657 Stanley was two-and-thirty, and his singing-time, so far as we
know, was over. He had discharged it well. He fails where any true
artist may ever be expected to fail, in verses occasional and
complimentary. But, to balance this, he is often exceptionally happy
when translating.

His portrait, in middle age, by Faithorne after Lely, commends him to us
all as quite worthy of the affection and applause which surrounded him
from his youth, and never spoiled him. Brown-haired, hazel-eyed,
fresh-cheeked, serene rather than gay, he seems the very incarnation of
the ideal for which many others, less fortunate, hungered in that vexed
England: the man 'innocent and quiet,' whose 'mind to him a kingdom
is,' whose 'treasure is in Minerva's tower,' and 'who in the region of
himself remains.' Through the Civil struggle, the Commonwealth, the
Restoration, he had followed a way of peace, without blame, and he is
almost the only poet of the stormy time who is absolutely unaffected by
it. He, at least, need not be discounted as a pathetic broken crystal:
he can be judged on his own little plot of ground, without allowances,
and by our strictest modern standards. His light bright best, his
_viridaria_, have borne victoriously the lava-drift of nearly three
centuries. An amorist of even temper and of malice prepense, a railer
with a sound heart, an untyrannic master of his Muse, Stanley sings low
to his small jocund lyre, and need not be too curiously questioned about
his sincerity. How can it matter? He gives delight; he deserves the
bays.

This little book is the first complete reprint of Stanley ever
published: it is his original and inclusive output. The text is a new
text, inasmuch as it represents the Editor's choice of readings, among
many variants; but variants are noted throughout, and by their number
and interest tell their own tale of Stanley's exacting and sure taste. A
few translated lyrics are gathered into an Appendix. The title-pages of
his few volumes will be found cited in the accompanying List of
Editions.

But the only issues taken into account here, for textual purposes, are
the three of 1647, 1651, and 1657, of which last a word needs to be
said. (The edition of 1652 is an exact copy of 1651, therefore
negligible in the preparation of this book.) The often-overlooked
_Ayres and Dialogues_, Gamble's and Stanley's, appeared first privately,
in 1656, then in 1657. The earlier issue is rare; it figures in the
Brit