Chapter 4

Then as abeewhich among weeds doth fall,Which seeme sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay;She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,But pleasd with none, doth rise, and soare away;So, when theSoulefinds here no true content,And, likeNoah'sdoue, can no sure footing take;She doth returne from whence she first was sent,And flies toHimthat first her wings did make. (p. 87)

Then as abeewhich among weeds doth fall,Which seeme sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay;She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,But pleasd with none, doth rise, and soare away;

So, when theSoulefinds here no true content,And, likeNoah'sdoue, can no sure footing take;She doth returne from whence she first was sent,And flies toHimthat first her wings did make. (p. 87)

For condensed and close-packed thought and imagery the 'Reasons' for the 'Immortalitie of the Soule' (pp. 83-99) are not to be equalled anywhere.

We may not linger over "Nosce Teipsum." Passing to the "Hymnes to Astræa" and "Orchestra, or a Poeme of Dauncing" while they have the same characteristics with "Nosce Teipsum," they yet suggest another characteristic in Davies as a Poet—unexpectedness of brilliant and great things. You count on the Lark's up-springing and the Lark's idyllic song, if you are traversing its bladed or daisied possession; but you are startled if it rise from the mired or dusty street or the inodorous slum. You look for the eagle when you have climbedShehallion and other Highland mountain fastnesses; but suppose it were to flap out upon you as you paced into your semi-suburban villa. So in "Nosce Teipsum," as seen, deep thought perfectly worked is what knowing the Poet you look for therein; but even in "Hymnes to Astræa" and "Orchestra" you very soon discover that it is still the Poet of "Nosce Teipsum" who sings. The moods of thought are airier and more vivacious substantively, but the thinking and shaping and colouring of imagination is the same; and 'unexpected' is reallytheword that seems to me to express the out-flashing of the higher faculty. Turning to the "Hymnes to Astræa," how exquisite are the fancy and the flattery of Hymne V., "To the Larke," as she is wooed by the Poet-Courtier to be his minstrel to 'sing' of Elizabeth. You do not for a moment feel the 'artificial restraint' of the margin-letters that go to form Elizabetha Regina:—

Earley, cheerfull, mounting Larke,Light's gentle vsher, Morning's clark,In merry notes delighting;Stint awhile thy song, and harke,And learn my new inditing.Beare vp this hymne, to heau'n it beare,Euen vp to heau'n, and sing it there,To heau'n each morning beare it;Haue it set to some sweet sphere,And let the Angels heare it.Renownd Astræa, that great name,Exceeding great in worth and fame,Great worth hath so renownd it;It is Astræa's name I praise,Now then, sweet Larke, do thou it raise,And in high Heauen resound it. (p. 133.)

Earley, cheerfull, mounting Larke,Light's gentle vsher, Morning's clark,In merry notes delighting;Stint awhile thy song, and harke,And learn my new inditing.

Beare vp this hymne, to heau'n it beare,Euen vp to heau'n, and sing it there,To heau'n each morning beare it;Haue it set to some sweet sphere,And let the Angels heare it.Renownd Astræa, that great name,Exceeding great in worth and fame,Great worth hath so renownd it;It is Astræa's name I praise,Now then, sweet Larke, do thou it raise,And in high Heauen resound it. (p. 133.)

Meet companion to this is Hymne VII., "To the Rose:"—

Eye of the Garden, Queene of flowres,Love's cup wherein he nectar powres,Ingendered first of nectar;Sweet nurse-child of the Spring's young howres,And Beautie's faire character.Best iewell that the Earth doth weare,Euen when the braue young sunne draws neare,To her hot Loue pretending;Himselfe likewise like forme doth beare,At rising and descending.Rose of the Queene of Loue belou'd;England's great Kings diuinely mou'd,Gave Roses in their banner;It shewed that Beautie's Rose indeed,Now in this age should them succeed,And raigne in more sweet manner. (p. 135.)

Eye of the Garden, Queene of flowres,Love's cup wherein he nectar powres,Ingendered first of nectar;Sweet nurse-child of the Spring's young howres,And Beautie's faire character.

Best iewell that the Earth doth weare,Euen when the braue young sunne draws neare,To her hot Loue pretending;Himselfe likewise like forme doth beare,At rising and descending.

Rose of the Queene of Loue belou'd;England's great Kings diuinely mou'd,Gave Roses in their banner;It shewed that Beautie's Rose indeed,Now in this age should them succeed,And raigne in more sweet manner. (p. 135.)

That the large and intense homage of Davies (among his illustrious contemporaries), in these "Hymnes" was genuine not simulated,spontaneous not mercenary, the apostrophe to Envy protests. With an echo of the old 'exegi monumentum' or reminiscence of Shakespeare's then not long published Sonnets, he thus writes:—

Enuy, goe weepe; my Muse and ILaugh thee to scorne; thy feeble eyeIs dazeled with the gloryShining in this gay poesie,And little golden story.Behold how my proud quill doth shedEternallnectaron her head;The pompe of coronationHath not such power her fame to spread,As this my admiration.Respect my pen as free and frankeExpecting not reward nor thanke,Great wonder onely moues it;I never made it mercenary,Nor should my Muse this burthen carrieAs hyr'd, but that she loues it. (p. 154.)

Enuy, goe weepe; my Muse and ILaugh thee to scorne; thy feeble eyeIs dazeled with the gloryShining in this gay poesie,And little golden story.

Behold how my proud quill doth shedEternallnectaron her head;The pompe of coronationHath not such power her fame to spread,As this my admiration.

Respect my pen as free and frankeExpecting not reward nor thanke,Great wonder onely moues it;I never made it mercenary,Nor should my Muse this burthen carrieAs hyr'd, but that she loues it. (p. 154.)

Then in "Orchestra" you are again and again reminded that, mere sport of wit though it be, "suddaine, rash, half-capreol of my wit," as he himself calls it to Martin (p. 159), it is a man of rare genius who sports. So much so that ever and anon you perceive, as Cleopatra of herAnthony:

———"his delightsWere dolphin-like;they show'd his tack aboveThe element they lived in." (v. 2.)

That is, even among the trivialities about 'Dauncing' and the frivolities of laudation, you are re-called to grander things—as in the Summer one sees breaks of blue in the over-arching sky above some miserable Pick-nick party desecrating some glorious forest-dell. I cull two out of manifold examples of the unexpectedness that I now wish to point out—as thus of the antiquity yet vitality of 'Dauncing':—

"Thus doth it equall age with age inioy,And yet in lustie youth for euer flowers;Like loue his sire, whom Paynters make a boy,Yet is the eldest of the heau'nly powers;Or like his brother Time, whose wingèd howersGoing and comming will not let him dye,But still preserve him in his infancie." (p. 169.)

That is 'brilliant' but this is 'great,' indeed magnificent, of the Sea:—

"Loe theSeathat fleets about the Land,And like a girdle clips her solide waist,Musicke and measure both doth vnderstand;For his great chrystall eye is always castVp to the Moone, and on her fixèd fast;And as she daunceth in her pallid spheere,So daunceth he about her Center heere." (p. 179.)

I know not where, outside of Milton, to match that personification of the Sea, with its "great chrystall eye"; and 'palid' is as tenderly delicate as the other is grand. Coleridge must have carried it in his omniverous memory, for surely one of the most memorable of the stanzas in his "Ancient Mariner" drew its inspiration thence, as thus:—

"Still as a slave before his lord,The ocean hath no blast;His great bright eye most silentlyUp to the Moon is cast—If he may know which way to go;For she guides him smooth or grim.See, brother, see! how graciouslyShe looketh down on him." (Pt. VI.)

At this point it may interest some to read Sir John Harington's welcome to the Poet on the publication of 'Orchestra', thus:—

Of MasterJohn DauiesBooke of Dancing.To Himselfe.

While you the Planets all doe set to dancing,Beware such hap, as to the Fryer was chancing:Who preaching in a Pulpit old and rotten,Among some notes, most fit to be forgotten:Vnto his Auditory thus he vaunts,To make all Saints after his pype to dance:It speaking, which as he himselfe aduances,To act his speech with gestures, lo, it chances,Downe fals the Pulpit, sore the man is brusèd,Neuer was Fryer and Pulpit more abusèd.Then beare with me, though yet to you a stranger,To warne you of the like, nay greater danger.For though none feare the falling of those sparkes,(And when they fall, t'will be good catching Larkes)Yet this may fall, that while you dance and skip,With female Planets, sore your foote may trip,That in your lofty Caprioll and turneTheir motion may make your dimension burne." (Epigrams, Book II. 67.)

I am tempted to further critical examination of this very remarkable Poetry; but feel constrained by already transgressed limits to withhold them for the present. But I must say something on the Epigrams and Minor Poems. I have 'compunctious visitings' in re-publishing them, even though they have been included by Dyce and by Colonel Cunningham in their successive editions of Marlowe. In my Note (Vol. II., pp. 3-6), I give bibliographical and other details concerning these Epigrams; and I correct a mis-assignation of certain by Dyce to Davies that belong to Henry Hutton. It must be conceded that the Epigrams have dashes of the roughness, even coarseness, of the age.They self-drevealingly belong to the wild-oats sowing of the Poet's youthful period. Nevertheless, I have ventured their reproduction in integrity for four reasons:—

(a) These Epigrams, from their subjects and style, are valuable, as expressing thetoneof society at the time.

(b) It would besuppressio verito withhold them, toward an accurate estimate of their Author. They furnish elements of judgment.

(c) They were what gained the Poet 'a name': even when tartly spoken of by Guilpin he is called the 'English Martial' from them.

(d) These Epigrams belong to a section of our early Literature that contemporaneously was abundant; and it were advantageous if characteristics of particular periods were more recognised in literary criticism.

Besides Guilpin, a very rare volume of early Verse by Ashmore, furnishes a hitherto overlooked Epigram, wherein "Nosce Teipsum" and the Epigrams, are noticed with well-put praise. I am fortunate enough to be able to give it, which I do in its English form only, the Latin being poor and inaccurate. It is inscribed "Ad D. Io. Davies, MiliteIudicem Itinerium" and thus runs:—

"If Plato lived and saw those heaven-breathed LinesWhere thou the Essence of the Soule confines;Or merry Martiale read thy Epigrammes,Where sportingly, these looser times thou blames:Though both excel, yet (in their severall wayes)They both ore-come, would yeeld to thee the Prise."[51]

His name-sake, John Davies of Hereford similarly saluted him. His 'Lines' with others, will appear more fitly in the fuller 'Life.' Meanwhile, as carrying within it, perhaps the most memorable circumstance appertaining to these 'Epigrams,' I must ask attention here, to one of Wordsworth's finest minor poems—his

"POWER OF MUSIC.

An Orpheus! an Orpheus! yes, Faith may grow bold,And take to herself all the wonders of old;—Near the stately Pantheon you'll meet with the same,In the street that from Oxford hath borrowed its name.His station is there; and he works on the crowd,He sways them with harmony merry and loud;He fills with his power all their hearts to the brim—Was aught ever heard like his fiddle and him?What an eager assembly! what an empire is this!The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss;The mourner is cheered, and the anxious have rest;And the guilt-burthened soul is no longer opprest.As the Moon brightens round her the clouds of the night,So He, where he stands, is a centre of light;It gleams on the face, there, of the dusky-browed Jack,And the pale-visaged Baker's, with basket on back.That errand-bound 'Prentice was passing in haste—What matter! he's caught—and his time runs to waste;The Newsman is stopped, though he stops on the fret;And the half-breathless Lamp-lighter—he's in the net!The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore;The Lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;—If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease;She sees the Musician, 'tis all that she sees!He stands, backed by the wall; he abates not his din;His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in,From the old and the young, from the poorest; and there!The one-pennied Boy has his penny to spare.O blest are the hearers, and proud be the handOf the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band;I am glad for him, blind as he is!—all the whileIf they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile.That tall Man, a giant in bulk and in height,Not an inch of his body is free from delight;Can he keep himself still, if he would? oh, not he!The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.Mark that Cripple who leans on his crutch; like a towerThat long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!—That Mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound,While she dandles the Babe in her arms to the sound.Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream;Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream:They are deaf to your murmurs—they care not for you,Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue!

His station is there; and he works on the crowd,He sways them with harmony merry and loud;He fills with his power all their hearts to the brim—Was aught ever heard like his fiddle and him?

What an eager assembly! what an empire is this!The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss;The mourner is cheered, and the anxious have rest;And the guilt-burthened soul is no longer opprest.

As the Moon brightens round her the clouds of the night,So He, where he stands, is a centre of light;It gleams on the face, there, of the dusky-browed Jack,And the pale-visaged Baker's, with basket on back.

That errand-bound 'Prentice was passing in haste—What matter! he's caught—and his time runs to waste;The Newsman is stopped, though he stops on the fret;And the half-breathless Lamp-lighter—he's in the net!

The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore;The Lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;—If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease;She sees the Musician, 'tis all that she sees!

He stands, backed by the wall; he abates not his din;His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in,From the old and the young, from the poorest; and there!The one-pennied Boy has his penny to spare.

O blest are the hearers, and proud be the handOf the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band;I am glad for him, blind as he is!—all the whileIf they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile.

That tall Man, a giant in bulk and in height,Not an inch of his body is free from delight;Can he keep himself still, if he would? oh, not he!The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.

Mark that Cripple who leans on his crutch; like a towerThat long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!—That Mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound,While she dandles the Babe in her arms to the sound.

Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream;Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream:They are deaf to your murmurs—they care not for you,Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue!

What is this but a glorified version of a portion of Epigram 38? Here it is:—

"As doth the Ballad-singer's auditory,Which hath at Temple-barre his standing chose,And to the vulgar sings an Ale-house story:First stands a Porter: then, an Oyster-wifeDoth stint her cry, and stay her steps to heare him;Then comes a Cut-purse ready with a knife,And then a Countrey-clyent passeth neare him;There stands the Constable, there stands the whore,And, listening to the Song, heed not each other;There by the Serjeant stands the debitor,And doth no more mistrust him than his brother:Thus Orpheus to such hearers giveth musickAnd Philo to such patients giveth physic."

Any charge of plagiarism were an outrage on Genius: but the coincidence is remarkable. It is just possible that the later Poet may have found the 'Epigrams' in his bookish friendSouthey'slibrary, and that the rough lines lingered semi-unconsciously in his memory. The earlier is to the later, as a photograph of the actual coarse street-group to the idealizations of the Artist: nevertheless it has its own interest and value, neither are the Characters ill-chosen, nor without humour.

But on the other hand Davies, in his 47th Epigram, was no doubt influenced by a remembrance of Sidney's 30th Stella sonnet. The likeness as to the countries mentioned is remarkable.[52]

One flagrant appropriater of Davies' Epigrams must be nailed-up, in the person of William Winstanley in his "The Muses Cabinet stored with variety of Poems, both pleasant and profitable. London 1655." Thus we read "On Rembombo":—

"Rembombo having spent all his estateWent to the wars to prove more fortunate.Being return'd, he speaks such warlike words,No dictionary half the like affords:He talks of flankers, gabions and scalados,Of curtneys, parapets & palizados,Retreats & triumphs & of carnisadoes,Of sallies, halfe moones & of ambuscadoes:I to requite the fustian termes he uses,Reply with words belonging to the Muses;As Spondes, Dactiles & Hexameters,Stops, commas, accents, types, tropes, & pentameters,Madrigalls, Epicediums, elegies,Satyres, Iambicks, & Apostrophes,Acrosticks, Aquiuoques, & epigrams:Thus talking and being understood by neither,We part wise as when we came together." (p. 43)

Let the Reader compare this with Davies' Epigram (Vol. II., p. 23-4). Various others are similarly transmogrified; and John Heath also is 'spoiled' (in a double sense). Yet has Winstanley the impudence to close his volume bitingly thus:—

"Cease Muse, here comes a criticke, close thy page,These lines are not strong enough for this age;The nice new-fangled readers of these timesWill scarcely relish thy plain country rimes."

The Minor Poems, not hitherto collected, will reward critical perusal. Some of them are noticeable:quaint fancies, glances of wit and wisdom, felicitous epithet, racy similes, aphoristic sayings, bird-like notes of genuine music, and now and then, powerful sarcasm, will meet the studious reader. TheHitherto Unpublished MSS., which include, besides secular poems, his long vainly-sought Metaphrase of certain Psalms, speak for themselves. And so I leave the Reader to raise the lid of the casket of gems now put into his hands. It demands robustness of brain and sensibilities of spirit to appreciate adequately Sir John Davies as a Poet; but if, in all humility of receptiveness and open-eyedness, these volumes be read, no one competent can go away unimpressed. Whether as Thinker or Singer he must be placed among the rare few who have enriched our highest Literature.

ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

POSTSCRIPT.

MINOR POEMS, ETC.

There are several things relative to the Minor Poems of Sir John Davies that require statement and elucidation; and I deem it well to give such.

I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music.II. The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of Derby.III. The Poem to King James 1st.IV. Dacus not Samuel Daniel.V. Marston and "Orchestra," &c.VI. Hymnes to Astræa.

I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music.

II. The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of Derby.

III. The Poem to King James 1st.

IV. Dacus not Samuel Daniel.

V. Marston and "Orchestra," &c.

VI. Hymnes to Astræa.

I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music.In my Fuller Worthies' Library edition of Davies, I admitted "Canzonet: a Hymne in praise of Musick" among his Poems (pp. 297-9) because in the "Rhapsody" it bore his initials I. D. precisely as his other accepted pieces therein did. But I excluded the 'Ten Sonnets to Philomel' from their having the signature originally of "Melophilus," and I. D. only subsequently. I too hastily agreed with Sir Egerton Brydges (in his edition of the "Rhapsody" 2 Vols., 1826) in assigningthem to Dean Donne. I could not discern Donne's manner in the 'Canzonet,' and so had no difficulty in rejecting Brydges' alleged 'internal evidence' in respect of it, initialled as it was. Neither did I find the 'internal evidence' in the 'Ten Sonnets' for its Donne authorship, but, in addition to the early signature "Melophilus," there was a note of "Manuscripts to get" by Davison, from Donne, that has seemed to warrant the "Ten Sonnets" being regarded as his contribution, and the later I. D. as representing J[ohn] D[onne], and not Sir John Davies. My friend Dr. Brinsley Nicholson has satisfied me that Davison's List of MSS. to be received could not refer to his "Rhapsody," but to some other intended work or private collection; and so the one point in favour of Donne falls to the ground. The evidence as communicated to myself, and since, in a lengthy communication to theAthenæum(January 22d, 1876), may be thus summarized, (1) There is nothing in Davison's notings which even hints that he was thinking of the "Rhapsody." (2) The greater number of the MSS. mentioned never appeared even by a specimen in the "Rhapsody." (3) The second entry is of

Therefore it was written in or after 1603. But thefirst edition of the "Rhapsody" containing the "Hymn to Music" signed I. D., and the "Ten Sonnets" signed "Melophilus," and in the subsequent editions I. D., was published in 1602, (4) There is not in the subsequent editions a single piece by any of these memorandum-noted authors that is not in the first—so shewing further that the memorandum had no reference to the "Rhapsody." Of Donne and Constable there are in the editions 1608, 1611, 1621, only those given in 1602, and in no edition at all is there a single specimen of Ben Jonson, Hodgson, Harington, Joseph Hall, &c., &c. There remains thus only (5). The I. D. evidence, e.g.:

1602.1608.1611.1621.HymnI. D.I. D.I. D.Unsigned.Sonnets Melophilus.I. D.I. D.I. D.12 Wonders}NotJohn DauisSir John DauisSir John DaviesLottery}inI. D.I. D.Sir I. D.Contention}1st edn.Jonn DauisSir John Dauis.Unsigned.

Absence hear this my protestation. Unsigned in all four editions.

That two are unsigned in the 1621 edition is probably due to omission made during the thorough re-distribution of the pieces into books of Odes, &c., &c. Further (6) the "Hymn to Music" and the "Ten Sonnets" follow consecutively, and are the very first among the "pieces by sundry others." So in editions of 1608 and 1611 the "Twelve Wonders," "Lottery," and "Contention" are the first ofthe new pieces, in fact, open the book and follow one another successively in a group of three—John Dauis—I. D.—John Davies. (7) We gather from inspection of the "Table" that (a) the "Lottery," I. D., is John Davies; (b) that Davison put I. D. after the "Lottery," knowing that he had already appropriated I. D. to the author of the "Hymne;" and what is more, he chose to put I. D. to the "Lottery" just when he associated the "Ten Sonnets" with I. D. and John Davies' poems by altering Melophilus to I. D.; (c) at the same time he left "Absence hear," &c., unsigned; (d) what has been said under (5) and (6) suggests that Davies was a personal friend of Davison's, and this is strengthened by there being no MS. of Davies noted as "to get." If so, Davison was still less likely to use ambiguous initials for anything by Davies. Once more (8) When we add to this that the "Hymne" must go with the "Ten Sonnets" and that it is clearly by the author of "Orchestra"; and that neither the "Hymne" nor the "Ten Sonnets" appear in any collection of Donne's poems printed or in MS. the external evidence in favour of Sir John Davies as author of the work is as strong as it well can be. Internally the student of "Orchestra" and the "Hymnes to Astræa" will readily see the "fine Roman hand" that wrote them in the "Hymne toMusic" and related "Ten Sonnets to Philomel." There is none of the style, or conceits, or wording, or rhythm of Donne. I add finally (9) If the "Ten Sonnets to Philomel" were based on real love experiences, we can understand how at first at any rate the disguise of "Melophilus" might be preferred to I. D. It does not seem probable that they were addressed to her who became his wife. In accord with all this both the "Hymne to Music" and the "Ten Sonnets to Philomel" are now included among Sir John Davies's Poems (Vol. ii. pp. 96-106.)

II.The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of Derby.In the foot-notes to the "Lottery," (Vol. II., pp. 87-94) several variations from Manningham's "Diary" are accepted as decided improvements, especially those inVII.,XIX., andXXI., which were probably taken from a revised or autograph MS. That Manningham had full information on the "Lottery" is proved by the list he gives of the persons to whom the 'lots' went, viz.,I., To hir Mtie.III.La[dy] Scroope.XXVII.La[dy] Scudamore.VI.Lady Francis.VII.Earle of Darby's countes.VIII.Lady Southwell,II.Countess of Darby dowager: [the Lord Keeper's wife].XII.Countess of Kildare.XIII.La[dy] Effingham.XIX.La[dy] Newton.XXI.Not named.XXII.La[dy] Warwike.XXV.La[dy] Dorothy.XXXIII.La[dy] Susan ...XXXII.La[dy] Kidderminster.XXXI.Blank. But there remains an interesting question to be settled, viz., the date of this "Lottery." Nichols, apparently on the sole authority of the "Rhapsody," gives it to a visit to the Lord Keeper's town-house [York House] in 1601; and assigns it to York House because Sir Thomas Egerton did not buy Harefield till 1602, and clearly by the speeches in the "Entertainment" the Queen had never been there before August, 1602. But the "Rhapsody" date is a slip of Davison's pen or of his printer for 1602, and the "Lottery" took place at Harefield as part of the "Entertainment." Notices in the "Lottery" itself guide us to this conclusion, e.g., it was about August, for in Lot 22 we read:—

"'Tis Summer yet,...But 'twill be winter one day, doubt you not."

and the visit to Harefield was in August. Then there is this to be noted that the masquer is "A Mariner ... supposed to come from the Carrick." Let 'the' be marked 'theCarrick.' The allusion is historical. The Queen sent out Sir Richard Levison (or Lawson) and Sir William Morrison on 19th and 26th March, 1602 to intercept the plate fleet and do any other damage along the Spanish coast. They did not get theFleet and were wholly unsuccessful till 1st June, when they came upon an immense 'carrick' from the East Indies of 1,600 tons flanked on one side by a castle and on the other by eleven Spanish and Portugese galleys. On the 2nd the admirals with five men of war and two merchantmen Easterlings, beat the gallies and silenced the castle, and on the 3rd the carrick surrendered with a cargo estimated by the Portugese at a million of ducats. Our killed in this brilliant exploit was six seamen (see Camden's Annals and Monson's Naval Tracts). This proves that the Verses werevers d'occasion. We have 'thecarrick' and Cynthia who sent forth Fortune to the sea, and many a "jewel and a gem" brought, and Fortune so commanded

———"as makes me now to singThere is no fishing to the sea, no service to the King."

Further, the Queen writing to Lord Mountjoy (Deputy to Ireland) 15th July 1602 says "... first to assure you that we have sent a fleet to the coast of Spain, notwithstanding our former fleet returned with the Carrick," which shows two things (1) That Lawson and Monson had returned prior to the 15th of July (2) that the Queen had sent out another fleet at once; and thus Davies' verses were the more appropriate as being notonly a remembrance of good luck but an anticipation of continued good fortune.

These proofs of date which require no confirmation are confirmed by this, that Manningham after the "Lottery," and on the same leaf, gives a "dialogue betweene the bayly and a dairy mayd" before "her Mtis coming to the house," quoting a sentence from it as found in the "Entertainment." This leads me to state why I have given the entire "Entertainment" to Sir John Davies. It certainly is contrary to natural expectation that the "Lottery" verses are not introduced into the "Entertainment," and but for other considerations the inference might have been that only the "Lottery" was by Davies, and the rest by some other. But there is this explanation of the absence of the "Lottery" verses, that evidently they formed part of the amusement of one of the rainy days—for it was a wet St. Swithin—when the speeches and other things of the "Entertainment" took place without doors, and distinct from the "Lottery." Then on reading the "Entertainment" itself, there are manifold marks that the whole came from one pen, and that pen Davies's; for throughout there is likeness of style and thought to his avowed writings. Take these few examples: (1) "Ifthou knewest the cause, thou wouldst not wonder; for I stay to entertaine the Wonder of this time," &c. ("Entertainment," &c., Vol. II., pp. 249-50.) Cf. this with "Orchestra" st. 120, "wonder of posteritie" (i.e., of her own time): (2) "The Guest that wee are to entertaine doth fill all places with her divine vertues, as the Sunne fills the World with the light of his beames." (Ibid, p. 250). Cf. Hymnes to Astræa, XIV., stanza 2:—

"Behold her in her vertues' beames,Extending sun-like to all realities."

Again, XV., st. 1:—

"Eye of that mind most quicke and cleere,—Like Heaven's eye, which from his spheareInto all things prieth;Sees through all things euery where,And all their natures trieth."

(3) "Though her selfe shall eclipse her soe much, as to suffer her brightness to bee shadowed in this obscuere and narrowPlace, yet the sunne beames that follow her, the traine I meane that attends vpon her, must, by the necessitie of thisPlace, be deuided from her." (Ibid, p. 251). Cf. XIX., st. 1:—

"Eclipsed she is, and her bright rayes,Lie under vailes, yet many wayesIs her faire forme reuealed."

'Beams' and 'sunbeams' are favourite words with Davies: so too 'mirror.' (4) "Time weare very vngratefull, if it should not euer stand still, to serue and preserue, cherish and delight her, that is the glory of her time, and makes the Time happy wherein she liueth" (Ibidp. 251). Cf. II. st. 3, ll. 1-3.

"Right glad am I that now I live:Even in these days whereto you giveGreat happiness and glory."

(5) "What if she make thee a contynewell holy-day, she makes me [Place] a perpetuall sanctuary" (Ibidp. 251). Cf. IV., st. 1:—

"Each day of time, sweet moneth of May,Love makes a solemne holy-day."

(6) "Doth not the presence of a Prince make a Cottage a Court, and the presence of the Gods make euery place Heaven?" (Ibidpp. 251-2). Cf. Dedication of "Nosce Teipsum":—

"Stay long (sweet spirit) ere thou to Heauen depart,Which makest each place a heauen wherein thou art."

In the Verse (pp. 253-4) there are abundant parallels. I must content myself with references. With the 1st stanza

"Beauties rose, and vertues booke, &c."

compare Hymnes to Astræa VII., st. 3: XVII., st. 2-3 and the "Contention" (ad. fin.) and XIII. st. 2: XV. st. 2. Also IV. last 2 lines: VII. st. 3. ll. 1-3: X. last 4 lines. Similar results are found on a comparison of the "Entertainment" with the "Dialogue between a Gentleman Usher and a Poet" (Fuller Worthies' Library edn. of Davies' Poems: pp. 15-21.)

I have accordingly given the whole "Entertainment" as belonging to Sir John Davies. It is to be regretted that the Satyrs Verses are unaccompanied by the rest of the Masque to which apparently they belong. Harefield has the further light of glory on it of having been the scene of Milton's "Arcades" and of the famous elm-aisle celebrated by him in imperishable verse. The Countess of Derby, afterwards the Lord Keeper's third wife, was the early friend of Spenser and of Milton, and of all her eminent literary contemporaries.[53]

III. "Yet other Twelve Wonders of the World." In foot-note (Vol. II., p. 67) I promise an account of an autograph MS. of this characteristic set of verses. It finds more fitting place here than in the Preface. The MS. is preserved at Downing College, Cambridge, and having been described on p. 325 of the "Third Report of the Historical MSS. Commissioners," Mr. Beedham,(as before) was kind enough to make aliteratimtranscript for me (with the permission of the College authorities). The MS. is headed "Verses giuen to the L. Treasurer vpon Newyeares day vpon a dosen of Trenchers by Mr. Davis." In the margin against "The Lawyer," in the same handwriting as the Verses, is this: "This is misplaced, it should be before the physisn," and similarly against "The Country Gentleman," also in the same handwriting, is: "This is misplaced, in the original it is before the mrchant." There is nothing to give any clue as to the precise New Year's day upon which the Verses were furnished to the Lord Treasurer; but unless I very much mistake, they were the "cobweb" of his "inuention" enclosed in that letter which Mr. J. Payne Collier supposed to have gone with a gift-copy of "Nosce Teipsum." The letter speaks for itself:—

"Mr. Hicks. I have sent you heer inclosed that cobweb of my invention which I promised before Christmas: I pray you present it, commend it, and grace it, as well for your owne sake as mine: bycause by your nominacion I was first put to this taske, for which I acknowledge my self beholding to you in good earnest, though the imployment be light and trifling, because I am glad of any occasion of being made knowne to that noble gentl. whom I honore and admire exceedingly. If ought be to be added, oralter'd; lett me heare from you. I shall willingly attend to doo it, the more speedily if it be before the terme. So in haste I commend my best service to you. Chancery Lane, 20 Jan. 1600. Yours to do you service very willingly, Jo. Davys." (Bibl. Account, V. I., pp. 193-4; no specification of source beyond S. P. O.)

The handwriting of the copy in Downing College belongs to the close of the 16th or to the earliest years of the 17th century. The second marginal note above would seem to show that the transcript was made from the original, then perhaps being circulated from hand to hand. Specimens of variations may interest. In "The Courtier," l. 1, for 'liu'd' the MS. reads 'serued': l. 4, "from them that fall" for "such as fall": l. 5, "my" for "a rich array": in the "Divine," l. 1, "one cure doth me contente" for "and I from God am sent": l. 3, "true kinde" for "kind true": l. 5, "Nor followe princes' Courts" for "Much wealth I will not seeke ": "The Souldier," l. 6, "brag" for "boast": "The Physitian," l. 1, "prolonge" for "vphold" and "life" for "state": l. 2, "I" for "me" (bis): l. 6, "time & youth" for "youth and time": "The Lawyer," l. 1, "My practice is the law" for "the Law my calling is": ll. 5-6,

"Some say I haue good gifts, and love where I doe takeYet never tooke I fee, but I advisd or spake,"for"Nor counsell did bewray, nor of both parties take,Nor euer tooke I fee for which I neuer spake."

"The Merchant" l. 2, "vnknowne worlds ... kingdomes doth" for "unknowne coasts ... countries to": "The Married Man," l. 4, "choise" for "chance": "The Wife," l. 1, "my" for "our": l. 2, "Thither am I ... where firste" for "I thither am ... from whence": l. 3,

"I goe not maskd abroad to visit, when I doMy secrets I bewray to none but one or two,"for"I doe not visite oft, nor many, when I doe,I tell my mind to few, and that in counsell too."

"The Widowe" l. 1, "dyinge"isinserted here before "husband": l. 3, "love" for "haue": l. 6, "Nor richer then I am, nor younger would I seeme" for "Nor younger then I am, nor richer will I seeme": "The Maide," l. 4, "of" for "on": l. 5, "but" for "yet." These embrace all save orthographical and other slight variants. As derived from an authenticautographMS. the Downing College copy is interesting and its variants serve further to illustrate the letter to Hicks wherein Davies expresses his willingness to makeany changes—which alone might have led Mr. Collier to see that he could not possibly refer to "Nosce Teipsum," which was then published.

IV.Dacus not Samuel Daniel.Turning to Epigrams 30 and 45 (pp. 30, 45) the reader will find in Dyce's note to the latter that he identified 'Dacus' with Daniel, and the passage whereon he based the identification. I passed his note though not at all satisfied with the parallel of "dumb eloquence" to the Epigram's "silent eloquence." Epigram 30 points rather to a rhymster of the John Taylor Water-Poet type, and if one had patience to make the search "silent eloquence" should doubtless be found in one or other of his many books—clumsily appropriated from Sir Philip Sidney. Then the "dumb eloquence" of the Complaint of Rosamond which Dyce quotes, was to the Kingnot"to his Mistress"—even if it were what the Epigram hints "silent eloquence."En passantthe phrases and variants on it was one of the aped phrases of the gallants and poetasters of the day. Jonson who disliked Daniel, ridicules the stanza in a way that informs us it was affected by them. Griffin in hisFidessaalso has it in his "dumb message of my hidden grief." Further: Davies of Hereford in his "Scourge of Folly" who must have known his namesake's use ofDacus calls him Dacus the pot-poet and speaks as much against his character as our Davies does against his rhymes—all of which was curiously inapplicable to Samuel Daniel. At the time Davies of Hereford wrote Daniel was a gentleman of the Queen's bed-chamber. Lastly—and conclusively—Sir John Davies praises three English poets in his "Orchestra" (Elizabethan edn.) of whom one is Daniel:—

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