1603.

1604.

1605.

1614.

pense for which he received a grant of

3001. per annum.

August. Accused as a party to Lord Cobham's conspiracy, and was committed to the Tower,

17 Nov.

where he is said to have attempted to destroy himself.

Tried at Winchester, and condemned and attainted.

15th Dec. Removed again to the Tower.

1616. 17th March.

26th Aug.

The goods and chattels forfeited by his attainder granted to others.

His second son, Carew, born.

His "History of the World" published.
Released from the Tower.

Obtained a commission for a voyage to
Guiana.

1617. 28th March. Sailed with his fleet from the Thames.
November. Arrived at Guiana.

December. His eldest son, Walter, killed in an assault. 1618. June orJuly. Returned to England.

10th Aug.

28th Oct.

Apprehended near Woolwich in attempting
to escape, and committed to the Tower.
Summoned before the Court of King's
Bench, and the sentence passed on him in
November 1603, just fifteen years before,
ordered to be carried into execution. The
King, however, directed that he should be
beheaded.

Thursday,Beheaded in Old Palace-Yard. His body
29th Oct.
was buried in the chancel near the altar of
St. Margaret, Westminster; but his head,
after being preserved for twenty-nine years
by his widow, is supposed to have been bu-
ried at West Horsley, in Surrey.

The only poem printed in the RHAPSODY which was undoubtedly written by Raleigh, is, A Poesy to prove Affection is not Love, p. 276 to 278; but Sir Egerton Brydges, in the Lee Priory edition of that work, has attributed every article signed Ignoto or Anomos, as well as that excessively beautiful poem, The Lie, to his pen; though that elegant writer afterwards admits that the reason which induced him to do so was not so well grounded as he expected. Some remarks on The Lie will be found in a note appended to it, where the observation that it could not, from the date, have been written, as is pretended, by Sir Walter the night before his execution, is repeated. It is nevertheless possible that it was written by Raleigh the night before he expected to have been executed at Winchester, November 1603, a circumstance which is perfectly reconcileable to dates, and in some degree accounts for the tradition alluded to.

SIR JOHN DAVIES.*

SIR JOHN DAVIES was born in 1570, at Chisgrove, in the parish of Tylsbury in Wiltshire, and was the son of an opulent tanner of that place. At the age of fifteen he became a Commoner of Queen's College, Oxford, where his progress in his studies was highly creditable; and after taking a degree in Arts, he entered himself of the Middle Temple, by which Society he was called to the Bar. Having quarrelled with, and beaten, Richard Martin, afterwards Recorder of London, at dinner in the Hall, he was expelled the Society; when he returned to Oxford, and there composed his admirable poem, Nosce Teipsum, which was published in 1599, in quarto, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. By the interest of the Lord Keeper Egerton, Davies was restored to the Society of the Middle Temple, practised at the Bar, and was elected a member of the Parliament which met at Westminster in 1601. On the death of Queen Elizabeth he went,

As the biographical sketches of Davison, Sydney, and Dyer, have nearly occupied the whole space which it was intended to give to the notices of the Contributors to the RHAPSODY, this and the following must be as brief as possible.

with Lord Hunsdon, to congratulate King James upon his accession; and being recognized by him as the author of Nosce Teipsum, was most graciously received. James's favour towards Davies was soon displayed by his appointing him Solicitor, and shortly afterwards, Attorney General in Ireland. Whilst holding the latter office the king conferred the honour of knighthood upon him, on the 11th February, 1607. He was constituted King's Serjeant 30th June, 1612, and is said to have been appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1626, but he died suddenly of apoplexy on the 7th December, in that year before he had taken his seat. Sir John Davies married Eleanor Touchet, daughter of George, Baron Audley, and Earl of Castlehaven in Ireland; which alliance, it seems, took place about March 1609:* the only issue of it was a son, who was an ideot, and a daughter, Lucy, who married Ferdinando, sixth Earl of Huntingdon, and by him had four sons and six daughters. The Countess died in 1652.

Davies's works are well known; hence it is only necessary to allude to his contributions to the RHAPSODY. The first article, Yet other Twelve Wonders of the World; A Lottery presented before the Queen; and, A Contention betwixt a Wife, a Widow, and a Maid, were certainly written by him; but it is doubtful whether the Hymn in Praise of Music,+ and the

See a letter from Chamberlaine among the Addit. MSS. in the British Museum, noticed in Part III. p. 23, of the Lee Priory Edition of the RHAPSODY.

+ P. 261.

Ten Sonnets to Philomel,* which follow it, signed I. D. were his productions, or those of John Donne, the celebrated Dean of St. Paul's. Sir Egerton Brydges observes, that "they seem rather to partake of the conceits of Donne than of the simple vigour of Davies;" and the idea that Donne was the author of them is in some degree supported by Francis Davison's note of Manuscripts to get, apparently for the RHAPSODY, among which were, Satyres, Elegies, Epigrams, &c. by John Don. +

• P. 263 to 271.

+ See p. xlv.