against such as while they ought to be at diuine seruice, doo spend their time and their money lewdly in haunting of plaies, and other idle and wycked pastimes and exercises.

"62. For as much as the playing of enterludes, & the resort to the same are very daungerous for the infection of the plague, whereby infinite burdens and losses to the citty may increase, and are very hurtfull in corruption of youth with incontinence & lewdnes, and also great wasting both of the time and thrift of many poore people and great prouoking of the wrath of God the ground of all plagues, great withdrawing of the people from publique prayer & from the seruice of God: and daily cryed out against by the preachers of the word of God: therefore it is ordered that all such enterludes in publique places, and the resort to the same shall wholy be prohibited as vngodly, and humble sute be made to the Lords that lyke prohibition be in places neere vnto the cittie.

"66. That the preachers be moued at the sermons at the Crosse & other conuenient times, specially in the terme time, & that other good notorious meanes be vsed, to require both citizens, artificers, and other, and also all farmers and other for husbandry, and gentlemen and other for their kitchins & other seruices, to take seruants and children both out of Bridewell & Christs Hospitall at their pleasures, with declaration what a charitable deed it shalbe not onely for the releefe of those whom they shall so take into seruice but also of multitudes of other that shall from time to time be taken into the hospitals in their places, and so be preserued from perishing, with offer also that they shall haue them conueniently apparelled & bound with them for any competent number of yeeres, with further declaration that many of them be of toward qualities in readyng, wryting, grammer, and musike.”

J. H.

T Fearefull and lamentable effects of two dangerous Comets, which shall appeare in the yeere of our Lord, 1591 the 25 of March. Wherein both man and woman shall find theyr naturall inclination, and accidentall or necessarie mischiefes. By Simon smel- knaue, studient in good felowship. [An astronomical calculation, for] Twelve a clocke at midnight. At London, printed by I. C. for Iohn Busbie. qto. 18 leaves.

A local trifle, wherein the author attempts, by a bantering vein of humour, to ridicule and laugh at the follies of the times.

"The Epistle to the Reader" ends yours in a pottle of the best at any time. Simon smell-knaue." A Poem succeeds by Martin Merry-mate, in prayse of the author.

"The daungerous influence and operation of the first Comet, which shall appeare in the West, in the yeere of our Lorde 1591 the 25 of March.... The three extended beames, which to ye. Northwest shall appeare most bright, foreshew, that in those countries, such as haue most gold, shall have least grace and gentlemen that haue solde lande for paper, shall buy penury with repentance. Some that meane well, shall fare worse, and hee that hath no credit shall haue lesse commoditie. Sargiants this yeere shall be gentlemen, for those that feare them will flee them, and since long mace is so costly poore men haue forsworne mace in their caudles. The haberdashers by natural operation of this Comet are fortunate, olde hattes new trimd shall not last long, & harpe shillings shall not passe for twelue pence. Such as are cholerick shall not want wee, and they that want money may fast on fridaies by statute. Men that are studious (according to the opinion of Refis) are fortunate if they list, for if they reade that which is good a poore man may buy three ballets for a halfe penny... Taylors by this meanes shall haue more conscience, for where they were wont to steale but one quarter of a cloak, they shall haue due commission to nick their customers in the lace, and

for

take

take more then enough for the newe fashion sake beside theyr old fees. Poets and players shall be kinges by this meanes, for the one may lye by authoritie, the others cogge without controle: the one as necessary in a commonweale as a candle in a strawbed, the other as famous in idlenes, as dissolute in liuing: blest in their marriages for communitie, holding Aristotle's axiome for authenticall: Bonum quo communius, eo melius. And thus much for the first true and methodicall explanation of this comet's operation in these inferiour parts wherin I would aduise old men to looke with spectacles, least if they find ouer many wise lines they were blinde with reading."

"The subtill, secrete and delightful influence of the Crinite Comet, which shall appeare at West and by North, after twelue of the clock at midnight, or els neuer, to all sorts of maried folke, especially the 25 of March 1591.... But, alas, whither am I carried, leauing the greatest wonders vnreckoned and relying on the lesse. There shall be great contention this year, by reason of this sinister influence, betweene souldiours and archers, if the fray be not decided at a potte of ale and a blacke pudding for some shal maintaine that a Turke can be hit at tweluescore pricks in Finisbury fields, ergo, the bowe and shafts wanne Granado. Other shal say that a potgun is a perillous weapon at a mudwall, and an enemy to the painters worke. Among the controuersies Cupid beeing an archer, shall decide the doubt, proouing that archerie is heauenly, for in meditation thereof he hath lost his eyes. Oh gentle fellow souldiours then leaue your controuersies if you loue a woman; for I will prooue it that a minspie is better than a muskette, and he that dare gaine-say mee, let him meete me at the Woolsacke with a cace of pewter spoones and I wil aunswer it. And if I say not that a gun is the better weapon he shal neuer be bound to serue with bow and arrowes while he liuetb..... If not three dayes after the ryse yet one day after the set of this Comet men shall catch hares with tabers, and the swetting sicknes shall so raigne that those which run foure score myle a foote on a winters day shall haue a sore thirst about seauen a clocke in the euening. Such as are inclined to the dropsy may be cured if the phisitions know how: and if there be no great store of tempests, two halfe penny loues shall be solde for a penny in White Chappell. Chaucer's bookes shall this yeere, prooue more witty then euer they were, for there shall so many suddayne, or rather sodden wittes steppe abroad, that a flea shall not frisk foorth vnlesse they comment on her."

"The natural inclynation, and accidentall mischiefes, that may or can happen to man or woman, as farre as I know or

gesse by these Comets:" is given in verse descriptive of the planets Saturn, Jupiter, &c. with comments in prose, and concludes with an "Epilogue. As I was finishing this worke, an oyster wife tooke exception against mee, and cald me knaue, because medling with sixe of the planets, I had forgot Sol, vnder which shee was borne. And laying downe sixe plaise to two pence, swore by her left legge, that Sundaie was the best day in all the weeke: and thereupon shee laide her wager: Munday, quoth I, woman. During this contention a costermonger, (a man of good conscience I warrant him) cutte me a fine pippin in the middest, and saide, my freendes cease your strife, heere are the tenne precepts to be obserued in the arte of scolding: therefore let not the cobler wade aboue his slipper. The cobler aboue his slipper, said Clubb, hee is a knaue that made this prouerbe (quoth hee) for I will cutte and sow a spanish pantoffle, with the proudest he in Westminster. Heereuppon to ende this controuersie, we fell all foure into the three Tunnes in Newgate-market, where batling our pence with the good-wiues plaise, we made a iolly commicall ende of a haughtie controuersie. Good freendes you that want your dinner this Lent, I wish you light on such a commicall fray. And so valete, & facete, & feliciter. Finis."

**

A Confession of Faith of Iames Salgado, a Spaniard, and sometimes a Priest in the Church of Rome. Dedicated to the University of Oxford. With an Account of his Life and Sufferings by the Romish party, since he forsook the Romish Religion. London: Printed for William Marshall, at the Bible in Newgate street. 1681. pa. 16. 4to.

"To all and singular members of the University of Oxford, to the Reverend, and most Excellent Mr. Vicechancellour, to the Reverend and Eminent Heads of Colledges. And to the Worthy Fellows of the same, Iames Salgado, a Spaniard, wisheth felicity both temporal and eternal." "I should be very injurious to your bounty liberally bestowed upon me; Oye men, every one famous according to his title and degree, unless according to the old custom of the Romans, I should crown that fountain with laurel, from whence I drew water for 'tis a great sign of inhumanity, to receive a benefit, and not to return it again."

"The

"The Heliotrope must conform itself according to the suns motion; because as it cannot avoid it's light, so it ought not to decline its influence. But this acteth so effectually upon it, that it is forced to turn its head to the course of the sun."

"You have relieved my mysery, O ye Gentlemen of the University, and that so effectually, that you have invited me to a publick acknowledgement of your benevolence toward me; which I am now willing to do, lest by any longer delay, this good purpose of mine should lose its reward."

"This little book therefore I lay before your feet, expecting what censure you'll please to bestow upon it."

Following the Dedication is his Confession of Faith, after which comes "An Account of my Life and Sufferings," from which we learn, that he, doubting the essentials of the Romish religion, left his native country, hoping for greater freedom of speech at Paris, but there being equally disappointed, went to Charenton where his doubts were confirmed, and was admitted into the Reformed Church (in 1660). From thence he proceeded to the Hague, and after a short time returned to Paris, but the Queen of France being a Spaniard caused him to be sent back to Spain and imprisoned in the inquisition in the province of Estremadura, and the city of Laredo ; where after lying there a year he made his escape, but having got as far as Origucla, was seized by the friars of his own order and sent into Murcia, "where I lay five years in prison, having neither books, nor society, except of tormenting priests." At the expiration of that period they sentenced him to the galleys, but in a year's time having a leprosy he was removed to the hospital at Murcia, from whence having made his escape he staid about a year at Lyons, and finally established himself in England.

In the Censura Literaria, Vol. III. p. 209, is noticed another publication of Salgado's, entituled "The Manners and Customs of the principal nations of Europe. Gathered together by the particular observations of Iames Salgado, a Spaniard, in his Travels through those Countries; and translated into English by the Authors care. Anno 1684. London, printed by T. Šnowden, for the Author. 1684." pp. 4. Folio.

Bristol, 1810.

J. F. The