The Re-cured Lover exulteth in his Fre-dom, and voweth to remain Free until Death. I am as I am, and so will I be, I lead my life indifferently; And though folks judge full diversely, I do not rejoice, nor yet complain, Divers do judge as they do trow, But since judges do thus decay, Who judgeth well, well God them send; Yet some there be that take delight, But whether they judge me wrong or I am as I am, and so do I write. To trust it as you do your creed; And from this mind I will not flee, That I am as I am, and so will be. That Pleasure is mixed with every Pain. Venomous thorns that are so sharp and keen Bear flowers, we see, full fresh and fair of hue, And unto man his health doth oft renew. The Courtier's Life. In court to serve decked with fresh array, Of the Mean and Sure Estate. LORD VAUX-NICHOLAS GRIMOALD--RICHARD EDWARDS--WILLIAM HUNNIS- SIR F. BRYAN-VISCOUNT ROCHFORT. · THOMAS, LORD VAUX, was born about 1510, and died in the reign of Queen Mary. He was captain of the isle of Jersey under Henry VIII. Poems by Vaux are in 'Tottel's Miscellany,' and no less than thirteen short pieces of his composition are in a second miscellany, (prompted, no doubt, by the unexempled success of Tottel's collection), entitled 'The Paradise of Dainty Devices, 1576.'-NICHOLAS GRIMOALD (circa 1520-1563), a rhetorical lecturer in Oxford University, has two translations from the Latin of Philip Gaultier and Beza in Tottel's Miscellany,' both of which are in blank verse. He wrote also several small poems.*-RICHARD EDWARDS (circa 15231566) was the most valuable contributor to the Dainty Devices.' He was master of the singing-boys of the royal chapel, and is known as a writer of court interludes and masks. His verses, entitled 'Amantium Iræ,' are among the best of the miscellaneous poems of that age. WILLIAM HUNNIS, who died in 1568, was also attached to Edward VI.'s chapel, and afterwards master of the boys of Queen Elizabeth's chapel. He translated the Psalms, and wrote some religious treatises and scriptural interludes. Mr. Hallam considers that Hunnis should be placed as high as Vaux or Edwards, were his productions all equal to one little piece (a song which we subjoin); but too often,' adds the critic, he falls into trivial morality and a ridiculous excess of alliteration." These defects characterise most of the minor poets of this period-Drayton, in one of his poetical epistles, mentions SIR FRANCIS BRYAN, nephew to Lord Berners, the translator of Froissart, as a contributor to Tottel's Miscellany;' and GEORGE BOleyn, VISCOUNT ROCHFORT (brother of Anne Boleyn), has been named as another contributor. The contemporary impression of their talents was great, and both were almost adored at court, though Boleyn was sacrificed by Henry VIII. on a revolting and groundless charge. We may mention, as illustrating the popularity of the first English 'Miscellany' (that of Tottel), that it appears to have caught the attention of Shakspeare, who has transplanted some lines from it into his Hamlet,' and that it soothed the confinement of Mary Queen of Scots, who is said to have written two lines from one of the poems with a diamond on a window in Fotheringay Castle. The lines are: And from the top of all my trust, * In a sonnet by Sir Egerton Brydges on the death of Sir Walter Scott, is a fine line often quoted : The glory dies not, and the grief is past. The same sentiment had been thus expressed by Grimoald: In working well if travel you sustain. On a Contented Mind.- By Lord Vaux.-From the Paradise of Devices, 1576. Companion none is like Unto the mind alone; For many have been harmed by speech; Our wealth leaves us at death; Amantium Ira Amoris Redintegratio Est.-By Richard Edwards. From the same. In going to my naked bed, as one that would have slept, Then did she say: 'Now have I found the proverb true to prove, Then took I paper, pen, and ink, this proverb for to write, In register för to remain of such a worthy wight. As she proceeded thus in song unto her little brat, Much matter uttered she of weight in place whereas she sat; "The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love.' · [smile, 'I marvel much, pardie,' quoth she, for to behold the rout, Some stand aloof at cap and knee, some humble, and some stout, Yet are they never friends indeed until they once fall out. Song.-By William IIunnis.-From the Same. When first mine eves did view and mark And when mine ears 'gan first to hark The pleasant words that thou me told, I would as then I had been free From ears to hear and eyes to see. And when in mind I did consent O flatterer false! thou traitor born What mischief more might thou devise A Praise of his Lady.-Said to be by George Boleyn, beheaded in 1536. Also claimed for John Heywood.--From Totteľ's Miscellany. Give place, you ladies, and be gone; 2 I wish to have none other books In each of her two crystal eyes It would you all in heart suffice I think Nature hath lost the mould She may be well compared Unto the Phoenix kind, Whose like was never seen or heard, In life she is Diana chaste; In word and eke in deed steadfast; If all the world were sought so far, Who could find such a wight? Her beauty twinkleth like a star Within the frosty night. Her roseal colour comes and goes At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet, The modest mirth that she doth use, O Lord, it is a world to see Truly she doth as far excel This gift alone I shall her give: When Death doth what he can, Her honest fame shall ever live Within the mouth of man. THOMAS TUSSER. THOMAS TUSSER, author of the first didactic poem in the language, was born about 1515, of an ancient family, had a good education, and commenced life at court, under the patronage of Lord Paget. Afterwards he practised farming successively at Ratwood in Sussex, Ipswich, Fairsted in Essex, Norwich, and other places; but not succeeding in that walk, he betook himself to other occupations, amongst which were those of a chorister and, it is said, a fiddler. As might be expected of one so inconstant, he did not prosper in the world, but died poor in London, in 1580. Tusser's poem, entitled a 'Hondreth Good Points of Husbandrie,' which was first published in 1557, is a series of practical directions for farming, expressed in simple and inelegant, but not always dull verse. It was afterwards expanded by other writers, and published under the title of Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandrie:' the last of a considerable number of editions appeared in 1710. Directions for Cultivating a Hop-garden. Whom fancy persuadeth, among other crops, Ground gravelly, sandy, and mixed with clay, Choose soil for the hop of the rottenest mould, The sun in the south, or else southly and west, Meet plot for a hop-yard once found as is told, Housewifely Physic. Good huswife provides, ere a sickness do come, Rose water, and treacle, to comfort thine heart. All such with good pot-herbs, should follow the plough.) And others the like or else lie like a fool. Though thousands hate physic, because of the cost, |