particular instance he had Shakspere's example before him. See Henry VIII, iv. 2. 52:—
'Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading.'
8. 15. The engagement between the English and Dutch fleets took place [off Southwold] in Suffolk. In this memorable battle 18 large Dutch ships were taken, and 14 others were destroyed; Opdam, the Dutch admiral, who engaged the Duke of York, was blown up beside him, and he and all his crew perished. (Malone.)
11. 5. This is probably a reference to the Act of 1664, commonly called the Conventicle Act, 'to prevent and suppress seditious and unlawful conventicles.'
16. Cic. pro Archia, c. 10.
21. Perhaps the writer first alluded to was Dr. Robert Wild, author of Iter Boreale, a panegyric on General Monk, published in April 1660, and often reprinted; which may be the 'famous poem' alluded to in p.13. His works were collected and published in a small volume in 1668. The other poet may have been Richard Flecknoe. Both these poets celebrated the Dutch defeat. (Malone.)
13. 2. Martial. Epigr. viii. 19.
13. 23. George Wither, probably because he was a Puritan and one of Cromwell's major-generals, was the mark for much malicious satire on the part of Tory and Royalist poets. They give him no credit for the lovely lyrical pieces which are for ever associated with his name. Butler (Hudibras, Part I, canto 1), addressing the Puritanic muse, says:—
'Thou that with ale, or viler liquors,
Didst inspire Withers, Prynne, and Vickars.'
Dryden speaks contemptuously of him in the passage before us, and Pope in the Dunciad (i. 296) numbers 'wretched Withers' among 'the dull of ancient days.'
30. 'Auction by inch of Candle, is when, a piece of candle being lighted, people are allowed to bid while it burns, but as soon as extinct, the commodity is adjudged to the last bidder.' (Chambers' Dictionary.) At land sales in France this practice is still in force.
