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New Poems by Sir Philip Sidney
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
The collection of poems in MS. Harley 7392 (article 2) has proved to be a unique source for verses by Raleigh, Dyer, the Earl of Oxford, and other lesser poets writing during the period of 1570–90. The most distinguished name among them, however, and the poet with the largest number of poems, is Sir Philip Sidney. Of the thirteen pieces by him, two do not appear elsewhere; and one, though familiar from its appearance in The Phoenix Nest (1593), has not before been attributed to him. These three are reprinted below.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1938
References
1 The ten other poems in the manuscript, all but four signed with Sidney's name, are as follows: in the original version of the Arcadia, “Locke vp fayre lyddes” (fol. 38v), “Vertue, bewty, speech” (66r, unsigned), and “My trew love hath my hart” (68r, unsigned); in both versions, “What Lenghth of verse” (75r); in the revised version and also in the “Certaine Sonets” first printed in the folio of 1598, “The ffire to see my wronges” (39r); in the “Certaine Sonets” only, “A Satyre once” (25r–v, preceded by Dyer's “Promethevs”), “Ringe forth yor Belles” (35r-v), “If I could thinke” (38v), and “Who hath his ffancy pleazed” (70v, unsigned). Besides these there is an anonymous copy of “The dart, the Beames, the String” (66r), which Feuillerat prints in the section of “Poems Attributed to Sir Philip Sidney” (Sidney, ii, 349) from MS. Rawl. poet. 85, fol. 9r, signed “S P S.”
2 B. M. Wagner, “New Poems by Sir Edward Dyer,” RES, xi (1935), 466, n. 3.
3 Stebbing Shaw, Staffordshire, i (1798), 15.
4 Joseph Hunter, “Biographical Memoirs of Sir William Saint Loe . . . ,” The Retrospective Review, Second Series, ii (1828), 325.
5 John Burke and John B. Burke, The Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, 2d ed. (1844), p. 292.
6 Such an acquaintance seems to have been one “H.C.” These initials were at first signed to several poems, but in most cases they were later deleted or a new ascription made. This is explained if we suppose that Kniveton copied them from H.C.'s manuscript, where they were anonymous, and to have wrongly supposed him to be the author—an error subsequently rectified. If we identify this H.C. with the “Humfrey Conyngsby” whose name is written on the cover, we have a possible link with Sir Thomas Coningsby of co. Hertford, who was Sidney's travelling companion in Italy in 1573. Sir Thomas had a nephew named Humphrey (Robert Clutterbuck, Hertford, i [1815], 444). But closer in age to Kniveton was the Humphrey of Worcestershire who matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1581, aged 15 (Alumni Oxonienses). His relation to Sir Thomas, is not known.
7 For the allegorical interpretation of Helen as Queen Elizabeth, and of Philisides as Sidney in the following poem, see J. H. Hanford and S. R. Watson, “Personal Allegory in the Arcadia: Philisides and Lelius,” MP, xxxii (1934-35), 1–10.
8 Feuillerat, Sidney, ii, 321–322. One early manuscript copy is dated 1584 (ibid., 387–388). The lines are usually taken as referring to Lady Rich (e.g. Mona Wilson, Sir Philip Sidney [London, 1931], 183–184, and E. M. Denkinger, Philip Sidney [London, 1932], 175–176). In MS. Add. 28635, fol. 95r, preceding a copy of the first of the Aslrophel and Stella sonnets, is the title, “Sonnets of Sr Phillip Sydneys to y* Lady Ritch.” This well-known manuscript has been shown by Ruth Hughey (The Library, N.S., xv [1935], 388 ff.) to be a copy of an Arundel Castle manuscript in the handwriting of Sir John Harington and others.
9 Feuillerat, Sidney, i, 285. Cf. the review of Feuillerat's vol. i by Percy Waldron Long in MLN, xxviii (1913), 253, and Hanford and Watson, op. cit.
10 degree is followed also by a period.
11 Cf. Klaius's lines in the Arcadia (Feuillerat, Sidney, i, 350; iv, 311):
On rocke, Despaire, the buriall of my blisse
I long doo plowe with plough of deepe Desire:
And now I faine would reape, I reape but this,
Hate fully growne, Absence new sprongen out.
12 The signature was added later in the same hand as the text, and at the same time as the signature to “The gentle season” below. It supplants the deleted initals “H. C.” See note 6 above.
13 The Phoenix Nest, ed. H. E. Rollins, pp. 87–88 (P), MS. Rawl. poet. 85, fols. 17v-18r (R), and MS. Dd.5.75, fol. 40v, University Library, Cambridge (C). Line 2 the] my PR 3 Land] Landes C 4 glymmer] sauor PC: the Light] delight PC 6 And] but C: augment] augments P 7 Meades ar] medowes C 8 clad] cloth'd P, clothed C: the] om. C 9 silver notes] feathers new PRC 10 whom] when P: wrong] loue R 11 Attyre] Attyres P 12 Leafe] leaues C: amiddes] amid PR, amiddest C: the] his PR 13 And as yow] Eache man maye R: yow] we C 14 his1] this C: buddes] bud C 16 the] this C 17 Coloures do] colour doth C 20 abroade to] to raunge & C 21 Amonges] Amongst P, Amonge R, in every C: the buds] place C: of] when P, where RC: Bewties springe] beautie springs PRC 22 only] ever C 23 Lyke to] As doth P, even as C: thats] that C 24 his ffellowes] hir neighbours P: singe]sings PR: & flutters but wth clipped winges C 25 every man is] all men are C 27 walke] place C 29 his] hir PC, her (r followed by a t slightly smudged) R 32 Ioyes my woes] woes, my ioyes PRC 34 Pleasures] Pleasure R 35 hap] hate P: doth say] doth doth [sic] shew C: is] butC 37 moode] mode R 41 hence] haue PC, thence R: trace from] truce with PC 42 Rest] om. C 43FYNYS] om. PC: S: P. Sidney] om. PRC
14 The comma is followed by a colon added later.
15 Cp. Cecropia's words to Pamela (Feuillerat, Sidney, i, 405): “Do you see how the spring-time is ful of flowers, decking it self with them, & not aspiring to the fruits of Autumn? what lesson is that unto you, but that in the april of your age, you should be like April?”
16 The comma is followed by a colon added later.
17 The signature was added later in the same hand as the text; see note 12 above.