Drummond of Hawthornden, "Works," 1711; Poems, p. 44:

"Who would not one of those two offers try,-
Not to be born, or, being born, to die?"

Bishop King, "Poems," &c. 1657, p. 145:

"At least with that Greek sage still make us cry,
Not to be born, or, being born, to die."

The mythical author of the phrase was Silenus, who is said to have bestowed it on his captor, King Midas.

xxv. p. 121, No. 1. The son of Hoskins who is generally mentioned was called Benedict or Bennet. Hence it is very probable that Hoskins wrote "My little Ben," &c. which is the reading of a Rawlinson MS.

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NOTES ON PART III.

T will save repetition to note here, that the old editions of the early poetical mis

cellanies, by which I have rectified the text of extracts, are as follows:-Tottel's " Songs and Sonnets," those of 1557 and 1585; "The Paradise of Dainty Devices" (first published in 1576), those of 1580 and 1596; "The Phoenix Nest," 1593; England's Helicon," the first edition, 1600; and Davison's "Poetical Rhapsody" (first published in 1602), generally the fourth edition, 1621. But in giving mere lists of first lines, I have referred by page to the reprnits of Park, Brydges, &c., as most likely to be commonly accessible; and I have availed myself, in one or two

instances, which are duly acknowledged, of further information contained in Mr. Collier's recent reprints.

1. p. 125. The seventh line of this piece, "As lead to grave in marble stone," means, "as for lead to engrave," &c.; that is, it is as hard for my song to pierce her heart, as for the soft metal to cut letters on the hard marble. In line 24, "unquit" means "unrequited, unpunished." In line 26, as again in line 31, "may chance thee lie," means, it may chance for thee to lie," &c. The Harington MS. destroys the sense by reading, "Perchance they lie withered and old."

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II. p. 127. The copy ascribed to John Heywood is printed at length by Park in his notes to Walpole, "R. and N. A." vol. i. p.80. It can scarcely be doubted that Heywood has simply laid hands on a popular poem for purposes of flattery, and utterly destroyed its beauty in the process. His copy closes thus :-"This worthy lady, too, bewray;

A king's daughter was she,

Of whom John Heywood list to say
In such worthy degree.

"And Mary was her name, weet ye,
With these graces endued;

At eighteen years so flourished she:
So doth his mean conclude."

The readings "roseal" (st. 8, line 1), “lively " (ib. line 4), and "honesty" (st. 11, line 3), are from the old copies; instead of "roseate," "lovely," and "modesty," as given in some modern texts.

III.-VI. pp. 129-134. Thomas, Lord Vaux. I have here selected four pieces out of sixteen, which are ascribed to this nobleman; two of them printed among the uncertain authors in Tottel's " Songs and Sonnets," and fourteen in "The Paradise of

Dainty Devices." The following are the first lines of the other twelve, arranged alphabetically:5. 66 How can the tree but waste and wither away."-P. of D. D., p. 64; “L. Vaux." An anonymous copy in Harl. MS. 6910, fol. 168, verso; and another printed from a Music-Book of 1596 by Mr. Collier," Lyrical Poems," &c. p. 31.

6. "If ever man had love too dearly bought.”— P. of D. D., p. 73; “L. V.”

7. 66 I loathe that I did love."-Tottel, anon. Ascribed to Lord Vaux "in time of the noble Queen Mary," in Harl. MS. 1703, fol. 100. See more on this poem in Percy, Warton (iii. 54, ed. Park), and the Commentators on Hamlet.

8. "Like as the hart that lifteth up his ears."P. of D. D., p. 81; "L. Vaux."

9. "Mistrust misdeems amiss, whereby displeasure grows."-P. of D. D., p. 82: "L. V."

10. "The day delayed of that I most do wish." -P. of D. D., p. 10; "L. Vaux."

11. "To counsel my estate abandoned to the spoil."-P. of D. D., p. 81; "L. Vaux."

12. "What doom is this, I fain would know.”— P. of D. D., p. 72; "L. V."

13. "What grieves my bones and makes my body faint?"-P. of D. D., p. "L. Vaux."

anon.

3;

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14. "When Cupid scaled first the fort."-Tottel, Quoted, with a wrong Christian name, by Puttenham, A. P. 1589, p. 200, as by the Lord Nicholas Vaux, a noble gentleman, and much delighted in vulgar making," &c. A copy in Harl. MS. 6910, fol. 175. See also Warton (iii. 57), Percy, and Ellis.

15. "When I behold the bier, my last and posting horse."-P. of D. D., p. 103; "L. Vaux."

16. "Where seething sighs and sour sobs."— P. of D. D., p. 44; "L. V." In some editions ascribed to W. Hunnis. The fifth stanza begins, "These hairs of age are messengers ;" which forms the first line in some modern copies.

It will be observed that at least three of the sixteen, including two of those which I have given at length, have been also claimed for other authors. The same remark will apply to two other pieces, the first lines of which I add here :

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17. "Brittle beauty, that nature made so frail.” -Found also among Lord Surrey's Poems; but Dr. Nott is rather anxious to resign it to Lord Vaux. See his edition of Surrey, pp. 20, 288. 18. 66 To seem for to revenge each wrong in hasty wise."-P. of D. D., p. 30; "E. S." Mr. Collier mentions that there is "early authority (e. g. ed. 1580) for Lord Vaux; "Bibl. Cat." i. 245. III. p. 129. This is undoubtedly very heavy verse," as the author acknowledges; and it is extremely obscure. In the second stanza we may perhaps suspect an inversion; as though the first and third lines were nearly transposed: "If weary woe enwrapped in the shroud my wonted cheer, which is eclipsed, &c. (so that it) lies slain by tongue of the unfriendly sort." (Both the old editions used read, "If weary we.") all the copies I have seen read, the issue," &c., for which I have conjectured, gage," i. e. stake.

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In line 15, "On that I gape

IV. p. 130. The old reading of the first line, "do grow," is an instance of one of the commonest errors in Elizabethan grammar; when the verb is made to agree with the number of the nearest noun, even though not a nominative at all. So

in line 4, the old reading is, "lies hid." Compare page 78, line 9, where the old editions have," By her the virtue of the stars down slide."

v. p. 132. The old editions used omit " in " in the second line, and in line 3, begin "The most of all." In line 21, I have followed Ellis and others in reading" Fear " for " Few."

VII. p. 135. The smoothness and ingenuity of this piece, at so early a date, have caused some suspicions. "If these are genuine," says Mr. Hallam, "and I know not how to dispute it, they are as polished as any written at the close of the Queen's reign." It is confessed that there is one mistake already in the date; but Park's proposal to support a legend prefixed to them by substituting one still earlier, would only increase the marvel. In one or two words I have followed the readings of Dr. Nott, "Surrey," p. cclxxix.

VIII. p. 136. The scattered verses ascribed to Queen Elizabeth are collected in Park's Walpole, "R. and N. A.,” i. 84-109, and in Mr. Dyce's "British Poetesses," pp. 15-23. In line 21 of this piece, "The daughter of debate" is Mary Queen of Scots. The last couplet, as it stands in Puttenham, is imperfect. I have supplied the deficiency from the Oxford MS. Percy reads, "shall quickly poll;" Brydges, "for lawless joy.”

IX.-X. pp. 137-141. It is impossible to represent properly the Courtly Poets of Elizabeth without an extract from the writings of Sir Philip Sidney; in whose case I have therefore made a brief exception to the rule, which has led me generally to exclude specimens from those poets whose works have already been collected and edited. All requisito information on the version of the Psalms ascribed to Sidney and his sister is given in Park's edition