SOLDIERS, before mentioned; and his comedy, called THE
SCHOLAR,<2.16> which he composed at sixteen years of age, when he
came first to Gloucester hall, acted with applause afterwards in
Salisbury Court. He died in a very mean lodging in Gunpowder
Alley,<2.17> near Shoe Lane,<2.18> and was buried at the west-end
of the church of S. Bride, alias Bridget, in London, near to the
body of his kinsman Will. Lovelace, of Gray's Inn, Esq., in sixteen
hundred fifty and eight,<2.19> having before been accounted by all
those that well knew him to have been a person well versed in the
Greek<2.20> and Latin<2.21> poets, in music, whether practical or
theoretical, instrumental or vocal, and in other things befitting a
gentleman. Some of the said persons have also added, in my
hearing, that his common discourse was not only significant and
witty, but incomparably graceful, which drew respect from all men
and women. Many other things I could now say of him, relating
either to his most generous mind in his prosperity, or dejected
estate in his worst state of poverty, but for brevity's sake I
shall now pass them by. At the end of his Posthume Poems are
several elegies written on him by eminent poets of that time,
wherein you may see his just character."

Such is Wood's account; it is to be regretted that that writer
did not supply the additional information, which he tantalizes us
by saying that he possessed, and could have published, had he not
been afraid of being tedious. His love of brevity is, in this
case, most provoking.

As might be expected, the Journals of Parliament cast additional
light on the personal connexion of Lovelace with the Kentish
Petition of 1642, which was for the GENERAL redress of existing