"Mr. Hicks. I have sent you heer inclosed that cobweb of my invention which I promised before Christmas: I pray you present it, commend it, and grace it, as well for your owne sake as mine: bycause by your nominacion I was first put to this taske, for which I acknowledge my self beholding to you in good earnest, though the imployment be light and trifling, because I am glad of any occasion of being made knowne to that noble gentl. whom I honore and admire exceedingly. If ought be to be added, or alter'd; lett me heare from you. I shall willingly attend to doo it, the more speedily if it be before the terme. So in haste I commend my best service to you. Chancery Lane, 20 Jan. 1600. Yours to do you service very willingly, Jo. Davys." (Bibl. Account, V. I., pp. 193-4; no specification of source beyond S. P. O.) The handwriting of the copy in Downing College belongs to the close of the 16th or to the earliest years of the 17th century. The second marginal note above would seem to show that the transcript was made from the original, then perhaps being circulated from hand to hand. Specimens of variations may interest. In "The Courtier," l. 1, for 'liu'd' the MS. reads 'serued': l. 4, "from them that fall" for "such as fall": l. 5, "my" for "a rich array": in the "Divine," l. 1, "one cure doth me contente" for "and I from God am sent": l. 3, "true kinde" for "kind true": l. 5, "Nor followe princes' Courts" for "Much wealth I will not seeke ": "The Souldier," l. 6, "brag" for "boast": "The Physitian," l. 1, "prolonge" for "vphold" and "life" for "state": l. 2, "I" for "me" (_bis_): l. 6, "time & youth" for "youth and time": "The Lawyer," l. 1, "My practice is the law" for "the Law my calling is": ll. 5-6, "Some say I haue good gifts, and love where I doe take Yet never tooke I fee, but I advisd or spake," for "Nor counsell did bewray, nor of both parties take, Nor euer tooke I fee for which I neuer spake." "The Merchant" l. 2, "vnknowne worlds ... kingdomes doth" for "unknowne coasts ... countries to": "The Married Man," l. 4, "choise" for "chance": "The Wife," l. 1, "my" for "our": l. 2, "Thither am I ... where firste" for "I thither am ... from whence": l. 3, "I goe not maskd abroad to visit, when I do My secrets I bewray to none but one or two," for "I doe not visite oft, nor many, when I doe, I tell my mind to few, and that in counsell too."