use as great wit by indution, and art by workmanship, as ever man hath, or can, using between themselves no less justice than wisdom, and yet not so much wisdom as majesty; insomuch as thou wouldest think that they were a kind of people, a common wealth for Plato, where they all labour, all gather honey, fly all together in a swarm, eat in a swarm, and sleep in a swarm; so neat and finely that they abhor nothing so much as uncleanness, drinking pure and clear water, delighting in sweet and sound music, which if they hear but once out of tune, they fly out of sight; and therefore are they called the Muses' birds, because they follow not the sound so much as the consent. They live under a law, using great reverence to their elder, as to the wiser. They choose a king, whose palace they frame both braver in show and stronger in substance; whom if they find to fall, they establish again in his throne, with no less duty than devotion, guarding him continually, as it were for fear he should miscarry, and for love he should not; whom they tender with such faith and favour that whither-soever he flieth they follow him, and if he can-not fly they carry him; whose life they so love that they will not for his safety stick to die, such care have they for his health on whom they build all their hope. If their prince die, they know not how to live, they languish, weep, sigh, neither intending their work, nor keeping their old society. : And that which is most marvellous, and almost incredible if there be any that hath disobeyed his commandments, either of purpose or unwittingly, he killeth him-self with his own sting, as executioner of his own stubbornness. The king him-self hath his sting, which he useth rather for honour than punishment; and yet, Euphues, al-beit they live under a prince, they have their privilege, and as great liberties as strait laws. They call a parliament, where-in they consult for laws, statutes, penalties, choosing officers, and creating their king, not by affection, but reason, not by the greater part, but the better. And if such a one by chance be chosen (for among men some-times the worst speed best) as is bad, then is there such civil war and dissension that, until he be pluckt down, there can be no friendship, and over-thrown, there is no enmity, not fighting for quarrels, but quietness. Every one hath his office, some trimming the honey, some working the wax, one framing hives, another the combs, and that so artificially that Daedalus could not with greater art or excellency better dispose the orders, measures, proportions, distinctions, joints, and circles. Divers hew, others polish, all are careful to do their work so strongly as they may resist the craft of such drones as seek to live by their labours, which maketh them to keep watch and ward, as living in a camp to others, and as in a court to them-selves. Such a care of chastity that they never ingender, such a desire of cleanness that there is not so much as meat in all their hives. When they go forth to work, they mark the wind, the clouds, and whatsoever doth threaten either their ruin or reign, and having gathered out of every flower honey, they return loaden in their mouths, thighs, wings, and all the body, whom they that tarried at home receive readily, as easing their backs of so great burthens. The king him-self, not idle, goeth up and down, entreating, threatening, commanding, using the counsel of a sequel, but not losing the dignity of a prince, preferring those that labour to greater authority, and punishing those that loiter with due severity. All which things being much admirable, yet this is most, that they are so profitable, bringing unto man both honey and wax, each so wholesome that we all desire it, both so necessary that we cannot miss them. Here, Euphues, is a common wealth, which oftentimes calling to my mind I cannot choose but commend above any that either I have heard or read of. Where the king is not for every one to talk of, where there is such homage, such love, such labour, that I have wished oftentimes rather be a bee than not be as I should be. NOTES. stance.' Tender, stretch, reach out; to direct (the mind) to, to regard, care for, tend. Lat. tendere (to stretch), through Fr. tendre. This twenty years. The sing. 'this' Show, appearance; opposed to 'submay be explained by taking *twenty years' collectively, as a compound expression for a single period of time: cf. triennium, millennium, &c. Or it may be a real plural surviving side by side with 'these.' Compare 'this many summers' (Shak., K. Hen. VIII., iii. 2), and This seven years Talbot did not see his son' (Shak., 1 K. Hen. VI, iv. 3). Early subsequent editions print 'these.' Indution, (natural) endowment. "En dow' was often written 'endue' and A kind of people, a commonwealth, &c. 'So work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rulę in nature teach On whom. The antecedent is implied Intending, directing (their minds) upon. His commandments; the prince's or Overthrown. In full, when he is overthrown,' or 'he (being) overthrown.' An ellipsis not to be imitated. Fighting; participle loosely used, the subject being readily supplied. Dædalus, a mythical sculptor of Athens or of Crete, a mere personification of the earliest development of Greek sculpture and the allied arts. The act of order to a peopled As they may resist. More usual is kingdom. They have a king and officers of sorts ;' ' &c. For Plato. Referring to the Politeia ... 'so strongly that they may resist.' The last is the only form now in use. Cf. (above) insomuch as,' (below) 'such homage that,' and Fortescue, notes (page 43). Such drones as. 'Such drones which' or such drones that would also have been quite good, although disused now. Cf. (above) such a one ... as is bad,' and Ascham (first extract), note to 'such things which.' Sequel, follower (Lat. sequi, to follow), one of the king's retinue. Honey and wax, &c. Cf. Swift, The Battle of the Books: "We have rather chose to fill our hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are Sweetness and Light.' Mr Matthew Arnold has adopted from Swift this 'Sweetness and Light' in the metaphorical sense, and made it famous in our time. (See Culture and Anarchy, chap. i.) Miss, want, do without. Which oftentimes calling, &c. 'Which' is object to both 'calling' and ' mend.' com The balance, which is still greatly overdone, is in many cases imperfect. Sentence and paragraph structure may also be improved. CUPID AND CAMPASPE. (From Campaspe, a Court Comedy.) Cupid and my Campaspe played PHILIP SIDNEY.-1554-1586. Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, one of the most distinguished ornaments of the court of Elizabeth, was born at Penshurst in Kent, Nov. 29, 1554. He studied at Oxford from thirteen to seventeen, when he went abroad; he was in Paris during the massacre of St Bartholomew (Aug. 24, 1572), and thence he travelled in Germany, Hungary, and Italy. In 1577 he was sent as ambassador to the new Emperor of Germany. In 1581, and again in 1584-5, he sat in parliament. In 1583 he was knighted, and in the autumn of 1585 he was appointed Governor of Flushing and General of the English auxiliaries of the United Provinces. He was spoken of as a candidate for the crown of Poland, but Queen Elizabeth 'refused to further his advancement, not out of emulation, but out of fear to lose the jewel of her times.' At the battle of Zutphen, Sept. 22, 1586, Sidney 'received a sore wound upon his thigh, three fingers above his knee, the bone broken quite in pieces;' and he died on Oct. 17. He had scarcely completed his thirty-second year : 'Sublimely mild, a spirit without spot.' The Arcadia, a romance, was written in 1580, but not printed till 1590; it was dedicated to Sidney's celebrated sister, the Countess of Pembroke. The Apology for Poetry was written in 1581, and first printed in 1595. Cowper calls Sidney 'warbler of poetic prose.' The sonnets and other poetical pieces, with all their beauties, are of inferior account. DESCRIPTION OF ARCADIA. (From The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Book I.) The third day after, in the time that the morning did strew1 roses and violets in the heavenly floor against the coming of the sun, the nightingales (striving one with the other which could in most dainty variety recount their wrong-caused sorrow) made them put off their sleep, and rising from under a tree (which that night had been their pavilion), they went on their journey, which by and by welcomed Musidorus' eyes (wearied with the wasted soil of Laconia) with delightful prospects. There were hills which garnished their proud heights with stately trees; humble valleys, whose base estate seemed comforted with the refreshing of silver rivers; meadows, enamelled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; thickets which, being lined with most pleasant shade, were witnessed so to by the cheerful deposition of many welltuned birds; each pasture stored with sheep feeding with sober security, while the pretty lambs with bleating oratory craved the dams' comfort; here a shepherd's boy piping as though he should never be old; there, a young shepherdess knitting, and withal singing, and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, and 1 Orig. strow. F |