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Ile pawne my landes, the king then cryd,

My fceptre, crowne, and all,

That whatfoere queen Elianor fayes

No harme therof fhall fall.

Do thou put on a fryars coat,
And Ile put on another;

And we will to queen Elianor goe

Like fryar and his brother.

Thus both attired then they goe :
When they came to Whitehall

The bells did ring, and the quirifters fing,
And the torches did lighte them all.

When that they came before the queene
They fell on their bended knee;
A boone, a boone, our gracious queene,
That you fent fo haftilee.

Are you two fryars of France, she fayd,

As I fuppofe you bee?

But if you are two Englishe fryars,

You fhall hang on the gallowes tree.

We are two fryars of France, they fayd,

As you fuppofe we bee,

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The first vile thing that ever I did

I will to you unfolde;

Earl marshall had my maidenhed,
Beneath this cloth of golde.

Thats a vile finne, then fayd the king;

May God forgive it thee!

Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall;

40

With a heavye heart fpake hee.

The next vile thing that éver I did,
To you Ile not denye,

45

I made a boxe of poyfon ftrong,

To poifon king Henrye.

Thats a vile finne, then fayd the king,

May God forgive it thee!

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Amen, amen, quoth earl marfhall;

And I wish it fo may bee.

The next vile thing that ever I did,

To you I will discover;

I poyfoned fair Rosamonde,

All in fair Woodstocke bower.

That's a vile finne, then fayd the king;
May God forgive it thee!

Amen, amen, quoth earl marshall

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Do you fee yonders little boye,

A toffing of the balle?

That is earl marshalls eldest fonne,

And I love him the best of all.

Do you fee yonders little boye,

A catching of the balle?

That is king Henryes youngest fonne,
And I love him the worst of all.

65

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She fhrieked, and cryd, and wrung her hands,

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And fayd she was betrayde.

The king lookt over his left shoulder,
And a grimme look looked hee,

Earl marshall, he fayd, but for my oathe,

Or hanged thou shouldst bee.

60

VII. GAS

K 3

V. 63, 67. She means that the eldft of these two was by the

earl marshal, the youngest by the king.

VII.

GASCOIGNE'S PRAISE OF THE FAIR BRIDGES, AFTERWARDS LADY SANDES.

ON HER HAVING A SCAR IN HER FOREHEAD.

George Gascoigne was a celebrated poet in the early part of 2. Elizabeth's reign, and appears to great advantage among the mifcellaneous writers of that age. He was author of three or four plays, and of many smaller poems; one of the most remarkable of which is a fatire in blank verfe, called the STEELE-GLASS, 1576. 4to.

Gascoigne was born in Effex, educated in both universities, whence he removed to Gray's-inn; but, difliking the ftudy of the law, became first a dangler at court, and afterwards a foldier in the wars of the Low Countries. He had no great fuccefs in any of thefe perfuits, as appears from a poem of his, intitled, "Gascoigne's Wodmanship, written to lord Gray of Wilton." Many of his epiflles dedicatory are dated in 1575, 1576, from his poore house in Waltham "Stoe:" where he died a middle-aged man in 1578. Vid, Ath. Oxon.

66

A very ingenicus critic thinks "Gascoigne has much ex"ceeded all the poets of his age, in smoothness and harmony "of of versification » But the truth is, fcarce any of the earlier poets of 2. Elizabeth's time are found deficient in harmony and Smoothness, tho' these qualities appear jo rare in the writings of their fuccefors. In the PARADISE OF DAINTY DEVISES†, (the Dodfley's mifcellany of those times

will

Obfervations on the Faerie Queen. Vol. II. p. 168. + Printed in 1578, 1596, and perhaps oftener, in 4to, black let.

will hardly be found one rough, or inharmonious line: whereas the numbers of Fonfon, Donne, and most of their contemporaries, frequently offend the ear, like the filing of a Jaw. Perhaps this is in fome measure to be accounted for from the growing pedantry of that age, and from the writers affecting to run their lines into one another, after the manner of the Latin and Greek poets.

The following poem (which the elegant writer above quoted bath recommended to notice, as poffeffed of a delicacy rarely to be seen in that early ftate of our poetry) properly confifts of alexandrines of 12 and 14 fyllables, and is printed from two quarto black-letter collections of Gascoigne's pieces; the first intitled, " A hundreth fundrie flowres, "bounde up in one small pofie, &c. London, imprinted for "Richarde Smith:" without date, but from a letter of H. W. (p. 202.) compared with the Printer's epift. to the Reader, it appears have been been published in 1572, or 3. The other is intitled, "The Pofies of George Gascoigne Efy. "corrected, perfected, and augmented by the authour; 575. "-Printed at Lond. for Richard Smith, &c." Noy year, but the epift. dedicat. is dated 1576.

In the title page of this last (by way of printer's t, or bookfeller's device) is an ornamental wooden cut, tolerably well executed, wherein Time is reprefented drawing the figure of Truth cut of a pit or cavern, with this legend, OccuLTA VERITAS TEMPORE PATET [R. S ] This is mentioned because it is not improbable but the accidental fight of this or fome other title-page containing the Jame Device, fuggefled to Rubens that well-known defign of a fimilar kind, which he has introduced into the Luxemburg gallery 1, and which has been fo justly cenfured for the unnatural manner of its execution. The device abovementioned being not ill-adapted to the fubject of this volume, is with feme small variations copied in a plate, which to gratify the curiofity of the Reader is prefixed to Book III.

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The fame is true of most of the poems in the Mirrour of Magiftrates, 1563, 4to, and even of Surrey's Poems, 1557. LE TEMS DECOUVRE LA VERITE,

† Henrie Binneman,

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