rest content, and give heed to one that hath sorrowed in the bright lustre of a court, and gone heavily even to the best seeming ground. It is a great task to prove one's honesty, and yet not spoil one's fortune. You have tasted a little hereof in our blessed Queen's time, who was more than a man, and in troth sometime less than a woman. I wish I waited now in her presence chamber, with ease at my food and rest in my bed. I am pushed from the shore of comfort, and know not where the winds and waves of a court will bear me; I know it bringeth little comfort on earth; and he is, I reckon, no wise man, that looketh this way to heaven!" * The Countess of Kildare, widow of Henry Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, daughter of Lord Nottingham, and now re-married to Lord Cobham; and the Countess of Northumberland, sister to the unfortunate Essex; were both, as seems by these letters, active partizans of King James, and both being on doubtful terms with their husbands, were occasionally resorted to, by them, for the purposes of carrying on their cabals with the expectant monarch. The former is painted weak, vain, busy, and garrulous; the latter amiable and warm, and constant in her attachments. A few other characters are touched by the malignant pens of these interested correspondents, thus: .. "It is advertised to Cecil, that H. Leigh, at his being here, did either bring a letter or a message from your Majesty to Sussext, which we cannot believe; * Park's "Nugæ Antiquæ of Harington, Vol. I. p. 345. Robert Ratcliffe succeeded to the Earldom of Sussex, 37 Eliz. and died your your Majesty doth know the man so well, and hath so well tasted his affections in former levities. One pitying his estate not long ago, to a devoted friend of yours, with great fear that he would sink suddenly, was willed to be of good cheer, for that he had so much cork in his head, as that he should sink was impos. sible. I know not how, but in these days, as in former times, fools are not fortunate. Your Majesty hath had experience in Lincoln's business, and are like enough to find it sooner by the slightest traffic with this giddy fellow, who, by how much he is less fearful than the other, by so much he is more danger ous, both being mad equally.” ↑ Again, "Cecil is infinitely glad that Mountjoy and Southampton § are so strange to the mystery, as by this appears, and that all was not true which was advertised. He desireth me to write, that in no one thing he can acknowledge your respect and grace, so much as in casting clouds over their curiosity. For Mountjoy, out of observation, hath begun to sound, but without satisfaction, to the point of his eagerness. He knows it to be very true, as Mr. Bruce writes, that they would both be glad, that he would come into the circle, though not so much, as he hath sundry motives to believe, out of desire to set forward the main, which may be done without their privity, as to labour Henry Clinton, Second Earl of Lincoln, succeeded 1584, died 1616] See Memoirs of King James's Peers, p. 43-45. + P. 187. Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, afterwards created Earl of Devonshire. He died 1606, aged 43. See Memoirs, ut supr. p. 25. Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the patron of Shakspeare. Ob. 1624. Ibid. p. 322. their own private ends upon advantages. He hath saved the life of the one, out of respect to his affection to King James, though it were neither ancient, nor very meritorious :, he hath preserved the reputation and credit of the other for the same respect, though his adventure herein was not small. The rest must be wrought out with opportunity and time; for the Queen hath passions, against which whosoever struggles above the measure and proportion of state, shall be reputed a participant." In Letter XIV. there is an assertion, to which it is very difficult to give credit. "I do remember, that in our late unlucky tragedies, many of Essex's friends were willing that he should rather break his neck, by desperate attempts suitable to their own humours, than be saved and redeemed by the faith and industry of Cecil, who, of all men living, in case he had found subjectum bene dispositum, would have dealt best with, and perfected the work of his deliverance." + Thus it is that time will gradually unfold the secrets of state, and the private intrigues of cabinets. Much has been done regarding the reigns of Elizabeth and James; but I am convinced that much yet remains to be done. There is a delight in rescuing from calumny the memory of those great and unfortunate men, who have long sunk beneath the weight of falsehood and injustice, which expands the heart and elevates the soul. How willingly would I devote to it days and P. 188, 189, + P. 219. "Here is an assertion," says Dalrymple, " opposed to the general current of history,” nights of labour and investigation, did my fate permit me! But, far removed from the mines of treasure, whence ore of this kind can be extracted; at a distance from those noble repositories of letters, statepapers, and memorials, which yet have been so imperfectly explored; oppressed by difficulties, and agitated by almost hourly persecution; how can I possess the command of my humble faculties sufficiently to pursue, intensely and without interruption, any literary oceupation or work of the mind? I dare not now hope that the day will ever arrive, when I shall be permitted in calmness and patience to accomplish some of those designs, long floating in my brain, which distraction and sorrow have hitherto stiffed! But I will persevere. There is a selfish cowardice in sitting still, because we cannot accomplish the extent of our wishes. And compared with literature, what is there of human comfort to gild the paths of life? ART. II. The firste syre bokes of the moaste Christian Poet Marcellus Pulingenius, called the zodiake of life. Newly translated out of Latin into English by Barnabe Googe. Imprinted at London by Jhon Tisdale for Rafe Newbery. Anno 1561. Duod. pp. 320 besides preliminaries. This is said to be an exceedingly rare edition, and Mr. Herbert told Mr. Astle, to whom it belonged, that he had never seen another copy. To the title It is yet the author's intention soon to publish another volume of Memoirs of the Peers of James I. from a conviction of the utility of such a work, notwithstanding the little encouragement he has received. page succeeds the author's coat of arms, viz. quarterly, of four. 1. Per pale arg. & sab. a chevron between three dogs currant, counterchanged; on a chief three leopard's faces. 2 arg. a griffin segreant sab. 3 arg. a lion passt. ducally crowned. 4. arg. three towers, a mullet for difference. On the back of this coat are commendatory Latin verses by Gilbert Duke, of Cambridge. Then follows a similar Latin poem by E. Dering of Kent, which is succeeded by another of G. Chatherton, Fellow of Christ College, Cambridge. After these is the following. If Chaucer nowe should live, Hath paste the poets al, that came Of auncient Brutus lyne; If Homere here might dwell, Whose praise the Grekes resounde, What shame-shall this my ryme In such a perlous tyme? A poete ones there lyved, And Cherill was hys name; To make immortal fame. * The paternal coat of arms of Googe to his Translation of Heresbachius's Husbandry is different from that annexed to this work, though some of the quarterings are the same: viz. 3 boars passant, with five other quarterings. Bredde |