. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. ac-ters are not drawn like real men and women. But whyshould they be so drawn ? They are half-enchantedwanderers roaming on happily through^ a magical after page Sid-ney wrote, neverstopping for revi-sion, rambling onwherever his fancyled ; with the lovedsister beside himslipping away eachleaf, as his pentraced the bottomline, to see whathad come next inthe fascinating taleof faerie. Even thesound of the wordsis charming. Thesentences are oftenlong, but clear andgraceful and musi-cal. There is morethan me
. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. ac-ters are not drawn like real men and women. But whyshould they be so drawn ? They are half-enchantedwanderers roaming on happily through^ a magical after page Sid-ney wrote, neverstopping for revi-sion, rambling onwherever his fancyled ; with the lovedsister beside himslipping away eachleaf, as his pentraced the bottomline, to see whathad come next inthe fascinating taleof faerie. Even thesound of the wordsis charming. Thesentences are oftenlong, but clear andgraceful and musi-cal. There is morethan mere pleasant-ness of sound in the Arcadia, however, for it is full ofcharming bits of description, and of true and noblethoughts. Here is the merry little shepherd boy, pip-ing as though he should never grow old. Here is aplace made happy by her treading. Here, too, Theylaid them down by the murmuring music of certainwaters. It is but a picture of himself when Sidneywrites, They are never alone that are accompanied withnoble thoughts, and Keep yourself in heart with joyful-. SIR PHILIP SIDNEYI554-1586 88 ENGLANDS LITERATURE [1590 ness. One of his friends said long after the authorsdeath that Sidney had intended to rewrite his book andmake it into an English romance with King Arthur forits hero; but it is,so graceful and charming in its presentform that no one could wish to have it made over. The Arcadia was handed about in manuscript fromone friend to another. Wherever it was read, it wasThemis- praised and imitated, but it was not printedceiianies. till 1590. Printing was for common folk, notfor nobles and courtiers ; and the lovers of poetry werein the habit of making manuscript books of their favor-ite poems. Before the end of the century, however,some of these books did come to the printing-press. Asif to console them for their humiliation, most high-sounding titles were given them, and we have The Para-dise of Dainty Devices, Brittoris Bower of Delights, ThePhenixs Nest, En
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectenglishliterature
