lxix
1612 (the daye of the decease of the said Prynce) as lykewise for certaine paymentes made after the deathe of the saide Prynce in the monethes of November and December 1612," is given I think completely, though with changes in the order and errors in the amounts of the payments, in Cunningham's Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court.[1] It is a pleasant and illuminating record of the Prince's pastimes and studies, his expenditures for jewels, horses, plays, tiltings, books and paintings, "guyftes and rewardes." The chief items of literary interest are gifts of 30 to "Mr. Owen the latyne poett," of 10 to "Mr. Coryatt," and pensions to "Mr. Silvester at xx li. per ann. [for two years] . . . xl li.," and to "Mr. Drayton a poett for one yeare . . . x li."[2] It need not cause surprise that the payments for tennis balls were over three times as great as the sums spent in support of literature ; it might be shown that the expenditures of his royal father for his "privie buckehoundes " during any one year would have kept alive all the worthy poets in London for the same length of time.
The second of Murray's books, preserved among the Exchequer Accounts, bears the heading, "The Accounts of Sir David Murray, Master of the Robes to Prince Henry, from June 24, 1608 - September 29, 1609." So far as the writer is aware, no extracts from this have been printed. It has a special value, since, with the account printed by Cunningham, it is the fullest record of the patronage of any member of the royal family. One may infer from it that, if we had Sir John Murray's records of the King's privy purse, we should find frequent payments to scholars and needy poets. The following extracts are the only ones in any way connected with books or writers:—
July 13, 1608. To one who presented a booke to his highnes contayning all the walkes and parkes of Windsor |
5 li. |
