A panegyric upon women possessing strength and constancy of mind concludes with a description of the noble superiority that attended the royal patroness of Vives.

"Christ wold not that euen in our time we should be without an exaple, the whiche shulde flowe & descend vnto our posteritie, left and exhibited vnto vs by Catharine ye. Spaniard, Queene of Englande, and wyfe vnto Kynge Henrye the Eyghte of moost famouse memorye, of whome that maye be more truly spoken of, then that, that Valerius wryteth of Lucrece, that there was in her feminine bodye a man's hearte by the error and faute of nature. I am ashamed of myselfe, and of al those that haue redde so manye thynges, when I behold that woman so strongly to support & suffer so manye and diuers aduersities, that there is not one (although he were wel worthy to be remembred & spoken of among our elders), that with suche constancy of

following manner. "Also he [the king] had taken somtyme the kepyng of the kynges doughter [sister] of Frauˇce, for he sholde marye her to his son Richarde of Peytow, but after the dethe of Rosamonde he laye by this mayde, Therfore his sone Rycharde refused the maryage; therfore the kyng cast to wedde this pucell, and therfore he prayed Huguncio the CardyBall for to come & make deuoors by twene hym and Elyanor the quene. For he hoped so for to haue ye. more helpe & fauour of Fresshe men to dysheryte his owne sones. Afterwarde fell warre bytwene hym and the kynge of Fraunce for castelle Raph, and kyng Henry axed this pucell to wedde her to his sonne John, & axed wyth her therldom of Peytow & of Angeo; but the kyng of Fraunce assented not to this axyng, but he sent the letters to Rychard by cause he sholde hem sce; therfore aroos a greuous wrath bitwene the fader & his owne sone." Book 7, Cap. xxvij.

Bibliographia Poetica, and the omission appears singular, from the known researches of Ritson into the old Chronicles.-Ralph Higden was a monk of St. Werburge, co. Chester, and died 1377, aged Nicholson's Erg.

Hist. Library, p. 53. Ed. 1776.

mynd

mynd hath suffred cruel fortune, or could so haue ruled Batterynge felicitie, as she dyd. If suche incredible vertue hadde fortuned then, when honor was the reward of vertue, thys woma had dusked the brightnesse of the heroes, and as a diuine thynge and a godlye sente downe from heauen, had bene praved vnto in temples; although she lacke no temples, for there can not be erected vnto her a more ample or a more magnificente temple then that, the whiche euery man among al nations, marueylinge at her vertues, haue in theyr owne heartes buylded and erected."*

In considering the instruction of women, it is questioned "whether it be expedient for a woman to be learned or no. Some there be that doe playnely deny it. But of this matter I hate euen wyth fewe woordes sufficientlye ynough disputed in my first boke of a christen woma. And therefore I wyll only say here that shall be sufficient to confute that coinion the whiche I doe not alowe, and reproue those that of one sorte of letters geue iudgemente by another. And in declarynge of that doctrine wherwith I woulde that the woman should be instructed & taughte, I thinke ther

To this may be added ❝ a notable sentence of the queene of England. Katherine of Spaine, the wife of Henry the Eight king of England, said, that she loued better a temperate and meane fortune then that which was either too easie and prosperous, or too sharpe and aduerse. Neuerthelesse that if she should be put to her choise which of the two last she would accept, she had rather haue the aduerse then the prosperous: because (said she) commonly they, which are vnfortunate, are not altogether destitute of some consolation and comfort: but they which liue in prosperitie for the most part do want the true vse of vnderstanding, reason and judgement." Memorable conceits of divers noble and famous personages of Christendome, of this our moderne time. London, printed for James Shaw. 1602. 16mo. PP. 234.

be

be but few yt. wyll repine agaynst my mind & sayinges. Ther be some kind of letters & writynges yt. pertayne only to adourne & increase eloquence withall; some to delite and please; some that make a man subtile and craftye; some to knowe naturall thynges, and to instruct and informe the mynde of man withall. The workes of poetes, the fables of Milesij, as that of the golden asse, and in a maner all Lucianes workes, and manye other which are written in the vulgar tongue, as of Trystram, Launcelot, Ogier, Amasus and of Artur, the whiche were written and made by suche as were ydle & knew nothinge. These bokes do hurt both man & woman, for they make them wylye & craftye, they kyndle and styr vp couetousnes, inflame angre, & all beastly and filthy desyre. So much knowledge of naturall thynges, as suffiseth to rule & gouerne thys life with all, is sufficient for a woman."*

Example forms a principal guide for the instruction

Puttenham talks of "places of assembly, where the company shalbe desirous to heare of old aduentures & val. aunces of noble knights in times past, as are those of king Arthur and his knights of the round table, Sir Beuys of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, and others like;" but Mres has a censure upon romances in the section of " a choice is to be had in reading of bookes."—" As the Lord de la Nouue in the sixe discourse of his politike and military discourses censureth of the bookes of Amadis de Gaule, which he saith are no lesse hurtfull to youth, then the workes of Machiauell to age; so these bookes are accordingly to be censured, of whose names follow; Beuis of Hampton; Guy of Warwicke; Arthur of the round table; Huon of Bordeaux; Oliuer of the castle; the foure sonnes of Aymon; Gargantua ; Gireleon; the Honour of Chiualrie; Primaleon of Greece; Palmerin de Oliua; the 7 Champions; the Myrror of Knighthood; Blancherdine; Meruin; Howleglasse; the stories of Palladyne and Palmendos; the blacke Knight; the maiden Knight; the history of Cœlestina; the castle of Fame; Gallian of France; Ornatus and Artesia," &c. Wit's Commonwealth,

Part II. 268.

1

of

of a wife, supposed necessary to be given on the part of a husband. "Thou shalt not onely rehearse vnto her olde and aunciente names as Sara, Rebecca, Penelope, Andromacha, Lucretia, Colebolina, Hipparchia, Portia, Sulpitia, Cornelia, and of our sayntes, as Agnes, Catherine, Margaret, Barbara, Monica and Apollonia, but also those that [are] more fresher, as Catherin quene of England, Clara, Ceruerta, the wife of Vallearus, and Blanca Maroa, albet I doe feare to be reproued, that I doe thus commende my mother, geuynge my selfe to muche to loue and pitie, the which trulye doeth take muche place in me, but yet the trueth muche more. There can not lacke in euerye nation and citye honest and deuoute matrones, by whose examples thei may be styrred and prouoked; but yet the familier examples, as of the mother, the beldame,* the aunt, the sister, the cosyn, or of some other kinswoman or frende, shoulde be of more force and value. For why? suche examples as we do see, doe much moore mooue vs, and better we folowe theym then anye other."

The volume forms an amusing collection of moral precepts, and appears intended as a conclusion to the Instruction of a Christen Woman, noticed in CENSURA, Vol. IV. p. 348.

Conduit street.

J. H.

ART. IV. The History of Great Britanie from the first peopling of this Iland to this presant raigne of ohapy & peaceful Monarke K. James, by Will.

This passage confirms the primary meaning of the word beldame as supposed by Steevens, who appears to have sought in vain for an authority. "Perhaps, he says, beldame originally meant a grandmother." Reed's Shak. Vol. xi. p. 318, note 3.

Slatyer

Slatyer. London: Printed by W. Stansby for
Richd. Meighen, and are to be sold at his shop at
St. Clement's Church. Fol.

This is in the centre of an engraved title-page, or frontispiece, which is explained by a poem on the opposite leaf. Anthony Wood gives this work the date of 1621. The chronological table ends with the date of 1619.

It appears by a marginal note to one of the prefatory poems, entitled Authoris Votum, that Slatyer was born at Tykenham in Somersetshire, not far from Bristol. His birth was about the year 1587, and in 1600, he became, at the age of thirteen, a member of Oxford University. He took orders, and was beneficed as early as 1611. In 1625 he was presented to the rectory of Otterden in Kent, which he had a dispensation for holding with that of Newchurch. * He was also treasurer of the cathedral church of St. David's in Wales. But by his own poem, just mentioned, it appears that he had preferment in both these situations before the publication of his book; and that he had already had a residence both in Wiltshire and London. After speaking of Oxford he goes on:

"Thence silver-founted christal Thames,
His forehead deck'd, clear limpid stream,
With dangling reeds, and flaggy flowers,
Conveyed her down to old Lud's bowers,
Where she beheld with wondring eyes
Both city's pride and courtly guise,
Whom noblest nymphs, that haunt the place,
Gently deign'd more than look'd for grace.

Next courtly troops, the country trains

Did hear her sing, and those wild plains

Rymer's Fad. XVIII. 647, 665. Hasted's Kent, II. 508.

That