this country in 1598, gives a similar testimony to the fondness of the English for tobacco. 66 66 "At these spectacles," says he, "and everywhere else, they are constantly smoking tobacco, and in this manner: they have pipes on purpose made of clay, into the further "end of which, they put the herb so dry that it may be "rubbed into powder; and putting fire to it, they draw "the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils like funnels." 66 66 66 F. Beaumont thus celebrates it in a poem called "The Triumph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale." "The poets of old 66 Many fables have told "Of the Gods and their symposia ; "But Tobacco alone, "Had they known it, had gone "For their Nectar and Ambrosia." The worthy Mr. Burton is not so outrageous in praise of the filthy weed. "Tobacco," (says he ironically) "divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco; which goes far beyond all "their panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones; a "sovereign remedy to all diseases! A good vomit I con"fess; a vertuous herb, if it be well qualified, opportunely "taken, and medicinally used: but, as it is commonly "abused by most men, who take it as tinkers do ale; 't is a plague, a mischief, a violent purger of goods, lands, and "health; hellish, devilish, and damned tobacco; the ruin "and overthrow of body and soul!" I have never seen more than these two sets of Este's Madrigals, and have reason to believe that most of his other publications were sets of sacred songs in parts. THOMAS BATESON. Of this Composer we have two sets of Madrigals. The first is for three, four, five, and six voices (in all twentynine pieces) wherein he styles himself " Practitioner in the "Art of Music, and Organist of the Cathedral Church "of Christ in the City of Chester. Printed by Thos. Este, "1604," and inscribed to his "Honorable and most respect"ed good friend Sir William Norres, Knight of the most "honorable Order of the Bath." It is to be inferred from the dedication that he was then a young man, as he compares his compositions to "young birds feared out of the "nest before they be well-feathered, and hopes they will be so shrouded in the leaves of his Patrons' good liking, so "that neither any ravenous kite nor crafty fowler, any open-mouthed Momus, or more sly detractor, may devour 66 or harm them that cannot succour nor shift for them"selves." In this set appears one of the Triumphs of Oriana which should have been in that work, A.D. 1601, but was sent too late for publication; and also a Madrigal called Oriana's farewell, written after the death of Elizabeth. CCXXXIV. Beauty is a lovely sweet, Where pure white and crimson meet, Join'd with favour of the face, Chiefest flower of female race. Yet if virtue could be seen, It would more delight the eyne. "Although" (as Mr. Burton observes,) "beauty be the 66 common object of all love, (for as jet draws a straw, so "doth beauty love,) yet believe it there is nothing so "amiable and fair as virtue. Ardentes amores excitaret, si "simulacrum ejus ad oculos penetraret. (Plato.) No painter "nor graver, no carver can express its lustre: it is an in"ward beauty which we see with the eyes of our hearts." It is reported of Magdalen Queen of France, wife to Lewis the Eleventh, a Scottish woman by birth, that walking forth one evening with her ladies, she espied Mons. Alanus, an old hard-favoured man, fast asleep in a bower, and kissed him sweetly. When the young ladies laughed at her for it, she replied that it was not his person that she did kiss or reverence, but the divine beauty of his soul. CCXXXV. Love would discharge the duty of his heart In beauty's praise, whose greatness doth deny Words to his thoughts, and thoughts to his desert; Which high conceit since nothing can supply, Love here constrain'd the conquest to confess, Bids silence sigh what tongue cannot express. The second stanza of a sonnet, of which the first is set by William Byrd, vide No. XIII. CCXXXVI. The Nightingale, so soon as April bringeth Unto her rested sense a perfect waking, While late bare earth proud of her clothing springeth, Sings out her woes, a thorn her song-book making; And mournfully bewailing, Her throat in tunes expresseth: While grief her heart oppresseth, For Tereus' force o'er her chaste will prevailing. By Sir P. Sydney, from his Sonnets and Translations. Spenser calls the Nightingale "That blessed bird, that spends her time of sleep "In songs and plaintive pleas, the more t'augment "The mem'ry of his misdeed that bred her woe." CCXXXVII. Ah me! my mistress scorns my love, CCXXXVIII. Your shining eyes and golden hair, Your various beauties which excel, * Vide No. CXCII. CCXXXIX. Whither so fast?-see how the kindly flowers CCXL. Phillis, farewell! I may no longer live: I live too long; come, gentle death, and end If this stanza had been in Bateson's second set, written in Dublin, A.D. 1618, one might have supposed that an Irish poet had helped him to the idea of ending endless torments. CCXLI. Strange were the life that every one would like, More strange the state that should mislike each one; Rare were the gem that every one would seek, And little worth that all would let alone. Sweet were the meat that every one would choose, Many a moral and comfortable reflection might be * Embracing. |