Microcosmography Part 19

HUGH CRESSEY. _Epistle Apologetical to a Person of Honour_ (Lord Clarendon), 8vo. 1674, page 46.

----"Dr. Earle, Bishop of Salisbury, was a man that could do good against evil; forgive much, and of a charitable heart."

PIERCE. _Conformist's Plea for Nonconformity_, 4to. 1681, page 174.

No. III.

LIST OF DR. EARLE'S WORKS.

1. _Microcosmography, or a Piece of the World discovered, in Essays and Characters. London._ 1628. &c. &c. 12mo.

2. _Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity_, translated into Latin. This, says Wood, "is in MS. and not yet printed." In whose possession the MS. was does not appear, nor have I been able to trace it in the catalogue of any public or private collection.

3. _Hortus Mertonensis_, a Latin Poem, of which Wood gives the first line "Hortus deliciae domus politae." It is now supposed to be lost.

4. _Lines on the Death of Sir John Burroughs_; now printed for the first time. See Appendix, No. IV.

5. _Lines on the Death of the Earl of Pembroke_; now printed for the first time. See Appendix, No. V.

6. _Elegy upon Francis Beaumont_; first printed at the end of _Beaumont's Poems, London_, 1640. 4to. See Appendix, No. VI.

7. [Greek: Eikon Basilike], _vel Imago Regis Caroli_, _In illis suis aerumnis et Solitudine. Hagae-Comitis._ Typis S. B. &c. 1649. 12mo. See Appendix, No. VII.[BN]

FOOTNOTES:

[BN] Besides the pieces above noticed, several smaller poems were undoubtedly in circulation during Earle's life, the t.i.tles of which are not preserved. Wood supposes (_Ath. Oxon._) our author to have contributed to "_some of the Figures, of which about ten were published_" but is ignorant of the exact numbers to be attributed to his pen. In the Bodleian[BO] is "_The Figvre of Fovre: Wherein are sweet flowers, gathered out of that fruitfull ground, that I hope will yeeld pleasure and profit to all sorts of people. The second Part, London, Printed for Iohn Wright, and are to bee sold at his shop without Newgate, at the signe of the Bible, 1636._" This, however, was undoubtedly one of Breton's productions, as his initials are affixed to the preface. It is in 12mo. and consists of twenty pages, not numbered. The following extracts will be sufficient to shew the nature of the volume.

"There are foure persons not to be believed: a horse-courser when he sweares, a wh.o.r.e when shee weepes, a lawyer when he pleads false, and a traveller when he tels wonders.

"There are foure great cyphers in the world: hee that is lame among dancers, dumbe among lawyers, dull among schollers and rude amongst courtiers

"Foure things grievously empty: a head without braines, a wit without judgment, a heart without honesty, and a purse without money."

Ant. Wood possessed the _figure of six_, which, however, is now not to be found among his books left to the university of Oxford, and deposited in Ashmole's museum. That it once was there, is evident from the MS.

catalogue of that curious collection.

[BO] 8vo. L. 78. Art.

No. IV.

LINES ON SIR JOHN BURROUGHS,

KILLED BY A BULLET AT REEZ[BP].

[_From a MS. in the Bodleian_.]--(_Rawl. Poet_. 142.)

Why did we thus expose thee? what's now all That island to requite thy funeral?

Though thousand French in murder'd heaps do lie, It may revenge, it cannot satisfy: We must bewail our conquest when we see Our price too dear to buy a victory.

He whose brave fire gave heat to all the rest, That dealt his spirit in t' each English breast, From whose divided virtues you may take So many captains out, and fully make Them each accomplish'd with those parts, the which, Jointly, did his well-furnish'd soul enrich.

Not rashly valiant, nor yet fearful wise, His flame had counsel, and his fury, eyes.

Not struck in courage at the drum's proud beat, Or made fierce only by the trumpet's heat-- When e'en pale hearts above their pitch do fly, And, for a while do mad it valiantly.

His rage was tempered well, no fear could daunt His reason, his cold blood was valiant.

Alas! these vulgar praises injure thee; Which now a poet would as plenteously Give some brag-soldier, one that knew no more Than the fine scabbard and the scarf he wore.

Fathers shall tell their children [this] was he, (And they hereafter to posterity,) Rank'd with those forces scourged France of old, Burrough's and Talbot's[BQ] names together told.

J. EARLES.

FOOTNOTES:

[BP] For an account of the unsuccessful expedition to the Isle of Re, under the command of the Duke of Buckingham, see Carte's _History of England_, vol. iv. page 176, folio, _Lond_. 1755. Sir John Burroughs, a general of considerable renown, who possessed the chief confidence of the Duke, fell in an endeavour to reconnoitre the works of the enemy, Aug.

1627.

[BQ] Sir John Talbot, first earl of Shrewsbury, of whom see Collins'

_Peerage_, iii. 9. Holinshed, Rapin, Carte, &c.

No. V.

ON THE DEATH OF THE EARL OF PEMBROKE[BR].

[_From the same MS._]

Come, Pembroke lives! Oh! do not fright our ears With the destroying truth! first raise our fears And say he is not well: that will suffice To force a river from the public eyes, Or, if he must be dead, oh! let the news Speak in astonish'd whispers: let it use Some phrase without a voice, and be so told, As if the labouring sense griev'd to unfold Its doubtfull woe. Could not the public zeal Conquer the Fates, and save your's? Did the dart Of death, without a preface, pierce your heart?

Welcome, sad weeds--but he that mourns for thee, Must bring an eye that can weep elegy.

A look that would save blacks: whose heavy grace Chides mirth, and bears a funeral in his face.

Whose sighs are with such feeling sorrows blown, That all the air he draws returns a groan.

Thou needst no gilded tomb--thy memory, Is marble to itself--the bravery Of jem or rich enamel is mis-spent-- Thy n.o.ble corpse is its own monument!

Mr. EARLES, Merton.

FOOTNOTES:

[BR] William, third Earl of Pembroke, son of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, and Mary, sister to Sir Philip Sidney, was the elder brother of Earle's patron, and Chancellor of Oxford. He died at Baynard's castle, April 10, 1630.