43. Two gentle knights, the bridegrooms.

47. twins of Jove, Castor and Pollux, the constellation Gemini in the bauldricke of the heavens (48), i.e., the Zodiac.

BACON. — Of Adversity. — 1. Seneca, Roman philosopher and writer of tragedies; first century. 11. transcendences, exaggerations. 20. in a mean, with moderation. 21. temperance, moderation.

26. David's harp, the book of Psalms. 37. incensed, set on fire, as in a censer.

Of Marriage and Single Life. 2. impediments, hindrances. 11. impertinences, things having no pertinence, i.e., not pertaining to themselves. 19. liberty, desire for liberty. 20. humorous, subject to humors, or moods. 25. churchmen, priests, preachers. 27. indifferent, undesirable. 30. hortatives, exhortations. 35. exhaust, exhausted. 40. Vetulam, etc. "He preferred his old wife to immortality." Ulysses was offered immortality by the goddess Calypso if he would live with her; but he declined and went back to Penelope. 46. quarrel, excuse. 47. one of the wise men,

Thales, Greek philosopher.

1. shrewd, harmful.

Of Wisdom for a Man's Self. 6. right earth, merely earth, earthy. 7. his, its, i.e., the earth's. See note on Chaucer's Prologue, line 1. 15. eccentric to, having a different center, i.e., aim, motive. 18. accessory, subordinate. 26. bias upon their bowl, weight upon the ball used in bowling, which makes its course a curve. 27. after the model of, shaped to accord with. 32. and, if. 35. respect, consideration. 44. sui, etc., "lovers of themselves without a rival."

Of Youth and Age. - 5. invention, ingenuity. 10. Severus, Roman emperor, third century. 11. Juventutem, etc. "He spent a youth full of errors, even of acts of madness." 14. Cosmus, Cosimo de Medici. 15. Gaston de Fois, French general, sixteenth century. 16. composition, disposition. 20. them, old men. 21. abuseth, deceives. 28. absurdly modifies pursue. care not, do not hesitate. 35. compound, mix. 39. extern, external. 43. the text. See Joel II, 28. 52. Hermogenes, Greek, second century. 57. Tully, better known by his last name Cicero. Hortensius, Cicero's greatest rival. Idem, etc. "He continued the same when it was no longer becoming." 60. Scipio, Roman general. Livy, Roman historian. 61. Ultima, etc. "His end fell below his beginning."

Of Studies.

with great care.

- 10. humour, peculiarity. 14. contemn, despise, consider of little value. 16. without, beyond. 22. curiously, 31. present, quick. 35. Abeunt, etc. "Studies develop into habits." 36. stond, hindrance. 45. cymini sectores, hair-splitters; persons given to making fine distinctions. 48. receipt, remedy.

Bacon's condensed style produces many memorable passages. The last essay alone contains a number of sayings that have almost become proverbs.

MARLOWE. A Boast of Tamburlaine is a typical example of what Ben Jonson called "Marlowe's mighty line." Tamburlaine was a Scythian shepherd who aspired to conquer the whole world, and almost succeeded in doing so. Marlowe makes him almost the personification of the desire for power.

6. Cynthia, the moon. 10. your turning spheres, the stars. 13. Bithynia, in ancient times, a country in Asia Minor. 14. exhalation; five syllables here. The suffix -tion is frequently counted as two syllables in poetry. 20. Clymene's son, Prometheus. 21. axle-tree, axis.

SHAKSPERE. Since considerations of space prevent printing a complete play here, the greatest of all English poets is represented by some songs and sonnets. The Elizabethan Age is almost as notable for lyric verse as for dramatic; and Shakspere surpassed all writers in both fields.

Over hill, etc., is a song of Puck, the fairy. 2. thorough is the same as "through." Modern English uses the first exclusively as an adjective, the second as preposition; but up to the seventeenth century they were used interchangeably. 9. Queen Elizabeth's body-guard, her favorite attendants, were Gentlemen Pensioners," "They were the handsomest men of the first families, — tall, as the cowslip was to the fairy, and shining in their spotted gold coats like that flower under an April sun."

66

Under the greenwood tree celebrates the joys of forest life as seen by an exiled duke and his train.

Hark, hark! the lark. -2. Phœbus, the sun. 4. chaliced, shaped like chalices, or cups.

Where the bee sucks is a song by the sprite Ariel, a very different fairy from Puck.

Sonnets. Many theories have been advanced in explanation of Shakspere's sonnet-sequence (see introductory note on Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, page 16). No evidence has yet been cited to identify with certainty any of the persons alluded to in them, or to show that they record any real experiences or events. Shakspere adopted a new rhyme-scheme which the student should examine and compare with the schemes of Sidney, Spenser, and later writers.

BEN JONSON. - To the Memory. This tribute by the greatest contemporary of Shakspere's last years was printed in the first collected edition of the dramatist's works, known as the First Folio. It was published in 1623, seven years after Shakspere's death.

5. all men's suffrage, all men agree to it. 18. Francis Beaumont was a great dramatist of the day, who wrote most of his plays in conjunction with John Fletcher. 25. of years, mature. 27. Lyly, Kyd, and Marlowe were the greatest dramatists before Shakspere. The first wrote comedies; under the influence of which Shakspere wrote his early comedies - Love's Labour's Lost and Two Gentlemen of Verona. The other two were writers of tragedy. 29. though thou hadst, etc. This line has been frequently interpreted to mean that Shakspere had no education. Ben Jonson was a classical scholar; and what he considered small Latin and less Greek might still be a very respectable attainment in those languages. 31. Æschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles were the greatest writers of Greek tragedy; Pacuvius, Accius, and him of Cordova (i.e., Seneca) the greatest of Roman. 34. buskin stands for tragedy, because in ancient times actors in tragedy wore buskins, or high-heeled boots. Similarly, sock, a slipper worn in comedy, stands for comedy itself. 41. This line, probably the most frequently quoted single passage about Shakspere, means that his plays are universal in their truth to life. 49. Aristophanes, Greek comic writer; Terence and Plautus, Roman. 52. As, as if. 67. shake a lance may be a pun on the dramatist's name. A writer about the time Shakespere began to write called him a "Shake-scene." 72. Eliza, Queen Elizabeth. 75. rage or influence, power for good or evil. The terms are from the science (so-called) of astrology.

HERRICK, CAREW, LOVELACE, and SUCKLING are known as the "Cavalier" poets, because their sympathies were with the Cavaliers, or adherents of the Stuart kings, James I and Charles I. In con

trast with them were the "Puritans," of whom the chief representative was Milton, and who opposed the Stuart rule and brought about the execution of Charles and the establishment of the Commonwealth under Cromwell. The Cavaliers were, of course, the aristocrats; and their poets dealt with lighter subjects, or in a lighter way with serious subjects than did the Puritans. Some history of literature should be consulted for a detailed statement of their characteristics.

Corinna's Going A-Maying. Corinna is a fanciful name, not representing, so far as we know, any real person. The same is true of other names in succeeding poems -Sapho, Julia, Celia, Lucasta, Althea. 2. god unshorn, the sun in all his brilliance; i.e., not darkened by clouds. 3. Aurora, goddess of dawn. 14. May, May flowers. 17. Flora, goddess of flowers. 22. against, until. 28. beads, prayers. See "rosary' in large dictionary, and note on Chaucer's Prologue, line 83. 35. white-thorn, hawthorn. 48. that. See note on Chaucer's Prologue, line 1. gown, a tumble on the grass. 65. or

- or,

either or.

51. green

To Phillis. - 19. carcanets, necklaces. 25. wakes, festivals. 30. hey, a country round dance. 46. for to. See note on Chaucer's Prologue, 17. 47. possets and wassails are mixed drinks.

CAREW. Song. 6. orbs; allusion to the "music of the spheres," which should be looked up in the dictionary. 8. nard, a fragrant ointment, or the plant from which that is made.

LOVELACE. The two poems given in the text are almost the only poems of real worth written by this poet. In addition to their value as poems, they are memorable for two passages that have become almost proverbial — lines 11-12 of the first, and 25-26 of the second.

To Althea. 10. allaying, diluting. "water."

Thames means merely

SUCKLING.- Constant Lover. 12. stays, delays. 13. The grammatical error in this line will be found occasionally in the best poets, and is not always justifiable, as it is here, by the requirements of rhyme.

con

MILTON. L'Allegro and Il Penseroso are companion pictures, giving the views of life held by the "cheerful" man and the " templative" man. They are composed on the same plan, each

presenting an ideal day. The parallelism is clearly indicated; and the student should note the time-references, and work out the two schemes for a day's occupation.

2. Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades. 3. Stygian cave, the region where the river Styx flows, i.e., Hades. 4. This line is one of the best examples of "onomatopoeia," or the use of words whose sound contributes to the sense. Note the number of hissing sounds. 5. uncouth, unknown; the etymological meaning. 10. In the land of the Cimmerians there was no sun, according to Homer (Odyssey, XI). 12. yclept, called. Euphrosyne, one of the three Graces. 29. Hebe, goddess of youth. 31. Care is the object of derides; that (i.e., "sport") is the subject.

45. to come is in the same construction as to live (39), and to hear (41). L'Allegro, the cheerful man (me, line 38), likes to come to his window and welcome the morning. 62. liveries, costumes, colors. 67. tells his tale, counts his sheep. This old sense of tell is found in 'teller," one who counts money in a bank, or one who counts votes in a legislative body.

70. landskip; old spelling of "landscape." round, for "around," is here an adverb; it is subject of measures. 77. Towers and battlements. Milton here probably gives a bit of realism, alluding to the towers of Windsor Castle, which could be seen from his home at Horton. 80. cynosure means, first, the constellation familiarly known as the "Little Dipper," which contains the pole-star. It later was used for the pole-star alone, from which it came to mean (as here) any center of attraction. 83 ff. Corydon, Thyrsis, Phillis, Thestylis are stock names in pastoral poetry. 85. messes,

dishes.

91. secure is used here in its etymological sense, "free from care." 94. rebeck was somewhat like the modern fiddle. 103-4. she he, narrators of the stories of line 101. friar's lantern, will o' the wisp. 110. lubber, clumsy.

...

120. weeds, garments; in this sense the word is now limited to the phrase "widow's weeds." 122. influence. The word is borrowed from the science of astrology. Cf. Jonson's To the Memory of Shakespeare, 75. 125. Hymen, god of marriage. 132. sock, comedy. See note on Jonson's To the Memory of Shakespeare, 35. Ben Jonson's comedies are noted for the learning displayed in them, as Shakspere's are noted for their native genius.