INTRODUCTION TO PALAMON AND ARCITE.

THE materials for this story are of great antiquity, going back to early minstrelsy in praise of Theseus, the national hero of Athens. The story of Theseus was a favorite during the Middle Ages, from the suggestions of knight-errantry with which it teems; and the tale of Palamon and Arcite seems to have been joined at some early date to the narrative of the siege of Thebes.

The poem here given is a modernization of the Knight's Tale of Chaucer, which, with two others of the Canterbury Tales, Dryden reproduced in verse of his own, as the early English of Chaucer had become largely unintelligible. Chaucer in turn appears to have drawn his materials from an epic poem, Teseide, by Boccaccio, besides being greatly indebted for descriptions to the Thebaid of Statius; but his work was so much more than a translation that it is fairly called his own. As Chaucer has been the object of so much study in recent years, and we now have his works so edited as to cause us little trouble in reading, it follows that Palamon and Arcite is much less known than the Knight's Tale, though it richly deserves our attention for merits of its own. The form given by Dryden is somewhat longer than the earlier poem, the space left by omissions being more than filled by his additions. These extended descriptions often heighten the effect of the

original, and leave a smooth, harmonious whole for the reader. In places, however, he clearly falls below the simple picturesqueness of Chaucer, but it would be out of place here to enter largely into a comparison of the two poems. It is for us to deal with the excellences of the animated version Dryden has given us.

The tale is one of jealous rivalry, but true manliness withal, and rises to the height of classic epics in the manner in which the gods become involved. In causing Venus to gain her point ultimately, though Mars is gratified, is told anew the old story of triumphant love. It is impossible for such a recital to be other than extravagant and highly sentimental, but it has a pervading spirit that redeems it from the unpleasant effect that these features would have if unrelieved. It would be illjudged to continue the criticism of Dr. Johnson that the events of the poem are improbable and anachronistic, as the same objection would hold against a great body of our admired romantic literature. We do not less admire the Idylls of the King, because chivalry was unknown in Arthur's time.

Dryden himself says, "I prefer in our countryman, far above all his other stories, the noble poem of Palamon and Arcite, which is of the epic kind, and perhaps not much inferior to the Ilias or the Æneis."

The value of the study of this poem should be not only that arising from its appreciation when taken by itself, but also from its being a means of understanding the literary tastes and tendencies of a remote time. Then, if the same method be followed with representative productions of later writers, comparisons can be drawn which will give a true idea of literary development in our language.

DEDICATION OF PALAMON AND ARCITE.

TO HER GRACE

THE DUCHESS OF ORMOND,

WITH THE FOLLOWING POEM OF PALAMON AND ARCITE.

MADAM,

THE bard who first adorned our native tongue,
Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song:
Which Homer might without a blush rehearse,
And leaves a doubtful palm in Virgil's verse:
He matched their beauties, where they most excel;
Of love sung better, and of arms as well.

Vouchsafe, illustrious Ormond, to behold

What power the charms of beauty had of old;
Nor wonder if such deeds of arms were done,
Inspired by two fair eyes, that sparkled like your own. 10
If Chaucer by the best idea wrought,

And poets can divine each other's thought,
The fairest nymph before his eyes he set;
And then the fairest was Plantagenet;

Who three contending princes made her prize,
And ruled the rival nations with her eyes:

16

15

Who left immortal trophies of her fame
And to the noblest order gave the name.

Like her, of equal kindred to the throne,
You keep her conquests, and extend your own:
As when the stars, in their ethereal race,
At length have roll'd around the liquid space,

5

At certain periods they resume their place,

From the same point of heaven their course advance,

And move in measures of their former dance;

Thus, after length of ages, she returns,

10

Restor❜d in you, and the same place adorns;

Or you perform her office in the sphere,

Born of her blood, and make a new Platonic year.
O true Plantagenet, O race divine,

(For beauty still is fatal to the line)

Had Chaucer liv'd that angel face to view,

Sure he had drawn his Emily from you;

Or had you liv'd to judge the doubtful right,
Your noble Palamon had been the knight;

And conquering Theseus from his side had sent
Your generous lord, to guide the Theban government.
Time shall accomplish that; and I shall see
A Palamon in him, in you an Emily.

Already have the fates your path prepar'd,
And sure presage your future sway declar'd:
When westward, like the sun, you took your way,
And from benighted Britain bore the day,
Blue Triton gave the signal from the shore,

The ready Nereids heard, and swam before