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That thee, dear DANIEL, so did bless,
And ravishing notions first* impress
Into thy soul! from whence she went
To CAMBERS wild, and flowry KENT,
Rhutupian furthest shores i' th' east.
Old holy David'st shrine by west
Did hear her tunes, and odes she ended
In those well-hop'd-of bowers intended
To Phœbus honour, of King James

Nam'd; west of London by fair Thames.";

He died Feb. 14, 1646, æt. 59, and was buried in Otterden church.§

The following poetical address is worth transcribing.

"Poetarum facile Principi, ac Coriphao, Michaeli Drayton, Ar.

περί της τω δε των Βιβλων Πολυ-Ολβινοος και Παλαι-Αλείονος προς άλληλες παρονομασίας Επιγραμμα!

Φιλικονδε και υπομνημονευτικόν.

"Dear divine Drayton, I admire
Thy lays inspir'd with Delphian fire,

On whose plain song seld one more blest,
For Grace's minion, Muse's guest;

* "So Master Daniel writes of himself; and Wilten, of which Wilton, Wiltshire (alluded to by some from the wild plains, quasi Wilde-sbire) takes her name; ubi in villa Bedwyn antiquitus totius Comitatus pæne nulli secundâ, nec satis ignobili, tam ob incolarum rusticitatem, quam ob suarum olim celebritatum jacturam, aliquandiu moram traxit.".

"Rhutupiæ, or the coasts of Dover and Sandwich east, and St. David's, called Menevia, in the west, are, and are ordinarily accounted the utmost limits, those ways, of Great Britain."

↑ "Chelsea College is King James's foundation, and in the patent so

called of his name.”

§ See Hasted ut supra-and Topographer, I. 406. A list of his other works may be found in Wood's Ath. II. 111.

VOL. IX,

Seld

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Seld one more seen in old Folk-mote,
Descants a most delicious note;

Do not envy me, though I sing
In rural tunes such highest things.
Your lays will live, tho' mine do die,
Sung long erst, I confess it, I;
Thy Poly-Ollion did invite

My Palo-Albion thus to write.
Thy songs, mine Odes, thy poesy,

My harsh tunes, notes rude symphony;
Thine ancient Albion's modern glories,
Mine modern Olbion's ancient stories;
This th' only difference; mine's born dying,
Thine sure on Fame's wing ever flying.
Cease then, my Muse, and yet disclose
A never-dying love to those,
That wish their country well! All-hail
Dear Olbion, may thy fame ne'er fail,
But be grac'd still, till at Jove's call
Heaven crown earth's glories, thine and all
That Britain love, would honour nourish;
May they ne'er fade, but ever flourish!
May be, Albion then with Olbion may

Ken many a fair and happy day!

Whiles Avon's clear source that hears thee sing,

As she slides from her christal spring,

Shall teach our Severn's banks to sound

With echoes shrill to the sea-nymph round,

Thy Olbion's Odes, tuning with joy

Albion's chief pride, Thames and her Troy."*

The author addresses a copy of Latin hexameters to his friend S. Purchas, (whose Collection of Voyages

Among the commendatory verses are those in Latin of N. Gwin, Jo. Slatyer, his brother, and Tho. Newton.

has

has preserved his name), in which he gives an amiable picture of his pursuits and the sentiments which they generate. Indeed his Latin poetry is so far superior to his English, that it seems to be rather his want of command of his vernacular language than his deficiency of genius that gives so uncouth and uninteresting a character to his English rhymes. The ensuing extract will justify my remask.

"Vivam igitur quocunque solo, aut ubicunque locorum,
Dissita quamque locis longe, procul inde remotis,
Cambria sive tenet, teneant seu Cantia rura
Propitiâ bonitate Dei, me crede scientem
Vivere contentumque illâque ex parte beatum :
Sic boras fallo, insumo sic temporis annos
Lusibus ingenii, ingenuis quoque mentibus aptos.
Forte equidem dices! Relevaminis otia quærens,
Talia sollicitus; nulli ut mea carmina prosint.
At mihi nempe viden! volat ætas; hinc voco Musas
Quas vereor venerorque volens; sicque invoco Divas;
His vitæ spatiis et verni temporis ævo

Florenti stadio: nec me formidine terrent
Immanes rerum fluctus, quibus æstuat ingens
Hæc hominum domus, ac mundi væsana vorago;
Non livor, levis ira, tumens jecur, atraque bilis
Torquebunt miserum, sapiam modo; sed neque sperem
Deposuisse, vel ante mea ista cadavera ponam
Corpus humi moriens, cineres atque ossa sepulchro:
Cum nemo his vitiis sine nascitur, optimus ille est,
Quem lacerant minime, retrahantve trahantve sequentem.
Sum vacuus curis, a turbine liber, amonum

Rus geniale colo, lustro, lito, laudo Camœnas

Sylvestreis, quod aiant, & agrestia, numina Faunos!"

The poem itself is divided into ten odes; and each ode is divided into many cantos.

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1. The first ode contains a brief description of Britain and Ireland, with the first succession of Kings from Samothes, descended A. M. 1787, till Albion, A. 2200, by the space of 400 years.

2. The second, a second race of Kings: Albion & Bergion with their descent, with their defeat by Hercules, circa Ann. 225c.

3. The third sets forth the anarchy or interregnum of the giants that succeeded Albion and Hercules from Ann. 2300 to Brute, A. 2850.

4. The fourth, Brute and his succession from A. 2850 till Malmutius Dunwallo, A. 3500.

5. The fifth, Malmutius and his race, till the Roman Conquest under Julius Cæsar, A. 3900.

6. The sixth, from Cæsar's Conquest till Valentinian's days, A. 4400.

7. The seventh, the coming of Hengist, and seven kingdoms of the Saxons.

8. The eighth, the rapines of the Danes, and the kings of England from Egbert to Harold.

9. The ninth, the Norman Conquest to Hen. VII. 10. The tenth, the Union of England and Scotland under James I. In the end a brief touch of the Scotish, Irish, and French Histories.

The whole is written both in Latin and English verse, the Latin on one side, and English on the other. I will give the sixth canto of the first ode, as the nearest to poetry, and of the most general interest.

σε Ειδύλλιον σ.

Encomium Britannia.

"Sed nimium neque stricta gelu, neque sidere ferves,
Insula, dives opum, studiisque asperrima belli,

Sedes

Sedes antiqua, atque satis famosa Gygantum-s
O nostræ regionis opes! O florida prata,
Pascuaque et colles, dumi, campique virentes!
Cincta O frondoso nemore, alta cacumina montium,
Umbrosæque specus, liquentia flumine rura!
Frugiferæ valles, Zephyri prædulcia anheli,
Flamina, sylvarum saltus, fluviique lacusque,
Muscosi fontes, et quæ circumfluus humor
Irrigat arva, hortos, mandataque semina terræ ;
Totius ac terræ Tempe celebrata per oras
Thessala! cujus opes si possem, ac ditia dona,
Dicere, si cultus operosos, denique flores,
Ordine contextos et junctas vitibus almos!
Arboris aura comas, hominum tua carmina, Aëdon,
Turturis et gemitus dimulcent suaviter aures:
Alma quies, cum mobilibus sopita susurris,
Auræ, inter frondes densas, umbrasque virentes,
Prætentat sensus suadenti languida somno,
Ponere membra, super viridi lanugine ripam,
Prætextum, lene labentis murmure rivi;
Colle Lyæo uvæ, Bacchi pendere racemo;
Vellus ovis manibus tondentis, ut Indica Serûm
Lanugo! Dea Gargaridas succidier uncâ
Falce stupet messes! Tellus mitissima fruges
Producit! nostra O coloque soloque beata
Insula: quid Scythicis nascens aconiton in oris,
Nescia, quid posset Pontus virosa venenis."

"CANZ. VI.

The quality and richness of the soil.
"Thus lies our Isle, our pleasant seat,
Nor vex'd with cold, nor Cancer's heat:

In the temperate zone, the south parts of Britain, about the degree of fo: of north latitude reaching thence 10 degrees north; the longitude thereof being from the degree 17 to 25, or thereabouts, So the degrees of Latitude measuring the length, of longitude the breadth of the island.

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