The Courtly Poets from Raleigh to Montrose

Essay XIX., "All precepts concerning kings are in effect comprehended in those two remembrances: Memento quod es homo; and Memento quod es Deus, or vice Dei; the one bridleth their power, and the other their will."

XXXIV. p. 188. This striking commemoration of his perils can be partially illustrated from his Travels," on at least the Eastern side. For the Simoans, see pp. 15, 28; he had gone on board "a bark Armado of Simo, a little island hard by the Rhodes," the sailors of which indulged in a drunken disturbance which is vividly described. For Arabian thieves, see pp. 138-9; for the Emir of Sidon, pp. 210-2; though this story seems to be but partly told. It can scarcely be necessary to refer for the letters of Bellerophon to Homer, Iliad, VI. 168.

xxxv. p. 191. This undoubtedly genuine poem of Sandys has found its way into the Works of Drummond of Hawthornden, 1711; Poems, p. 45; not the only instance of misappropriation in that collection.

XXXVI. p. 192. It is now agreed on all hands that this is only "a broad-sheet ballad " on the death of Strafford; though the unknown writer has for once risen far above the level of his class. "The Lieutenant's Legend," which is, doubtless, just as little genuine, is reprinted in Park's Walpole, "R. and N. A.," vol. ii. pp. 335-9. It begins :

Eye me, ye mounting cedars; once was I,
As you are, great; rich in the estimate
Of prince and people; no malignant eye
Reflected on me; so secure my state," &c.

XXXVII. p.

195. The word "

earthly" in line 2

is a suggestion of the Archbishop of Dublin's, to complete the imperfect metre.

XXXVIII. p. 200. In line 5, "sophy" is changed in most modern editions to sophist. The word, which occurs in Shakespeare, &c., as a Persian title, is used by Giles Fletcher for the Magians :

"To see their king the kingly Sophies come."

"Christ's Victory," 1610, st. lxxxii, p. 24.

Page 200, line 19. The reference is to the story how Jason of Pheræ medicinam invenit ex hoste, when the dagger of an assassin saved his life by opening an imposthume which his physicians had given over as incurable: Pliny, H. N. vii. 51; Cicero, De Nat. D. iii. 28; Valerius Maximus, I. viii. Externa, § 6.

Page 201, stanza ix. This stanza is rejected by Lady Theresa Lewis, as at variance with the drift and purport of the poem ; "Clarendon Gallery," vol. ii. p. 183, note. But it is found in the original 4to., and in Lloyd. The copies of the poem differ widely, both in arrangement and in readings.

XXXIX-XLI., pp. 203-207. Marquis of Montrose. The fragments of verse ascribed by Watson and others to Montrose have been collected with great care by Mr. Mark Napier. It is sufficient therefore to refer to his work for details on the following list, which is given in continuation of the six pieces here printed:

7. "As Macedo his Homer, I'll thee still." Six lines on Lucan; Napier, p. 60.

8. "Burst out, my soul, in main of tears." Supposed to have been written on the death of Charles I.; ib. Appendix, p. xlii.

9. "Here lies a dog whose quality did plead." From Balfour's MSS., ib. p. 377.

10. “There's nothing in this world can prove." Ib. Appendix, p. xli.

11. "When Heaven's great Jove had made the world's round frame." Ib. Appendix, p. xl.

Another fragment which Mr. Napier has retained from Watson, Appendix, p. xl., and p. 464, has been printed above, p. 232, from the "Aberdeen Song Book," 1682, where it forms the last verse of a continuation of Sir H. Wotton's poem on the Queen of Bohemia. The second part of the Ballad No. XXXIX. consists of thirteen additional stanzas; Napier, Appendix, p. xxxv. It begins : My dear and only love, take heed-" But Mr. Chappell gives reasons for supposing that this other piece dates from the reign of James I., and Montrose was only born in 1612.

Page 204, line 13. This is Mr. Napier's text; but most copies retain the Scottish pronunciation, "Or committees if thou erect." In the last stanza, also, I follow Mr. Napier; and annex here the better-known reading given by Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose,” ch. xv.:

"But if no faithless action stain
Thy true and constant word,
I'll make thee famous by my pen,
And glorious by my sword:
I'll serve thee in such noble ways
As ne'er were known before;

I'll deck and crown thy head with bays,
And love thee more and more.'

Page 206, line 5. "Paragon" is used for equal,

parallel, or rival.

Shakespeare employs it in the

same sense as a verb:

"If thou with Cæsar paragon again

My man of men."

་་

Antony and Cleopatra," i. 5.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES.

H! wretched they that worship vanities
A king? oh, boon for my aspiring mind!
And now all nature seemed in love
A Satyr once did run away for dread
As Philip's noble son did still disdain
Astræa last of heavenly wights the earth did leave
As you came from the holy land

Beat on, proud billows! Boreas, blow
Because that, stealing immortality