epigrams, continued long, will appear from a piece of some humour, called "An Inquisition against Paper-persecutors," written in 1625o. But of this, more distinct proofs will appear in the progress of our history. It must not be forgotten, that a second impression of an English version of Ariosto's Satires, which contain many anecdotes of his life and circumstances, and some humorous tales, and which are marked with a strong vein of free reprehension, but with much less obscenity than might be expected from satires written by the author of ORLANDO FURIOSO, appeared in long verse, by an anonymous translator, in 1611'. I believe these satires are but little known or esteemed by the Italians. For the sake of juxtaposition, I will here anticipate in throwing together the titles of some others of the most remarkable collections of satires and satirical epigrams, published between 1600 and 1620, mean That Paul's so often hath beene strucke with thunder; 'Twas aimed at those shops, in which there lie Such a confvsed heape of trumperie, In such abundance, it is to be fear'd Not only LITTLE but GREAT Britain With their infectious swarmes, whose guilty sheetes I haue obserued walking in the streetes; They had retired to a sanctuary, Each drincking lozell nowe, That hath but seen a colledge, and knows howe, &c. After having censured those who versified the Bible, and made it all apocryphal, but with a compliment to the translators of Du Bartas, he adds, The reader will recollect, that Saint Paul's church-yard and its environs, in which was Little-Britain, abounded with shops and stalls of booksellers; that its steeple was thrown down by lightning, in 1561; and that a general reparation of the church was now become a great object of the nation. f "Ariosto's Seven Planets gouerning Italie. Or, his Satyrs in seuen famous discourses, &c. Newly corrected and augmented, &c. With a new edition of three most excellent Elegies, written by the same Lodovico Ariosto." By W. Stansby, 1611. 4to. I believe this title gave rise to the following:-" A Booke of the seuen planets, or seuen wandring motions of William Alablaster's wit, retrograded or removed by John Racster." Lond. 1598. 4to. There is an edition of this translation of Ariosto's Satires, 1608. See supr. p. 388. It is more certain that Ariosto's title gave rise to "The Philosophers Satyrs, or the Philosophers Seven Satyrs, alluding to the seuen Planets," &c. By Robert Anton of Magdalene college, Cambridge. Lond. 1616. 4to. It may be sufficient to have mentioned these Satires here. [In 1617 they were entitled "Vices Anatomie scourged and corrected, in new Satires lately written by R. A. of Magdalen College, Cambridge."-PARK.] ing to consider hereafter those that best deserve, more critically and distinctly. The COURT OF CONSCIENCE, or Dick Whipper's Sessions*, appeared in 1607. More fooles yet, a collection of Epigrams in quarto, by R. S., perhaps Richard Smith+, in 1610. The most elegant and wittie Epigrams of sir James Harrington, the translator of Ariosto, in four books, in 1611. Jonson's EPIGRAMS, in 1616. Henry Fitzgeoffrey's SATIRES in 1617. PHILOMYTHIE or PHILOMYTHOLOgie, wherein outlandish birds, beasts, and fishes, are taught to speake true English plainely, By T. Scor, gentleman, including satires in long English verse, in 1616. The second part of PHILOMYTHIE, containing certaine Tales of True Libertie, False Friendship, Power United, Faction and Ambition, by the same, 1616'. Certaine Pieces of this age parabolized, by the same, in 1616m. George Wither, of Manydowne in Hampshire, educated at Magdalene College in Oxford, and at Lincoln's inn, afterwards an officer in Cromwell's army, and popular even among the puritans as a poet, published ABUSES stript and whipt, or Satyricall Essayes. Divided into two Bookes, in 1613". For this publication, date 1600. But I have not seen any printed copy with an earlier date than 1615.-PARK.] I have seen "N. Britland's Boure of Delight, contayning Epigrams, Pastorals, Sonnets," &c. Printed for W. Jones, 1597. But these Epigrams do not so properly belong to the class before us. The same may be said of the Epigrams of George Turberville, and some few others. [With a Dedication signed Richard West.-PARK.] [Mr. Warton's copy, or that which he had seen, was probably imperfect; since the name of Roger Sharpe unveils the initials in the title-page.-PARK.] Many of Harrington's Epigrams were certainly written before. Perhaps there was an older edition. In Fitz-geoffrey's Latin Epigrams, called Affaniæ, published 1601, there is an Epigram to Harrington, with these lines, preferring him to Haywood or Davies, as an English epigrammatist. Signat. B. 3. Sive arguta vago flectas epigrammata torno, Sive Britanna magis sive Latina velis ; At tu Biblidicis malis comes ire Camenis, Illis HAYWOODOS DAVISIOSQUE præis. And in sir John Stradling's Epigrams, published 1607, there is one to Harrington with this title, Lib. i. p. 32. "Ad D. I. Harrington, Equitem doctissimum, de quibusdam epigrammatis Stradlingo, equiti, dono missis, 1590." And in Stradling's epigrams, we have two of Harrington's translated into Latin. [A MS. copy of Harrington's Epigrams, in the Public Library Cambridge, contains nine or ten epigrams which had not appeared in print till they were inserted by Mr. Reed in the European Magazine for Jan. 1789. The above MS. copy bears 1 Jonson's epigrams, as we have seen, are mentioned with Davies's, by Fitzgeoffrey, 1601. Affan. Lib. ii. Signat. E. 4. DAVISIOS lædis mihi, JONSONIOSQUE lacessis. Of this the first Davies, Harrington says, "This Haywood [the epigrammatist] for his prouerbs and epigrams not yet put down by any of our country, though one [Davies in the margin] doth indeede come neare him, that graces him the more in saying he put him downe," &c.—" A new Discovrse of a stale svbiect, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax," &c. Printed 1596. 12mo. Signat. D. 2. Again, "But as my good friend M. Dauies saide of his Epigrams, that they were made like doublets in Birchen-lane, for euery one whom they will serue," &c. Ibid. Signat. I. In Hayman's Quodlibets, or Epigrams, there is one, "To the reverend, learned, and acute, Master Charles Fitz-Geoffrey, bachelor in diuinity, my especiall kind friend, and most excellent poet." compares him to Homer, being blind of one eye. B. i. 111. p. 18. This was Charles the author of the Latin Epigrams, above-mentioned. He This is a second edition, "much inlarged," Lond. For Francis Constable, &c. Svo. 1 For Constable, ut supr. Lond. Printed by E. Griffin, for F. Constable, &c. 8vo. I suppose these two last to be second editions. n Three editions soon followed, 1614, 1615, 1622, 8vo. which was too licentious in attacking establishments, and has a vein of severity unseasoned by wit, he suffered an imprisonment for many months in the Marshalsea. Not being debarred the use of paper, pens and ink*, he wrote during his confinement, an apology to James the First, under the title of A SATYRE, printed the following year, for his censures of the government in his first book. But, like Prynne in the pillory railing at the bishops, instead of the lenient language of recantation and concession, in this piece he still perseveres in his invectives against the court. Being taken prisoner in the rebellion by the roy. alists, he was sentenced to be hanged; but sir John Denham the poet prevailed with the king to spare his life, by telling his majesty, So long as Wither lives, I shall not be the worst poet in England. The revenge of our satirist was held so cheap, that he was lampooned by Taylor the water-poet. Richard Brathwayte, a native of Northumberland, admitted at Oriel college, Oxford, in [Such was the unsubdued addiction of Wither to poetical composition, that when he was debarred the use of paper, pens, and ink, during a subsequent confinement in the Tower, he continued to write verses with ochre on three trenchers, which he afterwards printed in a tract entitled "A Proclamation," &c. See the Brit. Bibliogr. p. 434.-PRICE.] Reprinted 1615, 1622, 8vo. P The titles of Wither's numerous pieces may be seen in Wood, Ath. Oxon. i. 392. seq. He was born in 1588, and died in 1667. He has left some anecdotes of the early part of his life, in the first book of his Abuses. The Occasion, p. 1. seq. In Hayman's Epigrams, 1628, there is one, "To the accute Satyrist, Master George Wither." Epigr. 20. And 21. p. 61. Here might be mentioned, "Essayes and Characters, ironicall and instructive, &c. By John Stephens the younger, of Lincolnes inne, Gent." Lond. 1615. 12mo. Mine is a second impression. Many of the Essayes are Satires in verse. There is also a collection of Satyrical poems called the Knave of Clubbs, 1611. another, the Knave of Harts, 1612. and More Knaves yet, the Knaves of Spades and Diamonds; with new additions, 1612. 4to. Among Mr. Capell's Shaksperiana, at Trinity college, Cambridge, are "Dobson's Dry Bobs," 1610. bl. lett. 4to. and Heath's Epigrams, 1610. Svo. [Those Epigrammatic Knaves appear to have been the fabrication of Samuel Rowlands. The first of them has his initials, and consists of satirical characters. The second is undesignated, and comprises Knaves of all kinds, with several sarcastic appendages. The third has an introductory Epistle, with the name of this versatile author at length, and chiefly is com 1604, and afterwards a student at posed of Epigrams or Proverbs, but not at all on the plan of ancient Heywood. The following specimen, though very hyperbolical, will exhibit the prevalence of certain fashions in the age of our first James. To Madam MASKE or Francis FAN. When men amazed at their busines stood, A speech was used, "Faith, I am in a wood." To make an end of that same wooden There's order taken for it now adaies, Transforming trees to maintaine Maske So that the former speech being errour A new way turn'd it must be verified. To such a height Lucifer's sinne is growne, laid aside, In all things sparing, for to spend on pride: The poore complaining country thus doth say "Our fathers lopt the boughs of trees away: We, that more skill of greedy gaine have found, Cut down the bodies levill with the ground: The age that after our date shall succeed, Will dig up roots and all to serve their need." Sig. F. 1. The Knave of Hearts is made to say, that "the idle-headed French devis'd cards first."-PARK.] Cambridge, chiefly remembered, if remembered at all, as one of the minor pastoral poets of the reign of James the First, published in 1619, "NATVRES embassie, or the Wilde-mans measures, danced naked, by twelve Satyres, with sundry others," &c.9.-Donne's SATIRES were written early in the reign of James the First, though they were not published till after his death, in the year 1633. Jonson sends one of his Epigrams to Lucy Countess of Bedford, with Mr. DONNES SATYRES'. It is conjectured by Wood, that a lively satirical piece, on the literature of the times, which I have already cited, with Donne's initials, and connected with another poem of the same cast, is one of Donne's juvenile performances. I had supposed John Davies. But I will again exhibit the whole title of the Bodleian edition :-" A Scourge for paperpersecutors, by I. D. With an Inquisition against paper-persecutors, by A. H. London, for H. H. 1625," in quarto. But Wood had seen a detached edition of the former piece. He says, "Quære, whether John Donne published A Scourge for Paper Persecutors, printed in quarto, tempore Jacobi primi. The running title at the top of every page is PAPER'S COMPLAINT, in three sheets and a half. The date on the title pared out at the bottoms." This must have been an older edition, than that in which it appears connected, from similarity of subject, with its companion, An Inquisition against paper-persecutors, in the year 1625, as I have just noticed. For R. Whitcher, 12mo. They were reprinted for the same, 1621. 12mo. In his satire on Adulterie, are these lines, p. 30: And when you haue no favours to bestow, Lookes are the lures which drawe Affection's bow. To these pieces is annexed, "The second Section of Divine and Morall Satyres," &c. This is dedicated to S. W. C. by R. B. See also Brathwayte's Strappado for the Devil, 1615. 8vo. Epigr. xciii. See xcvi. Though Jonson's Epigrams were printed in 1616, many were written long before. And among Freeman's Epigrams, Run and a Great Cast, 1614, we have the following. Epigr. 84. TO JOHN DONNE. The STORME described hath set thy name afloat, Thy CALME a gale of famous winde hath got: Thy SATYRS short too soone we them o'erlook, I prithee, Persius, write another booke! [Mr. Warton's supposition was better founded than the conjecture of Wood. Davies of Hereford was the undoubted author of this piece, since it was first printed in his "Scourge of Folly" about the year 1612.-PARK.] VOL. III. Ath. Oxon. i. 556. [See above, p. 462.] He thus ridicules the minute commemorations of unhistorical occurrences in the Chronicles of Hollinshead and Stowe. Signat. B. 3. Some chroniclers that write of kingdom' Do so absurdly sableize my white Bald may games, beare baytings, and Made to some prince, by some poore cor- And if a bricke-bat from a chimney falls, Owen's idea of an epigram points out the notion which now prevailed of this kind of composition, and shows the propriety of blending the epigrams and satires of these times under one class. A satire, he says, is an epigram on a larger scale. Epigrams are only satires in miniature. An epigram must be satirical, and a satire epigrammatical'. And Jonson, in the Dedication of his EPIGRAMS to Lord Pembroke, was so far from viewing this species of verse, in its original plan, as the most harmless and inoffensive species of verse, that he supposes it to be conversant above the likenesse of vice and facts, and is conscious that epigrams carry danger in the sound. Yet in one of his epigrams, addressed To the Meere English CensvreR, he professes not exactly to follow the track of the late and most celebrated epigrammatists. To thee my way in EPIGRAMMES seemes newe, When both it is the old way and the true. DAVIS, and WEEVER, and the BEST have BEENE, This, however, discovers the opinion of the general reader*. Of the popularity of the epigram about the year 1600, if no specimens had remained, a proof may be drawn, together with evidences of the nature of the composition, from Marston's humorous character of Tuscus, a retailer of wit. But roome for Tuscus, that iest-moungering youth, Who neer did ope his apish gerning mouth, Robert Hayman above quoted thus recommends his own Epigrams. Quodlibets, B. iv. 19. p. 61. Epigrams are like Satyrs, rough without, Like chesnuts sweet; take thou the kernell out. Our bastard eglets dare not see the sun So boldly as your true-borne babes have donne. Yet bee it knowne, wee dare look tow'rds the light, Though not like you, nor in so great a height. MSS. Sloan. 1489. 1889. 1947.-PARK.] In Dunbar's Latin Epigrams, published 1616, there is a compliment to Davies of Hereford, author of the Scourge of Folly, as a Satirist or Epigrammatist. Cent. xx. p. 66. * [Hust, in his "Clara Stella," has the following odd tribute, addressed "To one that asked me why I would write an English epigram after Ben Jonson." How! dost thou ask me why my ventrous pen Durst write an English epigram after Ben! Oh! after him is manners:-though it would 'Fore him have writ, if how it could have told. Hust's Cl. St. 1650. p. 33.-PARK.] |