A place there is upon no centre placed,

Deep under depths, as far as is the sky
Above the earth ; dark, infinitely spac'd :

Pluto the king, the kingdom misery.
The chryftal may God's glorious feat resemble ;
Horrour itself, these horrours but diffemble.

Lord Brooke's Alaban.
Hell gives us art, to reach the depth of fin ;
But leaves us wretched fools, when we are in.'

Beaumont and Fletcher's Queen of Corinth. Down-hill we run, climb upward a low pace ; Easy descents to hell, steep Iteps to grace.

W. Rowley's All loft by Luft. There is a place in a black and hollow vault, Where day is never seen; there shines no fun, But Alaming horrour of consuming fires; A lightless Tulphur, choak'd with smoky fogs Of an infected darkness ; in this place Dwell many thousand thousand fundry forts Of never-dying deaths ; there damned souls Roar without pity ; there are gluttons fed With toads and adders ; there is burning oil Pour'd down the drunkard's throat ; the usurer Is forc'd to sup whole draughts of malten gold ; There is the murtherer for ever stabb’d, Yet can he never die; there lies the wanton On racks of burning steel, while in his soul He feels the torment of his raging luft. There stand those wretched things, Who have dream'd out whole years in lawless sheets, And secret incests, cursing one another.

John Ford's 'Tis pity she's a Whore. H I S T o R 1 A N. The chronicles to know, I thee exhort,

Which may be mirror to thy majesty ;
There shalt thou find both good and ill report,

Of every prince after his quality :
Though they be dead, yet their works shall not die:

Trust

.

Trust well thou will be stiled in that story,
As thou deserves't to be put in memory.

Sir David Lindsay, · But story-writers ought, for neither glory,

Fear, nor favour, truth of things to spare :
But still it fares, as alway it did fare ;
Affections, fear, or doubts that daily brew,
Do cause that stories never can be true.

Mirror for Magistrates, 'Tis worthy praise, I grant, to write the ends

Of vicious men; and teach the like beware : For what hath he of virtue that commends

Such persons lewd, as nought of virtues care?

But for to leave out those praise-worthy are,
Is like as if a man had not the skill
To praise the good, but discommend the ill.

Mirror for Magiftrates, But seeing causes are the chiefeft things

That should be noted of the story writers ; That 'men may learn what ends all causes brings,

They be unworthy name of chroniclers,

That leave them clean out of their registers ; Or doubtfully report them: For the fruit of reading stories, standeth in the suit.

Mirror for Magistrates. For hitherto, lly writers wily wits,

Which have engrossed princes chief affairs, Have been like horses, fnaffled with the bits

Of fancy, fear, or doubts, full deep despairs ;

Whose reins, enchained to the chiefeft chairs, Have so been strain'd of those that bare the stroke, That truth was forc'd to chew, or else to choke. This caused such as loathed loud to lie,

To pass with filence fundry princes lives :
Lefs fault it is to leave, than lead awry,

And better crown'd, than ever bound in gyves :
For fatal fraud this world so fondly drives,

That

H IS
That whatsoever writers brains may brew,
Be't ne'er fo falle, at length is ta'en for true.
What harm may hap by help of lying sensi

How written lies may lewdly be maintain'd, 'I he lothly rites, the devilish idol dens,

With guiltleis blood of virtuous men beslain'd,

1. furh a proof that all good hearts have 'plain'd:
The taly ground of fories throughly tries,
The death of martyrs vengeance on it cries,
The feet wits I know will foon be weary,

In reading long whatever book it be,
1.net pt it be vain matter, Itrange, or merry,
Well fawe'd with lies, and glared all with glee ;

0 With which because no grave truth may agree, The clofelt file for flories is the meetelt, In fueful means the shortert form is sweetest.

Mirror for Magiftram, A chronicler should well in divers tongues be seen, TM

And eke in all the arts he ought to have a right,
Wherehy he might the truth of divern allions dcem,

And both fupply the wants, correct that is not right:
Ile should have cloquence, and full and fitly write,
Not mangled doties snatching here and there :
Nor gloze to make a volume great appear.
He should be of such countenance and wit,

As should give witness to the histories he writes i
Ile should be able well his reasons fo to knit,

As should continue well the matter he recites :

He should not praiso, dispraise, for favour or despites,
But fiould to place each thing in order duc,
As might approve the stories to be true.
But this mayhap, the time may seek at length redress

And then fueh stories now and noble acts as die,
May come again to light, at least defaced leso,

If from the Britain's first antiquities they try :
In great detecte if they the truth fupply,

Then

Then shall the readers fuller stories find,
And have whereby to recreate the mind.

Higins in the Mirror for Magistrates.
Who hath a book of all monarchs done,
He's more secure to keep it shut, than shewn.

Shakespear's Pericles. There is a history in all mens lives, Fig'ing the nature of the times deceas d ; The which observ'd, a man may prophecy With a near aim, of the main chance of things As yet not come to life; which in their seeds And weak beginnings lie entreasured.

Shakespear's Second Part of King Henry IV. O wouldlt thou add like hand, to all the rest ! Or, better work! were thy glad country blest, To have her story woven in thy thread ; Minerva's loom was never richer spread. For who can master those great parts like thee, That liv'it from hope, from fear, from faction free ; Thou haft thy brealt so clear of present crimes, Thou need't not fhrink at voice of after-times ; Whose knowledge claimeth at the helm to stand; But wisely, thruits not forth a forward hand, No more than Saluft in the Roman state : As then, his cause, his glory emulate. Although to write be tester than to do, It is the next deed, and a great one too. We need a man that knows the sev'ral graces Of history, and how to apt their places ; Where brevity, where splendor, and where height, Where sweetness is required, and where weight; We need a man, .can speak of the intents, The councils, actions, orders, and events Of state, and censure them : we need his pen

Can write the things, the causes, and the men. • But we molt need his faith, and all have you, That dares not write things false, nor hide things true.

Johnson's Epigrams.

For

For know, great prince, when you shall come to know,

How that it is the faireft ornament
Of worthy times, to have those which may shew

The deeds of pow'r, and lively represent

The actions of a glorious government.
And 'tis no lesser honour to a crown,
T'have writers, than have actors of renown.

Daniel on Prince Henry, Would God our times had had some sacred wight,

Whose words as happy as our swords had been ; To have prepar'd for us trophies aright

of undecaying frames t'hive rested in; Triumpant arks of perdurable might :

O holy lines ! that such advantage win
Upon the scythe of time, in spite of years :
How blessed they, who gain what never wears !
For what is it to do; if what we do

Shall perish near as soon as it is done ?
What is that glory we attain unto

With all our toil; if lost as soon as won? A small requital for so great ado,

Is this poor present breath, a smoke foon gone : Or the se dumb stones, erected for our fake : Which formless keeps few stormy changes make.

Daniel's Civil War. Now he o'er all will spread your praises forth,

A famous witness of your glorious reign: The record of one wise man is more worth,

Than what a world of others would maintain. Great prince, do not the loving zeal reject,

Which a mean man, yet a good mind affords : And who perchance doth more your good affect, Than those who paint their love with fairer words.

E. of Sterline's Crafus.

Ah