^B lit, Dfl? ^ o o w '"JS! ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofexhibOOgrolrich The Publication Committee of the Groher Club certifies that this copy of a ' ' Catalogue of an Exhibition of Selected Works of The Poets Laureate of England " is one of an edition of three hundred copies, on hand-made paper, printed in the month of March, 1901. • . • • • » •• • • • • • •,• • • • • • • • • ,. ■^U-tr CLjy ty S f}ah-->-i/.MA^/ixnyc/^ t^rrjnv Cm, hoyt^t>/y\M, t l i-j okaX^ o^txi-t BE CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION OF SELECTED WORKS. ; \ \ / > > OF ,', ,• ***';'',», ». • • THE POETS LAUREATE OF ENGLAND NEW YORK THE GROLIER CLUB MCMI • • • • . • • • • • •» • • Copyright, 1901, by The Grolier Club of the City of New York CONTENTS Ben Jonson, after the Painting by Gerard van Honthorst . Frontispiece PAGE Introduction vii The Poets Laureate Chronologically Arranged xviii Part I The Volunteer Laureates . i Part II Poets Laureate by Royal Let- ters Patent 13 Authorities on the Poets Laureate 73 Portraits 74 727802 INTRODUCTION AFTER the fleeing Daphne was transformed ^ into a laurel tree to escape the pursuing god of the lyre, the laurel branch was assigned to Apollo as one of his attributes. Victors in the Pythian games held in his honor were crowned with it ; it was the symbol of purifi- cation and atonement ; it was used, like the olive, as a sign of truce ; it was proof against lightning ; and, Apollo being the god of poetry too, the Laurea Apollinaris was given for po- etic merit. Ever since the days of Helicon and Parnassus, excellence in poetry has been crowned, at first literally and then figuratively, with laurel. The Romans adopted the cus- tom, and it flourished in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when learning was a craze and the recognition of learning the de- light of princes and people. INTRODUCTION When the training of scholars was in the hands of the religious houses, which later be- came universities, it was to them a privilege to reward merit with the laurel. At first lau- reation signalized merit in law and medicine, but later the wreath was bestowed for grammar alone. It was a distinction like the sheepskin nowadays, and was given with dignified public ceremony. Spain, Italy, France, Germany and England all had their laureations. In some countries the wreath was bestowed by the universities, in others by the sovereign, while in the case of Petrarch the Roman Sen- ate gave the crown. A story told by Austin and Ralph serves to show that the title was sometimes bestowed carelessly or in jest. Leo X, hearing of the ludicrous performances of a poet who, hav- ing come up to Rome to recite an epic be- fore a delighted and amused audience, re- ceived as a reward a crown of laurel, vine and cabbage leaves, sent for him to the pal- ace. Here the laureate was lavishly enter- tained, but it was stipulated that he was not to have any wine unless he extemporized a certain number of Latin verses, and for every false quantity he made his wine was to be watered. " On one unhappy occasion, holding forth a goblet pallid with immoderate dilution, the viii INTRODUCTION poet assuaged his despondency by the fol- lowing epigrammatic conceit: " In cratere meo Thetis est conjuncta Lyseo : Est Dea juncta Deo, sed Dea major eo. "Such refined torture on the part of His Holiness amused their Eminences the Cardi- nals, and once excited some literary sparring between the accomplished Leo and his de- pendent. . . . " Archipoeta facit versus pro mille poetis, once indignantly yet proudly exclaimed Querno. " Et pro mille aliis archipoata bibit," was the ready and reproving reply. " Porrige," exclaimed the bard in despair, " Porrige quod faciat mihi carmina docta, Falernum. "The pontifical punster smiled as he ob- served : " Hoc etiam enervat debilitatque/(?^(?w." In England an officer called the King's Versifier had been attached to the court long before the time of Edward IV, and may have been the descendant of the still earlier harper or minstrel. Chaucer is thought by some to have been a regular court poet; but there is nothing to show this, or even that he was laureated by the University. The assumption rests upon the two facts of his styling himself 2 IX INTRODUCTION "poet laureate," and his having received, at one time, the grant of a pitcher of wine daily at the port of London, and at another the grant of a tun of wine. John Kay, of whom little is known, was a poet laureate attached to the court of Ed- ward IV. Andrew Barnard, who was appointed by Henry VIII., wrote Latin verses and hymns. John Skelton, scholar, wag, and satirist, also served Henry VIII. in this office, and was the last to bear the title in its primary significance. He won his laurels at Oxford, as he himself tells us : " A king to me mine habit gave: ^ At Oxford, the University, Advanced I was to that degree ; By whole consent of iheir senate, I was made Poet- Laureate." To his ability as a scholar Caxton bears witness in the preface to a book printed in 1490 : " But I pray Master Skelton, late cre- ated poet-laureate in the University of Oxford, to oversee and correct the said book, and to address and expound where, as shall be found fault, to them that shall require it. For him I know sufficient to expound and English every difficulty that is therein. For he hath late translated the epistles of Tully and the book of Diodorus Siculus, and divers other works INTRODUCTION out of Latin into English, not in rude and old language, but in polished and ornate terms craftily, as he that hath read Virgil, Ovid, Tully and all the other noble poets and orators to me unknown. And also he hath read the nine muses, and understands the musical sci- ences, and to whom of them each science is approved. I suppose he hath drunk of Heli- con's well. Then I pray him, and such other, to correct, add, or minish where as he or they shall find fault," etc. In 1 59 1 Queen Elizabeth conferred upon Edmund Spenser a grant of ;^5o a year; this, with the fact that he is called the " new lau- reate " in " Piers Pennilesse," is the only ground for thinking him a court poet laureate. Hamilton quotes a good story told in con- nection with the pension : Lord Burleigh ex- claimed, " What ; all this for a rhyme ? " and Elizabeth replied: "Then give him what is reason." Spenser waited some time, but no money came, so he wrote the lines : " I was promised on a time To have reason for my rhyme ; But from that time to this season, I have had nor rhyme nor reason." There is a tradition that Daniel was poet laureate to Queen Elizabeth, but no evidence can be produced to prove it. He held other INTRODUCTION public offices, however. In the Calendars of State Papers, under date of January 31, 1604, appears the following notice : " Grant to Edward Kirkham, Alexander Hawkins, Thomas Kendall and Robert Payne, of license to train up children, to be called ' Children of the Revels to the Queen,' and to exercise them in playing within the Blackfriare in London, or elsewhere; all plays to be allowed by Sam Danyell." Whatever the exact title of his office may have been, its function, it would appear, was the licensing of plays. In 161 8 a license granted him to print his " History of Eng- land" describes him as "our well-beloued seruant Samuel Daniell, one of the Groomes of the Priuy Chamber, to our deerest wife the Queen." Daniel was as well mannered for his time as he was " well-languaged," but he was ex- tremely sensitive, and when Jonson was made court poet he retired to his farm. However these early poets may have ob- tained their titles of poets laureate to the various kings they served, the first regularly appointed incumbent was Ben Jonson. The earlier, or volunteer poets as they were called, seemed to have served upon special occasions merely, and to have received only occasional pay. King James made Ben Jonson his xii INTRODUCTION court poet, and Charles I confirmed him in the appointment by letters patent and an annual salary. The office has been filled almost continuously fi-om then till now. The duties of a poet laureate do not seem to have been clearly defined. Charles gave his letters patent to Jonson " in consideration of the good and acceptable service done vnto vs and our said father by the said Benjamin Johnson, and especially to encourage him to proceede in those services of his witt and penn, which wee have enjoined vnto him, and which we expect from him." Jonson found more to do than most others in his position, owing to the climax of popularity of the masques which " were made and performed for the Court and the houses of the nobles, and the scenery was as gorgeous and varied as the scenery of the play house proper was poor and unchanging."^ "As a masque- writer he gave lasting worth by sheer poetic force to an unreal and artificial genre." At first an annual New Year's Ode was written by the laureate and, set to music, was, like the masques, performed in the king's presence. Shadwell, of his own accord, added an annual Birthday Ode. Says Gibbon : " From Augustus to Louis the muse has been too often false and venal, but 1 Stopford Brooke, " Engl. Lit.," Ch. IV, Sec. 89. xiii INTRODUCTION I much doubt whether any age or Court can produce a similar estabUshment of a stipendi- ary poet, who in every reign, and at all events, is bound to furnish, twice a year, a measure of praise and verse, such as I believe may be sung in the chapel and in the presence of a Sovereign." It was quite natural that such perfunctory affairs should, in the hands of mediocre poets, too often degenerate into empty smoothness or mere doggerel, and it is not surprising to find that the sentiments of Peter Pindar, ex- pressed in the following lines, were shared by many others : "WILL WHITEHEAD, Sire, hath wish'd the world good nighty Pray who shall fabricate your next year's Ode? As I most laudably can rm^and write^ Let me the line with George's virtues load ! " Sire, if you'll make me Laureat, I declare I'll chaunt you, if you do but take the air; And if it should your Royal humour suit, I'll sing your horse to boot. " But, Sire, perchance you've been be-rhym'd so long. Your Royal Ear is sick of BIRTH-DAY SONG ! In this case, you'll be better serv'd by NONE ? For, order me the SALARY and WINE, I'll whisper to APOLLO and the NINE, And so contrive to let the ODE ALONE." With time and contumely both New Year's and Birthday Odes were dropped : Pye, in the INTRODUCTION days of George III., was the last laureate from whom they were regularly expected, and now the official singer is free to find his own time and theme for celebrating the glories of the reign. The position has, with rare exceptions, been a partisan one. Dry den and Southey became political turncoats to attain it, while Jonson as well as Dryden found it sufficient excuse for changing his faith. Partisan merit in a poet does not necessarily mean poetical merit, and this must be borne in mind in a pe- rusal of the lives and writings of the poets laureate. The successful recipient of court favor has, from the first, been a target for the wit and sarcasm of other poets, and so low did the reputation of the office fall during the tenure of some of its occupants, that it came to be the laughing-stock of all. " That Laurel, once by Dryden worn, But since by many dunces borne, Each rival dunce cry'd fie on ! The boasted laurel was, they said, No more than a poor At Court call'd Dann-de-Lion." A collection of the satires, gibes, and epi- grammatic remarks which have been written on the laureates, from Jonson to " Miss " Ten- nyson, would make far better reading than a collection of their official odes. XV INTRODUCTION The pay of Charles I for his laureate's services was an annual hundred pounds and a tierce of the poet's favorite Canary wine, and this remained the stipend of the office until Pye's time, when the sum oi £2^ was substi- tuted for the wine. It is worthy of notice that many of the poets seemed to inherit an extrava- gant taste for the wine along with the pension. Jonson " would many times exceed in drink ; Canarie was his beloved liquor. Then he would tumble home to bed, and when he had thor- oughly perspired, then to studie." Shadwell was charged with many immoralities. Eusden " was a person of great hopes in his youth, though at last he turned out a drunken par- son." Cibber loved his bottle, and even Pye was called " a pleasant, convivial man." The fact that certain poets have occupied the post of laureate adds Httle to their reputa- tion, but a lustre is shed upon the office by such names as " The mighty Prince of Poets, learned Ben," Wordsworth and Tennyson. " I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honouring thee, As giving it a hope that there It could not withered be ; " But thou thereon did'st only breathe. And sent'st it back to me. Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, Notofitself, but thee." xvi INTRODUCTION The following lines, from a parody on one of Tennyson's poems in the " Book of Ballads : Edited by Bon Gaultier " may not be in too Ught a key : " Oh that would be the post for me ! With plenty to get, and nothing to do But to deck a pet poodle with ribbons of blue, And whistle a tune to the Queen's cockatoo. And scribble of verses remarkably few. And at evening empty a bottle or two, Quaffingly, quaffingly ! " 'Tis I would be The Laureate bold, With my butt of sherry. To keep me merry. And nothing to do but to pocket my gold ! " XVll < O O w H ID < C/3 H O Oh W H P o <5 Pi u l-H o s o § U 00 Crt ^ 8 1. Q w O vS « 58 8 <§: rr> tT ^ 8 m -^ v o bo C o s a> 00 §. tT 13 Q ;3 Vm .3 O *-- P3 o -S Q o >-» d a .3 e n ipS 1 ^ s .fcs » CO XVIU I" I III i 1 1- I CMMHHHHl-IIHI-ll-IHHl-IMtH S 1 1 1 1 1 1 3" i I i^. 1 1 g I ^ 1=!; s: -s- Sf;&.3 5 .^ - ■: ^ ^" ^ -- -^ s ^ I I I I -^ o s i '§ § -^ o i I !-? ,^ « ''. '. ,^^3 Vas«'the "moral" Gower's only work in Eng- lish. It exists in a large number of manuscripts follow- ing two versions differing slightly from each other. The earlier version is dedicated to Richard II, and has a complimentary notice of Chaucer ; the later version, Richard's power having waned, is dedicated to Henry of Lancaster and says nothing about Chaucer. The first printed edition by Caxton, of 1483, fol- lows the later version. Berthelet, printer to the king, in this edition followed Caxton *s text, but in modern- ized spelling ; he added the dedication to Richard of THE VOLUNTEER LAUREATES the early manuscript version, in a preface, and gives an account of Gower's tomb and of his friendship with Chaucer. JOHN SKELTON (1460 ?— 1529 ?). 3. ^ Here after | foloweth a ly- | tell boke, whiche hath to name, | why come ye nat to courte, | compyled by mayfter | Skel- ton poete | Laureate. | [Colophon] ^ Imprinted | at London by | me Richard I kele I dwellig in the | powltry at the | longe Ihop | vnder faynt | myldredes | chyrch. Octavo. Black-letter. First edition. Abt. 1550- Collation : A — D, in eights. Skelton's advances to Cardinal Wolsey not being well received, he poured out upon the prelate the vials of his wrath in several poems. In this " breathless rhyme " he turned upon him " the full force of his in- vective, and denounced the cardinal's luxurious life, insatiate ambition, and insolence of bearing." The title-page has woodcut head- and foot-bands and a device made up of printers' ornaments in the shape of a cross. On the verso of the title-page is a woodcut representing two figures between head- and foot-bands, one of whom is crowned with laurel and is entitled " Skelton " in a scroll above; the other has a blank scroll above his head, but is supposed by Mr. Dyce to represent Wolsey, On the verso of the colo- phon leaf is a woodcut of the author seated at a read- SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE ing-desk, with an inscription in the upper right-hand corner, " Skelton poyet." "At the Long Shop in the Poultry we can see the press at work almost without a break from the early years of the sixteenth century till the close of the first quarter of the seventeenth. . . . In 1542 Richard Kele's name is found in a Primer in Englysh which was issued from this house. . . . Perhaps the most interesting of his publications, next to the edition of Chaucer, which he shared with Toye and Bonham, are the series of poems by John Skelton, called " Why Come ye not to Courte ? Colin Clout, and The Boke of Phyllip Sparowe." They were issued in octavo form, and were evidently very hastily turned out from the press. . . . " — Plomer. ^ Pithy plea- | faunt and profita- | ble workes of mai- | fter Skelton, | Poete Lau- I reate. | Nowe collected and | newly publifhed. | Anno | 1568. | ^^ Imprinted at London in Fleteftreate, | neare vnto faint Dunftones | churche by Thomas | Marfhe. Octavo. Black-letter. First edition. Collation : Four leaves (no signature) ; A — Aa4, in eights. Pithy Pleafaunt and Profitable | Workes I Of I Maifter Skelton, | Poete Laureate | 6 THE VOLUNTEER LAUREATES To King Henry the Vlllth. | Britanni- carum Literarum lumen et decus. | Eraf- mi Epift. ad Hen. 8. | [Ornament] London : | Printed for C. Davis in Pater- nofter Row. | MDCCXXXVI. Duodecimo. Collation: A, eight leaves; B — O3, in twelves. EDMUND SPENSER (1552?— 1599). The Faerie | Qveene. | Difpofed into twelue books, | Fafhioning | XH. Morall vertues. | London | Printed for William Ponfonbie. 1 1590. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A — Qq4, in eights. The first edition of the first part. Although the title •calls for twelve books, only six were ever published, the first three of which are contained in this volume. In some copies a blank space is left on page 332 for the insertion of several Welsh words, apparently indicating such copies as the first issue. 7. The Second | Part Of The | Faerie Qveene. | Containing | The Fovrth, | Fifth, and | Sixth Bookes. | By Ed. 7 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Spenfer. | Imprinted at London for VVil-^ Ham I Ponfonby. 1596. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A — Kk4, in eights. This is the first edition of the second part, uniform with that of the first part published in 1590, and also with the second edition of that part published in 1596* with which this is generally found. 8. Complaints. | Containing fundrie | fmall Poemes of the | Worlds Va- | nitie. | Whereof the next Page | maketh menti- I on. I By Ed. Sp. | London. | Imprinted for William | Ponfonbie, dwelling in Paules I Churchyard at the figne of | the Bifhops head. | 1591. Quarto. First edition. Collation: A — Z, in fours. 9. Colin Clovts I Come home againe. | By Ed. Spencer. | [Printer's mark] London | Printed for William Ponfonbie. | 1595. [Colophon.] London | Printed by T. C. for William Ponfonbie. | 1595. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A — K, in fours. 8 THE VOLUNTEER LAUREATES SAMUEL DANIEL (1562— 1619). 10. The I Poeticall | Essayes | Of | Sam. Danyel. | Newly corrected and aug- | merited. | ^tas prima canat veneres, I proftrema tumultus. | At London | Printed by P. Short for Simon | Water- fon. 1599. Quarto. First collected edition. ■ Collation : Three leaves (no signatures) ; B — Z and Aa — Ee, in fours ; A, two leaves ; B — E, in fours; F, three leaves; A, two leaves; B — C, in fours; D, two leaves; A — K and Bb — Ff, in fours; Gg, two leaves. The different divisions of this work were originally issued separately, and the unsold portions of the edi- tions were brought together into one volume. The title-page to the " Civil Wars" was canceled, and in its place was substituted a general title followed by a dedication to Sir Charles Blunt, and a new printed title to the "Civil Wars." Beginning with signature B, this volume is identical with the parts as issued sepa- rately. Headley says in his account of Daniel : " Though very rarely sublime, he has skill in the pathetic, and his pages are disgraced with neither pedantry nor con- ceit. We find both in his poetry and prose such a legiti- mate and rational flow of language as approaches nearer the style of the i8th than the i6th century, and of which we may safely assert that it will never become obsolete. He certainly was the Atticus of his day." SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 11. The I Works | of | Samvel Daniel | Newly augmented. | ^tas prima canat veneres | postrema tumultus. | London I Printed for Simon Waterfon. | 1601. Folio. Second collected edition. Collation: A, two leaves; B — O, in sixes; P — T, in fours; A — N, in sixes; A — C4, in sixes. The sixth book of the " Civill Warres " appears here for the first time. One of a few copies of the edition of 1602, dated i6oi,and presented by the author to his friends. 12. The Civile Wares | betweene the Howfes of Lancafter | and Yorke corrected and continued by Samuel Daniel one of the Groomes | of hir Maiesties most honora- ble I Priuie Chamber. | JEtSLS prima canat veneres | postrema tumultus. | Printed | At London | by Simon Waterfonne, | 1609: I Wockfonus fculp: | Quarto. First complete edition. Collation: A — C, in fours; D — R4, in eights. The emblematic title-page, with Daniel's portrait in the center compartment, was engraved by Thomas Cockson (fl. 1609-1636). The edition contains eight books, ending with the 10 THE VOLUNTEER LAUREATES marriage of Edward IV to Elizabeth Wydvil. In the "Epistle Dedicatorie " to the Countess of Pembroke the author says : " I truft I fhall doo a gratefuU worke to my Countrie, to continue the fame, vnto the glorious Vnion of Hen. 7 : from whence is defcended our pref- ent HappinefTe." 13. The I Whole | Workes Of | Samvel Daniel Efquire | in Poetrie. | London, | Printed by Nicholas Okes, for | Simon Waterson, and are to be | fold at his fhoppe in Paules Church- | yard, at the Signe of the Crowne. j 1623. Quarto. Collation ; A, two leaves ; B and C, four leaves each ; D — R4, in eights ; A — N4, in eights ; Aa — Tt6, in eights. This is the most complete edition of Daniel's works, and it was published after his death by his brother, John Daniel, The portion of the volume comprising the " Civil Wars " is that part of the identical edition of 1609 remaining unsold. II PART II POETS LAUREATE BY ROYAL LETTERS PATENT REIGNS OF JAMES I AND CHARLES I BENJAMIN JONSON, catted BEN (1573? — 1637). James the First, himself an author, was not slow to recognize the literary merits of others, and upon the publication of Jonson's works in 1616, Shakespeare being now dead, the king made him court poet, with a salary of one hundred pounds per annum, for the rest of his life. Jonson's plays had already had great vogue, and his success in writing the masques and barriers so popu- lar in Elizabeth's time established his position and reputation at court. But he was improvident, and later we find him thanking King Charles for a gift of an extra hundred pounds, sent to relieve him in his extremity. This gift also served as an occasion for a petition to the king to increase the annual stipend. "The humble petition of poor Ben To the best of monarchs, masters, men. Doth most humbly show it To your Majesty, your poet; IS SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE That whereas your royal father James the blessed, pleased the rather Of his special grace to letters To make all the Muses debtors To his bounty, by extension Of a free poetic pension, A large hundred marks annuity To be given me in gratuity. Please, your Majesty, to make, Of your grace, for goodness sake, Those your father's marks your pounds." The request was granted, and to the hundred pounds was added a tierce of Canary wine, the poet's favorite vintage. Jonson's life was one of great variety. He was born in London, of good parentage. He was sent to a school connected with St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church and also to Westminster School, but it was as bricklayer's apprentice, soldier in the war in Flanders, actor and mender of old plays, as well as by his life- longhabit of study, that he gained the knowledge of men and things which stands out so conspicuously in his virile dramas, masques, hymns and prose writings. An extensive traveler for his day, he was widely known among men of mark. Bluff and outspoken, he often fell into troubles which a less honest man might have avoided. Prodigal of his means and loving " Spanish canary wine " not wisely, his last days were unhappy. At his death it was proposed to erect a monument to his memory in Westminster, but the plan was never carried into execution. It is doubtful if any sculptured structure could so fitly commemorate his genius as the simple lines written by Sir John Young, "O rare Ben i6 BENJAMIN JONSON 14. The I Workes | of | Beniamin Jonson. | -neque, me vt miretur turba, | laboro : I Contentus paucis lectoribus. | Imprinted at I London by | Will Stansby | An° D. 1616. Folio. First collected edition. - Collation : Engraved title-page, one leaf; A — Qqqq4, in sixes. It will be seen that in this folio, published in 1616, the author did not include the comedies of Bartholomew Fair, produced in 16 14, and the Devil ^s an Ass, pro- duced in 1616. It is probable, also, that a number of minor pieces written before this time (many are with- out any date) were reserved by the author for a future volume of his collected Works : "He seems," says Gifford, "to have meditated a complete edition of all his works; but he apparently grew weary towards the conclusion of the volume, and never (unless peculiarly called upon) had recourse to the press afterwards." — Allibone. " The second folio is a wretched continuation of the first, printed from the MSS. surreptitiously obtained during his life or ignorantly hurried through the press after his death. It bears a variety of dates, from 1631 to 1641 inclusive. It is probable that he looked for- ward to a period of retirement and ease; but the loss of his MSS. by fire, and the fatal illness which almost immediately afterwards seized him, rendered all such views abortive. It is remarkable that he calls his Epigrams * Book the First'; he had, therefore, others in his hand; but they have perished."— Memoir of Jonson. 17 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Stansby, the printer of the book, was one of the best of his time ; he had a good stock of type, his ornaments were well designed, and his presswork is better than most of that done by his contemporaries. The emblematic title-page, in compartments, was en- graved by W. Hole or Holle ( fl. 1600-1630). 15. The I VVorkes | of | Benjamin Jonson. | The fecond Volume. | Containing | These Playes, | Viz. | I Bartholomew Fayre. | 2 The Staple of Newes. | 3 The Divell is an Affe. | London, | Printed for Richard Meighen. | 1640. Folio. First edition. Collation : A, six leaves ; B — M, in fours ; Aa — Cc, in fours; D — H, in fours; I, six leaves ; N — Y4, in fours ; B — Q, in fours ; R, two leaves ; S — X, in fours ; Y, two leaves; Z, four leaves; Aa — Oo, in fours ; Pp, two leaves ; Qq, four leaves ; A — K, in fours ; L, two leaves ; M — R, in fours ; A — P, in fours ; Q, two leaves ; R — V, in fours. 16. Ben: lonfon's Exe- | cration againft | Vvlcan. I With divers Epigrams by | the fame Author to feverall | Noble Perfon- ages in | this Kingdome. | Never Pub- i8 BENJAMIN JONSON lifhed before. | London : | Printed by J. O. for John Benfon, and | are to be fold at his fhop at St. Dunftans | Church-yard in Fleet- ftreete. 1640. Quarto. First edition. Collation : Portrait ; A — F, in fours ; f, two leaves ; G, four leaves. "Between this date [1621] and 1623 occurred the greatest calamity of Jonson's private life, the burning of his library, which, although repeatedly impoverished by forced sales (Conversations, $ 13), was probably among the richest in England, and was, moreover, stored with poetic and scholarly lucubrations of his own. His * Execration against Vulcan,' in which he made poetic capital of his loss, enables us to appreciate its exact extent." — Dictionary of National Biography. The portrait of Jonson included in the volume is the well-known engraving by Robert Vaughan (fl. 1650). It has below an inscription of eight lines in Latin and the following couplet signed by Ab. Hall : " O could there be an art found out that might Produce his shape soe lively as to Write ! " In its first state it had an additional inscription, — "Are to be sould by William Peake," — and was proba- bly issued as a separate print. That inscription was then erased, and it was used to ornament the above volume and the collected " Works " of the same date. 17. Q. Horatius J Flaccus: | His Art of Poe- try. I Englished By | Ben : Jonfon | With ^9 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE other Workes of the | Author, never Printed | before. | London: | Printed by J. Okes, for John | Benfon. 1640. Duodecimo. First edition. Collation: Frontispiece; A — C, in twelves; D, five leaves; d, fourteen leaves; E, four leaves ; e, twelve leaves ; F and G, twelve leaves each. The frontispiece was engraved by William Marshall (fl. 1630-1650). It is a portrait bust of Jonson, lau- reated, standing in a niche, with the inscription below : " Q. Horativs Flaccus, his Art of Poetry. Englifht by Ben: Jonfon. London. Printed for John Benfon. 1640." REIGNS OF CHARLES I AND CHARLES II SIR WILLIAM D'AVENANT (1605/6 —1668). The son of a vintner and innkeeper, D'Avenant re- ceived his early education in his native town, Oxford, first " in the Free School joining to Magd. Coll.," and then at Lincoln College. SIR WILLIAM D'AVENANT D'Avenant was the cleverest child of the family, and is in explanation of this, coupled with the fact that Shakespeare was a frequent guest at the D'Avenant inn, that the following story comes down to us from Pope: " One day, when Shakspeare was just arrived, and the boy sent for from school to him, a head of one of the colleges, who was pretty well acquainted with the affairs of the family, met the child running home, and asked him whither he was going in so much haste : the boy said, * to my godfather Shakspeare.' — * Fie, child,' says the old gentleman,* why are you so super- fluous ? Have you not learnt yet that you should not use the name of God in vain ? ' " Pope adds that Sir William seemed fond of having this taken for truth. He first came to court as a page, and there he spent his life, sharing the vicissitudes of the Royalists, to whose cause he was always attached, taking an active part in the Civil War, which services brought him the honor of knighthood after the siege of Glouces- ter, in 1643. On his way to Virginia, on a mission for the king, he was captured by the agents of the Parliament and imprisoned in Cowes Castle and in the Tower of London. After Jonson's death, D'Avenant was appointed to the vacant laureateship, though, unlike Jonson, he owed it rather to the favor of the queen than to real merit. Charles II restored him to the office after its interruption by the war, and also granted to him and Thos. Killigrew " full power and authority to erect two companies of players," " not holding it necessary totally to suppresse the use of theaters, because wee are assured, that, if the evill and scandall in the plays that now are or have bin acted were taken away, the same might serve as innocent and harmlesse divertisement for many of our subjects." 6 21 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE He became manager of various playhouses, where his plays were successfully performed, and where he put into operation some of his theories for the improve- ment of the stage, among them being the giving of female parts to women. Though D'Avenant was not one of the great poets, CoUey Gibber's dictum is probably true, that to him the English stage "stands more deeply indebted than to any other individual, so far as zealous application deserves to be considered in promoting those rational pleasures that are fitted for the entertainment of a civil- ized peqple. " Madagafcar ; | With Other | Poems. | By I W. Davenant. | London, | Printed by John Haviland for Thomas Walkly, | and are to be fold at his fhop at the Fly- ing Horfe I neare Yorke houfe. 1638. Small octavo. First edition. Collation: A, nine leaves; B — Gii, in twelves. The author's appreciative exclamation, "If these Poems live, may their Memories, by whom they were cherish'd. End. Porter, H. larmyn, live with them," prefaces commendatory verses by Sir J. Suckling, T. Carew, W. Habington, and Endimion Porter. The volume contains one of D'Avenant's first attempts at composition, an ode called, " In Remembrance of Mafter William Shakefpeare," proving his admiration, whatever his relation to the great poet may have been. 22 SIR WILLIAM D'AVENANT 19. Gondibert: | An Heroick | Poem, | Writ- ten By I S^ William D'Avenant. [Printer's mark] | London, | Printed by Tho. New- comb for John Holden, and are to | be fold at his Shop at the fign of the Anchor in the | New- Exchange, 165 1. Quarto. First edition. Collation: A — Kkk3, in fours. A is blank. Two books of " Gondibert " were written in Paris before D'Avenant started for Virginia; half of the third book was written during his confinement in Cowes Castle, and it was published in an unfinished state while its author was still a prisoner in the Tower of London. In the " Postscript to the Reader" the author says : " But 'tis high time to ftrike Sail, and caft Anchor (though I have run but half my Courfe) when at the Helme I am threatned with Death ; who, •though he can vifit us but once, feems troublefome; and even in the Innocent may beget fuch a gravity, as diverts the Mufic of Verfe." D'Israeli says of the poem: "The fortunes and the fate of this epic are as extraordinary as the poem itself. Davenant had viewed human life in all its shapes, and had himself taken them. A poet and a wit, the creator of the English stage, a soldier, an emi- grant, a courtier, and a politician and at all times a philosopher, he was, too, a state prisoner, awaiting death with his great poem in his hand." 23 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 20. Poem, I To The | King's | Most | Sacred Majefty. | By | S' William D'Avenant. London, | Printed for Henry Herring- man, at the Anchor in the Lower | Walk of the New Exchange. 1663. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A — E, in fours. Ai and E4 are blank. 21. The I Works | of | S^ William D'ave- nant K* | Confiding of [ Thofe which were formerly Printed, | And | Thofe which he defign'd for the Prefs: | Now Published | Out of the Authors | Origi- nail Copies. | London: | Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringman, at the Sign of the I Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New | Exchange. 1673. Foho. First complete edition. Collation: Portrait; three leaves; A — Eee2, in fours; A — Ppp, in fours; Aaaa — Oooo, in fours. Thomas Newcomb, the printer of the work, was one of the largest employers of labor in the trade at this time. He had " three presses and a proof press, twelve workmen and one apprentice." — Plomer. 24 JOHN DRYDEN REIGNS OF CHARLES II AND JAMES II JOHN DRYDEN (1631^1700). D'Avenant died in 1668, but the post of laureate was not filled until 1670, when Charles II gave it to " John Dryden, Master of Arts, in consideration of his many acceptable services theretofore done to his present Majesty, and from an observation of his learning and eminent abilities, and his great skill and elegant style both in verse and prose." Dryden received at the same time the post of royal historiographer. The salaries from both these offices amounted tO;^200, with the annual butt of Canary wine. But that he did not consider this lavish pay, we may infer from his lines in "Threnodia Augustalis, a Funeral Pindarique Poem Sacred to the Happy Memory of King Charles II " : " The officious Muses came along, A gay, harmonious quire, like angels ever young. Though little was their hire^ and light their gain, Yet somewhat to their share he threw, Fed from his hand, they sung and flew Like birds of Paradise, that lived on morning dew." Dryden's " learning and eminent abilities "had been shown in his poems and plays, to be sure, but it may also have been his political opinions, loudly expressed, which made him so " acceptable " to the king. Austin and Ralph say: "There is no doubt that the poet's early opinions were tinged with Puritanism, and that he had some hopes of patronage and promotion while that party was in power." And again : " His interest lay entirely with the Puritan party. In 1658, on the 25 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE death of Cromwell, he poured forth an elegy. Spratt, Waller, and other poets paid their tributes also, but Dryden's lines were good enough to create great ex- pectations from future efforts of his Muse." Whatever his hereditary religious and political views, Dryden found no difficulty in changing them whenever worldly advantage demanded. On the return of Charles II, he paid him tribute in the " Astrsea Redux " ; and later, to attract the attention of the pious James, who, though he had appointed him laureate, had cut off the butt of Canary from his annual pay, he wrote the " Hind and Panther" as an argument for Roman Catholicism. But in the end these changes played him false, for, un- der the Protestant William, the Lord Chancellor Dorset deposed the Papist poet from office. Austin and Ralph say too : " It is trite to tell any well-informed reader that Dryden was satirist, dramatist, didactic poet, essayist, translator, contro- versialist, and critic ; that he was monarch of his own age, and the idol of the first men of the next ; that his life is the history of half a century ; and that he is at once the glory and the shame of our literature." 22. A I Poem I Upon The | Death | Of | His Late Highnefs, | Oliver, | Lord Protect- or | Of | England, Scotland, & Ireland. | Written by Mr. Dryden. | London, | Printed for William Wilfon ; and are to be fold in | Well- Yard, near Little St. Bartholomew's | Hofpital, 1659. Quarto. Collation : A, four leaves; B, two leaves. 26 JOHN DRYDEN 23. Aftraea Redux. | A | Poem | On the Happy I Reftoration & Return | Of His Sacred Majefty | Charles the Second. | By John Driden. | Jam Redit & Virgo, Redeunt Saturnia Regna. Virgil. | Lon- don, I Printed by J. M. for Henry Her- ringman, and are to be fold at | his Shop, at the Blew- Anchor, in the lower Walk of the New- 1 Exchange, 1660. Folio. First edition. Collation: One leaf without signature; B — D, in twos. 24. The Medall. | A | Satyre | Against | Sedition. | By the Authour of Abfalom and Achitophel. | Per Graium populos, mediaeque per Elidis Vrbem | Ibatovans* Divumque fibi pofcebat Honores. | Lon- don, I Printed for Jacob Tonfon at the Judge's Head in | Chancery- Lane, near Fleet- ftreet. 1682. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A, four leaves ; a, two leaves ; B — D2, in fours. " The rejection by the London grand jury, on Novem- ber 24, 1681, of the bill of high treason presented 27 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE against Lord Shaftesbury was celebrated by a medal having on one side a portrait of Shaftesbury, and on the other a sketch of London. Dryden's satire on it was published in the beginning of March, 1682, within four months after the first publication of 'Absalom and Achitophel.' A second edition appeared in 1683, and a third was published in 1692. Like 'Absalom and Achitophel,' it was published anonymously, and Dry- den's name did not appear on the title-page of any edition of either poem in his lifetime." — Christie. Dryden's satire called forth several answers, among which are " Satire to his Muse " and the " Medal of John Bayes,"by Thomas Shad well. Shad well's attack was answered by Dryden in " Mac Flecknoe." Pope used " The Medal " as a model when he wrote his "Dunciad." 25. Mac Flecknoe, | Or A | Satyr | Upon The I True- Blew- Protestant | Poet, T. S. I By the Author of | Absalom & Achitophel | London, | Printed for D. Green, 1682. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A, four leaves ; B, three leaves. " * Mac Flecknoe ' was published in October, 1682. It was published anonymously, but Dryden spoke of the poem as his own in his ' Essay on Satire,' 1692, and 'Mac Flecknoe ' is printed at the beginning of the volume of Miscellanies edited by Dryden in 1684. The publication in this volume was the second edition of the poem ; a third edition, a reprint of that of 1684, appeared in 1692. The first edition contained many 28 JOHN DRYDEN misprints. . . . The text, as altered in 1684, is Dry- den's authorized text." — Christie. By Mac Flecknoe Dryden meant "poetical son of Flecknoe" — Richard Flecknoe, a dull poet, then de- ceased, and of use, therefore, for the purpose of satire. There is no evidence that Flecknoe ever offended Dry- den. His " Epigrams," 1670, contain some lines ad- dressed to Dryden of a most complimentary character. 26. The I Hind | And The | Panther. | A | Poem, I In Three Parts. | — Antiquam exquiritematrem. | Et vera,inceffu,patuit Dea. — Virg. | London, | Printed for Ja- cob Tonfon, at the Judges Head in | Chancery Lane near Fleetflreet, 1687. Quarto. First edition. Collation : Four leaves without signatures ; B — S, in fours ; T, five leaves. James II succeeded to the throne February 6, 1685, and within a year after his accession Dryden became a Roman Catholic. Then he wrote " The Hind and the Panther," a defense of his new religion in verse. Dr. Johnson says of it : " A fable which exhibits two beasts talking theology, appears at once full of absurdity and it was accordingly ridiculed;" but Hallam defends it: " Yet notwithstanding their evident incoherence, which sometimes leads to the verge of absurdity, and the facil- ity they give to ridicule, I am not sure that Dryden was wrong in choosing this singular fiction." Charles Montagu, the future Earl of Halifax, and Matthew Prior, replied to it in a parody called " The Hind and the Panther Transversed." 7 29 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 27. The I Comedies, | Tragedies, | And | Operas | Written by | John Dryden, Efq ; I Now firft Collected together, and | Cor- rected from the Originals. | In two vol- umes. I [The First Volume] London, I Printed for Jacob Tonfon, at Gray's- Inn-Gate in Gray's-Inn-Lane ; | Thomas Bennet, at the Half-Moon ; and Richard Wellington, at | the Lute in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCCI. Folio. First collected edition. Two volumes. Portrait. The portrait of Dryden, by Nicolas Edelinck (1680- 1730), after Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), which was published with this edition, was also issued sepa- rately. REIGN OF WILLIAM III. THOMAS SHADWELL (1642?— 1692). " Crown you his last performance with applause. Who love like him our liberties and laws. Let but the 'honest ' party do him right, And their loud claps shall give him fame, in spite Of the faint hiss of grumbling Jacobite." D'Urfey's praise of Shadwell in the prologue of "The Volunteers " proved prophetic in a way, for our interest in this laureate is chiefly due to the fact that 30 THOMAS SHADWELL by the divine right of kings he won the bays which, by right of merit, belonged to Dryden, and because, as Dryden's political enemy, he became the subject of the severest satires in the English language. But poetic merit does not seem to have been the standard of the Earl of Dorset when he appointed Shadwell, if we may judge by his side thrust at Dry- den in his reply to a suggestion that there were poets worthier of the honor : " He did not pretend to deter- mine how great a poet Shadwell might be, but was sure he was an honest man." Shadwell's plays are said to " show great powers of observation and make us well acquainted with the manners of his age " : *• With just, bold strokes he dashes here and there. Showing great mastery with little care ; " and in his life he was true to the principles of his art. « Be thou dull, Drink, swear, and roar : forbear no lewd delight Fit for thy bulk — do anything but write," says Dryden ; and again : " I will not rake the dunghill of thy crimes, For who would read thy life that reads thy rhymes ? ' ' This from his enemy ; to make the picture fairer we must quote the words of his panegyrist, Dr. Nicholas Brady, of psalm-book fame, which were not meant to be sarcastic : " And however the world might be mistaken in him, he had a much deeper sense of religion than many who pretend more to it." " He never took his dose of opium but he solemnly recommended himself to God by prayer, as if he were then about to resign up his soul." 31 SELECTED WORKS OF TIJE POETS LAUREATE 28. Epfom-Wells. | A | Comedy, | Acted at the I Duke's Theatre. | Written by | Tho. Shadwell. | [Quotation] Licensed, Feb. 17. i67f | Roger L'Ef- trange. | London, | Printed by J. M. for Henry Herringman at the Sign of the | Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange. | M.DC.LXXIIL Quarto. First edition. Collation : A, three leaves ; B — N, in fours; O, one leaf. " The famous St. Evremond, in particular, has made no scruple of ranking it, in point of merit, with Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair ; yet it could not escape the malevolence and envy of some of the author's con- temporaries [Dryden], who said that it was not his." — Baker. Biographia Dramatica. 29. The I Virtuoso. | A | Comedy, | Acted at the I Duke's Theatre. | Written by | Thomas Shadwell. | Licenfed, May 31. 1676. I Roger L'Estrange. | London, | Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringman, at the Anchor | in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange, 1676. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A — M4, in fours. 32 THOMAS SHADWELL According to Langbaine, the "Virtuoso" was well received. " None since Jonson's time had ever drawn so many different characters of humours, and with such success." Pope tells us that Wycherley had said of our author : " He knew how to start a fool very well, but that he was never able to run him down." 30. The I Medal | Of | John Bayes: | A | Satyr | Against | Folly and Knavery. | Facit indignatio verfus. | [device] London : | Printed for Richard Janeway. 1682. Quarto. First edition. Collation: One leaf without signature; A — D, in fours. This, with the « Epistle to the Tories," was Shad- well's reply to Dryden's "The Medal," in which . . . " he grossly libelled his opponent, both as poet and man, calling him an * abandoned rascal,' 'half wit, half fool.' " It so angered Dryden that he devoted a new satire to Shadwell, who had once been his friend — "Mac Flecknoe, or a Satire on the True Blew Protestant Poet, T. S." 31. A I Congratulatory Poem | To the Moft Illustrious I Queen | Mary | Upon Her | Arrival | In | England. | By | Tho. Shadwell. | London : | Printed for James Knapton, at the Sign of the Crown in S. Paul's Church- | Yard. MDCLXXXIX. Folio. First edition. Collation : A, four leaves. 33 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 32. The Dramatick | Works | of | Thomas Shadwell, Efq; | In Four Volumes. | London : | Printed for J. Knapton, at the Crown in St. | Paul's Church-Yard ; and J. Tonson, at | Shakefpear's Head over- againfl Katharine- Street | in the Strand. MDCCXX. Duodecimo. First collected edition. Four volumes. Plates. The first volume has a portrait of Shadwell, aetat 55, engraved by Simon Gribelin, Jun. (1661-1733). Edited by Shadwell's eldest son, Sir John Shadwell. REIGNS OF WILLIAM III, ANNE AND GEORGE I NAHUM TATE (1652 — 1715). The office of laureate with "poor Nahum " in it in- sured for nearly five and twenty years the activity of a poet who, to repeat the sneering words of Pope, " Steals much, spends little, yet has nothing left," or who, as Sir Walter Scott said, " is one of those second- rate bards, who, by dint of pleonasm and expletive, can find smooth lines if any one will supply ideas." The office supplied more ideas to Tate than to any of its other incumbents, but while they were great in quantity, their quality was not as good as it might 34 NAHUM TATE have been, if we may judge from the following speci- men written in '* sacred memory " of Charles II : ** To farthest lands let groaning winds relate, And rolling Oceans roar their master's fate." Dryden was Tate's early friend and helped him with his continuation of" Absalom and Achitophel," contrib- uting a hundred lines "as plainly distinguishable from the rest as a patch of gold upon cloth of frieze " ; from Ben Jonson, Fletcher and Dekker he borrowed freely, and his adaptations and mutilations of Shakespeare are all well known. He made translations from the Latin, Greek and French, and, most commendable of all his work, he made, jointly with Dr. Brady, a version of the Psalms of David. The work he did as editor, translator, compiler and collaborator is longer and more to his credit than his original work. Tate was obtrusively pious, and it is not surprising to find him appointed by the Earl of Dorset to the laureateship under William III, in 1692, instead of the worthier but lewder Congreve, whom Dryden cham- pioned. The surprise is less, too, when we read in his preface to " Brutus of Alba " that " to lay his tragedy at the feet of Dorset " " transports him more than the greatest success on the stage could have done," for we know that " praise is devotion fit for mighty minds." After William's death Queen Anne reappointed him and placed the gift thereafter in the hands of the Lord Chamberlain. " These are to certify that I have sworn and admitted Nahum Tate into ye place and quality of Poet-Lau- reate to her Majesty in ordinary, to have, hold, and exercise and enjoy the same place together with all right, profits, privileges, and advantages thereunto be- 35 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE longing, in as full and ample manner as any Poet- Laureate hath formerly held and of right ought to have held and enjoyed the same. "Given under my hand this 24*** day of Dec'-. in the first year of her Majesty's reign. — "Jersey." Little is known about Tate's private life, and it is an interesting fact that no portrait of him exists. He was often in financial difficulties and finally died in the Southwark Mint, run down by his creditors. 33. Poems. I By N. Tate. | London, | Print- ed by T. M. for Benj. Tooke at the Signe of | the Ship in St. Pauls, Church- yard, I MDCLXXVII. Octavo. First edition. Collation : A2 — K3. The earliest published work of Tate. The volume contains verses on a wide variety of subjects. " One composition," to quote Austin and Ralph, "laments *the present corrupted state of Poetry,' and is, doubt- less, a striking example of the decay of which it complains." 34. Poems I Written | On feveral Occafions, I By I N. Tate. | The Second Edition enlarged. | London, | Printed for B. Tooke at the Ship in | St. Paul's Church- yard. 1684. Octavo. Collation : A, seven leaves; B — Qi, in eights. 36 NAHUM TATE ^ 35. On The | Sacred Memory | Of Our Late I Sovereign : | With A | Congratu- lation I To His I Prefent Majesty. | — Non defecit Alter | Aureus — | Writ- ten by N. Tate. | London, | Printed by J. Playford, for Henry Playford, near | the Temple-Church : 1685. Folio. First edition. Collation : A — B, in twos. 36. An I Elegy | On The | Moft Reverend Father in God, | His Grace, | John, | Late I Lord Archbifhop of Canterbury. I By N. Tate, Servant to His Majefty. | London : | Printed for B. Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons againft the Royal- | Ex- change in Cornhill; and W. Rogers at the Sun againft | St. Dunftan's Church in Fleet-ftreet. MDCXCV. Folio. First edition. Collation : A — D, in twos. A is unsigned. 37. A New Verfion | Of The | Psalms | Of | David, I Fitted to the Tunes | Ufed in Churches. | By | N. Tate and N. Brady. | London : | Printed by M. Clark : for the Company | of Stationers. 1696. ' 8 37 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Duodecimo. First edition. Collation : Two leaves without signatures ; A — O4, in twelves. An English metrical version of thirty-seven of the Psalms was published by Thomas Sternhold in 1549. John Hopkins, William Whittingham, Dean of Dur- ham, and others translated the remaining hundred and thirteen at different times. The first complete edition, called "The Old Version," was published in 1562 and adopted by the Reformed Church of England in 1562-63. There was some opposition to the "new and modish" version, at first, although it had been approved and revised by the archbishop of Canterbury and licensed by the king. "Tate's share in [this volume] cannot be appor- tioned ; but it is plausible to ascribe to him the ornate pieces of a Drydenesque character (of these Ps. exxxvii, * Thou, Lord, by strictest search hast known,' is the best). The Christmas hymn, * While Shep- herds Watched,' is generally attributed to him, and a few of similar feeling (e. g. Ps. xlii, * As pants the hart '), which stand out above the doggerel mass, may be his also." — Dictionary of National Biography. REIGN OF GEORGE II NICHOLAS ROWE (1674— 1718). Tate was described as a silent man, with downcast look ; but Rowe was comely in person, with a vivacity and cheerfulness of disposition which won him many 38 NICHOLAS ROWE friends. He was successful politically as well as so- cially, and was made successively Under-Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Poet Laureate in 1 715, Surveyor of Customs, Clerk of Council to the Prince of Wales, and Clerk of Presentations. He was an industrious scholar. He translated Boileau's " Lutrin," La Bruy^re's " Characters," Quil- let's " Callipsediae," and Lucan's " Pharsalia "; and he edited, in the modern sense, the works of Shakespeare for the first time. As a dramatist Johnson says of him : " He seldom pierces the breast, but he always delights the ear, and often improves the understanding." What more could be expected from one whom " Pope charges . . . with the want of that valuable article, a heart, and Addison admitted its existence only to testify to the lightness of its material "? His tragedies were, for the most part, well received. Players of his own day, like Thomas Betterton, Barton Booth, John Verbruggen, Mrs. Bracegirdle and Mrs. Oldfield, acted them with pleasure, so contributing to their success ; while some of them long held the stage, and were played by Kean, Macready, Kemble, Mrs. Yates, Garrick and Mrs. Siddons. In nothing is the contrast between Tate and Rowe so marked as in their work as laureates; but here again, over against Rowe's three short years of service, we must set Tate's weary grind of nearly five and twenty. That the "Wicked Wasp of Twickenham" com- memorated our poet in an epitaph, and not in the "Dunciad," of itself points a tale. 38. Tamerlane. | A | Tragedy. | As it is Acted I At the New Theater | In | Little 39 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. | By His Majesty's Servants | Written by N. Rowe Efq; | — Magnus ad altum | Fulminat Euphra- ten bello, Victorque volentes | Per Popu- los dat jura, viamq; affectat Olympo. | Virg. Georg. 4. | London, | Printed for Jacob Tonfon, within Gray's- Inn- Gate, next I Gray's-Inn-Lane. 1702. Quarto. First edition. Collation: Three leaves; b, two leaves; B — K, in fours. "This play was written in compliment to King William III. whose character the author intended to display under that of Tamerlane ... In pursuance of Mr. Rowe's intended comphment, it was long a con- stant custom at all the theatres, both in London and Dublin, to represent it on the 4*** of November, which was that Monarch's birth-day. "This was the tragedy which Rowe valued most, and that which probably, by the help of political auxiliaries, excited most applause." — Baker, Bio- graphia Dramatica. 39. The I Fair Penitent. | A | Tragedy. | As it is Acted at the | New Theatre I In I Little Lincolns-Inn-Fields. | By Her Majesty's Servants. | Written by N. Rowe, Efq ; | Quin morere, ut merita es, ferroque averte dolorem. | Virg. ^n. 40 x> NICHOLAS ROWE Lib. 4. I London, | Printed for Jacob Tonfon, within Grays- Inn Gate next | Grays-Inn Lane. 1703. Quarto. First edition. Collation : A, three leaves ; a, four leaves ; B — I, in fours. Baker says of "The Fair Penitent " : " This play is so well known, and is so frequently performed, and always with the greatest applause, that little need be said of it, more than to hint that the groundwork of it is built on the ' Fatal Dowry ' of Massinger." But Sir Walter Scott thought differently, for he com- plained in his " Essay on the Drama " : " It is a remarkable instance of the decay of dra- matic art at this period that several of the principal au- thors of the time felt themselves at liberty to write imi- tations of old plays belonging to the original school, by way of adapting them to the taste of their own age." Richardson owed his " Lovelace " and " Clarissa " to the villain and the heroine of this play, and our common speech to-day is indebted to it for a "gallant, gay Lothario." 40. Poems I On | Several Occasions. | By N. Rowe, Efq ; | London : | Printed for E. Curll at the Dial and Bible againft | St. Dunftan's Church in Fleet-ftreet. 1714. Quarto. First edition. Collation: A — E 3, in fours. 41 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 41. The I Poetical Works | Of | Nicholas Rowe, Efq; | Late Servant to his Maj- efty. I The Second Edition. | London. | Printed for J. Tonson, E. Curll, T. Jaun- I cy, A. Bell, J. Darby, A. Bettesworth, | J. Pemberton, J. Hooke, C. Rivington, | R. Cruttenden, T. Cox, J. Battely, | F. Clay and E. Symon, M.DCC.XX. Duodecimo. Collation: Portrait; two leaves; B — Eio, in twelves. The portrait of Rowe was engraved by Gerard Van der Gucht (1696-1776). 42. The I Dramatick Works | Of | Nicholas Rowe, Efq ; | Volume the First. ( Containing, The Ambitious | Step- Mother. | Tamerlane. | The Fair Peni- | tent. I Ulysses. | Nos tamen hoc agimus, tenuiq; in pul- vere fulcos | Ducimus, & Littus fterili verfamus aratro. | Juv. Sat. VIL | Lon- don, I Printed: And Sold by T. Jauncy, at the Angel | without Temple-Bar. MDCCXX. 42 NICHOLAS ROWE 43. The I Dramatick Works | Of | Nicholas Rowe, Efq ; | Volume the Second. | Containing, | The Royal Con- | Jane Gray. | vert. I The Biter. | Jane Shore. | London, | Printed : And Sold by T. Jauncy, at the Angel | without Temple- Bar. MDCCXX. Duodecimo. Two volumes. The work is illustrated with eight engravings by Louis du Guernier (1550 — 1620 ?), and the first volume has the portrait of Rowe by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646 — 1723), engraved by George Vertue (1684 — 1756). The separate plays have title-pages with varying dates, while appended to the second volume are : "The Golden Verses of Pythagoras," 1 719; " A Poem Upon the Late Glorious Succeffes of Her Majelly's Arms, &c.," 1719; and "Ode for the New Year, MDCCXVI," 1 719. REIGNS OF GEORGE I AND GEORGE II LAURENCE EUSDEN (1688— 1730). When the Duke of Newcastle married Lady Henri- etta Godolphin, young Eusden, recently graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, celebrated the happy 43 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE event in a poem. For this, his sixth flight into the realm of the Muses, he was rewarded by the duke, as Lord Chamberlain, with the laureateship. During his term of office Eusden wrote numerous laudatory poems, and our wonder at them as serious efforts is equaled only by our amazement at their serious reception by those to whom they were ad- dressed. George II received the following tribute : " Hail, mighty Monarch ! whom Desert alone Would, without Birthright, raise up to the throne ; Thy virtues shine particularly nice, Ungloom'd with a confinity to vice." Perhaps the poet's lines addressed to the same mon- arch, if applied to himself, will explain his bombast : " Streams which in silence flowed obscure before, Swell'd by thy conquests, proudly learn'd to roar." Little is known of Eusden's life except that he took orders and took to drink. What the Duke of Buck- ingham said of him when he was appointed laureate sums up his case : "At last rush'd in Eusden, and cried, who shall have it But I, the true Laureate, to whom the King gave it ? Apollo begg'd pardon, and granted his claim, But vowed, that till then, he had ne'er heard his Apollo's ignorance seems to be general. Eusden's name does not appear in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and it is seldom seen outside of the list of the poets laureate. 44 LAURENCE EUSDEN 44. Three | Poems; | The First, | Sacred to the Immortal Memory of the | late King ; I The Second, | On the happy Succeflion, and Coronation | of His prefent Majesty ; I And A Third | Humbly Infcrib'd to the Queen. | By Laurence Eusden, Servant to His Majesty. | lUe Deum Vitam ac- cipiet, Divifque videbit | Permixtos He- roas, & Ipfe videbitur Illis ! Virg. | — Strepitus faftidit inanes, | Inque Animis Hominum Pompa mehore triumphat. Claud. I — Utinam modo dicere poffem | Carmina digna Dea, certe Dea Carmine digna eft ! Ovid. | The Second Edition. | London : | Printed for J. Roberts in Warwick- Lane. 1727. Folio. First edition. Collation: A — G i, in twos. 45. A I Poem I Humbly Inscribed | To His Royal Highnefs Prince Frederic, | On His Safe Arrival in Great Britain, | And on His being Created Prince of Wales. | By L. Eusden, A.M. | Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and now | Poet-Laureat to His Majesty. | Fallax O quoties Pulvis deludet Amorem | 9 45 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Sufpenfum, veniens omni dum crederis Hora ! Claudian. | Venifti tandem, Tuaque fpectata Parenti | Vicit Iter durum Pietas ? datur Ora tueri ? Virgil. | Jam nihil, O Superi, querimur! Lucan. | London, | Printed : and Sold by J. Roberts in Warwick- Lane. | MDCC- XXIX. Folio. First edition. Collation : A — C, in twos. 46. A I Letter | To | Mr. Addison, | On The I King's I AccefTion to the Throne. | By Mr. Eusden | London : | Printed for J. Tonson, at Shakefpear's Head, over- | againft Catherine-ftreet in the Strand. 1714. Folio. First edition. Collation : One leaf; B — D, in twos. 47. Poetical | Miscellanies, | Confifting of | Original Poems | And | Translations. | By the beft Hands. | Publifh'd by Mr. Steele | London : [ Printed for Jacob Tonson at Shake- | fpear's Head over- againfb Catherine-ftreet | in the Strand. MDCCXIV. 46 LAURENCE EUSt)E>J Octavo. First edition. Collation : Frontispiece ; A — X7, in eights. This volume contains numerous poems by Eusden. REIGN OF GEORGE II COLLEY GIBBER (1671 — 1757). " Gibber," says Warton, "with a great stock of lev- ity, vanity, and affectation, had sense, and wit, and humour," and if we add to these qualities the fact that he was eminent as an actor, dramatic writer and theat- rical manager, we have summed up his qualifications for the position of poet laureate. The appointment was made in 1730, and was directly due to the accept- able Whig views expressed in " The Nonjuror," a comedy founded on Moli^re's " Tartuffe," and produced with great success thirteen years before. " But guessing who should have the luck To be the Birth-day fibber, I thought of Dennis, Tibbold, Duck, But never dreamed of Gibber." The elevation procured for Gibber his even more famous distinction of the chief place in the later ver- sions of the " Dunciad." This last honor will without doubt preserve his name, if not his bays, longer than the first. " Quoth Gibber to Pope, though in verse you foreclose, I '11 have the last word; for by God I '11 write prose. Poor GoUey ! Thy reasoning is none of the strongest, For know, the last word is the word that lasts longest." 47 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Many other satires beside Pope's were directed against Cibber, and the fame of them tends to warp fair criticism and to turn our sympathies against him and cause us to forget his undoubted merits. This is unfair : " He was a great comedian, and, with al- lowances for his personal prejudices, the best critic of acting the stage has known." "By his writings he elevated the morality of the stage, and by his policy he improved its management." His private life was not up to the standard of his writings. He was "fond of his bottle, fond of his jest, fond likewise of the rattle of the dice." 48. The I Non-Juror. | A | Comedy. | As it is Acted at, the | Theatre-Royal, | By | His Majesty's Servants. | Written by Mr. Cibber. | — Pulchra Laverna | Da mihi fallere ; da Juftum, Sanctumq; videri, | Noctem Peccatis, & Fraudibus objice Nubem. | Hor. I London : | Printed for B. Lintot, at the Crofs-Keys in | Fleetftreet. MDCCXVIII. Octavo. First edition. Collation : A, seven leaves ; A, four leaves ; B — F, in eights, one leaf unsigned. The presentation copy to George I, to whom it is dedicated in English and in French. 49. The Dramatic | Works | Of | Colley Cib- ber, Esq. I In Five Volumes. | [Volume 43 COLLEY GIBBER the First] [contents of each volume given on title-page^ London: | Printed for J. Rivington and Sons, C. Bathurst, | T. Longman, T. Lowndes, T. Caslon, W. Ni- | coll, and S. Bladon. | M.DCC.LXXVIL Duodecimo. Second collected edition. Five volumes. Portrait. The first volume contains a portrait of Gibber, en- graved by John Miller (otherwise Johann Sebastian Miiller) (I7i5?-i790?), after the painting by Jean Bap- tiste van Loo (1684-1745). 50. An Apology for The Life Of | Mr. Colley Gibber | Written By Himself | A New Edition With Notes And Supplement | By I Robert W. Lowe | With Twenty- Six Original Mezzotint Portraits By | R. B. Parkes, And Eighteen Etchings | By Adolphe Lalauze | In Two Volumes I Volume The First | London | John C. Nimmo | 14, King William Street, Strand | MDCCCLXXXIX. Quarto. Two volumes. Portraits, plates. The first edition was published in 1740. " Swift was so much pleased with Gibber's Apology for his Life that he sat up all night to read it ; upon hearing which. Gibber, it is said, shed tears for joy." — Allibone. 49 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE REIGNS OF GEORGE II AND GEORGE III WILLIAM WHITEHEAD (1715— 1785). Little was expected of the successor of Rowe and Eusden : " Next Whitehead came, his worth a pinch of snuff. But for a Laureate, — he was good enough." Whitehead was the son of a baker. By commend- able'diligence he worked his way through the Univer- sity, and became tutor to the son of the Earl of Jersey. Both father and son remained Whitehead's warm friends and patrons, and it was due to Lady Jersey's influ- ence with the Duke of Newcastle that he received the laureateship upon the death of Gibber. Gray had been offered the vacant place, but had re- fused it, and Whitehead would have done wiser to follow Gray's example ; for, to quote from his own lines, he knew the difficulties of the position : " Obliged by sack and pension. Without a subject or invention. Must certain words in order set, As innocent as a gazette — Must some meaning half disguise. And utter neither truth nor lies." Whitehead appears to have been a good man and not a bad poet as poets laureate go: he tried to reform the stage, for which he wrote numerous dramas to be acted with success by Garrick, and if, as poet laureate, he was subjected to severer criticisms than the poet 50 WILLIAM WHITEHEAD tutor would have been, it was more the fault of his friends than his own. For Americans he has an especial interest : he was the poetaster during the Revolutionary War. 51. The I Danger | Of j Writing Verse: | An I Epistle. | By Mr. W. Whitehead of Clare-Hall in Cambridge. | Quae poterant unquam fatis expurgare cicutae, | Ni me- lius dormire putem, quam fcribere verfus ? I Hon Ep. 2. Lib. 2. | [Printer's mark] TuUy. I London : | Printed for R. Dods- ley at Tully's Head in Pali-Mall; | And Sold by T. Cooper at the Globe in Pater- nofter- Row. 1741. | [Price One Shilling.] Folio. First edition. Collation : Two leaves ; B — D, in twos. 52. Ann Boleyn | To | Henry the Eighth. | An I Epistle. | By Mr. William White- head, I Fellow of Clare- Hall in Cam- bridge. I Ne quid inexpertum, fruftra moritura, relinquat. Virg. | [Printer's mark] Tully. | London : | Printed for R. Dodsley at Tully's Head in Pall- Mall ; | And Sold by M. Cooper at the Globe in 51 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Pater-nofter Row. 1743. | [Price One Shilling.] Folio. First edition. Collation : Two leaves ; B — D, in twos. 53. An I Essay | On | Ridicule. | By Mr. William Whitehead, | Fellow of Clare- Hall in Cambridge. | [Device] Tully. | London : | Printed for R. Dodsley at Tully 's Head in Pall- Mall; | And Sold by M. Cooper in Pater-nofter- Row. 1743. I [Price One Shilling.] Folio. First edition. Collation : Two leaves ; B — E, in twos. 54. On I Nobility: | An | Epistle | To The | Right Hon'''"- the Earl of ****** | Sed Te cenferi laude Tuorum I Noluerim Juv. ' | By Mr. William Whitehead, | Fellow of Clare- Hall, Cambridge. | [Printer's mark] Tully. I London : | Printed for R. Dods- ley, at Tully's Head in Pall-mall; and I fold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-nofter-Row. | M.DCC.XLIV. | (Price One Shilling.) Folio. First edition. Collation: One leaf; B — D, in twos. $2 WILLIAM WHITEHEAD 55. Atys I And | Adrastus, | A | Tale | In the Manner of Dryden's Fables. | By Mr. William Whitehead, Fellow of | Clare- Hall in Cambridge. | Infelix ! Nati funus crudele videbis. | Hi noftri reditus, ex- pectatique triumphi ! | Haec mea magna fides ! — Virg. JEn. viii. | The Second Edition. | [Ornament] London: | Print- ed for R. Manby, on Ludgate Hill: | And Sold by M. Cooper, in Pater-nofter Row. MDCCXLIV. | [Price One Shil- ling.] Folio. First edition. Collation : One leaf; B — D, in twos ; E, three leaves. 56. Plays I And | Poems, | By | William Whitehead, Esq. | Poet Laureat, j And Register And Secretary To The Most | Honorable Order Of The Bath. | In Two Volumes. | [Vol. I.] London, | Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, | MDCC- LXXIV. Octavo. First collected edition. Two volumes. Portrait. The first volume has an oval portrait of the author engraved by J. Collyer (1748-1827), after the painting by W. Doughty (d. 1782). 10 S3 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 57. Poems I By William Whitehead, Esq. | Late Poet Laureat, | And Register And Secretary To The Most | Honorable Order Of The Bath. | Vol. III. | To Which Are Prefixed, | Memoirs | Of His I Life and Writings. | By W. Mason, M. A. I York: | Printed By A. Ward, And Sold By J. Robson And | W. Clarke, New Bond-Street, London, | And J. Todd, York. I MDCCLXXXVni. Octavo. First edition. Collation : Two leaves ; a — p, in fours ; q, five leaves; A — Y2, in fours. This volume is made up of " writings, either uncol- lected or unpublished" by the author and edited by William Mason (1724-1797). REIGN OF GEORGE III THOMAS WARTON (1728— 1790). Warton graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, and there he remained during the greater part of his life as a professor, first in the chair of Poetry, and later of Ancient History. There is a different stamp upon his work from that of his predecessors : he was of the university, they of the court, the theater, or from among the followers of the great. His prose writings exceed in number and importance his poetical works, and it is as a man of letters that his 54 THOMAS WARTON " name is a landmark in the history of English litera- ture." Christopher North went so far as to say, " the gods had made him poetical, but not a poet"; but even so, in his "poetical " works he "left his impress on the course of English literature." His greatest work was his "History of English Poetry. " He edited the works of Theocritus, Milton's "Poems upon Several Occasions," and "Anthologise Graecae" of Kephalas. He was appointed laureate in 1785, and his first official ode called forth the famous squib, " Probationary Odes for the Laureateship," in which he is described as " a little, thick, squat, red-faced man " ; and his own " birthday " ode was given " as signally characteristic of the ludicrous tameness incident to the compositions of laureated poetasters." This "most exquisite of lit- erary jokes" "purported to be the competitive essays of Warton's rivals." They "are very comical, and abound in humorous allusions, which were greatly appreciated at the time, although now a key is required to their meaning." It is pleasant to record that Warton received this joke with a good nature habitual to one of the most amiable of men. 58. Observations | On The | Faerie Queene I Of I Spenser. | By Thomas Warton, A.M. I Fellowof Trinity-College, Oxford. I London : | Printed for R. and J. Dods- ley; | And J. Fletcher, in the Turl, Oxford. I 1754. Quarto. Pp. [iv], 322. First edition. 55 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 59. The I History Of English Poetry, | From The | Close Of The Eleventh | To The I Commencement Of The Eight- eenth Century. | To Which Are Pre- fixed, I Three Dissertations : | i . Of The Origin Of Romantic Fiction In Europe. | 2. On The Introduction Of Learning Into England. | 3. On The Gesta Ro- manorum. | By | Thomas Warton, B. D. I Fellow Of Trinity College, Oxford, And Of The Society Of Antiquaries, And Late I Professor Of Poetry In The University Of Oxford. I A New Edition | Carefully Revised, | With Numerous Additional Notes By The Late Mr. Ritson, | The Late Dr. Ashby, Mr. Douce, | Mr. Park, And Other Eminent Antiquaries, | And I By The Editor. | In Four Volumes. | [Vol. I.] London: | Printed for Thomas Tegg, 73, Cheapside. | 1824. Octavo. Four volumes. Portrait. The work originally appeared as follows : the first volume was published in 1774; the second in 1778; "and the third in 1781, preceded by an additional dissertation on the ' Gesta Romanorum.' " A fourth promised volume never appeared. This edition was edited by Richard Price (1790- 1833), who " retained many of Warton's self-evident mistakes, and made some new ones." 56 HENRY JAMES PYE HENRY JAMES PYE (1745— 1813). Pye was the next laureate, and nobody ever knew just why, but all agree that " no selection could have more effectually deprived the post of reputable literary merit." It may not be amiss to set aside all attempts at a serious criticism of " Henry James Pye," as Southey always called him, and merely quote some of the many epithets and jingles which commemorate him. The " poetical Pye," said Scott politely, while Byron scornfully referred to him "as eminently respectable in everything but his poetry," and Byron was certainly a judge of both morals and poetry : he believed it "Better to err with Pope, than shine with Pye." George Steevens plagiarized to express his thoughts of our poetaster : " And when the pie was opened The birds began to sing ; And was n't that a dainty dish To set before a king? " while Porson thought to gain more dignity with Latin : ** Poetis nos Isetamur tribus, Pye, Petro Pindar, Parvo Pybus. Si ulterius ire pergis, Adde his Sir James Bland Burges." All this apropos of " a good Englishman, a gentle- man in the highest sense of the word, a man of an- cient family, of patriotic principles, of genial courtesy, and pleasant convivial habits," — too bad the Canary was commuted in his day! — " an industrious student, a well- informed, cultivated, graceful writer," poet laureate to his Majesty King George — but no poet. 57 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 60. Six I Olympic Odes | Of Pindar: | Being thofe omitted by | Mr. West. | Translated into I English Verse. | With Notes. | London : | Printed for Benjamin White, I at Horace's-Head, Fleet-Street. | MD- CCLXXV. Duodecimo. Pp. vii, 73. First edition. 61. Adelaide: | A | Tragedy, | In Five Acts, I As Performing | With Univ.ersal Applause, | At | The Theatre- Royal, Drury-Lane. | By | Henry James Pye, | Poet Laureat. | Celebrare Domestica Facta. — Hon | London : | Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly. | 1800. | Price 2s. 6d. | Entered at Stationers' Hall. Octavo. Pp. 78. First edition. "There is some fine writing in this piece, which will please in the closet; but it had no interest on the stage. The story is drawn from the latter part of the reign of Henry II. whose last days were so much em- bittered by the disobedient and unnatural conduct of his sons." — Baker, Biographia Dramatica. S8 ROBERT SOUTHEY REIGNS OF GEORGE III, GEORGE IV, WILLIAM IV, AND VICTORIA ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774 — 1843). Southey's own letters give the most interesting ac- count we have of the circumstances connected with his appointment to the laureateship. In a letter to C. W. W. Wynn, Esq., bearing date of Sept. 20, i8i3,he says : " Pye's death was announced a day or two before my departure from Keswick, and at the time I thought it so probable that the not-very-desirable succession might be offered me, as to bestow a little serious thought upon the subject, as well as a jest or two." The office was tendered to him at the wish of the Prince Regent, and he was given to understand that the "onus " of it would be dropped, but owing to a misunderstanding the place had also been offered to Scott by Lord Liverpool and the Marquis of Hertford. Scott generously declined the appointment, not from any foolish prejudice, as he wrote Southey, but because he was already provided for, and would not engross emoluments which ought to be awarded to a man of letters who had no other views in life. ' In a long letter to Scott, written after his induction into office, Southey says : " I swore to be a faithful servant to the king, to reveal all treasons which might come to my knowledge, to discharge the duties of my office, and to obey the lord chamberlain in all matters of the king's service, and in his stead the vice-cham- berlain. Having taken this upon my soul, I was thereby inducted into all the rights, privileges, and benefits which Henry James Pye, Esq., did enjoy, or ought to have enjoyed." 59 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE "The original salary of the office was lOO marks. It was raised for Ben Jonson to ;^ioo and a tierce of Spanish Canary wine, now wickedly commuted for ;^26; which said sum, unlike the Canary, is subject to income-tax, land-tax, and Heaven knows what taxes besides. The whole net income is httle more or less than ;^90. It comes to me as a God-send, and I have invested it in a life-policy." A few of his lines will announce the actual installation : " I have something to tell you, which you will not be sorry at, 'T is that I am sworn in to the office of laureate. The oath that I took there could be nothing wrong in, 'T was to do all the duties to the dignity belonging. Keep this, I pray you, as a precious gem, For this is the laureate's first poem." " There, my dear Edith, are some choice verses for you. I composed them in St. James' Park yesterday, on my way from the chamberlain's office, where a good old gentleman usher, a worthy sort of fat old man, in a wig and bag, and a snuff-colored full-dress suit with cut steel buttons and a sword, administered an oath." The "onus" of the office, the New Year's Ode (Shadwell's Birth Day Ode had already been abol- ished), was not done away with until some time after, much to Southey's disgust. " Is it true that the Princess Charlotte is likely to be married ? You will guess why I wish to know; though if I had not written half a marriage poem, I certainly would not begin one, for, between ourselves, I have not been well used about the laureateship. They require task verses from me — not to keep up the custom of having them befiddled, but to keep up the task — in- stead of putting an end to this foolery in a fair and 60 ROBERT SOUTHEY open manner, which would do the court credit, and save me a silly expense of time and trouble." Letter to Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq., Feb. 4, 1816. 62. Omne Solum Forti Patria. | Madoc. | Book I. I [Device cut out and pasted on] Duodecimo. LI. 277, 38. The original manuscript of "Madoc," written in 1799 and published in 1805. 63. Miscellanea Poetica. Octavo. LI. 137. A collection of poems in Southey's handwriting, many of which were afterwards printed. 64. The Lay of the Laureate. | Carmen Nup- tiale, I By | Robert Southey, Esq. | Poet Laureate, | Member Of The Royal Span- ish Academy, And Of The | Royal Span- ish Academy Of History. | London: | Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And I Brown, Paternoster Row. | 181 6. Duodecimo. Pp. [3], 77. First edition. 65. The Poet's Pilgrimage | to | Waterloo: | By I Robert Southey, Esq. | Poet Lau- II 61 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE reate, | Member Of The Royal Spanish Academy, And Of The | Royal Spanish Academy Of History. | [Quotation, three lines.] Pindar. Pyth. 2. | London: |. Printed For Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And | Brown, Paternoster Row. | 1816. Sextodecimo. Pp. [iv], 232. Eight plates. First edition. The plates are steel-engravings by George Cooke ( 1 781-1834), from sketches by E. Nash and C. Bell. 66. All For Love; | And | The Pilgrim To Compostella. | By | Robert Southey, Esq. L.L.D. | Poet Laureate, &c. | Lon- don : I John Murray, Albemarle Street. I MDCCCXXIX. Octavo. Pp. [v], 221. Plate. First edition. The volume has for a frontispiece a proof engraving by Edward Francis Finden (i 792-1857), of a picture by R. Westall (i 765-1836). A note in pencil by William Beckford reads : " All for pelf rather than All for Love in this breathing world. Nothing but the desire of adding to his stock of pence, and laudable view of presenting his little friends, — sweet listening dears, — with comfits & sugar plums, could have induced the Laureate to put forth such a doodle- some publication. — W. B." 62 ROBERT SOUTHEY 6*]. The Doctor, | &c. | [Device] Third Edi- tion. I Vol. I. I London: | Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green And | Long- mans. I 1839. Post octavo. Seven volumes. Plate. This " glorified commonplace-book " " originally ap- peared as follows ; vol. i. and ii. 1834, vol. iii. 1836, vol. iv. 1837, and vol. v. 1838. . . . Vol. vi. appeared in 1847, edited by Southey's son-in-law, the Rev. John Wood Warter. . . . The 7th, being the concluding volume, appeared also in 1847. . . . " — Lowndes. 68. The Doctor, | &c. | [Device] Vol. VII. | London : | Longman, Brown, Green, And Longmans. | 1847. Volume seven has a colored frontispiece by John Glover (1767-1849), called "The Statues." REIGN OF VICTORIA WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770— 1850). Writing to Lady F. Bentinck in 1843, Wordsworth says: " The Lord Chamberlain [Earl De La Warr], in terms the most honourable, has, with the Queen's appro- bation, offered me the vacant Laureateship. Had I been several years younger I should have accepted the 63 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE office with pride and pleasure; but on Friday I shall enter, God willing, my 74th year, and on account of so advanced an age I begged permission to decline it, not venturing to undertake its duties. For though, as you are aware, the formal task-work of New Year and Birthday Odes was abolished when the appoint- ment was given to Mr. Southey, he still considered himself obliged in conscience to produce, and did produce, verses, some of very great merit, upon im- portant public occasions. He failed to do so upoi) the Queen's Coronation, and I know that this omis- sion caused him no little uneasiness. The same might happen to myself upon some important occasion, and I should be uneasy under the possibility." The Prime Minister, Robert Peel, added his en- treaty to the Lord Chamberlain's, promising that nothing should be " required " of the aged poet, and, all scruples being removed, Wordsworth finally ac- cepted the position. He wrote but one ode in his official capacity, and that was probably only nominally by him. 69. Lyrical Ballads, | With | A Few Other Poems. I London: | Printed for J. & A. Arch, Gracechurch- Street. | 1798. Octavo. Pp. [i], V, [i], 210, [i]. First edition. 70. Lyrical Ballads, | With | Other Poems. | In Two Volumes. | By W. Wordsworth. I Quam nihil ad genium, Papiniane, tuum! I Vol. II. I London : | Printed For T. N. 64 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Longman And O. Rees, Paternoster- Row, I By Biggs And Co. Bristol. | 1800. Octavo. Pp. [iv], 227. First edition. 71. The Excursion, | Being A Portion Of | The Recluse, | A Poem. | By | William Wordsworth. | London : | Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And Brown, | Paternoster-Row. | 18 14. Quarto. Pp. xx, 447 . First edition. 72. The I White Doe | Of | Rylstone; | Or I The Fate Of The Nortons. | A Poem. I By | WilHam Wordsworth. | London : | Printed For | Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And Brown, | Pater- noster-Row, I By James Ballantyne And Co., Edinburgh. | 1815. Quarto. Pp. xi, 162. Plate. First edition. 73. The I Miscellaneous | Poems | Of | Wil- liam Wordsworth. | In Four Volumes. | [Vol. L] London : | Printed For Long- man, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And Brown, | Paternoster- Row. | 1820. 65 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Duodecimo. Four volumes. Four plates. First collected edition. The frontispieces to the first three volumes are en- gravings by John Charles Bromley (1795- 1838), after the pictures by Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827). The frontispiece of volume four was engraved by Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835) after a picture by Beaumont. 74. Memorials | Of A | Tour On The Continent, | 1820. | By William Words- worth. I London : | Printed For | Long- man, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And Brown, | Paternoster- Row. | 1822. Octavo. Pp. viii, 103. First edition. 75. Yarrow Revisited, | And | Other Poems. I By I William Wordsworth. | — " Poets . . . dwell on earth | To clothe whatever the soul admires and loves | With lan- guage and with numbers." | Akenside. I London : | Printed for | Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, ( Pat- ernoster-Row; And I Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | 1835. Duodecimo. Pp. xv, 349. First edition. 66 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ^6. The I Sonnets | Of ] William Words- worth. I Collected In One Volume, | With I A Few Additional Ones, Now First Published. | London | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | MDCCCXXX- VIII. Octavo. Pp. xi, 477. Portrait. First edition. " No one since Milton has so adorned our language in this species of composition." — Lond. Lit. Gaz,, 1838. The autograph portrait, from the miniature painted by Margaret Gillies (1803-1887), was engraved by J. C. Armytage. The book was bound by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, in 1894, after his own design. ALFRED TENNYSON, FIRST BARON TENNYSON (1809— 1892). " On November 19*^ my father was appointed Poet Laureate, owing chiefly to Prince Albert's admiration for * In Memoriam.' Wordsworth had been now dead some months ; and my father, as he has assured me, had not any expectation of the Laureateship, or any thought upon the subject: it seemed to him therefore a very curious coincidence, that the night before the offer reached him he dreamt that Prince Albert came and kissed him on the cheek, and that he said in his dream, * Very kind, but very German.' " In the morning this letter about the Laureateship was brought to his bedroom " : 67 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE "Windsor Castle, Nov. 5*^ 1850. " By the death of the late lamented Wm. Wordsworth the Office of Poet Laureate to the Queen became at Her Majesty's disposal. " The ancient duties of this Office, which consisted in laudatory Odes to the Sovereign, have been long, as you are probably aware, in abeyance, and have never been called for during the Reign of Her present Maj- esty. The Queen, however, has been anxious that the Office should be maintained; first, on account of its antiquity, and secondly, because it establishes a con- nection, through Her Household, between Her Majesty and the poets of this country as a body. "To make however the continuance of this Office in harmony with public opinion, the Queen feels that it is necessary that it should be limited to a name bearing such distinction in the literary world as to do credit to the appointment, and it was under this feeling, that Her Majesty in the first instance offered the appoint- ment to Mr. Rogers, who stated to Her Majesty, in his reply, that the only reason which compelled him gratefully to decline Her Majesty's gracious intention, was, that his great age rendered him unfit to receive any new office. " It is under the same desire that the name of the poet appointed should adorn the Office, that I have received the commands of the Queen to offer this post to you, as a mark of Her Majesty's appreciation of your liter- ary distinction. " I have the honour to be. Sir, " your obedient humble servant, «C. B. Phipps." " He took the whole day to consider, and at the last wrote two letters, one accepting, one refusing, and de- termined to make up his mind after a consultation with 68 ALFRED TENNYSON his friends at dinner. He would joke and say, * In the end I accepted the honour, because during dinner Ven- ables told me, that, if I became Laureate, I should always when I dined out be offered the liver-wing of a fowl.' " Lord Tennyson's reflections upon Wordsworth might aptly be apphed to himself. Hallam Tennyson says again : " He was meditating his first Laureate poem, *To the Queen,' and was especially thinking of a stanza in which ' the empire of Wordsworth should be asserted : for he was a representative Poet Laureate, such a poet as kings should honour and such an one as would do honour to kings; — making the period of a reign famous by the utterances of memorable words concerning that period.' " T'j, Poems, | Chiefly Lyrical, | By Alfred Tennyson. | London : | Effingham Wil- son, Royal Exchange, | Cornhill. | 1830. Foolscap octavo. Pp. [iii], 154. First edition. "It had originally been intended to publish these poems conjointly with those of Arthur Hallam ; but by the advice of Hallam's father the contributions of the latter were withdrawn. . . . " Many of the poems in this volume were rejected and omitted from subsequent editions of Tennyson's Minor Poems." — The Bibliography of Tennyson. JZ. The Princess ; | A Medley. | By | Alfred Tennyson. | London : | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | MDCCCXLVIL 12 69 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE Foolscap octavo. Pp. [i], 164. First edition. 79. In Memoriam. | London: | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | 1850. Foolscap octavo. Pp. vii, 210. First edition. " The poem, written in a four-lined stanza — believed by the poet to have been invented by himself, but which had been in fact long before used by Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, and notably by Lord Herbert of Cherbury — had grown to its final shape during a period of seventeen years following the death of Arthur Hal- lam. Issued with no name upon the title-page, its authorship was never from the first moment in doubt." — Canon Ainger. 80. Ode I On The Death | Of The | DuJ^e Of Wellington. | By Alfred Tennyson, | Poet Laureate. | London : | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | 1852. Octavo. Pp. 16. First edition. 81. Maud, I And Other Poems. | By | Al- fred Tennyson, D.C.L., I Poet Laureate. | London : | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. I i8S5- Foolscap octavo. Pp. [v], 154. First edition. 70 ALFRED TENNYSON 82. Idylls Of The King. | By | Alfred Ten- nyson, D.C.L., I Poet Laureate. | " Flos regum Arthurus." | Joseph of Exeter. I London : | Edward Moxon & Co., Dover Street. | 1859. Foolscap octavo. Pp. [v], 261. First edition. 83. A Welcome. | By | Alfred Tennyson, D.C.L., I Poet Laureate. | London: | Edward Moxon & Co., Dover Street. | 1863. Foolscap octavo. Pp. 4. First edition. "These lines were addressed to the Princess Alex- andra of Denmark, on her arrival in England and her marriage with the Prince of Wales. . . . This separate edition is now a great rarity, though it could be bought at the time of its publication for a few pence." — The Bibliography of Tennyson. 84. Becket | By | Alfred | Lord Tennyson | Poet Laureate | London | Macmillan and Co. I 1884 Foolscap octavo. Pp. [v], 213. First edition. Produced at the Lyceum Theatre by Henry Irving in 1893. 71 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE 85. The I Death Of CEnone, | Akbar's Dream, | And Other Poems | By | Alfred I Lord Tennyson | Poet Laureate | With Five Steel Portraits Of The Author | London | Macmillan and Co. | And New York I 1892 I All rights reserved Octavo. Pp. vi, III. Five portraits. First edition. " Published the latter part of October, 1892. ITie proof was all revised by the Poet a fortnight before his death." — The Bibliography of Tennyson. The Poems By Two Brothers and this volume are the only works of Tennyson published originally in Large-Paper copies. ALFRED AUSTIN (1835—). Lord Rosebery having refused to appoint a successor to Alfred Tennyson as poet laureate, there was an in- termission of four years, until Lord Salisbury, who, " as Matthew Arnold long ago noted, has a dangerous ignorance of literature," appointed the present incum- bent on New Year's day, 1896. Z6. The Season : | A Satire. | By | Alfred Austin. I With Frontispiece Of ** The Modern Muse," By | Thomas George Cooper. I Slender. — Why do your dogs bark so ? be there bears i' th' Town ? | Anne Page. — I think there are. Sir ! I heard them talked of | Slender. — I love 72 ALFRED AUSTIN the sport well ; . . . but the women have so I cried and shrieked at it, that it passed. I Merry Wives of Windsor. | London : | Robert Hardwicke, 192, Piccadilly. | 1861. Octavo. Pp. 74. Plate. First edition. "One of the most notable and sorest points with Mr. Austin is the present fashion of low dresses as worn by ladies in the evening." — Sat. Rev., xii, 24. AUTHORITIES ON THE POETS LAUREATE 87. The Lives | Of | The Poets- Laureate. | With An Introductory Essay On | The Title And Office. | By Wiltshire Stanton Austin, Jun., | B, A., Exeter College, Oxon.; I And John Ralph, M.A., | Bar- rister- At- Law. I [Quotation, five lines.] London : | Richard Bentley, New Bur- lington Street. | Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. | M.DCCC.LIII. Octavo. Pp. vi, [i], 428. 88. The I Poets Laureate | Of | England.-) Being | A History Of The Office Of Poet Laureate, | Biographical Notices Of Its Holders, | Etc. By | Walter Hamil- ton. I Illustrated. | [Volume I.] | Lon- 73 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE don : I Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. I 1879 Octavo. Pp. XXV, [ii], 308. One volume extended to two by the insertion of numer- ous portraits and plates. 89. The Laureates | of England | From Ben Jonson to Alfred Tennyson | With Selec- tions From Their Works And An Intro- duction I Dealing With The Origin And Significance Of | The English Laureate- ship I By I Kenyon West | Vignette Edition, With Numerous New | Illus- trations I By I Frederick C. Gordon, Esq. I New York and London | Fred- erick A. Stokes Company | Publishers | Octavo. Pp. 20 + 459. Portraits, plates. PORTRAITS GEFFREY CHAUCER. Line engraving. 90. .A half-length figure turned to the left, inclosed in an oval border which rests on a pedestal; the whole surrounded by a rectangular border. The oval is crowned with a laurel wreath and a ribbon bearing the inscription : 74 PORTRAITS / Our Antient & Learned Geffrey Chaucer ) Englifti Poet, died 1400 ( Mtz. 72. [Coat of Arms.] Anglia Chaucenim veneratur nostra Poetam, | Cui veneres debet patria lingua suas. | Tho. Occleve Contemporar & discipulus ejusdem Chauceriad viv: delin.: Geo. Vertue Sculp: 1717. JOHN GO^VER. Line engraving. 91. A full bust turned to the right, within an archi- tectural framework, at the foot of which stand four volumes ; one book is open and shows a picture of Gower's effigy and tomb. Inscription, below. Joannes Gower | Armi- ger. I Anglorum Poeta Celeberrimus. | Chau- ceri Poeta | Contemporar. | G. Vertue Sculp 1727. I Honoritifs D°° loanni Levison Gower Domino Gower. | banc Effigiem humillime D.D. I G. Vertue. JOHN SKELTON. Stipple engraving, 92. A half-length figure turned toward the right : the face is turned toward the left. Inscription, below. lohn Skelton | Poet Lauret to King Henry the Eighth. | From an Original Picture in the Pofsefsion of Mr Richardson. ( Published Novf 1^} 1797, by W. Richardson York House N?3i Strand. 75 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE EDMUND SPENSER. Line engraving. 93. A full bust, three-quarters face, in an oval resting on a pedestal. Above the oval is a pediment, partly covered with drapery, con- taining a laurel wreath, with the inscription : Edmund Spencer Obiit 1599. Inscription, below. Anglica te vivo, vixit plaufitq Poefis ; | Nunc moritura timet te mori- ente Mori. | Camden. Geo : Vertue Sculp : 1727- Honoralifs loanni Guyse Tribuno Militum | Singulari bonarum Artium Fautori, D.D. G. Vertue. SAMUEL DANIEL. 94. For a portrait of this Laureate, see the title- page of his " Civile Wares," 1609 (No. 12), en- graved by Thomas Cockson or Coxson {fl, 1609-1636.) BEN JONSON. Line engraving. 95. A full bust, in an oval resting on a pedestal; the whole being inclosed within a rectangular border. Above the rectangle is a laurel wreath and a ribbon bearing the inscription : Benjaminus Johnson. ObijtAnno|Dom. 1637. ( ^tat. 63. 76 PORTRAITS Inscription, below. Fronti nulla Fides huic non dicatur: apelle | A tanto, vates, ^n redivivus ades. | Immortale duplex micat hie opus : lUius Arte | forma, tud a Penna fama, perennis erit | E Pinacotheca Nobilifsimi & Honoratifsimi loannis Domini Sommers &c. Cui Tabulam banc humillim^ dicat. | Amico fuo Mauritio Johnson I. C. Artium Amatori redicat 1730. G. Vertue | Gerard Honthorst pinxit. Geo: Vertue, Londini Sculp BEN JONSON. 96. Oil painting, by Gerard van Honthorst. Honthorst was born in Utrecht in 1590 and died there in 1656. He studied his art at the school of Bloemart and later in Italy. Returning to Utrecht he became fashionable and his reputation reaching England, Charles I. invited him to his court. He painted many pictures in England and also at the Hague, where he was made court painter to the Prin- cess of Orange. , This is undoubtedly the original portrait of Jonson from which all later engravings have been made. ^ Painted on wood. 12 x 15 inches. SIR WILLIAM D'AVENANT. Lhie engraving, 97. A full bust, in an oval resting on a pedestal ; the whole being inclosed within a rectangle. The poet is crowned with the laurel wreath. 13 77 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE lo. Grenhill pinx. W. Faithome, Sculp. Inscription, below. S'' William D'avenant K* This portrait was published in D'Avenant's Works, 1673. " Will Davenant, asham'd of a foolish mischance That he had got lately travelling in France, Modestly hop'd the handsomeness of 's muse Might any deformity about him excuse. •* Surely the company would have been content, If they could have found any precedent ; But in all their records, either in verse or in prose. There was not one Laureate without e'er a nose." JOHN DRYDEN. Line engraving. 98. A half-length figure turned to the left, with the face turned toward the front. In the hand is a laurel branch. In an oval frame resting on a pedestal, the whole inclosed within a rectangle. [Coat of arms.] Peint par le Chevalier Kneller. Graue par le Cheualier Edelinck, C.P.R. Inscription, below. Mf John Dryden. This portrait was also issued in the Dramatic Works, 1 701. THOMAS SHADWELL. Mezzotint. 99. A three-quarter-length figure turned toward and looking to the front. 78 PORTRAITS I : Kerfsaboom pinx : W. Faithome fee. Cum Priuilego Regis. Sold by E. Cooper at y* 3 pidgeons ni Bedford ftreet. First state. NAHUM TATE. There is no engraved portrait of this poet. NICHOLAS ROWE. Mezzotint. I GO. A three-quarter-length standing figure, facing toward and looking to the front. Engraved by J. Faber, Senior. Inscription, below. Nicholas Rowe, Esq!, P.L. Proof. LAURENCE EUSDEN. There is no engraved portrait of this poet. COLLEYCIBBER. MezzoHnt, ID I. A three-quarter-length figure directed toward the left, facing toward and looking to the front. He holds a pen in his right hand, which a young woman is taking. J. B. Vanloo pinx 1740. Edw*? Fisher fecit 1758- Inscription, below. Colley Cibber, Esqf late Poet.-Laureat. | Printed for John Spils- bury Engraver, Map & Print Seller in Rufsell- Court Covent-Garden London. 79 SELECTED WORKS OF THE POETS LAUREATE " Bromley calls the lady a Muse j but it is probably a portrait, perhaps that of his daughter, Mrs. Clarke." — Smith. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD. Line engraving. 1 02. Full bust, turned to the right. Drawn by J. Thurston. Engraved by W. Ensom. Inscription, below. William Whitehead. | From a Picture by Wilson, in the Collection of I the Right Honorable the Earl of Har- court. I London; March i, 1821; Published by W. Walker, 8 Grays Inn Square. THOMAS WARTON. Mezzotint 103. A full bust. Inscription, below. The Revf M.' Thomas Warton. London, Publish'd Dec! i; 1786, by W. Dickinfon Engraver, N° 158 Bond Street The engraving is from the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. HENRY JAMES PYE. Mezzotint, 104. Full bust, with the head turned to the left. In an oval border within a rectangle. Painted by S. I. Arnold. London. Pub- lished as/ the Act directs Feb^ 2. 1801. En- graved by B. Pym. Inscription, below. Henry James Pye Esq! 80 PORTRAITS ROBERT SOUTHEY. Mezzotint, 105. A half-length figure, with the face turned toward the right. Painted by Sam! Lane Esqf Engraved by Henry Dawe. » . Inscription, below. Robert Southey. iEsq^.I L.L.D. &c. &c. &c. .'. '! WILLIAM ^A^ORDSWORTH. Miz zotint. 106. A three-quarter-length figure, seated beside a table; the left hand resting on an open book. The head is turned to the right. Painted by Miss Margaret Gillies. En- graved by Edward M'^Innes. London. Republished Feb?" 15. 1853. By Thomas Boys, (Of The Late Firm of Moon, Boys & Graves) Print Sellers to The Royal Family, 467, Oxford Street: — Paris, E. Gam- bart & Co. 15, Rue Chalot — Depose. Origi- nally Published Aug! 6, 1841. Proof. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. 107. Same as above. Inscription, below. W? Wordsworth. ALFRED TENNYSON. Etching. 108. By Paul-Adolphe Rajon. Signed proof. ALFRED TENNYSON. Etching. 109. By Paul-Adolphe Rajon. Proof signed by Tennyson. 81 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. MAii 24 JdS$- MAY an 1Q47 UBRPi^^"^**^ "iprmaso 3]un59Vt RF- CP LP LD 21-100m-7,'33 v^'^ 727802 u UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY