amusing in parts, and cannot fail exciting the risible faculties of the reader. Witness the following passage from the description of the knight: Upon their head march'd the Good man, Like Scanderbeg or Tamerlane. Dame Nature strain'd her utmost care Affirm such heads have Turkish Saints: His ears were long, and stood upright, A mountain rather than a nose; Upon which savage beasts did feed, As Worms, and Selkhorns, which with speed Would eat it up, but he begins In time to pick them out with Pins. A Bagg which kept his Meal for Brose. The following account of the knight's mental knowledge is too entertaining not to be quoted: All things created he doth know That can occur the World throughout. Neither doth he prate and bable, If it be prov'd by any man If the Emperour Prestor John When Assur's King Samaria burned? If Captain Hynd was a good fellow? That they might fight after big words. What sums the Spaniard in Potosie That frozen great Magnetick Rock There is a curious list of all the various heresies professed by Sectarists in the time of the Rebellion on p. 100, but it is too long to be quoted. The author of this burlesque is said to have been a son of Elizabeth Melvil, styled by courtesy Lady Culros, who indulged in sacred poetry, and published a rare poem called "Ane godlie Dreame," Edinb. 1603, 4to, long a favourite in Scotland, but this relationship appears very doubtful. Colvil, or at least a person of the same name, published a theological work under the title of "The Grand Impostor Discovered: or, an Historical Disputer of the Papacy and Popish Religion. Part I." Edinb. 1673, 4to. The Whiggs Supplication is noticed in an article on the Imitations of Hudibras in the Retrosp. Rev., vol. iii. p. 317. See also Irving's Lives of the Scottish Poets, vol. ii. p. 299; and the Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 169. Colvil's poem enjoyed great popularity, and was frequently reprinted. The present edition is very incorrectly printed, and on coarse paper. Collation: Sig. A to H 8 in eights. pp. 128. In the original Calf binding. COLVIL, (SAMUEL.) -The Whiggs Supplication, or, The Scotch Hudibras. A Mock-Poem. In Two Parts. By Sam. Colvil. London: Printed for James Woodward, in St. Christophers Church-Yard, in Threadneadle-street, and John Baker, at the Black Boy in Pater-Noster-Row. 1710. 12mo, pp. 190. Another edition of the Scotch Hudibras, in which some of the errors (but not all) of the former one are corrected, and a few notes explanatory of the text are added. In other respects the contents are the same as in the former impression. Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 170, 188. Collation: Sig. A to Q 5 inclusive, in sixes. Haslewood's copy. In Calf neat. CONINGESBYE, (HARRY.) - The Consolation of Philosophy. London Printed by James Flesher for the Author, 1664. Sm. 8vo, pp. 200. The ancient and honourable family of Coningsby were seated at North Mimms in Hertfordshire, from the time of King Henry VIII., John Coningsby, the third son of Sir Humphrey Coningsby, having married Elizabeth daughter and coheiress of Henry Frowick of North Mimms, and VOL. II. PART II. 3 к thus, in right of his wife, become possessed of that Manor. The present little work, composed by one of this family, whose pedigree, as given by Clutterbuck in his History of Hertfordshire, vol. i. p. 444, commences from the 22nd of K. John, is preceded by a long and interesting preface, giving an account of Thomas Coningsby of North Mimms, of this ancient family, and of as plentiful fortune, who having been High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1638, was for his loyalty, by a commission sent from Reading, again made High Sheriff in the year 1642, at the commencement of the Civil Wars, and received along with his commission a letter from Charles I. in his own handwriting. Charles R. Trusty and well beloved, We greet you well, and do hereby give you our assurance, that although we have at this present made choice of you to be our HighSheriff of our County of Hertford, We have done it out of no other respect then as a mark and testimony of our Favour, and Confidence of the utmost of your Service, in these Times, wherein we intend to imploy Persons of greatest Integrity and known Affections to us, and the good of our Kingdom; of which you have formerly given sufficient testimony. And although it may bring upon you great Expence and Trouble; yet we are confident you will not value it, in regard of our Service, and the good of that our Country; which shall not be forgotten by us on all occasions. So we bid you heartily farewell. From our Court at Redding this 11th of November, 1642. Soon after this he received a Writ and Proclamation from Oxford, which declared the Earl of Essex and his adherents traitors, and authorized him to array the County for the King's Service. Mr. Coningsby in executing this Writ at St. Albans, was there taken prisoner by Cromwell, carried to London, and committed to London-house, where he continued prisoner till 1643, and his estate was sequestered, and plundered, and himself robbed of above 20007. After this he was removed to the Tower, where he remained prisoner for seven years more under circumstances of great cruelty and privation, and his estate wasted and destroyed, until at last, worn out with sickness and disease, he was finally released by death, after twelve years suffering, in the year 1654. He was the second son of Sir Ralph Coningsby of North Mimms, Knt., who was Sheriff of Herts in 1596, descended from Sir Humphrey Coningsby, Knt., a learned Judge of the King's Bench in the reign of King Henry VII., and lineally descended from a long and noble race of ancestors, Barons of this kingdom from a very early period. "He was a person of admirable parts, and his great character was, that he lived and died honest, preferring his conscience and loyalty to his life, liberty, and estate; choosing rather to leave his family, which was numerous, poor and distressed, than rendered infamous and stained by any unworthy act of his.” After the death of Thomas Coningsby, his widow, in conjunction with her son Harry, the author of this work, sold the estate of North Mimms in 1658, 10 Car. II., to Sir Nicholas Hide, Bart., who was succeeded by Sir Thomas Hide his son and heir, who had an only daughter Bridget, who married Peregrine Osborne, second Duke of Leeds, by whom it was conveyed to that noble family. It appears that Thomas Coningsby, during his calamities, in order to alleviate his troubled mind, translated into English The Discourse on Constancy, by Justus Lipsius, but which does not seem ever to have been printed. He died October 1, 1654, aged 63. His son Harry, the translator of this treatise of Boethius into an English dress, "leaves it as a relique of his honest mind, reposing his trust in Almighty God, who when he pleases, can raise up those that are cast down lowest at least by this, posterity will know how and in what unhappy times, and for what cause it was the storm came upon him and ruined him, and learn to decline the fondness of this mutable world, and seek the never-fading Treasure." At the end of the preface are some Latin lines, "Parentalia in memoriam nobilissimi T. C. arm. Hartford facta," and "On the same," in English, signed M. S. D. D. G." The work is in verse, and commences with an invocation from the writer thus: I that was wont to sing full merrily, A mournful Song, while they with tears indite. |