XV.

A SONNET BY Q ELIZABETH.

The following lines, if they display no rich vein of poetry, are yet fo ftrongly characteristic of their great and Spirited authorefs, that the infertion of them will be pardoned. They are preferved in Puttenham's Arte of Eng. Poefie; a book in which are many fly addresses to the queen's foible of shining as a poetess. The extraordinary manner in which thefe verfes are introduced, fhews what kind of homage was exacted from the courtly writers of thofe times, viz.

I find, fays this antiquated critic, none example in Eng"lish metre, fo well maintaining this figure [Exargafia, or "the Gorgeous, Lat. Expolitio] as that dittie of her majef"ties owne making, passing fweete and harmonicall; which figure beyng as his very originall name purporteth the most bewtifull and gorgious of all others, it afketh in reason to "be referved for a laft complement, and defciphred by a la"dies penne, herfelfe beyng the moft bewtifull, or rather bew"tie of queenes t. And this was the occafion: our foveraigne "lady perceiving how the Scottish queenes refidence within "this realme at fo great libertie and eafe (as were skarce "meete for fo great and dangerous a pryfoner) bred fecret factions among her people, and made many of the nobilitie "incline to favour her partie: fome of them defirous of in"novation in the ftate: others afpiring to greater fortunes by her libertie and life. The queene our foveraigne ladie to declare that he was nothing ignorant of thofe fecret "practizes, though he had long with great wisdome and "pacience

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She was at this time near three-fcore.

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"pacience diffembled it, writeth this dittie moft feete and fententious, not hiding from all fuch aspiring minds the danger of their ambition and disloyaltie: which after"wards fell out most truly by th' exemplary chaftifement of "fundry perfons, who in favour of the faid Scot. Qu. declining from her majestie, fought to interrupt the quiet of the "realme by many evill and undutifull practizes.'

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This fonnet feems to have been composed in 1569, not long before the D. of Norfolk, the earls of Pembroke and Arundel, the lord Lumley, Sir Nich. Throcmorton, and others, were taken into cuftody. See Hume, Rapin, &c.—It was originally written in long lines or alexandrines, each of which is bere divided into two.

T'

HE doubt of future foes

Exiles my prefent joy;

And wit me warnes to fhun fuch fnares,

As threaten mine annoy.

The daughter of debate*,

That eke difcord doth fowe,

Shal reape no gaine where former rule

Hath taught ftil peace to growe.

No forreine bannisht wight

Shall ancre in this port;

Our realme it brookes no ftrangers force,

Let them elsewhere refort.

Our rufty sworde with rest

Shall firft his edge employ,

Shall quickly' poll their toppes, that feeke

Such change, and gape for joy.

*She evidently means bere the Queen of Scots.

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+++ I cannot help fubjoining to the above fonnet another diftich of Elizabeth's preferved by Puttenham (p. 197.) "which (fays he) our foveraigne lady wrote in defiance of fortune."

Never thinke you, Fortune can beare the sway,
Where Vertue's force can caufe her to obay.

The flightest effufion of fuch a mind deferves attention.

XVI.

KING OF SCOTS AND ANDREW BROWNE.

This ballad is a proof of the little intercourfe that fubfified between the Scots and English, before the acceffion of James I. to the crown of England. The tale which is here fo circumftantially related does not appear to have had the leaft foundation in history, but was probably built upon fome confused bearfay report of the tumults in Scotland during the minority of that prince, and of the confpiracies formed by different factions to get poffefion of his perfon. It should feem from ver. 102. to have been written during the regency, or at least before the death, of the earl of Morton, who was condemned and executed June 2. 1581; when James was in bis 15th year.

The original copy (preferved in the archives of the Antiquarian Society London) is intitled, "A new Ballad, declaring the great treafon confpired against the young king of "Scots, and how one Andrew Browne an English-man, "which was the king's chamberlaine, prevented the fame. "To the tune of Milfield, or els to Green-fleeves." At the end is fubjoined the name of the author W. ELDERTON,

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" Im

"Imprinted at London for Yarathe James, dwelling in Newgate Market, over against Ch. Church," in black letter, folio.

This ELDERTON, who had been originally an attorney in the fheriffs courts of London, and afterwards (if we may believe Oldys) a comedian, was a facetious fuddling companion, whofe tippling and his rhymes rendered him famous among his contemporaries. He was author of many popular Jongs and ballads; and probably other pieces in thefe volumes, befides the following, are of his compofing. He is believed to have fallen a martyr to his bottle before the year 1592. His epitaph has been recorded by Camden, and tranflated by Oldys.

Hic fitus eft fitiens, atque ebrius Eldertonus,

Quid dico hic fitus eft? hic potius fitis eft.

Dead drunk here Elderton doth lie;
Dead as he is, he ftill is dry:
So of him it may well be faid,
Here be, but not his thirft, is laid.

See Stor's Lond. [Guild-hall.]-Biogr. Brit. [DRAYTON, by Oldys, Note B.] Ath. Ox.-Camden's Remains.-The Exale-tation of Ale, among Beaumont's Poems, 8vo. 1653.

O

UT alas!' what a griefe is this

That princes fubjects cannot be true,
But ftill the devill hath fome of his,
Will play their parts whatsoever ensue;
Forgetting what a grievous thing
It is to offend the anointed king?

Alas for woe, why should it be so,
This makes a forrowful heigh ho.

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