In obitum honoratissimi viri, ROGERI MANWOOD,* Militis, Quaestorii Reginalis Capitalis Baronis. Noctivagi terror, ganeonis triste flagellum, Et Jovis Alcides, rigido vulturque latroni, Urna subtegitur. Scelerum, gaudete, nepotes! Insons, luctifica sparsis cervice capillis, Plange! fori lumen, venerandæ gloria legis, Occidit: heu, secum effoetas Acherontis ad oras Multa abiit virtus. Pro tot virtutibus uni, Livor, parce viro; non audacissimus esto Illius in cineres, cujus tot millia vultus Mortalium attonuit: sic cum te nuntia Ditis Vulneret exsanguis, feliciter ossa quiescant, Famaque marmorei superet monumenta sepulcri. * Sir Roger Manwood was a native of Sandwich, where he was born in 1525. He went into the profession of the law, in which he early acquired a high reputation, and after having been appointed Justice of the Common Pleas in 1572, was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer, with the dignity of knighthood, in 1578. Sir Roger resided at St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, where he died on the 14th December, 1592. He was buried in the church of St. Stephen's, where there is a costly monument to his memory, which he caused to be erected himself. THE FIRST BOOK OF LUCAN. TO HIS KIND AND TRUE FRIEND, EDWARD BLUNT. Blunt, I purpose to be blunt with you, and, out of my dullness, to encounter you with a Dedication in memory of that pure elemental wit, Chr. Marlowe, whose ghost or genius is to be seen walk the Churchyard in, at the least, three or four sheets. Methinks you should presently look wild now, and grow humorously frantic upon the taste of it. Well, lest you should, let me tell you, this spirit was sometime a familiar of your own, Lucan's First Book translated; which, in regard of your old right in it, I have raised in the circle of your patronage. But stay now, Edward: if I mistake not, you are to accommodate yourself with some few instructions, touching the property of a patron, that you are not yet possessed of; and to study them for your better grace, as our gallants do fashions. First, you must be⚫ proud, and think you have merit enough in you, though you are ne'er so empty; then, when I bring you the book, take physic, and keep state; assign me a time by your man to come again; and, afore the day, be sure to have changed your lodging; in the mean time sleep little, and sweat with the invention of some pitiful dry jest or two, which you may happen to utter, with some little, or not at all, marking of your friends, when you have found a place for them to come in at; or, if by chance something has dropped from you worth the taking up, weary all that come to you with the often repetition of it; censure scornfully enough, and somewhat like a traveler; commend nothing, lest you discredit your (that which you would seem to have) judgment. These things, if you can mold yourself to them, Ned, I make no question but they will not become you. One special virtue in our patrons of these days I have promised myself you shall fit excellently, which is, to give nothing; yes, thy love I will challenge as my peculiar object, both in this, and, I hope, many more succeeding offices. Farewell: I affect not the world should measure my thoughts to thee by a scale of this nature: leave to think good of me when I fall from thee. Thine in all rites of perfect friendship, * THOMAS THORPE.* Thorpe, and Blunt, to whom this dedication was addressed, were both booksellers. Wars worse that civil on Thessalian plains, And outrage strangling law, and people strong, Armies allied, the kingdom's league uprooted, Might they have won whom civil broils have slain! [hinds; And choked with thorns; that greedy earth wants Would find no other means, and gods not slightly * Crassus, member of the first triumvirate with Cæsar and Pompey, put to death by Surena, general of the Parthians under Orodes the king, after having lost 20,000 men, [old, We plain not, Heavens, but gladly bear these evils * A small town in Hispania Bætica, where Cæsar defeated the sons of Pompey. † An allusion to the siege of Perusia (now Perugia) by Augustus, who compelled L. Antonius to surrender for want of provisions. These were two battles fought at Mutina (now Modena) between the consuls Pansa and Hirtius on the one side, and Marcus Antonius on the other, in which the latter was defeated. An island in the Ionian Sea near the promontory of Actium, where Augustus destroyed the fleet of Marcus Antonius. || Probably an allusion to a naval battle between Octavius and the sons of Pompey, for in the original there is nothing about a field. Rowe, though not generally so close as Marlowe, gives the sense here more faithfully:"Though meagre famine in Perusia reign, Though Mutina with battle fills the plain, Though Leuca's isle, and wide Ambracia's bay, All the Cæsars were enrolled amongst the gods. The advice to Nero to choose a seat in heaven neither to the north nor south, but in the midst, appears to be an exhortation to impartiality between the parties of Cæsar and Pompey, the former of whom gained his renown by the conquest of the northern, the latter of the southern, nations, There, Cæsar, mayst thou shine, and no cloud dim thee. To crave Apollo's aid or Bacchus' help; Thy power inspires the Muse that sings this war. Of these garboils,* whence springs a long discourse; Fleet† on the floods, the earth shoulder the sea, All great things crush themselves; such end the gods This needs no foreign proof nor far-fet story: * Turmoils. † Float. |