Her only favourite in thee hath lost,

And Nature's self what she did brag of most?
Sleep then, rich soul of numbers, whilst poor we
Enjoy the profits of thy legacy;

And thinke it happiness enough we have
So much of thee redeemèd from the grave,
As may suffice to enlighten future times
With the bright lustre of thy matchless rhymes.

Appended to Shakespeare's Poems. 1640. Sig. L.

THOMAS BANCROFT, 1639
(A. 1633-1658)

"To Shakespeare."

THY Muse's sugared dainties seem to us
Like the fam'd apples of old Tantalus :
For we, admiring, see and hear thy strains;
But none I see or hear, those sweets attains.

"To the same."

Thou hast so us'd thy pen (or shook thy spear),
That Poets startle, nor thy wit come near.

Two Bookes of Epigrammes, and Epitaphs. 1639.
Nos. 118 and 119.

GEORGE DANIEL, 1647
(1616-1657)

THE sweetest Swan of Avon, to ye fair
And cruel Delia, passionately sings;
Other men's weaknesses and follies are
Honour and wit to him; each accent brings
A sprig to crown him Poet; and contrive
A monument, in his own work, to live.

Poems.

Vindication of Poesie. Add. MS. 19255, p. 17. (British Museum.) Privately printed by Dr. Grosart. 1878, 4 vols. Vol. i. pp. 28, 29.

SAMUEL SHEPPARD, 1651
A. c. 1606-1652)

"In Memory of our Famous Shakespeare."

I

SACRED spirit, whiles thy Lyre
Echoed o'er the Arcadian Plains,

Even Apollo did admire,

Orpheus wondered at thy strains.

2

Plautus sigh'd, Sophocles wept
Tears of anger, for to hear,

After they so long had slept,

So bright a genius should appear.

3

Who wrote his Lines with a sun-beam,

More durable than Time or Fate;

Others boldly do blaspheme,

Like those that seem to preach, but prate.

4

Thou wert truly priest elect,

Chosen darling to the Nine;

Such a trophy to erect

By thy wit and skill divine.

5

That were all their other glories (Thine excepted) torn away, By thy admirable stories,

Their garments ever shall be gay.

6

Where thy honoured bones do lie
(As Statius once to Maro's urn),
Thither every year will I

Slowly tread, and sadly mourn.

Epigrams Theological, Philosophical, and Romantick. Six Books, etc., with other Select Poems. 1651. Book vi. Epig. 17, pp. 150, 152, 154.