A BOOK OF THE MOMENT

SIR RICHARD LOVELACE [COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA by the New York Times.]

The Poems of Richard Lovelace. Edited by C. H. Wilkinson. Two vols. (Published by the Oxford University Press. Price 105s. net.) LOVELACE is a two-poem Poet just as " single speech

Hamilton " was a one-oration orator. Whether, if we read Hamilton's speech now, we should endorse the contemporary

verdict is doubtful, but no one will denSr that Lovelace's When lore with unconfined wings and To Lucasta, going to the wars, are worthy of all the praise bestowed upon them during the past two hundred and fifty years and more. They could

not be bettered as lyrics, even if judged solely on their merits. But we 'need not judge them exclusively on their intrinsic charm.

Their relative value is very great. The period between the disappearance of Ben Jonson and of Donne and his disciples in the metaphysical school and the Restoration, a period of some thirty years, is one of the most interesting in our literary' history. It is a little oasis set in the rocky desert which stretches between the last songs of the Elizabethan Age and the epoch of Dryden, Rochester and Otway, and his some of the merits of both periods. It was a stormy time politically, for it includes the whole of the Civil Wars and of the Cromwellian rule. Yet its best verse is not tainted by the sufferings of the time, but has a curious gentleness, dignity and moderation.

Puritans like Andrew Marvell and cavaliers like Lovelace adorn it with similar qualities. Neither of them writes vin- dictively against his opponents and, indeed, but for the fact that one pays homage to Cromwell and the other to Charles, there is little or no partisanship.

Except for Milton, who stands by himself and like all the supreme poets is of no age or time, the great and splendid flowers of the Shakespearian epoch had withered on their stalks and the new flowers of the Restoration with their glaring and splendid colours had not come into bloom. The moment the Restoration had taken place, and the fierce re- action against Puritanism had begun, these flowers, the seeds of which were often brought from France, grew with amazing vigour. Though the post-Commonwealth poets are separ- ated by only a few years from lyrists like Lovelace and Suckling, there seems a vast gulf between their spiritual values and those of men very little their seniors. Compare Dryden's magnificent heroic verse, or his stately quatrains, with the products of the Cavalier Muse and it seems incredible that the two schools of verse were almost contemporary. The mysticism which marked not only Vaughan and Herbert but a host of minor writers is gone, as is the fascination of Herrick. Instead we have the hard worldliness of Sedley, or the brilliant philosophy and dialectic of Dryden. In the latter there is not a touch of mysticism and little or none of the true lyrical cry. Epigrams in the sense of the Greek Anthology were written in the true spirit by the Cavalier poets, but by the time of the Restoration epigrams had become mere splinters from the satiric rock. They had to be cruel or coarse or Both to find a place in the Miscellanies of the day.

The world, therefore, rightly cherishes the Cavalier and Commonwealth poets and the exquisitely coloured, if lowly, flowers which grew on their lawns and in gentle English groves. In this fact is to be found a perfect excuse for the republication of the whole of Lovelace's work in verse. It is true that the mass of the poems, in fact all except the two I have already named, are second-rate, but these alone justify the new and beautiful volumes put forth by the Oxford Press.

Before I say anything more as to Lovelace's verse I must con- gratulate Mr. Humphrey Milford upon the beauty of his two volumes. There is everything in them that goes to make a book a delight apart from the things it conveys. The title page is perfect, not only in the matter of type and paper, but in the " lay- out " of the page. It is a very difficult thing to get the right spacing,the right size of letters and the right display, but they are

all attained here. The Table of Contents is also a very good piece of printing, and the type used for the mass of the letter- press is, as far as I can see, open to no. criticism. Finally a.

word must be said for the illustrations. They are produced in a way to bring solace to all lovers of good books. The first and most important is, as it should be, the Frontispiece.

It is entitled " Richard Lovelace, Hon. M.A., Oxon. Aetat.

18 from the portrait belonging to the Editor." It provides a fascinating picture of academic youth dressed in all the glories of cloth of gold and cloth of silver, on which is super- imposed the M.A. gown. The youth's hair touches his shoulders in the true Cavalier fashion, the fashion which was harshly and coldly reproduced in the periwigs of the next generations.

The Cavalier locks are finally crowned by the academie cap. The description of the picture shows that its colouring is as attractive as the design. And now comes" a curious "point. It is not absolutely certain that the frontispiece portrays' Richard Lovelace. It is possible, indeed, as the editor admits; that it really represents Thomas Coke.

A delightful picture of Lovelace which is certainly authentic is that in the Dulwich Gallery. We agree with the learned

editor, Mr. Wilkinson, in finding a distinct likeness between it and the picture of the golden youth in cap and gown. Let me say here that Mr. Wilkinson has done his- work extra- ordinarily well. Some people may think that he has spent too much time and erudition on a. second-rate poet, but I cannot agree that they are in the least wasted. The long introduction .

and voluminous notes will immensely help the scholar of the future who wants to get in.touch with the literary side of that

tremendous epoch when Cromwell " cast the nations old into another mould," and when there grew up those bulwarks of freedom which since have looked upon so many tempests and yet have never been shaken. For example, take the great amount of space devoted to the Petition of the Men of Kent _

which was presented to Parliament by Lovelace and his colleague. The story is a very interesting one and very well told. It is curious to see how true it is that " gently comes the world to those who are cast in a gentle mould." Although Lovelace had crossed the path of the Commonwealth leaders at a very critical moment they seem to have recognized that he was not the kind of man who should be treated with rough- ness or vengeance. In both his imprisonments he received much consideration. At the -end of his life no doubt he suffered from poverty and illness and had to take refuge among a very undesirable set of conspirators and outlaws in a London slum, but this cloudy condition was due, not to persecution by the Government, but to the fact that he had got rid of his estate. It was never a very large one, never

perhaps equal to his rich and stately, if not actually extrava- gant, way of life, and it could not stand the shock of the times and those calls upon generosity and kind-heartedness which are so insistent in a revolutionary epoch.

Another part of what I may call " the sideshows " of Mr. Wilkinson's book is concerned with music and poetry. Love- lace was essentially a song writer and probably the lack of fascination in a good many of his poems is due to the fact that they were directly written to be sung and probably fulfilled

their pur pose admirably. For various reasons the work of a good librettist proves almost always a non-conductor to those who long for the lyric cry. Finally we are brought through Lovelace into touch with the painters of his age. Lovelace was a very close friend of Sir Peter Lely, and was a good deal of a virtuoso. In fact, he may be said to have been one of the first men in our literature who can claim that distinction. He writes about Lely as Dryden and Pope write later about Kneller, i.e., with technical appreciation.

The name of Pope calls for a special comment. It is interest- ing , to think that the last piece of poetry written by Lovelace, was " Lines prefixed to John Davies' Translation of Voiture's Letters, 1657." Less than fifty years afterwards Pope wrote his exquisite Epistle to Martha Blunt with a copy of Voiture's works. The Epistle contains one of the best turned com- pliments of the eighteenth century

" The brightest eyes of France inspired his Muse, The brightest eyes of Britain now peruse."

J. ST. LOE STRACHEY.