a""* S. No 66., Apbii. 4. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



261 



LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL A, 1857. 



MUNDAY, DBATTON, AND CHETTLE. 



When I intimated that the list of commendatory 

 verses assigned to Drayton in the Bibliographia 

 poetica of Ritson is not quite complete, it was 

 with no censorious feelings. In truth — the re- 

 sults of extensive research have seldom been 

 more judiciously compressed, or stated with more 

 exactness, than in that useful compilation. 



I can prove, however, that Ritson omitted to 

 record two specimens of commendatory verse 

 which are contained in a volume previously in his 

 own possession ; and as it is one of the rarest of a 

 rare class of works, a short description of it may 

 not be misplaced. It is entitled — 



" The famovs and renowned historie of Primaleon of 

 Greece, sonne to the great and mighty prince Palmerin 

 d'Oliva, emperour of Constantinople. Describing his 

 knightl}' deedes of arraes, as also the memorable aduen- 

 tures of prince Edward of England : and continuing the 

 former history of Palmendos, brother to the fortunate 

 prince Primaleon, &c. [«!c.] Translated out of French 

 and Italian, into English, by A. M. London : printed by 

 Thomas Snodham, 1619." 4". In three books or parts. 

 Book I. pp. 8 + 208; Book II. pp. 4 + 282; Book III. 

 pp. 8+240. 



This work was published in three parts, at short 

 intervals, and each part has a dedication to Henrie 

 Vere, earl of Oxenford^ signed A.M. An allusion 

 to the father of the earl proves that the letters 

 A. M. denote Anthony Munday. The first part 

 has no commendatory verses. The second part 

 has ten lines signed M. D. — and the third, ten 

 lines signed H. C. The verses shall now be given 

 literatim : 



" Of the worke atid translation. 

 If in opinion of iudiciall wit, 

 Primaleons sweet Inuention well deserue : 

 Then he (no lesse) which hath translated it, 

 Which doth his sense, his forme, his phrase obaerue, 

 And in true method of his home-borne stile, 

 (Following the fashion of a French conceate) 

 Hath brought him heere into this famous He, 

 Where but a Stranger, now hath made his seate. 

 He lines a Prince, and comming in this sort, 

 Shall to his Countrey of your fame report. 



M. D.» 

 " Of the Translation, against a Carper. 

 Delicious phrase, well foUow'd acts of glory, 

 Mixture of Loue, among fierce martial deeds, 

 (Which great delight vnto the Reader breeds) 

 Hath th' Inuenter kept t' adome this Story. 



The same forme is obseru'd by the Translator, 

 Primaleon (sweet in French) keeps here like grace ; 

 Checking that Foole, who (with a blushles face) 

 To praise himselfe, in Print will be a prater. 



Peace chattring Py, be still, poore Lazarus ; 

 Rich are his gifts, that thus contenteth vs. 



H. C." 



In manuscript notes, of recent date, the above 



verses are ascribed to Michael Drayton and Henry 

 Constable. I shall state my own notions. 



It is not probable that Munday, the chronicler^ 

 would sanction deceptive signatures, and I there- 

 fore believe the mysterious letters to be the ini- 

 tials of certain individuals. Now Munday and 

 Drayton wrote in conjunction Mother Redcap, 

 and were joint contributors to six other dramas. 

 I therefore ascribe the lines signed M. D. to 

 Michael Drayton, who in the same year edited a 

 folio volume of his own Poems. Munday and 

 Henry Chettle, who had both been printers, 

 wrote in conjunction the second part of Robin' 

 Hood, and were joint contributors to two other 

 dramas. I am therefore inclined to ascribe the 

 verses signed H. C. to Henry Chettle. Such is 

 the circumstantial evidence of authorship. 



The internal evidence shall be briefly stated. 

 The lines ascribed to Drayton have the sober . 

 sense which he always displays when neither in- 

 spired by the fairies, nor echoing the "pretty chat 

 of nymphs and shepherds." The familiarity of 

 H. C. and his abbreviated Lazarus Piot — the 

 pseudonym of Munday — seems to denote some 

 old friend ; and I need not further exercise my 

 small share of " iiuiiciall wit." Bolton Cobnet. 



LETTER OP OLIVEB CBOMWELL. 



Enclosed is a verb, et lit. copy of a letter of 

 Oliver Cromwell's, printed in E. W. Brayley's 

 Graphic Illustrator^ London, 1834, (p. 355.) : be- 

 low is this note : 



" The above letter (for the use of which we are in- 

 debted to Richard Williams, Esq., of Stapleton Hall, near 

 Hornsey,) has every appearance of having been written 

 in haste. Part of the seal, in red wax, remains attached, 

 and exhibits a shield of arms of the Cromwell family, 

 viz. quarterly 1st and 4th, a lion rampant; 2nd, three 

 fleurs-de-lis ; 3rd, three chevrons." 



This may serve to stamp the genuineness of the 

 letter. It does not appear in vol. i. of Carlyle's 

 edition of Cromwell (Chapman & Hall, 1857), at 

 pp. 268, 269., where Letter LIX. (dated June 14, 

 1648,) is the earliest from before Pembroke : it 

 may, therefore, be perhaps worth insertion in 

 "N. &Q." 



" Autograph Letter of O. CromweWs, written when be- 

 sieging Pembroke. 

 " Ffor my noble friends the 



Committee of Carmarthen, theise. 

 " Gentlemen, 

 " I Haue sent this bearer to you to desire wee may 

 haue your Furtherance and assistance in procuringe some 

 necessaries to bee cast in the iron furnases in your countye 

 of Carmarthen, w'^'^ will the better enable vs to reduce 

 the towne and castle of Pembrooke. The p'Vincipall 

 things are, shells for our morter-peice, the depth of them 

 wee desire may be of fourteen e Inces and three quarters 

 of an Inch. That w"!* I desire att your handes is to cause 

 the seruice to bee performed, and that with all poasble 



