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Drayton and the Voyagers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Robert Ralston Cawley
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Extract

Few poets typify Elizabethan patriotism so completely as Michael Drayton. His most ambitious poem, Polyolbion, is a fond effort to record the chorographic intricacies of his beloved isle. But he does more than that: he often transfers his interest from landscape to human beings. Thus in the Nineteenth Song he passes easily from rivers to men, paying his homage to those responsible for English prestige at sea. The rivers Orwell and Stour reach an agreement:

      (156-162) And lastly they agree
      That since the Britans hence their first discoveries made,
      And that into the East they first were taught to trade,
      Besides, of all the Roads, and Havens of the East,
      This Harbour where they meet is reckoned for the best.
      Our voyages by sea and brave discoveries known,
      Their argument they make, and thus they sing their own.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 1923 , pp. 530 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1923

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References

1 Principall Navigations, Glasgow 1903. 12 vols., I. 6. Unless otherwise specified all references will be to this edition.

2 P. N. I, 8.

3 P. N. I, 8.

4 P. N. I, 8.

5 P. N. I, 11.

6 P. N. I, 13.

7 P. N. I, 13.

8 P. N. I, 11.

9 P. N. I, 11.

10 P. N. I, 12.

11 P. N. I, 15.

12 P. N. I, 302-3. This passage is Hakluyt's translation of Mercator's words placed at the foot of his general map.

13 P. N. II, 223.

14 P. N. II, 224.

15 P. N. II, 248-50.

16 P. N. II, 250-1.

17 P. N. II, 225.

18 P. N. II, 224.

19 P. N. II, 225.

20 P. N. II, 418, 419.

21 P. N. II, 456.

22 P. N. II, 468. For date see 466-8.

23 P. N. II, 469.

24 P. N. II, 456.

25 P. N. II, 468.

26 P. N. II, 469.

27 P. N. II, 469.

28 P. N. II, 474.

29 P. N. II, 473.

30 P. N. VI, 1.

31 P. N. V, 465.

32 P. N. V, 465.

33 In this case he read even the summary carelessly, for there Zelabdim is properly identified as “the great Mogor.” P. N. V, 465.

34 P. N. V, 474.

35 P. N. VI, 7.

36 v. 244.

37 v. 245.

38 P. N. VI, 4.

39 P. N. VI, 9.

40 P. N. VI, 119-20.

41 Footnote to vv. 253-74.

42 Albion's England. Bk. XII, Chap. LXXI. See my article, “Warner and the Voyagers” (Mod. Philol., XX. 142-44).

43 P. N. VI, 136.

44 Lock occupies pp. 154-77, Towerson 177-252, and Fenner 266-84.

45 E.g. pp. 161, 163, 166, 237.

46 P. N. VI, 387. Hak's Summary.

47 P. N. XI, 43. Hak's Summary.

48 P. N. XI, 249.

49 P. N. VII, 204. Hak's summary.

50 P. N. VII, 214. Marg.

51 P. N. VII, 215. Marg.

52 P. N. VII, 213. Marg.

53 P. N. VII, 231. Hak's summary.

54 P. N. VII, 211.

55 P. N. VII, 217.

56 Cf. Map, back of Vol. I, P. N.

57 P. N. VIII, 3.

58 P. N. VIII, 34.

59 P. N. VIII, 11.

60 P. N. IX, 321. Marg. note.

61 P. N. IX, 326.

62 P. N. IX, 325.

63 P. N. VI, 387.

64 P. N. X, 97.

66 P. N. VIII, 289.

66 P. N. VIII, 297.

67 P. N. VIII, 310.

68 P. N. VIII, 347.

69 See P. N. VIII, 297.

70 P. N. VIII, 319-45.

71 P. N. VIII, 317.

72 P. N. VIII, 347.

73 P. N. VIII, 330.

74 P. N. VIII, 337.

75 P. N. VIII, 338.

76 P. N. VIII, 341.

77 P. N. VIII, 342.

78 P. N. X, 382.

79 Drayton may very well have seen Raleigh's map of Guiana (reproduced this edition P. N. X, 384) in which the outstanding features are the two great rivers of Marannon and Orinoco with their large branches.

80 P. N. X, 358.

81 P. N. X, 356.

82 P. N. VIII, 166.

83 P. N. IX, 338. In the light of what we have seen regarding Drayton's methods, a leap of over 600 pages (from Leigh to Tomson) in this edition (or 250 pages in the one he used) may give us pause. But only for a moment. The intervening pages are filled either with voyagers whom he has previously treated or with foreigners such as Jacques Cartier, John de Verrazzano, and Réné Laudonnière. Whatever we may say regarding Drayton's carelessness of detail, he was overscrupulous in his determination not to omit a single English voyager of consequence.

84 P. N. X, 9.

85 P. N. XI, 24.

86 P. N. XI, 290.

87 P. N. X, 162.

88 P. N. VII, 1 ff.

89 P. N. X, 203. Hak's summary.

90 P. N. X, 213. Hak's summary.

91 P. N. X, 266. Hak's summary.

92 P. N. X, 275-6.

93 See P. N. X, 270 where the marg. note, “The towne of S. Iago taken by Sir Anthony Sherley,” may have deluded him.

94 P. N. X, 277.

95 P. N. X, 277. Hak's summary.

96 P. N. X, 279.

97 “To the Virginian Voyage.”