CURRENT LITERATURE.
Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles. Edited by Martha Foote Crow. "Delia,' by Samuel Daniel ; "Diana," by Henry Constable. (Kagan Paul and Co.)—We cannot agree with Mrs. Crow that Daniel is to be seen at his best in " Rosamond " and "Delia," nor even in the choicest sonnet he ever wrote, "Care-Charmer Sleep." His reputation chiefly rests on his grave and thoughtful produc- tions as an ethical poet, and it was his fine epistle to the Countess of Cumberland and other verses of a like kind, that made him dear to Coleridge, to Wordsworth, and to Southey. Southey's estimate of Daniel as "the tenderest of all tender poets," was due to his affection. It is not a just criticism, but the nobility of thought, the purity of style, and the sweetness of versifieation which won the hearts of Daniel's contem- poraries are qualities over which time has no power. Whether and how far Shakespeare was influenced by him or by Constable in the theme and form of his sonnets is, we think, a matter of conjecture. Constable's "Diana" appeared in a complete form in 1591, "Della" about the same reriod, and Shakespeare's sonnets in 1C09; but we know that some at least of Shakespeare's, possibly many, had been written before the close of the century, and the influences which affected him seem to have been common to all the sonnet-writers of the time. Writing of the quatrain and couplet form of the sonnet, the editor justly says " The whole period from Wyatt to Shakespeare shows a slow and steady mastery of the native over the foreign tendency. The change was not a sudden leap on the part of Daniel and Shakespeare, but a gradual growth occupying a half century and culminating in the English form." Constable, a small poet when compared with Daniel, is full of the conceits of the age, and far too frequently has nothing better to offer. His "Diana" will be read once, perhaps, with some interest. Two or three among his sonnets appear in the Anthologies, and deserve the honour given to them, but the lover of poetry is not likely to wish for a second perusll of the series. Constable was a devout man, yet his " spirituell sonnettes " are even less worthy of notice than the love-pieces printed in this little volume. Indeed his poetical fame rests on a very slender foundation. Enough for him that he was esteemed and praised by men more distinguished than himself. Mrs. Crow's introduction, although pleasantly written, is not fitted to be of service to students. She fails to indicate the sources of her knowledge.
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