In ftead thereof fcoffing Scurrilitie, And fcornfull Follie with Contempt is crept, has pofitively denied that this could be the fact, while he has ftrenuously maintained the belief that Shakspeare is defigned, I will, with the greatest deference to his learning and research, offer some reasons to fhew that Spenfer might mean (and we must make a little allowance for the warm expreflions of friend. hip) the accomplished Sidney. In the firit place, Shakspeare does not appear to have been known as a writer at the time when this poem was written. Indeed Mr. Malone has acknowledged that, "if he were to indulge a conjecture, he should name the year 1591, as the era when Shakspeare commenced a writer for the ftage," Chron. Order, &c. p. 230. The era when Shakspeare commenced actor is readily allowed to be much earlier: But "though he probably distinguished himself by whatever he performed," fays Mr. Malone, "I do not, however, believe that he played parts of the first rate," Hift. Acc. &c. p. 227. Mr. Malone alfo thinks that Shakspeare did not come to London before the year 1586. However, this minute eulogium could not apply to Shakspeare, if as I conjecture, (and I fhall presently aflign my reafon for so fuppofing,) The Teares of the Mufes were written many years before the publication in 1591. In the first edition, The Printer to the Gentle Reader remarks, "I haue, fince my late fetting foorth of the Faerie Queene, endeauoured by all good meanes to get into my handes fuch finale Poems of the fame Authors, as I heard were difperft abroad in fundrie hands, and not eafe to bec come by, by himfelfe; fome of them hauing bene diuerflie imbeziled and purloyned from him, SINCE HIS DEPARTURE OUER SEA. Of the which I haue by good meanes gathered together thefe few parcels prefent, viz. Ruines of Time, Teares of the Mufes, &c. &c." Sidney was certainly dead, as Mr. Malone obferves, fome years before this poem was published: fo was the Earl of Leicester, before Virgils Gnat was pubiifhed; and yet the Dedication to him remained. But Sidney, I conceive, was alive when this poem was written; which was probably in 1580; in which year he retired from Court, on account of his quarrel with Vere, Earl of Oxford. And this retirement of Sir Philip js, I think, intended in the poet's figurative defcription of his "lute death," which is presently foftened into "that fame gentle Spirit's fitting in idle cell." Now the expreffion "gentle Spirit," which Mr. Malone thinks fo ftrongly pointed at Shakspeare, is the very expreffion by which Spenter in The Ruines of Time has defcribed the mind Rolling in rymes of fhameleffe ribaudrie pen 215 But that fame gentle Spirit, from whose of Sir Philip Sidney, ver. 281. Most gentle Spirit breathed from above." Again, Spenfer defcribes his accomplished friend in his Paftoral Elegy on his death, entitled Astrophel, as the "gentle Shepherd of gentleft race:" and adds, "He grew up fast in goodneffe and in grace, &c, Again, he exprefsly calls him "the right Gentle Minde" in Mother Hubb. Tale, ver. 711.-But it will be asked how did Sir Philip "mock Nature, and imitate Truth, with kindly counter under mimic fhade?" I answer, that this perhaps is intended as a very high commendation of his performance in Masks, the fashionable entertainments of his age, At the end of the Arcadia there is also a dramatick compofition of this kind, prefented before the queene at Wanftead in 1578, and entitled The Lady of the May, of which he was the author. He probably wrote more, and he appears to have been an excellent judge of Comedy. See the note on ver. 198. In his Defence of Poefe he alfo deplores, in much the fame terms as Spenfer here deplores, the wretched state of the drama. Spenfer tells us, in his Aftrophel, of Sir Philip, ver. 25, "His fports were faire, &c. "And he himselfe feemd made for meriment, "Merily MASKING both in bowre and hall.” I muft alfo obferve that, in thefe Teares of the Mufes, Thalia even begins this her complaint with the fame allufion, faying that "of late the "" was wont to raine as queene, "And MASKE in mirth with Graces well befeene." Of Sir Philip's learning there can be no queftion. The wonted fweetness of his voice, the honey and nectar of his compofitions, will alfo be acknowledged: fee The Ruines of Time, ver. 331. He is alfo exprefsly called "nectar-tongued Sidney” by Fitzgeffrey, in 1596. TODD. Ver. 218. Large streames of honnie and sweete nectar flowe,] Scorning the boldnes of fuch base-borne men, Which dare their follies forth fo rafhlie throwe; Doth rather choose to fit in idle cell, Than fo himselfe to mockerie to fell. So am I made the fervant of the manie, 221 225 But loath'd of lofels as a thing forlorne: Therefore I mourne and forrow with the reft, Untill my cause of forrow be redrest. Therewith the lowdly did lament and shrike, EUTERPE. LIKE as the dearling of the Summers pryde, 235 Faire Philomele, when Winters ftormie wrath So Spenfer calls Sir Walter Raleigh's "verse, with nectar fprinckeled," F. Q. Introduct. iii. 4. And Sir P. Sidney is called, by another poet, nectar-tongued. See the preceding note. Honey alfo is a frequent metaphor among the poets for sweet and pleasing language. Thus Theocritus, Idyll. xx. 26. ἐκ τομάτων δι *Εῤῥεί μοι φωνὰ γλυκερωτέρα ἢ μελικήρω. See alfo Pfalm cxix. 103. TODD. The goodly fields, that earst so gay were dyde In colours divers, quite defpoyled hath, All comfortleffe doth hide her chearleffe head During the time of that her widowhead: So we, that earft were wont in fweet accord 240 245 For far more bitter ftorme than winters ftowre The beautie of the world hath lately wafted, And those fresh buds, which wont fo faire to flowre, Hath marred quite, and all their bloffoms blafted; 250 And thofe yong plants, which wont with fruit t' abound, Now without fruite or leaves are to be found. A ftonie coldneffe hath benumbd the fence Ver. 243. charmes] Literally carmina. T. WARTON. And monftrous Error, flying in the ayre, Image of hellish horrour, Ignorance, Borne in the bofome of the black abyffe, 260 By yawning Sloth on his owne mother Night; He, armd with blindneffe and with boldnes ftout, (For blind is bold,) hath our fayre light defaced; And, gathering unto him a ragged rout Of Faunes and Satyres, hath our dwellings raced; 267 And our chaft bowers, in which all vertue rained, With brutishnesse and beaftlie filth hath stained. The facred fprings of horfefoot Helicon, 271 Ver. 273. And speaking Streames of pure Caftalion,] He calls the fountain Caftalion for the fake of rhyme. "Speaking freams" is taken from the ancient poets. Statius, Silv. V. v. 2. "Invifus -" And Silp. I. ii. 6. "Caftaliæ vocalibus undis "Et de Pieriis vocalem fontibus undam." See Barthius there, who quotes thefe lines of an old Oracle:* Οὐκ ἔτι Φοίβος ἔχει καλίβαν, ἢ μανίδα δάφνην, Οὐ παγὰν λαλέκσαν ἀπέσβετο καὶ λάλον ὕδως. JORTIN. |