Cut. O villanous boy!

last drop.

Fill out, you bastard, and squeeze out the

Tab. I'll drink to you now, my dear; 'tis not handsome for you to begin always. [Drinks.] Come to my bed, my dear, and how was't? 'Twas a pretty song, methoughts.

Cut. O divine Tabitha!

rogues!

Here come the fidlers too; strike up, ye

Tab. What, must we dance too? Is that the fashion? I could ha' danced the curranto when I was a girl; the curranto's a curious dance.

Cut. We'll out-dance the dancing disease; but, Tabitha, there's one poor health left still to be drunk with music. Tab. Let me begin 't: here, duck, here's to all that love us.

[Drinks. Cut. A health, ye eternal scrapers, sound a health! rarely done, Tabitha! what think'st thou now o' thy mother?

Tab. A fig for my mother! I'll be a mother myself shortly: come, duckling, shall we go home?

Cut. Go home? The bridegroom and his spouse go home? No, we'll dance home; afore us, squeakers, that way and be hanged, you sempiternal rakers! O brave Queen Tabitha! Excellent Empress Tabitha! On, ye rogues! [Exeunt."

Of Cowley's Latin play a brief notice will be found in one of our former numbers; and of his Latin poem on Plants, in six books, with the composition of which he occupied himself when he came over to England for the purposes of his party, we do not intend in the present article to enter into an examination. It is not contained in the folio edition of his works, but in its stead we have a translation of it by Nathan Tate, Mrs. Aphra Behn, &c.

We have occupied so much space with Cowley's poetical works, that we must reluctantly waive the consideration of his prose, the most agreeable and most valuable of his compositions. We are the less reluctant to do this, as they are rather better known than his poems. Nothing can be more opposite, both in thought and style, than the poetical and prose works of this author. In the latter we find nothing mean or affectedly vulgar either in thought or language; both flow in a clear and equable stream: wit sparkles not along the surface, and strange phantasms flit not along its bank. We have in their stead simplicity, elegance, and propriety: and the admixture of individual feeling in the Essays throws a charm over them which is not possessed by any other compositions of the same class in the language.

The Progresses, Processions, and magnificent Festivities of King James the First, his Royal Consort, Family, and Court, comprising Forty Masques and Entertainments, Ten Civic Pageants, numerous Original Letters, &c. By John Nichols, F. S. A. Lond. Edin. Perth. 4 vols. 4to.

THE title-page of this work conveys a very imperfect idea of its contents; for, instead of its being a mere account of the progresses, and of the festivities produced for the amusement, of James the First, it is in fact the domestic history of his reign. But its venerable editor has wisely refrained from assuming the powers of the historian; and the narrative is formed of the statements of contemporary writers, with the exception of a few connecting paragraphs: hence it is chiefly a compilation of the gossip of the period, conveyed, in most cases, in letters from one individual to another, or preserved in the autobiography of a few of the dependants of James's court. That such a work must be eminently amusing is unquestionable; and had Mr. Nichols's labours been somewhat differently modelled, and not a little compressed, they would have been as popular as they deserve. The form of a chronicle, or rather of a journal, has, however, been too closely adhered to; for an interesting narration is often interrupted to notice that a man had been knighted, or some other equally frivolous event. Indeed, the eternal allusion to creations of honour is alone sufficient to disgust ordinary readers, whilst, to the few who care about them, these statements would have been much more useful if they had been thrown together at the end with the biographical notes appended to them, instead of their encumbering the text. The research and tact which have been displayed in procuring and in dove-tailing the discordant materials have seldom been equalled, and it would be difficult to name a compilation that will better repay perusal; though its chief value is as a book of reference for every person and circumstance connected with that reign. "The Progresses of James the First" consequently merit the particular attention of the historian, the antiquary, and the biographer; and they possess irresistible claims upon the admirers of such trash as the greater part of the masques which were exhibited on different occasions in that period. Of the latter, the title-page informs, no less than fifty are here reprinted; but excepting those by Ben Jonson, which are included in his works, we fear it is only by candidates for the Roxburgh Club that they will be cared for.

Though innumerable letters are introduced, those from Mr. Chamberlain are almost the only ones which have not been previously printed; consequently, wherever we turn for extracts by which to enable our readers to judge of the work, we are at

a loss to know what to select for the purpose. If we separate any part from the whole, we can scarcely avoid presenting them with a very old acquaintance; and, however interesting he may be in his new situation, he would lose that interest if he were moved from the niche into which he has been so judiciously placed.

His Majesty's first Progress is his journey from Edinburgh to London, the history of which is copied verbatim from Howes' Stowe his last, his funeral, of which an equally minute description is given. The notes contain various illustrations, some of which are both curious and useful; and, upon every public occasion, the speeches delivered by and to the monarch have been collected with the greatest assiduity, together with every other fact, from the payment of the bell-ringers to the description of a pageant, which can be deemed connected with the royal presence.

The following amusing petition from a "poore man" is said to have been presented to the King at Theobalds on the 17th of April, 1603, though the editor has proved in a note that the date is erroneous. It was copied from a MS. in the library of Exeter cathedral; and it is worthy of observation, how many of the items might with equal propriety be introduced into a similar prayer at the present day.

"Good King, let there be an uniformitie in true religion, without any disturbance of papist or puritan.

"Good King, let good preachers be well provided for, and without any briberie come to their livings.

"Good King, let poore soldiers be paid ther wages whilest they be well emploied, and well provided for when they are maymed.

"Good King, let there not be such delaie and craftie proceedings in the lawe, and let lawiers have moderate fees. A poxe take the proud covetous attornie and merciles lawyer!

66

Good King, let noe man have more offices than one; especially in the case or touching the lawe.

"Good King, let poore suitors be heard quietlie, and with speed dispatched favourably.

"Good King, let ordinarie causes be determined in the ordinarie courts, and let not the chauncerie be made a common shifting place to prolong causes for private gain.

"Good King, cut off those paltry licenses and all monopolies : fye upon all close byting knaverie!

"Good King, suffer no great ordnance to be carried out of the realm to the enemies, as it hath been-a plague upon all covetous griping treasurers!

"Good King, look to thy taxers and officers of thy house, and to their exceeding fees that peele and powle thy princely allowance. "Good King, let us not be oppressed with so manie impositions, powlings, and parements.

"Good King, make not Lord of good Lincoln Duke of Shorditch, for he is a &c. [query traitor].

"Good King, make not Sir Walter Rawleigh Earl of Pancradge, for he is a &c.

"Good King, love us, and we will love thee, and we will spend our heart's blood for thee."-Vol. I. p. 127*.

It is not a little singular that, in this publishing age, Mr. Chamberlain's letters, which were transcribed from the originals by Dr. Birch, should not long since have been printed, as they seem to be equally as deserving of attention as most of the collections of that description which have appeared. Mr. Nichols has cited from them very copiously, and the extracts form by far the most valuable part of his work. Speaking of a heretic, in February, 1612, who had been condemned, Chamberlain says,

"Though some lawyers are of opinion, that we have no law to execute heretics, and that whatsoever was done in that kind, in Queen Elizabeth's times, was done de facto and not de jure, yet he will adventure to burn him with a good conscience 1:"

and he was accordingly executed in Smithfield.

The same writer, in a letter, dated on the 11th of June, 1612, enclosed to Sir Dudley Carleton the following lines, which had then appeared against the Scots:

They beg our goods, our lands, and our lives, They whip our nobles, and lie with our wives; They pinch our gentry, and send for our benchers; They stab our serjeants, and pistol our fencers; Leave off, proud Scots, thus to undo us,

Lest we make you as poor as when you came to us.”—P. 449. Few of our readers have an idea of the splendour with which the marriages of the royal favourites were celebrated; of the presents made to them on the occasion; or of the importance which was attached to the event. An abstract of the account given of the nuptials of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, James's favourite, on the 26th December, 1613, with Frances, daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who had been just divorced from her first husband, Robert, Earl of Essex, may therefore amuse, whilst it will afford a fair specimen of the contents of great part of these volumes. Howes says,

"This wedding was solemnized at the court of Whitehall, and was honoured with the royal presence of the King, the Queen, Prince Charles, most of the nobilitie, and divers reverend bishops. The Lord Bishop of Bath and Welles married them, and Doctor Mountain, Dean of Westminster, made the nuptial sermon. And that night there was a gallant maske of lords."

1 Vol. ii. p. 437.

The editor has then inserted a literal copy of the mask in question, one of the originals of which, he informs us in a note, was lately bought, by some silly person, at the price of 107. The maskers consisted of the Duke of Lennox, the Earls of Pembroke, Dorset, Salisbury, and Montgomery, the Lords Howard of Walden, Scrope, North, Hay, and Sir Thomas, Sir Henry, and Sir Charles Howard; but, on other occasions, the peeresses, and sometimes even the Queen herself, performed in them.

On the day after the marriage, the King, Prince, bridegroom, and others, ran at the ring; and, as a prelude to the tilt on the ensuing new year's day, a scene, devised by Ben Jonson, was exhibited, of which a copy is likewise given.

Upon the ensuing Wednesday, the Prince's gentlemen performed a mask, which, according to Howes, "pleased the King so well that hee caused them to perform it againe upon the Monday following." The mask, which was also by Jonson, then occurs, and which was entitled the "Irish Masque;" upon which Mr. Chamberlain afterwards remarked, that," as it was a mimical imitation of the Irish, it was not so pleasing to many, which think it no time, as the case stands, to exasperate that nation by making it ridiculous." Our fair readers will be pleased with that indefatigable court-newsman's account of the appearance of the bride, and our antiquarian ones will be thankful for so minute an account of the customs observed at the ceremony.

"The marriage was on Sunday, without any such bravery as was looked for. Only some of the Earl's followers bestowed cost upon themselves, the rest exceeded not either in number or expense. The bride was married in her hair', and led to the chapel by her bridemen, a Duke of Saxony that is here, and the Earl of Northampton, her greatuncle. The Dean of Westminster preached, and bestowed a great deal of commendation on the young couple, on the Countess of Salisbury, the bride's sister, and on the mother vine, as he termed her, the Countess of Suffolk. The Dean of the chapel coupled them, which fell out strangely, that the same man should marry the same person in the same place upon the self-same day (after eight years) the former party yet living-all the difference was, that the King gave her the last time, and now her father. The King and Queen were both present, and tasted wafers and ypocrass as at ordinary weddings. I hear little or no commendation of the masque made by the Lords that night, either for device or dancing, only it was rich and costly. The next day, the King, Prince, bridegroom, and others, ran at the ring; and yesterday there was a medley masque of five English and five Scots, which are called the high dancers, among whom Serjeant Boyd, one Abercrombie, and Auchmonly, that was at Padua and Venice, are esteemed the most principal and lofty; but how it suc

"That is, with her hair hanging loosely down, as the Princess Elizabeth had been."