In pursuance of the hint of MR. P. H. FISHER, I will describe an old
school-book in my possession, which is bound up with Godwyn's _Romanæ
Historicæ Anthologia_. It contains, 1. _Preces_; 2. _Grammaticalia quædam_;
3. _Rhetorica brevis_, and was printed at Oxford in 1616 by Joseph Barnes.
Though there is nothing in the title-page to indicate that it was for the
use of Winchester College, this sufficiently appears from the "Thanksgiving
for William of Wiccham" in the grace after dinner, and also from the
insertion of William of Wykeham's arms before the _Rhetorica brevis_. It
bears abundant marks of having been used in the school, and contains, on
the blank pages with which it was furnished, several MS. Wykehamical
memoranda, some of them well known, and others, {82} perhaps, the exercises
of the original owner. All are in Latin, except the following verses, which
I transcribe:
_"On Queene Anne, Queene of the Scots._
March with his winds hath strooke a cedar tall,
And morning April weeps the cedar's fall,
And May intends noe flowers her month shall bring,
Since shee must lose the flower of all the spring;
Thus March's winds have caused April showers,
And yet sad May must lose her flower of flowers."