gun the quarrels, and offered us mere injury with great despite and cruelty.

With us (although our good men care not to live long, but to live well), some do live an hundred years, very many unto fourscore; as for threescore, it is taken but for our entrance into age, so that in Britain no man is said to wax old till he draw unto threescore, at which time God speed you well cometh in place; as Epaminondas sometime said in mirth, affirming that until thirty years of age, you are welcome is the best salutation, and from thence to threescore, God keep you; but after threescore, it is best to say, God speed you well for at that time we begin to grow toward our journey's end, whereon many a one have very good leave to go. These two are also noted in us (as things appertaining to the firm constitutions of our bodies), that there hath not been seen in any region so many carcasses of the dead to remain from time to time without corruption as in Britain; and that after death, by slaughter or otherwise, such as remain unburied, by four or five days together, are easy to be known and discerned by their friends and kindred. In like sort the comeliness of our living bodies do continue from middle age, for the most, even to the last gasp, specially in mankind. And albeit that our women do after forty begin to wrinkle apace, yet are they not commonly so wretched and hard-favoured to look upon in their age as the French women, who thereto1 be so often wayward and peevish, that nothing in manner may content them.

3

I might here add somewhat also of the mean2 stature generally of our women, whose beauty commonly exceedeth the fairest of those of the main. This, nevertheless, I utterly mislike in the poorer sort of them (for the wealthier do seldom offend herein), that being of themselves without government, they are so careless in the education of their children (wherein their husbands also are to be blamed), by means whereof, oftentimes, very many of them, neither fearing God, neither regarding either manners or obedience, do oftentimes come to confusion, which, if any correction or discipline had been used toward them in youth, might have proved good members of their commonwealth and country, by their good service and industry. Thus much, therefore, of the constitutions of our bodies.

3. STORY OF CANUTE AND HIS COURTIERS. -(HOLINSHED'S "HISTORY OF ENGLAND," BOOK VII., CHAP. XIII.)

This Cnute was the mightiest prince that ever reigned over the English people, for he had the sovereign rule over all Denmark, England, Norway, Scotland, and part of Sweden. While he was at Rome he received many great gifts of the emperor,5 and was highly honoured of him, and likewise of the Pope, and of all other the high

1 i. e., besides.

3 i. e., the Continent. Canute

2 i. e.. moderate, neither too tall nor too little.

4 So the Danes spell the name which we usually spell

* Conrad, Emperor of Germany, is meant.

ROBERT GREENE.

53

princes at that time present at Rome, so that when he came home (as some write) he did grow greatly into pride, insomuch that being near to the Thames, or rather (as others write) upon the sea-strand, near to Southampton, and perceiving the water to rise by reason of the tide, he cast off his gown, and wrapping it round together, threw it on the sands very near the increasing water, and sat him down upon it, speaking these or the like words to the sea,- Thou art," saith he, "within the compass of my dominion, and the ground whereon I sit is mine, and thou knowest that no wight' dare disobey my commandments; I therefore do now command thee not to rise upon my ground, nor to presume to wet any part of thy sovereign lord and governor." But the sea, keeping her course, rose still higher and higher, and overflowed not only the king's feet, but also flashed up into his legs and knees. Wherewith the king started suddenly up and withdrew from it, saying withal to his nobles that were about him,-" Behold you noblemen, you call me king, which cannot so much as stay by my commandment this small portion of water. But know ye for certain, that there is no king but the Father only of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom He reigneth, and at whose beck all things are governed. Let us therefore honour Him, let us confess and profess Him to be the Ruler of heaven, earth, and sea, and besides Him none other."

From thence he went to Winchester, and there with his own hands set the crown upon the head of the image of the crucifix, which stood there in the church of the apostles Peter and Paul; and from thenceforth he would never wear that crown nor any other. Some write that he spake not the former words to the sea upon any presumptuousness of mind, but only upon occasion of the vain title, which in his commendation one of his gentlemen gave him by way of flattery (as he rightly took it), for he called him the most mightiest king of all kings, which ruled most at large both men, sea, and land. Therefore to reprove the fond2 flattery of such vain persons, he devised and practised the deed before mentioned, thereby both to reprove such flatterers, and also that men might be admonished to consider the omnipotence of Almighty God.

XI. ROBERT GREENE.

ROBERT GREENE was born in 1560, and educated at Cambridge. He became a writer for the stage, and is supposed to have written some of those plays which were afterwards remodelled by Shakspere. After a very immoral life, he died of a surfeit in 1592. His works do not possess much literary merit, but from their casual allusions to the early career of Shakspere, they are much valued by antiquarians.

1 ie., person.

2 Fond in our old writers means always foolish.

FORTITUDE IN ADVERSITY.—(GREENE'S "ARCADIA, OR MENAPHON.")

row."2

Sephestia, thou seest no physic prevails against the gaze of the basilisk, no charm against the sting of the tarantula, no prevention to divert the decree of the fates, nor no means to recall back the baleful hurt of fortune. Incurable sores are without Avicen's1 aphorisms, and therefore no salve for them but patience. Then, my Sephestia, sith thy fall is high and fortune low, thy sorrows great and thy hope little, seeing me partaker of thy miseries, set all upon this, "it is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in their sorChance is like Janus, double-faced, as well full of smiles to comfort as of frowns to dismay; the ocean at the deadest ebb returns to a full tide; when the eagle means to soar highest, he raiseth his flight in the lowest dales; so fareth it with fortune, who in her highest extremes is most inconstant; when the tempest of her wrath is most fearful, then look for a calm; when she beats thee with nettles, then think she will strew thee with roses; when she is most familiar with furies, her intent is to be most prodigal, Sephestia. Thus are the arrows of fortune feathered with the plumes of the bird halcyon, that changeth colour with the moon, which, however she shoots them, pierce not so deep but they may be cured. But, Sephestia, thou are daughter to a king, exiled by him from the hope of a crown; banished from the pleasures of the court to the painful fortunes of the country; parted for love from him thou canst not but love; from Maximus, Sephestia, who for thee hath suffered so many disfavours as either discontent or death can afford. What of all this? is not Hope the daughter of Time? Have not stars their favourable aspects as they have froward opposition? Is there not a Jupiter as there is a Saturn? Cannot the influence of smiling Venus stretch as far as the frowning constitution of Mars? I tell thee, Sephestia, Juno foldeth in her brows the volumes of the destinies; whom melancholy Saturn deposeth from a crown, she mildly advanceth to a diadem; then fear not, for if the mother live in misery, yet hath she a sceptre for the son; let the unkindness of thy father be buried in the cinders of obedience, and the want of Maximus be supplied with the presence of his pretty babe, who, being too young for fortune, lies smiling on thy knee, and laughs at fortune. Learn by him, Sephestia, to use patience, which is like the balm in the Vale of Jehosaphat, that findeth no wound so deep but it cureth; thou seest already fortune begins to change her view, for after the great storm that pent our ship, we found a calm that brought us safe to shore; the mercy of Neptune was more than the envy of Æolus, and the discourtesy of thy father is proportioned with the favour of the gods. Thus, Sephestia, being copartner of thy misery, yet do I seek to allay thy martyrdom; being sick to.

3

1 i.e., Avicenna, the famous Arabian physician.

2 Greene here quotes the well-known Latin line, "Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. 3 The husband of Sephestia.

myself, yet do I play the physician to thee, wishing thou mayest bear thy sorrows with as much content as I brook my misfortunes with patience.

XII, ROBERT SOUTHWELL,

ROBERT SOUTHWELL was born in 1560, and educated at Douay. He entered the order of Jesuits, and in England, where the order was viewed with much suspicion, he was frequently imprisoned on the charge of being concerned in plots against the Queen, and was at last executed at Tyburn 1595. He wrote "St Peter's Complaint," and other poems, and the "Triumphs over Death," to console the Hon. R. Sackville for the death of his lady. This last work is highly eloquent.

SUBMISSION TO DEATH.'-(SOUTHWELL'S "TRIUMPHS OVER DEATH.")

Nature's debt is sooner exacted of some than of other, yet is there no fault in the creditor that exacteth but his own, but in the greediness of our eager hopes, either repining that their wishes fail, or willingly forgetting their mortality, whom they are unwilling by experience to see mortal; yet the general tide washeth all passengers to the same shore, some sooner, some later, but all at the last; and we must settle our minds to take our course as it cometh, never fearing a thing so necessary, yet ever expecting a thing so uncertain. It seemeth that God purposely concealed the time of our death, leaving us resolved between fear and hope of longer continuance : cut off unripe cares, lest with the notice and pensiveness of our divorce from the world, we should lose the comfort of needful contentment, and before our dying day languish away with expectation of death. Some are taken in their first step into this life, receiving in one their welcome and farewell, as though they had been born only to be buried, and to take their passport in this hourly middle of their course; the good, to prevent change; the bad, to shorten their impiety. Some live till they be weary of life, to give proof of their good hap that had a kindlier passage; yet though the date be divers, the debt is all one, equally to be answered of all as their time expireth; for who is the man “shall live and not see death?” sith we all die," and like water slide upon the earth.”2

Seeing, therefore, that death spareth none, let us spare our tears for better uses, being but an idle sacrifice to this deaf and implacable executioner. And for this, not long to be continued, where they can never profit, Nature did promise us a weeping life, exacting tears for custom as our first entrance, and for suiting our whole

1 This and the previous extract are taken from reprints of scarce works in Sir E. Brydges's. Archaica; the meaning of some expressions is rather obscure, and some typographical mistakes may be suspected, either in the original copies or in Sir Egerton's re-issue. 2 See 2 Samuel xiv. 14.

course in this doleful beginning; therefore they must be used with measure that must be used so often, and so many causes of weeping lying yet in the debt, sith we cannot end our tears, let us at the least reserve them. If sorrow cannot be shunned, let it be taken in time of need, sith otherwise being both troublesome and needless, it is a double misery, or an open folly. We moisten not the ground with precious waters; they were stilled to nobler ends, either by their fruits to delight our senses, or by their operation to preserve our healths. Our tears are water of too high a price to be prodigally poured in the dust of any graves; if they be tears of love, they perfume our prayers, making them odour of sweetness, fit to be offered on the altar before the throne of God; if tears of contrition, they are water of life to the dying souls; learn, therefore, to give sorrow no long dominion over you.

They that are upon removing send their furniture before them; and you,' still standing upon your departure, what ornament could you rather wish in your new abode than this? that did ever please you? God thither sendeth your adamants, whether He would draw your heart; and casteth your anchors where your thoughts should lie at road, that seeing your love taken out of the world, and your hopes disanchored from the stormy shore, you might settle your desires where God seemeth to require them. The terms of our life are like the seasons of the year, some for sowing, some for growing, and some for reaping; in this only different, that as the heavens keep their prescribed periods, so the succession of times have their appointed changes. But in the seasons of our life, which are not3 the law of necessary causes, some are reaped in the seed, some in the blade, some in the unripe ears, all in the end; this harvest depending upon the reaper's will.

Withdraw your eyes from the ruin of this cottage, and cast them upon the majesty of the second building, which St Paul saith shall be incorruptible, glorious, strange, spiritual, and immortal. Night and sleep are perpetual mirrors, figuring in their darkness, silence, shutting up of senses, the final end of our mortal bodies; and for this some have entitled sleep the eldest brother of death; but with no less convenience it might be called one of death's tenants, near unto him in affinity of condition, yet far inferior in right, being but tenant for a time of that which is death's inheritance. For by virtue of the conveyance made unto him in paradise, that dust we were, and to dust we must return, he hath hitherto showed his seigniory over all, exacting of us not only the yearly, but hourly reverence of time, which even by minutes we defray unto him; so that our very life is not only a memory, but a part of our death, sith the longer we have lived, the less we have to live. What is the daily lessening of our life but a continual dying?

1 The Honourable Robert Sackville.

2 Lady Sackville.

3 Some such expression as "regulated by "seems to be wanted here to make the sense complete.

4 i. e., a memorial, something to remind us of death.