bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to be burnt at Stationers Hall.

He was also the Author of that beautiful Sonnet quoted in The Merry Wives of Windsor, A. 3. S. 1. called The Passionate Shepherd to his Love; to which Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a Reply. Both these pieces are printed in Dr. Percy's Reliques of Antient Poetry, vol. I. p. 218*.

* Several particulars regarding Marlow, and among them the register of his burial, are to be found in the ingenious preface to the late reprint of Marlow's and Chapman's " Hero and Leander," 1606. His birth is conjectured to have occurred about the year 156%, and it is stated that he took his degree of B.A. of Benet College, Cambridge, in 1583, and of M. A in 1587. The writer of this preface doubts whether Marlow was the author of "Tamberlaine the Greate," and analyses "Lust's Dominion" at some length, remarking that the reader "can hardly fail to observe in it the variety and melody of Marlow's versification." What would have been said of it had he known, as is unquestionably the fact, that Marlow did not write a single line of that tragedy? C.

GURNIE, RICE AP HOWEL, LIGHTBORNE, ABBOT,

MESSENGERS, &c.

Queen ISABELLA.

The LADY.

The Scene lies in England and France.

EDWARD II.*

Enter GAVESTON, reading in a letter that was brought him from the king.

Gaveston,

GAVESTON. My father is deceas'd! come,
And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.
Ah! words that make me surfeit with delight!
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston,
Than live and be the favourite of a king!

Sweet prince, I come; these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforc'd me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasp'd upon the sand,

So thou wouldst smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to mine exil'd eyes
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul;
Not that I love the city, or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear,
The king, upon whose bosom let me die,
And with the world be still at enmity.
What need the artick people love star-light,
To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell base stooping to the lordly peers;
My knee shall bow to none but to the king.
As for the multitude, they are but sparks,
Rak'd up in embers of their poverty,
Tanti + I'll fan first on the wind,
That glanceth at my lips, and flieth away.
But how now, what are these?

*The action of this play includes the whole of the reign of Edward II., commencing with the recal of Gaveston, which happened before the funeral of Edward I. C.

+ There is probably some misprint or omission here.

Enter three poor men.

Poor men. Such as desire your worship's service.
Gaveston. What canst thou do?

1 Poor. I can ride.

Gaveston. But I have no horse. What art thou? 2 Poor. A traveller.

Gaveston. Let me see-thou wouldst do well

To wait at my trencher, and tell me lies at dinnertime;'

And as I like your discoursing, I'll have you.

And what art thou?

3 Poor. A soldier, that hath serv'd against the Scot. Gaveston. Why there are hospitals for such as you ; I have no war, and therefore, sir, be gone.

Soldier. Farewell, and perish by a soldier's hand, That would'st reward them with an hospital.

Gaveston. Ay, ay, these words of his move me as much

As if a goose should play the porcupine,

And dart her plumes, thinking to pierce my breast.
But yet it is no pain to speak men fair;

I'll flatter these, and make them live in hope. [Aside.
You know that I came lately out of France,

And

yet

I have not view'd my lord the king;

If I speed well, I'll entertain you all.

Omnes. We thank your worship.

Gaveston. I have some business. Leave me to myself.

Omnes. We will wait here about the court. [Exeunt.
Gaveston. Do:-these are not men for me;

I must have wanton poets, pleasant wits,
Musicians, that with touching of a string
May draw the pliant king which way I please:
13 Musick and poetry are his delight;

13 Musick and Poetry, &c.] How exactly the Author, as the learned Dr. Hurd observes, has painted the humour of the times which esteemed masks and shews as the highest indulgence that could be provided for a luxurious and happy monarch, we may see from the entertainment provided, not many years after, for the re

Therefore I'll have Italian masks by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day, when he shall walk abroad,
Like Sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad;
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat-feet dance the antick hay.
Sometimes a lovely boy in Dian's shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive-tree,
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there hard-by,
14 One like Acteon peeping thro' the grove
Shall by the angry goddess be transform'd,
And running in the likeness of an hart,

By yelping hounds pull'd down, shall seem to die;
Such things as these best please his majesty.
My Lord here comes; the king and the nobles,
From the parliament. I'll stand aside.

senior,

MORTIMER Enter the King, LANCASTER, MORTIMER junior, EDMUND earl of KENT, GUY earl of WARWICK, &c.

Edward. Lancaster.

Lancaster, My lord.

Gaveston. That earl of Lancaster do I abhor. [Aside.
Edward. Will you not grant me this? In spite of
them

I'll have my will; and these two Mortimers,
That cross me thus, shall know I am displeas'd.

Mortimer senior. If you love us, my lord, hate Gave

ston.

Gaveston. That villain Mortimer, I'll be his death.

[Aside. Mortimer junior. Mine uncle here, this earl, and I myself,

Were sworn unto your father at his death,

ception of King James at Althorp, in Northamptonshire; where this very design of Sylvan Nymphs, Satyrs, and Acteon, was executed in a Masque by Ben Jonson.

Moral and Political Dialogues, vol. I. p. 194. 14 One like Acteon, &c.] See Grim the Collier of Croydon, vol. XI.