This while our noble king,
His broad sword brandishing,

Down the French host did ding,
As to o'erwhelm it,

And many a deep wound lent,

His arms with blood besprent,
And many a cruel dent
Bruised his helmet.

Gloucester, that duke so good,
Next of the royal blood,
For famous England stood,
With his brave brother;
Clarence, in steel so bright,
Though but a maiden knight,
Yet in that furious fight
Scarce such another.

Warwick in blood did wade,

Oxford the foe invade,

And cruel slaughter made,

Still as they ran up;

Suffolk his axe did ply,
Beaumont and Willoughby,
Bare them right doughtily,
Ferrers and Fanhope.

Upon Saint Crispin's day
Fought was this noble fray,
Which fame did not delay
To England to carry;
O when shall English men,
With such acts fill a pen,
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry?

THE ARMING OF PIGWIGGEN.

[From Nymphidia.]

(He) quickly arms him for the field, A little cockle-shell his shield, Which he could very bravely wield,

Yet could it not be pierced :

His spear a bent both stiff and strong,
And well near of two inches long;
The pile was of a horsefly's tongue,
Whose sharpness naught reversed.

And put him on a coat of mail,
Which was of a fish's scale,

That when his foe should him assail,
No point should be prevailing.

His rapier was a hornet's sting,
It was a very dangerous thing;
For if he chanc'd to hurt the king,
It would be long in healing.

His helmet was a beetle's head,
Most horrible and full of dread,
That able was to strike one dead,
Yet it did well become him:
And for a plume a horse's hair,
Which being tossed by the air,
Had force to strike his foe with fear,
And turn his weapon from him.

Himself he on an earwig set,
Yet scarce he on his back could get,
So oft and high he did curvet

Ere he himself could settle:

He made him turn, and stop, and bound,

To gallop, and to trot the round,

He scarce could stand on any ground,

He was so full of mettle.

FROM 'POLYOLBION.'

[Song xv. 1. 147-]

The Naiads and the nymphs extremely overjoy'd,
And on the winding banks all busily employ'd,
Upon this joyful day, some dainty chaplets twine :
Some others chosen out, with fingers neat and fine,
Brave anadems do make: some baldrics up do bind :
Some, garlands: and to some the nosegays were assigned
As best their skill did serve. But for that Thame should be
Still man-like as himself, therefore they will that he
Should not be drest with flowers to garden that belong
(His bride that better fit), but only such as sprung
From the replenish'd meads and fruitful pastures near.
To sort which flowers, some sit, some making garlands were;
The primrose placing first, because that in the spring
It is the first appears, then only flourishing;

The azur'd hare-bell next with them they neatly mix'd,
T'allay whose luscious smell they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily:
And near to that again her sister daffodilly.

To sort these flowers of show, with th' other that were sweet,
The cowslip then they couch, and the oxlip for her meet:
The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,

The yellow kingcup wrought in many a curious fret,
And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,

By which again a course of lady-smocks they lay:

The crow-flower, and thereby the clover flower they stick,
The daisy, over all those sundry sweets so thick,
As Nature doth herself to imitate her right:
Who seems in that her pearl so greatly to delight,
That every plain therewith she powd'reth to behold:
The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold,
Which though esteem'd but weeds, yet for their dainty hues,
And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.

Thus having told you now the bridegroom Thame was drest, I'll show you how the bride fair Isis was invest;

Sitting to be attired under her bower of state,

Which scorns a meaner sort than fits a princely rate,

In anadems, for whom they curiously dispose

The red, the dainty white, the goodly damask rose ;
For the rich ruby, pearl, and amethyst, men place
In kings' imperial crowns, the circle that enchase.
The brave carnation then, with sweet and sovereign power
(So of his colour call'd, although a July flower),
With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale:
Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
Of sweetness; yet in scents as various as in sorts.
The purple violet then, the pansy there supports:
The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar:
The double daisy, thrift, the button-bachelor,
Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion: and to these
Some lavender they put, with rosemary and bays:

Sweet marjoram, with her like, sweet basil rare for smell,
With many a flower, whose name were now too long to tell :
And rarely with the rest, the goodly fleur-de-lis.

JOSEPH HALL.

[JOSEPH HALL, successively Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, was born July 1st, 1574, at Bristow Park, near Ashby de la Zouch, in Leicestershire. His prose writings, which are very voluminous, have gained him the title of the Christian Seneca. His polemical works brought him into collision with Milton; his sermons rank among the most eloquent in our language; his characters of Virtues and Vices were the delight of Lamb; and his Occasional Meditations still maintain their popularity. He terminated a life of much usefulness and many troubles at Higham, near Norwich, September 8th, 1656, in the eighty-second year of his age. As a poet Hall is known only by his Satires, which were written when he was a very young man. They came out in two instalments, the first of which was entitled Virgidemiarum, First three Bookes of Toothlesse Satyrs-Poetical, Academical, Moral, and appeared in 1597; the second, entitled Virgidemiarum, The three Last Bookes of Byting Satyrs, were published in the following year. Both parts were reprinted in 1599, and again in 1602.]

Hall boasts that he was the first English satirist. This is not true. To say nothing of the fathers of our tongue, and of the satires of Barklay, Skelton, Roye, and Gascoigne, he had been anticipated in his own walk by Thomas Lodge, whose Fig for Momus appeared in 1593. Hall has however a higher claim to praise. He was the founder of a great dynasty of satirists. He made satire popular, and he determined its form. Marston immediately succeeded him as his disciple; the author of Skialetheia, the author of Microcynicon, and innumerable other anonymous satirists followed in rapid succession, till we reach Donne and Jonson, Wither and Marvel, Dryden and Oldham. In all these poets the influence of Hall is either directly or indirectly perceptible. Dryden had in all probability perused him with care, and Pope was so sensible of his merits that he not only carefully interlined his copy of Hall, but expressed much regret that he had not been acquainted with his Satires sooner.

Hall's abilities, not only as a satirist, but as a descriptive writer and as a master of style, are of a high order. His models were, he