“The cause to you is not un-ken'd, That God's mis-makes ye do amend, By craft and great agility, Tailors and souters, blest are ye. And tailors, too, with well-made clothes, Though God make a mis-fashioned man, And fashion him better by sic thre," Of God great kindness may ve claim. Another especial object of Dunbar's satire, was "Mr. Andro Kennedy,” "an idle dissolute scholar," whose testament commenceth thus "I maister Andro Kennedy, Curro quando sum vocatus, Begotten by some incubi, Or by some friar infatuatus; In faith I cannot tell read ly, Unde aut ubi fui natus, But in truth I know truly, Quod sum diabolus incarnatus. Nume condo testamentum meum, Unto my lordes wine-cellar. Quia in cellario cum cervisia. I'd rather lye both early and late, Than in my lordes bed of state. I leave unto the town of Air; Where drink and grain may every day Be casten super faciem meam." The ceremonies at his interment are to be equally characteristic— "In die mea sepulturæ, I will none have but our own gang, Et duos rusticos de rure Bearing a barrel on a stang; Drinking and playing cup out,' even Sicut egomet slešam ; Singing and shouting with high steven, Potum meum cum fletu miscebam. I will no priests for me to sing 'Dies illa, dies ire;' Mr. Laing observes on this last poem :— Nor yet the bells for me to ring; Sicut semper solet fieri; But a bag-pipe to play a spring, Et unum ale-wosp ante me; Quatuor iagenas cervisiæ : "The late Octavius Gilchrist, in his remarks on Macaronic poetry Brydges' Censura Literaria, vol. 111. p. 359), in mentioning Theophilus Folengo of Mantus, known best under his assumed name of Merlinus Cocaius, as the supposed inventor of that kind of verse, in his Opus Macaronicum,' first published in 1517, says, ⚫ he was preceded by the laureat Skelton, whose works were printed in 1512, who was himself anticipated by the great genius of Scotland, Dunbar, in his Testament of Andro Kennedy,' and the last must be considered as the revivor or introducer of Macaronic or burlesque poetry. This opinion, however, is not quite correct, as the mixture either of Latin and English words, or in alternate lines, as used by Skelton and Dunbar, does not constitute what is called Macaronic verse, the peculiarity of which consists in the use of Latin words, and of vernacular words with Latin terminations, usually in Hexameter verse. One of the earliest and most celebrated pieces of the kind which is known in this country, is Drummond of Hawthornden's Polemo-Middinia.” Mr. Laing is doubtlessly right in saying that Dunbar's poem is not Macaronie verses. How Gilchrist could think that this kind of writing, alternate lines of Latin and English, was not older than Dunbar, we cannot conceive. We 1 make a collection of some twenty or thirty songs in the same style, from fth century to Dunbar's time, and such a song in Latin and old High Dutch, on an event of the tenth century, preserved in a MS. of the middle of the eleventh century, which begins "Nunc almus assis filius thero euuigero thiernum Benignus fautor mihi thaz ig iz cosan muozi," &c. has been printed more than once. As, however, Mr. Laing does not seem to be aware that Macaronic poetry is of old date in England, we will, in conclusion, print a short Macaronic poem from a MS. of the reign of Henry VI. (at Cambridge), describing quaintly the characteristic commodities of most of our English cities. Lundon' Eborac' Lincoln' Hec sunt Lundonis pira pomaque regia thronus Cap'l'm kekus. porcus. fimus Eboracus Stal. nel. lamprones. kelc et mele salt salamones Couentr' Brystoll Cantuar' Cardones mille. hec sunt insignia ville. Hec sunt Brystollys, bladelys dozelys quoque bollys Hec sunt Cantorum iuga dogmata bal baculorum Poems on several occasions, by S. P. (Samuel Pordage,) Gent. 1660. 12mo.Troades, a Tragedie, written in Latine, by L. A. Seneca, translated into English, by S. P. 1660. Some in my speedy pace I must outrun, As lame Mephibosheth the Wizard's son. SO sings the muse of Dryden in his Absalom and Achitophel; and under the name of Mephibosheth, was concealed that of the person whose works stand at the head of our paper, Samuel Pordage. S. Pordage wrote Azariah and Nushai, 1681, to answer Absalom and Achitophel; also 'the Medal Reversed.' He published a Romance, called Iliana, and prepared a new edition of Reynolds's God's Revenge Against Murder, 1679. Pordage is not mentioned in Ellis's Specimens, or Southey's, but some account of him may be seen in Scott's Dryden, vol. ix. p. 372. We find also the following work under his name: Mundorum Explicatio, or an explanation of an hieroglyphical figure, shewing the progress of a soul from the coast of Babylon, to the city of Jerusalem, a Sacred Poem;' 8vo. 1661. This volume, as well as that at the head of this article, is very rare. S. Pordage was a member of the Society of Lincoln's Inn, and, in addition to what is mentioned above, he wrote two plays in heroic verse. 1. Herod and Mariamne, 4to. 1673, acted at the Duke's Theatre. 2. Siege of Babylon, 4to. 1678, founded on the Romance of Cassandra. He was the son of the Rev. Mr. John Pordage, Rector of Bradfield in Berkshire, and formerly head steward to Philip, the second Earl of Pembroke. We are unable to give any further account of the Poet. It is some little time since we read his translation of the Troades of Seneca, but these harmonious lines of the Chorus, ever since remained in our memory. For what husbands should we I trough So that your hands at libertie May be; with furious strokes your breasts To wound, this habit likes me best. Your company I do agnize, Let now return your wonted cries, Exceed your wonted manner too, 'Tis Hector now lament we do. Mr. Pordage's notions on the subject of lyrical harmony of numbers were very singular, as exempli gratia : "Let The greedy hope, the sad fear set. Body and soul yields to Death's power. Great grief desires still to see And not alone the pain to bear No man wretched himself doth behold Again When that the golden fleeced ram When they nothing beheld but waves, And tossed ships disjoin our tears, At trumpet sounds shall hoist, and when Of Mr. Pordage's translation, we presume our readers have now had sufficient specimens. We could have wished his rhymes had been a little more symphonious than ram-him; and when-from; but we cannot say at this distance of time, how Mr. Pordage may have pronounced these words, or how near the Berkshire provincial accent brought them together. His original poems consist of about fifty pages, and begin with a panegyrick to his Excellency General Monck, March 28, 1660; and another on his Majesty's entrance into London, in which the Monarch must have been pleased with the matter, if not the poetry of the following couplet : Adorn'd the female beauties of the land, To see their Sovereign, in balconies stand. especially as it is followed by the wish expressed in these lines, May Nestor's years his happy reign attend, May Heaven his breast with Solomon's choice befriend. Verily, the Merry Monarch was not much behind him, who by fair idolatresses fell.' Then come some tears dropt on the herse of the incomparable Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester.' In his Praise of his Mistress,' he is lavish of his ornamental diction. Her shape in wax it would be most hard to frame; Her nose, a comely prominence, doth part Her lips are snips of scarlet July flowers, Her arms due measure of proportion have, Our eyes, and captive hold from falling And to spectators pays a recompense. If we are not mistaken, the last line is in the true genuine vein of the late noble poet Edward Lord Thurlow; and so saying, we now leave Mr. Samuel Pordage in his road to immortality. J. M. 1 REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Lives of the Sacred Poets. By Robert Aris Wilmot. on THE most impartial criticism would find in this volume much to praise, and, we sincerely think, little which any disapprobation could justly hang. Whether the term of Sacred' can be with full propriety applied to persons who among a mass of miscellaneous poetry, some amorous and jo vial, have intermixed a few serious strains, we think may admit a doubt; but granting that these gay cavaliers, and sword-and-buckler men were truly designated; we think the manner in which their biographies are composed, their merits elucidated, their beauties unfolded, and their characteristic points discovered, is highly creditable to the author. Mr. Wilmot's research and industry have been rewarded by many valuable rectifications of ancient errors, as well as by the advancement of much previously undiscovered truth; his criticisms are sound and just; the animation and feeling with which he writes, show a poetical mind; and the moral tone which is diffused over the whole work, is in harmony with the gentle character of the subject on which it is employed. We will venture to say that this volume contains some of the most graceful and elegant pieces of critical biography that have lately issued from the press. The Committee of General Literature have judiciously selected their workman in this instance. Having said thus much, we shall merely note down a few remarks of not much consequence, as they occurred in the perusal. P. 21. He feeds me in fields which been' (23d Psalm by Francis Davison). On which the author observes, so in the original MS.' The word is bin, the old word forbe,' altered by the transcriber for the sake of the rhyme. P. 27. Mr. Wilmot says that the torch of allegorical poetry was extinguished in the hands of the tro Fletchers. Has he forgotten, when he made this assertion, Thomson's CasGENT. MAG. VOL. IL tle of Indolence? or Dryden's Hind and Panther? P. 36. The Rev. A. Norton, the Mr. present Rector of Alderton.' Norton is not the Rector, but the Curate. P. 40. When Mr. Wilmot says, there is little to blame in the execution of Sannazar's poem 'de Partu Virginis,' he does not do justice to that fine and elegant poem, to the delicacy of its imagery, and the classical purity of its style. We can trace a passage in it, which Collins did not disdain to imitate. P. 47. There is one exquisite line in the 82d stanza (of Fletcher's Christ's Victorie), in allusion to the shepherds at the Nativity (says Mr. Wilmot), 'A star comes dancing up the orient.' But the image and expression belong to Chaucer. P. 57. The mention of Sylvester' reminds us to ask why his name does not appear among the Sacred Poets? Does Mr. Wilmot believe that singularly striking poem, Go, Soul, the Body's Guest,' belongs to Sylvester? It is in the folio edition of his works. Of Milton's early and assiduous study of him, we have no doubt. He appears to have had a Sylvester always open on his table. P. 74. Mr. Wilmot ought to have mentioned Samuel Rowlands as an early satirist; and one who anatomises the follies of the time in which he lived with a satirical force not inferior,' says Sir Walter Scott, to that of Hall or Donne.' His Letting of Humour's Blood,' was published in 1600, and ran through four editions before 1611. They are in a lighter and pleasanter vein than either of the satirists just named. P. 77. 'Shenstone was thankfu. that his name presented no facilities to a punster.' What would he have said, had he read the epitaph written on him by Mons. Girardin, and which would have vexed his gentle sprite as much as a pun. Here it is, as it 3 R stands in the gardens of Ermenonville, perhaps to the present day : "This plain stone To William Shenstone. A genius natural: Artificial greens,-rural." P. 127. The Psalms of Milton are only worthy of Hopkins.'- Alack a day! when did Mr. Hopkins thus indite? "Who by His all-commanding might The flood stood still like walls of glass, He foil'd bold Seon and his host, P. 148. We think Mr. Wilmot hardly fair to the merits of Cooper's Hill.' Denham had a rich vein of wit, though licentious. His famous Quatrain' was so popular, that we find in a poem called Apollo's Edict,' the following verses: "If Anna's happy reign you praise, P. 196. Mr. Wilmot has not done justice to Heywood's Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels,' which is a work of great curiosity and merit, and amusement. We beg leave to refer our readers to the work itself, and afterwards to Brydges's Restituta,' vol. I. p. 240; Drake's Shakspeare,' 1. p. 688; and Blackwood's Magazine, Nov. 1818, p. 171. P. 199. The play of Argalus and Parthenia,' 1639, is by Henry Glapthorne, and the plot is founded on the Jory of those two lovers in Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia. It is slight, but pleasing. P. 212. Benlowe's Theophila' is not 'excessively rare,' as far as the text goes; but it is very rare to find it complete in the plates. P. 232. On Sundays (Lord Herbert) would have his chaplain read one of Smyth's Sermons." This was Master Henrie Smith, who was called 'The Silver-tongued Preacher.' His Sermons were printed in 1594; and reprinted in 1674, with a Life by Ful ler. There is an epigram of Harington upon him; and there is an e graved portrait of him, copied by Mr. Nichols, in vol. II. of his History of Leicestershire; where are also accounts of him by Fuller and Wood -Quarles, in his Divine Fancies,' p. 76, says, Smith's dainty Serwa have in plenty stored me.' In Sylves ter's Du Bartas,' p. 401, is Mierscosmographia, the Little World's [scription, or the Map of Man, from Latin Sapphics of that famous la Preacher in London, Mr. Henrie Smith, translated and dedicated to the Right Honourable Honoria Lady Hay, by Joshua Sylvester.' Also, Certain Epigrams of the same Master H. S. translated and dedicated to dear-affected, dear-respected Dr. H and Dr. Hill.' Id. p. 408. The Sermons themselves are admirable, a are often read by the unworthy writer of this note, to purify as well as to enrich his mind, when it is soiled the business and contention of the world, and starved by the barren dscourses of modern divines. P. 234. Mr. Wilmot observes, 46 'Religion (i. e. religious feelings) in t child is generally considered wonder as if the visitations of that daughter of Heaven were only made to us when op pressed with years, and in the winter our days. But this belief is one of the many errors in which we are so fond of indulging. A cruse of pure and beautsful thoughts is entrusted unto each of us at our birth, and if we treasure it as we ought, and employ its divine poter only in the nourishment of the good asd the holy, it will not waste or diminish in the hour of adversity." To all this we agree, for it is no thing more than a truism which ad must acknowledge; but is there nothing, is there not every thing, be 1 |