FULKE GREVILE, Lord Brooke, "servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, and friend to Sir Philip Sidney," was born at Alcaster, Warwickshire, in 1554. He was educated both at Oxford and at Cambridge, and obtained the favour of Queen Elizabeth, of whose court he was one of the brightest ornaments, and by whom he was rewarded with many profitable employments. He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of James the First, was afterwards appointed sub-treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and elevated to the Peerage in 1621. He was suddenly stabbed by one of his own retainers, who had served him long and faithfully, and who perhaps committed the act in a moment of madness, for he immediately afterwards destroyed himself. Lord Brooke died of the wound on the 30th of September, 1628. The memorable epitaph we have quoted, and which he ordered to be inscribed on his tomb-stone, has rendered his name more familiar to the general reader than his many poems. He was the relative as well as the "friend" of Sir Philip Sidney; with whom he lived in "familiar exercise," and of whose friendship he boasts as the highest honour in the life of one who lived in favour with crowned Monarchs and was the "Counsellor" of Kings.

His Poems consist of various long and uninviting "Treatises" on Humane Learning, Warres, Monarchie, and Religion:-and an Inquisition upon Fame and Honour. The Treatise on Monarchie is divided into fifteen sections, each section discussing such topics as "Strong Tyrants," "the excellency of Monarchy" compared with "Aristocracy," "Democracy," and both "joyntly," and including the subjects of Peace, War, the Church, Commerce, Crown Revenue, &c.. They were first published in 1633; and there are twenty-two pages wanting in all the copies that have yet been examined. They were doubtless cancelled, after the work was printed, because of something that was deemed censurable in their contents. It is probable, however, that these "erasures" may yet be recovered.

"His writings," observes Dr. Southey, "have an additional value, if (as may be believed) they represent the feelings and opinions of Sir Philip Sidney as well as his own-and, perhaps, we may be justified in imagining that the friendship between the two great men and great Poets was recorded by Sidney in the following exquisite lines:

"My true love hath my heart and I have his,

By just exchange one for another given,

I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven;
My true love hath my heart and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guide,
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his, because in me it bides;
My true love hath my heart and I have his "

At

We may observe that it was usual for the older poets to address their friends by such endearing epithets as are now only applied to women. Portia calls Antonio the "bosom lover" of her lord; and the rough Menenius boasts of Coriolanus as his "lover." A more remarkable instance in illustration of this, mingling the real and the imaginative, will be found in the extracts from the poems of Shakspeare. Learning, sound judgment, and good intentions in the writer, are more apparent than poetry in the "Poems" and "Remains" of the statesman and the scholar. times his meaning is so obscure as to be absolutely unintelligible. Now and then, however, he breaks forth in a strain of impassioned eloquence. His versification, though occasionally harsh and uncouth, is more often easy, and even harmonious. It is evident, at the same time, that he gave deeper consideration to the matter than to the manner of his writing; and was more anxious to impress upon the minds of his readers the weight and value of momentous truths than to please the fancy or even to interest the feelings;

The Poems of Lord Brooke, although by no means attractive as a whole, contain enough to establish his character as a poet, and afford abundant proof that he was an enlightened statesman, a good citizen, and an upright man-one, in short, worthy to bear the title he so much coveted "the friend of Sir Philip Sidney."

FROM A TREATISE OF WARRES.

THUS see we how these ugly furious spirits,
Of warre, are cloth'd, colour'd, and disguis'd,
With stiles of vertue, honour, zeale, and merits,
Whose owne complexion, well anatomis'd,
A mixture is of pride, rage, avarice,
Ambition, lust, and every tragicke vice.

Some love no equals, some superiours scorne,
One seekes more worlds, and he will Helene have,
This covets gold, with divers faces borne,

These humours reigne, and lead men to their grave:
Whereby for bayes, and little wages, we

Ruine our selves, to raise up tyranny.

endearing epithets as are now only applied to women. Portia calls Antonio the "bosom lover" of her lord; and the rough Menenius boasts of Coriolanus as his "lover." A more remarkable instance in illustration of this, mingling the real and the imaginative, will be found in the extracts from the poems of Shakspeare.

Learning, sound judgment, and good intentions in the writer, are more apparent than poetry in the "Poems" and "Remains" of the statesman and the scholar. At times his meaning is so obscure as to be absolutely unintelligible. Now and then, however, he breaks forth in a strain of impassioned eloquence. His versification, though occasionally harsh and uncouth, is more often easy, and even harmonious. It is evident, at the same time, that he gave deeper consideration to the matter than to the manner of his writing; and was more anxious to impress upon the minds of his readers the weight and value of momentous truths than to please the fancy or even to interest the feelings;

"His polish't lines

Are fittest to accomplish high designs."

The Poems of Lord Brooke, although by no means attractive as a whole, contain enough to establish his character as a poet, and afford abundant proof that he was an enlightened statesman, a good citizen, and an upright man-one, in short, worthy to bear the title he so much coveted "the friend of Sir Philip Sidney."

THUS see we how these ugly furious spirits,
Of warre, are cloth'd, colour'd, and disguis'd,
With stiles of vertue, honour, zeale, and merits,
Whose owne complexion, well anatomis'd,
A mixture is of pride, rage, avarice,
Ambition, lust, and every tragicke vice.

Some love no equals, some superiours scorne,
One seekes more worlds, and he will Helene have,
This covets gold, with divers faces borne,

These humours reigne, and lead men to their grave:
Whereby for bayes, and little wages, we

Ruine our selves, to raise up tyranny.

And as when winds among themselves doe jarre,
Seas there are tost, and wave with wave must fight:
So when pow'rs restlesse humours bring forth warre,
There people beare the faults, and wounds of might:
The error, and diseases of the head

Descending still, untill the limmes be dead.

Yet are not peoples errors, ever free

From guilt of wounds they suffer by the warre;
Never did any publike misery

Rise of it selfe; Gods plagues still grounded are
On common staines of our humanity :

And to the flame, which ruineth mankind,
Man gives the matter, or at least gives wind.

Nor are these people carried into blood
Onely, and still with violent giddy passion,
But in our nature, rightly understood,
Rebellion lives, still striving to disfashion
Order, authority, lawes, any good,

That should restraine our liberty of pleasure,
Bound our designes, or give desire a measure.

So that in man the humour radicall

Of violence, is a swelling of desire;

To get that freedome, captiv'd by his fall;

Which yet falls more by striving to clime higher: Men would be tyrants, tyrants would be gods, Thus they become our scourges, we their rods.

*

*

*

*

FROM A TREATISE OF RELIGION.

FOR what else is religion in mankind,
But raising of Gods image there decay'd?
No habit, but a hallowed state of mind
Working in us, that he may be obey'd;

As God by it with us communicates,
So we by duties must with all estates:

With our Creator, by sincere devotion;
With creatures, by observance and affection;
Superiors, by respect of their promotion,