First Edition (1579).

REAT energies of thought, quickened and diffused by the spread of the art of printing, had given new impulse to every form of human work during the half century before Elizabeth was queen. The first book printed with From Lyly's Euphues. movable types, a Bible, had been completed in 1455, two years after the fall of the Roman Empire in the East. The taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 had driven into exile learned Greeks, who maintained themselves by teaching their language, and making the philosophy of Plato known in Florence, Faris, and elsewhere. Spread of Greek studies made Plato an ally of those who were battling against corruptions of Church discipline. Advance of thought added questions of Church doctrine to questions of Church discipline. Debate about the limit of authority rose higher as it won new ground. In 1492 Columbus first discovered for Spain the West India Islands. In 1497 Sebastian Cabot first saw the mainland of America. In 1506 Columbus died, and the power of Spain-much used

to sustain in Europe the principle of absolute authority in Church and State-was backed by the wealth of a New World. Personal desires of Henry VIII. made a way by which the best thought of England could lead swiftly onward towards the reformation of the Church. The short reign of Edward VI. gathered into one power many of the forces thus developed. Reaction under Mary strengthened and embittered in many earnest minds such resolution as helped England's advance under Elizabeth. Elizabeth came to the throne young, queen of a people beset by strong enemies, and not yet in the first rank among the nations; but in her time her country grew in stature mightily. As energies of thought thus quickened brought England into conflict with the power of Spain, new force and freedom came into our literature. All the great conflicts of the time dealt with essentials of life, about which, however we may differ, it is good for men to care. Occupation upon low care lowers life, but it is lifted to its highest by true care about essentials. A religious sense of duty is the mainspring of the English character. It is a mainspring that has many a flaw of human imperfection in it; but there it is, and we

are safe until it breaks. England is strong by labour of many generations, with all inevitable drawbacks from the prejudices, ignorances, and shortcomings of men, to find out the right and do it for the love of God. As the right sought by a nation in a day of conflict and the peril dared for it is greater, greater also and livelier will be the expression of its human energies, and higher heavenward will be its reach of thought. Whoever tells the story of our literature, has to show that the development of English power during the reign of Elizabeth, along almost every line of thought, was of this kind. These volumes are planned only to illustrate what I endeavour elsewhere to describe; the brief narrative in which the series of specimens is set being designed only to tell when and by whom each piece was written, as far as that can be told, adding here and there such information as may serve to secure fuller enjoyment of good fare.

The land was full of song in Elizabeth's time. Music of the voice was cultivated, part songs and madrigals were a common social pleasure. Educated men, who had no thought of calling themselves men of letters, could write pleasant verse, and sing it too. To be able to write pleasant verse was a mark of good breeding in England as in Italy, and this was caused, in some degree, by imitation of Italian fashions. Much of the verse written, and more or less valued, in Elizabeth's reign, has passed away. The very good remains; but of the good, perhaps there has been as much lost as preserved. Miscellanies like that of Richard Tottel, already described, served to retain for us many pieces that would otherwise have passed out of memory. Tottel's was very popular, and went through eight editions, the last being in 1587. Next to that came, in 1576, "The Paradise of Dainty Devices," collected by Richard Edwards, a Somersetshire man and a musician, who was master of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel Royal. he trained the children of the chapel to act, for her Majesty's pleasure, interludes and plays of his own writing, he will appear, also, in another volume, among our first dramatists. Here is a song of his own, from "The Paradise of Dainty Devices :'

WISDOM.

As

Whoso will be accounted wise, and truly claim the name,
By joining virtue to his deeds he must achieve the same.
But few there be that seek thereby true wisdom to attain:
O God, so rule our hearts therefore such fondness to refrain.

The wisdom which we most esteem, in this thing doth consist, With glorious talk to show in words our wisdom when we list: Yet not in talk but seemly deeds our wisdom we should place, To speak so fair and do but ill doth wisdom quite disgrace.

To bargain well and shun the loss, a wisdom counted is,
And thereby through the greedy coin no hope of grace to miss.
To seek by honour to advance his name to brittle praise,
Is wisdom which we daily see increaseth in our days.

1 In "A First Sketch of English Literature," published by Messrs. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, and in "English Writers," published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, a much longer work which is in progress, and of which the sections hitherto published are at present (1875) out of print

2 Flowers . . . laughs; imps . . . triumphs. This is not a false concord, but use of the Northern plural in s. A chief mark of distinction between Northern, Midland, and Southern English was the plural of the indicative present: Northern, es; Midland, es; Southern, eth. The plural in s was frequent in Shakespeare, though it is, of course, seldom retained in modern editions. Many examples will be found in Dr. Abbott's "Shakespearian Grammar," a book most valuable, not only to all who read Shakespeare with care, but to the good student of grammar, for its systematic illustration of Elizabethan English. In "Hamlet," act iii., sc. 2, Shakespeare

Use May, while that you may, for May hath but his time; When all the fruit is gone it is too late the tree to climb. Your liking, and your lust, is fresh whiles May doth last, When May is gone of all the year the pleasant time is past.

Still drawing our illustrations from Edwards's "Paradise of Dainty Devices," we will add to the examples already given of the skill of Lord Vaux as a poet' one piece more :—

NO PLEASURE WITHOUT SOME PAIN.
How can the tree but waste and wither away,
That hath not some time comfort of the sun;
How can that flower but fade and soon decay,
That always is with dark clouds overrun?
Is this a life? nay death you may it call,
That feels each pain, and knows no joy at all.

What foodless beasts can live long in good plight,
Or is it life where senses there be none;
Or what availeth eyes without their light?
Or else a tongue to him that is alone;
Is this a life? nay death you may it call,
That feels each pain, and knows no joy at all.

FANCY AND DESIRE.

Come hither, shepherd's swain.-"Sir, what do you require ?" I pray thee, show to me thy name.-"My name is Fond Desire."

When wert thou born, Desire?" In pomp and pride of May." By whom, sweet boy, wert thou begot?" By Fond Conceit, men say."

Tell me, who was thy nurse?" Fresh youth in sugared joy." What was thy meat and daily food:-" Sad sighs with great

annoy."

What hadst thou then to drink?" The savoury lover's tears." What cradle wert thou rocked in?" Hope devoid of fears." What lull'd thee then asleep-"Sweet speech, which likes me best."

Tell me, where is thy dwelling-place?—"In gentle hearts I rest."

What thing doth please thee most?" To gaze on beauty still."

Whom dost thou think to be thy foe?" Disdain of my good will."

Doth company displease?" Yes, surely, many one."
Where doth Desire delight to live?" He loves to live alone."
Doth either time or age bring him unto decay?-

No, no, Desire both lives and dies a thousand times a day.”
Then, Fond Desire, farewell, thou art no mate for me;
I should be loth, methinks, to dwell with such a one as thee.

The author of the next two pieces, also taken from
Richard Edwards's collection, was William Hunnis :-
IF THOU DESIRE TO LIVE IN QUIET REST,
GIVE EAR AND SEE BUT SAY THE BEST.

If thou delight in quietness of life,
Desire to shun from broils, debate, and strife,
To live in love with God, with friend and foe,
In rest shalt sleep when others cannot so.

Gire ear to all, yet do not all believe,
And see the end, and then do sentence give:
But say, for truth, of happy lives assigned
The best hath he that quiet is in mind.

HOPE WELL AND HAVE WELL.

In hope the shipman hoisteth sail, in hope of passage good;
In hope of health the sickly man doth suffer loss of blood;
In hope the prisoner linked in chains hopes liberty to find:
Thus hope breeds health, and health breeds ease to every
troubled mind.

In hope desire gets victory, in hope great comfort springs;
In hope the lover lives in joys, he fears no dreadful stings;
In hope we live, and may abide such storms as are assigned:
Thus hope breeds health, and health breeds ease to every
troubled mind.

In hope we easily suffer harm, in hope of future time;
In hope of fruit the pain seems sweet that to the tree doth

climb;

In hope of love such glory grows, as now by proof I find, That hope breeds health, and health breeds ease to every troubled mind.

The next piece taken to illustrate the singing in

The next piece, taken from the same collection, is by Jasper Heywood, a Roman Catholic, the son of John Heywood, a celebrated writer of interludes. Jasper Heywood translated also several of the plays of Seneca.

LOOK OR YOU LEAP.

If thou in surety safe wilt sit,

If thou delight at rest to dwell,

Spend no more words than shall seem fit,
Let tongue in silence talk expel:

In all things that thou seest men bent,
See all, say naught, hold thee content.

In worldly works degrees are three,
Makers, Doers, and Lookers-on;
The Lookers-on have liberty,
Both the others to judge upon :
Wherefore in all, as men are bent,
See all, say naught, hold thee content.

10

There grows no corn within the field

The Makers oft are in fault found;

That ox and plough did never till;
Right so the mind no fruit can yield
That is not led by Learning's skill:
Of Ignorance comes rotten weeds,
Of Learning springs right noble deeds.

Like as the captain hath respect
To train his soldiers in array;

So Learning doth man's mind direct

By Virtue's staff his life to stay:

Though friends and fortune waxeth scant, Yet learned men shall never want.

You imps, therefore, in youth be sure

To fraught your minds with learned things; For Learning is the fountain pure

Out from the which all glory springs:

Whoso therefore will glory win,

With Learning first must needs begin.

DIVES INDOCTUS.1

No. 189 of Alciat's Emblems.

1 Dives Indoctus. Phryxus of the Greek legend stands here for the rich man without learning who commits himself to the wide seas upon the Golden Fleece; but the Golden Fleece, being a sheep's, has only a sheep's head to guide it. Andrea Alciat, or Alzate (for Alciatus was the Latin form of a name derived from his birthplace,

Alzate, in the district of Como), was a great Italian lawyer who died in 1559, and produced in the course of his life a famous volume of emblematic pictures, each with a few Latin verses to explain it. The book was very frequently reprinted, and produced a taste for such emblem writing that we shall afterwards find illustrated in the verse of Wither and Quarles. I add Alciat's lines to the above emblem. They mean :-Phryxus swims over the waters sitting on the precious Fleece, and fearless mounts through the sea the yellow Sheep. And what is that? The man dull in perception, but with a rich treasure, whom the judgment of a wife or servant rules.

"Tranat aquas residens pretioso in vellere Phryxus,
Et flavam impavidus per mare scandit ovem.
Et quid id est ? Vir sensu hebeti, sed divite gaza,
Conjugis aut servi quem regit arbitrium."

2 Or, ere, before.

3 Makers, those who invent things to be done. The makers plan. the doers execute.

Sent, assent, agreement.

5 Suds of sin. "Suds," from "seethe" (First English "seóthan," to boil, past participle "soden," modern "sodden"). Association of the word with soap of the washtub is an accident. "In the suds"