Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age. Edited by
A. H. Bullen. (Nimmo.)—Ono of the pleasantest volumes in the late Robert Bell's edition of the English Poets was the "Songs from the Dramatists," published in 1854. His " Anthology " covers a wider field than the present collection, but it is not so full in the choice of lyrics from the Elizabethan dramatists, and no lover of old English verse will deem Mr. Bullen's book superfluous. If it has not the freshness of the "Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age," published a year or two ago, it has suffi- cient novelty to commend it to all lovers of good verse. One peculiarity of the age was that even our minor poets could sing, an art that seemed to be lost, or nearly so, in the eighteenth century. It is this gift which makes the Elizabethan poets so delightful. They felt the charm of music, and knew how to express it. Mr. Millen considers that, as a lyric poet, Ben Jonson lacks the "natural magic" we find in some of his less famous contemporaries ; and in this judgment Mr. Swinburne agrees with him. We think they are right ; but if the lyrical faculty was in a measure denied to "rare Ben," how consummate was the art with which he concealed the deficiency ! There is more spon- taneity in Fletcher, who seems to sing because he must, and yet not one of his songs is so familiar as the "Drink to me only with thine eyes" of Jonson. Among the dramatists not in Bell's selection to whom Mr. Bullen turns for contributions, are Campion, Quarles, Randolph, Rutter, Strode, Townshend, and Flecknoe the victim of Dryden's immortal satire. As dramatists these writers are of small account, but they can " sing a song at least."
Previous page
