ng well recorded,

The King of Scots now living is a poet,
As his _Lepanto_ and his _Furies_ show it:

so ELIZABETH, our dread Sovereign and gracious Queen, is not only a
liberal Patron unto poets, but an excellent poet herself; whose learned,
delicate and noble Muse surmounteth, be it in Ode, Elegy, Epigram; or in
any other kind of poem, Heroic or Lyric.

OCTAVIA, sister unto AUGUSTUS the Emperor, was exceeding[ly] bountiful
unto VIRGIL, who gave him for making twenty-six verses, L1,137, to wit,
ten _sestertiae_ for every verse (which amounted to above L43 for every
verse): so learned MARY, the honourable Countess of PEMBROKE [and] the
noble sister of the immortal Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, is very liberal unto
poets. Besides, she is a most delicate poet, of whom I may say, as
ANTIPATER Sidonius writeth of SAPPHO:

_Dulcia Mnemosyne demirans carmina Sapphus,
Quaesivit decima Pieris unde foret_.

Among others, in times past, poets had these favourers; AUGUSTUS,
MAECENAS, SOPHOCLES, GERMANICUS; an Emperor, a Nobleman, a Senator, and a
Captain: so of later times, poets have [had] these patrons; ROBERT, King
of Sicily, the great King FRANCIS [I.] of France, King JAMES of Scotland,
and Queen ELIZABETH of England.

As in former times, two great Cardinals, BEMBA and BIENA did countenance
poets: so of late years, two great Preachers, have given them their right
hands in fellowship; BEZA and MELANCTHON.

As the learned philosophers FRACASTORIUS and SCALIGER have highly prized
them: so have the eloquent orators, PONTANUS and MURETUS very gloriously
estimated them.

As GEORGIUS BUCHANANUS' _JEPTHAE_, amongst all modern tragedies, is able
to abide the touch of ARISTOTLE's precepts and EURIPIDES's examples: so
is Bishop WATSON's _ABSALOM_.

As TERENCE for his translations out of APOLLODORUS and MENANDER, and
AQUILIUS for his translation out of MENANDER, and C. GERMANICUS AUGUSTUS
for his out of ARATUS, and AUSONIUS for his translated _Epigrams_ out of
[the] Greek, and Doctor JOHNSON for his _Frog-fight_ out of HOMER, and
WATSON for his _ANTIGONE_ out of SOPHOCLES, have got good commendations:
so these versifiers for their learned translations, are of good note
among us; PHAER foi VIRGIL's _AEneid_, GOLDING for OVID's
_Metamorphosis_, HARINGTON for his _ORLANDO Furioso_, the Translators of
SENECA's _Tragedies_, BARNABE GOOGE for PALINGENIUS's [_Zodiac of Life_],
TURBERVILLE for OVID's _Epistles_ and MANTUAN, and C