end of King Richard the Second's Days he flourished in France and got himself into high esteem there by his diligent exercise in Learning After his return home he frequented the Court at London and the Colledges of the Lawyers which there interpreted the Laws of the Land. Amongst whom was John Gower his great familiar Friend whose Life we wrote before This Gower in his Book entituled Confessio Amantis termeth Chaucer a worthy Poet and maketh him as it were the Judge of his Works This our Chaucer had always an earnest desire to enrich and beautifie our English Tongue which in those days was very rude and barren and this he did following the example of Dante 's and Petrarch who had done the same for the Italian Tongue Alanus for the French and Johannes Mea for the Spanish Neither was Chaucer inferior to any of them in the performance hereof and England in this respect is much beholding to him as Leland well noteth Anglia Chaucerum veneratur nostra Poetam Cui veneris debet Patria Lingua suas Our England honoureth Chaucer Poet as principal To whom her Country-Tongue doth owe her Beauties all He departed out of this world the 25th day of October 1400 after he had lived about seventy two years Thus writeth Bale out of Leland Chaucerus ad Canos devenit sensitque Senectutem morbum esse dum Causas suas Londini curaret c. Chaucer lived till he was an old man and found old Age to be grievous and whilst he followed his Causes at London he died and was buried at Westminster The old Verses which were written on his Grave at the first were these Galfridus Chaucer Vates Fama Poesis Maternae haec sacra sum tumulatus humo Thomas Occleue or Okelefe of the Office of the Privy Seal sometime Chaucer's Scholar for the love he bore to the said Geoffrey his Master caused his Picture to be truly drawn in his Book De Regimine Principis dedicated to Henry the Fifth according to which that his Picture drawn upon his Monument was made as also the Monument it self at the Cost and Charges of Nicolas Brigham Gentleman Anno 1555. who buried his Daughter Rachel a Child of four years of Age near to the Tomb of this old Poet the 21th of June 1557. Such was his Love to the Muses and on his Tomb these Verses were inscribed Qui fuit Anglorum Vates ter maximus olim Galfridus Chaucer conditur hoc Tumulo Annum si quaer as Domini si tempor a Mortis Ecce notae subsunt quae tibi cuncta notant 25 Octobris 1400. Aerumnarum requies Mors. N. Brigham hos fecit Musarum nomine sumptus About the Ledge of the Tomb these Verses were written Si rogitas quis eram forsante Fama docebit Quod si Fama negat Mundi quia Gloria transit Haec Monumenta lege The foresaid Thomas Occleve under the Picture of Chaucer had these Verses Although his Life be queint the resemblance Of him that hath in me so fresh liveliness That to put other men in remembrance Of his Person I have here the likeness Do make to the end in Soothfastness That they that of him have lost thought and mind By this peniture may again him find In his foresaid Book De Regimine Principis he thus writes of him But welaway is mine heart wo That the honour of English Tongue is dead Of which I wont was counsaile haue and reed O Master dere and Fadre reuerent My Master Chaucer Floure of Eloquence Mirror of fructuous entendement O vniuersal fadre of Science Alas that thou thine excellent Prudence In thy Bed mortal mightest not bequeath What eyl'd Death alas why would she the sle O Death thou didst not harm singler in slaughter of him But all the Land it smerteth But natheless yet hast thou no power his name slee But his vertue asterteth Unslain fro thee which ay us lifely herteth With Books of his ornat enditing That is to all this Land enlumining In another place of his said Book he writes thus Alas my worthy Maister honourable This Land 's very Treasure and Richess Death by thy Death hath harm irreparable Unto us done her vengeable duress Dispoiled hath this Land of the sweetness Of Rhetorige for unto Tullius Was never man so like among us Also who was here in Philosophy To Aristotle in our Tongue but thee The Steps of Virgil in Poesie Thou suedst eken men know well enough What combre world that thee my Master slough Would I slaine were John Lidgate likewise in his Prologue of Bocchas of the Fall of Princes by him translated saith thus in his Commendation My Master Chaucer with his fresh Comedies Is dead alas chief Poet of Brittaine That whilom made full pitous Tradgedies The faule of Princes he did complaine As he that was of making Soveraine Whom all this Land should of right preferre Sith of our Language he was the load-sterre Also in his Book which he writeth of the Birth of the Virgin Mary he hath these Verses And eke my Master Chaucer now is in grave The noble Rhetore Poet of Britaine That worthy was the Laurel to have Of Poetry and the Palm attaine That made first to distill and raine The Gold dew drops of Speech and Eloquence Into our Tongue through his Eloquence That excellent and learned Scottish Poet Gawyne Dowglas Bishop of Dunkold in the Preface of Virgil's Eneados turned into Scottish Verse doth thus speak of Chaucer Venerable Chaucer principal Poet without pere Heavenly Trumpet orloge and regulere In Eloquence Baulme Conduct and Dyal Milkie Fountaine Cleare Strand and Rose Ryal Of fresh endite through Albion Island brayed In his Legend of Noble Ladies sayed And as for men of latter time Mr. Ascham and Mr. Spenser have delivered most worthy Testimonies of their approving of him Mr. Ascham in one place calleth him English Homer and makes no doubt to say that he valueth his Authority of as high estimation as he did either Sophocles or Euripides in Greek And in another place where he declareth his Opinion of English Versifying he useth these Words Chaucer and Petrark those two worthy Wits deserve just praise And last of all in his Discourse of Germany he putteth him nothing behind either Thucydides or Homer for his lively Descriptions of Site of Places and Nature of Persons both in outward Shape of Body and inward Disposition of Mind adding this withal That not the proudest that hath written in any Tongue whatsoever for his time hath out-stript him Mr. Spenser in his first Eglogue of his Shepherds Kalendar calleth him Tityrus the God of Shepherds comparing him to the worthiness of the Roman Tityrus Virgil. In his Fairy Queen in his Discourse of Friendship as thinking himself most worthy to be Chaucer's friend for his like natural disposition that Chaucer had he writes That none that lived with him nor none that came after him durst presume to revive Chaucer's lost labours in that imperfect
the ground Then here it is where nought but Joy is found That the City of Florence was the ancient Seat of her Family he himself intimates in one of his Sonnets thus From Tuscan came my Ladies worthy Race Fair Florence was sometimes her ancient Seat The Western Isle whose pleasant Shoar doth face Whilst Camber's Cliffs did give her lively heat 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 Geraldines Beauty This Challenge was the more mildly accepted in regard she whom he defended was a Town-born Child of that City or else the Pride of the Italian would have prevented him ere he should have come to perform it The Duke of Florence nevertheless sent for him and demanded him of his Estate and the reason that drew him thereto which when he was advertiz'd of to the full he granteth all Countries whatsoever as well Enemies and Outlaws as Friends and Confederates free access and regress into his Dominions immolested until the Trial were ended This Challenge as he manfully undertook so he as valiantly performed as Mr. Drayton describes it in his Letter to the Lady Geraldine The shiver'd Staves here for thy Beauty broke With fierce encounters past at every shock When stormy Courses answerd Cuff for Cuff Denting proud Beavers with the Counter-buff Which when each manly valiant Arm essays After so many brave triumphant days The glorious Prize upon my Lance I bare By Herald's Voyce proclaim'd to be thy share The Duke of Florence for his approved Valour offered him large Proffers to stay with him which he refused intending as he had done in Florence to proceed through all the chief Cities in Italy but this his Purpose was frustrated by Letters sent to him from his Master King Henry the 8th which commanded him to return as speedily as possibly he could into England Our famous English Antiquary John Leland speaking much in the praise of Sir Thomas Wiat the Elder as well for his Learning as other excellent Qualities meet for a man of his Calling calls this Earl the conscript enrolled Heir of the said Sir Thomas Wiat writing to him in these words Accipe Regnorum Comes illustrissime Carmen Quo mea Musa tuum landavit moesta Viallum And again in another place Perge Houerde tuum virtute referre Viallum Dicerisque tuae clarissima Gloria stirpis A certain Treatise called The Art of English Poetry alledges That Sir Thomas Wiat the Elder and Henry Earl of Surrey were the two Chieftains who having travelled into Italy and there tasted the sweet and stately Measures and Style of the Italian Poesie greatly polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar Poesie from what it had been before and may therefore justly be shewed to be the Reformers of our English Meeter and Style I shall only add an Epitaph made by this Noble Earl on Sir Anthony Denny Knight a Gentleman whom King Henry the 8th greatly affected and then come to speak of his Death Death and the King did as it were contend Which of them two bare Denny greatest Love The King to shew his Love gan far extend Did him advance his Betters far above Near Place much Wealth great Honour eke him gave To make it known what Power great Princes have But when Death came with his triumphant Gift From worldly Cark he quit his wearied Ghost Free from the Corps and streight to Heaven it lift Now deem that can who did for Denny most The King gave Wealth but fading and unsure Death brought him Bliss that ever shall endure But to return this Earl had together with his Learning Wisdom Fortitude Munificence and Affability yet all these good and excellent parts were no protection against the King's Displeasure for upon the 12 th of December the last of King Henry the 8th he with his Father Thomas Duke of Norfolk upon certain surmises of Treason were committed to the Tower of London the one by Water the other by Land so that the one knew not of the others Apprehension The 15th day of January next following he was arraigned at Guildhall London where the greatest matter alledged against him was for bearing certain Arms that were said belonged to the King and Prince the bearing whereof he justified To be short for so they were with him he was found guilty by twelve common Juriars had Judgment of Death and upon the 19th day of the said Month nine days before the Death of the said King Henry was beheaded at Tower-Hill He was at first interred in the Chappel of the Tower and afterwards in the Reign of King James his Remainders of Ashes and Bones were removed to Framingham in Suffolk by his second Son Henry Earl of Northampton where in the Church they were interred with this Epitaph Henrico Howardo Thomae Secundi Ducis Norfolciae filio primogenito Thomae tertij Patri Comiti Surriae Georgiam Ordinis Equiti Aurato immature Anno Salutis 1546. abrepto Et Francisae Vxori ejus filiae Johannis Comitis Oxoniae Henricus Howardus Comes Northhamptoniae filius secundo genitus hoc supremum Pietatis in Parentes Monumentum posuit A. D. 1614. Sir THOMAS WIAT the Elder THis worthy Knight is termed by the Name of the Elder to distinguish him from Sir Thomas Wiat the raiser of the Rebellion in the time of Queen Mary and was born at Allington Castle in the County of Kent which afterwards he repaired with most beautiful Buildings He was a Person of great esteem and reputation in the Reign of King Henry the 8th with whom for his honesty and singular parts he was in high favour Which nevertheless he had like to have lost about the Business of Queen Anne Bullein but by his Innocency Industry and Prudence he extricated himself He was one of admirable ingenuity and truly answer'd his Anagram Wiat a Wit the judicious Mr. Cambden saith he was Eques Auratus splendide doctus And though he be not taken notice of by Bale nor Pits yet for his admirable Translation of David's Psalms into English Meeter and other Poetical Writings Leland forbears not to compare him to Dante and Petrarch by giving him this large commendation Bella suum merito jactet Florentia Dantem Regia Petrarchae carmina Roma probat His non inferior Patrio Sermone Viattus Eloquii secum qui decus omne tulit Let Florence fair her Dante 's justly boast And royal Rome her Petrarchs number'd feet In English Wiat both of them doth coast In whom all graceful eloquence doth meet The renowned Earl of Surrey in an Encomium upon his Translation of David's Psalms thus writes of him What holy Grave what worthy Sepulcher To Wiat's Psalms shall Christians purchase then And afterward upon his death the said Earl writeth thus What Vertues rare were temper'd in thy brest Honour that England such a Jewel bred And kiss the ground whereas thy Corps did rest c. This worthy
things worthy reading and didst do Things worthy writing too Thy Arts thy Valour show And by thy Works we do thy Learning know I shall conclude all with these excellent Verses made by himself a little before his Death It is not I that die I do but leave an Inn Where harbour'd was with me all filthy Sin It is not I that die I do but now begin Into eternal Joy by Faith to enter in Why mourn you then my Parents Friends and Kin Lament you when I lose not when I win Sir FVLK GREVIL NExt to Sir Philip Sidney we shall add his great Friend and Associate Sir Fulk Grevil Lord Brook one very eminent both for Arts and Arms to which the genius of that time did mightily invite active Spirits This Noble Person for the great love he bore to Sir Philip sidney wrote his Life He wrote several other Works both in Prose and Verse some of which were Dramatick as his Tragedies of Alaham Mustapha and Marcus Tullius Cicero and others commonly of a Political Subject amongst which a Posthume Work not publish'd till within a few years being a two fold Treatise the first of Monarchy the second of Religion in all which is observable a close mysterious and sententious way of Writing without much regard to Elegancy of Stile or smoothness of Verse Another Posthume Book is also fathered upon him namely The Five Years of King James or the Condition of the State of England and the Relation it had to other Provinces Printed in the Year 1643. But of this last Work many people are doubtful Now for his Abilities in the Exercise of Arms take this instance At such time when the French Ambassadours came over into England to Negotiate a Marriage between the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth for their better entertainment 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 be behaved himself so gallantly that he won the reputation of a most valiant Knight Thus you see that though Ease be the Nurse of Poesie the Muses are also Companions to Mars as may be exemplified in the Lives of the Earl of Surrey Sir Philip Sidney and this Sir Fulk Grevil I shall only add a word or two of his death which was as sad as lamentable He kept a discontented servant who conceiving his deserts not soon or well enough rewarded wounded him mortally and then to save the Law a labour killed himself Verifying therein the observation That there is none who never so much despiseth his own life but yet is master of another mans This ingenious Gentleman in whose person shined all true Vertue and high Nobility as he was a great friend to learning himself so was he a great favourer of learning in others witness his liberality to Mr. Speed the Chronologer when finding his wide Soul was stuffed with too narrow an Occupation gave it enlargement as the said Author doth ingeniously consess in his description of Warwick shire Whose Merits saith he to me-ward I do acknowledge in setting his 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 lieth interred in Warwick-Church under a Monument of Black and White Marble wherein he is styled Servant to Queen Elizabeth Councellor to King James and Friend to Sir Philp Sidney He died Anno 16 without Issue save only those of his Brain which will make his Name to live when others Issue they may fail them Mr. EDMOND SPENSER THis our Famous Poet Mr. Edmond Spenser was born in the City of London and brought up in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge where he became a most excellent Scholar but especially very happy in English Poetry as his learned elaborate Works do declare which whoso shall peruse with a judicious eye will find to have in them the very height of Poetick fancy and though some blame his Writings for the many Chaucerisms used by him yet to the Learned they are known not to be blemishes but rather beauties to his Book which notwithstanding saith a learned Writer had been more salable if more conformed to our modern language His first flight in Poetry as not thinking himself fully fledged was in that Book of his called The Shepherds Kalendar applying an old Name to a new Book It being of Eclogues fitted to each Month in the Year of which Work hear what that worthy Knight Sir Philip Sidney writes whose judgment in such cases is counted infallible The Shepherds Kalendar saith he hath much Poetry in his Eclogues indeed worthy the reading if I be not deceived That same framing his Stile to an old rustick Language I dare not allow since neither Theocritus in Greek Virgil in Latine nor Sanazara in Italian did effect it Afterwards he translated the Gnat a little fragment of Virgil's excellency Then he translated Bellay his Ruins of Rome His most unfortunate Work was that of Mother Hubbard's Tale giving therein offence to one in authority who after wards stuck on his skirts But his main Book and which indeed I think Envy its self cannot carp at was his Fairy Queen a Work of such an ingenious composure as will last as long as time endures Now as you have heard what esteem Sir Philip Sidney had of his Book so you shall hear what esteem Mr. Spenser had of Sir Philip Sidney writing thus in his Ruins of Time. Yet will I sing but who can better sing Than thou thy self thine own selfs valiance That while thou livedst thou madest the Forests ring And Fields resound and Flocks to leap and dance And Shepherds leave their Lambs unto mischance To run thy shrill Arcadian Pipe to hear O happy were those days thrice happy were In the same his Poem of the Rains of Time you may see what account he makes of the World and of the immortal Fame gotten by Poesie In vain do earthly Princes then in vain Seek with Pyramids to Heaven aspir'd Or huge Collosses built with costly pain Or brazen Pillars never to be fir'd Or Shrines made of the metal most desir'd To make their Memories for ever live For how can mortal immortality give For deeds do die however nobly done And thoughts of men do in themselves decay But wise words taught in numbers for to run Recorded by the Muses live for aye Ne may with storming showers be wash'd away Ne bitter breathing with harmful blast Nor age nor envy shall them ever wast There passeth a story commonly told and believed that Mr. Spenser presenting his Poems to Queen Elizabeth she highly affected therewith commanded the Lord Cecil her Treasurer to give him an Hundred Pound and when the Treasurer a good Steward of the Queen's Money alledged that Sum was too much for such a matter then give him quoth the Queen what is reason but was so busied or seemed to be
to Land by Death doth lie A Vessel fitter for the Skie Than Jason's Argo though in Greece They say it brought the Golden Fleece The skilful Pilot steer'd it so Hither and thither too and fro Through all the Seas of Poverty Whether they far or near do lie And fraught it so with all the wealth Of wit and learning not by stealth Or privacy but perchance got That this whole lower World could not Richer Commodities or more Afford to add unto his store To Heaven then with an intent Of new Discoveries he went And left his Vessel here to rest Till his return shall make it blest The Bill of Lading he that looks To know may find it in his Books Mr. PHINEAS FLETCHER THis learned person Son and Brother to two ingenious Poets himself the third not second to either was son to Giles Fletcher Doctor in Law and Embassadour from Queen Elizabeth to Theodor Juanowick Duke of Muscovia who though a Tyranick Prince whose will was his Low yet setled with him very good Terms for our Merchants trading thither He was also brother to two worthy Poets viz. George Fletcher the Author of a Poem entituled Christs Victory and Triumph over and after Death and Giles Fletcher who wrote a worthy Poem entituled Christs Victory made by him being but Batchelor of Arts discovering the piety of a Saint and divinity of Doctor This our Phineas Fletcher was Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge and in Poetick fame exceeded his two Brothers in that never enough to be celebrated Poem entituled The Purple Island of which to give my Reader a taste who perhaps hath never seen the Book I shall here add two Stanza's of it Thrice happy was the worlds first infancy Nor knowing yet not curious ill to know Joy without grief love without jealousie None felt hard labour or the sweating Plough The willing earth brought tribute to her King Bacchus unborn lay hidden in the cling Of big swollen Grapes their drink was every silver spring And in another place speaking of the vanity of ambitious Covetousness Vain men too fondly wise who plough the Seas With dangerous pains another earth to find Adding new Worlds to th' old and scorning ease The earths vast limits daily more unbind The aged World though now it falling shows And hasts to set yet still in dying grows Whole lives are spent to win what one Deaths hour must lose Besides this purple Island he wrote divers Piscatorie Eclogues and other Poetical Miscelanies also a Piscatory Comedy called Sicelides which was acted at Kings-Colledge in Cambridge Mr. GEORGE HERBERT THis divine Poet and person was a younger brother of the Noble Family of the Herberts of Montgomery whose florid wit obliging humour in conversation fluent Elocution and great proficiency in the Arts gained him that reputation at Oxford where he spent his more youthful Age that he was chosen University Orator a place which required one of able parts to Mannage it at last taking upon him Holy Orders not without special Encouragement from the King who took notice of his extraordinary Parts he was made Parson of Bemmerton near Salisbury where he led a Seraphick life converting his Studies altogether to serious and Divine Subjects which in time produced those his so generally known and approved Poems entituled The Temple Whose Vocal notes tun'd to a heavenly Lyre Both learned and unlearned all admire I shall only add out of his Book an Anagram which he made on the name of the Virgin Mary MARY ARMY And well her name an Army doth present In whom the Lord of Hosts did pitch his Tent. Mr. RICHARD CRASHAW THis devout Poet the Darling of the Muses whose delight was the fruitful Mount Sion more than the barren Mount Pernassus was Fellow first of Pembrook-Hall after of St. Peters-Colledge in Cambridge a religious pourer forth of his divine Raptures and Meditations in smooth and pathetick Verse His Poems consist of three parts the first entituled Steps to the Temple being for the most part Epigrams upon several passages of the New Testament charming the ear with a holy Rapture The Second part The delights of the Muses or Poems upon severral occasions both English and Latin such rich pregnant Fancies as shewed his Breast to be filled with Phoebean Fire The third and last part Carmen Deo nostro being Hymns and other sacred Poems dedicated to the Countess of Denbigh all which bespeak him The learned Author of Immortal Strains He was much given to a religious Solitude and love of a recluse Life which made him spend much of his time and even lodge many Nights under Tertullian's roof of Angels in St. Mary's Church in Cambridge But turning Roman Catholick he betook himself to 〈◊〉 so zealously frequented place Our Lady 's of Loâ—â—etto in Italy where for some years he spent his time in Divine Contemplations being a Canon of that Church where he dyed Mr. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT MR. William Cartwright a Student of Christ Church in Oxford where he lived in Fame and Reputation for his singular Parts and Ingenuity being none of the least of Apollo's Sons for his excelling vein in Poetry which produc'd a Volume of Poems publisht not long after his Death and usher'd into the World by Commendatory Verses of the choicest Wits at that time enough to have made a Volume of it self So much was he reverenced by the Lovers of the Muses He wrote besides his Poems The Ordinary a Comedy the Royal Slave Lady Errant and The Seige Or Loves Convert Tragi-Comedies Sir ASTON COCKAIN SIr Aston Cockain laies Claim to a place in our Book being remembred to Posterity by four Plays which he wrote viz. The Obstinate Lady a Comedy Trapolin supposed a Prince Tyrannical Government Tragi-Comedies and Thersites an Interlude Sir JOHN DAVIS THis worthy Knight to whom Posterity is indebted for his learned Works was well beloved of Queen Elizabeth and in great Favour with King James His younger Years he addicted to the study of Poetry which produced two excellent Poems Nosce Teipsum and Ochestra Works which speak themselves their own Commendations He also wrote a judicious Metaphrase on several of David's Psalms which first made him known at Court afterwards addicting himself to the Study of the Common-Law of England he was first made the Kings Serjeant and after his Attorney-General in Ireland THOMAS MAY. THomas May was one in his time highly esteemed not only for his Translation of Virgils Georgicks and Lucans Pharfalia into English but what he hath written Propria Minerva as his Supplement to Lucan till the Death of Julius Caesar His History of Henry the Second in Verse besides what he wrote of Dramatick as his Tragedies of Antigone Agrippina and Cleopatra The Heir a Tragi-Comedy the Old Couple and The Old Wives Tale Comedies and the History of Orlando Furioso of these his Tragi-Comedy of The Heir is done to the life both for Plot and Language and good had it been for his Memory to Posterity if he
Knight being sent Ambassador by King Henry the Eighth to Charles the Fifth Emperor then residing in Spain died of the Pestilence in the West Country before he could take Shipping Anno 1541. Dr. CHRISTOPHER TYE IN the writing this Doctors Life we shall principally make use for Directions of Mr. Fuller in his England's Worthies fol. 244. He flourished saith he in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth to whom he was one of the Gentlemen of their Chappel and probably the Organist Musick which received a grievous wound in England at the dissolution of Abbeys was much beholding to him for her recovery such was his excellent Skill and Piety that he kept it up in Credit at Court and in all Cathedrals during his life He translated the Acts of the Apostles into Verse and let us take a tast of his Poetry In the former Treatise to thee dear friend Theophilus I have written the veritie of the Lord Christ Jesus Which he to do and eke to teach began until the day In which the Spirit up did him fetch to dwell above for aye After that he had power to do even by the Holy Ghost Commandements then he gave unto his chosen least and most To whom also himself did shew from death thus to revive By tokens plain unto his few even forty days alive Speaking of God's kingdom with heart chusing together them Commanding them not to depart from that Jerusalem But still to wait on the promise of his Father the Lord Of which you have heard me e're this unto you make record Pass we now saith he from his Poetry being Musick in words to his Musick being Poetry in sounds who set an excellent Composition of Musick in four parts to the several Chapters of his aforenamed Poetry dedicating the same to King Edward the Sixth a little before his death and Printed it Anno Dom. 1353. He also did Compose many excellent Services and Anthems of four and five parts which were used in Cathedrals many years after his death the certain date whereof we cannot attain to JOHN LELAND THis famous Antiquary Mr. John Leland flourish'd in the year 1546. about the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and was born by most probable conjecture at London He wrote among many other Volumes several Books of Epigrams his Cigneo Cantio a Genethliac of Prince Edward Naniae upon the death of Sir Thomas Wiat out of which we shall present you with these Verses Transtulit in nostram Davidis carmina linguam Et numeros magnareddidit arte pares Non morietur opus tersum spectabile sacrum Clarior hac fama parte Viattus erit Vna dies geminos Phoenices non dedit orbi Mors erit in unius vita sed alterius Rara avis in terris confectus morte Viattus Houerdum haeredem scripser at ante suum Dicere nemo potest recte periisse Viattum Ingenit cujus tot monimenta vigent He wrote also several other things both in Prose and Verse to his great fame and commendation THOMAS CHVRCHYARD THomas Churchyard was born in the Town of Shrewsbury as himself doth affirm in his Book made in Verse of the Worthiness of Wales taking Shropshire within the compass to use his own Expression Wales the Park and the Marches the Pale thereof He was one equally addicted to Arts and Arms serving under that renowned Captain Sir William Drury in a rode he made into Scotland as also under several other Commanders beyond Sea as he declares in his Tragical Discourse of the Unhappy Mans Life saying Full thirty years both Court and Wars I tryde And still I sought acquaintance with the best And served the State and did such hap abide As might befal and Fortune sent the rest When Drum did sound I was a Soldier prest To Sea or Land as Princes quarrel stood And for the same full oft I lost my blood But it seems he got little by the Wars but blows as he declares himself a little after But God he knows my gain was small I weene For though I did my credit still encrease I got no wealth by wars ne yet by peace Yet it seems he was born of wealthy friends and had an Estate left unto him as in the same Work he doth declare So born I was to House and Land by right But in a Bag to Court I brought the same From Shrewsbury-Town a seat of ancient fame Some conceive him to be as much beneath a Poet as above a Rymer yet who so shall consider the time he wrote in viz. the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth shall find his Verses to go abreast with the best of that Age. His Works such as I have seen and have now in custody are as followeth The Siege of Leith A Farewel to the World. A feigned Fancy of the Spider and the Gout A doleful Discourse of a Lady and a Knight The Road into Scotland by Sir William Drury Sir Simon Burley's Tragedy A Tragical Discourse of the Vnhappy Mans Life A Discourse of Vertue Churchyard's Dream A Tale of a Fryar and and a Shoomaker 's wife The Siege of Edenborough-Castle Queen Elizabeth's Reception into Bristol These Twelve several Treatises he bound togegether calling them Church-yard's Chips and dedicated them to Sir Christopher Hatton He also wrote the Falls of Shore's Wife and of Cardinal Wolsey which are inserted into the Book of the Mirrour for Magistrates Thus like a stone did he trundle about but never gather'd any Moss dying but poor as may be seen by his Epitaph in Mr. Cambden'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 death according to the most probable conjecture may be presumed about the eleventh year of the Queen's Reign Anno Dom. 1570. JOHN HIGGINS JOhn Higgins was one of the chief of them who compiled the History of the Mirrour of Magistrates associated with Mr. Baldwin Mr. Ferrers Thomas Churchyard and several others of which Book Sir Philip Sidney thus writes in his Defence of Poesie I account the Mirrour of Magistrates meetly furnished of beautiful parts These Commendations coming from so worthy a person our Higgins having so principal a share therein deserves a principal part of the praise And how well his deservings were take an essay of his Poetry in his induction to the Book When Summer sweet with all her pleasures past And leaves began to leave the shady tree The Winter cold encreased on full fast And time of year to sadness moved me For moisty blasts not half so mirthful be As sweet Aurora brings in Spring-time fair Our joys they dim as Winter damps the air The Nights began to grow to length apace Sir Phoebus to th' Antartique 'gan to fare From Libra's lance to the Crab he took his race Beneath the Line to lend of light a share For then with
brake his word to be faithful to the publick good posterity herein hath less cause to censure him for being guilty of such a mâ—â—â—orious offence wherewith he hath obliged so many ages Hereupon thus writeth the British Epigramatist Ipse tuam morient sede conjuge teste jubebas Arcadium saevis ignibus esse cibum Si meruit mortem quia flammam accendit amoris Mergi non uri debuit iste liber In Librum quaecunque cadat sententia nulla Debuit ingenium morte perire tuum In serious thoughts of Death 't was thy desire This sportful Book should be condemn'd with Fire If so because it doth intend Love-matters It rather should be quench'd or drown'd i' th waters However doom'd the Book the memory Of thy immortal Wit will never die He wrote also besides his Arcadia several other Works namely A Defence of Poesie a Book entituled Astrophel and Stella with divers Songs and Sonnets in praise of his Lady whom he celebrated under that bright Name whom afterwards he married that Paragon of Nature Sir Francis Walsingham's Daughter who impoverished himself to enrich the State from whom he expected no more than what was above all Portions a beautiful Wife and a virtuous Daughter He also translated part of that excellent Treatise of Philip Morney du Plessis of the Truth of Religion and no doubt had written many other excellent Works had not the Lamp of his Life been extinguish'd too soon the manner whereof take as followeth His Unkle Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester a man almost as much hated as his Nephew was loved was sent over into the Low-Countries with a well appointed Army and large Commission to defend the United Provinces against the Spanish Cruelty Under him went Sir Philip Sidney who had the Command of the cautionary Town of Flushing and Castle of Ramekius a Trust which he so faithfully discharged that he turned the Envy of the Dutch Townsmen into Affection and Admiration Not long after some Service was to be performed nigh Zutphen in Guelderland where the English through false intelligence were mistaken in the strength of the Enemy Sir Philip is employed next to the Chief in that Expedition which he so discharged that it is questionable whether his Wisdom Industry or Valour may challenge to it self the greatest praise of the Action And now when the triumphant Lawrels were ready to Crown his Brows the English so near the Victory that they touched it ready to lay hold upon he was unfortunately shot in the Thigh which is the Rendezvouz of Nerves and Sinews which caused a Feaver that proved so mortal that five and twenty days after he died of the same the Night of whose Death was the Noon of his Age and the exceeding Loss of Christendom His Body was conveyed into England and most honourably interred in the Church of St. Paul in London over which was fixed this Epitaph England Netherland the Heavens and the Arts All Souldiers and the World have made six parts Of the Noble Sidney for none will suppose That a small heap of Stones can Sidney enclose England hath his Body for she it bred Netherland his Blood in her defence shed The Heavens his Soul the Arts his Fame All Soldiers the Grief the World his good Name To recite the Commendations given him by several Authors would of it self require a Volume to rehearse some few not unpleasing to the Reader The reverend Cambden writes thus This is that Sidney whom as God's will was he should be therefore born into the world even to shew unto our Age a Sample of ancient Virtues Doctor Heylin in his Cosmography calleth him That gallant Gentleman of whom he cannot but make honourable mention Mr. Fuller in his Worthies thus writes of him His homebred Abilities perfected by Travel with foreign accomplishments and a sweet Nature set a gloss upon both Stow in his Annals calleth him a most valiant and towardly Gentleman Speed in his Chronicle That worthy Gentleman in whom were compleat all Virtues and Valours that could be expected to reside in man And Sir Richard Baker gives him this Character A man of so many excellent parts of Art and Nature of Valour and Learning of Wit and Magnanimity that as he had equalled all those of former Ages so the future will hardly be able to equal him Nor was this Poet forgotten by the Poets who offered whole Hecatombs of Verses in his praise Hear first that Kingly Poet or Poetical King King James the first late Monarch of Great Britain who thus writes Armipotens cui jus in fortia pectora Mavors Tu Dea quae cerebrum perrumpere digna totantis Tuque adeo bijugae proles Latonia rupis Gloria deciduae cingunt quam collibus artes Duc tecum querela Sidnaei funera voce Plangite nam vester fuer at Sidnaeus alumnus Quid genus proavos spem floremque juventae Immaturo obitu raptum sine sine retexo Heu frustra queror heu rapuit Mors omnia secum Et nihil ex tanto nunc est Heroe superstes Praeterquam Decus Nomen virtute paratum Doctaque Sidneas testantia Carmina laudes Thus translated by the said king Thou mighty Mars the Lord of Soldiers brave And thou Minerve that dost in wit excel And thou Apollo who dost knowledge have Of every Art that from Parnassus fell With all your Sisters that thereon do dwell Lament for him who duly serv'd you all Whom in you wisely all your Arts did mell Bewail I say his unexpected fall I need not in remembrance for to call His Race his Youth the hope had of him ay Since that in him doth cruel Death appall Both Manhood Wit and Learning every way But yet he doth in bed of Honour rest And evermore of him shall live the best And in another place thus When Venus sad saw Philip Sidney slain She wept supposing Mars that he had been From Fingers Rings and from her Neck the Chain She pluckt away as if Mars ne'er again She meant to please in that form he was in Dead an yet could a Goddess thus beguile What had he done if he had liv'd this while These Commendations given him by so learned a Prince made Mr. Alexander Nevil thus to write Harps others Praise a Scepter his doth sing Of Crowned Poet and of Laureat King. Divine Du Bartus speaking of the most Learned of the English Nation reckoneth him as one of the chief in these words And world mourn'd Sidney warbling to the Thames His Swan-like Tunes so courts her coy proud Streams That all with child with Fame his Fame they bear To Thetis Lap and Thetis every where Sir John Harrington in his Epigrams thus If that be true the latter Proverb says Laudari a Laudatis is most Praise Sidney thy Works in Fames Books are enroll'd By Princes Pens which have thy Works extoll'd Whereby thy Name shall dure to endless days Mr. Owen the Brittsh Epigrammatist thus sets him forth Thou writ'st