NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VII. Jan. 1. '69. 



prime cause of his misfortunes is said to have been 

 " his taking too much liberty upon him to correct 

 the vices of the times;" but, in the concluding 

 dedicatory lines of the Second Part of his Parlia- 

 ment of Virtues Reall, he intimates a very different 

 reason, when subscribing himself — 



" Your under-clarke, unworthily undon 

 (By over-trusting to a starting Bow- 

 Yer — while too strong, to my poor wrong and woe)." 



Whence I infer that the individual, upon whose 

 name he there so oddly plays, had anticipated 

 him in, or ousted him from, some lucrative office 

 under the government, if indeed he had not ef- 

 fected his ruin in some more questionable manner. 

 Be that as it may, his indigence was extreme to- 

 wards the close of his life, as is evident from 

 another, and (if possible) more touching of his 

 dedications; namely, that of The JViumph of 

 Faith, " for ever consecrated to the grateful me- 

 morie of my never-sufficiently-honoured deere 

 uncle, William Plumbe (late) of Fulham, Esq., 

 deceased, first kinde fosterer of our tender muses," 

 wherein he mournfully complains that, "for want 

 of wealth," he could do no more than "build a 

 toomb with words." He died at Middleburg, in 

 Zealand, on the 28th Sept. 1618, in the fifty-sixth 

 year of his age. 



Chalmers, in his very curt notice of Sylvester, 

 is not content with damning him, pro more sua, 

 as an author, but also taxes him with being "very 

 earnest in courting the great for relief." I know 

 not whence that information was obtained, or upon 

 what authority the unfortunate poet is sometimes 

 accused of fleeing abroad in order to avoid his 

 creditors. The few authentic particulars concern- 

 ing him, preserved by Anthony a Wood, indicate 

 a totally different character. Besides the testi- 

 mony of Vicars, already referred to, he was re- 

 ported by others who personally knew him, as 

 being "very pious and sober; religious in himself 

 and family, and courageous to withstand adversity." 



The task of adjusting the order of Sylvester's 

 numerous publications would be about as difficult 

 as profitless. I subjoin a list of them, together 

 with such dates as I have been able to gather, 

 partly from the title-pages themselves, and partly 

 from other sources. The last edition of his col- 

 lected works, which was printed in folio by Robert 

 Young, appeared in the year 1641. His transla- 

 tions, upon the whole, are superior to his original 

 pieces ; although amongst the latter, which are 

 generally brief, there are several fully equal to 

 anything that his age produced. I doubt not the 

 Divine Weeks and Days, which he paraphrased 

 from the French of that gallant Huguenot, Guil- 

 laume de Salust, Sieur Du Bartas, the friend and 

 counsellor of King Henry of Navarre, would still 

 find many admirers, if reproduced in a commo- 

 dious form, and enriched with a few annotations. 

 It was a well-spring at the foot of Parnassus from 



which both Milton and Dryden copiously drank 

 before making their respective ascents. Notwith- 

 standing his pages are occasionally disfigured by 

 highly inflated and bombastic passages and tropes, 

 such, for instance, as "wrapt into ecstacy" the in- 

 fantine mind of the last-mentioned great poet, and 

 which afterwards served to excite his (as well as 

 our own) merriment, it may be confidently asserted 

 that the beauties of the volume are infinitely more 

 numerous than its blemishes. The following list 

 of our author's various compositions prove, at 

 least, his extraordinary diligence — a diligence, it 

 is to be regretted, that failed to secure to him not 

 only a commensurate, but even the most moderate 

 reward : — 



The Batail of Yvry (from Du Bartas), 4to. n. 

 p., 1590. 



The Triumph of Faith, 4to. n. p., 1592. (This 

 is manifestly a second and enlarged edition. Vide 

 the Dedication.) 



The Second Week, or Childhood of the World 

 (part of Du Bartas's Divine Weeks), 16mo. n. p., 

 1598.* 



The Weeks and Works of Du Bartas. To these 

 were added " Fragments," and other small pieces 

 of Du Bartas, with translations from other sources, 

 comprising Jonas, a fragment; Urania; Miracle of 

 Peace ; Ode to Astrea ; Epigrams and Epitaphs ; 

 The Profit of Imprisonment ; Quadrains of Pihrac, 

 (translated by John Sylvester,) &c. 4to. n. p., 

 1605. ; ih. 1606. Subjoined to the last-mentioned 

 edition are Posthumous Bartas, containing The 

 Vocation ; The Fathers ; The Captaines ; The Tro- 

 pheis of Henry the Great ; and I'he Magnificence. 

 lb. 1608. Together with The History of Judith, 

 Englished by Thomas Hudsonj", and An Index of 

 the hardest Words, lb. 1611; ib. 1613. (Five 

 editions in all.) 



Lachrymce Lachryma?'um, or the Spirit of Teares, 

 4to. Lund. 1613 ; ib. 1G14. 



Bethulia's Rescue. In VI. Books. 12mo. Lond. 

 1614. 



Tobacco Battered and Pipes Shattered, 16mo. n. 

 p., 1614? 



Parliament of Vertues Royall (first part), sm. 

 8vo. n.p., 1614? 



Parliament of Vertues Reall (second part),'sm. 

 8vo. n. p., 1615. 



Du Bartas, His Divine Weeks and Works, with 



* Silvester was not the first English translator of this 

 portion of Du Bartas' great work. AVm. Lisle preceded 

 him by two j'ears in his publication entitled Bahilon, a 

 Part of the Second Weehe, with a Commentarie and mar- 

 ginall notes by S. G. S. 4<>. Lond. 1596 — a work which 

 escaped the notice of Wood, Ames, Herbert, Ititson, and 

 Lowndes; and Watt only notices the enlarged edition of 

 1637. 



+ The History of Judith is also from the French of 

 Du Bartas, and was translated at the command of James 

 VI., to -whom it was dedicated. It was originally pub- 

 lished in 8vo., Edinb. 1584. 



