—The lines alluded to by your correspondent MR. ABSALON form a inscription on a portrait of King James I. in the Cracherode Collection. (Vide Beloe's Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 210.)
"Crownes have their compasse, length of dayes their date,
Triumphes their tombes, felicitie her fate;
Of more than earth can earth make none partaker,
But knowledge makes the king most like his Maker."
I am aware that this reference does not go to the "root of the matter," if MR. ABSALON wishes to ascertain the author's name; but it may serve as a clue to further discovery.
MARGARET GATTY.
Ecclesfield.
It is quite obvious what lines your correspondent alludes to, though the above quotation which he gives as the commencement of them is not quite correct, nor were they written with the object he supposes.
I send a correct copy of them below, taken from Mr. Payne Collier's very interesting Life of Shakspeare, to whom they have always been attributed; and, it is said, with every show of reason. It is supposed they were written by him in the shape of a complimentary allusion to King James I., in grateful acknowledgment of the patronage bestowed by that monarch upon the stage. The subject is fully discussed at pp. 202, 203. of Mr. Knight's volume, whence, indeed, the above information is derived; and he publishes the lines, as follows, stating then to be copied from a coeval manuscript in his possession:—