68 appeares] there commes 1575
137 covering] 1575 hovering 1567
162 hereafter… may] that tyme may from this curse hereafter 1575
335 Text: Edmund Spenser, Complaints. Containing sundrie small poemes of the worlds vanitie, 1591, sig. R2r; facsimile, The English Experience, no. 278, Amsterdam and New York 1970. Edition: ed. William A. Oram etc., see no. 83, pp. 387–8. The Complaints were included in the collected edition of Spenser’s poems published in 1611. Spenser’s thirty–three sonnets comprising the Ruines of Rome are based on Joachim du Bellay’s sequence Les antiquitez de Rome published in 1558. Like other members of his poetic school, the Pléiade, the French writer du Bellay championed the literary possibilities of the vernacular, seeking to revive the classical traditions of poetry.
336 Text: Penshurst Place, Kent, Viscount De L’Isle MS. Edition: ed. J. C. A. Rathmell, The Psalms of Sir Philip Sidney and the Countess of Pembroke, New York 1963, pp. 122–3. The Penshurst MS (known to Sidney scholars as A) was written by John Davies of Hereford and was intended for presentation to Queen Elizabeth I; it preserves an intermediate state of the Countess’s revisions of the Psalms. Some seventeen MSS survive of the translation of the Psalms by Sir Philip Sidney and his sister the Countess of Pembroke; Sidney translated the first forty-three Psalms and his sister completed the rest, frequently revising his as well as her own work. On account of the textual complexity of the Psalms, no variants between MSS have been noted.
39 will] will. MS
337 Text: British Library, MS Additional 12047, ff.44v–45r. Edition: Derek Attridge, Well-weighed Syllables: Elizabethan Verse in Classical Metres, Cambridge 1974, pp. 205–6. Attridge considers this version of the Countess’s revision, which differs considerably from the text printed by Rathmell (see no. 336) of the same Psalm, ‘the most successful Elizabethan attempt to naturalise the hexameter’.
5 think] thing MS
13 hearts] heares MS reposed] repose MS
338 Text: Penshurst Place, Kent, Viscount De L’Isle MS, see no. 336. Edition: ed. J. C. A. Rathmell, see no. 336, p. 326.
4 laieth] laieth. MS
10 not on] most MSS not Penshurst MS
339 Text: All Ovids elegies: 3. bookes. By C. M. Epigrams by J.D., Middlebourgh [London, after 1602], sigs. B4v–5v. Edition: ed. Stephen Orgel, see no. 98, pp. 131–2. At least three other undated editions of Marlowe’s translations were issued, all with false Middelburg imprints, before 1640. The second half of the poem’s last line is Marlowe’s addition to Ovid.
9 not?] not [1602]
10 not.] not? [1602]
41 waine?] waine, [1602]
42 swaine.] swaine? [1602]
340 Text: Lucans first booke translated line for line, by Chr. Marlow, 1600. sig. Clr–v. Edition: ed. Stephen Orgel, see no. 98, pp. 195–6, ll.230–62. Only one edition of Marlowe’s translation was published: it is mentioned in the Stationers’ Register on 28 September 1593 at the same time as his version of Hero and Leander was entered, see no. 99. The date of Marlowe’s translation is not known. The extract begins just after Caesar has crossed the Rubicon into Italy.
341 Text: Orlando Furioso in English heroical verse, by John Harington, 1591, Book 34, stanzas 68–85, pp. 286–7; facsimile, The English Experience, no. 259, Amsterdam and New York 1970. Edition: ed. Robert Mc Nulty, Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso Translated into English Heroical Verse by Sir John Harington, Oxford 1972, pp. 395–7. Two important MSS, both partly autograph, of Harington’s Ariosto survive: one in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, contains a version of Books 1–24 and the other in the British Library (MS Additional 18920) consists of the printers’ copy for the 1591 edition of Books 14–46. The romance Orlando Furioso by the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1535) was published in its final form in 1532. Harington’s translation, which included his important allegorical commentary, was reprinted in a revised form in 1607 and 1634. In this extract, the English knight Astolfo leaves the Earthly Paradise with St John and they fly by chariot to the moon, where he collects his cousin Orlando’s lost wits.
31 ev’n… they] 1601 all that he 1591 and MS
60 bladders] potsherds deleted and corrected MS
66 prepard] prefard 1607
74 To looke] 1601 Looking 1591 and MS
91–6 side–note] The Sin of roome maketh yt stink thus and other great citties will
savor as ill yf they bee not the better kept with devocion and relligion MS
deleted and corrected
103 Howbeit] 1607 Onlie nor 1591 and MS
109 But last] 1607 Lastlie 1591 and MS
111 By name] 1607 Namely 1591 and MS
114 And… mount] 1607 Apt to ascend 1591 and MS
116 It there] 1607 There it 1591 and MS
132 And some] 1607 Some 1591 and MS
134 And some] 1607 Others 1591 and MS
143 By name,] 1607 Namelie 1591 and MS
342 Text: Godfrey of Bulloigne, or the recoverie of Jerusalem. Done into English heroicall verse, by Eaward Fairefax, 1600, pp. 55–9. Edition: ed. Kathleen M. Lea and T. M. Gang, Godfrey of Bulloigne: A Critical Edition of Edward Fairfax’s Translation of Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata, together with Fairfax’s Original Poems, Oxford 1981, pp. 162–7, Book 4, stanzas 3–19. La Gerusalemme liberata, an epic of the crusades, by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, was first published in 1580–1. This extract describes Satan’s rallying of his followers.
343 Text: Bartas his devine weekes and workes translated by Josuah Sylvester, 1605, Week 1, Day 7, pp. 231–3. Edition: ed. Susan Snyder, The Divine Weeks and Works of Guillaume de Saluste Sieur du Bartas Translated by Josuah Sylvester, 2 vols., Oxford 1979, i.294–6, Week 1, Day 7, ll.1–58. Du Bartas’s biblical epic was published in 1578; Sidney is said to have translated part of it. Sylvester’s translations from du Bartas’s poem began to appear in 1592 and were first collected in 1605; Sylvester continued to add to the work in 1608, 1611 and 1613; more material was included in the posthumous edition of 1621. The part of the poem from which this extract is taken was first printed in 1605.
38 Drives] 1611, 1613, 1621 Brings 1605
42 ascends] 1611, 1613, 1621 doth rise 1605
344 Text: The Iliads of Homer; prince of poets. Never before in any language truelytranslated. With a comment uppon some of his chiefe places; donne according to the Greekeby Geo: Chapman, [1611], pp. 165–6. Edition: ed. Allardyce Nicoll, Chapman’s Homer, 2 vols., 1957, i.247–8, ll.296–332. Chapman published his translation of seven books of the Iliad in 1598; to these he added a further five books in an undated volume probably issued in 1609 and reprinted in 1611. In the same year he published a complete translation in which the first two books had been revised, from which the text printed here is taken. The collected translation of all of Homer’s works was published probably in 1616. Chapman goes beyond Homer in emphasizing his protagonists’ high rank and political skill (see ll.14–15 and 25–7).
1 on] an [1611]
5 arme] armes [1609]
34 sort] sorts [1609]
345 Text: John Milton, Poems, 1673, see no. 243, p. 62. Edition: ed. John Carey and Alastair Fowler, see no. 48, pp. 96–7. In 1673 the translation was printed with the Latin original in a text which differs slightly from modern editions; it was headed ‘Horatius ex Pyrrhae illecebris tanquam è naufragio enataverat, cuius amore irretitos, affirmat esse miseros’ (translated by Carey and Fowler: ‘Horace, having escaped from Pyrrha’s charms, as from a shipwreck, declares that those who are ensnared by her love are in a wretched state’). The date of the translation is unknown and may belong to any time between the 1620s and 1650s. Translations from Horace were common in the seventeenth century, but this is the only unrhymed example.
346 Text: John Skelton, A replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers, abjured of late, [1528], sig.B3r–v. Edition: ed. John Scattergood, see no. 1, p. 384, ll.343–78. This attack on two Cambridge scholars, Thomas Arthur and Thomas Bilney, who renounced their heretical attacks on Roman Catholic practices, was probably written in 1528. The marginal Latin notes and references have been omitted.
347 Text: Thomas Churchyard, A musicail consort of heavenly harmonie called Churchyards charitie, 1595, sig. A4v. This extract is taken from the address ‘To the generall Readers’, in which Churchyard has been discussing the vein in which he wrote about women, especially about ‘Shores wife’ for A myrrour for magistrates, in which various historical characters relate their downfall, in verse.
348 Text: Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, 1596, see no. 32, ii.482–7, Book 6, Canto 10, verses 10–28. Edition: ed. Thomas P. Roche, Jr., and C. Patrick O’Donnell, Jr., see no. 32, pp. 990–5. Calidore, having abandoned his quest to capture the Blatant Beast, stays in the country, where he dresses up as a shepherd, falls in love with Pastorella and comes across Mount Acidale. The identity of the woman at the centre of the hundred dancing maidens is disputed: she has been variously identified with Queen Elizabeth; the Rosalind of The shepheardes calender, Elizabeth Boyle, whose marriage with the poet in 1594 Spenser celebrated in Amoretti and Epithalamion (see nos. 83–8); and with the muse of his poetry.
103 within] 1609 with in 1596
113 Æacidee,] Æcidee. 1 596 Aecidee, 1609
133 forward] froward most modem edns
349 Text: Sir John Harington, Epigrams, 1618, see no. 24, Book 2, no. 30, sig. E7r. Edition: ed. Norman Egbert McClure, see no. 24, no. 126, p. 196. For Samuel Daniel, see no. 90.
350 Text: John Donne, Poems, 1633, see no. 28, pp. 204–5. Edition: ed. A.J. Smith, see no. 28, p. 81.
20 triumphs] trials some MSS
351 Text: William Shakespeare, Sonnets, 1609, see no. 104, sig. G3r–v. Edition: ed. John Kerrigan, see no. 104, p. 130.
352 Text: John Marston, The scourge of villanie. Three bookes of satyres, 1598, sigs. Blr–3v. Edition: ed. Arnold Davenport, see no. 125, pp. 96–9. Two further editions appeared in 1599, the first of which (1599a) contains revisions to the text which appear to be authorial.
3 Each] 1599a and 1599b Shal each 1598
22 thy] my 1599a and 1599b
60 my] thy 1598, 1599a and 1599b
353 Text: Samuel Daniel, The poeticall essayes, 1599, Musophilus, sigs. A2r, D1v–2r, F2r–3r. Edition: ed. Arthur Colby Sprague, see no. 90, pp. 69, 83, 96–7, ll.1–13, 481–518, 934–75. Musophilus: containing a generall defence of learning, was dedicated to Fulke Greville. It was reprinted in 1601–2 with minor changes and in a revised form in 1607, which was reprinted in 1611 when the poem was given the title Musophilus or a defence of poesie. The poem takes the form of a dialogue between Philocosmus, ‘lover of the world’, and Musophilus, ‘lover of the Muses’ (especially Poetry).
15 doubt,] 1601–2 doubt 1599
354 Text: Ben Jonson, The workes, 1640, see no. 142, sigs. Dd2v–3r. Edition: ed. George Parfitt, see no. 34, pp. 166–7. The poem is the twenty-ninth in the collection called ‘The Under-wood’: it is not known to have circulated in MS. As he told Drummond of Hawthornden, Jonson’s favourite metre was the couplet. He had written against both Campion and Daniel in their debate about rhyme, proving ‘couplets to be the bravest sort of Verses’.
1 Rime,] Rime 1640
3 Conceipt,] Conceipt 1640
15 Art] are 1640
21 bewail’d] bewail’d. 1640
30 frowning.] frowning; 1640
39 restore] restore, 1640
47 refused] refused, 1640
48 ceasure.] ceasure; 1640
55 Sense,… meet] Sense… meet, 1640
355 Text: Ben Jonson, The workes, 1640, see no. 142, sig. Cc4v. Edition: ed. George Parfitt, see no. 34, pp. 160–1. The poem is the twenty-third in the collection called ‘The Under–wood’. It had some circulation in MS from the 1620s; one MS of the 1630s (British Library MS Egerton 923) ends the poem with the motto ‘Virtus vera nobilitas’ (‘virtue is true nobility’).
1 lie,] lie 1640
4 Securitie] obscuritie Egerton MS
6 and oft] most MSS and 1640
12 defac’t] displact Egerton MS
16 great] quicke Egerton MS
23 die] drincke MS
29 give] guide Egerton MS
32 reproofe,] reproofe. 1640
356 Text: George Chapman, The Iliads of Homer, [1611], see no. 344, sig.2Alv. Edition: ed. Allardyce Nicoll, see no. 344, i.ll, ll.163–78. The extract comes from Chapman’s address ‘To the Reader’, which was first published probably in [1609].
357 Text: Lucans Pharsalia translated into English verse by Sir Arthur Gorges knight, 1614, sig. A4v. Edition: ed. Agnes M. C. Latham, see no. 18, p. 54. For Gorges, who was Ralegh’s first cousin, see no. 35. This was the first complete English translation of Lucan’s epic; for Marlowe’s version of Book 1, see no. 340.
358 Text: William Browne, Britannia’s pastorals, 1616, see no. 37, Book 2, Song 3, pp. 59–62. Edition: ed. Gordon Goodwin, see no. 37, i.272–3, 275–7, ll.287–322, 379–424.
359 Text: Rachel Speght, Mortalities memorandum, with a dreame prefixed, imaginarie in manner; reall in matter, 1621, pp. 4–6. Edition: ed. Germaine Greer etc., see no. 327, pp. 70–2, ll.103–68, (II.157–68 are omitted). The poem from which this extract is taken is an allegorical dream vision written to support Speght’s plea for the education of women.
360 Text: Michael Drayton, Poems, 1619, see no. 138, p. 261. Edition: ed. J. William Hebel etc., see no. 138, ii.323. This sonnet was first printed in 1599.
2 That Foraine] The Sotherne 1599–[1616?]
4 living] lovely 1613–[1616?]
361 Text: Michael Drayton, The battaile of Agincourt, 1627, pp. 204–8; Scolar Press facsimile, Menston 1972. Edition: ed. J. William Hebel etc., see no. 138, iii.226–31. The poem is the eighth among the group of ‘Elegies’. Henry Reynolds (1563/4–1632) was a Suffolk man, a schoolmaster and poet; his few publications, including a translation of Tasso’s Aminta, 1628, and a theoretical work, Mythomystes wherein ashort survay is taken of the nature and value of true poesy, and depth of the ancients aboveour moderne poets, [1632], reveal his interest in poetry. This poem may date from 1621, the year of the publication of the first part of Sandys’s translation of Ovid (see 11.157–62).
201 pursue,] pursue 1627
362 Text: Michael Drayton, The muses Elizium, lately discovered, by a new way over Parnassus, 1630, pp. 1–4. Edition: ed. J. William Hebel etc., see no. 138, iii.248–51. This is the first poem in Drayton’s last volume of verse.
363 Text: John Milton, Poems, 1673, see no. 243, pp. 64–6. Edition: ed. John Carey and Alastair Fowler, see no. 48, pp. 76–8, ll.1–52. The Latin part of the exercise, the speeches, form Milton’s sixth Prolusion, which was printed in 1674. The English poem dates from the summer vacation of 1623.
364 Text: John Taylor, All the workes, 1630, see no. 197, sig. Kk4v. Edition: Spenser Society, see no. 197, vol. 3, 1868, p. 274, ll.1–24. This extract is taken from one of the poems first printed in the collection A common whore with all these graces grac’d, 1622, which was reprinted in 1625 and 1635.
365 Text: John Donne, Poems, by J.D. With elegies on the authors death, 1633, see no. 28, pp. 385–8. Edition: ed. Rhodes Dunlap, see no. 154, pp. 71–4. The poem was reprinted in the collections of Donne’s poems published in 1635 and 1639; it was included in the 1640 edition of Carew’s poems, but in a slightly different form. Three MS copies of the poem survive. Donne died on 31 March 1631.
3 dare] did 1640
5 Churchman] Lect’rer 1640
7 should] might 1640
44 dust, had rak’d] dung had search’d 1640
50 stubborne] troublesome 1640
58 is purely] was onely 1640
61 new paragraph in 1640
63 repeale] recall 1640
71 new paragraph in 1640
74 faint] rude 1640
81 small] short 1640 maintaine] retaine 1640
87 new paragraph in 1640
366 Text: Thomas Carew, Poems by Thomas Carew Esquire. The second edition revisedand enlarged, 1642, p. 222. Edition: ed. Rhodes Dunlap, see no. 154, p. 117. This is one of eight poems added to the second edition of Carew’s Poems two years after the majority of them first appeared in print. Two settings (1642a and 1642b) of the text exist in 1642. One mid–seventeenth–century MS copy of the poem survives.
1 polisht] peevish 1642a
19 fit,] fit. 1642a and 1642b
20 silkes,] silkes 1642a
367 Text: Robert Herrick, Hesperides, 1648, see no. 44, p. 72. Edition: ed. L. C. Martin, see no. 44, p. 66.
368 Text: Robert Herrick, Hesperides, 1648, see no. 44, p. 372. Edition: ed. L.C. Martin, see no. 44, p. 314.
369 Text: George Wither, Vox pacifica: a voice tending to the pacification of God’s wrath, 1645, pp. 2–5. Edition: Miscellaneous Works of George Wither: Second Collection, Spenser Society, vol. 13, 1872, pp. 16–19. John Lilburne and other Levellers admired this poem in which Wither called for democratic reforms.
58 rectifie] terrifie 1645
370 Text: Sir William Davenant, Gondibert, 1651, see no. 303, pp. 172–5, Book 2, Canto 5, verses 37, 39–50. Edition: ed. David F. Gladish, see no. 303, pp. 155–7. Gondibert has been brought to the House of Astragon by old Ulfin; he is being shown ‘The Monument of vanish’d Mindes’.
1 There] press correction in 1651a Where 1651a uncorrected, 1651b and 1673
33 Tomes] 1651b and 1673; corrected in MS in 1651a from Tombs
371 Text: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Poems, 1653, see no. 219, p. 110. The title may refer to the poem’s position as the first within a group of poems in this part of the book. The variant readings below are substantially shared by 1664 and 1668.
1–3 Give me a free and noble Style, that goes
In an Uncurbed Strain, though Wild it shows;
For though it Runs about it cares not where,
8 Not… bound] And not bound up
372 Text: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Poems, 1653, see no. 219, p. 213. The variant readings below are substantially shared by 1664 and 1668.
Title] The Common Fate of Books
1 Books have the worst Fate, when they once are Read,
5–10 But Spiders, which Nature has taught to Spin,
For th’Love and Honour of this Art, since Men
Spin likewise all their Writings from their Brain,
A lasting Web of Fame thereby to Gain,
They do high Altars of thin Cobwebs raise,
Their Off’rings Flies, a Sacrifice of Praise.
373 Text: Abraham Cowley, Poems, 1656, see no. 210, Pindarique Odes, pp. 23–4. Edition: ed. John Sparrow, see no. 210, pp. 159–61. Cowley’s notes to this Ode are quoted selectively in the commentary.
68 Chrystallize,] Chrystallize. 1656
374 Text: Henry Vaughan, Silex scintillans, 1655, see no. 301, part 2, pp. 80–1. Edition: ed. Alan Rudrum, see no. 212, pp. 309–10. This is the last poem in the volume apart from ‘To the Holy Bible’ and ‘L’Envoy’. In Romans 8:21, St Paul declares that ‘the creature’ will be delivered. Vaughan aligns himself with the small minority who believed that this implied the possibility of universal salvation not only for humans but for all sentient beings.