A HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF E N G L I S H P O E T R Y

SELECTED AND ARRANGED With Notes BY RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, D.D. ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN LONDON M A C M I L L A N A N D C O. 1868 LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET {v}

PREFACE.

The first question which I asked myself, when I resumed a purpose long ago entertained, and then for a long while laid aside, of publishing such a selection of English Poetry as the present, was this, namely, whether Mr. Palgrave’s Golden Treasury had not so occupied the ground that there was no room for one who should come after. The selection is one made with so exact an acquaintance with the sources from which his Treasury was to be replenished, with so fine a taste in regard of what was worthy to be admitted there, that this was the conclusion to which at the first I was disposed to arrive. Presently, however, I saw reason to change my mind. The volume which I meditated was on so different a scheme and plan from his, that, while no doubt I should sometimes go over ground which he had gone over before, it was evident that for the most part our paths would be different, and my choice not identical with his. This to so great an extent has proved the case, that of more than three hundred pieces which compose this volume, less than seventy have

appeared in his. And it is easy to perceive how this should be. His is{vi} a Treasury of the best songs and lyrical poems in the English Language, and of these exclusively; but within this circle he proposes to include all which is of first-rate excellence in our language by authors not living. My scheme is at once broader and narrower; broader, in that I limit myself to no one particular class of poetry, and embrace the living and the dead alike; narrower, in that I make no attempt to be exhaustive, or to give more than a very few samples even of the best and greatest of our poets.

But if Mr. Palgrave had not forestalled me, I certainly did not feel that any other had so done. Most of the collections which have fallen under my eye have failed to give me the impression of being the result of direct and immediate investigation on the part of the collector into the treasures of our English Poetry. There is so much there which invites citation, and which has never been cited yet in any of our popular anthologies, that it is difficult to think that any one who had himself wandered in this garden of riches would not have carried off some flowers and fruits of his own gathering; instead of offering to us again, as most do, though it may be in somewhat different combinations, what already has been offered by others. When I see, for example, ‘Queen and huntress chaste and fair,’ doubtless a very graceful lyric, with one or two other familiar poems, doing duty in one collection after another as the specimens of Ben Jonson’s verse, it is hard to suppose that his rich and pleasant Underwood has been wandered through; since in that

case something which others have not brought already would surely have been brought away from thence; while the specimens from other poets{vii} provoke a similar misgiving. Whatever merit or demerit this may imply, the volume here presented lays claim to a certain originality—or, if that word cannot in this matter be allowed,—to a certain independence of judgment. There has not, indeed, been any attempt, as certainly there has been no desire, to reverse the general judgment and decision about the great poems of the language. He who should offer to do this would merely betray his own presumption, and his unfitness for even so humble a task as that here attempted. But in poems of a very high merit, which yet do not attain to the highest rank of all, there is ample space for the play of such an independent judgment, and I have not hesitated to exercise this. Many, which almost all collections have hitherto contained, will be looked for in vain in this; not a few which, so far as I know, none have included, have found room in it. It is not always

that I have considered what I bring forward better than what to make place for it I set aside; but where I have only considered it as good, it has seemed a real gain to put new treasures within the reach of those who are little able, or, if able, are little likely, to go and discover such for themselves. But in very many instances I feel sure that what I have made room for is not merely as good, but better than that which to make room for it I have dismissed; nor has it been a little pleasure to draw from obscure retreats, or from retreats only familiar to those who have made English poetry more or less of a special study, and{viii} acquainted themselves with its bye ways no less than its high ways, poems which little merit the oblivion into which they had fallen.

I have called this volume a Household Book of English Poetry, by this name implying that it is a book for all, that there is nothing in it to prevent it from being confidently placed in the hands of every member of the household. I wish I could have kept it within a moderate size by no more than the excluding from it everything of inferior value; but it will be evident to all who are at all acquainted with the inexhaustible opulence of English Poetry that I could only do this by continual acts of self-denial, having, at every step of my progress, to set my seal to the truth of that Eastern proverb which says, ‘You may bring a nosegay to the city, but you cannot bring the garden.’ This is indeed all which in this anthology I have attempted. To have allowed it to grow to a larger bulk would have defeated my hopes that it might be a volume which the emigrant, finding room for little not absolutely necessary, might yet find room for it in his trunk, and the traveller in his knapsack, and that on some narrow shelves where there are few books this might be

one. But indeed the actual amount which such a volume contains, whether it be much or little, will be of less consequence in our eyes, when once we have apprehended that Horace was only under the mark when he affirmed of good poetry that ten times repeated it will please. It would be truer to say of a poem which in motive, in form, in diction, in melody, in unity of plan,{ix} satisfies all conditions, that it is ‘a joy for ever.’ It is impossible so to draw out the sweetness of it that it shall not still have as much to yield us, or it maybe more than it had at the beginning. How many another book, once read, can yield no more pleasure or profit to us—but poems of the highest order are in their very essence sources of a delight which is inexhaustible. However much of this has been drawn from them, as much or more remains behind.

There is another reflection which may console us in leaving so much untouched, namely, that almost every considerable poet has written something, in which all that he has of highest and most characteristic has come to a head. Thus I remember that Wordsworth used to speak of Shelley’s Ode to a Skylark as the expression of the highest to which his genius had attained. Wordsworth’s own Lines on revisiting the banks of the Wye, or, higher perhaps even than these, his Lines suggested by a picture of Peele Castle in a Storm, I should regard as fulfilling for him the same conditions; and what is true of these two, is no less true of other poets out of number.

I have nowhere given extracts from larger poems, but only poems which may be regarded as complete in themselves. It is true that I have sometimes made room for such as, through their length, or through some other cause, must otherwise have been shut out, by omissions; but only where I believed these omissions to be real gains; and I do not think I have anywhere done this without giving warning to the reader. There are, no doubt,{x} certain inconveniences which attend a resolution only to give entire poems and not extracts; and this the chief one—that the space allotted to different poets cannot in all or nearly all instances represent or correspond to their several importance. Some poets have thrown all or well nigh all their poetic faculty into the composition of one or two great poems; and have very seldom indeed allowed themselves in briefer excursions into the land of song. Others on the contrary, of not higher, or it may be not nearly so high, a gift, have put a large part of their strength into these occasional poems, and will therefore

yield for a volume like the present infinitely more than their more illustrious compeers. Under the action of this rule, and dramatic poetry being of necessity excluded, there is nothing of Shakespeare’s to choose from but his Sonnets and his Songs—these certainly being in themselves much, but still little when compared with what is passed by. Again, one who does not believe in Alexander’s Feast, and still less in the Ode on the Death of Mrs. Killigrew, finds it hard, indeed impossible, to deal anything approaching to justice to Dryden, or by specimens which are at his command to afford any true representation of the range of his powers or the eminence of his place in English literature. It is the same and nearly to the same extent with Pope; while others, like Gray and Campbell, get justice and more than justice; though, yielding what they do, one does not grudge this to them in the least. The inconvenience would certainly be a grave one, if the volume presented itself as primarily a Manual of English Poetry,{xi} or an assistance to the

study of the history of this; but having quite another as its primary object, it is one which may very well be borne, while the advantages of such a rule of selection are undoubted.

I have attached a few notes to this volume. I had intended to add many more, but under the pressure of events which now claim, and for a long time to come are likely to claim, nearly all one’s thoughts and leisure, have been obliged to renounce the carrying of this intention out, and only to print those which were ready. If in them there is little or nothing with which professed students of English literature are not already familiar, I can only urge that this volume was not designed, and still less were the notes designed, for such; but for readers who, capable of an intelligent interest in the subject, have yet had neither time nor opportunity for special studies of their own in it, and who must therefore rely more or less on the hand-leading of others; nor I trust shall I be found fault with that I have sometimes taken upon me in these notes to indicate what seemed worthy of special admiration; or sought in other ways to plant the reader at that point of view from which the merits of some poem might be most deeply felt and best

understood. If I am, I must plead in excuse that for myself in other regions of art, as in music or painting, where I have comparatively little or no confidence in my own judgment, I have been and often am most thankful to those, being persons whom I could trust, who have told me what to admire, and given me the reasons for{xii} so doing. If we set aside a few intuitive geniuses, it is only thus that any of us can ever hope to be educated into independence of judgment; and I am sure that some, acknowledging this, will be grateful for notes of admiration, by which I have sometimes called their attention to that which otherwise might not obtain it, or might not obtain it to the full of its deserts.

London: May 8th, 1868.

{1}

PART THE FIRST.

I A MEDITATION UPON THE FRAILTY OF THIS LIFE.

II LOVE THE ONLY PRICE OF LOVE.

III A POESY TO PROVE AFFECTION IS NOT LOVE

IV LIFE.

V NATURAL COMPARISONS WITH PERFECT LOVE.

VI THE SOUL’S ERRAND.

VII

1MUNDUS QUALIS.

{9}

2EMBLEMA.

3FUIMUS FUMUS.

4OMNIA SOMNIA.

{10}

5MORS MORTIS.

VIII THE STORY OF A SUMMER DAY.

IX A VOW TO LOVE FAITHFULLY, HOWSOEVER HE BE REWARDED.

X AN APPEAL.

XI A RENUNCIATION.

XII THE EXCELLENCY OF HIS LOVE.

XIII

XIV TO HIS FORSAKEN MISTRESS.

XV THE SHEPHERDS FAREWELL.

XVI SONNET.

XVII SONNET.

XVIII A VISION UPON THE FAIRY QUEEN.

XIX THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE.

XX THE ANSWER.

XXI SAMELA.

XXII SILENT MUSIC.

XXIII TRIUMPH OF CHARIS.

XXIV A BRIDAL SONG

XXV SONNET.

XXVI SONNET.

XXVII SONNET.

XXVIII SONNET.

XXIX SONNET.

XXX SONNET.

XXXI SONNET.

XXXII SONNET.

XXXIII SONNET.

XXXIV SONNET.

XXXV SONNET.

XXXVI A SAD SONG.

XXXVII INVOCATION TO SLEEP.

XXXVIII SONG.

XXXIX THE SHEPHERD’S PRAISE OF HIS SACRED DIANA.

XL TRUE GROWTH.

XLI THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

XLII TO HIMSELF.

XLIII MELANCHOLY.

XLIV LEWD LOVE IS LOSS.

XLV TO THE WORLD. A FAREWELL FOR A GENTLEWOMAN, VIRTUOUS AND NOBLE.

XLVI TO THE MEMORY OF BEN JONSON.

XLVII A CONTENTED MIND.

XLVIII SONNET.

XLIX SONNET.

L TIMES GO BY TURNS.

LI LIFE A BUBBLE.

LII MAN’S MORTALITY.

LIII OF MY DEAR SON GERVASE BEAUMONT.

LIV DIRGE.

LV ON THE TOMBS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

LVI DEATH’S FINAL CONQUEST.

LVII THE SAME.

LVIII LINES WRITTEN BY ONE IN THE TOWER, BEING YOUNG AND CONDEMNED TO DIE.

LIX LINES WRITTEN THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS EXECUTION.

LX SONNET.

LXI THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.

PART THE SECOND.

LXII THE HAPPY LIFE.

LXIII WINIFREDA.

LXIV A LECTURE UPON THE SHADOW.

LXV SONG.

LXVI THE PRIMROSE.

LXVII TRUE LOVELINESS.

LXVIII THE ROSE’S MESSAGE.

LXIX THE ROSES PRIDE.

LXX TO CASTARA. THE REWARD OF INNOCENT LOVE.

LXXI LOVE’S ANNIVERSARY. TO THE SUN.

LXXII THE SURRENDER.

LXXIII THE BRIDE’S TRAGEDY.

LXXIV BURD HELEN.

LXXV LOVE’S ENTERPRISE.

LXXVI THE TWA BROTHERS.

LXXVII THE TWA SISTERS.

{76}

LXXVIII TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.

LXXIX EYES AND TEARS.

LXXX TO MY WORTHY FRIEND MASTER GEORGE SANDYS, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS.

LXXXI THE FLOWER.

LXXXII GOD UNSEARCHABLE.

LXXXIII AT A SOLEMN MUSIC.

LXXXIV THE RAINBOW.

LXXXV L’ALLEGRO.

LXXXVI IL PENSEROSO.

LXXXVII CONTENTATION.

DIRECTED TO MY DEAR FATHER, AND MOST WORTHY FRIEND, MR. ISAAC WALTON.

LXXXVIII IN PRAISE OF HOPE.

LXXXIX PROLOGUE.

TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. SPOKEN BY MR. HART, AT THE ACTING OF ‘THE SILENT WOMAN.’

XC PROLOGUE.

TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

XCI DISTICHES.

XCII FAME UNMERITED.

XCIII ON THE DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY, SON OF JAMES THE FIRST.

XCIV ON HIS MISTRESS, THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA.

XCV LORD STRAFFORD’S MEDITATIONS IN THE TOWER.

XCVI I’LL NEVER LOVE THEE MORE.

XCVII TO ALTHEA FROM PRISON.

XCVIII TO LUCASTA, ON GOING BEYOND THE SEAS.

XCIX A CAVALIER WAR-SONG.

C THE SOLDIER GOING TO THE FIELD.

CI LOYALTY CONFINED.

CII A ROYAL LAMENTATION.

CIII HORATIAN ODE UPON CROMWELL’S RETURN FROM IRELAND.

CIV ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEMONT.

CV HYMN TO LIGHT.

CVI TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

CVII THE DREAM.

CVIII THE DIRGE.

CIX PARAPHRASE FROM SENECA.

CX VANISHED BLESSINGS.

CXI EPITAPH.

CXII THE WORLD’S FALLACIES.

CXIII TO THE MEMORY OF MR. OLDHAM.

CXIV AN EPITAPH ON THE EXCELLENT COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

CXV A PAGAN EPITAPH.

CXVI ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. CATHERINE THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND.

CXVII AN EPITAPH UPON HUSBAND AND WIFE, WHO DIED AND WERE BURIED TOGETHER.

CXVIII EPITAPH.

CXIX EPITAPH ON COMPANIONS LEFT BEHIND IN THE NORTHERN SEAS.

CXX EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS.

CXXI EXEQUY ON HIS WIFE.

CXXII EPITAPH.

CXXIII SONNET.

CXXIV SONNET.

CXXV LYCIDAS.

CXXVI THE CHRISTIAN’S REPLY TO THE PHILOSOPHER.

CXXVII MORTIFICATION.

CXXVIII THE RETREAT.

CXXIX A DROP OF DEW.

CXXX PEACE.

CXXXI EVENING HYMN.

CXXXII THE VALEDICTION.

CXXXIII HYMN FOR ADVENT; OR CHRIST’S COMING TO JERUSALEM IN TRIUMPH.

CXXXIV BEYOND THE VEIL.

PART THE THIRD.

CXXXV ODE ON SOLITUDE.

CXXXVI STELLA’S BIRTHDAY. 1720.

CXXXVII ON THE PROSPECT OF PLANTING ARTS AND LEARNING IN AMERICA.

CXXXVIII THE LAWYER’S FAREWELL TO HIS MUSE.

CXXXIX THE JUGGLERS.

CXL RULE BRITANNIA.

CXLI ADMIRAL HOSIER’S GHOST.

ON THE TAKING OF PORTO-BELLO BY ADMIRAL VERNON. NOV. 22, 1739.

CXLII LAMENT FOR FLODDEN.

CXLIII WAE’S ME FOR PRINCE CHARLIE.

CXLIV AN ODE.

IN IMITATION OF ALCÆUS.

CXLV ODE.

WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1746.

CXLVI ODE TO THE CUCKOO.

CXLVII ODE TO EVENING.

CXLVIII TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY.

CXLIX ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD WEST.

CL TO THE HONOURABLE MISS CARTERET.

CLI TO MISS GEORGIANA CARTERET.

CLII THE DYING LOVER.

CLIII THE SAILOR’S RETURN.

CLIV THE BANKS OF DOON.

CLV THE BRAES OF YARROW.

CLVI AULD ROBIN GRAY.

CLVII THE PROGRESS OF POESY.

A PINDARIC ODE.

CLVIII SONNET.

CLIX TO THE RIVER LODON.

CLX TO MARY UNWIN.

CLXI TO THE SAME.

CLXII TO THE EARL OF WARWICK, ON THE DEATH OF ADDISON.

CLXIII ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY.

CLXIV ON THE DEATH OF MR. ROBERT LEVET,

A PRACTISER IN PHYSIC.

CLXV HIGHLAND MARY.

CLXVI THE CAST-AWAY.

CLXVII THE LAND O’ THE LEAL.

CLXVIII ELEGY, WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD.

THE EPITAPH.

CLXIX WRESTLING JACOB.

PART THE FOURTH.

CLXX TO THE CUCKOO.

CLXXI THE RAINBOW.

CLXXII THE COMMON LOT.

CLXXIII THE HOLLY TREE.

CLXXIV THE SQUIRE’S PEW.

CLXXV A DREAM.

CLXXVI DECEMBER MORNING.

CLXXVII THE THRUSH’S NEST.

CLXXVIII TIME.

CLXXIX FANCY IN NUBIBUS.

CLXXX EVENING.

CLXXXI THE WALL-FLOWER.

CLXXXII THE SEA-CAVE.

CLXXXIII HOLY THURSDAY.

CLXXXIV ON AN ANTIQUE GEM BEARING THE HEADS OF PERICLES AND ASPASIA.

CLXXXV LOVE.

CLXXXVI SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY.

CLXXXVII SONG.

CLXXXVIII THE LONELY.

CLXXXIX PROUD MAISIE.

CXC AN HOUR WITH THEE.

CXCI THE FUGITIVES.

CXCII LUCY.

CXCIII ODE TO PSYCHE.

CXCIV THE SUNFLOWER.

CXCV REGRETS.

CXCVI TO A LOFTY BEAUTY, FROM HER POOR KINSMAN.

CXCVII THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET.

CXCVIII TO A BIRD THAT HAUNTED THE WATERS OF LAKEN IN THE WINTER.

CXCIX THE SYLVAN LIFE.

CC SPRING.

CCI THE POETRY OF EARTH

CCII SONNET.

CCIII THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.

CCIV THRASYMENE.

CCV THE BATTLE OF NASEBY.

BY OBADIAH BIND-THEIR-KINGS-IN-CHAINS-AND-THEIR-NOBLES-WITH-LINKS-OF-IRON, SERJEANT IN IRETON’S REGIMENT.

CCVI CAVALIER SONG.

CCVII THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC.

CCVIII HOHENLINDEN.

CCIX ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC.

CCX COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802.

CCXI NOVEMBER, 1806.

CCXII THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

CCXIII ODE TO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.

CCXIV SONG.

FOR THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE PITT CLUB OF SCOTLAND, 1814.

CCXV TO THE MEMORY OF PIETRO D’ALESSANDRO,

SECRETARY TO THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF SICILY IN 1848, WHO DIED AN EXILE AT MALTA IN JANUARY 1855.

CCXVI HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE, IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI.

CCXVII THE DANISH BOY.

CCXVIII ON REVISITING THE BANKS OF THE WYE.

CCXIX DEDICATION OF THE REVOLT OF ISLAM TO HIS WIFE.

CCXX FRANCE: AN ODE, 1797.

CCXXI ODE TO THE WEST WIND.

CCXXII ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE.

CCXXIII ODE TO A SKYLARK.

CCXXIV ‘ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR.’

CCXXV PESCHIERA.

CCXXVI LINES SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE OF PEELE CASTLE IN A STORM, PAINTED BY SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT.

CCXXVII ODE ON A GRECIAN URN.

CCXXVIII STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION NEAR NAPLES.

CCXXIX DESPONDENCY REBUKED.

CCXXX THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS.

CCXXXI DIRGE.

CCXXXII LINES WRITTEN IN MY OWN ALBUM.

CCXXXIII SONNET.

CCXXXIV SONNET.

CCXXXV SONNET.

CCXXXVI THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER.

CCXXXVII TO THE MOON.

CCXXXVIII SONG.

CCXXXIX ON ANOTHER’S SORROW.

CCXL A DEAD ROSE.

CCXLI AT THE CHURCH GATE.

CCXLII ON AN INFANT DYING AS SOON AS BORN.

CCXLIII ON THE SAME.

CCXLIV FIRE.

CCXLV

ON BEING PRESSED TO GO TO A MASQUED BALL NOT MANY MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF MY CHILD.

CCXLVI THE DEATH BED.

CCXLVII LINES WRITTEN IN RICHMOND CHURCHYARD, YORKSHIRE.

CCXLVIII TIME.

CCXLIX SHE IS FAR FROM THE LAND.

CCL THE LAST MAN.

CCLI ROSE AYLMER.

CCLII THE SPRING OF THE YEAR.

CCLIII BURIAL OF THE DEAD.

CCLIV THE SLEEP.

CCLV

TO THE MEMORY OF MY VENERABLE GRANDFATHER-IN-LAW, SAMUEL MARTIN, WHO WAS TAKEN FROM US IN THE SIXTY-EIGHTH YEAR OF HIS MINISTRY.

CCLVI THE EVENING CLOUD.

CCLVII NIGHT AND DEATH.

PART THE FIFTH.

CCLVIII THE FORSAKEN MERMAN.

CCLIX THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN.

A CHILD’S STORY.

CCLX AUTUMN WOODS.

CCLXI LAPSE.

CCLXII THE HUMBLE-BEE.

CCLXIII TO A WATERFOWL.

CCLXIV ASPIRATION.

CCLXV THE PALM-TREE AND THE PINE.

CCLXVI A SUMMER REMINISCENCE.

CCLXVII SONG.

CCLXVIII THE VIOLET.

CCLXIX JOY.

CCLXX THE HAPPY HUSBAND.

CCLXXI THEN.

CCLXXII THE PRINCE OF ORANGE IN 1672.

CCLXXIII THE PRIVATE OF THE BUFFS.

CCLXXIV ON A PICTURE BY TURNER.

CCLXXV THE RHODORA:

ON BEING ASKED, WHENCE IS THE FLOWER?

CCLXXVI THE GOOD PART THAT SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY.

CCLXXVII IN WAR TIME.

CCLXXVIII COME UP FROM THE FIELDS, FATHER.

CCLXXIX SONNET.

CCLXXX A DEDICATION TO CHARLES DICKENS OF THE LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

CCLXXXI SONNET.

CCLXXXII THE UGLY PRINCESS.