THE POEMS OF ISABELLA WHITNEY: A CRITICAL EDITION by ...

she chose only 111 to rework into her quatrains, selecting
maxims dealing with friendship more often (25 of the 110
stanzas) than those dealing with any other subject. Where
Plat's maxims sometimes stated an unpleasant truth about
friendship, Whitney often reworked them to distinguish
between true friends and false friends. For example. Plat's
"When olde friends have bene long absent, then newe friends
do oftentymes slippe in their roome" (Number 4) is modified
by Whitney to stress that this is only true "when freends
but fickle are" (Stanza 4); his "Out of sight, out of minde"
(Number 7) is countered by Whitney's "absent frends / much
ioy at meeting finde" (Stanza 7); and his "Prosperitie dothe
get friendes, but adversitie trieth them" (Number 2 9) is
tempered by Whitney's "except they faythfull are" (Stanza
30). Whitney may have chosen to rework Plat's maxims in
recognition of the fact that her friends, including George
Mainwaring to whom the work was dedicated, had been faithful
to her in her time of hardship, as her dedicatory letter
suggests.
After the theme of friendship, Whitney's most common
theme is love (Stanzas 61-76). While most of these maxims
are common, Whitney's selection develops the idea that open
love is more appropriate for the young, while older lovers
should keep their love secret (Stanzas 67 and 7 6). She
suggests that love is seldom accompanied by reason (Stanzas
63, 66, 71, 76), and that it is more often painful than
xxiii