The book is full of gross misprints, such as "place" for play, "Nurse" for Muse, &c. The original is unique.

I. 335. His Myrrour of Modestie was entered on 7th April, 1580.]-This entry, as we have since ascertained, applies to Thomas Salter's small work with the same title: See "Salter, Thomas," Vol. II. p. 312, in which article we have duly noticed Greene's performance.

I. 338. Before the production in hand was written, Greene was actually dead.]
-We
We suspect that Barnabe Rich was the R. B. (his initials reversed) who,
in 1594, wrote and published "Greene's Funeralls :" they came from
Danter's press, who said that he had published the tract "contrarie to the
Author's expectation." It consists of 14 Sonnets, as the writer calls them,
with much licence, as may be judged from the following, numbered "Sonnet
X," and headed,

"A Catalogue of certaine of his Bookes.
Camilla for the first and second part.
The Card of Fancie, and his Tullies love.
His Nunquam sera, and his Nightingale.
His Spanish Masquerado and his Change.
His Menaphon and Metamorphosis.
His Orpharion and the Denmarke King.
His Censure and his Loves Tritameron.
His Disputation and the Death of him

That makes all England shed so many teares :
And many more that I have never seene.
May witnes well unto the world his wit,
Had he so well as well applied it."

This is a curious, although a very incomplete enumeration.

L. 339. We do not trace in the Registers any record of "Greene's Vision."]We have said nothing of Greene's productions reproving and exposing cheats and coneycatchers: some of them, we are convinced, were not by him, but imputed to him by fraudulent publishers. Such is the case with the tract, first printed (as far as we know) in 1615, and several times afterwards, called "Theeves falling out, True-men come by their Goods." No name is given on the title-page of the earliest impression, and only R. G. subscribed to the dedication; but when it was reprinted by Henry Ball in 1617, he boldly placed "by Robert Greene" on the forefront, and there it continued afterwards. As the Rev. Mr. Dyce never saw the edition of 1615, we copy the imprint,-" Imprinted at London for T. G. and are to be sould by R. Marchant at the Crosse in Pauls Church-yard. 1615." It is in 4to. B.L. 22 leaves.

I. 341. At his shop in Bedlam, neere Moore-Fields, 1619.]-Since this was written we have been favoured with the sight of a copy dated 1607 (printed by E. Allde), but even that could not be the earliest impression. I. 346. By Fuscus Guilpin means Marston.]-If Fuscus mean Marston, the E. G. to whom Marston addresses his Satyra nova, in his "Scourge for Villanie," can hardly mean Edward Guilpin, and we must look for some other owner of the initials. Marston's satire opens thus:

"From out the sadnes of my discontent,

Hating my wonted jocund merriment
(Onely to give dull Time a swifter wing)

Thus, scorning scorne of idiot fooles, I sing."

I. 351. If not to Jyl of Brentford's Testament.]-The following lines by L. P. i.e. Laurence Price, in praise of Martin Parker's " Harry White his Humour," 8vo. printed about 1640, shows how long the celebrity of this coarse and vulgar production survived:

"The author in a recompence
to them that angry be,

Bequeaths a gift that's cal'd
Old Gillian's legacie."

I. 360. Mr. Grenville had no copy of it.]—This is a mistake: Mr. Grenville had a copy see Bibl. Grenvilliana, Vol. III.

I. 363. Beating a gentleman for interrupting his sport.]-See the late Earl of Ellesmere's translation of Von Raumer's "History of the 16th and 17th Centuries," under date 5th April, 1606.

I. 364.]—The following is a copy of the title-page of the edition of 1567: on the last page the precise date, inserted by W. Griffith, is "1567, the eight of January."

"A Caveat for commen Cursetors vulgarely called Vagabones, set forth by Thomas Harman Esquier, for the utilite and proffyt of hys naturall Countrey. Newly augmented and Imprinted Anno Domini M.D. LXVII. Vewed, examined and allowed according unto the Queenes Majesties Injunctions.-Imprinted at London in Fletestret at the signe of the Faulcon, by Wylliam Gryffith, and are to be solde at his shoppe in Saynt Dunstones Churche yarde in the West."

It consists of only 30 leaves, and the woodcuts at the end are differently placed, while the information is added, that the criminal at the foot of the gallows is the "counterfeit Crank," whom Harman himself had aided to capture in Whitefriars. On the last leaf is a woodcut of the Virgin and Child, clearly of foreign origin, and in a superior style of art.

There was an impression of a tract called "The Fraternity of Vagabonds," in 1575, 4to. with this elaborate title :

"The Fraternitye of Vacabondes. As wel of rufling Vacabondes, as of beggerly, of women as of men, of Gyrles as of Boyes, with their proper names and qualities. With a description of the crafty company of Cousoners and Shifters. Wherunto also is adjoyned the xxv Orders of Knaves, otherwyse called a Quartern of Knaves. Confirmed for ever by Cocke Lorell.

The Uprightman speaketh.

Our Brotherhood of Vacabondes,

If you would know where dwell:

In graves end Barg which syldome standes,

The talke wyll shew ryght well.

Cocke Lorell answereth.

Some orders of my Knaves also

In that Barge shall ye fynde:

For no where shall ye walke I trow

But ye shall see their kynde.

Imprinted at London by John Awdeley, dwellyng in little Britayne streete without Aldersgate, 1575."

It consists of only 9 leaves, 4to.

I. 365. Under the title of Liber Vagatorum.]-This work, since we wrote, has been most creditably translated and printed by Mr. C. Hotten.

I. 373. Brathwaite also states that Heywood was engaged on such a work.]— This was as early as 1614, in his "Scholler's Medley," p. 31: his words are "My judicious friend Maister Tho. Heywood hath taken in hand (by his great industry) to make a general, (though summary) description of all Poets Lives." This is a very interesting point.

I. 378. We learn from "A Whip for an Ape."]-For a review of this curious and amusing tract see Vol. II. p. 513.

I. 384. In this collection of Hunnis's well-known productions.]—Regarding Hunnis, and some of his works, the following extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company are new and interesting

66

:

"X° Augusti 1579. Henry Denham. T. Da[w]son. Upon the hearing of a controversie betwixt the said parties touchinge a booke called a Handfull of Honye suckles, printed by the said T. Da[w]son, and pretended by the said H. Denham to be a prayer booke, yt is ordered at a Court holden this day, by thassent of the parties, that Da[w]son shall deliver all the rest which he hath of the said bookes at the rate of viijs the C. to Denham. And alwayes at the reprinting of the said booke leave out all such titles and notes as doo shewe or declare the same to contayne any prayer or prayers.

6 Dec. 1585. Mr. Denham Mr. Da[w]son. Yt is ordered by their consentes, that Mr. Denham shall from henceforth enjoye as his owne copie, to his owne use, The seven Sobbes, The handful of Honnysuckles, and the Wydowes myte. And that the said Henry Denham, or his ex., shall pay unto the said Thomas Da[w]son or his exor. the somme of sixe poundes of lauful English money, at or before our Lady day in lent next, viz. iiijli for printinge the said handfull of Honysuckells diverse tymes heretofore, to thinjurye of the said Da[w]son, and xls for the said Da[w]sons interest in the same booke.

"By me Henry Denham
"by me Thomas Dawson."

I. 393. William Pawlet, Marquis of Winchester, wrote a tract called "Idleness."]-See Vol. II. p. 132. Since we penned this notice, when we apprehended that it was "the only known copy," we have had an opportunity of inspecting a second, and we believe that a third has been publicly sold. This fact shows how dangerous it is to speak positively about the rarity of any old book. There is a copy of "The Image of Idleness" in the Bodleian Library, so that the exemplar of that little clever volume in the British Museum is not, as we supposed, unique.

I. 401. At the end of the dedication.]-The dedication to Kingsmill of the first edition is expressly dated "In the yeare of our Lord God, 1598." The address" to the Gentlemen Readers" there ends with the following

stanza :

"The which according to their own request
The Lord in wrath did perfectly fulfill:

Their chanels ran with blood, and did not rest;
Their blood was spilt that Jesus blood did spill.

God grant we may our hatefull sinnes forsake,
And by the Jewes a Christian warning take,"

The old play upon the same subject, called "The Jews' Tragedy," pro-
fesses to have been written by William, the son of old John Heminge : it
was not printed until 1662, but it contains many passages clearly of a
much earlier date; and we know that a drama, called "Titus and Ves-
pasian," was brought out at Henslowe's theatre on 11th April, 1591.
"To
Diary, p. 24, &c. In "The Jews' Tragedy" there are several remarkable
imitations of older dramatists: even Hamlet's soliloquy is parodied,
be, or not to be, aye, there's the doubt," &c. p. 29. This would tend to prove
that Shakespeare's Tragedy was not well known, nor often acted, when
"The Jews' Tragedy" was in a course of performance.

I. 408. To Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566.]-This mention of Gresham reminds us of a private note, dated 1603, from a person of the name of Topclyffe to Lord Shrewsbury, preserved at Lambeth, in which he instructs his Lordship how to make Herons, or Heronsaws, as he calls them, breed in any place where timber is growing: Topclyffe observes, "For so did

Sr Thomas Gresham begyne and make a Heronrye upon masts of shippes, set in and neare unto his fyshe pondes at Awsterleye, neare London, as my selfe did see and is well knowne, until gunnes did dryve them away after his death."

This we apprehend, though a trifle, is a new point in Gresham's biography: another, respecting his widow, may here be added. In 31 Eliz. William Buckle instituted a suit in the Court of Requests against Dame Anne Gresham, widow of Sir Thomas, respecting some property in Stranton, within the Bishoprick of Durham, which Sir Thomas, by his agent, Anthony Stringer, had let to Buckle. The decree was in favour of Buckle, to whom £17, which he had paid to Stringer, was to be refunded by the widow Gresham, with 40s. costs. This information we gathered from the records of the Court of Requests, before they were removed from the Chapter House, Westminster.

I. 416. "John Honnyman, player," was buried at Cripplegate.]—The date here given of John Honeyman's death, 13th April, 1637, makes it quite certain that Jordan was writing of the same man and actor: his lines are worth quoting in a note on this account :

"An Epitaph on his kind friend Mr. John Honiman, Gent.
"Thou that couldst never weepe, and knowst not why
Teares should be spent but in mans infancy,

Come and repent thy error, for here lyes

A theame for Angels to write Elegies,

Had they the losse as we have; such a one

As nature kild for his perfection;

And when shee sends those vertues backe agen,
His stocke shall serve for twenty vertuous men.
In Aprill dyed this Aprill, to finde May

In Paradise, or celebrate a day

With some celestiall creature: had he beene

Designed for other then a Cherubin,

Earth would have gave him choice: he was a man

So sweetly good, that he who wisely can

Describe at large must such another be,

Or court no Muses but Divinitie.

Here will I rest, for feare the Readers eyes
Upon his urne become a sacrifice."

I. 421. Anthony Wood was not acquainted with this very scarce book.]-The name of John Keeper ought perhaps to have been inserted here by virtue of a separate work, which he published without date, but prior to 1600, containing verses of some merit as translations: they deserve the more praise because Keeper apologises for them, remarking, "I have therefore contended only with bare rithming desinence, voyd of all ornament, to expresse the meaning of such poeticall citations as the author useth, they being ordinarily alleged out of Petrarch, whose verse, in my opinion, even in Italian, is rather weighty or sententious than heroical." Yet Keeper had been a writer of verse as early as 1568, if it be the same man (see Brit. Bibl. I. 106), when he called himself "John Keeper, Student," and wrote in praise of Tho. Howell's " Arbor of Amitie," a volume in the Bodleian Library, often noticed and criticised. Keeper only put his initials to the work before us, which has for title, "The Courtiers Academie comprehending seven severall dayes discourses &c. Originally written in Italian by Count Haniball Romei, &c. and translated into English by I. K.-Printed by Valentine Sims," without year or the mention of any bookseller. The dedication is to "Sir Charles Blunt, Lord Mountjoy, K.G.” There is not much verse in the book, and what there is is generally inc ouplets, as, perhaps, I. K. could not trust himself with the peculiar

form of the Italian sonnet: we quote seven of Keeper's lines, not from
Petrarch, to whom he could not do justice, but from Boethius :-

"From whence proceedes this rumor of high blood,
And vaunts of our great grandfathers so good?

If first original and birth we way,

Of each thing maker God we finde alway;
So that none vile can well accompted be
But those that follow vice, and vertue flee,
Abandoning the stocke of their degree."

424. Certainly a divine.]—A sermon by Kethe is extant, “made at Blandford Forum on 17th January, 1571-2. His ballad "Of Misrules contending," &c., was reprinted by the Percy Society in 1840: the title is there correctly given. From Maunsel's Catalogue we learn that Kethe also wrote "A Seeing Glasse sent to the Nobles and Gentlemen of England." This work also must have been written abroad.

I. 430. This is a very disappointing production.]-There is another tract of a rather different character relating to "the King and Queene of Fayries," which belongs to a later period, 1635, bearing the following title :—“ A Description of the King and Queene of Fayries, their habit, fare, their abode, pompe and state. Beeing very delightfull to the sense, and full of mirth.-London, Printed for Richard Harper, and are to be sold at his shop at the Hospitall gate. 1635." It is in B. L. and not worth much, having been got up and published for rapid sale. It is preceded by an address "to the courteous Reader," signed R. S., and followed by what professes to be an account of the "clothes brought to the King of Fayries on New-yeares day in the morning, 1626, by the Queenes Chambermaids." We may therefore presume that in 1635 it was only a reprint of what had appeared in 1626 or 1627. The whole is a compilation of small well-known pieces on the subject of Fairies, by Herrick, Burton and others. R. S. (whose name probably was Seward) tells us that he means to give of the King of Fairies

"the sincere description,

Of his abode, his nature, and the region

In which he rules ;"

but he does no such thing: if he had performed his promise, his work would have been interesting: as it is, it is curious from its rarity; but, no doubt, its title and woodcuts at first procured for it many purchasers, who did not, however, care to preserve it.

I. 432. Humphrey King the real or supposed author.]-There is no doubt that he was a tobacconist, and in this capacity, besides Nash's "Lenten Stuffe," an 8vo. tract, without date, but anterior to 1600, was dedicated to him: it is wholly in praise of the Nicotian Weed." The anonymous poem called "The Metamorphosis of Tobacco," which, in 1602, was dedicated to Drayton, is a first-rate production of its class, and has been very recently reprinted. It is one of our earliest specimens of the mock heroic, and we have somewhere seen Sir John Beaumont pointed out as the author of it, which appears to us by no means unlikely. For "Cudwode," on this page, read Cutwode, as the writer of Caltha Poetarum.

I. 449. With foule incest.] Lane perhaps alludes, in the word "incest," to a real or supposed relationship between Tarquin and Lucrece.

I. 465. We are not about to review his "Glaucus and Scilla."]-Still, we cannot refrain, in a note, from extracting what Lodge said (four years before Shakespeare printed his poem) on the subject of Venus and Adonis it is also precisely in the measure and stanza subsequently adopted by our great dramatist :