town of Guelderland, in the United Netherlands, situated in E. Long. 6. 35. N. Lat. 52°.

Brewer (Anthony), a dramatic poet who flourished in the reign of king Charles I. and appears to have been held in high estimation by the wits of that time, as may be more particularly gathered from an elegant compliment paid to him in a poem called Steps to Parnassus, wherein he is supposed to have a magic power to call the muses to his assistance, and is even set on an equality with the immortal Shakespeare himself. There are, however, great disputes among the several writers as to the number of his works. Those which have been ascribed to him with any certainty are, 1. The country girl, a comedy. 2. The love-fick king, a comedy. And, 3. Lingua: a piece in regard to which Wintanley records a remarkable anecdote, which points it out to have been in some measure the innocent cause of those troubles that disturbed the peace of these realms in the middle of the 17th century. He tells us, that when this play was acted at Cambridge, Oliver Cromwell (then a youth) acted a part in it. The substance of the piece is a contention among the Senors for a crown which Lingua had laid for them to find. The part allotted to young Cromwell was that of Tactus or Touch; who having obtained the contested coronet, makes this spirited declamation:

Roses and bays, pack hence! this crown and robe My brows and body circles and invests: How gallantly it fits me! sure the slave Measur'd my head who wrought this coronet.— They lie that say complexions cannot change! My blood's ennobled, and I am transform'd Unto the sacred temper of a king. Methinks I hear my noble parasites Styling me Cesar, or Great Alexander, Licking my feet, &c.

It is said that he felt the whole part so warmly, and more especially the above-quoted speech, that it was what first fired his soul with ambition, and excited him from the possession of an imaginary crown to stretch his views to that of a real one; for the accomplishment of which he was content to wade through seas of blood.