he was twice a prisoner, and redeemed by the charity of two noble
ladies, yet still languishing in distress, and bitterly complaining of
fortune. Neither of his employments afforded him a patron, who would
do justice to his obscure merit; and unluckily he was as unhappy in
his amours as in his circumstances, some of his mistresses treating
his addresses with contempt, perhaps, on account of his poverty;
for tho' it generally happens that Poets have the greatest power in
courtship, as they can celebrate their mistresses with more elegance
than people of any other profession; yet it very seldom falls out that
they marry successfully, as their needy circumstances naturally deter
them from making advances to Ladies of such fashion as their genius
and manners give them a right to address. This proved our author's
case exactly; he made love to a widow named Browning, who possessed a
very good jointure; but this lady being more in love with money than
laurels, with wealth than merit, rejected his suit; which not a little
discouraged him, as he had spent his money in hopes of effecting this
match, which, to his great mortification, all his rhimes and sonnets
could not do. He dedicated his vorks to Sir Christopher Hatton; but
addresses of that nature don't always imply a provision for their
author. It is conjectured that he died about the eleventh year of
Queen Elizabeth, and according to Mr. Wood was buried near Skelton
in the Chancel of St. Margaret's, Westminster. By his writings, he
appears a man of sense, and sometimes a poet, tho' he does not seem to
possess any degree of invention. His language is generally pure, and
his numbers not wholly inharmonious. The Legend of Jane Shore is the
most finished of all his works, from which I have taken a quotation.
His death, according to the most probable conjecture, happened in
1570. Thus like a stone (says Winstanley) did he trundle about, but
never gathered any moss, dying but poor, as may be seen by his epitaph
in Mr. Camden's Remains, which runs thus: