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verse by the pre-composed music, yet many of their lyrics have a smoothness and sweetness in the composition of their stanzas, which may even arrest the attention of a modern ear.

To the publication of Clement Robinson succeeded, in 1593, "The Phoenix Nest. Built up with the most rare and refined workes of Noblemen, worthy Knights, gallant Gentlemen, Masters of Arts, and brave Scholers. Full of variety excellent invention, and singular delight. Never before published. Set foorth by R. S. of the Inner Temple, Gentleman. Imprinted at London, by John Jackson, 4to."

The opening of Mr. Park's "Advertisement" to his Reprint of this Collection includes so much just, and elegantly expressed, criticism on our elder poetry, and on Shakspeare, that we seize with pleasure the opportunity of transferring it to our pages.

"Between the Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inventions," he remarks, "printed in 1578, and the present miscellany in 1593, an interval of only fifteen years, there will be traced no inconsiderable advance towards poetical elegance and sentimental refinement. Watson, Breton, Peele, and Lodge, contributed very materially to the grace, and melody, and strength, of our amatory, lyric, and satiric verse; while Spenser, Daniel, and Drayton enlarged the sphere of the allegoric, and historic, and descriptive Muse. But the magnitude of the works of the two latter poets, owing to the subjects they unhappily selected, has conduced to deaden that reputation which several of their minor effusions were calculated to keep alive. The very labours which might otherwise have extended their fame, have fatally contracted it. Their ponderous productions are incorporated indeed with the late general collections of British Poets, but where is the poetic amateur who peruses them? They resemble certain drugs in a family-dispensary, which, though seldom, if ever taken, still eke out the assemblage. From reading the fair specimens put forth by Mr. Ellis, many may be allured to covet the entire performances of our elder bards: but should these be obtained, they will probably be found (as Mr. Steevens said by the Shakspearian quartos) of little more worth than a squeezed orange. The flowers will appear to have been culled and distilled by the hand of judgment; and the essence of early poetry, like most other essences, will be discovered to lie in a narrow compass. Old poets in general,' says Mr. Southey, are only valuable because they are old.' It must be allowed that few poems of the Elizabethan æra are likely to afford complete satisfaction to a mere modern reader, from the fastidious delicacy of modern taste. Some antiquated alloy, either from incongruous metaphor or infelicitous expression, will commonly jar upon his mind or ear. The backward footstep of Time will be audible, ir not visible. Yet the songs of our unrivalled Shakspeare combine an almost uniform exception to this remark. They are exquisite in thought, feeling, language, and modulation. They blend simplicity with beauty, sentiment with passion, picture with poesy. They unite symmetry of form with consistency of ornament, truth of nature with perfection of art, and must ever furnish models for lyric composition. As a sonnet-writer Shakspeare was not superior to some of his contemporaries: he was certainly inferior to himself. In lighter numbers and in blank verse, peculiar and transcendent was his excellence. His songs never have been surpassed, his dramas

never are likely to be." *

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Of the editor of the Phoenix Nest, intended by the initials R. S., no certain information has been obtained. The work has been attributed to Richard Stanyhurst, Richard Stapleton, and to Robert Southwell, by Coxeter, by Warton, and by Waldron; but their claims, founded merely on conjecture, are entitled to little confidence. It is perhaps more interesting to know, that the chief contributors to this miscellany were among the best lyric poets of their age, that Thomas Watson, Nicholas Breton, and, above all, Thomas Lodge, assisted the unknown editor. Not less than sixteen pieces have the initials of this last bard, and many of them are among the most beautiful productions of his genius. Beside these, George Peele, William Smith, Matthew Roydon, Sir William Herbert, the Earl of Oxford, and several others, aided in completing this elegant volume.

The "Phoenix Nest," which comprehends not less than seventy-nine poems, is certainly one of the most attractive of the Elizabethan miscellanies, whether

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we regard its style, its versification, or its choice of subject, and will probably be deemed inferior only to "England's Helicon," which, indeed, owes a few of its beauties to this work.

Of the valuable Collection thus mentioned, the first edition made its appearance in 1600, with the following title-page: "England's Helicon. At London. Printed by J. R. for John Flasket, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard, at the sign of the Beare." 4to.

The second edition was published in 1614, and entitled, "England's Helicon, or the Muses Harmony. London: Printed for Richard More; and are to be sould at his shop in S. Dunstanes Church-yard." 8vo.

"England's Helicon," which, in its first impression, contained one hundred and fifty poems, and in its second one hundred and fifty-nine, has the felicity of enrolling among its contributors all the principal poets of its era. These, enumerated alphabetically, are as follow:-Richard Barnefield has two pieces; Thomas Bastard, one; Edmund Bolton, five; Nicholas Breton, eight; Christopher Brooke, one; William Browne, one; Henry Constable, four; John Davis, one; Michael Drayton, five; Sir Edward Dyer, six; John Ford, one; Robert Greene, seven; Fulke Grevile, two; John Gough, one; Howard, Earle of Surrie, two; Howell, one; William Hunnis, two; Thomas Lodge, ten; Jervis Markham, two; Christopher Marlowe, one; Earle of Oxenford, one; George Peele, three; Sir Walter Raleigh, fourteen; William Shakspeare, two; Sir Philip Sidney, fourteen; William Smith, one; Edmund Spenser, three; Shepherd Tonie, seven; Thomas Watson, five; John Wootton, two, and Bartholomew Yong, twenty-five. Of anonymous contributions there are sixteen.

Amid this galaxy of bards we cannot fail to distinguish for their decided superiority, the productions of Breton, Greene, Lodge, Marlowe, and Raleigh, which might confer celebrity on any selection. The principal feature, indeed, of England's Helicon is its pastoral beauty, and in this department how few have surpassed, or even equalled, the exquisite strains of Lodge or Marlowe !

It cannot be idle or useless," remarks Str Egerton Brydges, "to study this early Collection of Pastoral compositions. Here is the fountain of that diction, which has since been employed and expanded in the description of rural scenery. Here are the openings of those reflections on the imagery of nature, in which subsequent poets have so much dealt. They show us to what orcasional excellence, both in turn of thought and polish of language, the literature of Queen Elizabeth had arrived; and how little the artificial and incumbered prose of mere scholars of that time exhibits a just specimen of either the sentiment or phrase of the court or people! In the best of these productions, even the accentuation and rhythm scarce differs from that of our days. Lodge and Breton in particular, who are characterised by their simplicity, are striking proofs of this !— "To such as could enjoy the rough and far-fetched subtlety of metaphysical verses, this Collection must have appeared inexpressibly insipid and contemptible. To those whose business it was to draw similitudes from the most remote recesses of abstruse learning, how childish must seem the delineation of flowers that were open to every eye, and images which found a mirror in every bosom !!

"But, O, how dull is the intricate path of the philosopher, how uninteresting is all the laboured ingenuity of the artist, compared with the simple and touching pleasures which are alike open to the peasant, as to the scholar, the noble, or the monarch! It is in the gift of exquisite senses, and not in the adventitious circumstances of birth and fortune, that one human being excels another!

"The common air, the sun, the skies,

To him are opening Paradise."

"We are delighted to see reflected the same feelings, the same pleasures from the breasts of our ancestors. We hear the voices of those bearded chiefs, whose portraits adorn the pannels of our halls and galleries, still bearing witness to the same natural and eternal truths: still inveighing against the pomp, the fickleness, and the treachery of courts; and uttering the songs of the shepherd and the woodman, in language that defies the changes of time, and speaks to all ages the touching effusions of the heart.

"If some little additional prejudice in favour of these compositions be given by the association in our ideas of their antiquity, if we connect some reverence, and some increased force, with

expressions which were in favourite use with those who for two centuries have slept in the grave, the profound moral philosopher will neither blame nor regret this effect. It is among the most generous and most ornamental, if not among the most useful habits of the mind!

"Such are among the claims of this collection to notice. But the seal that has been hitherto put upon this treasure; the deep oblivion in which the major parts of its contents have for ages been buried, ought to excite curiosity, and impart a generous delight at its reviva!. Who is there so cold as to be moved with no enthusiasm at drawing the mantle from the figure of Time? For my part, I confess how often I have watched the gradual development with eager and breathless expectation; and gazed upon the reviving features till my warm fancy gave them a glow and a beauty, which perhaps the reality never in its happiest moments possessed.'

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That very nearly two hundred years should have elapsed between the second and third editions of this miscellany is a striking proof of the neglect to which even the best of our ancient poetry has been hitherto subjected. The rapidly increasing taste of the present age, however, for the reliques of long-departed genius, cannot fail of precluding in future any return of such undeserved obscurity.

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In 1600 the industry of Robert Allot presented the public with a large collection. of extracts from the most popular poets of his time, under the title of England's Parnassus: or the choysest flowers of our moderne poets, with their poeticall comparisons. Descriptions of Bewties, Personages, Castles, Pallaces, Mountaines, Groves, Seas, Springs, Rivers, etc. Whereunto are annexed other various discourses, both pleasant and profitable." Small 8vo. pp. 510.

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Had the editor of this curious volume, beside citing the names of his authors, added the titles of the works from which he culled his specimens, an infinity of trouble would have been saved to subsequent research; yet the deficiency has served in a peculiar manner, to mark the successful progress of modern bibliography. When Oldys wrote his Preface to Hayward's British Muse, which was first published in 1738, he complains grievously of this omission, observing that most of Allot's poets were now so obsolete, that not knowing what they wrote, we can have no recourse to their works, if still extant." Since this sentence was written, such has been the industry of our literary antiquaries, that almost every poem which Allot laid under contribution in forming his volume, has been ascertained, and rendered accessible to the curious enquirer; and so far from the writers being obsolete, after nearly eighty years have been added to their antiquity, we may venture to affirm that, excepting about half-a-dozen, they are as familiar to us as the poets of the present reign. It is but just, however, to acknowledge that a considerable portion of this intimacy may be ascribed to Allot's book, which, by its numerous passages from bards rendered scarce by neglect, has stimulated the bibliographical enthusiasm of the last twenty years to achieve their detection. An enumeration of the contributors to England's Parnassus, will serve to illustrate and confirm these remarks: Thomas Achelly, Thomas Bastard, George Chapman, Thomas Churchyard, Henry Constable, Samuel Daniel, John Davies, Thomas Dekkar, Michael Drayton, Edmund Fairfax, Charles Fitzgeffrey, Abraham Fraunce, George Gascoigne, Edward Gilpin, Robert Greene, Sir John Harrington, John Higgins, Thomas Hudson, James King of Scots, Benjamin Jonson, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Lodge, Gervase Markham, Christopher Marlowe, John Marston, Christopher Middleton, Thomas Nash, Earl of Oxford, George Peele, Matthew Roydon Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, William Shakspeare, Edmund Spenser, Thomas Storer, Earl of Surrey, Sir Philip Sidney, Joshua Sylvester, George Turberville, William Warner, Thomas Watson, John Weever, William Weever, and Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Though Oldys has severely blamed the judgment of the editor in his selection of authors and extracts, yet a much more consummate critic, the highly-gifted

England's Helicon, reprint of 1812, Introduction, p. xx, xxi, xxii.

Preface, p. 8, 9. This Collection of Hayward's had three different titles; the last dated 1741. The second edition is called "The Quintissence of English Poetry

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Warton, considers him as having exhibited taste in his choice, and it must be acknowledged that the volume has preserved many exquisite passages from poets who, but for this selection, had probably been irrecoverably merged in oblivion.

In the same year with England's Parnassus came forth another compilation, to which its editor, John Bodenham, gave the following title: "Bel-vedere, or the Garden of the Muses. Imprinted at London, by F. K. for Hugh Astley, dwelling at Saint Magnus Corner. 1600. Small 8vo. p. 236.

This collection, which underwent a second impression in 1510, with the omission of its first appellative, "Belvedere," though it contain a vast number of quotations, is, on two accounts, inferior to the "Parnassus." In the first place, no author's names are annexed to the extracts, and, in the second, a much greater defect has arisen from the editor's determination to confine his specimens to one or two lines at most, a brevity which almost annihilates the interest of the work. To obviate, however, in some degree, the inconveniences arising from the first of these plans, he has recourse, in his promium, to the following detail, which, as it gives a very curious narrative of the construction of the book, will have its due value with the reader:

"Now that every one may be fully satisfied concerning this Garden, that no man doth assume to him-selfe the praise thereof, or can arrogate to his owne deserving those things, which have been derived from so many rare and ingenious spirits; I have set down both how, whence, and where, these flowres had their first springing, till thus they were drawne together into the Muses Garden; that every ground may challenge his owne, each plant his particular, and no one be injured in the justice of his merit.

"First, out of many excellent speeches, spoken to her Majestie, at tiltings, triumphes, maskes, and shewes, and devises perfourmed in prograce: as also out of divers choise ditties sung so her; and some especially, proceeding from her owne most sacred selfe! Here are great store of them digested into their meete places, according as the method of the worke plainly delivereth. Likewise out of private poems, sonnets, ditties, and other wittie conceits, given to her honourable Ladies and vertuous Maids of Honour; according as they could be obtained by sight, or favour of copying, a number of most wittie and singular sentences. Secondly, looke what workes of poetrie have been put to the world's eye, by that learned and right royall king and poet, James King of Scotland; no one sentence of worth hath escaped, but are likewise here reduced into their right roome and place. Next, out of sundrie things extant, and many in private, done by these right honourable persons following: Thomas (Henry), Earl of Surrey, The Lorde Marquesse of Winchester, Mary Countess of Pembrooke, and Sir Philip Sidney.

"From poems and workes of these noble personages extant: Edward, Earle of Oxenford ; Ferdinando, Earle of Derby; Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Edward Dyer, Fulke Grevile, Esq, and Sir John Harrington.

"From divers essayes of their poetrie; some extant among other honourable personages writings, some from private labours and translations: Edmund Spenser, Henry Constable, Esq, Samuel Daniel, Thomas Lodge, Doctor of Physicke; Thomas Watson, Michaell Drayton, John Davies, Thomas Hudson, Henrie Locke, Esq., John Marstone, Chr. Marlowe, Benju. Johnson, William Shakspeare, Thomas Churchyard, Esq., Tho. Nash, Tho. Kidde, Geo. Peele, Robert Greene, Josuah Sylvester, Nicolas Breton, Gervase Markham, Thomas Storer, Robert Wilmot, Chr. Middelton, and Richard Barnefield.

"These being moderne and extant poets, that have lived together, from many of their extant workes, and some kept in private: Thomas Norton, Esq., George Gascoigne, Esq., Frauncis Hindlemarsh, Esq., Thomas Atchelow, and George Whetstones.

"These being deceased, have left divers extant labours, and many more held back from publishing, which for the most part have been perused, and their due right here given them in the Muses Garden.

"Besides, what excellent sentences have been in any presented Tragedie, Historie, Pastoral, or Comedie, they have been likewise gathered, and are here inserted in their proper places.”

It will be perceived that eleven poets are here enumerated, who had no share in England's Parnassus; and it may be worth while to remark, that among the

The curious Preface, from which we have given this long extract, is only to be found in the firs edition of the Belvedere; its omission in the second is a singular defect, as it certainly forms the most interesting part of the impression of 1600.

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