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SATIRICAL SONG UPON GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
In turning over some old bundles of papers of the early part of the seventeenth century, I met with the following satirical effusion upon "James's infamous prime minister," George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. As an echo of the popular feelings of the people at the time it was written, it merits preservation; and although I have seen other manuscript copies of the ballad, it has never yet, as far as I can learn, appeared in print.
It appears to be a parody or paraphrase of a well-known ballad of the period, the burden of which attracted the notice of the satirist. It afterwards became a common vehicle of derision during the civil war, as may be seen by turning over the pages of the collection entitled Rump Songs, and the folio volumes of the king's pamphlets.
The original of these parodies has hitherto eluded my researches. It is not among the Pepysian, Roxburghe, Wood, or Douce ballads, but perhaps some of your readers may be able to point it out in some public or private collection.
"Come heare, Lady Muses, and help mee to sing,
Come love mee where I lay;
Of a duke that deserves to be made a king—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"Our Buckingham Duke is the man that I meane,
Come love mee where I lay;
On his shoulders the weale of the kingdome doth leane—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"O happiest kingdome that ever was kind,
Come love mee where I lay;
And happie the king that hath such a friend—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"Needs must I extoll his worth and his blood—
Come love mee where I lay;
And his sweet disposition soe milde and soe good—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"Those innocent smiles that embelish his face,
Come love mee where I lay;
Who sees them not tokens of goodness and grace—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"And what other scholler could ever arise,
Come love mee where I lay;
From a master that was soe sincere and wise—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"Who is hee could now from his grave but ascend,
Come love mee where I lay;
Would surely the truth of his service commend—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"The king understands how he honors his place,
Come love me where I lay;
Which is to his majestie noe little grace—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"And therefore the government justly hath hee,
Come love mee where I lay;
Of horse for the land, and shipps for the sea—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"What, though our fleet be our enemies debtor,
Come love mee where I lay;
Wee brav'd them once, and wee'l brave them better—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"And should they land heere they should bee disjointed,
Come love mee where I lay;
And find both our horse and men bravely appointed—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"Then let us sing all of this nobel duke's praise,
Come love mee where I lay;
And pray for the length of his life and his daies—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.
"And when that death shall close up his eyes,
Come love mee where I lay;
God take him up into the skies—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
"WHOLE DUTY OF MAN," AUTHOR OF
(From Baker's MSS, vol. xxxv. p. 469-470. Cambridge University Library.)
"Octo'r 31. 1698. Mr. Thomas Caulton, Vicar of Worksop, &c. [as in the note p. xiii. to the editor's Preface, ed. 1842, with unimportant variations, such as Madam Frances Heathcote, where the printed copy has Mrs. Heathcote; Baker reads Madam Ayre of Rampton after dinner took, where the printed copy has, Mrs. Eyre. After was dead, follows in Baker,] and that in that Month she had buried her Husband and severall Relations, but that her comfort was, that by her Monthly Sacraments she participated still with them in the Communion of Saints.
"Then she went to her Closet, and fetched out a Manuscript, w'ch she said was the original of the Whole Duty of Man, tied together and stitched, in 8'vo, like Sermon notes. She untied it, saying, it was Dr. Fell's Correction and that the Author was the Lady Packington (her Mother), in whose hand it was written.
"To prove this, the s'd Mr. Caulton further added that she said, she had shewn it to Dr. Covell, Master of Christ's College2 in Cambridge, Dr. Stamford, Preb. of York, and Mr. Banks the present Incumbent of the Great Church in Hull. She added, withall, that The Decay of Christian Piety was hers (The Lady Packington's) also, but disowned any of the rest to be her Mother's.
"This is a true Copy of what I wrote, from Mr. Caulton's Mouth, two days before his Decease.
"Witness my hand,
"Nov. 15. 98.
"JOHN HEWYT."
"Bp. Fell tells us, that all these Tracts were written by the excellent Author (whom he makes to be one and the same person) at severall times, as y'e exigence of the Church, and the benefit of soules directed y'r composures; and that he (the Author) did likewise publish them apart, in the same order as they were made. The last, it seems (w'ch is The Lively Oracles), came out in 1678, the very year Dr. Woodhead died. Had the Author liv'd longer, we should have had his Tract Of the Government of the Thoughts, a work he had undertaken; and certainly (as Bp. Fell hath told us), had this work been finished, 'twould have equall'd, if not excelled, whatever that inimitable hand had formerly wrote. Withall it may be observ'd, that the Author of these Tracts speaks of the great Pestilence, and of the great Fire of London, both w'ch happen'd after the Restoration, whereas Bp. Chappell died in 1649. And further, in sect. vii. of the Lively Oracles, n. 2., are these words, w'ch I think cannot agree to Bp. Chappell [and less to Mr. Woodhead]. I would not be hasty in charging Idolatry upon the Church of Rome, or all in her Communion; but that their Image-Worship is a most futall snare, in w'ch vast numbers of unhappy Souls are taken, no Man can doubt, who hath with any Regard travailed in Popish Countries: I myself, and thousands of others, whom the late troubles, or other occasions, sent abroad, are, and have been witnesses thereof. These words seem to have been spoke by one that had been at Rome, and was forced into those Countries after the troubles broke out here. But as for Chappell, he never was at Rome, nor in any of those Countries.
"As for Archbp. Stern, no Man will believe him to have any just Title to any of these Tracts. [The last Passage concerning idolatry, will not agree with Mr. Woodhead, nor the rest with Lady Packington.]
"In a letter from Mr. Hearne, dat. Oxon, Mar. 27, 1733, said by Dr. Clavering, Bp. of Petr. to be wrote by one Mr. Basket, a Clergyman of Worcestershire. See Dr. Hamond's Letters published by Mr. Peck, et ultra Quære."
On so disputed a point as the authorship of the Whole Duty of Man, your readers will probably welcome any discussion by one so competent to form an opinion in such matters as Hearne.
The letter above given was unknown to the editor of Mr. Pickering's edition.
J.E.B. MAYOR.
Marlborough College.
MISTAKE ABOUT GEORGE WITHER
In Campbell's Notices of the British Poets (edit. 1848 p. 234.) is the following, passage from the short memoir of George Wither:—
"He was even afraid of being put to some mechanical trade, when he contrived to get to London, and with great simplicity had proposed to try his fortune at court. To his astonishment, however, he found that it was necessary to flatter in order to be a courtier. To show his independence, he therefore wrote his Abuses Whipt and Stript, and, instead of rising at court, was committed for some months to the Marshalsea."
The author adds a note to this passage, to which Mr. Peter Cunningham (the editor of the edition to which I refer) appends the remark inclosed between brackets:—
"He was imprisoned for his Abuses Whipt and Stript; yet this could not have been his first offence, as an allusion is made to a former accusation. [It was for The Scourge (1615) that his first known imprisonment took place.]"
I cannot discover upon any authority sufficient ground for Mr. Campbell's note resecting a former accusation against Wither. He was undoubtedly imprisoned for his Abuses Whipt and Stript, which first appeared in print in 1613, but I do not think an earlier offence can be proved against him. It has been supposed, upon the authority of a passage in the Warning Piece to London, that the first edition of this curious work appeared in 1611; but I am inclined to think that the lines,—
"In sixteen hundred ten and one,
I notice took of public crimes,"
refers to the period at which the "Satirical Essays" were composed. Mr. Willmott, however (Lives of the Sacred Poets, p. 72.), thinks that they point to an earlier publication. But it is not likely that Wither would so soon again have committed himself by the publication of the Abuses in 1613, if he had suffered for his "liberty of speech" so shortly before.
Mr. Cunningham's addition to Mr. Campbell's note is incorrect. The Scourge is part of the Abuses Whipt and Stript printed in 1613 (a copy of which is now before me), to which it forms a postscript. Wood, who had never seen it, speaks of it as a separate publication; but Mr. Willmott has corrected this error, although he had only the means of referring to the edition of the Abuses printed in 1615. Mr. Cunningham's note, that Wither was imprisoned for the Scourge in 1615, is a mistake; made, probably, by a too hasty perusal of Mr. Willmott's charming little volume on our elder sacred poets.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
USEFUL VERSUS USELESS LEARNING
A single and practical plan for the formation of a complete and useful library and respository of universal literary knowledge.
The design which I propose in the following few lines, is one which I should imagine nearly all the more learned and literary of your readers would wish to see already in existence and when I show that it might be effected with very little trouble and expense (indeed no trouble but such as would be a pleasure to those interested in the work), and that the greatest advantage would follow from it,—I hope that it may meet with favourable consideration from some of the numerous, able, and influential readers and correspondents of your journal.
I am the more induced to hope this from the fact of such a wish having been partially expressed by some of your contributors, and the excellent leading articles of Nos. 1 and 2.
What I propose is simply this: the SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT of all the existing literary knowledge in the world that is considered of value by those best qualified to judge, disposed in such a manner as to answer these two purposes: 1st, to give a general connected and classified view of the literary treasures of the whole world, beginning from the most ancient in each language and department (including only what is valuable in each); and, 2dly, to afford the greatest possible facility (by means of arrangement, references and indexes) to every inquirer for finding at once the information he is in search of, if it is to be found anywhere by looking for it.
There are two ways in which this work might be accomplished, both of which were desirable, though even one only would be much better than none.
The first and most complete is, to make a real COLLECTION of all those works, arranged in the most perfect systematic order; and, while doing so, to make at the same time a corresponding classified Catalogue.
The chief (and almost the only) difficulty in the way of this would be, to find a room (or suite of rooms) to contain such a library and repository; but such would probably be found if sought.
The other way in which this object might be attained is by the formation of a simple CATALOGUE in the same order, such as does already exist and lies open for public use (though only in manuscript, and not so accurately classified as might be) in the noble library of the Dublin University.
This plan would be far easier than (besides forming the best possible basis for) that so urgently advocated by MR. BOLTON CORNEY (Vol. i. pp. 9, 42, 43.).
Of course so extensive a design would require to be distributed among many hundred persons; but so does any great work: while, by each individual undertaking that department in which he is most interested and most experienced, the whole might be accomplished easily and pleasantly.
The great fault of antiquarians is, that they are constantly beginning at the wrong end: they fix on some one piece of information that they want to get, and devote a world of labour to hunting about in all directions for anything bearing on the subject; whereas the rational way obviously is, to have the whole existing mass of (valuable) knowledge classified, and then the inquirer would know where to look for his purpose.
Of course there will always remain much knowledge of a miscellaneous and irregular nature which is picked up by accident, and does not come within the scope of the present design; but this is generally of a trifling and fugitive kind, and does not at all controvert the principle above laid down.
In conclusion, I have worked out a tolerably complete series of arrangements for the above design, showing its practicability as well as usefulness, which will be much at the service of any one who can use them for the furtherance of that object.
W. D.
