He pierced the quick, and I began to start; A pleasing wound, but that it was too high; FAIR SAMELA, 2 Like to Diana in her summer weed, Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed, As fair Aurora in her morning grey, Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd day, Whenas3 her brightness Neptune's fancies move, Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams, Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory, Of fair Samela; Her cheeks like rose and lily yield forth gleams; Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue, Pallas in wit; all three, if you well view, ABRAHAM FRAUNCE. (1560 ?-1633 ?) FRAUNCE, a native of Shropshire, was one of a clique of Cambridge men who, towards the close of the sixteenth century, advocated the use in English poetry of the old 2 From Menaphon. 4 Surpasseth. 1 Because. 3 When. classic hexameters. At the head of this pedantic school was Gabriel Harvey (1545-1630?), a Fellow of Pembroke Hall, and the intimate friend of Spenser; and with him were associated Sir Philip, then Mr. Sidney, and Spenser himself. Spenser, who at one time experimented zealously in the ancient metre, soon freed himself from the tyranny of his friends, but Fraunce to the last adhered to his hexameters. His chief work was a poem called Emanuel in rhyming hexameters, 1591; but he also was the author of some pastoral verses entitled Lamentations of Corydon for the Love of Alexis, whence it is inferred that Spenser alluded to him in the lines,— "And there is Corydon, though meanly wagèd, FROM EMANUEL. "THERE CAME WISE MEN FROM THE EAST." Come fro the East, you Kings, and make acceptable off'ring; Come fro the East by the light of a blessed Star that appeareth, And to the King of Jews your footsteps rightly directeth. For to appease God's wrath and His most infinite anger. Home to the East, you Kings, and bring the news to the godly, God suff'réth for man, guiltléss condemned for a guilty : Home to the East, you Kings, and tell this abroad for a wonder, "We have seen that Babe of a Virgin, laid in a manger." Home to the East, you Kings, and show that mighty resound ing Of those sweet Angéls, celestial harmony making. 1 See p. 226. HENRY CONSTABLE. (1561 ?-1610.) THE writings of this poet consisted chiefly of Sonnets. Some of these, forming a series, and addressed to “Diana,” were published in 1592, and again, with additions, in 1594. He also wrote some Spiritual Sonnets, and contributed Songs and pastoral pieces to England's Helicon, 1600, and to England's Parnassus. FROM THE SONNETS. A BEGGAR AT THE DOOR OF BEAUTY. Pity refusing my poor Love to feed, A beggar, starved for want of help, he lies; A cherry-tree before the door he spies :— "O dear," quoth he, "two cherries may suffice, Else need he not to pine as he hath done : A SHEPHERD'S SONG.1 Diaphenia, like the daffa-down-dilly, I do love thee as my lambs Are beloved of their dams: How blest were I if thou would'st prove me! Diaphenia, like the spreading roses, I do love thee as each flower Loves the sun's life-giving power, For, dead, thy breath to life might move me. Diaphenia, like to all things blessed, Dear joy, how I do love thee ! As the birds do love the spring, Then, in requite, sweet virgin, love me! SAMUEL DANIEL. (1562-1619.) DANIEL was a native of Taunton in Somersetshire, and son of a teacher of music. He studied at Magdalene College, Oxford, but took no degree. He was appointed tutor to the Lady Anne Clifford, daughter and heir of the Earl of Cumberland, whose second husband was Philip Earl of Pembroke, a nephew of Sir Philip Sidney. This lady was a munificent patron of literature, and, in her old age, erected a monument above her poet-tutor's grave at Beckington in his native county. Daniel's earliest literary productions, published in 1592, consisted of a series of Sonnets entitled Delia, dedicated to Mary Countess of Pembroke, Sidney's renowned sister, and also of a narrative poem after the fashion of the Legends in the Mirrour for Magistrates, called The Complaint of Rosamond. In 1594 and 1595 these poems were reprinted, with added Sonnets to "Delia ;" and in 1599 Daniel published a collection of Poetical Essays, including a narrative of the Civil Wars, Musophilus, a reprint of Rosamond, and other poems. He also produced in prose a Defence of Rhyme, 1601, and a History of England, 1613. His complete works were edited and published by his brother, John Daniel, with a portrait of the poet and a dedication to Prince Charles, in 1623. It is interesting to remember that probably only the Delia Sonnets and the Rosamond were in existence, and even these not published, when, in 1591, Spenser included Daniel among the poets in his Colin Clout's Come Home Again, and also to note that Spenser's preference was distinctly in favour of the Rosamond "But most, meseems, thy accent will excel In tragic plaints and passionate mischance." Indeed, this richly imagined Legend of Fair Rosamond is perhaps the best example we have of the peculiarly dismal style of narrative poem which delighted the Elizabethans. The Sonnets were written in what is called the English form, used also by Shakespeare, consisting of twelve alternately rhyming lines closed by a couplet, giving seven rhymes in all. In the later volume, 1599, and especially in the Musophilus, we find a wonderful advance and originality both in the matter and in the expression. The modern character of his English, so often noted by his critics, and the modern character also of his thinking, are nowhere so observable as in this poetical treatise. His reverence for language and letters, his perception of what " one poor pen" can accomplish in the world, are worthy of note. The English people were, in a certain sense, still learning their own language, its powers and possibilities. What other nations and other tongues had done was before them, and, with the humility of students, they made this their first study. But, after all, was not their own native island speech " equal to the best"? And, in "the swelling tide and stream of words" that was inundating England in the form of a rapidly increasing literature of English books, Daniel perceived with a true foresight the future of our own language and the part it was to take in the culture of the world. 66 FROM THE SONNETS TO "DELIA." TO DELIA. Restore thy tresses to the golden ore, |