ngland he wrote poems, entitled, Steps to the Temple; and Wood says,
"That he led his life in St. Mary's church near to Peterhouse, where
he lodged under Tertullian's roof of angels; there he made his nest
more glad than David's swallow near the house of God, where like a
primitive saint he offered more prayers in the night than others
usually offer in the day. There he pen'd the poems called Steps to the
Temple for Happy Souls to climb to Heaven by. To the said Steps are
joined other poems, entitled, The Delights of the Muses, wherein are
several Latin poems; which tho' of a more humane mixture, yet are
sweet as they are innocent. He hath also written Carmen Deo Nostro,
being Hymns and other sacred Poems, addressed to the Countess of
Denbigh. He is said to have been master of five languages, besides
his mother tongue, viz. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish."

Mr. Crashaw seems to have been a very delicate and chaste writer; his
language is pure, his thoughts natural, and his manner of writing
tender.

* * * * *

WILLIAM ROWLEY.

An author who lived in the reign of Charles I. and was some time a
member of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge. There are no particulars on
record concerning this poet. He was beloved, says Langbaine, by
Shakespear, Johnson, and Fletcher, and writ with the former the
British Merlin, besides what he joined in writing with poets of the
third class, as Heywood, Middleton, Day, and Webster.

The author has six plays in print of his own writing, which are as
follows;

1. A New Wonder, a Woman never vext, a Comedy, acted Anno 1632. The
Widow's finding her wedding Ring (which she dropt crossing the Thames)
in the Belly of a Fish, is taken from the Story of Polycrates, in the
Thalia of Herodotus.

2. A Match at Midnight, a Comedy, acted by the Children of the Revels,
1633. Part of the Plot is taken from a Story in the English Rogue,
Part the fourth.

3. All's lost by Lust, a Tragedy, acted at the Phoenix in Drury-lane
by the Lady Elizabeth's Servants, 1633. This is esteemed a tolerable
Play.

4. Shoemaker's a Gentleman, a Comedy, acted at the Red-Bull, 1638.
This Play was afterwards revived at the Theatre in Dorset-Garden. Plot
from Crispin and Crispianus; or the History of the Gentle Craft.

5. The Witch of Edmonton, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by the Prince's
Servants at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, 1658. This Play was afterwards
acted at Court with Applause.