RICHARD EDWARDS [Born, 1523. Died, 1566.] WAS a principal contributor to the Paradise of Dainty Devices, and one of our earliest dramatic authors. He wrote two comedies, one entitled Damon and Pythias, the other Palamon and Arcite, both of which were acted before Queen Elizabeth. Besides his regular dramas, he appears to have contrived masques, and to have written verses for pageants; and is described as having been the first fiddle, the most fashionable sonneteer, and the most facetious mimic of the court. In the beginning of Elizabeth's reign he was one of the gentlemen of her chapel, and master of the children there, having the character of an excellent musician. His pleasing little poem,the Amantium Iræ, has been so often reprinted, that, for the sake of variety, I have selected another specimen of his simplicity. HE REQUESTETH SOME FRIENDLY COMFORT, AFFIRMING HIS CONSTANCY. THE mountains high, whose lofty tops do meet the haughty sky; The craggy rock, that to the sea free passage doth deny; The aged oak, that doth resist the force of blustring blast; The pleasant herb, that everywhere a pleasant smell doth cast; The lion's force, whose courage stout declares a prince-like might; The eagle, that for worthiness is born of kings in fight. .... Then these, I say, and thousands more, by tract of time decay, And, like to time, do quite consume, and fade from form to clay; But my true heart and service vow'd shall last time out of mind, And still remain as thine by doom, as Cupid hath assigned; My faith, lo here! I vow to thee, my troth thou know'st too well; My goods, my friends, my life, is thine; what need I more to tell? I am not mine, but thine; I vow thy hests I will And serve thee as a servant ought, in pleasing if And sith I have no flying wings, to serve thee as Ne fins to cut the silver streams, as doth the Wherefore leave now forgetfulness, and send again to me, And strain thy azure veins to write, that I may greeting see. And thus farewell! more dear to me than chiefest friend I have, Whose love in heart I mind to shrine, till Death his fee do crave. THOMAS SACKVILLE, BARON BUCKHURST, AND EARL OF DORSET, WAS the son of Sir Richard Sackville, and was formed his trust with integrity, the favourite had sufficient influence to get him recalled; and on his return, he was ordered to confinement in his own house, for nine or ten months. On Leicester's death, however, he was immediately reinstated in royal favour, and was made knight of the garter, and chancellor of Oxford. On the death of Burleigh he became lord high-treasurer of England. At Queen Elizabeth's demise he was one of the privy councillors on whom the administration of the kingdom devolved, and he concurred in proclaiming King James. The new sovereign confirmed him in the office of hightreasurer by a patent for life, and on all occasions consulted him with confidence. In March, 1604, he was created Earl of Dorset. He died suddenly [1608] at the council table, in consequence of a dropsy on the brain. Few ministers, as Lord Oxford remarks, have left behind them so unblemished a character. His family considered his memory so invulnerable, that when some partial aspersions were thrown upon it, after his death, they disdained to answer them. He carried taste and elegance even into his formal political functions, and for his eloquence was styled the bell of the Star Chamber. As a poet, his attempt to unite allegory with heroic narrative, and his giving our language its earliest regular tragedy, evince the views and enterprise of no ordinary mind; but, though the induction to the Mirror for Magistrates displays some potent sketches, it bears the complexion of a saturnine genius, and resembles a bold and gloomy landscape on which the sun never shines. As to Gorboduc, it is a piece of monotonous recitals, and cold and heavy accumulation of incidents. As an imitation of classical tragedy it is peculiarly unfortunate, in being without even the unities of place and time, to circumscribe its dulness. FROM SACKVILLE'S INDUCTION TO THE COMPLAINT OF HENRY, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. The "Mirror for Magistrates" was intended to celebrate the chief unfortunate personages in English history, in a series of poetical legends spoken by the characters themselves, with epilogues interspersed to connect the stories, in imitation of Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, which had been translated by Lydgate. The historian of English poetry ascribes the plan of this work to Sackville, and seems to have supposed that his Induction and legend of Henry Duke of Buckingham appeared in the first edition: but Sir E. Brydges has shown that it was not until the second edition of the Mirror for Magistrates that Sackville's contribution was published, viz. in 1563. Baldwin and Ferrers were the authors of the first edition, in 1559. Higgins, Phayer, Churchyard, and a crowd of inferior versifiers, contributed successive legends, not confining themselves to English history, but treating the reader with the lamentations of Geta and Caracalla, Brennus, &c. &c. till the improvement of the drama superseded those dreary monologues, by giving heroic history a more engaging air. a Sweet. Hawthorn had lost his motley livery, The naked twigs were shivering all for cold, When lo, the Night with misty mantles spread, With Thetis now had laid her down to rest. . . . Then looking upward to the Heaven's leams, Beholding dark oppressing day so near; That musing on this worldly wealth in thought, Such fall of Peers as in this realm had be, And strait forth-stalking with redoubled pace, Sackville's contribution to "The Mirror for Magistrates," is the only part of it that is tolerable. It is observable that his plan differs materially from that of the other contributors. Ile lays the scene, like Dante, in Hell, and makes his characters relate their history at the gates of Elysium, SORROW THEN ADDRESSES THE POET. For forth she paced in her fearful tale: Come, hear the plaining and the bitter bale ALLEGORICAL PERSONAGES DESCRIBED IN HELL. And first within the porch and jaws of Hell So was her mind continually in fear, Toss'd and tormented by the tedious thought Next saw we Dread, all trembling how he shook, under the guidance of Sorrow; while the authors of the other legends are generally contented with simply dreaming of the unfortunate personages, and, by going to sleep, offer a powerful inducement to follow their example. Been.- Stopped.-d Astonished.- Fetched.. Save clouts and patches, pieced one by one; His food, for most, was wild fruits of the tree; Whose wretched state, when he had well beheld By him lay heavy Sleep, the cousin of Death, A very corps, save yielding forth a breath; The body's rest, the quiet of the heart, And next in order sad Old Age we found, GEORGE GASCOIGNE [Born, 1536. Died, 1577.] WAS born in 1536, of an ancient family in Essex, was bred at Cambridge, and entered at Gray's-Inn; but being disinherited by his father for extravagance, he repaired to Holland, and obtained a commission under the Prince of Orange. A quarrel with his colonel retarded his promotion in that service; and a circumstance occurred which had nearly cost him his life. A lady at the Hague (the town being then in the enemy's possession) sent him a letter, which was intercepted in the camp, and a report against his loyalty was made by those who had seized it. Gascoigne immediately laid the affair before the Prince, who saw through the design of his accusers, and gave him a passport for visiting his female friend. At the siege of Middleburgh he displayed so much bravery, that the Prince rewarded him with 300 gilders above his pay; but he was soon after made prisoner by the Spaniards, and having spent four months in captivity, re turned to England, and resided generally at Walthamstow. In 1575 he accompanied Queen Elizabeth in one of her stately progresses, and wrote for her amusement a mask, entitled the Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle. He is generally said to have died at Stamford, in 1578; but the registers of that place have been searched in vain for his name, by the writer of an article in the Censura Literaria,† who has corrected some mistakes in former accounts of him. not probable, however, that he lived long after 1576, as, from a manuscript in the British Museum, it appears that, in that year, he complains of his infirmities, and nothing afterwards came from his pen. It is Gascoigne was one of the earliest contributors to our drama. He wrote The Supposes, a comedy, translated from Ariosto, and Jocasta, a tragedy from Euripides, with some other pieces.‡ DE PROFUNDIS. FROM depth of dole, wherein my soul doth dwell, From heavy heart, which harbours in my breast, Mr. Ellis conjectures that he was born much earlier. Cens. Lit. vol. i. p. 100. Gascoigne died at Stamford on the 7th of October, 1577-See COLLIER'S Annals, vol. i. p. 192. From troubled sprite, which seldom taketh rest, From hope of heaven, from dread of darksome hell, [One of his principal works is The Fruits of War: it was suggested by his personal adventures and observations. His verse is smooth, flowing, and unaffected. One of his best pieces is De Profundis, which I have added to Mr. Campbell's selections.-G.] |