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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
busy in conquering the new, the other in so bravely describing the old world." A peninsula is too cheap to purchase the life of such another man. The mark of Raleigh will stand as a continent supported by opposite seas; for the wanton root of favouritism bursts into honour before the turbulent gust which swept him from the earth. Thomson thus speaks of Raleigh :
Who can speak The namerons worthies of the maiden reign f In Raleigh mark their every ^lory mix'd; Raleigh, the scourge of Spain I whose breast with all The sage, the patriot, and the hero born'd. Nor sunk his vigonr, when a coward-reijiii The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd To glut the vengeance of a vanquishM foe. The active still and unrestrain'd, bis mind Explor'd the vast extent of ages past. And with his prison-houis enrich'd the world j But found no times. In all the long research, So glorlons, or so base, as those he proved. In ttiose he conquered, and in those he bled.
It is peculiar to the fate of Raleigh, that bar- ing before suffered a long imprisonment with the expectation of a public death, his mind had been accustomed to its contemplation, and often dwelt on the event which was now passing. The soul, in its sudden departure, and its future state, is often the subject of his few poems. The follow- ing beautiful song called the Farewell, is at- tributed to Raleigh :
Go, soul ! the body's guest.
Upon a thankless errand. Fear not to touch the best.
The truth shall be thy warrant } Go, since I needs must die. And give the world the lie !
Ten zeal it lacks devotion.
Tell love it U but lust, Tell time it is but motion.
Tell flesh it is bat dost ; And wish them not reply. For than must give the lie I
Tell fortune of her blindness,
Tell nature of decay. Tell friendship of unkindness.
Tell justice of delays And if they wiU reply. Then f(ive them ail Uie lie !
And when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing.
Although to give the lie
Deserves no less than stabbing i
Yet stab at thee who will.
No stab the soul can kill 1
Sir Walter Raleigh's unfinished History of the World, which leaves us to regret that later ages had not been celebrated by his sublime eloquence, was the fruits of eleven years of im- prisonment. It was written for the use of prince Henry, as he and Dallington, who also wrote Aphorisms for the same prince, have told us; the prince looked over the manuscript. Of Ra- leigh it is observed, to employ the language of Hume, " they were struck with the extensive genius of the man, who, being educated amidst naval and military enterprises, had surpassed, in the pursuits of literature, even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives : and they admired his unbroken magnanimity, which at his age, and under his circumstances, could engage him to undertake and execute so great a work as his Biliary of the World." He was, however, as-
sisted in this great work by the learning of several eminent persons; a circumstance whid has not beeh noticed.
The scenes in which illnstrious men have bees found to enjoy the pleasures of retirement and reflection, must be dear to every heart ; so the name of Sherborne Lodge, in Duisetshite, ii consecrated by the name of Raleigh, the grove which he planted, and the walk which he formed, still bear his name.
1619. Died, Samuel Daniel, a poet anil historian, who succeeded Spencer in the office of laureat. He was born in Somersetshire, ii the year 1562, and educated at Magdalen col- \ lege, Oxford ; on leaving which he became gnom of the privT chamber to Anne of Denmark, tke queen of James I. He seems to have passed his days under the protection of royal and noble personages, and distingui.shed himself as a writer oi masque*; the poems, however, were ingenenl so applicable only to the persons and circnm- stances of his own age, that they have fallen almost entirely out of notice ; yet be wrote in a style rather in advance of his time, and in some of his pieces rises to a high degree of excellence. His address to the countess of Cumberland, to whom he had been tutor, is still ranked among the finest effusions of meditative thought in tke English language. His noble patroness erected a monument to bis memory in the church of Beckington, near Philips Norton, in Somerset- shire. His poems were collected and printed it two volumes, 12mo. 1718. He wrote the Hii- tory of England, to the end of the reign of Edward III.
1619. The company of stationers' was ordered to attend in their stand in due form, on the king going to hear a sermon in St. Paul's cathedral.
1620. John Trundle dwelt at the sign of the Nobody, in Barbican, and in this year printed the following curious work :
Westward for Smelts, or the Watermant Fan of mad merry Western Wenches, tcliose tonjya albeit like Bell-Clappers,tJiei/ never leave ringing. Yet their Tales are sweet, and trill much content you. Writen by Kindo Kit, of Kingston.
This is a work of facetious and whimsical tales, related by different fish women; viz. The FishwifesTale of Brainford (Brentford.) Tbe Fishwifes Tale of Standon on the Greene. Tie Fishwifes 'Tale of Richmond. The Fishwifw Tale of Twitnam (Twickenham.) The Fish- wifes Tale of Kingston : and the Fishwifes Tale of Hempton.
1620. In this year was published at Praguf, the Bohemian Chronicle of Dalemile, one of tbe oldest poets and historians of Bohemia. Tke work is curious and valuable, not only on ac- count of the fidelity with which the author has related facts, but alco as being the earliest written monument existing, of the language and litem- ture of the Sclavonian Bohemians. It is la verse, and extends from the birth of Christ to the year 1314. He was a native of Hezrig, and canon of the collegiate church of St. Boles- lane.
