musical are the lines. In their wonderful harmony these lyrics remind
one of Burns, but in the radiant and ethereal quality of their
phrasing they inevitably recall Shelley. Furthermore, these songs
illustrate the fact that the Elizabethan lyric had its origin in
culture, not among the people, and that the chief sources of its
inspiration were Italian and French. In a series of lyrics inserted
into the text of "A Margarite of America,"[1] Lodge avowedly imitates
the Italian poets Dolce, Pascale, and Mantelli, while in another
passage in the same book[2] he expresses his unbounded admiration for
the French poet Desportes, and his belief "that few men are able to
second the sweet conceits of Philippe Desportes." His "sweet conceits"
are imitated, we are told, in Montanus's song on page 29, and again in
_Rosader's Sonnet_, on page 62. In his borrowings Lodge merely
followed a prevalent fashion. The early English Elizabethan lyric was
wholly experimental and imitative--the product of foreign influences,
predominantly Italian and French; and in this respect Lodge's are
entirely typical.

[Footnote 1: Hunterian Club reprint, pp. 76 ff.]

[Footnote 2: Hunterian Club reprint, p. 79.]

_Historical Significance._ Historically the book is interesting as one
of the predecessors of the modern novel. But we need to keep in mind
that it is really a precursor of the novel and not the thing itself.
We have no right, therefore, to demand a well-constructed plot or
skill in characterization, because these did not appear in English
fiction till a much later time. It was two centuries before the novel,
in the time of Richardson, came into being; and it would be manifestly
absurd to expect to find in "Rosalynde" an anticipation either of