' V s9^ m: 9%sl THEATRUM POETARUM ANGLICANORUM. THEATRUM POETARUM ANGLICANORUM. CONTAINING THE NAMES AND CHARACTERS OF ALL THE ENGLISH POETS, THE REIGN OF HENRY III. TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. BY EDWARD PHILLIPS, THE NEPHEW OF MILTON. FUST PUBLISHED IN 167$, AND NOW ENLAEGED BY ADDITIONS TO EVERY ARTICLE FROM SUBSEQUENT BIOGRAPHERS AND CRITICS. - - - O o oA/3o? oiiTiva. Mejcci Hefiod Theog. v. 96. CANTERBURY: HINTED BY SIMMONS AND K I B K B V, 'OB J. WHITE, FLEET-STREET, LONDON, l80O. i ^ ^ ( iii ) SOI 9S4 cO ADVERTISEMENT. r^ pDWARD PHILLIPS, fon of Edward Phillips, who came from Shrewsbury, and rofe to be fecondary in the Crown- office, by Anne, fifter of John Milton, the poet, was born in the Strand, near Charing Crofs, in Auguft 1630, and received his carlicft education under his uncle. Milton, after his return from Italy, " hired," fays Johnfon, " a lodging at the houfe of one RufTell, a taylor, in St. Bride's church- yard, and undertook the education of John and Edward Phillips, his lifter's fons. Finding his rooms too little, he took a houfe and garden in Alderfgate- ftreet, which was not then fo much out of the world as it is now : and chofe his dwelling at the upper end of a paflage, that he might avoid rhe noife of the ftreet. Here he received more boys to be boarded and inftructed. " After re- Az latino ( 5' 5 lating the plan of education purfued here, he adds, with his ufual acrimony : " From f( this wonder-working academy, I do not > ~ C OACJOJ GIITIVU fJ.UOCH Hefiod. Theojjn, London. .Printed for Charles Smith, at the Angel, near the Inner Temple-gate in Fleet-ftreet. ' Anno mdclxxv." A 3 The ( vi ) The late poet-laureatWarton, in his edi- tion of Milton's juvenile poems, * fays, " There is good reafon to fuppofe, that Mil- t( ton threw many additions and corrections " into the The atrum Poetarum,^^ " publified by his nephew Edward Phillips, " /;? 1675. It contains criticijms far above " the tajle oj that period : among tbefe is the " judgment on Sbakejpeare-f, which was not " then, I believe, the general opinion, and " which perfectly coincides both with the fen- " timents and words of Milton in U Allegro : '* Or fweeteft Shakefpeare, fancy's child Warble his native wood-notes wild." Again, in his Hiftory of Englifh Poetry, J he fays, tc Phillips* Milton s nephew, in a " work which I think dijcovers many traces of " Milton s hand, calls Mar low ,"%&c. " Such " criticifms," he adds, " were ?wt common ' { after the national tafle had beenjujl corrup- " ted by thefalfe and capricious refinements of Lord Buckhurft, Lord Vaux, Lord Oxford, fir Philip Sydney, and fir Walter Raleigh. The poems of thefe eminent men will appear pleafing and ( xlix ) and harmonious, even to thofe who are little accuftomed to our ancient writers; while the writings of fcholars of that day are for the mod part pedantic, harlh, and difgufting. Nor in- deed is this confined to poetry : the fame dif- ference appears in profe. While we are reading the letters or memorials of Lord Efiex, or any other ftatefman of Elizabeth's reign, of well- known abilities, we fliall be delighted with an eafy vigor of ftyle, which we (hall look for in vain in the affected publications of profefied authors. In this volume are recorded more than one hundred and fixty Englilh poets, who lived pre- vious to the period at which the bookfellers in- ftructed Dr. Johnfon to commence his celebra- ted lives ; and among them are included two names, whom one alone of all their fucceflbrs can rival. And furely it will not be denied, that they who are unacquainted with the works of the molt eminent of thofe, of whom I have here given an account, muft have a very imper- fect idea of the compafs, of the profufe and copious fancy, of the energy, and the fimpli- city of Engli(h poetry. In 1687, one William Winftanley*, a con- temptible fcribbler, originally a barber, ftole all the characters of the Englifh poets out of Phil- He was alfo author of " Sele&L'.ves of Englilh Worthies" prin* jj cipally ( 1 ) lips's book, and formed a volume which he en- titled " The lives of the mod famous Englifh poets". &c. 8vo. In 1723, Giles Jacob publifhed in two vo- lumes 8vo. " The Poetical Regifter : or the " lives and characters of all the Englifh poets, " with an account of their writings. Adorned < with curious fculptures engraven by the bed " matters." The fecond volume contains the Dramatic Poets. In the firft volume are re- corded about 217 names , the ancient and mo- dern being mixed together in alphabetical order - t and many of the latter of fuch obfcurity, that I believe they are fcarcely any where elfe to be met with. The book is a little fuller, (as it in- cludes fubfequent writers,) and perhaps fome- what more exact in recording titles of books, than Winftanley's but it is nearly of the fame mean and defpicable nature as the other. This author is thus recorded by Pope in the Dun^ ciad, B. in, 1. 149 : * Jacob, the fcourge of grammar mark with awe, Norlefs revere him blunderbufs of law." He was the fon of a malfter at Rumfey in cipally ftolen from Loyd, (as Loyd ftole from Fuller) <* Hiftorical Rarities". " The Loyal Martyrology" and fome finale lives, all 8vo' lie muft not be confounded with an ingenious man of this name, who perilhed inEddyftonc light-houfe, the publiftierof theViews of Aud- ley-End.See Walpole's AnecdQtes of Painting. Hamp- ( if ) Hampfhire, and bred to the law, on which he publifhed many compilations ; and among the reft, the Legal Dictionary, which goes by his name, and is in ufe to this day. Thomas Coxeter afterwards laid the [foun- dation for the ufeful work, which is known by the name of " Cibber's Lives of the Poets.% Coxeter was born of an ancient and refpectable family at Lechlade in Gloucefterfhire, in 1689, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he wore a civilian's gown, and about 17 10 abandoning the civil law and every other pro- feffion, came to London. Here continuing without any fettled purpofe, he became ac- quainted with bookfellers and authors, and amafied materials for a biography of our poets. He had a curious collection of old plays, and was the firft who formed the fchemc adopted by Dodflcyt of publifhing a collection of them. In 1744 he circulated propofals for publifhing a new edition of the plays of May, with notes and a life, and took that opportunity to com- plain of Dodfley's invafion of his plan, and o the new edition, which he calls a fpurious one, of Sackville's Gorboduc by Spcnce, 1736 ; on which account he intended to add a more cor- reft edition of that play with Sackville's other poetical works, his life, and a glofiary. In 1747 he was appointed fecretary to a fociety fo r d 2 the ( 1" ) the encouragement of an Eflay towards a com- plete Englifh Hiftory ; under the aufpices of which appeared the firft volume of Carte's Hiftory of England. He died of a fever on Eafter-day, 19th April 1747, ast. 59*. War- ton calls him a faithful and induftrious collec- tor in our old Englifh literature. -f- In 1753 were publifhed in five volumes duod. The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and " Ireland to the time of Dean Swift. Com- " piled from ample materials fcattered in a va- ' the manufcript of Shiels is now in my poffeffion.' Very probably he had trufted to Shiels's word, and never looked at it fo as to com- pare it with f The Lives of the Poets,' as published nder Mr. Cib ber's name. What became of that manufcript I know not. I fup. pofe it was thrown into the fire in that impetuous combuftion of pa- pers, which Johnfon, I think, rafhly executedwhen morlbundus." Bofwell's Life of Johnfon, 8vo. ii. p. 392, 394. J It appears by a letter of Mr. Edward Dil!y, the bookfeller, to Bofwell 1 ( lv" ) Englifti Poetry, confiding of thofe works, which they conceived to be mod popular, con- tracted with Dr. Johnibn to furnifli them with a fhort life, in the way of Preface to every au- thor whom they had felected. Hence originated his lad great work ' The Lives of the Englifli Poets," of which the firft four volumes in duo- decimo, were publifhed early in 1779, and the remaining volumes in 1781. It was begun in his fixty-eighth year, and finifhed in his feventy- fecond, and affords ample proof of the full vi- gor with which he ftill enjoyed his faculties. It contains only 52 lives, beginning with Cow- ley, and ending with Lyttelton : and of thefe at lead ten,* as the work profeffed to be a fe- lection, might furely have been fpared. Of this celebrated work I have already in part expreffed my opinion. Bofwell, the ufe- ful, yet too frequently injudicious, panegyrid of Johnibn, has, I think, failed egregioufly in fixing its merits with precifion. He fays, that Johnfon " delighted to expatiate upon the va- rious merits of the Ersglilh Poets ; upon the Bofwell, dated 26 Sept. 1777, that this undertaking originated from the fmall edition of Bell and the Martins at Edinburgh, which the London bookfellers confidereJ as an invafion ot what they called their Literary Property, and that the original intention was to publifh an elegant and accurate edition of all the pouts from Chaucer to the pre- sent time. Bofw. ii, p. 484. * Pomfret, Stepney, Walfb, Smith, Duke, King, Sprat, Halifax, Sheffield, n77* " It IS " as Oldys fays, " fie. only to teach his fcholars the pompous infigni- ficance and empty fwell of pedantry and bom- bait."f The next compiler was Mr. Byfhe, who pur- fues the general defign of the former's Parnaf- fus, and therefore calls his work, " The Art of Englilh Poetry." Lond. 8vo. 1703, and two vol. i2mo. And he afterwards publifhed a larger collection in 4 volumes i2mo. which he entitled ' The Britifh Parnafius.";}; In 1718, Mr. Gildon brought forth his g. Did. ut. fupr. p. 3 15. f Gen. B, Di(5t. hi. p. 3 14. e 3 * lowed ( Ixx ) " lowed a fort of partial afrtcftion, efpecially on " account of my mother, to this village. I " know how much of ruftic fimpiicity there is " in this way of talking; but a ruftic I am, " and a ruftic I am proud to be, only wifhing " 1 had the knowledge proper to fupport that " character in its true refpectability."* In 1765, Dr. Thomas Percy publifned his " Reliques of Antient Englifh Poetry," in three volumes, 12010. containing old heroic ballads, fongs, and other pieces of our earlier poets, with fome few of a later date. It contains alio very fhort biographical notices of about four-and- twenry poets. This ingenious work, which re- vived the tafte for our old poets, is too well known to require being here particularized. A fourth edition was publifhed in 1^94, by the Rev. Thomas Percy, Fellow of St. John's Col- lege, Oxford, the nephew of the author, who was many years fince preferred to the Bifhopric of Dromore in Ireland. In 1777, Mr. Evans publifhed his " Old Ballads." In 1787, Mr. Henry Hendley, A. B. of Trinity College, Oxford, publifhed, " Select Beauties of ancient Englifh Poetry**, with re- marks," in 2 volumes 8vo. He was, I believe, fon of the Rev. Mr- Headley, of North-Wal- Iham, in Norfolk, and educated at Norwich * Annals of Agriculture, iv, p. 315. under ( ixxi ) under Dr. Parr. Before he was twenty, he pub- 1 idled a volume of poems, which are faid to have great merit; and was a contributor to the " Olla Podrida," and a frequent correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine under the figna- ture T. C. O but died at Norwich, on 15 Nov. 178S,* at the early age of 23. He was an in- timate friend of the late lamented Rev. William Benwell, of Caverfliam, near Reading, who died in 1796, and of the prefent poet Mr. Wil- liam Bowles, who has celebrated his memory in lbme pathetic verfes. His " Specimens'* certainly (hew a cultivated tafte, and an extent of information, very extraordinary in fo young a man; and there are 32 pages of lively Bio- graphical fketches of nine and twenty poets, from whofe works there are extracts. But he ufed fo little diligence in examining the fources of biography, as to fay he could give no far- ther account of Habington than was furnifhed by Langbaine, when he might have read in '* Wood's Athenas," a long article appropriated to him. The book is badly printed on mean paper. In 1785, Jofeph Ritfon, efq. of Gray's Inn, Deputy High Bailiffof the Duchy of Lancaster publiflied a fclefl collection of Englilh Son<*s in three volumes 8vo. and he has fince pub- iilhed a volume of ancient Songs, 1789, 8vo. a Gent. Mag. Nov. 1788. c 4 volume ( lxxii ) volume of pieces of ancient popular poetry, 8vo. ancient poems on the fubjecl: of Robin Hood, 1795, 8vo. and the " Engliih Anthology," three volumes 8vo.* In 1790, came out ahonymoufly, in one vo- lume 8vo. " Specimens of the early Englifh Poets." London. Printed for Edwards, Pall- Mali. This is a beautiful fpecimen of typo- graphy, and is in fome refpects a judicious and entertaining mifcellany, arranged in chronolo- gical order ; but the mutilation of feveral of the poems at the mercy of the editor, with only a general acknowledgement in the preface, feems very reprehenfible.f He has alfo publifhed a colleaion of Scottifh Songs, 2 vol. nmo. Mr. John Pinkerton has alfo given to the world two volumes of ** Ancient Scotifh Poems, never before in print," 8vo. 1786. f Mr. Nichols's Collection of Poems in 8 volumes nmo, with a variety of very ufeful and entertaining Biographical notes, is not men- tioned here, becaufe it does not contain any poems of fo early a date> as th period of my prefent volume. o ( Ixxiii ) Of the Dramatic Poets, of whom I have in- cluded no more in the plan of my work than were mentioned by Phillips, there is an ample and accurate account in the " Biographia Dra- matica," 2 volumes, 8vo. 1782. This is-mo- deftly called by the learned editor only a new edition of a work published in 1764, in two vo- lumes i2mo. entitled " The Companion to the Play-houfe," by Mr. David Erfkine Baker, who was a fon of Mr. Henry Baker, a diligent and well-known naturalift, who died 25 Nov. 1774, aged more than 70. The fon was a young man of genius and learning, who having been adopted by an uncle, a filk-throwfter, in Spitalfields, fucceeded him in the bufinefs; but wanted the prudence and attention which are neceffary to fecure profperity in trade. He married the daughter of Mr. Clendon, a reverend emperic. Like his father, he was both a philofopher and a poet, and wrote feveral occafional poems in the periodical publications, much admired , but fo violent was his turn for dramatic per- formance, that he repeatedly engaged with the lowed ftrolling companies, in fpite of every ef- fort ( Ixxiv ) fort of his father to reclaim him.* Mr. Baker is faid to have had the ufe of ibme ;MSS. of Coxeter, befides the printed labours of his pre- deceflbrs. " He was," fays his editor, " pof- feffed of abilities fully competent to his under- taking."f But the prefent work contains the addition of the titles of above a thoufand dra- mas, befides the dates and fizes and various edi- tions of works. The firft foundation of a work of this kind, was a lift printed in 1656, of fuch plays as were then commonly fold, and prefixed to GonVs, Tragi-comedy of " The Carelefs Shepherdefs." This lilt was augmented by Francis Kirkman, a bookfeller, in 1661. In 1687, Gerard Langbaine, fon of the Pro- voft of Queen's College, Oxford s produced a new Catalogue in 4to. entitled " Momus Tri- umphans." Warton fays, " he was firft placed with a bookfeller in London, but at 16 years of age, became a Gentleman Commoner of Uni- verfity College, Oxford. His literature chiefly confifted in a knowledge of the novels and plays of various languages ; and he was a conttant and critical attendant of the Play-houfes many years. The next year he added a new title, viz # * A New Catalogue of Englifh Plays.* Lond. 1688, 4to. He then digefted his work anew, Gen. B. Diet, ii, p. 41; f Pref. to the Bios. Dram U. and ( Ixxv ) and entitled it, ' an Account of the Englilh Dramatic Poets,' See. Oxon. 8vo. 169 1 . Having retired to Oxford in the year 1690, he died the next year, having am a (Ted a collection of more than a thoufand printed plays, mafques and in- terludes." Mr. Gildon publifhed in 1698, 8vo. an ab- ftract of this work, entitled " the Lives and Characters of the Englilh Dramatic Authors," with the addition of a few later writers. This perfon, who has been mentioned before for his collection of poetry, was born at Gillingham in Dorfetlhire, about i666< He was a writer by profelfion, wrote feveral plays and other poems, and has obtained a place on that ac- count among Cibber's Lives : but he is better known by the niche he holds in the Dunciad. He died 12 Jan. 1723; when it was faid in " Boyer's Political State," he was a perfon of great literature but mean genius, who having attempted feveral kinds of writing, never gained much reputation in any."* In 1714, Mr. Mears, a bookfeller, printed a catalogue of Plays, which afterwards was con- tinued to 1726, " but it is only calculated for the ule of his (hop, and is defective from the frequent want of dates, and the total neglect of mentioning the fizes of each performance."-!- * Cibber's Lives, iii, p. 339. f Biog. Dram. IntroJ. lxix. Jacob's ( Ixxvi ) Jacob's book before-mentioned,* contains In the fecond volume the Dramatic Poets. It is founded on Langbaine's : but improved in one particular, by placing the performances of each writer in their proper chronological order. f The next performance was a lift of all the Dramatic Authors, with fome account of their lives, and of all the dramatic pieces ever pub- limed intheEngliih language to the year 1747," 8vo. It was added to a play, called *' Scan- derbeg," by Mr. Whincop, who feems to have received afiiilance in the execution of it from Mr. Motley. In 1752, Mr. Chetwood, prompter at the Theatre, Drury - Lane, published " The Britifh Theatre; containing the Lives of the Englifh Dramatic Poets, with an account of all their plays : together with the lives of mod of principal Actors as well as Poets. To which is prefixed, a fliort view of the rife and progrefs of the Englifli Stage," i2mo. It is a moil re- prehenfible performance, confiding of the groi- feft blunders and moil ihamefulfalfehoods. Befides this, there have been publimed " The Theatrical Records," nmo. 1756, and "The * P. 1. f Biog Dram, ut fupr. J Bto^. Dram, ut fupr. Ibid, Play- ( lxxvii ) Play-houfe Pocket Companion," 12 mo. 1779, both equally unworthy with the other.* # * "& '4f * * * Thus far had I written many months ago, fince which, the prefs I employed having been occupied by more urgent bufinefs, my thoughts and my labours have fallen into a different chan- nel ; and I cannot now recall to my mind the additional materials, by which I meant to have extended my Preface. Perhaps it is better, the preface, I believe, is already too long, Thus then I difmifs this humble compilation (for let me again repeat, that it does not make the frnalleft pretenfions to any thing moref ), to Biog. Dram, ut fupr. f In compiling, we almoft neceffarily ufe not ^nly the materials, but frequently the very words of thofe, from whole labours we bar-, row. Atleaft minute variations, without improvement, feem to me a very filly affectation, and even a mean attempt to put on the ap- pearance without the reality, of being original. I have intended and hope I have never omitted, to be very fcrupulous in my references to thofc books from whence I have copied. The compilation was begun in Augu i 797, and has fince proceeded flowly, and at long intervals, through the prefs ! its ( lxxviii ) its fate. Nearly fifteen years haveelapfed fince I firft at a very early age became a candidate for literary fame : and it cannot be expected that I fhould again come forward with the fame trem- bling anxiety and fear as I then did. At the fame time, were I of a timid temper, I might find fufficient caufe to frighten me. I had not then difturbed a nefl of hornets, who are now deter- mined by every wicked intrigue to blaft my re- putation lyars, flanderers, and back-biters,* to what will not beings fo low defcend ? By low, I do not mean low in birth or fortunes, (though perhaps of thefe they may not have more than fufficient) but low in fpirit, in men- tal powers, in intellectual culture, in difpofition, habits, and conduct ! And have I merited all this hatred ? Are the characters of folly, and meannefs fo facred, that we cannot touch upon them even in fiction, without having fwarms of them inftantly buzzing round us for the pur- pofe of Hinging us to death ? The rod of vengeance is in my hands, but I will not ufe it to crufh thefe diminutive infects, however ve- nomous. Let them not hope that they can ef- fectually poifon the wide fources of literary re- putation ! As well might they think from a little vial of the ftrongeft ingredients, to poifon the Are letters, with namet to them, addreffed where, it is fuppofed, they cannot be known to the perfon attacked, who has therefore no opportunity of defending himfelf, lefs atrocious than anonymous llander I cxpan- ( lxxix ) expanfive waters of the Ocean ! But a truce with them in future I have done, and let them " leave me to my repofe." Their hatred, I allure them, will be no violent fource of mor- tification to me ! " I care not, (Malice,) what you me deny, You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot (hut the windows of the fky, Thro' which Aurora Ihtews her brightening face ; You cannot barmy conftant feet to trace The woods and lawns, bv living ftream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres grace, And I their toys to the great children leave : Of fancy, reafon, virtue, nought can me bereave l"* Caftle of Indolence. END OF THE PREFACE. Dec. i. 1799. THEATRUM POETARUM^ ENGLISH POETS. ROBERT of GLOUCESTER. ' ROBERT nrnamcd of Glocefter, a not " altogether obfcure writer in the reign of Hen. " 3d. and feeming to pafs for a poet in the " efteem of Camden, who quotes divers of his " old Englifh Rhythms in praife of his native '* country England." Such is the earlieft Englifh poet, who wrote in his native tongue, mentioned by Phillips. Nor have the later and deeper refearches of Mr. Warton commenced with an earlier name than this. The following is the account of this moft able modern critic. " The firft poet whole name occurs in the reign of Edw. I. and indeed in thefe annals, is Robert of Glocefter, a monk of the abbey of Glocefter. He has left a poem of confiderablc length, which is a hiftory of England in verfe, from Brutus to the reign of B Edward 2 THEATRUM POETARUM. Edward the firft. It was evidently written after the year 1278, as the poet mentions king Arthur's fumptuous tomb, erected in that year before the high altar of Glaftonbury church ; and he declares himfelf a living witnefs of the remarkably difmal weather, which diftinguifhed the day on which the battle of Evefham was fought in the year 1 265. From thefe and other circumftances this piece appears to have been compofed about the year 1280. It is exhibited in the manufcripts, is cited by many anti- quaries, and printed by Hearne, in the Alex- andrine meafure : but with equal probability might have been written in four-lined ftanzas. This rhyming chronicle is totally deftitute of art and imagination. The author has cloathed the fables of Geoffery of Monmouth in rhyme, which have often a more poetical air in Geof- frey's profe. The language is not much more eafy, or intelligible than that of many of the Norman-Saxon poems: it is full of Saxonifms, which indeed abound more or lefs in every writer before Gower and Chaucer. But this obfcurity is perhaps owing to the weftern dia- lect, in which our monk of Glocefter was edu- cated. Provincial barbarifms ate naturally the growth of extreme counties, and of fuch as are fituated at a diftance from the metropolis: and it is probable, that the Saxon heptarchy, which confifled THEATRUM POETARUM^ 3 confifted of a clufter of feven independent ftates, contributed to produce as many different pro- vincial dialects. In the mean time it is to be confidered that writers of all ages and languages have their affectations and Angularities, which occafion in each a peculiar phrafeology."* Of the poets mentioned by Phillips, the next in point of time is Chaucer; but the great cri- tic laft cited records a few names in the inter- vening period, which 1 fhall flightly repeat. At the clofe of the reign of Edw. I. and in the year 1303, occurs Robert be Brunne, a Gilbertine monk of the monaftery of Brunne, or Bourne, near Depyng in Lincolnfhire. He was merely a tranflator.-f His largeft work is a metrical chronicle of England. J Although much poetry began to be written about the reign of Edward the fecond, yet Mr. Warton has found only one Englifh poet of that reign whofe name has defcended to pofte- rity : This is Adam Davy or Davie, who may be placed about the year 1312. He could col- lect no circumftances of his life, but that he was marfhall of Stratford le Bow near London. The firft perfon in the reign of Edward the third, is Richard Hampole, an eremite of the * Hiftory of Englifh Poetry, I. 4K, 49. f Ibid. p. 59. + Ibid. [> Cz. Ibid. p. 214. B 2 orde: 4 THEATRUM POETARUM. order of St. Auguftine, and a doctor of divi- nity, who lived a folitary life near the nuns of Hampole, four miles from Doncafter in York- fhire.* He flourilhed in 1349. His principal pieces in Englifh rhyme are a paraphrafe of part of the book of Job, of the Lord's prayer, of the feven penitential pfalms, and the Pricke of Confcience. But his poetry has no tindture of fentiment, imagination, or elegance.-j- The next poet in fuccefiion is one who de- ferves more attention on various accounts. This is Robert Longlande, author of the poem called the " Vifion of Pierce Plowman," a fe- cular prieft, and a fellow of Oriel College in Oxford, who flourifhed about the year 1350. This poem contains a feries of diftind vifions, which the author imagines himfelf to have feen, while he was fleeping after a long ramble on Malverne-hills in Worcefterfhire. It is a fatire on the vices of almoft every profefilon : but particularly on the corruptions of the clergy, and the abfurdities of fuperftition. Thefe are ri- diculed with much humour and ipirit, couched under a ftrong vein of allegorical invention. But inftead of availing himfelf of the rifing, and rapid improvements of the Englifh lan- guage, Longland prefers and adopts the ftyle * Hiftory of Enslifh Poetrv, p. 255. f Ibid. p. 256. of THEATRUM POETARUMr 5 of the Anglo-Saxon poets. Nor did he make thefe writers the models of his language only : he iikewife imitates their alliterative verifica- tion, which confided in ufing an aggregate of words beginning with the fame letter. He has therefore rejected rhyme, in the place of which he thinks it fufficient to iubftitute a perpetual alliteration. But this impofed conftraint of feeking identical initials, and the affectation of obfolete Englifh, by demanding a conftant, and neceffary departure from the natural and ob- vious forms of exprefiion, while it circum- fcribed the powers of our author's genius, con- tributed alfo to render his manner extremely- perplexed, and to difguft: the reader with ob- fcurities. The Satire is conducted by the agency of feveral allegorical perfonages, fuch as Avarice, Bribery, Simony, Theology, Con- fcicnce, Sec-f- it would be improper to pafs over a Scotch poet of this period, who has adorned the Eng- lifh language by a drain ot verification, ex- prefiion, and poetical imagery, far fuperior to his age. He has written an heroic poem. This is John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, who was educated at Oxford, 1357, 1365, David Bruce king of Scotland, gave him a fHiftory of En^Hfli Poetry, p. i(J6, 267. B 3 pen- 6 THEATRUM POETARUM. penfion for life; as a reward for his poem called " The Hiftory of Robert Bruce, King of the Scots". It was printed at Glalgow, 167 1.* And now we are arrived at the fecond name in Phillips's Theatrum, a poet with whom the hiftory of poetry is by many fuppofed to have commenced ; and who has been pronounced by a critic of unquefttionable tafte and difcern- ment,f to be the firft Englifh verfifle^ who wrote poetically. J GEOFFRY CHAUCER. w Sir Geoffry Chaucer, the Prince and Cory- *' phasus, generally fo reputed, till this age " of our Englifh Poets, and as much as we " triumph over his old fafhion'd phrafe, and " obfolete words, one of the firft refiners of u the Englifh language. Of how great efteem " he was in the age wherein he flouriJhed, " namely, the reigns of Henry the 4th ; Henry " the 5th; and part of Henry the 6th; ap- " pears, befides his being Knight and Poet- *' Laureat, by the honor he had to be allyed by * Hiftory of Englifh Poetry, I, 3tS. f Johnf, Diftionar. pref. p. i. i Waitop, p, 341, " mar- THEATRUM POETARUMr J u marriage to the great Earl of Lancafter, John * e of Gaunt. How grear a part we have loft ** of his works above what we have extant of " him, is manifeft from an author of good " credit, who reckons up many confiderable " poems, which are not in his publifhed works; M befides the Squires Tale which is faid to be " complete in Arundel-Houfe Library .'* This great Poet was born about 1328; 2 Edw. 3. and died 25 061. 1400, (2 Hen. 4.) fo that Phillips makes a confiderable miftake in fuppofing him to have lived till the reign of Hen. 6. Chaucer had travelled into France and Italy : was a mailer of the languages of thofe countries; and had become perfonally ac- quainted with Petrarch, at the wedding of Vio- lante, daughter of Galleazzo Duke of Milan, with the Duke of Clarence. Thele excurfions added to his knowledge and relifh of the works of Dante and Boccace, as well as Petrarch. From Boccace, he borrowed " The Knight's Tale"; to which however he gave many addi- tions, and new beauties of his own. In this poem he difplays fuch powers of verification ; that we are furprifed, fays Warton, to find in a poet of fuch antiquity numbers fo flowing and nervous ; a circumdance, which greatly contributed to render Dryden's paraphrafe of this poem the moll animated and harmonious piece S THEATRUM POETARUM. piece of verification in the Englifh language,* " The Romaunt of the Rofe" is tranflated from a French poem entitled ' Le Roman de la Rofe", begun by William of Lorris, a ftudenc in jurifprudence, who died about 1260; and completed by John of Meun, a native of a little town of that name, lituated on the river Loire near Orleans, who flouriflhed about 1310.-}- " Troilus and Creffeide" is faid to be formed on an old hiftory, written by Lollius, a native of Urbino in Italy. J Whatever were Chaucer's materials, he has conftructed a poem of confi- derable merit, in which the viciffitudes of love are depicted in a ftrain of true poetry, with much pathos and fimplicity of fentiment. Pa- thetic defcription is one of Chaucer's peculiar excellences. Warton feems to think that " The Houfe of Fame" was fuggefted by fome Pro- vincial compofition. The poem contains great ftrokes of Gothic imagination, yet bordering often on the moft ideal and capricious extrava- gance.|| Pope has imitated this piece with his ufual elegance of diction, and harmony of ver- ification : but has not only mifreprefented the ftotys but marred the character of the poem. Nothing can be more ingenioufly contrived than the occafion on which Chaucer's " Canterbury * Warton, I. 367, f Ibid, p, 368. J Ibid, 384. Ibid. p. 385, R Ibid. p. 390, Tales" THEATRUM P0ETARUM.' 9 Tales" are fuppofed to be recited. A company of pilgrims, on their journey to vifit the fhrine of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury, lodge at the Tabarde-Inn in Southwark. Although ftrangers to each other, they are afiembled in one room at fupper, as was then the cuftom, and agree not only to travel together the next morning, but to relieve the fatigue of the jour- ney by telling each a ftory.f The " Tales'* are unequal, and of various merit. Few, if any, are perhaps his own invention. " The Knights Tale", one of his nobleft compofitions, has been already mentioned. That, which de- fences the next place, as written in the higher ftrain of poetry, and the poem by which Milton defcribes, and characterizes Chaucer, is " The Squire's Tale." J In the " Clerk of Oxenforde's Tale," the clerk declares in his prologues he learned it of Petrarch at Padua. But it was the invention of Boccace, and the laft in his Deca- meron. " The Tale of the Nonnes Prieft" is perhaps a ftory of Englifti growth.|| January and May, or the Marchaunts Tale," feems to be an old Lombard ftory. Dryden has mo- dernized the tale of the Nonnes Prieft j and Pope, that of January and May; intending per- haps to give patterns of the beft of Chaucer's \ Wartoji, P. yj'i, X Ib :J - P- 39 3 - Ibid.p. 4x5, || Ibid. p. 419 talcs IO THEATUM POETARUM. tales in the comic fpecies : but Warton is of opinion that the " Miller's Tale, has more true humour than either.* ' The Reves Tale," or " The Miller of Trompington" is much in the fame ftyle, but with lefs humourf. This ftory was enlarged by Chaucer from Boccace. In the clafs of humourous or fatirical tales, the " Sompnour's Tale," which expofes the tricks and extortions of the mendicant Friars, hasalfo diftinguifhed merit.J But Chaucer's vein of humour, although confpicuous in the ct Canterbury Tales," is chiefly difplayed in the characters, with which they are introduced. In thefe his knowledge of the world availed him, in a peculiar degree, and enabled him to give fuch an accurate picture of ancient manners as no cotemporary nation has tranfmitted to pofterity. It is here that we view the purfuits and employments, the cuftoms and diverfions of our anceftors, copied from the life, and reprefented with equal truth and fpi- rit, by a judge of mankind, whofe penetration qualified him to difcern their foibles, or difcri- minating peculiarities, and by an artift who underftood that proper felection of circum- flances, and thofe predominant characteriftics, which form a finifhed portrait. We are fur- *P. 4 23. t Ibid, 432. }P.433. prized THEATRUM P0ETARUM. II prized to find in fo grofs and ignorant an age, fuch talents for fatire, and for obfervation on life; qualities which ufually exert themfelves at more civilized periods, when the improved ftate of fociety, by fubtilizing our fpeculations and eftablifhing uniform modes of behaviour difpofes mankind to ftudy themfelves, and ren- ders deviations of conduct, and Angularities of character, more immediately and neceflarily the objects of cenfure and ridicule. Thefe curious and valuable remains are fpecimens of Chaucer'* native genius, unaflifted and unalloyed. The figures are all Britifh, and bear no fufpicious fignatures of clafllcal, Italian, or French imi- tation. The characters of Theophraftus are not fo lively, particular, and appropriated.* "Warton thus fums up this great poet's cha- racter, " In elevation and elegance, in harmony and perfpicuity of verfification, hefurpafles his predecefibrs in an infinite proportion : his genius was univerfal, and adapted to themes of un- bounded variety : his merit was not lcrfs in paint- ing familiar manners with humour and pro- priety, than in moving the pafiions, and in re- presenting the beautiful and the grand objects of nature with grace and fublimity. In a word, he appeared with all theluftre, and dignity of a Warton, I. 43 5. true 12 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. true poet, in an age, which compelled him to ftruggle with a barbarous language, and a na- tional want of tafte; and when to write verfes at all was regarded as a lingular qualification ."-\ JOHN GOWER. " Sir John Gowr, a very famous Englifh " poet in his time, and counted little inferior* " if not equal, to Chaucer himfelf, who was " his contemporary, and fome fay his fcholar . f IWA. n. -.-. " The 20~ THEATRUM POETARUM. w The Troy Book, or Deftruction of Troy," was firft printed 1513, by Richard Pinfon.* This poem is profeffedly a tranflation or pa- raphrafe of Guido de Colonna's romance, en- titld " Hiftoria Trojana."f It is replete with defcriptions of rural beauty, formed by a fe- lection of very poetical and picturefque cir- curnftances, and cloathed in the mod perfpi- cuous, and mufical numbers. The colouring of our author's mornings is often remarkably rich and fplendid. Two more poets remain to be mentioned un- der the reign of Henry VI. if mere tranflation merit that appellation. Thefe are Hugh Cam- peden, and Thomas Chester. The firft was a great traveller, and trans- lated into Englifli verfe the French romance of " Sidrac", which was printed 15 10, but is un- commonly rare. Thomas Cheftre appears to have been a writer for the minftrels. No anecdote of his life is preferved. He has left a poem, entitled " Sir Launfale," one of Arthur's Knights; never printed.|| * Warton, II. p. 81. f Ibid. p. 82. + Ibid. p. S5. Ibid. p. 101. t| Ibid, p. ioj. JOHN THEATRUM POETARUM. JOHN HARDING; 27 ** John Harding, a writer recorded in hiftory * c for one of the chief of his time; viz. the " reign of K. Edward the fourth, and claiming " his feat among the poetical writers, by his ** chronicle in Englifh verfe." He was of northern extraction, and educated in the family of Lord Henry Percy: and at 25 years of age, hazarded his fortunes as a volun- teer at the decifive battle of Shrewfbury, fought againfl: the Scots in 1403. He appears to have been indefatigable in examining original records, chiefly with a defign of afecrtaining the fealty due from the Scottim Kings to the crown of England. Thefe investigations feem to have fixed his mind on the ftudy of our national an- tiquities and hiftory. At length he cloathed his rtfearches in rhyme, which he dedicated un- der that form to Edw. IV. and with the title of " The Chronicle of England unto the reign of King Edward the fourth in verfe." He is con- cife and compendious in his narrative of events from Brutus to the reign of Hen. IV. he is much 2$ THEATRUM P0ETARUM." much more minute and diffufe in relating thofc affairs, of which for more than the fpace of fixty years, he was a living witncis, and which occurred from that period to the reign of Edw. IV. The poem feems to have been completed about 1470. In his final chapter, he exhorts the King to recall his rival King Henry VI, and to retlore the partifans of that unhappy prince. This work is almoft beneath criticifm, an$ fit only for the attention of an antiquary, f Jar- ding may be pronounced to be the mod impo- tent of our metrical hiftorians, eipecially when we recollect the great improvements which Englifh poetry had now received. Even Ro- bert of Gloucefter, who lived in the infancy of tafle and verification, is not to be excepted.* In this reign, the fir ft mention of the King's poet, under the name of Laureate, occurs. John Kay was appointed poet laureat to Edw. IV. The office is undoubtedly the fame as that of the King's Versifier, to whom one hundred millings were paid as an annual flipend in i25i.f John Scogan is commonly fuppofed to have been a cotemporary of Chaucer; but this is a * Warton, II. p. 12C, 127. f Ibid. p. 131. miftake. fHEATRUM POETARUM.' miftake. He was educated at Oriel College in Oxford: and being an excellent mimic, and of great pleafantry in converfation, became the fa- vourite buffoon of the court of Edw. IV. An- drew Borde, a mad phyfician and dull poet in the reign of Hen. VIII. publifhed his " Jefts," under the title of " Scogin's Jefts," which arc without humour, or invention , and give us no very favourable idea of the delicacy of the King and courtiers, who could be exhilarated by the merriments of fuch a writer.* Two didactic poets on chemiftry appeared in this reign, John Norton and George Ripley. John Norton was a native of Briftol, and the mod fkilful alchymift of his age. His poem is called the " Ordinal," or a manual of the chy- mical art.-f This poem is totally void of every poetical elegance. It was printed by Afhmole in his Theatrurfl Chemicum, 1652, 8vo. '-' Wartcn, II. p. 135. f ibid. p. 13^. GEORGE 3<> THEATRUM POETARUM,, GEORGE RIPLEY. u George Riplay, a Canon of Bridlington in , . j.S. There THEATRUM POETARUM. 39 There are three Scotch poets, whom Warton mentions at this period, William Dunbar, Gawen Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay. Thefe have adorned the prefent sera with a de- gree of fentiment and fpirit, a command of phrafeology, and a fertility of imagination not to be found in any Englifh poet, fince Chaucer and Lydgate: more efpecially, as they have left ftricking fpecimens of allegorical invention ; a fpecies of compofuion, which appears to have been for fome time almoft totally extinqu idled in England.* William Dunbar was a native of Salton in Eaft Lothian, about 1470. His molt celebrated poems are " The Thiftle and the Rofe," and " The Golden Terge."f Gawen Douglas was defcended from a no- ble family, and born 1475. In 15 13 he fled from Scotland into England, and was graci- ouily received by Hen. VIII. who in confidera- tion of his literary merit allowed him a liberal penfion. He died of the plague in London, and was buried in the Savoy church, 152 1. He was Bimop of Dunkeld. In his early years he tranflated Ovid's Art of Love. In 15 13, in the fpace of thirteen months, he tranflated into Scotch heroics the Eneid of Virgil, with Warton, II. p. 257. f Ibid. D 4 the 40 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. the additional thirteenth book by Mapheus Ve- gius. This tranflation is executed with equal fpirit and fidelity ; and is a proof that the Low- land Scotch, and Englifh languages were now nearly the fame. The feyeral books aie in- troduced with metrical prologues, which are often highly poetical ; and (hew that Douglas's proper walk was original poetry. One of his original poems, is the " Palice of Honour," a moral vifion> written in 1501 ; firft printed at London 1553.* Sir David Lyndefay appears to have been employed in feveral offices about the perfon of James the Vth, from the infancy of that mo- narch, by whom he was much beloved ; and at length, on account of his fingular fkill in heraldry, was Knighted, and appointed Lion King of Arms of Scotland. His principal per- formances are " The Dreme," and " The Mo- narchie."f * Warton, II. p. 280, 293, 294. f Ibid. p. 295. JOHN TflEATRUM EOETARUAf. 4 1 JOHN SKELTON. " John Skekon, a jolly Englifli rimer, and *' I warrant yc accounted a notable poet, as " poetry went in thofe days, namely King Ed- tl ward the fourth's reign, when doubtlefs good " poets were fcarce, for however he had the " good fortune to be chofen poet laureat, me- " thinks he hath a miferable loofe rambling ftyle." Moll of Skelton's poems were written in the reign of Hen. VIII. But, as he was laureated at Oxford, about 1489, Warton confiders him as belonging to the fifteenth century. Skelton having ftudied in both our univerfities, was promoted to the rectory of Difs in Norfolk. But for his buffooneries in the pulpit, and his fatirical ballads againft the mendicants, he was feverely cenfured, and perhaps fufpended. Theie perfecutions only ferved to quicken his ludi- crous difpofition, and to exafperate the acrimony of his iatire. Me now vented his ridicule in rhyming libels-, and at length, daring to attack the dignity of Cardinal Wolley, lie was ciofely puriued 42 THE AT RUM POET ARUM. purfued by the officers of that powerful mi- nifter, and taking flicker in the fancluary of Weftminfter abbey, was kindly entertained, and protected by abbot Iflip, to the day of his death. He died, and was buried in the neighbouring church of St. Margaret in 1529. He was patronized by Henry Algernoon Percy, the fifth Earl of Northumberland, who encouraged Skelton, almoft the only poet of the reign of Henry the feventh, to write an elegy on the death of his father, which is yet extant.* It is in vain to apologize for the coarfenefs, obfcenity, and fcurrility of Skelton, by faying that his poetry is tinctured with the manners of his age. Skelton would have been a writer without decorum at any period. -j- His charac- terise vein of humour is capricious and gro- tefque. If his whimfical extravagances ever move our laughter, at the fame time they fhock our fenfibility. His feftive levities are not only vulgar and indelicate, but frequently want truth and propriety. His fubjtcts are of- ten as ridiculous as his metre : but he lome- times debafes his matter by his verfification. On the whole, his genius feems better fuited to low burlefque, than to liberal and manly fatire .J * Warton, II. p. 338. f Ibid, p. 341. * Ibid. p. 34* HKNRY THEATRUM POETARUM. 43 HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURRY. * c Henry Howard, the moft noble Earl of " Surry, who flourishing in the time of King " Henry the 8th, as his name is fufikiently " famous for the martial exploits of that fa- " mily for many generations, fo deferves he, " had he his due, the particular fame of learn- " ing, wit, and poetic fancy, which he was " thought once to have fufficiently made ap- " pear in his publiflied poems, which ne- ' verthelefs are now fo utterly forgotten, as " though they had never been extant; fo an- " tiquated at prefcnt, and as it were out of " fafiiion, is the ftyle and way of poetry of 44 that age; whereas an englilh writer of thofe " times, in a trcatife called the u Art of Eng- " lifh Poefie," alledges, that Sir Th. Wiat the " elder, and Henry Earl of Surry were the two *' chieftains, who having travelled into Italy " and there tailed the fweet and (lately mea- " fures and ftyle of the Italian poefie, greatly ** poliPned our rude and homely manner of " vulvar 44 THEATRUM POETARUM.' " vulgar poefie from what it had been before, <: and may therefore juftly be fhewed to be the *' reformers of our englifh metre and ftyle." Warton remarks that " Surrey is praifed by Waller, and Fenton ; and that he feems to have been a favourite with Pope. Pope, in Wind- for Foreft, having compared his patron Lord Granville with Surrey, he was immediately reprinted (by Sewellj and again by Curl, in 171 7) but without attracting many readers." He adds that this afTertion of Phillips regard- ing the oblivion of Surrey's poetry in 1674, is an inftance of the rapid revolutions of our language.* His writings have again attracted notice within thefe few years : and they deferve every celebrity and attention. Neither his lan- guage, nor the harmony of his verification are fo remote from thofe of the prefent age as might be expected* His fentiments are for the moft part natural and unaffected ; arifing from his own feelings, and dictated by the prefent cir- cumftances. His poetry is alike unembar- rafiTed by learned allufions, or elaborate con- ceits, -f- Nor were his talents, confined to fen- timent alone j they were adapted to defcriptive poetry ; and the reprefentation of rural ima- * Hiftory of E. Poetry, vol. III.p, n, f Warton ut fupra, p. 12, gery, tHEATRUM POETARUM. 45 gery.* He was alfo fitted for the more folid and laborious parts of literature. He tranf- lated the fecond and fourth books of Virgil's .flineid into blank verfe-, the firft inftance of that kind in the language ;f a noble attempt to break the bondage of rhyme.J On the whole, Warton pronounces that for his juft- nefs of thought, correctnefs of ftyle, and pu- rity of exprefiion, he may be pronounced the firft EngliQi clafiical poet. He was beheaded by the cruel tyranny of Hen. VIII. under pre- tence of treafon, 19 Jan. 154- SIR THOMAS WYAT. " Sir Thomas Wiat of Allington Caftle, in '* Kent; a perfon of great efteem and reputa- " tion in the reign of King Henry the 8th, with " whom for his honefty and fingular parrs, he " was in high favour ; which neverthtlefs he " had like to have loft about the bufinefs of " Anne Buliein, had not his prudence brought " him faf'ely off. For his translation of David's '* pfalms into englifn metre, and other poetical " writings, Leland forbears not to compare him s Warton ut fiipra, p. 19. f Ibid. p. :r. J Ibid. p. 24. Ibid. p. 17 46 THEATRUM POETARUM. " to Dante and Petrarch. Being fen tEmbafTador " from King Henry to the Emperor Charles " the fifth, then in Spain; he died of the pef- " tilence in the well: country, before he could " take ftiipping, an. 1541." Warton fays, he is confefledly inferior to Surrey in harmony of numbers, perfpicuity of expreffion, and facility of phrafeology. Nor is he equal to Surrey in elegance of fentimenr, in nature and fenfibility. The truth is, his ge- nius was of the moral and didactic fpecies: and his poems abound more in good fenfe, fatire, and obfervations on life, than in pathos, or ima- gination.* He may jultly be efteemed the firft polilhed Engliflb fatirift.-f* Wood J and Warton afTert, that being fent to condud the Empe- ror's ambaflador from Falmouth to London, from too eager and a needlefs defire of execut- ing his commiflion with difpatch and punctua- lity, he caught a fever by riding in an hot day, and in his return died on the road at Shirburn, set.' 38. He left iffue by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Brooke, Lord Cobham, the un- fortunate Sir Thomas Wyat, who was beheaded in the-reign of Q^ Mary for an infurreclion in Kent. * Warton, p. 29. f Ibid, p. 3 3. + Athens, f. 60. GEORGE THEATRUM POETARUM. 47 GEORGE BOLEYN, VISCOUNT ROCHFORD. * George Bulleo, Lord Rochford, Brother ** to Queen Anne, 2d wife to K. Henry the " 8th, among other things hath the fame of " being the author of Songs and Sonnets, " which doubtlefs wanted not the applaufe of 41 thofe times." To the poems of Surry and Wyat, in the Edition of Tottel, in J 557, in quarto, are an- nexed thofe of uncertain authors. This latter collection forms the firft printed poetical mif- cellany in the Englifh language. Many of thefe pieces are much in the manner of Surry and Wyat, which was the falhion of the times. They are all anonymous ; but pro- bably Sir Francis Bryan, George Bolevn, Viscount Rochford, and Lord Vaux, ail profeffed rhymers and ionnet writers, were large contributors.* The hiitory of this accomplifhed young no- : Warton, III. p. 41, blerr.an 48 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. bleman, who was fufpe&ed of a criminal fami- liarity wiih his unfortunate fitter, the Queen, is well known. He was cruelly facrificed to the jealoufy and ficklenefs of the bloody Henry, by being beheaded on Tower-hill, 17 May 1536.* His poems are now loft, unlefs fuch as may be contained in the above men- tioned collection, which cannot now be diftin- gui Hied from the reft. LORD VAUX. " Nicholas Lord Vaux, a poetical writer u among the nobility, in the reign of King " Henry the 8th ; whole commendation, faith " the author of the Art of Englifh Poefy, lyeth " chiefly in the facility of his metre, and the " aptnefs of his defcriptions, fuch as he takes " upon him to make, namely in fnndry of his " fongs, wherein he fheweth the counterfeit " action very lively and pleafantly." The name of Nicholas, Warton has proved to be a miftake. Lord Vaux the poet, muft * See Wood's Athens, I. 44. Walpole's R, and N. authors; and Warton utfupra, have THEATRUM POETARUM? 49 have been Lord Thomas, (the fon of Lord Nicholas) who was fummoned to parliament in 153 1, and feems to have lived till the latter end of the reign of Queen Mary. Two poems in the collection abovementioned are known to have been written by Lord Vaux : " A dyttie or fonnet made by the Lord Vaus, in the time of the noble Queen Mary reprefenting the image of Death.'* This is what is vulgarly faid to have been written on his death-bed, and is reprinted in Percy's Ballads, and Anderfon's Collection of Poets. The other is " The Af- fault of Cupid, upon the fort, in which the lover's heart lay wounded." This is alfo re- printed by Anderfon. Great numbers of Vaux's poems are extant in the " Paradife of Dainty Devires;" another colle&ion published in 1578, in quarto. There was another favourite poet of the fame period generally clafTed with Lord Rochford, and Lord Vaux, but not mentioned by Phil- lips. This was Sir Francis Bryan, Wyat's particular friend. He was born of a good fa- mily, educated at Oxford, employed in fevcral honourable embaflies during the reign of tlen. the VIII. and gentleman of the Privy Chamber to that king.* He was Captain of the Light * Wood's At)i. I. 75. E Hori'e, 50 THEATRUM POETARUM. Horfe, under Edward Duke of Somerfet, Lieu- tenant-General of the Army againft the Scots, and made Banneret by the Protecttor imme- diately after the battle of MufTelborough, about 27 Sept. 1547.* He died Chief Judiciary of Ireland, at Waterford, i548.f He was ne- phew to John Bourchier, Lord Berners, the franflator of Froiflart. He tranflated from French, Guevara's DifTertation on the Life of a Courtier, Lond. 1548, 8- Several of the poems by uncertain authors, beforememioned, are alfo fuppofed to have been the productions of Bryan. There is one other principal poet of this day, who has been rcfcued by Warton from total oblivion. This perfon's name was Nicholas Grimoald; a native of Huntingdonshire, edu- cated both at Cambridge and Oxford. He is. the iecond Engliih poet after Lord Surrey who wrote in blank verfe. He wrote a poem on the death of Marcus Tullius Cicero ; and another on the death of oroas, an Egyptian Aftronomer, both printed in Tottel's collection, 1557, with the initials N. G. Warton fays that as a writer of verfes in rhyme, he yields to none of his cotemporaries, for a mafterly choice of chafte expreflions and the concife ele- * Wood's Ath. I. 73. f Warton,, III. p 42. gancies THEATRUM POETARUM. 5 I gancies of didactic verification. A third fpe- cimen of early blank verfe was by William Vallans, 1590, in a " Tale of Two Swannes," which under a poetic fiction defcribes the fitua- tion and antiquities of feveral towns in Hert- ford (hire.* Edmund Lord Sheffield, created a Baron by Edw. VI. and killed by a butcher in the Norfolk infurrection, is faid by Bale to have written ibnnets in the Italian manner.-f- " It would be unpardonable," fays Warton, " to difmifs Tottel's valuable mifcellany with- out acknowledging our obligations to him, who deferves highly of Englifti literature, for having collected at a critical period, and pre- ferved in a printed volume, fo many admira- ble fpecimens of antient genius, which would have mouldered in manufcript, or perhaps from their detached and fugitive ftate of exiftence, their want of length, the capricioufnefs of tafte, the general depredations of time, inattention, and other accidents, would never have reached the prefent age. It feems to have given birth to two favorite and celebrated collections of the fame kind, TheParadife of Dainty Devifes; be- forementioned, and England's Helicon, which appeared in the reign of Elizabeth.";); '> Warton ut fuprn, p 65. f Ib;d. * Ibid. p. 69. E 2 SIR $ THEATRUM POETARUM. SIR THOMAS MORE. ** Sir Thomas More, a great credit and or- " nament in his time, of the Englifh nation, . | Otl.ec, in Kent, His fun N'i, fcrjeant of the cellar to (^ 1,'../.. uik'i died 1 ; ;] And his other '\>n Brian disd 1604. So-i Thorpe'., R -. Rolf. 815. Hailed':, Kcr.t, I. p. 66, 73. Lod^e'i lu:! IV.-i .!.,-, IV. 107. ITiOIlk jj8 THEATRUM POETARUM. field, a native of Bury, and monk of die ab- bey there, and a dealer in the fanaticifms of chemiftry.* To this reign Mr. Warton affigns " The Tournament of Tottenham," and fuppofed to have been written by Gilbert Pilkington. To the fame period he afcribes The original Ballad of " The Notbrowne Maid," which Prior has beautifully paraphrafed.-f- And he adds, that it is highly probable that the metrical romances of" Richard Cuer de Lyon," " Guy Earl of Warwick," and " Syr Bevys of South- ampton," were modernized in this reign from more antient and fimple narrations. J In the year 152 1, Wynkin de Worde printed a fet of Chriftmas Carols : thefe were feftal chanfons or enlivening the merriments of the Chriftmas celebrity, and not fuch religious fongs, as are current at this day with the common people under the fame title, and which were lubfti- tuted by thofe enemies of innocent and ufeful mirth, the puritans. * Warton, III. p. S5. f Ibid. p. 135. + Ibid. p. 141. Ibid. p. 142, 143. THOMAS THEATRUM POETARUM. 59 THOMAS STERNHOLD AND JOHN HOPKINS. c{ Thomas Sternhold, an afifociate with John " Hopkins, in one of the worft of many bad " Tranflations of the pfalms of David: yet in " regard, as firft made choice of, they have " hitherto obtained to be the only pfalms fung " in all parochial churches, (it hath long hear- " tily been wimed a better choice were made) " he hath therefore perhaps been thought wor- " thy to be mentioned among the poets that " flourilhed in Q^ Mary's, and the beginning " of Q^ Elizabeth's reign," Thomas Sternhold was educated at Ox- ford, and removing to the Court of Henry the Vlllth, was made Groom of the Robes to him, and when that king died, had a legacy in his will of 100 marks. lie continued in that of- fice under Edw. Vlth, and was then in fome efteem in the Court for his poetry. But being a risid 60 THEATRUM P0ETARUM,' a rigid reformer, he became fcandalized at the obfcene fongs ufed there, turned into Englifh metre 51 of David's Pfalms, and caufed mufi- cal notes to be fet to them, thinking the cour- tiers would fing them inftead of their fonnets ; in which, however, with very few exceptions, he was difappointed.* " About this time," fays Dr. Heylin in his Church Hiftory, anno 1552, " the pfalms of David did firft begin to be com- pofed in englifh metre, by Thomas Sternhold, one of the grooms of the privy-chamber, who tranflating no more than thirty-feven,-f- left both example and encouragement to J. Hop- kins, and others, to difpatch the reft. A de- vice firft taken up by one Clement Marot, one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber about King Francis the firft, who being much addicted to Poetry, and having fome acquaintance with thofe that were thought to have inclined to the Reformation, was perfuaded by the learned Va- tablus (ProfefTor of the Hebrew language in Paris) to exercife his poetical fancy in tranflat- ing fome of David's pfalms, for whofe fatisfac- tion and his own, he tranflated the firft fifty of them; and after flying to Geneva, grew ac- quainted with Beza, who in fome tract of time tranflated the other hundred alfo, and caufed * Wood's Ath. I, p. 76. f A miftake. them THEATRUM POETARUM." 6l them to be fitted to feveral tunes, which there- upon began to be fung in private houfes ; and by degrees to be taken up in ail churches of the French nation, which followed the Geneva platform. The Tranflation is faid by Strada to have been ignorantly, and perverfely done, as being the work of a man altogether unlearned, but not to be compared with the barbarity and botching, which every where occurreth in the tranflation of Sternhold and Hopkins. Which notwithftanding being allowed for private de- votion, they were by little and little brought into the ul'e of the church, and permitted, ra- ther than allowed to be fung, before and after Sermons. Afterwards they were printed and bound up in the Common-Prayer-Book, and at laft added by the Stationers to the end of the Bible. For tho' it be exprefifed in the title of thole Singing pfalms, that " they were fet forth and allowed to be fung in all churches before and after morning and evening-prayer, and alio before and after Sermons," yet this allowance kerns rather to have been a conni- vance than an approbation -, no fuch allowance being any where found bv Inch as have been moit induftrious and concerned in the fearch thereof. At firft it was pretended only that the faid pfalms fhould be fung " before and af- ter morning and evening prayer, and alfo before and af- tSi THEATRUM POET ARUM. and after Sermons ," which (hews they were not to be intermingled with the public liturgy: but in fome tract of time, as the puritan faction grew in ftrength and confidence, they prevailed fo far in mod places to thrufl: the Te Deum, the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the Nunc drmitties quite out of the Church." John Hopkins turned into metre 58 of the pfalms. He was admitted A. B. at Oxford, 36 Hen. VIII. 1544, and fuppofed to have been afterwards a Clergyman of Suffolk. He was living 1556. Warton pronounces him a rather better poet than Sternhold. The other contributors to this undertaking were Wil- liam Whyttingham, afterwards Dean of Dur- ham-, Thomas Norton, of Sharpenhoe in Bed- fordshire, Barrilter at Law , and the afliftant to Lord Buckhurst in the Tragedy of Gor- boduc a forward and bufy Caivinift in the beginning of Q^ Elizabeth's reign,* v/ho ver- ified 27 of the pfalms and Robert Wisdcme, afterwards Archdeacon of Ely; who rendered the 25th pfalm of this verfion.-j- The entire Vernon was publiihed by John Day in 1562, a verfton totally deftitute of elegance, fpirir, and propriety : in which the molt exalted ef- * Wood's Atii. I. p. 77. f Warton, III. p. 170. It is not known to whom the initials W. K. and T. C. belong. fufions THEATRUM POETARUM. 6$ fufions of thankfgiving, and the mod fublime imageries of the Divine Majefty, are lowered by a coldnefs of conception, weakened by frigid interpolations, and disfigured by a poverty of phraieology.* William Hunnis, hereafter men- tioned, verfified feveral of the pfalms 1550; as did John Hall, of Maidftone ; and William Baldwin; as well as Francis Seagers. Arch- bifhop Parker likewife verfified the pfaher. But the moil noted of theological verfifiers at this time was Christopher Tye, Doflor of Mufic, who turned into metre the Acts of the Apoftles, 1553-f And Warton adds that Ed- ward the Vlth may be ranked amongft the re- ligious poets of his own reign. J At this period Arthur KeltonJ a native of Shropfhire or Wales, wrote the " Chronicle of the Brutes" in Englifh verie, printed 1547. The firft drinking-fong, of any merit in our language, appeared in 1 551. See it m Warton, III. p. 207. " I cannot ear, but little meat," &c. Warton, HI. p. 1-3. + Ibid. p. roo. * Ibid. p. tq<. 6 Sec A. Wood, I. p. 73. W.utun, HI. p. 10;, 1--.. LUCAS 64 THEAtRUM POETARUM." LUCAS SHEPHEARD. " Lucas Shepheard, an englifli poet of Col- " chefter, in ElTex, of fo much note in Queen " Mary's reign, that he is thought not un- worthy of mention by fome of our Englifh " hiftorians." Shepheard is mentioned by Hollingfhead. War ton fays that he appears to have been no- thing more than a petty pamphleteer in the caufe of Calvinifm, and to have acquired the character of a poet from a metrical tranflation of fome of David's Pfalms, 1554.* * Warton, II!. p. 316. THOMAS TtiEATRUM POETARUM? 6$ THOMAS SACKVILLE, LORD BUCKHURST. " Thomas Lord Buckhurft, in King Henry the eighth's time, is efteemed by the author of the Art of Englifli Poetry, equal with Edward Ferris, another Tragic writer, of both whom he faith, c for fuch doings as I have feen of theirs, they deferve the price." FERRERS. " Edward Ferris, a writer for the mod part to the Stage in K. Henry the 8th time, in Tragedy, and fometimes Comedy, or Inter- lude, with much fkill and magnificence in his metre, and wherein, faith the author of the Art of Englilh Poetry, he gave the King fo much good recreation, as he hath thereby many good rewards." F In thefe 66 THEATRUM POETARUM. In thefe two articles by Phillips, of Sack- ville, and Ferrers, there are feveral miftakes. Sackville was not born till 1536 was edu- cated at Oxford, during the reign of Queen Mary ; from whence he removed to the Inner Temple : foon after travelled, and returned to inherit his father's vad property in 1566. Dur- ing his refidence in the Temple, he purfued the more pleafing ftudy of Poetry, inftead of the dull and narrow trammels of the Law, and produced two works of uncommon luftre, which will prefently be mentioned But now his birth, patrimony, accomplishments, and abilities ac- quired the confidence of Q^ Elizabeth, and the poet was foon loft in the ftatefman, and nego- tiations and embaflies extinguifhed the milder ambitions of the ingenuous Mufe.* In 1567 he was created Lord Buckhurft. In the be- ginning of James's reign he was advanced to the Earldom of Doriet and died fuddenly at the Council-Board, 19 April, 1608. Ferrers's name was George, not Edward: there was an Edward Ferrers, of the family of Baldeiley-Clinton, in Warwickfhire; but War- ton thinks he has no other pretenfions-J- to the poetical fame afcribed to him than what have arifen from his being confounded with this * Warton, III. p; 210. f Ibid. p. 213, 293. George THEATRUM POETARUM.' 67 jeorgc Ferrers Edward Ferrers died in 1564. George Ferrers, the undoubted coadjutor of Sackville, was born at or near St. Albans in Hertfordlhire ; was educated at Oxford, and thence went to Lincoln's Inn, where he became a Barrifter , was taken into the court, became a favourite of Hen. VIII. and was returned M. P. for Plymouth, 1542. He was one of the Commiflioners of the carriage of the army into Scotland, under the protector, Edward Duke of Somerfet. He is faid to have compiled the hiftory of Q. Mary's reign, which makes a part of Grafton's Chronicle. In 1553, being then a Member of Lincoln's Inn, he bore the office of Lord of Mifrule, at the Royal Palace of Greenwich, during the twelve days of Chrift- mas. No common talents were required for thele feftivities. He died at Hcmfted in Hert- fordfhire, 1579. Sackville's claim to the laurel arifes from his having invented the defign, and written the two molt valuable articles of the " Mirror for Magiftrates." As my book pretends noc to be more than a compilation, I will not mar the beauty of Mr. Warton's ideas by changing his exprefiions: but tranfcribe verbatim his in- troductory criticifm to that work , as it is un- ufually incerefling. " True genius, unfeduced by the cabals, and unalarmed by the dangers F 2 of 68 THEATRUM P0ETARUM." of faction, defies or neglects thofe events which deftroy the peace of mankind; and of- ten exerts its operations amid the moft violent commotions of a ftate. Without patronage, and without readers, and I may add without mo- dels, the earlier Italian writers, while their coun- try was fhook by the inteftine tumults of the Guelfes, and Guibelines, continued to produce original compofitions, both in profe and verfe, which yet fland unrivalled. The age of Pe- ricles and of the Peloponnefian war was the fame. Carelefs of thofe, who governed or dif- turbed the world, and fuperior to the calami- ties of a quarrel, in which two mighty leaders contended for the prize of univerfal dominion, Lucretius wrote his fublime didactic poem on the fyftem of Nature-, Virgil his Bucolics; and Cicero his books of Philofophy. The proicrip- tions of Auguftus did not prevent the progrefs of the Roman literature. In the turbulent and unpropitious reign of Queen Mary, when con- troverfy was no longer confined to fpeculation, and a fpiritual warfare polluted every part of England with murthers, more atrocious than the moft bloody civil conceit, a poem was planned, although not fully compleated, which illumi- nates with no common luftre that interval of darknefs, which occupies the annals of Engliih poetry from Surry to Spenfer, entitled " A Mirrour THEATRUM P0ETARUM.' 69 Mirrour for Magiftrates." More writers than one were concerned in the execution of this piece: but its primary inventor, and mod dif- tinguiflied contributor, was Thomas Sackville. Much about the fame period, the fame author wrote the firft genuine Englifh* Tragedy. "f About- 1557, he formed the plan of a poem, in which all the illuftrious but unfortunate characters of the Englifti hiftory, from the conqueft to the end of the fourteenth century, were to pafs in review before the poet, who de- scends, like Dante, into the infernal region, and is conducted by Sorrow. But he had leifure only to finifh an Induction ; and the legend of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, which was to have been the laft of his feries. He re- commended therefore the completion of his de- fign to George Ferrers beforementioned, and William Baldwyne. William Baldwyne, is not mentioned by Phillips. He feems to have been a weftern man by birth : he was educated at Oxford, where he appears to hare taken his degree in arts about 1532 : after he had left the univerfity with the character of a good poet, he became a fchoolmafter, and a minifter; and a writer of many books. He verfified Solomon's Song, *Goiboduc. f Warton, III. p. 209, 210. F 3 which 70 THEATRUM POETARUM." which he dedicated to Edward the VI. 1549; He is faid to have lived fome years after Q^ Elizabeth came to the Crown, but it does not appear when he died.* It is not improbable, that the fhades of un- fortunate men, who, defcribed under peculiar iituations, and with their proper attributes, are introduced relating at large their hiitories in Hell to Dante, might have given the hint to Boccace's book, " De Cafibus Virorum Illuf- trium," on the misfortunes of illuflrious per- fonages, a book tranflated by Lydgate, the original model of the Mirror of Magi ft rates. -J* Baldwyne and Ferrers, perhaps deterred by the greatnefs of the attempt, did not attend to the feries, pvefcribed by Sackville ; but invit- ing fome others to their afliftance, chofe fuch lives from the newly publiihed chronicles of Fabyan and Hall, as feemed to difplay the mod afFecling cataflrophes, and which very probably were pointed out by Sackville. The other affiftants were Churchyard, Phayer, John Dolman, Francis Segers, and Cavyl. # Wood, I. p. 146, 147. f Warton, III. p. 25 r. THOMAS. THEATRUM P0ETARUM. J I THOMAS CHURCHYARD. " Thomas Churchyard" has nothing more than his name mentioned by Phillips amongft fe- deral other Elizabethan writers, under the arti- cle of William Warner.* This author was born at Shrewfbury. Wood, in his bald and inele- gant language, gives the following curious ac- count of him. " Being much addicted to Let- ters, when a child, his father, who had a fond- nefs for him, caufed him to be carefully edu- cated in grammar learning, and to fweeten his ftudies, was taught to play on the lute. When he came to the age of about 17, he left his father and relations, and with a fum of money, then given to him, he went to feek his fortune; and his heels being equally reftlefs with his head, he went to the royal court, laid afide his books, and for a time, fo long as his money lalTed, became a Royfter. At length, being re- duced low in his purfe, he was taken into the Service of the mod noble, learned, and poetical Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, lived with F4 him, * Warton, III. [\ 72 THEATRUM POETARUM. him, as his fervant, four years in the latter end of K. Hen. 8 : in which time applying him- felf to his book, and to the exercifing his mind in poetry, he was much countenanced by that moft noble count; but that Earl being untimely cut off, to the great regret of the learned men of that time, in Jan. 1546, the hopes of Church- . yard's riling higher were in a manner buried in his grave. Afterwards he turned a foldier of fortune, learned their poftures, and duty, but fuffered much hardfhip, left that employment, travelled very far to learn the modern tongues, or at leaft, fome fmattering in them, returned, was wholly bent to his Itudy, and then fpent fome time in Oxon, in the condition at leaft of an hofpes among his countrymen of Wales ; but having a rambling head, return'd to his warlike employment, went into Scotland, as it feems, was there taken prifoner, and upon a peace made, returned to the Count very poor and bare, fpoiled of all, and his body in a fickly and decayed condition. It was then that he re- folved to continue at home and never go to the wars again ; and being then about 30 years of age, he went to Shrewfbury for recruits and as it feems for a time to Oxon. At length he was taken into the fervice of Robert, Earl of Leices- ter, Chancellor of the Univeriity of Oxon, but found him not fuch a mailer as Surrey, being as much THEATRUM POETARUM. } as much different, as gold is from glafs. Af- terwards he wooed a rich widow called Ca- therine Browning, but fhe giving him no coun- tenance, he became much paflionate, and trou- bled in mind. In the fpring following, he, contrary to his former refolutions, went to the wars again, (in Flanders as it feems) had a com- mand there, was wounded, and taken prifoncr; but mewing himfelf a perfon of bravery and breeding, was refpe&ed and well ufed by the enemy, who fetting a great ranfome upon him, efcaped by the endeavours of a lady of confider- able quality, and his fupplies for that end were by her exhibited. Afterwards he trudged on foot threefcore miles thro' bye-ways before he could come to his friends, went home, recruit- ed, went to the wars again, was taken, com- mitted to clofe cuftody for a fpy, condemned to lofe his head by martial law ; but by the en- deavours of a noble dame was reprieved, re- lieved and fent away. So that returning home, he fought again after a wife, and whether he took one, in truth I cannot tell nor how his life was fpent after 1580, when by the men of thofe times he was counted a good poet ; by others a poor court-poet, but fince as much be- neath a poet as a rhymer." Such is Wood's fketch of this unhappy poet's life.* He adds V.'. I p. 313. a lift 74 THEATRUM POETARUM. a lift of fuch works of his, as he could recover, principally in poetry. Churchyard died poor, and is buried near Skelton, in St. Margaret's Church, Weftminfter. Mr. Chalmers in his Apology for the Believers in the late Shakef- peare MSS. mentions (p. 65. n. (z) that he has difcovered from the parifti regifier, that his bu- rial was on the 4th April, 1604. He muft then have been very old His u Worthinefs of "Wales" was reprinted a few years iince. Thomas Phayer was born in Pembroke- shire and educated at Oxford, from whence he retired to the Inns of Court ; he afterwards ea- gerly addicted himfelf to the ftudy of Medicine, in which fcience he took his degree of Doctor, 21 March, 1559 ; but he had now returned to his patrimonial feat in the foreft of Kilgarran, where he made the firfl tranflation of the JEneid, as far as the ninth book ; which laft he fmilhed in 1560 but dying the 12th Aug. the fame year, when he had only begun the tenth, he was buried in Kilgarran church.* He wrote the legend cf Owen Glendower. John Dolman was educated in philofophy and polite letters, at one of the Univerfities, and thence became " Student and fellow of the In- ner Temple," as he calls himfelf. He tranflated * WooJ'i Ath. I. p. 134, Warton, III. p. 395, 396. " Cicero's THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 75 ' Cicero's Tufcuian Queftions," Lond. 1561, 1 2 mo.* Francis Seger, was the tranflator of fome of David's pfalms into metre, accompanied with tunes, 1553, i2mo and wrote a poem, entitled, " A Defcription of the lyfe of man, the world, and vanities thereof," printed at the end of the pfalms. f J Of Cavvl, I can find no account. The le- gend of Edw. IV. was taken from Skehon, long fince dead. Such were the original writers of " The Mirror for Magiftrates." The fir ft legend is of Robert Trefilian, Chief Jufticc of England, 1388, by Ferrers. It is entitled " The Fall of Robert Trefilian, chief Juftice of England; and other his Fellowes, for mifcon ft ruing the lawes, and expounding them to ierve the Prin- ces affections, anno 1388." The laft legend is " Michael Jofeph the Blackfmith, and Lord Audley, anno 1496, by Cavyll." The Book was printed at London in quarto in 1559. But Sackvylle's Induction is of a (train fo fuperior to the reft-, indeed fo intrinfically lofty and poetical , as to be deferving of the Iiighcft ad- miration. In truth in the whole body of Engliih poetry, I know nothing finer than his defcrip- ; * Tanner's Bib!io'.heca, 130. f Tanner, 659, W.'.non, iSt. \ See above [>. 63. tion 76 THEATRUM P0ETARUM; lion of the Imaginary Beings, who fat within the porch of Hell. He begins with Remorfe of Confcience ; then follows, Dread , Revenge; Mifery, Care; Sleep; Old-Age; Malady; Fa- mine; Death; and War; with feveral figures painted on his targe From hence Sorrow hav- ing conducted him to the dominions of Pluto, they are furrounded by a troop of men, who met an untimely death. They pafs in order before Sorrow, and the poet : and the firft is Henry Duke of Buckingham. The Complaint of Henry Duke of Buckingham is written, fays "Warton, with a force, and even elegance of ex- preffion, a copioufnefs of phrafeology, and an exactnefs of verification, not to be found in any other parts of the collection. On the whole, it may be thought tedious and lan- guid. But that objection unavoidably refults from the general plan of thefe pieces. It is impofilble that foliloquies of fuch prolixity, and defigned to include much hiilorical, and even biographical matter, fhould every where fuftain a proper degree of fpirir, pathos, and intereft.* Three new editions of the Mirror were printed ^ *56h i57*> and 1 574- At length in 1587, it was reprinted with the Warton, III. p. 156, addition THEATRUM POETARUM^ JJ addition of many new lives, under the conduct of John Higgins. John Higgins lived at Winfham, in Somer- fetfhire, where however no notice is taken of him, in Collinfon's hiftory of that County. He was educated at Oxford and became a clergy- man, and a fchoolmafter. He was in great re- nown for his poetry and divinity, in 1602, in which year he was living at Winfham.* Hig- gins wrote a new induction in the octave ftanza, to the Mirror and began a new feries of le- gends from Albanact the youngeft fon of Bru- tus to Caracalla ; and added to the old feries the legends of Jane Shore, and Cardinal Wol- fey, by Churchyard; of Sir Nicholas Burder, by Baldwine -, and Elenor Cobham, and Hum- fry Duke of Gloucefter, by Ferrers. Alfo the legend of King James the IVth of Scotland, faid to have been penned fifty years ago ; and of Flodden Field, laid to be of equal antiquity, and fubferibed Francis Dingley, the name of a poet, who has not otherwife occurred. War- ton commends Higgins's legend of Cordelia, as containing the moft poetical pafTage of his performance.^ At length another new edition with additions, of the Mirror, was publifhed by Richard Niccols, 1610 but this comes to be considered hereafter. - Wood, Atu. I. p. $19, f Warton, III, p. a6i. JOHN 78 THEATRUM POETARUM. JOHN HALL. et John Hall, a poetical writer, who ne- t ver having had any great fame, that ever I " heard of, no wonder if now totally forgot- " ten; efpecially fince his poem entitled " The *' Court of Virtue,'* was publilhed no lefs while *'* ago than 1565." John Hall was a Surgeon at Maidfione in Kent. There was a family of this name poffef- fors, not long after his time, of a manfion cal- led Digons in this parilh. He was author of many tracts in his profeflion. He publifhed in 1550 " Certain chapters, taken out of the proverbes of Solomon with other chapters of the Holy Scripture, and certain pfalms of David tranflated into Englifli metre by John Hall." Tanner fays he wrote, The Court of Virtue, containing fome pious longs with mu- fical notes, 1565. Warton adds in a note, ** there is an edition of the proverbs in quarto, dedicated to king Edward the fixth, with this title, ts The pfalms of Bsavid tranflated into Englifh metre by T. Sternhold, Sir T. Wyat, and THEATRUM POETARUM. JQ and William Hunnis, with certain chapters of the proverbes and felect pfalms by John Hall." " I think," fays he, " I have feen a book by Hall called the Court of Vertue, containing fome of all thefe facred fongs with notes 1565, 8-"* Hall was probably an acquaintance of Sir Thomas Wyat, who lived at Allington caftle, clofe to Maiditone. Archbifhop Parker-J- verfified the Pfalms, which was Bnifiied 1557. There is a copy in the Bodleian library, which, in an antient hand- writing, is attributed to John Keeper, and Warton doubts whether this is not the only authority Wood had, for the place he has given this perfon in his lt Athens." Robert Crowley,^ was a considerable con- tributor to the metrical theology of this period. He was a fellow of Magdalen college, Oxford, in 1542 , and in the reign of Edw. VI. com- menced printer and preacher in London. Christopher. Tye,-j- a doctor of Mufic at Cambridge in 1545* turned into verfe the firft fourteen chapters of the Acts of the Apoftles, which were printed by William Serres in 1553. Thefe were lung for a time in the royal chapel of Edw. VI. but they never became popular. The impropriety of the defign and the impo- # Wat ton, III. \\ j Si, f See before p. 63. tency So THEATRUM poetarum.' tency of the execution, feem to have been per- ceived even by his own prejudiced, and undif- cerning age.* Edward the sixTH-f- himfelf is to be ranked among the religious poets of his own reign. Fox has publifhed his metrical inftructions con- cerning the Eucharift, addrefled to Sir Antony St. Leger.J To the reign of Edward the fixth, belongs Arthur Kelton,-|- a native of Shropfhire or Wales. He wrote The " Cronicle of the Brutes" in Englilh verfe. It was printed 1547. Wood allows that he was an able antiquary. In this dull book, he has difcovered no ftrokes of imagination, or poetry Wood fays " he was living at Shrewfbury in the reign of Edw. VI. and for ought I know to the contrary died alfo, and was buried there." |[ Richard Edwards, a native of Somerfet- fhire, was admitted icholar of Corpus Chrifti College, Oxford, under the tuition of George Etheridge, on 11 May, 1540, and Probationer Fellow 11 Aug. 1544, Student of the Upper Table of Chrift church at its foundation by K. * Warton, III. p. 193. + Ibid. p. 195. f See before p. 63. Wood, Ath. I. p. 73 || William Gray, and Bartholomew Traheron are mentioned by Phillips as Englilh poets in the reign of Edw. VI. but by miftake Of Gray, I find no mention in Warton or Tanner; but in the latter is an account of Traheron, who appears to have written Latin, not Englifh poems. Hen. THEATRUM POETARUM. 8 I Hen. VIII. in the beginning of 1547, at the age of 24, and the fame year took the degree of A.M.* Warton cites a paffage from his poems to prove that in his early years, he was employed in feme department about the court.-j- In the Britifli Mufeum there is a fmall fet of manufcript fonnets, figned with his initials, ad- dreficd to fome of the Beauties of the courts of Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. Hence we may conjecture, that he did not long remain at the Univerfity. In the beginning of Eliza- beth's reign, he was made one of the gentlemen of her chapel, and matter of the children there, having the character of being not only an ex- cellent mufician, but an exact poet, as many of his ccmpofitions in mufic (for he was not only fkilled in the practical but theoretical parts) and in poetry teftify. For thefe he was highly valued, by thofe who knew him, efpe- cially his aflbciares in Lincoln's Inn (of which he was a member, and in fome refpects an or- nament) and much lamented by them, and all ingenious men, when he died, which happenM in 1566, before he had arrived to his middle age. He wrote " Damon and Pythias, a Come- dy," acted at Court and in the Univerfity, firfb printed in 1570, or perhaps in 1565. And : Wood's Atli. I. p. 151. f Hift. Pa. III. 2S3. G " Palamon 82 THEATRUM POETARUM. " Palamon and Arcyte," a Comedy in two parts, probably never printed,* but acted in Chrift church Hall 1566, before Queen Eliza- beth, of which I fhall copy the curious account by Wood. " It gave the Queen fo much con- tent, fays he, that fending for the author there- of, fhe was pleaied to give him many thanks with promife of reward for his pains: and then making a paufe, laid to him and her retinue ftanding about her, theie matters relating to the faid play, which had entertained her with great delight for two nights in the faid Hail. " By Palasmon 1 warrant he dallied in love, " when he was in love indeed. By Arcyte " he was a right valiant knight, having a " fwart countenance, and a manly face. By " Trecatio God's pity what a knave it is ! " By Pirithous his throwing St. Edward's rich " cloak into the funeral fire, which a ftander- " by would have ftaid by the arm, with an " oath Go fool he knoweth his part I'll " warrant you, &c." In the faid play was acted a cry of hounds in the quadrant, upon the train of a fox in the hunting of Thefeus: with which the young fcholars, who ftood in the remoter parts of the ftage, and in the win- dows, were fo much taken and furprized, (fup- * Hift. Po. III. 284. pofing THEATRUM POETARUM. 83 pofing it had been real,) that they cried out there, there he's caught he's caught All which the Queen merrily beholding, faid, O excellent ! thole boys in very troth are ready to leap out of the windows to follow the hounds. This part being repeated before certain courtiers in the lodgings of Mr. Roger Marbeck one of the Canons of Chrift-church by the Players in their gowns (for they were all fcholars that acted, among whom were Miles Windfore, and Thomas Twyne of C. C. C.) before the Queen came to Oxford, was by them fo well liked, that they faid it far furpafifed " Damon and Pythias," than which they thought nothing could be better. Likewife fome faid, that if the author did proceed to make more plays be- fore his death, he would run mad. But this, it feems was the laft, for he lived not to finifh others, that he had lying by him."* But Warton fays, he probably wrote many other dramatic pieces now loft.-f- He is men- tioned by Puttenham, as gaining the prize for comedy and interlude. Befides being a writer of regular dramas, he appears to have been a contriver of mafques, and a compofer of poetry for pageants. In a word he united all thofe arts, and accomplishments which minifter to *" Wood's Atli. I, p. 152. f Warton, III p. 285. G 2 pijpular 84 THEATRUM POETARUM. popular pleafantry : he was the firft fiddle, the moft fafhionable fonneteer, the readieft rhymer, and the moft facetious mimic of the court. In confcquence of his love, and his knowledge of the hiftrionic art, he taught the chorifters, over which he prefided, to aft plays ; and they were formed into a company of players, like thofe of St. Paul's Cathedral, by the Queen's licence, under the fuperintendency of Edwards.* In his laft ficknefs, Edwards compofed his " SoulkniP or " Soul's Knell," which once was celebrated His popularity feems to have altogether arifen from thofe pleafing talents, of which no fpecimens could be tranfmitted to pofterity, and which prejudiced his partial co- temporaries in favour of his poetry.-f- Edwards's Englifh poems are for the moft part extant in a Book entitled " The Paradife of Dainty Devifes," Lond. 1578, 4to. which book being moftly written by him, was pub- limed by Henry D'Ifle a printer, with other men's poems mixed among them. Among thefe, are thofe of Edward Vere, Earl of Ox- ford, William Hunnys, who has about nine copiesj in the collection -, Jafper Heywood, Nicholas, (Thomas) Lord Vaux, before- named ; Francis Kynwelmarfh, who has about * Warton, III. p. 285. f Ibid. p. 286. J l( > copies, in the zi Edit. 1585, 4to, 'according to Tanner. eight THEATRUM POETARUM. 85 eight copies," R. Hall, R. Hill, T. Marfhall, Tho. Churchyard, beforementioned, Lodowyke Loyd, one Yloop, and feveral others.* The mod poetical of Edwards's ditties, in the " Paradife of Dainty Devifes," is a defcrip- tion of May. The reft are moral fentences in itanzas.-f "Warton cites the following beautiful ftanza from Edwards's fong in the above Collection, on Terence's apothegm of " Amantium iraj. amoris integratio eft." In going to my naked bed, as one that would have flept, I heard a wife fing to her child, that long before had wept: She fighed fore, and fang full fweete, to bring the babe to reft, That would not ceafe, but cried ftiU, in fucking at her breaft. She was full wearie of her watch, and greeved with her childe; She rocked it, and rated it, till that on her it fmilde. Then did fhe fay, now have I found this proverbe true to prove, The falling out of faithfull frendes, renuing is of love. The clofe of the fecond ftanza is prettily conducted. M Then kiffed fhe her little Babe, and fvvare by God above The falling out of faithfull frendes, renning is of love-."* Edward Vere, XVI Ith Earl of Oxford, was fon of John, the XVIth Earl, who died in 1562, by Margaret, daughter of John Gold- ing. He was in his younger days a penfioner of St. John's College in Cambridge. || His * Wood's Ath. 1. p. 1^2. f Wart, ut fupra, p. 2S5. Geo. Tur- berville, and Thomas Twyne, wrote each, an elegy on Edwards*. * Wart, ut fupra, p. 297. || Wood's F. I. p. 09. G 3 youth 86 THEATRUM POETARUM. youth was diftinguifhed by his wit, by adroit- nefs in his exercifes, by valour and zeal for his country.* Having travelled into Italy, he is recorded to have been the firll that brought into England, embroidered gloves, and per- fumes-, and prefenting the Queen with a pair of the former, (he was fo pleafed with them, as to be drawn with them in one of her por- traits.f In 29 Eliz. he fat upon the trial of Mary Q^ of Scots and in 1588 was one of the chief perfons employed in the Fleet that was oppofed to the Spanifh Armada. Being a friend of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, it is faid by Dugdale, that he inter- ceded with Lord Burleigh his father-in-law for his life, but not fncceeding, was fo enraged that he fwore he would do all he could to ruin his daughter, (whom himfelf had married) and accordingly not only forfook her bed, but Ibid and confumed that great inheritance, that de- fended from his anceftors, leaving very little for Henry, his fon and fucceflbr The autho- rity he cites for this ftory is Camden in his Annals of Q^ Elizabeth but all that Camden fays, is, " that he was in a fair way to fpend his eftate" without affigning this caufe, If this ftory is true therefore, Dugdale has miflaken * Royal and Noblu Authors, I. p. 159 f Ibid, the THEATRUM POETARUM. 87 the authority, from which he learned it. But Collins fays it is certainly unfounded, for the eftate defcended to his family. He died at a good old age on 24 June 1604. His poetry was much admired in his own time. But all that I have yet feen, fays Anthony Wood, are certain poems on feveral fubjects, thus entitled, I. " His good name being ble- miihed, he bewaileth." II. " The complaint of a lover wearing black and tawnie." Ill* ' Being in love, he complaineth." IV. " A lover rejected complaineth." V. " Not at- taining to his defire, he complaineth." VI. His mind not being quietly fettled, he com- plaineth" with many fuch.* In the 2d Volume of Percy's Antient Bal- lads, is printed p. 178, a poem of his, entitled " Fancy and Defire" fimple, eafy, and elegant. In turning over the pages of " England's Parnaflus, 1600," I have found but two ex- tracts from the Earl of Oxford's poems, which are the following: "BLIS S." " Doth foirovv fret thy foul? O direful fpirit; Doth pleafure feed thy heart? O Melted man. Haft thou bene happie once ? O heavy plight. Are thy inifhaps forepart ? O happie than: Or haft thou hliffe in old ? O blifle too late: But haft thou biiffe in youth ? O fwcet eitate "'{ * Wood, F. I. p. 99. f p zi. G 4 LOVE." 88 THEATRUM P0ETARUM; "LOV E." " Love is a difcord and a ftrange divorce, Betwixt our fenfe and reft, by whofe power, As mad with reafon we admit that force, Which wit or labour never may divorce. It is a will that broketh no confent, It would refufe, yet never may repent. . Love's a defire, which for to waight a time, Doth lofe an age of yeares, and fo doth palTe, As doth the fhadow fever'd from his prime, Seeming as though it were, yet never was. Leaving behind nought but repentant thoughts, Of dayes ill fpent, of that which profits noughts: It's now a peace, and then a fudden warre, A hope confumde before it is conceiv'd, At hand it feares, and menaceth a farre, And he that grunes is moft of all deceiv'd. Love whets the dullefl wits his plagues be fuch, But makes the wife by pleafmg, dote as much."* William Hunnys, was a gentleman of the chapel royal under Edvv. VI. and afterwards Mafter of the Boys of Queen Elizabeth's cha- pel royal He had a grant of arms in 1568. Warton lays he rendered into rhyme many fe- le& pfalms, which had not the good fortune to be refcued from oblivion by being incorpo- rated into Hopkins's Collection, nor to be fung in the royal chapel. They were printed in 1550 with this title " Certayne pfalmes chofen out of the pfalter of David and drawen furth into Englyfh meter by William Hunnis, fervant to the ryght honourable Syr William Harberd, Knight. Newly collected and im- * Wood, F. I, p. 171. printed.'* THEATRUM POET ARUM. 89 printed." But the following is the enumera- tion of Hunnis's works by Tanner. The Pfalms of David translated into englilh metre by Thomas Sternhold, Sir Tho. Wyat, and William Hunnis, with certain chapters of the Proverbs, and feled pfalms, by John Hall, ded. to K. Edward VI. 4 to." " William Hunnis's abridgment, or brief meditation on certain of the pfalms in Englifh metre,'* printed by Rob. Wier, 8- " His Hive full of Ho- ney, containing the fkft booke of Mofes, called Genefis, in Englifh metre," printed by Tho. Marfh, 1578, 4to. " Seven Sobs of a Sor- rowful Soul for Sin, comprehending the feven penitential pfalms in metre," dedicated to Fran- ces, Countefs of Sufiex. " Handful of Honey- fuckles, fc. prayers to Chrift : blefllngs out of Deuteron : XXVIII. Athanafius Creed : Me- ditations at morning, and night*, &c." all in metre with tunes. ** Poor Widow's Myte, fc. feven meditations: paraphrafe on the Lord's Prayer, &c." dedicated to Q^ Elizabeth " Dialogue between Chrift, and a Sinner." Printed by Rob. Yardley, 1591, Lond. i2mo. 1610, 24010. To which is added at the end, " A chriftian ConfefTion of the Trinity, and other prayers," in prole: but qu: whether thefe additions are by the fame author? " Recrea- tions, containing Adam's Banilhment : Chrift his 90 THEATRUM POETARUM. his crib: the loft fheep: and the complaint of old age," printed by R. Denham, 1588, 12 mo. In the " Paradife of Dainty Devifes," 2d. Edit. 1585, 4to, are thefe verfes of William Hunnis. I. " Our pleafures are but vanicies." II. " Being afked the occafion of his white head.'* He here acknowledges himfelf an old man, 1578. III. " No pleafure without fome pain." IV. " If thou defire to live in quiet reft, give ear, and fee, but fay the bell." V. " Dia- logue between the author, and his eye." VI. " Finding no joy, he defireth death." VII. " Hope well, and have well."- VIII. " He complaineth his mifhap." IX. " No foe to a flatterer." X. " His companion of love." XI. " He affureth his conftancy." XII. " No pains comparable to the attempt." XIII. " He repenteth his folly." XIV. " Love requited by Difdain." XV. Of a contented date." XVI. " Of a mean ftate." XVII. " Being in trouble."* An account of Lord Vaux has been given before. Of Francis Kynwelmarsh, all I find is that he and his brother Anthony, were gen- tlemen of Effcx, noted poets of their time, and acquainted with Gafcoigne, a celebrated poet hereafter mentioned.-f * Tanner's BibJiotheca, 422. + Wood'., At!;. I. p, jc,o. Of THEATRUM POETARUM. 9I Of R. Hall, R. Hill, T. Marshall, and Yloop, I find nothing. Lodowick Loyd, Efq. was a perfon confpicuous in the Court of Q^ Elizabeth. He wrote H The Confent of Time,'* &c. Lond. 1590, 4to. " The Stratagems of Jerufalem," &c. Lond. 1602 , 4to. " The Pilgrimage of Kings and Prin- ces," &c. " By Lodowick Loyd, Gentle- man to Q^ Elizabeth j revived by R. C. M. A. Lond. 1653, 4to. He prefixed an Englifh poem to Twyne's latin verfion of Humphry Loyd's " Breviary of Health," Lond. 1573, go. About the fame time with Richard Edwards flouriftied Thomas Tusser, one of our earlieft didacYic poets.f He was born of an ancient family at Rivenhall, in Effex ; was then a fing- ing-boy in the collegiate chapel of Walling- ford i whence he was placed under the famous John Redford to learn muiic , and was after- wards removed to Eton School j and according to Warton, from thence to Trinity College, Cambridge; but Tanner from Hatcher's MS. fays lie became a fcholar of King's College in 1543. From the Univerfity he was called to Court by his patron William Lord Paget, where he lived ten years ; and then difgufted with the * Tanner's Bib!, p. 4*4. f Warton, III. p. z 9 S. vices 92 THEATRUM POETARUM. vices and quarrels of the great, he betook him- felf to a country life-, and ufed a farm, firft at Ratwood in SufTex, then at Ipfwich in Suffolk, Fairfted in Effcx, &c. At length he returned to London, whence flying from the plague, he retired to Trinity College, Cambridge. He died very aged in J 580, and was buried in St. Mildred's church in the Poultry, London.* " He was fuccefiively," fays Fuller, " a mu- fician, fchool mailer, ferving-man, hufbandman, grazier, poet, more fkilful in all than thriving in any profeffion. He traded at large in oxen, fheep, dairies, grain of all kinds to no profit. Whether he bought, or fold, he loft, and when a Renter impoverilhed himfelf, and never in- riched his landlord. Yet hath he laid down excellent rules in his book of Hufbandry, and Koufwifry (fo that the obferver thereof muft be rich) in his own defence. He fpread his bread with all forts of butter, yet none would ftick thereon. Yet I hear no man to charge him with any vicious extravagancy, or vifible carelefinefs, imputing his ill fuccefs to fome occult caufe in God's Counfel. Thus our Eng- lifh Columella might fay with the poet, Monitis fum minor ipfe meis, none being better at the theory, or worfe at the * Warton, ut fupra. Tanner's Bibl. 72S, 729. practice THEATRUM POETARUM. 93 practice of hufbandry. I matcfi him with. Thomas Churchyard, they being marked alike in their poetical parts, living at the fame time, and ftatur'd alike in their eftates, being low enough, I allure you."* He wrote during his refidence at Ratwood a work in rhyme, entitled " Hundred Points of good Hufbandrie," Lond. 1557, 4to. which he afterwards enlarged to " Five hundred Points of good Hufbandrie," Lond. 1586, 4to. To which is added in rhyme " The Author's Life." It muft be acknowledged that this old Enghfh Georgic has much more of the fimplicity of Hcfiod, than of the elegance of Virgil : and a modern reader would fufpect that many of its falutary maxims, decorated the margins, and illuftrated the calendars of an ancient almanac. It is without invocations, digreffions, and de- fcriptions: no pleafing pictures of rural ima- gery are drawn from meadows covered with flocks, and fields waving with corn, nor are Pan and Ceres once named. Yet it is valuable as a genuine picture of the Agriculture, the ru- ral arts and the domeftic ceconomy and cuftoms of our induflrious anceftors.-f * Fuller's Worthies, Eflex, p. 334, f Warton, ut fupra, p 304. GEORGE 94 THEATRUM POETARUM. GEORGE GASCOIGNE. " George Gafcoign, one of the fmaller poets *' of Queen Elizabeth's days, whofe poetical " works neverthelefs have been thought wor- " thy to be quoted among the chief of that " time ; his Suppofes, a Comedy ; Glafs of " Government, a Tragi-comedy ; Jocafta, a *' Tragedy, are particularly remembred;" George Gascoigxe was born in EfTex ; had his education in both the Univerfities, but chiefly at Cambridge ; whence he removed to Gray's Inn to purfue the Law, but like other poets, found his abilities too volatile for that dull ftudy. He therefore travelled, went to various cities in Holland,. and became a lbl- dier of note, Tarn Marti quam Mercurio, ac- cording to the motto he aflfumed. Hence he vifited the French Court, and fell in love with a Scotch Lady. But being at length weary of rambling, he returned to England, and again fixing his refidence at Gray's Inn, was in high efteem amongft the wits of the age, for his ta- lents in amatory poetry, and his (kill in dra- matic THEATRUM POETARUM. 95 matic compofitions. Afterwards he retired to his patrimony at Walthamftow in the Foreft, where after having written a variety of poems, he died a middle-aged man in 1577, or 1578.* I (hall tranfcribe the lift of them by Tanner. " The Grief of Joy: being certain elegies, wherein the doubtful delights of man's life are difplayed." MS. " 100 Flowers from Euri- pides, Ovid, Petrarch," &c The delega- ble hiftory of fundry adventures paffed by Dan. Barthelmew of Bath."" The Reporter." " The Fruits of War." " Hearbs. In this divifion are contained, the comedy called Sup- pofes: the tragedy, called Jocafta: the fruit of reconciliation : the force of true friendfhip : the force of love in ftrangers: the praife of brown beauty : the partrydge and the merlyn : the vertue of ver : the complaint of a dame in ab- fence : the praife- of a Countefs : the affection of a lover : the complaint of a dame fufpected : a riddle: the fhield of love: the glofs upon " Dominus iis opus liabet." Gafcoigne's coun- fel to Dive: Gafcoigne's Counfel to Wythipel: Gafcoigne's Woodmanfhip: Gafcoigne's Gar- denings : Gafcoigne's journey to Holland." " Weeds."" The Devifes." " The Stee} * Wood's Aih. I p. iS) Percy's Ballads, II. p; ijS HeaJley's Select Poetry j LY. Tanner's Bibl. 310. Glafs" 96 THEATRUM POETARUM. Glafs," a fatire, 1576, 4to. dedicated to Lord Grey de Wilton : to this is perfixed the Au- thor's portrait. (Amongft the commendatory verfes is a copy figned Walter Rawley of the Middle Temple.*) " The complaint of Phi- lomene," Lond. 1576, 4to. to Lord Gray. " Difcourfe of the Evils of Mr. John Freeman," partly in profe. " The Glafs of Government," a tragi-comedy, partly in profe, 1575, 4to. *' Princely pleafures at Kenilworth Caftle," 1575. " Certain inftructions concerning the making of Englifh rhyme," in profe. He tranflated from Italian into Englifh, " The Suppofes," a comedy of Ariofto, 1566. " The pleafant Comedy of Ferdinando Jero- nimi, and Leonora de Valefco, by Bartello," 1566. " The tragedy of Euripides called Jo- cafta," from the Greek into Englifh, with the afiiftance of Francis Kynwelmerfh, of Gray's Inn, 1566. He has a poem prefixed to " The noble Art of Venery and Hunting," which is publifhed with Turberville's book of Falcon- ry. All the above poems are collected into two volumes quarto, of which the firft was publifhed at London in 1577: the other in 1587. One George Whetftone has publifhed *' the well-employed life, and Godly end of * Wooa's Ath. I. p. 190, Geo. THEATRUM POETARUM. 97 Geo. Gafcoigne, Efq. who died at Stamford in Lincoln (hire, 7 Oct. 1577. Q. u * whether the fame ?* Dr. Percy mentions his work entitled " A Hundredth fundrie Flowres, bounde up in one fmall pofie," Lond. by Richard Smith about 1572, or 1573, from which he has printed the elegant lines containing his " Praife of the fair Bridges," daughter of Edmund Bridges, 2d Lord Chandos, and 2d wife of William Sandes, 4th Lord Sandes of the Vine, in Hampshire And another work entitled " The Pones of George Gafcoigne, Efq. corrected, perfected, and augmented by the author," 1575. Headley pronounces Gafcoigne to be fmooth, fentimental, and harmonious: and Warton fays *' he has much exceeded all the poets of his age in lmoothnefs and harmony of verfincation."-{- From what I have feen of his works, his fancy feems to have been fparkling and elegant, and he always writes with the powers of a poet. Warton obferves that Sackville's tragedy of Gorboduc, the fir ft regular drama in our lan- guage, directed the attention of our more learn- ed poetical writers to the ftudy of the old claf- fical plays, and produced vernacular verfions of * See alfo Bio-r. Dram. I. p. 1S3. f Obferv. on the Fairy Quesn, II. p. 16 -J. H Jocafta, 98 THEATRUM POETARUM. Joeafta, and the ten tragedies of Seneca.* The Joeafta is partly a paraphrafe, and partly an abridgment of the Greek Tragedy. There are many omifiions, retrenchments and tranfpofi- tions. Some of the odes are neglected, and others fubftituted in their places. In the ad- drefs to Mars, Gafcoigne has introduced an original ode, by no means deftitute of pathos and imagination.-]- In the ode to Concord, tranflated by Kynwelmerfh, there is great ele- gance of expreflion, and verification. J THOMAS NEWTON* " Thomas Newton, the Author of three <6 Tragedies ; Thebais, the firii and fecond " parts of Tamerlane, the great Scythian Em- te perour." He was the eldeft fon of Edward Newton of Butley in the parifh of Prefbury in Chefhire (defcended originally from the Newtons of Newton) by Alice his wife. He was born in that county, educated in grammar under John Brownfwerd at Macclesfield, and fent very * Hilt, of Poetry, III. p. 372. f Ibid. p. 373. + Ibid. p. 374. young THEATRUM POETARUM.' 99 young to Oxford, whence he removed to Cam- bridge, and fettled at Queen's College, where he became fo eminent for his latin poetry, that he was regarded by fcholars as one of the beft poets in that language. Afterwards taking Ox- ford in his way he returned to his own county, taught fchool at Macclesfield, practifed phyfic, and was patronized by Robert Deverenx, Earl of ElTex. At length he obtained a benefice at II ford in EfTex, taught fchool there, and there continued till his death, in May 1607. He v/rote I. A notable Hiftory of the Sa> racens, &c. drawn out of Aug. Curio, in three books, Lond. 1575, 4to. II. A Sum- mary, or brief Chronicle of the Saracens and Turks, continued from the birth of Mahomet, to an. 1575, qu. printed with the former. III. Approved Medicines and cordial Precepts, with the nature and fymptoms, &c. Lond. 1580, 8- IV. Illuftrium aliquot Anglorum encomia, Lond. 1589, 4fo. at the end of Le- land's Encomia. V. Atropoion Delion : or the Death of Delia, with the tears of her Funeral. A poetical excufive dilcourfe of our late Eliza- beth, Lond. 1603, 4to. VI. A pleafant new Hillory : or a fragrant Pofie made of three Flowers, Rofa, Roialynd, and Rofemary, Lond. 1604. lie alio viewed and corrected Embryon relimatum, written by John Stambridge. But H 2 he 100 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. he was not the author of the two parts of Ta- merlane, the great Scythian Emperor, which were written by Marlow. VII. He tranflated from Latin into Engliih I. A direction for the Health of Magiftrates and Students, Lond. 1574, nmo, written by Gul. Gratarolus. II. Commentary on the two Epiftles General of St. Simon and St. Jude, Lond. 158 1, 4?o. III. Touchftone of Complexions, Lond. 1581, S- from Levinus Lemnius. IV. The third Tragedy of L. An. Seneca, entitled Thebais, Lond. 158 1, 4to. in old verfe, and printed in an Englifh character; this was pubiifhed by him together with a tranflation of the other nine tragedies, viz. the fourth, feventh, eighth, and tenth by John Studley ; the fifth by Alex- ander Nevyki the ninth by Thomas Nuce; and the other three by Jafper Heywcod.* John Studley was educated at Weftminfter School, and thence elected Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is faid by Chetwood to have been killed in Flanders in 1587, at the fiege of Breda, where he had a command under Prince Ma urice.-f- The Agamemnon was fiiil pubiifhed feparately in 1566', and dedicated to Cecil. J Ke wrote a latin poem in 20 diftichs * Wood's Ath. I. p. 337, 33 S ; 339. f Bio S . Dram. I. p. 437, 438, J Walton, p. 383. on TKEATRITM POETARUM. IOI on the death of Nicholas Carr.* And trans- lated Bale's Ads of the Popes, 1574, in which Warton thinks he mifapplied his talents, which were qualified for better (ludies. Alexander Nevyle was a native of Kent, but a branch of the noble family of Nevyle; born in 1544. He took the degree of Mafter of Arts, with Robert Earl of EfTex, 6 July, 15S1, at Cambridge. He was one of the learned men whom Archbifhop Parker retained in his family, and was his Secretary at his death in 1575. He wrote a latin narrative of the Norfolk infurrection under Kett, dedicated to Archbifhop Parker, 1575, 4to. To this he added a latin account of Norwich, accom- panied by an engraved map of the Saxons and Britifh Kings. Pie publifhed the Cambridge verfts on the death of Sir Philip Sydney, 1587. He projected a tranflation of Livy, 1577, ^ uC never completed it. He died 4 Oct. 1614, and was buried in the Cathedral at Canterbury, in Brenchley's chapel, where there remained a beautiful monument for him and his brother Dean Nevyle, which I have often ken with delight till in 1787, when the Cathedral was new paved, the Dean and Chapter, under pre- tence of removing this deformity, left it to the * Tanner's Bibl. p. 697. H 3 careleflhefs 102 THEATRUM P0ETARUM* carelefihefs or barbarity of the workmen, by whom, in removing, it has been mutilated and almoft deftroyed. How they can jollify, not only this deficiency of tafle, but legal injury, I am at a lofs to guefs. Certain I am that if there were any defcendants of this illuitrious family, they might have an action againlt the Chapter, and I trull a well informed Jury would give exemplary damages. Thomas Nuce was a fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, in 1562; and afterwards Rector of Beccles, Welton, &c. and Vicar of Gayfley, in Suffolk; and in 1586, Prebendary of the church of Ely.* Nucc's verfion is for the moll part executed in the heroic rhyming couplet. All the reft of the tranllators have ufed, except in the chorus, the Alexandrine meafure, in which Sternhold and Hopkins ren- dered the pfalms, perhaps the molt uni'uitable fpecies of verification that could have been ap- plied to this purpofe. Nuce's Octavia was firlt printed in 1566. He has two very long copies of verfes, one in Englith and the other in Latin, prefixed to the firft edition of Studley's Agamemnon, in 1566.+ Ob. 1617 at Ely. Jasper Heywood, was fori of John Hey- wood, the Epigrammatilt, already mentioned, * Tanner's Bibl. p. 554. f Warton, r>, 384. born THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 10^ born in London, fent to the Univerfity of Ox- ford at about 12 years of age, in 1547, took a a degree in Arts, 1553; anc * was immediately elected Probationer-Fellow of Merton College, where he remained five years, carrying away the palm in all deputations at home, and in the public fchools, till the wildnefs of himfelf, and his brother Ellis Heywood, which gave very fevere grief to their father, had drawn him into the guilt of feveral mifdemeanors, fuch as rendered it prudent for him to refign his fel- lowfliip to prevent expulfion, on 4 Apr. 155^. In June following he took the degree of A. M. and in Nov. was elected Fellow of Ail-Souls, where, after a fhort refidence he left, firft the Univerfity, and then England, and entered himfelf into the Society of Jduits. But be- fore he left it, he wrote and tranflated feveral things: viz. I. Various Poems and Devifes fome of which are printed in tl The Paradife of Dainty Devifes." II. The Tragedies of Thy- eftes, Hercules Furens, and Troas, from Se- neca, as abovementioned. In J 562, he was at Rome, where after he had fpent two years in the ftudy of Divinity among the Jefuits, he was fent to Dilling in Switzerland, where he continued about feventeen years in explaining and dilcufilng controverted queftions amongft thofc he called heretics, in which time he was H 4 promoted 104 THEATRUM POETARUM. promoted to the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and of the four Vows. At length Pope Gre- gory XIII. calling him away in 158 1, he fent him with others the fame year into the miflion of England, and the rather, becaufe the Bre- thren there told his Holinefs, that the Harveft was great, and the Labourers few. When fettled in the Metropolis of his own Country, as Chief or. Provincial of the Jefuiis in England, it was remarked by all that knew him, that he kept many men, horfes, and coaches, and that his port and carriage were more like a Baron than a Prieft. In 1584 being ordered to France upon fome bufinefs relating to the order, he was, v/hen about to land in Normandy, driven back by contrary winds on the Engiifh (bore, where he was taken and examined, and again fhipped off, and fet on more in France. He now reared to Naples, where he became known to that zea- lous Roman Catholic John Pitts, lie died at Naples, 9 Jan. 1598.* Warton fays, he ex- ercifed the office of Chriflmas-Prince, or Lord of Mifrule, to his own College (Merton) : and feems to have given offence, by fuffering the levities and jocularities of that character to mix with his life and general converfation. He is * Wood's Ath. I. p. 290 Ciber's Lives, I. p. io6 B;o:;r. Dram. J. p. 216 Tanner's Bibl, 401. faid THEATRUM POETARUMY 10$ faid to have been an accurate cri;ic in the He- brew language.* Thomas Newton, in the general character of an author, was a voluminous and laborious writer. From a long and habitual courle of ftudious and induftrious purfuits he had ac- quired a confiderable fortune, a portion of which he left in charitable legacies.-f It will neceffary for the fake of connection to mention here the other principal tranflar.crs from the Greek and Latin daffies. Thomas Phaer, the Tranflator of Virgil, has been al- ready recorded. Richard (whom Warton calls Robert) Stanyhurst, fon of James Stanyhurft, Efq. was born in Dublin, of which city his father was then Recorder, and educated in Grammar learning under Peter Whyte, became a Com- moner of Univerfity College in Oxford, in 1563, where improving his natural abilities, [he wrote commentaries on Porphry at two years Handing, being then aged only eighteen, which excited the admiration of learned m^n. After he had taken one degree in Arts, he left the Col- lege, retired to London, became fir it a Student in Furnival's Inn and afterwards in Lincoln's Inn, where after fpending fome time in ths * Wood's Alii. I. p. *9r. f IbiJ. p. 393. fisdy I06 THEATRUM POETARUM. ftudy of the Common Law, he returned to his native Country. Here having married, and changing his opinions in religion, he went abroad ; and in the Low Countries, France and other nations, became famous for his learn- ing and wellknown to Princes, more efpecially the Archduke of Auftria, who made him his chaplain, and allowed him a plentiful falary. His wife was now dead. He was reckoned by many, efpecially thofe of his own perfuafion, an excellent Theologift, Grecian, Philofopher, Hiftorian and Orator. Camden calls him " Eruditiflimus ille nobilis Rich. Stanihurflus; and others of his time fay, that he was fo rare a poet, that he and Gabriel Harvey, were the beft for Iambics in their age.* He left many theological, philofophical, and historical books. His Latin " Defcriptio Hiberniaj," tranflated into Englifh, appears in the firft volume of Holindied's Chronicles, printed in 1583. His father died ar Dublin, 15 Dec. 1573, anc ^ mm " felf at Brudels in 16 18. His fitter Margaret was mother to the famous Dr. James Ufher, Pri- mate of Ireland. He tranflated into Englifti hexameters, the four firft books of the Eneid, Lond. 1583, 8 In his choice of his metre, he is more unfortunate than his predeceiTors, * Wood's Ath. I. p, 441. and THEATRUM POETARUM. IO7 and in other refpects fucceeded worfe.* His book is dedicated to his brother Peter Plunket, the learned Baron of Dunfany. At the end of his Virgil, are certain pfalms of David tranf- lated into Englifh without rhyme-, and at the end of thefe, Poetical Conceits, in Latin and Engliflvf Abraham Fleming was, as well as his bro- ther Samuel, a native of London. He was much employed in correcting, augmenting, and editing the fecond impreflion of Holinmed's Chronicle, Lond. 1585, fol. which he enrich- ed with very full indexes. J In 1575 he pub- liflied a verfion of the Bucolics of Virgil, with notes, and a dedication to Peter Ofborne, Efq. His plan was to give a plain and literal tranfla- tion, verfe for verfe. In 1589, he publifhed a new verfion both of the Bucolics, and Geor- gics, with notes, which he dedicated to John Whitgift, Archbifhop of Canterbury. This is in regular Alexandrine verfe, without rhyme. For the titles of his other numerous works, the reader may confult Tanner's Bibliotheca. Sir William Cordall, the Queen's Soliicitor Gene- ral, was his chief patron. William Weebe, who is fly led a Graduate, * Warton, p. 399. f Wood, ut fupra. + Tanner's Bib!. 287, 2S?. Warton, p. 401, 402, 403. translated I08 THEATRUM POETARUM.^ tranflated the Georgics into Englifh verfe, as he himfelf informs us in the " Difcourfe of Englifh Poetrie," printed in 1586. And in the fame difcourfe, which was written in defence of the new fafhion of Englifh hexameters, he has given us his own verfion of two of Virgil's Bu- colics, in that impracticable mode of verifi- cation. " I muft not forget," Warton adds, " that the fame Webb ranks Abraham Flem- ing, as a tranflator, after Barnabie Googe, the tranHator of Palingenius's Zodiack, not with- out a compliment to the poetry and learning of his brother Samuel, whole excellent inventions, he adds, had not yet been made public."* ABRAHAM FRAUNCE. " Abraham France, a verfifier in Queen Eli- " zabeth's time, who imitating Latin meafure " in Englifh verfe, wrote his Iviechurch, and ' fome other things in Hexameter j fome alfo " in Hexameter and Pentameter, nor was he " altogether fingular in this way of writing ; " for Sir Philip Sidney in the paftoral inter- * Warton, p, 405. luces THEATRUM POETARUM. I09 " ludes of his Arcadia, ufes not only thefe, : .1 G.i'i-p^n';. K a cctem I3O THEATRUM POETARUM. a cotemporary, ltiles ' a man Angularly well- ikilled in this faculty of poetry," publifhed a fuite of tales under the title of " Heptameron," and containing fome novels from Cinthio.* In fhort, the beft llories of the early and original Italian noveiifts, either by immediate tranflation, or through the mediation of Spa- nifh, French, or Latin verfions, by paraphrafe, abridgment, imitation, and often under the dif- guife of licentious innovations of names, inci- dents, and characters, appeared in an Englifit drefs, before the clofe of the reign of Eliza- beth, and for the moil part even before the publication of the firft volume of Belkforeft's grand repofitory of tragical narratives, a com* pilation from the Italian writers in 1583^ GEORGE ETHER1DGE. " George Etheridge a Comical writer of the " prefent age, whole two Comedies, * Love in ' a Tub,' and ' She would "if fhe could,' for * pleafaat wit and no bad Oeconomy are judg- * Wart. p. 483, 484. f Ibid. p. 487. ed THEATRUM POETARUM I3I " ed not unworthy the applaufe they have met with." He was born at Thame in Oxfordfhire, ad- mitted in C. C. College in Nov. 1534.; and in Feb. 1539 was admitted Probationer-fellow. In 1553, being efteemed an excellent Grecian, he was appointed King's Profefibr of that lan- guage in the Univerfity, which, as he had flood forward againft the Papifts in Mary's reign, he was obliged to refign on Mary's accefiron. Pie now pracYifed phyfic, by which he gained con- fiderable wealth amongft thofe of his own per- fuafion. Pie adhered to the laft to his religious opinions, being living an old man in 1588, with the character of a good Mathematician, an eminent Hebritian, Grecian, and poet, and above all, an excellent phyfician.* George Peele-}- was a native of Devonfhire, and Student of Chrill-Church, Oxford, 1573, and took the degree of A. M. 1579. He was then efteemed an eminent poet, and his Come- dies and Tragedies were afterwards acted with great applaufe, and retained their fame in the clofet long after his death. His works, accord- ing to Wood and Tanner, were I. The fa- mous Chronicle of K. Edward I. firnamed * Wood's Ath. I. p 238. f Pce!e is recorded by Phillip , p .-,- but his accouut \\ .is ovei looked till too latu for in eition in hi p place. K 2 Edw I32 THEATRUM POETARUM. Edw. Longfhank, Lond. 1593, 4 C0, ^* ^ e Life of Lcwciiin, Prince of Wales, ibid. III. The Sinking of Q. Elizabeth at Charing Crofs, and of her rifing again at Potters Hith, now named Queenhith, Lond, 1593, 4 t0 ^* The Love cf K. David and Fair Bathlheba, with the tragedy of Abfalom, Lond. 1599, 4to. V. Alphonfus, Emperor of Germany, a tragedy. VI. The Honour of the Garter, a poem. VII. A Farewell to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake, Lond. 4to. VI II. Some fragments of paftoral poetry, in the col- lection, entitled England's Helicon.* IX. A Book of Jefts or Clinches, which v/as af- terwards fold on the Halls of ballad-mongers. '* This perfon" fays Wood, in his ftrange lan- guage, " was living in his middle-age, in the " latter end of Elizabeth, but when, or where " he died I cannot tell , for fo it is, and al- (i ways hath been, that mod poets die poor, tc and cenfequently obfeurely, and a hard rnat- " ter it is to trace them to their graves. "-j- But the author of the Biographia Dramatica corrects this account in many particulars. For Wood and Tanner have made three plays out of one the title of the historical play of Edw. I. being " The famous Chronicle of King Ed- ward the firft, furnamed Longlhanks, with his * So fays Phillips, f Wood's Ath. 1. p. 300, re- THEATRUM POETARL'M. I33 returne from the Holy Land. Alfo the life of Lleuellen Rebell in Wales. Laftly the finking of Queene Elinor, who funck at Charing CrofTe, and rofe again at Potter'shith, now named Queenhith " Alphonfus Emperor of Ger- many is attributed by Langbaine to Chapman, and the real titles of the only three other plays which are known to be his are II. The Ar- raignment of Paris, 4to. 1584. III. King Da- vid and Fair Bethfabe, 4to. 1599 IV. The Turkifh Mahomet, and Hyren the Fair Greek. About 1593 Peele feems to have been taken into the patronage of the Earl of Northumber- land ; for to him he dedicates his poem on the Garter. He was almoft as famous for his tricks and merry pranks as Scoggan, Skelton, and Dicke Tarleton , and his book of jells is entitled " Merrie conceited jefts of George Peele, Gent, fometime Student in Oxford ; wherein is (hewed the courfe of his life how he lived," &c. 410. 1627. Thcfe jefts, as they are called, might with more propriety be cal- led the tricks of a fharper. Pccle died before 1598 according to Meres, in conlequence of his own irregularities, Oldys fays, he left be- hind him a wife and a daughter.* Edward Kelley, alius Talbot, born in the f Bio jr. Dram. I. p. 349, 350. II. p. 9^. K 3 city 134 THEATRUM POETARUM. city of "Worcefter, 1555, wrote a poem on Chy- miftry, printed in Alhmole's Theatr. Chym. Britan. 1652. Alfo a poem on the philofo- pher's ftone, printed in the fame work. He died at Trebona in Bohemia in 15S6.* Henry L ok was born of reputable parents in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, took a degree at Oxford, and thence removed to the Court, where he pnblifhed " The book of Ec- clefiaftes paraphrafed in Englifh verle-, and alfo Sonnets of Chrifcian Paflions," Lond. 159,7. At the end of thefe are fundry aiTccYionate fon- nets of a feeling confcience, and alio Sonnets to divers perfons of quality, collected by the Printer. He alfo tranflated into verfe t: Sun- dry pfalms of David," 1597.+ SIR PHILIP SYDNEY. " Sir Philip Sidney, the glory of the Eng- " lifh nation in his time, and pattern of true " nobility, as equally addicted both to arts, " and arms, though more fortunate in the * Wood's Ath. I. i>. 279 Tann. Eib. p. 451. f Wood's Ath. I. p. 289 Tann. Bib. p. 4S4, " fir ft j THEATRUM POETARUM. I35 '* firft; for accompaning his uncle the Earl " of Leiceiter, fent by Queen Elizabeth Ge- " neral of the Englifti Forces into the Low ** Countries, he was there unfortunately (lain. " He was the great Englifti Meccenas of Ver- " tue, Learning and Ingenuity, though in his " own writings chiefly if not wholly poetical ; " his Arcadia, being a poem in defign, though ' for the mod part in folute oration , and his M Aftrophil and Stella, with other things in u verfe, having, if I miftake not, a greater " fpirit of poetry than to be altogether dif- " efteemed." The luftre of Sir Philip Sydney's character is fuch, that it would be ufelefs to fay much of him here. He was born at Penfhurft in Kent, 29 Nov. 1554; educated at Chrift- Church, Oxford; and in June 1572, in his eighteenth year, fet out on his travels abroad. On 24 Aug. he was at Paris, when the ma fia- cre took place, and fled for protection to the houie of Sir Francis Walfmgham, the Englifh Ambaffador. Thence he went through Lor- rain, and by Stralburgh and Heydelburgh to Frankfort. He fpent the months from May till September 1573 at Vienna, and thence went into Hungary. He pafTed the following . winter, and molt of the next fummer in Italy, and thence returning through Germany, can^t K 4 back I36 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. back from Antwerp to England in May 1575.' In 1576 he was fent by Q^ Elizabeth to con- dole with the Emperor Rodolph, on the death of Maximilian. In 1579 he diftinguifhed him- felf by his oppofition to the Queen's match with the Duke of Anjou, which is conjectured to have given fuch umbrage as to occafion his retirement from Court the next fummer (1580) during which he wrote his celebrated Arcadia. In 158 1 the match was renewed, and Sidney and his friend Fulk Grevill were two of the tilters at the entertainment cf the French Em- baflacior, and at the departure of the Duke of Anjou from England in February the fame year, he attended him to Antwerp. On 13 Jan. 1583, he was Knighted at Wind for. In 1585 he projected an expedition with Sir Fran- cis Drake to America ; but the Queen unwill- ing to hazard a perfon of his worth, prohibited the enterprize; but to make amends for the difappointment, ("he named him Lord Governor of Flufhing. His fame and deferts were now fo well known that he was in election for the Crown of Poland j but Elizabeth rcfufed to further his advancement, not out of emulation but out of fear to lofe the jewel of her times. In 15S6, a Hand was to be made before Zut- phen, to flop the ifiuing out of the Spanifii army. " Yefterday morning" (22 Sept. 15S6) lays THEATRUM POETARUM. 137 fays Lord Leicefter, " fome intelligence was brought that the enemy was bringing a con- voye of victuall guarded with 3000 Horfe. There was fent out to impeach it 200 horfe and 300 footemen, and a Nombre more both horfe and foote to fecond tht:m. Among other young men, my nephew Sir Philip Sydney, was ; and the rather, for that the Coroneil Norrice himfclfe went with the ftande of foot- men to fecond the rtft; but the Vanguard of the Prince was marched, and came with this convoye, and being a miftie morninge, our Men fell into the Ambufcade of footmen, who were 3000, the mode mufketts, the reft pykes. Our Horfemen being formofte, by their haft indeede, woulde not turne, but pafTed throughe, and charged the horfemen that flede at the backe of their footemen fo valientlie ; albeit they were uoo horfe, and of the verie chiefe of all his Troupes, they brouke them, being not 200. Many of our horfes were hurt and killed, among which was my Nephewcs owne. Pie wente and charged to another, and wouide needes to the charge again, and on lie palte thofe mufketters , where he receyved a lore Wounde upon his thighe, three lingers above his knee, the bone broken quite in pceces ; but for chance, God did knde fuch a daye, as I thinke was never many yercs fcene, fo I38 THEATRUM POETARUM." fo few againfte fo many."* Of this wound Sir Philip died, behaving till the moment of his diflblution, which happened on the i6th of October, in the mod heroic manner. He left an only daughter by his wife, who was daughter of Sir Francis Waifingham. His widow remarried the celebrated Earl of Effex; and after his death, the Earl of Clanrickard. His daughter, born in 1585, married Roger Manners, Earl of Rutland, but died without iiTue, 1 Sept. 10th of James I. Oi: the numerous biographers of Sir Philip, whom I have confulted, no one mentions the date of the firft publication of the Arcadia.*f* I have the third edition, London, printed for William Ponfonby in 1598. The Arcadia is a Romance, once highly popular, but now from the faftidioufnefs of the age, neglected for being prolix and tedious. A variety of poems are intermixed, and the excellent Defence of Poetry, which fhews the extent of his mind, and the vigor of his language; with the poem of Aftrophcl and Stella, firft published at Lon- don, 1591, and faid to be written for the fake * Collins's Sydn. Pap. I. p. 104, 105. f Wood's Ath. I. p. 226 Tann. Bib. p. 670 Collins's Sydn. Pa]). p. 112 Cibber's Lives of the Poets, I. p. 83. (in which is a grofa miflake) Blount's Cenfura Authorum, p. 583 Biogr. Britain. VI. p. 3885 Naunton's Frajm. Regal. 1641, p. 21 Walpole's Roy. and Nob. Auth. Biogi . Dram. I. p. 440. Of' THEATRUM POETARUM. I39 of Lady Rich, to whom he was attached, arc fubjoined. Lord Orford, in his Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,* Icems to do Sir Philip greac injuftice in reprefenting him as an " aftonifh- ing object of temporary admiration." For when we recollect the career of his glory, the excellences both of his head and heart, and the variety of his almoft oppofite attainments and then confider that he died before he had com- pleated his thirty-fecond year, his fame does not appear to have been greater than his merit: nor is it pofiible that that fame could have hfled fo long without focre very extraordinary foundation. Sir Philip has been very ably de- fended from this cenfure of Lord Orford by an anonymous writer in the Gentleman's Maga- zine for 1767, p. 57. This critic in fearching the Arcadia for illuftrations of Shakefpeare, lays, that " as it often happens, while we are engaged in an earned fearch for one thing, we ftumble upon others that we had no thoughts of finding, I foon met with fentiments and ob- servations that made me ample amends for the fearch 1 had undertaken-, and I think as itrong painting and as lively descriptions as have ap- peared perhaps in any (at lead modern) lan- * Under Sir I\ilkc Gieviio, Lord Brook'', v >1. I. ;> '' : i ? 14 THEATRUM POETARUM. guage. In which opinion I am confirmed by the authority of the great Sir William Temple, a perfon of unqueftioned tafte and judgment, who in his Efiay on Poetry written about a century after the Arcadia, fpeaks thus : ' The * true fpirit and vein of ancient poetry in this * kind feems to mine mod in Sir Philip Sid- ' ney, whom I efteem both the greateft poet ' and the nobleft genius of any that have left * writings in our own or any other modern c language; a perfon born capable not only of ' forming the greateft ideas, but of leaving the ' nobleft examples, if the length of his life had ' been equal to the excellence of his wit and ' his virtues. With him I leave the dilcourfe * of ancient poetry.' After fuch an elogium, I could not help being furprized at the diffe- rent character to be read in the Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors. Mr. W. pro- nounces the Arcadia ' a tedious lamentable pe-. dantic paftoral romance.' But the paftoral* is the mod inconfiderable part of the Romany, * However, Johnfcn in his Preface to Shakefpeare, pronounces the following cenfure on his confufion of the cuftoms of different :iges and nations: " Shakefpeare," fays he " was not thconly vio- *' lator of chronology, for in the fame age Sydney, who wanted not " the advantages of learning, has in his Arcadia, confounded the " paftoral with the feudal times, the days of innocence, quiet, and " fecurity, with thofe of turbulence, violence, and adventure." Johnfoti's and Steev^ns's Shakefpeare, 177^, vol. I, Preface, p. 16. which TKEATRUM POETARUM. 14! which may be read without it, and is not necef- fary to the main defign. If becaufe it touches the tender paflions with a mafterly hand, it mud be allowed. As to its being a Romance, the Romance is only the vehicle of fine fenti- ments and judicious reflections, in morals, go- vernment, policy, war, &c. and perhaps as ani- mated defcriptions as are any where to be mec with, in which the idea is not barely raifed in the mind, but the object itfelf rifes to the eye. Tedious indeed it may be in iome parts, and fo tedious that the patience of a young virgin in love cannot now (as Mr. W. complains) wade through it; which may be owing to the different tafte and cuftoms of the different ages. The age in which Sir Philip wrote was very different from the prefent. Tilts and tourna- ments ; jults and running at the ring; and the furniture, caparifons, armour, and devices of the knights and their horfes in thofe martial exercifes, were as much the entertainment and attention of Ladies then, as the never-ending variety of fafhions now. All this to a young virgin in love muft now have loft its attrac- tion. And indeed what are fine fentiments or judicious reflections in war or government, or policy, or any defcriptions foreign to the poinr, Bo a young virgin, or (I may add) young gen- tleman, in love, reading what is confidered only I42 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. only as a love-ftory, the patience, every ftep, hallening to the end? It muft be acknowledged we fometimes meet with extravagances and odd quaintneiTes in the expreflions ; in which there feems no other view (at firft fight) but to play upon words. But even in thefe no expreflion is barren, every word has its idea. And this v/as in a great meafure the humour of the times. Mr. Walpole has obferved of Henry the VUIth, that he was fond of fplendor and feats of arms; and had given a romantic turn to compofition , which might be the reafon of Sir Philip's choofing that fort of writing for the vehicle of his fentiments; and that great part of the work is upon the plan of the Ro- mances then in vogue. The way is now, by length of time, grown in fome places a little rugged and uneven , and we may be obliged now and then (as Mr. W. fpeaks) to wade a little. But the profpects that frequently pre- fent themfelyes, might perhaps make the paf- fenger amends, if the ways were deeper; and if the beauties he may take notice of in his firfb paffage fhould difpofe him to attempt a fe- cond, he may difcover many things worthy that efcaped him in the firfb. The great va- riety and* diftin&ion of characters, preferved throughout with rnofl: remarkable exactnefs, deferve particular attention, as well as the me- taphors THEATRUM POETARUM. 144 taphors and allufions, adapted to the quality and condition of the feveral fpeakers ; to the flock, when the fhepherd fpeaksj to the war, when the hero."* But candor mull confefs that in Sir Philip's profefTed poetry the fire of genius feldom over- comes the quaint and tinfel conceits of the age and that he is far inferior in this department to his neighbour-f- Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurft, who though many years older, and though he difcovered his poetical talents at an equally early period of his life, yet from a lefs brilliant afiemblage of fpendid qualities, or a more quiet temper, never attained the fame celebrity, notwithstanding he pofTerTed rank, riches, the favour of his Queen, and uniform profperity in honourable employments through a long life. J * Gent Mag. 1-67, ut fupra. This defence appeared to me to ju Vicious as to apologize for fo long a tranfeript. f See Lord Kuckhurft's character, p. 65, 66. + Many palfages in the Sydney Pa pel's feem to difcover a jealoufjr between the Sackville and Sydney families which for the greater part of the two fuc eeding centuries took the lead in Kent, and were often alternate Lord Lieutenants, &c. SIR 144 THEATRUM POETARUM. SIR EDWARD DYER, te Sir Edward Dier* a perfon of good ac- " count in Queen Elizabeth's reign, poeti- " cally addicted, feveral of whole paftoral '* Odes and Madrigals are extant, in a printed " Colleiion of certain choice pieces of fome " of the mod eminent poets of that time." Again in the Supplement, Phillips adds, *' Edward Dier a poetical writer, who feems ** formerly to have been in good efteem, being '* rankt with fome of the mod noted Poets of " Qu. Elizabeth's time ; and a contributer * c with the chief of them, out of his writ- " inss to the abovementioned Collection : and C{ with him we may perhaps not unfitly rank, " John Markham, Henry Conftable, Thomas " Achelly, John Wee ver, George Turberville, " beiides Lodge, Green, Gafcoign, and others, " that have been already mentioned." Sir Edward was of the fame family with thofe of his name in Some rietlh ire, and was educated at Oxford, where he difcovered a propenfiy to poetry, and polite literature, but lefc THEATRUM POETARUM. 145 Irft it without a degree and travelled abroad. On his return, having the character of a well- bred man, he was taken into the fervice of the Court. He now obtained confiderable cele- brity as a poet, and was a chief contributer to the " Collection of Choice Flowers and De- fcriptions,"* which were publifhed about the beginning of James's reign. Queen Elizabeth had a great refpeft for his abilities, and em- ployed him in feveral embattles, particularly to Denmark in 1589; and on his return from thence, conferred on him the Chancellorfhip of the Garter, on the death of Sir John Wolley, 1596, and at the fame time (he knighted him.-f- But, like other courtiers, he ibmetimes expe- rienced the Queen's caprice. " She took of- fence fo eafily, and forgave fo difficultly," fays Hurd,J " that even her principal Minifters could hardly keep their ground, and were often obliged to redeem her favour by the lowed fub- miflions. When nothing eife would do, they ficken'd and were even at death's door ; from which peril however fhe would fomerimes re- lieve them, but not till fhe had exacted from them in the way of penance, a courfe of the '< Wood's Ath. I. p. 322. f See the lift of Elizabeth's Knight?, No. zi-, at the einl of " Reflections o.i the late Incroafe of the Peerage," Load. 8. i :/', for Debrett. \ Dialogues, Mor. and Pol. II. p. 3?. L mo ft I46 THEATRUM P0ETARUM". moil mortifying humiliations." Something fi- milarto this happened in the cafe of our author in 1573. Gilbert Talbot, in a letter to his fa- ther* the Earl of Shrewfhury, has the follow- ing paflage. " Hatton-f- is ficke ftill : it is thought he will very hardly recover his difeafe, for it is doubted it is in his kidneis : the Queene goeth almoft every every day to fee how he dothe. Now in thefe devices (chefely by Lecefter, as I fuppofe, and not withoute Burghley his knowledge) how to make Mr. Edward Dier as great as ever was Hatton ; for now, in this tyme of Hatton's ficknefs, the tyme is convenient : It is brought thus to pafie* Dier lately was ficke of a confumcion, in great daunger ; and as yo r Lo. knoweth he hath bene in difpleafure thefe 1 1 yeares, it was made the Quene beleve that his ficknes came becaufe of the continiaunce of hir difpleafure towards him, fo that unles fhe would forgyve him he was licke not to recover-, and heruppon hir Ma tie hathe forgyven him, and fente unto him a very comfortable meffage; now he is re- covered agayne, and this is the beginning of this device.** Sir Edward fludied chymiilry, and was * From Lodge's Illustrations of Biitifh Hiftory, II. p, ior. f Sir Chriftopher. thought THEATRUM POETARUM. I47 thought to be a Rofi-crufran, and a dupe of Dr. Dee, and Edward Kelly, thofe celebrated aftrologers, of whom he has recorded, that in Bohemia he faw them put bafe metal into a crucible, and after it was fet on the fire, and flirred with a ftick of wood, it came forth in great proportion perfect gold He wrote Paftoral Odes, and Madrigals Some of thefe are in the Collection beforemen- tioned. Alfo a Defcription of Friendship ; a poem in the Afhmole Mufseum, No, 781, p. He died fome years after James came to the throne, and was fucceeded in his Chancellorfhip of the Garter by Sir John Herbert, Kt. princi- pal Secretary of State. -f # Wood's Ath. I. p. ^25. f Cotemporary with Sir Edward Dyer was Futtenham, one of the Gentlemen Penfioners to Q^ Elizabeth, the author of the" Art of Kng'.ifh Poefie," accounted in its time an elegant, witty, and inge- nious book, in which are preferved fome of the Verfes made by Q. Elizabeth Wood's Ath. I. p. 3:5. EDMUND I48 TKEATRUM POETARUM. EDMUND SPENSER. Edmund Spencer, the firft of our Englifh " Poets that brought heroic poefy to any per- " feclion, his * Fairy Queen' being for great " invention, and poetic heighth, judg'd little " inferior, if not equal to the chief of the an- " cienr. Greeks and Latins, or modern Italians, ' but the firft poem that brought him into " efteem was his e Shepherd's Calendar,' which " fo endeared him to that noble patron of all tmos" is dedicated to the s< Right Worthy and Vertuous Lidy, the Lady Carey," " net fo much" fays he, u for your great bounty to myfelf, which yet may not be unminded, nor for name and kindred fake by you vouchfafed, being alfo regardabie, as for that honourable name," &c. Again in the dedication of his <: Tears of the Mufes,*' to the '' Right Honourable the Lady Strange" (wife of Ferdinando then Lord Strange, afterwards Earl of Derby) he fays, " the caufes for which ye have deferred of me to be honoured, (if honour it be at all) are both your particular bounties, and alio fome private bands of affinity, which it hath pleaied your Ladifhjp to acknowledge." Again in the Dedication of " Mother Hubberd's Tale" to the " Right Honourable the La.ly Compton and Mountegle," he fpeaks of " the humble and faithful duty, which he is bound to bear, to that houfe from whence Hie fprirjs," bzz rdfo Maione's Vindication of Shak5fpe?.re ; p % Me THEA-TRUM POETARUM. I5I He was educated at Pembroke- Hall, Cam- bridge, where he proceeded A. B. in 1572, and A. M. in 1576, when he retired into the North, in confequencc, as it is reported, of difappoint- ment in obtaining a fdlovvfhip. Here he fell in love with his Rofalind and is fuppofed to have written his " Shepherd's Calendar,"* his earliefl poem, which by a dedication to Sir Philip Sydney under the fignature of Immerito, is conjectured to have firfl gained him an intro- duction to that illuftrious patron, and to have drawn him from his retirement into the fun- mine of the Court, where he feems however to have met with many difappointments, of which in many paflages of his poems he mod patheti- cally complains, particularly from Lord Bur- leigh, who, tho' an able politician, appears to have been of too coarfe, too cold, and plodding a nature to have felt the divine influences of the Mufe. In 1579, he was fent abroad by the Earl of Leiceiter, probably in fome public em- ployment : and whpn Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton was appointed to fucceed Sir Henry Sydney, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, in 1580, Spenfer was made his Secretary, an office which he difcharged with great ability, and * Printed in 1579, a thin quarto, black letter Wart. Obf. or. Sneufer, I, p, 31. L 4 integrity. 152 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. integrity. But Lord Grey was recalled in 1582, and Spenfer is fuppofed to have returned with him to England. There he continued till the death of Sir Philip Sydney in 15S6, probably employed in the composition of the Fairy Queen, of which however fragments are faid to have been written before his original introduction to Sir Philip. Yet the death of his great friend, however lamentable, did not happen before the poet had obtained, probably by his intereft, a grant dated 27 June, 1586,* of 3000 acres of land in the county of Cork in Ireland, part of the forfeited eftate of the Earl of Defmond. In 1587 he took poffciTion of this eftate, and having for his houfe the caftle of Kilcolman, and the pleafant river Mulla running through his grounds, he palled fome years in a happy tranquillity and leifure. This fituation gave him an opportunity of renewing his friendfhip with Sir Walter Raleigh, who having become acquainted with the poet, at the time of his having a command in Ireland under Arthur Lord Grey, had now obtained alio a grant of 12,000 acres from the Crown, in Cork and Waterford.+ A vifit by Sir Walter to Kilcolman is faid to have determined * Sir Philip's death happened the 17th of 0(51. f Oklys's Life, p, XXIX, Spenfer THEATRUM POETARUM.' 153 Spenfer to prepare the three firft books of his Fairy Queen for immediate publication, for which purpofe the poet accompanied his friend back to London, and on his arrival there, 1588, finding his old patron Lord Leicefter dead, was introduced by his friend to the Queen. At length in 1590 came out in quarto, the three firft books of this incomparable poem, with a " Letter of the Author's, expounding his whole intention in the courie of this worke, which for that it giveth great light to the Reader, for the better underftanding is hereunto annexed." It is addreflcd " to the Right noble and valo- rous Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, Lo. War- dein of the Stanneryes, and her Maiefties liefe- tenaunt of the County of Cornewayll. Dated 23 January, 1589.* This is followed by fome panegyrical verfes of Sir Walter and others, which are fucceeded by fome dedicatory fon- nets by the poet himfelf, to fome of the chief nobility, f * I fuppofe 15S9 9p. j- I do not know that it has been remarked Ly Spent r's biogra- pher?, that fome of :1k- Sonnets which appear in the ft.bfcquent Edi- tions were not in the firft quarto Edition, a copy of which the com- piler of this work poffeffes. The fecorul Sonnet, to Lord Burleigh; the fifth, to the Earl of Cumberland ; the ninth, to Lord Huniihm ; the eleventh, to Lord Buckhurft ; t lie twelfth, to Sir Francis Wal- fingham ; the thirteenth, to Sir John Norris; and the fifteenth, to the Couutefs of Pembroke ; were all a '. led after the firft Edition, in which the fonncts appear in the folljwiu^ order. I, To Sir Chrifto- pLcr 154 THEATRUM POETARUM. In the Sonnets to Lord Ormond and Lord Grey he feems clearly to allude to Ireland, as the place where the poem was principally written. To the Earl of Ormond and Ossory, Receive moft nobis Lord a fimple tafte Of the wilde fruit, which falvage foyl hath bred, Which being through long wars left almoft wafte, With brutifh barbarifme is overfpredd: And in fo faire a land, as may be redd, Not one Parnaffus, nor one Helicone Left for fweete Mufes to be harboured, But where thyfelfe haft thy brave manfione; There in deede dwel faire Graces many one. And gentle Nymphes, delights cf learned wits. And in thy perfon without Paragone All goodly bountie and true honour fits, Such therefore, as that wafted foyl doth yield, Receive dear Lord in worth the fruit of barren field, pher Hatton. H. To the Earl of Effex. III. To the Earl of Oxen- ford. IV. To the Earl of Korthumbeiland. V. To the Earl of Or- mond and Gffory VI. To the Lord Cli. Howard. VII. To the Lord Grey of Wilton. VIII. To Sir Walter Raleigh IX. To the molt vertuous and beautiful Lady, the Lady Carew (who it feems to me fhould not be confounded with Lady Carej, Sir John Spenfer's daughter.) X. To all the gratious and beautifuil ladies in the Court. To THEATRUM POETARUM. 155 To the Lord Grey- of Wilton*. Moft noble Lord the pillor of my life, And Patrone of my Mufes pupillage, Through vvhofe large bountie poured on me rife. In the firft feafon of my feeble age, I now doe live, bound your? by vaffalage: Sith nothing ever may redeeme, nor reave Out of your endlefie debt fo fure a gage, Vouchfafe in worth this fmall guift to receave, Which in your noble hands for pledge I leave, Of all the reft, that I am tyde t' account : Rude rymes, the which a ruftick. Mufe did weave In favndge foyle, far from Parnaflb mount, And roughly wrought in an unlearned Loome : The which vouchfafe dear Lord your favorable doome.* Spenfer now married j and in his Irifli retire- ment, finished three more books of the " Fairy Queen," befides feveral other poems. But his quiet was foon to end. After the death of the Earl of Defmond in 1593, the Earl of Tyrone broke out into a frcfh rebellion. On this oc- cafion Spenfer became not a little anxious for his own fettlement at Kilcolman ; and in 1596, wrote a plan for reducing the kingdom, under the title of " A View of the State of Ireland.' 1 *< Jr. x-co, quarto, p. Co;, (J04. In 1^6 THEATRUM POETARUM. In 1596, the fourth, fifth and fixth Books of the " Fairy Queen" were publifhed at London in 4to : and he is fuppofed to have come to England himfelf at that time. However he was in Ireland again 1597 ; and there it feems he died, amid the defolations of the Rebellion, which was now raging, as appears from the fol- lowing curious anecdote in Drummond,* who has left us the heads of a converfation between himfelf and Ben Jonfon. " Ben Jonfon told " me that Spenfer's goods were robbed by the *' Irifh in Defmond's rebellion j his houfe and " a little child of his burnt; and he and his " wife nearly efcaped , that he refufed twenty *' pieces lent him by the Earl of EfTcx, and * c gave this anfwer to the perfon who brought " them, that he was fure he had no time to " fpend them." Camden informs us, that Spenfer was in Ireland when the rebellion broke out under Tyrone in 1598, but that being plundered of his fortune, he was obliged to return into England, where he died, that fame, or the next year. Camden adds, that he was buried in the Abbey of We ft minder, with due folcmnities, at the expencc of the Earl cf ElTex. If Drummond's account be true, it * Works, fol. p 224. " Heads of a converfation between the fa- mous poet Ben. Jonfon and William Drummond of Hawthornden, January 1619." is THEATRUM POETARUM. IQ'J is moil probable that the Earl, whofe benefac- tion came too late to be of any ufe, ordered his body to be conveyed into England, where it was interred, as Camden relates. It mud be owned that Jonfon's account, in Drummond, is very circumftantial; and that it is probable, Jonfon was curious enough to collect authentic information, on fo interefting a fubject. At leaft his profeffion and connections better qua- lified him to come at the truth. Perhaps he was one of the poets who held up* Spenfer's pall.f Hugolin Spenfer, a great-grandfon, is faid to have been reftored by the Court of Claims, in the reign of Charles II, to fo much of the lands as could be found to have belonged to the poet. J " When the works of Homer and Arifto- tle" (fays the mod excellent of our critics on Englifh Poetry) " began to be reftored and ftudied in Italy, when the genuine and uncor- rupted fources of ancient poetry and ancient criticifm were opened, and every fpecies of li- terature at laft emerged from the depths of * Poctis funus ducentibus. Camd. Ann. Eliz. p. 4. p.i. 729. Lngd. Eat. f This account is extracted from T. Warton's Obferv. on the F. Queen, II. p. =51, 252. % His Life, before the edition of 1679. Biogra. Brit. VI. p. ^1 ?. In his Obfervatious on the Fairy Queen, duod. a edit. Load. 1762. got hie I_$8 THEATRUM POETARUM. gothic ignorance and barbarity ; it might have been expected, that inftead of the romantic manner of poetical composition introduced and eftablifhed by the Provencial bards, a new and more legitimate tafte of writing would have fucceeded. With thefe advantages it was rea- sonable to conclude, that unnatural events, the machinations of imaginary beings, and adven- tures entertaining only as they were improbable, would have given place to juftnefs of thought and defign, and to that decorum which nature dictated, and which the example and the pre- cept of antiquity had authorized. But it was a long time before fuch a change was effected. We find Ariofto, many years after the revival of letters, rejecting truth for magic, and pre- ferring the ridiculous and incoherent excurfions of Boyardo, to the propriety and uniformity of the Grecian and Roman models. Nor did the restoration of ancient learning produce any ef- fectual or immediate improvement in the ftate of criticifm. Beni, one of the molt celebrated critics of the fixteenth century, was ftill fo in- fatuated with a fondnefs for the old Provencial vein that he ventured to write a regular difTer- fertation, in which he -compares Ariofto with Homer. " Trifiino, who flourilhed a few years after Ariofto, had tafte and boldnefs enough to pub- lic THEATRUM P0ETARUM. I^p lifh an epic poem, written in profeffed imitation of the Iliad. But this attempt met with little regard or applaufe, for the reafon on which its real merit was founded. It was rejected as an infipid and uninterefting performance, having few Devils or enchantments to recommend ir. To Triflino fccceeded Taflb, who in his Gieru- faleme Liberata, took the ancients for his guides; but was dill too fenfible of the popu- lar prejudice in favour of ideal beings, and ro- mantic adventures, to neglect: or omit them en- tirely. He had ftudied and acknowledged the beauties of claffical purity. Yet he itill kept his firit and favourite acquaintance, the old Provencial poets, in his eye. Like his own Rinaldo, who after he had gazed on the dia- mond fhield of Truth, and with feeming refo- lution, was actually departing from Armida and her enchanted gardens, could not help looking back upon them with fome remains of fondnefs. Nor did Taflb's poem, though com- pofed, in fome meafure, on a regular plan, give its Author, among the Italians at leaft, any greater (hare of efteem and reputation on that account. Ariofto, with all his extravagancies, was ftill preferred. The fupenority of the Or- lando Furiofo was at length eftablifhed by a formal decree of the academicians della Crufca, who, amongft other literary debates, held a fo- lemn l6o THEATRUM POETARUlli. lemn court of enquiry concerning the merit of both poems. " Such was the prevailing tafte, when Spen* fer projected the Fairy Queen: a poem, which, according to the practice of Ariofto, was to con- fift of allegories, enchantments, and romantic expeditions, conducted by knights, giants, ma- gicians and fictitious beings. It may be urged, that Spenfer made an unfortunate choice, and difcovered but little judgment in adopting Ari- ofto- for his example, rather than Taflb, who had fo evidently exceeded his rival, at leaft in conduct and decorum. But our author natu- rally followed the poem which was mod cele- brated and popular. For although the French critics univerfally gave the preference to Taflb, yet in Italy the partifans on the fide of Ariofto were by far the mod powerful, and confe- quently in England : for Italy in the age of Queen Elizabeth gave laws to our ifland in all matters of tafte, as France has done ever fince. At the fame time it may be fuppofed, that of the two, Ariofto was Spenfer's favourite, and that he was naturally biafled to prefer that plan, which would admit the moil ex ten five range for his unlimited imagination. What was Spenler's plan, in confequence of this choice, and how it was conducted, I now pro- ceed to examine. i( The THEATRUM POETARUAf.' l6l u The poet fuppofes, that the Faerie Queene, according to an annual cuftom, held a magnificent feaft, which continued twelve days; on each of which refpectively, twelve feveral complaints are prefented before her. Accordingly in order to redrefs the injuries which were the occafion of thefe feveral com- plaints, me difpatches, with proper commif- fions, twelve different Knights, each of which, in the particular adventure allotted to him, proves an example of fome panicular virtue, as of Holinefs, Temperance, Juftice, Chaftity; and has one compleat book afligned to him, of which he is the hero. But befides thefe twelve Knights, feverally exemplifying twelve moral virtues, the poet has conftituted one principal Knight or general hero, viz. Prince Arthur. This perfonage reprefents Magnificence; a vir- tue which is fuppofed to be the perfection of all the relt. He moreover afllfts in every book, and the end of his actions is to dilcover, and win, Gloriana, or Glory. In a word, in this character the poet profeffes to pourtray " The image of a brave Knight perfected in the twelve private moral virtues." tc It is evident that our author in eftablifhing one hero, who fecking and attaining one grand end, which is Gloriana, mould exemplify one grand character, or a brave Knight perfected M in \6l THEATRUM P0ETARUM- in the twelve private moral virtues, copied the caft: and conftruction of the ancient Epic. But fenfible as he was of the importance and expe- diency of the unity of the hero and of his de- fign, he does nor, in the mean time, feem con- vinced of the necefilty of that unity of action, by the means of which fuch a defign mould be properly accomplifhed. At lead he has not followed the method practifed by Homer and Virgil, in conducting their refpective heroes to the propofed end. " It may be afked, with great propriety, how does Arthur execute the grand, fimple, and ultimate defign, intended by the poet ? Ic may be anfwered with fome degree of plaufibi- lity, that by lending his refpective afliftance to each of the twelve Knights, who patronize the twelve virtues in his allotted defence of each, Arthur approaches ftill nearer and nearer to Glory, till at laft he gains a complete pofTef- fion. But furely to afiift is not a fufficient fer- vice. This fecondary merit is inadequate to the reward. The poet ought to have made this brave Knight** the leading adventurer. Ar- thur fhould have been the principal agent in vindicating the caufe of Holinefs, Temperance, and the reli. If our hero had thus, in his own perfon, exerted himfelf in the protection of the twelve virtues, he might have been deiervedly ftyled THEATRUM P0ETARUM l6g ftyled the perfect pattern of all, and confe- quently would have fucceeded in the talk af- figned, the attainment of Glory. At prefent he is only a fubordinate or acceflbry character. The difficulties and obftacles which we expect him to furmount, in order to accomplifh his final atchievement, are removed by others. It is not he, who fubdues the dragon, in the firft book, or quells the magician Bufirane, in the third. Thefe are the victories of St. George, and of Britomart. On the whole, the twelve Knights do too much for Arthur to do any thing ; or at lead, fo much as may be reafona- bly required from the promifed plan of the poem. Dryden remarks, " We muft do Spen- " fer that juftice to obferve, that magnanimity ** (magnificence) which is the true character of " Prince Arthur, mines throughout the whole *' poem ; and fuccours the reft when they are " in diftrefs."* If the magnanimity of Arthur did in reality mine in every part of the poem with a fuperior and fteady luftre, our author would fairly (land acquitted. At prefent it burfts forth but feldom, in obfcure and inter- rupted flames. " To iuccour the reft when in diltrcfs" is, as I have hinted, a circumftance of too little importance in the character of this * Dedication to the tranflation of Juvenal. D 2 univerful 164 THEATRUM POETARUItf. univerfal champion. It is a fervice to be per* formed in the caufe of the hero of the Epic poem by i'ome dependent or inferior chief, the bufinefs of a Gyas % or a Cloanthus. " On the whole, we may obferve that Spen- fer's adventures, feparately taken as the fubjeet of each fingle book, have not always a mutual dependence upon each other, and confequently do not properly contribute to constitute one legitimate poem. Hughes, not confidering this, has advanced a remark in commendation of Spenfer's conduct, which is indeed one of the nioft blameable parts of it. " If we confider " the firft book as an entire work of itfelf, we " fhall find it to be no irregular contrivance. " There is one principal action, which is com- " pleted in the twelfth canto, and the feveral {* incidents are proper, as they tend either to " obftruct or promote it."* " As the heroic poem is required to be one whole, compounded of many various parts, relative and dependent, it is expedient that not one of thefe parts mould be fo regularly con- trived, and fo completely finifhed, as to become a whole of itfelf. For the mind, being once fatisfied in arriving at the confirmation of an orderly fcries of events, acquielces in that fatif- * Remarks on the Fairy Queen, Hughes's Edit, of Speafer, vol. L faction. THEATRUM POETARUMT. l6$ faction. Our attention and curiofity are in the midft diverted from purfuing with due vigor, the final and general cataftrophe. But while each part is left incomplete, if feparated from the reft, the mind ftill eager to gratify its ex- pectations, is irrefiftibly and imperceptibly drawn from part to part, till it receives a full and ultimate fatisfaction from the accomplish- ment of one great event, which all thofe parts, following and illuftrating each other, contri- buted to produce. *' Our author was probably aware that by constituting twelve feveral adventures for twelve feveral heroes, the want of a general connection would often appear. On this account, as I prefume, he fometimes refumes and finilhes in fome diftant book, a tale formerly begun and left imperfect. But as numberlefs interrup- tions neceflarily intervene, this proceeding of- ten occafions infinite perplexity to the reader. And it feems to be for the fame realbn, that after one of the twelve Knights has atchieved the adventures of his proper book, the poet introduces him in the next book, acting per- haps in an inferior fphere, and degraded to fome lefs dangerous exploit. But this conduct is highly inartificial , for it deflroys that re- pofe which the mind feels after having accom- panied a hero through manifold (truggles and M 3 various l66 THEATRUM POETARUM^ various diftreffes to fuccefs and victory. Be- fidcs, when we perceive him entering upon any lefs illuftrious attempt, our former admiration is in fome degree diminifhed. Having k^n him complete fome memorable conquefts we become intercfted in his honour, and are jea- lous concerning his future reputation. To at- tempt, and even to atchieve, fome petty pofte- rior enterprize, is to derogate from his dignity, and to fully the tranfeendent luftre of his for- mer victories. " Spenfer perhaps would have embarrafTed himfelf and the reader lefs, had he made every book one entire detached poem of twelve can- tos, without any reference to the reft, Thus he would have written twelve different books, in each of which he might have completed the pattern of a particular virtue in twelve knights reflectively : at prefent he has remarkably failed in endeavouring to reprefent all the vir- tues exemplified in one. The poet might either have eftablifhed twelve Knights without an Arthur, or an Arthur without twelve Knights. Upon fuppofition that Spenfer was refolved to characterize the twelve moral virtues, the for- mer plan perhaps would have been beft : the latter is defective, as it neceflarily wants fim- plicity. It is an action confiding of twelve actions, all equally great and unconnected be- tween THEATRUM POETARUM. I 6 J tween themfelves, and not compounded of one uninterrupted and coherent chain of incidents, tending to the accomplifhment of one defign. '* I have remarked, that Spenfer intended to exprefs the character of a hero perfected in the twelve moral virtues, by reprelenting him as afilfting in the fcrvice of all, till at laft he be- comes pofiefied of all. This plan, however in- judicious, he certainly was obliged to obferve. But in the third book, which is ftyled the le- gend of Chaftitjf, Prince Arthur does not fo much as lend his alTiftance in the vindication of that virtue. He appears indeed, but not as an agent, or even an auxiliary in the adventure of the book. " Yet it muft be confefTed, that there is fome- thing artificial in the poet's manner of varying from hiftorical precifion. This conduct is ra- tionally illuftrated by himfelf.* According to this plan, the reader would have been agreea- bly lurprized in the lad book, when he caT.c to difcover that the feries of adventures, which he had juft ken completed, were undertaken at the command of the Fairy Queen ; and that the Knights had feverally fet forward to the ex- ecution of them, from her annual birth-day t'c^- tival. But Spenfer in moft of the books, has * Letter to ir Walter Raleigh. M 4 injudi- l68 THEATRUM POETARUM. injudicioufly foreftalled the firft of thefe parti- culars i which certainly fhould have been con- cealed till the laft book, not only that a need- lefs repetition of the fame thing might be pre- vented ; but that an opportunity might be fe- cured of ilriking the reader's mind with a cir- cumftance new and unexpected. " But notwithftanding the plan and conduct of Spenfer, in the poem before us, is highly exceptionable, yet we may venture to pro- nounce that the fcholar has more merit than the matter in this refpect; and that the Fairy Queen is not fo confufed and irregular as the Orlando Furiofo. There is indeed no general unity which prevails in the former: but if we confider every book, or adventure, as a fepa- rate poem, we fhall meet with fo many diftindc however imperfect, unities, by which an atten* tive reader is lefs bewildered, than in the maze of indigeftion and incoherence, of which the latter totally confifts, where we feek in vain either for partial or univerfal integrity. Cum nee pes nee caput uni Reddatur Formas.* " Ariofto has his admirers and moft defer- vedly. Yet every clafllcal, every reafonable critic, mult acknowledge, that the poet's con- * Hor. Art. Poet. v. 8 ( ception THEATRUM POETARUM. 1 69 ception in celebrating the madness, or in other words, defcribing the irrational acts of a hero, implies extravagance and abfurdity. Orlando does not make his appearance till the eighth book, where he is placed in a fituation not perfectly heroic. He is difcovered to us in bed, defiring to deep. His ultimate defign is to find Angelica: but his purfuit of her is broken off again in the thirtieth book; after which there are fixteen books, in none of which Angelica has the lealt (hare. Other heroes are likewife engaged in the fame purfuit. After reading the firft ftanza, we are inclined to think that the fubject of the poem is the expedition of the Moors into France, under the emperor Agramante, to fight againft Charlemagne; but this bufinefs is the molt infignificant and incon- fiderable part of it. Many of the heroes per- form exploits equal, if not fuperior, to thofe pf Orlando; particularly Ruggiero, who clofes the poem with a grand and important achieve- ment, the conqueft and death of Rodomont. But this event is not the completion of a ftory carried on, principally and perpetually, through the work. " This fpirited Italian palTes from one inci- dent to another, and from region to region with fuch incredible expedition and rapidity, that one would think he was mounted upon his winged I JO THEATRUM POETARUM. winged fteed Ippogrifo. Within the compafs of ten ftanzas, he is in England and the Hef- perides, in the Earth and the Moon. He be- gins the hiftory of a Knight in Europe, and fuddenly breaks it off to refume the unfinimed cataftrophe of another in Afia. The reader's imagination is diflracted, and his attention har- raffcd, amidft the multiplicity of tales, in the relation of which the poet is at the fame inflant equally engaged. To remedy this inconveni- ence, the companionate expofitors have affixed, in fome of the editions, marginal hints, inform- ing the bewildered reader in what book and flanza the poet intends to recommence an in- terrupted epifode. This expedient reminds us of the aukward artifice pra&ifed by the firfl painters. However, it has proved the means of giving Ariofto's admirers a clear comprehen- fion of his ftories, which otherwife they could not have obtained without much difficulty. This poet is feldom read a fecond time in or- der ; that is, by pafilng from the firfl: canto to the fecond, and from the fecond to the reft in fucceflion: by thus purfuing, without any re- gard to the proper courfe of the bcoks and ftanzas, the different tales, which though all fomewhere finiflied, yet are at prefent fo mu- tually complicated, that the incidents of one are perpetually clafhing with thofe of another. The THEATRUM POETARUTvf. 171 Tlie judicious Abbe du Bos obferves happily enough, that " Homer is a geometrician in *' comparifon of Ariofto." His mifcellaneous contents cannot be better expreffcd than by the two firft verfes of his exordium ; Le Donni, i Caval'.ier, l'Arme, gli Amor!, Le Cortege, le' aud.ici Impicfe, io canto.* " But it is abfurd to think of judging either Ariofto or Spenfer by precepts which they diJ not attend to. We, who live in the days of writing by rule, are apt to try every composi- tion by thofe laws which we have been taught to think the fole criterion of excellence. Cri- tical tafte is univerfally difTufed, and we re- quire the fame order and defign which every modern performance is expected to have in poems, where they never were regarded or in- tended. Spenfer, and the fame may be faid of Ariofto, did not live in an age of planning. His poetry is the carelefs exuberance of 4 warm imagination and a ftrong fenfibility. It was his bufinefs to engage the fancy, and to intereft the attention by bold and linking images,-]- in the formation and the difpofuion * Oil. Fur. c i. f. i. f " Montffqr.icj lias partly characterized Sper.fep, in the judg- ment he lias paired upon the Englilh poet.,, which is not true with regard to all oF them. ' Leuri poets auroient plus fouveut cette rti- < (telle originate ile l'invention, qu'une certaine delicatefle que ilonna * le gout: on y trouvcroit quclque chofe qui approcheroit plu do U ' foic* I72 THEATRUM POETARUM.^ of which, little labour or art was applied. The various and the marvellous were the chief fources of delight. Hence we find our author raniacking alike the regions of reality and ro- mance, of truth and fiction, to find the proper decorations and furniture for his fairy ftruc- ture. Born in fuch an age, Spenfer wrote ra- pidly from his own feelings, which at the fame time were naturally noble. Exaftnefs in his poem, would have been like the cornice which a painter introduced in the grotto of Calypfo. Spenfer's beauties are like the flowers in Para- dife. Which not nice Art In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon Pour'd forth profufe, on hill, and dale, and plain; Both where the morning fun firft warmly fmote The open field, or where the unpiere'd fhade Imbrown'd the noontide bowers.* " If the Fairy Queen be deilitute of that arrangement and oeconomy which epic feverity requires, yet we fcarcely regret the lofs of thefe while their place is fo amply fupplied, by fome- thing which more powerfully attracts us: fome- thing which engages the affections, the feelings of the heart, rather than the cold approbation ' force de M, Ange, que de la grace du Raphael' L'Efprit du Loix. liv. 19. ch 27. The French critics are too apt to form their general notions of Englifh Poetry, from our fondnefs for Shakefpeare. *Parad. Loft, b. IV. v, 241. of THEATRUM FOETARUM^ Jfj of the head. If there be any poem, whofe graces pleafe, becaufe they are fituated beyond the reach of art, and where the force and fa- culties of creative imagination delight, becaufe they are unaflifted and unreftrained by thofe of deliberate judgment, it is this. In reading Spenfer, if the critic is not fatisfied, yet the reader is delighted."* From the fame incomparable critic, from whom the above long extract has been copied, I (hall feleft the leading obfervations (referring the reader to the book itfelf for the details, in which they are exemplified) on the following heads. I. On Spenfer's Imitations from old Romances. II. On his uie and abufe of an- tient Hiftory, and Mythology. Ill On his Stanza, Verification, and Language. IV. On his Imitations from Chaucer. V. On his Imi- tations from Ariofto. VI. On his Inaccuracies. Vil. On his Imitations of himfelf. VIII- On his allegorical Character. I. " Although Spenfer formed his Faerie Queene upon the fanciful plan of Ariofto, yet it muft be confcfied, thac the adventures of his Knights are a more exact and immediate copy * This is a traufcript of the whole of the fir ft Sedion of the firft Volume of T. Warton's Obfervations on the iairy Qj.. en o Spenfer: which SeiiUon is concerning " The plan and conduct of the Fairy Queen." of 174 THEATRUM POETARUM. of thofe which we meet with in old romances, or books of chivalry, than of thofe which form the Orlando Furiofo. Ariofto's Knights ex- hibit furprizing examples of their prowefs, and atchieve many heroic actions. But our au- thor's Knights are more profeffedly engaged in revenging injuries, and doing juftice to the dif- trefTed; which was the proper bufinefs, and ul- timate end of the ancient Knight-errantry. And thus though many of Spenier's incidents are to be found in Ariollo, fuch as that of blowing a horn, at the found of which the gates of a caf- tle fly open, of the vanifhing of an enchanted palace or garden after fome Knight has de- flroyed the enchanter, and the like; yet thefe are not, more peculiarly the property of Ari- ofto, than they are common to all antient ro- mances in general. Spenfer's flrft book is, in- deed, a regular and precife imitation of fuch a feries of action as we frequently find in books of chivalry.* For inftance; a King's daughter * In another place, (vol. II p. 267) he fays: " However monftrous and unnatural thefe compositions may appear to tills age of reafon and refinement, they merit more attention than the world is willing to beftow. They preferve many curious historical facts, and throw confiderable light on the nature of the feudal fyftem. They are the pictures of ancient ufages and cuftoms; and reprefent the manners, genius and character of our anceftors. Above all, fuch are their ter- rible graces of magic and enchantment, fo magnificently marvellous are their fictions and fablings, that they contribute, in a wonderful degree, to roufe and invigorate ail the powers of imagination: to itore the THEATRUM POET ARUM.' I75 applies to a Knight, that he would relieve her father and mother, who are clofely confined to their caftle, upon account of a vail and terri- ble dragon, that had ravaged their country, and perpetually laid wait to deftroy them. The Knight fets forward with the lady, encounters a monfter in the way, is plotted aganift by an enchanter, and after furmounting a variety of difficulties and obftacles, arrives at the country which is the fcene of the dragon's devaftation, kills him, and is prefented to the King and Queen, whom he has juft delivered ; marries their daughter, but is foon obliged to leave her, on account of fulfilling a former vow. " It may be moreover obferved, that the cir- cumstance of each of Spenfer's twelve Knights departing from one place, by a different way to perform a different adventure, exactly re- iembles that of the feven Knights entering upon their feveral expeditions, in the well- known romance, entitled the " Seven Cham- pions of Chriftendom." In fact thefe miracu- lous books were highly fafhionable, and chi- valry, which was the fubject of them, was (till practiled and admired in the age* of Queen Elizabeth."f the fancy with thofe fublime and alarming images, which true poe- try belt delights to diiplay." * See Holinfhed's Chronicles, vol. Ill, p. 1 3 15. f Warton on Spen- fer, feci. II. vol I. p. 17, 18. I76 THEATRUM POETARtJM. 1 II. " As Spenfer fought to produce furpri^d by extravagant incidents and fantaftic defcrip- tions, great part of claffical hiftory and mytho- logy afforded ample materials for fuch a de- fign, and properly coincided with the general aim of his romantic plan. He has accordingly adopted fome of their mod extraordinary fic- tions, in many of which he has departed from the received tradition, as his purpofe and fub- jecTt occafionally required or permitted. But with regard to our author's mifreprefentation of ancient fable, it may be juftly urged that from thofe arguments which are produced a- gafinft his fidelity, new proofs arife in favour of his fancy. Spenfer's native force of inven- tion would not fuffer him to purfue the letter of prefcribed fiction, with fcrupulous obferva- tion and fervile regularity. In many particu- lars he varies from antiquity, only to fubftitute new beauties; and from a (light mention of one or two. leading circumftances in ancient fable, takes an opportunity to difplay fome new fic- tion of his own coinage. He fometimes, in the fervour of compofuion, mifreprefents thefe matters through haite and inattention. His al- lufions to antient hiftory are likewiie very fre- quent, which he has not fcrupled to violate, with equal freedom and for the fame reaibns."* * Waiton ut fupra, feit. III. vol. I. p. 66, 67. III. THEATRUM POETARUM. IJJ III. " Although Spenfer's favourite Chaucer had made ufe of the ottava rima,* or ftanza of eight lines , yet it ieems probable, that Spenfer was principally induced to adopt it, with the addition of one line, from the practice of Ari- ofto and Tafib, the moft falhionable poets of his age. But Spenfer, in chufing this ftanza, did not fufficiently confider the genius of the englifh language, which does not eafily fall into a frequent repetition of the fame termi- nation; a circumftance natural to the italian, which deals largely in identical cadences. " Befides, it is to be remembered, that Taflb and Ariofto did not embarrafs themfelves with the neceflity of finding out fo many fimilar ter- minations as Spenfer. Their ottava rima has only three fimilar endings, alternately rhyming. The two laft lines formed a diftinct rhyme. But in Spenfer the fecond rhyme is repeated four times, and the third three.-f- This conftraint led our author into many abfurdities."J " But it is furprizing upon the whole, that Spenfer mould execute a poem of uncommon * " Chaucer's ftanza is not ftri&ly fo. Betuffi, in his life of Roccace , acquaints us, that Boccace was the inventor of the ottava rima, and that the ThefeiJ of that author was the fii ft poem in which it was ever applied.** f " See examples of the meafures of the Piovencia! poets, in Pe- tnrch. Spenfer forms a compound of many of thefe." i Warton ut fupia, fecV IV. vol. I. p. 113, 114 N length I78 T-HEATRUM POETARUM. length, with fo much fpirit and eafe, laden as he was with fo many (hackles, and embarrafTed with fo complicated a bondage of rhyming. Nor can I recollect that he has been fo carelefs- as to fufFer the fame word to be repeated as a rhyme to itfelf in more than four or five in- ftances; a fault, which if he had more fre- quently committed, his manifold beauties of verification would have obliged us to over- look; and which Harrington mould have avoided more fcrupuloufly, to compenfate, in fome degree, for the tamenefs and profaic me- diocrity of his numbers."* IV. " It is evident, that in many pafTages Spenfer has imitated Chaucer's fentiment as well as his language. It is frequently true, that pa- ralleling miftake refemblances for thefts. But this doctrine by no means affects the inftances of Spenfer's imitations, both of Chaucer and Ariofto. Spenfer is univerfally acknowledged to have been an attentive reader, and a pro- felTed admirer, of both thefe poets. His imi- tations from the former are molt commonly li- teral, couched in the exprefTions of the original. What he has drawn from Ariofto are artificial fictions which confifting of unnatural combina- tions, could not, on account of their fingula- * Warton, fed. IV. vol. I. p. 122.. rity THEATRUM P0ETARUM. I 79 rity, be fallen upon by both poets accidentally, as natural appearances might be, which lie ex- pofed and obvious to all, at all times."* V. " Although Spenfer ftudied Arioilo with fuch attention, infomuch that he was ambitious of rivalling the Orlando Furiofo in a poem founded on a fimilar plan, yet the genius of each was entirely different. Spenfer, amidft all his abfurdities, abounds with beautiful and fub- lime reprefentations-, while Ariofto's ftrokes of true poetry bear no proportion to his fallies of merely romantic imagination. He gives us the grotefque for the graceful, and extravagance for majefty. He frequently moves our laughter by the whim fical figures of a Callot, but feldom awakens our admiration by the juft portraits of a Raphael. Ariofto's vein is enentially diffe- rent from Spenfer's ; it is abfolutely comic, and infinitely better fuited to fcenes of humour, than to fcrious and folemn defcription. He fo characteriftically exctlls in painting the familiar manners, that thole detached pieces in the Or- lando called Tales, ave by far the molt fhining palfages in the poem. Many of his iiinilcs arc alfo glaring indications of his predominate in- clination to ridicule."-j- VI. " Few poets appear to have compoled * Warton, fedt V. vul. I. p. 135, Jj5. f Ibii. izct. VF. vol. I. p. 324, 225. N 2 w!-:h l80 THEATRUM POETARUM. with greater rapidity than Spenfer. Hurried away by the impetuofity of imagination, he fre- quently cannot find time to attend to the nice- ties of construction ; or to ftand ftill and revife what he had before written, in order to prevent contradictions, inconfiftencies, and repetitions. Hence it is that he not only fails in the connec- tion of (ingle words, but of circumftances-, not only violates the rules of grammar, but of pro- bability, truth, and propriety."* VII. " Commentators of lefs tafte than learn- ing, of lefs difcernment than oftentation, have taken infinite pains to point out, and compare thofe paflages which their refpeclive authors have imitated from others. This difquifition, if executed with a judicious moderation, and ex- tended no further than to thofe paflages, which are diftinguiflied with certain indubitable cha- racters, and internal evidences of tranfcription, or imitation, muft prove an inftructive and en- tertaining reiearch. It tends to regulate our ideas of the peculiar merit of any writer, by (hewing what degree of genuine invention he pofiefTes, and how far he has improved the ma- terials of another by his own art and manner of application. In the mean time, it naturally gratifies every reader's inquifitive difpofition. * Warton, fe&. VII. vol. II. p. 3. But tHEATRUM POETARUM. l8l But where even the mod apparent traces of likenefs are found, how feldom can we deter- mine with truth and juftice, as the moil fenfi- ble and ingenious of modern crirics* has finely proved, that an imitation was intended ? How commonly in this cafe, to ufe the precife and fignificant expreflions of this delicate writer, do we miftake refemblances for thefts ?" It may be more ufeful therefore to attend to " Spenfer's imitations of himfelf. This kind of criticifm will difcover and afcertain a poet's favourite images: it will teach us how vari- oufly he exprefifes the fame thought : and will explain difficult paiTages and words. "f " Thus Spenfer particularly excclls in paint- ing affright, confufion, and aftonifhment. c< Experience proves that we paint bed, what we have felt moft. Spenfer's whole life feems to have confided of difappointments and dii- trefs. Thefe miferies, the warmth of his ima- gination, and what was its confequence, his fenfibility of temper contributed to render doubly fevere. Unmerited and unpitied indi- gence ever ftruggles with true genius; and a refined rafte, for the fame reafons that it en- hances the pleafures of life, adds uncommon tortures to the anxieties of that (late, ' in * " See a Difcourfe on Poetical Imitations by Mr. Hard.** } Ibid. fedt. VIII, vol. II, p. 36, 37. N 3 which," l82 THEATRUM POETARUM. which,'* fays an incomparable moralift, " every * virtue is obfeurec), and in which no conduce " can avoid reproach \ a ftate in which chear- " fulnefs is infenfibility, and dejection fullen- * c nefsj of which the hardships are without " honour, and the labours without reward." " To thefe may be added his perfonageof Fear. " It is proper to remark, that Spenfer has given three large defcriptions, much of the fame na- ture; viz. The Bower of Blifs, B. i. C. 12. The Gardens of Adonis, B. 3. C. 5. And the Gardens of the Tempie of Venus, B. 4. C. 10. All which, though in general the fame,, his in- vention has diverlified with many new circum- fiances; as it has likewife his Mornings: and perhaps we meet with no poet, who has more frequently, or more minutely at the fame time, delineated the Morning than Spenfer. He has introduced two historical genealogies of future kings and princes of England, B. 3. C. 3. and B. 2. C. 10. Befides two or three other Ihorter (ketches of Englifh hiftory. He often repeatedly introduces his allegorical figures, which he fometimes defcribes with very little variation from his firft reprefentation; parti- cularly Difdain, Fear, Anger, and Danger. In this poem we likewife meet with two Hells, B. I. C, 5. 31. and B. 2. C. 7. 21."* Warton, p. >7, 5S. VIII. THEATRUM' POETARUM. J 8 J VIII. " In reading the works of a poet who lived in a remote age, it is necefiary that wc mould look, back upon the cuftoms and man- ners which prevailed in that age. We mould endeavour to place ourfelves in the writer's fi- tuation and circumftances. Hence we fhall be- come better enabled to difcover how his turn of thinking and manner of compofing, were influenced by familiar appearances and efta- blimed objects, which are utterly different from thofe with which we are at prefent furrounded. For want of this caution, too many readers view the knights and damfels, the tournaments and enchantments of Spenfer, with modern eyes-, never confidering that the encounters of chivalry fubfifted in our author's age; that ro- mances were then moft eagerly and universally ftudied ; and that confequently Spenfer from the fafhion of the times, was induced to under- take a recital of chivalrous atchievements, and to become, in mort, a romantic poet. " Spenfer in this refpect copied real manners, no lefs than Homer. A fenfible hiftorian ob- ferves, that " Homer copied true natural man- " ners, which however rough and uncultivated, " will always form an agreeable and interefting " picture: but the pencil of the Englilh poet " (Spenfer) was employed in drawing the af- '* fectations, and conceits and fopperies of chi- N 4 valry." 184 THEATRUM POETARUM. u valry."* This however was nothing more tfian an imitation of real life; as much, at leaft, as the plain defcriptions in Homer, which cor- refponded to the fimplicity of manners then fubfifting in Greece. " Nor is it confidered, that a popular prac- tice of Spenfer's age contributed in a confidera- ble degree, to make him an allegorical poet. We mould remember that in this age, allegory was applied as the fubject and foundation of public (hews and fpcclacles, which were exhi- bited with a magnificence fuperior to that of former ages. The virtues and vices, diftin- guifhed by their refpective emblematical types, were frequently perfonified, and reprefented by living actors. Thefe figures bore a chief part in furnifhing what they called pageaunts 3 -|- which were then the principal fpecies of enter- * Hume's Hift. of Eng. Tudor, vol. II. 1759, P- 739- J- " Spenfer himfelf wrote a fet of pageaunts, which were de- fcriptions of thefe feigned reprefentations. " Cervantes, whofe aim was to expofe the abufes of imagination, feems to have left us a burlefque on pageantries, which he confidered as an appendage of romance, pertaking, in great meafure, of the fame chimerical fpirit. This ridicule was perfectly confiftent with the general plan and purpofe of his comic hiftory. See the mafque it Chamacho's wedding, where Cupid, Intereft, Poetry and Libera- lity are the perfonages. A caftle is reprefented, called the Caftle of Difcretion, which Cupid attacks with his arrows; but Intereft throws a purfe at it, when it immediately falls to pieces, &c. D. Quixote, b. 2. c. 3. But under dueregulatioa ami proper contrivance they are a beautiful and ufeful fpeftacle," tainment. THEATRUM POETARUW. l8^ tainment, and were (hewn, not only in private, or upon the ftage, but very often in the open ftreets for folemnizing public occafions, or ce- lebrating any great event. As a proof or what is here mentioned, I refer the reader to Hol- linfhed's Defcription* of the " Shew of Man- hood and Defert," exhibited at Norwich before Queen Elizabeth ; and more particularly to that hiftorian's account of a turney,+ per- formed by Fulke Grevile, the Lords Arundell and Windfor, and Sir Philip Sydney, who are feigned to be the children of desire, attempt- ing to win the fortrefs of beauty. In the com- pofnion of the laft fpectacle, no fmall fliare of poetical invention appears. " In the meantime, I do not deny that Spen- fer was in great meafure tempted by the Or- lando Furiofo, to write an allegorical poem. Yet it mud (till be acknowledged, that Spen- fer's peculiar mode of allegorizing feems to have been dictated by thofe fpectacles, rather than by the fictions of Ariofto. In fact Ariof- to's fpecies of allegory does not fo properly confift in impersonating the virtues, vices, and affections of the mind, as in the adumbration of moral doctrine,J under the actions of men # Hoi. Chron. III. p. 1297. f Exhibited befoie the Qiicnn .it Weft- mmfter, ibiJ. p. 1317 et feq. X " It is obfervtd by Plutarch, tk. Allegory is tint, in which 1 86 THEATRUM POETARUM. and women. On this plan Spenfer's allegories are fometimes formed : as in the firfb book, where the Red-crofle Knight or a True Chrif- tian, defeats the wiles of Archimago, or the Devil, &c. &c. Thefe indeed are fictitious per- fonages-, but he proves himfelf a much more ingenious allegorift, where his imagination " bodies forth" unfubftantial things, *' turns them to fhape," and marks out the nature, pow- ers, and efTe&s, of that which is ideal and ab- ftructed, by vifible and external fymbols, as in his delineation of fear, despair, fancy, envy, and the like. Ariofto gives us but few fym- bolical beings of this fort, for a picturefque invention was by no means his talent: while thofe few, which we find in his poem, are fel- dom drawn with that characteriftical fullnefs, and fignificant expreffion, fo ftriking in the fantaftic portraits of Spenfer. And that Spen- fer painted thefe figures in fo diftincl: and ani- mated a ftyle, may we not partly account for it one thing is related, and another underilood." Thus Ariofto re- lates the adventures of Orlando, Rogero, Bradamante, Sec. by which is understood the conqueft of the paffions, the importance of vir- tue, and other moral dodtrines; on which account we may call the Orlando a moral poem ; but can we call the Fairy Queen on the whole a moral poem ? Is it not equally an historical or political poem ? For though it be, according to its author's words, " an allegory or dark conceit," yet that which is couched or underilood under this allegory, is the hiftory and intrigues of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers : which how- ever are introduced with a moral defign," from THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 187 from this caufe-, That he had been long habi- tuated to the fight of thefe emblematical per- sonages, vifibly decorated with their proper at- tributes, and actually endued with fpeech, mo- tion and life? " From what has been faid, I would not have it objected, that I have intended to ar- raign the powers of our author's invention -, or infinuated that he fervilely copied fuch repre- sentations. All I have endeavoured to prove is, that Spenfer was not only better qualified to delineate fictions of this fort,, becaufe they were the real objects of his fight; but, as all men are influenced by what they fee, that lie was prompted and induced to delineate them, becaufe he faw them, efpecially as they were fo much the delight of his age."* " In analyfing the plan and conduct of this poem," (concludes our truly elegant critic) " I have fo far tried it by epic rules, as to de- monftrate the inconveniences and incongruities, which the poet might have avoided, had he been more (ludious of defign and uniformity. It is true that his romantic materials claim great liberties ; but no materials exclude order and perfpicuity. I have endeavoured to ac- count for thefe defects, partly from the pecu- * Warton, II. p. 87, 95. liar lS8 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. liar bent of the poet's genius, which at the fame time produced infinite beauties, and part- ly from the predominant tafte of the times in which he wrote."* " The bufmefs of criticifm is commonly la- borious and dry; yet it has here more fre- quently amufed than fatigued my attention, in its excurfions upon an author, who makes fuch perpetual and powerful appeals to the fancy. Much of the pleafure that Spenfer experienced in compoling the Fairy Queen, muft in fome meafure be fhared by his commentator; and the critic, on this occafion may fpeak in the words, and with the rapture of the poet. The wayes through which my weary fteppes I guyde In this DELIGHTFUL LAND OF FAERIE, Are fo exceeding fpatious and wyde, And fprinkled with fuch fweet varietie Of all that pleafant is to ear or eye, That I nigh ravifht with rare thoughts delight, My tedious tavel do forgett thereby: And when I gin to feel decay of might, It ftrength to me fupplies, and cheares my dulled fpright". Such is Warton's conclufion, and fuch muft be my apology for the comparative length of this article concerning a writer, who, if imagi- nation is the primary quality of poetry, may perhaps have a right to bear away the laurel from all his rivals. * Warton, J I. p. 268. SIR THEATRUM POETARUM. l8o SIR JOHN HARRINGTON. " Sir John Harrington, no lefs noted for his *' book of witty epigrams, than his judicious ' tranflation of Ariofto's Orlando Furiofo." He was a branch of the ancient and noble family of Harington,* and born about 156 1, at Kelfton, near Bath, where his family have continued, till it was fold to the late Sir Csfar Hawkins, whofe grandibn now owns it.-f- He * John Harrington, a confidential fervant of Hen. VIII. probably a younger fon of John Harington of Exton, Co. Rutl. who died 5 Nov. 15x3, obtained Kelfton by marriage, with Etheldred Dyngley, a na- tural daughter of his fovereign Collinfon's Hift. of Somerfetfhire, I. p. 128. James Harington, the celebrated author of" Oceana," waseldeft fon of Sir Sapcot Harington, Kt. 2d fon of Sir J.imes Harington of Ridlington in Rutlandshire, Bart. He was born 161 1, and died 1677. f But Dr. Harrington, the poet's defcendant, ftill lives at Bath. His fon the Rev. Henry Harington, puhlilheJ a few years ago the " Nngrs Antiqux," from his anceftor's papers. The old manor-houfe at Kel- fton ftood near the church, and was erected in 1587, by Sir John Har- ington, after a plan of that celebrated architect, James Barozzi of Vignola. This houfc Sir Cxfar Hawkins pulled down, and about twenty years ftnee erected an elegant manfion fouthward of it, on an eminence commanding a moft heautiful varied profpe ferted from his " Groatfworth of Wit," the letter of remorfef which he latterly fent to his illufed and deferred wife. He died 5 Sept. 1 592, J of a furfeit, taken by eating pickled herrings, and drinking rhenifh wine with them, at a banquet, at which was prefent Thomas Nafh, who was his cotemporary at Cambridge, and rallies him in his " Apology of Pierce Pennylefs." Of his numerous works, Tanner enumerates the following titles, (befides thofe abovemen- V Wood's f. I. p. 135. f But this letter is afferted by Nafh, in his ' Apology of Pierce Pennylefs, 1593, to be a forgery, Biog. Dram. I. p. 493. j Steevens's Shakefp. 1773, pref. p. 278 Wood's f. I. ji 137. Cibber's Lives, I. p. 91. tioned, THEATRUM POETARUM." I95 tioned, in which he had a (hare with Lodge) I. Euphues his Cenfure to Philautas, Lond. 1587, 4to. II. A Quip for an Upftart Cour- tier: or aDifpute between Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches, Lond. 1592, 1620, 410. III. His Mourning Garment given him by Repent- ance at the Funerals of Love, printed in the city of Callipolis, Lond. 1590, 1616, 4to. IV. Groats Worth of Wit bought with a Mil- lion of Repentance, Lond. 161 6, 4to. V. Thieves falling out, True Men come by their Goods: or the Bellman wanteth a Clapper, 410. VI. Philomela, the Lady Ficzwalter's Night- ingale, Lond. 1615, 4to. VII. His Nufquam fera eft : or a Treatife deciphering thofe parti- cular Vanities that hinder youthfull Gentlemen from attaining to their intended Perfections, Lond. 1607, 4to VIII. The Hiftory of Frier Bacon and Frier Bunguy. IX. Green's Ghoft Haunting Conny Catchers, Lond. 1626, 4to. X. Planetomachia ; or the firft part of the General Oppofition of the Seven Planets, Lond. 1585, 4to. XI. Mamilliaj the fecond part of the Triumph of Pallas, wherein with perpetual fame the conftancy of gentlewomen is canon- ized, &c. Lond. 1593, 4^0. tranllated from the Italian. XII. The Royal Exchange, contayn- ing fundry Aphorifms, Lond. 1590, 4to. XIII. The Spanilh Mafquerade, defcribing the pride, O 2 &c. I96 THEATRUM POETARUM.' &c. of that nation, Lond. 1589, 4to. XIV. The Tritameron of Love, Lond. 1584, 410. XV. Ciceronis Amorem, wherein is difcourfed the prime of Cicero's worth, Lond. 1639, 4to. -^XVI. News both from Heaven and Hell, prohibited at firft for writing of books, and banimed at the laft, for difplaying of Coney- catchers, Lond. 1593, 4to. XVII. His tranf- lation of the Funeral Sermon of P. Gregory XIII. Lond. 1585. XVIII. Green's Funerals in XIV Sonnets, by R. B. gent. Lond. 1594, 4to. The tenth fonnet is a catalogue of his works, moft of which are mentioned above : the reft are, Camilla : the card of Fancy : Me- nophen. Metamorphofis : Orpharien, King of Denmark : Cenfure : Difputation.* But the compiler of the Biographia Drama- tica enumerates as his undoubted compofitions, XIX. The Hiftory of Orlando Furiofo, one of the twelve peers of France, 4to. 1594. XX. The Scottifhe Story of James the Fourthe flaine at Floddon, intermixed with a pleafant comedie, prefented by Oleron, King of the Fairies, 1599 ; entered at Stationer's Hall, 1 594 . XXI. The Hiftory of Jobe, N. P. Which had been in the poiTeffion of Mr. War- burton. * Tanner's Bibl. p. 340. A. Wood THEATRUM POETARUM. I97 A. Wood fays, he wrote againft, or at lead reflected upon Gabriel Harvey, in feveral of his writings , whereupon Harvey, not able to bear his abufes, inhumanly trampled on him after he was laid in his grave.* The following lines are extracted from a pamphlet publifhed by Gabriel Harvey after Green's death, entitled " Foure Letters, and certaine Sonnets : efpecially touching Robert Greene and other parties by him abufed, 4to. 1592." Robertus Greene, utriufque Academias Ar- tium Magifter, de Seipfo. " Ille ego, cui rifus, rumores, fefta, puella?, " Vana libellorum fcriptio, vita fuit: " Prcxligus ut vidi ver, aeftatemque furoris, " Autumno, atcjue Hycmi, cum cane :..'<- Dram, U hirers* THEATRUM POETARUM. 199 JJfurers, containing tried experiences againft worldly abul'es, Lond. 1584. II. Hiftory of Tribonius and Prifasria, with Truth's Com- plaint over England. III. Euphues Golden Legacy*. IV. Wounds of civil War, a tra- gedy, 1594, 4to. V. Looking-glafs for Lon- don and England, a tragi comedy, 1598, (af- filed by Robert Green). VI. Treatife of the Plague, containing the nature, ficns and acci- dents of the fame, &c. Lond. 1603, 4to. VII. Counters of Lincoln's Nurfery, Oxf. 1622, in two or three meets, in 4to. VIII. Treatife in Defence of Plays. IX. He tranf- lated into Englifh, Jofephus's Hiftory, or Anti- quities of the Jews, Lond. 1602, 1609, 1620, &c. fol. X. The Works both moral and natu- ral, of Luc. An. Seneca, Lond. 1614, 1620, fol. cVc.f JOHN LILLY " John Lilly, a writer of fcveral old u- " Ihioned Comedies and Tragedies, which have * Rofalyndc or Euphues golden Legacy", on wiiicli, Shakefpeare'* " A? You like it" is faid to be founded, lias been lately rej>i inreJ from the edition of 1590, collated will* that of 1623, in " Harding's an- cient ar.H modern Mifcellany, or Shakcfpearean Mufeum," j : ,4. f Wood's Ath, I. p. 49S. Cibb. Lives, ]. p. iG. O 4 been 20O THEATRUM POETARUM.' " been printed together in a volume, and might " perhaps when time was, be in very good re- * queft, namely, Endymion, The Woman in " the Moon, Midas, Mother Boniby, Galatea, *' Sapho and Phao, Comedies, a Warning for * fair Women." John Lilly or Lylie,* was born in the wiids of Kent about 1553, was educated at Oxford, 1569 A. B. 1573. A. M. 1575. On fome difguft he removed to Cambridge, whence he went to Court, and attracting the notice of Q. Elizabeth, had fome expecta- tions of the poft of mafter of the Revels, but was difappointed. It is not known when he died, but he was living iri 1597. " He was reputed," fays Wood,f " a rare poet, witty, comical, and facetious." The following is the correct lift of his plays. I. Alexander and Campafpe, a Tragi Com. 4to. 1584. II. Endimion, Com. 410. 1591. III. Sappho and Phaon, Com. 410. 1591. IV. Ga- latea, Com. 4to. 1592. V. Mydas, Com. 410. 1592. VI. Mother Bombye, Com. 4to. 1594. VII. Woman in the Moon, Com. 4to. 1597. VIII. Maid her Metamorphofis, 4to. 1600; IX. Love his Metamorphofis, Dram. Pad. 4to. * William Lilly, the grammarian, was a native of Odiam, in Hair.p- fliire, and died 1531. f Ath. I. p. 295. 1 60 1. THEATRUM POETARUM. 201 1601. -Six of thefe were reprinted in Oct. 1632, by Henry Blount, Efq. (who was afterwards knighted*) under the title of " Court-Come- dies." Befides thefe plays, Lilly was author of *' Euphues and his England-, containing his voyage and adventures, mixed with, fundry pretty difcourfes of honed love, the defcription of the country, the court, and the manner of that ifle," &c. Lond. 1580, and 82, in two parts, in a large 8vo. 1597, 4to. 1606, 1636, 4to.f " Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit, or the Delights of Wit in Youth, &c." Lond. 158 1. 4to. corrected and amended, Lond. 1606, 1623, I ^3i 4 t0 * This was confidered as arj attempt to reform and purify the Englifh lan- guage. For Blount fays, " Our nation are in his debt for a new Englifh, which he taught them : Euphues and his England, began firfl: that language; all our ladies were his fcholars; and that beauty at court which could not parley Euphuifme (char is to fay) who was unable to converfe in that pure and reformed Englifh, which he had formed his work to be the ftandard * Could this be Sir Henry Blount of Tittcnhanger, the traveller and author of a " Voyage to the Levant," who was knighted 1^39^ Cibber, on what authority I know not, calls him " Mr, Blount, J gentleman who has made himfelf known to the world by fcvcral pieces of his own writing, a? " Horx Subfeciv.T,'" his " Micrecof- mography," Stc.-rCibb, Livcsl. r, no, f Ta::ncr,p. 493. of, 202 THEATRUM POETARUM. of, was as little regarded as fhe which now there fpeaks not French." But notwithftanding this praife, the work is faid to be written in an un- natural and affected jargon, which corrupted the language of the age with miferable pedan-, tries.* f THOMAS NASH.j; " Thomas Nam, one of thofe that may ferve *' to fill up the catalogue of Englifh Dramatic " Writers : his mention'd Comedies are " Sum- " mer's lad Will and Teftament," and " See 5' me and See me not." Nash was a native of LeoftofF in Suffolk : he was educated at St. John's College, where he became A.B. 1585. It appears probable by the fpirit and fentiments of his " Pierce Penny- lefs," that he afterwards met with fevere difap- pointments in the world, which from the cha- racter of his comrade Greene, it is molt likely, * Sec Cibb. Lives, nt fupr. and Bio?. Dram. I. p. 290. f Lilly wrote alfo againft Martin Marprelatej the " Preface to Mr. Thomas Watfon's paflionate Century of Love." Tann. p. 493. + Cihbcr by a ftrange m;fUke, has placed Nafti in the reign of Charles L arofe THEATRUM POETARUM. 20$ arofe from his own indifcretions. He is fup- pofed to have died about 1600. Wood fays, he was a great fcoffcr, and the antagonist* of Gabriel Harvey, with whom he was engaged in a mod virulent paper war, particularly in his trad entitled, " Have with you to Saffron- Walden." The proper titles of his Dramatic Performances are, I. Dido, Queen of Carthage.-f- Trag. 4to. 1594. II. Summer's laft Will and Teftament, Com. 4U). 1600. III. The Ifle of Dogs, Com. not publifhed. In the latter period of his life, he publiflied a pamphlet, called, " Chrift's Tears over Jerufalem," in which he laments his former courfes. From an extract from his " Pierce Pennyicfs," in Cibber's Lives, it would feem as if he wrote with confidcrable eafe, harmony, and energy : but Malone fays, that " of all the writers of the age of Queen Elizabeth, Nafhe is the molt licentious in his language; perpetually diftorting words from their primitive (ignification, in a manner often puerile and ridiculous, but more frequently in- comprehenfible and abfurd. His prole- works, if they were collected together, would perhaps exhibit a greater farrago of unintelligible jargon, than is to be found in the productions of any author, ancient or modern."J Faft. I. p. u$. [- Afnfled by Mr.iiow. Stcevcni'i Slr.kfp. 377S, prcf. i;;. Gabriej., 204 THEATRUM POETARUM. Gabriel Harvey was rather a Latin than an Englifti poet : but there is mention of his u Englifh Hexameters,"* in his correfpondence with Spenfer, of whom he was an intimate friend. He was a native of Saffron-Walden in Eflex , his father, according to Nafh, having been a rope-maker there. He was firft educated at Chrift College, Cambridge, and afterwards a Fellow of Trinity-Hall, where he had the cha- racter of an excellent orator and poet : and in his elder years he applied to aftrology, in which he attained to much celebrity. It was in his * e Advertifement for Pap-hatchet and Martin Marp relate," that he trampled on Greene's me- mory, which brought him under the rod of T. Nam. He is fuppofed to be the fame Gabriel Harvey, LL. D. who died in 1630, when he muft have been nearly 90 years old.f * Letters at the end of Spenfer's poems, printed for Tonfon, 1750, Duod. vol. VI. p- 305 " I like your Englifh Haxameters fo well," fays Spenfer, u that I alio enure my pen i'ometimes in that kind/' ice. See alio p. 310. f Wood's Fft. I. p. i?8, 129. Tann. Bibl. p. 3S3. THOMAS THEATRUM POETARUM. 205 THOMAS PRESTON. " Thomas Prefton, the author of Cambifes " King of Perfia, a Tragi-comedy." This obfcure writer ought to have found an earlier place in this compilation, had he not been overlooked. He was Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and afterwards LL. D. and Matter of Trinity Hall. In 1564, at the entertainment of Q^ Elizabeth at their Univerfity, he a&ed fo well in the tragedy of Dido, a Latin play by John Ritwife, as to obtain a penfion of 20I. a year from her Majefty.* THOMAS KID. " Thomas Kid, a writer that feems to have *' been of pretty good efteem for verfifying in *- Biirj. Dram. I. p. 3O1, " for- 205 THEATRUM POETARtJM. 41 former times, being quoted amongft fome of* " the more fam'd poets, as Spenfer, Drayton^ " Daniel, Lodge, &c. with whom he was cither ** cotemporary or not, much later. There is " particularly remembered his tragedy Cor^ " nelia." The circumftances of this author's life are wholly unknown. He feems, like the generality of poets, to have been poor, and probably died about 1594, or 1595. ^ ne compiler of the Biographia Dramatica fays, he was the conftanc object of ridicule amongft his cotemporaries and immediate fuccefiors.* The tragedy of Cor- nelia was printed in 1584, and is reprinted in Dodfley's Collection of Old Plays. He alfo wrote " The Spanifh Tragedy, or Hieronimo is mad again, 4to. 1603. But acted probably before 1590. This is alio in Dodf. Coll. He is conjectured to have been the author of " So- lyman and Perfeda," a Trag. 4to. 1599-f THOMAS STORE R. ts Thomas Storer,one of the writers of Queen * I. p. zyO, f Biog. Dram, I. p. 276, *i Eli- THEATRUM POETARUM.' 2O7 " Elizabeth's time, of thofe paftoral Airs and " Madrigals, of which we have a Collection in " a book called England's Helicon." He was fon of John Storer, a Londoner, and elected ftudent of Chrift-Church, Oxford, about 1587, and became A.M. when he had the fame of excellent poetical talents, which were not only exhibited in verfes before the books of many members of the Univerfity, but in his poem entitled " the Life and Death of Thomas Wolfey, Cardinal ; divided into three parts ; his afpiring; triumph ; and death. Lond. 1599, in 10 meets in 410. He is particularly com- mended by his friend Charles Fitzgeffrey* for this work. He alfo obtained great credit from thofe little poems already mentioned, which af- terwards found their way into " England's He- licon." He died in the parifh of St. Michael Bafinghaugh, London, in Nov. 1604, and had his memory celebrated by many copies of verfes on his death.-}* * In Affanis, &c, Oxon. 1601. lib. I. f Wood's Ath. I. p. 3:6, 327. THOMAS 20S THEATRUM POETARUAf, THOMAS WATSON. ct Thomas Watfon, a cotemporary imitator " of Sir Philip Sidny, together with Barthol- * 6 mew Young, Doctor Lodge, and feveral " others, in that paftoral ftrain of poetry, in " fonnets and madrigals already mentioned." He was a native of London, and educated at Oxford, where he applied all his ftudies to poetry and romance, in which he obtained an honourable name. Hence he returned to the metropolis, where he ftudied the law. He wrote I. a Latin Eclogue on the Death of Sir Francis Walfingham. Lond. 1590, 4to. in two meets. II. Amintae Gaudia, in hexameter verfes. Lond. 1592. 410. 111. x ExT^7raSiv , or the Paffionate Century of Love. Lond. 4to. It confiftsof 100 copies of Love-verfes. Of this and the follow- ing works of Watfon, 1 mall give the ingenious account of T. P. [in whom I think I recognize a mod accomplifhed poet, and accurate biogra- pher] publifhed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxviii. p. 668, for Auguft 1798. " Thefe amatory poems of Watfon, which led Mr. Stec- vens to pronounce him an older and much more elegant THEATRUM POETARUM 20Q elegant Sonnetteer than Shakefpeare, are " di- " vided into two parts, whereof the firft expref- " feth the author's fufferance in love; the lac- " ter his long Farewell to Love and all his " Tyrannie compofed," the title adds, ' by " Thomas Watfon, gentleman, and publifhed " at the requeft of certaine gentlemen his very " Frendes." No date, but entered on the Sta- tioners books in 158 1, under the title of " Wat- fon's Pafiions, manifefting the true Frenzy of Love." Among the Harleian MSS. in the Britifh Mufeum is a prefentation copy of the fame work with the following diverfity of title : " A Looking-Glafle for Loovers: wherein are " conteyned two fortes of amorous pafiions; " the one exprelTing the trewe eftate and per- " turbations of hym that is overgon with love; " the other a flatt defyancc to Love and all his " Lawes." This copy contains 78 fonnets, a latin epilogue, and an introductory poem " Au- thoris ad libellum fuum Protrepticon." Twenty- two fonnets are added in the printed copy, which is dedicated to Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxen- ford, and has commendatory vcrfes by G. Buck, T. Acheley, C. Dovvnhalus, M. Roydon, and G. Peele. A quatorzain of the author's thus begins , " My little honke, goc bye thee hence away, Whofe price (God knows) will countervaile no parte Of paines I tooke to make thee w hat thou arte." P Scd 2IO THEATRUM POETARUM. Scd rempora mutantur -, for the price, which originally might be fixpence, has advanced to 5]. 10s. [See Dr. Farmer's* Sale Catalogue.] Watfon in his ibnnets has made free ufe of the Greek, Latin, Italian and French poets, but with handfome and liberal acknowledgment for affiftance derived. Wood has omitted to men- tion that Watfon's Latin eclogue on the death of Sir Francis Walfingham, was (tiled " Meli- basus," and (confounding the poet with the di- vine, as Meres had done before) he has given much credit to Watfon, Bifnop of Lincoln, for tranflating the ". Antigone"f of Sophocles, which waspublifhed by our author in 158 1, and is thus alluded to before one of his love-fonnets. " For his fenfe in this place he is very like " unto himfelfe, in a theame, deducted out of the " bowelles of Antigone in Sophocles, which he " lately tranflated into Latine, and publilhed in " print.'* Prelim, to fon. 79. Before his firft fonnet, Watfon fpeaks of a * Dr. Farmer's Library fold for 2210I. and his pi&ures for 5C0I. The whole, it is estimated, vvas originally pui chafed by the Doclor for a frim much under 500I. Gent. Mag. Aug. 179S. vol. lxviii, p. 720. f See Faft. Oxon. I. p. S2. From Afcham's Scholemafler 1571, and Harvey's letter to Spenfer dated 1579, it appears that Thomas Watfon, Matter of St. John's College, Cambridge, and afterwards Bifhop of Lincoln, had compofed a tragedy in Latin, called " Ab- folon," whence the origin of Wood's miftake. But the Bifhop did not fuffer his work, to be printed " becaufe in locis paribus, anapaeftus was twice or thrice ufed inftead of iambus." work, THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 211 work, which he wrote long fince, " De Remedio Amoris," and lately perfected to the good liking of many that had feen and perufed it, though not fully to his own fancy, which caufed him c< as yet to kepe it backe from the printe." Be- fore another, he fpeaks of being bufied in tranf- lating Petrarch's Sonnets into Latin. In his 75th fonnet, he " boroweth from certaine La- " tine verfes of his owne, made long agoe upon ** the love abufes of Jupiter, in a certaine " piece of worke written in the commendation " of women kinde." The feveral works here fpoken of, in all probability never reached the prefs. In 1582, Watfon publimed " Ad Olan- " dum de Eulogiis fereniflimce nofira^ Eliza- " bethee poft Anglorum prcclia cantatis, De- " cattichon." [See Herb. Typ. Ant.] In 15S6 he paraphrafed in latin verfethe '* Raptus He- lens" of Coluthus ; which in 15S7 was turned into Englifh rhyme by Chr. Marlow, the ini- tials of whofe name are fubfcribed to the dedi- cation of Watfon's " Amyntce Gaudia," in the title to which work Watfon is ftyled " Juris ftudiofo." This Latin verfion of Ta fib's poem was Englifiied by J. T. in 1594 and intituled ' An ould facioned Love." Another tranfla- tion was made in hexameter verfe by Ab. Fauncej who fays in his dedication of it to P 2 Mary, 212 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. Mary, Countefs of Pembroke, '< I have fome- * c what altered S. Taflbe's Italian, and M. Wat- " Ton's Latine Amyntas, to make them both " one Englifh." Nafh in hi s s epiftle before Greene's Menaphon, thus fpeaks of the two translators : " Sweete Mafter Fraunce, by his " excellent translation of Mafter Thomas Wat- " fon's fugred Amyntas, animated the dulled " fpirits to high-witted endevors." The num- ber of good poets, he adds, are veryfmall; " and in trueth, I know not almoft any of late " dayes that hath fhewed himfelf fmgular in any " fpeciall Latine poem, Mafter Watfon excepr, " whofe Amyntas and translated Antigone may *' march in equipage of honour with any of ' our ancient poets." Gabriel Harvey, in his " Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets" 1592, fays, " I cordially recommend to the deare lo- " vers of the mufes, and namely to the profef- " fed fonnes of the fame, Ab. Fraunce, Thomas " Watfon, and the reft, whom I affectionately " thank for their ftudious endevors commen- but after the affection of the . 1 ?r. + Gc : e Whetftone, another cotemporary, already mentioned, p izj, iv.i. .iiitiioi of " icven Days Exercife, containing fo many l>:i- coai'lCj 220 THEATRUM POETARUM. T H. HUDSON. Of Th. Hudson, whofe name is mentioned with feveral others, under the character of War- ner, my refearches have furnifhed me with no farther account. Some extracts from his poems are to be found in " England's ParnafTus, or the Choyceft Flowers of our Modern Poets, with their poeticall Comparifons, Defcriptions of Bewties, Perfonages, Caftles, Pallaces, Moun- taines, Groves, Seas, Springs, Rivers, &c. whereunto are annexed other various difcourfes both pleafant and profitable. Imprinted at Lon- don for N. L. C. B. and Th. Hayes, 1600." It is dedicated to Sir Thomas Monfon, by the author, who in mod of the copies writes himfelf R. A. but in one or two, which T. Hayward (or rather Oldys) met with *, there is R. Allot, courfes concerning Marriage" about 1590. Wood's Ath. I. p. 334. Ames records " The Mirour of Majeftrates, by G. Whetftone, 1584'' 410. printed for Richard Jones. Hift. Print, p. 347. Wartoa had never feen it, but believed it had nothing to do with the well-known Poems under that title. Hift. Poet. III. p. 279. * T. Hay ward's QaintefTence of Englifh Poetry, 1740. Pref. p. viii. Of THEATRUM POETARUM.' 221 of which name there was a bookfeller at that time, but it is not known whether he was the collector. However in a little book of epigrams, by John Weever, printed in 1599, (i2mo.) Warton found the following compliment. Ad Robertum Allot, et Cbriftopherum Middleton ' Qiiicke are your wits, fharpe your conceits, Short and more fvveet, your lays: Quick but no wit, (harp no conceit, Short and leffe fvveet my praife.' This performance however, fays Hayward, (or his friend), " is evidently defective in fe- veral refpects." The compiler " cites no more than the names of his authors to their verfes, who are mod of them now fo obfolete, that not knowing what they wrote, we can have no re- courfe to their works, if (till extant. And, perhaps, this might be done deiignedly, to pre- vent iome, the' not all, readers from difcover- ing his indifcrerion in maiming lome thoughts, his prefumption in altering others, and his error in afcribing to one poet what had been wrote by another. This artifice, if real, " lays he," does not prevent us from obferving his ill judgment in the choice of his authors-, and in his extracts from them, his negligence in repeating the fame paflages in different places, and particularly his unpardonable ha lie and irregularity, in throw- ing almolt the lail half of his book out of its alphabetical order, into a confuted jumble oi 222 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. topicks without order or method. This book, bad as it is, fuggefts one good obfervation how- ever, upon the ufe and advantage of fuch col- lections, which is, that they may prove more fuccefsful in preferving the beft parts of fome authors, than their works themfelves."* But Warton fays, that the extracts are made with a degree of tafte. And indeed from this circum- ftance, and the prefervation it has given to paf- fages of many icarce poets, whofe very names might otherwife have been buried in oblivion, the book is very curious and valuable. The following is the lift of the poets, from whofe works there are extracts. James, King of Scots. H. Howard, Earl of Surrey. See his character, - p. 43. Sir Thomas Wyar, - fee p. 45. Mailer Sackville [Lord Buckhurft] fee p. 65. M. M. [viz.] Mirrour of Magi- ftrates] - fee p. 67. John Higgins, - fee p. 77. Edward, Earl of Oxford, fee p. 85. Thomas Churchyard, - fee p. 71. Abraham Fraunce, - fee p. 108. George Gafcoigne, - fee p. 94. -* Hayward'j, or Oldys's Pref, ut fnpr, p. viii, ix, Chrif- THEATRUM POETARUM. Chriftopher Marlowe, George Peele, George Turberville, Sir Philip Sydney, Edmund Spenfer, Sir John Harrington, Edmund Fairfax, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nafh, Thomas Watfon, Thomas Storer, William Warner, Th. Hudfon, Chriftopher Middleton. Thomas Achelly. Thomas Baftard. Charles Fitzgeffrey. Matthew Roydon. John Weever. William Weever. Edward Gilpin. John Marfton. Thomas Dekkar. Henry Conftable. Samuel Daniel. Michael Drayton. George Chapm an, w. 223 fee p. I! 3- fee p. 131. fee p. 117. fee p. J 34- fee p. 148. fee p. fee p. fee p. igj. fee p. J 93- fee p. 205. fee p. 202. fee p. 20S. fee p. 205. fee p. 215. fee p. 220. See the following pages. John 224 THEATRUM POETARUM. - John Davies. Jofhua Sylvefter, "William Shakefpeare. Benj. Jonfon., Jarvis Markham. The extracts from Hudfon's Poems, are nu- merous and full : and are fometimes noted to have been copied from fome translations of his. CHARLES FITZ-GEFFREY. " Charles Fitz-GeofFry, a poetical writer ol " Queen Elizabeth's reign, of fome eiteem for- " merly, I judge, by that collection of choice . Flowers and Delcriptions, as well out of his, " as the works of feveral others, the molt re- " nowned Poets of our nation collected above " fixty years ago." I infert Fitzgeffrev's name here, becaufe Wood feems by mi (lake to have attributed to him the above Collection by Allot. His words are " Fitzgeffrey hath made, as tis faid, a Col- Uftion of Choke Flowers and Vefcriptions as well out of his, as the works of feveral others, the mod renowned Poets of our nation : collected about the beginning of the reign of K. James I. but THEATRUM POETARUM. . 225 but this, though I have been many years fetk- ing after, yet i cannot get a fight of it.' 1 * Fitz- geffrey was the ion of Alexander Fitz geoffrey, of a good family in Cornwall. He became a commoner of Broadgate-hall in Oxford, in 1592, aged 17, took the degrees in Arts, and entered into orders. At length he became Rector of St. Dominick in his own county, where he was efteemed a grave and learned divine, as he was, while at the Univerfity, an excellent Latin Poet. His works are I. The Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake ; which being written in lofty verfe, while he was A. B. he was then called " the high towering Falcon." II. Affanise five Epigrammata lib. III. 7 _ n , . ... T \ Oxon. 1601. in Svo. Lenotaphia lib. 1. 3 III. Several Sermons. He died at his parfo- fonage of St. Dominick, and was buried in the chancel of the church there, 1636.-^-4: * Ath. I. p. 6c6. f Wood utf'ipr. + No. C'i^i, in Farmer' talogue was Fitzgeffrey's " Bisirsd Birthday celebrated," Oxford, if- 54, 4tO. Q CHRISTOPHER. 226 - THEATRUM P0ETARUM. CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON. " Charles" (a miftake for Chriftopher) ec Middleton, another of the fame time, or there- " about, of the fame concernment in the fore- " mentioned collection." There are feveral extracts from his Poems in Allot's Collection. But I have not been for- tunate enough to difcover any thing of his hif- tory, or of the titles of his works, except the " Life of Duke Humphry" 1600.* THOMAS ACHELLY. His name appears, like Middleton's, with fe- veral others under the account of W. Warner, but nothing more is faid of him. The ex t rafts from him, in Allot's book, are very fhort and I am not able to give any further account of him.-f * Farmer's Catalogue, No. 7208. f P. 18, 26, 51, 68, 74, 10-. 152, 187, 196, 206,224, 238, 247,289,303, 305, 308, 313, 319, 442, 451,456. Edward THEATRUM POETARUM. 227 Edward Gilpin, whofe name does not oc- cur in Phillips's book, has furnifiied a few paf- fages for " England's ParnaHus,"* but his name is not recorded by Tanner, nor have I difcovered any other memorials of him. M. Roydon lies under a fimilar cloud. The extracts from his poems, in the above collec- tion, rather exceed thofe from the other.-f- j o ii n weever; John Weever, like Achelly, has his bare name only recorded by Phillips, among the poets of Queen Elizabeth's reign. His book of Epi- grams in 1599, (i2mo.) has been already men- tioned, and an Epigram addrefled to R. Allot, and C. Middleton, has been tranfcribed. But his works have efcnped the indullry of Tanner.i Of W. Weever, 1 am equally ignorant. * P. C~, 121, 144, 22 f, 223, 251, z'i 1. f P. 114, 161, 16R, i l 'o.a 6i ; i.|0, 3 iy, 424, 4^4, 4 V <>, 4$S. J John Weever, horn 1576, tiiucatco .-it Queen's C '.'. .- , Cambridge, the imkiftrious Coilcclor of the t; Ancient Funeral Monument-," Lund. 1 6 3 1 , fol. died 1632, aged 50. he be the fame ? In " Ln^i.iniV- i'amaffu " are 1 I m ]. Weever, at p. . : ; 13, 175, i .;, :-'-, ::.:,:: ;. 5: ,, :-\ [' id p. t c. (^2 HENRY 228 THEATRUM FOETARUM. HENRY CONSTABLE. Like the preceding, is merely mentioned by Phillips, under the article of Warner. Wood fays, he was " a noted Englifli Poet, not un- fitly ranked with Sir Edward Dyer, Chancellor of the moft noble Order of the Garter, a poetical writer, and of good efteem in the faid Queen's time, as living in the 39th year of her reign. The faid Henry Conilable, who was born (or at leaft defcended from a family of that name) in Yorkshire, had fpent fome time among the Oxonian Mufes, was a great matter of the Eng- lifli tongue; and there was no gentleman of our nation had a more pure, quick, and higher de- livery of conceit than he j* witnefs, among all others, that Sonnet of his before the poetical tranflation called " The Furies" made by King James the Firft of England, while he was King of the Scots. He hath alio feveral Sonnets ex- tant, written to Sir P. Sydney, fome of which Sec Bolton's opinion hereafter cited under Drayton. are THIATRUM P0ETARUM.' 229 are fet before the Apology for Poetry, written by the faid Knight."* Dr. Birch thought him to be the fame Mr. Henry Conftable, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, and whofe religion feems to have oc cafioned him to live in a (late of banifhment from England, This perfon took occafion to write to Mr. Anthony Bacon from Paris on the 6th Oct. 1595, beginning his letter with ob- ferving, that it had been his own good fortune once to be beloved of the mod part of the virtuous gentry, of his country ; and that he did not think he had defervcd their evil liking fince. " -To you only," fays he, " I was never " known. Howbeit I have had a long defire " to offer my fervice unto you for thole reports, " which I have fo often, and in io many places " heard of your deferts. If I were as 1 was " once reputed, I fhould hope you would not " contemn my profered fervice ; and as I am, " I dcfpair not. I truft, I have given my Lord " of EfiTex fufficiendy to underftand the duti- " ful affection I bear to my country ; and all " my Catholic countrymen that know me, are " witneffes how far I am againft violent pro- " ceedings ; and there is nothing but my re- *' ligion can prejudice me; which I cannot * Ath. I. p. 14. Q.3 dif- 23O THEATRUM POETARUM.' ** diflemble, and which, tho' it be not ap- " proved by you, yet feeing you were not re- " puted of that irreligious fociety,* which ' denieth the truth of all particular religions, " I muft needs think, that among your other " virtuous ftudies, you have not omitted the " care of your foul's affairs. And if you have " entered into fuch holy inquiries, and there- " withal confidered the manner how true Re- " ligion was planted , how it was promifed to " increafe and continue for ever > how herefies " were foretold to arile , how they did begin " at firft ; and how and by whom they were " ever extinguifhed in the end ; and compare " all former divifions of religion with thofe of *' our time, I make no doubt, what clearnefs " foever many of my countrymen had in their " bibles, that they will eafily judge thus far, " that an honeft man may be a Catholic, and " be no fool. And further, I need not write, " becaufe my purpole is not to prove my re- " ligion, but to excufe myfelf. Howbeit U by ** looking into the uncertain ftate of things to " come, by reafon of the faid divilion, you did " defire an union, which neither by the feverity " of the laws againil us, nor by the practices * Such a fociety has bsen affirmed to have fubfifted during fomc part of the reign of CL Elizabeth, and Sir Walter Raleigh has been ranked among them, Bkcb, Of THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 23 I " of ours is to be brought to pafs, it is the thing " in the world I would defire the mod to con- " fer with fo virtuous and fo wife a gentleman " as you thereof, to whom I would open the j. Du I. . What 238 THEATRUM poetarum. "What was the original caufe of their conteft, is not known, but Jonfon, who could certainly never bear '" a rival near the throne," has in his Poetafter," the Dunciad of that author, among many other poets whom he has fatirized, been peculiarly fevere on Decker, whom he has characterized under the name of Crifpinus. This compliment Decker has amply repaid in his fl Satyromaltix, or the (intruding a Humourous Poet," in which, under the title of young Ho- race, he has made Ben the hero of his piece. The world are fo malicious, that this play was exceedingly followed. He fometimes wrote in conjunction with other wits of the day, Web- Iter having a hand in three of his plays ; and Rowley and Ford joining with him in another, And the author of the Biographia Dramatica thinks, (contrary to Langbaine) that in his " Honeft Whore," and the comedy of " Old Fortunatus," both which are allowed to be folely his, there are beauties, both as to character, plot and language, equal to the abilities of any of thofe authors that he was ever affifted by, and indeed in the former equal to any dramatic wri- ter (Shakefpeare excepted), that this idand has produced. The proper titles and dates of the dramatic pieces he was concerned in, may be feen in the enfuing catalogue. I. Old Fortunatus, Com.^o. 1600. II. Sa- te rom ail ix ? THEATRUM POETARUM. 2^0, teromaftix, Com. Sat. 4to. 1602. III. Honelt Whore, Com. firft part 4to. 1604. IV. Wefl- ward-Hoe, Com. affifted by Webfter, 410. 1607* V. Northward-Hoe, Com. affifted by Webfter, 4to. 1607. VI. Wyat's Hiftory, affifted by "Webfter, 4U). 1607. VII. Whore of Babylon, Hiftory, 4to. 1607. VIII. If this ben't a good Play, the Devil's in't, Com. 4to. 1612. IX. Match me in London, T. C. 4 r o. 1631. X. Wonder of a Kingdom, C. 4to. 1637. He wrote other pieces not publifhed, viz. I. Guy Earl of Warwick, 1619, written in con- junction with John Day. II. The Jew of Venice. III. Guftavus King of Swethland. IV. The Tale ofjocondo and Aftolfo. The two laft were once in the pofieffion of Mr. Warburton. V. The Spanifh Wonder, Tr. In the book of the Stationers Company, i63iand 1633, tn " IS P' a y is afferted to be written by Decker. To the printed copy the initials S. R. are prefixed, which llibfequent catalogues have explained to mean Samuel Rowley. Beftdes thefe, Phillips and Winltanly are miftaken in afcribing to him in conjunction with Webfter, the New Trick to cheat the Devil. The Noble Stranger. The Weakeft goes to the Wall ; and Woman will have her Will. The nrft having been written by Davenport, the lecond by Lewis Sharp?, and the other two by anonymous authors. The 24O THEATRUM POETARUM. The precife time of this author's birth and death are not recorded, yet from the dates of his firft plays he could not have died young.* WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. " William Shakefpeare, the glory of the Eng- " lifh ftage, whofe nativity at Stratford upon " Avon, is the highefl honour that town can " boaft of: from an actor of tragedies and co- " medies, he became a maker j and fuch a 44 maker, that though fome others may perhaps pretend to a more exact decorum and ceco- nomie, efpecially in tragedy, never any ex- p re (Ted a more lofty and tragic height ; never any reprefented nature more purely to the life, and where the polifhments of art are 44 molt wanting, as probably his learning was 44 not extraordinary, he pleafeth with a certain 44 wild and native elegance; and in ail his \vri-. 44 tings hath an unvulgar ityle, as well in his 44 Venus and Adonis, his Rape of Lucrece, and 14 ether various poems, as in his dramatics. "f * Cibber's Lives, 1. 15a. Flog. Dram. I. 120. f Theatr. Poet.. p. 194. Of THEATRUM POETARUM. 24I Of this divine poet, of whofe character and works nobody is ignorant, and of whofe life the circumftances have been explored with fuch per- fevering afTiduity, that nothing fliort of an age dedicated to the purfuit, or fome uncommon accident can fupply any thing new ; it would be truly fuperfluous for the compiler of this work to fay much. He was born in 1564, and died in his fifty-third year, 23 April, 1616. Mr. Malone fuppofes (if Titus Andronicus, 1589, was not his), that his firft play was Love's La- bour Loft, 1591. His twenty-fourth (exclu- five of the doubtful ones), Meafure for Mea- fure, 1603; and his laft, Twelfth Night, in 1614. . Seven years after his death, his plays were collected and publifhed, in 1623, in folio, by two of his principal friends in the company of comedian?, Heminge and Condcll : who per- haps likewil'e corrected a lecond edition in folio, 1632. Though both thefe were extremely faulty, yet they are much lefs fo than the editions in folio, in 1664 and 1685.* BENJAMIN JONSON. " The moil learned, judicious, and correct, generally fo accounted, of our Lnglifh Comc- * Bioj. Dram. 1.403. R dians, 242 THEATRUM POETARUM. " dians, and the more to be admired for being " fo, for that neither the height of natural parts, ** for he was no Shakefpeare, nor the coft of ** extraordinary education, for he is reported " but a bricklayer's fon, but his own proper " induftry and addiction to books advanced him " to this perfe&ion. In three of his comedies " namely, The Fox, Alchymift, and Silent Wo- " man, he may be compared in the judgment " of learned men, for decorum, language, and " well humouring of the parts, as well with the " chief of the ancient Greek and Latin come- " dians, as the prime of modern Italians, who " have been judged the bed in Europe for a " happy vein of comedies. Nor is his Bartho- " lomew Fair much (hort of them. As for his " other comedies, Cynthia's Revels, Poetafter, *' and the reft, let the name of Ben Johnfcn pro- " tect them againft whoever mall think fit to be " fevere in cenfure againft them. The truth " is, his tragedies, Stjanus and Catiline, feem " to have in them more of an artificial and in- " flate, than of a pathetical and naturally tragic " height. In the reft of his poetry j for he is " not wholly dramatic j as his " Underwoods ** Epigrams," &c. he is fometimes bold and " ftrenuous, fometimes magifterial, fometimes " lepid, and full enough of conceit, and fome- * s times a man as other men are." Benjamin THEATRUM POET A RUM. 243 Benjamin Jonson was born at Wetlminfter in 1574, the Ton of a clergyman, who is faid to have come from Annandale, in Scotland. But his mother afterwards marrying a bricklayer, Ben was taken from fchool, where he had been under the tuition of the learned Camden, to work at his father-in-law's trade, which, however, he foon deferred for a military employment in the Low Countries. Thence returning to London, he entered himfelf of St. John's college, Cam- bridge, which he quitted for the flage, where he made no figure, but was induced, like Shakef- peare, (whofe affi (Vance he is laid to have re- ceived), to turn his mind to compofition, and produced annually fome piece which was acted till his reputation became eitablilhed. In 161 5, he was in France; and in 16 19, by the invita- tion of Doctor Richard Corbet, fpent fome time time at Chrift church in Oxford ; and in July that year, was created A. M. in a full houie of" convocation. This year alio he was mad- poet- laureac, on the death of Daniel. Mis fir ft play was, " Every Man in his Humour, C. 1598, 410. His fixth, " Part of King James's Enrer- tainment in palling to his Coronation," 1603, 410. His forty-ninth, the lait with a date, " Love's Welcome, The King and Queen's en- tertainment at Bolfover, at the Earl of Ncw- caltle's, the jo:h July, 1634." He died in 244 THEATRUM POETAR'UM. gull, 1637, aged 6$, and was buried in Weft- minfter Abbey. Early in life he is faid to have fought a duel and killed his adverfary, for which he was im- prifoned ; and being caft for his life, was near execution, at which aweful period a popifh pricft is reported to have vifited him, and converted him to the Roman Catholic faith, in which he continued twelve years. He once incurrrd tha difpleafure of James I, by being concerned with Chapman and Marfton, in writing Eaftward- Hoe, wherein they were accufed of having re- flected on the Scotch nation. Sir James Murray having reprefented the matter to the king, they were imprifoned and in danger of lofing their ears and nofes. On his releafe from prifon, Jonfon gave an entertainment to his friends, among whom were Camden and Selden -, when his aged mother, like a Roman matron, on drinking to him, fhewed him a paper which fhe had defigne-d, if thefentence of punifhment had been inflicted, to have mixed with his drink, after fhe had firft taken a potion of it herfelf.* He was not famous for his ceconomy, and at one time complained of having ficknefs aggra- vated by poverty. In his laft illnefs he often repented of the prophanation of fcripture in his plays. Cibber I, 237. See Drummond's Works. Jonfon THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 245 Jonfon conceived fuch an opinion of Drum- mond of Hawthornden, by the letters which pafTcd between them,' that he undertook a jour- ney into Scotland, and refided i'ome time at the feat there of that poet, who has printed the heads of their converfatron ; and as it is a cu- rious circumftance to know the opinion of fo great a man as Jonfon, regarding his cotem- poraries, thefe heads are here copied from an infertion in Gibber's Lives. " Ben," fays Drummond, " was eat up with *' fancies; he told me that about the time the that - W.utoi . Hift. of Poet. Ill, p. 44: ; 1 Tore 256 THEATRUM POETARUM. Pope was no carelefs reader of his rude prede- ceflbr. Pope. complains, that Chapman took advantage of an unmeafurable length of line. But in reality, Pope's lines are longer than Chap- man's. If Chapman affected the reputation of rendering line for line, the fpecious expedient of chufmg a protracted meafure which concatena- ted two lines together, undoubtedly favoured his ufual propenfity to periphrafis. *' Chapman's commentary is only incidental, contains but a fmall degree of critical excurfion, and is for the moll part a pedantic compilation from Spondanus. He has the boldnefs feverely to cenfure Scaliger's impertinence. It is remark- able that he has taken no illuftrations from Eu- ftathius, except through the citations of other commentators j but of Euftathius there was no Latin commentary. " This volume is clofed with fixteen Sonnets by the author, addrefled to the chief nobility. It was now a common practice by thefe unpoe- tical and empty panegyrics, to attempt to con- ciliate the attention, and fecure the protection of the great, without which it was fuppofcd to be impoffible for any poem to ftruggle into cele- brity. Habits of fubmiflion, and the notions of fubordination, now prevailed in an high de- gree -, and men looked up to peers, on whofe fmiles THEATS.UM POST ARUM. lj*J fmiles or frowns they believed all fublunary good and evil to depend, with a reverential awe.* In 1614, Chapman printed his verilon of jhc Odyflcy, which he dedicated to King James's favourite, Carr, Earl or' Somerfet. This v/us foon followed by the Batrachomuomachy, and the Hymns, and Epigrams. But long before Chapman's time, there was " A Ballett between the Myce and the Frogges" licenced to Thomas Eait the printer, in 1568. And there is a bal- lad ' A mod (I range Weddinge of the Frogge and the Moufc" in 1580.^ Chapman alio tranflated Heficd's Georgic*, licenced to Miles Patrich, 14 May 16 18. War. ton, however, doubted if the book was printer?. Bj: he was miltaken ; for there were two copies in the late Dr. Farmer's curious collection. r Drayton gives the following honourable cha- racter of this ingenious translator : Othrrs ar.: n there li\e;!h: ; 5 - Mime is, Homer, and Hcfio Out ui tin- Grcekc : and hy hy fkiil h?.t'u rc?.r\l Them to that height, a. d to uUi u V, Wart. Ii;n. Port. III. p. 4-;. -l Il,:,l. J t v.. This curious 1. \>-..\ . :. , Jiy Mr. U . -,. . ftrcet, Covent-;".ri!e':, 7 M y. t-'. J : . 2-5$ THEATRUM POETARUM. That were thofe poets at this time alive To fee their hooks thus with us to furvive, They'd think, having negleaeu" them folonjr, They had been written in the Englifh tongue. SAMUEL DANIEL; " Samuel Daniel, an author of good note and " reputation in King James his reign ; whole " Hiftory of the 1 1 firft Kings of England from " the Norman Conqueft, though it be of all the " reft of his works moft principally fought " after and regarded, yet are not his poetical " writings totally forgotten, as namely his Hi'f- " torical Poem of the Civil Wars between the " Houfeof York and Lancafter-, his Letter of " Octavia to Antoninus; his Complaint of " Rofamund, his Panegyric, &c. of Dramatic " Pieces, his Tragedy of Philotas and CJeopa- " tra, Hymen's Triumph, and the Queen's Ar- " cadia, a paftoral." He was the fon of a MuHc-M after, and born near Taunton in Somerfetfhire, in 1562. In 1579 he was admitted a commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where during his three years con- tinuance, he made a great progrefs in academi- cal learning- But like other poets, preferring more THEATRUM POETARUM. 259 more flowery paths of ftudy than thofeof logic ; he lefc the Univerfity without a degree, and ex- crcifed himfclf in Englilh hiftory and poetry, of which he then gave feveral ingenious fpecimens. The firft thing memorable of him, was his Tranflation, at 23 years of age, oi Paulus Jo- vius's " Difcourfe of rare Inventions, both Military and Amorous, called Imprefe, Lond. 1^5, 8vo. to which he prefixed an ingenious preface. His merits, added to the recommen- dation of his brother-in-law, John Florio, (well known for his Italian Dictionary) then procured him the place of Gentleman Extraordinary, and afterwards one of the Grooms of the Chamber, to Anne, the Confort of K. James, who delighted in his converfation, and fet the fafhion of that admiration in which he was now held, not only lor his poetry, but his hiftory, fo that they con- lidered him as " having attained the happinefs of reconciling brevity with clearness, qualities of great diilance in other authors." lie is laid to have been poflefled of qualities which ren- dered him acceptable to the intimacy of all the cocemporary wits of molt celebrity. Wood re- lates, that he fucceeded Spencer as poet-laureat. Towards the end of his life, lie retired to the neighbourhood of his nativity, and fixed at a farm at Beckington near PhillipVNorton, where at length he died in 16 19. In Beckington S 2 church 260 THEATRUM POET ARUM. church is the following inscription, which ex- plains whatever elfe is known of him. t Here lies, expecting the fecond coming of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chriit, the dead body of Samuel Daniel, Efq. that excellent poet and hiftorian, who was Tutor .to the Lady Anne Clifford, in her youth, (he that was daughter and heir to George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, who in gratitude to him, erected this monument in his memory, a long time after, when fhe was Countefs Dowager of Pembroke, Dorfet, and Montgomery. He died in Oclob. ann. 1619.* Pie wrote, I. The Complaint of Rofamond, Lond. 1594, 98, 161 1, and 23, 4to. II. Va- rious Sonnets to Delia. III. Tragedy of Cleo- patra, Lond. 1594, 9S, 4to. IV. Of the Civil Wars between the houfes of Lancafter and York, Lond. 1604, 9, 8vo. and 1623, 4 t0, V. The Vifion of the Twelve GoddeiTes prefented in a Mafk, &c. Lond. 1604, 8vo. and 1623, 410 VI. Panegyric congratulatory delivered to K t James at Burleigh-Harrington, in Rutlandshire, Lond. 1604, and 1623, 4to. VII. Epiftles to various great Perfonages, in verfe, Lond. 1601, and 23, 4to. VIII. Mufophilus, containing a general defence of Learning, printed with the former. IX. Tragedy of Philotas, Lond. 1611 &c. 8vo. X. Hymen's Triumph j a paftoral * See also Collinfon's Hift. Som. II. p. 201. THEATRUM POETARUM. 26 I tragi-comedy, at the nuptials of Lord Roxbo- rough, Lond. 1623,410, 2d edit. XI. Mufa, or a defence of Rhime, Lond. 161 1, 8vo. XII. the Epiftle of Oclavia to M. Antonius, Lond. i6il,8vo. XIII. Thefirft: part of the Hiftory of England, in 3 Books, Lond. 1613, 4to, reach- ing to the end of King Stephen, in prole. To which afterwards he added a fecond part, reach- ing to the end of K. Edward III. Lond. 1618, 21, 23, and 1634, folio, continued to the end of K. Richard III. by Joh. Trufiel, fometimc a Winchefter fcholar, afterwards a trader and Al- derman of that city.* XIV. The Queen's Ar- cadia: a paftoral Tragi-comedy, 1605, Lond. 1623, 4 t0 - XV. Funeral poem on the death of the Earl of Devon, Lond. 1623, 4to.-j- The character of Daniel's genius feems to be propriety, rather than elevation. His language is generally pure and harmonious; and his reflec- tions are j u{t. But his thoughts arc too abftracl, and appeal rather to the undei Handing, than to the imagination or the heart; and he wanted the fire nectlTary for the loftier flights of poetry. This Truffel continued in writing a certain old MS. belonging to ihe Bifhops of Winton, containing, as it were, an Hiftory of the Ki fhops an;l Bifliopric, down to Bifliop Curie's time. He alio wrote " A dofcription of the city 01 Winchcllcr, with an hiftorical relation of divers memorable occurrences touching the fame." Folio. Alfo a preamble " of the origiu of Cities in geiicr.'.l." MS. -f- All thefe poem:; are include.! in his IVxrlicnl Work c , published by his brother John Daniel, 4:0, 16:13. S 3 MICHAEL 262 THATRUM POETARUM. MICHAEL DRAYTON. cc Michael Drayton, contemporary of Spen- " cer and Sir Philip Sydney, and for fame and " renown in poetry, not much inferior in his " time to either : however, he feems fomewhat " antiquated in the efteem of the more curious " of thefe times, efpecially in his Polyalbion, " the old fafhion'd kind of verie whereof, feem " fomewhat to dirninifli that refpecl which was " formerly paid to the fubject, as being both " plealant and elaborate, and thereupon thought " worthy to be commented upon by that once " walking library of our nation, Selden ; his " England's Heroical Epiftles, are more gene- " rally lik'd; and to fuch as love the pretty " chat of nymphs and fiiepherds, his Nym- " phals and other things of that nature, cannot " be unpleafant." Drayton, according to the tedimony of Bur- ton the hiftorian of Leicefterlhire, was fprung from an antient family, who derived their name from the town of Drayton, in that county ; but his father (who, Aubrey fays, probably falfely, was a butcher) removing into Warwickshire, he was born in the village of Harfull in that county, in THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 263 10 1573- He was early diitinguifhed for his proficiency in literature, which put him into the way of preferment , and in 1588 he was a fpec- tator at Dover of the Spaniih Armada. Nine or ten years before the death of Q^ Elizabeth, he became eminent for his poetical talents, and in 1593 publifhed a collection of Paftorals under the title of*' Idea-, the Shepherd's Garland, fafhioned in nine eclogues ; with Rowland's fa- cririce to the nine Mufes", 410, dedicated to Mr. Robert Dudley. This Shepherd's Garland is the fame with what was afterwards reprinted^ with emendations by our author in 1619, folio, under the title of Paftorals, containing eclogues, with the Man in the Moon. It is remarkable, that the folio edition of Drayton's Works in 1748, though the title page profeflfes to give them all, does not contain this part of them. His " Barons Wars" and " England's He- roical Epiftles," his " Downfalls of Robert of Normandy," " Matilda," and " Gaveiton," were all written before 1598. He joined in the congratulations on King James's acceffion, by a poem, 1603, 4to, which, he lays in his preface to the Pcly-olbion was fo mifmterpreted, as nearly to prove his ruin. This accident, pro- bably made him delpair of all future hopes of favor at court. In 16 13 he publiflied the firlt part of his Poly-olbion, by which Greek title, Signifying very happy, lie denotes England j as S 4 the 2,64 THEATRUM POETARUM. the antient name of Albion is by Tonne derived from Olbion, happy. It is a chorographical defcription of the rivers, mountains, forefts, caftles, &c. in this iiland, intermixed wiih its remarkable antiquities, rarities and commodi- ties. Prince Henry, to whom this firlt part is dedicated, and of whom it exhibits a print, in a military pofture, exercifmg a pike, had fhewn the poet fome fingular marks of his favour : the immature death therefore of this young patron was a great lofs to him. There are 18 fongs in this volume, iiluftrated with the learned notes of Selden , and there are maps before every fong, wherein the cities, mountains, forefts, ri- vers, &c. are reprefented by the figures of men and women. His metre of 12 iyllables being now antiquated, it is quoted more for the hif- tory, than the poetry in it; and in that refpeel is fo very exact, that as Bifhop Nicholfon ob- ferves, it affords a much truer account of this kingdom and the dominion of Wales, than could well be expected from the pen of a poet. It is interwoven with many fine epifodes : of the con- queft of this iiland by the Romans ; of the coming of the Saxons, the Danes, and the Nor- mans, with an account of their kings; of Engiiih warriors, navigators, faints, and of the civil wars of England, &c. This volume was reprinted in 1622, with the fecond part, or continuation of 1 z fongs more, making 30 in the whole, and dedi- cated THEATRUM POETARUM. 26$ cated to Prince Charles, to whom he gives hopes of bellowing the like pains upon Scotland. In 1619 came out his firft folio volume of poems*, and in 1627 was publifhed the ieconci volume, containing " the Battle t)f Agen- court," in ftanzas of eight lines, (written after he was 60 years old) " the Miferies of Queen Margaret," " Nymphidia, or the Court of Fairies," " Quell of Cynthia," The " Shep- herd's Syrena," The " Moon Calf," a fat; re on the mafculine affectations of Women, and the effeminate dilguiles of men of thofe times, and " Elegies," 12 in number. In 1630 he pub- lifhed another volume of Poems in ^to. entitled " the Mufes Eiiz!um 4 in ten fundry Nymphals, with three poems on Noah's Flood, Mofes's Birth and Miracles, and David an .1 Goliah." Me died in 163 i , and was buried in Weftmin- iter-abbey. It feems by Sir A (ton Cockayne's poems, as if he lived latterly in the country, and was held in high eilimation by the gentlemen of his neighbourhood. Drayton's tafte was lefs correct, and his ear lefs harmonious than Daniel's but his genius was more poetical, though it feems to have fitted him only for the didactic, and not for the bolder walks of Poetry. The Poly-olbion is a work of amazing ingenuity :, and a very la^ge proportion exhibits a variety of beauties, which partake very llrongly of the rnerica) character; but the per- 266 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. perpetual perfonification is tedious, and more is attempted than is within the compafs of poetry. The admiration in which the Heroical Epiitles were once held, raifes the aftonifhment of a more refined age. They exhibit fome elegant images, and fome mufical lines. But in general they want pafiion and nature, are ftrangely flat and profaic, and are intermixed with the coarfeft vulgarities of idea, fentiment, and expreffion. His Barons Wars and other hiftorical pieces are dull creeping narratives, with a great deal of the fame faults, and none of the excellencies which ought to diftinguifh fnch compofitions. His *' Nimphidia" is light and airy,, and pof- feffes the features of true poetry. But here let me tranfcribe the opinion of Ed- mund Bolton (in his " Hypercritica," or " a Rule of Judgment for writing or reading our Hyftorys," about 1616* ) regarding not only Drayton, but feveral other poets already recorded in this book. The extract is curious, as writ- ten by a judicious cotemporary. Having men- tioned our profe writers, the chief of which are More, Sydney, CK Elizabeth, Hooker, Savile, Cardinal Alan, Bacon, and Raleigh, he proceeds thus. " In verfe, there are Spenfer's Hymnes. * c I cannot advife the allowance of other his ct poems as forpraclick Englifh, no more than * ; lean JefFery Chaucer, Lydgate, Pierce Plow- * Firft printed by Anthony Hall, Oxford, 1722, 8m " man, THEATRUM P0ETARUM 267 " man, or Laureate Skelton. It was laid as a " a fault to the charge of Saluil, that he ufed " lb me old outworn words lloln out of Cato ifl *' his books de Originibus. And for an hiito- : 16,241 ." " iVip- 272 THEATRUM POETARUM. " Teipfum' (befides which and his c Orcheftra/ * publifht together with ir, both the products " of fyis younger years, I remember to have " feen from the hands of the Countefs, a judi- " cious metaphrafe of feverai of David's pfalms) M is faid to have made him firil known to Queen " Elizabeth, and afterwards brought him in ** favor with King James, under whole aufpices, " addicting himfelf to the ftudy of the Common " Law of England, he was made the King's '* firft Serjeant, and afterwards his Attorney " General in Ireland." He was born at Chifgrove in the parifh of Tyfbury in Wiltfhire, the fon of a wealthy Tan- ner of that place, and in 1585, in the fifteenth year of his age, became a Commoner of Queen's College, Oxford, where he made a confiderable progrels in literature, and whence, after taking a degree in Arts, he removed to the Middle Temple, and became a Barrifter. But being expelled for beating Richard Martin [afterwards Recorder of London] in the Common Hall at Dinner, he returned to his (Indies at Oxford, and indulging ferious thoughts, compofed that excellent philofophical and divine poem " Nofce Teipfum," which was publifhed at Lond. 1599, in quarto, and dedicated to Q^ Elizabeth, and again in 1622, in 8vo. Afterwards, by the fa- vour of Lord Keeper Egerton, he was again re- " ftorcd THEATRUM POETARUM. 273 ftored to his chamber, practifed at the Bar, and was elected a Burgefs for that parliament, which was held at Weftminfter in 1601. Upon the death of Q^ Elizabeth, he went with Lord Hunfdon into Scotland, to congratulate King James as her lawful luccefTor -, and upon being introduced with his companions into his Ma- jefty's prcftnce, the King enquiring their names, at the name of Davis, afked if he was Nofce Teipfum ? and being anfwered in the af- firmative, gracioufly embraced him, and took him into fuch favor, that he foon made him his Solicitor, and then Attorney General in Ireland. While he held that place, he was knighted 11 Feb. 1607, and afterwards returning to Eng- land, was made King's Serjeant in 1612; be- came one of the Judges of Affize on the circuits, and at length in 1626, was made Lord Chief Juftice of the King's Bench , but before his in- rtallation, died fuddenly of an apoplexy. He left behind him the character of a bold fpirit, a Jharp and ready wit, and of a man completely learned, but in reality more a fcholar than a lawyer. He married Lady Eleanor Toucher, daughter of George, Lord Audley, Earl of Caf- tlehaven, a lady of an extraordinary character, (as may be feen in Ballard's Memoirs*), by * Ballard's Memoirs of Learned Ladies, p. 271. She after-., married Sir Archibald Douglas, who died zS July, 1644. T whom 2 74- THEATRUM P0ETARUM." whom he had a fon, an ideot, and a daughter, Lucy, married to Ferdinand, Lord Haftings, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon. His widow Survived till 1652.* His works were I. Nofce Teipfum above-men- tioned. In 1714, a new edition was publifhed by N. Tate, who has given a very advantageous character of him ; and another by Edward Capel, in his Prolufions.-II. Hymns of Aftraea, in acrof- tic verfe, printed with the former. III. Orche- ftra, or a Poem exprefTmg the Antiquity and Excellency of. Dancing, in a dialogue between Penelopeand one of her wooers, containing 131 ftanzas unfinifhed. IV. Difcovery of the true Cauies why Ireland was never entirely fubdued, nor brought under obedience of the Crown of England, until the beginning of his Majefty's happy reign, Lond. 1612, 4to. V. Declaration of our Sovereign Lord the King concerning the titles of his Maj. fon Charles the Prince, and Duke of Cornwall, &c. Lond. 1614, in four- teen meets in folio, printed in columns, one French, the other Englifh. VI. Le Primer Reports des Cafes et Matters en ley Refolves, &c. Adjudges in les Courts del Roy en Ireland, Dubl. 1615, Lond. 1628, 1674, folio. VII. Perfect Abridgment of Sir Edward Coke's ele- ven books of Reports, Lond; 1615, duodecimo. * Wccd'^Ath, I. p. 305, 306 Gen. Ditt. iv. p. 512. VIII. THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 275 VIII. Jus imponendi vectigalia, &c. Lond. 1656, 59, &c. octavo. He left alfo feveral things in MS. of which an account may be feen in A. Wood. He was in his 57th year at the time of his death, which happened on Thurfcay morning, 7 December, 1626, being then found dead in his bed, having gone to reft in good health the preceding night. Lady Eleanor his wife having, as (lie fays, about three years before predicted his death, as a punifliment for having thrown into the fire one of her books of prophecies, put on mourning garments from that time; and about three days before his fudden death, gave him his pafs, burn- ing into tears before all his fervants and friends at the table-, on which, being afked what was the matter, fhe anfwered, ' hufband, thefe are your funeral tears," to which he replied " weep not when I am alive, and I will give you leave to laugh when I am dead."* His " Nofce Teipfum", which is a philofo- phical difcourfe on the immortality of the foul, is deferving of very high praife, as a metaphyfical poem, for the purity and neatnefs of the lan- guage, the vigour of the thoughts, and the har- * Extracted by Ballard from an exceedingly fcarce pamphlet, en- titled, " The Lady Eleanor her Appeal," lO-p, 4:0. Ballard, 27.;. Scj alfo Wood's Ath. I. p. 507. T 2 mony 276 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. niony of the verification. " Sir John Davis,** " fays Mr. Chalmers", is the firft of our poets* who reafoned in rhime ; yet the palm of logical poetry has been affigned by Johnfon to Dryden ; though the laureate of James II. can boaft of nothing which is comparable to the " Nofce Teipfum" of Davis, for concatenation of argu- ment, and fublety of thought.* An edition of his poetical works was printed in oclavo by T. Davies, 1773, and they are collected among Anderion's Britilh Poets, f J * Apology for the Eelitvers in the Shakefpeare Papers, 1797, 8vo. p. 461. n. (d). f Vol. II. 1792, p. 675. \ There was a Sir John Davis, Knt. who publifned " Reafon's Academy, or a new Poft with Sovereign Salve to cure the World's Madnefs; expreffing himfelf in feveral effays and witty difcourfss," Lond. 1620, 8vo. written in profe, and at the end of it is Reafon's Moan, written in verfe, in eleven ftanzas. There was a Sir John Davis, Surveyor of the Ordnance, and an eminent matherr.atieian, one of the Council formed by the Earl of Effex (1600) of courfe a principal in furgent with that ralh nobleman and condemned to death for treafon, but after a year's imprifon- ment, pardoned 5 Feb. 160I on which he retired to aneftate which lie purchafed at Pangbourne in Berkfhire, and died there 14 May, J625 Birch's Mem of Q. Eliz. II. p. 494. This Sir John Davis was knighted at Cales, and was in his 63d year at his death. His fon, Sir John Davis, alfo owner of Pangbourne, married Anne, daughter of Sir John Suckling, of Whitton, county Middlefex, knt. who died 1627, (father of Sir John Suckling the poet) which lady died 24 July 1659. Afhmoie's Berk;, II. p. 329, 330. JOSHUA Theatrum poetarum. 277 JOSHUA SYLVESTER. " Jofhua Sylvefter, the Englifh Tranflator u of Dli Bartas his Poem of the fix Daies work " of Creation, by which he is more generally " fam'd, (for that poem hath ever had many *' great admirers among Us) than by his own u poems commonly printed therewith." This perfon, who in his day obtained the name of " Silver-tongued Sylvefter," was edu- cated by his uncle, W. Plumb, efq. and is re- ported to have been a merchant-adventurer. Queen Elizabeth is faid to have had a refpect for him, and her fucceflor a greater, and Prince Henry greater than his father. His moral con- duel, his piety, and his courage and patience in adverfity, were highly celebrated : and he was fo accompli fhed in languages as to under (land French, Spanifh, Dutch, Italian, and Latin. But his forwardneis to correct the vices of the age, expoftd him to a powerful refentment ; and his country is faid to have treated him with in- gratitude. He died at Middleburg in Zealand, in 1618, aged 55. His translations, as Phillips fays, were better received than his original works. T 1 His 278 THEATRUM POETARUM. His " Divine Weeks and Works" of Du Bartas, were printed at London, 162 1, fclio, afcer his death, with his portrait laureated.* Among Dr. Farmer's curious books, was " Syl- vefter's Poems, containing Tobacco batter'd and the Pipes fcatter'd about their Ears by a volley of holy Shot thunder'd from Mount He- licon," 1615 f JERVASE MARK HAM. Jervase (whom Phillips erroneoufiy calls John), Markham, is faid to have been fon of Robert Markham, of Cotham, in Nottingham- fhire, efq. but his name does not occur in the pedigree of that family, printed in Thoroton's Nottinghammire.J Robert Markham, of Cot- ham, efq. married Mary, daughter of Sir Francis Leake, knt. and had iiTue Sir Robert Markham, of Cotham, knt. whofe wife Ann, daughter of Sir John Warburton, of Chclhire, died 17 No- vember, 1 60 1. This Sir Robert might per- haps be brother of our poet. Dr. Thoroton * Wood's Ath. I. p. 594. f No. 6746, Farmer's Library, mentioned alfo in Gen. Biog. Diet, xiv, p. 276. 4" Thorefby's Edition, I. p. 344. mentions THEATRUM POETARUM. 279 mentions Sir Robert's brother Francis, who was a foldier and a fcholar ; and * c was admitted into the univerfity of Heidelberg, 12 Feb. 1595; this perfon collected the hiftory of his own family, and wrote certain decades of epidles to eminent perfons, concerning the Art of War, which he printed. The eider brother was a fatal unthrift, and deftroyer of this eminent family. "*+ Jervafe Markham was a voluminous writer, upon an aftonifhing variety of fubjects, from the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth till that of Charles I, for whom he is reported to have taken up arms, and borne a captain's com- miliion.j; During a long period of his life he * Ibid, f Sir Griffin Markham, well known for hi? concern in Sir Walter R^Iei^h's plot, was fon ami heir of Thomas Markham, of Allerton, Itandarcl-bearer to Q^ El.zabeth's band of pensioners, by Mary, daughter and heir of Rice Griffin, of Dingley, (lain at Norwich ; which Thomas Markham was fon of Sir John Markham, of Cotham, k.it. who died 155S, (sreat-grandfaiher of Sir Robert, the unthrift) by Ann his third wife, daughter and cohau of |ohn Strclly, rtlfct of rd Stanhope. Tbrfiy'sTbcnt.n's K.it. III. -p. 34S. This Sir Griflin was condemned for the abovementioned plot, 1 a: I, ad a refpite fent him while on the fcaffuld at Wiuchefter, and being afterwards pardoned, retired into tlie Low Countries, where lie made feveral difcoverics to Sir Thomaj Edmondes, then Amba.Tador at ErufVcl:, regarding the perfons concerned in the Gunpowder 1 i :. Bird's Mem. of Q^Eliz. I. p 1 - . X In Gervafe Holles's curious memoirs of ti-c I!c.l!cs family, C II. Nob. Fam. 82) is a fingular anecdote of one Geri'jje Mjrkbzn, who might not improbably be our poet. \ violent animofuy f... I 11 the families of Holies and Stanb-ipe, and Gilbert, 1 Slircwfbury. Roger Orme, fvrvant to Sir J ; ;. . a duel with one I'. 2f:y, gentleman of the rcw f- T 4 '.:.-, 28o THEATRUM POETARUM. feems to have fupported himfclf in part at leaft, by compilations for the bookfellers. For the following curious memorandum is preferved in theBiographia Dramatica I. 299. " Md. That bury, in which Pudfey was flain. " Gervafe Marthamltr. fall fome " palTionate words, accufing Sir John Holies, as the caufe of that quar- " rel, and as being guilty of his death. This Gerwfe MarkLam was a " great confident or (as the phrafe is now) the gallant of the Coun- " tefs of Shrewfbury, and was ufually, in thofe days, termed her u champion. A proper hand fome gentleman he was, and of great " courage. Sir John Holies fent him a challenge in the following " words. " For Gervas Markham, " Whereas you have faid, that I was guilty to that villainy ofOrme, " in the death of Pudfey, I affirm that you ly, and ly like a villaine, u which I fhall be ready to make good upon yourfelf, or upon any " gentleman, my equal, living." " John Holies." Gervafe Markham fent an anfwer to the following effect : " that " he accepted his challenge, and would accordingly give him a meet- " ing at fuch an hour, alone, or with either of them a boy of 14 years of age or under ; the place Workfop-Park, and the weapons rap- " pier and dagger. Sir Jo'nn Holies, allowing the other circnm- " fiances, excepted againft the place, being the place where hismor- *' tal enemy, the Earl of Shrewfbury then lived, which he thought " neither reafonable for himfelf to admit, nor honourable for his " enemy to propound, and therefore urged that a more equal place " might be afiigned. Markham, taking advantage of this, as if he " had declined the encounter, publifhes it accordingly to his difgrace. ' Sir John Holies finding this unworthy dealing, and that he could t( not have an equal place afiigned him, refolvecl to take that oppor- * tunity, which fortune fhould next offer him, which fhortly aft. r " did afford itfelf on this occafion. ** To the chriftening of his fecond fon Denfil Holies (1597) the " Lady Stanhope, his mother-in-law, was invited a god-mother ; *' after which performed, file returned from Haughton to Shelford ; ' and Sir John Holies accompanying her part of the way over the Foreft of Sherwood, it fortuned that Gervas Markham, with others f in his company, met them, and palfed by. So foon as he faw that " Markham THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 28l 355> 37*; 459; 47*; 4^- He THEATRUM POETARUM. 283 He tranflated Ariofto's Satires, of which I do not recoiled the earlieft date, but there is an edition in 410, 1608. III. In 1595, ne publifhed a new edition, in which the language is much altered and modernized, of Juliana Berners's " Gen- tleman's Academie, or the Booke of St. Albans," firft printed by Caxton, in i486, in folio. IV. He was author of " England's Arcadia, alluding his beginning from Sir Philip Sydney's ending/' 4to, 1607. V. The u Famous Whore, or Noble Cour- tezan : containing the lamentable com- plaint of Paulina, the famous Roman Courtezan, fometime miftrefs unto the great Cardinal Hippolyto of Efte, tranf- lated into verfe from the Italian," octavo, 1609. VI. The " Englifh Horfeman," 4to, 1617. VII. The " Art of Archerie," o&avo, 1634. VIII. The " Way to get Wealth," and other works, 4to, 1638. IX. The Soldier's Exercife," &c. in three books, of which there was a third edi- tion, in 4to, 1643. X. Cure of all difeafes, incident to Horfes> 410, 4610. XI. Engli ill Farrier, 4to, 1649. 284 THEATRUM POETARUM. XII. Mailer-piece, of which there is an edi-* tion in 410, 1662. XIII. Faithful Farrier, an edit, in 8vo. 1667. XIV. Liebault's Le Maifon Ruftique, or the Country Farm, Lond. folio 1616* This Treatife, which was at firfl: translated by Mr. Richard Surfleit, a Phyfician, our Author enlarged with feveral additions from the French books of Serris and Vinet, the Spanifti of Albiterio, and the Italian of Grilli, and others, XV. He revived and augmented " The Art of Hufbandry," firfl: tranQated from the Latin of Cour Herefbachifo, by Barnaby Googe, 410. 1631.* XVI. Hero and Antipater, a Tragedy, 4to. 1622, aftifted by William Sampfon. This is the beil lift of Markham's publica* tions which the compiler of this work is enabled to give, but it is probably not only very de- fective, but inaccurate. Numerous however, as were this writer's works, his memory has not had the fate of be- ing tranfmitted with any clearnefs to pofterity. The time of his death, and all other particulars regarding him are utterly unknown. * Some ancient Tracts of Hufbamlry, (among which I nrefume were Markham's) were republished a few years ago. See Aimals of Agriculture, vol xxi. It THEATRUM POETAR.UM. 285 It is obferved by Langbaine, that he mud have had no common talents to have excelled in To many different walks. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Cl Sir Walter Raleigh, a perfon both fuffi- " cienrly known in hiftory, and by his Hifc " tory of the World, and feems a'fo by the *' character given him by the forementioned au- " thor of the Art of Englifli Poetry, to have " expreft himfelf more a poet than the little " we have extant of his poetry feems to import: * For ditty and amorous ode', faith he, * I find 1 Sir Walter Raleigh's vein moft lofty, info- ' lent, and pafTionate." This molt extraordinary and unfortunate ge- nius was born :;t Hayes Farm, in the parifh of Budley in Devonshire, in 1552, being the fon of Walcer Raleigh, elq. defcended from an ancient family, by Katharine, daughter of Sir Philip Champeinoun, of Modbury, (relict of Otho Gilbert, of Compton in Devonshire, efq.) In 1568 he became a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, where his abilities foon difplayed them- felvcF, 286 THEATRUM POETARUM^ felves, by an uncommon progrefs in academical learning , but his ambition foon led him into the world, and he refided fome time in the Middle Temple, yet with no view of ftudying the law, of which the narrow trammels mult have been utterly difgufting to his mighty fpirit. In 1569, when CK Elizabeth fent forces to affift the per- fected Proteftants in France, Raleigh went among them as a volunteer. As it appears, that he remained in that kingdom beyond the death of Charles IX, which from his firft going is a- bout five years, and that in this compafs of time nearly thirty battles, fieges, overthrows, treaties, and capitulations on one fide or the other may be enumerated ; it is manifefl he was hazardoufly engaged in fome, if not feveral of them. In 1576, a recommendatory poem was prefixed to Gafcoigne's fatire, called " The Steel-Glafs," by Walter Rawely, of the Mid- dle Temple," who is fuppofed to have been our author. " But the poem itfelf" fays Oldys, " to me difcovers, in the very firft line of it, a great air of that folid axiomatical vein, which is obfervable in other productions of Raleigh's mufe : Sweet were the faucj would pleafe each kind oftafle. And the whole middle hexaftic, is fuch an indication of his own fortune or fate , fuch a caution againft that envy of fuperior merit, which THEATRUM POETARUM. 2S7 which he himfclf ever ftruggled with, that it could proceed from no hand more properly than his own. Though fundry minds in fundry forts do deem; Yetworthieft wights yieki praife to every pain: But envious brains do nought or light efteem, Such (lately fteps as they cannot attain: For whofo reaps renown above the reft, With heaps af hate fti.il! furcly be opprefs'd." In 1578 he went to the Netherlands with the forces which were fent againft the Spaniards. In 1579 his half-brother, Sir Humphry Gil- bert, having obtained a patent of the Queen, to plant and inhabit fome northern parts of America, he engaged in that adventure, but re- turned foon after, the attempt proving unfuc- cefsful. In 1580 he became a Captain in the Wars of Ireland, and the year after one of the Commifiioners tor the Government of M under* in the abfence of the Earl of Ormond. Here he continued to diftinguifh himfelf, till this diftrict was fuppoled to be reduced into quiet, and then on his return to England, tradition afcribes his introduction to the Queen, to a piece of gallantry, with which he furprized her in one of her walks. "Her majefty," lays the re- port, " meeting with a plalhy place made fome icruple to go on, when Raleigh, d re fled in the gay and genteel habit of thole times, prefently caft off and fpread his new plum cloak on the ground, 288 THEATRUM POETARUM.' ground, whereon the Queen trod gently, re^ warding him afterwards with many fuits for his So free and favourable tender of fo fair a foot- cloth : thus an advantageous admiffion into the notice of a prince, is more than half a degree to preferment.'** The truth is, Raleigh al- ways made a very elegant appearance, as well in the fplendor of his attire, as the politenefs of his addrefs, having a good prefence in an handlbme and vvell-compafled perfon, a ftrong natural wit, and abetter judgment j with a bold and plaufible tongue, by which he could fee out his abilities to advantage : and thefe being all very able advocates for royal favour, efpecially in a female fovereign, it is no wonder that he advanced apace upon it. It feems to be doubtful whether there is any truth in the ftory of his quarrel with Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton, who had been Lord Deputy of Ireland at this time, and the advantage he gained in the Queen's favour by the fuperior ability with which he pleaded his caufe before the Council- Table. In 1583 he fet out with Sir Humphry Gilbert, in his expedition to Newfoundland ; but within a few days was obliged to return to Ply- mouth, his Ihip's company being feized with an infectious diftemper: and Gilbert was drowned * Fuller's Worthies, in Devon. in THEATRtJM POETARUM. iSg in coming home, after having taken pofieflion of that country. Theft expeditions, however, being things that Raleigh had a ftrong pafllon for, nothing difcouraged him: in 1584, ob- taining letters patent for difcovering unknown countries, he fitted out two barks under two ex- perienced commanders, who fct fail to America, and difcovered the country of Wigandacoa, which CK Elizabeth changed into that of Vir- ginia. The queen was fo pleafed with the fnc- cefsof this fchemc, and gave him iuch encou- ragement to compleafthe difcovery, that he im- mediately prepared another expedition for the purpofe. In the mean time he was elected with Sir William Courtnay, a Knight of the Shire for his native county, and between December of this year, and the 24th of February following, (1585) he received the honour of knighthood, " a title" fays Oldys, " which her Majefty bellowed, as all others of honour, with frugality and choice. Therefore was it a more certain cognizance of virtue or valour, than titles of more pompous denomination in the reign cf her fuccefTor, who fuffered lucre to corrupt the noble fountain, to turn it into vulgar channels, and drain it even to the dregs, fo that the dignities which flowed or overflowed from it, proved dif- tinclions oitener of their pride, riches, or prolti- tutions, on whom they were conferred, than of U any 29O THEATRUM POETARUM. any abilities or performances for the public good that might deferve them.* Nay, that this honour was intended as the moft fignificant tef- timony of perfonal defert, may be inftanced, ac- cording to an ingenious obferver of her reign, " in Sir Francis Vere, a man nobly defcended ; " and Sir Walter Raleigh, exactly qualified, " fays he, with many others, fet apart in her " judgment for military fervices ; whofe titles " (he never raifed above knighthood : faying, " when importuned to make Vere a Baron j that * Sir Edward Walker, Garter, and Secretary at War to Charles I. obferves, " that in all Queen Elizabeth's forty-four years reign fh c created but fix Earls, and eight or nine Barons, fo that when fhe died, the nobility confifted but of one Marquis, nineteen Earls, two Vifcounts, and about thirty Barons: but doubts whether in the reign of K. James the difpenfing of honours fo liberally was not one of the beginnings of general difcontents, efpecially among perfons of great extraction. So that when this king died, having reigned but twenty-two years, he left the nobility in his three kingdoms above- double the number to what he found them, though his reign was peaceable and not full of action, which renders men in capacity highly to merit from their prince; and fo, without envy, receive advancement." Aral a little further " when alliance to a favourite; riches, though gotten in a ihop; perfons of private eftates, and of families, that many of them, and their fathers would have thought themfelves highly honoured to have been but knights in Q^ Elizabeth's time, were advanced, then the fruits thereof began to appear, &c. Hift. Dijcourjes, folio 1705, p. 300, 302, &c. See alfo on this fubjeel, " Reflections on the late Augmentations of the Peerage," Lond. printed for Robfo;i and De- brett, 8vo. 17^8, in which the author, who was not at the time of writing his pamphlet, aware of Sir Edward Walker's difcourfe on the fubjecl, has fallen into a wonderful coincidence of opinion with him. in THEATRUM POETARUM. 201 11 in his proper fphcre, and her eftimation, he " was above it already."* In 15S5 he was engaged with his half-brother Adrian Gilbert, in the difcovcry of the North" weft Pailage : and again fent out his own fleet of feven fail for Virginia : and this fleet on their return under the command of his relation Sir Richard Granville, took a richly-laden Spanilh fhip of 300 ton. He was now in ib much favour as to obtain from the Queen a grant of 12,000 acres of for- feited land, in the counties of Cork and Water- ford, in Ireland ; and loon after engaged his (hips in a third voyage to Virginia. He was alfo made fenefchal of the duchies of Cornwall and Exeter, and lord warden of the Stannaries. On 26 April, 1587, he fet forth his fleet on a fourth voyage to Virginia. On 27 November of this year, he was chofen one of the council of war, to withftand the expected Spanifh invafion: but this did not hinder him from fitting out in April, 1588, a fifth voyage to Virginia. On 23 July fallowing, when the Spanilh Armada appeared over againft Portland, he joined the Englilh fleet, with a company of volunteers, and his fervices on this occaflon were fuch, that the Queen made a conflderable augmentation to his Ofborne's Traditional Memoirs of E!iz. II. p. 43. > Oldys's Life of Riteigh, xxv. xxvi. U 2 patent 292 THEATRUM POETARUM. patent of wines. In 1589, he accompanied Don Antonio in the expedition to Portugal. In the fummer of this year, he vifited his fcignory in Ireland, and palled fome time with Spenfer the poet, at Kikolman, on the banks of the Mulla.* In 1592, he was appointed general of an enter- prize againft the Spaniards at Panama, but was recalled, and his fleet difperfed in a ftorm. Soon after he exerted himfelf as a very active member of parliament. - This was the period at which he was libclloully afperfed with atheifm, a charge fuppofed to have been influenced, if it did not originate, by a grant of church-lands lately made to him from the crown, of which the principal was the manor of Sherborn. The envy and malignity that his fame now attracted, were watching for fome opportunity to revenge them- lelves upon him. An amour, in which he en- gaged with a lady of the court, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, fur- nifhed this occafjon fo eagerly fought. Sir Wal- ter wa.s difgraced, and forbid the Queen's pre- fence: but he made the honorable reparation of marriage. While he laboured under this cloud, -j- he employed his mind in projecting the difcovery and conqueft of the empire of Guiana, in South America, and went thither himfelf, in 1595. * See before, p. 151. f Gteat intereft was made for him to re- tarn to the Court. See Sydn. lett. I. p. 377- On THEATRUM POETARUM. 293 On his return, he wrote an account of his ex- pedition, which he printed in 1596, in 4to. and within fix months, he fitted out a fecond voyage to the fame parts. The fame year he was ap- pointed one of the chief commanders in the en- terprize upon Cadiz, under the lord admiral Howard, and the earl of ElTex , and here I be- lieve thofe jealoufies and heart-burnings between the Earl and Sir Walter, which afterwards be- came fo violent, and perhaps contributed to the deftruclion of both, in fome degree difplayed themfelves. After this, he made a new attempt upon Guiana. The king of Spain, in revenge for the late attempt on his kingdom, having muttered up a new invafion of England and Ireland, which, however, was fpeedily difperfed by the winds and waves -, an attack was now planned on the ifles of the Azores, in which the earl of EfiTex had the chief command, and Sir Walter was appointed rear-admiral. The latter diftinguilhed himfelf by many acts of heroifm and wifdom, which again excited the jealoufy of Efiex, who accufed him on his return, and won all the popularity from him. He now again bufied himfelf in parliamentary duties. About 1598, he was again made the public object of oppofition by ElTex. Jufls and tour- naments were celebrated every year, on the Queen's birth-day, in the Tik-Yard, near the U 3 palace 294 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. palace at Whitehall. The Earl had, by fome of his followers, learned that Sir Walter, with a very gallant train, gorgeoufly accoutred, was to make his appearance the next day, in orange- coloured plumes. Hereupon he provided a much more .numerous cavalcade, and decked them out exactly in Raleigh's colours , then the Earl himfelf appearing at the head of all, armed cap-a-pee, in a, complete luite of orange-colour, not only pafled for the ible knight or champion of that distinction, by drowning all diftinction in Sir Walter Raleigh, but incorporated him-, felf and his train, as fo many more of his own efquires, pages, and retinue.* Thefe Cornells of courfe caufed great ill blood in the court, and rendered the Queen very uneafy. In 1599, Eflex was lent over to Ireland, and there arifing new fears of invaiion, a fleet was nattily fitted our, and Sir Walter appointed vice-admiral, in the Ark-Royal, f In 1600, he was fent on an embafiy to Flanders, and on his return made governor of the ifle of Jerfey. Eflex at this time, carrying on intrigues wifh the king of Scotland, is fuppofed to have taken particular pains to prejudice James againft Raleigh, as ad- verfe to his interefl ; and Raleigh feems to have taken ample revenge, a revenge which truth Oldys's Life, exxxii. f About this time he was in fuch favour, as to be among the few who dared afpire to a Peerage. See tie Sydr.y Pjpen, MiaRfjleci. on the Peerage above cited. compels TH2ATRUM POETARUM. 295 compels me to relate, (even while it chills my blood with horror), as a moft foul blot in his cha- racter. On EfTex's fall, Raleigh wrote to Sir Robert Cecil a letter, (preferved in Murdin's State-Papers),* prefiing with the moft diabolical boldnefs and malignity, the execution of that imprudent, but amiable nobleman. On the Queen's death, the fun of courtly fa- vour no longer fhone on Raleigh. The unge- nerous and deteftable, though able, Cecil, hav- ing ufed him as a counterpoife to EfTex, now caft him off. There was on James's accefiion to the throne of England, a plot of a few popilh priefts and others, to eftablifh their religion : and thefe endeavoured to embark mal-contents of all kinds in their meafures. Lord Cobham and Raleigh, both of whom had failed in their attempts to perfuadc James of Cecil's cabals, and root him out of the King's favour, and were therefore, in return, frowned upon, and removed from court by Cecil's influence, were fuppofed to have been drawn into this confpiracy. Lord Grey de Wilton is accufed of having entered into the confpiracy, for the purpofe of obtaining liberty of confcience at any rate for the puritans, of which feet he was a principal favourer. Cob- * Copied undei EfTex't life in the 5th vol. of the Biog. Brit. 2d eduion. U 4 ham, 296 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. ham, a weak, unfettled, contemptible man, had certainly entered into fome intrigues with the count of Aremberg, the Archduke's ambaflador, and in his pafTage to and from the count's houfe, is admitted to have vifited Raleigh. Whatever was the object of thefc vifits, it is not cafy to conceive that on Raleigh's part there could be any intention to engage in a plot with Spain, againfl: which all his heroic actions in the late reign had been directed, and with which he had endeavoured by the ftrongeft arguments to pcr- fuade James not to conclude a peace ; nor can the aftertions of Cobham, a man who had long before been confidered as a liar and a fiinderer, deferve the fmalleft credit. However, Raleigh, with the reft of the confpirators, was brought to trial, George Biooke, Cobham's brother, was undoubtedly engaged in the original plot of aiTaffi nation. The firft evidence againft Ra- leigh, was Brooke's confeffion, that Cobham had told him, that Raleigh was engaged with him in the conference with Aremberg. Cobham him- felf was worked upon, by being told that Raleigh had accufed him, to confirm this : but repent- ing of this injuftice, he wrote Raleigh a letter in his own hand, to acquit him : and as a far- ther proof of his jnnocence, Raleigh demanded, over and over again, to be produced face to face in court with his accufer, and this demand was rcfufed. THEATRUM POETARUM. Tlii hook i? fiippolVJ to have hem written by .V,. William Burke, r coufin to Mr. Bui lie] formerly Ss 1 .: .. G ral Comvav, w.'i 1 S.: (:' State, a.!.', i'everal years Payraafter in India. Oi t! ; 4 . I and luminous narrative, tlic merits a; e above my feeM ; fe h AbbeRa ' . ... Uiilury of the In.lian Setilcm . ; X v 308 THEATRUM F0ETARUM. There is a poem, which among the MSS. of the Britim Mufeum, is faid to have been writ- ten by Sir Walter Raleigh juft before he died. It feems to partake fo much of the fublime fpiric of his characler, that, (although it has been printed before in the Topographer, I. 425 ; and alio in a very imperfefl manner among Sir Henry Wotton's Remains) I cannot refrain from in- ferring it here. Sir Walter Raleigh in the unquiet rest of his last sickness I. Eternal Mover, whofe diffufed glory To fhew our groveling reafon what thou art, Infolds itfelf in clouds of reftlefs flory, Where Man, the proudeft creature, acts his part, Whom yet alas I know not why we call, The world's contracted fun, the little all ! 6, p. 21. " A report had prevailed, though its origin could not be difcovered, that in the interior parts of Guiana, there was a country known by the name of El Dorado, which contained immer.fe riches in gold and precious flones; more mines and treafures than Pizano or Cortez had ever found. This fable had not only inflamed the ar- dent imagination of the Spaniards, but fired every nation in Europe. Sir Walter Raleigh in particular, one of the moil extraordinary men that ever appeared in a country abounding in lingular characters was feized with this enthufiafm. He was paffionately fond of every- thing that was magnificent; he enjoyed a reputation fuperior to that of the greateft men ; he had more knowledge than thofe whofe immediate purfuit was learning ; he poffefled a freedom of think- ing uncommon in thofe days^ and had a kind of romantic turn in his fentiments and behaviour. This determined him in 1595, to undertake a voyage to Guiana; but he returned without difcoverin^ any thing relative to the object of his voyage. On his return, how- ever, he publifhed an account, full of the moft brilliant impoflures that ever amufed the credulity of mankind." II. THEATRUM P0ETARUM. 3O9 If. For what are we but lumps of walking clay ? What are our vaunts ? Whence lhould our fpirits rife ? Are not brute beafts as ftrong ? And birds as gay ? Trees longer liv'd, and creeping things as wife ? Only our fouls receive more inward light, To feel our weakneft, and coufefs thy might. III. Let thcfe pure notes afcend unto thy throne, Where Majefty doth fit with Mercy crovvn'd; Where my redeemer lives, in whom alone The error's of my wand ring life are diownVl ! Where all the quire of Heaven re found the fame That none but thine, thine is the feving name. IV. Therefore, my foul, joy in the midft of pain, That Chrift that conquer'd Hell, fhall from above With greater triumph yet return agafti, And conquer his own juftice with his love, Commanding earth and leas to render thofe Unto his blifs, for whom he paid his woesl V. Now have I done ! now are my joys at peace ; And now my joys are ftrongertfoan my rrief! I feelthofe comfort*, that fhall never ceafe, Future in hopes, but prcfent in relief! Thy words are true, thy promifes arejuft; And thou wilt know thy marked flock in dufl ! The poetical talents indeed of Sir Walter, are the principal object of confederation to the com- piler of this book. He was the author of a poem entitled, " Cynthia" in praife of the Qneen, as appears by Spenfer's Sonnet to him, annexed to the Fairy Queen. But let me copy the account of the indefati- gable Oldys. " Spenfer," fays he, " in his letter to Raleigh, mentions fomething of th ; s X 3 poem, 3*0 THEATRUM POETARUM. poem, where he fays, '* In that Fairy Queen, I " mean glory in my general intention j but in " my particular, I conceive the moft excellent " and glorious perfon of our Soveraign the " Queen, and her Kingdom, in Fairy-land. " And yet in fome places elfe I do otherwise " fhadow her, For confidering fhe beareth two " perlbns , the one, of a mod royal Queen or " emprefs ; the other, of a mod "virtuous and " beautiful Lady j this latter part in fome " places, Idoexprefs in Belphasbe ; faihiouing cm which was the confequence of it. The fentiment this MS. could h v, : '. -Pored 3H THEATRUM POETARUM. had it out of the family. Tis there entitled, " the Excufe written by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger Years." And, becaufe by the foregoing parts of this admired ditty the concjufion will be beft underftood, I lhall here repeat the whole from the aforefaid tranfcript ; not doubting but the modern readers will judge of it by its con- temporary writings ; or if by their own, after due confederation, how they may be judged of near a hundred and fifty years hence ; but more efpecially, that the readers may fee with what artful fimplicity the author could reconcile him- felf to his paffion, whether real or feigned, when he found upon a ftricl examination, he had not been indirectly betrayed to it. Calling tomind my eyes went long about, To caufe my heart for to forfakemy bread ; All in a rage, I fought to pull them out; As who had been fuch traitors to my reft ; What could they fay to win again my grace ? Forfooth, that they had feea my miftrefs face. Another time, my heart I call'd to mind ; Thinking that he this woe on me had brought; Becaufe that he, to love, his force refign'd, When of fuch wars my fancy never thought: What cou'd he fay when I wou'd him have flain, That he was hers and had forgone my chain. reftored hira, confifted, as I think, of fix lines, but that I cannot re- peat them all, yet prefume upon the favor which is due to the fair lex, that it will not be thought an unwelcome digrefiion here to pre- serve what I can of them, and as well as I can # left they fhould be loft .igain, by not having an opportunity to remember them elfswhere/' A Poet, when he would defcribe his mind ; Is, as in language, fo in fame confin'd. Your works are read, wherever there are rnsn; So far the fciffer goes b.eyond tlie pen." At THEATRUM POET A RUM. 315 At laft, when I perccivM both eyes and heart fcxcufe thcmfelves, as guiltlcfs of ray iil ; I found myfelf the caufe of .ill my fmart. And told myfelf, that I myfelf would kill: Yet when 1 fSw myfelf to you was true; I lovM myfelf, becaufe myfelf lov'd you. This Poem, I have been told, is printed under- Sir Walter Raleigh's name, in a modern collection,* not much to be fufpectcd of having had it from any ancient manufcript, therefore probably from fome old copy in print, which I have not yet met with. There is one old col- lection I never law, printed about the time we are now upon, with lcveral of Sir Philip Sid- ney's Sonnets in it, and therefore I think under his name - y f which polTibly may contain fomc alfoof Sir Walter Raleigh's. But in that mo- dern collection there is alfo printed, not over correctly it feems, another Poem of his : this [ have iikewife Iten in manufcript, where it is called the Silent Lover; and heard feveral lines in it applauded, especially the beginning. . But the part, which would be mod agreeable in this place to an hifborical reader, is that from which he might fancy he could make feme further gueilcs at the object of Raleigh's addrefs , tho" * Entitled, Wit tcr, v/o. printed one edition r: -r, :; K r\t 1 6 7 1 . -' i'". 1 :! J's 1 '. : . on, 4to without date, in which arc ievu'3l of the Sonnets, Ditties. M i!s, paftoral Airs, and inch like com- positions, which were fo much tu mode among tin trious wits of tliofc times. after l6 THEATRUM POETARUM. after all, it may be no other than the common object of all poets : however, the lines are thele. But feeing that I me to ferve A Saint of fuch perfection, As all defire, and none deferve A place in her affection; I rather chufe to want relief Than venture the revealing; Where glory recommends the grief, Defpa;r difdains the healing. And a little further, very perfuafively ; Silence in lovehetrays more woe Than words, tho' never fo witty; A heggar that is dumb you know, May challenge double pity.* In fhort, he has faid fuch handfome things of Silence, that it were a pity any words, even in its commendation, but his own, fhould break it. But it will, perhaps, hereafter be thought., he could break it himfelf with as much fpecefs, as now he feems to have commanded the keeping it. All that I have ken of his ju- venile compofitions in this kind, is a Pafloral Sonnet, which old Mr. Ifaac Walton reciting, tells us, was written by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger years, -j- in anfwer to another, fa- * By a moft extraordinary Anachronifm, thefe lines in the fafhion- able world have been attributed to the late Lord CheftertieUi, and it is even fufpedled, he himfelf was willing to take the credit of them. . Editor. f " See Ifaac Walton's compleat Angler, 4th,edition, 8vo. i663, p. 76, &c. This Walton was tweirty-five years of age at Raleigh's death, and lired ninety years. Befidas that book, for which he has been THEATRUM POETARUM. %IJ mous alfo in thofe days, compofed by Chrif- topher Marlow ; but as both thefe Sonnets are involved in a collection, which the bookfellers or publifhers have called Shakefpear's Poems, printed between twenty and thirty years after his death,* in which 1 think feveral pieces arc known to have been written by other Poets ; the reader is left at liberty to judge, whether the authority of a writer, who fubferibes his name thereto, one of Walton's noted fincerity > and advantages for intelligences by his acquaint- ance among the men of literature in thofe times, or that of any anonymous publication in the circumltances aforefaid, is to be preferred j without urging the improbability, that Shake- fpear mould quote a ftanza from that afcribed to Marlow, afterwards in one of his own plays, if he had been the author of that Sonnet-f him- ielf.J been called the Father of Anglers, he wrote five lives of learned and VL-ligious men, excellently well, being either from a perfonal know- ledge of them, or their intimate friends; for which he defer ves a rr.ire liberal acknowledgement than tliis place will admit." Poems by William Shakefpear, &c. 8vo. 1640. f See Shake- fpear's Merry Wives of Windfor, Acl III. * From Oldys'b I Raleigh liii tvi. JOHN' 318 THEATRUM POETARUM. JOHN LANE. " John Lane, a fine old Queen Elizabeth's c * gentleman, who was living within my re- " membrance, and whofe feveral Pcems, had * they had not had the ill fate to remain unpub- " lifhr, when much better meriting than many, " that are in print, might poflibly have gained " him a name not much inferior, if not equal " to Drayton, and others of the next rank to *' Spencer; but they are all to be produc't in " manufcript, namely his Poetical Vifion, his ' J20 TMEATRUM P0ETARUM, him with one of the perfons recorded in the note below*. He was a writer, fays Percy, of fome fame in the reign of Queen Elizabeth : he publi filed an interlude, intitled " An Old Man's LefTon, and a Young Man's Love," 410. and many other little pieces in profe and verfe, the titles of which may be i'cen in Winftanley, Ames's Typography, and Ofborne's Harlcian Cata- logue, &c. He is mentioned with great refpect by Meres in his fecond part of * Wit's Com- monwealth', '1598, folio 283, and is alluded to * In Shaw's Staffordfhire, under the hiftory of Tamworth, vol I. p. 422, are the following paifages. " Erdfwick fpeakintr of tin- town, fays, ' In Staffordshire fide there is a houfe of the Bretons, * who have long had their feat there; for 9 Edward II. John Breton c was Lord of Tamworth. He had ilTlie William, who had iffne * John, who had iffue John and William, fince which time the race * of them have continued unto this day.' John Breton, efq. was one of the members of parliament for this borough, 27th Elizabeth, and there is an oldnfcription noticed in the church farther on, for John Breton, fon and heir ot Richard Breton, of Tamworth, efq. who died May 11, '507. And in an old vifitation, are the following arms for John Brit^ayne, of Si refect in this parifh, " B. a bend or between 6 mullets gules." What mere I find of this family, is the following infeription from Norton church. Here lyeth the body of Nicholas Breton, efq. fon of Captain J. < Breton, of Tamworth, efq. co. Stafford. Hee alio was Captain ' of a Foot Company in the Low Countries, under the command of * the right Hon. Dudley, earl of Leicefler. Hemarryed Ann, daugh- ' ter of Sir Edward Leigh, of Rufhall, in co. Stafford, a wife of ' rare virtue and piety. He had by her five fon- and four daughter; * viz. Edward, Chriftopher, John, William and Howard, Frances, ' Lettice, /$. Y2 HUGH 324 THEATRUM POETARUM. HUGH HOLLAND. " Hugh Holland, a poetical writer, thought ct worthy by fome to be mentioned with Spen- " cer, Sidny and other, the chief of Englifh " poets ; with whom, neverthelefs he muft '* needs be confeffcd inferior, both in poetic " fame and merit." Huch Holland, fon of Robert Holland (by his wife, the daughter of one Pain, of Denbigh) fon of Lewis Holland, fon of Lle- wellin, fon of Griffith Holland, of Vaerdee, by Gwervilla his wife, daughter of Howell ap Madock, ap Jem, ap Eynion ; was born at Denbigh, bred in Weftminfter fchool, while Camden taught there, and elected to Trinity college, Cambridge, 1589, of which he was afterwards fellow. Thence he travelled into Italy, and at Rome was guilty of feveral indif- cretions, by the freedom of his converfations. He next went to Jerufalem, to pay his devo- tions at the Holy Sepulchre, and in his return touched at Constantinople, where he received a reprimand from the Englilli ambafTador, for the THEATRUM POEARUM. 325 the former freedom of his tongue. At his re- turn to England, he retired to Oxford, and fpent fome years there for the fake of the pub- lic library. He died in Weftminfter, in 1633, and was buried in the Abbey. Wood fays, he was " in animo catholicus-," and in an epitaph which that writer had feen, he was flyled " miferrimus peccator, mufarum & amicitiarum cukor fancliflimus."* His works are I. Verfes in Defcription of the chief Cities of Europe. II. Chronicle of Queen Elizabeth's reign. III. Life of William Cam- den, Clar. All MSS. IV. A Cyprefs Garlandf for the fac red Fore- head of the late Sovereign King James, Lond. 1625, a poem j and " other things," fays Wood, " which I have not feen."J Having now given an account of all the poets mentioned by Phillips, who come pro. perly within the reign of Queen Elizabeth, though perhaps fome of thofe who flourifhed principally in the time of King James, may have publilhed their earlieft productions in this * Wood merrions " an Hugh Holland, A. B. at Oxford, 1570, and another Hugh, an efquire's fon of Dcnbighfhire, matriculated a: Baliol college, Oxford, 15*2, aged 24. Atb.i. 5S3. f In Fnt- mer's Catalogue, No. 7061. % Wood's Ati:, I. p. 583. Y 3 perio 326 THEATRUM POETARUM. period, I have only to add to the prefent vo- lume, a few articles which Phillips has omitted. Joseph Hall, afterwards Bifhopof Exeter, was born 11 July, 1574, in Briftow Park, within the parifh of Afhbyde-la-Zouch, in Leicefterfhire, his father being an officer under Henry, Earl of Huntingdon. He was edu- cated at Emanuel college, Cambridge, and at the age of 23, publifhed in 1597 " Virgide- miarum , fatires in fix books." The three firft are called toothlefs fatires, poetical, aca. demical, moral: the three lad, biting fatires. They were re-printed at Oxford, 8vo. 1752. He calls himfelf in the prologue, the firft fa^. tyrifl in the Englifh language : I firft adventure, follow me who lift, And be the fecond Englifh fatyrift," Gray, the poet, in a letter to his friend Dr. Wharton, of Durham, dated 19 December, 1752, fays, " Bifhop Hall's Satires, called Virgidemiarum, are lately re -publifhed. They are full of fpirit and poetry, as much of the firft as Dr. Donne, and far more of the latter; they were written at the Univerfity, when he was about twenty-three years old, and in Queen Elizabeth's reign."* After fix or feven years flay in college, he was .prefented by fir Robert Drury, to the rec- '- Letters in Mafon'5 Life of Gray, p. 2:4. tory THEATRUM POETARUM. 327 tory of Halftead, in Suffolk, and married a wife, with whom he lived happily 49 years. In 1605, he accompanied fir Edmund Bacon to the Spa, and after his return was prefented by Edward, Lord Denny, to the donative of Wal- tham Crofs, in Eficx. Having been made chaplain, he in 1612 took the degree of D. D. In 1616 he was made dean of Worcefter ; in 161 8 he was fent to the Synod of Dortj in 1624 he refufed the Bilhopric of Gloucefter, and in 1627 accepted that of Exeter. Though he was reckoned a favourer of puritanifm, yet he wrote in the beginning of the troubles with great ftrength in defence of epifcopacy. In November 1641, he was tranflated to the fee of Norwich 5 and on December 30, was com- mitted by the violence of the prevalent party to the Tower j from whence he was not releafed till June 1642 ; and withdrew to Norwich, where he lived in tolerable quiet till April 1643; on which occafion, the order for fe- queftering notorious delinquents being pafied, he was cruelly plundered, and fuffered the greater! inconveniences, of which he has given an account in his piece, entitled " Hard Mea- fure." In 1647 ne retired to a little eftate, which he rented at Heigham, near Norwich ; and in this retirement he ended his life, 8 Sep- tember, 1656, xt. 82. He is univerfally allowed to have been a man Y 4 of 328 THEATRUM POETARUM. of great wit and learning, and of as great meek- nefs, modeity, and piety. His works, befides the " Satires" make in all five volumes in fo- lio and quarto, " and are filled" fays Bayle " with fine thoughts, excellent morality, and a great deal of piety." His " Contemplations" have been feveral times re-publilhed, and there was an edition of them not long fince publimed in Scotland in 8vo.* Ferdinando Stanley, Earl of Derby, has been introduced into the lafl: edition of the " Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors" in confequer.ee of a pcem written by him, which has been within thefe few years refcued from oblivion, by the Antiquarian Repertory. The hiftory of this illuftrious nobleman, whofe mother Lady Eleanor Clifford, was a grand- daughter and co-heir to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary, the youngelt daughter of Henry VII. (widow of Louis XII of France) his accomplishments, his fpirit, and his early death by the cruel operation of poifon, in con- fequence of his refufal to be the initrument of the Jefuits in attempting the crown, are told in fo many books, that I fhall not enlarge upon them here. In Lodge's " Uluftrations of Bri- * There is an unaccountable afp erity in the article of this poet, in Gibber's Lives. tifli THEATRUM POETARUM. . 329 tifh Hiftory" there is preferved a moft curious letter of this Earl to Lord EfTex, dated 19 De- cember, 1593 > " n abounds," fays the learned editor, " with good fenfe, high fpirit, and fweetnefs of temper : an untimely death un- doubtedly defrauded him of a confpicuous fitua- tion in the hiitory of his country."* He died 16 April 1594, leaving three daughters his co- heirs, viz. 1. Lady Ann, married to Grey- Bridges, Lord Ch3ndos-, 2. Lady Frances, wife of John Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater, and 3. Lady Elizabeth, married to Henry Haftings, Earl of Huntingdon. But fince this nobleman has been introduced into a lilt of Engliih poets, it would be injuf- tice perhaps to refute a place to his rival, to whom the above-mentioned ipirked letter was ad d re f fed. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, may claim to be recorded here, becaufe Coxeter had leen one of Ovid's Epiftles tranflated by him: " This" adds Warron, " I have never feen ; and ir it could be recovered, I truft it would be only valued as a curiofity. A few of his fon- nets are in the Aflimolean Mufeum, which have no marks of poetic genius. He is a vigorous, and elegant writer of profe. But if EfTex was no poet, few noblemen of his age were more courted by poets. From Spencer to the lowcft * LoJ-e, III. p. 31. rhymer, 33 THEATRUM POETARUM. rhymer, he was the fubject of numerous fon- nets, or popular ballads. I will not except Sydney. I could produce evidence to prove, that he fcarce ever went out of England, or even left London, on the mod frivolous enterprize, without a paftoral in his praife, or a panegyric in metre, which were fold and fung in the ftreets. Having interefted himfclf in the fafhionable poetry of the times, he was placed high in the ideal Arcadia now juft eftablifhcd : and among other inftances which might be brought; on his return from Portugal in 1589, he was compli- mented with a poem, called " An Egloge gra- " tulatorie, entituled to the right honorable " and renowned Shepherd of Albion's Arcadie, " Robert, Earl of Efiex, and for his returne " lately into England."* This is a light, in which Lord Efiex is feldom viewed. 1 know not if the Queen's fatal partiality, or his own inherent attraction, his love of literature, his heroifm, integrity and generofity ; qualities which abundantly overbalance his prefumption, his vanity, and impetuofity, had the greateft fhare in dictating thefe praifes. If adulation were any where juftifiablc, it muft be when paid to the man who endeavoured to fave Spenfer from ftarving in the ftreets of Dublin, and who buried him in Weftminfter Abbey, with be- Licenced toR. Jones, Aujjuft i, 1589 coming THEATRUM POETARUM. 33 I coming folemnity. Spenfer was perfecuted by Burleigh, becaufe he was patronized by Eflex. I need not remind the reader that thefe beauti- ful paflages are from the pen of Mr. Thomas Warton.* Henry, Lord Paget is recorded as a poet, in the following pafiage of *' Puttenham's Art of Poefy, 1589." " In her majefty's time fprung up another company of courtly poets, who have writ excellently well, if their doings could be found out, and made public with the reft; of which number, is Edward Earl of Oxford, Thomas Lord Buckhurft when young, Henry Lord Paget, fir Philip Sydney, fir Wal- ter Raleigh, and many others." If the chriftian name of this Lord Paget be accurate, he mud have been the fecond peer of the family, who died as early as 28 December, 1569, when hz mult have been a young man. His brother Thomas, the third peer, died in 1589, and Camden obferves, " his death proved a lad and univerfal lofs to the common-wealth of learn- ing." Notwithstanding therefore the name of " Henry" it feems molt probable, that Lord Thomas was the poet. William Wyrley, fon of Augufiin Wyr- ley, of Netherfcile in Leicefterfhire, (by Mary his wife, daughter of Walter Charnells) fon of * Hift. E. Poet. III. p. 421, 412. William 332 THEATRUM POETARUM. William Wyrley, of Handfworth in Stafford- shire, defcended from an ancient family, was fometime entertained by Sampfon Erdfwicke, of Sandon, the hiftorian of Staffordshire, du- ring which period he published a book, enti- tled " The true ufe of Armory, fhewed by hiftory, and plainly proved by example, the neceffities thereof alfo difcovered: with the maner of difTerings in ancient time, the law- fulnes of honorable funerals and moniments : with other matters of antiquitie, incident to the advauncing of banners, enfignes, and marks of mobleneiTe and chevalrie, by William Wyrley. Imprinted at London, by J. Jackfon, for Ga- briell Cawood, 1592, 410." To this very fen- iible and learned treatife, which fills only 28 pages,* are added two poems, of the nature of thofe hiftorical legends, of which the example had been given in the " Mirror for Magistrates." The firft is entitled, " Lord Chandos. The slorious life and honorable death of fir John Chandos, Lord of Saint Salviour, le Vicouur, great Senefchali of Poyctou, high conftable of Acquitainc, Knight of the honorable order of the Garter, elected by the firft founder King Edward the Third, at his inftitution thereof.'' It begins at p. 29, and ends at p. ic8. * The treatife was re-publifhed with fome additions by Dugdale, under the title of " The ancient ufage of bearing arms," The THEATRUM POETARUM. 333 The fecond poem is entitled " Capitall de Buz. The honorable life and languishing death of fir John de Gralhy, Capitall de Buz, one of the Knights elected by the firft founder of the Garter, into that noble order, and fometimeone of the principall Governors of Guyen, ances- tor to the French King that now is." This poem continues to p. 159, where the volume ends. Thefe compofitions are dull creeping hifton- cal narratives, that never feem to rife to the fpirit or harmony of poetry-, and I will con- fefs, that I never could exert the patience to wade entirely through them. There is a doubt whether they were not really the work of Erdfwicke, rather than of Wyrley : but there feems no reafonable ground for this. The poems are net worth contending for; the heraldrical treatife indeed is highly valuable: but there appears no caufe to fuppofe Wyrley unequal to it. He was unquestionably a very ingenious antiquary. He was constituted Rouge-Croix Herald in 1604, and died 1617.* Wood's Ath. 1, p. 443,419. QUEEN ;34 THEATRUM P0ETARUM. Q U EEN ELIZABETH. But while I record the names of thofe who brightened the reign of Queen Elizabeth with their poetical talents, I ought not to clofe the account of that fplendid period, without no- ticing the powers for poetry which that illus- trious heroine herfelf difcovered. In Percy's Ballads, II, p. 127, are printed her " Verfes, while prifoner at Woodftock, writ with charcoal on a mutter," 1555. They were preferved by Hentzner, in his travels. In Headley's felect Beauties of Antient Poetry, II, p. 85, and in the " Specimens of the early Englifli poets,'* printed for Edwards, 1790, 8vo. at p. 66 y are " Verfes by Queen Eliza- beth, upon Mount Zeur's departure," begin- ning I greeve, and dare not fhewe my difcontent," &c. The following ditty on the factions raifed by the Queen of Scots, while prifoner in England, and printed* not long after, if not before, the * They were, if I recoiled, printed in Puttenham's Art of Poetry. They were re-printed in the Topographer, II. p. 176, from Harl. MSS. No. 6933. be- THEATRUM POETARUM." g^S beheading that unfortunate Queen, were alfo compofed by Elizabeth. The doubt of future foes exiles my prefent joy, And Wit me learns to fhun fuch fnares, as threaten my annoy; For Falfhood now doth flow, and fubjecl Faith doth ebb, Which would not br, if Reafon rul'd, or Wifdom weav'd the web. But clouds of joys untried do cloak, afpiring minds, Which turn to rain of late repent by courfe of changed winds. The top of Hope fuppos'd, the root of Rule will be, And fruitlefs all their grafted guiles; as mortly ye fhall fee. Then dazzled eyes with pride, which great Ambition blinds Shall be unfeal'd by worthy wights, whofe falfehood Forefight finds' The daughter of Debate, that eke difcord doth fow, Shall reap no gain where former Rule, hath taught peace ftill togrow. No foreign bauifh'd wight fhall anchor in this port ; Our realm it brooks no Granger's force, let them elfewhere refort. Our rufty fword with reft fhall firft his edge employ, To poll their tops that feek fuch change, and gape for lawlefs joy. 1 cannot clofe this period fo well, as in the words of that learned critic, at oo.ce elegant and profound, to whom I have (o continually expreffed my obligations, but who is far above any praife, which my feeble pen can beftow; a critic, whofe information, both extenfive and minute, a poet, whofe genuine powers of fancy, both fplendid and vigorous, the more I fludy, the more I admire. " General knowledge," fays Warton,* fpeak- ins of the reign of Elizabeth, " was now en- creafing with a wide diffufion, and a hafty ra- Hift. E. P. III. p. 501, the clofe. pidity. 336 THEATRUM POETARUM.' pidity. Books began to be multiplied, and a variety of the mod ufeful and rational topics, had been difcufled in our own language. But fcience had not made too great advances. On the whole, we were now at that period, propi- tious to the operations of original and true poetry, when the coynefs of fancy was not al- ways proof againit the approaches of reafon, when genius was rather directed than governed by judgment, and when tafte and learning had io far only difciplined imagination, as to fuffer its excefTes to pais without cenfure or controul, for the fake of the beauty to which they were allied." END OF THE FIRST VOLUME-. ( I ) THEATRUM POETARUM. CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME. N. B. The Names printed in Italics, are additions to Phillips. i. Robert of Gloucefter, 2. Robert de Brunne - 3. Ada7ti Davy - - - 4. Richard Hampole 5. Robert Longlande 1 6. "John Barbcur - - 7. Geoffrey Chaucer 8. John Gower - - - 9. Laurence Minot - - 10. John Walton- - - 11. Thomas Occlevc - - 12. John L}Jgate - - 13. Hugh Camp den - - PAGE Time in which they flourifhed. I - Hen. III. 1270 3 ib. - Edvv. I. Edvv. II. '30.3 131 2 ib. 4 5 6 - Edv/. III. Edw.III. Edvv. III. Edw. in. 1349 135 1365 I37 9 12 - Edw.III. 1375 *7 - Edvv. III. 1352 19 ib. Hen. IV. Hen. VI. 1407 1422 21 - Hen. VI. 14 p 26 - Hen. VI. 1443 14. Thomas Z CONTENTS. pace T uve in which l hey flourifhed. 14. Thomas Chejler - - 26 - Hen. VI. 1440 15. John Harding - - 27 - Edw. IV. 1470 16. John Kay - - - 28 - Edw. IV. 17. John Scogan - - - ib. - Edw. IV. i#.. John Norton - - - 29 - Edw. IV. 19. George Ripley - -30- Edw. IV. 1471 20. Nicholas Kenton - 31 - 22. Benedicl Burgh - - ib. - Edw. IV. 1480 23. Juliana Berners - - ib. - Edw. IV. i^8r 24. William of NaJJynton 32- Edw. IV. 148 1 25. Zfcry Bradjhaw - ib, - Hen. VII. 1493 26. Robert Fabyan - - 33 - Hen. VII. 1494 27. JohnWatfon- - - ib. - Hen. VII. 28. William Caxton - - ib. - Hen. VII. 29. Stephen Howes - -35- Hen. VII. 1506 30. William Walter - - 36 - Hen. VII. 31. Henry Medwatt - - 37 - Hen. VII. 32. Laurence Wade - - ib. - Hen. VII. 33. Alexander Barclay - ib- - Hen. VIII. 1514* 34. William Dunbar - 39 - 35. Gawen Douglas - - ib. - 36. 67r David Lyndfay - 40 - 37. JohnSkelton - - - 41 - Hen. VIII. j 5i5 38. Earl of Surry - - - 45. 3e.n. VIII. 1540 39. Sir Thomas Wyat -45- Hen. VIII. 1540 40. Lord Rochfoid - - 47 - Hen. VIII. 1530 41. Lord Vaux - - - 48 - Hen. VIII. 1545 42. Sir Francis Bryan -49- Hen. VIII. 1545 43. Nicholas Grimoald - 50 - 44. Edmund Lord Sheffield 51 - 45. Sir Thomas More -52- Hen, VIII. 46. Sip CON' TV. NTS. ^ Time in which they PACK flouriflied. 46. Sir Thomas Elyot - S3 " Hen, YIN. 47* Lord Morley - - * 54 - Hen. VIII, 48. John Heyivood - - 56 - Q. Ma,*/ 1556 49. Andrew Borde - - 57 - 55. 7i^ rt A? - . - ib. - 51. Brian Annejley - - ib. - 52. sfndreio Chert fey - ib. - 53. Wilfrid Holme - - ib. - 54. Charles Barnjley - - ib. - 55. Cbrijlopker Good-win ib. - 56. Richard Feylde - - ib. - 57. William Blomefield - 58 - 58. Gilbert Pilkingturt - ib. - 59. Thomas Sternhoid - 59 ~ Q. Mary 1557 60. John Hopkins - - 62 - Q. Mary "1557 61. William Whyttuigham ib. - 62. Thomas Norton - - ib. - 63. Robert Wi/dom - - ib. - 64. Arthur Kelton - - 63-80 - 65. Lucas Shepheard - - 64 - 66. Lord Buclchurft - - 65 - 67. George Ferrer 3 - - 65 - 68. William Baldwin - 69- Q^Eliz. 6g. 1 homas Churchyard - 71 - 70. Thomas Phaycr - - 74 - 71. "John Dolman - - ib. 72. Francis Scger - - 75 " 73- Cavyl - - - ib. - 74. John Higgins - - y 7 - Q. Eliz. 1587 75. Francis Dingley - - ib. - 76. John Hall - - - - 7 8 . ^ 2 77. y // t /&- 4 CONTENTS. pack T irrcin ull 'chthe jflourilhed. 77. Archil Jhop Parker - - 79 - Ed w. VI. 78. Robert Crowley - - - jb. - 79. Cbrijicpber Tye - - - ib. - 80. Kirtg Edward VI. - - 80 - 81. Richard Edwards - - ib. - 82. Ediv.Vere^ Earl of Oxford 85 - 83. William Hunnjs - - ~ 88 - 84. Francis Kynweimarjk - go - 85. Anthony Kynweimarjh - ib. - 86. R.Hall 9 i . 87. r. ///// ib. - 88. T. Marjhall - - - - ib. - 89. Tloop* - - ib. - 90. Lodowick Loyd - - - ib. - 91. Thomas Tuffer - - - ib. - 92. George Gafcoigne - - 94 - Q.Eliz. 1575 93. Thomas Newton - - 98 - ' 94. John Studley - - - 1 00 - ' 95. Alexandor Nevyle - - 10 1 - 96. Thomas Nuce - - - 102 - 97- Jafper Heywood - - ib, - 98. Richard St anyhurjl - 105 - 99. Abraham Fleming - - 107 - 100. William Webbe - - ib. - 301. Abraham Fraunce - - 108 - 102. Arthur G aiding - - no - 103. Thomas de la Peend - 112 - 104. Thomas Under down - ib. - 105. Chriftopher Marlow - 113 - * It has ftruck me that this flrange name is Pccly, read backwards. 106. George CONTENTS.' Time in which they PACE flouiifhed. ic6. George Turberville 117 - C^Eliz. 107. Thpmas Drant - 120 - 108. 'Thomas Deloney - 1 21 - 109. Timothy Kendal - 122 - no. Arthur Hall - - 123 - 111. Barnaby Googe - - ib. - 112. Arthur Brooke - - 128 - 113. George Whetjlone - 129 - 114. George Etheridge - 130 - 115. George Peele - - 131- 116. Edward Kelley - - 133 - 117. Henry Lok - - - 134 - -118. Sir Philip Sydney - ib. - iig. Sir Edward Dyer - 144 - j 20. Edmund Spenfer - 148 - 121. Sir John Harington 189 - 122. Edmund Fairfax - 191 - 123. Robert Greene - - 193 - 124. Thomas Lodge - - 197 - 125. John Lilly - - - 199 - 126. Thomas Nafti - - 202 - -127. Gabriel Harvey - 204 - 128. Thomas Prefton - 205 - 129. Thomas Kid - - ib. - 130. Thomas Storer - - 206 - 131. Thomas Watfon - 208 - 132. William Wager - - 214 133. William Warner - 215 - 1 34. Robert Southwell - 218- 135. Th. Hudfon - - 220 - 136. Charles Fitzgeffiey - 224 - 137. Chrif- CONTENTS* Time in which they flourifhed. tf. Chriftopher Middleton2 26 - Q; Eliz. 38. Thomas Achelly - ib, -. 39. Edward Gilpin - 227 - 40. M. Roydon - - - ib. - 41. John Weever - - ib. 42. W. Weever - . - ib. - 43. Henry Conftable - 228 - 44. John Marfton - - 234 - 45. Thomas Decker - 237 46. William Shakefpeare 240 -. 47. Bei: Jon(on - - - 241 n. 48. George Chapman - 250 - 49. Samuel Daniel -. - 258 - 50. Michael Drayton - 202 5 1 . Thomas Baftard - 269 - 52. Sir John Davis , - 271 - 53. Jo&ua Sylvefter . - 277 - Q.Eliz. 1599 54. Jervafe Markham - 278 - 55. Sir Walter Raleigh - 285 56. John Lane - - - 318 - 57. Nicholas Breton - 319 - 58. R. Barnfield - - 322 - . 59. Hugh Holland - - 324 - 60. Bijhop Hall - - '326 - 61. Ferdinando E. of Derby 328 - 62. Rob. EarlcfEjfex 329 -. . 63. Lord Paget- -' - 331 - 64. William JVyrley - ib. - 65. Queen Elizabeth - 334. ob. 24 Mar. 1 603 Ih the Prefs and fpeedily will be pullifbej, MEMOIRS of the PEERS of ENGLAND, During the Reign of James I. Collected principally from Hiftories, both public and private, Letters and State-Papers. Printed for J. Whitei Fleet-ftreet. Ofnvbom may be bad, SONNETS and POEMS, By Samuel Eoerton Badges, Efq. anew Edition. TOPOGRAPHICAL MISCELLANIES, One Volume Quarto. TESTS of the NATION AL WEALTH and FINANCES, In December 1798. REFLECTIONS on the late AUGMENTATIONS of the PEERAGE, With a fhort Account of the Peers of Q. Elizabeth. Alfo fpeedily will be publijbed, A NEW EDITION of MARY DE CLIFFORD, A Novel. FROM THK TRESS OF SIMMONS AND KIRKBY, CANTERBURY. i6o4- t This book is DUE on the last date stamped below APR 2 6 \m WiAR 8 193 * /ifi^ JUL 2 1 1S42 JUN 5 1343 AUG 6 -1943 hi* -*' l3W MAY 2 9 1947 w OB* IWft^K iifc 1i 5 w *fcMMt J A A 000 054 875 o