364 Exlr acts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. [Nov. f.. 



the bread and wine, or crumbs and drops 

 fall upon it and flick there. But fliavine; 

 of bearas> aoes not feem to have been ge- 

 nerally received amongtt the clergy, lor 

 it appears that in France, King Francis 

 I. (from 1515 to 1547) made the church- 

 men pay a large fum for wearing their 

 beards. Beards were worn by the Clnil- 

 tian priefts, in oppofition to the Heathen 

 priefts, whq fhaved theirs, as did tliofe 

 jn Egypt. 



THOMAS CORIAT, THE. FAMOUS 

 TRAVELLER. 



Thomas Coriat was born at Odcombe, 

 near Ewel, in .Sonierfetlhire, and bred at 

 Oxford, where he attained to a confidera- 

 ble proficiency in the Greek and Latin 

 tongues. Having a great deiire to travel, 

 he vilited feveral pacts of Europe, and 

 at his return, after lix months' abfencc. 

 printed, in the year 1611, aji account of 

 what he had feen, under the title of 

 " Coriat's Crudities." This book, which 

 had a prodigious fale, was, according to 

 the fafliion of the times, ulhercd into the 

 world with np Icfs than ii.\ty encomiums 

 in verfe, penned by llie moll celebrated 

 wits of the times. Theie poems were 

 written in an ironical Ityle ; but Coriat 

 was proud of them, and underflood them 

 in a literal fenfe. Indeed, he appears 

 to hfive been a man of excellent parts 

 and learning, but of weak judgment, 

 and thercfoie has been faid to he the an- 

 vil on which the courtiers in the reign of 

 James the Firll tried 'their wits; but it is 

 added, " this anvil fonietinies returned 

 tlicir hammers as hard knocks as it re- 

 ceived, his blnntnefs repaying their abu- 

 fivenefs." Prince Henry, King James's 

 fon, allowed him a penfion, and retained 

 him in his fervice ; and Coriat was con- 

 llantly introduced with the deflert at all 

 court entertainments. Amongfi others 

 that writ mock-commendatory verfes up- 

 on " Coriat*s Crudities" was John Tay- 

 lor, who being a waterman, was called 

 the Water Poet. Thefe verfes gave 

 great offence to Mr. Coriat, who com- 

 plnined of them to King James. They 

 were thofe which follow : — 



"What matters for the place I came from, 



I am no duncecombe, coxcoHib, Odcomb 



Tom ; 

 Nor am I like a woolpack cramm'd with 



Greek, 

 yentis In Venice minded to go feek ; 

 And at my back- return to write a volume 

 In memory of wit's Gargantua column ; 

 Thechoiceft wits would never fo adore mc. 

 Nor like fo many lacquies run before me : 

 Ei't> hoiieft Tom, 1 er'vy not thy frate, 

 There's nothing in thee worthy of my hate j 

 Vet I confefs thou haft an excellent wit, 

 Byt that an iSle brain doth harbour it j 



Fool thou it at Court, I oh the Thames, 

 So farewell Odcomb Tcm, God blefs King 

 James 1 



TAYLOR, THE WATER POET. 



It is well known that James the Firll 

 was ambitious of being conlidered as the 

 Solomon of the age he lived in. John 

 Taylor, a waterman upon the Thames 

 and a poet, and therefore alway stiled 

 the Watei- Foef, laid hold on this to flat- 

 ter the monarch on the following occa- 

 fion. Having otfendcd Coriat by his 

 writings, that celebrated traveller pr&f 

 fented a petition to King James, praying 

 thai Taylor might be punilhed for his in- 

 folcnce. Taylor followed the com])laint 

 with a counter-petition, conceived in the 

 following fonnet: — 



Moft mighty Monarch of this famous Ide, 

 Upon the knees of my fubmiffive mind, 

 I beg thou wilt be gracioullv indin'd 

 To read thefe lines my ruftic pen compile : 

 Know, royal Sir, Tom Coriat works the wile 

 Vour high dlf|)leafure on my head to bring ; 

 And well 1 wot the fot his words can tile, 

 In hope my fortunes headlong down to 

 fling. 

 The King whofe wifdom through the world 

 did riny 

 Did hear the cafe of two offending harlots } 

 So I befeeth thee, great Gnat Britain's King, 

 To do the like for two contending varlets; 

 A brace of kna\ es your Majefty 



implores 

 To hear their fiiits, as Solomon 

 heard whores. 



RURIAL I\ CHURCH-YARDS. 



A proof that in ancient times the ric{i 

 as well as the poor were buried m church- 

 yards, is exhibited in the following anec- 

 dote :— t- 



Joan Lady Cobham, by her will in 

 130Q, bcr|ueatlied her body to he buried 

 in the church-yard of St. INIary Overy, in 

 Southwark, " before the church -door, 

 where the image of the blefled Virgin llt- 

 teth on high over that door;" appointing 

 a plain marble Hone to be laid over her 

 grave, with a crofs of metal thereon, and 

 in the circumference thefe word in 

 F'rench : 



(< Vous qui per ici pafiietz, pur I'abime Tc« 

 hane de Cobham prietz" 



That forthwith after her death feven thou- 

 I'and mafles ihould be celebrated for her. 

 foul by the canons of Fauconbrigge and 

 Tanridge, and the four orders of friars at 

 London : and that on the day of her fu- 

 neral twelve poor people, in black gowns 

 and hoods, ihould carry twelve torcb.cs.-^ 

 See Mr. (jough's Sepulchral Monument^, 

 vol. ii. p. 1'28; and Dugdale's Baron- 

 age, vol. ii. p. C8. 



ORIGINAL. 



