Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/460

 492 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. iv. Dec. ie, m versal sorrow at his untimely end. His 'Masque of Queens' was dedicated in 1609 " to the glory of our own and grief of other nations, my Lord Henry," whose approval of his work so won the poet's heart that he exclaims:— " For which singular bounty, if my fate (most excellent Prince, and only delicacy of mankind) shall reserve me to the age of your actions, whether in the camp or the council-chamber, that I may write, at nights, the deeds of your days; I will then labour to bring forth some work as worthy of your fame, as my ambition therein is of your i«irdon."— Gilford's one-volume edition of 'The Works of Ben Jonson,' London, 1860. In' Prince Henry's Barriers' he is celebrated as " Meliadus. lord of the isles," and he per- sonates the chief character in ' Oberon, the Fairy Prince,' in which masque there are many lines in the same measure as in the poem quoted by Camden. From the versification, the easy flow of the language, and a certain modernity of style, "not exactly what we call Elizabethan—Shakespeare and Fletcher being uppermost in our minds when we use the phrase," — but rather suggesting "the manner of more recent poets—of Milton, of Dryden, even of Wordsworth" (J. A.Symonds's monograph on ' Ben Jonson,' Longmans, 188G, p. 129), I have not the least hesitation in ascribing the above " epigram " to the author of the inimitable verses on the ' Countess of Pembroke,' and confidently claim it as his. It is, to my thinking, greatly superior in its simple grace and beauty to W. Drummond's laboured poem entitled ' Tears on the Death of Mceliades' and the two following sonnets, the latter of which is called an "epitaph," and, strange to say, was printed in the same year as Camden's book (Turnbull's edition of The Poetical Works of William Drummond,' | London, J. Russell Smith, 1856, pp. 72-9). As for Joseph Hall's two so-called poems, first Eublished m Joshua Sylvester's 'Lachrynue achrymarum ; or, the Spirit of Teares Dis- tilled for the untimely Death of the incom- parable Prince Panaretus' (S. W. Singer's edition of ' Satires by Joseph Hall,' Chiswick, 1824, pp. 174-5), they are so full of conceits and trivialities, and so unworthy of the occasion, that they only show how little he had improved since he wrote his coarse and vituperative satires. As a writer of prose, idiomatic, vigorous, and to the point, the Bishop of Norwich holds a very high place. But " that is another story." In Thomas Fuller's ' Church History of Britain,' book x., cent, xvii., section iv. 22, I read as follows :— " The Death of Prince Henry, a.d. 1612.—England at this time enjoying abundance of peace, plenty, and prosperity, in full speed of her happiness, was checked on a sudden with the sad news of the death of prince Henry, November 6th, in the rage of a malicious extraordinary fever. He was generally lamented of the whole land; both universities pub- lishing their verses in print ; and give me leave to remember four made by Giles Fletcher, of Trinity College in Cambridge, on this prince's plain grave, because wanting an inscription; and it will be honour enough to me, if 1 can make thereof a trans- lation :— Si sapis, attonitus sacro decede sepulchro, Nee cineri qua? sunt nomina qusere novo, Prudens celavit sculptor, nam quisque rescivit, Protinus in lachrymas solvitur, et moritur. If wise, amazed depart this holy grave; Nor these new ashes ask, what names they have. The graver, in concealing them, was wise j For, whoso knows, straight melts in tears, and dies. " Give me leave to add one more, made by Mr. George Herbert, untranslatable for it« elegancy and expressiveness:— Ulteriora timens cum morte paciscitur orbis." I quote from Thomas Tegg & Son's edition, London, 1837. The fact of the tomb wanting an inscription explains the language of Ben Jonson as well as of Giles Fletcher. There can be no imitation. John T. Curry. ' PICKWICKIAN STUDIES.' (See 8th S. xi. 341; 9th S. i. 401.) This is Mr. Percy Fitzgerald's third, and surely last, book on the 'Pickwick Papers.' That great work has been well-nigh talked and written to death by speakers and writers whose accuracy has not kept pace with their enthusiasm. Of these Mr. Fitzgerald is most conspicuous. His " average" of errors is really wonderful. In this book of 114 pages there are mistakes equal to any in the ' History of Pickwick,' or in its supplement.' Pickwickian Manners and Customs.' As before, I shall only speak of what can be verified at once ; for if references are wrong, what are we to say of the inferences therefrom ? P. 5. Eatanswill was Ipswich. This has appeared before. Several pages are devoted to a serious discussion of the theory. An enumeration of pro and con. shows that the convincing argument against the assumption, the first talk with old Weller, is omitted. P. 15. Still at Ipswich, we are told that the Nupkins incidents happened in the month "of May." Why should candles be men- tioned, therefore ? asks Mr. Fitzgerald. Answer, because it was not the month of May. The shooting and cold punch hap- pened in September; Sara's visit to Mrs. Bardell in November; and the Nupkins affair came between, say in October. On the same page the reader is asked to note Mrs.