VERSE AND PROSE (Non-dramatic) SELECTED AND EDITED BY GEORGE REUBEN POTTER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY SET UP AND ELECTROTYPED BY T. MOREY & SON PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE COLLECTIONS and anthologies may perhaps be necessary evils; but they are at least necessary. Hence the present volume. There are, to be sure, several good collections of Elizabethan drama, and at least two (Schelling's and Ault's) of the short lyrics; but for the longer poems and for all the prose of the age, the reader or student has been compelled to consult a large number of separate books, many of which are out of print or expensive, and some of which may not be in smaller public or college libraries. This collection attempts to provide in a single volume enough material for some study of Elizabethan non-dramatic literature. In selecting the material, I have tried consistently to subordinate consistency and emphasize practical usefulness. So far as seemed possible, whole poems and whole books or chapters of prose have been included, rather than fragments. But to follow out this principle completely would mean excluding much valuable material; and where excerpts or abridgements seemed advantageous, they have been included. Again, I have in general tried to include as much as possible of the representative verse and prose. But to carry out this principle consistently would mean including at least one book of Spenser's Faerie Queene, all of the Amoretti, perhaps one or two of Spenser's other minor poems, and all of Shakespeare's non-dramatic poetry-which would crowd out a great deal of other material less easily available in inexpensive editions. I have therefore refused to give Spenser and Shakespeare their due; and for the same reason have omitted Lodge's Rosalind, which cannot be abridged without complete loss of effectiveness, and is easily and cheaply obtainable. To be fully representative of the period, then, this volume should be supplemented by an edition of Spenser, one of Shakespeare's non-dramatic verse, and (though the last is less important) one of Lodge's Rosalind. The selections from Sidney's Arcadia and Lyly's Euphues give, however, examples of the types of writing in Rosalind; and enough of Spenser and Shakespeare has been included to make possible some study of their relations to the period even from this volume alone. An attempt is made to include both the literature of highest intrinsic merit and the literature of most historical interest. The first principle is obvious; the second explains the presence of passages from Gosson's School of Abuse and Spenser's tract on Ireland, and the atrocious sonnets by Barnes and Griffin, which are typical examples of Elizabethan sonnets at their worst. The terminus ad quem of the collection is, in general, 1610; but in the case of poets whose best work begins before that date and extends after it (poets like Jonson and Donne, for example), the terminus is the death of the poet. When a writer's verse comes in the period and his chief prose comes later (as is the case with Donne), only that writer's prose which illustrates his early manner is included. The punctuation has been modernized; a process which, I think, is especially advisable considering the obviously great influence of Elizabethan typesetters upon the punctuation of the original editions. The spelling has been modernized also, except where the older spelling represents a decided difference in pronunciation. A section of explanatory notes is at the end of the text. My obligations to other editors of Elizabethan texts are deep and multifarious. Many of them I have tried to acknowledge in the notes. But I should be guilty of ingratitude if I did not mention here also such books as: Foxwell's edition of Wyatt; Padelford's edition of Surrey; the Cambridge and Oxford editions of Spenser; the Variorum and Yale editions of Shakespeare; Chambers's and Grierson's editions of Donne, especially the latter; Cunningham's edition of Jonson; Bond's edition of Lyly; Cook's edition of Sidney's Defence of Poesy; McKerrow's edition of Nashe; Scott's edition of Bacon's Essays; Wright's and Cook's editions of Bacon's Advancement of Learning; Nott's and McKerrow's editions of Dekker's Gull's Hornbook; Bullen's, Braithwaite's, Schelling's, and Ault's collections of Elizabethan verse; and the numerous reprints and editions edited by Arber and by Grosart. It is a pleasure to express my gratitude to Professor R. P. Utter of the University of California, Professor K. P. Harrington of Wesleyan University, and Professor B. M. Hollowell of Nebraska Wesleyan, for suggestions and criticism; to Professor I. M. Linforth of the University of California for his friendly aid and criticism in connection with most of the Greek and Latin quotations in the selections; and finally to Professor J. L. Lowes of Harvard, to whom I owe many an idea in selecting material for this volume, and whose teaching both started my interest in the field and continually influences my attitude toward the Elizabethans. August, 1928. G. R. P. TABLE OF CONTENTS "The long love that in my thought doth harber" "Farewell, Love, and all thy laws forever" "I find no peace, and all my war is done" "My galley charged with forgetfulness" "Like to these unmeasurable mountains" "Divers doth use, as I have heard and know" "Unstable dream, according to the place" "Madame, withouten many words" "My lute, awake! Perform the last" "And wilt thou leave me thus?” "Forget not yet the tried intent" "Blame not my lute, for he must sound" “Alas, madame, for stealing of a kiss' "The furious gonne, in his raging ire" |