ara 
May 18. 1850.] 
REPLIES. 
DR. PERCY AND THE POEMS OF THE EARL OF SURREY. 
I have the means of showing what Dr. Percy 
did with the poems of the Earl of Surrey, because 
I have a copy of the work now before me. 
It can hardly be said that he “prepared an 
edition” of those poems, as supposed by your cor- 
respondent “G.” on the authority of Watts’s Bib- 
liotheca Britannica, but he made an exact reprint 
of the Songes and Sonnettes written by the Right 
Honorable Lorde Henry Haward, late Earle of 
Surrey, and other, which was printed Apud Richar- 
dum Tottell. Cum _ privilegio ad imprimendum 
solum. 1557. The Bishop of Dromore made no 
attempt at editing the work much beyond what 
was necessary to secure an exact reimpression. 
He prefixed no Life of Surrey (a point “G.” 
wishes to ascertain); and, in fact, the book was 
never completed. It contains considerably more 
than the reprint of the poems of Lord Surrey, and 
was intended to consist of two volumes with sepa- 
rate pagination; the first volume extending to 
p- 272., and the second to p. 342. 
As the work is a rarity, owing to an unfortunate 
accident, some of your readers may like to see a 
brief notice of it. Watts (as quoted by “G.,” for 
I have not his portly volumes at hand,) states that 
the “whole impression” was “consumed in the 
fire which took place in Mr. Nicholls’s premises in 
1808.” ‘This is a mistake, as my extant copy esta- 
blishes; and Restituta (iii. 451.) informs us that 
four were saved. Of the history of my own im- 
pression I know nothing beyond the tact, that I 
paid a very high price for it some twenty years 
since, at an auction; but the late Mr. Grenville 
had another copy, which I had an opportunity of 
seeing, and which had belonged to ‘I. Park, and 
had been sent to him by Dr. Percy for the advan- 
tage of his notes and remarks. ‘This, I presume, 
is now in the British Museum; whither it came 
with the rest of Mr. Grenville’s books, four or five 
years ago. ; 
The “Songs and Sonnets” of Surrey occupy only 
the first forty pages of vol. i.: then follow “Songs 
and Sonnets” by Sir Thomas Wyat to p. 111. in- 
elusive; and they are succeeded by poems “of 
uncertain authors,” which occupy the rest of the 
first volume. The second volume begins with 
“The Seconde Boke of Virgiles neis,” filling 
thirty pages; while “the Fourth Boke” ends at 
p- 57., with the imprint of R. Tottell, and the date 
of 1557. “Ecclesiastes and Certain Psalms by 
Henry Earl of Surrey,” which are “from ancient 
MSS. never before imprinted,” close at p. 81. 
fs Certayne Psalmes chosen out of the Psalter of 
David,” consisting of the seven penitential psalms, 
with the imprint of Thomas Raynald and John 
Harrington,” fill thirty pages; and to them is 
added “Sir Thomas Wyat’s Defence,” from the 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
471 
Strawberry Hill edition; which, with a few ap- 
pended notes, carries the work on to p. 141. 
A new title-page, at which we now arrive, shows 
us the intention of Dr.Percy, and the object at which 
he had all along aimed: it runs thus : — “ Poems 
in Blank Verse (not Dramatique) prior to Milton’s 
Paradise Lost. Subsequent to Lord Surrey’s in 
this Volume, and to N. G.’s in the preceding.” 
In truth, Dr. Perey was making a collection in 
the two volumes of all the English undramatic 
blank verse he could discover, prior to the publi- 
cation of Milton’s great poem. He was guilty of 
some important omissions, because bibliographical 
knowledge was not then as far advanced as at 
present, but he performed good service to letters 
as far as he was able to go; and the blank verse 
productions he subjoins are by George ‘Pubervile, 
George Gascoigne, Barnabie Riche, George Peele, 
James Aske, William Vallans, Nicholas Breton, 
George Chapman, and Christopher Marlow. These 
occupy from p. 342. of vol. ii. 
This list might now be considerably increased ; 
but my present business is only to answer the 
Query of “G.,” as to the nature and contents of 
the work. It has been said, I know not on what 
authority, that Steevens assisted Percy in prepar- 
ing and printing it. I apprehend that the aid 
given by Steevens consisted solely in recommend- 
ing the Bishop to procure certain rare productions 
which would contribute to his purpose. 
J. Payne Cottier. 
May 7. 1850. 
[To this we may add, that about 1767, when Bishop 
Percy printed these twenty-five sheets of poems of Lord 
Surrey and the Duke of Buckingham, it appears 
by a letter of the Bishop to Horace Walpole, that he 
presented a copy of them to Walpole, with a request 
for information about Lord Surrey. The Bishop never 
wrote the Life of Surrey; and in 1808 the whole im- 
pression was burnt, with the exception of a copy or 
two that the Bishop had given to his friends. In the 
letter to Walpole the Bishop says, “ A few more 
leaves will complete that book, which, with the second 
and Dr. Surrey’s Songs and Sonnets, &e., will be suf- 
ficient for the book. ’] 
SYMBOLS OF THE FOUR EVANGELISTS. 
Horne, in his Introduction, vol. iv. p. 254., says 
that Irenaeus was the first to discover the analogy 
between the four animals mentioned by Ezckiel 
(i. 5. 10.) and the four Evangelists, which gave 
rise to the well-known paintings of these latter. 
He quotes from Jren. adv. Her. lib. iii. cap. 11.:— 
« The first living creature, which is Jike a lion, sig- 
nifies Christ’s efficacy, principality, and regality, viz. 
John; the second, like a calf, denotes His sacerdotal 
order, viz. Luke; the third, having as it were, a man’s 
face, describes His coming in the flesh as man, viz. 
Matthew ; and the fourth, like a flying eagle, manifests 
the grace of the Spirit flying into the Chureh, viz. 
Mark.” 
