The heauens ful low ; he made to trowe, and downe dyd he ensue: his feete in clowdy hue. upon the Cherubins ; upon the wyng of wyndes. as secret there to byde ; wyth waters blacke beside. the cloudes past ouer quight; by coales in fire light. and thundred thence in ire ; wyth hayle and coales of fire. A verse or two of the eighty-sixth psalm, which is composed in double rhyme, with a cæsura between, shall form our second extract: 1. Bow downe thyne eare ; O Lord beare As God most bye My hart would see severally or I fayne would finde; thy grace at eye all wrapt in thrall, to thee I call. To thee I call 2. My soule preserue ; for thyne it is, Aye thee to serue; unfainedly, So wholy bought; it may not misse, Keepe thou in thought; my Lord saye I, Thy seruant poore ; to thee I call, To thee the more. wythstand my fall. Wythstand my fall. 3. Extend thy grace ; saue me O Lord, And shew thy face ; all louingly, In mercy so ; thy grace aforde, I stand thereto; assuredly, Wherto I hyed; to seke for ease, And dayly cryed ; I wyll not cease, I wyll not cease, These ceasures 5. For kynde thou art ; O Lord of grace, and mercifull, in euery place, Who wyll the sake ; most bountefull In stable fayth; thou art to spie, In thee who stayth; who mournth in thee, who mournth in thee. The metre of the hundredth psalm is somewhat peculiar in the long rhyming word at the end of each line, of which we do not find another instance in the book. The metres throughout the volume are very varied and discursive : O joy all men: terrestriall, With hundreth thankes: thus ende we all. One more quotation from the 137th psalm, “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,” &c., from which we have already given some examples from other versions, will conclude our extracts from this volume : At water sides of Babilon, euen there we sat and wept : While Syon mount, we thought upon, remembring Gods precept. We hong among the Salow trees our Harpes and Organs all : No ioy we had; with weeping eyes, to matters musicall. They craued of us ; who thrald us wrong, Some dyties melody ; In scorne they sayd; sing us some song Of Syon merely, How can we syng; sayd we agayne, The Lordes sweete songes deuyne ; we must all mirth resigne. O good Jerusalem, to play to pleasure them. if that I minde thee not. as chiefe to ioy in that. Parker's version is still extremely rare, and fortunate may he consider himself who is the possessor of a copy. The following are some of the prices which this volume has produced at different sales. Rice's sale, No. 1,003, 61. 88. 6d.; Sir Mark M. Sykes's do., pt. ii, No. 759, 111. 118.; Bindley's do., pt. iii, No. 1,167, 171. 178.; Bill. Ang. Poet., No. 534, 151. 158.; Bright's do., No. 4595, 401. 108.; Lea Wilson's do., No. 1008, 401. There are copies in the Bodleian library; at Lambeth Palace; in Brazenose College library, and in the Grenville collection in the British Museum. In the catalogue of the latter library, vol. ii, p. 580, it is stated that “only eight copies are known of this curious version by Archbishop Parker." A full description of the volume will be found in Dibdin's Typog. Antiq., vol. iv, p, 175. See also Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., vol. iv, p. 4; Strype's Life of Archbp. Parker, pp. 33, 508, appendix, p. 165; Hawkins's Hist. of Musick, vol iii, p. 502; Cotton's List of Editions of the Bible, pp. 57, 146, 161; Brydges's Restituta, vol. i, p. 419; and Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 534. Collation : Title A i, Sig. A to Yu, Aa to Yy iii, AA to ZZ iii, in fonrs. Is old Blue Morocco, gilt leaves. PARKER, (MARTIN.) — The Nightingale warbling forth her owne disaster:-or, The Rape of Philomela, - Newly written in English Verse, by Martin Parker. London. Printed by G. P. for William Cooke, and are to be sold at his shop neere Furnevals Inne Gate iu Holbourne. 1632. 8vo, pp. 44. No other copy of this poetical volume is known. It came successively from the libraries of Major Pearson, Mr. Park, and Mr. Strettall, and was described by the second of these gentlemen in the Cens. Lit., vol. iii, p. 26. It is dedicated “To the Right Honorable Henry Parker Lord Morley and Mount Eagle, Baron of Rie &c.” After this follows a prose address from the author “ To the Iudicious Reader,” which is given at length in the Cens. Lit., then two seven-line stanzas, “ The Author to his Booke, and it to him in manner of a Dialogue”; commendatory verses by William Reeve, T. S., and Da. Price; and lastly a statement in prose of “ The Argument of this Poem or History.” The subject of the poem, which is written in seven-line stanzas, is the mournful tale of the transformation of Philomela and her sister into birds, paraphrased from the sixth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and commences thus : When Tellus old by Hyems late opprest, Walkt forth to take the benefit of th' ayre, Wherewith Ambrosia might not then compare. From Titan's force, which then full South was got Reflecting rayes that were exceeding hot. Upon a hawthorne bough did warbling sit You that will heare her song attend to it. That others of more learning may ivdeavour Then let your mindes suppose that you doe heare Regard it well, for it concerns you all The transformation of the three principal persons mentioned in the tale From humane Creatures into senselesse Birds, is thus related by Philomel in her own person: I Philomel (turn'd to a Nightingale) No time yeelds rest unto my dulcide throat But still I ply my lachrimable note. Are drawne in length by Nature's annuall course The Swallow is a signe of Summer's force. And if in any's hand she chance to dye 'Tis counted ominous, I know not why. When April comes, then Country milkmaids long And striue to heare the Nightingales sweet song. Yet still alone I loue to sit and sing Delighted best in melancholy shade : My Harmony doth make the woods to ring |