the authority of Golding, and Phaer, and Twyne, who had rendered Ovid and Virgil "into as indigest and breathlesse a kind of verse." This epistle is subscribed "R. F. Gent. and no more," as if the author might have been more had he wished it. The initials are not those of any known author of the period, excepting Francis Rous, provost of Eton, who published "Thule, or Vertues Historie," in 1598, and is not very likely to have had anything to do with this translation.1 All the rest of the production is translation, and in verse, commencing with "the Preface of Frederike Dedekind, to maister Simon Bing, Secretarie of Hassia," which fills thirteen widely printed pages. When Swift wrote his "Directions to Servants," as well as his "Polite Conversation," he evidently had the original of this book in his mind. It was printed in London, 12mo, 1661, under the title of "Grobianus et Grobiana, de Morum Simplicitate Libri tres.” It is not at all likely that R. F.'s translation had ever been met with by Swift, but another, printed at London in 1739, was expressly dedicated to him. The original was published in a complete shape at Frankfort in 1584, but parts of it had previously appeared in 1549, 1552, and 1558. Dr. Nott does not seem to have been aware, when he wrote the note on a passage in his reprint of Dekker's "Gull's Hornbook," 1609, p. 4, that an English version of "Grobianus et Grobiana” had appeared in print only four years earlier. Dekker's obligation to it is pointed out in Vol. I. p. 253. The work before us consists of three books, divided into thirty chapters. What follows will show the general style in which R. F. executed his task, although a good deal of grossness is here and there to be complained of, fully warranted, however, by his original. It is from Book II. Chapter 2, entitled, “ What manners and gestures the guest ought to observe in eating: "As soone as ere thou spi'st some dishes on the table stand, Be sure that thou, before the rest, thrust in thy greedie hand. 1 We have accidentally omitted to observe, what will naturally occur to everybody, that R. F. cannot be taken as the initials of Francis Rous, unless, as was not very unusual at that date, he reversed them on the title-page for the sake of better concealment. It is but labour lost that I againe the same should tell. That which I once have told to you you never should refuse, But in each place and companie you boldly must it use. "And whatsoever meate your hoste unto the boorde doth send, Although you cannot choose but very much the taste commend, Yet finde therein something or other that mislikes your minde, And, though it can deserve no blame, be sure some fault to finde. 'This is too salt, and this too fresh, and this is too much rost; This is too sowre, and this too sweete: your cooke's to blame, mine host.' And speake so lowde that all may heare thee which are then in place, For by this meanes thou maist in jeast the carefull cooke disgrace. And by this tricke thou wilt deserve a civill yonker's name, And happy is he nowadayes which can attaine such fame. * * * "When thou art set, devoure as much as thou with health canst eate; Thou therefore wert to dinner bid, to helpe away his meate. Thrust in as much into thy throate as thou canst snatch or catch, And with the gobbets which thou eatst thy jaws and belly stretch. If with thy meate thou burne thy mouth, then cloake it craftely, That others may, as well as thou, partake that miserie. "To throw thy meate from out thy mouth into the dish againe I dare not bid thee, for it is too clownish and too plaine." Such, however, was not Dr. Johnson's advice, nor his practice. Dedekind's hero came within the Doctor's class of "fools who would have swallowed it." We make another extract from Chapter 7 of the same Book, where the author describes what ought to be the conduct of a man of spirit and promise, who, with his companions, has freely partaken of any intoxicating beverage: "And if you heare that any man is gone unto his bed, Because the wine had long before (poore man!) possest his head, Upon the benches and the tables boldly thou maiest go; Nay, which is more, I give thee leave all these to overthrow: In briefe with formes throwne up and downe thou oughtst the harth to breake, Before one word of thy departure thou beginst to speake." The work ends on sign. S 4 b, with "the Author's Conclusion to Master Simon Bing, wherein he showeth all the intent and practise of this present worke.” SCOTT, THOMAS. Philomythie or Philomythologie, wherin outlandish Birds, Beasts and Fishes are taught to speake true English plainely. By Tho. Scott, Gent. London for Francis Constable &c. 1616. 8vo. &c. This is the first edition of a curious, but not very intelligible book. The author seems to have been so fearful lest his satire should be considered personal and individual, that ambiguity often renders him incomprehensible. The present copy differs from some others in the circumstance that the second title-page, on sign. F 2, “Certaine Pieces of this Age paraboliz'd,” is dated 1615, and not 1616. The first title-page is engraved by R. Elstracke; and in an address "to the Reader" (which follows "Sarcasmos Mundo" and other preliminary poems) we meet with the following mention of Spenser: "If Spencer were now living to report His Mother Hubberts tale, there would be sport This shows clearly that Spenser by his "Mother Hubberd's Tale" had given such offence, that, had he been living in 1616, he would have run the risk of being "tossed in a blanket." It seems probable that it was "called in " on account of the severity of its satire and personal allusions; but a question has arisen whether a notice of the "Tale of Mother Hubburd in "The Ant and the Nightingale," 1604, which unquestionably was highly disapproved, applies to Spenser's satirical apologue, or to some tract published under nearly the same title. The reason for the latter opinion is, that, as "Mother Hubberd's Tale" has come down to us, it contains nothing about “rugged bears," or "the lamentable downfall of the old wife's platters." This is true; but that may have been the very part of the poem which most offended, and was therefore afterwards erased by Spenser. Still, we are of opinion that the writer of "The Ant and the Nightingale” did not refer to Spenser, but to some imitator; and we are confirmed in this belief by a second allusion to "Mother Hubburd” in another tract which the same author, T. M., also printed in 1604, called “The Black Book,” which contains the following words: "And to confirm this resolution the more, each slipped downe his stocking, baring his right knee, and so began to drinke a health halfe as deepe as Mother Hubburds cellar, that she was called in for selling her working bottle-ale to bookbinders, and spurting the froth upon Courtier's noses." Here again there is nothing of the kind in Spenser's "Mother Hubberd's Tale" and we may conclude, with tolerable certainty, that some lost publication, with a title similar to that of Spenser, and purposely adopted for the sake of his popularity, was intended by T. M. Scott professes himself afraid to follow the example of Spenser. The second portion of his work contains four emblematical engravings, which may also doubtless be assigned to Elstracke. The most remarkable poem is entitled "Regalis Justitia Jacobi,” in which Scott celebrates the impartial justice of King James, in refusing to pardon Lord Sanquhar, or Sanquier, for the deliberate murder of Turner, the celebrated fencer, in 1612, as may be seen in Wilson's History of that reign. Turner had himself killed an adversary named Dunn in 1602, by piercing him to the brain through the eye, (see Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry, I. 326,) and the animosity of Lord Sanquhar was occasioned by the loss of an eye while fencing with Turner. Scott alludes as follows to these incidents: "This silly Fencer, in his ignorance bold, Seemes a true friend to him would have him so. He thinks (now Dunne is dead) to die in peace, On p. 126 is a blank for some part of the copy which the printer had lost, "the Author being far from London,” but it is promised that the defect shall be supplied in the next impression. The second edition did not make its appearance until 1622, and there was a third in 1640. The author's style The author's style is diffuse and wordy, and his satire, where it is intelligible, far from pungent. SENECA, L. A.-L. A. Seneca the Philosopher, his Booke of Consolation to Marcia. Translated into an English Poem. London. Printed by E. P. for Henry Seile &c. 1635. 1635. 4to. 24 leaves. This production has been attributed to Sir R. Freeman, but erroneously, for an existing copy has a special dedication to the Earl of Bridgewater, subscribed "Most devoted to your Vertues, R. C.," the letters R. C. being MS., and the whole leaf containing the dedication being specially prefixed to the book, and of a larger size. The initials are added in MS., probably because the writer originally meant his work to be entirely anonymous, and not even thus far to subscribe the dedication. The following is a part of this unpublished address: "How well your life doth hit the triple white, Whose goodnesse, gravenesse, greatnesse all delight. May that bright name shine uneclipsed here, At the back of the title-page the translator requests the reader not to mar his verses in the reading; and whoever R. C. might be, he writes with considerable facility. He thus commences his tenth chapter: "These goods of fortune that about us shine, As children, honours, riches and a fine And noble wife, fair palaces, and store Of suitors, that attend us at our doore, With all things else that are from fortune sent, |