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sequently he may lese all ryght, as a lytyl sekenesse or hurt wythout it be sone and wele remedyed, may cause the dystruction of all the hole body. I And sayde yf a kynge or a prynce byleue the fayre wordes and flatterynge of his enemyes hauynge no respect to their werkes, it is meruaylle, but the sayd kynge or prynce therby sodeynly take harme. ¶ And sayde it apperteygneth to a kynge or a prynce to enforme his sone in vertue and scyence, and how he shall gouuerne his lande aftyr hym, howe he sholde be ryghtwys to his people. How he shulde loue and haunte his knyghtes not sufferyng them to vse to mykyl hunting nor other Idelnesses, but in structe hem to haue goode eloquence and to eschewe all vanytees. And sayde it apparteygneth to a kynge or to a prynce, If he wyll haue eny nyghe seruaunt fyrst to knowe his guydyng and condycyons, and how he gouuerneth hym self in his house and amonge his felowes, and yf he vnderstande hym of goode condycion and gouuernaunce, hauyng pacience in his aduersyte reteyne and take hym than hardely. And ellys to beware of hym. And seyde Zedechias yf thou haue a verey true frende that loueth the wele, thou ought to take hym more in thy loue and fauour than eny of thy kynnysmen desyryng thy deth for to haue the successyons of the goodes. And sayde commonely euery resemblance delyteth other. And sayde he that wyl not be chastysed by fayre & swete wordes, ought to be corrected by sharp and harde correction. And sayde the grettest rychesse is satisfaccio of the herte. And sayde he is not riche, to whome richesse lasteth not, ne whan they may be lyghtly take away but the best ryches is that thyng that dureth perpetuelly. And sayde the obeyssance doon by loue is more ferme than that that is don by myght or drede. And sayde that experyence is a goode chastycement. And sayd the lokyng vpon the begyn nyng of the werke yf it be goode yeueth hope to the endyng. And sayde that goode renommee aud fame is ryght proflytable in this worlde, the dedes therof auaylen in the other worlde. And sayde it is better a man to holde his peas, than speke myche to eny Ignorant man, and to be alone, than to be accompayned wyth euyl people. And sayde, whan a kyng or a prynce is euyl tatched and vycious, bettyr is to theym that haue noo knowlege of hym than to thoos that bee grettest maystres in his house. And sayde better is a wo man to be barayn than to beere an euyl dysposed or a wykked chylde. And sayde the companye of a poure wyseman is better then a ryche Ignorat that weneth to be wyse by sub. tylte. And sayde he that offendeth god his creatour by gretter

gretter reason he fayleth to other. And sayde byleue not in hym that seyth he loueth and knoweth trowth and doth the contrary. And sayd the Ignoraunte men woll not absteyne them from their sensualytes, but loue their lyf for their plesauńce, what defence so euer be made vnto them, right as chyldren enforce them self to ete swete thynges, and the rather that they be charged the contrarye, But it is other wyse wyth wysemen, for they loue their lyues but onely to doo goode dedys and to leue Idelnesse and the delectaciouns of this worlde. And sayde how may be compared the werkes of theym that entende the perfection of the goode thynges perpetuell, to theym that wyll but their dely ces transitory. And sayde that the wyse men bere there greues & sorowes as they were swete vnto theym, knowyng theyr trouble pacyently taken the ende thereof shalbe to theyr meryte. And sayde that it is proufytable and goode to doo wele to them that haue deserued it, and that it is euyl doon to doo wele to theym that hath not deseruyd it. For all is lost that is yeuen vnto them ryght as the reyne falleth vpon the grauell. And sayde he is happy that vsyd his dayes in doyng couenable thynges, & takyth in this worlde but that that is necessarye vnto hym and may not forbere. Aplyeng hym self to doo goode dedys and to leue the badde. I And sayde a man ought not to be demed by his wordes, but by his werkys, for communely wordes ben vayne, but by the dedes is knowen the harme or the proufit of euery thyng. And sayde, whan that almesse is distrebute to poure indygent people, it profyteth as a good medycine couenably yeuen to them that be seke, but the almes yeuen to the not indygent, is as medycine yeuen wythout cause. And sayde he is happy that wythdraweth his ere and his eye fro all euyll thynges. And sayde, the most couenable dyspence that eny man may make in his lyff, it is that is sette in the seruice of god, and in goode werke. I And the seconde is that is spended in necessarye thynges that may not be forborne, as mete, drinke, clothyng and for remedyes ayenst sickenesse, and worste of all is that is dispended in syn and euyll werke."

Here end the sayings of Sedechias. Next follow those of HERMES.

This is the first book from the press of Caxton, which has the year and place annexed to it.

There is another edition of the same year, which Mr. Dibdin believes to be the first, printed without numerals,

signatures,

signatures, or catchwords, containing 75 leaves. The edition here registered, which neither Oldys, Ames, nor Herbert appear ever to have seen, has signatures, and this mark before sentences, as in the specimen I have given. It contains 68 leaves, including the two of the title and the procemium. Mr. Dibdin mentions the copy of this edition in the Lambeth library (No. 1092) as containing the unique distinction of the printer's large device on the recto of the first leaf. But the copy in the library of Mr. Barrett at Lee Priory near Canterbury (whence this account is taken) also has it.

The work is a translation from "Les Dicts Moraux des Philosophes, les Dicts des Saxs, et le Secret des secrets d'Aristote," fol. translated from the Latin by Guillaume de Tignoville, who was provost of Paris in 1408. For a farther account and more extracts see Dibdin, I. 59, 72. And for an account of Earl Rivers, see Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors by Park, vol. 1.

B.

Willobie his Avisa, or the true Picture of a modest Maide and of a chast and constant wife. Whereunto is added an Apologie, shewing the true meaning of Willobie his Auisa: with the victorie of English Chastitie neuer before published. The fourth time corrected und augmented. Imprinted at London by John Windet. 1605. qto. 72 leaves, without introduction.

Our information respecting the author, HENRY WIL LOBIE, is confined to the subject of the present article, which supplies but a very scanty portion of materials as to his personal history. The AVISA was licensed and published in 1594, under the inspection of the author's "chamber-fellow" Hadrian Dorrell; and, as he dates the preface from his "chamber in Oxford," there is sufficient ground to presume they were educated together at the university, although neither of their names is recorded by the industrious Anthony Wood.

The poem soon after its appearance must have been attacked by an anonymous critic, "one P. C." which occasioned the editor to put forth an "apology" for the work, dated 1596, appended, we presume, to the second

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edition, and wherein he says, "this poeticall fiction was penned by the author at least for thirty and five yeares sithence, as it will be proued." If there was sufficient ground for this assertion, it fixes the time of the composition about 1561, and supposing the author then, as seems reasonable to presume, to have attained his twenty first-year, it places the time of his birth, as conjecturally fixed by Mr. G. Ellis, at 1540. However some doubt arises whether this inference is not contradicted by the preface of 1594; which, as in the extracts will presently appear, describes the author not only as "a scholar of very good hope," but also as a young man," who desirous of seeing the fashions of other countries, had, "not long sithence," departed voluntarily in her majesty's service. Here the most enlarged meaning bestowed on the expression "not long sithence" can neither explain the sentence that calls him a "scholar of very good hope," nor that of a young man," whereby they shall be terms applicable to a person who had written thirty years before, and from the above inference might have been then in the fifty-fourth year of his age. It is probable the preface may be relied on; otherwise the author's departure from this country will be found too remote for the term of any voluntary engagement, civil or military, that could be attached to foreign service. Dorrell's subsequent anachronism may be ascribed to inadvertency; to a zealous but hurried attempt to parry the attack of the critic, by the supposed youth of the writer; and by fixing the composition at a period sufficiently early to prevent an unfavourable comparison with more recent productions, thereby to claim indulgence for a

tender muse that neuer tride Her ioynted wings till present time."

Our author and his family probably resided in Kent. He says

"At westerne side of Albion's ile,

Where Austine pitcht his monkish tent,
Where shepheards sing, where muses smile,
The graces met with one consent,

To frame each one in sundrie part
Some cunning worke to shew their arte."

To

To describe this circumstance as having happened on the western side of Albion is certainly an error. Austen, and his followers, first settled at Canterbury by the direction of King Ethelbert, where they practised all the self denial and austere manners of the fathers of the primitive church. Again he says,

"Not farre from thence there lyes a vale,

A rosie vale in pleasant plaine;

The nimphes frequent this happy dale,
Olde Helicon reuiues againe :

Here Muses sing, here satyres play,
Here mirth resounds both night and day.
At east of this a castle stands,

By auncient shepheards built of olde,
And lately was in shepheards hands,
Though now by brothers bought and sold;.
At west side springs a christall well;
There doth this chaste Auisa dwell
Along this plaine there lyes a downe,
Where shepheards feed their frisking flock,
Her sire the maior of the towne,

A louely shout of auncient stocke:

Full twentie yeares she liued a maid,
And neuer was by man betraid.”

This scenery may be applicable to the same county, and when more minutely examined, we think will enable us to discover the family and residence both of the author and his Avisa, but we have not at present time or space for the pursuit of this clue; of which the result shall hereafter be communicated.

The apology concludes with saying the author is "now of late gone to God," which places that event between the dates of the preface, Oct. Ì, 1594, and the Apology, 30 June, 1596.

When the third edition of this poem was printed is not yet discovered. Although the present article bears an impress of the fourth edition, they are assuredly all of more than cominon rarity. Ritson commends the Avisa as "remarkably smooth and fluent for its age," and Mr. G. Ellis has pronounced "the metre of these poems harmonious and pleasing."

As an amatory effusion the length is objectionable; but the author has attempted to relieve it by an episto

R. 2

lary

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