Ere thou shalt want, thy Hare will bring thee meat,
And to kill care, herself thy make-sport be:

Yea, yet, though Envy's mists do make them dull,
I hope to see the waned orbs at full.

N. B. For the better understanding of this Epigram, note, that his arms are, in a field Argent, a chevron gules, betwixt three crescents sable: his name, according to the Greeks, is Tuilegos, and his crest is a Hare with three

wheat-ears in her mouth.

ART. CXLI. A Satyre. Dedicated to his most excellent Majestie. By George Wither, Gentle

man.

Rebus in adversis crescit.

London. Printed by Thomas Snodham for George
Norton, and are to be sold at the signe of the Red
Bull, neare Temple Barre. 1615. Duod. not paged,
but about pp. 87.

THIS satire consists of nearly 1000 lines, and is subscribed by "Your Majestie's most loyal subject, and yet prisoner in the Marshelsey, Geo. Wyther." It is an appeal to the King from his confinement, in consequence of his Satires, entitled "Abuses Stript and Whipt." It begins thus:

“Quid tu, si pereo ?

"What once the poet said, I may avow;
"Tis a hard thing, not to write Satyres now;
Since what we speak, abuse reigns so in all,
Spite of our hearts, will be satirical.

Let it not therefore now be deemed strange,

My unsmooth'd lines their rudeness do not change;

Nor be distasteful to my gracious King,
That in the cage my old harsh notes I sing,
And rudely make a satyre here unfold,

What others would in neater terms have told.
And why? my
friends and means in court are scant;
Knowledge of curious phrase and form I want.
I cannot bear 't to run myself in debt,
To hire the groom, to bid the page intreat
Some favour'd follower to vouchsafe his word
To get me a cold comfort from his Lord:
I cannot soothe, tho' it my life might save,
Each favourite, nor crouch to every knave:
I cannot brook delays, as some men do,

With scoffs and scorns, and take 't in kindness too.
For ere I'd bind myself for some slight grace

To one that hath no more worth than his place,
Or by a base mean free myself from trouble,
I rather would endure my penance double:
'Cause to be forc'd to what my name disdains
Is worse to me than tortures, racks and chains;
And therefore unto thee I only fly,

To whom there needs no mean but honesty :
To thee, that lov'st not parasite nor minion,
Should, ere I speak, possess thee with opinion;
To thee, that dost what thou wilt undertake,
For love of justice, not the person's sake;
To thee that know'st how vain all fair shews be,
That flow not from the heart's sincerity;
And can'st, though shadowed in the simplest veil,
Discern both love and truth, and where they fail ;
To thee I do appeal, in whom, Heaven knows,
I next to God my confidence repose!
For can it be thy grace should ever shine,
And not enlighten such a cause as mine?

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Can my hopes, fix'd in thee, great King, be dead?
Or thou those satires hate thy Forests* bred?

Where shall my second hopes be founded then,

If ever I have heart to hope again?

Can I suppose a favour may be got

In any place, when thy court yields it not?
Or that I may obtain it in the land,
When I shall be denied it at thy band?
And if I might, should I so fond on't be,
To take 't of others, when I miss't of thee?
Or if I did, can I have comfort by it,
When I shall think my Sovereign did deny it?
No, were I sure, I to thy hate were born,

The love of half the world beside I'd scorn!

ART. CXLII. The Nature of Man. A learned and usefull tract, written in Greek by Nemesius, surnamed the philosopher; sometime Bishop of a city in Phoenicia, and one of the most ancient fathers of the Church. Englished, and divided into sections, with briefs of their principall contents; by Geo. Wither. London, printed by M. F. for Henry Taunton in St. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet, 1636. 12mo.

In the imperfect list of Wither's voluminous publications, as given by Wood, †the above is very slightly noticed. To his report, therefore, it may be added,

* I presume the poet means the Holt Forest, which I think is near Bentworth in Hampshire, the place of his nativity. See a description of that country in White's Hist. of Selborne.

+ Athen. Oxon. II. 396.

that the translation extends to 660 pages, besides a preface to the reader, concerning the author of the book, touching the contents thereof, and the translation of the same; with a dedication to his most learned and much honoured friend, John Selden, Esq. by his unfained friend, and true honourer, Geo. Wither; dated from his cottage under the Beaconhill, neere Farnham, May 23, 1636." From this dedication the following complimentary passages are extracted, nor will they be deemed hyperbolical by readers of the present day.

"SIR,

"I am not carefull to annexe your other titles; for they are not so much honour to you as they are honoured by you: and your bare name sounds more honourably in my judgment, than that which the breath of others can adde unto it. I have made bold therefore (though without your knowledge) to send abroad with your name prefixed, this ancient Greek Father, newly taught to speak English, that he may receive your approbation where he well expresseth his meaning, and your correction hereafter where he proves defective. For I presumed you might by this means be provoked to the perusall thereof, notwithstanding your many studies.

"Your candour and singular humanity make me confident in this attempt. For though my author be a stranger to most moderne students, you (from whom no such worthie is obscured) are his familiar acquaintance: and in whose name could I have more properly brought this ancient among my countrymen to be entertained with respect, then in yours, who

are the truest lover of antiquities, and he who hath best shewed the right use of them to this age?

"I think not you to be any whit honoured by this dedication; but that I have rather magnified my selfe, in making it an occasion to signifie that I have so noble a friend."

T. P.

ART. CXLIII. Britain's Remembrancer, containing a narration of the Plague lately past; a declaration

of the mischiefs present; and a prediction of judgments to come (if repentance prevent not). It is dedicated (for the glory of God) to posteritie; and, to these times (if they please) by Geo. Wither. Job, xxxii. 8, 9, 10, 18, 21, 22, [quoted at length.]

Reade all, or censure not :

For he that answereth a matter before he heare it, it is shame and folly to him." Prov. xviii, 13.

Imprinted for Great Britaine, and are to be sold by John Grismond in Ivie-Lane CLOLƏCXXVIII. pp. 574. 12mo.

THIS book of Wither commences by a dedicatory epistle in verse, of eleven leaves, "To the King's most Excellent Majestie." This is succeeded by a “Premonition," in prose. After this the poem opens, consisting of 8 cantos; each canto preceded by an “ Argument," in a measure of eight syllables; and it ends with a “Conclusion," occupying nearly six leaves. The above title page is preceded by an engraved one,repre

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