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LXIV.

AN EPIGRAM ON SIR EDWARD COKE,2

WHEN HE WAS LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

E that should search all glories of the gown,
And steps of all raised servants of the crown,
He could not find than thee, of all that store,
Whom fortune aided less, or virtue more.
Such, Coke, were thy beginnings, when thy good
In others evil best was understood:

When, being the stranger's help, the poor man's aid,
Thy just defences made th' oppressor afraid.
Such was thy process, when integrity,
And skill in thee now grew authority,

2 An epigram on sir Edward Coke.] Addressed to him, probably when he was created lord chief justice, in the year 1606. WHAL. Whalley assigns too early a date to this Epigram: Coke was, as he says, created lord chief justice in 1606; but it was of the Common Pleas he did not take the style of lord chief justice of England, till he was advanced to the King's-bench in 1613, when he was in his sixty-fifth year. Jonson follows the style of sir Edward in giving him this title, which he appears to have affected, and which James objected to his assuming "He calls himself in his books," the king says, "lord chief justice of England, whereas he can challenge no more but lord chief justice of the King'sbench."

This great lawyer did not bear his faculties meekly. His proud and overbearing spirit involved him in various prosecutions; his office was taken from him in 1616, and the residue of his life was spent in a strange and rapid alternation of favour and disgrace, of turbulence and submission. He died in 1634 at the age of eighty-six : had it been his good fortune to follow his royal mistress to the grave, he would have come down to us not only as one of the most eminent lawyers this country ever produced, but as one of the most dignified and respectable characters of his age.

As a composition, this Epigram boasts considerable merit. It is vigorous and manly; has truth for its basis, and characterizes both the author and his works with discrimination and judgment. I suppose it to be written in 1613.

That clients strove in question of the laws,
More for thy patronage, than for their cause,
And that thy strong and manly eloquence
Stood up thy nation's fame, her crown's defence ;
And now such is thy stand, while thou dost deal
Desired justice to the public weal,

3

Like Solon's self, explat'st the knotty laws
With endless labours, whilst thy learning draws
No less of praise, than readers, in all kinds

Of worthiest knowledge, that can take men's minds. Such is thy all, that, as I sung before,

None Fortune aided less, or virtue more.

Or if chance must to each man that doth rise,
Needs lend an aid, to thine she had her eyes.

3 Like Solon's self, explat'st the knotty laws

With endless labours, &c.] I never yet met with the word explat'st, but do not take upon me to pronounce it a corruption. When I consider the license which Jonson sometimes allowed himself of coining an expressive word, I am tempted to think this proceeded from the same poetic mint. WHAL.

Whalley is wrong. Jonson sometimes uses a Latin word, but then he prints it in a different character: his latinisms are those of his contemporaries. All our old writers use pleat, plight, for wreath, curl, fold, &c., from plico: expleat is as correctly formed from explico, to open, smooth, display, &c. Explation, a kindred word, is in Cole, and displeat and unpleat are sufficiently common in our old poets. Explica frontem is rendered by Jo. Davies, in his eclogue, 1620, "Unpleat thy brow."

LXV.

AN EPISTLE,

ANSWERING TO ONE THAT ASKED TO BE SEALED OF THE TRIBE OF BEN."

M

EN that are safe and sure in all they do,
Care not what trials they are put unto :

They meet the fire, the test, as martyrs
would,

And though opinion stamp them not, are gold.
I could say more of such, but that I fly
To speak myself out too ambitiously,
And shewing so weak an act to vulgar eyes,
Put conscience and my right to compromise.
Let those that merely talk, and never think,
That live in the wild anarchy of drink,
Subject to quarrel only; or else such
As make it their proficiency, how much
They've glutted in, and letcher'd out that week,
That never yet did friend or friendship seek,

4 An Epistle, &c.] This appears, from internal evidence, to have been written not long before the death of James. It was the practice of the older poets, upon request, to adopt young men of talents in whose reputation, or success in life, by a species of patronage or filiation, they became warmly interested. Jonson had many sons of this kind, and to an aspirant for the honour of becoming such (probably, to Randolph or Cleveland) he addresses the above Epistle. The number of his adopted progeny is alluded to in the foolish expression of one "that asked," &c.

There is a spirit and vigour in this Epistle which do the poet great credit. The sentiments are manly, and some of them drawn from the higher philosophy. It wants the smoothness and the artificial rhythm of these times; but what poem of equal length, of these times, possesses such depth of thought and force of expression ?

But for a sealing :5 let these men protest.

Or th' other on their borders, that will jest
On all souls that are absent; even the dead,
Like flies or worms, which man's corrupt parts fed :
That to speak well, think it above all sin,
Of any company but that they are in,
Call'd every night to supper in these fits,
And are received for the Covey of Wits;
That censure all the town, and all the affairs,
And know whose ignorance is more than theirs :
Let these men have their ways, and take their
times

To vent their libels, and to issue rhymes,

I have no portion in them, nor their deal
Of news they get, to strew out the long meal;
I study other friendships, and more one,
Than these can ever be, or else wish none.
What is't to me, whether the French design
Be, or be not, to get the Valteline?

Or the States' ships sent forth be like to meet
Some hopes of Spain in their West Indian fleet?
Whether the dispensation yet be sent,

Or that the match from Spain was ever meant?
I wish all well, and pray high heaven conspire
My prince's safety, and my king's desire;
But if for honour we must draw the sword,
And force back that which will not be restor❜d,
I have a body yet that spirit draws,

To live, or fall a carcase, in the cause.

So far without enquiry what the States,

Brunsfield, and Mansfield, do this year, my fates

5 But for a sealing,] i. e. becoming sureties for them, joining them in their bonds.

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Of news they get, to strew out the long meal.] This is the town's honest man, described with such scorn and indignation in a former page. See Epig. cxv.

Shall carry me at call; and I'll be well,
Though I do neither hear these news, nor tell ̈
Of Spain or France; or were not prick'd down one,
Of the late mystery of reception;

Although my fame to his not under-hears,
That guides the motions, and directs the bears.
But that's a blow, by which in time I may
Lose all my credit with my Christmas clay,
And animated porcelaine of the court;
Ay, and for this neglect, the coarser sort
Of earthern jars there, may molest me too :
Well, with mine own frail pitcher, what to do
I have decreed; keep it from waves and press,
Lest it be justled, crack'd, made nought, or less.
Live to that point I will, for which I am man,
And dwell as in my centre, as I can,
Still looking to, and ever loving heaven;
With reverence using all the gifts thence given:
'Mongst which, if I have any friendships sent,
Such as are square, well-tagg'd, and permanent,
Not built with canvas, paper, and false lights,
As are the glorious scenes at the great sights:
And that there be no fevery heats nor colds,
Oily expansions, or shrunk dirty folds,
But all so clear, and led by reason's flame,
As but to stumble in her sight were shame;
These I will honour, love, embrace, and serve,
And free it from all question to preserve.
So short you read my character, and theirs
I would call mine, to which not many stairs
Are ask'd to climb. First give me faith, who know
Myself a little; I will take you so,

As you have writ yourself: now stand, and then,
Sir, you are Sealed of the tribe of Ben.

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