Part 12

[56] For this vehement attack upon the weakness of an infatuated woman, the author must be screened under the example of Horace, Ep. 8 and 12.

[57] Henry Garnet, provincial of the order of Jesuits in England, who was arraigned and executed at the west end of St. Paul’s, for his connivance at, rather than for any active participation in, the Gunpowder Plot, May 3, 1605. See State Trials.

[58] Wilson’s Hist. of James I, Pa. 62. fol. 1653.

[59] Two manufacturers of almanacks and prognostics. The latter was, however, of some note as to family, being the fifth son of sir Arthur Hopton by Rachael, daughter of Edmund Hall, of Greatford in Lincolnshire; nor was his fame in learning unequal to his birth. In 1604 he was entered a gentleman commoner of Lincoln college, Oxon, and in 1607 was admitted bachelor of arts. He was held in high estimation by Selden for his mathematical knowledge, but died in the prime of life in the month of Nov. 1614.

[60] Dr. Daniel Price was the eldest son of Thomas Price, vicar of Saint Chad’s, Shrewsbury, in which borough he was born and educated. From St. Mary Hall, Oxford, where he was entered in 1594, he removed to Exeter college, where he took the degree of master of arts, and entered into holy orders. He afterwards became dean and residentiary canon of Hereford, rector of Worthyn in Shropshire, and of Lantelos in Cornwall; for which counties, as well as that of Montgomery, he officiated as magistrate. He was author of many works, wholly devotional, and died at Worthyn the 23d September 1631, and was buried there in the chancel of the church.

[61] This poem, for what reason does not appear, is printed before some of the later editions of sir Thomas Overbury’s “Wife.”

[62] These reverend gentlemen were jesters to James the First. The name of the former was Archibald Armstrong, of whom and of whose jests an account may be found in Granger, vol. ii. p. 399. ed. 1775. 8vo. They are again joined in a manuscript poem (_penes me_) by Peter Heylin, written in derision of Barten Holiday’s play already mentioned in the life of the bishop, of which the following are the introductory lines:

“Whoop Holyday! why then ’twill ne’er be better, Why all the guard, that never saw more letters Than those upon their coates; whose wit consists In Archy’s bobs and Garret’s sawcy jests, Deride our Christ-church scene.”

[63] Thomas Ereskine, earl of Fenton.

[64] William, earl of Pembroke, a poet himself, and an universal patron of learning, whose character is so admirably drawn by Clarendon.

[65] The compass of a note is too confined for an account of this great negociator and general, who fell by the jealousy of the Prince of Orange the 13th March 1619. He was born at Amersfort, in the province of Utrecht, was five times employed as ambassador to England and France, and had long the command of the armies of the United Provinces. De Thou says, “que c’étoit un homme très accrédité par les charges qu’il avoit remplies, et par sa grande expérience dans les affaires:”—And Moreri concludes an account of his character, and his death, which he met with an undaunted spirit, in the following words: “Barneveldt, ayant été pris, eut la tête tranchée à l’age de 72 ans, sous prétexte d’avoir voulu livrer le pays aux Espagnols, quoiqu’il le niat constamment, et qu’en effet on n’en ait trouvé aucune preuve dans ses papiers. Son crime étoit d’avoir refusé d’entrer dans le complot, à la faveur du quel le prince Maurice vouloit a ce qu’on dit se rendre maître des Pays Bas, et d’avoir défendu la liberté de sa patrie avec trop de zèle.” Tom. ii. p. 78.

[66] No minister ever exerted his power with less tyranny and more benignity than the favourite of Philip the Third: he fell “from his high estate” by the intrigues of his son, and an ungrateful monk whom he had raised to be confessor to the king, and who abandoned the friend that had elevated him as soon as the smiles of sovereignty were transferred to another. On the 4th of October 1618, he retired to his paternal estate from the capricious favour of the court, where he passed the remainder of his days in peace and privacy.

[67] William Burton is said, by Antony à Wood, to have been a _pretender_ to astronomy, of which he published an Ephemeris in 1655.—Edmund Gunter, a mathematician of greater eminence, was astronomical professor of Gresham College, and eminent for his skill in the sciences: his publications were popular in his day. He died in Gresham College, 1626.

[68] Thomas Hariot, styled by Camden “Mathematicus Insignis,” was a pensioner and companion of sir Walter Raleigh in his voyage to Virginia (1584), of which upon his return he published an account. He was held in high estimation by the earl of Northumberland, sir Thomas Aylesbury, and others, for his mathematical knowledge, but, like his patron, Raleigh, was a deist in religion.—Ob. 1621. See Wood’s Athenæ, vol. i. p. 460. ed. 1721.

[69] Of this popular song, which is reprinted from “Deuteromelia,” 1609, in Hawkins’s History of Music, and in Ritson’s Antient Songs, the following is the introductory stanza:

“As it fell upon a holyday And upon a holy-tide-a, John Dory brought him an ambling nag To Paris for to ride-a.”

[70] Louis the XIIIth, for no superior virtues surnamed “Le Juste.” I have seen it somewhere observed that he chose his ministers for extraordinary reasons: Richlieu, because he could not govern his kingdom without him; Des Noyers, for psalm-singing; and le duc de Zuynes, for being an expert bird-catcher.

The satire of Corbet seems to justify the remark.

He was born 1601; married Anne of Austria 1615; and died at St. Germain’s 1643.

[71] Upon a similar declaration being issued by Charles in 1633, “one Dr. Dennison,” says lord Strafford’s garrulous correspondent, “read it here (London), and presently after read the ten commandments; then said, ‘Dearly beloved, you have now heard the commandments of God and man: obey which you please.’”

Strafford Papers, vol. i. 166. fol.

[72] Whalley’s Ben Jonson, vol. v. 299.

[73] Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 444.

[74] See his Poems, p. 1657.

[75] Howell’s Letters, p. 64. ed. 1650. This fool, _quasi_ knave, whose surname was Armstrong, had his coat pulled over his ears, and was discharged of his office, for indignity to archbishop Laud.

See Rushworth’s Collections, vol. ii. p. 471.

[76] This refers to a popular tract published in 1622, under that title, in favour of the Low Countries, and for the purpose of prejudicing the people of England against the marriage which Villiers was negotiating when this poem was addressed to him. The negotiation was not only disgraceful, but unsuccessful:

—αισχρον γαρ ἡμιν, και προς αισχυνη κακον.

[77] “On the 29th of May,” says sir Richard Baker, “the queen was brought to bed of a young son, which was baptized at St. James’s on the 27th of June, and named Charles. It is observed that at his nativity, at London, was seen a star about noon-time: what it portended, good or ill, we leave to the astrologers.” Baker’s Chronicle, p. 497. 1660. fol.

[78] If any one is at this time ignorant of the practice alluded to in this line, of the sponsors at christenings giving spoons to the child as a baptismal present, it is not the fault of the commentators on Shakespeare, who have multiplied examples of the custom in their notes on Henry the Eighth, vol. xv. p. 197. edit. 1803.

[79] Reg. Prerog. Court Cant. Sadler 97.

[80] Ibid. Rivers 18.

[81] Cartwright has not unhappily imitated this poem in his address “To Mr. W. B. at the Birth of his first Child:” a few lines may be given:

I wish religion timely be Taught him with his A B C. I wish him good and constant health, His father’s learning, but more wealth, And that to use, not hoard; a purse Open to bless, not shut to curse. May he have many and fast friends Meaning good will, not private ends!—&c.

Poem, p. 208. 8vo. 1651.

[82] At Aston on the Wall, in Northamptonshire, where Christopher Middleton, as rector, accounted for the first-fruits Oct. 12th, 1612; and was buried Feb. 5th, 1627.

[83] By the right of Dr. Leonard Hutton, a man of some note in his day, the fellow-collegian and subsequent father-in-law of bishop Corbet. Hutton passed from Westminster School to Christ-Church, of which he afterwards became a canon. It was in his residence at Oxford most probably, and not, as the editors of the Biographia Britannica have conjectured, upon this tour, that Corbet first became acquainted with Hutton’s daughter. By the dean and canons he was presented to the rectory of Flore in Northamptonshire, where he accounted for the first-fruits Aug. 6th, 1601, and to the vicarage of Weedon in the same county in 1602. Having lived to the age of 75 years, he died the 17th of May, 1632, and was buried in the divinity chapel of Christ Church, where a monument remains to his memory.

[84] A note in the old copies informs us that his name was “Ned Hale.”

[85] A sergeant. Edit. 1648.

[86] These are said in the old copies to be “the ministers of Daventry;” but as no such names occur in the list of incumbents, it is probable they officiated for Thomas Mariat, the then vicar, who must have been very old, as he was inducted to the living in 1560.

[87] Dod and Cleaver, thus honourably introduced to our notice, were united by the strong ties of puritanism and authorship.

Ambo animis, ambo insignes præstantibus armis; _Hic_ pietate prior.

The latter has fallen into oblivion, but the superior zeal of John Dod has preserved his memory. He was born at Shottledge in Cheshire, where his family had territorial possessions, and was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. “He was,” says Fuller, “by nature a witty, by industry a learned, by grace a godly, divine.” He had good preferment in the church, but was silenced for non-conformity, though afterwards restored. He died and was buried at Fawesly in Northamptonshire, of which he was vicar, Aug. 19th, 1645.

They were again joined in derision by Cartwright, in his “Chambermaid’s Posset.”

Next Cleaver and Doddism both mixed and fine, With five or six scruples of conscience cases.—&c.

Poems, p. 231. 8vo. 1651.

[88] In Leicestershire.

[89] A note in Tanner’s Bibliotheca Brit.-Hibernica thus relates the indignity offered to the remains of this parent of the Reformation, after he had been ‘quietly inurned’ during the space of forty-one years: “Magister Johannes Wicliff Anglicus per D. Thomam Arundel. archiepiscopum Cantuar. fuit post mortem suam excommunicatus, et postea fuit exhumatus, et ossa ejus combusta, et cineres in aquam juxta Lutterworth projecti fuerunt, ex mandato P. Martini V.”

[90] Parson of Heathcot, Edit. 1672. It has been observed in the Introduction that there is no village of this name in this situation: the copy 1648 says Parson Heathcote, which was probably the name of the parson of Ayleston, who was their conductor.

[91] Students of Christ-Church College, Oxford, which, as well as Whitehall, the “palace” before mentioned, was founded by Wolsey.

[92] The figure in these lines is taken from the fine church of St. Mary’s, Nottingham, in which the long chancel and nave with the tower in the midst resemble the object of the bishop’s metaphor. The castle mentioned in the succeeding lines has “perished ’mid the wreck of things that were.”

[93] Guy and Colebrand.

[94] Where David king of the Scots was kept prisoner.

[95] Which is within the Castle.

[96] Every part of Corbet’s account of Nottingham Castle corresponds so closely with the relation of Leyland, in his Itinerary, vol. iii. p. 105, &c., that it would be superfluous to transcribe it. See also Speed’s Chronicle, p. 540; and Holinshed’s Chronicle, p. 349.

[97] In Nottinghame.

[98] “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.” Proverbs xxviii. ver. 20.

[99] Dr. Jucks.

[100] Mr. Edward Mason.—MS. 1625.

[101] “The 25th of April, 1603, being Thursday, his highnesse (James the First) tooke his way towards New-warke upon Trent, where that night he lodged in the Castle, being his owne house, where the aldermen of New-warke presented his Majestie with a faire gilt cup, manifesting their duties and loving hearts to him; which was kindly received.”

“The true Narration of his Majesty’s Journey from Edenbrough, &c.” 1603.

[102] Leister forrest.

[103] Bosworth field. Edit. 1648.

[104] From this passage we learn that Richard Burbage, the _alter Roscius_ of Camden, was the original representative of Shakespeare’s Richard the Third.

He was buried in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, as Mr. Chalmers discovered, on the 16th of March, 1618-19.

[105] The clerical profligate thus gibbeted for the example of posterity was John Bust, inducted the 8th of April, 1611. He seems to have been a worthy prototype of the Natta of antiquity:

Non pudet ad morem discincti vivere Nattæ? Sed stupet hic vitio, et fibris increvit opimum Pingue; caret culpa; nescit quid perdat, et alto Demersus, summa rursum non bullit in unda.

Persius, iii. 31.

[106] Guyes cliff. Edit. 1648. The cliff and chapel are engraved in Dugdale’s Warwickshire, vol. i. 274. Ed. 1730.

[107] Of the Theorbo, or Cithara bijuga, so called from its having two necks, which appears from Kircher as well as the bishop’s poetry to have been highly esteemed in Corbet’s time, a graphical representation may be found in Hawkins’s History of Music, vol. iv. p. 111. 4to. 1776.

[108] Warwick Castle. Edit. 1648.

[109] Fulke Greville, lord Brooke.

[110] Arch-deacon Burton. Edit. 1648.

[111] At the signe of the Alter-stone. Edit. 1648.

[112] Which serve for troughs in the backside. Ibid.

[113] Three dames,

“Well known and like esteemed.”

“A discourse of the godly life and Christian death of Mistriss Katharine Stubbs, who departed this life at Burton on Trent, 14th of December,” (1592.) was written by her brother, the sanctimonious author of “The Anatomie of Abuses.”

Anne Askew, burned in 1546 for her rigid adherence to her faith, wrote “a balade which she sang when she was in Newgate;” printed by Bale. A long account of her examination and subsequent martyrdom may be seen in Foxe’s “Actes and Monuments,” vol. ii. p. 1284. edit. 1583. bl. let.

With the last I am less intimately acquainted; but I take her to be the same “lady” of whom the favourite son of Mrs. Merrythought sings, in the last act of “The Knight of the Burning Pestle.”

[114] It is almost superfluous to observe, that rosemary was supposed by our forefathers to be very efficacious in strengthening the retentive faculties; and, by being always borne at funerals, was calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of the deceased. “Here is a strange alteration: for, the rosemary that was washt in sweet water to set out the bridall, is now wet in teares to furnish her burial.”—Decker’s Wonderfull Yeare 1603.

[115] The belief that the turning of the cloak, or glove, or any garment, solved the benighted traveller from the spell of the Fairies, is alluded to in the Iter Boreale, (see p. 191,) and is still retained in some of the western counties.

[116] This poem, of which the leading features seem to be copied from the 10th epistle of the 1st book of Horace, has been printed in “The Antient and Modern Miscellany,” by Mr. Waldron, from a manuscript in his possession, and it is consequently retained in this edition of Corbet’s Poems; to whose acknowledged productions it bears no resemblance, at the same time that it is attributed (in Ashmole’s MSS., No. 38, fol. 91.) to Robert Heyrick, the author of “Hesperides.”

[117]

Discite quam parvo liceat producere vitam, Et quantum natura petat.

LUCAN, iv. ver. 377.

[118]

Impiger extremos currit mercator ad Indos, Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes.

HOR. Epist. I.

[119] See Warton’s Hist. of Engl. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 170, 171.

[120] See the Life of the Bishop.

[121] This poem, which is in some manuscripts attributed to William Stroude, has already been printed in the Topographer of my very intelligent friend, Samuel Egerton Brydges, esq. vol. ii. p. 112.

[122] Richard Greenham was educated at Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge, and became minister of Dry-Drayton, three miles distant; where it should seem, from a rhyming proverb, that his success in the ministry was not proportionate to his zeal:

Greenham had pastures green, But sheep full lean.

“What,” says Fuller (Church Hist. lib. ix. 220.), “was Dry-Drayton but a bushel to hide,—London an high candlestick to hold up the brightness of his parts?” Thither he repaired; and, after an ‘erratical and planetary life,’ settled himself at Christ-Church, where he ended his days in 1592.

“His master-piece,” says Fuller, “was in comforting wounded consciences.”—Quid multis!

[123] “Tous les tempéramens,” say our neighbours, “ne se ressemblent pas.” The Divine thus satyrized by Corbet is lauded by Fuller in high strains of eulogy. He was born at Marston near Coventry, and was educated at Christ College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M. A. Having obtained the living of St. Andrew’s parish in that university, he resided there till his death.—“He would pronounce the word _damme_ with such an emphasis,” says Fuller, (Holy State, p. 80. fol. 1652.) “as left a doleful echo in his auditors’ ears a good while after.” This passage is of itself a sufficient illustration of the poet. His works were published in three volumes, folio, 1612. The first in the collection is, “A Golden Chaine, containing the Order of the Causes of Salvation and Damnation, &c., in the tables annexed.”

[124] Juvenal. Sat. vi.

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