that I durst never show any ladie but you two. And so wishing you to lock me up as safe in your love, as I know you will lay up this booke safe in your chest, I commend me to you, Your sonne-in-law, Dec. 19, 1600. And in love, JOHN HARYNGTON. From this collection we transcribe the following; which will shew the writer's talents at easy and humourous rhyme to great advantage. Some readers, perhaps, may think that the wight, calling himself Peter Pindar, has been more indebted to Harrington for his manner, than to the obscure bard of antient Greece. TO HIS WIFE.-OF WOMEN'S VERTUES A well learn'd man, in rules of life no stoyk, And more than all, to have good cheese and butter. Then next a step, but yet a large step higher, Was civill virtue fitter for the city With modest lookes, good clothes, and answers witty, Her Her idle tymes and idle coyne she spends On needle works; and when the season serves Theise entertayn great princes; theise have learn'd And though they foote it false, 'tis ne'er discearned. TO HIS WIFE'S MOTHER. When with your daughter, Madam, you be chatt'ring, And then, forsooth, my kindness all is flattering, "Tis not my flattering her moves you hereto, This witty and thoughtless man died at Kelston, near Bath, in 1612, aged 51. The ingenious Dr. Harrington, physician, at Bath, is a descendant of sir John Harrington, and inherits the fullness of his wit, without any of his extravagance. Many Many admirable specimens of his classical taste, and lively humour, have been circulated among his friends, and it is a pity that the whole of them are not collected into one or two volumes, while the venerable author is living to give them in a correct state to the public. RICHARD HOOKER. "Yet shelter'd there by calm Contentment's wing, THE name of Hooker has outlived that of the polemics with which he was engaged; and while the immediate subjects which exercised his pen are forgotten, his books of ecclesiastical polity shall continue to be read with admiration, not only for the clearness of their reasoning, and the vigour of their style, but as exhibiting the correctest views of social relation, and the foundations of human laws and government. In them the reader will find the true balance and connexion of individual rights, and social obligation; what may be claimed, and what may be conceded for the general good. The mind and character of Hooker greatly resembled that of his immortal work. The one in fact was but a counterpart of the other. In his book we perceive a chaste simplicity, united to the most vigorous strength of reasoning: and though immense stores of reading and acute research, and and observation are poured into it, the whole is so judiciously and naturally blended, as not to have the slightest appearance of pedantry or ostentation. Such also was Hooker; a man capable of the greatest things, yet in his deportment the simplest and most humble man alive. His birth was lowly, but though his parents had a large family they laudably exerted themselves in giving him a good education, and it is related of him, that when he was a school-boy, he was inquisitive to enquire into the grounds and reasons of things, asking Why this was, and that was not to be remembered? Why this was granted, and that denied?' Yet this sagacious spirit was mixed, says one of his biographers, with so remarkable a sweetness and serenity of temper, as endeared him to his preceptor, and made him predict that he would become a great man. Hooker's uncle was chamberlain of Exeter, and being very intimate with bishop Jewell, of Salisbury, he entreated him to become his nephew's patron, which the good prelate consented to, and sent him accordingly to Corpus Christi college, Oxford, where he obtained the place of bible clerk, and followed his studies with unremitted attention. Hooker's biographer relates a curious anecdote of him and his patron, which, as a picture of the manners of those times, as well as of the characters of the two parties, will be found amusing; and it may be proper to observe here by the way, that |