he
English sonnetteer once more betrayed his indebtedness to Desportes and
his compeers. 'L'Idee' was the name of a collection of sonnets by Claude
de Pontoux in 1579. Many additions were made by Drayton to the sonnets
that he published in 1594, and many were subtracted before 1619, when
there appeared the last edition that was prepared in Drayton's lifetime.
A comparison of the various editions (1594, 1599, 1605, and 1619) shows
that Drayton published a hundred sonnets, but the majority were
apparently circulated by him in early life. {435a}

Percy's 'Coelia,' 1594.

William Percy, the 'dearest friend' of Barnabe Barnes, published in 1594,
in emulation of Barnes, a collection of twenty 'Sonnets to the fairest
Coelia.' {435b} He explains, in an address to the reader, that out of
courtesy he had lent the sonnets to friends, who had secretly committed
them to the press. Making a virtue of necessity, he had accepted the
situation, but begged the reader to treat them as 'toys and amorous
devices.'

Zepheria, 1594.

A collection of forty sonnets or 'canzons,' as the anonymous author calls
them, also appeared in 1594 with the title 'Zepheria.' {435c} In some
prefatory verses addressed 'Alli veri figlioli delle Muse' laudatory
reference was made to the sonnets of Petrarch, Daniel, and Sidney.
Several of the sonnets labour at conceits drawn from the technicalities
of the law, and Sir John Davies parodied these efforts in the eighth of
his 'gulling sonnets' beginning, 'My case is this, I love Zepheria
bright.'

Barnfield's sonnets to Ganymede, 1595.

Four interesting ventures belong to 1595. In January, appended to
Richard Barnfield's poem of 'Cynthia,' a panegyric on Queen Elizabeth,
was a series of twenty sonnets extolling the personal charms of a young
man in emulation of Virgil's Eclogue ii., in which the shepherd Corydon
addressed the shepherd-boy Alexis. {435d} In Sonnet xx. the author
expressed regret that the task of celebrating his young friend's praises
had not fallen to the more capable hand of Spenser ('great Colin, chief
of shepherds all') or Drayton ('gentle Rowland, my professed friend').
Barnfield at times imitated Shakespeare.

Spenser's 'Amoretti', 1595.

Almost at the same date as Barnfield's 'Cynthia' made its appearance
there was published the more notable collection by Edmund Spenser of
eighty-eight sonnets, which in reference to their Italian origin he
entitled 'Amoretti.'