If thou company with them, they wil currishly carp, and not care According to their foolish fantacy; but fast wil they naught: Thus in no place, this Nobody, in no time Where no man, "ne" nought was, nor Prayer with them is but prating; there- Through the sound of a synagogue for fore they it forbear: sorrow I swett, Both almes deeds, and holiness, they hate That "Aeolus" through the eccho did it in their thought: Therefore pray we to that prince, that with his bloud us bought, That he wil mend that is amiss: for many a manful freyke cause me to hear. Then I drew me down into a dale, whereas the dumb deer Did shiver for a shower; but I shunted from a freyke: Is sorry for these sects, though they say For I would no wight in this world wist little or nought; And that I little John Nobody dare not once speake. who I were, But little John Nobody, that dare not once speake. IV. QUEEN ELIZABETH'S VERSES, WHILE PRISONER AT WOODSTOCK, WRIT WITH CHARCOAL ON A SHUTTER, ARE preserved by Hentzner, in that part of his Travels which has been reprinted in so elegant a manner at Strawberry Hill. The old orthography, and one or two ancient readings of Hentzner's copy, are here restored. A.D. MDLV. OH, Fortune! how thy restless wavering state Hath fraught with cares my troubled witt! Causing the guiltles to be straite reserved, And freeing those that death hath well deserved. ELIZABETHE, Prisonner, V. THE HEIR OF LINNE, THE original of this ballad is found in the Editor's folio MS., the breaches and defects in which rendered the insertion of supplemental stanzas necessary. These it is hoped the reader will pardon, as indeed the completion of the story was suggested by a modern ballad on a similar subject. From the Scottish phrases here and there discernible in this poem, it should seem to have been originally composed beyond the Tweed. The Heir of Linne appears not to have been a Lord of Parliament, but a Laird, whose title went along with his estate. Astonyed lay the heire of Linne, He took the bill, and lookt it on, Strait good comfort found he there : Itt told him of a hole in the wall, In which there stood three chests infcre.* Two were full of the beaten golde, The third was full of white money; And over them in broad letters These words were written so plaine to see: "Once more, my sonne, I sette thee clere ; Amend thy life and follies past; For but thou amend thee of thy life, That rope must be thy end at last." And let it bee, sayd the heire of Linne; This reade shall guide me to the end. Away then went with a merry cheare, I wis, he neither ceas'd ne blanne, And when he came to John o' the Scales, And John himself sate at the bord-head, * i.e. together. ti.e. unless I amend. i.e. advice, counsel. § Perhaps the hole in the door or window by which it was speered, i.e. sparred, fastened, or shut. In Bale's second part of the Acts of English Votaries, we have this phrase (fol. 38): "The dore thereof oft tymes opened and speared agayne." I pray thee, he said, good John o' the Scales, One forty pence for to lend mee. Away, away, thou thriftless loone; Then bespake the heire of Linne, To John o' the Scales wife then spake he: Madame, some almes on me bestowe, I pray for sweet saint Charitie Away, away, thou thriftless loone, I swear thou gettest no almes of mee; For if we shold hang any losel heere, The first we wold begin with thee. Then bespake a good fellowe, Which sat at John o' the Scales his bord; Sayd, Turn againe, thou heire of Linne; Some time thou wast a well good lord: Some time a good fellow thou hast been, And ever, I praye thee, John o' the Scales, To let him sit in thy companie: For well I wot thou hadst his land, And a good bargain it was to thee. Up then spake him John o' the Scales, All wood he answer'd him againe : Now Christs curse on my head, he sayd, But I did lose by that bargàine. And here I proffer thee, heire of Linne, Before these lords so faire and free, Thou shalt have it backe again better cheape, By a hundred markes, than I had it of thee, VI.-GASCOIGNE'S PRAISE OF THE FAIR BRIDGES, ON HER HAVING A SCAR IN HER FOREHEAD. GEORGE GASCOIGNE was a celebrated poet in the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and appears to great advantage among the miscellaneous writers of that age. He was author of three or four plays, and of many smaller poems, one of the most remarkable of which is a satire in blank verse, called the Steele-glass, 1576, 4to. Mr. Thomas Warton thinks "Gascoigne has much exceeded all the poets of his age, in smoothness and harmony of versification." But the truth is, scarce any of the earlier poets of Queen Elizabeth's time are found deficient in harmony and smoothness, though those qualities appear so rare in the writings of their successors. |