COMMENDATORY VERSES FROM THE FOLIO OF 1623.

"TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOUED THE AVTHOR

Mr. William Shakespeare:

AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT VS."

O draw no enuy (Shakespeare) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:
While I confeffe thy writings to be such,
As neither Man nor Mufe can praise too much.
"Tis true, and all mens fuffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise :
For feelieft Ignorance on these may light,

Which, when it founds at beft, but eccho's right;
Or blinde Affection, which doth ne're aduance
The truth, but gropes, and vrgeth all by chance;

Or crafty Malice might pretend this praise,

And thinke to ruine, where it feem'd to raise. These are, as fome infamous Baud, or Whore

Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more? But thou art proofe against them, and indeed Above th' ill fortune of them, or the need.

I, therefore, will begin. Soul of the Age!

The applaufe! delight! the wonder of our Stage! My Shakespeare, rife; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye

A little further, to make thee a roome:

Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe,
And art aliue still, while thy Booke doth liue,
And we have wits to read, and praise to giue.
That I not mixe thee fo, my braine excuses;

I meane with great, but difproportion'd Mufes : For, if I thought my iudgement were of yeeres,

I fhould commit thee furely with thy peeres,
And tell, how farre thou didst our Lily out-fhine,

Or fporting Kid, or Marlowes mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latine and leffe Greeke,
From thence to honour thee, I will not seeke
For names; but call forth thundring Efchilus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to vs,

Paccuuius, Accius, him of Cordoua dead,

To life againe, to heare thy Buskin tread,
And shake a Stage: Or when thy Sockes were on,
Leaue thee alone, for the comparison

Of all, that infolent Greece, or haughtie Rome

Sent forth, or fince did from their afhes come. Triumph, my Britaine, thou haft one to showe,

To whom all Scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time!

And all the Muses still were in their prime, When like Apollo, he came forth to warme Our eares, or like a Mercury to charme!

This refers to fome lines by William Baffe, circa 1622, beginning:-
"Renowned Spenfer lie a thought more nigh

To learned Beaumont, and rare Beaumont ly
A little nearer Chaucer, to make rome

For Shakespeare in your threfold, fourfold tombe."

It does not appear that they were printed before 1633, when they were given among Donnes's Poems, printed in quarto in that year. They are alfo to be found in the edition of Francis Beaumont's Poems given by the printer Blacklock, in 1653, 8vo. See also, Shakespeare's Centurie of Prayfe, by Dr. C. M. Ingleby, 1874, p. 90.

Nature her felfe was proud of his defignes,
And ioy'd to weare the dreffing of his lines!
Which were fo richly spun, and wouen so fit,
As, fince, fhe will vouchfafe no other Wit.
The merry Greeke, tart Aristophanes,

Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please ;
But antiquated, and deferted lye

As they were not of Natures family.
Yet muft I not giue Nature all: Thy Art,
My gentle Shakespeare, must enioy a part.
For though the Poets matter, Nature be,
His Art doth giue the fashion. And, that he,
Who cafts to write a liuing line, must sweat,

(such as thine are) and strike the second heat Vpon the Mufes anuile; turne the fame,

(And himselfe with it), that he thinkes to frame; Or for the lawrell, he may gaine a fcorne,

For a good Poet's made, as well as borne.
And fuch wert thou. Look how the fathers face
Liues in his iffue, euen fo, the race

Of Shakespeares minde, and manners brightly shines
In his well torned, and true-filed lines:

In each of which, he seemes to shake a Lance,
As brandish't at the eyes of Ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Auon! what a fight it were,

To fee thee in our waters yet appeare,

And make those flights vpon the bankes of Thames, 'That fo did take Eliza, and our lames!

But stay, I fee thee in the Hemifphere

Aduanc'd, and made a Constellation there!

Shine forth, thou Starre of Poets, and with rage,

Or influence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage; Which, fince thy flight frō hence, hath mourn'd like night, And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light.

BEN JONSON.

BEING A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF

The Programmes and Circulars

SINCE THE FIRST ISSUED ON APRIL 24TH, 1875,
TO JULY 7TH, 1876

J.

BY

JEREMIAH,

Hon. Secretary of the Urban Club, St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell;
Member of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.