This greifes true picture wc. his losse has bred,
Hee's gon and with him what a world are dead.
Oft have I seen him leape into a grave
Suiting y°. person (wch, hee vs'd to haue)
Of a mad lover, wth. so true an eye,

That there I would have sworne he meant to dye.
Oft have I seene him play his part in jest
So lively, y'. spectators, and the rest

Of his crewes, whilst hee did but seeme to bleed,
Amazed, thought hee had bene deade indeed.
Oh! did not knowledge check mee, I should sweare
Even yet it is a false report I heare;

And thinke y. he who did so truly faigne,

Is only dead in jest to live againe :

But in this part hee acts not playes 'tis knowne,
Others hee plaide but now he acts his owne.
England's great Roscius, for w'. Roscius
Was more to Rome, y". Burbadge was to us?
How to y. person hee did suite his face,
How did his speech become him, and his pace
Suite wth, his speech; whilst not a word did fall
Without just weight to ballance it w'hall,

Had'st thou but spoke to death and vs'd y°. power
Of thy enchaunting tongue, but y°. first hower
Of his assault, hee had let fall his dart

And charmed bene by thy all charming art.
This he well knew, and to prevent such wrong
First cunningly made seisure of thy tonge,
Then on y'. rest twas easy; by degrees
The slender iuy topps y°. tallest trees.
Poets! whose glory 'twas of late to heare
Y'. lines so well exprest; henceforth forbeare
And write noe more, or yf you doe let't bee
In comick scenes; for tragic parts you see

Die all with him: Nay rather sluce y'. eyes,
And henceforth write nought else but tragedies,
Moist dirgies, or sad elegies, and those
Mournfull laments wh. may expresse y'. woes.
Blurr all y'. leaves wth blotts, y'. what is writ
May bee but one sad blacke, and vpon it
Draw marble lines, y'. may outlast y°. sun,
And stand like trophies w". y. world is done.
Or turne your inke to blood, your pens to spears,
To pierce and wound the hearers hearts and eares:
Enrag'd, write stabbing lines y'. euery word
May bee as apt for murder as a sword,
That no man may suruiue after this fact
Of ruthlesse Death, either to hear or act.
And you his sad companions, to whome Lent
Becomes more lenton y". this accident,
Henceforth y'. wauering flagge no more hang out,
Play now no more at all; when round about
Wee looke and misse yo. Atlas of y'. spheare,
W comfort thinke yon have wee to bee there ;
And how cann you delight in playing, when
Sad mourning so affecteth other men ?
Yf you will hang it out, y”. let it weare

No more light colours, but death's livery beare,
Hang all your howse w. black, y°. eaues it bears
Wh. isicles of euer-melting teares:

And yf you euer chance to play againe

Let nought but tragedies affect y'. scene ;

And thou deare earth, y*. enshrines y'. dust y1. must, By Heauen now committed to thy trust,

Keepe it as precious as y°. richest mine

That lies entomb'd in y°. rich wombe of thine,
That after times may know y'. much lou'd mould
Fro' others dust, and cherish it as gold.

On it bee laid some soft but lasting stone,
With this short epitaph endorst thereon;

That euery one may reade and reading weepe:
"'Tis England's Roscius Burbadge whom I keepe.'

ASTROLOGICAL FALLACIES, or the HOROSCOPE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

The progress of Philosophical Knowledge has given the death-blow to the Science of Astrology, although it still retains some influence over weak and credulous minds. Its jargon, however, is more tolerated than believed, and it would still be much less credited were it not for the support it annually receives from the "Stationers' Company," whose "Moore's Almanack," (which was manufactured for so many years by poor old Andrews of Royston,) gives such an extensive circulation to the absurd prognostications of astrological soothsayers. That so rich and so honourable a society of individuals should still permit such a farrago of hieroglyphical and configura. tive nonsense to be promulgated under its own authority, is a disgrace to the learning of the age.

The false predictions and pretended miracles of the Catholic Church were, unquestionably, the means of rendering the minds of its devotees inadequate to a due exercise of the reasoning faculties. Hence, until long after the Reformation, the public opinion was strongly influenced by superstitious feelings; and although that absurd confidence in the legends of Romish saints and pseudo prophets, which had former.

ly obtained, was gradually weakened, yet, for a long period, it was succeeded by an acknowledged belief in starry influences, and men of the most shining abilities were swayed by the prejudices of the times into astrological studies. This cannot be more powerfully illustrated than by the fact of Mr. Secretary Cecil, afterwards the great Lord Burghley, having himself cast the nativity of Queen Elizabeth, in respect to matrimonial concerns; and many other persons of distinguished talent might be named who, in the same age, were addicted to astrology.

The oracular result of Cecil's scheme of the planetary configurations which ruled at his sovereign's birth

was,

"That the Queen had not much inclination to marriage, yet that her wedlock would be very happy to her : that she should be somewhat elder when she entered into matrimony; and that then she would have a young man, that was never before married: that she then should be in the thirty-first year of her age; and that she should have but one husband. Then for the quality of the man: that he should be a foreigner. That, especially towards the middle of her age, she should not much delight in wedlock that she should obey and reverence her husband, and have him in great respect. That she should arrive at a prosperous married state but slowly, and after much counsel taken, and the common rumour of it every where, and after very great disputes and arguings concerning it for many years, by divers persons, before it should be effected; and then she should become a bride without any impediment. That her husband should die first; and yet she should live long with her husband,

and should possess much of his estate. For children, but few; yet very great hope of one son, that should be strong, famous, and happy in his mature age; and one daughter."*

Unfortunately for the Secretary's fame as an astrologer, Elizabeth descended to the grave unmarried, and still-if our general Chronicles may be credited, -a maiden Queen.

LOVE VERSES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

The cruel punishment inflicted on Stubbes and Page, the one for writing and the other for distributing a pamphlet against Elizabeth's match with the Duke of Anjou, has been noticed in the preceding volume. The cause of the excessive severity of their sentence was most probably occasioned by the Queen's infatuation for Anjou; for though he was nearly twenty-five years younger than herself, she appears to have been fully determined to marry him, and is even said to have taken up her pen to sign the marriage articles. From that indiscretion however she was saved by the remonstrances of her ministry, and the importunities of her maids of honour, who, as we are informed by Camden, spent the night in weeping and wailing round her bed. How highly impassioned her feelings were, on this occasion, may be inferred from the following lines, which are preserved among the manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum, (No. 6969

* "Strype's Annals of the Reformation,” vol. i, p. 17,