perty, which, it was suggested, was misused by their mother and Gascoigne. Whatever the result of the inquiry, Gascoigne seems to have secured a residence at Walthamstow out of Breton's estate, which he retained till his death.
His debts were still numerous, and he had to ‘lurk at villages’ and avoid the city. In 1572 he presented himself for election as M.P. for Midhurst, and was duly returned. But a petition was presented, apparently by his creditors, against his being permitted to take his seat. In this document he was not only charged with insolvency, but with manslaughter and atheism, and with being ‘a common rymer and a deviser of slanderous pasquils against divers persones of great calling’ (cf. Gent. Mag. 1851, pt. ii. 241–4). To avoid further complications, he resolved to go abroad. He took passage at Gravesend for Holland on 19 March 1572. A drunken Dutch pilot ran the vessel aground on the Dutch coast. Twenty of the crew were drowned, and Gascoigne, with two friends, Rowland Yorke and Herle, narrowly escaped with their lives. Gascoigne, who was nicknamed ‘the Green Knight,’ obtained a captain's commission under William, prince of Orange, and saw some severe service. But a quarrel with his colonel soon drove him to Delft, in order to resign his commission to the prince. While the negotiation was in progress a letter addressed to Gascoigne from a lady at the Hague, then in the possession of the Spaniards, fell into the hands of his personal enemies in the Dutch camp. A charge of treachery was raised, but the prince perceived the baselessness of the accusation, and gave Gascoigne passports enabling him to visit the Hague. Gascoigne afterwards joined an English reinforcement under Colonel Chester, and distinguished himself at the siege of Middleburg, when the prince rewarded him with a gift of three hundred guilders in addition to his ordinary pay. Soon afterwards he was surprised by three thousand Spaniards while commanding five hundred Englishmen with Captain Sheffield. The English retreated to Leyden, but their Dutch allies closed the gates against them. All surrendered to Loques, the Spanish general. Gascoigne and his fellow-officers were sent home after four months' imprisonment. His knowledge of languages—Latin, French, Italian, and Dutch—enabled him to converse freely with his Spanish captors; and his friendliness with Loques exposed him to new charges of treachery. He wrote for his patron, Lord Grey of Wilton, two narratives of his adventures while they were in progress, the one entitled ‘The fruites of warre, written uppon this Theame Dulce Bellum inexpertis,’ and the other ‘Gascoignes voyage into Hollande, An. 1572.’ His military adventures occupied less than three years.
In Gascoigne's absence a collected volume of his verse was published without his authority by H[enry?] W[otton?], who had obtained the manuscript from another friend, G[eorge ?] T[urberville ?]. The volume bore the title ‘A hundreth Sundrie Flowres bounde up in one small Poesie: Gathered partely by Translation in the fyne outlandish Gardins of Euripides, Ovid, Petrarke, Ariosto, and others, and partly by invention out of our owne fruitefull orchardes in England,’ London, for R. Smith [1572]. The editor, in the course of the volume, says that Gascoigne, ‘who hath never been dainty of his doings, and therefore I conceal not his name,’ was author of the largest portion of the book. But in spite of the editor's assertion that more than one author is represented in the collection, there is little doubt that Gascoigne is responsible for the whole. The book opens with the ‘Supposes’ and ‘Jocasta,’ which are followed by ‘A discourse of the adventures passed by Master F[erdinando] I[eronimi],’ a prose tale from the Italian, interspersed with a few lyrics; a number of short poems called ‘The deuises of sundrie Gentlemen;’ and finally a long unfinished series of semi-autobiographical reflections in verse, entitled ‘The delectable history of Dan Bartholomew of Bath.’ Many of the shorter pieces were suspected of attacking well-known persons under fictitious names. A loud outcry was raised, to which Gascoigne replied by reissuing, ‘from my poore house at Walthamstow in the forest, 2 Feb. 1575,’ the volume enlarged and altered, under his own name. The new title ran ‘The Posies of George Gascoigne, Esquire. Corrected, perfected, and augmented by the authour,’ London, for R. Smith. Some copies bear in the imprint the name of H. Bynneman as Smith's printer. An apologetic dedication is addressed to ‘the reverend divines unto whom these posies shall happen to be presented.’ The works are here divided into three parts, entitled respectively Flowers, Hearbes, and Weedes. The first part contains short poems and a completed version of ‘Dan Bartholomew;’ the second includes the ‘Supposes,’ the ‘Jocasta,’ and more short poems; the third part is chiefly occupied with a revised version of ‘the pleasant fable of Ferdinando Ieronimi and Leonora de Valasco, translated out of the riding tales of Bartello,’ i.e. Bandello. The volume concludes with a critical essay in prose entitled ‘Certayne notes of Instruction concerning the making of verse or ryme in English, written at the request of Master Edouardo Donati.’ Henceforth Gas-
