us the days more darkish are More short cold moist and stormy cloudy clit For sadness more than mirths or pleasures fit Devising then what Books were best to read Both for that time and sentence grave also For conference of friend to stand in stead When I my faithful friend was parted fro I gat me strait the Printers shops unto To seek some Work of price I surely ment That might alone my careful mind content And then he declareth how there he found the first part of this Mirrour for Magistrates which yet took beginning from the time of King Richard the Second But he knowing many Examples of famous persons before William the Conquerour which were wholly omitted he set upon the Work and beginning from Brute continued it to Aurelius Bassianus Caracalla Emperour of Rome about the year of Christ 209. shewing in his Writings a great deal of Wisdom and Learning He flourished about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth ABRAHAM FRAVNCE THis Abraham Fraunce a Versifier about the same time with John Higgins was one who imitated Latine measure in English Verse writing a Pastoral called the Countess of Pembroke ' s Ivy-church and some other things in Hexameter some also in Hexameter and Pentameter He also wrote the Countess of Pembroke ' s Emanuel containing the Nativity Passion Burial and Resurrection of Christ together with certain Psalms of David all in English Hexameters Nor was he altogether singular in this way of writing for Sir Philip Sidney in the Pastoral Interludes of his Arcadia uses not only these but all other sorts of Latine measure in which no wonder he is followed by so few since they neither become the English nor any other modern Language He began also the Translation of Heliodorus his Aethiopick History in the same kind of Verse of which to give the Reader the better divertisement we shall present you with a tast As soon as Sun-beams could once peep out fro the Mountains And by the dawn of day had somewhat lightned Olympus Men whose lust was law whose life was still to be lusting Whose thriving thieving convey'd themselves to an hill top That stretched forward to the Heracleotica entry And mouth of Nylus looking thence down to the main sea For sea-faring men but seeing none to be sailing They knew 't was bootless to be looking there for a booty So that strait fro the sea they cast their eyes to the sea-shore Where they saw that a Ship very strangely without any ship-man Lay then alone at road with Cables ty'd to the main-land And yet full fraighted which they though far fro the hill-top Easily might perceive by the water drawn to the deck-boards c. His Ivy-Church he dedicated to the Countess of Pembroke in which he much vindicated his manner of writing as no Verse fitter for it then that he also dedicated his Emanuel to her which being but two lines take as followeth Mary the best Mother sends her best Babe to a Mary Lord to a Ladies sight and Christ to a Christian When he died we cannot find but suppose it to be about the former part of Queen Elizabeth's Reign WILLIAM WARNER WIlliam Warner one of principal esteem in his time was chiefly famous for his Albion's England which he wrote in the old-fashioned kind of seven-footed Verse which yet sometimes is in use though in different manner that is to say divided into two He wrote also several Books in prose as he himself witnesseth in his Epistle to the Reader but as we said before his Albion's England was the chiefest which he deduced from the time of Noah beginning thus I tell of things done long ago of many things in few And chiefly of this Clime of ours the accidents pursue Thou high director of the same assist mine artless Pen To write the Jests of Brutons stout and Arts of English-men From thence he proceeds to the peopling of the Earth by the Sons of Noah intermixing therein much variety of Matter not only pleasant but profitable for the Readers understanding of what was delivered by the ancient Poets bringing his Matter succinctly to the Siege of Troy and from thence to the coming of Brute into this Island and so coming down along the chiefest matters touched of our British Historians to the Conquest of England by Duke William and from him the Affairs of the Land to the beginning of Queen Elizabeth where he concludeth thus Elizabeth by peace by war for majesty for mild Enrich'd fear'd honour'd lov'd but loe unreconcil'd The Muses check my saucy Pen for enterprising her In duly praising whom themselves even Arts themselves might err Phaebus I am not Phaeton presumptuously to ask What shouldst thou give I could not guide guide give not me thy task For as thou art Apollo too our mighty subjects threats A non plus to thy double power Vel volo vel nollem I might add several more of his Verses to shew the worth of his Pen but the Book being indifferent common having received several Impressions I shall refer the Reader for his further satisfaction to the Book itself THOMAS TVSSER THomas Tusser a person well known by his Book of Husbandry was born at Riuen-hall in Essex of an ancient Family but now extinct where when but young his Father designing him for a Singing-man put him to Wallingford-School where how his Misfortunes began in the World take from his own Pen. O painful time for every crime What toosed ears like baited Bears What bobbed lips what yerks what nips What hellish toys What Robes so bare what Colledge-fare What Bread how stale what penny Ale Then Wallingford how wer 't thou abhorr'd Of silly boys From thence he was sent to learn Musick at Pauls with one John Redford an excellent Musician where having attained some skill in that Art he was afterwards sent to Eaton-School to learn the Latine Tongue where how his Miserie 's encreas'd let himself speak From Pauls I went to Eaton sent To learn straightways the Latine phrase Where fifty three stripes given to me At once I had For fault but small or none at all It came to pass thus beat I was See Vdal see the mercy of thee To me poor Lad. Having attained to some perfection in the Latine Tongue he was sent to Trinity-Hall in Cambridge where he had not continued long but he was vexed with extream sickness whereupon he left the University and betook himself to Court and lived for a while under the Lord Paget in King Edward the Sixth's days when the Lords falling at dissention he left the Court and went to Suffolk where he married his first Wife and took a Farm at Ratwade in that County where he first devised his Book of Husbandry but his Wife not having her health there he removed from thence to Ipswich and soon after buried her Not long after he married again to one Mrs. Amy Moon upon whose Name he thus versified I chanced soon to find a Moon Of chearful
Tale of the Squire but only himself which he had not done had he not felt as he saith the infusion of Chaucer's own sweet Spirit surviving within him And a little before he calls him the most Renowned and Heroical Poet and his Writings the Works of Heavenly Wit concluding his commendation in this manner Dan Chaucer well of English undefiled On Fames eternal Bead-roll worthy to be filed I follow here the footing of thy feet That with thy meaning so I may the rather meet Mr. Cambden reaching one hand to Mr. Ascham and the other to Mr. Spenser and so drawing them together uttereth of him these words De Homero nostro Anglico illud vere asseram quod de Homero eruditus ille Italus dixit Hic ille est cujus de gurgite sacro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores The deservingly honoured Sir Philip Sidney in his Defence Poesie thus writeth of him Chaucer undoubtedly did excellently in his Troylus and Crescid of whom truly I know not whether to marvel more either that he in that misty time could see so clearly or we in this clear age walk so stumblingly after him And Doctor Heylin in his elaborate Description of the World ranketh him in the first place of our chiefest Poets Seeing therefore that both old and new Writers have carried this reverend conceit of him and openly declared the same by writing let us conclude with Horace in the eighth Ode of his fourth Book Dignum Laudi causa vetat mori The Works of this famous Poet were partly published in Print by William Caxton Mercer that first brought the incomparable Art of Printing into England which was in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth Afterward encreased by William Thinne Esq in the time of King Henry the Eighth Afterwards in the year 1561. in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Corrected and Encreased by John Stow And a fourth time with many Amendments and an Explanation of the old and obscure Words by Mr. Thomas Speight in Anno 1597. Yet is he said to have written many considerable Poems which are not in his publish'd Works besides the Squires Tale which is said to be compleat in Arundel-house Library JOHN LYDGATE JOhn Lydgate was born in a Village of the same name not far off St. Edmondsbury a Village saith Cambden though small yet in this respect not to be passed over in silence because it brought into the World John Lydgate the Monk whose Wit may seem to have been framed and fashioned by the very Muses themselves so brightly reshine in his English Verses all the pleasant graces and elegancy of Speech according to that Age. After some time spent in our English Universities he travelled through France and Italy improving his time to his great accomplishment in learning the Languages and Arts Erat autem non solum elegans Poeta Rhetor disertus verum etiam Mathematicus expertus Philosophus acutus Theologus non contemnendus he was not only an elegant Poet and an eloquent Rhetorician but also an expert Mathematician an acute Philosopher and no mean Divine saith Pitseus After his return he became Tutor to many Noblemens Sons and both in Prose and Poetry was the best Author of his Age for if Chaucer's Coin were of greater Weight for deeper Learning Lydgate's was of a more refined Stantard for purer Language so that one might mistake him for a modern Writer But because none can so well describe him as himself take an Essay of his Verses out of his Life and Death of Hector pag. 316 and 317. I am a Monk by my profession In Berry call'd John Lydgate by my name And wear a habit of perfection Although my life agree not with the same That meddle should with things spiritual As I must needs confess unto you all But seeing that I did herein proceed At his command whom I could not refuse I humbly do beseech all those that read Or leisure have this story to peruse If any fault therein they find to be Or error that committed is by me That they will of their gentleness take pain The rather to correct and mend the same Than rashly to condemn it with disdain For well I wot it is not without blame Because I know the Verse therein is wrong As being some too short and some too long For Chaucer that my Master was and knew What did belong to writing Verse and Prose Ne're stumbled at small faults nor yet did view With scornful eye the Works and Books of those That in his time did write nor yet would taunt At any man to fear him or to daunt Now if you would know further of him hear him in his Prologue to the Story of Thebes a Tale as his Fiction is which or some other he was constrained to tell at the command of mine Host of the Tabard in Southwark whom he found in Canterbury with the rest of the Pilgrims which went to visit Saint Thomas shrine This Story was first written in Latine by Geoffry Chaucer and translated by Lydgate into English Verse but of the Prologue of his own making so much as concerns himmself thus While that the Pilgrims lay At Canterbury well lodged one and all I not in sooth what I may it call Hap or fortune in conclusioun That me befell to enter into the Toun The holy Sainte plainly to visite After my sicknesse vows to acquite In a Cope of blacke and not of greene On a Palfrey slender long and lene With rusty Bridle made not for the sale My man to forne with a voyd Male That by Fortune tooke my Inne anone Where the Pilgrimes were lodged everichone The same time her governour the host Stonding in Hall full of wind and bost Liche to a man wonder sterne and fers Which spake to me and said anon Dan Pers Dan Dominick Dan Godfray or Clement Ye be welcome newly into Kent Thogh your bridle have nother boos ne bell Beseeching you that ye will tell First of your name and what cuntre Without more shortly that ye be That looke so pale all devoid of bloud Upon your head a wonder thred-bare Hood Well arrayed for to ride late I answered my Name was Lydgate Monke of Bury me fifty yeare of age Come to this Town to do my Pilgrimage As I have hight I have thereof no shame Dan John quoth he well brouke ye your name Thogh ye be sole beeth right glad and light Praying you to soupe with us this night And ye shall have made at your devis A great Puddding or a round hagis A Franche Moile a Tanse or a Froise To been a Monk slender is your coise Ye have been sick I dare mine head assure Or let feed in a faint pasture Lift up your head be glad take no sorrow And ye should ride home with us to morrow I say when ye rested have your fill After supper sleep will doen none ill Wrap well your head clothes round about Strong nottie Ale will
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
he suffered he sent for Mr. Walter Burre who had formerly printed his first Volume of of the History of the World whom taking by the hand after some other discourse he ask'd him How that Work of his had sold Mr. Burre returned this answer That it sold so slowly that it had undone him At which words of his Sir Walter Rawleigh stepping to his Desk reaches the other part of his History to Mr. Burre which he had brought down to the times he lived in clapping his hand on his breast he took the other unprinted part of his Works into his hand with a sigh saying Ah my Friend hath the first Part undone thee The second Volume shall undo no more this ungrateful World is unworthy of it When immediately going to the fire-side he threw it in and set his foot on it till it was consumed As great a Loss to Learning as Christendom could have or owned for his first Volume after his death sold Thousands It may likewise be objected That some of these Poets here mentioned have been more famous in other kind of Studies than in Poetry and therefore do not shine here as in their proper sphere of fame but what then shall their general knowledge debar them from a particular notice of their Abilities in this most excellent Art Nor have we scarce any Poet excellent in all its Species thereof some addicting themselves most to the Epick some to the Dramatick some to the Lyrick other to the Elegiack the Epaenitick the Bucolick or the Epigram under one of which all the whole circuit of Poetick Design is one way or other included Besides should we have mentioned none but those who upon a strict scrutiny the Name of Poet doth belong unto I fear me our number would fall much short of those which we have written for as one writes There are many that have a Fame deservedly for what they have writ even in Poetry itself who if they come to the test I question how well they would endure to open their Eagle-eyes against the Sun. But I shall wade no further in this Discourse desiring you to accept of what is here written I remain Yours William Winstanley The Names of the Poets Mention'd in this Book Page Robert of Glocester 1 Richard the Hermit 3 Joseph of Exeter 5 Michael Blaunpayn 6 Matthew Paris 8 William Ramsey 10 Alexander Nequam 11 Alexander Essebie 14 Robert Baston 15 Henry Bradshaw 16 Havillan 17 Sir John Gower 18 Geoffrey Chaucer 23 John Lydgate 33 John Harding 37 Robert Fabian 40 John Skelton 42 William Lilly 44 Sir Thomas More 46 Henry Howard Earl of Surry 49 Sir Themas Wiat 56 Dr. Christopher Tye 58 John Leland 60 Thomas Churchyard 61 John Higgins 63 Abraham Fraunce 65 William Warner 67 Thomas Tusser 69 Thomas Stow 72 Dr. Lodge ib. Robert Greene 74 Thomas Nash 77 Sir Philip Sidney 79 Sir Fulk Grevil 85 Mr. Edmund Spenser 88 Sir John Harrington 93 John Heywood 95 Thomas Heywood 96 George Peel 97 John Lilly ib. William Wager 98 Nicholas Berton 99 Tho. Kid Tho. Watson c. 100 Sir Thomas Overbury 101 Mr. Michael Drayton 105 Joshua Sylvester 108 Mr. Samuel Daniel 109 George Chapman 112 Robert Baron 113 Lodowic Carlisle 114 John Ford ib. Anthony Brewer ib. Henry Glapthorn 115 John Dvis of Hereford 116 Dr. John Donne 117 Dr. Richard Corbet 121 Mr. Benjamin Johnson 123 Fr. Beanmot and Jo. Fletcher 128 William Shakespeare 130 Christopher Marlow 134 Barton Holyday ib. Cyril Turney 135 Thomas Middleton ibid. William Rowley 136 Thomas Dackar 137 John Marston ibid. Dr. Jasper Main 138 James Shirley ibid. Philip Massinger 139 John Webster 140 William Brown ib. Thomas Randolph 142 Sir John Beaumont 145 Dr. Philemon Holland 146 Thomas Goffe 148 Thomas Nabbes ib. Richard Broome 149 Robert Chamberlain 151 William Sampson ib. George Sandys Esq 152 Sir John Suckling 154 Mr. William Habington 155 Mr. Francis Quarles ib. Mr. Phineas Fletcher 159 Mr. George Herbert 160 Mr. Richard Crashaw 161 Mr. William Cartwright 162 Sir Aston Cockain 163 Sir John Davis ib. Thomas May 164 Charles Aleyn 165 George Withers ib. Robert Horric 166 John Taylor Water-Poet 167 Thomas Rawlins 169 Mr. Thomas Carew ib. Col. Richard Lovelace 170 Alexander Broome 171 Mr. John Cleaveland 172 Sir John Birkenhead 180 Dr. Robert Wild 181 Mr. Abraham Cowley 182 Mr. Edmond Waller 183 Sir John Denam 185 Sir William Davenant ib. Sir George Wharton 187 Sir Robert Howard 188 W Cavendish D. of Newcastle ib. Sir William Killegrew 189 John Studley ib. John Tatham 190 Thomas Jordan 191 Hugh Crompton ibid. Edmond Prestwich 192 Pagan Fisher ib. Edward Shirburn Esq 193 John Quarles 194 John Milton 195 John Ogilby ib. Sir Richard Fanshaw 196 Earl of Orrery 197 Tomas Hobbs ib. Earls of Rochester 198 Mr. Thomas Flarman 200 Martin Luellin 201 Edmond Fairfax ib. Henry King Bishop of Chichester 202 Thomas Manley 204 Mr. Lewis Griffin ib. John Dauncey 206 Richard Head 207 John Philips 210 Mr. John Oldham 212 Mr. John Driden 214 Mr. Elkanah Settle 215 Sir George Etheridge ib. Mr. John Wilson ib. Mr. Thomas Shadwell 216 Thomas Stanley Esq ib. Edward Philips 217 Mr. Thomas Sprat ib. William Smith 218 Mr. John Lacey ib. Mr. William Whicherly ib. Sir Roger L' Estrange 219 THE LIVES Of the most Famous English Poets FROM WILLIAM the Conqueror to these Present Times The Life of ROBERT of Glocester WE will begin first with Robert of Glocester so called because a Monk of that City who flourisht about the Reign of King Henry the Second much esteemed by Mr. Cambden who quotes divers of his old English Rhythms in praise of his Native Country England Some who consider not the Learning of those times term him a Rhymer whilst other more courteously call him a Poet Indeed his Language is such that he is dumb in effect to the Readers of our Age without an Interpreter which that ye may the better perceive hear these his Verses of Mulmutius Lunwallo in the very same Language he wrote them A Kynge there was in Brutayne Donwallo was his Nam Staleworth and hardy a man of grete Fam He ordeyned furst yat theeues yat to Temple flowen wer No men wer so harby to do hem despit ther That hath he moche such yhold as hit begonne tho Hely Chyrch it holdeth yut and wole ever mo Antiquaries amongst whom Mr. Selden more value him for his History than Poetry his Lines being neither strong nor smooth yet much informing in those things wherein he wrote whereof to give you a take of the first planting Religion in this Land by King Lucius Lucie Cocles Son after him Kynge was To fore hym in Engelonde Chrestendom non was For he hurde ofte miracles at Rome And in meny another stede yat thurgh Christene men come He wildnede anon in hys herte to fonge Chrystendom Therefor Messagers with good Letters he nom That to the Pape Eleutherie hastelyche wende And yat he to hym and his menne expondem
make a man to rout Take a Pillow that ye lye not low If nede be spare not to blow To hold wind by mine opinion Will engender colles passion And make men to greven on her rops When they have filled her maws and her crops But toward night eate some Fennell rede Annis Commin or Coriander-seed And like as I have power and might I charge you rise not at midnight Though it be so the Moon shine clere I will my self be your Orlogere To morrow early when I see my time For we will forth parcel afore prime Accompanie parde shall do you good But I have digressed too far To return therefore unto Lydgate Scripsit partim Anglice partim Latine partim Prosa partim Versu Libros numero plures eruditione politissimos He writ saith my Author partly English partly Latine partly in Prose and partly in Verse many exquisite learned Books saith Pitseus which are mentioned by him and Bale as also in the latter end of Chaucer's Works he last Edition amongst which are Eglogues Odes Satyrs and other Poems He flourished in the Reign of Henry the Sixth and departed this world aged about 60 years circiter An. 1440. and was buried in his own Convent at Bury with this Epitaph Mortuus saeclo superis Superstes Hic jacet Lydgate tumulaetus Vrna Qui fuit quondam celebris Britannae Fama Poesis Dead in this World living above the Sky Intomb'd within this Urn doth Lydgate lie In former time fam'd for his Poetry All over England JOHN HARDING JOhn Harding our Famous English Chronologer was born saith Bale in the Northern parts and most likely in Yorkshire being an Esquire of an eminent Parentage He was a man equally addicted to Arms and Arts spending his Youth in the one and his Age in the other His first Military Employment was under Robert Vmfreuil Governor of Roxborough-Castle where he did good Service against the Scots Afterwards he followed the Standard of King Edward the Fourth to whom he valiantly and faithfully adhered not only in the Sun-shine of his Prosperity but also in his deepest Distress But what endeared him the most to his Favour and was indeed the Masterpiece of his Service was his adventuring into Scotland a desperate Attempt and performed not without the manifest hazarding of his Life where he so cunningly demeaned himself and insinuated himself so far into their Favour as he got a sight of their Records and Original Letters a Copy of which he brought with him to England and presented the same to King Edward the Fourth Out of these he collected a History of the several Submissions and sacred Oaths of Fealty openly taken from the time of King Athelstane by the Kings of Scotland to the Kings of England for the Crown of Scotland a Work which was afterwards made much use of by the English although the Scotch Historians stickle with might and main that such Homage was performed only for the County of Cumberland and some parcel of Land their Kings had in England South of Tweed Now as his Prose was very useful so was his Poetry as much delightful writing a Chronicle of our English Kings from Brute to King Edward the Fourth and that in English Verse for which he was accounted one of the chiefest Poets of his time being so exactly done that by it Dr. Fuller adjudges him to have drunk as deep a draught of Helicon as any in his Age And another saying that by the same he deservedly claimed a Seat amongst the chiefest of the Poetical Writers But to give you the better view of his Poetical Abilities I shall present you with some of his Chronicle-Verse concerning the sumptuous Houshold kept by King Richard the Second cap. 193. Truly I herd Robert Ireleffe say Clarke of the Green-cloth and that to the Houshold Came euery daye forth most part alway Ten thousand folke by his Messes told That followed the hous aye as thei wold And in the Kechin three hundred Seruitours And in eche Office many Occupiours And Ladies faire with their Gentleweomen Chamberers also and Lauenders Three hundred of theim were occupied then There was great pride emong the Officers And of all men far passing their compeers Of rich arraye and much more costous Then was before or sith and more precious c. This our Poet Harding was living Anno 1461. being then very aged and is judged to have survived not long after ROBERT FABIAN RObert Fabian was born and bred in London as witnesseth Bale and Pits becoming one of the Rulers thereof being chosen Sheriff Anno 1493. He spent his time which he had spare from publick Employments for the benefit of posterity writing two large Chronicles the one from Brute to the Death of King Henry the Second the other from the First of King Richard to the Death of Henry the Seventh He was saith my Author of a merry disposition and used to entertain his Guests as well with good Discourse as good Victuals He bent his Mind much to the Study of Poetry which according to those times passed for currant Take a touch of his Abilities in the Prologue to the second Volume of his Chronicle of England and France Now would I fayne In words playne Some Honour sayne And bring to mynde Of that auncient Cytye That so goodly is to se And full true ever hath be And also full kynde To Prince and Kynge That hath borne just rulynge Syn the first winnynge Of this Iland by Brute So that in great honour By passynge of many a showre It hath euer borne the flowre And laudable Brute c. These Verses were made for the Honour of London which he calleth Ryme Dogerel and at the latter end thereof excuseth himself to the Reader in these words Who so him lyketh these Versys to rede With favour I pray he will theym spell Let not the rudenes of theym hym lede For to dispraue thys Ryme Dogerell Some part of the honour it doth you tell Of this old Cytye Troynouant But not thereof the halfe dell Connyng in the Maker is so adaunt But though he had the Eloquence Of Tully and the Moralytye Of Seneck and the Influence Of the swyte sugred Armony Or that faire Ladye Caliope Yet had he not connyng perfyght This Citye to prayse in eche degre As that shulde duely aske by ryght Sir John Suckling a prime Wit of his Age in the Contest betwixt the Poets for the Lawrel maketh Apollo to adjudge it to an Alderman of London in these words He openly declar'd it was the best sign Of good store of Wit to have good store of Coyne And without a syllable more or less said He put the Lawrel on the Alderman's Head. But had the Scene of this Competition been laid a hundred and fifty years ago and the same remitted to the Umpirage of Apollo in sober sadness he would have given the Lawrel to this our Alderman He died at London Anno 1511. and was buried at St. Michael's
things worthy reading and didst do Things worthy writing too Thy Arts thy Valour show And by thy Works we do thy Learning know I shall conclude all with these excellent Verses made by himself a little before his Death It is not I that die I do but leave an Inn Where harbour'd was with me all filthy Sin It is not I that die I do but now begin Into eternal Joy by Faith to enter in Why mourn you then my Parents Friends and Kin Lament you when I lose not when I win Sir FVLK GREVIL NExt to Sir Philip Sidney we shall add his great Friend and Associate Sir Fulk Grevil Lord Brook one very eminent both for Arts and Arms to which the genius of that time did mightily invite active Spirits This Noble Person for the great love he bore to Sir Philip sidney wrote his Life He wrote several other Works both in Prose and Verse some of which were Dramatick as his Tragedies of Alaham Mustapha and Marcus Tullius Cicero and others commonly of a Political Subject amongst which a Posthume Work not publish'd till within a few years being a two fold Treatise the first of Monarchy the second of Religion in all which is observable a close mysterious and sententious way of Writing without much regard to Elegancy of Stile or smoothness of Verse Another Posthume Book is also fathered upon him namely The Five Years of King James or the Condition of the State of England and the Relation it had to other Provinces Printed in the Year 1643. But of this last Work many people are doubtful Now for his Abilities in the Exercise of Arms take this instance At such time when the French Ambassadours came over into England to Negotiate a Marriage between the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth for their better entertainment Solemn Justs were proclaimed where the Earl of Arundel Frederick Lord Windsor Sir Philip Sidney and he were chief Challengers against all comers in which Challenge be behaved himself so gallantly that he won the reputation of a most valiant Knight Thus you see that though Ease be the Nurse of Poesie the Muses are also Companions to Mars as may be exemplified in the Lives of the Earl of Surrey Sir Philip Sidney and this Sir Fulk Grevil I shall only add a word or two of his death which was as sad as lamentable He kept a discontented servant who conceiving his deserts not soon or well enough rewarded wounded him mortally and then to save the Law a labour killed himself Verifying therein the observation That there is none who never so much despiseth his own life but yet is master of another mans This ingenious Gentleman in whose person shined all true Vertue and high Nobility as he was a great friend to learning himself so was he a great favourer of learning in others witness his liberality to Mr. Speed the Chronologer when finding his wide Soul was stuffed with too narrow an Occupation gave it enlargement as the said Author doth ingeniously consess in his description of Warwick shire Whose Merits saith he to me-ward I do acknowledge in setting his hand free from the daily employments of a Manual Trade and giving it full liberty thus to express the inclination of mind himself being the Procurer of my present Estate He lieth interred in Warwick-Church under a Monument of Black and White Marble wherein he is styled Servant to Queen Elizabeth Councellor to King James and Friend to Sir Philp Sidney He died Anno 16 without Issue save only those of his Brain which will make his Name to live when others Issue they may fail them Mr. EDMOND SPENSER THis our Famous Poet Mr. Edmond Spenser was born in the City of London and brought up in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge where he became a most excellent Scholar but especially very happy in English Poetry as his learned elaborate Works do declare which whoso shall peruse with a judicious eye will find to have in them the very height of Poetick fancy and though some blame his Writings for the many Chaucerisms used by him yet to the Learned they are known not to be blemishes but rather beauties to his Book which notwithstanding saith a learned Writer had been more salable if more conformed to our modern language His first flight in Poetry as not thinking himself fully fledged was in that Book of his called The Shepherds Kalendar applying an old Name to a new Book It being of Eclogues fitted to each Month in the Year of which Work hear what that worthy Knight Sir Philip Sidney writes whose judgment in such cases is counted infallible The Shepherds Kalendar saith he hath much Poetry in his Eclogues indeed worthy the reading if I be not deceived That same framing his Stile to an old rustick Language I dare not allow since neither Theocritus in Greek Virgil in Latine nor Sanazara in Italian did effect it Afterwards he translated the Gnat a little fragment of Virgil's excellency Then he translated Bellay his Ruins of Rome His most unfortunate Work was that of Mother Hubbard's Tale giving therein offence to one in authority who after wards stuck on his skirts But his main Book and which indeed I think Envy its self cannot carp at was his Fairy Queen a Work of such an ingenious composure as will last as long as time endures Now as you have heard what esteem Sir Philip Sidney had of his Book so you shall hear what esteem Mr. Spenser had of Sir Philip Sidney writing thus in his Ruins of Time. Yet will I sing but who can better sing Than thou thy self thine own selfs valiance That while thou livedst thou madest the Forests ring And Fields resound and Flocks to leap and dance And Shepherds leave their Lambs unto mischance To run thy shrill Arcadian Pipe to hear O happy were those days thrice happy were In the same his Poem of the Rains of Time you may see what account he makes of the World and of the immortal Fame gotten by Poesie In vain do earthly Princes then in vain Seek with Pyramids to Heaven aspir'd Or huge Collosses built with costly pain Or brazen Pillars never to be fir'd Or Shrines made of the metal most desir'd To make their Memories for ever live For how can mortal immortality give For deeds do die however nobly done And thoughts of men do in themselves decay But wise words taught in numbers for to run Recorded by the Muses live for aye Ne may with storming showers be wash'd away Ne bitter breathing with harmful blast Nor age nor envy shall them ever wast There passeth a story commonly told and believed that Mr. Spenser presenting his Poems to Queen Elizabeth she highly affected therewith commanded the Lord Cecil her Treasurer to give him an Hundred Pound and when the Treasurer a good Steward of the Queen's Money alledged that Sum was too much for such a matter then give him quoth the Queen what is reason but was so busied or seemed to be
called The English Travellers had an entire hand or at least a main finger in the writing of 220 of them And no doubt but he took great pains therein for it is said that he not only Acted himself almost every day but also wrote each day a Sheet and that he might lose no time many of his Plays were composed in the Tavern on the back-side of Tavern Bills which may be an occasion that so many of them are lost for of those 220. mentioned before we find but 25. of them Printed viz. The Brazen Age Challenge for Beauty The English Travellers The first and second part of Edward the Fourth The first and second part of Queen Elizabeth's Troubles Fair Maid of the West first and second part Fortune by Land and Sea Fair Maid of the Exchange Maidenhead well lost Royal King and Loyal Subject Woman kill'd with kindess Wise Woman of Hogsdon Comedies Four London Prentices The Golden Age The Iron Age first and second part Robert Earl of Huntington ' s downfal Robert Earl of Huntington ' s death The Silver Age Dutchess of Suffolk Histories And Loves Mistress a Mask And as if the Name of Heywood were destinated to the Stage there was also one Jasper Heywood who wrote three Tragedies namely Hercules Furiens Thyestes and Troas Also in my time I knew one Matthew Heywood who wrote a Comedy called The Changling that should have been acted at Audley-end House but by I know not what accident was prevented GEORGE PEEL GEorge Peel a somewhat antiquated English Bard of Queen Elizabeth's date some remnants of whose pretty pastoral Poetry we have extant in a Collection entituled England's Helicon He also contributed to the Stage three Plays Edward the first a History Alphonsus Emperour of Germany a Tragedy and David and Bathsabe a Tragi-Comedy which no doubt in the time he wrote passed with good applause JOHN LILLY JOhn Lilly a famous Poet for the State in his time as by the Works which he left appears being in great esteem in his time and acted then with great applause of the Vulgar as such things which they understood and composed chiefly to make them merry Yet so much prized as they were Printed together in one Volume namely Endymion Alexander and Campasce Galatea Midas Mother Boniby Maids Metamorphosis Sapho and Phao Woman in the Moon Comedies and another Play called A Warning for fair Women all which declare the great pains he took and the esteem which he had in that Age. WILLIAM WAGER THis William Wager is most famous for an Interlude which he wrote called Tom Tyler and his Wife which passed with such general applause that it was reprinted in the year 1661. and has been Acted divers times by private persons the chief Argument whereof is Tyler his marrying to a Shrew which that you may the better understand take it in the Author 's own words speaking in the person of Tom Tyler I am a poor Tyler in simple array And get a poor living but eight pence a day My Wise as I get it doth spend it away And I cannot help it she saith wot ye why For wedding and hanging comes by destiny I thought when I wed her she had been a Sheep At board to be friendly to sleep when I sleep She loves so unkindly she makes me to weep But I dare say nothing god wot wot ye why For wedding and hanging comes by destiny Besides this unkindness whereof my grief grows I think few Tylers are matcht to such shrows Before she leaves brawling she falls to deal blows Which early and late doth cause me to cry That wedding and hanging is destiny The more that I please her the worse she doth like me The more I forbear her the more she doth strike me The more that I get her the more she doth glike me Wo worth this ill fortune that maketh me cry That wedding and hanging is destiny If I had been hanged when I had been married My torments had ended though I had miscarried If I had been warned then would I have tarried But now all too lately I feel and cry That wedding and hanging is destiny He wrote also two Comedies The Tryal of Chivalry and The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art NICHOLAS BRETON NIcholas Breton a writer of Pastoral Sonnets Canzons and Madrigals in which kind of writing he keeps company with several other contemporary Emulators of Spencer and Sir Philip Sidney in a publish'd Collection of several Odes of the chief Sonneters of that Age. He wrote also several other Books whereof two I have by me Wits Private Wealth and another called The Courtier and the Country-man in which last speaking of Vertue he hath these Verses There is a Secret few do know And doth in special places grow A rich mans praise a poor mans wealth A weak mans strength a sick mans health A Ladies beauty a Lords bliss A matchless Jewel where it is And makes where it is truly seen A gracious King and glorious Queen THOMAS KID THOMAS WATSON c. THomas Kid a writer that seems to have been of pretty good esteem for versifying in former times being quoted among some of the more fam'd Poets as Spencer Drayton Daniel Lodge c. with whom he was either contemporary or not much later There is particularly remembred his Tragedy Cornelia There also flourish'd about the same time Thomas Watson a contemporary immitater of Sir Philip Sidney as also Tho. Hudson Joh. Markham Tho. Achelly Joh. Weever Ch. Middleton Geo. Turbervile Hen. Constable with some others especially one John Lane whose Works though much better meriting than many that are in print yet notwithstanding had the ill fate to be unpublish'd but they are all still reserved in Manuscript namely his Poetical Vision his Alarm to the Poets his Twelve Months his Guy of Warwick a Heroick Poem and lastly his Supplement to Chaucer's Squires Tale. Sir THOMAS OVERBVRY SIr Thomas Overbury a Knight and Wit was Son to Sir Nicholas Overbury of Burton in Glocester-shire one of the Judges of the Marches who to his natural propension of ingenuity had the addition of good Education being bred up first in Oxford afterwards for a while a Student of the Law in the Middle Temple soon after he cast Anchor at Court the Haven of Hope for all aspiring Spirits afterwards travell'd into France where having been some time he returned again and was entertained into the respects of Sir Rob. Carre one who was newly initiated a Favourite to King James where by his wise carriage he purchased to himself not only the good affection and respect of Sir Robert but also of divers other eminent persons During his abode with Sir Robert Carre he composed that excellent Poem of his entituled A Wife which for the excellency thereof the Author of the Epistle to the Reader prefixed before his Book thus writes Had such a Poem been extant among the ancient Romans altho' they wanted our easie conservation of Wit
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
English Meetre THOMAS MANLEY THomas Manley was saith my Author one of the Croud of Poetical writers of the late King's Time. He wrote among other things the History of Job in verse and Translated into English Pagan Fisher his Congratulatory Ode of Peace Mr. LEWYS GRIFFIN HE was born as he informed me himself in Rutland-shire and bred up in the University of Cambridge where proving an Excellent Preacher he was after some time preferred to be a Minister of St. George's Church in Southwark where being outed for Marrying two Sisters without their Friends Consent He was afterwards beneficed at Colchester in Essex where he continued all the time during a sore Pestilence raged there He wrote a Book of Essays and Characters an excellent Piece also The Doctrine of the Ass of which I remember these two lines Devil's pretences always were Divine A Knave may have an Angel for a Sign He wrote also a Book called The Presbyterian Bramble with several other Pieces in Defence of the King and the Church Now to shew you the Acuteness of his VVit I will give you an Instance The first year that Poor Robin's Almanack came forth about Six and Twenty Years ago there was cut for it a Brass Plate having on one side of it the Pictures of King Charles the First the Earl of Strafford the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Earl of Darby the Lord Capel and Dr. Hewit all six adorned with Wreaths of Lawrel On the other side was Oliver Cromwell Bradshaw Ireton Scot Harrison and Hugh Peters hanging in Halters Betwixt which was placed the Earl of Essex and Mr. Christopher Love upon which plate he made these Verses Bless us what have we here What sundry Shapes Salute our Eyes have Martyrs too their Apes Sure 't is the War of Angels for you 'd Swear That here stood Michael and the Dragon there Tredescan is out-vy'd for we engage Both Heaven and Hell in an Octavo Page Martyrs and Traytors rallied six to six Half fled unto Olimpus half to Styx Joyn'd with two Neuters some Condemn some Praise They hang betwixt the Halters and the Bayes For 'twixt Nolls Torment and Great Charles's Glory There there 's the Presbyterian Purgatory He died as I am informed at Colchester about the Year of our Lord 1670. JOHN DAVNCEY JOhn Dauncey a true Son of Apollo and Bacchus was one who had an Excellent Command of his Pen a fluent Stile and quick Invention nor did any thing come amiss to his undertaking He wrote a compleat History of the late times a Chronicle of the Kingdom of Portugal the English Lovers a Romance which for Language and Contrivance comes not short of either of the best of French or Spanish He Translated a Tragi-Comedy out of French called Nichomede equal in English to the French Original besides several other things too long to recite His English Lovers was Commended by divers of sound Judgment amongst others Mr. Lewis Griffin our forementioned Poet made these verses in commendations of it Rich Soul of Wit and Language thy high strains So plunge arid puzzle unrefined brains That their Illiterate Spirits do not know How much to thy Ingenious Pen they owe. Should my presumptuous Muse attempt to raise Trophies to thee she might as well go blaze Bright Planets with base Colours or display The Worlds Creation in a Puppet-Play Let this suffice what Calumnies may chance To blut thy Fame they spring from Ignorance When Old Orpheus drew the Beasts along By sweet Rhetorick of his learned Tongue 'T was deafness made the Adder sin and this Caus'd him who should have hum'd the Poet hiss RICHARD HEAD RIchard Head the Noted Author of the English Rogue was a Ministers Son born in Ireland whose Father was killed in that horrid Rebellion in 1641. Whereupon his Mother with this her Son came into England and he having been trained up in Learning was by the help of some Friends for some little time brought up in the University of Oxford in the same Colledge wherein his Father had formerly been a Student But means falling short he was taken away from thence and bound Apprentice to a Latin Bookseller in London attaining to a good Proficiency in that Trade But his Genius being addicted to Poetry and having Venus for his Horoscope e're his time were fully out he wrote a Piece called Venus Cabinet Vnlock'd Afterwards he married and set up for himself But being addicted to play a Mans Estate then runs in Hazard for indeed that was his Game until he had almost thrown his Shop away Then he betook himself to Ireland his Native Country where he composed his Hic Vbique a noted Comedy and which gained him a general Esteem for the worth thereof And coming over into England had it Printed dedicating it to the then Duke of Monmouth But receiving no great Incouragement from his Patron he resolved to settle himself in the World and to that purpose with his Wife took a House in Queens-Head Alley near Pater-Noster-Row and for a while followed his Business so that contrary to the Nature of a Poet his Pockets began to be well lined with Money But being bewitched to that accursed vice of Play it went out by handfuls as it came in piece by piece And now he is to seek again in the World whereupon he betook him to his Pen and wrote the first part of the English Rogue which being too much smutty would not be Licensed so that he was fain to refine it and then it passed stamp At the coming forth of this first part I being with him at three Cup Tavern in Holborn drinking over a glass of Rhenish made these verses upon it What Gusman Buscon Francion Rablais writ I once applauded for most excellent Wit But reading thee and thy rich Fancies store I now condemn what I admir'd before Henceforth Translations pack away be gone No Rogue so well-writ as the English one There was afterwards three more parts added to it by him and Mr. Kirkman with a promise of a fifth which never came out He wrote several other Books besides as The art of Whedling The Floating Island or a Voyage from Lambethania to Ramalia A discovery of O Brazil Jacksons Recantation The Red Sea c. Amongst others he had a great Fancy in Bandying against Dr. Wild although I must confess therein over Matcht yet fell he upon him tooth and nail in Answer to his Letter directed to his Friend Mr. J. J. upon Occasion of his Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience concluding in this manner Thus Sir you have my Story but am Sorry Taunton excuse it is no better for ye However read it as you Pease are shelling For you will find it is not worth the telling Excuse this boldness for I can't avoid Thinking sometimes you are but ill Imploy'd Fishing for Souls more fit then frying Fish That makes me throw Pease Shellings in your Dish You have a study Books wherein to look How comes it then the
Church in Cornhil with this Epitaph Like as the Day his Course doth consume And the new Morrow springeth again as fast So Man and Woman by Natures custom This Life do pass at last in Earth are cast In Joy and Sorrow which here their Time do wast Never in one state but in course transitory So full of change is of the World the Glory Dr. Fuller observeth That none hath worse Poetry than Poets on their Monuments certainly there is no Rule without Exceptions he himself instancing to the contrary in his England's Worthies by Mr. Drayton's Epitaph and several others JOHN SKELTON JOhn Skelton the Poet Laureat in his Age tho' now accounted only a Rhymer is supposed to have been born in Norfolke there being an ancient Family of that Name therein and to make it the more probable he himself was Beneficed therein at Dis in that County That he was Learned we need go no further than to Erasmus for a Testimony who in his Letter to King Henry the Eighth stileth him Britanicarum Literarum Lumen Decus Indeed he had Scholarship enough and Wit too much Ejus Sermo saith Pitz. salsus in mordacem risus in opprobrium jocus in amaritudinem Whoso reads him will find he hath a miserable loose rambling Style and galloping measure of Verse yet were good Poets so scarce in his Age that he had the good fortune to be chosen Poet Laureat as he stiles himself in his Works The King's Orator and Poet Laureat His chief Works as many as can be collected and that out of an old Printed Book are these Philip Sparrow Speak Parrot The Death of King Edward the Fourth A Treatise of the Scots Ware the Hawk The Tunning of Elianer Rumpkin In many of which following the humor of the ancientest of our Modern Poets he takes a Poetical Liberty of being Satyrical upon the Clergy as brought him under the Lash of Cardinal Woolsey who so persecuted him that he was forced to take Sanctuary at Westminster where Abbot Islip used him with much respect In this Restraint he died June 21 1529. and was buried in St. Margaret's Chappel with this Epitaph J. Sceltanus Vates Pierius hic situs est We must not forget how being charg'd by some on his Death-bed for begetting many Children on a Concubine which he kept he protested that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a Wife though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess Adultery than own Marriage the most punishable at that time WILLIAM LILLIE TO this John Scelton we shall next present you with the Life of his Contemporary and great Antagonist William Lillie born at Odiham a great Market-Town in Hantshire who to betâ—… his knowledge in his youth travelled to the City of Jerusalem where having satisfied his curiosity in beholding those sacred places whereon our Saviour trode when he was upon the Earth he returned homewards making some stay at Rhodes to study Greek Hence he went to Rome where he heard John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus great Masters of Latine in those days At his return home Doctor John Collet had new builded a fair School at the East-end of St. Paul's for 153 poor mens Children to be taught free in the same School for which he appointed a Master an Usher and a Chaplain with large Stipends for ever committing the oversight thereof to the Masters Wardens and Assistants of the Mereers in London because he was Son to Henry Collet Mercer sometime Major leaving for the Maintenance thereof Lands to the yearly value of 120 l. or better making this William Lilly first Master thereof which Place he commendably discharg'd for 15 years During which time he made his Latine Grammar the Oracle of Free Schools of England and other Grammatical Works He is said also by Bale to have written Epigrams and other Poetry of various Subjects in various Latine Verse though scarce any of them unless it be his Grammar now extant only Mr. Stow makes mention of an Epitaph made by him and graven on a fair Tomb in the midst of the Chancel of St. Paul's in London containing these Words Inclyta Joannes Londini Gloria gentis Is tibi qui quondam Paule Decanus erat Qui toties magno resonabat pectore Christum Doctor Interpres fidus Evangelij Qui mores hominum multum sermone disertae Formarat vitae sed probitate magis Quique Scholam struxit celebrem cognomine Jesu Hac dormit tectus membra Coletus humo Floruit sub Henrico 7. Henrico 8. Reg. Obiit An. Dom. 1519. Disce mori Mundo vivere disce Deo. John Skelton whom we mentioned before whose Writings were for the most part Satyrical mixing store of Gall and Copperas in his Ink having fell foul upon Mr. Lilly in some of his Verses Lilly return'd him this biting Answer Quid me Sceltone fronte sic aperta Carpis vipereo potens veneno Quid Versus trutina meos iniqua Libras Dicere vera num licebit Doctrinae tibi dum parare famam Et doctus fieri studes Poeta Doctrinam ne habes nec es Poeta With Face so bold and Teeth so sharp Of Viper's venom why dost carp Why are my Verses by thee weigh'd In a false Scale May Truth be said Whilst thou to get the more esteem A Learned Poet fain wouldst seem Skelton thou art let all men know it Neither Learned nor a Poet. He died of the Plague Anno 1522. and was buried in St. Paul's with this Epitaph on a Brass Plate fixed in the Wall by the great North-Door Gulielmo Lilio Pauliae Scholae olim Praeceptori primaerio Agnetae Conjugi in sacratissimo hujus Templi Coemiterio hinc a tergo nunc destructo consepultis Georgius Lilius hujus Ecclesiae Canonicus Parentum Memoriae pie consulens Tabellam hanc ab amicis conservatam hic reponendam curavit Sir THOMAS MORE SIR Thomas More a great Credit and Ornament in his Time of the English Nation and with whom the Learned'st Foreigners of that Age were proud to have correspondence for his wit and excellent parts was born in Milk-street London Anno Dom. 1480. Son to Sir John More Knight and one of the Justices of the Kings Bench. He was bred first in the Family of Archbishop Morton then in Canterbury-Colledge in Oxford afterwards removed to an Inn of Chancery in London called New-Inn and from thence to Lincolns-Inn where he became a double Reader Next his Worth preferred him to be Judge in the Sheriff of London's Court though at the same time a Pleader in others and so upright was he therein that he never undertook any Cause but what appeared just to his Conscience nor never took Fee of Widow Orphan or poor Person King Henry the Eighth coming to the Crown first Knighted him then made him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and not long after L. Chancellor of England in which place he demeaned himself with great integrity and with no less expedition so that
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