considerable work was the "Castle of Indolence," of 1748. His most famous poem, No. 158, appeared in "The Masque of Alfred," produced in collaboration with David Mallet on August 1 and 2, 1740, for which Dr. Arne wrote the music. There has been some question as to Thomson's authorship of the song, but it is almost certainly his. Some have also questioned its inclusion in the "Golden Treasury" on the assumption that it lacks the higher qualities of lyric poetry. To this it may be replied that it rings true to the patriotic heart and is full of dignity, facts which Lord Tennyson and Mr. Palgrave doubtless perceived. Thomson died August 27, 1748.

THE SHEPHERD TONIE. This pen name has not been definitely assigned, but it is supposed to represent Anthony Munday, a hack writer of whose life little is known. He was born in 1553, was apprenticed to a stationer, wrote plays for Henslowe, and died in 1633. If this poem, No. 20, is his, he wrote no other lyric like it, so far as we know.

HENRY VAUGHAN, "Silurist," was born at Newton S. Bridget, Wales, April 17, 1622. From other Vaughans he distinguished himself by this title derived from the ancient tribe of Silures. He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and spent his life in literary leisure, although to some extent practicing as a physician. He came to be the chief disciple of George Herbert, but occasionally showed far more imaginative power than his master. He died April 23, 1695.

EDMUND WALLER, one of the chief literary figures of seventeenthcentury England, was born at Coleshill, Buckinghamshire, March 3, 1606. He was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge. While still very young he was returned to Parliament for Amersham. His long political career is not altogether to his credit, but as an orator and wit he deserved his immense reputation. He is important as a forerunner of the formal restrained poets of the eighteenth century, and a few of his poems still possess great charm. He died at Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, October 21, 1687.

JOHN WEBSTER, one of the hack writers employed by Henslowe, was born in London, perhaps in 1580. He wrote several plays in partnership with other writers. No. 66 occurs in "The White Devil," one of his two great tragedies, 1612. The other, "The Duchess of Malfi," was produced in 1616. Webster died toward the end of 1625.

JOHN WILMOT, second Earl of Rochester, was the chief of those dissolute, gifted youths who adorned and disgraced the court of Charles II. He was born at Ditchley, Oxfordshire, April 10, 1647. For a short time he attended Wadham College, Oxford, and he then traveled in France and Italy. After a brief military experience he settled down to a career of brilliant depravity. He died at Woodstock Park, July 26, 1680.

George Wither or WITHERS was born at Bentworth, Hampshire, June 11, 1588. After two years at Magdalen College, Oxford, he studied law in London and entered Lincoln's Inn. His fame rests on his lyrics and his satires. For one of his satires he was imprisoned. Under the Commonwealth he was a not very successful soldier, and the end of his long life was unhappy. He died in London, May 2, 1667.

CHARLES WOLFE was born at Blackhall, Kildare, December 14, 1791. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he took orders in the Established Church and became curate of Donoughmore, Ireland. His famous poem, No. 262, was published in the Newry Telegraph, April 19, 1817. Various claimants to its authorship have arisen, but Wolfe's right to the honor seems established. He died at Queenstown, February 21, 1823.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, April 7, 1770. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. Filled with revolutionary fervor, he visited France during the Terror and incurred some personal danger. His "Lyrical Ballads,” 1798, with the famous preface added later (Second Series, 1800), marked the beginning of a new kind of poetry, which aimed at extreme naturalness in diction and thought. Almost as much as for his poetry, Wordsworth is affectionately remembered for the life of noble poverty which he led with his sister Dorothy, chiefly at Grasmere. On October 4, 1802, he married his cousin, Mary Hutchinson. In March, 1843, upon the death of Southey, Wordsworth succeeded to the office of poet laureate. He died at Rydal Mount, April 23, 1850. His poetry attained comparative popularity only toward the end of his life, but he has been regarded by two generations as one of the very greatest of the English poets.

SIR HENRY WOTTON, in his later years the friend of Milton, was born in Boughton, Kent, April 9, 1568. He was educated at Winchester and at Oxford, and traveled on the Continent from 1590 to 1599. He was an ambassador to Venice and to Germany under James I, and on his retirement from public life became Provost of Eton College. He died at Eton, December, 1639.

SIR THOMAS WYAT, the earliest of the famous "courtly makers" of Tudor times, was born at Allington Castle, Kent, in 1503. He was graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge, at a very early age, and after some travel took up the life of a courtier. Toward the end of 1540 he was accused of treason and imprisoned, but he cleared himself at his trial. He died at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, on October 10 or 11, 1542. His poems, which followed Italian models, circulated in manuscript, and were first printed in "Tottel's Miscellany,” 1557

NOTES

(The notes in brackets are Palgrave's.)

21 The palm and may: the great sallow, or goat willow, and the hawthorn. See the Century Dictionary.—10 This and the following song are sung by Ariel in "The Tempest." Compare Act V, scene i, and Act I, scene ii.-20 [whist: hushed, quieted.]—21 featly: daintily.—22 burthen: undersong.

37 [Rouse Memnon's mother: Awaken the Dawn from the dark Earth and the clouds where she is resting. This is one of that limited class of early myths which may be reasonably interpreted as representations of natural phenomena. Aurora in the old mythology is mother of Memnon (the East), and wife of Tithonus (the appearances of Earth and Sky during the last hours of night). She leaves him every morning in renewed youth, to prepare the way for Phoebus (the Sun), whilst Tithonus remains in perpetual old age and grayness.]—14 decore: decorate. 30 [by Penéus' streams: Phoebus loved the Nymph Daphne whom he met by the river Penéus in the vale of Tempe.]

4 3 [Amphion's lyre: He was said to have built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his music.]—8 chair: chariot.—11 [Night like a drunkard reels: Compare " Romeo and Juliet," Act II, scene iii: "The grey-eyed morn smiles," etc. It should be added that three lines, which appeared hopelessly misprinted, have been omitted in this poem.]-14 orient: bright. -17 This and the following poem are the sixty-fourth and sixtyfifth of Shakespeare's sonnets. 20 eternal: should be construed with brass.-25 state: condition. In the next line it seems to mean magnificence, greatness.

51 which: since it (that is, the thought).—12 [Time's chest: in which he is figuratively supposed to lay up past treasures. So in "Troilus," Act III, scene iii," Time hath a wallet at his back," etc. In the "Arcadia," chest is used to signify tomb.] 17 [A fine example of the high-wrought and conventional Elizabethan pastoralism, which it would be unreasonable to criticize on the ground of the unshepherdlike or unreal character of some images suggested. Stanza 6 was perhaps inserted by Izaak Walton.] 61 kirtle: gown with a skirt, petticoat. 19 [This beautiful lyric is one of several recovered from the very rare Elizabethan songbooks, for the publication of which our thanks are due to Mr. A. H. Bullen (1887, 1888).] The title means (Love) conquers All Things.

711 This is one of those pieces in the "Passionate Pilgrim" (1599), which are generally assigned to Shakespeare. - 17 brave: finely dressed. 81 This song is sung by Amiens in "As You Like It," Act II, scene v. -3 turn: return, give back. -17 This song is sung by the two pages in "As You Like It," Act V, scene iii.-18 The refrain is meaningless, at least to-day. -20 ring time: season for dancing in a ring. — 29 prime: usually means spring (compare 11 3), but here it may mean supreme happiness. If it means spring, there should be at least a comma after it.

93 [One stanza has been here omitted, in accordance with the principle noticed in the Preface. Similar omissions occur in a few other poems. The more serious abbreviation by which it has been attempted to bring Crashaw's "Wishes" and Shelley's "Euganean Hills," with one or two more, within the scheme of this selection, is commended with much diffidence to the judgment of readers acquainted with the original pieces.]—6 This line seems to convey a challenge.-21 [Sidney's poetry is singularly unequal; his short life, his frequent absorption in public employment, hindered doubtless the development of his genius. His great contemporary fame, second only, it appears, to Spenser's, has been hence obscured. At times he is heavy and even prosaic; his simplicity is rude and bare; his verse unmelodious. These, however, are the "defects of his merits." In a certain depth and chivalry of feeling, in the rare and noble quality of disinterestedness (to put it in one word), — he has no superior, hardly perhaps an equal, amongst our poets; and after or beside Shakespeare's sonnets, his "Astrophel and Stella," in the editor's judgment, offers the most intense and powerful picture of the passion of love in the whole range of our poetry.]

९९

108 [Hundreds of years: The very rapture of love," says Mr. Ruskin; "A lover like this does not believe his mistress can grow old or die."] The title means The Way of Love. - 9 This is the fifty-seventh of Shakespeare's sonnets. —21 in your will: so far as concerns your intent. 23 This is the ninety-seventh of Shakespeare's sonnets.

111 removed: of removal, of absence.-9 cheer: countenance. 11 This is the twenty-ninth of Shakespeare's sonnets. The last six lines have rarely been surpassed, even by him. —16 with: of. 20 state: Here and in the fourth line below, both meanings of the word, condition and magnificence, may be combined.

121 This is the one hundred and ninth of Shakespeare's sonnets. 2 qualify: diminish. 7 exchanged: changed. - 10 blood: disposition. -12 To: as to.-15 This is the one hundred and fourth of Shakespeare's sonnets. -22 which: who (refers to you). — 24 his: its.

131 [Readers who have visited Italy will be reminded of more than one picture by this gorgeous Vision of Beauty, equally sublime and pure in its Paradisaical naturalness. Lodge wrote it on a voyage to "the Islands of Terceras and the Canaries"; and he seems to have

1

caught, in those southern seas, no small portion of the qualities which marked the almost contemporary art of Venice, - the glory and the glow of Veronese, Titian, or Tintoret. From the same romance is No. 71, — a charming picture in the purest style of the later Renaissance. -1 the clear: is the crystalline or outermost heaven of the old cosmography.]-8 whenas: when.- 13 shroud: covering; that is, probably, a cloud.31 orient: bright.

149 muse: wonder. -11 [for a fair there's fairer none: If you desire a Beauty, there is none more beautiful than Rosaline.]-26 fond: foolish. 28 her fashion: the way she was fashioned, her form or shape.

15 12 thou art woe-begone thee: Fowler explains this as a confusion of two constructions, thee is woe-begone (" to thee has woe closed round") and the more modern thou art woe-begone. — 13 [Another gracious lyric from an Elizabethan songbook . . . reprinted . . . in Mr. W. J. Linton's "Rare Poems," 1883] and in Arber's " English Garner," 1882 (Fowler). 14 What: why (as often in the older poets).

166 This is the eighteenth of Shakespeare's sonnets. -13 untrimm'd: stripped of its trim (its beauty or adornment).— 15 [that fair thou owest : that beauty thou ownest.]—20 This is the one hundred and sixth of Shakespeare's sonnets. —22 making beautiful old rhyme: making old rhymes beautiful. 24 blazon: description.

175 for since, because.. -9 [From one of the three songbooks of T. Campion, who appears to have been author of the words which he set to music. His merit as a lyrical poet (recognized in his own time, but since then forgotten) has been again brought to light by Mr. Bullen's taste and research.] — 13 still: ever. Compare the sixth and eighth lines below. -24 which of which.-27 [swerving: is Mr. Bullen's conjecture for changing in the text of 1601.] The title means Kisses; it is the plural of the Latin basium.

185 as discontent: as the result of being discontented (probably). In the older writers as often means as if.-19 This poem is read by Dumain in "Love's Labour's Lost," Act IV, scene iii.-24 'gan: began (but not a contraction of that word). The Globe edition reads can.. -25 That: so that. 199 for Jove as Jove (deny his existence as a god).-16 whan: when. 19 assays: endeavors. -27 thine own approved: him who has been proved thine own.

207 in into. - 15 The title means Into Tears. Compare Æneid, IV, 413 (Bates). 17 keep: abide. — 20 parts: qualities.

21 2 leave off in time to grieve: cease grieving in due time. —7 This is the one hundred and sixteenth of Shakespeare's sonnets. -11 mark: seamark. 14 [Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken: apparently, Whose stellar influence is uncalculated, although his angular altitude from the plane of the astrolabe or artificial horizon used by astrologers has been determined.]—15 Time's fool: the sport of Time