could have been written by him, as the style is so different from his. The reader will find a note on this work in Halliwell's Life of Shakespeare, pp. 190-191. The exact period of Marston's death is not known. Oldys says, that he died in the former part of the reign of Charles I., aged about sixty years, but we are ignorant on what authority he made this statement. Marston has not been admitted into the selections of Headley or Ellis, nor into the general collections of Anderson or Chalmers. Gifford, in his edition of Ben Jonson's works is extremely severe upon Marston, and not only accuses him of scurrility and gross indecency, but also throws severe imputations on his moral character, in his meanness and duplicity towards Jonson. While on the other hand he is called by Mr. Bowle "the British Persius," and his last editor styles him a poet no less admired for the versatility of his genius in tragedy and comedy, than dreaded for the poignancy of his satire, and remarks that "his satirical descriptions and allusions furnish, perhaps, more finished details of manners and customs in higher life, than are to be found in almost any writer of the same period." Perhaps the real truth will be found to lie in the happy medium between these extreme opinions, and that while Marston is not to be ranked amongst the highest and most distinguished of our satirical and dramatic writers, he is not to be altogether neglected for his ruggedness, nor despised for his occasional want of delicacy-the fault of the vitiated taste of his day-but is to be considered as a bold and forcible satirist, and a vigorous and passionate dramatist. It is singular that the writings of Marston should have continued so long neglected, and that a collected edition of his works should still remain a desideratum in our literature. Some few years ago the Rev. Peter Hall issued proposals for publishing a new edition of "The Dramatic and other Poetical Works of John Marston," a prospectus of which was given in his entertaining little periodical, The Crypt, vol. i, p. 71, and in which it was mentioned that the work was then in a state of considerable forwardness, but from some cause or other, perhaps the want of subscribers, the intention was abandoned, and the publication never made its appearance. We sincerely trust that it will yet be undertaken by a learned and competent editor, and perhaps to no one in the present day could the task be entrusted with so much hope of success, as to the skill and assiduity, and the unrivalled attainments in dramatic lore of Mr. Payne Collier. The extreme rarity of this first edition of Marston's satires is well known. Dr. Dibdin, in the new edition of his Bibliomania, 1842, vol. ii, p. 591, has characterized it in his account of Baron Bolland's sale as "of terrific rarity." It was not in the collections of Reed, Steevens, Duke of Roxburghe, Bindley, Rice, Midgley, Sir Mark Sykes, Marquis of Blandford, Nassau, Strettell, Hibbert, Townley, Heber, Caldecot, Freeling, Chalmers, &c., &c., nor in the Bibl. Ang. Poetica. The Rev. Mr. Bowles, in his Miscellaneous Pieces of Antient English Poesie, published in 1764, in which "The Scourge of Villanie" is contained, was not aware of this first edition. Mr. Collier also, though aware of the existence of the edition of 1598, quotes from the second edition in his Poet. Decam. There is a copy of this first edition in the Malone collection in the Bodleian library at Oxford, and another in the library at Bridgewater house. Lowndes does not refer to the sale of a single copy, but one was sold in Perry's sale, pt. ii, No. 698, for 8l. 10s. 6d., to Mr. Haslewood; and another in Baron Bolland's do., No. 1225, for 181. 5s. For further notices of Marston and his works, consult Ritson's Bibliogr. Poet., p. 277; Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., vol. iv, p. 384, 8vo edit.; Wood's Ath. Oxon, vol. i, p. 763, and vol. iv, p. 586, ed. Bliss; Jones's Biogr. Dram., vol. i, p. 494; Langbaine's Dram. Poets, p. 347; Hawkins's Eng. Drama., vol. iii, p. 215; Drake's Shakesp. and his Times, vol. i, p. 636, and vol. ii, p. 567; Collier's Poet. Decam., vol. i, p. 230, &c.; Hallam's Int. Liter. of Europe, vol. ii, p. 316; Campbell's Specim. Brit. Poet., vol. iii, p. 82; Retrosp. Rev., vol. vi, p. 113; Ch. Lamb's Works, vol. ii; Bibl. Ang. Poet., p. 466; and Collier's Bridgewater House Catal., p. 191. Fine copy, Olive Morocco, gilt edges, bound by C. Lewis. MARSTON, (JOHN.) - The Scourge of Villanie. Corrected, with the addition of newe Satyres. Three Bookes of Satyres. Persius. Nec scombros metuentia carmina, nec thus. At London, Printed by I. R. Anno Dom. 1599. Sm. 8vo. The chief difference between this second edition of The Scourge of Villanie and the first is, that the present has on the reverse of the title a brief dedication by Marston to himself in these words, "To his most esteemed, and best beloued Selfe, Dat Dedicatque," and also contains an additional new Satire (not "Satyres" as in the title) written personally against Hall, to revenge himself upon him, for having, as we have already stated, printed the following Epigram which the Author Virgidemiarum caused to be pasted to the latter page of every Pigmalion that came to the Stationers of Cambridge." 66 Mark the witty allusion to my name, I ask't Phisitions what their counsell was The dog was best cured by cutting and *kinsing Whether thou be a mad dog, or a mankind Asse. On this action of Hall's, Marston first remarks thus severely: I am too priuate. Yet me thinkes an Asse As any of that stinking Scauenger Which from his dunghill he bedaubed on The latter page of Old Pigmalion. O that this brother of hypocrisie Whom iudgements reason iustly vilefies. He then, in answer to the hard names which Hall had given him in the Epigram above quoted, comments upon it as follows, prefixing to it the apposite motto, "Medice cura teipsum." Smart ierke of wit! Did euer such a straine Rise from an Apish schoole-boyes childish braine? Paint not a rotten post with colours rich. This new Satire occurs between the ninth and tenth, being headed with the motto, "Stultorum plena sunt omnia," and is inscribed "To his very friend Master E. G.," probably Edward Gilpin. The second edition is printed in rather closer type than the former, and therefore the additional matter only makes an increase of one leaf in the whole volume more than the first edition. It is also remarkable in being without the names of either printer or publisher, in consequence probably of an order made by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, that these Satires of E Marston, together with Davies's Epigrams, and some other works of a similar kind, should be publicly burnt at Stationer's Hall, and that no Satires or Epigrams should be printed hereafter. This order being made on the 4th of June 1599, before this edition came out, rendered this precaution necessary of having no printer's or bookseller's name affixed, for fear of the pillory or a heavy fine, and will also sufficiently account for the rarity of the first edition, the copies of which had no doubt been seized and burnt. At the end of the Satires, after an invocation "To everlasting Obliuion," which must be received from Marston only poetically, for no man was more alive to future fame, occurs a short address in prose, "To him that hath perused mee," signed "Theriomastix," in which the author expresses his fear lest any one should accuse him of "endeavouring to blast anie priuate man's good name, or by a forced application of the general reproofs conveyed in his Satires, to broach his priuate hatred" by unjustly applying them to particular persons, when his sole object was to reprove general vices. Copies of either edition of this work are seldom to be found in the catalogues of our early collectors. An imperfect one of the second, with four leaves supplied by manuscript, was priced in the Bibl. Ang. Poet., No. 466, at 51. 10s.; Bindley's copy, pt. ii, No. 1801, sold for 8l. 10s.; Pearson's do., No. 2183, for 17. 15s.; Heber's do., pt. iv, No. 1405, for 3l. 1s.; Chalmers's do., pt. i, No. 1880, for 87. 10s. 6d. Fine copy. Bound by Charles Lewis, MARSTON, (JOHN.) - Miscellaneous Pieces of Antient English Poesie. Viz. The troublesome Raigne of King John, Written by Shakespeare, Extant in no Edition of his Writings. The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image, and certain Satyres. By John Marston: The Scourge of Villanie. By the same. All printed before the year 1600. London: Printed for Robert Horsefield at the Crown in Ludgate-Street. M.DCC.LXIV. 12mo. The present neat reprint of the Satires of Marston was edited by the Rev. John Bowle, M.A., of Oriel College, Oxford, who is known to the literary world by his new and classical edition of Don Quixote in the Spanish language, concerning which he published a letter to Bishop Percy in 4to in the year 1777. He was a gentleman of considerable learning and research in our older literature, and was in constant correspondence with many of our eminent literary characters, and editors of Shakespeare and Milton, to whom he communicated many valuable remarks and critical illustrations. The preface to this reprint contains some few observations by the editor respecting Marston, whom he styles the British Persius. Bowle's edition is said to be bad and inaccurate. A Robert Marston wrote an elegy on Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton, which was printed by the Roxburghe Club in 1822. Query-if any relation to John Marston? Bound in Calf, neat. MOONE, (PETER.) A short treatyse of certayne thinges abused In the Popysh Church, longe used: But now abolyshed, to our consolation, And Gods word aduanced, the lyght of our saluation. Matthew vii. Every tree that bringeth not forth good frute shal be hewen downe and cast into ye fyre. Psalm cxxiii. Our soule is escaped euen as a byrd out of the snare of the foular, the snare is broke, and we are delyuered. Matthew XV. All plantes y' my heauenly father hathe not planted, shall be plucked up by the rotes. Psalm cxviii. It is tyme (O Lorde) to laye to thy ne hande, for they haue destroyed thy lawe. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum. [Colophon]. Imprinted at Ippys wyche by me Jhon Oswen. 1548. 4to, pp. 16, blk. lett. The reformation in religion introduced in the reign of Edward VI., by which men's minds were emancipated from the spiritual slavery in which |