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THE

LIVES OF THE BRITISH POETS.

THOMAS NABBES.

(Born circa 1600.)

THOMAS NABBES, a writer in the reign of Charles I., we may reckon, says Langbaine, among poets of the third rate. Shields, however, protests that in strict justice he cannot rise above a fifth; yet he was patronised by Sir John Suckling. He seems to have been connected with Worcestershire. He has left seven plays and masques extant, besides other poems, which Langbaine says are entirely his own, having had recourse to no preceding author for assistance, and in this respect deserves pardon, if not applause, from the critic. Nabbes himself avers this in his prologue to Covent Garden:

"He justifies that 'tis no borrowed strain
From the invention of another's brain.
Nor did he steal the fancy. 'Tis the same

He first intended by the proper name.

'Twas not a toil of years: few weeks brought forth;

This rugged issue might have been more worth,

If he had lick'd it more. Nor doth he raise,

From the ambition of authentic plays,

Matter or words to height, nor bundle up
Conceits at taverns where the wits do sup;
His muse is solitary, and alone

Doth practise her low speculation."

The following are his plays:

1. Covent Garden: a pleasant comedy; acted 1632.

2. Totenham Court: a pleasant comedy; acted 1633.

3. Hannibal and Scipio: an historical tragedy; acted 1635.

Wood informs us that Nabbes compiled a continuation of Knollys' History of the Turks from 1628 to 1637.

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Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, famous for her voluminous productions, was born at St. John's, near Colchester, about the end of the reign of King James I. Her mother was very careful in the education of her, and had her instructed in all the accomplishments; and the young lady was remarkable from her infancy for her tendency to books and study. In 1643 she was made one of the maids-of-honour to Henrietta-Maria, consort of King Charles I. When the queen was forced into France by the troubles, Margaret attended her thither; and at Paris met with the Marquis of Newcastle, then a widower, who, admiring her person, disposition, and ingenuity, married her in 1645. From Paris they went to Rotterdam, where they resided six months; thence they returned to Antwerp, where they settled, and continued during the time of their exile. At the Restoration she, with her husband, returned to England, where she dedicated her time to writing poems, philosophical discourses, orations, and plays. She 66 kept a great many young ladies about her person, who wrote what she dictated. Some of them slept in a room contiguous to that in which her grace lay, and were ready, at the call of her bell, to rise at any hour of the night to write down her conceptions, lest they should escape her memory." She died in London in 1673, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, January 7th, 1674. The following is a list of her works :

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