For thoughe it couet muche, a safe estate Whose rashe regarde descerns not blacke from whyte Of beinge well, the suertie doth despise. And when this minde hath wroughte so moche amisse Thus blindely from his perfecte place to fall We muste nedys graunte a kinde of dethe it is A thinge deuine, and perfecte to be thrall Unto the carcas moste corrupt of all When this immortall minde, shall seke to serue Eche mortall thinge, his vertue nedes muste starve. The author who had previously stated his intention of giving the judgment of others upon this tale of Ovid, in addition to his own moralization, brings forward the above quotation as a portion of the opinion of Ficius or Fysius (Ficinus ?), a writer on the same, and then alludes to two other learned commentators on this subject, the one "an Englyshman that walles have to name," the other "a learned man of Italye." Of the former person we are entirely ignorant. The lines relating to these two writers read as follows: This is the meaninge of Ficius sence That in this wise one Plato doth wryghte And nowe to show, the learned mennes pretence With Ouides tale the reders to delyghte Two there were that somewhat dyd indite Of this same fable, whiche I will declare The one hereof a sence deuine doth make The other nowe whome Italye dyd brede In Grece there was a passing fayre yonge man As but him selfe he none coulde well abide And wheras Oued, doth hereof affirme That youth and bewghte come and soone be paste Euen as the flower, that wetherith full fast And for by cause, in wodes the nimphes do dwell His death bewaylyd of them doth Ouid tell. closes with the ensuing stanza : And thus my simpel trauayle I commende Unto euery one, prayinge you to take The same in worthe, and when more yeares shall sende Such labours lyke, I mene not to forsake As knoweth God, who kepe us alwaye Finis. Quod T. H. From this stanza, and from some lines at the beginning of the moralization For neither I presume by youthfull yeares To clayme the skyl that elder folkes doe wante, &c. in thus speaking of his "youthfull yeares," we gather that the work was written in his early life, and that he intended, "when more yeares had sent more wit and more knowledge," to continue his present labours and to furnish to the world some other similar undertakings. Howell, if he was the author of the present poem, also wrote The Arbor of Amitie, wherein is comprised pleasaunt poemes and pretie poesies, Lond., 1568, 8vo, and Deuises for his owne exercise and his friends pleasures, Lond., 1581, 4to, both of them works of extreme rarity, only one copy of each being known to be in existence. At the end of the volume is a separate leaf not noticed either in the Bibl. Ang. Poet. or in Cens. Liter., containing the imprint as given before, and on the reverse a spirited woodcut representing Narcissus hunting in the woods. See Cens. Liter., vol. i, p. 257; Ritson's Bibl. Poet., p. 250; Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., vol. iv, p. 243; and Bibl. Ang. Poet., p. 385. The copy in the latter catalogue was priced 287.; Reed's do., No. 6997, 31. 198.; Bibl. Heber, pt. iv, p. 1620, 31. 88.; Midgley's do., No. 1462, 127. 128. The present copy was formerly in the collection of Baron Bolland, and was purchased at his sale by Mr. V. Utterson, by whom it was rebound, and was obtained at the sale of the library of the latter. Bound by Mackenzie, In Green Morocco, elegant. Gilt leaves. PARKER, (ARCHBISHOP.) - The whole Psalter translated into English Metre, which contayneth an hundreth and fifty Psalmes. The first quinquagene. Quoniam omnis terre Deus: Psallite sapienter. Psalm xlvii, 7. Imprinted at London by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, beneath S. Martyns. n. d. (1560). 4to, blk. lett. Cum gratia et privilegio Regiae maiestatis, per Decennium. Few characters shone out with greater lustre at the dawn of the Reformation, or were more celebrated for their love of literature, than Archbishop Parker, who not only wrote or translated some important works himself, but was remarkable for his love of books, and for his munificence in the encouragement of literary men. While his great work on the Antiquity of the British Church is a striking monument of his historical labours, the present volume, composed during his days of persecution and exile, is a proof of his devotional feelings, and of his love for the welfare and interests of the church. And not only in these, but also in many other ways, did he prove himself a liberal patron and kind benefactor of the diligent and laborious typographer who printed this volume, and who was himself a warm and zealous promoter of the Protestant cause. The title is within a woodcut compartment with a mask at the top between two swans, a male and female standing on brackets, blowing horns, on the sides, a lion's head, ringed, between two sphinxes at the bottom. The title is followed by a metrical address "Ad Lectorum," and "To the Reader," with five verses on texts of Scripture in praise of psalmody; "Of the vertue of Psalmes," eleven pages in verse; "Athanasius in Psalmos," in English prose, four pages; "Of the use and vertue of the Psalmes by Athanasius," twelve pages; "Psalmi quodammodo sic constituti," &c.; "Octo VOL. V. PART I. P tonorum distinctiones et proprietates"; "Basilius in Psalmos"; "Chrisostomus in Psalmos"; Augustinus Libr: confess: 10 cap. 33"; and quotations from other works by Josephus, Eusebius, and others, in favour of the Psalms, concluding with an extract from Lord Surrey's translation of Ecclesiastes. The Psalms are divided into three quinquagenes, each having a separate title-page, and each preceded by a short metrical argument in italic letter, and at the end of each a collect in roman type. The first psalm is also preceded by a short introduction. The first quinquagene ends on p. 146, the second on p. 280, and the third on p. 424. The psalms are likewise divided into five books- the first concluding on p. 120, the second on p. 201, the third on p. 253, the fourth on p. 308, and the fifth on p. 424. The 119th psalm has a short metrical preface prefixed, and each of the twenty-two divisions of this psalm has the lines beginning with the same letter in alphabetical succession. The difficulty of finding sixteen words commencing with the letter X is overcome by using a capital E in the margin, connected by a circumflex with each line. At the close of the psalms are the "Gloria Patri for diuers Metres," "Te Deum," "The Song of the three Children," 66 Benedictus," 66 Magnificat," "Nunc Dimittis," "Quicunque vult" or Athanasian Creed, "Veni Creator," &c., twenty-two pages. After these occur some lines. The eight tunes are then given with the notes for "The Meane, Contra Tenor, Tenor, and Base," eighteen pages; then "The Treble," three pages; "The Index," three pages; "Faultes escaped," one page; and on the reverse, the printer's beautiful emblematical device, and the colophon. The former represents an old man teaching an elegantly dressed person in the prime of life this lessen of mortality, "Etsi Mors, Indies accelerat," pointing to a skeleton laid on a richly ornamented tomb, from which issues a flourishing tree, with this motto on a ribband twisted about it, "Vivet tamen post funera virtus." It is supposed to be taken from a cut at the end of Lydgate's Daunce of Machabre, 1554, fol., and was evidently designed and engraved by a foreign artist. It has been said by some of Parker's biographers, that he went abroad during the troubled reign of Queen Mary, when he lost the whole of his preferments, and that during the period of his exile he composed his version of the psalms. It does not, however, appear from Strype, that he ever went beyond his own native county of Norfolk, but that in his retirement there he was busily employed, amongst other things, on these psalms, which were completed at that time, although not printed for several years after, as we learn from an entry of the Archbishop's, in his own Diary, given by Strype. It seems singular that Strype, who mentions this fact, should never have seen a copy of this work, nor known what was become of the translation. But though printed by Parker, after he was promoted to his Archbishopric, yet he appears not to have published them, probably thinking, as Warton observes, that "such a publication, whatever his private sentiments might have been, would not have suited the nature and dignity of his high office in the church." It is believed, therefore, that they were not printed for sale, but that the few copies of the book now known were presents from the Archbishop to his friends. Whether this be so or not, it is certain that the work is extremely rare, and seldom occurs for sale. However great and exalted Parker's talents and ability were in other more important matters connected with the high duties of his situation, we cannot concede to this worthy prelate much merit or facility in his version of the psalms, which does not even attain to the low standard of the common one in use by Sternhold. Parker's version, therefore, will be found not of a high order, but feeble and prosaic, wanting spirit and poetical energy. He seems not to have been completely satisfied with it himself, for some of the versions are repeated twice, or even thrice translated in different metres. Our readers will not be satisfied without a few short specimens taken from different psalms. Having already given portions of other versions of the eighteenth, which is considered one of Sternhold's most successful attempts, our first extract shall be taken from that, especially as the second verse is incorrectly printed in Warton: The earth did shake: for feare did quake, the hils theyr bases shooke; Remoued they were; in place most faire, Darke smoke rose so; hys face there fro, |