d touching
nature of his writings were occasioned by real sorrows and sufferings.
This seems at variance with his being the purchaser of the manor and
lordship of Norton, and in the possession and enjoyment of this world's
goods. Thus in his _Auspicante Jehova Maries Exercise_, 8vo. 1597, one
of the rarest of his works, in the dedication to Mary, Countess of
Pembroke, speaking of his temporal condition, he remarks, "I have soncke
my fortune in the worlde, hauing only the light of vertue to leade my
hope unto Heauen:" and signs himself "Your La. sometime unworthy Poet,
and now, and ever poore Beadman, Nich. Breton." And the "Address" after
it is signed, "Your poore friend or servant N.B." I am aware that these
phrases are sometimes used in a figurative sense, but am disposed to
think that here they are intended for something real. And I am at a loss
how to reconcile these expressions of poverty with his being the
purchaser and enjoyer of such an estate. I shall wait, therefore, with
considerable anxiety till it may suit the pleasure or convenience {410}
of Mr. Collier to communicate to the world the proofs he has obtained of
the poet's identification with the Norton monument. I would, however,
further add, that so late as 1606, the Dedication to _the Praise of
Vertuous Ladies_ is dated "From my Chamber in the Blacke-Fryers," and
that not one of his later productions is dated from Norton, which
probably would have been the case had he been resident there.

I regret that I am unable to afford Mr. Collier any information
respecting the "Crossing of Proverbs," beyond the fact of the late Mr.
Rodd being the purchaser of Mr. Heber's fragment, but whether on
commission or not, I cannot say, nor where it now is. The same kind of
proverbs are given in _Wit's Private Wealth_, 1603, and in some other of
his works.

Nicholas Breton, besides being a pleasing and polished writer of lyric
and pastoral poetry, appears to have been a close and attentive observer
of nature and manners,--abounding in wit and humour,--and a pious and
religious man. He was also a soldier, a good fisherman, and a warm
admirer of Queen Elizabeth, of whom he gives a beautiful character in
"_A Dialogue full of pithe and pleasure, upon the Dignitie or Indignitie
of Man_," 4to., 1603, on the reverse of Sig. c. iii.

As it is sometimes desirable to know where copies of the rarer
productions of a writer are to be met with, I may state, that among some
five or six