born at Salisbury about 1644. He was the eldest son of the registrar
of the diocese of Salisbury. About 1662 he migrated to London and
became a pupil of Sir Peter Lely. Almost instant success awaited him,
and his progress proved so rapid as to excite the master’s jealousy.
He married early, and was at first industrious. After a few years,
however, he became a boon companion of the free-living theatrical and
literary circles of the day, and fell into irregular habits. 19 May,
1676, whilst returning from the Vine Tavern, Greenhill fell into the
gutter in Long Acre, was carried to his lodging in Lincoln’s Inn Fields
where he died that same night. He is buried in St. Giles-in-the-Fields.
Amongst his portraits, which are highly esteemed, are those of Charles
II; James, Duke of York; Shaftesbury; Locke; Davenant; Cowley; William
Cartwright, the actor. This Poem on Greenhill’s death has been included
amongst _Poems on Several Occasions by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of R----
Printed at Antwerpen_. [London.] 1680? And again, in _Poems on Several
Occasions by the R. H. the E. of R. London_. 1712.
p. 153 _Mr. J. H._ i.e. Mr. John Hoyle.
p. 156 _Our Cabal_. Considerable research has unhappily failed to
identify most of the personages whose initials appear in this poem.
Mr. J. H., however, is John Hoyle, Mrs. Behn’s well-known intimate, to
whom so many of her poems are addressed. In _The Muses Mercury_ for
January, 1708, the verses for Mr. E. B. and Mrs. F. M. are given with
this note: ‘The following poem was written by Mrs. _Behn_ on one Mr.
_Edward Butler_ and Mrs. _Masters_, and is a Description of the Success
of their Passion, in a little Journey took into the Country, with
many more Gentlemen and Ladies of that Time, whom we shall speak of
hereafter’. a promise which was never fulfilled.
p. 163 _The Willing Mistriss_. This song was reprinted in _The Muses
Mercury_, December, 1707, when it is termed ‘A Song for _J. H._’ with
this note prefixed: ‘The following Verses are call’d, _A Song_ by the
late Mrs. _Behn_; we have a Copy of them in her own Hand Writing, as
well as of many others never printed, except in our Mercuries; and by
her putting her _Nom de Guerre_ Astræa to them, we find they were made
upon her Self and her very good Friend Mr. _Hoyle_.’ At the end of the
third stanza we have: ‘As Amorous as these Verses may be thought, they
have been reduc’d to bring them within the Rules of Decency, which all
Writers ought to observe, or instead of a _Diversion_ they will become
a _Nuisance_.’
p. 165 _Song. When Jemmy_. This was reprinted in _The Muses Mercury_,
September, 1707: as ‘On Capt. ---- going to the Wars in Flanders’, _A Song.
To a Scotch Tune_, and signed Astræa. _The Muses Mercury_ adds the
following note: ‘Tho this Poetess’s true Name was _Apharra_, yet she
in her Amours and Poetical Characters, assum’d the _Nomme de Guerre_
of _Astræa_: And thus we find this Song subscrib’d by her self, which
shews it came from her Heart, however imperfect it may be otherwise.’
Surely, so dainty and, indeed, pathetic a little song can need no plea
for admittance into any poetical collection.
p. 166 _To Mr. Creech_. This poem appears as ‘To The Unknown Daphnis
on his Excellent translation of _Lucretius_’, dated ‘_London_. Jan.
25, 1682’, and signed ‘_A. Behn_’ in the second edition of Creech’s
translation of _Lucretius_ (Oxford, 1683), there are also commendatory
verses prefixed to this edition by Waller, Evelyn, Otway, Tate, Duke
and others.
p. 168 _The Learned Thirsis_ is Thomas Sprat (1635-1713), the famous
Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, who matriculated from
Wadham, 12 November, 1651, and 25 September, 1652, was elected a
scholar. He graduated B.A. 25 June, 1654, M.A. three years later. He
took his B.D. and D.D. 3 July, 1669. From 30 June, 1657 to 24 March,
1670 (when he resigned), he held a Wadham fellowship. Cowley, in his
_Ode to the Royal Society_, had praised Sprat’s _History of the Royal
Society of London_ (1667), and when Cowley died, in 1667, Sprat wrote
_An Account of the Life of Mr. Abraham Cowley._
p. 169 _Strephon the Great_ is John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
(1647-80), who was admitted a fellow commoner at Wadham, 18 January,
1659-60. He was created M.A. 9 September, 1661, when little more than
fourteen. The four silver pint pots he presented to his college are
still preserved.
p. 171 _To Mrs. W._ i.e. Anne Wharton, born in Oxfordshire about
1632, second daughter and coheiress of Sir Henry Lee, third baronet
of Ditchley, by Anne, daughter of Sir John Danvers of Cornbury;
16 September, 1673, she married as his first wife Thomas Wharton
(afterwards first Marquis of Wharton), to whom she brought £10,000
dowry and £2,500 a year. The match proved childless and unhappy, and it
was only owing to Burnet’s persuasions that she did not separate from
her husband in 1682. She died at Adderbury, 29 October, 1685, and was
buried at Winchendon on 10 November following. Anne Wharton’s _Elegy
on the Death of the Earl of Rochester_, which may be found in _Examen
Miscellaneum_ (1702), drew a poem from Waller in which he says that she
Shews that still in her he lives.
Her Wit is graceful, great, and good,
Ally’d in Genius, as in Blood.
The earl’s mother was aunt to Mrs. Wharton’s father, Sir Henry Lee.
Rochester died 26 July, 1680. On p. 242 of _The Temple of Death_, a
miscellany (1695), may be read Mrs. Wharton’s ‘To Mrs. A. Behn, on what
she Writ of the Earl of Rochester’. Various other of her poems have
appeared in similar collections.
p. 173 _The Return_. The first two stanzas of this poem appear in _The
Muses Mercury_, August, 1707, as ‘To _J. Hoyle_, Esq.’
p. 175 _my Lady Morland_. Mrs. Behn is here complimenting her friend
Carola, daughter of Sir Roger Harsnett, Knight, and second wife of Sir
Samuel Morland, whom she married in Westminster Abbey, 26 October,
1670. Lady Morland died 10 October, 1674, aged twenty-two.
For an account of the Queen’s visit to Tunbridge Wells (’.he place of
all Europe the most rural and simple, and yet, at the same time, the
most entertaining and agreeable’., see Grammont’s _Memoirs_. Rochester
has a famous satire, _Tunbridge Wells_. Burr’s _History of Tunbridge
Wells_ will be found to give a very full account of that fashionable
watering-place.
p. 177 _Song to Ceres_. _The Wavering Nymph; or, Mad Amyntas_ was the
name given to a Restoration revival of Randolph’s beautiful and truly
poetic _Amyntas or The Impossible Dowry_. The title of the editio
princeps runs thus: _Amyntas or The Impossible Dowry. A Pastoral Acted
before the King and Queen at Whitehall. Written by Thomas Randolph_.
_Pastorem, Tityre, pingues_
_Pascat oportet oves, diductum dicere Carmen._
_Oxford, Printed by Leonard Lichfield for Francis Bordman_, 1638.
In the pastoral, Ceres, by an obscure oracle, has announced the dowry
to be given to Urania, the daughter of her priest. Amyntas, conceiving
it impossible to bestow this required dowry, has lost his wits. The
wavering nymph is Laurinda. Eventually the divine riddle is happily
solved.
There is no record of the revival for which Mrs. Behn wrote these two
songs, but the play was undoubtedly put on at the Duke’s house. It
was probably acted in 1682-3, when a large number of the older plays
were staged, especially such as gave scope for scenic effects and the
introduction of musical interludes. In the spring of 1703, _Amyntas_,
reduced to three acts as _The Fickle Shepherdess_, was produced at
Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Mrs. Bracegirdle acted Amyntas, and Mrs. Barry,
Clorinda (Laurinda).
p. 178 _The Disappointment_. This poem, which was extremely popular,
was sent by Mrs. Behn to John Hoyle, her friend, with a letter in which
she anxiously urges him to give the lie to various scandals of a grave
nature that were current concerning his private life. The letter and
the poem are both to be found in the various editions of _Familiar
Letters of Love, Gallantry, &c._ This poem was also printed in _Poems
on Several Occasions by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of R---- Antwerpen._
[London.] 1680(?) And in _Poems on Several Occasion by the R. H. the
E. of R._ London. (1712). Under the title _The Insensible_ it is to
be found in the following editions of Rochester, 1718; 1731; 1739 (in
which year there were two several and slightly divergent editions);
1752; 1800 (?); and in a selected reprint _circa_ 1884. In these
editions which contain _The Insensible_, _The Disappointment_ is the
title given to a different poem seemingly based on Ovid, _Amorum_,
iii, vii. The whole subject has frequently been treated by poets and
amorists of all time. Also cf. _supra_ note on a _Juniper-Tree_.
Mr. G. Thorn Drury has drawn my attention to the fact that the original
of Mrs. Behn’s _The Disappointment_, entitled _Sur une Impuissance_
is to be found in _Recueil de Diverses Poesies Choisies Non encore
Imprimées_. A Amsterdam, 1661. A full translation of the French verses
(Mrs. Behn’s is only of part), appears in _Wit and Drollery_ (1682),
under the title _The Lost Opportunity recovered_. This poem is not
given in _Wit and Drollery_ (1661).
p. 182 _Sir R. O._ Either Sir Rowland Okeover, of Okeover, Staffs.,
knighted by the King, May (April?), 1665; or Sir Richard Osbaldeston of
Hunmanby, York, knighted 12 August, 1681.
p. 183 _The Dream_. This song appears in _The Muses Mercury_, May,
1707, as _Cupid in Chains_. For variants see Textual Notes, p. 183.
p. 185 _A Letter to a Brother_. There is nothing to indicate to whom
these satirical lines are addressed. [Ravenscroft?] For ‘Sweating-Tub’
cf. the Epilogue to _The Lucky Chance_: ‘Tubs must cure your pain’
(Vol. III, p. 279), and note on that passage (p. 492).
p. 185 _Pusillage_. cf. _The Feign’d Curtezans_, i, ii: ‘Thou shalt
part with thy Pusilage’ (Vol. II, p. 320), and note on that passage,
(p. 440).
p. 188 _To Pesibles Tune_. James Paisible, flautist and composer, who
set this charming song to music, was born about 1656. He came to
England _circa_ 1680, and soon found patrons, the chief of whom was the
Duchess de Mazarin, who, with the help of St. Evremond, continually
gave exquisite but elaborate concerts at Paradise Row, Chelsea. In a
little drawing-room scena Paisible is actually mentioned by name. He is
said to have won great favour owing to his easy manners and fluent wit.
4 December, 1686, he procured a licence for his marriage with one Mary
Davis. About 1691 he began to supply overtures and musical interludes
for the theatres, and from 1703 to 1714 he set the tunes to Isaac’s
dances performed at court on birthdays and other gala occasions. He
lived in the parish of S. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and died August,
1721. Much of his work has been published and some yet remain in MS.
His are the overture and interludes to Southerne’s _Oroonoko_.
p. 189 _Set by Captain Pack_. Captain Pack was an exceedingly popular
and prolific musician of the day. The British Museum possesses four
songs of his in one volume (MS.). Some of his compositions may be
found in Playford’s _Choice Ayres_ (1675); in _The Theatre of Music_
(1685-7); in _The Banquet_ (1688). Amongst other pieces he composed
incidental music for D’Urfey’s _Don Quixote, I_ and _II_ (1694), both
the first two parts of which play were received with great applause.
p. 191 _Set by Mr. Farmer_. Thomas Farmer, Mus. Bac., was originally
one of the Waits of London. He graduated at Cambridge in 1684. He
composed much instrumental music for the theatre, and contributed some
songs to the second edition of Playford’s _Choice Ayres_ (1675), to
_The Theatre of Music_ (1685-7), and to D’Urfey’s _Third Collection of
Songs_ (1685). His is the music to Lee’s drama _The Princess of Cleve_
(1682), and various other compositions, including _A Consort of Musick_
(1686), of which work a second part followed a year or two after, bear
his name. As Purcell composed an elegy, the words by Nahum Tate, for
his funeral, Farmer must have died before 1695.
p. 195 _In Imitation of Horace_. An altered expansion of and no very
close parallel to
Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa
perfusus liquidis urget odoribus
grato, Pyrrha, sub antro?
cui flavam religas comam,
simplex munditiis?--_Carminum, I_, 5.
p. 198 _A Dialogue_. There is nothing to show when or for what
entertainment this little Pastoral was written.
p. 200 _Mr. J. H._ i.e. Mr. John Hoyle.
p. 204 _To the Honourable Edward Howard_. _The Six Days Adventure; or,
The New Utopia_ was produced at the Duke’s Theatre in 1671, and printed
quarto the same year. Although the best of Edward Howard’s comedies
it was received with scant favour, and the author vindicates himself,
pretty sharply rebuking both actors and audience, in a long preface.
Sir Grave Solymour, about to enter the bed of the chaste Celinda, finds
himself in the embraces of a black-a-moor, whilst his friends rush in
and jeer the precise old knight, whose ‘night-hag’ eventually proves
to be Celinda’s sooty page. The ‘braver _Heroins_’ of Howard, Serina,
Crispina, Eugenia, Petilla, wish to assume and usurp all the privileges
of the bolder sex. The scene lies in Utopia. Peacock, created by the
low comedian Angel, is a silly fribbling fop.
When the play was printed commendatory verses were prefixed by
Ravenscroft and Mrs. Behn, both of whom adopted Pindarics; by J. T.;
and by Sam Clyat.
In Mrs. Behn’s _Miscellany_ of 1685 is included ‘_A Pindaric by the
Honourable_ Edward Howard _to Mrs._ B. _Occasioned by a Copy she made
on his Play, called the New_ Eutopia’. The piece is fluent and not
ungraceful, concluding with a pretty compliment.
Mrs. Behn’s Pindarick is reprinted in the _Muses Mercury_, October,
1707, with this note: ‘The following Paper of Verses was written by
Mrs. _Behn_, to a Poet, who being damn’d, declar’d he wou’d write no
more: However out of Affection to his Brother Poets, he left Rules for
them to write; which she seems to judge kinder of than they deserve;
since both the Rules and the Critick are already entirely forgot. The
Reader will perceive that Mrs. _Behn_ had no Notion of a Pindarick
Poem, any farther than it consisted of irregular Numbers, and sav’d
the Writer the Trouble of even Measure; which indeed is all our common
Pindarick Poets know of the Matter.’
_Shee who late made the Amazons so Great_ refers to Howard’s
tragicomedy, _The Women’s Conquest_ (4to 1671), the scene of which lies
in Scythia, where we meet with several pseudo-classical Amazons.
For a detailed account of Edward Howard _vide_ the present editor’s
edition of _The Rehearsal_ (pp. 76-9).
p. 207 _the Musick-Meeting_. cf. Southerne’s _The Wives Excuse; or,
Cuckolds make Themselves_ (1692), Act i, i: ‘the outward Room to the
Musick-Meeting,’ which gives a very lively picture of these fashionable
assemblies. An Italian and then an English song--(’.hich won’t oblige a
Man to tell you he has seen an _Opera_ at _Venice_ to understand’.--are
sung.
p. 210 _Song_. This song, with six additional verses (certainly not the
work of Mrs. Behn), is found in a broadside, which version is given in
Vol. IV. of the _Roxburghe Ballads_ (pp. 656-9), issued by the Ballad
Society. In a similar way the song ‘Ah Jenny gen your Eyes do kill’,
sung in the _City Heiress_ (_vide_ Vol. II, p. 253), was in another
broadside amplified to no less than eighty lines, and dubbed ‘The Loves
of Jockey and Jenny’. Ebsworth in his note on this song (_Roxburghe
Ballads_, VI, pp. 176-80) refers to Mrs. Behn and says: ‘it is less her
handiwork than that of her friend Tom D’Urfey, who considered himself
_facile princeps_ in the writing of Anglo-Scotch ditties’. Similar
treatment was accorded the ‘Song made by a Gentlemen’ in _Sir Patient
Fancy_, iii, i (Vol. IV, p. 44). For the ballad writer’s additions
to this _vide_ _Roxburghe Ballads_, VI (46-9). It is noticeable that
these four stanzas (’.oung Jemmy was a Lad’. under the title _Jemmey_
appear in _Female Poems on Several Occasions_. ‘Written by Ephelia. The
Second Edition, with large Additions’ (1682). They are not in the first
edition (1679) of these Poems. Jemmy is, of course, Monmouth, and in
the line ‘But oh he dances with a Grace’ we have an allusion to his
skill in dancing. Evelyn speaks of him as ‘an excellent dancer’.
p. 211 _Nickey Nackeys_. This song is sung in _The Roundheads_ (_vide_
Vol. I, p. 397). Nickey Nackey is the name which the old senator
Antonio (a satire on Shaftesbury) gives to the Greek courtezan
Aquilina, _Venice Preserv’d_, iii, i. There may be an allusion to some
mistress of that debauched Machiavel.
p. 212 _A Paraphrase on the Eleventh Ode_.
Tu ne quaesieris scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
finem di dederint, Leuconöe, nec Babylonios
tentaris numeros--Horatii, _Carminum, I_, xi.
p. 212 _A Translation_. This charming poem,
Lydia, bella puella candida,
Quae bene superas lac et lilium,
Albamque simul rosam rubidam,
Aut expolitum ebur Indicum....
twenty-five lines in length, was often but quite erroneously ascribed
to Cornelius Gallus. _vide_ Scaliger _Poëtices_, Lib. VI. It has very
frequently been rendered. The versions of Rochester, of Nott, and of
Elton are all particularly graceful.
p. 213 _A Paraphrase_. As this is not even claimed to be an exact
translation from the Heroides we must not too strictly judge any
divergence from the original.
LYCIDUS (1688).
p. 295 _The Earl of Melford, &c. Knight of the most Noble Order of
the Thistle_. John Drummond, first Earl and titular Duke of Melford
(1649-1714) was the second son of James, third Earl of Perth. He filled
various posts of importance in Scotland, for which country he was in
1684 appointed Secretary of State. Converted to Catholicism, with his
brother (Lady Anne Gordon, their mother, had been a staunch Catholic),
the two are said practically to have ruled Scotland for three years’
space. A firm follower of James II, he accompanied him to exile and
supported all his measures. During this period he was busy with many
intrigues, and was attainted in 1695. He died at Paris after a long
illness in the year 1714.
p. 296 _Thessalian Feilds_. A forced conceit. Lucius travelling through
Thessaly traverses ‘ardua montium et lubrica vallium et roscida
cespitum et glebosa camporum’.--Apuleius, _Metamorphoseon_ (I, ii).
Again, he is ‘anxius alioquin ... reputansque me media Thessaliae loca
tenere, quo artis magicae nativa cantamina totius orbis consono ore
celebrentur.’--(II, i.)
p. 297 _Sappho_. Ephelia, the authoress of _Female Poems on Several
Occasions_. ‘Written by Ephelia.’ 1679. In 1682 appeared ‘The Second
Edition, with large Additions’. This contains a poem ‘To Madam _Bhen_’.
p. 297 _of Thirsis and of Strephon_. _vide_ note _supra_ (on p. 166).
p. 298 _Kendrick_. Daniel Kenrick or Kendrick, physician and poet,
was born about 1652. 31 March, 1666, he entered Christ Church, Oxon,
as a servitor, and proceeded M.A. 1674. He was much esteemed in his
native town of Worcester (where he practised as a doctor) as ‘a man
of wit and a jolly companion.’ Several poems of his appear in _The
Grove, or a Collection of Original Poems_ (1721), before which date,
however, he was dead. The preface to this book highly praises him, and
he appears to have been on terms of intimacy with the great Purcell
as well as with Mrs. Behn. Dr. Kenrick is stated ‘to have taken his
degrees both in divinity and physic, and being a person of vivacity and
wit, entertain’d his leisure hours in poetical compositions.’ He may be
identical with Daniel Kenrick, D.D., who preached the assize sermon at
Worcester, in 1688.
p. 313 _any Sir Fopling, or Sir Courtly Nice._ cf. Vol. III, p. 278,
Epilogue to _The Lucky Chance_, ‘Nice and Flutter’, and note (p. 492)
on that passage.
p. 313 _Galliard_. Lively, cf. Shadwell’s _The Humorists_ (1671), Act
iii, where Briske says to Theodosia: ‘Come Madam, let’s be frolick,
Galliard, and extraordinary Brisk, fa, la, la, la!’
p. 342 _quillets_. A variation of ‘quip’, a play upon words; or an
evasive retort, cf. _Love’s Labour Lost_, iv, 111:--
O! some authority how to proceed;
Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil.
p. 343 _On the Honourable Sir Francis Fane._ Sir Francis Fane (died
1690?) was the eldest son of Sir Francis Fane, K.B., F.R.S., of
Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, and Aston, Yorkshire. He was created a K.B. at
the coronation of Charles II. During the latter part of his life he
retired to his country estate at Henbury, Glos., where he died. His
will is dated 14 November, 1689, and was proved 15 September, 1691.
He is the author of a comedy, a masque, and a tragedy. _Love in the
Dark; or The Man of Business_ (4to, 1675), was produced at the Theatre
Royal with Lacy, Jo Haines, Mohun, Kynaston and Mrs. Boutel in the
cast. The scene is laid at Venice in Carnival time, and Intrigo, a
good character, was not forgotten by Mrs. Centlivre when she composed
_The Busy Body_. The Masque was written at Rochester’s request for
his alteration of _Valentinian_. It may be found in Tate’s _Poems by
Several Hands_ (8vo, 1685). _The Sacrifice_ (4to, 1689), was never
acted, and would hardly have succeeded on the stage. The scene lies in
’. Revolted Fort in China’. It concludes with numerous deaths including
that of Tamerlane the Great. _Irene_ is his daughter belov’d by
_Axalla_ ‘General to Tamerlane’. _Despina_ is the wife of the Emperor
Bajazet. _Ragalzan_ is pithily designated a Villain, and he well merits
the description. There is a copy of prefatory verses ‘To The Author’
by Nahum Tate, but neither prologue nor epilogue. Fane’s plays are
not without merit, but yet do not occupy a noteworthy rank in our
theatrical library.
p. 348 _To Alexis in Answer_. This poem was written in answer to a copy
of verses (which in _Lycidus_, 1688, immediately precede it), entitled
’.A Poem against fruition--written on the reading in_ Mountains Essay:
_By_ Alexis’.
p. 350 _A Pastoral Pindarick._ On the Marriage of the Right Hon.
the Earle of Dorset and Middlesex to the Lady Mary Compton. Charles
Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, sixth Earl of Dorset and Earl of Middlesex
(1638-1706), wit, courtier, poet, debauchee, married his second wife
Mary, daughter of James Compton, third Earl of Northampton, in 1685.
Lady Mary Compton, who became lady of the bedchamber to Queen Mary II,
was celebrated for her beauty and understanding. She died 6 August
1691. Walpole says of Sackville that he was the finest gentleman of the
voluptuous court of Charles II. It has been well observed that after
1668 we hear little of his debaucheries, much of his munificence to and
patronage of men of letters.
p. 359 _Calenture._ A tropical fever and delirium, especially
incidental to sailors in torrid climes. Hence used very widely for any
glow, passion, ardour, cf. Donne, _Poems_: ‘Knowledge kindles Calenture
in some.’ Jeremy Taylor speaks of ‘Calentures of primitive devotion’.
p. 360 _To Amintas._ To Amintas, _upon reading the Lives of some of
the_ Romans. The _Muses Mercury_ reprints this poem, April, 1707, as
’.o Mr. H----le, being belov’d by both Sexes. Upon Reading the Lives
of the Romans. By Mrs. _A. Behn_.’ In the British Museum copy of this
number an old hand has supplied the omitted letters ‘oy’ and we have
Mr. Hoyle.
p. 361 _On the first discovery._ This poem appeared in the _Muses
Mercury_, March, 1707, with the following note: ‘If it were proper to
make publick what we have learnt of the Story of the Author of the
following Verses, ‘twould be an unquestionable Proof of their being
_genuine_. For they are all Writ with her own Hand in a Person’s Book
who was very much her Friend; and from thence are now transcrib’d for
the _Mercury_. There are Fifteen or Sixteen Copies of Verse more, which
will in due time be printed in this Collection. There’s no Man who
knows any thing of Mrs. _Behn’s_ way of Writing, but will presently
see, that this Poem was written by her Self; and the rest are of the
same Character.’ The _Muses Mercury_, as a fact, gave eleven other
poems beside the present verses. Eight of these had already been
printed: _On the first discovery of falseness in Amintas_ (p. 361)
appears March, 1707, as _The Disoblig’d Love_. _To Amintas_ (p. 360)
appears April, 1707, as _To Mr. H----le, being belov’d by both Sexes.
Upon reading the Lives of the Romans_. _The Dream_ (p. 183) appears
May, 1707, as _Cupid in Chains_. _Of The Return_ (p. 173) the first two
stanzas appear August, 1707, as ‘To J. Hoyle, Esq.’ _Song_ (_When Jemmy
first_) (p. 165) appears September, 1707, as _On Capt. ---- going to the
War in Flanders_. _To the Honourable Edward Howard_ (p. 204) appears
October, 1707, as _To the Author of a new Eutopia, A Pindarick_. _The
Willing Mistriss_ (p. 163) appears December, 1707, as _A Song for J.
H._ _Mr. E. B. and Mrs. F. M._ (p. 159) appears January, 1708, as _The
Loves of Mirtillo and Phillis_. From their notice and the reprinting of
so many pieces it would seem that the editors of the _Muses Mercury_
were not very well acquainted with Mrs. Behn’s published Poems.