his advice and direction; and was accustomed to make use of his pen in his addresses to the king, and to his mistress. Overbury, who was naturally haughty and overbearing, presumed to oppose the earl's marriage with the Countess of Essex, and expected the same deference to be paid to his judgment on this, as upon every other occasion. This opposition drew upon him the rage of the earl, and the fury of the countess, who contrived to get him imprisoned in the Tower, and to dispatch him by poison. His poem called "The Wife,” supposed to be written for his friend, is the character of a good woman; just the reverse of the woman that he married. This poem, which is printed with his Characters, &c. had gone through sixteen editions in 1638; the last was published, 1753, 8vo. Ob. Sept. 15, 1613.

GEORGIUS CHAPMAN, &c. a large head, encompassed with clouds; on the backside of the title to his translation of the "Iliad." It was engraved by William Hole; folio.

GEORGE CHAPMAN; a small head, surrounded with clouds. In the title to his translation of Homer's "Battle of the Frogs and Mice;" fol. W. Pass sc.

GEORGE CHAPMAN; small head, surrounded with clouds. W. Richardson.

The works of Chapman are scarcely remembered at present; though his reputation was great as a translator, especially among those who were ignorant of the Greek language; and far from inconsiderable as a poet. He translated Homer, Hesiod, and Musæus; and boasts of having finished half his translation of the Iliad in less than fifteen weeks; a sufficient character of the performance. He often strayed, or affected to deviate, from his author; and for two lines of his solid sense, has given us twenty flimsy lines of his own.* He appears to have been as confident of his own immortality as any of his poetical brethren ;† and, as he was an enthusiast

* See the Preface to Pope's Homer.

+ Cicero, perhaps in too general terms, tells his friend Atticus, "Nemo unquam poeta aut orator, qui quenquam se meliorem arbitraretur."

in poetry, was probably happier in his ideas of posthumous fame, than Homer himself.* A curious observer may perceive in the course of Mr. Pope's translation, that he has read Chapman's. He was author of a considerable number of plays. Ob. 1634, Æt. 77.

JOSUA SYLVESTER. Van Dalen sc. h.sh. Frontispiece to his Works.

JOSEPHUS (Josua) SYLVESTER; six verses. Sold by Hind.

JOSUA SYLVESTER. Peake exc. h. sh.

Josua Sylvester, translator of "The Weeks and Works of Dubartas," was patronised by Prince Henry. His translations gained him a greater reputation than his compositions. He was no great poet, but was of a much more estimable character; he was an honest and religious man. Ob. 28 Sept. 1618, Et. 55. Mr. Dryden tells us, that "when he was a boy, he thought inimitable Spenser a mean poet, in comparison of Sylvester's Dubartas'; and was rapt into an ecstacy when he read these lines:"

"Now when the winter's keener breath began

To chrystalize the Baltic ocean;

To glaze the lakes, to bridle up the floods,

And periwig with snow the bald-pate woods."

See the dedication to the "Spanish Fryar."

RICHARDUS MARTINUS, Oraculum Londinense. In an oval; at the top of which is the date of the year, 1620, in which the print was engraved. Below the oval is the following inscription, which the curious reader will not think tedious:

Viro illustri, Lionello Cranfieldo, equiti aurato, apothecæ augustæ (guardarobam magnam vulgus vocat) et pupillorum magistro; majestatique Britannica a sanctioribus consiliis; Richardum (heu fata) Martinum, Chr. Brocus, Jo. Hoskinus,† et Hugo (heu iterum)

* There is a poem, by Chapman, on the marriage of the Earl of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard, in the most sublime style of panegyric, 4to.-Lord Hailes. + Serjeant Hoskins, grandfather to Sir John.

Hollandus, obsequii et amoris triumviratu nexi, amico amicum amici, junctis manibus votisque, sacrant.

Princeps amorum, principum nec non amor :
Legumque lingua, lexque dicendi, magis :
Anglorum alumnus, præco Virginiæ ac parens:
Generosus ortu, moribus nec degener:
Invictus animi, corporis forma decens :
Oriens cadente sole, sol ortu cadens:*
Magnæ urbis os, orbis minoris corculum:
Bono suorum natus, extinctus suo:
Cunctisque cognitus, nec ignotus sibi:
Hollandi amicus, nemini hostis, ni malis.
Virtutis (heu) Martinus hic compendium.

Hugo Hollandus flevit aureum et ære os exprimi curavit.
Simon Passæus sculpsit.

RICHARDUS MARTINUS, &c. copied by Harding.

Richard Martin, a native of Otterton, in Devonshire, studied at Oxford, and afterward at the Temple. His learning, politeness, and wit, were the delight and admiration of all his acquaintance. He understood and practised the graces of conversation, and was equally esteemed and caressed by Selden and Ben Jonson. His person and manners qualified him to adorn the court, and his eloquence to influence the senate. King James, who was delighted with his facetiousness, recommended him to the city of London for their recorder. He died soon after he was elected into that office, the 31st of October, 1618. It appears, from a manuscript note of Mr. Aubrey's,t in Ashmole's Museum, that excess of drinking with some of his fellow-wits, was the occasion of his death. This appears to have been his only foible. Several of his poems and speeches are in print. See more of him in the "Athena Oxonienses."

This verse alludes to his convivial character, and the enjoyment of his friends in the evening, which occasioned his death.

The print of Richard Martin was given by Sir John Hoskins to this gentleman, who stuck it into a biographical manuscript of his, now in the Museum at Oxford. -It is extremely rare,

JOANNES OWEN, Oxoniensis, &c. a small oval, in the title to his “ Epigrams.”

Another somewhat larger.

JOANNES OWEN ; in Crasso“ Elog. Huom. Literat.” vol. ii.

John Owen, a schoolmaster, commonly styled the English Martial, was an admired Latin poet in this age. He published seven books of epigrams, among which are very few that are genuine. The poignant, the lively, the unexpected turn of thought and expression, which has been regularly pursued and carried to a point, is scarcely to be found in the compositions of this author. It is evident, from the quick sale of his book, that epigrams could please at this time, without the seasoning of Attic salt. Ob. 1623, and was interred in St. Paul's, where a monument in brass was erected to his memory by his relation and countryman, Lord-keeper Williams.

JOHN DAVIES, of Hereford, made a considerable figure as a poet; but was much more celebrated as a writing-master. His poetical pieces, which are very numerous, are a proof of his great industry, if not of his genius. There is a catalogue of them in the "Athenæ Oxonienses." See the next Class.

GEORGE WITHER, Æt. 21, 1611. Will. Holle (or Hole) sc. 12mo. scarce.

GEORGIUS WITHER; motto " Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo." Delaram sc. 1622, 4to.-See the reign of Charles I.

In the reign of James, puns and quibbles, jingle and witticism, were introduced into almost every species of composition. Such a distich as this would have been

esteemed excellent:

"Cur mittis violas? nempe ut violentius urar:

Quid violas violis me violente tuis ?"-PONTANUS.