Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, from Romances and Prose-Tracts of the Elizabethan
Age : with Chosen Poems of Nicholas Breton. Edited by A. H. Millen. (Nimmo.)—Mr. Bullen has done so much good service to all students of Elizabethan poetry, that one feels sorry to say of any anthology he may publish, that it is not so interesting as its predecessors. Yet it must be acknowledged that in com- parison with the lyrics from the song-books and from the drama- tists of that age, the verse supplied by the romances is generally of an inferior order. The editor, indeed, admits that his labour in this department has disappointed him, and that he has found that much of the poetry scattered through the old romances falls far below the standard of excellence he has tried to preserve in his former volumes. He has therefore divided the present volume into three parts, the first of which contains poems from the romances ; the second, Breton's choicest lyrics ; and the third, lyrics from the "Handful of Pleasant Delights," and from "The Phcenix' Nest." In the introduction, a masterly piece of work, Mr. Bullen acknowledges that the poetry of the "Arcadia" is "undeniably disappointing ;" and we think the same judgment may be passed on much that is chosen from Breton, although a few bright little pieces from his pen show that he pos- sessed in a measure the gift of song. The editor discovers his beauties with an observant eye ; but they are not numerous, and homely matter is sometimes concealed under an antique garb. He wrote a good deal of devotional verse, none of which has gained a place in Mr. Palgrave's "Treasury of Sacred Song." Mr. Bullen, who reads everything, has read a novel of Breton's, and found it sufficiently interesting to give his readers an abstract. While angling in these poetical waters, he has discovered also that a pretty poem by Lodge is closely imitated from a poem of Desportes, whose verses were at that time widely read in England.
Previous page
