THE SPEECHES, &c.] Jonson has prefixed no date to these, and the Masque of Oberon which follows them; but the time is ascertained by the public records. On Monday the fourth of June, 1610, Henry, then in his sixteenth year, was created Prince of Wales with extraordinary pomp and solemnity. On the next day, (Tuesday,) the beautiful Masque of Oberon was performed, and on Wednesday the Barriers or Tilting. A very full account of the "formalities and shews," as they are called, on the Prince's creation, may be found in Winwood's State Papers (vol. iii. pp. 179 -181.) In the Masque, which is said to have been "a most glorious one," it appears that some introductory matter (not absolutely connected with it) has been omitted. Of the Barriers, sir Ralph Winwood's correspondent (sir John Finnet) thus speaks. "The third and last day did not give place unto any of the former, either in stateliness of shew or sumptuousness in performance. The names of the TILTERS were these: the Duke of Lenox, the Earls of Arundell, Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery; the Lords Walden, Compton, Norris, North, Hay, and Dingwell; Sir Thomas Sommerset, Sir Thomas Howard, Sir Henry Carey, Sir Sigismond Alexander, and Mr. Henry Alexander. The Earl of Pembroke brought in two caparisons of peach-coullered velvet, embroidered all over with fair orientall pearls, and yet the Lord Walden carryed away the reputation of bravery" (splendour of apparel) "that day. But to speak generally of the court, I must truly confess unto you that I have not, in all my life, once seen so much riches in bravery as at thys time. Embroidered suits were so common, as the richest lace which was to be gotten seemed but a mean grace to the wearer."

The praise of superior skill at this course, is given in another place, to the earls of Pembroke and Montgomery and the duke of Lenox. Pembroke was eminent in every accomplishment, as well as virtue; and from the incidental notices of his brother Philip, which occur in all the court correspondence of the time, it is difficult to believe that he was so wretched a creature as later writers choose to represent him. Illiterate he assuredly was, but he excelled in all polite and manly exercises; and it is somewhat to his praise that though he continued a most distinguished favourite to the last moment of the king's existence, he provoked no ill-will, and excited no envy. His declining years were stained with ingratitude of the basest kind; and he was abandoned to merited disgrace and contempt.

It was, I believe, at these Barriers, that Carr laid the foundation of his surprising fortune. He was pitched upon by lord Dingwell (Hume says, by lord Hay) on account of his youth and beauty, to present him, in quality of his page, with his lance and shield. In approaching the lists for this purpose, he was thrown from his horse, and taken up with a broken leg. The rest is matter of history, and too well known.

Vow my new duties, and mine old repeat.
Lest any yet should doubt, or might mistake
What nymph I am, behold the ample Lake
Of which I'm styled; and near it MERLIN's tomb,
Grave of his cunning, as of mine the womb.
By this it will not ask me to proclaim

More of myself, whose actions, and whose name
Were so full feign'd in British ARTHUR'S court;
No more than it will fit me to report

What hath before been trusted to our 'squire
Of me, my knight, his fate, and my desire
To meet, if not prevent, his destiny,
And style him to the court of Britany;
Now when the island hath regain'd her fame
Intire, and perfect, in the ancient name,

1 The Lady of the Lake.] Alluding to the old romance of Sir Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake. WHAL.

And that a monarch equal good and great,

Wise, temperate, just, and stout, CLAIMS ARThur's
SEAT.2

Did I say equal? O too prodigal wrong
Of my o'er-thirsty and unequal tongue!
How brighter far than when our Arthur liv'd,
Are all the glories of this place reviv'd!
What riches do I see; what beauties here!
What awe, what love, what reverence, joy, and
fear!

What ornaments of counsel as of court!
All that is high, or great, or can comport
Unto the style of majesty, that knows
No rival, but itself, this place here shows.
Only the house of Chivalry (howe'er
The inner parts and store be full, yet here
In that which gentry should sustain) decay'd,
Or rather ruin'd seems; her buildings laid
Flat with the earth, that were the pride of time,
And did the barbarous Memphian heaps outclimb.
Those obelisks and columns broke, and down,
That struck the stars, and rais'd the British crown
To be a constellation :3 shields and swords,

2 CLAIMS ARTHUR'S SEAT.] See the additions to the Masque of Pleasure reconciled to Virtue, "for the honour of Wales."

3

Shields and swords,

Cobwebb'd and rusty; not a helm affords

A spark of lustre, which were wont to give

Light to the world, and made the nation live.] There is a great similitude between these verses, and those of the poet Bacchylides, in his delicate Hymn to Peace:

Ἐν δὲ σιδαροδέτοισιν πόρπαξιν αἰθᾶν ̓Αράχναν

Ἱστοὶ πέλονται· ἔγχεά τε λογχωτὰ

Ξίφεα τ' ἀμφάκια εὐρὼς δάμναται χαλκέων

Οὐκέτι σαλπίγγων κτύπος.

O'er the bright concave shield, the spider spreads

Her dusty web; and cankring rust devours

The two-edg'd falchion, and the pointed spear;

Nor longer heard the brazen trumpet's sound. WHAL.