MICHAEL DRAYTON. 1563-1631. THIS very voluminous and once popular writer has sunk into an oblivion which he does not deserve. His poems are mostly of an historical and topographical character. Such is his great work, his " Poly-Olbion," a work of stupendous labor and accurate information, on which he rested his hopes of immortality. It is a very singular poem, and certainly entirely original in its plan, describing the woods, mountains, valleys, and rivers of England with all their associations, traditional, histerical, and antiquarian. That “it possesses many beauties which are poetically great, and is full of delineations which are graphically correct," is no doubt true; but, after all, it is a poem that will always be consulted rather for the information it conveys, than for the pleasure it produces. His other historical poems are his "Barons Warres," being an account of "The lamentable Civil Warres of Edward the Second and the Barons;" his "Legends;" his "Battle of Agincourt;" and "England's Heroical Epistles." But it is for his pastoral and miscellaneous poems that Drayton will continue to be known and valued. Some of these possess beauties of the highest order. Such, for instance, is the fairy poem called Nymphidia, than which a more exquisite creation of the fancy can hardly be found; and it has been well remarked, that "had he written nothing else he would deserve immortality." His "Shepherd's Garland" is a pastoral poem, first published under this title, but afterwards revised and reprinted under the name of Eclogues. His other miscellaneous poems consist of odes, elegies, sonnets, religious effusions, &c Drayton died December 23, 1631, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. CHORUS OF THE BIRDS. When Phoebus lifts his head out of the winter's wave, 1 From the Greek woλλa (polla), "many things;" that is, many things about Albion, or England. 2 Read-a notice of Drayton in Drake's "Shakspeare and his Times;" another, in the third volume of D'Israeli's "Amenities of Literature;" and another, in Sir Egerton Brydges's "Imaginative Biography." For, with their vocal sounds, they sing to pleasant May: To Philomel, the next the linnet we prefer; And by that warbling bird the wood-lark place we then, And of these chanting fowls, the goldfinch not behind, THE PARTING. Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part; Poly-Nbion That we one jot of former love retain.- And Innocence is closing up his eyes, Now if thon wouldst, when all have given him over, PALACE OF THE FAIRIES: QUEEN MAB'S CHARIOT AND JOURNEY This palace standeth in the air, By necromancy placed there, Which way soe'er it blow it: And somewhat southward toward the noon, The walls of spiders' legs are made, It curiously that builded; With moonshine that are gilded. -The queen her maids doth call, Fly Cranion, her charioteer, Upon the coach-box getting. The seat the soft wool of the bee, I trow, 'twas simple trimming. The wheels composed of crickets' bones, With thistle-down they shod it: For all her maidens much did fear, If Oberon had chanc'd to hear, That Mab his queen should have been there, She mounts her chariot with a trice, Until her maids, that were so nice, To wait on her were fitted, But ran herself away alone; Which when they heard, there was not one But hasted after to be gone, As she had been diswitted. Hop, and Mop, and Drap so clear, Her special maids of honor; The train that wait upon her. A cobweb over them they throw, From the Nymphidia. BENJAMIN JONSON, or Ben Jonson, as he signed his own name, was the son of a clergyman in Westminster, and born in 1574, about a month after his father's death. He was educated at Westminster, but his mother, having taken a bricklayer for her second husband, removed him from school, where he had made extraordinary progress, to work under his step-father. Disgusted with this occupation, he escaped, enlisted in the army, and went to the Netherlands. On his return to England, he entered Cambridge; but the failure of pecuniary resources obliging him to quit the university, he applied to the theatre for employment. Though at first his station was a low one, he soon, by his own industry and talent, rose to distinction, and gained great celebrity as a dramatic writer. His works altogether consist of about fifty-four dramatic pieces,' but by far the greater part of them are masques and interludes, for which his genius seemed better fitted, being too destitute of passion and sentiment for the regular drama. "His tragedies," says a critic, "seem to bear about the same resemblance to Shakspeare's, that sculpture does to actual life."2 There are, however, interspersed throughout his works, many lyrical pieces that have peculiar neatness and beauty of diction, and will bear a comparison with any in our language. Of these, the following may be taken as specimens CUPID. Beauties, have ye seen this toy, Called love! a little boy Almost naked, wanton, blind, Cruel now, and then as kind? If he be amongst ye, say! He is Venus' run-away. He hath of marks about him plenty, You shall know him among twenty: And his breath a flame entire, That, being shot like lightning in, He doth bear a golden bow, Any head more sharp than other, With that first he strikes his mother. 1 The four best comedies of Jonson are, "Every Man in his Humor," "The Silent Woman," "Volpone or The Fox," and the "Alchemist." Two of his best tragedies are entitled, "Catiline," and "The Fall of Sejanus." 2 "Many were the wit-combats betwixt Shakspeare and Ben Jonson, which two I beheld like a Spanish great galleon and an English man-of-war. Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning; solid, but slow in his performances. Shakspeare, with the English man-of-war, Jesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention."-Fuller's Worthies. Trust him not: his words, though sweet, All his practice is deceit, Not a kiss but poison bears, If by these ye please to know him, HYMN TO CYNTHIA. Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus entreats thy light, Earth, let not thy envious shade Heaven to clear, when day did close Bless us then with wished sight, Goddess, excellently bright. Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy crystal shining quiver; Give unto the flying heart Space to breathe, how short soever: Thou that mak'st a day of night, Goddess, excellently bright. De principai prose composition of Ben Jonson is a small tract entitled Discoveries, Observations on Poetry and Eloquence." It displays his judgment and classical learning to great advantage, and the style is unusually close, precise, and pure. DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING WELL.1 For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries:to read the best authors; observe the best speakers; and much exercise of his own style. In style, to consider what ought to be written, and after what manner; he must first think, and excogitate his matter; then choose his words, and examine the weight of either. Then take care in placing and ranking both matter and words, that the composition be comely; and to do this with diligence and often. No matter how slow the style be at first, so it be labored and accurate; seek the best, and be not glad of the forward conceits, or first words that offer themselves to us, but 1 "Ben Jonson's directions for writing well should be indelibly impressed upon the mind of every student."-Drake's Essays. |