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 EMiLKSH POETS AND POETRY, 
 
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 5 
 
 V 
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON. 
 
 THE SIXTH CONVERSATION.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 X. Breton's poem in John Hind's very rare novel of EUosto 
 F/ib'uUimxo, 1C0G — How far it is fit to examine the inferior 
 productions of good writers — Breton's " Fancy," and a poem 
 
 by him among the Royal MSS " EUontos Roundelay," by 
 
 Robert Greene, extracted and observed upon — The title of Hind's 
 production imitated from R. Greene's " Carde of Fancy" — Pla- 
 giarism from Hamlet in "Holamy's Primrose," 1606 — Quotation 
 from the same — The explanation of " Dolarny's Primrose" — 
 JJiuuhiii, one of the persons in EUosto Libidinoso, meant for the 
 author — Extract from Hind's prose and poetry — How far the 
 progress of Satire in English should be further traced — Character 
 of George Wither — His " Abuses stript and whipt," 1013 — His 
 voluminousness as an author proved by himself in his Fides An- 
 g!ica>iu, l(i(i() — His imprisonment and release on account of his 
 Satire to the King, with specimens — Anecdote of Wither in Hugh 
 Peters' Jests. 1660 — Wither's unpublished MS — His character as 
 a politician and poet — Dedication of his "Abuses stript <x; whipt" 
 to himself — His fearlessness in attacking the great, <.Vc — Quota- 
 tion from his firs'- Satire " Of the passion of Love" — His unknown 
 poem of " Aretephils Complaint" confounded with his "Mistress 
 of Philarete" — Specimen of the fourth Satire "On Envy" — 
 Gower's Confcssio Aniuiitis quoted — Whetstone's character of 
 Envy in his " English .Myrror," 1586 — The nature of that book, 
 with a specimen of the poetry — Tale of the Vicar of Croydon 
 — Physicians and the Gout — Massinger's " Emperor of the 
 East" cited — Whetstone's " Mirour for Magistrates of Cy ties," 
 1584, with quotations from it regarding himself and Judge 
 Chomley — The same work published as " The Encmie of Vn-
 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 thryftinesse," in 158G, with a new title — A list given by the 
 printer of 10 works published by Whetstone before 1 .">!{(!, and of" 
 three others then in hand — Another extract from Wither's fourth 
 
 Satire — The follies and vices of Kings from Sat. 1. Hook II 
 
 Quotation from Sat. II., " Inconstancy" — Observations— A. 
 Stafford's " Niobe," and " Niobe dissolu'd into a Nilus," Kill 
 — Character of him, and quotation from his book on the degeneracy 
 of nobility — His vision of Sir P. Sidney — Wither on Sir P. Sidney, 
 Drayton, lien Jonson, tVc. in Sat. !?. Hook II Wither's dif- 
 fidence of his own poetical powers, and the boldness of his political 
 tracts — .John Phillips's excessively rare poem on the death and 
 funeral of Sir P. Sidney, lofiy — Specimen and remarks — Sir 
 P. Sidney's panegyric on himself from the same — .Absurdity of 
 the whole construction of the poem — Richard Brathwayte, a 
 satirist, and an imitator of Wither — His " Times Curtaine drawne 
 or the Anatomic of Vanitie," &c. HI'21 — His admiration of Wither 
 — His coarseness of attack, with quotations from his satires — On 
 the poverty of poets, with an extract — Brathwayte on his own 
 drunken habits from his " Health from Helicon" — On translated 
 satires — George Chapman's translation of the fifth Satire of Juve- 
 nal, Hi2!) — The author's age at that day — Quotation from the 
 dedication — His projected translation of the whole of Juvenal and 
 Persius — His contempt of vulgar applause from his " Memorable 
 Masque," 1613 — His " funeral Oration" on burying one of 
 
 Poppaea's hairs — Specimen of his translation from Juv. Sat. o 
 
 Remarks upon it, and conclusion of the subject.
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON. 
 
 THE SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 JDockxe. The last work which occupied us yesterday 
 was a tract by Nicholas Breton. The pamphlet I now 
 present contains a poem by him not found elsewhere, 
 and not noticed by bibliographers. 
 
 Elliot. I shall be glad to see it, because I have 
 since taken the opportunity of reading some pastoral 
 pieces by him in the reprint of " England's Helicon," 
 and they give me a favourable opinion of his poetical 
 talents. What title has the work in which the poem 
 you refer to is inserted ? 
 
 Bourxk. It is a novel, or rather one of those 
 early romances which are seldom met with, and are 
 never to be purchased but at a very high price : this 
 is of peculiar rarity : it is called " Eliosto Libidinoso : 
 Described in two Bookes," &c. " Written by Iohn 
 Hynd. At London, Printed by Valentine Simmes," 
 &c. 1606. If I tell you what a copy sold for at the 
 Roxburgh sale, it will give you a notion of its value.
 
 G SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. Of its price it may, but not of its value. 
 
 Morton. Your distinctions are very hair-breadth, 
 but among the collectors of old books the words are 
 synonymous. What did it sell for ? 
 
 Bourne. Only nine guineas, and if it were put up 
 to auction now I dare say it woidd produce not far 
 short of double that amount. T doubt whether the 
 poem it contains by Breton will increase your respect 
 for his talents. 
 
 Elliot. Then perhaps it would be as well to 
 omit it. 
 
 Morton. I beg that we may hear it. Whatever 
 you may wish, I would rather form a correct than 
 too favourable an opinion of an author. 
 
 Elliot. But would it enable us to form a correct 
 opinion? We might, perhaps, if we could see all he 
 wrote. 
 
 Bourne. How often have I heard you quote that 
 line of Boileau, Notre Steele est faille en .sols ad- 
 mirateurs, yet now you wish to enlist yourself in the 
 number. 
 
 Elliot. To reply in another line of the same 
 satirist, I do not wish to be Plus enclin a hlamer 
 que savant ft Men falre. At least, as I have before 
 remarked, there is no more reason for reviving the 
 bad productions of dead authors than for raking up 
 the bad actions of dead men. 
 
 Morton. Your motto is .SV mains est nequeo 
 lavdare ei poseerc ; but if we cannot arrive at a per-
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 7 
 
 fectly just conclusion as to a writer's merits and de- 
 fects, let us do the best we can to form a correct 
 notion. 
 
 Bocrxe. Mere impartiality requires that we should 
 not pass the poem over without notice. This is indeed 
 turning the tables upon us. 
 
 Elliot. Well, I am content ; let us hear it : the 
 reading will be the least evil of the two : malum 
 quod minimum est, id minimum est malum. A short 
 bad poem is better than a long bad argument. 
 
 Bourxk. After all it may not be the work of 
 Breton : Hind introduces it as " a fancie which that 
 learned author N. B. hath dignified with respect." 
 Now in the first place, the initials may be those of 
 some other writer than Nicholas Breton, and in the 
 next, it is not said that he was the author of it, but 
 that he " dignified it with respect." 
 
 Mortox. But can the letters N. B. apply to any 
 other author than Breton ? 
 
 Bocrxe. No, not that I know of ; but still there 
 remains the second doubt. 
 
 Elliot. It is not of much consequence whether 
 it be or be not Breton's, for the best poets have 
 written badly: indeed it would be difficult to find 
 any poet, however good, who has at all times written 
 well. 
 
 Bourxk. A great deal more has been already said 
 about the poem than it is worth, as you will find 
 when it is finished.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Among the groues the woods & thicks 
 
 The bushes, brambles, and the briers, 
 
 The shrubbes, the stubbes, the thornes & prickes, 
 
 The ditches, plashes lakes and miers : 
 
 Where fish nor fowle, nor bird nor beast 
 Nor liuing thing may take delight ; 
 Nor reasons rage may looke for rest 
 Till heart be dead of hateful spight : 
 
 Within the caue of cares vnknowne, 
 Where hope of comfort all decayes, 
 Let me with sorrow sit alone, 
 In dolefull thoughts to end my dayes. 
 
 And when I heare the stormes arise, 
 That troubled Ghosts doe leaue the graue, 
 With hellish sounds of horrors cries, 
 Let me goe looke out of my caue. 
 
 And when I see what paines they bide 
 That doe the greatest torments proue, 
 Then let not me the sorrow hide, 
 That I haue sufferd by my loue. 
 
 Where losses, crosses, care and griefe, 
 With ruthfull, spitcfull, hatefull hate, 
 Without all hope of haps reliefe 
 Doe tugge and tearc the heart to naught : 
 
 But sigh and say and sing and sweare 
 
 Ft is too much for one to heare.''
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 9 
 
 And so it ends, with a sufficient accumulation of 
 words, and more than a sufficient paucity of ideas. 
 
 Morton. " It is too much for one to bear," 
 indeed : when you came to the fourth stanza, be- 
 ginning " And when I hear the storms arise," I was 
 in hopes it was improving. 
 
 Bourne. You cannot expect a despairing but 
 doating lady to be much more than passionate in her 
 poetry. 
 
 Morton. And her sex may have induced the poet, 
 for the sake of consistency of character, to heap 
 together such a mass of reduplicated words without 
 much meaning. 
 
 Elliot. I thought your originality would have 
 been above such a reduplicated and threadbare ob- 
 servation, even putting gallantry out of the ques- 
 tion. As to the merits of the poem, I think the in- 
 ternal much outweighs the external evidence, con- 
 sisting, as it does, only of two initial letters : the 
 name is as likely to have been Nathan Benjamin, or 
 any other N. B. as Nicholas Breton. 
 
 Bourne. I am sure I have no interest in attri- 
 buting the trifle to the poet for whom you have 
 taken such a strong partiality. 
 
 Elliot. But you ought to have an interest the 
 other way, and that is what I feel. I am anxious 
 that what is wholly unworthy of him should not 
 needlessly be charged against him. 
 
 Bourne. In that view of it the poem from which
 
 10 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 I will now show you a brief extract would bear your 
 examination. It was never printed, and is among 
 the royal 3VISS. having been dedicated to King 
 James : it is rather of a pious and didactic turn, but 
 parts of it are eloquent. 
 
 Elliot. Tf it do the writer credit I shall be happy 
 to look at it : what is it called ? 
 
 Bourne. It consists of eight parts : it is the praise 
 of Virtue, Wisdom, Love, Constancy, Patience, Hu- 
 mility and the goodness of God, with a conclusion 
 entitled Gloria in excelsis Deo. 
 
 Morton. One part, and one only, is mentioned 
 by Ritson : you say you have a specimen of this 
 curiosity ; let us hear it. 
 
 Bourne. A disconnected quotation will not give 
 you a fair notion of the whole. In describing Virtue 
 he says she is 
 
 " The soyle wherin all sweetnes ever groweth, 
 
 the Fountaine whence all Wisedome ever springeth, 
 
 the winde that never but all blessing bloweth, 
 
 the Aier that all comfort ever bringeth ; 
 
 the lire that ever life and love infiameth, 
 
 the Figure that all true perfection frameth." 
 
 And " Vpon the praise of Wisedome" he has the 
 following stanza: 
 
 " Shee feeds no fancy with an idle fashion, 
 yitt fashions all things in a comely frame ;
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 11 
 
 shee never knew Repentance wofull Passion, 
 nor ever fear'd the blot of wicked blame ; 
 but even and true what ever she intended 
 wrought all so well, that none could be amended." 
 
 Elliot. As you say, two stanzas can give us no 
 correct idea of a long poem : the verse runs very 
 smoothly, with the exception of the line in the first 
 quotation, where you were obliged to read Air as 
 two syllables. 
 
 Bourne. That is a trifling defect, and warranted 
 by the practice of the time. I am sorry I made no 
 further extracts when the MS. poem was before me. 
 But leaving Breton now, and his " fancy" in Eliosto 
 Libidinoso, if you take that novel into your hand you 
 will find on the next page another poem ; read that, 
 and tell me whom you think that worthy of. 
 
 Elliot. I do not see even initials inserted here, 
 so that the guess is still wider. You mean the 
 piece entitled " Eliostoes Roundelay" 
 
 Bourne. I do, and which, it is stated, is borrowed 
 from " a worthy writer." Who was that worthy 
 writer ? 
 
 Elliot. According to your account nearly all the 
 poets of Elizabeth's reign were worthy writers, so 
 that I shall be as wide of the mark as ever. 
 
 Morton. Perhaps there is something said in the 
 poem to let us into the secret. 
 
 Bourne. No, but it is by a man of the highest
 
 12 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 eminence and notoriety of that time — no less than 
 Robert Greene, of whom we have heard so much, 
 and who was unquestionably a first-rate poet. Read 
 the Roundelay, and I will give you very satisfactory- 
 proof afterwards why I say it is his. 
 
 Elliot. It is somewhat of the longest, but if it 
 indeed be Greene's I dare say I shall not regret it. 
 
 " Eliostoes Roundelay. 
 
 " Sitting and sighing in my secret muse ; 
 As once Apollo did, surpris'd with Lone, 
 Noting the slipperie waies young yeares doe vse, 
 What fond affects the prime of youth doth moue : 
 With bitter teares despairing I doe crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 When wanton age, the blossome of my time, 
 Drew me to gaze vpon the gorgeous sight, 
 That Beautie pompous in her highest prime 
 l'resents to tangle men with sweet delight : 
 
 Then with despairing teares my thoughts doe crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie." 
 
 This is very different sort of stuff to that which you 
 wished to palm just now on Breton : at least, here 
 we have beautiful versification. It proceed-, 
 
 " When I suruaid the riches of her lookes, 
 Where-out flew flames of neuer quencht desire.. 
 Wherein lay baites that Venus snares with hookes, 
 Or where prowd Cupid sate, all arm'd with lire ;
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 13 
 
 Then toucht with Loue my inward soule did crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 The milke-white Galaxia of her browe, 
 Where Loue doth daunce Lauoltaes of his skill, 
 Like to the Temple where true Louers vow 
 To follow what shall please their mistresse will : 
 Noting her Iuorie front, now doe I crie, 
 AVoe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 Her face like siluer Luna in her shine, 
 All tainted through with bright vermillian straines, 
 Like Lillies dipt in Bacchus choicest wine, 
 Powdred and inter-seam'd with azur'd vaines ; 
 Delighting in their pride now may I crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 The golden wyers that checker in the day 
 
 Inferiour to the tresses of her haire ; 
 
 Her Amber trammels did my heart dismay, 
 
 That when I lookt, I durst not ouer-dare : 
 Prowd of her pride, now I am forc't to crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 These fading Beauties drew me on to sin 
 
 Natures great riches fram'd my bitter ruth ; 
 
 These were the traps that Loue did snare me in ; 
 
 Oh these and none but these haue wrackt my youth ! 
 Mis-led by them, I may despairing crie, 
 Woe worth the faults and follies of mine eie. 
 
 By those 1 slipt from Vertues holy tracke, 
 That leads into the highest chrystall spheare
 
 14 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 By these I fell to vanitie and wracke ; 
 
 And as a man forlorne with sinne and feare, 
 Despaire and sorrow doth eonstraine me crie, 
 Woe worth the faults & follies of mine eie ! " 
 
 Morton. Though there is some tautology in it, 
 the Roundelay is obviously the work of no mean 
 hand. 
 
 Elliot. There is a great deal of passion and feel- 
 ing in the stanzas, and even the repetitions, such for 
 instance as the last few lines, are very natural to a 
 man under strong excitement, dwelling on what is 
 most deeply impressed upon his mind. 
 
 Moktox. The recurrence of the same two lines 
 at the end of every stanza is, 1 think, too artificial 
 for very strong feeling, and but for this I should 
 agree entirely with you. But how does it appear 
 that Greene was the author of it r 
 
 Bourne. Simply by being found in one of his ac- 
 knowledged productions, of which there must have 
 been several earlier editions, though that in my hand 
 is dated only in 1G21. It is called "Greene's never 
 too late," and elsewhere Greene's Niinquam sera est; 
 a pamphlet, in which, conscience-struck, he laments, 
 under a feigned name, "the faults and follies" of his 
 own ungoverncd youth. 
 
 Moktox. Perhaps Hind, the author of Eliosio 
 Libidinoso, was a friend of Greene. 
 
 lioiKXE. Possibly, though there is no proof of the 
 fact: there is proof that he was an admirer and an
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 15 
 
 imitator of Greene in this very pamphlet, for the 
 whole is an exaggeration of his worst style and most 
 obvious faults. Even the title-page is an imitation 
 of Greene, or more properly, a copy from him. The 
 full title to Greene's " Carde of Fancie" runs thus, 
 " Wherein the follie of those carpet Knights is de- 
 ciphered, which guiding their course by the com- 
 pass of Cupid, either dash their ship against most 
 dangerous Rockes, or else attaine the hauen with 
 paine and perill." Now read Hind's title. 
 
 Morton. The resemblance is exact: " Wherein 
 their imminent dangers are declared, who guiding 
 the course of their life by the compasse of Affection, 
 either dash their ship against most dangerous shelues, 
 or else attaine the Hauen with extreme preiudice." 
 
 Elliot. But I should like a specimen from Hind's 
 share of the performance ; I do not care much about 
 the resemblance of the titles. 
 
 Bourne. I can have no objection, as we shall 
 have time enough to-day to finish the English sa- 
 tirists : you shall hear both Hind's prose and poetry, 
 for he was a versifier also : the prose is introductory 
 of what is called " Dinohins Sonnet ," which Dinohin 
 is, in fact, no other than John Hind, the same letters 
 being used in both names. 
 
 Morton. In the same way as " Dolarny's Prim- 
 rose" is, in fact, RaynohVs Primrose, though the 
 writer in the British Bibliographer (I. 153), and Dr. 
 Drake, in his " Shakespeare and his Times," were 
 unable to " unriddle the conceit."
 
 16 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bouhne. That conceit being merely the trans- 
 position of the letters. Dr. Drake, in the very im- 
 perfect and injudicious catalogue he has furnished 
 of the poets contemporary with Shakespeare, has 
 ventured to rank llaynold above mediocrity, and 
 George Peele belorv it: yet the former was one of 
 the most puling writers that ever put pen to paper, 
 and the latter one of the most manly and vigorous. 
 Observe too the following plagiarism from Hamlet 
 in " Dolarny's Primrose," (1006) : a Hermit is mo- 
 ralising upon a skull: 
 
 " Why might not this haue beene some lawiers pate, 
 The which sometimes brib'd, brawl d, and tooke a 
 
 fee, 
 And law exacted to the highest rate ? 
 Why might not this be such a one as he : 
 
 Your quirks and quillets now, Sir, where be they ? 
 
 Now he is mute and not a word can say." 
 
 Elliot. The writer had Hamlet in his memory, 
 no doubt, and plagiarism is not too hard a word. 
 
 Bourxk. 1 only mentioned it incidentally, because 
 it has not been previously noticed. I am sure the 
 originality of such a milk-sop poet as Raynolds is 
 not worth vindicating or disputing. Yet in order to 
 enable you to decide upon the rank he ought really 
 to take, and to ascertain whether there is a pretence 
 for placing him before Peele, of whom you already 
 know something, J cannot resist availing myself of
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 17 
 
 this opportunity of quoting two stanzas from " Do- 
 larny's Primrose :" he is describing a fair May day. 
 
 " In garments green the meadowes fayre did ranck it 
 The vallies lowe of garments greene were glad} 
 In garments greene the pastures proud did pranck it, 
 The daly grounds in garments greene were clad : 
 Each hill and dale, each bush and brier were seene 
 Then for to fiorish in their garments greene. 
 
 " Thus as the medowes, forests and the fields 
 In sumptuous tires had deckt their daynty slades, 
 The florishing trees wanton pleasure yeelds, 
 Keeping the sunne from out their shadie shades : 
 On whose greene leaues vpon each calmie day 
 The gentle wind with dallying breath did play." 
 
 Elliot. It is very poor certainly, but the lines are 
 not altogether deficient in harmony. 
 
 Boukxl. Perhaps not, with the assistance of " gar- 
 ments green" five times affectedly repeated, and such 
 combinations as " duly grounds," " shady shades," 
 and " calmy days,'' besides " grovy shades," no less 
 than thrice employed in the course of six stanzas. 
 
 Moirrox. Let us leave him for Dinohin, alias John 
 Hind. By the by, Golde, in the " Fig for Momus" 
 of Lodge, in the same way may be meant for the 
 author. * 
 
 Bourne. Xo doubt that is the true explanation, 
 which never occurred to me before. Dinohin is an 
 important personage in the second book of this 
 
 VOL. II. c
 
 IS SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 pamphlet, and the author, without doubt, meant to 
 shadow himself under the name — this makes it the 
 more curious. The extract I am about to read is from 
 p. 77 of Eliosto Libidinoso. 
 
 "When Titan, hasting to plunge his fierie chariot 
 in Ty^//vlappe, had gladded Oceanus with his returne."' 
 
 Elliot. A man who could put together such a 
 sentence as that, could not have an atom of taste, or 
 any notion of propriety — " plunging his fiery chariot 
 in Thetis's lap," is a most extravagant absurdity. 
 
 3Iokton. Let us defer our criticisms until the 
 end. 
 
 Bourxe. Yet the observation is perfectly well 
 founded. " When Titan hasting to plunge his fierie 
 chariot in Thetis lappe, had gladded Oceanus with 
 his returne, the tormented Louer taking a Lute in 
 his hand, went to the place which so late he found, 
 and there did in sad melodie sound foorth his sor- 
 rowes. — Gatesinea wondring to heare musicke at 
 her windowe looked out and discerned her beloued 
 Dinoh'ni, whose affections when shee sawe like her 
 owne, shee was rauished with incredible ioyes, and 
 had presently vttered some signe of her content, had 
 not maidenly modestie, and the presence of her nurce 
 staid her: who perswaded her, that hauing Dinohin 
 at the aduantage, shee should not so easily offer her 
 lone, lest bee might little esteeme it, hauing so 
 lightly got it. The perplexed Loner repairing oft to 
 his accustomed place with more pleasure to Gale-
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION*. 19 
 
 sinea than content to himselfe, resolued in the ende 
 to make a full triall of his good or badde fortune, 
 and no more to vse such dumbe demonstrations. 
 Comming therefore late, as he was wont, to the 
 window, he tarried till he perceiued by some signes, 
 that his mistresse was come into her chamber, ac- 
 companied only with her nurce : then fingring his 
 Lute, and framing his voice, he vttered this passionate 
 Dittie, making euery rest a deepe-fetched sigh. 
 
 Dinohins Sonnet. 
 
 " I rashly vow'd (fond wretch why did I so r) 
 When I was free that Loue should not inthrall me : 
 Ah foolish boast, the cause of all my woe, 
 And this misfortune that doth now befall me. 
 
 Loues God incens'd did sweare that I should smart, 
 That done, he shot and strooke me to the heart ! 
 " Sweet was the wound, but bitter was the paine ; 
 Sweet is the bondage to so faire a creature, 
 If coie thoughts do not Beuties brightnesse staine, 
 Nor crueltie wrong so diuine a feature. 
 Loue pittie mee, and let it (mite my cost, 
 By Loue to finde what I by Loue haue lost ! 
 
 " Heau'ns pride, Earths wonder, Natures pecrelcsse 
 
 choice 
 Faire harbour of my soules decaying gladnesse ! 
 Yield him some ease, whose faint and trembling voice 
 Doth sue for pittie ouerwhelm'd with sadnesse.
 
 20 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 In thee it rests, faire Saint, to saue or spill 
 His life, whose loue is ledde by Reasons will!" 
 
 Elliot. There is not much to be said against the 
 prose, excepting- where the author attempts to set 
 ■out with a flourish about Titan and Thetis. 
 
 Bourne. And the poetry is so good, that I am not 
 at all sure that it is Hind's own composition : the 
 two last lines I cannot help fancying that I have 
 read somewhere else. 
 
 Mortox. I do not see why you should strip every 
 feather from the wings of Hind's Pegasus ; where 
 he has availed himself of the labours of other men, 
 he seems to have acknowledged the obligation. 
 
 Bocrxe. In one respect he was very original, for 
 to use a phrase of Shakespeare's, he was " a man of 
 fire-new words," though a great imitator of the then 
 discredited Eupheuistic style. Having seen all that 
 is necessary of his production, I suppose there is no 
 objection to our completing what we left unfinished 
 at our last meeting. 
 
 Elliot. I do not imagine that much remains for 
 us to notice in the class of writers who have pro- 
 duced satirical poetry. 
 
 Bourxk. If I were to go through those who wrote 
 after 1 600, as minutely as I have done those who 
 wrote before that date, we should not only have a 
 long, but a tedious task vet to execute.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 21 
 
 Morton. We want to be amused and informed, 
 not to be wearied and stupefied. 
 
 Bourne. You need be under no alarm ; I should 
 be quite as reluctant to enter upon that task as 
 yourself; but in quoting a few specimens from two 
 very celebrated authors, I apprehend we shall be 
 rendering our subject sufficiently complete, be em- 
 ploying our time profitably, and obtaining as much 
 amusement as the nature of the inquiry will allow. 
 
 Elliot. I leave it to your discretion, putting in 
 my protest by the way against any thing tedious. 
 In this respect you are quite free to be dives tibi, 
 pauper amicis: you may keep your knowledge of 
 those numerous authors you hint at to yourself : to 
 the select few I have no objection. 
 
 Bourne. I have no wish to revive forgotten and 
 neglected trash. Specimens from two writers will 
 conclude our inquiry respecting the origin and pro- 
 gress of satire in English. 
 
 Elliot And who is the first author, or rather the 
 first satirist, you are about to notice to-day? 
 Bourne. George Wither. 
 
 Elliot. A name I have often heard, though I 
 have never had an opportunity of seeing more than 
 a few extracts from some of his productions. 
 
 Bourne. The ridicule of Butler, Pope, and Swift, 
 has contributed to keep him in the back ground 
 longer than many other authors of far less merit : in 
 fact he has been improperly and unfairly estimated, 
 botli by his friends and enemies ; the latter heaping
 
 22 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 upon him undeserved censure, and the former un- 
 deserved praise. He was unquestionably a very 
 eminent and notorious, as well as a very caustic 
 satirist. 
 
 Morton. Of course you refer to his " Abuses 
 stript and whipt." An immense number of pages 
 of the British Bibliographer, or Restituta, I forget 
 which, are occupied by a list of his productions. 
 
 Bourne. They were excessively numerous: in 
 1660, at the end of his Fides Anglicana, a prose 
 tract, he himself furnishes a catalogue of no less 
 than eighty-two pieces in prose and verse that had 
 flowed from his pen ; the list you speak of far ex- 
 ceeds that number. He states that his catalogue 
 is incomplete, as his memory could not retain all 
 the titles : besides, he published several other tracts 
 after that date, as he continued to scribble on down 
 nearly to the day of his death in 1 667. According to 
 "Wood he was then seventy-nine years old, having been 
 born in the memorable year of the Spanish Armada. 
 
 Morton. For his satires he was imprisoned in the 
 Marshalsea, and afterwards, as is stated, liberated in 
 consequence of publishing another satire to the king, 
 justifying his first production. 
 
 Bourne. So it is said, but I never could learn on 
 what authority the assertion rested. I believe it is a 
 fact, that the satire to the king was written while he 
 was in confinement, and that he was released soon 
 afterwards.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 23 
 
 Elliot. Most likely, then, it depends merely upon 
 inference. 
 
 Bourne. You may judge from the following lines 
 in that satire to the king, that the author was not 
 very humble or contrite for his past offences. 
 
 " But know I'me he that entred once the list 
 Gainst all the world to play the Saiyrist: 
 Twas I that made my measures rough and rude, 
 Dance arm'd with whips amidst the multitude, 
 And vnappalled with my charmed Scrowles 
 Teaz'd angry Monsters in their lurking holes. 
 I'ue plaid with Wasps and Hornets without feares, 
 Till they grew mad and swarmd about my eares. 
 I'ue done it, and me thinkes tis such braue sport, 
 I may be stung, but nere be sorry for't ; 
 For all my grief is, that I was so sparing 
 And had no more in't worth the name of daring." 
 
 Elliot. Those lines are very fearless and spirited, 
 but I do not think King James, notwithstanding Mr. 
 D'Israeli's vindication of him, was quite the man to 
 liberate the poet who justified instead of apologizing 
 for his crime. 
 
 Bourne. Some lines rather of a petitioning cha- 
 racter are inserted ; but still even there the author 
 maintains that he was in the right. He says, 
 
 " But why should I thy fauour here distrust 
 
 That haue a cause so knowne, and knowne so just? 
 
 Which not alone my inward comfort doubles 
 
 But all suppose me wrong'd that heare my troubles.
 
 24 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Nay, though my fault were Keall, I beleiue 
 Thou art so Royall, that thou wouldst forgiue j 
 For well I know thy sacred Maiesty 
 Hath euer been admir'd for Clemencie, 
 And at thy gentlenesse the world hath wondred, 
 For making sunshine where thou mightst haue 
 thundred." 
 
 Morton. That savours a little of flattery, does it 
 not ? 
 
 Bourne. Were it written by any man but Wither, 
 1 should think so too, perhaps; but being from his 
 free pen, I take it as a testimony of some value in 
 behalf of the character of James I. 
 
 Morton. Wither was imprisoned more than once: 
 according to the sketch of his life in the British 
 Bibliographer, he was sent to the Tower. 
 
 Bourne. Yes, many years afterwards: he was 
 confined there for three years, and was forbidden 
 the use of pen, ink, and paper. Regarding one of 
 his political tracts, called " the Perpetual Parlia- 
 ment," 1 found the following story in the " Tales 
 and Jests of Mr. Hugh Peters," 1660, which I have 
 not any where seen extracted, and which serves to 
 show, among many other testimonies,, that poor 
 Wither, from his political principles more than from 
 any other cause, was not very highly esteemed by 
 his contemporaries. 
 
 " How Mr. Peters jeered the Poet Withers. 
 " George Withers turning wrote a poem in which
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 25 
 
 lie predicted the continuance of a free state, called it 
 the Perpetual Parliament ; a little after the Parlia- 
 ment was dissolued, and Mr. Peters meeting; the said 
 Mr. Withers told him he was a pitifull Prophet and 
 a pitifull Poet, otherwise he had not wrote such pre- 
 dictions for a pitifull Parliament." 
 
 Morton. Which story, I feel little doubt, is a 
 mere malignant fabrication 3 for Peters would not 
 have dared to say, nor Wither endured to hear what 
 is there stated. 
 
 Bourne. 1 am of your opinion. I forgot to men- 
 tion, that among the eighty-two pieces Wither 
 enumerates as his in 1GG0, are many in MS. which 
 are stated to have been lost : one of them must have 
 been very curious, " The pursuit of Happiness, being 
 a character of the extravagancy of the Authors Af- 
 fections and Passions in his youth." He was a very 
 bold man in politics, and did not scruple to put into 
 Oliver Cromwell's own hands four addresses or re- 
 monstrances on his " duties and failings." 
 
 Morton. His excellence as a poet, and especially 
 as a pastoral poet, is now, I believe, admitted. 
 
 Bourne. By all who know any thing about him ; 
 but there is still a great number who, when his name 
 is mentioned, cover their ignorance of his merit under 
 the cloak with which the authors of Hudibras, the 
 Dunciad, and the Battle of the Books, have fur- 
 nished them. 
 
 Elliot. He seems to be a man about whom, and
 
 £6 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 whose writings, a strong and peculiar interest may 
 be felt. 
 
 Bourne. As a poet, using the word in its latitude, 
 he wants fancy and imagination, though his versi- 
 fication is usually uncommonly easy, and his thoughts 
 just and natural : his chief talent was for satire and 
 moral instruction, and of this you Avill be able to 
 judge by a few short specimens from his " Abuses 
 stript and whipt," the first edition of which, dated in 
 1613, is here. 
 
 Elliot. I hope you do not intend to abridge your 
 extracts too much. 
 
 Bourne. You shall regulate their length yourself: 
 Wither's Pastorals, his " Mistress of Philarete" and 
 many other pieces, have been often criticised, but 
 the satires before us have been comparatively little 
 quoted, though, in my opinion, deserving (mite as 
 much, if not more, attention. The first thing to be 
 remarked is the curious dedication of the book (per- 
 haps in imitation of Marston), to himself, " whom 
 (he says) next God, my Prince and Country I am 
 most engaged vnto." 
 
 Morton. ]S'ot being able, I suppose, to gain a 
 patron for his severity. 
 
 Bourne. That is one of the reasons he assigns : 
 among some epigrams that precede the satires, is 
 one " to the Satyromastix," which shows the fear- 
 lessness with which he undertook and completed his 
 labours. It contains the following lines:
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 27 
 
 " What? you would faine haue all the great ones 
 
 freed ? 
 They must not for their vices be controld : 
 Beware ! — that were a saucinesse indeed ; 
 But if the great ones to offend be bold 
 I see no reason but they should be told." 
 
 Morton. The Frenchman made an empty boast 
 of his courage when he said, 
 
 Je tie puis rien nommer si ce nest pas son nam, 
 
 J'appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet unfripon, 
 but he took special care to name nobody whose 
 anger could do him injury in the quarter which he 
 most aimed to please. 
 
 Bourne. Wither says elsewhere, that he only 
 names the vices, not those who flourished in them, 
 and he makes no vain pretensions to individual de- 
 signation : yet the result showed the truth of what 
 Lod. Barry excellently says in his Ram Alley, in 
 Dodsley's Collection, 
 
 " All great mens sins must still be humoured, 
 And poor mens vices largely punished : 
 The privilege that great men have in evil 
 Is this — they go unpunish'd to the Devil." 
 
 Elliot. Exceedingly well; but I am longing to 
 see something more by the satirist in your hand. 
 
 Bourne. The following quotation is from the first 
 satire of the first book " Of the passion of Love."
 
 <28 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Counsels in vaine, cause when the fit doth take 
 
 them 
 Reason and understanding doth forsake them ; 
 It makes them som-time merry, som-time sad, 
 Vniam'd men mild, and many a mild man mad.** 
 That one to gold compares his Mistris haire 
 When tis like fox-fur ; and doth thinke shees faire, 
 Though she in beauty he not far before 
 The Swart West Indian, or the tawny Moore. 
 Oh those faire star-like eyes of thine, one sayes, 
 When to my thinking she hath lookt nine waies : 
 And that sweet breath, when I thinke (out vpon't) 
 Twould blast a flower if she breathed on't. * * * 
 Then there is one who hauing found a peere, 
 In all things worthy to be counted deere. 
 Wanting both Art and heart his mind to breake, 
 Sets sighing: fivoe is me) and will not speake; 
 All company he hates is oft alone, 
 (irowes Melancholy, weepes, respecteth none, 
 And in dispaire seekes out a way to dye, 
 When he might liue and find a remedy. — 
 But how now ? Wast not you, saies one, that late 
 So humbly beg'd a hooac at beauties gate? 
 AVas it not you that to a female Saint 
 Indited your Aretophils complaint?*** 
 To him I answere that indeed en'e I 
 Was lately subiect to this malady; 
 Like 't what 1 now dislike, emploi'd good times 
 J n the composing of such idle Rimes
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 29 
 
 As are obiected : From my heart I sent 
 
 Full many a heauy sigh and oft-times spent 
 
 Vnmanly teares : I haue I must confesse. * * * 
 
 In many a foolish humor I haue beene, 
 
 As well as others ; looke, where I haue seene 
 
 Her ftvhom I loiid) to walke, when she was gone 
 
 Thither I often haue repair'd alone ; 
 
 As if I thought the places did containe 
 
 Something to ease me (oh exceeding vaine ! ) 
 
 Yet what if I haue beene thus idly bent, 
 
 Shall I be now asham'd for to repent ? 
 
 Moreouer, I was in my child-hood than 
 
 And am scarce yet reputed for a Man ; 
 
 And therefore neither cold, nor old, nor dry, 
 
 Nor cloi'd with any foule desease am I : 
 
 Tis no such cause that made me change my minde; 
 
 But my affection that before was blind, 
 
 Rash and vnruly, now begins to find, 
 
 That it hath run a large and fruitlesse race 
 
 And thereupon hath giuen Reason place. * * 
 
 Yet for all this, looke, where I lou'd of late 
 
 I haue not turn'd it in a spleene to hate : 
 
 No, for 'twas first her Vertue and her Wit, 
 
 Taught me to see how much I wanted it ; 
 
 Then as for Loue, I doe allow it still 
 
 I neuer did dislik't, nor neuer Avill, 
 
 So it be vertuous, and contein'd within 
 
 The bounds of Reason ; but when t'will begin 
 
 To run at randome and her limits breake, 
 
 I must, because I cannot chuse but speake.
 
 SO SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. There is not only uncommon ease in the 
 running of the lines, but frequently great force in 
 the very familiarity of the expressions. We have 
 no right to complain that he is not very original on 
 such a theme. 
 
 Bourne. The number and variety of his works 
 prove, that he must have composed with very great 
 rapidity. These satires were written in 1611, when 
 the author was only 23 years old, and for that age 
 they show great acuteness and extent of observation. 
 
 Morton. In the beginning of the extract Wither 
 seems to allude to some work of his own, under the 
 title of " Aretophils Complaint." Is that extant ? 
 
 Bourne. It is not, though some have confounded 
 it with his poem of " the Mistress of Philarete." — 
 "Aretophils Complaint" (which he afterwards called 
 " Philaretes Complaint") is mentioned by Wither 
 as one of his earliest pieces in the catalogue I before 
 spoke of, and he there states that it was lost in 
 manuscript. It was most likely addressed to the lady 
 he alludes to in what I just read, and who rejected 
 him. We will proceed to the fourth Satire on Envy, 
 where the passion is thus happily described : 
 
 " But what is this, that men are so inclind 
 And subiect to it ? How may't be defin'd ? 
 Sure, if the same be rightly vnderstood, 
 It is a griefe that sjmngsfrom others good, 
 And vexes them if they doe but heare tell 
 That other mens endeauors prosper "well :
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 31 
 
 It makes them grieue when any man is friended, 
 Or in their hearing praised or commended. 
 Contrariwise againe, such is their spight, 
 In other mens misfortunes they delight j 
 Yea, notwithstanding it be not a whit 
 Vnto their profit, nor their benefit. 
 Others prosperitie doth make them leane ; 
 Yea it deuoureth and consumes them cleane : 
 But if they see them in much griefe, why that 
 Doth onely make them iocund, full & fat. 
 Of Kingdomes ruine they best loue to heare 
 And tragicall reports doth onely cheere 
 Their hellish thoughts 5 and then their bleared eie9 
 Can looke on nothing but blacke infamies, 
 lleprochfull actions, and the fowlest deeds 
 Of shame that mans corrupted nature breeds : 
 For they must wink when Vertue shineth bright 
 For feare her lustre mar their weakned sight." 
 
 In the last line her is misprinted their: it is an 
 obvious error, which I corrected. 
 
 Mortox. And makes nonsense of the conclusion 
 of a fine passage. 
 
 Elliot. It is a fine passage upon the whole, 
 though there are weak lines in it. The qualities of 
 Envy have seldom been better described by any of 
 the thousand writers that have touched it. The 
 finest character that Churchill ever wrote, I mean 
 that in the beginning of his Rosciad, is not much 
 better than part of what you have just read.
 
 32 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. I remember reading in old Gower's 
 Confessio Amantis, where he introduces the well 
 known fable of vEsop, the following- lines regarding 
 Envy, which remind one of Wither. 
 
 " Where I my selfe may not auaile 
 To sene another mans trauaile, 
 I am right glad if he be lette, 
 And though I fare not the bet, 
 His sorrow is to myn herte a gaine." 
 
 Bourne. And in another place he describes the 
 envious as " sicke of another mans hele," which is 
 just the same as Wither's line " It is a grief that 
 springs from other's good." 
 
 Elliot. That of course has been its chief cha- 
 racteristic from the earliest times, without it it is not 
 Envy ; tristitia de bonis alienis. Churchill, whom I 
 before mentioned, carries it one degree further ; 
 
 " With that malignant envy which turns pale 
 
 And sickens even if a friend prevail/' 
 which is a line addition, and constitutes his su- 
 periority. 
 
 Bourne. Whetstone, who is not generally a fa- 
 vourite with me, in his •'English Myrror," 1586', has 
 rather a good saying on the subject of Envy : if a 
 man " be enuious, (says he) he dare not recyte so 
 much as the name of enuie ; the reason is, this pas- 
 sion is so fowle and infamous, as it stinketh in the 
 opinion of him that is infected therewith."
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 33 
 
 Morton. Is not that " English Myrror" one of 
 the books you promised to show us, but have not 
 yet performed your promise ? 
 
 Bourne. Not that I remember, but here it is if 
 you wish to see it. 
 
 Elliot. Does it contain any thing worth seeing? 
 
 Bourne. Many things, but principally in a histo- 
 rical point of view, as it refers to various events in 
 the reign of Elizabeth previous to its date (1586), 
 and more especially to the conspiracies against the 
 Queen. It is called, "The English Myrror. A Re- 
 gard, wherein all estates may behold the Conquests 
 of Enuy." This is the subject of the first book j the 
 second is called " Enuy conquered by Vertue," mean- 
 ing the virtue of the Queen, and the third, " A for- 
 tresse against Enuy." 
 
 Morton. Is any poetry interspersed in the vo- 
 lume r 
 
 Bourne. Yes ; but not much, and that bad, as 
 you can judge from the subsequent specimen, which 
 you may take my word for it is the best : he has 
 been referring to Dionysius and Damocles in Book II. 
 
 " There is no fort that seemeth safe or strong, 
 There is no foode, that yeeldes a sauery tast 5 
 The sweetest Lute and best composed song, 
 The chirping byrds that in the woods are plast 
 Sound no delight, but as a man forlorne, 
 The silent night doth seeme an vgly hell, 
 
 VOL. II. I)
 
 34 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 The softest bedde a thycket full of thorne, 
 Vnto the heart where tyranny doth dwell : 
 Whose mind presents, through horror and through 
 
 dread, 
 A naked sword still falling on his head." 
 
 Elliot. Those lines certainly justify the opinion 
 you have given. 
 
 Bourne. He was but an indifferent poet, though 
 he wrote much, and particularly elegiac or funeral 
 poems, one of which, on Sir I\ Sidney, I formerly 
 noticed ; he refers to some of these in the dedication 
 to the third book of his English Myrror, where he 
 says that several " worthy personages, which in my 
 time are deceased, haue had the second life of their 
 vertues bruted by my Muse." 
 
 Morton. Can you refer us to any particular part 
 worth reading ? 
 
 Bourne. The whole is well worth reading as a 
 work of much study and learning, now and then 
 diversified with a humorous tale or anecdote ; as 
 the following of a Vicar of Croydon before the re- 
 formation, who kept a" daughter of the game" in his 
 vicarage, being of course forbidden to marry. " As 
 (says Whetstone) hee thought to take away all suspi- 
 tion of his misbehauiour, made a vehement Sermon 
 against Lecherie, and agravated the vengeaunces 
 of that sinne, with all the authorities which he 
 could recite in the Scripture; earnestlie exhorting
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 35 
 
 his Parishioners, to cleanse the towne of that damna- 
 ble & filthie iniquitie : whereuppon one of the 
 Church-wardens (that knew the Viccar had violated 
 his vowe) cryed out, Master Viccar if you will giue 
 vs example, by purging the Church-yarde, wee will 
 bee careful to cleanse the rest of the Parish. The 
 Viccar smelling the meaning of the Church-warden, 
 pleasantlie to huddle vp the matter, replied that the 
 Church-warden spake without reason 5 for, quoth 
 he, the Church-yarde is the appointed place to re- 
 ceiue the most filthie Carrion of the worlde ; and 
 withall wished the people not to mistake him, for he 
 onely spake of the sinne, but meddled not with the 
 sinner." 
 
 Elliot. That is fair enough. 
 
 Bourne. And the author's application of the jest is 
 better : I could point out other amusing extracts, but 
 it is scarcely worth while now to go out of our way 
 for them. Speaking of Physicians in the first book 
 lie states that " a gentleman of Vermis" (for Whet- 
 stone had travelled in Italy, as he mentions else- 
 where) " one a time supping with a Phisition in 
 Padua, marueiled that the Phisitions, who in shorte 
 space finde a remedie for the most violent newe 
 disease that raigneth, can not cure as well as giue 
 ease to the Gowt, an auncient maladie. Which 
 doubt, the Doctor thus pleasauntly resolued. () Sir, 
 (quoth hee) the Gowte is the proper disease of the 
 riche, and wee liuc not by the poorej it may sullice
 
 36 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 that they finde ease; but to prescribe a cure, to 
 beggar our facultye, were a great follye." 
 
 Morton. And to the present day they have kept 
 up the artifice ; only with this difference, that now 
 they seem to find it their interest not even to 
 give the sufferer any ease under his torments from 
 " arthritic tyranny," as Dr. Johnson calls it in one 
 of his minor poems. 
 
 Elliot. Massinger, in his "Emperor of the East/' 
 has a passage somewhat similar, where Paulinus is 
 discovered with the gout, attended by a surgeon, 
 who for a time has lessened the acuteness of his 
 pain 3 Paulinus says that he would give the moiety 
 of his fortune to ensure a continuance of his respite, 
 and the surgeon answers, 
 
 " If I could cure 
 
 The gout, my Lord, without the Philosopher's stone 
 I should soon purchase ; it being a disease 
 In poor men very rare, and in the rich 
 The cure impossible." 
 
 Bourne. He means impossible from the habitual 
 luxuriousness of their habits : Whetstone's Physician 
 said a cure was impossible from a very different and 
 politic cause. 
 
 Morton. It would not have done for the surgeon 
 to have actually told Paulinus, suffering under the 
 disease, that it was against the interest of the faculty 
 to discover and introduce a cure.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 37 
 
 Bourne. We will now close Whetstone's "English 
 Myrror," and before we leave him just look at his 
 " Mirour for Magestrates of Cyties," 1584, which is 
 a rarer work, and is directed against the practices at 
 Dicing Houses, Taverns, Ordinaries, Stews, &c. in 
 the city. The latter part of this pamphlet, called 
 " An Addition : or Touchstone for the Time," is the 
 most curious, though perhaps not so much so, as 
 the title would lead one to expect. He inveighs 
 with great zeal against the corruptions of his day, 
 but in terms rather too general, and he had reason 
 to abuse them, for at the end he states that he had 
 been a great sufferer. " No man (he observes) was 
 euer assaulted with a more daungerous strategeme 
 of cosonage than my selfe with which my life and 
 liuing was hardly beset. No man hath more cause 
 to thanke God for a free deliuery than my selfe, nor 
 anie man euer sawe more suddaine vengeance in- 
 flicted vpon his aduersaries, than I my selfe of mine." 
 
 Morton. He gives no particulars, does he, of his 
 narrow escape and signal revenge ? 
 
 Bourne. None, but he refers to his " Rocke 
 of Regarde." I will not go through his violent 
 abuse of gaming houses, ordinaries, &c. but merely 
 (as we shall have occasion to look at the tract again) 
 read the following singular anecdote, told of one of 
 the judges of his time. " Olde Judge Chomley 
 euermore aunswered naughtie liuers that sued for 
 mercie desiring him to regard the frailtie of young
 
 38 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 men by the boldc and unlawful actions of his owne 
 youth, and by the testimonie of his grace, good for- 
 tune, and present authoritie, to conceiue hope of 
 their amendment : O my friendes, (moth the Judge, 
 I tel you plainly that of twentie that in those dayes 
 were my companions, I onely escaped hanging, and 
 it is very like that some one of your fellowship is by 
 Gods goodncsse reserued to be an honest man; but 
 you are found offenders by theLawe, and truely ius- 
 tice (whose sentence I am sworne to pronounce) com - 
 maundeth me to commend your soules to Almightie 
 (md, and your bodies to the Gallowse." 
 
 Elliot. lie was determined, at all events, that 
 none of those before him should have a chance of 
 reforming, and becoming an honest man. 
 
 Bourne. Although Whetstone was rather a vo- 
 luminous author, there are circumstances to show 
 that he was not popular, and among them the fact 
 that as ins printer, Richard Jones, could not sell his 
 " Mirour for Magistrates of Cyties" under that title 
 (though sulliciently taking one would have imagined, 
 recollecting the great popularity of a work well 
 known, and with nearly a similar name) he re- 
 published it in 1586 under the new title of " The 
 Knemie of \ nthryftinesse, (Nc. discouering the vn- 
 sufferable Abuses raigning in our happie English 
 comon wealth :" the title-page is the only dif- 
 ference, ;is all the body of the work is the identical 
 impression of 1.">S4, a number of copies remaining
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 39 
 
 on hand, notwithstanding a sort of advertisement by 
 the author at the end of his " English Myrror," 
 
 Morton. Then it contains no alterations or ad- 
 ditions of any kind. 
 
 Bourne. I was in error when I said that the title 
 only was new, because at the back of it there is 
 another novelty of some interest — I mean a list of 
 the Avorks which Whetstone had published up to 
 1586 : they are arranged as follows, but not chrono- 
 logically, as you will see in a moment. 
 
 " 1 The Enemie of Vnthryftinesse 
 
 2 The Itocke of Regarde 
 
 3 The honourable Reputation and Morall Ver- 
 
 tues of a Souldier 
 
 4 The Heptameron of Cyuill Discourses 
 
 5 The Tragicall Comedie of Promos & Cassandra 
 (J The lyfe and death of M. G. Gascoyne 
 
 7 The lyfe and death of the graue & honorable 
 
 Maiestrat Sir Nicholas Bacon, late L. keeper 
 
 8 The lyfe and death of the good L. Dyer 
 
 i) The lyfe and death of the noble Earle of Sussex 
 10 A Mirrour of true Honor shewinge the lyfe, 
 death and Yertues of Frauncis Earle of Bed- 
 forde." 
 
 To these are added, " BooJces ready to be printed." 
 
 " 11 A Panoplie of deuises 
 1 c 2 The English Mirour 
 13 The linage of Christian Iuslice.'
 
 40 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 This list, not hitherto mentioned, J apprehend will 
 settle some doubtful points, as to the works of 
 Whetstone. 
 
 Elliot. But are they worth settling ? 
 
 Bourne. Perhaps not, or not worth much labour 
 in settling. In the last page but one of his " Touch- 
 stone for the Time " the author speaks of a forth- 
 coming work called " The Blessings of Peace," but 
 I fancy that this was included in the f< English 
 Myrror," as much of the third book is devoted to 
 that subject. 
 
 Elliot. I think you have now had scope enough 
 for your antiquarian mania, which has been attended, 
 that I can perceive, with no material advantage, 
 unless it be one to divert us from the course we 
 were pursuing. How we travelled backwards from 
 Wither to Whetstone I know not. 
 
 Morton. And I "very little care, as long as we 
 gain the object we have in view. 
 
 Bourne. Well, I have done. We will now return 
 to Wither's " Abuses stript & whipt." I must say, 
 however, that you have had your share of entertain- 
 ment out of the jokes I read, both of the Vicar of 
 Croydon, and of the Physician and the Gout. 
 
 Morton. He is only in the ordinary case ; affect- 
 ing a little to despise what he does not understand. 
 But let us go on with Wither. 
 
 Bourne. What I am now going to read is in the 
 same satire as our last extract : he is touching upon 
 the manner in winch envy affected even him :
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 41 
 
 " So I haue found 
 
 The blast of enuy flies as low's the ground, 
 And though it hath already brought a man 
 Euen vnto the meanest state it can 
 Yet tis not satisfied, but still diuising 
 Which way it also may disturbe his rising : 
 This I know true, or else it could not be 
 That any man should hate or enuy me, 
 Being a creature (one would thinke) that's plast 
 Too low for to be toucht with amies blast : 
 And yet 1 am ; I see men haue espi'd 
 Some-thing in me too that may be enui'd ; 
 But I haue found it now, and know the matter ; 
 By reason they are rich, and He not flatter ; 
 Yes 5 and because they see that I doe scorne 
 To be their slaue whose equall I am borne." 
 
 Elliot. That is closed in a fearless spirit of in- 
 dependence : the whole extract is eloquent. 
 
 Mortox. It is a touch of the levelling republican 
 which "Wither afterwards turned out to be. 
 
 Bourne. I think you mistake ; he is there speak- 
 ing only of his equality with the rich in being the 
 work of God, with the same faculties and under- 
 standing. There is no more republicanism there 
 than some of the most loyal, not to say the most 
 flattering, poets have at times expressed. Skelton, 
 who cannot be charged with too much independence 
 of mind, even in the reign of Henry ATI I., speaks
 
 42 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 quite as freely in his interlude of " Magnificence," 
 printed by Rastell. 
 
 " Or how can you proue that there is felycyte 
 And you haue not your ownc fre lyberte; 
 To sporte at your pleasure to ryn and to ryde ? 
 "Where lyberte is absent set welthe aside." 
 
 Mortox. He is alluding, I fancy, to mere personal 
 freedom from restraint, which is quite a different 
 thing*. lie might state that without any chance of 
 giving offence. 
 
 Bourne. What you say is true : I allow too, that 
 throughout Wither speaks with the utmost plain- 
 ness, and gives more than glimpses of the part he 
 was afterwards to take as a supporter of a republican 
 government : for instance, the following lines upon 
 the follies and vices of Kings are very strikingly in 
 point, and rendered more emphatic by Italics. 
 
 " Princes haue these — they uery basely can 
 
 Sailer themselues that haue the rule of man, 
 
 To be oreborne by Villaines ; so in steed 
 
 Of kings they stand, when they are slaues indeed. 
 
 IjV blond & wrong a heauenly Crowne thei'l danger, 
 
 '.["assure their state heere (Often to a stranger.) 
 
 They quickly yeeld vnto the Batteries 
 
 Of sly insinuating flatteries : 
 
 Most bountiful] to fooles — to full of feare, 
 
 And far to credulous of that they heare :
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 43 
 
 So giuen to pleasure, as if in that thing 
 Consisted all the Office of a King !" 
 
 (Book II. Sat. I.) 
 
 Morton. Yet we have seen that he thought well 
 of King James. 
 
 Bourne. And spoke well of him too, as he does 
 only a few lines afterwards: he says that he cannot 
 " but speak well" of him, and that no sovereign had 
 ever less vanity — about the last weakness, in our 
 sense of the word, from which we should have been 
 inclined to exempt him : however, the poet applies it 
 in a much more extended way. 
 
 Elliot. As empty ostentation, vanity, or pride in 
 equipages, apparel, and so on. 
 
 Bourne. Exactly. As we have seen how he treats 
 I'rinees, we will now read a very spirited passage 
 about nobles, from the second satire of the second 
 book, entitled Inconstancy. 
 
 « Nobility 
 
 That comes by birth hath most antiquity, 
 
 Some thinke ; and tother (if at all 
 
 They yeeld as noble) they an vpstart call : 
 
 But I say rather no — his XobIencs.se 
 
 Thats rais'd by Vertue hath most tvorthinesse, 
 
 And is most ancient, for it is the same 
 
 By which all Great men first obtaind their Fame. 
 
 So then 1 hope 'twill not offend the Court , 
 
 That 1 count some there with the Vulgar sort,
 
 14 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 And outset others : yet some thinke me bold. 
 Because there's few that these opinions hold ; 
 But shall I care what others thinke or say ? 
 There is a path besides the beaten way !" 
 
 Elliot. Admirable ! I know of nothing liner in 
 its way, either ancient or modern. 
 
 Morton. I was afraid when we came to the 
 lines — 
 
 " But I say rather no — his nobleness 
 
 That's rais'd by virtue hath most worthiness/' 
 
 that he was going to end the sentence as he had 
 begun it ; but what a striking and noble close is 
 formed by the couplet — 
 
 " And is most ancient — for it is the same 
 
 By which all great men first obtain'd their fame." 
 
 Elliot. It goes far beyond the common-place of 
 antiquity — Animus Jacit nobilcm, cut ex quacunque 
 conditione , &c. 
 
 Bourne. Jt is a very noble thought, and produces 
 the better effect from its being, as they say, prater 
 expectatum. The last two lines of the quotation do 
 not fall short of the rest. 
 
 Elliot. In Ascham's " Schoolmaster" I remember 
 a very eloquent censure of mere nobility transmitted 
 with the blood, ending with these words, " Nobility 
 without virtue and wisdom is blood indeed, but blood 
 truly without bones & sinews."
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 45 
 
 Bocrxe. Anthony Stafford, a writer I have often 
 quoted, is not behindhand when he says, in his Niobe 
 dessolud into a Nilus (16T1), " I can brooke better 
 a fellow that hath bought his new-found nobility 
 with nobles, than another of an high birth and of a 
 low stooping spirit, who can iustly brag of nothing of 
 his owne, but liues upon the supererrogative deeds of 
 his ancestors."' 
 
 Morton. I dare say one might collect as many 
 excellent sayings upon this stale theme, as upon any 
 that has been dwelt upon either in the old time or in 
 the new. 
 
 Elliot. That Stafford seems to have been an 
 eloquent fellow : I should like to be better acquainted 
 with him. I remember you, in a manner, proved that 
 Milton was well acquainted with his writings. 
 
 Bourne. He seems to have been a strange wild 
 enthusiast, upon religious topics especially : as a 
 puritan he was very much like what Robert Southwell 
 was as a Jesuit. 
 
 Elliot. What is the object of his book ? 
 
 Bourne. It is in two divisions, one called " Niobe,''' 
 and the other " Niobe dissolu'd into a Nilus;" and it 
 is a general but vigorous declamation against the 
 vices and profaneness of the age. — In his "Niobe" 
 (p. 1 12), he has the subsequent passage on the subject 
 to which we have been referring, which will give you 
 some notion of his style. " O ! but Gentry now 
 degenerates! Nobilitie is now come to be inula re-
 
 Hi SIXTH CONVERSATION, 
 
 latio, a meere bare relation and nothing else. How 
 manie Flayers haue I seene vpon a stage, fit indeede 
 to be Noblemen! how many that he Noblemen, iii 
 onely to represent them. — Why, this can Fortune 
 do, who makes some companions of her Chariot, 
 who for desert should be lackies to her Ladiship. 
 Let me want pittie if I dissolue not into pittie when 
 I see such poore stuffe vnder rich stuffe ; that is a 
 bodie riehlie clad, whose mind is capable of nothing 
 but a hunting match, a racket-court, or a cock-pit, 
 or at most the story of Susanna in an ale-house. 
 Rise, Sidney, rise ! thou Englands eternall honour ! 
 Reuiue and lead the reuolting spirits of thy countrey- 
 men, against the basest foe, Ignorance. But what 
 talke I of thee? Heauen hath not left earth thy 
 equall: neither do 1 thinke that ah orbe condito, 
 since Nature first was, any man hath beene in whom 
 Genus and Genius met so right. Thou Atlas to all 
 vertues ! Thou 1 Iereules to the Muses ! Thou patron 
 to the poor! Thou deservst a Quire of ancient Burdi 
 to sing thy praises, who with their musickes melody 
 might expresse thy soules harmonic. Were the 
 transmigration of soules certaine — I would thy soule 
 had Hitted into my bodie or wold thou wert aliue 
 again, that we might lead an indiuiduall life together ! 
 Thou wast not more admired at home then famous 
 abroad ; thy penne and thy s\\ ord being the J I< rabies 
 of thy Heroieke deedes." And in this strain he pro- 
 ceeds for several pages more.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 17 
 
 Morton. The style is very peculiar, and though 
 pedantic and affected, there is much force about it. 
 
 Bourne. He is full of rhapsodies, but they are 
 eloquent ; and he was evidently both a very pious 
 and a very learned man. There were two editions 
 of his work, which is now rarely to be met with ; and 
 it seems that after the first was published (to which 
 the " Niobe Dissolu'd into a Nilus" was not added), 
 he was not a little ridiculed for the passage I have 
 just read, where he appears to put himself in com- 
 parison with Sir Philip Sidney. This angered him 
 not a little, and accordingly to the second edition he 
 prefixed an address " to the long-ear'd Reader,'' in 
 which he repels the -charge, maintaining, at the same 
 time, that Sir P. Sidney had actually shown himself 
 to him in a vision. 
 
 Elliot. This was only rendering it still more 
 laughable. 
 
 Bourne. Certainly, but he relates it with the most 
 simple seriousness, and adds, that the " miracle of 
 nature" addressed him in these terms : " Generous 
 Gentleman, whose neuer-glozing spirit this fawning 
 age will neuer reward, my soule bowes herselfe to 
 thee, and breathes her loue vpon thee, for making 
 her immortall to all mortalitie : a benefit for the 
 which Ingratitude herselfe would yeeld thanks." 
 
 Elliot. He was very likely a man of strong feel- 
 ings, but he must have had a weak judgment to 
 suppose that he would be believed in this strange 
 story, even at that credulous day.
 
 4S SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. He expressly says that it will be attri- 
 buted to his wild and fervid imagination, but he 
 nevertheless insists upon the perfect truth of what 
 he relates. 
 
 Morton. In turning over Wither, I have stumbled 
 upon a passage that refers to Sir Philip Sidney. 
 
 Bourne. It is one which I had intended to show 
 you, as it mentions not only Sidney but Drayton, 
 Ben Jonson, and several other poets. Bead it. 
 
 Morton. It is in the third satire of the second 
 book. He has been speaking of King James's works, 
 and of the general value of poetry ; that though the 
 inspiration is only partially given to some few in 
 this life, " All shall have't perfect in the World to 
 come," and then he proceeds. 
 
 " This in defence of Poesic to say 
 
 I am compel'd, because that at this day 
 
 JVcakencssc and Ignorance hath wrong'd it sore : 
 
 But what neede any man therein speake more 
 
 Then Diuinc Sidney hath already done ? 
 
 From whom (though he deceas'd e're I begun) 
 
 I haue oft sighed, and bewail' d my Fate 
 
 That brought me foorth so many yeeres too late 
 
 To view that ivort/iy; And now, thinke not you, 
 
 Oh Daniel, Draiton, lonson, Chapman, how 
 
 I long to see you with your fellow Peeres ; 
 
 Diuinc Siluedcr, glory of these yeeres! 
 
 I hitherto haue onely heard your fames 
 
 And know you yet hut by your workes and names.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 4 9 
 
 The little time I on the earth haue spent, 
 Would not allow me any more content : 
 I long to know you hetter that's the truth ; 
 I am in hope you'l not disdaine my Youth." 
 
 Elliot. A very amiable, diffident young man, and 
 a very laudable wish. 
 
 Bourne. I do not think that in any thing I have 
 read by Wither, he can be fairly accused of arrogance, 
 though he takes upon himself to lash the vices of 
 his age: he knew that he loved honesty and in- 
 genuousness, and hated fraud and artifice, and as 
 he could not be mistaken in them, he speaks plainly 
 and fearlessly. His political tracts, in which he at- 
 tempts to produce certain changes and reforms in the 
 state, were written at a much more advanced period 
 of his life. But we have now seen as much of his 
 satires as perhaps is necessary : before, however, we 
 leave Sir P. Sidney, introduced by Wither, let me 
 show you a very great literary curiosity. 
 
 Mortox. By all means : what is it ? 
 
 Bourne. I wish it were a work of more intrinsic 
 merit ; but, I assure you, it is of the rarest occur- 
 rence. v 
 
 Elliot. It generally happens that the greatest 
 rarities are of least actual value, or why, as a living 
 critic has asked, have they become such rarities ? 
 
 Bourxe. That rule will by no means apply in all 
 cases.
 
 50 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Do not argue the point, but produce 
 the book : my curiosity of one kind is as great as 
 the book's of another. 
 
 Bourne. You remember the funeral poem I brought 
 before you by Whetstone on the death of .Sir P. 
 Sidney; this, in my hand, is a production of the 
 same kind on the same subject. 
 
 Morton. By whom? 
 
 Bourne. John Phillip or Phillips. Ritson intro- 
 duces him into his catalogue as the author of C!eo- 
 menes and Sophonisba, 1577 5 ' Jl 't the bibliographer 
 had never seen nor heard of this tract, nor of another 
 on the death of the Countess of Lenox, which is 
 almost of equal rarity. 
 
 Morton. Bead the title, if you please. 
 
 Bourne. I will, at length, for you may never hear 
 it again. It is this : " The Life and Death of Sir 
 Phillip Sidney, late Lord Gouernour of Flushing : 
 His funerals Solemnized in Paules Churche where he 
 lyeth interred; with the whole order of the mourn- 
 full shewe as they marched thorowe the citie of 
 London on Thursday the 16 of February, 1587- At 
 London. Printed by Robert Waldegraue," &c. ! 587- 
 
 Morton. And now allow me to take your relic 
 into my own hands. 
 
 Bourne. The dedication, you will see, is to the 
 Earl of Essex, and signed by the author, but it is 
 not worth reading.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 51 
 
 Elliot. Tell us what part of it is worth reading, 
 if you please, and if you can. 
 
 Boukxe. The poem is in the fashionable style of 
 the Mirror for Magistrates, Sir P. Sidney's ghost 
 very awkwardly relating his own story. I say 
 awkwardly, because he is made, not like the ghosts 
 in the Mirror for Magistrates, to warn their hearers 
 by the story of their failings, vices, and consequent 
 misfortunes, but to recount his own deeds, and to 
 belaud his own virtues most liberally. 
 
 Morton. That is very absurd and injudicious. It 
 opens, I observe, rather singularly ; 
 
 " You noble Brutes bedeckt with rich renowne." 
 
 Elliot. Upon my word, Phillips did not care 
 much to conciliate his hearers, when he calls them 
 brutes: however they are " noble brutes," and " be- 
 deck'd with rich renown." 
 
 Moktox. That makes some amends. Phillips 
 ought to have been the author of the tract you 
 showed us on " the Nobleness of the Ass." 
 
 Boukxe. Of course he means by Brutes Britons^ 
 the descendants of Brute, only two syllables did not 
 suit his line. 
 
 Moktox. I perceive that we shall stop, or be 
 stopped, very soon in our reading of this production. 
 
 " You noble Brutes bedeckt with rich renowne, 
 
 That in this world haue worldly wealth at will, 
 Muse not at me, though death haue cut me downe, 
 
 1: 2
 
 52 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 For from my graue I speake vnto you still. 
 Whilst life I had I neuer meant you ill ; 
 
 Then thinke on me that close am coucht in clay 
 And know I liue though death wrought my decay. 
 
 " I neede not I record my bloud ne birth, 
 For why? to you my parentage is knownej 
 
 My mould was clay, my substance was but earth 
 And now the earth enioyes againe her owne : 
 
 My race is runne, my daies are ouerthrowne. 
 Yet Lordings list, your patience here I craue, 
 Ileare Sidneis plea discussed from the graue." 
 
 Elliot. So that the " noble brutes" after all, are 
 Lordings. Upon my word it is wretched stuff. 
 
 Bourne. " Qicanto io posso dar tutto vi dono." I 
 suppose he could write nothing better. 
 
 Elliot. Then first, why write at all ; and secondly, 
 if he wrote, why should we read ? 
 
 Morton. It was worth thus much time, if only 
 for the amusement Mr. John Phillips has afforded us. 
 
 Bourne. You must hear two more stanzas, and 
 I have done : it is from one of the most ridiculous 
 parts of the piece, where Sidney "rings out a pane- 
 gyric on himself," after applauding Queen Elizabeth 
 to the seventh heavens. 
 
 " In martiall feates I settled my delight ; 
 
 The stately steede 1 did bestride with ioj 
 At tilt and turney oft I tride my might, 
 
 In these exployts I neuer felt annoy. 
 My worthie friends in amies did oft imploy
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 53 
 
 Themselues with me to breake the shiuring speare ; 
 But now my want they wail with many a teare. 
 
 " My spoused Avife, my Lady and my lone 
 
 whilst life I had did know my tender hart, 
 But God that rules the rowling skies aboue 
 
 Did thincke it meete Ave should againe depart. 
 His Avill is done, death is my dew desart! 
 
 She Avants her make, I fro my deare am gon ; 
 
 She liues behind her louer true to morne," 
 
 Morton. That is not quite sueh extravagant 
 eulogy as I expected. 
 
 Bourne. It is only the fag-end of it, if I may so 
 say : Sidney is very warm in his admiration of him- 
 self in some places. 
 
 Elliot. Or rather his spirit is Aery warm in its 
 admiration of his body: recollect thev are noAV di- 
 stinct and separate, and one may praise the other 
 without any charge of egotism. 
 
 Bourne. But perhaps the greatest absurdity of 
 all is the minute detail the spirit gives of the Avhole 
 solemnity and procession at the funeral of the body. 
 At length the line, " Thus from my grave I bid you 
 all adieu," Avinds up the poem. 
 
 Elliot. "Was it Avorth while to interrupt our course 
 through the satirists for such a production? 
 
 Bourne. " Since it is past, all argument is vain." 
 Noav then for Richard Brathwayte, a name with 
 which you are not unacquainted, but whose volume
 
 :>4 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 of satires and other poems, I fancy., you have never 
 seen, for they are much more scarce than any of his 
 prose pieces. It will not be necessary, however, to 
 read more than one or two extracts, as he was an 
 imitator of George Wither, and by no means equal 
 to his prototype. His title is this: " Times Cur- 
 tain e drawne or the Anatomic of Vanitie with other 
 choice Poems, entituled Health from Helicon ; h\ 
 Richard Brathwayte Oxonian," 1621. 
 
 Morton. I have seen the title before, but in what 
 way do you trace the imitation of Wither ? 
 
 Bourne. In the general style of the satires, and in 
 the manner in which the work is disposed. Wither's 
 " Abuses stript and whipt," had attracted much 
 notice, and Brathwayte, early in his production, pro- 
 fesses great admiration for him. In one place he says, 
 in allusion to the punishment Wither had met with, 
 
 " Tutch not Abuses but with modest lipp 
 
 For some I know were whipt that thought to whip," 
 
 adding in the margin this note, " One whom I ad- 
 mire, being no lesse happie for his natiue inuention 
 than excellent for his proper and elegant dimension.' 7 
 The latter part of the compliment refers to Wither's 
 finely proportioned figure. 
 
 Elliot. Does Brathwayte take warning by the 
 sufferings of Wither, and " touch abuses but with 
 modest lip ?" 
 
 Bourne. I think not ; but Wither had been libe-
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 55 
 
 rated, as some suppose, almost on a repetition of his 
 offence — his satire to the king ; and this, if true, 
 perhaps made his follower more bold : he is even 
 coarser than Wither in some places. In his first 
 satire on Riches, he says of the wealthy, for instance, 
 
 " For who are wise but Rich-men, or who can 
 Find the golden meane but the golden man r 
 He is Earth's darling, and in time will be 
 Hell's darling too ; for who's so fit as her" 
 
 Morton. He takes care, I dare say, to make his 
 satire general? 
 
 Elliot. Yet Pope observes, 
 
 " The fewer still you name, you wound the more 5 
 Bond is but one, while Harpax is a score." 
 
 Bourxe. Or in the words of that satirical song in 
 " the Beggar's Opera," 
 
 '■ Each cries, that was lcvell'd at me." 
 
 The subsequent extract on the subject of dress, will 
 show that Brathwayte was a writer of some power. 
 
 " For who (remebring the cause why cloths were 
 
 made) 
 Even then when Adam fled vnto the shade 
 For couert of his Nakcducsse, will not blame 
 Himself to glorie in his Parents shame? 
 Weepe, weepe, ( Phantasticke Minion J fur to thee 
 My grieued passion turnes : O may I be 
 Cause of conuersion to thy selfe, that art 
 Compos'd of man, and therefore I beare part
 
 56" SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 In thy distracted habit : ougly peece 
 
 (For so I tearme thee) Woman-monster cease ; 
 
 Cease to corrupt the excellence of minde, 
 
 By soiling it with such an odious rinde, 
 
 Or shamelesse Couer ! Waining wauering Moone, 
 
 That spends the morne in decking thee till noone! 
 
 Hast thou no other ornaments to weare 
 
 But such wherein thy lightest thoughts appeare ? 
 
 Hast thou no other honour, other Fame, 
 
 Saue roabes which make thee glory in thy shame r" 
 
 Elliot. That is strenuous enough, and the allu- 
 sion to Adam, with its application, happy. 
 
 Morton. He seems rougher than Wither: if he 
 do not jerk so keenly, he appears to lay on his 
 scourge more heavily. 
 
 Bourne. One more specimen from his satires shall 
 suffice for the present, at least. It is from the second, 
 where he is adverting to the usual concomitant of 
 poetry — poverty. 
 
 Elliot. There is no class of men who complain 
 so bitterly of poverty as poets, who are always, at 
 the same time, boasting that they are above the sordid 
 love of money j yet they are always making them- 
 selves the objects of ridicule by their murmurs. 
 
 Bourne. They complain most because, probably, 
 they feel most ; and their complaints arc oftenest 
 remembered because they perpetuate them bv put- 
 ting them in black and white : but hear Brathwayte 
 on this point.
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. f>7 
 
 " Take comfort then, for thou shalt see on earth 
 
 Most of thy coate to be of greatest worth ; 
 
 Though not in state, for who ere saw but merit 
 
 Was rather borne to begge than to inherit ? 
 
 Yet in the gifts of nature we shall finde 
 
 A ragged coate oft haue a lloyall minde : 
 
 For to descend to each distinct degree 
 
 By due experience we the same shall see. 
 
 If to Parnassus where the Muses are, 
 
 There shall we finde their Dyet very bare 3 
 
 Their houses ruind and their well-springs dry, 
 
 Admir'd for nought so much as Pouertie. 
 
 Here shall we see poore yEschi/lus maintaine 
 
 His nighterne studies with his daily paine, 
 
 Pulling up Buckets but twas neuer knowne 
 
 That filling others he could fill his owne. 
 
 Here many more discerne we may of these, 
 
 As Lamachus, and poore Antisthenes, 
 
 Both which the sweetes of Poesie did sipp 
 
 Yet were rewarded with a staff and scrippj 
 
 For I nere knew nor (much I feare) shall know it, 
 
 Any die rich that liu'd to die a Poet." 
 
 Morton. It would have been more curious if he 
 had made some allusions to those of his own time 
 who were sufferers. 
 
 Bourne. It would, but he does not hint at any of 
 them. He writes always in a bold and often in an 
 energetic strain : the following six lines commence 
 a poem, in the second division of " Times Curtaine 
 drawne," called " The Great-mans Alphabet."
 
 58 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Come hither Great-man, that triumphs to see 
 So many men of lower ranke to thee ; 
 That swells with honours, and erects thy state 
 As high as if thou wer't Earths Potentate! 
 Thou whose aspiring buildings raise thy name, 
 As if thou wer't the sonne and heyre of fame." 
 
 This, you will admit, is very spirited ; and most of 
 the piece is not inferior, though of a grave, moral 
 cast. This is all I think necessary to read from 
 Brathwayte. 
 
 Morton. If I do not mistake, the title-page men- 
 tions " other choice poems, entitled Health from 
 Helicon," — what are they? 
 
 Bourne. Chiefly miscellaneous subjects, and not 
 very good. 
 
 Morton. Nor curious r 
 
 Bourne. Unless we except the following passage 
 from one of the pieces, called " Ebrius Experiens," 
 in which the author attempts to vindicate his easily 
 besetting- sin, drunkenness. 
 
 Elliot. Let us hear that, for as the iirst Spectator 
 says, we are always deeply interested about the per- 
 sonal appearance, peculiarities, and habits of authors: 
 Montaigne too remarks, though with a different ap- 
 plication, Jene vols jamah Aid car que jc ue recherche 
 curieusement quclque il a tie. 
 
 Bourne. The lines, then, are these, 
 
 " Some say I drinke too much to write good lines ; 
 Indeed, I drinke more to obscruc the Times,
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 5«» 
 
 And for the lone I bear vnto my friend, 
 To hold him chat than any other end. 
 Yea, my obseruance tells me I haue got 
 More by discoursing sometimes o're the pot, 
 Than if I had good fellowship forsooke, 
 And spent that home in poring on a booke." 
 
 Elliot. There seems nothing very new in his 
 arguments, at least in what you have read. 
 
 Bourne. Nor in any of them. It is only doing 
 exactly what Sir T. Wyatt censures in some lines 
 (juoted on a former day, viz. giving to every vice the 
 name of the nearest virtue, " as drunkenness good 
 fellowship to call." 
 
 Elliot. Brathwayte then concludes the series of 
 the English satirists you intend to bring before us? 
 
 Bourne, lie does; but it cannot, with any pro- 
 priety, be called a scries, for some omissions have 
 been made by design, and a few because the books 
 were of such extreme rarity that I could not procure 
 the use of them. 
 
 Morton. You have purposely refrained from 
 touching upon translations from the classic satirists, 
 yet, with a view to this subject, I borrowed a very 
 small tract, which my friend assured me was seldom 
 to be met with, though only a translation : it is by 
 an author I have frecpiently heard you praise — Chap- 
 man. 
 
 Bourne. Satires translated by Chapman? I have 
 never seen any.
 
 60 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Here is the tract, and the following is 
 its title, " A Justification of a strange action of Nero ; 
 in burying with a Solemne Fvnerall one of the ca.^t 
 Hayres of his Mistresse Poppaeia. Also a iust re- 
 proofe of a Romane smell-Feast, being the fifth 
 Satire of Ivvenall. Translated by George Chap- 
 man," 1629. 
 
 Bourne. I remember it now, but I have never 
 seen the tract, and Kitson mentions it as two works, 
 when in truth it is only one, which proves that he 
 was in the same condition. It is a very curious piece 
 indeed. 
 
 Elliot. From that author we have surely a right 
 to expect something more than curious. 
 
 Morton. I skimmed it over hastily last night, 
 and I am sorry to say that I saw but little in it to 
 admire. 
 
 Bourne. Perhaps not : we are to recollect that at 
 the time it. was printed the author was not less than 
 7 f 2 years old, and that during the whole of his long 
 life he had been a laborious writer, living probably 
 entirely by his pen. 
 
 Morton. Vet at the very time when lie published 
 it, he tells us, in the dedication to Richard Hubert 
 Esq., that he has " some worthier work" in hand: 
 the whole passage is a singular one with reference to 
 himself and his labours, lie first complains, that 
 " greate workes get little regard," adding, ' f as it is 
 now the fashion to iustilie Strange Actions, I (vtterly
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 61 
 
 against mine owne fashion) followed the vulgar, & 
 assaid what might be said for iustification of a 
 Strange Action of Nero :" he observes next, in 
 terms, that he throws out this piece as a tub to the 
 whale, " hauing yet once more some worthier 
 worke then this Oration, & following Translation, to 
 passe the sea of the land, exposed to the land and 
 
 vulgar Leuiathan." " The rather because the 
 
 Translation containing in two or three instances, a 
 preparation to the iustification of my ensuing in- 
 tended Translations, lest some should account them, 
 as they haue my former conuersions, in some places 
 licences, bold ones, and vtterly redundant." 
 
 Bourne. His " ensuing intended Translation," 
 I conjecture, must have been of the whole of the 
 satires of Juvenal and Fersius, of which this was a 
 foretaste, and which he did not live to complete. 
 
 Elliot. This tract before us then, was his last 
 production. When did he die, do you recollect ? 
 
 Bourne. Kitson says, in lb'34, but he refers to no 
 authority. Chapman always, as he has done above, 
 expressed a great disgust at, and contempt for, the 
 applause of the vulgar : particularly in the prefatory 
 matter to his " Memorable Masque" of the Middle 
 Temple and Lincolns Inn (1613), where he is speak- 
 ing of true poets and true poetry. " Euery vulgarly- 
 esteemed vpstart dares breake the dreadfull dignity 
 of antient and authenticall Poesie, and presume 
 Luciferously to proclame in place thereof, repugnant
 
 C2 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 precepts of their owne spaune. Truth & Worth 
 haue no faces to enamour the Licentious, but vaine- 
 glory and humor : the same body, the same beaut}', 
 a thousand men seeing', onely the man whose bloud 
 is fitted, hath that which he calls his soule ena- 
 moured." 
 
 Elliot. Yet I dare say he had not half as much 
 reason for his anger as Ben Jonson, when in the 
 " apologetical dialogue" subjoined to his " Poet- 
 aster," in a rage almost sublime, he exclaims, 
 
 " Oh, this would make a learn'd <x liberal soul 
 
 To rive his stained quill up to the back, 
 
 And damn his long-wateh'd labours to the fire !" 
 
 But I did not intend to interrupt you in what you 
 were reading from the pamphlet you brought with you. 
 
 Morton. In the address " to the Reader," Chap- 
 man vindicates what he supposes some will consider 
 liberties taken with, and enlargements of, his original, 
 observing that it is " a most asinine error" to sup- 
 pose that translations to be good must be " in as 
 few words and in like order" as the original author 
 employed, and upon one passage in particular he re- 
 marks with some apparent arrogance, " but the sense 
 I might wish my betters could render no worse." 
 
 Boukxe. Arrogance ! surely self-confidence would 
 have been a much more applicable word. 
 
 Elliot. Either, I think, would there be inappli- 
 cable, for Chapman is not talking of his own capa-
 
 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 63 
 
 bilitv as a poet, but merely of " the sense/' as a 
 faithful renderer of the work on which he was en- 
 gaged : he claims to himself no more merit than we 
 might give to a schoolboy. 
 
 Morton. On reading it again I find I did him in- 
 justice. The '■' Funerall Oration" is in fact a prose 
 satire, or burlesque, upon treating trifles as matters 
 of serious importance, and it contains, in my opinion, 
 nothing very well worth reading : the translation 
 from Juvenal, I fear, is not much better. 
 
 Bourne. We must have a quotation from that, 
 although it is merely a translation, and not precisely 
 within our limits, and although it may not lie a first 
 rate performance of the kind. 
 
 Mokton. I think the following lines some of the 
 best. 
 
 " First take it for a Rule, that if my Lord 
 
 Shall once be pleas'd to grace thee with his bord, 
 
 The whole reuenues that thy hopes inherit, 
 
 Rising from seruices of ancient merit, 
 
 In tins requital amply paid will prooue. 
 
 O 'tis the fruit of a transcendent loue 
 
 To giue one victuals ! That thy Table-King 
 
 Layes in thy dish, though nere so thinne a thing, 
 
 Yet that reproch still in thine eares shall ring. 
 
 If therefore after two moneths due neglect 
 
 He deignes his poore dependent to respect, 
 
 And lest the third bench fade to fill the ranck 
 
 He shall take the vp to supply the blanck:
 
 64 SIXTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Lots sit together Trebius (saies my Lord) 
 See all thy wishes sum'd vp in a word ! 
 What canst thou aske at Ioues hand after this ? 
 This grace to Trebius enough ample is., 
 To make him start from sleepe before the Larke 
 Poasting abroad vntrus'd, & in the darke, 
 Perplext with feare, lest all the seruile-rout 
 Of his saluters haue the round run out 
 Before he come, whiles yet the fixed Starre 
 Shewes his ambiguous head, & heauens cold Car 
 The slow Bootes wheeles about the Beare. 
 And yet, for all this, what may be the cheare ? 
 To such vile wine thy throat is made the sinck 
 As greasie woll would not endure to drink ; 
 And we must shortly looke to see our guest 
 Transformed into a Berecynthian Priest." 
 
 Elliot. The principal fault of that translation is, 
 that it seems to be, if any thing, too literal : the 
 writer cramps himself miserably in some of the lines 
 on this account. 
 
 Bourne. Yet a few of them flow with sufficient 
 ease, and the quotation just read opens very well. 
 
 Mortox. The whole is pointed, and more vigor- 
 ous in some of the expressions than might be ex- 
 pected from the age of the author. 
 
 Bourne. Then here we close for to-day. To- 
 morrow we will enter upon an examination of a 
 variety of pieces of a miscellaneous kind.
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON. 
 
 THE SEVENTH CONVERSATION.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Rarities provided for the day — Wynkyn de Worde's " Boke of 
 keruynge," and Mrs. Glass's Cookery — " Epulario or the Italian 
 Banquet," 1598, quoted in reference to Shakespeare, &c — 
 Thomas Churchyard, and Mr. G. Chalmers's Life of him — Ex- 
 cessive rarity of Churchyard's " Miserie of Flaunders, Calamitie of 
 Fraunce, &c Troubles of Scotland," &c. 1570, omitted by "War- 
 ton, Chalmers, Ritson, and all other bibliographers — Dedication 
 to the Queen— Extracts regarding the " Calamitie of Fraunce" — 
 Injustice done to Churchyard — Edward Lewicke's " History of 
 Titus and Gisippus," 1502, and its story told by Boccacio, Day X, 
 Nov. 8 — Curious specimens of Lewicke's poetry — Proof, contrary 
 to Walton's assertion, that Lewicke did not translate from Boccacio, 
 but copied Sir T. Elliot's " Governor," 1534 — Quotation from 
 Churchyard regarding the " Troubles of Scotlande" — On " the 
 blessed state of England," from the same; — Churchyard's concern 
 in the Flemish wars detailed in one of his tracts printed in 157!! — 
 Spenser's allusion to him in " Colin Clout's come home again," 
 and Churchyard's appropriation of it in his " Pleasaunt Discourse 
 of Court and Wanes," 15!Mi, with his applause of Spenser — His 
 " Tragedy of Shore's Wife," and the word tragedy, so used, ex- 
 plained — Jen-is Markham's " Most Honorable Tragedy of Sir 
 Richard Grinuile Knight," 1595: only one copy of it existing, and 
 its enormous price — Description of it — Address " to the Fayrest" 
 — Extract from the body of the poem — The manner of Sir R. 
 Grenville's deatli disputed — Quotations from a prose tract, dated 
 in 15111, relating to the conflict in which he fell, and especially to 
 his death— Robert Markham's " Description of that euer to be 
 famed Knight, Sir John Burgh," 1628: its absurdity — A MS. 
 
 r C Z
 
 GH CONTENTS. 
 
 poem by Sir R. Grenville, •* Iii praise of Seafaringe IMen," dis- 
 covered and quoted — Henry Constable's four un-rcpiinted Sonnets 
 " to Sir Philip Sidney's souk'." before the " Apologie of Poetrie" 
 of 15! Jo — Omission of them in Lord Thurlow's recent republica- 
 tion — Edward Wootton — Sir Henry Wootton's earliest produc- 
 tion — Bastard's Chrestokros, 15955, cited, regarding him and fish- 
 ing — Dr. Donne's " Progresse of the Soule," and Jlabclah — 
 Trajan a fisherman — Izaac Walton and an unknown poem called 
 " The Love of Amos and Laura," 16*19, dedicated to him — The 
 dedication extracted — Second edition of Marston's k - Pigmalions 
 Image," lo'l!) — Opening lines of "The Love of Amos and Laura," 
 with observations — Further extract — " Alcilia : Philoparthens 
 louing Folly," of the same date, and in the same volume — On 
 love-poems — It. Wilmot's "Tancred and Gismunda," 15!»2, and 
 Spenser referred to — Philoparthen on the inconsistency of lovers — 
 Who was Philoparthen ? — Division of his work — Specimen from 
 it: further quotation — Description of his mistress, from the same, 
 with criticisms — Dr. Edes, Dean of Worcester, an epigrammatist 
 according to Bastard — Minor poets of Elizabeth's reign — Barnabe 
 Googe; his translation of" the Zodiac of Life," and " the Popish 
 Kingdom," 1570 — " A new yeares gifte," attributed to him by 
 Ritson, not his — His " Prouerbes of Sir James Lopez de Men- 
 doza, Marquis of Santillana," &C. 1579 — Its existence doubted — 
 Quotations from it in praise of women, and on Cutu and Mitfucs 
 Scax'ola- — Rowland Broughton's poem on the death of the Mar- 
 quis of Winchester, 1572, noticed by Heloe — Character of Queen 
 Elizabeth by John Phillips, in his poetical tract on the death of 
 the Countess of Lenox in 1577.
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON. 
 
 THE SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. Having gone through all the English sa- 
 tirists, as far as you thought necessary, what is our 
 bill of fare to-day ? 
 
 Bourne. If you were that which you are not, an 
 absolute helluo librorum, your phrase from tbe table 
 d'hote might be perfectly in character : to follow it 
 up, as I am to be caterer, I have provided a variety 
 of dishes. 
 
 Morton. Rare and highly seasoned, I hope. 
 
 Elliot. We need not fear that, they will be savoury 
 enough. The fault of these musty, greasy, worm- 
 eaten relics generally is, that they are a little too high. 
 
 Morton. Yet you seem to have learnt to relish 
 them much better than when first we began our con- 
 versations. 
 
 Bourne. To drop the figure, here is a small pile 
 of books of a miscellaneous character that I have 
 looked out for our amusement, which contains no-
 
 70 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 thing but literary curiosities : — I mean that their 
 extreme rarity is even more distinguishing than the 
 positive and intrinsic value of several of them. 
 
 Elliot. Then in what order are we to take them, 
 or are we to proceed for the present without system r 
 
 Bourne. I apprehend that you will find in our 
 progress something of the " order in confusion" of 
 the poet, for most of the tracts are connected in one 
 way or another. 
 
 Morton. If they were not, it would not much 
 signify; therefore let us enter upon the examination 
 of this small pile of books, as you call it, without 
 loss of time. Who is the first author? " Tho. 
 Churchyard, Gent." 
 
 Bourne. Stay : if I am to be at the head of the 
 table, you must allow me to carve, or, at least, to 
 direct the order of the feast. You must be content 
 to take them as the several dishes are placed before 
 you, and not according to your own fancy. 
 
 Morton. I presume that you will be the last to 
 abandon ancient usages in this respect, and that all 
 your operations will be governed by ^ T ynkyn de 
 Worde's " Boke of keruynge." 
 
 Bourne. Of course, and I shall follow his sage 
 recommendation under the head " sendee, " that 
 before you begin to carve, you should " Take your 
 knyfe in your hade." 
 
 Elliot. In the very spirit of the celebrated Mrs. 
 Glasse, " Take an old hare that is good for nothing 
 else," or Swift's
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. /L 
 
 " Take a knuckle of veal, 
 You may buy it or steal." 
 
 Bourne. With Wynkyn de Worde's directions on 
 carving, and the instruction of " Epulario or the 
 Italian Banquet," (1589) as to the preparation and 
 arrangement of my banquet, I shall now order the 
 covers to be removed. 
 
 Morton. First letting us a little more into the 
 secret about that book you call Epulario. 
 
 Bourne. Here it is, at your service, and you will 
 find it nothing more than an old cookery book, afford- 
 ing a little amusement on account of the strangeness 
 of some of the dishes : for instance the following, 
 " To make Pies so that the Birds may be aliue in 
 them and flie out when it is cut vp." 
 
 Elliot. That is certainly of the utmost value, 
 being, no doubt, the origin of that famous old ballad, 
 the delight alike of babies and bibliographers ; 
 
 " Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, 
 Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie ; 
 When the pie was open'd the birds began to sing, 
 Was not that a dainty dish to set before the king?" 
 
 Read it by all means. 
 
 Bourne. I will, a part of it ; not to gratify your 
 love of ridicule, but because it affords a happy note of 
 illustration to Shakespeare's expression, " a custard 
 coffin" in his " Taming of the Shrew." "Make (says 
 the translator of Epulario, for it is from the Italian) ,
 
 11 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the coffin of a great Pie or pasty, in the bottome 
 whereof make a hole as big as your fist, or bigger if 
 you will ; let the sides of the coffin be somewhat 
 higher then ordinary Pies, which done put it full of 
 flower and bake it, and being baked open the hole 
 in the bottome and take out the flower." 
 
 Morton. And put the living birds in its place, 
 that, I take it, is the great secret. 
 
 Bourne. You have guessed it exactly, and we 
 need read no more of it. 
 
 Morton. While on the " antiquities of nursery 
 literature" (a subject rendered important by the 
 Quarterly Reviewers), let me ask, if you know with 
 what veneration you ought to look upon some noted 
 lines in " Mother Goose's Melodies." 
 
 Elliot. What edition? A most interesting in- 
 cpiiry ! What lines do you allude to in that splendid 
 and delightful work — splendid from its Dutch-gold 
 binding, and delightful from its classical subjects. 
 What are they ? 
 
 Morton. Those pathetic elegiac verses, 
 
 " Three children sliding on the ice 
 
 All on a summer's day, 
 It so fell out, they all fell in, 
 
 The rest they ran away," &c. 
 
 They are nearly 200 years old, and arc to be found, 
 with some variations, at the end of a travestie of 
 the story of Hero and Leander which I met with the
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 73 
 
 other day. It was published between 1040 and 1G50, 
 but I forget the precise date. 
 
 Bourne. If it be no older than that, it is not 
 of much consequence, though the various readings 
 perhaps might still be worth noting. — As I suppose 
 we have now done with these interesting matters, 
 we may proceed to the order of the day. 
 
 Morton. Your " order in confusion" — the feast 
 you have provided for us ; only I hope it will not be 
 like the " Roman smell-feast,"' of which we read in 
 Chapman's translation from Juvenal. Do not tanta- 
 lize us with the mere odour of your cates, without 
 allowing us to taste them. 
 
 Bourne. You need be under no apprehensions of 
 that kind. As you took up Thos. Churchyard's tract 
 first, we may begin with him. 
 
 Elliot. And begin with him by telling us who he 
 was. His name is not at all familiar to my ears. 
 
 Bourne. Perhaps not, for though he was a very 
 voluminous author, he has been very much neglected 
 until of late, when Mr. G. Chalmers took him under 
 his patronage, and reprinted most of his pieces re- 
 lating to Scotland. 
 
 Morton. And prefixed his life, as far as the par- 
 ticulars could be ascertained, did he not ? 
 
 Bourne. Yes, collecting them with much industry 
 and accuracy. — Cburchyard began writing in the 
 reign of Edward VI., but 1559 is the earliest date of 
 any extant and known performance by him, and he 
 did not cease to publish until after the death of
 
 74 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elizabeth. Here is Mr. Chalmers's production, and 
 at the end of the biographical sketch you will find a 
 long- list of Churchyard's pieces, which, generally 
 speaking, is accurate, with however one \ery im- 
 portant omission. 
 
 Morton. That is singular, for I suppose there are 
 few men of more knowledge or research upon these 
 subjects than Mr. Chalmers. 
 
 Bourne. Unquestionably: the omission was of 
 the more consequence to him, because the work of 
 Churchyard he has not included, and had of course 
 not seen (but which is now before us) contains a 
 tolerably long poem on the " Troubles of Scotland," 
 which Mr. Chalmers would not have failed to quote 
 in his book had lie been aware of its existence. It 
 is also omitted by Warton and Ritson, and after 
 them by all writers on our old poets. 
 
 Elliot. That sufficiently proves its great rarity. 
 What do you call it ? 
 
 Bourne. " The Miserie of Flavnders, Calamitie 
 of Fraunce, Misfortune of Portugall, Vnquietnes of 
 Jrelande, Troubles of Scotlande : And the blessed 
 State of Englande. Written by Tho. Churchyarde, 
 Gent. 1579." Imprinted at London for Andrewe 
 Maunsell. The size, you see, is the old .-mail quarto, 
 and it consists of only '20 leaves. 
 
 Morton. If all those subjects are treated it must 
 be very compendious, or contain a great deal in a 
 little compass. 
 
 Bourne. They are treated separately but summa-
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 75 
 
 rily. The dedication is " To the Queenes most ex- 
 cellent Maiestie, Thomas Churchyard wisheth all 
 heauenly blessednesse, worldly fclicitie and vnre- 
 niouable good Fortune." The first sentence is worth 
 reading, as it refers to the object of the writer's un- 
 wearied literary labours : " Hauing" (says he) " a 
 duetifull desire, moste redoubted soueraigne, to be 
 daily exercised in some seruisable deuice and action 
 (that maie please my Prince and countrey) I neither 
 spare paines nor season to purchase through practise 
 of pen, and studie of heade my desired hope," and 
 in the end he states this tract to be one of several 
 new years' gifts of the same kind he had made to 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Elliot. The topics adverted to in the title-page 
 seem interesting : are they well handled ? 
 
 Bourne. Some of them are, making allowances 
 for the early date of the performance : Churchyard, 
 generally, has had injustice done to him, because his 
 readers compared his works with those of Daniel 
 or Drayton, when in fact he began to write nearly 
 half a century before them, and had formed his 
 style upon older and less improved models. 
 
 Mortox. lie himself claims the authorship of 
 some of the poems by " uncertain authors," in Tot- 
 tel's Miscellany of 1557. 
 
 Bourne. lie does, though they cannot now be 
 separated: lie was for some time in the service of 
 Lord Surrey. He should be estimated, therefore,
 
 70 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 by a comparison with writers about that date, and 
 not with later poets, because it was his misfortune 
 not to die until 1604. — You must not tail to bear 
 this in mind while I read the following quotation 
 from that part of the tract before us that relates to 
 the " Calamitie of Fraunce." 
 
 " Thei lost in fecld two hundreth thousande men, 
 Yet still their mindes on murther ran so faste 
 Thei went about nothying but bloodshed then 
 To fight it out, as long as life might laste ; 
 Revenge did woorke & weaue an endlesse webbe 
 Desire of will, a wofull threede did spinne, 
 The floodc of hate, that neuer thinks of cbbe, 
 A swellyng Sea of strife brought gushing in. 
 The rooted wrathe had spred such braunches out. 
 That leaues of loue were blasted on the bowe, 
 Yet spitfull tvviggs began so faste to sprout 
 That from the harte the tree was rotten throwe. 
 No kindly sappc did comforte any spraie, 
 Both barke & stocke and bodye did decaie : 
 So that it seemde the soile infected was 
 With malice moods that smells of mischief greate. 
 Their golden lande, was tournde to rustic Bras, 
 And eche thyng wrought, as God had curst the seate : 
 The groud thought scorne to bryng forth frute in 
 
 time, 
 The Vines did rotte, the blade would beare no eorne, 
 Like Winter foule became the Summers Prime, 
 The pleasant plotts brought forth wilde brier & thorn
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 77 
 
 With Raine & storme the lande was vexed still : 
 The ire of God the people could not shunne, 
 Great grewe the greef that came by headstrong will, 
 And all these plagues by proude conceit begonne, 
 That thought to rule perhapps past reasons lore ; 
 Threate that who please, my muse not framde there- 
 fore." 
 
 Elliot. It begins better than it concludes : 
 
 " The flood of hate that never thinks of ebb, 
 A swellyng Sea of strife brought gushing in," 
 
 is very good, as well as the introductory lines ; but 
 Churchyard afterwards runs his figure of the tree off 
 its legs. 
 
 Moktox. lie carries it out injudiciously into the 
 minutice ; neither does it seem very clear why because 
 " spiteful twigs began so fast to sprout" it should 
 follow, that " from the heart the tree was rotten 
 through.*' 
 
 Bourne. It certainly looks like a non sequitur, 
 unless we reflect that we often see shoots and twigs 
 more flourishing upon a tree whose heart is rotten, 
 than on another that is sound ; and for this reason, 
 that the " kindly sap" ascending up the bark has 
 only to nourish those shoots and twigs and not the 
 main trunk, which is decayed. 
 
 Elliot. At any rate you have made an ingenious 
 reconcilement of the matter. 
 
 Bournk. The following additional extract, from
 
 78 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the same division of the poem, is remarkable for its 
 applicability to transactions within our own memory 
 during the French Revolution. 
 
 " O Fraunce, who lookes vpon thy bloodie waies, 
 
 And notes but halfe the pageant thou hast plaied, 
 
 Will be therefore the wiser all their daies, 
 
 Or at the least, will howrely bee afraied 
 
 To plaie suche pranks as thou poore Fraunce hast 
 
 doon : 
 Thou hadst a tyme and wretched race to run 
 For others weale, that can good Avarnyng take ; 
 Thy neighbours have had laisure to regarde 
 The harms of thee, and so a mirrour make 
 Of thy greate doole and dulfull destinie hard. 
 Can greater plagues bee seen in any soile 
 Then reuell rage and hauocke euery waie ? 
 A ciuille warre, with wicked waiste & spoile ; 
 A deadlie botche that striks stoute harte by dale 
 And kills by night the harmles in his bedde : 
 O ciuill warre, thou hast a Hidras hedde ; 
 A Vipers kinde, a Serpentes nature throwe, 
 A Spider's shape, a forme of vglie Tode, 
 A Deulishe face, a shameksse blotted browe, 
 A bloodie hande at home 8: eke abrode." 
 
 Elliot. The greater portion of that extract is 
 singularly applicable to events almost of our own 
 day ; for the poetry much cannot be said 3 there is 
 little choice or originality in the epithets.
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 79 
 
 Morton. The description of civil war is a curious 
 compound : it begins with a horse's head and ends 
 in a fish's tail with a vengeance. 
 
 Bourne. But ri&um teneatis principally for the 
 reason I have already stated : many of the lines are 
 by no means deficient in spirit ; indeed what relates 
 to France is the best part of the whole pamphlet. 
 In some degree to show in what way, and how far 
 old Churchyard has had injustice done him, I will 
 refer you to the work of an actual contemporary, 
 which will illustrate the point, and is, at the same 
 time, a most singular curiosity : a production of 
 greater rarity cannot easily be mentioned, and it re- 
 cently sold for a sum very little short of the price 
 obtained for Micro-cynicon, the unique volume of 
 satires I showed you the other day. 
 
 Elliot. I hope it was better worth the money — 
 I mean intrinsically, for I allow the value of Micro- 
 cynicon as one link in the chain of satirists. 
 
 Bourne. I woidd not have you expect too much 
 from the tract in my hand, although the story to 
 which it refers has been excellently told by Doccacio 
 (Gior. X. Nov. 8.) You remember it, I dare say : 
 it is that of Titus and Gisippus. Warton (II. E. 
 P. III. 4()B.) asserts that this author translated from 
 Iioccacio, but this is not the fact, as I will convince 
 you presently. 
 
 Elliot. But who is the author of your English 
 version of the tale ? he showed some judgment in 
 selecting an interesting; fable.
 
 80 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. His name is Edward Lewieke, and I am 
 afraid that what you have mentioned is the principal 
 merit that critical charity can allow him. The title 
 of his book is the following : " The most wonderful 
 and pleasaunt History of Titus andGisippus, whereby 
 is fully declared the figure of perfect frcndshyp : 
 drawen into English metre By Edwarde Lewieke. 
 Anno 15G C 2." 
 
 Morton. He seems very modest — he only pre- 
 tends to have " drawn it into English metre," he 
 sets up no claim on the score of poetry. According 
 to Ritson, I perceive, a considerably elder poet, of 
 the name of William Walter, had translated the 
 story into verse. 
 
 Bourne. And some specimens may be found in 
 Dibdin's Ames, (II. 338.) Notwithstanding the 
 better models that Lewieke possessed, and the ad- 
 vance poetry had made under the authors of Tottel's 
 Miscellany, his translation is not much better than 
 the version by Walter. Lewicke's opening stanza is 
 this : 
 
 " There was in the city of Home 
 A noble man hight Fuluius : 
 A Senatour of great wisdome 
 One of the chiefest, the truth is thus. 
 He had a Sonne named Titus, 
 An apter child could not be found 
 (As witty men did there discus) 
 For learning going on the ground."
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 81 
 
 Morton. The form of the stanza seems by no 
 means happily chosen, requiring - four similar rhymes, 
 especially when we recollect that our language was 
 not at that time so pliable as to be easily wrought 
 into strange shapes. 
 
 Elliot. However, let us hear a little more of it : 
 one stanza will not enable us to form a judgment 
 ev r en of the versification. 
 
 Morton. I have but an indistinct recollection of 
 the story. Titus and Gisippus were, I know, two 
 friends, the first a Roman and the last a Greek, who 
 studied under the same master at Athens, and be- 
 came enamoured of the same lady. 
 
 Bourne. Yes 5 and Gisippus was about to be mar- 
 ried when Titus fell in love with his intended bride, 
 and Gisippus, who seems to have preferred his friend 
 to his wife, resigned his claim. Titus returns to 
 Italy, leaving Gisippus in Athens, who soon afterwards 
 becomes a poor wanderer and reaches Rome : there he 
 sees Titus, who is living in great splendor, and ima- 
 gines that he will not condescend to recognize him, 
 or in the modern phrase, that Titus cut him. Gisip- 
 pus first resolves to destroy himself, but abandoning 
 that purpose, falls into a sort of trance in a barn. 
 At night a robber, who had committed a murder, 
 takes the knife of the sleeping Gisippus, and dipping 
 it in the blood, returns the instrument to the hand 
 of the owner, who is soon afterwards charged with 
 the crime. On his trial, Titus, for the first time, 
 
 VOL. II. (,
 
 H c l SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 recollects Gisippus, and to save his friend accuses 
 himself as the guilty man: the real murderer, who 
 was in the crowd, conscience-struck, avows his 
 offence ; he is pardoned, and of course the two 
 friends end their days in the utmost happiness. This 
 is the outline of the story, which lias been very 
 similarly worked up by different authors. Goldsmith 
 has told it very elegantly under different names in 
 his Bee. 
 
 Elliot. It is by no means one of the best even of 
 the serious tales of Boccacio, and he introduces a 
 tremendously long harangue into the middle of it. 
 
 Bourxe. So does your name-sake, Sir Thomas 
 Elliot, from whose prose narrative Lewicke almost 
 copied, as I will prove after you have heard the 
 following stanzas from one of the most interesting 
 parts : what I have said of the story will make them 
 intelligible. 
 
 " There in a sorie simple state, 
 Gisippus thence away did trudge, 
 Cursing his chance infortunate. 
 Oh lord, thought he, what man wold nidge 
 Titus to haue bene such a snudge, 
 From whom I suffer all this smart ; 
 Gisippus thus at him did grudge 
 Thinking for euer to depart," 
 
 Morton. The wretched rhyme oLsnndgc shows to 
 what shifts the author was driven by hi-, stanza. 
 What is the meaning; of that word ;
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 83 
 
 Bourne. Lewicke might have supplied Mr. Todd 
 with an authority for it, who truly explains it to be 
 a " sneaking fellow," but he furnishes no quotation : 
 you interposed in the middle of a sentence ; the tale 
 proceeds, Gisippus being determined " for ever to 
 depart," 
 
 " From Rome and wander the desert 
 As a beast with madnes possest : 
 But yet he was well faine to start 
 (Being with werines opprest) 
 Into an old barne to take rest, 
 AVhere he falling flat on the ground 
 Drew out his knife, & thought it best 
 To geue himself a deadly wounde. 
 
 But wisdome did his wil so drounde 
 
 That from that act it did him kepe, 
 
 Until he fell into a sounde 
 
 Or (as god would as he did slepe) 
 
 Into a sad and slumbring slepe : 
 
 His knife, wherwith he would haue slain 
 
 himself, downe by his side did stepe. 
 
 In the meanetime a thefe certaine, 
 
 Which was a commen ruffian playne, 
 And had both robbed and slaine a man, 
 Thought in that barne for to remaine, 
 To hide him selfe that night ; but whan 
 He sawe a wretch, bewcpt and wan, 
 On slep and a knife by his side,
 
 84 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 He toke the knife and quietly than 
 Towardes the dead man he did glide. 
 
 Into his wound both depe and wide 
 (Which at that time did freshlye blede) 
 He put the knife, thinkinge to hide 
 His owne vile acte and miseheuous dede ; 
 And brought it all blodie with spede 
 To poore Gysippus where he laye 
 Aslepe and put it (without drede) 
 Into his hand and went his way." 
 
 Elliot. That is mere narration : it is perspicuous, 
 and it aims at nothing more. 
 
 Bourne. For that perspicuity, and even for some 
 of his very words and phrases, Lewickc was in- 
 debted, not to Boccacio (we cannot allow him that 
 credit), but merely to Sir T. Elliot's " Governor," 
 which was first published, I believe, in 1534, and 
 between that date and 15SO went through 8 or 10 
 editions. A few sentences will enable you to make 
 a sufficient comparison. " And therwith drew his 
 knife, purposing to haue slain him selfe. But euer 
 wisedome (whiche he by the study of Philosophy 
 had attaied) withdrew him frome that desperate 
 acte. And in this contencion &c. or as god wolde 
 haue it, he fell into a depe slepe. 1 1 is knife 
 (wherwith he woulde haue slaine him self) falling 
 down by him. In the meane time a commune 
 and notable rufia or thefe whiche had robbed
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 85 
 
 and slaine a man, was entred into the harne, where 
 (iisippus laie ; the entente to soiorne there all that 
 nyghte. And seeing Gisippus bewept, and his 
 visage replenished with sorrowe, and also the naked 
 knife by him, perceiued well, that he was a man 
 desperate, & surprised with heauinesse of herte was 
 werye of his life : which the saied rufyan takyng for 
 a good occasion to escape, toke the knife of Gisippus 
 and putting it in the wound of him that was slain, 
 put it all bloody in the hand of Gisippus, beyng faste 
 a slepe, and so departed." 
 
 Elliot. There is not only a strong resemblance 
 throughout, but a perfect identity in some passages. 
 Warton was certainly in an error. 
 
 Bourne. It is not worth while to read any more 
 from Lewicke's production ; what we have seen will 
 fully answer the purpose for which I brought it for- 
 ward. At the end is the following colophon : " Im- 
 printed at London by Thomas Hacket, and are to be 
 solde at hys shop in Lumbarde Streete." Mr. Dibdin 
 (Ames IV. 581.) had never seen the book, and calls 
 it a 4to., when, in fact, it is only an 8vo. AVe may 
 now return to Churchyard : the following lines are 
 from that part of his tract which treats of the 
 " Troubles of Scotlande," and are part of what Mr. 
 Chalmers would have inserted in his reprint had he 
 known of the existence of such a poem. 
 
 " Shall man that hath the reason to forbeare 
 Be worse then beast : () God that fault forbid !
 
 86 SEVENTH CONVERSATION 
 
 Shall malice find a place and succour there, 
 Where Gods greate gifts ought lie like treasure hid r 
 Shall harts of men (the temple of the Lorde) 
 Lodge murther vile, & nourish foule discorde ? 
 Shall those that knowes what lawe & peace is worth 
 Breake Lawe & Peace, and breede dessention still ? 
 The tree is bad that bryngs suche braunches forth, 
 The hedds are vaine, that showes no deeper skill j 
 The ground is nought that breeds such scratting 
 
 brers, 
 And soile not good where murther still appers." 
 
 Elliot. That is not exactly quasi divino quodam 
 spiritu injlatum. 
 
 Bourne. I do not pretend that it is ; Churchyard 
 is there grave and didactic, and you must not expect 
 him at any time to write in the florid and ambitious 
 style of the " towering falcon," Fitzgeffrey : he was 
 a poet of quite another class, as well as of a dif- 
 ferent age. 
 
 Elliot. What does he say of the " blessed state 
 of England ?" That will of course be interesting. 
 
 Bourne. I am afraid that it will not exactly suit 
 your taste. 
 
 " Here haue we scope to skippe or walke, 
 
 to ronne & plaie at base; 
 Still voide of fearc, and free of minde, 
 
 in euery poincte and cace. 
 Here freends maie meete and talke at will.. 
 
 the Prince K. Lawe obaied;
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 87 
 
 And neether strange nor home borne childe, 
 
 of Fortune stands afraied. 
 Here hands doe reape the seeds thei sowe, 
 
 and heads haue quiet sleeps ; 
 And wisedome gouerns so the worlde, 
 
 that reason order keeps. 
 Here mercie rules, and mildnesse raigns 
 
 and peace greate plentie bryngs ; 
 And solace in his sweetest voice 
 
 the Christmas carrowle syngs. 
 Here freends maie feast, and triumphe too, 
 
 in suertie voide of ill ; 
 And one the other welcome make 
 
 with mirthe and warme good will. 
 The ground it bryngs suche blessyng forthe, 
 
 that glad are forraigns all, 
 Amid their want and hard extreems 
 
 in favour here to faull : 
 Here wounded staets doe heale their harms 
 
 and straungers still repaire ; 
 W hen mischief makes them marche abroad, 
 
 and driue them in dispaire. 
 Here thousands haunt and linde releef, 
 
 that are in heauie cace, 
 And friendly folke with open armes 
 
 doeth sillie soules embrace. 
 Here thyngs are cheape, and easly had, 
 
 no soile the like can showe ; 
 No state nor Kyngdome at this daie 
 
 doeth in such plentie flowe.
 
 88 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 The trau'lar that hath paste the worlde, 
 
 and gone through many a lande : 
 
 When lie comes home, and noets these thyngs 
 to heauen holds vj) hande ; 
 
 And museth how this little plotte 
 
 can yeeld suche pleasures greate : 
 
 It argues where suche graces growe, 
 that God hath blest the seate." 
 
 Elliot. I like that better than you seem to do ; 
 there is a great air of cheerfulness and contentment 
 about it : the quotation affords a very lively and plea- 
 sant picture of the condition of the kingdom under 
 Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Bourne. I am inclined to think that this pro- 
 duction, on the whole, is one of the best that has 
 proceeded from Churchyard's pen. However, we 
 have now gone through all that it is worth our 
 while to read from it. 
 
 Morton. It appears from his " True Discourse 
 historical of the succeeding Governors in the Nether- 
 lands" of 1G02, that he was most importantly con- 
 cerned in the wars of the Low Countries : does he 
 say nothing material regarding them in that part of 
 the tract before you, referring to " the Misery of 
 Flanders ?" 
 
 Bourne. Nothing worth reading, I assure you : 
 in another work by him, printed in 1578, and called 
 " a Lamentable and pilifull Description of the wofull 
 warres in Flanders," he enters into more details than 
 in 1G02, and in the dedication of it to 8ir F. Wal-
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 89 
 
 singham, he mentions his design to publish the 
 tract on which we are now engaged. It shows that 
 some of the most learned men who write about 
 books never read them, or Mr. Chalmers from hence 
 would have been put upon the scent for " the 
 Miserie of Llavnders," &c. 
 
 Elliot. That is not a matter of great conse- 
 quence. Was Churchyard in much repute with his 
 contemporaries : 
 
 Bourxe. That point is treated in Chalmers's Life, 
 and you will find that while Gabriel Harvey abuses 
 him, Thomas Nash greatly applauds his " Tragedy 
 of Shores Wife." There is, however, one poet of 
 the highest rank, I mean Spenser, who bestows a 
 few compassionate lines upon him in his " Colin 
 Clouts come home again :" this is not mentioned by 
 Chalmers. 
 
 Morton. Lord Buckhurst, Drayton, Alabaster, 
 Daniel, and others, are there alluded to, but I do not 
 recollect Churchyard. 
 
 Bourxe. The following four lines refer to him : 
 
 " And there is old Palemon free from spight 
 Whose carefull pipe may make the hearer rew ; 
 Yet he himselfe may rewed be more right, 
 Who sung so long until quite hoarse he gretv." 
 
 Elliot. As Churchyard is not named, how do you 
 prove that the allusion is to him — by inference ? 
 
 Bourxe. The description is almost sufficient, 
 though it does not seem to have occurred to Mr.
 
 90 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Todd when he published his edition of Spenser. 
 But it is put beyond a doubt by the following stanza 
 in Churchyard's " Pleasaunt Discourse of Court & 
 Wars," 1596, which I found on looking over a 
 variety of his productions. He is speaking of the 
 Court, which he says is 
 
 " The platform where all Poets thriue. 
 Sane one whose voice is hoarse they say ; 
 The stage where time away we driue, 
 As children in a pageant play ; 
 To please the lookers on sometime 
 With words, with bookes, in prose or rime." 
 
 Elliot. That fixes the description upon him very 
 satisfactorily. " Colin Clouts come home again," 
 was published in 1595. 
 
 Bourne. In his " Challenge," 1598, Churchyard 
 had praised Spenser " in a new kind of Sonnet," the 
 novelty of which consists in all the lines but the 
 two last (twenty-two in number) rhyming to the 
 words ivar and shove, lie drearily laments, at the 
 same time, his own incompetence, and the folly of 
 his young overweening ambition. It is scarcely 
 worth the trouble of reading, but you may find it in 
 Cens. Lit. II. p. 809. 
 
 Elliot. You mentioned just now " the Tragedy 
 of Shore's Wife'' by Churchyard. Did it come upon 
 the stage, or has Rowe availed himself of it in his 
 " Jane Shore :" 
 
 Boukne. You mistake, the word tragedy there
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 91 
 
 does not mean a dramatic composition: it refers to 
 his Legend of Jane Shore, in the Mirror for Magi- 
 strates 3 many poems of a tragical nature, but not 
 at all in the form of plays, were at that time called 
 Tragedies : Dante (Inf. XX. 113), in the same way, 
 makes Virgil speak of his JEneid as, 
 
 Valla mia Tragedia in alcun loco, &c. 
 and he further explains the application of the word 
 in his work Delia volgare Eloquenza — Per tragccdiam 
 superiorem stilum induimus, per comccdiam inferiorem, 
 per elegiam stilum intelligimus meserorum. 
 
 Mortox. Jervis Markham's Tragedy of Sir R. 
 Grenville is precisely in point ; and some account of 
 the contents of that poem (which, indeed, you pro- 
 mised us), will better illustrate the matter than any 
 quotation you can make. 
 
 Elliot. I am rather curious to see that produc- 
 tion, from the lavish praise Fitzgeffrey bestows upon 
 it in the quotation we read from his " Drake" in our 
 first conversation. 
 
 Bourxe. I remember I told you at the time, that 
 the applause was far beyond what Markham's poem 
 deserved, and I have no objection now to establish 
 my assertion by a few quotations. As to your see- 
 ing the book itself, that is out of the question, as 
 but one copy of it is known, and that, if 1 mistake 
 not, is now in the possession of the lion. T. (iren- 
 ville, whose family is descended from the hero of 
 the poem.
 
 92 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. In what way did he obtain it ? 
 
 Bourne. As you might have done, if you would 
 have bid high enough — at an auction. It was sold 
 among the books of the late Mr. Bindley, and came 
 previously out of the collection of Major Pearson. 
 Mr. Grenville gave no less a sum for it than 40/. 19s. 
 though only the size of a very small modern 18mo. 
 
 Elliot. How extravagantly dear! 
 
 Bourne. On the contrary, bibliomaniacs thought 
 it shamefully cheap, and the purchaser would have 
 given much more for it rather than not have secured 
 it. The title runs thus, " The Most Honorable 
 Tragedie of Sir Richard Grinuile [Knight. — Bramo 
 assai, poco spero, nulla chieggio. — Printed by J. 
 Roberts for Richard Smith 1595." 
 
 Morton. Then Markham's name does not appear. 
 
 Bourne. Not upon the title-page, but the de- 
 dication to " Lord Montioy," which immediately 
 follows, is signed "lends Markham .•" it is suc- 
 ceeded by three sonnets, the first to the Earl of 
 Sussex, the second to the Earl of Southampton (in- 
 serted in Rest. III. 414), and the third to Sir Edward 
 Wingfield. Next we have " the argument of the 
 whole Tragedie," to which are subjoined " faults 
 escaped in printing." 
 
 Elliot. How minute you are in your description : 
 as if the " faults escaped in printing" would give us 
 a better idea of the merit of the poem. 
 
 Bourne. 1 should not be so particular if the poem
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. <>3 
 
 had ever been described before ; but, excepting the 
 sonnet to Lord Southampton, no part of it has ever 
 been reprinted or quoted. A new leaf is headed, 
 " The most honorable Tragedie of Sir Richard 
 Grinuile Knight," and under it an address " To the 
 Fayrest," which, I suppose, means the poet's mistress. 
 
 Morton. Not " to the fairest" Elizabeth, the 
 queen ; the subject (according to Mr. Chalmers, in 
 his " Supplemental Apology") of the Sonnets of 
 Spenser and Shakespeare. 
 
 Bourne. No; it is certain that Markham means 
 some other female, to the full as beautiful, by the 
 following stanza in the address: 
 
 " To thee fo ire Nymph, my life, my loue, my gaze, 
 My soules first mouer, essence of my blisse, 
 Thought-chast Dictinna, Natures only maze, 
 Heauen of all whatever heauenlie is; 
 More white than Atlas browe or Pelops blaze, 
 Compleat perfection which all creatures misse : 
 More louelie than was bright Astioche 
 Or Ivnos hand-mayd sacred Diope." 
 
 This is the more clear, because in the last stanza but 
 one of this part of the poem, he expressly turns to 
 Elizabeth, 
 
 "■ And with her thou great Souereigne of the earth, 
 Onelie immatchlesse monarchesse of harts !" 
 
 Morton. I suppose you can afford us some quota- 
 tion from the body of Markham's work ? 
 
 Bourne. Yes; in the following stanzas the poet
 
 94 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 is describing- Sir R. Grenville's eagerness to enter 
 into the engagement with the Spaniards. 
 
 " Looke how a wanton bridegroome in the morne 
 Busilie labours to make glad the day, 
 And at the noone, with wings of courage borne 
 Recourts his bride with dauncing and with play, 
 Vntil] the night, which holds meane blisse in scorne, 
 By action kills imaginations sway; 
 
 And then, cuen then, gluts and confounds his 
 thought 
 
 With all the sweets, conceit or Nature wrought. 
 
 " Even so our Knight, the bridegroome vnto Fame, 
 
 Toil'd in this battailes morning with unrest 
 
 At noone triumph'd, and daunst and made his game, 
 
 That vertue by no death could be deprest ; 
 
 But when the night of his loues longings came, 
 
 Euen then his intellectual soule contest 
 
 All other ioyes imuginarie were 
 
 Honour vnconquer'd, heauen and earth held deare. 
 
 " The bellowing shotte which wakened dead mens 
 
 swounds, 
 As Dorian musick sweetened in his eares : 
 Ryuers of blood, issuing from fountainc wounds, 
 He pytties but augments not with his teares. 
 The flaming tier which mercilesse abounds, 
 Hee not so much as masking torches feares; 
 The dolefull Eccho of the soules halt' dying 
 Quicken his courage, in their baneful! crying."
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 95 
 
 Elliot. It seems, as well as Ave can judge, much 
 in the same puffed-up and heightened strain as Fitz- 
 geffrey, only the latter exceeded his prototype. 
 
 Bourne. Markham goes on in a similar style for 
 a few more stanzas, and then he represents Mis- 
 fortune (who is personified) descending to destroy Sir 
 Richard Grenville : the poet exclaims ; 
 
 " O why should such immortall enuie dwell 
 In the inclosures of eternall mould ? 
 Let Gods with Gods, and men with men rebell 
 Vnequall warres, vnequall shame is soul'd ; 
 But for this damned deede came shee from Hell 
 And Ioue is sworne, to doe what dest'r.ie would : 
 Weepe then my pen, the tell-tale of our woe, 
 And curse the fount from whence our sorrowes 
 flowe." 
 
 Elliot. Most assuredly nothing you have read 
 warrants the extravagant eulogium by Fitzgeffrey. 
 
 " Quaintly he hath eternized his acts 
 
 In lasting registers of memory 
 
 Even co-eternall with eternity ; 
 
 So that the world envies his happy state 
 
 That he should live when it is ruinate." 
 
 Morton. Markham's last stanza ends with a very 
 paltry conceit. In what way docs Misfortune execute 
 her fearful mission ? 
 
 Bourne. Mot very poetically — by taking a musket 
 and mortally wounding Sir R. Grenville.
 
 96 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. Writing*, as he did, so soon after the 
 event, Markham was probably confined too much by 
 the truth of history to be able to terminate his poem 
 differently. 
 
 Morton. You remember, perhaps, what Racine 
 says in the preface to his Bojazet, that to a poet the 
 distance of the country where his scene is laid, is of 
 much the same use as the lapse of time, car le petiple 
 tie met giterc de difference entre ce qui est a mille ans 
 de lui, el ce qui est a mille lieues. According to this 
 rule, Markham might fairly have availed himself of 
 some poetical licence in describing the death of his 
 hero. 
 
 Elliot. That of course must depend upon the 
 notoriety of the facts. Racine's remark applies 
 merely to dramatic poetry, and to the respect enter- 
 tained by audiences for the heroes of tragedies — 
 major e longinquo reverentia. 
 
 Bourne. It seems agreed on all hands, that Sir R. 
 Grenville was shot, but the time and mode of his 
 death are disputable. Camden, in his Annals, touches 
 the matter very briefly • but here is a scarce con- 
 temporary pamphlet relating to this very conflict : it 
 purports to be " A Report of the Truth of the Fight 
 about the lies of the Azores this last Summer Be- 
 twixt the Revenge, one of her Majesties Shippes, 
 and the Armada of the King of Spaine." It was 
 printed in 1591, and in it the manner of the deatlt 
 of Sir R. Grenville is differently related. I do not
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 97 
 
 think that the poet does justice to his subject : you 
 will find by the extracts I am going to read, that 
 ample room was afforded him. The fleet Avas under 
 the conduct of Lord T. Howard, Sir It. Grenville 
 being vice-admiral in the Revenge. Camden charges 
 him with fool-hardy bravery ; and certain it is, that 
 while Lord T. Howard was enabled to escape from 
 the very superior force of the enemy, consisting of 
 nearly sixty ships of various sizes, Sir It. Grenville, 
 according to the pamphlet, was obliged to sustain 
 the brunt of the battle, and fell foul of the San Philip, 
 an enormous vessel of 1500 tons, with " three tire 
 of ordinance on a side, and eleven pieces in euerie 
 tire," and shooting " eight forth-right out of her 
 chase, besides those of her sterne ports." 
 
 Morton. What was the size and force of the 
 Revenge ? 
 
 Bourne. That does not appear, but it seems that 
 the odds were fearful, as the English crews were 
 sick, and many on shore : this is a part of the rela- 
 tion. " After the Revenge was entangled with this 
 Philip, foure other boorded her; two on her larboord 
 and two on her starboord. The light thus beginning 
 at three of the clocke in the after noone, continued 
 verie terrible all that evening. P>ut the great San 
 Philip hauing receyued the lower tire of the Revenge 
 discharged with crossbarshot, shifted her selfe with 
 all diligence from her sides, vtterly misliking her 
 first entertainment After many interchanged 
 
 vol. n. u
 
 98 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 vollcies of great ordinance and small shot, the Spani- 
 ards deliberated to enter the Revenge, and made 
 divers attempts, hoping to force her by the multitudes 
 of their armed Souldiers and Musketiers, but were 
 still repulsed againe and againe, and at all times 
 beaten backe into their own shippes, or into the 
 seas. . . . After the fight had thus without intermis- 
 sion cotinued while the day lasted, and some houres 
 of the night, many of our men were slaine and hurt, 
 and one of the great Gallions of the Armada, and the 
 Admirall of the IJulkes both sunke, and in many 
 other of the Spanish ships great slaughter was made. 
 Some write that sir Richard was verie dangerouslie 
 hurt almost in the beginning of the fight, and laie 
 speechlesse for a time ere he recouered. But two of 
 the Reuenges owne companie, brought home in a 
 ship of Lime from the Ilandes, examined by some 
 of the Lords and others, affirmed that he was neuer 
 so wounded as that hee forsooke the vpper decke, 
 til an houre before midnight ; and then being shot 
 into the bodie with a Musket as he was a dressing, 
 was againe shot into the head, and withall his (Jhirur - 
 gion wounded to death." 
 
 Morton. I see, by reference, that that statement 
 agrees with what Camden relates, but he adds some- 
 thing about sinking the Revenge. 
 
 Bourne. He seems to have confounded the two 
 accounts of the death of Sir It. Grcnville: this pam- 
 phlet asserts that there was a second statement of
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 99 
 
 that catastrophe, viz. that Sir Richard, in despair of 
 escaping or defeating the enemy, prevailed upon the 
 master gunner to split and sink the ship with all the 
 crew, they having consented ; but terms being sent 
 from the Spaniards, the men were induced to change 
 their resolution, and they and their commander were 
 conveyed on board the enemy. On the second or 
 third day Sir Richard died of his wounds ; and the 
 pamphlet adds, " the comfort that remaineth to his 
 friendes is, that he hath ended his life honourably in 
 respect of the reputation wonne to his nation and 
 country, and of the same to his posteritie, and that 
 being dead, he hath not outliued his owne honour." 
 
 Elliot. The prose tract ends more poetically than 
 Markham's poem, and the whole narrative of the 
 unequal contest seems distinct and striking. 
 
 Bourne. It is : there are parts of the " Tragedy 
 of Sir R. Grenville" that are really very poor, but as 
 a whole, 1 think, it is better than the same author's 
 " Devoreux or Virtues Tears for the loss of the most 
 Christian King Henry," &c. 1597, from which I had 
 intended to show you some specimens, had I not 
 found that the poem has already been analyzed and 
 criticised elsewhere. 
 
 Morton, Did not Markham write a poem of the 
 same elegiac kind on one Sir John Burgh? I think I 
 have seen the title in some catalogue. 
 
 Bourne. I know what you allude to: that was 
 by Ruber I Markham, and it was not printed until
 
 100 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 1628. I do not know that this author was any relation 
 to Jervis Markham; there is an apparent relation- 
 ship in their styles, with this difference, that Robert 
 exaggerates to the utmost extravagance of absurdity 
 all the worst faults of Jervis. I am sure that the 
 subsequent lines from the opening of the " De- 
 scription of that euer to be famed Knight Sir .John 
 Burgh," will be all the specimen of his talents you 
 will ever wish to see. 
 
 " If teares could tell the story of my woe, 
 How I with sorrow pine away for thee, 
 My spungie eyes their bankes should ouerflow 
 And make a very Moore or Mire of me ; 
 I would out weepe a thousand Nyobyes, 
 For I would weepe till 1 wept out my eyes. 
 
 " My heart should drop such teares as did thy wound, 
 And my wound should keepe consort with my heart ; 
 In a red Sea my body should be drown'd, 
 My gall should breake and beare a bitter part, 
 Such crimson Rue as 1 would weepe should make 
 Democrates himselfe, a wormewood Lake." 
 
 Elliot. That is incomparably absurd, to be. sure. 
 The excess of his grief makes one's sides ache with 
 laughing at it. This is a special instance of the 
 " faulty sublime," of which Upton speaks, and 
 which he says is so much better than " a faultless 
 mediocrity." 
 
 Bourne. It would not improve your opinion oi
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 101 
 
 the taste of bibliomaniacs, if I were to tell you what 
 this trash sold for, not a year ago, among- the curiosi- 
 ties of an eminent collector. 
 
 Morton. It is worth something to have such an 
 unfailing source of merriment always at hand : the 
 owner may set the blue devils at defiance. 
 
 Bourxe. As we are not at present in want of its 
 assistance, and as we have other and better things to 
 attend to, we may close llobt. Markham's " Lament- 
 able Tragedy full of pleasant mirth," (as Preston 
 entitles his (i Cambises,") until we have more need 
 of it. 
 
 Elliot. To come back for a minute or two to 
 Churchyard. 
 
 Bourxe. We will do so directly; but before we 
 dismiss Sir R. Grenville from our minds, I wish to 
 show you a curiosity I discovered not long since 
 among theMSS. of the British Museum, (liibl. Sloan, 
 l'lut. XVIII. F.) which shows that Sir It. Grenville 
 is probably entitled to a place among the poets, as 
 well as among the heroes of his country. 
 
 Morton. Your position will at least have novelty 
 to recommend it. 
 
 Bourne. It will: the poem is entitled " In praise 
 of Seafaringe Men in hope of good fortune:" it has 
 no date, but it is in a hand writing of Queen Eliza- 
 beth's reign, and the following are the two last 
 stanzas :
 
 K>'2 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Whoe list at whome at cart to drudge 
 And cark and care for worldlie trashe, 
 With buckled sheues let him goe trudge 
 In stead of Launee A whip to lashe : 
 A minde that base his kind will show 
 of earonn swecte to feede a erowe. 
 
 " If Iasonn of that mynd had bine, 
 the grecions when they earn to troye 
 Had neuer so the Trogians foylde, 
 Nor neuer put them to such Anoye : 
 Wherefore who lust to Hue at whome. 
 To purchas fame I will go Rome. 
 Finis Sur Richard 
 Grinfilldes Farwell." 
 
 There are about five or six other stanzas which 
 precede what I have read, and in an opposite column, 
 by a different hand, is inserted an answer to them. 
 In the first line of the last stanza, bine is most likely 
 a mistake of the transcriber's for ioi/lde, to rhyme 
 withjbi/lde in the next line but one. 
 
 Elliot. It does not seem to merit much critical 
 comment, and the author is called Grinfillde not 
 Grenville. 
 
 Bourne. The variation of the name is no disproof 
 of the authorship : we have already seen it spelt four 
 different ways — Grinuile by Jervis Markham, Green- 
 vill by Camden, Grinvil by Fit/.getfrev, and Greuu'de
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 103 
 
 by the author of the prose pamphlet; and there 
 were at that time no fixed rules of orthography, 
 especially in names. I interrupted you when you 
 were going to ask a question about old Churchyard. 
 
 Elliot. It regarded a work, attributed to him by 
 Mr. Chalmers, which I apprehend must be very in- 
 teresting. I mean " A praise of poetry, some notes 
 thereof drawn out of the Apologie the noble-minded 
 knight, Sir Philip Sidney wrote." The date given 
 is 1596". 
 
 Bourne. It would not by any means come up to 
 your expectations, as there is little or nothing in it 
 original : but you may satisfy your curiosity by re- 
 ferring to Censura Literaria, where the tract is re- 
 viewed. Your mention of Sir P. Sidney here brings 
 us to something I had intended to postpone, but 
 which cannot perhaps be more properly introduced 
 than here ; I allude to four sonnets by Henry Con- 
 stable (a poet of very considerable note, author of 
 " Diana," 1594), prefixed to the very rare edition of 
 Sidney's " Apologie of Poetrie," 4to. 1595. They 
 have never been reprinted. 
 
 Morton. Pew of the minor poets of that day seem 
 to have enjoyed a higher reputation. 
 
 Bourne. He may fairly be ranked with Watson, 
 whose sonnets Mr. Steevens contended were equal to 
 those of Shakespeare : as I told you, I cannot agree 
 with him, nor do I believe that any man who knows 
 the one and the other, and has a particle of taste, will
 
 104 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 concur. Constable's Sonnets arc the following, and 
 are thus rather singularly entitled : 
 
 " Foure Sonnets Written by Henric 
 Constable to Sir Phillip Sidneys soule. 
 
 Giue pardon (blessed Soule) to my bold cryes 
 If they (importund) interrupt thy Song, 
 Which now with ioyfull notes thou sing'st among 
 The Angel-Quiristers of heau'nly skyes : 
 Giue pardon eake (sweete Soule) to my slow cries.. 
 That since I saw thee now it is so long, 
 And yet the teares that vnto thee belong 
 To thee as yet they did not sacrifice : 
 I did not know that thou wert dead before, 
 I did not feelc the griefe I did susteine, 
 " The greater stroke astonisheth the more, 
 " Astonishment takes from vs sence of paine , 
 I stood amaz'd when others teares begun, 
 And now begin to wcepe, when they haue doonc. 
 
 Sweet Soule which now with heau'nly songs doost teJ 
 Thy deare Redeemers glory and his prayse, 
 No meruaile though thy skilfull Muse assayes 
 The Songs of other soules there to excell ; 
 
 For thou didst learne to sing diuinely well, 
 
 Long time before thy fayre and glittering rayes 
 Enereas'd the light of heau'n, for euen thy layes 
 Most heauenly were when thou on earth didst 
 uwel :
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION 105 
 
 When thou didst on the earth sing Poet-wise, 
 Angels in heau'n pray'd for thy company 
 And now thou sing'st with Angels in the skies 
 Shall not all Poets praise thy memory ? 
 And to thy name shall not their works giue fame, 
 When as their works be sweetned by thy name : 
 
 Even as when great mens heires cannot agree, 
 So eu'ry vertue now for part of thee doth sue, 
 Courage prooues by thy death thy hart to be his 
 
 due, 
 Eloquence claimes thy tongue, and so doth cour- 
 tesy ; 
 Inuention knowledge sues, Iudgment sues memory, 
 Each safth thy head is his, and what end shall 
 
 ensue 
 
 Of this strife know I not, but this I know for true, 
 
 That whosoeuer gaines the sute the losse hauewee ; 
 
 Wee (I meane all the world) the losse to all pertaineth, 
 
 Yea they which gaine doe loose and onely thy 
 
 soule gaineth, 
 Eor loosing of one life, two liues are gained then : 
 Honor thy courage mou'd, courage thy death did 
 giue, 
 Death, courage, honor makes thy soule to liue, 
 Thy soule to liue in heau'n, thy name in tongues of 
 men. 
 
 Great Alexander then did well declare 
 
 How great was his united Kinadomes might,
 
 106 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 When eu'ry Captaine of his Army might 
 After his death with mighty Kings compare : 
 
 So now we see after thy death, how far 
 
 Thou dost in worth surpasse each other Knight, 
 When we admire him as no mortal wight, 
 In whom the least of all thy vertues are : 
 
 One did of Macedon the King become, 
 Another sat on the Egiptian throne, 
 I5ut onely Alexanders selfe had all : 
 So curteous some, and some be liberall, 
 
 Some witty, wise, valiant, and learned some 
 
 But King of all the vertues thou alone. 
 
 Ilennj Constable" 
 
 Elliot. The thought in the last of these sonnets 
 is happy, and happily applied. 
 
 Morton. And the lines run with much harmony 
 and facility. 
 
 Bourne. If they do not add to, they at least do 
 not detract from the fame of their author, 
 
 Morton. They are undoubtedly well worthy of 
 revival, not merely as curious relics. But did not 
 Lord Thurlow, a few years since, publish a reprint 
 of Sidney's " Apology of Poetry?" If so, I should 
 have taken it for granted that he did not omit these 
 sonnets. 
 
 Bourne. lie would not have omitted them had 
 he been aware of their existence, but his reprint is 
 made from an edition comparatively modern, and
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 107 
 
 even in the folio of 1598 the sonnets are unac- 
 countably excluded. 
 
 Elliot. I suppose there are no important omis- 
 sions in the body of the " Apology." 
 
 Bourne. No j but you will see that the edition of 
 1598 (which is called "The Defence of Poesie") 
 commences thus ; " When the right vertuous E. W. 
 and I were at the Emperours Court together." Now 
 the edition of 1595 gives the whole name instead of 
 the initials, viz. " Edwarde Wootton." 
 
 Elliot. Who was Edward Wootton ? If Fulke 
 Greville thought it worthy of mention in his Epitaph 
 that he was the friend of Sir P. Sidney, his other 
 friends deserve to be inquired after. 
 
 Boukxe. No doubt he was brother to Sir Henry 
 AVootton. Edward Wootton was Comptroller of 
 the Queen's Household, and, according to Camden, 
 " was remarkable for many high employments :" he 
 was sent several times Ambassador to foreign Courts, 
 and on one of these occasions he was accompanied 
 by Sidney. 
 
 Morton. How deeply it is to be lamented that 
 a few days before his death Sir H. Wootton should 
 have burnt many of the productions of his youth. 
 What is the date of his earliest piece now extant ? 
 
 Bourne. It is difficult to decide, but the events 
 referred to fix the dates of a few : the earliest I 
 immediately recollect is inserted in Davison's " Poeti- 
 cal Rapsody," 1602, but that he had written poems
 
 108 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 before th.it is very clear. Thomas Bastard, the 
 author of " Chrestoleros," published in 1598, ad- 
 dresses two epigrams ad Henricum Woltonum, in one 
 of which he says, 
 
 " Wotton, the country and the country swa\ne, 
 How can they yield a poet any sense ? 
 How can they stirre him up, or heate his braine ? 
 How can they (cede him with intelligence r" 
 
 And he recommends him, therefore, to come to 
 " London, Englands fayrest eye." It is not very 
 unlikely that their friendship was occasioned or con- 
 firmed by their mutual love of fishing, for in another 
 Epigram, ])c piscatione, Bastard observes, 
 
 " Fishing, if I a fisher may protest, 
 
 Of pleasures is the sweet'st, of sports the best, 
 
 Of exercises the most excellent ; 
 
 Of recreations the most innocent. 
 
 But now the sport is niarde, and wott ye why ! 
 
 Fishes decrease, and fishers multiply." 
 
 Moktox. All Sir Henry's friends, however, were 
 not fishermen : one of his most intimate companions, 
 Dr. Donne, has this stanza in Ids " Progresse of the 
 Soule," 
 
 " Is any kind subject to rape like fish • 
 111 unto men, they neither doe nor wish; 
 Fishers they kill not nor with noise awake; 
 They doe not hunt, nor strive to make a prey
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 109 
 
 Of beasts, nor their yong sonnes to beare away ; 
 
 Foules they pursue not, nor do undertake 
 
 To spoile the nests industruous birds do make 5 
 
 Yet them all these unkinde kinds feed upon, 
 
 To kill them is an occupation, 
 
 And lawes make fasts, & lents for their destruction." 
 
 Elliot. If we may believe Rabelais, among the 
 Roman Emperors is to be found a great example in 
 favour of fishing : in B. II. c. 30. (Edit. 155.3) he 
 asserts that Trajan estoit pescheur de Grenouilles. 
 
 Moktox. I doubt the correctness of your autho- 
 rity : besides, at best Trajan was only a French 
 fisherman — a fisher of frogs. 
 
 Elliot. I assure you Rabelais makes the assertion 
 in the same chapter, where he represents Lancelot 
 da Lac as escorcheur de clievaulx mors, and all the 
 Knights of the Round Table as pouvres gaingncdenicrs 
 tirans la rame pour passer les rivieres de Coccjjte, 
 Phlcgeton, Styx, Acheron, § Lethe. 
 
 Boi'rxe. One is quite as true as the other: "Wal- 
 ton's work is quite enough to make me a fisherman. 
 You know that he was the first to collect and publish 
 the scattered remains of Sir II. Wootton, and their 
 friendship, I believe, originated in their mutual par- 
 tiality to angling. Here we may introduce very 
 fitly the treat I promised you some days ago, in the 
 examination of a poem dedicated to Walton, but not 
 noticed by any one of bis biographers.
 
 1 10 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. That is rather strange, recollecting the 
 unremitting pains taken within the last twenty or 
 thirty years to collect the minutest facts regarding 
 Walton. It is remarkable, too, that he, only a small 
 tradesman, should be fixed upon by an author to 
 patronize his poem. 
 
 Morton. We have very often seen that an author 
 dedicates his work to an obscure friend merely as a 
 token of regard, and there was no man more likely 
 to produce such a feeling than " honest Izaac :" 
 S. P., the writer in question, like the author of the 
 " Metamorphosis of Tobacco" (a poem dedicated 
 to Drayton, which we so much admired a few days 
 ago), might say that his pen 
 
 " Loath'd to adorn the triumphs of those men 
 
 Which hold the reins of fortune and the times," 
 and might, therefore, prefer his obscure friend, so 
 that I do not see much in your last observation. 
 What is the title of the poem r 
 
 Bourne. It is called " The Love of Amos and 
 Laura. Written by S. P. London : printed for 
 Richard Hawkins, dwelling in Chancery Lane, neere 
 Serieants Inne. 10' 19." Walton was born in 1593, 
 so that in 1619 he was in his twenty-sixth year. 
 
 Morton. The author only gives his initials on the 
 title. Does he insert Walton's name at full length 
 before the dedication r 
 
 Bourne. He is addressed, not by his name at 
 length, but by an abbreviation always employed by
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION 111 
 
 Walton, and with his noted peculiarity of using a z 
 instead of an s in the word Izaae — it is " To my 
 approved and much respected friend; Iz. JVa.:" the 
 epithets " approved and much respected" are ap- 
 propriate to the station in life Walton filled. 
 
 Mortox. Nearly all his letters and poems are 
 subscribed Iz. Wa. 
 
 Bourne. But none are so early as 1G19 : it is pro- 
 bable, however, that he began to write before 10131, 
 the date of his poem on the deatli of his friend Dr. 
 Donne : it is a propensity generally peculiar to 
 youth, and subsiding with age ; in this way I ac- 
 count for what 8. P., in the dedication, says of his 
 friend's skill in verse. It is in these terms : 
 
 " To thee thou more then thrice beloued friend, 
 
 I, too vnworthy of so great a blisse, 
 
 These harsh-tun'd lines I here to thee commend ; 
 
 Thou being cause it is now as it is : 
 
 For hadst thou held thy tongue, by silence might 
 These haue been buried in obliuions night. 
 
 " If they were pleasing I would call them thine, 
 
 And disauow my title to the verse ; 
 
 But being bad I needes must call them mine, 
 
 No ill thing can be clothed in thy verse. 
 
 Accept them then, and where I have offended, 
 Base thou it out and let it be amended. 
 
 S. P." 
 Elliot. It was somewhat late to amend after it 
 
 was printed, but the compliment is not ill paid.
 
 1 VI SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. But granting that Iz. Wa. is Izaac 
 Walton, there is still an important question to be 
 settled — who was S. P. r 
 
 Bourne. Which must probably remain undecided, 
 unless it were Samuel Purchas, a well known author 
 about that time, yet that is not very probable. In 
 fact, in my view, it is not a question of any great 
 moment, for the production is not by any means 
 first rate, though not devoid of merit : the same 
 small volume, in which "Amos and Laura" is found, 
 contains two other poems, and particularly one of 
 considerably greater talent. 
 
 Morton. What are they r are they also unknown ? 
 
 Bourne. One of them is, I apprehend, quite a 
 new discovery in the history of our poetry, the other 
 is nearly as much known as the other is little known. 
 The volume has this general title, " Alcilia : Philo- 
 parthens louing folly.— Wherevnto is added Pigma- 
 lions Image : With the Loue of Amos and Laura. — 
 London, Printed for Richard Hawkins," &c. 1G19. 
 
 Morton. " Pigmalions Image," I suppose, is John 
 Marston's poem, first printed in 1598. 
 
 Bourne. It is, but this edition is not common. 
 " Alcilia^ Philoparthens louing Folly" is a produc- 
 tion hitherto unseen, and displays very considerable 
 poetical talent. We will come to that presently ; 
 first, I will read you ;i quotation or two from '■' The 
 Loue of Amos and Laura," which, if not the most 
 valuable, is, from the circumstance of its dedication, 
 the most curious.
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 113 
 
 Elliot. What is the story of " Amos and Laura," 
 if it have any ? 
 
 Bovrxe. It has little or none : it opens in these 
 lines, not very promisingly : 
 
 " In the large confines of renowned France 
 There liud a Lord, whom Fortune did aduance, 
 Who had a Daughter, Laura call'd the faire; 
 So sweete, so proper, and so debonaire, 
 That strangers tooke her for to be none other 
 Then Venus selfe, the god of Loues owne Mother. 
 Not farre from thence was situate a Towne, 
 The Lord thereof a man of good renowne, 
 Whom likewise Fortune blessed with a Sonne, 
 Amos by name, so modest, ciuill, young, 
 And yet in fight so wondrous and so bold 
 As that therein he passed vncontroul'd : 
 So kinde to strangers, and so meeke to all, 
 Of comely grace, and stature somewhat tall ; 
 As the wide world not two such Imps affords 
 As were the off-springs of these happy Lords." 
 
 Morton. The lines are mawkish j but perhaps 
 the author warms and strengthens as he proceeds. 
 
 Bourne. He does improve, though not as much 
 as could be wished: nearly the whole poem is a 
 dialogue between these two lovers. Amos, when 
 going out to hunt, meets Laura near her father's 
 castle : the conversation then begins, in the middle 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 114 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 of which the lady runs away, is pursued and over- 
 taken by her admirer : the courtship is then renewed 
 and concluded to the satisfaction of both parties. 
 The following extract begins better than it ends. 
 
 " Or were thy loue but equal vnto mine, 
 
 Then wouldst thou seeke his fauor who seeks thine ! 
 
 Methinkes unkindnesse cannot come from thence. 
 
 Where beauty raignes with such magnificence: 
 
 I mean from thee whom nature hath endow'd, 
 
 With more then Art would willingly allow' d : 
 
 And though by nature you are borne most faire 
 
 Yet Art would adde a beauty to your share ; 
 
 But it being spotlesse doth disdaine receit 
 
 Of all vnpolish'd painting counterfeit. 
 
 Your beauty is a snare vnto our wayes 
 
 Wherein once caught, we cannot brooke delayes ; 
 
 Which makes us oft through grief'e of minde grow sad, 
 
 Griefe follows grief, then malcontent and mad. 
 
 Thus by denyall doe you cause our woe 
 
 And then do triumph in our overthrow." 
 
 Elliot. That is quite sufficient : we should only 
 waste time if we were to read more of such in- 
 sipidity. 
 
 Bourxe. I anticipated your opinion ; indeed there 
 could hardly be much difference about it : nor will 
 I ask you to listen to two short passages more, the 
 one referring, in general terms, to Marlow's and
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 115 
 
 Chapman's celebrated translation of " Hero and 
 Leander," and the other, even more generally, to 
 Shakespeare's " Tarquin und Lucrece." 
 
 Morton. Then having now done with S. P. and 
 his Amos and Laura, we may look upon " Alcilia," 
 whom I am a little anxious to behold, after the 
 praise you have bestowed upon her beauty. 
 
 Bourne. I warn you against inconsiderate ex- 
 pectation : though it is better than what we have 
 just seen, I do not pretend that it is first rate, even 
 in the department to which it belongs. 
 
 Elliot. What department is that r 
 
 Bourne. Love poems of various descriptions. 
 
 Elliot. Of which passion, you may remember, 
 Cicero speaks thus slightingly, Totus vero iste qui 
 vidgo appellator Amor (nee herculc invenio quo nomine 
 aliopossii appellari ) tantce levitatis est, id nihil videam, 
 quod putem eonjerendum. 
 
 Bourne. Instead of such a quotation, with such a 
 tendency, I should rather have cited R. YVilmot's 
 dedication to " Tancred and Gismunda," 1592, where 
 he asserts that love being as it were " the finest 
 metal, the freshest wits have in all ages shewn their 
 best workmanship" upon it. 
 
 Morton. On the other hand, we ought to recollect 
 Spenser's lines in " Mother Hubbard's Tale 3" 
 
 " Thereto he could fine loving verses frame 
 And play the poet oft. But Ah ! for shame : 
 
 1 2
 
 116 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Let not sweet poets praise, whose only pride 
 Is virtue to advance and vice deride, 
 Be with the work of losels wit defamed, 
 Ne let such verses poetry be named." 
 
 Bourne. He there supposes them to he written 
 by Malfont, that " poet bad," or by one like him, de- 
 scribed in the 5th Book of the F. Q. Do not let it be 
 forgotten, however he abuses it for particular pur- 
 poses, that some of the very best parts of Spenser's 
 works are devoted to love and its praise. 
 
 Morton. Lovers and poets are allowed to be the 
 most inconsistent creatures in nature. 
 
 Bourne. The author of " Alcilia: Philoparthens 
 loving Folly," justifies your remark ; for he says, in 
 introducing the best part of his work to the reader, 
 u These Sonnets following were written by the Author 
 (who giueth himselfe this feigned name of PJiiln- 
 partken as his accidental attribute) at diuers times 
 and vpon diuers occasions, and therefore in the forme 
 and matter they differ, and sometimes are quite con- 
 trary one to another considering the nature and 
 quality of Love, which is a passion full of variety 
 and contrariety in it selfe." 
 
 Elliot. That is not less true than in point. Have 
 you any conjecture who is meant by Philoparthen, 
 whose " accidental attribute" this " feigned name" 
 expressed ? 
 
 Bourne. I have not, nor do I find any clue in the 
 production.
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 117 
 
 Morton. I think Barnabe Barnes, whom you men- 
 tioned on a former day as the friend of William Percy, 
 used that signature. 
 
 Bourne. Not exactly, though it is different only 
 by transposition : he signed himself by the name of 
 Parthenophil. 
 
 Elliot. As we are not likely to arrive at any 
 satisfaction on the point, let us open the book. 
 
 Bourne. The titles to the several divisions of his 
 poems are in Latin, " Author ipse Philopartheos ad 
 libellum suum" and " Amoris Prceludium, vel Epistola 
 ad Amicam," although the stanzas to which they 
 apply are all English. 
 
 Elliot. The author seems to have been one of 
 those who wrote because they repented of their 
 folly : a principal part of Ins production, I perceive, 
 is headed " Sic incipit Stultorum Tragicomedia." 
 
 Bourne. That precedes the quotation I read about 
 the variety and contrariety of love ; an excuse for 
 the wavering nature of the " Sonnets," as the author 
 calls them, that succeed. 
 
 Elliot. Yet sonnets they are not, for they are 
 sometimes only stanzas of six lines each. 
 
 Morton. The word sonnet, as we have seen, had 
 a very indefinite application among our elder poets, 
 and it often does not mean at all what the Italians 
 seem to have understood by it. 
 
 Bourne. If you will give me the book, I will 
 point out to you some of the best of these sonnets ;
 
 IKS SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 « 
 for they are by no means all worth reading, sup- 
 posing we had time to go through them. 
 
 Elliot. With all my heart. 
 
 Bourxe. The following is a pretty allegorical de- 
 scription, rather ingenious, and elegantly worded. 
 
 " To seeke aduentures as Fate hath assignde, 
 My slender Barke new flotes vpon the Maine ; 
 Each troubled thought an Oare, each sigh a winde, 
 Whose often puffes haue rent my ISayles in twaine. 
 Loue steeres the Boat, which for that sight he lacks, 
 Is still in danger of tenne thousand wracks." 
 
 Morton. It is pretty, certainly; and the author 
 has given a new turn in the two last lines, which is 
 very happy. 
 
 Boukxe. His talent is more fully exemplified in 
 another portion of the volume, called " Love de~ 
 cyphered," where, having been rejected by Alcilia, 
 he triumphs in his regained freedom. 
 
 " Loue and Youth are now asunder, 
 
 Reasons glory, Natures wonder; 
 
 My thoughts long bound are now inlarg'd. 
 
 My follies penance is discharg'd, 
 
 Thus time hath altered my state ; 
 
 ltepentance neuer comes too late ! 
 
 Ah well I finde that Loue i-, naught. 
 
 But folly and an idle thought ; 
 
 The difference is twixt Lone and me. 
 
 That Loue is blinde and I can see."
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 119 
 
 Elliot. That is exceedingly pleasant and playful 
 in its way : it aims at nothing more than it accom- 
 plishes, and the form and facility of the versification 
 are well suited to the author's supposed state of 
 feeling. 
 
 Bourne. I do not think you will like less the 
 description of his mistress, in the three following 
 stanzas, from a different part of the volume. 
 
 " Faire is my Loue whose parts are so well framed 
 By Natures special order and direction, 
 That she her selfe is more then halfe ashamed 
 In hauing made a worke of such perfection : 
 And well may Nature blush at such a feature, 
 Seeing her selfe excelled by her creature 
 
 Her body is straight, slender and vpright, 
 Her visage comely and her lookes demure, 
 Mixt with a chearfull grace that yeelds delight: 
 Her eyes like starres, bright shining, cleare and pure, 
 Which I describing Loue bids stay my pen, 
 And says it's not a worke for mortall men. 
 
 The ancient Poets write of Graces three, 
 Which meeting altogether in one creature, 
 In all points perfect make the same to bee, 
 For inward vermes and for outward feature : 
 But smile Alcilia and the world shall see, 
 That in thine eyes a hundred graces bee!" 
 
 Morton. We are much obliged to you for intro- 
 ducing us to a poet who can write with so much ease 
 and delicacy.
 
 120 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. The first stanza is a little faulty ; for if 
 Nature might be envious of the beauty of her work, 
 it is the very reason why she should not be ashamed 
 of its perfeetness. 
 
 Morton. Ah ! quitlez d'nn censeur la triste diligence, 
 to borrow a line from Racine. Do not blame where 
 there is really so much to commend ; besides a little 
 ought to be allowed for the necessity of the rhyme. 
 
 Elliot. Perhaps I was somewhat hypercritical. 
 If the next quotation be as good, I will find no fault 
 with it. 
 
 Bourne. I am afraid we can afford no more time 
 at present to " Alcilia." Before we finally dismiss 
 Bastard's Chrestoleros, so frequently mentioned, I 
 wish to show you an epigram in it which renders it 
 valuable, not merely as containing notices of poets 
 whose works have come down to us, but of some 
 regarding whom we have hitherto only heard the 
 names ; such, for instance, as Dr. Eeds, Dean of 
 Worcester. At least we learn from Bastard for what 
 species of composition Dr. Eedes was celebrated, 
 which we did not know before. 
 
 Morton. Wood, I perceive, only asserts that he 
 wrote various MS. poems in Latin and English. 
 
 Bourne. And Ritson and the rest re-echo him : 
 from the following lines in the Chrestolcros we find 
 that he was an author of epigrams. 
 
 "Ad Richardum Eeds. 
 " Eeds onely thou an Epigram dost season, 
 With thy sweete tast and relish of enditing,
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 121 
 
 With sharpes of sense, and delicates of reason, 
 With salt of witt and wonderfull delighting. 
 For in my iudgement him thou hast exprest 
 In whose sweet mouth hony did build her nest." 
 
 Elliot. I do not suppose you quote that for its 
 own merit, but merely as a matter of biography. 
 
 Bourne. Precisely so; and it too frequently hap- 
 pens, as I have once before remarked, that such is 
 the chief value of the productions of our old English 
 epigrammatists. 
 
 Elliot. It is to be lamented, then, that not a few 
 of those who are called poets of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth did not write epigrams : their works would 
 then, at least, have been endurable. 
 
 Bourne. I am not such a bigot to old versifica- 
 tion (not to dignify it by the name of poetry), as to 
 dispute the truth of your remark in some particular 
 instances : one of them, indeed, is an author I in- 
 tended to bring before you to-day, I mean Barnabe 
 Googe, who, though a voluminous writer, and espe- 
 cially translator, has produced nothing original that 
 I have ever seen worth preserving. 
 
 Elliot. An additional confirmation of Sir John 
 Denham's celebrated couplet, 
 
 " Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, 
 That few but such as cannot write translate !" 
 
 Morton. Googe Avas the translator of l'allin- 
 genius's " Zodiac of Life." 
 
 Bourne. The same; yet I cannot deny that by
 
 122 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 practice he acquired some facility in the use of the 
 English language: this is more evident in his version 
 of Naorgorgeus's " Popish Kingdom," lo?0, which 
 contains an account of some curious and amusing 
 customs, although the title is unpromising : a piece 
 Ritson assigns to him, called " A new yeares gifte, 
 dedicated to the Popes Holinesse," 1579> is certainly 
 not his, but probably Bernard darter's, as any body 
 who reads it will see. 
 
 Mokton. In what way was Googe to be brought 
 before us ? 
 
 Elliot. I am afraid we are now about to be treated 
 with one of your absolute bibliomaniac curiosities. 
 
 Bourne. Your sufferings will not be of long 
 duration, if you are patient under the infliction. 
 The existence of this small volume by Googe has 
 been doubted by some, and it is clear that Ritson 
 had never heard of it. The title is this, " The 
 Prouerbes of the noble and woorthy souldier Sir 
 James Lopez de Mendoza, Marques of Santillana, 
 with the paraphrase of D. Peter Diaz of Toledo," 
 &c. " Translated out of Spanishe by Barnabe Googe. 
 Imprinted at London by Richarde Watkins, 1579" 
 It is dedicated to Cecill " Baron of Burghley/' and 
 the translator complains that he had found some 
 difficulty in making out the meaning of his author. 
 
 Morton. Is it in verse or prose ? 
 
 Bourne. In both: the proverbs (though Avhy so 
 called cannot very easily be guessed), are in Googe's 
 favourite measure of fourteen syllables, divided into
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 1<23 
 
 two lines, for the purpose of coming conveniently into 
 an 8vo. page, and the paraphrase or commentary is 
 in prose. 
 
 Elliot. The prose can be dispensed with, at all 
 events. 
 
 Bourne. I did not intend to read it: the follow- 
 ing are numbered 47, 48, and 49, but only form one 
 Proverb, and are in praise of women. 
 
 " For setting here aside that sweete 
 
 and blessed worthie rose, 
 That ouer all the rest doth shine, 
 
 and far beyond them goes, 
 The daughter of the thundring God, 
 
 and spouse vnto the hiest ; 
 The light and lampc of women all 
 
 who bare our sauiour Christ. 
 
 " Manie ladies of renowne 
 
 and beautifull there bee, 
 That are both chast and vertuous 
 
 and famous for degree : 
 Amongst the blessed saintes 
 
 full many a one we finde, 
 That in this copasse may be brought 
 
 for liues that brightly shinde. 
 
 " What should I of Saint Katheren 
 
 that blessed martyr tell, 
 Among the rest of Virgins all 
 
 a flowre of precious smell?
 
 124 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Well worthy of remembrance is 
 
 her beauty and her youth, 
 And eke no lesse deserueth praise 
 
 her knowledge in the trueth." 
 
 Elojot. I should be surprised if, with all your 
 love of old poetry, you could say any tiling in praise 
 of those lines. 
 
 Bourne. I do not affect it; nor indeed, as I ob- 
 served, in praise of any thing Googe ever wrote, 
 excepting so far as he was able to gain the name of 
 a poet by the smoothness of his versification. 
 
 Morton. The lines you have read have that re- 
 commendation, though with some want of judg- 
 ment you have brought him after the author of 
 " Alcilia." 
 
 Bourne. The following stanza from the same 
 volume, referring to Cato and Mutius Scawola, is 
 unquestionably the best in it. 
 
 " Oh, what a death had Cato dyed 
 
 if it had lawfull beene, 
 And had not by the iust decrees 
 
 of God beene made a sinne ! 
 No lesse doe I the worthy fact 
 
 of Mucius commend, 
 That Lyuic in his story hath 
 
 so eloquently pende." 
 
 Elliot. I do not find that that has much more 
 merit than the rest.
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 125 
 
 Bourxe. The degree of difference is rather minute, 
 and we may pass the book over without farther 
 quotation or remark. 
 
 Mortox. I see that two other tracts still remain 
 to be uoticed : what are they ? 
 
 Bourxe. I had looked them out for examination, 
 but since I did so, I have discovered that they have 
 both been mentioned in Beloe's " Anecdotes of Li- 
 terature and scarce Books :" — as it is not necessary 
 that we should travel over ground that has been 
 trodden by any precursors, I have determined to omit 
 them, and to leave them to your separate examina- 
 tion : the first is by Rowland Broughton, a new 
 name in the history of our poetry, and is a funeral 
 poem on the death of the Marquis of "Winchester 
 (1572); and the second, a production of a similar 
 kind on the Countess of Lenox (1577) > by John 
 Phillip or Phillips, whose production on Sir P. Sidney 
 you cannot have forgotten. 
 
 Elliot. Certainly not : I remember so much of it 
 that even if this " excessive rarity," (for such I take 
 it for granted it is), had not been mentioned by 
 Beloe, I should not have wished to have heard a 
 single line from it. 
 
 Bourxe. Rowland Broughton is quite as bad, if 
 not worse ; but then his performance is such a sin- 
 gular curiosity. Phillip's tract contains a fulsome 
 and rather curious character of Elizabeth : it is better 
 than his poem on the death of Sir P. Sidney, though 
 the last was a much later production.
 
 126 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Is that character of Elizabeth given in 
 Beloe? I should like to hear it: — the subject is in- 
 viting, though it may not be well treated. 
 
 Bourne. It has not been quoted, and certainly 
 deserves extracting ; and I would read it, if I could 
 prevail upon this objector " to shut his ears like 
 adder to the sound." 
 
 Elliot. If h be short, I shall not attempt to resist 
 your wishes on the subject. 
 
 Bourne. It is not long; and even you, I think, 
 will find something amusing in it. It is as follows : 
 
 " With in her brest Iustice a place hath pyght, 
 And in her mercy welds the supreme sway : 
 
 The poore opprest to helpe she doth delight, 
 Her hand is prest to shield them from decay : 
 
 To all the fruites of loue she doth display 3 
 
 Her eares attend to hear each subiects wrong, 
 Like Saba she her subiects rules among. 
 
 The sacred Nimph that noble Vesta hight 
 Within her bower accompanies the Queene. 
 
 Like Phaebus rayes her glorye glisters bright, 
 Adornde she sits with Lawrell lasting greene. 
 
 Pernassus mount to scale this Prince is scene ; 
 Of Helicon, that Hiuer running cleere, 
 To taste her fill our Pandra hath desyre. 
 
 The scepter she like sad Cassandra swaies ; 
 Corinna like augmentes her learned skill. 
 Then Triton see in haste thou take thy wayes
 
 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 127 
 
 To spred her fume with taunting trumpet shrill! 
 Extoll our Queene of God be loued still ; 
 
 Whose word and will, dispight of Chacus yre 
 She to defende hath settled true desyre. 
 
 Her countryes weale to worke her heart is bent ; 
 
 Haut Hydrais head she hath cut off indeede: 
 Each Minotaure by skill she doth preuent 
 
 That in her soyle of strife would sow the seede. 
 The woolfe she quailes, the lambe she seekes to feede, 
 
 With pleasant mylke and honey passing pure. 
 
 God graunt on earth her grace may long endure !" 
 
 Morton. The lines are not inharmonious, but the 
 allusions are affected and pedantic. 
 
 Bourne. Of course — that was in the spirit of the 
 age. Nash, in his most humorous and clever piece 
 of exaggeration, called " Lenten Stuff," and printed 
 in 1599, mentions three dramatic productions in terms 
 of no great praise : one of them he calls " Phillips 
 Venus;" and this may be the Phillips we are now 
 speaking of, or it may be Phillips the actor. 
 
 Elliot. I have read some very amusing quotations 
 from that pamphlet of Nash's. 
 
 Bourne. Very likely: you may see the whole of 
 it reprinted in the " Harleian Miscellany," and it 
 will well repay the time spent in going through it. 
 Nash tells us in it of the troubles he had to pass 
 through, in consequence of his unrecovered play of 
 the " Isle of Doffs."
 
 128 SEVENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. I have never met with a tract that con- 
 tained more curious matter, both relating to himself 
 and his contemporaries. It is there thnt he bestows 
 such applause on " Kit Marlow" for his " Hero and 
 Leander," praised, as you noticed, in the poem dedi- 
 cated to Walton. He likewise speaks of a play 
 called " The Case is altered," which was probably 
 not Ben Jonson's. 
 
 Bourne. Your patience in listening to the quota- 
 tion from Phillips shall be well rewarded to-mor- 
 row, by the examination of a greater and more in- 
 disputably valuable curiosity than I have yet shown 
 you; I mean the novel on which Shakespeare founded 
 his " Twelfth Night."
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON. 
 
 THE EIGHTH CONVERSATION.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 The promise performed — A novel hitherto undiscovered, from 
 which Shakespeare took the plot of his " Twelfth Night," to be 
 found in " Rich his Farewell to Militarie profession," by Barnabe 
 Rich, UiOo' — The date when " Twelfth Night" was written— 
 Rich's collection of novels originally printed between 1578, and 
 1581 — Proofs of this fact — Doubt whether additions were made in 
 the reprint of 1G06 — Sir Christopher Ilatton, the patron of Rich 
 — Tancred and Gismunda, 1592 — Pofimantdu, 1595, quoted re- 
 garding Sir C. Ilatton and his poems — Rich's account of Ins 
 " vpholder's" house and state at Holdenby, from the prefatory- 
 matter to his "Farewell" — His name and productions omitted 
 by Ritson, &c. but the defect partially supplied — His numerous 
 publications — Rich's concern intheNetherlandwars with (iascoyne, 
 Churchyard, Whetstone, and other poets — Whetstone's account 
 of the death of Sir P. Sidney, from Churchyard's " True Dis- 
 course Historicall," &c HiO'J — Epitaph from the same — Sir W. 
 Raleigh's epitaph on Sir P. Sidney — Milton's quotation from 
 Sir John Harington's translation of Ariosto — " Rich his Farewell 
 to Militarie profession" not known to any bibliographical anti- 
 quaries — Plan of the work — Anticipation of the Commentators on 
 Shakespeare fulfilled — Argument to the second novel in Rich's 
 work, called " Apolonius and Silla" — Its commencement and 
 incidents previous to the opening to Shakespeare's " Twelfth 
 Night," with their use — Dr. Johnson's censure of the sudden pro- 
 ject of Viola — Resemblance between Rich and Shakespeare — 
 Correspondence of the characters — Description of Julina, a widow, 
 and the mode of conducting the Duke's amour, by the intervention 
 of Silla in male attire, and under the name of her brother Silvio
 
 132 CONTEXTS. 
 
 — Julina's love for Silvio, anil her mistake of the brother for 
 the disguised sister — Likeness between the brother and sister — 
 The consequences of Julina's love anil her perilous distress — Silla 
 accused — Her speech, and her mode of clearing herself from the 
 charge — Shakespeare's improvements on his original — The Duke's 
 declaration and marriage to Silla — Re-appearance of the real 
 Silvio — His attachment to Julina, and their final and happy union 
 . — Remarks on Shakespeare's deviations, iVc- — Of the other seven 
 histories in Rich's work— Specimen of his poetry from the iirst 
 novel in the same — One original of Romeo and .Juliet in Painter's 
 •• Palace nf Pleasure" — A poem, by one William Painter, called 
 " Chaucer painted" — Scarcity and curiosity of the novels Shake- 
 speare en. ployed, particularly early editions — Thomas Lodge's 
 " Rosalynde : Euphues golden Legacie," 1590, the original of 
 " As you like it" — Alteration of Lodge's title — John Lilly's 
 rustication from Oxford — Specimens of Lodge's •■ Rosalynde," to 
 show how far and in what way Shakespeare was indebted to it — 
 Description of Rosalind, and quotation from .Iair.es Shirley's 
 " Sisters" on hyperboles — Resemblance between Shakespeare and 
 Lodge — further extract from Lodge — Robert Greene's " Dorastus 
 and Fawnia," 1388, the foundation of •• The Winter's Tale" — 
 Deviations of Shakespeare from it — Greene's very rare tract, called 
 -A .Mirror of Modesty," 1584, quoted — Different editions of 
 " Dorastus and Fawnia," with their variations — Poem by Greene — 
 His motto, and curious quotation regarding it from his " Perimedes 
 the Black-Smith," 1388 — On blank verse poets, &c. from the 
 same — Extracts from "Dorastus and Fawnia" — Character of l?el- 
 lariii — The fate of Fawnia. and her first interview with Dorastus, 
 compared with Shakespeare — Quotations from Epistles by Romeo 
 and Juliet in •'■ Aurorata" and " Loves Looking-glassc," ll!44, 
 by Thomas Prujean — Incident in Fortescue's " Foreste," 1371, 
 similar to the contrivance in " All's Well that ends Well."
 
 POETICAL DECAMERON 
 
 THE EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 JVloRTOx. Now, then, to claim the execution of your 
 promise : do not let it be like those of princes, which, 
 us Beaumont and Fletcher say in " Philaster," find 
 " both birth and burial in one breath." 
 
 Bourne. And very properly, according to Chapman 
 in his " Alphonsus," 1654 ; 
 
 " A prince above all things must seem devout ; 
 But nothing is so dangerous to his state 
 As to regard his promise or his oath." 
 
 Elliot. That sentiment, I suppose, proceeds from 
 the mouth of some parasite : however it cannot be 
 applicable to yourself until you become a prince : 
 therefore, without further postponement, produce 
 the much talked of treasure — the novel from which 
 Shakespeare took the plot of his " Twelfth Night." 
 Quanta la speranza dlvcula miuorc, tanio I'amoic 
 maggiorfarsi, is a sentiment from Boccacio ((i. III.
 
 134 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 N. 2.) in which you seem fully to concur; for as 
 book-hunters have often been compared to lovers, 
 you think that delay will increase desire. 
 
 Bourne. To which delay you are yourself con- 
 tributing; the book containing- what you so much 
 wish to see, was in my hand even before you began 
 your speech. 
 
 Morton. And you might, by reading the title, at 
 least have saved yourself the trouble of a reply. 
 
 Bourne. Having endured the speech, justice re- 
 quired the reply ; but as she is now satisfied, I will 
 read the title : 
 
 " Rich his Farewell to Militarie Profession : Con- 
 teining Aery pleasant discourses fit for a peaceable 
 time. Gathered together for the onely delight of 
 the courteous Gentlewomen both of England and 
 Ireland, for whose onely pleasure they were collected 
 together, and vnto whom they are directed and de- 
 dicated. Newly augmented. By Barnabe Riche, 
 Gentleman. — Malni me diuitem esse quam vocari.' — 
 Imprinted at London by G. E. for Thomas Adams. 
 1606." 
 
 Elliot. There, the date is enough : what do we 
 want to know about G. E. or Thomas Adams ? You 
 are as particular about printers as if you were the 
 editor of the new edition of Ames. 
 
 Mokton. Was not Twelfth Night written before 
 1606, the date of Rich's book, where; you say the 
 original novel is inserted ;
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 135 
 
 Bourne. No ; but if it were, I could still satisfy 
 you that the novel in this volume was employed by 
 Shakespeare. However, it seems agreed by the 
 commentators, who have taken some pains upon 
 the subject, that Twelfth Night was not written 
 until after 1612. Mr. Chalmers says in 1613, and 
 Mr. Tyrwhit, and after him Malone, in 1614. Dr. 
 Drake, with every desire to strike out something 
 new if there be the least pretence for it, lixes it be- 
 tween the two, in 1613 ; so that 6, 7, or 8 years 
 most likely elapsed between the publication of Rich's 
 work, in 1606, and the writing of Twelfth Night. 
 
 Elliot. I do not understand the first part of your 
 observation. If Twelfth Night had been written, 
 Ave will say, in 1605, how can you prove that 
 Shakespeare availed himself of Rich's novel, unless 
 he saw it in MS. ? It was not printed until 1606. 
 
 Morton. I suppose that the words on the title- 
 page " newly augmented" have something to do 
 with answering that question. 
 
 Bourne. They have. 1 have never seen any other 
 edition of Rich's Farcivcl but this of 1606, but in- 
 dependently of those words " newly augmented," I 
 can decisively establish from the prefatory matter, 
 that it must have been originally written and printed 
 between 1578 and 158 L : if, therefore, Twelfth Night 
 had been our great dramatic poet's first, instead of 
 being his last play, he might still have been indebted 
 to this source.
 
 136 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. What does the prefatory matter con- 
 sist of? 
 
 Bourne. The point I refer to is established by 
 the epistle " To the noble Souldiours both of Eng- 
 land and Ireland;" for the author says in it, " I re- 
 member that in my last work, intituled the Alarum 
 to England, I promised to take in hand some other 
 thing." Therefore the " Alarum to England" im- 
 mediately preceded what is before us, and that 
 Alarum bears date in 1578. 
 
 Morton. But there might be an interval of 
 many years between the two, notwithstanding : the 
 " Alarum to England" might be printed in 15?'8, 
 and be the author's last work, though the Farewel 
 might not appear for C Z0 or 30 years afterwards. 
 
 Bourne. That is possible, though not probable ; 
 and it is, besides, contradicted by positive fact. In 
 1581 Rich published the first volume of his "Straunge 
 and wonder full aduentures of Do Simonides," so that 
 the " Farewel" must have appeared between 15*8 
 and 1581, or Rich could not have mentioned his 
 " Alarum to England'' as his last work. 
 
 Elliot. A very clear argument, and a very safe 
 conclusion : the words "newly augmented," indeed, 
 prove that it had been printed before, though in a 
 shorter form. It might be curious to ascertain of 
 what the augmentations consisted. 
 
 Bourne. I much doubt if, in fact, there were any: 
 perhaps " newly augmented" at that day meant no-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 137 
 
 thing more than the common words " with ad- 
 ditions" upon the republication of a modern work, 
 where the principal, if not the only, addition is a 
 new title-page. 
 
 Moktox. Very likely. Is there any thing else in 
 the volume to confirm the opinion that " Rich his 
 Farewel" was first printed much earlier than 16'OG? 
 Bourne. There is ; and the proof is remarkable 
 on another account, from its reference to Sir Christo- 
 pher Hatton, Avho is spoken of as alive, and who 
 died in 1591. He appears to have been the 
 " Maister & vpholder" of Barnabe Rich, and was 
 himself a poet. In all probability he penned the 
 fourth act of " Tancrcd and Gismunda," in Dodsley's 
 Collection, and if we may rely upon the authority of 
 the writer of Polimanteia (who not publishing until 
 four years after Sir C. Hatton's death, seems to have 
 had no motive to Hatter), he must have been a con- 
 siderable poet. " Then (says he) name but Hatton, 
 the Muses fauorite, the Churches musick, Learn- 
 ings Patron, my once poore Hands ornament ; the 
 Courtiers grace, the Schollars countenance and the 
 Guardes Captaine." 
 
 Elliot. A fine specimen of the art of sinking in 
 prose, for the ridicule of a new Mart inns. 
 
 Bour>t. I quote it for the inference, not for the 
 style : " Sir Christopher Hatton, L. Chancelor of 
 England," is inserted in the margin, and from hence 
 it would seem that he had written much more than 
 has come down to our time.
 
 138 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Ritson only mentions an acrostic by 
 him, and there is some doubt about that : " the 
 Church's music," in what you read from Polimanteia, 
 would imply that he had translated Psalms, or at 
 least, written some sacrpd poems. Horace Walpole, 
 if I recollect rightly, attributes to a kinsman of 
 Sir Christopher's a translation of the Psalms, not 
 printed till 1644, and Wood assigns them to Jeremy 
 Taylor. It is not impossible that they were in fact 
 the work of Lord Chancellor llatton. But what 
 says Rich regarding him in his " Farewel :" any 
 thing relating to his works r 
 
 Bourne. I wish he did ; but still what he tells us 
 is interesting : it principally refers to the magni- 
 ficent house llatton built at his birth-place, Hol- 
 denby, in Northamptonshire, and the state and hos- 
 pitality there observed, which gives one a good 
 notion of the housekeeping of the great men of that 
 day. He says : " And here I cannot but speake of 
 the bounty of that noble gentleman Sir Christopher 
 llatton, my very good Alaister and vpholder ; who 
 hauing builded a house in Northamtonshire, called 
 by the name of lloldenby, which house for the 
 brauery of the buildings, for the statelinesse of the 
 chambers, for the rich furniture of the lodgings, for 
 the conucyance of the offices, and for all other ne- 
 cessaries appertenent to a l'allace of pleasure, is 
 thought by those that have iudgement, to be incom- 
 parable, and to haue no fellowe in England that is 
 out of her Maiesties hands : and although this house
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 139 
 
 is not yet fully finished, and is but a newe erection, 
 yet it differeth farre from the workesthat are vsed now 
 a daies in many places. I meane where the houses 
 are built with a great nuber of chimnies, and yet the 
 smoke comes forth but at one tunnel. This house 
 is not built on that manner, for as it hath sundry 
 Chimnies, so they cast forth seuerall smoakes j and 
 such worthy port and daily hospitality kept, that 
 although the owner himselfe vseth not to come there 
 once in two yeares, yet I dare vndertake, there is 
 daily prouision to be found conuenient to intertaine 
 any noble man with his whole traine, that should hap 
 to call in of a sodaine. And how many gentlemen 
 and strangers, that comes but to see the house are 
 there dayly welcommed, feasted, and well lodged, 
 from whence he shold come, be he rich, be he poore, 
 that should not there be entertained, if it please him 
 to call in. To bee short, Holdenby giueth daily re- 
 liefe to such as be in want, for the space of sixe or 
 seauen miles compasse." 
 
 Elliot. I should not complain of your reading 
 that extract, or of your dwelling so long on the pre- 
 fatory matter of almost any other book ; but when 
 we have so important and so interesting an object in 
 view, I can hardly spare time even to inquire who 
 and what was the author of the tale which Shake- 
 speare condescended to adapt to the stage. I lowever, 
 as I know nothing about Barnabe Rich, I must first 
 beg you to take my ignorance into consideration.
 
 140 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Did Rich write nothing- but puose ? for 
 his name, I see, is not even mentioned by llitson. 
 
 Bourne. It is an unaccountable omission, and 
 the same strange error is committed by Sir E. 
 Brydges, in his new edition of the Theatrum Poeta- 
 rum. Mr. Haslewood, however, has, in a great de- 
 gree, supplied the deficiency in the late reprint of 
 " the Paradise of Dainty Devises," but he neglects 
 some particulars of Rich's biography that might 
 have been gleaned from his pamphlets : indeed he 
 does not notice the titles of several ; one of them is 
 called " A short Suruey of Ireland," bearing date at 
 London, in the reign of William the Conqueror. 
 
 Elliot. Explain what you mean. 
 
 Bourne. Why, if printed dates would decide the 
 point, there would here be an end of the mighty 
 dispute about the Oxford St. Jerome, for this tract 
 by Rich purports to have been printed 399 years 
 before it, viz. in 1069. 
 
 Morton 1 . An obvious misprint for 160!), by the 
 transposition of the figures. 
 
 Elliot, (an we not defer such trifles, that we 
 may the sooner arrive at the point to which we are 
 directing our course ? 
 
 Bourne. You must not be quite so free in the use 
 of your whip, or your horses may grow restive. I 
 will not delay you by reading the titles of the several 
 tracts omitted by Mr. Haslewood, and they arc" of 
 less interest, because they relate chiefly to Ireland :
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 141 
 
 they, however, contain some biographical particu- 
 lars } for instance, in the dedication of his " Short 
 Suruey of Ireland" to the Earl of Saresbury, he speaks 
 of himself as a mere Souldier, in which capacity old 
 Churchyard saw him acting in the Netherlands about 
 157 c 2. " I am no diuine (says Rich) and it is truth ; 
 I am no scholler and that is true too : what am I 
 then ? I am a Souldier, a professed Souldier, better 
 practised in my pike than in my penne." In his 
 " New Description of Ireland," 1610, after abusing 
 " idle Poets, Bardes, and Rythmers" who have 
 written falsehoods upon the subject, he talks of his 
 service in the army for 40 years ; and two years after- 
 wards, in his " Excuse" for the above work, he 
 adds that it was then 4() years or thereabouts since 
 he first came into Ireland. 
 
 Elliot. What is your authority for saying that 
 Churchyard saw Rich acting as a soldier in the 
 Netherlands about 1572? 
 
 Bourxe. He was one of the phalanx of poets who 
 united their endeavours under Elizabeth to free the 
 Low Countries from the weight of the Spanish yoke. 
 At the head of them, you know, Avas Sir Philip 
 Sidney, and the names of Gascoyne, Churchyard, 
 Whetstone, Rich, and others, are to be included in 
 the muster-roll. 
 
 Morton. Churchyard, iii Lis " Trve Discovrse 
 historical! of the succeeding (iovernovrs in the 
 Netherlands," 1G0 C >, a tract we have before noticed,
 
 142 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 states several facts, quoting in the margin (p. 19), 
 " Captaine Barnabey Rich his notes." George Gas- 
 eoyne, in the same passage, is called a captain. 
 
 Bourxe. That piece by Churchyard is one of his 
 latest, and one of his commonest ; but it contains 
 some important historical facts, and among them a 
 very interesting account, which I have not seen 
 quoted, of the manner of the death of Sir P. Sidney 
 before Zuphen, on the 22d of September 15S6*. 
 Churchyard gives the relation on the authority of 
 Whetstone, who, as you have seen, wrote a funeral 
 poem on the fate of this worthy. 
 
 Elliot. It is impossible for the name of Sidney 
 to be mentioned without feeling a deep interest to 
 knoW all that can be said regarding him ; therefore 
 let us hear the passage. 
 
 Bourne. A small part of it is sufficient. " This 
 noble Knight (says Churchyard, citing Whetstone, 
 with whom he Avas no doubt personally intimate) 
 like Crrsar, charged the enemie so sore, that first an 
 enuious Musquetier from the spightfull Spaniards 
 espying his oportunitie slew his horse vnder him : 
 who getting to horse again was with a poysoned 
 bullet from the enemie shot in the thigh, wanting 
 his Cuisses, which might have defended lam. The 
 wound being deepe and shiuering the bone, yet his 
 heart was good, and his courage little abated, one 
 Vdal, a gentleman, alighted and led his horse softly, 
 to whom he thus spake : Let goe, let goe till I Jail
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 143 
 
 to the ground, The foe shall miss the glory of my 
 wound. And so riding out of the field with a rare & 
 constant courage, his wound was searched, no salue 
 too deare but was sought, no skill so curious but 
 was tried to cure ease & recover this noble souldier 
 languishing in paine, all remediles." 
 
 Elliot. Churchyard there quotes two lines from 
 Whetstone's funeral poem. 
 
 Morton. He does, and what you have read, I 
 think, is followed by an epitaph by Whetstone upon 
 Sidney. 
 
 Bourne. Churchyard inserts two epitaphs j but 
 one of them has been reprinted : that by Whetstone 
 is but just worth preserving. 
 
 " Here vnder lyes Phillip Sydney Knight, 
 True to his Prince, learned, staid and wise ; 
 Who lost his life in honourable fight, 
 Who vanquisht death, in that he did despise 
 To liue in pompe, by others brought to passe ; 
 Which oft he tearm'd a Dyamond set in Brasse." 
 
 Morton. This puts me in mind of a question I had 
 to ask, and which I forgot until now. You remem- 
 ber, perhaps, that Sir John Harington, in the notes 
 to the 1 6th book of his Orlando Furioso, mentions Sir 
 P. Sidney, and an epitaph written upon him by Sir 
 Walter Paleigh, in which, according to Harington, 
 he is called " the Scipio and the Petrarke of our 
 time :" where is that epitaph to be found :
 
 144 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. That is a question I should he glad to 
 he ahle to answer, as I never could discover any such 
 epitaph : yet I cannot help being persuaded that it 
 once existed though now lost, and that Sir John 
 Harington is not mistaken. 
 
 Morton. That translation of Ariosto, much as it 
 has been abused, has had the honour of being em- 
 ployed by Milton in the first book of his treatise " Of 
 Reformation touching Church Discipline." 
 
 Bourne. He quotes, with verbal accuracy, the 
 four last lines of the 72d stanza of 15. 34, but he 
 disapproves entirely of the mode in which Harington 
 rendered the four last lines of the 79th stanza of the 
 same book, and accordingly wholly alters it ; so that 
 Milton's testimony is both for and against the 
 translation. 
 
 Morton. I only noticed it by the way, and not 
 with any view to draw on a discussion now about 
 Sir John Harington's merits. Do not let us wander 
 farther from Rich and his " Farewell to Militarie 
 Profession." Our preface has already been suf- 
 ficiently long and excursive. 
 
 Elliot. You mentioned 3Ir. Haslewood's list of 
 Rich's productions, and certain omissions he had 
 made. Is the "Farewel" now under our considera- 
 tion, mentioned by him ? 
 
 Bourne. It is not, and there are few who pos- 
 sess more knowledge on the subject of old poetry 
 than the gentleman you have named. This error he
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 145 
 
 commits in common with all bibliographers, nor 
 have I seen the " Farewell to Militarie profession" 
 included in any catalogue that has come under my 
 observation. 
 
 Morton. It is as important a discovery, recol- 
 lecting its contents, as could be well made : a first 
 edition would of course be still more valuable. 
 
 Bourne. I dare say a copy of it exists, if one 
 knew where to lay one's hands upon it. 
 
 Elliot. What is the general plan of the work? 
 the title-page only mentions " pleasant discourses:" 
 what is to be understood by those words ? 
 
 Bourne. The word Discourse had a very un- 
 defined meaning at that time : Rich uses it to ex- 
 press what we now call novels or tales, and of these 
 there are eight in this small 4to. volume, so that they 
 are not of very considerable length. In an address 
 " to the Readers in generall," Rich observes : " The 
 Histories (altogeather) are eight in number, whereof, 
 the first, the second, the fift, the seuenth, and eight 
 are tales that are but forged onely for delight ; 
 neither credible to be beleeued, nor hurtfull to be 
 perused. The third, the fourth, and the sixt are 
 Italian Histories written likewise for pleasure by 
 maister L. B." 
 
 Elliot. And which of these is the foundation of 
 Shakespeare's play ? 
 
 Bourne. The second. The commentators an- 
 ticipated what has now fortunately occurred, that
 
 146 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the original novel of Twelfth Night might, at some 
 future time, be discovered. The likeness in parts is 
 extremely strong, and indeed there will be no room 
 for any doubt, whether Shakespeare did or did not 
 employ it. 
 
 Morton. But we have not yet heard the title, of 
 the novel ; as it is the second it conies among those 
 which the author states " are but forged only for 
 delight." 
 
 Bourne. The history is entitled " Of Apolonius 
 axd Silla," and you will find that throughout 
 Shakespeare has changed all the names, as indeed 
 in such cases he frequently did. — The argument of 
 the story is thus given after the title. 
 
 " The argument of the second Historic. 
 
 ^[ Apolonius, Duke, hauiug spent a yeares seruice 
 in the warres against the Turke, returning home- 
 ward with his eompanie by sea was driuen by force 
 of weather to the He of Cypres, where he was well 
 receiued by Pontus gouernour of the same lie, with 
 whom Silla, daughter to Pontus, fell so strangely in 
 louc that after Apolonius was departed to Constan- 
 tinople, Silla with one man followed and comming 
 to Constantinople she serued Apolonius m the habitc 
 of a man, and after many pretie accidents falling 
 out, she was knowne to Apolonius, who in requital! 
 of her loue married her." 
 
 Morton. Excepting the circumstance of Silla
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 147 
 
 serving the duke in man's attire, and their subsequent 
 marriage, the argument does not indicate any other 
 resemblance to Shakespeare's play : Rich lays his 
 scene in Constantinople, but Shakespeare in Illyria. 
 
 Elliot. Sebastian and Olivia, or any persons an- 
 swering to them, seem entirely omitted by Rich. 
 
 Bourne. In the argument, not in the story: you 
 would not wish to have the argument as long and 
 as particular as the narrative : it cannot include 
 every thing ; notwithstanding, it was merely casting 
 my eye over the argument that first led me to sus- 
 pect a resemblance, which I afterwards found most 
 satisfactorily confirmed. The body of the history 
 opens with various reflections on the influence of 
 " Dame Errour" in human affairs, and especially in 
 those of love, after which it relates that Apolonius, 
 " a worthy Duke," a very young man, who had 
 levied an army and served against the Turk, while 
 Constantinople was yet in the hands of the Christians, 
 returning home after one year's victories, was com- 
 pelled, by stress of weather, to seek shelter in Cyprus 
 (or Cypres, as Rich calls it) : he was here entertained 
 very courteously by Pontus, the governor, who had 
 a son named Silvio and a daughter named Silla : the 
 latter soon fell desperately in love with Duke Apolo- 
 nius, and " vsed so great familiarity with him, as her 
 honour might well permitte, and fed him with such 
 amorous baites as the modesty of a maide could 
 reasonably afforde." 
 
 l 'I
 
 148 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. Then does Silvio, brother to Silla, cor- 
 respond with Shakespeare's Sebastian, brother to 
 Viola ? 
 
 Bourne. Throughout. — Apolonius makes no re- 
 turn, and indeed scarcely seems to notice the at- 
 tentions of the young lady, but with the first fair 
 wind sails home to Constantinople. Thither Silla 
 resolves to follow him, and is aided in her design by 
 Pedro, a faithful servant, in whose company, and as 
 whose sister, she embarks in a galley that happened 
 to be preparing to quit the port. On the voyage 
 the captain falls in love with the beautiful damsel, 
 makes amorous advances, and at last offers her 
 violence : she is obliged by his threats to appear 
 consenting, and having obtained a short respite, she 
 is about to destroy herself with a knife, to prevent 
 the completion of the wicked purposes of her boister- 
 ous lover, when a dreadful storm opportunely rises 
 to divert her from her purpose, and the vessel being 
 wrecked, all are drowned excepting Silla, Avho escapes 
 by clinging to a chest belonging to the captain. 
 
 Morton. To all this there is nothing parallel in 
 Shakespeare. We hear nothing of any previous 
 love, or even acquaintance, between Duke Orsino 
 and Viola. 
 
 Elliot. All we have been told is antecedent, I 
 suppose : Shakespeare begins alter tiu: storm, and 
 of course omits what occurred during the voyage. 
 
 Bourne. It has always struck me as a defect in
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 149 
 
 Shakespeare's highly finished play, that the motive 
 for the voyage of Viola is not sufficiently explained : 
 she tells the captain only that she had heard her 
 father name Duke Orsino ; but in the first instance 
 she seems desirous rather to be taken into the service 
 of Olivia than of the Duke : 
 
 " O that I serv'd that Lady, 
 And might not be deliver' d to the world, 
 Till I had made mine own occasion mellow, 
 What my estate is," 
 
 are her words. 
 
 Morton*. She did not then perhaps contemplate 
 her disguise. "While serving Olivia she might have 
 an opportunity of seeing the Duke. 
 
 Bourne. Dr. Johnson remarks upon this part of 
 the play : " Viola seems to have formed a very deep 
 design with very little premeditation : she is thrown 
 by shipwreck on an unknown coast : hears that the 
 Prince is a bachelor, and resolves to supplant the 
 lady whom he courts." This objection is well- 
 founded, as it applies to readers of the present 
 day, but I apprehend it is not so well-founded with 
 reference to Shakespeare's audiences. It is an ac- 
 knowledged fact, that the stories he availed him- 
 self of were popular, the incidents were generally 
 well known, and the hearers could therefore supply 
 certain omissions from their memories. When Viola 
 observes,
 
 150 EIGHTH CONVERSATION 
 
 '•' I have heard my father name him : 
 
 lie was a bachelor then," 
 
 she tells no more, in order not to disclose her design 
 to the captain of the ship, but intends to say just 
 enough to draw from him the huts, that he yet re- 
 mained single, and that he was engaged in courtship 
 to Olivia. 
 
 Elliot. If Shakespeare had used the same names 
 for his characters as Rich gives them, your argument 
 would have been more conclusive ; as it is, I have 
 some doubts upon the point : but let us proceed 
 with the novel. 
 
 Bourne. Silla breaks open the chest that had 
 been the means of her preservation during the 
 storm, and finding it tilled with men's apparel, she 
 clothes herself in one of the suits : thus attired, she 
 travels to Constantinople, and there presents herself 
 to the Duke, who, " perceiuing him to be a proper 
 smogue young man, gaue him entertainment." Silla 
 at this time took upon herself her brother's name. 
 We now come to Olivia, or the. lady who in Rich's 
 novel answers to her : she is called Julina, and is 
 represented as a young beautiful widow, whose 
 husband had died lately, and left her extremely rich. 
 Shakespeare thought it would have a better effect to 
 describe her as a virgin whose brother was recently 
 deceased. 
 
 Mokton. It has been objected that there is some 
 impropriety in Olivia having her house filled by such
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 151 
 
 persons as Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Ague- 
 cheek : the impropriety might have been less striking 
 had Shakespeare fallowed Rich's story in this respect 
 more exactly. 
 
 Bourne. In Shakespeare's age I do not know 
 that such a circumstance would have made any 
 very material difference. Rich thus speaks of Ju- 
 lina : "At this very instaunt there was remainyng 
 in the Cittie a noble Dame, a widdowe, whose hus- 
 band was but lately deceased, one of the noblest 
 men that were in the partes of Grecia, who left his 
 Lady and wife large possessions and great liuings. 
 This ladyes name was called Iullna, who besides the 
 aboundance of her wealth and the greatnesse of her 
 reuenues, had likewise the soueraigntie of all the 
 Dames of Constantinople for her beautie." 
 
 Morton. Rich does not scruple to be guilty of 
 tautologies. 
 
 Bourne. He proceeds in these terms : " To this 
 Lady hdina Apolonius became an earnest suter, and 
 according to the manner of woers, besides faire 
 wordes, sorrowfull sighes and piteous countenaunces, 
 there must be sending of louing letters, Chaines, 
 Braceletes, Brouches, Ringes, Tablets, Gemmes, 
 Iuels and presents, I know not what. So my Duke 
 who in the time that he remained in the lie of Cypres, 
 had no skill at all in the arte of Lone, although it 
 were more then half proffered vnto him, was now 
 become a scholler in Loues Schoole and had alreadie
 
 152 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 learned his first lesson ; that is, to speake pittifullv, 
 to iooke ruthfully, to promise largely, to scrue dili- 
 gently and to speake carefully: Now he was learn- 
 ing his second lesson, that is, to reward liberally., to 
 giue bountifully, to present willingly and to write 
 louingly. Thus Apolonius was so busied in his new 
 study that, I warrant you, there was no man that 
 could chalenge him for plaiyng the truant, he fol- 
 lowed his profession with so good will : And who 
 must be the messenger to carrie the tokens and loue 
 letters to the Lady Ialina but Silnio his man : in 
 him the Duke reposed his onely cofidence to goe 
 between him and his Lady." 
 
 Elliot. Now the resemblance begins to open 
 upon us. 
 
 Boukxe. And it will grow more and more striking 
 every minute. After some reflections on the cruel 
 situation in which Silla, alias Silvio, was placed, 
 Rich goes on thus: " Iulina now hauing many 
 times taken the gaze of this vong youth Siluio, per- 
 ceiuing him to bee of such excellent perfect grace, 
 was so intangeled with the often sight of this sweete 
 temptation that sbe fell into as great a liking with 
 the man, as the maister was with her selfe : And on 
 a time Siluio beyng sent from his maister with a 
 message to the Lady Iulina, as he beganne very 
 earnestly to solieite in his maisters behalfe, Ialina 
 interrupting him in his tale saied : Siluio, it is 
 enough that you haue saied for your maister ; from
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 153 
 
 henceforth either speake for your self or say nothing 
 at all. Silla, abashed to heare these words, bega in 
 her mind to accuse the blindnes of loue, that Iidina, 
 neglecting the good of so noble a Duke, wold pre- 
 ferre her loue vnto such a one as nature it selfe had 
 denied to recopence her liking." 
 
 Elliot. Ay, now we enter into the very heart of 
 Shakespeare's play: he vrai pent quelquefois rCetre 
 pas vraisemblable, and this was an instance, for your 
 assertion did not at first seem borne out. 
 
 Bourne. I thought you were at first a little 
 incredulous : you seemed afraid of coming under 
 the ironical censure of our friend Rabelais, " Un 
 homme de bons setis croit toujour :s ce qu'on luy 
 diet Sf quil troiive par escript." We now come to 
 Silla 1 s brother, Silvio, the Sebastian of Shakespeare: 
 Silvio at the time of these transactions was in the 
 interior of Africa, and was not like Sebastian wrecked 
 in the same ship with Viola. Returning to Cyprus, 
 he vows to discover Silla, and after various travels 
 he arrives at Constantinople, " where as he was 
 walking in an euening for his owne recreation on 
 a pleasante grene yarde without the walles of the 
 Cittie, he fortuned to meet with the Lady Iidina, 
 who likewise had been abroad to take the aire ; 
 and as she sodainly east her eyes vpon Siluio, 
 thinking him to be her olde acquaintance, by reason 
 they were so like one another, as you have heard 
 before, said vnto him, sir, Siluio, if your hast be not 
 the greater, I pray you let me haue a little talke with
 
 154 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 you, seeing I haue so luckily met you in this place." 
 At first the young man appears somewhat astonished 
 and shy, but noting the lady's beauty, he affects to 
 have forgotten himself, and to be what Julina sup- 
 poses him. Julina, as a widow, may be excused 
 for being something bolder than a virgin, and she 
 actually invites Silvio not only to her house, but to 
 her bed, and he consents without reluctance. 
 
 Morton. Something more must be said about the 
 resemblance of the brother and sister, to account for 
 the mistake, than ivhat you read just now: you 
 probably omitted to mention it. 
 
 Bourne. I forgot it in the proper place; for it is 
 stated that Silvio loved his sister Silla <c as dearly as 
 his own life, and the rather for that as she was his 
 naturall sister both by the Father and Mother, so the 
 one of them Avas so like the other in countenance 
 and fauour, that there was no man able to descerne 
 the one from the other by their faces." 
 
 Elliot. That was a very important circumstance. 
 If Shakespeare were wrong in making Olivia not a 
 widow, he was right in not carrying her love to 
 Cesario or to the man she fancied was lie, to such an 
 extreme as Rich represents it. 
 
 Bourne. Of course; but Rich, as vou will find, 
 has no scruple of that sort, for Julina afterwards 
 proves to be in the family way: — but we shall see 
 more of that presently. Duke Apolonius is informed 
 by his domestics, that the widow preferred his ser- 
 vant to himself, and that she had given most un-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 155 
 
 equivocal proofs of it : he consequently throws the 
 unfortunate Silla into a dungeon, and refuses to 
 listen to her entreaties. Julina, in the mean time, 
 finding the consequences of her intercourse with the 
 brother but too apparent, is in a state of great alarm, 
 " fearing to become banckrout of her honour," and 
 appealing to Apolonius, Silla is brought from her 
 prison into their presence : she requires Julina to 
 contradict the charge that she, Silla^ had made love 
 to her, Julina, for herself instead of her master. 
 Julina, on the other hand, still mistaking the sister 
 for the brother, calls upon Silla first to admit their 
 mutual love, and that failing, to avow the criminal 
 intercourse that had passed between them. The 
 speeches in this interview run to a considerable 
 length, Julina repeating to Silla the vows her brother 
 Silvio had, in fact, made of love and constancy, and 
 asserting that she had received him " for her loyal 
 husband." The duke is convinced that his page has 
 wronged the lady most grossly, and drawing his 
 rapier, insists that Silla shall make all possible 
 amends. This forms a very interesting scene, and 
 our compassion is much divided between the duke, 
 who saw the lady of his love thus degraded, Julina, 
 who complains of the ingratitude of one whom she 
 so dearly valued, and Silla, who is the innocent 
 victim of mistake and accident. 
 
 Elliot. Shakespeare has made no use of it, and 
 could not in the structure of his play; but he has 
 turned the resemblance between the brother and sister
 
 156" EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 to a comic account, if I may so say, and has made it 
 the source of several most ludicrous scenes. Are 
 any of these touched upon or related in Rich's 
 story ? 
 
 Bourxe. They are not: the irresistibly comic^part 
 of Twelfth Night appears to be wholly Shakespeare's. 
 In Rich's novel there is not any ludicrous character, 
 or, indeed, any person Avhose name has not been 
 already mentioned. You may wish to hear a few 
 sentences from the reply of Silla to Julina's accusa- 
 tion before the duke. " Ah. Madame Ialina, I 
 desire no other testimonie, then your owne honestie 
 and vertue, thinking that you wil not so much blemish 
 the brightnesse of your honour, knowing that a wo- 
 man is, or should be, the linage of curtesie, con- 
 tinencie and shamefastnesse, from the which so soone 
 as she stoopeth, and leaueth the oflice of her duetie 
 and modesty, besides the degradation of her honour she 
 thrusteth her selfe into the pit of perpetuall infamy: 
 and as I cannot think you would so forget your selfe, 
 by the refusal of a noble Duke to diinme the light of 
 your renowne and glorie, which hetherto you haue 
 maintained amongest the besl^ind noblest Ladies, 
 by such a one as I knowe my selfe to be, too farre 
 vnworthie your degree and calling, so most humbly 
 I beseech you to confesse a troth, whereto tendeth 
 those vowes and promises you speake of, which 
 speeches bee so obscure vnto me, as L know not for 
 my life how I might vnderstand them." 
 
 Mortox. The sentence of the duke, commanding;
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 157 
 
 Silla -to make amends, is, of course, delivered after 
 what you have read : how does Silla receive it ? 
 
 Bourne. The narrative is continued in the follow- 
 ing terms : " Siluio hauing heard this sharpe sen- 
 tence fell downe on his knees before the Duke crau- 
 ing for mercie, desiring that he might be suffered to 
 speake with the Lady Iulina apart, promising to 
 satisfie her according to her owne contentation — Well 
 (quoth the Duke) I take thy worde, and therewithall 
 I aduise thee that thou performe thy promise, or 
 otherwise, I protest before God, I will make thee 
 such an example to the world that all traitours shall 
 tremble for feare how they doe seeke the dishonour- 
 ing of Ladies — But now Iulina had concerned so 
 great griefe against Siluio, that there was much adoe 
 to persuade her to talk with him ; but remembring 
 her owne case, desirous to heare what excuse he 
 could make, in the end she agreed, and being brought 
 into a place seuerally by themsclues, Siluio began 
 with a piteous face to say as followeth. — I know not, 
 Madam, of whom I might make complaint, whether 
 of you or of my selfe, which hath conducted and 
 brought vs both into so great aduersitie. I see 
 that you receiue great wrong, and I am condemned 
 against all right ; you in perill to abide the bruite 
 of spightfull tongues, and I in danger to loose the 
 thing that I most desire : and although 1 could 
 alledge many reasons to proue my sayings true, yet 
 I rei'erre my selfe to the experience and bountie of 
 your minde. And here with all loosing his garments
 
 158 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 downe to his stomacke and shewed Iulina his breasts 
 and prety teates surmounting farre the whitnesse of 
 snow it solfe, saying: Loe, Madam, beholde here 
 the party whom you hane chalenged to be the father 
 of your childe ! See I am a woman, the daughter of 
 a noble Duke, who onely for the loue of him, whom 
 you so lightly haue shaken of, haue forsaken my 
 father, abandoned my countrie, and in manner, as 
 you see, am become a seruing man, satisfying m\ 
 selfe but with the onely sight of my Apolonius : and 
 now, Madam, if my passion were not vehement and 
 my tormentes without comparison, I would wish 
 that my fained griefes might be laughed to scorne, 
 and my dissembled paines to bee rewarded with 
 floutes. But my loue beeing pure, my trauaile con- 
 tinuall, and my griefes endlesse, I trust, Madam, 
 you will not onely excuse mc of crime, but also 
 pitty my distresse, the which J protest I would stil 
 haue kept secret if my fortune would so haue per- 
 mitted." 
 
 Elliot. All this could but increase the miser- 
 able perplexity of poor Julina. Such an eclairciase- 
 ment could scarcely take place on the staa'e, and this 
 might be one reason why Shakespeare omitted the 
 incident. 
 
 Bourne. Besides, it would not perhaps have done, 
 even at that day, to have brought on the stage a lady 
 openly making such a complaint as that of Julina, 
 founded upon her own confession of criminality. 
 
 Morton. I have not patience just now to argue
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION'. 159 
 
 any such point, though in Beaumont and Fletcher's 
 " Maids Tragedy/' there is even a stranger inter- 
 view : let it suffice, that Shakespeare has so far de- 
 viated from his original. What becomes of the un- 
 happy widow ? 
 
 Boukxe. Rich says, with much simplicity, she 
 " did now thinke her selfe to be in a worse case 
 then euer she was before, for now she knew not 
 whom to challenge to be the father of her child ; 
 wherefore when she had told the Duke the verye 
 certainty of the discourse which Siluio had made 
 vnto her, shee departed to her owne house with such 
 griefe and sorrowe, that she purposed neuer to come 
 out of her owne dores again aliue, to be a wonder 
 and mocking stocke to the world." 
 
 Elliot. What says the duke to Silvio, or rather 
 to Silla, now he learns her disguise and the object of 
 it ? is it any thing like 
 
 " And since you call'd me master for so long, 
 Here is my hand; you shall from this time be 
 Your master's mistress ?" 
 
 Bourne. The same in effect, but he is a little 
 more high-flown in his phrases, and rapturous in his 
 love : " Oh the branche of al vertue (he exclaims) 
 and the flowre of courtesie it selfe, pardon me I 
 beseech you of all such discourtesies as I ignorantly 
 committed towards you ! Desiring you that without 
 farther memorie of auncient griefes you will accept
 
 160 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 of me, who is more ioyfull and better contented with 
 your presence then if the whole world were at 
 my commaundement." Their happy nuptials are 
 accordingly celebrated at Constantinople with the 
 utmost pomj) and solemnity. 
 
 Morton. But what had become of the brother, the 
 real Silvio, all this time? These events must have 
 made much noise in Constantinople, and one would 
 think he must have heard of them. 
 
 Bourne. Shakespeare manages this part of the 
 story differently. Sebastian only arrives once in 
 Illyria, and that, as it were, by accident, while in 
 order to confirm the claim of Olivia upon Sebastian, 
 he introduces a contract of marriage before a priest. 
 Now Rich, after Silvio's first visit to Constantinople, 
 and after he had left Julina in what family men call 
 (< a hopefull condition," makes him pursue his travels 
 in search of his lost sister into the interior of Greece, 
 where the report of these strange occurrences reaches 
 him. Returning to Constantinople, he was received 
 by his sister and the duke with the utmost joy. In 
 two or three days, Apolonius informed him of what 
 had passed regarding the Lady Julina; and Silvio, 
 well knowing how the error had arisen, "was stricken 
 with great remorse to make Julina amends, vnder- 
 standing her to be a noble lady," and " left de- 
 famed to the world through his default." lie ac- 
 cordingly " bewrayed the whole circumstances" to 
 Apolonius, who breaks the matter to the widow,
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. IGI 
 
 and introduces the repentant lover to her as " the 
 sonne and heyre of a noble Duke, worthy of her 
 estate and dignity." The novel is wound up in the 
 following manner : " Iulina seeing Siluio in place did 
 know very well that he was the father of her childe, 
 and was so rauished with ioy, that she knew not 
 whether she were awake or in some dreame. Siluio 
 imbracing her in his armes, crauing forgiuenesse of 
 all that was past, concluded with her the marriage 
 day, which was presently accomplished with great 
 ioy and contentation to all parties. And then Siluio 
 hauing attained a noble wife, and Silla his sister her 
 desired husband, they passed the residue of their 
 daies with such delight as those that haue accom- 
 plished the perfection of their felicities." 
 
 Elliot. And a very pleasant story it is, and judg- 
 ing from such parts as you have read, pleasantly 
 told. 
 
 Bourne. The narrative is conducted with regu- 
 larity and clearness, and the language generally easy 
 and fluent, though disfigured now and then by need- 
 less repetitions. 
 
 Morton. It is indisputable that Shakespeare was 
 indebted to it for his plot of Twelfth Night. 
 
 Bourne. Though he has not followed it very 
 closely : indeed, as we have seen, he was in a manner 
 obliged to vary it, in order to render it dramatic} he 
 has not made his incidents quite so consequential 
 upon each other as Rich, and with great art lie has 
 
 VOL. II. n
 
 169, EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 contrived to arrive at the denouement of both plots 
 at the same time. This was not at all necessary in 
 the narrative, and, in my opinion, as far as veri- 
 similitude is concerned, it was more natural to at- 
 tribute the arrival of Silvio at Constantinople to 
 design, in the course of his search for his sister, than 
 to mere accident, which seems to be the case with 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Morton. Had Shakespeare adopted this expedient, 
 it would have too much resembled an incident in a 
 former play of his, I mean " The Comedy of Errors," 
 where Antipholis of Syracuse travels in search of his 
 twin brother. 
 
 Elliot. True, and as it was, Shakespeare could 
 not avoid some similarity in the incidents, though he 
 contrived to introduce every dissimilarity in the si- 
 tuations. Have either of the other seven histories or 
 discourses in Rich's book any connexion with Shake- 
 speare's plays ? 
 
 Bourne. No; excepting that in the sixth novel 
 there is an incident of the effects of a sleeping draught 
 upon a young lady that reminds us of Romeo and 
 Juliet ; and the first scene of the same tragedy is 
 brought to our memories in another story, by the 
 employment of the familiar proverb " o' my word 
 we'll not carry coals," in the same way as Shakespeare 
 uses it. 
 
 Morton. All which confirms the belief, that 
 " Rich his Farewel to Military profession" was one 
 of the books in Shakespeare's library, and that he
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 163 
 
 was well acquainted with its contents. You said 
 that llich was a poet, but the " discourse" we have 
 just finished is wholly prose: can you give us a 
 specimen of his verse ? 
 
 Bourne. I can, and you will not read it with the 
 less interest, because it is found in the same curious 
 volume, where several other pieces of poetry are 
 interspersed. What I am about to read is from the 
 first novel, relating the adventures of a banished 
 duke, called " Sappho Duke of Mantona." 
 
 Elliot. Shakespeare is charged by the com- 
 mentators with the heinous offence of confounding 
 the sex which ought to belong to the name of 
 Baptista. Rich seems to have been guilty of the 
 same error in the name of Sappho. 
 
 Bourne. So it appears, but it may be easily for- 
 given. His lines are these : 
 
 " No shame, I trust, to cease from former ill, 
 Nor to revert the lewdnesse of the minde, 
 
 Which hath bin trainde, and so misled by will, 
 To breake the bounds which reason had assignde : 
 
 I now forsake the former time I spent, 
 And sorie am for that I once miswent. 
 
 " But blinde forecast was he that made me swarue, 
 
 Affection fond was lurer of my lust ; 
 My fancie fixt desire did make me serue, 
 
 Yaine hope was he that trained all my trust : 
 
 m 2
 
 164 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Good liking then so daseled hard my sight, 
 
 And dimnde mine eies, that reason gaue no light. 
 
 " O sugred sweet that trainde me to this trap ! 
 
 I saw the bait where hooke lay hidden fast 5 
 I well perceiud the drift of my mishap; 
 
 I knew the bit would breed my bane at last : 
 But what for this, for sweete I swallowed all. 
 
 Whose tast I find more bitter now than Gall. 
 
 " But loe the fruites that grewe by fond desire ! 
 
 I seeke to shun that pleased best my minde; 
 I sterue for cold, yet faine would quench the fire, 
 
 And glad to loose that fairest 1 would finde. 
 In one self thing I find both bane and blisse ; 
 
 But this is straunge, I like no life but this." 
 
 The word fairest, in the last line but two, is probably 
 a misprint for fainr.sl. 
 
 Elliot. Rich probably is to be placed in the class 
 of smooth versifiers, but, according to this specimen, 
 he has no claim to any rank among original poets. 
 
 Bourne. You have correctly ascertained and stated 
 his merits in a sentence. This volume has been long 
 enough open, we may now close it. 
 
 Morton. In alluding to a proverb used by Rich, 
 you just now mentioned Romeo and Juliet ; the 
 original of it is in Painters " Palace of Pleasure." 
 
 Bocnxn. That was probably the immediate ori- 
 ginal, but there were other versions of the Italian
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 165 
 
 tale : you will find it on fo. l/9> b. of " The second 
 Tome of the Palace of Pleasure," printed by Thomas 
 Marshe. Did you ever hear of a separate printed 
 poem by William Painter ; I mean unconnected with 
 " the Palace of Pleasure?" 
 Morton. Certainly never. 
 
 Bourne. Yet such a poem, or rather collection of 
 poems, was shown me not long since. 
 
 Morton. Indeed. Was it not a most valuable 
 relic ? The editor of the new edition of " the Palace 
 of Pleasure" mentions nothing about it. 
 
 Bourne It is a relic of considerable rarity, but 
 you mistake if you suppose it was by William Painter, 
 the compiler and translator of the Palace of Pleasure, 
 although by a person of the same names. However, 
 no other copy is known of it, and as it was without 
 beginning or end, the date cannot precisely be ascer- 
 tained: the dedication to Sir Paul Pinder, ambassador 
 at Constantinople, signed William Painter, is, how- 
 ever, still preserved : Sir Paul died before the year 
 1G50 ; the type, as I should guess, was after 1030. 
 
 Morion. Perhaps it was by some descendant : 
 what is the subject? Had it any merit? 
 
 Bourne. None that I could discover; but the 
 
 running-title 
 
 Elliot. Here is a poem, the date of which you 
 do not know, the author of which you do not know; 
 which has neither beginning nor end, and which is 
 actually worth nothing, and vet we are to waste our
 
 166 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 time upon it. Have we not already heard too much 
 about it? 
 
 Bourne. I apprehend not. You cannot wonder 
 that some curiosity should be felt about the title. 
 
 Elliot. Why, when the body of the work is not 
 worth reading, what signifies the title ? Yet I am 
 not surprised ; Quod crebro vidit non miratur, etiam 
 si curjlat, nescit. 
 
 Bourne. But I contend that the name of the 
 poem is curious and worth knowing : the title- 
 page is wanting, but the running-title is " Chaucer 
 painted :" why it is so called I cannot guess, as in 
 the cursory view I had of the book I saw nothing 
 that had any relation to Chaucer : the greater por- 
 tion was proverbs strung together in four-line 
 stanzas. Towards the end was a poem lamenting 
 the degeneracy of shepherds, and an anagram on 
 the mother of the author, J one Clark. 
 
 Morton. The word painted in the running-title, I 
 dare say, had some connexion with the author's 
 name. Did you extract any part of it ? 
 
 Bourne. T did not. 
 
 Elliot. Then we are more fortunate than usual. 
 
 Morton. Still uncis naribus indulgis, but not at 
 our expense. 
 
 Bourne. He will not have that gratification long, 
 for about William Painter I have nothing more to 
 say. 
 
 Elliot. Why, seriously, if I did not keep some
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 167 
 
 kind of check upon you, there is no knowing what 
 paltry matters you two might not wander into. 
 Let us dwell upon something worth attention, and I 
 will not complain. I never dreamt of objecting to 
 the detail you entered into of Rich's novel, because 
 that was not only a new but a very interesting sub- 
 ject, and if you had continued the same course, and 
 given us some account of other histories of which 
 Shakespeare availed himself, it would have been 
 adding importantly to our stock of knowledge. 
 
 Boukxk. I would have done so willingly had I 
 been sufficiently prepared for the purpose 5 but some 
 of the stories which Shakespeare employed are 
 really so rare, and are consequently so difficult to be 
 procured, that before I can enter into the question 
 satisfactorily, I must lay all my friends under con- 
 tribution for books. 
 
 Mokton. I have seen Lodge's " Rosalind," the 
 " worthless original" (as Mr. Steevens is pleased to 
 call it) of " As you Like it" in your collection. 
 
 Elliot. And Robt. Greene's " Dorastus & Faw- 
 nia," on which the " Winter's Tale" is founded, you 
 told me you had. 
 
 Morton. Besides, " the Palace of Pleasure," 
 which stands conspicuous on your shelves, and these 
 three, with Sir Thomas North's translation of Plu- 
 tarch's Lives, will go a good way in, at least, 
 illustrating a subject that, as far as I know, lias not 
 yet been by any means adequately investigated.
 
 16'8 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. You mistake when you say that you 
 have seen Lodge's " Rosalind" among my books: 
 you have seen " Euphues Golden Legacie : Found 
 after his death in his Cell at Silexedra. Bequeathed 
 to Philautus Sonnes, nursed vp with their Father in 
 England/' 1623, and it is very true that this work, 
 excepting the title and the different orthography of 
 some of the words, is the same as Lodge's " Rosa- 
 lind," of 1590, but I could wish, were it in my power, 
 to show you, and to read from, the original edition. 
 
 Elliot. What trifles you convert into matters of 
 consequence : this is not only nugis addere pondus, 
 but giving the nugce themselves an artificial weight. 
 We shall be able to judge of the similarity between 
 Shakespeare's play and Lodge's novel as well by an 
 edition of yesterday, if it be correctly reprinted, as 
 by one published in the life-time of the author. 
 
 Bourne. Certainly, but independent of the satis- 
 faction of comparing Shakespeare's play with an 
 original edition, such as he probably employed, there 
 is surely some pleasure in looking at literary curiosi- 
 ties, like the first edition of " Rosalynde," for so the 
 author spelt it, in 1590, though why that graceful 
 name was afterwards erased from the title, and all 
 the rest left, it is impossible for us to ascertain. 
 
 Elliot. Nor is it worth ascertaining if we had all 
 the means before us. 
 
 Morton. I do not know that, provided it had any 
 thing to do with Spenser's Rosalind, or with Shake-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 16"9 
 
 speare's adoption of the name in his " As you Like 
 it," or any other circumstance of that kind. 
 
 Bourne. Mr. Singer, in a late reprint (which, by 
 the by, might have been more correct) has extracted 
 all the poetry from Lodge's " Rosalynde," and, as 
 Shakespeare was much less indebted to the verse 
 than to the prose, and, as no specimens have been 
 given from the last, I will read two or three passages 
 which will enable you to form an opinion of Lodge's 
 style, and of the manner in which he treats a story, 
 of which there is every reason to believe that he was 
 the original inventor. 
 
 Elliot. This is just as it ought to be ; now we 
 are coming to the point : — Lodge was unquestionably 
 a man of considerable talent as a poet, if we looked 
 only at the pieces inserted in his " Fig for Mo- 
 mus." What you are about to extract from then, is 
 his " Rosalynde," republished in l(i<23 under the title 
 of " Euphues Golden Legacy." 
 
 Bourne. It is: he took the name of Euphues 
 from John Lilly, who published his well-known 
 " Euphues, the Anatomic of Wit," at least as early 
 as 15SO, and in the prefatory matter to which I find 
 that he was rusticated from Oxford. I just notice 
 this circumstance, because his biographers seem to 
 have overlooked it. 
 
 Morton. That is curious: what does lie say of 
 himself? 
 
 Bourne. It is in an address " To my good Friends,
 
 170 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the Gentlemen Schollers of Oxford:" he observes, 
 " Yet may I of all the rest most condemne Oxford 
 of vnkindnesse, of vice I cannot, who seemed to 
 weane me before shee brought me forth and to giue 
 me bones to gnaw, before I could get the teat to 
 suck. Wherein she played the nice mother, in 
 sending me into the country to nurse, where I tyred 
 at a dry breast three yeares, and was at last enforced 
 to weane my selfe." He accordingly went to Cam- 
 bridge. One of Robert Greene's tracts is called 
 " Euphues Censure to Philantus," so that it should 
 seem that Lilly's example had rendered those names 
 very popular. 
 
 Elliot. Do not let us wander unnecessarily. I 
 am anxious to hear something from Lodge's novel. 
 
 Bourne. Your anxiety shall be relieved. You 
 will observe, in the first place, that Shakespeare's 
 Orlando is here called Rosader, and his severe elder 
 brother Saladine : the names of Rosalind and Aliena 
 (the assumed name of Alinda) Shakespeare adopts. 
 The following is the description of the heroine : 
 " As euery mans eye had his seurall suruey, and 
 fancie was partiall in their lookes, yet all in generall 
 applauded the admirable riches that Nature bestowed 
 on the face of Rosalind; for vpon her cheekes there 
 seemed a battell betweene the Graces, who should 
 bestow most fauours to make her excellent. The 
 blush that gloried Luna when she. kist the Shepheard 
 of the hills of Latmos, was not tainted with such a
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 171 
 
 pleasant dye as the vermilion florish on the siluer 
 hue of Rosalinds countenance : her eyes were like 
 those Lampes that make the wealthie couert for the 
 heauens more glorious, sparkling fauour and dis- 
 daine, curteous and yet coy, as if in them Venus had 
 placed al her amorets, and Diana all her chastitie. 
 The trammels of her haire, folded in a caule of gold, 
 so farre surpast the burnisht glister of mettall, as 
 the Sunne doth the meanest Starre in brightnesse : 
 the tresses that folds in the brows of Apollo, were 
 not halfe so rich to the .sight, for in her haires it 
 seemed loue had laid himselfe in ambush, to entrap 
 the proudest eye that durst gaze vpon their excel- 
 lence : what should I need to decipher her particular 
 beauties, when by the censure of all, she was the 
 paragon of all earthly perfection." 
 
 Morton. That puts one a little in mind of James 
 Shirley's excellent ridicule of overstrained hyper- 
 bolical compliments, and unnatural resemblances, in 
 his play of " The Sisters" (1652), where he makes 
 Angelina reprove a pedantic Scholar, who had 
 smeared her beauty with all sorts of artificial co- 
 lours : she says, 
 
 — — " I am 
 
 A stranger to you, Sir, and to your language ; 
 These words have no relation to me. 
 1 pity men of your high fancy, should 
 Dishonour their own names bv forming such
 
 17'2 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Prodigious shapes of beauty in our sex. 
 
 If I were really what you would commend, 
 
 Mankind would fly me. (ret a painter, Sir, 
 
 And when he has wrought a woman by your fancy, 
 
 See if you know her again. Were it not fine 
 
 If you should see your mistress without haire, 
 
 Drest only with those glittering beams you talk of r 
 
 Two suns instead of eyes, and they not melt 
 
 The forehead made of snow ? No cheeks, but two 
 
 Roses inoculated on a lily ; 
 
 Between, a pendant alabaster nose : 
 
 Her lips cut out of corall, and no teeth 
 
 But strings of pearl : her tongue a nightingales ! — 
 
 Would not this strange chimaera fright yourself?" 
 
 Elliot. Your quotation is in point, though rather 
 long. You might have found a shorter one, and (mite 
 as apposite, I think, in the very play of Shakespeare 
 under consideration. The ridicule of Shirley is ex- 
 ceedingly well expressed, as might indeed be ex- 
 pected from his pen, as far as I have heard any thing 
 about him. 
 
 Boukxe. It is to be regretted that Mr. Gilford's 
 edition of his plays is so long postponed. Shirley, 
 as has been remarked, was the last of the old 
 English school of dramatists, and both his Tragedies 
 and Comedies will bear comparison with those of 
 any of Shakespeare's contemporaries. But to pro- 
 ceed with Lodge: the following will strongly re-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 1?3 
 
 mind you of Shakespeare. It is before Rosalind and 
 
 her friend Alinda, afterwards called Aliena, make 
 
 their escape to the forest of Arden: " At this Rosalind 
 
 began to comfort her, and after shee had wept a few 
 
 kinde teares, in the bosome of her Alinda, shee gaue 
 
 her hearty thankes, and then they sate them downe 
 
 to consult how they should trauell. Alinda grieued 
 
 at nothing but that they might haue no man in their 
 
 company, saying : it would bee their greatest pre- 
 
 iudiee, in that two women went wandring about 
 
 without either guide or attendant. Tush (quoth 
 
 Rosalind) art thou a woman and hast not a sodaine 
 
 shift to preuen-t a misfortune? I (thou secst) am of a 
 
 tall stature, and would very well become the person 
 
 and apparell of Page, thou shalt be my Mistris, and 
 
 I will play the man so properly, that (trust mee) in 
 
 what company soeuer I come, I will not be dis- 
 
 couered : I will buy mee a sute, and haue a Rapier 
 
 very handsomely at my side, and if any knaue offer 
 
 wrong, your Page will shew him the point of his 
 
 weapon. At this Alinda smiled, and vpon this they 
 
 agreed, and presently gathered vp all their jewels, 
 
 which they trussed vp in a casket, and Rosalind in 
 
 all haste prouided her of robes, and Alinda being 
 
 called Alicna, and Rosalind, Ganimede." 
 
 Elliot. The sentence " I will buy me a suit, and 
 have a rapier very handsomely at my side," brings 
 to memory Shakespeare's line, " We'll have a 
 swashing and a martial outside j" but a preceding
 
 174 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 sentiment of Lodge, on the quickness of woman's 
 wit and her readiness on sudden emergencies, is 
 copied from Ariosto, c. xxvii. 
 
 Molti consigli delle donne sono 
 Meglio improviso, eke a pensarvi usciti; 
 Che queslo especiale, e propria dono 
 Tra tanti c tanli lor dal ciel largiti — 
 
 and then he goes on to contrast this excellence 
 with the slowness and heaviness of men in similar 
 situations. 
 
 Bourne. On the whole, Ariosto has done the 
 female sex more than justice, though you remember 
 some parts of his Orlando sufficiently libellous. The 
 first encounter of Rosader with the Duke (whom 
 Lodge calls King Gerismond) is thus described by 
 Lodge : " It hapned that day that Gerismond, the 
 lawfull king of France banished by Torismond, 
 who with a lustie crew of outlawes liued in that 
 Forrest, that day in honour of his birth, made a 
 feast to all his bolde yeomen, and froliekt it with 
 store of wine and venison, sitting all at a long table 
 vnder the shadow of Limon trees : to that place by 
 chance fortune conducted Rosader, who seeing such 
 a crew of braue men, hairing store of that for want of 
 which hee and Adam perished, hee stept boldly to the 
 boords end, and saluted the Company thus. — What- 
 soeuer thou be that art maister of these lustie squires, 
 I salute thee as graciously as a man in extreame dis-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 175 
 
 tresse may : knowe that I and a fellow friend of 
 mine, are here famished in the forrest for want of 
 foode : perish we must, vnlesse relieued by thy fa- 
 uours. Therfore if thou be a Gentleman, giue meate 
 to men, and such as are euery way worthie of life : 
 let the proudest Squire that sits at thy table rise and 
 encounter with me in any honorable point of ac- 
 tivitie whatsoeuer, and if he and thou proue me 
 not a man, send mee away comfortlesse : if thou 
 refuse this, as a niggard of thy cates, I will haue 
 amongst you with my sword, for rather wil I die 
 valiantly, then perish with so cowardly an extreame. 
 Gerisnwiid looking him earnestly in the face, and 
 seeing so proper a Gentleman in so bitter a passion, 
 was moued with so great pitie, that rising from the 
 table hee tooke him by the hande, and bade him 
 welcome, willing him to sitte downe in his place, 
 and in his roome, not onely to cate his fill, but as 
 Lord of the feast. Gramercy Sir (quoth llosadcr) 
 but I haue a feeble friend that lies hereby famished 
 almost for food, aged, and therefore lesse able to 
 abide the extremitie of hunger then my selfe, and 
 dishonour it were for mee to taste one crum, before 
 I made him partner of my fortunes : therefore will 
 I run and fetch him and then I will gratefully accept 
 of your proffer." 
 
 Morton. That is very like Shakespeare also : the 
 description is lively and picturesque, and the af- 
 fectionate considerateness of Rosader for his old and
 
 170' EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 faithful servant quite as strongly pourtrayed as in 
 " As you Like it."' 
 
 Bourne. I will not quote the narrative of the 
 mode in which Rosader discovers and preserves his 
 brother Saladine from the lion, because that passage, 
 and almost that only, has been produced by the com- 
 mentators to establish the resemblance. In .Shake- 
 speare's play it is certainly a little revolting- to find 
 Celia so suddenly in love with the repentant Oliver : 
 this incident is better managed by Lodge, than 
 Shakespeare had the means of doing within the nar- 
 row limits of a theatrical performance. I do not 
 think it worth while to read more from Lodge's 
 " Rosalynde:" what you have now seen will answer 
 the purpose we had in view, and will show that 
 Shakespeare followed his original, in this instance 
 with an admiring closeness. 
 
 Morton. The extracts prove likewise that the 
 original was not quite so worthless as Mr. Steevens 
 maintained it to he. 
 
 Elliot. Steevens was a tasteless pedant, and no- 
 thing better could be expected from him. His .sen- 
 tences have been reversed over and over again ; I 
 mean not merely with respect to the particular tract 
 before us, but on other matters on which he has 
 chosen to be equally dogmatical. 
 
 Bourne. Do not let us renew that subject : we 
 know that you and the annotators are at daggers 
 drawing, and most frequently I should be inclined to
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 177 
 
 fight on your side ; but this is not the fittest time, 
 however just the quarrel. Besides the resemblances 
 we have noticed, it is to be observed that Shakespeare 
 has also adopted Lodge's under-piot in the loves of 
 Sylvius and Phoebe, but the comic incidents and per- 
 sons are his own invention and introduction. 
 
 Morton. The remark, you may remember, also 
 applies to his adaptation of Rich's novel to the stage. 
 May the same be said of the " Winter's Tale," or 
 does Greene, in his " Dorastus and Fawnia," bring 
 forward any such character as Autolicus? 
 
 Bourxe. He does not; but the greatest difference 
 between Shakespeare and Greene, in regard to that 
 story, is, that the latter makes Bellaria, who corre- 
 sponds to Hermione, actually die in consequence of 
 the shock of the unjust accusation, of the cruel treat- 
 ment she receives during her trial, and of the un- 
 expected intelligence of the death of her young son 
 Garinter, who is Shakespeare'^ Prince Mamillius. 
 The annotators have done still less to enable the 
 reader of " the Winter's Tale" to compare it with 
 " Dorastus and Fawnia." 
 
 Elliot. How long before Shakespeare is supposed 
 to have written his " Winter's Tale" did Robert 
 Greene produce his " Dorastus and Fawnia?" 
 
 Bourxe. The earliest date hitherto assigned to 
 the Winter's Tale is 1594, and there is a copy of 
 Greene's " Dorastus and Fawnia" printed as early as 
 1588 : perhaps there might be others even still earlier, 
 
 vol. u. x
 
 178 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 but Greene's first extant performance is dated 1584, 
 and is called " A Myrrour of Modestie:" it is the 
 story of Susanna and the Elders, told at considerable 
 length, and with some eloquence. This shows that 
 he began his literary career with a production calcu- 
 lated to allay rather than excite the passions. 
 
 Morton. That would depend much on the mode 
 in which it was handled : it is not difficult to imagine 
 that the descriptions in the history of Susanna might 
 be so highly wrought as to afford very strong in- 
 centives. 
 
 Bourne. As you have doubts about it, and as it is 
 a tract of the very rarest occurrence, never quoted 
 that I am aware of, you may like to hear a short 
 specimen of it : we will then proceed to his " Do- 
 rastus and Fawnia." The title speaks pretty un- 
 equivocally as to the nature and object of the per- 
 formance: "The Myrrour of Modestie, wherein ap- 
 peareth as in a perfect Glasse how the Lorde de- 
 liuereth the innocent from all imminent perils, and 
 plagueth the bloudthirstie hypocrites with deserued 
 punishments,'' &c. " By R. G. Maister of Artes. Im- 
 printed at London by Roger Warde," &c. 1584. 
 
 Morton. Was that his first work ? It does not 
 seem very probable that it should be, recollecting 
 that he died of a surfeit of red herring-, and Rhenish 
 in 1592. 
 
 Bourne. I only said it was his first extant produc- 
 tion, but the prefatory matter to il does not enable
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 179 
 
 us to form an opinion one way or the other : the 
 following is from the body of the tract. " These 
 two cursed caitifes of the seede of Chanaan southing- 
 one another in this deuilish imagination, concluded 
 when they might finde hir alone to sucke the bloude 
 of this innocent lambe, and with most detestable 
 villanie to assaile the simple minde of this sillie 
 Susanna. Persisting therefore in this hellish pur- 
 pose, manie daies were not passed ere they spied fit 
 oportunitie (as they thought) to obtaine their desire, 
 for the season being very hot and the tender bodie 
 of Susanna being sore parched with heate, she sup- 
 posing that none of hir housholde, much lesse anie 
 stranger had bin in the garden, went in as hir vse 
 was with two maidens, onlie thinking there secretlie 
 to washe hirselfe, and seing the coast eleere and 
 hirself solitarily said thus vnto them : bring me 
 quoth she oyle and sope wherewith to washe, and 
 see that you shut the doores surelie. The maidens, 
 carefullie obaieng their mistresse commande, shut 
 the garden gates and went out themselues at a 
 backe doore to fet what their mistresse had willed 
 them, not seeing the elders because they were hid, 
 who no sooner sawe the maidens gone, and Susanna 
 a fit pray for their filthy purpose, but they rose vp 
 and run vnto hir." My design in reading this pass- 
 age, is only to show that Greene purposely let slip 
 the opportunity of giving a luxurious or exciting 
 description of Susanna, and that this tract is very
 
 180 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 far from what you hinted it might be. However ill- 
 governed Greene might be in his life and manners, 
 most of his writings are calculated to warn others of 
 the dangers he had not been able to shun. 
 
 Elliot. As you have finished your quotation, we 
 may proceed with " Dorastus and Fawnia." 
 
 Morton. Have you ever seen a copy of it printed 
 in 1588? 
 
 Bourne. Never ; those dated before lo'OO are all 
 very difficult to be procured : indeed I never saw a 
 copy of it sold, let the date be what it would, under 
 several guineas, i have fortunately two, one of them 
 dated in 1636, and the oilier as late as I 094, and I 
 have seen a third printed as recently, I think, as 
 17*24. Observe on the title-page of this edition of 
 J.6'94 there is a curious wood-cut, containing a 
 summary of the history, like the plates to Orlando 
 Furioso. In the distance, as far as distance is pre- 
 served in so rude a representation, is the sea, with 
 a boat and child upon it ; on one side, but more in 
 front, is a shepherdess tending her flock; and in the 
 fore-ground the hero in armour, and heroine in a 
 court dress, holding each other by the hand. The 
 edition of 1636, which is the most valuable, has no 
 such ornament, and bears the following title : " The 
 Pleasant Historic of Dorastus and Fawnia. Wherein 
 is discovered, that although by the meancs of sinister 
 Fortune, Truth may be concealed, yet by Time, in 
 spight of Fortune, it is manifestly revealed. Pleasant
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 181 
 
 for age to avoyd drowsie thoughts, Profitable for 
 Youth to avoyd other wanton Pastimes, And bring- 
 ing to both a desired Content. Temporisjilia Veritas. 
 By Robert Greene, Master of Arts in Cambridge. 
 Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci." London, 
 &c. 1636. 
 
 Morton. The edition of 1694, I observe, omits a 
 part of that title, in order to make room for the 
 barbarous wood-cut. I also perceive at the back of 
 the title-page of 1694, a poem which is not in the 
 copy of 1636. 
 
 Bourne. It is not, and you will find that the lines 
 are not contemptible. I suppose the printer in 1636 
 did not think it worth while to insert them, though 
 it is unquestionably an important omission. 
 
 Morton. I will read them : they are called, 
 
 " Dorastus in Loue-passion, Writes these few lines 
 in praise of his louing and best-beloued Faivnia" 
 
 " Ah, were she pitifull as she is fair, 
 
 or but as mild as she is seeming so, 
 Then were my hopes greater than my despair, 
 
 then all the World were Heauen, nothing Woe. 
 Ah, were her Heart relenting as her Hand, 
 
 that seems to melt euen with the mildest touch, 
 Then knew I where to seat me in a Land, 
 
 under wide Heauens ; but yet not such, 
 So as she shows : she seems the budding Hose 
 
 vet sweeter far than is an Earthly flower :
 
 182 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Souereign of Beauty ! like the Spray she grows 
 
 compass'd she is with Thorns and cankered flower. 
 Yet were she willing to be pluck'd and worn 
 She would be gathered though she grew on Thorn. 
 
 il Ah when she sings, all Musick else be still, 
 
 for none must be compared to her Note : 
 Ne'er breath'd such Glee from Philomelas Bill, 
 
 nor from the Morning-singers swelling Throat : 
 Ah, Avhen she riseth from her blissful! Bed 
 
 she comforts all the World as doth the Sun, 
 And at her sight the Nights foul Vapours tied; 
 
 when she is set the gladsome day is done. 
 O glorious Sun ! imagine me the West, 
 Shine in my arms and set thou in my Breast !" 
 
 Morton. You said the lines were not contemptible ; 
 the last stanza is very rich and harmonious, and the 
 whole is an elegant composition, with some very 
 graceful turns. 
 
 Elliot. You over-rate it : it is good, but not 
 quite so transcendent as you seem to think it. The 
 two last lines are somewhat in Sir Richard Black - 
 more's vein. 
 
 Morton. You may be right, but whether right or 
 wrong, I should not be inclined just now to contest 
 the matter. I perceive that Greene gives us two 
 mottos on the title-page of 1636 : which did he usually 
 adopt? Gascoigne, we know, had Tarn Marti tarn. 
 Mcrcurio, and Whetstone Ma/grc la Fortune.
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 183 
 
 Bourne. Omne tulit punctum, &c. was Greene's 
 ordinary motto to his early publications ; but upon 
 this point there is a singular letter by him prefixed to 
 his " Perimedes the Black -Smith," 1588, from which 
 you will not have forgotten that I formerly quoted 
 two specimens of blank verse : it is a very curious 
 epistle, as it relates to Greene's publications, friends 
 and enemies : I will read it before I make a few 
 quotations from " Dorastus and Fawnia." It is ad- 
 dressed " to the Gentlemen Readers Health," and is 
 in these terms : " Gentlemen I dare not step awrye 
 from my wonted method, first to appeale to your 
 fauorable courtesies, which euer I haue found (how- 
 soeuer plawsible) yet smothered with a milde silence : 
 the small pamphlets that I haue thrust forth how you 
 haue regarded them I know not, but that they haue 
 been badly rewarded with any ill tearmes I neuer 
 found, which makes me the more bold to trouble 
 you and the more bound to rest yours euerye waie, 
 as euer I haue done : I keepe my old course to palter 
 vp something in Prose vsing mine old poesie still 
 Omne tulit punctum, although lately two Gentlemen 
 Poets made two mad men of Rome beate it out of 
 their paper bucklers, and had it in derision, for that 
 I could not make my verses iet vpon the stage in 
 tragicall buskins, euerie worde filling the mouth like 
 the faburden of Bo-Bell, daring God out of heauen 
 with that Atheist Tamburlan, or blaspheming with 
 the mad preest of the sonne."
 
 184 EIGHTH .CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. That is very remarkable. Tamberlaine, 
 I suppose, is the notorious tragedy by Marlow, and 
 one would suppose, from what is said, that (ireene 
 was at tins time upon bad terms with him. 
 
 Bourne. Had it been otherwise he would hardly 
 have spoken as he has done of that " Atheist Tam- 
 burlann." Greene, a few lines afterwards, complains 
 that it was said of him that he could not write 
 blank verse, on which 3larlow seems to have prided 
 himself, for in the prologue to his " Tamberlaine" 
 he notes the distinction in this respect between his 
 tragedy and the productions of " rhyming mother- 
 wits." 
 
 Elliot. Greene's address really seems a very in- 
 teresting one : let us hear the rest of it. 
 
 Bourne. He continues, — " But let me rather 
 openly pocket vp the Asse at Diogenes hand, then 
 wantonlye set out such impious instances of intol- 
 lerable poetrie ; such mad and scoffing poets that 
 haue propheticall spirits, as bred of Merlins race : 
 if there be anye in England that set the end of 
 scollarisme in an Englishe blank verse, I thinke 
 either it is the humor of a nouice that tickles them 
 with self-loue, or to much frequenting the hot house 
 (to vse a Germaine prouerbe) hath swot out all the 
 greatest part of their wits, which wasts Gradatim, 
 as the Italians say Poco a poco. If I speake darkely, 
 Gentlemen, and offende with this digression, I crane 
 pardon in that I but answere in print what they haue
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION, 185 
 
 offered on the Stage." Then he proceeds to speak 
 merely of the particular work he is presenting to the 
 world. 
 
 Elliot. It is not very easy to ascertain from the 
 last sentence whether Greene had not been brought 
 in some way or other upon the stage, or at least his 
 productions ridiculed there. 
 
 Boitrne. I do not draw either of these conclusions j 
 I apprehend he alludes only to the bringing of blank 
 verse upon the stage, to the writing of which " two 
 Gentlemen Poets," it seems, had declared him in- 
 competent. To contradict this opinion is probably 
 the object of his blank verse poems inserted in his 
 " Perimedes." 
 
 Morton. What does he mean when he says that 
 the same '•' two Gentlemen Poets" made two " mad 
 men of Rome" beat his motto " out of their paper 
 bucklers r" 
 
 Bourne. Who the " two mad men of Rome" 
 were, I know not, but by beating it " out of their 
 paper bucklers," I understand, erasing it from their 
 title-pages. These are questions which it is now 
 very difficult to settle, and as I do not apprehend we 
 should be at all the nearer by dwelling longer upon 
 them, we will proceed to " Dorastus and Fawnia," in 
 which you will not fail to bear in mind that — 
 
 Egistus is the same as Shakespeare's Polixenes. 
 Pandosto . . . . % . . .as Leontes. 
 Bellaria as Hermione.
 
 186 EIGHTH CONVERSATION 
 
 Garinter is the same as Shakespeare's Mamillius. 
 
 Dorastus as Florizel. 
 
 Fawnia as Perdita. 
 
 This, with the general resemblance between the play 
 and the story, will enable you to understand the re- 
 lation of the extracts. 
 
 Elliot. You have remarked upon one principal 
 discordance between " the Winter's Tale" and 
 "Dorastus and Fawnia;" — do they run parallel in 
 most other particulars r 
 
 Bournei- They do, excepting in one offensive in- 
 cident, and that is, that Dorastus flying with his 
 Fawnia, and arriving by accident at the Court of 
 Pandosto, the father falls in love with his own 
 daughter, and endeavours to seduce her : there was 
 no necessity for this circumstance, and the conse- 
 quence of it is, in addition to the destruction of his 
 wife, that Pandosto is rendered unfit to enjoy the 
 happiness of the young Prince and Princess when 
 the ultimate discovery of Fawnia's birth is made, 
 and he destroys himself. We have already seen that 
 Francis Sabie turned the fable into blank verse, 
 under the title of the " Fisherman's Tale," and 
 "Flora's Fortune," in 1595. In the subsequent 
 quotation Greene speaks of the innocent intimacy 
 between Bellaria and Egistus, which led to the 
 jealousy of Pandosto. " Bellaria (who in her time 
 was the flowre of courtesie) willing to show how 
 vnfainedly she loued her husband by her friends en-
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 187 
 
 tertainemet, vsed him likewise so familiarly that her 
 countenance bewraied how her heart was affected 
 toward him ; oftentimes comming her selfe into his 
 bed-chamber, to see if nothing should be amisse to 
 dislike him. This honest familiarity increased daily 
 more and more betwixt them, for Bellaria noting in 
 Egistus a Princely and bountifull mind, adorned with 
 sundry and excellent qualities, and Egistus finding in 
 her a vertuous and curteous disposition, there grew 
 such a secret vniting of their affections, that the one 
 could not well be without the company of the other : 
 insomuch, that when Pandosto was busied with such 
 urgent affaires that lie could not be present with his 
 friend Egistus, Bellaria would walk with him into 
 the garden, and there they two in priuate pleasant 
 deuices, would passe away their time to both their 
 contents." 
 
 Morton. Hermione tells Leontes, in Shakespeare, 
 
 " If you will seek us, 
 
 We are yours i'the garden,"' &c. 
 
 Elliot. If the reality had come up to the de- 
 scription Greene has given of their " honest fami- 
 liarity," I think I should almost have been led 
 myself to suspect the lady. 
 
 Bourne. He carries it a little too far — further than 
 Shakespeare, who well knew out of what a mere 
 mustard-seed the huge tree of jealous v grows : like 
 the poison-tree of the East, it flings its arms far and 
 wide, throwing down fresh roots at a distance from
 
 188 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the original trunk, until it covers and blasts the whole 
 soil. The description of the embarkation of the infant 
 on its hopeless voyage is very pretty and affecting. 
 " The Guard left her (Bellaria) in this perplexity, 
 and carried the childe to the king, who cpiite devoid 
 of pity commanded that without delay it should be 
 put into the Boat, hauing neither Saile nor Rudder 
 to guide it, and so to be carried into the midst of 
 the Sea, and there left to the windes and the waues, 
 as the Destinies please to appoint. The very Ship- 
 men seeiug the sweete countenance of the young- 
 Babe, began to accuse the King of rigour, and to 
 pity the childs hard Fortune : but feare constrained 
 them to that which their nature did abhorre, so 
 that they placed it in one of the ends of the Boat, 
 and with a few green boughes made a homely Cabbin 
 to shroud it, as well as they could, from wind and 
 weather. Hauing thus trimmed a Boat, they tyed 
 it to a Ship, and so haled it into the maine Sea, and 
 then cut in sunder the Cord; which they had no 
 sooner done, but there arose a mighty Tempest, 
 which tossed the little Boat so vehemently in the 
 waues, that the Ship-men thought it could not con- 
 tinue long without sincking : yet the storme grew so 
 great, that with great labour and peri 11 they got to 
 the shore." 
 
 Morton. The introduction of the storm not only 
 creates a strong interest for the fate of the infant, 
 but accounts in some degree for the space of sea it 
 passed over to reach Bohemia.
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 189 
 
 Bourne. It is observable that Shakespeare re- 
 verses the scene : Greene's story begins in Bohemia, 
 the kingdom of Pandosto ; and the loves of Dorastus 
 and Fawnia, the Florizel and Perdita of the play, 
 commence in Sicily. 
 
 Morton. I do not think Shakespeare's alteration 
 in this respect so judicious as usual, because the 
 climate of Sicily is much better adapted to the 
 pastoral scenes that are represented there, than 
 Bohemia. 
 
 Elliot. Perhaps so : Shakespeare h;is been charged 
 with ignorance in making Bohemia a country on the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 Bourne. He had it from Greene : he took the 
 popular story with the popular prejudices, and did 
 not think it worth while, for the sake of mere 
 geographical accuracy, to make any change. Our 
 time is now so far exhausted that we shall not be 
 able to do more than read one other quotation from 
 Greene's tract : it relates to the first interview of 
 Dorastus and Fawnia. " It hapned not long after 
 this, that there was a meeting of all the Farmors 
 daughters in Sicilia, whither Fawnia was also bidden 
 as the mistresse of the feast : who hauing attired her 
 selfe in her best garments, went amongst the rest of 
 her companions to a merry meeting, there spending 
 the day in such homely pastimes as Shepheards vse. 
 As the Euening grew on, and their sport ceased, 
 each taking their leaue of other, Fawnia desiring 
 one of her companions to beare her company, went
 
 190 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 home by the flocke to see if they were well fowlded. 
 And as they returned, it fortuned that Dorastus (who 
 all that day had beene hawking, and killed store of 
 game) ineountred by the way these two maides, 
 fearing that with Acteon he had seen Diana; for 
 he thought such exquisite perfection could not be 
 found in any mortall creature. As thus he stood in 
 a maze, one of his Pages told him that the maid 
 with the garland on her head was Faixmia, that faire 
 Shepheardesse, whose beauty was so much talked of 
 in the Court. Dorastus, desirous to see if nature 
 had adorned her mind with any inward qualities, as 
 she had decked her body with outward shape, began 
 to question with her whose daughter she was, of 
 what age, and how shee had beene trained vp ? 
 "Who answered him with such modest reuerenee and 
 sharpnesse of wit, that Dorastus thought her out- 
 ward beauty was but a counterfeit to darken her in- 
 ward qualities : wondring how so courtly behauiour 
 could be found in so simple a Cottage, and cursing 
 Fortune, that had shaddowed wit and beauty with 
 such hard Fortune. As thus he held her a long 
 time with chat, beauty seeing him at discouert 
 thought not to loose the vantage, but strucke him 
 so deepely with an inuenomed shafte, as he wholly 
 lost his liberty, and became a slaue to Loue, which 
 before contemned Loue 5 glad to gaze vpon a poore 
 shepheardesse, who before refused the oiler of a rich 
 Princesse."' 
 
 Elliot. All that you have read is very prettily
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 191 
 
 told, and though the characters are more strongly 
 drawn and more minutely filled up by our dramatic 
 poet, the outline, and that a graceful one, is to be 
 found in Greene. I should like in the same way 
 to go through some of the other plays of Shake- 
 speare that are founded upon novels in " the Palace 
 of Pleasure." 
 
 Bourne. Our time will not allow us to begin 
 them now, but my copy of that entertaining work 
 you may have the use of at any time. It is the less 
 necessary to go through them, as " the Palace of 
 Pleasure"' has been recently pretty correctly reprinted. 
 If I lend you my edition you will be careful of it, for 
 original copies are of very rare occurrence. 
 
 Morton. Nearly the same may be said of North's 
 Plutarch, for it has been many times republished 
 since the first edition, I think about 1579, and the coin- 
 cidences are by no means so curious or so important. 
 Bourne. Before we conclude for the day, I wish 
 to bring under your notice a curiosity that has 
 hitherto escaped the vigilance of the dust-raking 
 commentators, or they would not have omitted some 
 notice of it. I call it a curiosity, because, although 
 it relates to Shakespeare, it does not possess much 
 intrinsic value. It is contained in a volume of poems 
 by Thomas Prujean, who calls himself " Student of 
 Caius and Gonvile CollcdgK in Cambridge." 
 Elliot. What does it consist of? 
 Bourne. Two metrical epistles in imitation of
 
 192 EIGHTH CONVERSATION". 
 
 Ovid, one from Juliet to Romeo, and the other from 
 Romeo to Juliet. 
 
 Mortox. What is the date and the title of Pru- 
 jean's volume ? I never heard his strange name 
 before. 
 
 Bouhxe. Very likely not, as his " Aurorata," 
 printed in lu'44, is very often not found even in cu- 
 rious collections, and it is the more valuable, be- 
 cause in the second part, called " Loves Looking- 
 glasse, divine and humane," are contained the 
 epistles to which I have referred. 
 
 Mortox. I suppose Prujean means the Romeo and 
 Juliet of Shakespeare, and not Arthur Brooke's 
 performance, or Painter's novel ? 
 
 Bourne. He does, and it serves to show how 
 long that play continued popular. Each epistle 
 occupies about four pages, and what I now read is 
 from that of Juliet to Romeo, for the lady opens the 
 correspondence. I ought to mention that the sub- 
 ject is introduced by the following " Argument :" — 
 "Romeo and Iidiet, issues of two enemies, Mouiite- 
 gue and Capulel, Citizens of Verona, fell in love one 
 with the other : he going to give her a visit meetes 
 Tybalt her kinsman, who urging a tight, was slaine 
 by him: for this Romeo was banished and resided 
 at Mantua, where he receiued an Epistle from 
 Iidiet." 
 
 Elliot. Is the lady very passionate in her epistle r 
 
 Bourne. You will see : she thus writes —
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 193 
 
 " For health and happinesse doth Iuliet pray 
 
 To come to Romeo and his Mantua. 
 
 His Mantua ! O, in that title blest ! 
 
 Would my poore fame could have such happy rest ! 
 
 Once it was so ; once could this poore breast boast, 
 
 (Rich only then) of being Romeos hoast. 
 
 No sooner doe sleepes charmes upon me cease, 
 
 But fancie straight disturbes me of my ease. 
 
 Her troopes she brings, in which, me thinkes, I see 
 
 Most of the horrour call its subject thee. * * 
 
 But then I gan to cry, why should these eyes 
 
 Pay to a griefe unlawfull sacrifice ? 
 
 Why should I weepe, because my enemy 
 
 Became Fates slave and Romeo from it free ? 
 
 Is he a friend that would deny to give, 
 
 But rather take away by what I live, 
 
 My life, my dearest ioy, my Romeo ? 
 
 Yet are my roses overcome by woe. 
 
 From thee they had their name, and sure thy love 
 
 Their planter, nourisher, blossomer did prove. 
 
 From thy sweet lips (when thou didst first salute 
 
 Me at the Maske) my cheekes did steale thy sute 
 
 Of crimson, and since thou didst kisse more free, 
 
 They got what made up their maturitie. * * * 
 
 How long of Romeo must I dreame, and when 
 
 I thinke I have thee catch tli& ayre againe 
 
 Once thou vow'dst by thy selfe, which I did take 
 
 To be a greater then thou e'ere couldst make 
 
 VOL. II. o
 
 194 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 By heaven it selfe, so that my vow did tend, 
 As in it thon thy love didst then commend ; 
 Yet keepe it as thou wilt, all Iuliets cry 
 Will be with Borneo to live and dye." 
 
 Elliot. Upon my word it is poor stuff, and hardly 
 readable but for the names of the correspondents. 
 
 Mortox. Perhaps Romeo's epistle is better than 
 Juliet's, though in general, in letter writing, the 
 ladies have the advantage over the gentlemen. 
 
 Boukxk. It would not be easy for the gentleman 
 to be more ardent than the lady in this instance : a 
 shorter quotation will suffice from his reply : 
 
 " The greet thou sent'st no more belongs to mee 
 
 Then when 1 am sweetly embrac't by thee : 
 
 Only to that place is ascrib'd all blisse 
 
 Where Romeo with his faire Iuliet is. 
 
 Mantua's nothing but a cage of woe ; 
 
 Where thou art not all countryes will prove so. * * * 
 
 Yet when I name thy cousin, griefe does view 
 
 Some blood of thine in him, & that will sue 
 
 To have a tributary brine. The muse 
 
 That sings his death may out of th' Laurel chuse 
 
 As faire a branch as any. It is thee 
 
 (When he sings him) shall blesse his poetry. 
 
 The Destinies grew proud when as they had 
 
 Got so much Iuliet within their shade.*** 
 
 And let not feare wither that rosie bed 
 
 Upon thy chcekes, nor make the Lilly dead.
 
 EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 195 
 
 Know I am Romeo still, know I am he 
 Who vow'd what never shall be broke to thee. 
 My selfe shall be my selfe ; who dares, who will 
 Forsake life for to runne to deadly ill ? 
 When I name Iuliet, and voyce shee is mine, 
 I make a boast I equall powres divine. 
 I'm banish't faire Verona, and will be 
 Banisht life, yet never untrue to thee." 
 
 Mortox. Prujean does not even make Romeo and 
 Juliet write tolerable verse : this is the least that one 
 would have expected. Here then we end for to-day. 
 
 Boukxk. I would only remark, in conclusion, that 
 in Thomas Fortescue's translation, called " The 
 Foreste, or Collection of Histories no lesse profitable 
 then pleasant/' 1571, (fo. 138, b.) is a story "of a 
 pretie guile practised by a vertuous and good Quene 
 towardes her houseband, by means whereof lames, 
 Kyng of Arragon, was begotten," which much re- 
 sembles a main incident in " All's Well that ends 
 Well." I do not mean that Shakespeare used it, be- 
 cause it is notorious that he followed the novel in 
 " the Palace of Pleasure." 
 
 Elliot. The original is in Italian, and is told by 
 Boccacio in his Decameron, Gior. III. Nov. 9. 
 
 Bourne. It is, and from thence Painter translated 
 his somewhat formal narrative. As he relates it, it 
 is by no means one of the pleasantest stories in the 
 collection.
 
 19G EIGHTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. How long was it before any complete 
 translation of Boceacio's Decameron appeared in 
 English ? 
 
 Bourne. The Rev. Mr. Todd, in his Dictionary, 
 under the word " Cheer," quotes " Translation of 
 Boccacio, 1587," but I have never seen any such 
 work : it may perhaps not mean a translation of the 
 Decameron, but of some other production by the same 
 author. The first complete edition of Boceacio's 
 Decameron I have seen is called " The Modell of 
 Wit, Mirth, Eloquence, and Conversation," &c. : the 
 first volume is printed by J. .Jaggard, in 1G25, and 
 what is singular is, that the second part, named ex- 
 pressly " The Decameron, containing an hundred 
 pleasant Novels," bears date in 1620, unless there 
 be some defect in my copy. By the Register of the 
 Stationers' Company we find, that in 1G19 Abbot, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, prohibited the publication 
 of " The Decameron of Mr. John Boecace Flo- 
 rentine." 
 
 Morton. Is that translation a good one ? I do not 
 think that Painter is usually very happy in his version. 
 
 Bourne. It is very unequal : some of the stories 
 are much better told than others. The translator, 
 whoever he might be, sometimes took considerable 
 liberties with his original: for instance, in Day IX. 
 Nov. 9. he makes Solomon King of Great Britain, 
 and sometimes introduces even more considerable 
 alterations.
 
 POETICAL DECAMEKON. 
 
 THE NINTH CONVERSATION.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE NINTH CONVERSATION 
 
 Tracts on the subject of theatrical performances previous to the 
 restoration — Works where they are touched upon incidentally — 
 " The Fardle of facions," 1555 — Plays among the Chinese noticed 
 in Parke's " Historic of China," 1588 — Argument of a Chinese 
 play — Plays of the Bramins or Abrahmanes — Attack on the 
 Puritans by William Warner — " The Chirche of euyl men and 
 women," printed by Pynson, 1509 — Price of tracts on the stage 
 in 1781 — Gascoyne's " Wyll of theDeuyll" — Stephen Gosson, a 
 play-poet, author of three pamphlets against the stage— His 
 " Schoole of Abuse," 1579, dedicated to Sir P. Sidney, and its 
 reception by him — Extract on the degeneracy of the age — Ac- 
 count of Gosson, and his own praise of his plays: also a pastoral 
 poet — But two relics by Gosson existing — Stanza from his com- 
 mendatory verses to Nicholas's " Historic of the Weast India," 
 1578 — His poem called Speculum htnnautim at the end of Kirton's 
 " Mirror of Mans life." 1580, extracted — Remarks — Gosson's 
 " Ephemerides of Phialo," and " Short Apologie," kc. 1579 and 
 158(S — His reply to the Kxcusers of stage-plays quoted — 1 1 is 
 " Playes confuted in Hue actions," &c. 1581, and its application 
 — Thomas Lodge's u- Play of Playes" — His very scarce and 
 curious tract called " An Alarum against Ysurers," <Vc. 1584, 
 containing a reply to Gosson's attack upon him in his " Playes 
 confuted" — Dedication by Lodge to Sir P. Sidney, and his address 
 to the li Gentlemen of the Innes of Court," comprising his reply 
 to Gosson — Extracts — Lodge's •"■ lTav of Playes," never published 
 — His good humour under Gosson's most gross attack — His birth 
 and family, and T. Salter's " .Mirror of Modesty," dedicated to 
 Sir Thomas Lodge, referred to — Lodge's candour towards, and
 
 200 CONTENTS. 
 
 praise of Gosson — Complimentary stanzas on Lodge by Barnabe 
 Rich, extracted — Gosson a writer of blank verse — Queen Eliza- 
 beth's chorus to one of Seneca's tragedies — John Northbrooke's 
 " Treatise against Dicing, Dauncing, Vaine playes," cVc. im- 
 printed by II. Bynneman — Quotations on the manners of the 
 time, on the plays then represented, and against theatres and actors 
 — " The Anatomie of Abuses," 1585, by Philip Stubbes — Its 
 popularity and number of editions — Thomas Nash's attack on 
 Stubbes in his " Almond for a Parrat" — Extract from Stubbes's 
 work, and his denunciation of plays, players, play-writers, and 
 play-goers — G. Whetstone's " Addition or Touchstone for the 
 Time,'" 1584, quoted on the abuse of theatrical performances — 
 John Field's " Godly exhortation by occasion of the late iudge- 
 ment of God shewed at Paris-garden," 1583 — Bear-baiting and 
 stage-plays coupled by the puritans — Quotation on the abolition of 
 plays on Sunday — Uncertainty on this point in our histories of the 
 stage — Arthur Golding's " Discourse vpon the Earthquake" of 
 April (i, 1580, adduced to prove that plays were usually then re- 
 presented on Sunday — W. Rankin's " 3Iirour of Monsters," 1587 
 — Its rarity — A mask described in it, and quotation against actors 
 — Speech of Luxuria from the same — Dr. Rainoldes " Overthrow 
 of Stage-Playes," 1599: its object — Epigram by Thomas Bastard 
 on Dr. Rainoldes — Oaths on the stage — Dr. (iager's academic play 
 called Ulysses rcdux — Dr. Rainoldes on the crimes of players, 
 especially deer-stealing — Shakespeare and the charge against him 
 by Sir T. Lucy — On men dressing themselves as women on the 
 stage.
 
 POETICAL DECAMEKON. 
 
 THE NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Jjourne. The task you propose is not an easy one, 
 whether we consider the number of books we shall 
 have to examine, or the attention they will require. 
 We must not lose time if we are to complete it to- 
 day and to-morrow. 
 
 Elliot. We must avoid digressions then as much 
 as possible, keeping as strictly as we can to the tracts 
 that have been written for and against theatrical per- 
 formances. 
 
 Bourne. And touching only upon those that are 
 of the greatest rarity, and, of course, not bringing it 
 down lower than the protectorate — the triumph of 
 William Prynne, and the puritans. We must also 
 limit ourselves in another respect ; not to notice 
 pieces that only introduce thp subject of stage plays 
 and actors incidentally, unless for some special pur- 
 pose : our inquiry would otherwise be almost endless. 
 
 Morton. Explain what you mean a little more
 
 <20<2 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 fully. I should feel very reluctant to omit any thing' 
 important or curious. 
 
 Bourne. I can do so best, perhaps, by an example. 
 Here, for instance, is a work which might easily 
 draw us out of our course ; as, besides being one of 
 the earliest incidental censures of the stage, it con- 
 tains a great deal of amusing matter: the title of it 
 is, -- The Fardle of facions, conteining the aunciente 
 maners, customes, and Lawes of the peoples inhabit- 
 ing the two partes of the earth, called Affrike and 
 Asie. Printed at London by Ihon Kingstone," 1555. 
 It is a production of great rarity. 
 
 Elliot. One does not readily see how in a treatise 
 upon Africa and Asia, the author can introduce any 
 thing about theatrical performances in England. 
 
 Morton*. I think he might do it very easily • 
 when speaking of Asia, he would perhaps notice the 
 plays of the Chinese, who arc known to have had 
 them represented some hundreds of years, at least, 
 before they found their way into Europe. 
 
 Elliot. Very true : Voltaire's Orphan of China 
 is founded upon an old Chinese play, a translation 
 of which was published by Bishop Percy ; and very 
 lately a gentleman of the name of Davis (1 think 
 that was his name), put one of them into an English 
 dress, called " An Heir in his old Age." 
 
 Morton. In Parke's ■• Historic of the great and 
 mightie kingdome of China," 1588, which has been 
 before mentioned, there is a good deal regarding the 
 theatrical representations of the Chinese.
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 203 
 
 Bourne. I have not on my memory any thing- of 
 that kind : it must be curious. Here is the book ; 
 perhaps you will point it out. 
 
 Morton. On p. 106, where it is said, " At these 
 bankettes and feastes, there are present alwayes 
 women gesters, who doo play and sing, vsing manie 
 prettie gestes to cause delight, and make mirth to 
 the guestes : besides these they haue diuerse sortes 
 of men with other instruments, as tomblers and 
 players, who do represent their Comedies very per- 
 fectly and naturally." 
 
 Bourne. " Wqmen jesters" I never heard of be- 
 fore, but it does not seem that they were actresses. 
 
 Morton. Further on, on p. 207 and p. 221, the 
 " arguments," as they are called, of two of the plays 
 represented, are inserted as from the mouth of an 
 interpreter : there appears to be great simplicity 
 about them, as you may judge from the following, 
 which is one of them : " In times past there was in 
 that countrie manie mightie and valiant men 3 but 
 amongest them all, there was in particular three 
 brethren that did exceede all the rest that euer were 
 in mightinesse and valiantnesse. The one of them 
 was a white man, the other was ruddish or hie 
 coloured and the thirde blacke. The ruddish being 
 more ingenious and of better industrie, did procure 
 to make his white brother Mtig, the which iudgement 
 was agreeable vnto the rest. Then they altogether 
 did take away the kingdomc from him that did at
 
 '204 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 that time raigne, who was called Laupicono, an 
 effeminate man and verie vicious. This they did 
 represent verie gallantly with garmentes verie meete 
 for those personages." 
 
 Elliot. This is enough to show, according to the 
 account of travellers in China nearly two centuries 
 and a half ago, that the dramatic exhibitions of the 
 Chinese were in a very advanced state, both as to 
 subject and what are now called j)rupcrties. 
 
 Morton. The story of the play is capable of con- 
 siderable variety, but whether female characters were 
 introduced into it we are not informed. The plot of 
 the piece spoken of on p. 221, is somewhat more 
 complicated. However, to go further into this sub- 
 ject, would be to commit the very error which it is 
 our business to avoid. I interrupted you in your 
 observations upon the " Fardle of Fashions." 
 
 Bourne. The passage I had to produce from it 
 does not deserve extracting so much as what you 
 have just concluded ; but it perhaps still merits 
 notice, as connected in subject, and as containing an 
 incidental blow at the theatrical amusements in Eng- 
 land as they existed about the year 1 555. The author, 
 or rather translator, who inserts much original matter, 
 is speaking of the Bramins and their employments, 
 and it is observable that he calls them Ahrahmanes , 
 which affords a third and a plausible etymology to 
 the two already conjectured, for the word Bramin 
 or Brachman. " Thei couctte no sightes, nor shewes
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 205 
 
 of misrule : no disguisinges nor entreludes ; but 
 when thei be disposed to haue the pleasure of the 
 stage thei entre into the regestre of their stories, and 
 what thei finde there most fit to be laughed at, that 
 do thei lamente and bewaile." 
 
 Elliot. That seems rather contradictory: I sup- 
 pose it means that these Bramins, like very wise 
 men, lament and bewail the follies of their ancestors : 
 others may say, 
 
 Felices proavorum atavos,JeUcia dicas 
 Scecula ; 
 
 but they were above the vulgar prejudice. 
 
 Bourne. Like Bottom, they " will condole in 
 some measure," and congratulate themselves how 
 much wiser they were than their predecessors. 
 Watreman (the translator) goes on : " Thei delighte 
 not, as many do, to heare olde wiues tales and fantasies 
 of Bobin hoode, but in studious consideration of the 
 wondrefull workemanship of the world and the per- 
 fect disposinge of thinges in suche ordre of course 
 and degree. Thei crosse no sease for merchaundise, 
 ne learne no colours of Bhetoricque." The whole of 
 the passage of which what I have read is the begin- 
 ning, is aimed against the manners of the age, and 
 particularly against " sightes, shewes of misrule, dis- 
 guisinges and entreludes." 
 
 Morton. Yet, not long afterwards, what he com- 
 plains of was partially remedied ; our dramatic poets 
 " entered into the register of their stories" in hi-
 
 200 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 storical plays, and thus gave the audiences " the 
 pleasure of the stage" which the Bramins enjoyed. 
 
 Bourne. But they did not " lament and bewail" 
 what " they found there most fit to be laughed at." 
 In that respect our forefathers were not so sagacious 
 as the Bramins, and if they had been, perhaps we 
 might have now been neither wiser nor happier than 
 the Indians. But not to pursue this further, I only 
 introduced that quotation as one among many of the 
 incidental attacks upon stage-plays. 
 
 Mortox. William Warner, the author of that 
 popular poem of " Albion's England," which went 
 through so many editions between 1586 and 1G12, 
 and contains so much good poetry and curious in- 
 formation, has made a heavy hit at the puritans, as the 
 enemies of" meet sports," and among them theatrical 
 representations, which he says they had " well near 
 exiled." 
 
 " These Hypocrites for these three Gifts to their 
 
 Lauerna pray, 
 Just to be thoght, Al to beguile, That none their 
 
 guiles bewray: 
 Their art is fayning good they want, and hiding bad 
 
 « they haue : 
 Their Practise is selfe-praise, of praise all others to 
 
 depraue. 
 On Loue, say some, waites lelosie, but Ielosie wants 
 
 loue, 
 When curiously it ouer-plus doth idle Quarrels moue :
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 207 
 
 Best Puritaines are so ore-zeal' d, but should I terme 
 
 the rest, 
 Inhospitalous, Mutinous, and Hypocrites the best; 
 Insociable, Maleparte, foxing their priuate good, 
 Exiling hence wel-neere all Troth, meet Sports and 
 
 Neighbourhood ; 
 Learnings foes, contemptuously by them be Lawes 
 
 withstood. 
 Selfe-pleasers, Skorners, Harlots, Crones, against the 
 
 Haire in all: 
 Of their extreme, whence Atheisme breeds, bee 
 
 warning Hackets fall! 
 If euer England will in aught preuent her owne 
 
 Mishap, 
 Against these skorns (no terme too grosse) let Eng- 
 land shut the gap." 
 
 Elliot. You did right to call it a heavy hit, for 
 the lines are monstrously lumbering. The censure 
 they contain is, notwithstanding, severe, and, I dare 
 say, generally true. Well then, if we are to hear no 
 more of attacks on the stage by the way, in works 
 not professing to treat of that subject, with what 
 tract especially devoted to plays and amusements of 
 the same class will you commence your examination ? 
 
 Bourne. That question is certainly not so easily 
 answered. I might, perhapSjbegin with the most rare 
 tract, printed, as is supposed, by Pynson, in 1509, 
 and called " The chirche of euyl men and women,
 
 208 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 wherof Lucyfer is the head, and the members is 
 all players dyssolute and synners reproued." Mr. 
 Dibdin, in his edition of Ames, does not profess to 
 have seen a copy of it, and gives merely the account 
 he found in Herbert's Appendix, and an extract from 
 the Bodleian catalogue. It was valued in the library 
 of Bryan Fairfax, in 1756", at £2 8s., but the sum 
 cannot be named that a copy would now produce if 
 brought to the hammer. 
 
 Moktox. I was the other day looking over a 
 priced catalogue of the books belonging to Topham 
 Beauclerc, which were sold in 1781, and I found the 
 subsequent article connected with our present in- 
 quiry, and showing the astonishingly low price at 
 which some, I believe, of the most valuable tracts 
 on the stage sold at that date. 
 Bourxe. Read it by all means. 
 Morton. The following were knocked down in 
 one lot for only £3 6s. 
 
 " Gosson (Stcph.) Flayes confuted in five actions 
 proving that they are not to be suffred in a 
 Christian common weale, b. 1. dedicated to 
 Sir Fr. Walsingham. No date. 
 A second and third blast of Retreate from 
 Plaies and Theatres, showing the filthiness of 
 Flaies in Times past and the abomination of 
 them in the time present. Set forth by 
 Anglo-phile Eutheo — impr. by lien. Den- 
 ham, 1580.
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. Wj 
 
 A manifest detection of the most vyle and de- 
 testable use of dyce-play by Gilb. Walker, 
 b. 1. impr. by Abr. Vele : no date. 
 A dialogue between custome and Veritie con- 
 cerning daunting and minstrelsie. b. 1. impr. 
 by Io. Aide. I\o date. 
 Maister Tho. Lodge his reply to Steph. Gosson 
 
 touching Playes. b. 1. no title. 
 The wyll of the Deuyll with his ten detestable 
 commandments, by Geo. Gascoyne : impr. 
 by Rich. Jones, no date. 
 Tho. Salter his contention between three bre- 
 theren, that is to say the Whoremonger, the 
 Dronkard and the Dyce player, b. 1. impr. for 
 Tho. Gosson, 1580." 
 Bourne. A most rare assemblage of tracts, any 
 one of which would probably now sell for twice the 
 sum that was then given for the whole, and several 
 of them for much more. Gosson's and Lodge's 
 pieces are among the most rare. Of Gascoyne's 
 production what you have read is the only existing 
 register, and from that it does not appear whether 
 it did or did not include stage {days. 
 
 Morton. He was himself a writer of plays: it 
 would rather therefore be directed against some other 
 horrible vice than that of visiting theatres. 
 
 Bourne. Such literary tergiversation would by no 
 means be without a parallel, and that in the instance 
 of a writer just enumerated. 
 
 VOL. II. P
 
 210 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. Which of thorn ? 
 
 Bourne. Stephen Gosson, who, according to his 
 own confession as I will show yon presently, wrote 
 several plays, and afterwards in the most violent 
 terms abused theatrical representations. 
 
 Elliot. What were the names of the plays he 
 wrote ? Have any of them reached our time ? 
 
 Bourne. Nothing but their titles; it is stated 
 that they were never printed : he wrote " Catilines 
 Conspiracies," a Tragedy, " Captain Mario," a Co- 
 medv, and " Praise at parting," a Morality. 
 
 Morton. And what were the titles of the pieces 
 he published afterwards against stage-plays? 
 
 Bourne. They were three ; but the first, and the 
 most notorious, is his " Schoole of Abuse containing 
 a pleasant Inuectiue against Poets, Pipers, Players, 
 Iesters, and such like Caterpillers of the Common- 
 wealth." 
 
 Elliot. When did that "pleasant invective." if it 
 be so, make its appearance ? 
 
 Bourne. The earliest edition I have seen is dated 
 in 15*9, but I am not sure that it was not before 
 printed. Prynne, who is generally tolerably accu- 
 rate as to dates, says in his Histriomasiix, that it 
 was printed " by allowance' in 1578, and this is 
 rendered the more probable because it is certain 
 that in-157') " a short Apologic of the Schoole of 
 Abuse" was written by the same pen : to this we 
 shall advert presently, and in the mean time I will
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION 211 
 
 read you a brief passage or two from the '• Schoole 
 of Abuse" itself, that you may see how " pleasant" 
 this " Invective" is. I advise you not to promise 
 yourselves too much entertainment. The tract 
 opens by adverting, at tome length to the estimation 
 of poets in former ages. 
 
 Morton. Has it no dedication, or did the author 
 think the protection of a patron unnecessary to so 
 laudable an undertaking ? 
 
 Bourne. I am obliged to you for reminding me 
 of a circumstance I should otherwise have omitted. 
 He ventured to dedicate it to Sir Philip Sidney, but 
 Spenser, in one of his letters to his friend Gabriel 
 Harvey, under date of 1580, tells him how it was 
 received by " the president of nobleness and chi- 
 valry 3" " New bookes (he says) 1 heare of none, 
 but onely of one that writing a certaine booke called 
 the Schoole of Abuse, and dedicating it to Maister 
 Sidney was for his labour scorned 3 if at leaste it be 
 in the goodnesse of that nature to scorne. Suche 
 follie is it not to regarde aforehande the inclination 
 and qualitie of him to whom we dedicate our 
 bookes." 
 
 Elliot. That is just a? it should have been ; 
 
 " Poor Curio runs his labours to inscribe 
 To one who scorns the low detracting tribe," 
 
 are lines very applicable to Gosson's predicament. 
 Bourne. Yet notwithstanding he was " scorned," 
 
 v •i
 
 212 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 (whether it was that the " nature" of Sidney would 
 not allow him to express it with severity) Gosson 
 persisted in dedicating to him the " short Apologie 
 of the Schoole of Abuse," of which I have spoken. 
 The first thing we have to do is to examine briefly 
 the " Schoole of Abuse" itself. The subsequent 
 quotation refers to the old theme of degeneracy of 
 the age, the comparison being made between the 
 condition of society in Gosson's time, and in the first 
 state of barbarism of the people of England. " Oh 
 what a wonderfull chaunge is this ! Our wreastling 
 at amies is turned to wallowing in ladies laps, our 
 courage to cowardice, our running to ryot, our 
 bowes into bolles, and our darts into dishes. We 
 have robbed Greece of gluttonie, Italy of wanton- 
 nesse, Spaine of pride, Eraunce of deceite and 
 Duchland of quaffing. Compare London to Rome, 
 and England to Italy, you shall finde the theaters of 
 the one, the abuses of the other to be rife among vs: 
 experlo crede, I haue scene somewhat and therefore, 
 I think, I may say the more." 
 
 Elliot. Docs he mean by " cxperto crede" that 
 he has " seen somewhat" of the foreign countries he 
 names, or that he has had experience of the vices of 
 his own ? 
 
 Bournk. I apprehend the last, for we do not 
 know that he travelled: he was born in 1554, was 
 entered at Oxford in 1572, and probably soon after- 
 wards commenced poet and play-wright. What gave
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 213 
 
 him his disgust, whether the hisses of his audience 
 or otherwise, there is no account, but returning to 
 his university (from whence he dates his dedication 
 to his " short Apologie" in 1579), he took orders and 
 died in 1G29. The most curious part of his " Schoole 
 of Abuse" relates to himself and one of his own 
 plays : it is this. He is speaking of some plays 
 that may be endured, after having abused all plays, 
 players, and poets, in general. " And as some of the 
 players are farre from abuse, so some of their playes 
 are without rebuke which are as easily remembred as 
 quickly reckoned. — The two prose bookes plaied at 
 the Belsauage where you shall finde neuer a woorde 
 without wite, neuer a line without pith, neuer a 
 letter placed in vaine. The lew and Ptolome showne 
 at the Bull, the one representine; the greedinesse of 
 worldly chusers, and bloody mindes of vsurers, the 
 other very liuely describing how seditious estates 
 with their owne deuices, false friends with their 
 own swoordes, and rebellious commons in their 
 own snares, are ouerthrowne : neither with amorous 
 gesture wounding the eye, nor with slouenly talke 
 hurting the eares of the chast hearers. The Blacke 
 Smiths daughter and Catilins conspiracies vsually 
 brought in to the theater ; the firste contayning the 
 trechary of Turkes, the honourable bountye of a 
 noble minde, and the shining of vertue in distresse ; 
 the last, because it was knowne to be a pig of mine 
 owne sowe, I will speake the Icssc of it, onely g'iuing
 
 214 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 you to vnderstand that the whole marke which I 
 shot at in that woorke was to showe the rewarde of 
 traytors in Catilin, and the necessary gouernment of 
 learned men in the person of Cicero, which foresees 
 euery danger that is likely to happen and forstalles 
 it continually ere it take effect." 
 
 Morton. He only mentions here " Catiline's Con- 
 spiracies" as " a pig of his own sow" (most elegant 
 phraseology to be sure), but he says nothing of his 
 Comedy nor of his Morality. 
 
 Bourxe. They have been assigned to Gosson on 
 other authorities, which it might be tedious to 
 enumerate. He was also a pastoral poet, according 
 to the account of Francis Meres, who mentions 
 Gosson's name in conjunction with that of Spenser. 
 Wood also bears testimony that he was celebrated 
 " for his admirable penning of pastorals ;" there are 
 but two poems by Gosson now known, and only one 
 of them is noticed by llitson. 
 
 Morton. Can you show us either of them r We 
 might thus perhaps form some notion of his talents 
 as a poet. 
 
 Bourne. I can show you both, but one of them 
 consists merely of commendatory stanzas prefixed 
 to "The pleasant Historic of the conquest of the 
 Weast India," by Thos. Nicholas, printed in 1578: 
 the first stanza of it is very curious, as it plainly has 
 an allusion to what you called Gosson's tergiversa- 
 tion, for here he laments " the follies of his youth,"
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 215 
 
 when he devoted his time to the idleness of poetry. 
 The rest, though easily written, as if by a pen of 
 some practice, is little more than an enlargement of 
 the thought contained in the first six lines. 
 
 " The Poet which sometimes hath trod awry, 
 And sung in verse the force of firie loue, 
 
 When he beholds his lute with carefull eye, 
 
 Thinks on the dumps that he was wont to proue : 
 
 His groning sprite yprickt with tender ruth 
 
 Calls then to mind the follies of his youth." 
 
 Morton. These lines were printed, you say, in 
 1578, probably then shortly before Gosson published 
 his " Schoole of Abuse." 
 
 Bourxe. Most likely, and after he had again 
 taken up his residence at Oxford to prepare himself 
 for the church. 
 
 Elliot. The lines are not amiss, and the allusion 
 to the sight of his lute bringing his youthful follies 
 to his recollection is rather pretty. From whence 
 do you take the other specimen of Gosson's skill in 
 poetry ? 
 
 Bourxe. From a translation by a person of the 
 name of H. Kirton, called " The Mirror of Mans 
 life," dedicated to Anne, Countess of Pembroke, and 
 published in 1580. The book*te rarely to be met with. 
 If Gosson wrote no better when he was younger, 
 it is strange how he acquired the reputation he un- 
 doubtedly obtained. But you shall hear the poem.
 
 216 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 which is original, is not very long, and has not any- 
 where been extracted. It is called, 
 
 " Speculum humanum ; 
 Made by Ste. Gossan. 
 O what is man ? or whereof might lie vaunt J 
 From earth and aire, and ashes first he came : 
 His tickle state, his courage ought to daunt : 
 His life shall flit, when most he trusts the same. 
 Then keepe in minde thy moolde and fickle stamej 
 Thyself a naked Adam shalt thou finde : 
 A babe by birth both borne and brought forth blind : 
 
 A drie and withered reede, that wanteth sap, 
 Whose rotten roote is refte, euen at a clap : 
 
 A signe, a shew of greene and pleasant grasse 
 Whose glyding glorie sodeinlie doth passe. 
 
 A lame and lothsome limping legged wight 
 That daily doth Gods frowne and furie feele, 
 A crooked cripple, voide of all delight, 
 That haleth after him an haulting heele, 
 And from Hierusalem on stilts doth reele : 
 A wretch of wrath, a sop in sorrow sowst, 
 A brused barke with billowes all bedowst, 
 
 A filthie cloth, a stinking clod of clay, 
 A sacke of sinne that shall be swallowed aye 
 
 Of thousand hels, except the Lord do lend 
 His helping hand, and lowring browes vnbend. 
 
 The prime of youth, whose greene vnmellowcl yeres 
 With hoised head doth check the loftie .Skies,
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 217 
 
 And set vp saile, and sternlesse ships ysteares, 
 With wind and wave at pleasure sure he flies : 
 On euery side then glance his rolling eies : 
 Yet hoary haires do cause them downe to drowp, 
 And stealing steps of age do make him stoup. 
 
 Our health that doth the web of wo begin, 
 And pricketh forth our pampred flesh to sin, 
 
 By sicknesse soakt in many maladies, 
 Shall turne our mirthe to mone, and howling cries. 
 
 The wreathed haire of perfect golden wire, 
 The christall eies, the shining Angels face 
 That kindles coales to set the heart on fire, 
 When we doe thinke to runne a royall race, 
 Shall sodeinlie be gauled with disgrace 3 
 Our goods, our beautie, and our braue araie, 
 That seemes to set our hearts on hoigh for aie, 
 
 Much like the tender floure in fragrant fields, 
 Whose sugred sap sweet smelling sauour yeelds, 
 
 Though we therein doe dailie laie our lust, 
 By dint of death shall vanish vnto dust. 
 
 \\ ny seeke ye then this lingring life to saue, 
 A hugie heape of bale and miserie ? 
 Why loue we longer daies on earth to craue, 
 Where carke, and care, anuall calamitie, 
 Where nought we finde but bitter ioylitie ? 
 The longer that we Hue, the more we fall, 
 The more we fall, the greater is our thrall,
 
 218 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 The shorter life doth make the lesse account, 
 To lesse account the reckning soone doth mount, 
 
 And then the reckning brought to quiet end, 
 A ioyfull state of better life doth lend. 
 
 Thou God therefore that rules the rolling Skie, 
 Thou Lord that lends the props whereon we stale, 
 And turnes the spheares, and tempers all on hie, 
 Come, come in hast, to take vs hence awaie! 
 Thy goodnesse shall we then engraue for aie, 
 And sing a song of endlesse thankes to thee, 
 That deignest so from death to set vs free : 
 
 Redeeming vs from depth of dark decaie, 
 "With foure and twentie Elders shall we saie, 
 
 To him be glorie, powc", and praise alone, 
 That with the lambe doth sit in loftie throne. 
 
 Finis." 
 
 Elliot. I have had something to do to keep my 
 patience till you arrived at the word Finis. I began to 
 be tired of such stale sermonizing when you had read 
 two stanzas ; but the opening of the third pleased 
 me, and certainly it is not so bad as what precedes it. 
 
 Morton. I confess I wondered how you restrained 
 your impetuosity, but I suppose the recollection that 
 this is the only original poem known (with the ex- 
 ception of the commendatory verses before noticed), 
 by a man of Gosson's celebrity, restrained you. 
 
 Elliot. Not at all : if an author write dull non-
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 219 
 
 sense, the more rare it is the better, nor do I feel 
 myself at all more bound to hear it merely because 
 it is rare. 
 
 Bourne. It cannot be said that Gosson's lines are 
 not generally flowing and harmonious, and if the 
 morality be stale, we ought to recollect that it is 
 now nearly "250 years old. In that time it might 
 well become so. 
 
 Elliot. Now it is done, I do not mean to say 
 that I regret having heard it ; some of the lines run 
 well enough, but 
 
 " A filthie cloth, a stinking clod of clay, 
 A sack of sin that shall be swallow'd aye/' 
 
 are absurd enough, and those lines are not without 
 " companions vile to keep them countenance." 
 
 Bourne. It does not merit very minute criticism, 
 and having read all that is necessary from " the 
 Schoole of Abuse," we will now look at the " short 
 Apologie" for it, (as far as it really deserves the term) 
 which is contained in a work by Gosson of severe 
 puritanism, called " The Ephemerides of Phialo de- 
 uided into three books." The last book only con- 
 cerns our inquiry, which contains " the Defence of 
 a Courtezan ouerthrowen: and a short Apologie of 
 the Schoole of Abuse against Poets, Pipers, Players 
 and their excusers." It was first printed in 1579, 
 and again in 1586'; in both cases, as I have said, 
 with a dedication to Sir P. Sidney.
 
 220 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. Who had become the excusers of the 
 players, &c. as he mentions r 
 
 Bourne. Gosson says that the players had en- 
 deavoured to find a vindicator in one of the uni- 
 versities., and he had heard that they had at last 
 actually employed some person in London to write 
 " Honest Excuses" for them. This alludes to a tract 
 by Thomas Lodge, of which I will speak presently. 
 A few sentences from this " Apologie" by Gosson 
 will satisfy all reasonable curiosity. He says in one 
 place, " A theefe is a shrewde member in a Com- 
 mon wealth ; he empties our bagges by force, these" 
 (meaning players) " ransacke our purses by per- 
 mission ; he spoileth vs secretly, these rifle vs openly; 
 hee getts the vpperhand by blowes, these by merry 
 iestes ; he suckes our blood, these our manners ; he 
 woundes our bodie, these our soule." And thus 
 having wound himself up to an antithetical climax, he 
 exclaims, with all the affected and furious zeal of a 
 Puritan, " O God, O men, O heauen, O earth, O 
 tymes, O manners, O miserable daies !" 
 
 Elliot. All this must seem to us nothing short 
 of absolute madness ; with our present notions we 
 cannot form an idea why the unhappy players should 
 excite such deadly animosity, and call down such 
 terrific anathemas. 
 
 Bourne. It is astonishing; but nothing better than 
 such publications as these let lis into a knowledge 
 of the religious spirit of the times. Pursuing his
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 2«2l 
 
 contrast between a thief and a player, Gosson adds, 
 with much solemnity, " He suffereth for his offence ; 
 these stroute without punishment vnder our noses, 
 and lyke vnto a consuming fire are nourished stil 
 with our decay." This pretended " Apologie" is, in 
 truth, nothing but a reiteration of the first attack, 
 and it ends in these words ; " Wishing to my schoole 
 some thriftier scholers, to players an honester oc- 
 cupation, and their excuser a better minde, I take 
 my leave." 
 
 Elliot. And we have had enough of his company 
 not to regret his departure. You said, I think, that 
 Gosson wrote three pieces against the stage, and 
 you have noticed two : what is the third ? 
 
 Bourxe. It is called " Hayes confuted in five 
 actions, prouing that they are not to be suffred in a 
 Christian Commonweale." This is a sermonizing 
 production, and is divided like a play, into five acts 
 or actions, and dedicated to Sir F. Walsingham. It 
 has no date upon the title, but Prynne fixes it about 
 1581, and from what I am going next to offer it 
 should seem that he is correct. I should observe, 
 that in Reed's Shakespeare you will find sufficient 
 quotations from this last tract by Gosson. 
 
 Morton. What next then are you going to offer ? 
 
 Bourne. A book to which you must allow me to 
 make a preface of my own, to render its application 
 clear. In 1579 Gosson printed his " School of 
 Abuse,'' and in the same year his " Ephemerides of 
 Phialo," containing the " short Apology," and hinting
 
 222 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 that an answer to the tv School of Abuse" had been 
 written by some person in London. This answer 
 was in fact written by Thomas Lodge, and is the 
 tract which is called, in Beauclerc's Catalogue, 
 " Maister Tho. Lodge his reply to Steph. Gosson 
 touching playes." That copy was without a title, 
 and the tract is perhaps the very rarest of the rare 
 pieces relating to the stage : Mr. M alone could never 
 obtain a sight of it. You will presently learn the 
 reason why it is so : a more perfect copy, however, 
 does, they say, exist, and it is called " The Play of 
 Playes," but the date has not been hitherto ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 Morton. And it contains the " honest excuses," 
 spoken of by Gosson in his " Ephemerides of Phialo ?" 
 
 Bourne. It does, and that mention of it seems to 
 fix the date, supported as it is by the most curious 
 and important tract I now hold in my hand. You 
 will not forget that Gosson's " Plays confuted in 
 five actions," came out probably in 1581, dedicated 
 to Sir F. Walsingham, and that it contained a severe 
 and abusive attack upon Lodge. 
 
 Elliot. You excite one's curiosity : what is the 
 tract in your hand ? 
 
 Bourne. I owe the use of it to the same liberal 
 professor to whom I was indebted for Micro-cynicon, 
 and I do not over-rate it when I say that it is, on 
 every account, one of the most valuable tracts exist- 
 ing. One peculiar source of its curiosity does not 
 appear on the title-page, which is thus worded:
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 213 
 
 " An Alarum against Vsurers. Containing trycd ex- 
 periences against worldly abuses. Wherein gentle- 
 men may finde good counsells to confirme them, 
 and pleasant Histories to delight them : and euery 
 thing interlaced with varietie, as the curious may 
 be satisfied with the rarenesse, and the curtecus 
 with the pleasure. Hereunto are annexed the de- 
 lectable historie of Forbonius and Prisceria: with 
 the lamentable Complaint of Truth ouer England. 
 Written by Thomas Lodge, of Lincolnes Inne, Gen- 
 tleman. vila ! miscro longa,JicUci breuis. Im- 
 printed at London by T. Este, for Sampson Clarke," 
 &e. 1584. 
 
 Morton. The title is sufficiently particular. I dare 
 say the work is very rare, but now let us into the 
 secret of the extraordinary emphasis you laid upon 
 its especial value. 
 
 BoriiXK. Its especial value, as connected with the 
 immediate subject of our inquiry, is confined to the 
 preliminary matter; but the nature and variety of 
 the body of this hitherto unseen pamphlet, consist- 
 ing of prose and poetry (the latter I think of great 
 merit), form most important recommendations. The 
 dedication is to Sir Philip Sidney, " indued with 
 all perfections of learning and titles of Nobilitie," 
 who refused to accept the dedication of Gosson, 
 and whom Lodge solicits to protect him " in 
 these Primordia of my studies," so that perhaps this 
 " Alarum against Usurers" was only the second
 
 224 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 time Lodge had appeared in print, his answer to 
 Gosson being bis first essay. 
 
 Elliot. At all events, it was one of his very early 
 productions. Does The dedication comprize any 
 thing else remarkable ? 
 
 Bourne. No, excepting that in the conclusion he 
 again speaks of the hoped for " successe of this my 
 firstlings." What I particularly call your attention 
 to is an address, following the dedication, " To The 
 Right worshipl'ull, my curteous friends, the Gen- 
 tlemen of the Innes of Court, Thomas Lodge of 
 Lincolnes Inne Gentleman, wishelh prosperous suc- 
 cesse in their studies, and happie euent in their tra- 
 uailes." I will omit a preliminary sentence or two, 
 and you will soon see why this epistle is important : 
 he says, " Led then by these perswasions, I doubt 
 not but as I haue a' waves found you lauourable, so 
 now you will not cease to be friendly, both in pro- 
 tecting of this iust cause from uniust slander, and my 
 person from that reproch which, about two yeares 
 since, an iniurious cauiller objected against me. 
 You that know me, Gentlemen, can testifie that 
 neyther my life hath bene so lewd as y l my companie 
 was odious, nor my behauiour so light as that it 
 shuld passe the limits of modestie : this notwith- 
 standing, a licentious Hij)ponax, neither regarding 
 the asperitie of the lawes touching slaunderous Li- 
 bellers, nor the offspring from whence I came, which 
 is not contemptible, attempted not only in publike
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 225 
 
 and reprochfull terms to condemn me in his writings, 
 but also so to slander me as neither iustice shuld 
 wink at so hainous an offece, nor I pretermit a com- 
 modious reply." 
 
 Elliot. You infer then that Lodge there alludes 
 to Gosson ? It is certainly curious. 
 
 Bourne. I do not infer it, because the very next sen- 
 tence states it most distinctly. " About three yeres 
 ago (continues Lodge) one Stephen Gosson published 
 a booke, intituled The Schoole of Abuse, in which 
 hauing escaped in many and sundry coelusions, I, 
 as the occasion the fitted me, shapt him such an 
 answere as beseemed his discourse, which by reason 
 of the slendernes of y c subiect (because it was in 
 defece of plaies and play makers) y c godly and re- 
 uerent, y'. had to deale in the cause, misliking it 
 forbad the publishing : notwithstanding he comming 
 by a priuate vnperfect coppye, about two yeres since, 
 made a reply, diuiding it into fiue sectios." 
 
 Morton. That is very clear indeed, and satis- 
 factorily accounts for the extreme scarcity of Lodge's 
 " Play of Plays j" he says it was not published, but 
 it must have been printed, or a copy would not have 
 come down to us, or got into Gosson's hands : after 
 it had gone through the press, I suppose it was 
 called in by order of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and the Bishop of London? 
 
 Elliot. They had jurisdiction in these matters, 
 
 VOL. II. «
 
 220 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 and ordered the burning of Marston's satires, and 
 that no others should be printed. 
 
 Bourne. They exercised the same power in several 
 other well known cases. ( fosson's reply, divided " into 
 hue sections/' is indisputably his " Plays confuted 
 in fiue actions," dedicated to Sir F. Walsinghamj 
 indeed Lodge goes on himself to particularise it, for 
 he says immediately after what I last read: " and 
 in his Epistle dedicatory, to y e right honorable sir 
 Frances YValsingham, he impugneth me with these 
 reproches, y l I am become a vagarat person, visited 
 by y e heuy hand of God, lighter then libertie, and 
 looser the vanitie. At such time as I first came to 
 y e sight heerof (iudge you, gentlemen, how hardly 
 I could disgest it) I bethought my seli'e to frame an 
 answere, but considering y 1 . the labour was but lost, 
 I gaue way to my misfortune, contenting my selfe to 
 wait y 1 ' opportunitie wherein I might, not according 
 to the impertinacie of the iniurye, but as equitye 
 might countenance mee, cast a raine ouer the vn- 
 tamed curtailes chaps, and wiping out the suspition 
 of this slander from the remebrance of those y ! knew 
 me, not counsell this iniurious Asinius to become 
 more conformable in his reportes." After adding 
 that such an opportunity now offers itself, he goes 
 on thus pleasantly and easily: "And now, Stephen 
 Gosson, let me but familiarly reason with thee thus. 
 Thinkest thou v' in handling a good cause it is re-
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 227 
 
 quisite to induce a fals propositio: although thou 
 wilt say it is a part of ltethorike to argue A Persona, 
 yet is it a practise of small honestie to conclude 
 without occasion: if thy cause wer good, I doubt 
 not but in so large & ample a discourse as thou hadst 
 to handle, thou mightst had left the honor of a 
 gentleman inuiolate. But thy base degree, subiect 
 to seruile attempts, measureth all things according 
 to cauelling capacitie, thinking because nature hath 
 bestowed vpo thee a plausible discourse, thou maist 
 in thy sweet termes present the sowrest & falsest 
 reportes y" canst imagine." 
 
 Morton. Lodge does not seem disposed to retort 
 upon Gosson much of the abuse he had not scrupled 
 to heap upon Lodge. t 
 
 Bourne. He deals with Gosson very good hu- 
 mouredly, telling a story (and citing Petrarch as his 
 authority), of a nobleman who went into a gentle- 
 man's stable, and was struck by the servant, who did 
 not know his rank on account of " his plaine coat," 
 but who afterwards most humbly apologized when 
 he saw the gentleman, to his great astonishment, 
 dining with his master : Lodge applies it thus. " So at 
 this instant esteeme I, M, Gosson hath dealt with mc, 
 who not mesuring me by my birth, but by y' subiect 
 I hadled, like Will Summer striking him y l stood 
 next him, hath vpbraided me in person whe lie had 
 no quarrell but to my cause, & therein pleaded his 
 owne indiscretio, &, loded me with intolerable in-
 
 <2 C 2S NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 iurie." All this you will not deny is very remarkable, 
 and well worth reading, more particularly as the 
 tract was scarcely ever heard of before. 
 
 Mortox. Most assuredly in a biographical point 
 of view, and as connected with the history of the 
 stage, it is highly interesting. But what does Lodge 
 mean by talking so much about his " birth," and 
 the " offspring from whence he earner" 
 
 Elliot. It is clear enough ; he claims to be de- 
 scended of a good family. 
 
 Boukxe. Certainly, yet nothing of his family is 
 known ; but it is said that he came out of Lincoln- 
 shire. There is a small 12mo tract, called " The 
 Mirror of Modesty" (different from Robert Greene's, 
 and probably published soon afterwards in imitation 
 of his title), by T. Salter, which is dedicated to 
 Sir Thomas Lodge ; and it is not impossible that 
 Thomas Lodge the poet was of that family : but this 
 is mere vague conjecture, and I have nothing at all 
 to confirm it. 
 
 Mortox. Does Lodge say no more about Gosson 
 than what you have read ? 
 
 Bourxe. Yes; after two or tiiree classical al- 
 lusions, rather in the pedantic style of the times, 
 comparing him to Nicanor, he concludes by again 
 complimenting Gosson on his facility in composition. 
 " Whose actions, my reprouer, I will now fit to thee, 
 who hauing slandered me without cause, I will no 
 otherwise reuenge it but by tin's meanes ; that now
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 229 
 
 in publike I confesse thou hast a good pen, and if 
 thou keepe thy Methode in discourse, and leaue thy 
 slandering without cause, there is no doubt but thou 
 shalt bee commended for thy coppye, and praised 
 for thy stile." Now I have a right to say, that this 
 is an important tract, and not the less so because its 
 peculiar value was not known before. 
 
 Elliot. The whole of the address places Lodge's 
 character in a very candid and amiable point of view. 
 
 Moktox. And making a few allowances, it is 
 written in a very unpretending and pleasing vein. 
 It makes one long to look at the body of the tract 
 such an epistle introduces. 
 
 Bocrxe. If you please, we will not do so now, as 
 it would throw us completely out of our course : 
 suppose we reserve it as the first subject of examina- 
 tion to-morrow. 
 
 Mortox. Following it up by a conclusion of our 
 inquiries regarding the stage — witli all my heart. 
 
 Elliot. And mine; but just this moment, on the 
 page opposite to that where Lodge's address con- 
 cludes, my eye caught the name of Barnabe Kich, in 
 large characters — what is that ? 
 
 Bourxe. He has two stanzas " in praise of the 
 author." They were friends, and Lodge in the same 
 way praises Rich's "'Don Simonides," 1581. The 
 lines before us purport to be written by " Barnabe 
 Rich, Gentleman Souldier," a character of which lie 
 was not a little proud: they are not good, but as
 
 230 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 they relate to Gosson, and, in fact, contain a pun on 
 his name, we may very fitly read them now. 
 
 " If that which warnes the young- beware of vice, 
 And schooles the olde to shunne vnlawfull gaine ; 
 
 [f pleasant stile and method may suffice, 
 
 I thinke thy trauaile merits thanks for paine : 
 My simple dooms is thus in tearmes as plainej 
 
 That both the subiect and thy stile is good, 
 
 Thou needs not feare the scoffes of Alomus brood. 
 
 cc If thus it be, good Lodge, continue still; 
 
 Thou needst not feare Goose sonne or Ganders 
 hisse, 
 
 Whose rude reportes past from a slaundrous (mill, 
 Will be determind but in reading this, 
 Of whom the wiser sort will thinke amis, 
 
 To slaunder him whose birth and life is such 
 
 As false report his fame can neuer tuch." 
 
 Elliot. Much cannot be said in favour of Rich's 
 pun, vet I dare say it answered the purpose. 
 
 Bourne. It might turn the laugh against Gosson 
 for a time, though not quite so good as Tom Xash's 
 pun, when in his " Lenten Stuff," 1509, he dignifies 
 a red herring with the name of Sccli-pcr. Five 
 other stanza.-,, prefixed by •'■' John Jones Gentleman,*' 
 are not worth reading: he was a physician, and 
 wrote several medical tracts, and calls Lodge, in 
 1584, " a youth." "We will now close the " Alarum 
 aa'ainst Usurers" until to morrow
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 231 
 
 Morton. On turning over the leaves of the two 
 first books of Gosson's " Ephemerides of Phialo," 
 15/9) I have found a short metrical translation from 
 Ovid without rhyme. He has therefore some claim 
 to be noticed among the earliest writers of blank 
 verse. 
 
 Bourne. lie has, but that is a mere scrap, which 
 I certainly forgot when we were upon that subject. 
 I, however, made a more important omission of 
 Queen Elizabeth, who lias translated a chorus of one 
 of Seneca's tragedies into blank verse, though it 
 hardly comes within the class of undramatic blank 
 verse. You will find it inserted in Park's " Royal 
 and Noble Authors," 1. 10'2, so that the circumstance 
 was of the less consequence. 
 
 Elliot. Dismissing that, what tract respecting 
 stage plays are we next to see r 
 
 Bourne. One which is interspersed with more 
 poetical scraps than are usually found in works of 
 the kind, though no blank verse. Chaucer and 
 Brandt's " Stultifera Navis in English," are cited in 
 it as authorities. The title is sufficiently explanatory, 
 " A Treatise wherein Dicing, Dauncing, Yaine playes 
 or Enterluds with other idle pastimes &c. commonly 
 vsed on the Sabboth day are reproued," ^c. " Made 
 Dialogue wise by John Northbrooke," 8cc. 4to. 
 
 Morton. That, I apprehend, is one of the most 
 notorious of the pieces against the stage. 
 
 Bourne, Tt has not been unfrequently alluded to,
 
 23<2 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 but never criticised. It was first printed, I believe, 
 in 1579* and was sold by the same bookseller as 
 Gosson's tract, Tho. Dawson. The edition 1 have 
 here is of greater rarity, and is " imprinted by H. 
 Bynneman for George Byshop." 
 
 Elliot. The title states that it is conducted m 
 the form of a dialogue : that may give it spirit and 
 variety. 
 
 Bourne. As the interlocutors are Youth and Age, 
 you Avill not be induced to form a very lively notion 
 of their discussion. Youth is represented as a very 
 docile, well dispositioned young man, who has got a 
 few wrong notions into his head, which Age endea- 
 vours to expel. The author was a preacher at Bristol, 
 from whence he dates his work, and it is unquestion- 
 able that he was a man of very considerable attain- 
 ments. In the prefatory matter he draws the follow- 
 ing curious but exaggerated picture of the manners 
 of his time : " What is a man now a dayes, if lie 
 know not fashions, and how to weare his apparel 
 after the best fashion? to kepe company and to be- 
 come Mummers and Diccplayers and to play their 
 twentie, forty or 100 li. at Cards, Dice, <\c. Post, 
 Cente, Gleke, or such other games: if he cannot 
 thus do he is called a myser, a wretch, a lobbe, a 
 cloune, and one that knoweth no fellowship, nor 
 fashions, and lesse honcstie." 
 
 Elliot. If that he a lair specimen, he deals as 
 much as his predecessor Gosson in general invectives.
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 233 
 
 Bourxe. Not quite ; he enters more into par- 
 ticulars as he proceeds, after the conversation be- 
 tween Youth and Age has begun. The first part of 
 the pamphlet is principally directed against idleness, 
 and the arguments of Age are supported by many 
 recondite authorities : at length Youth observes, 
 " Seing that we haue somewhat largely talked and 
 reasoned togither of ydle playes and vaine pastimes, 
 let me craue your further patience to knowe vour 
 iudgement and opinion as touching Playes and Flavers 
 which are commonly vsed and much frequented in 
 most places in these dayes, especiallye here in this 
 noble and honourable citie of London." To which 
 Age answers, " You demaunde of me a harde ques- 
 tion : if I should vtterly deny all kinde of suche 
 playes, then shoulde I be thought too Stoicall and 
 precise : If I allowe and admit them in generall then 
 I shall giue way to a thousande misehiefes and in- 
 conueniences which daily happen by occasion of 
 beholding and haunting such spectacles. Therfore 
 let me vnderstande of what sort and kynde of Playes 
 you speake of:" 
 
 Morton. All these particulars are curious and 
 entertaining, and show that at the time Northbrooke 
 wrote, theatres were much more frequented than is 
 generally supposed. 
 
 Bourne. This author, in terms, mention- one play- 
 house distinguished by the name of " the theatre," 
 and another called " the Curtainc." Youth requires 
 Age to give his opinion regarding the " playes and
 
 •234 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Enterludes" there performed, and Age replies with 
 great warmth, " I am persuaded that Sathan hath not 
 a more speedie way and fitter Schoole to work and 
 teache his desire, to bring men and women into his 
 snare," kc. following it up by an enumeration of the 
 many horrible vices he imagines grow out of fre- 
 quenting theatres. As to the actors, he insists that 
 " they are not tollerable nor sufferable in any comon 
 weale." This topic is kept up through many tedious 
 pages of reiterated abuse. 
 
 Elliot. Neither knowledge nor amusement is to 
 be obtained from such senseless ravings. 
 
 Bourne. Unless we can laugh at the author: Age 
 engrosses a great part of the conversation, and after 
 a vast number of coarse names and epithets applied 
 to unfortunate players, he winds up a detail of mea- 
 sures taken against them by the subsequent sentence, 
 " Also there is a notable Statute made against Yaga- 
 bondes, lloges, &c. wherein is expressed what they 
 are, that shall bee taken and accounted for lloges. 
 Amongst all the whole rablement, Common -players 
 in Enterludes are to be taken for lloges and punish- 
 ment is appoynted for them to bee burnte through 
 the care with an bote yron of an ynche oompasse 
 and for the second fault to be hanged as a Felon.'' 
 
 Morton. Alluding to the celebrated statute passed 
 in the year 157 ~. 
 
 Elliot. Of course. The old zealot seems quite 
 to gloat over the account he is giving of the punish- 
 ment of a wretched actor. '• to be burnt through the
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 235 
 
 ear with a hot iron of an inch compass." lie attacks 
 them all, with a perfect conviction that the whole 
 race ought to be exterminated, Parli chi vuole il con- 
 trario, Iddio el la Verita per me Varme prenderanno. 
 Morton. In this respect he even goes beyond 
 Gosson, who allows that some kinds of plays may 
 be beneficial, or, at least, not injurious. 
 
 Bourne. He would not have granted that, in all 
 probability, had not Catiline's Conspiracies, and some 
 other plays, been " pigs of his own sow." I do not 
 think we need go further with Northbrooke : the 
 last part of his tract is directed against the "horrible 
 abuse of dauncing," but this is not to our purpose. 
 We will now inspect one of the most popular, varied, 
 and entertaining of all the books of tins class, Philip 
 Stubbes's "Anatomy of Abuses 5" but from which 
 so much has been extracted at various times, and in 
 various books, that it will not long occupy us. The 
 title promises a great deal of singular matter, and 
 the body of the work fulfils that promise. It is this: 
 " The Anatomie of Abuses : Containing a Discouerie 
 or briefe Summarie of such Notable Vices and Cor- 
 ruptions, as now raigne in many Christian Countrcyes 
 of the Worlde: but (especially) in the Country of 
 ailgna: Together with most fearefull Examples of 
 Gods ludgementcs executed vpon the wicked for 
 the same, aswell in Ailgna of late as in other places 
 elsewhere. Very godly to be read," &c. 
 
 Elliot. And among these " notable vices," the 
 vice of stage-plays is, I suppose, included.
 
 236 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. The attack upon theatres and actors 
 forms a very considerable and important part of 
 the work. This edition you see bears date in 1585, 
 being ''■ printed at London by Richard Jones 3" 
 but it is said, on the title, to be the third, and is 
 the most complete, as it was " reuised, recognized 
 and augmented"' by the author, Philip Stubs or 
 Stubbes. I apprehend that this work made it earliest 
 appearance in 1583, and it was so popular, so pa- 
 tronized by the increasing and intolerant sect of the 
 puritans, that, I believe, it went through two editions 
 in the same year, and was printed many times (I 
 cannot now exactly state how many) before 1595. 
 
 Elliot. Who was Stubbes r Was he a man of 
 any note before he wrote this book ? 
 
 Bourne. No trace of him is to be found: all our 
 biographers are nearly silent regarding him. An- 
 thony Wood, who claims him for his university, 
 states, that he was of genteel parentage, and on the 
 title-page to his '•' Motive to Good Works," 1593, 
 Stubbes styles himself " Gentleman." His " Ana- 
 tomy of Abuses" produced a strong sensation when 
 it was first printed, and Thomas Nash, who wrote 
 against the puritans or martinists, did not fail to aim 
 one of his satirical shafts at the work in hand. In his 
 " Almond for a Parrot or Cuthbert Curry-knaues 
 Almes," &c. printed, most likely, soon afterwards, 
 he has this passage regarding Stubbes, though he 
 did not think it prudent to insert his name at length : 
 " I can tell you Phil. Stu. is a tall man also for that
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 237 
 
 purpose. What, his Anatomie of Abuses for all that 
 will serue very fitly for an antispast before one of 
 Egertons Sermons. I would see the best of your 
 Trauerscs write such a treatise as he hath done against 
 short-heeld pantofies. But one thing, it is a great 
 pity for him, that being such a good fellow as he is 
 he should speake against dice as he doth." He 
 here means to ridicule the trifles against which most 
 of the puritanical writers and preachers directed their 
 -vehemence. 
 
 Mortox. Nash is the man, who, according to Mr. 
 Disraeli, by his wit and satire wrote down Martin- 
 marprelate and his associates, when all their serious 
 assailants produced no effect. 
 
 Bourne. That he silenced them for a time, is, I 
 believe, certain, and so far he wrote them down. 
 The piece from which I just quoted is dedicated to 
 Kempe, a celebrated actor and humorist of that 
 time, who is called " Jestmonger and Yiee-gcrent 
 general to the ghost of Dicke Tarlton," also a most 
 notorious performer, whose name has previously 
 occurred, and will again be mentioned. 
 
 Elliot. 1 see that Stubbes's work is conducted 
 in the form of a dialogue between two abstract 
 personages, Messrs. Spudeus and Philoponus. He 
 touches upon many kind of abuses in Ailgna, or 
 Anglia, but mainly, in the commencement, upon 
 pride of apparel, the excess of which, both in men 
 and women, seems to put him into a violent and un~ 
 restrainable passion.
 
 238 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. He is so furious in his assault, and so 
 coarse in his epithets regarding plays and players, 
 that it would not be easy to quote him in all com- 
 panies. Referring to the stage, he maintains that 
 actors are the authors of sensual vices of all kinds, 
 "For proofe whereof (he adds) but marke the flock- 
 ing and running to Theaters and Curtens daylie and 
 hourelie, night and daie, tyme and tide, to see Plaies 
 and Enterludes, where suche Avanton gestures, suche 
 bawdie speeches, such laughing and flearyng, suche 
 kissyng and bussyng, suche clippyng and culling, 
 such wincking and glauncing of wanton eyes, and 
 the like is vsed, as is wonderfull to beholde. Then 
 these goodly Pageantes beyng ended, euery mate 
 sortes to his mate, euery one bringes an other 
 homewarde of their waie very freendly, 8cc. * * And 
 whereas you saie, there are good Examples to be 
 learned in them, truely so there are : if you will 
 learne falshood ; if you will learne cosenage ; if you 
 will learne to deeeiue ; if you will learne to plaie 
 the hipocrite, to cogge, to lye, and falsitie ; if you 
 will learne to iest laugh and ficcre, to grinne to 
 nodde and mowe; iS' you will learne to plaie the 
 vice, to sweare, teare and blaspheme both lleauen 
 and Earth." 
 
 Elliot. A most eloquent and forcible reduplica- 
 tion: it must have cost the author not a little trouble 
 to collect so many terms of abuse, and to apply them 
 as lie has done.
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 239 
 
 Morton. One would really suppose, if one took 
 these representations for granted, that our ancestors, 
 who frequented theatres, were much more immoral 
 than ourselves, 
 
 Bourne. Another short extract will, I dare say, 
 satisfy you : it is Stubbes's conclusion, in which 
 he formally denounces plays, acting, and actors. 
 " Awaie therefore with this so infamous an arte, for 
 goe they neuer so braue yet are they couted and 
 taken but for beggers. And is it not true ? Liue 
 they not vppon begging of euery one that comes r 
 Are they not taken by the Lawes of the Realme for 
 roagues and vacabounds ? (I speake of such as 
 trauaile the Countries with Plaies and Enterludes, 
 making an occupation of it) and ought so to bet- 
 punished, if they had their deserts. But hopyng that 
 they will be warned now at the last, I will say no 
 more of them ; beseeching them to cansider what a 
 fearefull thing it is to fall into the handes of God, 
 and to prouokc his wrath and heauie displeasure 
 against themselues and others. Which the Lorde 
 of his mercie tourne from vs." 
 
 Elliot. Milton, in the preface to his " Doctrine, 
 &c. of Divorces," asserts that " the greatest burden 
 in the world is superstition, not only of ceremonies 
 in the Church but of imaginary and scare crow sins 
 at home." The latter kind seems mightily to have 
 troubled the writers against the stage. 
 
 Bourne. Having bestowed as much time as \vc 
 can afford on Stubbes's " Anatomic of Abuses, ' we
 
 240 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 will proceed to another production, not so long nor 
 so celebrated : I shall be very brief with it, because 
 I have mentioned it before. I mean a small tract 
 appended by Whetstone to his " Mirror for Ma- 
 gistrates of Cities," 1584, and called " An Addition 
 or Touchstone for the Time : exposyng the dainger- 
 ous Mischiefes that the Dicyng Howses (comonly 
 called) Ordinarie Tables, and other (like) Sanctuaries 
 of Iniquitie, do dayly breede within the Bowelles of 
 the famous Citie of London." 
 
 Morton. You read from it, I remember, a curious 
 anecdote of Judge Chumley. 
 
 Bourne. I did, and some matter personally re- 
 lating to Whetstone. I shall now only quote a very 
 short notice by him of theatrical performances : it is 
 included in that part of his work which is called 
 " A Remembrance of the disordered State of the 
 Commonwealth, at the Queenes Maiesties commyng 
 to the Crowne," and the passage is as follows : 
 " The godly Diuines in publique Sermons, and 
 others in printed Bookes haue (of late) uery sharply 
 inuayed against Stage -playes (vnproperly called 
 Tragedies, Comedies and Moralles) as the Sprynges 
 of many vices and the stumblyng-blockes of Godly- 
 nesse and Vertue : Truely the vse of them vpon the 
 Saboth day, and the abuse of them at all times with 
 scurilytic and vnchaste coueiance, ministred matter 
 sufficient for them to blame, and the Maiestrate to 
 reforme." 
 
 Elliot, lie seems very measured in his reproba-
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 241 
 
 tion of stage-plays : he only censures the " abuse of 
 them." 
 
 Morton. He might well be cautious and scru- 
 pulous on this point, when we recollect that he had 
 himself written two plays, or one play in two parts, 
 called "Promos and Cassandra," printed in 1578. 
 You do not mean that what you have just read is all 
 that Whetstone says upon the subject of Theatres ? 
 
 Bourne. Very nearly: he goes on, however, to 
 remark : " But there are within the Bowels of this 
 famous Citie farre more daungerous Playes and 
 little reprehended 5 that wicked Playes of the Dice, 
 first inuenled by the Deuyll (as Cornelius Agrippa 
 writeth) and frequented by vnhappy men : the de- 
 testable Roote vpon which a thousand villanies 
 growe." It is against the last that his enmity is 
 directed, and to them all his details relate ; he only 
 touches upon theatrical performances by the way. 
 
 Elliot. When he speaks of the " printed books" 
 in which stage-plays were inveighed against, he re- 
 fers of course to Gosson, Northbrooke, and .Stubbes : 
 to whom does he allude when he says that stage- 
 plays had been abused in " public sermons ?" 
 
 Bourne. You have reminded me of a tract I had 
 forgotten to notice in its proper place, and yet it is 
 precisely in point here. 
 
 Morton. Do you mean a Sermon on the subject? 
 
 Bourne. A production of that class, and a work, 
 I can assure you, that is not often met with. I will 
 
 VOL. n. R
 
 '242 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 read the title, and then, if further explanation be 
 necessary, I will give it : it is called " A Godly 
 exhortation by occasion of the late iudgement of 
 God shewed at Paris-garden, the thirteenth day of 
 lanvarie : where were assembled by estimation aboue 
 a thousand persons, whereof some were slaine and 
 of that number at the least, as is credibly reported, 
 the thirde person maimed and hurt. Giuen to all 
 estates for their instruction concerning the keeping 
 of the Sabboth day." It is by "John Field, Minister 
 of the Word of God," and was printed in 1583. 
 There are many accounts of the catastrophe to which 
 the tract relates. Paris Garden, you know, was a 
 place where bears were baited, and the greatest num- 
 ber of spectators was obtained on Sundays. 
 
 Mortox. The fact is mentioned at some length in 
 Pennant's London. 
 
 Bourxk. And elsewhere, so that we need not go 
 over the shocking picture this pious preacher draws 
 of the calamity. 
 
 Elliot-. I do not see the pertinency of this " Godly 
 exhortation" to our present inquiry, unless some- 
 thing be said about theatrical representations. 
 
 Bourne. Supposing nothing more were said, you 
 would not have much right to complain, considering 
 that bear-baiting and stage-plays were generally 
 coupled by the puritans ; but if you had waited, I 
 should have finished by this time the following para- 
 graph in the tract, which is curious, as alluding to the
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 243 
 
 abolition of theatrical performances on Sunday, pre- 
 vious to 1583. Field is exhorting the Lord Mayor, &c. 
 of London to use their influence to abolish bear-bait- 
 ing, " And as" (he observes) " they haue with good 
 commendation so far preuailed, that vpon Saboath 
 dayes these Heathenishe Enterludes and playes are 
 banished, so it wyll please them to followe the matter 
 still, that they may be vtterly rid and taken away. 
 For surely it is to be feared, besides the destruction 
 bothe of bodye and soule, that many are brought 
 vnto by frequenting the Theater, the Curt in and 
 such like, that one day those places will likewise be 
 cast downe by God himselfe." That, I fancy, you 
 will consider to the point. 
 
 Elliot. Certainly ; but I thought, from what you 
 read from Whetstone just now under date of 15S4, 
 that stage-plays on Sundays were then acted. 
 
 Bourne. If you refer to his words again, you 
 will perceive that they are ambiguous, and that he 
 is only expressing an opinion in favour of what had 
 already been decided by the higher powers. Eesides, 
 it is clear that they were abolished when Field wrote 
 in 1583, and that they were not abolished when the 
 tract I have now in my hand was printed, viz. 1580. 
 
 Morton. So that you fix the period between 
 1580 and 1583. This is important, because our 
 stage historians have not hitherto settled the date 
 with any precision : one of the most learned says, 
 with extreme laxity, " During a great part of
 
 244 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign the play-houses were only 
 licenced to be opened on that day (i. e. Sunday) ; 
 but before the end of her reign, or soon ajier, this 
 abuse was probably removed." 
 
 Bourne. I am not sure that it would not be pos- 
 sible to come even nearer the precise date than we 
 have at present arrived. I am not aware, however, 
 of any intermediate work, between 1580 and 1583, 
 where the fact is noticed. 1 may add, that Mr. 
 Chalmers (Sup. Apol. 185.) states, incorrectly cer- 
 tainly, that the exhibition of plays on Sunday was 
 not forbidden until 1587- 
 
 Elliot. Erom Eield's " Exhortation" you find 
 that in 1583 stage-plays were "banished" on the 
 Sabbath : where then do you learn that they were not 
 banished in 1580 ? 
 
 Bourne. Erom this little piece, by Arthur Golding, 
 the translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and who, 
 you may recollect, was enumerated by Abraham 
 Fleming among the writers upon the same earth- 
 quake that employed his pen. This is the tract he 
 published on that occasion. 
 
 Morton. The title I see is this : " A discourse 
 vpon the Earthquake that happened through this 
 realme of Englande and other places of Christendom, 
 the sixt of Aprill, 1580," &e. " Written by Arthur 
 (iolding, Gentleman." It seems wholly religious. 
 
 Bourne. It is : the date, 1580, and the printer's 
 name, Henry Binneman, are to be found at the end;
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 245 
 
 but if you will give me the book, I can save trouble 
 by pointing out the particular paragraph that relates 
 to this subject : the rest is a mere dull discourse, 
 principally to show that earthquakes are to be looked 
 upon as the judgments of God, and not as proceeding 
 from natural causes. 
 
 Morton. There is no occasion, as I have it here. 
 
 Elliot. Read it, then, but no more than is to our 
 purpose : we can very well omit all the rest. 
 
 Morton. It is not long. " The Saboth dayes and 
 holy dayes ordayned for the hearing of Gods word 
 to the reformation of our lyues, for the administra- 
 tion and receiuing of the Sacramentes to our comfort, 
 for the seeking of all things behouefull for bodye or 
 soule at Gods hande by prayer, for the mynding of 
 his benefites, and to yeelde praise and thankes vnto 
 him for the same, and finally for the speciall oc- 
 cupying of our selves in all spirituall exercises" 
 
 Elliot. I am sure you must be reading more 
 than is necessary : Golding is a long time coming 
 to the point. 
 
 Morton. These are only ambages to give the 
 more effect to what follows : he adds, that the 
 Sabbath, instead of being employed as he has de- 
 scribed, " is spent full heathenishly, in taucrning, 
 tipling, gaming, playing and beholding of Beare- 
 baytings and stage-playes to the vtter dyshonor of 
 God, impeachment of all godlynesse and vnneces- 
 sarie consuming of mennes substances which ought 
 to be better employed."
 
 246' NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Boukxe. That is all we need read ; but I will just 
 add, upon this point, that Stephen Gosson, in 15/9, 
 in his " School of Abuse,'' bears wrathful testimony 
 to the performance of plays on Sunday. 
 
 Elliot. The point (an important one, I allow) 
 being - thus settled by the testimony of Golding, what 
 do you next offer us ? 
 
 Boukxe. We will now examine the work of a 
 man, whom I mentioned some days ago as a 
 satirist, as author of a sonnet before Bodenham's 
 Belvedere, 1600, but principally as the writer of the 
 tract which now comes under our review, called 
 " A Mirour of Monsters : Wherein is plainely de- 
 scribed the manifold vices and spotted enormities 
 that are caused by the infectious sight of Hayes, 
 with the description of the subtile slights of Sathan 
 making them his instruments." London, 1587- It 
 is by Wil. Rankin or Rankins, and is one of the 
 pamphlets against the stage that is most rarely met 
 with. One singularity in it is a description (though 
 not a very intelligible one), of a sort of mask or 
 pageant on the marriage of Fast us and Luxuria, two 
 of the prime favourites of Sathan, and favourers 
 of Actors. The personages who perform are six, 
 viz. Idleness, flattery, Ingratitude, I gly Dissension, 
 Blasphemy, and Impudence. As this description is 
 inserted late, I will first read a sentence or two 
 against stage-players in Terralbon, to which country 
 the author states he had travelled : " When first these 
 monsters came into Tvrrnlbmi such was their proud
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. l 247 
 
 presumption, that they feared not to prophane the 
 Sabbaoth, to defile the Lord's daie, to scoffe at his 
 word, and to stage his wrath. But when the King 
 of kings sawe his scepter broken, his crowne trode 
 vnder feete of the vngodlie, his roabes rent, naye 
 the glorie of his Sonne darkened with the head of 
 this monstrous Beast, he stretched out his mightie 
 arme, and with the rod of his lustice brused the 
 bones of them that prophaned his Sabbaoth, defiled 
 his sacred daye and scoffed at his holie word. Then 
 Justice pulled oif hir vaile and with a cleare fore- 
 sight (beholding the same) so ordained it that these 
 monsters dare no longer roare on the Sabaoth of the 
 Lorde." 
 
 Elliot. Here also is evidence of the abolition of 
 stage-playes on Sundays, in the year 158?. 
 
 Bourxe. There can be no doubt of that fact: the 
 last paragraph, as appears by a marginal note, 
 alludes to the melancholy accident that happened at 
 Paris Garden in 1583, of which we have spoken 
 already. 
 
 Morton. Where is the account of the mask ? 
 
 Bourxe. There is no regular detail of it beyond 
 the names of the maskers, nor are any of the 
 speeches inserted : the description is only general. 
 Two addresses by Fastus and Luxuria on the arrival 
 of the maskers at their palace, KoiXotppzap, from the 
 dominion of Belzebub, are given ; but one of them, 
 the welcome spoken by the lady, you will find quite
 
 248 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 sufficient, or more than sufficient : she says, " My 
 Lorde and espoused husband Fastns (you inhabitants 
 of y R infernal world) hath alreadie showne you by 
 the zeale of his louing hart, the simpathy of whose 
 minde consisteth in my selfe, that whatsoeuer he 
 shall seeme to allowe of duety and loue I beare him, 
 besides the favor I owe vnto you, confirmeth the 
 same in me, so farre then wherein the power or 
 duetifull seruice of a sillye woman consisteth or may 
 offer requitall, let it be expected 5 for duety wylls 
 so much, and your curtesie commandes no lesse : 
 you are therefore hartily welcome to our Castle of 
 Koi\o<p ■pEzp." 
 
 Elliot. There is certainly nothing at all re- 
 markable in that. 
 
 Bourne. Perhaps not, but in several respects this 
 tract differs from the usual strain of laborious and 
 dull invective, in which pieces with the same object 
 were usually written, overburdened with quotations 
 from the Scriptures and the Fathers. Of this the 
 work of Dr. Rainoldes, to which we shall come pre- 
 sently, is a tedious example. 
 
 Elliot. Have you any thing- more to offer us from 
 Itankin — any tiling a little better than the last extract, 
 I mean? 
 
 Bourne. There is a passage regarding the general 
 condition of England, and in praise of Queen Eliza- 
 beth and her government, that I might read if 
 you had patience ; but the author of this " Mirror
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 249 
 
 of Monsters" only speaks very generally on these 
 topics. 
 
 Morton. You mentioned just now the coupling 
 of plays and bear-baiting by the puritanical writers, 
 but I recollect that they even go further: Stubbes 
 especially denounces May-games as one of the same 
 " pomps of the Devil." 
 
 Bourne. And so the puritans continued to do 
 even down to the Restoration. This small tract by 
 Thomas Hall, " B. 1). and Pastor of King's Norton," 
 who abused John Webster the player as the writer 
 of Academiarum Examen, is a violent and singular 
 attack upon May-games in the year IGGO. 
 
 Elliot. Von call it violent and singular : the 
 violence, I suppose, arises out of the author's zeal, 
 but in what does the singularity consist ? 
 
 Bourne. In the manner in which the subject is 
 handled : the title is not a little remarkable — it is 
 called " Frnebria F/ortc, the downefall of May- 
 Games. Wherein is set forth the rudeness, prophane- 
 ness, stealing, drinking, fighting, dancing," &c. 
 " contempt of God and godly Magistrats, Ministers 
 and People, which oppose the Rascality and rout 
 in this their open prophaneness and Heathenish 
 Customs," and a great deal more of the same kind 
 of abuse, some of it much too coarse to be extracted. 
 Morton. That remark applies, more or less, to 
 nearly all the publications I have seen against the 
 theatre : the authors are never at all scrupulous in
 
 <250 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 using the most offensive terms they could discover 
 or invent. 
 
 Bourne. Hall merits the same censure, but we 
 will pass over that part of his pamphlet, observing, 
 by the way, that he bitterly complains " that even 
 in Cheapside it self the rude rabble had set vp this 
 Ensign of prophaneness and had put the Lord Mayor 
 to the trouble of seeing it pulled down." 
 
 Elliot. Cheapside was then little better than an 
 open market-place. I suppose tbe reverend author 
 considers a May-game as a sort of idolatrous worship 
 of a pole. 
 
 Boukne. You have guessed rightly; but the most 
 ludicrous part of his attack, is a mock trial of the 
 heathen patroness of the^e sports, under the title of 
 " the Inditement of Flora," in which this "Floralian 
 harlot" is regularly arraigned, and a jury impannelled 
 for her trial. 
 
 Morton. A monstrous absurdity. 
 
 Bourne. Yet detailed with the utmost gravity 
 and solemnity, as if it were the formal proceeding 
 of a constituted court. You shall see : it begins 
 thus — The clerk says, 
 
 " Flora — hold vp thy hand : 
 
 " Thou art indited by the name of Flora of the 
 City of* Rome, in the County of Babylon, for that 
 thou contrary to the pence of our Soveraign Lord, 
 his Crown and Dignity, hast brought in a pack of 
 practical Fanatieks viz, Ignorants, Atheists, Papists,
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 251 
 
 Drunkards, Swearers, Swash-bucklers, Maid-mar- 
 rions, Morrice-Dancers, Maskers, Mummers, May- 
 pole-stealers, Health-drinkers, together with a ras- 
 calian rout of Fidlers, Fools, Fighters, Gamesters, 
 Whore-masters, Lewd-men, Light-women, Con- 
 temners of Magistracy, Affronters of Ministery, re- 
 bellious to Masters, disobedient to Parents, mis- 
 spenders of time, abusers of the creature." 
 
 Elliot. What says the poor prisoner at the bar 
 to this accusation — does she plead guilty or not 
 guilty ? 
 
 Bourne. The following colloquy occurs between 
 Flora and the judge. 
 
 Judge. What sayest thou, guilty or not guilty ? 
 
 Prisoner. Not guilty, My Lord. 
 
 Judg. By whom wilt thou be tried ? 
 
 Pris. By the Popes-Holiness, my Lord. 
 
 Judg. He is thy Patron and Protector, and so 
 unfit to be a Judge in this case. 
 
 Pris. Then I appeal to the Prelates, and Lord 
 Bishops, my Lord. 
 
 Judg. This is but a tiffany put off, &c. 
 
 Pris. Then I appeal to the rout and rabble of the 
 world. 
 
 Judg. These are thy followers and thy favourites, 
 and so unfit to be Judges in their own case. 
 
 Pris. My Lord if there be no remedy, I am con- 
 tent to bee tried by a Jury.
 
 252 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Judg. Thou hast well said, thou shalt haue a full, 
 fair and a free hearing." 
 
 Morton. The English bishops and the Romish 
 pope are here considered much upon a par: Hall 
 was a furious mar-prelate, I have no doubt. Does 
 the unhappy prisoner obtain a full, fair, and free 
 hearing ? 
 
 Bourne. You may judge from this fact, that the 
 judge acts as the crown advocate, and the jury are 
 both jurymen and witnesses : but we have not arrived 
 at the end of the ridiculousness of this mock trial. 
 Holy-Scriptures is the first called to come into court. 
 
 " Holy-Scriptures. My Lord, I cannot get in. 
 
 Judg. Who keeps you out, 
 
 Holy- Scriptures. My Lord here is a company of 
 ignorant, rude, prophane, superstitions, Atheistical 
 persons that will not suffer me to come in. 
 
 Judg. Oyer, knock down those prophane persons 
 and make room for Holy-Scriptures to come in." 
 
 Elliot. He is as summary as Jack Cade with the 
 soldier, who omitted to call him Lord Mortimer ; 
 " Knock him down there !" 
 
 Bourne. After the evidence of this juryman is 
 received, a little flattery of the newly restored Charles 
 II. is inserted, for the prisoner declares, " My Lord, 
 I and my retinew are uery much deceived in this 
 Charls the Second; we all conceited that he was 
 for us: my Drunkards cryed, a Health to the King:
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 253 
 
 the Swearers swore a Health to the King so long 
 till they swore themselves out of health. The Papist, 
 the Atheist, the Roarer and the Ranter, they all 
 concluded that now their day was come, but alass 
 how are we deceived !" 
 
 Morton. Or rather how were the puritans de- 
 ceived in their hopes of Charles. 
 
 Bourne. To proceed with the trial: the ordinance 
 of parliament of 1644 for keeping holy the Lord's 
 day, the Solemn League and Covenant, an order 
 from the Council of State, and Ovid, (with a passage 
 from his Fasti, lib. 5.) with some others, compose the 
 rest of the jury, who find the prisoner guilty ; and 
 then follows " the aweful sentence of the law," as it 
 is called, which is, perpetual banishment. Such is 
 the result of the " full, fair, and free hearing" poor 
 Flora obtains. This is really all that is worth read- 
 ing in the tract. 
 
 Elliot. Then we need not detain ourselves further 
 with it. 
 
 Bourne. If so, we have advanced as far as Dr. 
 Rainoldes's " Overthrow of Stage -Plays," 1599. 
 
 Morton. That is one of the most notorious works 
 upon the subject, and I suppose one of the least 
 scarce, as there was a second edition of it in 16'<29, 
 which is not unfrequently met with at book sales. 
 
 Bourne. It is, and while it is one of the longest, 
 most learned, and most laboured, it contains even 
 less information than others regarding the state of
 
 254 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the stage ; in fact, although the question is handled 
 generally in some places, the principal object of the 
 author was to abolish the then prevailing custom of 
 representing what were called University Plays, per- 
 formed by students, and written in Latin. 
 
 Elliot. I should have imagined that the severest 
 puritan, and the most prejudiced opponent of thea- 
 trical performances, would not have carried his an- 
 tipathy quite so far. I thought that they were on 
 all hands allowed. 
 
 Bourne. They are by some, but not by all, and 
 among the last, Dr. Rainoldes, or Reynolds, of 
 Queen's College, who, by the testimony of all wri- 
 ters (and by his own, as far as his productions are 
 witnesses in his favour), was a man of vast eru- 
 dition. Bastard, in his Chrestoleros, 1598, a book I 
 have often quoted, and with the best parts of which 
 you are by this time acquainted, has the following 
 Epigram, addressed to him in L. IV. 
 
 " Ad Johannem Reynolds. 
 
 " Do I call iudgement to my foolish rimes 
 And rarest art and reading them to viewe, 
 Reynolds, Religions Oracle most true: 
 Mirrour of arte and Austen of our times ! 
 For loue of these I call thee, which I pray, 
 That thou in reading these wouldst put away." 
 
 Elliot. The compliment is rather clumsily paid. 
 Your mention of Bastard's book brings to my re-
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. <255 
 
 collection an epigram I saw in it, connected, in some 
 degree, with our immediate subject, I mean on the 
 profaneness of the stage. It is L. VI. Epigr. 7, and 
 entitled " In prophanationem nominis Dei." 
 
 " Gods name is bare of honour in our hearing, 
 And euen worne out with our blasphemous swearing, 
 Betweene the infant and the aged both, 
 The first and last they vtter is an oath. 
 O hellishe manners of our prophane age, 
 Iehouahs feare is scoft vpon the stage! 
 The IMiinicke iester, names it euery day; 
 Vnlesse God be blasphem'de it is no play." 
 
 Bournk. The practice of swearing on the stage 
 was not long afterwards reformed under the highest 
 authority, and in the editions of plays subsequently 
 printed, it is not uncommon to observe variations 
 occasioned by it : thus Heaven is generally substi- 
 tuted for God, and other similar changes made. 
 
 Elliot. I here also find an epigram to Richard 
 Tarlton the comedian and jester, whose name we 
 saw introduced by Nash into his " Almond for a 
 Parrot," in which he is praised for having " made 
 folly excellent," and spoken of as being " extoll'd 
 for that which all despise." 
 
 Bourxk. Although Bastard entertained, to a cer- 
 tain extent, the same opinions as Dr. Rainoldes, he 
 nevertheless seems, at least, to tolerate actors, and 
 to praise such as were sober and meritorious. When
 
 256 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 upon the learning of the author of the. " Overthrow 
 of Stage-plays," I was about to quote from the 
 highest authority in his favour, I mean Bishop Hall, 
 who has the following sentence in one of the epistles 
 of his Decades, addressed to M. Bedell: « He (Dr. 
 Ilainoldes) alone was a well furnished library, full 
 of all faculties, of all studies, of all learning ; the 
 memory, the reading of that man went near to a 
 miracle." I will make merely a short extract or two 
 from his Overthrow of Stage Plays, observing first, 
 that his work consists of two portions, and forms 
 part of a contest between him and Doctor Gager on 
 the subject of theatrical representations. Dr. Gager 
 had written an academic tragedy, under the title of 
 Ulysses Redux, Tragcedia nova, in cede Christi Oxonice 
 pub/ice recitata, which gave offence to a great body 
 of the puritans. 
 
 Morton. And Dr. Gager, of course, vindicated 
 himself? 
 
 Bourne. Yes, but only to the extent of academic 
 plays: however, the attack of Dr. Rainoldes is ge- 
 neral, and it is supported by an amazing number and 
 variety of learned quotations : the publisher boasts 
 that it had had the effect of first silencing, and then 
 converting his antagonist. 
 
 Morton. I have seen it asserted somewhere, that 
 Dr. Gager' s reply to Dr. Rainoldes is in the library 
 of C. C. college, Cambridge. If this be so, it would 
 mainly disprove that assertion.
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. <257 
 
 Bourne. Of course. I read the following para- 
 graph from Dr. Rainoldes, not because it counte- 
 nances the story against Shakespeare, that he had 
 been guilty of deer-stealing, but because it is singular 
 that that offence should be named as ordinarily com- 
 mitted by vagrants, such as itinerant players. 
 
 Elliot. Some persons disbelieve it altogether, 
 and it is not impossible, that on account of its being 
 frecpiently committed, the charge has been invented 
 against our great dramatist. 
 
 Bourxe. I do not think that likely, supported, as 
 the story is, by the ballad upon Sir Thomas Lucy. 
 Besides, the deer, if stolen at all, was stolen before 
 Shakespeare left Stratford. " Time of recreation 
 (says Dr. Rainoldes) is necessary, I graunt, and 
 think as necessary for sohollers that are schollers 
 indeed, I meane good students, as it is for any. 
 Yet in my opinion it were not fit for them to 
 play at Stoole-ball among wenches, nor at Mum- 
 chance or Maw with idle loose companions ; nor at 
 trunkes in Guile-halls, nor to dance about May- 
 poles, nor to rufle in alehouses, nor to carowse in 
 tauerncs, nor to steale deere, nor to rob orchards. 
 Though who can deny but they may doe these things, 
 yea worse." 
 
 Mortox. Shakespeare's annotators would certainly 
 have adduced this quotation, if they had recollected 
 it, as an incidental confirmation of the imputation 
 upon Shakespeare. 
 
 vor.. ii
 
 258 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. I will only read one more extract from 
 another part of this volume., because, as I have said, 
 the book is not by any means so rare as many others, 
 and it is strangely barren of all information regard- 
 ing the state of the stage about that date. 
 
 JMobtox. Perhaps not very strangely barren, when 
 we recollect that a man like Dr. Rainoldes, as Hall 
 has described him, could not be much acquainted 
 with the nature or condition of the acted drama in 
 the metropolis or elsewhere. 
 
 Bourne. No doubt that is to be taken into view, 
 and wherever he enters into particulars, they refer 
 to the plays represented at the universities : for in- 
 stance, in one place he speaks of the expense of 
 getting up a play, " trimming vp a stage and bor- 
 rowing robes out of the revils, - ' as thirty pounds, 
 but it has no allusion to the public theatres. 
 
 Morton. There seems to be Aery little general 
 argument in the book ; it is almost entirely contro- 
 versial, and the author disputes Dr. Gager's positions 
 seriatim, citing in the margin a long list of authorities, 
 christian and heathen. 
 
 Bourne. The minuteness of Dr. Rainoldes' know- 
 ledge is sometimes astonishing; he is ostentatiously 
 learned upon the merest trifles, and to him, with- 
 out derogating from his great erudition, I think we 
 may, in some degree, apply the censure of John 
 Webster, in his "Duchess of Malfi," (1G23): "a 
 fantastical Scholar, like such who study to know how
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 269 
 
 many knots were in Hercules club ; of what colour 
 Achilles' beard was, or whether Hector were not 
 troubled with the tooth-ache : he hath studied him- 
 self blear-eyed to know the true symmetry of Caesars 
 nose by a shoeing horn." 
 
 Elliot. A clever and often just piece of ridicule : 
 but where is the other extract from the " Overthrow 
 of Stage Plays" you recommended to our perusal? 
 
 Bourse. It is here; on the subject of the propriety 
 of men wearing the apparel of women, and women 
 of men. 
 
 Elliot. Juvenal asks, you know, 
 
 (litem pr&stare potest mulier galeala pudorem 
 Qucvjiigit a sexu? 
 
 Bourne. Dr. Rainoldes treats the point with more 
 lightness than " was his wont." "Now (says he) 
 if this were lawfully done because he did it, then 
 Willi inn, Bishop of Ely, who to saue his honour and 
 wealth, became a greene-sleeues, going in womans 
 raiment lesse way then twenty miles, from Dover 
 castle to the Sea side, did therein like a man; al- 
 though the women of Dover, when they had found it 
 out by plucking downe his muffler and seeing his 
 new shauen beard, called him a monster for it: then 
 with vs a Scholler who thinketh of some man as 
 Eudide did of Socrates, and cannot well frequent his 
 house in the day time for suspition of lewdnesse with 
 his Xanthippe, or of Popery, may come like ;i maiden
 
 «260 NINTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 thither by night: then our Vniuersitie Statute of 
 night walkers would be taken away, or qualified at 
 least, and if our Proctors meete one like a woman 
 at midnight, they must not be suspicious ; some 
 studious youth it may be. come from Wickham to 
 Beaconsfield , and daring not to trauaile by day for 
 theeues through Shotouer, is going to some learned 
 man. In like sort touching Ewplirosyna , a maid of 
 Alexandria (of Antioche you name her by slippe of 
 penne or memorie) the storie is that shee. desiring 
 much to liue in an Abbv like a Monke, forsooke not 
 only her father, who had brought her vp to he a stafl'e 
 in his olde age, a comfort in his weakenesse to him, 
 but alsoaworthie, noble, vertuous gentleman to whom 
 she was betroathed : clad in mans apparell she came 
 vnto the Abbot, and being asked of him who slice 
 •was, from what place and for what cause she came, 
 she answered that her name indeed was Smaragdiis y 
 and shee was of the Empcrours Court and came to 
 that Abbey to lead a holy life, if shee might be ad- 
 mitted, and so finding fauour to be admitted as a 
 man, she liued there eight and thirty yeares in mans 
 apparell." I apprehend you would not -wish to hear 
 much more from a book, of which what I have just 
 read is, I believe, the most entertaining passage. 
 
 Moktox. Certainly not : you may close the "Over- 
 throw of Stage Plays" as soon as you please. 
 
 Bourne. We have not time to go further at pre- 
 sent. When next we meet and renew this subject,
 
 NINTH CONVERSATION. 261 
 
 we will enter upon Thos. Heywood's very amusing 
 pamphlet,, called "An Apology for Actors," 1612, 
 and upon the reply to it by I. G. published three 
 years afterwards. 
 
 Elliot. The further examination of Lodge's tract 
 against usurers, we shall be sure to remember.
 
 POETICAL DECAMEROX. 
 
 THE TENTH CONVERSATION.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 The historians of the English stage — Lodge's " Alarum against 
 Usurers," 1584, again introduced — T. Nash on Usurers from his 
 " Christs Teares ouer Jerusalem," 1593— His amends to Dr. G. 
 Harvey — How the lives and characters of Nash, Greene, 6lc. have 
 been blackened by puritanical writers proved from the " French 
 Academic," in two pans, 159-1 — Epistles prefixed by T. B. the 
 translator, and especially that before part II — Doubt if T. B. 
 were not Thomas Beard, author of the " Theatre of Gods Lodge- 
 ments" — Beard on (.'. Marlow, an Atheist — Probable quotation in 
 the " Trench Academic," from some work by Marlow against 
 Christianity — Attack by T. B. upon Robert Greene, for his misled 
 and irreligious life — T. Nash's " Lenten Stuffe," 1599, quoted — 
 
 Allusion by T. U. to Lodge's defence of plays, &c Lodge's 
 
 " Delectable Historic of Forbonius and Prisceria" — Romeo and 
 Juliet— Outline of Lodge's story — Specimen of pastoral poetry by 
 him — " England's Parnassus," HJOO — Address of Corulus to Co- 
 rinna, &c — Conclusion of the history — " Truth's Complaint ouer 
 England," by T. Lodge, with quotations — Sir J. Harington, 1591 
 and 1597, on plays — T. Hey wood's " Apology for Actors," 1(!12, 
 and its character — Quotation from his Train Britannka, 1(109 — 
 Specimens of his " Apology" — T. Gainsford's "Glory of Eng- 
 land," 1619, cited regarding the amusements of London — Hey- 
 wood on the actors of his time and earlier — Richard Tarlton, the 
 jester, i^c. and mention of him in P. Bucke's " Tliree Lordes and 
 three Ladies of London," 1590 — " Tarlton's Iests," Kill, quoted 
 regarding liis fiat nose — " The Schoolemaster or Teacher of Table 
 Philosophic," 15JG, with an old joke modernized, respecting a 
 physician's pupil — The third division of Heywood's " Apology"
 
 2(»6 CONTENTS. 
 
 ami extract — Why the Puritans were such enemies of the stage 
 — J. Shirley's " Polititian," 1(>35, and preface to IS. Jonson's 
 " Volpone" cited — " A Refutation of the Apology for Actors," 
 
 1615, by J. G Its style, and extracts from it — J. G 's logical 
 
 attempt, and a parallel from " Pap with a Hatchet" — " A 
 sixe-fold Politician, with a sixe-fokl Precept of Policy," KiOf). 
 
 by J. I\J Doubt whether J. AI. were Milton's father or an 
 
 inferior author of the name of Melton — Character of Milton's 
 father, and of his book — His chapter on poets, and attack 
 upon theatres quoted — Bishop Hall on drunken rhymers — •- Es- 
 sayes and Characters, ironical and instructive," Hi 15, by John 
 Stephens — His praise of the English drama — A common player 
 described by him — Excursions of London actors into the country 
 — " Histrio-mastix, or the player whipt," 1C10, a play, described 
 — Allusion in it to John Marston's Satires — IMS. pageant by Mar- 
 ston, in the Royal Library, not known — Account of it — Sir W. 
 Vaughan's " Golden Grove," HifSfi, and " Golden Fleece," lf>2(> 
 — Cause of the enmity of the Puritans to the stage — " Histrio- 
 mastix : the Players Scourge," 1G33, by W. Prynne — Its contents 
 . — First appearance of women on the stage decided by Thomas 
 Jordan's " Rosary of Rarities" — Difference between the obscenity 
 of plays before and after the Restoration — Charge against Prynne 
 of retracting his anti-theatrical opinions in " a Defence of Stage- 
 plays," and his reply in a posting-bill, dated January 1(1, 1(148 — 
 " The Actor's Remonstrance, or Complaint for the silencing of 
 their profession," 1043, a rare tract among the King's pamphlets 
 — Quotations from it on the reform of Actors, and on their dis- 
 tresses and those of their Poets in consequence of the restriction.
 
 POETICAL DECAMEKON. 
 
 THE TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 JNxortox. We made faster progress in the contro- 
 versy regarding the stage yesterday than I expected. 
 
 Bourne. Yet, I believe, we omitted to notice 
 nothing very important, and, as a system and a 
 series, the inquiry is entirely new. It is very true 
 that the laborious historians of the stage have sifted 
 many productions for minute particles of informa- 
 tion, yet those particles give no correct notion of 
 the works themselves from which they are obtained. 
 
 Elliot. If our progress was so rapid yesterday, it 
 will give us the more time to-day to dwell upon 
 Lodge's " Alarum against Usurers," from the pre- 
 fatory address of which you extracted so much 
 yesterday, and the body of which you said contained 
 some of the best specimens of the author's poetry. 
 
 Morton. Even you feel an interest about that: 
 y<m begin to find that old poetry, and inquiries con-
 
 26H TENTH CONVERSATION*. 
 
 nected with it, have something interesting about 
 them . 
 
 Elliot. My conviction lias not been so tardy, nor 
 have I been at ail backward in admitting it. It' I 
 had not found that tuere v. as something worth 
 knowing in the pursuit, do \ou imagine that 1 should 
 have spent so large a portion of the lust nine days 
 in receiving information ? 
 
 Bourne. Of this I am confident, that as fur as 1 
 am concerned, your satisfaction in receiving cannot 
 have been greater than mine in giving. Every man 
 is happy when he is mounted upon his hobby, and 
 mine carries double with the greatest willingness. 
 But now for Thomas Lodge and his " Alarum against 
 Usurers," 1584 ; the title of which you heard at length 
 yesterday. The first forty pages, exclusive of the 
 prefatory matter, with which you are already ac- 
 quainted, give some particulars of the history of a 
 young man of property, who had been made the 
 dupe of money-lenders j and recollecting the claim 
 Lodge makes to being by birth a gentleman, and his 
 connexion with players before he wrote this tract, it 
 is not impossible that he derived his knowledge of 
 the artifices of usurers, aided by courtezans, from 
 his own experience. 
 
 Morton. Perhaps so, and that circumstance may 
 make the anecdotes curious. 
 
 Bourne. Nevertheless, I do not apprehend that 
 they are personal, for Lodge would not relate of
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 269 
 
 himself that after having been gulled and plucked 
 by these blood-suckers he became their instrument 
 in inveigling others, even if it had been true. As 
 this part of the pamphlet refers to matters of mere 
 detail, and as the topic is treated at great length, it 
 will not be necessary to quote from it. I would 
 rather show you a short summary of the practices 
 of usurers, from the pen of Nash in his " Christs 
 Teares ouer Jerusalem," 1593, an eloquent and re- 
 pentant production, in which a very severe censure 
 is thrown upon the vicious manners of the age. 
 
 Morton. Is it not in that tract that he makes 
 honourable amends to Dr. Gabriel Harvey, for the 
 many scurrilous attacks Nash had made upon him ? 
 Bourxe. It is, though it has been said that this 
 confession of regret on the part of Nash was purely 
 feigned ; but I am not aware that this uncharita- 
 ble assertion rests upon any sufficient foundation. 
 Usurers at that time appear to have been much the 
 same as our pawnbrokers, only, if any thing, more 
 fraudulent, because not equally restrained by law. 
 Nash is speaking of gallants and roysters, who fre- 
 quented expensive ordinaries or gaming-houses (in 
 the manner described by Massinger, in Act II. of his 
 " City Madam") who at last were reduced to the 
 necessity of raising money on their chains, bracelets, 
 and jewels : " But at the second time of their com- 
 ming (he observes) it is doubtfull to say whether 
 they shall haue money or no: the worlde growes
 
 270 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 hard and wee all are mortall ; let them make him 
 (the Usurer) any assurance before a Iudge and they 
 shall haue some hundred poundes (per consequence ) 
 in Silks and Yeluets. The third time if they come, 
 they shall haue baser commodities • the fourth time 
 Lutestrings and gray Paper, and then, I pray pardon 
 mee, I am not for you ; pay me that you owe mee 
 and you shall haue any thing." 
 
 Morton. And this practice has continued down 
 to our own time. — In Nichols's Progresses, it ap- 
 pears that New-years' gifts to Queen Elizabeth 
 sometimes consisted of " boxes of Lute strings :" 
 I always thought that it meant a sort of silk 
 so called, but Nash particularly distinguishes them 
 from " silks and velvets.'' 
 
 Bourne. Mr. Douce, in his " Illustrations" (II. 
 2.35.) has a learned note on usury, but he neither 
 refers to the passage which I have read from Nash, 
 nor to the tract by Lodge before us : probably he 
 had never seen the last, though the other is not by 
 any means so uncommon. 
 
 Elliot. You said that Nash's " Christs Tears 
 ouer Jerusalem" was an arraignment of the vicious 
 manners of the age : does he take any notice of 
 stage-plays in the course of his pamphlet ? 
 
 Bourne. He does not: he alludes to a theatre 
 only once, and then he uses it figuratively thus : 
 " England the Players stage of gorgeous attyre, 
 the Ape of all Nations superfluities, the continual!
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 271 
 
 Masquer in outlandish habilaments ! great plenty- 
 scanting calamity are thou to await for wanton dis- 
 guising thy selfe against kind, and digressing from 
 the plainnesse of thine Auncestors." 
 
 Morton. Nash was a play-wright himself, and 
 could not very consistently abuse what he had so 
 essentially contributed to support. 
 
 Elliot. I fancy that Nash was guilty of quite as 
 much inconsistency in abusing the vices of the times 
 in which he lived, when he and his friends had been 
 the partakers and promoters of all kinds of iniquity. 
 
 Bourne. That they were very gay, and in some 
 respects unprincipled fellows, is probably true, but 
 I apprehend that there has been a great deal of 
 exaggeration on this subject, and that puritanical 
 writers have much contributed to blacken cha- 
 racters, which, without their aid, were not the 
 whitest in the world. Let me show you, in con- 
 nexion with tli is subject, a book of no great rarity, 
 but which contains some vcrv curious particulars 
 regarding Nash and his associates, never quoted or 
 referred to, because nobody thought of looking for 
 such matter in such a situation. 
 
 Morton. Curiosities are not unfrequently found 
 by looking in unlikely places. The volume is thick 
 enough : what is it called ? 
 
 Bourne. " The French Academic, wherin is dis- 
 coursed the institution of Mancrs and whatsoeuer 
 els concerneth the good and happie life of all estates
 
 272 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 and callings/' &e. : " newly translated into English 
 by T. B. The third Edition. Londini Impends 
 Geor. Bishop, 15*)4." The name of the original 
 author was Peter de la Primaiidaye, a Frenchman. 
 
 Elliot. One would not be inclined to accuse any 
 man of carelessness in passing a work from the 
 French with that title, without supposing that it 
 contained any thing about Nash or Greene. 
 
 Bocrxe. And you would be mistaken if you 
 thought that what I refer to is to be found in the 
 body of the work. It is divided into two parts 
 or volumes, to each of which the translator T. 13. 
 (whose initials I have not been able to apply) pre- 
 fixes an Epistle : that entitled " To the Christian 
 Reader, Grace and Peace," before the second part, 
 contains the curious matter to which I allude. J 
 should inform you, however, before 1 show it to 
 you, that the writer has been cautious enough not 
 to mention any names, but the inferences are to- 
 lerably clear and satisfactory. It also touches upon 
 the subject of stage-plays, and notices the very rare 
 defence of them by Lodge, of which we have before 
 spoken. 
 
 Mortox. Such matters are highly interesting: 
 let us look at them immediately, and postpone, for a 
 few moments only, Lodge's tract upon usury. 
 
 Elliot. With all my heart : I warn you not to 
 disappoint us: that you lead us out of our road for 
 something worth seeing.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 273 
 
 Bourne. I do not think you will complain, or, at 
 least, have reason to do so. T. B., the author of 
 this epistle, I should tell you, with the usual zeal 
 of his sect, has been inveighing against what one of 
 his fellows terms " the horrible corruptions" of the 
 age ; nor can we for a moment blame the vigour 
 with which he attacks atheism, which he contends 
 was fast growing in this country. 
 
 Morton*. Thos. Beard, you know, in his ■• Theatre 
 of God's Judgments," first printed, I believe, in 1598, 
 mentions Christopher Marlow as a professed atheist. 
 
 Bourne. What von allude to is here, and with a 
 view to what T. B. says of atheists, it is material to 
 quote Beard's words, for it is quite dear to me, that 
 Marlow is alluded to in the remarks of T. Ik 
 
 Elliot. For aught we know, T. B the translator 
 of " the French Academy," was no other than Thomas 
 Beard, author of -- the Theatre of God's Judgments.'' 
 
 Bourne. That plausible and obvious conjecture 
 never occurred to me before. Beard uses these 
 remarkable expressions concerning Marlow: '- Not 
 •nferior to any of the former in Alheisme, and im- 
 pietie, and equall to all in maner of punishment, 
 was one of our own nation, of fresh and late me- 
 morie, called Martin" (so spelt, but the name 
 -- Marluw" is inserted in the margin), " by profession 
 a scholler, brought vp from his youth in the vniuer- 
 sitie of Cambridge, but by practise a Play-maker, 
 and a Poet of scurrilitie, who by giuing too large a 
 
 VOL. II. •['
 
 L 274 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 swinge to his owne wit, and suffering his lust to 
 haue the full reines, tell (not without just desert) to 
 that outrage and extremitie, that he denied God 
 and his sonne Christ, and not onely in word blas- 
 phemed the Trimtie, but also (as is credibly reported) 
 'wrote bookcs against it, affirming our Sauiour to be 
 but a deeeiuer, and Moses to be but a eoniurer and 
 seducer of the people, and the holy Bible to be but 
 vaine and idle stories., and all religion but a deuiec 
 of pollicie." 
 
 Elliot. The very Tom Paine of the reign of Eli- 
 zabeth 5 nothing short of it. Are any of the books 
 Marlow is <f credibly reported" to have so written, 
 now extant : 
 
 Bourne. None that I have ever heard of 5 but, if 
 I am not much mistaken, I can furnish a quotation 
 from one of them on the authority of T. B. : he has 
 just been speaking of Ligneroles, a French courtier 
 and atheist, adding that there was a parallel to him 
 in England, and continuing thus : " This bad fellowe 
 whose works are no lesse accounted of among his 
 followers, than were J polios Oracles among the 
 Heathen, nay then the sacred Scriptures are among 
 sound Christians, blusheth not to belch out these 
 horrible blasphemies against pure religion, and *o 
 against God the Author thereof, namely, That the 
 religio of the heathen made litem stoute and, courageous, 
 whereas Christian religion makcth the professors 
 thereof base-minded, timcrous and Ji/te to became a
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 275 
 
 pray to euery one: that since men Jell from the re- 
 ligion of the Heathen, they became so corrupt, that 
 they would heleeue neither God nor Deuill : thai 
 JMoses so possessed the land of Iudea as the Gothes 
 did by strong hand vsurpe part of the Rotnane Empire. 
 These and such like positions are spued out by this 
 hel-hound," &c. 
 
 Mortox. That certainly corresponds very much 
 with what Beard says of Marlow; besides, if he be 
 not alluded to, upon whom can we fix the quotation 
 he gives from some work or other, and obviously 
 not the offspring of mere invention ? There is only 
 one objection to it, though it must be allowed to be 
 one of some importance, if it be true that Marlow 
 was killed before 159.5 (as is asserted), and it is this, 
 that T. Y). writing in 1594 speaks of him in the pre- 
 sent tense as still living. 
 
 Bourxe. Formidable as that remark may seem, it 
 is easily answered, for you will observe that this 
 edition of the French Academy of 1594, purports to be 
 the third: it was first printed some time earlier, 
 though I am not now prepared with the precise 
 date. What makes it the more likely that Marlow 
 is alluded to, is the fact that T. B. almost immediately 
 afterwards proceeds to notice ltobt. Greene ; at least 
 that is the conclusion 1 draw from what is said, and, 
 I believe, you will think it a fair one: he is referring 
 to Mich persons in England " as treade in the steppes 
 of Lamech," and " walke in the waves of Ismacl." 
 
 T <2
 
 276 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Pie observes, " That there are such amongst vs, 
 euen in these times wherein we Hue, let the testi- 
 monie which one of that crew gave lately of him- 
 selfe, when the heauy hand of God by sicknesse 
 summoned him to giue an accompt of his dissolute 
 life. He being one day admonished of his friendes 
 to leaue his badde course of life, which otherwise 
 woulde bring him to vtter destruction, sco'Tingly 
 returned them this answerer Tush (quoth he) v:]ia! 
 is hee better that dieth in his bedde then he that endelli 
 his life at Tiburne? And being further vrged to 
 doubt the losse of his soule in Hell iire for crier 
 although bee feared not death in this worlde, bee 
 replied; Hell? II "hat talk you of Hell to wee': 1 
 knoive if I once come there I shall haitc the company 
 of better then my self e: I shall also meete ivith some 
 knaues in that place, and so long as J shall not sit 
 there (done, my care is the lesse. Bid you arc madde. 
 folkes (quoth hec) for if I feared the Indges of lite 
 Bench no more then I dread I he iudgemeids of God, 
 I ivoulde before I slept dine into one karles bagges or 
 other, and. make merrie xvith the shelles I found in 
 them so long as they would last. The voyce of a 
 meere Atheist, and so afterwardes hee pronounced 
 of himselfe when he was checked in conscience In 
 the mightie hand of (ion. And yet this fellow in 
 his life time and in the middest of his greatest ruffe, 
 had the Presse at commaundement to publish his 
 lasciuious Pamphlets, whereby lice infected the
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 277 
 
 hearts of many yoong Gentlemen and others with his 
 poysonfull platforms ofloue, and diuellish discourses 
 of fancies fittes : so that their mindes were no lesse 
 possessed with the toyes of his irreligious braine, 
 then their chambers and studies were pestered with 
 his lewde and wanton bookes. And if the rest of his 
 crew may be permitted so easily as hee did without 
 controlment to instill their venimous inuentions into 
 the minds of our English youth by meaucs of print- 
 ing, what other thing can wee looke for, but that 
 the whole land should speedily be ouerflowen with 
 the deadly waters of all impieties, when as the flood- 
 gates of Atheism are thus set wide open." Now all 
 that you will allow is exceedingly curious, supposing 
 we cannot, with the utmost precision, ascertain that 
 it was applicable to Itobt. Greene, though I confess 
 myself, from all that is said, I have no doubt that 
 he is meant. The greater part of it is unquestionably 
 a gross libel, and i bring it forward to show the man- 
 ner in which the puritans, for their own purposes, 
 slandered those obnoxious to them. 
 
 Elliot. All that you have read is very interest- 
 ing ; but I have not seen any thing that relates to 
 Lodge, and his defence of theatrical performances. 
 
 Bourxk. It follows almost immediately, com- 
 mencing with a general allusion to satirists, and the 
 authors of apologues, who under the ligures of 
 be:ists, ixc. struck at the great. 
 
 Morton. In his " Lenten Stuffe," 1599, Nash has 
 a very apposite passage, which seems to have re-
 
 C 27S TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 ference almost to this very accusation. " Talk 1 of 
 a bear (says he) Oh : it is such a man emblazons 
 him in his arms; or of a wolf, a fox; or a camelion, 
 any lording whom they do not affect, it is meaned 
 by." 
 
 Elliot. Very true ; but let us hear T. I>. regard- 
 ing' Lodge, from whose tract on usury we have 
 already made a very long digression. 
 
 Boikxk. The epistle is now almost terminated. 
 T. B. continues in these words : " Are they not already 
 growen to this boldnes, that they dare to gird at the 
 greatest personages of all estates, and callings, vnder 
 the fables of sauage beasts, not sparing the very dead 
 that lie in their graues : that the holy Apostles, the 
 blessed virgin Mary, the glorious kingdome of heauen 
 it selfe must be brought in as it were vpon a stage 
 to play their seuerall parts, according as the humor 
 of euery irreligious head shal dispose of thenar And 
 wheras godly learned men, and some that haue 
 spoken of their owne experience, haue in their bookes 
 that are allowed by authority, termed Stage-playes 
 and Theaters, The schoole of abuse, the schuole of 
 bavoderi/, the nest of the deuil and sinks of ail shine, 
 the chairc of pestilence, the potnpe of the deuil, the 
 soueraigne place of Satan, yet this commendation of 
 them hath lately passed the Presse, that they are 
 rare exercises of vertue. It Avere too long to set 
 downe the Catalogue of those lewde and lasciuious 
 bookes, which haue mustered theselues of late yeeres 
 in Pauls Churchyard, as chosen souldiers ready to
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 279 
 
 fight vnder the deuils banner : of which it may be 
 truely said, that they preuaile no lesse (if not more) 
 to the vpholding of Atheisme in this light of the 
 Gospel, then the Legend of lies, Huon of Burdeaux, 
 King Arthur, with the rest of that rabble, were of 
 force to mainteine Popery in the dayes of ignorance." 
 He concludes, therefore, with a request to those in 
 authority, that all such books may be collected in 
 the centre of St. Paul's Churchyard and publicly 
 burnt, " as a sweete smelling sacrifice vnto the 
 Lord." 
 
 Morton. The " commendation of them" (stage- 
 plays) that " hath lately passed the press," you sup- 
 pose to be Lodge's " Play of Plays." 
 
 Bourne. I do not know any other tract of that 
 date to which it can very well apply; the reference 
 in what I just read to (iosson, Lodge's antagonist, 
 is even more distinct. We may now return to the 
 "Alarum against Usurers," and I much fear that the 
 best part of it would fall under the burning sentence 
 of T. P). : the main subject of it is love, and the 
 puritan would, no doubt, have included it among 
 those " lewd and lascivious books" tending to the 
 support of atheism, although religion is neither di- 
 rectly nor indirectly touched upon in it. 
 
 Elliot. How do you mean that the main subject 
 of it is love ? what connexion have love and usury, 
 unless that love and its consequences often bring 
 men to want, and so compel them to resort to all 
 kinds of expedients for raising the wind.
 
 '280 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 JBouhxe. Not exactly so : I have already told you, 
 that the first forty pages are employed upon usury ;- 
 the next thirty-two pages are occupied by a novel, 
 mentioned on the title-page, called " the delectable 
 Historic of Forbonius and Prisceria," consisting of 
 prose, interspersed with a good deal of poetry: the 
 last seven pages are idled with " Trvths complaint 
 ouer England," a poem in twenty-nine seven-line 
 stanzas. The first of these two is a novel or history, 
 in much the same style as Greene's or Rich's pro- 
 ductions of a similar kind. 
 
 Elliot. As Shakespeare made use of" Rosalind" 
 by the same author, do you find any traces of his 
 having seen Lodge's " Forbonius and Prisceria r" 
 
 Bourne. I do not ; yet, when first I began to 
 read it, I fancied that it was another of the several 
 early versions of Romeo and Juliet, under different 
 names : Forbonius and Prisceria are the offspring of 
 families that were at enmity with each other. The 
 scene, however, lies principally at Memphis, and the 
 other incidents, not indeed very complicated, have 
 no relation whatever to the misfortunes of the lovers 
 of Verona. 
 
 Morton. Tins novel you call the best part of the 
 small volume : in what does its goodness principally 
 consist ? 
 
 Bourne. Not so much in the interest of the story 
 as in the general grace with which it is told, and the 
 beauty of some of the poetry inserted in its progress. 
 Forbonius, "highly accounted of for his vnrcprouablc
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 281 
 
 prow esse, and among the best sort allowed of for his 
 vnspekable vertues," falls in love with Prisceria, the 
 beautiful daughter of Solduvius, viceroy of a pro- 
 vince adjoining' Memphis : the father discovers their 
 mutual attachment, and removes Prisceria to his 
 country residence. The lover follows her, and con- 
 tinues his wooing as a shepherd : in this character he 
 sings to her a long eclogue, filling more than six 
 pages, but which contains some of the best specimens 
 of Lodge's talent for amorous poetry that I have 
 seen. It opens with the subsequent flowing lines : 
 
 •• Amidst these Mountaines on a time did dwell 
 A louely shepheard, who did beare the bell 
 For swecte reports and many louing laves: 
 Whom, while he fed his ilocke in desart waves, 
 A netheards daughter deckt witli louely white 
 Behelde and loude; the lasse Corinna bight. 
 Him sought she oft with many a sweete regard, 
 'With sundrie tokens she her sutes preferd; 
 Her care to keepe his feeding flocke from stray, 
 Whilst carelesse he amidst the lawnes did play. 
 Her sweete regards she spent vpon his lace, 
 Her Countrie cates she sent to gaine his grace, 
 Her garlands gaie to deeke his temples faire, 
 Her doubled sighs bestowd on gliding aire 5" 
 
 but notwithstanding these advances on the part of 
 the young lady, Coralus, for so he is called, treated 
 her with disdain, and whenever she drew near he 
 drove his flock in a different direction.
 
 282 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Elliot. You remember the stanza in my favourite 
 Italian, beginning - , 
 
 Ingiustissimo Amor, perche -si raro 
 Corrispondenti fai nostri desiri? 
 
 Bourne. I do, but it is not so applicable here as 
 you imagine 3 for Cupid marking the love of the 
 shepherdess and the austerity of the swain, makes 
 their desires correspond, and wounds the latter, com- 
 pelling him to love, even more strongly than he had 
 loathed before : he now seeks the object of his af- 
 fections, and on his road pours out a most splendid 
 picture of her charms : from this part I will make 
 no quotation, principally because it is to be found at 
 length in " Englands Parnassus," lo'OO, under the 
 crowded head of " Discretions of Beautie and per- 
 sonage" (p. 400), where it takes up nearly three 
 pages. The poet then proceeds ; 
 
 " Her Corn/ us with warie search at last 
 
 At sodaine found, and as a man agast 
 
 At that he saw, drew back with feare, and than 
 
 ltemembring of his woes his sute began. 
 
 O sweete Corinna, blessed be the soyle 
 
 That yeelds thee rest amids thy dayly toyle, 
 
 And happie ground whereon thou satest so ! 
 
 Blest be thy llocke which in these, lawnes doo go, 
 
 And happie I but hauing leaue to looke. — 
 
 Which said, with feare he pawsd and blond forscoke 
 
 His palie face, till she that wrought the lire 
 
 Restorde the red, and kindled sweete desire ;
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. L ZH3 
 
 And with a bashfull looke beholding him, 
 Which many months her pleasant foe had bin, 
 She cast her amies about his drooping necke." 
 
 Morton. The lines are as smootli and musical 
 as any I remember to have read, even of a much 
 later date: the shepherdess might have !< a bashful 
 look," but her action -was not very bashful when she 
 threw her arms about the neck of Corulus. 
 
 Elliot. Her bashful look was before she had 
 recovered the surprise of a declaration, so unex- 
 pectedly made by one whom she had hitherto been 
 unable to influence. 
 
 Bourxe. Every body knows how much food for 
 poetry has been afforded by the disappointments and 
 discordances of lovers, and Lodge seems to have set 
 himself the task of showing what might be said 
 when both hearts were consenting. After Corinna 
 has expressed her astonishment, Corulus continues 
 his speech. 
 
 " () Nimph of beauties traine, 
 
 The onely cause and easer of my paine ! 
 
 Tis not the want of any worldly ioy, 
 
 Nor fruitlesse breed of Lambes procures my noy; 
 
 Xe sigh I thus for any such mishap, 
 
 Eor these vaine goods I lull in fortunes lap : 
 
 But other greefes, and greater cause of care 
 
 As now, Corhuia, my tormenters are. 
 
 Thy beautie Goddesse is the onely good ; 
 
 Thy beautie makes mine eyes to streame a ilood ;
 
 2S4 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Thy beautie breakes my woonted pleasant sleepe, 
 Thy beautie causeth Corulus to weepe. 
 For other ioyes they now but shadowes be ; 
 No ioye but sweete Corinnas loue for me. 
 Whereon I now beseech thee by that white 
 "Which staines the lilly and affects my sight ; 
 By those faire locks whereas the graces rest, 
 By those sweete eyes whereas all pleasures nest, 
 ])oo yeelde me loue, or leaue me for to die!" 
 
 Elliot. Unless the shepherdess had changed her 
 mind in consequence of the refusal of the youth, in the 
 iirst instance to make any return to her advances, or 
 unless that "lob of spirits," Master Puck, had 
 
 " Streaked her eyes 
 
 And made her full of hateful fantasies," 
 there seems no reason for his fears. 
 
 Mortox. What happened in the case before us, 
 as related by Lodge, is somewhat out of the usual 
 course, if we may believe our own experience, and 
 Lod. Barry's authority. 
 " When a poor woman has laid open all 
 Her thoughts to you, then you grow proud and cov; 
 But when wise maids dissemble and keep close, 
 Then you, poor snakes, come creeping on your bellies 
 And with all oiled looks prostrate yourselues 
 Before our beauty's sun, where once but warm, 
 Like hateful snakes you strike us with your stings 
 And then forsake us." (Ham .Wry, loll, A. V.) 
 
 Bourne. Corulus was bound not to take it for
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 2S5 
 
 granted that the lady would fall into his arms with- 
 out solicitation, or any expression of contrition; and 
 I do not know that he says much more than might be 
 expected from so passionate an innamorato. Corinna, 
 however, gives no opposition, and " with a kissc 
 she sealed vp the deed," and the lovers are united 
 and happy. This " delectable Aeglogue," as Lodge 
 calls it, being finished, old Solduvius discovers the 
 disguise of Forbonius, and being all-powerful, throws 
 him into prison and vigorously rates his daughter. 
 Both continue resolute, and at last the father is 
 obliged to give his consent to their union. This is 
 the bare outline of the story, and as you saw the 
 day before yesterday sufficient specimens of Lodge's 
 prose, we need not enter more into detail regarding 
 it; especially as we have yet to examine several 
 curious tracts on the protracted contest for and 
 against theatrical representations. 
 
 Ei.i.iot. Then are we to hear nothing from the 
 poem at the end, " Truth's complaint over England :" 
 
 Bourxi:. I had forgot that, but a short specimen 
 must suffice. The author invokes Melpomene, Ids 
 " mournful Muse," to aid him in relating the com- 
 plaint which Truth had made to him, that he might 
 put it into verse : a correct notion of its style and 
 tendency may be gathered from the three following 
 stanzas, which are interesting as they refer to the 
 state of the kingdom at the date they were written, 
 viz. 15S4. Truth addresses the author in these 
 terms, as an old acquaintance :
 
 'IHG TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Whilome (deerc friend) it was my chaunce to dwell 
 Within an Hand compast by the "wane, 
 
 A safe defence a forren foe to quell : 
 
 Once Albion cald, next Britaine Brutus gaue, 
 Now England hight, a plot of beautie braue ; 
 
 Which onelie soyle should seeme the seate to bee 
 
 Of Paradise, if it from sinne were free. 
 
 " Within this place, within this sacred plot, 
 I first did frame my first contented bowre ; 
 
 There found I peace and plentie for to float, 
 
 There iustice rulde and shinde in euerie stowre ; 
 There was I loude and sought to euerie howre; 
 
 Their Prince, content with plainnesse, loued Truth, 
 
 And pride by abstinence was kept from youth. 
 
 " Then flew not fashions euerie day from Frauncc, 
 Then sought not Nobles nouells from a farre, 
 
 Then land was kept, not hazarded by chaunce, 
 Then quiet mindc preserud the soile from iarre; 
 Cloth kept out cold, the poore releeued werre. 
 
 This was the state, this was the luckie stowre, 
 
 While Truth in England kept her stately bowre." 
 
 Morton. The first stanza reminds one of Gaunt's 
 line apostrophe to England in Richard 11. 
 
 " This other Eden, demy Paradise ; 
 
 This fortress built by nature for herself," ivc. 
 
 Elliot. It does, but they will not bear comparison. 
 The general turn of the poem seems to be objurgatory 
 
 and satirical.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. <2S7 
 
 Bourxe. It is, and it shows the tendency of the 
 author's mind, at least, eleven years before he pub- 
 lished his " Fig for Momus." 
 
 Elliot. Notwithstanding - we have much before 
 us, [ should like to hear another stanza or two. 
 
 Bourxe. As you please: I am not sure whether 
 the following' are not the best lines in the whole 
 production. 
 
 " For as the great commaunder of the tides, 
 God Neptune, can allay the swelling sens, 
 
 And make the billowes mount on cither sides, 
 
 When wandering keeles his cholar woidd displease : 
 So Princes may stirre vp and soon appease 
 
 The commons heart to doe, and to destroy 
 
 That which i^ good, or this which threates anov. 
 
 '• For common state can neuer sway amisse 
 When Princes Hues doo leuell all a right, 
 
 Be it for Prince that England happie is ; 
 Yet haplesse England, if the fortune light, 
 That with the Prince the subiects seeke not right : 
 
 Vnhappie state, vnluckie times thev bee, 
 
 When Princes liues and subiects disagree.'' 
 
 Elliot. Those stanzas are not ill worded, and 
 the simile in the first is apt, but the thought is onh 
 the old common place of policy, ingcnla prhwij/iiii 
 fata temporum. 
 
 Bourxe. Nor is there anv thhiir throuchoul tlii-
 
 l ZSH TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 division of the tract very new. When Lodge di- 
 rected his satire against private vices and absurdi- 
 ties, he was certainly happier. I laving gone through 
 this very rare volume, we may now lay it aside, and 
 resume our inquiries regarding the stag;;. The last 
 pamphlet we looked at yesterday on this subject was 
 Dr. Rainolde's " Overthrow," 1599. 
 
 Morton. In " a Treatise on plays," by Sir John 
 Jfarington, said to be written about ir>97> il!, d 
 published in Nugce Antiqiue (I. 190.) is a brief 
 defence of Tragedies and Comedies, and a passing 
 blow given to the " sour censurers" of them. 
 
 Bourne. lie had previously justified them in his 
 " Apology of Poetry," 1591, but we have less time 
 now than yesterday to go into these incidental no- 
 tices : I will therefore, without preface, lay before 
 you Thomas Ileywood's ingenious and amusing per- 
 formance, the mil title of which is, "An Apology for 
 Actors. Containing three briefe Treatises. 1. Their 
 Antiquity. 1. Their ancient Dignity. 3. The true 
 vse of their quality. Written by Thomas Ileywood. 
 Ki prod esse solent el delcctare" London, io'i'3, and 
 it is dedicated to the Karl of Worcester : he tells 
 his patron, " I haue striu'd my Lord to make good 
 a subiect which many through ignorance haue sought 
 violently (and beyond merit) to oppugne." 
 
 Einnor. I hope lie severely lashes his abusive 
 opponents. The iron Hail of Talus would not have 
 been misapplied in belabouring them.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 289 
 
 Boubxk. On the contrary, he is temperate and 
 argumentative, considering the provocation. 
 
 Morton. One can scarcely excuse any degree of 
 tameness : it would better become the meekness of 
 spirit, to which the Puritans were pretenders, than 
 an author and actor, whose works and profession had 
 been so repeatedly and so grossly attacked. 
 
 Elliot. Mandeville, somewhere in his " Fable of 
 the Bees," asserts, and truly, that " of all religious 
 vertues nothing is more scarce or more difficult to 
 acquire than Christian humility," and of this the 
 Puritans had not a particle. 
 
 Bourne. Heywood is not always equally forbear- 
 ing, even in the tract before us, and in his " Troia 
 Britannica" 1G09, Canto III. he handles a puritan 
 very roughly : 
 
 " lie can endure no Organs, but is vext 
 To hear the Quiristers shrill Anthems sing ; 
 He blames degrees in the Academy next, 
 And 'gainst the liberall arts can Scripture bring ; 
 And when his tongue hath run beside the text, 
 You may perceiue him his loud clamours ring 
 'Gainst honest pastimes, and with piteous phraze 
 Raile against hunting, hawking, cocks, and playes." 
 
 There is more of the same kind, but this is the only 
 part that relates to our subject. 
 
 Elliot. Still I could wish that he had hit harder 
 and out deeper, venger la raison des attentats des sots. 
 
 vol. ii. v
 
 290 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Bourne. The following is the mode in which 
 Heywood opens his argument in favour of thea- 
 trical representations, which, though not perhaps 
 coming up to your wishes, is tolerably severe. I 
 think he pursued a more prudent course in not being 
 too violent against so powerful and increasing a 
 body ; besides his argument appeared with the 
 better grace, in contrast to the gross epithets em- 
 ployed by Gosson, Stubbes, and others. "■ Moued 
 by the sundry exclamations of many seditions sectists 
 in this age, who in the fatnesse and ranknesse of a 
 peaceable Common wealth, grow up like unsavoury 
 tuffts of grasse, which, though outwardly greene and 
 fresh to the eye, yet are they both vnplcasant and 
 vnprofitable, being too sower for food, and too rank 
 for fodder : these men, like the antient Germans, 
 affecting no fashion but their owne, would draw 
 other nations to be slouens like them selves; and 
 vndertaking to purine and reforme the sacred bodies 
 of the Church and Common-weale, (in the true vse of 
 both which they are altogether ignorant,) would but, 
 like artlesse phisitians, for experiment sake, rather 
 minister pils to poison the whole body, then cordials 
 to preserue any or the least, part. Amongst many 
 other things tolerated in this peaceable and flourish- 
 ing state, it hath pleased the high and mighty 
 Princes of this Land to limit the vse of certaine 
 publicke Theaters, which since many of these ouer- 
 curious heads liaue lauishlv and violently slandered, I
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 291 
 
 hold it not amisse to lay open some few antiquities to 
 approue the true vse of them." And after an apology 
 on the ground of his own insufficiency, he enters upon 
 his subject. 
 
 Morton. Have you omitted nothing before you 
 came to the opening of the tract ? You turned over 
 several leaves. 
 
 Bourne. Nothing material, I believe ; only some 
 commendatory poems by Arthur Hopton, John 
 Webster, John Taylor, and other actors, not of 
 much value. Some lines are added by Heywood, 
 that have been quoted as a plagiarism from Shake- 
 speare's Seven Ages : the topic tutus mundus agit 
 histrionem (the motto of the Globe Theatre), is 
 almost the only resemblance. 
 
 Morton. Then let us proceed. Does Heywood 
 divide his subject as the title states ? 
 
 Bourne. Precisely, treating first of the antiquity 
 of actors, which he does with considerable learning, 
 and he dwells particularly on the influence produced 
 on the mind, by seeing the mighty actions of ancient 
 heroes brought upon the stage, lie next replies to 
 various arguments and authorities advanced by his 
 antagonists, asking this question : " And why are 
 not play-houses maintained as well in other cities of 
 England as London ? My answer is ; it is not meete 
 euery meane Esquire should carry the port belonging 
 to one of the nobility, or for a Noble man to usurpe 
 the estate of a Prince : Rome was a Metropolis,
 
 •292 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 a place whither all the nations knowne vnder the 
 Sunne resorted : so is London .... I neuer yet could 
 read any History of any Commonweale which did 
 not thriue and prosper wliilst these publike solemni- 
 ties were held in adoration." 
 
 Morton. I made a few extracts the other day 
 from a voluminous and entertaining work, by a 
 person of the name of Thomas Gainsford, one of 
 which is not inapplicable, as it relates to the occupa- 
 tions and amusements of London before the year 
 1619. 
 
 Elliot. Your extract will be very welcome ; but 
 first, ought we not to hear the title of the work from 
 whence it is copied ? 
 
 Morton. I was forgetting that : it is called " The 
 Glory of England, or a true Description of the many 
 excellent prerogatiues and remarkable blessings 
 whereby she triumpheth ouer all the nations of the 
 World." To make my extract more intelligible, I 
 should mention that the author has been instituting 
 a comparison between London and Paris. " With 
 vs, our riding of horses, musique, learning of Arts 
 and Sciences, dancing, fencing, seeing of comedies or 
 enterludes, banquets, masques, mummeries, turna- 
 ments, shewes, lotteries, feasts, ordinarie meetings 
 and all the particulars of mans inuention to satiate 
 delight, are easie expenees, and a little iudgement 
 with experience will manage a very meane estate 
 to wade through the current of pleasure, although it
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 203 
 
 runne to voluptuousnesse." His conclusion is, that 
 both living and pleasures are much cheaper in 
 London than in Paris. 
 
 Elliot. The tables are a little turned now, I fear : 
 in economy of living, as well as variety and cheap- 
 ness of amusements, Paris is admitted to have the 
 advantage at present. 
 
 Bourne. I do not see that we are at all called 
 upon either to discuss or decide that point : we will, 
 therefore, continue our examination of Hey wood, 
 and enter upon his second division on the ancient 
 dignity of Actors, and here amid a great variety 
 of learned matter to support his point, the author 
 inserts the following interesting notice of some of 
 the principal English actors. " To omit all the 
 Doctors, Zawnyes, Pantaloones, Harlakeens, in 
 which the French, but especially the Italians, haue 
 been excellent, and, according to the occasion of- 
 fered, to do some right to our English Actors, as 
 Knell, Bentlci/, Mils, Wilson, Crosse, Lanam, and 
 others: these, since I neuer saw them, as being 
 before my time, I cannot (as an eye-witness of their 
 desert) giue them that applause which, no doubt, 
 they worthily merit ; yet, by the report of many 
 judicial auditors, their performance of many parts 
 have been so absolute, that it were a kinde of sin to 
 drowne their worths in Lethe, & not commit their 
 (almost forgotten) names to eternitv. Here I must 
 needs remember Tar/ton, in his time cracious with
 
 •294 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the Queene, his Soueraigne, and in the peoples ge- 
 neral applause ; whom succeeded Wiliam Kemp, as 
 well in the f'auour of her Maiesty, as in the opinion 
 and good thoughts of the general audience. Gabriel, 
 Singer, Pope, Phillips, Sly, all the right I can do 
 them, is but this, that though they be dead, their 
 deserts yet Hue in the remembrance of many. Among 
 so many dead let me not forget one yet aliue in his 
 time, the most worthy famous Maister Edward 
 Allen" 
 
 Morton, Edward Allen or Alleyn was the founder 
 of Dulwich College. 
 
 Bourne. The same : that fact is added in a sub- 
 sequent edition of the " Apology for Actors," pub- 
 lished after Allen's death. 
 
 Elliot. That is a curious quotation as connected 
 with the history of the stage. 
 
 Bourne. It is. I do not delay to speak of the 
 persons separately, because not a few of them were 
 actors in Shakespeare's plays, and many particulars 
 have been collected by Malone, by Chalmers in his 
 " Supplemental Apology," and by other writers. 
 
 Elliot. You have mentioned some of them be- 
 fore, such as Richard Tarlton and Kemp. 
 
 Bourne. I have, but I cannot resist here men- 
 tioning that in an old play, called <f The pleasant 
 and Stately Morall of the three Lordes and three 
 Ladies of London," 151)0, written by one Paul Bucke 
 (whose name is subscribed at the end " Finis I'aulc
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. "295 
 
 Bucke"), is a curious tribute to the memory of 
 Tarlton, who had died only a short time before : 
 Simplicity, a clown, a sort of inferior Autolicus, 
 enters with a basket singing ballads ; afterwards 
 a countryman takes what is called " a picture" of 
 Tarlton out of the basket and asks who it is : Sim- 
 plicity pronounces an eulogium upon him, ending 
 thus : 
 
 " But it was the merriest fellow that had such iestes 
 
 in store, 
 That if thou hadst scene him thou wouldst hauc 
 
 laughed thy hart sore." 
 
 In the course of the scene Wit and Wealth, two 
 personages represented, avow their acquaintance 
 with Tarlton. 
 
 Mortox. I have read of a book called " Tarltons 
 Jests :" no doubt it contains many curious stories — 
 I suppose it is something like " Peek's Jests." 
 
 Bourne. The difference is chiefly this, that Tarl- 
 ton' s Jests consist more of merry sayings, and Peele's 
 of merry doings. Here is a copy of " Tarlton's 
 Iests : Drawn into three Parts. — His Court witty 
 Iests — His sound Citty Iests — His Country pretty 
 Iests : full of Delight, Wit and honest Mirth," 1G1 1 ; 
 and it is not improbable that this wood-cut on the 
 title-page, in his fool's dress and playing on his pipe 
 and drum, is a copy from the very " picture'' carried 
 by Simplicity in his basket. The tract contains a
 
 "296 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 great many particulars regarding the stage, but it 
 has been ransacked by Oldys, j\J alone, and the rest 
 of the annotating tribe. 
 
 Elliot. Surely you can find one specimen; the 
 annotators would extract the minute particulars 
 without the least relish for the jests. 
 
 Bourne. That is true in some degree : the fol- 
 lowing is not only one of the best of the jokes, but 
 relates to a personal peculiarity of Tarlton : 
 
 " Tarltons answer in defence of his flat nose. 
 
 " I remember I was once at a play in the Country 
 where, as Tarltons vse was, the play being done, 
 euery one so pleased to throw vp his Theame, one 
 among the rest was read to this effect, word by 
 word : 
 " Tarlton I am one of thy friends and none of thy 
 
 foes ; 
 Then I prethee tell how camst by thy flat nose ? 
 Had I been present at that time on those banks, 
 I would haue laid my short sword ouer his long 
 
 shankes." 
 " Tarlton, mad at this question, as it was his 
 property sooner to take such a matter ill then well, 
 very suddenly returned him this answere, 
 " Friend or foe, if thou wilt needs know, marke me 
 
 well, 
 With parting dogs & bears, then by the ears, this 
 
 chance fell i
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 297 
 
 But what of that ? though my nose be flat, my credit 
 
 to saue, 
 Yet very well I can by the smell, scent an honest 
 
 man from a knaue." 
 
 Morton. I have seen that retort attributed to some 
 one else who happened to have a peculiarity about 
 his " nasal promontory." 
 
 Bourne. Very likely ; it is astonishing to see 
 how long some jokes survive, being transmitted 
 from generation to generation, with slight changes. 
 Here is a book dated as early as 15/6, which con- 
 tains a jest current at the present moment in many 
 shapes. It is called " The Schoolemaster, or Teacher 
 of Table Philosophic," principally translated from 
 the Latin, and among the instructions for the con- 
 duct of gentlemen when invited out to dinner is a 
 whole book of " mery honest Iestes, delectable de- 
 uises, and pleasant purposes, to be vsed for delight 
 and recreation at the boord among company." 
 
 Elliot. It promises a great deal of amusement. 
 
 Bourne. I cannot say that it performs as much as 
 it promises : as a specimen you shall hear the story 
 I referred to just now. "A certaine Phisicion hauing 
 instructed his sonne to discerne by the vrine what 
 meate the patient had eaten ; marke diligently also, 
 quoth he, if thou canst see any parings of apples, or 
 such like, about the bed, and then mayest thou iudge 
 that he hath eaten some such thing. Afterward it
 
 298 TENTH" CONVERSATION. 
 
 chaunced that when this Scholler went to see his 
 pacient, and looking about the chamber, sawe the 
 saddle of an asse, and not seeyng the asse there like- 
 wise, iudged that the sicke man hadde eaten the 
 asse ; whiche they that stoode by, telling his master, 
 sayd that he was an asse which iudged of the sick- 
 mans disease by an asses saddle." 
 
 Elliot. The modern version has some improve- 
 ments, both in circumstances and in the point with 
 which the jest is told. 
 
 Bourne. Perhaps so ; but the substance is the 
 same. However, we have not time to dwell longer 
 on the subject, as there yet remains the third divi- 
 sion of Ileywood's tract, to which we have not ad- 
 verted, the true use of the quality of actors. Upon 
 that we may be short, because it comprises little 
 more than a few stories to show that actors afford 
 useful examples to the good, and warnings to the 
 vicious, by the lively representations of the reward 
 of virtue, and the punishment of crime on the stage. 
 
 Morton. They may be omitted : particular in- 
 stances only weaken the general argument. 
 
 Bourne. They are inserted as a counterpoise to the 
 particular instances in Stubbes, Field, and others, of 
 God's judgments upon the frequenters of theatres, &c. 
 The subsequent is, however, interesting in another 
 point of view, as you will see in a moment. " Now 
 to speak of some abuse lately crept into the quality, 
 as an inueighing against the State, the Court, the
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 299 
 
 Law, the City, and their gouernments, with the par- 
 ticularizing of priuate mens humors yet aliue, Noble- 
 men and others. I know it distastes many ; neither 
 do I any way approue it, nor dare I by any means 
 excuse it. The liberty which some arrogate to them- 
 selves, committing their bitternesse and liberall in- 
 uectives against all estates to the mouths of Chil- 
 dren, supposing their iuniority to be a priuilege for 
 any rayling, be it neuer so violent : I could aduise 
 all such, to curbe and limit this presumed liberty 
 within the bands of discretion and gouernment. But 
 wise and judiciall Censurers, before whom such com- 
 plaints shall at any time hereafter come, will not (I 
 hope) impute these abuses to any transgression in us, 
 who haue euer been carefull and prouident to shun 
 the like. I surcease to prosecute this any further, 
 lest my good meaning be (by some) misconstrued : 
 and fearing likewise lest, with tediousness, I tire 
 the patience of the fauourable Reader, here (though 
 abruptly) I conclude my third and last Treatise." 
 
 Elliot. This abuse of their quality in attacking 
 private individuals and personal peculiarities, pro- 
 bably did them more injury, and more hastened the 
 closing of the theatres, than all the vices they brought 
 into the state, or were supposed to have brought 
 into it from all time. 
 
 Bourne. This was unquestionably the fact, as far 
 as regarded the Puritans. The printer of the second 
 edition of Dr. Kainoldes's "Overthrow,'' in I (>'i ( J, who
 
 300 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 signs an address to the reader, " Thine in the Lord," 
 expressly complains that actors had " not been afraid 
 of late dayes to bring vpon the stage the very sober 
 countenances, modest and matron-like gestures and 
 speeches of men and women to be laughed at, as a 
 scorne and reproach to the world, as if the hipocrisie 
 of Iudas (if it were brought upon the stage), could 
 any whitt disgrace the apostles of our Sauiour." 
 
 Morton. This had been done with great effect in 
 " The Puritan, or Widow of Watling Street." 
 
 Bourne. And in several other plays, both before 
 and after it ; rarely with more effect than in Cowley's 
 " Guardian" (afterwards called " Cutter of Cole- 
 man Street") first acted in 1641, where the charac- 
 ter of Tabitha is broadly and ridiculously coloured. 
 To this abuse, as far as it was such, James Shirley, 
 in the preface to his tragedy of " The Politician," 
 1655, seems to allude, when he says, " the severity 
 of the times took away those dramatique recreations 
 (whose language so much glorified the English 
 scene), and perhaps looking at some abuses of the 
 common theatres, \\ hich were not so happily purged 
 from scurrility and vnder-wit (the only entertain- 
 ment of vulgar capacities), they have outed the more 
 noble and ingenious actions of the eminent stages." 
 
 Mortox. Poor Shirley was a severe sufferer in 
 consequence of the abolition of the theatres, by the 
 barbarous superstition and intolerant zeal of the. 
 puritans.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 301 
 
 Elliot. That " scurrility and under-wit," as Shir- 
 ley terms it, did prevail to a most unlicensed extent, 
 is admitted on all hands. Ben Jonson, in the preface 
 to his Volpone, bitterly inveighs against those who 
 had brought the profession and name of a poet into 
 contempt by ribaldry, profanation, and blasphemy, 
 adding, like Nash, some severe sentences against a 
 busy meddling class of people ; who made it a sort of 
 trade to give personal and particular application to 
 the general satire of writers for the stage. 
 
 Bourne. Your reference is in point, but I do not 
 wish to go more into the general question before we 
 have looked at the Answer to Heywood's Apology, 
 which was printed in 1615, three years afterwards, 
 and purports to be written by one J. G. It is long 
 and laboured, and the writer certainly took time 
 enough to compose his reply, though he professes to 
 treat Heywood with great contempt, as unworthy the 
 notice of " a Senior, or learned Clarke," but who 
 might be easily refuted " by some single witted or 
 illiterat Pupill." 
 
 Elliot. What is the title he gives it ? 
 Bourne. "A Refutation of the Apology for Actors, 
 divided into three breefe Treatises, kc. ; 1. Their 
 Heathenish and Diabolicall institution; l 2. Their an- 
 cient and moderne indignitie ; 3. The wonderful] 
 abuse of their impious qualitie." So that, from the 
 very title, vou can easily judge of the mode in which 
 the subject is discussed by this re-compounder of the
 
 302 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 abusive epithets, and retailer of the anathemas of the 
 puritans. 
 
 Morton. If he only goes over the old grounds in 
 the old style, we need not bestow much time upon 
 him. 
 
 Bourne. From beginning to end I do not think 
 he introduces a single new argument, or one new 
 fact ; indeed, all his illustrations are professedly 
 taken from Stubbes. 
 
 Elliot. And how he, and others like him, got 
 their perfect insight into all these horrid vices of 
 players and theatres, must remain a secret, unless 
 Ave conclude that their fathers were of Parmeno's 
 opinion in Terence's Eunuch. 
 
 Morton. That is, that frequenting their haunts, 
 and joining in all their enormities, was the best mode 
 of giving his son a disgust for them. 
 
 Bourne. J. (i. in his prefatory matter, and, indeed, 
 throughout, treats Heywood with infinite hauteur, 
 never condescending to name him, but always term- 
 ing him Mr. Actor, and telling him, that he means 
 " to give his Apologie such a Blurrc, that it shall 
 not be able, after never so much washing, to show 
 a cleane face againe." His first book, if we may so 
 call it, opens with an assertion (for mere assertion.^ 
 are as useful to .1. G. as to his predecessors), that 
 God having created certain things for man's delight, 
 Sathan stepped in and perverted them to unlawful 
 pleasures, one of which was " vngodly and obscoene
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 303 
 
 stage-playes, the most impious and most pernitious 
 of all other vnlawfull and artificial pleasures. " 
 
 Elliot. Exactly the old strain : I can see no 
 reason why we should trouble ourselves with re- 
 digesting these crudities. 
 
 Bourne. I will not require your patience for 
 more than a few sentences from the second division, 
 where a reply is attempted to the denial by Heywood 
 of the evil manners and vicious habits of all actors. 
 " And, therefore, (J. G. says) in vaine afterwards 
 doth M. Actor intreat for excuse, not to misdeeme 
 all for the misdeeds of some, seeing it is the generall 
 carriage of them all. It is a rule in Diuinity to 
 know a man's conditions and what hee is, by the 
 company hee doth vsually keepe. Now, if the best 
 of them were not licentious, why do they liue and 
 loue, accompany and play together with them 
 which are r Were it not madnesse for a man to be 
 his companion which is his daily reproch r But 
 Players all of them are licentious, for the proverb is 
 Birds of a Jeather Jlye together. And therefore if 
 they were not they would not associate them which 
 are, whom the Syteresis of their own consciences, 
 and the conscience of all men willeth to auoyd." 
 
 Elliot. " There is an air of plausibility (says 
 Burke in his Vindication of Natural Society) which 
 accompanies vulgar reasonings and notions taken 
 from the beaten circle of ordinary experience, that is
 
 304 TENTH CONVERSATION, 
 
 admirably suited to the narrow capacities of some, 
 and to the laziness of others." 
 
 Bourne. In the third part is an attempt at logic 
 in a direct syllogism — nothing less than a syllogism, 
 stated thus. " Whatsoeuer is the Image of truth 
 is like vnto truth, for Images are said to be like 
 what they represent — 
 
 " But a Comedie is not like truth : 
 Ergo — It is not the Image of truth." 
 
 Morton*. There the whole question is assumed : he 
 takes it for granted that a Comedy is not like truth. 
 
 Bourne. I beg your pardon : he says, that he 
 establishes his assumption that a comedy is not like 
 truth, because " it is wholly composed of Fables and 
 Vanities — and Fables and Vanities are lyes and de- 
 ceipts, and lyes and deceipts are cleane contrary to 
 truth." 
 
 Elliot. A most sagacious and infallible rea- 
 soner ! Comedies are like truth precisely for the 
 cause he urges against them, for if they were not 
 fables, but realities, they would not be like truth, 
 but truth itself; nullum simile est idem. You may 
 very safely close the book. 
 
 Morton. J. G.'s syllogism reminds me of a ludi- 
 crous one I saw in that tract you showed us called 
 " Pap with a Hatchet" against Martin Marprelate 
 and his friends.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 305 
 
 " Tiburn stands in the cold, 
 
 But Martins are warm fur ; 
 
 Therefore Tiburn must be furred with Martins." 
 
 Bourne. One is as incontrovertible as the other; 
 only the last is intended for a joke, and the first for 
 a serious argument. As you are tired of J. G.'s an- 
 swer already, I may here just refer you, for I will do 
 very little more, to two or three books, where indeed 
 stage-plays are spoken of incidentally, but which 
 ought not to be wholly passed over in silence. — I know 
 that this is in some degree breaking through our 
 rule, but Heywood and his antagonist have occupied 
 less time than I expected, and what I am going to 
 offer will most likely not require more than a few 
 minutes. 
 
 Morton. At your discretion. 
 
 Bourne. The first book I shall mention is called 
 " A Sixe-fold Politician ; together with a Sixe-fold 
 Precept of Policy," 1609, which, perhaps, I should 
 have omitted, but that it is attributed by Warton to 
 Milton's father j but this is denied by Dr. Farmer 
 and others. The initials I. M. are subscribed to the 
 prefatory matter. 
 
 Elliot. There is surely some other ground on 
 which to rest so important a conclusion. 
 
 Bourne. There is, though it has never appeared 
 to me very satisfactory, and I apprehend you will 
 think the same. The commendatory poems are by 
 lo. Dauis, Gent., by I. S. Gent., and by T. P. : now 
 
 VOL. II. n
 
 30G TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 the second of these opens with a pun upon the name 
 of the author — 
 
 " Thy tun (deare friend) of wit & liony nows brok 
 
 meaning Mel-tun or Milton; and if something of the 
 kind were not intended by I. S. Gent., it is not easy 
 to see why he begins with a line so uncouth. 
 
 Morton. I think I remember to have seen a 
 tract about that date, by a man of the name of Mel- 
 ton, which comes nearer the pun of I. S. 
 
 Bourne. There was a very inferior writer of that 
 name, and he was also called John ; but he was 
 quite incompetent to the work before us, which pos- 
 sesses force, originality, and some learning If it be 
 true that Milton's father was really the author of this 
 4to volume (the only 4to copy I have seen, though it 
 is met with in 8vo.), it gives an additional interest to 
 what he says in his third chapter " Of Poets." 
 
 Elliot. It seems probable that Milton's father 
 was no contemptible scholar, as his son addresses 
 him in one of his Latin poems. Does he speak in 
 favour of or against poets ? 
 
 Bourxe. Strongly against the lower order of poets 
 " who fashion their wits to the pleasing of a vaine 
 multitude and rabble of loose liners," though he 
 introduces a salvo, in parenthesis, in favour of 
 true " poetry and judicial poets."' He is sufficiently 
 strenuous in his attack upon theatrical representa-
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 307 
 
 tions, which is the only part of the book I will now 
 read. " And as the enterludes may be tearmed the 
 Schoole-houses of vanitie and wantonnes, so these 
 are the Schoolemaisters thereof : and me thinks they 
 who have tasted of the sweete fountaine water run- 
 ning from their Academick mothers breasts, by 
 this, if nothing else, shold be deterred from their 
 scribbling profession, that they see their writings 
 and conceits sold at a comon doore to euery base 
 copanion for a penny. But most of their conceits 
 are too deere at that rate, and therefore may well bee 
 had in the same request that Tobacco is now, which 
 was wont to be taken of great gentlemen and gal- 
 lants, now made a frequent and familiar Companion 
 of euerye Tapster and Horse-Keeper. And their 
 conceits are likest Tobacco of any thing; for as that 
 is quickly kindled, makes a stinking smoake, and 
 quickly goes out, but leaves an inhering stinkc in the 
 nostrils and stomackcs of the takers, not to be 
 drawne out, but by putting in a worse sauour, as of 
 Onions and Garlick, (according to the prouerbe — 
 the smel of Garlicke takes away the stink of dung 
 hils,) so the writing of ordinarye Play-bookes, 
 Pamphlets, and such like, may be tearmed the 
 mushrum coceptions of idle braines ; most of them 
 are begotte ouer night in Tobacco and muld-sacke, 
 and vttered and deliuered to the world's presse 
 by the helpe and midwifery of a caudle the ti("\( 
 morning." 
 
 x 'I
 
 308 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 Morton. That is very good, but Bishop Hall 
 puts it better in one of his satires, and illustrates it 
 by a very apposite simile — 
 
 " With some pot -fury, ravisht from their wit 
 They sit and muse on some no-vulgar writ : 
 As frozen dunghills on a winters morn 
 That void of vapours seemed all beforn, 
 Soon as the sun sends out his piercing beams 
 Exhale out filthy smoke and stinking steams." 
 
 Elliot. Yet there is older authority for the con- 
 trary opinion, 
 
 " Nulla placere diu, neque vivere carmina possunt, 
 Qua; scribuntur aqua potoribfts." 
 
 Bourne. Here is a work in some respects of a 
 similar character to the last we looked at, and which 
 contains a vast variety of entertaining matter : there 
 were at least two editions of it, and this is the 
 second, which is the fullest and completest, The 
 title is this, " Essayes and Characters, ironical and 
 instructive, &c. : with a new Satyr in defence of 
 Common Law and Lawyers," &c. By John Ste- 
 phens the younger, of Lincolnes Inne, Gent. Lon- 
 don 1615. It contains a good deal of matter about 
 poetry and plays, and among others the following 
 sentence in favour of the productions for the stage : 
 " And never was in any nation (it may be boldly 
 spoken) that elegance and nature obserued in Play- 
 composures, which is inherent generally in our En-
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 309 
 
 glish Writers at this day. So that \vc may inuert 
 the words of Plautus, 
 
 nunc nova; quce prodeunt Jabula 
 
 inulto sunt meliores qua nummi nostri: 
 
 And in Nature most equall to these writings Poetick 
 history approaches neerest : consisting in the same 
 degree of fancy and an inuention better furnished." I 
 did not take Stephens from the shelf, however, for 
 this opinion, which I did not recollect till I had opened 
 the book, but for two characters, as they are called, 
 or descriptions of persons representing a class. 
 
 Morton. This was a favourite style of writing at 
 that time — Bishop Hall's " Characterismes" were, I 
 believe, the first specimens. 
 
 Boubxe. With this difference, that Bishop Hall's 
 are characters of vices and virtues, and these of 
 individuals, but the one, unquestionably, grew out of 
 the other. You will see what I mean very clearly 
 presently. I will pass what Stephens says of " a 
 base, mercenary poet," and read a very curious and 
 shrewd description given by him of " A common 
 Player," observing first, that he draws a clear dis- 
 tinction between such a personage and the more 
 respectable members of that stigmatised profession. 
 Jle says : " A common Player is a slow Payor, seldom 
 a purchaser, neuer a Puritan. The statute hath done 
 wisely to acknowledge him a Rogue errant, for his 
 chiefe essence is a daily Counterfeit. He hath beene
 
 310 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 familiar so long with out-sides that he professes 
 himselfe (being vnknowne) to be an apparant Gentle- 
 man. But his thinne Felt, & his silke stockings., or 
 his foule Linnen and faire Doublet do (in him) bodily 
 reueale the Broker : So being not sutable he proues 
 a Motley: his mind, obseruing the same fashion of 
 his body, doth consist of parcell and remnants, but 
 his minde hath commonly the newer fashion and 
 the newer stuffe; he Avould not else hearken so pas- 
 sionately after new Tunes, new-Tricks, new Deuises. 
 .... Hee doth conieeturc somewhat strongly, but 
 dares not commend a playes goodnes till he hath 
 either spoken or heard the Epilogue; neither dares 
 he entitle good things good, vnlesse he be heartened 
 on by the multitude : till then he saith faintly what 
 he thinks, with a willing purpose to recant or per- 
 sist. . . . The cautions of his iudging humor (if he 
 dares vndertake it) be a certaine number of saweie 
 rude iests against the common lawyer ; handsome 
 conceits against fine Courtiers ; delicate quirkes 
 against the rich Cuckold, a Citizen; shadowed 
 glaunce for good innocent Ladies & Gentlewomen, 
 with a nipping skoife for some honest Justice who 
 hath imprisoned him, or some thriftie Trades-man 
 who hath allowed him no credit; always remem- 
 bered his object is A nexv play or A flay newlu 
 retimed. . . .To be a player is to have a milhridate 
 against the pestilence ; for players cannot tarry 
 where the plague raignes & therefore they be seldome
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 311 
 
 infected. ... In the prosperous fortune of a play 
 frequented, he proues immoderate, and falles into a 
 Drunkards paradise, till it be last no longer — Other- 
 Avise when aduersities come they come together, for 
 Lent & Shrove tuesday be not far asunder ; then he 
 is deiected daily and weekly. . . . Reproofe is ill be- 
 stowed vpon him ; it cannot alter his conditions : he 
 hath been so accustomed to the scorne and laughter 
 of his audience that he cannot be ashamed of him- 
 self e.'' 
 
 Elliot. It is a severe and a most illiberal attack: 
 it shows the degraded condition of the theatre at the 
 time, and that players had no redress against such 
 assailants. 
 
 Morton. Stephens writes as if he were under the 
 feeling of personal enmity : had he any cause of that 
 kind? 
 
 Bourne. I dare say not, but it is his keen sen- 
 tentious way : a little further on he adds, " Ilee is 
 politick also to perceiue that the common-wealth 
 doubts of his licence, and therefore in spite of Parlia- 
 ments or Statutes he incorporates himselfe by the 
 title of a brotherhood. Painting and fine cloths may 
 not for the same reason be called abusiue, that players 
 .may not be called rogues: For they be chiefe orna- 
 ments of his Maiesties ReueUs. I need not multiplie 
 his character, for boyes and euery one wil no sooner 
 see men of this Faculty walke along but they will 
 (vnasked) informe you what he is by the vulgar title. 
 
 Elliot. That puts one in mind of the anecdote of
 
 312 TENTH CONVERSATION, 
 
 Foote, after whom a chimney-sweeper, in derision, 
 cried " Player-man, player-man!" " You see (said 
 Foote to a friend), how we are esteemed." 
 
 Hoc kxe. Very good : Stephens, however, makes 
 a distinction in his censure. " Yet (he adds) in the 
 generall number of them many may deserue a wise 
 mans commendation, and therefore did I prefix an 
 Epithite of common, to distinguish the base and artless 
 appendants of our citty companies, which oftentimes 
 start away into rustic-all wanderers and then (like 
 Proteus) start backe again into the citty number." 
 
 Morton. One of which " city number" we may 
 recollect Heywood was, for he addresses the city 
 actors as his " good friends and fellows," 
 
 Bourne. Mr. G. Chalmers, in his " Supplemental 
 Apology," speaking of the year 16 c 25, states it as a 
 curious fact, that at this epoch actors belonging to 
 established companies of London often strolled into 
 the country j but from Stephens it appears that, 
 at least, particular members of the u brotherhood" 
 made excursions of the kind much earlier. The 
 whole character gives one a good deal of insight 
 into the management of theatrical concerns, and the 
 habits of players at that time, though not very im- 
 partially written. The same may be said of a dra- 
 matic production, obviously never acted, but printed 
 by Th. Thorp, in 1(510, under the title of " Histrio- 
 mastix or the Player whipt;" but most of the par- 
 ticulars have been gleaned by Malone and his co- 
 ndjutors.
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION 313 
 
 Morton. From this play, I suppose, Prynne took, 
 the title of his massive quarto. 
 
 Bourne. Most likely. It is observable that the 
 drama is divided into six acts, and the principal 
 characters consist of Betch, Gutt, and others, com- 
 mon players, with the poet belonging to their com- 
 pany called Post-hast, who is represented as an ex- 
 temporal versifier : these persons betray all kinds of 
 vulgarity and resort to the lowest artifices to obtain 
 a living ; their actions are moralized upon by Chris- 
 oganus, a worthy but neglected scholar, in A. III. 
 in lines beginning thus : 
 
 " Write on, crie on, yawle to the common sort 
 Of thickskind auditours ! such rotten stuffs 
 More tit to fill the paunch of Esquiline, 
 Then feed the hearings of iudiciall cares. 
 Ye shades tryumpe while foggy Ignorance 
 Clouds bright Apollos beauty ! Time will cleare 
 The misty dullness of Spectators Keys ; 
 Then wofull hisses to your fopperies!" 
 
 Morton. And that time did arrive not very long 
 afterwards. What is the result ? How does the 
 author finish his piece ? 
 
 Bourne. The object is to expose the national 
 miseries and private vices arising out of theatrical 
 performances ; and a portion of " Histrio-mastix" 
 partakes of the nature of an old morality, Peace and 
 Plenty, with Virtue, &c. being, in the opening, exiled
 
 314 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 from the land by Pride, Envy, War, 8cc. At the end, 
 the players are shipped off for some distant country, 
 and then the first and welcome occupants of the soil 
 return. A long and fulsome compliment to Eliza- 
 beth as Astrcea at the end, shows that the piece 
 was written before her death. 
 
 Elliot. Does it not contain some allusions to the 
 poets of the timer Has Post-hast, the poet, no par- 
 ticular reference r 
 
 Bourne. I fancy not; at least I can trace none of 
 the descriptions given of him to any writer of that 
 day. In the early part of the production is the sub- 
 secpient passage, which, I take it, refers to an ex- 
 pression of Marston : 
 
 " How you translating seholler? You can make 
 
 A stabbing Satir or an Epigram, 
 
 And thinke you carry iust Ramnusias whippe!" 
 
 Morton. You mean in the Proemium to the first 
 book of Marston's satires ; two lines which I re- 
 collect you read ; 
 
 " I beare the scourge of just Rhamvusia 
 Lashing the lewdness of Britannia." 
 
 Bourne. I do. I may not improperly introduce 
 here a biographical fact, which I omitted when John 
 Marston and his satires were particularly under our 
 consideration. 
 
 Elliot. Is it any additional confirmation of the 
 hypothesis, that late in life he went into the church, 
 or became a preacher ?
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 315 
 
 Bourne. No : it is the existence of a production 
 by him, among the royal MS. (18 A. XXXI.) not 
 noticed by any bibliographers, under the following 
 title, " The Argument of the Spectacle presented to 
 the sacred Maiestys of Great Brittan and Denmark 
 as they Passed through London." At the end it is 
 subscribed in the hand-writing of the author. 
 
 Moktox. That is a curiosity of great interest, 
 especially as it has hitherto remained unknown. I 
 suppose it is a kind of pageant written for the city. 
 
 Bourn'k. You are right: the following descriptive 
 introduction is preceded by a short Latin address to 
 the Recorder of London — " The Sceane or Pageant 
 of triumph presented it selfe in this figure. In the 
 middst of a vaste Sea, compassed with rocks, ap- 
 peared the Hand of Great Brittaine, Supported on 
 the one side by Xeptune, w th the force of Shippes, 
 on the other vulcan with power of lorne, and the 
 comoditys of Tinn, Lead, and other Mineralls — 
 Ouer the Hand Concord, Supported by Piety and 
 Pollcey, satt inthroand: the boddy of it thus shappt, 
 the life of it thus spake ; whilst the Tritons in the 
 sea sounded musique, the Mermaids singing then in 
 a Cloud Concord discending and landing on the 
 cragg of a rock spake thus." 
 
 Elliot. These city pageants, from the accounts 
 we read of them in our historians, were tedious 
 mythological exhibitions ; worse than the feasts made 
 up from Ovid's Metamorphoses, in the time of the
 
 316 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 author of the World, where a gingerbread Poly- 
 phemus destroyed a frozen Acis with a sugar-plum 
 rock. 
 
 Morton. That was a display of the same pedantic 
 taste without the same excuses of recently acquired 
 knowledge and splendid exhibition. What does 
 Concord say ? — flattery of course. 
 
 Bourne. Yes, but I am sorry to say that all the 
 speeches arc in Latin, and with some propriety when 
 we recollect that the show was constructed mainly 
 to gratify a foreign King, who did not understand a 
 word of English. It has one merit not always be- 
 longing to these pageants, viz. that it is short, and 
 it concludes exactly in the following manner : 
 
 " Sic o Sic siat lecto exultate triumpho 
 Terrajerax, marc jliictisonum, resonabilis Ecclio, 
 Viuant ceternum, vinant via numinajr aires 
 Vivant Vivant. 
 The vmblest servant 
 of yo 1 ' sacred majesty 
 
 John Marston." 
 
 Morton. Being in Latin, it is not of the same 
 value to us as if it had been in English; stiil it is 
 a little surprising that all who of late years have been 
 employed in investigating the lives and works of our 
 old poets, should have omitted to mention it. 
 
 Bourne. The fact is worth knowing, though its 
 importance may not be very great. The King of
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 317 
 
 Denmark visited this country in 1606, and Sir John 
 Harington gives some ludicrous details regarding 
 his entertainment and conduct at the Court. AVe 
 will now return to our subject. I shall not bring 
 before you Sir YV. Vaughan, author of the " Golden 
 Grove," 1608, and of the " Golden Fleece," 1626, 
 because he only refers to stage-plays en passant, and 
 is one of the most moderate of their opponents, ob- 
 serving that the fault lies as much in the hearers as 
 in the thing heard, and lamenting that the spectators 
 at a comedy were . not endued with discretion to 
 discern gold from alchymy. 
 
 Elliot. In his Critique de V Ecole des Femmes Mo- 
 liere very well observes of nice-nosed fault-finders, 
 II f aid done que pour les ordures vous ayez des lumieres 
 que les autres n'ont pas : this was precisely the case 
 with the Puritans, who, because they had peculiar 
 organs that received only what was vicious, and re- 
 jected what was good, denounced plays altogether. 
 
 Morton. The publisher of the old edition of Mas- 
 singer's " City Madam," shrewdly says of plays, " in 
 a word they are mirrors or glasses, which none but 
 deformed faces, and fouler consciences fear to look 
 into." This was probably another reason why these 
 curvcv animcc objected to them. 
 
 Bourne. Old liurton, Democritus junior, how- 
 ever rugged in his life, was not so austere in his 
 notions as to object to them : on the contrary, in his 
 " Anatomy of Melancholy," first printed, I believe,
 
 318 TENTH CONVERSATION'. 
 
 in 1621, he says, that " opportunely and soberly vsed, 
 they may be iustly approued," however " heauily 
 censured by some seuere Catoes." 
 
 Elliot. Alluding probably to Martial's Epigram 
 (L.II.E. 1.) 
 
 Cur in Theatrum, Cato severe, venisti? 
 An ideo tantum id exire.s. 
 
 Bouknk. We are now at length arrived at what 
 has been deemed an epoch in the history of the stage; 
 the publication of that work, which may be con- 
 sidered as the more immediate cause of the closing 
 of the theatres. I allude to this thick, closely printed, 
 and most tedious 4to. Prynne's Histrio-mastix. " The 
 Players Scovrge or Actors Tragedie," 163S. 
 
 Elliot. So that when writing against the stage 
 and all its appurtenances, he is guilty of the absurdity 
 of calling his own production a Tragedy . 
 
 Morton. And what is more, he divides it into acts 
 and scenes instead of into chapters and sections. 
 
 Bourne. You will find it a task completely in 
 vain to attempt to enter into the precise contents 
 of such a voluminous production, embracing the 
 resolutions, as the author says, of 55 Synods ; the 
 opinions of 71 Fathers and Christian Writers before 
 A. D. 1200; 40 Heathen Philosophers, &c. besides 
 English statutes, and the decisions of Magistrates, 
 Universities, Writers, Preachers, &c. &c. 
 
 Elliot. And all for the purpose.! see, of showing,
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 319 
 
 " that popular Stage-plays are sinful, heathenish, 
 levvde, vngodly spectacles, and most pernicious cor- 
 ruptions." I wonder how many times Prynne went 
 to the theatre, or how many plays he read to qualify 
 him to judge of their wickedness or excellence. 
 
 Morton. That is a question which he might find 
 some difficulty in deciding himself — perhaps very 
 few, perhaps none at all 5 for with a singular facility 
 of conviction he takes all that had been said by earlier 
 writers against the stage for granted, proceeding as 
 if upon the mere notoriety of the abuse. It is said 
 that the work was seven years in hand ; three in 
 writing, and four in printing: the author encountered 
 many preliminary difficulties, besides the subsequent 
 punishment of pillory, loss of ears, imprisonment, 
 &c. which to this stanch Puritan in such a cause, 
 were " trifles light as air." 
 
 Bocrxe. Besides his main point, he touches upon 
 a great number of others incidentally ; such as the 
 horrible crime of men disguising themselves as wo- 
 men to play parts upon the stage. The period when 
 women first appeared upon the public boards is one 
 of some curiosity. Thomas Jordan, once a player 
 at the Red Bull Theatre, published about the date of 
 the Restoration, or a little afterwards, a small book 
 called " A Rosary of Rarities planted in a garden of 
 Poetry," which contains a prologue to introduce the 
 first woman that ever came to act on the stage, in 
 the tragedy of the Moor of Venice. The epilogue 
 is also to be found there, as well as an epilogue
 
 320 TENTH CONVERSATION 
 
 spoken by a woman in the character of the Tamer, 
 a play altered from Fletcher's " Womans Prize." 
 
 Mortox. Among Waller's poems is " a Prologue 
 for the Lady Actors/' spoken before Charles II. 
 
 Bourne. I was going to add, that it is worth 
 while to observe how rapidly this most important 
 theatrical revolution was effected, because the epi- 
 logue spoken by the Tamer was delivered, as .Jordan 
 expressly says, on June 9,4, 1660, being within less 
 than a month after Charles II. entered London. 
 
 Elliot. And this woman in the part of the 
 Tamer was not the first who had appeared on the 
 stage, because the first had previously come out 
 in the Moor of Venice, I conclude in the part of 
 Desdemona. 
 
 Morton. The precise date of that representation 
 is not given. — As a mere conjecture one may say, 
 perhaps, that much of the coarseness and obscenity 
 of our old plays may be attributed to the fact, that as 
 there were no women on the stage, the authors and 
 actors had only the audience to restrain them in their 
 sallies. 
 
 Bourne. I doubt whether there is any thing in 
 that observation, since we all know that after the 
 Restoration and after women became players, the 
 coarseness of the plays of the old English school 
 was exchanged for the most extravagant grossness 
 and indelicacy. 
 
 Elliot. It has often struck me, as far as mv 
 knowledge enables me to judge, that there is a clear
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 321 
 
 distinction between the offensive parts of the one and 
 the other : in the old school, the indelicacy was any 
 thing but seductive • it was intended merely as a 
 joke, and with the joke its effect terminated ; in the 
 French school of Charles II. on the contrary, the 
 object of the indecency was to provoke and incite, 
 and vice was rendered amiable by an odious in- 
 genuity. It had indeed sometimes a thin semi- 
 transparent covering, but it was like the silken robe 
 of Alcina, the intervention of which between Rue- 
 giero and the object of his desires, inflamed his pas- 
 sions and animated his efforts. 
 
 Come Ruggiero abbracio lei, gli cesse 
 II mania, e resto il vel sottile e rado. 
 Che non copria dinanzi, ne di dietro 
 Piu die le rose, o i gigli tin chiaro veiro. 
 
 (C. VII.) 
 
 Bourne. I am inclined to concur in your observa- 
 tion. But I must now hasten to a conclusion, as I 
 have two pieces yet to show you, well meriting 
 notice ; the first is this very large sheet like a post- 
 ing-bill, or rather, a posting-bill itself, and signed 
 by the author of the ponderous volume before you, 
 William Prynne. 
 
 Morton*. He seems to have been anxious that it 
 should be seen : what is it ? 
 
 Bourne. It is a denial, on his part, that he had 
 
 VOL. II. V
 
 322 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 recanted any of the opinions there stated : it is but 
 short, and we shall best understand it by reading it. 
 
 "THE VINDICATION 
 " of William Prynne, Esquire, from some scandalous 
 Papers and imputations newly printed and published 
 to traduce and defame him in his reputation. 
 
 " Whereas a scandalous Paper have been newly 
 printed and published in my name bv some of the 
 imprisoned Stage-Players, or agents of the army, in- 
 tituled, Mr. William Prynne, his Defence of Stage- 
 Playcs, or a retraction of a former booke of his, 
 called His Triomastix, of purpose to traduce and 
 defame me, I do hereby publicly declare to all the 
 world the same to be a nice re Forgery and imposture, 
 and that my judgement and opinion concerning Stagc- 
 Playes, and the Common Actors of them, and their in- 
 tolerable mischeivousnesse in every Christian State, 
 is still the same as I have more amply manifested it 
 to be in my Histriomastix," K.c. (Vc. 
 
 William Prynne.'' 
 
 " From the King's Head in the Strand, 
 Jan. 10, 1648. "' 
 
 Mohtox. Have you ever seen that " mere forgery 
 and imposture," Prynne' s Defence of Stage-plays? 
 
 Bourxe. Never : it would be well worth reading, 
 as it would no doubt contain much entertaining mat- 
 ter. The important fact communicated in this pub-
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 323 
 
 lie notice lists not, that I am aware of, been noticed 
 by any of the biographers of Frynne. I have a right, 
 therefore, to presume, that the document is a rarity 
 of some curiositv. 
 
 Elliot. Certainly ; but the series would be com- 
 plete, if, by any accident, you could meet with a copy 
 of this spurious Defence. 
 
 Bourxe. It would ; but I have met with a tract 
 of no inconsiderable value on the question we are 
 now examining, and which has never been in the 
 hands of any of our theatrical historians. 
 
 Mortox. They have been so numerous and so 
 industrious a body, that one would think it difficult 
 to glean after them witli any success. 
 
 Bolrne. We will not discuss their merits, as we 
 have not much time to spare, and what I now pre- 
 sent to you is longer than Frynne's Froclamation. 
 Its date ought to have entitled it to a place before 
 what we last read, but it would have been inconve- 
 nient to have introduced it there : it was published 
 " Januar. 24, lo"43" very soon after all the theatres 
 were closed by the influence of the puritans. The 
 title is this — " The Actors Remonstrance, or Com- 
 plaint for the silencing of their profession and banish- 
 ment from their severall Flay-houses. In wlffi h is 
 fully set downe their grievances for the restraint : 
 especially since Stage-Flaves onlv, of all publicke 
 recreations, are prohibited ; the exercise at the Ilea res 
 Colledge, and the motions of Puppets, being still in 
 
 v "2
 
 3'24 TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 force and vigour. As it was presented in the name.-? 
 and behalfes of all our London Comedians to the 
 great God Phoebus Apollo, and the nine Heliconian 
 Sisters on the top of Parnassus, by one of the Mas- 
 ters of Requests to the Muses, for this present month. 
 And published by their command in print by the 
 Typograph Royall of the Castalian Province, 16-13. 
 London, printed for Edw. Nickson." 
 
 Morton. It seems a sort of serious joke — a good- 
 natured endeavour to overcome the animosity of the 
 enemies of theatrical amusements. 
 
 Bourne. That is its character, though it com- 
 plains of several grave evils and acute sufferings. The 
 name of the author or authors is a matter out of the 
 question. After setting forth various calamities, the 
 petitioners thus address Apollo. " First, it is not 
 unknowne to all the audience that have frequented 
 the private houses of Black-Friers, the Cock Pit, and 
 Salisbury-Court, without austerity, we have purged 
 our stages from all obscene and scurrilous jests, such 
 as might either be guilty of corrupting the manners, 
 or defaming the persons of any men of note in the 
 City or Kingdome ; * * that wee have left off our 
 own parts, and so have commanded our servants to 
 forget that ancient custome, which formerly rendered 
 men of our quality infamous, namely, the inveigling 
 in young Gentlemen, Merchants, Factors, and Pren- 
 tizes, to spend their patrimonies and Masters estates 
 upon us and our Harlots in Tavernes ; we have
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 325 
 
 cleane and quite given over the borrowing money 
 at first sight of punie gallants, or praysing their 
 swords, belts, and beavers, so to invite them to 
 bestow them upon us." 
 
 Elliot. It admits, in fact, some of the principal 
 charges against those connected with theatrical per- 
 formances. 
 
 Bourxe. They were not to be denied. It after- 
 wards complains of the " perpetuall, at least very 
 long temporary silence'' imposed upon Actors " to 
 the impoverishment and utter undoing of themselves, 
 wives, children, and dependants," while the " beast- 
 bnesse of the Beare-Garden," and senseless puppet- 
 plays were continued, instancing a most attractive 
 one of Bell and the Dragon, exhibited the preceding 
 Christmas at Holborn Bridge. It will only be ne- 
 cessary to read one passage more from it, which 
 speaks of the unhappy situation of play-poets, in con- 
 sequence of the closing of the theatres ; and this 
 quotation will conclude our inquiries into this sub- 
 ject. " For some of our ablest ordinarie Poets, in- 
 stead of their annual stipends and beneficial second- 
 dayes, being for meere necessitie compelled to get a 
 living by writing contemptible penny pamphlets, in 
 which they have not so much as poetical licence to 
 use any attribute of their profession, but that of Qui 
 lihet audendi, and faining miraculous stories and re- 
 lations of unheard-of battels. Nay, it is to be feared, 
 that shortly some of them (if they have not been
 
 326" TENTH CONVERSATION. 
 
 forced to do it already), will be incited to enter 
 themselves into Mar I'm barker's Societie, and write 
 ballads. And what a shame this is, great Phtebus, 
 and you sacred Sisters, for your uwnc priests thus 
 to be degraded of their ancient dignities. Be your- 
 selves righteous Judges, when those who formerly 
 have sung with such elegance the acts of Kings and 
 Potentates, charming, like Orpheus, the dull and 
 brutish multitude, scarce a degree above stones and 
 forrests, into admiration, though not into under- 
 standing with their divine raj .arcs, shall be by that 
 tyrant Necessitie reduced to such abject exigents, 
 wandring like grand-children of old Erra Paters, 
 those learned Almanack-makers, without any Mae- 
 cenas to cherish their loftie conceptions, prostituted 
 by the mis-fortune of our silence, to inexplicable 
 miseries, having no heavenly Castalian Sack to ac- 
 tuate and inform their spirits almost confounded with 
 stupiditie and coldness, by their frequent drinking, 
 (and glad too they can get it) of fulsome Ale, and 
 heretical Beere, as their usnail beverage." 
 
 Morton. Martin Barker, mentioned in the quota- 
 tion you just read, was a most notorious ballad scrib- 
 bler — the Will Klderton of the reign of Charles I. 
 and the Protectorate. — Having finished this inquire, 
 upon what do we enter to-morrow? 
 
 Bourne. This examination of the tracts, for and 
 against theatrical representations, will very fitly in- 
 troduce the subject, of which we were speaking a
 
 TENTH CONVERSATION. 3 L 2~ 
 
 few days ago ; an investigation of the state of the 
 stage before the date when Shakespeare began to 
 write for it. 
 
 Elliot. A very interesting topic, upon which I 
 confess myself almost wholly ignorant. 
 
 Thus terminated the first ten days' conversations 
 between the three friends : the discussions were con- 
 tinued to the end of the fortnight, to which the visit 
 of Morton and Elliot was originally intended to be 
 limited, but when the period lived for departure ar- 
 rived, the weather continued so beautiful, the river 
 and the country near it so delightful, and the oc- 
 cupation in the library so agreeable, that the guests 
 were easily prevailed upon to prolong their stay, and 
 to continue their inquiries.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Pago 
 
 Muses stript and whipt, by George Wither ii. 22 
 
 Specimens., ii. 27, 28, 30, 41, 42, 43 
 
 Actors Remonstrance, the, 1643 ii. 323 
 
 Actresses, when first allowed, proved from Jordan's 
 
 " Rosary of Rarities" ii. 3 1 J) 
 
 JEneid of Virgil, translated by Vicars, quoted i. 112 
 
 AJJ'anicv, 1601 , by C. FitzgeffVey, the authors mentioned 
 
 in i. 12 
 
 Alarum against Usurers, by T. Lodge ii. 223 
 
 described ii. 267 
 
 Alcilia, Philoparthen's Loving Folly, 1619 ii. 112 
 
 quotations from ii. 1 18, 119 
 
 Allot, Robert, his claim to the compilation of "Englands 
 
 Parnassus," 1 600 i. 17 
 
 Amos and Laura, the Loves of, 1619, dedicated to Iz. 
 
 Walton ii. 110 
 
 Quotations from ii. 111,113,114 
 
 Ant and the Nightingale of Father Hubberd's Tales 
 
 quoted in reference to Spenser i. 100 
 
 Apology for Actors, by T. Heywood, referred to i. 125 
 
 quoted ii. 288, 290, 2,91, 293, 299 
 
 Refutation of the, by J. G. 1615 .. ii. 301 
 
 Apology of Poetry, by Sir P. Sidney, Constable's Son- 
 nets before ii. 1 04 
 
 ■ ■ Edw. Wootton mentioned in ii. 107 
 
 by Sir J. Harington alluded to ... . ii. 288 
 
 Apolonius and Silla, a novel, by B. Rich, on which 
 
 Shakespeare founded his Twelfth Night, examined. . ii. 146
 
 330 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Pago 
 
 Arcadia, Sir P. Sidney's, mentioned i. (>'.'■, C7 
 
 Sonnet omitted in i- (>6 
 
 Arraignment of Paris, by G. Peele, song from i. 12.S 
 
 As you I, ike it, compared with T. Lodge's "Rosalynde" ii. 170 
 
 Ascham, Roger, cited on the taste for Italian L'oetn . . i. 81 
 
 against rhyme in English i. 92 
 
 Ashe, James, quotation in blank verse from his Eliza- 
 
 belha Triumpiians, 1 588 i. i 2(> 
 
 Ass, The Nobleness of the, 1595, examined i. 1CM 
 
 • the admirable properties of the animal i. 1 09 
 
 ■ its most melodious voice i. 170 
 
 Authors, self-delusion of, as to their fame i. 4G 
 
 Banlces'' horse, curious tract relating to, called " Ma- 
 
 roccus Extaticus," 1 5!)5 i. 1 63 
 
 • quotations from it i. 164, 1C5 
 
 • fate of Bankes and his horse i. ]ft6 
 
 Barkstead, Will, his " Myrrha the .Mother of Adonis". . i. 237 
 Barnes, Barnabe, his " Parthenophil and Parthenophe," 
 
 dedicated to Will. Percy, referred to i. 13 
 
 his " Four Books of OHices," 1006, 
 
 noticed, and a question regarding two editions of it i. 14 
 
 . ■ Madrigal, by W. Perry. . i. 15 
 
 Barry, Lod. his " Ram Alley" quoted ii. 27, 284 
 
 Bastard, Thos. Epigrams from his Chrestoleros, I5S8 . . i. 19!) 
 
 on Sir II. Woottou ii. 108 
 
 on Fishing ii. ib. 
 
 on Dr. Eeds, Dean of Wor- 
 cester ii. 120 
 
 — on Dr. Reynolds ii, 254 
 
 ■ — — — on Swearing on the Stage. ... ii. 255 
 
 Beard, Tho. his Theatre of God's Judgments i. 128 
 
 cited regarding Marlow ii. 273 
 
 — doubt if he were not the translator of " the 
 
 French Academy" ii. ib. 
 
 Belvedere, the Garden of the Muses, by Bodcnham .... i. 228 
 Jitank verse, Peele's " Farewell to Norris and Drake," 
 
 a specimen of i. 57
 
 INDEX. 331 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Blank verse, inquiry into the origin of undramatic i- 88 
 
 early specimens of i. 94 to 144, ii. 231 
 
 Blenerluisset, Tho. a writer of blank verse in " the 
 
 Mirror for Magistrates" i. 102 
 
 ■ his recommendation to hunt clown the Irish 
 
 Kernes i. 105 
 
 Blessed Birth-day, by Fitzgeffrey, specimen of i. 71 
 
 Boccacio, his novel of Titus and Gisippus ii. 79 
 
 ■ early English translations of his Decameron., ii. 196 
 
 Bodenham, John, mention of his " Belvedere," 1600 .. i. 228 
 
 Bramins, etymology of ii. 204 
 
 ■ their plays ii. 205 
 
 Brat/iwiii/le, It. his " Strappado for the Devil," 1615, 
 
 quoted i. 70 
 
 — — his " Time's Curtain drawn," &c. 1621 , and 
 
 imitations ii. 54 
 
 • quotations from it ii. 5 4, 55, 57 
 
 1 1 is " Health from Helicon," with a specimen ii. 59 
 
 Breton, N. said to have written blank verse i. 1 1 8 
 
 . i; Cornu-cophe, Pasquil's Night-cap," assigned 
 
 to him i- 329 
 
 . his " Pasquil's Pass and Passeth not" quoted . . i. ib. 
 
 . " 'Tis merry when Gossips meet," 1602, perhaps 
 
 his i. 330 
 
 . his ' ; Mad World my Masters," account of and 
 
 extia.-ts from i. Mi 1 , SMJ, 333, 335 
 
 poem by him in Hind's " Eliosto Libidinoso" .. ii. 8 
 
 MS. poem by him in praise of Virtue, Wisdom, 
 
 ;■<■ ii. 10 
 
 Bright burning Beacon, &c. 1580, by Abr. Fleming .. i. 116 
 Broughton, Rowland, his poem on the Marq. of Win- 
 chester ii. 125 
 
 Bnjsket, Pod. his claim to the poem of the " Mourning 
 
 Muse of Thestylis" considered i. 98 
 
 his " Discourse of civil Life" 1 606 i- 99 
 
 Bucke, Paul, his " Three Lords and three Ladies of 
 
 London," 1 590 ii. 294 
 
 Burgh, Sir John, It. Markham's poem on the death of., ii. 100 
 Burtons " Anatomy of Melancholy" quoted ii. 3 1 7
 
 .'33"2 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Campion, Tho. " Obs. in the Art of English Poesy" cited i. 1 IB 
 
 Castilws Courtier, translated by Sir T. Hobby i. 242 
 
 Chalmers, Mr. G. Life of Thomas Churchyard, and 
 
 omission in it ii. 73 
 
 Ills mistake regarding Sunday plays ii. 244 
 
 point in his Supplemental Apology corrected. . ii. 3 1 2 
 
 Chamberlain, Robert, Epitaph on C. Fitzgeffrey from 
 
 his ' Nocturnal Lucubrations," I6'38 '• 72 
 
 Chapman, George, his attack in his Zzinvvxlo; upon 
 
 hypercritical readers i. 6' 
 
 his dislike of commendatory verses i. H 
 
 his " Epicede on the Death of Prince Henry," 
 
 16' 12, observed upon i- 24 
 
 ■ — his praise of the long verse, monosyllables and 
 
 English, in the address before his translation of 
 
 Homer i. 35 
 
 his inconsistency; his " Seven Books of Ho- 
 mer," 1598, and in his " Achilles Shield" 
 
 , his success in compound epithets 
 
 supposed envy of his contemporaries .... 
 
 " Hymn to Hymen," 1 6' I 3, quoted . . .... 
 
 . on the word " swagger" 
 
 his "Justification of Nero," and translation 
 
 of Juvenal, Sat. 5. examined ii. 60 
 
 specimen of ii. G.'? 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 ib. 
 
 13a 
 
 291 
 
 Chaucer, Geoffry, his " Man of Law's Tale" quoted 
 
 " Merchant's Tale" i. ib. 
 
 Chinese, plays of the, from Parke's History of China, 
 
 ] 588 ii- 202 
 
 the argument of one ii. 203 
 
 Chrestoleros, by T. Bastard, quoted i. 199, ii. 108,120,254,25.") 
 
 Christ's Tears over Jerusalem, by Tho. Nash '. 
 
 Church of evil Men, &c. 1 50!), printed by Pynson .... 
 
 Churchill, Charles, his " Rosciad" quoted 
 
 Churchyard, Thomas, his praise of the English tongue., 
 
 ■ account of him by G. Chalmers 
 
 his " Misery of Elanders, Calamity of 
 
 France," &c. 1579 
 
 quotations from it 
 
 . 11. 
 
 2(j 9 
 
 . ii. 
 
 207 
 
 . ii. 
 
 32 
 
 i. 
 
 37 
 
 
 73 
 
 
 74 
 
 i. 70 
 
 , 78
 
 INDEX. 333 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Churchyard, Tlio. lines by regarding Scotland ii. 85 
 
 ■ on " the Blessed State of England" ii. 86' 
 
 his " True Discourse historical," relating 
 
 to the Netherlands ii. 88 
 
 quoted regarding the death of Sir P. Sidney ii. 142 
 
 recognition of Spenser's allusion ii. 89 
 
 his praise of poetry, 1596* ii. 103 
 
 City Madam, by Massinger, referred to ii. 269 
 
 Commendatory poems censured by G. Chapman i. g 
 
 Compound epithets of Fitzgeffrey, on the i. 33 
 
 of Chapman i. 39 
 
 Constable, Henry, his four Sonnets to the Soul of Sir P. 
 
 Sidney before " the Apology of Poetry," 1595 ... ii. 104 
 
 Cookery Book, old, called " Epulario" ii. 71 
 
 Cornu-copicB, Pascpiil's night-cap, assigned to N. Breton i. 329 
 Country-life praised in " The Return of the Knight of 
 
 the Post," 1606 i. 219 
 
 Courtship, the art of, from N. Breton's " Mad World 
 
 my Masters" i, 333 
 
 Cowley, Abr. his ]\ r uvfi-agium Joculare, perhaps founded 
 on a passage in 11. Junius's " Drunkard's Cha- 
 racter" i. §7 
 
 his '' Guardian." afterwards called " Cutter of 
 
 Colman-street," referred to ii. 300 
 
 Curan and Argentile, 1617, by William Webster i. 264 
 
 Daniel, Sam. applauded by Fitzgeffrey in his " Drake" i. 32 
 
 , Drayton, Jonson, Chapman, Sylvester, &c ii. 48 
 
 Dante, on the word Tragedy ii. 91 
 
 Decker and Middleton's " Roaring Girl" quoted i. 20 
 
 Deer-stealing a crime committed by players, &c ii. 257 
 
 Dibdin, the Rev. T. F. his edition of Ames, mistake in it ii. 85 
 his account of Walter's " Titus 
 
 and Gisippus" ii. 80 
 
 Dolarney's Primrose, 1606, plagiarism from Hamlet in . ii. 16 
 
 — quotation from it ii. 17 
 
 Donne, Dr. the oldest English poetical Satirist i. 1 53 
 
 Proof that his three first satires were written 
 
 before 1593 >. 155
 
 :m index. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 Donne, Dr. Doubts as to the printing of his poems .... i. 150' 
 Variations between the MS. ami printed eopy of 
 
 his satires, 1633 i. I 59 
 
 Allusions in the satires to temporary matters ... i. ib. 
 
 his '• Progress of the Soul" quoted on Fishing., ii. 108 
 
 Dorastus and Fawnia, by It Greene, compared with 
 
 Shakespeare's Winter's Tale u. 177 
 
 ([noted ii. 181, 186, 188, 189 
 
 Donee's Illustrations of Shakespeare, note in on Usury ii. 270 
 Douland, John, quotation from his" Musical Banquet," 
 
 1010 i. 16! 
 
 specimen of verse from his " Introduction 
 
 containing the Art of Singing," 10(). f ) i. 163 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, Fitzgeff'rey's poem on the death of i. 6 
 
 Drake, Dr. his " Shakespeare.' and his Times" mentioned ii. IS 
 
 ■ referred to ii. 135 
 
 Drant, Tho. his " Medieinable Moral," 1 556 i. 197 
 
 Drayton, Mich, applause of, by FitzgefTrey in his 
 
 « Drake" i. 32 
 
 epistle to, by Tho. Lodge i. 185 
 
 a poem called " The Metamorphosis of To- 
 bacco," 160', dedicated to i. 188 
 
 Drinking excused, by It. Bratlwayte, in his Health 
 
 from Helicon ii. 58 
 
 Drunkard's Character, by It. Junius, plagiarism in, 
 
 from Feltham's " Resolves" i. 25 
 
 Earthquake of 6th April, 1580, list of writers upon the i. 1 17 
 
 , Fleming's tract upon the i. 116 
 
 Ends, Dr. It. Dean of Worcester, an epigrammatist .... ii. 120 
 
 Elegiac Poems on the great, why freqently iullateil .... i. 24 
 
 Eliosto Libidinoso, 1606, by John Hind, account of ... ii. 5 
 
 Elizabetha Triumphant, by J. Aske, quotation from ... i. 126 
 Elizabeth, Queen, her " Entertainment by the Earl of 
 
 Hertford," in 1591, blank verse in i. 13:1, 134 
 
 , a writer of blank vi rse ii. 23 1 
 
 Elliot, Sir T. quotation from his " Governor" relating 
 
 to Titus and Gisippus ii. 84 
 
 Emperor of the East, Massinger's, quoted ii. 36
 
 INDEX. 335 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 England's Parnassus, by whom compiled i. 17 
 
 lines in, by Sir J. Harington, attributed to J. 
 
 Weever i. 18 
 
 Fitzgeffrey's " Drake" often quoted in i. ib. 
 
 long quotation in, from Lodge's tale of For- 
 
 bonius and Prisceria ii. 282 
 
 English language, Chapman's praise of the i. 35 
 
 Churchyard's praise of the i. 37 
 
 English Mirror, 1586, by G. Whetstone, quoted ii. 32 
 
 Envy, character of ii. 32 
 
 Ephemerides of Phialo, by Stephen Gosson ii. 219 
 
 Epulario, or the Italian Banquet, quoted ii. 71 
 
 Essays and Characters 1615, by John Stephens ii. 308 
 
 Essex, Lord, specimen of a song by, in Douland's 
 
 " Musical Banquet," 16 10 i. 161 
 
 Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit, by J. Lilly ii. 169 
 
 Fairy Queen, speech of, to Queen Elizabeth, in blank 
 
 verse i. 134 
 
 by Edm. Spenser, quoted i. 170 
 
 ■ Warton's opinion regarding the rhyme 
 
 of i. 92 
 
 Fardle of Fashions, 1 555, by W. Watreman ii. 202 
 
 — on the plays of the Bramins and interludes ii. 204, 205 
 Farewell to Sir J. \ orris and Sir F. Drake, by G. 
 
 Peele i. 54, 56, 58 
 
 Farewell to Military Profession, by B. Rich, 1606 .... ii. J34 
 
 — first printed between 1578 and 1581 ii. 136 
 
 quotations from it ii. 138, 146, 151, 152, 153, 156, 
 
 157, 158, 161, 163 
 
 omitted in all lists of Rich's productions .... ii. 145 
 
 Feltham, Owen, plagiarism, by R. Junius, from his 
 
 " Resolves" i. 25 
 
 Female Actors, when first allowed ii. 3 I; \) 
 
 the " Rosary of Rarities," by Jordan, 
 
 quoted, regarding ii. ib. 
 
 Fenner, Dudley, his " Song of Songs," 15*7 i. 308 
 
 Field, John, his " Godly Exhortation" regarding the 
 
 accident at Paris Garden, in 1 583 ii. 242 
 
 on the abolition of plays on Sunday ii. 243
 
 336 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Fig for Momus, by Tho. Lodge, examined i. 171 
 
 Fisherman s Tale, the, &c. by F. Sabie i. 136 
 
 Fitz<'effrey, Charles, his poem on the death of Sir 
 
 Francis Drake, 1 596' i. 6 
 
 . article in the British Bibliographer re- 
 garding i. 7 
 
 quotation from the preface cf it i. II 
 
 authors mentioned in his Affania:, 1601 . . i. 12 
 
 ■ his claim to the compilation of " England's 
 
 Parnassus," 1600 i. 17 
 
 satirical stanza, before Storer's " Life of 
 
 Wolsey." 1 599 i. 19 
 
 his motive for writing his " Drake" i. 20 
 
 _* prefatory Sonnet to it quoted i. 21 
 
 his youth and boldness in the undertaking. . i. 21 
 
 . specimens from his " Drake" i. 23, 30, 31 
 
 his address to English Navigators i. '2H 
 
 — _ his applause of Spenser, Daniel, and Drayton i. 32 
 
 ■ his praise of writers for the stage i. 41 
 
 his " Blessed Birth-day," quoted i. 71 
 
 sermons by him on Sir A. Rous, &c i. ib. 
 
 Epitaph by It. Chamberlain on the death 
 
 of Fitzgefl'rey, in 1 636 i- 72 
 
 Fleming, Abr. a writer of blank verse in his Bucolics and 
 
 Georgics of Virgil, 1 589 i. 105 
 
 specimens of his translation i. 106', 108, 109 
 
 his relation of " A strange and terrible 
 
 "Wonder, cScc. in the parish church of Bongay," &c. 
 
 1 577, with extracts i. 114 
 
 . his " Bright burning Beacon" on the earth- 
 quake of I 580, and poetical specimen i. 1 16' 
 
 mention in it of 8 other writers on the same 
 
 subject i- 117 
 
 , . his work " of English Dogs," 1576, with a 
 
 " Prosopopoical speech of the Book" i. 194,195 
 
 Foote, Samuel, the player, anecdote of ii. 31! 
 
 Fortescue, Tho. his "Forest, or Collection of Histories, " 
 
 1571, quoted '• '7 1 
 
 incident similar to one in " All's well that 
 
 ends well "■ ' ! '''
 
 INDEX. 33 
 
 Vol. Pago 
 
 Four Books of Offices, I606, by 13. Barnes i. 14 
 
 Freeman, Tho. his Epigrams quoted regarding Dr. 
 
 Donne i. 158 
 
 French Academy, the ii. 27 1 
 
 Puritanical libels in ii. ib. 
 
 quotation from, probably regarding- 
 
 G Marlow ii. 274 
 
 ■ R. Greene ii. 276 
 
 T. Lodge ii. 278 
 
 — ■ S. Gosson ii, ib. 
 
 Funebria Flora: , the downfall of May -games, by Tho. 
 
 Hall ii. 249 
 
 Funeral Poems, the reason for their disuse assigned, by 
 
 R. Brathwayte, in his " Strappado for the Devil". . i. 70 
 
 Goger, Dr. his University play of Ulysses Redux, &c. . . ii. 256 
 Gainsford, Tho. quotation from his " Glory of Eng- 
 land," liii9 ii. 292 
 
 Gascoyne, George, the fourth writer of blank verse in 
 
 English, in his " Steel Glass, a Satire" i. 94 
 
 concerned in the Netherland wars ii. 142 
 
 his " Will of the Devil." cS;c. mentioned... . ii. 209 
 
 Goddard, William, his " Mastiff-whelp" mentioned .... i. 304 
 his " Satirical Dialogue between Alexander 
 
 and Diogenes" examined i. 305 
 
 — William, his " Satirical Dialogue between 
 
 Alexander and Diogenes," its date ascertained .... i. 307 
 extracts from i. 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 315 
 
 bis " Owl's arraignment," a satire i. 316" 
 
 quotations from i. 318, 319, 320, 326, 327 
 
 Golde, a name assumed by Lodge in his " Fig for Monius" i. 1 8 i 
 
 ii. 17 
 
 Golden age of English poetry i. 10 
 
 Golden Grove and Golden Fleece, by Sir W. Vaughan, 
 
 mentioned ii- 317 
 
 Golding, Arthur, concluded Sir P. Sidney's Translation 
 
 of de Mornay on the trueness of Christianity. i- 69 
 
 bis Discourse on the Earthquake, 1580 ii- 2-14 
 
 ■ regarding Sunday plays ii- 245 
 
 VOL. U. /
 
 '.i'.iH INDEX. 
 
 Vol. I'age 
 
 Googe, Barnabe, his character and works ii. 121 
 
 tils " Proverbs of Sir J. L. tie Mendoza," 157!) ii. 122 
 
 quotations from ii. 1 23, 1 24 
 
 Gosson, Stephen, his " Plays confuted, in five Actions" ii. 208, 
 
 22 1 , 226 
 
 his three dramatic pieces ii. '210 
 
 his " School of Abuse," 1579, quoted ii. 210, 212, 213 
 
 specimens of his poetry ii. 215,216 
 
 his " Ephemerides of Phialo" quoted .... ii. 219, 220 
 
 a writer of blank verse ii. 231 
 
 — probable allusion to in " the French Academy"., ii. 278 
 
 Governor, the, by Sir T. Elliot, quoted ii. YA 
 
 Goiver, John, his '' Confessio Amantis" quoted i. 293 
 
 on Envy ii. 32 
 
 Greene, Robert, a writer of blank verse in his " Peri- 
 
 medes, the Black-smith," 1588 i. 118 
 
 Bradamant's Song, from it i. 119 
 
 Melissa's Song, from the same i. 121 
 
 his " Orpharion" in praise of women, quoted ... i. 296 
 
 translation from Anacreon in ... . i. 299 
 
 his " Never too Late" referred to i. 298, ii. 14 
 
 Roundelay by him inserted by Hind in his 
 
 " Eliosto Libidinoso," 1 606 ii- 12 
 
 his " Dorastus and Fawnia" examined ii. 177 
 
 his " Mirror of Modesty," 1584, quoted ii. 171) 
 
 the attack made upon his motto, and his defence 
 
 of himself and blank verse ii. 183 
 
 probable allusion to in the " French Academy" ii. 278 
 
 Greepe, Tho. his " True and perfect News" regarding 
 the exploits of Sir F. Drake, 1587, and its ab- 
 surdity i- 43 
 
 I'Xtracts from it i. 44, 45, 47 
 
 Grenvitle, Sir R. Tragedy of, by Jervis Mark ham ii. 92 
 
 quotations from .. . ii. 93, 94, 95 
 
 prose tract regarding his death ii. 96 
 
 poem by ii. 101 
 
 Grimoalrl, Nicholas, the second writer of blank verse in 
 
 En-lish i. 94 
 
 ruvaixfjov, or General History of Women, by T. [Ieywood i. 322
 
 INDEX. 335) 
 
 Vol. Page 
 Gusman of Alfarachc, Life of, similarity between a 
 
 passage in and in Paradise Lost i. 246 
 
 Hall, Bishop, his claim to be the first English satirist., i. 154 
 
 Gray's praise of his satires i. 197 
 
 his congratulatory poem on the accession of James 
 
 I i. 198 
 
 value of his satires i. 226 
 
 his Epigram on Marston i. 232 
 
 on drunken poets ii. 308 
 
 Hall, Tlio. his " Histrio-mastix, a whip for Webster,"., i. 260 
 his " Funebria Flora;, the downfall of May- 
 games," and quotations from it. . . . ii. 249, 250, 251, 252 
 Hamlet plagiarised in " Dolarney's Primrose," 1606... ii. 16 
 Harington, Sir John, his translation of Orlando 
 
 Furioso, 1591 i 18 
 
 Sonnet by Sir P. Sidney supplied in it ... . i. 66 
 
 his " Metamorphosis of Ajax," 1596, and 
 
 quotations i. 199,201,202,203,204,205 
 
 his Epigrams and their merits i. 277 
 
 his " Treatise of Play" and " Apology of 
 
 Poetry" mentioned ii. 288 
 
 Hatton, Sir C. the patron of B. Rich ii. 137 
 
 his poetry and productions ii. ib. 
 
 his House at Holdenby described by Rich ii. 138 
 
 Health J'rom Helicon, by R. Rrathwayte ii. 58 
 
 Henri), Prince, G. Chapman's Epicede upon i. 24 
 
 Hero and I.eander, travestie of ii. 72 
 
 Hertford, Earl of, his entertainment to Queen Elizabeth, i. 132 
 Heywood, John, the Epigrammatist, quotation from Sir 
 
 John Harington regarding him i. 198 
 
 — — and Sir John Davies, with Bastard's epigram 
 
 upon them i. 199 
 
 his Spider and Fly, 1 556, noticed i. 200 
 
 Heywood, Tho. his " English Traveller" the origin of 
 
 Cowley's Naitfragium Joculare '• ^7 
 
 his notice of the change from rhyme to blank 
 
 verse in theatrical representations >• 8f> 
 
 — on the adoption of classic measures in English i. 124
 
 .'{40 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pleasant Dialogue! 
 
 Hei/wood, his blank verse in li 
 
 and Dramas," 1 637 
 
 his " Troja Britannica" quoted. . i. 172, 321 
 
 his rwatxHcv, lb'24, referred to 
 
 sony by, in imitation ot Wither 
 
 his " Apology for Actors" examined. 
 
 Higgins, John, quoted from "Mirror for Magistrates". . i 
 
 a writer of blank verse in tin: " Mirror for 
 
 Magistrates," and specimen i 
 
 Hind, John, Ins " Eliosto Libidinoso" examined ii 
 
 " Fancy" by N. I!. in it, quoted ii 
 
 "Roundelay," by Robert Greene, in the same., ii 
 
 his title copied from Greene's " Card of Fancy" ii 
 
 Dinohin's, or John Hind's Sonnet ii. 1 
 
 Specimen, in prose, from the same ii 
 
 Histriomastix, I 6 10, a dramatic piece called .. 
 
 extract from 
 
 reference to Marston in 
 
 by W. Prynnc, 103 3, described 
 
 nl. Page 
 
 i. 125 
 
 ii. 28!) 
 i. 222 
 i. 325 
 ii. 288 
 i. 30 
 
 12 
 
 Jlobbcs, Tho. translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, 16S4 
 Hobby, Sir T. his translation of " Castilio's Courtier". . . 
 Hume, Mrs. her translation of Petrarch's Triumphs 
 Hut Ion, Henry, his " Follv's Anatomv" 
 
 1.9 
 
 ii. 1 8 
 ii. 312 
 ii. 313 
 
 ii. 314 
 ii. 318 
 i. 112 
 i. 2 '12 
 
 i. 77 
 i. 27(1 
 
 James I. and the King of Denmark, Marston's pageant 
 
 in honour of, ii. 3 1 . r > 
 
 James TV. of Scotland, R. Greene's play of, l.'!)8, .... i. 135 
 
 Iceland iloffs. described by A. Fleming in his tract " Of 
 
 English Dogs," 1576 i. 1 95 
 
 Iliad anil Odyssey, translated by Ilobbes, noticed i. 112 
 
 Johnson, Dr. his opinion of detached extracts 
 
 Jonson, lien., his Underwoods quoted 
 
 his Epigram to Lady Bedford, with a copy 
 
 of Dr. Donne's Satires i. 1 ,">"> 
 
 quotation from the Apologetic al Dialogue 
 
 annexed to his ■' Poetaster" it. 62 
 
 preface to his " Volpone" mentioned ii. 301 
 
 Jordan, Thomas, his " Rosary of Rarities planted in a 
 
 garden of Poetry" ii. 310
 
 INDEX. 341 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Jordan, Tho. mention of female actors ii. ib. 
 
 Junius, R. his " Drunkard's Character," lo'Srt, and pla- 
 giarism in it from Feltham's " Resolves" i. 25 
 
 the Rev. H. J. Todd's praise of the book i. ' '26 
 
 passage in, on which Cowley may have founded 
 
 his Xaufragium Joculare i. 27 
 
 Juvenal, translation of his 5th sat. by George Chapman . . ii. 6'0 
 
 Kendall, Timothy, his " Flowers of Epigrams" noticed., i. 279 
 
 Keruynge, \\ ynkyn de \\ orde's book of ii. 70 
 
 Kirton, II. poem by Gosson at the end of his " Mirror 
 
 of Man's life" ii. 216" 
 
 Knight oj'tke Post, the Return of, loOo', an answer to 
 
 Nash's " Supplication of Pierce Penniless" i. '216 
 
 — quotations from the prose and 
 
 poetry in it i. 210', Uli), 220, 222, 22. i, 224 
 
 Luvib, Charles, his Specimens of English Dramatic Poets i. 1(1 
 Lewicke, Edward, his history of Titus and Gisippus, 15u'2 ii. 80 
 quotation from his " Titus and Gi- 
 
 seppus" "• MO 
 
 further specimens ii. 82, 8.J 
 
 Lilly, John, his rustication from Oxford ii. IG9 
 
 Lodge, Dr. Tho., the .second English satirist i. loo 
 
 his " Fig for Momus," 1595, i. 171 
 
 his celebrity and productions i. 172, 17i, 174 
 
 address before his " Fig for Momus".. i. 175 
 
 ■ specimens of his satires. .. . i. 177, 179, 1 60 
 
 ■ — of his eclogues. i. 181 
 
 of his epistles i. 18 5, I 90' 
 
 describes himself under the name of 
 
 Golde ii 17 
 
 his " Rosalynde; Euphues golden 
 
 Legacy," 1590 ii. I6'8 
 
 his " Play of Plays" ii. 2C9, 222 
 
 his " Alarum against Usurers," 158 4, 
 
 containing a reply to Stephen Gosson ii. 22, i 
 
 — ■ quotations from it regard- 
 ing S. Gosson ii. 224, 225, 22c, 227
 
 34'2 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Lodge, Dr. Tho. conjecture regarding his family ii. '228 
 
 allusion to his Defence of Plays in 
 
 " the French Academy" ii. 278 
 
 ■ poetry from his tale of Forbomus and 
 
 Prisceria ii. 281, 282, 283 
 
 "Truth's Complaint 
 
 over England" ii. 286, 287 
 
 1,011" verse of 14 syllables praised by G. Chapman i. 35 
 
 Love, how far a fit subject for poetry ii. 115 
 
 Lucan, B. I. of his Pharsalia translated by C. Marlow .. i. 130 
 
 Mad World my Masters, by N. Breton, examined i. 831 
 
 Magnificence, an interlude by John Skelton, quoted .... ii. 42 
 Mar/cham, Jervis, his tragedy of Sir R. Grenville praised 
 
 by Fitzgeffrey i. 59 
 
 . his fraud upon Tofte regarding Ariosto's satires ; 
 
 and upon Barnabe Rich ... ib. 
 
 his tragedy of Sir R. Grenville, 1 i>95, account 
 
 of ii. 92 
 
 - quotations from ii. 93, 94, 9." 
 
 Markham, Robt. his poem on the death of Sir J. Burgh ii. 100 
 
 Marlow, Christ, mode of his death differently told i. 128 
 
 his translation of " Lucan's first book," 
 
 &c. 1600 i- ib. 
 
 specimens of it i. 1 29, ] 30, 1 3 1 
 
 his " Tamberlame"' mentioned by R. 
 
 Greene ii. 18.3 
 
 T. Beard's expressions regarding him. ... ii. 273 
 
 probable allusion to, in the " French 
 
 Academy" ii. 274 
 
 Mar-marline, and plagiarism in it from Spenser.... i. !83, 18} 
 
 Maroccus Extaticus, Bankes's Horse, tract regarding . . i 163 
 Marston, John, incident in his Antonio and Mellida 
 
 founded on a jest of G. Peele i. ,">2 
 
 on the trade; of a rope-maker i. 218 
 
 his " Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Imago and 
 
 certain Satires," 1598, examined 
 
 object of his " Pigmalion's I magi:" . 
 
 his quarrel with Joseph Hall, and the cause of 
 
 230 
 28! 
 
 231
 
 INDEX. 343 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Marston, his answer to Hall's epigram i. 232 
 
 why he wrote under the name of \V. Kinsayder i. 233 
 
 his attack upon Hall i. 234 
 
 quotation from " Pigmalion's Image" .... i. 235, 236' 
 
 second edition of his Pigmalion's Image in 1G19 ii 1 12 
 
 extracts from his satires i. ^40, 242, 243, 248 
 
 his " Scourge of Villany," 1598, second edit. 
 
 ] 599 i. 249 
 
 dedication of it to himself i. 250 
 
 extracts from it i. 25 1 , 252, 256, 257 
 
 his attacks on Shakespeare's Rich. Ill i. 254 
 
 — reference to his own satires in " What you will" i. 255 
 
 doubt if he did not go into the Church late in life i. 26'0 
 
 sermon by, 1 642 i. 269 
 
 ■ reference to, in Histriomastix. 1610 ii. 314 
 
 .MS. pageant by, in honour of James I. and the 
 
 King of Denmark ii. 3 1 ;> 
 
 Massing) r, P. his Emperor of the East quoted ii. 36 
 
 City Madam referred to ii. 269 
 
 letter of the publisher of. . ii. 3 1 7 
 
 May, Tho. quotation from his translation of Lucan's 
 
 Pharsalia i. 1 30 
 
 Meres, Francis, his " Palladis Tamia," 1598, referred to i. 282 
 Micro-cynicon, Six Snarling Satires, 1 599, mentioned .. i. 269 
 
 . its scarcity and price i. 281 
 
 its title at length i. 282 
 
 quotations from, i. 283, 288, 290, 295, 300, 301 
 
 its author i. 2S3 
 
 Middleton, Tho. his applause of Greek compounds in his 
 
 " Mad World my Masters" i. 34 
 
 and Decker's *■'■ Roaring Girl'' quoted i. 20 
 
 Milton, John, his mistake in asserting that his Par. Lost 
 was the first specimen in English of undramatic 
 
 blank verse i- 88 
 
 his obligations to Marston, Anth. Stafford, and 
 
 Gusman of Alfarache i. -'43, 244, 246 
 
 quotes Sir J. Harrington's Orl. Fur »• 144 
 
 senr. his Six-fold Politician ([noted "• 30/ 
 
 Mirror for Magistrates, blank verse in i. 101, 103 
 
 Mirror of Monsters, 1587, by Rankin >• 228
 
 344 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. l'age 
 Mirror for Magistrates of Cities, by Whetstone, quoted 
 
 ii. 37, 240, '241 
 published in 1 386, as 
 
 " the Enemy of Unthriftiness" 
 
 Mirror of Modesty, 1 584, by II. Greene, quoted 
 
 Misery of Flanders Calamity of France, cSce. 1379 a 
 
 tract by T. Churchyard 
 
 Monosyllables, in English, praised by G. Chapman 
 
 Moor of Venice, first woman actor in the 
 
 Morley, Henry Parker, Eord, his translation of the 
 
 " Triumphs of Petrarch," printed by J. Cawood. ... i. 77 
 
 its extreme rarity i. 79 
 
 specimen in Dr. Nott's lives of Wyatt and Surrey ib. 
 
 A. Wood's error regarding Lord Morley's death i. 80 
 
 extract from the dedication of his translation .... i. 81 
 
 extracts from his version . i. 81, 83, 84 
 
 original poem by Lord Morley at the end of his 
 
 translation of Petrarch i. 86 
 
 his place among English poets ascertained i. 87 
 
 11. 
 
 33 
 
 i. 
 
 179 
 
 ii. 
 
 74 
 
 ii. 
 
 3 1 9 
 
 M^ornay, do, his work on the trueness of Christianity 
 
 translated by Sir P. Sidney and Arthur Golding . ... i. 69 
 
 Mulcaster, It. blank verse translation of his X(euia Con- 
 solans, with specimens i. HI, 142, 143, 144 
 
 Musical Banquet by Doularul i- 161 
 
 Mychelborne, Tho. commendatory verses by, before Fitz- 
 
 geffrey's " Drake'' i. 8 
 
 Myrrha, the mother of Adonis, by W. Barkstead i. 237 
 
 Nabbes, Tho. his " Seipio ami Hannibal," 1637, quoted i. 30 
 Xash, Tho. two lines in his " Pierce Peimyless" also 
 
 found in the " Yorkshire Tragedy" i. 53 
 
 his " Pierce Peimyless' Supplication to the Devil", i. '213 
 
 ike second part, or answer to it. called " The Return 
 
 o the Knight of the Post from Hell." 1606 i. 216 
 
 . quotation from the anonymous address i. 216 
 
 doubt whether he did not bring the trade of rope- 
 making into disrepute i. 218 
 
 specimen of the poetry in " the Return of the 
 
 Knight of the Post," \c i. 219 
 
 the K'.iidit of the Post described i. 220
 
 INDEX. 345 
 
 Vol. Pafje 
 Nash, extracts from the Devil's " Answer" . . . i. 222, '223, 224 
 
 his praise of Churchyard's " Shore's Wife" ii. 89 
 
 his " Lenten Stuff," 1 59.'), spoken of ii. ] 27, 230 
 
 his " Christ's Tears over Jerusalem," 1593, quoted ii. 2fi9 
 
 his apology in it to Gabriel Harvey ii. ib. 
 
 Nero, justification of a strange action by, by G. Chapman ii. 60 
 Netherlands, Tho. Churchyard's Discourse regarding ... ii. 88 
 Nicholas's History of the West Indies, lines by Gosson 
 
 before ii. 215 
 
 Nichols's Progresses of Q. Elizabeth cited ii. 270 
 
 Niubc, 161 1, by A. Stafford, Milton's obligation to i. 244 
 
 and " Niobe dissolved into a Nilus," quoted ii. 45 
 
 Nixon, Anthony, his plagiarism from Lodge i. 302 
 
 his " Strange Foot-post" examined ... i. 303 
 
 Nocturnal Lucubrations, by It. Chamberlain, cited .... i. 72 
 Nocnia Consolans translated into blank verse by It. 
 
 Mulcaster i. 1 -J 1 
 
 Northbrooke, John, his " Treatise against Vain Plays," 
 
 I 579, &c ii. 231 
 
 quotation from his Treatise. . ii. '23., T.'>:\, 234 
 
 Nott, Dr. lives of Lord Surrey and Sir T. Wyat i. 79 
 
 (Entme's Complaint, from Peek's " Arraignment of 
 
 Paris," 1584 i. 123 
 
 Oldcastle, Sir John, history of, by Munday, Drayton, &c. 
 containing the embryo of a scene in Shakespeare's 
 
 Henry V i. 52 
 
 Old Plays, indecency of, contrasted with those after the 
 
 Restoration ii. 320 
 
 Orphurion, by Robert Greene, quoted i. 290', 2.99 
 
 Overthrow of Sta^c-plays, by Dr. Rainoldes ii. 253 
 
 Owl's Arraignment, by William Goddard i. 3 I 8 
 
 Painter, William, author of a poem called " Chaucer 
 
 painted,'' printed about 1630 ii. 165 
 
 his Palace of Pleasure mentioned ii. 1 6*7, 191, 
 
 195 
 
 Pap with a Hatchet, syllogism in, ii. 305 
 
 Paris Garden, accident at, and Field's Exhortation .... ii. 242
 
 A4C> INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Parke, E. his History of China, 1588, cited ii. '20.5 
 
 Parrot, Henry, his " Mastiff' or young Whelp'' i. 27 b 
 
 his plagiarisms i. ib. 
 
 Pasquil's pass and passeth not, by N. Breton, quoted ... i. 22'J 
 Peele, George, a poet and sharper, according to his 
 
 " Merry conceited Jests" i. 48 
 
 the same man as George Pieboard in 
 
 " the Puritan," proved from the jests and the play ib. 
 
 — . his '• Farewell to Sir John Norris and 
 
 Sir Francis Drake," \5'rQ, and quotations. . . . i. 54, 5b', 58 
 
 — his " Tale of Troy" quoted i. 58 
 
 GJnone's Complaint by, in blank verse, 
 
 from his " Arraignment of Paris," 1,384 i. 123 
 
 Percy, Will, mention of his ' Sonnets to the fairest 
 
 Caelia," 1 594 i. 12 
 
 specimens of, in Censura Literaria i. 1 .5 
 
 . dedication to him of B. Barnes's " Par- 
 
 thenophil and Parthenophe" i. 14 
 
 madrigal by, prefixed to B. Barnes's " Four 
 
 Books of Offices," 160G, quoted i. I . > 
 
 Percy, Bishop, his work on the writers of blank verse ... i. i) 1 
 
 Pcrimedes the Blacksmith, 1588, by 11. Greene ii. 118 
 
 , quotation regarding the motto, &e. ii. i'8'.i 
 
 Peters, Hugh, his jest concerning George Wither ii. 24 
 
 Petrarch's Triumphs, translated by Lord Morley i- 77 
 
 by Mrs. Hume i. ib. 
 
 Phillip, John, his " Life and Death of Sir P. Sidney," 
 
 1587 ii. 50 
 
 . quotations from ... ii. 51 , 52 
 
 his poem on the Countess of Lenox ii. 125 
 
 — quotation from, regarding 
 
 Queen Elizabeth ii. 1 2I> 
 
 probably mentioned by Nash ii. ib. 
 
 Plan of Plays, a tract in defence of the stage, by T. 
 
 Lodge ii. iiO!), 222 
 
 cause of its excessive scarcity ii. 225 
 
 Player, common, character of ii. oO'J 
 
 Plays confuted in five actions, by S. Gosson ii. 208, 22 1 
 
 _ _ answered bv Tlio. Lodge ii. 225, 22b'
 
 INDEX. 347 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Poets, sufferings of, after the close of the theatres ii. 325 
 
 I'olimanteia quoted regarding Sir C. Hatton's poems. ... ii. 137 
 Primaudaye, Peter de la, his " French Academy'' translated ii. 27 1 
 Prujean, Tlio. his " Aurorata and Loves Looking-glass," 
 
 1644 ii. 102 
 
 epistles from Juliet to Romeo, and Romeo 
 
 to Juliet ii. 1 93, 1 94 
 
 Prynne, William, his " Histriomastix'' described ii. 318 
 
 his " Vindication" from the charge of recanting . . ii. 322 
 
 • his supposed '' Defence of Stage Plays" ii. ib. 
 
 Puritans, libels of, upon Marlow, Greene, Lodge, &c. .. ii. 271 
 Puritan, or Widow of Watling- street, part of a scene 
 
 from i- 51 
 
 mentioned ii. 300 
 
 Puttenkam, his " Art of English Poesy," 15119, cited . . i. Go 
 
 Rainoldes, Dr. " Overthrow of Stage-plays" examined. . ii. 253, 
 
 '257, 259, 300 
 
 ■ epigram upon, by T. Bastard ii. 254 
 
 Bishop Hall's praise of, in his Epistles. . . ii. 256 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, his History of the World quoted . . i. 166 
 his epitaph on Sir P. Sidney re- 
 ferred to by Sir John Ilarington in his Orl. Fur. . . . ii. 143 
 
 Ram Alley by Lod. Barry quoted ii. 27, 284 
 
 Rankin, Will, author of " Seven Satires," printed in 
 
 1 596 i. 227 
 
 his" Mirror of Monsters," 1587, against 
 
 stage-plays, mentioned i. 228 
 
 — sonnet by him prefixed to Bodenham's 
 
 " Belvedere,'' lo'oO, referred to i. 229 
 
 his " Mirror of Monsters" examined, ii. 246, 248 
 
 Raynold, John, his " Primrose," 1606, quotations 
 
 from ii. 16, 17 
 
 Emulation of the Apology for Actors, 1615, by J. G. . . ii. 301 
 
 quoted ii. 303, 304 
 
 Rhyme, abuse of, by Ascbam, Hall, Marston, and 
 
 Fleming i. 92, 93 
 
 Rich, Barnabe, his " Farewel to Military Profession," 
 1606, containing a novel on which Shakespeare 
 founded his " Twelfth Nicrlit" ii- 1 34
 
 348 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 Rich, liarnabe, particulars of his biography, and titles of 
 
 some of his works omitted ii. 1 40 
 
 • his concern in the Netherland wars ii. 141 
 
 ■ • specimen of his poetry ii. 1 63 
 
 ■ his lines before Lodge's " Alarum against 
 
 Usurers" ii. 232 
 
 Richard II. by Shakespeare referred to ii. 286' 
 
 Roaring Girl, the, by Decker and Middleton, quoted ... i. 20 
 Romeo and Juliet, epistles of, by Tho. Prujean. ... ii. 193, 194 
 Rosalynde, Euphues' golden Legacy, by T. Lodge .... ii. 168 
 ■ comparison between it and Shake- 
 speare's " As you Like it" ii. I/O 
 
 . quotations from it ii. 171, 173, 174 
 
 Rosciad, the. by C. Churchill, quoted ii. 32 
 
 Rous, Richard and Francis, commendatory verses by, 
 
 before Fitzgeffrey's " Drake" i. 8 
 
 Rowlands, Saml. the " Letting of Humours blood," &x. 
 
 1600 i. 328 
 
 Sabie, Francis, notice of his productions , i. 136 
 
 blank verse poems by him, called " The 
 
 Fisherman's Tale" and " Flora's Fortune," 1595 i. 138, 
 
 139, 140 
 
 Salter, Tho. his Contention between the Whoremonger, &c. ii. 209 
 
 his " Mirror of Modesty" ii. 223 
 
 Satirical dialogue between Alexander and Diogenes, by 
 
 William Goddard i. 307 
 
 Schoolmaster, by It. Ascham, quoted i. 81, 92, ii, 44 
 
 — - or Teacher of Table Philosophy, quoted. ... ii. 297 
 
 School of Abuse, by Stephen Gosson, 1579 ii. 210 
 
 quotations from it ii. 212, 213 
 
 allusion to it in the French Academy ... ii. 278 
 
 Scourge of Venus, or the wanton Lady, 1614, and speci- 
 mens from i. 23,6, 238, L-3.) 
 
 Self-delusion of authors regarding their fame . i. 4 ; > 
 
 Shakespeare, coincidence between a line of his and an 
 
 expression by Fitzgellrey i. 41 
 
 embryo of a scene in his Ilmrv V. found 
 
 in " the History of Sir John Oldcastlc" i. 52 
 
 — . — his admirable judgment i. 57
 
 INDEX. 34<) 
 Vol. Page 
 
 Shakespeare, jest by, on the authority of Dr. Donne i. 258 
 
 his " Twelfth Night" founded on a novel 
 
 by B. Rich ii. 134 
 
 • and deer-stealing ii. 257 
 
 Shepherd's Calendar, Spenser's, why called by Puttenham 
 
 " the last" i. 63 
 
 Shirley, James, quotation from his " Sisters" ii. 171 
 
 ■ his plays by Gifford ii. 1 72 
 
 ■ preface to his " Politician" quoted ii. 300 
 
 Shore's Wife, tragedy of, by T. Churchyard ii. ,90 
 
 Sidney, Sir P. reported by Whetstone to be the author 
 
 of Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar i. 64, 67 
 
 ■ doubt whether the 1 st edit, of his " Arcadia" 
 
 was not before 1 590 i. 65 
 
 sonnet omitted in his " Arcadia" i. 66 
 
 ■ apostrophe to, in Stafford's " Niobe," 1611 ii. 46" 
 
 — " Life and Death of," 1587, by John 
 
 Phillip ii. 50 
 
 II. Constable's four sonnets before his 
 
 " Arcadia" ii. 104 
 
 - his friend Edward Wootton ii. I()7 
 
 Sixfold Politician, 1609, by John Milton, senr ii. 305 
 
 authority on which it is assigned to 
 
 him ii. 3()f," 
 
 — extract from ii. 307 
 
 Skialethcia, a collection of satires mentioned by Meres... i. 229 
 5.y.iocj-jx~oi, by George Chapman, quotation from it re- 
 garding hypercritical readers i. 6 
 
 Skelton, John, his interlude of" Magnificence," quoted., ii. 42 
 
 Smythe, Sir John, on the word " beleaguer" i. 291 
 
 Song of Songs, the, by Dudley Fenner, 15ei7, noticed. . . i. 308 
 Southey, Robt. his ballads of the " Old Woman of 
 
 Berkeley" and " Rudiger," founded on stories by 
 
 T. Ileywood i. 323 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, his sonnet before the " Life of Scan- 
 
 derbeg," 1 596, mentioned i- 16 
 
 applauded by Fitzgeffrey in his " Drake" i. 32 
 
 poems on the wife of Sir A. Gorges 
 
 and Sir P. Sidney '■ .61
 
 350 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page 
 Spenser, Edmund, his " Shepherd's Calendar" attributed 
 
 to Sir P. Sidney i. 64, 67 
 
 ■ specimen of blank verse by him in bis 
 
 Eel. for August, and its peculiarities i. 96 
 
 " Mother Hubbard's Tale" alluded to 
 
 in " the Ant and the Nightingale, or Father Hub- 
 
 berd's Tales," 1604 i. 100 
 
 his " View of the State of Ireland" re- 
 ferred to i. 10.) 
 
 eclogue by Tlio. Lodge addressed to him i. 180 
 
 his allusion to Tho. Churchyard ii. 89 
 
 his mention of Gosson's " School of 
 
 Abuse" ii. 211 
 
 Stafford, Anth. resemblance between a passage in his 
 
 " Niobe," 1611, and in Tar. Lost i. 244 
 
 quotations from his " Niobe" and 
 
 " Niobe dissolved into a Nilus" ii. 45 
 
 Stage, Fitzgeffrey's praise of writers for the i. 41 
 
 list of tracts against ii. 280 
 
 Stephens, John, bis " Essavs and Characters," 1615. . . . ii. 308 
 
 ■ character of a Common 
 
 Player from ii. 309 
 
 Storey's " Life of Cardinal Wolsey," stanza prefixed to, 
 
 by J. Sprint i. 19 
 
 Strange and terrible wonder related by A. Fleming i. 114 
 
 Strappado for the Devil, by II. Brathwayte, quoted i. 70 
 
 Stubbes, Philip, his '* Anatomy of Abuses" ii. 235 
 
 popularity of ... ii. '236 
 
 Nash regarding 
 
 it quoted. ii. ib. 
 
 quoted.... ii. 238,239 
 
 Stubbes, Philip, bis " Motive to good Works" referred to ii. 236 
 
 Sunday, plays represented upon, censured ii. 240, 246 
 
 abolition of them between 1580 and 1583 ii. 243, 
 
 244 
 
 Suriri/, Lord, his translation from Virgil in blank verse . i. 92 
 
 Swearing on the stage, T. Bastard's epigram upon ii. 255 
 
 Talc of two Swans, 1590. by W. Vallans i. 127
 
 INDEX. 351 
 
 Vol. l'a.s,'!- 
 Tamer, the, a play altered from Fletcher's Woman's 
 
 Prize, female actor in ii. 320 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, note to, on custard-coffin ii. 71 
 
 Tarlton, Richard, mention of i. 207 
 
 T. Bastard's praise of ii. 25.5 
 
 tribute to, in P. Bucke's " Three 
 
 Lords and Three Ladies of London," 1590 ii. 295 
 
 his Jests, 1611, examined ii. ib. 
 
 ■ ■ quoted ii. 29S 
 
 Theatre of God's Judgments, by Tho. Beard i. 128 
 
 Thracian Wonder, a play, falsely attributed to John 
 
 Webster and Will. Rowley i. 268 
 
 perhaps by Will. Webster i. ib. 
 
 Time's Curtain drawn, 1621, by R. Brathwayte ii. 54 
 
 Titus and Gisippus, History of, 1562, by Edw. Lewicke ii. 80 
 
 abstract of the story of ii. 81 
 
 quotation from SirT. Elliot's narra- 
 tive ii. 84 
 
 ■ story of, in Boccacio's Decameron ii. 79 
 
 Tobacco, Metamorphosis of, 1(>02, and extracts i. 189, 190, 191 
 
 praise of, by Spenser in F. Q, i. 188 
 
 Todd, the Rev. H. J. his praise of the " Drunkard's 
 
 Character" i. 26 
 
 remarks on his edit, of Johnson's 
 
 Dictionary i. 29 1 
 
 Troja Brilannica, 1609, by T. Heywood, quoted i. 321 
 
 Turbcrville, said to have translated some of Ovid's 
 
 Epistles into blank verse i. 117 
 
 Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, founded on a novel by 
 
 Barnabe Rich ii. 134 
 
 when written ii. 135 
 
 Dr. Johnson's objection to its opening.. . ii. 119 
 
 Vallans, W. his " Tale of two Swans," 1590, in blank 
 
 verse i. 127 
 
 Vandernoodt, John, the third writer of blank verse in 
 
 English i. 94 
 
 specimen from his " Theatre, &c. 
 
 of voluptuous Worldlings," 1 569 ib.
 
 :>>:> c l 
 
 IN'DFX. 
 
 Vaughan, Sir W. his " Golden Grove" and " Golden 
 Fleece" 
 
 Vicar of Croydon, story of, from Whetstone's " English 
 Mirror" 
 
 Vicars, John, his translation of Virgil's iEneid, 1632 .. 
 
 lines by W. Sq. in its praise 
 
 Ulysses Redux, a university play by Dr. Gager ii. 
 
 University Plays, expenses of getting them up ii. 
 
 Upstarts censured in " The Return cf the Knight of 
 
 the Post," 1 606 i. 
 
 Usurers, Lodge's Alarum against ii. 223, 
 
 practices of, displayed by T. Nash ii. 
 
 Walker, Gilb. his tract against dice-play ii. 
 
 Walter, William, his version of Titus and Gisippus ii. 
 
 Walton, Izaac, dedication of "Amos and Laura," 1619, 
 
 to ii. 
 
 Warner, Will, his " Albion's England" mentioned i. 
 
 his " Albion's England" quoted i. 
 
 his attack on the Puritans ii, 
 
 Warlon, Thomas, his History of English poetry i. 17, 154, 
 
 his mistake regarding E. Lewieke's 
 
 Titus and Gisippus ii. 
 
 his error in attributing '' the Mourn- 
 ing Muse of Thestylis" to Spenser , i. 
 
 Watreman, W, his' - Fardle of Fashions," 1555. quoted ii. 
 
 Webbe. Will, his '■ Discourse of English Poesie," 1586". . i, 
 
 Webster, John, turned preacher late in life i 
 
 the fact proved from a comparison of his 
 
 " Academiarum Examen," and " .Saints Guide," of 
 
 1654, with some of his plays i. 
 
 Webster, William, his " Curan and Argentile," 1 <> I 7 . . . i. 
 
 extracts from it i. 266. 267 
 
 " The Thracian Wonder," perhaps by 
 
 him 
 
 Whetstone, George, observations on his elegiac poems . . 
 : his poem on the death of Sir P. Sidni 
 
 Page 
 317 
 
 ;54 
 112 
 113 
 
 256 
 25 S 
 
 223 
 
 267 
 269 
 
 209 
 80 
 
 1 10 
 
 2 Go 
 
 285 
 206 
 304 
 
 1 13 
 
 204. 
 
 205 
 
 64 
 
 260 
 
 >C>\ 
 iCA
 
 index. 353 
 
 Vol. Pogo 
 Whetstone, Gforge, his poem on the death of Sir P. Sidney, 
 
 quotation from it i. 62 
 
 , Spenser's " Shepherd's Calendar" 
 
 attributed by him to Sir'P. Sidney i. 64, 67, 
 
 his " English Mirror," 1586, quoted ii. 32, 
 
 33, 34, 3.5 
 his " Mirror for Magistrates of 
 
 Cities," 1584, quoted ii. 37, 240, 241 
 
 his " Enemy of Unthriftiness," 
 
 1586, with a list of his productions .' ii. 38 
 
 WitUer's Tale, the. compared with R. Greene's " Dn- 
 
 rastus and Fawnia" ii. 177 
 
 Wither, George, his voluminousness as an author ii. 22 
 
 his Satire to the King quoted ii. 23 
 
 Hugh Peters' jest concerning ii. 24 
 
 his " Abuses stript and whipt" quoted .. ii. 22 
 
 his praise of the poets of his time ii. 48 
 
 Woman's Prize, by Fletcher, female actor in ii. 320 
 
 Wood, Anthony, his account of Fitzgeffrey i. 18 
 
 Wootton, Edward, mentioned by Sidney in his " Apology 
 
 of Poetry," .",1)5 ii. 107 
 
 Wootton, Sir Henry, Bastard's epigram to ii. 108 
 
 Worde, Wynkyn de, his " Book of Keruynge" ii. 7<> 
 
 Yorkshire Tragedy, probably bv 'Die. Nash i. j:i 
 
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