lin
to cast at him; he as little spares the king's friends with his pen, as
Saul did Jonathan his sonne in his reproach; and would be as free of his
javelin as his pen, were his power sutable to his will, as Ziba did to
Mephibosheth, so does he by the king, he belies him as much to the world,
as he his master to David, and in the day of adversitie is as free of his
tongue as Shimei was to his soveraigne, and would be as humble as he, and
as forward to meet the king as he was David, should the king returne in
peace. Abithaes there cannot want to cut off the dog's head, but David is
more mercifull then Shimei can be wicked; may he first consult with the
witch of Endor, but not worthy of so noble a death as his own sword, die
the death of Achitophel for feare of David, then may he be hang'd up as
the sonnes of Saul were against the sunne, or rather as the Amelekites who
slew Isbosheth, and brought tidings and the tokens of the treason to
David; may his hands and his feet be as sacrifices cut off, and so pay for
the treasons of his pen and tongue; may all heads that plot treasons, all
tongues that speake them, all pens that write them, be so punisht. If
Sheba paid his head for his tongue's fault, what deserves Britannicus to
pay for his pen and trumpet? Is there never a wise woman in London? we
have Abishaes.

* * * * *

Francis Wortley, was the son of Sir Richard Wortley, of Wortley, in
Yorkshire, knight. At the age of seventeen he became a commoner of
Magdalen College, Oxford; in 1610 he was knighted, and on the 29th of June
in the following year, was created a baronet; being then, as Wood says,
esteemed an ingenious gentleman. During the civil wars he assisted the
royal cause, by raising a troop of horse in the king's service; but at
their conclusion he was taken prisoner, and confined in the tower of
London, where it seems he composed the volume just noticed. In the
_Catalogue of Compounders_ his name appears as "of Carleton, Yorkshire,"
and from thence we learn that he paid 500_l._ for his remaining property.
In the _Athenae Oxonienses_ may be found a list of his works, but I have
been unable to trace the date of his decease. Mr. Granger says that "Anne,
his daughter, married the second son of the first Earl of Sandwich, who
took the name of Wortley," and adds that the late Countess of Bute was
descended from him. _Biographical History_, ii. 310.

FOOTNOTES:

[DQ] The Elegies, accordi