Yet give thy jealous subjects leave to doubt,
Who this thy scape from rumour gratulate,
No less than if from peril; and devout,

Do beg thy care unto thy after-state.
For we, that have our eyes still in our ears,
Look not upon thy dangers, but our fears.

LII.

TO CENSORIOUS COURTLING.

OURTLING, I rather thou should'st utterly
Dispraise my work, than praise it frostily:
When I am read, thou feign'st a weak ap-
plause,

As if thou wert my friend, but lack'dst a cause.
This but thy judgment fools: the other way
Would both thy folly and thy spite betray.

Mr. Lodge has also a letter on the subject from the earl of Kent to the earl of Shrewsbury, of which a part is subjoined.

"My very hon'ble good Lo. I received yesterday yo' hon❜able and frendley lines by John Sibley, whereby it pleased yo' LP to adv'tise me of the untruthe of those bruits spread abroad of so horrible a treason against his Majties precious life. Theis false bruits come very speedily not only to the Privie Councell at the Corte, and so to London, but also into theis parts, and not onlike, into a great p'te of the kingdom. All thother daye being Sondaye, we here knew nothinge certenly to the contrary but that the worst might be feared: but the greater astonishment this sudden fearefull rumour hath ev'y where occasioned, the more sing'lar comfort and joye will now redounde to ev'ie true harted subject by the report of his Matie's safetie, for wch they shall have so just cause to sounde forth God's praise, together with incessant prayers for his Highnes longe happie and prosperous raigne ov" us." Wilson's account of the confusion and dismay which took place on this occasion, is given in yet stronger language.

LIII.

TO OLDEND GATHERER.

JONG-GATHERING Oldend, I did fear thee

wise,

When having pill'd a book which no man buys,
Thou wert content the author's name to lose :
But when, in place, thou didst the patron's choose,
It was as if thou printed hadst an oath,

To give the world assurance thou wert both;
And that, as puritans at baptism do,
Thou art the father, and the witness too.
For, but thyself, where, out of motley, 's he'
Could save that line to dedicate to thee?

LIV.

ON CHEVERIL.

HEVERIL cries out my verses libels are; And threatens the Star-chamber, and the Bar. What are thy petulant pleadings, Cheveril, then, That quit'st the cause so oft, and rail'st at men?

LV.

TO FRANCIS BEAUMONT.

OW I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy Muse, That unto me dost such religion use! How I do fear myself, that am not worth The least indulgent thought thy pen drops forth!

4 Where, out of motley, 's he, &c.] i. e. where out of a motley, or fool's coat is he, &c. In other words, who but a fool?-Whalley seems to have strangely mistaken this simple expression.

At once thou mak'st me happy, and unmak'st;
And giving largely to me, more thou tak'st!
What fate is mine, that so itself bereaves?
What art is thine, that so thy friend deceives?
When even there, where most thou praisest me,
For writing better, I must envy thee."

LVI.

ON POET-APE.

6

OOR Poet-ape, that would be thought our chief,

Whose works are e'en the frippery of wit,

From brokage is become so bold a thief,
As we, the robb'd, leave rage, and pity it.
At first he made low shifts, would pick and glean,
Buy the reversion of old plays; now grown

5 When even there, where most thou praisest me,

For writing better, I must envy thee.] This short poem is an answer to a letter, which Beaumont, then in the country with Fletcher, sent to Jonson, together with two unfinished comedies. The letter is an excellent one, and proves the interesting frankness and cordiality in which "the envious and malignant Ben" lived with his brother poets. The passage to which the text more immediately applies is the following:

"Fate once again

Bring me to thee, who canst make smooth and plain

The way of knowledge for me, and then I,

(Who have no good but in thy company,)

Protest it will my greatest comfort be,

To acknowledge all I have to flow from thee.

Ben, when these scenes are perfect, we'll taste wine,

I'll drink thy muse's health, thou shalt quaff mine.

Poor Poet-ape, &c.] Mr. Chalmers will take it on his death that the person here meant is Shakspeare! Who can doubt it? For my part, I am persuaded, that Groom Idiot in the next epigram is also Shakspeare; and, indeed, generally, that he is typified by the words "fool and knave," so exquisitely descriptive of him, wherever they occur in Jonson.

To a little wealth, and credit in the scene,

He takes up all, makes each man's wit his own : And, told of this, he slights it. Tut, such crimes The sluggish gaping auditor devours;

He marks not whose 'twas first: and after-times
May judge it to be his, as well as ours.
Fool! as if half eyes will not know a fleece
From locks of wool, or shreds from the whole piece.

LVII.

ON BAWDS AND USURERS.

F, as their ends, their fruits were so, the same,
Bawdry and Usury were one kind of game.

LVIII.

TO GROOM IDIOT.

DIOT, last night, I pray'd thee but forbear To read my verses; now I must to hear: For offering with thy smiles my wit to grace, Thy ignorance still laughs in the wrong place. And so my sharpness thou no less disjoints, Than thou didst late my sense, losing my points. So have I seen at Christmas-sports, one lost, And hood-wink'd, for a man embrace a post.

LIX.

ON SPIES.

PIES, you are lights in state, but of base stuff, Who, when you've burnt your selves down to the snuff,

Stink, and are thrown away. End fair enough.

LX.

TO WILLIAM LORD MOUNTEAGLE."

O, what my country should have done (have raised

An obelisk, or column to thy name,

Or, if she would but modestly have praised
Thy fact, in brass or marble writ the same)
I, that am glad of thy great chance, here do!
And proud, my work shall out-last common
deeds,

Durst think it great, and worthy wonder too,
But thine, for which I do't, so much exceeds!
My country's parents I have many known;
But, saver of my country, THEE alone.

7 To William lord Mounteagle.] This was the nobleman who received the remarkable letter about the gun-powder plot, taken notice of by our historians, and which gave the first apprehensions of what was then contriving. WHAL.

Many angry attacks have been made on James for assuming to himself the merit of discovering the import of this letter; of which Cecil takes the credit in an excellent official paper to sir Charles Cornwallis, (Winwood Mem. vol. ii. p. 170,) but surely without much cause. The fact seems to be that Cecil allowed the king (who was always tenacious of his own sagacity) to imagine that he had detected the latent meaning of the letter. Cecil was the most shrewd, and James the most simple and unsuspicious of mortals :there is, therefore, not the smallest reason to believe that the king meant to mislead the parliament, or that he thought otherwise than he spoke. We deceive ourselves grossly, if we assume that all which is known now was known at the time when the event took place. Cecil's letter was a sealed letter to the parliament and the nation; and, after all, we have only the minister's word for his share in the discovery. The hint to lord Mounteagle, which was given to him by his sister, Mary Parker, wife of Thomas Habington, and mother of the amiable and virtuous author of Castora, was not the only one conveyed to the earl of Salisbury on this mysterious business.