Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets Part 22

To write such vile and filthy words; But would they cleanse their filthy tails, Whilk over the mires and middings[12] trails, Then should my writing cleansed be, None other' mends they get of me.

Quoth Lyndsay, in contempt of the side tails, That duddrons[13] and duntibours[14] through the dubbes trails.

[1] 'Side tails:' long skirts.

[2] 'Mene:' complain.

[3] 'Irk:' May feel annoyed.

[4] 'Claggocks:' draggle-tails.

[5] 'Raploch:' homespun.

[6] 'Cleckit:' born.

[7] 'Cleid:' clothe.

[8] 'Duddron:' s.l.u.t.

[9] 'Nor:' than.

[10] 'Flyting:' scolding.

[11] 'Bourds:' jest.

[12] 'Middings:' dunghills.

[13] 'Duddrons:' s.l.u.ts.

[14] 'Duntibours:' harlots.

THOMAS TUSSER.

Of Tusser we know only that he was horn in the year 1523, was well educated, commenced life as a courtier under the patronage of Lord Paget, but became a farmer, pursuing agriculture at Ratwood in Suss.e.x, Ipswich, Fairsted in Ess.e.x, Norwich, and other places; that he was not successful, and had to betake himself to other occupations, such as those of a chorister, fiddler, &c.; and that, finally, he died a poor man in London in the year 1580. Tusser has left only one work, published in 1557, ent.i.tled 'A Hundred Good Points of Husbandrie,' written in simple but sometimes strong verse. It is our first, and not our worst didactic poem.

DIRECTIONS FOR CULTIVATING A HOP-GARDEN.

Whom fancy persuadeth, among other crops, To have for his spending sufficient of hops, Must willingly follow, of choices to choose, Such lessons approved as skilful do use.

Ground gravelly, sandy, and mixed with clay, Is naughty for hops, any manner of way.

Or if it be mingled with rubbish and stone, For dryness and barrenness let it alone.

Choose soil for the hop of the rottenest mould, Well dunged and wrought, as a garden-plot should; Not far from the water, but not overflown, This lesson, well noted, is meet to be known.

The sun in the south, or else southly and west, Is joy to the hop, as a welcomed guest; But wind in the north, or else northerly east, To the hop is as ill as a fray in a feast.

Meet plot for a hop-yard once found as is told, Make thereof account, as of jewel of gold; Now dig it, and leave it, the sun for to burn, And afterwards fence it, to serve for that turn.

The hop for his profit I thus do exalt, It strengtheneth drink, and it favoureth malt; And being well brew'd, long kept it will last, And drawing abide--if ye draw not too fast.

HOUSEWIFELY PHYSIC.

Good housewife provides, ere a sickness do come, Of sundry good things in her house to have some.

Good _aqua composita_, and vinegar tart, Rose-water, and treacle, to comfort thine heart.

Cold herbs in her garden, for agues that burn, That over-strong heat to good temper may turn.

White endive, and succory, with spinach enow; All such with good pot-herbs, should follow the plough.

Get water of fumitory, liver to cool, And others the like, or else lie like a fool.

Conserves of barbary, quinces, and such, With sirops, that easeth the sickly so much.

Ask _Medicus'_ counsel, ere medicine ye take, And honour that man for necessity's sake.

Though thousands hate physic, because of the cost, Yet thousands it helpeth, that else should be lost.

Good broth, and good keeping, do much now and than: Good diet, with wisdom, best comforteth man.

In health, to be stirring shall profit thee best; In sickness, hate trouble; seek quiet and rest.

Remember thy soul; let no fancy prevail; Make ready to G.o.d-ward; let faith never quail: The sooner thyself thou submittest to G.o.d, The sooner he ceaseth to scourge with his rod.

MORAL REFLECTIONS ON THE WIND.

Though winds do rage, as winds were wood,[1]

And cause spring-tides to raise great flood; And lofty ships leave anchor in mud, Bereaving many of life and of blood: Yet, true it is, as cow chews cud, And trees, at spring, doth yield forth bud, Except wind stands as never it stood, It is an ill wind turns none to good.

[1] 'Wood:' mad.

VAUX, EDWARDS, &c.

In Tottell's 'Miscellany,' the first of the sort in the English language, published in 1557, although the names of many of the authors are not given, the following writers are understood to have contributed:--Sir Francis Bryan, a friend of Wyatt's, one of the princ.i.p.al ornaments of the Court of Henry VIII., and who died, in 1548, Chief Justiciary of Ireland; George Boleyn, Earl of Rochford, the amiable brother of the famous Anne Boleyn, and who fell a victim to the insane jealousy of Henry, being beheaded in 1536; and Lord Thomas Vaux, son of Nicholas Vaux, who died in the latter end of Queen Mary's reign. In the same Miscellany is found 'Phillide and Harpalus,' the 'first true pastoral,' says Warton, 'in the English language,' (see 'Specimens.') To it are annexed, too, a collection of 'Songes, written by N. G.,' which means Nicholas Grimoald, an Oxford man, renowned for his rhetorical lectures in Christ Church, and for being, after Surrey, our first writer of blank verse, in the modulation of which he excelled even Surrey. Henry himself, who was an expert musician, is said also to have composed a book of sonnets and one madrigal in praise of Anne Boleyn. In the same reign occur the names of Borde, Bale, Bryan, Annesley, John Rastell, Wilfred Holme, and Charles Bansley, all writers of minor and forgotten poems. John Heywood, called the Epigrammatist, was of a somewhat higher order. He was the favourite of Sir Thomas More and the pensioner of Henry VIII. He gained favour partly through his conversational humour, and partly through his writings.

He is the author of various comedies; of six hundred epigrams, most of them very poor; of a dialogue, in verse, containing all the proverbs then afloat in the language; of an apologue, ent.i.tled 'The Spider and the Fly,'

&c. Heywood, who was a rigid Papist, left the kingdom after the decease of Queen Mary, and died at Mechlin, in Brabant, in 1565. Warton has preserved some specimens of Sir Thomas More's poetry, which do not add much to our conception of his genius. In 1542, one Robert Vaughan wrote an alliterative poem, ent.i.tled 'The Falcon and the Pie.' In 1521, 'The Not-browne Maid,' (given by us in 'Percy's Reliques,') appeared in a curious collection, called 'Arnolde's Chronicle, or Customs of London.'

In the same year Wynkyn de Worde printed a set of 'Christmas Carols,' and in 1529 'A Treatise of Merlin, or his Prophecies in Verse.' In Henry's days, too, there commences the long line of translators of the Psalms into English metre, commencing with Thomas Sternhold, groom of the robes to the King, who versified fifty-one psalms, which were published in 1549, and with John Hopkins, a clergyman and schoolmaster in Suffolk, who added fifty-eight more, and progressing with Whyttingham, Thomas Norton, (the joint author, along with Lord Buckhurst, of the curious old tragedy of 'Gorboduc,') Robert Wisdome, William Hunnis, William Baldwyn, Parker, the scholarly and celebrated Archbishop of Canterbury, &c. &c. Parker trans- lated all the Psalms himself; and John Day published in 1562, and attached to the Book of Common Prayer, the whole of Sternhold and Hopkins' 'Psalms, with apt notes to sing them withall.' In Edward's reign appeared a very different strain--the first drinking-song of merit in the language, 'Back and sides go bare'--(see 'Specimens,' vol. 2.) This song occurs at the opening of the second act of 'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' a comedy written (by a 'Mr S.') and printed in 1551, and afterwards acted at Christ's College in Cambridge.

In the reign of Mary, flourished Richard Edwards, a man of no small versatility of genius. He was a native of Somersetshire, was born about 1523, and died in 1566. He wrote two comedies, one ent.i.tled 'Damon and Pythias,' and the other 'Palamon and Arcite,' both of which were acted before Queen Elizabeth. He also contrived masques and wrote verses for pageants, and is said to have been the first fiddler, the most elegant sonnetteer, and the most amusing mimic of the Court. He is the author of a pleasing poem, ent.i.tled 'Amantium irae,' and of some lines under the t.i.tle, 'He requesteth some friendly comfort, affirming his constancy.'

We quote a few of them:--

'The mountains nigh, whose lofty tops do meet the haughty sky, The craggy rock, that to the sea free pa.s.sage doth deny, The aged oak, that doth resist the force of bl.u.s.t'ring blast, The pleasant herb, that everywhere a pleasant smell doth cast, The lion's force, whose courage stout declares a prince-like might, The eagle, that for worthiness is borne of kings in fight-- Then these, I say, and thousands more, by tract of time decay, And, like to time, do quite consume and fade from form to clay; But my true heart and service vow'd shall last time out of mind, And still remain, as thine by doom, as Cupid hath a.s.sign'd.'

Edwards also contributed some beautiful things to the well-known old collection, 'The Paradise of Dainty Devices.'

GEORGE GASCOIGNE.

Gascoigne was born in 1540, in Ess.e.x, of an ancient family. He was educated at Cambridge, and entered at Gray's Inn, but was disinherited by his father for extravagance, and betook himself to Holland, where he obtained a commission from the Prince of Orange. After various vicissitudes of fortune, being at one time taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and at another receiving a reward from the Prince of three hundred guilders above his pay for his brave conduct at the siege of Middleburg, he returned to England. In 1575, he accompanied Queen Elizabeth in one of her progresses, and wrote for her a mask, ent.i.tled 'The Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth.' He is said to have died at Stamford in 1578. He is the author of two or three translated dramas, such as 'The Supposes,' a comedy from Ariosto, and 'Jocasta,' a tragedy from Euripides, besides some graceful and lively minor pieces, one or two of which we append.

GOOD-MORROW.

You that have spent the silent night In sleep and quiet rest, And joy to see the cheerful light That riseth in the east; Now clear your voice, now cheer your heart, Come help me now to sing: Each willing wight come, bear a part, To praise the heavenly King.

And you whom care in prison keeps, Or sickness doth suppress, Or secret sorrow breaks your sleeps, Or dolours do distress; Yet bear a part in doleful wise, Yea, think it good accord, And acceptable sacrifice, Each sprite to praise the Lord.

The dreadful night with darksomeness Had overspread the light; And sluggish sleep with drowsiness Had overpress'd our might: A gla.s.s wherein you may behold Each storm that stops our breath, Our bed the grave, our clothes like mould, And sleep like dreadful death.