“This is truly somewhat ‘in Ercles’ vein,’” continued the old gentleman, as he finished the Sonnet; “but I think you will agree with me that it is completely ‘out-heroded’ by Howel’s imitation of it; as, indeed, his Latinity is vastly inferior to Sannazario’s. I really cannot imagine, how some have supposed that Howel’s Latin verses were written by the Italian; but this grievous mistake has been made, in consequence, perhaps, of the words ‘_ad instar_,’--after the manner of,--being overlooked. The original poem you may read and criticise at your leisure, but his well-known English translation runs thus.
“‘When Neptune from his billows London spyde, Brought proudly hither by a high spring-tyde; As through a floating wood he steer’d along, And dancing castles cluster’d in a throng;-- When he beheld a mighty Bridge give law Unto his surges, and their fury awe;-- When such a shelf of cataracts did roar, As if the Thames with Nile had changed her shore;-- When he such massy walls, such tow’rs did eye, Such posts, such irons, upon his back to lye;-- When such vast arches he observed, that might Nineteen Rialtos make, for depth and height;-- When the Cerulean God these things survay’d, He shook his trident, and astonished said, Let the whole Earth now all her wonders count, This Bridge of wonders is the paramount!’
“I cannot imagine, Mr. Barbican, why the ‘_Londinopolis_,’ in which these verses are printed, should ever be quoted in preference to Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ from which it is little more than a transcript, as Howel himself acknowledges in his Advertisement. I should mention, however, that it contains two fine prints, for which it is, perhaps, chiefly desirable: one consisting of a very spirited whole-length portrait of the author, resting against a tree, and executed in that singular style for which Claude Mellan was so famous; and the other an interesting half-sheet etching by Hollar, of London, before the Great Fire. With these embellishments, and its own popularity, the volume sells for about £1. 11_s._ 6_d._; but a fine impression of the latter engraving alone will produce the sum of 10_s._ 6_d._ From this work, then, at page 22, we learn that the destruction occasioned by the ‘most raging dismal fire’ of 1633, was not wholly repaired at the time of its publication; for, after stating that it consumed a third part of the buildings on the Bridge, it is added, ‘by the commendable care of the City, there are other goodly structures rais’d up in some of their rooms, of a stronger, and more stately way of building; and pity it is, that the work were not compleated, there being no object,--after the Church of St. Paul,--that can conduce more to the glory and ornament of this renowned City.’ Yet, notwithstanding this Author’s praises of ‘the Bridge of the World,’ as he calls it, on page 20, he makes us acquainted with what may be considered as an ancient satire upon it; since he says, ‘_If London Bridge had fewer eyes, it would see far better_.’ The arches of this edifice, and the dangerous passage through them, have also given rise to another quaint saying, which is recorded in the Rev. J. Ray’s ‘_Compleat Collection of English Proverbs_,’ London, 1737, octavo, pages 13 and 251, and which is, ‘London Bridge was made for wise men to go over, and fools to go under.’