The following bibliographical memoranda, in the well-known hand of Dr.
Farmer, occur in a copy of the edition of Drayton's _Poems_ published in
1619, in small folio, by John Smethwick, which contains "The Barons'
Wars; England's Heroical Epistles; Idea; Odes; The Legends of Robert
Duke of Normandie, Matilda, Pierce Gaveston, and Great Cromwell; The
Owle; and Pastorals, containing Eglogues, with the Man in the Moone."
They may be of use to some future editor of Drayton, an author now
undeservedly neglected, whose _Nymphidia_ alone might tempt the tasteful
publisher of the "Aldine Poets" to include a selection, at least, of his
poems in that beautiful series:--
"The works of Michael Drayton, Esq., were reprinted in folio,
1748. The title-page 'promises all the writings of that
_celebrated author_,' but his Pastorals (p.433. &c., first
published imperfectly in 4to. 1593) and many other of his most
considerable compositions (Odes, the Owle, &c., see the Appendix),
are not so much as spoken of. See his article in the _Biog.
Brit._ by Mr. Oldys, curiously and accurately written.
"Another edition (which is called the _best_) was printed in 4
vols. 8vo. 1753. Robson, 1765.
"A Poem Triumphant, composed for the Society of the Goldsmiths of
London, by _M. Drayton_. 4to. 1604. _Harl. Cat._ v.3. p. 357.
"Charles Coffey was the editor of the folio edit. 1748, he had a
large subscription for it, but died before the publication; and
it was afterward printed for the benefit of his widow. See
Mottley, p. 201.
"The print of Drayton at the back of the title-page, is marked in
Thane's Catalogue, 1774, 7s. 6d.
"N.B. The copy of the _Baron's Warres_ in this edition differs in
almost every line from that in the 8vo. edit. 1610.
"It was printed under the title of Mortimeriados, in 7 line
stanzaes.
"Matilda was first printed 1594, 4to., by Val. Simmes. Gaveston
appears by the Pref. to have been publish't before. Almost every
line in the old 4to. of Matilda differs from the copy in this
edit. A stanza celebrating Shakespeare's Lucrece is omitted in the
later edition.
"Idea. The Shepherd's Garland. Fashion'd in 9 Eglogs. Rowland's
sacrifice to the 9 Muses, 4to. 1593. But they are printed in this
Edition very different from the present Pastorals.
"A sonnet of Drayton's prefixed to the 2nd Part of _Munday's
Primaleon of Greece_, B.L. 4to. 1619."
[The stanza in _Matilda_, celebrating Shakespeare's _Lucrece_, to which
Dr. Farmer alludes, is thus quoted by Mr. Collier in his edition of
Shakespeare (viii. p. 411.):--
"Lucrece, of whom proud Rome hath boasted long,
Lately revived to live another age,
And here arrived to tell of Tarquin's wrong,
Her chaste denial, and the tyrant's rage, {29}
Acting her passions on our stately stage:
She is remember'd, all forgetting me,
Yet I as fair and chaste as e'er was she;"--
who remarks upon it as follows:--
"A difficulty here may arise out of the fifth line, as if
Drayton was referring to a play upon the story of Lucrece, and
it is very possible that one was then in existence. Thomas
Heywood's tragedy, _The Rape of Lucrece,_ did not appear in print
until 1608, and he could hardly have been old enough to have been
the author of such a drama in 1594; he may, nevertheless, have
availed himself of an elder play, and, according to the practice
of the time, he may have felt warranted in publishing it as his
own. It is likely, however, that Drayton's expressions are not to
be taken literally; and that his meaning merely was, that the
story of Lucrece had lately been revived, and brought upon the
stage of the world: if this opinion be correct, the stanza we have
quoted above contains a clear allusion to Shakespeare's _Lucrece_;
and a question then presents itself, why Drayton entirely omitted
it in the after-impression of his _Matilda_. He was a poet who, as
we have shown in the Introduction to _Julius Cæsar_ (vol. viii.
p. 4.), was in the habit of making extensive alterations in his
productions, as they were severally reprinted, and the suppression
of this stanza may have proceeded from many other causes than
repentance of the praise he had bestowed upon a rival."]
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