ties
are many, though of a quietly rural type, and the road, if long and
winding, is of good surface, while its cranks constitute much of its
charm. It is doubtless, from the outside, an appalling poem in these
days of epitomes and monographs, but it certainly deserves to be rescued
from oblivion and read.

In 1618 Drayton contributed two _Elegies_ to Henry FitzGeoffrey's
_Satyrs and Epigrames_. These were on the Lady Penelope Clifton, and on
'the death of the three sonnes of the Lord Sheffield, drowned neere
where Trent falleth into Humber'. Neither is remarkable save for
far-fetched conceits; they were reprinted in 1610, and again, with many
others, in the volume of 1627. In 1619 Drayton issued a folio collected
edition of his works, and reprinted it in 1620. In 1627 followed a folio
of wholly fresh matter, including the _Battaile of Agincourt_; _the
Miseries of Queene Margarite_, _Nimphidia_, _Quest of Cinthia_,
_Shepheards Sirena_, _Moone-Calfe_, and _Elegies upon sundry occasions_.
The _Battaile of Agincourt_ is a somewhat otiose expansion, with purple
patches, of the _Ballad_; it is, nevertheless, Drayton's best lengthy
piece on a historical theme. Of the _Miseries of Queene Margarite_ and
of the _Moone-Calfe_ we have already spoken. The most notable piece in
the book is the _Nimphidia_. This poem of the Court of Fairy has
'invention, grace, and humour', as Canon Beeching has said. It would be
interesting to know exactly when it was composed and committed to paper,
for it is thought that the three fairy poems in Herrick's _Hesperides_
were written about 1626. In any case, Drayton's poem touches very
little, and chiefly in the beginning, on the subject of any one of
Herrick's three pieces. The style, execution, and impression left on the
reader are quite different; even as they are totally unlike those of the
_Midsummer Night's Dream_. Herrick's pieces are extraordinary
combinations of the idea of 'King of Shadows', with a reality
fantastically sober: the poems are steeped in moonlight. In Drayton all
is clear day, or the most unromantic of nights; though everything is
charming, there is no attempt at idealization, little of the higher
faculty of imagination; but great realism, and much play of fancy.
Herrick's verses were written by Cobweb and Moth together, Drayton's by
Puck. Granting, however, the initial deficiency in subtlety of charm,
the whole poem is inimitably graceful and piquant. The gay humour, the
dem