Of this small collection, in which there are stray poems of Bishop Corbet and Sir John Suckling, I shall give the celebrated scoffing ballad on the run-away troop of the latter.

Upon Sir John Suckling's most warlike preparations for the Scotish War.

BY SIR JOHN MENNES.

"Sir John got him an ambling nag,

To Scotland for to ride a,

With a hundred horse more, all his own he

To guard him on every side a.

No errant knight ever went to fight

With half so gay a bravado;

swore,

Had you seen but his look, you 'd have sworn on a book,

Hee 'ld have conquered a whole Armado.

The ladies ran all to the windows to see
So gallant and warlike a sight a,
And as he pass'd by, they began to cry,
Sir John, why will you go fight a?

But he, like a cruel knight; spurred on;
His heart did not relent a,

For, till he came there, he shew'd no fear;
Till then why should he repent a ?

The king (God bless him) had singular hopes

Of him and all his troop a ;

The borderers they, as they met him on
For joy did hollow and whoop a.

the

way,

None lik'd him so well as his own colonel,
Who took him for John de Weart a,

But when there were shows of gunning and blows,
My gallant was nothing so peart a.

VOL. IV.

D D

For

For when the Scots army came within sight,
And all men prepared to fight a,

He ran to his tent, they ask'd what he meant,
He swore he must needs goe s→→ 2.

The colonel sent for him back again,
To quarter him in the van a,

But Sir John did swear he came not there
To be killed the very first man a.

To cure his fear he was sent to the rear,
Some ten miles back and more a,
Where be did play at Tre trip for hay,
And ne'er saw the enemy more a,

But now there is peace, he's return'd to increase
His money, which lately he spent a,
But his lost honour must still lye in the dust ;
At Barwick away it went a."

The following is probably by Doctor Smith.

An Epitaph upon Doctor Prideaux's Son.
"Here lyes his parent's hopes and fears,
Once all their joys, now all their tears;
He's now past sense, past fear of pain,
'Twere sin to wish him here again.
Had he but liv'd to have been a man,
This inch had grown but to a span;
And now he takes up the less room,
Rock'd from his cradle to his tomb.

'Tis better die a child at four,

Than live and die so at fourscore.

View but the way by which we come,

Thou 'It say, he's best, that's first at home."

ART. XVII. The Blazon of Jealousie. A subject not written of by any heretofore. First written in Italian, by that learned gentleman Benedetto Varchi, sometimes Lord Chauncelor vnto the Signorie of Venice: and translated into English, with speciall notes upon the same. By R. T. Gentleman. London. Printed by T. S. for John Busbie, and are to be sould at his shop in S. Dunstan's Church-yard in Fleet street. 1615. 4to. pp. 87, exclusive of preface, &c. which comprise 14 more.

The dedication from the English translator is "To Sir Edward Dimmock Knight, the most worthy and generous champion vnto the Sacred Maiestic of Great Britaine, &c." This is signed R. T. and dated "from my lodging in Holborne, this 7 of November, 1614."

"The Blazon of Jealousy" was, it appears, first written and delivered as an oration before the academy of the Infiammati at Padua by Varchi; it was then published in Italian by Francesco Sansovino, an intimate friend of the author's, who dedicates it" to the no lesse noble then faire, and yet not more faire then learned, the Lady Gaspara Stampa." The translator was Robert Tofte, and it is evident he was acquainted. with the most eminent writers † of his day, and was himself a poet. I

See some extracts from this book in CENS. LIT. V. I. p. 234.
In the notes to this work several persons are mentioned, particularly
Henry Constable, whom he terms an "old acquaintance and friend;"
Thomas Watson, "a quondam kind acquaintance;" Drayton, George
Wither, and others.

In a note, p. 6, he says that he translated "Ariosto's Satires into English verse, with Notes upon the same, although," continues he, “unknown to me, they were set forth in another man's name."

DD 2

Prefixed

>

Prefixed to the work are short accounts of the author. and the first publisher, which are followed by commendatory verses addressed to the translator; these are signed "Il Incognito, Anth. Mar. W. L." The last are not inharmonious.

"So many write, some for the fame of prayse;
And some their empty houres to entertaine;
That bookes are held but in these later dayes,
Th' abortive issue of an idle braine.

And hence proceedes the generall disesteerne,
The great neglect of learning, and of Wit;
When men proue not in action what they seeme,
But write their fancyes, rather then what's fit.

Which errour thou obseruing, and our age
Fallen into an incurable disease,

Walk'st not with those in common equipage,
But writ'st as well to profit as to please.
This little booke shewes wit and learning to,
A great deale more than greater volumes doe."

After the "Blazon of Jealousy" is a long poem, in octave measure, entitled "The Fruits of Jealousie. Contayning the disasterous Chance of two English Lovers, ouer-throwne through meere Conceit of Jealovsie." This is preceded by an address "to the courteous reader," in which the author says, "I had thought for thy better contentment to hauc inserted (at the end of this booke) the disastrous fall of three

* I omit giving any extract from this work of Varchi, owing to the matter being so connected as to render it impossible without a complete analysis, which the limits of CENSURA LITERARIA will not allow. The notes by the translator, which are very numerous, prove the extent of his Leading, and do him the greatest credit.

noble

noble Romane gentlemen ouerthrowne thorow jealovsie, in their loues; but the same was, (with Ariosto's Satyres translated by mee out of Italian into English verse, and notes upon the same,) printed without my consent or knowledge, in another man's name: so that I might iustly (although not so worthily) complaine as Virgil did:

Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.'

"In lieu whereof, I make bold to acquaint thee with another like subject, of an English gentleman, a quondam deare and neare friend of mine, who was so strangely possest with this fiend jealousie, as (not many years since) through a meere fantasticque and conceited suspicion, after hee had long enjoyed the friendship of a fayre gentlewoman, he (on the sodaine) shooke her off, and vtterly forsooke her, sending her (for his last fare-well) this most bitter and vnkinde letter following."-" As for the verse I must confesse, 'tis like the old Venetian hose, of an auncient fashion: but thou must consider that some (though not many) yeeres are past and gone, since this was made: at what time, it was well liked and much sought after. But this nice age, wherein wee now liue, hath brought more neate and teirse wits into the world; yet must not old George Gascoigne, and Turberuill, with such others, be altogether reiected, since they first brake the ice for our quainter poets, that now write, that they might the more safer swimme in the maine ocean of sweet poesie."

Well may the "Loue (but not louing) letter," for such is the running title, be compared to " old Venejan hose;" for never can more tattered, more coarse,