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could not have seen Trissino's poem,* as it was uot printetl till after liis death, thoug^h written many years before. Roper Ascham in his SckoolinasUr, expressly commemorates this translation of Surry's as the first attempt to write English verse without rhyme. The first who imitated Surry in the new kind of verse which he had introduced was, according to Warton, Nicholas Grimuald, or Grimalde, some of whose poetical compositions were first printed in the Bame volume in which Surry's translation from Virgil appeared. " To the style of blank verse exhibited by Surry," says Warton, "he added new streng^, elegance, and modulation." The next thirty years may be said to have naturalized the new mode of versification in the language.
The earl ofSurrywasthe son of Thomas, second doke of Norfolk, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham. He received his education at Windsor with Henry Fitzioy, duke of Richmond, natural son of king Henry VIII. He gave early indications both of genius and valour; and becoming violently ena- moured of lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, and whom he celebrated by his poetical abilities, under the name of Geraldine. In 1644, he was made field-marshal of the English army in France ; and, having greatly distinguished himself there, was after the talung of Boulogne, being then knigfat of the garter, constituted the king's lieu- tenant, and captain-general of all his army, within the town and county of Boulogne. By some ill success he fell into disgrace. This dis- grace, however, he soon repaireid ; but he could never after regain the king's favour, " in whose eyes," observes Mr. Walpole, " a moment could cancel an age of services." The enemies of the Norfolk family inspired the king with appre- hensions of the ambitious designs of the duke of Norfolk and his son ; and the designs of their enemies were greatly advanced by dissensions in the Norfolk family, which had become obnoxious to the king from the late incontinence of Catha-
- Wuton obaerres, "in the year IS2S, Trisiiao pob-
BAed his JtaUa Liicrata a Ooti, or Itala Deliaered from Ok Otllkt, *n heroic poem professedly written In imitation a( tbe BUid, without either rhyme or the asuBl machine- ries ai the Gothic romance. Trissino's design was to dertroy Hietersa rima of I>axite. This statement is allowed to staoDd oncofTected in the last edition of Warton ; bat in fact Tna^acfa poem was not pnblished till it appeared in three Tcdomes, the first printed at Home, in 1547, and the second and third at Venice, in IMS. Another work in hUnk Tcne, by the same writer, however, his tragedy of So/omaba, celebrated as the first regular tragedy which appeared in the Italian language, was printed in 1534. It was first represented at Rome in 1515. In 1510 the tragedy of RotmnmdOf also in blank verse, by Trissino's friend. Rocellai, was recited at Florence in the presence of pope Leo X., and was printed at Sienna in 1525.
In the French iaopiage, in like manner, various writers bare one alter another attempted to write verse without rhyme. Among those who are said to have composed in this tehi<» are Jodelle and De Baif, who were two of the Gclrisated Pleiad of poeta that adorned the age of Francis I. and Charies IX. Afterwards Nicholas Rapin, who lived in tfae reign of Hetuy IV., repeated the same attempt, aad, in the opinion a( the caidlnai du Perron, with more soecesa tiian De Baif. Still more recenUy French blank venc was written by De la Motte le Vayer, in the age of Louis XIV.
rine Howard, the queen, who was beheaded. From these motives, tlicrefore, private orders were given to arrest father and son ; and accordingly they were arrested both on the same day, and confined in the tower. Surry, being a com- moner, his trial was more expeditious ; and as to prooCs, there were many informers base enough to betray the intimacies of private confidence, and all the connexions of bloud. His own sister, the duchess dowager of Richmond, enlisted her- self among the number of his accusers. The charges brought against him were trifling and inconsistent. Against his accusers, all his an- swers were needless ; for neither parliaments nor juries, during the reign of Henry VIII. seemed to be guided by any other proofs but the will of the crown. 'Notwithstanding his eloquent and spirited defence, the monster's heart was harden- ed against every tender impression, ordered him for execution. He was first buried in the chapel of the tower, and afterwards in the reign of James I. his remains were removed to Farm- ingham, in Suffolk, by his second son, Henry, earl of Northampton.
It is said, that one of the courtiers having asked the king why he was so zealous in taking off the earl of Surry ; " I have observed him," said the king, "to he an enterprising youth ; his spirit was too great to brook subjection ; and, though I could manage him, yet no successor of mine would ever be able to ao so ; for which reason I have dispatched him in my own time."
The following small poem is exhibited as a specimen of the versification of the ill-fate<l Surry :
ON THE DISCONTENT OP MEN, IN EVERY AGE AND CONDITION OF LIFE. Laid in my qolet bed, in study as 1 were, I saw within my troubled head a heap of thoughts appear. And every thought did show so lively in mine eyes. That now I sigh'd, and then I smil'd, as cause of thoughts
did rise. I saw the little boy. In thought how oft that he. Did wish of God to scape the rod, a tall young man to be. The young man eke, that feels his bones with |»ins opprest, How he would be a rich old man, to live and lie at rest. The rich old man that sees hla end draw on so sore, How be would be a boy again, to live so much the more. Whereat full oft I smil'd, to see how all ttiese three. From boy to man, from man to boy, wpuld chop and
change degree. And musing thus, I think, the case la very strange. That man from wealth, to live in woe, doth ever seek to
change; Thus, thoughtful as I lay, I saw my withered skin. How it doth show my dented Jaws, the flesh was worn so
thin. And eke my toothless chaps, the gates of my right way. That opes and shuts, as 1 do speak, do thus unto me say : The white and hoarish hairs, the messengera of age, Thatshow,Uke lines of true belief, that this life doth assuage. Bids thee lay hand, and feel them hanging on thy chin , The which doth write to ages past, the third now coming in: Hang up, therefore, the bit of thy young wanton time. And thou, that therein beaten art, the happiest life define. Whereat I sigh'd, and said. Farewell my wonted toy. Truss up thy pack, and trudge from me to every little boyj And tell them thus (Torn me, their time most happy is. If to their time they reason had, to know the truth of this.
A bill of attainder was found against the duke of Norfolk ', as it was thought he could not so easily have been convicted on a fair hearing by his peers. The death-warrant was made out, and immediately sent to the lieutenant uf the
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