Chapter I: Part 1

Early English Poets.

SIR JOHN DAVIES.

PRINTED BY ROBERT ROBERTS,
BOSTON.

Early English Poets

THE
COMPLETE POEMS
OF
SIR JOHN DAVIES.

EDITED,
WITH
Memorial-Introduction and Notes,

BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

_IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. II._

London:
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
1876.

_Contents._

Those marked with [*] are either printed for the first time, or for the first time published among Davies' Poems.

EPIGRAMMES:

NOTE 3

Ad Musam 7
Of a Gull 8
In Ruffum 10
In Quintum 10
In Plurimos 11
In Titam 12
In Faustum 12
In Katum 13
In Librum 14
In Medontem 14
In Gellam 15
In Quintum 15
In Severum 15
In Leucam 16
In Macrum 17
In Fastum 17
In Cosmum 18
In Flaccum 18
In Cineam 19
In Gerontem 20
In Marcum 21
In Ciprum 21
In Cineam 22
In Gallum 23
In Decium 24
In Gellam 26
In Syllam 27
In Sillam 27
In Haywodum 29
In Dacum 30
In Priscum 31
In Brunum 31
In Francum 31
In Castorem 32
In Septimium 32
Of Tobacco 32
In Crassum 35
In Philonem 36
In Fuscum 37
In Afram 38
In Paulum 39
In Licum 40
In Publium 40
In Sillam 41
In Dacum 42
In Marcum 43
Meditations of a Gull 43
Ad Musam 44

*APPENDIX TO EPIGRAMS 47

*In Superbiam 47
*Epi. 5 48
*Epi. 6 48
*In Amorosum 48
*Epi. 9 49
*Epi. 10 49

*EPITAPH AND EPIGRAM 50

*GULLINGE SONNETS

NOTE 53

*DEDICATORY SONNET--TO HIS GOOD FREINDE SR ANTH. COOKE 55

*GULLINGE SONNETS 57

MINOR POEMS:

*I. YET OTHER TWELVE WONDERS OF THE WORLD--

*The Courtier 65
*The Divine 66
*The Souldier 67
*The Lawyer 67
*The Physitian 68
*The Merchant 68
*The Country Gentleman 69
*The Bacheler 69
*The Married Man 69
*The Wife 70
*The Widdow 70
*The Maid 71

*II. A CONTENTION BETWIXT A WIFE, A WIDDOW, AND A MAIDE 72

*III. A LOTTERY. PRESENTED BEFORE THE LATE QUEENES MAIESTY
AT THE LORD CHANCELORS HOUSE, 1601 87

*THE LOTS 89

*IV. CANZONET. A HYMNE IN PRAISE OF MUSICKE 96

*V. TEN SONETS TO PHILOMEL:

*Vpon Loues entring by the Ears 99
*Of his owne, and his Mistresse sicknesse at one time 100
*Another of her sicknesse and recovery 101
*Allusion to Theseus voyage to Crete, against the Minotaure 102
*Vpon her looking secretly out at a window as he passed by 102
*To the Sunne of his Mistresse beauty eclipsed with frownes 104
*Vpon sending her a gold ring with this Posie 104
*The hearts captivitie 105

*VI. TO GEORGE CHAPMAN ON HIS OVID 107

*VII. REASON'S MOANE 108

*VIII. ON THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR ELLESMERE'S SECOND WIFE IN 1599 112

*IX. TITYRUS TO HIS FAIRE PHILLIS 114

*UPON A COFFIN BY S. J. D. 115

*X. EPITAPH AND EPIGRAM 116

*HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED POEMS:

NOTE 119

*METAPHRASE OF SOME OF THE PSALMS 127

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.

*Of Faith the first Theologicall Vertue 211

*A Songe of Contention betweene Fowre Maids
concerninge that which addeth most perfection
to that sexe 212

*A Maid's Hymne in Praise of Virginity 213

*Part of an Elegie in Praise of Marriage 215

*A Fragment of a Love Elegie 217

*To the Q:[Queene] 222

*To Faire Ladyes 223

*Upon a Paire of Garters 224

*To his Lady-love 225

*Tobacco 226

*Elegies of Loue 227

*The Kinges Welcome 229

*To the Kinge upon his Ma'ties first comming into England 233

*To the Queene at the same time 236

*Mira loquor sol occubuit nox nulla secuta est 237

*Charles his Waine 237

*Of the name of Charolus, being the diminutive of Charus 238

*Verses sent to the Kinge with Figges: by Sr John Davis 234

*Love Lines 239

*Love Flight 240

*An Elegiecall Epistle on Sir John Davis death 241

*ENTERTAINMENT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AT HAREFIELD BY THE COUNTESSE OF DERBY 243

NOTE 244

*THE COMPLAINT OF THE V SATYRES AGAINST THE NYMPHS 256

ERRATA 259

ERRATA.

A very few 'slips' have met my eyes on a final reading. They are--as says an ancient Divine--"as easily corrected as espied." Nevertheless they are here recorded that the Reader of his charity may put them right, and any others that may have escaped Editor and Printer. In _Nosce Teipsum_, the heading and head-line (Vol. I., pp. 25, 26 onward) has 'Immortalitie' misprinted 'Immortalite'--a common contemporary spelling--but it is 'tie' in the title-page (p. 5): _ib._ p. 80, l. 15, read 'be best.' In _Hymnes to Astræa_, _ib._ p. 147, l. 3, remove period (.) after 'rayes.' In _Orchestra_, _ib._ p. 181, st. 53, l. 7, read 'perfect-cunning': p. 185, foot-note 7, put G. at end: p. 192, st. 81, l. 7, 'Ply' = entwine (omitted): p. 194, foot-note 7, is 'coach,' not 'couch': p. 202, l. 10, 'shoe' was the contemporary spelling: p. 204, st. 113, l. 6, insert 'it' before 'shine.'--G.

IV. EPIGRAMS, WITH ADDITIONS.

NOTE.

I am indebted to the Bodleian copy--among Malone's books--for my text of these 'Epigrams.' I have preferred this edition to the two others that preceded, inasmuch as, while it, like them, bears the imprint of 'Middlebourgh,' there seems no reason to doubt that it was printed in London: therefore most probably under the author's eye. The volume is a small 12mo. and the following is the title-page:--

All
OVIDS ELEGIES
3 Bookes
By C. M.
EPIGRAMS BY J. D.
At Middlebourgh.

Malone has filled in in MS. 'Christopher Marlowe and John Davis.' Cf. Collier's Bibliographical Account of Early English Literature: Vol I. _s.n._

The Rev. Alexander Dyce in his collective edition of the Works of Marlowe, has given Davies' "Epigrams" _in extenso_, with a painstaking collation of the various readings from the other two editions (both undated) together with similar various readings from a Manuscript discovered by him in the Harleian Collection (1836.) Mr. Dyce with reference to his reprint of the 'Epigrams,' and the foregoing MS. says, "I have given them with the text considerably improved by means of one of the Harleian MSS." ('Some Account of Marlowe and his Writings: p. xl: edition 1862.) I must demur to this alleged 'improvement.' The MS. has no authority whatever, the Scribe being an extremely ignorant and blundering one. These nine examples out of many, taken at random, will suffice to prove this:

[1] Epigram 1, line first.

'Fly, merry Muse unto that merry towne &c.

he actually reads, spite of its heading 'Ad Musam'

'Fly, merry Newes....

[2] Epigram 2, line 14

'And stands, in Presence, stroaking up his haire'

he gives, to neglect of the rhyme with 'yeare'

'...... stroaking up his heade'

[3] Epigram 3, line 5, for 'fry' he stupidly reads 'cry.'

[4] Epigram 13, line 9, for 'sectaries' he gives nonsensically 'scituaries.'

[5] Epigram 15, line 3.

'Thou with harsh noise the ayre doth rudely breake,'

he transmogrifies into

'...... horse nor sea the ayre doth.'

[6] Epigram 26, line 11, he substitutes 'sweete' for 'hot' oblivious of the rhyme with 'petticoat.'

[7] Epigram 36, line 19, for 'rarifie' he reads 'ratiffie'[!]

[8] Epigram 41, line 2,

'Paulus, in spite of enuy, fortunate'

he gives thus

Paulus, in fight of envy'......

[9] Epigram 43, line 3, for 'Paris-garden' he has 'Parish-garden;' and so on ludicrously, with numerous proper names.

Any one capable of perpetrating such stupidities as these, ought not in my opinion, to be allowed to displace a text printed for the Author, more especially his cannot for a moment be allowed to over-bear the third edition, our text.

From a confused inscription on the first page of the MS. its probable writer is ascertained. It is as follows "Ex spoliis Richardi Wharfe, ex...... It is much trouble and much.... Ex spoliis R. W." Underneath is the book-plate of John, Duke of Newcastle. The general title runs "Epigramma in Musam, like Buckminster's Allmanacks servinge generallie for all England: but especiallie for the meridian of this famous Cittie of London." I regret that besides these (mis-called) 'improvements,' so admirable an Editor should have _modernized_ throughout, the ORTHOGRAPHY equally of MARLOWE and of DAVIES: and all the more, that in his 'Notes' he adheres to the original orthography whenever he quotes from his wealth of illustrative extracts. The annotation condemns the text. Without any hesitation therefore, I have set aside Mr. Dyce's reprints, and returned (as _supra_) to Davies' own text and orthography, saving a slight reduction of capitals and italics. None the less do I owe thanks to Mr. Dyce for his kind permission kindly given, to use any 'Notes' that might be deemed interesting. Those that I have taken are marked with his initial, D. I have to add another important correction of Mr. Dyce. After describing the HARLEIAN MS. he observes "Though it is of a date considerably posterior to the first appearance in print of _Epigrams by I. D._, perhaps ALL THE PIECES WHICH IT EXHIBITS ARE FROM THE PEN OF DAVIES. (page 353.) HOMER nods here: for on reading these additional 'Epigrams' thus assigned to Davies, I at once discovered that they consisted merely of a like blundering transcript of the "Satyricall Epigrams" of HENRY HUTTON, Dunelmensis, that were appended to his "Follie's Anatomie or Satyres" (1619.) The oversight is the more noticeable in that all these were reprinted in 1842, (edited by Rimbault), for the Percy Society, whereof Mr. Dyce was one of the most effective members of Council.

I confess that it was far from a disappointment to find that the 'Epigrams' of Davies were not to be increased to the extent they would have been had I accepted Mr. Dyce's opinion, and failed to discover the Hutton-authorship of nearly all those in the Manuscript, additional to his acknowledged ones. Nevertheless in the Appendix to our reprint of the 'Epigrams' I give certain additions from this Manuscript, that are found neither in Davies's nor Hutton's publications, but which seem to me to have the _ring_ of Davies in them. The remainder--prefixed and affixed--may well be left in Manuscript. See the Memorial-Introduction for more on these Epigrams. G.

_Epigrammes._

AD MUSAM. 1.

Fly, merry Muse unto that merry towne,
Where thou maist playes, revels, and triumphs see;
The house of Fame, and theater of renowne,
Where all good wits and spirits loue to be.
Fall in betweene their hands that loue and praise thee,[1]
And be to them a laughter and a jest:
But as for them which scorning shall reproue thee,
Disdaine their wits, and thinke thine one[2] the best:
But if thou finde any so grose[3] and dull,
That thinke I do to priuate taxing[4] leane,
Bid him go hang, for he is but a gull,
And knows not what an Epigramme does meane;
Which taxeth,[5] under a peculiar name,[6]
A generall vice, which merits publick blame.

[Footnote 1: MS. "seeme to loue thee." D.]

[Footnote 2: Own. G.]

[Footnote 3: Gross. G.]

[Footnote 4: Blaming, censure. G. [i.e. censuring of individuals. MS. "priuate talkinge." Compare the Induction to The Knight of the Burning Pestle:

"Fly from hence
All private taxes!" &c.

Beaumont and Fletcher's WORKS, ii., 136, ed. Dyce. D.]]

[Footnote 5: MS. "carrieth." G.]

[Footnote 6: Other editions "particular": and so MS. G.]

OF A GULL. 2.

Oft in my laughing rimes, I name a Gull:
But this new terme will many questions breed;
Therefore at first I will expresse[7] at full,
Who is a true and perfect Gull indeed:
A Gull is he who feares a veluet gowne,
And, when a wench is braue,[8] dares not speak to her;
A Gull is he which trauerseth the towne,
And is for marriage known a common woer;
A Gull is he which while he proudly weares,
A siluer-hilted rapier by his side;
Indures the lyes and knocks about the eares,
Whilst in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide:
A Gull is he which weares good handsome cloaths,
And stands, in Presence, stroaking up his haire,
And fills up his unperfect speech with oaths,
But speaks not one wise word throughout the yeare:
But to define a Gull in termes precise,--
Gull is he which seemes, and is not wise.[9]

[Footnote 7: MS. "Wherefore ... disclose." D.]

[Footnote 8: 'Fine, richly dressed.' D.]

[Footnote 9: In our Introductory-Note it is stated that the original edition of the 'Epigrams' is undated. From contemporary allusions the date is determined to have been prior to 1598. Among these allusions is an 'Epigram' by E. Guilpin in his 'Skialetheia' [1598] on the same subject with this by Davies. It follows here:

TO CANDIDUS [EPIGRAM.] 20.

"Friend Candidus, thou often doost demaund
What humours men by gulling understand:
Our English Martiall hath full pleasantly,
In his close nips describde a gull to thee:
I'le follow him, and set downe my conceit
What a gull is: oh word of much receit!
He is a gull, whose indiscretion
Cracks his purse strings to be in fashion;
He is a gull, who is long in taking roote
In baraine soyle, where can be but small fruite:
He is a gull, who runnes himselfe in debt,
For twelue dayes wonder, hoping so to get;
He is a gull, whose conscience is a block,
Not to take interest, but wastes his stock:
He is a gull, who cannot haue a whore,
But brags how much he spends upon her score:
He is a gull, that for commoditie
Payes tenne times ten, and sells the same for three:
He is a gull, who passing finicall,
Peiseth each word to be rhetoricall:
And to conclude, who selfe conceitedly,
Thinkes al men guls: ther's none more gull then he." G.]

IN RUFFUM. 3.

Rufus the Courtier at the theater,
Leaving the best and most conspicuous place,
Doth either to the stage[10] himselfe transferre,
Or through a grate[11] doth shew his double[12] face:
For that the clamorous fry of Innes of Court,
Fills up the priuate roomes of greater price:
And such a place where all may haue resort,
He in his singularity doth dispise.
Yet doth not his particular humour shun
The common stews and brothells of the towne,
Though all the world in troops doe hither[13] run,
Cleane and uncleane, the gentle and the clowne:
Then why should Rufus in his pride abhorre,
A common seate, that loues a common whore.

[Footnote 10: See Note on Epigram 28. G.]

[Footnote 11: Malone has cited this passage (Shakespeare by Boswell iii. 81) and, if he explains it rightly, the allusion is to one of the two boxes (sometimes called _private boxes_) which were situated on each side of the balcony or upper stage. D.]

[Footnote 12: Other editions (as the Isham) 'doubtfull.' G.]

[Footnote 13: Other editions (as the Isham) 'thither.' G.]

IN QUINTUM. 4.

Quintus the dancer useth euermore,
His feet in measure and in rule to moue:
Yet on a time he call'd his Mistresse, 'whore'
And thought[14] with that sweet word to win her loue:
Oh had his tongue like to his feet beene taught
It neuer would haue uttered such a thought.

IN PLURIMOS.[15] 5.

Faustinus, Sextus, Cinnæ, Ponticus,
With Gella, Lesbia, Thais, Rhodope,
Rode all to Stanes[16] for no cause serious,
But for their mirth, and for their leachery:
Scarce were they setled in their lodging, when
Wenches with wenches, men with men fell out:
Men with their wenches, wenches with their men;
Which straight dissolues[17] their ill-assembled rout.[18]
But since the Deuill brought them thus together,
To my discovrsing[19] thoughts it is a wonder,
Why presently as soone as they came thither,
The selfe same deuill did them part asunder.
Doubtlesse it seemes it was a foolish deuill,
That thus did[20] part them e're they did some euill.

[Footnote 14: MS. "Thinkinge." D.]

[Footnote 15: MS. "In meritriculas [_sic_] Londinensis." D.]

[Footnote 16: MS. "Ware." D.]

[Footnote 17: MS. "dissolv'd." D.]

[Footnote 18: "Rabble, set." D.]

[Footnote 19: MS. "discerninge." D.]

[Footnote 20: MS. "straight would." D. Isham 'thus would.' G.]

IN TITAM.[21] 6.

Titas, the braue and valorous[22] young gallant,
Three yeares together in this towne hath beene;
Yet my Lord Chancellor's tombe[23] he hath not seene
Nor the new water-worke,[24] nor the Elephant.[25]
I cannot tell the cause without a smile,--
He hath beene in the Counter[26] all this while.

[Footnote 21: Mr. Dyce corrects (as Isham) to 'Titum' and line 1st 'Titus.' G.]

[Footnote 22: MS. "Valient." G.]

[Footnote 23: Viz., of Sir Christopher Hatton, whose huge and splendid monumental-tomb was long one of the London sights for country cousins. Col. Cunningham (_in loco_) adds "It was erected in St. Paul's Cathedral, and Bishop Corbet says was "higher than the host and altar." G.]

[Footnote 24: Recently described by SMILES in his Lives of the Engineers. _s. v._ G.]

[Footnote 25: It is curious to find the article '_the_' Elephant. Coriat later gave his own portrait showing himself on the back of an elephant, as a great wonder, in one of his travel title-pages. But query--Is it the famous inn named by Shakespeare: "I could not find him at the Elephant" (Twelfth Night, iv. 3)? Col. Cunningham (as before) assuming it is the animal that is meant, annotates thus: "The Elephant was an object of great wonder and long remembered. A curious illustration of this is found in _The Metamorphosis of the Walnut Tree_, written about 1645, where the poet [William Basse] brings trees of all descriptions to the funeral, particularly a gigantic oak--

The youth of these our tymes that did behold
This motion strange of this unwieldy plant,
Now boldly brag with us that are more old,
That of our age they no advantage want,
Though _in our youth we saw an elephant_. G.]

[Footnote 26: Debtors' prison. G.]

IN FAUSTUM. 7.

Faustus, nor lord, nor knight, nor wise, nor old,
To euery place about the towne doth ride;
He rides into the fields, Playes to behold,
He rides to take boat at the water side:
He rides to Pauls',[27] he rides to th' Ordinary
He rides unto the house of bawdery too,--
Thither his horse doth him so often carry,
That shortly he will quite forget to goe.

[Footnote 27: Other editions "Powles," and Isham 'Poules.' G. MS. "Powels." D.]

IN KATUM.[28] 8.

Kate being pleas'd wisht that her pleasure could
Indure as long as a buffe-jerkin would:
Content thee, Kate; although thy pleasure wasteth,
Thy pleasure's place like a buffe-jerkin lasteth,
For no buffe-jerkin hath beene oftner worne,
Nor hath more scrapings or more dressings borne.

[Footnote 28: Mr. Dyce reads 'Katam': being feminine the poet is here put right. G.]

IN LIBRUM. 9.

Liber doth vaunt how chastly he hath liu'd,
Since he hath bin seuen yeares in towne, and more,[29]
For that he sweares he hath four onely swiude;[30]
A maid, a wife, a widdow, and a whore:
Then, Liber, thou hast swiude all women-kinde,
For a fifth sort, I know thou canst not finde.

[Footnote 29: MS. "Knowne this towne 7 years." Isham "he hath beene in towne 7 yeeres." G.]

[Footnote 30: 'Swiude' from Isham: other editions ----. G.]

IN MEDONTEM. 10.

Great captaine Mædon weares a chaine of gold,
Which at fiue hundred crownes is valuèd;
For that it was his grand sire's chaine of old,
When great King Henry, Bulloigne conquerèd.
And weare it Mædon, for it may ensue,
That thou, by vertue of this[31] massie chaine,
A stronger towne than Bulloigne maist subdue,
If wise men's sawes be not reputed vaine;
For what said Philip king of Macedon?
There is no castle so well fortified,
But if an asse laden with gold comes on,
The guard will stoope, and gates flye open wide.

[Footnote 31: MS. "wearing of that." D.]

IN GELLAM. 11.

Gella, if thou dost loue thy selfe, take heed,
Lest thou my rimes[32] unto thy louer read;
For straight thou grin'st, and then thy louer seeth
Thy canker-eaten gums and rotten teeth.

IN QUINTUM. 12.

Quintus his wit[33] infused into his braine,
Mislikes[34] the place, and fled into his feet;
And there it wandered[35] up and downe the street,
Dabled in the dirt, and soakèd in the raine:
Doubtlesse his wit intends not to aspire,
Which leaues his head, to travell in the mire.

[Footnote 32: MS. "lynes." D.]

[Footnote 33: = Quintus's wit. G.]

[Footnote 34: Mislikt? G.]

[Footnote 35: Isham 'wanders.' G.]

IN SEVERUM. 13.

The Puritan Severus oft doth read
This text, that doth pronounce vain speech a sin,--
"That thing defiles a man, that doth proceed,
From out the mouth, not that which enters in."
Hence it is,[36] that we seldome heare him sweare:
And thereof as a Pharisie he vaunts;
But he devours more capons in one[37] yeare,
Then would suffice an hundred[38] Protestants.
And sooth, those sectaries are gluttons all,
As well the thred-bare cobler, as the knight;
For those poore slaues which haue not wherewithall,
Feed on the rich, till they devour them quite;
And so, as[39] Pharoe's kine, they eate up clean,
Those that be fat, yet still themselues be lean.

[Footnote 36: Isham 'Hence is it.' G.]

[Footnote 37: Isham 'a.' G.]

[Footnote 38: Isham 'a hundreth.' G.]

[Footnote 39: Isham 'like.' G.]

IN LEUCAM. 14.

Leuca, in Presence once, a fart did let;
Some laught a little; she refus'd[40] the place;
And mad with shame, did then[41] her gloue forget,
Which she return'd to fetch with bashfull grace;
And when she would haue said, "I've lost my gloue,"[42]
My fart (qd. she:) which did more laughter moue.

[Footnote 40: Isham 'forsook.' G.]

[Footnote 41: Isham 'eke.' G.]

[Footnote 42: Mr. Dyce says here "something has dropt out," the line being a foot short, I have supplied 'I've lost.' G.]

IN MACRUM. 15.

Thou canst not speake yet, Macer, for to speake,
Is to distinguish sounds significant:
Thou with harsh noise the ayre dost rudely breake;
But what thou utterest common sence doth want,--
Halfe English words, with fustian termes among
Much like the burthen of a Northerne song.

IN FASTUM.[43] 16.

"That youth," saith Faustus, "hath a lyon seene,
Who from a dicing-house comes money-lesse":
But when he lost his haire, where had he beene?
I doubt me he had seene a Lyonesse?

[Footnote 43: _Sic_, but should be Faustum (1st line) and is so given by Mr. Dyce and Isham. G.]

IN COSMUM. 17.

Cosmus hath more discoursing in his head
Then Ioue, when Pallas issued from his braine;
And still he strives to be deliveréd
Of all his thoughts at once, but all in vaine;
For, as we see at all the play-house doores,
When ended is the play, the dance, and song,
A thousand townesmen, gentlemen, and whores,
Porters and serving-men, together throng,--
So thoughts of drinking, thriuing, wenching, warre,
And borrowing money, raging,[44] in his mind;
To issue all at once so forward are,
As none at all can perfect passage find.

[Footnote 44: MS. "ranging." G.]

IN FLACCUM. 18.

The false knave Flaccus once a bribe I gaue:
The more foole I to bribe so false a knaue:
But he gaue back my bribe; the more foole he,
That for my folly did not cousen me.

IN CINEAM. 19.

Thou doggèd Cineas, hated like a dogge,
For still thou grumblest like a masty[45] dogge,
Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dogge;
Thou saith[46] thou art as weary as a dogge,
As angry, sicke, and hungry as a dogge,
As dull and melancholly as a dogge,
As lazy, sleepy,[47] idle as a dogge:
But why dost thou compare thee to a dogge
In that, for which all men despise a dogge?
I will compare thee better to a dogge:
Thou art as faire and comely as a dogge,
Thou art as true and honest as a dogge,
Thou art as kind and liberall as a dogge,
Thou art as wise and valiant as a dogge.
But Cineas, I have [often][48] heard thee tell,
Thou art as like thy father as may be;
'Tis like enough; and faith I like it well;
But I am glad thou art not like to me.

[Footnote 45: Mastiff. D. [This is an error. A 'mastiff' is not a grumbling dog, and 'masty' is = fatted, and here answers apparently to the over-fed vicious pet. See _Maste_, Prompt. Parv. & p. 151 (Way's ed.)] G.]

[Footnote 46: Isham 'saist.' G.]

[Footnote 47: 'And as' not in Isham, and being superfluous left out. G.]

[Footnote 48: Supplied from MS. by Mr. Dyce. Isham 'oft.' G.]

IN GERONTEM. 20.

Geron's[49] mouldy memory corrects
Old Holinshed, our famous Chronicler,
With morall rules; and policy collects
Out of all actions done these fourscore yeare;[50]
Accounts the times of euery old[51] event,
Not from Christ's birth, nor from the Prince's raigne,
But from some other famous accident,
Which in mens generall notice doth remaine,--
The siege of Bulloigne and the Plaguy Sweat,
The going to St. Quintin's and New-haven,
The rising in the North, the Frost so great
That cart-wheeles' prints on Thamis face were graven,[52]
The fall of money, and burning of Paul's steeple;
The blazing starre, and Spaniard's ouerthrow:
By these events, notorious to the people,
He measures times, and things forepast doth show:
But most of all, he chiefly reckons by
A priuate chance,--the death of his curst[53] wife;
This is to him the dearest memory,
And the happiest accident of all his life.

[Footnote 49: MS. 'Geron, his.' D. Isham 'Geron whose.' G.]

[Footnote 50: Isham corrects the misprint 'yeares,' and of 'time' in next line. G.]

[Footnote 51: Isham 'odde.' G.]

[Footnote 52: The reading in our text, and in all the editions, including Isham, is 'seene': but above from MS, as rhyming with Newhaven seems preferable. Newhaven was formerly called Havre de Grace. All the date-events are commonplaces of History. G.]

[Footnote 53: Ill-natured. D. [This is a good-natured explanation. I fear that in this place it means more and worse, though in the Taming of the Shrew we have Kate the curst, without the slightest imputation on her moral character, or any allusion to anything but her vixen temper. G.]]

IN MARCUM. 21.

When Marcus comes from Minnes,[54] hee still doth sweare,
By "come on[55] seauen," that all is lost and gone;
But that's not true; for he hath lost his haire,--
Onely for that he came too much at one.

[Footnote 54: MS. "for newes."--The first edition [and Isham] reads 'from Mins': the other two as _above_. Mins' (which perhaps should be written Min's) is, I presume, the name of some person who kept an Ordinary where gaming was practised. D.]

[Footnote 55: Isham 'a.' G.]

IN CIPRUM.[56] 22.

The fine youth Ciprius is more tierse and neate,
Then the new garden of the Old Temple is;
And still the newest fashion he doth get,
And with the time doth change from that to this;
He weares a hat of the flat-crowne block,
The treble ruffes, long cloake, and doublet French;
He takes tobacco, and doth weare a lock,
And wastes more time in dressing then a wench:
Yet this new fangled youth, made for these times,
Doth aboue all praise old George Gascoine's[57] rimes?

[Footnote 56: _Sic_: but should be, as Isham, Ciprium: Mr. Dyce reads Cyprium. G.]

[Footnote 57: Died October 7th, 1577. His Works have been worthily collected by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt in his Roxburghe Library. G.]

IN CINEAM. 23.

When Cineas comes amongst his friends in morning,
He slyly spies[58] who first his cap doth moue;
Him he salutes, the rest so grimly scorning,
As if for euer they had lost his loue.
I seeing[59] how it doth the humour fit
Of this fond[60] gull to be saluted first,
Catch at my cap, but moue it not a whit:
Which to[61] perceiuing, he seemes for spite to burst:
But Cineas, why expect you more of me,
Then I of you? I am as good a man,
And better too by many a quality,
For vault, and dance, and fence and rime I can:
You keep a whore at your own charge, men tell me,
Indeed friend (Cineas) therein you excell me.

[Footnote 58: MS. "notes." D. [first edition and Isham "lookes": others as _above_. G.]]

[Footnote 59: In first edition and Isham "Knowing" and MS. G.]

[Footnote 60: Foolish. G.]

[Footnote 61: Dyce's text is 'he': but 'to' is often in Davies' time printed for 'too.' Isham 'Which perceiuing.' G.]

IN GALLUM. 24.

Gallas hath beene this Summer-time in Friesland,
And now return'd, he speaks such warlike words,
As, if I could their English understand,
I feare me they would cut my throat like swords:
He talkes of counter-scarfes[62] and casomates,
Of parapets, of curteneys, and palizadoes;
Of flankers, ravelings, gabions he prates,
And of false-brayes,[63] and sallies[64] and scaladoes.
But, to requite such gulling tearmes as these,
With words of my profession I reply;
I tell of fourching,[65] vouchers, and counterpleas,
Of withermans,[66] essoynes, and Champarty.
So, neither of us understanding[67] one another,
We part as wise as when we came together.

[Footnote 62: Isham 'scarphes.' G.]

[Footnote 63: Isham 'false brayes.' In this place I have restored the reading 'false-brayes' of the 1st edition and of the MS, rejecting 'false-baits' of 2nd and 3rd editions. There is no such word in military engineering or fortification; but there is 'fausse-braye ' or 'false-braye.' There is a not very intelligible description in Bailey's Dictionary. G.]

[Footnote 64: With this passage compare the following lines:

"See Captaine Martio he i' th' 'Renounce me' band,
That in the middle region doth stand
Wo' th' reputation steele! Faith, lets remoue
Into his ranke (of such discourse you loue):
Hee'l tell of basilisks, trenches, retires,
Of pallizadoes, parapets, frontires,
Of caluerins, and baricadoes too.
What to bee harquebazerd, to lie in perdue," &c.

Fitzgeoffrey's _Notes from Black-Friars'_ Sig. E 7, a portion of the volume entitled _Certain Elegies_, &c., ed. 1620. See our Memorial-Introduction for an impudent appropriation of this epigram. G.]

[Footnote 65: MS. "forginge." D. Isham 'foorching.' G.]

[Footnote 66: Other editions and MS. "Withernams": Isham 'whither names.' G.]

[Footnote 67: Isham 'vnderstanding either.' G.]

IN DECIUM. 25.

Audacious painters have Nine Worthies made;
But poet Decius,[68] more audacious farre,
Making his mistris march with men of warre,
With title of "Tenth Worthy"[69] doth her lade.[70]
Me thinks that gull did use his tearmes as fit,
Which tearm'd his loue "a gyant for her wit."

[Footnote 68: Drayton is here meant. [Malone's Manuscript-note in Bodleian copy. G.]]

[Footnote 69: [Ben] Jonson told Drummond "That S[ir] J[ohn] Davies played in ane Epigrame on Drayton's, who in a sonnet, concluded his Mistress might [have] been the Ninth [Tenth] Worthy; and said, he used a phrase like Dametas in [Sir Philip Sidney's] Arcadia, who said For wit his Mistresse might be a gyant." 'Notes of Ben Jonson's conversations with William Drummond, of Hawthornden,' p. 15 (Shakespere Society). The sonnet by Drayton, which our author here ridicules, is as follows:

"TO THE CELESTIALL NUMBERS.

"Vnto the World, to Learning, and to Heauen,
Three Nines there are, to euery one a Nine,
One Number of the Earth, the other both Diuine;
One Woman now makes three odde numbers euen:
Nine Orders first of Angels be in Heauen,
Nine Muses doe with Learning still frequent,
These with the Gods are euer Resident;
Nine Worthy Ones vnto the World were giuen:
My Worthy One to these Nine Worthies addeth,
And my faire Muse one Muse vnto the Nine,
And my good Angell (in my soule Diuine)
With one more Order these Nine Orders gladdeth:
My Muse, my Worthy, and my Angell, then,
Makes euery one of these three Nines a Ten."]

[Footnote 70: Isham reads badly 'woorthly.' 'Laide.' G. _Idea_: Sonnet 18 ed. 8vo. n. d. D.]

IN GELLAM. 26.

If Gella's beauty be examinèd,
She hath a dull, dead eye, a saddle nose,
And[71] ill-shap't face, with morphew ouer-spread,
And rotten teeth, which she in laughing shows;
Briefly, she is the filthiest wench in towne,
Of all that doe the art of whoring use:
But when she hath put on her sattin gowne,
Her cut[72] lawne apron, and her velvet shooes,
Her greene silke stockins and her petticoat
Of taffaty, with golden fringe a-round,
And is withall perfumed with civet hot,[73]
Which doth her valiant stinking breath confound,--
Yet she with these additions is no more
Than a sweet, filthy, fine, ill-favoured[74] whore.

[Footnote 71: The other editions, as Isham and MS., 'an.' G.]

[Footnote 72: MS. 'cut.' D. [This is unquestionably the right word, not 'out.' Whether 'cut-lawne apron' meant curiously shaped like "the sleeves curiously cut" of Katharine's dress: or whether it was cut-wove lawn, lawn embroidered by cutting out holes and sewing them round, seems uncertain,--probably the latter. G.]]

[Footnote 73: MS. 'sweete.' D.]

[Footnote 74: Isham again badly 'ilfauoted.' G.]

IN SYLLAM. 27.

Sylla is often challenged to the field,
To answer as a gentleman, his foes:
But then he doth this[75] answer onely yeeld,--
That he hath livings and faire lands to lose.
Silla, if none but beggars valiant were,
The King of Spaine would put us all in feare.

[Footnote 75: In first edition and Isham, "then doth he this." G. [MS. "he doth all this." D.]]

IN SILLAM. 28.

Who dares affirme that Silla dares not fight?
When I dare sweare he dares adventure more
Than the most braue and all-daring[76] wight,[77]
That euer armes with resolution bore;
He that dares[78] touch the most unwholsome whore
That euer was retir'd into the Spittle[79]
And dares court wenches standing at a doore,
(The portion his wit being passing little);
He that dares give his dearest friends offences,
Which other valiant fooles doe feare to doe:
And when a feaver doth confound his sences,
Dare eate raw beefe, and drink strong wine thereto:
He that dares take tobacco on the stage,[80]
Dares man a whore at noone-day through the street:
Dares dance in Paul's and in this formall age,
Dares say and doe whateuer is unmeet;
Whom feare of shame could neuer yet affright,--
Who dares affirme that Sylla dares not fight?

[Footnote 76: MS. "valiant and all-daring." D. [First edition, "braue, most all daring." G.]]

[Footnote 77: MS. "Knight." D.]

[Footnote 78: Isham, 'dare.' G.]

[Footnote 79: Hospital: or query prison? So late as Thomson's "Castle of Indolence" (c I. 77) we have the word: "all the diseases which the _spittles_ know." G.]

[Footnote 80: Probably most readers are aware that it was formerly the custom of gallants to smoke tobacco on the stage, during the performance, either lying on the rushes or sitting upon hired stools. D. [In Hutton's 'Satyres' and 'Epigrams' (1619) well edited by RIMBAULT for the Percy Society, there are various passages illustrative of above, _e.g._

"Dine with Duke Humfrey in decayed Paules"
Confound the streetes with chaos of old braules,
Dancing attendance on the Black-friers stage
Call for a stoole with a commanding rage, &c. [pp. 68, 69.] Cf.

Also Ben Jonson's _Devil is an Ass_ (1616) who censures the conduct of the gallants allowed seats on the stage. G.]]

IN HAYWODUM.[81] 29.

Haywood, that did[82] in Epigrams excell,
Is now put downe since my light Muse arose;
As buckets are put downe into a well,
Or as a schoole-boy putteth downe his hose.[83]

[Footnote 81: Mr. Dyce spells Heywodum. John Heywood's Epigrammes accompany his Proverbs: 1562. G.]

[Footnote 82: 1st edition, 'which in epigrams did;' Isham 'which did.' [The Epigrams of John Heywood are well known. An allusion to this epigram of Davies occurs in Sir John Harington's _Metamorphosis of Ajax_, 1596: "This Heywood for his proverbs and epigrams is not yet put down by any of our country, though one [_Marginal Note_, M[aster] Davies] doth indeed come near him, that graces him the more in saying he puts him down," p. 41, edition 1814. (In the same work we find, "But, as my good M. Davies said of his epigrams, that they were made, like doublets in Birchin-lane, for every one whom they will serve, &c. p. 133. D.] [I add from T. BASTARD'S 'Chrestoleros' [Lib. II: Epigram 15] an answer to this:

Heywood goes downe saith Dauis, sikerly,
And downe he goes, I can it not deny:
But were I happy did not fortune frowne
Were I in heart I would sing Dauy downe.

Cf. also lib. iii. Ep. 3. Mr. DYCE also quotes from Freeman's _Rubbe and a great Cast_, 1614. G.]]

[Footnote 83: Breeches. D.]

IN DACUM.[84] 30.

Amongst the poets Dacus numbred is,
Yet could he neuer make an English rime;
But some prose speeches I haue heard of his,
Which haue been spoken many an hundreth time:
The man that keeps the Elephant hath one,
Wherein he tells the wonders of the beast:
Another Bankes pronouncèd long agon,[85]
When he his curtailes[86] qualities exprest:
He first taught him that that keeps the monuments
At Westminster, his formall tale to say;
And also him which Puppets represents,
And also him which with the Ape doth play:
Though all his Poetry be like to this,
Amongst the poets Dacus numbred is.

[Footnote 84: This is not Decius of Epig. 25, who was Drayton, but (eheu!) Samuel Daniel. Cf. Epig. 45, and relative note. On the elephant (l. 5) see note on Epig. 6. G.]

[Footnote 85: Isham badly 'a goe.' G.]

[Footnote 86: Id est, horse's [the word means properly--a docked horse.] So much may be found in various books concerning Banks and his wonderful horse, that any account of them is unnecessary here. D. [The 'wonderful horse' is referred to by Shakespeare. G.]]

IN PRISCUM. 31.

When Priscus, rais'd from low to high estate,
Rode through the street in pompous jollity;
Caius, his poore familiar friend of late,
Bespake him thus: "Sir, now you know not me.'
"'Tis likely friend," (quoth Priscus) "to be so,
For at this time myselfe I do not know."

IN BRUNUM. 32.

Brunus, which deems himselfe a faire sweet youth
Is thirty nine yeares of age at least;
Yet was he neuer, to confesse the truth,
But a dry starveling when he was at best:
This gull was sicke to shew his night-cap fine,
And his wrought pillow over-spread with lawne;
But hath been well since his griefe's cause hath line[87]
At Trollup's by Saint Clement's Church, in pawne.

[Footnote 87: Lien, lain. D.]

IN FRANCUM. 33.

When Francus comes to sollace with his whore,
He sends for rods, and strips himselfe stark naked;
For his lust sleeps and will not rise before,
By whipping of the wench it be awakèd.
I enuie him not, but wish I had the powre
To make myselfe[88] his wench but one halfe houre.

[Footnote 88: Col. Cunningham emends 'himself' for 'myself'; but the 'whipping of' (l. 4) is = by: and Davies' wish is that he wielded the rods on Francus. G.]

IN CASTOREM. 34.

Of speaking well why doe we learne the skill,
Hoping thereby honour and wealth to gaine;
Sith rayling Castor doth, by speaking ill,
Opinion of much wit and gold obtaine?

IN SEPTIMIUM. 35.

Septimus liues, and is like garlick seene,
For though his head be white, his blade is greene:
This old mad coult deserves a Martyr's praise,
For he was burnèd in Queene Marie's daies.

OF TOBACCO. 36.

Homer, of Moly and Nepenthe sings:
Moly, the gods' most soueraigne hearb diuine,
Nepenthe, Heauen's[89] drinke, most[90] gladnesse brings,
Heart's griefe expells, and doth the wits refine.
But this our age another world hath found,
From whence an hearb of heauenly power is brought;
Moly is not so soueraigne for a wound,
Nor hath Nepenthe so great wonders wrought:[91]
It is Tobacco, whose sweet substantiall[92] fume
The hellish torment of the teeth doth ease,
By drawing downe, and drying up the rheume,
The mother and the nurse of each disease:
It is Tobacco, which doth cold expell,
And cleares the obstructions of the arteries,
And surfeits, threatning death, dijesteth well,
Decocting all the stomack's crudities:
It is Tobacco, which hath power to clarifie
The cloudy mists before dimme eyes appearing:
It is Tobacco, which hath power to rarifie
The thick grosse humour which doth stop the hearing;
The wasting hectick, and the quartaine feuer,
Which doth of Physick make a mockery;
The gout it cures, and helps ill breaths for euer,
Whether the cause in teeth or stomack be;
And though ill breaths were by it but confounded,
Yet that vile medicine it doth farre excell,
Which by Sir Thomas Moore[93] hath beene propounded:
For this is thought a gentleman-like smell.
O, that I were one of those Mountebankes,
Which praise their oyles and powders which they sell!
My customers would giue me coyne with thanks;
I for this ware, for sooth[94] a tale would tell:
Yet would I use none of these tearmes before;
I would but say, that it the Pox will cure:
This were enough, without discoursing more,
All our braue gallants in the towne t'allure,

[Footnote 89: Mr. Dyce reads 'Helen's' and confirms from Milton's Comus (1675)--

Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena, &c.

In first edition there is a misprint "Hekens": in the other editions, as _above_ "Heauens": in MS. "helvs": Isham 'Heuens.' Helen is admissible, but 'Heavens' what Davies himself printed. See the poem on Tobacco among the hitherto unpublished poems, of which the Epigram seems only a first rough draft--and relative note.]

[Footnote 90: Isham 'which.' G.]

[Footnote 91: Isham badly 'brought.' G.]

[Footnote 92: MS. 'subtle.' D. [Substantial is here = partaking of the substance or essence, or, as we say, properties peculiar to tobacco--a fume holding in it the virtues or substance of the tobacco. The MS. 'subtle' may be regarded as an Author's variant, especially as it is also found in 'Tobacco' among the hitherto unpublished poems, onward. G.]]

[Footnote 93: Mr. Dyce quotes an 'Epigramma' of Sir Thomas More, which, is headed

"_Medicinæ ad tollendos f[oe]tores, anhelitus, provenientes a cibis quibusdam._"

"Sectile ne tetros porrum tibi spiret odores,
Protenus a porro fac mihi cepe vores.
Denuo f[oe]torem si vis depellere cepæ,
Hoc facile efficient allia mansa tibi.
Spiritus at si post etiam gravis allia restat,
Aut nihil, aut tantum tollere _merda_ potest."

_T. Mori Lucubrationes._ &c., p. 261, edition 1563. G.

]

[Footnote 94: Isham 'so smooth.' G.]

IN CRASSUM. 37.

Crassus his lyes,[95] are not pernicious lyes,
But pleasant fictions, hurtfull unto none
But to himselfe; for no man counts him wise
To tell for truth that which for false is knowne.
He sweares that Gaunt is three score miles about,
And that the bridge at Paris on the Seyn
Is of such thicknesse, length and breadth throughout,
That sixe score Arches can it scarce sustaine;
He sweares he saw so great a dead man's scull
At Canterbury, dig'd out of the ground,
That would containe of wheat three bushels full;
And that in Kent are twenty yeomen found,
Of which the poorest euery yeare dispends,
Fiue thousand pounds: these and fiue thousand mo,
So oft he hath recited to his friends,
That now himselfe perswades himselfe 'tis so.
But why doth Crassus tell his lyes so rife,
Of Bridges, Townes, and things that haue no life?
He is a Lawyer, and doth well espie,
That for such lyes an Action will not lye.

[Footnote 95: That is, Crassus's lies. G.]

IN PHILONEM. 38.

Philo the Lawyer[96] and the Fortune-teller;
The Schoole-master, the Midwife, and the Bawd,
The conjurer, the buyer, and the seller
Of painting, which with breathing will be thaw'd,
Doth practise Physicke; and his credit growes,
As doth the Ballad-singer's auditory,[97]
Which hath at Temple-barre his standing chose,
And to the vulgar sings an Ale-house story:
First stands a Porter; then an Oyster-wife
Doth stint her cry, and stay her steps to heare him;
Then comes a Cut-purse ready with a[98] knife,
And then a Countrey clyent passeth neare him;
There stands the Constable, there stands the whore,
And, listening[99] to the song, heed[100] not each other;
There by the Serjeant stands the debitor,[101]
And doth no more mistrust him then his brother:
Thus Orpheus to such hearers giueth musick,
And Philo to such patients giueth physick.

[Footnote 96: Isham 'Gentleman.' G.]

[Footnote 97: See our Memorial-Introduction with reference to Wordsworth's splendid filling up of this earlier sketch. G.]

[Footnote 98: Isham 'his.' G.]

[Footnote 99: Isham 'hearkening.' G.]

[Footnote 100: 1st edition and Isham, 'marke.' G.]

[Footnote 101: Isham 'debter poore.' G.]

IN FUSCUM. 39.

Fuscus is free, and hath the world at will;
Yet in the course of life that he doth lead,
He's like a horse which, turning round a mill,
Doth always in the self-same circle tread:
First, he doth rise at ten; and at eleuen
He goes to Gyls,[102] where he doth eate till one;
Then sees a Play till sixe, and sups at seven;
And after supper, straight to bed is gone;
And there till ten next day he doth remaine,
And then he dines, and[103] sees a Comedy;
And then he suppes, and goes to bed againe:
Thus round he runs without variety,
Saue that sometimes he comes not to the Play,
But falls into a whore-house by the way.

[Footnote 102: No doubt some Ordinary near St. Giles, Cripplegate. Isham 'Gilles.' G.]

[Footnote 103: Isham 'then.' G.]

IN AFRAM. 40.

The smell-feast Afer, trauailes to the Burse[104]
Twice euery day, the newest[105] newes to heare;
Which, when he hath no money in his purse,
To rich mens tables he doth often beare:
He tells how Gronigen[106] is taken in,[107]
By the braue conduct of illustrious Vere,[108]
And how the Spanish forces Brest would win,
But that they doe victorious Norris feare.
No sooner is a ship at sea surpris'd,
But straight he learnes the news, and doth disclose it:
No sooner hath the Turk a plot deuis'd
To conquer[109] Christendom, but straight he knows it:[110]
Faire written in a scrowle he hath the names
Of all the widdows which the Plague hath made;
And persons, times, and places still he frames,
To euery tale, the better to perswade:
We call him Fame, for that the wide-mouth slaue
Will eate as fast as he will utter lies;
For Fame is said an hundred mouths to haue,
And he eates more than would fiue score suffice.

[Footnote 104: Bourse, = Exchange. G.]

[Footnote 105: 1st edition and Isham and MS. 'flying.' G.]

[Footnote 106: Groningen. G.]

[Footnote 107: Conquered and added to or 'taken in' with other conquests. G.]

[Footnote 108: To the truly 'illustrious' VERE--one of the noblest of England's earlier generals--DR. RICHARD SIBBES dedicated his 'Soul's Conflict' in very loving words to him and his Lady. See my edition of SIBBES _in loco_. G.]

[Footnote 109: Isham once more badly 'conquerie.' G.]

[Footnote 110: This couplet is given by Mr. Dyce from the MS.: the Isham has it. G.]

IN PAULUM. 41.

By lawfull mart, and by unlawfull stealth,
Paulus in spite of enuy, fortunate,
Deriues out of the Ocean so much wealth,
As he may well maintaine a lord's estate;
But on the land a little gulfe there is,
Wherein he drowneth all the wealth of his.

IN LICUM. 42.

Lycus, which lately[111] is to Venice gone,
Shall if he doe returne, gaine three for one:[112]
But ten to one, his knowledge and his wit
Will not be bettered or increas'd a whit.

[Footnote 111: Recently: the MS. reads 'that is of late.' G.]

[Footnote 112: In our author's days, it was a common practice for persons, before setting out on their travels, to deposit a sum of money, on condition of receiving large interest for it on their return: if they never returned, the deposit was forfeited. Innumerable allusions to 'putters out' occur in the works published during the reigns of Elizabeth and James. D.]

IN PUBLIUM. 43.

Publius [a] student at the Common-law,
Oft leaves his Bookes, and for his recreation,
To Paris-garden[113] doth himselfe withdrawe;
Where he is rauisht with such delectation,
As downe among[114] the beares and dogges he goes;
Where, whilst he skipping cries "to head to head,"
His satten doublet and his veluet hose[115]
Are all with spittle from aboue be-spread:
When he is like his father's countrey Hall,[116]
Stinking with dogges, and muted[117] all with haukes;
And rightly too on him this filth doth fall,
Which for such filthy sports his bookes forsakes;[118]
Leaving old Ployden,[119] Dyer, Brooke alone,
To see old Harry Hunkes, and Sacarson.[120]

[Footnote 113: That is, to the Bear-Garden on the Bank-side, Southwark. D. Near the Globe Theatre: referred to as Palace garden by Hutton, as before. Isham reads badly 'parish.' The Theatre at Paris Garden stood almost exactly at what is now the Surrey starting place of Blackfriars Bridge. In 1632 Donald Lupton in his _London and the Country Carbonadoed_ says of it, "Here come few that either regard their credit or loss of time; the swaggering Roarer; the amusing Cheater; the swearing Drunkard; and the bloody Butcher have their rendezvous here, and are of the chiefe place and respect." (Col. Cunningham's Marlowe, p. 365). G.]

[Footnote 114: Isham 'amongst the dogges and beares.' G.]

[Footnote 115: Breeches. G.]

[Footnote 116: Misprinted 'countrey shall': Qu--country-Hall, as above? Isham 'country Hall.' G.]

[Footnote 117: Dunged. D.]

[Footnote 118: Isham badly 'forsake.' G.]

[Footnote 119: Plowden. D.]

[Footnote 120: Harry Hunkes and Sacarson were two bears at Paris-garden: the latter was the more famous, and is mentioned by Shakespeare in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act I., sc. 1. D. Isham 'Sakersone.' G.]

IN SILLAM. 44.

When I this proposition had defended,
"A coward cannot be an honest man,"
Thou Silla, seem'st forthwith to be offended,
And holds the contrary, and sweares he can;
But when I tell thee that he will forsake
His dearest friend, in perill of his life;
Thou then art chang'd, and sayst thou didst mistake,
And so we end our argument and strife:
Yet I think oft, and thinke I thinke aright,
Thy argument argues thou wilt not fight.

IN DACUM.[121] 45.

[Footnote 121: Daniel, I believe: [Malone's Manuscript note in Bodlean copy. See Epigram 30. G.] Mr. Dyce adds here, "I am sorry to believe that by Dacus (who is spoken of with great contempt in Epigram xxx.) our author means Samuel Daniel: but the following lines in that very pleasing writer's _Complaint of Rosamond_ (which was first printed in 1592) certainly would seem to be alluded to here,

"Ah beauty syren, faire enchanting good,
Sweet, silent rhetorique of perswading eyes,
_Dumb eloquence_, whose power doth moue the blood
More then the words or wisdom of the wise, &c.

1611, p. 39,--Daniel's _Certaine Small Works_, &c. 1611.") G.]

Dacus with some good colour and pretence,
Tearmes his love's beauty "silent eloquence:"
For she doth lay more colour on her face
Than ever Tully us'd his speech to grace.

IN MARCUM. 46.

Why dost thou, Marcus, in thy misery,
Raile and blaspheame, and call the heauens unkind?
The heauens doe owe no kindnesse unto thee,
Thou hast the heauens so little in thy minde;
For in thy life thou neuer usest prayer
But at primero, to encounter faire.

MEDITATIONS OF A GULL. 47.

See, yonder melancholy gentleman,
Which, hood-wink'd with his hat, alone doth sit!
Thinke what he thinks, and tell me if you can,
What great affaires troubles his little wit.
He thinks not of the warre 'twixt France and Spaine,
Whether it be for Europe's good or ill,
Nor whether the Empire can itselfe maintaine
Against the Turkish power encroaching still;
Nor what great towne in all the Netherlands,
The States determine to beseige this Spring;
Nor how the Scottish policy now stands,
Nor what becomes of the Irish mutining.
But he doth seriously bethinke him whether
Of the gull'd people he be more esteem'd
For his long cloake or for his great black feather,
By which each gull is now a gallant deem'd;
Or of a journey he deliberates,
To Paris-garden,[122] Cock-pit or the Play;
Or how to steale a dog he meditates,
Or what he shall unto his mistriss say:
Yet with these thoughts he thinks himself most fit
To be of counsell with a king for wit.

[Footnote 122: See note on this under Epigram 43. G.]

AD MUSAM. 48.

Peace,[123] idle Muse, haue done! for it is time,
Since lousie Ponticus enuies my fame,
And sweares the better sort are much to blame
To make me so well knowne for my[124] ill rime:
Yet Bankes his horse,[125] is better knowne then he.
So are the Cammels and the westerne hogge,[126]
And so is Lepidus his printed Dog:[127]
Why doth not Ponticus their fames enuie?
Besides, this Muse of mine, and the blacke feather
Grew both together fresh[128] in estimation:
And both growne stale, were cast away together:
What fame is this that scarce lasts[129] out a fashion?
Onely this last in credit doth remaine,
That from henceforth, each bastard cast-forth rime,
Which doth but savour of a libell vaine,
Shall call me father, and be thought my crime;
So dull, and with so little sence endu'd,
Is my grose-headed Judge, the multitude.

[Footnote 123: Isham 'Pease.' G.]

[Footnote 124: Isham 'so.' G.]

[Footnote 125: See note on this under Epigram 30. G.]

[Footnote 126: Isham corrects 'Hay' here with 'hogge.' G.]

[Footnote 127: That is 'Lepidus's printed dog.' The following epigram by Sir John Harington determines that he is the Lepidus of this passage, and that his favourite dog Bungey is the "printed dog." In a compartment of the engraved title-page to Harington's _Orlando Furioso_, 1591, is a representation of Bungey (see too the Annotations on Book xli. of that poem); and hence he is termed by Davies the "printed dog."

"AGAINST MOMUS, IN PRAISE OF HIS DOG BUNGEY."