Francesco's Sonnet, called his parting blow Eurymachus in laudem Mirimidæ. Madrigal : “Cupid abroad was 'lated in the night' Philomela's Ode that she sung in her Arbour Song: “Had Sorrow ever fitter place" "Unto the boundless ocean of thy beauty' “Fair is my Love, and cruel as she's fair 3. Restore thy tresses to the golden ore 4. “Look, Delia, how we 'steem the half-blown rose 5. “But love while that thou may'st be loved again 6. “Beauty, sweet Love, is like the morning dew' 9. “Let others sing of Knights and Paladines' Spring Song Epistle to the Lady Margaret, Countess of Cumberland: 59 59 60 61 Prefatory Note THE three poets represented in the accompanying pages may not unfairly be regarded as having, within certain limitations, enough in common to warrant their inclusion in a single booklet, where a more or less obvious similarity in style and in the treatment of literary themes is made the uniting bond. In the first place, two of them-Thomas Lodge and Samuel Daniel-belong to that notable band of Elizabethans for whom Sir Philip Sidney was one of the earliest in England to set a fashion in verse, the impulse towards which he had himself caught from the sonneteers of Italy and France. Daniel, indeed-as Mr Sidney Lee has pointed out 'may be reckoned Sidney's first successor on the throne' which the author of Astrophel and Stella, conjointly with Edmund Spenser and Thomas Watson, had set up. The inspiration in each case was, directly or indirectly, the same, and consequently the imitative quality of the work of all is clearly manifest, though the debt-whether the borrowed verse be sonnet or lyric-was not always, so far as the present writers are concerned, as freely and frankly acknowledged. It is not, however, in the Sonnet-in regard either to its subject-matter or its structure-that the "common denominator" of the present booklet's verse is to be found, but rather in the lyric note which pervades and characterises it. And here it is that such of the poetic work of the remaining member of our trio of singers as is represented in the following pages touches that of his two gifted contemporaries. Robert Greene shares with his literary comrade and coadjutor, Lodge, the distinction which belongs to the two most famous 1 Elizabethan Sonnets: Introduction, vii. disciples of John Lyly, the Euphuist, and in this connection claims affinity with the author of the most famous “novel" of the period—the Arcadia of Sidney, Scattered throughout the romances which Lodge and Greene wrote in imitation of their master, are some of the daintiest lyrics which Elizabethan poetry on its lighter side has given us. Though the critics mostly agree in placing the Songs of Lodge above those of his unhappy associate, it is probable that the latter had the more original and creative mind, a nimbler and more facile fancy-for much of the verse of Lodge is flagrantly derivative.1 Nevertheless, that the author of Rosalind possessed the lyrical faculty in an exceptional degree, and used it with graceful and commanding skill, no reader of the well-known “Madrigal,” e.g., can deny; and, despite their imitative character, some of his more tuneful numbers remain among the rarest treasures of Elizabethan song. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to remark that the somewhat disproportionate space accorded here to the three poets represented is not to be taken as indicating the present editor's appraisement of either their comparative importance in the hierarchy of letters or the relative value of their poetical achievement. If, however, the inclusion of Daniel's stately Epistle to the Countess of Cumberland appear to call for justification in view of what has been said as to the dominance, in the following pages, of the lyric note, such justification may surely be found in the fact that this noble poem represents one of the loftiest expressions of its author's contemplative and "well-languaged” muse. H. KELSEY WHITE. ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, MAY, 1906. 1 “There is probably no French lyrist of his generation whose work Lodge did not assimilate in greater or less degree. Most of his sonnets to Phillis were written with the first book of Ronsard's Amours at his elbow."-Sidney Lee (ibid.). Thomas Lodge Rosalind's Madrigal a Love in my bosom like a bee Doth suck his sweet : Now with his feet. “Ah, wanton, will ye ?" yet And if I sleep, then percheth he With pretty flight, The livelong night. “Whist, wanton, still ye ! " Else I with roses every day Will whip you hence, For your offence ; What if I beat the wanton boy With many a rod ? Because a god. And let thy bower my bosom be, (Rosalind.) Montanus' Protestation of his Love FIRST shall the heavens want starry light, The April, flowers and leaf and tree, First shall the tops of highest hills And Iris lose her coloured weed, First direful hate shall turn to peace, And Pleasure mourn, and Sorrow smile, First Time shall stay his stayless race, |