A History of English Poetry: an Unpublished Continuation

I have before found occasion to cite the Sonnets of H. C. called Diana printed in 1592.[45 - See supr. vol. iii. p. [292, n.] I [am] now most inclined to think, that these initials mean Henry Constable, and not Henry Chettle. The Sonnets do not justify the applauses paid to Constable, by his contemporaries, Edmond Bolton, Meres, the author of the Return from Parnassus, and many others. Some of his sonnets are prefixed to Sydney's Apology for Poetry. The initials H. C. often occur in Englands Helicon. I take this opportunity of saying that some pieces of Chettle were among Mr. Beauclerc's books. (See supr. iii. [291-292, n.?]) [Indeed the annotations in the Harvard Library copy of the Bibliotheca Beauclerkiana (p. 102) suggest that either Thomas Warton or, more probably, his brother may have purchased the copy of Chettle's Englands Mourning Garment owned by Thomas Warton's former student. It was sold to "Dr. W."]] As also Dieella [sic], or Sonnets by R. L. printed in 1596.[46 - See supr. iii. [480.] [R. L. was Richard Lynch.]] With these may be mentioned a set of Sonnets, entitled Fidessa more chaste than kinde. By B. Griffin, Gent. At London. Printed by the Widow Orwin for Matthew Lownes, 1596.[47 - In 16

. With vignettes. They are sixty two in number. The best is that which begins,Venus, and yong Adonis sitting by her,Vnder a myrtle shade began to woe himShe told the yongling, &c. Sonn. iii.He calls Sleep, "Balme of the brused heart." Sonn. xv.] They are dedicated to Mr William Essex of Lambourne in Berkshire. Then follows a deprecatory address to the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, who are earnestly requested to protect at least to approve this first attempt of a stranger; and who promises, if now successful, to publish a pastoral the next time. It is possible that some other writers of this class may have escaped my searches. I do not wish to disturb their repose, which is likely to be lasting.

NOTES TO THE TEXT

Warton's notes, which in the manuscript are designated by letters or symbols, have been numbered. Brackets enclose all the editor's corrections, expansions, and comments. The parentheses are Warton's.

notes

1

Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (London, 1756-1782), I, 270-271.

2

Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (London, 1756-1782), I, 270-271.

3

John Milton, Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1785), ed. Thomas Warton, p. 331, n.

4

Nineteenth-century editions of the History give the false impression that the eight sheets were prepared from manuscript material left at Thomas Warton's death, but these sheets were certainly printed before Thomas died, and probably in the early 1780's. See John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1812-1816), III, 702-703. They contain no reference postdating that to Isaac Reed's revised edition of Robert Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, published in 1780.

5

Thomas Warton to Richard Price, 13 October 1781, in Thomas Warton, Poetical Works, ed. Richard Mant (Oxford, 1802), I, lxxviii; Daniel Prince to Richard Gough, 4 August 1783, in Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, III, 702.

6

Thomas Caldecott to Bishop Percy, 21 March 1803, in Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1817-1858), VIII, 372.

7

Joseph Warton to William Hayley, 12 March 1792, in John Wooll, Biographical Memoirs of the late Revd. Joseph Warton (London, 1806), p. 404.

8

[Thomas Warton's original version began "The temporary vogue which …" The final version, here parenthesized in the text, represents, it seems fairly certain, Joseph Warton's expansion. Although this deprecatory comment seems rather abrupt coming after five sections devoted to the Elizabethan satirists, Joseph Warton is not disparaging where his brother praised. Thomas Warton had already (IV, 69) belittled the "innumerable crop of satirists, and of a set of writers differing but little more than in name, and now properly belonging to the same species, Epigrammatists."]

9

[Warton here combined several remarks in Dryden's essay "The Original and Progress of Satire." See John Dryden, Essays, ed. W. P. Ker (Oxford, 1900), II, 111-112. There were six, not four editions of Holiday's Persius.]

10

[Warton refers presumably to Isaac Reed's Collection of Old Plays (London, 1780).]

11

[Jehan de] Nostredam [e]. [Les] Vies des […] Poet[es] Provens[aux]. [Lyon, 1575] n. 59. pag. 199.

12

[William Hayley. An] Ess[ay] on Epic Poetry. [London, 1782] Notes, Ess. iii. v. 81. p. 171.

13

They are entered to him, feb. 4, under that year [1591/92]. Registr. Station. B. fol. 284. a. In sixteens. I have a copy. Wh[ite] Lett[er i. e., roman]. With vignettes.

14

[Daniel was tutor to her son William Herbert and preceptor to Ann Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, but Sidney's sister seems to have been the patroness rather than the pupil of Daniel.]

15

His sister married John Florio, author of a famous Italian dictionary, and tutor to queen Anne, consort of James the first, in Italian, under whom Daniel was groom of the Privy-Chamber. [Anthoney a] Wood, Ath[enae]Oxon[ienses]. [London, 1691-92.] i. 379. col. 1. [Warton's mention of "Daniel's Life" refers presumably to the brief biography by Wood, here cited.]

16

A. i. Sc. i[i]. Warton was evidently quoting from the edition prepared by Thomas Hawkins and sold by his own printer, Prince—The Origin of the English Drama (Oxford, 1773), III, 213.

17

Sonn. 50. [To show how "One of Spenser's cotemporary poets has ridiculed the obsolete language of The Fairy Queen" Warton had already quoted the first two lines of this sonnet in the second edition of his Observations on the Faerie Queene (London, 1762), I, 122, n.]

18

From a manuscript note by bishop Tanner inserted in Wood's Athen. Oxon. i. 379. Bibl. Bodl. ["Aug. 9. Jac. 1. The Dean and Chapter of Cht. Ch. by grant under their Common Seal out of regard for the learning wit and good conversation of Sam. Daniel gent. gave him leave to eat and drink at the Canons Table whenever he thought fit to come."—Tanner's marginal note (I, col. 447) in his copy (Bodleian MS. Top. Oxon. b. 8) of the second, 1721, edition of Wood. Although Philip Bliss in his edition of Athenae Oxonienses (London, 1813) incorporated many of the marginalia inserted by Tanner in his copy of Wood, Bliss evidently overlooked this particular note. The editor is grateful to the Bodleian Library for a photostat and for permission to quote. According to Mr. W. G. Hiscock, Deputy Librarian at Christ Church, no mention of the "act" concerning Daniel is now to be found in the records under his care.]

19

See supr. iii. [433]. Warton used Greek capitals in his title.

20

At London in quarto [1582]. There is a fine manuscript copy, at present, in the British Museum. Watson has many pieces in Englands Helicon, 1600.

21

In quarto.

22

[Above the word "conformation" Warton added "constraint." It is not clear whether he intended both to stand.]

23