Thy Olbion's Odes, tuning with joy

Albion's chief pride, Thames and her Troy."*

The author addresses a copy of Latin hexameters to his friend S. Purchas, (whose Collection of Voyages has preserved his name), in which he gives an amiable picture of his pursuits and the sentiments which they generate. Indeed his Latin poetry is so far superior to his English, that it seems to be rather his want of command of his vernacular language than his deficiency of genius that gives so uncouth and uninteresting a character to his English rhymes. The ensuing extract will justify my remark.

"Vivam igitur quocunque solo, aut ubicunque locorum,
Dissita quamque locis longe, procul inde remotis,
Cambria sive tenet, teneant seu Cantia rura
Propitiâ bonitate Dei, me crede scientem
Vivere contentumque illâque ex parte beatum :
Sic horas fallo, insumo sic temporis annos
Lusibus ingenii, ingenuis quoque mentibus aptos.
Forte equidem dices! Relevaminis otia quærens,
Talia sollicitus; nulli ut mea carmina prosint.
At mihi nempe viden! volat ætas; hinc voco Musas
Quas vereor venerorque volens; sicque invoco Divas;
His vitæ spatiis et verni temporis ævo

Florenti stadio: nec me formidine terrent

Immanes rerum fluctus, quibus æstuat ingens

Hæc hominum domus, ac mundi væsana vorago;

Non livor, levis ira, tumens jecur, atraque bilis

Torquebunt miserum, sapiam modo; sed neque sperem

* Among the commendatory verses are those in Latin of N. Gwin, Jo. Slatyer, his brother, and Tho. Newton.

Deposuisse, vel ante mea ista cadavera ponam
Corpus humi moriens, cineres atque ossa sepulchro:
Cum nemo his vitiis sine nascitur, optimus ille est,
Quem lacerant minime, retrahantve trahantve sequentem.
Sum vacuus curis, a turbine liber, amœnum

Rus geniale colo, lustro, lito, laudo Camœnas
Sylvestreis, quod aiunt, & agrestia, numina Faunos!"

The poem itself is divided into ten odes; and each ode is divided into many cantos.

1. The first ode contains a brief description of Britain and Ireland, with the first succession of Kings from Samothes, descended A. M. 1787, till Albion, A. 2200, by the space of 400 years.

2. The second, a second race of Kings: Albion & Bergion with their descent, with their defeat by Hercules, circa Ann. 2250.

3. The third sets forth the anarchy or interregnum of the giants that succeeded Albion and Hercules from Ann. 2300 to Brute, A. 2850.

4. The fourth, Brute and his succession from A. 2850 till Malmutius Dunwallo, A. 3500.

5. The fifth, Malmutius and his race, till the Roman Conquest under Julius Cæsar, A. 3900.

6. The sixth, from Cæsar's Conquest till Valentinian's days, A. 4400.

7. The seventh, the coming of Hengist, and seven kingdoms of the Saxons.

8. The eighth, the rapines of the Danes, and the kings of England from Egbert to Harold.

9. The ninth, the Norman Conquest to Hen. VII. 10. The tenth, the Union of England and Scot

land under James I. In the end a brief touch of the Scotish, Irish, and French Histories.

The whole is written both in Latin and English verse, the Latin on one side, and English on the other. I will give the sixth canto of the first ode, as the nearest to poetry, and of the most general interest.

« Ειδύλλιον σο

Encomium Britanniæ.

"Sed nimium neque stricta gelu, neque sidere ferves,
Insula, dives opum, studiisque asperrima belli,
Sedes antiqua, atque satis famosa Gygantum;
O nostræ regionis opes! O florida prata,
Pascuaque et colles, dumi, campique virentes!
Cincta O frondoso nemore, alta cacumina montium,
Umbrosæque specus, liquentia flumine rura!
Frugiferæ valles, Zephyri prædulcia anheli,
Flamina, sylvarum saltus, fluviique lacusque,
Muscosi fontes, et quæ circumfluus humor
Irrigat arva, hortos, mandataque semina terræ ;
Totius ac terræ Tempe celebrata per oras
Thessala! cujus opes si possem, ac ditia dona,
Dicere, si cultus operosos, denique flores,
Ordine contextos et junctos vitibus ulmos!
Arboris aura comas, hominum tua carmina, Aedon,
Turturis et gemitus dimulcent suaviter aures:
Alma quies, cum mobilibus sopita susurris,
Auræ, inter frondes densas, umbrasque virentes,
Prætentat sensus suadenti languida somno,
Ponere membra, super viridi lanugine ripam,
Prætextum, lene labentis murmure rivi;
Colle Lyæo uvæ, Bacchi pendere racemo ;

Vellus ovis manibus tondentis, ut Indica Serûm
Lanugo! Dea Gargaridas succidier uncâ
Falce stupet messes! Tellus mitissima fruges
Producit! nostra O cœloque soloque beata
Insula: quid Scythicis nascens aconiton in oris,
Nescia, quid posset Pontus virosa venenis."

"CANZ. VI.

The quality and richness of the soil.
"Thus lies our Isle, our pleasant seat,
Nor vex'd with cold, nor Cancer's heat:*
Doubtful whether for giants bold,

Or wealth, or war, most fam'd of old!
O our rich flowry fields and plains,
In summer's pride, when Flora reigns;
Green meadows, mountains, dales, and downs,
Whom many a grove with shadows crowns;
Lakes, riverets, floods, and fountains fair,
Where zephyr breathes his sweetest air!
Plenty and pleasure temper'd are,

So sweet, scarce Tempe may compare ;
Those famous fields of Thessaly,

With this our pleasant Arcady:

Such beds of flowers and Hybla thyme,
The loving elm and spreading vine,†

* In the temperate zone, the south parts of Britain, about the degree of 50: of north latitude reaching thence 10 degrees north; the longitude thereof being from the degree 17 to 25, or thereabouts. So the degrees of latitude measuring the length, of longitude the breadth of the island.

That there hath been store of vines and vineyards in England as at Windsor and other places, appeareth in the records kept by the Clerk of the Pleas for that castle, the honours and forests;

Soft gentle air, sweet Philomel,
Kind turtle's moans, and shady cells
Intice one's yeilding ears and eyes,
To taste such daintiest novelties:

Or rest or sleep by river's sides,
Whose streams with gentle murmur glides,
Our land doth yield Lyæan* vines,
The golden fleece, or twist as fine,
Almost as Indian Seres weave;
Pomona's fruit, and Ceres' sheaves;
Thrice happy soil för earth and air,
Scarce knowing what (the less her care!)
To Scythian Aconitum strong,

Or Pontus poisons doth belong."

ART. CLXXIV. The Glasse of Time in the two first Ages. Diuinely handled by Thomas Peyton of Lincolnes Inne, Gent. London, printed by Bernard Alsop, 1623. 4to. First Part, pp. 81. Second Part, pp. 83, interspersed with wood-cuts.

To this volume are three induction poems by the author, each containing six six-lines stanzas.

where is set down the charge of the vineyard in the little park, and making the wine, whereof tythe was paid to the abbot of Waltham.

*To these praises of the land, for the people's honour, add this as a corollary since arts taught, scarce any nation more ingenious: since Christianity, more zealously given and religious; witness the many schools of learning, the universities, besides those in Scotland, two in England, comparable with any in the world; the fair churches, buildings, hospitals, monasteries, religious houses and colleges, though a multitude swept away and defaced, in the reign of K. Hen. VIII. yet monuments of the piety, art, wisdom, and industry of our ancestors, in such abundance, as scarce any nation able to equal, at least to surpass them.