Pembroke, and a singular elegiac poem entitled "A Dump upon the death of the most noble Henrie, late Earle of Pembrooke," written in verse of a peculiar construction, in which the last words of the preceding line form the beginning of that following. It is styled by Puttenham in his Art of Poesie, 4to, 1519, the heel-treading kind of verse; but as it has already been quoted both in the Brit. Bibliogr. and in Restituta, it will be needless to repeat it here. We rather prefer quoting a portion of those addressed to William, Earl of Pembroke, written in the Alexandrine measure, and which will strongly remind the reader of the poem of The Lie, or the Soules Errand, usually assigned to Sir W. Raleigh:

Tell mounting Wittes thats too too light that Wisedome makes not weightie
Tell Motion it is worse then madd whose Motors not Almightie.

Tel World its but the wayward Maze where Man is maz'd and lost;
Tel State it stands on Airy Propps, by Stormes still turn'd and tost.
Tel Wisedome shee is base if shee mounts not aboue the Moone,
Tel Humors, and tell Humoristes, their Humors change too soone.
Tel Learning it is darke as Hell not mixt with light of Grace,
Tel Councell, and tell Councellors they oft mistake the Case.
Tel Bookes, though euer blest some bee, yet they are but Informers,
Tel them they should more blessed bee, if they were still Reformers.
Tel Artes they aske too much for Arte, in asking all our time,

Tel Armes they do but worke their Harmes, by Armes, and Harmes that climbe.
Tel Earthlie Hopes they make vs seeke for that wee cannot finde,

Tel, tell worlds-Blisse it wanteth force to breede true Blisse in Mynd.

Tel Sport it spoileth precious Time, tell Time hees falslie true,
True in his Course, in's Custome false, away steales, yet pursues!

Tel Keasars (though they Cæsars are) their Nostrils bound their breath;

Tel Life (though during like the Sunne) it subiect is to death.

Tel Wealth it wasts with earthlie Pompe, tell Pompe its but a Puffe,
Tel Glory shee must bide the girde of Enuies Counterbuff.

Tel, tel Fair-wordes, from fowle Mouthes sent, they feede, but fatten Fooles
Tel Friends true Friendshipps no where learn'd but in true Vertues Schooles.
Tel Loue that hee an Idoll is; found, forg'd ador'd by Fancie,

Tel Flesh-enraging Lust shee is a Soule-confounding Frenzie:

Tel Fauours they are Copper-gilt, vncertaine true, if true.

Tel Fooles when Shadowes come before, their Substance will insue.

Tel Lookes, where Loue in Triumph tilts against vnfenced Eyes,

They Lookes allure, by Lookes like Lures, which seeme true, yet are lies.

Tel All that al is (al in all) beneath the heau'nly Coape,

A Dreame, a Shade, a toile of Spirite, a base betraying hope.

There are notices of this work in the Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 219; in the

Brit. Bibliogr., vol. ii. p. 247, by Mr. Haslewood; and in Restituta, vol. iii. p. 258, by Mr. Park. Although the whole of the numerous publications by Davies are considered scarce, this and the Wits Bedlam are the two rarest of all his pieces, and have always brought large prices when offered for sale, as the following of the present work will sufficiently testify: Perry's sale, pt. i. No. 1688, 287.; Heber's ditto, pt. iv. No. 549, 81. 88.; Evans's in 1818, 23l. 108.; Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 219, 257.

DAVIES, (JOHN.)-The Scourge of Folly.-Consisting of satyricall Epigramms, and others in honor of many noble and worthy Persons of our Land.-Together, With a pleasant (though discordant) Descant vpon most English Prouerbes and others. [Engraved cut of Wit scourging Folly.]

At London, printed by E. A. for Richard Redmer, sould at his shop at ye west gate of Paules. 8vo. n.d. (1611). pp. 278.

'

The title to this work is an engraved one, and contains a neat cut representing Wit scourging Folly, who is mounted upon the back of Time with the hoofs of a Satyr, whose scythe and hour-glass lie on the ground; with a label from the mouth of Wit, Nay vp with him if he were my brother." The dedication is in the form of a Sonnet inscribed "To the most Noble Theophilus Lord Walden;" after which are several short pieces addressed to various persons entitled "Passages before the Booke." The Epigrams number 293, and are followed by 419 Proverbs chiefly in couplets, many of them selected from Heywood's Prouerbes. To these succeed numerous Sonnets and other short Poems addressed "To worthy Persons;" after which is

Papers Complaint, compild in ruthfull Rimes
Against the Paper-Spoylers of these Times.

And the volume concludes with some additional Poems inscribed to various "worthy Persons," the last being entitled "A Conclusion."

This work is supposed to have been published about 1611, and its chief interest consists in the celebrity of the names of the eminent public characters, poets, and literary men to whom the pieces are addressed. As many of them however, have already been quoted in the Restituta, vol. ii. p. 11,

and in the Brit. Bibliog., vol. ii. p. 256, we shall content ourselves with a very few extracts from each as sufficient specimens of this curious work. And first from the Epigrams:

Against proud poore Phrina.
Epig. 18.

Sith Venus had hir Mole: Helen hir Staine:

Cynthia, hir Spotts: the Swan hath sable feet:
The clearest day some Cloude: the smoothest Plaine
Some Hole or Hillock: why should Phryna frett?
When she is saied to haue a Ruby Nose,

Sith that is riche, and all hir rarenesse showes.

Of bad Debtors.
Epig. 69.

Bad debtors are good dyers: for they say
I'le pay you, without faile, on such a day:
Come is the day, to come the due is still:
So, still they lye, sith stand in debt they will.
But Fucus hath so oft li'de in this wise,
That now he lyes in Ludgate for his lies.

Against subtill Philargus.

Epig. 91.

Philargus is a subtill Disputant,

Passing well seene in Logicall conclusions,
But yet he is a Monstrous Miscreant,

And in the State, the seeker of confusions:

So fares it with each Knaue, if learn'd he bee,
The better learnd, the verier villaine hee.

Among these Epigrams are verses in praise of Thomas Coriate, Sir Henry and Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight, Thomas Bastard the Poet, Henry Earl of Northumberland in the Tower, Sir John Harrington, translator of Ariosto, Sir William Browne, Knight of the Bathe, Samuel Daniel, Ben Johnson, Inigo Jones, Will: Shakespeare, Sir Hugh Smith, Sir William Alexander, John Fletcher, John Marston, Joseph Hall, Sir Edward Herbert of Montgomery, Sir Francis Smith, William Seager, Esq., Garter, principal King of Arms, Sir Basil Brooke, Knight, Dudley Norton, Esquire, John Heywood the Epigrammatist, and others. We give the Epigrams on Ben Jonson, Shakespeare and Fletcher, and also one or two of the Proverbs:

To my well accomplished friend Mr. Ben Iohnson.
Epig. 156.

I loue thy Parts; so, must I loue thy Whole:
Then still be whole in thy beloued Parts:
Th'art sound in Body: but some say thy Soule
Enuy doth vlcer: yet corrupted hearts
Such censurers may haue: But if thou bee
An enuious Soule, would thou couldst enuy mee:
But (ah!) I feare my Vertues are too darke
For Enuies shadow, from so bright a Sparke.

To our English Terrence, Mr. Will. Shake-speare.
Epig. 159.

Some say (good Will) which I in sport do sing,
Had'st thou not plai'd some Kingly parts in sport,
Thou had'st bin a companion for a King;
And beene a King among the meaner sort.
Some others raile; but raile as they thinke fit,
Thou hast no rayling, but a raigning Wit:

And honesty thou sow'st, which they do reape;
So to increase their Stocke which they doe keepe.

To the well deseruing Mr. Iohn Fletcher.
Epig. 206.

Loue lies a bleeding, if it should not proue
Her vtmost art to shew why it doth loue.
Thou being the Subiect (now) it raignes vpon ;
Raign'st in Arte, Iudgement, and Inuention:
For this I loue thee: and can do no lesse
For thine as faire, as faithfull Shepheardesse.
Vpon English Prouerbes.

5.

Little or nothing said, soone mended is.

But they that nothing do, do most amisse.

19.

Fast binde, fast finde: But Rufus bound as fast
As Bonds could do, to pay a debt he ought,
Stole quite away; ere quite the day was past,
And no where can be found though he be sought.

54.

None plaies the foole well without wit (they say) Then our Court-fooles are fooles in earnest, not play.

Some Bargaine's deare bought, and cheape should be sold,
So many would sell their Wiues if they could.

The passing extraordinary occurrences of the day were made the subjects of the poet's verse in those times as much as they are at present, and among other singular events of the time, the following are recorded by Davies in verse, which however, is not worth quoting: "On the Tragical and most vntimely deaths of Sir George Wharton Knight, and Iames Steward, Esquire, who slew each other in priuate single fight on Thursday being the ninth of November 1609," Epig. 125; "A Tragicall Epitaphe on the Death of Mr. Williams and Mr. Gwinne, who (like two vndaunted Cæsars, or vnyeelding Cockes of the gaine) slue each other with many grizly wounds, in single fight in the Hey-wood, neare the Citty of Hereford; and lye buryed close together in the Minster Church there," Epig. 127.

The latter portion of the volume, with the exception of the Poem on "Papers Complaint," which is noticed in a succeeding article, is occupied with a series of short epigrammatic pieces, addressed to various persons of eminence or literary character. They are generally dull and heavy, and a couple of specimens will be amply sufficient for our readers. The first is on his namesake Sir John Davies: