Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy picture be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow: And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery. Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally; And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die. _Holy Sonnetts_ =10. Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)= was born near Taunton in Somerset, educated at Oxford, and became tutor to the son of the Countess of Pembroke. For a time (1599) he was Poet Laureate, and was made (1603) Master of the Queen’s Revels by James I. His poems include a sonnet-series called _Delia_ (1592), a romance called _The Complaint of Rosamund_ (1592), some long historical poems, such as _The Civil Wars_ (1595), and a large number of masques, of which _The Queenes Wake_ (1610) and _Hymen’s Triumph_ (1615) are the most important. His best work appears in his sonnets, which, composed in the English manner, carry on the great tradition of Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. In his longer poems he is prosy and dull, though the masques have pleasing touches of imagination. =11.= The =poetical miscellanies= which abound during this period are typical of the time. By the very extravagance of their titles they reveal the enthusiasm felt for the revival of English poetry. Each volume consists of a collection of short pieces by various poets, some well known and others unknown. Some of the best poems are anonymous. Among much that is almost worthless, there are happily preserved many poems, sometimes by unknown poets, of great and enduring beauty. We have already drawn attention (p. 96) to _Tottel’s Miscellany_ (1557), which contained, among other poems, the pieces of Wyat and Surrey. Other volumes are _The Paradyse of Daynty Devises_ (1576), _A Handfull of Pleasant Delites_ (1584), _The Phœnix Nest_ (1593), and _The Passionate Pilgrim_ (1599). The last book contains poems by Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Ralegh. The most important of the miscellanies is _England’s Helicon_ (1600), which surpasses all others for fullness, variety, and excellence of contents. PRE-SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA: THE UNIVERSITY WITS In the last chapter we gave a summary of the rise of the English drama; it is now necessary to give an account of the early Elizabethan playwrights.