THYNNE, FRANCIS. Dalio and Millo. The Case is Altered. How? Aske London Imprinted by T. C. for John Smethicke, and are to be sold at his Shop in S. Dunston's Church-yard in Fleet-street. 1604. 4to. 16 leaves. We feel so confident from the initials F. T., and still more from the style and character of this production, that it is by the author of "News from the North," and "the Debate between Pride and Lowliness,” that we have not hesitated to put it under his name: at the same time, in point of excellence, it is certainly not to be compared with either of them, and it is entirely prose. Its popularity is easily established, for it was reprinted "for Thomas Pavyer, dwelling in Cornhill," in the very next year, and other editions of 1608, 1609, 1630, and 1635 have been mentioned by bibliographers. It is dedicated by F. T. " to his very kind and approved friende D. R.;” and F. T. are again placed at the end of an address "to the Reader." It professes, as Thynne was at one time a lawyer, to be a statement and counter-statement of various supposed cases by two old friends who humorously discuss the remedies, if any such can be pointed out, or the unfortunate condition of those who are compelled to suffer without remedy. The whole was meant as a mere piece of drollery and pleasantry, but in some places neither are quite so obvious as might be wished. The old gentlemen, Dalio and Millo, who meet under an oak, are at times rather too garrulous, and tedious in the statement of cases which have no great novelty to recommend them. Thynne (whom we fancy is meant by Millo) fairly admits that "the matters handled are of no great moment, and therefore scarce worth the reading." The public, in the reigns of James and Charles, do not seem to have been of this opinion; and there can be little doubt that, under feigned names and invented circumstances, much that was applicable to the time, and then well understood, was included in the dialogue. Now and then cases are put with the utmost unlegal brevity, as follows: "Dal. Well then; first tell me your opinion in this. Is it not a pittifull case to see a proper man without money? Mill. It is. Dal. And to see a faire woman without wit? Mill. No lesse. Dal. And an old man leacherous? Mill. Alas, poore man! Dal. And a yong man vitious? Mill. He will be sped. Dal. And a rich man covetous? Mill. Tis pitty that he hath so much. * * * Dal. And a monkey kiss a woman. Mill. Ilfavoured urchin!" And thus they proceed through several pages, while the cases they state at length are apparently meant as a counterpoise to such smart interrogatories as the above. They relate to disputes between heirs and their fathers, husbands and their wives, widows and their suitors, &c., but of course much of the humor is lost or obscured. We will quote the commencement of one of Millo's cases, merely to show the style in which most of the book is writ ten : "An old woman, a very old woman, a crooked old woman, a creeping old woman, a lame woman, a deafe woman, a miserable woman, a wicked woman, fell with halfe a sight (for shortly after she fell blind) in love with a prety, neate, nimble, spruse, lively, handsome, and in truth lovely young man; and so faire as, after the manner of country people, she would, if she met him in a morning, bid him good morrow with how doe you sonne? I pray you come neere, if it weere neere her house; and I praie you sit downė, and I pray you drinke; and how doth your good father, and your mother, and all your house? In troth, you are welcome: I am sorie I have no good cheer for you, but such as I have I pray you do not spare: if I have any thing in my house, it is at your commands. Indeede, I ever loved you of a child," &c. It is needless to continue the speech of the old lady, and the result may be easily conjectured. Nearly all the personages introduced are well drawn, and the dialogues characteristically conducted; but when we arrive at the conclusion, we are disposed to wonder what object the author had in carrying on the subject to such a length. Several points of manners are rather drolly illustrated, but nothing is said of the literature or amusements of the time, and on the whole the reader is considerably disappointed. Our only doubt as to Francis Thynne's authorship arises out of the fact, that it is not good enough for him; but in 1604 he was an old man, and, like other old men, may have fancied that what amused him in the writing would amuse others in the reading. TILNEY, EDMUND. - A briefe and pleasant discourse of duties in Mariage, called the Flower of Friendshippe.Imprinted at London by Henrie Denham, dwelling in Pater noster Rowe at the Signe of the Starre. Anno 1568. 8vo. 40 leaves. The dedication to Queen Elizabeth is subscribed "Your Majesties most humble Subject, Edmunde Tilney," who, about ten years after the publication of this work, was appointed Master of the Revels. This fact does not appear to have struck those who have hitherto touched upon the biography of Tilney, (Ath. Cantab. I. 559,) and they give the date of his "Flower of Friendship," 1571, when, in fact, it first appeared and was twice printed in 1568, the copy of 1571 being merely a second reprint. Others assign it to the year 1577, but we have never seen any such impression. (Lowndes, Bibl. Man. p. 1821, edit. 1834.) Our main object is to correct the dates; for the production itself, which the author twice over calls "this flagrant Flower of Friendship," requires no particular notice, although the topic discussed, after the Italian manner in the two divisions, was one which, at the time, attracted a good deal of attention, in consequence of reports regarding the marriage of the Queen with the Duke of Anjou. The character of his work, perhaps, recommended Tilney in 1579 to the office of Master of the Revels, which he held until his death in 1610. Charles Tilney, Gentleman-pensioner to Elizabeth, was executed with Babbington and others in 1586; but whether he was brother, or in any other way related, to Edmund, is not stated. It is, however, a fact worth observation, that in an old MS. note by Sir George Bucke, on the title-page of a copy of the tragedy of "Locrine," 1595, Charles Tilney is asserted to have been the writer of it. If he were, the note of time in the epilogue by Ate, "So let us pray for that renowned maid That eight and thirty years the scepter sway'd,” must have been an insertion on a revival of the drama. Such additions, as well as others, were not unusual; and it was in this way (if at all) that Shakspeare's name may have become misassociated with the tedious tragedy. TOFTE, ROBERT. Laura. The Toyes of a Traveller. Or the Feast of Fancie. Divided into three Parts. By R. T. Gentleman. Poco favilla gran fiamma seconda. London. Printed by Valentine Sims. 1597. 8vo. 39 leaves. The initials R. T. no doubt belong to Robert Tofte, who seems to have travelled in France and Italy, if not in Spain and other countries, and thus qualified himself as a translator, which he afterwards became; but this his earliest work purports to be a collection of short original poems of ten and twelve lines each : not a few of them are dated from towns south of the Alps, or with the names of other towns added to them, as if to point out where they were composed. There is but one from "London," and that occurs on the first page, but following ten lines from "Padua." The adulatory dedication to Lady Lucy, sister to the Earl of Northumberland, states that the poems were "for the most part conceived in Italy, and some of them brought forth in England." Besides Padua and London, Venice, Sienna, Pisa, Roma, Fiorenza, Napoli, Fano, Mantua, and Pesaro, are mentioned as places where the Muse had inspired him. It is very clear, from the dedication, that Tofte intended the work for the press, but the Printer informs the Readers that he did not know who wrote the poems, nor could he guess the lady intended to be addressed: both he and a friend, to whom the copy had been intrusted, had offended by publishing it at all. This we take to be only a literary ruse, as well as the most unusual address from R. B. (forsan Richard Barnfield) at the end of the volume, stating that he had been employed by R. T. to prevent the publication, but that he came too late, as the last sheet was then at the press. He adds, what is of greater importance, that more than thirty of the "sonnets," for so they are called, were not by R. T., but that, as they had been included by the printer, they must share the fate of the rest. These, we may suspect, were by R. B. There are forty "sonnets" in each of the three divisions, and each division has also a conclusion in verse. What makes it more certain that Robert Tofte was the author, is, that he informs la bellissima sua Signora E. C., that his nickname was Robin Redbreast, which we know from other sources belonged to Tofte among his familiar acquaintances. One of the best specimens we can select is the first "sonnet" of the second part: "If I somewhile looke up into the skies, I see (faire Lady) that same cheerefull light, If seas I view, the flowing waves most plaine So as I still behold you to my paine, When as the skies, or th'earth, or seas I see; For in your seemely selfe doth plaine appeare Like faith, like hardnesse, and like brightnes cleare." The above is more conceited than the following, which may be deemed somewhat warm: "Joy of my soule, my blindfold eyes cleare light, Ah! doo not still my soule thus Tantalize, But once (through grace) the same imparadize.” From another short piece, of the same kind, it appears that Laura, the lady he addresses, lived in Fano. In another place, |