was rais urst; t Charles most de rument Thom Seots; P at he oyed o serv firme arl of ears, u Wher rtance ase to han the irds o uses. suredl early mcan eded to an ample patrimony, yet not ample enough ther b penser tensiv e best adeavo pore su outh, a Spenser fine School, rold is inin For his dissipated habits; that in the following year he In When we consider the number, the variety, the importance of lord Buckhurst's public duties, we shall cease to feel surprise that he wrote no other tragedy than the one we have mentioned; that he contributed so little to the Mirror of Magistrates; that during two thirds of his life, he renounced the worship of the muses. Had his lot been cast in private life, he would assuredly have proved one of the greatest benefactors to our early literature. In tragedy, no one that preceded him can for a moment be compared with him. other branches of poetry, he had no superior until Spenser arose. His mind was cultivated not only by extensive classical learning, but by a diligent study of the best Italian writers, especially of Dante, whom he endeavoured to imitate, and whom he did imitate with more success than we should have expected from his youth, and from the age in which he lived. To him, Spenser, perhaps, even Milton, is indebted for some of his finest conceptions. He belonged to the Allegoric School, the offspring, as we have before intimated, of our old moralities; and he is the only writer, except his inimitable follower, Spenser, in whose hands allegory does not fall into contempt. Endowed with genius which, on most occasions, he regulated by a " by Sha Dess, w ad to plode Fice, is all, the mploy In cont the de Most g modern of ever ame we had bee f our thing l hile P before De set on di Tould e wou und no e spa ing t pidity Presto Camb Zively *"A Lamentable Tragedie, mixed ful of Pleesent Mirth, contayning the Life of Cambises, King of Persia, from the begynning of his kingdom to his death, his ever grand deed of execution; after that many wretched Hoods and tyrannous murders committed by and through him; and last of by God's justice appointed doon in such order as fol believed to have had the honour of being immortalised by Shakespear.* The date of its publication cannot be determined, as the first edition is without one; but there is reason to infer, that it immediately followed the Ferrex and Porrex of Sackville. It has all the rudeness, without the simplicity, of our old moral plays: Murder, Common-Cry, Common- Complaint, Smile, Ability, Proof, Execution, Diligence, Cruelty, Profanation, Trial, and Shame, are characters of the piece; and to make the stupidity of its resemblance to the exploded morals still more striking, Ambidexter, the Vice, is introduced in all his ancient glory. To crown all, the mythological personages, Venus and Cupid, are employed to bring about one of the leading incidents! In conformity with this precious list of characters are the design, the conduct, the incidents of the piece. Most glorious of all, is the confusion of ancient and modern manners; of pagan gods and christian saints; of every thing irreconcilable and absurd. For some time we were inclined to the suspicion, that this tragedy had been written by some wag, to ridicule the absurdities of our infant drama; and the notion acquired something like confirmation from the fact, that the author, while performing a part in the Latin play of "Dido,' before queen Elizabeth, so gratified that princess that she settled a pension on him. But this illusion was soon dispelled. Had he been so much of a wit, he would have exhibited some traces of it in his drama; he would have given something like point to his ridicule, and not have restrained himself so far as not to utter one sparkling, one redeeming thought, from the beginning to the end of his play. It is one tissue of stupidity; heavy as lead, and soporific as opium. Thomas Preston, doctor as he was, and member of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was never guilty of a witticism, or of a lively expression, or of one dictated by common sense. 6. George Gascoyne, was more of a translator than any thing else. In 1566 appeared his review of 46:11 do it in King Cambuses' vein!"" |