order is chosen—or, of these six lines, the first rhymes with the third and fifth; and the second with the fourth and sixth; or lastly, the first rhymes with the third, fourth, and sixth, and the second alone with the fifth. The Sonnet is, as has been said, but of fourteen lines; but, in the burlesque style, it may be lengthened, and is then called Sonetto colla coda-or Sonnet with a tail." The peculiar construction of the Sonnet is more adapted to the Italian than to the English, on account of the numerous similar terminations in the former language, and this, which peculiarly fits it for the language of the first inventors, renders a strict adherence to its forms very difficult in our own tongue. From this circumstance, the first of our English Sonnet-writers have, in a great measure, disregarded the peculiar construction, and contented themselves with keeping within the prescribed number of lines, and closing with a couplet, which is not essential.

The first attempt at this style of composition in England may be attributed to Henry Howard, Earl of Surry, and Sir Thomas Wiat, the Elder, the former has been justly styled" the restorer of modern English poetry."

That quaint old author, Puttenham, observes: "In the latter end of Henry the Eighth's reign sprang up a new

company of courtely makers, of whom Sir Thomas Wint, the Elder, and Henry Earl of Surry, were the two chieftains, who having travelled into Italy, and there tasted the sweet and stately measures and style of the Italian poesie, as novices newly crept out of the schools of Dante, Ariosto, and Petrarch, they greatly polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar poesie, from that it had been before, and for that cause may justly be said the first reformers of our English metre and style. Henry Earl of Surry and Sir Thomas Wiat, between whom I find very little difference, I repute them (as before) for the two chief Lanterns of light to all others that have since employed their pens upon English poesie; their conceits were lofty, their styles stately, their conveyance cleanly, their terms proper, their metre sweet and wellproportioned, in all imitating very naturally and studiously their master, Francis Petrarcha." In this Surry had the advantage over his friend, inasmuch as while copying from the Italian, his good taste and judgment led him to confine himself to the beauties, rejecting the faults of his model. Sir Thomas Wiat was not so successful, being caught equally by the beauties and faults of the Italian. "The metre sweet and well-proportioned" is more merited by the poems of Surry than those of Wiat.

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Dr. Henry, among more modern authors, gives the same favourable opinion upon the Earl of Surry. Poetry revived in England under Henry the Eighth, and was cultivated by his courtiers as a vehicle of gallantry; but by none more than the brave but unfortunate Surry, who had taste to relish the Italian poets, and judgment to reject their affected, though splendid conceits. His Sonnets were once celebrated, but are now neglected; unjustly neglected, for their merit is considerable, and their influence imparted a new character to English poetry. Surry was inspired by a genuine passion, and his Sonnets breathe the unaffected dictates of nature and love. Tenderness predominates in the sentiment, ease and elegance distinguish the language. From these Sonnets, the earliest specimens of a polished diction and refined sensibility, succeeding poets discovered the capacity and secret powers of the English tongue. They are not numerous, though sufficient to effect a reformation in poetry, nor discriminated always from the Sonnets of others; but amongst those, the authenticity of which is certain, the complaint uttered in confinement at Windsor, touches irresistibly the heart with woe."

Of the individuals who were celebrated by our earlier Sonnet-writers, all that is known has been inserted in the

brief biographical notices which will be found prefaced to the Sonnets of each poet.

Milton was the first who composed his Sonnets strictly after the Italian model. After his time the composition of the sonnet may be said to have been almost abandoned till the middle of the eighteenth century, when Thomas Edwards, author of the celebrated work, “Canons of Criticism," revived it. Since then the taste for Italian poetry having revived, this mode of composition has been adopted at times by nearly all our distinguished modern poets. But by none more successfully than Mr. Wordsworth, who has raised it to the highest state of perfection in our language.