Tale of the Squire but only himself which he had not done had he not felt as he saith the infusion of Chaucer's own sweet Spirit surviving within him And a little before he calls him the most Renowned and Heroical Poet and his Writings the Works of Heavenly Wit concluding his commendation in this manner Dan Chaucer well of English undefiled On Fames eternal Bead-roll worthy to be filed I follow here the footing of thy feet That with thy meaning so I may the rather meet Mr. Cambden reaching one hand to Mr. Ascham and the other to Mr. Spenser and so drawing them together uttereth of him these words De Homero nostro Anglico illud vere asseram quod de Homero eruditus ille Italus dixit Hic ille est cujus de gurgite sacro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores The deservingly honoured Sir Philip Sidney in his Defence Poesie thus writeth of him Chaucer undoubtedly did excellently in his Troylus and Crescid of whom truly I know not whether to marvel more either that he in that misty time could see so clearly or we in this clear age walk so stumblingly after him And Doctor Heylin in his elaborate Description of the World ranketh him in the first place of our chiefest Poets Seeing therefore that both old and new Writers have carried this reverend conceit of him and openly declared the same by writing let us conclude with Horace in the eighth Ode of his fourth Book Dignum Laudi causa vetat mori The Works of this famous Poet were partly published in Print by William Caxton Mercer that first brought the incomparable Art of Printing into England which was in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth Afterward encreased by William Thinne Esq in the time of King Henry the Eighth Afterwards in the year 1561. in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Corrected and Encreased by John Stow And a fourth time with many Amendments and an Explanation of the old and obscure Words by Mr. Thomas Speight in Anno 1597. Yet is he said to have written many considerable Poems which are not in his publish'd Works besides the Squires Tale which is said to be compleat in Arundel-house Library JOHN LYDGATE JOhn Lydgate was born in a Village of the same name not far off St. Edmondsbury a Village saith Cambden though small yet in this respect not to be passed over in silence because it brought into the World John Lydgate the Monk whose Wit may seem to have been framed and fashioned by the very Muses themselves so brightly reshine in his English Verses all the pleasant graces and elegancy of Speech according to that Age. After some time spent in our English Universities he travelled through France and Italy improving his time to his great accomplishment in learning the Languages and Arts Erat autem non solum elegans Poeta Rhetor disertus verum etiam Mathematicus expertus Philosophus acutus Theologus non contemnendus he was not only an elegant Poet and an eloquent Rhetorician but also an expert Mathematician an acute Philosopher and no mean Divine saith Pitseus After his return he became Tutor to many Noblemens Sons and both in Prose and Poetry was the best Author of his Age for if Chaucer's Coin were of greater Weight for deeper Learning Lydgate's was of a more refined Stantard for purer Language so that one might mistake him for a modern Writer But because none can so well describe him as himself take an Essay of his Verses out of his Life and Death of Hector pag. 316 and 317. I am a Monk by my profession In Berry call'd 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 his command 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 For Chaucer that my Master was and knew What did belong to writing Verse and Prose Ne're stumbled at small faults nor yet did view With scornful eye the Works and Books of those That in his time did write nor yet would taunt At any man to fear him or to daunt Now if you would know further of him hear him in his Prologue to the Story of Thebes a Tale as his Fiction is which or some other he was constrained to tell at the command of mine Host of the Tabard in Southwark whom he found in Canterbury with the rest of the Pilgrims which went to visit Saint Thomas shrine This Story was first written in Latine by Geoffry Chaucer and translated by Lydgate into English Verse but of the Prologue of his own making so much as concerns himmself thus While that the Pilgrims lay At Canterbury well lodged one and all I not in sooth what I may it call Hap or fortune in conclusioun That me befell to enter into the Toun The holy Sainte plainly to visite After my sicknesse vows to acquite In a Cope of blacke and not of greene On a Palfrey slender long and lene With rusty Bridle made not for the sale My man to forne with a voyd Male That by Fortune tooke my Inne anone Where the Pilgrimes were lodged everichone The same time her governour the host Stonding in Hall full of wind and bost Liche to a man wonder sterne and fers Which spake to me and said anon Dan Pers Dan Dominick Dan Godfray or Clement Ye be welcome newly into Kent Thogh your bridle have nother boos ne bell Beseeching you that ye will tell First of your name and what cuntre Without more shortly that ye be That looke so pale all devoid of bloud Upon your head a wonder thred-bare Hood Well arrayed for to ride late I answered my Name was Lydgate Monke of Bury me fifty yeare of age Come to this Town to do my Pilgrimage As I have hight I have thereof no shame Dan John quoth he well brouke ye your name Thogh ye be sole beeth right glad and light Praying you to soupe with us this night And ye shall have made at your devis A great Puddding or a round hagis A Franche Moile a Tanse or a Froise To been a Monk slender is your coise Ye have been sick I dare mine head assure Or let feed in a faint pasture Lift up your head be glad take no sorrow And ye should ride home with us to morrow I say when ye rested have your fill After supper sleep will doen none ill Wrap well your head clothes round about Strong nottie Ale will
he suffered he sent for Mr. Walter Burre who had formerly printed his first Volume of of the History of the World whom taking by the hand after some other discourse he ask'd him How that Work of his had sold Mr. Burre returned this answer That it sold so slowly that it had undone him At which words of his Sir Walter Rawleigh stepping to his Desk reaches the other part of his History to Mr. Burre which he had brought down to the times he lived in clapping his hand on his breast he took the other unprinted part of his Works into his hand with a sigh saying Ah my Friend hath the first Part undone thee The second Volume shall undo no more this ungrateful World is unworthy of it When immediately going to the fire-side he threw it in and set his foot on it till it was consumed As great a Loss to Learning as Christendom could have or owned for his first Volume after his death sold Thousands It may likewise be objected That some of these Poets here mentioned have been more famous in other kind of Studies than in Poetry and therefore do not shine here as in their proper sphere of fame but what then shall their general knowledge debar them from a particular notice of their Abilities in this most excellent Art Nor have we scarce any Poet excellent in all its Species thereof some addicting themselves most to the Epick some to the Dramatick some to the Lyrick other to the Elegiack the Epaenitick the Bucolick or the Epigram under one of which all the whole circuit of Poetick Design is one way or other included Besides should we have mentioned none but those who upon a strict scrutiny the Name of Poet doth belong unto I fear me our number would fall much short of those which we have written for as one writes There are many that have a Fame deservedly for what they have writ even in Poetry itself who if they come to the test I question how well they would endure to open their Eagle-eyes against the Sun. But I shall wade no further in this Discourse desiring you to accept of what is here written I remain Yours William Winstanley The Names of the Poets Mention'd in this Book Page Robert of Glocester 1 Richard the Hermit 3 Joseph of Exeter 5 Michael Blaunpayn 6 Matthew Paris 8 William Ramsey 10 Alexander Nequam 11 Alexander Essebie 14 Robert Baston 15 Henry Bradshaw 16 Havillan 17 Sir John Gower 18 Geoffrey Chaucer 23 John Lydgate 33 John Harding 37 Robert Fabian 40 John Skelton 42 William Lilly 44 Sir Thomas More 46 Henry Howard Earl of Surry 49 Sir Themas Wiat 56 Dr. Christopher Tye 58 John Leland 60 Thomas Churchyard 61 John Higgins 63 Abraham Fraunce 65 William Warner 67 Thomas Tusser 69 Thomas Stow 72 Dr. Lodge ib. Robert Greene 74 Thomas Nash 77 Sir Philip Sidney 79 Sir Fulk Grevil 85 Mr. Edmund Spenser 88 Sir John Harrington 93 John Heywood 95 Thomas Heywood 96 George Peel 97 John Lilly ib. William Wager 98 Nicholas Berton 99 Tho. Kid Tho. Watson c. 100 Sir Thomas Overbury 101 Mr. Michael Drayton 105 Joshua Sylvester 108 Mr. Samuel Daniel 109 George Chapman 112 Robert Baron 113 Lodowic Carlisle 114 John Ford ib. Anthony Brewer ib. Henry Glapthorn 115 John Dvis of Hereford 116 Dr. John Donne 117 Dr. Richard Corbet 121 Mr. Benjamin Johnson 123 Fr. Beanmot and Jo. Fletcher 128 William Shakespeare 130 Christopher Marlow 134 Barton Holyday ib. Cyril Turney 135 Thomas Middleton ibid. William Rowley 136 Thomas Dackar 137 John Marston ibid. Dr. Jasper Main 138 James Shirley ibid. Philip Massinger 139 John Webster 140 William Brown ib. Thomas Randolph 142 Sir John Beaumont 145 Dr. Philemon Holland 146 Thomas Goffe 148 Thomas Nabbes ib. Richard Broome 149 Robert Chamberlain 151 William Sampson ib. George Sandys Esq 152 Sir John Suckling 154 Mr. William Habington 155 Mr. Francis Quarles ib. Mr. Phineas Fletcher 159 Mr. George Herbert 160 Mr. Richard Crashaw 161 Mr. William Cartwright 162 Sir Aston Cockain 163 Sir John Davis ib. Thomas May 164 Charles Aleyn 165 George Withers ib. Robert Horric 166 John Taylor Water-Poet 167 Thomas Rawlins 169 Mr. Thomas Carew ib. Col. Richard Lovelace 170 Alexander Broome 171 Mr. John Cleaveland 172 Sir John Birkenhead 180 Dr. Robert Wild 181 Mr. Abraham Cowley 182 Mr. Edmond Waller 183 Sir John Denam 185 Sir William Davenant ib. Sir George Wharton 187 Sir Robert Howard 188 W Cavendish D. of Newcastle ib. Sir William Killegrew 189 John Studley ib. John Tatham 190 Thomas Jordan 191 Hugh Crompton ibid. Edmond Prestwich 192 Pagan Fisher ib. Edward Shirburn Esq 193 John Quarles 194 John Milton 195 John Ogilby ib. Sir Richard Fanshaw 196 Earl of Orrery 197 Tomas Hobbs ib. Earls of Rochester 198 Mr. Thomas Flarman 200 Martin Luellin 201 Edmond Fairfax ib. Henry King Bishop of Chichester 202 Thomas Manley 204 Mr. Lewis Griffin ib. John Dauncey 206 Richard Head 207 John Philips 210 Mr. John Oldham 212 Mr. John Driden 214 Mr. Elkanah Settle 215 Sir George Etheridge ib. Mr. John Wilson ib. Mr. Thomas Shadwell 216 Thomas Stanley Esq ib. Edward Philips 217 Mr. Thomas Sprat ib. William Smith 218 Mr. John Lacey ib. Mr. William Whicherly ib. Sir Roger L' Estrange 219 THE LIVES Of the most Famous English Poets FROM WILLIAM the Conqueror to these Present Times The Life of ROBERT of Glocester WE will begin first with Robert of Glocester so called because a Monk of that City who flourisht about the Reign of King Henry the Second much esteemed by Mr. Cambden who quotes divers of his old English Rhythms in praise of his Native Country England Some who consider not the Learning of those times term him a Rhymer whilst other more courteously call him a Poet Indeed his Language is such that he is dumb in effect to the Readers of our Age without an Interpreter which that ye may the better perceive hear these his Verses of Mulmutius Lunwallo in the very same Language he wrote them A Kynge there was in Brutayne Donwallo was his Nam Staleworth and hardy a man of grete Fam He ordeyned furst yat theeues yat to Temple flowen wer No men wer so harby to do hem despit ther That hath he moche such yhold as hit begonne tho Hely Chyrch it holdeth yut and wole ever mo Antiquaries amongst whom Mr. Selden more value him for his History than Poetry his Lines being neither strong nor smooth yet much informing in those things wherein he wrote whereof to give you a take of the first planting Religion in this Land by King Lucius Lucie Cocles Son after him Kynge was To fore hym in Engelonde Chrestendom non was For he hurde ofte miracles at Rome And in meny another stede yat thurgh Christene men come He wildnede anon in hys herte to fonge Chrystendom Therefor Messagers with good Letters he nom That to the Pape Eleutherie hastelyche wende And yat he to hym and his menne expondem
Church in Cornhil with this Epitaph Like as the Day his Course doth consume And the new Morrow springeth again as fast So Man and Woman by Natures custom This Life do pass at last in Earth are cast In Joy and Sorrow which here their Time do wast Never in one state but in course transitory So full of change is of the World the Glory Dr. Fuller observeth That none hath worse Poetry than Poets on their Monuments certainly there is no Rule without Exceptions he himself instancing to the contrary in his England's Worthies by Mr. Drayton's Epitaph and several others JOHN SKELTON JOhn Skelton the Poet Laureat in his Age tho' now accounted only a Rhymer is supposed to have been born in Norfolke there being an ancient Family of that Name therein and to make it the more probable he himself was Beneficed therein at Dis in that County That he was Learned we need go no further than to Erasmus for a Testimony who in his Letter to King Henry the Eighth stileth him Britanicarum Literarum Lumen Decus Indeed he had Scholarship enough and Wit too much Ejus Sermo saith Pitz. salsus in mordacem risus in opprobrium jocus in amaritudinem Whoso reads him will find he hath a miserable loose rambling Style and galloping measure of Verse yet were good Poets so scarce in his Age that he had the good fortune to be chosen Poet Laureat as he stiles himself in his Works The King's Orator and Poet Laureat His chief Works as many as can be collected and that out of an old Printed Book are these Philip Sparrow Speak Parrot The Death of King Edward the Fourth A Treatise of the Scots Ware the Hawk The Tunning of Elianer Rumpkin In many of which following the humor of the ancientest of our Modern Poets he takes a Poetical Liberty of being Satyrical upon the Clergy as brought him under the Lash of Cardinal Woolsey who so persecuted him that he was forced to take Sanctuary at Westminster where Abbot Islip used him with much respect In this Restraint he died June 21 1529. and was buried in St. Margaret's Chappel with this Epitaph J. Sceltanus Vates Pierius hic situs est We must not forget how being charg'd by some on his Death-bed for begetting many Children on a Concubine which he kept he protested that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a Wife though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess Adultery than own Marriage the most punishable at that time WILLIAM LILLIE TO this John Scelton we shall next present you with the Life of his Contemporary and great Antagonist William Lillie born at Odiham a great Market-Town in Hantshire who to betâ—… his knowledge in his youth travelled to the City of Jerusalem where having satisfied his curiosity in beholding those sacred places whereon our Saviour trode when he was upon the Earth he returned homewards making some stay at Rhodes to study Greek Hence he went to Rome where he heard John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus great Masters of Latine in those days At his return home Doctor John Collet had new builded a fair School at the East-end of St. Paul's for 153 poor mens Children to be taught free in the same School for which he appointed a Master an Usher and a Chaplain with large Stipends for ever committing the oversight thereof to the Masters Wardens and Assistants of the Mereers in London because he was Son to Henry Collet Mercer sometime Major leaving for the Maintenance thereof Lands to the yearly value of 120 l. or better making this William Lilly first Master thereof which Place he commendably discharg'd for 15 years During which time he made his Latine Grammar the Oracle of Free Schools of England and other Grammatical Works He is said also by Bale to have written Epigrams and other Poetry of various Subjects in various Latine Verse though scarce any of them unless it be his Grammar now extant only Mr. Stow makes mention of an Epitaph made by him and graven on a fair Tomb in the midst of the Chancel of St. Paul's in London containing these Words Inclyta Joannes Londini Gloria gentis Is tibi qui quondam Paule Decanus erat Qui toties magno resonabat pectore Christum Doctor Interpres fidus Evangelij Qui mores hominum multum sermone disertae Formarat vitae sed probitate magis Quique Scholam struxit celebrem cognomine Jesu Hac dormit tectus membra Coletus humo Floruit sub Henrico 7. Henrico 8. Reg. Obiit An. Dom. 1519. Disce mori Mundo vivere disce Deo. John Skelton whom we mentioned before whose Writings were for the most part Satyrical mixing store of Gall and Copperas in his Ink having fell foul upon Mr. Lilly in some of his Verses Lilly return'd him this biting Answer Quid me Sceltone fronte sic aperta Carpis vipereo potens veneno Quid Versus trutina meos iniqua Libras Dicere vera num licebit Doctrinae tibi dum parare famam Et doctus fieri studes Poeta Doctrinam ne habes nec es Poeta With Face so bold and Teeth so sharp Of Viper's venom why dost carp Why are my Verses by thee weigh'd In a false Scale May Truth be said Whilst thou to get the more esteem A Learned Poet fain wouldst seem Skelton thou art let all men know it Neither Learned nor a Poet. He died of the Plague Anno 1522. and was buried in St. Paul's with this Epitaph on a Brass Plate fixed in the Wall by the great North-Door Gulielmo Lilio Pauliae Scholae olim Praeceptori primaerio Agnetae Conjugi in sacratissimo hujus Templi Coemiterio hinc a tergo nunc destructo consepultis Georgius Lilius hujus Ecclesiae Canonicus Parentum Memoriae pie consulens Tabellam hanc ab amicis conservatam hic reponendam curavit Sir THOMAS MORE SIR Thomas More a great Credit and Ornament in his Time of the English Nation and with whom the Learned'st Foreigners of that Age were proud to have correspondence for his wit and excellent parts was born in Milk-street London Anno Dom. 1480. Son to Sir John More Knight and one of the Justices of the Kings Bench. He was bred first in the Family of Archbishop Morton then in Canterbury-Colledge in Oxford afterwards removed to an Inn of Chancery in London called New-Inn and from thence to Lincolns-Inn where he became a double Reader Next his Worth preferred him to be Judge in the Sheriff of London's Court though at the same time a Pleader in others and so upright was he therein that he never undertook any Cause but what appeared just to his Conscience nor never took Fee of Widow Orphan or poor Person King Henry the Eighth coming to the Crown first Knighted him then made him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and not long after L. Chancellor of England in which place he demeaned himself with great integrity and with no less expedition so that
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
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
Stage and so much the more eminent that he gained great applause and commendation when able Wits were his Contemporaries was born at Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire and is the highest honour that Town can boast of He was one of the Triumvirate who from Actors became Makers of Comedies and Tragedies viz. Christopher Marlow before him and Mr. John Lacy since his time and one in whom three eminent Poets may seem in some sort to the compounded 1. Martial in the warlike sound of his Sirname Hasti-vibrans or Shakespear whence some have supposed him of military extraction 2. Ovid the most natural and witty of all Poets and hence it was that Queen Elizabeth coming into a Grammar-School made this extemporary Verse Persuis a Crab-staff Bawdy Martial Ovid a fine Wag. 3. Plautus a most exact Comedian and yet never any Scholar as our Shakespear if alive would confess himself but by keeping company with Learned persons and conversing with jocular Wits whereto he was naturally inclin'd he became so famously witty or wittily famous that by his own industry without the help of Learning he attained to an extraordinary height in all strains of Dramatick Poetry especially in the Comick part wherein we may say he outwent himself yet was he not so much given to Festivity but that he could when so disposed be solemn and serious so that Heraclitus himself might afford to smile at his Comedies they were so merry and Democritus scarce forbear to sigh at his Tragedies they were so mournful Nor were his Studies altogether confined to the Stage but had excursious into other kinds of Poetry witness his Poem of the Rape of Lucrece and that of Venus and Adonis wherein to give you a taste of the loftiness of his Style we shall insert some few Lines of the beginning of the latter Even as the Sun with purple-colour'd face Had tane his last leave of the weeping Morn Rose-cheek'd Adonis hy'd him to the Chase Hunting he lov'd but Love he laught to scorn Sick thoughted Venus makes amain unto him And like a bold-fac'd Suiter'gins to woo him Thrive fairer than my self thus she begins The fields chief flower sweet above compare Stain to all Nymphs more lovely than a man More white and red than Doves or Roses are Nature that made thee with herself at strife Says that the world hath ending with they life c He was an eminent instance of the truth of that Rule Poeta non fit sed nascitur one is not made but born a Poet so that as Cornish Diamonds are not polished by any Lapidary but are pointed and smoothed even as they are taken out of the Earth so Nature itself was all the Art which was used on him He was so great a Benefactor to the Stage that he wrote of himself eight and forty Plays whereof 18 Comedies viz. As you like it All 's well that ends well A Comedy of Errors Gentleman of Verona Loves labour lust London Prodigal Merry Wives of Windsor Measure for measure Much ado about Nothing Midsummer Nights Dream Merchant of Venice Merry Devil of Edmonton Mucedorus the Puritan VVidow the Tempest Twelf-Night or what you will the taming of the Shrew and a winters Tale. Fourteen Tragedies viz. Anthony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Julius Cqesar Lorrino Leir and his three Daughters Mackbeth Othello the Moor of Venice Romeo and Juliet Troylus and Cressida Tymon of Athens Titus Andronicus and the Yorkshire Tragedy Also fifteen Histories viz. Cromwel's History Henry 4. in two parts Henry 5. Henry 6. in three parts Henry 8. John King of England in three parts Pericles Prince of Tyre Richard 2. Richard 3. and Oldrastes Life and Death Also the Arraignment of Paris Pastoral Many were the Wit-combats betwixt him and Ben Johnson which two we may compare to a Spanish great Gallion and an English Man of war Mr. Johnson like the former was built far higher in Learning solid but slow in his performances Shakespear with the English Man of war lesser in Bulk but lighter in sayling could turn with all Tides tack about and take advantage of all Winds by the quickness of his Wit and Invention His History of Henry the Fourth is very much commended by some as being full of sublime Wit and as much condemned by others for making Sir John Falstaffe the property of Pleasure for Prince Henry to abuse as one that was a Thrasonical Puff and emblem of mock Valour though indeed he was a man of Arms every inch of him and as valiant as any in Age being for his Martial Prowess made Knight of the Garter by King Henry the 6th This our famous Comedian died An. Dom. 16 and swas buried at Stratford upon Avon the Town of his Nativity upon whom one hath bestowed this Epitaph though more proper had he been buried in VVestminster Abbey Renowned Spencer lie a thought more nigh To learned Chaucer and rare Beaumont lie A little nearer Spencer to make room For Shakespear in your threefold fourfold Tomb To lodge all four in one Bed make a shift Until Doomsday for hardly will a fifth Betwixt his day and that by Fates be slain For whom your Curtains may be drawn again If your precedency in Death do bar A fourth place in your sacred Sepulcher Under this sacred Marble of thine own Sleep rare Tragedian Shakespear sleep alone Thy unmolested Peace in an unshar'd Cave Possess as Lord not Tenant of thy Grave That unto us and others it may be Honour hereafter to be laid by thee CHRISTOPHER MARLOW CHristopher Marlow was as we said not only contemporary with William Shakespear but also like him rose from an Actor to be a maker of Comedies and Tragedies yet was he much inferior to Shakespear not only in the number of his Plays but also in the elegancy of his Style His Pen was chiefly employ'd in Tragedies namely his Tamberlain the first and second Part Edward the Second Lust's Dominion or the Lascivious Queen the Massacre of Paris his Jew of Malta a Tragi-comedy and his Tragedy of Dido in which he was joyned with Nash But none made such a great Noise as this Comedy of Doctor Faustus with his Devils and such like tragical Sport which pleased much the humors of the Vulgar He also begun a Poem of Hero and Leander wherein he seemed to have a resemblance of that clear and unsophisticated Wit which was natural to Musaeus that incomparable Poet. This Poem being left unfinished by Marlow who in some riotous Fray came to an untimely and violent end was thought worthy of the finishing hand of Chapman as we intimated before in the performance whereof nevertheless he fell short of the Spirit and Invention with which it was begun BARTON HOLYDAY BArton Holyday an old Student of Christ-Church in Oxford who besides his Translation of Juvenal with elaborate Notes writ several other things in English Verse rather learned than elegant and particularly a Comedy called The Marriage of the Arts Out of
us the days more darkish are More short cold moist and stormy cloudy clit For sadness more than mirths or pleasures fit Devising then what Books were best to read Both for that time and sentence grave also For conference of friend to stand in stead When I my faithful friend was parted fro I gat me strait the Printers shops unto To seek some Work of price I surely ment That might alone my careful mind content And then he declareth how there he found the first part of this Mirrour for Magistrates which yet took beginning from the time of King Richard the Second But he knowing many Examples of famous persons before William the Conquerour which were wholly omitted he set upon the Work and beginning from Brute continued it to Aurelius Bassianus Caracalla Emperour of Rome about the year of Christ 209. shewing in his Writings a great deal of Wisdom and Learning He flourished about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth ABRAHAM FRAVNCE THis Abraham Fraunce a Versifier about the same time with John Higgins was one who imitated Latine measure in English Verse writing a Pastoral called the Countess of Pembroke ' s Ivy-church and some other things in Hexameter some also in Hexameter and Pentameter He also wrote the Countess of Pembroke ' s Emanuel containing the Nativity Passion Burial and Resurrection of Christ together with certain Psalms of David all in English Hexameters Nor was he altogether singular in this way of writing for Sir Philip Sidney in the Pastoral Interludes of his Arcadia uses not only these but all other sorts of Latine measure in which no wonder he is followed by so few since they neither become the English nor any other modern Language He began also the Translation of Heliodorus his Aethiopick History in the same kind of Verse of which to give the Reader the better divertisement we shall present you with a tast As soon as Sun-beams could once peep out fro the Mountains And by the dawn of day had somewhat lightned Olympus Men whose lust was law whose life was still to be lusting Whose thriving thieving convey'd themselves to an hill top That stretched forward to the Heracleotica entry And mouth of Nylus looking thence down to the main sea For sea-faring men but seeing none to be sailing They knew 't was bootless to be looking there for a booty So that strait fro the sea they cast their eyes to the sea-shore Where they saw that a Ship very strangely without any ship-man Lay then alone at road with Cables ty'd to the main-land And yet full fraighted which they though far fro the hill-top Easily might perceive by the water drawn to the deck-boards c. His Ivy-Church he dedicated to the Countess of Pembroke in which he much vindicated his manner of writing as no Verse fitter for it then that he also dedicated his Emanuel to her which being but two lines take as followeth Mary the best Mother sends her best Babe to a Mary Lord to a Ladies sight and Christ to a Christian When he died we cannot find but suppose it to be about the former part of Queen Elizabeth's Reign WILLIAM WARNER WIlliam Warner one of principal esteem in his time was chiefly famous for his Albion's England which he wrote in the old-fashioned kind of seven-footed Verse which yet sometimes is in use though in different manner that is to say divided into two He wrote also several Books in prose as he himself witnesseth in his Epistle to the Reader but as we said before his Albion's England was the chiefest which he deduced from the time of Noah beginning thus I tell of things done long ago of many things in few And chiefly of this Clime of ours the accidents pursue Thou high director of the same assist mine artless Pen To write the Jests of Brutons stout and Arts of English-men From thence he proceeds to the peopling of the Earth by the Sons of Noah intermixing therein much variety of Matter not only pleasant but profitable for the Readers understanding of what was delivered by the ancient Poets bringing his Matter succinctly to the Siege of Troy and from thence to the coming of Brute into this Island and so coming down along the chiefest matters touched of our British Historians to the Conquest of England by Duke William and from him the Affairs of the Land to the beginning of Queen Elizabeth where he concludeth thus Elizabeth by peace by war for majesty for mild Enrich'd fear'd honour'd lov'd but loe unreconcil'd The Muses check my saucy Pen for enterprising her In duly praising whom themselves even Arts themselves might err Phaebus I am not Phaeton presumptuously to ask What shouldst thou give I could not guide guide give not me thy task For as thou art Apollo too our mighty subjects threats A non plus to thy double power Vel volo vel nollem I might add several more of his Verses to shew the worth of his Pen but the Book being indifferent common having received several Impressions I shall refer the Reader for his further satisfaction to the Book itself THOMAS TVSSER THomas Tusser a person well known by his Book of Husbandry was born at Riuen-hall in Essex of an ancient Family but now extinct where when but young his Father designing him for a Singing-man put him to Wallingford-School where how his Misfortunes began in the World take from his own Pen. O painful time for every crime What toosed ears like baited Bears What bobbed lips what yerks what nips What hellish toys What Robes so bare what Colledge-fare What Bread how stale what penny Ale Then Wallingford how wer 't thou abhorr'd Of silly boys From thence he was sent to learn Musick at Pauls with one John Redford an excellent Musician where having attained some skill in that Art he was afterwards sent to Eaton-School to learn the Latine Tongue where how his Miserie 's encreas'd let himself speak From Pauls I went to Eaton sent To learn straightways the Latine phrase Where fifty three stripes given to me At once I had For fault but small or none at all It came to pass thus beat I was See Vdal see the mercy of thee To me poor Lad. Having attained to some perfection in the Latine Tongue he was sent to Trinity-Hall in Cambridge where he had not continued long but he was vexed with extream sickness whereupon he left the University and betook himself to Court and lived for a while under the Lord Paget in King Edward the Sixth's days when the Lords falling at dissention he left the Court and went to Suffolk where he married his first Wife and took a Farm at Ratwade in that County where he first devised his Book of Husbandry but his Wife not having her health there he removed from thence to Ipswich and soon after buried her Not long after he married again to one Mrs. Amy Moon upon whose Name he thus versified I chanced soon to find a Moon Of chearful
hue Which well and fine me thought did shine And never change a thing most strange Yet keep in sight her course aright And compass true Being thus married he betook himself again to Husbandry and hired a Farm called Diram Cell and there he had not lived long but his Landlord died and his Executors falling at variance and now one troubled him and then another whereupon he left Diram and went to Norwâ—ch turning a Singing-man under Mr. Salisbury the Dean thereof There he was troubled with a Dissury so that in a 138 Hours he never made a drop of Water Next he hired a Parsonage at Fairstead in Essex but growing weary of that he returned again to London where he had not lived long but the Pestilence raging there he retired to Cambridge Thus did he roul about from place to place but like Sisiphus stone could gather no Moss whithersoever he went He was successive a Musician Schoolmaster Servingman Husbandman Grasier Poet more skilful in all than thriving in any Vocation He traded at large in Oxen Sheep Dairies Grain of all kinds to no profit He spread his Bread with all sorts of Butter yet none would stick thereon So that he might say with the Poet Monitis sum minor ipse meis None being better at the Theory or worse at the Practice of Husbandry and may be fitly match'd with Thomas Churchyard they being mark'd alike in their Poetical parts living in the same time and statur'd both alike in their Estates and that low enough in all reason He died in London Anno Dom. 1580. and was buried at St. Mildred's-Church in the Poultrey with this Epitaph Here THOMAS TVSSER clad in earth doth lie That sometime made the Points of Husbandry By him then learn thou may'st here learn we must When all is done we sleep and turn to dust And yet through Christ to Heaven we hope to go Who reads his Books shall find his Faith was so THOMAS STORER THomas Storer was a great writer of Sonnets Madrigals and Pastoral Airs in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign and no doubt was highly esteemed in those days of which we have an account of some of them in an old Book called England's Hellicon This kind of writing was of great esteem in those days and much imitated by Thomas Watson Bartholomew Yong Dr. Lodge and several others What time he died is to me unknown THOMAS LODGE THomas Lodge a Doctor of Physick flourish'd also about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth He was also an eminent Writer of Pastoral Songs Odes and Madrigals This following Sonnet is said to be of his composing 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 whilst thou dost sing Thy Eyes like searing-Irons burn out mine In thy fair Tresses stifle me outright Like Circes change me to a loathsom Swine So I may live for ever in thy sight Into Heavens Joys can none profoundly see Except that first they meditate on thee Contemporary with Dr. Lodge were several others who all of them wrote in the same strain as George Gascoigne Tho. Hudson John Markham Tho. Achely John Weever Chr. Midleton George Turbervile Henry Constable Sir Edward Dyer Charles Fitz Geoffry Of these George Gascoigne wrote not only Sonnets Odes and Madrigals but also something to the Stage as his Supposes a Comedy Glass of Government a Tragi-Comedy and Jocasta a Tragedy But to return to Dr. Lodge we shall only add one Sonnet more taken out of his Euphues Golden Legacy and so proceed to others Of all chaste Birds the Phoenix doth excel Of all strong Beasts the Lion bears the Bell Of all sweet Flowers the Rose doth sweetest smell Of all fair Maids my Rosalind is fairest Of all pure Metals Gold is only purest Of all high Trees the Pine hath highest Crest Of all soft Sweets I like my Mistress best Of all chaste Thoughts my Mistress Thoughts are rarest Of all proud Birds the Eagle pleaseth Jove Of pretty Fowls kind Venus likes the Dove Of Trees Minerva doth the Olive love Of all sweet Nymphs I honour Rosalinde Of all her Gifts her Wisdom pleaseth most Of all her Graces Virtue she doth boast For all the Gifts my Life and Joy is lost If Rosalinde prove cruel and unkind ROBERT GREENE RObert Greene that great Friend to the Printers by his many Impressions of numerous Books was by Birth a Gentleman and sent to study in the University of Cambridge where he proceeded Master of Art therein He had in his time sipped of the Fountain of Hellicon but drank deeper Draughts of Sack that Helliconian Liquor whereby he beggar'd his Purse to enrich his Fancy writing much against Viciousness but too too vicious in his Life He had to his Wife a Virtuous Gentlewoman whom yet he forsook and betook himself to a high course of Living to maintain which he made his Pen mercenary making his Name very famous for several Books which he wrote very much taking in his time and in indifferent repute amongst the vulgar at this present of which those that I have seen are as followeth Euphues his Censure to Philautus Tullies Love Philomela The Lady Fitz-waters Nightingale A Quip for an upstart Courtier the History of Dorastus and Fawnia Green's never too late first and second Part Green's Arcadia Green his Farewell to Folly Greene's Groats-worth of Wit c. He was also an Associate with Dr. Lodge in writing of several Comedies namely The Laws of Nature Lady Alimony Liberality and Prodigality and a Masque called Luminalia besides which he wrote alone the Comedies of Fryer Bacon and fair Emme But notwithstanding by these his Writings he got much Money yet was it not sufficient to maintain his Prodigality but that before his death he fell into extream Poverty when his Friends like Leaves to Trees in the Summer of Prosperity fell from him in his Winter of Adversity of which he was very sensible and heartily repented of his ill passed Life especially of the wrongs he had done to his Wife which he declared in a Letter written to her and found with his Book of A Groatsworth of Wit after his Death containing these Words THE Remembrance of many Wrongs offered Thee and thy unreproved Vertues add greater sorrow to my miserable State than I can utter or thou conceive neither is it lessened by consideration of thy Absence though Shame would let me hardly behold thy Face but exceedingly aggravated for that I cannot as I ought to thy own self reconcile my self that thou mightest witness my inward Wo at this instant that have made thee a woful Wife for so long a time But equal Heaven hath denied that comfort
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
Frankincense impart Submissive Prayers for pure Gold a pure Heart He most elegantly translated Ovid his Metamorphosis into English Verse so that as the Soul of Aristotle was said to have transmigured into Thomas Aquinas so might Ovid's Genius be said to have passed into Mr. Sandys rendring it to the full heighth line for line with the Latin together with most excellent Annotations upon each Fable But his Genius directed him most to divine subjects writing a Paraphrase on the Book of Job Psalms Ecclesiastes Canticles c. as also a divine Tragedy on Christs Passion He lived to be a very aged man having a youthful Soul in a decayed Body and died about the year 1641. Sir JOHN SVCKLING SIR John Suckling in his time the delight of the Court and darling of the Muses was one so filled with Phoebean fire as for excellency of his wit was Worthy to be Crowned with a Wreath of Stars though some attribute the strength of his lines to savour more of the Grape than the Lamp Indeed he made it his Recreation not his Study and did not so much seek fame as it was put upon him In my mind he gives the best Character of himself in those Verses of his in the Sessions of the Poets Suckling next was call'd but did not appear But strait one whisper'd Apollo i' th' ear That of all men living he cared not for 't He lov'd nor the Muses so well as his sport And prized black eyes or a lucky hit At Bowles above all the Trophies of wit. But Apollo was angry and publickly said 'T were fit that a fine were set upon 's head Besides his Poems he wrote three Plays the Goblins a Comedy Brenâ—vaâ— a Tragedy and Aglaura a Tragi-Comedy He was a loyal person to his Prince and in that great defection of Scotch Loyalty in 1639. freely gave the King a hundred Horses And for his Poems I shall conclude with what the Author of his Epistle to the Reader saies of them It had been a Prejudice to posterity and an injury to his own Ashes should they have slept in Oblivian Mr. WILLIAM HABINGTON HE was one of a quick wit and fluent language whose Poems coming forth above thirty years ago under the Title of Castara gained a general fame and estimation and no wonder since that human Goddess by him so celebrated was a person of such rare endowments as was worthy the praises bestowed upon her being a person of Honour as well as Beauty to which was joyned a vertuous mind to make her in all respects compleat He also wrote the History of the Reign of King Edward the Fourth and that in a style sufficiently florid yet not altogether pleasing the ear but as much informing the mind so that we may say of that Kings Reign as Mr. Daniel saith in his Preface to his History of England That there was never brought together more of the main He also wrote a Tragi-Comedy called the Queen of Arragon which as having never seen I can give no great account of it Mr. FRANCIS QVARLES FRancis Quarles son to James Quarles Esq was born at Stewards at the Parish of Rumford in the County of Essex and was bred up in the University of Cambridge where he became intimately acquainted with Mr. Edward Benlowes and Mr. Phineas Fletcher that Divine Poet and Philosopher on whose most excellent Poem of the Purple Island hear these Verses of Mr. Quarles which if they be as delightful to you in the reading as to me in the writing I question not but they will give you content Mans Body 's like a House his greater Bones Are the main Timber and the lesser ones Are smaller splints his ribs are laths daub'd o're Plaister'd with flesh and blood his mouth 's the door His throat 's the narrow entry and his heart Is the great Chamber full of curious art His midriff is a large Partition-wall 'Twixt the great Chamber and the spacious Hall His stomach is the Kitchin where the meat Is often but half sod for want of heat His Spleen 's a vessel Nature does allot To take the skum that rises from the Pot His lungs are like the bellows that respire In every Office quickning every fire His Nose the Chimny is whereby are vented Such fumes as with the bellowes are augmented His bowels are the sink whose part 's to drein All noisom filth and keep the Kitchin clean His eyes are Christal windows clear and bright Let in the object and let out the sight And as the Timber is or great or small Or strong or weak 't is apt to stand or fall Yet is the likeliest Building sometimes known To fall by obvious chances overthrown Oft times by tempests by the full mouth'd blasts Of Heaven sometimes by fire sometimes it wasts Through unadvis'd neglect put case the stuff Were ruin-proof by nature strong enough To conquer time and age Put case it should Nere know an end alas our Leases would What hast thou then proud flesh and blood to boast Thy daies are evil at best but few at most But sad at merriest and but weak at strongest Unsure at surest and but short at longest He afterwards went over into Ireland where he became Secretary to the Reverend James Vsher Arch-bishop of Armagh one suitable to his disposition having a Genius byassed to Devotion Here at leisure times did he exercise himself in those ravishing delights of Poetry but alwaies with the Psalmist his heart was inditing a good matter these in time produced those excellent works of his viz. his Histories of Jonas Esther Job and Sampson his Sions Songs and Sions Elegies also is Euchyridion all of them of such a heavenly strain as if he had drank of Jordan instead of Helicon and slept on Mount Olivet for his Pernassus He had also other excursions into the delightful walks of Poetry namely his Argalus and Parthenia a Science as he himself saith taken out of Sir Philip Sidney's Orchard likewise his Epigrams Shepherds Oracles Elegies on several persons his Hierogliphicks but especially his Emblems wherein he hath Out-Alciated Alcialus himself There hath been also acted a Comedy of his called The Virgin Widdow which passed with no ordinary applause But afterwards the Rebellion breaking forth in Ireland where his losses were very great he was forced to come over and being a true Loyalist to his Soveraign Was again plundred of his Estate here but what he took most to heart for as for his other losses he practiced the patience of Job he had described was his being plundred of his Books and some rare Manuscripts which he intended for the Press the loss of which as it is thought facilitated his death which happned about the year of our Lord 1643. to whose memory one dedicated these lines by way of Epitaph To them that understand themselves so well As what and who lies here to ask I 'll tell What I conceive Envy dare not deny Fat both from falshood and from flattery Here drawn