And I have begun with--not Chaucer, nor Spenser, nor the ballads,
but--Shakespeare and Agincourt; for it seemed to me that a
book of heroism could have no better starting-point than that
heroic pair of names. As for the ballads, I have placed them,
after much considering, in the gap between old and new, between
classic and romantic, in English verse. The witness of Sidney and
Drayton's example notwithstanding, it is not until 1765, when
Percy publishes the 'Reliques,' that the ballad spirit begins
to be the master influence that Wordsworth confessed it was;
while as for the history of the matter, there are who hold that
'Sir Patrick Spens,' for example, is the work of Lady Wardlaw,
which to others, myself among them, is a thing preposterous
and distraught.
It remains to add that, addressing myself to boys, I have not
scrupled to edit my authors where editing seemed desirable, and
that I have broken up some of the longer pieces for convenience in
reading. Also, the help I have received while this book of 'Noble
Numbers' was in course of growth--help in the way of counsel,
suggestion, remonstrance, permission to use--has been such that
it taxes gratitude and makes complete acknowledgment impossible.
W. E. H.
CONTENTS
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) and
MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631).
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