gryefe of oure mynde. The whych thyng now callynge to remembrance, we do thynke it oure dutye not to be more unnatural then the old Egyptyans were. But rather, as the offyce of a Christian is to be ready to helpe all men by all wayes possyble that we can, and especyally those that be afflicted. "And hereupon, we have requyred hym of whom we had the copye of thys boke, the rather at our request and comendacyon, to set thys boke forth and in prynte: that not onelye we, or one or two more, but all that be afflycted, may take profyt and consolacyon if they wyll. Yea, and they that be not afflycted, maye eyther see what they should have done in theyr troble; or what hereafter they ought to do if anye lyke happeneth. Knowynge certeynely, that suche is the uncerteintye of the world and all humayne thynges, that no man standeth so sure, but the tempeste of afflyccion and adversyte may overtake hym; and if the grace of God do not syngularly helpe him, caste hym. doune and make hym fall. Wherfore it is moste necessarye alwaies to have in redynes such godlye medytacyons and medycynes as may pacyfye Gods wrath, begynnynge to kyndle, and defend in parte the bytternes of afflyccyon, whereof thys boke is very plentuous and full. Fare you well. From oure house at Somerset place, the vi day of May, anno 1550." The ingenious Mr. Ballard has indulged an opinion, concerning which Mr. Bindley has enabled me to speak in farther confirmation, that Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour, the three eldest daughters of Edward duke of Somerset, composed a century of Latin distichs upon the death of Margaret de Valois, queen of Navarre, sister of Francis the first, and that those were translated soon after into Greek, Italian, and French, under the title of "Le Tombeau de Marguerite de Valois Royne de Navarre," and printed at Paris in 1551. Nicholas Denisot, he adds, who had been preceptor to those three learned ladies, made the collection which contains the translation of their distichs and some other verses, as well in honour of them as upon the death of the queen of Navarre, &c. They have been praised by several authors, particularly by Ronsard, in the third ode of his fifth book, which contains the following compliment, among others, to these "trois belles chanteresses:" "Mais si ce harpeur fameux Qui sonne aux bords escumeux Des Albionnes arenes, Son luth payen il frendroit, Et disciple se rendroit Deffous leur chanson Chrestienne, Dont la voix passe la sienne." Ouvres, p. 374, ed. 1584. Neither Leland, Bale, Pitts, nor Juncker, take any notice of these illustrious sisters; nor could Bayle obtain any satisfactory information concerning them, though he had anxiously consulted those persons who were most likely to afford it. Mr. Ballard indeed presents one feasible objection to his own opinion, which is, that the youngest sister at the time this joint production was put forth, could only be at most in her eleventh year. See Ballard's Memoirs, p. 140.] JOANNA, LADY BERGAVENNY. In lord Oxford's library was the following book': "The Monument of Matrons, containing seven several Lamps of Virginitie, or distinct Treatises, compiled by Thomas Bentley," black letter, no date. In the beginning was a note, written by the reverend Mr. Baker, saying that this book contained several valuable pieces or prayers, by queen Catharine, queen Elizabeth, the lady Abergavenny, and others. If I guess right, this lady Abergavenny was Joanna, daughter of Thomas Fitz-Alan earl of Arundel, wife of George lord Bergavenny3, who died in the twenty-seventh of Henry the eighth, and niece of that bright restorer of literature Antony earl Rivers. If my conjecture is just, she was probably the foundress of that noble school of fe • Harl. Catal. vol. i. p. 100. [I learn from Mr. Lodge, to whose intelligent aid I owe many obligations, that Frances lady Bergavenny, who appears to be the rightful claimant of this article, was the daughterin-law of this George lord Bergavenny. It seems inferable from the number of children his lordship had by his second and third wives, that Joanna his first wife could not have been living later than 1525. It is probable she died much earlier.] U A |