The silver-sounding instruments did meet "The whiles some one did chaunt this lovely lay: Lo! see soone after how she fades and falls away.'" But it is not by such extracts as these that we can hope to get any full idea of the riches of The Fairy Queen. Only by reading for yourselves can you get any fair conception of the numberless figures that move on to the stately music of Spenser's stanza. The lovely Amoret, the spirited Belphoebe, the delicate Florimel, the learned Canacee, the bold Satyrane, Braggadochio, whose name tells his character, Sir Calidore, of exquisite courtesy, the noble Sir Scudamour, the magnanimous Arthur, - these are a few only of the graceful, chivalrous, and fascinating creations of our poet's unwearied fancy. Add to these the elfin beings conjured by his magic pen, the giants, dwarfs, monsters; the sprites, composed of snow and wax, of fire and dew. Then transport the mind to the scenery in which he places his characters, the fair green woods, the sea grottoes, the noble castles, the subterranean caves, the fairy gardens, and you will just begin to fathom the inexhaustible depths of his fancy. Spenser's poetry has always been a delight to young versifiers. Probably no other poet has ever inspired so many men, great and little, to write verses. And that is quite natural. He is so stimulating to the imagination, his verse is such a store-house of fancy, that I can think of the younger poets settling on it as the bees of Mount Hybla on a flower-garden. None of our poets have so exuberant an imagination, and of them all, Shakespeare's description He is a creature of imagination all fits Spenser best, compact. "And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen XVIII. ON SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND THE "ARCADIA." 1554-1586 ALMOST every one who looks back in imagination upon the age of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Philip Sidney will appear one of the most interesting figures among all those that graced her court. He was noble in birth, gifted in mind, handsome in person, a favorite courtier of the queen, a gallant soldier in the field, beloved by all who knew him, yet withal so modest, gentle, full of noble humanity, that he seems to have had all the virtues as well as all the graces of manhood. Nothing but good has ever been said of him, and one of the last acts of his life crowns gloriously all that goes before. He died of a wound which he got at Zutphen, where he was fighting in the cause of the Netherlands, in their wars with Spain. Just as he was to be taken from the field after he had received his death-wound, a bottle of water was brought him to drink. As he was about to put it to his lips he saw a wounded soldier carried by, who cast wistfully at the water his dying eyes. This Sir Philip seeing, gave the bottle to the poor man, saying simply, "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine." What fame of authorship could outshine the lustre of such a deed as this? Yet although writing was not the pursuit of his life, he had great gifts as a writer. He died at thirty-two, and his brief day was full of other affairs than those of literature, which in him seems only the amusement of an idle hour. If he had made it his first following, one can fancy he might have risen to great heights. His principal works are his sonnets from Astrophel to Stella, in verse; and the Arcadia, and Defence of Poetry, in prose. The Arcadia is a romance inspired largely by the ideas of love and chivalry which belong to the Middle Ages. The plot is very simple. Sidney calls it "an idle work, which, like the spider's web, will be thought fitter to be swept away than worn to any other purpose." Two young princes, in disguise, wander into the kingdom of Arcadia, where King Basilius keeps his court, with his wife Gynecia and his two daughters Pamela and Philoclea. The two young strangers naturally fall in love with the two princesses; and the various adventures of these princely persons, with the stories of other heroes and heroines woven into the narrative, and occasional passages in verse, make up the Arcadia. In spite of its faults and it has sometimes even the fault of dulness - it is rich in fine sentences, and lines that are almost a poem by themselves. You can see the nobility and the wisdom of Sidney's thoughts in such sentences as meet the eye when one turns over the leaves at random : "I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees; it sufficeth me if I know their virtues." They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts." "Provision is the foundation of hospitality, and thrift the fuel of magnificence." Oh, imperfect proportion of reason, which can too much foresee, and too little prevent!" "Condemning all men of evil because his mind had no eye to espy goodness." "There is no service like his that serves because he loves." "What's mine, even to my soul, is yours; but the secret of my friend is not mine." "Nature is no step-mother to that sex, how much soever some men, sharp-witted only in evil speaking, have sought to disgrace them." The Arcadia contains many episodes, which, taken out from their context, would form complete and interesting stories by themselves. The best of these is the tale of Argalus and Parthenia, whose story appears at intervals throughout the book. These are two lovers, who after many haps and mishaps are united in wedlock. A beautiful passage describes them in their married estate as they are visited by a messenger who comes to summon Argalus to go to war in aid of the two princesses who have been taken prisoner by their foes: "The messenger made speed and found Argalus at a castle of his own, sitting in a parlor with his fair Parthenia, he reading in a book the stories of Hercules, she by him as to hear him read; but while his eyes looked on the book, she looked on his eyes, and sometimes staying him with some pretty question, not so much to be resolved of the doubt, as to give him occasion to look upon her. A happy couple! he joying in her, she joying in herself, but in herself, because she enjoyed him; both increased their riches by giving to each other, each making one life double because they made a double life one; where desire never wanted satisfaction, nor satisfaction ever bred satiety; he ruling because she would obey, or rather because she would obey, she therein ruling. "But when the messenger came in, with letters in his hand and haste in his countenance, though she knew not what to fear, yet she feared, because she knew not, but rose and went aside while he delivered his letters and message, and afar off she looked now at the messenger, and then at her husband, the same fear which made her loth to have cause of fear, yet making her seek cause to nourish her fear. And well she found there was some serious matter, for her husband's countenance figured some resolution between loathsomeness and necessity, and once his eye cast upon her, and finding hers upon him, he blushed, and she blushed because he blushed, then straight grew pale, because she knew not why he had blushed. But when he had read and heard, and despatched away the messenger, like a man in whom honor could not be rocked asleep by affection, with promise quickly to follow, he came to Parthenia; and as sorry as might be for parting, and yet more sorry for her sorrow, he gave her the letter to read. She with fearful slowness took it, and with fearful quickness read it, and having read it, 'Ah, my Argalus,' said she, and have you made such haste to answer, and are you so soon resolved to leave me?' "But he discoursing unto her how much it imported his honor, which, since it was dear to him, he knew it would be dear unto her, her reason, overclouded with sorrow, suffered her not presently to reply, but left the charge thereof to tears and sighs, which he, not able to bear, left her alone, and went to give order for his present departure. "But by that time he was armed and ready to go, she had recovered a little strength of spirit again, and coming out, and seeing him armed, and wanting nothing for his departure but her farewell, she ran to him, took him by the arm, and kneeling down, without regard who either heard her speech or saw her demeanor: " My Argalus, my Argalus,' said she, 'do not thus forsake me. Remember, alas! remember that I have an interest in you which I will never yield shall be thus adventured. Your valor is already sufficiently known; sufficiently have you already done for your country; enow, enow there are beside you to lose less worthy lives. Woe is me! what shall become of me if you thus abandon me? Then was it time for you to follow these adventures when you adventured nobody but yourself, and were nobody's but your own. But now, pardon me that now or never I claim mine own; mine you are, and without me you can undertake no danger; and will you endanger Parthenia? Parthenia shall be in the battle of your fight, Parthenia shall smart in your pain, and your blood must be bled by Parthenia!' “Dear Parthenia,' said he, 'this is the first time that ever you resisted my will; I thank you for it, but persever not in it, and let not the tears of those most beloved eyes be a presage of that which you would not should happen. I shall live, doubt not; for so great a blessing as you are, was not given unto me so soon to be deprived of it. Look for me, therefore, shortly, and victorious, and prepare a joyful welcome, and I will wish for no other triumph.' She answered not, but stood, as it were, thunder-stricken with amazement, for true love made obedience stand up against all other passions. But when he took her in his arms, and sought to print his heart on her sweet lips, she fell in a swound, so as he was fain to leave her to her gentlewomen; and carried away by the tyranny of honor, though with many a back-cast look and hearty groan, went to the camp." The story follows Argalus to the field, where he is killed in combat with his enemy Amphialus, dying in the arms of his Parthenia, who arrives upon the field only to |