GEORGE GASCOIGNE. BORN 1540; DIED 1577. THIS writer is justly placed among the worthies of our early poetical literature. His principal works are entitled "The Fruits of War," the "Steel Glass," the "Supposes," a comedy, from Ariosto, and "Jocasta," a tragedy, from Euripides. His minor poems, of which some specimens follow, bear the quaint title of "Flowers, Herbs, and Weeds." Gascoigne was bred to the law, but quitted it, and served with distinction against the Spaniards, in the war in Holland. His writings present rather the result of just observation than the fruits of creative genius. His verse is uncommonly smooth, easy, and unaffected, for the age in which he wrote; and his pen is never employed but on the side of virtue and honour. B |