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
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
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
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
his Muse out of his Poly-Olbion speaking of his native County Warwickshire Upon the Mid-lands now th' industrious Muse doth fall That Shire which we the Heart of England well may call As she herself extends the midst which is Deweed betwixt St. Michael's Mount and Barwick-bordering Tweed Brave Warwick that abroad so long advanc'd her Bear By her illustrious Earls renowned every where Above her neighbouring Shires which always bore her Head. Also in the Beginning of his Poly-Olbion he thus writes Of Albions glorious Isle the wonders whilst I write The sundry varying Soyls the Pleasures infinite Where heat kills not the cold nor cold expells the heat The calms too mildly small nor winds too roughly great Nor night doth hinder day nor day the night doth wrong The summer not too short the winter not too long What help shall I invoke to aid my Muse the while c. However in the esteem of the more curious of these times his Works seem to be antiquated especially this of his Poly-Olbion because of the old-fashion'd kind of Verse thereof which seems somewhat to diminish that respect which was formerly paid to the Subject although indeed both pleasant and elaborate wherein he took a great deal both of study and pains and thereupon thought worthy to be commented upon by that once walking Library of our Nation Mr. John Selden His Barons Wars are done to the Life equal to any of that Subject His Englands Heroical Epistles generally liked and received entituling him unto the appellation of the English Ovid. His Legends of Robert Duke of Normandy Matilda Pierce Gaveston and Thomas Cromwel all of them done to the Life His Idea expresses much Fancy and Poetry And to such as love that Poetry that of Nymphs and Shepherds his Nymphals and other things of that nature cannot be unpleasant To conclude He was a Poet of a pious temper his Conscience having always the command of his Fancy very temperate in his Life slow of speech and inoffensive in company He changed his Lawrel for a Crown of Glory Anno 1631. and was buried in Westminster-Abbey near the South-door by those two eminent Poets Geoffry Chaucer and Edmond Spencer with this Epitaph made as it is said by Mr. Benjamin Johnson Do pious Marble let thy Readers know What they and what their Children ow To Drayton's Name whose sacred Dust We recommend unto thy Trust Protect his Memory and preserve his Story Remain a lasting Monument of his Glory And when thy Ruines shall disclaim To be the Treasurer of his Name His Name that cannot fade shall be An everlasting Monument to thee JOSHVA SYLVESTER JOshua Sylvester a very eminent Translator of his time especially of the Divine Du Bartus whose six days work of Creation gain'd him an immortal Fame having had many great Admirers even to these days being usher'd into the world by the chiefest Wits of that Age amongst others the most accomplisht Mr. Benjamin Johnson thus wrote of him If to admire were to commend my Praise might then both thee thy work and merit raise But as it is the Child of Ignorance And utter stranger to all Ayr of France How can I speak of thy great pains but err Since they can only judge that can confer Behold the reverend shade of Bartus stands Before my thought and in thy right commands That to the world I publish for him this Bartus doth wish thy English now were his So well in that are his Inventions wrought As his will now be the Translation thought Thine the Original and France shall boast No more those Maiden-Glories she hath lost He hath also translated several other Works of Du Bartus namely Eden the Deceipt the Furies the Handicrafts the Ark Babylon the Colonies the Columns the Fathers Jonas Vrania Triumph of Faith Miracle of Peace the Vocation the Fathers the Daw the Captains the Trophies the Magnificence c. Also a Paradox of Odes de la Nove Baron of Teligni with the Quadrains of Pibeac all which Translations were generally well received but for his own Works which were bound up with them they received not so general an approbation as you may perceive by these Verses We know thou dost well As a Translator But where things require A Genius and a Fire Not kindled before by others pains As often thou hast wanted Brains Mr. SAMVEL DANIEL MR. Daniel was born nigh to the Town of Taunton in Somersetshire his Father was a Master of Musick and his harmonious Mind saith Dr. Fuller made an Impression in his Son's Genius who proved to be one of the Darlings of the Muses a most excellent Poet whose Wings of Fancy displayed the Flags of highest Invention Carrying in his Christian and Sirname the Names of two holy Prophets which as they were Monitors to him for avoyding Scurrility so he qualified his Raptures to such a strain as therein he abhorred all Debauchery and Prophaneness Nor was he only one of the inspired Train of PhOebus but also a most judicious Historian witness his Lives of our English Kings since the Conquest until King Edward the Third wherein he hath the happiness to reconcile brevity with clearness qualities of great distance in other Authors and had he continued to these times no doubt it had been a Work incomparable Of which his Undertaking Dr. Heylin in the Preface to his Cosmography gives this Character speaking of the chiefest Historians of this Nation And to end the Bed-roll says he half the Story of this Realm done by Mr. Daniel of which I believe that which himself saith of it in his Epistle to the Reader that there was never brought together more of the Main Which Work is since commendably continued but not with equal quickness and judgment by Mr. Trussel As for his Poems so universally received the first in esteem is that Heroical one of the Civil Wars between the two Houses of York and Lancaster of which the elaborate Mr. Speed in his Reign of Richard the Second thus writes The Seeds saith he of those fearful Calamities a flourishing Writer of our Age speaking of Mr. Daniel willing nearly to have imitated Lucan as he is indeed called our English Lucan doth not unfortunately express tho' he might rather have said he wept them than sung them but indeed so to sing them is to weep them I sing the Civil Wars tumultuous Broils And bloody Factions of a mighty Land Whose people haughty proud with foreign spoyls Upon their selves turn back their conquering hand While Kin their Kin Brother the Brother foils Like Ensigns all against like Ensigns stand Bows against Bows a Crown against a Crown While all pretending right all right throw down Take one Taste more of his Poetry in his sixth Book of that Heroical Poem speaking of the Miseries of Civil War. So wretched is this execrable War This civil Sword wherein though all we see be foul and all things miserable are Yet most of all is even the Victory Which is not only the
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
it is said at one time he had cleared all Suits depending on that Court whereupon one thus versified on him When More some years had Chancellor been No more Suits did remain The same shall never more be seen Till More be there again He was of such excellency of Wit and Wisdom that he was able to make his Fortune good in whatsoever he undertook and to this purpose it is reported of him that when he was sent Ambassador by his Master Henry the Eighth into Germany before he deliver'd his Embassage to the Emperor he bid one of his Servants to fill him a Beer-glass of Wine which he drunk off twice commanding his Servant to bring him a third he knowing Sir Thomas More 's Temperance that he was not used to drink at first refused to fill him another telling Sir Thomas of the weight of his Employment but he commanding it and his Servant not daring to deny him he drank off the third and then made his immediate address to the Emperor and spake his Oration in Latine to the admiration of all the Auditors Afterwards Sir Thomas merrily asking his Man what he thought of his Speech he said that he deserved to govern three parts of the World and he believed if he had drunk the other Glass the Elegancy of his Language might have purchased the other part of the World. Being once at Bruges in Flanders an arrogant Fellow had set up a Thesis that he would answer any Question could be propounded unto him in what Art soever Of whom when Sir Thomas More heard he laughed and made this Question to be put up for him to answer Whether Averia caepta in Withernamia sunt irreplegibilia Adding That there was an Englishman that would dispute thereof with him This bragging Thraso not so much as understanding the Terms of our Common Law knew not what to answer to it and so became ridiculous to the whole City for his presumptuous bragging Many were the Books which he wrote amongst whom his Vtopi beareth the Bell which though not written in Verse yet in regard of the great Fancy and Invention thereof may well pass for a Poem it being the Idea of a compleat Common-wealth in an Imaginary Island but pretended to be lately discovered in America and that so lively counterfeited that many at the reading thereof mistook it for a real Truth insomuch that many great Learned men as Budeus and Johannes Paludanus upon a fervent zeal wished that some excellent Divines might be sent thither to preach Christ's Gospel yea there were here amongst us at home sundry good Men and learned Divines very desirous to undertake the Voyage to bring the People to the Faith of Christ whose Manners they did so well like Mr. Owen the Brittish Epigrammatist on this Book of Vtopia writeth thus More 's Vtopia and Mercurius Britanicus More shew'd the best the worst World 's shew'd by the Thou shew'st what is and he shews what should be But at last he fell into the King's displeasure touching the Divorce of Queen Katherine and for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy for which he was committed to the Tower and afterwards beheaded on Tower-Hill July 6 1635. and buried at Chelsey under a plain Monument Those who desire to be further informed of this Learned Knight let them read my Book of England's Worthies where his Life is set forth more at large HENRY HOWARD Earl of Surrey THis Honourable Earl was Son to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Frances his Wife the Daughter of John Vere Earl of Oxford He was saith Cambden the first of our English Nobility that did illustrate his high Birth with the Beauty of Learning and his Learning with the knowledge of divers Languages which he attained unto by his Travels into foreign Nations so that he deservedly had the particular Fame of Learning Wit and Poetical Fancy Our famous Poet Drayton in his England's Heroical Epistles writing of this Noble Earl thus says of him The Earl of Surrey that renowned Lord Th' old English Glory bravely that restor'd That Prince and Poet a Name more divine Falling in Love with Beauteous Geraldine Of the Geraldi which derive their Name From Florence whether to advance her Fame He travels and in publick Justs maintain'd Her Beauty peerless which by Arms he gain'd In his way to Florence he touch'd at the Emperor's Court where he fell in acquaintance with the great Learned Cornelius Agrippa osb famous for Magick who shewed him the Image of his Geraldine in a Glass sick weeping on her Bed and resolved all into devout Religion for the absence of her Lord upon sight of which he made this Sonnet All Soul no earthly Flesh why dost thou fade All Gold no earthly Dross why look ' st thou pole Sickness how dar'st thou one so fair invade Too base Infirmity to work her Bale Heaven be distempered since she grieved pines Never be dry these my sad plantive Lines Pearch thou my Spirit on her Silver Breasts And with their pains redoubled Musick beatings Let them toss thee to world where all toil rests Where Bliss is subject to no Fear 's defeatings Her Praise I tune whose Tongue doth tune the Sphears And gets new Muses in her Hearers Ears Stars fall to fetch fresh light from her rich eyes Her bright Brow drives the Sun to Clouds beneath Her Hairs reflex with red strakes paints the Skies Sweet Morn and Evening dew flows from her breath Phoebe rules Tides she my Tears tides forth draws In her sick-Bed Love sits and maketh Laws Her dainty Limbs tinsel her Silk soft Sheets Her Rose-crown'd Cheeks eclipse my dazled sight O Glass with too much joy my thoughts thou greets And yet thou shew'st me day but by twilight He kiss thee for the kindness I have felt Her Lips one Kiss would unto Nectar melt From the Emperor's Court he went to the City of Florence the Pride and Glory of Italy in which City his Geraldine was born never ceasing till he came to the House of her Nativity and being shewn the Chamber her clear Sun-beams first thrust themselves in this cloud of Flesh he was transported with an Extasie of Joy his Mouth overflow'd with Magnificats his Tongue thrust the Stars out of Heaven and eclipsed the Sun and Moon with Comparisons of his Geraldine and in praise of the Chamber that was so illuminatively honoured with her Radiant Conception he penned this Sonnet Fair Room the presence of sweet Beauties pride This place the Sun upon the Earth did hold When Phaeton his Chariot did misguide The Tower where Jove rain'd down himself in Gold Prostrate as holy ground I le worship thee Our Ladies Chappel henceforth be thou nam'd Here first Loves Queen put on Mortality And with her Beauty all the world inflam'd Heaven's Chambers harbouriug fiery Cherubins Are not with thee in Glory to compare Lightning it is not Light which in thee shines None enter thee but streight entranced are O! if Elizium be above