A. W.. The identity of "A. W." has never been revealed.
The initials are only known as the signature to a number
of poems published in Davison's Poetical Rhapsody.
Heart's Hiding.

To Time...

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM, EARL OF STIRLING. (1567-1640), born
at Menstree, Scotland. Educated at the universities of
Glasgow and Leyden. In 1621 James gave him a grant
of Nova Scotia, which charter has been the cause of con-
siderable discussion. He was the intimate friend of Drum-
mond of Hawthornden, who addressed him in several of
his sonnets in bereavement at the loss of his (Drum-
mond's) mistress.. His first published work was the
Tragedie of Darius, 1603, followed in 1604 by A Parænsis
to the Prince, and the Monarchicke Tragedies including
Darius and the new Croesus; The Alexandræan, a Tragedy,
1605, Julius Cæsar, 1607. His most ambitious work, Dooms-
day, or the Great Day of the Lord's Judgment, appeared
1614; and the first collected edition of his works, The
Recreations of the Muses, 1637.

To Aurora..

ARMSTRONG, THOMAS. Nothing is known of Armstrong except
that he was executed for murder in 1601 and wrote this
poem on the night before his death. See notes.

Good Night

......

AYTON, SIR ROBERT (1570-1638), born at the Castle of Kin-
aldie in parish of Cameron near St. Andrews. He was
knighted in August, 1602, and became ambassador to Ger-
many.

To His Forsaken Mistress..

To an Inconstant One..

BACON, FRANCIS, LORD VERULAM. VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS (1561-
1626), born at York House in the Strand, London. Edu-
cated at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by foreign
travel. Was knighted by James I., July, 1603; appointed
King's Counsel, 1604; sworn of the Privy Council, 1616,
and received appointment of Keeper of the Great Seal.
On January 4, 1618, was made Lord High Chancellor,
and on 11 July, the same year, ennobled Baron of
Verulam, and raised in 1621 to the dignity of Vis-
count St. Albans. Undoubtedly the greatest of modern
philosophers, Bacon's writings remain the monument of
Elizabethan prose. The most important are: Essays or
Counsels, Civil and Moral, 1597; The Treatise on the
Advancement of Learning, 1605; De Sapientia Veterum,
1609; Novum Organum, 1620; The De Augmentis Sci-
entiarum, a translation of the Advancement of Learning,
revised and enlarged, 1623; and the Apothegms, 1625.
The World..

BARNES, BARNABY (1569-1609). The younger son of the Bishop
of Durham; a student at Brasenose College, Oxford, in
1586, which he left without taking a degree. His travels
abroad are said to have been extensive; and Doctor Bliss
states (Athen. Oxon. edit., 1815) that he accompanied the
Earl of Essex into France. His works which Professor
Dowden rated superior to Watson's are: Parthenophil and
Parthenope, Sonnets, Madrigals, Elegies and Odes, 1593;
A Divine Century of Spiritual Sonnets, 1595;
Books of Offices, Enabling Private Persons for the Special
Service of all Good Princes and Policies, 1606; Devil's
Charter, a Tragedy, 1607.

Ah, Sweet Content, Where Is Thy Mild Abode?.
The Talent..

Four

......

BARNFIELD, RICHARD (1574-1627). Born at Norbury, in Shrop-
shire. He was the son of a gentleman, a student at Ox-
ford, and the friend of the poet Michael Drayton. He
published in 1594, The Affectionate Shepherd, a small
volume of poems dedicated to Penelope Lady Rich, the
Stella of Sidney's famous sonnets. In 1595 he published
a second volume, Cynthia, and in 1598 a third, Lady
Pecunia, wherein appeared two beautiful pieces which in
the following year were piratically published by Jagger in

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