THEATPvUM POETARUM ANGLIC ANORUM CONTAINING BRIEF CHARACTERS OF THE ENGLISH POETS, DOWN TO THE YEAR 1673. By Edward Phillips, THE NEPHEW OF MiLTON. THE THIRD EDITION. Reprinted at the expence, and with the Notes, OF SirEGERTON BRYDGES, Bart. etc. etc. GENEVA, FROM THE PRESS OF BONNANT. 1824. , _l^, o>- rut s^nzb f(t UNIVE] ADVERTISEMENT. / ^-<: Edward Phillips^ son ofEDWARB phil- ZIPS who came from Shrewsbury , arid rose to be Secondary in the Crown Office^ by Auue , sister of John Mlltoa , (the poet, ) was born in the Strand , near Charing Cross ^ in August^ i63o,* and receii>ed his earliest education under his celebrated maternal uncle. Milton , cfter his return Jrom Italy , « hired » (says Johnson,) « a lodgirg at the house of one « Russell, a taylor, in St. Bride'' s Churchyard , « and undertook the education of John and « Edtvard Phillips , his sister's sons. « Finding his rooms too little, he took a house « and garden in Aldersgate Street, rvhich was a not then so much out of the world, as it is « now : and chose his dwelling at the upper end « of a passage , that he might a^oid the noise of « the Street. Here he receii^ed more boys to be « boarded and instructed. » After relating the plan of education pursued 6 llSS IV ADP-EHTISEMENT. here , tlie Biographer adds with his usual acrl- inony : « From this ironder-vvorking academy « / do not know that there ei^er proceeded any a man very eminent for knowlege. Its only ge- (c nuine product (*), I beliei^Cyis a small His - « tory of Poetry^ rvritlen in Latin by his ne- « phew Phillips , of ivhich , perhaps , none of « my readers ei^er heard. » In 1648, E. Phillips became a Student of Magdelen Hall in Oxford^ where he continued till 1 65 1 : and the title of the work , to which Johnson alludes^ is thus gipen by Anthony JVood. « Tractatulus de Carmine Dramatico Poe- tarum , praeseitini in choris tragicis , et veteris comaedlae. « Compendiosa Enumeratio Poetarum , (sal- tern quorum fama maxime enituit), qui a tem- pore Dantis Aligerii usque ad lianc setatem claruerunt : nempe Italorum, Germanoruni, Anglorum, etc. These two things were added to the i j'^ Edition of Job.. Buchlerus's Book, entitled « Sacrarum Profanarumque Phrasium Poeticarum Thesau- rus. Lond. 1669, 8°. (i) JoLnson omits any notice of the writings of John Phil- lips, the other nephew, for whom see vo/. 11, />. 4ij of this Reprint. ADVERTISEMENT. V Johnson therefore entirely forgets or passes hj, the Theatrum Poet arum published in iGyS ; ofovhich the Reprint is Jiere gii^en. Of this ivork the reader is requested to attend io the opinion of a lamented author, who on a subject of poetry must be admitted to hape sur- passed Johnson, at least in taste and classical learning. Mr. Thomas TV art on , in his Edition of Milton's Juvenile Poems (p. 60.) says : (c There is good reason to suppose that MiL- « ton threw many additions and corrections into ic the Theatrum Poetarum, a book published « by his nephew Edii^ard Phillips in 167 5. « It contains criticisms far abof^e the taste oj that « period. Among these is the judgment on Sha- « kespeare y rvhich ivasnot then, I beliei^e, the (f general opinion ; and jMch perfectly coincides c< both with the sentiments and words of Mil- « ton in Z 'Allegro ; « Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child y « TVarble his natipe ivood-notes wild. » Again in his History of Poetry, Warton says : « Phillips , Milton'^s nephew, in a work « rvhich I think discovers many traces of MiL- « ton's hand, Cfz//^ Marlowe, etc (see p. XFII.) Vr ADVERTISEMENT . « Such criticisms » he adds^ « were not cominon^ c< after the national taste had been just corrupted « hj the false and capricious refinement of « the Court of Charles II. » Hist. E. P. III. p. 440. After such praise , the censure of that taste- less, though useful drudge, Anthony TVood, ypJio calls the ivork « a hrief, roping , and cursory cc Account (without time), of the Ancient and « Modern Poets, » need be little regarded j es- pecially as the same page , uhich contains it , calls his uncle, our immortal and dii^ine epic poet, a that villainous leading incendiary John Milton* » {See Ath. II, p. 117.) From this Book of Phillips , all that the present Editor had occasion to select were the English Poets , which were most awkwardly placed in the alphabetical order of their christian names. Mr, Godwin has published the Lives of John and Edward Phillips, since the for- mer Edition of this Reprint ivas given : he takes very little notice of the The AT rum Poet ARUM. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. HjVery one knows that the Lives of certain English Poets have been written by DJ Samuel Johnson, about forty five years ago. But perhaps there are those , who may re- quire to be reminded that these Lives do not inchule any poets of a date anterior to the reign of Charles I. The fact is, that the Booksellers having undertaken to reprint a Col- lection of those Poets, whose works were still in demand in the market, engaged D.r Johnson to write the Lices of such as were so selected. At that epoch it was found that the older poets were not called for by the Public. The blame therefore , which has been thrown on Johnson for the nar- rowness of his choice, was not merited. It would have been quite impossible that that learned philologist and critic should by his own judgment have omitted such poets as Chaucer and Spenser. It is perhaps to be attributed to the amiable and accomplished Thomas Warton's admirable History of English Poetry, of which only two volumes had then lately appeared, and to Stccvcns , Malone , and Farmer, the antiquarian annotators on Shakespeare, that soon afterwards a strong curiosity re- garding our ancient poets was awakened. But of almost all the minor pocis of ihcsc former times, the works, from, ha- Vni EDITOR'S PREFACE. viii" fallen inlo oblivion, had become exceedingly rare. And a mania for collecting them now arose among a certain class of curious Literati. — Even notices of the authors were only lo be found dispersed in old and exploded Volumes. At this crisis, being myself under the infection of the sprea- ding mania, I thought I should perform an acceptable ser- vice by selecting the brief but rather numerous Characters of English Poets from the small forgotten work, the Theatrum Poctariim, by Edward Phillips , 1675, iw- 12. ° I accordingly printed a first volume, with my own numerous additions to the text of Phillips, in 1800, in-S." It brought the Poets down to the death of Queen Elizabeth. From a sort of in- dolence and ennui for which I can find no fair apology, I never finished the other Volume, which would have brought the Poets down to 1675. At the distance of twenty four years, — in a foreign coun- iry; — and removed from almost all the necessary books of reference; — I have undertaken to compleat this task. But as Xhe Jirst volume is itself become scarce, I have reprinted Pliillips's text of this first Part; since it only filled two sheets : and I have again reprinted Phillips's noble Preface. I have not given to the second volume similar additions to those which I in the former Edition made to Xhe first. It would have been impossible to do it perfectly or satisfac- torily without the use of an ample English Library. If I live, I may yet do it at a future day , when I can have that con- venience. I have In my Advertisement confirmed by the authority of Warton the favourable opinion oi Phillips's work, which in- duced me to reprint the selections from it. The criticisms are such as modern fastliliousness may pronounce vague and loose : but for the most part I have found them, after EDITOR'S PREFACE. IX a mature consideration of thirty years , singularly just and solid. The pure and exalted principles of poetry laid down in the Author's Preface confer still more weight on his opinions? and the strongly-grounded supposition, that they had the sanction of Milton himself, makes them inestimable. There is besides no small advantage in the date at which the cri- llcisras were written, when we consider that the purpose of this reprint is to revive names undeservedly forgotten. Here are proofs of reputation formerly enjoyed ; not guesses, which the hater of what is old is always disposed to reject. « Those « that are affected only with what is familiar and accustomed « to them, » it is difficult to persuade, that the poets who have gone out of fashion could ever have had any merit : and they think, that they who admire them, are only in- fluenced by affectation and prejudice. Perhaps the very name of Milton's nephew may induce some to pay a respect to that, which from a modern hand they would deem trifling. But it is not trifling: we want some standards of fixed opinion , and tests of perpetual reference , by which we can assure ourselves, that we are not under the delusion of momentary caprice , and accidental excitation. « What was « VERUM et BONUM once , » says Phillips, « continues to be so « always. » If therefore what is modern differs from what was formerly verwn et bonum, it cannot be itself verum et bonum ! — And this leads to a most important view of the subject / of English Poetry. We are accustomed, I think, to consi- der it with a little too much regard to historical epochs, and to the characters of the time in which its respective authors wrote. I doubt whether this does not lead to erroneous judg- ments with regard to posiilve merit; and to a theory of the poeti- X EDITOR'S PREFACE. cal faculty which reduces it lo too much of an Art, instead of a native gift ! If, indeed, we look to the w?/rtor poets, they are always the creatures of the epoch at which tliey wrote. But on exa- mination from the time of Chaucer we shall find, through a succession of intervals, some mighty mind arise, whose works Avill prove that there was nothing in the times, ei- ther in want of knowlege, polished manners, or adequate language, which Genius could not surmount; and therefore that the period can form no sound apology for claiming an high place for those who have been mainly infected by the defects of prevalent habits. An interval of about thirty years occurred between the death of Chaucer, ( 1400,) and the appearance of Lydgate's chief poem. Then came an whole Century between Lydgate, — and Surry and Wyat. Then nearly thirty years between these and Sackville's Induction (iSSg, or i56o). Again thirty years to Spenser's Fairy Queen, (iSgo.) Again y^j- five years to Milton's minor poems, (1645.) Again twenty- Uvo years to Dryden's Annus Mirahilis, (1667.) Again yb/(/- two years to Pope's early poems, (1709.) From this period there has been no proper interval : nor indeed was there between Milton's last poems and Dryden's early ones. Thomson rose long before Pope's death; and Collins, Gray, and Akenside, on the eve of the great Bard^s departure. The mind of the multitude is slow in attaining refinement : Genius reaches it at once. That superficial appearance, there- fore, of polish, which is rare in early ages, is in later ages common and easy. For this reason, the true note once caught and sounded , does not immediately teach the vulgar ear by the comparison to be disgusted with discord and rudeness. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XI And long tlierefore after Chaucer had sung, the Nation could admire the inelegance, uncoulhncss, and ribaldry of John Skelton. The dull and prosaic Churchyard could place his clownish and inanimate verses by the side of the richly- imagined and vigorously-expressed poetry of Sackville : and even Daniel and Dra\tox, « rt/Z^T^^r, » — their heavy his- torical legends, in the face of Spenser's array of enchanting fiction , and dance of brilliant words and exquisite harmony. This exemplifies Wordsworth's position , that every great au- thor must create a taste in the Public, which shall make it feel his writings. And what is worse, this creation will com- monly be long, — sometimes nearly a century, — before it duly works. Such at least was Milton's case. But let us ask, what is there in the essentials of Poetry, to which the age of Chaucer was not as well suited , as any of our modern ages, deemed more refined ? — Chaucer was preceded by Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, with whose wri- tings he was familiar. But long before these, there was in, the habits, manners, and compositions of the Troubadours a poetic spirit, which not only in force but in elegance far surpassed that of many succeding ages. It was an age of heroism and energy, intellectual as well as corporeal : the abuses of the Church and its Members be- gan to be examined with penetration and vigour; and the minds of the most enlightened parts of Europe were in a state of fervid activity. The habits and customs of Society were splendid, adventrous, and varied. There were ample materials, therefore, to furnish the fancy ; and set the imagi- nation in motion. All the sources, in fact, of rich and stri- king fiction , were in full phy. Was there then the enligh- tenment , and sound knowlege , which enable the poet to preserve ihe other csseiuial, — verisiinility, — in his inven- XII EDITOR'S PREFACE. lions ? Chaucer tiimself gives the proof lliat tliere -was. He knew human nature profoundly; and he draws the charac- ters of actual life wilh admirable acuteness and discrimina- tion. There remained then only the difficulty of an half-for- med language; -which, though he managed it with astonishing skill , it may be admitted, has caused his diction to be some- times obsolete and revolting to a mere modern reader. The spirit however of his projihetic genius often gave an harmony to his verses, which most of his successors at the distance of two hundred years wanted. It is not merely in the merit of his outline, and the general weight of his matter; but in the felicity of particular passages ; in the choice of circum- stances; and the vivacity and tone of expression which pervade his poems , that he excells. And this is a sort of excellence, which is commonly supposed to belong only to a later sera of literature. At a time when superstition was in full force; when un- chastlzed hope prompted to extravagant adventures ; when the lamp of philosophy had not yet thrown its broad light to point ont the boundaries of Truth ; Chaucer was remar- kable for shrewdness and good sense; and for the fide- lity and attention to real life which characterised his fables. It is here that the danger lies at an early epoch of com- position. In an infant state of literature that may be mistaken to be probable, which future ages will discover to be marvellous and extravagant. And hence the author is betrayed to offend against the law of verisimility . If Chaucer could write as he did in the fourteenth cen- tury, there is no excuse to be drawn for the darkness and declension of our English poetry in the fifteenth century from the rudeness of the times. At the same epoch there EDITOR'S PREFACE. Xlll was a regular succession of Italian poets, from the death of Petrarch , (iSv/j) — to Bernardo Tasso , i5/|4 — -who did not decline from elegance and polish : such as Montemagno, Giusto de' Conti, Boiardo, Sannazaro, Bembo, Arioslo, Trissino, Vitloria Coloniia, Molza, Varchi, Alamanni, etc. (i\ Campbell asciihes it to the evils of our civil war then raging; — a cause which does not seem to me consistent with the history of the manner in which the human mind has al- ways acted (2). Had a genius like that of Chaucer, or Sack- ville, or Spenser, or Milton, grown up in those days, the calamities of the times would scarcely have suppressed its active exertions; and the expansion of its fruit. When a native faculty much short of that with which these illus- trious men were gifted came forth in Lord Surry, neither luxury , nor camps , nor ambition , nor tyranny , nor do- mestics dissensions, overpowered and silenced it. If Daniel and Drayton , AVyrley, Aleyne, Hubart, and T. May, could after the production of The Fairy Queen mis- take versified history for poetry, it is less surprising that, after Surry and IVyat, the compilers of the Mirror for Ma- gistrates, in whose first edition Sacfiville's poetry did not appear, should mistake those voluminous legends, (which Campbell calls « heavy masses of dulness » , and which no one ever pretended they were not , ) for yerses , which pos- sessed any poetical ingredient except the mere trifle of metre. But whatever is not intrinsically veruui etbonum in our modern poems, whatever is affected and artificial, will pro- bably appear as strange and tasteless to future generations, as what was received so favorably by ^^the cotemporarles (i) See the List, Res Lit. vol. 11, p. 9. 10. (2) Essay on Engl. Poetry in Specimens , /, 80. XIV' EDITOR'S PREFACE. of the Mirror for Magistrates , and appears so dull aud wearisome to us. The Vulgar, great and little, have al- ways an acquired taste, which changes with every gene- ration. Noble poetry is not to be appretlated by the mean-mind- ded , and mean-hearted ; « For who loves that, must first be wise and good, » as Milton said of liberty. How canhe judge of vemi'w/A'j^, who is not w ise enough to know what Truth is ? There are radical defects in the design of Spenser's poem; in its complexity and want of unity; which have been well exposed by Campbell ; and which others have pointed out. These are such however as do not seem to me to have arisen from his subject, or from the period at which he wrote; but from a failure of judgment in this part of his task, which might have equally discovered itself, had he lived at a much later age. In some other respects, (as for spirit of marvelous adventure which perhaps a stern clas- sical taste may think does not sufficiently restrain itself within the. limits of probability ,) an apology may more rea- sonably be found in the features of the times. The habits of Chivalry reconciled the mind to a thou- sand acts and opinions , which at other seras would seem extravagant However whatever the mind has actually be- lieved, the imagination at least can believe under other circumstances. Whoever has faculties cast by nature in a decided and specific mould, will pursue his own bent in defiance of models and fashions. The example set by Spenser therefore of romantic fable and gorgeous fiction did not seduce Sir John Davis from EDITOR'S PREFACE. XV his pliilosopbical propensities, and his great talent to tlirow strong ratiocination into terse and clear metrical language: nor Donne from dancing after those extraordinary flashes of metaphysical wit, which had taken possession of his youth- ful fancy. That both these became greater favourites than the Fairy Queen with the new Monarch , whose mind was scholastic, learned, subtle, and metaphysical, rather than bold, imaginative, and sentimental, — cannot be doubted. Spenser gave rise to no school of imitators; unless we at- tribute to his example the translations of Ariosto and Tas%o by Harington and Fairfax. However Phineas and Giles Fletcher are sometimes na- med as bearing some affinity to Spenser's cast of Fiction. The former. In the attempt to unite it both to an anato- mical and a metaphysical subject, produced an Incongruity which had the evils of both manners , and the beauties and advantages of neither of them : but he had a mind nati- vely poetical ; and therefore short gleams of poetry break through all these obstacles. The younger brother sometimes treads happily in the steps of his model in his Allegorical Personifications : but his subject is too solemn for the Fairy- Visions which belong to his Master. The late eloquent and pathetic KirKe JVhite seems to me to have sometimes come nearest to the manner of Giles Fletcher. But it may be clearly asserted, that as the tone of the Eli- zabethan agewas that of imagination, fancy, eventful story, heroic or pastoral sentiment, so that of the poetry of Ja- mes's reign was esprit-, — a search after remote allusions; and moral, political, satirical discussion, conducted by an abstruse, quaint, and pedantic taste. Almost the whole of the genuine poetical faculty of this reign centered in the Dramatists. r. XVI EDITOR'S PREFACE. It is true that the chief of these commenced their ca- reer before the Queen's death. The Love's Labour Lost of Shakespeare first appeared as early as iSgi; and the Eve- very Man in his Humour of Ben Jonson , in iSgS. The Commentators on these authors , ■ — especially on the first, . — swell their notes with masses of cotemporary literature; which perhaps are well enough to explain transient and for- gotten allusions : but which have little concern with the spirit of the inimitable poet, and those merits from which the attention of the duly qualified reader ought not to be drawn. Shakespeare was neither obstructed by his parti- cular age; nor derived any of his excellences from it. He takes his fads ; and he cares not if he often takes his thought and words; from others : but by some indefinable magic , in passing thro his hands they acquire a new being. — It was perhaps that he never thought oi Art; and that his imagi- nation was so supereminently vivid that every thing embo- died itself to him in the most striking manner ; and that he identified himself successively with every character he undertook to represent! AVith such creative faculties he could not avoid to be poetical ; and in his language, even when he sought them least, all the perfect models of the true orna- ments of poetry are to be found. The Drama is a class of poetry distinct from all other; and ought in general to be considered apart; and has in- deed been commonly so treated : but we could have no just conception of the poetical merit of King James's reign with- out resorting to Shakespeare. Ben Jonson was a man of much more common endowment : but Art and Labour did for him what they could not have done, unless his native powers had been strong : and to his dramas also next to those of Shakespeare, we are indebted for the most tolerable poetry EDITOR'S PREFACE. X\ II of this period. There is something perhaps in the covfdct of the Drama, -which by raising energetic emotion, for- ces out natural, vivid, and poetical thoughts: — rather than those which are the results of the cold, artificial, and far-sought efforts of the closet. "When Shakkspeare set himself in form to vrrife poetry, he did not reach a strain much above those of inferior men : witness his little separate volume of poems , which in defiance of all prejudice crea- ted by his name is very affected, and in a very corrupt taste. With the reign of Citari.es I. commenced the poetry, with which the Booksellers thought proper to begin the Col- lection, to which Johnson's Lives were prefixed. It is a stri- king proof of the strange and narrow taste which pre- vailed in England fifty years ago. At this day it would seem hardly credible that no popular curiosity existed for our poets of an earlier date : — and it is the more sin- gular , because Percy's Collection of Ballads had been al- ready well received by the Public, and the first , if not the second, Volume of IFarton's History of English Poe- try had appeared : and long before this, the same Critic's very ingenious and elegant Observations on Speriser's Fairy Queen had been much applauded and read by all persons of cultivated and polite literature. It is surprising that Johnson , whose own mind had been necessarily turned to the archaiology of our language by ha- ving fulfilled the Herculean task of an English Dictionary, did not seem to have himself much relish for our old poetical writers. The fact is, that he loved ratiocination in poetry, rather than imagination : — that is, he preferred ingenious and vigorous versification to poetry. When we recollect that the age of Milto^^s /urenile poems XVIII EDITOR'S PREFACE. ■was that of Charles I. we must concede to It all honour : but then we must not fail to recollect also , that these same inimitable poems were in that reign totally neglected, — while those of twenty contemptible poetasters were in great vogue , and went through numerous editions. Let some of our puffed -up rhymers of modern celebrity always bear this check upon their tumid minds ! The taste of Charles I'.* time was a little better than that of his father; — but not much belter! It had more oi fancy; but it was a good deal the fancy of Italian conceit : I cannot call it imagina- tion : — it was partly metaphysical ; and sometimes made an effort at an illegitimate sort of wit. It did now and then however burst into strains of true lyrical poetry of the lighter sort ; — yet , seldom throughout an whole com- position; only in particular stanzas. Such may be found in Lovelace; Carew; Suckling; Habingdon; Herrick; Shirley; Stanley; Sydney Godolphin; etc. — in addition to what is more generally known, in Cowley, Waller, and Denham. In Sacred Poetry some fervid , vigorous , or elegant pas- sages are to be found in Crashaw , Quarles , Wither , and George Sandys ^ who was not only a very elegant scholar, but a translator of force and spirit, which in these latter days has been rather too much forgotten. Though Sir William Davenant wanted that poetical in- vention , which can alone continue to interest , he was a very subtle thinker, had great command of polished and harmonious language , and could express ideas, difficultly conceived by others, with an extraordinary union of conci- seness and clearness. This is not the primary purpose of poetry; but still it is very valuable; and very instructive. With the Restoration of Charles II. was introduced the EDITOR'S PREFACE; XIX French School of poetry : and this continued till tlie death of Pope. Thomson had broke in upon it : but lie never superseded the great moral poet, -who says of himself, « That not in fancy's maze he tvander'd long ; But stoop'd to truth , and moralized his song. » It is well knowu of French poetry that f-.f/j/iV is ils cha- racteristic; that it has little imagery; — that it lias more of thought than of sentiment; and more of sentiment, than of fancy; — and that it has scarce any imagination, or in- vention : consequently that it approaches nearer prose than that of the English, Ilalian , German, etc. Thus it more commonly avoids absurdities , but is too apt to fall into flatness. If it be bettei to execute well in an inferior class than to attempt -vyith more imperfect success compositions of an higher order, then the French school is the safest. Abili- ties much less rare are fitted to produce good French poe- try; and the reader is content if he finds his understan- ding exercised ; — even though his imagination be left to sleep. When the descriptive genius of Thomson began in En- gland to r^ise imitators in all the followers of the Muse, the exclusive cultivation of imagery soon went to as great an excess, as the attention to abstract thought and obser- vations upon life had gone before. It would now have ap- peared that Poetry was an art confined to an exhibition of the material world ; and that there was nothing of de- light, — of grand, tender, or beautiful, — except in matter. This narrow view at last , like every thing else which Is XX EDITOR'S PREFACE. short of truth, wearied itself; and wore itself out. But it lasted half a century. Gray, who had a genius for des- cription, saw its defectiveness , when used exclusively : and I tliink that he has so expressed himself when speaking of Thomson. There is not one of his poems which depends on mere imagery or description : the grand and characteristic charm of each of his very rich and immortal compositions is the powerful mixture of sentiment, reflection, moral observation, and reasoning, with his brilliant and plaintive imagery. It is the blending all these in vigorous and high proportions, which constitutes the magic of poetic genius, and gives that deep clarm which will never die , or evapo- rate. Though the genius of Collins was in some respects like inspiration ; — though in embodying and personify- ing abstract ideas he had more originality, more force, more richness , more invention than Gray , yet in this crowning union he was much his inferior. It is not by the masters of the Art, that at any period or during any prevailing fashion, excesses are committed. It is by their followers; by the imitatores , servwn pecus :yv\\Oy siezing the leading feature of their models, exaggerate it into the sole object of ambition of their own absurd mimick- ries. CowPER imitated his predecessors of the descriptive school : but he did not confine himself to it. He mingled ingre- dients and subjects , just as nature mingled them in his own mind. Every thing narrow, particular, and inconsis- tent with the proportion which truth requires , is radically bad; and however transient vogue may favour it, is sure to die an early death , and so utterly to perish as to be in- capable to be revived by any effort or any skill. Burns is another instance of that variety, — that freedom EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXI from particular exaggeration , — in which alone there is permanent life. With the present century commenced a new school; or rather a dozen new schools of poetry. All of them affec- ted to tread their predecessors under their feet : — fully aware of their faults ; and justified in the desire to release themselves from narrow and senseless trammels : but not equally successful in the means they took, and the reme- dies they sought to apply. We know that Dryden was the Head of a School ; and that Pope was the Head of the succeeding School, improved upon Dryden. Thomson had then his School ; and Collins, Gray, and even Akenside , all had their Schools. Then came the Warton School : and last the Cowper School. Some li- ving Scholars have followed : and last the School of one great man who has just gone to his grave in the vigour of youth. Lord Byron is gone : and ages may pass, before such splendid genius as his will appear again. XXII EDITOR'S PREFACE. I cannot rrfraln from copying in this place some lines ■vvliicli have just ai)peareJ in the public Journals, because they alTcct and delight me. FRAGMENT (*), I went to look On Byron's aweful manes ; twas a sight Which all my spirit to its centre shook, — Grand, glorious, passion-moving still, — the blight Of d-^ath was there; but who could bear or brook Such a sun clouiled in so dark a night? Not I : — I gazed upon his fearful sleep, And tried to weep; but oh, I could not weep' Yet he was pale and ghastly ! — nought was left. But that high intellectual forehead, crown'd "With a few dark grey hairs, — his lips bereft Of all their bitter scorns ! — his eye-lids bound In mists, and all his glories chill'd and cleft; — For soHlude and gloom were galher'd round, — Savp that poor pageantry and vain parade. Which the dull gloominess far gloomier made. (*) Copied from Gallgnani's Messenger, Tuesday 2o.*'' July 18^4. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXTJI I turn'd away — my heart was sick — e'en now His shade pursues me in my dreams ! — I know That he had evil in him ; — but to bow To tyrants — but to fawn upon the foe Of freedom — but to proffer up a \ow For aught but men's most sacred interests — No ! This B-KRON never did. Ye slanderers tell , If ye have served the cause of man so well ! I watch'd him when his light was like the gleaming Of a gay tremulous meteor o'er the sea; — I watch'd him when his noontide rays were streaming In all their lustre from Thermopylae. I could have then adored him — almost deeming He was a re-awaken'd deity, Out of the sacred sounds that Greece has rear'd To names — whose shadows now have re appear'd. 5. Twas there he died — fit grave! and there his form Shall oft stalk forth: when o'er Parnassus'^ head There gathers from the clouds so lue awful storm. He shall be seen in white-robed garb to tread ! And breathing eloquent sounds to wake and warm The heroic Greek; and for the patriot dead Shall chant a hymn of liberty! as when His fire-touch'd harp was heard by mortal men ! J. B. XXIV EDITOR'S PREFACE. I Jiavc writlen my opinion of the cliaractor and poetical npniiis of Lord Ryfion in some Letters published in Lon- don in July 182/1, hy Longman and C.^ Near the opening of Z,i7m, Lord Byron has pourtrayed his own character better perhaps than any other can pourlray it : « In youth all action , anl all life , Bnrninof for pleasure , not averse from strife : Women — the field — the oce^n — all that gave Promise of pleasure , peril of a grave , In turn he tried, — ■ he ransack'd all below, And found his recompence in joy or woe, Tso trite, fame medium; — for his feelings sought In that inlenseness an escape from thought : The tempest of his heart in scorn had gazed On that the feebler elements have raised; The rapture of }iis heart had look'd on high, "Xnd ask'd if greater dwelt beneath the sky ; — Chain'd to excess , the slave of each extreme ! » &c., &c. And here I will stop my pen on the subject of Lord Brron : I have said much in other places already ; and pro- bably I shall have to say more hereafter. I have thought on the subject, and especially on the theory, of poetry, till my head is giddy; and many will add, till my brain is turned. I began early; — I was a liltle chilled in middle life; — and now that I am old the flame returns. I see in good |)oelry all the virtue of moral philosophy without its dryness : but I am fastidious, and cannot allow much of what the (voiid calls poetry to be genuine, I have given my reasons; for EDITORS PREFACE. XXV to condemn by caprice seems to me to be more than foolish ; and to be even malignant. My tests of ])oetical merit are before the world : if false, they will refute themselves : if true a reference ought to be made to ihem; — but with candour, and everv kind allowance. The difficulty of an ordeal which so few can stand, ought always to be kept in mind; and if the true spirit sometimes shines out, we ought to be indulgent to faults, and recollect how many blights and obstacles the j)urest flame has to encounter. I may repeat with Phillips — « of genuine and true-born poets I fear me our number would fall short. » — so short , that few of tlie names of this volume would retain their place ! For is there one in twenty or thirty of them , who has shewn true and proper /Joe^jc^Z invention ? k.ndi vi'\\\^on\. such invention , they may be versifiers ; they cannot really be poets! Writers of spritely songs, and rhymesters of pretty fancies, are wanting in all the primary constituents. They may give a sort of feeble emotion of pleasure ; but they stir no great faculty. How shall we account for the rarity of good poetry ? — for the infrequency with which the poetical faculty seems to have been adequately bestowed ? — I can hardly suppose the native gift so extremely rare : It is probable that the impediments to a due culllvallon of It are still more In the way of Its success. — ■ The Poet not only from the moment of his appearance before the Public, but from his entrance into life, meets with the most repulsive and heart-deranging obstacles. If his senses had not been excessively quick , he would not have had the native gift ; but this excessive quick- ness exposes them perpetually to an over-action that pro- duces disease ; — and languor and disappointment are more likely to follow, than an economy of equable strength. XXVI EDITOR'S PREFACE. There is an enthusiasm in poelical genius, which never yet was exempt in early life from the feverish desire of fame: and perhaps never yet was so fortunate as not to be deeply disappointed. On some the disappointment falls more heavily than on others, because nothing is more demonstrative, than that fame is not conferred with any i-eference to merit; but at best capriciously , and often in proportion to demerit. Still reason, and the lessons of literary history, cannot suppress this passion. How beautifully is this touched in the never- tiring , though ever-cited, passage oi Milton's Lycidasl « Fame is the spur that tie clear spirit doth raise, ( That last infirmity of noble minds, ) To scorn delights , and live laborious days : But the fair guerdon when we hope to find. And think to burst out into sudden blaze. Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears And slits the thin-spun life. « But not the praise , if Phoebus replied, and touch' d my trembling earSy K Fame is no plant that gtows on mortal soil. Nor in the glistering foil Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, — But lives and spreads akft by those pure eyes. And perfect witness of all-judging Jove : As he pronounces lastly on each deed, Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed. » We hope that posterity will be just to us, if our cotem- poraries will not ! — If posterity confers any fame, it will probably be just : but it must be a very brilliant merit, which gains a notice from posterity that could not be excited when EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXVII tlie author was living. Yet in the enthusiasm of youth wc de- lude ourselves even with the hope of what postoriry may do : in old age we expect little, and should not be much cheered, even if we could assure ourselves of the future certainty. Thus it is tliat despondence blights so many : and delusive hope still cherishes the heat in the bosoms of a few ; and urges ihem to put forth their uncrushed but half-ripened fruit. There is no class of genius to whom the world is so capricious and- discouraging as to poets. What will this List, and these short Characters of so many Poets, or Writers of Verses, teach us? — Little, lam afraid, but to chill our enthusiasm; and to doubt the power of that genius, in which it is so delightful to have faith. « Alas ! what hoots it with incessant care To tend the homely, slighted, Shepherd's car^. And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? IVere it not better done , as others use. To sport with Amaryllis in the shade , Or with the tangles of Necera's hair? (*) » If poetry can be successfully cultivated, and successfully executed to any extent, then it is different! But nW expe- rience proves how seldom this, for some cause or other, happens! how many alienate themselves from common con- cerns, and unfit themselves for the ordinary duties of life ; yet never reach, or even approach, that for which they made the sacrifice ! Men of talents, not a little distinguished above the multitude , have yet fallen short of poets ! We are al- (*) Lycidas, XXVIII EDITOR'S PREFACE. ways unhappy from the attempt at what we do not ac- complish. Without trial, however, who can tell what he may, or may not, be able to perform ? When there was a pro- bable hope, the unsuccessful aspirant may console himself, by saying, ■ — inagnis tamen excidit ausis ! In the lapse of eventful years since I first took upon me (in 1799) to give a partial Reprint ofsucb of Phillips's Cha- racters as regarded English Poets, I have matured my judg- ment, and perhaps' extended my knowlege of poetry; but I have made little progress in it by any compositions of my own. My spirits have been too much distracted, and my hopes too much lowered. I blame myself severely for this : it is the property of that grandeur of mind to which every poetical writer ought to aspire , not to be cast down by prejudice, envy, malice, injustice, or wrong ! — It was the glory of Lord Byron that attempts to sink him only drew forth his strength. Dauntless perseverance will even confer power, where before it was doubtful ! The effect of pro- gressive industry is miraculous ! And what is criticism ? and from whom does it commonly proceed ? From the author's most bitter enemy, or most confirmed rival, protected hy a mask I from the mercenary hireling of some publisher in a contrary commercial interest! from some political or provin- cial adversary ! No one tlierefore ought ever to allow himself to be sunk , or deeply affected by it. But however few have been the poets endowed with sufficient genius to merit success, it is probable that at least one half of them have been nipped in the bud, and condemned to silence, by these sorts of criticism. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXIX The effect of criticism, even •where it does not suppress, is to cause a sul)stitution of art for nature; and to pro- duce restraint and labour, instead of that freedom and ease, without -which there can be no eloquence or affecting poe- try. This is one of the many obstacles , with which the poet has to contend in reaching excellence; or even at attaining any distinction. I have said something already in various places of this Preface, and these Notes, of the more modern candidates for poetical fame; — but I do not think it will be out of place to transcribe here from my Common-place Book some farther Characters drawn by me on 21 Jpril iSaS. « The spirituality and beatitude of the personifications of Collins lift them a little above human interests , though they are the abstracts of moral truths. » « There is much good in Cowper : but he wants enthu- siasm, energy, concentration, invention. He has a clear, pic- turesque, just fancy : yet rarely, imagination! — He was an accurate observer, — not only of nature, — but, wherever his experience gave him an opportunity, — of man also : — yet he was not very conversant with the deeper passions. His feelings were gentle and delicate : and hence perhaps he was deficient in mental courage, even to morbidness. He throws his own placidness and content upon his reader ; but he never rouses him. » « Burns is more vigorous and more imaginative. — He siezes upon those ideal associations, and invents those ideal sentiments springing out of them, which mark an higher order of poetical power. » « Beattie, had, I think, more imagination than Cowper; XXX EDITOR'S PREFACE. and more approach to lyrical vigour; but he had not so much nature : what he did, partook more of acquirement, and effort. » « The descriptions of Tom Warton are rather the re- sults of a nice attention , than of what is caught by the eye « In a fine phrensy rolling. » « Mason was too ambitious : and his poetry is for the most part more the poetry of language, than of thought, or sentiment. » « The poetry of Darwin is very ingenious and splen- did mechanism. » « JERNiNGHAiahas no one poetical faculty in a degree suf- ficient to raise him above mediocrity : he now and then reSiches prettiness : but his very undertanding was feeble. » « Haylev wanted fancy, originality, and strength. He had considerable acquirements, and a fair, though not powerful^ judgment. As a translator, especially of Italian, he now and then attained excellence. » « Joseph Warton had refined taste, and exquisite scho- larship : but he had no original genius. » « Goldsmith never approaches to the higher features of poetry. He is In common little better than a clear and har- monious versifier of plain good sense. But his plalntiveness Las something in It monotonous , and sickly : and his des- criptions have often both a minuteness and a lameness, which are tasteless, and at the same t'me dispiriting. » « Johnson had a genius for moral and satirical declama- tion ; but he wanted distinct and picturesque Imagery ; and also imagination and poetic enthusiasm : nor had he EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXXI fresh and nallve feeling. He was not without a reflective and compound feeling, arising from a strong moral sense ope- rating on a profound understanding. » « SoAME Jenyns was a neat and clear versifier, with a lively wit, and sagacious understanding; a skilful knowlege of life derived from long and accurate observation ; and a faculty of original thinking, which gave spirit and point to his matter. « Churchill was a satirist, whom nature formed to ex- cell in his own branch of composition. He was vehement, indignant, vigorous, striking; and generally just in his observations and strong in his language : but careless; un- controled in the ebullition of momentary passion ; coarse, and unprincipled; over-confident aud defying; sportful of his strength; unequal; sometimes dull; and sometimes crude, indigested, and harsh. » Lloyd had more wit, but less force : he was good-hu- moured, and playful, w « Jephson was an historic versifier ; a difficult but in- ferior class of poetry. » « HuRDis had no original notes : he was an imitator of Cowper;but instead of catching Cowper's ease, he was al- most always affected; often turgid; and sometimes harsh. » « KiRKE White had a moral sweetness ; a gentle and clear melancholy; a sort of sainted purity; a transpa- rent elegance of expression, in which ease and purity just reached the point of grace, conveying a tenderness and ni- cety of unborrowed and unforced thought, which gives a peculiar and inexpressible charm to his best compositions. » « John Bampfylde had both description and sentiment, manly moral and i"«t. » XXXII EDITOR'S PREFACE. n John Leydf.n's Scenes of Infancy are easy, harmonious, natural, and classical : tlie sentiments and images always par- take of the character of true poetry : but he -wants a little more \igour; and a little more originality. » « Major Mercer has produced one or two pleasing poems of a gentle cast; aud has shewn that he possessed powers which with more exertion might have brought forth va- luable fruits. « M." Carter had a deep reflective intellect; a slow but profound apprehension ; a fancy patient, and perhaps slug- gish , but vigorous and clear, when roused ; a sensibility of the same character as her other faculties; a strict and conscientious conviction of moral duties, and an awful sense of relif^ion. From the compound of these her poetry flowed, and her poetical character must be taken. All her com- positions are moral; with that sparing use of imagery, and that sober sentiment, which shew tliem to be both subor- dinate to her understanding. Her style is pure, nervous, terse, elegant, and harmonious : her thoughts are not only just, but select, energetic and striking : there is an awful dignity in her opinions, reflections, and sentiments, as of one earnestly speaking from superior intelligence. She writes as a sage, rather than as a poet ; but she always conveys her doc- trines poetically. » « Miss Seward had vastly more pretension ; and perhaps more native fancy : but her understanding, though sharp , was capricious; her judgment weak; her heart under the influence of selfish passions; her knowlege superficial and affected ; and her taste corrupt. An extreme vanity , an over- ruling love of splendor, deformed her compositions , and made her sentiments often turgid, unnatural, extravagant and insin- EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXXIII cere. Sometimeslier efforts produced brilliant passages : but ihcy oftener failed. The labour generally betrays ilself:and ap- parent labour is always displeasing. » « M.r? Charlotte Smith is the precise contrast to Miss Seward. Easy, natural, elegant, perspicuous, mr^lancboly, s.he writes without effort ; and throws out the unaffected trans- cript of her feelings, which seem to clothe ihemselves ia verses as readily as they rise. Her love of nature appears to be so pure; her fancy so serene and caerulcan; she ex- hibits so many exquisite touches of nice perception; and the sentiments to which they give occasion, are so simple, so tender, and so beautiful ; that their charm to readers of moral sensibility, and genuine taste, is irresistible. » « M.'* JoHK HuNTEK is characterised by sentiment a little more impregnated with moral melancholy; and is often more prosaic in expression :but there is yet a great sweetness, sim- plicity, and tenderness in many of her songs. » The following additional observations from my M.S. Common-place Book will not be inappropriately introduc- ed here. n The effects of the Frpnch school of poetry , v.hich was brought in with the Restoration of Ch. II. did not cease till the death oi Pope. It was then found that the example of this school had narrowed the field of poetry too much. Too much had been given to reasoning, and observations on actual life; and too little to the bolder flights of imagination ; and XXXIV EDITOR'S PREFACE. the deeper emotions of the heart. There were particu- lar exceptions : but not sufficient to disturb the popular taste. — Thomson's Seasons were a beautiful exception : — but slill Ihey principally confined themselves to observation, and reality ; — though of inanimate nature. Romance bad expired with the feudal Manners. It was with them the spring of action. It now occurred to some active and ingenious spirits to reapply it to modern poetry. The times and mental cha- ractoi's of the people were changed : it required therefore a very nice discrimination to know how far the use might be cari'led. It was found on recurring to Milton and Spenser and Shakespeare , that Dryden and Pope bad abandoned some of the noblest domains of poetry : that they had neglected a large part of the riches and strength of our language : that by confining poetry to those topics and those modes of intellectual thinking, to which the daily conflict with practi- cal society habituates a man's mind, they had lost that gran- deur of conception, and energy of sentiment, which it is a main business of poets to inspire. It was observed, that vigour, and the freshness of new-sprung ideas, Avere often lost in cold correctness ; and that this department of human ge- nius was dwindling into mechanical composition. All these opinions were surely correct : the difficulty was how to remedy them. To design and to execute are very different things. Servile imitation of the old masters would not do : many parts of their compositions were no longer applicable to the times. What was a matter of popular belief in the reign of Q. Eliz. or even James I. was no longer so. It often hap- pened that changes had taken place from the positive im- EDITOR'S PREFA.CE. XXXV provementsin the conslruclion of language and use of words, from Avliichit would be folly to recede. In preferring strength to over-laboured polish, it behoved to be constantly watch- ful, lest it should in a blind admiration be confounded with beauties : and lest what was proper for the age that produ- ced it , should necessarily be deemed ])roper for one enti- rely changed by the lapse of years, and the course of events. Two men of very rare but distinct genius rose at this time, on whose minds this recurrence to a most romantic school of Toetry had a strong effect — Collins^ and Gray. Each however liad too original a genius to adopt them with servility, and as models. Collins surrendered up his fancy to them with an enthu- siasm, which ])roduced a belief similar to that by which they had been Inspired. But he grafted upon it a manner of his own; a personification of abstract moral qualities. This sort of allegorical representations prevails In a more mixed manner in Spenser and the poets of chivalry : ■ — it is not so spiritualized : It often seems to talk and act like a more substantial human agent, — In the perfect insubstan- tlality, in the etherial essence of Collins's feigned persona- ges, there is an excellence, an inspiration, peculiar to him- self. — But this very peculiarity a good deal deprives them of human interest. — It Is probable that, young as he was, and not connected with society by birth or fortune, circums- tances had not thrown him into any intimate and affecting involvement with the complex relations of society : and the- refore that the native energies of lieart were all free for those ideal affections, which engrossed his creative faculties, and gave leisure for all the colours of his mind to deepen and invigorate. XXXYI EDITOR'S PREFACE. Gray , with a fancy not less brilliant , but, perhaps, with less of invention, drew from the same sources, to equaj ad- vantage, but in a different manner. His cliildhood had been familiar with domestic misfortune : the moral evils of real life sat -vHlh a weight of despondence upon his heart : na- ture had given him lender, deep, conscientious, and con- templative affections : fear predominated over hope with him: his judgment was fastidious ; his taste was morbidly nice. With these conflicting qualities the fire of his mind requi- red extraordinary impulse, to bring it into action. "When the spring of poetry within him swelled till an overwhelming sorrow burst it, the treasured sources, from Avhich it had been impregnated, shewed themselves inter- mixed with every thought and expression ; and the lofty tone of an ardent mind subdued by affliction displayed itself in those vivid pictures, in the visual embodiment of those shadov/y movements of the mind, which danced before the eyes of Spenser, inspired Sackville, and immortalized Dante, The imaginary beings of Gray are broader, bolder, more defined than those of Collins : but they are more mortal than his : they have less of that aerial unborrowed dazzling light- ness, that seems to spring from an hand in which we trace no marks of human contrivance. All variety, so long as it is a legitimate variet^-^, is de- sirable. Even if it were admitted that the school of Dry- den and Pope is of an higher rank than that of Collins and Gray, yet if Collins and Gray be also of a legitimate school, and be masters in that school, then the change was desirable. It is by change that vigour and freshness are given to the human mind. Now there is nothing in this departure from the subject of common life, which is at all inconsistent with the in- dispensible quality of Truth. "What is select, is not there- EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXXVII fore untrue. What is grand, is not untnip, because it is familiar only to the highly endowed, and is not to be found among the multitude. Nor does the manner and form of de- livering it make it untrue. « Truth severe may be dressed in fairy fiction. » I know not that the meaning couched even in one alle- gory of Collins, or one personification of Gray, is false. ( Can this, by the bye , be said of one of our living poets ? ) The correctness taught by Pope extended itself to his successors in every department. The turn of Shenxtone's mind led liim to a sort of moral and descriptive Elegy , ■which he first brought into fashion. His stanzas are polished into extreme elegance, and finished construction of lan- guage ; and great harmony of versification. But there pre- vails through them a tenuity of thought and expression, a sameness of subject and ideas, and querulous sort of me- lancholy, which weary and depress the reader. The senti- ments and reflections are not incorrect ; but they are feeble; and often trite. The public mind, now brought back into the more flow- ery departments of poetry, impelled the candidates for poetical fame into rejected and overgrown paths. Akenside, with a mind more rhetorical than close, sought out a metaphysical subject, on which he might hang all his profusion of ornament, and endless amplitude of illustra- tion. He seems to have delighted more in the splendor of the dress, than in the merits of llie matter wliich it cove- red. He never deals in those vigorous or nice touciies, wliich move by their force, or enchant by their just and happy precision. He has no concentrated strength : he exhausts by expansion. To a genuine lover of the Muse it is difficult to give XXXVIII EDITOR'S PREFACE. much interest to Didactic poetry. That, of which the pri- mary object is preccpiii'e, has in it something seemingly al- most incompatible with the first principles of poetry. Among the ancients, indeed, Lucretius had set an example of this sort of composition. Akenside had only to throw into a a poetical form the prose essays of Addison on this sub- ject. I think his ideas seem to have been almost a\l , deri- vative ; and to have been more upon his memory, than upon his heart. His poem exercises the mind with variety : but he never rouses the intellect ; or moves the feelings. His is the enthu- siasm of a mind heated with study , and fermenting with the richness of the fruits it has gathered. It partakes too much of the air of philosophic discipline for the erratic visions of a poet's taste. Akenside, however, striking out a composition, which was considered to have had (perhaps justly) a new character, gained by it immediate and extensive celebrity. Without no- velty, there are scarcely any instances of the acquisition of popular fame. Mason gained it by his Elfrida and Caractacus, which were a new species of drama. Goldsmith again came forward with his demi-politico- descriptive and topographical poems. Then came Beattie with his Minstrel, again on a new subject; and in a novel form. At last Fashion, always moving in a circle, came round again to matters of fact; and received with applause Hay- lev's Epistle to Romney, &c. Then came Cowper and Burns; and then that glittering phenomenon, Darwin's Ixtve of the Plants. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XXXIX Just as the Century expired, rose the Lahe poetry. Then , Scotch Ministrelsy and Irish Melodies. Last Lord Byron, (1812). It may be curious to hear what the French Critics say of LORD BYRON. The following extracts are from Revue Encyclopedique , vol. V, pag. 129, i/jS, par L. Thiesse. Andjrom vol. VI, pag. 699, signed M.A.I. Fol.^ , pag. 145. — «LoKD Byron a loutes les dispositions qui, developpees, constituent le grand poete; mais il est a craindre que, sulvant la route qu'il a choisie, il ne parvienne jamais a composer de ces ouvrages qui traversent les siecles, et a se creer cettc reputation dont une vogue passagere n'est que I'image infidele. » Fol.Yl, pag. 699. — « La poesie originale, pittoresque, energique, souvent sublime de Lord Byrok, ne pouvait que perdrebeaucoup dans une traduction en prose. Celle-ci eslquel- quefois pale et decoloree. Cependant, on lit avee un vif inte- ret ces poemes bizarrcs , etincelaiiS de beautes, dont I'auleur Irouve de nobles inspirations dans les ecarls memes d'une ima- gination meJancolique , desordonnee , affranchie de toule es- ptcedejoug. — On pent lui rei)roclier de manquer de juge- mcnt pour concevoir ct pour orJonner un plan. — II n'a que XL EDITO'RS PREIACE. raremcnt cetle sensibilite profonde qui vienl de I'ame, et qui se communique a V-^me. — Une sombre misanthroijie le domine ; un froid mopris pour les hommes , pour la vie , pour les cho- sos terreslres et mortelles; une sorte de degout et de satiete qui s'olend a tous les objels, n'empechent point que de grandes et belles pcnsces n'echappent, comme par saillies, des tenebres dans lesquclles il se plait a s'envclopper. — Par ce motif, quoi- que la lecture de ses poesies soil seduisante et enlrainante, elle ne penelre point tres-avant dans le coeur. On ne se trouve iii mcilleur, ni plus heureux, par une communication intime avec lui. « — (M. A. I.) «' OEuvres completes de LORD BYROIS ; /,.e edition, prece- dc'e d'une notice sur Vauteur par Mr. Charles Nodier ^ et ornee de vingt-ciuq vignettes. » « On ne doit pas oublier en parlant de Lord Byron qu'il n'estpas toujours exempt des vices justement reproches a I'e- cole dont il pout etre regarde comme le chef. Mais si la plus belle pocsie etait toujours celle qui laisse dans I'ame des lecteurs I'impression la plus profonde, Lord Byron serait le plus grand des poetes. — II a parfaitcment compris que, pour produire de I'effct dans notre siecle , il fallait ne s'appuyer que sur les passions les plus energiques : on trouve dans ses poemes toute I'exallaticn d'ane imagination hardic , el les erreurs d'une ia- tclligcnce supcrlcurc. » EDITOR'S PREFACE. XLI w II est par excellence le pocte de Torgueil, de lahalne, de I'amour et de toutes les angoisses de I'ame. — ■ Son style, quel- quefois exagcre, a tonjours de la force, et nous surprend aussi parsa grace ctsa facilile. » « Quoiqu'on ne pulsse apprecler a sa juste valeur un sem- blable poete dans une traduction , celle qu'a publice le libraire Ladvocat a obtenu un succcs dont plus d'un auteur national pourrait ^tre jaloux. — L'homme de lettres a qui nous en som- mesredevables , a quelquefois heureusement rendu les beau- tes de I'original ; et il lui appartenait de faire encore mieux sen- tir Lord Btron par un essai anaiytique sur ses outrages. La quatrieme edition des ceuvres completes du noble Lord est en- fin terminee par la publication simultanee du premier et du sixieme volume. » a L'editeur a enrichi cette edition de tout le luxe de la calco- graphie anglaise. Quclques gravures originales ne deparent nul- lement la collection des cliarmantes vignettes de Westall. — Depuis long-temps il n'etait pas sorlides presses de M. Didot un livre aussi elegant sous tous les rapports. » « Le sixieme volume contient le drame nouveau de Werner et les cinq chants amusans de don Juan qui n'avaient pas encore ete imprimes dans le format in-8.0. — Le tome premier, qui forme la dernlere livraison, contient le Corsaire , Lara, la Malediction de Minerve, et le del et la Terre ou les Amours des Anges , avec plusieurs autres pieces inedites jusqu'a ce jour. » « Un prccieux morceau de litterature romantique, par Mr. Nodier, commence ce volume. On y retrouve cette magie de style et cette originalite de pensees qui ont fait cl.ez nous la for- tune de toutes les productions anxquelles est attache le nom de Mr. Nodier. La notice precede I'essai plus ctcndu et fres-cu- rieus du traduclcur qui nous fait bicn augurcr du Voyage lit- XLTI EDITOR'S PREFACE. tcraire en Anglcterre et en Ecosse qu'il devait publier. — Un nouveaii portrait fort ressiemblant de Lord Byron n'est pas la parure la morns remarquable dc cette nouvelle edition des OEuvres completes du premier des poetes romanliques. » Quotidienne y 24 Mars 182 3. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XLHI BYSSHE SHELLEY'S posthumous poems have been puhlis- hed since I printed the Memoir of him, I extract the following beautiful Song. SONG. The Spirit of Delight. Rarely, rarely, comest thou. Spirit of Delight! Wherefore hast thou left me now Many a day and night ? Many a weary night and day Tis since thou art fled away. How shall ever one like me Win thee back again ? With the joyous and the free Thou wilt scoff at pain! Spirit false , thou hast forgot All but those who need thee not. XL1\ EDITOR'S PREFACE. As a lizard ■with the shade Of a trembling leaf, Thou with sorrow art dismay'd : E'en the sighs of grief Reproach thee that thou art not near ; And reproach thou wilt not hear. Let me set my mournful ditty To a merry measure; Thou wilt never come for pity; Thou wilt come for pleasure; Pity then will cut away Those cruel wings, and thou will stay. I love all that thou lovest, Spirit of Delight ! The fresh Earth in new leaves drest ; And the starry night ; Autumn evening, and the morn , When the golden mists are born ! I love snow ; and all the forms Of the radiant frost ; I love winds and waves and storms ; Every thing almost Which is Nature's, and may be Untainted by such misery. EDITOR'S PREFACE. XLV I love tranquil solitude, And such society, As is quiet, wise, and good : Between thee and me What difference ! but thou dost possess The things I seekj not love them less. I love Love , though he has wing And like light can flee. But above all other things. Spirit , I love ihee — Thou art love and life! O come. Make once my heart thy home ? Thus it is that, after a thousand interruptions , I bring this Reprint to a close. I think that if will scarcely be denied to contain several useful notices, which will cot elsewhere be found at all. Of what may be the value of my own criti- cal opinions, scattered in the notes and preface it would be indelicate in me to atleir.])t ariy aniicipaiion : — ihey liave been given frankly, and are not the result of hasty and ca- pricious thought. All that can be said of poetry, — and especially of its principles, — may supposed to be already known : but it i« XL VI EDITOR'S PREFACE. not so; there is much, which warts revival and recogni- tion, if not original developement ; and the recurrence to anclrnt standards is the most probable mean of successfully exposing modern heresies. And here I leave this ( among my numerous thankless of- ferings to literature, ) to its fate. Geneva, 7 Oct. i8a/|. THEATRUM POETARUM, OR A GOMPLEAT COLLECTION OF THE POETS, Especially THE MOST EMINENT OF ALL ACES. TliE ANTIENTS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE MODERNS, IN THEIR SEVERAL ALPHABETS. fFith some Observations and reflexions upon many of them , particularly those of our own Nation. With a Prefatory Discourse of The Poets and Poetry in General!. By Edward Phillips. c