Part 32

Cosmus hath more discoursing in his head Than Jove when Pallas issu'd from his brain; And still he strives to be deliverËd Of all his thoughts at once; but all in vain; For, as we see at all the playhouse-doors, When ended is the play, the dance, and song, A thousand townsmen, gentlemen, and whores, Porters, and serving-men, together throng,-- So thoughts of drinking, thriving, wenching, war, And borrowing money, ranging in his mind, 10 To issue all at once so forward are, As none at all can perfect passage find.

IN FLACCUM. XVIII.

The false knave Flaccus once a bribe I gave; The more fool I to bribe so false a knave: But he gave back my bribe; the more fool he, That for my folly did not cozen me.

IN CINEAM. XIX.

Thou, doggËd Cineas, hated like a dog, For still thou grumblest like a masty dog, Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dog; Thou say'st thou art as weary as a dog, As angry, sick, and hungry as a dog, As dull and melancholy as a dog, As lazy, sleepy, idle as a dog. But why dost thou compare thee to a dog In that for which all men despise a dog? I will compare thee better to a dog; 10 Thou art as fair and comely as a dog, Thou art as true and honest as a dog, Thou art as kind and liberal as a dog, Thou art as wise and valiant as a dog. But, Cineas, I have often heard thee tell, Thou art as like thy father as may be: 'Tis like enough; and, faith, I like it well; But I am glad thou art not like to me.

FOOTNOTES:

Mastiff.

So Isham copy and MS.--Eds. A, B, C "and as idle."

So MS.--Isham copy and ed. A "oft."

IN GERONTEM. XX.

Geron, whose mouldy memory corrects Old Holinshed our famous chronicler With moral rules, and policy collects Out of all actions done these fourscore year; Accounts the time of every odd event, Not from Christ's birth, nor from the prince's reign, But from some other famous accident, Which in men's general notice doth remain,-- The siege of Boulogne, and the plaguy sweat, The going to Saint Quintin's and New-Haven, 10 The rising in the north, the frost so great, That cart-wheel prints on Thamis' face were graven, The fall of money, and burning of Paul's steeple, The blazing star, and Spaniards' overthrow: By these events, notorious to the people, He measures times, and things forepast doth show: But most of all, he chiefly reckons by A private chance,--the death of his curst wife; This is to him the dearest memory, And th' happiest accident of all his life. 20

FOOTNOTES:

Not in MS.

So Isham copy.--Omitted in ed. A.

So Isham copy.--Eds. A, B, C "old."

Boulogne was captured by Henry VIII. in 1544.

The reference probably is to the visitation of 1551.

In 1557 an English corps under the Earl of Pembroke took part in the war against France. "The English did not share in the glory of the battle, for they were not present; but they arrived two days after to take part in the storming of St. Quentin, and to share, to their shame, in the sack and spoiling of the town."--Froude, VI. 52.

Havre.--The expedition was despatched in 1562.

Led by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland in 1569.

The reference is to the frost of 1564.--"There was one great frost in England in our memory, and that was in the 7th year of Queen Elizabeth: which began upon the 21st of December and held in so extremely that, upon New Year's eve following, people in multitudes went upon the Thames from London Bridge to Westminster; some, as you tell me, sir, they do now--playing at football, others shooting at pricks."--"The Great Frost," 1608 (Arber's "English Garner," Vol. I.)

"This yeare in the end of September the copper monies which had been coyned under King Henry the Eight and once before abased by King Edward the Sixth, were again brought to a lower valuacion."--Hayward's Annals of Queen Elizabeth, p. 73.

On the 4th June 1561, the steeple of St. Paul's was struck by lightning.

"On the 10th of October (some say on the 7th) appeared a blazing star in the north, bushing towards the east, which was nightly seen diminishing of his brightness until the 21st of the same month."--Stow's Annales, under the year 1580 (ed. 1615, p. 687).

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Vixenish.

IN MARCUM. XXI.

When Marcus comes from Mins', he still doth swear, By "come on seven," that all is lost and gone: But that's not true; for he hath lost his hair, Only for that he came too much on one.