1. In a curious poetical tract, entitled _A Whip for an Ape, or Martin
displaied_; no date, but printed in the reign of Elizabeth, occurs the
following stanza:--
"And ye grave men that answere Martin's mowes,
He mockes the more, and you in vain loose times.
Leave Apes to Dogges to baite, their skins to Crowes,
And let old LANAM lashe him with his rimes."
Was this _old Lanam_, the same person as Robert Laneham, who wrote "a
Narrative of Queen Elizabeth's Visit to Kenilworth Castle in 1575"? I do
not find his name in Ritson's _Bibliographica Poetica_.
2. In Spence's _Anecdotes of Books and Men_ (Singer's edit. p. 22.), a
poet named Bagnall is mentioned as the author of the once famous poem
_The Counter Scuffle_. Edmund Gayton, the author of _Pleasant Notes upon
Don Quixote_, wrote a tract, in verse, entitled _Will Bagnall's Ghost_.
Who was Will Bagnall? He appears to have been a well-known person, and
one of the wits of the days of Charles the First, but I cannot learn
anything of his biography.
3. In the _Common-place Book_ of Justinian Paget, a lawyer of James the
First's time preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is
the following sonnet:--
"My love and I for kisses play'd;
Shee would keepe stakes, I was content;
But when I wonn she would be pay'd,
This made me aske her what she ment;
Nay, since I see (quoth she), you wrangle in vaine,
Take your owne kisses, give me mine againe."
The initials at the end, "W.S.", probably stand for William Stroud or
Strode, whose name is given at length to some other rhymes in the same
MS. I should be glad to know if this quaint little conceit has been
printed before, and if so, in what collection.
4. What is the earliest printed copy of the beautiful old song "My Mind
to me a Kingdom is?" It is to be found in a rare tract by Nicholas
Breton, entitled _The Court and Country, or A Briefe Discourse betweene
the Courtier and Country-man_, 4to. 1618. Query, is Breton its author?
5. Mr. Edward Farr, in his _Select Poetry, chiefly Devotional, of the
Reign of Queen Elizabeth_ (vol. i, p. xix.), calls Nicholas Breton, _Sir
Nicholas_. Is there any authority for Breton's knighthood?
6. Can John Davies, the author of _Sir Martin Mar-people_, 1590, be
identified with John Davies of Hereford, or Sir John Davies, the author
of _Nosce Teipsum_, 1599?
7. In whose possession is the copy of Marlow and Chapman's _Hero and
Leander_, 1629, sold in Heber's sale (Part iv., No. 1415)? Has the Rev.
Alex. Dyce made use of the MS. notes, and the Latin Epitaph on Sir Roger
Manwood, by Marlow, contained in this copy?
8. Has any recent evidence been discovered as to the authorship of _The
Complaynt of Scotland_? Is Sir David Lindsay, or Wedderburn, the author
of this very interesting work?
9. In the Rev. J.E. Tyler's _Henry of Monmouth_ (vol. ii Appendix, p.
417.), is a ballad on _The Battle of Agincourt_, beginning as follows:--
"Fair stood the wind for France,
When we our sails advance;
Nor now to prove our chance,
Longer will tarry;
But, putting to the main,
At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
With all his martial train,
Landed King Harry."
The author of this old ballad, the learned editor says, was _Michael
Drayton_; but I have not been able to find it in any edition of his
works which I have consulted. Can Mr. Tyler have confounded it with
Drayton's _Poem_ on the same subject? Any information on this point will
be very acceptable.
10. On the fly-leaf of an Old Music Book which I lately purchased is the
following little poem. I do not remember to have seen it in print, but
some of your correspondents may correct me.
"TO THE LORD BACON WHEN FALLING FROM FAVOUR.
"Dazel'd thus with height of place,
Whilst our hopes our wits beguile;
No man marks the narrow space
'Twixt a prison and a smile.
"Then since fortune's favours fade,
You that in her arms do sleep,
Learn to swim and not to wade,
For the hearts of kings are deep.
"But if greatness be so blind,
As to burst in towers of air;
Let it be with goodness lin'd,
That at least the fall be fair.
"Then, though dark'ned you shall say,
When friends fail and princes frown;
Virtue is the roughest way,
But proves at night a bed of down."
It is in the hand-writing of "Johs. Rasbrick vic. de Kirkton," but
whether he was the author, or only the transcriber, is uncertain.