dwell, and Whetstone clearly had Surrey, Wyat, and Turbervile in view, when he penned some of his miscellaneous pieces. He has several poems in laudation of distinguished ladies of his day. We transcribe one, to the Lady of Sir William Cecil, not an ordinary subject of eulogium :

"In praise of my Lady CECIL of Bourleigh.
"The cruell warres that Nature long did move
By force to plucke good Vertue from her throne,
Appeard in peace to shewe the fruits of love
Of precious mould kynde faults to worke anon,
And having shapt this seemely dame of clay,
For Vertues helpe she sent her straight away.
"When Vertue viewd dame Natures worthy skill,
With great delight she kist the Ladies face;
And then (to shewe that Nature wisht her will)
She posted to her treasure house of grace,
Her golden shewes, where she, good Ladie, spoyles
To decke this dame: thus was she both their toyles.

"And with these gifts into the world she came,
Whereas she doth in worthy credite rest:

Yea sure her life so beautifieth her name,

As Envie graunts (who sildome says the best)

Her wit, her weedes, her wordes, her workes and all
So modest are, as slaunder yealdes her thrall."

This is not very happy, nor even very clear. Lady Burghley died in the spring of 1589. The longest poem, in the division, called "The Ortchard of Repentance," is certainly autobiographical, and seems written in imitation of Gascoigne's production of the same class, Dulce Bellum Inexpertis. Whetstone's second stanza is this, and the whole is written in the same measure:

"Though straunge at first my tale may seeme in sight,
Yet wisely wayde the cause appeareth playne,
Why backward hap my forward hope did quite,
Why losse I found where I did looke for gayne;

Why povertie I reapt in lue of paine,

For, trye who list, and he by proofe shall see

With honest myndes the world will hardly gree."

had not filled the lucrative post. Philip Massinger only says of his father that "he lived and died in the service of the honourable house of Pembroke." See the dedication of "The Bondman," 1623 and 1638.

The tenor and spirit of the piece may be judged from this specimen, and in the end Whetstone gives what he calls "A Larges to the World." It is in this portion of the work that the unknown versemaker, "Robert Cudden of Grayes Inn," flourishes. He adopts a lyrical form, and thus addresses his friend. It is part of an "Answer to G. W. opinion of Trades."

"I thought (my George) thy Muse would fully fit
My troubled minde with least of settled doome,
And tell the Trade wherein I sure might sit

From nipping neede in wealthy walled roome;
But, out alas, in tedious tale

She telles the toyles of all,

And forgeth fates t' attend estates,

That seeld or never fall.”

This address fills thirteen such stanzas; the last but one being

"The Lawyer he, the man that measures right,

By reason, rule and lawe conjoyned in one,
Thy roving Muse squares much with his delight,
Whose only toyle all states depend upon:
For Lawyer gone, good right adieu;
Dicke Swash must rule the roaste,

And madding might would banish quite
Tom Troth from English coast."

The above does not much whet the appetite for more, but we find Cudden mentioned nowhere else, and perhaps he died early. "Whetstones Invective against Dice,” by which he had clearly been a sufferer, fills eighteen pages, and the rest of the volume is apparently made up of his own mishaps and adventures, and of the exposure of four sharpers and cozeners, whom he calls Lyros, Frenno, Caphos, and Pimos, while he himself figures, as well as we can judge, under the name of Plasmos. The last lines of his fourth "Epilogus" are these:

"All this and more my Muse at large reports
All this my Muse (for your availe) did hit:
In lue whereof she friendly you exhorts

To take in worth what of good will is writ.
Quod cavere possis stultum est admittere."

The whole volume tends to show rather the versatility than the vivacity of Whetstone's Muse.

WHETSTONE, GEORGE.-The English Myrror. A Regard wherein al estates may behold the Conquests of Envy: Containing ruine of common weales, murther of Princes, cause of heresies, and in all ages, spoile of devine and humane blessings, unto which is adjoyned, Envy conquered by vertues. Publishing the peaceable victories obtained by the Queenes most excellent Majesty against this mortall enimie of publike peace and prosperitie, and lastly A Fortris against Envy, builded upon the counsels of sacred Scripture, Lawes of sage Philosophers, and pollicies of well governed common weales, &c. By George Whetstone Gent. Malgre. Seene and allowed.- At London. Printed by I. Windet for G. Seton, and are to be sold at his shop under Aldersgate. 1586. 4to. B. L. 129 leaves.

This elaborate work, which is not of very uncommon occurrence, is divided into three books, the second and third having distinct title-pages. The second is called "Envy conquered by Vertue," and has upon it, besides, "A Sonnet of triumph to England" in eleven lines: the third is called "A fortresse against Envy,” with the name of the author repeated as George Whetstone. Each book, like his "Rock of Regard," has its separate dedication. The first (after an acrostic to "Elizabeth Regina," at the back of the title-page) has a dedication to the Queen, followed by an address to the Nobility of England, and by commendatory verses by R. B., who asserts that "the Muses have always blessed the author's pen." A note, preceding a list of errata, shows that the volume was printed in the absence of Whetstone, who was at that date in Flanders. The second book is dedicated to "the Bishops and other devines of England"; and the third book to "the temporall majestrates of England.”

The earliest division of the work contains a great many, then novel and interesting, details of foreign history, including the wars between the Guelphs and Ghibelines, the battle of Alcazar and the death of King Sebastian, with the calamities of France, Flan

ders, and Scotland. The second division relates more particularly to domestic affairs, and commences with a poem on "the blessings of peace." It treats of the immediate predecessors of Elizabeth, of the Tudor family, and of the accession of the Queen, with all its ceremonies. It afterwards notices her "peaceable victories " in Scotland, over the rebels in the North of England, &c., together with her preservation from various attempts at assassination, especially that of Dr. Parry, which was then recent. Campion and Throckmorton come in for a large share of abuse, and the book ends with an exhortation to English fugitives. The third division applies chiefly to internal government, to the duties of good kings and the ends of tyrants, to the " high calling of the nobility," to the "reverend calling of the clergy," to the "honourable calling" of judges, justisers, the reputation of lawyers, &c. In the course of this chapter Whetstone tells a short anecdote in verse, which may be quoted as not a bad specimen of his skill, although the jest itself is very venerable:—

"A poore man once a Judge besought

to judge aright his cause,

And with a glasse of Oyle salutes

this judger of the lawes.

"My friend, quoth he, thy cause is good:

he glad away did trudge.
Anon his wealthy foe did come
before this partiall judge.

"A hog well fedde the churle presents,
and craves a straine of law:
The hog received, the poor mans right
was judg'd not worth a straw.

"Therewith he cri'de, O partiall judge,
thy dome hath me vndone!

When Oyle I gave my cause was good,
but now to ruine runne.

"Poore man, quoth he, I thee forgot;
and see thy cause of foile;
A hog came since into my house
and broke thy glasse of Oyle.

"Learne, friends, by this, this reade of me:-
Smal helpes a vertuous cause,

When giftes do catch both Gods and men,

and friendship endeth lawes."

There are other pieces of versification in this third book, and the last chapter consists entirely of moral and didactic couplets, the last being the following:

"As I began, so I conclude; let all men fear the Lord,

And Preachers see that godly workes with holy words accord." As a whole, this production, by a man of considerable learning and ability, in its different parts is both instructive and amusing. At the close is a renewed address "to the Reader," in which Whetstone introduces a sort of puff of his "Mirror for Magistrates of Cities," which had been printed in 1584, but never became popular.

WHETSTONE, GEORGE. - The Honorable Reputation of a Souldier: With a Morall Report of the Vertues, Offices, and (by abuse) the Disgrace of his profession. Drawen out of the lives, documents, and disciplines of the most renowned Romaine, Grecian, and other famous Martialistes. By George Whetstone, Gent. Malgre de Fortune. — Imprinted at London by Richard Jones: dwelling neere Holburne Bridge. 1585. 4to. B. L. 22 leaves.

On the title-page is a woodcut, half-length, of a man in armor, merely the representative of a soldier, not unfrequently found in other places, appropriate and inappropriate. It has been, however, sometimes considered a portrait of Whetstone, and in our day we have seen it reëngraved for that purpose. No portrait of Whetstone is extant, that we are aware of.

The tract before us was hastily printed by its author, in order, not so much to vindicate the reputation of soldiers, as to encourage persons to join that profession, the Queen being at that particular time in want of men to assist the United Provinces in their struggle against Spain. It was in July, 1585, that a large body of men, clothed and furnished at the expense of the City, was trans