Att last came AUSTINE like a dreamyng dadd,
Aud dyed in doubt yf it were good or badd.

Yt is a trueth, and cannot be denyed,

That MUSICKE Styrres some mynds to godly thought; It is as trew, and hath byn often tryed,

That MUSICKE styrres moe myndes to be but nought. Yt maie be founde yf it be rightly sought

That MUSICKE makes mo mery myndes starke madd, Then secrete prayer suffereth to be sadd.

The serpent tickleth whome she list to sting,

The
surgeon stroketh whome he meanes to strike,
The fowler whistleth whome he fayne would wryng,
The Polipus with calling drawes in dike

The dazled wyghts, whome she to drowne doth like,
And musycke muffleth many men with joy,
Whose myrth excesse turnes quickly to anoy.

Amongst the vaynes of variable joyes

I must confesse that MUSICKE pleasd me ones,
But whiles I searcht the semiquaver toyes,

The glancing sharpes, the halfe notes for the nones,
And all that serves to grace owre gladsome grones,
I found a flate of follye owt of frame,

Which made me graunt my MUSICKE was but lame.

I meane I founde that ravished thereby,
My wandring mynde sometyme forgott yt selfe,
And reason ranne his * cowrce so farr awrye,
That ere I wyst my wytts were set on shelfe,
Of trothe my braynes so full were of such pelfe,

*Course,

That

That some reporte contynually dyd ryng

Within myne eares, and made me seeme to singe.

I coulde not reade, but I must tune my words;

I coulde not speake, but as yt were by note;
I coulde not muze, but that I thought some byrds
Withein my brest did rellease all by rote;

I could not praye but eare there past my throte
Fyve faithefull boones to God for my request,
I soonge the syxth and quyte forgot the rest.

Laugh nott, SWEETE QUEENE, for I shall not be founde
The onely man whiche sleping in delight

Hathe alwaies dreamt a MUSICKES silver sounde.
Some singe soe longe till they bee madde owtright;
And though the wise come se dome in suche plight,
Yet PLATO pleasd in MUSICKE So to dreame,
He thought yt helpt the rulyng of a realme.

And wonderfull it is that NEROES mynde
Which all the worlde and more coulde not suflize,
Was never seene so playuely to be pynde,
AS MUSICKE set the same before owre eyes.
Soe greate a king to dye in hastie wyse,

Ytt greeved him nott, but that so sweete a synger
Should dye so sone that sorrowe seemde a stynger.

And lyke the swanne he soong before his deathe,
Whiche male suffise to prove the * tyckell trust,
That can be buylt upon our fading breathe;
Yt

maye suffise to shewe that all oure lust At last will leave us yn the depthe of dust;

I presume ticklish is here meant.

Yt

Yt serves to prove that no man synges so sweete,
As can eschewe with bytter deathe to nieete.

Some spende muche tyme in learning sweete consents
On lute, on harpe, cythren and virginalls,

And some take paynes with wyndy instruments,
As fyfes, and flutes, cornetts, and such like calles;
Of whom the last to follye more he thralles,
The first but wringe theire fyngers owt of frame,
But thes make mowthes, and shew a seemely shame.

At every spoute that stands about a towre

Men may beholde suche gorgons in their grace,
When paynters please to make a thing seeme sowre,
They portraye then the forme of some suche face,
And yet owre owne blynde judgments be so base,
Wee thinke joye to lend us some reliefe,
Which we beholde exprest and done with griefe.

I dwell to longe in musickes copye holde,
For nowe the DAWNCERS come and call for rome,
&c. &c.

The Poet proceeds to explain the vanities of extreme fondness for dancing, leapyng, and what he writes roonyng, vaulting, &c. He next proceeds to wrestlyng, where the Poem abruptly terminates, as he observes, "for feare of horsinen."

The object throughout, seems to be to impress the idea so beautifully expressed by the elegant author of the celebrated Ode to Indifference;

Bliss goes but to a certain bound;
Beyond is agony.

The manuscript exhibits a beautiful specimen of penmanship; and wherever the Queen is immediately addressed, the letters are of gold.

ANTONY

ANTONY WOOD.

THE following letter reveals what is not generally known, that a great part of the additions. and corrections in the second edition of Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses were supplied by Dr. Tanner, the learned author of the Notitia Monastica.

It is copied from Archbishop Wake's manuscripts in the library of Christ Church, Oxford. See the Cracherode Copy in the library of the British Museum.

"Norwich,

Febr. 22, 1719.

'May it please your Grace,

To accept of my most humble thanks for the hopes you are pleased to give me of helping my brother, when consistent with your former engagements. I must leave the manner to your Grace's pleasure; what I represented in my last, I thought the better of, because I would not press for greater, and if it could be brought about, would settle him in a competency to mine and his liking, with no mighty expense of preferment.

I verily believe your Grace is misinformed that the new edition of Mr. Wood's Athenæ Oxon. will have all the ill natured reflections