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SONNETS

II.279

he following twenty-two Sonnets are attached to Chapman’s Translation of the Iliad. The first sixteen are to be found in the two folios of the Complete Translation, so often referred to. The next three (XVII. XVIII. XIX.) have been restored from the thin folio (mentioned in the Introduction) containing the version of the First Twelve Books. Two (XX. XXI.) were found in an inserted leaf of a very fine copy of the Iliad (our first folio) in the possession of Messrs. Boone, the eminent booksellers, of Bond Street. The last, to Sir Edward Philips, is from a single leaf inserted in the fine copy of the Iliad in my possession (also mentioned in the Introduction) which also contains numbers XX. and XXI. Mr. Holford’s copy has this Sonnet, and it is also in one in the possession of Mr. Lilly. This is a confirmation of my conjecture in the former edition, that other copies might be discovered containing similar insertions. The portions of the dedications included in brackets [ ], omitted in the complete version, have been restored from the same early folio above mentioned, and short Biographical Notices have been added.

Sir Egerton Brydges thought so highly of these Sonnets that he reprinted them (that is, the first Sixteen) in his “Restituta,” vol. II. p. 81. He has given, also, some extracts from Chapman’s Commentaries, and observes: “Before I enter on the transcript of these Sonnets, let me II.280 make a few extracts from the Prose Commentaries of this energetic Poet, who seems to have felt the true enthusiasm and confidence of the Muse. Chapman was a great favourite with his contemporaries for genius as well as learning, and seems on due examination to have been possessed of many qualities and acquirements of no common occurrence.

“I believe that Critics have entertained different opinions of the merit of these Sonnets. To me they appear full of ingenuity; often vigorous in expression; and exalted by a noble strain of sentiment.”

I do not know to what Critics Sir Egerton refers, but the opinion of Samuel Taylor Coleridge will, I feel assured, be always received by the reader with pleasure and satisfaction. In sending the volume of Chapman to Wordsworth in 1807 (to which reference is made in our Preface) speaking of these Sonnets, erroneously however attaching them to the Odyssey instead of the Iliad, he says: “Chapman, in his moral heroic verse” (he is here alluding to the Dedication to Prince Henry) “and the Prefatory Sonnets to his Odyssey, stands above Ben Jonson; there is more dignity, more lustre, and equal strength; but not midway quite between him and the Sonnets of Milton. I do not know whether I give him the higher praise in that that he reminds me of Ben Jonson with a sense of his superior excellence, or that he brings Milton to memory notwithstanding his inferiority. His moral Poems are not quite out of books like Jonson’s, nor yet do the sentiments so wholly grow up out of his own natural habit, and grandeur of thought, as in Milton. The sentiments have been attracted to him by a natural affinity of his intellect, and so combined; but Jonson has taken them by individual and successive acts of choice.” (“Literary Remains,” vol. I. p. 260, 4 vols. 8vo. 1836.) Coleridge specially selects Sonnets I. XI. and XV. The reason for the withdrawal of the Sonnet to the Lady Arabella (XVII.) must be obvious; why Chapman should have cancelled the next to Lord Wotton (XVIII.) I cannot imagine. The inserted Sonnets (XX. XXI. XXII.) were doubtless for new patronage.

I.
TO THE RIGHT GRACIOUS AND WORTHY, THE DUKE OF LENNOX

[Divine Homer humbly submits that desert of acceptation in his presentment which all worthy Dukes have acknowledged worth honour and admiration.]

mongst th’ heroës of the world’s prime years,

Stand here, great Duke, and see them shine about you.

Inform your princely mind and spirit by theirs,

And then, like them, live ever. Look without you,

For subjects fit to use your place and grace,

Which throw about you as the sun his rays,

In quick’ning with their power the dying race

Of friendless virtue; since they thus can raise

Their honour’d raisers to eternity.

None ever liv’d by self-love; others’ good

Is th’ object of our own. They living die

That bury in themselves their fortune’s brood.

To this soul, then, your gracious count’nance give,

That gave to such as you such means to live.

Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox, was the son of Esmé Stuart, Duke of Lennox in Scotland. He succeeded his father in 1583. He was first cousin, once removed, to K. James I. being grandson to John Lord D’Aubigne, younger brother to Matthew Earl of Lennox, grandfather to K. James. In the fourth year of James’s reign he was created Baron Settrington and Earl of Richmond; and May 17, 21 James I. Earl of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Duke of Richmond. He died s. p. Feb. 11, 1623, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was a nobleman of most estimable character.

II.
TO THE MOST GRAVE AND HONOURED TEMPERER OF LAW AND EQUITY, THE LORD CHANCELLOR, ETC.

[The first Prescriber of both, Authentic Homer, humbly presents his English Revival, and beseecheth noble countenance to the sacred virtues he eternizeth.]

hat Poesy is not so remov’d a thing

From grave administry of public weals

As these times take it, hear this Poet sing,

Most judging Lord, and see how he reveals

The mysteries of rule, and rules to guide

The life of man through all his choicest ways.

Nor be your timely pains the less applied

For Poesy’s idle name, because her rays

Have shin’d through greatest counsellors and kings.

Hear royal Hermes sing th’ Egyptian laws;

How Solon, Draco, Zoroastes, sings

Their laws in verse; and let their just applause

By all the world giv’n yours (by us) allow,

That, since you grace all virtue, honour you.

Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper. Immediately on the accession of King James (July 24, 1603) he was raised to the Peerage as Lord Ellesmere, and three days after made Lord Chancellor. He was subsequently created Viscount Brackley, and died March 15, 1617, aged 77. He had resigned the Great Seal barely a fortnight before.

III.
TO THE MOST [RENOWNED AND] WORTHY EARL, LORD TREASURER AND TREASURE OF OUR COUNTRY, THE EARL OF SALISBURY, ETC.

[The First Treasurer of human wisdom, divine Homer, beseecheth grace and welcome to his English Arrival.]

ouchsafe, great Treasurer, to turn your eye,

And see the op’ning of a Grecian mine,

Which Wisdom long since made her Treasury,

And now her title doth to you resign.

Wherein as th’ ocean walks not with such waves

The round of this realm, as your wisdom’s seas,

Nor with his great eye sees his marble saves

Our state, like your Ulyssian policies.

So none like Homer hath the world enspher’d,

Earth, seas, and heav’n, fix’d in his verse, and moving;

Whom all times wisest men have held unpeer’d;

And therefore would conclude with your approving.

Then grace his spirit, that all wise men hath grac’d,

And made things ever flitting ever last.

Robert Cecil, second son of Lord Treasurer Burghley. Well known as the celebrated Secretary Cecil. Born 1563, Knighted 1591, and soon after made Secretary of State. In vain sought for a peerage in the reign of Elizabeth. Immediately on the accession of James he was made Baron Cecil. He was created Earl of Salisbury on the morning of 4 May 1605, his elder brother being made Earl of Exeter on the afternoon of the same day. Continued sole Secretary during his life, having also been on the death of Lord Dorset made Lord High Treasurer. Died 1612.

IV.
TO THE MOST HONOURED RESTORER OF ANCIENT NOBILITY, BOTH IN BLOOD AND VIRTUE, THE EARL OF SUFFOLK, ETC.

[Old Homer, the first eternizer of those combined graces, presents his revival in this English apparance, beseeching his honoured and free countenance.]

oin, noblest Earl, in giving worthy grace

To this great gracer of nobility,

See here what sort of men your honour’d place

Doth properly command, if Poesy

Profess’d by them were worthily express’d.

The gravest, wisest, greatest, need not then

Account that part of your command the least,

Nor them such idle, needless, worthless, men.

Who can be worthier men in public weals

Than those at all parts that prescrib’d the best?

That stirr’d up noblest virtues, holiest zeals,

And evermore have liv’d as they profess’d?

A world of worthiest men see one create,

Great Earl, whom no man since could imitate.

Thomas Howard, son of Thomas 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife d. and sole heir of Thomas Lord Audley of Walden. He was summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of Walden 39 Elizabeth. Created Earl of Suffolk 21 July, 1603. Died May 28, 1626. Chancellor of Cambridge 1613, and Lord High Treasurer July 11, 1614. See Sir Egerton Brydges, “Memoirs of the Peers of K. James I.” p. 252, for a curious account of his proceeding at the time of the Gunpowder plot.

V.
TO THE MOST [ANCIENTLY] NOBLE AND LEARNED EARL, THE EARL OF NORTHAMPTON, ETC.

[Old Homer, the first parent of learning and antiquity, presents this part of his eternal issue; and humbly desires (for help to their entire propagation*) his cheerful and judicial acceptance.]

o you, most learned Earl, whose learning can

Reject unlearned† custom, and embrace

The real virtues of a worthy man,

I prostrate this great Worthy for your grace,

And pray that Poesy’s well-deserv’d ill name,

Being such as many modern poets make her,

May nought eclipse her clear essential flame;

But as she shines here, so refuse to take her.

Nor do I hope but ev’n your high affairs

May suffer intermixture with her view,

Where Wisdom fits her for the highest chairs,

And minds grown old with cares of state renew.

You then, great Earl, that in his own tongue know

This King of Poets, see his English show.

Henry Howard, second son of Henry Earl of Surrey the Poet, was born at Shottisham, Norfolk, about 1539. He was educated at Cambridge, where he took his M. A. degree, and was admitted ad eundem at Oxford 1568. Bishop Godwin says his reputation was so great at the University, that he was esteemed “the learnedest amongst the nobility, and the most noble amongst the learned.” Created, May 1603, Earl of Northampton. High Steward of Oxford 1609, and Chancellor of Cambridge 1612. He died June 15, 1614, s. p. He built Northumberland House, Charing Cross. His character has come down to us much varnished by his proceedings in the case of the infamous Countess of Essex and the favourite Somerset, and the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.

VI.
TO THE MOST NOBLE, MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, THE EARL OF ARUNDEL.*

tand by your noblest stock, and ever grow

In love and grace of virtue most admir’d,

And we will pay the sacrifice we owe

Of pray’r and honour, with all good desir’d

To your divine soul that shall ever live

In height of all bliss prepar’d here beneath,

In that ingenuous and free grace you give

To knowledge, only bulwark against death,

Whose rare sustainers here her pow’rs sustain

Hereafter. Such reciprocal effects

Meet in her virtues. Where the love doth reign,

The act of knowledge crowns our intellects.

Where th’ act nor love is, there like beasts men die;

Not life, but time, is their eternity.

Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, was the son of Philip Earl of Arundel, who died in the Tower, Nov. 19, 1595, ætat. 39, and grandson of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded on account of Mary Queen of Scots. He was born July 7, 1592, and married the Lady Alethea Talbot, 3rd d. and co-heiress of Gilbert E. of Shrewsbury, and sister to the Countess of Pembroke. (See Sonnet VII.) He was the collector of the Arundel Marbles.

VII.
TO THE LEARNED, AND MOST NOBLE PATRON OF LEARNING, THE EARL OF PEMBROKE, ETC.

[Against the two Enemies of Humanity and Religion (Ignorance and Impiety) the awak’t spirit of the most knowing and divine Homer calls, to attendance of our Heroical Prince, the most honoured and incorruptible heroë, the Earl of Pembroke, &c.]

bove all others may your honour shine,

As, past all others, your ingenuous beams

Exhale into your grace the form divine

Of godlike learning, whose exiléd streams

Run to your succour, charg’d with all the wrack

Of sacred virtue. Now the barbarous witch,

Foul Ignorance, sits charming of them back

To their first fountain, in the Great and Rich;

Though our great Sov’reign counter-check her charms,

Who in all learning reigns so past example,

Yet (with her) Turkish policy puts on arms,

To raze all knowledge in man’s Christian Temple.

You following yet our king, your guard redouble.

Pure are those streams that these times cannot trouble.

William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was born at Wilton, April 8, 1580. His mother was the sister of Sir Philip Sydney, and the subject of Ben Jonson’s celebrated epitaph. For her Sir Philip wrote his “Arcadia.” She died Feb. 25, 1621. Lord Pembroke succeeded his father, Jan. 19, 1601. In 1604 he married Mary d. of Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury. Lord Clarendon gives a noble portrait of him. He died April 10, 1630.

VIII.
TO THE RIGHT GRACIOUS ILLUSTRATOR OF VIRTUE, AND WORTHY OF THE FAVOUR ROYAL, THE EARL OF MONTGOMERY.

here runs a blood, fair Earl, through your clear veins

That well entitles you to all things noble,

Which still the living Sydnian soul maintains,

And your name’s ancient noblesse doth redouble;

For which I needs must tender to your graces

This noblest work of man, as made your right;

And though Ignoblesse all such works defaces

As tend to learning and the soul’s delight,

Yet since the Sacred Pen doth testify

That Wisdom (which is Learning’s natural birth)

Is the clear mirror of God’s Majesty,

And image of His Goodness here in earth,

If you the daughter wish, respect the mother;

One cannot be obtain’d without the other.

Philip Herbert was the younger brother of the last-named Earl of Pembroke. He was created Earl of Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Shurland, Kent, June 4, 3 James I. He married on St. John’s Day, 1603, the Lady Susan Vere d. of Edward 17th Earl of Oxford. For a singular account of this marriage, the reader may see Winwood’s Memorials. He m. 2ndly 1630, the celebrated Anne d. of Geo. Clifford Earl of Cumberland, and widow of Richard Sackville Earl of Dorset. He died Jan. 23, 1649/50. Lord Montgomery was a great favourite of King James I.; hence Chapman’s address. He succeeded his brother in the Earldom of Pembroke, April 10, 1630.

IX.
TO THE MOST LEARNED CONCLUDER OF THE WAR’S ART, AND THE MUSES, THE LORD L’ISLE, ETC.

[The first prescriber and concluder of both, divine Homer, in all observation presents both.]

or let my pains herein,* long honour’d Lord,

Fail of your ancient nobly-good respects,

Though obscure fortune never would afford

My service show, till these thus late effects.

And though my poor deserts weigh’d never more

Than might keep down their worthless memory

From your high thoughts enrich’d with better store,

Yet your’s in me are fix’d eternally,

Which all my fit occasions well shall prove.

Mean space, with your most noble Nephews,† deign

To show your free and honourable love

To this Greek poet in his English vein.

You cannot more the point of death controul,

Than to stand close by such a living soul.

Robert Sydney was the second son of Sir Henry Sydney, by Mary d. of John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, and sister of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester. Sir Henry left three sons, the renowned Sir Philip, Sir Robert, and Sir Thomas; and one daughter, the celebrated Countess of Pembroke. Sir Robert was created Lord Sydney of Penshurst, May 13, 1603, Viscount L’Isle, May 4, 1605, and Earl of Leicester, August 2, 1618. He died July 15, 1626, and was buried at Penshurst.

X.
TO THE GREAT AND VIRTUOUS, THE COUNTESS OF MONTGOMERY.

our fame, great Lady, is so loud resounded

By your free trumpet, my right worthy friend,*

That with it all my forces stand confounded,

Arm’d and disarm’d at once to one just end,

To honour and describe the blest consent

’Twixt your high blood and soul in virtues rare.

Of which my friend’s praise is so eminent,

That I shall hardly like his echo fare

To render only th’ ends of his shrill verse.

Besides, my bounds are short, and I must merely

My will to honour your rare parts rehearse,

With more time singing your renown more clearly.

Meantime, take Homer for my wants’ supply,

To whom adjoin’d your name shall never die.

Susan Countess of Montgomery was daughter of Edward Vere 17th Earl of Oxford, the Poet. She married Philip Herbert 1st Earl of Montgomery, to whom Sonnet VIII. was addressed. Sir Egerton Brydges gives a short Life of Lord Oxford in his Preface to the “Paradise of Dainty Devices.” (“British Bibliographer,” vol. II.)

XI.
TO THE HAPPY STAR DISCOVERED IN OUR SYDNEIAN ASTERISM, COMFORT OF ALL LEARNING, SPHERE OF ALL THE VIRTUES, THE LADY WROTHE.

hen all our other stars set in their skies

To virtue, and all honour of her kind,

That you, rare lady, should so clearly rise,

Makes all the virtuous glorify your mind.

And let true reason and religion try

If it be fancy, not judicial right,

In you t’ oppose the time’s apostasy

To take the soul’s part, and her saving light,

While others blind and bury both in sense,

When ’tis the only end for which all live.

And could those souls in whom it dies dispense

As much with their religion, they would give

That as small grace. Then shun their course, fair Star,

And still keep your way pure and circular.

The Lady Mary Wrothe was the daughter of Robert Sydney Earl of Leicester, the Lord L’Isle of these Sonnets. She married Sir Robert Wrothe. She published a Romance entitled “Urania,” in imitation of her uncle Sir Philip Sydney’s Arcadia, in 1621. Extracts will be found in Sir Egerton Brydges’ “Restituta,” vol. II. p. 260.

XII.
TO THE RIGHT NOBLE PATRONESS AND GRACE OF VIRTUE, THE COUNTESS OF BEDFORD.

o you, fair Patroness and Muse to Learning,

The Fount of Learning and the Muses sends

This cordial for your virtues, and forewarning

To leave no good for th’ ill the world commends.

Custom seduceth but the vulgar sort;

With whom when noblesse mixeth she is vulgar.

The truly-noble still repair their fort

With gracing good excitements and gifts rare,

In which the narrow path to happiness

Is only beaten. Vulgar Pleasure sets

Nets for herself in swing of her excess,

And beats herself there dead ere free she gets.

Since Pleasure then with Pleasure still doth waste,

Still please with Virtue, Madam; that will last.

Lucy Countess of Bedford was the elder of the two daughters of John 1st Lord Harington of Exton, and sister and coheiress of John 2nd Lord Harington. She married, Dec. 12, 1594, Edward 3rd Earl of Bedford. She was a great patroness of learning, and is much celebrated by the writers of that day, many of whom dedicated their works to her. Dr. Donne addressed several of his poems to her, and wrote an Elegy on her death. It is singular that the date of her death and her burial-place are not known. Sir William Temple speaks in high terms of her garden at Moor Park in Hertfordshire. See his Essay on Gardens, vol. II. p. 125 (ed. 1705).

XIII.
TO THE RIGHT VALOROUS AND VIRTUOUS LORD, THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, ETC.

[The Right Valorous, Learned, and full Sphere of Noblesse, the Earl of Southampton, the Muses’ Great Herald, Homer, especially calls to the following of our most forward Prince, in his sacred expedition against Ignorance and Impiety.]

n choice of all our country’s noblest spirits,

Born slavisher barbarism to convince,*

I could not but invoke your honour’d merits,

To follow the swift virtue of our Prince.

The cries of Virtue and her fortress Learning

Brake earth, and to Elysium did descend,

To call up Homer; who therein discerning

That his excitements to their good had end,

As being a Grecian, puts on English arms,

And to the hardy natures in these climes

Strikes up his high and spiritful alarms,

That they may clear earth of those impious crimes

Whose conquest, though most faintly all apply,

You know, learn’d Earl, all live for, and should die.

Henry Wriothesly, 3rd Earl of Southampton of that name, was the son of Earl Henry by Mary d. of Antony Brown 1st Viscount Montagu. Born October 6, 1573. Educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge. Died at Bergen-op-Zoom, November 10, 1624. He was the patron of Shakespeare.

XIV.
TO MY EXCEEDING GOOD LORD, THE EARL OF SUSSEX, WITH DUTY ALWAYS REMEMBERED TO HIS HONOURED COUNTESS.

[To my ever-observed and singular good Lord, the Earl of Sussex; with duty always professed to his most honoured Countess.]

ou that have made in our great Prince’s name,

At his high birth, his holy Christian vows,

May witness now, to his eternal fame,

How he performs them thus far, and still grows

Above his birth in virtue, past his years

In strength of bounty and great fortitude.

Amongst this train, then, of our choicest peers,

That follow him in chase of vices rude,

Summon’d by his great herald Homer’s voice,

March you; and ever let your family,

In your vows made for such a prince, rejoice.

Your service to his State shall never die.

And, for my true observance, let this show

No means escapes when I may honour you.

Robert Ratcliffe (or Radclyffe) 5th Earl of Sussex of that line. He was with Lord Essex at the taking of Cadiz. In 1621, he was installed K.G. an honour which all the Earls of his family had enjoyed. He was twice married, (1) to Bridget d. of Sir Charles Morison of Cashiobury, and had two sons and two daughters, all of whom died s. p. in their father’s lifetime. (2), Frances d. of Hercules Mentas of Essex, Esquire, but had no issue by her. He died in 1629, and was succeeded by his kinsman, Sir Edward Ratcliffe; which Edward 6th and last Earl of his family died s. p. 1641, when the Title became extinct. Lord Sussex was proxy for Queen Elizabeth at the Baptism of Prince Henry, which will explain the allusion in this Sonnet.

XV.
TO THE RIGHT NOBLE, AND HEROICAL, AND SINGULAR GOOD LORD, THE LORD OF WALDEN, ETC.

or let the vulgar sway Opinion bears,

Rare Lord, that Poesy’s favour shows men vain,

Rank you amongst her stern disfavourers;

She all things worthy favour doth maintain.

Virtue in all things else at best she betters,

Honour she heightens, and gives life in death,

She is the ornament and soul of letters,

The world’s deceit before her vanisheth,

Simple she is as doves, like serpents wise,

Sharp, grave, and sacred; nought but things divine,

And things divining, fit her faculties,

Accepting her as she is genuine.

If she be vain then, all things else are vile;

If virtuous, still be patron of her style.

Theophilus Howard was the eldest son of the 1st Earl of Suffolk (the subject of Sonnet IV.), and was summoned to the House of Peers during his father’s life by the title of Lord Howard of Walden. He m. Elizabeth d. and coheiress of George Lord Hume Earl of Dunbar (Scotland), by whom he had four sons and five daughters. He was the 2nd Earl of Suffolk, and died 1640.

XVI.
TO THE MOST TRULY NOBLE, AND VIRTUE-GRACING KNIGHT, SIR THOMAS HOWARD.

he true and nothing-less-than-sacred spirit

That moves your feet so far from the profane,

In scorn of pride and grace of humblest merit,

Shall fill your name’s sphere, never seeing it wane.

It is so rare in blood so high as yours

To entertain the humble skill of truth.

And put a virtuous end to all your pow’rs,

That th’ honour* Age asks we give you in youth.

Your youth hath won the mast’ry of your mind,

As Homer sings of his Antilochus,

The parallel of you in ev’ry kind,

Valiant, and mild, and most ingenious.

Go on in virtue, after death and grow,

And shine like Leda’s twins, my Lord and you.

Ever most humbly and faithfully devoted to you,

and all the rare patrons of divine Homer,

Geo. Chapman.

Thomas Howard was the second son of the 1st Earl of Suffolk (Sonnet IV.), and brother of the preceding Lord Walden. In January 23, 1622, he was made Lord Howard of Charlton, Viscount Andover; and Feb. 6, 1626, by Charles I. advanced to the Earldom of Berkshire. He died 1669. His daughter Elizabeth married Dryden, and his sixth son Sir Robert Howard was the dramatic writer.

XVII.

To our English Athenia, chaste Arbitress of Virtue and Learning, the Lady Arabella, revived Homer submits cause of her renewing her former conference with his original spirit, and prays her judicial grace to his English conversion.

hat to the learn’d Athenia can be given,

As off’ring, fitter than this Fount of Learning,

Of Wisdom, Fortitude, all gifts of heaven?

That, by them both the height, breadth, depth, discerning

Of this divine soul when of old he lived,

Like his great Pallas leading through his wars

Her fair hand, through his spirit thus revived,

May lead the reader, show his commentors,

All that have turn’d him into any tongue,

And judge if ours reveal not mysteries

That others never knew, since never sung,

Not in opinion, but that satisfies.

Grace then, great Lady, his so gracious Muse,

And to his whole work his whole spirit infuse.

The Lady Arabella. The history of this unfortunate lady is too well known to require detail here. She was the only child of Charles Stuart 5th Earl of Lennox, by Elizabeth d. of Sir William Cavendish of Hardwick, com. Derby, and is supposed to have been born in 1577. Her father, unhappily for her, was of the Royal blood both of England and Scotland, for he was the younger brother of Darnley father of James VI.; and great grandson, through his mother who was daughter of Margaret Queen of Scots, to our Henry VII. This caused suspicion and dislike to both Elizabeth and James. Her clandestine marriage in 1609 with William Seymour, grandson, and eventually heir, to the Earl of Hertford, was the origin of her persecutions and misfortunes. She died in a state of idiotcy in the Tower, September, 1615, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, near to Prince Henry.

XVIII.

To the Right Noble, and (by the Great Eternizer of Virtue, Sir P. Sydney) long since eternized Right Virtuous, the accomplisht Lord Wotton, &c.

our friend great Sydney, my long-honour’d Lord,

(Since friendship is the bond of two in one)

Tells us that you (his quick part) do afford

Our land the living mind that in him shone;

To whom there never came a richer gift

Than the soul’s riches from men ne’er so poor,

And that makes me the soul of Homer lift

To your acceptance, since one mind both bore.

Our Prince vouchsafes it; and of his high train

I wish you, with the noblest of our time.

See here if Poesy be so slight and vain

As men esteem her in our modern rhyme.

The great’st and wisest men that ever were

Have giv’n her grace; and, I hope, you will here.

Sir Edward Wotton. Created Lord Wotton of Marley, Kent, May 13, 1603. He was the half-brother of the celebrated Sir Henry Wotton. In 1616 he was Treasurer of the Household. I do not know why Chapman should have withdrawn this sonnet.

XIX.

To conclude and accomplish the Right Princely Train of our Most Excellent Prince Henry, &c. In entertainment of all the virtues brought hither by the Preserver Homer, &c. his divine worth solicits the Right Noble and virtuous Heroë, the Earl of Arundel, &c.

he end crowns all; and therefore though it chance

That here your honour’d name be used the last,

Whose work all right should with the first advance,

Great Earl, esteem it as of purpose past.

Virtue had never her due place in earth,

Nor stands she upon form, for that will fade.

Her sacred substance, grafted in your birth,

Is that for which she calls you to her aid.

Nor could she but observe you with the best

Of this heroical and princely train,

All following her great Patron to the feast

Of Homer’s soul, inviting none in vain.

Sit then, great Earl, and feast your soul with his,

Whose food is knowledge, and whose knowledge bliss

Chapman doubtless substituted Sonnet VI. for this.

XX.
TO THE RIGHT NOBLE AND MOST TOWARD LORD IN ALL THE HEROICAL VIRTUES, VISCOUNT CRANBORNE, ETC.

ever may honour’d expedition

In grace of wisdom (first in this book arm’d

With Jove’s bright shield) be nobly set upon

By any other, but your spirit, charm’d

In birth with Wisdom’s virtues, may set down

Foot with the foremost. To which honour’d end,

Dear Lord, I could not but your name renown

Amongst our other Worthies, and commend

The grace of him, that all things good hath grac’d,

To your fair count’nance. You shall never see

Valour and virtue in such tropics plac’d,

And moving up to immortality,

As in this work. What then fits you so fairly,

As to see rarest deeds, and do as rarely?

William Cecil, son of the Earl of Salisbury (Sonnet III.), succeeded his father as second Earl 1612.

XXI.
TO THE MOST HONOURED AND JUDICIAL HONOURER OF RETIRED VIRTUE, VISCOUNT ROCHESTER.

ou that in so great eminence live retir’d

(Rare lord) approve your greatness cannot call

Your judgment from the inward state requir’d

To blaze the outward; which doth never fall

In men by chance rais’d, but by merit still.

He seeks not state that curbs it being found;

Who seeks it not never comes by it ill,

Nor ill can use it. Spring then from this ground,

And let thy fruit be favours done to good,

As thy good is adorn’d with royal favours,

So shall pale Envy famish with her food,

And thou spread further by thy vain depravours.

True Greatness cares not to be seen but thus,

And thus above ourselves you honour us.

Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester, subsequently created Earl of Somerset. He was a great patron of Chapman, who dedicated several of his works to him. He will be mentioned in the Preface to the Odyssey.

XXII.
TO THE RIGHT GRAVE AND NOBLE PATRON OF ALL THE VIRTUES, SIR EDWARD PHILIPS, MASTER OF THE ROLLS, &c.

he Lord not by the house must have his grace,

But by the Lord the house. Nor is a man

Anything better’d by his eminent place,

But his place by his merits. Neither can

Your last place here make you less first in honour,

Than if you stood first. Perfect honour ever

Virtue distinguishes; and takes upon her

Not place but worth; which place abaseth never.

So much you know of this, so much you show,

In constant gracing for itself, each good,

That all form, but the matter which I owe

To your deserts, I still leave understood.

And if this first of works your grace you give,

It shall not be the last shall make you live.

Sir Edward Philips was fourth son of Thomas Philips (or Phelips) Esq., of Barrington, near Montacute, Somersetshire. He was Speaker of the House of Commons in 1604. As King’s Serjeant he opened the indictment against Guy Fawkes. He received the reversion of the Mastership of the Rolls in 1608, and succeeded to it in 1611. He was also Chancellor to Henry Prince of Wales. He died Sept. 11, 1614. Chapman dedicated to him his “Petrarch’s Seven Penitentiall Psalms” in 1612. Sir Edward built the present house at Montacute, as we are told by Coryat, who spells the name Phillippes. His descendants spell it Phelips, probably the ancient orthography.

THE END.

The original of this text is in the public domain—at least in the U.S.
My notes are copyright, as are all under-the-hood elements.
If in doubt, ask.