whole Club of Wits in that Age joyned together to write Mock-commendatory Verses in Praise-dispraise of his Book If Art that oft the Learn'd hath stammer'd In one Iron Head-piece yet no Hammer-Lead May joyn'd with Nature hit Fame on the Cocks-comb Then 't is that Head-piece that is crown'd with Odcomb For he hard Head and hard sith like a Whet-stone It gives Wits edge and draws them too like Jet-stone Is Caput Mundi for a world of School-tricks And is not ignorant in the learned'st tricks H' hath seen much more than much I essure ye And will see New-Troy Bethlem and Old-Jury Mean while to give a taste of his first travel With streams of Rhetorick that get golden Gravel He tells how he to Venice once did wander From whence he came more witty than a Gander Whereby he makes relations of such wonders That Truth therein doth lighten while Art thunders All Tongues fled to him that at Babel swerved Lest they for wunt of warm months might have starved Where they do revel in such passing measure Especially the Greek wherein 's his pleasure That jovially so Greek he takes the guard of That he 's the merriest Greek that ' ere was heard of For he as ' t were his Mothers twittle twattle That 's Mother-tongue the Greek can prittle prattle Nay of that Tongue he so hath got the Body That he sports with it at Ruffe Gleek or Noddy c. He died at London in the midst of the Reign of King James I. and lieth buried in St. Giles in the Fields Doctor JOHN DONNE THis pleasant Poet painful Preacher and pious Person was born in Doâ—â—â—n of wealthy Parents who took such care of his Education that at nine years of Age he was sent to study at Hart-Hall in Oxford having besides the Latine and Greek attained to a knowledge in the French Tongue Here he fell into acquaintance with that great Master of Language and Art Sir Henry Wootton betwixt whom was such Friendship contracted that nothing but Death could force the separation From Oxford he was transplanted to Cambridge where he much improved his Study and from thence placed at Lincolns Inn when his Father dying and leaving him three thousand pound in ready Money he having a youthful desire to travel went over with the Earl of Essex to Cales where having seen the issue of this Expedition he left them and went into Italy and from thence into Spain where by his Industry he attainted to a perfection in their Languages and returned home with many useful Observations of those Countries and their Laws and Government These his Abilities upon his Return preferred him to be Secretary to the Lord Elsmore Keeper of the Great Seal in whose Service he fell in Love with a young Gentlewoman who lived in that Family Neece to the Lady Elsmore and Daughter to Sir George Moor Chancellor of the Garter and Lieutenant of the Tower who greatly opposed this Match yet notwithstanding they were privately married which so exesperated Sir George Moor that he procured the Lord Elsmore to discharge him of his Secretariship and never left prosecuting him till he had cast him into Prison as also his two Friends who had married him and gave him his Wife in Marriage But Mr. Donne had not been long there before he found means to get out as also enlargement for his two Friends and soon after through the mediation of some able persons a reconciliation was made and he receiving a Portion with his Wife and having help of divers friends they lived very comfortably together And now was he frequently visited by men of greatest learning and judgment in this Kingdom his company desired by the Nobility and extreamly affected by the Gentry His friendship was sought for of most foreign Embassadors and his acquaintance entreated by many other strangers whose learning or employment occasioned their stay in this Kingdom In which state of life he composed his more brisk and youthful Poems in which he was so happy as if Nature with all her varieties had been made to exercise his great Wit and Fancy Nor did he leave it off in his old age as is witnessed by many of his divine Sonnets and other high holy and harmonious Composures as under his Effigies in these following Verses to his Printed Poems one most ingeniously expresses This was for youth strength mirth and wit the time Most count their golden age but times not thine Thine was thy later years so much refin'd From youths dross mirth and wit as thy pure mind Thought like the Angels nothing but the praise Of thy Creator in those last best days Witness this Book thy Emblem which begins With love but ends with sighs and tears for sins At last by King James's his command or rather earnest persuasion setting himself to the study of Theology and into holy Orders he was first made a Preacher of Lincoln's-Inn afterwards advanc'd to be Dean of Pauls and as of an eminent Poet he became a much more eminent Preacher so he rather improved then relinquisht his Poetical fancy only converting it from humane and worldly to divine and heavenly Subjects witness this Hymn made in the time of his sickness A Hymn to God the Father Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun Which was my sin tho' it were done before Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run And do run still tho' still I do deplore When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more Wilt thou sorgive that sin which I have won Others to sin and made my sin their door Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two but wallowed in a score When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more I have a sin of fear that when I have spun My last thrid I shall perish on the shore But swear by thy self that at my death thy son Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore And having done that thou hast done I ask no more He died March 31. Anno 1631. and was buried in St. Paul's-Church attended by many persons of Nobility and Eminency After his burial some mournful friends repaired and as Alexander the great did to the Grave of the most famous Achilles so they strewed his with curious and costly flowers Nor was this tho' not usual all the honour done to his reverend ashes for some person unknown to perpetuate his memory sent to his Executors Dr. King and Dr. Momford an 100 Marks towards the making of a Monument for him which they faithfully performed it being as lively a representation as in dead Marble could be made of him tho' since by that merciless Fire in 1666. it be quite ruined I shall conclude all with these Verses made to the Memory of this reverend person He that would write an Epitaph for thee And do it well must first begin to be Such as thou wert for none can truly know Thy worth thy life but he that
us the days more darkish are More short cold moist and stormy cloudy clit For sadness more than mirths or pleasures fit Devising then what Books were best to read Both for that time and sentence grave also For conference of friend to stand in stead When I my faithful friend was parted fro I gat me strait the Printers shops unto To seek some Work of price I surely ment That might alone my careful mind content And then he declareth how there he found the first part of this Mirrour for Magistrates which yet took beginning from the time of King Richard the Second But he knowing many Examples of famous persons before William the Conquerour which were wholly omitted he set upon the Work and beginning from Brute continued it to Aurelius Bassianus Caracalla Emperour of Rome about the year of Christ 209. shewing in his Writings a great deal of Wisdom and Learning He flourished about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth ABRAHAM FRAVNCE THis Abraham Fraunce a Versifier about the same time with John Higgins was one who imitated Latine measure in English Verse writing a Pastoral called the Countess of Pembroke ' s Ivy-church and some other things in Hexameter some also in Hexameter and Pentameter He also wrote the Countess of Pembroke ' s Emanuel containing the Nativity Passion Burial and Resurrection of Christ together with certain Psalms of David all in English Hexameters Nor was he altogether singular in this way of writing for Sir Philip Sidney in the Pastoral Interludes of his Arcadia uses not only these but all other sorts of Latine measure in which no wonder he is followed by so few since they neither become the English nor any other modern Language He began also the Translation of Heliodorus his Aethiopick History in the same kind of Verse of which to give the Reader the better divertisement we shall present you with a tast As soon as Sun-beams could once peep out fro the Mountains And by the dawn of day had somewhat lightned Olympus Men whose lust was law whose life was still to be lusting Whose thriving thieving convey'd themselves to an hill top That stretched forward to the Heracleotica entry And mouth of Nylus looking thence down to the main sea For sea-faring men but seeing none to be sailing They knew 't was bootless to be looking there for a booty So that strait fro the sea they cast their eyes to the sea-shore Where they saw that a Ship very strangely without any ship-man Lay then alone at road with Cables ty'd to the main-land And yet full fraighted which they though far fro the hill-top Easily might perceive by the water drawn to the deck-boards c. His Ivy-Church he dedicated to the Countess of Pembroke in which he much vindicated his manner of writing as no Verse fitter for it then that he also dedicated his Emanuel to her which being but two lines take as followeth Mary the best Mother sends her best Babe to a Mary Lord to a Ladies sight and Christ to a Christian When he died we cannot find but suppose it to be about the former part of Queen Elizabeth's Reign WILLIAM WARNER WIlliam Warner one of principal esteem in his time was chiefly famous for his Albion's England which he wrote in the old-fashioned kind of seven-footed Verse which yet sometimes is in use though in different manner that is to say divided into two He wrote also several Books in prose as he himself witnesseth in his Epistle to the Reader but as we said before his Albion's England was the chiefest which he deduced from the time of Noah beginning thus I tell of things done long ago of many things in few And chiefly of this Clime of ours the accidents pursue Thou high director of the same assist mine artless Pen To write the Jests of Brutons stout and Arts of English-men From thence he proceeds to the peopling of the Earth by the Sons of Noah intermixing therein much variety of Matter not only pleasant but profitable for the Readers understanding of what was delivered by the ancient Poets bringing his Matter succinctly to the Siege of Troy and from thence to the coming of Brute into this Island and so coming down along the chiefest matters touched of our British Historians to the Conquest of England by Duke William and from him the Affairs of the Land to the beginning of Queen Elizabeth where he concludeth thus Elizabeth by peace by war for majesty for mild Enrich'd fear'd honour'd lov'd but loe unreconcil'd The Muses check my saucy Pen for enterprising her In duly praising whom themselves even Arts themselves might err Phaebus I am not Phaeton presumptuously to ask What shouldst thou give I could not guide guide give not me thy task For as thou art Apollo too our mighty subjects threats A non plus to thy double power Vel volo vel nollem I might add several more of his Verses to shew the worth of his Pen but the Book being indifferent common having received several Impressions I shall refer the Reader for his further satisfaction to the Book itself THOMAS TVSSER THomas Tusser a person well known by his Book of Husbandry was born at Riuen-hall in Essex of an ancient Family but now extinct where when but young his Father designing him for a Singing-man put him to Wallingford-School where how his Misfortunes began in the World take from his own Pen. O painful time for every crime What toosed ears like baited Bears What bobbed lips what yerks what nips What hellish toys What Robes so bare what Colledge-fare What Bread how stale what penny Ale Then Wallingford how wer 't thou abhorr'd Of silly boys From thence he was sent to learn Musick at Pauls with one John Redford an excellent Musician where having attained some skill in that Art he was afterwards sent to Eaton-School to learn the Latine Tongue where how his Miserie 's encreas'd let himself speak From Pauls I went to Eaton sent To learn straightways the Latine phrase Where fifty three stripes given to me At once I had For fault but small or none at all It came to pass thus beat I was See Vdal see the mercy of thee To me poor Lad. Having attained to some perfection in the Latine Tongue he was sent to Trinity-Hall in Cambridge where he had not continued long but he was vexed with extream sickness whereupon he left the University and betook himself to Court and lived for a while under the Lord Paget in King Edward the Sixth's days when the Lords falling at dissention he left the Court and went to Suffolk where he married his first Wife and took a Farm at Ratwade in that County where he first devised his Book of Husbandry but his Wife not having her health there he removed from thence to Ipswich and soon after buried her Not long after he married again to one Mrs. Amy Moon upon whose Name he thus versified I chanced soon to find a Moon Of chearful
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
Stage and so much the more eminent that he gained great applause and commendation when able Wits were his Contemporaries was born at Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire and is the highest honour that Town can boast of He was one of the Triumvirate who from Actors became Makers of Comedies and Tragedies viz. Christopher Marlow before him and Mr. John Lacy since his time and one in whom three eminent Poets may seem in some sort to the compounded 1. Martial in the warlike sound of his Sirname Hasti-vibrans or Shakespear whence some have supposed him of military extraction 2. Ovid the most natural and witty of all Poets and hence it was that Queen Elizabeth coming into a Grammar-School made this extemporary Verse Persuis a Crab-staff Bawdy Martial Ovid a fine Wag. 3. Plautus a most exact Comedian and yet never any Scholar as our Shakespear if alive would confess himself but by keeping company with Learned persons and conversing with jocular Wits whereto he was naturally inclin'd he became so famously witty or wittily famous that by his own industry without the help of Learning he attained to an extraordinary height in all strains of Dramatick Poetry especially in the Comick part wherein we may say he outwent himself yet was he not so much given to Festivity but that he could when so disposed be solemn and serious so that Heraclitus himself might afford to smile at his Comedies they were so merry and Democritus scarce forbear to sigh at his Tragedies they were so mournful Nor were his Studies altogether confined to the Stage but had excursious into other kinds of Poetry witness his Poem of the Rape of Lucrece and that of Venus and Adonis wherein to give you a taste of the loftiness of his Style we shall insert some few Lines of the beginning of the latter Even as the Sun with purple-colour'd face Had tane his last leave of the weeping Morn Rose-cheek'd Adonis hy'd him to the Chase Hunting he lov'd but Love he laught to scorn Sick thoughted Venus makes amain unto him And like a bold-fac'd Suiter'gins to woo him Thrive fairer than my self thus she begins The fields chief flower sweet above compare Stain to all Nymphs more lovely than a man More white and red than Doves or Roses are Nature that made thee with herself at strife Says that the world hath ending with they life c He was an eminent instance of the truth of that Rule Poeta non fit sed nascitur one is not made but born a Poet so that as Cornish Diamonds are not polished by any Lapidary but are pointed and smoothed even as they are taken out of the Earth so Nature itself was all the Art which was used on him He was so great a Benefactor to the Stage that he wrote of himself eight and forty Plays whereof 18 Comedies viz. As you like it All 's well that ends well A Comedy of Errors Gentleman of Verona Loves labour lust London Prodigal Merry Wives of Windsor Measure for measure Much ado about Nothing Midsummer Nights Dream Merchant of Venice Merry Devil of Edmonton Mucedorus the Puritan VVidow the Tempest Twelf-Night or what you will the taming of the Shrew and a winters Tale. Fourteen Tragedies viz. Anthony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Julius Cqesar Lorrino Leir and his three Daughters Mackbeth Othello the Moor of Venice Romeo and Juliet Troylus and Cressida Tymon of Athens Titus Andronicus and the Yorkshire Tragedy Also fifteen Histories viz. Cromwel's History Henry 4. in two parts Henry 5. Henry 6. in three parts Henry 8. John King of England in three parts Pericles Prince of Tyre Richard 2. Richard 3. and Oldrastes Life and Death Also the Arraignment of Paris Pastoral Many were the Wit-combats betwixt him and Ben Johnson which two we may compare to a Spanish great Gallion and an English Man of war Mr. Johnson like the former was built far higher in Learning solid but slow in his performances Shakespear with the English Man of war lesser in Bulk but lighter in sayling could turn with all Tides tack about and take advantage of all Winds by the quickness of his Wit and Invention His History of Henry the Fourth is very much commended by some as being full of sublime Wit and as much condemned by others for making Sir John Falstaffe the property of Pleasure for Prince Henry to abuse as one that was a Thrasonical Puff and emblem of mock Valour though indeed he was a man of Arms every inch of him and as valiant as any in Age being for his Martial Prowess made Knight of the Garter by King Henry the 6th This our famous Comedian died An. Dom. 16 and swas buried at Stratford upon Avon the Town of his Nativity upon whom one hath bestowed this Epitaph though more proper had he been buried in VVestminster Abbey Renowned Spencer lie a thought more nigh To learned Chaucer and rare Beaumont lie A little nearer Spencer to make room For Shakespear in your threefold fourfold Tomb To lodge all four in one Bed make a shift Until Doomsday for hardly will a fifth Betwixt his day and that by Fates be slain For whom your Curtains may be drawn again If your precedency in Death do bar A fourth place in your sacred Sepulcher Under this sacred Marble of thine own Sleep rare Tragedian Shakespear sleep alone Thy unmolested Peace in an unshar'd Cave Possess as Lord not Tenant of thy Grave That unto us and others it may be Honour hereafter to be laid by thee CHRISTOPHER MARLOW CHristopher Marlow was as we said not only contemporary with William Shakespear but also like him rose from an Actor to be a maker of Comedies and Tragedies yet was he much inferior to Shakespear not only in the number of his Plays but also in the elegancy of his Style His Pen was chiefly employ'd in Tragedies namely his Tamberlain the first and second Part Edward the Second Lust's Dominion or the Lascivious Queen the Massacre of Paris his Jew of Malta a Tragi-comedy and his Tragedy of Dido in which he was joyned with Nash But none made such a great Noise as this Comedy of Doctor Faustus with his Devils and such like tragical Sport which pleased much the humors of the Vulgar He also begun a Poem of Hero and Leander wherein he seemed to have a resemblance of that clear and unsophisticated Wit which was natural to Musaeus that incomparable Poet. This Poem being left unfinished by Marlow who in some riotous Fray came to an untimely and violent end was thought worthy of the finishing hand of Chapman as we intimated before in the performance whereof nevertheless he fell short of the Spirit and Invention with which it was begun BARTON HOLYDAY BArton Holyday an old Student of Christ-Church in Oxford who besides his Translation of Juvenal with elaborate Notes writ several other things in English Verse rather learned than elegant and particularly a Comedy called The Marriage of the Arts Out of