I that could not obey in Heauen, might command in Hell. And beleeue me, Sir, I had rather controule within my darke Diocesse, than to reinhabite cœlum empyrium and there liue in subiection vnder check." BOURNE. What think you of that?

ELLIOT. That there certainly is a resemblance.

MORTON. And a very striking one; the more singular when we couple the enumeration of the heavenly powers with the last sentence.

BOURNE. That enumeration is nothing but in its connexion; for the same, or nearly the same, is to be found in Spenser's " Hymn to Heauenly Beauty," in Thos. Heywood's "Hierarchie of Blessed Angels," and elsewhere.

ELLIOT. But what is the title of the book from which I read?

BOURNE. It is rare, I assure you, and one of the most eloquent in our language. It is clear to me that Milton was well acquainted with it. It is called "Stafford's Niobe," and was printed in 1611. We will close it now, because I shall reserve it for more particular notice on a future day.

MORTON. Provided you do not forget it, I shall not complain.

BOURNE. If I do, you have only to remind me. Before we entirely quit this subject, let me mention another coincidence not quite as remarkable, but still deserving notice. You remember the dialogue in Par. Lost, B. III. between the Creator and his

Son, on the subject of destroying or preserving mankind, in which the following passage is put into the mouth of the Saviour, interceding for the preservation of the human race.

"That be from thee far,

That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right.
Or shall the Adversary thus obtain

His end and frustrate thine? Shall he fulfil
His malice and thy goodness bring to nought,
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell
Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
By him corrupted? Or wilt thou thyself
Abolish thy creation and unmake

For him what for thy glory thou hast made?
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be questioned and blasphemed without defence."
MORTON. And what have you to offer regarding
that passage?

BOURNE. Another coincidence, to be found in a book where one would little expect to see it: in a translation of "the Life of Gusman de Alfarache," fo. 1623, by Mabbe, in which is introduced a discussion between Jupiter and Apollo, the latter praying that the former would not totally destroy mankind for neglecting his worship.

ELLIOT. There is a likeness in the question debated, at least.

BOURNE. And in the manner in which it is treated: all that is material lies in a few lines of B. I. ch. VII. Apollo says, "If thou destroy the world in vaine then are those things which thou hast therein created; and it were imperfection in thee to vnmake that which thou hast already made, only for to mend that which thou now findest, amisse: much lesse would I haue thee to repent thy selfe that thou hast made man; for that will be but to discredit thy selfe and thine owne worke. Besides how can it stand with the power and goodnesse of a Creator to take too strict a course against his creature, and to exceed by extraordinary meanes in his chastisements? To destroy these that are now liuing and to create others a-new, I hold that not so fit to be done by thee: for thou must either giue them or not give them free-will," &c.

ELLIOT. The coincidence is not so striking, nor the passage so important, as that which you read from Stafford's Niobe,

BOURNE. It is not, and but that it seemed to fit the place, perhaps I should not have noticed it.

MORTON. It certainly deserved observation, but we shall make but slow progress with Marston if we wander so far from him.

BOURNE. And we have several other satirists to go through, particularly if we include Wither and Brathwayte, as well as an anonymous satirist, of whose work only one copy is, I believe, known. I

will read you only a single further quotation from "Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres," and then enter upon "the Scourge of Villanie." It is from the 5th Satire, and may be considered the winding up of the author's invectives.

"Fie, fie, I am deceiued all this while, A mist of errors doth my sense beguile :

I haue been long of all my wits bereauen,
Heauen for Hell taking, taking hell for Heauen;
Virtue for vice, and vice for vertue still,
Sower for sweete, and good for passing ill.

If not would vice and odious villanie
Be still rewarded with high dignitie?
Would damned Iouians be of all men praised
And with high honours into heauen raised?

""Tis so, 'tis so; Riot and Luxurie

Are vertuous, meritorious chastitie:

That which I thought to be damn'd hel-borne pride
Is humble modestie and nought beside;
That which I deemed Bacchus surquedry;
Is graue and staied ciuill sobrietie.

O thou thrice holy age, thrice sacred men
Mong whom no vice a Satyre can discerne,
Since Lust is turned into Chastitie,
And Riot into sad Sobrietie,

Nothing but goodnes raigneth in our age
And vertues all are joyn'd in marriage:
Heere is no dwelling for Impiety,

No habitation for base Villanie:

Heere are no subiects for Reproofes sharpe vaine!
Then hence rude Satyre make away amaine,
And seeke a seate where more Impuritie
Doth lie and lurke in still securitie."

ELLIOT. That is spirited, but hitherto I have seen nothing equal to Bishop Hall, to whom Marston obviously sets himself up as a rival.

MORTON. In force he is not inferior, but he does not seem to possess the same acuteness or extent of observation.

BOURNE. Nor, perhaps, the same minute knowledge of mankind, though it is probable that Marston was the elder: that, however, is disputable. Marston's satires are peculiarly devoted to the manners of his age, and on this account, perhaps, they are the more curious. This point will be more fully illustrated by a short examination of his "Scourge of Villanie," printed in 1598, and of which there was a second edition, as I have already observed, in 1599. You will not fail to remark that he dedicates it to himself.

MORTON. Yes, at the back of the title I see is, "To his most esteemed and best beloued Selfe, Dat, dedicatque."

BOURNE. And as he dedicates it to himself, he presents his poems to quite as singular a personageDetraction, in some stanzas commencing thus: