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, When, being the stranger's help, the poor man's aid, 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, 3 Like Solon's self, explat'st the knotty laws 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, 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, They meet the fire, the test, as martyrs And though opinion stamp them not, are gold. 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 To vent their libels, and to issue rhymes, I have no portion in them, nor their deal Or the States' ships sent forth be like to meet Or that the match from Spain was ever meant? 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. 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, Although my fame to his not under-hears, As you have writ yourself: now stand, and then, |