Biographia Dramatica (by Isaac REED) 2 vol. in-8.o, 1782, founded on a work of David Erskine Baker. A new Edition has since been given by STEPHEN JONES.

TREATISES.

WEBBE'S Discourse of English Poetrie, 1586, in-4.0 reprinted with other Tracts by Haslewood.

PUTTENHAM'S Art of English Poesy, 1589, in-4.° reprinted by the Same.

GILDON'S Complete Art of English Poetry, 1708, 2 vol. in-12.

DIGESTS.

J. COTGRAVE'S English Treasury of Wit. etc. 1655,

in-8.o

JOSHUA POLE'S English Parnassus, 1655, 1677, in-8.• BYSHE'S Art of English Poetry, 1703, in-8.0

-

British Parnassus, 4 vol. in-12.

COLLECTIONS and FTOWERs.

TOTTEL'S Miscellany, 1557, in-4.o

Paradise of Dainty Devises, 1578, etc., in-4.o

England's Helicon, 1600, 1614, 4.° .

Belvedere, 1614.

England's Parnassus, 1600, in-12.

NOTE X.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

WHILE SO many obscure names have been preserved in the Theatrum Poetarum Angl. QUEEN ELIZABETH ought not to have been omitted, as she displayed talents for poetry far above mediocrity. Percy, Headley, and Ellis have each inserted a specimen of her verses. The following Ditty, on the factions raised by Mary Queen af Scots, was given in the former reprint of the work; and ought not to be omitted here.

The doubt of future foes

Exiles my present joy;

And wit me learns to shun such snares

As threaten my annoy.

For Falsehood now doth flow,

And subject Faith doth ebb;

Which would not be, if Reason ruled,
Or Wisdom weaved the web.

But clouds of joys untried

Do cloak aspiring minds;

Which turn to rain of late repent

By course of changed winds.
The top of Hope supposed

The root of Rule will be;
And fruitless all their grafted guiles;
As shortly ye shall see.
Then dazzled eyes with pride,

Which great Ambition blinds,
Shall be unseal'd by worthy wights,
Whose falsehood Foresight finds.
The daughter of Debate,

That eke discord doth own,
Shall reap no gain where former rule
Hath taught peace still to grow.
No foreign banish'd wight

Shall anchor in this port;

Our realm it brooks no stranger's force;

Let them elsewhere resort.

Our rusty sword with rest

Shall first his edge employ,

To poll their tops that seek such change;

And gape for lawless joy.

NOTE XI.

1. JOSEPH HALL.

Dr Joseph Hall, promoted to the Bishopric of Exeter 1627, and of Norwich, 1641, retired during the Civil Wars; and died 1656, æt. 82. His Virgidemiarum, satires in six books; were published in 1597, at the early age

of 23.

Gray, the poet, in a Letter to D.r Wharton, 1752, says, Bishop Hall's Satires, called Virgidemiarum, are lately republished. The are full of spirit and poetry; as much of the first as Dr Donne's; and far more of the latter. They were written at the University when he was about 23 years old; and in Queen Elizabeth's reign. »

2. JOHN LYDGATE.

Gray has also spoken of LYDGATE.

« I pretend not » says, he« to set him on a level with Chaucer; but he certainly comes the nearest to him of any cotemporary writer I am acquainted with. His choice of expression, and the smoothness of his verse, far surpass both Gower and Occleve. He wanted not art in raising the more tender emotions of the mind. »

5. GABRIEL HARVEY.

A well-known friend of Spenser. His Tracts on Robert Greene have been reprinted in Archaica, 2 vols. in-4.9

4. SIR JOHN BEAUMONT.

A cousin of Francis Beaumont, the dramatist. He died 1628, aged 40. His Bosworth Field is an historical poem of some merit. See his poem on the death of Grey Brydges Lord Chandos, in the Account of Q. Elizabeth's Visit to Sudeley Castle, among the Lee Priory Reprints — in-4.8

5. ROBERT SOUTHWELL.

This poet was a Jesuit priest, executed in London as an agent of Popery, 1595. He is thus praised by Bolton, a cotemporary critic. « Never must be forgotten St. Peter's Complaint, and those other serious poems said to be Father Southwell's: the English whereof, as it is most proper, so the sharpness and light of wit is very rare in them. »