acquaintance, as it pleased you then to patronize, as I singly set them forth." It is observable, equally to the credit of the patron, and the poet, that in these dedications, there is no appearance of servile, or abject adulation, but that Drayton addresses Sir Walter Aston throughout, as an affectionate friend, as the companion of his studies, and an enlightened judge of his productions; which, by their immortality, would confer equal honour on his patron and himself. I have no ground, however, to assert, that Sir Walter Aston was the author of any of the pieces in this volume; but that he sometimes employed himself in poetical attempts, at least in his latter years, is evident, from a letter written in 1636, by Mrs Fowler, his youngest daughter, to her brother Herbert Aston, then at Madrid, with his father. In this letter she says, "I have receaved another from you some five dayes agoe, which you writ to my sister and mee together, and in it sent us most admirable verses of my lord's translateing, which are justly admired by all here."[1] Though I cannot, therefore, point out with certainty, any poetical production by Sir Walter Aston, yet, when we consider his early, and constant patronage of Drayton, who, in return, has helped to immortalize the name of Tixall, and, when we reflect, that he most probably gave to his family that poetic impulse, to which we are indebted for the poems in this collection: we must, in justice, and gratitude, assign him a high place of honour and distinction, at the head of the authors, and collectors, of the Tixall Poetry.
Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori.[2]
