Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist Part 41

P. 178. To his Learned Friend and loyal Fellow-prisoner, Thomas Powel of Cant[reff], Doctor of Divinity.

On Dr. Powell, _cf._ note to p. 57. Vaughan's reason for calling him a "fellow-prisoner" is discussed in the _Biographical Note_ (vol. ii., p.

x.x.xii).

P. 181. The King Disguised.

John Cleveland's poem, _The King's Disguise_, here referred to, was first published as a pamphlet on January 21, 1646. It appears in Cleveland's _Works_ (1687). The disguising was on the occasion of Charles the First's flight, on April 27, 1646, from Oxford to the Scottish camp, of which Dr. Gardiner writes (_History of the Civil War_, Ch. xli): "At three in the morning of the 27th, Charles, disguised as a servant, with his beard and hair closely trimmed, pa.s.sed over Magdalen Bridge in apparent attendance upon Ashburnham and Hudson."

P. 187. To Mr. M. L., upon his Reduction of the Psalms into Method.

Dr. Grosart identifies M. L. with Matthew Locke, of whom Roger North says, in his _Memoirs of Music_ (4to, 1846, p. 96): "He set most of the Psalms to music in parts, for the use of some vertuoso ladyes in the city." Locke's setting of the _Psalms_ exists only in MS. A copy was in the library of Dr. E. F. Rimbault, who thinks that the author a.s.sisted Playford in his _Whole Book of Psalms_ (1677). In 1677 he died.

P. 189. To the pious Memory of C[harles] W[albeoffe] Esquire.

Charles Walbeoffe was a man of considerable importance in Brecknockshire. His name occurs several times in State papers of the period. A pet.i.tion of his concerning a ward is dated October 12, 1640.

(_Cal. S. P. Dom._, Car. I., 470, 113). He was High Sheriff in 1648 (Harl. MS. 2,289, f. 174), and a fragment of a warrant signed by him on April 17 of that year to Thomas Vaughan, treasurer of the county, for the monthly a.s.sessment, is in Harl. MS. 6,831, f. 13. As we might perhaps gather from Vaughan's poem, he does not seem to have taken an active part in the Civil War. He did not, like some other members of his family, sign the _Declaration_ of Brecknock for the Parliament on November 23, 1645 (J. R. Phillips, _Civil War in Wales and the Marches_, ii. 284). And he seems to have joined the Royalist rising in Wales of 1648. Information was laid on February 10, 1649, that he "was Commissioner of Array and a.s.sociation, raised men and money, subscribed warrants to raise men against the Parliament's generals, and sat as J.P.

in the court at Brecon when the friends of Parliament were prosecuted"

(_Cal. Proc. Ctee. for Advance of Money_, p. 1017). Afterwards he was reconciled, sat on the local Committee for Compositions, and again got into trouble with the authorities. On May 14, 1652, the Brecon Committee wrote to the Central Committee that, being one of the late Committee, he would not account for sums in his hands. He was fined 20. (_Cal. Proc.

Ctee. for Compositions_, p. 578.)

Miss Morgan has copied the inscription on his tombstone in Llanhamlach Church.

[Arms of Walbeoffe.]

"Here lieth the body of Charles Walbeoffe, Esqre., who departed this life the 13th day of September, 1653, and was married to Mary, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Aubrey of Llantryddid, in the county of Glamorgan, Knt., by whom he had issue two sonnes, of whom only Charles surviveth."

Charles Walbeoffe the younger died in 1668, and was succeeded by his cousin John. "This gentleman," says Jones (_Hist. of Brecknock_, ii., 482), "being of a gay and extravagant turn, left the estate, much enc.u.mbered, to his son Charles, and soon after his death it was foreclosed and afterwards sold."

This John Walbeoffe is mentioned in Thomas Vaughan's _Diary_ (_cf._ vol.

ii., p. x.x.xviii). He may be the writer of the preface to _Thalia Rediviva_ (_cf._ p. 164, note).

It is possible that the R. W. of another of Vaughan's Elegies may also have been a Walbeoffe. _Cf._ p. 79, _note_.

Dr. Grosart was unable to identify the initials C. W. The Walbeoffes, or Walbieffes, of Llanhamlach, the next village to Llansantfread, were among the most important of the _Advenae_, or Norman settlers of Brecknockshire. They were related, as the following table shows, to the Vaughans of Tretower. The following extract from the genealogy of the Walbeoffes of Llanhamlach is compiled from Harl. MS. 2,289. f. 136_b_; Jones, _History of Brecknockshire_, ii., 484; Miss G. E. F. Morgan, in _Brecon County Times_ for May 13, 1887.

William Vaughan of Tretower.

----------------------- Charles. Margaret = John Walbeoffe.

+-------------+--------------------+---+ Thomas = Denise Williams. Charles = Mary, d. of Sir Robert.

ob. 1653. Thomas Aubrey of Llantrithid. Henry. +----------------+ +-------+---------+ Son (name unknown.) Henry. Thomas. W[illiam?] Charles = Elizabeth, d. and nat. 1646, matr. h. to Thomas Aubrey 19, vii., 1661, ob. of Llantrithid. s.p. 1668. +-----------------------+ John = Catherine Watkins.

John = Susan, d. of Humphry Howarth of Whitehouse, Herefordshire.

+----------+------------+ Charles. John, Rector of Llanhamlach, nat. 1675, matr. 3, ii., 1696.

P. 193. In Zodiac.u.m Marcelli Palingenii.

Marcellus Palingenius, or Petro Angelo Manzoli, wrote his didactic and satirical poem, the _Zodiacus Vitae_, about 1535. It was translated into English by Barnabee Googe in 1560-1565. The latest edition of the original is that by C. C. Weise (1832). As we may gather from Vaughan's lines, Manzoli was an earnest student of occult lore. _Cf._ Gustave Reynier, _De Marcelli Palingenii Stellatae Poctae Zodiaco Vitae_ (1893).

P. 195. To Lysimachus.

_Bevis ... Arundel ... Morglay_. The allusion is to the _Romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton_ (ed. E. Kolbing, E. E. T. S., 1885). Arundel was Sir Bevis' horse, and Morglay his sword.

P. 197. On Sir Thomas Bodley's Library.

If Vaughan was not himself an Oxford man (_Biog. Note_, vol. ii., p.

xxvi), he may have been in Oxford with the King's troops at the end of August, 1645 (_Biog. Note_, vol. ii., p. x.x.xi).

_Walsam_, Walsingham, in Norfolk, famous for the rich shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, to which many offerings were made.

P. 200. The Importunate Fortune.

I. 105. _My purse, as Randolph's was._ The allusion is to Randolph's _A Parley with his Empty Purse_, which begins:

"Purse, who'll not know you have a poet's been, When he shall look and find no gold herein?"

P. 204. To I. Morgan, of Whitehall, Esq.

Whitehall appears to be an Anglicised form of Wenallt, more properly Whitehill. John Morgan, or Morgans, of Wenallt, in Llandetty, was a kinsman of Vaughan's, as the following table (from Harl. MS., 2,289, f.

39) shows:

John Morgans.

Morgan Jones = Frances, d. of Charles Vaughan of Tretower _________________________ _______________ John Morgans = Mary, d. to Thomas Anne = Aubrey of Llantrithid. 1. Charles Williams of Scethrog.

2. Hugh Powell, parson of Llansantffread.

P. 211. To the Editor of the Matchless Orinda.

_cf._ p. 100, _note_. These lines do not appear in either the 1664 or the 1667 edition of Orinda's poems.

P. 213. Upon Sudden News of the Much Lamented Death of Judge Trevers.

"This was probably Sir Thomas Trevor, youngest son of John Trevor, Esq., of Trevallyn, co. Denbigh, by Mary, daughter of Sir George Bruges, of London. He was born 6th July, 1586. He was made one of the Barons of the Exchequer 12th May, 1625; and was one of the six judges who refused to accept the new commission offered them by the ruling powers under the Commonwealth. He died 21st December, 1656, and is buried at Lemington-Hastang, in Warwickshire." (Dr. Grosart.)

P. 214. To Etesia (for Timander) The First Sight.

I do not think we need look for anything autobiographical in this and the following poems written to Etesia. They are written "for Timander,"

that is, either to serve the suit of a friend, or as copies of verses with no personal reference at all. The names Etesia and Timander smack of Orinda's poetic circle.

P. 224. Translations from Severinus.