Ne (warely shunnyng wrecke by wether) aye to nie, To presse vpon the perillous shore. But clenely flees he filthe: ne wonnes a wretched wight, In carlish coate: and carefur court aie thrall to spite, With port of proud statate he leues: who doth delight, Of golden meane to hold the lore. Stormes rifest rende the sturdy stout pineapple tre. Of lofty ruing towers the fals the feller be, Most fers doth lightenyng light, where furthest we do se. The hilles the valey to forsake. Well furnisht brest to bide eche chanses changing chear. In woe hath chearfull hope, in weal hath warefull fear, One self Ioue winter makes with lothfull lokes appear. That can by course the same aslake. What if into mishap the case now casten be? It forceth not such forme of luck to last to thee. Not alway bent is Phebus bow: his harpe and he, Ceast siluer sound sometime doth raise. In hardest hap vse helpe of hardy hopefull hart. Some bold to bear the brunt of fortune ouerthwart. Eke wisely when forewinde to full breathes on thy part. Swage swellying saile, and doubt decayes.
Even a casual reading of these poems in comparison with the Latin shows that we are dealing with prentice pieces of low grade. Not one of them would excite the enthusiasm of a modern school- master. The problem was to transpose the Sapphic strophes of Horace into an analogous English form without dilution. As the three are here given to the reader, he may judge the results for himself. Surrey is trying to render the six strophes of the Latin into five pentameter quatrains. To translate the ninety-two words of the original he has used only one hundred and fifty-seven, in spite of the fact that his rime-scheme required a superfluous last line. On the other hand to gain such condensation his sentences are distorted out of the English order. once Phebus to lowre With bow vnbent shall cesse, and frame to harp His voyce. .
is comprehensible only upon a second reading. It may be assumed that this is an early piece; if so, it, with the other two, is an interest- ing proof that the poets of the age turned to the Latin to learn -529- |