238 Lawrence Mason, 



The first poem in Appendix A is one of several by John Kinc 

 on his sister-in-law's death. For instance, in Harl. MS. 6917, ff. 

 89V— 90, occurs a 36-line piece signed "Dr. John King," and entitled 

 "A letter to his most loving brother H : K : upon the death oi his 

 Late Wife"; — it is a very poor performance, marred by wretched 

 conceits, as the opening quatrain will clearly show : 



"When other poets veines are done 



Snt Giles my muse bids me halt on, 



and if my verses have some hobs, 



thinko I have used not feete, but sobs." . . . 



This effusion is followed immediately by two pieces, the second 

 of which is also signed "Dr. John King," with these titles: "Upon 

 a Ringe bequeathed as a Legacy from my loved sister^ Mrs. A : K : " 

 and "Upon the Candle-stick she gave mee." These various pieces 

 possess but little poetical value, but with Goffe's tributes, they help to 

 show that Anne Berkeley King was fully worthy of the beautiful 

 lines to her memory inscribed by her bereaved husband, perhaps 

 his highest achievement in poetry. 



Now, the question arises, was Henry King loyal to her memor}-, 

 or did he write about, woo, or perhaps even win, a second wife ? 

 It all depends upon four of his poems : are they authenticalty auto- 

 biographical, or are they mere "dramatic lyrics" in which King 

 deals imaginatively with fashionable subjects and attitudes ? " The 

 Surrender" and "The short Wooing" might possibly have been 

 written to Anne Berkeley, in the earlier stages of Henry King's 

 courtship; but "St. Valentines day" is obviously the salutation 

 of a widower to the lady who has consented to share his lot, and 

 if King wrote the lines they present a x-er}- puzzling problem.^ Second 

 marriages were frequent in this family : his sister Anne married twice, 

 and her first and second husbands were both widowers ; his sister 

 Elizabeth and niece Elizabeth Holt both married twice ; and his 

 wife's grandfather. Sir Maurice Berkeley, also remarried.^ But 

 Henry King's ample and beautiful vindication (if any be needed) 



^ As his sister Anne long survived him (Hannah, cii, ciii), he must refer 

 here to his sistev-in-law, Anne Berkeley King ; so Henry King twice refers 

 in his Will (Hannah, cxi) to his brother-in-law, Edward Holt, as "my (de- 

 ceased) Brother, Edward Holt, esquire." 



2 Hannah, in omitting this poem from his selection, and in failing to 

 consider the question at all, seems almost guiltj^ of shirking a responsibility. 



3 Hannah, xcviii— ciii ; Collinson. op. cit., p. 280. 



