at the university to that obnoxious faith. He was entered as a commoner of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, in his eighteenth year, where he continued only four years. Wood and Davies conclude that he missed a degree, and was suddenly withdrawn from the university, in consequence of Pembroke's disapprobation of his attachment to poetry and romances, instead of logic and philosophy. Mr. Gifford prefers the authority of Langbaine, that he was not supported at all at Oxford by the Earl of Pembroke, but by his own father, and concludes that he was withdrawn from it solely by the calamitous event of his death. Whatever was the cause, he left the university abruptly, and, coming to London, without friends, or fortune, or profession, was, as he informs us himself, driven by his necessities to the stage for support. From the period of his arrival in London in 1606 till the year 1622, when his 'Virgin Martyr' appeared in print, it is sufficiently singular that we should have no notice of Massinger, except in one melancholy relic that was discovered by Mr. Malone in Dulwich College, namely, a letter subscribed by him and two other dramatic poets,* in which they solicit the advance of five pounds from the theatrical manager,† to save them from the horrors of a gaol. The distressful document accidentally discovers the fact of Massinger having assisted Fletcher in one of his dramas, and thus entitles Sir Aston Cokayne's assertion to belief, that he assisted him in more than one. Though Massinger therefore did not appear in print during the long period already mentioned, his time may be supposed to have been partly employed in those confederate undertakings which were so common during the early vigour of our stage; and there is the strongest presumptive evidence that he was also engaged in plays of his own composition, which have been lost to the world among those literary treasures that perished by the neglect of Warburton, the Somerset herald, and the unconscious sacrilege of his cook. Of Massinger's fame for rapidity in composition Langbaine has preserved a testimony in the lines of a contemporary poet: after the date of his first printed performance, those of his subsequent works come in thick succession, and there can be little doubt that the period preceding it was equally prolific. * Nathaniel Field and Robert Daborne. † [Philip Henslowe. See Collier's Life of Alleyn, p. 120.] Of his private life literally nothing can be said to be known, except that his dedications bespeak incessant distress and dependence, while the recommendatory poems prefixed to his plays address him with attributes of virtue which are seldom lavished with flattery or falsehood on those who are poor. In one of his dedications he acknowledges the bounty of Philip Earl of Montgomery, the brother to that Earl of Pembroke who so unaccountably neglected him; but, warm as Massinger's acknowledgments are, the assistance appears to have been but transitory.* On the 17th of March, 1640, having gone to bed in apparent health the preceding night, he was found dead in the morning, in his own house in the Bankside. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Saviour's, and his fellow-comedians attended him to the grave; but it does not appear from the strictest search that a stone or inscription of any kind marked the place where his dust was deposited; even the memorial of his mortality is given with a pathetic brevity, which accords but too well with the obscure and humble circumstances of his life: "March 20, 1639-40, buried Philip Massinger, a stranger;"† and of all his admirers, only Sir Aston Cokayne dedicated a line to his memory. Even posterity did him long injustice; Rowe, who had discovered his merits in the depth of their neglect, forbore to be his editor, in the hopes of concealing his plagiarism from 'The Fatal Dowry;' and he seemed on the eve of oblivion, when Dodsley's reprint of our old plays brought him faintly into that light of reputation which has been made perfectly distinct by Mr. Gifford's edition of his works. SIR JOHN SUCKLING. [Born, 1608. Died, 1641.] SUCKLING, who gives levity its gayest expression, was the son of the comptroller of the household to Charles I. Langbaine tells * [This is a mistake-the assistance was even continued to the widow. "Mr. Philip Massinger, author of severall good playes, was a servant to his lordship, and had a pension of twenty or thirty pounds per annum, which was payed to his wife after his decease. She lived at Cardiff, in Glamor ganshire."-Aubrey`s Natural History of Wiltshire, edited by John Britton, 4to., 1847, p. 91.] [The real entry in the register is, "1639. March 18. Philip Massinger, stranger"—that is, a non-parishioner.] In The Fair Penitent.' ་ us that he spoke Latin at five years of age, but with what correctness or fluency we are not informed. His versatile mind certainly acquired many accomplishments, and filled a short life with many pursuits, for he was a traveller, a soldier, a lyric and dramatic poet, and a musician. After serving a campaign under Gustavus Adolphus, he returned to England, was favoured by Charles I., and wrote some pieces, which were exhibited for the amusement of the court with sumptuous splendour. When the civil wars broke out he expended 12007.* on the equipment of a regiment for the king, which was distinguished, however, only by its finery and cowardice. A brother poet crowned his disgrace with a ludicrous song. The event is said to have affected him deeply with shame; but he did not live long to experience that most incurable of the heart's diseases. Having learnt that his servant had robbed him, he drew on his boots in great haste; a rusty nail,† that was concealed in one of them, pierced his heel, and produced a mortification, of which he died. His poems, his five plays, together with his letters, speeches, and tracts, have been collected into one volume. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT. [Born, 1611. Died, 1643.] WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT was the son of an innkeeper at Cirencester, who had been reduced to that situation by spending a good estate. He was a king's scholar at Westminster, and took orders at Oxford, where he became, says Wood, "a most florid and seraphic preacher." Bishop Duppa, his intimate friend, appointed him succentor of the church of Salisbury in 1642. In the same year he was one of the council of war, or delegacy, appointed by the University of Oxford, for providing troops sent by the king to protect, or, as the opposite party alleged, to overawe, the universities. His zeal in this service occasioned his being imprisoned by the parliamentary forces on their arrival; but he was speedily released on bail. Early in the year 1643 he * [Rather 12,000l. See Percy's Reliques,' vol. ii. p. 356, where the ludicrous song Mr. Campbell refers to may be found.] [Oldys says the blade of a penknife, whilst Aubrey affirms that he was poisoned. The nail or blade may have been poisoned.] was appointed junior proctor of his university, and also reader in metaphysics. The latter office we may well suppose him to have filled with ability, as, according to Lloyd's account, he studied at the rate of sixteen hours a-day; but he survived his appointment to it for a very short time, being carried off by a malignant fever, called the camp-disease, which was then epidemical at Oxford. Cartwright died in his thirty-second year; but he lived long enough to earn the distinguishing praise of Ben Jonson, who used to say of him, "My son Cartwright writes all like a man.” GEORGE SANDYS. [Born, 1577. Died, 1643.] GEORGE SANDYS, to whose translations Pope declared that English poetry owed much of its beauty, was the youngest son of the Archbishop of York. After leaving the university, he set out upon an extensive tour, comprehending Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, which is described in his well-known and wellwritten book of Travels. After his return to England he published a translation of 'The Metamorphoses' of Ovid, and a Paraphrase of the Psalms of David. He translated also the 'Christus Patiens' of Grotius. Few incidents of his life are recorded. For the most part of his latter days he lived with Sir Francis Wenman, of Caswell, near Witney, in Oxfordshire; a situation near to Burford, the retirement of his intimate friend Lucius Lord Falkland, who has addressed several poems to him.* FRANCIS QUARLES. [Born, 1592. Died, 1644.] THIS Voluminous saint was bred at Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn, and was appointed cupbearer to Elizabeth, Electress of Bohemia, after quitting whose service he went to Ireland, and was secretary to Archbishop Usher. On the breaking out of the rebellion in that kingdom he was a considerable sufferer, and was obliged to fly for safety to England. He had already been pensioned by * [The ingenious and learned Mr. Sandys, the best versifier of the former age.-Dryden.] Charles, and made Chronologer to the city of London; but in the general ruin of the royal cause his property was confiscated, and his books and manuscripts, which he valued more, were plundered. This reverse of fortune is supposed to have accelerated his death. The charitable criticism of the present age has done justice to Quarles, in contrasting his merits with his acknowledged deformities. That his perfect specimens of the bathos should have been laughed at in the age of Pope is not surprising.* His 'Emblems,' whimsical as they are, have not the merit of originality, being imitated from Herman Hugo. A considerable resemblance to Young may be traced in the blended strength and extravagance, and ill-assorted wit and devotion of Quarles. Like Young, he wrote vigorous prose-witness his Enchiridion.' In the parallel, however, it is due to the purity of Young to acknowledge that he never was guilty of such indecency as that which disgraces the Argalus and Parthenia' of our pious author. 6 WILLIAM BROWNE. [Born, 1590. Died, 1645.] WILLIAM BROWNE was the son of a gentleman of Tavistock, in Devonshire. He was educated at Oxford, and went from thence * Of his absurdity one example may suffice from his · Emblems :'— "Man is a tennis-court, his flesh the wall, The gamesters God and Satan,-the heart 's the ball; The higher and the lower hazards are Too bold presumption and too base despair: The rackets which our restless balls make fly, Adversity and sweet prosperity. The angels keep the court, and mark the place O'er which the ball, not flying, makes a loss. |