many poetical extracts, I find two stanzas of the poem quoted as written
by Barnfield,--probably Richard. These two writers were of Raleigh's
time, but I think their claims may be readily dismissed. Supposing that
"The Lie" was written by either Joshua Sylvester or Sir Walter Raleigh,
I shall try to show that it was not written by Sylvester, and that he
has wrongfully enjoyed the credit of its authorship.

Critics and collators have for years been doubting about the authorship
of this little poem, written over two centuries and a half ago; and, so
far as I can ascertain, not one of them has ever discovered, what is
the simple fact, that there were _two_ poems instead of _one_, similar
in scope and spirit, but still two poems,--"The Lie" _and_ "The Soul's
Errand."

I have said that Sir Egerton Brydges alludes to a "parody" of "The Lie,"
in Sylvester's volume, there called "The Soul's Errand." In that volume
I find what Sir Egerton calls a "parody." It is, in reality, another
poem, bearing the title of "The Soul's Errand," consisting of _twenty_
stanzas, all of four lines each, excepting the first stanza, which has
six. "The Lie" consists of but _thirteen_ stanzas, of six lines each,
the fifth and sixth of which may be termed the refrain or burden of the
piece. I annex copies of the two poems; Sir Walter's (so called) is
taken from Percy's "Reliques," and Sylvester's is copied from his own
folio.

On comparing the two pieces, it will be seen that they begin alike, and
go on nearly alike for a few stanzas, when they diverge, and are then
entirely different from each other to the end. I do not find that this
difference has ever been pointed out, and am therefore left to suppose
that it never was discovered. At this late day conjectures are not worth
much, but it would appear that, the opening stanzas of the two poems
being similar, their identity was at some time carelessly taken for
granted by some collector, who read only the initial stanzas, and thus
ignorantly deprived Sir Walter of "The Lie," and gave it to Sylvester,
with the title of "The Soul's Errand."

This, however, is certain: "The Soul's Errand," so called, of _thirteen_
stanzas, given to us by Ellis and by Chambers as Sylvester's, is not the
poem that Sylvester wrote under that title, and we have his own
authority for saying so. His poem of _twenty_ stanzas, bearing that
title, does not appear to have ever been reprinted, and it is believed
cannot now be