By which he was discerned As he would have been o' the queen. Wemen, the Prooud Wives Pater-Noster, the Chapman of a Peniworth of Wit: Beside his Auncient Playz, Yooth and Charitee, Hikskorner, Nugizce, Impacient Poverty, and herewith Doctor Boords Breviary of Health. What shoold I rehearz heer, what a Bunch of Ballets and Songs, all auncient; az Broom broom on Hil, So wo is me begon, truly lo, Over a Whinny Meg, Hey ding a ding, Bony lass upon a green, My bony on gave me a bek, By a bank as I lay and a hundred more he hath fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whip-cord. And as for Almanaks of Antiquitee (a point for Ephemeridees), I ween he can sheaw from Jasper Lact of Antwerp unto Nostradam of Frauns, and thens untoo oour John Securiz of Salsbury. To stay ye no longer heer in, I dare say he hath az fair a Library for theez sciencez, and as many goodly monuments both in prose and poetry, and at afternoonz can talk az much without book az ony inholder betwixt Brainford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be.". The letter-writer evidently meant to raise a smile at the Cap. tain's expense; but there is no occasion for it. The list shews him to have been a diligent and successful collector of the domestic literature of his country, and so far he is entitled to praise. Some of the fugitive pieces here mentioned are now lost; one of them however, the Hundred Merry Tales, which has long set the Shakspeare commentators by the ears, has partly been recovered within these few days, pasted into the binding of an old book. It is now in Mr. Bindley's possession, and proves to be a collection of jests, of no great novelty or value. Though his sword were twice so long As any man's else in the throng; Was call'd for the second day. (And he performs it now) That were he alive or dead, Hereafter it should never be said But captain Cox would serve on horse If any prince came hither, And his horse should have a feather; But now, we have got a little more. With a most loyal intent, And, as the author saith, No ill meaning to the catholic faith, And natural, so thrive I, I found them in the ivy, Neither with dogs nor bears.] This alludes to the following passage in the Letter. "On the syxth day of her Majestyes cumming, a great sort of bandogs whear thear tyed in the utter cooart, and thyrteen bears in the inner," &c. See Massinger, vol. i. p. 44. A thing, that though I blunder'd at, Any store of lucky birds, Each owl out of his bush. Now, these owls, some say, were men, And they may be so again, If once they endure the light For bankrupts, we have known But as you like their tricks, HEY, OWL FIRST! This bird is London-bred, As you may see by his horn'd head. HEY, OWL SECOND! This too, the more is the pity, 4 Hey, Owl first!] Here the captain probably produced, from beneath the foot-cloth of the hobby-horse, a block ridiculously dressed or painted to correspond with the description. A true owl of London By trusting two of the younger Of their half-starv'd number; With those ears for a badge HEY, OWL THIRD! A pure native bird This, and though his hue By the thread he has spun ; Of may-games and morris, For which he right sorry is; Where their maids and their makes," At dancings and wakes, 5 God to pay,] A cant term for a hopeless debt, nothing. See Epig. xii. A pure native bird.] i. e. a puritan of Coventry, whose zeal in putting down may-poles and hobby-horses had injured the manufactory of blue thread (the chief staple of the town,) of which a great consumption was made in ornamenting napkins, scarfs, &c. "I have heard," an old writer, W. Stafford, says, "that the chief trade of Coventry, was heretofore in making blew thred, and then the towne was riche ever upon that trade in maner onely, and now our thredde comes all from beyond sea: wherefore that trade of Coventry is decaied, and thereby the towne likewise." This appeared long before Owl the third was hatched; so that the wise town must have suffered from more causes than the loss of its rural sports. 7 Where their maids, and their makes.] i. e. mates. So Chaucer : "God shelde soche a lordes wife to take Another man to husbonde, or to make." WHAL. Had their napkins and posies, And having neither wit nor lands, HEY, OWL FOURTH! Was once a bankrupt of worth; A full fortnight was not spent, Takes away the use of his mace, And left him in a worse than his first case. HEY, OWL FIFTH ! But here was a defeat, Never any so great, Of a Don, a Spanish reader, Who had thought to have been the leader, Had the match gone on, Of our ladies one by one, And triumph'd our whole nation, But now since the breach, He has not a scholar to teach. HEY, OWL SIXTH! The bird bringer-up is a knight, But a passionate wight, Who, since the act against swearing, (The tale's worth your hearing) |