skies.

Because, as seven cities disputed for the birth of Homer, so after
ages will not want towns claiming to be _Avenant_--

Some say by _Avenant_ no place is meant,
And that our Lombard is without descent;
And as, by _Bilk_, men mean there's nothing there,
So come from _Avenant_, means from _no where_.
Thus _Will_, intending _D'Avenant_ to grace,
Has made a notch in's name like that in's face.

D'Avenant had been knighted for his good conduct at the siege of
Gloucester, and was to be tried by the Parliament, but procured his
release without trial. This produces the following sarcastic
epigram:--

UPON FIGHTING WILL.

The King knights Will for fighting on his side;
Yet when Will comes for fighting to be tried,
There is not one in all the armies can
Say they e'er felt, or saw, this fighting man.
Strange, that the Knight should not be known i' th' field;
A face well charged, though nothing in his shield.
Sure fighting Will like _basilisk_ did ride
Among the troops, and all that _saw_ Will died;
Else how could Will, for fighting, be a Knight,
And none alive that ever saw Will fight?

Of the malignancy of their wit, we must preserve one specimen. They
probably harassed our poet with anonymous despatches from the Club:
for there appears another poem on D'Avenant's anger on such an
occasion:--

A LETTER SENT TO THE GOOD KNIGHT.

Thou hadst not been thus long neglected,
But we, thy four best friends, expected,
Ere this time, thou hadst stood corrected.
But since that planet governs still,
That rules thy tedious fustain quill
'Gainst nature and the Muses' will;
When, by thy friends' advice and care,
'Twas hoped, in time, thou wouldst despair
To give ten pounds to write it fair;
Lest thou to all the world would show it,
We thought it fit to let thee know it:
Thou art a damn'd insipid poet!

These literary satires contain a number of other "pasquils,"
burlesquing the characters, the incidents, and the stanza, of the
GONDIBERT: some not the least witty are the most gross, and must not
be quoted; thus the wits of that day were poetical suicides, who have
shortened their lives by their folly.

D'Avenant, like more than one epic poet, did not tune to his ear the
_names_ of his personages. They have added, to show that his writings
are adapted to an easy musical singer, the names of his heroes and
heroines, in these verses:--