I. 237. He addressed a Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury.]-As Dyer's autographs are very rare, we quote the hitherto unprinted letter:

"Right honorable. It is the office off the Register to register those actes which this last feast, and since, have been or shall be doon. And I doubt me, under your L. correction, whether the tyme of your L. Lieutenancie be quyte expired, or no; bicause the woords of the Commission ar but for three dayes-that is the xxij, xxiij and xxiiij dayes of this present moneth, and only for the celebrating of the ceremonies during that tyme. Therfore I thinke your L. may well cast off the care off such enregistering, as belonging to the Dean of Wyndsore properly. Nevertheles, iff it please your L. to have me send in your L. name, I am at commandmt in this, and in all the services that I can performe.

"The vij off Maye 98.

EDWARD DYER."

The above is from Lambeth MS. No. 706. On 1st May 1598, according to Stow (edit. 1605, p. 1307) the ambassadors had returned from France. We apprehend that Sir Edward's father was Sir James Dyer, the celebrated Judge who died in 1582, and of whom the following anecdote is told in MS. Harl. 5353" Upon a time, when the late Lord Treasurer, Sir William Cecil, came before Justice Dyer in the Common Pleas, with his rapier by his side, the Justice told him that he must lay aside his long pen-knife, if he would come into that Court. This speech was free, and the sharper because Sir William was then Secretary."

By a letter from N. Faunt, also preserved at Lambeth (MS. 647), it appears that on 28th Feb. 1583, Sir E. Dyer "had returned from his employment in the Low Countries."

I. 242. When Turbervile printed his "Epitaphs," &c. in 1570.]-This date ought to be 1567: see Vol. II. 446. There was an edit. in 1570.

I. 255. Chaucer's tale of "Troylus and Chreseid."]-Hence we might infer, and it is not very improbable, that Sir T. Elyot referred to some separate publication of Chaucer's "most cunningly amplified" poem, as Speght justly describes it. It would not have been easy for Gnatho to have carried the large folio of Chaucer's Works in his bosom.

I. 260. A sprightly but satirical ballad.]-The whole of it may be found in the Percy Society's first publication "Old Ballads, from early Printed Copies," 1840, p. 37.

I. 269. The first stanza was three times turned, altered, changed.]-Either Sir Roger L'Estrange, when he caused Fairfax's translation to be reprinted (8vo. 1687), did not know that the first stanza existed in three different forms, or he preferred the original stanza as Fairfax first gave it in the folio, 1600. L'Estrange prefixed an address "to the Reader," in which he says that the translation "is one of the most correct pieces, perhaps, for the turn of the verse, the apt and harmonious disposition of the words, and the strength of thought, that we have any where extant in this kind in the English tongue." He prefixed "The Life of Godfrey of Bulloigne," but he knew nothing that is not well known.

I. 270. Lord Falkland contributed six lines.]-In the ordinary accounts of Sir Henry Cary (father of the famous Lord Falkland) it is said that he was created Viscount Falkland on the 10th Nov. 1620. (Chalm. Biogr. Dict. viii. 335.) We know not how to reconcile this statement with the following extract from the Registers of St. Bartholomew the Great, which shows that on the 23rd Dec. 1619, he bore the title of Lord Falkland :"Lucie the daughter of Sr Henry Cary, Vicount Faulkland, and Controller of the King's Majesties household, and one of his Privie Councill, and of Elizabeth his wife, was baptised 23 Decr. 1619."

:

I. 272. Nothing seems to be known of this author.]-We may gather from his own words either that he was at one time a Falconer, or that he was very fond of the sport. He mentions his Falconer's coat, and speaks of having lately come from "the hawk's perch."

I. 276. We shall hereafter under Richard Vennard.]-For Vennard read Vennar, but he spelt his name in both ways. Samuel Sheppard, in his "Times Displayed," 1646, laughs at Fennor's, or Fenner's ignorance; but he does not notice Vennar or Vennard.

I. 278. He seems in the outset of his career to have supported himself by letters.]-In 1572 he published the following: "Monophylo, drawne into English by Geffray Fenton." This he calls his "second exercise," but it seems to have been his third, if we reckon a "Discourse on the Civil Wars in France" as his earliest work, and his "Tragical Discourses," 1567, as his second. His "Discourse on the Civil Wars," it seems, has no date, but we never saw it.

I. 281. This we take to be the oldest printed mention of Cock Lorel's Boat.] -For "the oldest" read one of the oldest notices of it.

I. 284. A series of Latin verses.]-It may be worth while to insert here the full title of the work of which Theophilus Field was the avowed editor: it consists of only eight leaves, 4to. and was dedicated to Sir Robert Cecil in Latin prose and verse :

"Album, seu Nigrum Amicorum.

Author in libri nomen.

Album nomen habes, quia candidiora recludis
Pectora amicorum (pulle libelle) mihi.

Nemo suum numeris nostris adjecit acervum
Quem mihi non inter, fas, numerare meos.
Album nomen habes, sed nigrum prestat habere;
Est magè conveniens luctibus iste color:
Album, lectorum vult candida pectora nigrum
Parce (niger lector) dente notare nigro.

Impressum Londini, per Thomam Creed, pro Andrea Wise. Anno 1600." Besides the dedication to Sir Robert Cecill, Field has two sets of Latin verses subscribed with his initials, and another poem thus headed-In obitum viri ornatissimi, patroni sui honoratissimi D. H. Pallavicino Equitis carmen asclipediacum. The earliest piece in the collection is by Bishop Hall, subscribed "I. Hall Imman."

I. 289. At the end also is a piece of plagiarism.]-See likewise this Vol. p. 308, where, however, "Hemetes" is twice misprinted Hermetes.

I. 291. The Forest of Fancy.]-This title seems to have been chosen in reference to a popular work published in 1571, 4to. entitled "The Foreste or Collection of Histories," a translation from the French by Thomas Fortescue, and printed by John Kyngston It is a grave and instructive work, and the only piece of poetry in it is an introductory "Advertismente written by the translatour to his booke." Here Fortescue states that he had had no time to correct the press, and entreats indulgence, ending with the following address to his book :

"Farewell! I canne no more:

thy fathers blessyng have.

Be mindful of his preceptes, and

thine honour looke thou save.

And sith thou never shalte

to hym retourne againe,

Woorke thou hym good, if that thou canste,

for he thee pende with paine."

The "Collection" is divided into four parts, the chief subjects being given in a "table" at the end. "The Forest of Fancy" seems intended to be a direct counterpart to this "Forest of History."

I. 300. Which is unnoticed by bibliographers.]-It is not in the first edition of Lowndes' Bib. Man.; but the title is inserted in brief by Mr. Bohn in his second edition, 1859, p. 854.

I. 308. Gascoigne's Tale of Hemetes was claimed by A. Fleming.]-The following three stanzas are curious and personal: we quote them from the end of the MS. of Gascoigne's translation of the "Tale of Hemetes" (not Hermetes, as given by misprint in our text), which he presented to Queen Elizabeth the year before his death. (Royal MSS. 18 A. XLVIII.) He tells her majesty :

"A sighe sometymes maye ease a swellinge harte,
as soden blastes do cleare the clowdye skyes,

and teares (lickwyse) maye somewhat ease some smarte,

as Showers allaye the dustes from earthe which ryse;
for thinges (which byde extremytye) be glade
to feele the leaste relyef that maye be hade.

"Butt as the rayne which dothe ensew such blaste
(from heaven on highe) with greater force dothe fall,
and as the duste, when little droppes be paste,
doth quicly drye and muche encrease withall,
so sighes and teares (yf soveraigne grace be greved)
consume the harte whose lightes they earst relieved.
"Good Quene, I compt this Booke a sighe to be,
and everye leafe a teare of trew entennte;
which (truthe to tell) do somewhatt comforte me,
in hope they maye be tane as they be ment;
but if my Queene shulde not accepte them well,
they kyll his harte which (now) for Joye doth swell.
Tam Marti quam Mercurio.

"Yf God wolde deigne to make a Petrarks heire of me,

The comlyest Queene that ever was my Lawra nedes must be."

I. 311. The epistle is remarkable.]-Gabriel Harvey, in his "Pierces Supererrogation," 1593, p. 48, thus alludes to Gascoigne's instrumentality as regards this pamphlet, as well as to his services in the Low Countries:"And M. Gascoigne himselfe, after some riper experience, was glad to trye other conclusions in the Lowe Countryes, and bestowed an honourable commendation upon Sir Humfrye Gilbert's gallant discourse of a discovery for a newe passage to the East Indies." On p. 62, Harvey again mentions Gascoigne in company with Greene, Tarlton and Marlowe : "His (Nash's) gayest flourishes are but Gascoigne's Weedes, or Tarlton's Trickes, or Greenes Crankes, or Marlowes bravados."

I. 315. They belong to a different publication.]-Which is not there cited: it is entitled "Certain Elegies done by sundrie excellent Wits: with Satyrs and Epigrams. London Printed for Thomas Jones, &c. 1620."

I. 318. Chaunce of the dolorous Lover.]-See it mentioned also in this Vol. p. 32: it bears date in 1520. Dibdin (Typ. Ant. II. 383), makes no fewer than five variations in quoting this single line;

"That thy quyckened my spyrytes with theyr doulcet odour."

His for "my" was, of course, intentional, as Dibdin was changing the person of the speaker.

It may be worth while to insert two of the stanzas, one given to Love and the other to Shamefacedness, both ladies :

:

"Love spake fyrste, and to me she did saye :

My fayre mynyon doughter, so tender and yonge,
Acustome thy youth to sporte and to playe,
To daunce and to lute with many a swete songe,
To haunte wanton company, to daly amonge,
For fro me thou hast not yet scaped the trase :
Youth must aquyte her or she come from the passe.
Then answered Shamefastnes in sentence shorte:
My fayre doughter, you shall not do so;
For evyll is the worlde, beware of reporte:

If you so offended, how shulde you then do?

Your lovers would despyse you, and leve you in wo z
So shulde you be shamed in every towne :
Bewtye is nothynge without good renowne."

Love follows up her first advice thus :

"At bankettes and playes be present dayly,

At great feastes and tornays where most people resorte :
To moche to be fearefull doth greatly dyscomforte.

Thynkest thou it synne for to beholde

Upon theyr fresshe coursers these galantes so gaye,

Betraped in sylke, sylver and golde,

Whiche with speare and sheld at the justes doth assaye

Manfully to wyn the pryse, yf they maye;

Whiche won thorowe your love, they give you the prayse?

Thus amorus hartes rejoysen alwayes.'

I. 319. Googe's Epitaphe on the Death of Nicholas Grimaold.]-See a quotation from it in Cooper's Ath. Cantabr. I. 231.

I. 321. One called "The Ephemerides of Phialo."]-We had not room in the text for any notice of Gosson's "Ephemerides of Phialo," which was "Imprinted at London, by Thomas Dawson, Anno 1759." The author of the article in Brit Bibl. iv. 289, does not appear to have known of any earlier impression than that of 1586, when the Ephemerides" was reprinted: the date, 1579, is material, because, as, like the School of Abuse," it is dedicated to Sidney, it seems to show that Sidney had not "scorned" Gosson's earlier production. The "School of Abuse" must have come out early in the year. We are here only desirous of quoting from the "Ephemerides," a passage in which we hear of a work in defence of Plays and Theatres, then published, but which has never since been heard of. It was entitled " Strange Newes out of Affrick," and, as Gosson states, was composed by a Doctor, and founded upon the proverb Affrica semper aliquid oportat novi. Gosson says of this attempt :

"His friends, gaping for some strange conceit to bring to the Stage, finde him to dally; for with a tale of a tub he slippeth down presently to a dirtie comparison of a Dutch Mule and an English Mare that ingendered an Asse, and to cast his foale quickly (with a devout prayer to God to send players few asses and many auditors) he growes to conclusion, behaving himself in his learned Paraphrase like Megabizus, who came unto Apelles shop and began to talke of his shadows, til the painter reproved him in this manner. Hadst thou kept silence, O Megabizus, I would have reverenced thee for thy gay coate: now the worst boy that grindeth my coulors wil laugh thee to scorne.' And I, if this Geographer had stayed his pen within the compasse of Affrike, would have read him with patience, for the countries sake; but now the least childe which is able to temper his ynke wil give him a floute. If Players get no better Atturnie to pleade their case, I wil holde mee contented, where the harveste is hard, to take otes of yl debters in parte payment."

To the above succeeds Gosson's "Apologie of the Schoole of Abuse,"

с

in what is called "a third booke," and it occupies the last 24 pages of the "Ephemerides." We have little doubt that "the English Mare," in the preceding extract, was intended for the Mayor of London, always at that date abundantly abused for his hostility to theatrical performances. In this resistance he was supported by the whole Corporation, though they had not been able to prevent the opening of the Blackfriars Theatre, built, a few years before, upon a piece of ground, fortunately, not within the jurisdiction of the City.

I. 323. He did not, however, altogether abandon literature.]-Ritson, (Bibl. Poet. p. 223), quotes A. Wood as his authority for saying that Gosson was at one time celebrated for his Pastorals: Wood's authority was, no doubt, Francis Meres, (whom Ritson does not mention) who in his Palladis Tamia, 1598, p. 284, says, "amongst us the best in this kind are Sir Philip Sidney, Master Challener, Spenser, Stephen Gosson, Abraham Fraunce and Barnefield." This is certainly placing Gosson in good company. His earliest known poem was prefixed to

Florio's "First Fruites," 4to. 1578, and he has six stanzas at the end of T. Kerton's "Mirror of Man's Life," 8vo. 1580. Probably his versified commendation of Nicholas's "History of the Conquest of the West India" also appeared in 1578: the first and last of these are not noticed by Ritson. For Gosson's satire on the apparel of ladies, see Vol. II. p. 215.

I. 324. In 1598 he was still an advocate for, and a supporter of the stage.]See, however, what is afterwards said (this Vol. p. 476) of his "Prosopopcia,” (if, as we suppose, it be his) printed in 1596. We apprehend that we have been hasty in stating that Lodge, at any period after 1596, was "a supporter of the stage," in the sense of a writer for it: we believe that he had ceased to produce any plays after the publication of his "Prosopopeia." His name does not occur in Henslowe's Diary.

I. 333. 1. 24.]-Greene's "Quip for an upstart Courtier" is not only alluded to, but mentioned with the author's name in the only epigram of any value by Richard Middleton of York, printed in London in 1608. Ritson, by mistake, gives it the date of 1508, (Bibl. Poet. p. 279.) The epigram, naming Greene, is this:

"Luscus th' art chang'd; thy voice (me thinke) is changing

By haunting femals, and by often ranging

Into their forests: Yorke can witness rightly

To what Saints shrine thou paies devotion nightly.

For thee I scorne my eternizing pen

Should range thee in the rancke of gentlemen,

But that I mean to shew by verse and art

What a proud foole, a painted asse, thou art.

The base dependant of a noble man,

If he can purchase but an old satten suit

In's owne surmise hee's straight a gentleman;

But his opinion I can well confute:

For Robert Greene doth say, and wisely scan,

A velvet slop makes not a gentleman.

Then, this dependant, where so ere he passes,

Shall be esteemed amongst the rancke of asses."

The only curious part of R. Middleton's small volume relates to the performance of what the author calls "Christmas Plays" at York, not meaning the old religious Miracle-plays, but profane representations during the holy days at that season. Of one of the actors he says,

"Jano is chang'd from a Christmas stage,

Whereon he plaid a lover that in rage

Did stab himselfe, unto a husbandman," &c.