Boobs printing for Williant Blacktuood, Edinburgh. 

 THE 



ESSAYES OF A PRENTISE, 



IN THE 



DIVINE ART OF POESIE. 



Imprinted at Edinbrugh, by Thomas Vautrouillier. 1584. 

 CUM PRIVILEGE REGALI, 4TO. 



The POEMS of KING JAMES VI. (I.) of which the present Volume 

 contains the First Essays, though in point of merit they do not rank very 

 high, will always be considered curious and interesting, not only on account 

 of the high rank of the author, but as exhibiting a specimen of what he re- 

 garded the essence of poetry and criticism. As a royal poet, though he 

 must yield the palm to his ancestoi s, King James I. and V , he certainly 

 excels his predecessors and successors on the throne of England The 

 most curious and valuable article in the volume, is the " Treatise on the 

 Airt of Scottis Pbesie," which unfolds rules, the observation of which he 

 considered essential in the composition of verse. With some petfe... 7 they 

 display considerable learning, and are constructed on the best modejs^tbiiL., 

 by the excellent Scottish poets who preceded him. This publication is not 

 included in the folio edition of the works of James I., and is at present 

 very seldom to be met with. The c e considerations have induced the pub- 

 lishers to offer a new edition to the public, exhibiting a perfect fac simile 

 of that of 1584. A Memoir, containing Strictures and Observations on 

 the Work, and Remarks explanatory of the ** Revlis and Cautelis to be 

 obseruit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie," will be prefixed, and the Editor 

 hopes to be enabled to illustrate the subject from some unpublished MSS. 



The number proposed to be printed is limited to One Hundred, and it is 

 requested that persons who wish to possess the work will send in their 

 names as early ?>s possible to the publishers, WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, and 

 JOHN BALLANTYNE and Co. Edinburgh. 



LETTING OF HVMORS. 



The LETTING of HVMORS BLOOD in the HEAD-VAINE. With a 

 new Morissco, daunced by seuen Sutyres, vpon the bottome of Diogenes 

 Tubbe. Imprinted at London by W. W. 161 1. 



* # * " The curiosity of the present age has been much directed towards the 

 fugitive pieces of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. both as illustrating 

 obscure passages of Shakespeare, and of our earlier dramatists, and as con- 

 taining an authentic record of the private life of our forefathers. This little 

 work will be found to gratify, in no common degree, the curioua antiqua- 

 ry who investigates these subjects; and as the original volume is rare, and 

 bears a high price among collectors, it is hoped that the present very limited 

 impression may rehder the knowledge which it contains accessible to some 

 who may not have an opportunity to consult the original edition. A very 

 few notes are added, less with the purpose of illustrating the epigrams and 

 satires, than of shewing, in some degree, their connection with the literature 

 and domestic history of the age in which they were written. 



" The literary merit of a rare work is a postponed object of enquiry to the 

 Bibliomaniac; but even in this point of view something may be said for the 

 credit of our unknown author. He anatomises in his rugged numbers the 

 follies of the time in which he lived with a satirical force not inferior to that 

 of Hall or Donne." Editor's Preface. 



