Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/562

 462

NOTES AND QUERIES,

. v. JUNE 10,

and then he goes on to say, evidently alluding to her relationship to the Princess Eliza- beth,

" whose bosome the hand of heauen hath so richlie furnisht with all exemplary vertues, that from amongst so many, Wisdome selected you, to be the Gouernesse, from whom the Princely issue of a royall bed might receiue instruction."

At the end of this dedication he subscribes himself, " Madam, your Honors most affec- tionate seruant, D. T."

Let it not be forgotten that on the title- page the author is designated "Gent.," the abbreviated form of "Gentleman"; and as he tells us he was in the service of Lady Harington, we should like to know the exact nature of his employment. If *' D. T. Gent." and Daniel Tuvill, who in after years preached at Sutton's Hospital, were one and the same person, the natural inference, I think, would be that he occupied the position of tutor in the Harington family. Looking, however, at all the circumstances, I am strongly of opinion that " D. T. Gent." was quite a different person from Daniel Tuvill. I am confirmed in this opinion by the fact that all the extracts reproduced by John Spencer excepting, of course, the one from the sermon at Sutton's Hospital are taken from Tuvill's * Essayes,' first published in 1609. I have taken the trouble to verify all these extracts Spencer, except naming the book, has no references to page or subject of essay in the edition of 1638. I am also inclined to think that Spencer was personally acquainted with Tuvill, as he was with many notable men of his time, including Fuller, the Church historian ; and that the quotation from the Sutton Hospital sermon was fur- nished by Tuvill himself. If this supposition be correct, it follows that Spencer would most likely be familiar with all that Tuvill had written and published. It is strange, then, that he did not lay the 'Essaies' of 1608 under contribution for the purposes of his excellent miscellany, if for nothing else than in compliment to the author.

In my copy of the 'Essaies/ 1608, there are a number of notes in a handwriting contem- poraneous with the date of the book ; but they are not of any consequence. I may remark, however, that this volume of 1608 is a very much scarcer book than Tuvill's 'Vade Mecum.' The former was confined to one edition, while the latter went through no fewer than four editions. As to the literary value of these two little books, they are both in their way excellent ; but I should say the 'Essaies' of 1608 are much superior to those in the 'Vade Mecum.' I

take the writer of the former to have been both a scholar and a man of the world, and his opportunities for observing character and he shows conspicuously his aptitude in this direction much greater than could have fallen to the lot of the author of the ' Vade Mecum.'

In regard to the 'Vade Mecum,' I have access only to the edition of 1638, which is before me. It contains two title-pages, one engraved and the other in ordinary type. The former reads :

"Vade Mecum or Essayes Morall, Theologicall. A new Edition w th some Additions. I. 8. Inuent. London Printed for I. S. and are to be sold by Bernard Langford at the signe of the blue Bible at Holbourne-bridge. 1638."

The second title-page reads :

"Vade Mecum. A Manuall of Essayes, Morall, Theologicall. Inter-woven with Moderne Obser- vations, Historicall, Politicall. By D. T. Deus nobis hsec otia fecit. The third Edition. London : Printed by E. P. for I. S. and are to be sold by Bernard Langford, at the signe of the Blew Bible, at Holbourne-Bridge. 1638."

The book was originally entered in the 4 Stationers' Registers ' as follows (ed. Arber, vol. iii. p. 392) :

" 17 Octobris [1608].

" Eleazar Edgar Walter Burre. Entred for their copie vnderth[e hjandes of master Richard Etkins and Th[e] wardens A Booke called * Essaies Morall and Theologicall,' vj d ."

This edition of 1638 is stated to be the " Third." It ought, I think, to be called the 11 Fourth " ; for I have a note of editions bearing the dates of 1609, 1629, 1631, and 1638. A. S,

P.S. Since writing the foregoing, I have unexpectedly discovered a clue to the author- ship of the * Essaies,' 1608, above referred to. While consulting Henry Kent Causton's edition of Walton's 'Life of John Donne, D.D.' (one of the scarcest of modern books : see Mr. Gosse's * Life of Dr. Donne,' vol. i. Pref. p. ix) in connexion with quite another matter, I was struck with the following passage in a foot-note to p. 66. I think, everything considered, that there can be little doubt that "Master Tovey,'' and not Daniel Tuvill, was the author of the * Essaies, 1 1608. The author of that work, as we have already seen, was in the service of Lady Harington, to whom he dedicates the volume, and it is presumably the same person who accompanied her son to the continent of Europe. ' ; Master Tovey " predeceased his pupil, the young Lord Harington, who died in 1614. The following particulars are given on the authority of 'Nugse Antiquse' (ed. 1804, vol. ii. p. 308):