SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
315
1551. The first drinking ballad of any merit, in the English language, appeared in this year. It has a vein of ease and humour superior to what might hare been expected in these times ; and it may be considered as the parent of many pleasin? compositions, which hare highly con- tribated to conrivial entertainment. This ballad opens the second act of Gammer Gurton't Needle, a. comedy written and printed in the above year, and which was soon afterwards acted at Christ's colletre, Cambridge. It is the first English play which was neither myttery nor morality, and which handles a comic story with some disposi- tion of plot, and some discrimination of character. The jocularity of it sometimes rises above buf- foonery ; and the author displays powers of mind, which, in a more polished age, would have ena- bled him to appear with no small credit.
Poetrr, durmg this period, was often satirically employed upon religious subjects ; and among the vehicles of controversy between the papal and protestant communions, popular ballads and the stage made no inconsiderable figure. The ballad of Luther, the pope, a cardinal, and a Inubandman, which was written in this year, was in defence of the reformation, and is not destitute of spirit, the characters of the speakers being tolerably supported. Another which ap- peared about the same time, was a lively satire on the English bible, the vernacular liturgy, and the book of Homilies. A poem called the Pore Belp, was a lampoon against the new preachers, in the style. Other pieces of the like kmd might be specified, but they are foreign to our purpose. Tbe poetical anuaus of Edward VI. are marked with metrical translations of various parts of scripttue. Of these the chief is the versification of the psalms by Stemhold and Hopkins; a per- fortna.nce to which importance has been annexed in consequence of the religious circumstances wherewith it is connected, but which is entitled to no regard from its own merit. Wyat and Sarry had before translated some of the psalms into metre ; but Thomas Stemhold was the first whose metrical version of them was used in the chnreh of England. His coadjutor, John Hopkins,* was rather a better poet than himself. His other assistants were Thomas Norton, and W. Wyttingham, afterwards dean of Durham. The spirit of versifying the psalms, and other parts of the scriptures were generally diffused at the beginning of the reformation ; and among the rest that employed themselves this way, were William Hunis,f a gentleman of the chapel under Edward VI. William Baldwin, Francis Seager, and Matthew Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. Another contributor to the metri- cal theology was Robert Crowley, an Oxford divine, and who afterwards was engaged in the bookselling and printing business m London ;
• John Hopkins was admitted A.B., at Oxford, in 1M4, •nd la Buppofled to bare been afterwards a clergyman of SufToQc. where he is said to have kept a scliool. He was ItTinr in lSi6. He versified fifty-eight of the psalms, which ■re distinguished by the initials of his name.
t Died at Westminster, Jane 6, 1597.
and another still more extraordinary one was Christopher Tye,a doctor of music at Cambridge. Tye projected a translation of the Acts of the Apostles into familiar metre, of which he com- pleted only the first fourteen chapters. The Book of XHngs had before been versified by ano- ther hand. Dr. Tye carried his absurdity so far as to set his version to music ; and his Acts of the Apostles were sung for a time in the royal chapel of Edward VI. Evrn this good young king himself is to be ranked among llie religious poets of his own reign.
King Edward VI. stands in the list of royal authors, and he is justly entitled to that distinc- tion. Considering the time in which he lived, and the early period of his dratli, bis journal of his own reign, his remains, and his other com- positions, display such a pruiiiisc, and, indeed, such a possession of abilities, as add greatly to the regret arising from the recollection of his premature decease.
Among the noble writers nf the age, must be placed Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset.* His principal title to this honour b founded on one or two religious pieces, which were penned during his troubles. Another monument of the protector, is Somerset House in the Strand, which is a compound of the grccian and gothic mode of building.f But the greatest honour which is due to this eminent nobleman, is his moderation and prudence in advancing the re- formation. Edmund lord Slicflicid is said to have composed a book of sonncls, in the Italian manner. Henry lord Staflord, and Francis Hastings, second earl of Huntingdon, exerted their talents only as translators.
About the commencement of this reign, we find a poet of the name of Kelton, who wrote the Chronicle of the Brutes, in English verse. — The subject was not a bad one, if the writer had been capable of enriching his genealogical and historical materials with any brilliancy of imagi- nation.
Amongst the writers of tins period Polydore Virgil stands in the first rank. He was born at Urbino, in Italy, and came to England in the beginning of Henry Vlll'tli's reign. He con- tinued in England till 1560; when being of an advanced age, Edward VI. pcmiilted liim to retire to his own country, >iitiiout forfeiture of his English benefices, being archdeacon of Wells, &c. He wrote in elegant Latin ; and his most celebrated work is the treatise dc Inrenloribus Rerum. His History of Enijland is considered very inaccurate. He is accused of detailing inaccurately even the affairs of Henry VIII. in whose reign he wrote. Whear says his inaccu- racy was occasioned by his ignorance of the English language.
- Edward Seymour duke of Somerset, was beheaded on
Tower Hlil, January 23, 1SS3, in the midst of a vast con- course of the populace, by whom he was beloved. On the lotli of September, 1547, the duke of Somerset obtained one of the most finished victories nn record, against the Scots, at Pinkey, near Masaclbargli. The Scots were led by the earl of Arran.
t John of Padua is supposed to have been the architect.
