I'll build a flaming altar, to offer up

A thankful sacrifice for his return

To life and me. Speak, and increase my comforts.
Is he in perfect health?

Dul. Not perfect, madam,

Until you bless him with the knowledge of

Your constancy.

Cle. O get thee wings and fly then;

Tell him my love doth burn like vestal fire,
Which, with his memory richer than all spices,
Disperses odours round about my soul,
And did refresh it when 't was dull and sad,
With thinking of his absence.

-Yet stay;

Thou goest away too soon; where is he? speak.
Dul. He gave me no commission for that, lady;
He will soon save that question by his presence.

Cle. Time has no feathers; he walks now on crutches.
Relate his gestures when he gave thee this.

What other words? Did mirth smile on his brow?

I would not for the wealth of this great world

He should suspect my faith. What said he, prithee?

Dul. He said what a warm lover, when desire
Makes eloquent, could speak; he said you were
Both star and pilot.

Cle. The sun's lov'd flower, that shuts his yellow curtain
When he declineth, opens it again

At his fair rising: with my parting lord

I clos'd all my delight; till his approach

It shall not spread itself.

With Shirley we close the first and most splendid period of English dramatic literature; and though our remarks and illustrations have, in their range, been necessarily limited, yet we hope they may awaken an interest in the subject proportioned to its importance. We shall proceed to consider next, the prose writers of this great age of genius and intellect.

Lecture the Sixteenth.

LORD BURLEIGH-SIR WALTER RALEIGH-SIR PHILIP SIDNEY-RICHARD HOOKER.

THE

authors who excelled in the various departments of prose during the present period, are confined, chiefly, to the departments of theology, philosophy, and historical and antiquarian information. Hardly any vestige of prose was, as yet, employed with taste in fiction, or even in observations upon manners; though it must not be forgotten that in Elizabeth's reign appeared the once popular romance of 'Arcadia' by Sir Philip Sidney, and in the early part of that of her successor, Thomas Dekker, whom we have already noticed as a dramatist, published a fiction under the title of The Gull's Hornbook, which was, at the time, extremely popular. The reign of James, and that of his successor Charles, produced several other acute and humorous describers of human character, which the sequel will develop. The authors whom we are first to notice under the department of literature now to be considered, are Cecil, Raleigh, Sidney, and Hooker.

WILLIAM CECIL, afterward the famous Lord Burleigh, was born at Bourn, Lincolnshire, in 1521. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and passed thence to Gray's Inn, London, with a view to preparation for the legal profession. The assiduousness with which Cecil applied himself to the study of the law, was such, that he was scarcely admitted at the bar before he became one of its most distinguished ornaments. In the reign of Queen Mary, his abilities were so highly respected that, notwithstanding he had favored the course of Lady Jane Grey, still the queen often consulted him, and he retained throughout her whole reign, the good-will of her ministers. Soon after Elizabeth ascended the throne, Cecil was made secretary of state; and the duties of that arduous and responsible office he continued to discharge with unsullied honor until his death, which occurred in the month of August, 1598. In 1571, Cecil was created by the queen, Lord Burleigh.

As a minister this celebrated man was distinguished for wariness, application, sagacity, calmness, and a degree of closeness, which sometimes degenerated into hypocrisy; and most of these qualities characterize also, what is,

properly speaking, his only literary production,--Precepts or Directions fo: the Well Ordering and Carriage of a Man's Life. These precepts were ad dressed to his son, Robert Cecil, afterward Earl of Salisbury; and a few of them are here subjoined:

CHOICE OF A WIFE.

When it shall please God to bring thee to man's estate, use great providence and circumspection in choosing thy wife. For from thence will spring all thy future good or evil. And it is an action of life, like unto a stratagem of war; wherein a man can err but once. If thy estate be good, match near home and at leisure; if weak, far off and quickly. Inquire diligently of her disposition, and how her parents have been inclined in their youth. Let her not be poor, how generous For a man can buy nothing in the market with gentility. Nor choose a base and uncomely creature altogether for wealth; for it will cause contempt in others, and loathing in thee. Neither make choice of a dwarf, or a fool; for, by the one thou shalt beget a race of pigmies; the other will be thy continual disgrace, and it will yirke thee to hear her talk. For thou shalt find it, to thy great grief, that there is nothing more fulsome than a she-fool.

soever.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

And touching the guiding of thy house, let thy hospitality be moderate, and, according to the means of thy estate, rather plentiful than sparing, but not costly. For I never knew any man grow poor by keeping an orderly table. But some consume themselves through secret vices, and their hospitality bears the blame. But banish swinish drunkards out of thine house, which is a vice impairing health, consuming much, and makes no show. I never heard praise ascribed to the drunkard, but for the well-bearing of his drink, which is a better commendation for a brewer's horse or a drayman, than for either a gentleman or a serving-man. Beware thou spend not above three of four parts of thy revenues: nor above a third part of that in thy house. For the other two parts will do no more than defray thy extraordinaries, which always surmount the ordinary by much; otherwise thou shalt live like a rich beggar, in continual want. And the needy man can never live happily nor contentedly. For every disaster makes him ready to mortage or sell. And that gentleman, who sells an acre of land, sells an ounce of credit. For gentility, is nothing else but ancient riches. So that if the foundation shall at any time sink, the building must needs follow.

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

Bring thy children up in learning and obedience, yet without outward austerity. Praise them openly, reprehend them secretly. Give them good countenance and convenient maintenance according to thy ability, otherwise thy life will seem their bondage, and what portion thou shalt leave them at thy death, they will thank death for it and not thee. And I am persuaded that the foolish cockering of some parents, and the over-stern carriage of others, causeth more men and women to take ill courses, than their own vicious inclinations. Marry thy daughters in time, lest they marry themselves. And suffer not thy sons to pass the Alps; for they shall learn nothing there but pride, blasphemy, and atheism. And if by travel they get a few broken languages, that shall profit them nothing more than to have one meat served in divers dishes. Neither, by my consent, shalt thou train them up in wars; for he that sets up his rest to live by that profession, can hardly be an honest man or a good Christian. Besides, it is a science no longer in request than use; for soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.

1 Well-born.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH was one of the most distinguished of that brilliant constellation of great men that adorned the age of Elizabeth and James. He was of an ancient family, and was born at Hayes Farm, Devonshire, in 1552; and from his youth was distinguished by great intellectual acuteness, but still more by a restless and adventurous disposition. In 1568, he enered Oriel College, Oxford, and soon became eminent for his talents and learning; but his ambition prompted him to pursue the road to fame in an active life, and his residence at the university was, therefore, very brief. When only seventeen years of age, he became a soldier, and as a volunteer fought for the Protestant cause in the civil war of France and the Netherlands; and soon after he accompanied his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on a voyage to Newfoundland. This expedition proved unfortunate; but by familiarizing Raleigh with a maritime life, it probably had great influence in leading him to engage in those subsequent adventures by which he eventually rendered himself so famous. In 1580 he assisted in repressing the Earl of Desmond's rebellion in Ireland, in consequence of which he obtained an estate in that country, and was, for some time, governor of Cork. Having, soon after, occasion to visit London, he attached himself to the court; and with the aid of a handsome person, and winning address, contrived to insinuate himself very thoroughly into the favor of Elizabeth. A well-known anecdote of the time illustrates his gallantry and tact. On one occasion, when he was attending the queen on a walk, she came to a miry part of the road, and for a moment hesitated to proceed. Raleigh perceiving her situation, instantly pulled off his rich plush cloak, and by spreading it before her, enabled her to pass over with unsoiled feet. This mark of attention delighted the queen, from whom, as it was some time after facetiously remarked, his cloak was the means of procuring for him many a good suit.

Not satisfied with the failure of the expedition to Newfoundland, in which he had accompanied his kinsman, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh, in 1584, again joined an adventure for the discovery and settlement of unknown countries in the west. With the help of his friends, two ships were sent out in search of gold mines, to that part of North America then known as Wingandacoa, now Virginia. The commodities returned to England by these vessels afforded such ample compensation for the toil and dangers of the voyage, that the owners were induced to fit out, the next year, a fleet of seven ships, under the command of Raleigh's kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville. The design of this second expedition was to colonize America; but the attempt proved an utter failure, and the enterprise was given up. The expedition, however, was important in one particular, as it was the means of introducing tobacco into England, and also of making known the potato, which is a native of Mexico, and was first cultivated in Europe at this time on Raleigh's estate in Ireland.

Raleigh's prosperity at court was meanwhile increasing. He was about this time knighted by the queen, and elected to Parliament from Devonshire. Elizabeth also made very considerable additions to his Irish estate,