NOTES TO THE GOLDEN TREASURY BY FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE SUMMARY OF BOOK FIRST THE Elizabethan Poetry, as it is rather vaguely termed, forms the substance of this Book, which contains pieces from Wyat under Henry VIII to Shakespeare midway through the reign of James I, and Drummond who carried on the early manner to a still later period. There is here a wide range of style ;from simplicity expressed in a language hardly yet broken in to verse, through the pastoral fancies and Italian conceits of the strictly Elizabethan time,-to the passionate reality of Shakespeare yet a general uniformity of tone prevails. Few readers can fail to observe the natural sweetness of the verse, the singlehearted straightforwardness of the thoughts :-nor less, the limitation of subject to the many phases of one passion, which then characterized our lyrical poetry,-unless when, as with Drummond and Shakespeare, the purple light of Love' is tempered by a spirit of sterner reflection. It should be observed that this and the following Summaries apply in the main to the Collection here presented, in which (besides its restriction to Lyrical Poetry) a strictly representative or historical Anthology has not been aimed at. Great excellence, in human art as in human character, has from the beginning of things been even more uniform than Mediocrity, by virtue of the closeness of its approach to Nature:-and so far as the standard of Excellence kept in view has been attained in this volume, a comparative absence of extreme or temporary phases in style, a similarity of tone and manner, will be found throughout :something neither modern nor ancient, but true in all ages, and like the works of Creation, perfect as on the first day. 1. 4 Rouse Memnon's mother: Awaken the Dawn from the dark Earth and the clouds where she is resting. Aurora in the old mythology is mother of Memnon (the East), and wife of Tithonus (the appearances of Earth and Sky during the last hours of Night). She leaves him every morning in renewed youth, to prepare the way for Phoebus (the Sun), whilst Tithonus remains in perpetual old age and greyness. 1. 21 by Peneus' streams: Phoebus loved the Nymph Daphne whom he met by the river Peneus in the vale of Tempe. This legend expressed the attachment of the Laurel (Daphne) to the Sun, under whose heat the tree both fades and flourishes. It has been thought worth while to explain these allusions, because they illustrate the character of the Grecian Mythology, which arose in the Personification of natural phenomena, and was totally free from those debasing and ludicrous ideas with which, through Roman and later misunderstanding or perversion, it has been associated. 1. 25 Amphion's lyre: He was said to have built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his music. 1. 33 Night like a drunkard reels: Compare Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 3: The grey-eyed morn smiles,' &c.-It should be added that three lines, which appeared hopelessly misprinted, have been omitted in this Poem. 1. 10 Time's chest in which he is figuratively supposed to lay up past treasures. So in Troilus, Act III, Scene 3, Time hath a wallet at his back,' &c. A fine example of the high-wrought and conventional Elizabethan Pastoralism, which it would be ludicrous to criticize on the ground of the unshepherdlike or unreal character of some images suggested. Stanza 6 was probably inserted by Izaak Walton. This Poem, with 25 and 94, is taken from Davison's Rhapsody, first published in 1602. One stanza has been here omitted, in accordance with the principle noticed in the Preface. Similar omissions occur in 45, 87, 100, 128, 160, 165, 227, 235. The more serious abbreviation by which it has been attempted to bring Crashaw's Wishes' and Shelley's' Euganean Hills within the limits of lyrical unity, is commended with much diffidence to the judgement of readers acquainted with the original pieces. Presence in line 8 is here conjecturally printed for Present. A very few similar corrections of (it is presumed) misprints have been made :-as thy for my, 22, 9; men for me, 41, 3; and one for our, 252, 90: locks for looks, 271, 5; dome for doom, 275, 25 :—with two or three more or less important. This charming little poem, truly old and plain, and dallying with the innocence of love' like that spoken of in Twelfth Night, is taken, with 5, 17, 20, 34, and 40, from the most characteristic collection of Elizabeth's reign, England's Helicon, first published in 1600. Readers who have visited Italy will be reminded of more than one picture by this gorgeous Vision of Beauty, equally sublime and pure in its Paradisaical |