At London. Printed by J. R. for John Flasket, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Beare." 4to.
The second edition was published in 1614, and entitled, "England's Helicon, or the Muses Harmony.
The Courts of Kings heare no such straines,
As daily lull the Rusticke Swaines.
London: Printed for Richard More; and are to be sould at his shop in S. Dunstanes Church-yard." 8vo.
England's Helicon, which, in its first impression, contained one hundred and fifty poems, and in its second one hundred and fifty-nine, has the felicity of enrolling among its contributors all the principal poets of its era. These, enumerated alphabetically, are as follow:—Richard Barnefield has two pieces; Thomas Bastard, one; Edmund Bolton, five; Nicholas Breton, eight; Christopher Brooke, one; William Browne, one; Henry Constable, four; John Davis, one; Michael Drayton, five; Sir Edward Dyer, six; John Ford, one; Robert Greene, seven; Fulke Grevile, two; John Gough, one; Howard, Earle of Surrie, two; Howell, one: William Hunnis, two; Thomas Lodge, ten; Jervis Markham, two; Christopher Marlow, one; Earle of Oxenford, one: George Peele, three; Sir Walter Raleigh, fourteen; William Shakspeare, two; Sir Philip Sidney, fourteen; William Smith, one; Edmund Spenser, three; Shepherd Tonie, seven; Thomas Watson, five; John Wootton, two, and Bartholomew Yong, twenty-five. Of anonymous contributions there are sixteen.
Amid this galaxy of bards we cannot fail to distinguish for their decided superiority, the productions of Breton, Greene, Lodge, Marlow, and Raleigh, which might confer celebrity on any selection. The principal feature, indeed, of England's Helicon is its pastoral beauty, and in this department how few have surpassed, or even equalled, the exquisite strains of Lodge or Marlow!
"It cannot be idle or useless," remarks Sir Egerton Brydges, "to study this early Collection of Pastoral compositions. Here is the
fountain of that diction, which has since been employed and expanded in the description of rural scenery. Here are the openings of those reflections on the imagery of nature, in which subsequent poets have so much dealt. They show us to what occasional excellence, both in turn of thought and polish of language, the literature of Queen Elizabeth had arrived; and how little the artificial and incumbered prose of mere scholars of that time exhibits a just specimen of either the sentiment or phrase of the court or people! In the best of these productions, even the accentuation and rhythm scarce differs from that of our days. Lodge and Breton in particular, who are characterised by their simplicity, are striking proofs of this!—
"To such as could enjoy the rough and far-fetched subtlety of metaphysical verses, this Collection must have appeared inexpressibly insipid and contemptible. To those whose business it was to draw similitudes from the most remote recesses of abstruse learning, how childish must seem the delineation of flowers that were open to every eye, and images which found a mirror in every bosom!!