Chapman; We finde by thy past-prized fraught,
What wealth thou dost vpon this Land conferre;
Th'olde Grecian Prophets hither that hast brought,
Of their full words the true interpreter:
And by thy trauell, strongly hast exprest
The large dimensions of the English tongue;
Deliuering them so well, the first and best,
That to the world in Numbers euer sung.
Thou hast vnlock'd the treasury, wherein
10All Art, and knowledge haue so long been hidden:
Which, till the gracefull Muses did begin
Here to inhabite, was to vs forbidden.
In blest Elizivm (in a place most fit)
Vnder that tree due to the Delphian God,
Musæus, and that Iliad Singer sit,
And neare to them that noble Hesiod,
Smoothing their rugged foreheads; and do smile,
After so many hundred yeares to see
Their Poems read in this farre westerne Ile,
20Translated from their ancient Greeke, by thee;
Each his good Genius whispering in his eare,
That with so lucky, and auspicious fate
Did still attend them, whilst they liuing were,
And gaue their Verses such a lasting date.
Where slightly passing by the Thespian spring,
Many long after did but onely sup;
Nature, then fruitfull, forth these men did bring,
To fetch deep Rowses from Ioues plentious cup.
In thy free labours (friend) then rest content,
30Feare not Detraction, neither fawne on Praise:
When idle Censure all her force hath spent,
Knowledge can crowne her self with her owne Baies.
Their Lines, that haue so many liues outworne,
Cleerely expounded shall base Enuy scorne.
What wealth thou dost vpon this Land conferre;
Th'olde Grecian Prophets hither that hast brought,
Of their full words the true interpreter:
And by thy trauell, strongly hast exprest
The large dimensions of the English tongue;
Deliuering them so well, the first and best,
That to the world in Numbers euer sung.
Thou hast vnlock'd the treasury, wherein
10All Art, and knowledge haue so long been hidden:
Which, till the gracefull Muses did begin
Here to inhabite, was to vs forbidden.
In blest Elizivm (in a place most fit)
Vnder that tree due to the Delphian God,
Musæus, and that Iliad Singer sit,
And neare to them that noble Hesiod,
Smoothing their rugged foreheads; and do smile,
After so many hundred yeares to see
Their Poems read in this farre westerne Ile,
20Translated from their ancient Greeke, by thee;
Each his good Genius whispering in his eare,
That with so lucky, and auspicious fate
Did still attend them, whilst they liuing were,
And gaue their Verses such a lasting date.
Where slightly passing by the Thespian spring,
Many long after did but onely sup;
Nature, then fruitfull, forth these men did bring,
To fetch deep Rowses from Ioues plentious cup.
In thy free labours (friend) then rest content,
30Feare not Detraction, neither fawne on Praise:
When idle Censure all her force hath spent,
Knowledge can crowne her self with her owne Baies.
Their Lines, that haue so many liues outworne,
Cleerely expounded shall base Enuy scorne.
Michael Drayton.
Prefixed to Book ij. of Primaleon, &c. Translated by Anthony Munday (1619).
OF THE WORKE and Translation.
If in opinion of iudiciall wit,
Primaleons sweet Invention well deserue:
Then he (no lesse) which hath translated it,
Which doth his sense, his forme, his phrase, obserue.
And in true method of his home-borne stile,
(Following the fashion of a French conceate)
Hath brought him heere into this famous Ile,
Where but a stranger, now hath made his seate.
He liues a Prince, and comming in this sort,
Shall to his Countrey of your fame report.
Primaleons sweet Invention well deserue:
Then he (no lesse) which hath translated it,
Which doth his sense, his forme, his phrase, obserue.
And in true method of his home-borne stile,
(Following the fashion of a French conceate)
Hath brought him heere into this famous Ile,
Where but a stranger, now hath made his seate.
He liues a Prince, and comming in this sort,
Shall to his Countrey of your fame report.
M.D.
From Annalia Dubrensia (1636).
TO MY NOBLE Friend Mr. Robert Dover, on his braue annuall Assemblies vpon Cotswold.
Douer, to doe thee Right, who will not striue,
That dost in these dull yron Times reuiue
The golden Ages glories; which poore Wee
Had not so much as dream't on but for Thee?
As those braue Grecians in their happy dayes,
On Mount Olympus to their Hercules
Ordain'd their games Olimpick, and so nam'd
Of that great Mountaine; for those pastimes fam'd:
Where then their able Youth, Leapt, Wrestled, Ran,
10Threw the arm'd Dart; and honour'd was the Man
That was the Victor; In the Circute there
The nimble Rider, and skill'd Chariotere
Stroue for the Garland; In those noble Times
There to their Harpes the Poets sang their Rimes;
That whilst Greece flourisht, and was onely then
Nurse of all Arts, and of all famous men:
Numbring their yeers, still their accounts they made,
Either from this or that Olimpiade.
So Douer, from these Games, by thee begun,
20Wee'l reckon Ours, as time away doth run.
Wee'l haue thy Statue in some Rocke cut out,
With braue Inscriptions garnished about;
And vnder written, Loe, this was the man,
Dover, that first these noble Sports began.
Ladds of the Hills, and Lasses of the Vale,
In many a song, and many a merry Tale
Shall mention Thee; and hauing leaue to play,
Vnto thy name shall make a Holy day.
The Cosswold Shepheards as their flockes they keepe,
30To put off lazie drowsinesse and sleepe,
Shall sit to tell, and heare thy Story tould,
That night shall come ere they their flocks can fould.
That dost in these dull yron Times reuiue
The golden Ages glories; which poore Wee
Had not so much as dream't on but for Thee?
As those braue Grecians in their happy dayes,
On Mount Olympus to their Hercules
Ordain'd their games Olimpick, and so nam'd
Of that great Mountaine; for those pastimes fam'd:
Where then their able Youth, Leapt, Wrestled, Ran,
10Threw the arm'd Dart; and honour'd was the Man
That was the Victor; In the Circute there
The nimble Rider, and skill'd Chariotere
Stroue for the Garland; In those noble Times
There to their Harpes the Poets sang their Rimes;
That whilst Greece flourisht, and was onely then
Nurse of all Arts, and of all famous men:
Numbring their yeers, still their accounts they made,
Either from this or that Olimpiade.
So Douer, from these Games, by thee begun,
20Wee'l reckon Ours, as time away doth run.
Wee'l haue thy Statue in some Rocke cut out,
With braue Inscriptions garnished about;
And vnder written, Loe, this was the man,
Dover, that first these noble Sports began.
Ladds of the Hills, and Lasses of the Vale,
In many a song, and many a merry Tale
Shall mention Thee; and hauing leaue to play,
Vnto thy name shall make a Holy day.
The Cosswold Shepheards as their flockes they keepe,
30To put off lazie drowsinesse and sleepe,
Shall sit to tell, and heare thy Story tould,
That night shall come ere they their flocks can fould.
Michaell Drayton.
NOTES
These notes are not intended to supply materials for the criticism of the text. So freely, indeed, did Drayton alter his poems for a fresh edition, that the ordinary machinery of an apparatus criticus would be overtasked if the attempt were made. All that has been undertaken here is to provide the requisite information in places where the text followed seemed open to suspicion.
It may be added that the punctuation of the originals has in general been preserved; in a few flagrant instances, where the text as it stood was misleading, it has been modified. Such changes are not noted here.
| 2, | 1, | l. | 14 | vertues] vertuous 1619 |
| 3, | 3, | l. | 1 | Ioue] loue 1599, 1602, 1605 |
| l. | 3 | them forth,] them, forth 1599. But the 1619 version supports the reading in the text. | ||
| 5, | 8, | l. | 8 | men] ones 1599: women 1619 |
| l. | 9 | to 1599, 1619: of 1594 | ||
| 6, | 9, | l. | 11 | in] on 1602 |
| 10, | l. | 12 | her] his 1602: their 1619 | |
| 8, | 14, | l. | 14 | anatomize 1599. But there is ground for believing that anotamize represents a current pronunciation. |
| 9, | 15, | l. | 10 | She'st] ? She'll |
| 10, | 17, | l. | 9 | Were] Where 1594 |
| 18, | l. | 5 | Elizia] Elizium 1599 | |
| 11, | 20, | l. | 10 | whir-poole] whirl-poole 1602 |
| l. | 12 | Helycon] Helicon 1602 | ||
| 14, | 26, | l. | 5 | Thy 1599 etc.: The 1594 |
| 15, | 27, | l. | 4 | Thus] This 1594 |
| l. | 12 | depriued] ? depraued | ||
| 18, | 33, | l. | 3 | Wishing] Wisheth 1599 |
| 19, | 36, | l. | 13 | And others] And eithers 1599 |
| 20, | 37, | l. | 4 | euer-certaine] neuer-certaine 1602 |
| 28, | 1, | l. | 4 | song] sung 1613 |
| 31, | 10, | l. | 2 | bids] bad 1619 |
| l. | 12 | my ... his] his ... my 1619 | ||
| 37, | 30, | l. | 14 | hollowed] halowed 1605: hallow'd 1619. But cf. 94, l. 18. |
| 38, | 43, | l. | 3 | Wherein 1602, 1605: Where, in 1619: Wherein 1599 |
| 39, | 44, | l. | 4 | Paynting] Panting 1608 |
| l. | 8 | Wherein 1602, 1605, 1619: Where in 1599 | ||
| 40, | 55, | l. | 7 | forces heere,] forces, here 1619 |
| 56, | heading | A Consonet] A Cansonet 1602 | ||
| 41, | 57, | l. | 13 | yet] then 1595 |
| 42, | 17, | ll. | 4, 13 | Promethius] Prometheus 1605 |
| 43, | 27, | l. | 2 | Who can he loue? 1608: Who? can he loue: 1619 |
| l. | 12 | They resolute,] They resolute? 1608, 1619 | ||
| 44, | 31, | l. | 4 | appose] oppose 1608, 1619 |
| l. | 9 | They 1619: The 1602, 1605, 1608 | ||
| 48, | 47, | l. | 8 | a 1619: and 1605, 1608 |
| 49, | 51, | l. | 1 | to 1608: omitted in 1605 |
| 53, | 21, | l. | 11 | soe] ? loe |
| l. | 13 | Troth] Froth 1619 | ||
| 71, | l. | 16 | scowles] scoulds 1606 | |
| l. | 37 | whome 1606: whose 1619 | ||
| l. | 41 | rage 1606: age 1619 | ||
| 74, | l. | 25 | he 1619: shee 1606 | |
| 77, | l. | 34 | some few 1606: some, few 1619 | |
| 79, | l. | 10 | their] ? there. | |
| 83, | l. | 72 | Stuck] The emendation Struck is tempting (the form is somewhat uncommon but not unparalleled); especially in view of l. 80. | |
| 94, | l. | 18 | hollow'd] cf. 37, 30, l. 14 | |
| 96, | l. | 120 | the] no doubt a printer's error for they | |
| 97, | l. | 125 | be lowe] belowe 1627 | |
| 97, | l. | 126 | whether] whethet 1627 | |
| 98, | l. | 37 | it] omitted in 1627 | |
| 101, | l. | 62 | be] ? been | |
| 104, | l. | 88 | him] ? them | |
| l. | 94 | ceaze 1620: lease 1627 | ||
| 106, | l. | 37 | his] omitted in 1631 | |
| l. | 56 | warnd] warne 1627 | ||
| 110, | l. | 105 | Neat] Next conj. Beeching | |
| 118, | heading | Chaplaine] Chapliane 1627 | ||
| 120, | l. | 81 | extirpe 1631: extipe 1627 | |
| 146, | l. | 90 | fett] sett and frett have been conjectured. | |
| 153, | l. | 92 | debate] delate 1627 | |
| 154, | l. | 115 | claue] ? cleaue | |
| 156, | l. | 220 | euery] euer 1627 | |
| 174, | l. | 225 | wither] whither 1630 | |
| 177, | l. | 343 | rawe] taw 1748 | |
| 192, | l. | 18 | there] they 1630 | |
| 232, | l. | 12 | vnto] vp to 1619 | |
| 233, | l. | 53 | fame] faire 1606 | |
| 234, | l. | 66 | moue] mock 1606 | |
| 238, | l. | 25 | feature] features 1619 | |
| 240, | l. | 99 | long] loue 1606 | |
| 242, | Ecl. ij, | l. | 21 | moane 1600: moans 1605 |
| 243, | l. | 55 | But it if the Male doth want 1619 | |
| 244, | l. | 37 | along she went 1619: she went along 1606 | |
| 245, | l. | 43 | lowe] loud 1600, 1619 | |
| 247, | l. | 37 | glories 1619: glorious 1606 | |