we arrive at certain miscellaneous poems, the first of which is called "A Charme," in six four-line stanzas, beginning:

and at the end of it Lawes has placed the initials H. H., with this addition in his own hand-writing: "this coppy of verses was made by Henry Harrington and set by Henry Lawes, 1636." Again, on Sign. I. 4, we meet with a poem called "Loves freedome," at the end of which Lawes wrote "H. H: this songe was made by Henry Harrington and set by Henry Lawes 1636." As far, therefore, as these pieces are concerned, the evidence is conclusive. On Sign. K. is Bishop Earle's Elegy on Beaumont, which seems to have been designed to end the volume, but, as there were still a few spare pages, the printer added two other poems, one of them " an Epitaph" on a lady who had married a relative, and the other the celebrated piece headed "a Sonnet," and commencing:

"Like a ring without a finger

Or a bell without a ringer," &c.

There is good reason to doubt whether either of the latter was by Francis Beaumont. The same stationer reprinted the volume in 1653, 8vo.

BENDISH, SIR THOMAS.-Newes from Turkie or a true Relation of the passages of the Right Honourable Sir Tho. Bendish, Baronet, Lord Ambassadour with the Grand Signieur at Constantinople, his entertainment and reception there. Also a true discourse of the unjust proceedings of Sir Sackvile Crow, former Ambassadour there &c. London, Printed for Humphrey Blunden &c. 1648. 4to. 19 leaves.

This is an attack upon Sir Sackvile Crow for making exactions from the British merchants, for producing pretended credentials from the king, &c., until he was superseded at Constantinople by Sir Thomas Bendish. The address to the reader is subscribed W. L., who had access to the original documents, which he prints in the body of the tract.

Berners, Lord.—Arthur of Brytayn. The hystory of the moost noble and valyaunt knyght Arthur of lytell brytayne, translated out of frensshe in to englushe by the noble Johan bourghcher knyght lorde Barners, newly Imprynted. n. d. B. L. fol. 179 leaves.

The words "Arthur of Brytayn" are upon a scroll, immediately under which is the title more at large, and, beneath that, the figure of a knight and his esquire, both armed and on horseback. The colophon is as follows: "Here endeth the hystory of Arthur of lytell Brytayne. Imprynted at London in Powles churche yeard at the sygne of the Cocke by Roberte Redborne."

Only one other perfect copy of this romance appears to exist, and the late Mr. Utterson made his reprint of it in 1814, partly from his own defective exemplar, and partly from Lord Spencer's complete one. No other work bears the name of Robert Redborne as the printer, and it is impossible to fix the date of it with any precision. The types are old and worn, the execution slovenly, and the wood cuts, which are numerous, coarse and uncouth. The best of the latter represents the hero on the title-page, which had also been used by Wynkyn de Worde for "Richard Cœur de Lion," in the romance of that name, printed in 1528.

The Prologue, headed "Here foloweth the translatours prologue," is at the back of the title-page, in which Lord Berners says:-" Wherfore after that I had begon this sayd processe, I haue determined to haue left and gyuen vp my laboure, for I thoughte it sholde haue be reputed but a folye in me to translate beseming such a fayned mater, wherin semeth to be so many vnpossybylytees:" however, he called to mind the numerous volumes of the same kind that he had read, and concluding "that this present treatyse myght as well be reputed for trouth as some of those," he finished his undertaking, "not presumynge, (he adds), that I haue reduced it in to fresshe, ornate, polysshed englysshe, for I knowe my selfe insuffycyent in the facondyous arte of rethoryke, nor also I am but a lerner of the language of frensshe."

The Tabula, or heads of the one hundred and seventeen chapters into which the work is divided, fills the next five leaves, when we arrive at the romance itself, beginning with the birth of Arthur, who was the son of a Duke of Britain, (or Brittany) by a daughter of the Earl of Leicester. "Afterward (we are told), he grew to be the mooste fayre creature that than was founde

in all crystendome." The wood cut representations of him do not exactly accord with this description of the hero.

The last folio in the volume should be clxxiv., but it is, in fact, only numbered lxix, and other errors of the same kind occur.

BEVIS, OF HAMPTON.-Syr Bevis of Hampton. Newly Corrected and amended. London, Printed by William Stansby. n. d. B. L. 4to. 34 leaves.

This romance was originally printed by Pynson, afterwards by William Copland, and thirdly by Thomas East: the edition before us, like those which preceded it, has no date, but made its appearance about 1620. In Henry VIII., Act i. Scene I., Shakespeare mentions Bevis, and it is not unlikely that the allusion was occasioned by the recent appearance of an edition of the romance-not the present, as it is more modern than the time when, according to plausible conjecture, Henry VIII was originally brought out. As the present is the only known copy of this edition, a fac-simile of the wood cut of Sir Bevis and his Pursuivant upon the title-page is subjoined.

Thirteen other ornaments of the same description are inserted in different parts of the volume. The edition by Copland is in many respects a modernization of that of Pynson, which came out perhaps thirty or forty years before it; and this edition by Stansby is a further modernization of Copland's text, which preceded it perhaps sixty or seventy years. To save room Stansby printed two of Copland's lines as only one, thus:

Listen, Lordings and hold you still, of doubtie men tell you I will."

Sometimes, apparently from oversight, he left out couplets, as in the first page: Copland says,

"While Sir Guy was younge and light

Knowen he was a doughty knight."

Similar omissions by Stansby are not unfrequent. The manner in which the romance was altered to suit the taste of the readers of the day may best be seen by comparing one or two passages, which will at the same time afford specimens of the poem itself. When Sir Guy, the father of Bevis, goes out to kill a wild boar in a wood, where he is treacheously slain by Sir Murdure, Copland thus describes it:

"The Erle a courser gan stryde,
His swerde he hanged by his side:
There myght no man with him rynne
He was the formest man therin.

Alas, that he had beware

Of his enemies that there were!

Whan he came to the forest
He gan chase after the beest,
That him herde syr Murdure,
And escryed Guy as a traytoure,

And pricked out before the hoost

For pompyng pryde to make great boost;

And to syr Guy gan he saye,

Yelde thee, traytoure, for by my faye,
Thou and thy sonne both dede shalbe

For the love of my lady free;
For I her loved or thou her knewe:
Yf thou her haue it shall the rewe."

In Stansby's edition, the passage stands as follows: for greater convenience of comparison, the lines are here divided as originally printed:

The Earle a Courser gan bestride,
His Sword he hanged by his side:
There might no man with him rin
He was the formost man therein.
Alas, that he had beene aware
Of his enemies that were there!
But when he came to the Forrest
And was in chase after the beast,
Him thought he heard Sir Murdure
Cry aloud, Sir Guy, thou Traytor!

And pricked out before his hoast
With promping pride and great boast;

And to Sir Guy thus did he say

Yeeld thee, Traytor, for by my fay,

Thou and thy sonne both dead shall be

For the love of thy Lady free:

For I her loved or thou her knew,

Yet thou her hast and shalt it rew."

In the ninth line above given the sense of Copland's edition is entirely misunderstood. We take, as another extract from Copland, the description of Josian, the beautiful daughter of the Pagan King Ermine, who fell in love with Sir Bevis :

"The kinge Ermine of that land
His wife was dead I understand:
He had a doughter fayre and bryght,
Josian that fayre mayde hight.
Her visage was whight as lylly floure,
Therin ranne the rede coloure,
With bright browes and eyes shene,
With heare as golde wire on the grene,

With comly nose and lyppes swete,
With louely mouth and fayre fete,

With tethe white and euen sette,

Here handes were swete as vyolet;
With gentell body withouten lacke,

Well shapen both belly and backe,