"I don't know (says she) whether a woman may be acquitted for endeavouring to sum up a character so various and important as his lordship's; but if the attempt can be excused, I don't desire to have it pass for a decisive sentence. Perhaps few men that dealt in poetry had more learning, or real wisdom than this nobleman, and yet his stile is sometimes so dark and mysterious, that one would imagine he chose rather to conceal, than illustrate his meaning. At other times his wit breaks out again with an uncommon brightness, and shines, I'd almost said, without an equal. It is the same thing with his poetry, sometimes so harsh and uncouth as if he had no ear for music, at others, so smooth and harmonious as if he was master of all its powers." The piece from which I shall quote some lines, is entitled, A TREATISE of HUMAN LEARNING. The mind of man is this world's true dimension; And knowledge is the measure of the minde: And as the minde in her vast comprehension, Contains more worlds than all the world can finde. So knowledge doth itself farre more extend, Than all the minds of men can comprehend. A climbing height it is without a head, Depth without bottome, way without an end, A circle with no line invironed, Not comprehended, all it comprehends; Worth infinite, yet satisfies no minde, 'Till it that Infinite of the God-head finde. [Footnote 1: Fuller's Worthies of Warwickshire, p. 127.] [Footnote 2: Travels, third Edition, p. 114.] * * * * * JOHN DAY. This author lived in the reign of King James I. and was some time student in Caius College in Cambridge. No particulars are preserved concerning this poet, but that he had connection with other poets of some name, and wrote the following plays: 1. Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, with the Merry Humour of Tom Stroud, the Norfolk Yeoman, several times publicly acted by the Prince's Servants; printed in 4to. London, 1659; for the plot, as far as it concerns history, consult the writers in the reign of King Henry VI. 2. Humour out of Breath, a Comedy, said to have been writ by our author, but some have doubted his being the real author of it. 3. Isle of Gulls, a Comedy, often acted in the Black Fryars, by the children of the Revels, printed in 4to. London, 1633. This is founded upon Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. 4. Law Tricks, or Who Would Have Thought It? a Comedy, several times acted by the children of the Revels, and printed in 4to. 1608. 5. Parliament of Bees, with their proper characters, or a Bee-Hive furnished with Twelve Honey-Combs, as pleasant as profitable, being an allegorical description of the ancients of good and bad men in those days, printed in 4to. London, 1641.