that defames him whom the law would have defamed, except he also do it out of rancor. For, in infamy, all are executioners; and the law gives a malefactor to all to be defamed. And, as malefactors may lose and forfeit their goods or life; so may they their good name, and the possession thereof, which, before their offence and judgment, they had in all men's breasts. For all are honest, till the contrary be proved.-Besides, it concerns the commonwealth that rogues should be known; and charity to the public hath the precedence of private charity. So that it is so far from being a fault to discover such offenders, that it is a duty rather; which may do much good, and save much harm.-Nevertheless, if the punished delinquent shall be much troubled for his sins, and turn quite another man, doubtless then also men's affections and words must turn, and forbear to speak of that which even God himself hath forgotten. As a poet, Herbert ranks among the metaphysical class, belonging to the same school with John Donne. His poems are generally of a serious character, relating either to the grave realities of this life, or the momentous concerns of another. Most of them, however, are so quaint, so filled with farfetched images and illustrations, and are so recondite in their meaning, that they cannot be read with much pleasure. The following are two of his best pieces:1 SUNDAY. O day most calm, most bright! The other days and thou Make up one man; whose face thou art, Man had straight forward gone 1 Read-Willmott's "Lives of the English Sacred Poets," which contains well-written notices of Davies, Sandys, Wither, Giles Fletcher, Quarles, Crashaw, Milton, Watts, Young, Blair, Cowper, and others. Sundays the pillars are On which heaven's palace arched lies: The Sundays of man's life, More plentiful than hope. Thou art a day of mirth: And, where the week-days trail on ground, Oh, let me take thee at the bound, Leaping with thee from seven to seven; THE BOSOM SIN.1 Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round! To rules of reason, holy messengers, The sound of glory ringing in our ears; THOMAS CAREW. 1589-1639. Or the personal history of Thomas Carew we have not many particulars. He was educated at Oxford, and, after travelling abroad, was received with great favor at the court of Charles I. for his elegant manners and personal accomplishments. All his poems are short and occasional, and were exceedingly popular at the time. Sprightly, polished, and perspicuous," says Headley, "every part of his works displays the man of sense, gallantry, and 1 "This sonnet is equally admirable for the weight, number, and expression of the thoughts, and for the simple dignity of the language; unless, indeed, a fastidious taste should object to the latter half of the sixth line."-Coleridge. M breeding. He has the ease, without the pedantry of Waller, and perhaps less conceit:" and Campbell remarks that "his poems have touches of elegance and refinement, which their trifling subjects could not have yielded withont a delicate and deliberate exercise of the fancy; and he unites the point and polish of later times with many of the genial and warm tints of the elder muse." It is deeply to be regretted that he should have employed such talents upon subjects generally so trivial, when he might have shone in the higher walks of poetry, and built for himself a wide-spread fame. EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS. The Lady Mary Villiers lies Under this stone: With weeping eyes The parents that first gave her birth, And their sad friends, laid her in earth: Mayst find thy darling in an urn. PERSUASIONS TO LOVE. Starve not yourself, because you may PLEASURE. Bewitching siren! gilded rottenness! Grief is the shadow waiting on thy steps, Mingles with gall thy most refined sweets: That drew this reformation on the gods; Canst thou, then, dream those powers that from heaven GERVASE MARKHAM, GERVASE MARKHAM was a very voluminous writer in the reigns of Elizabeth, James L., and Charles I., but neither the period of his birth nor his death has been ascertained. He commenced author about the year 1592, and lived to a good old age, dying in the latter part of the reign of Charles I. His education had been very liberal, for he was esteemed a good classical scholar, and was well versed in the French, Italian, and Spanish languages. He seems to have been a general compiler for the booksellers, writing upon almost every subject. His popularity in his day was unrivalled, many of his works reaching numerous editions. The following excellent remarks are from his work on Housewifery:2 THE GOOD HOUSEWIFE. Next unto her sanctity and holiness of life, it is meet that our English housewife be a woman of great modesty and temperance, as well inwardly as outwardly; inwardly, as in her behavior. and carriage towards her husband, wherein she shall shun all violence of rage, passion, and humor, coveting less to direct than to 1 See a list of his works in Lowndes's "Bibliography," ill. 1211, and in Drake's "Shakspeare," J. 506: also in the "Censura Literaria," v. 105-117. I must give the title as a curiosity: "The English House-Wife, containing the inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a compleat woman. As her skill in physick, chirurgery, cookery, extraction of oyls, banqueting-stuff, ordering of great feasts, preserving of all sorts of wines, conceted secrets, distillations, perfumes, ordering of wool, hemp, flax; making cloth and dying, the knowledge of dayries, office of malting, of oats, their excellent rules in families; of brewing, baking, and all other things belonging to an household. A work generally approved, and now the eighth time much augmented, purged, and made most profitable and necessary for all men, and the general tion. By G. Markham." be directed, appearing ever unto him pleasant, amiable, and delightful; and, though occasion of mishaps or the misgovernment of his will may induce her to contrary thoughts, yet virtuously to suppress them, and with a mild sufferance rather to call him home from his error, than with the strength of anger to abate the least spark of his evil; calling into her mind, that evil and uncomely language is deformed, though uttered even to servants; but most monstrous and ugly, when it appears before the presence of a husband outwardly, as in her apparel and diet, both which she shall proportion according to the competency of her husband's estate and calling, making her circle rather strait than large: for it is a rule, if we extend to the uttermost, we take away increase; if we go a hair's breadth beyond, we enter into consumption; but if we preserve any part, we build strong forts against the adversaries of fortune, provided that such preservation be honest and conscionable. To conclude, our English housewife must be of chaste thoughts, stout courage, patient, untired, watchful, diligent, witty, pleasant, constant in friendship, full of good neighborhood, wise in discourse, but not frequent therein, sharp and quick of speech, but not bitter or talkative, secret in her affairs, comfortable in her counsels, and generally skilful in the worthy knowledges which do belong to her vocation. GEORGE SANDYS. 1587-1643. THIS eminent sacred poet, the son of Archbishop Sandys, was born in 1587, and in his eleventh year he entered St. Mary's Hall, Oxford. He spent many years in travelling in the East, visiting Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, &c.; and notwithstanding the labors of more recent travellers, his works still have a high reputation, and are still referred to as of the first authenticity and credit. To an ardent spirit of curiosity and research, he united a pure and discriminating taste, and a spirit of true piety. He died in 1643.1 The principal poetical work of Sandys is a translation of the Psalms of David, incomparably the most poetical in the English language, but yet, at the present day, scarcely known. THE LAMENTATION OF DAVID OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN. Thy beauty, Israel, is fled, Sunk to the dead; How are the valiant fallen! the slain Thy mountains stain. Oh! let it not in Gath be known, Nor in the streets of Ashkelon, 1 See Sir Egerton Brydges's "Censura Literaria," iv. 420, and x. 394. |