Chapter VI: Part 6

[399] The original has "Aut te trajectis Aeaea venefica _lanis_," &c. (As Dyce remarks, Marlowe read "ranis.")

ELEGIA VIII.[400]

Quod ad amica non recipiatur, dolet.

What man will now take liberal arts in hand,
Or think soft verse in any stead to stand?
Wit was sometimes more precious than gold;
Now poverty great barbarism we hold.
When our books did my mistress fair content,
I might not go whither my papers went.
She praised me, yet the gate shut fast upon her,
I here and there go, witty with dishonour.
See a rich chuff, whose wounds great wealth inferred,
For bloodshed knighted, before me preferred. 10
Fool, can'st thou him in thy white arms embrace?
Fool, can'st thou lie in his enfolding space?
Know'st not this head[401] a helm was wont to bear?
This side that serves thee, a sharp sword did wear.
His left hand, whereon gold doth ill alight,
A target bore: blood-sprinkled was his right.
Can'st touch that hand wherewith some one lies dead?
Ah, whither is thy breast's soft nature fled?
Behold the signs of ancient fight, his scars!
Whate'er he hath, his body gained in wars. 20
Perhaps he'll tell how oft he slew a man,
Confessing this, why dost thou touch him than?[402]
I, the pure priest of Phoebus and the Muses,
At thy deaf doors in verse sing my abuses.
Not what we slothful know,[403] let wise men learn,
But follow trembling camps and battles stern.
And for a good verse draw the first dart forth:[404]
Homer without this shall be nothing worth.
Jove, being admonished gold had sovereign power,
To win the maid came in a golden shower. 30
Till then, rough was her father, she severe,
The posts of brass, the walls of iron were.
But when in gifts the wise adulterer came,
She held her lap ope to receive the same.
Yet when old Saturn heaven's rule possest,
All gain in darkness the deep earth supprest.
Gold, silver, iron's heavy weight, and brass,
In hell were harboured; here was found no mass.
But better things it gave, corn without ploughs,
Apples, and honey in oaks' hollow boughs. 40
With strong ploughshares no man the earth did cleave,
The ditcher no marks on the ground did leave.
Nor hanging oars the troubled seas did sweep,
Men kept the shore and sailed not into deep.
Against thyself, man's nature, thou wert cunning,
And to thine own loss was thy wit swift running.
Why gird'st thy cities with a towerËd wall,
Why let'st discordant hands to armour fall?
What dost with seas? with th' earth thou wert content;
Why seek'st not heaven, the third realm, to frequent? 50
Heaven thou affects: with Romulus, temples brave,
Bacchus, Alcides, and now CÊsar have.
Gold from the earth instead of fruits we pluck;
Soldiers by blood to be enriched have luck.
Courts shut the poor out; wealth gives estimation.
Thence grows the judge, and knight of reputation.
All,[405] they possess: they govern fields and laws,
They manage peace and raw war's bloody jaws.
Only our loves let not such rich churls gain:
'Tis well if some wench for the poor remain. 60
Now, Sabine-like, though chaste she seems to live,
One her[406] commands, who many things can give.
For me, she doth keeper[407] and husband fear,
If I should give, both would the house forbear.
If of scorned lovers god be venger just,
O let him change goods so ill-got to dust.

FOOTNOTES:

[400] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[401] So ed. B.--Ed. C "his." ("Caput _hoc_ galeam portare solebat.")

[402] Then.

[403] Old eds. knew.

[404] Marlowe has quite mistaken the meaning of the original "Proque bono versu primum deducite pilum."

[405] A very loose rendering of Ovid's couplet--

"Omnia possideant; illis Campusque Forumque
Serviat; hi pacem crudaque bella gerant."

[406] So Dyce for "she" of the old eds. ("Imperat ut captae qui dare multa potest.")

[407] The original has "Me prohibet custos: in me timet illa maritum."

ELEGIA IX.[408]

Tibulli mortem deflet.

If Thetis and the Morn their sons did wail,
And envious Fates great goddesses assail;
Sad Elegy,[409] thy woful hairs unbind:
Ah, now a name too true thou hast I find.
Tibullus, thy work's poet, and thy fame,
Burns his dead body in the funeral flame.
Lo, Cupid brings his quiver spoilËd quite,
His broken bow, his firebrand without light!
How piteously with drooping wings he stands,
And knocks his bare breast with self-angry hands. 10
The locks spread on his neck receive his tears,
And shaking sobs his mouth for speeches bears.
So[410] at ∆neas' burial, men report,
Fair-faced Ilus, he went forth thy court.
And Venus grieves, Tibullus' life being spent,
As when the wild boar Adon's groin had rent.
The gods' care we are called, and men of piety,
And some there be that think we have a deity.
Outrageous death profanes all holy things,
And on all creatures obscure darkness brings. 20
To Thracian Orpheus what did parents good?
Or songs amazing wild beasts of the wood?
Where[411] Linus by his father Phoebus laid,
To sing with his unequalled harp is said.
See Homer from whose fountain ever filled
Pierian dew to poets is distilled:
Him the last day in black Avern hath drowned:
Verses alone are with continuance crowned.
The work of poets lasts: Troy's labour's fame,
And that slow web night's falsehood did unframe. 30
So Nemesis, so Delia famous are,
The one his first love, th' other his new care.
What profit to us hath our pure life bred?
What to have lain alone in empty bed?
When bad Fates take good men, I am forbod
By secret thoughts to think there is a God.
Live godly, thou shalt die; though honour heaven,
Yet shall thy life be forcibly bereaven.
Trust in good verse, Tibullus feels death's pains,
Scarce rests of all what a small urn contains. 40
Thee, sacred poet, could sad flames destroy?
Nor fearËd they thy body to annoy?
The holy gods' gilt temples they might fire,
That durst to so great wickedness aspire.
Eryx' bright empress turned her looks aside,
And some, that she refrained tears, have denied.
Yet better is't, than if Corcyra's Isle,
Had thee unknown interred in ground most vile.
Thy dying eyes here did thy mother close,
Nor did thy ashes her last offerings lose. 50
Part of her sorrow here thy sister bearing,
Comes forth, her unkembed[412] locks asunder tearing.
Nemesis and thy first wench join their kisses
With thine, nor this last fire their presence misses.
Delia departing, "Happier loved," she saith,
"Was I: thou liv'dst, while thou esteem'dst my faith."
Nemesis answers, "What's my loss to thee?
His fainting hand in death engraspËd me."
If aught remains of us but name and spirit,
Tibullus doth Elysium's joy inherit. 60
Their youthful brows with ivy girt to meet him,
With Calvus learned Catullus comes, and greet him;
And thou, if falsely charged to wrong thy friend,
Callus, that car'dst[413] not blood and life to spend,
With these thy soul walks: souls if death release,
The godly[414] sweet Tibullus doth increase.
Thy bones, I pray, may in the urn safe rest,
And may th' earth's weight thy ashes naught molest.

FOOTNOTES:

[408] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[409] Ed. B "Eeliga"--Ed. C "Elegia."

[410]

"Fratris in Aeneae sic illum funere dicunt
Egressum tectis, pulcher Iule, tuis."

[411] The original has--

"Aelinon in silvis idem pater, aelinon, altis
Dicitur invita concinuisse lyra."

In Marlowe's copy the couplet must have been very different.

[412] Old eds. "vnkeembe" and "unkeemb'd."

[413] Old eds. "carst."

[414] "Auxisti numeros, culte Tibulle, pios."

ELEGIA X.[415]

Ad Cererem, conquerens quod ejus sacris cum amica concumbere non permittatur.

Come were the times of Ceres' sacrifice;
In empty bed alone my mistress lies.
Golden-haired Ceres crowned with ears of corn,
Why are our pleasures by thy means forborne?
Thee, goddess, bountiful all nations judge,
Nor less at man's prosperity any grudge.
Rude husbandmen baked not their corn before,
Nor on the earth was known the name of floor.[416]
On mast of oaks, first oracles, men fed;
This was their meat, the soft grass was their bed. 10
First Ceres taught the seed in fields to swell,
And ripe-eared corn with sharp-edged scythes to fell.
She first constrained bulls' necks to bear the yoke,
And untilled ground with crooked ploughshares broke.
Who thinks her to be glad at lovers' smart,
And worshipped by their pain and lying apart?
Nor is she, though she loves the fertile fields,
A clown, nor no love from her warm breast yields:
Be witness Crete (nor Crete doth all things feign)
Crete proud that Jove her nursery maintain. 20
There, he who rules the world's star-spangled towers,
A little boy drunk teat-distilling showers.
Faith to the witness Jove's praise doth apply;
Ceres, I think, no known fault will deny.
The goddess saw Iasion on Candian Ide,
With strong hand striking wild beasts' bristled hide.
She saw, and as her marrow took the flame,
Was divers ways distract with love and shame.
Love conquered shame, the furrows dry were burned,
And corn with least part of itself returned. 30
When well-tossed mattocks did the ground prepare,
Being fit-broken with the crooked share,
And seeds were equally in large fields cast,
The ploughman's hopes were frustrate at the last.
The grain-rich goddess in high woods did stray,
Her long hair's ear-wrought garland fell away.
Only was Crete fruitful that plenteous year;
Where Ceres went, each place was harvest there.
Ida, the seat of groves, did sing[417] with corn,
Which by the wild boar in the woods was shorn. 40
Law-giving Minos did such years desire,
And wished the goddess long might feel love's fire.
Ceres, what sports[418] to thee so grievous were,
As in thy sacrifice we them forbear?
Why am I sad, when Proserpine is found,
And Juno-like with Dis reigns under ground?
Festival days ask Venus, songs, and wine,
These gifts are meet to please the powers divine.

FOOTNOTES:

[415] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[416] Threshing-floor ("area").

[417] Marlowe has made the school-boy's mistake of confusing "caneo" and "cano."

[418] The original has

"Quod tibi secubitus tristes, dea flava, fuissent,
Hoc cogor sacris nunc ego ferre tuis."

Marlowe appears to have read "Qui tibi concubitus," &c.

ELEGIA XI.[419]

Ad amicam a cujus amore discedere non potest.

Long have I borne much, mad thy faults me make;
Dishonest love, my wearied breast forsake!
Now have I freed myself, and fled the chain,
And what I have borne, shame to bear again.
We vanquish, and tread tamed love under feet,
Victorious wreaths[420] at length my temples greet.
Suffer, and harden: good grows by this grief,
Oft bitter juice brings to the sick relief.
I have sustained, so oft thrust from the door,
To lay my body on the hard moist floor. 10
I know not whom thou lewdly didst embrace,
When I to watch supplied a servant's place.
I saw when forth a tirËd lover went.
His side past service, and his courage spent,
Yet this is less than if he had seen me;
May that shame fall mine enemies' chance to be.
When have not I, fixed to thy side, close laid?
I have thy husband, guard, and fellow played.
The people by my company she pleased;
My love was cause that more men's love she seized. 20
What, should I tell her vain tongue's filthy lies,
And, to my loss, god-wronging perjuries?
What secret becks in banquets with her youths,
With privy signs, and talk dissembling truths?
Hearing her to be sick, I thither ran,
But with my rival sick she was not than.
These hardened me, with what I keep obscure:[421]
Some other seek, who will these things endure.
Now my ship in the wishËd haven crowned,
With joy hears Neptune's swelling waters sound. 30
Leave thy once-powerful words, and flatteries,
I am not as I was before, unwise.
Now love and hate my light breast each way move,
But victory, I think, will hap to love.
I'll hate, if I can; if not, love 'gainst my will,
Bulls hate the yoke, yet what they hate have still.
I fly her lust, but follow beauty's creature,
I loathe her manners, love her body's feature.
Nor with thee, nor without thee can I live,
And doubt to which desire the palm to give. 40
Or less fair, or less lewd would thou might'st be:
Beauty with lewdness doth right ill agree.
Her deeds gain hate, her face entreateth love;
Ah, she doth more worth than her vices prove!
Spare me, oh, by our fellow bed, by all
The gods, who by thee, to be perjured fall.[422]
And by thy face to me a power divine,
And by thine eyes, whose radiance burns out mine!
Whate'er thou art, mine art thou: choose this course,
Wilt have me willing, or to love by force. 50
Rather I'll hoist up sail, and use the wind,
That I may love yet, though against my mind.

FOOTNOTES:

[419] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[420] The original has "Venerunt capiti cornua sera meo."

[421] "Et que taceo."

[422] "Qui dant fallendos se tibi saepe, deos."

ELEGIA XII.[423]

Dolet amicam suam ita suis carminibus innotuisse ut rivales multos sibi pararit.

What day was that, which all sad haps to bring,
White birds to lovers did not[424] always sing?
Or is I think my wish against the stars?
Or shall I plain some god against me wars?
Who mine was called, whom I loved more than any,
I fear with me is common now to many.
Err I? or by my books[425] is she so known?
'Tis so: by my wit her abuse is grown.
And justly: for her praise why did I tell?
The wench by my fault is set forth to sell. 10
The bawd I play, lovers to her I guide:
Her gate by my hands is set open wide.
'Tis doubtful whether verse avail or harm,
Against my good they were an envious charm.
When Thebes, when Troy, when CÊsar should be writ,
Alone Corinna moves my wanton wit.
With Muse opposed, would I my lines had done,
And Phoebus had forsook my work begun!
Nor, as use will not poets' record hear,
Would I my words would any credit bear. 20
Scylla by us her father's rich hair steals,
And Scylla's womb mad raging dogs conceals.
We cause feet fly, we mingle hares with snakes,
Victorious Perseus a winged steed's back takes.
Our verse great Tityus a huge space outspreads,
And gives the viper-curlËd dog three heads.
We make Enceladus use a thousand arms,
And men enthralled by mermaid's[426] singing charms.
The east winds in Ulysses' bags we shut,
And blabbing Tantalus in mid-waters put. 30
Niobe flint, Callist we make a bear,
Bird-changËd Progne doth her Itys tear.[427]
Jove turns himself into a swan, or gold,
Or his bull's horns Europa's hand doth hold.
Proteus what should I name? teeth, Thebes' first seed?
Oxen in whose mouths burning flames did breed?
Heaven-star, Electra,[428] that bewailed her sisters?
The ships, whose godhead in the sea now glisters?
The sun turned back from Atreus' cursed table? 39
And sweet-touched harp that to move stones was able?
Poets' large power is boundless and immense,
Nor have their words true history's pretence.
And my wench ought to have seemed falsely praised,
Now your credulity harm to me hath raised.

FOOTNOTES:

[423] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[424] Marlowe has put his negative in the wrong place and made nonsense of the couplet:--

"Quis fuit ille dies quo tristia semper amanti
Omina non albae concinuistis aves?"

[425] Old eds. "lookes."

[426] "Ambiguae captos virginis ore viros." ("Ambigua virgo" is the sphinx.)

[427] The original has "_Concinit_ Odrysium Cecropis ales Ityn."

[428] Marlowe's copy must have been very corrupt here. The true reading is

"Flere genis electra tuas, auriga, sorores?"

ELEGIA XIII.[429]

De Junonis festo.

When fruit-filled Tuscia should a wife give me,
We touched the walls, Camillus, won by thee.
The priests to Juno did prepare chaste feasts,
With famous pageants, and their home-bred beasts.
To know their rites well recompensed my stay,
Though thither leads a rough steep hilly way.
There stands an old wood with thick trees dark clouded:
Who sees it grants some deity there is shrouded.
An altar takes men's incense and oblation,
An altar made after the ancient fashion. 10
Here, when the pipe with solemn tunes doth sound,
The annual pomp goes on the covered[430] ground.
White heifers by glad people forth are led,
Which with the grass of Tuscan fields are fed,
And calves from whose feared front no threatening flies,
And little pigs, base hogsties' sacrifice,
And rams with horns their hard heads wreathËd back;
Only the goddess-hated goat did lack,
By whom disclosed, she in the high woods took,
Is said to have attempted flight forsook. 20
Now[431] is the goat brought through the boys with darts,
And give[n] to him that the first wound imparts.
Where Juno comes, each youth and pretty maid,
Show[432] large ways, with their garments there displayed.
Jewels and gold their virgin tresses crown,
And stately robes to their gilt feet hang down.
As is the use, the nuns in white veils clad,
Upon their heads the holy mysteries had.
When the chief pomp comes, loud[433] the people hollow;
And she her vestal virgin priests doth follow. 30
Such was the Greek pomp, Agamemnon dead;
Which fact[434] and country wealth, Halesus fled.
And having wandered now through sea and land,
Built walls high towered with a prosperous hand.
He to th' Hetrurians Juno's feast commended:
Let me and them by it be aye befriended.

FOOTNOTES:

[429] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[430] "It per velatas annua pompa vias."

[431]

"Nunc quoque per pueros jaculis incessitur index
Et pretium auctori vulneris ipsa datur."

[432] "Praeverrunt latas veste jacente vias."--Dyce remarks that Marlowe read "Praebuerant."

[433] "Ore favent populi." (In Henry's monumental edition of Virgil's ∆neid, vol. iii. pp. 25-27, there is a very interesting note on the meaning of the formula "ore favete." He denies the correctness of the ordinary interpretation "be silent.")

[434] "Et _scelus_ et patrias fugit HalÊsus opes."

ELEGIA XIV.

Ad amicam, si peccatura est, ut occulte peccet.

Seeing thou art fair, I bar not thy false playing,
But let not me, poor soul, know[435] of thy straying.
Nor do I give thee counsel to live chaste,
But that thou would'st dissemble, when 'tis past.
She hath not trod awry, that doth deny it.
Such as confess have lost their good names by it.
What madness is't to tell night-pranks[436] by day?
And[437] hidden secrets openly to bewray?
The strumpet with the stranger will not do,
Before the room be clear and door put-to. 10
Will you make shipwreck of your honest name,
And let the world be witness of the same?
Be more advised, walk as a puritan,
And I shall think you chaste, do what you can.
Slip still, only deny it when 'tis done,
And, before folk,[438] immodest speeches shun.
The bed is for lascivious toyings meet,
There use all tricks,[439] and tread shame under feet.
When you are up and dressed, be sage and grave,
And in the bed hide all the faults you have. 20
Be not ashamed to strip you, being there,
And mingle thighs, yours ever mine to bear.[440]
There in your rosy lips my tongue entomb,
Practise a thousand sports when there you come.
Forbear no wanton words you there would speak,
And with your pastime let the bedstead creak;
But with your robes put on an honest face,
And blush, and seem as you were full of grace.
Deceive all; let me err; and think I'm right,
And like a wittol think thee void of slight. 30
Why see I lines so oft received and given?
This bed and that by tumbling made uneven?
Like one start up your hair tost and displaced,
And with a wanton's tooth your neck new-rased.
Grant this, that what you do I may not see;
If you weigh not ill speeches, yet weigh me.
My soul fleets[441] when I think what you have done,
And thorough[442] every vein doth cold blood run.
Then thee whom I must love, I hate in vain,
And would be dead, but dead[443] with thee remain. 40
I'll not sift much, but hold thee soon excused.
Say but thou wert injuriously accused.
Though while the deed be doing you be took,
And I see when you ope the two-leaved book,[444]
Swear I was blind; deny[445] if you be wise,
And I will trust your words more than mine eyes.
From him that yields, the palm[446] is quickly got,
Teach but your tongue to say, "I did it not,"
And being justified by two words, think
The cause acquits you not, but I[447] that wink. 50

FOOTNOTES:

[435] So Isham copy and eds. B, C.--Ed. A "wit."

[436] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "night-sports."

[437] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "Or."

[438] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "people."

[439] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "toyes."

[440] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "mine ever yours."

[441] "Mens abit."

[442] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "through."

[443] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "dying."

[444] The original has

"Et fuerint oculis probra videnda meis."

[445] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "yeeld not."

[446] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "garland."

[447] So Isham copy and eds. A, B.--Ed. C "that I."

ELEGIA XV.[448]

Ad Venerem, quod elegis finem imponat.

Tender Loves' mother[449] a new poet get,
This last end to my Elegies is set.[450]
Which I, Peligny's foster-child, have framed,
Nor am I by such wanton toys defamed.
Heir of an ancient house, if help that can,
Not only by war's rage[451] made gentleman.
In Virgil Mantua joys: in Catull Verone;
Of me Peligny's nation boasts alone;
Whom liberty to honest arms compelled,
When careful Rome in doubt their prowess held.[452] 10
And some guest viewing watery Sulmo's walls,
Where little ground to be enclosed befalls,
"How such a poet could you bring forth?" says:
"How small soe'er, I'll you for greatest praise."
Both loves, to whom my heart long time did yield,[453]
Your golden ensigns pluck[454] out of my field.
Horned Bacchus graver fury doth distil,
A greater ground with great horse is to till.
Weak Elegies, delightful Muse, farewell;
A work that, after my death, here shall dwell. 20

FOOTNOTES:

[448] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[449] "Tenerorum mater amorum."

[450] "Marlowe's copy of Ovid had 'Traditur haec elegis ultima charta meis.'"--Dyce. (The true reading is "Raditur hic ... meta meis.")

[451] "Non modo militiae turbine factus eques."

[452] "Cum timuit socias anxia turba manus."

[453] "Marlowe's copy of Ovid had 'Culte puer, puerique parens _mihi tempore longo_.' (instead of what we now read 'Amathusia culti.')"--Dyce.

[454] Old eds. "pluckt."

EPIGRAMS BY J[OHN] D[AVIES].

EPIGRAMS BY J[OHN] D[AVIES].[455]

AD MUSAM. I.

Fly, merry Muse, unto that merry town,
Where thou mayst plays, revels, and triumphs see;
The house of fame, and theatre of renown,
Where all good wits and spirits love to be.
Fall in between their hands that praise and love thee,[456]
And be to them a laughter and a jest:
But as for them which scorning shall reprove[457] thee,
Disdain their wits, and think thine own the best.
But if thou find any so gross and dull,
That thinks I do to private taxing[458] lean, 10
Bid him go hang, for he is but a gull,
And knows not what an epigram doth[459] mean,
Which taxeth,[460] under a particular name,
A general vice which merits public blame.

FOOTNOTES:

[455] Dyce has carefully recorded the readings of a MS. copy (_Harl. MS._ 1836) of the present epigrams. As in most cases the variations are unimportant, I have not thought it necessary to reproduce Dyce's elaborate collation. Where the MS. readings are distinctly preferable I have adopted them; but in such cases I have been careful to record the readings of the printed copies.

[456] So Dyce.--Old eds. "loue and praise thee;" MS. "Seeme to love thee."

[457] So Isham copy and MS. Ed. A "approve."

[458] Censuring. Dyce compares the Induction to the _Knight of the Burning Pestle_:--

"Fly far from hence
All _private taxes_."

[459] So MS.--Old eds. "does."

[460] MS. "Which carrieth under a peculiar name."

OF A GULL. II.

Oft in my laughing rhymes I name a gull;
But this new term will many questions breed;
Therefore at first I will express at full,
Who is a true and perfect gull indeed.
A gull is he who fears a velvet gown,
And, when a wench is brave, dares not speak to her;
A gull is he which traverseth the town,
And is for marriage known a common wooer;
A gull is he which, while he proudly wears
A silver-hilted rapier by his side, 10
Endures the lie[461] and knocks about the ears,
Whilst in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide;
A gull is he which wears good handsome clothes,
And stands in presence stroking up his hair,
And fills up his unperfect speech with oaths,
But speaks not one wise word throughout the year:
But, to define a gull in terms precise,--
A gull is he which seems and is not wise.[462]

FOOTNOTES:

[461] So MS.--Old eds. "lies."

[462] "To this epigram there is an evident allusion in the following one

'TO CANDIDUS.
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 barraine 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
Thinks al men guls, ther's none more gull then he.'

Guilpin's _Skialetheia, &c._ 1598, _Epig._ 20."
--_Dyce._

IN REFUM. III.

Rufus the courtier, at the theatre,
Leaving the best and most conspicuous place,
Doth either to the stage[463] himself transfer,
Or through a grate[464] doth show his double face,
For that the clamorous fry of Inns of Court
Fill up the private rooms of greater price,
And such a place where all may have resort
He in his singularity doth despise.
Yet doth not his particular humour shun
The common stews and brothels of the town, 10
Though all the world in troops do thither run,
Clean and unclean, the gentle and the clown:
Then why should Rufus in his pride abhor
A common seat, that loves a common whore?

FOOTNOTES:

[463] It was a common practice for gallants to sit upon hired stools in the stage, especially at the private theatres. From the _Induction_ to Marston's _Malcontent_ it appears that the custom was not tolerated at some of the public theatres. The ordinary charge for the use of a stool was sixpence.

[464] Malone was no doubt right in supposing that there is here an allusion to the "private boxes" placed at each side of the balcony at the back of the stage. They must have been very dark and uncomfortable. In the _Gull's Horn-Book_ Dekker says that "much new Satin was there dampned by being smothered to death in darkness."

IN QUINTUM. IV.

Quintus the dancer useth evermore
His feet in measure and in rule to move:
Yet on a time he call'd his mistress _whore_,
And thought with that sweet word to win her love.
O, had his tongue like to his feet been taught,
It never would have utter'd such a thought!

IN PLURIMOS. V.[465]

Faustinus, Sextus, Cinna, Ponticus,
With Gella, Lesbia, Thais, Rhodope,
Rode all to Staines,[466] for no cause serious,
But for their mirth and for their lechery.
Scarce were they settled in their lodging, when
Wenches with wenches, men with men fell out,
Men with their wenches, wenches with their men;
Which straight dissolves[467] this ill-assembled rout.
But since the devil brought them thus together,
To my discoursing thoughts it is a wonder, 10
Why presently as soon as they came thither,
The self-same devil did them part asunder.
Doubtless, it seems, it was a foolish devil,
That thus did part them ere they did some evil.

FOOTNOTES:

[465] MS. "In meritriculas Londinensis."

[466] MS. "Ware."

[467] MS. "dissolv'd"

IN TITUM. VI.

Titus, the brave and valorous young gallant,
Three years together in his town hath been;
Yet my Lord Chancellor's[468] tomb he hath not seen,
Nor the new water-work,[469] nor the elephant.
I cannot tell the cause without a smile,--
He hath been in the Counter all this while.

FOOTNOTES:

[468] Sir Christopher Hatton's tomb. See Dugdale's _History of St. Paul's Cathedral_, ed. 1658, p. 83.

[469] "The new water-work was at London Bridge. 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 of Borestall_, written about 1645, when the poet [William Basse] brings trees of all descriptions to the funeral, particularly a gigantic oak--

"The youth of these our times that did behold
This motion strange of this unwieldy plant
Now boldly brag with us that are men old,
That of our age they no advantage want,
Though in our youth we saw an elephant."
--_Cunningham_.

IN FAUSTUM. VII.

Faustus, nor lord nor knight, nor wise nor old,
To every place about the town doth ride;
He rides into the fields[470] plays to behold,
He rides to take boat at the water-side,
He rides to Paul's, he rides to th' ordinary,
He rides unto the house of bawdry too,--
Thither his horse so often doth him carry,
That shortly he will quite forget to go.

FOOTNOTES:

[470] See the admirable account of "The Theatre and Curtain" in Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_, ed. 3, pp. 385-433. It is there shown that the access to the _Theatre_ play-house was through Finsbury Fields to the west of the western boundary-wall of the grounds of the dissolved Holywell Priory.

IN KATAM.[471] VIII.

Kate, being pleas'd, wish'd that her pleasure could
Endure as long as a buff-jerkin would.
Content thee, Kate; although thy pleasure wasteth,
Thy pleasure's place like a buff-jerkin lasteth,
For no buff-jerkin hath been oftener worn,
Nor hath more scrapings or more dressings borne.

FOOTNOTES:

[471] Not in MS.

IN LIBRUM. IX.

Liber doth vaunt how chastely he hath liv'd
Since he hath been in town, seven years[472] and more,
For that he swears he hath four only swiv'd,
A maid, a wife, a widow, and a whore:
Then, Liber, thou hast swiv'd all womenkind,
For a fifth sort, I know, thou canst not find.

FOOTNOTES:

[472] MS. "knowen this towne 7 yeares."

IN MEDONTEM. X.

Great Captain Medon wears a chain of gold
Which at five hundred crowns is valuËd,
For that it was his grandsire's chain of old,
When great King Henry Boulogne conquerËd.
And wear it, Medon, for it may ensue,
That thou, by virtue of this massy chain,
A stronger town than Boulogne mayst subdue,
If wise men's saws be not reputed vain;
For what said Philip, king of Macedon?
"There is no castle so well fortified, 10
But if an ass laden with gold comes on,
The guard will stoop, and gates fly open wide."

IN GELAM. XI.

Gella, if thou dost love thyself, take heed
Lest thou my rhymes unto thy lover read;
For straight thou grinn'st, and then thy lover seeth
Thy canker-eaten gums and rotten teeth.

IN QUINTUM.[473] XII.

Quintus his wit, infus'd into his brain,
Mislikes the place, and fled into his feet;
And there it wanders up and down the street,[474]
Dabbled in the dirt, and soakËd in the rain.
Doubtless his wit intends not to aspire,
Which leaves his head, to travel in the mire.

FOOTNOTES:

[473] Not in MS.

[474] Old eds. "streets."

IN SEVERUM. XIII.

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 is it that we seldom hear him swear;
And therefore like a Pharisee, he vaunts:
But he devours more capons in a year
Than would suffice a hundred protestants.
And, sooth, those sectaries are gluttons all,
As well the thread-bare cobbler as the knight; 10
For those poor slaves which have not wherewithal,
Feed on the rich, till they devour them quite;
And so, like Pharaoh's kine, they eat up clean
Those that be fat, yet still themselves be lean.

IN LEUCAM. XIV.[475]

Leuca in presence once a fart did let:
Some laugh'd a little; she forsook the place;
And, mad with shame, did eke her glove forget,
Which she return'd to fetch with bashful grace;
And when she would have said "this is[476] my glove,"
"My fart," quod she; which did more laughter move.

FOOTNOTES:

[475] Not in MS.

[476] So Isham copy.--Other eds. omit the words "this is."

IN MACRUM. XV.

Thou canst not speak yet, Macer; for to speak,
Is to distinguish sounds significant:
Thou with harsh noise the air dost rudely break;
But what thou utter'st common sense doth want,--
Half-English words, with fustian terms among,
Much like the burden of a northern song.

IN FAUSTUM. XVI.

"That youth," said Faustus, "hath a lion seen,
Who from a dicing-house comes moneyless."
But when he lost his hair, where had he been?
I doubt me, he[477] had seen a lioness.

FOOTNOTES:

[477] So MS. and eds. B, C. Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

IN COSMUM. XVII.

Cosmus hath more discoursing in his head
Than Jove when Pallas issu'd from his brain;
And still he strives to be deliverËd
Of all his thoughts at once; but all in vain;
For, as we see at all the playhouse-doors,
When ended is the play, the dance, and song,
A thousand townsmen, gentlemen, and whores,
Porters, and serving-men, together throng,--
So thoughts of drinking, thriving, wenching, war,
And borrowing money, ranging in his mind, 10
To issue all at once so forward are,
As none at all can perfect passage find.

IN FLACCUM. XVIII.

The false knave Flaccus once a bribe I gave;
The more fool I to bribe so false a knave:
But he gave back my bribe; the more fool he,
That for my folly did not cozen me.

IN CINEAM. XIX.

Thou, doggËd Cineas, hated like a dog,
For still thou grumblest like a masty[478] dog,
Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dog;
Thou say'st thou art as weary as a dog,
As angry, sick, and hungry as a dog,
As dull and melancholy as a dog,
As lazy, sleepy, idle[479] as a dog.
But why dost thou compare thee to a dog
In that for which all men despise a dog?
I will compare thee better to a dog; 10
Thou art as fair and comely as a dog,
Thou art as true and honest as a dog,
Thou art as kind and liberal as a dog,
Thou art as wise and valiant as a dog.
But, Cineas, I have often[480] 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[478] Mastiff.

[479] So Isham copy and MS.--Eds. A, B, C "and as idle."

[480] So MS.--Isham copy and ed. A "oft."

IN GERONTEM.[481] XX.

Geron, whose[482] mouldy memory corrects
Old Holinshed our famous chronicler
With moral rules, and policy collects
Out of all actions done these fourscore year;
Accounts the time of every odd[483] event,
Not from Christ's birth, nor from the prince's reign,
But from some other famous accident,
Which in men's general notice doth remain,--
The siege of Boulogne,[484] and the plaguy sweat,[485]
The going to Saint Quintin's[486] and New-Haven,[487] 10
The rising[488] in the north, the frost so great,
That cart-wheel prints on Thamis' face were graven,[489]
The fall of money,[490] and burning of Paul's steeple,[491]
The blazing star,[492] and Spaniards' overthrow:[493]
By these events, notorious to the people,
He measures times, and things forepast doth show:
But most of all, he chiefly reckons by
A private chance,--the death of his curst[494] wife;
This is to him the dearest memory,
And th' happiest accident of all his life. 20

FOOTNOTES:

[481] Not in MS.

[482] So Isham copy.--Omitted in ed. A.

[483] So Isham copy.--Eds. A, B, C "old."

[484] Boulogne was captured by Henry VIII. in 1544.

[485] The reference probably is to the visitation of 1551.

[486] In 1557 an English corps under the Earl of Pembroke took part in the war against France. "The English did not share in the glory of the battle, for they were not present; but they arrived two days after to take part in the storming of St. Quentin, and to share, to their shame, in the sack and spoiling of the town."--Froude, VI. 52.

[487] Havre.--The expedition was despatched in 1562.

[488] Led by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland in 1569.

[489] The reference is to the frost of 1564.--"There was one great frost in England in our memory, and that was in the 7th year of Queen Elizabeth: which began upon the 21st of December and held in so extremely that, upon New Year's eve following, people in multitudes went upon the Thames from London Bridge to Westminster; some, as you tell me, sir, they do now--playing at football, others shooting at pricks."--"The Great Frost," 1608 (Arber's "English Garner," Vol. I.)

[490] "This yeare [1560] in the end of September the copper monies which had been coyned under King Henry the Eight and once before abased by King Edward the Sixth, were again brought to a lower valuacion."--Hayward's _Annals of Queen Elizabeth_, p. 73.

[491] On the 4th June 1561, the steeple of St. Paul's was struck by lightning.

[492] "On the 10th of October (some say on the 7th) appeared a blazing star in the north, bushing towards the east, which was nightly seen diminishing of his brightness until the 21st of the same month."--Stow's _Annales_, under the year 1580 (ed. 1615, p. 687).

[493] The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

[494] Vixenish.

IN MARCUM. XXI.

When Marcus comes from Mins',[495] he still doth swear,
By "come[496] on seven," that all is lost and gone:
But that's not true; for he hath lost his hair,
Only for that he came too much on[497] one.

FOOTNOTES:

[495] Dyce conjectures that this was the name of some person who kept an ordinary where gaming was practised. (MS. "for newes.")

[496] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "a seaven."

[497] So MS. with some eccentricities of spelling ("to much one one").--Old eds. "at."

IN CYPRIUM. XXII.

The fine youth Cyprius is more terse and neat
Than 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 wears a hat now of the flat-crown block,[498]
The treble ruff,[499] long coat, and doublet French:
He takes tobacco, and doth wear a lock,[500]
And wastes more time in dressing than a wench.
Yet this new-fangled youth, made for these times,
Doth, above all, praise old George[501] Gascoigne's rhymes.[502] 10

FOOTNOTES:

[498] Shape or fashion; properly the wooden mould on which the crown of a hat is shaped.

[499] So MS.--Old eds. "ruffes."

[500] Love-lock; a lock of hair hanging down the shoulder in the left side. It was usually plaited with ribands.

[501] So MS. and eds. B, C.--Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[502] Gascoigne's "rhymes" have been edited in two thick volumes by Mr. Carew Hazlitt. He died on 7th October 1577. In Gabriel Harvey's _Letter Book_ (recently edited by Mr. Edward Scott for the Camden Society) there are some elegies on him.

IN CINEAM. XXIII.

When Cineas comes amongst his friends in morning,
He slyly looks[503] who first his cap doth move:
Him he salutes, the rest so grimly scorning,
As if for ever they had lost his love.
I, knowing how it doth the humour fit
Of this fond gull to be saluted first,
Catch at my cap, but move it not a whit:
Which he perceiving,[504] seems for spite to burst.
But, Cineas, why expect you more of me
Than I of you? I am as good a man, 10
And better too by many a quality,
For vault, and dance, and fence, and rhyme I can:
You keep a whore at your own charge, men tell me;
Indeed, friend Cineas, therein you excel me.[505]

FOOTNOTES:

[503] So Isham copy and ed. A.--Eds. B, C "spies."--MS. "notes."

[504] So the MS.--Isham copy and ed. A "Which perceiving he."--Eds. B, C "Which to perceiving he."

[505] The MS. adds--

"You keepe a whore att your [own] charge in towne;
Indeede, frend Ceneas, there you put me downe."

IN GALLUM. XXIV.

Gallus hath been this summer-time in Friesland,
And now, return'd, he speaks such warlike words,
As, if I could their English understand,
I fear me they would cut my throat like swords;
He talks of counter-scarfs,[506] and casamates,[507]
Of parapets, curtains, and palisadoes;[508]
Of flankers, ravelins, gabions he prates,
And of false-brays,[509] and sallies, and scaladoes.[510]
But, to requite such gulling terms as these,
With words to my profession I reply; 10
I tell of fourching, vouchers, and counterpleas,
Of withernams, essoins, and champarty.
So, neither of us understanding either,
We part as wise as when we came together.

FOOTNOTES:

[506] Counter-scarps.

[507] Old eds. "Casomates."

[508] Old eds. "Of parapets, of curteneys, and pallizadois."--MS. "Of parapelets, curtens and passadoes."--Cunningham prints "Of curtains, parapets," &c.

[509] "A term in fortification, exactly from the French _fausse-braie_, which means, say the dictionaries, a counter-breast-work, or, in fact, a mound thrown up to mask some part of the works.

'And made those strange approaches by false-brays,
Reduits, half-moons, horn-works, and such close ways.'

_B. Jons. Underwoods._"--Nares.

[510] Dyce points out that this passage is imitated in Fitzgeoffrey's _Notes from Black-Fryers_, Sig. E. 7, ed. 1620.

IN DECIUM.[511] XXV.

Audacious painters have Nine Worthies made;
But poet Decius, more audacious far,
Making his mistress march with men of war,
With title of "Tenth Worthy" doth her lade.
Methinks that gull did use his terms as fit,
Which term'd his love "a giant for her wit."

FOOTNOTES:

[511] In this epigram, as Dyce showed, Davies is glancing at a sonnet of Drayton's "To the Celestiall Numbers" in _Idea_. Jonson told Drummond that "S. J. Davies played in ane Epigrame on Draton's, who in a sonnet concluded his mistress might been the Ninth [sic] Worthy; and said he used a phrase like Dametas in Arcadia, who said, For wit his Mistresse might be a Gyant."--_Notes of Ben Jonson's Conversations with Drummond_, p. 15. (ed. Shakesp. Soc.)

IN GELLAM. XXVI.

If Gella's beauty be examinËd,
She hath a dull dead eye, a saddle nose,
An ill-shap'd face, with morphew overspread,
And rotten teeth, which she in laughing shows;
Briefly, she is the filthiest wench in town,
Of all that do the art of whoring use:
But when she hath put on her satin gown,
Her cut[512] lawn apron, and her velvet shoes,
Her green silk stockings, and her petticoat
Of taffeta, with golden fringe around, 10
And is withal perfum'd with civet hot,
Which doth her valiant stinking breath confound,--
Yet she with these additions is no more
Than a sweet, filthy, fine, ill-favour'd whore.

FOOTNOTES:

[512] So MS.--Old eds. "out."

IN SYLLAM. XXVII.

Sylla is often challeng'd to the field,
To answer, like a gentleman, his foes:
But then doth he this[513] only answer yield,
That he hath livings and fair lands to lose.
Sylla, if none but beggars valiant were,
The king of Spain would put us all in fear.

FOOTNOTES:

[513] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "when doth he his."

IN SYLLAM. XXVIII.

Who dares affirm that Sylla dare not fight?
When I dare swear he dares adventure more
Than the most brave and most[514] all-daring wight
That ever arms with resolution bore;
He that dare touch the most unwholesome whore
That ever was retir'd into the spittle,
And dares court wenches standing at a door
(The portion of his wit being passing little);
He that dares give his dearest friends offences,
Which other valiant fools do fear to do, 10
And, when a fever doth confound his senses,
Dare eat raw beef, and drink strong wine thereto:
He that dares take tobacco on the stage,[515]
Dares man a whore at noon-day through the street,
Dares dance in Paul's, and in this formal age
Dares say and do whatever is unmeet;
Whom fear of shame could never yet affright,
Who dares affirm that Sylla dares not fight?

FOOTNOTES:

[514] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "most brave, most all daring."--Eds. B, C "most brave and all daring."--MS. "most valiant and all-daring."

[515] There are frequent allusions to this practice. Cf. Induction to _Cynthia's Revels_:--"I have my three sorts of tobacco in my pocket; my light by me."

IN HEYWODUM. XXIX.

Heywood,[516] that did in epigrams excel,
Is now put down since my light Muse arose;[517]
As buckets are put down into a well,
Or as a schoolboy putteth down his hose.

FOOTNOTES:

[516] John Heywood, the well-known epigrammatist and interlude-writer. His Proverbs were edited in 1874, with a pleasantly-written Introduction and useful notes, by Mr. Julian Sharman.

[517] Dyce refers to a passage of Sir John Harington's _Metamorphosis of Ajax_, 1596:--"This Haywood for his proverbs and epigrams is not yet put down by any of our country, though one [marginal note, M. Davies] doth indeed come near him, that graces him the more in saying he puts him down." He quotes also from Bastard's _Chrestoleros_, 1598 (Lib. ii. Ep. 15); Lib. iii. Ep. 3, and Freeman's _Rubbe and a Great Cast_ ( Pt. ii., Ep. 100), allusions to the present epigram.

IN DACUM.[518] XXX.

Amongst the poets Dacus number'd is,
Yet could he never make an English rhyme:
But some prose speeches I have heard of his,
Which have been spoken many a hundred time;
The man that keeps the elephant hath one,
Wherein he tells the wonders of the beast;
Another Banks pronouncËd long agone,
When he his curtal's[519] qualities express'd:
He first taught him that keeps the monuments
At Westminster, his formal tale to say, 10
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 number'd is.

FOOTNOTES:

[518] Samuel Daniel. See Ep. xlv.

[519] All the information about Banks' wonderful horse Moroccus ("the little horse that ambled on the top of Paul's") is collected in Mr. Halliwell-Phillips' _Memoranda on Love's Labour Lost_.

IN PRISCUM. XXXI.

When Priscus, rais'd from low to high estate,
Rode through the street in pompous jollity,
Caius, his poor 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 myself I do not know."

IN BRUNUM. XXXII.

Brunus, which deems[520] himself a fair sweet youth,
Is nine and thirty[521] year of age at least;
Yet was he never, to confess the truth,
But a dry starveling when he was at best.
This gull was sick to show his nightcap fine,
And his wrought pillow overspread with lawn;
But hath been well since his grief's cause hath line[522]
At Trollop's by Saint Clement's Church in pawn.

FOOTNOTES:

[520] So eds. B, C.--Isham copy and ed. A "thinks."

[521] Old eds. "thirtie nine." MS. "nine and thirtith."

[522] Lain.

IN FRANCUM. XXXIII.

When Francus comes to solace with his whore,
He sends for rods, and strips himself stark naked;
For his lust sleeps, and will not rise before,
By whipping of the wench, it be awakËd.
I envy him not, but wish I[523] had the power
To make myself his wench but one half-hour.

FOOTNOTES:

[523] So Isham copy.--Ed. A "he."

IN CASTOREM. XXXIV.

Of speaking well why do we learn the skill,
Hoping thereby honour and wealth to gain?
Sith railing Castor doth, by speaking ill,
Opinion of much wit, and gold obtain.

IN SEPTIMIUM. XXXV.

Septimius[524] lives, and is like garlic seen,
For though his head be white, his blade is green.
This old mad colt deserves a martyr's praise,
For he was burnËd[525] in Queen Mary's days.

FOOTNOTES:

[524] So ed. B.--Isham copy, ed. A, and MS. "Septimus."

[525] "Burn" is often used with an indelicate _double entendre_. Cf. _Lear_ iii. 2, "No heretics _burned_ but wenchers' suitors;" _Troilus and Cressida_, v. 2, "A _burning_ devil take them."

OF TOBACCO. XXXVI.

Homer of Moly and Nepenthe sings;
Moly, the gods' most sovereign herb divine,
Nepenthe, Helen's[526] drink, which gladness brings,
Heart's grief expels, and doth the wit refine.
But this our age another world hath found,
From whence an herb of heavenly power is brought;
Moly is not so sovereign for a wound,
Nor hath nepenthe so great wonders wrought.
It is tobacco, whose sweet subtle[527] fume
The hellish torment of the teeth doth ease, 10
By drawing down and drying up the rheum,
The mother and the nurse of each disease;
It is tobacco, which doth cold expel,
And clears th' obstructions of the arteries,
And surfeits threatening death digesteth well,
Decocting all the stomach's crudities;[528]
It is tobacco, which hath power to clarify
The cloudy mists before dim eyes appearing;
It is tobacco, which hath power to rarify
The thick gross humour which doth stop the hearing; 20
The wasting hectic, and the quartan fever,
Which doth of physic make a mockery,
The gout it cures, and helps ill breaths for ever,
Whether the cause in teeth or stomach be;
And though ill breaths were by it but confounded,
Yet that vild[529] medicine it doth far excel,
Which by Sir Thomas More[530] hath been propounded,
For this is thought a gentleman-like smell.
O, that I were one of these mountebanks
Which praise their oils and powders which they sell! 30
My customers would give me coin with thanks;
I for this ware, forsooth,[531] a tale would tell:
Yet would I use none of these terms before;
I would but say, that it the pox will cure;
This were enough, without discoursing more,
All our brave gallants in the town t'allure.

FOOTNOTES:

[526] Isham copy, "Heuens;" and eds. B, C "Heauens."--MS. "helevs."--Davies alludes to _Odyssey_ iv., 219, &c.

[527] So MS.--Old eds. "substantiall."

[528] We are reminded of Bobadil's encomium of tobacco:--"I could say what I know of the virtue of it, for the expulsion of rheums, raw humours, crudities, obstructions, with a thousand of this kind; but I profess myself no quacksalver. Only this much: by Hercules I do hold it and will affirm it before any prince in Europe to be the most sovereign and precious weed that ever the earth tendered to the use of man."

[529] So MS.--Not in old eds.

[530] Dyce quotes from More's _Lucubrationes_ (ed. 1563, p. 261), an epigram headed "MedicinÊ ad tollendos foetores anhelitus, provenientes a cibis quibusdam."

[531] So eds. A, B, C.--Isham copy "so smooth."--MS. "so faire."

IN CRASSUM. XXXVII.

Crassus his lies are no[532] pernicious lies,
But pleasant fictions, hurtful unto none
But to himself; for no man counts him wise
To tell for truth that which for false is known.
He swears that Gaunt[533] is three-score miles about,
And that the bridge at Paris[534] on the Seine
Is of such thickness, length, and breadth throughout,
That six-score arches can it scarce sustain;
He swears he saw so great a dead man's skull
At Canterbury digg'd out of the ground, 10
As[535] would contain of wheat three bushels full;
And that in Kent are twenty yeomen found,
Of which the poorest every year[536] dispends
Five thousand pound: these and five thousand mo
So oft he hath recited to his friends,
That now himself persuades himself 'tis so.
But why doth Crassus tell his lies so rife,
Of bridges, towns, and things that have no life?
He is a lawyer, and doth well espy
That for such lies an action will not lie. 20

FOOTNOTES:

[532] So MS.--Eds. "not."

[533] Ghent.

[534] The reference probably is to the Pont Neuf, begun by Henry III. and finished by Henry IV.

[535] So MS.--Old eds. "That."

[536] MS. "day!"

IN PHILONEM. XXXVIII.