00 CP I ~~~~~~~~- I IA 1<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~s ft~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 ~t~uM 4-, 7- 7 r7~~~~~~~~~~~~Q('4 -t -- L~bra Olt of@ l~~utbjorz+ HoiI THE COMPLETE WOR O R MICHAEL DRA"T-..N-> NOW FIRST COLLECTED. WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES BY THE REV. RICHARD HOOPER, M.A. VICAR OF UPTON AND ASTON UPTHORPE, BERKS, AND EDITOR OF CHAPMAN'S HOMER, SANDYS' POETICAL WORKS, ETC. VOLUME I.-POL YOLBION. LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, SOHO SQUARE. 1876. (So HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, K.G. SIR, BY your gracious permission, I dedicate to you the present edition of,the Complete Works of MICHAEL DRAYTON, now first collected. DRAYTON was not only a great Poet, but great in many styles of Poetry; and one work of his may be pronounced unique. His POLY-OLBION is a wonderful description of that Happy Island, over which (at some distant day, we trust) you will, in the course of Divine Providence, be called upon to exercise your sway. The Author felt the greatness of his subject, and esteeming it, as it justly is, a work worthy to be laid at the" feet of a 'Prince, [dedicaled it to two of your illustrious predecessors in your noblest title, the PRINCES HENRY and CHARLES of WALES. vi The Poet, however, little thought that the day would arrive when another PRINCE of WALES, in the person of YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, would graciously accept his work; nor could he have dreamed that the realms which you may be called upon to:rule far exceed the wildest visions of poet's brain. SIR, when you have visited that glorious empire to which you are now setting forth, may you return to the home of your birth to find that amid all the vast possessions of the BRITISH CROWN there is no spot where you are more loyally loved and revered than the HAPPY ISLAND which MICHAEL DRAYTON has so faithfully depicted. Your Royal Highness's Most faithful and devoted servant, RICHARD HOOPER. UPTON, BERKS, September, 1875. ADVERTISEMENT. HE Editor feels that an apology is due, not only to the public, but to the publisher and printer, for the delay in the production of this work. He trusts, however, that the present three volumes will prove with what care and accuracy the Edition is being prepared. UPTON, BERKS, September, 1875. INTRODUCTION. 7^ OLDSMITH, in his "Citizen of the World," makes the Chinese Philosopher visit Westminster Abbey. "As we walked along to a particular part of the temple, 'there,' says the gentleman (his guide) pointing with his finger, 'that is the Poets' Corner; there you see the monuments of Shakespeare, and Milton, and Prior, and DRAYTON.' 'DRAYTON,' I replied,' I never heard of him before, but I have been told of one Pope, is he there? " * A recent eminent writer - has inferred from this that the fame of Drayton had sunk so low that he was comparatively unknown, or at least that he was unknown to Goldsmith. But Goldsmith, though a charming writer, was very ignorant of our older literature. In fact, in Goldsmith's time, the star of Pope was in the ascendant, and that alone was considered poetry which had the ring and epigrammatic smoothness of the school of the writers of the Augustan age, as the days of Queen Anne have been styled. The elder Disraeli has observed * Citizen of the World, vol. i. p. 44, ed. 1762 (the 1st). t Dean Stanley. 4 Amenities of Literature. X INTRODUCTION. that " Dr. Johnson and the critics of his day were wholly unacquainted with the Fathers of our poetry;" and no better proof can be given of Johnson's vitiated taste than that he preferred the miserable (and now deservedly neglected) translation of Tasso by Hoole ("a gentleman long-known and long-esteemed in the India House," as he calls lim) to that by Edward Fairfax, which is confessedly one of the finest versions in the English language. Nor was the ignorance of Drayton's merits confined to Goldsmith and his contemporaries. The writer of the article 'Drayton' in Aikin's General Biography (which Mr. Gifford styles "a worthless compilation") mentions that the poet's works were reprinted in folio and 4 vols. 8vo. in 1748-53, and expresses his opinion that they were not worth republication. That edition, it is true, fell still-born from the press, but probably from its incompleteness and inaccuracy. Yet Mr. Disraeli, no mean authority, says "Drayton is worthy of a complete edition of his works."* His merit, too, is now generally acknowledged, and he takes a conspicuous stand amongst that "race of giants" who clustered round the towering figure of Shakespeare. It is probable that much of the neglect of his works / may be attributed to their great extent, and that had he written less he would have been better known; and again, as many of his poems are historical, they are likely to be of less interest to the general reader. It Amenities of Literature. INTRODUCTION. xi cannot be denied also that his diction is somewhat in-' volved, and his works require attention and study. But the same may be said of many of his contemporaries. Some of his lighter efforts are exquisite, and he has written in so many styles that the possessor of his works has a continual source of enjoyment. "The merits of Drayton as a poet are very great. His historicalpoems have about them a heavy magnificence, the most gorgeous images and the boldest descriptions follow in stately array, clothed in well-turned and appropriate verse, but unfortunately the obscurity of diction renders them unattractive. * * * * Drayton has left one work which, in its way, has never been surpassed-a short fairy poem called, 'Nymphidia.' A more elfin work than this could not be penned: the author has contrived to throw himself into the feelings of the diminutive beings whom he represents. His description of helmets made of beetles, ear-wigs being used as chargers, and other oddities of a like nature, display the very highest powers of fancy: a Lilliputian air breathes through the whole performance. Had Drayton written nothing but 'Nymphidia,' he would deserve immortality." * It may be thought that I savour too much of the advocate in pleading the cause of the author whose works I am anxious to re-introduce to the reader, if I express my opinion that Drayton is undoubtedly one of * English Cyclopaedia, Art. "Drayton." xii iINTROD UCTION. the greatest poets of the Elizabethan or any period, but I shall fortify my opinion by that of two writers whose knowledge of early English literature is entitled to our highest respect. Mr. Payne Collier, in a very beautiful edition of some of Drayton's earlier poems, printed for the Roxburghe Club in 1856, puts Shakespeare entirely out of the question, in considering the rank that the poets of Elizabethan times are entitled to hold with reference to each other. The same pre-eminence, he thinks, is due to Spenser, though on different grounds; and Ben Jonson's claims to admiration for strength of thought, vigour of expression, and learning, can hardly be disputed. With these exceptions, Mr. Collier enquires what place Michael Drayton occupies among the secondary poets when he lived. "At the head of these," he says, "he has unquestionably the right to stand. He is inferior to Daniel in smoothness of versification, and, perhaps, in grace of expression, but he much exceeds him in originality of conception, and in force and variety of style. Drayton has written ill in no species of poetical composition, and he has written well in most. He tried many, and he excelled, more or less, in all he tried." I think this a fair estimate of our poet's merits, though I am inclined to question his inferiority, as a poet, to Ben Jonson. The late Rev. Joseph Hunter, whose inestimable MS. Collections' on our Poets are now in the British Museum INTROD UCTION. xiii (Addit. MSS. 24,493), says:-" I see not why Drayton should not now be placed, as he was by his contemporaries, in the first class of English Poets: not primus inter pares, but he who produced such beautiful Lyric and Pastoral and Heroic poems, ought not to be placed only in the second rank. One proof of his claim to this high distinction is, that while so many of his contemporaries are forgotten, and their works known only to the few antiquaries who cultivate this field of literature, the name of Drayton is still, like Shakespeare and Milton, a household word; his memory is kept alive by the popular voice, and few are they who have not been more or less delighted with his verse." I am afraid that the last sentence is a little overstrained. The "popular voice" is unfortunately, in many cases, vox et prceterea nihil. People are unwilling to betray their ignorance, and therefore use Drayton's name, as many do Spenser's and Milton's, without much familiarity with his works. They are not, perhaps, quite so ignorant as Goldsmith's Chinese philosopher, as to say, "Drayton! I never heard of him before," but I really believe that the grand domain of Michael Drayton is a terra incognita to multitudes who have heard his name. But there are many reasons for this. Drayton's works in their original editions are scarce and expensive, and the only pretended complete edition (that of the middle of the last century), besides its inaccuracy and uninviting form, is now only to be purchased at a great xiv INTRODUCTION. price. They are to be found, it is true, in the large collections of Chalmers and others, but such voluminous works are not in every one's library. Nor is the text in these collections to be trusted. No poet ever altered his works so frequently as Drayton. Each succeeding edition (with but few exceptions) differed materially from its precursor. Nor were his second thoughts always the wisest. A thorough edition of Michael Drayton's works, then, requires much painstaking collation, and indication of the poet's change of mind. And such, if I am spared, will be the form in which the present Complete Edition will appear. Of each of the works, however, which comprise the present volumes, there was published in the author's lifetime but one edition, so there were no variations to be noted. It was thought expedient to print the "Polyolbion" first, as the greatest, and best-known, of Drayton's works, and the " Harmony of the Church" has been added as the first production of his pen, at least as far as is known. Of this latter little work the history is curious. According to Mr. Payne Collier (Roxburghe Club, 1856), on February 1st, 1591, the printer, Richard Jones, entered it at Stationers' Hall:"Primo Februarii [1590-1] Richard Jones. Entred for his Copie &c The Triumphes of the Churche, conteyning the spirituall songes and holie himnes of godlie men, Patriarkes and Prophettes -- - vj." INTROD UCTION. XV It is more than probable, says Mr. Collier, that at this date the work had passed through the press, but perhaps the title-page had not been worked off, or finally agreed on, for when it came out it was called " The Harmonie, &c." In the books of the same Company there is another memorandum of still more importance, dated in the same year, which proves that, for some reason or other not assigned, all the copies of the book had been seized by public order; that Bishop, the stationer, had bought them, with other works in the same predicament; but that the Archbishop of Canterbury had issued his warrant for forty copies to be delivered to him, and that they remained at Lambeth under the care of Dr. Cosen. The note in the original register runs thus:[1591] " Whereas all the seized Bookes mentioned in the last accompte before this, were sould this yere to Mr. Byshop, Be it remembered that fortye of them, being Harmonies of the Churche, rated at ijs le peece, were had from him by warrante of my lordes grace of Canterburie, and remayne at Lambithe with Mr. Doctor Cosen: and for some other of the said bookes, the said Mr. Bishop hath paid iiili as appeareth in the charge of this accompte, and the residue remayne in the Hall to th' use of Yarrette James." "The books seized," adds Mr. Collier, "during the year were sold, doubtless, to Bishop on the undertaking that he should destroy them; but as what is above INTRODUCTION. called "the last accompte before this" is not extant, it is impossible to ascertain the character of the books seized with Drayton's. It will be seen that the Archbishop had forty copies-the rest probably were destroyed by Bishop and Yarrette James." Why it was destroyed does not appear, and whai became of the Archbishop's copies, is equally unknowr. with the exception of one, which is in George III.'s Library in the British Museum, and had belonged to Archbishop Whitgift. From that unique copy Mr. Dyce printed his edition for the Percy Society, and Mr. Collier his for the Roxburghe Club. Drayton never reprinted it himself, either from the somewhat unintelligible suppression just noticed, or that he did not deem it worthy of the later efforts of his muse. N or is there-which is remarkable-any allusion in his subsequent works to this strangling in the birth, as it wer of his earliest production. He is ready enough to complain of ill-usage, especially in his advances to King James I., as may be seen in his Epistle to his friend George Sandys, the poet; but nowhere do we find any reference to the suppression of the " Harmony of the Church." As I shall discuss this question more large in my biography of the poet, I may merely mention that the existence of the book was probably unknown till discovered by modern research, and its first re-publication is due to the exertions of my late dear friend, the Reverend Alexander Dyce. The veteran INTRODUCTION. vii Elizab5 than scholar, Mr. Payne Collier, whose friendship I equally prize, followed in his steps, and the present text is, a careful collation of their labours with the unique copy in the British Museum, the orthography only being modernized. It is the first time that the work has been published in a collected edition of Drayton's Poems. On the " Poly-olbion" a volume might be written. "This extraordinary poem," says Mr. Disraeli,* " remains without a parallel in the poetical annals of any people; and it may excite our curiosity to learn its origin. The genealogy of poetry is often suspicious; but I think we may derive the birth of the 'Poly-olbion' from LELAND'S magnificent view of his designed work on ' Britain,' and that hint expanded by the 'Britannia' of CAMDEN, who inherited the mighty industry without the poetical spirit of LELAND: DRAYTON embraced both. The ' Poly-olbion,' which is a stupendous work, is a chorographical description of England and Wales; an amalgamation of antiquarianism, of topography, and of history; materials not the most ductile for the creations of poetry. This poem is said to have the accuracy of a road-book; and the poet has contributed some notices which add to the topographic stores of Camden; for this has our poet extorted an alms ofj commendation from such a niggardly antiquary as Bishop Nicholson, who confesses that this work affords ' a much truer account * Amenities of Literature. b INTRODUCTION. of this kingdom than could be well expected from the pen of a poet.' "The grand theme of this poet was his fatherland! The muse of Drayton passes by every town and tower; each tells some tale of ancient glory, or of some 'worthy' who must never die. The local associations of legends and customs are animated by the personifications of mountains and rivers; and often, in some favourite scenery, he breaks forth with all the emotion of a true poet. The imaginative critic has described the excursions of our muse with responsive sympathy. 'He has not,' says Lamb, 'left a rivulet so narrow that it may be stepped over, without honourable mention, and has associated hills and streams with life and passion beyond the dreams of old mythology.' " But the journey is long, and the conveyance may be tedious; the reader, accustomed to the decasyllable or heroic verse, soon finds himself breathless among the protracted and monotonous Alexandrines, unless he should relieve his ear from the incumbrance by resting on the caesura, and thus divide those extended lines by the alternate grace of a ballad-stanza."* Ellis, in his "Specimens of the Early English Poets" (vol. ii. p. 301, ed. 1801) says, " His Poly-olbion is certainly a wonderful Ivork, exhibiting at once the learning of an historian, an antiquary, a naturalist, and a geo"* From Drayton's punctuation, preserved in the present edition, it will be seen that this was his design. INTRODUCTION. grapher, and embellished by the imagination of a poet." In the " Historical Essay," prefixed to the four-volume edition of Drayton's Works in 1753, which is generally supposed to have been superintended by the antiquary William Oldys, it is observed:-" It is not easy to conceive a harder task than that which our author imposed upon himself when he set about this undertaking; and yet it would be full as great a difficulty to imagine a thing of this kind brought to a higher degree of perfection. This will appear still more wonderful to the critical and learned reader, when he considers the time in which it was written, and how few helps the author had towards completing so vast a design, in comparison of what he might have had if he had lived in later times. The true way of judging of the merit of this book, is to compare it with Camden's celebrated work in prose, from whence it will appear how little Mr. Drayton borrowed from others, and what infinite variety of curious facts he inserted from our old manuscript History, and how judiciously they are applied. We need not, therefore, be surprised that not only writers next in point of time, such as Weaver and Fuller, borrow from him so largely, but the later antiquaries, such as Musgrave, Kennet, Wood, and Hearne, cite him as a most authentic author." It would be impossible now to trace the sources of Drayton's vast information. That he was a mere copyist b-2 INTRODUCTION. of printed books we can hardly suppose, as the illustrious Selden would scarcely have deigned to illustrate the first eighteen songs with his learned notes had the,uabject-matter appeared before. There is something specially nasty in Bishop Nicholson's sneer, "The first eighteen of these songs had the honour to be published with Mr. Selden's Notes, the other twelve being hardly capable of such a respect." Why Selden should not have continued his illustrations, one cannot say. Possibly the author was so dissatisfied with the slow sale of the First Part, that he did not ask his friend to contribute more of his learned time to a work which had been so singularly neglected; but the last twelve songs are fully equal in historical research and poetic beauty to their predecessors. Drayton had hoped, and very justly, that the nobles and gentlemen of England would have (to quote Mr. Pisraeli) " felt a filial interest in the tale of their fathers, commemorated in these poetic annals, and an honourable pride in their domains here so graphically pictured. But no voice, save those of a few melodious brothers, cheered the lonely lyrist, who had sung on every mountain, and whose verse had flowed with every river." That the work was greatly neglected, and that the author felt its neglect severely, may be seen by his -Preface to the Second Part; but had Drayton lived some half century later, he would have seen that his lot was shared by one whose fame he might himself INTROD UCTION.