V.

In the firs edition of this book were inserted, by way of spec en of his Majesty's poetic talents, some punning verses made on the disputations at Sterling; but it having been suggested to the Editor, that the king only gave the quibbling commendations in prose, and that some obsequious courtrhymer put them into metre; it was thought proper to exchange them for two sonnets of King James's own composition. James was a great versifier, and therefore out of the multitude of his poems, we have here selected two, which (to shew our impartiality) are written in his best and his worst manner. The first would not dishonour any writer of that time; the second is a most complete example of the Bathos.

A SONNET ADDRESSED BY KING JAMES TO HIS SON PRINCE HENRY.

From King James's Works in folio: where is also printed another called his Majesty's "own Sonnet;" it would perhaps be too cruel to infer from thence that this was not his Majesty's own

sonnet.

GOD gives not kings the stile of Gods in vaine,
For on his throne his scepter do they swey :
And as their subjects ought them to obey,
So kings should feare and serve their God againe.

If then ye would enjoy a happie reigne,

Observe the statutes of our heavenly King; And from his law make all your laws to spring; Since his lieutenant here ye should remaine.

The common popular ballad of "King John and the Abbot" seems to have been abridged and modernized about the time of James I. from one much older, entitled, "King John and the Bishop of Canterbury." The Editor's folio MS. contains a copy of this last, but in too corrupt a state to be reprinted; it however afforded many lines worth reviving, which will be found inserted in the ensuing stanzas.

The archness of the following questions and answers hath been much admired by our old balladmakers; for besides the two copies above mentioned, there is extant another ballad on the same subject (but of no great antiquity or merit), entitled, King Olfrey and the Abbot. :' Lastly, about the time of the civil wars, when the cry ran against the

bishops, some puritan worked up the same story into a very doleful ditty, to a solemn tune, concerning "King Henry and a Bishop;" with this stinging moral:

"Unlearned men hard matters out can find,

When learned bishops princes eyes do blind."

The following is chiefly printed from an ancient black-letter copy, to "The tune of Derry down." An ancient story Ile tell you anon

Of a notable prince, that was called King John;
And he ruled England with maine and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintein'd little right.

And Ile tell you a story, a story so merrye,
Concerning the Abbot of Canterburye;
How for his house-keeping, and high renowne
They rode poste for him to fair London towre.

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And first, quo' the king, when I'm in this stead, 25
With my crowne of golde so faire on my head,
Among all my liege-men so noble of birthe,
Thou must tell me to one penny what I am worthe.

Secondlye, tell me, without any doubt,
How soone I may ride the whole world about.
And at the third question thou must not shrink,
But tell me here truly what I do think.

O, these are hard questions for my shallow witt,
Nor I cannot answer your grace as yet:

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But if you will give me but three weekes space, 35
Ile do my endeavour to answer your grace.

Now three weeks space to thee will I give,
And that is the longest time thou hast to live;
For if thou dost not answer my questions three,
Thy lands and thy livings are forfeit to mee.

Away rode the abbot all sad at that word,
And he rode to Cambridge, and Oxenford;
But never a doctor there was so wise,
That could with his learning an answer devise.

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This little sonnet was written by Sir Henry Wotton, knight, on that amiable princess, Elizabeth daughter of James I. and wife of the Elector Palatine, who was chosen King of Bohemia, Sept. 5, 1619. The consequences of this fatal election are well known: Sir Henry Wotton, who in that and the following year was employed in several embassies in Germany on behalf of this unfortunate lady, seems to have had an uncommon attachment to her merit and fortunes. for he gave away a jewel worth a thousand pounds, that was presented to him by the emperor, because it came from an enemy to his royal mistress the Queen of Bohemia." See Biog. Britan.

This song is printed from the Reliquia Wottoniana, 1651, with some corrections from an old MS. copy.

You meaner beauties of the night,

That poorly satisfie our eies More by your number, than your light;

You common people of the skies,
What are you when the moon shall rise ?
Ye violets that first appeare,

By your pure purple mantles known
Like the proud virgins of the yeare,
As if the spring were all your own;
What are you when the rose is blown?
Ye curious chaunters of the wood,
That warble forth dame Nature's layes,
Thinking your passions understood

By your weak accents: what's your praise,
Whon Philomell her voyce shall raise?

So when my mistris shal be seene

In sweetnesse of her looks and minde; By virtue first, then choyce a queen; Tell me, if she was not design'd Th' eclypse and glory of her kind?

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Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land, [mand, Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his comAnd takes up a thousand pound upon bis father's land, [stand;

And gets drunk in a tavern, till he can neither go nor Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new-fangled lady, that is dainty, nice, and spare,

Who never knew what belonged to good housekeeping, or care,

[air, Who buyes gaudy-color'd fans to play with wanton And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new-fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood,

[good, Hung round with new pictures, that do the poor no With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coal nor wood, [ne'er stood; And a new smooth shovelboard, whereon no victuals Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new study, stuft full of pamphlets, and plays, And a new chaplain, that swears faster than he prays,

With a new buttery hatch, that opens once in four or five days, [and toys;

And a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws, Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on, On a new journey to London straight we all must begone, [John, And leave none to keep house, but our new porter Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new gentleman-usher, whose carriage is compleat, [up the meat. With a new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry With a waiting-gentlewoman, whose dressing is [eat;

very neat,

Who when her lady has din'd, lets the servants not Like a young courtier, &c.

With new titles of honour bought with his father's old gold, [sold;

For which sundry of his ancestors old manors are
And this is the course most of our new gallants hold,
Which makes that good house-keeping is now grown
so cold,

Among the young courtiers of the king,
Or the king's young courtiers.

When the Scottish covenanters rose up in arms, and advanced to the English borders in 1639, many of the courtiers complimented the king by raising forces at their own expence. Among these none were more distinguished than the gallant Sir John Suckling, who raised a troop of horse, so richly accoutred, that it cost him 12,000l. The like expensive equipment of other parts of the army, made the king remark, that "the Scots would fight stoutly, if it were but for the Englishmen's fine cloaths." [Lloyd's Memoirs.] When they came to action, the rugged Scots proved more than a match for the fine shewy English: many of whom behaved remarkably ill, and among the rest this splendid troop of Sír John Suckling's.

This humorous pasquil has been generally supposed to have been written by Sir John, as a banter upon himself. Some of his contemporaries however attributed it to Sir John Mennis, a wit of those times, among whose poems it is printed in a small poetical miscellany, intitled, " Musarum delicia: or the Muses recreation, containing several pieces of poetique wit, 2d edition.-By Sir J. M. [Sir John Mennis] and Ja. S. [James Smith.] London 1656, 12mo." -[See Woods Athenæ, II. 397, 418.] In that copy is subjoined an additional stanza, which probably was written by this Sir John Mennis, viz. "But now there is peace, he's return'd to increase, His money, which lately he spent-a, But his lost honour must lye still in the dust; At Barwick away it went-a."

Sin John he got him an ambling nag,

To Scotland for to ride-a,

With a hundred horse more, all his own he swore, To guard him on every side-a.

This excellent sonnet, which possessed a high degree of fame among the old cavaliers, was written by Colonel Richard Lovelace during his confinement in the gate-house Westminster: to which he was committed by the House of Commons, in April 1642, for presenting a petition from the county of Kent, requesting them to restore the king to his rights, and to settle the government. See Wood's Athenæ, Vol. II. p. 228, and Lysons's Environs of London, Vol. I. p. 109; where may be seen at large the affecting story of this elegant writer, who after having been distinguished for every gallant and polite accomplishment, the pattern of his own sex, aud the darling of the ladies, died in the lowest wretchedness, obscurity, and want, in 1658.

This song is printed from a scarce volume o Lis poems intitled, "Lucasta, 1649, 12mo." collated with a copy in the Editor's folio MS.

WHEN love with unconfined wings

Hovers within my gates,

And my divine Althea brings

To whisper at my grates;

When I lye tangled in her haire,

And fetter'd with her eye,

The birds that wanton in the airs,
Know no such libertye.

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Charing-cross, as it stood before the civil wars, was one of those beautiful Gothic obelisks erected to conjugal affection by Edward I. who built such a one wherever the herse of his beloved Eleanor rested in its way from Lincolnshire to Westminster. But neither its ornamental situation, the beauty of its structure, nor the noble design of its erection (which did honour to humanity), could preserve it from the merciless zeal of the times: For, in 1647, it was demolished by order of the House of Commons, as popish and superstitious. This occasioned the following not unhumourous sarcasm which has been often printed among the popular sonnets of those times.

The plot referred to in ver. 17, was that entered into by Mr. Waller the poet, and others, with a view to reduce the city and tower to the service of the king; for which two of them, Nathaniel Tomkins and Richard Chaloner suffered death July 5, 1643. Vid, Athen. Ox. II. 24.

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