the impossibility, even with his powers, of doing justice to both, as well as to the inevitable conflict between them as soon as a certain point is reached. At that age, however, it is easy to see that both Lambeth and Whitehall had attractions for him, and he amuses himself (as I understand the passage) by evading the choice between them. But by putting Philomusus (who most nearly expresses himself) into the business of State service, he indicates his preference for that calling, with the desire to compass both. Of course it may be a slip of the pen, but the fact that the transposition is maintained to the end of the play renders this very improbable.

P. 86. The judgments meted out to the two profligate brothers are exemplary and characteristic of the times. Philautus (Fidus reports) was executed, on a sentence of the Palsgrave's Court, "for a robbery with Dicke Droom, yea even in the sight of his Brother, and notwithstanding the favour that hee is in there, such severe execution of justice is there administred." As to Philosarchus, Fidus, having "crossed over the Countrey towards Geneva," found that, for immorality, he had been "whipped openly three severall dayes in the market, and was banished the Towne with great infamie, notwithstanding that his Brother Phylotimus was an earnest suter unto the congregation for him "an interesting reference to Calvin's government.

The play concludes with the punishment of the seducers of youth:

Severus [the Markgrave]. Well Master Gnomaticus, since only this fellow [Ambidexter] is recovered, I think meete to hold this course of justice, he together with Master Eccho shall bee whyped aboute the Towne three severall market dayes, with papers declaring their faults set upon their heds, and afterwards they shalbe banished the Citie, uppon payne of death never to returne, and Mistresse Lamia with her Aunt shall likewyse be set on the Cucking stoole in publique three market daies, and then to be banished the Towne also.

This, with the Epilogue of sixty-three lines in verse

which follows, pointing the moral, was written, I have no doubt, with an eye to the denouncers of stage plays, and to show them what an instrument for reformation they could be made. Later on Bacon takes up his parable on this important question in ways to which I shall hope to refer in another connection.

R

CHAPTER IX

BACON AND GASCOIGNE (continued)

LET us now turn to The Steele Glas, the piece by which Gascoigne is best known. This piece bears the stamp of Gascoigne's individuality on every line, and its authenticity admits of no question. The dedication is dated 15th April 1576, and we learn from the dedication for The Complaint of Philomene, dated 16th April 1575, that the poem was begun in that month (April 1575). We are also told, in an unsigned tail-piece, that The Complaint of Philomene was finished on 3rd April 1576.

As we have seen, the revised edition of the Posies was published in January 1575, evidently shortly after Gascoigne's return from the Low Countries, and the cast of his thoughts at that time is shown in The Fruites of Warre, included in the volume. The Steele Glas, which was begun within three months after the publication of that piece, reflects the same tone of thought, one of regret for the past and serious resolutions, in spite of depressing circumstances, for the future. The writing is interesting from its sincerity and effort, but far from brilliant, and bears no resemblance, either in style, tone, or matter, to The Glasse of Governement, which was dedicated on 26th April 1575, the same month in which The Steele Glas was begun. How could Gascoigne have found time to produce such a piece as The Glasse of Governement by that date, and how is such a piece to be accounted for as the work of a man with so limited a range of ideas, and such experiences and preoccupations, as The Fruites of Warre and The Steele Glas disclose? Gascoigne's point of view

also is quite different, notably in church matters, from that of the author of The Glasse of Governement. He is, at heart, a devout believer in the ministrations of the ancient church, reformed as regards the grosser superstitions, but still the church of the sacramental mass-see his description of the vision of the priests in his Steele Glas ("my priests") and his exhortation for their prayers for the various estates of the realm. There is no suggestion of sympathy with Calvinism or the preachers, or indeed of any concern in the problems involved in that movement. The poet's mind reflects (as Professor Courthope justly says) the confused, uncertain spirit of the times, but it belongs essentially to the old order.

Another point remains to be noted in connection with The Steele Glas, which, in its bearing on this inquiry, is one of the most interesting. The poem is preceded by some sets of commendatory verses, one of which (as follows) is supposed to be by Sir Walter Ralegh:

WALTER RAWELY OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, IN COMMENDATION OF THE STEELE GLASSE

Svvete were the sauce, would please ech kind of tast,

The life likewise, were pure that neuer swerued,
For spyteful tongs, in cankred stomackes plaste,
Deeme worst of things, which best (percase) deserued:
But what for that? this medcine may suffyse,
To scorne the rest, and seke to please the wise.

Though sundry mindes, in sundry sorte do deeme,
Yet worthiest wights, yelde prayse for euery payne,
But enuious braynes, do nought (or light) esteme,
Such stately steppes, as they cannot attaine.
For who so reapes, renowne aboue the rest,
VVith heapes of hate, shal surely be opprest.

VVherefore to write, my censure of this booke,
This Glasse of Steele, vnpartially doth shewe,
Abuses all, to such as in it looke,

From prince to poore, from high estate to lowe,
As for the verse, who lists like trade to trye,
I feare me much, shal hardly reache so high.

This has always been a puzzle to the biographers, as there is no evidence that Ralegh ever studied the law. Edwards observes that "for the statement that Ralegh, on leaving Oxford, entered himself as a student of the Middle Temple, there is not an atom of evidence," and he notes the fact that we have Ralegh's own asseveration at his trial that he read "not a word" of law or statutes until the time of his imprisonment in the Tower.1 At the date of the publication of The Steele Glas (1576) he was leading the precarious life of a soldier of fortune, and nothing for certain is known of his movements, though the writers of the article in the Dictionary of National Biography, apparently on the strength of this copy of verses, assert that "in the spring of 1576 he was in London." This may have been so, but what little evidence has, by patient research, been collected of Ralegh's movements during this period indicates that his life was a roving and unsettled one till his return from service in Ireland under Lord Grey at the end of 1581, when, shortly afterwards, at the age of about thirty, he attracted the notice of the Queen. I shall have more to say about Ralegh. In the meantime I will merely state here my conclusion (for which reasons will be given in due course) that Ralegh's name was used by the author of these verses, and that this either led to, or was the beginning of, an arrangement between Ralegh and Bacon which was carried on for many years in furtherance of their respective projects for winning or retaining the favour of the Queen.

The Steele Glas was dedicated to Gascoigne's patron, Lord Grey of Wilton, and, in the course of the address, Gascoigne refers to his circumstances and state of mind. He had evidently got into some trouble in England, which had led to his leaving the country, and his experiences in the wars had wrought a change of mind, and he is full of regrets for past follies. He explains, however, that people will give him no credit for this, and, oppressed by poverty and in ill-health, he finds the 1 Life of Ralegh, i. 25.