There indeede dwel faire Graces many one, And gentle Nymphes, delights of learned wits; And in thy person, without paragone, All goodly bountie and true honour sits. Such therefore, as that wasted foyl doth yield, Receive, dear Lord, in worth, the fruit of barren field. E. S. To the Right Honourable the Lord Charles Howard, AND ye, brave Lord, whofe goodly perfonage gather from Spenfer's View of the State of Ireland: "The Barony of Arclo which is the Earle of Ormonde's ancient inheritance, and hath ever been in his poffeffion." T. WARTON. Ver. 9. Like Aying doves ye did before you chace:] The defeat of the Spanish Armada is here hinted at. T. WARTON. And that proud people, woxen infolent Through many victories, didst first deface: Thy praises everlasting monument Is in this verfe engraven femblably, That it may live to all pofterity. E. S. To the Right Honourable the Lord of Hunfdon, high Chamberlaine to her Majefty. RENOWMED Lord, that, for your worthineffe And noble deeds, have your deferved place High in the favour of that Empereffe, The worlds fole glory and her fexes grace; Here eke of right have you a worthie place, Both for your nearnes to that Faerie Queene, And for your owne high merit in like cace: Of which, apparaunt proofe was to be seene, Ver. 1. Renowmed Lord, &c.] This muft have been Henry, and not Thomas, Lord Hunfdon; the latter of whom was not made Lord Chamberlain till about the year of Speufer's death. The Lord Chamberlain Henry died about 1596. T WARTON. Ver. 6. Both for your nearnes &c.] The honours conferred on this Nobleman by the Queene were important and numerous, She created him Baron of Hunfdon in Effex, made him Governor of Berwick, Lord Chamberlain of her Houshold, Captain of the Band of Penfioners, &c. He was likewife nearly related to the Queen; for he was fon to Sir William Cary Knt. and Mary, fifter of Anna Bolen the mother of Elizabeth. See Chauncy's Hertfordshire. T. WARTON. When that tumultuous rage and fearfull deene And their difloiall powre defaced clene, E. S. To the most renowmed and valiant Lord, the Lord Grey of Wilton, Knight of the Noble order of the Garter, &c. MOST Noble Lord, the pillor of my life, And Patrone of my Mufes pupillage; Through whofe large bountie, poured on me rife In the first feafon of my feeble age, I now doe live bound yours by vaffalage; (Sith nothing ever may redeeme, nor reave Out of your endleffe debt, fo fure a gage;) Vouchfafe, in worth, this fmall guift to re ceave, Which in your noble hands for pledge I leave Of all the reft that I am tyde t' account: Ver. 9. deene] Din, noife. See Skelton's Colin Clout, Poems edit. 1736. p. 206. "With fuch ftoryes by deen &c." T. WARTON. Ver. 10. ye did pacify, &c.] Namely, the rebellion raised in 1569. See Camden's Annals. TODD. Ver. 1. Moft Noble Lord, &c.]* See the Life of Spenser. TODD. Rude rymes, the which a ruftick Mufe did weave In favadge foyle, far from Parnaffo Mount, And roughly wrought in an unlearned loome: The which vouchfafe, dear Lord, your favourable doome. E. S. To the Right Honourable the Lord of Buckhurst, one of her Majeftie's privie Counfell. IN vain I thinke, Right Honourable Lord, In golden verfe, worthy immortal fame : Thou much more fit (were leasure to the fame) Ver. 2. By this rude rime to memorize thy Name, Whofe learned Mufe &c.] The word memorize occurs in our author's View of the State of Ireland, and in his Teares of the Muses, and in The Ruines of Time.--He here hints at Buckhurtt's Gorboduc, his Induction to the Mirror for Magiftrates, and Life of the Duke of Buckingham inferted in that collection. This teftimony, paid by kindred genius, is highly pleafing. It conveys a fatisfaction not unlike that, which we feel on reading Homer's account of the prefents mu→ tually made by his heroes. T. WARTON. Henry Lok, in his Ecclefiaftes paraphrafed, 4to. 1597, has neatly alluded to Lord Buckhurst's poetical talents in a Sonnet infcribed to him: "But, when I call to mind your pen I feare your daintie eare can ill digest "The harth-tun'd notes which on my pipe I fing." TODD. Ver. 5. Thou much more fit, &c.] Buckhurst forfook his commerce with the Mufes very early in life, and was ever after Thy gracious Soverains praises to compile, And her imperiall Majeftie to frame In loftie numbers and heroicke ftile. But, fith thou maist not fo, give leave a while To bafer wit his power therein to spend, Whose groffe defaults thy daintie pen may file, And unadvised overfights amend. But evermore vouchfafe, it to maintaine E. S.: To the Right Honourable Sir Francis Walfingham, Knight, principall Secretary to her Majefty, and one of her honourable privy Counfell. THAT Mantuane Poets incompared fpirit, Whofe girland now is fet in highest place, Had not Mecænas, for his worthy merit, wards deeply concerned in political and publick matters. While yet young he was fent amballador to France; and foon afterwards to the States of Holland. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Treasurer, and Privy Counsellor to the Queen. In the political and poetical character he was equally eminent. Of his excellence in the former all must be perfuaded, who can believe Sir Robert Naunton's affertion, "Lord Buckhurft was the fteddieft and wifeft minister that great queen ever had." His abilities in the latter all muft own, who remember that his Induction contributed to awaken or to affift the genius of Spenfer, in forming allegorical defcription. T. WARTON. Ver. 1. incompared] Incomparable. So unvalued is invaluable. See the note on unvalued, Sonnet 67. .ver. 6. TODD. h |