o was a Knight of the Garter, and a
Lieutenant-general, was a name of distinguish'd merit in the wars in
_France_ in _Henry_ the Fifth's and _Henry_ the Sixth's times. What grace
soever the Queen conferr'd upon him, it was not to her only he ow'd the
fortune which the reputation of his wit made. He had the honour to meet
with many great and uncommon marks of favour and friendship from the Earl
of _Southampton_, famous in the histories of that time for his friendship
to the unfortunate Earl of _Essex_. It was to that noble Lord that he
dedicated his Poem of _Venus_ and _Adonis_, the only piece of his Poetry
which he ever publish'd himself, tho' many of his Plays were
surrepticiously and lamely printed in his life-time. There is one instance
so singular in the magnificence of this Patron of _Shakespear_'s, that if
I had not been assur'd that the story was handed down by Sir _William
D'Avenant_, who was probably very well acquainted with his affairs, I
should not have ventur'd to have inserted, that my Lord _Southampton_ at
one time gave him a thousand pounds, to enable him to go through with a
purchase which he heard he had a mind to: A bounty very great, and very
rare at any time, and almost equal to that profuse generosity the present
age has shewn to _French_ Dancers and _Italian_ Eunuchs.

What particular habitude or friendships he contracted with private men, I
have not been able to learn, more than that every one who had a true taste
of merit, and could distinguish men, had generally a just value and esteem
for him. His exceeding candor and good nature must certainly have inclin'd
all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the power of his wit
oblig'd the men of the most delicate knowledge and polite learning to
admire him. Amongst these was the incomparable Mr. _Edmond Spencer_, who
speaks of him in his _Tears of the Muses_, not only with the praises due
to a good Poet, but even lamenting his absence with the tenderness of a
friend. The passage is in _Thalia's_ Complaint for the Decay of Dramatick
Poetry, and the Contempt the Stage then lay under, amongst his
Miscellaneous Works, _p._ 147.

And he the Man whom Nature's self had made
To mock her self, and Truth to imitate
With friendly Counter under mimick Shade,
Our pleasant _Willy_, ah! is dead of late:
With whom all Joy and jolly Merriment
Is also deaded, and in Dolour drent.

Instead thereof, scoffing Scurrility
And s