vi "ASTKOPHEi: AND STELLA" 123

The older poets, into whose ken dstrophd and Stella
swain like- a thing of unimagined and unapprehended
beauty, had no doubt of its sincerity. The quaintness
of its tropes and the condensation of its symbolism were
proofs to thorn of passion stirring the deep soul of a
finely-gifted,, highly-educated man. They read it as we
road In Miwwrmn, acknowledging some obscure passages,
recognising some awkwardness of incoherent utterance,
but taking these on trust as evidences of the poet's
heart too charged with stuff for ordinary methods of
expression. What did Shakespeare make Achilles say?

"My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred,
And J my welt1 sou nottlw bottom of 1C

Oharlos Lamb puts thin point well, "The images
which lie before our feet (though by some accounted the
only natural) are leant natural for the high Sydnaean
love to express its fancies. They may servo for the
love of Tibullus, or the dour author of the Schoolmistress;
for passions that weep and whine in elegies and pastoral
ballads. I aw sure Milton (and Lamb might have added
Khakospoaro) never loved at this rate."

The forms adopted by Sidney in his AxtropJwl and
tfMla Bonnets are various; but none of them correspond
exactly to the Shakespearian type—three separate qua-
trains clinched with a final couplet. He adheres more
closely to Italian models, especially in his handling of
the octavo; although wo foul only two specimens (Nos.
21), iM) of the true Petrarchan species iutho treatment of
the Hoxtet, Sidney preferred to close tho stanza with a
couplet, Tho bent and most characteristic of his com-
positions are built in this way: two quatrains upon aed, we must not forget that