What ranks, what files, to put the dishes in, He has Nature in a pot, 'bove all the chemists, A soldier, a physician, a philosopher, A general mathematician! Poet. It is granted. Cook. And that you may not doubt him for a PoetPoet. This fury shews, if there were nothing else; And 'tis divine! Cook. Then, brother poet. Poet. Brother. Cook. I have a suit. Poet. What is it? Cook. Your device. Poet. As you came in upon me, I was then assign to the legislators of society, and the first founders of states and commonwealths. WHAL. The Greek poet is truly excellent; and the apparent seriousness with which his cook descants on the importance of his profession adds greatly to its genuine humour. The concluding lines are very amusing: Καταρχομεθ' ήμεις οι μαγειροι, θυομεν, We pour the free libations, and to us And from our art, mankind was first induced There is no translating the sly felicity of n kaλws, which looks, at the same time, to good morals and good eating. Offering the argument, and this it is. Cook. Silence! Poet. [reads.] The mighty Neptune, mighty in his styles, " And large command of waters, and of isles; He doth dispatch a floating isle, from hence, 3 With divine Proteus, &c.] This, I believe, was sir Francis Cottington. He had been secretary to sir Charles Cornwallis, and was, at this time, private secretary to the prince; he was well versed in political affairs, and particularly in those of Spain, where he had resided many years in a public capacity. How near our general joy was to be lost.] This alludes to the storm which took place on the Spanish coast, and in which the prince, together with a number of the Spanish nobility who came to take leave of him, was nearly wrecked. The other dangers which Charles is said to have encountered are probably exaggerated by the "poet." That with him, loyal Hippius is return'd, With his own brightness, till her starv'd snakes saw Cook. But why not this, till now? Poet. -It was not time, To mix this music with the vulgar's chime. Minerva cried; that, what tumultuous verse, Of bells and bonfires, and good cheer was spent, For they love, then, to sing, when they are heard. Poet. Yes, a Delos: Such, as when fair Latona fell in travail, 5 That with him loyal Hippius is return'd.] By Hippius is meant the duke of Buckingham, master of the horse to James I., who accompanied the prince into Spain, to which this speech alludes. WHAL. 6 Of the sea-monster, Archy.] Archibald Armstrong, the court jester, who followed the prince into Spain. Charles seems to have taken a strange fancy to this buffoon, who joined the surly savageness of the bear to the mischievous tricks of the monkey. Howell, who was at Madrid during the prince's visit, says, in one of his letters, "Our cousin Archy hath more privilege here, than any, for he often goes with his fool's coat where the Infanta is with her Meninos and ladies of honour, and keeps a blowing and blustering among them, and flurts out what he lists." In conclusion, he gives a specimen of his ill-manners, which must have been offensive in the highest degree. Book i. let. 18. Great Neptune made emergent. Cook. I conceive you. I would have had your isle brought floating in, now, Of a grown conger, but in such a posture, Poet. Yes, we have a tree too, Which we do call the tree of Harmony, And is the same with what we read the sun 7 In a brave broth With an Arion mounted on the back Of a grown conger, but in such a posture As all the world should take him for a dolphin.] This is humorously imitated by Fletcher : "For fish, I'll make a standing lake of white broth, And pikes come ploughing up the plumbs before them, Rollo, A. ii. S. 2. Mr. Weber has happily discovered the pronomen of this celebrated musician. He was called, it seems, Bike Arion, without the Mr.— "Bike," as he aptly observes, "which signifies a hive of bees, is not in the least applicable, for which reason I must leave it to the reader." This is kind: but Mr. Weber is unjust to the merits of his own text. Does he not know that bees will swarm to a brass kettle? How much rather, then, to the harp of Arion! Hence the name. The verse stands thus in his precious edition (vol. ii. p. 55): "Ride like Bike Arion on a trout to London." Former editors, whom Mr. Weber treats with all the contempt which his superior attainments justify him in assuming, had supposed that bike (which destroys the metre) was merely an accidental repetition. of like, and therefore dropt it; but as this was done without writing a page or two about it, Mr. Weber wonders at their presumption, and very judiciously reinstates it in the text. And thus it grows: The goodly bole being got Or arched arbor, able to receive A numerous troop, such as our Albion, Cook. Your prime Masquers ? Poet. Yes. Cook. But where's your Antimasque now, all this while? I hearken after them. Poet. Faith, we have none. Cook. None! Poet. None, I assure you, neither do I think them A worthy part of presentation, Being things so heterogene to all device, Mere by-works, and at best outlandish nothings. For blood of poetry, running in your veins, The goodly bole being got, &c.] Milton treads rather closely upon the heels of Jonson here: "The fig tree that In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms Branching so broad and long, that in the ground |