The sweet ftolne kifles, amorous conceits,
So many fmiles, fo many faire intreats,
Such kindneffe as Alcilia did bestow

All for my fake, as well thy felfe doft know?
That Loue fhould thus be ufed, it is hatefull,
But all is loft that's done for one vngratefull.
Where he alledgeth that hee was abuf'd,
In that he truely louing was refuf'd:
That's moft vntrue, and plainely may be tri'de.
Who neuer afk'd, could neuer be deni'de.
But he affected rather fingle life,

2. Thus Time, hath altered my state,
Repentance neuer comes too late.
Ah well I finde that Loue is nought
But folly, and an idle thought:
The difference is twixt Loue and mee,
That Loue is blinde, and I can fee.

Then yoke in marriage, matching with a wife.
And most men now make loue to none but heyres;
Poore loue God wot) that pouertie impaires :
Worldly refpects Loue little doth regard;.
Who loues, hath onely loue for his reward.
He meriteth a Louers name indeede
That cafts no doubts, which vaine fufpicion breede,
But desperately at hazard throwes the Dice,
Neglecting due regard of friends aduice;
That wrestles with his Fortune and his Fate,
Which had ordain'd, to better his estate;
That hath no care of wealth, no feare of lacke, /
But venters forward, though he fee his wracke;
That with Hopes wings, like Icarus, doth flye,
Though for his rafhneffe he like fortune trye;
That to his fame the world of him may tell,
How, while he foar'd aloft, adowne he fell.
And fo true Loue awarded him this doome,
In scaling heauen, to haue the Sea his Tombe.
A ftanza or two from the fucceeding
portion of Alcilia, called "Loue decy
phered," will ferve to fhow the author's
verfatility of talent, and eafy and flexible
manner of writing. Having been rejected
by his mistress, he now rejoices in his free
dom, and inveighs feverely against the blind
and fatal paffion :

Love, and I, are now diuided,
Conceit by error was mifguided: m
Alcilia hath my loue defpifed,
No man loues that is aduifed.

Time at length hath Truth directed,
Love hath miff'd what hee expected a
Yet miffing that which long he sought,
I haue found that I little thought.ords
Errors in time may be redreft; Am
The fhorteft follies are the best.

Loue and Youth are now afunder,
Reafons glory, Natures wonder."

My thoughts long bound are now inlarg'd,
My follies pennance is difcharg ́d.“

Loue is honie mixt with gall;
A thraldome free, a freedome thrall;
A bitter fweet, a pleafant fowre,
Got in a yeare, loft in an howre;
A peacefull warre, a warlike peace, [creafe;
Whofe wealth brings want, whofe want in-
Full long purfuite, and little gaine;
Vncertaine pleasure, certaine paine;
Regard of neyther right nor wrong;
For fhort delights, repentance long.
Loue is a fickneffe of the thought,
Conceit of pleasure dearely bought;
A reftleffe paffion of the minde;
A Labyrinth of errors blinde;
A fugred póyfon, faire deceit;
A baite for fooles, a furious heate;
A chilling cold; a wondrous paffion
Exceeding mans imagination :
Which none can tell in whole nor part,
But onely he that feeles the fmart.

1

Two more brief quotations fhall conclude our extracts from this pleafing and defervedly popular production. They are taken from the fecond part of Alcil, which, having been difmiffed by her, the author records his past folly, the vanity of love, and the bitter fruits of repentance. The first stanzas are taken from the opening of this part, and the others from its clofe; and both, we think, will receive the cordial approval of the reader for their fmooth and flowing style, and poetical dicTation:

Now haue I spun the web of my ow my owne woes, And labour'd long to purchase my owne loffe: (I Too late I fee, I was beguil'd with fhowes, And that which once feem'd gold, now proues but .} aroffe.

Thus am I both of help and hope bereaved,
He neuer tryed, that neuer was deceived.
Once did I loue, but more than once repent, [ten,
When vintage came, my grapes were fower, or rot-
Long time in griefe and penfiue thoughts I spent,
And all for that which Time hath made forgotten.

The fhort poem entitled, The Love of Amos and Laura, is in this edition without any feparate title, but commences at once without any prefix. The fecond edition of this poem, publifhed in 1619, 18mo, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, contains a dedication in verfe to Ifaac Walton in thefe complimentary terms, which are not in the prefent :

moan the perplexities of love in his poetical and romantic writings. And Meres, in his Palladis Tamia, the fecond part of Wit's Commonwealth, 1598 (12mo), from whom these words are borrowed by Wood, has expreffly coupled him in this refpect with many of our moft celebrated poets. He became afterward Vicar of Deptford, in Kent, and, leaving his former poetical pursuits, applied his talents to the study of

To my approved and much refpected divinity, and publifhed feveral fermons and

friend Iz. Wa.

To thee, thou more than thrice beloued friend,
I too unworthy of fo great a blifs;
Thefe harth-tun'd lines I here to thee commend,
Thou being caufe it is now as it is:
For hadft thou held thy tongue, by filence might
Thefe haue been buried in obliuions night."

If they were pleafing, I would call them thine,
And difavow my title to the verse;
But being bad, I needs must call them mine,
No ill thing can be clothed in thy verfe.
Accept them then, and where I haue offended,
Rafe thou it out, and let it be amended.

S. P.

Mr. Payne Collier, and Sir Harris Nicolas after him in his beautiful edition of Walton's Complete Angler (8vo, p. iv.), are both inclined to attribute thefe initials to Samuel Purchas, the author of The Pilgrimage; but they feem to have overfooked another perfon who is much more likely to have written thefe lines, and to whom we are more ftrongly difpofed to aflign the authorship of this poem, than to Purchas, viz. Samuel Page, who was the fon of a clergyman, a native of Bedford hire, born about 1574, and admitted a fcholar of Chrift-Church College, Oxford, June 10, 1587; took his degree of B. A. February 5, 1590; admitted Fellow of his College, April 16 in the fame year; B. D. March 12, 1603; and D. D. June 6, 1611. With reference to our particular object, Wood records of him, that in his juvenile years he was counted one of the chiefeft among our English poets to bewail and be

other religious works. Wood fays he was
"in much efteem by the clergy of the
neighbourhood where he lived, and rever-
enced by the laity for his orthodox princi-
ples, and continued and unwearied labours
in his function. He died at Deptford and
was buried in the church there on the 8
Auguft, 1630." It is probable that, from
a fimilarity of tastes, he was a friend of
Chalkhill, and that thus also he was made
known to Walton, for whom he had evi-
dently great efteem.

The poem of Amos and Laura, which is in couplets, contains allufions to Venus and Adonis, Tarquin and Lucrece, and Hero and Leander, the poems on which by Shakespeare and Marlowe had already previously appeared, but is not remarkable for any great or striking merit; a short paffage from it, therefore, will be fufficient, in which the lover is pleading his paffion:

If in my fuite I erre, as by mifchance,
Blame not my Love but count it ignorance.
The tongue is but an instrument of nought,
And cannot speake the largeneffe of the thought;
For when the minde abounds, and almost breaketh,
Then through abundance of the heart it speaketh
Then what I fpeake I thinke; be not vakindé
No man can fpeake but what he hath in minde,
Vnto your feruant, who obedience proffers,
And makes firme loue the obiect of his offers.
I will not boaft of Parentage, or Lyne,
For all are bafe, refpecting thee diuine :
For in thy face confifts all wealth, and more
Nor will I boaft of wealth, or riches store,
Pure are my thoughts as fkin betweene thy browes,
And eke as chafte my speech, my oathes, and vowes.

Speake sweetest fayre, but one kinde worde to me, was the cafe with the old fcribes, whofe How can, alas, that be offence in thee?

The Epigrams at the end, by Sir John. Harington and others, occupy only three leaves, and are a mere felection, not demanding from us any particular notice, the beft of them being perhaps the following:

Of Fauftus, a stealer of Verses.

I heare that Fauftus oftentimes rehearses
To his chafte miftreffe certaine of my Verfes :
In which, by vfe, fo perfit he is growne,
That thee, poore foule, doth thinke they are his

owne.

I would efteeme it (trust me) grace, not shame,
If Danyel, or if Davies did the fame.

Nor would I storme, or would I quarrels picke,
I when I lift, to them could doe the like.
But who can with a man a fouler spight,
Then haue a blinde man take away his fight?
A begging theefe is dangerous to my purse,
A beggage Poet to my Verfe is worse.

An Epitaph by a man of his Father.

God workes wonders now and than,
Here lyes a Lawyer was an honest man.

We have already alluded to the extreme

It

rarity of this firft edition of Alcilia, the
prefent being the only copy known.
was reprinted in 1619, 18mo, and again.
for the third time in 1628, 4to. The pref-
ent copy was obtained from the collection
of the late Benjamin Heywood Bright, Efq.
It is imperfect, wanting two leaves.

Collation Sig. A to M 4, in fours.

(CORSER's Colletanea Anglo-Poetica.)

Grave and Gay Postscripts

ΤΟ

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. [Tranflated from the Serapeum.]

pa

tience and labor we cannot but admire. The Deo Gratias that is fo common a poftfcript to old manufcripts, may be taken as a truthful expreffion of many a scribe's feelings at the conclufion of his labor. erally the only infcription left by the fcribes, the oldeft manuscripts this poftfcript is gen

In

for their modeft felf-denial forbade them even to sign their names.

The oldeft inftance I have found of a fcribe's figning his name, occurs in a copy of the Codex Dyonifio-Hadrianus, of the tenth century (No. ccxxxix.), in the Stadtbibliothek of Leipfic, and is as follows: Ego adalhartus indignus prefbyter fcripf reginberto epifcopo hunc librum ficut potui uoluntarie. Reginbertus was Bishop of Minden, under Otho the Great.

From the thirteenth century, however, down to the fifteenth, the fcribes were in the habit of not only figning their names, but alfo of adding a few words or verses, evincing either a grave or gay state of mind. A collection of these poftfcripts would be very interesting. I give a few of them, taken from the MSS. of the City Library

of Leipfic.

lection from Theocritus, Hefiod, and SoIt is amufing to see a scribe ending a fewhich fills 276 pages, with the following phocles (No. III. of the printed catalogue), exclamation: ὥσπερ ξένοι χαιρουσιν ἰδεῖν πατρίδα και οἱ θαλαττεύοντες ἰδεῖν λι μένα καὶ οἱ στρατευόμενοι ἰδεῖν τὸ νίκος, καὶ οἱ πραγματεύοντες ἰδεῖν τὸ κέρδος καὶ οἱ νοσῳ λευόμενοι [for νόσῳ λυόμεναι, οι νοσηλευόμενοι], ἰδεῖν ὑγίαν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ γράφοντες ἰδεῖν βιβλίον τέλος.

How anxious he is to recover his breath, the fedulous old fcribe! After the Doxology, Τῶ παμβασιλεῖ θεῶ ἡμῶν χάρις τη AFTER the completion of an extenfive παμβασιλίσση μρα παρθένῳ θεῷ μου work, it is but natural that the writer fould Gnd himfelf in either a gay or a grave state of mind. We find that this

VOL. II.-X

doğa, and after the prayer, εuxeode veρ της σωτηρίας τοῦ γράψαντος, he adds, by way of apology for future cenfure of his

negligence in copying: ó d'opov Taura And again, as a bad hexameter: κἂν σφάλματα εὕροιτο, τὰ πλείονα τοῖς Explicit expliceat nunc fcriptor ludere eat. ἀντιγράφοις ἡ μέμψις.

A copyift of German poems (No. CXII.) fhows a lefs keen fense of duty in this refpect, when he says:

Si erravit fcriptor debes corrigere lector. All of the fcribes are not, however, men of fo few words. Some of them offer examples of politely ceremonious excufes; as, for inftance, the following, which occurs at the end of a Feftus and Varro of the fifteenth century (No. XC.):

Parce qui legeris fi aliqua minus polita inveneris. Nam ita ex omni parte five feculum fecerit five librarii volumen quod nimis corruptum erat ut neceffe. fuerit aucupari hinc inde fententias ideo fine rubore veniam dabis et errori manum imponas Pomponius

tuus orat Vale.

The εύχεσθε υπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ ypáþavros, of the first-quoted postscript, does not fatisfy Olricus the Younger, the fcribe of a Virgil of the thirteenth century (No. XXXV.), who ends his manuscript thus:

Libro perfecto Ludum pro munere pofco
Libro finito Lector gaudenter abito.

his fecluded life in the following postscript Another monk exhibits the chastity of

to the Convivium Kanuti (No. DCCC,XCVI.):

Detur pro penna scriptori pulcra puella.

Another, having copied a Prifcian (No. XCVI.), the price of which is given in a note, as being " XV folidos et fex denarios," hopes, in confideration of his labor, to be freed from his chiragra, and exclaims :

Dextra fcriptoris careat gravitate doloris. Frequently, however, the fcribe hopes his hand may be bleft, as in a manufcript of Wolfram Von Efchenbach, of the fourteenth century (No. CIX.):

Qui fcripfit fcripta manus ejus fit benedi&ta. Frequently, alfo, eternal blifs is promised as a reward to the scribe; as, for inftance, teenth century (No. CXIX.): in a manufcript of the Vulgate, of the thir

Qui fcripfit fcribat femper cum domino vivat. This verfe occurs very often; and immediately precedes the fcribe's wish to be

After which, in a different handwriting, is relieved of his chiragra (No. XCVI.). To the following:

Hic liber eft fcriptus qui fcripfit fit benedictus. Another, the copyift of a Horace of the eleventh century (No. XXXIX.), is still more pofitive than Olricus the Younger in his wishes:

Finito libro detur bona vacca magiftro.
The writer of a fragment de fyllogifmis
(No. C.) fympathizes with fuch a defire:

Explicit ifte liber fit fcriptor crimine liber
Scriptoris munus fit bos bonus aut equus unus
Explicit expliceat ludere fcriptor eat,
This last verse occurs alfo in the Infortia-
tum (No. CCXCIV.), with a variation:
Explicit expliceat bibere feriptor eat.

this clafs of poftfcripts belongs the one
found in the Hiftoria Orientalis Hrithoni
Armeni, of the fourteenth century (No.
DCXCI.):

Opere finito fit laus et gloria Chrifto,
Qui fcripfit hunc librum collocetur in paradisum.

It often happens that a scribe thanks God
for the happy termination of his labors:
Sit tibi laus Chrifte quoniam liber explicit iste.

Thus, alfo, in the Gloffarium LatinoTeutonicum, of the fourteenth century (No. CI.):

Finito libro fit laus et gloria Chrifto. This is the most usual reading; there is another:

Finito libro referatur gratia Chrifto.