of his contemporaries, and as far as can be judged he met with an indulgent and appreciative patron. He spent some time in Holland, where he saw much of Sir John Ogle at Utrecht, and observed the passion of the Dutch whether of ancient family or of mushroom growth-for coats of arms, a passion which still assails the nouveaux riches of our own islands at present. In the cities of the Netherlands he saw and revelled in the surpassing skill of the great Dutch artists, and he took pains to become intimately acquainted with such men as Crispin de Pas of Utrecht, and Michael Janss of Delft,1 the latter of whom he knew to have taken a year to finish a picture. He took his young charges through Flanders, seeing everything which was to be seen, and halting for some time at Brabant. While he was in Antwerp he saw a picture by the blacksmith artist, Quentin Matsys, either in the Church of St. George or in that of Our Lady, for which the great painter had been offered no less than seven thousand crowns,3 an enormous price for that period. Near Brill he saw or heard of a mermaid's dead body hanging up, where it was in full view of all. But he does not often descend to trifles of such slight importance as this; indeed, as his works show, his mind was fully occupied with the great scenes and the habits of the peoples through which he passed with his companions. That he was a delightful instructor to them goes without saying, and he would pour out of his own full mind useful observations and wise comments. He had many opportunities during his sojourn in the Low Countries of seeing the Prince of Orange, as well as the noted Spanish General Spinola, who was on the spot to assist in the settlement of the rival claims to the Duchies of Cleves and Juliers. Habituated as he had become to the magnificent raiment of James's splendid but disorderly Court, he was struck by the plainness of the apparel of these two eminent men.5 The careful reader of his numerous works cannot fail to be impressed by the exactitude and general justice of his notes upon the habits and principal objects of curiosity of the various countries through which he journeyed.

Of his travels in Germany there are fewer traces and

1 Compleat Gentleman, pp. 5, 6, 35, 166, 225.

* Idem, pp. 129, 130, 207.

▲ Idem, p. 69, margin.

3

Idem, p. 137.

5

Idem, p. 221.

C

less detailed narratives than those relating to other lands; but he seems to have known personally that universal genius, Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, who was a brilliant musician, fully conversant with ten or twelve languages, a subtle disputant, and an accomplished surgeon.1 But his passage through the prosperous land of France made a deep impression upon his observant mind. Here he had seen, amongst other curiosities, geographical playingcards, "the four suits changed into maps of several countries of the four parts of the world, and exactly coloured for their numbers; the figures, 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, and so forth set over the heads; for kings, queens, and knaves, the portraits of their kings and queens, in their several country habits; for the knave, their peasants or slaves."2 Furthermore, the exact descriptions of France and Spain in his chapter "Of Travaile "3 show how observantly he had passed through the one; and if he did not actually visit the other, as he may have done, how well he had studied its geography. In France he spent some time at the hospitable house of the soldier and scholar, M. de Ligny, where the following instructive incident took place. "One day above the rest," he remarks, " as we sat in an open and goodly gallery at dinner, a young English gentleman, who, desirous to travel, had been in Italy and many other places, fortuned to come to his house, and (not so well furnished for his return home as was fitting) desired entertainment into his service. My lord, who could speak as little English as my countryman French, bade him welcome, and demanded by me of him what he could do. For I keep none (quoth he) but such as are commended by some good quality or other, and I give them good allowance, some an hundred, some sixty, and some fifty crowns by the year.' And calling some about him (very gentlemanlike as well in their behaviour as apparel), 'This (saith he) rideth and breaketh my great horses; this is an excellent lutanist; this a good painter and surveyor of land; this a passing linguist and scholar, who instructeth my sons,' etc. 'Sir (quoth then the young man), I am a gentleman born, and can only attend you in your chamber, or wait upon your lordship abroad.' See (quoth M. de Ligny, for so was his name) how your gentry of England are bred; that when they are dis1 Compleat Gentleman, p. 99. Idem, p. 65. Idem, chap. xix. pp. 229-240.

2

tressed, or want means in a strange country, they are brought up neither to any quality to prefer them, nor have they so much as the Latin tongue to help themselves withal. '" 1

From France Peacham and his pupils travelled to Italy, and they passed through most of the places of interest in that sunny land. At Venice he noted and admired a great picture by Bellini, which he found hanging in the Council chamber. He visited Assisi, sacred to the memory of the sainted Francis. He spent much time in Florence and Rome, where the buildings, the pictures, and the music charmed his soul. In Rome, a place of some danger to Protestant Englishmen at that time, he had wondered at the great statues of the Bull, Flora, and the Farnese Hercules, which have since been removed to the museum at Naples." Wherever he had been, he had stored his retentive memory with a great stock of anecdotes concerning his favourite pursuits of music and painting, and his criticisms of the distinguished masters of the sister arts are shrewd, penetrating, and appreciative. He admired the pictures and loved the painters whom he met, while he learned from them and from the musicians much that served to perfect his skill in either art. When he had finished the education of his noble pupils he brought them back to England, and when he had received the due reward of his diligence, he bade farewell for ever to the hated task of teaching in a school, and set up as a man of letters at Hogsdon (now Hoxton),3 near London. The exact date of his settlement here is not known, but it must have been before or in the beginning of 1615, when he published A most true Relation of the Affaires of Cleve and Gulick (Juliers), a thin quarto volume, which contains notes of a diary kept on the spot, while Wotton was exercising his diplomatic talents in vain to hold the balance between unequal weights. That Peacham saw the ambassador is certain, while he was in the Netherlands; but he has not left on record his impressions of one no less accomplished than himself. The negotiations broke down in November, 1614, and again later, a circumstance which serves to confirm the date of Peacham's return suggested above.

1 Compleat Gentleman, "To the Reader," pp. 1, 2.

* Idem, pp. 187, 151, 140, 141, 146, 105, 106, et passim.
Idem, "Epistle Dedicatory," end.

3

With such leaves from his Continental experiences does the traveller strew his books, so that the attentive reader, who has not been fortunate enough to light upon his autobiography,' may cull many passages of his life

1 The Truth of the Times revealed out of one Man's Experience (1638). This little book is rather a picture of the times drawn from Peacham's experience with an autobiographical seasoning than an autobiography proper. It consists of fourteen unnumbered sections, which are here numbered for convenience. SECT. 1 deals with illustrations Of God's Providence. SECT. 2 fills pages 14-26, and treats Of Schools and Masters, in which the pitiful picture given in the Compleat Gentleman is repeated and emphasized. SECT. 3 speaks Of the making and publishing of Books, in the course of which Peacham remarks from personal experience, "If thou gettest but as much as will pay for the binding and strings thou art well enough, the rest thou shalt have in promises of great matters" (p. 34). Michael Drayton left but £5 at his death for his burial (p. 38). Peacham himself never gained one halfpenny by any dedication (p. 39). He spent much time in painting, music, and poetry (p. 41). SECT. 4 treats Of Liberty, and fills pp. 42-53. The author remarks (pp. 53, 54) "that he would rather dine at a 3d. ordinary, where he could be free and merry, than at a lord's table, where he must sit mute." SECT. 5 speaks Of Opinion (pp. 53-59), in which Peacham notes that he saw written over a house at Breda Totus mundus regitur opinione (pp. 53, 54). SECT. 6 speaks Of following the Fashion (pp. 59-76), a habit which Peacham despised. He says that he was present at the taking of "Rees in Cleveland, between Wesel and Embrick on the Rhine" (p. 71). SECT. 7 treats Of Friendship (pp. 76-89), in which the author speaks well of the friendliness of his foreign acquaintances (pp. 82, 83). SECT. 8 speaks Of Parents and Children (pp. 89-116), in which Peacham says that he saw Dick Tarleton when he was a schoolboy (pp. 103-105). SECT. 9 treats Of Clowns and Rude Behaviour (pp. 117-126), in which the author remarks that the English lower classes were more civil than their foreign fellows. He tells how, when he lived abroad in a town of boors, he caused to be written over the porch of the Free School a "palindrome," Subi dura a rudibus (p. 123). SECT. 10 speaks Of Travel (pp. 127-144). Once when Peacham lost his way in a forest in Westphalia, the first man from whom he asked his way entertained him for the night (pp. 128, 129). He recommends the traveller to be silent in strange countries, that his tongue may not betray him (p. 131), and to gain a knowledge of the cost of provisions (pp. 136, 137). SECT. 11 treats Of a Religious Honest Man (pp. 145-158). The author carefully distinguishes such an one from the bitter sectaries, whom he had seen at Leyden (pp. 150, 151, 153), and charges the Puritan shopkeepers at home with adopting Puritanism as a means of selling their goods (p. 154). SECT. 12 deals with the value Of Discretion (pp. 158-174), and is full of wise advice. SECT. 13 speaks despairingly Of Common Ignorance (pp. 175–189). SECT. 14 concludes the book with a high commendation Of Quietness and Health (pp. 189-203), in which the author derides violent exercise.

The little book gives a considerable insight into the state of things at home and abroad, as they presented themselves to an unusually keen observer, and is full of quaint pictures of contemporary shortcomings and personal experiences. Its rarity is great, and its size is of the smallest; but it contains matter of no little interest, and is written in Peacham's most pungent and vivacious style.

history from the rest of his works. Peacham has a most engaging frankness, and he rarely fails to illustrate his various adventures with some pointed anecdote or pleasant reference to his numerous friends. Of the details of the rest of his life but little is known, and his movements cannot be accurately traced from year to year. Still, his varied publications afford many hints of his whereabouts and his doings, which throw an interesting light upon the condition of the literary men of his day. In 1615 he was at Hoxton, and produced a rambling poem in English and Latin, with the impressive and explicit title of Prince Henry revived, or a poeme upon the Birth and in Honor of the Hopefull young Prince Henrie Frederick: First Sonne and Heire Apparant to the most Excellent Prince, Frederick Ct. Palatine of the Rhine, and the Mirrour of Ladies, Princess Elizabeth, his wife. Amongst much that cannot be called poetry, there are echoes of sweet music, such as would not have disgraced the singers on the Muses' Hill. At Hoxton he was living as late as 1634, rejoicing in the warm friendship of many congenial spirits, and in the favourable notice of not a few of the great of the land. Hither came Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, whose death, in 1624, Peacham commemorated in An April Shower shed in abundance of Tears, etc. Here that gentle soul, Michael Drayton, rehearsed the sonorous lines of his solemn poetry, which swept along like the rolling of the great deep. Here Ben Jonson poured forth his complaints of wrongs, real or imaginary, into sympathetic ears, waxing vehement over his fancied and easily forgiving his real foes. Some of the most learned and accomplished men of the time found a congenial resting-place around the hearth of the little house at Hoxton. John Selden, the profound scholar, Edward Wright, the mathematician, William Bird, the great musician, and composer of Non nobis, Domine, still sung at civic banquets, and Robert Dowland, the no less distinguished lutanist, all found themselves at home around Peacham's hospitable board.1

1

To these and to many others he has addressed epigrams in a small octavo volume, published in 1620, and entitled Thalia's Banquet, Furnished with an hundred and odd dishes of newly devised Epigrammes, Whereunto (beside many worthy friends) are invited all that love 1 Compleat Gentleman, pp. 7, 100, 103, 227, etc.