thor's stanza is verbofe, profaic, and tedious: and for many pages together, his poetry is little better than a trite homily in verfe. The title promises much character and pleasantry : but we shall be difappointed, if we expect to find the foibles of the crew of our fhip touched by the hand of the author of the CANTERBURY TALES, or expofed in the rough yet ftrong fatire of Pierce Plowman. He fometimes has a ftrokeof humour: as in the following stanza, where he wishes to take on board the eight fecondaries, or minor canons, of his college. "Alexander Barclay ad FATUOS, ut dent locum OCTO "SECUNDARIIS beatæ Mariæ de Ottery, qui quidem prima hujus "ratis tranftra merentur ?

Softe, Foolis, fofte, a litle flacke your pace,
Till I have space you to' order by degree;

I have eyght neyghbours, that first shall have a place
Within this my fhyp, for they moft worthy be:
They may their learning receyve coftles and free,
Their walles abutting and joining to the schooles ";
Nothing they can', yet nought will they learn nor fee,
Therefore shall they guide this one ship of fooles.

The ignorance of the English clergy is one of the chief objects of his animadverfion. He fays',

For if one can flatter, and beare a hawke on his fift,
He shalbe made parfon of Honington or of Clift.

These were rich benefices in the neighbourhood of faint Mary
Ottery. He disclaims the profane and petty tales of the times.

• Fol. 68.

P To the collegiate church of faint Mary Ottery a school was annexed, by the munificent founder, Grandifon, bishop of

Exeter. This college was founded in the year 1337.

9 Know.
• Fol. 2.

I write

I write no jeste ne tale of Robin Hood',
Nor fowe no sparkles, ne fede of vicioufnes;
Wife men love vertue, wilde people wantonnes,
It longeth not my science nor cuning,

For Philip the fparrow the dirige to sing.

The last line is a ridicule on his cotemporary Skelton, who wrote a LITLE BOKE OF PHILIP SPARROW, or a Dirge,

For the foule of Philip Sparrow

That was late flaine at Carow, &c.

And in another place, he thus cenfures the fashionable reading of his age: much in the tone of his predeceffor Hawes.

For goodly fcripture is not worth an hawe,
But tales are loved ground of ribaudry,
And many are fo blinded with their foly,
That no fcriptur thinke they so true nor gode

As is a foolish jeft of Robin hode".

As a specimen of his general manner, I infert his character of the Student, or Bookworm: whom he supposes to be the First Fool in the veffel.

That "in this fhip the chiefe place I governe,

By this wide fea with foolis wandering,
The cause is plaine and easy to difcerne;
Still am I bufy bookes affembling,

For to have plentie it is a pleasaunt thing,
In my conceyt, to have them ay in hand;
But what they meane do I not understande.

But yet I have them in great reverence
And honour, faving them from filth and ordure;
By often brufshing and much diligence,
Full goodly bounde in pleafaunt coverture
Of damas, fattin, or els of velvet pure*:

I keepe them fure fearing least they should be loft
For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast.

But if it fortune that any learned man
Within my house fall to difputation,

I drawe the curtaynes to fhewe my bokes then,
That they of my cunning fhould make probation:
I love not to fall in alterication :

And while the commen, my bookes I turne and winde,
For all is in them, and nothing in my minde.

Ptolomeus the riche caufed, longe agone,
Over all the worlde good bookes to be fought,

Lo in likewise of bookès I have store,
But few I reade, and fewer understande;
I folowe not their doctrine, nor their lore,
It is enough to beare a booke in hande:
It were too much to be in fuch a lande
For to be bounde to loke within the booke
I am content on the fayre coveryng to looke.

Eche is not lettred that nowe is made a lorde,
Nor eche a clerke that hath a benefice;
They are not all lawyers that plees do recorde,
All that are promoted are not fully wife;

On fuche chance now fortune throwes her dice:
That though one knowe but the yrishe game
Yet would he have a gentlemans name.

So in likewife, I am in fuch a cafe,

Though I nought can2, I would be called wife;
Also I may fet another in my place

Which may

for me my

bookès exercife;

Or els I will enfue the common guise,

And say concedo to every argument

Left by much speech my Latin should be spent *.

In one part of the poem, Prodicus's apologue, of Hercules meeting VIRTUE and PLEASURE, is introduced. In the fpeech of PLEASURE, our author changes his metre; and breaks forth into a lyrical ftrain, not totally void of elegance and delicacy, and in a rhythmical arrangement adopted by Gray.

z Know.

a Fol. z.

All

All my veftùre is of golde pure,
My gay chaplèt with stonès fet,
With couverture of fine afure,
In filver net my haire upknet,
Softe filke betwene, left it might fret,
My purple pall oercovereth all,
Cleare as criftàll, no thing egall.-
With harpe in hande, alway I ftande,
Paffing eche houre, in fwete pleafoùr;
A wanton bande, of every lande,
Are in my towre, me to honoùr,
Some of valoùr, fome bare and poore;
Kinges in their pride fit by my fide:
Every freshe floure, of fwete odourè,
To them I provide, that with me bide.—
Whoeer they be, that folowe me,
And gladly flee to my ftandàrde,
They fhall be free, nor ficke, nor fee
Adverfitie, and paynès harde.
No poynt of payne shall he suftayne,
But joy foverayne, while he is here;
No frost ne rayne there shall diftayne
His face by payne, ne hurt his chere.
He fhall his hede caft to no drede
To get the mede and lawde of warre;
Nor yet have nede, for to take hede,
How battayles fpede, but ftande afarre.
Nor yet be bounde to care the founde
Of man or grounde, or trompet fhrill;
Strokes that redound shall not confounde,

b

Nor his minde wounde, but if he will, &c.

All antient fatirical writings, even those of an inferior caft, have their merit, and deferve attention, as they tranf