, that Blount's wit grew
brighter as his yellow roses faded; that, doing his part as a brave commander in
the wars, he was much more in his element than during the short period of his
following the court; and that Flibbertigibbet's acute genius raised him to
favour and distinction, in the employment both of Burleigh and Walsingham.
 

                                     Notes

1 Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, vol. i. p. 149. The tradition as to
Leicester's death was thus communicated by Ben Jonson to Drummond of
Hawthornden; - »The Earl of Leicester gave a bottle of liquor to his Lady, which
he willed her to use in any faintness; which she, after his returne from court,
not knowing it was poison, gave him, and so he died.«
 
2 If faith is to be put in epitaphs, Anthony Foster was something the very
reverse of the character represented in the novel. Ashmole gives this
description of his tomb. I copy from the Antiquities of Berkshire, vol. i. p.
143.
»In the north wall of the chancel at Cumnor Church is a monument of grey marble,
whereon, in brass plates, are engraved a man in armour, and his wife in the
habit of her times, both kneeling before a fald-stoole, together with the
figures of three sons kneeling behind their mother. Under the figure of the man
is this inscription:
 
Antonius Forster, generis generosa propago,
Cumneræ Dominus, Bercheriensis erat.
Armiger, Armigero prognatus patre Ricardo,
Qui quondam Iphlethæ Salopiensis erat.
Quatuor ex isto fluxerunt stemmate nati,
Ex isto Antonius stemmate quartus erat.
Mente sagax, animo precellens, corpore promptus
Eloquii dulcis, ore disertus erat.
In factis probitas; fuit in sermone venustas,
In vultu gravitas, relligione fides,
In patriam pietas, in egenos grata voluntas,
Accedunt reliquis annumeranda bonis.
Si quod cuncta rapit, rapuit non omnia Lethum,
Si quod Mors rapuit, vivida fama dedit.
 
                                   * * * * *
 
These verses following are writ at length, two by two, in praise of him:
 
Argute resonas Cithare pretendere chordas
Novit, et Aonia concrepuisse Lyra.
Gaudebat terre teneras defigere plantas;
Et mira pulchras construere arte domos,
Composita varias lingua formare loquelas
Doctus, et edocta scribere multa manu.
 
The arms over it thus:
        Quart.
        I. 3 Hunter's Horns stringed.
        II. 3 Pinions with their points upwards.
 
The crest is a Stag couchant, vulnerated through the neck by a broad arrow; on
his side is a Martlett for a difference.«
 
From this monumental inscription it appears that Anthony Foster,