Page images
PDF
EPUB

Book 4.-Ode 12.-To Virgilius.

South winds the spring attending still,
Now becalm and sails do fill:

Now frosts make not the meadows hoar,
Nor winter's snow-swoln rivers roar.
The luckless bird her nest doth frame,
Bewailing Itys, and the shame

Of Cecrop's house, and that so ill,
On king's rude lust she wrought her will.
The shepherds of rich flocks rehearse,
And to their pipes chaunt rural verse :
Seeking his god-head to appease,
Whom flocks and hills Arcadian please.
These times do thirsty seasons send ;
But if thou Virgil, Cæsar's friend,
Calenian wines desir'st to try,
To me with fragrant unguents hie,
And purchase with a little box,
Wine which Sulpitius safely locks,
New hopes most powerful to create,
And bitter cares to dissipate:
To which content if thou agree,
Stay not, but quickly come to me:
I'll not free cost my cups carouse,
As rich men in a plenteous house.
Then leave delays and gain's desire,
And mindful of black funeral fire,
Short folly mix with councils best,
'Tis sweet sometimes to be in jest.

[ocr errors]

SIR JOHN MENNES.

BORN 1598.-DIED 1670.

"Sir John Suckling, SIR JOHN MENNES, and Prior, are all of one school."

(POPE, as reported by Spence.)

SANDWICH in Kent, one of the most distinguished of the five ancient maritime towns, has been in all ages a nursery of those brave men, who, by their enterprize, have extended the bounds of knowledge, and increased the sum of national wealth;-by their skill, united with undaunted courage, have conquered and preserved to their country the absolute dominion of the ocean, and elevated her to the highest rank in the scale of nations; and, what is of far greater importance to their fellow citizens, have by repelling hostile invasion, preserved them from war and its horrors which have in succession visited every other community of people on the surface of the globe. If for ages the sound of cannon in the hands of foreign enemies has not been heard within the vallies of Britain, the sole and efficient cause has been the conduct of her seamen ;-and if there be any one class of men superior to all others, to which the meed of British praise and the debt of British gratitude, are pre-eminently due, it is that of her naval heroes.

Sir John Mennes was the third son of Andrew Mennes, Esq. of Sandwich, in Kent, by his second wife, Jane Blechenden, and born at that town May the 11th, 1598. His father being in good circumstances, he received a liberal education, and in due time was removed to Oxford, and placed at Corpus Christi College. He devoted himself to the sea service, and during a long life rendered himself conspicuous for his enterprise and knowledge of maritime affairs, his loyalty and his wit, and general literary attainments.

[ocr errors]

He held a place in the navy-office during the reign of James the First, and in that of his successor was appointed Comptroller of the Navy. Durin the grand rebellion as it is called, he took an active part both naval and military in favour of the crown, and was honoured with the dignity of knighthood at Dover in 1641, being at that time a Vice-Admiral. In the following year he commanded a ship called the "Rainbow" but was soon afterwards displaced from command by the authorities then in power, on account of his attachment to the unfortunate King. His name occurs in the account of the Kentish insurrection in favor of the King which took place in 1648, but how far he was actually engaged does not appear.

At the restoration he was reinstated in his office of Chief Comptroller of the Navy, and Charnock asserts,* but probably erroneously, made Governor of Dover Castle. In 1661, he was appointed to command a ship named the "Henry," and received a commission to act as Vice-Admiral and Commander in Chief of

Biograph. Nav. 1, 61,

the fleet employed in the North Seas. In the following year he was selected to bring back the Queen-Mother to England, and during his absence had the misfortune to lose his wife, who died at Fredville, the seat of John Boys, Esq. and was buried in the parish church of Nonington, where a monument was erected to her memory. This lady's name was Jane Liddell, of the family of Ravensworth Castle in the county of Durham.

Sir John Mennes himself survived until 1670, when he died February the 18th, leaving behind him the character of an honest, stout, generous, and religious man, whose company had always been delightful to the ingenious and witty. He was buried in the Church of St. Olave, Hart Street, London; where a monument exists to his memory.

Sir John Mennes is reported to have been the author of a Poem called "Epsom Wells," and several other fugitive pieces. In one instance only he published a collection of his poems, in conjunction with his friend Dr. James Smith, and their compositions are blended without any marked distinction. The volume containing the joint productions of these friends is exceedingly scarce, and not within our reach. It is a small Duodecimo of 101 pages, with the following title:

"Musarum Delicia: or the Muses Recreation. Containing several pieces of poetic wit. The second edition. By Sir I. M. and Ia. S. London. Printed by I. G' for Henry Herringman, and are to be sold at his shop, at the sign of the Anchor in the New Exchange. 1656."

We regret that it is not in our power to lay before the reader more than one specimen of the wit and talent

*Wood's Athen. Oxon. 11. 482.

of this honest seaman. The following, which is generally assigned to him, is of its kind unrivalled for excellence.

Upon Sir John Suckling's most warlike preparations for the Scottish War.

Sir John got him an ambling nag,

To Scotland for to ride a,

With a hundred horse more, all his own he swore,

[blocks in formation]

No errant knight went ever to fight

With half so gay a bravado;

Had you seen his look, you'd have sworn on a book,
He'd have conquered a whole Armado.

The ladies ran all to the windows to see
So gallant and warlike a sight a,
And as he pass'd by, they began for to cry,
Sir John, why will you go fight a.

But he, like a cruel knight spurred on,

His heart did not relent a,

For, till he came there he shewed no fear;
Till then why should he repent a?

The king God bless him, had singular hope

Of him and all his troop a ;

The borderers they, as they met him on the way,
For joy did hollow and whoop a.

None liked him so well as his own colonel,
Who took him for John de Weart a;

But when there were shows of gunning and blows,
My gallant was nothing so peart a.

« PreviousContinue »