ays of
boisterous riot, but the playwright's even-balanced mind was not to be
disturbed. Everywhere there are traces of studious care; and we may be
sure that a style at once so equable and strong was not attained without
a long apprenticeship. Nor will the reader fail to note the lesson of
charitableness and Christian forbearance constantly, yet unobtrusively,
inculcated.

The hero of the play, Richard Pike, published, under the title of _Three
to One_, a pamphlet (reprinted in vol. i. of Mr. Arber's valuable
_English Garner_) describing his exploits. There is no date to the
pamphlet; but it was no doubt issued very shortly after Pike's return,
which took place on April 20, 1626. At the outset the writer apologises
for the rudeness of his style, "I know not," he says, "what the court of
a king means, nor what the fine phrases of silken courtiers are. A good
ship I know, and a poor cabin; and the language of a cannon: and
therefore as my breeding has been rough, scorning delicacy; and my
present being consisteth altogether upon the soldier (blunt, plain and
unpolished), so must my writings be, proceeding from fingers fitter for
the pike than the pen." In those days a soldier was never at a loss to
express himself, and honest Dick Pike was no exception to the rule. He
goes straight to the point, and relates his adventures very vividly in
the homeliest language. Returning from an expedition against Algiers
"somewhat more acquainted with the world, but little amended in estate,"
he could not long rest inactive; and soon, "the drum beating up for a
new expedition," set out to try his fortunes again. The design was
against Cadiz; the fleet, under the command of the Earl of Essex,
numbered some 110 sail. There is no need to continue the story, for I
have nothing to add to the facts set forth in the pamphlet and the play.
If _Britannia's Pastorals_ had been written a few years later, we may be
sure that William Browne would have paid a fitting compliment to his
fellow-townsman's bravery. But Pike's famous deeds were not forgotten by
his countymen; for in a broadside of the late seventeenth century,
bearing the title of _A Panegyric Poem; or, Tavestock's Encomium_,[2] he
is thus enthusiastically praised:--

"Search whether can be found again the like
For noble prowess for our Tav'stock Pike,
In whose renowned never-dying name
Live England's honour and the Spaniard's shame."

There is a curious notice of our