ELEGIDIA

ET POEMATIA EPIDICTICA.

Una cum ad Vicum expressis Personarum iconibus, Impressa Upsaliæ, 1631.

THIS little volume, which is probably unique, contains a collection of very elegant Verses, descriptive of the several persons who then (1631) made a distinguished figure in Europe. Such, for example, as Ferdinand II., Emperor of the Romans; Frederic, Count Palatine; Christian, Duke of Brunswick; Ernest, Count Mansfeld; Sir Horace Vere, our countryman; James the First, of England, &c. &c.

The portraits of all these personages, some of which are remarkably well engraved, are annexed.

I select, as a pleasing specimen of the versification, the following verses, in which Europe is supposed to speak of her own distressed and agitated situation, and the resemblance which the description bears to the present condition of this quarter of the globe, is much too striking to escape the reader's observation.

EUROPA.

EUROPA.

Jupiter assumtâ fallacis imagine tauri
Me rapuit, quondam tactus amore mei.
Impositam dorso per vitrea marmora vexit,
In molli salvam deposuitq. toro;

Mox ubi se confessus erat, vultusque priores
Sumpsit gaudebam succubuisse Deo.

Me quoque blanditiis multoque affecit honore,

Utque suam dominam, mollis amavit amans,
Nunc iterum rapior, sed vi, sed sanguine volvens
Invita exosos cogor inire toros :

Qui rapit, hesperio prodit de cardine monstrum
Sævitiâ me, non motus amore rapit.
Humanos vultus, mentem nec induit unquam
Sed diri mores cum feritate manent.
Non nisi conscendit fœdatus sanguine lectum,
Nil nisi quam spirat, prælia, bella, neces;
Non mihi blanditias, non ullos reddit amores,
Et torquet Venerem, cæde, furore, minis.
Me quoque servili vinclorum compede vinctam,
Ut vilem servam mancipiumque tenet.
Sic fuit Andromede famulis religata cathenis,
Sic fuit ad duram brachia vincta petram.
Ast illam potuit Perseus exsolvere vinclis,

Sed me, bis miseram, solvere nemo potest.

The following lines are descriptive of Sir Horace Vere, who commanded in the Netherlands, in the service of the States:

HORATIUS

HORATIUS VEHR ANGLUS

Dux Copiarum Britannicarum in Palatinatu.

Me Rex Jacobus parvo cum milite misit,
Subsidio genero, constituitque ducem;
Moxque Palatinas jussit defendere terras,
Sed nec vires, nec tela, nec arma dedit.
Non potui durare diu, sed cedere campo
Me major vis et dura coegit hyems.
Quis cum majori decertet viribus impar?
Est Virtus fato cedere consilio.

The Sir Horace Vere abovementioned, was brother to the celebrated Sir Francis Vere, whose Commentaries, written by himself, are among our scarcest books in English literature. There is a print of Sir Horace Vere in the Commentaries of Sir Francis, which has a strong resemblance to that which appears in the volume, from which the above extracts are taken. the head is the motto of the family: "Vero"nihil Verius."

Above

This Sir Horace Vere was afterwards created Baron of Tilbury.

PASQUIL

PASQUILLORUM

TOMI DUO.

Quorum Primo versibus ac rhythmis, altero soluta Oratione conscripta quamplurima continentur, ad exhilarandum, confirmandumque hoc perturbatissimo rerum statu pii lectoris animum, apprime conducentia.

Eleutheropoli MDXLIIII.

I HAVE transcribed the whole title of this most curious book, on account of its extreme rarity.

The following account of it was written by the learned Dr. Maty, formerly of the British Museum.

COLLECTIO hæc rarissima, Basile, apud S. Oporinum, a Coelio Secundo Carione, ut creditur, fuit edita. Constat carminibus satyricis libellisque famosis contra Papas Romanainque curiam variis locis conscriptis. Plures in Italia ipsa lucem primam viderunt, alii Germanum Equitem Ulrichum Huttenum, acerrimum Papisticæ causæ inimicum Lutherique vindicem, auctorem habuerunt. Inter illos Dialogus, qui dicitur Julius exclusus et Erasmo fuit tributus,

primas

primas meretur. Non mirum ergo hunc librum a Pontificiis fuisse conquisitum peneque destructum. Saltem hoc credebat Daniel Heinsius, qui, quum Venetis esset anno, exemplar Pasquillorum ingenti prætio sibi comparavit. In capite hujus exemplaris, quod deinde in Hohendorfianain Bibliothecam transivit, hos versus, ut testimonium summæ raritatis operis, manu sua adscripsisse fertur ;

Roma, meos patres igni dedit, unica Phoenix
Vivo, aureisque venco centum Heinsio.

In hoc tamen fuit bonus vir deceptus; supersunt enim plura ejusdem libri exemplaria in variis Bibliothecis publicis, nec raro in auctionibus Germaniæ invenitur, licet semper satis caro vendatur, et ob intrinsicum valorem opusculum a bibliophilis avide exquiratur. Qui plura de illo libro scire cupiunt, consulant SALENGRE in Mem. de Lit. T. 11. p. 203-232. Vogt. Cat. libr. rar. Hamb. 1738, et præsertim, CLEMENT Bibl. sub nomine Curionis. Notæ scriptæ quæ in nostro exemplari inveniuntur nec frequentes, nec antiquæ, nec magni pretii videntur.

Nov. 20, 1758.

M. MATY.

One or two specimens from this very rare book will require no apology.

De