Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/18

 of the Bath in 1603 Sir Walter Aston made Drayton one of his esquires (, Peerage, ed. Wood, i. 127), a title which Drayton afterwards used somewhat ostentatiously. In ‘Poems: by Michaell Draiton Esquire,’ 1605, the word ‘Esquire’ is made to occupy a line by itself. About 1605 appeared the undated ‘Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall: Odes, Eglogs, the Man in the Moone,’ 8vo, with a dedication to Sir Walter Aston. The volume contains some of Drayton's choicest work. Here first appeared the famous ‘Ballad of Agincourt,’ which is unquestionably the most spirited of English martial lyrics; the fine ode ‘To the Virginian Voyage,’ the charming canzonet ‘To his coy Love,’ the address ‘To Cupid,’ and other delightful poems. Two of the odes (‘Sing we the Rose’ and the address to John Savage) were never reprinted; the rest of the volume, after revision, was included in the 1619 folio. The collection of ‘Poems,’ 1605, 8vo, with commendatory verses by Thomas Greene, Sir John Beaumont, Sir William Alexander, &c., embraces ‘The Barons' Wars,’ ‘England's Heroical Epistles,’ ‘Idea,’ and the ‘Legends.’ Other editions appeared in 1608, n. d., 1610, and 1613. The edition of 1610 has at the end an additional leaf containing a commendatory sonnet by Selden. In 1607 Drayton published another of his legends, ‘The Legend of Great Cromwell,’ which was republished with alterations in 1609, and was included in the 1610 ‘Mirour for Magistrates.’

The first eighteen songs of Drayton's longest and most famous poem, ‘Poly-olbion, or a Chorographicall Description of all the Tracts, Rivers, Mountaines, Forests, and other Parts … of Great Britaine,’ fol., appeared in 1613, with an engraved as well as a printed title-page, a portrait by Hole of Prince Henry, to whom the work was dedicated, and eighteen maps. To each song are appended copious annotations, full of antiquarian learning, by John Selden. A second part, containing songs xix–xxx, was written later, and the complete poem (with commendatory verses before the second part by William Browne, George Wither, and John Reynolds) was published in 1622. Selden's annotations are confined to the first part. It is not surprising that Drayton experienced some difficulty in finding a publisher for so voluminous a work. In a letter to William Drummond of Hawthornden, dated 14 April 1619, he writes: ‘I thank you, my dear, sweet Drummond, for your good opinion of “Poly-Olbion.” I have done twelve books more; … but it lieth by me, for the booksellers and I are in terms. They are a company of base knaves, whom I both scorn and kick at.’ The nature of the subject made it impossible for the poem to be free from monotony. The ‘Poly-Olbion’ is a truly great work, stored with learning of wide variety, and abounding in passages of rare beauty. It was the labour of many years, for so early as 1598 Francis Meres reported that ‘Michael Drayton is now in penning in English verse a poem called “Pola-olbion.”’ Prince Henry, to whom it was dedicated, held Drayton in esteem; for it appears from Sir David Murray's account of the privy purse expenses of the prince that Drayton was an annuitant to the expense of 10l. a year.

In 1619 Drayton collected into a small folio all the poems (with the exception of the ‘Poly-Olbion’) that he wished to preserve, and added some new lyrics. The collection consists of seven parts, each with a distinct title-page dated 1619, but the pagination is continuous. In some copies the general title-page is undated; in others it bears date 1620. At the back of the general title-page is a portrait of Drayton, engraved by Hole, and round the portrait is inscribed ‘Effigies Michaelis Drayton, Armigeri, Poetæ Clariss. Ætat. suæ L. A Chr. .’ A fresh volume of miscellaneous poems, ‘The Battaile of Agincourt,’ &c., appeared in 1627, sm. fol. Here was published for the first time the dainty and inimitable fairy poem, ‘Nimphidia.’ ‘The Shepheards Sirena’ and ‘The Quest of Cynthia’ are agreeably written, though the latter poem is far too long. ‘The Battaile of Agincourt’ (not to be confused with ‘The Ballad of Agincourt’) and ‘The Miseries of Queen Margarite’ contain some spirited passages, but tax the reader's patience severely. Among the ‘elegies’ is the interesting ‘Epistle to Henry Reynolds,’ in which Drayton delivers his views on the merits of various contemporary English poets. It may be doubted whether Drayton had any great liking for the drama; his praise of Shakespeare is tame in comparison with his enthusiasm for Spenser. One epistle is addressed to William Browne of Tavistock, and another to George Sandys, the translator of Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses;’ both are written in a tone of sadness. ‘An Elegie vpon the death of the Lady Penelope Clifton’ and ‘Vpon the three Sonnes of the Lord Sheffield, drowned in Humber’ had previously appeared in Henry Fitzgeoffrey's ‘Certayn Elegies,’ 1617. At the beginning of the volume are commendatory verses by I. Vaughan, John Reynolds, and the fine ‘Vision of Ben Jonson on the Muses of his friend, M. Drayton,’ which opens with the question whether he was a friend to Drayton. When he visited William Drummond of Hawthornden in 1619, Jonson stated that ‘Drayton feared him; and he [Jonson] esteemed not of him [Drayton],’