[16] Introduction to the Poets of Queen Elizabeth’s Age.

[17] So called from his having a regular district or limit in which to beg.

[18] Spelled also Wycliffe, Wicliff, and Wyklyf.

[19] Am. ed., i. 94.

[20] Wordsworth, Ecc.  Son., xvii.

[21] “The Joyous Science, as the profession of minstrelsy was termed, had its various ranks, like the degrees in the Church and in chivalry.”—­Sir Walter Scott, (The Betrothed.)

[22] 1st, the real presence; 2d, celibacy; 3d, monastic vows; 4th, low mass; 5th, auricular confession; 6th, withholding the cup from the laity.

[23] “The Earl of Surrey is said to have translated one of Virgil’s books without rhyme, and, besides our tragedies, a few short poems had appeared in blank verse....  These petty performances cannot be supposed to have much influenced Milton; ... finding blank verse easier than rhyme, he was desirous of persuading himself that it is better.”—­Lives of the Poets—­Milton.

[24] From this dishonor Mr. Froude’s researches among the statute books have not been able to lift him, for he gives system to horrors which were before believed to be eccentric; and, while he fails to justify the monarch, implicates a trembling parliament and a servile ministry, as if their sharing the crime made it less odious.

[25] The reader’s attention is called—­or recalled—­to the masterly etching of Sir Philip Sidney, in Motley’s History of the United Netherlands.  The low chant of the cuisse rompue is especially pathetic.

[26] This last claim of title was based upon the voyages of the Cabots, and the unsuccessful colonial efforts of Raleigh and Gilbert.

[27] Froude, i. 65.

[28] Introduction to fifth canto of Marmion.

[29] Froude, i. 73.

[30] Opening scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

[31] Rev. A. Dyce attributes this play to Marlowe or Kyd.

[32] The dates as determined by Malone are given:  many of them differ from those of Drake and Chalmers.

[33]

    If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined
    The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.

Pope, Essay on Man.

[34] Life of Addison.

[35] Macaulay:  Art. on Warren Hastings.

[36] The handwriting of Junius professionally investigated by Mr. Charles P. Chabot.  London, 1871.

[37] H. C. Robinson, Diary II., 79.