The Phoenix Nest

Following the publication of Tottel's Miscellany in 1557, a number of other such miscellanies appeared, few of them important from an artistic point of view. In 1593, however, a still-unidentified gentleman known only by his initials (R.S.) published this relatively slim, well-printed and well-designed compilation, which included works by a number of significant poets of the day-those identified are Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Lodge, Nicholas Breton, Robert Greene, George Peele, the Earl of Oxford, Sir Edward Dyer, and Thomas Watson. It is almost certain that the Phoenix of the title was Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), to whom the first three elegies in the book are dedicated. This new edition is offered in the belief that such compilations-and particularly compilations of this quality-deserve to be placed before the modern reading public, which in turn can gain a greater understanding of the development of English verse at a critical period in its history. For it was though such miscellanies as this that a wider public was able to gain access to significant contemporary poetry for the first time, poetry that otherwise circulated only in manuscript amongst a narrow circle of gentlemen.