A Book of Seventeenth Century Lyrics

221. Matthew Prior, for years an able and useful diplomatist, held many offices of political importance under William and Anne, the most important being that of minister plenepotentiary to the Court of France. Some still profess to admire his epic Solomon, others find it unreadable. Prior's occasional verse is nearly the best of his age; his shorter lyrical poems have earned for him, not altogether undeservedly, the title, the English Horatian.

221. Poems, etc. The ed. of 1709 seems to have been the first genuine publication of Prior's poems. There had been an unauthorized edition bearing a similar title in 1707. I am not able to say which of my selections first appeared therein.

221. A Song. I assign this song to about the year 1693, as it immediately precedes the Hymn to Dr. Purcell, which is dated 1693– 1694. The arrangement of the collected editions of Prior seems roughly chronological.

222. Love Triumphant was Dryden's last drama. It was not a

success.

222 27. In only thee. In thee alone. Cf. 190 7, 8.

223 1. The merchant, to secure his treasure. This "ode" precedes the famous Ode on the Taking of Namour, which bears date

1695.

223 4.

Chloe. Some old gossip as to Prior's Chloe will be found in Rimbault, Fly Leaves, p. 6.

224 11. Fantastic. Capricious.

225. George Granville was a dramatist and late disciple of Waller, by whom he was praised. Owing to his espousal of the cause of James, he lived in literary retirement during the reign of William, emerging into public life with the accession of Queen Anne. Myra was the Countess of Newburgh. "As he wrote verses to her ladyship," says Dr. Johnson gruffly, "before he was twenty, he may be forgiven if he regarded the face more than the mind." Pope dedicated Windsor Forest to Lord Lansdowne. Cf. verses 291–298.

225. William Congreve started life with a divided ambition to become a literary man and to be "the first gentleman of his age," as an old phrase puts it. He achieved a substantial success in both, giving up the former for the latter about the year 1700. Congreve's literary reputation rests upon his sparkling dramas. In his lyrics, which are very few, he combines much of the grace of the earlier age with the precision of the age to come.

226. The Secular Masque was an entertainment to commemorate what the author was pleased to consider the beginning of a new cen

tury; it was really the beginning of the hundredth year. The original music Malone believes to have been by Purcell. It was later set by Dr. Boyce and revived at Drury Lane, 1749. At both performances the Masque was a success, the Hunting Song was long especially popular. 226 4. Wexing. Waxing.

227 5. Course. Chase.

INDEX OF AUTHORS AND EDITORS.

·Names printed in Roman letters denote authors; those in italics, editors; the dates
following are those of birth, earliest authorship, and death. When the editor is
unknown, MS. or other source is given. Original titles are printed in Roman; those
assigned by others than the author, in italics; first lines are put in quotation marks.

BEHN, APHARA (1640 — 1666? — 1689):

PAGE

Song, 'Love in fantastic triumph sat'
The Charm for Constancy.

'O love! that stronger art than wine'.

BRATHWAITE, RICHARD (1588 ? — 1611 — 1673):