by hys paynefull and dutifull Verses of your Poëtæ, tuæquae ipsius maximæ in his rebus selfe. Thus muche was written at Westminster yesternight but comming this morning, beeyng the sixteenth of October, to Mystresse Kerkes, to haue it deliuered to the Carrier, I receyued youre letter, sente me the laste weeke: whereby I perceiue you other whiles continue your old exercise of Versifying in English: whych glorfe I had now thought shoulde haue bene onely ours heere at London, and the Court. Truste me, your Verses I like passingly well, and enuye your hidden paines in this kinde, or rather maligne, and grudge at your selfe, that woulde not once imparte so muche to me. But once, or twice, you make a breache in Maister Drants Rules: quod tamen condonabimus tanto V autoritati. You shall see when we meete in London, (whiche, when it shall be, certifye vs) howe fast I haue followed after you, in that Course: beware, leaste in time I ouertake you. Veruntamen te solùm sequar, (vt sæpenumerò sum professus,) nunquam sanè assequar, dum viuam. And nowe requite I you with the like, not with the verye beste, but with the verye shortest, namely with a fewe lambickes : I dare warrant, they be precisely perfect for the feete (as you can easily iudge) and varie not one inch from the Rule. I will imparte yours to Maister Sidney, and Maister Dyer, at my nexte going to the Courte. I praye you, keepe mine close to your selfe, or your verie entire friendes, Maister Preston, Maister Still, and the reste. Iambicum Trimetrum. Nhappie Verse, the witnesse of my unhappie state, Sitting so cheerelesse at the cheerfull boorde, or else If at Boorde, tell hir, that my mouth can eate no meate: Say, that raging Loue dothe appall the weake stomacke: I thought once agayne here to haue made an | you take all togither, wyth all their faultes: ende, with a heartie Vale, of the best fashion: and nowe I hope, you will vouchsafe mee but loe, an ylfauoured myschaunce. My last an answeare of the largest size, or else farewell, whereof I made great accompt, and muche maruelled you shoulde make no mention thereof, I am nowe tolde, (in the Diuels name) was thorough one mans negligence quite forgotten, but shoulde nowe vndoubtedly haue beene sent, whether I hadde come, or no. Seing it can now be no otherwise, I pray I tell you true, you shall bee verye deepe in my debte: notwythstandyng, thys other sweete, but shorte letter, and fine, but fewe Verses. But I woulde rather I might yet see youre owne good selfe, and receive a Reciprocall farewell from your owne sweete mouth. 1 Ic Ad Ornatissimum virum, multis iamdiu nominibus clarissimum, G. H. Immerito εὐτυχεῖν. Sle malus egregium, sic non inimicus Ami- | Cælestes Diuamque thoros spreuisse beatos. cum: Sicque nouus veterem iubet ipse Poëta Poetam, Vtier. Ecce Deus, (modò sit Deus ille, renixum Fluctuat ancipiti Pelago, dum Nauita proram Ergo nihil laudi reputas æquale perenni, Amores Conculcare soles, vt humum, et ludibria sensus. Dicitur effæti proles facunda Laërtæ, Tantum Amor, et Mulier, vel Amore potentior. Illum Tu tamen illudis: tua Magnificentia tanta est: Præque subumbrata Splendoris Imagine tanti, Præque illo Meritis famosis nomine parto, Cætera, quæ Vecors, vti Numina, vulgus adorat, Prædia, Amicitias, armenta, peculia, nummos, Quæque placent oculis, formas, spectacula, Amores, Quæque placent ori, quæque auribus, omnia temnis. Næ tu grande sapis, Sapor at sapientia non est : Si sapis, ablatum, (Curijs ea, Fabricijsque Linque viris miseris miseranda Sophismata quondam Grande sui decus ij, nostri sed dedecus æui :) Præ tamen amplexu lachrymosa Coniugis, Ortus | Nec sectare nimis. Res vtraque crimine plena. [An Enclosure with the previous letter. This is the 'last farewell' there referred to, written on 5 Oct. 1579, but not forwarded owing to some one's negligence, now recovered by Spenser, and enclosed with his later letter of 15th and 16th Oct.] Hoc bene qui callet, (si quis tamen hoc bene | Fausta precaretur: Deus illum aliquando r ducat, etc. Plura vellem per Charites, sed non licet per Vale, Vale plurimùm, Mi amabilissime I was minded also to haue sent you some English verses: or Rymes, for a farewell: but by my Troth, I haue no spare time in the world. to thinke on such Toyes, that you knowe will demaund a freer head, than mine is presently. I beseeche you by all your Curtesies, and Graces, let me be answered, ere I goe: which will be, (I hope, I feare, I thinke) the next weeke, if I can be dispatched of my Lorde. I goe thither, as sent by him, and maintained most what of him and there am to employ my time, my body, my minde, to his Honours seruice. Thus with many superhartie Commendations, and Recommendations to your selfe, and all my friendes with you, I ende my last Farewell, not thinking any more to write vnto you, before I goe: and withall committing to your faithfull Credence the eternall Memorie of our euer. lasting friendship, the inuiolable Memorie of our vnspotted friendshippe, the sacred Memorie of our vowed friendship: which I beseech you Continue with vsuall writings, as you may, and of all things let me heare some Newes from you. As gentle M. Sidney, I thanke his good Worship, hath required of me, and so promised to doe againe. Qui monet, vt facias, quod iam facis, you knowe the rest. You may alwayes send them most safely to me by Mistress Kerke, and by none other. Soonce againe, and yet once more, Farewell most hartily, mine owne good Master H. and loue me, as I loue you, and thinke vpon poore Immerito, as he thinketh vppon you. Leycester House. This. 5. of October. 1579. Per mare, per terras, Viuus, mortuusque. Tuus Immerito. To my verie Friende, M. Immerito. Iberalissimo Signor Immerito, in good soothe euer-perishing Substaunces. As I a so clearkly handled, me nothing, either to recompence, or counter-by three so famous Doctours, as olde Maister uaile your gentle Masterships, long, large, lauish, Luxurious, Laxatiue Letters withall, (now a Gods name, when did I euer in my life, hunt the Letter before? but, belike, theres no remedie, I must needes be euen with you once in my dayes,) but only forsoothe, a fewe Millions of Recommendations, and a running Coppie of the Verses enclosed. Which Verses, (extra iocum) are so well done in Lattlin by two Doctors, and so well Translated into English by one odde Gentleman, and generally so well allowed of all, that chaunced to haue the perusing of them: that trust mee, G. H. was at the first hardly intreated, to shame himselfe, and truely, now blusheth, to see the first Letters of his name, stande so neere their Names, as of necessitie they must. You know the Greek prouerb, πορφύρα ποτὶ πορφύραν diangiria, and many colours, (as in a manner euery thing else) that seuerally by themselues, seeme reasonably good, and freshe ynough, beyng compared, and ouermatched wyth their betters, are maruellously disgraced, and as it were, dashed quite oute of Countenaunce. I am at this instant, very busilye, and hotly employed in certaine greate and serious affayres: whereof, notwithstanding (for all youre vowed, and long experimented secrecie) | you are not like to heare a worde more at the moste, till I my selfe see a World more at the leaste. And therefore, for this once I beseech you (notwithstanding your greate expectation of I knowe not what Volumes for an aunsweare) content your good selfe, with these Presentes, (pardon me, I came lately out of a Scriueners shop) and in lieu of many gentle Farewels, and goodly Godbewyes, at your departure: gyue me once againe leaue, to playe the Counsaylour a while, if it be but to iustifie your liberall Mastershippes, Nostri Cato maxime sæcli: and I coniure you by the Contents of the Verses, and Rymes enclosed, and by al the good, and bad Spirites, that attende vpon the Authors themselues, immediatly vpon the contemplation thereof, to abandon all other fooleries, and honour Vertue, the onely immortall and suruiuing Accident amongst so manye mortall, and Wythipole, and the other two bee, may easily, and will fully perswade you, howsoeuer you tush at the fourths vnsutable Paraphrase. But a worde or two, to your large, lauishe, laxatiue Letters, and then for thys time, Adieu. Of my credite, youre doubtes are not so redoubted, as youre selfe ouer suspiciously imagine: as I purpose shortely to aduize you more at large. Your hotte yron, is so hotte, that it striketh mee to the hearte, I dare not come neare to strike it: The Tyde tarryeth no manne, but manye a good manne is fayne to tarry the Tyde. And I knowe some, whyche coulde be content to bee theyr own Garners, that are gladde to thanke other for theyr courtesie: But Beggars, they saye, muste be no choosers. Your new-founded ägur wayor I honoure more, than you will or can suppose: and make greater accompte of the twoo worthy Gentlemenne, than of two hundreth Dionisii Areopagita, or the verye notablest Senatours, that euer Athens dydde affourde of that number. Your Englishe Trimetra I lyke better, than perhappes you will easily beleeue: and am to requite them wyth better, or worse, at more conuenient leysure. Marry, you must pardon me, I finde not your warrant so sufficiently good, and substauntiall in Lawe, that it can persuade me, they are all, so precisely perfect for the Feete, as your selfe ouer-partially weene, and ouer-confidently auouche: especiallye the thirde, whyche hathe a foote more than a Lowce (a wonderous deformitie in a righte and pure Senarie) and the sixte, whiche is also in the same Predicament, vnlesse happly one of the feete be sawed off wyth a payre of Syncopes: and then shoulde the Orthographie haue testified so muche: and in steade of Heauenli Virgināls, you should haue written, Heaūnli Virgnāls: and Virgnāls againe in the ninth, and should haue made a Curtoll of Immerito in the laste: being all notwithstandyng vsuall, and tollerable ynoughe, in a mixte, and licentious Iambicke: and of two euilles, better (no doubte) the fyrste, than the laste: a thyrde superfluous sillable, than a dull Spondee Then me thinketh, you haue in my fancie somwhat too many Spondees beside: and whereas Trochee sometyme presumeth in the firste place, as namely in the second Verse, Make thy, whyche thy, by youre Maistershippes owne authoritie muste needes be shorte, I shall be faine to supplye the office of the Arte Memoratiue, and putte you in minde of a pretty Fable in Abstemio the Italian, implying thus much, or rather thus little in effect. A certaine lame man beyng invited to a solempne Nuptiall Feaste, made no more adoe, but sate me hym roundlye downe foremoste at the hyghest ende of the Table. The Master of the feast, suddainly spying his presumption, and hansomely remoouing him from thence, placed me this haulting Gentleman belowe at the nether end of the bourd: alledging for his defence the common verse: Sedes nulla datur, præterquam sexta Trochao: and pleasantly alluding to this foote, which standing vppon two syllables, the one long, the other short, (much like, of a like, his guestes feete) is alwayes thrust downe to the last place, in a true Hexameter, and quite thrust out of doores in a pure, and iust Senarie. Nowe Syr, what thinke you, I began to thinke with my selfe, when I began to reade your warrant first: so boldly, and venterously set downe in so formall, and autentique wordes, as these, Precisely perfil, and not an inch from the Rule? Ah Syrrha, and Iesu Lord, thought I, haue we at the last gotten one, of whom his olde friendes and Companions may iustly glory, In eo solùm peccat, quòd nihil peccat: and that is yet more exacte, and precise in his English Comicall Iambickes, than euer M. Watson himselfe was in his Latin Tragicall Iambickes, of whom M. Ascham reporteth, that he would neuer to this day suffer his famous Absolon to come abrode, onely because Anapastus in Locis paribus, is twice, or thrice vsed in steade of Iambus? A small fault, ywisse, and such a one in M. Aschams owne opinion, as perchaunce woulde neuer haue beene espyed, no neither in Italy, nor in Fraunce. But when I came to the curious scanning, and fingering of euery foote, and syllable: Lo here, quoth I, M. Watsons Anapastus for all the worlde. A good horse, that trippeth not once in a iourney and M. Immerito doth, but as M. Watson, and in a manner all other Iambici haue done before him: marry he might haue spared his preface, or at the least, that same restrictiue, and streight laced terme, Precisely, and all had been well enough: and I assure you, of my selfe, I beleeue, no peece of a fault marked at all. But this is the Effect of war. rantes, and perhappes the Errour may rather proceede of his Master, M. Drantes Rule, than of himselfe. Howsoeuer it is, the matter is not great, and I alwayes was, and will euer continue of this Opinion, Pauca multis condonanda vitia Virtutibus, especially these being no Vitia neither, in a common and licencious Iambicke. Verùm ista obiter, non quidem con· tradicendi animo, aut etiam corrigendi mihi crede: sed nostro illo Academico, pristinoque more ratiocinandi. And to saye trueth, partely too, to requite your gentle courtesie in beginning to me, and noting I knowe not what breache in your gorbellyed Maisters Rules: which Rules go for good, I perceiue, and keepe a Rule, where there be no better in presence. My selfe neither sawe them, nor heard of them before: and therefore will neither praise them, nor dispraise them nowe: but vppon the suruiewe of them, and farther conference, (both which I desire) you shall soone heare one mans opinion too or fro. Youre selfe remember I was wonte to haue some preiudice of the man: and I still remaine a fauourer of his deserued, and iust commendation. Marry in these poyntes, you knowe, Partialitie in no case, may haue a foote: and you remember mine olde Stoicall exclamation: Fie on childish affection, in the discoursing, and deciding of schoole matters. This I say, because you charge me with an vnknowne authoritie: which for aught I know yet, may as wel be either vnsufficient, or faultie, as otherwise: and I dare more than halfe promise, (I dare not saye. warrant) you shall alwayes in these kinde controuersies, finde me nighe hande answerabl in mine owne defence. Reliqua omnia, qua de hac supersunt Anglicorum versuum ration: in aliud_tempus_reseruabimus, ociosum magis Youre Latine Farewell is a goodly brau yonkerly peece of work, and Goddilge yee, am alwayes maruellously beholding vnto you for your bountifull Titles: I hope by that tim I haue been resident a yeare or twoo in Italy I shall be better qualifyed in this kind, and more able to requite your lauishe, and mag nificent liberalitie that way. But to let Titles and Tittles passe, and come to the very point in deede, which so neare toucheth my lust Trauayler to the quicke, and is one of the prædominant humors that raigne in our cor mon Youths: Heus mi tu, bone proce, mag muliercularum amator, egregie Pamphile, e aliquando tandem, qui te manet, qui mulieros |