6. The Birth of Merlin, a Tragi-Comedy, 1662. The Plot from Geofrey of
Monmouth. Shakespear assisted in this Play. He joined with Middleton
in his Spanish Gypsies, Webster in his Thracian Wonder.

* * * * *

THOMAS NASH.

A versifier in the reign of King Charles I. was educated in the
university of Cambridge, and was designed for holy orders. He was
descended from a family in Hertfordshire, and was born at Leostoff
in Suffolk. Whether he obtained any preferment in the church, or was
honoured with any great man's patronage, is no where determined. It
is reasonable to believe the contrary, because good fortune is seldom
without the evidence of flattery, or envy, whereas distress and
obscurity, are almost inseparable companions. This is further
confirmed in some lines vehemently passionate, in a performance of
his called Piers Penniless; which to say nothing of the poetry, are a
strong picture of rage, and despair, and part of which as they
will shew that he was no mean versifier, shall be quoted by way
of specimen. In the abovementioned piece of Piers Penniless, or
Supplication to the Devil, he had some reflections on the parentage
of Dr. Harvey, his father being a rope-maker of Saffron-Walden. This
produced contests between the Doctor and him, so that it became a
paper war. Amongst other books which Mr. Nash wrote against him, was
one entitled, Have with ye, to Saffron Walden; and another called,
Four letters confuted. He wrote likewise a poem, called, The White
Herring and the Red. He has published two plays, Dido Queen of
Carthage, in which he joined with Marloe: and Summers last Will and
Testament, a Comedy. Langbaine says, he could never procure a sight of
either of these, but as to the play called, See me, and See me
not, ascribed to him by Winstanley, he says, it is written by one
Drawbridgecourt Belchier, Esq; Thomas Nash had the reputation of a
sharp satirist, which talent he exerted with a great deal of acrimony
against the Covenanters and Puritans of his time: He likewise wrote a
piece called, The Fourfold way to Happiness, in a dialogue between a
countryman, citizen, divine, and lawyer, printed in 4to. London, 1633.

In an old poem called the return to Parnassus; or a scourge for
Simony, Nash's character is summed up in four lines, which Mrs. Cooper
thinks is impartially done.

Let all his faults sleep in his mournful chest,
And there for ever with his ashes rest!