Lucasta [14]
Decker and Webster's play of WESTWARD HOE, 1607 (Webster's Works, ed. Hazlitt, i. 67), that there was another Gunpowder Alley, near Crutched Friars.
<2.18> Hone (EVERY-DAY BOOK, ii. 561, edit. 1827), states, under date of April 28, that "during this month in 1658 the accomplished Colonel Richard Lovelace died IN THE GATEHOUSE AT WESTMINSTER, whither he had been committed," &c. No authority, however, is given for in assertion so wholly at variance with the received view on the subject, and I am afraid that Hone has here fallen into a mistake.
<2.19> Aubrey, in what are called his LIVES OF EMINENT MEN, but which are, in fact, merely rough biographical memoranda, states under the head of Lovelace:--"Obiit in a cellar in Long acre, a little before the restauration of his Matie. Mr. Edm. Wyld,<> &c. had made collections for him, and given him money.....Geo. Petty, haberdasher, in Fleet street, carried xx to him every Monday morning from Sr....Many and Charles Cotton, Esq. for....moneths, BUT WAS NEVER REPAYD." Aubrey was certainly a contemporary of Lovelace, and Wood seems to have been indebted to him for a good deal of information; but all who are acquainted with Aubrey are probably aware that he took, in many instances, very little trouble to examine for himself, but accepted statements on hearsay. Wood does not, in the case of Lovelace, adopt Aubrey's account, and it is to be observed that, IF the poet died as poor as he is represented by both writers to have died, he would have been buried by the parish, and, dying in Long Acre, the parochial authorities would not have carried him to Fleet Street for sepulture.
<> P. xxiv. MR. EDM[UND] WYLD. This gentleman, the friend of Aubrey, Author of the MISCELLANIES, &c., and (?) the son of Sir Edmund Wyld, seems to have furnished the former with a variety of information on matters of current interest. See Thoms' ANECDOTES AND TRADITIONS, 1839, p. 99. He is, no doubt, the E. W. Esq., whom Aubrey cites as his authority on one or two occasions, in his REMAINS OF GENTILISM AND JUDAISM. He was evidently a person of the most benevolent character, and Aubrey (LIVES OF EMINENT MEN, ii. 483) pays him a handsome tribute, where he describes him as "a great fautor of ingenious and good men, for meer merit's sake."
<2.20> See p. 149, NOTE 3. His acquaintance with Hellenic literature possibly extended very little beyond the pages of the ANTHOLOGIA.
<2.21> His favourites appear to have been Ausonius and Catullus.
<2.22> On the 5th May, 1642, a counter-petition was presented by some Kentish gentlemen to the House of Commons, disclaiming and condemning the former one.--JOURNALS OF THE H. OF C. ii. 558.
<2.23> "The humble petition of Richard Lovelace, Esquire, a prisoner in the Gate-house, by a former order of this House." --JOURNALS, ii. 629.
<2.24> This property, which was of considerable extent and value, was purchased of the Cheney family, toward the latter part of the reign of Henry VI, by Richard Lovelace, of Queenhithe.
<2.25> I do not think that there is any proof, that Gunpowder-alley was, at the time when Lovelace resided there, a particularly poor or mean locality.
<2.26> See Lambarde (PERAMBULATION OF KENT, 1570, ed. 1826, p. 533).
<2.27> As so little is known of the personal history of Lovelace, the reader may not be displeased to see this Dedication, and it is therefore subjoined:--
"To my Noble Friend And Gossip, CAPTAIN RICHARD LOVELACE. "Sir, "I have so long beene in your debt that I am almost desperate in my selfe of making you paiment, till this fancy by ravishing from you a new curtesie in its patronage, promised me it would satisfie part of my former engagements to you. Wonder not to see it invade you thus on the sudden; gratitude is aeriall, and, like that element, nimble in its motion and performance; though I would not have this of mine of a French disposition, to charge hotly and retreat unfortunately: there may appeare something in this that may
<2.18> Hone (EVERY-DAY BOOK, ii. 561, edit. 1827), states, under date of April 28, that "during this month in 1658 the accomplished Colonel Richard Lovelace died IN THE GATEHOUSE AT WESTMINSTER, whither he had been committed," &c. No authority, however, is given for in assertion so wholly at variance with the received view on the subject, and I am afraid that Hone has here fallen into a mistake.
<2.19> Aubrey, in what are called his LIVES OF EMINENT MEN, but which are, in fact, merely rough biographical memoranda, states under the head of Lovelace:--"Obiit in a cellar in Long acre, a little before the restauration of his Matie. Mr. Edm. Wyld,<
<
<2.20> See p. 149, NOTE 3.
<2.21> His favourites appear to have been Ausonius and Catullus.
<2.22> On the 5th May, 1642, a counter-petition was presented by some Kentish gentlemen to the House of Commons, disclaiming and condemning the former one.--JOURNALS OF THE H. OF C. ii. 558.
<2.23> "The humble petition of Richard Lovelace, Esquire, a prisoner in the Gate-house, by a former order of this House." --JOURNALS, ii. 629.
<2.24> This property, which was of considerable extent and value, was purchased of the Cheney family, toward the latter part of the reign of Henry VI, by Richard Lovelace, of Queenhithe.
<2.25> I do not think that there is any proof, that Gunpowder-alley was, at the time when Lovelace resided there, a particularly poor or mean locality.
<2.26> See Lambarde (PERAMBULATION OF KENT, 1570, ed. 1826, p. 533).
<2.27> As so little is known of the personal history of Lovelace, the reader may not be displeased to see this Dedication, and it is therefore subjoined:--
"To my Noble Friend And Gossip, CAPTAIN RICHARD LOVELACE. "Sir, "I have so long beene in your debt that I am almost desperate in my selfe of making you paiment, till this fancy by ravishing from you a new curtesie in its patronage, promised me it would satisfie part of my former engagements to you. Wonder not to see it invade you thus on the sudden; gratitude is aeriall, and, like that element, nimble in its motion and performance; though I would not have this of mine of a French disposition, to charge hotly and retreat unfortunately: there may appeare something in this that may