158 WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL OF STERLINE. I would be wise, but that I often see The fox suspected while the ass goes free; Rich, hated; wise, suspected; scorn'd if poor; more. I have wish'd all, but now I wish for neither Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair-poor I'll be rather. Would the world now adopt me for her heir, As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue mine; And hold one minute of this holy leisure Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure. Welcome, pure thoughts! welcome, ye silent groves! These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves. Now the wing'd people of the sky shall sing Then here I'll sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, ON THE SUDDEN RESTRAINT OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET (THE FAVOURITE OF JAMES L) THEN FALLING FROM FAVOUR. DAZZLED thus with height of place, Yet since Fortune's favours fade, For the hearts of kings are deep. But if greatness be so blind That at least the fall be fair. Then though dark and you shall say, When friends fail and princes frown, Virtue is the roughest way, But proves at night a bed of down. A MEDITATION. FROM SANSCROFT'S COLLECTION. [Mr. Malone, from whose handwriting I copy this, says, "not, I think, printed."] O, THOU great Power! in whom we move, No new-born drams of purging fire; Was worlds of seas to quench thine ire: And said by him, that said no more, But seal'd it with his sacred breath: And dying wert the death of death, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL OF STERLINE. [Born, 1580. Died, 1640.] WILLIAM ALEXANDER, of Menstrie, travelled | Having repaired to the court of James the First, on the Continent as tutor to the Earl of Argyll; and after his return to his native country (Scotland), having in vain solicited a mistress, whom he celebrates in his poetry by the name of Aurora, he married the daughter of Sir William Erskine. he obtained the notice of the monarch, was appointed gentleman usher to Prince Charles, and was knighted by James. Both of those sovereigns patronized his scheme for colonizing Nova Scotia, of which the latter made him lord lieutenant. Charles the First created him Earl of Sterline in 1633, and for ten years he held the office of secretary of state for Scotland, with the praise of moderation, in times that were rendered pecu liarly trying by the struggles of Laud against the Scottish presbyterians.-He wrote some very heavy tragedies; but there is elegance of expression in a few of his shorter pieces*. SONNETS. FROM HIS SOME men delight huge buildings to behold, Some monuments of monarchs, and such things As Phoebe chaste, than Venus far more fair; I CHANCED, my dear, to come upon a day O how thy curled locks mine eyes did please ; "AURORA." Yet, more discreet than th' angry goddess proved, Thou knew'st I came through error, not of pride, And thought the wounds I got by thy sweet sight Were too great scourges for a fault so light. AWAKE, my muse, and leave to dream of loves, But with Jove's stately bird I'll leave my nest, Then, if that ought my vent'rous course dismays, Am purposed other's passions now t' unfold. [* "Lord Sterline is rather monotonous, as sonneteers usually are, and he addresses his mistress by the appellation, Fair tygress.' Campbell observes that there is elegance of expression in a few of his shorter pieces."HALLAM, Lit. Hist., vol. iii. p. 505.] THOMAS DEKKER. [Died about 1638.] Ar the close of the sixteenth century we find that the theatres, conducted by Henslowe and Alleyn, chiefly depended on Jonson, Heywood, Chettle, and this poet, for composing or retouching their pieces. Marston and Dekker had laboured frequently in conjunction with Jonson, when their well-known hostility with him commenced. What grounds of offence Marston and Dekker alleged, cannot now be told; but Jonson affirms, that after the appearance of his comedy, "Every Man in his Humour," they began to provoke him on every stage with their "petulant styles," as if they wished to single him out for their adversary. When Jonson's Cynthia's Revels appeared, they appropriated the two characters of Hedon and Anaides to themselves, and were brooding over their revenge when the Poetaster came forth, in which Dekker was recognized as Demetrius. Either that his wrath made him more willing, or that he was chosen the champion of the offended host, for his rapid powers and popularity, he furnished the Satiromastix; not indeed a despicable reply to Jonson, but more full of rage than of ridicule. The little that is known of Dekker's history, independent of his quarrel with Jonson, is unfortunate. His talents were prolific, and not contemptible; but he was goaded on by want to hasty productions acquainted with spunging-houses, and an inmate of the King's Bench prison*. Oldys thinks that he was alive in 1638. FORTUNE GIVING FORTUNATUS HIS CHOICE OF GOODS. Give me but leave to borrow wonder's eye, For. Before thy soul (at this deep lottery) Fort. Daughters of Jove and the unblemish'd Night, Most righteous Parcæ, guide my genius right! Wisdom, strength, health, beauty, long life, and riches? For. Stay,Fortunatus, once more hear me speak, And see what's past, and learn what is to come : Be ever merry, ever revelling: Wish but for beauty, and within thine eyes *He was there at one time for three years, according to Oldys. No wonder poor Dekker could rise a degree above the level of his ordinary genius in describing the blessings of Fortunatus's inexhaustible purse: he had probably felt but too keenly the force of what he expresses in the misanthropy of Ampedo. I'm not enamour'd of this painted idol, This strumpet world; for her most beauteous looks Fort. Oh, whither am I rapt beyond myself? To himself he lives, and to all else seems dead : For. Thy latest words confine thy destiny; Hipolito's thoughts on his mistress's picture, from which he turns to look on a scull that lies before him on a table. My Infelice's face, her brow, her eye, JOHN WEBSTER. [Died about 1638.] LANGBAINE only informs us of this writer, that he was clerk of St. Andrew's parish, Holborn*, and esteemed by his contemporaries. He wrote, in conjunction with Rowley Dekker, and Marston. Among the pieces, entirely his own, are The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona, the tragedy *[Gildon, I believe, was the first who asserted that our author was clerk of St. Andrew's. I searched the registers of that church, but the name of Webster did not occur in them; and I examined the MSS. belonging to the Parish Clerks' Hall, in Wood Street, with as little success."--DYCE's Webster, vol. i. p. 1.] of Appius and Virginia, the Devil's Law Case, and the Duchess of Malfi. From the advertisement prefixed to Vittoria Corombona, the piece seems not to have been successful in the representation. The author says, "that it wanted that which is the only grace and setting out of a tragedy, a full and understanding auditory." The auditory, it may be suspected, were not quite so much struck with the beauty of Webster's horrors, as Mr. Lamb seems to have been in writing the notes to his Specimens of our old Dramatic Poetry. M In the same preface Webster deprives himself of the only apology that could be offered for his absurdities as a dramatist, by acknowledging that he wrote slowly; a circumstance in which he modestly compares himself to Euripides. In his tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi, the duchess is married and delivered of several children in the course of the five acts. VITTORIA, THE MISTRESS OF BRACHIANO, RELATING HER DREAM TO HIM. I could not pray. Fla. No, the devil was in your dream. Vit. When to my rescue there arose methought A whirlwind, which let fall a massy arm From that strong plant, And both were struck dead by that sacred yew, In that base shallow grave that was their due. Fla. Excellent devil! she hath taught him, in a dream, To make away his duchess, and her husband. Bra. Sweetly shall I interpret this your dream. You are lodged within his arms who shall protect you From all the fevers of a jealous husband, Cor. Woe to light hearts, they still forerun our fall. FROM THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. The Duchess of Malfi having privately married Antonio. her own steward, is inhumanly persecuted by her brother Ferdinand, who confines her in a house of madmen, and in concert with his creature Bosola murders her and her attendant Cariola. SCENE-A Mad-house. Persons-DUCHESS OF MALFI; CARIOLA, her faithful atten dant; FERDINAND, her cruel brother; BOSOLA, his creature and instrument of cruelty, Madmen, Executioners, Servant. Duch. WHAT hideous noise was that? Of madmen, lady, which your tyrant brother Duch. Indeed I thank him: nothing but noise and folly Can keep me in my right wits, whereas reason Cari. Oh, 'twill increase your melancholy. To hear of greater grief, would lessen mine. Cari. Yes, but you shall live Duch. Thou art a fool: The robin-redbreast and the nightingale Cari. Pray dry your eyes. Duch. Of nothing: When I muse thus, I sleep. Cari. Like a madman, with your eyes open. Duch. Dost thou think we shall know one another In th' other world. Cari. Yes; out of question. Duch. O that it were possible we might But hold some two days' conference with the dead! From them I should learn somewhat, I am sure I never shall know here. I'll tell thee a miracle: I am not mad yet, to my cause of sorrow. The heaven o'er my head seems made of molten brass, The earth of flaming sulphur ; yet I am not mad. As the tann'd galley-slave is with his oar: A deal of life in show, but none in practice; |