be found in these later Odes, as in the _Heart_, the _Valentine_, and
the _Crier_. In the comparison of the two editions the nobler, if more
strained, tone of the earlier is obvious; it is still Elizabethan, in
its nobility of ideal and purpose, in its enthusiasm, in its belief and
confidence in England and her men; and this even though we catch a
glimpse of the Jacobean woe in the _Ode to John Savage_: the 1619 Odes
are of a different world; their spirit is lighter, more insouciant in
appearance, though perhaps studiedly so; the rhythms are more fantastic,
with less of strength and firmness, though with more of grace and
superficial beauty; even the very textual alterations, while usually
increasing the grace and the music of the lines, remind the reader that
something of the old spontaneity and freshness is gone.

In 1607 and 1609, Drayton published two editions of the last and weakest
of his mediaeval poems--the _Legend of Great Cromwell_; and for the next
few years he produced nothing new, only attending to the publication of
certain reprints and new editions. During this time, however, he was
working steadily at the _Polyolbion_, helped by the patronage of Aston
and of Prince Henry. In 1612-13, Drayton burst upon an indifferent world
with the first part of the great poem, containing eighteen songs; the
title-page will give the best idea of the contents and plan of the book:
'Poly-Olbion or a Chorographicall Description of the Tracts, Riuers,
Mountaines, Forests, and other Parts of this renowned Isle of Great
Britaine, With intermixture of the most Remarquable Stories,
Antiquities, Wonders, Rarityes, Pleasures, and Commodities of the same:
Digested in a Poem by Michael Drayton, Esq. With a Table added, for
direction to those occurrences of Story and Antiquities, whereunto the
Course of the Volume easily leades not.' &c. On this work Drayton had
been engaged for nearly the whole of his poetical career. The learning
and research displayed in the poem are extraordinary, almost equalling