A PEGASUS885[885].
A memorable Poet of this age, exchanged his Laurel for
a Crowne of Glorie, Anno 1631.
Doe, pious marble, let thy readers knowe
What they, and what their children owe
To Drayton's name, whose sacred dust
We recommend unto thy trust.
Protecte his mem'ry, and preserve his storie,
Remaine a lasting monument of his glorye.
And when thy ruines shall disclame
To be the treas'rer of his name,
His name, that cannot fade, shall bee
An everlasting monument to thee.
Here is his bust in alablaster. The inscription is on black marble.
Mr. Marshall, the stone-cutter, of Fetter-lane, also told me, that these verses were made by Mr. Francis Quarles, who was his great friend, and whose head he wrought curiously in playster, and valued for his sake. 'Tis pitty it should be lost. Mr. Quarles was a very good man.
Sir Erasmus Dryden (1553-1632).
[886]Sir Erasmus Dryden, of <Canons Ashby> in Northamptonshire:—John Dreyden, esq., Poet Laureat, tells me that there was a great friendship between his great grandfather's father[887] and Erasmus Roterodamus, and Erasmus was god-father to one of his sonnes, and the Christian name of Erasmus hath been kept in the family ever since. The poet's second sonne is Erasmus.
And at ..., the seate of the family, is a chamber called 'Erasmus's chamber.'
I ghesse that this coate[888]—'azure, a lion rampant and in chief a sphere between 2 estoiles or'—was graunted in Henry 8th's time by the odnesse of the charge.