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296 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 19. 
Where Loyalty with Piety is infus’d, 
And publique rights are cherish’d wt" their owne; 
Where worth still finds respect, good friend, good 
word, 
Desart, reward. And such is Ricot’s Lord. 
“ But what make I (vaine voyce) in midst of all 
The Quires that have already sung the fame 
Of this great House, and those that henceforth shall 
(As that will last) for ever sing the same. 
But, if on me, my garland iustly fall, 
I iustly owe my musique to this name. 
For he unlawfully usurps the Bayes 
That has not sung in noble Norrey’s prayse. 
“Tn playne (my honour’d Lord) I was not borne, 
Audacious vowes, or forraigne legs to use, 
Nature denyed my outside to adorne, 
And I, of art to learne outsides refuse. 
Yet haveing of them both, enough to scorne 
Silence, & vulgar prayse, this humble muse 
And her meane favourite ; at yo" coiiand 
Chose in this kinde, to kisse your noble hand.” 
His Polyhymnia is dedicated to the sister of this 
person, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lindsey, 
and Baroness of Eresbie and of Ricot. Besides 
the “ Anglers’ Song” made at Walton’s request, 
and the before-mentioned two songs, which are 
given at length in the Appendix to the Complete 
Angler, p. 420., Sir H. Nicolas’s edit., besides 
these, and the verses “on William Shakespeare, 
who died in April, 1616,” sometimes called ‘“ Basse 
his Elegie on Shakespeare,” which appear in the 
edition of Shakespeare’s Poems of 1640, 8vo., and 
are reprinted in Malone's edition of his Plays, 
vol.i. p.470.: another poem by William Basse 
will. be found in the Collection, entitled Annalia 
Dubrensia, upon the Yearely Celebration of Mr. 
Robert Dover's Olympick Games upon Cotswold 
Hills, 4to, 1636. ‘This consists of ten stanzas, of 
eight lines each, “To the noble and fayre As- 
semblies, the harmonious concourse of Muses, and 
their Ioviall entertainer, my right generous Friend, 
Master Robert Dover, upon Cotswold.” Basse 
was also, as Mr. Collier remarks, the author of a 
poem, which I have never seen, called Sword and 
Buckler, or Serving Man’s Defence, in six-line 
stanzas, 4to. Lond, imprinted in 1602. A copy 
of this was sold in Steevens’s Sale, No 767., and 
is now among “ Malone’s Collection of Earl 
Poetry” in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. And 
according to Ritson, he wrote another work, pub- 
lished in the same year, viz. Three Pastorall Ele- 
gies of Anander, Anytor and Muridella, entered to 
Joseph Barnes, 28 May, 1692, of which I am not 
aware that any copy is now in existence. These, 
with the addition of Great Brittaines Sunnes-set, 
bewailed with a Shower of Teares, at Oxford, 
printed by Joseph Barnes, 1613, the fragment of 
which is im the possession of Mr. Collier, appear, 
as far as I can yet ascertain, to be the only known 
publications of William Basse, with his name at- 
tached to them in full. Other works, however, 
have been attributed to him from the similarity of 
the initials, — but most of them probably without 
much foundation ;—viz. 1. Scacchia Ludus : Chesse- 
play: a poetical translation of Vida’s poem at the 
end of Ludus Sacchie, Chesse-Play, by W. B., 4to. 
Lond. 1597; by Ritson. 2. A Helpe to Discourse; 
or a Miscelany of Merriment, by W. B. and E. P. 
2nd edit. 8vo. Lond. 1620; by Mr. Malone. And, 
3. That which seemes Best is Worst, exprest in a 
Paraphrastical Transcript of Iuuenals tenth Satyre. 
Together with the Tragicall Narration of Virginias 
Death interserted, by W. B. small 8vo. Lond.; im- 
printed by Felix Kyngston, 1617, by Mr. Octavius 
Gilchrist, who however rather leans to the opinion 
of William Barkstead being the author, from the 
circumstance of his having, as early as 1607, para- 
phrased, much in a similar way, the interesting 
tale of Myrrha, the mother of Adonis, from the 
10th Book of the Metamorphoses. (See Restituta, 
vol. i. p. 41.) 
Cole, in his MS. Collectanea for Athene Canta- 
brigienses, says : — 
«“ Mr. Knight, jun. shewed me a MS. written by 
William Basse, and corrected by him, in 4to., called 
Polyhymnia. — Dedication. To the Right Noble and 
vertuous Lady, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lindsey, 
and Baroness of Eresbie and Ricot, in verse, with 
Verses to the Right Hon. Francis Lord Norreys, 
Earl of Berkshire (in his days). To the Right Hon. 
the Lady Aungier (then wife of Sir Thos. Wenman) 
upon her coming out of Ireland, and return thither, 
To the Right Hon. the Lady Viscountess Falkland, 
upon her going into Ireland, two Sonnets. The Youth 
in the Boat. Acrosties of the truly noble, vertuous, 
and learned Lady, the Lady Agnes Wenman; of the 
Lady Penelope Dynham; of Mrs. Jane Wenman. 
Verses on the Chapel of Wadham College consecration, 
St. Peter’s Day, 1613; on Caversham or Causham 
House; of Witham House, Oxfordshire, the house 
of a noble Knight, and favourer of my Muse; and 
Elegy on a Bullfinch, 1648; of the Four Mile Course 
of Bayaides Green, six times run over, by two famous 
Irish footmen, Patrick Dorning and William O’ Farrell. 
— It contains about 40 leaves, much corrected, and 
at the end is ‘ L’Envoy’: — 
‘ Go, sweet Polymnia, thanks for all your cost 
And love to me; wherein no love is lost. 
As you have taught me various verse to use, 
I have to right you to be a Christian Muse.’ ” 
I have been thus particular in transcribing this 
passage from Cole, because this copy, mentioned 
as being in the possession of Mr. Knight, jun. 
(quere, where is it now?), varies from mine, ob- 
tained from Mr. Heber’s Collection, and was no 
doubt the one prepared and corrected for the 
press by Basse. The following poems, mentioned 
by Cole, are not in my copy :— 
“ To the Right Hon. the Lady Aungier (then wife 
of Sir Thos. Wenman) upon her coming out of Treland, 
