Daniel had little of the exuberant fantasy of his time; he is "well-languaged Daniel," and easily intelligible. But even his most frequently quoted sonnet,
Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night,
is far from being one of the best of poetic Hymns to Sleep, and his best gnomic poem,
He that of such a height hath built his mind,
is far too long.
Davies.
Sir John Davies, of Tisbury in Wilts, was born about 1569, we may suppose, if he went to Queen's, Oxford, in 1585. As a young Templar he is said to have been a brawler, and to have been expelled from the society for his vivacities in 1598. In 1599 Davies published his "Nosce Teipsum" ("Know Thyself"), on the nature and properties of the Soul and on its Immortality. The psychology may be old fashioned, but the versification is not. Only the best poets of the age could write the four-lined decasyllabic verses, with alternate rhymes, with the fluency and harmony of Davies. He has an answer to all objections,
But still this crew with questions me pursues,
"If souls deceased," say they, "still living be,
Why do they not return, to bring us news
Of that strange world where they such wonders see?"
"Why do not the Esquimaux visit us and tell us about the North Pole?" Davies replies, not quite convincingly. Henry More or Glanvill would have answered that souls do return, and made the question one of evidence.
Davies's "The Orchestra," on dancing, is extremely graceful, melodious and ingenious; the stanzas describing Queen Elizabeth dancing "high and disposedly" are unfortunately lost. Even his acrostics on "Elizabetha Regina" are charming, and wonderfully varied in ornament and compliment—as vers de société none of that age are more admirable.