ews him well versed in human nature, and the
insinuating manners of a court. The allegorical characters are finely
described, and well sustained; the fabric of the whole I believe
entirely his own, and not improbably may have the honour of furnishing
a hint even to the inimitable Spencer. How or by whose interest he was
made Laureat, or whether it was a title he assumed to himself, cannot
be determined, neither is his principal patron any where named; but if
his poem of the Crown Lawrel before mentioned has any covert meaning,
he had the happiness of having the Ladies for his friends, and the
countess of Surry, the lady Elizabeth Howard, and many others united
their services in his favour. When on his death-bed he was charged
with having children by a mistress he kept, he protected that in his
conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife: And such was his
cowardice, that he chose rather to confess adultery than own marriage,
a crime at that time more subjected to punishment than the other.

The PROLOGUE to the BOUGE COURTS.

In autumne, whan the sunne in vyrgyne,
By radyante hete, enryped hath our corne,
When Luna, full of mucabylyte,
As Emperes the dyademe hath worne
Of our Pole artyke, smylynge half in scorne,
At our foly, and our unstedfastnesse,
The tyme when Mars to warre hym did dres

I, callynge to mynde the great auctoryte
Of poetes olde, whiche full craftely,
Under as couerte termes as coulde be,
Can touche a trouthe, and cloke subtylly
With fresh Utterance; full sentcyously,
Dyverse in style: some spared not vyce to wryte,
Some of mortalitie nobly dyd endyte.

His other works, as many as could be collected are chiefly these:

Meditations on St. Ann.

--------on the Virgin of Kent.

Sonnets on Dame Anne,

Elyner Rummin, the famous alewife of England, often printed, the last
edition 1624.

The Peregrinations of human Life.

Solitary Sonnets.

The Art of dying well.

--------Speaking eloquently.

Manners of the Court.

Invective against William Lyle the Grammarian.

Epitaphs on Kings, Princes, and Nobles,

Collin Clout.

Poetical Fancies and Satires.

Verses on the Death of Arthur Prince of Wales.

* * * * *

ALEXANDER BARCLAY.

He was an author of some eminence and merit, tho' there are few things
preserved concerning him, and he has been neglected by almost all the
biographers of the poets. That excellent writer M