18 Rare as the epistle is, we do not non peccabis : a Poeme of the contempte of consider it necessary to give any co the World, and an Exhortation to prepare pious extract from it: the following to dye, made by Phillipe Earle of Arundell will show that Lord Arundels trans- after his attaynder." lation is executed in an easy and cor Lord Arundel's poetry, is, as may rect manner, and that his language be easily imagined, of that serious is not in any way inferior to the best writers of his day. cast which a person of such recluse habits and religious state of mind How we ovght to take heed of Enuie. would be expected to compose at all (Ch. ix. p. 73.) times, more especially when in strict Beware of Envie as much as possibly confinement, and under sentence of thou canst, that by it thou be not brought to death. It would therefore, from the mislike of any man, to speake in derogation nature of the poem, be difficult to of him, to preferre thy selfe before him, to molest and vexe him, and to be also thy- select any passages likely to prove selfe vexed, if he be preferred before thee, interesting to the general reader; but with his vertue, with his honour, with his sufficient will, we hope, be given to commendation, or with his spirituall profit. prove that his lordship is, at least, To ouercome this temptation be more entitled to a place in the second class curteous and lowlie vnto him, my daugh- of our Elizabethan poets. ter, then to another, speake nothing him The “ Exhortation to prepare to thyselfe, nor heare him spoken of in his dye,” is addressed to some fictitious absence; neyther let any thing proceed lover of the world and the world's from thee in word, deed, or shew, that may pleasures, whose irregular course of seeme to sauour of Enuie, or to spring from life the author endeavours to arrest, that venemous root.” 2. But in addition to his translation, await his latter moments, and con by reminding him of the miseries that Lord Arundel claims a place in this trasting them with the brighter proswork, as well as in the catalogue of pect enjoyed by the pious and believEnglish poets, from a metrical com- ing Christian. After recounting the position of considerable length, which terrors and agitations of a guilty conoccurs amongst the voluminous ma- science, and the agonies experienced nuscript collections of the late Dr. by the impenitent sinner on the bed Rawlinson, in the Bodleian library, of sickness, the poet supposes the and is entitled, — hour to have arrived when man is Memorare novissima tua, et in æternum cited before his judge. a just accompte to shew What paine thou took'st to walke in all his wayes. The deuills with flouts doe laugh thee now to score, With outward paine thy body finds no reste. a And first behould the beauty of the place, Thrise happy they that there obtayne to dwell! After recounting the various delights of Paradise, of which the greatest is the presence of the Deity, we are told, that one of the chief excellencies of our divine nature will be the acquisition of perfect knowledge. He present, past, and future things doth shew, And all their thoughts are on him wholye sett. Then must I call, o worldly man, to thee, When time is past, and wailinge comes to late. To this list of Lord Arundel's works feelings of the Queen, from one who may be added, his Letter to Queen deserved a far better fate than the Elizabeth, when he meditated his escape times in which he lived, and the temfrom England. This occurs in the per and prejudices of his sovereign, Harleian MSS. No. 787, and has permitted him to experience. been printed, at length, in Stow's In 1796, when some alterations Chronicle, by Howes, Lond. 1615. took place in the Tower, for the purfolio. It is well worthy of preserva- pose of converting the building, tion as a manly and honourable ap- known by the name of Beauchamppeal to the justice as well as the tower, into a mess-room, many inscriptions were discovered on the Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in walls, which had been written by va- hoc sæculo, tanto plus gloriæ cum Christo rious persons confined in the apart. in futuro.--Arundell. June 22. 1587. ments devoted to state prisoners. Sicut peccati causa vinciri opprobrium est, Among these * we read the following ita e contra, pro Christo custodiæ vincula by the illustrious subject of the pre- sustinere, maxima gloria est.—Arundell. sent article: May 28. 1587. • Archæologia, Vol. XIII. Bayley's Hist. of the Tower, Part I. pp. 139, 140. SCENE FROM THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES. The well known fable upon which tence, which she thus obtains. The the Medea of Euripides is founded, contact of these fatal gifts produces may be related as follows: Jason, a raging pestilential disorder, which the leader of the Argonauts, having terminates in her death. Creon, in a arrived at Corinth, attended by his paroxysm of grief, embracing his wife Medea, becomes, after some- daughter, receives the mortal contatime, enamoured of Glauce, the gion and also perishes. As the acme daughter of Creon, king of that city, of vengeance upon her husband's inwhose hand is engaged to him by her fidelity, Medea puts to death with father. In order to facilitate this her own hand her two sons, their muguilty connexion, Medea and her two tual offspring. sons are condemned by Creon to im It is hardly needful to add, that mediate banishment from Corinth. the following scene exhibits Medea But she, having gained a respite of in the midst of the struggle between one day, sends Glauce a medicated revenge for her wrongs and maternal vest and enchanted crown, under tenderness, which precedes the depretence of seeking by these presents struction of her children. the reversal of her children's sen Medea, Sons, Attendant.-Chorus. Of dolorous exile, still shall glad thine heart : Received thine offering-hence their liberty. Stand'st thou aghast ? Why with averted cheek Receiv'st the message of thy children's weal? These feelings surely sort Have I disclosed destroyed my hope of eager welcome? Such deeds of death have the infernal Gods And I, with dire intent, premeditated. Will I to Hades send as their precursors. Privation of thy children: man is destined Medea. Be mine the task to school myself to suff'ring. For these poor babes-My children! Oh, my children! Hence to far distant countries forth am driven, Ere my glad hand has deck'd your bridal bed, And have then all my cares been vainly lavish'd, Worn out and feeble with maternal toils, Rack'd with the throes of labour, spent with tendance How 'neath your kindred hands these eyes might close, No more shall those dear eyes this form behold. Alas! alas! why do ye gaze upon me? Why with that last smile light your guiltless brows. Ah me! what shall I do? my heart is bursting. (To the Chorus.) Oh, friends! that look has quell'd my resolution, I cannot do it: murderous counsels, hence, Avaunt! my children shall partake mine exile. Why should I, impious Jason's heart to tear, In sunder rive my own? Far, far from me Such foul unnatural sin !-I will not harm them- A laughing stock for heartless fools to jeer at, Unpunish'd on the ruins of my peace? It must not be-dare, dare thou coward hand- From that same source which gave them life shall they E'en now, her temples by th' enchanted crown The mortal venom drinks at every pore. K. AMICUS REDIVIVUS. Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep. I Do not know when I have experienced a stranger sensation, than on seeing my old friend G. D., who had been paying me a morning visit a few Sundays back, at my cottage, near Islington, upon taking leave, instead of turning down the right hand path by which he had entered -with staff in hand, and at noon day, deliberately march right forwards into the midst of the stream that runs by us, and totally disappear. A spectacle like this at dusk would have been appalling enough; but, in the broad open daylight, to witness such an unreserved motion towards self-destruction in a valued friend, took from me all power of speculation. spirit, not my own, whirled me to the spot. I remember nothing but the silvery apparition of a good white head emerging; nigh which a staff (the hand unseen that wielded it) pointed upwards, as feeling for the skies. In a moment (if time was in that time) he was on my shoulders, and I-freighted with a load more precious than his who bore Anchises. . And here I cannot but do justice to the officious zeal of sundry passers by, who, albeit arriving a little too late to participate in the honours of the rescue, in philanthropic shoals came thronging to communicate their advice as to the recovery; prescribing variously the application, or non-application, of salt, &c. to the person of the patient. Life meantime was ebbing fast away, amidst the stifle of conflicting judgments, How I found my feet, I know not. Consciousness was quite gone. Some * The topography of my cottage, and its relation to the river, will explain this; as I have been at some cost to have the whole engraved (in time, I hope, for our next number), as well for the satisfaction of the reader, as to commemorate so signal a deliverance. |