N vserer, whose Idol was his goulde,

"AN

Within his house, a peeuishe ape retain❜d:

A seruaunt fitte, for suche a miser oulde,

Of whome both mockes, and apishe mowes, he gain'd.
Thus, euerie daie he made his master sporte,
And to his clogge, was chained in the courte.

At lengthe it hap'd? while greedie graundsir din'de?
The ape got loose, and founde a windowe ope:
Where in he leap'de, and all about did finde,

The GOD, wherein the Miser put his hope?

Which soone he broch'd, and forthe with speede did flinge,

And did delighte on stones to heare it ringe?

The sighte, righte well the passers by did please,
Who did reioyce to finde these goulden crommes :

That all their life, their pouertie did ease.

Of goodes ill got, loe heere the fruicte that commes.
Looke herevppon, you that haue MIDAS minte,
And bee posseste with hartes as harde as flinte.

Shut windowes close, leste apes doe enter in,
And doe disperse your goulde, you doe adore.

But woulde you learne to keepe, that you do winne?

Then get it well, and hourde it not in store.

If not no boultes, nor brasen barres will serue,

:

For GOD will waste your stocke, and make you sterue."

Poor Caliban, in the Tempest (act ii. sc. 2, l. 7, vol. i. p. 36), complains of Prospero's spirits that,—

"For every trifle are they set upon me ;

Sometimes like apes, that mow and chatter at me,

And after bite me."

And Helena, to her rival Hermia (Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 2, l. 237, vol. ii. p. 240), urges a very similar charge,

"Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,

Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;

Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up."

There is not, indeed, any imitation of the jocose tale about the ape * and the miser's gold, and it is simply in "the mockes and apishe mowes" that any similarity exists. These, however, enter into the dialogue between Imogen and Iachimo (Cymbeline, act i. sc. 6, 1. 30, vol. ix. p. 184); she bids him welcome, and he replies,―

"Iach.

Thanks, fairest lady.

What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes

To see this vaulted arch and the rich crop

Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones
Upon the number'd beach, and can we not
Partition make with spectacles so precious
"Twixt fair and foul?

Imo.

What makes your admiration?

Iach. It cannot be i' the eye; for apes and monkeys, 'Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way and Contemn with mows the other."

There is a fine thought in Furmer's Use and Abuse of Wealth, first published in Latin in 1575, and afterwards, in 1585, translated into Dutch by Coornhert; it is respecting the distribution of poverty and riches by the Supreme wisdom. The subject (at

* The character, however, of the animal is named in Midsummer Night's Dream (act ii. sc. 1, 1. 181), where Titania may look

"On meddling monkey, or on busy ape."

Vt Deus auctor opum quas olim Iobus habebat,
Sic paupertatis tum Deus auctor erat.

Qui bonum vtrumg putat, Dominus quia donat vtrumque,
In animo forti femper vtrumque feret.

Coornhert, 1585.

p. 6) is Undeserved Poverty,-"The Lord maketh poor, and enriches." (See Plate XVI.)

"The riches which Job had as God bestows,

So giver of poverty doth God appear.

Who thinks each good because from God each flows,

Shall always each with bravest spirit bear."

In the device, the clouds are opened to bestow fulness upon the poor man, and emptiness upon the rich. By brief allusion chiefly does Shakespeare express either of these acts; but in the Tempest (act iii. sc. 2, l. 135, vol. i. p. 48), Caliban, after informing Stephano that "the isle is full of noises," and that "sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears," adds,

"And then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that when I waked,

I cried to dream again."

A very similar picture and sentiment to those in Coornhert are presented by Gloucester's words in King Lear (act iv. sc. 1, 1. 64, vol. viii. p. 366),—

"Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' plagues

Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched

Makes thee the happier. Heavens, deal so still!

Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,

That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;

So distribution should undo excess,

And each man have enough."

Coornhert's title, "Recht Ghebruyck ende Misbruyck vantydlycke have,"-The right use and misuse of worldly wealth,and, indeed, his work, have their purport well carried out by the king in 2 Henry IV. (act iv. sc. 4, l. 103, vol iv. p. 450),-

"Will Fortune never come with both hands full,

But write her fair words still in foulest letters ?

She either gives a stomach and no food;

Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast

And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,
That have abundance and enjoy it not."

3 R