Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

continuing, it was again edited (licentiously modernized) by RICHARD NICCOLS, in 1610, with the addition of " A winter night's vision," and of a new poem, called "England's Eliza."

The Torophilus, by Roger Ascham, and the Art of Rhetoricque, by Thomas Wilson, both of which were intended as models of a pure English prose style, and contain many just and pertinent remarks on our language, are referred by Mr. Warton to this reign. But Wilson's Rhetoric, though first printed in 1553, must have been composed in the reign of Edward VI. and the Toxophilus, which was published in 1545, seems to belong to that of Henry VIII. It may also be doubted whether the greater part of the poems in the Paradise of Dainty Devices were composed during this reign; but having no means of ascertaining the date of such anonymous pieces as are extracted from that miscellany, I have thought it best to follow Mr. Warton's authority.

THOMAS NORTON.

The time of his birth is not mentioned by Wood, who calls him a forward and busy Calvinist. He has been already noticed in the account of the preceding reign (to which, perhaps, he more properly belongs) as a translator of the psalms, and as a supposed assistant to Sackville in completing the tragedy of Gorboduc. His title to the following short piece, rests on the authority of a MS. in the Cotton library, entitled "Verses on several subjects, about Queen "Mary's time."

A

MAN may

live thrice Nestor's life,

Thrice wander out Ulysses' race,

Yet never find Ulysses' wife;

Such change hath chanced in this case! Less time will serve than Paris had,

Small pain (if none be small enow)

To find good store of Helen's trade;

Such sap the root doth yield the bough!

For one good wife, Ulysses slew

A worthy knot of gentle blood:

For one ill wife, Greece overthrew

The town of Troy. Sith bad and good Bring mischief, Lord let be thy will

To keep me free from either ill!

RICHARD EDWARDS

Was born in 1523, educated at Oxford, and in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign was appointed one of the gentlemen of her chapel. He died in 1566, much esteemed by his contemporaries for the variety of his talents, being at once the best fiddler, mimic, and sonneteer of the court. He composed three theatrical pieces, viz. Damon and Pythias (printed in Dodsley's Old Plays), and Palamon and Arcite, in two parts; as well as the "Soul knil," soul's knell, once very generally admired, which Gascoigne ridicules some of his time for supposing to have been made in extremity of sickness. Vide his "Epistle to al yong gen"tlemen" in his works, ed. 1577.

[From "Verses on several snbjects, about Queen Mary's

time." Cotton MSS. Brit. Mus.]

WHEN women first dame Nature wrought, “All good,” quoth she,“ none shall be naught : “All wise shall be, none shall be fools, "For wit shall spring from women's schools. "In all good gifts they shall excell, "Their nature all no tongue can tell."Thus Nature said :-I heard it, I:I pray you ask them if I do lie?

By Nature's grant this must ensue,—
No woman false, but all most true :
None sow debate, but love maintain,
None wish to see their lover's pain.
As turtles true, their chosen one
They love, and pine when he is gone.
This is most true, none can deny :—
I pray you ask them if I do lie?

No lamb so meek as women be,

Their humble hearts from pride are free.
Rich things they wear;-and wot you why?-
Only to please their husband's eye!

They never strive their wills to have,

Their husband's love, nought else they crave;

Vain talk in them none can espy :→

I

pray you ask them if I do lie?

The eagle with his piercing eye

Shall burn and waste the mountains high;
Huge rocks shall fleet as ship with sail;
The crab shall run, swim shall the snail;
Springs shall return from whence they came;
Sheep shall be wild, and tigers tame:
Ere these my words false you shall try-
Ha, ha! methinks I make a lie!

MAY.

[From the Paradise of Dainty Devices. Ed. 1576.]

WHEN May is in his prime,

Then may each heart rejoice:

When May bedecks each branch with green, Each bird strains forth his voice.

The lively sap creeps up

Into the blooming thorn:

The flowers, which cold in prison kept,

Now laughs the frost to scorn.

All Nature's imps" triùmphs
Whiles joyful May doth last;
When May is gone, of all the year
The pleasant time is past.

May makes the cheerful hue,

May breeds and brings new blood, May marcheth throughout every limb, May makes the merry mood.

May pricketh tender hearts

Their warbling notes to tune.
Full strange it is, yet some, we see,
Do make their May in June.
1i. c. tons.

« ПредишнаНапред »