4. In 1548-9, there were insurrections in several counties of England, having for their object the restoration of the Catholic religion, and the redress of grievances. The insurgents in Northamptonshire were 20,000 strong, headed by one Ket, a tanner, who possessed himself of Norwich. The earl of Northampton, marching rashly and hastily against him, at the head of a very inferior force, was defeated with loss. In the rout lord Sheffield, ancestor of the earl of Mulgrave, and the person alluded to in the text, fell with his horse into a ditch, and was slain by a butcher with a club. The rebels were afterwards defeated by the earl of Warwick.--DUGDALE'S _Baron_, vol. ii. p. 386. HOLLINSHED, p. 1035.] 5. The entire passage of Lucretius is somewhat different from this quotation: _Quae bene, et eximie quamvis disposta ferantur, Longe sunt tamen a vera ratione repulsa. Omnia enim per se Divum natura necesse est Immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur, Semota a nostris rebus, sejunctaque longe. Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis, Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nihil indiga nostri, Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira._ LIB. II. Dryden ingeniously applies, to the calm of philosophical retirement, the Epicurean tranquillity of the Deities of Lucretius. 6. The subject of this intended poem, was probably the exploits of the Black Prince. See Life. 7. An incident in "Artemenes, ou Le Grand Cyrus," a huge romance, written by Madame Scuderi. PROLOGUE.