Cal. Feb. sepultus erat apud Fanum S. Albani cujus Animae propitietur altissimus Amen ALEXANDER ESSEBIE THis Alexander was born in Staffordshire say some in Somersetshire say others for which each County might strive as being a Jewel worth the owning being reckoned among the chief of English Poets and Orators of that Age. He in imitation of Ovid de Fastis put our Christian Festivals into Verse setting a Copy therein to Baptista Mantuan Then leaving Ovid he aspired to Virgil and wrote the History of the Bible with the Lives of some Saints in an Heroical Poem which he performed even to admiration and though he fell short in part of Virgtl's lofty style yet went he beyond himself therein He afterward became Prior of Esseby-Abbey belonging to the Augustines and flourished under King Henry the Third Anno Dom. 1220. ROBERT BASTON RObert Baston was born not far from Nottingham and bred a Carmelite Frier at Scarborough in Yorkshire He was of such great Fame in Poetry that King Edward the Second in his Scotish Expedition pitcht upon him to be the Celebrater of his Heroick Acts when being taken Prisoner by the Scots he was forced by Torments to change his Note and represent all things to the advantage of Robert bruce who then claimed the Crown of Scotland This Task he undertook full sore against his will as he thus intimates in the two first Lines In dreery Verse my Rymes I make Bewailing whilest such Theme I take Besides his Poem De Bello Strivilensi there was published of his writing a Book of Tragedies with other Poems of various Subjects HENRY BRADSHAW HEnry Bradshaw was born in the City of Chester and bred a Benedictine Monk in the Monastery of St. Werburg the Life of which Saint he wrote in Verse as also saith my Author a no bad Chronicle though following therein those Authors who think it the greatest Glory of a Nation to fetch their Original from times out of mind Take a Taste of his Poetry in what he wrote concerning the Original of the City of Chester in these words The Founder of this City as saith Polychronicon Was Leon Gawer a mighty strong Gyant Which builded Caves and Dungeons many a one No goodly Building ne proper ne pleasant But King Leir a Britain fine and valiant Was Founder of Chester by pleasant Building And was named Guer Leir by the King. These Lines considering the Age he lived in which Arnoldus Vion saith was about the Year 1346. may pass with some praise but others say he flourished a Century of years afterwards viz. 1513. which if so they are hardly to be excused Poetry being in that time much refined but whensoever he lived Bale saith he was the Diamond in the Ring Pro ea ipsa aetate admodum pius HAMILLAN SHould we forget the learned Hamillan our Book would be thought to be imperfect so terse and fluent was His Verse of which we shall give you two Examples the one out of Mr. John Speed his Description of Devonshire speaking of the arrival of Brute The God's did guide his Sail and Course the Winds were at command And Totness was the happy shore where first he came on land The other out of Mr. Weever his Funeral Monuments in the Parish of St. Aldermanbury in London speaking of Cornwal There Gyants whilome dwelt whose Clothes were skins of Beasts Whose Drink was Blood Whose Cups to serve for use at Feasts Were made of hollow Wood Whose Beds were bushy Thorns And Lodgings rocky Caves to shelter them from Storms Their Chambers craggy Rocks their Hunting found them Meat To vanquish and to kill to them was pleasure great Their violence was rule with rage and fury led They rusht into the fight and fought hand over head Their Bodies were interr'd behind some bush or brake To bear such monstrous Wights the earth did grone and quake These pestred most the Western Tract more fear made these agast O Conwall utmost door that art to let in Zephyrus blast JOHN GOWER JOhn Gower whom some make to be a Knight though Stow in his Survey of London unknighteth him and saith he was only an Esquire however he was born of a knightly Family at Stitenham in the North-Riding in Bulmore-Wapentake in Yorkshire He was bred in London a Student of the Laws but having a plentiful Estate and prizing his pleasure above his profit he quitted Pleading to follow Poetry being the first renner of our English Tongue effecting mich but endeavouring more therein as you may perceive by the difference of his Language with that of Robert of Glocester who lived in the time of King Richard the First which notwithstanding was accounted very good in those days This our Gower was contemporary with the famous Poet Geoffry Chaucer both excellently learned both great friends together and both alike endeavour'd themselves and employed their time for the benefit of their Country And what an account Chaucer had of this our Gower and of his Parts that which he wrote in the end of his Work entituled Troilus Cressida do sufficiently testifie where he saith O marvel Gower this Book I direct To thee and to the Philosophical Strode To vouchsafe there need is to correct Of your benignitees and zeles good Bale makes him Equitem Auratum Poetam Laureatum proving both from his Ornaments on his Monumental Statue in St. Mary Overies Southwark Yet he appeareth there neither laureated nor hederated Poet except the leaves of the Bays and Ivy be wither'd to nothing since the erection of the Tomb but only rosated having a Chaplet of four Roses about his Head yet was he in great respect both with King Henry the Fourth and King Richard the Second at whose request the wrote his Book called Confessio Amantis as he relateth in his Prologue to the same Book in these words As it befell upon a tide As thing which should tho betide Vnder the town of New Troie Which toke of Brute his first ioye In Themese when it was flowende As I by Bote came rowende So as fortune hir tyme sette My leige Lord perchance I mette And so befelle as I cam nigh Out of my Bote when he me sigh He had me come into his Barge And when I was with him at large Amonges other things seyde He hath this charge upon me leyde And bbad me doe my businesse That to his high worthinesse Some newe thynge I should boke That he hymselfe it might loke After the forme of my writynge And this upon his commandynge Myne herte is well the more glad To write so as he we bad And eke my fear is well the lasse That none enuie shall compasse Without a reasonable wite To feige and blame that I write A gentill hert his tongue stilleth That it malice none distilleth But preiseth that is to be preised But he that hath his word unpeised And handleth with ronge any thynge I praie unto the heuen kynge Froe such tonges he me shilde And
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
had left off Writing here but taking disgust at Court for being frustrated in his Expectation of being the Queens Poet for which he stood Candidate with Sir William Davenant who was preferred before him out of meer Spleen as it is thought for his Repulse he vented his Spite in his History of the late Civil Wars of England wherein he shews all the Spleen of a Male contented Poet making thereby his Friends his Foes and rendring his Fame odious to Posterity such is the Nature of Malice that as the Poet saith Impoison'd with the Drugs of cruel Hate Draw on themselves an unavoided Fate CHARLES ALEYN CHarles Aleyn was one and that no despicable Poet as may be seen by his Works which still live in Fame and Reputation writing in Heroick verse the Life of King Henry the Seventh with the Battle of Bosworth and also the Battle of Crescy and Poictiers in which he is very pithy and sententious I shall only give you two instances the first out of his Battle of Crescy They swell with love who are with valour fill'd And Venus Doves may in a Head-piece build The other out of his History of King Henry the Seventh Man and Money a mutual Falshood show Man makes false Mony Mony makes man so GEORGE WITHERS GEorge Withers was one who loved to Fish in troubled Waters being never more quiet then when in Trouble of a restless Spirit and contradicting Disposition gaining more by Restraint then others could get by their Freedom which his ungoverned not to say worse Pen often brought him unto so that the Marshalsea and Newgate were no Strangers unto him He was born in Hantshire if it be every whit the more honour to the County for his Birth a prodigious Pourer forth of Rhime which he spued from his Maw as Tom Coriat formerly used to spue Greek and that with a great pretence to a Poetical Zeal against the Vices of the Times which he mightily exclaim'd against in his Abuses Stript and Whipt his Motto Brittains Remembrancer c. with other Satyrical Works of the like nature He turn'd also into English Verse the Songs of Moses and other Hymns of the Old Testament besides these he wrote a Poem called Philaret the Shepherds Hunting his Embleins Campo Musae Opo-Balsamum the Two Pitchers and others more then a good many had not his Muse been more Loyal than it was he was living about the Year 1664. when I saw him and suppose he lived not long after ROBERT HERRIC RObert Herric one of the Scholars of Apollo of the middle Form yet something above George Withers in a pretty Flowry and Pastoral Gale of Fancy in a vernal Prospect of some Hill Cave Rock or Fountain which but for the Interruption of other trivial Passages might have made up none of the worst Poetick Landskips Take a view of his Poetry in his Errata to the Reader in these lines For these Errata's Reader thou do'st see Blame thou the Printer for them and not me Who gave him forth good Grain tho he mistook And so did sow these Tares throughout my Book I account him in Fame much of the same rank as he was of the same Standing with one Robert Heath the Author of a Poem Entituled Clarastella the ascribed Title of that Celebrated Lady who is supposed to have been both the Inspirer and chief Subject of them JOHN TAYLOR the Water-Poet SOme perhaps may think this Person unworthy to be ranked amongst those Sons of Apollo whom we mentioned before but to them we shall answer That had he had Learning according to his natural Parts he might have equal'd if not exceeded many who claim a great share in the Temple of the Muses Indeed for ought I can understand he never learned no further then his Accidence as we may learn from his own Words in one of his Books I must confess do want Eloquence And never Scarce did learn my Accidence For having got from Possum to Posset I there was gravel'd could no further get He was born in Glocester-shire where he went to School with one Green who as John Taylor saith loved new Milk so well that to be sure to have it new he went to the Market to buy a Cow but his Eyes being Dim he cheapned a Bull and asking the price of the Beast the Owner and he agreed and driving it home would have his Maid to Milk it which she attempting to do could find no Teats and whilst the Maid and her Master were arguing the matter the Bull very fairly pist into the pall whereupon his Scholar John Taylor wrote these Verses Our Master Green was over-seen In buying of a Bull For when the Maid did mean to milk He pist the Pail half full He was afterwards bound Apprentice to a Waterman of London a Laborious Trade and yet though it be said that Ease is the Nurse of Poetry yet did he not only follow his Calling but also plyed his Writings which in time produced above fourscore Books which I have seen besides several others unknow to me some of which were dedicated to King James and King Charles the First and by them well accepted considering the meanness of his Education to produce works of Ingenuity He afterwards kept a Publick House in Phoenix Alley by Long-Acre continuing very constant in his Loyalty to the King upon whose doleful Murther he set up the Sign of the Mourning Crown but that being counted Malignant in those times of Rebellion he pulled down that and hung up his own Picture under which were writ these two lines There 's many a King's Head hang'd up for a Sign And many a Saint's Head too then why not Mine He dyed about the Year 1654. upon whom one bestowed this Epitaph Here lies the Water-Poet honest John Who rowed on the Streams of Helicon Where having many Rocks and dangers past He at the Haven of Heaven arriv'd at last THOMAS RAWLINS THomas Rawlins my old Friend chief Graver of the Mint to King Charles the First as also to King Charles the Second till the Year 1670. in which he died He was an Excellent Artist perhaps better then a Poet yet was he the Author of a Tragedy called The Rebellion which hath been acted not without good Appluse besides some other small things which he wrote Mr. THOMAS CAREW THis learned Gentleman Mr. Carew one of the Bed-Chamber to King Charles the First was in his time reckoned among the chiefest for delicacy of wit and Poetick Fancy which gained him a high Reputation amongst the most ingenious persons of that Age. He was a great acquaintance of Mr. Thomas May whom none can deny to be an able Poet although Discontent made him warp his Genius contrary to his natural Fancy in commendation of whose Tradi-Comedy called The Heir Mr. Carew wrote an excellent paper of Verses His Books of Poems do still maintain their fame amongst the Curious of the present age Col. RICHARD LOVELACE I Can compare no Man so like this Colonel
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
laborious study of History in both which he excelled all his Contemporaries His skill also was excellent in Oratory and Divinity as also in such manual Arts as lie in the Suburbs of the liberal sciences Painting Graving c. so that we might sooner reckon up those things wherein he had no skill as those wherein he was skilled But his Genius chiefly disposed him for the writing of Histories writing a large Chronicle with great Commendations from the Norman Conquest to the Year of our Lord 1250. where he concludes with this Distich Siste tui metas studij Matthaee quietas Nec ventura petas quae postera proferat aetas Matthew here cease thy Pen in peace and study on no more Nor do thou rome at things to come what next Age hath in store Yet notwithstanding this resolution he afterwards resumed that Work continuing it to the Year 1259. a History impartially and judicially written neither flattering any for their Greatness nor sparing others for their Vices no not so much as those of his own Profession yet though he had sharp Nails he had clean Hands strict in his own as well as striking at the loose conversation of others and for his eminent austerity was imployed by Pope Innocent the Fourth not only to visit the Monks in the Diocess of Norwich but also was sent by him into Norway to reform the Discipline in Holui a fair Covent therein but much corrupted His History was set forth with all integrity about a hundred years ago by his namesake Matthew Parker though some asperse it with a suspition of forgery and afterwards in latter and more exact Edition by the care and industry of Doctor William Wats and is at this present in great esteem amongst learned men WILLIAM RAMSEY THis William Ramsey was born in Huntingtonshire a County famous for the richest Benedictines Abbey in England yet here be would not stay but went to Crowland where he prospered so well that he became Abbot thereof Bale saith he was a Natural Poet and therefore no wonder if fault be found in the Feet of his Versez but by his leave he was also a good Scholar and Arithmetician enough to make his Verse run in right Numbers This William wrote the Lives of St. Guthlake St. Neots St. Edmond the King and divers others all in Verse which no doubt were very acceptable and praise-worthy in those times but the greatest wonder of him and which may seem a wonder indeed was that being a Poet he paid the vast Debts of others even forty thousand Marks for the engagement of his Covent and all within the compass of eighteen Months wherein he was Abbot of Crowland This was a vast Sum in that Age and would render it altogether incredible for a Poet to do but that we find he had therein the assistance of King Henry the Second who to expiate the Blood of Becket was contented to be melted into Coyn and was prodigiously bountiful to many Churches as well as to this He died about the year 1180. ALEXANDER NEQVAM ALexander Nequam the learnedest Englishman his Age was born at St. Albans in Hartfordshire His Name in English signifies Bad which caused many who thought themselves wondrous witty in making Jests which indeed made themselves to pass several Jokes on his Sirname whereof take this one instance Nequam had a mind to become a Monk in St. Albans the Town of his Nativity and thus Laconically wrote for leave to the Abbot thereof Si vis veniam sin autem tu antem To whom the Abbot returned Si bonus sis venias si nequam nequaquam Whereupon for the future to avoid the occasion of such Jokes he altered his Name from Nequam to Neckam His admirable knowledge in good Arts made him famous throughout England France Italy yea and the whole World and that with incredible admiration that he was called Miraculum ingenij the Wonder and Miracle of Wit and Sapience He was an exact Philosopher and excellent Divine an accurate Rhetorician and an admirable Poet as did appear by many his Writings which he left to posterity some of which are mentioned by Bale That he was born at St. Albans apears by a certain passage in one of his Latine Poems cited by Mr. Cambden and thus Englished by his Translatour Doctor Holland This is the place that knowledge took of my Nativity My happy Years my Days also of Mirth and Jollity This Place my Childhood trained up in all Arts liberal And laid the ground-work of my Name and skill Poetical This Place great and renowned Clerks into the World hath sent For Martyr bless'd for Nation for Sight all excellent A troop here of Religious Men serve Christ both night and day In Holy Warfare taking pains duly to watch and pray He is thought by some saith Bale to have been a Canon Regular and to have been preferred to the Abbotship of Glocester as the Continuater of Robert of Glocester will have it And Master Alisander that Chanon was er Imaked was of Gloucestre Abbot thulkâ—yer Viz. 7 Reg. Regis Johannis But this may be understood of Alexander Theologius who was contempory with him and was Abbot of St. Maries in Cirencester at the time of his death Bishop Godwin in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Lincoln maketh mention of a passage of wit betwixt him and Phillip Repington Bishop of Lincoln the latter sending the Challenge Et niger Nequam cum sis congnomine Nequam Nigrior esse potes Nequior esse nequis Both black and bad whilest Bad the name to thee Blacker thou mayst but worse thou canst not be To whom Nequam rejoyned Phi not a foetoris Lippus malus omnibus horis Phi malus Lippus totus mains ergo Philippus Stinks are branded with a Phi Lippus Latin for blear-eye Phi and Lippus bad as either then Philppus worse together A Monk of St. Albans made this Hexameter allusively to his Name Dictus erat Nequam vitam duxit tamen aequam The Elogy he bestoweth on that most Christian Emperor Constantine the Great must not be forgot From Colchester there rose a Star The Rays whereof gave Glorious Light Throughout the world in Climates far Great Constantine Romes Emperor bright He was saith one Canon of Exeter and upon what occasion is not known came to be buried at Worcester with this Epitaph Eclipsim patitur Sapientia Sol sepelitur Cui si par unus minus eset flebile funus Vir bene discretus in omni more facetus Dictus erat Nequam vitam duxit tamen aquam Wisdom's eclips'd Sky of the Sun bereft Yet less the loss if like alive were left A man discreet in matters debonair Bad Name black Face but Carriage good and fair Yet others say he was buried at St. Albans where he found repulse when living but repose when dead with this Epitaph Alexander cognomento Nequam Abbas Cirecestriae Literarum scientia clarus obitt Anno Dom. 1217. Lit. Dom. C. prid
nethelesse this worlde is wilde Of such ianglinge and what befall My kings heste shall not falle That I in hope to deserue His thonke ne shall his will observe And els were I nought excused He was before Chaucer as born and flourishing before him yea by some accounted his Master yet was he after Chaucer surviving him two years living to be stark blind and so more properly termed our English Homer His death happened Anno 1402. and was buried at St. Mary Overies in S. Sâ—uthwark on the North side of the said Church in the Chappel of St. John where he founded a Chauntry and left Means for a Mass such was the Religion of those times to be daily sung for him as also an Obit within the same Church to be kept on Friday after the Feast of St. Gregory He lieth under a Tomb of stone with his Image also of stone over him the hair of his head auburn long to his shoulders but curling up and a small forked beard on his head a Chaplet like a Coronet of four Roses an habit of purple damasked down to his feet a Collar of Esses of Gold about his neck which being proper to places of Judicature makes some think he was a Judge in his old age Under his feet the likeness of three Books which he compiled the first named Speculum Meditantis written in French the second Vox Clamantis penned in Latine the third Confessio Amantis written in English which was Printed by Thomas Berthelette and by him dedicated to King Henry the Eighth of which I have one by me at this present His Vox Clamantis with his Cronica Tripartita and other Works both in Latine and French Stow saith he had in his possession but his Speculum Meditantis he never saw but heard thereof to be in Kent Besides on the Wall where he lieth there was painted three Virgins crowned one of which was named Charity holding this device En toy qui es fitz de Dieu le Pere Sauue soit qui gist sours cest pierre The second Writing Mercy with this Decree O bone Jesu fait ta mercy Al' ame dont le corps gisticy The third Writing Pity with this device Pour ta pite Jesu regarde Et met cest a me en sauue garde And thereby formerly hung a Table wherein was written That whoso prayed for the Soul of John Gower so oft as he did it should have a M. and D. days of pardon His Arms were in a Field Argent on a Cheveron Azure three Leopards heads gold their tongues Gules two Angels supporters on the Crest a Talbot His Epitaph Armigeri Scultum nihil a modo fert sibi tutum Reddidit immolutum morti generale tributum Spiritus exutum se gaudeat esse solutum Est ubi virtutum Regnum sine labe statutum All I shall add is this That about fifty years ago there lived at Castle-Heningham in Essex a School-master named John Gower who wrote a witty Poem called the Castle Combate which was received in that Age with great applause GEOFFERY CHAVCER THree several Places contend for the Birth of that famous Poet. 1. Berkshire from the words of Leland that he was born in Barocensi sprovincia and Mr. Cambden avoweth that Dunington-Castle nigh unto Newbery was anciently his Inheritance 2. Oxfordshire where J. Pits is positive that his Father was a Knight and that he was born at Woodstock 3. The Author of his Life set forth 1602. proveth him born in London out of these his own words in the Testament of Love. Also in the City of London that is to me so dear and sweet in which I was forth grown and more kindly loue haue I to that place than any other in yerth as euery kindely creature hath full appetite to that place of his kindly ingendure and to wilne rest and peace in that stede to abide thilke peace should thus there haue been broken which of all wise men is commened and desired For his Parentage although Bale writes he termeth himself Galfridus Chaucer nobili loco natus summae spei juvenis yet is the opinion of some Heralds otherwise than his Virtues and Learning commemded him he descended not of any great House which they gather by his Arms And indeed both in respect of the Name which is French as also by other Conjectures it may be gathered that his Progenitors were Stranngers but whether they were Merchants for that in places where they have dwelled the Arms of the Merchants of the Staple have been seen in the Glass-windows or whether they were of other Callings it is not much necessary to search but wealthy no doubt they were and of good account in the Commonwealth who brought up their Sons in such sort that both he was thought fit for the Court at home and to be employed for Matters of State in Foreign Countries His Education as Leland writes was in both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge as appeareth by his own words in his Book Entituled The Court of Love And in Oxford by all likelihood in Canterbury or in Merton Colledge improving his Time in the University he became a witty Logician a sweet Rhetorician a grave Philosopher a holy Divine a skilful Mathematician and a pleasant Poet of whom for the Sweetness of his Poetry may be said that which is reported of Stesichoâ—â—us and as Cethegus was called Suadae Medulla so may Chaucer be rightly called the Pith and Sinews of Eloquence and the very Life it self of all Mirth and pleasant Writing Besides one Gift he had above other Authors and that is by the Excellencies of his Descriptions to possess his Readers with a stronger imagination of seeing that done before their eyes which they read than any other that ever writ in any Tongue But above all his Book of Canterbury-Tales is most recommended to Posterity which he maketh to be spoken by certain Pilgrims who lay at the Tabard-Inn in Southwark as he declareth in the beginning of his said Book It befell in that season on a day In Southwark at the Tabert as I lay Ready to wend on my pilgrimage To Canterbury with full devout courage That night was comen into the Hosterie Well nine and twenty in a companie Of sundry folke by aduenture yfall In fellowship and Pilgrims were they all That toward Canterbury woulden ride The Stables and Chambers weren wide And well wee were eased at the best c. By his Travel also in France and Flanders where he spent much time in his young years but more in the latter end of the Reign of King Richard the Second he attained to a great perfection in all kind of Learning as Bale and Leland report of him Circa postremos Richardi Secundi annos Galliis floruit magnamque illic ex assidua in Literis exercitatione gloriam sibi comparavit Domum reversus Forum Londinense Collegia Leguleiorum qui ibidem Patria Jura interpretantur frequentavit c. About the latter
make a man to rout Take a Pillow that ye lye not low If nede be spare not to blow To hold wind by mine opinion Will engender colles passion And make men to greven on her rops When they have filled her maws and her crops But toward night eate some Fennell rede Annis Commin or Coriander-seed And like as I have power and might I charge you rise not at midnight Though it be so the Moon shine clere I will my self be your Orlogere To morrow early when I see my time For we will forth parcel afore prime Accompanie parde shall do you good But I have digressed too far To return therefore unto Lydgate Scripsit partim Anglice partim Latine partim Prosa partim Versu Libros numero plures eruditione politissimos He writ saith my Author partly English partly Latine partly in Prose and partly in Verse many exquisite learned Books saith Pitseus which are mentioned by him and Bale as also in the latter end of Chaucer's Works he last Edition amongst which are Eglogues Odes Satyrs and other Poems He flourished in the Reign of Henry the Sixth and departed this world aged about 60 years circiter An. 1440. and was buried in his own Convent at Bury with this Epitaph Mortuus saeclo superis Superstes Hic jacet Lydgate tumulaetus Vrna Qui fuit quondam celebris Britannae Fama Poesis Dead in this World living above the Sky Intomb'd within this Urn doth Lydgate lie In former time fam'd for his Poetry All over England JOHN HARDING JOhn Harding our Famous English Chronologer was born saith Bale in the Northern parts and most likely in Yorkshire being an Esquire of an eminent Parentage He was a man equally addicted to Arms and Arts spending his Youth in the one and his Age in the other His first Military Employment was under Robert Vmfreuil Governor of Roxborough-Castle where he did good Service against the Scots Afterwards he followed the Standard of King Edward the Fourth to whom he valiantly and faithfully adhered not only in the Sun-shine of his Prosperity but also in his deepest Distress But what endeared him the most to his Favour and was indeed the Masterpiece of his Service was his adventuring into Scotland a desperate Attempt and performed not without the manifest hazarding of his Life where he so cunningly demeaned himself and insinuated himself so far into their Favour as he got a sight of their Records and Original Letters a Copy of which he brought with him to England and presented the same to King Edward the Fourth Out of these he collected a History of the several Submissions and sacred Oaths of Fealty openly taken from the time of King Athelstane by the Kings of Scotland to the Kings of England for the Crown of Scotland a Work which was afterwards made much use of by the English although the Scotch Historians stickle with might and main that such Homage was performed only for the County of Cumberland and some parcel of Land their Kings had in England South of Tweed Now as his Prose was very useful so was his Poetry as much delightful writing a Chronicle of our English Kings from Brute to King Edward the Fourth and that in English Verse for which he was accounted one of the chiefest Poets of his time being so exactly done that by it Dr. Fuller adjudges him to have drunk as deep a draught of Helicon as any in his Age And another saying that by the same he deservedly claimed a Seat amongst the chiefest of the Poetical Writers But to give you the better view of his Poetical Abilities I shall present you with some of his Chronicle-Verse concerning the sumptuous Houshold kept by King Richard the Second cap. 193. Truly I herd Robert Ireleffe say Clarke of the Green-cloth and that to the Houshold Came euery daye forth most part alway Ten thousand folke by his Messes told That followed the hous aye as thei wold And in the Kechin three hundred Seruitours And in eche Office many Occupiours And Ladies faire with their Gentleweomen Chamberers also and Lauenders Three hundred of theim were occupied then There was great pride emong the Officers And of all men far passing their compeers Of rich arraye and much more costous Then was before or sith and more precious c. This our Poet Harding was living Anno 1461. being then very aged and is judged to have survived not long after ROBERT FABIAN RObert Fabian was born and bred in London as witnesseth Bale and Pits becoming one of the Rulers thereof being chosen Sheriff Anno 1493. He spent his time which he had spare from publick Employments for the benefit of posterity writing two large Chronicles the one from Brute to the Death of King Henry the Second the other from the First of King Richard to the Death of Henry the Seventh He was saith my Author of a merry disposition and used to entertain his Guests as well with good Discourse as good Victuals He bent his Mind much to the Study of Poetry which according to those times passed for currant Take a touch of his Abilities in the Prologue to the second Volume of his Chronicle of England and France Now would I fayne In words playne Some Honour sayne And bring to mynde Of that auncient Cytye That so goodly is to se And full true ever hath be And also full kynde To Prince and Kynge That hath borne just rulynge Syn the first winnynge Of this Iland by Brute So that in great honour By passynge of many a showre It hath euer borne the flowre And laudable Brute c. These Verses were made for the Honour of London which he calleth Ryme Dogerel and at the latter end thereof excuseth himself to the Reader in these words Who so him lyketh these Versys to rede With favour I pray he will theym spell Let not the rudenes of theym hym lede For to dispraue thys Ryme Dogerell Some part of the honour it doth you tell Of this old Cytye Troynouant But not thereof the halfe dell Connyng in the Maker is so adaunt But though he had the Eloquence Of Tully and the Moralytye Of Seneck and the Influence Of the swyte sugred Armony Or that faire Ladye Caliope Yet had he not connyng perfyght This Citye to prayse in eche degre As that shulde duely aske by ryght Sir John Suckling a prime Wit of his Age in the Contest betwixt the Poets for the Lawrel maketh Apollo to adjudge it to an Alderman of London in these words He openly declar'd it was the best sign Of good store of Wit to have good store of Coyne And without a syllable more or less said He put the Lawrel on the Alderman's Head. But had the Scene of this Competition been laid a hundred and fifty years ago and the same remitted to the Umpirage of Apollo in sober sadness he would have given the Lawrel to this our Alderman He died at London Anno 1511. and was buried at St. Michael's
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
so about matters of higher concernment that Mr. Spenser received no reward whereupon he presented this Petition in a small piece of Paper to the Queen in her progress I was promis'd on a time To have reason for my rime From that time unto this season I receiv'd nor rime nor reason This tart reflect so wrought upon the Queen that she gave strict order not witstout some check to her Treasurer for the present payment of the hundred pounds she first intended him He afterwards went over into Ireland Secretary to the Lord Gray Lord Deputy thereof and though that his Office under his Lord was lucrative yet got he no Estate Peculiari Poetis fato semper cum paupertate conflictatus est saith the reverend Cambden so that it fared little better with him than with Churchyard or Tusser before him or with William Xiliander the German a most excellent Linguist Antiquary Philosopher and Mathematician who was so poor that as Thuanus writes he was thought Fami non famae scribere Thriving so bad in that boggy Country to add to his misery he was robb'd by the Rebels of that little he had left whereupon in great grief he returns into England and falling into want which to a noble spirit is most killing being heart-broken he died Anno 1598. and was honourably buried at the sole charge of Robert first of that name Earl of Essex on whose Monument is written this Epitaph Edmundus Spencer Londinensis Anglicorum Poetarum nostri seculi fuit Princeps quod ejus Poemata faventibus Musis victuro genio conscripta comprobant Obiit immatur a morte Anno salutis 1598. prope Galfredum Chaucerum conditur qui scqelisissime Poesin Anglicis literis primus illustravit In quem haec scripta sunt Epitaphia Hic prope Chaucerum situs est Spenserius illi Proximus ingenio proximus ut tumulo Hic prope Chaucerum Spensere poeta poetam Conderis versu quam tumulo proprior Anglica te vivo vixit plausitque Poesis Nunc moritur a timet te moriente mori These two last lines for the worthiness of the Poet are thus translated by Dr. Fuller Whilest thou didst live liv'd English Poetry Which fears now thou art dead that she shall die A modern Author writes that the Lord Cecil owed Mr. Spenser a grudge for some Reflections of his in Mother Hubbard's Tale and therefore when the Queen had order'd him that Money the Lord Treasurer said What all this for a Song And this he is said to have taken so much to heart that he contracted a deep Melancholy which soon after brought his life to a period so apt is an ingenious spirit to resent a slighting even from the greatest persons And thus much I must needs say of the Merit of so great a Poet from so great a Monarch that it is incident to the best of Poets sometimes to flatter some Royal or Noble Patron never did any do it more to the height or with greater art and elegance if the highest of praises attributed to so Heroick a Princess can justly be termed flattery Sir JOHN HARRINGTON SIr John Harrington is supposed to be born in Somerset-shire he having a fair Estate near Bath in that County His Father for carrying a Letter to the Lady afterwards Queen Elizabeth was kept twelve months in the Tower and made to spend a Thousand Pounds e're he could be free of that trouble His Mother also being Servant to the Lady Elizabeth was sequestred from her and her Husband enjoyned not to keep company with her so that on both sides he may be said to be very indear'd to Queen Elizabeth who was also his Godmother a further tye of her kindness and respects unto him This Sir John was bred up in Cambridge either in Christ's or in St. John's-Colledge under Dr. Still his Tutor He afterwards proved one of the most ingenious Poets of our English Nation no less noted for his Book of witty Epigrams than his judicious Translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso dedicated to the Lady Elizabeth afterwards Queen of Bohemia The British Epigramatist Mr. John Owen in his second Book of Epigrams thus writes to him A Poet mean I am yet of the Troop Though thou art not yet better thou canst do 't And afterwards in his fourth Book Epig. 20. concerning Envy's Genealogy he thus complements him Fair Vertue foul-mouth'd Envy breeds and feeds From Vertue only this foul Vice proceeds Wonder not that I this to you indite ' Gainst your rare Vertues Envy bends her spite It happened that whilest the said Sir John repaired often to an Ordinary in Bath a Female attendress at the Table neglecting other Gentlemen which sat higher and were of greater Estates applied herself wholly to him accommodating him with all necessaries and preventing his asking any thing with her officiousness She being demanded by him the reason of her so careful waiting on him I understand said she you are a very witty man and if I should displease you in any thing I fear you would make an Epigram of me Sir John frequenting often the Lady Robert's House his Wives Mother where they used to go to dinner extraordinary late a Child of his being there then said Grace which was that of the Primmer Thou givest them Meat in due season Hold said Sir John to the Child you ought not to lie unto God for here we never have our Meat in due season This Jest he afterwards turned into an Epigram directing it to his Wife and concluding it thus Now if your Mother angry be for this Then you must reconcile us with a kiss A Posthume Book of his came forth as an addition to Bishop Godwin's Catalogue of Bishops wherein saith Dr. Fuller besides mistakes some tart reflections in Vxaratos Episcopos might well have been spared In a word saith he he was a Poet in all things save in his wealth leaving a fair Estate to a learned and religious Son and died about the middle of the Reign of King James JOHN HEYWOOD THis John Heywood was one of the first writers of English Plays contemporary with the Authors of Gammar Gurton's Needle and Tom Tyler and his Wife as may appear by the Titles of his Interludes viz. The Play of Love Play of of the Weather Play between Johan the Husband and Tib his Wife Play between the Pardoner and the Fryer and the Curate and Neighbour Prat Play of Gentleness and Nobility in two parts Besides these he wrote two Comedies the Pinner of Wakefield and Philotas Scotch There was of this Name in King Henry the Eighth's Reign an Epigramatist who saith the Author of the Art of English Poetry for the mirth and quickness of his conceits more than any goqd learning was in him came to be well benefited by the King. THOMAS HEYWOOD THomas Heywood was a greater Benefactor to the Stage than his Namesake John Heywood aforesaid he having as you may read in an Epistle to a Play of his
by Printing they would have committed it to Brass lest injurious time might deprive it of due eternity Nor was his Poem of A Wife not only done to the life but also those Characters which he wrote to this day not out-witted by any But to return from the Work to the Workman Mr. Overbury is by the King knighted and Sir Rob. Carre made a Viscount and such a reciprocal Love pass'd betwixt them that it was questionable whether the Viscount were more in favour with King James or Sir Thomas Overbury in the favour of the Viscount But what estate on earth is so firm that is not changeable or what friendship is so constant that is not dissolvable Who would imagine this Viscount should be instrumental to his death who had done him so faithful service and to whom he had embosom'd his most secret thoughts Yet so it was for Sir Thomas out of an unfeigned affection which he bare to the Viscount diswaded him from a motion of a Marriage which was propounded betwixt him and the Lady Francis Howard who was lately divorced from the Earl of Essex as a Match neither for his credit here nor comfort hereafter This Counsel though it proceeded from an unfeigned love in Sir Thomas yet where Beauty commands all discretion being sequestred created in the Viscount a hatred towards him and in the Countess the fury of a woman a desire of revenge who perswaded the Viscount That it was not possible that ever she should endure those injuries or hope for any prosperity so long as he lived That she wondred how he could be so familiar so much affected to his man Overbury that without him he could do nothing at it were making him his right hand seeing he being newly grown into the Kings favour and depending wholly upon his greatness must expect to be clouded if not ruined when his servant that knew his secrets should come to preferment The Viscount apt enough of his own inclination to revenge being thus further exasperated by the Countess they joyntly resolve upon his death and soon a fit opportunity came to their hands He being by King James and as it is thought by the Viscount's Counsel nominated to be sent Embassador to the Emperor of Russia was by the said Viscount whom he especially trusted persuaded to decline the employment as no better than an honourable Grave Better lie some days in the Tower than more months in a worse Prison a Ship by Sea and a barbarous cold Country by Land. You are now said he in credit at home and have made tryal of the dangers of travel why then should you hazard all upon uncertainties being already in possession of that you can probably expect by these means promising him that within a small time he would so work with the King that he should have a good of opinion him But he saith Dr. Fuller who willingly goes into a Prison out of hope to come easily out of it may stay therein so long till he be too late convinced of his error And now having him in the place where they would their next study to secure their revenge was closely to make him away which they concluded to be by poyson To this end they consult with one Mrs. Turner the first inventer of that horrid Garb of yellow Ruffs and Cuffs and in which Garb she was after hanged she having acquaintance with one James Franklin a man skilled for that purpose agreed with him to provide that which should not kill presently but cause one to languish away by degrees a little and a little Sir Gervas Yelvis Lieutenant of the Tower being drawn into the Conspiracy admits one Weston Mrs. Turners man who under pretence of waiting upon Sir Thomas was to act the horrid Tragedy The Plot thus continued Franklin buyes certain Poysons viz. Sosater white Arsenick Mercury sublimate Cantharides red Mercury with three or four other deadly Ingredients which he delivered to Weston with instructions how to use them Weston an apt Scholar in the Devil's School tempers them in his Broth and Meat increasing or diminishing their strength according as he saw him affected Besides these poyson'd Tarts Jellies are sent him by the Viscount Nay they poysoned his very Salt Sauce Meat and Drink but being of a very strong Constitution he held out still At last they effected their work by a poysoned Clyster which they administed unto him so that the next day he died thereof and because there were some Blisters and ugly Botches on his Body the Conspirators gave it out he died of the French Pox. Thus by the Malice of a Woman this worthy Knight was murdered who yet still lives in that witty Poem of his entituled a Wife as is well expressed by these Verses under his Picture A man's best Fortune or his worst's a Wife Yet I that knew no Marriage Peace nor Strife Live by a good one by a bad one lost my Life But God who seldom suffers Murder to go unrevenged revealed the same for notwithstanding what the Conspirators had given out Suspitions grew high that Sir Thomas was poysoned Whereupon Weston is examined by the Lord Cook who at first stifly denied the same but being perswaded by the Bishop of London he tells all How Mrs. Turner and the Countess came acquainted what relation she had to Witches Sorcerers and Conjurers and discovers all those who had any hand in it whereupon they were all apprehended some sent to the Tower others to Newgate Having thus confessed being convicted according to course of Law he was hanged at Tyburn after him Mrs. Turner after her Franklin then Sir Gervas Yelvis upon their several Arraignments were found guilty and executed Some of them died very penitent The Earl and his Countess were both condemned but through the King 's gracious Pardon had their Lives saved but were never admitted to the Favour of the Court. We shall conclude all with this his Epitaph written by himself The span of my days measur'd here I rest That is my Body but my Soul his Guest Is hence ascended whither neither Time Nor Faith nor Hope but only Love can clime Where being now enlightned she doth know The Truth of all men argue of below Only this Dust doth here in pawn remain That when the world dissolves she come again Mr. MICHAEL DRAYTON MR. Drayton one who had drunk as deep a Draught at Helicon as any in his time was born at Athelston in Warwickshire as appeareth in his Poetical Address thereunto Poly-Olbion Song 13. p. 213. My native Country then which so brave Spirits hast bred If there be virtue yet remaining in thy earth Or any good of thine thou breath'st into my Birth Accept it as thine own whilst uow I sing of thee Of all thy latter Brood th'unworthiest tho' I be He was in his time for fame and renown in Poetry not much inferior if not equal to Mr. Spencer or Sir Philip Sidney himself Take a taste of the sprightfuâ—ness of
extream Ruiner of others but her own Calamity Where who obtains cannot what he would do Their power hath part that holp him thereunto Next take notice of his Musophilus or general Defence of Learning Dedicated to Sir Fulk Greuil his Letter of Octovia to Marcus Antonius his Complaint of Rosamond his Panegyrick Delia c. Besides his Dramatick Pieces as his Tragedy of Philotus and Cleopatra Hymenis Triumph and the Queens Arcadia a Pastoral being all of them of such worth that they were well accepted by the choicest Judgments of those Times and do yet remain in good esteem as by their often Impressions may appear This our Poet's deserts preferr'd him to be a Servant in ordinary to Queen Anne the most illustrious wife of King James I. who allowed him a fair Salary such as enabled him to keep a handsom Garden-house in Old-street nigh London where he would commonly lie obscure sometimes two Months together the better to enjoy that great Felicity he aimed at by enjoying the company of the Muses and then would appear in publick to recreate himself and converse with his Friends of whom the most endeared were the Learned Doctor Cowel and Judicious Mr. Cambden And now being weary of the Troubles of the City and Court he retired into the Country and turn'd Husbandman Renting a Farm or Grange in Wiltshire nigh the Devizes not so much as it is thought for the hope of gains as to enjoy the retiredness of a Country Life How he thrived upon it I cannot inform my self much less my Readers although no question pleasing himself therein he attained to that Riches he sought for viz. Quiet and Contentedness which whoso enjoys reapeth the benefit of his labours He left no Issue behind him but those of his Brain though living a good space of time with Justina his wife For his Estate he had neither a Bank of Wealth nor Lank of Want but living in a competent contented condition and died as it is conjectured about the latter end of King James I. GEORGE CHAPMAN GEorge Chapman was one in his time much famed for the Fluency of his Muse gaining a great repute for his Translation of Homer and Hesiod which in those times passed as Works done without compare and indeed considering he was one of the first who brake the Ice in the Translation of such learned Authors reading the highest conception of their Raptures into a neat polite English as gave the true meaning of what they intended and rendred it a style acceptable to the Reader considering I say what Age he lived in it was very well worthy praise though since the Translation of Homer is very far out-done by Mr. Ogilby He also continued that excellent Poem of Hero and Leander begun by Christopher Marlow and added very much to the Stage in those times by his Dramatick Writings as his Blind Beggar of Alexandria All Fools the Gentleman Vsher Humorous Days Mirth May Day Mounsieur D'Olive Eastward ho Two wise men and all the rest Fools Widows Tears Comedies Bussy D'Amboys Byron's Tragedy Bussy D'Amboys Revenge Caesar and Pompey Revenge for Honour Tragedies the Temple Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincolns-Inn Masques and Byron's Conspiracy a History in all seventeen ROBERT BARON OF this Robert Baron we can recover nothing save only those Dramatick Pieces which he wrote to the Stage and which no doubt passed with good applause in those times Of these are remembred his Don Quixot or the Knight of the Ill-favoured Countenance a Comedy Gripus and Hegia a Pastoral Deorum Dona Dick Scorner Destruction of Jerusalem the Marriage of Wit and Science Masques and Interludes and Myrza a Tragedy LODOVIC CARLISLE TO Mr. Robert Baron we may add Lodovic Carlisle as much about the same time and of like equal esteem having written some not yet totally forgotten Plays viz. Arviragus and Felicia in two pats the deserving Favorite the Fool would be a Favorite or the deserving Lover Tragi-Comedies Marius and Scylla and Osmond the Great Turk or the Noble Servant Tragedies all which shew him though not a Master yet a great Retainer to the Muses JOHN FORD TO these we may add John Ford a Dramatick Writer likewise of those times very beneficial to the Red-Bull and Fortune-Play-houses as may appear by these Plays which he wrote viz. The Fancies Ladies Tryal Comedies the broken Heart Lovers Melancholy Loves Sacrifice 't is pity she 's a Whore Tragedies Perkin Warbeck a History and an Associate with Rowley and Deckar in a Tragi-Comedy called The Witch of Edmonton ANTHONY BREWER ANthony Brewer was also one who in his time contributed very much towards the English Stage by his Dramatick Writings especially in that noted one of his entituled Lingua which as it is reported being once acted in Cambridge the late Usurper Cromwel had therein the Part of Tablus the Substance of the Play being a Contention among the Senses sor a Crown which Lingua who would have made up a sixth Sense had laid for them to sind having this Inscription Which of the five that doth deserve it best Shall have his Temples with this Coronet blest This Mock-contention for a Crown is said to swell his Ambition so high that afterwards he contended for it in earnest heading such a notable Rebellion as had almost ruined three flourishing Kingdoms But to return to Mr. Brewer Besides this Lingua he wrote Loves Loadstone and the Countrey-Girl Comedies the Love-sick King and Landagartha Tragi-Comedies and Loves Dominion a Pastoral HENRY GLAPTHORN HEnry Glapthorn was one well deserving of the English being one of the chiefest Dramatick Writers of this Age deservingly commendable not so much for the quantity as the quality of his Plays being his Hollander Ladies Priviledge and Wit in a Constable Comedies his Argalus and Parthenia a Pastoral and Alberus Watlestein a Tragedy in which Tragedy these Lines are much commended This Law the Heavens inviolably keep Their Justice well may slumber but ne'er sleep JOHN DAVIS of Hereford IN the writing of this Mans Life we shall make use of Dr. Fuller in his England's Worthies who saith that he was the greatest Master of the Pen that England in his Age beheld for 1. Fast writing so incredâ—ble his expedition 2. Fair writing some minutes consultation being required to decide whether his Lines were written or printed 3. Close writing a Mystery which to do well few attain unto 4. Various writing Secretary Roman Court and Text. The Poetical Fiction of â—riareus the Giant who had an hundred hands found a Moral in him who could so cunningly and copiously disguise his aforesaid elemental hards that by mixing he could make them appear an hundred and if not so many sorts so many degrees of writing He had also many pretty excursions into Poetry and could flourish Matters as well as Letters with his Fancy as well as with his Pen. Take a taste of his Abilities in those Verses of his before Coriat's Crudities being called the Odcombian Banquet wherein the
education but his own proper industry and addiction to Books advanced him to this perfection He wrote fifty Plays in all whereof fifteen Comedies three Tragedies the rest Masques and Entertainments His comedies were The Alchimist Bartholomew Fair Cynthia's Revels Câ—se is alter'd The Devil is an Ass Every Man in is humour every Man out of his humour The Fox Magnetick Lady New Inn Poeâ—aster Staple of News Sad Shepherd Silent Woman and A Tale of a Tub. His Tragedies were Cateline's Conspiracy Mortimer's Fall and Scianus His Masques and Entertainments too long here to write were thirty and two besides a Comedy of East-ward hoe in which he was Partner with Chapman These his Plays were above the vulgar capacity which are onely tickled with down-right obscenity and took not so well at the first stroke as at the rebound when beheld the second time yea they will endure reading and that with due commendation so long as either ingenuity or learning are fashionable in our Nation And although all his Plays may endure the test yet in three of his Comedies namely The Fox Alchymist and Silent Woman he may be compared in the judgment of the learned men for decorum language and well-humouring parts as well with the chief of the ancient Greek and Latine Comedians as the prime of modern Italians who have been judged the best of Europe for happy vein in Comedies not is his Bartholomew-Fair much short of them As for his other Comedies Staple of News Devil 's an Ass and the rest if they be not so sprightful and vigorous as his first pieces all that are old will and all that desire to be old should excuse him therein and therefore let the Name of Ben Johnson sheild them against whoever shall think fit to be srvere in censure against them Truth is his Tragedies Seianus and Cateline seem to have in them more of an artificial and inflate than of a pathetical and naturally Tragick height yet do they every one of them far excel any of the English ones that were writ before him so that he may be truly said to be the first reformer of the English Stage as he himself more truly than modestly writes in his commendatory Verses of his Servants Richard Broom's Comedy of the Northern Lass Which you have justly gained from the Stage By observation of those Comick Laws Which I your Master first did teach the Age. In the rest of his Poetry for he is not wholly Dramatick as his Vnderwoods Epigrams c. he is sometimes bold and strenuous sometimes Magisterial sometimes lepid and full enough of conceit and sometimes a man as other men are It seems the issue of his brain was more lively and lasting than the issue of his body having several Children yet none living to survive him This he bestowed as part as an Epitaph on his eldest Son dying an Infant Rest in soft peace and ask'd say Here doth lye Ben Johnson his best piece of Poetry But tho' the immortal Memory still lives of him in his learned Words yet his Body subject to mortality left this life Anno 1638. and was buried about the Belfrey in the Abbey-Church at Westminster having only upon a Pavement over his Grave this written O Rare Ben Johnson Yet were not the Poets then so dull and dry but that many expressed their affection to his Memory in Elegies and Epitaphs amongst which this following may not be esteemed the worst The Muses fairest Light in no dark time The Wonder of a learned Age the line That none can pass the most proportion'd Wit To Nature the best Judge of what was fit The deepest plainest highest clearest Pen The Voyce most eccho'd by consenting men The Soul which answer'd best to all well said By others and which most requital made Tun'd to the highest Key of ancient Rome Returning all her Musick with her own In whom with Nature Study claim'd a part And yet who to himself ow'd all his Art Here lies Ben Johnson every Age will look With sorrow here with Wonder on his Book FRANCIS BEAVMONT and JOHN FLETCHER THese two joyned together made one of the happy Triumvirate the other two being Johnson and Shakespear of the chief Dramatick Poets of our Nation in the last foregoing Age among whom there might be said to be a symmetry of perfection while each excelled in his peculiar way Ben Johnson in his elaborate pains and knowledge of Authors Shakespear in his pure vein of wit and natural Poetick height Fletcher in a Courtly Elegance and Gentile Familiarity of Style and withal a Wit and Invention so overflowing that the luxuriant Branches thereof were frequently thought convenient to be lopt off by Mr. Beaumont which two joyned together like Castor and Pollux most happy when in conjunction raised the English to equal the Vthenian and Roman Theaters Beaumont bringing the Ballast of Judgment Fletcher the Sail of Phantasie but compounding a Poet to admiration These two admirable Wits wrote in all two and fifty Plays whereof three and forty were Comedies namely Beggars Bush Custom of the Country Captain Coxcomb Chances Cupid's Revenge Double Marriage Elder Brother Four Plays in one Fair Maid of the Inn Honest man's Fortune Humorous Lieutenant Island Princess King and no King Knight of the burning Pestle Knight of Malta Little French Lawyer Loyal Subject Laws of Candy Lovers Progress Loves Cure Loves Pilgrimage Mad Lover Maid in the Mill Monsieur Thomas Nice Valour Night-Walker Prophetess Pilgrim Philaster Queen of Corinth Rule a Wife and have a Wife Spanish Curate Sea-Voyage Scornful Lady Womans Prize Women pleased VVife for a Month VVit at several weapons and a VVinters Tale. Also six Tragedies Bonduca the Bloody Brother False One the Maids Tragedy Thiery and Theodoret Valentinian and Two Noble Kinsmen a Tragi-Comedy Fair Shepherdess a Pastoral and a Masque of Grays-Inn Gentlemen It is reported of them that meeting once in a Tavern to contrive the rude Draught of a Tragedy Fletcher undertook to kill the King therein whose Words being over-heard by a Listner though his Loyalty not to be blamed herein he was accused of High Treason till the Mistake soon appearing that the Plot was only against a Dramatick and Scenical King all wound off in Merriment Yet were not these two Poets so conjoyned but that each of them did several Pieces by themselves Mr. Beaumont besides other Works wrote a Poem entituled Salmacis and Hermaphroditus a Fable taken out of Ovid's Metamorphosis and Mr. Fletcher surviving Mr. Beamont wrote good Comedies of himself so that it could not be laid to his Charge what Ajax doth to Vlysses Nihil hic Diomede remoto When Diomedes was gone He could do nought alone Though some think them inferior to the former and no wonder if a single thread was not so strong as twisted one Mr. Fletcher as it is said died in London of the Plague in the first year of King Charles the First 1625. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR THis eminent Poet the Glory of the English
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
to Land by Death doth lie A Vessel fitter for the Skie Than Jason's Argo though in Greece They say it brought the Golden Fleece The skilful Pilot steer'd it so Hither and thither too and fro Through all the Seas of Poverty Whether they far or near do lie And fraught it so with all the wealth Of wit and learning not by stealth Or privacy but perchance got That this whole lower World could not Richer Commodities or more Afford to add unto his store To Heaven then with an intent Of new Discoveries he went And left his Vessel here to rest Till his return shall make it blest The Bill of Lading he that looks To know may find it in his Books Mr. PHINEAS FLETCHER THis learned person Son and Brother to two ingenious Poets himself the third not second to either was son to Giles Fletcher Doctor in Law and Embassadour from Queen Elizabeth to Theodor Juanowick Duke of Muscovia who though a Tyranick Prince whose will was his Low yet setled with him very good Terms for our Merchants trading thither He was also brother to two worthy Poets viz. George Fletcher the Author of a Poem entituled Christs Victory and Triumph over and after Death and Giles Fletcher who wrote a worthy Poem entituled Christs Victory made by him being but Batchelor of Arts discovering the piety of a Saint and divinity of Doctor This our Phineas Fletcher was Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge and in Poetick fame exceeded his two Brothers in that never enough to be celebrated Poem entituled The Purple Island of which to give my Reader a taste who perhaps hath never seen the Book I shall here add two Stanza's of it Thrice happy was the worlds first infancy Nor knowing yet not curious ill to know Joy without grief love without jealousie None felt hard labour or the sweating Plough The willing earth brought tribute to her King Bacchus unborn lay hidden in the cling Of big swollen Grapes their drink was every silver spring And in another place speaking of the vanity of ambitious Covetousness Vain men too fondly wise who plough the Seas With dangerous pains another earth to find Adding new Worlds to th' old and scorning ease The earths vast limits daily more unbind The aged World though now it falling shows And hasts to set yet still in dying grows Whole lives are spent to win what one Deaths hour must lose Besides this purple Island he wrote divers Piscatorie Eclogues and other Poetical Miscelanies also a Piscatory Comedy called Sicelides which was acted at Kings-Colledge in Cambridge Mr. GEORGE HERBERT THis divine Poet and person was a younger brother of the Noble Family of the Herberts of Montgomery whose florid wit obliging humour in conversation fluent Elocution and great proficiency in the Arts gained him that reputation at Oxford where he spent his more youthful Age that he was chosen University Orator a place which required one of able parts to Mannage it at last taking upon him Holy Orders not without special Encouragement from the King who took notice of his extraordinary Parts he was made Parson of Bemmerton near Salisbury where he led a Seraphick life converting his Studies altogether to serious and Divine Subjects which in time produced those his so generally known and approved Poems entituled The Temple Whose Vocal notes tun'd to a heavenly Lyre Both learned and unlearned all admire I shall only add out of his Book an Anagram which he made on the name of the Virgin Mary MARY ARMY And well her name an Army doth present In whom the Lord of Hosts did pitch his Tent. Mr. RICHARD CRASHAW THis devout Poet the Darling of the Muses whose delight was the fruitful Mount Sion more than the barren Mount Pernassus was Fellow first of Pembrook-Hall after of St. Peters-Colledge in Cambridge a religious pourer forth of his divine Raptures and Meditations in smooth and pathetick Verse His Poems consist of three parts the first entituled Steps to the Temple being for the most part Epigrams upon several passages of the New Testament charming the ear with a holy Rapture The Second part The delights of the Muses or Poems upon severral occasions both English and Latin such rich pregnant Fancies as shewed his Breast to be filled with Phoebean Fire The third and last part Carmen Deo nostro being Hymns and other sacred Poems dedicated to the Countess of Denbigh all which bespeak him The learned Author of Immortal Strains He was much given to a religious Solitude and love of a recluse Life which made him spend much of his time and even lodge many Nights under Tertullian's roof of Angels in St. Mary's Church in Cambridge But turning Roman Catholick he betook himself to 〈◊〉 so zealously frequented place Our Lady 's of Loâ—â—etto in Italy where for some years he spent his time in Divine Contemplations being a Canon of that Church where he dyed Mr. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT MR. William Cartwright a Student of Christ Church in Oxford where he lived in Fame and Reputation for his singular Parts and Ingenuity being none of the least of Apollo's Sons for his excelling vein in Poetry which produc'd a Volume of Poems publisht not long after his Death and usher'd into the World by Commendatory Verses of the choicest Wits at that time enough to have made a Volume of it self So much was he reverenced by the Lovers of the Muses He wrote besides his Poems The Ordinary a Comedy the Royal Slave Lady Errant and The Seige Or Loves Convert Tragi-Comedies Sir ASTON COCKAIN SIr Aston Cockain laies Claim to a place in our Book being remembred to Posterity by four Plays which he wrote viz. The Obstinate Lady a Comedy Trapolin supposed a Prince Tyrannical Government Tragi-Comedies and Thersites an Interlude Sir JOHN DAVIS THis worthy Knight to whom Posterity is indebted for his learned Works was well beloved of Queen Elizabeth and in great Favour with King James His younger Years he addicted to the study of Poetry which produced two excellent Poems Nosce Teipsum and Ochestra Works which speak themselves their own Commendations He also wrote a judicious Metaphrase on several of David's Psalms which first made him known at Court afterwards addicting himself to the Study of the Common-Law of England he was first made the Kings Serjeant and after his Attorney-General in Ireland THOMAS MAY. THomas May was one in his time highly esteemed not only for his Translation of Virgils Georgicks and Lucans Pharfalia into English but what he hath written Propria Minerva as his Supplement to Lucan till the Death of Julius Caesar His History of Henry the Second in Verse besides what he wrote of Dramatick as his Tragedies of Antigone Agrippina and Cleopatra The Heir a Tragi-Comedy the Old Couple and The Old Wives Tale Comedies and the History of Orlando Furioso of these his Tragi-Comedy of The Heir is done to the life both for Plot and Language and good had it been for his Memory to Posterity if he
it spread Till 't is too fine for our weak eyes to find And dwindles into Nothing in the end No they 'r above the Genius of this Age Each word of thine swells pregnant with a Page Then why do some Mens nicer ears complain Of the uneven Harshness of thy strain Preferring to the vigour of thy Muse Some smooth weak Rhymer that so gently flowes That Ladies may his easy strains admire And melt like Wax before the softning fire Let such to Women write you write to Men We study thee when we but play with them Sir JOHN BERKENHEAD Sir John Berkenhead was a Gentleman whose worth and deserts were too high for me to delineate He was a constant Assertor of his Majesties Cause in its lowest Condition painting the Rebels forth to the life in his Mercurius Aulicus and other Writings his Zany Brittanieus who wrote against him being no more his Equal than a Dwarf to a Gyant or the goodness of his cause to that of the Kings for this his Loyalty he suffered several Imprisonments yet always constant to his first Principles His skill in Poetry was such that one thus writes of him Whil'st Lawrel sprigs anothers head shall Crown Thou the whole Grove mayst challenge as thy Own. He survived to see his Majesties happy Restoration and some of them hanged who used their best endeavor to do the same by him As for his learned Writings those who are ignorant of them must plead ignorance both to Wit and Learning Dr. ROBERT WILD HE was one and not of the meanest of the Poetical Caslock being in some sort a kind of an Anti-Cleaveland writing as high and standing up as stifly for the Presbyterians as ever Cleaveland did against them But that which most recommended him to publick fame was his Iter Boreale the same in Title though not in Argument with that little but much commended Poem of Dr. Corbets mentioned before This being upon General Monk's Journey out of Scotland in order to his Majesties Restoration and is indeed the Cream and flower of all his Works and look't upon for a lofty and conceited Stile His other things are for the most part of a lepid and facetious nature reflecting on others who as sharply retorted upon him for he that throwes stones at other 't is ten to one but is hit with astone himself one of them playing upon his red face thus I like the Man that carries in his Face the tinsture of that bloody Banner he fights under and would not have any Mans countenance prove so much an Hypocrite to cross a French Proverb His Nose plainly proves What pottage he loves Hear one of their reflections upon him on his humble thanks for his Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience When first the Hawkers bawl'd ' i th' streets Wild's name A lickerish longing to my Pallat came A feast of Wit I look't for but alass The meat smelt strong and too much Sawce there was c. Indeed his strain had it been fitted to a right key might have equal'd the chiefest of his age Mr. ABRAHAM COWLEY THis Gentleman was one who may well be be stil'd the glory of our Nation both of the present and past ages whose early Muse began to dawn at the Thirteenth year of his age being then a Scholar at Westminiser-School which produc'd two little Poems the one called Antonius and Melida the other Pyramus and Thisbe discovering in them a maturity of Sence far above the years that writ them shewing by these his early Fruits what in time his stock of worth would come to And indeed Fame was not deceived in him of its Expectation he having built a lasting Monument of his worth to posterity in that compleat Volume of his Works divided into four parts His Mistress being the amorous Prolusions of his youthful Muse his Miscelanies or Poems of various arguments his most admired Heroick Poem Davideis the first Books whereof he compos'd while but a young Student at Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge and lastly that is in order of time though not of place his Pindaric Odes so call'd from the Measure in which he translated the first Ithmian and Nemean Odes where as the form of those Odes in the Original is very different yet so well were they approved by succeeding Authors that our primest Wits have hitherto driven a notable Trade in Pindaric Odes But besides these his English Poems there is extant of his writing a Latine Volume by it self containing a Poem of Herbs and Plants Also he Translated two Books of his Davideis into Latine Verse which is in the large Volume amongst the rest of his Works Mr. EDMOND WALLER THis Gentleman is one of the most fam'd Poets and that not undeservedly of the presentage excelling in the charming Sweets of his Lyrick Odes or amorous Sonnets as also in his other occasional Poems both smooth and strenuous rich of Conceit and eloquently adorned with proper Similies view his abilities in this Poem of his concerning the Puissance of our Navies and the English Dominion at Sea. Lords of the Worlds great Wast the Ocean we Whole Forrests send to reign upon the Sea And every Coast may trouble or relieve But none can visit us without our leave Angels and we have this Prerogative That none can at our happy Seat arrive While we descend at pleasure to invade The bad with Vengeance or the good to aid Our little world the image of the great Like that amidst the boundless Ocean set Of her own growth has all that Nature craves And all that 's rare as Tribute from the waves As Aegypt does not on the Clouds rely But to her Nyle owes more then to the sky So what our Earth and what our Heaven denies Our ever constant friend the Sea supplies The tast of hot Arabia's Spice we know Free from the Scorching Sun that makes it grow Without the worm in Persian Silks we shine And without Planting drink of every Vine To dig for wealth we weary not our limbs Gold though the heaviest mettal hither swims Ours is the Harvest where the Indians mow We plough the deep and reap what others Sow I shall only add two lines more of his quoted by several Authors All that the Angels do above Is that they sing and that they love In sum this our Poet was not Inferior to Carew Lovelace nor any of those who were accounted the brightest Stars in the Firmament of Poetry Sir JOHN DENHAM SIr John Denham was a Gentleman who to his other Honors had this added that he was one of the Chief of the Delphick Quire and for his Writings worthy to be Crowned with a wreath of Stars The excellency of his Poetry may be seen in his Coopers Hill which whosoever shall deny may be accounted no Friends to the Muses His Tragedy of the Sophy is equal to any of the Chiefest Authors which with his other Works bound together in one Volume will make his name Famous to all Posterity Sir WILLIAM DAVENANT
seemeth to have been Earl of ROCHESTER THis Earl for Poetical Wit was accounted the chief of his time his Numbers flowing with so smooth and accute a Strain that had they been all confined within the bounds of Modesty we might well affirm they were unparallel'd yet was not his Muse altogether so loose but that with his Mirth he mixed Seriousness and had a knack at once to tickle the Fancy and inform the Judgement Take a taste of the fluency of his Muse in the Poem which he Wrote in Defence of Satyr When Shakespeare Johnson Fletcher rul'd the Stage They took so bold a freedom with the Age That there was scarce a Knave or Fool in Town Of any note but had his Picture shown And without doubt tho some it may offend Nothing helps more than Satyr to amend Ill Manners or is trulier Vertues Friend Princes may Laws ordain Priests gravely preach But Poets most successfully will teach For as the Passing-Bell frights from his meat The greedy Sick-man that too much wou'd eat So when a Vice ridiculous is made Our Neighbours Shame keeps us from growing bad But wholsom Remedies few Palats please Men rather love what flatters their Disease Pimps Parasites Buffoons and all the Crew That under Friendship 's name weak man undo Find their false service kindlier understood Than such as tell bold Truths to do us good Look where you will and you shall hardly find A man without some sickness of the Mind In vain we wise wou'd seem while every Lust Whisks us about as Whirlwinds do the Dust Here for some needless gain a Wretch is hurld From Pole to Pole and slav'd about the World VVhile the reward of all his pains and cares Ends in that despicable thing his Heir There a vain Fop mortgages all his Land To buy that gaudy Play-thing a Command To ride a Cock-horse wear a Scarf at 's And play the Pudding in a May-pole Farce Here one whom God to make a Fool thought fit In spight of Providence will be a VVit But wanting strength t' uphold his ill made choice Sets up with Lewdness Blasphemy and Noise There at his Mistress feet a Lover lies And for a Tawdry painted Baby dies Falls on his knees adores and is afraid Of the vain Idol he himself has made These and a thousand Fools unmention'd here Hate Poets all because they Poets fear Take heed they cry yonder mad Dog will bite He cares not whom he falls on in his fit Come but in 's way and strait a new Lampoon Shall spread your mangled fame about the Town This Farl died in the Flower of his Age and though his Life might be somewhat Extravagant yet he is said to have dyed Penitently and to have made a very good End. Mr. THOMAS FLATMAN MR. Thomas Flatman a Gentleman once of the middle Temple of Extraordinary Parts equally ingenious in the two Noble Faculties of Painting and Poetry as by the several choice Pieces that have been seen of his Pourtraying and Limning and by his Book of Poems which came out about Fourteen or Fifteen Years ago sufficiently appeareth The so much Celebrated Song of the Troubles of Marriage is ascribed to him Like a Dog with a Bottle tyed close to his Taile Like a Tory in a Bog or a Thief in a Jail c. MARTIN LVELLIN THis Gentleman was bred up a Student in Christ-Church in Oxford where he addicted his Mind to the sweet Delights of Poetry writing an Ingenious Poem entituled Men Miracles which came forth into the World with great applause The times being then when there was not only Cobling Preaching but Preaching Coblers he followed the practice of Physick and whether he be yet living is to me unknown EDMOND FAIRFAX EDmond Fairfax a most judicious elegant and approved Poet and who we should have remembred before But better out of due place than not at all This judicious Poet Translated that most exquisite Poem of Torquato Tasso the Prince of Italian Heroick Poets which for the Exactness of his Version is judged by some not inferior to the Original it self He also wrote some other things of his own Genius which have passed in the World with a general applause HENRY KING Bishop of Chichester THis Reverend Prelate a great lover of Musick Poetry and other ingenious Arts amongst his other graver Studies had some Excursions into those pleasing Delights of Poetry and as he was of an Obliging Conversation for his Wit and Fancy so was he also very Grave and Pious in his Writings Witness his Printed Sermons on the Lords Prayer and others which he Preached on several Occasions His Father was John King Bishop of London one full fraught with all Episcopal Qualities who died Anno 1618. and was Buried in the Quire of St. Paul's with the plain Epitaph of Resurgam But since a prime Wit did enlarge thereon which for the Elegancy of it I cannot but commit it to Posterity Sad Relique of a blessed Soul whose Trust We Sealed up in this religious Dust O do not thy low Exequies suspect As the cheap Arguments of our neglect 'T was a commanded Duty that thy Grave As little Pride as thou thy self should have Therefore thy Covering is an humble Stone And but a Word for thy Inscription When those that in the same Earth Neighbour thee Have each his Chronicle and Pedigree They have their waving Penons and their Flags Of Matches and Alliance formal Brags When thou although from Ancestors thou came Old as the Heptarchy great as thy Name Sleepest there inshrin'd in thy admired Parts And hast no Heraldry but thy Deserts Yet let not them their prouder Marbles boast For they rest with less Honour though more Cost Go search the World and with your Mattock wound The groaning Bosom of the patient Ground Dig from the hidden Veins of her dark Womb All that is rare and precious for a Tomb. Yet when much Treasure and more time is spent You must grant his the Nobler Monument Whose Faith stands o're him for a Hearse and hath The Resurrection for his Epitaph This worthy Prelate was born in the same County Town House and Chamber with his Father Namely at Warn-hall nigh Tame in Buckingham-shire and was Bred up at Christ-Church in Oxford in Anno 1641. when Episcopacy was beheld by many in a deep Consumption and hoped by others that it would prove Mortal To cure this if was conceived the most probable Cordial to prefer Persons into that Order not only unblameable for their Life and eminent for their Learning but also generally beloved by all disegaged People and amongst these King Charles advanced this our Doctor Bishop of Chichester But all would not do their Innocency was so far from stopping the Mouth of Malice that Malice had almost swallowed them down her Throat Yet did he live to see the Restitution of his Order live a most religious Life and at leisure times Composed his generally admired and approved Version of Davids Psalms into
English Meetre THOMAS MANLEY THomas Manley was saith my Author one of the Croud of Poetical writers of the late King's Time. He wrote among other things the History of Job in verse and Translated into English Pagan Fisher his Congratulatory Ode of Peace Mr. LEWYS GRIFFIN HE was born as he informed me himself in Rutland-shire and bred up in the University of Cambridge where proving an Excellent Preacher he was after some time preferred to be a Minister of St. George's Church in Southwark where being outed for Marrying two Sisters without their Friends Consent He was afterwards beneficed at Colchester in Essex where he continued all the time during a sore Pestilence raged there He wrote a Book of Essays and Characters an excellent Piece also The Doctrine of the Ass of which I remember these two lines Devil's pretences always were Divine A Knave may have an Angel for a Sign He wrote also a Book called The Presbyterian Bramble with several other Pieces in Defence of the King and the Church Now to shew you the Acuteness of his VVit I will give you an Instance The first year that Poor Robin's Almanack came forth about Six and Twenty Years ago there was cut for it a Brass Plate having on one side of it the Pictures of King Charles the First the Earl of Strafford the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Earl of Darby the Lord Capel and Dr. Hewit all six adorned with Wreaths of Lawrel On the other side was Oliver Cromwell Bradshaw Ireton Scot Harrison and Hugh Peters hanging in Halters Betwixt which was placed the Earl of Essex and Mr. Christopher Love upon which plate he made these Verses Bless us what have we here What sundry Shapes Salute our Eyes have Martyrs too their Apes Sure 't is the War of Angels for you 'd Swear That here stood Michael and the Dragon there Tredescan is out-vy'd for we engage Both Heaven and Hell in an Octavo Page Martyrs and Traytors rallied six to six Half fled unto Olimpus half to Styx Joyn'd with two Neuters some Condemn some Praise They hang betwixt the Halters and the Bayes For 'twixt Nolls Torment and Great Charles's Glory There there 's the Presbyterian Purgatory He died as I am informed at Colchester about the Year of our Lord 1670. JOHN DAVNCEY JOhn Dauncey a true Son of Apollo and Bacchus was one who had an Excellent Command of his Pen a fluent Stile and quick Invention nor did any thing come amiss to his undertaking He wrote a compleat History of the late times a Chronicle of the Kingdom of Portugal the English Lovers a Romance which for Language and Contrivance comes not short of either of the best of French or Spanish He Translated a Tragi-Comedy out of French called Nichomede equal in English to the French Original besides several other things too long to recite His English Lovers was Commended by divers of sound Judgment amongst others Mr. Lewis Griffin our forementioned Poet made these verses in commendations of it Rich Soul of Wit and Language thy high strains So plunge arid puzzle unrefined brains That their Illiterate Spirits do not know How much to thy Ingenious Pen they owe. Should my presumptuous Muse attempt to raise Trophies to thee she might as well go blaze Bright Planets with base Colours or display The Worlds Creation in a Puppet-Play Let this suffice what Calumnies may chance To blut thy Fame they spring from Ignorance When Old Orpheus drew the Beasts along By sweet Rhetorick of his learned Tongue 'T was deafness made the Adder sin and this Caus'd him who should have hum'd the Poet hiss RICHARD HEAD RIchard Head the Noted Author of the English Rogue was a Ministers Son born in Ireland whose Father was killed in that horrid Rebellion in 1641. Whereupon his Mother with this her Son came into England and he having been trained up in Learning was by the help of some Friends for some little time brought up in the University of Oxford in the same Colledge wherein his Father had formerly been a Student But means falling short he was taken away from thence and bound Apprentice to a Latin Bookseller in London attaining to a good Proficiency in that Trade But his Genius being addicted to Poetry and having Venus for his Horoscope e're his time were fully out he wrote a Piece called Venus Cabinet Vnlock'd Afterwards he married and set up for himself But being addicted to play a Mans Estate then runs in Hazard for indeed that was his Game until he had almost thrown his Shop away Then he betook himself to Ireland his Native Country where he composed his Hic Vbique a noted Comedy and which gained him a general Esteem for the worth thereof And coming over into England had it Printed dedicating it to the then Duke of Monmouth But receiving no great Incouragement from his Patron he resolved to settle himself in the World and to that purpose with his Wife took a House in Queens-Head Alley near Pater-Noster-Row and for a while followed his Business so that contrary to the Nature of a Poet his Pockets began to be well lined with Money But being bewitched to that accursed vice of Play it went out by handfuls as it came in piece by piece And now he is to seek again in the World whereupon he betook him to his Pen and wrote the first part of the English Rogue which being too much smutty would not be Licensed so that he was fain to refine it and then it passed stamp At the coming forth of this first part I being with him at three Cup Tavern in Holborn drinking over a glass of Rhenish made these verses upon it What Gusman Buscon Francion Rablais writ I once applauded for most excellent Wit But reading thee and thy rich Fancies store I now condemn what I admir'd before Henceforth Translations pack away be gone No Rogue so well-writ as the English one There was afterwards three more parts added to it by him and Mr. Kirkman with a promise of a fifth which never came out He wrote several other Books besides as The art of Whedling The Floating Island or a Voyage from Lambethania to Ramalia A discovery of O Brazil Jacksons Recantation The Red Sea c. Amongst others he had a great Fancy in Bandying against Dr. Wild although I must confess therein over Matcht yet fell he upon him tooth and nail in Answer to his Letter directed to his Friend Mr. J. J. upon Occasion of his Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience concluding in this manner Thus Sir you have my Story but am Sorry Taunton excuse it is no better for ye However read it as you Pease are shelling For you will find it is not worth the telling Excuse this boldness for I can't avoid Thinking sometimes you are but ill Imploy'd Fishing for Souls more fit then frying Fish That makes me throw Pease Shellings in your Dish You have a study Books wherein to look How comes it then the
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