(This from perfect love ariseth ;) But received small satisfaction; I DIVES ET PAUPER. Folio. Colophon. "Here endith a compendiouse treetise dyalogue, of Dives & paup, that is to say, the riche & the pore fructuously tretyng upon the X cōmondementes, fynisshed the v. day of Juyl, the yere of our lord God M CCCC.lxxxiii. Emprentyd by me Richarde Pynson at the temple barre, of London. Deo gracias." 230 leaves besides eleven of contents, one blank following them; also one at the end, on the back of which is Pinson's Device No. 11. The first ten chapters are entitled "OF HOLY POVERTIE." Then follow "TEN PRECEPTES," each precept containing many chapters. The contents of the chapters on Holy Poverty are as follow. "Riche and pore haue like cumynge into this worlde & lyke outgoyng, but their liuyng in this worlde is unlike what shulde confort a pore ayenst grutchyng, & what wyckednesses folowe louers of richesses the first chapter. ¶ Of thre maner lordshippes & of whiche lordship it is understode y' god yaue ma lordship ouir fisshes, briddes & beestes, ca. ii. Howe this scripture is understonde. It is more blisful to yeue than to take. & howe sume wylful pore man yeueth more thanne a riche couetous man so stondyng may yeue. ca. iii. That riche & pore either is necessarie to other, & that the riche man nedith more than the pore. ca. iiii. ¶ Why richesse is clepyd a deuylship of wyckednesse & one exposicion of this texte. It is more easy a camel to passe by a nedlis iye thanne a riche man to entre the kingdome of heuene. ca. v. yeueth them, & whanne god taketh theym a wey, & in what maner eche man must forsake al that he hath. also the litte. rall exposicion of this text bifore seide. It is more easy a camel, &c. ca. vi. ¶ Riche men be nat lacked or blamed in scripture for they be riche but for their couetise & mysuse. Ne pore me praised for wätyng or lackynge of richesses, but for gode wyll and pacyence of diuerse maners of pore men. And how richesse is occasion of synne more thanne pouert. Howe this text of Salomon is understonde. yeue nat me richesses and beggery. ca. vii. ca. viii. Of ii maner of pfections sufficient & excellent. He rehersythe the x commaundementes. ca. ix. Why crist enfourmed more the yonge riche man in the preceptis of the secounde table than of the firste. and why more i the second precept of charite thanne in the firste. ca. x. ¶ Of ii lyues cōtéplatif & actif, also other causes of expssinge the pceptis of the secoude table to the yong ma bifore seid. ca. xi. Of holy pouertie. The firste chaptre. Diues et pauper obui auerut sibi utrius que operator est dñs Prouerbi. xxii. These ben the wordes of Salomon this moche to say i Englissh. The riche & the pore mette to themself, the lorde is worcher of euir either. This texte worshipfulle Bede expowneth thus. A riche man is nat to be worshipped for this cause only that he is riche, ne a pore man is to be dispysed, bicause of his pouertye but the werk of god is to be worshippyd in them bothe, for they bothe been made to the ymage & to the lyknesse of god. And as it is writen. Sapiencie, vii. ca. One maner of entring into this worlde, & a like maner of out wedyng fro this wretchid world is to alle men both riche & pore: For bothe riche & pore comen to this worlde nakyd and pore, wepyng & weilynge & bothe they wenden hens nakyd & pore with moche peyne. Nathelesse the riche & the pore in their ly vynges in this worlde in many thinges been ful vn. lyke. For the riche man a bondeth in tresoure gold & silver & other richesses. He hath honours grete and erthly delices. Where the pore creature lyneth in grete penury, and for wantyng of richesses suffreth colde and hunger, hunger, and is ofte in dispyte. Pauper. I that am a pore caytyf symple and lytel sat by, biholdynge the prosperite of them that been riche, and the disese of that I suffre and other pore men like unto me am many a tyme steryd to grutche and to be wery of my lyf. But thanne renuen to my mynde the wordes of Salomon before rehersyd, howe the lorde made as wele the pore as the riche. And therto Job witnessith, that noo thinge in erthe is made withouten cause. Job v. Thanne I suppose within myself, that by the prevy domes of god that be to me vnknowen, it is to me pfitable to be pore. For wele I wote that god is no nygarde of his giftes. But as the apostle sayth. Rom. viii. To them that been chosen of god alle thinges worchen to gydie into gode. And so sithen I truste throughe the godenes of god to be oon of his chosen. I can not deme but that to me it is gode to be pore. Moreouir Seint Poule i. Thymoth. vi. writeth in this maner They that wylle or desire to be made riche fall into temptacion & into the snare of the deuyl and into many desires unprofitable & noyous. For covetise of rich esses more than is bihoueful a mã for to haue is rote of al euylles. Experience accord eth with this sawe of the apos tle. For lesynges and piuries fals sotelties and gyles and many other wyckednesses, been as comon as the cart weye with suche inordinate louers of richesse whiche synnes brynge theim to end. lesse perisshinge, but if they be wasshen away before the our of dethe, with greate and bytter penaunce. It is an olde prouerb He is wele at ese y' hath enough and can say ho. He hath enough holy doctours sey to whom his temporall godes be they neuir soo fewe suffisen to him and to his, to fynde them that them nedyth. Wel I know that as Poul saith in the place bifore rehersed and Job sayth the same, Job i. Nakyd we come to this world we brynge noo richesse with us, ne none shalle we bere with us, whanne we shalle passe fro this world as is also before seid. Nathelesse whiles we lyue here we may nat vtterly cast all tempall godes away, wherfore after the ifor. macion of this holy mã Poule in the same cheptre, haue I helynge and symple livelode I purpose I purpose through godde's grace to holde me content & neuyr bisy me to kepe to gider aboundaunce of worldly richesses." This is the first book of Pynson printed with a date. Sce Dibdin, ii. 401. K 2 Three Three years afterwards, 1496, Wynkyn de Worde also printed this work, in folio, which Mr. Dibdin considers a re-impression of Pynson's, with only a variation of orthography. Ibid. ii. 67. The Chronicle of Jhon Harding, from the fyrste begynnynge of Englande, unto the reigne of Kyng Edward the fourth wher he made an end of his Chronicle: And from that tyme is added a continuation of the storie in prose to this our tyme, now first imprinted, gathered out of diuerse and sondery autours y have write of the affaires of Englande. Londini Ex officina Richardi Graftoni Mense Januarü. MDXLIII. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum. 4to. This book having been reprinted in the present year, and admirably edited by Mr. Henry Ellis, it is unnecessary to say more, than to copy Bishop Nicholson's short character of the original. "The next historian (to Thomas Walsingham) was JOHN HARDING, a Northern English man, and an inveterate enemy to the Scotish nation, against whom he carried arms in several expeditions. He collected out of all our histories whatever might tend to the proof of the ancient vassalage of that kingdom to the crown of England; and hearing there was in Scotland an old record that put the matter beyond dispute, he went with great hazard thither in disguise, and with much ado, brought it away, and shew'd it to Hen. V. Hen. VI. Edw. IV. To the last of these he dedicated his two books of Chronicles in English rhyme; whereof the curious reader may have a taste in some of our modern wri ters. It appears he was living (tho' very old) in the year 1461. So that Nicholas Montacute (about that time master of Eton school, and a collector of English History) may be eckoned his contemporary; as may also Royle Albanus, a Carmelite of London, who drew up the genealogies of some of our kings." But see a more critical account in Warton's History of English Poetry, ii. 125, 126, 127, and in Ellis's Preface. Grafton has prefixed a dedication of three leaves in verse to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. And there is added a continuation of the Chronicle in prose from Edw. IV. to Hen. VIII. INEDITED POEM BY JOHN WALLYS. The following specimen while it brings us acquainted with a poet of the 16th century, whose name and works have hitherto escaped the notice of our bibliographers, will also prove that the fondness for alliterative poetry (occasioned, perhaps, by the popularity of Piers Plowman) had not entirely ceased, even at so late a period as the year 1550 (the earliest which I think we can well assign to the poem in question.) This singular composition is contained in the same manuscript (MS. Ashmole 48, p. 145,) in which the works of Richard Sheale, noticed in my former communication, are found. 1. Wanderyng on my waye, as I was wonte for to wende, In the dawnynge of the daye, when the dewes gandyssend, The byrdes sat syngyng thys songe wyth lawdacion, "Wheras honore ys hadde in hey he estimacion." 2. I stented of my steven,† and stode stone styll, "Wheras honor ys hadde in higge estimacyon." Ming, mix in, participate. + Stented of my steven, stinted of, or held my voice. Wytt was in wylle, does the author mean that his inclination coincided with his judgment, in the wish to hear these sounds of sapience? Then |