Audacious vowes, or forraigne legs to use,
Nature denyed my outside to adorne,
And I, of art to learne outsides refuse.
Yet haveing of them both, enough to scorne
Silence, & vulgar prayse, this humble muse
And her meane favourite; at yo'r comand
Chose in this kinde, to kisse your noble hand."
His Polyhymnia is dedicated to the sister of this person, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lindsey, and Baroness of Eresbie and of Ricot. Besides the "Anglers' Song" made at Walton's request, and the before-mentioned two songs, which are given at length in the Appendix to the Complete Angler, p. 420., Sir H. Nicolas's edit., besides these, and the verses "on William Shakespeare, who died in April, 1616," sometimes called "Basse his Elegie on Shakespeare," which appear in the edition of Shakespeare's Poems of 1640, 8vo., and are reprinted in Malone's edition of his Plays, vol. i. p. 470.: another poem by William Basse will be found in the collection entitled Annalia Dubrensia, upon the Yearely Celebration of Mr. Robert Dover's Olympick Games upon Cotswold Hills, 4to. 1636. This consists of ten stanzas, of eight lines each, "To the noble and fayre Assemblies, the harmonious concourse of Muses, and their Ioviall entertainer, my right generous Friend, Master Robert Dover, upon Cotswold." Basse was also, as Mr. Collier remarks, the author of a poem, which I have never seen, called Sword and Buckler, or Serving Man's Defence, in six-line stanzas, 4to. Lond., imprinted in 1602. A copy of this was sold in Steevens's sale, No. 767., and is now among "Malone's Collection of Early Poetry" in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. And, according to Ritson, he wrote another work, published in the same year, viz. Three Pastorall Elegies of Anander, Anytor and Muridella, entered to Joseph Barnes, 28 May, 1692, of which I am not aware that any copy is now in existence. These, with the addition of Great Brittaines Sunnes-set, bewailed with a Shower of Teares, at Oxford, printed by Joseph Barnes, 1613, the fragment of which is in the possession of Mr. Collier, appear, as far as I can yet ascertain, to be the only known publications of William Basse, with his name attached to them in full. Other works, however, have been attributed to him from the similarity of the initials,—but most of them probably without much foundation; viz. 1. Scacchia Ludus: Chesse-play: a poetical translation of Vida's poem at the end of Ludus Sacchiæ, Chesse-Play, by W.B. 4to. Lond. 1597; by Ritson. 2. A Helpe to Discourse; or a Miscelany of Merriment, by W.B. and E.P. 2nd edit. 8vo. Lond. 1620; by Mr. Malone. And 3. That which seemes Best is Worst, exprest in a Paraphrastical Transcript of Iuuenals tenth Satyre. Together with the Tragicall Narration of Virginius Death interserted, by W.B. small 8vo. Lond.; imprinted by Felix Kyngston, 1617, by Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, who however rather leans to the opinion of William Barkstead being the author, from the circumstance of his having, as early as 1607, paraphrased, much in a similar way, the interesting tale of Myrrha, the mother of Adonis, from the 10th Book of the Metamorphoses. (See Restitutu, vol. i. p. 41.)
Cole, in his MS. Collectanea for Athenæ Cantabrigiensis, says:
"Mr. Knight, jun. shewed me a MS. written by William Basse, and corrected by him, in 4to., called Polyhymnia.—Dedication. To the Right Noble and vertuous Lady, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lindsey, and Baroness of Eresbie and Ricot, in verse, with Verses to the Right Hon. Francis Lord Norreys, Earl of Berkshire (in his days). To the Right Hon. the Lady Aungier (then wife of Sir Thos. Wenman) upon her coming out of Ireland and return thither. To the Right Hon. the lady Viscountess Falkland, upon her going into Ireland, two Sonnets. The Youth in the Boat. Acrostics of the truly noble, vertuous, and learned Lady, the Lady Agnes Wenman; of the Lady Penelope Dynham; of Mrs. Jane Wenman. Verses on the Chapel of Wadham College consecration, St. Peter's Day, 1613; on Caversham or Causham House; of Witham House, Oxfordshire, the house of a noble Knight, and favourer of my Muse; and Elegy on a Bullfinch, 1648; of the Four Mile Course of Bayaides Green, six times run over, by two famous Irish footmen, Patrick Dorning and William O'Farrell.—It contains about 40 leaves, much corrected, and at the end is 'L'Envoy':—