the ground Then here it is where nought but Joy is found That the City of Florence was the ancient Seat of her Family he himself intimates in one of his Sonnets thus From Tuscan came my Ladies worthy Race Fair Florence was sometimes her ancient Seat The Western Isle whose pleasant Shoar doth face Whilst Camber's Cliffs did give her lively heat In the Duke of Florence's Court he published a proud Challenge against all Comers whether Christians Turks Canibals Jews or Saracens in defence of his Geraldines Beauty This Challenge was the more mildly accepted in regard she whom he defended was a Town-born Child of that City or else the Pride of the Italian would have prevented him ere he should have come to perform it The Duke of Florence nevertheless sent for him and demanded him of his Estate and the reason that drew him thereto which when he was advertiz'd of to the full he granteth all Countries whatsoever as well Enemies and Outlaws as Friends and Confederates free access and regress into his Dominions immolested until the Trial were ended This Challenge as he manfully undertook so he as valiantly performed as Mr. Drayton describes it in his Letter to the Lady Geraldine The shiver'd Staves here for thy Beauty broke With fierce encounters past at every shock When stormy Courses answerd Cuff for Cuff Denting proud Beavers with the Counter-buff Which when each manly valiant Arm essays After so many brave triumphant days The glorious Prize upon my Lance I bare By Herald's Voyce proclaim'd to be thy share The Duke of Florence for his approved Valour offered him large Proffers to stay with him which he refused intending as he had done in Florence to proceed through all the chief Cities in Italy but this his Purpose was frustrated by Letters sent to him from his Master King Henry the 8th which commanded him to return as speedily as possibly he could into England Our famous English Antiquary John Leland speaking much in the praise of Sir Thomas Wiat the Elder as well for his Learning as other excellent Qualities meet for a man of his Calling calls this Earl the conscript enrolled Heir of the said Sir Thomas Wiat writing to him in these words Accipe Regnorum Comes illustrissime Carmen Quo mea Musa tuum landavit moesta Viallum And again in another place Perge Houerde tuum virtute referre Viallum Dicerisque tuae clarissima Gloria stirpis A certain Treatise called The Art of English Poetry alledges That Sir Thomas Wiat the Elder and Henry Earl of Surrey were the two Chieftains who having travelled into Italy and there tasted the sweet and stately Measures and Style of the Italian Poesie greatly polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar Poesie from what it had been before and may therefore justly be shewed to be the Reformers of our English Meeter and Style I shall only add an Epitaph made by this Noble Earl on Sir Anthony Denny Knight a Gentleman whom King Henry the 8th greatly affected and then come to speak of his Death Death and the King did as it were contend Which of them two bare Denny greatest Love The King to shew his Love gan far extend Did him advance his Betters far above Near Place much Wealth great Honour eke him gave To make it known what Power great Princes have But when Death came with his triumphant Gift From worldly Cark he quit his wearied Ghost Free from the Corps and streight to Heaven it lift Now deem that can who did for Denny most The King gave Wealth but fading and unsure Death brought him Bliss that ever shall endure But to return this Earl had together with his Learning Wisdom Fortitude Munificence and Affability yet all these good and excellent parts were no protection against the King's Displeasure for upon the 12 th of December the last of King Henry the 8th he with his Father Thomas Duke of Norfolk upon certain surmises of Treason were committed to the Tower of London the one by Water the other by Land so that the one knew not of the others Apprehension The 15th day of January next following he was arraigned at Guildhall London where the greatest matter alledged against him was for bearing certain Arms that were said belonged to the King and Prince the bearing whereof he justified To be short for so they were with him he was found guilty by twelve common Juriars had Judgment of Death and upon the 19th day of the said Month nine days before the Death of the said King Henry was beheaded at Tower-Hill He was at first interred in the Chappel of the Tower and afterwards in the Reign of King James his Remainders of Ashes and Bones were removed to Framingham in Suffolk by his second Son Henry Earl of Northampton where in the Church they were interred with this Epitaph Henrico Howardo Thomae Secundi Ducis Norfolciae filio primogenito Thomae tertij Patri Comiti Surriae Georgiam Ordinis Equiti Aurato immature Anno Salutis 1546. abrepto Et Francisae Vxori ejus filiae Johannis Comitis Oxoniae Henricus Howardus Comes Northhamptoniae filius secundo genitus hoc supremum Pietatis in Parentes Monumentum posuit A. D. 1614. Sir THOMAS WIAT the Elder THis worthy Knight is termed by the Name of the Elder to distinguish him from Sir Thomas Wiat the raiser of the Rebellion in the time of Queen Mary and was born at Allington Castle in the County of Kent which afterwards he repaired with most beautiful Buildings He was a Person of great esteem and reputation in the Reign of King Henry the 8th with whom for his honesty and singular parts he was in high favour Which nevertheless he had like to have lost about the Business of Queen Anne Bullein but by his Innocency Industry and Prudence he extricated himself He was one of admirable ingenuity and truly answer'd his Anagram Wiat a Wit the judicious Mr. Cambden saith he was Eques Auratus splendide doctus And though he be not taken notice of by Bale nor Pits yet for his admirable Translation of David's Psalms into English Meeter and other Poetical Writings Leland forbears not to compare him to Dante and Petrarch by giving him this large commendation Bella suum merito jactet Florentia Dantem Regia Petrarchae carmina Roma probat His non inferior Patrio Sermone Viattus Eloquii secum qui decus omne tulit Let Florence fair her Dante 's justly boast And royal Rome her Petrarchs number'd feet In English Wiat both of them doth coast In whom all graceful eloquence doth meet The renowned Earl of Surrey in an Encomium upon his Translation of David's Psalms thus writes of him What holy Grave what worthy Sepulcher To Wiat's Psalms shall Christians purchase then And afterward upon his death the said Earl writeth thus What Vertues rare were temper'd in thy brest Honour that England such a Jewel bred And kiss the ground whereas thy Corps did rest c. This worthy
it is said at one time he had cleared all Suits depending on that Court whereupon one thus versified on him When More some years had Chancellor been No more Suits did remain The same shall never more be seen Till More be there again He was of such excellency of Wit and Wisdom that he was able to make his Fortune good in whatsoever he undertook and to this purpose it is reported of him that when he was sent Ambassador by his Master Henry the Eighth into Germany before he deliver'd his Embassage to the Emperor he bid one of his Servants to fill him a Beer-glass of Wine which he drunk off twice commanding his Servant to bring him a third he knowing Sir Thomas More 's Temperance that he was not used to drink at first refused to fill him another telling Sir Thomas of the weight of his Employment but he commanding it and his Servant not daring to deny him he drank off the third and then made his immediate address to the Emperor and spake his Oration in Latine to the admiration of all the Auditors Afterwards Sir Thomas merrily asking his Man what he thought of his Speech he said that he deserved to govern three parts of the World and he believed if he had drunk the other Glass the Elegancy of his Language might have purchased the other part of the World. Being once at Bruges in Flanders an arrogant Fellow had set up a Thesis that he would answer any Question could be propounded unto him in what Art soever Of whom when Sir Thomas More heard he laughed and made this Question to be put up for him to answer Whether Averia caepta in Withernamia sunt irreplegibilia Adding That there was an Englishman that would dispute thereof with him This bragging Thraso not so much as understanding the Terms of our Common Law knew not what to answer to it and so became ridiculous to the whole City for his presumptuous bragging Many were the Books which he wrote amongst whom his Vtopi beareth the Bell which though not written in Verse yet in regard of the great Fancy and Invention thereof may well pass for a Poem it being the Idea of a compleat Common-wealth in an Imaginary Island but pretended to be lately discovered in America and that so lively counterfeited that many at the reading thereof mistook it for a real Truth insomuch that many great Learned men as Budeus and Johannes Paludanus upon a fervent zeal wished that some excellent Divines might be sent thither to preach Christ's Gospel yea there were here amongst us at home sundry good Men and learned Divines very desirous to undertake the Voyage to bring the People to the Faith of Christ whose Manners they did so well like Mr. Owen the Brittish Epigrammatist on this Book of Vtopia writeth thus More 's Vtopia and Mercurius Britanicus More shew'd the best the worst World 's shew'd by the Thou shew'st what is and he shews what should be But at last he fell into the King's displeasure touching the Divorce of Queen Katherine and for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy for which he was committed to the Tower and afterwards beheaded on Tower-Hill July 6 1635. and buried at Chelsey under a plain Monument Those who desire to be further informed of this Learned Knight let them read my Book of England's Worthies where his Life is set forth more at large HENRY HOWARD Earl of Surrey THis Honourable Earl was Son to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Frances his Wife the Daughter of John Vere Earl of Oxford He was saith Cambden the first of our English Nobility that did illustrate his high Birth with the Beauty of Learning and his Learning with the knowledge of divers Languages which he attained unto by his Travels into foreign Nations so that he deservedly had the particular Fame of Learning Wit and Poetical Fancy Our famous Poet Drayton in his England's Heroical Epistles writing of this Noble Earl thus says of him The Earl of Surrey that renowned Lord Th' old English Glory bravely that restor'd That Prince and Poet a Name more divine Falling in Love with Beauteous Geraldine Of the Geraldi which derive their Name From Florence whether to advance her Fame He travels and in publick Justs maintain'd Her Beauty peerless which by Arms he gain'd In his way to Florence he touch'd at the Emperor's Court where he fell in acquaintance with the great Learned Cornelius Agrippa osb famous for Magick who shewed him the Image of his Geraldine in a Glass sick weeping on her Bed and resolved all into devout Religion for the absence of her Lord upon sight of which he made this Sonnet All Soul no earthly Flesh why dost thou fade All Gold no earthly Dross why look ' st thou pole Sickness how dar'st thou one so fair invade Too base Infirmity to work her Bale Heaven be distempered since she grieved pines Never be dry these my sad plantive Lines Pearch thou my Spirit on her Silver Breasts And with their pains redoubled Musick beatings Let them toss thee to world where all toil rests Where Bliss is subject to no Fear 's defeatings Her Praise I tune whose Tongue doth tune the Sphears And gets new Muses in her Hearers Ears Stars fall to fetch fresh light from her rich eyes Her bright Brow drives the Sun to Clouds beneath Her Hairs reflex with red strakes paints the Skies Sweet Morn and Evening dew flows from her breath Phoebe rules Tides she my Tears tides forth draws In her sick-Bed Love sits and maketh Laws Her dainty Limbs tinsel her Silk soft Sheets Her Rose-crown'd Cheeks eclipse my dazled sight O Glass with too much joy my thoughts thou greets And yet thou shew'st me day but by twilight He kiss thee for the kindness I have felt Her Lips one Kiss would unto Nectar melt From the Emperor's Court he went to the City of Florence the Pride and Glory of Italy in which City his Geraldine was born never ceasing till he came to the House of her Nativity and being shewn the Chamber her clear Sun-beams first thrust themselves in this cloud of Flesh he was transported with an Extasie of Joy his Mouth overflow'd with Magnificats his Tongue thrust the Stars out of Heaven and eclipsed the Sun and Moon with Comparisons of his Geraldine and in praise of the Chamber that was so illuminatively honoured with her Radiant Conception he penned this Sonnet Fair Room the presence of sweet Beauties pride This place the Sun upon the Earth did hold When Phaeton his Chariot did misguide The Tower where Jove rain'd down himself in Gold Prostrate as holy ground I le worship thee Our Ladies Chappel henceforth be thou nam'd Here first Loves Queen put on Mortality And with her Beauty all the world inflam'd Heaven's Chambers harbouriug fiery Cherubins Are not with thee in Glory to compare Lightning it is not Light which in thee shines None enter thee but streight entranced are O! if Elizium be above
hue Which well and fine me thought did shine And never change a thing most strange Yet keep in sight her course aright And compass true Being thus married he betook himself again to Husbandry and hired a Farm called Diram Cell and there he had not lived long but his Landlord died and his Executors falling at variance and now one troubled him and then another whereupon he left Diram and went to Norwâ—ch turning a Singing-man under Mr. Salisbury the Dean thereof There he was troubled with a Dissury so that in a 138 Hours he never made a drop of Water Next he hired a Parsonage at Fairstead in Essex but growing weary of that he returned again to London where he had not lived long but the Pestilence raging there he retired to Cambridge Thus did he roul about from place to place but like Sisiphus stone could gather no Moss whithersoever he went He was successive a Musician Schoolmaster Servingman Husbandman Grasier Poet more skilful in all than thriving in any Vocation He traded at large in Oxen Sheep Dairies Grain of all kinds to no profit He spread his Bread with all sorts of Butter yet none would stick thereon So that he might say with the Poet Monitis sum minor ipse meis None being better at the Theory or worse at the Practice of Husbandry and may be fitly match'd with Thomas Churchyard they being mark'd alike in their Poetical parts living in the same time and statur'd both alike in their Estates and that low enough in all reason He died in London Anno Dom. 1580. and was buried at St. Mildred's-Church in the Poultrey with this Epitaph Here THOMAS TVSSER clad in earth doth lie That sometime made the Points of Husbandry By him then learn thou may'st here learn we must When all is done we sleep and turn to dust And yet through Christ to Heaven we hope to go Who reads his Books shall find his Faith was so THOMAS STORER THomas Storer was a great writer of Sonnets Madrigals and Pastoral Airs in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign and no doubt was highly esteemed in those days of which we have an account of some of them in an old Book called England's Hellicon This kind of writing was of great esteem in those days and much imitated by Thomas Watson Bartholomew Yong Dr. Lodge and several others What time he died is to me unknown THOMAS LODGE THomas Lodge a Doctor of Physick flourish'd also about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth He was also an eminent Writer of Pastoral Songs Odes and Madrigals This following Sonnet is said to be of his composing If I must die O let me chuse my Death Suck out my Soul with Kisses cruel Maid In thy Breasts Crystal Balls embalm my Breath Dole it all out in sighs when I am laid Thy Lips on mine like Cupping-glasses clasp Let our Tongues meet and strive as they would sting Crush out my Wind with one straight girting Grasp Stabs on my Heart keep time whilst thou dost sing Thy Eyes like searing-Irons burn out mine In thy fair Tresses stifle me outright Like Circes change me to a loathsom Swine So I may live for ever in thy sight Into Heavens Joys can none profoundly see Except that first they meditate on thee Contemporary with Dr. Lodge were several others who all of them wrote in the same strain as George Gascoigne Tho. Hudson John Markham Tho. Achely John Weever Chr. Midleton George Turbervile Henry Constable Sir Edward Dyer Charles Fitz Geoffry Of these George Gascoigne wrote not only Sonnets Odes and Madrigals but also something to the Stage as his Supposes a Comedy Glass of Government a Tragi-Comedy and Jocasta a Tragedy But to return to Dr. Lodge we shall only add one Sonnet more taken out of his Euphues Golden Legacy and so proceed to others Of all chaste Birds the Phoenix doth excel Of all strong Beasts the Lion bears the Bell Of all sweet Flowers the Rose doth sweetest smell Of all fair Maids my Rosalind is fairest Of all pure Metals Gold is only purest Of all high Trees the Pine hath highest Crest Of all soft Sweets I like my Mistress best Of all chaste Thoughts my Mistress Thoughts are rarest Of all proud Birds the Eagle pleaseth Jove Of pretty Fowls kind Venus likes the Dove Of Trees Minerva doth the Olive love Of all sweet Nymphs I honour Rosalinde Of all her Gifts her Wisdom pleaseth most Of all her Graces Virtue she doth boast For all the Gifts my Life and Joy is lost If Rosalinde prove cruel and unkind ROBERT GREENE RObert Greene that great Friend to the Printers by his many Impressions of numerous Books was by Birth a Gentleman and sent to study in the University of Cambridge where he proceeded Master of Art therein He had in his time sipped of the Fountain of Hellicon but drank deeper Draughts of Sack that Helliconian Liquor whereby he beggar'd his Purse to enrich his Fancy writing much against Viciousness but too too vicious in his Life He had to his Wife a Virtuous Gentlewoman whom yet he forsook and betook himself to a high course of Living to maintain which he made his Pen mercenary making his Name very famous for several Books which he wrote very much taking in his time and in indifferent repute amongst the vulgar at this present of which those that I have seen are as followeth Euphues his Censure to Philautus Tullies Love Philomela The Lady Fitz-waters Nightingale A Quip for an upstart Courtier the History of Dorastus and Fawnia Green's never too late first and second Part Green's Arcadia Green his Farewell to Folly Greene's Groats-worth of Wit c. He was also an Associate with Dr. Lodge in writing of several Comedies namely The Laws of Nature Lady Alimony Liberality and Prodigality and a Masque called Luminalia besides which he wrote alone the Comedies of Fryer Bacon and fair Emme But notwithstanding by these his Writings he got much Money yet was it not sufficient to maintain his Prodigality but that before his death he fell into extream Poverty when his Friends like Leaves to Trees in the Summer of Prosperity fell from him in his Winter of Adversity of which he was very sensible and heartily repented of his ill passed Life especially of the wrongs he had done to his Wife which he declared in a Letter written to her and found with his Book of A Groatsworth of Wit after his Death containing these Words THE Remembrance of many Wrongs offered Thee and thy unreproved Vertues add greater sorrow to my miserable State than I can utter or thou conceive neither is it lessened by consideration of thy Absence though Shame would let me hardly behold thy Face but exceedingly aggravated for that I cannot as I ought to thy own self reconcile my self that thou mightest witness my inward Wo at this instant that have made thee a woful Wife for so long a time But equal Heaven hath denied that comfort
his Muse out of his Poly-Olbion speaking of his native County Warwickshire Upon the Mid-lands now th' industrious Muse doth fall That Shire which we the Heart of England well may call As she herself extends the midst which is Deweed betwixt St. Michael's Mount and Barwick-bordering Tweed Brave Warwick that abroad so long advanc'd her Bear By her illustrious Earls renowned every where Above her neighbouring Shires which always bore her Head. Also in the Beginning of his Poly-Olbion he thus writes Of Albions glorious Isle the wonders whilst I write The sundry varying Soyls the Pleasures infinite Where heat kills not the cold nor cold expells the heat The calms too mildly small nor winds too roughly great Nor night doth hinder day nor day the night doth wrong The summer not too short the winter not too long What help shall I invoke to aid my Muse the while c. However in the esteem of the more curious of these times his Works seem to be antiquated especially this of his Poly-Olbion because of the old-fashion'd kind of Verse thereof which seems somewhat to diminish that respect which was formerly paid to the Subject although indeed both pleasant and elaborate wherein he took a great deal both of study and pains and thereupon thought worthy to be commented upon by that once walking Library of our Nation Mr. John Selden His Barons Wars are done to the Life equal to any of that Subject His Englands Heroical Epistles generally liked and received entituling him unto the appellation of the English Ovid. His Legends of Robert Duke of Normandy Matilda Pierce Gaveston and Thomas Cromwel all of them done to the Life His Idea expresses much Fancy and Poetry And to such as love that Poetry that of Nymphs and Shepherds his Nymphals and other things of that nature cannot be unpleasant To conclude He was a Poet of a pious temper his Conscience having always the command of his Fancy very temperate in his Life slow of speech and inoffensive in company He changed his Lawrel for a Crown of Glory Anno 1631. and was buried in Westminster-Abbey near the South-door by those two eminent Poets Geoffry Chaucer and Edmond Spencer with this Epitaph made as it is said by Mr. Benjamin Johnson Do pious Marble let thy Readers know What they and what their Children ow To Drayton's Name whose sacred Dust We recommend unto thy Trust Protect his Memory and preserve his Story Remain a lasting Monument of his Glory And when thy Ruines shall disclaim To be the Treasurer of his Name His Name that cannot fade shall be An everlasting Monument to thee JOSHVA SYLVESTER JOshua Sylvester a very eminent Translator of his time especially of the Divine Du Bartus whose six days work of Creation gain'd him an immortal Fame having had many great Admirers even to these days being usher'd into the world by the chiefest Wits of that Age amongst others the most accomplisht Mr. Benjamin Johnson thus wrote of him If to admire were to commend my Praise might then both thee thy work and merit raise But as it is the Child of Ignorance And utter stranger to all Ayr of France How can I speak of thy great pains but err Since they can only judge that can confer Behold the reverend shade of Bartus stands Before my thought and in thy right commands That to the world I publish for him this Bartus doth wish thy English now were his So well in that are his Inventions wrought As his will now be the Translation thought Thine the Original and France shall boast No more those Maiden-Glories she hath lost He hath also translated several other Works of Du Bartus namely Eden the Deceipt the Furies the Handicrafts the Ark Babylon the Colonies the Columns the Fathers Jonas Vrania Triumph of Faith Miracle of Peace the Vocation the Fathers the Daw the Captains the Trophies the Magnificence c. Also a Paradox of Odes de la Nove Baron of Teligni with the Quadrains of Pibeac all which Translations were generally well received but for his own Works which were bound up with them they received not so general an approbation as you may perceive by these Verses We know thou dost well As a Translator But where things require A Genius and a Fire Not kindled before by others pains As often thou hast wanted Brains Mr. SAMVEL DANIEL MR. Daniel was born nigh to the Town of Taunton in Somersetshire his Father was a Master of Musick and his harmonious Mind saith Dr. Fuller made an Impression in his Son's Genius who proved to be one of the Darlings of the Muses a most excellent Poet whose Wings of Fancy displayed the Flags of highest Invention Carrying in his Christian and Sirname the Names of two holy Prophets which as they were Monitors to him for avoyding Scurrility so he qualified his Raptures to such a strain as therein he abhorred all Debauchery and Prophaneness Nor was he only one of the inspired Train of PhOebus but also a most judicious Historian witness his Lives of our English Kings since the Conquest until King Edward the Third wherein he hath the happiness to reconcile brevity with clearness qualities of great distance in other Authors and had he continued to these times no doubt it had been a Work incomparable Of which his Undertaking Dr. Heylin in the Preface to his Cosmography gives this Character speaking of the chiefest Historians of this Nation And to end the Bed-roll says he half the Story of this Realm done by Mr. Daniel of which I believe that which himself saith of it in his Epistle to the Reader that there was never brought together more of the Main Which Work is since commendably continued but not with equal quickness and judgment by Mr. Trussel As for his Poems so universally received the first in esteem is that Heroical one of the Civil Wars between the two Houses of York and Lancaster of which the elaborate Mr. Speed in his Reign of Richard the Second thus writes The Seeds saith he of those fearful Calamities a flourishing Writer of our Age speaking of Mr. Daniel willing nearly to have imitated Lucan as he is indeed called our English Lucan doth not unfortunately express tho' he might rather have said he wept them than sung them but indeed so to sing them is to weep them I sing the Civil Wars tumultuous Broils And bloody Factions of a mighty Land Whose people haughty proud with foreign spoyls Upon their selves turn back their conquering hand While Kin their Kin Brother the Brother foils Like Ensigns all against like Ensigns stand Bows against Bows a Crown against a Crown While all pretending right all right throw down Take one Taste more of his Poetry in his sixth Book of that Heroical Poem speaking of the Miseries of Civil War. So wretched is this execrable War This civil Sword wherein though all we see be foul and all things miserable are Yet most of all is even the Victory Which is not only the
to Land by Death doth lie A Vessel fitter for the Skie Than Jason's Argo though in Greece They say it brought the Golden Fleece The skilful Pilot steer'd it so Hither and thither too and fro Through all the Seas of Poverty Whether they far or near do lie And fraught it so with all the wealth Of wit and learning not by stealth Or privacy but perchance got That this whole lower World could not Richer Commodities or more Afford to add unto his store To Heaven then with an intent Of new Discoveries he went And left his Vessel here to rest Till his return shall make it blest The Bill of Lading he that looks To know may find it in his Books Mr. PHINEAS FLETCHER THis learned person Son and Brother to two ingenious Poets himself the third not second to either was son to Giles Fletcher Doctor in Law and Embassadour from Queen Elizabeth to Theodor Juanowick Duke of Muscovia who though a Tyranick Prince whose will was his Low yet setled with him very good Terms for our Merchants trading thither He was also brother to two worthy Poets viz. George Fletcher the Author of a Poem entituled Christs Victory and Triumph over and after Death and Giles Fletcher who wrote a worthy Poem entituled Christs Victory made by him being but Batchelor of Arts discovering the piety of a Saint and divinity of Doctor This our Phineas Fletcher was Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge and in Poetick fame exceeded his two Brothers in that never enough to be celebrated Poem entituled The Purple Island of which to give my Reader a taste who perhaps hath never seen the Book I shall here add two Stanza's of it Thrice happy was the worlds first infancy Nor knowing yet not curious ill to know Joy without grief love without jealousie None felt hard labour or the sweating Plough The willing earth brought tribute to her King Bacchus unborn lay hidden in the cling Of big swollen Grapes their drink was every silver spring And in another place speaking of the vanity of ambitious Covetousness Vain men too fondly wise who plough the Seas With dangerous pains another earth to find Adding new Worlds to th' old and scorning ease The earths vast limits daily more unbind The aged World though now it falling shows And hasts to set yet still in dying grows Whole lives are spent to win what one Deaths hour must lose Besides this purple Island he wrote divers Piscatorie Eclogues and other Poetical Miscelanies also a Piscatory Comedy called Sicelides which was acted at Kings-Colledge in Cambridge Mr. GEORGE HERBERT THis divine Poet and person was a younger brother of the Noble Family of the Herberts of Montgomery whose florid wit obliging humour in conversation fluent Elocution and great proficiency in the Arts gained him that reputation at Oxford where he spent his more youthful Age that he was chosen University Orator a place which required one of able parts to Mannage it at last taking upon him Holy Orders not without special Encouragement from the King who took notice of his extraordinary Parts he was made Parson of Bemmerton near Salisbury where he led a Seraphick life converting his Studies altogether to serious and Divine Subjects which in time produced those his so generally known and approved Poems entituled The Temple Whose Vocal notes tun'd to a heavenly Lyre Both learned and unlearned all admire I shall only add out of his Book an Anagram which he made on the name of the Virgin Mary MARY ARMY And well her name an Army doth present In whom the Lord of Hosts did pitch his Tent. Mr. RICHARD CRASHAW THis devout Poet the Darling of the Muses whose delight was the fruitful Mount Sion more than the barren Mount Pernassus was Fellow first of Pembrook-Hall after of St. Peters-Colledge in Cambridge a religious pourer forth of his divine Raptures and Meditations in smooth and pathetick Verse His Poems consist of three parts the first entituled Steps to the Temple being for the most part Epigrams upon several passages of the New Testament charming the ear with a holy Rapture The Second part The delights of the Muses or Poems upon severral occasions both English and Latin such rich pregnant Fancies as shewed his Breast to be filled with Phoebean Fire The third and last part Carmen Deo nostro being Hymns and other sacred Poems dedicated to the Countess of Denbigh all which bespeak him The learned Author of Immortal Strains He was much given to a religious Solitude and love of a recluse Life which made him spend much of his time and even lodge many Nights under Tertullian's roof of Angels in St. Mary's Church in Cambridge But turning Roman Catholick he betook himself to 〈◊〉 so zealously frequented place Our Lady 's of Loâ—â—etto in Italy where for some years he spent his time in Divine Contemplations being a Canon of that Church where he dyed Mr. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT MR. William Cartwright a Student of Christ Church in Oxford where he lived in Fame and Reputation for his singular Parts and Ingenuity being none of the least of Apollo's Sons for his excelling vein in Poetry which produc'd a Volume of Poems publisht not long after his Death and usher'd into the World by Commendatory Verses of the choicest Wits at that time enough to have made a Volume of it self So much was he reverenced by the Lovers of the Muses He wrote besides his Poems The Ordinary a Comedy the Royal Slave Lady Errant and The Seige Or Loves Convert Tragi-Comedies Sir ASTON COCKAIN SIr Aston Cockain laies Claim to a place in our Book being remembred to Posterity by four Plays which he wrote viz. The Obstinate Lady a Comedy Trapolin supposed a Prince Tyrannical Government Tragi-Comedies and Thersites an Interlude Sir JOHN DAVIS THis worthy Knight to whom Posterity is indebted for his learned Works was well beloved of Queen Elizabeth and in great Favour with King James His younger Years he addicted to the study of Poetry which produced two excellent Poems Nosce Teipsum and Ochestra Works which speak themselves their own Commendations He also wrote a judicious Metaphrase on several of David's Psalms which first made him known at Court afterwards addicting himself to the Study of the Common-Law of England he was first made the Kings Serjeant and after his Attorney-General in Ireland THOMAS MAY. THomas May was one in his time highly esteemed not only for his Translation of Virgils Georgicks and Lucans Pharfalia into English but what he hath written Propria Minerva as his Supplement to Lucan till the Death of Julius Caesar His History of Henry the Second in Verse besides what he wrote of Dramatick as his Tragedies of Antigone Agrippina and Cleopatra The Heir a Tragi-Comedy the Old Couple and The Old Wives Tale Comedies and the History of Orlando Furioso of these his Tragi-Comedy of The Heir is done to the life both for Plot and Language and good had it been for his Memory to Posterity if he