make love to +the Princess from no other views but those of dominion. He married +Frances, daughter to John Earl of Oxford, after whose death he +addressed Princess Mary, and his first marriage, perhaps, might be +owing to a desire of strengthening his interest, and advancing his +power in the realm. The adding some part of the royal arms to his own, +was also made a pretence against him, but in this he was justified by +the heralds, as he proved that a power of doing so was granted by some +preceeding Monarchs to his forefathers. Upon the strength of these +suspicions and surmises, he and his father were committed to the Tower +of London, the one by water, the other by land, so that they knew +not of each other's apprehension. The fifteenth day of January next +following he was arraigned at Guildhall, where he was found guilty by +twelve common jurymen, and received judgment. About nine days before +the death of the King he lost his head on Tower-Hill; and had not that +Monarch's decease so soon ensued, the fate of his father was likewise +determined to have been the same with his sons. + +It is said, when a courtier asked King Henry why he was so zealous in +taking off Surry; "I observed him, says he, an enterprizing youth; his +spirit was too great to brook subjection, and 'tho' I can manage him, +yet no successor of mine will ever be able to do so; for which reason +I have dispatched him in my own time." + +He was first interred in the chapel of the Tower, and afterwards in +the reign of King James, his remains were removed to Farmingam in +Suffolk, by his second son Henry Earl of Northampton, with this +epitaph. + +Henrico Howardo, Thomæ secundi Ducis Norfolciæ filio primogenito. +Thomæ tertii Patri, Comiti Surriæ, & Georgiani Ordinis Equiti Aurato, +immature Anno Salutis 1546 abrepto. Et Franciscæ Uxoris ejus, filiæ +Johannis Comitis Oxoniæ. Henricus Howardus Comes Northamptoniæ filius +secundo genitus, hoc supremum pietatis in parentes monumentum posuit, +A.D. 1614. + +Upon the accession of Queen Mary the attainder was taken off his +father, which circumstance has furnished some people with an +opportunity to say, that the princess was fond of, and would have +married, the Earl of Surry. I shall transcribe the act of repeal as I +find it in Collins's Peerage of England, which has something singular +enough in it. + +'That there was no special matter in the Act of Attainder, but only +general words of treason and conspiracy: and that out of their care +for the preservation of the King and the Prince they passed it, and +this Act of Repeal further sets forth, that the only thing of which he +stood charged, was for bearing of arms, which he and his ancestors had +born within and without the kingdom in the King's presence, and sight +of his progenitors, as they might lawfully bear and give, as by good +and substantial matter of record it did appear. It also added, that +the King died after the date of the commission; likewise that he only +empowered them to give his consent; but did not give it himself; and +that it did not appear by any record that they gave it. Moreover, that +the King did not sign the commission with his own hand, his stamp +being only set to it, and that not to the upper part, but to the +nether part of it, contrary to the King's custom.' + +Besides the amorous and other poetical pieces of this noble author, he +translated Virgil's Æneid, and rendered (says Wood) the first, second, +and third book almost word for word:--All the Biographers of the +poets have been lavish, and very justly, in his praise; he merits the +highest encomiums as the refiner of our language, and challenges the +gratitude and esteem of every man of literature, for the generous +assistance he afforded it in its infancy, and his ready and liberal +patronage to all men of merit in his time. + + +[Footnote 1: Dugdale's Baronage.] + + * * * * * + + +Sir THOMAS WYAT. + +Was distinguished by the appellation of the Elder, as there was one of +the same name who raised a rebellion in the time of Queen Mary. He +was son to Henry Wyat of Alington-castle in Kent. He received the +rudiments of his education at Cambridge, and was afterwards placed at +Oxford to finish it. He was in great esteem with King Henry VIII. on +account of his wit and Love Elegies, pieces of poetry in which he +remarkably succeeded. The affair of Anne Bullen came on, when he made +some opposition to the King's passion for her, that was likely to +prove fatal to him; but by his prudent behaviour, and retracting +what he had formerly advanced, he was restored again to his royal +patronage. He was cotemporary with the Earl of Surry, who held him in +high esteem. He travelled into foreign parts, and as we have observed +in the Earl of Surry's life, he added something towards refining the +English stile, and polishing our numbers, tho' he seems not to have +done so much in that way as his lordship. Pitts and Bale have entirely +neglected him, yet for his translation of David's Psalms into English +metre and other poetical works, Leland scruples not to compare him +with Dante and Petrarch, by giving him this ample commendation. + + Let Florence fair her Dantes justly boast, + And royal Rome, her Petrarchs numbered feet, + In English Wyat both of them doth coast: + In whom all graceful eloquence doth meet. + +Leland published all his works under the title of Nænia. Some of his +Biographers (Mrs. Cooper and Winstanley) say that he died of the +plague as he was going on an embassy to the Emperor Charles V. but +Wood asserts, that he was only sent to Falmo by the King to meet the +Spanish ambassador on the road, and conduct him to the court, which it +seems demanded very great expedition; that by over-fatiguing himself, +he was thrown into a fever, and in the thirty-eighth year of his age +died in a little country-town in England, greatly lamented by all +lovers of learning and politeness. In his poetical capacity, he does +not appear to have much imagination, neither are his verses so musical +and well polished as lord Surry's. Those of gallantry in particular +seem to be too artificial and laboured for a lover, without that +artless simplicity which is the genuine mark of feeling; and too +stiff, and negligent of harmony for a His letters to John Poynes and +Sir Francis Bryan deserve more notice, they argue him a man of great +sense and honour, a critical observer of manners and well-qualified +for an elegant and genteel satirist. These letters contain +observations on the Courtier's Life, and I shall quote a few lines as +a specimen, by which it will be seen how much he falls short of +his noble cotemporary, lord Surry, and is above those writers that +preceded him in versification. + + The COURTIERS LIFE. + + In court to serve decked with fresh araye, + Of sugared meats seling the sweet repast, + The life in blankets, and sundry kinds of playe, + Amidst the press the worldly looks to waste, + Hath with it joyned oft such bitter taste, + That whoso joys such kind of life to holde, + In prison joys, fetter'd with chains of golde. + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS SACKVILLE, Earl DORSET + +Was son of Richard Sackville and Winifrede, daughter of Sir John +Bruges, Lord of London.[1] He was born at Buckhurst in the parish of +Withiam in Suffex, and from his childhood was distinguished for wit +and manly behaviour: He was first of the University of Oxford, but +taking no degree there, he went to Cambridge, and commenced master of +arts; he afterwards studied the law in the Inner-Temple, and became a +barrister; but his genius being too lively to be confined to a dull +plodding study, he chose rather to dedicate his hours to poetry and +pleasure; he was the first that wrote scenes in verse, the Tragedy of +Ferrex and Perrex, sons to Gorboduc King of Britain, being performed +in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, long before Shakespear appeared[2] +on the stage, by the Gentlemen of the Inner-Temple, at Whitehall the +18th of January, 1561, which Sir Philip Sidney thus characterises: "It +is full of stately speeches, and well founding phrases, climbing to +the height of Seneca's stile, and as full of notable morality, which +it doth most delightfully teach, and so obtain the very end of +poetry." In the course of his studies, he was most delighted with the +history of his own country, and being likewise well acquainted with +antient history, he formed a design of writing the lives of several +great personages in verse, of which we have a specimen in a book +published 1610, called the Mirror of Magistrates, being a true +Chronicle History of the untimely falls of such unfortunate princes +and men of note, as have happened since the first entrance of Brute +into this Island until his own time. It appears by a preface of +Richard Nicolls, that the original plan of the Mirror of Magistrates +was principally owing to him, a work of great labour, use and beauty. +The induction, from which I shall quote a few lines, is indeed a +master-piece, and if the-whole could have been compleated in the same +manner, it would have been an honour to the nation to this day, nor +could have sunk under the ruins of time; but the courtier put an end +to the poet; and one cannot help wishing for the sake of our national +reputation, that his rise at court had been a little longer delayed: +It may easily be seen that allegory was brought to great perfection +before the appearance of Spencer, and if Mr. Sackville did not +surpass him, it was because he had the disadvantage of writing first. +Agreeable to what Tasso exclaimed on seeing Guarini's Pastor Fido; 'If +he had not seen my Aminta, he had not excelled it.' + +Our author's great abilities being distinguished at court, he was +called to public affairs: In the 4th and 5th years of Queen Mary we +find him in parliament; in the 5th year of Elizabeth, when his +father was chosen for Sussex, he was returned one of the Knights of +Buckinghamshire to the parliament then held. He afterwards travelled +into foreign parts, and was detained for some time prisoner at Rome. +His return into England being procured, in order to take possession of +the vast inheritance his father left him, he was knighted by the duke +of Norfolk in her Majesty's presence[3] 1567, and at the same day +advanced to the degree and dignity of a baron of this realm, by the +title of lord Buckhurst: He was of so profuse a temper, that though he +then enjoyed a great estate, yet by his magnificent way of living he +spent more than the income of it, and[4] a story is told of him, 'That +calling on an alderman of London, who had got very considerably by the +loan of his money to him, he was obliged to wait his coming down +so long, as made such an impression on his generous humour, that +thereupon he turned a thrifty improver of his estate.' But others +make him the convert of Queen Elizabeth, (to whom he was allied, his +grandfather having married a lady related to Ann Bullen) who by her +frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion, and then +received him into her particular favour. Camden says, that in the 14th +of that Princess, he was sent ambassador to Charles IX King of France, +to congratulate his marriage with the Emperor Maximilian's daughter, +and on other important affairs where he was honourably received, +according to his Queen's merit and his own; and having in company +Guido Cavalcanti, a Gentleman of Florence, a person of great +experience, and the Queen-mother being a Florentine, a treaty of +marriage was publickly transacted between Queen Elizabeth and her +son the duke of Anjou. In the 15th of her Majesty he was one of the +peers[5] that sat on the trial of Thomas Howard duke of Norfolk,[6] +and on the 29th of Elizabeth, was nominated one of the commissioners +for the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and at that time was of the +privy council, but his lordship is not mentioned amongst the peers +who met at Fotheringay Castle and condemned the Queen; yet when the +parliament had confirmed the sentence, he was made choice of to convey +the news to her Majesty, and see their determination put in execution +against that beauteous Princess; possibly because he was a man of fine +accomplishments, and tenderness of disposition, and could manage so +delicate a point with more address than any other courtier. In the +succeeding year he was sent ambassador to the States of the United +Provinces, upon their dislike of the earl of Leicester's proceedings +in a great many respects, there to examine the business, and compose +the difference: He faithfully discharged this invidious office, but +thereby incurred the earl of Leicester's displeasure; who prevailed +with the Queen, as he was her favourite, to call the lord Buckhurst +home, and confine him to his house for nine months; but surviving +that earl, the Queen's favour returned, and he was elected the April +following, without his knowledge, one of the Knights of the most noble +Order of the Garter. He was one of the peers that sat on the trial of +Philip Howard, earl of Arundel. In the 4th year of the Queen's reign +he was joined with the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, in promoting a peace +with Spain; in which trust he was so successful, that the High Admiral +of Holland was sent over by the States, of the United Provinces, to +renew their treaty with the crown of England, being afraid of its +union with Spain. Lord Buckhurst had the sole management of that +negotiation (as Burleigh then lay sick) and Concluded a treaty with +him, by which his mistress was eased of no less than 120,000 l. per +annum, besides other advantages. + +His lordship succeeded Sir Christopher Hatton, in the Chancellorship +of the university of Oxford, in opposition to Robert Devereux, earl +of Essex, Master of the Horse to the Queen, who a little before was +incorporated master of arts in the said university, to capacitate him +for that office; but on receipt of letters from her Majesty in favour +of lord Buckhurst, the Academicians elected him Chancellor on the +17th of December following. On the death of lord Burleigh, the Queen +considering the great services he had done his country, which had cost +him immense expences, was pleased to constitute him in the 41st year +of her reign, Lord High Treasurer of England: In the succeeding year +1599, he was in commission with Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor, +and the earl of Essex, Earl-Marshal, for negotiating affairs with the +Senate of Denmark, as also in a special commission for suppressing +schism, and afterwards when libels were dispersed by the earl of Essex +and his faction against the Queen, intimating that her Majesty took +little care of the government, and altogether neglected the state of +Ireland,[7] his lordship engaged in a vindication of her Majesty, +and made answers to these libels, representing how brave and well +regulated an army had been sent into Ireland, compleatly furnished +with all manner of provisions, and like wise that her Majesty had +expended on that war in six months time, the sum of 600,000 l. which +lord Essex must own to be true. He suspected that earl's mutinous +designs, by a greater concourse of people resorting to his house than +ordinary, and sent his son to pay him a visit,[8] and to desire him +to be careful of the company he kept. Essex being sensible that +his scheme was already discovered by the penetrating eye of lord +Buckhurst, he and his friends entered upon new measures, and breaking +out into an open rebellion, were obliged to surrender themselves +prisoners. When that unfortunate favourite, together with the earl of +Southampton, was brought to trial, lord Buckhurst was constituted on +that occasion Lord High Steward of England, and passing sentence on +the earl of Essex, his Lordship in a very eloquent speech desired him +to implore the Queen's mercy. After this, it being thought necessary +for the safety of the nation, that some of the leading conspirators +should suffer death, his Lordship advised her Majesty to pardon the +rest. Upon this he had a special commission granted him, together with +secretary Cecil, and the earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral, to +call before them all such as were concerned in the conspiracy with the +earls of Essex and Southampton, and to treat and compound with such +offenders for the redemption and composition of their lands. After the +death of Queen Elizabeth, his lordship was concerned in taking the +necessary measures for the security of the kingdom, the administration +being devolved on him and other counsellors, who unanimously +proclaimed King James, and signed a letter March 28, 1603 to the lord +Eure, and the rest of the commissioners, for the treaty of Breme, +notifying her majesty's decease, and the recognition and proclamation +of King James of Scotland: who had such a sense of lord Buckhurst's +services, and superior abilities, that before his arrival in England, +he ordered the renewal of his patent, as Lord High Treasurer for life. +On the 13th of March next ensuing, he was created earl of Dorset, +and constituted one of the commissioners for executing the office +of Earl-Marshal of England, and for reforming sundry abuses in the +College of Arms. + +In the year 1608, this great man died suddenly at the Council-Table, +Whitehall, after a bustling life devoted to the public weal; and the +26th of May following, his remains were deposited with great solemnity +in Westminster Abbey, his funeral sermon being preached by Dr. Abbot, +his chaplain, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Besides this +celebrated sermon of the primate's, in which he is very lavish in +his praise, Lord Chancellor Bacon, and Sir Robert Naunton, bestow +particular encomiums upon him; and Sir Richard Paker observes, "That +he had excellent parts, and in his place was exceeding industrious, +and that he had heard many exchequer men say, there never was a better +Treasurer, both for the King's profit, and the good of the subject." + +By his dying suddenly at the Council-Table, his death was interpreted +by some people in a mysterious manner;[9] but his head being opened, +there were found in it certain little bags of water, which, whether by +straining in his study the night before, in which he sat up till 11 +o'clock, or otherwise by their own maturity, suddenly breaking, and +falling upon his brain, produced his death, to the universal grief +of the nation, for which he had spent his strength, and for whose +interest, in a very immediate manner, he may be justly said to have +fallen a sacrifice. Of all our court poets he seems to have united the +greatest industry and variety of genius: It is seldom found, that the +sons of Parnassus can devote themselves to public business, or execute +it with success. I have already observed, that the world has lost many +excellent works, which no doubt this cultivated genius would have +accomplished, had he been less involved in court-affairs: but as +he acted in so public a sphere, and discharged every office with +inviolable honour, and consummate prudence, it is perhaps somewhat +selfish in the lovers of poetry, to wish he had wrote more, and acted +less. From him is descended the present noble family of the Dorsets; +and it is remarkable, that all the descendants of this great man have +inherited his taste for liberal arts and sciences, as well as his +capacity for public business. An heir of his was the friend and patron +of Dryden, and is stiled by Congreve the monarch of wit in his time, +and the present age is happy in his illustrious posterity, rivalling +for deeds of honour and renown the most famous of their ancestors. + + * * * * * + +INDUCTION to the MIRROR Of MAGISTRATES. + + The wrathful winter hast'ning on apace, + With blustring blasts had all ybard the treene, + And old Saturnus with his frosty face + With chilling cold had pearst the tender greene: + The mantles rent, wherein enwrapped been, + The gladsome groves, that now lay overthrown, + The tapets torn, and every tree down blown. + + The soil that erst so seemly was to seen, + Was all despoiled of her beauteous hew, + And soote fresh flowers wherewith the summers + queen, + Had clad the earth, new Boreas blasts down blew + And small fowls flocking in their songs did rew + The winter's wrath, wherewith each thing + defaste, + In woeful wise bewailed the summer past. + + +[Footnote 1: Fuller's Worthies, p.105] + +[Footnote 2: Wood Ath. Qx. præd.] + +[Footnote 3: Collins's peerage, 519.] + +[Footnote 4: Ib. 519.] + +[Footnote 5: Rapin's History of England, p. 437.] + +[Footnote 6: This nobleman suffered death for a plot to recover the +liberty of the Queen of Scots.] + +[Footnote 7: Rapin's History of England, vol ii. p. 617.] + +[Footnote 8: Rapin'a History of England, vol. ii. p. 630.] + +[Footnote 9: Chron. 2d edit. p. 596.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS CHURCHYARD, + +One of the assistants in the Mirror of Magistrates. He was born in the +town of Shrewsbury[1] as himself affirms in his book made in verse of +the Worthiness of Wales. He was equally addicted to arts and arms; +he had a liberal education, and inherited some fortune, real and +personal; but he soon exhausted it, in a tedious and unfruitful +attendance at court, for he gained no other equivalent for that +mortifying dependance, but the honour of being retained a domestic +in the family of lord Surry: during which time by his lordship's +encouragement he commenced poet. Upon his master's death he betook +himself to arms; was in many engagements, and was frequently wounded; +he was twice a prisoner, and redeemed by the charity of two noble +ladies, yet still languishing in distress, and bitterly complaining of +fortune. Neither of his employments afforded him a patron, who would +do justice to his obscure merit; and unluckily he was as unhappy in +his amours as in his circumstances, some of his mistresses treating +his addresses with contempt, perhaps, on account of his poverty; +for tho' it generally happens that Poets have the greatest power in +courtship, as they can celebrate their mistresses with more elegance +than people of any other profession; yet it very seldom falls out that +they marry successfully, as their needy circumstances naturally deter +them from making advances to Ladies of such fashion as their genius +and manners give them a right to address. This proved our author's +case exactly; he made love to a widow named Browning, who possessed a +very good jointure; but this lady being more in love with money than +laurels, with wealth than merit, rejected his suit; which not a little +discouraged him, as he had spent his money in hopes of effecting this +match, which, to his great mortification, all his rhimes and sonnets +could not do. He dedicated his vorks to Sir Christopher Hatton; but +addresses of that nature don't always imply a provision for their +author. It is conjectured that he died about the eleventh year of +Queen Elizabeth, and according to Mr. Wood was buried near Skelton +in the Chancel of St. Margaret's, Westminster. By his writings, he +appears a man of sense, and sometimes a poet, tho' he does not seem to +possess any degree of invention. His language is generally pure, and +his numbers not wholly inharmonious. The Legend of Jane Shore is the +most finished of all his works, from which I have taken a quotation. +His death, according to the most probable conjecture, happened in +1570. Thus like a stone (says Winstanley) did he trundle about, but +never gathered any moss, dying but poor, as may be seen by his epitaph +in Mr. Camden's Remains, which runs thus: + + Come Alecto, lend me thy torch + To find a Church-yard in a Church-porch; + Poverty and poetry his tomb doth enclose, + Wherefore good neighbours, be merry in prose. + +His works according to Winstanley are as follow: + +The Siege of Leith. + +A Farewell to the world. + +A feigned Fancy of the Spider and the Gaul. + +A doleful Discourse of a Lady and a Knight. + +The Road into Scotland, by Sir William Drury. + +Sir Simon Burley's Tragedy. + +A lamentable Description of the Wars in Flanders in prose, and +dedicated to Walsingham secretary of state. + +A light Bundle of lively Discourses, called Churchyard's Charge 1580, +dedicated to his noble patron the Earl of Surry. + +A Spark of Friendship, a treatise on that writer, address'd to Sir +Walter Raleigh. + +A Description and Discourse on the use of paper, in which he praises a +paper-mill built near Darthsend, by a German called Spillman. + +The Honour of the Law 1596. + +Jane Shore, mistress to King Edward IV. + +A Tragical Discourse of the unhappy Man's Life. + +A Discourse of Virtue. + +Churchyard's Dream. + +A Tale of a Fryar and a Shoemaker's Wife, + +The Siege of Edinburgh Castle. + +Queen Elizabeth's reception into Bristol. + +These twelve several pieces he bound together, calling them +Churchyard's Chips, which he dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton. He +wrote beside, + + The Tragedy of Thomas Moubray Duke of + Norfolk. + Among the rest by fortune overthrowne, + I am not least, that most may waile her fate: + My fame and brute, abroad the world is + blowne, + Who can forget a thing thus done so late? + My great mischance, my fall, and heavy state, + Is such a marke whereat each tongue doth shoot + That my good name, is pluckt up by the root, + + +[Footnote 1: Winst. 61.] + + * * * * * + + +JOHN HEYWOOD + +One of the first who wrote English plays, was a noted jester, of some +reputation in poetry in his time. Wood says, that notwithstanding he +was stiled Civis Londinensis, yet he laid a foundation of learning at +Oxford, but the severity of an academical life not suitng with his +airy genius, he retired to his native place, and had the honour to +have a great intimacy with Sir Thomas More. It is said, that he had +admirable skill both in instrumental and vocal music, but it is not +certain whether he left any compositions of that sort behind him. He +found means to become a favourite with King Henry VIII on account +of the quickness of his conceits, and was well rewarded by that +Monarch.[1] After the accession of Queen Mary to the throne, he +was equally valued by her, and was admitted into the most intimate +conversation with her, in diverting her by his merry stories, which he +did, even when she lay languishing on her death-bed. After the decease +of that princess, he being a bigotted Roman Catholic, and finding the +protestant interest was like to prevail under the patronage of the +renowned Queen Elizabeth, he sacrificed the enjoyment of living in his +own country, to that of his religion: For he entered into a voluntary +exile, and settled at Mechlin in Brabant. + +The Play called the Four P's being a new and and merry interlude of +a Palmer, Pardoner, Poticary, and Pedler--printed in an old English +character in quarto, has in the title page the pictures of four men in +old-fashioned habits, wrought off, from a wooden cut. He has likewise +writ the following interludes. + + Between John the Husband and Tib the Wife. + Between the Pardoner and the Fryer, the Curate + and neighbouring Pratt. + Play of Gentleness and Nobility, in two parts. + The Pindar of Wakefield, a comedy. + Philotas Scotch, a comedy. + +This author also wrote a dialogue, containing the number in effect of +all the proverbs in the English tongue, compact in a matter concerning +two manner of marriages. London 1547, and 1598, in two parts in +quarto, all writ in old English verse, and printed in an English +character. + +Three hundred epigrams upon three hundred proverbs, in old English +character. + +A fourth hundred of epigrams, printed in quarto, London 1598. + +A fifth hundred of epigrams, printed in quarto, London 1598. + +The Spider and Fly. A Parable of the Spider and Fly, London 1556, in a +pretty thick quarto, all in old English verse. Before the title is the +picture of John Heywood at full length, printed from a wooden cut, +with a fur gown on, almost representing the fashion of that, belonging +to a master of arts, but the bottom of the sleeve reach no lower than +his knees; on his head is a round cap, his chin and lips are close +shaved, and hath a dagger hanging to his girdle.[2] + +Dr. Fuller mentions a book writ by our author,[3] entitled Monumenta +Literaria, which are said to Non tam labore, condita, quam Lepore +condita: The author of English poetry, speaking of several of our old +English bards, says thus of our poet. "John Heywood for the mirth and +quickness of conceit, more than any good learning that was in him, +came to be well rewarded by the king." + +That the reader may judge of his epigrams, to which certainly the +writer just mentioned alludes, I shall present him with one writ by +him on himself. + + Art thou Heywood, with thy mad merry wit? + Yea for sooth master, that name is even hit. + Art thou Heywood, that apply's mirth more than + thrift? + Yes sir, I take merry mirth, a golden gift. + Art thou Heywood, that hast made many mad + plays? + Yea many plays, few good works in my days. + Art thou Heywood, that hath made men merry + long? + Yea, and will, if I be made merry among. + Art thou Heywood, that would'st be made merry + now? + Yes, Sir, help me to it now, I beseech you. + +He died at Mechlin, in the year 1565, and was buried there, leaving +behind him several children, to whom he had given liberal education, +one of whom is Jasper, who afterwards made a considerable figure, and +became a noted Jesuit. + + +[Footnote 1: Wood Athen, Oxon.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood ubi supra.] + +[Footnote 3: Worthies of London, p. 221.] + + * * * * * + + +GEORGE FERRARS, + +Descended of an ancient family seated in Hertfordshire, was born there +in a village not far from St. Alban's about the year 1510[1]. He was +a lawyer, a historian, and a poet; he received his education at the +university of Oxford, but of what college he was Wood himself has not +been able to discover; he removed from thence to Lincolns'-Inn, where, +by a diligent application to the law, he made considerable progress in +his profession, and by the patronage of that great minister Cromwell +Earl of Essex, who was himself a man of astonishing abilities, he soon +made a figure at the bar. He was the menial servant of King Henry +VIII.[2] and discharged his trust both in time of war and peace with +great honour and gallantry, and shared that monarch's favour in a very +considerable degree, who made him a grant in his own country, as an +evidence of his affection for him. This grant of the King's happened +in the year 1535; and yet in seven years afterwards, either thro' want +of economy, or by a boundless confidence in his friends, he reduced +his affairs to a very indifferent situation, which, perhaps, might +be the reason, why he procured himself to be chosen Member for the +Borough of Plymouth in the county of Devon,[3] in the Parliament +summoned the thirty-third year of that King's reign. During the +Sessions he had the misfortune to be arrested by an officer belonging +to the Sheriffs of London, and carried to the counter, then in +Bread-street. No sooner had the House of Commons got notice of this +insult offered to one of their Members, than they immediately enacted +a settled rule, which from that accident took place, with respect to +privilege, and ever since that time the Members of the House have +been exempt from arrests for debt. His Majesty likewise resented +the affront offered to his servant, and with the concurrence of the +Parliament proceeded very severely against the Sheriffs. + +Hollinshed in his chronicle, vol 2, p. 955, gives a very full account +of it. Sir Thomas Moils, knight, then Speaker of the House, gave a +special order to the Serjeant of the Parliament to repair to +the Compter, and there demand the delivery of the prisoner. But +notwithstanding this high authority, the officers in the city refused +to obey the command, and after many altercations, they absolutely +resisted the Serjeant, upon which a fray ensued within the +Compter-gates, between Ferrars and the officers, not without mutual +hurt, so that the Serjeant was driven to defend himself with his mace +of arms, and had the crown of it broken with warding off a stroke; the +Sheriffs of London so far from appeasing, fomented the quarrel, and +with insolent language refused to deliver their prisoner: Upon which +the Serjeant, thus abused, returned to the House and related what had +happened. This circumstance so exasperated the Burgesses, that they +all rose and went into the Upper House, and declared they would +transact no more business till their Member was restored to them. They +then commanded their Serjeant again to go to the Compter with his +mace, and make a second demand by their authority.--The Sheriffs +hearing that the Upper House hid concerned themselves in it, and being +afraid of their resentment, restored the prisoner before the Serjeant +had time to return to the Compter; but this did not satisfy the +Burgesses, they summoned the Sheriffs before them, together with one +White, who in contempt of their dignity had taken out a writ against +Ferrars, and as a punishment for their insolence, they were sent to +the Tower; and ever since that period, the power and privilege of the +Commons have been on the increase. + +Ferrars continued in high favour with Henry during the remainder of +his reign, and seems to have stood upon good terms with Somerset Lord +Protector in the beginning of Edward VI. since it appears that he +attended the Protector in quality of one of the Commissioners of the +Army, in his expedition into Scotland in 1548,[4] which, perhaps, +might be owing to his being about the person of Prince Edward in his +father's life-time. Another instance of this happened about four years +afterwards, at a very critical juncture, for when the unfortunate Duke +of Somerset lay under sentence of death, and it was observed that the +people murmured and often gave testimonies of discontent, and that the +King himself was very uneasy, those about him studied every method +to quiet and amuse the one, to entertain and divert the other[5]. In +order to this, at the entrance of Christmas holidays, Mr. Ferrars +was proclaimed Lord Misrule, that is a kind of Prince of sports and +pastimes, which office he discharged for twelve days together at +Greenwich with great magnificence and address, and entirely to the +King's satisfaction. + +In this character, attended by the politest part of the Court, he made +an excursion to London, where he was splendidly entertained by the +Lord Mayor, and when he took his leave he had presents given him in +token of respect. But notwithstanding he made so great figure in +the diversions at court, yet he was no idle spectator of political +affairs, and maintained his reputation with the learned world. He +wrote the reign of Queen Mary, which tho' published in the name of +Richard Grafton, in his chronicles; yet was certainly the performance +of Ferrars, according to the annals of Stow, p. 632, whose authority +in this case is very high. Our author was an historian, a lawyer, and +a politician even in his poetry, as appears from these pieces of his +which are inserted in the Mirror of Magistrates, and which are not +inferior to any others that have found a place there[6]. In the early +part of his life he wrote some tracts on his own profession, which +gained him great reputation, and which discover that he was a lover +of liberty, and not disposed to sacrifice to the crown the rights and +properties of the subject. It seldom happens that when a man often +changes his situation, or is forced to do so, that he continues +to preserve the good opinion of different parties, but this was a +happiness which Ferrars enjoyed. He was consulted by the learned as a +candid critic, admired and loved by all who conversed with him. + +With respect to the time of our author's death, we cannot be +absolutely certain; all we know is, that he died in the year 1579, at +his house in Flamstead in Hertfordshire, and was buried in the parish +church; for as Wood informs us, on the eighteenth of May the same +year a commission was granted from the prerogative, to administer the +goods, debts, chattles, etc. of George Ferrars lately deceased[7]. +None of our authors deliver any thing as to Mr. Ferrars's religion, +but it is highly probable that he was a zealous Protestant: not from +his accepting grants of Abbey-lands, for that is but a precarious +proof, but from his coming into the world under the protection of +Thomas Lord Cromwell, who was certainly persuaded of the truth of the +protestant religion. + +Having this occasion to mention Thomas Lord Cromwell, the famous Earl +of Essex, who was our author's warmest patron, I am persuaded my +readers will forgive me a digression which will open to them the +noblest instance of gratitude and honour in that worthy nobleman, that +ever adorned the page of an historian, and which has been told with +rapture by all who have writ of the times, particularly by Dr. Burnet +in his history of the Reformation, and Fox in his Martyrology.--Thomas +Lord Cromwell was the son of a Blacksmith at Putney, and was a soldier +under the duke of Bourbon at the sacking of Rome in the year 1527. +While he was abroad in a military character, in a very low station, he +fell sick, and was unable to follow the army; he was observed one +day by an Italian merchant to walk very pensive, and had all the +appearance of penury and wretchedness: The merchant enquired of +him the place of his birth, and fortune, and upon conversing with +Cromwell, was so well pleased with the account he gave of himself, +that he supplied him with money and credit to carry him to England. +Cromwell afterwards made the most rapid progress in state-preferments +ever known. Honours were multiplied thick upon him, and he came to +have the dispensing of his sovereign's bounty. It happened, that this +Italian merchant's circumstances decayed, and he came to England to +sollicit the payment of some debts due to him by his correspondents; +who finding him necessitous, were disposed to put him off, and take +the advantage of his want, to avoid payment. This not a little +embarrassed the foreigner, who was now in a situation forlorn enough. +As providence would have it, lord Cromwell, then Earl of Essex, riding +to court, saw this merchant walking with a dejected countenance, which +put him in mind of his former situation. He immediately ordered one +of his attendants to desire the merchant to come to his house. His +lordship asked the merchant whether he knew him? he answered no: +Cromwell then related the circumstance of the merchant's relieving +a certain Englishman; and asked if he remembered it? The merchant +answered, that he had always made it his business to do good, but did +not remember that circumstance.--His lordship then enquired the reason +of his coming to England, and upon the merchant's telling him his +story, he so interested himself, as soon to procure the payment of all +his debts.--Cromwell then informed the merchant, that he was himself +the person he had thus relieved; and for every Ducat which the +merchant had given him, he returned to the value of a hundred, telling +him, that this was the payment of his debt. He then made him a +munificent present, and asked him whether he chose to settle in +England, or return to his own country. The foreigner chose the latter, +and returned to spend the remainder of his days in competence and +quiet, after having experienced in lord Essex as high an instance of +generosity and gratitude as perhaps ever was known. This noble act of +his lordship, employed, says Burnet, the pens of the belt writers at +that time in panegyrics on so great a behaviour; the finest poets +praised him; his most violent enemies could not help admiring him, and +latest posterity shall hold the name of him in veneration, who was +capable of so generous an act of honour. But to return to Ferrars. + +In our author's history of the reign of Queen Mary, tho' he shews +himself a great admirer of the personal virtues of that Princess, and +a very discerning and able historian, yet it is every where evident +that he was attached to the protestant interest; but more especially +in the learned account he gives of Archbishop Cranmer's death, and +Sir Thomas Wyat's insurrection[8]. The works of this author which are +printed in the Mirror of Magistrates, are as follow; + + The Fall of Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice of + England, for misconstruing the laws, and expounding + them to serve the prince's affections. + + The Tragedy, or unlawful murther of Thomas + of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. + + The Tragedy of Richard II. + + The Story of Dame Eleanor Cobham, Duchess + of Gloucester. + + The Story of Humphry Plantagenet, Duke of + Gloucester, Protector of England. + + The Tragedy of Edmund Duke of Somerset. + + +Among these the Complaints of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, +who was banished for consulting Conjurers and Fortune-tellers about +the Life of King Henry VI. and whose exile quickly made way for the +murder of her husband, has of all his compositions been most admired; +and from this I shall quote a few lines which that Lady speaks. + + The Isle of Man was the appointed place, + To penance me for ever in exile; + + Thither in haste, they posted me apace, + And doubting 'scape, they pined me in a pyle, + Close by myself; in care alas the while. + There felt I first poor prisoner's hungry fare, + Much want, things skant, and stone walls, hard and bare. + + The chaunge was straunge from silke and cloth of gold + To rugged fryze, my carcass for to cloath; + From prince's fare, and dainties hot and cold, + To rotten fish, and meats that one would loath: + The diet and dressing were much alike boath: + Bedding and lodging were all alike fine, + Such down it was as served well for swyne. + +[Footnote 1: From manuscript note on the art of poetry.] + +[Footnote 2: Biog. Brit. p. 1922.] + +[Footnote 3: Willis notitia Parliam. vol 2. p. 295.] + +[Footnote 4: Patten's Journal of the Scotch expedition, p. 13.] + +[Footnote 5: Stow's Annal. p. 608.] + +[Footnote 6: Lond. 40.] + +[Footnote 7: Athen. Oxon. vol. I. col. 146.] + +[Footnote 8: Grafton's Chron. p. 1350, 1351.] + + + * * * * * + + +Sir PHILIP SIDNEY. + +This great ornament to human nature, to literature, and to Britain, +was the son of Sir Henry Sidney, knight of the Garter, and three times +Lord Deputy of Ireland, and of lady Mary Dudley, daughter to the duke +of Northumberland, and nephew to that great favourite, Robert, earl of +Leicester. + +Oxford had the honour of his education, under the tuition of Dr. +Thomas Thornton, canon of Christ Church. At the university he remained +till he was 17 years of age, and in June 1572 set out on his travels. +On the 24th of August following, when the massacre fell out at Paris, +he was then there, [1] and with other Englishmen took shelter in Sir +Francis Walsingham's house, her Majesty's ambassador at that court. +When this storm subsided, he departed from Paris, went through +Lorrain, and by Strasburgh and Heydelburgh, to Francfort, in September +or October following; where he settled for some time, and was +entertained, agent for the duke of Saxony. At his return, her Majesty +was one of the first who distinguished his great abilities, and, as +proud of so rich a treasure, she sent him ambassador to Rodolph the +emperor, to condole him on the death of Maximilian, and also to other +princes of Germany. The next year, 1577, he went to the court of that +gallant prince Don John de Austria, Viceroy in the low countries for +the king of Spain. Don John was the proudest man in his time; +haughty and imperious in his behaviour, and always used the foreign +ambassadors, who came to his court, with unsufferable insolence and +superiority: At first he paid but little respect to Sidney on account +of his youth, and seeming inexperience; but having had occasion to +hear him talk, and give some account of the manners of every court +where he had been, he was so struck with his vivacity, the propriety +of his observations, and the lustre of his parts, that he ever +afterwards used him with familiarity, and paid him more respect in his +private character, than he did to any ambassador from whatever court. +Some years after this, Wood observes, that in a book called Cabala, he +set forth his reasons why the marriage of the queen with the duke of +Anjou was disadvantageous to the nation. This address was written at +the desire of the earl of Leicester, his uncle; upon which, a quarrel +happened between him and the earl of Oxford, which perhaps occasioned +his retirement from court for two years, when he wrote that renowned +romance called Arcadia. We find him again in high favour, when the +treaty of marriage was renewed; he was engaged with Sir Fulk Greville +in tilting, for the diversion of the court; and at the departure of +the duke of Anjou from England, he attended him to Antwerp [2]. + +On the 8th of January, 1582, he received the honour of knighthood +from the queen; and in the beginning of the year 1585, he designed an +expedition with Sir Francis Drake into America; but being hindered by +the Queen, who thought the court would be deficient without him, he +was made Governor of Flushing, (about that time delivered to the Queen +for one of the cautionary-towns) and General of the Horse. In both +these places of important trust, his behaviour in point of prudence +and valour was irreproachable, and gained additional honour to his +country, especially when in July 1586 he surprized Axil, and preserved +the lives and reputation of the English army, at the enterprise of +Gravelin. About that time he was in election for the crown of Poland, +but the queen refused to promote this his glorious advancement, not +from jealousy, but from the fear of losing the jewel of her times. He +united the statesman, the scholar and the soldier; and as by the one, +he purchased fame and honour in his life, so by the other, he has +acquired immortality after death. + +In the year 1586, when that unfortunate stand was made against the +Spaniards before Zutphen, the 22d of September, when he was getting +upon the third horse, having had two slain under him before, he was +wounded with a musket-shot out of the trenches, which broke the bone +of his thigh. The horse he rode upon was rather furiously choleric, +than bravely proud, so forced him to forsake the field, but not his +back, as the noblest and fittest bier (says lord Brook) to carry a +martial commander to his grave. In this progress, passing along by the +rest of the army where his uncle the [3] General was, and being faint +with excess of bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently +brought him; but as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a +poor soldier carried along, who had been wounded at the same time, +wishfully cast up his eyes at the bottle; whereupon Sir Philip took it +from his own mouth before he drank, and delivered it to the poor man, +with these words, "thy necessity is yet greater than mine;" and when +he had assisted this poor soldier and fellow sufferer, as he called +him, he was presently carried to Arnheim, where the principal surgeons +of the camp attended him. + +This generous behaviour of our gallant knight, ought not to pass +without a panegyric. All his deeds of bravery, his politeness, his +learning, and courtly accomplishments, do not reflect so much +honour upon him, as this one disinterested, truly heroic action: It +discovered so tender and benevolent a nature; a mind so fortified +against pain; a heart so overflowing with generous sentiments, to +relieve, in opposition to the violent call of his own necessities, a +poor man languishing in the same distress, before himself, that as +none can read it without the highest admiration of the wounded hero, +so none I hope will think me extravagant in thus endeavouring to extol +it. Bravery is often constitutional; fame may be the motive to feats +of arms, a statesman and a courtier may act from interest; but a +sacrifice so generous as this, can be made by none but those who +are good as well as great, who are noble-minded, and gloriously +compassionate, like Sidney. + +When the surgeons began to dress his wound, he told them, that while +his strength was yet entire, his body free from a fever, and his mind +able to endure, they might freely use their art; cut and search to the +bottom; but if they should neglect their art, and renew torments in +the declination of nature, their ignorance, or over-tenderness would +prove a kind of tyranny to their friend, and reflect no honour upon +themselves. + +For some time they had great hopes of his recovery; and so zealous +were they to promote it, and overjoyed at its seeming approach, that +they spread the report of it, which soon reached London, and diffused +the most general joy at Court that ever was known. + +At the same time count Hollock was under the care of a most excellent +surgeon, for a wound in his throat by a musket shot; yet he neglected +his own extremity to save his friend, and for that purpose sent him to +Sir Philip. This surgeon notwithstanding, out of love to his master, +returning one day to dress his wound, the count cheerfully asked him +how Sir Philip did? he answered with a dejected look, that he was not +well: At these words the count, as having more sense of his friend's +wound than his own, cried out, "Away villain, never see my face again +till you bring better news of that gentleman's recovery, for whose +redemption, many such as I were happily lost." + +Finding all the efforts of the surgeons in vain, he began to put no +more confidence in their skill, and resigned himself with heroic +patience to his fate. He called the ministers to him, who were all +excellent men of different nations, and before them made such a +confession of Christian faith, as no book, but the heart, can truly +and feelingly deliver. Then calling for his will, and settling his +temporal affairs, the last scene of this tragedy, was the parting +between the two brothers. Sir Philip exerted all his soul in +endeavouring to suppress his sorrow, in which affection and nature +were too powerful for him, while the other demonstrated his tenderness +by immoderate transports of grief, a weakness which every tender +breast will easily forgive, who have ever felt the pangs of parting +from a brother; and a brother of Sir Philip Sidney's worth, demanded +still additional sorrow. He took his leave with these admonishing +words, "My dear, much loved, honoured brother, love my memory; cherish +my friends; their faith to me may assure you they are honest. But +above all, govern your will and affections, by the will and word of +your Creator. In me, beholding the end of this world with all her +vanities." And with this farewel he desired the company to lead him +away. + +After his death, which happened on the 16th of October, the States of +Zealand became suitors to his Majesty, and his noble friends, that +they might have the honour of burying his body at the public expence +of their government,[4] but in this they were denied; for soon after, +his body was brought to Flushing, and being embarked with great +solemnity on the 1st of November, landed at Tower Wharf on the 6th of +the same month; and the 16th of February following, after having lain +in state, it was magnificently deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral. + +As the funeral of many princes has not exceeded it in solemnity, so +few have equalled it in the undissembled sorrow for his loss[5] King +James writ an epitaph upon him, and the Muses of Oxford lamenting him, +composed elegies to his memory. It may be justly said of this great +man, what a celebrated poet now living has applied to Archbishop Laud, + + Around his tomb did art and genius weep, + Beauty, wit, piety, and bravery, were undissembled + mourners. + +He left behind him one child named Elizabeth, (married to the earl of +Rutland) whom he had by Sir Francis Walsingham's daughter, and who +unfortunately died without issue to perpetuate the living virtues +of her illustrious family. She is said to have been excessively +beautiful; that she married the earl of Rutland by authority, but +that her affections were dedicated to the earl of Essex, and as Queen +Elizabeth was in love with that nobleman, she became very jealous of +this charming countess. It has been commonly reported[6] that Sir +Philip, some hours before his death, enjoyned a near friend to +consign his works to the flames. What promise his friend returned is +uncertain, but if he broke his word to befriend the public, posterity +has thank'd him, and every future age will with gratitude acknowledge +the favour. + +Of all his works his Arcadia is the most celebrated; it is dedicated +to his sister the countess of Pembroke, who was a Lady of as fine a +character, and as equally finished in every female accomplishment, as +her brother in the manly. She lived to a good old age, and died +in 1621. Ben Johnson has wrote an epitaph upon her, so inimitably +excellent, that I cannot resist the temptation of inserting it here. +She was buried in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, among the graves +of the family of the Pembrokes. + +EPITAPH. + + Underneath this marble hearse, + Lyes the subject of all verse, + Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother, + Death e're thou hast killed another, + Learned and fair, and good as she, + Time shall throw his dart at thee. + +The Arcadia was printed first in 1613 in 4to; it has been translated +into almost every language. As the ancient Ægyptians presented secrets +under their mystical hyeroglyphics, so that an easy figure was +exhibited to the eye, and a higher notion couched under it to the +judgment, so all the Arcadia is a continual grove of morality, +shadowing moral and political truths under the plain and striking +emblems of lovers, so that the reader may be deceived, but not hurt, +and happily surprized to more knowledge than he expected. + +Besides the celebrated Arcadia, Sir Philip wrote, + +A dissuasive letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth; against her marriage +with the duke of Anjou, printed in a book called Serinia Ceciliana, +4to. 1663. + +Astrophel & Stella, written at the desire of Lady Rich, whom he +perfectly loved, and is thought to be celebrated in the Arcadia by the +name of Philoclea. + +--------------- Ourania, a poem, 1606. + +An Essay on Valour: Some impute this to Sir Thomas Overbury. + +Almanzor and Almanzaida, a novel printed in 1678, which is likewise +disputed; and Wood says that he believes Sir Philip's name was only +prefixed to it by the bookseller, to secure a demand for it. + +--------England's Helicon, a collection of songs. + +--------The Psalms of David turned into English. + + The true PICTURE of LOVE. + + Poore painters oft with silly poets joyne, + To fill the world with vain and strange conceits, + One brings the stuff, the other stamps the coyne + Which breeds nought else but glosses of deceits. + Thus painters Cupid paint, thus poets doe + A naked god, blind, young, with arrows two. + + Is he a god, that ever flyes the light? + Or naked he, disguis'd in all untruth? + If he be blind, how hitteth he so right? + How is he young, that tamed old Phoebus + youth? + But arrowes two, and tipt with gold or lead, + Some hurt, accuse a third with horney head. + + No nothing so; an old, false knave he is, + By Argus got on Io, then a cow: + What time for her, Juno her Jove did miss, + And charge of her to Argus did allow. + Mercury killed his false sire for this act, + His damme a beast was pardoned, beastly + fact. + + With father's death, and mother's guilty shame, + With Jove's disdain at such a rival's feed: + The wretch compel'd, a runegate became, + And learn'd what ill, a miser-state did breed, + To lye, to steal, to prie, and to accuse, + Nought in himself, each other to abuse. + + +[Footnote 1: Athen, Oxon, folio, p. 226.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood, p. 227.] + +[Footnote 3: Earl of Leicester.] + +[Footnote 4: Lord Brook's life.] + +[Footnote 5: For a great many months after his death, it was reckoned +indecent in any gentleman to appear splendidly dress'd; the public +mourned him, not with exterior formality, but with the genuine sorrow +of the heart. Of all our poets he seems to be the most courtly, the +bravest, the most active, and in the moral sense, the best.] + +[Footnote 6: Camden Brit. in Kent.] + + * * * * * + + +CHISTOPHER MARLOE + +Was bred a student in Cambridge, but there is no account extant of his +family. He soon quitted the University, and became a player on the +same stage with the incomparable Shakespear. He was accounted, says +Langbaine, a very fine poet in his time, even by Ben Johnson himself, +and Heywood his fellow-actor stiles him the best of poets. In a copy +of verses called the Censure of the Poets, he was thus characterized. + + Next Marloe bathed in Thespian springs, + Had in him those brave sublunary things, + That your first poets had; his raptures were + All air and fire, which made his verses clear; + For that fine madness still he did retain, + Which rightly should possess a poet's brain. + +His genius inclined him wholly to tragedy, and he obliged the world +with six plays, besides one he joined for with Nash, called Dido Queen +of Carthage; but before I give an account of them, I shall present his +character to the reader upon the authority of Anthony Wood, which is +too singular to be passed over. This Marloe, we are told, presuming +upon his own little wit, thought proper to practise the most epicurean +indulgence, and openly profess'd atheism; he denied God, Our Saviour; +he blasphemed the adorable Trinity, and, as it was reported, wrote +several discourses against it, affirming Our Saviour to be a deceiver, +the sacred scriptures to contain nothing but idle stories, and all +religion to be a device of policy and priestcraft; but Marloe came to +a very untimely end, as some remarked, in consequence of his execrable +blasphemies. It happened that he fell deeply in love with a low girl, +and had for his rival a fellow in livery, who looked more like a pimp +than a lover. Marloe, fired with jealousy, and having some reason to +believe that his mistress granted the fellow favours, he rushed upon +him to stab him with his dagger; but the footman being quick, avoided +the stroke, and catching hold of Marloe's wrist stabbed him with his +own weapon, and notwithstanding all the assistance of surgery, he soon +after died of the wound, in the year 1593. Some time before his death, +he had begun and made a considerable progress in an excellent poem +called Hero and Leander, which was afterwards finished by George +Chapman, who fell short, as it is said, of the spirit and invention of +Marloe in the execution of it. + +What credit may be due to Mr. Wood's severe representation of this +poet's character, the reader must judge for himself. For my part, I am +willing to suspend my judgment till I meet with some other testimony +of his having thus heinously offended against his God, and against the +best and most amiable system of Religion that ever was, or ever can +be: Marloe might possibly be inclined to free-thinking, without +running the unhappy lengths that Mr. Wood tells us, it was reported he +had done. We have many instances of characters being too lightly taken +up on report, and mistakenly represented thro' a too easy credulity; +especially against a man who may happen to differ from us in some +speculative points, wherein each party however, may think himself +Orthodox: The good Dr. Clarke himself, has been as ill spoken of as +Wood speaks of Marloe. + +His other works are + +1. Dr. Faustus, his tragical history printed in 4to. London, 1661. + +2. Edward the Second, a Tragedy, printed in 4to. London--when this +play was acted is not known. + +3. Jew of Malta, a Tragedy played before the King and Queen at +Whitehall, 1633. This play was in much esteem in those days; the Jew's +part being performed by Mr. Edward Alleyn, the greatest player of his +time, and a man of real piety and goodness; he founded and endowed +Dulwich hospital in Surry; he was so great an actor, that Betterton, +the Roscius of the British nation, used to acknowledge that he owed to +him those great attainments of which he was master. + +4. Lust's Dominion; or the Lascivious Queen, published by Mr. Kirkman, +8vo. London, 1661. This play was altered by Mrs. Behn, and acted +under, the title of the Moor's Revenge. + +5. Massacre of Paris, with the death of the Duke of Guise, a Tragedy, +played by the Right Honourable the Lord Admiral's servants. This play +is divided into acts; it begins with the fatal marriage between the +King of Navarre, and Margurete de Valois, sister to King Charles IX; +the occasion of the massacre, and ends with the death of Henry III of +France. + +6. Tamerlain the Great; or the Scythian Shepherd, a Tragedy in two +parts, printed in an old black letter, 8vo. 1593. This is said to be +the worst of his productions. + + * * * * * + + +ROBERT GREEN + +Received his education at the university of Cambridge, and was, as +Winstanley says, a great friend to the printers by the many books he +writ. He was a merry droll in those times, and a man so addicted to +pleasure, that as Winstanley observes, he drank much deeper draughts +of sack, than of the Heliconian stream; he was amongst the first of +our poets who writ for bread, and in order the better to support +himself, tho' he lived in an age far from being dissolute, viz. in +that of the renowned Queen Elizabeth; yet he had recourse to the mean +expedient of writing obscenity, and favouring the cause of vice, by +which he no doubt recommended himself to the rakes about town, who, as +they are generally no true judges of wit, to estimate the merit of +a piece, as it happens to suit their appetite, or encourage them in +every irregular indulgence. No man of honour who sees a poet endowed +with a large share of natural understanding, prostituting his pen to +the vilest purpose of debauchery and lewdness, can think of him but +with contempt; and his wit, however brilliant, ought not to screen him +from the just indignation of the sober part of mankind. When wit is +prostituted to vice, 'tis wit no more; that is, it ceases to be true +wit; and I have often thought there should be some public mark of +infamy fixed on those who hurt society by loose writings. But Mr. +Green must be freed from the imputation of hypocrisy, for we find him +practicing the very doctrines he taught. Winstanley relates that he +was married to a very fine and deserving lady, whom he basely forsook, +with a child she had by him, for the company of some harlots, to whom +he applied the wages of iniquity, while his wife starved. After some +years indulgence of this sort, when his wit began to grow stale, we +find him fallen into abject poverty, and lamenting the life he had led +which brought him to it; for it always happens, that a mistress is a +more expensive piece of furniniture than a wife; and if the modern +adulterers would speak the truth, I am certain they would acknowledge, +that half the money which, in the true sense of the word, is misspent +upon those daughters of destruction, would keep a family with decency, +and maintain a wife with honour. When our author was in this forlorn +miserable state, he writ a letter to his wife, which Mr. Winstanly has +preferred, and which, as it has somewhat tender in it I shall insert. +It has often been observed, that half the unhappy marriages in the +world, are more owing to the men than the women; That women are in +general much better beings, in the moral sense, than the men; who, +as they bustle less in life, are generally unacquainted with those +artifices and tricks, which are acquired by a knowledge of the world; +and that then their yoke-fellows need only be tender and indulgent, to +win them. But I believe it may be generally allowed, that women are +the best or worst part of the human creation: none excel them in +virtue; but when they depart from it, none exceed them in vice. In the +case of Green, we shall see by the letter he sent his wife how much +she was injured. + + "The remembrance of many wrongs offered + thee, and thy unreproved virtues, add greater + sorrow to my miserable state than I can utter, + or thou conceive; neither is it lessened by consideration + of thy absence, (tho' shame would + let me hardly behold thy face) but exceedingly + aggravated, for that I cannot as I ought to thy ownself + reconcile myself, that thou might'st witness my + inward woe at this instant, that hath made thee a + woful wife for so long a time. But equal heaven has + denied that comfort, giving at my last need, like + succour as I have sought all my life, being in + this extremity as void of help, as thou hast been + of hope. Reason would that after so long waste, + I should not send thee a child to bring thee + charge; but consider he is the fruit of thy + womb, in whose face regard not the father, so + much as thy own perfections: He is yet green, + and may grow strait, if he be carefully tended, + otherwise apt enough to follow his father's folly. + That I have offended thee highly, I know; + that thou canst forget my injuries, I hardly believe; + yet I perswade myself, that if thou sawest + my wretched estate, thou couldst not but lament + it, nay certainly I know, thou wouldst. All thy + wrongs muster themselves about me, and every + evil at once plagues me; for my contempt of + God, I am contemned of men; for my swearing + and forswearing, no man will believe me; + for my gluttony, I suffer hunger; for my + drunkenness, thirst; for my adultery, ulcerous + sores. Thus God hath cast me down that I + might be humbled, and punished for example + of others; and though he suffers me in this + world to perish without succour, yet I trust in the + world to come, to find mercy by the merits of + my Saviour, to whom I commend thee, and commit + my soul." + + Thy repentant husband, + + for his disloyalty, + + ROBERT GREEN. + +This author's works are chiefly these, + +The Honourable History of Fryar Bacon, and Fryar Bungy; play'd by the +Prince of Palatine's servants. I know not whence our author borrowed +his plot, but this famous fryar Minor lived in the reign of Henry III. +and died in the reign of Edward I. in the year 1284. He joined with +Dr. Lodge in one play, called a Looking Glass for London; he writ also +the Comedies of Fryar Bacon and Fair Enome. His other pieces are, Quip +for an upstart Courtier, and Dorastus and Fawnia. Winstanley imputes +likewise to him the following pieces. Tully's Loves; Philomela, the +Lady Fitzwater's Nightingale; Green's News too Late, first and second +part; Green's Arcadia; Green's Farewel to Folly; Green's Groatsworth +of Wit. + +It is said by Wood in his Fasti, p. 137, vol. i. that our author died +in the year 1592, of a surfeit taken by eating pickled herrings, and +drinking with them rhenish wine. At this fatal banquet, Thomas Nash, +his cotemporary at Cambridge was with him, who rallies him in his +Apology of Pierce Pennyless. Thus died Robert Green, whose end may +be looked upon as a kind of punishment for a life spent in riot and +infamy. + + * * * * * + + +EDMUND SPENSER + +was born in London, and educated at Pembroke Hall in Cambridge. The +accounts of the birth and family of this great man are but obscure and +imperfect, and at his first setting out into life, his fortune and +interest seem to have been very inconsiderable. + +After he had for some time continued at the college, and laid that +foundation of learning, which, joined to his natural genius, qualified +him to rise to so great an excellency, he stood for a fellowship, +in competition with Mr. Andrews, a gentleman in holy orders, and +afterwards lord bishop of Winchester, in which he was unsuccessful. +This disappointment, joined with the narrowness of his circumstances, +forced him to quit the university [1]; and we find him next residing +at the house of a friend in the North, where he fell in love with his +Rosalind, whom he finely celebrates in his pastoral poems, and of +whose cruelty he has written such pathetical complaints. + +It is probable that about this time Spenser's genius began first to +distinguish itself; for the Shepherd's Calendar, which is so full of +his unprosperous passion for Rosalind, was amongst the first of +his works of note, and the supposition is strengthened, by the +consideration of Poetry's being frequently the offspring of love +and retirement. This work he addressed by a short dedication to the +Mæcenas of his age, the immortal Sir Philip Sidney. This gentleman was +now in the highest reputation, both for wit and gallantry, and the +most popular of all the courtiers of his age, and as he was himself a +writer, and especially excelled in the fabulous or inventive part of +poetry; it is no wonder he was struck with our author's genius, and +became sensible of his merit. A story is told of him by Mr. Hughes, +which I shall present the reader, as it serves to illustrate the great +worth and penetration of Sidney, as well as the excellent genius of +Spenser. It is said that our poet was a stranger to this gentleman, +when he began to write his Fairy Queen, and that he took occasion to +go to Leicester-house, and introduce himself by sending in to Mr. +Sidney a copy of the ninth Canto of the first book of that poem. +Sidney was much surprized with the description of despair in that +Canto, and is said to have shewn an unusual kind of transport on the +discovery of so new and uncommon a genius. After he had read some +stanza's, he turned to his steward, and bid him give the person that +brought those verses fifty pounds; but upon reading the next stanza, +he ordered the sum to be doubled. The steward was no less surprized +than his master, and thought it his duty to make some delay in +executing so sudden and lavish a bounty; but upon reading one stanza +stanza more, Mr. Sidney raised the gratuity to two hundred pounds, and +commanded the steward to give it immediately, lest as he read further +he might be tempted to give away his whole estate. From this time he +admitted the author to his acquaintance and conversation, and prepared +the way for his being known and received at court. + +Tho' this seemed a promising omen, to be thus introduced to court, yet +he did not instantly reap any advantage from it. He was indeed created +poet laureat to Queen Elizabeth, but he for some time wore a barren +laurel, and possessed only the place without the pension [2]. Lord +treasurer Burleigh, under whose displeasure Spenser laboured, took +care to intercept the Queen's favours to this unhappy great man. As +misfortunes have the most influence on elegant and polished minds, so +it was no wonder that Spenser was much depressed by the cold reception +he met with from the great; a circumstance which not a little detracts +from the merit of the ministers then in power: for I know not if +all the political transactions of Burleigh, are sufficient to +counterballance the infamy affixed on his name, by prosecuting +resentment against distressed merit, and keeping him who was the +ornament of the times, as much distant as possible from the approach +of competence. These discouragements greatly sunk our author's spirit, +and accordingly we find him pouring out his heart, in complaints of so +injurious and undeserved a treatment; which probably, would have been +less unfortunate to him, if his noble patron Sir Philip Sidney had not +been so much absent from court, as by his employments abroad, and the +share he had in the Low-Country wars, he was obliged to be. In a poem +called, The Ruins of Time, which was written some time after Sidney's +death, the author seems to allude to the discouragement I have +mentioned in the following stanza. + + O grief of griefs, O gall of all good hearts! + To see that virtue should despised be, + Of such as first were raised for virtue's parts, + And now broad-spreading like an aged tree, + Let none shoot up that nigh them planted be; + O let not these, of whom the muse is scorned, + Alive or dead be by the muse adorned. + +These lines are certainly meant to reflect on Burleigh for neglecting +him, and the Lord Treasurer afterwards conceived a hatred towards him +for the satire he apprehended was levelled at him in Mother Hubbard's +Tale. In this poem, the author has in the most lively manner, painted +out the misfortune of depending on court favours. The lines which +follow are among others very remarkable. + + Full little knowest thou, that hast not try'd, + What Hell it is in suing long to bide, + To dole good days, that nights be better spent, + To waste long nights in pensive discontent; + To speed to day, to be put back to-morrow, + To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow + To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peers, + To have thy asking, yet wait many years. + To fret thy soul with crosses, and with care. + To eat thy heart, thro' comfortless despair; + To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run + To spend, to give, to want, to be undone. + +As this was very much the author's case, it probably was the +particular passage in that poem which gave offence; for as Hughes very +elegantly observes, even the sighs of a miserable man, are sometimes +resented as an affront, by him who is the occasion of them. There is a +little story, which seems founded on the grievance just now mentioned, +and is related by some as a matter of fact [3] commonly reported at +that time. It is said, that upon his presenting some poems to the +Queen, she ordered him a gratuity of one hundred pounds, but the Lord +Treasurer Burleigh objecting to it, said with some scorn of the poet, +of whose merit he was totally ignorant, "What, all this for a song?" +The queen replied, "Then give him what is reason." Spenser for some +time waited, but had the mortification to find himself disappointed +of her Majesty's bounty. Upon this he took a proper opportunity to +present a paper to Queen Elizabeth in the manner of a petition, in +which he reminded her of the order she had given, in the following +lines. + + I was promised on a time + To have reason for my rhime, + From that time, unto this season + I received nor rhime, nor reason. + +This paper produced the intended effect, and the Queen, after sharply +reproving the treasurer, immediately directed the payment of the +hundred pounds the had first ordered. In the year 1579 he was sent +abroad by the Earl of Leicester, as appears by a copy of Latin verses +dated from Leicester-house, and addressed to his friend Mr. Harvey; +but Mr. Hughes has not been able to determine in what service we was +employed. When the Lord Grey of Wilton was chosen Deputy of Ireland, +Spenser was recommended to him as secretary. This drew him over to +another kingdom, and settled him in a scene of life very different +from what he had formerly known; but, that he understood, and +discharged his employment with skill and capacity, appears +sufficiently by his discourse on the state of Ireland, in which there +are many solid and judicious remarks, that shew him no less qualified +for the business of the state, than for the entertainment of the +muses. His life was now freed from the difficulties under which it had +hitherto struggled, and his services to the Crown received a reward of +a grant from Queen Elizabeth of 3000 Acres of land in the county of +Cork. His house was in Kilcolman, and the river Mulla, which he has +more than once so finely introduced in his poems, ran through his +grounds. Much about this time, he contracted an intimate friendship +with the great and learned Sir Walter Raleigh, who was then a captain +under the lord Grey. The poem of Spenser's, called Colin Clouts come +home again, in which Sir Walter Raleigh is described under the name of +the Shepherd of the Ocean, is a beautiful memorial of this friendship, +which took its rise from a similarity of taste in the polite arts, and +which he agreeably describes with a softness and delicacy peculiar to +him. Sir Walter afterwards promoted him in Queen Elizabeth's esteem, +thro' whose recommendation she read his writings. He now fell in love +a second time with a merchant's daughter, in which, says Mrs. Cooper, +author of the muses library, he was more successful than in his first +amour. He wrote upon this occasion a beautiful epithalamium, with +which he presented the lady on the bridal-day, and has consigned that +day, and her, to immortality. In this pleasant easy situation our +excellent poet finished the celebrated poem of The Fairy Queen, which +was begun and continued at different intervals of time, and of which +he at first published only the three first books; to these were added +three more in a following edition, but the six last books (excepting +the two canto's of mutability) were unfortunately lost by his servant +whom he had in haste sent before him into England; for tho' he passed +his life for some time very serenely here, yet a train of misfortunes +still pursued him, and in the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond he was +plundered and deprived of his estate. This distress forced him to +return to England, where for want of his noble patron Sir Philip +Sidney, he was plunged into new calamities, as that gallant Hero died +of the wounds he received at Zutphen. It is said by Mr. Hughes, that +Spenser survived his patron about twelve years, and died the same year +with his powerful enemy the Lord Burleigh, 1598. He was buried, says +he, in Westminster-Abbey, near the famous Geoffery Chaucer, as he had +desired; his obsequies were attended by the poets of that time, and +others, who paid the last honours to his memory. Several copies of +verses were thrown after him into his grave, and his monument was +erected at the charge of the famous Robert Devereux, the unfortunate +Earl of Essex. This is the account given by his editor, of the death +of Spenser, but there is some reason to believe that he spoke only +upon imagination, as he has produced no authority to support his +opinion, especially as I find in a book of great reputation, another +opinion, delivered upon probable grounds. The ingenious Mr. +Drummond of Hawthronden, a noble wit of Scotland, had an intimate +correspondence with all the genius's of his time who resided at +London, particularly the famous Ben Johnson, who had so high an +opinion of Mr. Drummond's abilities, that he took a journey into +Scotland in order to converse with him, and stayed some time at his +house at Hawthronden. After Ben Johnson departed, Mr. Drummond, +careful to retain what past betwixt them, wrote down the heads of +their conversation; which is published amongst his poems and history +of the five James's Kings of Scotland. Amongst other particulars there +is this. "Ben Johnson told me that Spenser's goods were robbed by the +Irish in Desmond's rebellion, his house and a little child of his +burnt, and he and his wife nearly escaped; that he afterwards died in +King-street [4] by absolute want of bread; and that he refused twenty +pieces sent him by the Earl of Essex [5], and gave this answer to the +person who brought them, that he was sure he had no time to spend +them." + +Mr. Drummond's works, from whence I have extracted the above, are +printed in a thin quarto, and may be seen at Mr. Wilson's at Plato's +Head in the Strand. I have been thus particular in the quotation, that +no one may suspect such extraordinary circumstances to be advanced +upon imagination. In the inscription on his tomb in Westminster Abbey, +it is said he was born in the year 1510, and died 1596; Cambden says +1598, but in regard to his birth they must both be mistaken, for it is +by no means probable he was born so early as 1510, if we judge by +the remarkable circumstance of his standing for a fellowship in +competition with Mr. Andrews, who was not born according to Hughes +till 1555. Besides, if this account of his birth be true, he must have +been sixty years old when he first published his Shepherd's Calendar, +an age not very proper for love; and in this case it is no wonder, +that the beautiful Rosalind slighted his addresses; and he must have +been seventy years old when he entered into business under lord Grey, +who was created deputy in Ireland 1580: for which reasons we may +fairly conclude, that the inscription is false, either by the error of +the carver, or perhaps it was put on when the monument was repaired. + +There are very few particulars of this great poet, and it must be a +mortification to all lovers of the Muses, that no more can be found +concerning the life of one who was the greatest ornament of his +profession. No writer ever found a nearer way to the heart than he, +and his verses have a peculiar happiness of recommending the author to +our friendship as well as raising our admiration; one cannot read +him without fancying oneself transported into Fairy Land, and there +conversing with the Graces, in that enchanted region: In elegance of +thinking and fertility of imagination, few of our English authors have +approached him, and no writers have such power as he to awake the +spirit of poetry in others. Cowley owns that he derived inspiration +from him; and I have heard the celebrated Mr. James Thomson, the +author of the Seasons, and justly esteemed one of our best descriptive +poets, say, that he formed himself upon Spenser; and how closely he +pursued the model, and how nobly he has imitated him, whoever reads +his Castle of Indolence with taste, will readily confess. + +Mr. Addison, in his characters of the English Poets, addressed to Mr. +Sacheverel, thus speaks of Spenser: + + Old Spenser next, warm'd with poetic rage, + In ancient tales amus'd a barb'rous age; + An age, that yet uncultivate and rude, + Where-e'er the poet's fancy led, pursued + Thro' pathless fields, and unfrequented floods, + To dens of dragons, and enchanted woods. + But now the mystic tale, that pleas'd of yore, + Can charm an understanding age no more; + The long spun allegories, fulsome grow, + While the dull moral lyes too plain below. + We view well pleased at distance, all the sights, + Of arms, and palfries, battles, fields, and fights, + And damsels in distress, and courteous knights. + But when we look too near, the shades decay, + And all the pleasing landscape fades away. + +It is agreed on all hands, that the distresses of our author helped +to shorten his days, and indeed, when his extraordinary merit is +considered, he had the hardest measure of any of our poets. It appears +from different accounts, that he was of an amiable sweet disposition, +humane and generous in his nature. Besides the Fairy Queen, we find he +had written several other pieces, of which we can only trace out the +titles. Among these, the most considerable were nine comedies, in +imitation of the comedies of his admired Ariosto, inscribed with the +names of the Nine Muses. The rest which are mentioned in his letters, +and those of his friends, are his Dying Pelicane, his Pageants, +Stemmata Dudleyana, the Canticles paraphrazed, Ecclesiastes, Seven +Psalms, Hours of our Lord, Sacrifice of a Sinner, Purgatory, a +S'ennight Slumber, the Court of Cupid, and Hell of Lovers. It is +likewise said, he had written a treatise in prose called the English +Poet: as for the Epithalamion Thamesis, and his Dreams, both mentioned +by himself in one of his letters, Mr. Hughes thinks they are still +preserved, tho' under different names. It appears from what is said of +the Dreams by his friend Mr. Harvey, that they were in imitation of +Petrarch's Visions. + +To produce authorities in favour of Spenser, as a poet. I should +reckon an affront to his memory; that is a tribute which I shall only +pay to inferior wits, whose highest honour it is to be mentioned with +respect, by genius's of a superior class. The works of Spenser will +never perish, tho' he has introduced unnecessarily many obsolete terms +into them; there is a flow of poetry, an elegance of sentiment, a fund +of imagination, and an enchanting enthusiasm which will ever secure +him the applauses of posterity while any lovers of poetry remain. + +We find little account of the family which Spenser left behind him, +only that in a few particulars of his life prefixed to the last folio +edition of his works, it is said that his great grandson Hugolin +Spenser, after the restoration of king Charles II. was restored by the +court of claims to so much of the lands as could be found to have been +his ancestors; there is another remarkable passage of which (says +Hughes) I can give the reader much better assurance: that a person +came over from Ireland, in King William's time, to sollicit the same +affair, and brought with him letters of recommendation, as a defendant +of Spenser. His name procured him a favourable reception, and +he applied himself particularly to Mr. Congreve, by whom he was +generously recommended to the favour of the earl of Hallifax, who was +then at the head of the treasury; and by that means he obtained his +suit. This man was somewhat advanced in years, and might be the same +mentioned before, who had possibly recovered only some part of his +estate at first, or had been disturbed in the possession of it. He +could give no account of the works of his ancestor, which are wanting, +and which are therefore in all probability irrecoverably lost. + +The following stanzas are said to be those with which Sir Philip +Sidney was first struck. + + From him returning, sad and comfortless, + As on the way together we did fare, + We met that villain (God from him me bless) + That cursed wight, from whom I 'scaped whylear, + A man of hell that calls himself despair; + Who first us greets, and after fair areeds + Of tidings strange, and of adventures rare: + So creeping close, as snake in hidden weeds, + Inquireth of our states, and of our Knight'y deeds. + + Which when he knew, and felt our feeble hearts + Emboss'd with bale, and bitter-biting grief, + Which love had launced with his deadly darts, + With wounding words, and terms of foul reprief, + He plucked from us all hope of due relief; + That erst us held in love of ling'ring life; + Then hopeless, heartless, 'gan the cunning thief + Persuade us die, to stint all further strife: + To me he lent this rope, to him a rusty knife. + +The following is the picture. + + The darksome cave they enter, where they find, + That cursed man, low sitting on the ground, + Musing full sadly in his sullen mind; + His greasy locks, long growing and unbound, + Disordered hung about his shoulders round, + And hid his face; through which his hollow eyne, + Look'd deadly dull, and stared as astound; + His raw bone cheeks thro' penury and pine, + Were shrunk into his jaws, as he did never dine, + + His garments nought, but many ragged clouts, + With thorns together pinn'd and patched was, + The which his naked sides he wrapt abouts; + And him beside, there lay upon the grass + A dreary corse, whose life away did pass, + All wallowed in his own, yet luke-warm blood, + That from his wound yet welled fresh alas; + In which a rusty knife fast fixed stood, + And made an open passage for the gushing flood. + +It would perhaps be an injury to Spenser to dismiss his Life without a +few remarks on that great work of his which has placed him among +the foremost of our poets, and discovered so elevated and sublime a +genius. The work I mean is his allegorical poem of the Fairy Queen. + +Sir William Temple in his essay on poetry, says, "that the religion of +the Gentiles had been woven into the contexture of all the ancient +poetry with an agreeable mixture, which made the moderns affect to +give that of christianity a place also in their poems; but the true +religion was not found to become fictitious so well as the false one +had done, and all their attempts of this kind seemed, rather to debase +religion than heighten poetry. Spenser endeavoured to supply this with +morality, and to make instruction, instead of story the subject of an +epic poem. His execution was excellent, and his flights of fancy very +noble and high. But his design was poor; and his moral lay so bare, +that it lost the effect. It is true, the pill was gilded, but so thin +that the colour and the taste were easily discovered.--Mr. Rymer +asserts, that Spenser may be reckoned the first of our heroic poets. +He had a large spirit, a sharp judgment, and a genius for heroic +poetry, perhaps above any that ever wrote since Virgil, but our +misfortune is, he wanted a true idea, and lost himself by following an +unfaithful guide. Tho' besides Homer and Virgil he had read Tasso, yet +he rather suffered himself to be misled by Ariosto, with whom blindly +rambling on marvels and adventures, he makes no conscience of +probability; all is fanciful and chimerical, without any uniformity, +or without any foundation in truth; in a word his poem is perfect +Fairy-Land. Thus far Sir William Temple, and Mr. Rymer; let us now +attend to the opinion of a greater name. Mr. Dryden in his dedication +of Juvenal, thus proceeds: The English have only to boast of Spenser +and Milton in heroic poetry, who neither of them wanted either genius +or learning to have been perfect poets, and yet both of them are +liable to many censures; for there is no uniformity in the design of +Spenser; he aims at the accomplishment of no one action; he raises up +a hero for every one of his adventures, and endows each of them with +some particular moral virtue, which renders them all equal, without +subordination or preference: Every one is valiant in his own legend; +only we must do him the justice to observe, that magnanimity, which is +the character of prince Arthur, shines throughout the whole poem, and +succours the rest when they are in distress. The original of every +knight was then living in the court of Queen Elizabeth; and he +attributed to each of them that virtue which he thought was most +conspicuous in them; an ingenious piece of flattery, tho' it turned +not much to his account. Had he lived to finish his poem in the +remaining legends, it had certainly been more of a piece; but could +not have been perfect because the model was not true. But prince +Arthur, or his chief patron Sir Philip Sidney, dying before him, +deprived the poet both of means and spirit to accomplish his design. +For the rest, his obsolete language, and ill choice of his stanza, are +faults both of the second magnitude; for notwithstanding the first, he +is still intelligible, at least after a little practice, and for +the last he is more to be admired, that labouring under such +disadvantages, his verses are so numerous, so various, and so +harmonious, that only Virgil, whom he has professedly imitated, has +surpassed him among the Romans, and only Waller among the English." + +Mr. Hughes in his essay on allegorical poetry prefixed to Spenser's +works, tells us, that this poem is conceived, wrought up, and coloured +with stronger fancy, and discovers more the particular genius of +Spenser, than any of his other writings; and having observed that +Spenser in a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh calls it, a continued +allegory, or dark conceit, he gives us some remarks on allegorical +poetry in general, defining allegory to be a fable or story, in which, +under imaginary persons or things, is shadowed some real action or +instructive moral, or as I think, says he, it is somewhere very +shortly defined by. Plutarch; it is that, in which one thing is, +related, and another thing understood; it is a kind of poetical +picture, or hieroglyphick, which by its apt resemblance, conveys +instruction to the mind, by an analogy to the senses, and so amuses +the fancy while it informs the understanding. Every allegory has +therefore two senses, the literal and mystical, the literal sense +is like a dream or vision, of which the mystical sense is the true +meaning, or interpretation. This will be more clearly apprehended +by considering, that as a simile is a more extended metaphor, so +an allegory is a kind of continued simile, or an assemblage of +similitudes drawn out at full length. + +The chief merit of this poem, no doubt, consists in that surprising +vein of fabulous invention, which runs through it, and enriches it +every where with imagery and descriptions, more than we meet with in +any other modern poem. The author seems to be possessed of a kind of +poetical magic, and the figures he calls up to our view rise so +thick upon us, that we are at once pleased and distracted with the +exhaustless variety of them; so that his faults may in a manner be +imputed to his excellencies. His abundance betrays him into excess, +and his judgment is over-born by the torrent of his imagination. That +which seems the most liable to exception in this work is the model of +it, and the choice the author has made of so romantic a story. The +several books rather appear like so many several poems, than one +entire fable. Each of them has its peculiar knight, and is independent +of the rest; and tho' some of the persons make their appearance in +different books, yet this has very little effect in concealing them. +Prince Arthur is indeed the principal person, and has therefore a +share given him in every legend; but his part is not considerable +enough in any one of them. He appears and vanishes again like a +spirit, and we lose sight of him too soon to consider him as the hero +of the poem. These are the most obvious defects in the fable of the +Fairy Queen. The want of unity in the story makes it difficult for the +reader to carry it in his mind, and distracts too much his attention +to the several parts of it; and indeed the whole frame of it would +appear monstrous, were it to be examined by the rules of epic poetry, +as they have been drawn from the practice of Homer and Virgil; but as +it is plain, the author never designed it by these rules, I think it +ought rather to be called a poem of a particular kind, describing in a +series of allegorical adventures, or episodes, the most noted virtues +and vices. To compare it therefore with the models of antiquity, would +be like drawing a parallel between the Roman and Gothic architecture. +In the first, there is doubtless a more natural grandeur and +simplicity; in the latter, we find great mixtures of beauty and +barbarism, yet assisted by the invention of a variety of inferior +ornaments; and tho' the former is more majestic in the whole, the +latter may be very surprizing and agreeable in its parts. + + +[Footnote 1: Hughes's Life of Spencer, prefixed to the edition of our +author's works.] + +[Footnote 2: Hughes ubi supra,] + +[Footnote 3: Winst. p. 88.] + +[Footnote 4: Dublin] + +[Footnote 5: The General of the English army in Ireland.] + + * * * * * + + +JASPER HEYWOOD, + +the son of the celebrated epigramatist, was born in London, and in the +12th year of his age, 1517, was sent to the University, where he was +educated in grammar and logic. In 1553 he took a degree in Arts, and +was immediately elected Probationer fellow of Merton College, where he +gained a superiority over all his fellow students in disputations at +the public school. Wood informs us, that upon a third admonition, from +the warden and society of that house, he resigned his fellowship, to +prevent expulsion, on the 4th of April, 1558; he had been guilty of +several misdemeanors, such as are peculiar to youth, wildness and +rakishness, which in those days it seems were very severely punished. +Soon after this he quitted England, and entered himself into the +society of Jesus at St. Omer's [1]; but before he left his native +country, he writ and translated (says Wood), these things following. + +Various Poems and Devices; some of which are printed in a book called +the Paradise of Dainty Devices, 1574, 4to. + +Hercules Furens, a Tragedy, which some have imputed to Seneca, and +others have denied to be his, but it is thought by most learned men to +be an imitation of that play of Euripides, which bears the same name, +and tho, in contrivance and economy, they differ in some things, yet +in others they agree, and Scaliger scruples not to prefer the Latin to +the Greek Tragedy [2]. + +Troas, a Tragedy of Seneca's, which the learned Farnaby, and Daniel +Heinsius very much commend; the former stiling it a divine tragedy, +the other preferring it to one of the same name by Euripides, both in +language and contrivance, but especially he says it far exceeds it in +the chorus. In this tragedy the author has taken the liberty of adding +several things, and altering others, as thinking the play imperfect: +First as to the additions, he has at the end of the chorus after +the first act, added threescore verses of his own invention: In the +beginning of the second act he has added a whole scene, where he +introduces the ghost of Achilles rising from hell, to require the +sacrifice of Polyxena! to the chorus of this act he added three +stanza's. As to his alterations, instead of translating the chorus +of the third act, which is wholly taken up with the names of foreign +countries, the translation of which without notes he thought would +be tiresome to the English reader, he has substituted in its stead +another chorus of his own invention. This tragedy runs in verses of +fourteen syllables, and for the most part his chorus is writ in verse +of ten syllables, which is called heroic. + +Thyestes, another tragedy of Seneca's, which in the judgment of +Hiensius, is not inferior to any other of his dramatic pieces. Our +author translated this play when he was at Oxford; it is wrote in +the same manner of verse as the other, only the chorus is written in +alternate rhime. The translator has added a scene at the end of the +fifth act, spoken by Thyestes alone; in which he bewails his misery, +and implores Heaven's vengeance on Atreus. These plays are printed in +a black letter in 4to. 1581. + +Langbain observes, that tho' he cannot much commend the version of +Heywood, as poetically elegant, as he has chosen a measure of fourteen +syllables, which ever sounds harsh to the ears of those that are used +to heroic poetry, yet, says he, I must do the author this justice, to +acquaint the world, that he endeavours to give Seneca's sense, and +likewise to imitate his verse, changing his measure, as often as his +author, the chorus of each act being different from the act itself, as +the reader may observe, by comparing the English copy with the Latin +original. + +After our author had spent two years in the study of divinity amongst +the priests, he was sent to Diling in Switzerland, where he continued +about seventeen years, in explaining and discussing controverted +questions, among those he called Heretics, in which time, for his zeal +for the holy mother, he was promoted to the degree of Dr. of Divinity, +and of the Four Vows. At length pope Gregory XIII. calling him away +in 1581, he sent him, with others, the same year into the mission of +England, and the rather because the brethren there told his holiness, +that the harvest was great, and the labourers few [3]. Being settled +then in the metropolis of his own country, and esteemed the chief +provincial of the Jesuits in England, it was taken notice of, that +he affected more the exterior shew of a lord, than the humility of a +priest, keeping as grand an equipage, as money could then furnish him +with. Dr. Fuller says, that our author was executed in the reign of +Queen Elizabeth; but Sir Richard Baker tells us, that he was one of +the chief of those 70 priests that were taken in the year 1585; and +when some of them were condemned, and the rest in danger of the law, +her Majesty caused them all to be shipp'd away, and sent out of +England. Upon Heywood's being taken and committed to prison, and the +earl of Warwick thereupon ready to relieve his necessity, he made a +copy of verses, mentioned by Sir John Harrington, concluding with +these two; + + ----Thanks to that lord, that wills me good; + For I want all things, saving hay and wood. + +He afterwards went to Rome, and at last settled in the city of Naples, +where he became familiarly known to that zealous Roman Catholick, John +Pitceus, who speaks of him with great respect. + +It is unknown what he wrote or published after he became a Jesuit. It +is said that he was a great critic in the Hebrew language, and that he +digested an easy and short method, (reduced into tables) for novices +to learn that language, which Wood supposes was a compendium of a +Hebrew grammar. Our author paid the common debt of nature at Naples, +1598, and was buried in the college of Jesuits there. + + +[Footnote 1: Langb. Lives of the Poets, p. 249.] + +[Footnote 2: Langb. ubi supra.] + +[Footnote 3: Athen. Oxon.] + + * * * * * + + +JOHN LILLY, + +A writer who flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; he was a +Kentish man, and in his younger years educated at St. Mary Magdalen +College in Oxon, where in the year 1575 he took his degree of Master +of Arts. He was, says Langbaine, a very close student, and much +addicted to poetry; a proof of which he has given to the world, in +those plays which he has bequeathed to posterity, and which in that +age were well esteemed, both by the court, and by the university. He +was one of the first writers, continues Langbain, who in those +days attempted to reform the language, and purge it from obsolete +expressions. Mr. Blount, a gentleman who has made himself known to the +world, by several pieces of his own writing (as Horæ Subsecivæ, his +Microcosmography, &c.) and who published six of these plays, in his +title page stiles him, the only rare poet of that time, the witty, +comical, facetiously quick, and unparallell'd John Lilly. Mr. Blount +further says, 'That he sat 'at Apollo's table; that Apollo gave him a +wreath of his own bays without snatching; and that the Lyre he played +on, had no borrowed strings:' He mentions a romance of our author's +writing, called Euphues; our nation, says he, are in his debt, for a +new English which he taught them; Euphues, and his England began first +that language, and all our ladies were then his scholars, and that +beauty in court who could not read Euphism, was as little regarded, +as she who now speaks not French. This extraordinary Romance I +acknowledge I have not read, so cannot from myself give it a +character, but I have some reason to believe, that it was a miserable +performance, from the authority of the author of the British Theatre, +who in his preface thus speaks of it; "This Romance, says he, so +fashionable for its wit; so famous in the court of Queen Elizabeth, +and is said to have introduced so remarkable a change in our language, +I have seen and read. It is an unnatural affected jargon, in which the +perpetual use of metaphors, allusions, allegories, and analogies, +is to pass for wit, and stiff bombast for language; and with this +nonsense the court of Queen Elizabeth (whose times afforded better +models for stile and composition, than almost any since) became +miserably infected, and greatly help'd to let in all the vile pedantry +of language in the two following reigns; so much mischief the most +ridiculous instrument may do, when he proposes to improve on the +simplicity of nature." + +Mr. Lilly has writ the following dramatic pieces; + +Alexander and Campaspe, a tragical comedy; play'd before the Queen's +Majesty on twelfth-night, by her Majesty's children, and the children +of St. Paul's, and afterwards at the Black Fryars; printed in 12mo. +London, 1632. The story of Alexander's bestowing Campaspe, in the +enamoured Apelles, is related by Pliny in his Natural History. Lib. +xxxv. L. x. + +Endymion, a Comedy, presented before Queen Elizabeth, by the children +of her Majesty's chaple, printed in 12mo. 1632. The story of +Endymion's being beloved by the moon, with comments upon it, may be +met with in most of the Mythologists. See Lucian's Dialogues, between +Venus and the Moon. Mr. Gambauld has writ a romance called Endymion, +translated into English, 8vo. 1639. + +Galathea, a Comedy, played before the Queen at Greenwich on New year's +day, at night, by the children of St. Paul's, printed in 12mo. London, +1632. In the characters of Galathea and Philidia, the poet has copied +the story of Iphis and Ianthe, which the reader may find at large in +the ninth book of Ovid's Metamorphosis. + +Maid's Metamorphosis, a Comedy, acted by the children of St. Paul's, +printed in 12mo. 1632. + +Mydas, a Comedy, played before the Queen on Twelfth-night, printed +in 12mo. London, 1632. For the story, see the xith book of Ovid's +Metamorphosis. + +Sappho and Phaon, a Comedy, played before the queen on Shrove-Tuesday, +by the children of Paul's, and afterwards at Black-Fryars, printed +in Twelves, London 1632. This story the reader may learn from Ovid's +Epistles, of Sappho to Phaon, Ep. 21. + +Woman in the Moon, presented before the Queen, London 1667. Six of +these plays, viz. Alexander and Campaspe, Endymion, Galathea and +Mydas, Sappho and Phaon, with Mother Bombie, a Comedy, by the +same author, are printed together under the title of the Six +Court-Comedies, 12mo, London 1632, and dedicated by Mr. Blount, to the +lord viscount Lumly of Waterford; the other two are printed singly +in Quarto.----He also wrote Loves Metamorphosis, a courtly pastoral, +printed 1601. + + * * * * * + + +Sir THOMAS OVERBURY + +Was son of Nicholas Overbury, Esq; of Burton in Gloucestershire, one +of the Judges of the Marches[1]. He was born with very bright parts, +and gave early discoveries of a rising genius. In 1595, the 14th year +of his age, he became a gentleman commoner in Queen's-College in +Oxford, and in 1598, as a 'squire's son, he took the degree of +batchelor of arts; he removed from thence to the Middle-Temple, in +order to study the municipal law, but did not long remain there[2]. +His genius, which was of a sprightly kind, could not bear the +confinement of a student, or the drudgery of reading law; he abandoned +it therefore, and travelled into France, where he so improved himself +in polite accomplishments, that when he returned he was looked upon as +one of the most finished gentlemen about court. + +Soon after his arrival in England, he contracted an intimacy, which +afterwards grew into friendship with Sir Robert Carre, a Scotch +gentleman, a favourite with king James, and afterwards earl of +Somerset. Such was the warmth of friendship in which these two +gentlemen lived, that they were inseparable. Carre could enter into no +scheme, nor pursue any measures, without the advice and concurrence of +Overbury, nor could Overbury enjoy any felicity but in the company of +him he loved; their friendship was the subject of court-conversation, +and their genius seemed so much alike, that it was reasonable to +suppose no breach could ever be produced between them; but such it +seems is the power of woman, such the influence of beauty, that even +the sacred ties of friendship are broke asunder by the magic energy of +these superior charms. Carre fell in love with lady Frances Howard, +daughter to the Earl of Suffolk, and lately divorced from the Earl +of Essex[3]. He communicated his passion to his friend, who was too +penetrating not to know that no man could live with much comfort, with +a woman of the Countess's stamp, of whose morals he had a bad opinion; +he insinuated to Carre some suspicions, and those well founded, +against her honour; he dissuaded him with all the warmth of the +sincerest friendship, to desist from a match that would involve him in +misery, and not to suffer his passion for her beauty to have so much +sway over him, as to make him sacrifice his peace to its indulgence. + +Carre, who was desperately in love, forgetting the ties of honour as +well as friendship, communicated to the lady, what Overbury had said +of her, and they who have read the heart of woman, will be at no loss +to conceive what reception she gave that unwelcome report. She knew, +that Carre was immoderately attached to Overbury, that he was directed +by his Council in all things, and devoted to his interest. + + Earth has no curse like love to hatred turn'd, + Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorn'd. + +This was literally verified in the case of the countess; she let loose +all the rage of which she was capable against him, and as she panted +for the consummation of the match between Carre and her, she so +influenced the Viscount, that he began to conceive a hatred likewise +to Overbury; and while he was thus subdued by the charms of a wicked +woman, he seemed to change his nature, and from the gentle, easy, +accessible, good-natured man he formerly appeared, he degenerated into +the sullen, vindictive, and implacable. One thing with respect to the +countess ought not to be omitted. She was wife of the famous Earl of +Essex, who afterwards headed the army of the parliament against the +King, and to whom the imputation of impotence was laid. The Countess, +in order to procure a divorce from her husband, gave it out that tho' +she had been for some time in a married state, she was yet a virgin, +and which it seems sat very uneasy upon her. To prove this, a jury of +matrons were to examine her and give their opinion, whether she was, +or was not a Virgin: This scrutiny the Countess did not care to +undergo, and therefore entreated the favour that she might enter +masked to save her blushes; this was granted her, and she took care +to have a young Lady provided, of much the same size and exterior +appearance, who personated her, and the jury asserted her to be +an unviolated Virgin. This precaution in the Countess, no doubt, +diminishes her character, and is a circumstance not favourable to her +honour; for if her husband had been really impotent as she pretended, +she needed not have been afraid of the search; and it proves that she +either injured her husband, by falsely aspersing him, or that she had +violated her honour with other men. But which ever of these causes +prevailed, had the Countess been wise enough, she had no occasion to +fear the consequences of a scrutiny; for if I am rightly informed, a +jury of old women can no more judge accurately whether a woman has +yielded her virginity, than they can by examining a dead body, know +of what distemper the deceased died; but be that as it may, the whole +affair is unfavourable to her modesty; it shews her a woman of +irregular passions, which poor Sir Thomas Overbury dearly +experienced; for even after the Countess was happy in the embraces +of the Earl of Somerset, she could not forbear the persecution of him; +she procured that Sir Thomas should be nominated by the King to go +ambassador to Russia, a destination she knew would displease him, it +being then no better than a kind of honourable grave; she likewise +excited Earl Somerset to seem again his friend, and to advise him +strongly to refuse the embassy, and at the fame time insinuate, that +if he should, it would only be lying a few weeks in the Tower, which to +a man well provided in all the necessaries, as well as comforts of +Life, had no great terror in it. This expedient Sir Thomas embraced, +and absolutely refused to go abroad; upon which, on the twenty-first +of April 1613, he was sent prisoner to the Tower, and put under the +care of Sir Gervis Yelvis, then lord lieutenant. The Countess being so +far successful, began now to conceive great hopes of compleating her +scheme of assassination, and drew over the Earl of Somerset her +husband, to her party, and he who a few years before, had obtained +the honour of knighthood for Overbury, was now so enraged against +him, that he coincided in taking measures to murder his friend. Sir +Gervis Yelvis, who obtained the lieutenancy by Somerset's interest, +was a creature devoted to his pleasure. He was a needy man, totally +destitute of any principles of honour, and was easily prevailed upon +to forward a scheme for destroying poor Overbury by poison. +Accordingly they consulted with one Mrs. Turner, the first inventer +(says Winstanley of that horrid garb of yellow ruffs and cuffs, and in +which garb he was afterwards hanged) who having acquaintance with +one James Franklin, a man who it seems was admirably fitted to be +a Cut-throat, agreed with him to provide that which would not kill +presently, but cause one to languish away by degrees. The lieutenant +being engaged in the conspiracy, admits one Weston, Mrs. Turner's +man, who under pretence of waiting on Sir Thomas, was to do the +horrid deed. The plot being thus formed, and success promising +so fair, Franklin buys various poisons, White Arsenick, +Mercury-Sublimate, Cantharides, Red-Mercury, with three or four +other deadly ingredients, which he delivered to Weston, with +instructions how to use them; who put them into his broth and meat, +increasing and diminishing their strength according as he saw him +affected; besides these, the Countess sent him by way of present, +poisoned tarts and jellies: but Overbury being of a strong +constitution, held long out against their influence: his body broke +out in blotches and blains, which occasioned the report industriously +propagated by Somerset, of his having died of the French Disease. At +last they produced his death by the application of a poisoned +clyster, by which he next day in painful agonies expired. Thus +(says Winstanley) "by the malice of a woman that worthy Knight was +murthered, who yet still lives in that witty poem of his, entitled, A +Wife, as is well expressed by the verses under his picture." + + A man's best fortune or his worst's a wife, + Yet I, that knew no marriage, peace nor strife + Live by a good one, by a bad one lost my life. + +Of all crimes which the heart of man conceives, as none is so enormous +as murder, so it more frequently meets punishment in this life than +any other. This barbarous assassination was soon revealed; for +notwithstanding what the conspirators had given out, suspicions ran +high that Sir Thomas was poisoned; upon which Weston was strictly +examined by Lord Cook, who before his lordship persisted in denying +the same; but the Bishop of London afterwards conversing with him, +pressing the thing home to his conscience, and opening all the terrors +of another life to his mind, he was moved to confess the whole. He +related how Mrs. Turner and the Countess became acquainted, and +discovered all those who were any way concerned in it; upon which they +were all apprehended, and some sent to Newgate, and others to the +Tower. Having thus confessed, and being convicted according to due +course of law, he was hanged at Tyburn, after him Mrs. Turner, after +her Franklin, then Sir Gervis Yelvis, being found guilty on their +several arraignments, were executed; some of them died penitent. The +Earl and the Countess were both condemned, but notwithstanding their +guilt being greater than any of the other criminals, the King, to the +astonishment of all his subjects, forgave them, but they were both +forbid to appear at court. + +There was something strangely unaccountable in the behaviour of +Somerset after condemnation. When he was asked what he thought of +his condition, and if he was preparing to die, he answered, that he +thought not of it at all, for he was sure the King durst not command +him to be executed. This ridiculous boasting and bidding defiance to +his majesty's power, was construed by some in a very odd manner; and +there were not wanting those who asserted, that Somerset was privy +to a secret of the King's, which if it had been revealed, would have +produced the strangest consternation in the kingdom that ever was +known, and drawn down infamy upon his majesty for ever; but as nothing +can be ascertained concerning it, it might seem unfair to impute to +this silly Prince more faults than he perhaps committed: It is certain +he was the slave of his favourites, and not the most shocking crime +in them, it seems, could entirely alienate his affections, and it is +doubtful whether the saving of Somerset or the execution of Raleigh +reflects most disgrace upon his reign. Some have said, that the body +of Sir Thomas Overbury was thrown into an obscure pit; but Wood, says +it appears from the Tower registers, that it was interred in the +chapel; which seems more probable. There is an epitaph which +Winstanley has preserved, written by our author upon himself, which I +shall here insert, as it serves to illustrate his versification. + + The span of my days measured here I rest, + That is, my body; but my soul, his guest + Is hence ascended, whither, neither time, + Nor faith, nor hope, but only love can climb, + Where being new enlightened, she doth know + The truth, of all men argue of below: + Only this dust, doth here in pawn remain, + That when the world dissolves, she come again. + +The works of Overbury besides his Wife, which is reckoned the wittiest +and most finished of all, are, first Characters, or witty descriptions +of the prophesies of sundry persons. This piece has relation to some +characters of his own time, which can afford little satisfaction to a +modern reader. + +Second, The Remedy of Love in two parts, a poem 1620, Octavo, 2s. + +Third, Observations in his Travels, on the State. of the seventeen +Provinces, as they stood anno 1609. + +Fourth, Observations on the Provinces united, and the state of France, +printed London 1631. + +Sir Thomas was about 32 years old when he was murthered, and is said +to have possessed an accuteness, and strength of parts that was +astonishing; and some have related that he was proud of his abilities, +and over-bearing in company; but as there is no good authority for the +assertion, it is more agreeable to candour to believe him the amiable +knight Winstanley draws him; as it seldom happens that a soul formed +for the noble quality of friendship is haughty and insolent. There is +a tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury wrote by the late Richard Savage, son +of earl Rivers, which was acted in 1723, (by what was then usually +called The Summer Company) with success; of which we shall speak more +at large in the life of that unfortunate gentleman. + + +[Footnote 1: Wood Athen. Oxon.] + +[Footnote 2: Winst. ubi supra.] + +[Footnote 3: Winst. ubi supra.] + + * * * * * + + +JOHN MARSTEN. + +There are few things on record concerning this poet's life. Wood says, +that he was a student in Corpus-Christi College, Oxon; but in what +country he was born, or of what family descended, is no where fixed. +Mr. Langbain says, he can recover no other information of him, than +what he learned from the testimony of his bookseller, which is, "That +he was free from all obscene speeches, which is the chief cause of +making plays odious to virtuous and modest persons; but he abhorred +such writers and their works, and professed himself an enemy to all +such as stuffed their scenes with ribaldry, and larded their lines +with scurrilous taunts, and jests, so that whatsoever even in the +spring of his years he presented upon the private and public theatre, +in his autumn and declining age he needed not to to be ashamed of." +He lived in friendship with the famous Ben Johnson, as appears by his +addressing to his name a tragi-comedy, called Male-Content: but we +afterwards find him reflecting pretty severely on Ben, on account of +his Cataline and Sejanus, as the reader will find on the perusal of +Marsten's Epistle, prefixed to Sophonisba.--"Know, says he, that I +have not laboured in this poem, to relate any thing as an historian, +but to enlarge every thing as a poet. To transcribe authors, quote +authorities, and to translate Latin prose orations into English +blank verse, hath in this subject been the least aim of my +studies."----Langbain observes, that none who are acquainted +with the works of Johnson can doubt that he is meant here, +if they will compare the orations in Salust with those in Cataline. On +what provocation Marsten thus censured his friend is unknown, but the +practice has been too frequently pursued, so true is it, as Mr. Gay +observes of the wits, that they are oft game cocks to one another, and +sometimes verify the couplet. + + That they are still prepared to praise or to abhor + us, + Satire they have, and panegyric for us.---- + +Marsten has contributed eight plays to the stage, which were all acted +at the Black Fryars with applause, and one of them called the Dutch +Courtezan, was once revived since the Restoration, under the title of +the Revenge, or a Match in [1]Newgate. In the year 1633 six of +this author's plays were collated and published in one volume, and +dedicated to the lady viscountess Faulkland. His dramatic works are +these: + +Antonio and Melida, a history, acted by the children of St. Paul's, +printed in 1633. + +Antonius's Revenge; or the second part of Antonio and Melida. These +two plays were printed in Octavo several years before the new edition. + +Dutch Courtezan, a comedy frequently played at Black Fryars, by the +children of the Queen's Revels, printed in London 1633. It is taken +from a French book called Les Contes du Mende. See the same story in +English, in a book of Novels, called the Palace of Pleasure in the +last Novel. + +Insatiate Countess, a Tragedy, acted at White-Fryars, printed in +Quarto 1603, under the title of Isabella the insatiable countess of +Suevia. It is said that he meant Joan the first queen of Jerusalem, +Naples, and Sicily. The life of this queen has employed many pens, +both on poetry and novels. Bandello has related her story under the +title of the Inordinate Life of the Countess of Celant. The like story +is related in God's Revenge against Adultery, under the name of Anne +of Werdenberg, duchess of Ulme. + +Male Content, a Tragi Comedy, dedicated to old Ben, as I have already +taken notice, in which he heaps many fine epithets upon him. The first +design of this play was laid by Mr. Webster. + +Parasitaster; or the Fawn, a comedy, often presented at the Black +Fryars, by the children of the queen's Revels, printed in Octavo 1633. +This play was formerly printed in quarto, 1606. The Plot of Dulcimers +cozening the Duke by a pretended discovery of Tiberco's love to her, +is taken from Boccace's Novels. + +What you will, a comedy, printed Octavo, London, 1653. This is said +to be one of our author's best plays. The design taken from Plautus's +Amphitrion. + +Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba, a tragedy, acted at Black Fryars, +printed in Octavo, 1633. The English reader will find this story +described by Sir Walter Raleigh, in his history of the world. B. 5. + +Besides his dramatic poetry he writ three books of Satires, entitled, +The Scourge of Villany, printed in Octavo, London 1598. We have no +account in what year our author died, but we find that his works were +published after his death by the great Shakespear, and it may perhaps +be reasonably concluded that it was about the year 1614. + +[Footnote 1: The late Mr. C. Bullock, a comedian, and some time +manager of Lincoln's-Inn-Fields theatre, _made_ a play from that +piece.] + + * * * * * + + +WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR. + +There have been some ages in which providence seemed pleased in a +most remarkable manner to display it self, in giving to the world the +finest genius's to illuminate a people formerly barbarous. After a +long night of Gothic ignorance, after many ages of priestcraft and +superstition, learning and genius visited our Island in the days of +the renowned Queen Elizabeth. It was then that liberty began to dawn, +and the people having shook off the restraints of priestly austerity, +presumed to think for themselves. At an Æra so remarkable as this, so +famous in history, it seems no wonder that the nation would be blessed +with those immortal ornaments of wit and learning, who all conspired +at once to make it famous.----This astonishing genius, seemed to be +commissioned from above, to deliver us not only from the ignorance +under which we laboured as to poetry, but to carry poetry almost to +its perfection. But to write a panegyric on Shakespear appears as +unnecessary, as the attempt would be vain; for whoever has any taste +for what is great, terrible, or tender, may meet with the amplest +gratification in Shakespear; as may those also have a taste for +drollery and true humour. His genius was almost boundless, and he +succeeded alike in every part of writing. I cannot forbear giving the +character of Shakespear in the words of a great genius, in a prologue +spoken by Mr. Garrick when he first opened Drury-lane house as +Manager. + + When learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes, + First rear'd the stage;----immortal Shakespear rose, + Each change of many-coloured life he drew, + Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new, + Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign, + And panting time toiled after him, in vain. + +All men have discovered a curiosity to know the little stories and +particularities of a great genius; for it often happens, that when +we attend a man to his closet, and watch his moments of solitude, we +shall find such expressions drop from him, or we may observe such +instances of peculiar conduct, as will let us more into his real +character, than ever we can discover while we converse with him in +public, and when perhaps he appears under a kind of mask. There are +but few things known of this great man; few incidents of his life have +descended to posterity, and tho' no doubt the fame of his abilities +made a great noise in the age in which he flourished; yet his station +was not such as to produce many incidents, as it was subject to but +few vicissitudes. Mr. Rowe, who well understood, and greatly admired +Shakespear, has been at pains to collect what incidents were known, +or were to be found concerning him, and it is chiefly upon Mr. Rowe's +authority we build the account now given. + +Our author was the son of John Shakespear, and was born at Stratford +upon Avon in Warwickshire, April 1564, at it appears by public records +relating to that town. The family from which he is descended was of +good figure and fashion there, and are mentioned as gentlemen. His +father, who was a considerable dealer in wool, being incumbred with a +large family of ten children, could afford to give his eldest son +but a slender education. He had bred him at a free school, where he +acquired what Latin he was master of, but how well he understood that +language, or whether after his leaving the school he made greater +proficiency in it, has been disputed and is a point very difficult to +settle. However it is certain, that Mr. John Shakespear, our author's +father, was obliged to withdraw him early from school, in order to +have his assistance in his own employment, towards supporting the rest +of the family. "It is without controversy, says Rowe, that in his +works we scarce find any traces that look like an imitation of the +ancients. The delicacy of his taste, and the natural bent of his own +great genius, equal, if not superior to some of the best of theirs, +would certainly have led him to read and study them with so much +pleasure, that some of their fine images would naturally have +insinuated themselves into, and been mixed with his own writings; so +that his not copying at least something from them, may be an argument +of his never having read them. Whether his ignorance of the ancients +was disadvantageous to him or no, may admit of dispute; for tho' the +knowledge of them might have made him more correct, yet it is not +improbable, but that the regularity and deference for them which would +have attended that correctness, might have restrained some of that +fire, impetuosity, and even beautiful extravagance, which we cannot +help admiring in Shakespear." + +As to his want of learning, Mr. Pope makes the following just +observation: That there is certainly a vast difference between +learning and languages. How far he was ignorant of the latter, I +cannot (says he) determine; but it is plain he had much reading, at +least, if they will not call it learning; nor is it any great matter +if a man has knowledge, whether he has it from one language or from +another. Nothing is more evident, than that he had a taste for natural +philosophy, mechanics, ancient and modern history, poetical learning, +and mythology. We find him very knowing in the customs, rites, and +manners of the Romans. In Coriolanus, and Julius Cæsar, not only the +spirit but manners of the Romans are exactly drawn; and still a nicer +distinction is shewn between the manners of the Romans in the time of +the former and the latter. His reading in the ancient historians is no +less conspicuous, in many references to particular passages; and +the speeches copied from Plutarch in Coriolanus may as well be made +instances of his learning as those copied from Cicero in the Cataline +of Ben Johnson. The manners of other nations in general, the +Ægyptians, Venetians, French, &c. are drawn with equal propriety. +Whatever object of nature, or branch of science, he either speaks or +describes, it is always with competent, if not extensive, knowledge. +His descriptions are still exact, and his metaphors appropriated, +and remarkably drawn from the nature and inherent qualities of each +subject.----We have translations from Ovid published in his name, +among those poems which pass for his, and for some of which we have +undoubted authority, being published by himself, and dedicated to the +Earl of Southampton. He appears also to have been conversant with +Plautus, from whence he has taken the plot of one of his plays; he +follows the Greek authors, and particularly Dares Phrygius in another, +although I will not pretend, continues Mr. Pope, to say in what +language he read them. + +Mr. Warburton has strongly contended for Shakespear's learning, and +has produced many imitations and parallel passages with ancient +authors, in which I am inclined to think him right, and beg leave to +produce few instances of it. He always, says Mr. Warbur-ton, makes +an ancient speak the language of an ancient. So Julius Cæsar, Act I. +Scene II. + + ----Ye Gods, it doth amazs me, + A man of such a feeble temper should + So get the start of the majestic world, + And bear the palm alone. + +This noble image is taken from the Olympic games. This majestic world +is a fine periphrasis of the Roman Empire; majestic, because the +Romans ranked themselves on a footing with kings, and a world, because +they called their empire Orbis Romanus; but the whole story seems to +allude to Cæsar's great exemplar, Alexander, who, when he was asked +whether he would run the course of the Olympic games, replied, 'Yes, +if the racers were kings.'--So again in Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I. +Scene I. Anthony says with an astonishing sublimity, + + Let Rome in Tyber melt, and the wide arch + Of the razed Empire fall. + +Taken from the Roman custom of raising triumphal arches to perpetuate +their victories. + +And again, Act III. Scene IV. Octavia says to Anthony, of the +difference between him and her brother, + + "Wars 'twixt you twain would be + As if the world should cleave, and that slain men + Should solder up the reft"---- + +This thought seems taken from the story of Curtius leaping into the +Chasm in the Forum, in order to close it, so that, as that was closed +by one Roman, if the whole world were to cleave, Romans only could +solder it up. The metaphor of soldering is extreamly exact, according +to Mr. Warburton; for, says he, as metal is soldered up by metal that +is more refined than that which it solders, so the earth was to be +soldered by men, who are only a more refined earth. + +The manners of other nations in general, the Egyptians, Venetians, +French, etc. are drawn with equal propriety. An instance of this shall +be produced with regard to the Venetians. In the Merchant of Venice, +Act IV. Scene I. + + ----His losses + That have of late so huddled on his back, + Enough to press a royal merchant down. + +We are not to imagine the word royal to be a random sounding epithet. +It is used with great propriety by the poet, and designed to shew him +well acquainted with the history of the people, whom he here brings +upon the stage. For when the French and Venetians in the beginning of +the thirteenth century, had won Constantinople, the French under the +Emperor Henry endeavoured to extend their conquests, in the provinces +of the Grecian empire on the Terra firma, while the Venetians being +masters of the sea, gave liberty to any subject of the Republic, who +would fit out vessels to make themselves masters of the isles of the +Archipelago and other maritime places, to enjoy their conquests in +sovereignty, only doing homage to the Republic for their several +principalities. In pursuance of this licence the Sanudo's, the +Justiniani, the Grimaldi, the Summaripa's, and others, all Venetian +merchants, erected principalities in the several places of the +Archipelago, and thereby became truly, and properly Royal Merchants. + +But there are several places which one cannot forbear thinking a +translation from classic writers. + +In the Tempest Act V. Scene II. Prospero says, + + --------I have------ + Called forth the mutinous winds + And 'twixt the green sea, and the azured vault + Set roaring war; to the dread ratling thunder, + Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak, + With his own bolt; the strong bas'd promontory, + Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluckt up + The pine and cedar; graves at my command + Have waked their sleepers, op'd and let them forth + By my so potent art. + +So Medea in Ovid's Metamorphoses, + + Stantia concutio cantu freta; nubila pello, + Nubilaque induco, ventos abigoque, vocoque; + Vivaque faxa sua convulsaque robora terra + Et sylvas moveo; jubeoque tremiscere montes, + Et mugire solum, manesque exire sepulchris. + +But to return to the incidents of his life: Upon his quitting the +grammar school, he seems, to have entirely devoted himself to that way +of living which his father proposed, and in order to settle in the +world after a family manner, thought fit to marry while he was yet +very young. His wife was the daughter of one Hatchway, said to have +been a substantial Yeoman in the neighbourhood of Stratford. In this +kind of domestic obscurity he continued for some time, till by an +unhappy instance of misconduct, he was obliged to quit the place of +his nativity, and take shelter in London, which luckily proved the +occasion of displaying one of the greatest genius's that ever was +known in dramatic poetry. He had the misfortune to fall into ill +company: Among these were some who made a frequent practice of +Deer-stealing, and who engaged him more than once in robbing a park +that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot near Stratford; for +which he was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he thought somewhat too +severely; and in order to revenge himself of this supposed ill usage, +he made a ballad upon him; and tho' this, probably the first essay of +his poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter, that +it redoubled the prosecution against him to that degree, that he was +obliged to leave his business and family for some time, and shelter +himself in London. This Sir Thomas Lucy, was, it is said, afterwards +ridiculed by Shakespear, under the well known character of Justice +Shallow. + +It is at this time, and upon this accident, that he is said to have +made his first acquaintance in the playhouse. Here I cannot forbear +relating a story which Sir William Davenant told Mr. Betterton, who +communicated it to Mr. Rowe; Rowe told it Mr. Pope, and Mr. Pope told +it to Dr. Newton, the late editor of Milton, and from a gentleman, who +heard it from him, 'tis here related. + +Concerning Shakespear's first appearance in the playhouse. When he +came to London, he was without money and friends, and being a +stranger he knew not to whom to apply, nor by what means to support +himself.----At that time coaches not being in use, and as gentlemen +were accustomed to ride to the playhouse, Shakespear, driven to the +last necessity, went to the playhouse door, and pick'd up a little +money by taking care of the gentlemens horses who came to the play; he +became eminent even in that profession, and was taken notice of for +his diligence and skill in it; he had soon more business than he +himself could manage, and at last hired boys under him, who were known +by the name of Shakespear's boys: Some of the players accidentally +conversing with him, found him so acute, and master of so fine a +conversation, that struck therewith, they and recommended him to the +house, in which he was first admitted in a very low station, but he +did not long remain so, for he soon distinguished himself, if not +as an extraordinary actor, at least as a fine writer. His name is +painted, as the custom was in those times, amongst those of the other +players, before some old plays, but without any particular account of +what sort of parts he used to play: and Mr. Rowe says, "that tho' he +very carefully enquired, he found the top of his performance was the +ghost in his own Hamlet." "I should have been much more pleased," +continues Rowe, "to have learned from some certain authority which was +the first play he writ; it would be without doubt, a pleasure to any +man curious in things of this kind, to see and know what was the first +essay of a fancy like Shakespear's." The highest date which Rowe has +been able to trace, is Romeo and Juliet, in 1597, when the author was +thirty-three years old; and Richard II and III the next year, viz. the +thirty-fourth of his age. Tho' the order of time in which his several +pieces were written be generally uncertain, yet there are passages in +some few of them, that seem to fix their dates. So the chorus at the +end of the fourth act of Henry V by a compliment very handsomely +turned to the Earl of Essex, shews the play to have been written when +that Lord was general to the queen in Ireland; and his eulogium upon +Queen Elizabeth, and her successor King James in the latter end of his +Henry VIII is a proof of that play's being written after the accession +of the latter of these two princes to the throne of England. Whatever +the particular times of his writing were, the people of the age he +lived in, who began to grow wonderfully fond of diversions of this +kind, could not but be highly pleased to see a genius arise amongst +them, of so pleasurable, so rich a vein, and and so plentifully +capable of furnishing their favourite entertainments. Besides the +advantage which Shakespear had over all men in the article of wit, he +was of a sweet, gentle, amiable disposition, and was a most agreeable +companion; so that he became dear to all that knew him, both as a +friend and as a poet, and by that means was introduced to the best +company, and held conversation with the finest characters of his time. +Queen Elizabeth had several of his plays acted before her, and that +princess was too quick a discerner, and rewarder of merit, to suffer +that of Shakespear to be neglected. It is that maiden princess plainly +whom he intends by + + ----A fair vestal, throned by the West. + +Midsummer night dream. + +And in the same play he gives us a poetical and lively representation +of the Queen of Scots, and the fate she met with, + + ----Thou rememb'rest + Since once I sat upon a promontory, + And heard a sea-maid on a dolphin's back, + Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, + That the rude sea grew civil at her song, + And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, + To hear the sea-maid's music. + +Queen Elizabeth was so well pleased with the admirable character of +Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. that she commanded him to +continue it in one play more, and to make him in love. This is said to +have been the occasion of his writing the Merry Wives of Windsor. How +well she was obeyed, the play itself is a proof; and here I cannot +help observing, that a poet seldom succeeds in any subject assigned +him, so well as that which is his own choice, and where he has the +liberty of selecting: Nothing is more certain than that Shakespear +has failed in the Merry Wives of Windsor. And tho' that comedy is not +without merit, yet it falls short of his other plays in which Falstaff +is introduced, and that Knight is not half so witty in the Merry Wives +of Windsor as in Henry IV. The humour is scarcely natural, and does +not excite to laughter so much as the other. It appears by the +epilogue to Henry IV. that the part of Falstaff was written originally +under the name of Oldcastle. Some of that family being then remaining, +the Queen was pleased to command him to alter it, upon which he made +use of the name of Falstaff. The first offence was indeed avoided, but +I am not sure whether the author might not be somewhat to blame in his +second choice, since it is certain, that Sir John Falstaff who was +a knight of the garter, and a lieutenant-general, was a name of +distinguished merit in the wars with France, in Henry V. and Henry +VIth's time. + +Shakespear, besides the Queen's bounty, was patronized by the Earl of +Southampton, famous in the history of that time for his friendship to +the unfortunate Earl of Essex. It was to that nobleman he dedicated +his poem of Venus and Adonis, and it is reported, that his lordship +gave our author a thousand pounds to enable him to go through with a +purchase he heard he had a mind to make. A bounty at that time very +considerable, as money then was valued: there are few instances of +such liberality in our times. + +There is no certain account when Shakespear quitted the stage for a +private life. Some have thought that Spenser's Thalia in the Tears of +the Muses, where she laments the loss of her Willy in the comic scene, +relates to our poet's abandoning the stage. But it is well known that +Spenser himself died in the year 1598, and five years after this we +find Shakespear's name amongst the actors in Ben Johnson's Sejanus, +which first made its appearance in the year 1603, nor could he then +have any thoughts of retiring, since that very year, a license by King +James the first was granted to him, with Burbage, Philipps, Hemmings, +Condel, &c. to exercise the art of playing comedies, tragedies, &c. +as well at their usual house called the Globe on the other side the +water, as in any other parts of the kingdom, during his Majesty's +pleasure. This license is printed in Rymer's Fædera; besides it is +certain, Shakespear did not write Macbeth till after the accession of +James I. which he did as a compliment to him, as he there embraces the +doctrine of witches, of which his Majesty was so fond that he wrote a +book called Dæmonalogy, in defence of their existence; and likewise +at that time began to touch for the Evil, which Shakespear has taken +notice of, and paid him a fine turned compliment. So that what Spenser +there says, if it relates at all to Shakespear, must hint at some +occasional recess which he made for a time. + +What particular friendships he contracted with private men, we cannot +at this time know, more than that every one who had a true taste for +merit, and could distinguish men, had generally a just value and +esteem for him. His exceeding candour and good nature must certainly +have inclined all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the +power of his wit obliged the men of the most refined knowledge and +polite learning to admire him. His acquaintance with Ben Johnson began +with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature: Mr. Johnson, who +was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of +his plays to the stage, in order to have it acted, and the person into +whose hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly over, was +just upon returning it to him with an ill-natured answer, that it +would be of no service to their company, when Shakespeare luckily cast +his eye upon it, and found something so well in it, as to engage him +first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnson and +his writings to the public. + +The latter part of our author's life was spent in ease and retirement, +he had the good fortune to gather an estate, equal to his wants, and +in that to his wish, and is said to have spent some years before +his death in his native Stratford. His pleasant wit and good nature +engaged him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship, +of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. It is still remembered in that +county, that he had a particular intimacy with one Mr. Combe, an old +gentleman, noted thereabouts for his wealth and usury. It happened +that in a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends, Mr. +Combe merrily told Shakespear, that he fancied he intended to write +his epitaph, if he happened to out-live him; and since he could not +know what might be said of him when dead, he desired it might be done +immediately; upon which Shakespear gave him these lines. + + Ten in the hundred lyes here engraved, + 'Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not saved: + If any man asketh who lies in this tomb? + Oh! oh! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe. + +But the sharpness of the satire is said to have stung the man so +severely, that he never forgave it. + +Shakespear died in the fifty-third year of his age, and was buried on +the North side of the chancel in the great church at Stratford, where +a monument is placed on the wall. The following is the inscription on +his grave-stone. + + Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear, + To dig the dust inclosed here. + Blest be the man that spares these stones, + And curs'd be he that moves my bones. +He had three daughters, of whom two lived to be married; Judith the +elder to Mr. Thomas Quincy, by whom she had three sons, who all died +without children, and Susannah, who was his favourite, to Dr. John +Hall, a physician of good reputation in that county. She left one +child, a daughter, who was married to Thomas Nash, Esq; and afterwards +to Sir John Bernard, of Abington, but deceased likewise without issue. + +His dramatic writings were first published together in folio 1623 by +some of the actors of the different companies they had been acted in, +and perhaps by other servants of the theatre into whose hands copies +might have fallen, and since republished by Mr. Rowe, Mr. Pope, Mr. +Theobald, Sir Thomas Hanmer, and Mr. Warburton. + +Ben Johnson in his discoveries has made a sort of essay towards the +character of Shakespear. I shall present it the reader in his own +words, + +'I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honour to +Shakespear, that in writing he never blotted out a line. My answer +hath been, would he had blotted out a thousand! which they thought +a malevolent speech. I had not told posterity this, but for their +ignorance, who chuse that circumstance to commend their friend by, +wherein he most faulted; and to justify my own character (for I lov'd +the man, and do honour to his memory, on this side idolatry, as much +as any). He was indeed honest, and of an open free nature, had an +excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expressions, wherein he +flowed with that facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should +be stopp'd. His wit was in his own power: would the rule of it had +been so. Many times he fell into those things which could not escape +laughter, as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to +him, "Cæsar thou dost me wrong." + +He replied, "Cæsar did never wrong, but with just cause;" + +'And such like, which were ridiculous; but he redeemed his vices with +his virtues; there was ever more in them to be praised, than to be +pardoned.' Ben in his conversation with Mr. Drumond of Hawthornden, +said, that Shakespear wanted art, and sometimes sense. The truth is, +Ben was himself a better critic than poet, and though he was ready at +discovering the faults of Shakespear, yet he was not master of such a +genius, as to rise to his excellencies; and great as Johnson was, he +appears not a little tinctured with envy. Notwithstanding the defects +of Shakespear, he is justly elevated above all other dramatic writers. +If ever any author deserved the name of original (says Pope) it was +he: [1] 'His poetry was inspiration indeed; he is not so much an +imitator, as instrument of nature; and it is not so just to say of +him that he speaks from her, as that she speaks through him. His +characters are so much nature herself, that it is a sort of injury to +call them by so distant a name as copies of her. The power over our +passions was likewise never possessed in so eminent a degree, or +displayed in so many different instances, nor was he more a matter of +the great, than of the ridiculous in human nature, nor only excelled +in the passions, since he was full as admirable in the coolness of +reflection and reasoning: His sentiments are not only in general the +most pertinent and judicious upon every subject, but by a talent very +peculiar, something between penetration and felicity, he hits upon +that particular point, on which the bent of each argument, or the +force of each motive depends.' + +Our author's plays are to be distinguished only into Comedies and +Tragedies. Those which are called Histories, and even some of his +Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a mixture of Comedy amongst them. +That way of Tragi-comedy was the common mistake of that age, and is +indeed become so agreeable to the English taste, that though the +severer critics among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our +audiences seem better pleased with it than an exact Tragedy. There is +certainly a great deal of entertainment in his comic humours, and a +pleasing and well distinguished variety in those characters he thought +fit to exhibit with. His images are indeed every where so lively, that +the thing he would represent stands full before you, and you possess +every part of it; of which this instance is astonishing: it is an +image of patience. Speaking of a maid in love, he says, + + ------She never told her love, + But let concealment, like a worm i'th'bud, + Feed on her damask cheek: She pin'd in thought, + And sat like patience on a monument. + Smiling at grief. + +But what is characteristically the talent of Shakespear, and which +perhaps is the most excellent part of the drama, is the manners of his +persons, in acting and in speaking what is proper for them, and fit +to be shewn by the Poet, in making an apparent difference between his +characters, and marking every one in the strongest manner. + +Poets who have not a little succeeded in writing for the stage, have +yet fallen short of their great original in the general power of the +drama; none ever found so ready a road to the heart; his tender scenes +are inexpressibly moving, and such as are meant to raise terror, are +no less alarming; but then Shakespeare does not much shine when he is +considered by particular passages; he sometimes debases the noblest +images in nature by expressions which are too vulgar for poetry. The +ingenious author of the Rambler has observed, that in the invocation +of Macbeth, before he proceeds to the murder of Duncan, when he thus +expresses himself, + + ---------Come thick night + And veil thee, in the dunnest smoke of hell, + Nor heaven peep thro' the blanket of the dark, + To cry hold, hold. + +That the words dunnest and blanket, which are so common in vulgar +mouths, destroy in some manner the grandeur of the image, and were two +words of a higher signification, and removed above common use, put +in their place, I may challenge poetry itself to furnish an image +so noble. Poets of an inferior class, when considered by particular +passages, are excellent, but then their ideas are not so great, their +drama is not so striking, and it is plain enough that they possess not +souls so elevated as Shakespeare's. What can be more beautiful than +the flowing enchantments of Rowe; the delicate and tender touches of +Otway and Southern, or the melting enthusiasm of Lee and Dryden, +but yet none of their pieces have affected the human heart like +Shakespeare's. + +But I cannot conclude the character of Shakespeare, without taking +notice, that besides the suffrage of almost all wits since his time in +his favour, he is particularly happy in that of Dryden, who had read +and studied him clearly, sometimes borrowed from him, and well knew +where his strength lay. In his Prologue to the Tempest altered, he has +the following lines; + + Shakespear, who taught by none, did first impart, + To Fletcher wit, to lab'ring Johnson, art. + He, monarch-like gave there his subjects law, + And is that nature which they paint and draw; + Fletcher reached that, which on his heights did grow, + While Johnson crept, and gathered all below: + This did his love, and this his mirth digest, + One imitates him most, the other best. + If they have since outwrit all other men, + 'Tis from the drops which fell from Shakespear's pen. + The storm[2] which vanished on the neighb'ring shore + Was taught by Shakespear's Tempest first to roar. + That innocence and beauty which did smile + In Fletcher, grew in this Inchanted Isle. + But Shakespear's magic could not copied be, + Within that circle none durst walk but he. + +The plays of this great author, which are forty-three in number, are +as follows, + +1. The Tempest, a Comedy acted in the Black Fryars with applause. + +2. The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a Comedy writ at the command of Queen +Elizabeth. + +3. The first and second part of King Henry IV the character of +Falstaff in these plays is justly esteemed a master-piece; in the +second part is the coronation of King Henry V. These are founded upon +English Chronicles. + +4. The Merry Wives of Windsor, a Comedy, written at the command of +Queen Elizabeth. + +5. Measure for Measure, a Comedy; the plot of this play is taken from +Cynthio Ciralni. + +6. The Comedy of Errors, founded upon Plautus's Mænechmi. + +7. Much Ado About Nothing, a Comedy; for the plot see Ariosto's +Orlando Furioso. + +8. Love's Labour Lost, a Comedy. + +9. Midsummer's Night's Dream, a Comedy. + +10. The Merchant of Venice, a Tragi-Comedy. + +11. As you Like it, a Comedy. + +12. The Taming of a Shrew, a Comedy. + +13. All's Well that Ends Well. + +14. The Twelfth-Night, or What you Will, a Comedy. In this play +there is something singularly ridiculous in the fantastical steward +Malvolio; part of the plot taken from Plautus's Mænechmi. + +15. The Winter's Tale, a Tragi-Comedy; for the plot of this play +consult Dorastus and Faunia. + +16. The Life and Death of King John, an historical play. + +17. The Life and Death of King Richard II. a Tragedy. + +18. The Life of King Henry V. an historical play. + +19. The First Part of King Henry VI. an historical play. + +20. The Second Part of King Henry VI. with the death of the good Duke +Humphrey. + +21. The Third Part of King Henry VI. with the death of the Duke of +York. These plays contain the whole reign of this monarch. + +22. The Life and Death of Richard III. with the landing of the Earl of +Richmond, and the battle of Bosworth field. In this part Mr. Garrick +was first distinguished. + +23. The famous history of the Life of King Henry VIII. + +24. Troilus and Cressida, a Tragedy; the plot from Chaucer. + +25. Coriolanus, a Tragedy; the story from the Roman History. + +26. Titus Andronicus, a Tragedy. + +27. Romeo and Juliet, a Tragedy; the plot from Bandello's Novels. This +is perhaps one of the most affecting plays of Shakespear: it was not +long since acted fourteen nights together at both houses, at the same +time, and it was a few years before revived and acted twelve nights +with applause at the little theatre in the Hay market. + +28. Timon of Athens, a Tragedy; the plot from Lucian's Dialogues. + +29. Julius Cæsar, a Tragedy. + +30. The Tragedy of Macbeth; the plot from Buchanan, and other Scotch +writers. + +31. Hamlet Prince of Denmark, a Tragedy. + +32. King Lear, a Tragedy; for the plot see Leland, Monmouth. + +33. Othello the Moor of Venice, a Tragedy; the plot from Cynthio's +Novels. + +34. Anthony and Cleopatra; the story from Plutarch. + +35. Cymbeline, a Tragedy; the plot from Boccace's Novels. + +36. Pericles Prince of Tyre, an historical play. + +37. The London Prodigal, a Comedy. + +38. The Life and Death of Thomas Lord Cromwell, the favourite of King +Henry VIII. + +39. The History of Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham, a +Tragedy. See Fox's Book of Martyrs. + +40. The Puritan, or the Widow of Watling-street, a Comedy. + +41. A Yorkshire Tragedy; this is rather an Interlude than a Tragedy, +being very short, and not divided into Acts. + +42. The Tragedy of Locrine, the eldest son of King Brutus. See the +story in Milton's History of England. + +Our age, which demonstrates its taste in nothing so truly and justly +as in the admiration it pays to the works of Shakespear, has had the +honour of raising a monument for him in Westminster Abbey; to effect +which, the Tragedy of Julius Cæsar was acted at the Theatre Royal in +Drury Lane, April 28, 1738, and the profits arising from it deposited +in the hands of the earl of Burlington, Mr. Pope, Dr. Mead, and +others, in order to be laid out upon the said monument. A new Prologue +and Epilogue were spoken on that occasion; the Prologue was written by +Benjamin Martyn esquire; the Epilogue by the hon. James Noel esquire, +and spoke by Mrs. Porter. On Shakespear's monument there is a noble +epitaph, taken from his own Tempest, and is excellently appropriated +to him; with this let us close his life, only with this observation, +that his works will never be forgot, 'till that epitaph is +fulfilled.--When + + The cloud capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, + The solemn temples, the great globe itself + And all which it inherit shall dissolve, + And like the baseless fabric of a vision + Leave not a wreck behind. + + +[Footnote 1: Preface to Shakespear] + +[Footnote 2: Alluding to the sea voyage of Fletcher.] + + * * * * * + + +JOSHUA SYLVESTER, + +The translator of the famous Du Bartas's Weeks and Works; was +cotemporary with George Chapman, and flourished in the end of +Elizabeth and King James's reign; he was called by the poets in his +time, the silver-tongu'd Sylvester, but it is doubtful whether he +received any academical education. In his early years he is reported +to have been a merchant adventurer.[1] Queen Elizabeth is said to have +had a respect for him, her successor still a greater, and Prince Henry +greater than his father; the prince so valued our bard, that he made +him his first Poet-Pensioner. He was not more celebrated for his +poetry, than his extraordinary private virtues, his sobriety and +sincere attachment to the duties of religion. He was also remarkable +for his fortitude and resolution in combating adversity: we are +further told that he was perfectly acquainted with the French, +Italian, Latin, Dutch and Spanish languages. And it is related of him, +that by endeavouring to correct the vices of the times with too much +asperity, he exposed himself to the resentment of those in power, who +signified their displeasure, to the mortification and trouble of the +author. Our poet gained more reputation by the translation of Du +Bartas, than by any of his own compositions. Besides his Weeks and +Works, he translated several other productions of that author, namely, +Eden[2], the Deceit, the Furies, the Handicrafts, the Ark, Babylon, +the Colonies, the Columns, the Fathers, Jonas, Urania, Triumph of +Faith, Miracle of Peace, the Vocation, the Daw; the Captains, the +Trophies, the Magnificence, &c. also a Paradox of Odes de la Nove, +Baron of Teligni with the Quadrians of Pibeac; all which translations +were generally well received; but for his own works, which were bound +up with them, they received not, says Winstanley, so general an +approbation, as may be seen by these verses: + + We know thou dost well, + As a translator + But where things require + A genius and fire, + + Not kindled before by others pains, + As often thou hast wanted brains. + +In the year 1618 this author died at Middleburgh in Zealand, aged 55 +years, and had the following epitaph made on him by his great admirer +John Vicars beforementioned, but we do not find that it was put upon +his tomb-stone. + + Here lies (death's too rich prize) the corpse interr'd + Of Joshua Sylvester Du Bartas Pier; + A man of arts best parts, to God, man, dear; + In foremost rank of poets best preferr'd. + + +[Footnote 1: Athenæ Oxon. p. 594.] + +[Footnote 2: Winstanley, Lives of the Poets, p. 109.] + + * * * * * + + +SAMUEL DANIEL + +Was the son of a music master, and born near Taunton in Somersetshire, +in the year 1562. In 1579 he was admitted a commoner in Magdalen Hall +in Oxford, where he remained about three years, and by the assistance +of an excellent tutor, made a very great proficiency in academical +learning; but his genius inclining him more to studies of a gayer and +softer kind, he quitted the University, and applied himself to history +and poetry. His own merit, added to the recommendation of his brother +in law, (John Florio, so well known for his Italian Dictionary) +procured him the patronage of Queen Anne, the consort of King James I. +who was pleased to confer on him the honour of being one of the Grooms +of the Privy-Chamber, which enabled him to rent a house near London, +where privately he composed many of his dramatic pieces. He was tutor +to Lady Ann Clifford, and on the death of the great Spenser, he was +appointed Poet Laureat to Queen Elizabeth. Towards the end of his life +he retired to a farm which he had at Beckington near Philips Norton +in Somersetshire, where after some time spent in the service of the +Muses, and in religious contemplation, he died in the year 1619. He +left no issue by his wife Justina, to whom he was married several +years. Wood says, that in the wall over his grave there is this +inscription; + + Here lies expecting the second coming of our + Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the dead body + of Samuel Daniel esquire, that excellent poet + and historian, who was tutor to Lady Ann + Clifford in her youth, she that was daughter + and heir to George Clifford earl of Cumberland; + who in gratitude to him erected this monument + to his memory a long time after, when she was + Countess Dowager of Pembroke, Dorset and + Montgomery. He died in October, Anno 1619. + +Mr. Daniel's poetical works, consisting of dramatic and other pieces, +are as follow; + +1. The Complaint of Rosamond. + +2. A Letter from Octavia to Marcus Antonius, 8vo. 1611. + +These two pieces resemble each other, both in subject and stile, being +written in the Ovidian manner, with great tenderness and variety of +passion. The measure is Stanzas of seven lines. Let the following +specimen shew the harmony and delicacy of his numbers, where he makes +Rosamond speak of beauty in as expressive a manner as description can +reach. + + Ah! beauty Syren, fair inchanting good, + Sweet silent rhetoric of persuading eyes; + Dumb eloquence whose power doth move the blood, + More than the words or wisdom of the wife; + Still harmony whose diapason lies, Within a brow; the key + which passions move, + To ravish sense, and play a world in love. + +3. Hymen's Triumph, a Pastoral Tragi-Comedy presented at the Queen's +Court in the Strand, at her Majesty's entertainment of the King, at +the nuptials of lord Roxborough, London, 1623, 4to. It is introduced +by a pretty contrived Prologue by way of dialogue, in which Hymen +is opposed by avarice, envy and jealousy; in this piece our author +sometimes touches the passions with a very delicate hand. + +4. The Queen's Arcadia, a Pastoral Tragi-Comedy, presented before her +Majesty by the university of Oxford, London 1623, 4to. + +5. The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses, presented in a Masque the 8th +of January at Hampton-Court, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty and +her Ladies. London 1604, 8vo. and 1623, 4to. It is dedicated to the +Lady Lucy, countess of Bedford. His design under the shapes, and in +the persons of the Twelve Goddesses, was to shadow out the blessings +which the nation enjoyed, under the peaceful reign of King James I. By +Juno was represented Power; by Pallas Wisdom and Defence; by Venus, +Love and Amity; by Vesta, Religion; by Diana, Chastity; by Proserpine, +Riches; by Macaria, Felicity; by Concordia, the Union of Hearts; +by Astræa, Justice; by Flora, the Beauties of the Earth; by Ceres, +Plenty; and by Tathys, Naval Power. + +6. The Tragedy of Philotas, 1611, 8vo. it is dedicated to the Prince, +afterwards King Charles I. + +This play met with some opposition, because it was reported that the +character of Philotas was drawn for the unfortunate earl of Essex, +which obliged the author to vindicate himself from this charge, in an +apology printed at the end of the play; both this play, and that of +Cleopatra, are written after the manner of the ancients, with a chorus +between each act. + +7. The History of the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and +Lancaster, a Poem in eight books, London, 1604, in 8vo. and 1623, 4to. +with his picture before it. + +8. A Funeral Poem on the Death of the Earl of Devonshire, London, +1603, 4to. + +9. A Panegyric Congratulatory, delivered to the King at +Burleigh-Harrington in Rutlandshire, 1604 and 1623, 4to. + +10. Epistles to various great Personages in Verse, London, 1601 and +1623, 4to. + +11. The Passion of a Distressed Man, who being on a tempest on the +sea, and having in his boat two women (of whom he loved the one who +disdained him, and scorned the other who loved him) was, by command of +Neptune, to cast out one of them to appease the rage of the tempest, +but which was referred to his own choice. If the reader is curious to +know the determination of this man's choice, it is summed up in the +concluding line of the poem. + + She must be cast away, that would not save. + +12. Musophilus, a Defence of Learning; written dialogue-wise, +addressed to Sir Fulk Greville. + +13. Various Sonnets to Delia, 57 in number. + +14. An Ode. 15. A Pastoral. 16. A Description of Beauty. 17. To the +Angel Spirit of Sir Philip Sidney. 18. A Defence of Rhime. All these +pieces are published together in two volumes, 12 mo. under the title +of the poetical pieces of Mr. Samuel Daniel. + +But however well qualified our author's genius was for poetry, yet +Langbain is of opinion that his history is the crown of all his works. +It was printed about the year 1613, and dedicated to Queen Anne. It +reaches from the state of Britain under the Romans, to the beginning +of the reign of Richard II. His history has received encomiums from +various hands, as well as his poetry: It was continued by John Trusul, +with like brevity and candour, but not with equal elegance, 'till the +reign of Richard III. A.D. 1484. Mr. Daniel lived respected by men of +worth and fashion, he passed through life without tasting many of the +vicissitudes of fortune; he seems to have been a second rate genius, +and a tolerable versifier; his poetry in some places is tender, but +want of fire is his characteristical fault. He was unhappy in the +choice of his subject of a civil war for a poem, which obliged him +to descend to minute descriptions, and nothing merely narrative +can properly be touched in poetry, which demands flights of the +imagination and bold images. + + * * * * * + + +Sir JOHN HARRINGTON, + +Born at Kelston near the city of Bath, was the son of John Harrington +esquire, who was imprisoned in the Tower in the reign of Queen Mary, +for holding a correspondence with the Lady Elizabeth; with whom he was +in great favour after her accession to the crown, and received many +testimonies of her bounty and gratitude. Sir John, our author, had the +honour to be her god-son, and both in respect to his father's merit, +and his own, he was so happy to possess her esteem to the last[1]. +He had the rudiments of his education at Eaton; thence removing to +Cambridge, he there commenced master of arts, and before he arrived at +his 30th year, he favoured the world with a translation of the Orlando +Furioso of Ariosto, by which he acquired some reputation. After this +work, he composed four books of epigrams, which in those times were +received with great applause; several of these mention another +humorous piece of his called Misacmos Metatmorphosis, which for a +while exposed him to her Majesty's resentment, yet he was afterwards +received into favour. This (says Mrs. Cooper) is not added to the rest +of his works, and therefore she supposes was only meant for a Court +amusement, not the entertainment of the public, or the increase of +his fame. In the reign of King James I. he was created Knight of the +Bath[2], and presented a manuscript to Prince Henry, called a Brief +View of the State of the Church of England, as it stood in Queen +Elizabeth and King James's reign in the year 1608. This piece was +levelled chiefly against the married bishops, and was intended only +for the private use of his Highness, but was some years afterwards +published by one of Sir John's grandsons, and occasioned much +displeasure from the clergy, who did not fail to recollect that his +conduct was of a piece with his doctrines, as he, together with Robert +earl of Leicester, supported Sir Walter Raleigh in his suit to Queen +Elizabeth for the manor of Banwell, belonging to the bishopric of Bath +and Wells, on the presumption that the right reverend incumbent had +incurred a Premunire, by marrying a second wife. + +Sir John appears to be a gentleman of great pleasantry and humour; +his fortune was easy, the court his element, and which is ever an +advantage to an author, wit was not his business, but diversion: 'Tis +not to be doubted, but his translation of Ariosto was published after +Spenser's Fairy Queen, and yet both in language and numbers it is +much inferior, as much as it is reasonable to suppose the genius of +Harrington was below that of Spenser. + +Mrs. Cooper remarks, that the whole poem of Orlando is a tedious +medley of unnatural characters, and improbable events, and that the +author's patron, Cardinal Hippolito De Este, had some reason for that +severe question. Where the devil, Signior Ludovico, did you pick up +all these damned lies? The genius of Ariosto seems infinitely more +fit for satire than heroic poetry; and some are of opinion, that had +Harrington wrote nothing but epigrams, he had been more in his own +way. + +We cannot certainly fix the time that Sir John died, but it is +reasonable to suppose that it was about the middle, or rather towards +the latter end of James I's reign. I shall subjoin an epigram of his +as a specimen of his poetry. + + IN CORNUTUM. + + What curl'd pate youth is he that sitteth there, + So near thy wife, and whispers in her eare, + And takes her hand in his, and soft doth wring her. + Sliding his ring still up and down her finger? + Sir, 'tis a proctor, seen in both the lawes, + Retain'd by her in some important cause; + Prompt and discreet both in his speech and action, + And doth her business with great satisfaction. + And think'st thou so? a horn-plague on thy head! + Art thou so-like a fool, and wittol led, + To think he doth the bus'ness of thy wife? + He doth thy bus'ness, I dare lay my life. + + +[Footnote 1: Muses Library, p. 296.] + +[Footnote 2: Ubi supra.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS DECKER, + +A poet who lived in the reign of King James I. and as he was +cotemporary with Ben Johnson, so he became more eminent by having a +quarrel with that great man, than by all his works. Decker was but an +indifferent poet, yet even in those days he wanted not his admirers; +he had also friends among the poets; one of whom, Mr. Richard Brome, +always called him Father; but it is the misfortune of little wits, +that their admirers are as inconsiderable as themselves, for Brome's +applauses confer no great honour on those who enjoy them. Our author +joined with Webster in writing three plays, and with Rowley and Ford +in another; and Langbaine asserts, that these plays in which he only +contributed a part, far exceed those of his own composition. He has +been concerned in eleven plays, eight whereof are of his own writing, +of all which I shall give an account in their alphabetical order. + +I. Fortunatus, a comedy, printed originally in 4to but with what +success, or when acted, I cannot gain any account. + +II. Honest Whore, the first part; a comedy, with the humours of the +Patient Man, and the Longing Wife, acted by the Queen's Servants, +1635. + +III. Honest Whore, the second part, a comedy; with the humours of the +Patient Man, the Impatient Wife; the Honest Whore persuaded by strong +arguments to turn Courtezan again; her refusing those arguments, and +lastly the comical passage of an Italian bridewel, where the scene +ends. Printed in 4to, London 1630. This play Langbaine thinks was +never exhibited, neither is it divided into acts. + +IV. If this be not a good play the devil is in it; a comedy, acted +with great applause by the Queen's majesty's servants, at the +Red-Bull, and dedicated to the actors. The beginning of this play +seems to be writ in imitation of Machiavel's novel of Belphegor, where +Pluto summons the Devils to council. + +Match me in London, a Tragi-Comedy, often presented, first at the +Bull's head in St. John's-street, and then at a private house in +Drury-lane, called the Phoenix, printed in 4to. in 1631. + +VI. Northward Ho, a comedy, often acted by the children of Paul's, +printed in 4to. London, 1607. This play was writ by our author and +John Webster. + +VII. Satyromastix, or the untrussing the humourous poet, a comical +satire, presented publickly by the Lord Chamberlain's servants, +and privately by the children of Paul's, printed in 4to, 1602, and +dedicated to the world. This play was writ on the occasion of Ben +Johnson's Poetaster, for some account of which see the Life of +Johnson. + +VIII. Westward Ho,[1] a comedy, often acted by the children of Paul's, +and printed in 4to. 1607; written by our author and Mr. Webster. + +IX. Whore of Babylon, an history acted by the prince's servants, and +printed in 4to. London 1607. The design of this play, by feigned +names, is to set forth the admirable virtues of queen Elizabeth; +and the dangers she escaped by the happy discovery of those designs +against her sacred person by the Jesuits and bigotted Papists. + +X. Wyatt's History, a play said to be writ by him and Webster, and +printed in 4to. The subject of this play is Sir Thomas Wyat of Kent, +who made an insurrection in the first year of Queen Mary, to prevent +her match with Philip of Spain. + +Besides these plays he joined with Rowley and Ford in a play called, +The Witch of Edmonton, of which see Rowley. + +There are four other plays ascribed to our author, in which he is said +by Mr. Phillips and Winstanley to be an associate with John Webster, +viz. Noble Stranger; New Trick to cheat the Devil; Weakest goes to the +Wall; Woman will have her Will; in all which Langbaine asserts they +are mistaken, for the first was written by Lewis Sharp, and the other +by anonymous authors. + +[Footnote 1: This was revived in the year 1751, at Drury-lane theatre +on the Lord Mayor's day, in the room of the London Cuckolds, which is +now discontinued at that house.] + + * * * * * + + +BEAUMONT and FLETCHER + +Were two famous dramatists in the reign of James I. These two friends +were so closely united as authors, and are so jointly concerned in the +applauses and censures bestowed upon their plays, that it cannot be +thought improper to connect their lives under one article. + +Mr. FRANCIS BEAUMONT + +Was descended from the ancient family of his name, seated at Grace +dieu in Leicestershire,[1] and was born about the year 1585 in the +reign of Queen Elizabeth. His grandfather, John Beaumont, was Master +of the Rolls, and his father Francis Beaumont, one of the Judges of +the Common Pleas. Our poet had his education at Cambridge,[2]but of +what college we are not informed, nor is it very material to know. We +find him afterwards admitted a student in the Inner-Temple, but we +have no account of his making any proficiency in the law, which is +a circumstance attending almost all the poets who were bred to that +profession, which few men of sprightly genius care to be confined to. +Before he was thirty years of age he died, in 1615, and was buried the +ninth of the same month in the entrance of St. Benedictine's Chapel, +within St. Peter's Westminster. We meet with no inscription on his +tomb, but there are two epitaphs writ on him, one by his elder brother +Sir John Beaumont, and the other by Bishop Corbet. That by his brother +is pretty enough, and is as follows: + + On Death, thy murderer, this revenge I take: + I slight his terror, and just question make, + Which of us two the best precedence have, + Mine to this wretched world, thine to the grave. + Thou should'st have followed me, but Death to blame + Miscounted years, and measured age by fame. + So dearly hast thou bought thy precious lines; + Thy praise grew swiftly, so thy life declines. + Thy muse, the hearer's queen, the reader's love + All ears, all hearts, but Death's could please and move. + +Our poet left behind him one daughter, Mrs. Frances Beaumont, who +lived to a great age and, died in Leicestershire since the year 1700. +She had been possessed of several poems of her father's writing, but +they were lost at sea in her voyage from Ireland, where she had lived +sometime in the Duke of Ormond's family. Besides the plays in which +Beaumont was jointly concerned with Fletcher, he writ a little +dramatic piece entitled, A Masque of Grays Inn Gentlemen, and the +Inner-Temple; a poetical epistle to Ben Johnson; verses to his friend +Mr. John Fletcher, upon his faithful Shepherd, and other poem's +printed together in 1653, 8vo. That pastoral which was written by +Fletcher alone, having met with but an indifferent reception, Beaumont +addressed the following copy of verses to him on that occasion, in +which he represents the hazard of writing for the stage, and satirizes +the audience for want of judgment, which, in order to shew his +versification I shall insert. + + Why should the man, whose wit ne'er had a stain, + Upon the public stage present his vein, + And make a thousand men in judgment sit + To call in question his undoubted wit, + Scarce two of which can understand the laws, + Which they should judge by, nor the party's cause. + Among the rout there is not one that hath, + In his own censure an explicit faith. + One company, knowing thy judgment Jack, + Ground their belief on the next man in black; + Others on him that makes signs and is mute, + Some like, as he does, in the fairest sute; + He as his mistress doth, and me by chance: + Nor want there those, who, as the boy doth dance + Between the acts will censure the whole play; + Some, if the wax lights be not new that day: + But multitudes there are, whose judgment goes + Headlong, according to the actors clothes. + +Mr. Beaumont was esteemed so accurate a judge of plays, that Ben +Johnson, while he lived, submitted all his writings to his censures; +and it is thought, used his judgment in correcting, if not contriving +most of his plots. + + +[Footnote 1: Jacob's Lives of the Poets.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood.] + + * * * * * + + +Mr. JOHN FLETCHER + +Was son of Dr. Richard Fletcher, Lord Bishop of London, and was born +in Northamptonshire in the year 1576. He was educated at Cambridge, +probably at Burnet-college, to which his father was by his last +will and testament a benefactor[1]. He wrote plays jointly with Mr. +Beaumont, and Wood says he assisted Ben Johnson in a Comedy called +The Widow. After Beaumont's death, it is said he consulted Mr. James +Shirley in forming the plots of several of his plays, but which those +were we have no means of discovering. The editor of Beaumont and +Fletcher's plays in 1711 thinks it very probable that Shirley supplied +many that were left imperfect, and that the players gave some remains +of Fletcher's for Shirley to make up; and it is from hence (he says) +that in the first act of Love's Pilgrimage, there is a scene of an +ostler transcribed verbatim out of Ben Johnson's New Inn, Act I. Scene +I. which play was written long after Fletcher died, and transplanted +into Love's Pilgrimage, after printing the New Inn, which was in the +year 1630, and two of the plays printed under Fletcher's name. The +Coronation and The Little Thief have been claimed by Shirley as his; +it is probable they were left imperfect by the one, and finished by +the other. Mr. Fletcher died of the plague in the forty ninth year of +his age, the first of King Charles I. An. 1625, and was buried in St. +Mary Overy's Church in Southwark. + +Beaumont and Fletcher, as has been observed, wrote plays in concert, +but what share each bore in forming the plots, writing the scenes, +&c. is unknown. The general opinion is, that Beaumont's judgment was +usually employed in correcting and retrenching the superfluities of +Fletcher's wit, whose fault was, as Mr. Cartwright expresses it, to do +too much; but if Winstanley may be credited, the former had his share +likewise in the drama, for that author relates, that our poets meeting +once at a tavern in order to form the rude draught of a tragedy, +Fletcher undertook to kill the king, which words being overheard by +a waiter, he was officious enough, in order to recommend himself, +to lodge an information against them: but their loyalty being +unquestioned, and the relation of the circumstance probable, that the +vengeance was only aimed at a theatrical monarch, the affair ended in +a jest. + +The first play which brought them into esteem, as Dryden says, was +Philaster, or Love lies a Bleeding; for, before that, they had written +two or three very unsuccessfully, as the like is reported of Ben +Johnson before he writ Every Man in his Humour. These authors had with +the advantage of the wit of Shakespear, which was their precedent, +great natural gifts improved by study. Their plots are allowed +generally more regular than Shakespear's; they touch the tender +passions, and excite love in a very moving manner; their faults, +notwithstanding Beaumont's castigation, consist in a certain +luxuriance, and stretching their speeches to an immoderate length;[2] +however, it must be owned their wit is great, their language suited +to the passions they raise, and the age in which they lived is a +sufficient apology for their defects. Mr. Dryden tells us, in his +Essay on Dramatic Poetry, that Beaumont and Fletcher's plays in his +time were the most pleasing and frequent entertainments of the stage, +two of theirs being acted through the year for one of Shakespear's or +Johnson's; and the reason he assigns is, because there is a certain +gaiety in their comedies, and a pathos in their most serious plays +which suits generally with all men's humours; but however it might +be when Dryden writ, the case is now reversed, for Beaumont and +Fletcher's plays are not acted above once a season, while one of +Shakespear's is represented almost every third night. It may seem +strange, that wits of the first magnitude should not be so much +honoured in the age in which they live, as by posterity;[3] it is now +fashionable to be in raptures with Shakespear; editions are multiplied +upon editions, and men of the greatest genius have employed all their +power in illustrating his beauties, which ever grow upon the reader, +and gain ground upon perusal. These noble authors have received +incense of praise from the highest pens; they were loved and esteemed +by their cotemporaries, who have not failed to demonstrate their +respect by various copies of verses at different times, and upon +different occasions, addressed to them, the insertion of which would +exceed the bounds proposed for this work. I shall only observe, that +amongst the illustrious names of their admirers, are Denham, Waller, +Cartwright, Ben Johnson, Sir John Berkenhead, and Dryden himself, a +name more than equal to all the rest. But the works of our authors +have not escaped the censure of critics, especially Mr. Rhymer the +historiographer, who was really a man of wit and judgment, but +somewhat ill natured; for he has laboured to expose the faults, +without taking any notice of the beauties of Rollo Duke of Normandy, +the King and No King, and the Maids Tragedy, in a piece of his called +The Tragedies of the Last Age considered, and examined by the practice +of the ancients, and by the common sense of all ages, in a letter +to Fleetwood Shepherd esquire. Mr. Rymer sent one of his books as a +present to Mr. Dryden, who in the blank leaves before the beginning, +and after the end of the book, made several remarks, as if he intended +to publish an answer to that critic, and his opinion of the work +was this[4]; "My judgment (says he) of this piece, is, that it is +extremely learned, but the author seems better acquainted with the +Greek, than the English poets; that all writers ought to study this +critic as the best account I have seen of the ancients; that the model +of tragedy he has here given is extremely correct, but that it is not +the only model of tragedy, because it is too much circumscribed in the +plot, characters, &c. And lastly, that we may be taught here justly to +admire and imitate the ancients, without giving them the preference, +with this author, in prejudice to our own country." + +Some of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays were printed in quarto during +the lives of their authors; and in the year 1645 twenty years after +Fletcher's death, there was published in folio a collection of their +plays which had not been printed before, amounting to between thirty +and forty. At the beginning of this volume are inserted a great number +of commendatory verses, written by the most eminent wits of that age. +This collection was published by Mr. Shirley after shutting up the +Theatres, and dedicated to the earl of Pembroke by ten of the most +famous actors. In 1679 there was an edition of all their plays +published in folio. Another edition in 1711 by Tonson in seven volumes +8vo. containing all the verses in praise of the authors, and supplying +a large omission of part of the last act of Thierry and Theodoret. +There was also another edition in 1751. The plays of our authors are +as follow, + +1. Beggars Bush, a Comedy, acted with applause. + +2. Bonduca, a Tragedy; the plot from Tacitus's Annals, b. xiv. +Milton's History of England, b. ii. This play has been twice revived. + +3. The Bloody Brother, or Rollo Duke of Normandy, a Tragedy, acted +at the Theatre at Dorset-Garden. The plot is taken from Herodian's +History, b. iv. + +4. Captain, a Comedy. + +5. Chances, a Comedy; this was revived by Villiers duke of Buckingham +with great applause. + +6. The Coronation, a Tragi-Comedy, claimed by Mr. Shirley as his. + +7. The Coxcomb, a Comedy. + +8. Cupid's Revenge, a Tragedy. + +9. The Custom of the Country, a Tragi-Comedy; the plot taken from +Malispini's Novels, Dec. 6. Nov. 6. + +10. Double Marriage, a Tragedy. + +11. The Elder Brother, a Comedy, + +13. The Faithful Shepherdess, a Dramatic Pastoral, first acted on a +twelfth-night at Somerset House. This was entirely Mr. Fletcher's, +and instead of a Prologue was sung a Dialogue, between a priest and a +nymph, written by Sir William Davenant, and the Epilogue was spoken by +the Lady Mordant, but met with no success. + +13. The Fair Maid of the Inn, a Comedy; part of this play is taken +from Causin's Holy Court, and Wanley's History of Man. + +14. The False One; a Tragedy, founded on the Adventures of Julius +Cæsar in Egypt, and his amours with Cleopatra. + +15. Four Plays in One, or Moral Representations, containing the +triumphs of honour, love, death and time, from Boccace's Novels. + +16. The Honest Man's Fortune, a Tragi-Comedy; the plot from Heywood's +History of Warner. + +17. The Humourous Lieutenant, a Tragi-Comedy, still acted with +applause. + +18. The Island Princess, a Tragi-Comedy, revived in 1687 by Mr. Tate. + +19. A King and No King, a Tragi-Comedy, acted with applause. + +20. The Knight of the Burning Pestle, a Comedy, revived also with a +Prologue spoken by the famous Nell Gwyn. + +21. The Knight of Malta, a Tragi-comedy. + +22. The Laws of Candy, a Tragi-Comedy. + +23. The Little French Lawyer, a Comedy; the plot from Gusman, or the +Spanish Rogue. + +24. Love's Cure, or the Martial Maid, a Comedy. + +25. The Lover's Pilgrimage, a Comedy; the plot is taken from a novel +called the Two Damsels, and some incidents from Ben Jonson's New Inn. + +26. The Lovers Progress, a Tragi-Comedy; built on a French romance +called Lysander and Calista. + +27. The Loyal Subject, a Comedy. + +28. The Mad Lover, a Tragi-Comedy. + +29. The Maid in the Mill, a Comedy. This was revised and acted on the +duke of York's Theatre. + +30. The Maid's Tragedy; a play always acted with the greatest +applause, but some part of it displeasing Charles II, it was for a +time forbid to be acted in that reign, till it was revived by Mr. +Waller, who entirely altering the last act, it was brought on the +stage again with universal applause. + +31. A Masque of Grays Inn Gentlemen, presented at the marriage of +the Princess Elizabeth and the Prince Palatine of the Rhine, in the +Banqueting House at Whitehall. This piece was written by Mr. Beaumont +alone. + +32. Monsieur Thomas, a Comedy. This play has been since acted on the +stage, under the title of Trick for Trick. + +33. Nice Valour, or the Passionate Madman, a Comedy. + +34. The Night-walker, or the Little Thief, a Comedy, revived since the +Restoration with applause. + +35. The Noble Gentleman, a Comedy; this was revived by Mr. Durfey, and +by him called The Fool's Preferment, at the Three Dukes of Dunstable. + +36. Philaster, or Love lies a Bleeding, a Tragi-Comedy. This was the +first play that brought these fine writers into esteem. It was first +represented at the old Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields, when the women +acted by themselves. + +37. The Pilgrim, a Comedy; revived and acted with success. + +38. The Prophetess, a Tragi-Comedy. This play has been revived by Mr. +Betterton, under the title of Dioclesian, an Opera. + +39. The Queen of Cornish, a Tragi-Comedy. + +40. Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, a Comedy. + +41. The Scornful Lady, a Comedy; acted with great applause. + +42. The Sea Voyage, a Comedy; revived by Mr. Durfey, who calls it The +Commonwealth of Women. It would appear by the lines we have quoted p. +141, life of Shakespear, that it was taken from Shakespear's Tempest. + +43. The Spanish Curate, a Comedy, several times revived with applause; +the plot from Gerardo's History of Don John, p. 202, and his Spanish +Curate, p. 214. + +44. Thiery and Theodoret, a Tragedy; the plot taken from the French +Chronicles, in the reign of Colsair II. + +45. Two Noble Kinsmen, a Tragi-comedy; Shakespear assisted Fletcher in +composing this play. + +46. Valentinian, a Tragedy; afterwards revived and altered by the Earl +of Rochester. + +47. A Wife for a Month, a Tragedy; for the plot see Mariana and Louis +de Mayerne Turquet, History of Sancho, the eighth King of Leon. + +48. The Wild-Goose Chace, a Comedy, formerly acted with applause. + +49. Wit at Several Weapons, a Comedy. + +50. Wit without Money, a Comedy, revived at the Old House in Lincolns +Inn Fields, immediately after the burning of the Theatre in Drury +Lane, with a new Prologue by Mr. Dryden. + +51. The Woman Hater, a Comedy, revived by Sir William Davenant, with a +new Prologue in prose. This play was writ by Fletcher alone. + +52. Women pleased, a Comedy; the plot from Boccace's Novels, + +53. Woman's Prize, or the Tanner Tann'd, a Comedy, built on the same +foundation with Shakespear's Taming of a Shrew; writ by Fletcher +without Beaumont. + +Mr. Beaumont writ besides his dramatic pieces, a volume of poems, +elegies, sonnets, &c. + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS LODGE + +Was descended from a family of his name living in Lincolnshire, but +whether born there, is not ascertained. He made his first appearance +at the university of Oxford about the year 1573, and was afterwards a +scholar under the learned Mr. Edward Hobye of Trinity College; where, +says Wood, making very early advances, his ingenuity began first to be +observed, in several of his poetical compositions. After he had taken +one degree in arts, and dedicated some time to reading the bards of +antiquity, he gained some reputation in poetry, particularly of the +satiric species; but being convinced how barren a foil poetry is, and +how unlikely to yield a competent provision for its professors, he +studied physic, for the improvement of which he went beyond sea, +took the degree of Dr. of that faculty at Avignon, returned and was +incorporated in the university in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's +reign: Afterwards settling in London, he practised physic with great +success, and was particularly encouraged by the Roman Catholics, of +which persuasion it is said he was. + +Our author hath written + +Alarm against Usurers, containing tried experiences against worldly +abuses, London 1584. + +History of Forbonius and Prisæria, with Truth's Complaint over +England. + +Euphue's Golden Legacy. + +The Wounds of a Civil War livelily set forth, in the true Tragedies of +Marius and Sylla, London 1594. + +Looking Glass for London and England, a Tragi-Comedy printed in 4to. +London 1598, in an old black letter. In this play our author was +assisted by Mr. Robert Green. The drama is founded upon holy writ, +being the History of Jonah and the Ninevites, formed into a play. Mr. +Langbain supposes they chose this subject, in imitation of others +who had writ dramas on sacred themes long before them; as Ezekiel, a +Jewish dramatic poet, writ the Deliverance of the Israelites out of +Egypt: Gregory Nazianzen, or as some say, Apollinarius of Laodicea, +writ the Tragedy of Christ's Passion; to these may be added + +Hugo Grotius, Theodore Beza, Petavius, all of whom have built upon the +foundation of sacred history. + +Treatise on the Plague, containing the nature, signs, and accidents of +the same, London 1603. + +Treatise in Defence of Plays. This (says Wood) I have not yet seen, +nor his pastoral songs and madrigals, of which he writ a considerable +number. + +He also translated into English, Josephus's History of the Antiquity +of the Jews, London 1602. The works both moral and natural of Seneca, +London 1614. This learned gentleman died in the year 1625, and had +tributes paid to his memory by many of his cotemporary poets, who +characterised him as a man of very considerable genius. Winstanley has +preserved an amorous sonnet of his, which we shall here insert. + + If I must die, O let me chuse my death: + Suck out my soul with kisses, cruel maid! + In thy breasts crystal balls, embalm my breath, + Dole it all out in sighs, when I am laid; + Thy lips on mine like cupping glasses clasp; + Let our tongues meet, and strive as they would + sting: + Crush out my wind with one straight-girting grasp, + Stabs on my heart keep time while thou dost sing. + Thy eyes like searing irons burn out mine; + In thy fair tresses stifle me outright: + Like Circe, change me to a loathsome swine, + So I may live forever in thy sight. + Into heaven's joys can none profoundly see, + Except that first they meditate on thee. + +When our author wishes to be changed into a loathsome swine, so he +might dwell in sight of his mistress, he should have considered, that +however agreeable the metamorphosis might be to him, it could not be +so to her, to look upon such a loathsome object. + + +[Footnote 1: Langbaine's Lives of the Poets.] + +[Footnote 2: There is a coarseness of dialogue, even in their +genteelest characters, in comedy, that appears now almost +unpardonable; one is almost inclined to think the language and manners +of those times were not over-polite, this fault appears so frequent; +nor is the great Shakespear entirely to be acquitted hereof.] + +[Footnote 3: May not this be owing to envy? are not most wits jealous +of their cotemporaries? how readily do we pay adoration to the dead? +how slowly do we give even faint praise to the living? is it a wonder +Beaumont and Fletcher were more praised and versified than Shakespear? +were not inferior wits opposed, nay preferred, to Dryden while living? +was not this the case of Addison and Pope, whose works (those authors +being no more) will be read with admiration, and allowed the just +pre-eminence, while the English tongue is understood.] + +[Footnote 4: Preface to Fletcher's plays.] + + * * * * * + + +Sir JOHN DAVIES + +Was born at Chisgrove, in the parish of Tysbury in Wiltshire, being +the son of a wealthy tanner of that place. At fifteen years of age he +became a Commoner in Queen's-college, Oxford 1585, where having +made great progress in academical learning, and taken the degree of +Batchelor of arts, he removed to the Middle-Temple, and applying +himself to the study of the common law, was called to the bar; but +having a quarrel with one Richard Martyn, (afterwards recorder of +London) he bastinadoed him in the Temple-hall at dinner-time, in +presence of the whole assembly, for which contempt, he was immediately +expelled, and retired again to Oxford to prosecute his studies, but +did not resume the scholar's-gown. Upon this occasion he composed that +excellent poem called Nosce Teipsum[1]. Afterwards by the favour of +Thomas lord Ellesmere, keeper of the Great Seal, being reinstated in +the Temple, he practised as a counsellor, and became a burgess in the +Parliament held at Westminster 1601. Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth +our author, with Lord Hunsdon, went into Scotland to congratulate King +James on his succession to the English throne. Being introduced into +his Majesty's presence, the King enquired of Lord Hunsdon, the names +of the gentlemen who accompanied him, and when his lordship mentioned +John Davies, the King presently asked whether he was Nosce Teipsum, +and being answered he was, embraced him, and assured him of his +favour. He was accordingly made Sollicitor, and a little after +Attorney-general in Ireland, where in the year 1606, he was made one +of his Majesty's serjeants at law, and Speaker of the House of Commons +for that kingdom. In the year following, he received the honour of +knighthood from the King at Whitehall. In 1612 he quitted the post of +Attorney-general in Ireland, and was made one of his Majesty's English +serjeants at law. He married Eleanor Touchet, youngest daughter of +George lord Audley, by whom he had a son, an idiot who died young, +and a daughter named Lucy, married to Ferdinand lord Hastings, +and afterwards Earl of Huntingdon. His lady was a woman of very +extraordinary character; she had, or rather pretended to have a spirit +of prophecy, and her predictions received from a voice which she often +heard, were generally wrapped up in dark and obscure expressions. It +was commonly reported, that on the sunday before her husband's death, +she was sitting at dinner with him, she suddenly burst into tears, +whereupon he asking her the occasion, she answered, "Husband, these +are your funeral tears," to which he replied, "Pray therefore spare +your tears now, and I will be content that you shall laugh when I +am dead." After Sir John's death she lived privately at Parston +in Hertfordshire, and an account was published of her strange and +wonderful prophecies in 1609. In 1626 Sir John was appointed lord +chief justice of the King's-bench, but before the ceremony of his +installation could be performed he died suddenly of an apoplexy in the +fifty-seventh year of his age, and was buried in the church of St. +Martin's in the Fields. He enjoyed the joint applauses of Camden, Ben +Johnson, Sir John Harrington, Selden, Donne, and Corbet; these are +great authorities in our author's favour, and I may fairly assert that +no philosophical writers ever explained their ideas more clearly and +familiarly in prose, or more harmoniously and beautifully in verse. +There is a peculiar happiness in his similies being introduced more to +illustrate than adorn, which renders them as useful as entertaining, +and distinguishes them from any other author. + +In quality of a lawyer Sir John produced the following pieces: + +1. A discovery of the true causes why Ireland was never entirely +subdued until his Majesty's happy reign; printed in 4to. London 1612, +dedicated to the King with this Latin verse only. + + Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos. + +2. A declaration of our sovereign lord the King, concerning the title +of his Majesty's son Charles, the prince and duke of Cornwall; London +1614. + +His principal performance as a poet, is a Poem on the Original, +Nature, and Immortality of the Soul, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. It +was republished by Nahum Tate, 1714, addressed to the Earl of Dorset +and Middlesex, who was a great admirer of our poet, and the editor +gives it a very just and advantageous character. Without doubt it is +the Nosce Teipsum so much admired by King James, printed 1519, and +1622, mentioned by Wood; to which were added by the same hand: + +Hymns of Astrea in acrostic verse; and Orchestra, or a poem expressing +the antiquity and excellency of dancing, in a dialogue between +Penelope and one of her Woers, containing 131 stanzas unfinished. Mr. +Wood mentions also epigrams, and a translation of several of King +David's Psalms, written by Sir John Davies, but never published. + +NOSCE TEIPSUM. + + Why did my parents send me to the schools, + That I, with knowledge might enrich my mind, + Since the desire to know first made men fools + And did corrupt the root of all mankind. + + For when God's hand, had written in the hearts, + Of our first parents all the rules of good, + So that their skill infus'd, surpass'd all arts, + That ever were before or since the flood. + + And when their reason's eye was sharp and clear, + And (as an eagle can behold the sun) + Cou'd have approach'd th' eternal light as near, + As th' intellectual Angels could have done. + + Even then, to them the spirit of lyes suggests, + That they were blind because they saw not ill; + And breath'd into their incorrupted breasts + A curious wish, which did corrupt their will. + + +[Footnote 1: Muses library p. 332.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS GOFF. + +A Gentleman who flourished in the reign of King James I. He was born +in Essex, towards the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, about the +year 1592. In his youth he was sent to Westminster-school, and at +the age of eighteen, he was entered student of Christ's-college in +Oxford[1]. Being an industrious scholar, says Langbaine, he arrived to +be a good poet, a skilful orator, and an excellent preacher. In the +year 1623 he was made batchelor of divinity, and preferred to a living +in Surry called East-Clanden: there he married a wife who proved as +great a plague to him as a shrew could be; she was a true Xantippe +to our ecclesiastical Socrates, and gave him daily opportunities of +puting his patience to the proof; and it is believed by some, that +this domestic scourge shortened his days. He was buried at his own +parish church at Clanden, the 27th of July, 1627. He writ several +pieces on different subjects, amongst which are reckoned five plays. +Careless Shepherdess, a Tragi-comedy, acted before the King and Queen +at Salisbury court with great applause. Printed in 4to,1656, with an +Alphabetical Catalogue of all such plays as ever were to that time +published. 2. Courageous Turk, or Amurath I. a Tragedy, acted by the +students of Christ-church in Oxford, printed in 8vo, London 1656. +For the plot consult Knolles's History of the Turks. 3. Orcites, a +Tragedy, acted by the students of Christ's-church in Oxford, printed +in 8vo, London 1656. 4. Raging Turk, or Bajazet II. a tragedy acted +by the students in Christ's-church in Oxford, printed in 8vo. London +1656. This play was written with the two foregoing tragedies, when the +author was master of arts, and student of Christ's-church, but not +printed till after his decease. 5. Selinus, Emperor of the Turks, a +Tragedy, printed in 4to, London 1638. This play in all probability was +never exhibited, because it is not divided into acts. The author +calls this the first part; and in his conclusion, as he stiles it, or +epilogue, he promises a second part, saying, + + If this first part, gentles, do like you well; + The second part shall greater murders tell. + +The plot is founded on the Turkish history in the reign of Selinus I. +Mr. Philips and Mr. Winstanley have ascribed a comedy to this author, +called Cupid's Whirligig, tho' Democritus and Heraclitus were not more +different in their temper, than his genius was opposite to comedy, +besides the true author was one Mr. E. S. who in his dedicatory +epistle says, + + "That being long pregnant with desire to bring forth + something, and being afterwards brought to bed, + had chose his friend Mr. Robert Hayman to be + godfather, not doubting but his child would be + well maintained, feeing he could not live above + an hour with him; and therefore he entreated + him when he was dead, that he might be buried + deep enough in his good opinion, and that he + might deserve this epitaph; + + Here lies the child that was born in mirth, + Against the strict rules of child-birth; + And to be quit, I gave him to my friend, + Who laught him to death, and that was his end." + +The reason of my making this digression, is to shew, that such +ridiculous unmeaning mirth, is not likely to have fallen from Mr. +Goff, as he was a grave man, and nothing but what was manly droped +from his pen. In the latter part of his life he forsook the stage for +the pulpit, and instead of plays writ sermons, some of which appeared +in print in the year 1627. To these works may be added his Latin +funeral oration, at the divinity school, at the obsequies of Sir +Henry Saville, printed in 4to, Oxon 1622; another in Christ's-church +cathedral, at the funeral of Dr. Goodwin, canon of that church, +printed in London 1627. + + +[Footnote 1: Langbaine's Lives of the Poets, 223.] + + * * * * * + + +Sir FULK GREVILLE, Lord BROOKE, + +Sprung from an honourable family in Warwickshire; he was educated both +at Oxford and Cambridge, and introduced to court by an uncle in the +service of Queen Elisabeth, who received him into her favour, which +he had the happiness to preserve uninterupted to her death. At the +coronation of James I, he was created Knight of the Bath, and soon +after obtained a grant of the ruinous castle of Warwick. He was next +appointed sub-treasurer, chancellor of the Exchequer, and privy +counsellor, and then advanced to the degree of a baron, by the title +of lord Brooke of Beauchamps-court, and one of the lords of the +bed-chamber to his Majesty. This noble author was the friend of Sir +Philip Sidney, than which a greater compliment cannot be bestowed. As +he was a poet and a man of wit he was held in the highest esteem in +that courtly age; but he added to genius, a gallantry of spirit, and +was as fine a soldier as a writer. Winstanley gives an instance of his +prowess in arms. + + "At the time (says he) when the French ambassador + came over to England to negotiate a marriage + between the duke of Anjou, and Queen + Elizabeth, for the better entertainment of the + court, solemn justs were proclaimed, where the + Earl of Arundel, Frederick lord Windsor, Sir Philip + Sidney, and he, were chief challengers against + all comers; in which challenge he behaved + himself so gallantly, that he won the reputation + of a most valiant knight. Thus you see + that tho' case be the nurse of poetry, the Muses + are also companions to Mars, as may be + exemplified in the characters of the Earl of + Surry, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Fulk Greville." + +As our Author loved and admired the ladies, it is somewhat +extraordinary, that he died a batchelor; for in all that courtly age, +he could not find one on whom to confer the valuable prize of his +heart. As he was himself a learned man, and possessed a variety of +knowledge, so he patronized many necessitous candidates for fame, but +particularly Camden, whom he caused by his interest to be made King +at Arms. He was likewise very liberal to Mr. Speed the celebrated +chronologer: finding him a man of extensive knowledge, and his +occupation and circumstances mean, so that his genius was depressed by +poverty, he enabled him to prosecute his studies, and pursue the bent +of his genius without being obliged to drudge at a manual employment +for his bread. Speed in his description of Warwickshire writes thus +of lord Brook, "Whose merit (says he) towards me I do acknowledge, in +setting my hand free from the daily employments of a manual trade, +and giving it full liberty thus to express the inclination of mind, +himself being the procurer of my present estate." He passed thro' life +in a calm of prosperity and honour, beloved by his equals, reverenced +by his inferiors, and a favourite at court; but when he was about +seventy years of age, this life of undisturbed tranquility, was +sacrificed to the resentment of a villain, and a catastrophe of the +most tragical kind closed the days of this worthy man. + +One Haywood, who had been many years in his service, and had behaved +with fidelity and honour, expostulated with him freely (while they +were alone) for his not having received a due reward for his services. +His lordship enraged at his presumption, and giving way to his +passion, reprimanded him very severely for his insolence; for which +the villain being now wrought up to the highest degree of fury, took +an opportunity to stab him with his dagger through the back into the +vitals, of which wound he instantly died, September 30, 1628. + +The murderer then struck with remorse, horror and despair, and all the +natural attendants of his guilt, retired to his chamber, and having +secured the door, fell upon the same weapon with which he had +assassinated his master, and anticipated on himself the justice +reserved for the hand of an executioner. Lord Brooke was interred in +Warwickshire, under a monument of black and white marble[1], whereon +he is stiled, Servant to Queen Elizabeth, Counsellor to King James, +and friend to Sir Philip Sidney. + +His works are chiefly these, viz. + +Alaham, a Tragedy; printed in folio 1633. This play (says Langbaine) +seems an imitation of the ancients; the Prologue is spoken by a ghost. +This spectre gives an account of each character, which is perhaps done +after the manner of Euripides, who introduced one of the chief +actors as the Prologue, whose business it was to explain all those +circumstances which preceded the opening the stage. He has not in one +scene throughout introduced above two speakers, in compliance with +Horace's rule in his _Art of Poetry_; + + nec quarta loqui persona laboret. + +Mr. Langbaine professes himself ignorant from whence the plot is +taken, neither can he find the name of any such Prince as Alaham, that +reigned in Ormus, where the scene lyes, an island situated at the +entrance of the Persian Gulph, which is mentioned by Mr. Herbert[2] in +his account of Ormus. + +Mustapha, a Tragedy, printed in folio 1633. This play likewise seems +to be built on the model of the ancients, and the plot is the same +with that of lord Orrery's tragedy of the same title, and taken from +Paulus Jovius, Thuanus, &c. Both these plays are printed together in +folio, London, 1633, with several other poems, as a Treatise on Human +Learning; An Inquisition upon Fame and Honour; A Treatise of Wars. All +these are written in a stanza of six lines, four interwoven, and a +couplet in base, which the Italians call Sestine Coelica, containing +one hundred and nine sonnets of different measures. There are in +this volume two letters; the one to an honourable Lady, containing +directions how to behave in a married state; the other addressed to +his cousin Grevil Varney, then in France, containing Directions for +Travelling. His lordship has other pieces ascribed to him besides +those published under his name, The Life of Sir Philip Sidney, printed +at the beginning of the Arcadia. His Remains, or Poems of Monarchy and +Religion, printed in 8vo. London 1670. Philips and Winstanley ascribe +a play to him, called Marcus Tullius Cicero, but this is without +foundation, for that play was not written, at least not printed, 'till +long after his lordship's death. Having now given some account of his +works, I shall sum up his character in the words of Mrs. Cooper, in +her Muses Library, as it is not easy to do it to better advantage. + + "I don't know (says she) whether a woman may + be acquitted for endeavouring to sum up a character + so various and important as his lordship's; + but if the attempt can be excused, I don't desire + to have it pass for a decisive sentence. + Perhaps few men that dealt in poetry had + more learning, or real wisdom than this nobleman, + and yet his stile is sometimes so dark + and mysterious, that one would imagine he + chose rather to conceal, than illustrate his meaning. + At other times his wit breaks out again + with an uncommon brightness, and shines, I'd + almost said, without an equal. It is the same + thing with his poetry, sometimes so harsh and + uncouth as if he had no ear for music, at others, + so smooth and harmonious as if he was + master of all its powers." + +The piece from which I shall quote some lines, is entitled, + + A TREATISE of HUMAN LEARNING. + + The mind of man is this world's true dimension; + And knowledge is the measure of the minde: + And as the minde in her vast comprehension, + Contains more worlds than all the world can finde. + So knowledge doth itself farre more extend, + Than all the minds of men can comprehend. + + A climbing height it is without a head, + Depth without bottome, way without an end, + A circle with no line invironed, + Not comprehended, all it comprehends; + Worth infinite, yet satisfies no minde, + 'Till it that Infinite of the God-head finde. + + +[Footnote 1: Fuller's Worthies of Warwickshire, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 2: Travels, third Edition, p. 114.] + + * * * * * + + +JOHN DAY. + +This author lived in the reign of King James I. and was some time +student in Caius College in Cambridge. No particulars are preserved +concerning this poet, but that he had connection with other poets of +some name, and wrote the following plays: + +1. Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, with the Merry Humour of Tom Stroud, +the Norfolk Yeoman, several times publicly acted by the Prince's +Servants; printed in 4to. London, 1659; for the plot, as far as it +concerns history, consult the writers in the reign of King Henry VI. + +2. Humour out of Breath, a Comedy, said to have been writ by our +author, but some have doubted his being the real author of it. + +3. Isle of Gulls, a Comedy, often acted in the Black Fryars, by the +children of the Revels, printed in 4to. London, 1633. This is founded +upon Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. + +4. Law Tricks, or Who Would Have Thought It? a Comedy, several times +acted by the children of the Revels, and printed in 4to. 1608. + +5. Parliament of Bees, with their proper characters, or a Bee-Hive +furnished with Twelve Honey-Combs, as pleasant as profitable, being an +allegorical description of the ancients of good and bad men in those +days, printed in 4to. London, 1641. + +6. Travels of Three English Brothers, Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Mr. +Robert Shirley, a History, played by her Majesty's Servants, printed +in 4to. London, 1607, and dedicated to Honour's Favourites and the +entire friends of the family of the Shirleys. In the composition of +this play our author was assisted by William Rowley, and Mr. George +Wilkins; the foundation of it may be read in several English Writers, +and Chronicles, and it is particularly set down in Dr. Fuller's +Worthies, in his description of Sussex. When our author died cannot be +justly ascertained, but Mr. Langbaine has preserved an elegy written +on him, by his friend Mr. Tateham, which begins thus: + + Don Phoebus now hath lost his light, + And left his rule unto the night; + And Cynthia, she has overcome + The Day, and darkened the sun: + Whereby we now have lost our hope, + Of gaining Day, into horoscope, &c. + +In this manner he runs on: like a gentleman in Lincolns Inn, who wrote +an ingenious poem upon the transactions between a Landlord and his +Tenant Day, who privately departed from him by Night, printed in a +single sheet, London, 1684. To shew the parallel, the following lines +are sufficient. + + How Night and Day conspire a secret flight; + For Day, they say, is gone away by Night. + The Day is past, but landlord where's your rent? + You might have seen, that Day was almost spent. + Day sold, and did put off whate'er he might, + Tho' it was ne'er so dark, Day wou'd be light. + + * * * * * + + +Sir WALTER RALEIGH + +Was descended of an ancient family in Devonshire, which was seated +in that county before the conquest[1], and was fourth son of Walter +Raleigh, esquire, of Fards, in the parish of Cornwood. He was born in +the year 1552 at Hayes, a pleasant farm of his father's in the parish +of Budley, in that part of Devonshire bordering Eastward upon the Sea, +near where the Ottery discharges itself into the British Channel; he +was educated at the university of Oxford, where, according to Dr. +Fuller, he became a commoner of Oriel College, as well as Christ +Church, and displayed in his early years a great vivacity of genius in +his application to his studies. Some have said, that after leaving the +university, he settled himself in the Middle-Temple, and studied the +law, but this opinion must be erroneous, since he declares afterwards +on his trial, that he never read a word of law 'till he was prisoner +in the Tower. In 1569, when he was not above 17 years of age, he was +one of the select troop of a hundred gentlemen voluntiers, whom Queen +Elizabeth permitted Henry Champernon to transport into France, for the +assistance of protestant Princes there[2], but of what service they +were, or what was the consequence of the expedition, we have no +account. So great a scene of action as the whole kingdom of France was +at that period, gave Raleigh an opportunity of acquiring experience, +and reading characters, as well as improving himself in the knowledge +of languages and manners, and his own History of the World contains +some remarks which he then made of the conduct of some great generals +there, of which he had himself been witness. After our author's return +from France, he embarked in an expedition to the northern parts of +America, with Sir Humphry Gilbert, his brother by the mother's side, +that gentleman having obtained the Queen's Patent to plant and inhabit +such parts of it as were unpossessed by any Prince with whom she was +in alliance; but this attempt proved unsuccessful by means of the +division which arose amongst the Voluntiers. The next year, 1580, upon +the descent of the Spanish and Italian forces in Ireland under the +Pope's banner, for the support of the Desmonds in their rebellion in +Munster, he had a captain's commission under the lord Grey of Wilton, +to whom at that time the famous Spenser was secretary; but the chief +services which, captain Raleigh performed, were under Thomas earl of +Ormond, governor of Munster. He surprized the Irish Kerns at Ramile, +and having inclosed them, took every rebel upon the spot, who did not +fall in the conflict. Among the prisoners there was one laden with +Withies, who being asked, what he intended to have done with them? +boldly answered, to have hung up the English Charles; upon which +Raleigh ordered him to be immediately dispatched in that manner, and +the rest of the robbers and murderers to be punished according to +their deserts[3]. The earl of Ormond departing for England in the +spring of the year 1581, his government of Munster was given to +captain Raleigh; in which he behaved with great vigilance and honour, +he fought the Arch rebel Barry at Clove, whom he charged with the +utmost bravery, and after a hard struggle, put to flight. In the month +of August, 1581, captain John Gouch being appointed Governour of +Munster by the Lord Deputy, Raleigh attended him in several journies +to settle and compose that country; but the chief place of their +residence was Cork, and after Gouch had cut off Sir John Desmond, +brother to the earl of Desmond, who was at the head of the rebellion, +he left the government of that city to Raleigh[4], whose company +being not long after disbanded upon the reduction of that earl, the +slaughter of his brother, and the submission of Barry, he returned to +England. The Lord Deputy Grey having resigned the sword in Ireland +towards the end of August, 1582, the dispute between him and Raleigh, +upon reasons which are variously assigned by different writers, was +brought to a hearing before the council table in England, where the +latter supported his cause with such abilities as procured him the +good opinion both of her Majesty, and the Lords of the Council, and +this, added to the patronage of the earl of Leicester, is supposed +to be one considerable occasion of his preferment, though it did not +immediately take place, nor could the hopes of it restrain him from +a second expedition with his brother Sir Humphry Gilbert to +Newfoundland, for which he built a ship of 200 tons called The Bark +Raleigh, and furnished it compleatly for the voyage, in which he +resolved to attend his brother as his Vice-Admiral. That fleet +departed from Plymouth the 11th of June, 1583, but after it had been +two or three days at sea, a contagious distemper having seized the +whole crew of Raleigh's ship, obliged him to return to that port; +however by this accident, he escaped the misfortune of that +expedition; for after Sir Humphry had taken possession of +Newfoundland, in the right of the crown of England, and assigned lands +to every man of his company, and failed three hundred leagues in the +voyage home with full hopes of the Queen's assistance to fit out a +fleet next year, he unfortunately perished; for venturing rashly in a +frigate of but ten tons, he was on the ninth of September that year at +midnight swallowed up in an high sea, another vessel suffered the same +fate, and even the rest returned not without great hazard and loss[5]: +but this ill success could not divert Raleigh from pursuing a scheme +of such importance to his country as those discoveries in North +America. He drew up an account of the advantage of such a design, +and the means of prosecuting it, which he laid before the Queen and +Council, who were so well satisfied with the probability of success, +that on the 25th of March, 1584, her Majesty granted him letters +patent, in favour of his project, containing free liberty to discover +such remote heathen and barbarous lands, as were not actually +possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people. +Immediately upon this grant, Raleigh chose two able and experienced +captains, and furnished them with two vessels fitted out at his own +expence, with such expedition that on the 27th of April following they +set sail for the West of England, taking their course by the Canary +Islands, where they arrived on the 10th of May, towards the West +Indies; and that being in those days the best and most frequented rout +to America, they passed by the Carribbe Islands in the beginning of +June, and reached the Gulph of Florida on the 2d of July, sailing +along the shore about one hundred and twenty miles before they could +find a convenient harbour. At last they debarked in a very low land, +which proved to be an island called Wohoken; and after taking formal +possession of the country, they carried on a friendly correspondence +with the native Indians, who supplied them with a great variety of +fish and venison, and gave them furs, and deerskins in exchange for +trifles. Thus encouraged by the natives, eight of the company in +a boat, went up the river Occam twenty miles, and next day in the +evening they came to an island called Roanah, which was but seven +leagues from the place where their ships lay. Here they found the +residence of the Indian chief, whose name was Grangamineo, whose house +consisted of nine apartments built of Cedar, fortified round with +sharp pieces of timber: His wife came out to them, and ordered the +people to carry them from the boat on their backs, and shewed them +many other civilities. They continued their intercourse with the +natives for some time, still viewing the situation of the adjacent +country, and after having obtained the best information they could of +the number and strength of the Indian nations in that neighbourhood, +and of their connexions, alliances, or contests with each other, they +returned about the middle of September to England, and made such an +advantageous report of the fertility of the soil, and healthiness of +the climate, that the Queen favoured the design of settling a colony +in that country, to which she was pleased to give the name of +Virginia[6]. + +About two months after, Raleigh was chosen Knight of the Shire for his +county of Devon, and made a considerable figure in parliament, where a +bill passed in confirmation of his patent for the discovery of foreign +countries. During the course of this sessions, he received the honour +of knighthood from her Majesty, a distinction the more honourable to +him, as the Queen was extreamly cautious in confering titles; and +besides the patent for discoveries, she granted him, about the same +time, a power to license the vending of wines throughout the kingdom, +which was in all probability very lucrative to him; but it engaged him +in a dispute with the university of Cambridge, which had opposed one +Keymer, whom he had licensed to sell wine there, contrary to the +privileges of that university. + +The parliament being prorogued, Raleigh, intent upon planting his +new colony in Virginia, set out his own fleet of seven sail for that +country, under the command of his cousin Sir Richard Greenville, who +after having visited the country, left behind him an hundred and seven +persons to settle a colony at Roanah; in his return to England, +he took a Spanish prize worth 50000 l. but this was not the only +circumstance of good fortune which happened to Raleigh this year; for +the rebellion in Ireland being now suppressed, and the forfeited +lands divided into Signiories, among those principally who had been +instrumental in the important service of reducing that country; her +Majesty granted him one of the largest portions, consisting of twelve +thousand acres in the counties of Cork and Waterford, with certain +privileges and immunities, upon condition, of planting and improving +the same, to which the other grantees were obliged. + +In the year 1586 we find our author so highly advanced in the Queen's +favour, so extremely popular on account of his patronage of learned +men, ard the active spirit he exerted in business, that her Majesty +made him seneschal in the dutchy of Cornwall. But these distinctions +incurred the usual effects of court preferment, and exposed Sir Walter +to the envy of those who were much inferior to him in merit; and even +the earl of Leicester himself, who had formerly been his great patron, +became jealous of him, and set up in opposition to him, his nephew +the young earl of Essex. The Comedians likewise took the liberty to +reflect upon Raleigh's power, and influence upon the Queen; which her +Majesty resented so highly as to forbid Tarleton, the most celebrated +actor of that age, from approaching her presence. + +Raleigh, sollicitous for the prosperity of the plantation in Virginia, +sent out new supplies from time to time, some of whom were obliged to +return home; and the general alarm spread over the nation on account +of the Spanish invasion, threw all things into disorder. + +About the beginning of the year 1587 he was raised to the dignity of +captain of her majesty's guard, which he held together with the place +of lord-warden of the Stannaries, and lieutenant-general of the county +of Cornwall. From this time till the year 1594, we find Sir Walter +continually engaged in projecting new expeditions, sending succours +to colonies abroad, or managing affairs in Parliament with consummate +address. + +In the year 1593, we find Father Parsons the jesuit charging him with +no less a crime than atheism, and that he had founded a school in +which he taught atheistical principles, and had made a great many +young gentlemen converts to them; the most considerable authority +to countenance the suspicions of Sir Walter's religion, is that of +Archbishop Abbot, who in a letter dated at Lambeth, addressed to Sir +Thomas Roe, then an ambassador at the Mogul's court, expressly charges +Sir Walter with doubting God's being and omnipotence[7]; but it is +highly probable Sir Walter's opinions might be misrepresented by his +enemies, or wrong conclusions drawn from those which he maintained; +and it would be a shocking injustice to the memory of so great a man +to suspect him of irreligion, whose writings contain not the least +trace of it, and whose History of the World in particular breathes a +strong spirit of real and genuine piety. + +In the heighth of his favour with the Queen, he fell under her +majesty's displeasure, for being enamoured of Mrs. Elizabeth +Throgmorton, one of the Queen's maids of honour, whom he debauched; +and such it seems was the chastity of these times, that a frailty of +that sort was looked upon as the highest offence Her Majesty was so +exasperated, that she commanded him to be confined several months, and +after his enlargement forbid him the court, whence the poor lady was +likewise dismissed from her attendance about the maiden queen, who +appeared in this case the champion of virginity. Sir Walter soon made +her an honourable reparation by marriage, and they were both examples +of conjugal affection and fidelity. During the time our author +continued under her majesty's displeasure for this offence, he +projected the discovery of the rich and extensive empire of Guiana, +in the south of America, which the Spaniards had then visited, and +to that day had never conquered. For this purpose, having collected +informations relating to it, he sent an old officer to take a view +of the coast, who returned the year following with a very favourable +account of the riches of the country, which he had received from some +of the principal Cassiques upon the borders of it. This determined +Raleigh's resolution, who provided a squadron of ships at a very +great expence, and the lord high admiral Howard, and Sir Robert Cecil +conceived so good an opinion of the design, that both concurred in +it. He personally engaged in the attempt, and with no great number +of ships so far explored the unknown country, that he made greater +progress in a few months than the Spaniards had done for many years, +and having satisfied himself of the certainty of the gold mines of the +country, he returned home with honour and riches the latter end of the +summer 1595, and in the year following published in quarto An Account +of the Voyage and Discoveries, dedicated to lord admiral Howard and +Sir Robert Cecil. + +The next year Sir Walter was so far restored to the Queen's favour, +that he was engaged in the important and successful expedition to +Cadiz, in which the earl of Essex and lord admiral Howard were +joint commanders, and Raleigh of the council of war, and one of the +admirals. In this, as in all his other expeditions, he behaved with +equal conduct and courage. After his return from the successful +expedition under the earl of Essex, he promoted a reconciliation +between that nobleman and secretary Cecil, in consequence of which +he was himself fully reinstated in the Queen's favour, and had the +command of captain of the guard restored to him with other marks of +her forgiveness. + +In 1597 he was employed in the island voyage as rear admiral, the earl +of Essex having the chief command, and the lord Thomas Howard the post +of vice-admiral. The design of it was to defeat and destroy at Ferol, +as well as in the other ports of the enemy, the Spanish fleet intended +for a new expedition against England and Ireland; and to seize upon +such Indian fleets of treasure, as they should meet with belonging to +the king of Spain, to conquer, restrain, and garrison, most of the +Isles of the Azores, and especially the Terceras. But the success of +this expedition did not answer the greatness of the preparations for +it; the jealousy of the earl of Essex the commander, obstructing the +services which Sir Walter's abilities might otherwise have performed. +In the council of war, which was held before the isle of Flores, it +was resolved that the general and Sir Walter should jointly attack the +island of Fyal; where the latter waited seven days for his lordship, +and hearing nothing of him, called a council of war, in which it was +determined that Raleigh should attempt the town himself, which he did +with astonishing bravery and success. Essex finding himself deprived +of the honour of taking Fyal, was exasperated to such a degree, that +he broke some of the officers who had behaved with great gallantry +under Raleigh, and some of his sycophants alledged that Raleigh +himself deserved to lose his head for breach of articles in landing +without his lordships orders. Upon their return to England the earl +endeavoured to transfer the miscarriages of the expedition upon +Raleigh, and gained to his side the populace, whom Sir Walter never +courted, and whose patronage he scorned; but the Queen herself was not +well pleased with the earl's conduct, since it was judged he might +have done more than he did; and his proceedings against Sir Walter in +calling his actions to public question, were highly disapproved [8]. + +The next important transaction we find Raleigh engaged in, was in +1601, when the unfortunate earl of Essex, who had calumniated him +to the king of Scotland, and endeavoured all he could to shake his +interest, was so ill advised by his creatures, as to attempt a public +insurrection. Raleigh was active in suppressing it: the earl pretended +that the cause of his taking arms was to defend himself against the +violence of his personal enemies, the lord Cobham and Raleigh having +formed a design of murdering him; tho' on the other hand it is pretty +certain, that Sir Ferdinand Gorges, one of the earl's accomplices, +afterwards accused Sir Christopher Blount, another of them, for +persuading him to kill, or at least apprehend, Sir Walter; which +Gorges refusing, Blount discharged four shots after him in a boat. +Blount acknowledged this, and at the time of his execution asked Sir +Walter forgiveness for it; which he readily granted.----While the earl +garisoned his house, Sir Walter was one of those who invested it, +and when his lordship was brought to his trial, he with forty of the +queen's guard was present upon duty, and was likewise examined with +relation to a conference which he had upon the Thames the morning +of the insurrection with Sir Ferdinando Gorges. At the execution of +Essex, six days after, in the Tower, Raleigh attended, probably in his +character of captain of the guard, and stood near the scaffold that +he might the better answer if Essex should be desirous of speaking +to him, but retired before the earl's execution, because the people +seemed to take his appearance there in a wrong light; tho' he +afterwards repented of it, as the earl expressed an inclination to see +and speak with him before his death, which was in all probability to +have asked Raleigh's forgiveness for having traduced, and calumniated +him in order to colour his own rash designs. + +In 1602 our author sold his estate in Ireland, to Mr. Boyle, +afterwards earl of Cork, and about Midsummer he settled his estate of +Sherbone on his son Walter, on account of a challenge which he had +received from Sir Amias Preston, who had been knighted at Cadiz by +the earl of Essex; which challenge Sir Walter intended to accept, and +therefore disposed his affairs in proper order. The cause of their +quarrel does not appear, but they were afterwards reconciled without +proceeding to a duel[9]. + +The death of Queen Elizabeth on the 24th of March 1602-3 proved +a great misfortune to Raleigh; James her successor having been +prejudiced against him by the earl of Essex, who insinuated that +Raleigh was no friend to his succession, nor had any regard for his +family. And these prejudices were heightened by secretary Cecil in his +private correspondence with that pusilanimous, jealous prince, before +he ascended the Throne of England, or at least immediately upon that +event; for tho' Raleigh and Cecil had united against Essex, yet +after the ruin of that earl and his party, their seeming friendship +terminated in a mutual struggle for a superiority of power. But there +is another important cause of James's disgust to Sir Walter, which is, +that he, lord Cobham, and Sir John Fortescue, would have obliged the +king to articles before he was admitted to the throne, and that the +number of his countrymen should be limitted; which added to the +circumstance of Sir Walter's zeal to take off his mother, inspired his +majesty with a confirmed aversion to him; and indeed the tragical end +of the queen of Scots is, perhaps, the greatest error with which the +annals of that glorious reign is stained. Raleigh in vain endeavoured +to gain the affection of the new king, which he attempted by +transfering on secretary Cecil the blood of the earl of Essex, as well +as that of his royal mother; but this attempt to secure the affections +of a weak prince, ended in his ruin, for it exasperated Cecil the more +against him; and as Sir Walter was of an active martial genius, the +king, who was a lover of peace, and a natural coward, was afraid that +so military a man would involve him in a war, which he hated above all +things in the world. Our author was soon removed from his command as +captain of the guard, which was bestowed upon Sir Thomas Erskin, his +majesty's favourite as well as countryman[10], the predecessor to the +earl of Mar, whose actions, performed in the year 1715, are recent in +every one's memory. + +Not long after his majesty's ascending the throne of England, Sir +Walter was charged with a plot against the king and royal family; but +no clear evidence was ever produced that Raleigh had any concern in +it. The plot was to have surprized the king and court, to have created +commotions in Scotland, animated the discontented in England, and +advanced Arabella Stuart, cousin to the king, to the throne. Arabella +was the daughter of lord Charles Stuart, younger brother to Henry lord +Darnly, and son to the duke of Lenox. She was afterwards married to +William Seymour, son to lord Beauchamp, and grandson to the earl of +Hertford; and both were confined for the presumption of marrying +without his majesty's consent, from which they made their escape, but +were again retaken. Lady Arabella died of grief, and Mr. Seymour lived +to be a great favourite with Charles I. Raleigh persisted in avowing +his ignorance of the plot, and when he came to his trial, he behaved +himself so prudently, and defended himself with so much force, that +the minds of the people present, who were at first exasperated against +him, were turned from the severest hatred to the tenderest pity. +Notwithstanding Sir Walter's proof that he was innocent of any such +plot, and that lord Cobham, who had once accused him had recanted, and +signed his recantation, nor was produced against him face to face, a +pack'd jury brought him in guilty of high treason. Sentence of death +being pronounced against him, he humbly requested that the king +might be made acquainted with the proofs upon which he was cast. He +accompanied the Sheriff to prison with wonderful magnanimity, tho' +in a manner suited to his unhappy situation. Raleigh was kept near +a month at Winchester in daily expectation of death, and in a very +pathetic letter wrote his last words to his wife the night before he +expected to suffer[11], in which he hoped his blood would quench +their malice who had murdered him, and prayed God to forgive his +persecutors, and accusers. The king signed the warrant for the +execution of the lords Cobham and Grey, and Sir Griffin Markham, at +Winchester, pretending, says lord Cecil, to forbear Sir Walter for +the present, till lord Cobham's death had given some light how far he +would make good his accusation. Markham was first brought upon the +scaffold, and when he was on his knees, ready to receive the blow +of the ax, the groom of the bedchamber produced to the sheriff his +Majesty's warrant to stop the execution; and Markham was told that he +must withdraw a while into the hall to be confronted by the Lords. +Then Lord Grey was brought forth, and having poured out his prayers +and confession, was likewise called aside, and lastly Lord Cobham was +exposed in the same manner, and performed his devotions, though we do +not find that he said one word of his guilt or innocence, or charged +Raleigh with having instigated him; all which circumstances seem more +than sufficient to wipe off from the memory of Raleigh the least +suspicion of any plot against James's person or government. + +He was remanded to the Tower of London with the rest of the prisoners, +of whom Markham afterwards obtained his liberty, and travelled abroad. +Lord Grey of Wilton died in the Tower; Lord Cobham was confined there +many years, during which, it is said, he was examined by the King in +relation to Raleigh, and entirely cleared him; he afterwards died in +the lowest circumstances of distress. + +In February following a grant was made by the King of all the goods +and chattels forfeited by Sir Walter's conviction to the trustees of +his appointing for the benefit of his creditors, lady and children. +After 12 years confinement in the Tower, in March 1615 he was released +out of it, by the interposition of the favourite Buckingham; but +before he quitted that place he saw the earl of Somerset committed +there for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, and afterwards condemned, +which occasioned Sir Walter to compare his own case with that of the +earl's, and to remark, 'That the whole History of the World had not +the like precedent of a King's prisoner to purchase freedom, and his +bosom favourite 'to have the halter, but in scripture, in the case +of Mordecai and Haman;' on hearing which, the King is said to have +replied, that Raleigh might die in that deceit, which afterwards +proved true, for the King pardoned the infamous Somerset, a murderer, +and executed Raleigh, a brave and an honest man, equally to the +astonishment of the world. Sir Walter being now at large, had the +means of prosecuting his old scheme of settling Guiana, which he +had so much at heart, that even during his imprisonment, he held a +constant correspondence with that country, sending thither every year, +or every second year, a ship, to keep the Indians in hopes of being +relieved from the tyranny of the Spaniards, who had again encroached +upon them, and massacred many, both of the inhabitants and of +Raleigh's men. In these ships were brought several natives of the +country, with whom he conversed in the Tower, and obtained all +possible informations concerning it. Upon such informations he offered +his scheme for prosecuting his discovery to the court before he +undertook it in person: nor were there any doubts either as to the +improbability of the design, or its unlawfulness, notwithstanding the +peace made with Spain, otherwise the King would not have made such +grants, as he did, even at that time, which shews that he was then +convinced, that Sir Walter had in his first voyage discovered and +taken possession of that country for the crown of England, and +consequently that his subjects were justly intitled to any benefits +that might arise from its discovery, without the least respect to the +pretensions of the Spaniards: Besides, when Sir Walter first moved the +court upon this subject, the Spanish match was not thought of, and the +King's necessities being then very pressing, he may be presumed to +have conceived great hopes from that discovery, though he might +afterwards change his opinion, when he grew so unreasonably fond of +that match. + +In 1616, he obtained a royal commission to settle Guiana at the +expence of himself and his friends; he was appointed General, and +Commander in Chief of this enterprize, and Governor of the new +country, which he was to settle with ample authority; a power was +granted him too, of exercising martial law in such a manner as the +King's Lieutenant General by sea or land, or any Lieutenants of the +counties of England had. These powers seem to imply a virtual pardon +to Raleigh, and perhaps made, him less solicitous for an actual one. +Meantime Gondemar the Spanish ambassador, by his address, vivacity, +and flattering the humours of James, had gained a great ascendency +over him, and began to make a great clamour about Raleigh's +preparations, and from that moment formed schemes of destroying him. +The whole expence of this expedition was defrayed by Raleigh and his +friends; the fleet consisted of about seven sail. On the 17th of +November, 1617, they came in sight of Guiana, and soon after to +anchor, in five degrees off the river Caliana, where they remained +till the 4th of December. Raleigh was received with great joy by the +Indians, who not only assisted him with provisions, and every thing +else in their power, but offered him the sovereignty of their country +if he would settle amongst them, which he declined to accept.[12] His +extreme sickness for six weeks prevented him from undertaking the +discovery of the mines in person, and was obliged to depute captain +Keymis to that service; and accordingly on the 4th of December, +ordered five small ships to sail into the river Oronoque. When they +landed, they found a Spanish garrison between them and the mine, +which sallying out unexpectedly, put them in confusion, and gave them +battle. In this conflict young Raleigh was killed, and by a fatal +mistake, captain Keymis did not prove the mine, but burnt and +plundered the Spanish garrison, and found amongst the governor's +papers one, which informed him, that Raleigh's expedition had been +betrayed, and that he was to be sacrificed to the Spaniards. Upon +Keymis's unsuccessful attempt, Raleigh sharply rebuked him for his +mistake, and a deviation from his orders, which so much affected that +captain, that he shot himself in his own cabin, and finding the wound +not mortal, he finished his design by a long knife with which he +stabbed himself to the heart. In this distressful situation Raleigh +returned home, and found on his arrival at Plymouth, a declaration +published against him; at which he took the alarm, and contrived to +convey himself out of the kingdom in a vessel hired for that purpose +by an old officer of his; but changing his opinion in that respect, he +proceeded in his journey to London. + +Yet thinking it proper to gain time for the appeasing his majesty, +by the assistance of one Maneuric a French quack, he counterfeited +sickness for several days, during which he wrote his apology. However +on the 7th of August he arrived at London, where he was confined in +his own house; but having still good reasons not to trust himself to +the mercy of the court, he formed a design to escape into France, +which Sir Lewis Stackley, who was privy to, and encouraged it, +discovered, and Sir Walter being seized in a boat upon the river below +Woolwich, was a second time, on the 10th of August, committed to the +Tower; but tho' his death seemed absolutely determined, yet it seemed +difficult to find a method of accomplishing it, since his conduct in +the late expedition could not be stretched in law to such a sentence. +It was resolved therefore, to sacrifice him to the resentment of +Spain, in a manner so shameful, that it has justly exposed the +conduct of the court to the indignation of all succeeding ages, and +transmitted the pusillanimous monarch with infamy to posterity. They +called him down to judgment upon his former sentence passed fifteen +years before, which they were not then ashamed to execute. A privy +seal was sent to the judges to order immediate execution, on which +a conference was held Friday the 24th of Oct. 1688, between all the +judges of England, concerning the manner, how prisoners who have +been attainted of treason and set at liberty, should be brought to +execution. In consequence of their revolution, a privy seal came to +the King's-Bench, commanding that court to proceed against Sir Walter +according to law, who next day received notice of the council to +prepare himself for death; and on Wednesday the 28th of that month, at +8 o'clock in the morning, was taken out of bed in the hot fit of an +ague, and carried to the King's-Bench, Westminster, where execution +was awarded against him. The next morning, the 29th of October, the +day of the lord-mayor's inauguration, a solemnity never perhaps +attended before with a public execution, Sir Walter was conducted by +the sheriffs of Middlesex to the Old Palace Yard in Westminster, where +mounting the scaffold, he behaved with the most undaunted spirit, and +seeming cheerfulness. The bishop of Salisbury (Tohon) being surprized +at the hero's contempt of death, and expostulating with him upon it; +he told him plainly that he never feared death, and much less then, +for which he blessed God, and as to the manner of it, tho' to others +it might seem grievous, yet for himself he had rather die so than in a +burning fever. This verifies the noble observation of Shakespear, that +all heroes have a contempt of death; which he puts in the mouth +of Julius Cæsar when his friends dissuaded him from going to the +Senate-House. + + Cowards die many a time before their deaths, + The valiant never taste of death but once. + Of all the wonders, I have heard of yet, + It seems to me most strange, that men should fear, + Seeing that death, the necessary end, + Will come, when it will come.---- + +Sir Walter eat his breakfast that morning, smoaked his pipe, and +made no more of death, than if he had been to take a journey. On the +scaffold he conversed freely with the Earl of Arundel and others of +the nobility, and vindicated himself from two suspicions; the first, +of entering into a confederacy with France; the second, of speaking +disloyally of his Majesty. He cleared himself likewise of the +suspicion of having persecuted the Earl of Essex, or of insulting him +at his death. He concluded with desiring the good people to join with +him in prayer, to that great God of Heaven, "whom (says he) I have +grievously offended, being a man full of vanity, who has lived a +sinful life, in such callings as have been most inducing to it: For I +have been a soldier, a sailor, and a courtier; which are courses of +wickedness and vice." The proclamation being made that all men should +depart the scaffold, he prepared himself for death, gave away his hat +and cap, and money to some attendants that stood near him. When he +took leave of the lords, and other gentlemen that stood near him, he +entreated the Lord Arundel to prevail with the King that no scandalous +writings to defame him, should be published after his death; +concluding, "I have a long journey to go, and therefore will take my +leave." Then having put off his gown and doublet, he called to the +executioner to shew him the axe, which not being presently done; he +said, "I pray thee let me see it; don't thou think I am afraid of it;" +and having it in his hands he felt along the edge of it, and smiling, +said to the sheriff; "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician +for all diseases." The executioner kneeling down and asking him +forgiveness, Sir Walter laying his hand upon his shoulder granted +it; and being asked which way he would lay himself on the block, he +answered, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head +lies." His head was struck off at two blows, his body never shrinking +nor moving. His head was shewn on each side of the scaffold, and then +put into a red leather bag, and with his velvet night-gown thrown +over, was afterwards conveyed away in a mourning coach of his lady's. +His body was interred in the chancel of St. Margaret's Church, +Westminster, but his head was long preserved in a case by his widow, +who survived him twenty-years. + +Thus fell Sir Walter Raleigh in the 66th year of his age, a sacrifice +to a contemptible administration, and the resentment of a mean prince: +A man of so great abilities, that neither that nor the preceding reign +produced his equal. His character was a combination of almost every +eminent quality; he was the soldier, statesmen, and scholar united, +and had he lived with the heroes of antiquity, he would have made a +just parallel to Cæsar, and Xenophon, like them being equal master of +the sword and the pen. One circumstance must not be omitted, which in +a life so full of action as his, is somewhat extraordinary, viz. +that whether he was on board his ships upon important and arduous +expeditions, busy in court transactions, or pursuing schemes of +pleasure, he never failed to dedicate at least four hours every day +to study, by which he became so much master of all knowledge, and was +enabled, as a poet beautifully expresses it, to enrich the world with +his prison-hours[13]. As the sentence of Raleigh blackens but his +King, so his memory will be ever dear to the lovers of learning, and +of their country: and tho' he makes not a very great figure as a poet, +having business of greater importance continually upon his hands; yet +it would have been an unpardonable negligence to omit him, as he does +honour to the list, and deserves all the encomiums an honest mind can +give, or the most masterly pen bestow; and it were to be wished some +man of eminent talents, whose genius is turned to biography, (of such +at present we are not destitute) would undertake the life of this +hero, and by mixing pleasing and natural reflexions with the +incidents, as they occur, not a little instruct and delight his +countrymen; as Raleigh's life is the amplest field for such an attempt +to succeed in. + +His works are, + +Orders to be observed by the commanders of the fleets and land +companies, under the conduct of Sir Walter Raleigh, bound for the +South parts of America, given at Plymouth 3d May 1617. + +The Dutiful Advice of a Loving Son to his Aged Father. + +A Brief Relation of Sir Walter Raleigh's Troubles; with the taking +away the lands and castle of Sherburn from him and his heirs, which +were granted to the Earl of Bristol. + +Maxims of State. + +The Prerogatives of Parliament. + +The Cabinet Council; containing the Arts of Empires and Mysteries of +State. + +A Discourse touching a Marriage between Prince Henry of England, and a +Daughter of Savoy. + +A Discourse touching a War with Spain, and of the Protesting the +Netherlands. + +A Discourse of the original and Fundamental Cause of natural, +arbitrary, necessary, and unnatural War. + +A Discourse of the inventions of Ships, Anchors, and Compass, + +Observations concerning the Royal Navy, and Sea service. To Prince +Henry. + +Observations touching Trade and Commerce with the Hollanders and other +Nations. + +A Voyage for the Discovery of Guiana. + +An Apology for the Voyage to Guiana. + +A Letter to Lord Carew touching Guiana. + +An Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England; with the +Reign of William the Conqueror. + +The Seat of Government. + +Observations on the Causes of the Magnificence and Opulence of Cities. + +The Sceptic. + +Instructions to his Son. + +Letters. + +Poems. + +I shall give a specimen of Sir Walter's poetry in a piece called the +Vision of the Fairy Queen. + + Methought I sawe the grave where Laura lay; + Within that temple, where the vestal flame; + Was wont to burne: and passing by that way, + To see that buried dust of living fame, + Whose tombe fair love, and fairer virtue kept, + All suddenly I sawe the Fairy Queene: + At whose approach the soul of Petrarche wept + And from henceforth, those Graces were not scene; + For they this queen attended; in whose steede + Oblivion laid him down in Laura's hearse: + Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed. + And grones of buried ghosts the Heavens did perse; + Where Homer's spright did tremble all for 'griefe, + And curst th' accesse of that celestial thief. + +But the most extraordinary work of Sir Walter's is his History of the +World, composed in the Tower; it has never been without its admirers; +and I shall close the account of our author's works, by the +observation of the ingenious author of the Rambler upon this +history, in a paper in which he treats of English Historians, No. +122.--"Raleigh (says he) is deservedly celebrated for the labour of +his researches, and the elegance of his stile; but he has endeavoured +to exert his judgment more than his genius, to select facts, rather +than adorn them. He has produced a historical dissertation, but has +seldom risen to the majesty of history." + + +[Footnote 1: Prince's Worthies of Devon.] + +[Footnote 2: Camdeni Annales Elizabethæ, p. 172. Edit. Batav. 1625.] + +[Footnote 3: Hooker, fol. 167.] + +[Footnote 4: Case's History of Ireland, fol. 367.] + +[Footnote 5: Captain Haynes's Report of Sir Humphry Gilbert's voyage +to Newfoundland, vol. iii. p. 149.] + +[Footnote 6: Oldys, fol. 125.] + +[Footnote 7: Birch's life of Raleigh.] + +[Footnote 8: Letter of Rowland White, Esq; to Sir Robert Sidney, +November 5, 1597.] + +[Footnote 9: Oldys, fol. 167.] + +[Footnote 10: Oldys, fol. 157.] + +[Footnote 11: Raleigh's remains, vol. ii. p. 188.] + +[Footnote 12: Letter to his lady from Caliana, November 14, 1617.] + +[Footnote 13: Thompson.] + + * * * * * + + +DR. JOHN DONNE + +An eminent poet, and divine of the last century, was born in London +in the year 1573. His father was a merchant, descended from a very +ancient family in Wales, and his mother from Sir Thomas More, +Chancellor of England. He was educated in his father's house under a +tutor till the 11th year of his age[1], when he was sent to Oxford; at +which time it was observed of him, as of the famous Pica Mirandula, +that he was rather born wise than made so by study. He was admitted +commoner of Harthall, together with his younger brother, in Michaelmas +term 1584.[2] By advice of his relations, who were Roman Catholics, he +declined taking the oath tendered upon the occasion of taking degrees. +After he had studied three years at the University, he removed to +Cambridge, and from thence three years after to Lincoln's-Inn. About +this time his father died, and left him a portion of 3000£. He became +soon distinguished at Lincoln's-Inn, by his rapid progress in the law. +He was now eighteen years of age, and as yet had attached himself to +no particular denomination of Christians, and as his relations +were bigotted to the Romish faith, he was induced to examine the +controversy, and to embrace publickly that which appeared to him to be +best supported by the authority of the scriptures. He relinquished +the study of the law, and devoted himself entirely to that of the +controverted points between the Protestants and Catholics, which ended +in a thorough conviction of the truths of the reformed religion. + +In the years 1596 and 1597 Mr. Donne attended the Earl of Essex in +his expeditions against Cadiz and the Azores Islands, and stayed some +years in Italy and Spain, and soon after his return to England he was +made secretary to lord chancellor Egerton. This probably was intended +by his lordship only as an introduction to a more dignified place; for +he frequently expressed a high opinion of his secretary's abilities; +and when he afterwards, by the sollicitation of his lady, parted with +him, he observed that he was fitter to be a secretary to a Monarch +than to him. When he was in the lord chancellor's family, he married +privately without the consent of her father, the daughter of Sir +George More, chancellor of the Garter, and lord lieutenant of the +Tower, who so much resented his daughter's marriage without +his consent, that he procured our author's dismission from the +chancellor's service, and got him committed to prison. Sir George's +daughter lived in the lord chancellor's family, and was niece to his +lady. Upon Sir George's hearing that his daughter had engaged her +heart to Donne, he removed her to his own house in Surry, and friends +on both sides endeavoured to weaken their affection for each other, +but without success; for having exchanged the most sacred promises, +they found means to consummate a private marriage. Our author was not +long in obtaining his liberty, but was obliged to be at the expence +of a tedious law-suit to recover the possession of his wife, who was +forcibly detained from him. At length our poet's extraordinary merit +and winning behaviour so far subdued Sir George's resentment, that he +used his interest with the Chancellor to have his son-in-law restored +to his place; But this request was refused; his lordship observing, +that he did not chuse to discharge and re-admit servants at the +request of his passionate petitioners. Sir George had been so far +reconciled to his daughter and son, as not to deny his paternal +blessing, but would contribute nothing towards their support, Mr. +Donne's fortune being greatly diminished by the expence of travels, +law-suits, and the generosity of his temper; however his wants were in +a great measure prevented by the seasonable bounty of their kinsman +Sir Francis Wooley, who entertained them several years at his house at +Pilford in Surry, where our author had several children born to +him. During his residence at Pilford he applied himself with great +diligence and success to the study of the civil and canon law, and was +about this time sollicited by Dr. Morton, (afterwards lord bishop of +Durham) to go into holy Orders, and accept of a Benefice the Doctor +would have resigned to him; but he thought proper to refuse this +obliging offer. He lived with Sir Francis till that gentleman's death, +by whose mediation a perfect reconciliation was effected between Mr. +Donne and his father-in-law; who obliged himself to pay our author +800£. at a certain day as his wife's portion, or 20£. quarterly for +their maintenance, till it was all paid. + +He was incorporated master of arts in the university of Oxford, having +before taken the same degree at Cambridge 1610. + +About two years after the reconciliation with his father, he was +prevailed upon with much difficulty to accompany Sir Robert Drury to +Paris[3] Mrs. Donne, being then big with child and in a languishing +state of health, strongly opposed his departure, telling him, that +her divining soul boaded some ill in his absence; bur Sir Robert's +importunity was not to be resisted, and he at last consented to go +with him. Mr. Walton gives an account of a vision Mr. Donne had seen +after their arrival there, which he says was told him by a person of +honour, who had a great intimacy with Mr. Donne; and as it has in it +something curious enough, I shall here present it to the reader in +that author's own words[4] + +"Two days after their arrival there, Mr. Donne was left alone in that +room in which Sir Robert and he and some other friends had dined +together. To this place Sir Robert returned within half an hour; and +as he left so he found Mr. Donne alone, but in such an extasy, and so +altered as to his looks, as amazed Sir Robert to behold him; insomuch +that he earnestly desired Mr. Donne to declare what had befallen him +in the short time of his absence; to which he was not able to make a +present answer, but after a long and perplexed pause did at last say: +I have seen a dreadful vision since I saw you; I have seen my wife +pass twice by me through this room with her hair hanging about her +shoulders, and a dead child in her arms. To which Sir Robert replied, +sure Sir, you have slept since you saw me, and this is the result of +some melancholy dream, which I desire you to forget, for you are now +awake. To which Mr. Donne's reply was, I cannot be surer that I now +live, than that I have not slept since I saw you; and am as sure +that at her second appearing she stopt and looked me in the face and +vanished." Rest and sleep had not altered Mr. Donne's opinion next +day, for then he confirmed his vision with so deliberate a confidence, +that he inclined Sir Robert to a faint belief that the vision was +true. It is an observation, that desire and doubt have no rest, for +he immediately sent a servant to Drury-House, with a charge to hasten +back and bring him word "whether Mrs. Donne was dead or alive, and if +alive in what condition she was as to her health." The twelfth day the +messenger returned with this account; "that he found and left Mrs. +Donne very sad and sick in her bed; and that after a long and +dangerous labour she had been delivered of a dead child, and upon +examination the birth proved, to be on the same day, and about +the very hour Mr. Donne affirmed he saw her pass by him in his +chamber."----After Donne's return from France, many of the nobility +pressed the King to confer some secular employment upon him; but his +Majesty, who considered him as better qualified for the service of +the church than the state, rejected their requests, tho' the Earl of +Somerset, then the great favourite, joined in petitioning for his +preferment. About this time the disputes concerning the oaths of +allegiance and supremacy being agitated, Mr. Donne by his Majesty's +special command, wrote a treatise on that subject, entitled, Pseudo +Martyr, printed in 4to, 1610, with which his Majesty was highly +pleased, and being firmly resolved to promote him in the church, +he pressed him to enter into holy orders, but he being resolved to +qualify himself the better for the sacred office by studying divinity, +and the learned languages deferred his entering upon it three years +longer, during which time he made a vigorous application to these +branches of knowledge, and was then ordained both deacon and priest, +by Dr. John King, then bishop of London. Presently after he was +appointed one of the chaplains in ordinary to his Majesty, and about +the same time attending the King in a progress, he was created Dr. +in divinity, by the university of Cambridge, by the particular +recommendation of that Prince[5] His abilities and industry in his +profession were so eminent, and himself so well beloved, that within +the first year of his entering into holy orders, he had the offer of +fourteen benefices from persons of quality, but as they lay in the +country, his inclination of living in London, made him refuse them +all. Upon his return from Cambridge his wife died, and his grief for +her loss was so great, that for some time he betook himself to a +retired and solitary life: Mrs. Donne died in the year 1617, on the +seventh day after the birth of her twelfth child. She left our author +in a narrow unsettled state with seven children then living, to her he +gave a voluntary assurance, that he would never bring them under the +subjection of a step-mother, and this promise he faithfully kept. Soon +after the death of his wife, he was chosen preacher of Lincoln's-Inn, +and in the year 1619 appointed by King James to attend the earl of +Doncaster, in his embassy to the Princes of Germany, and about 14 +months after his return to England, he was advanced to the deanery of +St. Paul's. Upon the vacancy of the deanery, the King sent an order to +Dr. Donne, to attend him the next day at dinner: When his Majesty sat +down, he said, "Dr. Donne, I have invited you to dinner, and though +you sit not down with me, yet I will carve to you of a dish that I +know you love well; for knowing you love London, I do therefore make +you dean of St. Paul's, and when I have dined, then do you take your +beloved dish home to your study, say grace there to your self, and +much good may it do you[6]." Soon after, another vicarage of St. +Dunstan in the West, and another benefice fell to Dr. Donne. 'Till the +59th year of his age he continued in perfect health, when being with +his eldest daughter in Essex, in 1630, he was taken ill of a fever, +which brought on a consumption; notwithstanding which he returned +to London, and preached in his turn at court as usual, on the first +friday in Lent. He died on the 31st day of March 1631, and was buried +in the cathedral church of St. Paul's, where a monument was erected +over him. Walton says that amongst other preparations for death, he +made use of this very remarkable one. He ordered an urn to be cut in +wood, on which was to be placed a board of the exact heighth of his +body: this being done, he caused himself to be tied up in a winding +sheet in the same manner that dead bodies are. Being thus shrouded, +and standing with his eyes shut, and with just so much of the sheet +put aside, as might discover his thin, pale, and death-like face, +he caused a skilful painter to draw his picture. This piece being +finished, was placed near his bed-side, and there remained as his +constant remembrance to the hour of his death. + +His character as a preacher and a poet are sufficiently seen in his +incomparable writings. His personal qualifications were as eminent as +those of his mind; he was by nature exceeding passionate, but was apt +to be sorry for the excesses of it, and like most other passionate +men, was humane and benevolent. His monument was composed of white +marble, and carved from the picture just now mentioned of him, by +order of his executor Dr. King, bishop of Chichester, who wrote the +following inscription, + + Johannes Donne, S.T.P. + + Post varia studia, quibus ab annis tenerimus fideliter, + Neo infeliciter, incubit, + Instinctu et impulsu spiritus sancti, monitu et horatu, + Regis Jacobi, ordines sacros amplexus, + Anno sui Jesu 1614, et fuæ ætatis 42, + Decanatu hujus ecclesiæ indutus 27 Novembris 1621, + Exutus morte ultimo die Martii 1631. + Hic, licet in occiduo cinere, aspicit eum, + Cujus nomen est oriens. + +Our author's poems consist of, 1. Songs and Sonnets. 2. Epigrams. 3. +Elegies. 4. Epithalamiums, or Marriage Songs. 5. Satires. 6. Letters +to several Personages. 7. Funeral Elegies. 8. Holy Sonnets. They +are printed together in one volume 12mo. 1719, with the addition +of elegies upon the author by several persons. Mr. Dryden in his +dedication of Juvenal to the earl of Dorset, has given Dr. Donne the +character of the greatest wit, though not the greatest poet of our +nation, and wishes his satires and other works were rendered into +modern language. Part of this wish the world has seen happily executed +by the great hand of Mr. Pope. Besides the Pseudo-Martyr, and volume +of poems now mentioned, there are extant the following works of Dr. +Donne, viz. + +Devotions upon emergent Occasions, and several steps in sickness, 4to. +London 16. Paradoxes, Problems, Essays, Characters, &c. to which is +added a Book of Epigrams, written in Latin by the same author, and +translated into English by Dr. Main, as also Ignatius his conclave, a +Satire, translated out of the original copy written in Latin by the +same author, found lately amongst his own papers, 12mo. London 1653. +These pieces are dedicated by the author's son, Dr. John Donne, to +Francis Lord Newport. + +Three Volumes of Sermons, in folio; the first printed in 1640, the +second in 1649, and the third in 1660. + +Essays on Divinity, being several disquisitions interwoven with +meditations and prayers before he went into holy orders, published +after his death by his son, 1651. + +Letters to several persons of honour, published in 4to. 1654. There +are several of Dr. Donne's letters, and others to him from the Queen +of Bohemia, the earl of Carlisle, archbishop Abbot, and Ben Johnson, +printed in a book, entitled A Collection of Letters made by Sir Toby +Mathews Knt. London 1660, 8vo. + +The Ancient history of the Septuagint, translated from the Greek +of Aristeus, London 1633, 4to. This translation was revised, and +corrected by another hand, and printed 1685 in 8vo. + +Declaration of that Paradox or Thesis, that Self-Homicide is not so +naturally a sin that it may not be otherwise, London, 1644, 1648, &c. +4to. The original under the author's own hand is preserved in the +Bodleian Library. Mr. Walton gives this piece the character of an +exact and laborious treatise, 'wherein all the laws violated by that +act (self murder) are diligently surveyed and judiciously censured.' +The piece from whence I shall take the following quotation, is called +a Hymn to God the Father, was composed in the time of his sickness, +which breathes a spirit of fervent piety, though no great force of +poetry is discoverable in it. + +A HYMN to GOD the FATHER. + + Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, + Which was my sin, tho' it were done before? + Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run, + And do run still, tho' still I do deplore? + When thou hast done, thou hast not done, + For I have more. + + Wilt thou forgive that in which I have won, + Others to sin, and made my sin their door? + Wilt thou forgive that sin, which I did shun, + A year or two, but wallowed in a score? + When thou hast done, thou hast not done, + For I have more. + + I have a sin of fear, when I have spun, + My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; + But swear, that at my death, thy son, + Shall shine, as he shines now, and heretofore, + And having done that, thou hast done, + I ask no more. + + +[Footnote 1: Walton's Life of Donne] + +[Footnote 2: Wood vol. v. col. 554.] + +[Footnote 3: Walton p. 29]. + +[Footnote 4: Life ubi supra p. 52]. + +[Footnote 5: Walton, p. 39, 41.] + +[Footnote 6: Walton ut Supra, p. 46] + + * * * * * + + +MICHAEL DRAYTON + +A Renowned poet, who lived in the reigns of Elizabeth, James and +Charles I. sprung from an ancient family, originally descended from +the town of Drayton in Leicestershire,[1] but his parents removing +into Warwickshire, he was born there, as he himself declares in his +Poly-olbion, Song 13. A little village called Harsul in that county +claims the honour of his birth, by which accident it is raised from +obscurity; he was born in the year 1573, according to the most +accurate computation that can be made from the dates of his works. +When he was but very young he gave such discoveries of a rising genius +as rendered him a favourite with his tutors, and procured him the +patronage of persons of distinction. In the year 1573, being then but +about ten years of age, he was page to some honourable person, as may +be collected from his own words: In some of his epistles to Henry +Reynold esquire, it appears that even then he could construe his Cato, +and some other little collections of sentences, which made him very +anxious to know, what sort of beings the poets were, and very pressing +upon his tutor to make him, if possible, a poet. In consequence of +this he was put to the reading of Virgil's Eclogues, and 'till even +then, says one of his Biographers, he scorned any thing that looked +like a ballad, though written by Elderton himself. This Elderton was a +famous comedian in those days, and a facetious companion, who having +a great readiness at rhiming, composed many catches on Love and Wine, +which were then in great vogue among the giddy and volatile part of +the town; but he was not more celebrated for drollery than drinking, +so that he obtained the name of the bacchanalian buffoon, the +red-nosed ballad-maker, &c. and at last by the excessive indulgence of +his favourite vice, he fell a martyr to it 1592, and Mr. Camden has +preserved this epitaph on him, which for its humour, I shall here give +a place. + + Dead drunk, here Elderton does lie; + Dead as he is, he still is drie. + So of him it may well be said, + Here he, but not his thirst, is laid. + +If after this our author did not finish his education at the +university of Cambridge, it is evident from the testimony of Sir Alton +Cohain, his intimate friend, who mentions him in his Choice Poems of +several Sorts, that he was for some time a student at Oxford; however, +he is not taken notice of by Wood, who has commemorated the most part +of the writers who were educated there. In 1588 it appears from his +poem, entitled Moses his Birth and Miracles, that he was a spectator +at Dover of the Spanish invasion, which was arrogantly stiled +Invincible, and it is not improbable that he was engaged in some +military employment there, especially as we find some mention made +of him, as being in esteem with the gentlemen of the army. He early +addicted himself to the amusement of poetry, but all who have written +of him, have been negligent in informing us how soon he favoured the +public with any production of his own. He was distinguished as a poet +about nine or ten years before the death of Queen Elizabeth, but at +what time he began to publish cannot be ascertained. In the year 1593, +when he was but 30 years of age, he published a collection of his +Pastorals; likewise some of the most grave poems, and such as have +transmitted his name to posterity with honour, not long after saw the +light. His Baron's wars, and England's heroical Epistles; his Downfals +of Robert of Normandy; Matilda and Gaveston, for which last he is +called by one of his contemporaries, Tragdiographus, and part of his +Polyolbion were written before the year 1598, for all which joined +with his personal good character; he was highly celebrated at that +time, not only for the elegance and sweetness of his expressions, but +his actions and manners, which were uniformly virtuous and honourable; +he was thus characterised not only by the poet; and florid writers of +those days, but also by divines, historians, and other Scholars of the +most serious turn and extensive learning. In his younger years he +was much beloved and patronized by Sir Walter Aston of Tixhall +in Staffordshire, to whom for his kind protection, he gratefully +dedicates many of his poems, whereof his Barons Wars was the first, in +the spring of his acquaintance, as Drayton himself expresses it; +but however, it may be gathered from his works, that his most early +dependance was upon another patron, namely, Sir Henry Goodere of +Polesworth, in his own county, to whom he has been grateful for a +great part of his education, and by whom he was recommended to the +patronage of the countess of Bedford: it is no less plain from many +of his dedications to Sir Walter Ashton, that he was for many years +supported by him, and accommodated with such supplies as afforded him +leisure to finish some of his most elaborate compositions; and the +author of the Biographia Britannica has told us, 'that it has been +alledged, that he was by the interest of the same gentleman with Sir +Roger Ashton, one of the Bedchamber to King James in his minority, +made in some measure ministerial to an intercourse of correspondence +between the young King of of Scots and Queen Elizabeth:' but as +no authority is produced to prove this, it is probably without +foundation, as poets have seldom inclination, activity or steadiness +to manage any state affairs, particularly a point of so delicate a +nature. + +Our author certainly had fair prospects, from his services, or other +testimonies of early attachment to the King's interest, of some +preferment, besides he had written Sonnets, in praise of the King as +a poet. Thus we see Drayton descending to servile flattery to promote +his interest, and praising a man as a poet contrary to his own +judgment, because he was a King who was as devoid of poetry as +courage. + +He welcomed his Majesty to his British dominions with a congratulatory +poem printed in 4to, 1603. The same year he was chosen by Sir Walter +Aston one of the esquires who attended him, when he was with others +created knight of the Bath at the coronation of his Majesty. It no +where appears, that ever our author printed those poems in praise of +his Majesty; and the ungrateful reception they met, as well as the +disagreeable experience of the universal degeneracy at court, so +different from that of the Maiden Reign, might extinguish all hope of +raising himself there. + +In the year 1613 he published the first part of his Poly-olbion. It +is a chorographical description of the rivers, mountains, forests, +castles; &c. in this Island, intermixed with the remarkable +antiquities, rarities, commodities, &c. This part is addressed to +Prince Henry, the promising son of James I. by whose encouragement it +was written. He had shewed Drayton some singular marks of his favour, +and seems to have admitted him as one of his poetical pensioners, +but dying before the book was finished, he lost the benefit of his +patronage. In this volume there are eighteen songs, illustrated with +the notes of the learned Mr. Selden, and there are maps before +every song, whereby the cities, mountains, forests, rivers, &c. are +represented by the figures of men and women. It is interwoven with +many episodes, such as the conquest of this Island by the Romans, the +arrival of the Saxons, the Danes and Normans, &c. And bishop Nicholson +observes, that Poly-olbion affords a much more accurate account of +this kingdom and the Dominion of Wales than could have been expected +from the pen of a poet. How poetically our author has conducted and +executed his plan, is admirably expressed by the ingenious Dr. James +Kirkpatrick, in a beautiful poem of his called the Sea-Piece. Canto +II. which I cannot here omit transcribing. + + Drayton, sweet ancient bard, his Albion sung, + With their own praise, their ecchoing vallies rung; + His bounding muse o'er every mountain rode, + And ev'ry river warbled where he flow'd. + +In 1619 came out his first folio-volume of poems. In 1622 the second +part of his Poly-olbion was published, making in all thirty books or +songs. In 1622 we find him stiled Poet Laureat: It is probable this +appellation of Poet Laureat was not confined and restricted as it is +now to his Majesty's Servant known by that title, who at that time it +is presumed was Ben Johnson, because it was bestowed promiscuously as +a mark of any poet's excellency in his profession. + +In 1627 was published the second volume of his poems, containing the +battle of Agencourt, in stanzas of eight lines. The mysteries of Queen +Margaret in the like stanzas. Nymphidia, or the Court of Faeries. The +Quest of Cynthia, another beautiful piece, both reprinted in Dryden's +Miscellanies. The Shepherd's Sirena; also the Moon Calf; Satire on the +Masculine Affectations of Women, and the the effeminate disguises of +the Men, in those times. Elegies upon several occasions. These are +introduced by the vision of Ben Johnson on the Muse of his friend +Michael Drayton, wherein he very particularly enumerates and praises +his several compositions. In 1630 he published another volume of poems +in 4to, intitled the Muses Elizium, in ten sundry Nymphals, with three +different poems on Noah's flood; Moses his birth and miracles, +and David and Goliath. The pastoral poems are addressed to Edward +Sackville Earl of Dorset, and Lord Chamberlain, who had now made him +one of his family. His divine poems are written in verse and various +measures, and are dedicated to the Countess of Dorset; and there are +some sublime images in them. At the end of the first divine poem, +there are copies of verses in praise of the author, by Bcal Sapperton, +in Latin; Mr. John Fletcher, and Thomas Andrews in English; the last +of whom is very lavish in displaying the great extent of our poet's +fame. + +In 1631 Mr. Drayton died, or as it is expressed in his monumental +inscription, exchanged his laurel for a crown of glory. He was buried +among the poets in Westminster-Abbey, and the handsome table monument +of blue marble which was raised over his grave the same year, is +adorned with his effigies in busto, laureated. On one side is a crest +of Minerva's cap, and Pegasus in a scutcheon on the other. Sir Aston +Cokain composed an elegy upon him: and Ben Johnson is said to have +been the author of his epitaph, which is written in letters of gold +upon his monument, with which I shall here present the reader. + + EPITAPH. + + Do pious marble let thy readers know + What they, and what their children owe + To Drayton's name, whose sacred dust + We recommend unto thy trust: + Protect his memory, and preserve his story, + Remain a lasting monument of his glory; + And when thy ruins shall disclaim, + To be the treasure of his name; + His name, that cannot fade shall be, + An everlasting monument to thee. + +Mr. Drayton enjoyed the friendship and admiration of contemporary +wits, and Ben Johnson who was not much disposed to praise, entertained +a high opinion of him, and in this epitaph has both immortalized +himself and his friend. It is easy for those who are conversant with +our author's works to see how much the moderns and even Mr. Pope +himself copy Mr. Drayton, and refine upon him in those distinctions +which are esteemed the most delicate improvements of our English +versification, such as the turns, the pauses, the elegant tautologies, +&c. It is not difficult to point out some depredations which have been +made on our author by modern writers, however obsolete some of them +may have reckoned him. In one of his heroical epistles, that of King +John to Matilda, he has the following lines. + + Th' Arabian bird which never is but one, + Is only chast because she is alone, + But had our mother nature made them two, + They would have done, as Doves and Sparrows do. + +These are ascribed to the Earl of Rochester, who was unexceptionably +a great wit. They are not otherwise materially altered, than by the +transposure of the rhimes in the first couplet, and the retrenchment +of the measure in both. As the sphere in which this author moved +was of the middle sort, neither raised to such eminence as to incur +danger, nor so deprest with poverty as to be subject to meanness, his +life seems to have flowed with great tranquility; nor are there any of +those vicissitudes and distresses which have so frequently fallen to +the lot of the inspired tribe. He was honoured with the patronage of +men of worth, tho' not of the highest stations; and that author cannot +be called a mean one, on whom so great a man as Selden (in many +respects the most finished scholar that ever appeared in our nation) +was pleased to animadvert. His genius seems to have been of the second +rate, much beneath Spencer and Sidney, Shakespear and Johnson, but +highly removed above the ordinary run of versifyers. We shall quote a +few lines from his Poly-olbion as a specimen of his poetry. + +When he speaks of his native county, Warwickshire, he has the +following lines; + + Upon the mid-lands now, th' industrious Muse doth fall, + That shire which we the heart of England well may call, + As she herself extends the midst (which is decreed) + Betwixt St. Michael's Mount, and Berwick bordering Tweed, + Brave Warwick, that abroad so long advanc'd her Bear, + By her illustrious Earls, renowned every where, + Above her neighbr'ing shires which always bore her head. + + +[Footnote 1: Burton's Description of Leicestershire, p. 16, 22] + + * * * * * + + +Dr. RICHARD CORBET, Bishop of NORWICH, + +Was son of Mr. Vincent Corbet, and born at Ewelb in Surry, in the +reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at Westminster school, and +from thence was sent to Oxford, 1597, where he was admitted a student +in Christ-church. In 1605, being then esteemed one of the greatest +wits of the University, he took the degree of Master of Arts, and +afterwards entering into holy orders, he became a popular preacher, +and much admired by people of taste and learning. His shining wit, and +remarkable eloquence recommended him to King James I, who made him one +of his chaplains in ordinary, and in 1620 promoted him to the deanery +of Christ's-church; about which time he was made doctor of divinity, +vicar of Cassington, near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, and prebendary of +Bedminster-secunda, in the church of Sarum.[1] + +While he was dean of Christ's church, he made verses on a play acted +before the King at Woodstock, called Technogamia, or the marriage of +Arts, written by Barten Holiday the poet, who afterwards translated +Juvenal. The ill-success it met with in the representation occasioned +several copies of verses, among which, to use Anthony Wood's words, +"Corbet dean of Christ's-church put in for one, who had that day it +seems preached before the King, with his band starched clean, for +which he was reproved by the graver sort; but those who knew him well +took no notice of it, for they have several times said, that he loved +to the last boy's play very well." He was elected, 1629, Bishop of +Oxford, in the room of Dr. Hewson, translated to the See of Durham. +Upon the promotion of Dr. White to Ely he was elected bishop of +Norwich. + +This prelate married Alice, daughter of Dr. Leonard Hutton, vicar of +Flower in Northamptonshire, and he mentions that village in a poem of +his called Iter Boreale, or a Journey Northward. Our author was in +that celebrated class of poets, Ben Johnson, Dr. Donne, Michael +Drayton, and others, who wrote mock commendatory verses on Tom +Coryate's [2] Crudities. He concurred likewise with other poets of the +university in inviting Ben Johnson to Oxford, where he was created +Master of Arts. There is extant in the Musæum Ashmoleanum, a funeral +oration in Latin, by Dr. Corbet, on the death of Prince Henry, Anno +Dom. 1612;[3] This great man died in the year 1635, and was buried the +upper-end of the choir of the cathedral church of Norwich. + +He was very hospitable and a generous encourager of all public +designs. When in the year 1634 St. Paul's cathedral was repaired, +he not only contributed himself, but was very diligent in procuring +contributions from others. His works are difficult to be met with, but +from such of his poems as we have had occasion to read, he seems to +have been a witty, delicate writer, and to have had a particular +talent for panegyric. Wood says, a collection of his poems was +published under the title of Poetica Stromata, in 8vo. London 1647. +In his Iter Boreale, or Journey Northward, we meet with a fine moral +reflexion on the burial place of Richard III. and Cardinal Wolsey, +who were both interred at Leicester; with which we shall present the +reader as a specimen of his poetry. + + Is not usurping Richard buried here, + That King of hate, and therefore slave of fear? + Dragg'd from the fatal Bosworth field where he, + Lost life, and what he liv'd for,--Cruelty: + Search, find his name, but there is none: O Kings, + Remember whence your power and vastness springs; + If not as Richard now, so may you be, + Who hath no tomb, but scorn and memory. + And tho' from his own store, Wolsey might have + A Palace or a College for his grave, + Yet here he lies interred, as if that all + Of him to be remembered were his fall. + Nothing but Earth on Earth, no pompous weight + Upon him, but a pebble or a quoit. + If thou art thus neglected, what shall we, + Hope after death, that are but shreds of thee! + +The author of the Biographia Britanica tells us, that he found in a +blank leaf of his poems, some manuscript verses, in honour of Bishop +Corbet signed J.C. with which, as they are extremely pretty, and make +a just representation of his poetical character, we shall conclude +this life. + + In flowing wit, if verses writ with ease, + If learning void of pedantry can please, + If much good humour joined to solid sense, + And mirth accompanied with innocence, + Can give a poet a just right to fame, + Then Corbet may immortal honour claim; + For he these virtues had, and in his lines, + Poetic and heroic spirit shines; + Tho' bright yet solid, pleasant, but not rude, + With wit and wisdom equally endued. + Be silent Muse, thy praises are too faint, + Thou want'st a power this prodigy to paint, + At once a poet, prelate, and a saint. + + +[Footnote 1: Athen. Oxon. vol. I. col. 600--I.] + +[Footnote 2: Winstanley.] + +[Footnote 3: Wood. ubi. supra. fol. 509.] + + * * * * * + + +EDWARD FAIRFAX. + +All the biographers of the poets have been extremely negligent with +respect to this great genius. Philips so far overlooks him, that he +crowds him into his supplement, and Winstanley, who followed him, +postpones our author till after the Earl of Rochester. Sir Thomas Pope +Blount makes no mention of him; and Mr. Jacob, so justly called the +Blunderbus of Law, informs us he wrote in the time of Charles the +first, tho' he dedicates his translation of Tasso to Queen Elizabeth. +All who mention him, do him the justice to allow he was an +accomplished genius, but then it is in a way so cool and indifferent, +as shews that they had never read his works, or were any way charmed +with the melody of his verses. It was impossible Mr. Dryden could be +so blind to our author's beauties; accordingly we find him introducing +Spencer and Fairfax almost on the level, as the leading authors of +their times; nay tacitly yielding the palm in point of harmony to the +last; by asserting that Waller confessed he owed the music of his +numbers to Fairfax's Godfrey of Bulloign. The truth is, this gentleman +is perhaps the only writer down to Sir William Davenant, who needs no +apology to be made for him, on account of the age in which he lived. +His diction is so pure, elegant, and full of graces, and the turn of +his lines so perfectly melodious, that one cannot read it without +rapture; and we can scarcely imagine the original Italian has greatly +the advantage in either, nor is it very probable that while Fairfax +can be read, any author will attempt a new translation of Tasso with +success. Mr. Fairfax was natural son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, +and natural brother to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the first who was created +Baron of Cameron. His younger brother was knighted, and slain at the +memorable siege of Ostend, 1601, of which place he was some +time governor[1]. When he married is not on record, or in what +circumstances he lived: But it is very probable, his father took care +to support him in a manner suitable to his own quality, and his son's +extraordinary merit, he being always stiled Edward Fairfax, Esq; of +Newhall in Fuystone, in the forest of Knaresborough. The year in which +he died is likewise uncertain, and the last account we hear of him is, +that he was living in 1631, which shews, that he was then pretty well +advanced in years, and as I suppose gave occasion to the many mistakes +that have been made as to the time of his writing. Besides the +translation of Godfrey of Bulloigne, Mr. Fairfax wrote the history of +Edward the Black Prince, and certain eclogues, which Mrs. Cooper tells +us are yet in manuscript, tho' (says she) "by the indulgence of the +family, from whom I had likewise the honour of these memoirs, I am +permitted to oblige the world with a specimen of their beauties." He +wrote also a book called, Dæmonologie, in which he shews a great +deal of ancient reading and knowledge; it is still in manuscript, +and in the beginning he gives this character of himself[2]. "I am in +religion neither a fantastic Puritan, nor superstitious Papist, but so +settled in conscience, that I have the sure ground of God's word to +warrant all I believe, and the commendable ordinances of our English +Church, to approve all I practise; In which course I live a faithful +Christian, and an obedient, and so teach my family." The eclogues +already mentioned are twelve in number, all of them written after +the accession of King James to the throne of England, on important +subjects, relating to the manners, characters, and incidents of the +times he lived in: they are pointed with many fine strokes of satire, +dignified with noble instructions of morality, and policy, to those +of the highest rank, and some modest hints to Majesty itself. The +learning contained in these eclogues is so various and extensive, lhat +according to the opinion of his son, who has written long annotations +on each, no man's reading besides his own was sufficient to explain +his references effectually. As his translation of Tasso is in every +body's hand, we shall take the specimen from the fourth eclogue, +called Eglon and Alexis, as I find it in Mrs. Cooper's collection. + +EGLON and ALEXIS. + + Whilst on the rough, and heath-strew'd wilderness + His tender flocks the rasps, and bramble crop, + Poor shepherd Eglon, full of sad distress! + By the small stream, fat on a mole-hill top: + Crowned with a wreath of Heban branches broke: + Whom good Alexis found, and thus bespoke. + + ALEXIS. + + My friend, what means this silent lamentation? + Why on this field of mirth, this realm of smiles + Doth the fierce war of grief make such invasion? + Witty Timanthes[3] had he seen, e're whiles, + What face of woe thy cheek of sadness bears, + He had not curtained Agamemnon's tears. + The black ox treads not yet upon thy toe, + Nor thy good fortune turns her wheel awaye; + Thy flocks increase, and thou increasest so, + Thy straggling goates now mild, and gentlely; + And that fool love thou whipst away with rods; + Then what sets thee, and joy so far at odds? + + +[Footnote 1: Muses Library, p. 343.] + +[Footnote 2: Muses Library, p. 344.] + +[Footnote 3: Timanthes the painter, who designing the sacrifice of +Iphigenia, threw a veil over the face of Agamemnon, not able to +express a father's anguish.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS RANDOLPH, + +A Poet of no mean genius, was born at Newnham, near Daintry in +Northamptonshire, the 15th of June, 1605; he was son of William +Randolph of Hams, near Lewes in Sussex, was educated at Westminster +school, and went from thence to Trinity College in Cambridge, 1623, +of which he became a fellow; he commenced Master of Arts, and in this +degree was incorporated at Oxon[1], became famous (says Wood) for his +ingenuity, being the adopted son of Ben Johnson, and accounted one +of the most pregnant wits of his age. The quickness of his parts was +discovered early; when he was about nine or ten years old he wrote the +History of the Incarnation of Our Saviour in verse, which is preserved +in manuscript under his own hand writing. Randolph receives from +Langbaine the highest encomium. He tells his readers that they need +expect no discoveries of thefts, for this author had no occasion to +practice plagiary, having so large a fund of wit of his own, that he +needed not to borrow from others. Were a foreigner to form a notion of +the merit of the English poets from reading Langbaine, they would be +in raptures with Randolph and Durfey, and others of their class, while +Dryden, and the first-rate wits, would be quite neglected; Langbaine +is so far generous, that he does all he can to draw obscure men into +light, but then he cannot be acquitted of envy, for endeavouring to +shade the lustre of those whose genius has broke through obscurity +without his means, and he does no service to his country while he +confines his panegyric to mean versifiers, whom no body can read +without a certain degree of contempt. + +Our author had done nothing in life it seems worth preserving, or at +least that cotemporary historians thought so, for there is little to +be learned concerning him. Wood says he was like other poets, much +addicted to libertine indulgence, and by being too free with his +constitution in the company of his admirers, and running into +fashionable excesses, he was the means of shortening his own days. He +died at little Haughton in Northamptonshire, and was buried in an isle +adjoining to the church in that place, on the 17th of March, 1634. He +had soon after a monument of white marble, wreathed about with laurel, +erected over his grave at the charge of lord Hatton of Kirby. Perhaps +the greatest merit which this author has to plead, is his attachment +to Ben Johnson, and admiration of him: Silius Italicus performed an +annual visit to Virgil's tomb, and that circumstance reflects more +honour upon him in the eyes of Virgil's admirers, than all the works +of that author. Langbaine has preserved a monument of Randolph's +friendship for Ben Johnson, in an ode he addressed to him, occasioned +by Mr. Feltham's severe attack upon him, which is particularized in +the life of Ben; from this ode we shall quote a stanza or two, before +I give an account of his dramatic compositions. + + Ben, do not leave the stage, + 'Cause 'tis a loathsome age; + For pride, and impudence will grow too bold, + When they shall hear it told, + They frighted thee; stand high as is thy cause, + Their hiss is thy applause. + Most just were thy disdain, + Had they approved thy vein: + So thou for them, and they for thee were born; + They to incense, and thou too much to scorn. + + Wilt thou engross thy store + Of wheat, and pour no more, + Because their bacon brains have such a taste + As more delight in mast? + No! set them forth a board of dainties, full + As thy best muse can cull; + Whilst they the while do pine, + And thirst 'midst all their wine, + What greater plague can hell itself devize, + Than to be willing thus to tantalize? + +The reader may observe that the stanzas are reasonably smooth, and +mark him a tolerable versifier. I shall now give some account of his +plays. + +1. Amyntas, or the Impossible Dowry, a Pastoral acted before the King +and Queen at Whitehall. 2. Aristippus, or the Jovial Philosopher; +presented in a private shew, to which is added the Conceited Pedlar. +3. Jealous Lovers, a Comedy, presented to their Majesties at +Cambridge, by the students of Trinity College. This play Langbaine +thinks the best of Randolph's, as appears by an epilogue written by +Mrs. Behn, and printed in her collection of poems published in 8vo, +1681; it was revised and printed by the author in his life-time, being +ushered into the world with copies of verses by some of the best wits, +both of Oxford and Cambridge. 4. Muses Looking Glass, a Comedy, which +by the author was first called The Entertainment; as appears from Sir +Aston Cokaine's Works, who writ an encomium on it, and Mr. Richard +West said of it, + + Who looks within this clearer glass will say, + At once he writ an ethic tract and play. + +All these dramatic pieces and poems were published in 1668; he +translated-likewise the second Epod of Horace, several pieces out of +Claudian, and likewise a dramatic piece from Aristophanes, which he +calls Hey for Honesty, Down with Knavery, a pleasant comedy printed in +4to. London 1651. A gentleman of St. John's College, writes thus in +honour of our author; + + Immortal Ben is dead, and as that ball, + On Ida toss'd so in his crown, by all + The infantry of wit. Vain priests! that chair + Is only fit for his true son and heir. + Reach here thy laurel: Randolph, 'tis thy praise: + Thy naked skull shall well become the bays. + See, Daphne courts thy ghost; and spite of fate, + Thy poems shall be Poet Laureate. + + +[Footnote 1: Athen. Oxon. p. 224.] + + * * * * * + + +GEORGE CHAPMAN + +Was born in the year 1557, but of what family he is descended, Mr. +Wood has not been able to determine; he was a man in very high +reputation in his time, and added not a little to dramatic excellence. +In 1574, being well grounded in grammar learning, he was sent to the +university, but it is not clear whether to Oxford or Cambridge; it is +certain that he was sometime in Oxford, and was taken notice of for +his great skill in the Latin and Greek languages, but not in logic and +philosophy, which is the reason it may be presumed, that he took +no degree there. After this he came to London, and contracted an +acquaintance, as Wood says, with Shakespear, Johnson, Sidney, Spenser +and Daniel. He met with a very warm patronage from Sir Thomas +Walsingham, who had always had a constant friendship for him, and +after that gentleman's decease, from his son Thomas Walsingham, +esquire, whom Chapman loved from his birth. He was also respected, and +held in esteem by Prince Henry, and Robert earl of Somerset, but the +first being untimely snatched away, and the other justly disgraced +for an assassination[1], his hopes of preferment were by these means +frustrated; however, he was a servant either to King James I. or Queen +Anne his consort, through whose reign he was highly valued by all his +old friends, only there are some insinuations, that as his reputation +grew, Ben Johnson, naturally haughty and insolent, became jealous of +him, and endeavoured to suppress, as much as possible, his rising +fame[2], as Ben, after the death of Shakespear, was without a rival. + +Chapman was a man of a reverend aspect, and graceful manner, religious +and temperate, qualities which seldom meet (says Wood) in a poet, and +was so highly esteemed by the clergy, that some of them have said, +"that as Musæus, who wrote the lives of Hero and Leander, had two +excellent scholars, Thamarus and Hercules, so had he in England in the +latter end of Queen Elizabeth, two excellent imitators in the same +argument and subject, viz. Christopher Marlow, and George Chapman." +Our author has translated the Iliad of Homer, published in folio, and +dedicated to Prince Henry, which is yet looked upon with some respect. +He is said to have had the spirit of a poet in him, and was indeed +no mean genius: Pope somewhere calls him an enthusiast in poetry. He +likewise translated the Odyssey, and the Battle of Frogs and Mice, +which were published in 1614, and dedicated to the earl of Somerset; +to this work is added Hymns and Epigrams, written by Homer, and +translated by our author. He likewise attempted some part of Hesiod, +and continued a translation of Musæus Ærotopegnion de Herone & +Leandro. Prefixed to this work, are some anecdotes of the life of +Musæus, taken by Chapman from the collection of Dr. William Gager, +and a dedication to the most generally ingenious and only learned +architect of his time, Inigo Jones esquire, Surveyor of his Majesty's +Works. At length, says Wood, this reverend and eminent poet, having +lived 77 years in this vain, transitory world, made his last exit in +the parish of St. Giles's in the Fields, near London, on the 12th day +of May, 1655, and was buried in the yard on the South side of the +church in St. Giles's: soon after a monument was erected over his +grave, built after the manner of the old Romans, at the expence, and +under the direction of his much loved worthy friend Inigo Jones, +whereon is this engraven, Georgius Chapmannus, Poeta Homericus, +Philosophus verus (etsi Christianus Poeta) plusquam Celebris, &c. + +His dramatic works are, + +All Fools, a Comedy, presented at the Black Fryars, and afterwards +before his Majesty King James I. in the beginning of his reign, and +printed in 4to. London 1605. The plot is taken, and the characters +formed upon Terence's Heautontimorumenos. The Prologue and Epilogue +writ in blank verse, shew that in these days persons of quality, and +they that thought themselves good critics, in place of fitting in the +boxes, as they now do, sat on the stage; what influence those people +had on the meanest sort of the audience, may be seen by the following +lines in the Prologue written by Chapman himself. + + Great are the gifts given to united heads; + To gifts, attire, to fair attire the stage + Helps much; for if our other audience see, + You on the stage depart before we end, + Our wit goes with you all, and we are fools. + +Alphonsus Emperor of Germany, a Tragedy, often acted with applause at +a private house in Black Fryars, by the servants of King Charles I. +printed in 4to. London 1654. This play, though it bears the name of +Alphonsus, was writ, as Langbaine supposes, in honour of the English +nation, in the person of Richard, Earl of Cornwal, son to King John, +and brother to Henry III. He was chosen King of the Romans in 1527. +About this time Alphonsus, the French King was chosen by other +electors. Though this King was accounted by some a pious prince, yet +our author represents him as a bloody tyrant, and, contrary to other +historians, brings him to an unfortunate end, he supposing him to +be killed by Alexander, son to Lorenzo de Cipres his secretary, in +revenge of his father, who was poisoned by him, and to compleat his +revenge, he makes him first deny his Saviour in hopes of life, and +then stabs him, glorying that he had at once destroyed both body and +soul. This passage is related by several authors, as Bolton's Four +last Things, Reynolds of the Passions, Clark's Examples, &c. + +Blind Beggar of Alexandria, a Comedy, printed 1598, dedicated to the +earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral. Bussy d'Amboise, a Tragedy, +often presented at St. Paul's, in the reign of King James I. and since +the Restoration with great applause; for the plot see Thuanus, Jean de +Serres, and Mezeray, in the reign of King Henry III. of France. This +is the play of which Mr. Dryden speaks, when in his preface to the +Spanish Fryar, he resolves to burn one annually to the memory of Ben +Johnson. Some have differed from Mr. Dryden in their opinion of this +piece, but as the authorities who have applauded, are not so high as +Mr. Dryden's single authority, it is most reasonable to conclude not +much in its favour. + +Bussy d'Amboise his Revenge, a Tragedy, printed 1613, and dedicated to +Sir Thomas Howard. This play is generally allowed to fall short of the +former of that name, yet the author, as appears from his dedication, +had a higher opinion of it himself, and rails at those who dared to +censure it; it is founded upon fiction, which Chapman very justly +defends, and says that there is no necessity for any play being +founded on truth. + +Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshal of France, +in two plays, acted at the Black Fryars in the reign of King James I. +printed in 4to. London 1608, dedicated to Sir Thomas Walsingham. + +Cæsar and Pompey, a Roman Tragedy, printed 1631, and dedicated to +the Earl of Middlesex. + +Gentleman Usher, a Comedy, printed in 4to. London 1606. We are +not certain whether this play was ever acted, and it has but an +indifferent character. + +Humourous Day's Mirth, a Comedy; this is a very tolerable play. + +Mask of the Two Honourable Houses, or Inns of Court, the +Middle-Temple, and Lincoln's-Inn, performed before the King at +Whitehall, on Shrove Monday at night, being the 15th of February, +1613, at the celebration of the Royal Nuptials of the Palsgrave, and +the Princess Elizabeth, &c. with a description of their whole shew, in +the manner of their march on horseback, from the Master of the Rolls's +house to the court, with all their noble consorts, and shewful +attendants; invented and fashioned, with the ground and special +structure of the whole work by Inigo Jones; this Mask is dedicated to +Sir Edward Philips, then Master of the Rolls. At the end of the Masque +is printed an Epithalamium, called a Hymn for the most happy Nuptials +of the Princess Elizabeth, &c. + +May-Day, a witty Comedy, acted at the Black Fryars, and printed in +4to. 1611. + +Monsieur d'Olive, a Comedy, acted by her Majesty's children at the +Black Fryars, printed in 4to. 1606. + +Revenge for Honour, a Tragedy, printed 1654. + +Temple, a Masque. + +Two Wise-men, and all the rest Fools, or a Comical Moral, censuring +the follies of that age, printed in London 1619. This play is extended +to seven acts, a circumstance which Langbaine says he never saw in any +other, and which, I believe, has never been practised by any poet, +ancient or modern, but himself. + +Widow's Tears, a Comedy, often presented in the Black and White +Fryars, printed in 4to. London 1612; this play is formed upon the +story of the Ephesian Matron. These are all the plays of our author, +of which we have been able to gain any account; he joined with Ben +Johnson and Marston in writing a Comedy called Eastward-Hoe; this play +has been since revived by Tate, under the title of Cuckolds Haven. It +has been said that for some reflections contained in it against the +Scotch nation; Ben Johnson narrowly escaped the pillory. See more of +this, page 237. + + +[Footnote 1: See the Life of Overbury.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood's Athen. Oxon.] + + * * * * * + + +BEN JOHNSON, + +One of the best dramatic poets of the 17th century, was descended from +a Scots family, his grandfather, who was a gentleman, being originally +of Annandale in that kingdom, whence he removed to Carlisle, and +afterwards was employed in the service of King Henry VIII. His +father lost his estate under Queen Mary, in whose reign he suffered +imprisonment, and at last entered into holy orders, and died about a +month before our poet's birth[1], who was born at Westminster, says +Wood, in the year 1574. He was first educated at a private school +in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, afterwards removed to +Westminster school, where the famous Camden was master. His mother, +who married a bricklayer to her second husband, took him from school, +and obliged him to work at his father-in-law's trade, but being +extremely averse to that employment, he went into the low countries, +where he distinguished himself by his bravery, having in the view of +the army killed an enemy, and taken the opima spolia from him. + +Upon his return to England, he applied himself again to his former +studies, and Wood says he was admitted into St. John's College in the +university of Cambridge, though his continuance there seems to have +been but short. He had some time after this the misfortune to fight +a duel, and kill his adversary, who only slightly wounded him in the +arm; for this he was imprisoned, and being cast for his life, was near +execution; his antagonist, he said, had a sword ten inches longer than +his own. + +While he lay in prison, a popish priest visited him, who found his +inclination quite disengaged as to religion, and therefore took the +opportunity to impress him with a belief of the popish tenets. His +mind then naturally melancholy, clouded with apprehensions, and the +dread of execution, was the more easily imposed upon. However, such +was the force of that impression, that for twelve years after he had +gained his liberty, he continued in the catholic faith, and at last +turned Protestant, whether from conviction or fashion cannot be +determined; but when the character of Ben is considered, probability +will be upon the side of the latter, for he took every occasion to +ridicule religion in his plays, and make it his sport in conversation. +On his leaving the university he entered himself into an obscure +playhouse, called the Green Curtain, somewhere about Shoreditch or +Clerkenwell. He was first an actor, and probably only a strolling one; +for Decker in his Satyromastix, a play published in 1602, and designed +as a reply to Johnson's Poetaster, 'reproaches him with having left +the occupation of a mortar trader to turn actor, and with having put +up a supplication to be a poor journeyman player, in which he would +have continued, but that he could not set a good face upon it, and so +was cashiered. Besides, if we admit that satire to be built on facts, +we learn further, that he performed the part of Zuliman at the Paris +Garden in Southwark, and ambled by a play-waggon on the high-way, +and took mad Jeronymo's part to get service amongst the mimicks[2].' +Shakespear is said to have first introduced him to the world, by +recommending a play of his to the stage, at the time when one of the +players had rejected his performance, and told him it would be of no +service to their company[3]. His first printed dramatic performance +was a Comedy, entitled Every Man in his Humour, acted in the year +1598, which being soon followed by several others, as his Sejanus, his +Volpone, his Silent Woman, and his Alchymist, gained him so high a +reputation, that in October 1619, upon the death of Mr. Samuel Daniel +he was made Poet Laureat to King James I. and on the 19th of July, the +same year, he was created (says Wood) Master of Arts at Oxford, having +resided for some time at Christ Church in that university. He once +incurred his Majesty's displeasure for being concerned with Chapman +and Marston in writing a play called Eastward-Hoe, wherein they were +accused of having reflected upon the Scotch nation. Sir James Murray +represented it to the King, who ordered them immediately to be +imprisoned, and they were in great danger of losing their ears and +noses, as a correction of their wantonness; nor could the most partial +have blamed his Majesty, if the punishment had been inflicted; for +surely to ridicule a country from which their Sovereign had just +come, the place of his nativity, and the kingdom of his illustrious +forefathers, was a most daring insult. Upon their releasement from +prison, our poet gave an entertainment to his friends, among whom were +Camden and Selden; when his aged mother drank to him[4] and shewed +him a paper of poison which she had designed, if the sentence of +punishment had been inflicted, to have mixed with his drink after she +had first taken a potion of it herself. + +Upon the accession of Charles I. to the crown, he wrote a petition +to that Prince, craving, that as his royal father had allowed him an +annual pension of a hundred marks, he would make them pounds. In the +year 1629 Ben fell sick, and was then poor, and lodged in an obscure +alley; his Majesty was supplicated in his favour, who sent him ten +guineas. When the messenger delivered the sum, Ben took it in his +hand, and said, "His Majesty has sent me ten guineas because I am +poor and live in an alley, go and tell him that his soul lives in an +alley." + +He had a pension from the city of London, from several of the nobility +and gentry, and particularly from Mr. Sutton the founder of the +Charterhouse.[5] In his last sickness he often repented of the +profanation of scripture in his plays. He died the 16th of August +1637, in the 63d year of his age, and was interred three days after in +Westminster Abbey; he had several children who survived him. + +Ben Johnson conceived so high an opinion of Mr. Drummond of +Hawthornden by the letters which passed between them, that he +undertook a journey into Scotland, and resided some time at +Mr. Drummond's seat there, who has printed the heads of their +conversation, and as it is a curious circumstance to know the opinion +of so great a man as Johnson of his cotemporary writers, these heads +are here inserted. + +"Ben, says Mr. Drummond, was eat up with fancies; he told me, that +about the time the Plague raged in London, being in the country at Sir +Robert Cotton's house with old Camden, he saw in a vision his eldest +son, then a young child, and at London, appear unto him, with the mark +of a bloody cross on his forehead, as if it had been cut with a sword; +at which amazed, he prayed unto God, and in the morning he came to +Mr. Camden's chamber to tell him; who persuaded him, it was but an +apprehension, at which he should not be dejected. In the mean time, +there came letters from his wife of the death of that boy in the +plague. He appeared to him, he said, of a manly shape, and of that +growth he thinks he shall be at the resurrection. He said, he spent +many a night in looking at his great toe, about which he had seen +Tartars, and Turks, Romans and Carthaginians fight in his imagination. + +"That he had a design to write an epic poem, and was to call it +Chrologia; or the Worthies of his Country, all in couplets, for he +detested all other rhime. He said he had written a discourse on +poetry, both against Campion and Daniel, especially the last, where +he proves couplets to be the best sort of verses." His censure of the +English poets was as follows: + +"That Sidney did not keep a decorum, in making every one speak as well +as himself. Spenser's stanza pleased him not, nor his matter; the +meaning of the allegory of the Fairy Queen he delivered in writing +to Sir Walter Raleigh, which was, that by the bleating beast he +understood the Puritans; and by the false Duessa, the Queen of Scots. +Samuel Daniel was a good honest man, had no children, and was no poet, +and that he had wrote the civil wars without having one battle in all +his book. That Drayton's Poly-olbion, if he had performed what he +promised to write, the Deeds of all the Worthies, had been excellent. +That Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas was not well done, and that +he wrote his verses before he understood to confer; and those of +Fairfax were not good. That the translations of Homer and Virgil in +long Alexandrines were but prose. That Sir John Harrington's Ariosto +of all translations was the worst. He said Donne was originally +a poet; his grandfather on the mother's side, was Heywood the +epigramatist. That Donne for not being understood would perish. He +affirmed, that Donne wrote all his best pieces before he was twenty +years of age. He told Donne, that his Anniversary was prophane, and +fall of blasphemies, that if it had been written on the virgin Mary +it had been tolerable. To which Donne answered, that he described the +idea of a woman but not as she was. That Sir Walter Raleigh esteemed +fame more than conscience; the best wits in England were employed in +making his history. Ben himself had written a piece to him on the +Punic war, which he altered and put in his book. He said there was +no such ground for an heroic poem, as King Arthur's fiction, and Sir +Philip Sidney had an intention of turning all his Arcadia to +the stories of King Arthur. He said Owen was a poor pedantic +school-master, sucking his living from the posteriors of little +children, and has nothing good in him, his epigrams being bare +narrations. He loved Fletcher, Beaumont and Chapman. That Sir William +Alexander was not half kind to him, and neglected him because a friend +to Drayton. That Sir R. Ayton loved him dearly; he fought several +times with Marston, and says that Marston wrote his father in Law's +preachings, and his father in law his comedies." + +Mr. Drummond has represented the character of our author in a very +disadvantageous, though perhaps not in a very unjust light. "That he +was a great lover and praiser of himself; a contemner and scorner of +others, rather chusing to lose a friend than a jest; jealous of every +word and action of those about him, especially after drink, which was +one of the elements in which he lived; a dissembler of the parts which +reigned in him; a bragger of some good that he wanted: he thought +nothing right, but what either himself or some of his friends had said +or done. He was passionately kind and angry; careless either to +gain or to keep, vindictive, but if he was well answered, greatly +chagrined; interpreting the best sayings and deeds often to the worst. +He was for any religion, being versed in all; his inventions were +smooth and easy, but above all he excelled in translation. In short, +he was in his personal character the very reverse of Shakespear, as +surly, ill-natured, proud and disagreeable, as Shakespear with ten +times his merit was gentle, good-natured, easy and amiable." He had a +very strong memory; for he tells himself in his discoveries that he +could in his youth have repeated all that he had ever written, and so +continued till he was past forty; and even after that he could have +repeated whole books that he had read, and poems of some select +friends, which he thought worth remembring. + +Mr. Pope remarks, that when Ben got possesion of the stage, he brought +critical learning into vogue, and that this was not done without +difficulty, which appears from those frequent lessons (and indeed +almost declamations) which he was forced to prefix to his first plays, +and put into the mouths of his actors, the Grex, Chorus, &c. to remove +the prejudices and inform the judgement of his hearers. Till then +the English authors had no thoughts of writing upon the model of the +ancients: their tragedies were only histories in dialogue, and their +comedies followed the thread of any novel, as they found it, no less +implicitly than if it had been true history. Mr. Selden in his preface +to his titles of honour, stiles Johnson, his beloved friend and a +singular poet, and extols his special worth in literature, and his +accurate judgment. Mr. Dryden gives him the title of the greatest man +of the last age, and observes, that if we look upon him, when he was +himself, (for his last plays were but his dotages) he was the most +learned and judicious writer any theatre ever had; that he was a most +severe judge of himself as well as others; that we cannot say he +wanted wit, but rather that he was frugal of it; that in his works +there is little to be retrenched or altered; but that humour was his +chief province. + +Ben had certainly no great talent for versification, nor does he seem +to have had an extraordinary ear; his verses are often wanting in +syllables, and sometimes have too many. + +I shall quote some lines of his poem to the memory of Shakespear, +before I give a detail of his pieces. + +To the memory of my beloved the author Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR, and +what he hath left us. + + To draw no envy (Shakespear) on thy name, + Am I thus ample to thy book and fame: + While I confess thy writings to be such, + As neither man nor muse can praise too much. + 'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these ways + Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise: + For silliest ignorance, on these may light, + Which when it sounds at best but ecchoes right; + As blind affection, which doth ne'er advance + The truth; but gropes, and urgeth all by chance; + A crafty malice might pretend his praise, + And think to ruin where it seem'd to raise. + These are, as some infamous baud or whore, + Should praise a matron: What could hurt her more? + But thou art proof against them, and indeed, + Above th' ill fortune of them, or the need. + I therefore will begin. Soul of the age! + Th' applause, delight, the wonder of the stage! + My Shakespear rise; I will not lodge thee by, + Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye, + A little further to make thee a room: + Thou art a monument without a tomb, + And art alive still, while the book doth live, + And we have wits to read, and praise to give. + That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses; + I mean with great but disproportion'd muses: + For if I thought, my judgment were of years, + I should commit thee surely with thy peers, + And tell how far thou did'st our Lily outshine, + Or sporting Kid, or Marlow's mighty line. + +He then goes on to challenge all antiquity to match Shakespear; but +the poetry is so miserable, that the reader will think the above +quotation long enough. + +Ben has wrote above fifty several pieces which we may rank under the +species of dramatic poetry; of which I shall give an account in order, +beginning with one of his best comedies. + +1. [6] Alchymist, a comedy, acted in the year 1610. Mr. Dryden +supposes this play was copied from the comedy of Albumazer, as far +as concerns the Alchymist's character; as appears from his prologue +prefixed to that play, when it was revived in his time. + +2. Bartholomew Fair, a comedy, acted at the Hope on the Bankside, +October 31, in 1614, by the lady Elizabeth's servants, and then +dedicated to James I. + +3. Cataline's conspiracy, a tragedy, first acted in the year 1611. In +this our author has translated a great part of Salust's history; and +it is when speaking of this play, that Dryden says, he did not borrow +but commit depredations upon the ancients. Tragedy was not this +author's talent; he was totally without tenderness, and was so far +unqualified for tragedy. + +4. Challenge at Tilt, at a Marriage, printed 1640. + +5. Christmas's Masque, presented at court 1616. + +6. Cloridia, or the Rites of Cloris and her Nymphs, personated in a +Masque at court, by the Queen and her Ladies, at Shrove Tide, 1630. + +7. Cynthia's Revels, or the Fountain of Self-love, a comical +Satire, first acted in the year 1600, by the then children of Queen +Elizabeth's chapel, with the allowance of the Master of the Revels, +printed in folio, 1640. + +8. The Devil is an Ass, a Comedy, acted in the year 1616. + +9. Entertainment of King James in passing his Coronation, printed in +folio, 1640. + +10. Entertainment in Private of the King and Queen on May-day in the +morning, at Sir William Cornwallis's house at Highgate, 1604. + +11. Entertainment of King James and Queen at Theobald's, when the +house was delivered up, with the possession to the Queen, by the earl +of Salisbury 1607, the Prince of Janvile, brother to the Duke of Guise +being then present. + +12. Entertainment in particular of the Queen and Prince, their +Highnesses at Althrope at the Lord Spenser's, 1603, as they came first +into the kingdom. + +13. Entertainment of the Two Kings of Great Britain and Denmark, at +Theobald's, July 24th 1606, printed 1640. + +14. Every Man in his Humour, a Comedy, acted in the year 1598, by the +then Lord Chamberlain's servants, and dedicated to Mr. Camden. This +play has been often revived since the restoration. + +15. Every Man out of his Humour, a comical Satire, first acted 1599, +and dedicated to the Inns of Court. This play was revived 1675, at +which time a new Prologue and Epilogue were spoke by Jo. Haynes, +written by Mr. Duffel. + +16. Fortunate Isles, and their Union celebrated, in a Masque, designed +for the Court on Twelfth-Night, 1626. + +17. Golden Age Restored, in a Masque, at Court 1615, by the Lords and +Gentlemen, the King's servants. + +18. Hymenæi, or the Solemnities of a Masque, and Barriers at a +Marriage, printed 1640. To this Masque are annexed by the author, +Notes on the Margin, for illustration of the ancient Greek and Roman +Customs. + +19. Irish Masque, at Court, by the King's servants. + +20. King's Entertainment at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire, at the House +of the Right Honourable William, Earl of Newcastle, at his going to +Scotland, 1633. + +21. Love freed from Ignorance and Folly, a Masque. + +22. Love Restored, in a Masque, at Court, 1630. + +23. Love's Welcome, the King and Queen's Entertainment at Bolsover, at +the Earl of Newcastle's, 1634. + +24. Magnetick Lady, or Humours Reconciled, a Comedy, acted at the +Black Fryars, and printed 1640. This play was smartly and virulently +attacked by Dr. Gill, Master of St. Paul's school, part of which, on +account of the answer which Ben gave to it, we shall take the trouble +to transcribe. + + But to advise thee Ben, in this strict age, + A brick-hill's better for thee than a stage; + Thou better know'st a Groundfil for to lay + Than lay a plot, or Groundwork of a play, + And better canst direct to cap a chimney, + Than to converse with Chlio, or Polyhimny. + + Fall then to work in thy old age agen, + Take up thy trug and trowel, gentle Ben, + Let plays alone; or if thou need'st will write, + And thrust thy feeble muse into the light; + Let Lowen cease, and Taylor scorn to touch, + The loathed stage, for thou hast made it such. + +These lines are without wit, and without poetry; they contain a mean +reflexion on Ben's original employment, of which he had no occasion to +be ashamed; but he was paid in kind, and Ben answers him with equal +virulence, and in truth it cannot be said with more wit or poetry, for +it is difficult to determine which author's verses are most wretched. + + Shall the prosperity of a pardon still + Secure thy railing rhymes, infamous Gill, + At libelling? shall no star chamber peers, + Pillory, nor whip, nor want of ears, + All which thou hast incurred deservedly, + Nor degradation from the ministry + To be the Denis of thy father's school, + Keep in thy bawling wit, thou bawling fool. + Thinking to stir me, thou hast lost thy end, + I'll laugh at thee, poor wretched Tyke, go send + Thy boltant muse abroad, and teach it rather + A tune to drown the ballads of thy father. + For thou hast nought to cure his fame, + But tune and noise, and eccho of his shame. + A rogue by statute, censured to be whipt, + Cropt, branded, flit, neck-flockt: go, you are stript. + +25. Masque, at the Lord Viscount Hadington's Marriage at Court, on +Shrove Tuesday at night, 1608. + +26. Masque of Augurs, with several Antimasques, presented on Twelfth +Night, 1608. + +27. Masque of Owls, at Kenelworth, presented by the Ghost of Captain +Cox, mounted on his Hobby-Horse, 1626. + +28. Masque of Queens celebrated from the House of Fame, by the Queen +of Great Britain with her Ladies at Whitehall, 1609. + +29. Masque, presented in the house of lord Hay by several noblemen, +1617, for the French ambassador. + +30. Metamorphosed Gypsies, a Masque, thrice presented to King James, +1621. + +31. Mercury vindicated from the Alchymist's, at Court. + +32. Mortimer's Fall, a Tragedy, or rather a fragment, being just begun +and left imperfect by his death. + +33. Neptune's Triumph for the return of Albion, in a Masque, at court. + +34. News from the New World discovered in the Moon, presented 1620 at +court. + +35. Oberon, the Fairy Prince, a Masque, of Prince Henry's. + +36. Pan's Anniversary, or the Shepherd's Holiday, a Masque, 1625. + +37. Pleasure reconciled to Virtue, a Masque, presented at court, 1619. + +38. Poetaster, or his Arraignment, a comical Satire, first acted in +the year 1601. + +39. Queen's Masques, the first of Blackness, presented 1605; the +second of Beauty, was presented at the same court 1608. + +40. Sad Shepherd, or a Tale of Robin Hood, a Pastoral. + +41. Sejanus's Fall, a Tragedy, acted in the year 1603. This play has +met with success, and was ushered into the world by nine copies of +verses, one of which was writ by Mr. Chapman. Mr. Gentleman has lately +published a Tragedy under the same title, in which he acknowledges the +parts he took from Johnson. + +42.[6] Silent Woman, a Comedy, first acted in the year 1609. This is +reckoned one of Ben's best comedies; Mr. Dryden has done it the honour +to make some criticisms upon it. + +43. Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers, printed in folio 1640. + +44. Staple of News, a Comedy, acted in the year 1625. + +45. Tale of a Tub, a Comedy. + +46. Time vindicated to himself and to his Honour, presented 12 nights, +1623. + +47.[6] Volpone, or the Fox, a Comedy, first acted in the year 1605; +this is one of his acted plays. + +48. Case is altered, a Comedy, acted and printed 1609. + +49. Widow, a Comedy, acted at the private house in Black Fryars. + +50. New Inn, or the Light Heart, a Comedy, acted 1629. This play did +not succeed to his expectation, and Ben being filled with indignation +at the people's want of taste, wrote an Ode addressed to himself on +that occasion, advising him to quit the stage, which was answered by +Mr. Feltham. + +Thus have we given a detail of Ben Johnson's works. He is allowed to +have been a scholar, and to have understood and practised the dramatic +rules; but Dryden proves him to have likewise been an unbounded +plagiary. Humour was his talent; and he had a happy turn for an +epitaph; we cannot better conclude his character as a poet, than in +the nervous lines of the Prologue quoted in the Life of Shakespear. + +After having shewn Shakespear's boundless genius, he continues, + + Then Johnson came instructed from the school + To please by method, and invent by rule. + His studious patience, and laborious art + With regular approach assay'd the heart; + Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays, + For they who durst not censure, scarce could + praise. + + +[Footnote 1: Drummond of Hawthornden's works, fol. 224. Edinburgh +Edition, 1711.] + +[Footnote 2: Birch's Lives of Illustrious Men.] + +[Footnote 3: See Shakespear] + +[Footnote 4: See Drummond's works.] + +[Footnote 5: Wood.] + +[Footnote 6: The Alchymist, the Fox, and the Silent Woman, have been +oftner acted than all the rest of Ben Johnson's plays put together; +they have ever been generally deemed good stock-plays, and been +performed to many crowded audiences, in several separate seasons, with +universal applause. Why the Silent Woman met not with success, when +revived last year at Drury Lane Theatre, let the new critics, or the +actors of the New Mode, determine.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS CAREW, Esq; + +Was descended of a very ancient and reputable family of the Carews in +Devonshire, and was brother to Matthew Carews, a great royalist, in +the time of the rebellion; he had his education in Corpus Christi +College, but he appears not to have been matriculated as a member, or +that he took a scholastic degree[1]; afterwards improving his parts by +travelling, and conversation with ingenious men in the Metropolis, he +acquired some reputation for his wit and poetry. About this time being +taken notice of at court for his ingenuity, he was made Gentleman of +the Privy Chamber, and Sewer in ordinary to King Charles I. who always +esteemed him to the last, one of the most celebrated wits about his +court[2]. He was much esteemed and respected by the poets of his time, +especially by Ben Johnson. Sir John Suckling, who had a great kindness +for him, could not let him pass in his session of poets without this +character, + + Tom Carew was next, but he had a fault, + That would not well stand with a Laureat; + His muse was hide-bound, and the issue of's brain + Was seldom brought forth, but with trouble and pain. + +The works of our author are, + +Poems; first printed in Octavo, and afterwards being revised and +enlarged, there were several editions of them made, the third in 1654, +and the fourth in 1670. The songs in these poems were set to music, or +as Wood expresses it, wedded to the charming notes of Mr. Henry +Lawes, at that time the greatest musical composer in England, who was +Gentleman of the King's Chapel, and one of the private musicians to +his Majesty. + +Coelum Britannicum; A Mask at Whitehall in the Banquetting House, on +Shrove Tuesday night February 18, 1633, London 1651. This Masque is +commonly attributed to Sir William Davenant. It was performed by the +King, the duke of Lenox, earls of Devonshire, Holland, Newport &c. +with several other Lords and Noblemen's Sons; he was assisted in the +contrivance by Mr. Inigo Jones, the famous architect. The Masque being +written by the King's express command, our author placed this distich +in the front, when printed; + + Non habet ingenium: Cæsar sed jussit: habebo + Cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat. + +The following may serve as a specimen of the celebrated sonnets of +this elegant writer. + +BOLDNESS in LOVE. + + Mark how the bashful morn in vain + Courts the amorous marigold + With sighing blasts, and weeping rain; + Yet she refuses to unfold. + But when the planet of the day + Approacheth with his powerful ray, + Then she spreads, then she receives + His warmer beams into her virgin leaves. + + So shalt thou thrive in love, fond boy; + If thy tears and sighs discover + Thy grief, thou never shalt enjoy + The just reward of a bold lover: + But when with moving accents thou + Shalt constant faith and service vow, + Thy Celia shall receive those charms + With open ears, and with unfolded arms. + +Sir William Davenant has given an honourable testimony in favour of +our author, with which I shall conclude his life, after observing that +this elegant author died, much regretted by some of the best wits of +his time, in the year 1639. + +Sir William Davenant thus addresses him, + + Not that thy verses are so smooth and high + As glory, love, and wine, from wit can raise; + But now the Devil take such destiny! + What should commend them turns to their dispraise. + Thy wit's chief virtue, is become its vice; + For every beauty thou hast rais'd so high, + That now coarse faces carry such a price, + As must undo a lover that would buy. + + +[Footnote 1: Wood's Athen. Oxon. p. 630. vol. i.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood's ubi supra.] + + * * * * * + + +Sir HENRY WOTTON. + +This great man was born in the year 1568, at Bocton Hall in the +county of Kent, descended of a very ancient family, who distinguished +themselves in the wars between the Scotch and English before the union +of crowns. The father of Sir Henry Wotton, (according to the account +of the learned bishop Walton,) was twice married, and after the +death of his second wife, says the bishop, 'his inclination, though +naturally averse to all contentions, yet necessitated he was to have +several suits of law, which took up much of his time; he was by divers +of his friends perswaded to remarriage, to whom he often answered, +that if he did put on a resolution to marry, he seriously resolved to +avoid three sorts of persons, namely, + + Those that had children, + law suits, were of his kindred: + + And yet following his own law suit, he met in Westminster Hall with +one Mrs. Morton, the widow of a gentleman of Kent, who was engaged in +several suits in law, and observing her comportment, the time of her +hearing one of her causes before the judges, he could not but at the +same time compassionate her condition, and so affect her person, that +though there were in her a concurrence of all those accidents, against +which he had so seriously resolved, yet his affection grew so strong, +that he then resolved to sollicit her for a wife, and did, and +obtained her.' + +By this lady he had our author, who received the rudiments of his +education from his mother, who was it seems a woman of taste, and +capable of inspiring him with a love of polite accomplishments. When +he became fit for an academical education, he was placed in New +College in Oxford, in the beginning of the year 1584, where living in +the condition of a Gentleman Commoner, he contracted an intimacy with +Sir Richard Baker, afterwards an eminent historian. Sir Henry did +not long continue there, but removed to Queen's College, where, says +Walton, he made a great progress in logic and philosophy, and wrote a +Tragedy for the use of that college, called Tarroredo. Walton tells +us, 'that this tragedy was so interwoven with sentences, and for the +exact personating those passions and humours he proposed to represent, +he so performed, that the gravest of the society declared, that he +had in a flight employment, given an early and solid testimony of his +future abilities.' + +On the 8th of June, says Wood, 1588, he as a member of Queen's +College, supplicated the venerable congregation of regents, that he +might be admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which desire was +granted conditionally, that he should determine the Lent following, +but whether he was admitted, or did determine, or took any degree, +does not appear in any of the university registers; though Mr. Walton +says, that about the twentieth year of his age, he proceeded Master of +Arts, and at that time read in Latin three lectures de Ocello. During +the time he was at the university, and gaining much upon mankind by +the reputation of his abilities, his father, for whom he had the +highest veneration, died, and left him a hundred marks a year, to +be paid out of one of his manors of great value. Walton proceeds to +relate a very astonishing circumstance concerning the father of our +author, which as it is of the visionary sort, the reader may credit, +or not, as he pleases; it is however too curious to be here omitted, +especially as the learned prelate Walton already mentioned has told it +with great earnestness, as if he was persuaded of its reality. + +In the year 1553, Nicholas Wotton, dean of Canterbury, uncle to our +author's father, being ambassador in France in the reign of queen +Mary, dreamed, that his nephew Thomas Wotton, was disposed to be a +party in a very hazardous project, which if not suddenly prevented, +would issue in the loss of his life, and the ruin of his family; the +dean, who was persuaded of the importance of his own dream, was very +uneasy; but lest he should be thought superstitious, he resolved to +conceal the circumstance, and not to acquaint his nephew, or any body +else with it; but dreaming the same a second time, he determined to +put something in execution in consequence of it; he accordingly wrote +to the Queen to send for his nephew Thomas Wotton out of Kent, and +that the Lords of the Council might examine him about some imaginary +conspiracy, so as to give colour for his being committed to Jail, +declaring that he would acquaint her Majesty with the true reason of +his request, when he should next be so happy to pay his duty to her. +The Queen complied with the dean's desire, who at that time it seems +had great influence with that bigotted Princess. About this time a +marriage was concluded between the Queen of England, and Philip, King +of Spain, which not a little disobliged some of the nobility, who were +jealous left their country by such a match should be subjected to +the dominion of Spain, and their independent rights invaded by that +imperious monarch. These suspicions produced an insurrection, which +was headed by the duke of Suffolk and Sir Thomas Wyat, who both lost +their lives in the attempt to prevent the match by seizing the Queen; +for the design was soon discovered, easily defeated, and those two +persons, with many more, suffered on a scaffold. + +Between Sir Thomas Wyat and the Wotton's family, there had been a +long intimacy, and Sir Thomas had really won Mr. Wotton over to his +interest, and had he not been prevented by imprisonment, he afterwards +declared that he would have joined his friend in the insurrection, +and in all probability would have fallen a sacrifice to the Queen's +resentment, and the votaries of the Spanish match. + +After Sir Henry quitted the university of Oxford, he travelled into +France, Germany and Italy, where he resided above nine years, and +returned to his own country perfectly accomplished in all the polite +improvements, which men of sense acquire by travelling, and well +acquainted with the temper and genius of the people with whom he had +conversed, and the different policy of their governments. He was soon +taken notice of after his return, and became secretary to the famous +Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, that unfortunate favourite, whose +story is never exhibited on the stage, says Mr. Addison, without +affecting the heart in the most sensible manner. With his lordship he +continued in the character of secretary 'till the earl was apprehended +for his mutinous behaviour towards the Queen, and put upon his trial. +Wotton, who did not think it safe to continue in England after the +fall of his master, retired to Florence, became acquainted with the +Great Duke of Tuscany, and rose so high in his favour, that he was +entrusted by him to carry letters to James VI. King of Scots, under +the name of Octavio Baldi, in order to inform that king of a design +against his life. Walton informs us, that though Queen Elizabeth was +never willing to declare her successor, yet the King of Scots was +generally believed to be the person, on whom the crown of England +would devolve. The Queen declining very fast, both through age and +visible infirmities, "those that were of the Romish persuasion, +in point of religion, knowing that the death of the Queen, and +establishing her succession, was the crisis for destroying or +supporting the Protestant religion in this nation, did therefore +improve all opportunities for preventing a Protestant Prince to +succeed her; and as the pope's excommunication of Queen Elizabeth had +both by the judgment and practice of the jesuited Papists, exposed +her to be warrantably destroyed, so about that time, there were many +endeavours first to excommunicate, and then to shorten the life of +King James VI." + +Immediately after Wotton's return from Rome to Florence, which was +about a year before the death of Queen Elizabeth; Ferdinand, the Great +Duke, had intercepted certain letters, which discovered a design +against the life of the King of Scots. The Duke abhorring the scheme +of assassination, and resolving to prevent it, advised with his +secretary Vietta, by what means a caution should be given to the +Scotch Prince. Vietta recommended Wotton as a person of the highest +abilities of any Englishman then at his court: Mr. Wotton was sent for +by his friend Vietta to the Duke, who after many professions of trust +and friendship, acquainted him with the secret, and sent him to +Scotland with letters to the King, and such antidotes against poison, +as till then, the Scots had been strangers to. Mr. Wotton having +departed from the Duke, assumed the name and language of an Italian, +which he spoke so fluently, and with so little mixture of a foreign +dialect, that he could scarcely be distinguished from a native of +Italy; and thinking it best to avoid the line of English intelligence +and danger, posted into Norway, and through that country towards +Scotland, where he found the King at Stirling. + +When he arrived there, he used means by one of the gentlemen of his +Majesty's bed-chamber, to procure a speedy and private audience of his +Majesty, declaring that the business which he was to negotiate was of +such consequence, as had excited the Great Duke of Tuscany to enjoin +him suddenly to leave his native country of Italy, to impart it to the +king. + +The King being informed of this, after a little wonder, mixed with +jealousy, to hear of an Italian ambassador or messenger, appointed a +private audience that evening. When Mr. Wotton came to the presence +chamber, he was desired to lay aside his long rapier, and being +entered, found the King there; with three or four Scotch lords +standing distant in several corners of the chamber; at the sight of +whom he made a stand, and which the King observing, bid him be bold, +and deliver his message, and he would undertake for the secresy of all +who were present. Upon this he delivered his message and letters to +his Majesty in Italian; which when the King had graciously received, +after a little pause, Mr. Wotton stept up to the table, and whispered +to the King in his own language that he was an Englishman, requesting +a more private conference with his Majesty, and that he might be +concealed during his stay in that nation, which was promised, and +really performed by the King, all the time he remained at the Scotch +court; he then returned to the Duke with a satisfactory account of his +employment. + +When King James succeeded to the Throne of England, he found among +others of Queen Elizabeth's officers, Sir Edward Wotton, afterwards +lord Wotton, Comptroller of the Houshold, whom he asked one day, +'whether he knew one Henry Wotton, who had spent much time in foreign +travel?' Sir Edward replied, that he knew him well, and that he was +his brother. The King then asked, where he was, and upon Sir Edward's +answering that he believed he would soon be at Paris, send for him +says his Majesty, and when he comes to England, bid him repair +privately to me. Sir Edward, after a little wonder, asked his Majesty, +whether he knew him? to which the King answered, you must rest +unsatisfied of that 'till you bring the gentleman to me. Not many +months after this discourse, Sir Edward brought his brother to attend +the king, who took him in his arms, and bid him welcome under the mine +of Octavio Baldi, saying, that he was the most honest, and therefore +the best, dissembler he ever met with; and seeing I know, added the +King, you want neither learning, travel, nor experience, and that I +have had so real a testimony of your faithfulness and abilities to +manage an embassage, I have sent for you to declare my purposes, +which is to make use of you in that kind hereafter[1]. But before he +dismissed Octavio Baldi from his present attendance, he restored him +to his old name of Henry Wotton, by Which he then knighted him. + +Not long after this, King James having resolved according to his motto +of beati pacifici, to have a friendship with his neighbouring kingdoms +of France and Spain, and also to enter into an alliance with the State +of Venice, and for that purpose to send ambassadors to those several +States, offered to Sir Henry his choice of which ever of these +employments best suited his inclination; who from the consideration +of his own personal estate being small, and the courts of France and +Spain extreamly sumptuous, so as to expose him to expences above his +fortune, made choice of Venice, a place of more retirement, and where +he could execute his embassy, and at the same time indulge himself in +the study of natural philosophy, in that seat of the sciences, +where he was sure to meet with men accomplished in all the polite +improvements, as well as the more solid attainments of philosophy. +Having informed the king that he chose to be sent to Venice, his +Majesty settled a very considerable allowance upon him during his stay +there; he then took his leave, and was accompanied through France to +Venice, says Walton, by gentlemen of the best families and breeding, +that this nation afforded. + +When Sir Henry Wotton arrived at Venice, there subsisted between the +Venetians and the Pope a very warm contention, which was prosecuted by +both parties with equal fury. The laity made many complaints against +the two frequent practice of land being left to the church without +a licence from the state, which increased the power of the clergy, +already too great, and rendered their insolence insupportable. In +consequence of this, the state made several injunctions against +lay-persons disposing their lands in that manner. Another cause of +their quarrel was, that the Venetians had sent to Rome, several +articles of complaint against two priests, the abbot of Nervesa, and a +canon of Vicenza, for committing such abominable crimes, as Mr. Walton +says, it would be a shame to mention: Their complaints met with no +redress, and the detestable practices of these monsters in holy orders +still continuing, they seized their persons and committed them to +prison. + +The justice or injustice of such power exercised by the Venetians, +produced debates between the Republic and Pope Clement VIII. Clement +soon dying, Pope Paul the first, a man of unbounded insolence, and +elated with his spiritual superiority, let loose all his rage against +the state. He judged all resistance to be a diminution of his power, +and threatened excommunication to the whole State, if a revocation was +not instantly made, which the Venetians rejecting, he proceeded in +menaces, and at last did excommunicate the Duke, the whole Senate, and +all their dominions; then he shut up the churches, charging the +clergy to forbear sacred offices to any of the Venetians, till their +obedience should make them capable of absolution. The contention was +thus fomented, till a report prevailed that the Venetians were turned +Protestants, which was believed by many, as the English embassador was +so often in conference with the Senate, and that they had made all +their proceedings known to the King of England, who would support +them, should the Pope presume to exercise any more oppressions. This +circumstance made it appear plain enough to his Holiness, that +he weakened his power by exceeding it; and being alarmed lest a +revolution should happen, offered the Venetians absolution upon very +easy terms, which the Republic still slighting, did at last obtain it, +by that which was scarce so much as a shew of desiring it. For eight +years after Sir Henry Wotton's going into Italy, he stood very high in +the King's esteem, but at last, lost his favour for some time, by an +accident too singular to be here omitted. + +When he first went embassador to Italy, as he passed through Germany +he staid some days at Augsburgh, where having been in his former +travels well known by many of the first reputation in learning, +and passing an evening in merriment, he was desired by Christopher +Hecamore to write a sentence in his Album, and consenting to it, took +occasion from some accidental conversation which happened in the +company, to write a pleasant definition of an embassador in these +words. "Legatus est vir bonus, peregre-missus ad mentiendum Republicæ +causa;" which he chose should have been thus rendered into English: An +Ambassador is an honest Man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his +Country; but the word lie, upon which the conceit turned, was not +so expressed in Latin, as to admit a double meaning, or so fair a +construction as Sir Henry thought, in English. About eight years +after, this Album fell into the hands of Gaspar Scioppius, a restless +zealot, who published books against King James, and upbraided him +for entertaining such scandalous principles, as his embassador had +expressed by that sentence: This aspersion gained ground, and it +became fashionable in Venice to write this definition in several glass +windows. These incidents reaching the ear of King James, he was much +displeased with the behaviour of his embassador on that occasion, and +from an innocent piece of witticism Sir Henry was like to pay very +dear, by losing his master's favour. Upon this our author wrote two +apologies, one to Velserus, which was dispersed in Germany and Italy, +and another to the King; both which were so well written, that his +Majesty upon reading them declared, "that Sir Henry Wotton had +sufficiently commutted for a greater offence." + +Upon this reconciliation, Sir Henry became more in favour with his +Majesty than ever; like friends who have been for some time separated, +they meet again with double fervour, and their friendship increases +to a greater warmth. During the twenty years which Sir Henry was +ambassador at Venice, he had the good fortune to be so well respected +by all the Dukes, and the leading men of the Republic, that his +interest every year increased, and they seldom denied him any favour +he asked for his countrymen who came to Venice; which was, as Walton +expresses it, a city of refuge for all Englishmen who were any way +distressed in that Republic. Walton proceeds to relate two particular +instances of the generosity, and tenderness of his disposition, and +the nobleness of his mind, which, as they serve to illustrate his +character, deserve a place here. + +There had been many Englishmen brought by commanders of their own +country, to serve the Venetians for pay, against the Turks; and those +English, by irregularities, and imprudence, committed such offences as +brought them into prisons, and exposed them to work in gallies. +Wotton could not be an unconcerned spectator of the miseries of his +countrymen: their offences he knew proceeded rather from wantonness, +and intemperance, than any real principles of dishonour; and therefore +he thought it not beneath him to become a petitioner for their +releasement. He was happy in a successful representation of their +calamities, they were set at liberty, and had an opportunity of +returning to their own country in comfort, in place of languishing +in jails, and being slaves at the Gallies; and by this compassionate +Interposition with the Republick, he had the blessings of many +miserable wretches: the highest pleasure which any human being can +enjoy on this side immortality. + +Of the generosity and nobleness of his mind, Walton gives this +instance; + +Upon Sir Henry Wotton's coming a second time to Venice, he was +employed as embassador to several of the German princes, and to the +Emperor Ferdinando II. and this embassy to these princes was to +incline them to equitable measures, for the restoration of the Queen +of Bohemia, and her descendants, to their patrimonial inheritance +of the Palatinate. This was by eight months constant endeavours and +attendance upon the Emperor and his court, brought to a probability +of a successful conclusion, by a treaty; but about that time the +Emperor's army fought a battle so fortunately, as put an end to the +expected treaty, and Sir Henry Wotton's hopes, who when he quitted +the Emperor's court, humbly advised him, to use his victory with +moderation, which advice the Emperor was pleased to hear graciously, +being well satisfied with Wotton's behaviour during his residence at +his court. He then told him, that tho' the King his master was looked +upon as an abetter of his enemy, yet he could not help demonstrating +his regard to him, by making him a present of a rich jewel of +diamonds, worth more than ten thousand pounds. This was received with +all possible respect by Sir Henry; but the next morning upon his +departing from Vienna, at his taking leave of the Countess of Sabrina, +an Italian lady, in whose house he resided, he expressed his gratitude +for her civilities by presenting her with the jewel given him by the +Emperor, which being afterwards discovered, was by the Emperor taken +as an affront; but Sir Henry acknowledging his gratitude for the mark +of distinction shewn to him, at the same time declared, he did not +chuse to receive profit from any present, given him by an enemy of his +royal mistress, for so the Queen of Bohemia, the eldest daughter of +the King of England, permitted him to call her. + +Upon Sir Henry Wotton's return from his embassy, he signified an +inclinacion to the King to be excused from any further employment in +foreign affairs, to retire from the bustle of life, and spend the +evening of his days in studious ease and tranquility. His Majesty in +consequence of this request, promised him the reversion of an office, +which was the place of Master of the Rolles, if he out-lived Sir +Julius Cæsar, who then possessed it, and was grown so old, that he was +said to be kept alive beyond nature's course, by the prayers of the +many people who daily lived upon his bounty. Here it will not be +improper to observe, that Sir Henry Wotton had, thro' a generosity of +temper, reduced his affairs to such a state, that he could not live +without some profitable employment, as he was indebted to many persons +for money he borrowed to support his dignity in his embassy, the +King's appointment for that purpose being either not regularly paid, +or too inconsiderable for the expence. This rendered it impossible for +him to wait the death of Sir Julius Cæsar; besides that place had been +long sollicited by that worthy gentleman for his son, and it would +have been thought an ill-natured office, to have by any means +prevented it. + +It luckily happened at this time, that the Provostship of his +Majesty's college at Eaton became vacant by the death of Mr. Murray, +for which there were many earnest and powerful sollicitations. This +place was admirably suited to the course of life Wotton resolved to +pursue, for the remaining part of his days; he had seen enough of the +world to be sick of it, and being now three-score years of age, he +thought a college was the fittest place to indulge contemplation, and +to rest his body and mind after a long struggle on the theatre of +life. In his suit for this place he was happily successful, and +immediately entered into holy orders, which was necessary, before +he could take possession of his new office. Walton has related the +particular manner of his spending his time, which was divided between +attendance upon public devotion, the more private duties of religion, +and the care which his function demanded from him of the affairs of +the college. In the year 1639 Sir Henry died in Eaton-College, and +was buried in the chapel belonging to it. He directed the following +sentence to be put upon a marble monument to be erected over him. + + Hic jacit hujus sententiæ primus author. Disputandi + pruritus ecclesiarum scabies. Nomen alias + quære. + +Which may be thus rendered into English; + + Here lyeth the first author of this sentence. + + The itch of disputation will prove the scab of the + church. + + Enquire his name elsewhere. + +Sir Henry Wotton has been allowed by all critics to be a man of +real and great genius, an upright statesman, a polite courtier, +compassionate and benevolent to those in distress, charitable to the +poor, and in a word, an honest man and a pious christian. As a poet he +seems to have no considerable genius. His versification is harmonious, +and sometimes has an air of novelty, his turns are elegant, and his +thoughts have both dignity and propriety to recommend them. There is a +little piece amongst his collections called the World, which we shall +quote, before we give an account of his works. + + The world's a bubble: and the life of man, + Less than a span. + In his conception wretched: from the womb, + So to the tomb, + Nurst from his cradle, and brought up to years, + With cares and fears. + Who then to frail mortality shall trust, + But lymns in water, or but writes in dust. + Yet whil'st with sorrow here we live opprest, + What life is best? + Courts are but only superficial schools, + To dandle fools: + The rural part is turned into a den + Of savage men: + And where's a city from vice so free, + But may be termed the word of all the three? + Domestic cares afflict the husband's bed, + Or pains his head. + Those that live single take it for a curse, + Or do things worse, + These would have children, those that have them none, + Or wish them gone: + What is it then to have, or have no wife, + But single thraldom, or a double strife? + Our own affections still at home, to please, + Is a disease. + To cross the seas, to any foreign soil + Peril and toil. + Wars with their noise, affright us, when they cease. + We're worse in peace. + What then remains, but that we still should cry + For being born, and being born to die. + +He is author of the following works; + +Epistola de Casparo Scioppio, Amberg. 1638, 8vo. This Scioppius was a +man of restless spirit, and had a malicious pen; who in books against +King James, took occasion from a sentence written by Sir Henry Wotton, +in a German's Album, (mentioned p. 260.) to upbraid him with what +principles of religion were professed by him, and his embassador +Wotton, then at Venice, where the said sentence was also written in +several glass windows, as hath been already observed. + +Epist. ad Marc. Velserum Duumvir. Augustæ Vindelicæ, Ann. 1612. + +The Elements of Architecture, Lond. 1624, 4to. in two parts, +re-printed in the Reliquæ Wottonianæ, Ann. 1651, 1654, and 1672, 8vo. +translated into Latin, and printed with the great Vitruvius, and an +eulogium on Wotton put before it. Amster. 1649, folio. + +Plausus & Vota ad Regem è scotiâ reducem. Lond. 1633, in a large 4to. +or rather in a little folio, reprinted by Dr. John Lamphire, in a +book, entitled by him, Monarchia Britannica, Oxon. 1681, 8vo. + +Parallel between Robert Earl of Essex, and George late Duke of +Buckingham, London 1642, in four sheets and a half in 4to. + +Difference, and Disparity between the Estates, and Conditions of +George Duke of Buckingham, and Robert Earl of Essex. + +Characters of, and Observations on, some Kings of England. + +The Election of the New Duke of Venice, after the Death of Giopvanno +Bembo. + +Philosophical Survey of Education, or moral Architecture. + +Aphorisms of Education. + +The great Action between Pompey and Cæsar, extracted out of the Roman +and Greek writers. + +Meditations 22. [Chap. of Gen. Christmas Day] + +Letters to, and Characters of certain Personages. + +Various Poems.--All or most of which books, and Treatises are +re-printed in a book, entitled, Reliquæ Wottonianæ already mentioned, +Lond. 1651, 1654, 1672, and 1685, in 8vo. published by Js. Walton, at +the End of Sir Henry Wotton's life. + +Letters to the Lord Zouch. + +The State of Christendom: or, a more exact and curious Discovery of +many secret Passages, and hidden Mysteries of the Times, Lond. 1657, +folio. + +Letters to Sir Edmund Bacon, Lond. 1661, 8vo. There are also several +Letters of his extant, which were addressed to George Duke of +Buckingham, in a Book called Cabala, Mysteries of State, Lond. 1654, +4to. + +Journal of his Embassies to Venice, Manuscript, written in the Library +of Edward Lord Conway. + +The Propositions to the Count d'Angosciola, relating to Duels. + + +[Footnote 1: Walton, ubi supra.] + + * * * * * + + +GERVASE MARKHAM. + +A gentleman who lived in the reign of Charles I. for whom he took up +arms in the time of the rebellion, being honoured by his Majesty with +a captain's commission.[1] He was the son of Robert Markham, of Cotham +in the county of Nottingham, Esq; and was famous for his numerous +volumes of husbandry, and horsemanship; besides what he has wrote on +rural recreations and military discipline, he understood both the +practice and theory of war, and was esteemed an excellent linguist, +being master of the French, Italian, and Spanish languages, from all +which he collected observations on husbandry. One piece of dramatic +poetry which he has published, says Mr. Langbaine, will shew, that he +sacrificed to Apollo and the Muses, as well as Mars and Pallas. This +play is extant under the title of Herod and Antipater, a +tragedy, printed 4to, 1622; when or where this play was acted, +Mr. Langbaine cannot determine; for, says he, the imperfection +of my copy hinders my information; for the foundation, it +is built on history: See Josephus. Mr. Langbaine then proceeds to +enumerate his other works, which he says, are famous over all England; +of these he has wrote a discourse of Horsemanship, printed 4to. +without date, and dedicated to Prince Henry, eldest son to King +James I. Cure of all Diseases incident to Horses, 4to. 1610. English +Farrier, 4to. 1649. Masterpiece, 4to. 1662. Faithful Farrier, 8vo. +1667. Perfect Horsemanship, 12mo. 1671. In Husbandry he published +Liebault's le Maison Rustique, or the Country Farm, folio, Lond. 1616. +This Treatise, which was at first translated by Mr. Richard Surfleit, +a Physician, our author enlarged with several additions from the +French books of Serris and Vinet, the Spanish of Albiterio and the +Italian of Grilli and others. The Art of Husbandry, first translated +from the Latin of Cour. Heresbachiso, by Barnaby Googe, he revived and +augmented, 4to. 1631. He wrote besides, Farewell to Husbandry, +4to. 1620. Way to get wealth, wherein is comprised his Country +Contentments, printed 4to. 1668. To this is added, Hunger's +Prevention, or the Art of Fowling, 8vo. His Epitome, 12mo. &c.--In +Military Discipline he has published the Soldier's Accidence and +Grammar, 4to. 1635--Besides these the second book of the first part of +the English Arcadia is said to be wrote by him, in so much that he +may be accounted, says Langbaine, "if not Unus in omnibus, at least +a benefactor to the public, by those works he left behind him, which +without doubt perpetuate his memory." Langbaine is lavish in his +praise, and not altogether undeservedly. To have lived a military +life, which too often engages its professors in a dissipated course of +pleasure, and at the same time, make himself master of such a variety +of knowledge, and yield so much application to study, entitles him +to hold some rank in literature. In poetry he has no name, perhaps +because he did not apply himself to it; so true is the observation +that a great poet is seldom any thing else. Poetry engages all the +powers of the mind, and when we consider how difficult it is to +acquire a name in a profession which demands so many requisites, it +will not appear strange that the sons of Apollo should seldom be +found to yield sufficient attention to any other excellence, so as to +possess it in an equal degree. + +[Footnote 1: Langbaine's Lives, p. 340.] + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS HEYWOOD + + +Lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. He was an +actor, as appears from the evidence of Mr. Kirkman, and likewise from +a piece written by him called, The Actor's Vindication. Langbaine +calls his plays second rate performances, but the wits of his time +would not permit them to rank so high. He was according to his own +confession, one of the most voluminous writers, that ever attempted +dramatic poetry in any language, and none but the celebrated Spaniard +Lopez de Vega can vie with him. In his preface to one of his plays he +observes, that this Tragi-comedy is one preserved amongst two hundred +and twenty, "in which I have had either an entire hand, or at least a +main finger." Of this prodigious number, Winstanley, Langbaine, and +Jacob agree, that twenty-four only remain; the reason Heywood himself +gives is this; "That many of them by shifting and change of companies +have been negligently lost; others of them are still retained in the +hands of some actors, who think it against their profit to have them +come in print, and a third, that it was never any great ambition in me +to be voluminously read." These seem to be more plausible reasons than +Winstanley gives for their miscarriage; "It is said that he not only +acted himself every day, but also wrote each day a sheet; and that he +might lose no time, many of his plays were composed in the tavern, on +the backside of tavern bills, which may be the occasion that so many +of them are lost." That many of our author's plays might be plann'd, +and perhaps partly composed in a tavern is very probable, but that any +part of them was wrote on a tavern bill, seems incredible, the tavern +bill being seldom brought upon the table till the guests are going to +depart; besides as there is no account of Heywood's being poor, and +when his employment is considered, it is almost impossible he could +have been so; there is no necessity to suppose this very strange +account to be true. A poet not long dead was often obliged to study +in the fields, and write upon scraps of paper, which he occasionally +borrowed; but his case was poverty, and absolute want.[1] Langbaine +observes of our author, that he was a general scholar, and a tolerable +linguist, as his several translations from Lucian, Erasmus, Texert, +Beza, Buchanan, and other Latin and Italian authors sufficiently +manifest. Nay, further, says he, "in several of his plays, he has +borrowed many ornaments from the ancients, as more particularly in his +play called the Ages, he has interspersed several things borrowed from +Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Plautus, which extremely set them off." +What opinion the wits of his age had of him, may appear from the +following verses, extracted from of one of the poets of those +times.[2] + + The squibbing Middleton, and Heywood sage, + Th' apologetick Atlas of the stage; + Well of the golden age he could entreat, + But little of the metal he could get; + Threescore sweet babes he fashion'd at a lump, + For he was christen'd in Parnassus pump; + The Muses gossip to Aurora's bed, + And ever since that time, his face was red. + +We have no account how much our author was distinguished as an actor, +and it may be reasonably conjectured that he did not shine in that +light; if he had, his biographers would scarce have omitted so +singular a circumstance, besides he seems to have addicted himself +too much to poetry, to study the art of playing, which they who are +votaries of the muses, or are favoured by them, seldom think worth +their while, and is indeed beneath their genius. + +The following is a particular account of our author's plays now +extant: + +1. Robert Earl of Huntingdon's downfall, an historical Play, 1601, +acted by the Earl of Nottingham's servants. + +2. Robert Earl of Huntingdon's Death; or Robin Hood of Merry Sherwood, +with the tragedy of chaste Matilda, 1601. The plots of these two +plays, are taken from Stow, Speed, and Baker's chronicles in the reign +of King Richard I. + +3. The Golden Age, or the Lives of Jupiter and Saturn, an historical +play, acted at the Red Bull, by the Queen's servants, 1611. This play +the author stiles the eldest Brother of three Ages. For the story see +Galtruchius's poetical history, Ross's Mystagogus Poeticus; Hollyoak, +Littleton, and other dictionaries. + +4. The Silver Age, 1613; including the Love of Jupiter to Alcmena. The +Birth of Hercules, and the Rape of Proserpine; concluding with the +Arraignment of the Moon. See Plautus. Ovid. Metamorph. Lib. 3. + +5. The Brazen Age; an historical play, 1613. This play contains the +Death of Centaure Nessus, the tragedy of Meleager, and of Jason and +Medea, the Death of Hercules, Vulcan's Net, &c. For the story see +Ovid's Metamorph. Lib. 4--7--8--9. + + +6. The Iron Age; the first part a history containing the Rape of +Helen, the Siege of Troy, the Combat between Hector and Ajax. Hector +and Troilus slain by Achilles, the Death of Ajax, &c. 1632. + +7. Iron Age, the second part; a History containing the Death of +Penthesilea, Paris, Priam, and Hecuba: the burning of Troy, the Deaths +of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Clytemnestra, Helena, Orestes, Egistus, +Pylades, King Diomede, Pyrrhus, Cethus, Synon, Thersetus, 1632, +which part is addressed to the author's much respected friend Thomas +Manwaring, Esq; for the plot of both parts, see Homer, Virgil, Dares +Phrygius; for the Episodes, Ovid's Epistles, Metamorph, Lucian's +Dialogues, &c. + +8. A Woman kill'd with Kindness, a comedy acted by the Queen's +Servants with applause, 1617. + +9. If you know not Me, you know Nobody; or the Troubles of Queen +Elizabeth, in Two parts, 1623. The plot taken from Camden, Speed, and +other English Chronicles in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. + +10. The Royal King, and Loyal Subject, a tragi-comedy, 1627, taken +partly from Fletcher's Loyal Subject. + +The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl worth Gold, 1631. This play was +acted before the King and Queen. Our author in his epistle prefixed to +this play, pleads modesty in not exposing his plays to the public view +of the world in numerous sheets, and a large volume under the title of +Works, as others, by which he would seem tacitly to arraign some of +his cotemporaries for ostentation, and want of modesty. Langbaine is +of opinion, that Heywood in this case levelled the accusation at +Ben Johnson, since no other poet, in those days, gave his plays the +pompous title of Works, of which Sir John Suckling has taken notice in +his session, of the poets. + + The first that broke silence, was good old Ben, + Prepar'd before with Canary wine; + And he told them plainly, that he deserved the bays, + For his were called works, where others were but plays. + +There was also a distich directed by some poet of that age to Ben +Johnson, + + Pray tell me, Ben, where does the mystery lurk? + What others call a play, you call a work. + +Which was thus answered by a friend of his, + + The author's friend, thus for the author says, + Ben's plays are works, when others works are plays. + +12. Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl worth Gold, the second part; +acted likewise before the King and Queen with success, dedicated to +Thomas Hammond, of Gray's-Inn, Esq; + +13. The Dutchess of Suffolk, an historical play 1631. For the play see +Fox's Martyrology, p. 521. + +14. The English Traveller, a tragi-comedy, acted at the Cock-pit in +Drury-lane, 1633, dedicated to Sir Henry Appleton, the plot from +Plautus Mostellaria. + +15. A Maidenhead well lost, a comedy acted in Drury-lane, 1634. + +16. The Four London Apprentices, with the Conquest of Jerusalem; an +historical play, acted by the Queen's servants 1635. It is founded on +the history of Godfrey of Bulloign. See Tasso, Fuller's history of the +holy war, &c. + +17. A Challenge for Beauty; a tragi-comedy, acted by the King's +servants in Black-Fryers, 1636. + +18. The Fair Maid of the Exchance; with the Merry Humours of the +Cripple of Fen-church, a comedy, 1637. + +19. The Wise Woman of Hogsden; a comedy, acted with applause, 1638. + +20. The Rape of Lucrece, a Roman Tragedy, acted at the Red Bull, 1638. +Plot from Titus Livius. + +21. Love's Mistress, or the Queen's Mask; presented several times +before their Majesties, 1640. For the plot see Apuleius's Golden Ass. + +22. Fortune by Land or Sea, a comedy; acted by the Queen's servants, +1653. Mr. Rowley assisted in the composing of this play. + +23. The Lancashire Witches, a comedy; acted at the Globe by the King's +servants. Mr. Brome joined with Mr. Heywood in writing this comedy. +This story is related by the author in his Hierarchy of Angels. + +24. Edward IV. an historical play, in two parts. For the story see +Speed, Hollinshed and other chronicles. + +This author has published several other works in verse and prose, as +his Hierarchy of Angels, above-mentioned; the Life and Troubles of +Queen Elizabeth; the General History of Women; An Apology for Actors, +&c. + +[Footnote 1: See the Life of Savage.] + +[Footnote 2: Langbaine, p. 258.] + + * * * * * + + +WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT, + +A Gentleman eminent for learning. The place of his birth, and his +father's name, are differently assigned by authors, who have mentioned +him. Mr. Loyd says[1], that he was son of Thomas Cartwright of Burford +in Oxfordshire, and born August 16, in the year 1615; Mr. Wood[2], +that he was the son of William Cartwright, and born at Northway, near +Tewksbury in Gloucestershire in September 1611, that his father had +dissipated a fair inheritance he knew not how, and as his last refuge +turned inn-keeper at Cirencester; when living in competence, he +procured his son, a youth of a promising genius, to be educated under +Mr. William Topp, master of the free school in that town. From thence +he was removed to Westminster school, being chosen a King's scholar, +when compleating his former learning, under the care of Mr. Lambert +Osbaldiston, he was elected a student in Christ Church in Oxford, +in 1628, under the tuition of Mr. Jerumael Terrent[3], having gone +through the classes of logic and philosophy with unwearied diligence, +he took the degrees of Arts, that of Master being compleated in 1605. +Afterwards he entered into holy orders, and gained great reputation, +in the university for his pathetic preaching. + +In 1642 he had the place of succentor in the church of Salisbury, +conferred on him by bishop Duppa,[4] and in 1643 was chosen junior +proctor of the university; he was also metaphysical reader, and it was +generally said, that those lectures were never performed better than +by Mr. Cartwright, and his predecessor Mr. Thomas Barlow of Queen's +College, afterwards lord bishop of Lincoln.[5] This ingenious +gentleman died of a malignant fever, called the Camp-disease, which +then reigned in Oxford, and was fatal to many of his contemporaries, +in the 33d year of his age, 1643. His death was very much lamented by +all ranks of men, and the King and Queen, then at Oxford, frequently +enquired after him in the time of his sickness, and expressed great +concern for his death. Mr. Cartwright was as remarkable for the +endowments of his person as of his mind; his body (as Langbaine +expresses it) "being as handsome as his soul. He was, says he, an +expert linguist, understanding not only Greek and Latin, but French +and Italian, as perfectly as his mother tongue; an excellent orator, +and at the same time an admirable poet, a quality which Cicero with +all his pains could never attain." The editor of his works applies +to him the saying of Aristotle concerning Æschron the poet, "that he +could not tell what Æschron could not do," and Dr. Fell, bishop of +Oxford, said of him, "Cartwright was the utmost a man can come to." +Ben Johnson likewise so highly valued him, that he said, "My son +Cartwright writes all like a man." There are extant of this author's, +four plays, besides other poems, all which were printed together in +1651, to which are prefixed above fifty copies of commendatory verses +by the most eminent wits of the university. + +Langbaine gives the following account of his plays; + +1. Ordinary, a Comedy, when and where acted is uncertain. + +2. Lady Errant, a Tragi-Comedy; there is no account when this play was +acted, but it was esteemed a good Comedy. + +3, Royal Slave, a Tragi-comedy, presented to the King and Queen, by +the students of Christ Church in Oxford, August 30, 1636; presented +since before both their Majesties at Hampton Court by the King's +servants. As for the noble stile of the play itself, and the ready +address, and graceful carriage of the students (amongst which Dr. +Busby, the famous master of Westminster school; proved himself a +second Roscius) did exceed all things of that nature they had ever +seen. The Queen, in particular, so much admired it, that in November +following, she sent for the habits and scenes to Hampton Court, she +being desirous to see her own servants represent the same play, whose +profession it was, that she might the better judge of the several +performances, and to whom the preference was due: the sentence was +universally given by all the spectators in favour of the gown, though +nothing was wanting on Mr. Cartwright's side to inform the players as +well as the Scholars, in what belonged to the action and delivery of +each part.[6] + +4. Siege, or Love's Convert, a Tragi-Comedy, when acted is not known, +but was dedicated by the author to King Charles I. by an epistle in +verse. + +Amongst his poems, there are several concerning the dramatic poets, +and their writings, which must not be forgot; as these two copies +which he wrote on Mr. Thomas Killegrew's plays, the Prisoner, and +Claracilla; two copies on Fletcher, and one in memory of Ben Johnson, +which are so excellent, that the publisher of Mr. Cartwright's poems +speaks of them with rapture in the preface, viz. 'what had Ben said +had he read his own Eternity, in that lasting elegy given him by our +author.' Mr. Wood mentions some other works of Cartwright's; 1st. +Poemata Graeca et Latina. 2d. An Offspring of Mercy issuing out of the +Womb of Cruelty; a Passion Sermon preached at Christ Church in Oxford, +on Acts ii. 23. London, 8vo. 1652. 3d. On the Signal Days of the Month +of November, in relation to the Crown and Royal Family; a Poem, London +1671, in a sheet, 4to. 4th. Poems and Verses, containing Airs for +several Voices, set by Mr. Henry Lawes. + +From a Comedy of Mr. Cartwright's called the Ordinary, I shall quote +the following Congratulatory Song on a Marriage, which is amorous, and +spirited. + + I. + While early light springs from the skies, + A fairer from your bride doth rise; + A brighter day doth thence appear, + And make a second morning there. + Her blush doth shed + All o'er the bed + Clear shame-faced beams + That spread in streams, + And purple round the modest air. + + II. + I will not tell what shrieks and cries, + What angry pishes, and what fies, + What pretty oaths, then newly born, + The list'ning bridegroom heard there sworn: + While froward she + Most peevishly + Did yielding fight, + To keep o'er night, + What she'd have proffer'd you e're morn. + + III. + For, we know, maids do refute + To grant what they do come to lose. + Intend a conquest, you that wed; + They would be chastly ravished; + Not any kiss + From Mrs. Pris, + 'If that you do + Persuade and woo: + No, pleasure's by extorting fed. + + IV. + O may her arms wax black and blue + Only by hard encircling you: + May she round about you twine + Like the easy twisting vine; + And while you sip + From her full lip + Pleasures as new + As morning dew, + Like those soft tyes, your hearts combine. + + +[Footnote 1: Memoirs, p. 422.] + +[Footnote 2: Atheniæ Oxon. p. 274.] + +[Footnote 3: ibid. vol. ii. col. 34.] + +[Footnote 4: Athen. Oxon. col. 35.] + +[Footnote 5: Preface to his Poems in 8vo. London, 1651.] + +[Footnote 6: Wood.] + + * * * * * + + +GEORGE SANDYS, + +A younger son of Edwin, Archbishop of York, was born at Bishops Thorp +in that county, and as a member of St. Mary's Hall, was matriculated +in the university in the beginning of December 1589; how long he +remained at the university Wood is not able to determine. In the year +1610 he began a long journey, and after he had travelled through +several parts of Europe, he visited many cities, especially +Constantinople, and countries under the Turkish empire, as Greece, +Egypt, and the Holy Land[1]. Afterwards he took a view of the remote +parts of Italy, and the Islands adjoining: Then he went to Rome; the +antiquities of that place were shewn him by Nicholas Fitzherbert, +once an Oxford student, and who had the honour of Mr. Sandys's +acquaintance. Thence our author went to Venice, and from that returned +to England, where digesting his notes, he published his travels. +Sandys, who appears to have been a man of excellent parts, of a pious +and generous disposition, did not, like too many travellers, turn his +attention upon the modes of dress, and the fashions of the several +courts which is but a poor acquisition; but he studied the genius, the +tempers, the religion, and the governing principles of the people he +visited, as much as his time amongst them would permit. He returned +in 1612, being improved, says Wood, 'in several respects, by this his +'large journey, being an accomplished gentleman, as being master of +several languages, of affluent and ready discourse, and excellent +comportment.' He had also a poetical fancy, and a zealous inclination +to all literature, which made his company acceptable to the most +virtuous men, and scholars of his time. He also wrote a Paraphrase on +the Psalms of David, and upon the Hymns dispersed throughout the Old +and New Testament, London, 1636, reprinted there in folio 1638, with +other things under this title. + +Paraphrase on the Divine Poems, on Job, Psalms of David, Ecclesiastes, +Lamentations of Jeremiah, and Songs collected out of the Old and New +Testament. This Paraphrase on David's Psalms was one of the books that +Charles I. delighted so much to read in: as he did in Herbert's Divine +Poems, Dr. Hammond's Works, and Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, while +he was a prisoner in the Isle of Wight[2]. + +Paraphrase on the Divine Poems, viz. on the Psalms of David, on +Ecclesiastes, and on the Song of Solomon, London, 1637. Some, if not +all of the Psalms of David, had vocal compositions set to them by +William and Henry Lawes, with a thorough bass, for an Organ, in four +large books or volumes in 4to. Our author also translated into English +Ovid's Metamorphoses, London, 1627. Virgil's first book of Æneis +printed with the former. Mr. Dryden in his preface to some of his +translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses, calls him the best versifier of +the last age. + +Christ's Passion, written in Latin by the famous Hugo Grotius, and +translated by our author, to which he also added notes; this subject +had been handled handled before in Greek, by that venerable person, +Apollinarius of Laodicea, bishop of Hierapolis, but this of Grotius, +in Sandys's opinion, transcends all on this argument; this piece was +reprinted with figures in 8vo. London, 1688. Concerning our author +but few incidents are known, he is celebrated by cotemporary and +subsequent wits, as a very considerable poet, and all have agreed to +bestow upon him the character of a pious worthy man. He died in the +year 1643, at the house of his nephew Mr. Wiat at Boxley Abbey in +Kent, in the chancel of which parish church he is buried, though +without a monument, only as Wood says with the following, which stands +in the common register belonging to this church. + +Georgius Sandys, Poetarum Anglorum sui sæculi Princeps, sepultus suit +Martii 7° stilo Anglico. Anno Pom. 1643. It would be injurious to the +memory of Sandys, to dismiss his life without informing the reader +that the worthy author stood high in the opinion of that most +accomplished young nobleman the lord viscount Falkland, by whom to +be praised, is the highest compliment that can be paid to merit; his +lordship addresses a copy of verses to Grotius, occasioned by his +Christus Patiens, in which he introduces Mr. Sandys, and says of him, +that he had seen as much as Grotius had read; he bestows upon him like +wife the epithet of a fine gentleman, and observes, that though he had +travelled to foreign countries to read life, and acquire knowledge, +yet he was worthy, like another Livy, of having men of eminence from +every country come to visit him. From the quotation here given, it +will be seen that Sandys was a smooth versifier, and Dryden in his +preface to his translation of Virgil, positively says, that had Mr. +Sandys gone before him in the whole translation, he would by no means +have attempted it after him. + +In the translation of his Christus Patiens, in the chorus of Act III. + +JESUS speaks. + + Daughters of Solyma, no more + My wrongs thus passionately deplore. + These tears for future sorrows keep, + Wives for yourselves, and children weep; + That horrid day will shortly come, + When you shall bless the barren womb, + And breast that never infant fed; + Then shall you with the mountain's head + Would from this trembling basis slide, + And all in tombs of ruin hide. + +In his translation of Ovid, the verses on Fame are thus englished. + + And now the work is ended which Jove's rage, + Nor fire, nor sword, shall raise, nor eating age. + Come when it will, my death's uncertain hour, + Which only o'er my body bath a power: + Yet shall my better part transcend the sky, + And my immortal name shall never die: + For wheresoe'er the Roman Eagles spread + Their conqu'ring wings, I shall of all be read. + And if we Prophets can presages give, + I in my fame eternally shall live. + +[Footnote 1: Athen. Oxon. p. 46. vol. ii.] + +[Footnote 2: Wood, ubi supra.] + + * * * * * + + +CARY LUCIUS, Lord Viscount FALKLAND, + +The son of Henry, lord viscount Falkland, was born at Burford in +Oxfordshire, about the year 1610[1]. For some years he received +his education in Ireland, where his father carried him when he was +appointed Lord Deputy of that kingdom in 1622; he had his academical +learning in Trinity College in Dublin, and in St. John's College, +Cambridge. Clarendon relates, "that before he came to be twenty years +of age, he was master of a noble fortune, which descended to him by +the gift of a grandfather, without passing through his father or +mother, who were both alive; shortly after that, and before he was of +age, being in his inclination a great lover of the military life, he +went into the low countries in order to procure a command, and to give +himself up to it, but was diverted from it by the compleat inactivity +of that summer." He returned to England, and applied himself to a +severe course of study; first to polite literature and poetry, in +which he made several successful attempts. In a very short time he +became perfectly master of the Greek tongue; accurately read all the +Greek historians, and before he was twenty three years of age, he had +perused all the Greek and Latin Fathers. + +About the time of his father's death, in 1633, he was made one of the +Gentlemen of his Majesty's Privy Chamber, notwithstanding which he +frequently retired to Oxford, to enjoy the conversation of learned and +ingenious men. In 1639 he was engaged in an expedition against the +Scots, and though he received some disappointment in a command of a +troop of horse, of which he had a promise, he went a volunteer with +the earl of Essex[2]. + +In 1640 he was chosen a Member of the House of Commons, for Newport in +the Isle of Wight, in the Parliament which began at Westminster the +13th of April in the same year, and from the debates, says Clarendon, +which were managed with all imaginable gravity and sobriety, 'he +contracted such a reverence for Parliaments, that he thought +it absolutely impossible they ever could produce mischief or +inconvenience to the nation, or that the kingdom could be tolerably +happy in the intermission of them, and from the unhappy, and +unseasonable dissolution of the Parliament he harboured some prejudice +to the court.' + +In 1641, John, lord Finch, Keeper of the Great Seal, was impeached by +lord Falkland, in the name of the House of Commons, and his lordship, +says Clarendon, 'managed that prosecution with great vigour and +sharpness, as also against the earl of Strafford, contrary to his +natural gentleness of temper, but in both these cases he was misled by +the authority of those whom he believed understood the laws perfectly, +of which he himself was utterly ignorant[3].' + +He had contracted an aversion towards Archbishop Laud, and some other +bishops, which inclined him to concur in the first bill to take away +the votes of the bishops in the House of Lords. The reason of his +prejudice against Laud was, the extraordinary passion and impatience +of contradiction discoverable in that proud prelate; who could not +command his temper, even at the Council Table when his Majesty was +present, but seemed to lord it over all the rest, not by the force of +argument, but an assumed superiority to which he had no right. This +nettled lord Falkland, and made him exert his spirit to humble and +oppose the supercilious churchman. This conduct of his lordship's, +gave Mr. Hampden occasion to court him to his party, who was justly +placed by the brilliance of his powers, at the head of the opposition; +but after a longer study of the laws of the realm, and conversation +with the celebrated Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, he changed his +opinion, and espoused an interest quite opposite to Hampden's. + +After much importunity, he at last accepted the Seals of his Majesty, +and served in that employment with unshaken integrity, being above +corruption of any kind. + +When he was vested with that high dignity, two parts of his conduct +were very remarkable; he could never persuade himself that it was +lawful to employ spies, or give any countenance or entertainment to +such persons, who by a communication of guilt, or dissimulation of +manners, wind themselves into such trusts and secrets, as enable them +to make discoveries; neither could he ever suffer himself to open +letters, upon a suspicion that they might contain matters of dangerous +consequence, and proper for statesmen to know. As to the first he +condemned them as void of all honour, and who ought justly to be +abandoned to infamy, and that no single preservation could be worth so +general a wound and corruption of society, as encouraging such people +would carry with it. The last, he thought such a violation of the law +of nature, that no qualification by office could justify him in the +trespass, and tho' the necessity of the times made it clear, that +those advantages were not to be declined, and were necessary to be +practised, yet he found means to put it off from himself[4]. + +June 15, 1642, he was one of the lords who signed the declaration, +wherein they professed they were fully satisfied his Majesty had +no intention to raise war upon his Parliament. At the same time he +subscribed to levy twenty horse for his Majesty's service, upon which +he was excepted from the Parliament's favour, in the instructions +given by the two Houses to their general the Earl of Essex. He +attended the King to Edgehill fight, where after the enemy was routed +he was exposed to imminent danger, by endeavouring to save those who +had thrown away their arms. He was also with his Majesty at Oxford, +and during his residence there, the King went one day to see the +public library, where he was shewed, among other books, a Virgil nobly +printed, and exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, to divert the King, +would have him make a trial of his fortune by the Sortes Virgilianæ, +an usual kind of divination in ages past, made by opening a Virgil. +Whereupon the King opening the book, the period which happened to come +up, was that part of Dido's imprecation against Æneas, Æneid. lib. +4. v. 615, part of which is thus translated by Mr. Dryden, + + Oppess'd with numbers in th' unequal field. + His men discouraged and himself expell'd, + Let him for succour sue from place to place, + Torn from his subjects, and his sons embrace. + +His Majesty seemed much concerned at this accident. Lord Falkland who +observed it, would likewise try his own fortune in the same manner, +hoping he might fall upon some passage that had no relation to his +case, and thereby divert the king's thoughts from any impression the +other might make upon him; but the place Lord Falkland opened was more +suited to his destiny than the other had been to the King's, being the +following expressions of Evander, on the untimely death of his son +Pallas. Æneid. b. ii. verse 152, &c. + + Non hæc, O Palla, dederas promissa Parenti, &c. + +Thus translated by Mr. Dryden: + + O Pallas! thou hast failed thy plighted word, + To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword; + I warn'd thee, but in vain; for well I knew, + What perils youthful ardour would pursue: + That boiling blood would carry thee too far; + Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war! + O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom + Prelude of bloody fields, and fights to come[5]. + +Upon the beginning of the civil war, his natural chearfulness and +vivacity was clouded, and a kind of sadness and dejection of spirit +stole upon him. After the resolution of the two houses not to admit +any treaty of peace, those indispositions which had before touched +him, grew into a habit of gloominess; and he who had been easy and +affable to all men, became on a sudden less communicable, sad, and +extremely affected with the spleen. In his dress, to which he had +formerly paid an attention, beyond what might have been expected from +a man of so great abilities, and so much business, he became negligent +and slovenly, and in his reception of suitors, so quick, sharp, and +severe, that he was looked upon as proud and imperious. + +When there was any hope of peace, his former spirit used to return and +he appeared gay, and vigorous, and exceeding sollicitous to press any +thing that might promote it; and Clarendon observes, "That after a +deep silence, when he was sitting amongst his friends, he would with a +shrill voice, and sad accent, repeat the words Peace! Peace! and would +passionately say, that the agony of the war, the ruin and bloodshed in +which he saw the nation involved, took his sleep from him, and would +soon break his heart." + +This extream uneasiness seems to have hurried him on to his +destruction; for the morning before the battle of Newbery, he called +for a clean shirt, and being asked the reason of it, answered, "That +if he were slain in the battle, they should not find his body in foul +linen." Being persuaded by his friends not to go into the fight, as +being no military officer, "He said he was weary of the times, foresaw +much misery to his country, and did believe he should be out of it +e're night." Putting himself therefore into the first rank of the Lord +Byron's regiment, he was shot with a musket in the lower part of his +belly, on the 20th of September 1643, and in the instant falling from +his horse, his body was not found till next morning. + +Thus died in the bed of honour, the incomparable Lord Falkland, on +whom all his contemporaries bestowed the most lavish encomiums, and +very deservedly raised altars of praise to his memory. Among all his +panegyrists, Clarendon is the foremost, and of highest authority; and +in his words therefore, I shall give his character to the reader. "In +this unhappy battle, (says he) was slain the Lord viscount Falkland, +a person of such prodigious parts, of learning and knowledge, of that +inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, and so flowing and +obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that primitive +simplicity and integrity of life, that if there were no other brand +upon this odious and accursed civil war, than that single loss, it +must be most infamous and execrable to all posterity. He was a great +cherisher of wit and fancy, and good parts in any man; and if he found +them clouded with poverty and want, a most liberal and bountiful +patron towards them, even above his fortune." His lordship then +enumerates the unshaken loyalty and great abilities of this young +hero, in the warmth of a friend; he shews him in the most engaging +light, and of all characters which in the course of this work we met +with, except Sir Philip Sidney's, lord Falkland's seems to be the most +amiable, and his virtues are confessed by his enemies of the opposite +faction. The noble historian, in his usual masterly manner, thus +concludes his panegyric on his deceased friend. "He fell in the 34th +year of his age, having so much dispatched the true business of life, +that the eldest rarely attain to that immense knowledge, and the +youngest enter into the world with more innocency: whosoever leads +such a life, needs be less anxious upon how short warning it is +taken from him."----As to his person, he was little, and of no great +strength; his hair was blackish, and somewhat flaggy, and his eyes +black and lively. His body was buried in the church of Great Tew. His +works are chiefly these: + +First Poems.----Next, besides those Speeches of his mentioned above, + +1. A Speech concerning Uniformity, which we are informed of by Wood. + +2. A Speech of ill Counsellors about the King, 1640 [6]. + +A Draught of a Speech concerning Episcopacy, London, 1660, 410. + +4. A Discourse of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome. Oxford +1645, 410. George Holland, a Cambridge scholar, and afterwards a +Romish priest, having written an answer to this discourse of the +Infallibility, the Lord Falkland made a reply to it, entitled, + +5. A View of some Exceptions made against the Discourse of the +Infallibility of the Church of Rome, printed at Oxford, 1646, 410. +He assisted Mr. Chillingworth in his book of the Religion of the +Protestants, &c. This particular we learn from Bishop Barlow in his +Genuine Remains, who says, that when Mr. Chillingworth undertook +the defence of Dr. Pottus's book against the Jesuit, he was almost +continually at Tew with my Lord, examining the reasons of both +parties pro and con; and their invalidity and consequence; where Mr. +Chillingworth had the benefit of my Lord's company, and of his good +library. + +We shall present our readers with a specimen of his lordship's poetry, +in a copy of verses addressed to Grotius on his Christus Patiens, a +tragedy, translated by Mr. Sandys. To the AUTHOR. + + Our age's wonder, by thy birth, the fame, + Of Belgia, by thy banishment, the shame; + Who to more knowledge younger didst arrive + Than forward Glaucias, yet art still alive, + Whose matters oft (for suddenly you grew, + To equal and pass those, and need no new) + To see how soon, how far thy wit could reach, + Sat down to wonder, when they came to teach. + Oft then would Scaliger contented be + To leave to mend all times, to polish thee. + And of that pains, effect did higher boast, + Than had he gain'd all that his fathers lost. + When thy Capella read---------------------- + That King of critics stood amaz'd to see + A work so like his own set forth by thee. + +[Footnote 1: Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. i. col. 586.] + +[Footnote 2: Clarendon's History, &c.] + +[Footnote 3: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 4: Clarendon, ubi supra.] + +[Footnote 5: Memoirs, &c. by Welwood, edit 1718. 12mo. p. 90--92.] + +[Footnote 6: Historical Collections, p. 11. vol. 2. p. 1342.] + + * * * * * + + +Sir JOHN SUCKLING + +Lived in the reign of King Charles I. and was son of Sir John +Suckling, comptroller of the houshold to that monarch. He was born +at Witham, in the county of Middlesex, 1613, with a remarkable +circumstance of his mother's going eleven months with him, which +naturalists look upon as portending a hardy and vigorous constitution. +A strange circumstance is related of him, in his early years, in a +life prefixed to his works. He spoke Latin, says the author, at five +years old, and wrote it at nine; if either of these circumstances is +true, it would seem as if he had learned Latin from his nurse, nor +ever heard any other language, so that it was native to him; but to +speak Latin at five, in consequence of study, is almost impossible. + +The polite arts, which our author chiefly admired, were music and +poetry; how far he excelled in the former, cannot be known, nor can +we agree with his life-writer already mentioned, that he excelled in +both. Sir John Suckling seems to have been no poet, nor to have had +even the most distant appearances of it; his lines are generally so +unmusical, that none can read them without grating their ears; being +author of several plays, he may indeed be called a dramatist, and +consequently comes within our design; but as he is destitute of +poetical conceptions, as well as the power of numbers, he has no +pretensions to rank among the good poets. + +Dryden somewhere calls him a sprightly wit, a courtly writer. In +this sense he is what Mr. Dryden stiles him; but then he is no poet, +notwithstanding. His letters, which are published along with his +plays, are exceeding courtly, his stile easy and genteel, and his +thoughts natural; and in reading his letters, one would wonder that +the same man, who could write so elegantly in prose, should not better +succeed in verse. + +After Suckling had made himself acquainted with the constitution of +his own country, and taken a survey of the most remarkable things at +home, he travelled to digest and enlarge his notions, from a view of +other countries, where, says the above-mentioned author, he made a +collection of their virtues, without any tincture of their vices and +follies, only that some were of opinion he copied the French air too +much, which being disagreeable to his father, who was remarkable for +his gravity, and, indeed, inconsistent with, the gloominess of the +times, he was reproached for it, and it was imputed to him as the +effects of his travels; but some were of opinion, that it was more +natural than acquired, the easiness of his manner and address being +suitable to the openness of his heart, the gaiety, wit and gallantry, +which were so conspicuous in him; and he seems to have valued himself +upon nothing more than the character of the Courtier and the Fine +Gentleman, which he so far attained, that he is allowed to have had +the peculiar happiness, of making every thing he did become him. +While Suckling was thus assiduous about acquiring the reputation of +a finished courtier, and a man of fashion, it is no wonder that he +neglected the higher excellencies of genius, for a poet and a beau, +never yet were united in one person. + +Sir John was not however, so much devoted to the luxury of the court, +as to be wholly a stranger to the field. In his travels he made a +campaign under the great Gustavus Adolphus, where he was present +at three battles and five sieges, besides other skirmishes between +Parties; and from such a considerable scene of action, gained as much +experience in six months, as otherwise he would have done in as many +years. + +After his return to England, the Civil War being then raging, he +raised a troop of horse for the King's service, entirely at his own +charge, so richly and compleatly mounted, that it stood him in 1200 +l. but his zeal for his Majesty did not meet with the success it +deserved, which very much affected him; and soon after this he was +seized with a fever, and died in the 28th year of his age. In which +short space he had done enough to procure him the esteem of the +politest men who conversed with him; but as he had set out in the +world with all the advantages of birth, person, education, and +fortune, peoples expectations of him were raised to too great a +heighth, which seldom fails to issue in a disappointment. He makes no +figure in the history of these times, perhaps from the immaturity of +his death, which prevented him from action. This might be one reason +for his being neglected in the annals of the civil war: another might +be, his unnecessary, or rather ridiculous shew of finery, which he +affected in decorating his troop of horse. This could not fail to draw +down contempt upon him, for in time of public distress, nothing can be +more foolish than to wear the livery of prosperity; and surely an army +would have no great reason to put much confidence in the conduct or +courage of that general; who in the morning of a Battle should +be found in his tent perfuming his hair, or arraying himself in +embroidery. + +Mr. Lloyd, in his memoirs of our author, observes, that his thoughts +were not so loose as his expressions, nor his life so vain as his +thoughts; and at the same time makes an allowance for his youth and +sanguine complexion; which, says he, a little more time and experience +would have corrected. Of this, we have instances in his occasional +discourses about religion to my Lord Dorset, to whom he was related; +and in his thoughts of the posture of affairs; in both which he has +discovered that he could think as coolly, and reason as justly as men +of more years, and less fire. + +To a Lady that forbad to love before company. + + What! no more favours, not a ribbon more, + Not fan, nor muff, to hold as heretofore? + Must all the little blesses then be left, + And what was once love's gift become our theft? + May we not look ourselves into a trance, + Teach our souls parley at our eyes, not glance, + Nor touch the hand, but by soft wringing there, + Whisper a love that only yes can hear. + Not free a sigh, a sigh that's there for you, + Dear must I love you, and not love you too? + Be wise, nice fair; for sooner shall they trace, + The feather'd choristers from place to place, + By prints they make in th' air, and sooner say + By what right line, the last star made its way, + That fled from heaven to earth, than guess to know, + How our loves first did spring, or how they grow. + +The above are as smooth lines as could be found among our author's +works; but in justice to Suckling, before we give an account of his +plays, we shall transcribe one of his letters, when we are persuaded +the reader will join in the opinion already given of his works in +general; it is addressed to his mistress, and has something in it gay +and sprightly. + +This verifies the opinion of Mr. Dryden, that love makes a man a +rhimster, if not a poet. + + My Dear, Dear! + + Think I have kissed your letter to nothing, + and now know not what to answer; or that + now I am answering, I am kissing you to nothing, + and know not how to go on! For you + must pardon, I must hate all I send you here, + because it expresses nothing in respect of what + it leaves behind with me. And oh! why should + I write then? Why should I not come myself? + Those Tyrants, Business, Honour, and Necessity, + what have they to do with with you, and me? + Why Should we not do Love's Commands + before theirs, whose Sovereignty is but + usurped upon us? Shall we not smell to Roses, + cause others do look on, or gather them because + there are Prickles, or something that + would hinder us?----Dear----I fain would + and know no Hindrance----but what must come + from you,----and----why should any come? + Since 'tis not I but you must be sensible how + much Time we lose, it being long since I was + not myself,----but---- + + "Yours."---- + +His dramatic works are, + +1. Aglaura, presented at a private House in Black Fryars. Langbaine +says, 'that it was much prized in his Time; and that the last Act is +so altered, that it is at the pleasure of the Actors to make it a +Tragedy, or Tragi-Comedy.' + +2. Brennoralt, or the Discontented Colonel; a Tragedy, presented at a +private House in Black-Fryars by his Majesty's Servants. + +3. Sad-one, a Tragedy. This Piece was never finished. + +4. Goblings, a Tragi-Comedy, presented at a private House in +Black-Fryars, by his Majesty's Servants. + + * * * * * + + +PETER HAUSTED. + +This gentleman was born at Oundle in Northamptonshire, and received +his education in Queen's-College, Cambridge. After he had taken his +degrees, he entered into holy orders, became curate of Uppingham in +Rutlandshire; and according to Wood in his Fasti Oxon. was at length +made rector of Hadham in Hertfordshire. Upon the breaking out of the +civil wars, he was made chaplain to Spencer Earl of Northampton, to +whom he adhered in all his engagements for the Royal Interest, and +was with him in the castle of Banbury in Oxfordshire, when it was +vigorously defended against the Parliament's forces. In that castle +Mr. Wood says, he concluded his last moments in the year 1645, and was +buried within the precincts of it, or else in the church belonging to +Banbury. + +This person, whom both Langbaine and Wood account a very ingenious +man, and an excellent poet, has written the following pieces: + +Rival Friends, a Comedy; acted before the King and Queen when their +Majesties paid a Visit to the University of Cambridge, upon the 19th +of March, 1631; which Mr. Langbaine thus characterizes. "It was cried +down by Boys, Faction, Envy, and confident Ignorance; approved by the +Judicious, and exposed to the Public by the Author, printed in +4to. Lond. 1632, and dedicated by a copy of Verses, to the Right +Honourable, Right Reverend, Right Worshipful, or whatever he be, shall +be, or whom he hereafter may call patron. The Play is commended by a +copy of Latin Verses, and two in English. The Prologue is a Dialogue +between Venus, Thetis, and Phoebus, sung by two Trebles, and a Base. +Venus appearing at a Window above, as risen, calling to Sol, who lay +in Thetis lap, at the East side of the Stage, canopy'd with an Azure +Curtain. Our Author," continues Langbaine, "seems to be much of the +Humour of Ben Johnson, whose greatest Weakness was, that he could not +bear Censure, and has so great a Value for Ben's Writings, that his +Scene between Loveall, Mungrel, and Hammeshin Act 3. Scene 7, is +copied from Ben Johnson's Silent Woman, between True-wit, Daw, and +La-fool, Act 4. Scene 5." + +2. Ten Sermons preached upon several Sundays, and Saints Days, London +1636, 4to. To which is added an Assize Sermon. + +3. Ad Populum, a Lecture to the People, with a Satire against +Sedition, Oxon, 1644, in three Sheets in 4to. + +This is a Poem, and the Title of it was given by King Charles I. who +seeing it in Manuscript, with the Title of a Sermon to the People, he +altered it, and caused it to be called a Lecture, being much delighted +with it. + +This Author also translated into English, Hymnus, Tobaci, &c. Lond. +1651, 8vo. + + * * * * * + + +WILLIAM DRUMMOND of HAWTHORNDEN Esq; + +This gentleman was a native of Scotland, and a poet of no +inconsiderable rank. We had at first some doubt whether he fell within +our design, as being no Englishman, but upon observing that Mr. +Langbaine has given a place to the earl of Stirling, a man of much +inferior note; and that our author, though a Scotchman, wrote +extremely pure and elegant English, and his life, that is fruitful of +a great many incidents, without further apology, it is here presented +to the reader. + +He was born the 13th of November, 1585; his father was Sir John +Drummond of Hawthornden, who was Gentleman Usher to King James VI. +but did not enjoy that place long, being in three months after he +was raised to his new dignity, taken away by death[1]. The family of +Drummond in the article of antiquity is inferior to none in Scotland, +where that kind of distinction is very much regarded. + +The first years of our author's youth were spent at the high school +at Edinburgh, where the early promises of that extraordinary genius, +which afterwards appeared in him, became very conspicuous. He was in +due time sent to the university of Edinburgh, where after the ordinary +stay, he was made Master of Arts. When his course at the university +was finished, he did not, like the greatest part of giddy students, +give over reading, and vainly imagine they have a sufficient stock of +learning: he had too much sense thus to deceive himself; he knew that +an education at the university is but the ground-work of knowledge, +and that unless a man digests what he has there learned, and +endeavours to produce it into life with advantage, so many years +attendance were but entirely thrown away. Being convinced of this +truth, he continued to read the best authors of antiquity, whom he not +only retained in his memory, but so digested, that he became quite +master of them, and able to make such observations on their genius +and writings, as fully shewed that his judgment had been sufficiently +exercised in reading them. + +In the year 1606 his father sent him into France, he being then only +twenty-one years old. He studied at Bourges the civil law, with great +diligence and applause, and was master not only of the dictates of +the professors, but made also his own observations on them, which +occasioned the learned president Lockhart to observe, that if Mr. +Drummond had followed the practice, he might have made the best figure +of any lawyer in his time; but like all other men of wit, he saw more +charms in Euripides, Sophocles, Seneca, and other the illustrious +ancients, than in the dry wranglings of the law; as there have been +often instances of poets, and men of genius being educated to the law, +so here it may not be amiss to observe, that we remember not to +have met with one amongst them who continued in that profession, a +circumstance not much in its favour, and is a kind of proof, that the +professors of it are generally composed of men who are capable of +application, but without genius. Mr. Drummond having, as we have +already observed, a sovereign contempt for the law, applied himself to +the sublimer studies of poetry and history, in both which he became +very eminent. Having relinquished all thoughts of the bar, or +appearing in public, he retired to his pleasant seat at Hawthornden, +and there, by reading the Greek and Latin authors, enriched the world +with the product of his solitary hours. After he had recovered a very +dangerous fit of sickness, he wrote his Cypress Grove, a piece of +excellent prose, both for the fineness of the stile, and the sublimity +and piety of the sentiments: In which he represents the vanity and +instability of human affairs; teaches a due contempt of the world; +proposes consolations against the fear of death, and gives us a view +of eternal happiness. Much about this time he wrote the Flowers of +Sion in verse. Though the numbers in which these poems are wrote are +not now very fashionable, yet the harmony is excellent, and during the +reign of King James and Charles I. we have met with no poet who seems +to have had a better ear, or felt more intimately the passion he +describes. The writer of his life already mentioned, observes, that +notwithstanding his close retirement, love stole upon him, and +entirely subdued his heart. He needed not to have assigned retirement +as a reason why it should seem strange that love grew upon him, for +retirement in its own nature is the very parent of love. When a man +converses with but few ladies, he is apt to fall in love with her +who charms him most; whereas were his attention dissipated, and his +affections bewildered by variety, he would be preserved from love by +not being able to fix them; which is one reason why we always find +people in the country have more enthusiastic notions of love, than +those who move in the hurry of life. This beautiful young lady, with +whom Mr. Drummond was enamoured, was daughter of Mr. Cunningham of +Barnes, of an ancient and honourable family. He made his addresses to +her in the true spirit of gallantry, and as he was a gentleman who had +seen the world, and consequently was accomplished in the elegancies of +life, he was not long in exciting proper returns of passion; he gained +her affections, and when the day of the marriage was appointed, and +all things ready for its solemnization, she was seized with a fever, +and snatched from him, when his imagination had figured those scenes +of rapture which naturally fill the mind of a bridegroom. As our +author was a poet, he no doubt was capable of forming still a greater +ideal fealt, than a man of ordinary genius, and as his mistress was, +as Rowe expresses it, 'more than painting can express,' or 'youthful +poets fancy when they love,' those who have felt that delicate +passion, may be able in some measure to judge of the severity of +distress into which our poetical bridegroom was now plunged: After +the fervours of sorrow had in some measure subsided, he expressed his +grief for her in several letters and poems, and with more passion +and sincerity celebrated his dead mistress, than others praise their +living ones. This extraordinary shock occasioned by the young lady's +death, on whom he doated with such excessive fondness, so affected his +spirits, that in order as much as possible to endeavour to forget her, +he quitted his retirement, and resided eight years at Paris and Rome; +he travelled through Germany, France and Italy, where he visited all +the famous universities, conversed with the learned men, and made an +excellent collection of the best ancient Greek, and of the modern +Spanish, French, and Italian books. Mr. Drummond, though a scholar and +a man of genius, did not think it beneath him to improve himself in +those gay accomplishments which are so peculiar to the French, and +which never fail to set off wit and parts to the best advantage. +He studied music, and is reported to have possessed the genteel +accomplishment of dancing, to no inconsiderable degree. + +After a long stay of eight years abroad, he returned again to his +native country, where a civil war was ready to break out. He then +found that as he could be of no service by his action, he might at +least by his retirement, and during the confusion, he went to the feat +of his Brother-in-law, Sir John Scott, of Scotts Tarvat, a man of +learning and good sense. In this interval it is supposed he wrote his +History of the Five James's, successively Kings of Scotland, which +is so excellent a work, whether we consider the exact conduct of the +story, the judicious reflections, and the fine language, that no +Historian either of the English or Scotch nation (the lord Clarendon +excepted) has shewn a happier talent for that species of writing, +which tho' it does not demand the highest genius, yet is as difficult +to attain, as any other kind of literary excellence. This work was +received in England with as much applause, as if it had been written +by a countryman of their own, and about English affairs. It was first +published six or seven years after the author's death, with a preface, +or introduction by Mr. Hall of Grays-Inn, who, tho' not much disposed +to think favourably of the Scotch nation, has yet thus done justice to +Mr. Drummond; for his manner of writing, says he, "though he treats of +things that are rather many than great, and rather troublesome than +glorious; yet he has brought so much of the main together, as it may +be modestly said, none of that nation has done before him, and for his +way of handling it, he has sufficiently made it appear, how conversant +he was with the writings of venerable antiquity, and how generously +he has emulated them by a happy imitation, for the purity of that +language is much above the dialect he wrote in; his descriptions +lively and full, his narrations clear and pertinent, his orations +eloquent, and fit for the persons who speak, and his reflections solid +and mature, so that it cannot be expected that these leaves can be +turned over without as much pleasure as profit, especially meeting +with so many glories, and trophies of our ancestors." In this history +Mr. Drummond has chiefly followed bishop Elphiston, and has given a +different turn to things from Buchanan, whom a party of the Scotch +accuse of being a pensioner of Queen Elizabeth's, and as he joined +interest with the earl of Murray, who wanted to disturb the reign of +his much injured sister Mary Queen of Scots, he is strongly suspected +of being a party writer, and of having misrepresented the Scotch +transactions of old, in order to serve some scheme of policy. + +In the short notes which Mr. Drummond has left behind him in his +own life, he says, that he was the first in the island that ever +celebrated a dead mistress; his poems consist chiefly of Love-Verses, +Madrigals, Epigrams, Epitaphs, &c. they were highly esteemed by his +contemporaries both for the wit and learning that shone in them. +Edward Philips, Milton's nephew, writes a preface to them, and +observes, 'that his poems are the effects of genius, the most polite +and verdant that ever the Scots nation produced, and says, that if he +should affirm, that neither Tasso, Guarini, or any of the most neat +and refined spirits of Italy, nor even the choicest of our English +poets can challenge any advantage above him, it could not be judged +any attribute superior to what he deserves; and for his history he +says, had there been nothing else extant of his writings, consider +but the language how florid and ornate it is; consider the order and +prudent conduct of the story, and you will rank him in the number of +the best writers, and compare him even with Thuanus himself: Neither +is he less happy in his verse than prose, for here are all those +graces met together, that conduce any thing towards the making up a +compleat and perfect poet, a decent and becoming majesty, a brave and +admirable heighth, and a wit flowing.' Thus far the testimony of Mr. +Philips. + +In order to divert himself and his friends, he wrote a small poem +which he called Polemio-Middinia; 'tis a sort of Macronic poetry, in +which the Scots words are put in Latin terminations. In Queen Anne's +time it was reprinted at Oxford, with a preface concerning Macronic +poetry. It has been often reprinted in Scotland, where it is thought a +very humorous performance. + +Our author, who we have already seen, suffered so much by the immature +fate of his first mistress, thought no more of love for many years +after her decease, but seeing by accident one Elizabeth Logan, +grandchild to Sir Robert Logan, who by the great resemblance she bore +to his first favourite, rekindled again the flame of love; she was +beautiful in his eyes because she recalled to his mind the dear image +of her he mourned, and by this lucky similarity she captivated him. +Though he was near 45 years of age, he married this lady; she bore to +him several children; William, who was knighted in Charles II's +time; Robert, and Elizabeth, who was married to one Dr. Henderson, a +physician, at Edinburgh. + +In the time of the public troubles, Mr. Drummond, besides composing +his history, wrote several tracts against the measures of the +covenanters, and those engaged in the opposition of Charles I. In a +piece of his called Irene, he harangues the King, nobility, gentry, +clergy and commons, about their mutual mistakes, jealousies and fears; +he lays before them the dismal consequences of a civil war, from +indisputable arguments, and the histories of past times. The great +marquis of Montrose writ a letter to him, desiring him to print this +Irene, as the best means to quiet the minds of the distracted people; +he likewise sent him a protection, dated August, 1645, immediately +after the battle of Kylsyth, with another letter, in which he highly +commends Mr. Drummond's learning and loyalty. Besides this work of +Irene, he wrote the Load Star, and an Address to the Noblemen, Barons, +Gentlemen, &c. who leagued themselves for the defence of the liberties +and religion of Scotland, the whole purport of which is, to calm +the disturbed minds of the populace, to reason the better sort into +loyalty, and to check the growing evils which he saw would be the +consequence of their behaviour. Those of his own countrymen, for whom +he had the greatest esteem, were Sir William Alexander, afterwards +earl of Stirling, Sir Robert Carr, afterwards earl of Ancram, from +whom the present marquis of Lothian is descended, Dr. Arthur Johnston, +physician to King Charles I. and author of a Latin Paraphrase of the +Psalms, and Mr. John Adamson, principal of the college of Edinburgh. +He had great intimacy and correspondence with the two famous English +poets, Michael Drayton, and Ben Johnson, the latter of whom travelled +from London on foot, to see him at his seat at Hawthornden. During +the time Ben remained with Mr. Drummond, they often held conversation +about poetry and poets, and Mr. Drummond has preserved the heads of +what passed between them; and as part of it is very curious, and +serves to illustrate the character of Johnson, we have inserted it in +his life: though it perhaps was not altogether fair in Mr. Drummond, +to commit to writing things that passed over a bottle, and which +perhaps were heedlesly advanced. It is certain some of the particulars +which Mr. Drummond has preferred, are not much in Ben's favour, and as +few people are so wise as not to speak imprudently sometimes, so it +is not the part of a man, who invites another to his table, to +expose-what may there drop inadvertently; but as Mr. Drummond had only +made memorandums, perhaps with no resolution to publish them, he may +stand acquitted of part of this charge. It is reported of our author +that he was very smart, and witty in his repartees, and had a most +excellent talent at extempore versifying, above any poet of his time. +In the year 1645, when the plague was raging in Scotland, our author +came accidentally to Forfar, but was not allowed to enter any house, +or to get lodging in the town, though it was very late; he went two +miles further to Kirrimuir, where he was well received, and kindly +entertained. Being informed that the towns of Forfar and Kirrimuir +had a contest about a piece of ground called the Muirmoss, he wrote +a letter to the Provost of Forfar, to be communicated to the +town-council in haste: It was imagined this letter came from the +Estates, who were then sitting at St. Andrew's; so the Common-Council +was called with all expedition, and, the minister sent for to pray for +direction and assistance in answering the letter, which was opened in +a solemn manner. It contained the following lines, + + The Kirrimorians and Forforians met at Muirmoss, + The Kirrimorians beat the Forforians back to the cross, + [2]Sutors ye are, and sutors ye'll be + T----y upon Forfar, Kirrimuir bears the gree. + +By this innocent piece of mirth he revenged himself on the town of +Forfar. As our author was a great cavalier, and addicted to the King's +party, he was forced by the reformers to send men to the army which +fought against the King, and his estate lying in three different +counties; he had not occasion to send one entire man, but halves, and +quarters, and such like fractions, that is, the money levied upon him +as his share, did not amount to the maintaining one man, but perhaps +half as much, and so on through the several counties, where his +estates lay; upon this he wrote the following verses to the King. + + Of all these forces, rais'd against the King, + 'Tis my strange hap not one whole man to bring, + From diverse parishes, yet diverse men, + But all in halves, and quarters: great king then, + In halves, and quarters, if they come, 'gainst + thee, + In halves and quarters send them back to me. + +Being reputed a malignant, he was extremely harrassed by the +prevailing party, and for his verses and discourses frequently +summoned before their circular tables. In the short account of his +life written by himself, he says, 'that he never endeavoured to +advance his fortune, or increase such things as were left him by his +parents, as he foresaw the uncertainty and shortness of life, and +thought this world's advantages not worth struggling for.' The year +1649, remarkable for the beheading of Charles I. put likewise a period +to the life of our author: Upon hearing the dismal news that his +Sovereign's blood was shed on a scaffold, he was so overwhelmed with +grief, and being worn down with study, he could not overcome the +shock, and though we find not that he ever was in arms for the King, +yet he may be said, in some sense, to have fallen a sacrifice to +his loyalty. He was a man of fine natural endowments, which were +cultivated by reading and travelling; he spoke the Italian, Spanish, +and French languages as well as his mother tongue; he was a judicious +and great historian, a delicate poet, a master of polite erudition, +a loyal subject, a friend to his country, and to sum up all, a pious +christian. + +Before his works are prefixed several copies of verses in his praise, +with which we shall not trouble the reader, but conclude the life +of this great man, with the following sonnet from his works, as a +specimen of the delicacy of his muse. + + I know, that all beneath the moon decays, + And what by mortals in this world is brought, + In times great period shall return to nought; + That fairest states have fatal nights and days; + I know that all the Muses heavenly lays, + With toil of spirit, which are so dearly bought. + As idle sounds, of few or none are sought, + That there is nothing lighter than vain praise. + I know frail beauty like the purple flower, + To which one morn, oft birth, and death affords, + That love a jarring is, of minds accords, + Where sense, and will, bring under reason's + power: + Know what I lift, all this cannot me move, + But, that alas, I both must write and love. + + +[Footnote 1: The reader will please to observe, that I have taken the +most material part, of this account of Mr. Drummond, from a life of +him prefixed to a 4to Edition printed at Edinburgh, 1711.] + +[Footnote 2: Shoemakers.] + + * * * * * + + +WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Earl of STIRLING. + +It is agreed by the antiquaries of Scotland, where this nobleman was +born, that his family was originally a branch of the Macdonalds. +Alexander Macdonald, their ancestor, obtained from the family of +Argyle a grant of the lands of Menstry, in Clackmananshire, where they +fixed their residence, and took their sirnames from the Christian name +of their predecessor[1]. Our author was born in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth, and during the minority of James VI. of Scotland, but on +what year cannot be ascertained; he gave early discoveries of a rising +genius, and much improved the fine parts he had from nature, by a very +polite and extensive education. He first travelled abroad as tutor to +the earl of Argyle, and was a considerable time with that nobleman, +while they visited foreign countries. After his return, being happy +in so great a patron as the earl of Argyle, and finished in all the +courtly accomplishments, he was caressed by persons of the first +fashion, while he yet moved in the sphere of a private gentleman. + +Mr. Alexander having a strong propensity to poetry, he declined +entering upon any public employment for some years, and dedicated all +his time to the reading of the ancient poets, upon which he formed +his taste, and whose various graces he seems to have understood. King +James of Scotland, who with but few regal qualities, yet certainly had +a propension to literature, and was an encourager of learned men, took +Mr. Alexander early into his favour. He accepted the poems our author +presented him, with the most condescending marks of esteem, and was so +warm in his interest, that in the year 1614, he created him a knight, +and by a kind of compulsion, obliged him to accept the place of Master +of the Requests[2]; but the King's bounty did not stop here: Our +author having settled a colony in Nova Scotia in America, at his own +expence, James made him a grant of it, by his Royal Deed, on the 21st +of September, 1621, and intended to have erected the order of Baronet, +for encouraging and advancing so good a work; but the three last years +of that prince's reign being rendered troublesome to him, by reason +of the jealousies and commotions which then subsisted in England, he +thought fit to suspend the further prosecution of that affair, 'till a +more favourable crisis, which he lived not to see. + +As soon as King Charles I. ascended the throne, who inherited from his +father the warmest affection for his native country, he endeavoured to +promote that design, which was likely to produce so great a benefit +to the nation, and therefore created Sir William Alexander Lord +Lieutenant of New Scotland, and instituted the order of Knight +Baronet, for the encouraging, and advancing that colony, and gave +him the power of coining small copper money, a privilege which some +discontented British subjects complained of with great bitterness; +but his Majesty, who had the highest opinion of the integrity and +abilities of Sir William, did not on that account withdraw his favour +from him, but rather encreased it; for in the year 1626 he made +him Secretary of State for Scotch affairs, in place of the earl of +Haddington, and a Peer, by the title of Viscount Stirling, and soon +after raised him to the dignity of an Earl, by Letters Patent, dated +June 14, 1633, upon the solemnity of his Majesty's Coronation at the +Palace of Holy-rood-house in Edinburgh. His lordship enjoyed the place +of secretary with the most unblemished reputation, for the space +of fifteen years, even to his death, which happened on the 12th of +February, 1640. + +Our author married the daughter of Sir William Erskine, Baronet, +cousin german to the earl of Marr, then Regent of Scotland; by her he +had one son, who died his Majesty's Resident in Nova Scotia in the +life time of his father, and left behind him a son who succeeded his +grandfather in the title of earl of Stirling. + +His lordship is author of four plays, which he stiles Monarchic +Tragedies, viz. The Alexandræan Tragedy, Cræsus, Darius, and +Julius Cæsar, all which in the opinion of the ingenious Mr. Coxeter +(whose indefatigable industry in collecting materials for this work, +which he lived not to publish, has furnished the present Biographers +with many circumstances they could not otherwise have known) were +written in his lordship's youth, and before he undertook any state +employment. + +These plays are written upon the model of the ancients, as appears +by his introducing the Chorus between the Acts; they are grave and +sententious throughout, like the Tragedies of Seneca, and yet the +softer and tender passions are sometimes very delicately touched. The +author has been very unhappy in the choice of his verse, which is +alternate, like the quatrains of the French poet Pibrach, or Sir +William Davenant's heroic poem called Gondibert, which kind of verse +is certainly unnatural for Tragedy, as it is so much removed from +prose, and cannot have that beautiful simplicity, that tender pathos, +which is indispensable to the language of tragedy; Mr. Rymer has +criticised with great judgment on this error of our author, and shewn +the extreme absurdity of writing plays in rhime, notwithstanding the +great authority of Dryden can be urged in its defence. + +Writing plays upon the model of the ancients, by introducing choruses, +can be defended with as little force. It is the nature of a tragedy to +warm the heart, rouze the passions, and fire the imagination, which +can never be done, while the story goes languidly on. The soul cannot +be agitated unless the business of the play rises gradually, the +scene be kept busy, and leading characters active: we cannot better +illustrate this observation, than by an example. + +One of the best poets of the present age, the ingenious Mr. Mason of +Cambridge, has not long ago published a Tragedy upon the model of the +ancients, called Elfrida; the merit of this piece, as a poem has +been confessed by the general reading it has obtained; it is full of +beauties; the language is perfectly poetical, the sentiments chaste, +and the moral excellent; there is nothing in our tongue can much +exceed it in the flowry enchantments of poetry, or the delicate flow +of numbers, but while we admire the poet, we pay no regard to the +character; no passion is excited, the heart is never moved, nor is the +reader's curiosity ever raised to know the event. Want of passion and +regard to character, is the error of our present dramatic poets, +and it is a true observation made by a gentleman in an occasional +prologue, speaking of the wits from Charles II. to our own times, he +says, + + From bard, to bard, the frigid caution crept, + And declamation roared while passion slept. + +But to return to our author's plays; + +The Alexandræan Tragedy is built upon the differences about the +succession, that rose between Alexander's captains after his decease; +he has borrowed many thoughts, and translated whole speeches from +Seneca, Virgil, &c. In this play his lordship seems to mistake the +very essence of the drama, which consists in action, for there is +scarce one action performed in view of the audience, but several +persons are introduced upon the stage, who relate atchievements done +by themselves and others: the two first acts are entirely foreign to +the business of the play. Upon the whole it must be allowed that his +lordship was a very good historian, for the reader may learn from it a +great deal of the affairs of Greece and Rome; for the plot see Quintus +Curtius, the thirteenth Book of Justin, Diodorus Siculus, Jofephus, +Raleigh's History, &c. The Scene is in Babylon. + +Cræsus, a Tragedy; the Scene of this Play is laid in Sardis, and is +reckoned the most moving of the four; it is chiefly borrowed from +Herodotus, Clio, Justin, Plutarch's Life of Solon, Salian, Torniel. In +the fifth Act there is an Episode of Abradates and Panthæa, which the +author has taken from Xenophon's Cyropædeia, or The Life and Education +of Cyrus, lib. vii. The ingenious Scudery has likewise built upon this +foundation, in his diverting Romance called the Grand Cyrus. + +Darius, a Tragedy; this was his lordship's first dramatic performance; +it was printed at Edinburgh in 4to. in the year 1603; it was first +composed of a mixture of English and Scotch dialect, and even then was +commended by several copies of verses. The Scene of this Play is +laid in Babylon. The author afterwards not only polished his native +language, but altered the Play itself; as to the plot consult Q. +Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin, Plutarch's Life of Alexander, &c. +Julius Cæsar, a Tragedy. In the fifth Act of this Play, my lord brings +Brutus, Cassius, Cicero, Anthony, &c. together, after the death of +Cæsar, almost in the same circumstances Shakespear has done in his +Play of this name; but the difference between the Anthony and Brutus +of Shakespear, and these characters drawn by the earl of Stirling, is +as great, as the genius of the former transcended the latter. This is +the most regular of his lordship's plays in the unity of action. The +story of this Play is to be found in all the Roman Histories written +since the death of that Emperor. + +His lordship has acknowledged the stile of his dramatic works not to +be pure, for which in excuse he has pleaded his country, the Scotch +dialect then being in a very imperfect state. Having mentioned the +Scotch dialect, it will not be improper to observe, that it is at this +time much in the same degree of perfection, that the English language +was, in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth; there are +idioms peculiar to the Scotch, which some of their best writers have +not been able entirely to forget, and unless they reside in England +for some time, they seldom overcome them, and their language is +greatly obscured by these means; but the reputation which some Scotch +writers at present enjoy, make it sufficiently clear, that they are +not much wanting in perspicuity or elegance, of which Mr. Hume, the +ingenious author of Essays Moral and Political, is an instance. In the +particular quality of fire, which is indispensible in a good writer, +the Scotch authors have rather too much of it, and are more apt to be +extravagantly animated, than correctly dull. + +Besides these Plays, our author wrote several other Poems of a +different kind, viz. Doomsday, or the Great Day of the Lord's +Judgment, first printed 1614, and a Poem divided into 12 Book, which +the author calls Hours; In this Poem is the following emphatic line, +when speaking of the divine vengeance falling upon the wicked; he +calls it + + A weight of wrath, more than ten worlds could + bear. + +A very ingenious gentleman of Oxford, in a conversation with the +author of this Life, took occasion to mention the above line as the +best he had ever read consisting of monysyllables, and is indeed one +of the most affecting lines to be met with in any poet. This Poem, +says Mr. Coxeter, 'in his MS. notes, was reprinted in 1720, by +A. Johnston, who in his preface says, that he had the honour of +transmitting the author's works to the great Mr. Addison, for the +perusal of them, and he was pleased to signify his approbation +in these candid terms. That he had read them with the greatest +satisfaction, and was pleased to give it as his judgment, that the +beauties of our ancient English poets are too slightly passed over by +the modern writers, who, out of a peculiar singularity, had rather +take pains to find fault, than endeavour to excel.' + +A Parænæsis to Prince Henry, who dying before it was published, it was +afterwards dedicated to King Charles I.[3] + +Jonathan; intended to be an Heroic Poem, but the first Book of it is +only extant. He wrote all these Poems in the Ottavo Rima of Tasso, or +a Stanza of eight lines, six interwoven, and a Couplet in Base. His +Plays and Poems were all printed together in folio, under the title of +Recreations with the Muses, 1637, and dedicated to the King. + +The earl of Stirling lived in friendship with the most eminent wits of +his time, except Ben Johnson, who complained that he was neglected by +him; but there are no particulars preserved concerning any quarrel +between them. + +My lord seems to have often a peculiar inclination to punning, but +this was the characteristic vice of the times. That he could sometimes +write in a very elegant strain will appear by the following lines, in +which he describes love. + + Love is a joy, which upon pain depends; + A drop of sweet, drowned in a sea of sours: + What folly does begin, that fury ends; + They hate for ever, who have lov'd for hours. + + +[Footnote 1: Crawford's Peerage of Scotland.] + +[Footnote 2: Crawford, ubi supra.] + +[Footnote 3: Langbaire.] + + * * * * * + + +JOSEPH HALL, Bishop of NORWICH. + +This prelate was born, according to his own account, July 11, 1574, +in Bristow-Park, within the parish of Ashby de la Zouch, a town in +Leicestershire.[1] His father was an officer under Henry Earl of +Huntingdon, president of the North, who from his infancy had devoted +him to the service of the church; and his mother, whom he has +celebrated for her exemplary and distinguished piety, was extremely +sollicitous that her favourite son would be of a profession, she +herself held so much in veneration. Our author, who seems to have been +very credulous in his disposition, rather religious than wise, or +possessing any attainments equal to the dignity to which he rose, has +preserved in his Specialities, some visions of his mother's, which he +relates with an air of seriousness, sufficient to evidence his own +conviction of their reality; but as they appear to have been the +offspring of a disordered imagination, they have no right to a place +here. + +In order to train him up to the ministry, his father at first resolved +to place him under the care of one Mr. Pelset, lately come from +Cambridge to be the public preacher at Leicester, who undertook to +give him an education equally finished with that of the university, +and by these means save much expence to his father: This resolution, +however, was not executed, some other friends advising his father to +send him to Cambridge, and persuaded him that no private tuition could +possibly be equal to that of the academical. When our author had +remained six years at Cambridge, he had a right to preferment, and to +stand for a fellowship, had not his tutor Mr. Gilby been born in the +same county with him, and the statutes not permitting two of the same +shire to enjoy fellowships, and as Mr. Gilby was senior to our +author, and already in possession, Mr. Hall could not be promoted. +In consequence of this, he proposed to remove, when the Earl of +Huntingdon, being made acquainted with this circumstance, and hearing +very favourable accounts of our author, interested himself to prevent +his removal. He made application to Mr. Gilby, promised to make +him his chaplain, and promote him in the church, provided he would +relinquish his place in the college, in favour of Mr. Hall. These +promises being made with seeming sincerity, and as the Earl of +Huntingdon was a man of reputation for probity, he complied with his +lordship's request, and relinquished his place in the college. When +he was about to enter upon his office of chaplain, to his great +mortification, the nobleman on whose promises he confided, and on +whom he immediately depended, suddenly died, by which accident he was +thrown unprovided upon the world. This not a little affected Mr. Hall, +who was shocked to think that Mr. Gilby should be thus distressed, by +the generosity of his temper, which excited him to quit a certainty in +order to make way for his promotion. He addressed Dr. Chadderton, +then the master of the college, that the succeeding election might be +stopped, and that Mr. Gilby should again possess his place; but in +this request he was unsuccessful: for the Doctor told him, that Mr. +Gilby was divested of all possibilty of remedy, and that they +must proceed in the election the day following; when Mr. Hall was +unanimously chosen into that society. Two years after this, he was +chosen Rhetorician to the public schools, where, as he himself +expresses it, "he was encouraged with a sufficient frequence of +auditors;" but this place he soon resigned to Dr. Dod, and entered +upon studies necessary to qualify him for taking orders. + +Some time after this, the mastership of a famous school erected at +Tiverton in Devon, became vacant; this school was endowed by the +founder Mr. Blundel, with a very large pension, and the care of it was +principally cast upon the then Lord Chief Justice Popham. His lordship +being intimately acquainted with Dr. Chadderton, requested him to +recommend some learned and prudent man for the government of that +school. The Dr. recommended Mr. Hall, assuring him that great +advantage would arise from it, without much trouble to himself: Our +author thinking proper to accept this, the Doctor carried him to +London, and introduced him to Lord Chief Justice Popham, who seemed +well pleased and thanked Dr. Chadderton for recommending a man so well +qualified for the charge. When Dr. Chadderton and Mr. Hall had +taken leave of his lordship and were returning to their lodgings, a +messenger presented a letter to Mr. Hall, from lady Drury of Suffolk, +earnestly requesting him to accept the rectory of Halsted, a place in +her gift. This flow of good fortune not a little surprized him, and as +he was governed by the maxims of prudence, he made no long hesitation +in accepting the latter, which was both a better benefice, and +a higher preferment. Being settled at Halsted, he found there +a dangerous antagonist to his ministry, whom he calls in his +Specialities, a witty, and a bold Atheist: "This was one Mr. Lilly, +who by reason of his travels, (says he) and abilities of discourse and +behaviour, had so deeply insinuated himself into my patron, that there +were small hopes for me to work any good upon that noble patron of +mine; who by the suggestion of this wicked detractor, was set off from +me before he knew me. Hereupon, I confess, finding the obduredness, +and hopeless condition of that man, I bent my prayers against him, +beseeching God daily, that he would be pleased to remove by some means +or other, that apparent hindrance of my faithful labours; who gave +me an answer accordingly. For this malicious man going hastily up to +London, to exasperate my patron against me, was then and there +swept away by the pestilence, and never returned to do any further +mischief." This account given by Mr. Hall of his antagonist, reflects +no great honour upon himself: it is conceived in a spirit of +bitterness, and there is more of spite against Lilly's person in it, +than any tenderness or pity for his errors. He calls him a witty +Atheist, when in all probability, what he terms atheism, was no more +than a freedom of thinking, and facetious conversation, which to the +pious churchman, had the appearance of denying the existence of God; +besides, had Hall dealt candidly, he should have given his readers +some more particulars of a man whom he was bold enough to denominate +an Atheist, a character so very singular, that it should never be +imputed to any man, without the strongest grounds. Hall in his usual +spirit of enthusiasm, in order to remove this antagonist of his, has +recourse to a miracle: He tells us, he went up to London and died of +the Plague, which he would have us to understand was by the immediate +interpolition of God, as if it were not ridiculous to suppose our +author of so great importance, as that the Supreme Being should work +a miracle in his favour; but as it is with natural so is it with +spiritual pride, those who are possessed by either, never fail to +over-rate their own significance, and justly expose themselves to the +contempt of the sober part of mankind. + +Our author has also given us some account of his marriage, with the +daughter of Mr. George Winniff, of Bretenham; he says of her, that +much modesty, piety, and good disposition were lodged in her seemly +presence. She was recommended to him, by the Rev. Mr. Grandig his +friend, and he says, he listened to the recommendation, as from the +Lord, whom he frequently consulted by prayer, before he entered into +the matrimonial state. She lived with him 49 years. + +Not long after Mr. Hall's settlement at Halsted, he was sollicited by +Sir Edmund Bacon to accompany him in a journey to the Spa in Ardenna, +at the time when the Earl of Hertford went ambassador to the archduke +Albert of Brussels. This request Mr. Hall complied with, as it +furnished him with an opportunity of feeing more of the world, and +gratified a desire he had of conversing with the Romish Jesuits. +The particulars of his journey, which he has preserved in his +Specialities, are too trifling to be here inserted: When he came to +Brussels, he was introduced by an English gentleman, who practiced +physic there, to the acquaintance of father Costrus; who held some +conversation with him concerning the miracles said to be lately +done, by one Lipsieus Apricollis, a woman who lived at Zichem. From +particular miracles, the father turned the discourse to the difference +between divine and diabolical miracles; and he told Mr. Hall, that if +he could ascertain that one miracle ever was wrought in the church +of England, he would embrace that persuasion: To which our author +replied, that he was fully convinced, that many devils had been +ejected out of persons in that church by fasting and prayer. They both +believed the possibility and frequency of miracles; they only differed +as to the church in which miracles were performed. Hall has censured +father Costrus, as a barren man, and of superficial conversation; and +it is to be feared, that whoever reads Hall's religious works will +conclude much in the same manner of him. They departed from Brussels +soon after this interview between father Costrus and our author, and +met with nothing in their journey to and return from the Spa, worth +relation, only Mr. Hall had by his zeal in defending his own church, +exposed himself to the resentment of one Signior Ascanio Negro, who +began notwithstanding Mr. Hall's lay-habit, to suspect him to be a +clergyman, and use some indecent freedoms with him in consequence of +this suspicion. Our author to avoid any impertinence which the captain +was likely to be guilty of towards him, told him, Sir Edmund Bacon, +the person with whom he travelled, was the grandchild of the great +lord Verulam, High Chancelor of England, whose fame was extended to +every country where science and philosophy prevailed, and that they +were protected by the earl of Hertford, the English embassador at +Brussels. Upon the Italian's being made acquainted with the quality of +Sir Edmund, and the high connections of the two travellers, he thought +proper to desist from any acts of impertinence, to which bigotry and +ignorance would have excited him. Hall returned to England after being +absent eighteen months, and was received but coldly by Sir Robert +Drury his patron; there having never been much friendship between +them. In consequence of this, Mr. Hall came to London, in search of a +more comfortable provision; he was soon recommended by one Mr. Gurrey, +tutor to the Earl of Essex, to preach before Prince Henry at Richmond. +Before this accident Mr. Hall had been author of some Meditations, +whom Mr. Gurrey told him, had been well received at Henry's court, and +much read by that promising young Prince. He preached with success, +for the Prince desired to hear him a second time, and was so well +pleased with him, that he signified an inclination of having him +attend about his court. Mr. Hall's reputation growing, he was taken +notice of by persons of fashion, and soon obtained the living of +Waltham, presented him by the Earl of Norwich. + +While he exercised his function at Waltham, the archdeacon of +Norwich engaged him to interest himself in favour of the church of +Wolverhampton, from which a patrimony was detained by a sacrilegious +conveyance. In the course of this prosecution, our author observes, +"that a marvellous light opened itself unexpectedly, by revealing a +counterfeit seal, in the manifestation of razures, and interpolations, +and misdates of unjustifiable evidences, that after many years suit, +Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, upon a full hearing, gave a decree in +favour of the church." + +During Mr. Hall's residence at Waltham, he was thrice employed by his +Majesty in public service. His first public employment was to attend +the Earl of Carlisle, who went on an embassy to France, and during his +absence his Majesty conferred upon him the deanery of Worcester. Upon +his return, he attended the King in a journey to Scotland, where +he exerted himself in support of episcopacy, in opposition to the +established ministry there, who were Presbyterians. Having acquired +some name in polemical divinity, and being long accustomed to +disputations, the King made choice of him to go to the Netherlands, +and assist at the synod of Dort, in settling the controverted points +of faith, for which that reverend body were there convened. Hall has +been very lavish in his own praise, while he acted at the synod of +Dort; he has given many hints of the supernatural assistance he was +blessed with: he has informed us, that he was then in a languishing +state of health; that his rest was broken, and his nights sleepless; +but on the night preceding the occasion of his preaching a Latin +sermon to the synod, he was favoured with, refreshing sleep, which he +ascribes to the immediate care of providence. The states of Holland, +he says, "sent Daniel Heinsius the poet to visit him, and were so much +delighted with his comportment, that they presented him with a +rich medal of gold, as a monument of their respect for his poor +endeavours." Upon our author's returning home, he found the church +torn to pieces, by the fierce contentions which then subsisted +concerning the doctrines of Arminius: he saw this with concern, and +was sensible true religion, piety, and virtue, could never be promoted +by such altercation; and therefore with the little power of which he +was master, he endeavoured to effect a reconciliation between the +contending parties: he wrote what he calls a project of pacification, +which was presented to his Majesty, and would have had a very happy +influence, had not the enemies of Mr. Hall misrepresented the book, +and so far influenced the King, that a royal edict for a general +inhibition, buried it in silence. Hall after this contended with the +Roman Catholics, who upon the prospect of the Spanish match, on the +success of which they built their hopes, began to betray a great +degree of insolence, and proudly boast the pedigree of their church, +from the apostles themselves. They insisted, that as their church was +the first, so it was the best, and that no ordination was valid which +was not derived from it. Hall in answer to their assertions, made a +concession, which some of his Protestant brethren thought he had no +right to do; he acknowledged the priority of the Roman Church, but +denied its infallibility, and consequently that it was possible +another church might be more pure, and approach more to the apostolic +practice than the Romish. This controversy he managed so successfully, +that he was promoted to the see of Exeter; and as King James I. seldom +knew any bounds to his generosity, when he happened to take a person +into his favour, he soon after that removed him from Exeter, and gave +him the higher bishoprick of Norwich; which he enjoyed not without +some allay to his happiness, for the civil wars soon breaking out, +he underwent the same severities which were exercised against other +prelates, of which he has given an account in a piece prefixed to his +works, called, Hall's hard Measure; and from this we shall extract the +most material circumstances. + +The insolence of some churchmen, and the superiority they assumed in +the civil government, during the distractions of Charles I. provoked +the House of Commons to take some measures to prevent their growing +power, which that pious monarch was too much disposed to favour. In +consequence of this, the leading members of the opposition petitioned +the King to remove the bishops from their seats in Parliament, and +degrade them to the station at Commons, which was warmly opposed by +the high church lords, and the bishops themselves, who protested +against whatever steps were taken during their restraint from +Parliament, as illegal, upon this principle, that as they were part of +the legislature, no law could pass during their absence, at least +if that absence was produced by violence, which Clarendon has fully +represented. + +The prejudice against the episcopal government gaining ground, +petitions to remove the bishops were poured in from all parts of the +kingdom, and as the earl of Strafford was then so obnoxious to the +popular resentment, his cause and that of the bishops was reckoned by +the vulgar, synonimous, and both felt the resentment of an enraged +populace. To such a fury were the common people wrought up, that they +came in bodies, to the two Houses of Parliament, to crave justice, +both against the earl of Strafford, and the archbishop of Canterbury, +and, in short, the whole bench of spiritual Peers; the mob besieged +the two Houses, and threatened vengeance upon the bishops, whenever +they came out. This fury excited some motion to be made in the House +of Peers, to prevent such tumults for the future, which were sent down +to the House of Commons. The bishops, for their safety, were obliged +to continue in the Parliament House the greatest part of the night, +and at last made their escape by bye-ways and stratagems. They were +then convinced that it was no longer safe for them to attend the +Parliament, 'till some measures were taken to repress the insolence +of the mob, and in consequence of this, they met at the house of the +archbishop of York, and drew up a protest, against whatever steps +should be taken during their absence, occasioned by violence. This +protest, the bishops intended should first be given to the Secretary +of State, and by him to the King, and that his Majesty should cause it +to be read in the House of Peers; but in place of this, the bishops +were accused of high treason, brought before the bar of the House of +Peers, and sent to the Tower. During their confinement, their enemies +in the House of Commons, took occasion to bring in a bill for taking +away the votes of bishops in the House of Peers: in this bill lord +Falkland concurred, and it was supported by Mr. Hambden and Mr. Pym, +the oracles of the House of Commons, but met with great opposition +from Edward Hyde, afterwards earl of Clarendon, who was a friend to +the church, and could not bear to see their liberties infringed. + +The bishops petitioned to have council assigned them, in which they +were indulged, in order to answer to the charge of high treason. A day +was appointed, the bishops were brought to the bar, but nothing was +effected; the House of Commons at last finding that there could be no +proof of high treason, dropt that charge, and were content to libel +them for a misdemeanor, in which they likewise but ill succeeded, for +the bishops were admitted to bail, and no prosecution was carried on +against them, even for a misdemeanor. + +Being now at liberty, the greatest part of them retired to their +dioceses, 'till the storm which had threatened them should subside. +Bishop Hall repaired to Norwich, where he met, from the disaffected +party, a very cold reception; he continued preaching however in his +cathedral at Norwich, 'till the order of sequestration came down, when +he was desired to remove from his palace, while the sequestrators +seized upon all his estate, both real and personal, and appraized all +the goods which were in the palace. The bishop relates the following +instance of oppression which was inflicted on him; 'One morning (says +his lordship) before my servants were up, there came to my gates one +Wright, a London trooper, attended with others requiring entrance, +threatening if they were not admitted, to break open the gates, whom, +I found at first sight, struggling with one of my servants for a +pistol which he had in his hand; I demanded his business at that +unseasonable time; he told me he came to search for arms and +ammunition, of which I must be disarmed; I told him I had only two +muskets in the house, and no other military provision; he not resting +upon my word, searched round about the house, looked into the chests +and trunks, examined the vessels in the cellar; finding no other +warlike furniture, he asked me what horses I had, for his commission +was to take them also; I told him how poorly I was stored, and that my +age would not allow me to travel on foot; in conclusion, he took one +horse away.' + +The committee of sequestration soon after proceeded to strip him of +all the revenue belonging to his see, and as he refused to take the +covenant, the magistrates of the city of Norwich, who were no +friends to episcopal jurisdiction, cited him before them, for giving +ordination unwarrantably, as they termed it: to this extraordinary +summons the bishop answered, that he would not betray the dignity +of his station by his personal appearance, to answer any complaints +before the Lord Mayor, for as he was a Peer of the realm, no +magistrate whatever had a right to take cognizance of his conduct, and +that he was only accountable to the House of Lords, of which he was +one. The bishop proceeds to enumerate the various insults he received +from the enraged populace; sometimes they searched his house for +malignants, at other times they threatened violence to his person; nor +did their resentment terminate here; they exercised their fury in +the cathedral, tore down the altar, broke the organ in pieces, and +committed a kind of sacrilegious devastation in the church; they burnt +the service books in the market-place, filled the cathedral with +musketeers, who behaved in it with as much indecency, as if it had +been an alehouse; they forced the bishop out of his palace, and +employed that in the same manner. These are the most material +hardships which, according to the bishop's own account, happened to +him, which he seems to have born with patience and fortitude, and may +serve to shew the violence of party rage, and that religion is often +made a pretence for committing the most outrageous insolence, and +horrid cruelty. It has been already observed, that Hall seems to have +been of an enthusiastic turn of mind, which seldom consists with any +brilliance of genius; and in this case it holds true, for in his +sermons extant, there is an imbecility, which can flow from no other +cause than want of parts. In poetry however he seems to have greater +power, which will appear when we consider him in that light. + +It cannot positively be determined on what year bishop Hall died; he +published that work of his called Hard Measure, in the year 1647, at +which time he was seventy-three years of age, and in all probability +did not long survive it. + +His ecclesiastical works are, + +A Sermon, preached before King James at Hampton-Court, 1624. + +Christian Liberty, set forth in a Sermon at Whitehall, 1628. + +Divine Light and Reflections, in a Sermon at Whitehall, 1640. + +A Sermon, preached at the Cathedral of Exeter, upon the Pacification +between the two Kingdoms, 1641. + +The Mischief of Faction, and the Remedy of it, a Sermon, at Whitehall +on the second Sunday in Lent, 1641. + +A Sermon, preached at the Tower, 1641. + +A Sermon, preached on Whitsunday in Norwich, printed 1644. + +A Sermon, preached on Whitsunday at Higham, printed 1652. + +A Sermon, preached on Easter day at Higham, 1648. + +The Mourner in Sion. + +A Sermon, preached at Higham, printed 1655. + +The Women's Veil, or a Discourse concerning the Necessity or +Expedience of the close Covering the Heads of Women. + +Holy Decency in the Worship of God. + +Good Security, a Discourse of the Christian's Assurance. + +A Plain and Familiar Explication of Christ's Presence, in the +Sacrament of his Body and Blood. + +A Letter for the Observation of the Feast of Christ's Nativity. + +A Letter to Mr. William Struthers, one of the Preachers at Edinburgh. + +Epistola D. Baltasari Willio. S.T.D. + +Epistola D. Lud. Crocio. S.T.D. + +Reverendissimo Marco Antonio de L'om. Archiep. Spalatensi. + +Epistola decessus sui ad Romam dissuasiva. + +A Modest Offer. + +Certain Irrefragable Propositions, worthy of serious Consideration. + +The Way of Peace in the Five Busy Articles, commonly known by the name +of Arminius. + +A Letter concerning the Fall Away from Grace. + +A Letter concerning Religion. + +A Letter concerning the frequent Injection of Temptations. + +A Consolatory Letter to one under Censure. + +A Short Answer to the Nine Arguments which are brought against the +Bishops sitting in Parliament. + +For Episcopacy and Liturgy. + +A Speech in Parliament. + +A Speech in Parliament, in Defence of the Canons made in Convocation. + +A Speech in Parliament, concerning the Power of Bishops in secular +things. + +The Anthems for the Cathedral of Exeter. + +All these are printed in 4to, and were published 1660. There are also +other Works of this author. An Edition of the whole has been printed +in three Vols. folio. + +Besides these works, Bishop Hall is author of Satires in Six Books, +lately reprinted under the title of Virgidemiarum, of which we cannot +give a better account than in the words of the ingenious authors of +the Monthly Review, by which Bishop Hall's genius for that kind of +poetical writing will fully appear. + +He published these Satires in the twenty third year of his age, and +was, as he himself asserts in the Prologue, the first satirist in the +English language. + + I first adventure, follow me who list, + And be the second English satyrist. + +And, if we consider the difficulty of introducing so nice a poem as +satire into a nation, we must allow it required the assistance of no +common and ordinary genius. The Italians had their Ariosto, and +the French their Regnier, who might have served him as models for +imitation; but he copies after the ancients, and chiefly Juvenal and +Persius; though he wants not many strokes of elegance and delicacy, +which shew him perfectly acquainted with the manner of Horace. Among +the several discouragements which attended his attempt in that kind, +he mentions one peculiar to the language and nature of the English +versification, which would appear in the translation of one of +Persius's Satires: The difficulty and dissonance whereof, says he, +shall make good my assertion; besides the plain experience thereof +in the Satires of Ariosto; save which, and one base French satire, I +could never attain the view of any for my direction. Yet we may pay +him almost the same compliment which was given of old to Homer and +Archilochus: for the improvements which have been made by succeeding +poets bear no manner of proportion to the distance of time between him +and them. The verses of bishop Hall are in general extremely musical +and flowing, and are greatly preferable to Dr. Donne's, as being of +a much smoother cadence; neither shall we find him deficient, if +compared with his successor, in point of thought and wit; but he +exceeds him with respect to his characters, which are more numerous, +and wrought up with greater art and strength of colouring. Many of his +lines would do honour to the most ingenious of our modern poets; +and some of them have thought it worth their labour to imitate him, +especially Mr. Oldham. Bishop Hall was not only our first satyrist, +but was the first who brought epistolary writing to the view of the +public; which was common in that age to other parts of Europe, but not +practised in England, till he published his own epistles. It may be +proper to take notice, that the Virgidemiarum are not printed with his +other writings, and that an account of them is omitted by him, through +his extreme modesty, in the Specialities of his Life, prefixed to the +third volume of his works in folio. + +The author's postscript to his satires is prefixed by the editor in +the room of a preface, and without any apparent impropriety. It is not +without some signatures of the bishop's good sense and taste; and, +making a just allowance for the use of a few obsolete terms, and +the puerile custom of that age in making affected repetitions and +reiterations of the same word within the compass of a period, it would +read like no bad prose at present. He had undoubtedly an excellent +ear, and we must conclude he must have succeeded considerably in +erotic or pastoral poetry, from the following stanza's, in his +Defiance to Envy, which may be considered as an exordium to his +poetical writings. + + Witnesse, ye muses, how I wilful sung + These heady rhimes, withouten second care; + And wish'd them worse my guilty thoughts among; + The ruder satire should go ragg'd and bare, + And shew his rougher and his hairy hide, + Tho' mine be smooth, and deck'd in carelesse pride. + + Would we but breathe within a wax-bound quill, + Pan's seven-fold pipe, some plaintive pastoral; + To teach each hollow grove, and shrubby hill, + Each murmuring brook, each solitary vale + To found our love, and to our song accord, + Wearying Echo with one changelesse word. + + Or lift us make two striving shepherds sing, + With costly wagers for the victory, + Under Menalcas judge; while one doth bring + A carven bowl well wrought of beechen tree, + Praising it by the story; or the frame, + Or want of use, or skilful maker's name. + + Another layeth a well-marked lamb, + Or spotted kid, or some more forward steere, + And from the paile doth praise their fertile dam; + So do they strive in doubt, in hope, in feare, + Awaiting for their trusty empire's doome, + Faulted as false by him that's overcome. + Whether so me lift my lovely thought to sing, + Come dance ye nimble Dryads by my side, + Ye gentle wood-nymphs come; and with you bring + The willing fawns that mought their music guide. + Come nymphs and fawns, that haunts those shady groves, + While I report my fortunes or my loves. + +The first three books of satires are termed by the author Toothless +satires, and the three last Biting satires. He has an animated idea +of good poetry, and a just contempt of poetasters in the different +species of it. He says of himself, in the first satire. + + Nor can I crouch, and writhe my fawning tayle, + To some great Patron for my best avayle. + Such hunger-starven trencher-poetrie, + Or let it never live, or timely die. + +He frequently avows his admiration of Spenser, whose cotemporary he +was. His first book, consisting of nine satires, appears in a manner +entirely levelled at low and abject poetasters. Several satires of the +second book reprehend the contempt of the rich, for men of science and +genius. We shall transcribe the sixth, being short, and void of all +obscurity. + + A gentle squire would gladly entertaine + Into his house some trencher-chaplaine; + Some willing man that might instruct his sons, + And that would stand to good conditions. + First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed, + While his young maister lieth o'er his head. + Second, that he do on no default, + Ever presume to sit above the salt. + Third, that he never change his trencher twise. + Fourth, that he use all common courtesies; + Sit bare at meales, and one halfe raise and wait. + Last, that he never his young maister beat, + But he must ask his mother to define, + How manie jerkes she would his breech should line. + All these observed, he could contented bee, + To give five markes and winter liverie. + +The seventh and last of this book is a very just and humorous satire +against judicial astrology, which was probably in as high credit then, +as witchcraft was in the succeeding reign. + +The first satire of the third book is a strong contrast of the +temperance and simplicity of former ages, with the luxury and +effeminacy of his own tines, which a reflecting reader would be apt to +think no better than the present. We find the good bishop supposes our +ancestors as poorly fed as Virgil's and Horace's rustics. He says, +with sufficient energy, + + Thy grandsire's words favour'd of thrifty leekes, + Or manly garlicke; but thy furnace reekes + Hot steams of wine; and can a-loose descrie + The drunken draughts of sweet autumnitie. + +The second is a short satire on erecting stately monuments to +worthless men. The following advice is nobly moral, the subsequent +sarcasm just and well expressed. + + Thy monument make thou thy living deeds; + No other tomb than that true virtue needs. + What! had he nought whereby he might be knowne + But costly pilements of some curious stone? + The matter nature's, and the workman's frame; + His purse's cost: where then is Osmond's name? + Deserv'dst thou ill? well were thy name and thee, + Wert thou inditched in great secrecie. + +The third gives an account of a citizen's feast, to which he was +invited, as he says, + + With hollow words, and [2] overly request. + +and whom he disappointed by accepting his invitation at once, and not +Maydening it; no insignificant term as he applies it: for, as he says, + + Who looks for double biddings to a feast, + May dine at home for an importune guest. + +After a sumptuous bill of fare, our author compares the great plenty +of it to our present notion of a miser's feast--saying, + + Come there no more; for so meant all that cost; + Never hence take me for thy second host. + +The fourth is levelled at Ostentation in devotion, or in dress. The +fifth represents the sad plight of a courtier, whose Perewinke, as +he terms it, the wind had blown off by unbonnetting in a salute, and +exposed his waxen crown or scalp. 'Tis probable this might be about +the time of their introduction into dress here. The sixth, which is a +fragment, contains a hyperbolical relation of a thirsty foul, called +Gullion, who drunk Acheron dry in his passage over it, and grounded +Charon's boat, but floated it again, by as liberal a stream of urine. +It concludes with the following sarcastical, yet wholesome irony. + + Drinke on drie foule, and pledge Sir Gullion: + Drinke to all healths, but drink not to thyne owne. + +The seventh and last is a humorous description of a famished beau, who +had dined only with duke Humfrey, and who was strangely adorned with +exotic dress. + +To these three satires he adds the following conclusion. + + Thus have I writ, in smoother cedar tree, + So gentle Satires, penn'd so easily. + Henceforth I write in crabbed oak-tree rynde, + Search they that mean the secret meaning find. + Hold out ye guilty and ye galled hides, + And meet my far-fetched stripes with waiting sides. + +In his biting satires he breathes still more of the spirit and +stile of Juvenal, his third of this book being an imitation of that +satirist's eighth, on Family-madness and Pride of Descent; the +beginning of which is not translated amiss by our author. The +principal object of his fourth satire, Gallio, would correspond with +a modern Fribble, but that he supposes him capable of hunting and +hawking, which are exercises rather too coarse and indelicate for +ours: this may intimate perhaps, that the reign of the great Elizabeth +had no character quite so unmanly as our age. In advising him to wed, +however, we have no bad portrait of the Petit Maitre. + + Hye thee, and give the world yet one dwarfe more, + Such as it got when thou thy selfe was bore. + +His fifth satire contrasts the extremes of Prodigality and Avarice; +and by a few initials, which are skabbarded, it looks as if he had +some individuals in view; though he has disclaimed such an intention +in his postscript (now the preface) p. 6. lin. 25, &c. His sixth sets +out very much like the first satire of Horace's first book, on the +Dissatisfaction and Caprice of mankind--Qui fit Mecænas; and, after +a just and lively-description of our different pursuits in life, he +concludes with the following preference of a college one, which, we +find in the Specialities of his life, he was greatly devoted to in his +youth. The lines, which are far from inelegant, seem indeed to come +from his heart, and make him appear as an exception to that too +general human discontent, which was the subject of this satire. + + 'Mongst all these stirs of discontented strife, + Oh let me lead an academick life; + To know much, and to think we nothing know; + Nothing to have, yet think we have enowe; + In skill to want, and wanting seek for more; + In weele nor want, nor wish for greater store. + Envy, ye monarchs, with your proad excesse, + At our low sayle, and our high happinesse. + +The last satire of this book is a severe one on the clergy of the +church of Rome. He terms it POMH-PYMH, by which we suppose he intended +to brand Roma, as the Sink of Superstition. He observes, if Juvenal, +whom he calls Aquine's carping spright, were now alive, among other +surprising alterations at Rome, + + --that he most would gaze and wonder at, + Is th' horned mitre, and the bloody hat, + The crooked staffe, their coule's strange form and store, + Save that he saw the fame in hell before. + +The first satire of the fifth book is levelled at Racking Landlords. +The following lines are a strong example of the taste of those times +for the Punn and Paronomasia. + + While freezing Matho, that for one lean fee + Won't term each term the term of Hillary, + May now, instead of those his simple fees, + Get the fee-simples of faire manneries. + +The second satire lashes the incongruity of stately buildings and want +of hospitality, and naturally reminds us of a pleasant epigram +of Martial's on the same occasion, where after describing the +magnificence of a villa, he concludes however, there is no room either +to sup or lodge in it. It ends with a transition on the contumely with +which the parasites are treated at the tables of the great; being a +pretty close imitation of Juvenal on the same subject. This satire has +also a few skabbarded initials. + +In his third, titled, [Greek: KOINA PHIAON], where he reprehends +Plato's notion of a political community of all things, are the +following lines: + + Plato is dead, and dead is his device, + Which some thought witty, none thought ever wise: + Yet certes Macha is a Platonist + To all, they say, save whoso do not list; + Because her husband, a far traffick' man, + Is a profess'd Peripatician. + +His last book and satire, for it consists but of one, is a humorous +ironical recantation of his former satires; as the author pretends +there can be no just one in such perfect times as his own. The +latter part of it alludes to different passages in Juvenal; and he +particularly reflects on some poetaster he calls Labeo, whom he had +repeatedly lash'd before; and who was not improbably some cotemporary +scribler. + +Upon the whole, these satires sufficiently evince both the learning +and ingenuity of their author. The sense has generally such a +sufficient pause, and will admit of such a punctuation at the close of +the second line, and the verse is very often as harmonious too, as if +it was calculated for a modern ear: tho' the great number of obsolete +words retained would incline us to think the editors had not procured +any very extraordinary alteration of the original edition, which we +have never seen. The present one is nearly printed; and, if it should +occasion another, we cannot think but a short glossary at the end of +it, or explanations at the bottom of the pages, where the most uncouth +and antiquated terms occur, would justly increase the value of it, by +adding considerably to the perspicuity of this writer; who, in other +respects, seems to have been a learned divine, a conscientious +christian, a lover of peace, and well endued with patience; for the +exercise of which virtue, the confusions at the latter end of his +life, about the time of the death of Charles I. furnished him with +frequent opportunities, the account of his own hard measures being +dated in May 1647. We have met with no other poetical writings of +the bishop's, except three anthems, composed for the use of his +cathedral-church; and indeed, it seems as if his continual occupation +after his youth, and his troubles in age, were sufficient to suppress +any future propensity to satirical poetry: which we may infer from the +conclusion of the first satire of his fourth book. + + While now my rhimes relish of the ferule still, + Some nose-wise pedant saith; whose deep-seen skill + Hath three times construed either Flaccus o'er, + And thrice rehears'd them in his trivial flore. + So let them tax me for my hot blood's rage, + Rather than say I doated in my age. + + +[Footnote 1: Specialities of this bishop's life prefixed to his +works.] + +[Footnote 2: Slight.] + + * * * * * + + +RICHARD CRASHAW. + +Son of an eminent divine named William Crashaw, was educated in +grammar learning in Sutton's-Hospital called the Charter-House, near +London, and in academical, partly in Pembroke-Hall, of which he was a +scholar, and afterwards in Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which he was a +fellow, where, as in the former house, he was distinguished for his +Latin and English poetry. Afterwards he took the degree of master of +arts; but being soon after thrown out of his fellowship, with many +others of the University of Cambridge, for denying the Covenant during +the time of the rebellion, he was for a time obliged to shift for +himself, and struggle against want and oppression. At length being +wearied with persecution and poverty, and foreseeing the calamity +which threatened and afterwards fell upon his church and country, by +the unbounded fury of the Presbyterians, he changed his religion, +and went beyond sea, in order to recommend himself to some Popish +preferment in Paris; but being a mere scholar was incapable of +executing his new plan of a livelihood. Mr. Abraham Cowley hearing of +his being there, endeavoured to find him out, which he did, and to his +great surprize saw him in a very miserable plight: this happened in +the year 1646. This generous bard gave him all the assistance he +could, and obtained likewise some relief for him from Henrietta Maria +the Queen Dowager, then residing at Paris. Our author receiving +letters of recommendation from his Queen, he took a journey into +Italy, and by virtue of those letters became a secretary to a Cardinal +at Rome, and at length one of the canons or chaplains of the rich +church of our lady of Loretto, some miles distant from thence, where +he died in 1650. + +This conduct of Crashaw can by no means be justified: when a man +changes one religion for another, he ought to do it at a time when no +motive of interest can well be supposed to have produced it; for it +does no honour to religion, nor to the person who becomes a convert, +when it is evident, he would not have altered his opinion, had not +his party been suffering; and what would have become of the church +of England, what of the Protestant religion, what of christianity in +general, had the apostles and primitive martyrs, and later champions +for truth, meanly abandoned it like Crashaw, because the hand of power +was lifted up against it. It is an old observation, that the blood of +the martyrs is the seed of the church; but Crashaw took care that +the church mould reap no benefit by his perseverance. Before he left +England he wrote poems, entitled, Steps to the Temple; and Wood says, +"That he led his life in St. Mary's church near to Peterhouse, where +he lodged under Tertullian's roof of angels; there he made his nest +more glad than David's swallow near the house of God, where like a +primitive saint he offered more prayers in the night than others +usually offer in the day. There he pen'd the poems called Steps to the +Temple for Happy Souls to climb to Heaven by. To the said Steps are +joined other poems, entitled, The Delights of the Muses, wherein are +several Latin poems; which tho' of a more humane mixture, yet are +sweet as they are innocent. He hath also written Carmen Deo Nostro, +being Hymns and other sacred Poems, addressed to the Countess of +Denbigh. He is said to have been master of five languages, besides +his mother tongue, viz. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish." + +Mr. Crashaw seems to have been a very delicate and chaste writer; his +language is pure, his thoughts natural, and his manner of writing +tender. + + * * * * * + + +WILLIAM ROWLEY. + +An author who lived in the reign of Charles I. and was some time a +member of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge. There are no particulars on +record concerning this poet. He was beloved, says Langbaine, by +Shakespear, Johnson, and Fletcher, and writ with the former the +British Merlin, besides what he joined in writing with poets of the +third class, as Heywood, Middleton, Day, and Webster. + +The author has six plays in print of his own writing, which are as +follows; + +1. A New Wonder, a Woman never vext, a Comedy, acted Anno 1632. The +Widow's finding her wedding Ring (which she dropt crossing the Thames) +in the Belly of a Fish, is taken from the Story of Polycrates, in the +Thalia of Herodotus. + +2. A Match at Midnight, a Comedy, acted by the Children of the Revels, +1633. Part of the Plot is taken from a Story in the English Rogue, +Part the fourth. + +3. All's lost by Lust, a Tragedy, acted at the Phoenix in Drury-lane +by the Lady Elizabeth's Servants, 1633. This is esteemed a tolerable +Play. + +4. Shoemaker's a Gentleman, a Comedy, acted at the Red-Bull, 1638. +This Play was afterwards revived at the Theatre in Dorset-Garden. Plot +from Crispin and Crispianus; or the History of the Gentle Craft. + +5. The Witch of Edmonton, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by the Prince's +Servants at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, 1658. This Play was afterwards +acted at Court with Applause. + +6. The Birth of Merlin, a Tragi-Comedy, 1662. The Plot from Geofrey of +Monmouth. Shakespear assisted in this Play. He joined with Middleton +in his Spanish Gypsies, Webster in his Thracian Wonder. + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS NASH. + +A versifier in the reign of King Charles I. was educated in the +university of Cambridge, and was designed for holy orders. He was +descended from a family in Hertfordshire, and was born at Leostoff +in Suffolk. Whether he obtained any preferment in the church, or was +honoured with any great man's patronage, is no where determined. It +is reasonable to believe the contrary, because good fortune is seldom +without the evidence of flattery, or envy, whereas distress and +obscurity, are almost inseparable companions. This is further +confirmed in some lines vehemently passionate, in a performance of +his called Piers Penniless; which to say nothing of the poetry, are a +strong picture of rage, and despair, and part of which as they +will shew that he was no mean versifier, shall be quoted by way +of specimen. In the abovementioned piece of Piers Penniless, or +Supplication to the Devil, he had some reflections on the parentage +of Dr. Harvey, his father being a rope-maker of Saffron-Walden. This +produced contests between the Doctor and him, so that it became a +paper war. Amongst other books which Mr. Nash wrote against him, was +one entitled, Have with ye, to Saffron Walden; and another called, +Four letters confuted. He wrote likewise a poem, called, The White +Herring and the Red. He has published two plays, Dido Queen of +Carthage, in which he joined with Marloe: and Summers last Will and +Testament, a Comedy. Langbaine says, he could never procure a sight of +either of these, but as to the play called, See me, and See me +not, ascribed to him by Winstanley, he says, it is written by one +Drawbridgecourt Belchier, Esq; Thomas Nash had the reputation of a +sharp satirist, which talent he exerted with a great deal of acrimony +against the Covenanters and Puritans of his time: He likewise wrote a +piece called, The Fourfold way to Happiness, in a dialogue between a +countryman, citizen, divine, and lawyer, printed in 4to. London, 1633. + +In an old poem called the return to Parnassus; or a scourge for +Simony, Nash's character is summed up in four lines, which Mrs. Cooper +thinks is impartially done. + + Let all his faults sleep in his mournful chest, + And there for ever with his ashes rest! + His stile was witty; tho he had some gall: + Something he might have mended----so may all + +From his PIERS PENNILESS. + + Why is't damnation to despair and die, + When life is my true happiness disease? + My soul! my soul' thy safety makes me fly + The faulty means that might my pain appease, + Divines, and dying men may talk of Hell; + But, in my heart, her sev'ral torments dwell! + Ah! worthless wit to train me to this woe! + Deceitful arts, that nourish discontent! + Ill thrive the folly that bewitched me so! + Vain thoughts adieu, for now I will repent! + And yet my wants persuade me to proceed, + Since none take pity of a Scholar's need! + + Forgive me God, altho' I curse my birth, + And ban the air wherein I breath a wretch! + Since misery hath daunted all my mirth + And I am quite undone, thro' promise breach + O friends! no friends! that then ungently frown, + When changing fortune casts us headlong down! + + Without redress, complains my careless verse, + And Midas ears relent not at my moan! + In some far land will I my griefs rehearse, + 'Mongst them that will be moved when I shall groan! + England adieu! the soil that brought me forth! + Adieu unkind where still is nothing worth! + + * * * * * + + +JOHN FORD, + +A Gentleman of the Middle-Temple, who wrote in the reign of Charles I. +He was a well-wisher to the muses, and a friend and acquaintance of +most of the poets of his time. He was not only a partner with Rowley +and Decker in the Witch of Edmonton, and with Decker in the Sun's +Darling; but wrote likewise himself seven plays, most of which were +acted at the Phænix in the Black-Fryars, and may be known by an +Anagram instead of his name, generally printed in the title-page, viz, + +FIDE HONOR. + +His genius was more turned for tragedy than comedy, which occasioned +an old poet to write thus of him: + + Deep in a dump, John Ford was alone got, + With folded arms, and melancholy hat. + +These particulars I find in Mr. Langbaine, who gives the following +account of his plays; + +1. Broken Heart, a Tragedy, acted by the King's Servants at the +private House in Black-Fryars, printed in 4to. London 1633, and +dedicated to Lord Craven, Baron of Hamstead-Marshal: The Speaker's +Names are fitted to their Qualities, and most of them are derived from +Greek Etymologies. + +2. Fancies Chaste and Noble, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by the Queen's +Servants, at the Phoenix in Drury Lane, printed 4to. London 1638, and +dedicated to Lord Randel Macdonell, Earl of Antrim, in the Kingdom of +Ireland. + +3. Ladies Tryal, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by both their Majesties +Servants, at the Private House in Drury-Lane, printed 4to. London, +1639. + +4. Lover's Melancholy, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a Private House in +Black-Fryars, and publickly at the Globe by the King's Servants, +printed 4to. London 1629, and dedicated to the Society of Gray's-Inn. +This Play is commended by four of the author's Friends, one of whom +writes the following Tetrastich: + + 'Tis not the language, nor the fore-placed rhimes + Of friends, that shall commend to after times + The lover's melancholy: It's own worth + Without a borrowed praise shall see it forth. + +The author, says Langbaine, has imbellished this Play with several +fancies from other Writers, which he has appositely brought in, as +the Story of the Contention between the Musician and the Nightingale, +described in Strada's academical Prolusions, Lib. ii. Prol. 6. + +5. Love's Sacrifice, a Tragedy, received generally well, acted by the +Queen's Servants, at the Phoenix in Drury-Lane; printed 4to. Lond. +1663. There is a copy of verses prefixed to this Play, written by +James Shirley, Esq; a dramatic writer. + +6. Perkin Warbeck, a Chronicle History, and strange Truth, acted by +the Queen's Servants in Drury-Lane, printed 4to. 1634, and dedicated +to William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle. This Play, as several of +the former, is attended with Verses written by four of the Author's +friends. The Plot is founded on Truth, and may be read in all the +Chronicles of Henry VII. + +7. Sun's Darling, a Moral Mask, often presented by their Majesties +Servants at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, with great Applause, printed +in 4to. London 1657, dedicated to the Right Hon. Thomas Wriothesley, +Earl of Southampton. This Play was wrote by our author and John +Decker, but not published till after their decease. A Copy of Verses +written by Mr. John Tateham is the Introduction to the Mask, at the +Entry whereof the Reader will find an Explanation of the Design +alluding to the Four Seasons of the Year. + +8. 'Tis Pity she's a Whore, a Tragedy, printed in 4to. Mr. +Langbaine says, that this equals if not exceeds any of our author's +performances, and were to be commended did not he paint the incestuous +love between Giovanni, and his Sister Annabella, in too beautiful +colours. I have not been able to ascertain the year in which this +author died; but imagine from circumstances, that it must have been +some time before the Restoration, and before the Year 1657, for the +Sun's Darling, written between him and Decker was published in 1657, +which Mr. Langbaine says, was after their Decease. + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS MIDDLETON + +Lived in the reign of King Charles I. he was cotemporary with Johnson, +Fletcher, Maslinger and Rowley, in whose friendship he is said to have +shared, and though he fell much short of the two former, yet being +joined with them in writing plays, he arrived at some reputation. He +joined with Fletcher and Johnson in a play called The Widow, and the +highest honour that is known of this poet, is, his being admitted to +make a triumvirate with two such great men: he joined with Massinger +and Rowley in writing the Old Law; he was likewise assisted by +Rowley in writing three plays[1]. We have not been able to find any +particulars of this man's life, further than his friendship and +connection already mentioned, owing to his obscurity, as he was never +considered as a genius, concerning which the world thought themselves +interested to preserve any particulars. + +His dramatic works are, + +1. The Five Gallants, acted at the Black Fryars. + +2. Blur, Mr. Constable, or the Spaniard's Night Walk, a Comedy, acted +by the Children of St. Paul's School, 1602. + +3. The Phænix, a Tragedy, acted by the Children of St. Paul's, and +also before his Majesty, 1607; the story is taken from a Spanish +Novel, called the Force of Love. + +4. The Family of Love, a Comedy, acted by the children of his +Majesty's Revels, 1608. + +5. The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse, acted by the Prince's Players, +1611; part of this play was writ by Mr. Decker. + +6. A Trick to catch the Old One, a Comedy, acted both at St. Paul's +and Black Fryars before their Majesties, with success, 1616. + +7. The Triumphs of Love and Antiquity, a Masque, performed at the +Confirmation of Sir William Cokain, General of his Majesty's Forces, +and Lord Mayor of the city of London, 1619. + +8. The Chaste Maid of Cheapside, a pleasant Comedy, acted by the Lady +Elizabeth's servants, 1620. + +9. The World toss'd at Tennis, a Masque, presented by the Prince's +servants, 1620. + +10. The Fair Quarrel, a Comedy, acted in the year 1622, Mr. Rowley +assisted in the composing this Play. + +11. The Inner Temple Masque, a Masque of Heroes, represented by the +Gentlemen of the Inner-Temple, 1640. + +12. The Changeling, a Tragedy, acted at a private house in Drury Lane, +and Salisbury Court, with applause, 1653, Mr. Rowley joined in writing +this play; for the plot see the story of Alsemero, and Beatrice Joanna +in Reynolds's God's Revenge against Murder. + +13. The Old Law, or a New Way to Please You, a Comedy, acted before +the King and Queen in Salisbury Court, printed 1656. Massenger and +Rowley assisted in this Play. + +14. No Wit, No Help like a Woman's, a Comedy, acted in the year 1657. + +15. Women, beware Women, a Tragedy, 1657. This Play is founded on a +Romance called Hyppolito and Isabella. + +16. More Dissemblers besides Women, a Comedy, acted 1657. + +17. The Spanish Gypsies, a Comedy, acted with applause, both at the +private house in Drury Lane, and Salisbury Court, 1660; in this Play +he was assisted by Mr. Rowley. Part of it is borrowed from a Spanish +Novel called the Force of Blood, written originally by Cervantes. + +18. The Mayor of Queenborough, a Comedy, acted by his Majesty's +servants, 1661. For the plot see the Reign of Vartigas, by Stow and +Speed. + +19. Any Thing for a Quiet Life, acted at the Globe on the Bank Side. +This is a game between the Church of England, and that of Rome, +wherein the former gains the victory. + +20. Michaelmas Term, a Comedy; it is uncertain whether this play was +ever acted. + +21. A Mad World, my Masters, a Comedy, often acted at a private house +in Salisbury Court with applause. + + +[Footnote 1: Langbaine's Lives of the Poets, p. 370.] + + * * * * * + + +End of the First VOLUME. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lives of the Poets of Great +Britain and Ireland (1753), by Theophilus Cibber + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF POETS, V1 *** + +***** This file should be named 10598-8.txt or 10598-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/9/10598/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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