Friendship from the Earl of _Southampton_, famous in the Histories of
that Time for his Friendship to the unfortunate Earl of _Essex_. It was
to that Noble Lord that he Dedicated his _Venus_ and _Adonis_, the only
Piece of his Poetry which he ever publish'd himself, tho' many of his
Plays were surrepticiously and lamely Printed in his Lifetime. There is
one Instance so singular in the Magnificence of this Patron of
_Shakespear_'s, that if I had not been assur'd that the Story was handed
down by Sir _William D'Avenant_, who was probably very well acquainted
with his Affairs, I should not have ventur'd to have inserted, that my
Lord _Southampton_, at one time, gave him a thousand Pounds, to enable
him to go through with a Purchase which he heard he had a mind to. A
Bounty very great, and very rare at any time, and almost equal to that
profuse Generosity the present Age has shewn to _French_ Dancers and
_Italian_ Eunuchs.

What particular Habitude or Friendships he contracted with private Men,
I have not been able to learn, more than that every one who had a true
Taste of Merit, and could distinguish Men, had generally a just Value
and Esteem for him. His exceeding Candor and good Nature must certainly
have inclin'd all the gentler Part of the World to love him, as the
power of his Wit oblig'd the Men of the most delicate Knowledge and
polite Learning to admire him. Amongst these was the incomparable Mr.
_Edmond Spencer_, who speaks of him in his _Tears of the Muses_, not
only with the Praises due to a good Poet, but even lamenting his Absence
with the tenderness of a Friend. The Passage is in _Thalia's_ Complaint
for the Decay of Dramatick Poetry, and the Contempt the Stage then lay
under, amongst his Miscellaneous Works, _p._ 147.

_And he the Man, whom Nature's self had made
To mock her self, and Truth to imitate