uity." "The unlearned or foolish fantastical Among the many eloquent preachers and able men of business connected with the Church of England in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, the two most celebrated writers were Thomas Becon (1511-1567) and John Jewel (1522-1571). Both had to flee to the Continent during the reign of Mary, and both were rewarded upon the accession of Elizabeth. Becon inclined to be Puritan and Presbyterian, and received no higher preferment than a stall in Canterbury Cathedral. He wrote voluminously, chiefly books of devotion and poetry. One of his devotional works, 'The Sick Man's Salve,' became a popular household book, and is frequently alluded to by Ben Jonson and contemporary dramatists. Jewel was made Bishop of Salisbury. He was one of the ablest of Elizabeth's bishops. When comparatively a young man, he was chosen by the University of Oxford to deliver a congratulatory address to Queen Mary upon her accession. His famous Apology for the Church of England,' written in elegant Latin, was much admired throughout Europe, and at once adopted by the Church as a conclusive defence of her faith. Sir Thomas North, a collateral ancestor of the Guildfords, issued in 1579 an English version of 'Plutarch's Lives,' rendered from the French translation by Amyot. The work was very popular, until superseded by Dryden's translation. It is closely followed by Shakspeare in Coriolanus,' 'Julius Cæsar,' and 'Antony and Cleopatra.' Holinshed's Chronicle,' published about 1580, is known to many readers only from being similarly utilised by Shakspeare, who made Holinshed's translation of Boece the basis of Macbeth.' In the composition of his Chronicles,' which profess to be a complete history of Great Britain and Ireland, Holinshed, himself a man of uncertain biography, had several assistants, whose lives are equally obscure. The prefatory account of England in the sixteenth century, the most valuable part of the work, was written by William Harrison; the history and description of Ireland by Richard Stanihurst. John Hooker, the Chamberlain of Exeter, and uncle of "the judicious Hooker," is also said to have given some assistance. 197 CHAPTER II. FROM 1580 TO 1610. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, 1554-1586. In the prose works of Sir Philip Sidney we discern an advance on the style of all preceding writers. The advance is not perhaps great-we are not to suppose that prose style departed from the usual law of gradual progress :-still, whatever the difference may be in the ultimate analysis, undeniably his prose is nearer the present style of English than any prose of anterior date. His style has a flow and elevation not to be found in any prose work before his time. On that ground, although he is "a warbler of poetic prose," his literary fame resting chiefly on a romance, it is desirable to analyse his style simply as a prose style at some length. As the "Hero of Zutphen," Sidney is one of the most popular characters in English history; and in his own day, at a very early age, was celebrated all over Europe for his discretion, courage, and accomplishments. It is said that he was mooted as a candidate for the throne of Poland, and that Elizabeth put her veto on the rising negotiation, because she could not part with "the jewel of her time." He was born at Penshurst in Kent; son of Sir Henry Sidney-a knight who became a favourite with Elizabeth, and was famed as an administrator of Ireland; and nephew to the Earl of Leicester. He was educated at Shrewsbury, and at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1572, at the age of seventeen, he set out with three years' leave of absence to travel on the Continent; was in Paris during the massacre of St Bartholomew, and went thence to Frankfort, Vienna, and the chief cities of Italy. During these travels, unlike most travellers of his rank, he associated with scholars and statesmen, making an earnest study of European politics. Introduced at Court in 1575, his mixed courtesy and gravity at once made him a favourite. In 1577, at the age of twenty-two, being sent as ambassador in great state to congratulate the new Emperor of Germany, and discover as far as possible his tendencies, he met William the Silent of Orange, who pronounced him one of the ripest statesmen in Europe. During the eight following years he had no public employment, and lived chiefly at Court. In 1578 he wrote his masque The Lady of the May,' performed at Elizabeth's reception by his uncle the Earl of Leicester. Probably about the same time he began his sonnets to 'Stella,' the daughter of the Earl of Essex, afterwards married to Lord Rich. In the same year he had Spenser living with him at Penshurst. In 1580 he wrote the 'Arcadia,' dedicated to his celebrated sister, the Countess of Pembroke. In the following year he is supposed to have written the 'Apologie for Poetrie.' After this he became too much engaged in politics to have time for literature. As a statesman, he devoted himself to the policy of humbling the power of Spain. He had boldly written to Elizabeth in 1580, dissuading her from the marriage with Anjou, and now he was eager that the Queen should take active part with the Continental Protestants. This not being done, he impatiently planned with Drake a secret expedition to strike at the Spanish colonies in America, but was interdicted just at starting. At last Elizabeth resolved to stir, and in the fall of 1585 sent him to the Netherlands as Governor of Flushing along with an army under Leicester. Commencing operations in spring, Sidney showed great enterprise and skill, but was mortally wounded in a rencounter at Zutphen, and died Oct. 17, 1586. The touching incident that has endeared his memory, and made him known to every schoolboy, occurred as he rode wounded from the battle. Though he was well known as a writer, and widely esteemed as a patron of literary men during his life, none of his works were published till after his death. The Arcadia' was first printed in 1590, the Apologie for Poetrie' in 1595. In personal appearance Sidney was tall and handsome, with clear complexion, and hair of a dark amber colour. By Spenser's testimony he excelled in athletic sports-"in wrestling nimble, and in running swift; in shooting steady, and in swimming strong; well made to strike, to throw, to leap, to lift." He was of such prowess in the tournament, that on the occasion of a great festival he was selected as one of four champions to keep the lists in honour of England against all comers. It is not often that we find in union with such physical prowess any remarkable powers of mind. In Elizabeth's Court there were many able men both physically and mentally, but none of those 6 66 that were a match for Sidney in the tournament could have written the Arcadia' or the 'Apology for Poetry.' Even in his healthy active boyhood Sidney was remarkably studious; "his talk," says his schoolfellow Fulke Greville, ever of knowledge, and his very play tending to enrich the mind." When he grew to manhood, his sagacity in practical affairs soon won him golden opinions from more than one veteran statesman. If we look to his writings, we find abundant proofs of intellectual vigour. His diction is copious and felicitous, unmistakably significant of mental quickness and force. In his 'Arcadia' we are constantly struck with the extreme volatility and subtlety of his fancy. In the Apology, along with a similar sprightliness, we meet with passages suggestive of more solid power. In defending poetry against the Puritans, it shows considerable rhetorical perspicacity to claim the Psalms of David as "divine poems." And there is no small discernment in his maintaining that a poem might be written in prose; that " verse is but an ornament and no cause to poetry." Taken all in all, his works bear evidence of versatile, fresh, and vigorous intellect, and support what is recorded of his adroit courtesy and sagacious observation of affairs. As regards his emotional character, were we to judge solely from his writings, we should take him to have been a man of ebullient spirits, tempered by extraordinary sweetness and warmth of disposition. This is the impression left by the soft exuberant humour of the Apology, and its strong expressions of delight in the works of the poet. He seems to have been a pleasant companion, although not of the rollicking, pleasure-loving temper that perpetually craves for society. Gay with the gay among his boon companions, he could also be serious with the serious. He loved to exchange thoughts in private colloquy with such men as Languet and Spenser. At times he courted solitude, and would even seem to have undergone fits of melancholy and despondency, as when, before leaving England for the last time, he expressed a presentiment that he should never return. To the creations of art he turned with ever fresh delight. He was not an optimist; he did not find enduring satisfaction, abundant means of enjoyment, in the actual world; he took refuge from facts in the regions of imagination-" Nature's world," he said, "is brazen, the poet's only golden." The ruling emotion in his creative efforts, as we shall see when we come to analyse the qualities of his style, is tenderness not the wild passionate tenderness of the Celtic nature, but a soft and courtly phase of the emotion. His imagination did not dwell sadly upon the sorrowful side of life, but joyfully spent itself in playful humour, in graceful fancies, in pictures of beautiful women and beautiful scenery, and in deeds of romantic devotion. The Arcadia' gives little evidence of delight in the mere excite ment of power. It contains great variety of incidents and characters; but everything is transfigured by the all-pervading sweetness and warmth-everything is seen through this atmosphere. His heroes-young men of irresistible prowess-are beautiful as gods. In recounting their most valiant achievements, he never suffers us to forget that they are in love; either they are fighting to rescue their fair ladies, or the ladies are listening with admiration to the story of their brave adventures. If he enters with spirit into the description of a storm, a battle, a tournament, a duel, a popular tumult, or the speeches at a trial, not only does he mingle pretty fancies with his description or narrative, but he seldom keeps long out of view the tender interests at stake. Men so lavishly endowed otherwise as Sidney, with such capacities and self-contained means of enjoyment, are often indifferent to the aims of ambition, and even rash and imprudently generous. A less bountiful natural outfit is more serviceable for rising and remaining high in the world. He did not push for favour and office at Court: a slight rebuff drove him to the country; and he might have spent his life in retirement had not his foreign friend Languet impressed him with the gravity of the political situation in Europe, and urged him to take a part. Once resolved upon a course of action, he moved with fearlessness and vigour. Few men would have ventured on his bold remonstrance to Elizabeth against the French marriage. Naturally sweet-tempered, he was haughty and imperious when provoked, and ready to put out his hand to execute his will: witness his giving the lie to the Earl of Oxford, his challenge to the unknown asperser of his uncle Leicester, and his threatening to "thrust his dagger into" poor secretary Molyneux, whom he suspected of tampering with his letters. He owed his death to an impulse of romantic generosity. The LordMarshal happening to enter the field of Zutphen without greaves, Sidney cast off his also, to put his life in the same peril, and so exposed himself to the fatal shot. The opinions of the Apology call for some notice. It is a light humorous production, with here and there flashes of lofty beauty; but beneath all this, there is a foundation of serious doctrine. The author is full of humour and eloquence in behalf of the delights of poetry, but he shows also a serious interest in the cause, a genuine zeal to convince and convert. Very much contrary to the modern theory that makes the "interpretation of nature" the poet's chief end, is the saying above quoted, that "nature's world is brazen, the poet's only golden." "Nature never set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets have done, neither with pleasant rivers, fruitful trees, sweet-smelling flowers, nor whatsoever else may make the too much loved earth more lovely." He eloquently |