22 23 That they would now his tedious ghost bereav'n, Save his wrought night-cap, and laune pillow-bere": Or Gellia wore a velvet mastick-patch" Or thousand white-wands might me ought availe, I would at last repent me of my rage: Now, beare my wrong, I thine, O righteous age. Would'st thou the tongues, that earst were learned hight", Or the two barbarous neighbours of the west? Mastick is a clear and sweet gum, of a dry and binding quality. It appears to have been used for the cure of the tooth-ache. When Beauty was her REUME I soon espide. The meaning probably is, that the desire of being thought beautiful was her disease. Rheuma is explained by Phillips as "a flowing down of humours from the head upon the lower parts.' 25 26 Puis-ne-Fr. younger, inconsiderable. 27 Shall it not be a wild-figg in a wall, Do thou disdaine, O over-learned" age! 28 But a fine wit can make an elephant. 30 Should Bandel's throstle die without a song? (So solemnly kist he his laurell bow 3) For this so saucy and foule injurie. over-learned-The Oxford Editor reads ever-learned; probably by an error of the press, but certainly without authority. 30 Folly it selfe, and baldnes, may be pruis'd. An allusion to Erasmus's Moriæ Encomium, and the Encomium Calvitiei, written at the restoration of Learning. Cardan also wrote an Encomium on Nero, the Gout, &c. W. So Labeo weens it my eternall shame To rub my brow three daies, and wake three nights, 36 Vos ô Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite, quod non Hor, Ars. Poet. 291. E. which, OUT-SOUGHT, I take up THALES' JOY, save for fore-thought, How it shall please ech ALE-KNIGHT's censuring eye. Out-sought means discovered.-By Thales' joy the Satirist seems to refer to a say ing of Thales, the Milesian, the founder of the Ionic Sect, and the first of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He boasted that he had to thank his fortune principally for three things-Πρῶτον μὲν ἄνθρωπος ἐγενόμην, καὶ ἐ θηρίον· εἶτα, ὅτι ἀνὴρ, καὶ ἐ γυνὴς τρίτον, ὅτι Ελλην, καὶ ἐ Βάρβαρος. See his Life in Diog. Laert. Ale-knight means the oracle of the tavern. 34 Whiles thred-bare Martiall turnes his merry note, To beg of Rufus a cast winter-cote. Alluding to the 57th Epigram of the VIth Book of Martial. E. 35 Whiles hungry Marot leapeth at a beane, And dyeth like a starv'd Cappucien. Clement Marot, the best French poet of his time. Toward the close of his life he fell into disgrace, as a warm friend to the Reformed Religion: having, as Beza confesses, contracted at the Court of France such loose habits of life, as even Protestantism itself could never correct. E. 36 Go, Ariost, and gape for what may fall, &c. &c. The allusion is evidently to Hippolito, Cardinal of Este; to whose court Ariosto's reputation for wit had procured him favourable access. E. O honor, farre beyond a brazen shrine, "Thad beene some honor to be crown'd with bayes: To thinke of Cæsar, and great Pompey's deed"; Now, as it is, beshrew him if he might, "O honor, farre beyond a brazen shrine, To sit with Tarleton on an ale post's sign! See the History of Shoreditch, p. 209. Tarleton's Portrait, with a Tabor and Pipe, still serves as a sign to an ale-house in the Borough. E. Tarleton is here praised as a poet, who is commonly considered only as a comedian. Meres, in Wits Tr. f. 286, commends him for his facility in extemporaneous versifica tion. W. 38 had but-had he but. 39 When Lucan streaked on his marble bed, To thinke of Cæsar, and great Pompey's deed. Contentus famá jaceat Lucanus in hortis. Juv. Sat. vii. 79. E. Streaked is restored from the early editions; the Oxford reading stretched: which conveys, indeed, nearly the proper meaning; for to streak, according to Littleton, is to stretch one's self for want of sleep. 'i. e. tales frequently related before. "No man his threshold better knowes, than I Brute's first arrivall and first victory. Nota magis nulli domus est sua, quàm mihi lucus Juv. Sat, i. 7. These lines, and those which immediately follow, allude to the popular pieces of our author's day. E. Saint George's sorrell, or his crosse of blood; What were his knights did Salem's siege maintaine"; 45 Was phisick't from the new-found paradice". 42 Or holy battels of bold Charlemaine. "Les Douze Pairs", or "The Twelve Peers", of Charlemagne are frequently mentioned in the fictions of Chivalry. See Warton's Obs. on the Fairy Queen, I. 184. E. 43 What were his knights did Salem's siege maintaine. Alluding to Godfrey of Bulloigne, the subject of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. E. “ How the mud rivall of fayre Angelice Was phisick't from the new-found paradice. Alluding to Orlando, in Ariosto. E. "High-stories they, which, with their swelling straine, Have riven Frontoe's broad rehearsall-plane. 46 quantas jaculetur Monychus ornos Frontonis platani, convulsáque marmora clamant Semper, et assiduo ruptæ lectore columnæ. Juv. Sat. i. 11. E. But, so to fill up bookes, both backe and side, aut summi plena jam margine libri Juv. Sat. i. 5. E. |