332 
Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I 
run, 
And do run still, tho’ still I do deplore? ; 
When theu hast done, thou hast notdone, 
For I have more. 
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won 
Others tosin, and made my sin their door ? 
Wilt thou forgive that sin, which I did shun 
A year or two, but wallowed in a score? 
When thou hast done, thou hast not done, 
For I have more. 
T have a sin of fear, that when I’ve spun 
My lasc thread, I shall perish on the shore 3 
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy 
son 
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore; 
~And having done that, thou hast done ; 
I ask no more. 
He was buried in St. Patil’s Church, 
and a monument was there erected to his 
memory by the liberality ofsome unknown 
friend, who privately transmitted a suf- 
ficient sum for that purpose to his exe- 
cutors. It was unfortunately destroyed 
by the dreadful conflagration of 1666. 
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER 
‘Meeting one day at a tavern to form the 
pian of a new tragedy, the latter in the 
course of conversation undertook to kill 
the king. This intention being under- 
stood literally by a listener, they were in 
consequence of his information appre- 
hended. The development of their dra- 
matic plot however soon procured their 
jiberatien. 
DRAYTON. 
The works of this poet, tho’ now ne- 
glected, were once read with rapture. 
‘The great Seldon thought the Poly-Oibion 
worthy of his comments, and Englaid’s 
Heroical Epistles were so well received, 
- that they procured their author the ttle 
of the British Ovid. His legends of Ro- 
bert Duke of Normandy, Matilda, Piers 
Gaveston and Thomas Cromwell, are by 
no means despicable. Query, whether 
some. of the bards of the present day 
would not be better employed in moder- 
nizing the best productions of our oider 
writers, than in deluging the literary 
world with theit ephemerical reiterations 
of trite epithet and affected sentiment. 
ANTHONY BREWER 
Was the author of several dramatic pie- 
ces of little merit. A circumstance no 
less simple than singular has Lowever 
rescued his name from oblivion. €rom- 
wellsin his juvenile days performed the 
part of Tactus in Brewers “ Lingua,” and 
there stumbled upon the crown, for which 
the five Semses, are represented as con- 
tending. He afterwards. performed the 
‘of Bourton in Client corsets 
Extracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. [May 1, 
same part so successfully upon a wider 
stage, that this adventitious rehearsal was 
recalled to remembrance. 
JOHN DAVIS, 
Who died in the reign of James the First, 
well deserves to be ranked »with the 
other eminent characters that Hereford 
has produced. . Fuller calls him the grea- 
test penman of the-age, and says he was 
celebrated for fair writing, for close wri- 
ting. and for variety of writing. His 
expedition was incredible, and some con= 
sideration was required to determme whe- 
ther his lines were written or printed, 
He-could also so cunningly disguise and 
mix his various hands as to make them 
appear innumerable. He occasionally 
exercised himself in poetcal composition, 
and contributed a sprig to the Odeombian 
Garland that precedes “ Coryate’s Crudi- 
ties.” 
PAGAN FISHER, 
Ahas Paganus Piscator, was Poet Laureat 
to Cromwell, and wrote many poetical 
pieces both in Latin and English. In 
the former language his Marston Moor, 
and Ode to Peace, were, at the time of 
their publication, very much admired. 
POOR ROBIN’S ALMANACK. 
When this singular production first 
made its appearance, (probably soon after 
the restoration,) a plate was prefixed to 
itrepresenting Charles the First, Strafford, 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl ar 
Darby, Lord Capel, and Dr. Hewet, 
crowned with wreaths of laurel; and on 
the opposite side were Cromwell, Brad- 
shaw, Ireton, Scot, Harrison and Peters, 
hangmg in haiters; and between these 
groups was placed the Earl of Essex and 
Mr. Christopher Love. 
TAYLOR THE'WATER POET. 
This eccentric man. was a native of 
Gloucestershire. AVhen he relinquished 
the oar, he kept a public house in Phoenix 
alley, Long Acre, where, after the exe- 
cution of Charles the First, he set up the 
sign of the mourning crown. This how- 
ever he was speedily obliged to remove, 
and he then exhibited his own portrait, 
garnished with the following couplet. 
‘¢ There’s s many a king’s head hang’d oP for 
a sign, : 
And many a saint’s head tan then why not 
mine ?” 
SIR LHOMAS OVERBURY, 
Who fell a sacrifice to the vindietive fury 
of the Duchess of Somerset, was a native — 
To his 
poem entitled ‘‘ a Wife,” this char acter is 
prefixed in the ¢ Epistle to the Reader.” — 
‘Had such a poem been extant among thie 
ancient 
