Elizabethan Poetry in Manuscript: An Edition of British Library Harley MS 7392(2) (Volume 41) (Renaissance English Text Society) [Illustrated] 1649590202, 9781649590206

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R EN A I S S A N C E EN G LI S H T EX T S O C I E T Y

E lizabethan P oetry

in

M anuscrip t :

A n E dition of B ritish L ibrary H arle y MS 7392(2)

Edited by Jessica Edmondes

Elizabethan Poetry in Manuscript

An Edition of British Library Harley MS 7392(2)

Renaissance English Text Society, 41 Joseph L. Black, Series Editor Editorial Committee Vicki Burke (chair) Arthur Marotti Steve May

Elizabethan Poetry in Manuscript

An Edition of British Library Harley MS 7392(2)

Edited by Jessica Edmondes

2022

© Iter Inc. 2022

New York and Toronto IterPress.org All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 978-1-64959-020-6 (paper) 978-1-64959-021-3 (pdf ) 978-1-64959-041-1 (epub) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: British Library. Manuscript. Harley 7392(2) | Edmondes, Jessica, editor. | Coningsby, Humfrey, 1567-1610, compiler. Title: Elizabethan poetry in manuscript : an edition of British Library Harley MS 7392(2) / edited by Jessica Edmondes. Description: New York : Iter Press, 2022. | Series: Renaissance English Text Society (RETS) ; volume 41 | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. | Summary: “This volume presents the first printed edition of a late sixteenth-century poetic miscellany and provides invaluable insight into understanding the literature of the period. Its owner and principal scribe, Humfrey Coningsby, drew on texts circulating in manuscript, predominantly by contemporary writers of the timeincluding Philip Sidney, Edward Dyer, Arthur Gorges, Walter Ralegh, Elizabeth I, the Earl of Oxford, Nicholas Breton, George Peele, and Thomas Watson. Coningsby also added at least two of his own compositions, along with anonymous poems not found in any other manuscripts or printed books. This edition preserves the appearance, spelling, and punctuation of the original manuscript while expanding antiquated contractions to provide an easily readable text. Textual notes appear on the page, and in-depth contextual notes and word glosses are provided in the commentary section. The analyses add to our knowledge of early modern manuscript culture and literary manuscript transmission, and a substantial introduction provides context for the compilation of the anthology”-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021027531 (print) | LCCN 2021027532 (ebook) | ISBN 9781649590206 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781649590213 (pdf) | ISBN 9781649590411 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: English poetry--Early modern, 1500-1700. | Love poetry, English (Middle) | Manuscripts, English--England--London. | English poetry--Early modern, 1500-1700--Criticism, Textual. | Transmission of texts--England--History--16th century. | LCGFT: Love poetry. | Literary criticism. Classification: LCC PR1207 .B75 2022 (print) | LCC PR1207 (ebook) | DDC 821/.308--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027531 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027532 Cover Illustration BL, Harl. MS 7392(2), fol. 39r. Cover Design Iter Press.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Conventions List of Illustrations

vii ix xiii

Introduction xv Physical Description xxi The Hands: A–G xxiii The Identity of the Compiler xxix Oxford University: November 1581 to September 1583 xxxiv Inns of Court (ca. 1584) xxxv The Travels xxxvii Padua and Hungary: April 1594-98 xxxvii Constantinople: February? 1599-April 1600 xxxviii Final Journeys xli Other People Associated with Hy xlii Robert Allott xlii St Loe Kniveton xliv Joyce Jeffreys xlv The Poets and Scribal Communities xlvi Edward Dyer and Philip Sidney xlvi Spenser, Ralegh, and Gorges xlviii The Earl of Oxford and his Client-Poets l Nicholas Breton li The “Holborn Set”: the Metropolitan Literary Milieu liii Verse Forms and Features lv Subjects, Themes, and Genres lvi Organization and Headings lix Dating the Anthology lx Scribal Habits lxi Authorial and Other Attributions lxi Entries Subscribed with the Compiler’s Initials lxii Entries Identified as Ballets lxv Correcting and Perfecting lxvii

vi Editorial Conventions Note on the Collations Note on the Cypher Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Table of Contents

lxix lxxi lxxi 1

Commentary 119 Appendices

363

Bibliography of Manuscripts with Poems in Hy

381

Early Modern Printed Books Cited in Full in This Edition

395

Works Cited in This Edition by Author-Date System

401

Index of First Lines Modernized

415

Author Index

421

Acknowledgments This edition was begun as a doctoral thesis under the auspices of an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project “Early Modern Manuscript Poetry: Recovering our Scribal Heritage.” I am especially grateful to Steven W. May the project leader for sharing his wide knowledge of scribal culture and introducing me to archival research and to Cathy Shrank at the University of Sheffield for her guidance. My sincere thanks go to both of them, but also to friends and colleagues who encouraged me in bringing this task to completion. In addition, I am grateful to Henry Woudhuysen my external examiner for his corrections and suggestions for improvements. My thanks also go to the RETS editorial team: Victoria E. Burke for her careful reading of this work in the initial stages and to my copy editor William Gentrup. In the process of revision and preparing this text for printing many more faults have been detected and emended. Any errors and deficiencies that remain are of course my sole responsibility. I owe thanks to the staff at the libraries in which I have worked and for their efforts on my behalf during many visits: Bodleian Library (Oxford), British Library (London), Cambridge University Library, Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.), Rosenbach Library (Philadelphia, PA), Marsh’s Library (Dublin), National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and Brotherton Library (University of Leeds). I am grateful to the Duke of Norfolk for access to the Arundel Harington manuscript at Arundel Castle Archives. I have also received help in my research from the staff at the National Archives and libraries at Lincoln’s Inn, the Inner Temple and the Society of Antiquaries of London. I would also like to thank the staff at Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre and Shropshire Archives. Finally, I owe a debt of thanks to my family for their unwavering support and encouragement.

Abbreviations and Conventions In citing works throughout this edition an author-date system has been used, where each in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list (in alphabetical order) of Works Cited, except for sources included in the list of abbreviations below and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century works, which are referenced in full directly following in-text citations. In quotations taken directly from early printed books, I have followed the original spelling: i/j and u/v have not been modernized, but the long s has been normalized and contractions have been expanded. Unless otherwise stated: all translations are my own; biblical references are taken from the Geneva Bible; quotations from the works of Shakespeare are from the Wells et al. 1986 (Original-Spelling Edition) and those from the works of Sidney are from Ringler 1962 (except for prose extracts from The Old Arcadia, which are cited as taken from Robertson 1973). This edition uses Ringler’s abbreviations for Sidney’s work: AS = Astrophil and Stella, AT = Attributed Poems, CS = Certain Sonnets, OA = Old Arcadia, OP = Other Poems, and PP = Possible Poems.

Abbreviations

(including sigla for frequently cited MSS) As BL BNF Bo Bod. CELM Cl Cm Cooper CUL Da Dd

Huntington Library, MS HM 162 British Library, London Bibliothèque Nationale de France Bod., MS e. Museo 37 Bodleian Library, Oxford Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts (1450–1700) Folger, MS H.b.1 CUL, MS Kk.1.5(2) Thomas Cooper, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae (London: Henry Denham, 1565) Cambridge University Library, Cambridge BL, Add. MS 41204 CUL, MS Dd.5.75

x

Abbreviations and Conventions

Fo Folger, MS V.a.89 fol(s). folio(s) Folger Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC Ha BL, Harl. MS 6910 Harl. Harley Hm BL, Add. MS 61821 Hn The Duke of Norfolk, Arundel Castle, MSS (Special Press) “Harrington MS. Temp. Eliz.” Hy BL, Harl. MS 7392(2) Je Jesus College, Oxford, MS 150 Le BL, Add. MS 41498 Loeb 1 Cicero, Letters to Friends. Edited and translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. 3 vols. Loeb classical library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. Loeb 2 Ovid, The Art of Love and Other Poems. Translated by J. H. Mozley. 2nd ed. Loeb classical library 232. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979. Loeb 3 Ovid, Heroides: Amores. Translated by Grant Showerman. 2nd ed. Loeb classical library 41. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univeristy Press, 1977. Loeb 4 Virgil, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid 1-VI. Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough. Rev. ed. Loeb classical library 63. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Ma Marsh’s Library, Dublin, MS Z 3.5.21 NA National Archives, London NLW National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OED Oxford English Dictionary Ot NLW, Pitchford Hall (Ottley) English Literary MSS (uncatalogued) B1 Ph BL, Add. MS 38892 Princeton The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, edited by Alex Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993) Qu Queen’s College, Oxford, MS 301 Ra Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 85 Rawl. Rawlinson Rosenbach Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia sig(s). signature(s) St St John’s College, Cambridge, I.7 (James 308) sub. substitution TCD Trinity College, Dublin

Abbreviations and Conventions

Tilley

xi

Morris Palmer Tilley, A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950) V&A Victoria and Albert Museum, London Worc. Worcestershire

List of Illustrations Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9a Figure 9b Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18

©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 22r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 43v ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 66v ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 11r Image from State Papers Online [Autograph letter of St Loe Kniveton to Robert Cotton from BL, Cotton MS Julius C. III, fol. 131r ©The British Library Board] ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 11r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 61r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 62v ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 77r Bod., Malone 333, front end-paper. By permission of the Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford. ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 78v ©The British Library Board: BL, Egerton MS 3054, fol. 53v ©The British Library Board: BL, Egerton MS 3054, fol. 8r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fols. 53v-54r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 31r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 33v ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 76v ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 28r ©The British Library Board: Hy, fol. 23r

Introduction Humfrey Coningsby’s verse anthology BL Harley MS 7392/2 (hereafter Hy) is a testament to the style and tastes of the high Elizabethan period. During the first half of the 1580s, when Coningsby was assembling the volume, manuscript culture was enjoying a revival: it was becoming fashionable again to collect manuscript verse, and the elite institutions of the universities and Inns of Court had a formative role in the cultivation of literary taste. 1 It was true to say that “the only way of making a representative collection of important poets and their works” was through the medium of manuscript (Woudhuysen 1996, 153–54). The currency of texts gathered in Hy together with the more precise dating that this edition establishes makes it an invaluable document for the ways in which we understand the literature of the period. 2 In his 1586 Discourse of English Poetrie, William Webbe apologized to the “Gentlemen Schollers, and students of the Uniuersities, and Innes of Courte” for omitting their “many rare deuises, and singuler inuentions of Poetrie”; he had neither the right connections (“good happe”) nor geographic proximity to those centers of literary activity (“[not] abyding in such place”) to obtain transcripts in person. 3 In contrast, Coningsby was extremely well placed, both socially and geographically, to obtain those works: as a student at Christ Church, Oxford and afterwards at Gray’s Inn, he found a ready network of fellow poetry enthusiasts who provided copies of their own compositions and translations, uniquely preserved in Hy, and who actively transmitted the work of other poets. Coningsby was an avid collector of the work of the poets George Puttenham hailed as the new “crew of courtly makers” (viz. the Earl of Oxford, Sidney, Ralegh, Dyer, and Breton) and of which he complained: “if [only] their doings could be found   For the earlier tradition, see Boffey 1985.   Much of the verse in Hy can be dated to the mid-late-1570s and must have still felt relevant and current in the early 1580s. The currency of earlier compositions, such as those entries referred to below by Richard Edwards and John Thorne, is likely to have been related to their status as songs: Edwards’ paean to music had been written by the early 1560s but its status as a song, marked as a “balle[t]” in Hy and quoted by the musicians in Romeo and Iuliet (see commentary to 86), assured its longevity. 3   “For neither hath it beene my good happe, to haue seene all which I haue hearde of, neyther is my abyding in such place, where I can with facility get knowledge of their workes” (sig. C4r–v). 1 2

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out and made publicke” (Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. I1r). 4 The courtly context of the volume was also enhanced by the inclusion of songs written by court poets Richard Edwards and William Hunnis, their associate John Thorne, and some high-profile anonymous items. 5 Among the latter category are texts also found in manuscript miscellanies belonging to the courtiers Sir Edward Hoby (27) and Sir John Harington (120 and 139). 6 As I suggest later, there are a number of possible sources for these privileged texts, including family members who had access to the highest courtly circles. But these connections were not always activated: Coningsby’s movements in different social and institutional milieu afforded many different opportunities for textual exchanges. Sometimes these sources provided not only information about authorship but also relatively errorfree texts indicating that they were copied at an early stage in transmission, not many removes from the authorial holograph. At other times, when a less wellconnected student friend was the provider, the copy-text had passed between any number of individuals unknown to the author. 7 Coningsby was often at the mercy of the choices made by other copyists; for example, a group of poems illustrating a fashionable rhetorical device (115–17) may have derived from a booklet of linked poems in this genre put together by another reader for whom authorship was not important. Coningsby however was interested in authorship: in the example above, having initially copied all three items without attribution, he retrospectively identified Ralegh’s work. The sociability of manuscript verse exchange is illustrated in the anthology by autograph contributions from Robert Allott (the later literary compiler), St Loe Kniveton (Bess of Hardwick’s nephew), and two other students. Among these entries is an improvised witty riposte to a garbled English version of Katherine Killigrew’s (née Cooke) admired verse epistle (both supplied by Allott; 152–53) and items responding directly to Coningsby as the owner or compiler of the volume. The latter include a punning motto, lines on his sanguine temperament, and a reference to the carping critic Zoilus that may have been a prompt   Puttenham’s comment occurs in chapter xxxi: described by Willcock and Walker as “an interpolation of ca. 1585 or even later” (1936, xlviii). 5   May distinguishes between courtier (the elite circle nearest to the queen), court (connected with the royal household in some way), and out-of-court (mostly professional) writers (1991, 40). 6   All references in bold to Roman numerals i-xii and Arabic numerals 1–157 refer to the sequence of numbering the entries in this edition. 7   For example, the runs of poems attributed to Dyer (1–2, 9–12), Ralegh (47–50), and Sidney (51–55) are of a high textual quality with credible authorial attributions and were probably derived from those authors’ close circles. At other points in the collection Coningsby could not identify the work of those same poets. Retrospective editing of the names and initials attached to entries indicates that information about authorship was not always available at the time of transcription. 4

Introduction

xvii

for Coningsby to share his collection with others. 8 Another entry, an anonymous poem on contemporary color symbolism, has an envoy informing the reader that it was written “by reason of constraynte,” which suggests the kind of poetic challenges on set themes mentioned elsewhere by contemporary poets (see the commentary to 95). A further indication of the diverse contexts in which composition took place is found in the heading given to a libel from which we learn that it was conceived and written as a joint enterprise among Inns of Court gentlemen (94). The mode of humor (parodying heraldic terminology) was tailor-made for Inns of Court tastes, whose members placed a high value on wit, but the communal composition of this poetic chastisement of upstart actors also served as a means to assert shared values about maintaining social distinctions. For many more entries in Hy the context in which the poems were read and circulated is not so explicit, but the inclusion of verse “in praise of a mistress,” the sprinkling of “love posies,” and the bawdy items also point to this same community of young men living in close proximity and sharing similar values and interests. Despite the sense that poetry served to reinforce communal values and despite the instances of autograph contributions, Coningsby did not necessarily allow his friends to take transcripts of the poems in his collection. There is no textual evidence to suggest that the anthology was a source for the further dissemination of verse within those networks of copying to which Coningsby belonged; and it may have been the case, as Woudhuysen suggests of the early collectors of Sidney’s poems, that our scribe was “reluctant to pass the poems on” (1996, 293). 9 Coningsby’s sense of ownership of his personally selected book of poems is indicated in the habitual initialing of entries; but, as I discuss in more detail below, this was likely to be an affirmation of his role as a compiler and transcriber rather than an attempt to pass off the work as his own, though Kniveton’s citing of Zoilus on the cover-page might suggest otherwise. Like most compilers of manuscript verse miscellanies, Coningsby also included a few of his own verse compositions (91–92). As we shall see, the treatment of these texts in terms of mise-en-page and more personalized subscriptions suggests that the integrity of the work of other poets was respected. Coningsby’s habit of revising, or adding, attributions to the entries after their original transcription shows that he wanted to assign authors to texts in Hy and could not always obtain this information from his source at the time of transcription. I argue later that the marginal 8   Kniveton’s citation of Zoilus on the cover leaf mirrors a formula of authors’ prefatory addresses to readers in printed books preempting any harsh criticism resulting from the anticipated wider circulation of the work. 9   For example, Robert Allott (see above) appears to have had limited access to elite manuscript verse: despite having gathered over 2000 extracts from contemporary poetry (with a substantial quantity derived from manuscript sources) for his 1600 publication Englands Parnassus, the only poems in Allott’s volume duplicated in Hy are derivative copies: a single poem apiece by Sidney and Watson (144 and 148).

xviii

Introduction

corrections throughout the volume reveal a habit of proofreading shortly after copying; in transcription Coningsby appears to have followed sources faithfully. Overall, we get a sense of the importance of attaching authors’ names to texts for this contemporary reader, and the care with which transcriptions were made suggests those works were valued. A flavor of the courtly social world outside the collection is preserved in the songs by Dyer and Sidney that were written for royal entertainments at Woodstock and Whitehall (41, 51, and 83) and an epigram addressing Queen Elizabeth, which glances at the question of an appropriate royal match, by Walter Haddon (141a). 10 Two political poems, one a piece of propaganda written by the queen, spoke of the threat to the English crown from homegrown and foreign Catholic antagonists and were evidently of ongoing topical interest to the politically active class of the 1580s (21 and 108). Other entries directly mention the court as a point of reference: the speaker in one anonymous text regrets his departure “From stately Town & Cowrt wher e^r^st we held our roome” (35.6); another entry, possibly written by the queen, recalls “These pleasant courtly games, / That I delighted in” (85.33–34), and the Earl of Oxford’s dialogic poem (where “Love” answers to the question posed in each line) asks, “Above the rest in Cowrt who gave thee Grace?” (129.7). Coningsby, in common with other compilers transcribing poems during the same period, also made associations between reallife individuals at court and the scenarios played out in the poetic texts. For example, the Earl of Oxford’s adulterous relationship with the royal maid of honor, Anne Vavasour, is associated in Hy with two entries (58 and 109), and two poems, if not written by the queen, spoke to contemporary readers of her supposed love for Monsieur (7 and 85). 11 If copyists sometimes made poetry personal, the poets themselves often gave the lead. Dyer suggests in one poem that another layer of meaning could be deciphered by those in the know (2.165–68); it is not clear whether Coningsby was one of those that understood who the actual indi10   May (1991, 55) also considers that Dyer’s poem 1 was “undoubtedly written for the queen,” and lines in another, by the same author, directly address the queen: “Thy Sacred presence . . ./ Wherin . . . great Maiesty did shine” (10.16, 18). 11   The subscription “A Vauasoare,” attached to entry 109, refers to the subject of the poem rather than its author (the Earl of Oxford). Coningsby’s attributions to poems 7 and 85, the latter a retrospective addition, may have designated authorship, but in at least one other instance (in the poem mentioned above) a female authorial attribution undoubtedly refers to the supposed subject of the poem rather than its author. Thus, it is entirely possible that it was the appropriate subject matter of the putative texts by the queen that prompted copyists to assign Elizabeth’s name. Perhaps these two poems represent the before and after of the Alençon affair: the newly love-stuck and mature female speaker of poem 7 might have been associated with the courtship stage; and after Alençon’s death (in 1584) poem 85, whose speaker (of unspecified gender) desires to give up courtly and amorous pleasures, is appropriate to the reality that the last hope for a royal match had passed.

Introduction

xix

viduals in the fictional personas of Amaryllys, Corydon, and Charynell being alluded to were, but in two more entries he recognized Dyer’s self-referential pun and Sidney’s direct address to his close friend (1.147 and 16.13). 12 The Earl of Oxford included four punning references to his own name (E[dward de] Vere) in poem 109, and if that was not clear enough to readers then the echo device, repeating “Vere” in each instance, did the job. The alertness to punning references and hidden meaning also helps to explain the attraction of the “Cambridge Libell” (93), written in the early 1570s, that puns relentlessly for 262 lines on the names of individuals that could not have been personally known to Coningsby. But the sense of exclusivity and shared knowledge denied to those outside the group must have also been part of the appeal of this long poem, laboriously transcribed by Coningsby, with the marginal key in cypher. Each new entry copied into the volume relied on a manuscript source (a faceto-face textual transaction) that involved being somewhere close to those centers of literary production and dissemination to which Webbe wished he could have access. Coningsby drew exclusively on manuscript sources; even those poems with earlier print appearances are all substantive. 13 The high number of unique items is a measure of the enormous amount of manuscript poetry that was in circulation. A third of the contents is unique or provides a complete text, where the only other witness is a fragment or merely cited in Puttenham’s 1589 work of literary criticism. For example, Puttenham quoted two lines as Dyer’s from a poem of fifty lines, in fourteeners, that, but for Hy’s copy, would have been lost (10); likewise Hy adds six more stanzas to the surviving fragments of an anonymous lullaby also cited by Puttenham (29). Ralegh also figures in Hy’s unique entries: a poem written during his Inns of Court years when he associated with publishing poets Gascoigne and Whetstone (47), and another, a complete text where the only other surviving copy lacks two (out of three) of the sixain stanzas (113). There is also a unique composition by the Earl of Oxford, which borrows and revises lines written by his longstanding client Thomas Churchyard (87), and a sententious verse by Sidney not known to occur elsewhere (52). Hy adds 12   For a similar use of personas, see poem 83 where Sidney adopts a pastoral persona in the figure of Philisides. Coningsby also copied an enigmatic impresa motto at the head of Sidney’s poem 51 (originally part of the same royal tilt entertainment as the poem above), suggesting that he understood the personal application lost to modern readers being glanced at. 13   For example, Hy’s texts of poems that had been printed in the 1576 Paradyse of Daynty Deuises include authentic manuscript variants that belong to a different textual tradition from that of the print one. Crucially, from Hy, we are able to correct evident errors in the printed text. So, even while a poem was appearing in print, transcripts continued to be made of a text deriving from a separate manuscript tradition for the poem; the two mediums in which the work was published thus coexisted, having nothing to do with each other.

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four more poems to Breton’s canon (17, 19, 80, and 125) and one unique poem by his stepfather’s close friend Whetstone (13), showing that these publishing poets kept back some work for private manuscript circulation. The remainder of Hy’s poetic texts are duplicated elsewhere: preserved in at least eighty separate early modern documents of various kinds: from private notebooks (some of a decidedly non-literary nature), loose-leaf sheets (or gatherings) of verse, to the margins and fly-leaves of printed books. Among these documents there are also a few single-author collections: authorially sanctioned fair copies made for a poet’s own personal use, for limited scribal publication among friends, or as a dry run before printing. In some instances, compilers were able to gather together substantial single-author groupings, for example, the twentyfour poems by Breton in BL, Add. MS 34064 and the Sidney collection in Ot. 14 But more importantly, there is a handful of predominantly literary collections like Hy compiled from manuscript sources in the final decades of Elizabeth’s reign, which can be usefully compared with Hy for what can be said about the scribal networks in which these shared texts circulated. These are Ra with fortysix shared texts, Ha with twenty, Dd fifteen, Hn fourteen, Fo thirteen, and Ma eleven. The first thing that can be said about these analogous collections is that they were all compiled, or commissioned, by well-connected gentlemen and, in one case, a gentlewoman. It is also remarkable that all contain poems by Sidney; and this implies (to a greater or lesser extent) an association with the Dudley/Sidney circle. 15 Harold Love describes this as the “tendency for the [scribal] networks to   Authorial sanctioned scribal fair copies include: Gorges’ own personal collection of his poems: “The Vanytyes of Sir Arthur Gorges Youthe,” BL, Egerton MS 3165; and many of the scribal copies of the Old Arcadia and Certain Sonnets. An example of a mockup before printing is Thomas Watson’s A Looking Glasse for Louers: BL, Harl. MS 3277. 15   Woudhuysen (1996, 257–67) sets out the evidence for these associations, but to summarize: the shared poems in Hn were all (except two) collected by the courtier Sir John Harington who probably gained access to Sidney’s poems through a personal connection with the Sidney family (345); Fo is associated with the Cornwallises of Brome Hall owned by Anne (before 1610) whose aunt Lady Kitson is referred to in a letter by Sidney as a longstanding acquaintance (258). The compilers of Ra (John Finet, later master of ceremonies for James I) and Ma (? Robert Thornton) both belonged to a scribal commmunity at St John’s College, Cambridge during a period when Abraham Fraunce was a student at the same college (May develops the idea that Fraunce supplied texts of Sidney’s poems to these compilers: 2011, 38). Woudhuysen also suggests that the Thornton who signed his name in Ma could be related to Sidney’s tutor, Thomas Thornton, canon of Hereford Cathedral; with regard to Finet, Woudhuysen points to “a long-standing connection” with the Sidneys from his later assocation with Robert Sidney (Woudhuysen 1996, 262). Ha’s contents, mostly derived from printed books, were transcribed in a single professional hand, but there is a discrete section of substantive texts from manuscript sources that was evidently collected by someone with access to elite texts in manuscript 14

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Introduction

coincide with social groupings of one kind or another” (1993, 83). As Love goes on to say, however, the individuals that were responsible for transcribing contemporary manuscript verse belonged to a number of different scribal communities as we have seen in Coningsby’s case, and “the passage of a text might be a complex and also a very rapid one.” As the table in Appendix 1b shows, there is a core of thirty-five of Hy’s texts that appear in two or more of the analogous collections; the authors of these works allowed many copies to be taken by their friends and it did not matter if you were in Cambridge or Oxford, at one of the Inns of Court, or, among court circles ​—​ in all those places a poetry enthusiast could find these core texts ​—​ if he, or she, had the right connections. In other words, what the differing origins for the various witnesses reveal is a highly efficient network for manuscript publication, especially Harold Love’s author and user categories, where texts quite freely flowed between geographical and institutional divides. The efficiency of manuscript author publication is illustrated particularly well in Ra, which shares the highest number of poems with Hy (over three times more shared items than any other single document) though, apart from Sidney’s Certain Sonnets (discussed below), none of its texts can be said, with any certainty, to have derived from a mutual source. In other words, in each case a separate instance of initial copying directly from the authorial holograph must have taken place. The high coincidence of texts between these two poetic miscellanies does, however, suggest uniformity in taste in the period among gentlemen readers of contemporary poetry. Though Coningsby did not belong to a narrowly defined coterie, such as those seen in literary circles formed during the hey-day of early modern miscellany compilation (ca. 1620s to 1640s), he was able to tap into a thriving and diverse scribal network that was circulating the rich selection of texts seen in this personal manuscript book of poems.

Physical Description Hy was originally a blank quarto booklet of seventy leaves: the similarity of paper stock throughout suggests that the integrity of the volume was established at the outset rather than the volume being built up at different stages. The present-day volume lacks three of those leaves. The number of leaves in each quire is best illustrated by the following formula of collation: 4° in 8s: 18 (-1.1/2); 2–88; 98 (-9.8). circulation. There is little information about the compiler but the presence of a unique text by Richard Edes, whose work also appears in Ma (Woudhuysen draws attention to his position at Hereford Cathedral from 1590 as prebendary and then Treasurer in support of the possible Ma Thornton/Sidney connection), and a poem by Essex might suggest a source via the Sidney/Essex circle. Finally, the compiler of Dd, Henry Stanford, had numerous potential sources for elite texts through either the Pagets or Careys, or, via a family member, personal contact with Sidney (May 1988, xvi-xvii).

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Three sets of stab holes are visible from an earlier binding. There is no information about the current binding, a modern half-morocco gilt, in which are bound two textually independent manuscripts of a similar size. 16 Extensive repair has been carried out where each leaf has been cut from its conjugate leaf, trimmed, and mounted on an acid-free paper tab before rebinding. Fortunately the central conjugate leaves of each gathering have been left intact, providing valuable evidence about the nature of the original binding and make-up of the gatherings. The chain lines are horizontal and spaced approximately 22 mm apart; the watermark is possibly a pot, which has a flower (clover) on a stalk above. The position of the watermark, in the gutter of the binding, makes it difficult to obtain details that could identify the place of origin of the paper or when it was made. The volume was contemporaneously paginated by Hand A (see below): this can be deduced from a citation in Hand A on folio 47r directing the reader to an earlier page in the manuscript, “pagina, 30,” for a continuation beginning “Twixt half a sleep & half awake etc.” The poem is on folio 26v, which corresponds to page 30 in the earlier sequence. The Arabic numeral page numbers are regularly placed in the upper right-hand corner of the recto and left-hand corner of the verso of each folio in a continuous sequence from 2 (fol. 12v) to 135 (fol. 78r) with some lacunae due to page trimming: {1}-99, {100}, 101, {102}-133, {134}, 135. The modern foliation of Hy is continuous with the previous item bound in the volume (Goddard’s epigrams) and begins at folio 11r. This opening folio, unpaginated in the earlier sequence, evidently served as a cover for the booklet as it is stained and contains short extracts of verse arranged haphazardly and some autograph entries in different hands. The main entries begin on folio 12r, and the poems are contemporaneously numbered 1–127. The ink and script of the poem numbering is similar in age and appearance to the hand of the pagination, indicating that it is also the work of Hand A. There are two instances of duplication in the poem numbering and some unnumbered poems, which were later additions inserted in spaces at the foot of pages. This can be seen more clearly in the Overview table in Appendix 1a. From folios 12r to 62r (excepting 53v and 54r) the pages are ruled with marginal frames, consisting of a single or double rule at the head and left-hand margin. A border of a varying number of lines (often two sets of double lines containing a subscription) also separates the poems. From folio 62v the head and marginal borders are absent, but the ruled lines separating entries are present to folio 77 (the last entry in Hand A). It is evident from the

16  The first of these items is a collection of epigrams by William Goddard (d. 1624/5), formerly owned by Sir John Weld of Willey, Shropshire (d. 1666); folio 10v bears the name “Sir John Weld knight.” All the epigrams were printed in 1615 in Goddard’s A Neaste of Waspes. The second item is a collection of burlesque Italian poems: “Le Strigliate” of Tommaso Stigliani (1573–1651) and “La Murtoleide” (one of the “Fischiate” or “Hisses” against Gaspar Murtola) by Marino (1569–1625).

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varying width of margins and the sloped ruling following the line of the written text that the ruling was adapted to fit the poems after they had been copied out.

The Hands Hand A Almost all of the poems are written in a single hand (Hand A; for the identification of the hand as Coningsby’s, see below) with minor contributions from six different contemporary hands (Hands B-G). Hand A’s predominant script is a fairly upright secretary with a good range of minuscule forms. Some of the letters have approach strokes, a feature typical of the later Elizabethan secretary script. Hand A generally writes a clear and legible script, but sometimes sweeping descenders interfere with text on the line underneath. There are a few examples of texts that appear to have been hastily copied and show how the secretary letter forms can break down under less careful execution. Hand A secretary also shows signs of change during the time it took to compile the anthology: at first it is fairly upright but later in the manuscript it has a more sloped appearance and the scribe begins to favour more cursive letter forms needing fewer pen strokes. Hand A also writes in italic. 17 The scribe rarely mixes the italic and secretary forms, but italic is often employed (sometimes as capitals) within a predominantly secretary text to mark out quotations and for emphasis. Italic is also frequently used for headings and signatures (see figs. 1–3 below). 18 The scribe’s interest in calligraphy is evident throughout the manuscript, and despite a high level of consistency in the formation of the set secretary letter forms, the extent of calligraphic embellishments (such as sweeping descenders, exaggerated loops, spurs, and decorative bows) creates much variation in the overall appearance of the text. Hand A’s writing exhibits the same ornateness in italic, and there are two distinct italic scripts differentiated by their letter forms and style of calligraphic embellishments and decoration.

17   Denholm-Young explains that “During Elizabeth’s reign . . . It became common among the upper classes to write more than one hand” (1964, 74). 18   Hector notes that, “from about 1550,” cursive italic (known as “roman”) was used “in the signatures appended to letters written in secretary,” for “quoted matter (whether in Latin or not) occurring in the middle of a document written in secretary . . . [, and] for headings and marginalia” (1966, 62–63).

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Figure 1. Italic heading followed by secretary script.

Figure 2. Italic capitals used to emphasize words within a text in secretary.

Figure 3. Italic signature appended to a text in secretary.

Hand B There are seven entries in Hand B italic: an elegant Italian form (ii, iv, vi, vii, xi, xii, and 103a) and one entry in Hand B secretary, a fluent regular Elizabethan form (103b). The hand belongs to St Loe Kniveton, identified from the autograph signatures to ii and vi (“S Knyveton”) and Hand A’s subscription (“Saintlowe Knyuetonne”) to 103b. Kniveton’s signature on folio 11r (fig. 4) is very similar to that signed to a letter sent to Robert Cotton on 19 July 1626 (fig. 5). For Kniveton, see below.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

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Hands C, D, and E Hand C entered a single line in Latin (i); the hand (seen in fig. 6) is a small, neat italic in the possible autograph of Edward Evans, a gentleman from Shropshire. Hand D (seen in fig. 7) is a different italic hand found in a short verse (104) in the autograph of an unidentified Charles Evans. Hand E (seen in fig. 8) is a rapid secretary hand (unidentified) of a twenty-line poem (108).

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

Figure 8.

(v) Hand F Hand F (seen in fig. 9a below) is the italic hand of six entries (150–55) to which the name Robert Allott is subscribed four times in full and abbreviated forms. Allott’s distinctive hand also appears in a dedicatory sonnet to Sir Edward

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Figure 9a.

Figure 9b.

Wingfield on the front end-paper of a copy of Gervase Markham’s Deuoreux (fig. 9b) printed in 1597 (Bod., Malone 333). 19 For Allott, see below. 19   “The sonnet was presumably written on the front end-paper of the original binding, which is now cut down and mounted to face the title” (Poynter 1962, 45). The poem is subscribed by Allott with the author’s name (“Ieruis Markham”) and was evidently meant to appear as if written by Markham. Allott had already contributed two dedicatory poems for the same publication: “In praise of the worke” and “To my most affectionate friend, Ieruis Markham” (sig. A3r). Poynter concluded that the hand of the manuscript poem belonged to Markham, but it bears no similarity to that seen in an autograph letter from Markham to the Earl of Shrewsbury in the Talbot Papers (Lambeth Palace Library, MS 3203, fol. 335r). It was more probably the case that Markham asked his friend to write (and perhaps compose) the dedicatory poem on his behalf.

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(vi) Hand G Hand G (seen in fig. 10 below) is an uneven italic hand that appears in two short poems signed “I. I.” (156–57). A lack of consistency in the formation of the italic letters forms could indicate an immature hand, and I suggest in the commentary that this hand belongs to the compiler’s half-sister Joyce Jeffreys. For Jeffreys, see below. Another document survives in Joyce’s hand: a diary of business and household accounts from 1638 to 1648 (BL, Egerton MS 3054), extracts of which are

Figure 10.

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seen below. In fig. 11, Joyce records the purchase of material “to make my self .I.I a gowne and petycote” and, in fig. 12, the receipt of an annuity from her brother’s will: “Rece from Mr Fitzwilliam Conyngesby . . . for my half yeares Anuety due out of the Lordship of Nene Sollers: by the gift of my loving brother Humfrey coningesby dessessed: the som of thirty & three pownds, due at miklmas 1640.” The editor of the Egerton manuscript considers that Hand G could be an earlier version of Jeffreys’ hand: “many of the letters are formed in a similar way to her later writing (if a little more angular) and the writing of her initials ‘I. I’ (which appear in the Egerton manuscript, fol. 53v) remain very similar, bar the extra flourishes at the lower edges” (email correspondence with Judith Spicksley, 4 January 2013).

Figure 11.

Figure 12.

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The Identity of the Compiler The clue to the identity of the compiler is found in the abbreviated forms “H. Con:” and “H. C.,” which appear repeatedly on the cover folio and attached to selected entries throughout the anthology (for a discussion of this habit, see below). The hand of these part names also matches the hand in which the majority of texts in Hy are written (Hand A). At the head of the first page of the miscellany (fol. 11r), in a faint italic script of the period, is the name “Humfrey Coningesby,” and there is little reason to doubt that this expands those part names and initials subscribed to entries, and thus names the compiler of the anthology. On the same page, another contributor, St Loe Kniveton, wrote the name “Coningsbye” beneath the Cavendish motto, reminding the compiler of a mutual relation, Elizabeth Cavendish (née Coningsby) (iv); and further into the anthology a poem attributed to “L. Con de E & L” may denote a Coningsby who was lord of the manors of Eyton and Leominster (30). The registers of Oxford University alumni record an armigerous gentleman of Worcestershire named Humfrey Coningsby, who matriculated at Christ Church in November 1581, aged fifteen. 20 This description accords with the general tenor of the document as the creation of a youthful, educated gentleman, well placed in the early 1580s to intercept the flow of a wide range of private manuscript verse. A tentative connection to Oxford University can also be established from the inclusion of texts in the hand of another gentleman student Robert Allott of Lincolnshire, who had matriculated from Corpus Christi, Oxford, aged eighteen, in the same year as Coningsby (150–55) and from a sententious line contributed on the cover folio probably in the autograph of Edward Evans of Shropshire, a gentleman who matriculated at Christ Church, 1 August 1583, aged seventeen (i). The contents of the anthology also reveal a couplet with the place name variant “Standlake,” a village close to Oxford (114), and a lullaby which never appeared in print but is preserved in two songbooks and a student notebook compiled at Oxford University (29). In the Alumni Oxonienses, Foster identified the Humfrey Coningsby (Cunnisby) who matriculated at Christ Church with the MP for St. Albans, Hertfordshire (elected 1584, 1586, 1589, 1593, and 1597), second son of John Coningsby of North Mimms by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Frowick (see Appendix 3: family tree D). However, there is a huge discrepancy in age, since the St. Albans MP had attained his majority before 1560 when he leased the manor of Sopwell from his father-in-law Sir Richard Lee of Sopwell (Page 1908, 413). 21 There was also a Humfrey Coningsby who was heir to a manor in Neen Sollars, Shropshire, a cousin of the North Mimms namesake, whose age and   Foster (1891–92, 1:316) gives the entry as “(not earlier) 27 Nov., 1581.”  See also History of Parliament Online: “Coningsby, Humphrey II (d. 1601), of Sopwell.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/member/coningsby-humphrey-ii-1601. 20 21

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circumstances are a better match for the individual described in the matriculation register. 22 An important source for his biography is inscribed on a memorial tomb in the parish church at Neen Sollars. From the lengthy inscription in the central cartouche of the monument we can estimate that Coningsby was born in February 1567: “he began his first travaill in april 1594, being 27 yeares of age 2 monethes” (see Appendix 3: E). This date matches the age of the youth who appears in the Oxford matriculation register at the date “not earlier than” 27 November 1581, aged 15. 23 The inscription also informs us that Humfrey was a scion of the senior branch of the Coningsby family “from whom all the rest are derived.” 24 Beneath the inscription is a recumbent effigy of Coningsby dressed for battle and reclining on a soldier’s mat; the family coat of arms, with the motto Tacta Libertas, is displayed in some splendour at the head of the monument. 25 It is evident that Humfrey derived some satisfaction from his ancient pedigree despite the contemporary lack of prestige of the Neen Sollars branch of the family compared to his illustrious Coningsby relations of Hampton Court, Herefordshire. The memorial also names significant family members: his parents John and Anne (the daughter of Thomas Barneby of Hull, Bockleton, Worcestershire), his sister Katherine (married to Edward Freeman of Evenlode (Emlode), Worcestershire) and unmarried half-sister Joyce Jeffreys; 26 and it tells us that he was well educated (“a perfect scoller by edvcation”) and lived his life as a bachelor spending a considerable amount of his time overseas, not in any official capacity but “to satisfie his desier (which was to see the most eminent places and persons).” This skeleton biography can be filled out from other sources. John and Anne Barneby were married on 15 September 1562 at Ludlow, and Katherine was born first, followed by Humfrey who was still an infant when his father died. 27 Although John Con  Black (1971, 1:47–54) first suggested that Humfrey Coningsby of Neen Sollars was the compiler; Woudhuysen (1996, 278–86) corroborates this view and supplied an ODNB entry for Coningsby on the grounds that he indeed compiled Hy. 23   The imprecise date given in the Alumni Oxonienses indicates a glitch in the normal chronological sequence of entrants in the matriculation register. Coningsby probably went up to Oxford with his stepbrother William Jeffreys in November 1581, aged 14 (see below) but signed the matriculation register a few months later early in 1582, when he was 15. 24   This lineage can be seen in Appendix 2: family tree A. 25   The motto, now lost, is mentioned in an earlier description of the monument: “On the top a fair coat of arms of the Conyngsby’s, with the motto Tacta Libertas” (“Conyngsby Family: Curious Epitaph” 1823, 583). 26   Records for the diocese of Worcester record, in 1587, a marriage bond between Edward Freeman, gentleman and Katherine Conesbee (Fry 1904, 314). 27   The marriage of “John Conesby & Anne Barnaby” is recorded in the Ludlow Parish Registers (Weyman and Horton 1912, 2). 22

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ingsby’s will has not survived, it was proved at Hereford in September 1567, and the inquisition post mortem was filed at Cleobury Mortimer in November of the same year (NA WARD 7/11/2). Anne quickly remarried to a widower, Henry Jeffreys of Ham (variously known as Homme or Holme) Castle, Clifton upon Teme, Worcestershire and had one more child (born ca. 1570) named Joyce after her mother Joyce Barneby (née Acton). 28 Joyce was nearer in age to Humfrey and Katherine than her other half-siblings (the five girls and one boy) from Henry’s first marriage to Anne Walsh, daughter of John Walsh of Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire (Spicksley 2012, 9). In the book of accounts kept by Joyce from 1638 to 1648 (BL, Egerton MS 3054) there are many references to Humfrey in regard to the receipt of a half year’s annuity, qualified by “my loving brother” or “my deare brother” fol. 56v (fols. 6r, 8r, 14r, 18r and 56v). 29 Joyce also refers in her will to “my deare brother,” and this close attachment is reciprocated by her brother in naming Joyce as his executor, “that best doth knowe my mynde” and of whose “honest performance I rest assured havinge ever found her lovinge to me and iust to all”. 30 28   The wardship for the infant Humfrey was obtained by Thomas Blount of Kidderminster, the Earl of Leicester’s “leading household officer” (Adams 2002, 331); but he died a year later (28 November 1568) and bequethed the wardship to his brother Gilbert: “I gyue and bequeath vnto my brother Gilbert Blount, the wardeship and mariage of Humfrey Conisbie sonne and next heire of John Conisbe, with all commodities being or that ought to be myne by vertue of the Quenes Maiesties graunte” (NA PROB 11/51/110). The evidence of Humfrey’s close relationship with his half-sister and his matriculation at Oxford University at the same time as his Jeffreys step-brother (see below) suggest that the wardship was ultimately transferred to his mother or step-father. A member of another branch of the Blount family, Sir George Blount of Sodington, received one of Coningsby’s “three greate Venetian lookinge glasses”, the others bequeathed to important family members Sir Thomas Cornwall, Baron of Burford, and Sir Richard Coningsby (for Humfrey’s will dated 10 Nov 1608, see Appendix 4). Humfrey’s half-sister refers to a member of the Blount family as a cousin: “ould cousin Thomas Blunt” (Spicksley 2012, 248). 29   Joyce also writes warmly in her diary of her “good sister Freeman” and pays tribute to her on her death (14 September 1640): “my deare sister Katherin Freeman, widdow, of Nene Sollers . . . died onne Monday . . . a saint in heven” (Spicksley 2012, 189). Relations between the half-sisters must have been strained during the period after Humfrey’s disappearance, when Katherine’s son, Coningsby Freeman, claimed in a legal action brought to the Court of Star Chamber in May 1615 that Joyce and Sir Thomas Coningsby had faked a will “pretendinge the same to be the last will of the said Humfry Conningsbye and thereby seeke to intitle themselues not only to the landes and possessions of the said Humfry Conningsbye but also to the goodes and personall estate of him the said Humfrey and thereby vtterly goe about to defeat this defendents said mother thereof she beinge the right heire by law” (NA STAC 8/21/14). 30   Joyce’s will is quoted from Spicksley (2012, 305); for Humfrey’s will, see Appendix 4.

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At Ham Castle Humfrey grew up amidst a large, predominantly female, family: his elder sister Katherine, younger stepsister Joyce, and the six children from his stepfather’s previous marriage to Anne Walsh. There is no record of the children’s education, but in the previous generation Humfrey’s step-father (Henry) had been “kings scholer” at Worcester, and the younger siblings, Florence and William, were taught by “the clark of St Andrews there” (Spicksley 2012, xxiv). 31 During this early period Humfrey probably had contact with his Coningsby relations of Hampton Court. 32 Though fairly distantly related (a grandfather four generations back was elder brother to the progenitor of the Hampton Court branch), Humfrey aligned himself strongly to this strand of the Coningsby family. 33 Most of his ancestral property (“my whole Mannor of Nenesolers and Cotson”) and possessions (“all my Bookes, and Armes, my best Cabinet, my biggest glasse, my fayrest lute and Pictures”) were bequeathed to Sir Thomas Coningsby (b. 1550) to be passed on to succeeding generations. 34 Two of Sir 31   Henry Jeffreys’ father, William, had been High Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1563, the year before he died; the heralds visitation of Worcester, taken in 1569, records three marriages (only the first producing children) for “William Geffereys of Holme Castell”: to Alice Bauge (Bouge), then to Anne daughter of Sir George Baynham, and, lastly, to Isabell daughter of Sir Edward Ferrys (Ferrers) (Phillimore 1888, 58). 32  The Jeffreys also had long-established connections with the Coningsbys of Hampton Court. Humfrey Coningsby of Hampton Court sold the manor of Ham Castle to William Jeffreys in 1548 (Page and Willis Bund 1924, 251); and a “release” (dated 2 May 1591) was granted by “Th. Coningisby Esq of Hampton Court . . . of all annualy and rent charge to Will: Jeffrayes Esq. out of Home Castle or Clifton” (Worcester Record Office, BA 13115 Ref. 899: 683, 3). 33   For this cadet branch of the Coningsbys’, see Appendix 2: family tree B. 34   Describing himself as “a fruitles tree” Humfrey’s wish was that his patrimony should remain in Coningsby hands (“my desire and intent finallie beinge to continue my landes and Patrimonie in my name”). Sir Thomas and his male heirs are the first choice but, in default of these, to any daughter that shall be married to a Coningsby; next in line are the North Mimms, Hertfordshire Coningsbys: brothers Sir Raphe, Sir Phillip, and Harry and their heirs male, or in default of these any “suche yssue to that Coningesbie by Surname which shalbe trulie founde to be next vnto me in kindred, and bloud lawfullie begotten.” There is a proviso, however, that suggests a family rift at some point in the past, since none of these heirs can be “discended from the bodye of one Richarde Coningesbie once of Morton Bagott in the County of Warwicke gent deceased uncle to my late Grandfather Humfrey Coningesbye of Nene solers” (for these branches of the Coningsby family, see Appendix 2: family tree D). Sir Thomas asked Humfrey to be party to a post-nuptial settlement (dated 20 July 1608) for his daughter Anne on her marriage to Sir Richard Tracy (“Humfry Coningesby of Nine Solarse in the County of Sallop Esquier”; Sheffield Archives, Bag C/1216). Sir Thomas also mentions in a letter dated 30 April 1604 to Robert Sidney: “my late letters to you by my cousin Humfrey Coningesby” (from the Historical Manuscripts Commission Report on the De L’Isle collections quoted in Woudhuysen 1996, 282).

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Thomas’ children also received bequests: Fitzwilliam received “a sworde, and a dagger with girdle, and hangers, and a Horse furnished of Fortye poundes” and Elizabeth Baskerville of Eardisley “a white hower glasse of Sea horse toothe.” Another Hampton Court Coningsby relation Lady Anne Cornwall (née Littleton; whose mother was Elizabeth Coningsby, the elder sister to Sir Thomas who had married Gilbert Littleton of Frankley, Worcestershire) received his “second Cabinet,” and her husband Sir Thomas Cornwall, Baron of Burford, in addition to one of “three greate Venetian lookinge glasses” (see above fn. 28), received “a blacke Padouan lute of Indian Cane.” The only other Coningsby in receipt of a legacy from Humfrey’s will, Sir Richard, a gentleman usher from 1592, was descended on the illegitimate line of Richard of Morton Bagot. For all the aforementioned, see the Family trees in Appendix 2. These kinship ties reveal points of access to the highest courtly circles and potential sources for some of the more elite and private manuscript literature found in the anthology. The compiler’s cousin Thomas Coningsby was associated with members of the Dudley family during the 1570s and 1580s, having been introduced to the close circle of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in early adolescence when his widowed mother Anne (née Englefield) married Leicester’s steward John Huband. 35 By 1571, the year he came of age, Thomas was cutting a figure at court, performing in a “royall Challenge” held at Westminster to mark the Earl of Oxford reaching his majority. 36 “Thomas Connessby” is named as one of the defenders; the challengers were the “Earle of Oxenford, Charles Howard, Sir Henrie Lee and Sir Christopher Hatton.” 37 Coningsby’s device (or impresa) “a white lion devouring a young coney” with the posy “call you this love?” was directed towards a royal maid of honor, Frances Howard. 38 During 1573–74 Thomas was touring Europe in the company of Leicester’s nephew Philip Sidney, whose work, along with associated writers such as Edward Dyer and Edmund Spenser, is represented in Hy. 39 Thomas Coningsby’s continuing associa35   Thomas’ father, Humphrey, a gentleman pensioner from 1542, died on 4 April 1559. The marriage to Huband had taken place by 1561 since in that year Anne’s eldest son, Edward, died and was buried at Ipsley, Huband’s seat (Salzman and Styles 1945, 271). Anne died in 1564 and Huband’s second marriage was to her first cousin Mary Throckmorton, youngest daughter of George Throckmorton of Coughton (Anne’s uncle). 36   Goldring et al. 2014, 1:698–702. 37   Quoted from William Segar’s Booke of Honor and Armes, 1590, in Goldring et al. 2014, 1:699. 38   From a letter dated 12 May 1571 sent by George Delves to the Earl of Rutland; quoted in Goldring et al. 2014, 1:700. The white lion is a symbol of the Howard family and the coney is a pun on Coningsby’s name. 39   During a stop-over in Strasbourg on route to Vienna, both men contributed to the album amicorum of a German nobleman, George, Freiherr von Hoffkirchen (Austrian National Library, MS Cod.9689). Coningsby wrote a line in Italian “Amico a lei chi e contrario a lei” which he signed “Thomas Coningsbye generosus Angliae scripsit

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tion with Sidney and his extended family is indicated by his marriage to Sidney’s first cousin Philippa Fitzwilliam in 1575 and, in the same year, his post as one of two deputy lieutenants of Herefordshire to Sir Henry Sidney, Lord president of the council of the Welsh Marches. 40 The potential for access to texts of courtier verse via the Dudley court connection is also apparent from alliances within Humfrey’s extended family. On the Jeffreys side there were marriages with Walshes and Scorys, both families closely associated with the Dudley camp; also his cousins included Blounts, Cornwalls, Boughtons, and Russells of Strensham, families that formed the bulk of Leicester’s West Midlands power-base of support, who could boast more than one generation in Dudley service. 41

Oxford University: November 1581 to September 1583 Though Humfrey was five years younger than his cousin William Jeffreys, he appears to have made the transition to university at the same time. The registers for Oxford University record that William Jeffreys (Jeffreyes) of Home Castle, Worcestershire (“son of Henry”) matriculated at Broadgates Hall on 23 November 1581, aged 20 (Foster 1891–92, 1:806). Humfrey’s entry to the associated college of Christ Church is in the same month, and, like his stepbrother, he is armigerous and “of co. Worcester.” During this period Richard Hakluyt (1552?-1616) was a tutor and lecturer at Christ Church with duties that brought him in close contact with the undergraduate students; he was also at the center of a scientific coterie that was attracting the attention of, among others, Philip Sidney (McConica 1986, 436). 42 Humfrey claimed distant kinship to Hakluyt, and his later enthusiasm for travel may have derived from attending lectures in the new field of geography and from the general excitement for this subject at Christ Church during his time as an undergraduate. 43 Christ Church was also known for its preeminence in drama, and in May 1583 a series of entertainments (in which the undergraduates at Christ Church were actively involved) were arArgentorati 1573” (fol. 87r). Sidney’s signature on a different page is identical apart from the name “Philippus Sideneus,” and his motto is “Quo me fata vocant” (Gömöri 2004, 240). 40   Tighe says that “throughout the 1570s and early 1580s he was closely associated with Philip Sydney . . . and, to some extent, with the Earl of Leicester” (1995, 167 fn. 38). 41   For the Dudley clientele in the West Midlands, see Adams 2002, 310–73. 42   Hakluyt had taken his BA at Christ Church in 1574 and MA in 1577 but remained as fellow at the college until 1586, and as lecturer and tutor on Aristotle he was brought into close contact with the undergraduate students (McConica 1986, 717). 43   Elinor Hakluyt, a cousin of the geographer was married to Thomas Coningby of Leominster; see Appendix 2: family tree C. Her brother, also named Richard Hakluyt, was a Middle Temple lawyer (d. 1591) who became a surrogate father after Hakluyt the geographer lost both parents as a young boy (ODNB: Hakluyt, Richard 1552?–1616).

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ranged for the visit of the Polish prince Albert Laski, attended by the Earl of Leicester and Philip Sidney. 44 These included performances of William Gager’s comedy Rivales and his play Dido. At this time Humfrey may have rubbed shoulders with Broadgates Hall alumnus George Peele, who had been called in to oversee the entertainments. 45 (See 126 for a song from a lost pastoral poem, play, or entertainment by Peele).

Inns of Court (ca. 1584) There is no record that Coningsby took his BA, and the autograph entries from Inns of Court students in his manuscript anthology suggest that he took the well-trodden path from university to one of the metropolitan Inns of Court. During the latter half of the sixteenth century the Inns of Court were increasingly attracting well-born non-professional students who formed a distinct group from the career lawyers and law students (Prest 1972, 40). Regarded as finishing schools for gentlemen, the Inns provided non-professional students with, besides an elementary knowledge of the law, the social graces and skills of a well-rounded gentleman. The role of the Inns of Court as literary hothouses during this period is also well documented when “all the poets, in fact almost all writers of any value, were connected with the Inns of Court” (Finkelpearl 1969, 24). Although Coningsby’s name does not appear in any of the surviving Inns registers, the autograph entries from two students, Robert Allott and St Loe Kniveton, who became members of allied Inns in 1584, place him in London at this date. 46 Robert Allott, already mentioned as the gentleman undergraduate who matriculated at Oxford in the same year as Coningsby, had moved to London some months before he registered at the Inner Temple on 6 November 1584 from Clement’s Inn. 47 St Loe Kniveton of Mercaston, Derbyshire entered Gray’s Inn on 29 May 1584 (Foster 1889, 65). I also suggest in the commentary that another Inns of Court gentleman and former student at Oxford, John Edwards of Oxfordshire   For the dramatic tradition at Christ Church, see Boas 1914. Leicester was chancellor of the University from 1564 until his death in 1588; Sidney was an undergraduate at Christ Church from 1568 to ca. 1570. 45   For Peele’s role, see the entry in Christ Church Disbursements: “Monie paid . . . in respect of the playes & intertaynement of the palatine laskie .  .  . Receiued by me George Peele the xxvjth day of May anno 1583” (Elliott et al. 2004, 1:183). 46   Prest points out that “quite a few cases of bona fide members . . . escaped the admissions registers” (1972, 10). On the close relationship between Gray’s Inn and the Inner Temple, see Gray’s Inn: “Ancient Amity.” Accessed April 23, 2018. https://www.graysinn.org.uk/history/other/ancient-amity 47   Inner Temple Admissions Database: “Robert Allott, gentleman.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.innertemplearchives.org.uk/detail.asp?id=10743. Allott also left Oxford before taking his BA. 44

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(like Allott, of Clement’s Inn, and admitted to Inner Temple on 24 January 1587 with Allott named as “pledge’), was a provider of copy-texts for the anthology. 48 Coningsby’s association with Gray’s Inn is strengthened by the knowledge that his close cousin Thomas Coningsby of Hampton Court had become a member on 2 February 1584 (Foster 1889, 63). Though his admission may have been honorific, membership to an Inn was “a ‘character indelible’ retained for life,” and he probably spent time there during his frequent visits to the capital. 49 During the admissions boom of the second half of the sixteenth century, Gray’s Inn (the Inn of choice for the Earl of Oxford, who joined in February 1567, and Philip Sidney who became a member, in the same month, in the following year; Foster 1889, 36, 37) attracted “a disproportionate share of non-professional entrants, thanks to its aristocratic image and reputation” (Prest 1972, 11). Gray’s Inn is the most likely point of contact for the connection between Humfrey Coningsby of Neen and one of the legatees in his will, the judge Sir Christopher Yelverton (treasurer of Gray’s Inn in 1579 and 1585), who boasted that his family links with Gray’s Inn began “two hundred years agoe at the least” (quoted in Prest 1972, 37). Thomas Howell in his Newe Sonets and Pretie Pamphlets (1575, sig. D3v) includes Yelverton among the class of 1560s and 70s writers who flourished at the Inns, including Thomas Norton, Thomas North, Thomas Sackville and William Baldwin; like Norton he is known for his “ditties”: “There Nortons ditties do delight, / there Yeluertons doo flee.” Yelverton also wrote the epilogue to Gray’s Inn poet George Gascoigne’s Jocasta, performed at the Inns of Court in 1566. Sir Christopher was among those particular friends to whom Humfrey wished to leave a lasting memento, “a Ringe of goulde withe a Diamond of the value of Tenne pounds” (Appendix 4). 50 There was every reason for spending time at Gray’s Inn; besides Yelverton, whose lifetime connection with that Inn is well documented, many of Coningsby’s close friends and relations signed up as members during 48   Inner Temple Admissions Database: “John Edwards, gentleman.” Accessed April 23, 2018. http://www.innertemplearchives.org.uk/detail.asp?id=10842. Foster suggests that the “John Edwardes of Oxon.” who matriculated at Oriel College on 3 August 1578, aged 13, is the same “gentleman” who registered at the Inner Temple as “of Oxford” from Clement’s Inn early in 1587 (1891–92, 1:449). Edwards was at Oxford University during the same period as Allott and Coningsby, and may have been part of their friendship group prior to any association at the Inns of Court. 49   According to Prest “honorific admissions . . . are not formally identified” but usually “made at the Lent and August readings” (1972, 9); the Inns “operated like residential clubs or hotels, catering for a fluid, heterogeneous population” (16). 50   The other five receiving the same bequest were Humfrey’s father-in-law Sir Francis Kettleby, his brother-in-law Edward Freeman, the former ambassador to Constantinople Sir Henry Lello, a gentleman traveller Robert (Robin) Bailey of Salisbury and the merchant Hewett Stapers, son of Richard, founder of the Levant Company and associate of the famous geographer Richard Hakluyt.

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the 1590s and beyond. 51 The fact that Humfrey’s name did not appear later in the register suggests that he was already a member of Gray’s Inn long before that time. 52

The Travels Padua and Hungary: April 1594–98 According to the tomb inscription, Coningsby set out on his first journey overseas in April 1594; his intention was probably to begin his foreign travel with a spell at the University of Padua as he registered there on 26 May 1594 (“Humfridus Coningsbeus, Anglus  ​—​  cum parva cicatrice in sinistra parte frontis” [with a small scar on the left side of the forehead]). Another Englishman, Robertus Scorleus (Scory?), matriculated on the same day and was probably a traveling companion (Elze 1899, 28; Woolfson 1998, 226, 270). 53 The matriculation registers for the University of Padua, extant for the years 1591–98, list the names of matriculants and their identifying features; according to Woolfson “sixty-five Englishmen matriculated in this period” (17). St Loe Kniveton appears in the register on 23 July 1593, fourteen months before Coningsby, but their time there may not have over-lapped. Woolfson points out that Englishmen frequently enrolled at the university as a means of protection from the Inquisition bestowed by student status. However, Coningsby must have been a committed student as he was still at Padua three years later, and, as the University records show, he acted as consiliarius of the English nation from 1597–98 (226). 54 This timescale fits the estimated “4 yeares and vpwards” for the first trip overseas given in the tomb inscription, but as Webb points out there is an error in the chronology.   The Gray’s Inn register records the names of three of Coningsby’s close friends who received bequests in his will: on 5 November 1596, “Robert Bayley, of Barnard’s Inn, and of Salisbury, Wilts[hire], gent.”; on 5 August 1600, “Hewitt Staper, of London, gent.”; and on 13 March 1603, “Henry Lello, Esq., Ambassador to the Queen at Constantinople, Turkey” (Foster 1889, 91, 99, 104). 52   Humfrey’s link to the metropolis is also indicated from the property he left to his stepsister Joyce: “myne interest in leases of Howses, Stables, Gardaines, and other Comodities whatsoever in or within Fiue myles of London” (see Appendix 4). 53   I have been unable to identify this individual, but a connection between the Scorys and Humfrey Coningsby’s adopted family can be established, since Sylvanus the son of the former bishop of Hereford (and one-time servant to the Earl of Leicester) married Henry Jeffreys’ niece Alice Walsh, the daughter of Francis Walsh of Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire. For the connection between the Scorys and a manuscript of the Old Arcadia: St, see Woudhuysen 1996, 338–39. 54   Woolfson tells us that “each nation annually elected a consiliarius, who represented the nation to the university and also formed collectively the university’s executive council under the rector” (1998, 11). 51

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According to the inscription Coningsby’s participation in the Siege of Strigonium (or Gran) took place during the second journey (“and tooke his iorney againe, in to bohemia, polonia, and hvngary”) and “afterwards” traveled to Turkey “in the raigne of mahomett the third emperovr of tvrkes.” Webb points out that since “the first and only siege [at Strigonium] during the lifetime of Mahomet III was in 1594 . . . [this] must have been when Conyngesby was on his first journey” (Webb 1857, 193). Coningsby may not have left England intending to join up as a gentleman volunteer in the war against the Turks but was probably introduced to the idea at Padua. The army of gentlemen volunteers fighting under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire in the spring of 1595 was multinational; among the English gentry was Thomas Arundell of Wardour, whom Rudolph II subsequently created Count of the Holy Roman Empire (much to the annoyance of Elizabeth I) for his services against the Turks (ODNB: Arundell, Thomas). 55 The siege of Strigonium must have been a talking point in London as the English volunteer soldiers returned home and recounted their successes against the Turks. In Euery Man in his Humor Ben Jonson’s braggart soldier, Bobadill, recounts: “Why at the beleag’ring of Strigonium, where, in lesse then two houres, seuen hundred resolute gentleman, as any were in Europe, lost their liues vpon the breach” (The Workes, 1616, sig. C4r ).

Constantinople: February? 1599–April 1600 If Coningsby returned home in 1598 after he completed his term as consiliarius, he was soon on the move again. 56 This time the destination was Constantinople, and according to the tomb inscription he spent thirteen months living there (“after 13 monethes aboade there”). Henry Lello had been attached to the embassy at Constantinople from the 1590s as secretary to the ambassador Edward Barton, then upon the death of Barton as chargé d’affaires, eventually becoming resident ambassador in 1599 (Bell 1990, 284). Coningsby may have known Lello, a fellow Salopian (born in Clunton), before going to Turkey but they had evidently become close friends well before 1608 when Humfrey made his will and Lello was among those particular friends in receipt of a lasting me-

  Strigonium was taken on 7 September 1595.   An entry in the Rutland account books records a payment to a servant of “Mr Conysbie” for delivering letters from Padua: “28 Junii [1599] geven to Mr Conysbie’s man that brought letters from Padoua” (Royal Commission 1905, 4:424); and from this entry, Woolfson (226) suggests that Humfrey Coningsby had crossed paths with Francis Manners in Padua. However, this may not be our man since an entry on 21 November 1597 in the same book of accounts records a payment to “Mr Conisby, one of the clarkes of the Petty Bag Office” (4:413). For the entry in the University of Padua register for Francis Manners (1599–1600), see Woolfson 1998, 255. 55

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mento of a diamond ring. 57 Though there is no record of Coningsby’s departure, there is a good deal of information about the return journey. A letter dated 18 November 1599 written by the English merchant and former secretary to Barton, John Sanderson, gives the exact day of departure (Foster 1931, 184–85): 58 Yesterday we wear all at the ambassadors at diner, wher we wear very merry, yet had very great cheare . . . With the first wind Master Pinder departeth; with him Master Conisbie and the workmen of the instrument sent. God prosper them into Ingland.

The “workmen of the instrument sent” refers to the present, an organ incorporating ingenious mechanical automatons, from Queen Elizabeth to Mehmed III that was dispatched on the English merchant ship, the Hector, along with its designer Thomas Dallam and other craftsmen on 12 February 1599. The Hector’s passengers included travelers, artisans, and merchants of the Levant Company; the cargo also included a coach as present for the sultan’s mother and merchandise for trading. Although Sanderson does not mention him by name, Thomas Dallam was among the return party. Dallam had been keeping a journal of this interesting period in his life (BL, Add. MS 17480) entitled “A brefe Relation of my Travell from the Royall Cittie of London towardes the Straites of Mariemediteranum, and what hapened by the waye,” and he kept this up during the return journey. Dallam first mentions Coningsby in his diary as one of the gentlemen taking part in the delegation to present the gift of the organ to Mehmed III (Bent 1893, 66): 59 Thare roode with him [Henry Lello] 22 jentlmen and martchantes, all in clothe of goulde; ye jentlemen weare these: Mr. Humfrye Cunisbye, Mr. 57   William Biddulph described Lello as “a learned, wise, and religious English gentleman, sometime student in Oxford, and afterwards at the Innes of the Court” (The Trauels of Certaine Englishmen, 1609, sigs. H2v-3r). For those receiving the same bequest, see above fn. 50. 58   The addressee is the English merchant William Aldrich. 59  One of these gentlemen was Robert (Robin) Bailey, a legatee in Humfrey’s will, who received the same bequest as Lello (see above fn. 50). Lello also left a bequest of twenty pounds to “Mr Robert Baily” in his will dated 7 January 1629 (NA PROB 11/157/45). Dallam also mentions “Baylye of Saulsburie” among a party of sixteen passengers (“including Jentlmen that wente to sarve the Imbassader”) that left the Hector becalmed in the Dardanelles (Hellespont) to travel in smaller boats and by land, in order to reach Constantinople on the outbound journey (Bent 1893, 51). It is entirely possible that Coningsby had also been a passenger on the Hector for the outbound journey to Constantinople; perhaps the “13 monethes aboade there,” mentioned in the tomb inscription, refers to the time it took to make the round trip. It is a good approximation of the time period taken for the embassy: the Hector departed Feb 1599 and returned in April 1600.

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Baylie of Salsburie, Mr. Paule Pinder, Mr. Wyllyam Alderidg, Mr. Jonas Aldridge, and Mr. Thomas Glover.

Lello also mentions in his report to Robert Cecil (dated 21 October 1599) that “order was sent by the Gr[and] S[ignio]r that before our entrance unto him bothe I and my gentlemenn should be clothed in vests out of his Tresorie” (quoted: Bent 1893, xiv). 60 This concurs with the statement in Coningby’s tomb inscription that the “emperovr of tvrkes, who to doe him honor, gave him a tvrkysh gowne of cloth of govld” (Appendix 3: E). Dallam does not refer to Coningsby again until the return journey where, as members of a traveling party of eight Englishmen, they were in close company for many months. There must have been some delay (perhaps “the first wind” Sanderson mentions in his letter was late coming) as Dallam writes that on the “28 of November, beinge Weddensdaye, at 4 acloke in the after nowne, we departed from the cittie of Constantinople and Gallata in a Turkishe ship caled Carmesale” (Bent 1893, 82). Dallam reports that they “came to the tow Castles caled Sestoes and Abidose, wheare som of our company wente ashore.” On the first of December they visited “the ruins of Troy,” and on the mainland of Greece they passed through “Thessalonica,” “the plains of Arcadia,” and “the iland Zante” (Bent, 82–83, 87–88). All these places are mentioned in Coningsby’s tomb inscription. Not long after his return in April 1600, Coningsby began translating a contemporary Italian tract, L’Ottomano by Lazaro Soranzo (Ferrara, 1599), detailing politically important information about the contemporary military and social power structures of the Ottoman Empire under the rule of Mehmed III. The autograph manuscript (BL, Cotton MS Nero B. XI, fols. 1–16) translates the first book of L’Ottomano and concludes abruptly with a line not in L’Ottomano: “His maner of enterteining forreine Ambassadors is thus.” Foster first suggested that the sixteen-folio manuscript was written by Coningsby: Several references to Humphrey Conisby (or Coningsby) will be found in Dallam’s narrative of the return journey . . . In Brit. Mus. MS. Nero B xi (ff. 1–16) is an interesting account of the state of Turkey, unsigned and undated; but from the initials H. C. at the commencement and from internal evidence, I conclude that its author was Conisby, and that it was written upon his return in 1600 (1931, 185).

Foster based this assumption on the initials “H. C.” at the head of the manuscript tract and the internal references to events occurring on the journey from Constantinople to England that tally with Dallam’s account: “last yere, miself retorning from Constantinople in the Company of others” (BL, Cotton MS Nero 60   THis was Lello’s (long-awaited) first public audience with the sultan as resident ambassador, which took place 14 September 1599 (Bell 1990, 284).

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B. XI, fol. 4r). Several references to the Siege of Strigonium, where Coningsby served as a gentleman volunteer, in Cotton further support this supposition. 61 The italic hand in the Cotton manuscript does not match Coningby’s italic hand in Hy, but considering the time-lag (Hy was copied no later than 1586 and Cotton in 1600) and the evidence in Hy that Coningsby could employ two distinct italic scripts, each with a different set of letter forms, I believe that the hand belongs to him. Coningsby may have been influenced by continental models of handwriting during his time as a student at Padua University and developed the script seen in Cotton. L’Ottomano was subsequently translated by Abraham Hartwell and published in 1603 as The Ottoman of Lazaro Soranzo. Coningsby’s text frequently digresses from Soranzo, amplifying the subject matter with his own recently acquired knowledge about the personnel and customs of the Ottoman court. In these digressions from Soranzo’s text Coningsby shows himself a studied observer of places and people, noting details that might be politically useful to others. This is the kind of purposeful travel that Philip Sidney advised his brother Robert to pursue before embarking on his European tour in 1578, telling him that “you purpose, being a Gentleman borne, to furnish your self with the knowledge of such things as may bee serviceable for your Country” (Profitable Instructions for Travellers, 1633, sigs. F7v-8r).

Final Journeys A third trip to Spain, mentioned in the tomb inscription, may have been afforded in 1605 at the time of the English peace embassy led by Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, but there is no evidence to substantiate this. 62 Humfrey set off on his last journey bound for Venice on 10 October 1610 and “was never after seene by any of his aqvaintance on this side, the seas, or beyond, nor any certainty knowne of his death, wher, when, or how.” 63 After waiting seven years, the legal minimum for assuming death of “persons beyond sea or   For example, Coningsby mentions “that at the Siege of Strigonia, most thinges were as chepe, or cheper, in the Camp, then the same were at Vienna; a plentifull City in a peaceable & most yelding contrey” (BL, Cotton MS Nero B. XI, fol. 8v). The monument inscription provides the information that Coningsby served “(as a volvntary gentillman) at the seedge of strigonivm, in hvngary against the tvrkes”; see Appendix 3: E. 62   “Most of the English gentry who travelled [to Spain] without any specific purpose in mind probably came as members of an embassy . . . Pride of place must certainly be given to the Earl of Nottingham and his followers, for it seems unlikely that a deputation of representative Englishmen reappeared on such a scale in Spain in the course of the century, the occasion of Prince Charles’ residence at Madrid in 1623 excepted” (Stoye 1989, 236). 63   From the Coningsby monument (see Appendix 3: E). 61

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absenting themselves upon whose live Estates do depend,” his will was proved. 64 A substantial sum was put aside for his burial and tomb: “I will that Five hundred markes be bestowed vpon my funeralls and Tombe with an inscription of my condicion, lyfe & death,” which his stepsister Joyce Jeffreys fully accomplished “thovgh short of his perfections” in 1624. 65 I suggest later that Joyce shared her brother’s scholarly and literary mindset, and, apart from the detailed inscription of her brother’s “condition, life, and death,” she included in the cartouches surrounding the tomb more than the usual number of funeral verses, including a poem written by her brother (see Appendix 3: F). In his indefatigable desire to see “the most eminent places, and persons” Coningsby, like another inveterate traveler Fynes Moryson, an exact contemporary, was prepared to endure the hardships of early modern travel, but from the entries in Dallam’s diary and passages in the Cotton manuscript, we gain glimpses of his enthusiasm for the natural world and his romanticizing of the topography of the places he visited as the sites of historical and fictional events from classical literature. His family members were followers of the Earl of Leicester, part of the Dudley power-base in the Welsh borders and West Midlands established over generations of service and kinship ties. Like Sidney, he had attended the Protestant college of Christ Church and was desperate for some military service in a worthy cause. His religious zeal is also suggested from the episode related by Dallam where he was “like to have cutt of a Jew’s heade, who railed againste our Saviour” (Bent 1893, 86). Social status was also important to Coningsby, and with his own claims to gentility secure, he was concerned to defend these exclusive rights against abuses such as those seen in the pretensions of the upstart actors (see the commentary to 94).

Other People Associated with Hy Robert Allott There are six poems in the hand of Robert Allott: four of these are claimed by Allott (150 and 153 are signed “R Allott,” 151 “R A,” and 155 “Robert Allott”); another is marked by Allott as “Incerti Authoris” (152) and a distich (154) is unsigned. This is almost certainly the Robert Allott (Allatte) of Lincolnshire, who matriculated from Corpus Christi, Oxford in 1581, aged eighteen (Foster 1891–92, 1:19), and was admitted to the Inner Temple, 6 November 1584, from

  The act is quoted from Spicksley (2012, 11 fn. 48).   Quoted from Coningsby’s will dated 10 November 1608 (see Appendix 4), and the Coningsby monument (see Appendix 3: E). 64 65

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Clement’s Inn, giving his home as Driby, Lincolnshire. 66 Allott of Driby is also identified as the literary compiler and editor of Wits Theatre (1599) and Englands Parnassus (1600). 67 Eccles suggests that his father was Robert Allot of Louth, Lincolnshire a bencher at the Inner Temple from 1556 to 1564, and traces Allott of Driby (aged thirty-four, residing in St. Martin’s in the Fields, London) giving evidence in a case held in the Court of Chancery on 18 August 1598 (1982, 6–7). The burial record at St. Anne, Blackfriars, dated 7 November 1603 for “Robert Allat” who died of the plague must also refer to the same individual (7). A few dedicatory epistles written by Allott survive in his own published compilation of verse extracts, Englands Parnassus, one “To the Reader,” and two, the latter specially printed (STC [2nd ed.] 379) “To the right worshipfull, Syr Thomas Mounson, Knight” and “To the Worshipfull Maister Iohn Gybson”; and commendatory verses that he contributed to the published works of members of his circle of literary friends. Allott wrote two dedicatory poems for Gervase Markham’s Deuoreux, 1597: “In praise of the worke” and “To my most affectionate friend, Ieruis Markham”; 68 and two Latin commendatory verses: “Ad Christopherum Middletonum Hexastichon” for Christopher Middleton’s The Legend of Humphrey Duke of Glocester, 1600 (signed “Rob: Allott”) 69 and “In Politeuphuian Decastichon,” for Nicholas Ling’s Politeuphuia, Wits Common Wealth, 1597 (Williams 1962, 1, 4). The four poems by Allott in Hy are his earliest surviving compositions and display his knowledge of differing poetic forms ​—​ rhyme royal (155), blank verse (150), and fourteeners (153) ​—​ and reveal an interest in currently fashionable rhetorical devices such as correlative verse (150) and a willingness to experiment with novel stanzaic patterns by varying line lengths (151). Allott copied his verse 66   Inner Temple Admissions Database: “Robert Allott, gentleman.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.innertemplearchives.org.uk/detail.asp?id=10743. 67   See, Rollins 1935: 2, 49 fn. 1; Eccles 1982; ODNB: Allott. 68   Williams (1937, 402–3) traces twenty-four quotations from Deuoreux in Englands Parnassus. 69   John Weever and Michael Drayton also contributed poems to The Legend of Humphrey Duke of Glocester; the author is identified as the Christopher Middleton (d. 1628), who matriculated as a sizar of St John’s College, Cambridge, in Easter term 1587 (ODNB: Middleton). Honigmann (1987) linked another Robert Allott who matriculated as sizar from St John’s College ca. 1592 to the literary circle around Weever and Middleton; however, as Marotti (ODNB: Allott) points out there is no evidence that the Cambridge Allott who became “a celebrated physician” and died in Cambridge in 1642 ever resided in London. It is more likely that the literary circle including Allott of Driby, Middleton, Markham, and Weever formed in London some time during the latter half of the 1590s. Weever, admitted as a sizar to Queens’ College, Cambridge 30 April 1594 (ODNB) probably became associated with this group when he moved to London in 1598, contributing a dedicatory verse to Middleton’s The Legend in 1600 and writing the epigram “Ad Ro: Allot, & Chr. Middleton” (see commentary to 153) printed in 1599.

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at the very end of the manuscript sometime during the mid-1580s when Coningsby was associating with other Inns of Court students and intercepting the work of professional poets residing close to the Inns. The Inner Temple was allied to Gray’s Inn, the Inn to which I suggest Coningsby belonged, and during this time Allott may also have become acquainted with Thomas Monson, already mentioned as the dedicatee of Englands Parnassus, who was a member of Gray’s Inn from 24 January 1583 and like Allott came from Lincolnshire and had been a student at Oxford University.

St Loe Kniveton There are seven entries in the hand of St Loe Kniveton (ii, iv, vi, vii, xi, xii, and 103a-b): most of these are on the cover leaf and exhibit his erudition and hint at eclectic interests that were fully realized in his later life as one of a band of important antiquaries including William Camden and George Buck. Buck called him our “greatest reader of records” and Camden paid tribute to him in his Britain (1637): “to whose judicious and studious diligence I am deeply endebted” (sig. 2Z5r). 70 St Loe (Lo) Kniveton was the son of Thomas Kniveton of Mercaston, Derbyshire (d. 1591) and Jane, daughter of Ralph Leche of Chatsworth, Derbyshire (ca. 1533–ca. 1604), half-sister and close friend of Bess of Hardwick. Jane was employed as a lady-in-waiting to Bess from 1548 when she was no older than fifteen, and, in later years, took charge of household affairs when Bess was in London (Lovell 2005, 59; Durant 1999, 26, 53). Thomas Kniveton owed his election as knight of the shire for Derbyshire (ca. 1559–61) to Bess’ influence. 71 The close relationship between Bess and the Knivetons also explains the Christian name “St Loe,” which may have been chosen in memory of Bess’ third husband William St Loe (they were married from August 1559 till 1565). 72 There is no record of Kniveton’s earlier education, but he followed his cousins Henry and William Cavendish in attending Gray’s Inn (admitted 29 May 1584) and, like Coningsby, spent time at the University of Padua, matriculating 23 July 1593 (Woolfson 1998, 250). Kniveton would have been one or two years older than Coningsby, and they probably become acquainted through a mutual interest in poetry and a distant family connection (see iv). Kniveton may have met fellow antiquarian George Buck during his early Inns period; in 1582, as a student of   Buck’s tribute is cited in Bald 1935, 4.   History of Parliament Online: “Kniveton, Thomas (d. 1591), of Mercaston, Derbys.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/ member/kniveton-thomas-1591. 72   Jane and Thomas Kniveton had three sons of whom St Loe was the third son after William the eldest and heir (born ca. 1560) and George who died on a sea crossing to Ireland (Collins 1720, 1:217). This fits an estimated birth date for St Loe of ca. 1565, the year in which Bess’ husband, William St Loe, died. 70

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Thavies Inn, Buck contributed a commendatory poem to Thomas Watson’s Hekatompathia. Coningsby must also have come into contact with Watson’s social circle as he was able to obtain manuscript versions of poems printed in this volume (145–48). Kniveton’s interest in poetry is also seen from an autograph manuscript (BL, Harl. MS 4286), begun as a poetry collection: the first sixteen folios are devoted to verse with one poem to each folio, written on one side only. The volume was subsequently used for genealogical writing, and all the blank versos and remaining blank leaves were filled (see commentary to 3). 73

Joyce Jeffreys Joyce’s hand is identified in two entries on the last leaf of the anthology (156–57). As already mentioned, the half-siblings were close, and Humfrey named Joyce as his executor and charged her with the responsibility of erecting his monument. Joyce also shared her brother’s scholarly and literary mindset. Her autograph notebook of household accounts (BL, Egerton MS 3054) records purchases of a book of poems on the death of Ben Jonson, works on classical law and histories (Herodotus, Justinian, and Quintus Curtius), and tracts on contemporary events (news and religious controversies). 74 Joyce, like her half-brother, was close to the Coningsbys of Hampton Court and at one time “perpetual Companyon to Dame Phillippa [née Fitzwilliam]” (quoted from the antiquarian notebooks of Joyce’s great-nephew, Henry Jeffreys, in Spicksley 2012, 11). Sir Thomas also named Joyce as executor in his will dated 1616: “my modest Cosen Joyce Jeffereis the rather for the later proofe of her constand perseveracon in manifesting the truth of like kynd, reposed in her by my Cosen her brother [i.e., Humfrey]” (NA PROB 11/148/530). 75 The poet and writing master John Davies of Hereford evidently made her acquaintance at Hampton Court, where he was employed to give writing lessons to Sir Thomas’ children, and addressed one of his more successful epigrams “To myne euer-approued deere friend, Mris. Ioyce Iefferys” in The Scourge of Folly (1611, sig. S3r) 76:

73   According to Wagner (1938, 118), half of the poems contained in it are lyrics that also appeared in the 1600 printed miscellany Englands Helicon. 74   Joyce has an entry in ODNB on the basis of this important financial diary; see “Joyce Jefferies (ca. 1570–1650), moneylender and diarist.” 75  This was changed in a later codicil when his son and heir, FitzWilliam, had reached his majority. 76   Other poems in the collection are addressed “To the right well-accomplisht Knight, r S . Thomas Coningesby” (sig. E5v) and “To my most deere and sincerely-beloued-worthy Pupills, the Lady Tracy, and the Lady Baskeruile, Daughters to the worthy Knight Sr. Thomas Coningesby” (sig. S1v). Davies also addressed a poem to another of his pupils, a nephew to Sir Thomas: “To mine approoued kinde frend and scholler, Humfrey Boughton Esquire,

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Thyne Head and Heart, makes my Head, Hart, and Hand   To draw thee in, into this list or Band Of those whome most I honor; sith thou art In Head as witty, as most kinde in Heart:   Then, though I (breefly) thus, do end with thee,   Thyne Name (perhapps) may endlesse bee by mee.

The Poets and Scribal Communities Edward Dyer and Philip Sidney Hy is the largest single contemporary collection of Dyer’s poetry. 77 Ten poems in the anthology are attributed to Dyer; eight of these attributions are confirmed elsewhere, usually more than once (1, 2, 10–12, 15, 41, and 127), and the remaining two (9 and 88) depend solely on the authority of Hy for being Dyer’s. 78 The attribution to “possible” Dyer poem 88 was added at a later date and has the only questionable attribution to Dyer in Hy. Poem 9 is followed by three “certain” Dyer poems that probably derived from a single source and, judging by the lack of corruption in these texts, was taken from someone in the author’s immediate circle. Coningsby’s ability to obtain copies of Dyer’s verse at different points in Hy ​—​ from the first few folios (seven out of the first fifteen poems entered into the manuscript are by Dyer) to the latest entry on fol. 69v (127) ​—​  indicates that he was drawing on a variety of sources. The first entry in the anthology of a poem by Sidney (16) is a response to a verse by Dyer (15). The poems were copied as a pair in most of the surviving manuscript witnesses, among groupings of both poets’ work, suggesting that the authors shared the responsibility for releasing the linked poems into manuscript circulation. In Hy, the companion poems appear in a section of the manuscript (fol. 25r-v) where Dyer’s work predominates (twenty-one of the first twenty-five folios contain lines by Dyer) and were probably derived from a source with access to poems by Dyer rather than Sidney. 79 one of her Maiesties gent. Pensioners” (“Thou lou’st me well, with ill I taught thee not”; sig. K3v). Boughton was also a witness to Humfrey’s will dated 1608 (see Appendix 4). 77   Ra is a close second with eight poems by Dyer all found in Hy (1, 2, 9, 11, 12, 15, 41, and 127). Sargent did not know about the Dyer poems in Hy (first identified in Wagner 1935) and concluded that Ra held “the largest corpus of Dyer’s poetry” (1935, 202). Seven of Ra’s Dyer poems are signed “Mr. Dier” (9 is assigned to “W. R.”). 78   Dyer’s most recent editor sets the complete canon at twelve “certain” poems and four “possible” (May 1991, 288). Hy contains eight of the canonical (1, 2, 10–12, 15, 41, and 127) and two of the texts considered as “possibly by Dyer” (9 and 88). 79   The placing of the companion poems in Fo also indicates a source where poems by Dyer rather than Sidney were available: a unique poem attributed to “Dier” (“Wher

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The work of these two writers also coincides much later in Hy, where a canonical poem of Dyer’s (127) is directly followed by Sidney’s CS 23. Marotti’s point that the works of authors belonging to the same social circles often kept company in single manuscript volumes is pertinent here. 80 In all there are twelve poems in the anthology by or attributed to Philip Sidney: four are from the Old Arcadia (OA 51: 53, OA 60: 115, OA 45: 123, and OA 3: 144), five from the Certain Sonnets (CS 16: 16, CS 30: 44, CS 19: 54, CS 3: 55, and CS 23: 128), and one poem is possibly by Sidney (PP 2: 116). Two poems (AT 21: 51 and AT 19: 83), initially considered by Ringler as wrongly attributed to Sidney, were subsequently reclassified by him as possibly Sidney’s based the evidence in Ot (see the head-note to 51). One other short poem illustrating a Latin motto may also be Sidney’s by virtue of its placement in the anthology among his certain work and its theme associated with the poet elsewhere (see the commentary to 52). Eight of these poems were identified as Sidney’s by the compiler: all except one (AT 19) at the time of transcription. On one occasion a poem that is certainly by Gorges (110) was assigned retrospectively to Sidney. For three of the canonical poems and one possibly by Sidney Coningsby failed to identify the author. Two of these unattributed Sidney poems appear consecutively in the anthology (OA 60: 115 and PP 2: 116); both illustrate correlative or reporting verse, a form in which Sidney was briefly interested. A following poem (117) is another instance of correlative verse, and it is likely that these three poems were derived from a single source more interested in this fashionable literary device than the question of authorship. 81 When Coningsby re-visited the attribution to 117 he credibly assigned authorship to Ralegh (the external evidence points to Ralegh’s cousin Gorges), whereas the two Sidney poems using the same device remained unattributed, suggesting that he could not identify the author either at the time of transcription or at a later date when he was reviewing his attribution decisions. Two more canonical Sidney poems are unattributed: 123 is followed by a poem by Breton and 128 follows on from a poem also initially unattributed one woulde be ther not to be”) was copied on the verso of the leaf containing Dyer’s poem before the scribe copied Sidney’s answer poem. The remaining copies are found in a manuscript booklet of predominantly Sidney poems (Ot) and in a poetic miscellany (Ra) in a mixed Sidney/Dyer grouping (four poems by Dyer come before and three poems by Sidney follow). 80   See, for example, his comment in relation to the circulation of Donne’s poetry: “we discover an interesting ​—​ though, in light of the usual processes of manuscript transmission, an unsurprising ​—​ fact: that Donne’s work is frequently found in the company of that of other poets, many of whom were socially connected with him in some way” (1986, 17). 81   This habit of grouping poems by genre or theme is exhibited in Ra where Hy poems 122 and 126 are found together in a grouping of “definition of love” poems, and Hy’s 55 and 124, both concerning “the elements,” are also brought together.

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but retrospectively assigned to “Dyer.” These last two unattributed Sidney poems are found in the latter part of the collection in a block of unattributed courtier verse that runs from 113 to 130, where retrospective attributions to “Dier” and “Raley” are the only exceptions. Taking into account our scribe’s attempt to assign authors to texts retrospectively and his evident interest in recording the names of courtier poets, it is likely that he did not purposely omit the attributions to Sidney. The copies of Sidney’s poems obtained at a later stage in the life of the anthology therefore derived from a source further away from the author’s immediate circle from those copied earlier in the manuscript. A run of poems attributed to Sidney in the early section of the manuscript is worth considering more closely for what it tells us about how his poems were transmitted. The grouping (51–55) is a mix of Certain Sonnets, Old and New Arcadia poems, a song that formed part of a royal entertainment, and the verse (already mentioned) illustrating a motto associated with Sidney and his close circle. The grouping indicates that the source for this run of Sidney poems derived from a miscellaneous collection of the poet’s work, which included poems that were incorporated into the prose romance or gathered together as the collection known as the Certain Sonnets, as well as a few pieces that were rejected or escaped inclusion in the poet’s later collected works. The texts of the three Certain Sonnets in the grouping (51: CS 30, 54: CS 19, and 55: CS 3) share conjunctive errors with other verse miscellanies, confirming Ringler’s observation that these copies “descend through two or more intermediaries from a corrupt common ancestor, perhaps a sheaf of 13 or more Certain Sonnets on separate sheets of paper which Sidney allowed to be copied by one of his friends who then further circulated them” (1962, 425). The poem in this grouping from the Old Arcadia (53), like the other three OA poems in the anthology, is not very specific to the prose romance nor does the compiler link the poems to this work by headings or marginal annotation. Robertson’s comment that “some of the poems included in the Old Arcadia may well have been written before the story took shape” is pertinent here (1973, xvii–xviii). Hy’s copy of OA 60 (115) has a gender alteration: the prose romance demands that the speaker is female (the lines are given to Philoclea), whereas Hy’s version has a male speaker and is a tentative indication that the texts of OA poems in Hy pre-date the prose romance and preserve earlier readings that were revised for the new context in the larger work. The last poem in the grouping under discussion (55) illustrates this fluidity in Sidney’s manuscript work: the poem appears as CS 3, but when Sidney revised the Old Arcadia he selected this poem as a song to be sung to the imprisoned Philoclea.

Spenser, Ralegh, and Gorges Spenser’s occasional verse did not circulate much in manuscript. Amoretti 8 (26) is a rare example: the only sonnet from the published series for which there is evidence of sustained circulation in manuscript, and it is further marked off from

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the rest of the sonnet sequence by its differing metrical pattern (English sonnet form). Cummings considers that the “places where Amoretti viii appears in the manuscripts may be instructive,” concluding that “its appearances are Courtly, and more often than not, Sidneian (1964, 134–35).” Greville’s Caelica 3 has the same opening as Amoretti 8, dating the composition towards the end of the 1570s at a time when Spenser was known to be in contact with Sidney and Dyer. 82 This might be a reasonable association for Hy, with its privileged access to texts from those poets’ immediate circle, but the placing of Spenser’s poem in the anthology in close proximity to Ralegh and Gorges suggest that his poem circulated in conjunction with these poets’ work. The extract from Amoretti 8 is one of a trio of extracts, including a couplet from a poem by Ralegh, all unattributed and identically signed with a row of “finis” following on from two poems by Gorges. 83 There are four poems by Ralegh in Hy (47, 49, 50, and 113); the first three appear in a group of poems attributed to Ralegh and the last is unattributed. For two more poems attributed to Ralegh in the anthology Gorges has a better claim since they both appear in the manuscript of his own collected poems (48 and 117). One final entry in the anthology belongs to Ralegh: the final couplet from 50 copied in the trio of unattributed extracts already mentioned (25). The two secure attributions are found in a group of four poems attributed to Ralegh (47–50) that were transcribed in a single copying stint (suggested from the similarity of ink, script, and presentation) and signed identically with the letters “RA.” In his survey of poems attributed to Ralegh in manuscript, Rudick concludes that Hy “is the earliest known to have organized a group of poems ascribed to Ralegh” (1999, xxxv). Two of the attributions in this grouping are supported by external evidence (49 and 50): one is a unique text and thus the sole source for the identification of Ralegh as author (47), and another is (48) is assigned erroneously to Ralegh’s first cousin Gorges. The few signs of corruption in the two certain Ralegh poems in the group indicate a source close to Ralegh’s immediate circle. The poem by Gorges in this group strengthens this view; as Rudick puts it: “the origin of attributions of Gorges’ poems to Ralegh can be explained by Ralegh’s having been a source of poems by himself and Gorges, hence the attachment of Ralegh’s name to his cousin’s work” (xxvi). 82   Spenser wrote in a letter dated 15 October 1579 that “they [i.e., Sidney and Dyer] have me, I thanke them, in some use of familiarity” (Three Proper, and wittie, Familiar Letters, 1580, sig. G3v). Bullough dates the association slightly earlier: “Spenser’s connection with the Sidney circle began about 1578” (1938, 1:38). 83   Hadfield dates the association between Spenser and Gorges earlier than has been previously suggested: “Spenser had a number of obvious connections with the Gorges family, familial and geographical, which suggest that there were probably links between the families earlier than any possible friendship between Spenser and Ralegh” (2012, 283). Spenser was familiar with Gorges’ poetry in manuscript, echoing a line from 110 (see 12n.) in the Daphnaïda (1591), the elegy he wrote for Douglas Howard, Gorges’ wife.

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There are four poems by Gorges in the anthology (23, 48, 110, and 117); only one of these (23) is attributed. At the time when the copy with the authoritative attribution to Gorges was made, the compiler was able to choose between two poems by Gorges. Just before poem 23 was transcribed he began copying from another poem by Gorges but after four lines deleted the text. The abandoned text was copied in full later in the manuscript as Ralegh’s in the grouping of that poet’s work already mentioned (48). Apart from variations in orthography, the four lines of the partial text of Gorges’ poem present no variants from the later copy transcribed in full, and this suggests that the same copy-text was used on both occasions. The compiler may have been collecting poems for a Ralegh group and withheld 22 (considering it a Ralegh poem) for the later transcription in a single author grouping. Two of the unattributed Gorges poems were retrospectively attributed to other authors: 83 was given to Sidney and 117 more credibly to Gorges’ first cousin Ralegh. The mixing up of the work of these last two poets has already been mentioned, but the evidence elsewhere reveals that on at least one more occasion a copyist assigned a poem by Gorges to Sidney (see commentary to 110). Coningsby thus obtained texts of poems by Gorges from different sources: sometimes these were close to Gorges’ immediate circle and carried authoritative attributions or were among poems circulated by his cousin Ralegh; but on at least one occasion the source was further removed from the poet’s circle, and our scribe could not identify the author either at the time of transcription or at a later date when reviewing the attributions in the manuscript.

The Earl of Oxford and his Client-Poets Nine poems are wholly or in part by the Earl of Oxford (3, 37, 43, 87, 90, 109, 118, 129, and 142). Among these, five have been established as canonical: 3, 43, 90, 118, and 129 and four possibly by Oxford: 37, 87, 109, and 142 (May 1980). Hy identifies three of the canonical poems as Oxford’s (3, 43, and 90) and for one of these is the only source to do so (90). Two of the canonical poems are unattributed (118 and 129) and appear in the block of unattributed courtier verse already mentioned. I argued earlier that Coningsby attempted to assign authors retrospectively to this section, and, taking into account his evident interest in recording the names of courtier poets, it is likely that he did not purposely omit the attributions. The latter poem (129) is signed with a generic marker “Ball” (i.e., a ballet), indicating a musical setting, which I discuss below. Possible Oxford poem 142 is also marked as a ballet (signed “Ball”). Among the other poems possibly by Oxford, 37 was initially signed with the compiler’s own initials (a habit discussed below) but later deleted; 109 was initially unattributed, but a retrospective subscription follows a tradition in the contemporary manuscript culture of associating this poem with Oxford’s mistress Anne Vavasour. Possible Oxford poem 87 is unique to Hy and despite the attribution to Oxford contains a substantial section from a poem by Thomas Churchyard. It illustrates not only

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a modus operandi of verse composition in manuscript culture, where the opening of a poem is used as the catalyst for a new composition, but also reveals the extent to which Oxford collaborated with his client poets. Poem 31 is another example of this practice. Marotti cites other examples “in the system of manuscript transmission, [where] it was normal for lyrics to elicit revisions, corrections, supplements, and answers, for they were part of an ongoing social discourse” (1995, 135). Churchyard may well have sanctioned a playful reworking of his poem by his patron. Another poet-client of Oxford’s, Thomas Watson, was encouraged to print his sonnet cycle, The Hekatompathia, after his patron “had willinglie voutchsafed the acceptance of this worke, and at conuenient leisures fauourablie perused it, being as yet but in written hand” (from the dedication, “To the Right Honorable my very good Lord Edward de Vere, Earle of Oxenford”). It may be no coincidence that Oxford’s poem 3 adapted the same Italian sonnet “Quando nascesti, Amor?” translated by Watson in his Hekatompathia as “When werte thou borne sweet Loue?” Oxford probably also saw Churchyard’s sixty-two-line poem in manuscript. The textual evidence supports this: sixteen lines belonging to Churchyard in 87 share a number of variants with Ra against the copy printed in 1580 in A Pleasaunte Laborinth Called Churchyardes Chance, indicating a distinct manuscript tradition for the poem. John Lyly, another client of Oxford’s, had also seen Watson’s work in manuscript, and I suggest in the commentary that his “What is desire?” (6) is connected to Oxford’s and Watson’s translations, illustrating a chain of influence between these three poets who read each others’ work in manuscript. Coningsby evidently obtained individual poems of Oxford’s from different sources and was not always able to attribute authorship. The quality of texts also varied with some fairly corrupt texts showing signs of a longer period in manuscript transmission. It is also worth noting that there are no groupings of Oxford poems in the anthology comparable to those of Dyer, Sidney, and Ralegh. The circulation of Oxford’s poems at Gray’s Inn is seen from Brian Melbancke’s (“Student in Graies Inne”) familiarity with his work in Philotimus (1583), where he referred to at least three of Oxford’s poems circulating exclusively in manuscript. 84

Nicholas Breton I have identified at least eleven poems in Hy for which there is evidence of Breton’s authorship: 17, 18, 19, 20, 60, 80, 111, 124, 125, 132, and 149. Among these one appears in his acknowledged published work (60); four appear wholly or in part in the collection published as Breton’s in 1591 (Brittons Bowre of Delights): 111, 124, 132, 149; and three are signed “quod N. S.,” which I argue below 84   The caption is taken from the title-page. Melbanke quoted lines from entries 3 and 90 in Hy; for one more borrowing from a poem by Oxford, see Tilley 1930.

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should be “N. B.” (17–19). Poem 20 is headed with the same Latin motto as 19 and appears in a second anthology published as Breton’s by Richard Jones in 1594 (The Arbor of Amorous Devices). 85 Poem 125 follows on from Breton 124 and echoes lines from 18. Poem 80 is headed with a motto associated with Breton’s stepfather George Gascoigne, and according to a scribal annotation, is the opening for possible Breton poem 19. As Beal points out, the canon of Breton’s manuscript verse “remains uncertain.” 86 George Puttenham included him among the “crew of Courtly makers, Noblemen and Gentlemen of her Maiesties owne seruauntes, who haue written excellently well as it would appeare if their doings could be found out” (Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. I1r). But in print as “N. B.” or “N. B. Gent.,” Breton’s public output was already quite considerable by the early 1580s when Hy was compiled. Under the auspices of Richard Jones, Breton’s A Smale Handfull of Fragrant Flowers . . . for a Newe-yeeres gyft, to the . . . Lady Sheffeeld appeared in 1575 and was followed in quick succession by the more ambitious volumes of poetry, A Floorish vpon Fancie . . . by N. B. Gent (The Toyes of an Idle Heade . . . By the same Auctor N. B. has a separate title-page) and The Workes of a Young Wyt . . . Done by N. B. Gentleman, both published in 1577. 87 The Wil of Wit, a series of prose discourses interspersed with verse, also belongs to the early phase of

85   Only the edition of 1597 survives but it was entered in the Stationers’ register on 7 January 1594 and Rollins (1936, xi) presents the evidence for the earlier publication date. Both anthologies published by Jones as Breton’s contain the work of other poets. (In Brittons Bowre Hy’s poem 3 is attributed to the Earl of Oxford, but another probable Oxford poem, 37 in Hy, is unattributed.) Breton had complained in his 1592 publication The Pilgrimage to Paradise that Brittons Bowre contained “many thinges of other mens mingled with few of mine.” He did however claim ownership of an epitaph on Sidney “Amoris Lachrimae” and “one or two other toies, which I know not how he [the printer Richard Jones] vnhappily came by” (“To the Gentlemen studients and Scholers of Oxforde,” sig. ¶3r). But Robertson suggests that the disclaimer “may well have been an artificial quarrel, designed to stimulate sales” and points out that Breton’s “complaint did not deter Richard Jones from publishing The Arbor of Amorous Deuises as “By N. B. Gent.” in 1594 (1952 xxv fn. 1; see also lii where Robertston discusses Rollins’ inconsistent comments about Breton’s share in the Bowre and Arbor and the evidence from McCloskey’s unpublished thesis “Studies in the Works of Nicholas Breton”). 86   CELM “Introductions: Nicholas Breton.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www. celm-ms.org.uk/introductions/BretonNicholas.html. 87   Breton’s stepfather Gascoigne offered a literary New Year’s gift to the queen in the same year, and Robertson suggests he probably encouraged Breton to dedicate his first printed work to Lady Sheffield (Douglas Howard), a gentlewoman of the privy chamber (1952, xxxiv). Robertson (xix-xxi) draws attention to Breton’s early borrowings from Gascoigne.

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Breton’s writing. 88 The run of poems signed “quod N. S.” (17–19), which I argue are Breton’s, bear striking verbal echoes to these early authored writings (noted in the commentary for these entries). Despite Breton’s healthy printed output he held back some of his poems for private circulation as is apparent from the verse attributed to him in manuscript anthologies of the period and the surreptitious (so Breton claimed) printing of some of these “exclusively” manuscript poems in the verse anthology carrying his name, Brittons Bowre of Delights. 89 Breton’s work also shows that he was a consumer of manuscript verse: as early as 1577 he borrowed lines from Dyer’s poem 1; he imitated Oxford’s poems 3 and 129 and Sidney’s 55 (CS 3; Breton’s imitation is 124 in Hy). In “A sweet lullabie” (Arbor of Amorous Devices, sigs. B4r-Cr) Breton copied wholesale the phrasing from a lullaby that circulated at Oxford University (29), and for the elegy he wrote “on the death of a noble Gentlemen” (i.e., Sidney), printed in Brittons Bowre of Delights (sig. C3r), he borrowed the opening “Sorrow come sit thee downe” from a poem that had circulated exclusively in manuscript (31). 90

The “Holborn Set:” the Metropolitan Literary Milieu The metropolitan literary community situated itself close to the Inns of Court where they both sought an audience and patronage for their work. 91 As Izard (1942, 15) puts it: The Holborn of those days was a sparsely settled district consisting of two thin rows of houses extending across open fields and pastures through the district occupied by the Inns of Court. Gray’s Inn was on one side of the road; Lincoln’s Inn, on the other. Everybody must have known nearly everybody else.

Nicholas Breton, whose poems in Hy have already been mentioned, had settled in London by 20 February 1577 when he signed the preface to his Floorish from his “Chamber in Holbourne” and addressed his Workes of a Young Wyt (1577) to the law students: “I wish you well, and perhaps I wyl agaynst the next Terme, prouide you some other newe ware for your olde golde” (“The Letter Dedicatorie, 88   For Richard Madox’s mention of this work in his diary entry for March 1582, see 3 fn. 14. 89   Two collections with poems in common with Hy contain poems by Breton: Ra has thirteen poems by Breton (six attributed), Ha contains five of his poems, and the socalled “Babington Miscellany” (BL, Add. MS 34064) is partly a Breton collection. 90   Though there is no record of his matriculation, Madox, a fellow of All Souls, Oxford and one of the University Proctors, describes Breton as “once of Oriel Colledge” (Donno 1976, 96). 91   Two members of the “Holborn set,” Lyly and Watson, were clients of the Earl of Oxford (see commentary to 3).

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to the Reader,” sig. A2v). George Whetstone (see entries 13, 14, and 81), a friend of Breton’s stepfather George Gascoigne, also resided near the Inns of Court signing The Rocke of Regard “from my lodging in Holborne the 15 of October 1576” and, in an addition to the 1578 edition of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, wrote a poem “at the request of his especiall friend and kinseman, Maister Robert Cudden of Grayes In” (sig. K3r). Thomas Watson (see entries 145–48) had returned to London in 1581, lodging in St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, and his Hekatompathia (“published at the request of certaine Gentlemen his very frendes”) included commendatory poems from Thavies Inn students George Buck and Matthew Roydon (Eccles 1982, 422). 92 In the same publication the commendatory letter (“to the Authour his friend”) and a commendatory poem by two more poets with entries in Hy, John Lyly (see entry 6) and George Peele (see entry 126), also preserve a flavor of Watson’s milieu of former acquaintances from Oxford University, members of the Inns of Court, and London literati. Nicholl identifies a group of writers, many associated with Oxford University, including Lyly, Watson, Peele, Buck, and Roydon, who created a “Holborn set” during the early 1580s, that can be set apart from the later group known as the “university wits” (1984, 84). 93 I have already shown that the compiler was often able to identify the work of courtier poets in Hy; however, his familiarity with professional writers was less secure. Although Coningsby obtained texts of the “Holborn set,” probably while he was a student at one of the Inns of Court, the authorial attributions indicate that he could not always identify their work. Poems by Breton, Whetstone, and Peele appear in Hy, but there are no readily identifiable attributions to those poets. I suggest in the commentary to poems 17–19 that Coningsby misread graphically similar secretary majuscule “B” for “S” in the unmistakable authorial attribution “quod N. S.” in his copy-text because he was not familiar with the poet Nicholas Breton (Breton habitually signed his work “N. B.” or “N. B. Gent” in his early publications). Coningsby made no attempt at any later point to add any attributions to poems by Breton in Hy. A verse from a poem certainly by Whetstone (4) was copied on fol. 20v and signed “Ti So”; a few leaves later in the manuscript (fols. 24v-25r) the same poem was copied in full (14) with a slightly variant attribution (“Ty S”) that clearly refers to the same unidentified individual. The poem preceeding the full version (i.e., entry 13) was also signed “Ti So,” and, though it does not appear in Whetstone’s acknowledged work, the similarity in phrasing and the attribution suggest that it belongs to the same author as the previous entry. The abbreviated name does not fit any known poet active in the period, but Whetstone was fond of pseudonyms: spelled “Whitston” the letters 92   In 1585, Buck entered Middle Temple from New Inn (ODNB: Buck [Buc]). Roydon is “identified as a student at Thavies Inn in an obligation of 6 January 1581” (ODNB: Roydon). 93   For the “university wits,” see O’Callaghan 2006.

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are all contained in his name and may be a moniker of his. Whatever the letters stand for, the subsequent correction to “Incerti Authoris” (made to the full version of poem 14) shows that the compiler could not identify the author. Another poem by Whetstone (81) copied much later in the collection is unattributed. In this instance Coningsby may have chosen not to record the authorship, but the correction of the earlier attribution assigned to a poem by the same author and the revisiting of attributions elsewhere in Hy suggest a more sustained concern with the question of authorship. In both these examples the compiler is unsure about an attribution and attempts to assign an author: in the first example he is unable to recognize the work of a professional poet of his own generation from a set of initials and in the second transcribes an attribution from his copy-text, which under later scrutiny is shown to be uncertain. The collection also contains an unattributed run of poems by another of the “Holborn set” poets, Thomas Watson, indicating the compiler’s close contact to this metropolitan literary milieu, where he either chose to leave the poems unattributed or could not identify individual poets’ work.

Verse Forms and Features The anthology illustrates both the continuing readership for verse displaying the narrow range of stylistic and rhythmic features typical of the mid-century and a “new style” of poetry with its more experimental verse forms, meters, and rhymes. Thomas Nashe, in the preface to Syr P. S. His Astrophel and Stella (1591), claimed that Sidney’s verse heralded in a new golden era: “so ends the Sceane of Idiots and enter Astrophel in pompe.”  94 Among the “Idiots,” Breton, or at least the publication that carried his name, is singled out: “when only they haue been toucht with a leaden pen, that haue seene Pan sitting in his bowr of delights” (sig. A3r ). Though Breton was (as Ringler notes) “one of his [Sidney’s] earliest followers” ​—​  for example, in 124 copying the theme, correlative structure, and feminine rhymes with words ending in “eth” from CS 3 (55 in Hy) ​—​ he struggled to introduce the rhythmically pleasing variations of Sidney’s work (1962, xliii fn. 1). Common mid-century forms with their hallmark, unvarying (or jogtrot) rhythm are well represented in the anthology in the shape of tetrameter cross-rhymed stanzas, pentameter couplets, poulter’s measure, and fourteeners. In the mock encomium “What lenghth of Verse may serve brave Mopsaes grace to showe?” (144) Sidney mimics the long-lined meters, where his muse is “hardly burdned” both in the attempt to show Mopsa’s qualities but also by the oldfashioned poulter’s measure. The majority of stanza forms in Hy are also fairly conservative: the sixain stanza rhyming ababcc and cross-rhymed quatrains are 94   Ringler outlines the innovations in Sidney’s poetry which “set about to combat the monotony of the English verse of his time” (1962, liv).

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the most frequently occurring. The newer forms include the revival of the Surreyan or English sonnet of which there are seven examples in the anthology (15, 16, 26, 116, 121, 123, and 129), but tellingly three of these come from Sidney or members of his circle. 95 Another sonnet varies the English form with a closing couplet in tetrameter (66). Rhetorical devices popular with mid-century poets are also well represented in the anthology and include alliteration (“farewell Hope, a Hellpe to each mans Harme” [113.13] or “lingringe lenghte of lothed lyfe” [4.87]), sometimes drawing on a common pool of alliterative tags (“bitter bale” [6.15] or “griping griefes” [86.1]); anaphora, repetition of the same word or phrase in several successive clauses; isocolon, regular number of words in sentences; and the piling up of figures (copia) all to one point: “till the barren soyle,” “lokes for grapes to grow on bushy thorn,” and “seke in Sand for sweetest oyle” all exemplify the pointlessness of the task in hand (66.1–3). Other aspects of the mid-century style ​—​ the melancholy tone, the fondness for proverbial phrases (“That Beggars must no chusers bee” [74.38] or “So spare to speake doth often spare to speed” [113.6]), and classical allusions ​—​ are likewise illustrated in Hy. 96

Subjects, Themes, and Genres The majority of poems in Hy address the theme of love. Many of these are malevoiced laments drawing on the commonplace Petrarchan conceits, couched in antitheses and oxymora, such as heat-cold (“I burne, althoughe I flame not” 9.22), pleasure-pain (“A man in Ioy; that lyveth still in woe” 11.6; “May on thing yeld me pleasaunt lyef? / And at the same time cause my grief?” 30.17–18), and lifein-death (“my lyfe, the shape of Death must beare” 41.17; “Not Lyfe, but Death . . . / As kils my Hart, but can not stop my Breath” 92.7–9). The mainstays of the courtly love lyric ​—​ notions of service and reward, unswerving faith, constancy, and secrecy (whether from Petrarch or elsewhere) ​—​ are also recurring themes (“Ever, Secrette, Faithfull, Constante, & Kinde” 8.8; “Lady farwell whom I in Sylence serve” 113.1). The lyrics expressing sentiments of courtly love are intermixed with moralizing verse, such as the theme of mutability, that all worldly things are subject to change and alteration (28 and 133). Other poems reject chivalric notions of service and courtesy. For example, poem 27 views “Suyte but a Slave, to servile purpose bond” and “Wordes of Courtesy” as the prelude to a dangerous surrender to passion leading to a state of debilitating weakness: “Make weake the wittes, empairing helth & welthe” (ll. 4, marginal gloss to 6, and 36).  Poem 15 is Dyer’s; 16, 116, and 123 belong to Sidney; 26 is an extract from Spenser’s only poem in the Amoretti sonnet sequence in this form, written at the time he was associating with Sidney and Dyer. 96   For other stylistic features of mid-century verse that remained popular well into the 1580s, see Rollins 1927, lxvi–lxix, and May 2009, 427–32. 95

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Sidney in CS 31 also expresses a wish to “kill desire,” “Fond fancie’s scum” and “Band of all evils,” bought at the expense of a “mangled mind” and “ruine,” and to turn his attention to “higher things.” This negative view of sensual love derives from Platonic theory in which love of individuals (physical beauty) is placed far below the love of an abstract entity, absolute beauty (“So from base Love, a base Delight doth flow” 81.6). Poems by Spenser (26) and Sidney (128) and an anonymous verse (120) that plays on Platonic notions of physical beauty as a shadow of its true form explore these ideas more rigorously, echoing the language in which Neoplatonism was communicated in England via Ficino and Castiglione (Jayne 1985, 22). These themes coincide with anti-feminist views of women who, as the proverbial “woe of man” (“my mystres ys a woman” 1.88), are inconstant (“Nay, fy, (quod Faythe) & then she fled, / I will not rest in Womans head” x.5–6) and duplicitous (“what ever Scuse she frames” 27.23; “wily wightes” 73.41; “A womans Nay, Doth stand for nought” 71.48). Another verse portrays women as sexually voracious: “Fylled they may be satisfide never, / Theyr boxes ar made of insatiable lether” (65). Other bawdy texts are interspersed in Hy. Some of these are later additions in blank space left at the foot of a page, where they often jar with the sentiments of nearby texts; for example, a poem expressing courtly love sentiments of service and self-sacrifice, “Lady farwell whom I in Sylence serve” (113), is followed by the bawdy couplet “The Parson of Stanlake hath stopt vp my Watergap”; and a poem that closes with the emphatic statement “By Life or Death what so betides, / The State of Vertue never slides” (133) is followed by three couplets so obscene in content that they were later almost completely obliterated with black ink in a series of repeated crossings out. Two erotic poems are voiced by female speakers, though almost certainly composed by a male author and directed at the all-male audience of university and Inns of Court students, and employ the language of the courtly love lyric as a vehicle for sexual double entendre (130 and 143). And another poem relates an erotic dream (105). Ian Frederick Moulton argues that this mixing of erotic and non-erotic texts reveals the extent to which “the sexual was integrated with other social spheres in early modern England” (2000, 30). Some of the poetry on the theme of love is more playful in tone. The idea of defining what love is recurs in Hy: two poems have the same opening “What thing is love?” (122, 126), two dialogic poems ask “What is desire” and “When werte thow borne Desyre?” (3, 6), and another poses a series of questions that all answer to the word “Love” (129). A number of poems extolling a woman’s virtues could serve a utilitarian function as models for the kind of verse written for ​—​ and probably intended to be sent to ​—​ a mistress (111, 119, 136, 138, and 140). In these poems the woman is compared favorably to stock figures of classical mythology, for example Cynthia (Diana), Helen of Troy, Psyche. The theme of the Judgment of Paris is employed to suggest (somewhat unrealistically) that the addressee surpasses all

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three goddesses. In one poem the beloved “Iudith” is named in the text (140.4), but any two-syllable name could be substituted, and, likewise, a poem in praise of an unnamed beloved could be recycled for different women. As George Gascoigne puts it: “he might adapt it to hir name, and so make it serue both their turnes, as elder louers haue done before and still do and will do worlde without end” (A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, sig. [2]F3r, 1573). These poems also contain remnants of their original function as love tokens sent to a mistress. The heading to 136 describes the verse as a New Year’s gift, and the text closes with an epistolary-style subscription “Subiect only to yourself ”; 111 is also signed with a subscription suitable for closing a love letter (“Only yowr Servant though not your only Servant”). 97 The four-line envoy appended to poem 32 with the opening “Accept this gyfte though Small” similarly frames the occasion of the poem’s original transmission. Coningsby’s own use of love lyrics is apparent from the subscription to his self-authored love lament “H. C. to C. G.” (92) and in 67 where the names of the characters in the original verse, “Nicander” and “Lucilla,” have been removed. In the latter entry, our scribe adjusted the text to allow the insertion of a two-syllable name (“my dearest [blank space]” changed from “my deare Nicander” and “Thou shalt thy [blank space] find” for “Thou shalt Lucilla find” ll. 10, 16), left as blanks to be filled in when another copy was made, at a later time. Coningsby’s intention to make practical use of this verse is made evident from an adjustment made in line 11: having originally copied “Hath wrought to worke thy wo from thee” he then deleted “wo” and replaced it with his own initial “H” (my italics). 98 Coningsby may have borrowed the idea from George Turbervile who also incorporated initials in place of names into his verse: What time I first displayde   mine eies vpon thy face, (That doth allure eche lookers hart)   I did the P. imbrace. (Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. B4v)

There are also a number of poems that illustrate or incorporate English love posies (32, 36, 38, 76, 77, and 107). These could serve as appropriate verse to accompany a gift sent to a mistress. Coningsby also adopted a posy as a personalized signature and a statement of his own unswerving constancy (see the commentary to ix), a sentiment duplicated in some of the poems copied into Hy, especially those “posy poems” noted above and others that incorporate a lover’s vow to faithfulness (40, 57, and 77). The form had become passé by the 1590s and was a target for Ben Jonson’s satiric treatment of gallants: “Though fancie sleepe, my loue 97   In Whetstone’s Heptameron of Ciuill Discourses, 1582, “Chions Letter to Elisae” is signed “No more his owne” (sig. F4v). 98   May (2012, 182) discusses the use of verse “to serve as practical aids to courtship.”

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is deepe: meaning that though I did not fancie her, yet shee loued mee dearely” (Euery Man in his Humor, 1601, sig. D4r).

Organization and Headings The compiler numbered the poems 1–127 and subsequently added other shorter texts into any remaining blank space left between texts where a new page had been started for a following entry. The miscellaneous pieces on the cover folio also fall outside the numbered sequence, and some of these, including the autograph contributions from friends of the compiler, were probably also added at a late point in the formation of the anthology. The insertions along with the remaining blanks, the different styles of writing and layout, the changes in consistency and color of the ink indicate that Hy grew in an ad hoc fashion over a period of years. There is no obvious organizing principle, but there are pockets of single-author and generic groupings. Two narrative poems by Dyer are on folios 12r-18v, another four by the same author appear consecutively on folios 22r-24r, and Dyer’s “Prometheus when first from heaven high” and Sidney’s answer to it are found together on folio 25r. Two poems by Whetstone (fols. 24v-25r), a trio of poems by Breton (fols. 25v-27r), and five of Sidney’s poems (fols. 37v-39r) appear sequentially. On one occasion the compiler was able to choose from two poems by Gorges (fols. 27v-28r) and later copied four consecutive poems by Ralegh on folios 36r-37v. Towards the end of the anthology there is a run of poems by Thomas Watson. Poems with a correlative structure are grouped on folio 66r, and the long Cambridge libel, beginning on folio 54v and ending on 58v, is immediately followed by another shorter verse libel. Four bank pages occur after folio 29r because (as I suggest in the commentary to 27) the poem was incomplete, or at least the compiler knew of a version with more verses and hoped to obtain a more complete copy at some future time. The majority of poems are unheaded. 99 Of the 150 entries in Hand A only six have descriptive titles in English (27, 57, 91, 93, 94, and 136). Two of these are verse libels: 93 is merely headed “Cambridge Libell,” but 94 has a title covering several lines and provides a wealth of contextual information. Another from the six entries with titles is the compiler-authored piece entitled “Being asked how he lyked, he wrote” (91). That leaves just three poems with descriptive headings: “an vnworthe beloved, to her approved” (57), “A new yeres Gift wyth a golden Ball” (136), and “Himself being sicke, he persuadeth his desire | to dy, discovering the indirect procerninges [sic] | and passages of fonde Love” (27). Apart from these few instances, Coningsby was not interested in recording the circumstances of a poem’s composition or reception. 99   This concurs with May’s conclusion that “titles were employed chiefly by publishing poets, not the compilers of Elizabethan manuscript anthologies of verse” (2009, 430).

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Dating the Anthology Start date: the entry on folio 35r is attributed to “Sir Ph. Syd” and must therefore have been copied after 13 January 1583 when Sidney was knighted. The form of attribution given to four poems by Ralegh entered on folios 36r-37v also helps to estimate the date of copying in this early section of the manuscript. Ralegh was knighted in January 1585, and, though the absence of a title might be an indication of informality, the compiler is more often careful to designate correct titles: for example, Oxford is never without the abbreviated form for lord or earl, and Sidney is more often, but not invariably, titled. In support of this observation, the evidence from external texts suggests that all four poems were in circulation before 1585. If this estimation is correct, then the transcription of poems on folios 36r-37v took place some time after January 1583 but no later than the same month in 1585. Further on in Hy a number of topical poems can be dated to the early to mid1580s. On folio 59r there is a libel written not long after April 1580 attacking a troupe of actors for their disloyalty in changing allegiance from Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, to the Earl of Oxford. Another manuscript witness dates the poem to “Anno/1580/,” and a set of Privy Council minutes concerning the argument was written in April and May of that year. Between folios 60v-62v there are two different English versions of a French political poem relating to events in France in 1585 for which the internal evidence indicates that they must have been topical at the time of transcription. The first version on folio 60v is a literal translation in blank verse with numerous alternative (improved) readings, indicating our scribe’s keen engagment with the text; the second, a few folios later (62v), was obtained from a different source (transcribed in an unidentified secretary hand) and is a version rhyming in tetrameter couplets that circulated more widely. I also note in the commentary for this entry (108) that the copy lacks four lines found in some witnesses, which I argue were added to the poem to update it in the light of new developments in France early in 1586. This suggests, along with the evidence of the currency of these poems from different manuscript sources, that they were transcribed some time in 1585, at a date when the events they relate to were still relevant and topical. One more poem, on folio 63r, closely following on from the poems already mentioned relating to events in France in 1585, was associated in manuscript culture with the high-profile court scandal of the Earl of Oxford’s affair with a maid of honor, Anne Vavasour, which became public in late March 1581. Some indication of the terminus ad quem for the manuscript derives from the nature of texts it does not contain. There are no elegies on Sidney’s death in October 1586, as found in Ra, a manuscript which shares almost a third of its content, and nothing that can be dated beyond 1585. I have established the compiler’s close proximity to the literary milieu centered on the Inns of Court, and it

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is worth noting that the extract from a song belonging to Thomas Campion, who did not appear on the Inns scene till 1586, is found on the final page of the manuscript. 100 None of the writers associated with the Inns during the 1590s is present in Hy, nor does the collection reflect “the vogue for elegies and epigrams that swept through Inns circles in the 1590’s,” which were such popular additions to student verse miscellanies of that period (Finkelpearl 1969, 30). The kind of verse contained in Hy also helps with the dating. The youthful compiler was influenced by current fashions and fads popular among the literati and gallants of the 1580s, for example, in his interest in English love posies, adopting one as a personal signature and subscribing each of his own compositions with a sententious Latin tag. Short-lived genres such as correlative verse and a style of Petrarchan amorous verse that was passé by the early 1590s also help to date the collection. From this evidence it is therefore reasonable to suggest a date in the second half of 1582 for the terminus a quo for the copying of poems into the manuscript, i.e., a little while after Humfrey Coningsby had matriculated at Oxford University where he had the opportunity for making the necessary connections that would enable him to obtain the rich variety of source texts that make up his anthology. A date no later than 1586 for the copying to have been completed is also a reasonable estimation based on the evidence already outlined.

Scribal Habits Authorial and Other Attributions The authorial attributions are often abbreviated to the first two or three letters of a surname or first (or given) name, sometimes combined with a title (abbreviated or otherwise); thus Edward Dyer is denoted by “Dy”; Philip Sidney “Sy,” “Syd,” or “Sir Ph”; Walter Ralegh “Ra”; Arthur Gorges is “Gor”; Queen Elizabeth “Ely” or “El”; and the Earl of Oxford “L[ord] ox.” These truncated names mirror authorial attributions in contemporary verse collections in manuscript and print. 101 There are a few single author runs of poems identically subscribed, 102 but this consistency is not maintained, and, throughout the collection, fuller forms of   Campion entered Gray’s Inn on 27 April 1586 (Foster 1889, 69); for his participation in the revels of 1587–88 and 1594–95, see Finkelpearl 1969, 30. 101   For example, contemporary manuscript miscellanies assign the following abbreviated forms of name for Sidney: “S. P. S.” (Ra), “Ph S.” (Hn), and “P. S.” (Ot). In The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises poems are attributed to “N. B. Gent.” (Nicholas Breton) and “E. O.” (Earl of Oxford); and a poem by Oxford in Brittons Bowre of Delights is subscribed “E of Ox.” 102   Four poems in succession are subscribed “Dy” (9–12), four are similarly attributed to “RA.” (47–50), three poems are signed identically “quod N.S.” (17–19), and in a 100

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name are found in close proximity to the more allusive ones. The more identifiable “Dyer” occurs as frequently as the truncated “Dy,” and despite the use of the familiar “Sy,” the fuller form of name occurs as often, incorporating the full surname and variously truncated first name and title: “P. Sidney,” “Sir Phyll Sydney,” and “S. P. Sidney.” The abbreviated names do not therefore constitute an attempt to disguise the identity of authors in Hy, the “act[s] of name suppression” that Marcy North notices among some transcribers of manuscript verse (2003, 31). In fact, the retrospective amendments show that Coningsby was particularly interested in the question of authorship. On a number of occasions he changed a previous attribution or added a name or a set of initials where there had been none (see entries 28, 37, 41, 58, 67, 83, 85, 110, and 125). In one instance he could not identify the author and replaced an attribution with “Incerti authoris” (14). It is clear from the subscription “yeven [given] H E” (105) that Coningsby considered it worthwhile at least on one occasion to record the source of a copytext, and in many other instances the names ascribed to texts may also refer to individuals who circulated transcripts of verse or allowed copies to be taken from their own manuscript volumes. For example, seven entries in Hy (111–12, 119, 136–37, 140–41) marked with the initials “I. E.” (sometimes “I. Ed.” or “Ioh Ed.”) include the work of at least four different poets: 111 is probably the work of Nicholas Breton, 112 is certainly by Anthony Munday, and 137 and 141 are Latin epigrams by Girolamo Amalteo and Walter Haddon (though the accompanying English translations are likely to have been composed by their copyist John Edwards; see above xxxv–xxxvi). Thus, the ascriptions in Hy not only designate authorship of a poem but can function as a recognition of the provenance of the source document, such as the provider of a single poem or booklet that was circulating among a group of students or the name of the individual whose own manuscript book of poetry served as copy-text.

Entries Subscribed with the Compiler’s Initials The compiler’s initials “H. C.” and abbreviated form of name “H. Con:” occur six times on the cover folio, especially on the verso where they are a prominent feature. On this page, two of the “H. Con:” subscriptions and one “H. C.” are formed in larger letters than the accompanying text and adorned with calligraphic embellishments and flourishes (for example, in x the right bar of the letter “H” has an elaborate curved ascender and the final letter of “Con” is finished with a decorative swirl). This habit is extended to the main sequence of poems, where fifteen more entries are signed with the initials “H. C.” and one with “H. Con:,” though on only two occasions are the letters treated to the kind of calligroup of poems by Sidney the first and last are signed “Sir P. Sy” and the two in between “Syd” (51, 55, 53–54).

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graphic embellishment seen on folio 11v (I discuss the significance of this below). The practice seems partly motivated by a proprietorial impulse to lay claim to texts, but there may be other reasons. On the cover leaf Coningsby added his initials to two entries in another hand: a motto reminding him of a family connection (iv) and a verse describing the sanguine temperament, to which Coningsby ascribed “My natiuytyee” (xi). In these examples the compiler’s initials seem to point to a personal connection or registering of some kind of agreement with the sentiment of the lines. If we look more closely at the poems signed by Coningsby, it is clear that where external copies survive Hy is not the best text. 103 Another observation is that some of the unique texts contain errors. 104 Significantly, authors can be found for a few of the compiler-signed entries. This evidence seems to rule out in most of the compiler-signed entries any suggestion that the author and copyist are one and the same. There are, however, three entries where, I suggest, the compiler’s signature does represent a claim to authorship. A couplet on the cover leaf (ix) is adapted from two lines found in a 67-line poem by Edward Dyer transcribed on folios 69v–70r. Coningsby quoted verbatim Dyer’s line about “youth” being consumed or wracked with worry and sorrow, to which he added a line of his own to express the idea of missed opportunities in love that may have had personal resonance. His creative input in both choice of lines from Dyer’s long lyric and the (almost) original second line meant that he could claim the piece as his own, subscribing “H. Con:” and a personal motto. Two more entries (91 and 92; see fig. 13 below) stand out in the collection both for their mise-en-page, i.e., copied in the same style of decorative script and assigned descriptive headings, Latin mottoes, and personalized subscriptions, and their similar style of drawing heavily on lines from lyrics in Hy. In the first of these, Coningsby qualifies his initials with “of,” but what follows has been overwritten with swirls and other letter shapes making it impossible to decipher the original text. The signature attached to the second of the pair indicates that the poem was meant as an amatory exchange: it is 103   Nine poems signed by Coningsby are found elsewhere, all in better copies (x, xi, 33, 39, 40, 81, 83, 85, and 102); for example, x is a corrupt text of a poem for which three superior manuscript copies survive and Ha has a better copy of 102. The attributions to six of these poems were later deleted or assigned authors: 83 to Sidney and 85 to Elizabeth. Entry 81 can also be confidently attributed to Whetstone and xi belongs to Mediolano. 104   Twelve entries signed by Coningsby are unique (iii, iv, viii, ix, 45–46, 66, 74, 79–80, 91–92). Three of these are on the cover leaf: iii is a piece of proverbial wisdom popularly expressed in contemporary works, iv is the Cavendish motto just mentioned, and viii is a tag. Of the remainder none have certain authors, but the texts are less than perfect; for example, 45 has missing a half-line, 66 has a missing word which creates a metrical anomaly, and 74 an error in “tho” for “so” (l. 14).

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Figure 13. Left.

addressed “to C. G.” and signed with the compiler’s personal motto. The level of creativity in the presentation of compiler verse puts into perspective the more conservative approach to copying the verse of other writers. It seems that Coningsby was not happy to play fast and loose with the presentation of others’ work, although he certainly borrowed a few phrases or ideas for his own verse.

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Figure 13. Right.

Entries Identified as Ballets Eight entries in Hy are marked as ballets (ballads): 4 and 28 have “ballet” written in the margin (4 is also subscribed “Balle” following an authorial attribution); 78 is headed “ballet”; and 58, 86, 129, 139, and 142 are subscribed with the

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abbreviated form of the term “Balle” or “Ball.” Stevens discusses the meaning and use of the term “balet,” a spelling variant of “ballad” or “ballade,” in the early Tudor period, which he describes as both “courtly and connected with music” (1961, 121). 105 Puttenham describes “ballads” as sung poems with musical accompaniment “to be song [sic] with the voice, and to the harpe, lute, or citheron & such other musical, instruments” (The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. E2v). All the entries marked as ballads in Hy are connected with music: four of the texts (4, 28, 78, and 86) appear in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises (1576), a collection whose contents, so the printer boasted in his dedicatory Epistle, were “aptly made to be set to any song in .5. partes, or song to instrument.” Two of the authors, Richard Edwards (78 and 86), from whose manuscript verse anthology The Paradyse derived, and William Hunnis (28) were court musicians, gentlemen of the Chapel Royal. Hunnis succeeded Edwards as Master of the Children of the Chapel, and musical settings for several of their poems have survived. 106 Though subject to mild mockery, Shakespeare included Edwards’ paean to music (86) in the musicians’ repertoire in Romeo and Juliet; there are musical settings for the same poem in the Brogyntyn and Mulliner Lute Books, and it is described as “A songe to the lute” in BL, Cotton MS Vespasian A. XXV (Seng 1978, 32–33). The remaining four poems can also be linked to musical settings: 58 is set to music in the Brogyntyn Lute Book; 139 in A New Booke of Tabliture (1596), an instruction book for the lute compiled by the music publisher William Barley; and two more musical settings exist for 142 besides the one in Byrd’s Psalms Songs and Sonnets (1588). Ben Jonson also refers to 142 as a song in Euery Man out of his Humor (1600, sig. C2v): “To sing: My mind to me a kingdome is”; and an imitation of 129 by Nicholas Breton is called a dittie: “the Boy taking his instrument, fell to play and sing this ditty” (Choice, Chance, and Change, 1606, sig. I2r). The loose definition of the term in the period means that many more poems in Hy could be called “ballets,” but Coningsby might have been marking out these texts as particularly suited to be sung to the lute or other musical accompaniment. That he was a lutenist is suggested from the musical bequests in his will: his “fayrest lute” is bequeathed to “Sir Thomas Coningesbye” and a “blacke

105   142 was printed in 1624 as a broadside ballad in a radically different version from the text that circulated widely in Elizabethan scribal circles. None of the remaining texts marked as ballets in Hy appear in Rollins’ Analytical Index (1924), and it seems unlikely that the term was intended to denote texts that had been printed as broadside ballads. 106   “A keyboard arrangement by Edwards for another poem in the collection [The Paradyse], by Francis Kinwelmersh, survives, and some anonymous settings of Edwards’s poems have been attributed to him” (ODNB: Edwards). Hunnis composed a musical setting for his own poem “Alack, when I look back” (see the commentary to 28), and musical settings for his “In terror’s trap” survive in the Brogyntyn Lute Book and a song book compiled at Christ Church, Oxford.

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Padovan Lute of India Cane” to “Sir Thomas Cornewaile of Burford.” 107 The secretary of the Lute Society, Chris Goodwin suggests that the compiler or someone he knew sang from the manuscript and that the poems marked in this way in Hy hint at a repertoire of tablature songs in general circulation (email correspondence 3 October 2011). 108

Correcting and Perfecting Harold Love comments that “the transcriber no less than the compositor would be expected to impose his own practice with regard to spelling, punctuation and minor points of grammar, to modernize, and to correct solecisms and apparent errors” (1993, 120). Coningsby’s most frequent method of correcting is to use an asterisk to mark a word or phrase in the text to a corresponding alteration in the margin without any crossing out of text, leaving a relatively clean appearance on the page. 109 Aesthetic considerations aside, the marginal corrections also reveal a concern for accuracy. To this end some of the marginalia are corrections from proofreading either during or after copying. For example in fig. 14, the compiler initially wrote “No rockes attendes thee” but on reading the line noticed that it did not make good sense and was able to make the correction to what must be the intended reading “No rocker attendes thee” (my italics). In another example, shown in fig. 15 below, the marginal correction “*fraile” corrects an obviously non-sensical reading in the context of the poem’s antifeminist sentiment: “But when I se how *firme these creatures ar.” The material evidence of ink and script suggests in these examples and in the majority of other instances that the compiler made corrections soon after the initial transcription of a poem and while he may have still been in possession of the copy-text. In other ways the marginal corrections reveal the compiler’s concern for “correctness” and a close engagement with the texts being copied. One peculiarity is that he habitually removed the double negative. Abbott cites this idiom as “a very natural one, and quite common in E[lizabethan] E[nglish]” (1884, no. 406), but there are many examples where the compiler corrected a double negative in the copy-text, either by silent alteration during copying (seen in fig. 16 below) or, afterwards, by adding an asterisk to key a marginal correction (seen in figs. 17 and 18 below).   From Coningsby’s will: see Appendix 4.   Adrian Le Roy, in his instruction book A Briefe and Plaine Instruction to set all Musicke . . . in Tableture for the Lute (1574) advises, “Mine entent is now to teach them that are desirous to playe on the Lute, how they maye without great knowledge of Musicke set vppon that instrument all Ballets or songes, which they shall thinke good” (The Preface of the Author). 109   Coningsby also corrects by means of a mixture of overwriting letters, crossing out, and writing above the line. 107

108

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Figure 14.

Figure 15.

Figure 16. “Nor ever yet could heare the Muses Synge”; in this extract Coningsby began to write a majuscule letter “N” after “Nor” then spotted the double negative and wrote “ever” (two other witnesses read “neuer”).

Figure 17. “*ever Nor *never will: but with regard”; “never” is the reading in Gorges’ fair copy of his own poems.

Figure 18. “*ever It cannot be nor *neuer yet”; two extant witnesses read “euer”; one witness reads “never.”

This light editorial work carried out by Coningsby also extends to correcting perceived grammatical errors of subject-verb or subject-pronoun agreement, showing a concern for the correct use of the English language. In 17.20 the subject is “this hawghty Bird,” and the compiler objects to the pronoun “*Who dwells alone, in Rockes of high Regard,” changing the reading to “*that dwells alone.” In another example Coningsby corrects a perceived grammatical error between subject and pronoun: “That after Deathe, She stil with the may Dwell” is corrected to “I stil with the may Dwell” (70.30; my italics). In this case, the original reading should stand since the subject is the speaker’s female gendered “Sowle,” but the abrupt switch from the first-person address of the previous two lines to third person reference may have prompted the correction. Elsewhere Coningsby is uncertain about which pronoun is correct: two possiblities “*do” or “*doth” are given in the margin in place of the personal pronoun asterisked in the text: “But I alone whose trobled mynd, / In seking Rest, Vnrest *I find” (4.76–77). And in another line a perceived error of agreement between the subject and verb in the

lxix

Introduction

lines “The Serpente eake whose venomed iawes / *Doth belche vp Venome vile” is corrected to “*Do belche vp Venome vile” (78.16). An example where the gender of a personified noun is corrected is seen in the line “The Sonne, that with *her burning heate” (17.13), which is corrected to “*his” in the margin: either a slip in copying was corrected or an anomaly in the text where “Phebus” (l. 6), the sun personified in classical mythology, is given in the feminine gender. We also see some purposeful emending of the text where the copy was defective or illegible. Coningsby rarely writes nonsense, and the attempts to achieve a sensible reading by altering a word or two are well considered and show his sensitivity to the text in hand. For example, in poem 2 he struggles to make sense of a reading in the copy-text, initially writing “They had no cawse to envy oughte, / The auncient word or prayse / Of damon or of pythyas” (ll. 29–31). On reading the lines, either at the time of writing or shortly after copying, Coningsby noticed that they did not make good sense. Two substantive witnesses read “worldes” for “word or,” and this must be the correct reading; the copy-text was evidently corrupt at this point, and the marginal correction “of prayse” for “or prayse” shows that Coningsby noticed the anomaly and attempted to guess the intended reading. The only other extant copy of the poem also has a faulty reading (“wordes ore”), confirming the presence of a copy defective at the same point. Harold Love’s remark that scribes were alert to textual corruption in the medium of manuscript circulation is relevant here: “the scribe must have had a far more acute awareness of the limitations of his exemplar than the compositor. Texts decayed very rapidly in manuscript transmission” (1993, 120). Coningsby’s marginal corrections often resulted from this “awareness” of the medium’s foibles and a concern for textual accuracy and must be distinguished from the capricious alterations to texts made by scribes engaged in social editing.

Editorial Conventions The poems are reproduced in the order in which they appear in the manuscript. Scribal numbering of the entries, usually found to the left, level with the first line of a poem, is not reproduced but can be reconstructed from the Overview table found in Appendix 1a. For this edition the entries on the first folio or cover page of the manuscript (fol. 11r–v) are numbered [i]–[xii], and the main sequence of poems, indicated by the commencement of the scribal numbered sequence, are numbered [1]–[157]. Entries that comprise a Latin poem followed by an English translation are assigned the same number qualified by a different letter, e.g., [103a] and [103b]. All references (in bold) to Roman numerals i-xii and Arabic numerals 1–157 refer to this sequence of numbering the entries in the manuscript. The manuscript has been foliated by the British Library in a sequence continuous with the previous item bound in the same volume and commences with

lxx

Introduction

folio 11r. This edition follows the British Library foliation and folio numbers are given in the left-hand margin, e.g. 11r refers to the recto and 11v the verso. For the sake of clarity the scribal pagination is not reproduced. 110 Lineation is given at five-line intervals to the right of the text. The spelling (including “u” for “v,” “i” for “j”), word division, lineation and punctuation of the original are retained. Capital “I”/“J” is transcribed uniformly as “I.” Capitalization in the original is also retained, except that “F” replaces “ff.” Where the majuscule and minuscule are formed in the same way and differ only in size, it is not always apparent which form is intended. A similar problem arises where the same form of majuscule appears both as a normal capital and simply as an initial letter. In the transcription, I try to determine where a capital is intended based on any evidence of the scribe’s normal use of capitals while acknowledging that Elizabethan scribal practice does not transfer comfortably to modern systems of capitalization. 111 All contractions, except for abbreviated names, are expanded, with the supplied letters underlined, the marks of abbreviation disregarded, and superscript letters silently lowered. For the sake of clarity, interlineations are lowered and placed between marks of insertion, ^ ^. Any caret marks present are not reproduced in the text but mentioned in the textual notes at the foot of the page. Corrections superimposed over individual letters are not reproduced but mentioned in the textual notes. Marginal corrections are reproduced in the position in which they appear in the manuscript and any asterisks are retained. Deleted text is placed in angle brackets, < >. Obscured text or missing text, for example, letters cropped from the edge of the page, is placed in curly brackets, with conjectural restoration or dashes to represent the number of missing letters: {---}. The default scribe is Hand A and any changes of hand (i.e., Hands B-G) are mentioned in the textual notes at the foot of the page and discussed in the notes for individual poems. I have not tried to reproduce the material appearance of the text per se, but where the script changes from secretary to italic I have represented this with an italic font. This means that the reader can clearly distinguish between the hands and when italic for quotations and emphasised words is used within a predominantly secretary text, which avoids a proliferation of textual notes that would clutter up the page. The material appearance of the manuscript, including a description of the hands and ruling, is discussed in the Introduction.

110   See above xxii, for an explanatory note, and for the evidence that the poem numbering and pagination is in Hand A. 111   Hand A uses majuscule forms indiscriminately, sometimes for initial letters of a word as well as simply for variation, but for the sake of consistency I reproduce the scribe’s use of majuscule forms where this is possible to determine, choosing between minuscule and majuscule forms based on the relative size of the script at the particular point in the manuscript.

lxxi

Introduction

Contextual notes, word glosses, and collations are found in the Commentaries for individual poems.

Note on the Collations In the Commentary I provide collations for all texts which have not been collated elsewhere. I refer the reader to editions where the text has already been collated in the notes. Hy is always the lemma and, where three texts or more are collated, an asterisk denotes that all texts agree in a given reading. Where a set of variant readings reveals connections between manuscripts I have represented this diagrammatically with a stemma. In this edition the analysis of variant readings and the identification of “error” does not serve as the basis to determine the choice of copy text or emendations for an edited text (“closest to the authorial version”). It is used, rather, to answer questions about the relative quality of the control text and its origins in the larger scribal culture.

Note on the Cypher I have silently expanded the cypher employed in the marginal notes to 93 (fols. 54v–58v). The code is fairly basic: all the vowels have been overwritten with a letter resembling “p” and the number of strokes added to the stem (or Arabic numeral 1–5) corresponds to the vowel intended: p + 1 stroke (or numeral 1) = a p + 2 strokes (or numeral 2) = e p + 3 strokes (or numeral 3) = i/y p + 4 strokes (or numeral 4) = o p + 5 strokes (or numeral 5) = u/v

The superscript minuscule “r” in “Mr” and “Mrs” is also disguised by means of a long tail and bowl at the head (see below). The scribe uses two symbols to key the marginal notes to the punning references in the text, a “plain” cross and a “feathered” cross; these are represented in the transcription by up ⇑ and down ⇓ arrow symbols. The image below from folio 57r shows a marginal note with disguised letters and cross symbols identifying the individuals alluded to in the punning references.

lxxii

“⇓ Wapull a Collyer | wythe | Mrs ⇑ Ball”

Introduction

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2) 11r

[i] Si potes assiduo falle labore diem. Ed: E [ii] Præterit, et non est reuocabilis vnda vel hora Labitur hæc subito: præterit illa cito: S Knyveton [iii] Whose Fancy fawnes on many, Is Never constant vnto any.  H C Cauendo tutus / Coningsbye /

[iv]

HC

[v] {La doglia ------- --- si -- fa: ammore} [vi] Quis sapiens blandis non misceat oscula verbis? Illa licet non det, non data sume tamen, Pugnabit primo fortassis et improbe dicet. Pugnando vinci se tamen illa volet. Ovid i] Hand C; the name is partially deleted, with dense zig-zag strokes, in different ink ii] Hand B iv] Hand B; H C in Hand A; illegible text (probably Hand A) crossed out in different ink v] probably Hand A: the ink of this entry is very faint vi] Hand B

2

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Ascolta assai, e credi Poco.  S: Knyveton 11v

Opportunyty. Importunyty. H. Con:

[vii]

[viii]

[ix] Repentaunt thoughtes, for overpassed Mayes, Consume my youth, before myne aged Dayes. H. C.  R.D.T.F.O.F. #. w.h.i.i.i. {- -} [x] When first of all Dame Nature *, *thought Eache thinge in order for to *, * lead Most busily of all shee soght, To set her Faythe in womans head. Nay, fy, (quod Faythe) & then she fled, 5 I will not rest in womans head. H. Con. [xi] My natiuytyee Largus, amans, hilaris, ridens, rubeique coloris, Constans, carnosus, satis audax, luxuriosus. HC

vii] Hand B; a curved line separates this entry from the previous entry upon which it encroaches viii subscription: Con:] tilde over on ix w.h.i.i.i. {- -}] pen trial in unidentified hand x subscription: Con.] decorative flourish incorporating a tilde after n xi  Hand B; title: My natiuytyee] Hand A addition in different ink; subscription: H C] feint diminutive script, in Hand A

Poems vii–1

3

[xii] Crine ruber, niger ore, breuis pede, lumine luseus, Rem magnam prestas, Zoile, si bonus es. Mart. 12r

12v

[1] Ferendo vinces. He that his mirthe hathe loste, Whose comfort is dismaid: Whose hope is vaine, whose faithe is scornd Whose truste is all betraid, If he hath held them deare, And cannot cease to moane: Come let him take his place by mee He shall not morne aloane. But yf the smallest sweete, Be mixte with all his sowre, If in the day, the monthe, the yeere He feele one lyghtninge howre, Then rest he with himselfe, He is no mate for mee Whose fare is fallen, his suger voyd, Whose hurte his deathe must bee. Yet not the wished deathe, Which hath ne plent ne lacke Whiche makinge free the better parte, Ys only natures wracke. O no, that were to well, my grief is of the minde, Which alwayes yeldes thextremest paines, And leves the leaste behinde. As on that lives in showe, And inwardly doth dye: Whose knowledge is a bloody field, Wher all helpe slayne dothe lye. Whose harte the altar is, His spirit the Sacrifice, Vnto the powers, whom to appease, no sorrow can suffice.

xii] Hand B

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

My fancies ar like thornes, On which I walke by night, My rusty hope is like an Hoste, Whom foes have put to flight. My sence my passions spie, My thoughtes like rvins owld, Of famous Carthage, or the Towne, Whiche Synon bought & sowld. Which still before my face, my mortall fall doth lay, Whom Love and Fortune once advanste, And now hath cast away, O thoughtes, no thoughtes but woundes Somtime the Seate of Ioy, Somtime the store of quiet reste, *And now of all annoy. I sowde the Soyle of Peace, my blysse was in the Sprynge, And day by day I ate the fruyte That my lyves Tree did brynge. To Nettles now my Corne, my field is turnd to Flynte, Where sittinge in the Cypres shade, I reape the Hyacynte. The Peace, the rest, the lyfe, That I enioyd of yore, Come to my lotte, that by my losse, my smarte may stinge the more. So to vnhappy men, The best frames ^to^ the worste, o tyme, o place, o lookes, o wordes, Deare then, but now accurste. In was standes my Delyghte, In is and shall my woe, My Horror fastened in the yea, My Hope hanges in the Noe.

1.35 Hoste] te underscored with double wavy line 1.48 annoy.] a blot following may be a cancelled asterisk 1.61 So] S altered from G 1.62 best] e altered from a; frames] es altered from d; ^to^ interlined, without caret, above

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I looke for no relyef, Relyef will come to late, To late I fynde, I fynde to well, To well stoode my estate. Now Love wher is the force, That makes thy Tormentes sweete, Wher is the happe, that some throw thee, Have thought their deathe but meete. The Stately Cawse disdaynes, The secret thanckfullnes, The Grace Preferd the Common lyef That shines in worthines. O would it were not so, I could it well excuse, Or that the wrathe of Ielousye, my Iudgement did abuse.

70

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o false vnconstante kynde , 85 fyrme in faythe to no man:

no women angels be on earthe , my mystres ys a woman.

14r

Yet blame I not the faulte, But even the faulty one, 90 Ne can I put the thinge from mee, Wherin I ly aloane. Alone I ly by Love, Whose like was never yet; The yonge, the old, the Prince, the Poore, 95 The fond, & full of wytte. Heere muste I styll remayne, My Love, my Deathe, my Shame; I cannot blott owt of my breste That Love wrought in his name. 100 I cannot set at nowghte, That once I held so deare, I cannot make it seeme farre of That ys in deede so neare. Not that I meane henceforthe, 105 This straunge will to possesse, As to betray suche tickle truthes, As buyldes on ficklenes. For never shall it faile, That my word gave in hand, 110

6

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

I gave my word my word gave mee, Both gyfte and word shall stand. And since my choyse is suche, The which is all to yll, I yeld me captive to my curse, 115 My hard happe to fulfill. the solitary woods,

my cyty shall become ,

the darkest denne shalbe my lodge,

14v

where is no lyght of sonne.

of heben blacke my bower, the wormes my meate

120

shalbe,

wherw ythe my carcas shalbe fedde, vntyll they feede on mee.

my rest shalbee in moulde, 125 my bedde the craggy rocke,

my harmony the serpentes hysse,

the scrykynge owle my clocke.

myne exercyse nought else , but ragynge agonies,

my booke of spytefull fortunes foyles,

130

and dyry tragedyes.

my walke the pathe of playnte, my prospecte into hell:

where sycypho, and all hys pheeres, 135 in endeles tormentes dwell .

15r

And thoughe I seeme to vse, The fayninge Poets style, To figure forthe my rufull playnte, My fall & myne exile, Yet is my grief not faynd, Wherin I starve & pyne, Who feeles it most, may thinke it leaste, Yf he compare wythe myne. My verse yf any aske, Whose gryevous chaunce is suche, dy—ere thow lette his name be knowne, Whose folly shewes to muche.

1.129 myne] ne diminutive script 1.147 dy—ere] second e in smaller size script

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Poems 1–2

Yit better is to hyde, And never come to lyghte, For on the earthe may none but I, This accent sownd aryghte. fynys quod DYER.

150

[2] was full fayre, The goodlyest mayde was shee, From the East vnto the Weste, That heavens eye could see: To dyana at her byrthe, 5 Her parentes did her give, All vntoucht a Vyrgins Life, Duringe her dayes to lyve. Whose behest shee constante kepte, And wholy was enclynde, 10 To be free to gayne greate fame, And wyn eache worthye mynde. As there was good cause ynoughe, So was she honord moste, They that had her seene abroade, 15 At home wold make theyr boste. Two there were that her beheld, And would have done so ever: Happy men yea happy thrise, yf they had done so never. 20 corydon, and, charynell, That longe in deare accord Ledde theyr lyves, & neither wishte, Of other to be lorde. All the goodes that eache possesste, 25 Of Body, Wealthe, and Mynde, were employd to others vse, As eche by proofe, did finde. They had no cawse to envy oughte, The auncient wordes *or prayse 30 Of damon or of pythyas, And others in those dayse. amaryllys,

15v

*of

1 subscription: fynys quod DYER] below a double ruled line, and boxed off to separate from text below

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16v

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Good and sure their frindshippe was, Tyll amaryllys fyne, Had the power, perhaps the will, The band all to vntwyne. Yea the Boy, that blynded God, In great despyte complaynd, That on the earthe aloane ther was His love that quite disdaynd. Wherevpon his strongest bow, And arrowes sharpe he bente, And in that amaryllys eyes, He slyly picht his tente. Wher he lay to watch both tyme, And place for his avayle, For the wyghtes, that wiste not yet, What foe should them assayle. On of his two shaftes was dypte, In Bitter Iuyce as gall, The other in a pleasant wyne, And poyson myxte withall. And as they smackt of divers sauce, So diversly they wroughte, By dispayre, the one to deathe, By vayne hope thother broughte. With the first was corydon, Throughe pierced to the harte, charynell within his breste, Felt of the second smarte. But with Gould both headed were, which bred a like desyre, Fayne the would within their brestes, Have hidden kepte the fyer. But without it must appeere, That burnte so hoate within, For hard it is the flame to hide, That it no yssue win. And in tyme straunge lookes began, That sprange of Ielousy, Full of Care eache lay in wayte, Hys fellow to discry.

2.63 the] omits terminal y?

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Poem 2

*All

17r

In the end betwixt those frendes, All frendly partes decayed, Bothe were bente to place themselves, 75 Hys frendes case nothinge wayed. amaryllys love was soughte, with all they could devise, Yea with all the power of man, And prayers to the Skyes. 80 *As she saw, & hard their harme, As aspis doth the charme, Now & then she blamde them bothe, As guilty of their harme; Now to thone she wold gyve eare, 85 Then put the other of, By and by eache did suspecte, His frind the cause therof. But the trust by tryall paste, Made them their doome suspend, 90 And indeede she vsed there, Where passions did offend. He had need of store of tyme, That wold hys pen prepare: To set forth all their agonyes, 95 They dreade, hope, ioy, & care. But in vaine they spent their dais, Their labour all was lost, For she was furthest from their meed, When they forweened most. 100 corydon waxed pale & wan, Hys yonge heare turned hoare, Feates of armes, the Horse the Hawke, He lefte and vsde no more. He had found that amaryll, 105 Sought glory more then Love, But she forced not his charmes, Her Bewties pride to prove; Yet he could not leave to love, But yeldinge to dyspaire, 110 Rent his harte, his Corps fell downe, His ghost flew in the Ayer.

2.96 They] Hand A missed terminal r?

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

thought woman kind, Was apte to bend & bowe, And beleeved to please himselfe, 115 As Fancy did allowe. 17v But belyef ne makes the cause, Ne weeninge workes the webbe, In the Tyde his travelles came, He thryved in the Ebbe. 120 At the last his vayne hope him, No longer might sustayne, In His longinge he consumde, Lyfe could not him retayne; amaryllys hard of this, 125 And pity movde withall, Much did rue so hard a happe, On such faythe should befall; To diana strayght she hyes, *where *When wayted on she found, 130 With a trayne of all the Dames, Whose chaste lyfe Fame doth sound. Vnto her in humble wyse, She sayd she came to showe, That these 2 lovinge wightes 135 Myght be transformde anewe. In her armes the Goddesse mild, Her Darlynge softe did strayne, What is it that yow quoth shee, Of me may not obtayne? 140 18r Therwithall syr charynell, A yellow flower became, Sweete of sente & much esteemde, And hartes ease hathe to name. amaryllys pluckt the flower, 145 And ware it on her head, Somtime she layd it on hir lappe, Somtyme vpon her bedde. charynell most happy flower, But most vnhappy man, 150 In thy lyfe thow hadste thy deathe, In death thy lyfe began. charynell

2.135 2] a blot following may be a cancellation

11

Poems 2–3

to an Owle, Fled to the wildernes, Never flockes but leades his life, 155 In Solytarynes. Hys eyes cannot abyde, The clearnes of the Sunne, But aloufe he takes his flyght, And in the darke doth comme. 160 amaryllys to the wood, At somtime will repaire, And delyghtes to heare the tune, And lay of his dispayre. corrydon turnde

18v

well i wotte what heere is mente, and thoughe a tale yt seeme:

165

shadowes have theyr bodyes bye, and so of thys esteeme.

FYNIS DYER .

[3] When werte thow borne Desyre? In Pompe & pryme of May. By whom sweete boy werte thou begot? By good Conceyte, men say. Tell me who was thy Nurse, Freshe youthe in sugred Ioy. What was thy meate & dayly foode? Sad syghes with great Annoy. What hadste thow then to Drinke? Vnfayned lovers teares. What Cradle werte thou rocked in? In Hope devoyde of Feares. What brought thee then asleepe? Sweete speech that lykte me best. And wher is now thy dwellinge place? In gentle hartes I rest. Dothe Company dysplease? yt doth in many a one. Where wold Desire then chuse to be? He likes to muse alone.

2.167 bodyes] s blotted

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

What feedethe most your syghte? To gaze on Favour styll. What findste thou most to be thy fo? Dysdayne of my goodwill. Wyll ever Age or Deathe, 25 Bringe the vnto decay? no, no, desyer, bothe lyves

& dyes,

ten thowsande tymes a day.

Finis. LO. OX.

[4] Diligentes me diligo. Yf Fortune may enforce, the carefull hart to cry, And grypinge gryef constrayn, the wounded wyght lament ballet Who then (alas) to morne hathe greater cause then I? Agaynst whose hard mishap, both heaven & erth is bent For whom no help remaynes, for whom no hope is lefte, 5 From whom all happy haps ar fled, & plesure quite bereft. Whose lyfe noght can prolong, whose helth can noght assure, Whose deathe (oh pleasant port of peace, no creature can procure. Whose passed profe of plesant Ioy, Myschaunce hathe changde to griefes Annoy. 10 And (lo) whose hope of better day, Is overwhelmde with longe delay. O hard myshappe Eche thing I playnly see, whose vertues may avayle, To ease the pinchinge payne, which gripes the groning wigh{t} 15 By Phisicks sacred skill, whose rule dothe seldom faile, Throughe labors long bestowed, is plainly brought to light. I know ther is no fruite, no leafe, no roote, no rind, No herbe, no plant, no Iuice, no gumme, no mettall deeply mind. 19v No perle, no precious stone, no Gemme of rare effecte 20 Whose vertues lerned Gallens booke, at large do not detect, Yet all their force can not appease, The furious fittes of my dise^a^se.

4 title: Diligentes me diligo] within triple-ruled line (middle line runs through text); upper rule is lower of a double-ruled line enclosing the subscription to the previous entry 4.3 margin: ballet] Hand A addition in different ink 4.8 (oh] closing bracket omitted 4.15 wigh{t}] {t} cropped at edge of page 4.23 dise^a^se] a interlined without caret

Poems 3–4

20r *nest

13

Nor any drugge of Phisickes Arte, Can ease the grief, that gripes my harte. O Straunge Disease. I heare the wise affirme, that nature hathe in store, A thousand secret salues, which wisdom hath owt found, To heale the scorchinge heate, of every ^smartinge^ sore, And heale the deepest skarres, thoughe grevous be the wound, The ancient proverbe says, that no so festered griefe, Doth grow, for which the Gods themselves, have not ordainde relyef But I by profe do know, such proverbes to be vaine, & thinke that Nature never knew, the Plages that I sustayne. And so not knowinge my distresse, Hathe lefte my grief remedilesse. For why the Heavens for me prepare, To lyve in thought and dy in care. O Lastinge Payne. By change of ayre I see, by haunt of healthfull soile, By diet duly kept, grosse humors are exilde. I know that inward griefes of mind, & inward hartes turmoile, By faythfull frendes advise, in time may be repelde. Yet all this noght avayles, to kyll that me annoyes, (I meane) to stop these fluddes of Care, that overflow my Ioyes. No none exchaunge of place, can chaunge my luckles lotte, Like on I live, so must I dy, whom Fortune hath forgotte. No Counsayle can prevaile with mee, Nor sage advise with grief agree. For he that feeles the paines of Hell, Can never hope in heven to dwell. O Deepe Dispayre. What lyves on earth but I, whose Travell reapes no gaine? The weried Horse & Oxe in Stall & Stable rest, The Ante with Sommers toyle, beares owt the winters paine. The Fowle that flyeth all the day, at night returnes to *rest. The Plowmans wery worke, amyd the winters myre, Rewarded is with Sommers gaine, which yeldes him double hyre The Silly loboring Soule, which moyles from day to day, At night his wages truly paid Contented goes his way. And commynge home, his drousy hed, He couchethe close in homely bed,

4.29 ] underscored to mark deletion; ^smartinge^] interlined with double caret 4.58 hyre] y altered from a or i 4.59 loboring] Hand A failed to complete a of first o?

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*care

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Wherin no sooner downe he lyes, But Sleep hath straight possest his eyes. O happy man. 65 The Souldiar bidinge longe, the brunt of mortall warres Wher lyfe is never free, from dinte of deadly foyle, At last come ioyfull home, thoghe mangled all with skarres, Wher frankly void of feare he spendes the gotten Spoyle, The Pyrat lyinge longe, amid the fominge fluddes, 70 Wyth every flaw in hazardise, to lose both lyfe & goodes. And lenghthe findes view of land, wher wished port he spies, Which once obtaind, amongst his mates, he partes the gotten Pryse Thus every man for travaile past, Doth reap a Iust Reward at last, 75 But I alone whose trobled mynd, In seking Rest, Vnrest *I find. *do *doth O luckles lotte. Thow cursed caitiffe wretch, whose heavy hard mishap Doth wishe 10 thousand times, that thou hadst not byn borne, 80 Since fate hath the condemnd to lyve in sorowes lap, Wher wailing wast thy life, of all redresse forlorne, What shall thy grief appease, who shall thy tormentes stay, Wylte thou thy selfe with murdring handes, enforce thine owne decay? No, far be thow from me myselfe to stoppe my breath, 85 The Gods forbid, whom I beseche to worke my Ioyes by Death For lingringe lenghte of lothed lyfe, Doth sturre in me such mortall stryfe, That whiles for lyfe & deathe I crye, In Deathe I lyve, & lyvinge dye. 90 O Froward Fate. Lo, heere my hard mishap, lo heere my straunge disease, Lo here my depe Dispayre, lo here my lastinge paine, Lo here my froward fate, which nothinge can appease, Lo here how others toile, rewarded is with gayne. 95 While luckles lo I lyve, in losse of labors due, Compeld by profe of torment strong my endles grief to rue. In which since nedes I must consume both youth, & age, yf ould I lyve, & that my *care no comfort can asswage, Henceforth I bannishe from my brest, 100 All frustrate hope of future rest,

4.96 While] W altered from T 4.99 care] blotted: Hand A repeats in margin

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Poems 4–6

And trutheles trust, to tymes reward, Wyth all respectes of Ioyes regard, Heere I forsweare. fynis RO POO.  Balle [5] Her wyll be done, but I have sworne to love, And wyth thys vow, wyll noryshe my delyghte, Her scorne, my wo, but tyme shall not remove, A faythfull zeale, owt of my troubled Sprighte, Yea more then all, Ile sacryfice my Blood, 5 And burne my bones, to do my Mystres good. fynis. Ti. So. 21r

[6] What is desire, which doth approve, To sett on fire each gentle love? A fancy straunge, a God of Love, Whose pining sweat, delightes with smart. In gentle myndes his dwellinge is. 5 What were his parentes, Godes or no, That livinge long is yet a Child? A Goddesse son who thinkes not so, A god begot, a God beguild, Venus his mother * his Sier.

*mars 10

Is he a God of Peace or Warre, What be his armes, what is his might? His war is Peace, his Peace is Warre, Eche grief of his is but Delyght. His bitter bale, is sugred blysse. 15 What be his giftes, ho doth he play, When is he seene, or how conceavde? Sweate dreames in Slepe new thoughtes in day. Behoulding eyes in mynd receavde. A God that rules, & yet obayes. 20

4 subscription: Balle] Hand A addition in different ink 6.16 ho] final w omitted

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Why is he naked, painted blinde, His sydes with shaftes, his backe with brandes, Playne without guile, by happe to finde, Provinge with fayre wordes, that withstandes And where he craves, he takes no nay. 25 21v

What labours doth this God alowe, What fruictes have Lovers for their payne? Sitte still & muse to make a vowe, Their Ladies if they true remaine, A good rewarde for true desyer. 30 fynis Ewph. [7] When I was fayre & yonge, then favour graced me, Of many was I sought, theyr mystres for to be, But I did scorne them all & answerde them therfore, Go, go, go seeke some other where, importune me no more. How many wepinge eyes, I made to pyne in woe, 5 How many syghyng hartes, I have not skyll to shoe. But I the prowder grew, and still thys spake therfore, Go, go, go seeke some other wher, importune me no more. Then spake fayre Venus Sonne, that brave vyctorious Boy. Saying, yow daynty Dame, for that yow be so coy, 10 I wyll so pull yowr plumes, as yow shall say no more, Go, go, go seke some other wher, importune me no more. As ^sone as^ he had sayd, such chaunge grew in my brest, That neyther night nor day, I could take any rest. Wherfore I did repent, that I had sayd before, 15 Go, go, go, seke, som other wher, importune me no more. FINIS. ELY. [8] An end (quoth shee) for feare of afterclappes, No end (quoth I): I doubt not of perhappes. Rather end (quoth she), then labour thus in vayne, And end (quoth I) Not So, then wer I slayne. We were vndon, if any should misdoute, 5 No man alive, can ever find it oute.

6.27 Lovers] r altered from s 7.13 ^sone as^] interlined with caret

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Poems 6–9

Come then Sweete Boy, (quoth she) & beare one minde, Ever, Secrette, Faithfull, Constante, & Kynde. 22r

[9] Ferenda Natura Fayne would I but I dare not: I dare & yet I may not: I may althoughe I care not: For Pleasure when I play not. Yow laughe bicause you like not: 5 I ieste and yet I ioy not: You pierce althoughe you strike not: I strike and yet annoy not. I spye, and yet I speake not: For ofte I speake & speed not: 10 Yet of my woundes yow recke not: Bicause yow see they bleed not. Yet bleed they when yow feele not: Thoughe yow the paines endure not: Of *Noble myndes they be not: That ever kyll & cvre not.

*gentle 15

I see & yet I viewe not: I wishe althoughe I crave not: I serve although I sue not: I hope for that I have not. 20 I catche, and yet I hould not: I burne, athoughe I flame not: I seeme wheras I wold not: And where I seeme, I am not. Yowrs am I, thoughe I seeme not: And will be, thoughe I show not: Myne owtward deedes then deeme not: When myne entente yow know not. 9.11 recke] c altered from a 9.16 cvre] v altered from a

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But if my service prove not: Moste sure although I sue not: 30 Wythdrawe your mind, & love not: And for my ruyne, rve not. Lenvoy. Dy Yf Sweete from Sowre, might any way remove: What Ioy, what Hap, what Heaven, wer like Love. 35 [10] Before I dy, faire Dame of me, receave my last adiew. Acounte my helpelesse grief no Iest, for time shall prove it trew. My Teares were signes of Sorowes fytte for all my former care, When yet my woes wer very young, but now so great they are. As all my store consumed quite, the only eyes remayne Which turninge vp their sight to heven, lamente their masters paine. With gastly staring lookes, even such as may my Death fortell, The only meane for me poore Soule to shunne an earthly Hell. But now my Deare, for so my love doth make me call thee still, That Love I say, that luckles love, which workes mee all this yll, This ill wherof sweete Soule, thou art at all no cause, Both Hand & Hart with francke consent, acquytes thee of the lawes. Thou knowste in tender yeeres, before my pryme awhyle, Cupid at the sight of thee, my sences did beguyle. It was a World of Ioyes, for me, to live within thy sighte, Thy Sacred presence vnto me did giue so greate delighte. It was a Heaven to me to view thy face Devine, Wherin besides Dame Venus stayne, great Maiesty did shine. These thinges like folishe singed Flye, at first made me my game, Tyll time and riper yeares, cam on, my woes to frame. For at the last I felt it worke and did bethinke me how, Vnproved yet my mystres wold, her servantes love alow. Thus long in this Conceipt I livde, and durst it not bewray, Wherby, both former Mirth, & Strengthe, & Health did soone decay. Thy self didste seme with gracious Eye, to pitty my Dystres, The cause vnknown; yet was I far from hope of all redres. For like the Silly Lambe that makes ^no^ noyse vntill he Dies, Even so I secret kept my tongue, but told it with myn eyes.

10.27 ^no^] interlined with caret

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Poems 9–11 23r

Yet this I counted for a Toy, as longe as I myght bee, Without suspect of Ielouse heades, in company *with thee. But when thy choyse was made & Fortune framde it so, As neyther I, nor yow nor Hee, but did endure som wo, Then did my Ioyes take end, suche force hathe Ielousy That both their owne & others to; my harms they wroght therby. Well, this is all my Sute, which thou in no case canste deny, When turninge time shall end my Dayes, by fatall Destiny, Which now by open signes I find; comes roundely towardes mee, This recompence for all my paynes, I do require of thee. Vouchsafe to visit for my sake, my everlastinge Grave, Stay ther vntill my latest rites, the Priest performed have. Thus Charity commaundes; but somthing yet ther commes behinde, Which if thou graunteste to performe, will argue thee more kind. Eache yeare vpon the blessed Day, wherin my lyfe toke end, Vnto my Tombe repaire, wher I thy comminge will attend. Good mystres there confesse, my rare renowmed Love, The loyall Hart I bare, which Deathe could not remove. And when thou hast don this, then tell the world from me, My suyte at no Time did exceed, the Bandes of Modesty. *& Of on thing yet beware, sighe *not, nor shead no Teare, Leste that my Tormentes do renew, when I thy Sorrowes heare. Fynys. DY. *of

*ever

[11] As rare to heare, as seldome to bee seene, It cannot be nor *neuer yet hath *byn That Fier should burne with perfyt heate & flame, Wythout some matter for to yeld the same, A stranger case, yet true by profe I *know,

A man in Ioy; that lyveth still in woe, A harder hap, who hath his love at liste, And liues in Love, as he all Love had miste

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*knoe

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Who hathe ynoughe, yet thinkes he liues withoute, To lacke no Love, yet still to stand in Doute. 10 What discontent to live in suche Desyre To have his will, & ever to requyre. fynis DY. 10.49 *not] The asterisk (denoting a correction in the margin) should be attached to nor

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[12] I would it were not as it ys, Or that I carde not yea or no: I would I thought it not amisse, Or that amis might blameles go. I wold it were, 5 yet wold I not: I myght be glad, yet could I not. I wold Desire, knew the meane, Or that the meane Desyer sought: 10 I would I could my Fancy weane, From such sweete Ioyes, which Love hath wroght. Only my wishe, Is lefte at all, A Badge whereby, 15 To know a thrall. O happy man that doest aspyre, To that which thow mayst seemely crave: Thrise happy man for thy Desyre, May weene with Hope good hap to have. 20 But Woe is mee, (Vnhappy man) Whom hope nor helpe, Acquyet can. The Buddes of Hope, ar stervde with feare, 25 And styll his Foe, presentes his face: My state, yf hope the Palme should beare, Vnto my Happe, would be Disgrace. As Diamond In wood were sette, 30 Or yrus ragges, In Gould yfrette. For lo, my tyred Showlders beare, Desires wery beatinge wynges: And at my feete a clogge I weare, 35 Tyde on with self disdayninge strynges. My winges to mounte Alofte, make haste: My clogge dothe synke Me downe as faste. 40 This is our state, lo thus we stand, They ryse to fall, that clymbe to hye:

Poems 12–13

*do

24v

21

The youthe that fled Kinge Minos land, May teache the wyse more low to flye. What gaynd his pointe So neere the Sonne? He drounde in Seas, His name that wonne. Yet Icarus more happy was, By present Death hys cares to end; Then I poore man, on whom (alas) Ten thousand Deathes their paines do spend. Now Grief, now Plainte, Now Love, now Spighte: Longe Sorowe myxte, Wythe short Delyghte. The Pheere and felow of thy smarte, Prometheus I am indeede: Vpon whose ever lyvinge harte, The greedy Grypes *to gnaw & feede. But he that vauntes His harte hye: Muste bee contente, To pyne and dye. FYNIS DY.

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[13] I faynt wyth feare, I blushe for shame, I wishe but dare not make requeste: My suyte is Favour, bowldnes my blame, Denyall deathe; delay vnreste: My lyef is Hope, my Heart is Love, 5 I crave but leave, my truth to prove. Myne eye bewrayes myne inward thought My thoughtes ar led by my desyre: My highe Desires a meane have wroghte, To melte my Harte in Fancyes fyre. 10 Wherin come weale or woes encrease, My lyfe shall last without release. For Faithe wythe Fancy fixed faste, Hath firmd my mynd, with such effecte, That lo I vow, whiles Life doth laste, 15 My passionat hart shall quyte reiecte,

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

All worldly Ioyes: (yowr Self excepte) Whom I esteeme with most respecte. And as now vowd, so is & ever shall, My hart, my Wyll, my Thoughtes, & my Desire, 20 My Body, Blud, my Lyfe, & sences all, Applyed be, as pleaseth yow require. For fayle I may, But false I will not live, In Pawn wherof, with farewell Faith I giue. FYNIS T Y. S. [14] Hence burninge sighes, which sparkle from Desire, To pity melte, my Mistres frozen Harte, Her frozen Hart, that Fancy can not fire, Nor trew intente perswade, to rue my Smarte Haste, haste, I pray the Icye passage breake, 5 And plead for him, that is forbid to speake. 25r

What though at first, you fayle to calme her rage. Yet as the Sonne from Earth doth draw the raine, Your Vertues so, the stormes of Scorn may swage, Or feede Desire, wythe Showers of Disdayne. 10 For even as Drinke, doth make the Dropsy dry, So could Disdayne, doth make Desyre to fry. Her will be don, but I have sworne to Love, And with this vow will norishe my Delight, Her scorne, my woe, but time shall not remove, 15 A faithfull zeale, out of my troubled spright. Yea more then all, Ile Sacrifice my blood, And burne my Bones, to do my Mystres good. FYNIS.    Incerti Authoris. [15] Promethevs when first from heaven hye, He broght downe Fyre, ere then on Earth not seene, Fond of Delight a Satyre standinge bye, Gave it a kysse, as it like Sweete had beene.

14 subscription: Incerti Authoris] Hand A addition in different ink

Poems 13–17

23

Feelinge forthwith, the outward burninge powre, 5 Wood with the Smart, with showtes & shrikinge shrill, He sought his ease, in Ryver, Field, & Bowre, But for the time, his grief went with him still. So Silly I, wyth that vnwonted sighte, In humane shape, an Aungell from above, 10 Fedinge mine eyes, thympression there did lighte, That since I rest & runne, as pleseth Love. The difference: the Satyres lyppes my Harte, He for a Time. I evermore have Smarte. FYNIS. Dy.

*that

25v

[16] A Satyre once did runne away for Dreade, Of sound of Horne, *which he himself did blow, Fearinge: and fearde thus from himself he fled. Deminge strange evill, in that he did not know. Such causes Feare, when Cowardes mindes do take, 5 It makes them fly, that which they faine wold have, As this poore Beaste, which did his rest forsake, Thinking not why, but how himself to save. Even So might I, for doubtes which I conceave, Of myne owne harte, mine owne good hap bewray, 10 And so might I for feare (of may be) leave, The sweete pursuite of my desired pray. Better I lyke thy Satyre (Deerest Dyer) That burnte his lyps, to kisse faire shininge Fyer. FYNIS. SY. [17] Yf tales be trew, & Poets tell no lyes, Ther is a Byrd, wherof ther is but on, Who knowinge well the tyme before she dies, Provides a place to end her lyfe vpon. Summe hugy Rocke or mountaine Hyll so hye, 5 As Phebus beames, will giue hir leave to flye. Wherto she beares, such spices as she gettes, And makes a Nest as buildinge for abroade, Whiche fully framde with weary winges she syttes

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Tyll Sonny heate hath so enflamde her bloade, 10 That at the last with pantinge Harte for Breathe, She spreades her winges, & beates herself to Deathe. *his

26r

*that

But now The Sonne, that with *her burning heate. Consumde the Bird, that beate herself so sore: Gave Nature leave to make, those Ashes sweate, 15 And take the shape She did enioy before. O heavenly Phenix, that no soner Dies But of hir ashes doth Another ries. This hawghty Bird, I thinke be highe Desire, *Who dwells alone, in Rockes of high Regard, And seinge Death in flames of Bewties Fire, Wyll rather Dy, then be from Bewty bard. And as the Bird doth dy amonge the Spices, So dies desire amonge his Love Devices.

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Now Bewty is the only burninge Fyre, 25 Who hath Desire, withe heate of furyes flame, And Bewty may so soone revive Desyre, That he may lyve, & looke alofte againe. O Bewty help whom thou hast hurte so sore, Revive Desyre, and let him dy no more. 30 FYNIS quod N. S. [18] I sayd, and sware, that I would never Love, I say, and sweare, that I am false forsworne, And yet no shame for let the wiseste prove, And they shall find it cannot be forborne. Thoughe wretched Will, wold take an oathe in vayne, 5 Comes carefull Witt and calles him back agayne. For shall the Eye, that sees the Hartes offence, Shut vp his sight, and sweare to see no more? Or shall the Harte, that hath a heavy Sence, Becom so weake to keepe no Strengthe in store? 10 Noe Godes forbid, that will should governe soe, That wante of Sence should Sences overthroe. Then let me looke although I must not gaze, And let me lyke, althogh I muste not Love,

Poems 17–19

25

And let me thinke what motions do amaze 15 These troubled thoughtes, that Do these tormentes prove O Sacred God that doeste each Secret knowe, Say for my Sowle yf I say trew or noe. 26v

O fayreste Fayre, that ever Nature framde, O perfectste shape that ever Eye perceaude, 20 O heavenlyeste Fyer that ever Harte enflamde, O Sweete of Sweetes, that ever Sence conceaude. Where Natures giftes are grafte in Vertues Tree, Who wold not dy, to live in love with Thee. FYN YS quod N. S. [19] Futuris gaudeo, presentia contemno. Twixte halfe asleepe and half awake, in slumber late I lay, When as a vision straunge in sight, my sences did dismay. Me thought I saw befor my face, wher Death did staring stand, And bad me make my will, my end was hard at hand. Betwixt which vgly shape & me, of sodaine did apeere, A Saynt or Angell sent from Heaven, with merry ioifull cheere. Softe Snatche (quoth she) no hast but good, no sooner sicke but dead, The Hart may ly at quiet, though vnquiet be the Head. Lady (quod he) leve of your suyte, he doth but linger Time, Peace Slaue (quod she), dost thou not see, he is but in his Prime. The more his paine (quod he) to know what he of force shall feele, Tushe, cares (quod she) a gallant mind, will cast them at his heele. Deceipte (quod he) will do him wrong, what Death vnto Disdayne? Avaunte (quod she) the Sycke I say, may have their helth agayne. But what art thou (quod he) that so presum^e^ste in ^this^ place? The Cause quod she) that first of all, did bringe him in this case. But how (quod he) by due offence in duty not regarded? No No (quod she) by false belief, that service ill rewarded. O then (quod he) yow wishe him well, for his approved trothe, Els should I do him wrong (quod she) & that I wold be loathe. Alas (quod he) he cald for me, I cam but at requeste, Packe hence (quod she) thou art commaund: & let him live at reste.

19.15 presum^e^ste] e interlined with caret; ^this^] interlined with caret 19.16 quod she)] opening bracket omitted 19.18 No No] second N altered from y 19.22] ruled line follows

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Wyth that me thoghte did Death departe, & she stoode by me still, Now wretch (quod she) thou seest on the, I heere could have my will. But since thou dost deserue no wrong I will not wrack thy woe, 25 Thy mystres ever ment the well, although she sayd not soe. finis quod N. S. [20]

27r Futuris gaudeo, Presentia contemno.

L Come Charon, come wythe speed, C What hast, who callethe mee? L A wofull wight, drownd in Dispayre, Who now hathe need of thee? C Who craves my helpe wantes happe. What doth afflicte the soe? L My hope is turned to Dispayre, My frend is *come my Foe. *become Who vowd her self to mee, But periurde of her Faythe, Performeth nought she promised, As careles *what shee saythe. *of her trothe Ah Tyrant that shee is. C But what doste thou intend? For with one death ten thousand woes, Might have theyr fynall end. L O man for Ferye Boate, C Go * | do what is | assignd, *| seeke els wher | assind | Dyspairinge Sowles of Lovers fond, No passage heere may fynd. L O Charon cruell wretche, That thus hast mocked mee, These handes of mine shall make a Boate, To passe in spighte of thee. These Eyes so storde wyth Teares, Shall make a Fludde to *floe *flowe *This Hart shall stuffe my Sailes with Sighes, And (*make my boate) to goe. *force my Barke

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*This Hart pufte vp with sighes & grones Shall Force my Barke to goe. 30 FINIS. 20.29–30] These lines are separated from the rest of the poem by a single rule above and double rule below and offer an alternative ending to the poem (i.e., replacing ll. 27-8).

Poems 19–23

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[21] The doubte of future Foes, exiles my present Ioy, And wit me warnes to shun such snares, as threten ^mine^ annoy. For falshood now doth flow, and Subiectes Fayth doth ebbe. Which should not be, if reason rulde, or wisdom wevde the webbe. But Clowdes of toyes vntryde, do cloke aspiringe mindes, 5 Which turne to Rayne of late repent, by chaunged course of windes. The Top of Hope suppozd, the Roote of Ruthe shalbe, And fruitles all the grafted guiles, as shortly you shall see. Their dazeled Eyes which Pride, with great Ambition blindes, Shalbe vnseald of worthy wittes, whose foresight falshood findes. 10 The Daughter of Debate, that Discord eake doth Sowe. Shal reap no gaine, wher former Rule, still Peace hath taught to knowe. No forrayn banisht wight, shall anker in this porte, Our Realme brookes no Seditious Sectes, let them els wher resorte. Owr Rusty Sword throw rest, shall firste hys Edge employ: 15 To Powle their Toppes, that seeke suche Chaunge, or gape for future Ioy. FINIS. EL. [22]

28r

[23] But this and then no more, it is my laste and all, And for each word that I did write, a brackish tear did fall. Not that I hope for Grace, I do these lines endighte, For well I know the Fates themselues, at such my fortune spighte. But sith my faith, my hope, my love, & trew intente, 5 My liberty, my service vowd, my time, and all is spente, Sith that all these I say, I see ar lost in vayne, To lose the latter lynes withall, I count it little payne, And yet if yow but read, & view them with your Eye I never shall account them lost, though nought I gaine therby. 10 But if you thinke I meane, to move your mind to ruthe By this comparynge my hard hap, with my approved truthe You do my wordes mystake, no such intente I have, For to redresse my cureles harmes, I know not what to crave

21.2 ^mine^] interlined with caret

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

My griefes ar to far growen, my woundes ar gon to deepe And your Disdaine with my dispayres, to nere my hart do creepe. I am not as I was, when first I lovde your Face, My sprightes which then swam in delightes, ar now sunke in disgrace. Nor Love hath now the force, which once of me it had, Your frownes can neither make me morne, nor favor make me glad. Not that I have more power, to governe my desyre, But that I only am indeed, as Ashes lefte of Fyre. Yet hate I not the Wyghte, the Causer of the same, *ever Nor *never will: but with regard, & honor vse her name, Thoughe for her sake I vow, & will the same approve, She was the first, & is the last, that ay my Hart shall love. All yow which reade these lynes & scan of my Desarte, Gyve Iudgement, whether was more hard, my hap, or els her Harte. And as for yow, Fayre One, say now by profe yow fynde That rigor & ingratitude, soone kyll a gentle mynde. FYNIS. GOR.

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[24] I livde once lovde, & swam in sweete delighte, I live now loathde, & drownde in deep despighte. Despight cries Dy ^deathe^ dares not shew his *might. *kinde But vowd to playntes, & plagde with endles smarte, Love & dispaire tormentes my pensive harte. 5 finis finis finis [25] False love, Desire, and Bewty fraile, Adiew Dead ar the rootes from whence such fancies grew. finis finis finis [26] More then most faire full of the living fyre, Kindled above vnto the maker neere, Not Eies, but Ioies, wherwith the heavens conspire, That to the world not els be counted deere. finis finis finis

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Poems 23–27

28v Desire the first mover.

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Himself being sicke, he persuadeth his desire to dy, discovering the indirect procerninges and passages of fonde Love. Dy, dy, desire, and bidde Delighte adew;

Fancy. Affection. Fancy is frayle; affection makes thee fond; Love. Love is a Childe; Blinde; Naked; fangled new; Suyte. Suyte but a Slave, to servile purpose bond. Acquayntance. Acquaintance coy, cheef entrance to decayte. 5 Wordes of Courtesy. Familiar speech a frawd with perill fraught. Frendly entertainment, Favor a flower, that yeldes a poisoned smell; throw which Desire Dy fond Desire, & bid false Hope farewell. waxeth vehement. Hope encorageth to procede, For Hope is helples, fearfull failing muche, Wherof ensueth Flattery no frend, what ever tale she tell, 10 Flattery. Promise no proved Faith, ofte breakinge tuche, Protestation. Vowes vayne, abiuring Heaven, invokinge Hell. Execration. Othes taken evill, who breakes or kepes is curste, Swering, forswering. Giftes grow to losse, ill mente & provinge worste. Giftes. Tokens but Toyes, vaine shapes of shadowes new, 15 Tokens, letters, by the Dy now Desire, els worse will this ensue. entercourse of whiche circumstances Desyre groweth extreme Experience in the worst parte. Knowledge, to vse loves vauntages but vayne, Placinge & aplying of termes. Skill to perswade, a shifte of subtile Wytte, Opportunity. Occasion. Tymes choyse but chaunce, to follow or refrayne, Entrance. Intrusion. Enteraunce, a mate, for bould intrusion fytte. Dalliance. Vnchast handlinge. Dalliance a Devill, desturbinge every Sence, Forcible entry with intretaunce. Intreting, force, the pressure of offence, Consente with excuse Consent accurste, what ever Scuse she frames, Here Desire loseth reason Oh fond Desire, what Fury thee inflames? Fear, shame, & becoming furious

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Secret conveyance to time & place. The covert meanes, the Hower, the shadowed Bed; 25 The Devill & the Bandes. The shapeles Devill, vnseen: yet witnes by, Discovery of all cirumstances. Will once disclose how shameles thou art led,

27.11 ofte] ft altered; breakinge] half-formed letter deleted before b 27.14 worste] o altered from or to v

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The single or maried woman. With Cressid Queene or Helen Quene to ly. Vnchaste Kysses. Kysses ar keyes, opening the ventes of Sinne, Lacivious touchinges. Imbrasinge bandes, to bind us further in. 30 the accomplishment of Desire. The neerest touche, the shape of Sinne & Shame. Desire not satisfied. Desier, Dy, Dy, Dy, I hate thy Name.

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The often Hauntes, the Intercourse of Ioy,

The wiles, the Smyles, the evening craftes of stelth. Ar all but meanes, to move the hartes annoy, 35 Make weake the wittes, empairing helth & welthe. The cloyinge nayle of overmuche & more, Doth spoile the sporte, els quite consume the store. All loste they leave, not satisfied but tyrde, Fy, fy, Desire, what Spirit hath thee enspirde? 40 [Fols. 29v–30r blank; a blank leaf between 29v and 30r, included in the contemporary pagination (see Introd., xxii), is not counted in the BL foliation.]

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[28] Behould the blaste that blowes, The blossomes from the Tree. The end wherof consumes, And turnes to nought we see. Ere thow be therfore blowne, From life that cannot laste, Begin for Grace to call, For Tyme ill spent & paste. Have mynde on brittle Lyfe, Whose Pleasures ar but vayne; On Deathe Lykewise bethinke, How thou must not remayne. And feare the Lorde to grieve, Who sought thy Sowle to save, To Synne no more inclyne, But Mercy aske, & have; For Death which dothe not spare, The mighty Kynges to kyll: Shall reape lykewise from thee, Thy pleasure and thy wyll. And Lyfe which yet remaynes, And in thy breste appeares, Hathe sowen in thee such seedes, As thou shouldst rue in teares.

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And lyfe that shall succeed, 25 When Death is worn & past, Shall springe for ever then, In Ioy, or paines to last. Wher death on lyfe hath power, ballet yow see that lyfe also, 30 Hath made the fruites of Death. Which never more shall grow. FINIS RN 31r

[29] My Lyttle sweet Darling my comfort & Ioy: Sing Lullaby , In Bewty excelling the Princes of Troy, Sing Now sucke Childe, & sleep Childe, thi mothers own boy, sing The Godes blesse & kepe thee, from cruell annoy, sing Thy Father Little Infant from Mother is gone, sing 5 And Shee in the wood, with thee lefte alone, Sing To thee little Infant why do I make mone, Sing etc. Sith thou canst not help me to sigh nor to grone. S. Yow Wilde Wanton Satyres, the woodes that frequent, S Permit me vnchased my chaunce to lament. Sing lull 10 And thou my sweet Baby, thy tender teares stent, Sing Yf that Teares wold help vs, I many have spent. Sing

*rocker

In steede of softe pillowes, in Mosse thou must ly. Sing No *rockes attendes thee, yet happy am I. Sing lull This Cave doth defend the from roughnes of Sky. S 15 Smyle on mee Deere Darling, it harmes thee to cry. S O that thy froward Grandsyre, beheld thy swete face, S Or that he conceaved of owr wretched case, Sing lull Then know I that pity wold purchase some place, S And cause him to take vs againe, to his grace, S. 20 Why am I a Princes, & Childe of a Kynge, Singe Or why did vyle Fortune hir goulden giftes flinge: S

28.29 margin: ballet; subscription: r n ] Hand A additions in different ink 29.13 In] n altered from f ? 29.19 place] p altered from g; l from r

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On my banisht Husband?, the which only thinge, Singe l Vpon vs poore misers, this dolor doth bringe. S Yet toyle shall not fear me, to suffer with payne, S 25 My prety perte swetinge, although I complayne, S My fayth with my wedlocke where so thou remayne, S Adew my sweete husband, till we meete agayne. S Meane whiles mixt with morning, my chyld to attende, S As Romulus & Scyrus: good hope did attend Sing lull 30 So God to mine Infant his goodnes may send, Sing For ther is non blessed, vntill the last end. Sing {Finis  Finis  Finis  Finis  Finis} 31v

[30] I lyve in Blysse, yet tast no Ioy, I wold not misse, that breedes my woe, I seeke for ease, yet find annoy, Yet find more good, then tonge can shoe. I find reward above Desart, 5 And yet Desarue a greater parte. I only want that I possesse, And do possesse that most I misse: That most I misse is cause of blisse, And yet of blisse, small want ther is. 10 I fynde more Ioyes, then I requyre, Yet greater Ioyes I do Desire. How should I want that I possesse? Of Pleasure how comes heavines? How should from thence proceed my blysse? 15 From whence doth springe my wretchednes? May on thing yeld me pleasaunt lyef? And at the same time cause my grief? I find both lerned men and owld, Say, Heat of force expelleth cowld. 20 And that on place can never howld, Meere Contraryes, for truth is towld.

29 subscription: {Finis . . . Finis}] text trimmed at foot of page

Poems 29–31

But yet by profe I find this trew, My heat, * cowld doth still renew.

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I hope to wyn that needes must lose, 25 I seeke to reach that me outgoes, As on that hangeth in the Bowes, That skafes even as the winde them blowes. No greater Hope have I to wynne, Then He by shaking hath to clime. 30 32r

To leave to hope, I have no mynde, And yet of Hope small cause I finde. My hope to Chaunce I have assinde, By hope to wynne, or therin ende. I rather wishe my self to spill, 35 Then not to hope to have my will. finys.  finis  finis.  L. Con de E & L. [31] Come Sorrow com, Sitte down & morne with mee, Enclyne thy head, vpon the Balefull Breste, That careles pleasure may conceave and see, How heavy hartes, repose in little reste. Vnfould thyne Armes, and wring thy wretched handes, To show the state, wherin poore Sorrow standes. For lo, the Sequels of my lyfe & love, Ar sorrowes, all encombred with myschaunce, My Hopes deceave: my purposes misprove, No trust in Time, my fortune to advaunce. Yet this I ioy, although I lyve forlorne, My Griefes (thoghe great) wer ever secret borne. For most my griefes ar of so straunge a sorte, As hould no meane, vnlesse, they be conceald, Which makes me vow to kepe them from reporte Els with each care, his Cause should be reveald, I tell to much thoughe chiefest pointes I hyde, And more He knowes, which hath like Sorowes tryde. But sithe my lucke, allowes, no better happe, Wher grief & feare all comfort shall expell Tyll lyef of love, hath felt thextremest power, And love of lyfe, hath seene the latest hower. fynys. quod  R. P.

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[32] My curious Eyes (whose wary sighte, fownd thee. Surveyes each comly vyrgins face) Hath thee (in whom they most delyght) Found out by vyew of seemely grace

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My Harte My hath chose thee.

Harte (to whom is given the choise 5 Of thinges which curious eye doth finde) Hath thee (in whom it dothe reioyce) Chosen my chyef: prove not vnkinde. To thee Love hath bound mee.

And Love (whom choyse and sight of Eye Do cause to knytte the loyall knotte) 10 To thee (in whom I lyve and Dye) Hathe bownd me fast: refuse me not. From the Death Tyll Death (whose cruell parte it is Shall loose mee. To frustrate Hope and finishe Love)

Shall Loose (or losse of worldly blysse) 15 My lyfe from thine: loth to remove. Disdayne me not, for Daungers sake, Deride me not, for my good wyll Deprave me not, milde answere make, Delude me not, with scornfull skyll. 20 Condemne me not, guiltles of crime, Bewray me not, Love lothes the light, Deferre me not, from Time to Tyme, Refuse me not, with wronges Despight. Lenvoy. 25 Accepte this gyfte thoughe Small, The worthe exceedes the waighte: Goodwill surpassethe all, Where Truthe excludes Decayte. FINIS.

32.17 Disdayne] underscored 32.21 Condemne] underscored 32.17 Bewray] Bew underscored 32.29 Decayte] c feint line through this letter: Hand A intends s?

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Myne eye Bewrayes, My Harte Desires, Ill Lucke Delayes, That * requyres. Love cannot Lyve Where Hope Decayes, Hope cannot gyve, That Tyme delayes. Love cannot Lyve, When Favour Dyes, Hope cannot gyve, That Happe denies. FINIS.

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*Love

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[34] Small rule in Reasons wante, Small witte in wantons wyles, Small trust where troth is scante, Smalle faythe in fayned Smyles. No Love in lacke of Skyll, 5 No Frend excepte yow wyll. FINIS

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[35] Now ready is the Barke that lokes for lucky wynde, And we must hence in hast: farwell that stay behinde. Now shall the Seas devide the lyncked hartes in one And force the fearfull feere, to leave his frendes alone. Aboord in Cabyn vile, we have a race to runne: 5 From stately Town & Cowrt wher e^r^st we held our roome Adew the wonted Ioyes, the Godds will have it so We must forget our Toyes, & pleasaunt hope forgo. Lo thus the chaunge he feeles, that erst in choyse Did lyve, These be the bitter endes, that sweet beginninges give. 10 And so I take my leave; & must amongest the reste, Go learne the way to wante, the hap I have posseste. I must go turne my Face, from that I lovde before, And shake my hand from Shyp, vnto my Country shore.

35.6 e^r^st] r interlined with caret; roome] or roume? 35.14 shake] h altered from k

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Wher Some perhaps I know, do lurke in rare Delyghte, 15 And all in quyet Dreames, beguile the weary nighte. God graunt they may enioy, with surer hould then I, Or learne with me the meane, from fyckle toyes to fly. FINIS. [36] In Tyme I may The Fruycte assay, That Frendships Graffe, deserved hathe, Tyme well may try, but not vnty, The Faythe so true, full fyxt on you. FINIS

*fraile

[37] Yf women could be fayre, & yet not fond, Or that their Love were firme, not fickle still, I would not wonder that they make men bond, By Service longe to purchase their goodwill. But when I se how *firme these creatures are, 5 I laughe that Men forgett themselves so far. To marke their chose they make, & how they chaunge, How ofte from Phœbus, they do cleave to Pan, Vnsetled still, lyke Haggardes wild they raunge, These gentle Birdes, that fly from man to man, 10 Who would not scorn, & shake them from the Fyste, And let them go (Fayre Fooles) which way they liste.

*our

Yet for disport we fawn, & flatter bothe, To passe the Tyme, when nothing els can please, And trayne them to our lure with subtill othe, 15 Tyll wery of *their wills, our selves we ease. And then we fynde, when we their Fancies trye, To play with Fooles, Oh what a doulte was I. FINIS RW

37 subscription: R W] Hand A addition in different ink; perhaps altered from H C

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[38] Thine only owne, while lyfe Doth last, Till Breath be gon, & Sence is past. 34r

FINIS

[39] When shall I ioy, whose Ioyes are overthrowne, Shall want of Ioy, have power to throw thee downe I cannot Lyve vnles I wynne myne owne, Ly still awhile tyll Fortune cease to frowne. Wyth patience can I not sustayne the fall, 5 yow must perforce, els ar yow Fortunes thrall. When wynters could could & blustring blastes be past, Tyme bringes the pleasant Sommer in at last. And so will Fortune after many a frowne, Plase him alofte, whom late she tumbled downe. 10 Shall faynt Dispayre, such powre have over thee? Serve, seeke, & Sue, & she thine owne wilbe. FINIS

[40] Lo how for whom, & whose I lyve, (or) Lo whose I am, Iudge whose I lyve, Gesse what my Suyte importes Graunte that I crave, take what I gyve, Beleve when profe reportes 5 And as thy fancy leades thy will, Refuse me now, els love me styll. And yf thy fancy fix with myne My Harte, my powre, & Lyfe is thine. And Lo my Vowe / 10 The Sonne his Course, the Moone her chaunge, The Earth & Seas their Kynde, Shall alter firste, ere I estraunge, My choyse from thee: wherto I bynde My self: provided thine assent, 15 Confirme the Knott: now say content. FINIS. H C.

39.7 could could] sic 40 subscription: H C.] in a diminutive script

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[41] The man whose thoughtes against him do conspire, In whom mishappe, her story doth depaynte; The man of woe, the matter of Desire, Free of the dead, that lives in endles playnte His Spyritte am I, which thus desert moane. 5 To rue his case, whose cause I cannot shunn Despayr my name: who ever seekes relief, Frinded of none, vnto my self a foe: And Idle care mantaind by firme belief. That prayse of Faith, shall throw my torments groe. 10 And counte those Hopes, that others hartes do ease, But base conceiptes, the common sort to please. For I am sure that I shall not attaine, The only good, from whence my Ioyes do ryse I have no power my sorrowes to refraine 15 But wayle the want which nought els may suffice Wherby my lyfe, the shape of Death must beare, That Death which feeles, the wo^r^st which life doth feare. But what avayles, with tragicall complaynte? Not hopinge help, the furies to awake? 20 Or why should I the happy mindes acquaynte, Wyth dolefull tunes, their setled peace to shake O ye that heere, behould Infortunes fare, Ther is no grief, that may with mine compare. Fynys Dyer [42] When sturdy stormes of strife be past, Shall quiet rest appeere, I finde somtimes in flintes Starke Dead, Lye kindled coles of Fire. With good advise marke well my minde, 5 Yow shall a Secret Question finde. finis

41.9 care] c altered from e 41.18 wo^r^st] r interlined with caret 41 subscription: Dyer] Hand A addition in a different ink 42] A continuous line has been traced around the first word of each line.

Poems 41–44

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[43] Wher as the Art of Tennis play & men to gamming fall, Love is the Cowrt, Hope is the howse, & Favor serves the ball. The Ball it self is true Desire, the Lyne that measure showes Is Reason; wheron Iudgement lookes, how Plaiers win or loose. The gitty is deceitfull guile, the sopper Ielousy, 5 Who hath Sir Argos hundred eyes, wherwith to watch & pry. And lo the Racket is free will, which makes the Ball rebound. & noble Bewty is the chase, for every game the grownd. The fault wherwith fifteene is lost is want of wit & sence, And He that bringes the Racket in, is double diligence. 10 And rashnes strikes the Ball awry, & ther is oversight, A Bandy, How, the People cry, & so the Balle takes flyght. Now at the lenght good liking proves, Content to be the Gaine, And in a Tennys, knyt thy Love, a Pleasure myxt with Paine. FINIS. therle of Ox. [44] Ringe forth your Belles, let morninge tunes be spred, For Love is dead, All Love is dead infected, with rage of deep Disdayne, Worth is nought worth reiected, & faith faire scorn doth gayne. From so vngratefull Fancy, 5 From such a femalle frensy, From them that vse men thus, Good Lord deliver vs. Weepe neighbours wepe, have yow not hard it sayd, That Love is dead, 10 Whose deathbed Peacockes Folly, whose shrodinge sheet is shame, Whose will false seming holly, his sole executor Blame. From so vngratefull Fancy, From such a female frenzy, From them that vse men thus, 15 Good Lord deliver vs. Let Dirge be songe, and Trentalles rightly read, For Love is Dead, Sir wronge his tombe ordaineth, my mistress Marble Hart, Which Epitaphe containeth, her eyes wer once my Dart. 20 From so vngratefull Fancy, From such a Femalle frenzy, From them that vse men thus, Good Lord delyver vs.

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Alas I ly, Rage hath this error bred, 25 Love is not Dead, Love is not Dead but slepeth, in her vnmatched minde, Wher She his Counsell kepeth, till due desert she finde. Wherfor from so vile Fancy, To call such wyt a frenzy, 30 That Love can temper thus, Good Lord Deliver vs. FINIS. quod Sir Ph. Syd.

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[45] Worke minde into the Skyes, thy Body taketh stand, And stoupe not till thou spy a time, that Ioyes be over land. For lo, to true it is, in this vnhappy state, Ther is no lief for the, to fly a lower gate. The highest growing Trees, ar of the gretest power, To robbe the little vnder Sprowtes, of Sunne, & swetest Shower. How can he but Decay, that is a naked Plante? Amongst the goulden leaved Slippes, that lively dew to wante. He lives to sarve the turnes, of others ruled will, And serve to live of force he must, or bide som greter yll. What wronge is this to kinde, that nothing wroght amisse, All born alike; that on should fall; another clime to Blisse? So many tast the Sweet, & Tantall starves alone, One to rule the happy Hill; another rowle the Stone. Sith that we have not had, on path to guide vs all, For some go on by Lazars lot, what way the staffe doth fall. Som floate, that in Disgrace have byn, all love or hate in their Degree, The Fly hath eake her Spleane, But o thou cursed wight, so much thy will to lacke, As from thy lofty Hartes Desire mishap should hold thee back But make som other choise, and chuse som other Pytte, And let not Tyme to come, cry out of after Wytte FINIS

45.18 Spleane] downward stroke attached to the second e marks a lacuna in the text? 45 subscription: Con] tilde above on

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[46] What thinge can be more fond, Then lyve as Cupides thrall? To serve, to sue, to live, to dy, At every becke and call? And whoso Doth not these, 5 And more, when Love giues charge, Must shrowd himself from Venus sight, Or lyve els where at large. FINIS [47] Sweete ar the thoughtes, wher Hope persuadeth Happe, Great ar the Ioyes, wher Harte obtaynes requeste, Dainty the lyfe, nurst still in Fortunes lappe, Much is the ease, wher troubled mindes finde reste. These ar the fruictes, that valure doth advaunce, 5 And cutes of Dread, by Hope of happy chaunce.

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Thus Hope bringes Hap; but to the worthy wight, Thus Pleasure comes; but after hard assay, Thus Fortune yeldes, in mauger of her spight, Thus happy state is none without Delay. Then must I needes advaunce my self by skyll, And lyve, *and serve, in hope of your goodwyll. FINIS ./ RA. [48] Would I wer chaungde, into that goulden Shower, That so devinely stremed from the Skyes, To fall in droppes vpon the dainty Flower, Wher in her bed, she solitary lyes, Then would I hope such showres, as richly shine, Would pierce more depe, then thes wast teares of mine.

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Or would I were that plumed Swan, snow whight, Vnder whose form, was hidden heavenly power, Then in that river wold I most Delight, Whose waves do beate, against her stately bower. 10 And on those bankes, so tvne my Dyinge songe, That her deafe eares, should thinke my plaint to longe.

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Els wold I were Narcissus, that sweete Boy, And she herselfe the Fountayne, Cristall cleere, Who ravisht with the Pride of his own Ioy, 15 Drenched his limmes, with gazing over neere. So should I bringe my Sowle to happy reste, To end my Lyfe, in that I loved beste. FINIS ./ RA. [49] Callinge to minde, mine ey went longe abowte, To cause my Harte for to forsake my breste. All in a rage, I thought to plucke it owt, By whose devise, I livde in such vnreste. What could it say then to regayne my grace, 5 Forsoothe, that it had seene my mystres face. An other time I called vnto mynde, It was my Hart, which all this wo had wrought, Because that he to Love, his forte resynde, When on such warres, my fancy never thought. 10 What could he say, when I wold have him slayne, That he was yours, & had forgon me cleane. 37r

At lenghte when I perceivde both Ey and Harte, Excuse themselues, as guiltles of my ill, I found my self the cause of all my smarte, 15 And tould my selfe, my self now slay I will. Yet when I saw myself to yow was trew, I lovde myself, bicause miself lovde yow. FINIS. RA. [50] Farewell false Love, thou Oracle of Lyes, A mortall Foe, an Enymy to reste, An envious Boy, from whence all cares aryse, A Bastard borne, a Beast with rage posseste. A way of Error, a Temple full of Treason, 5 In all effectes, contrary vnto reason. A poisoned Serpent, coverde all with flowres, Mother of Sighes, & murtherer of repose. A Sea of Sorrows, whence ar drawn such showres, As moisture lendes to every grief that growes. 10

Poems 48–51

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A Poole of guile, a Neste of Deepe Decaipte, A guilded hooke, that holdes a poisoned Bayte. A fortresse foild, which Reason Did Defende, A Syrens song, a Fever of the mynde, A maze wherin Affectiones findes no ende, A raunginge Clowd, that roves befor the wynde A Substance like the shadow of the Sunne, A Goale of Grief, for which the wisest runne. A quenchlesse Fyre, a Nurse of trembling feare, A pathe that leades to peryll & mishappe, A trew retrayt of Sorrow and Dispayre, An ydle Boy, that sleepes in plesures lappe. A deep mistrust of that whiche certayne seemes, And hope of that, which Reason doubtfull deemes. Since then thy traynes, my yonger yeres betray, And for my Faithe, Ingratitud I finde, And sithe Repentaunce, * thy wronges bewray Whose course I se, repugnant vnto kinde, False Love, desire, & Bewty frayle, Adew, Dead is the rote, from whence such fancies grew. FINIS. / RA . /

[51] Nec habent occulta sepulchrum. Singe neighbours singe, here yow not Say, This Sabaothe Day: A Sabaoth is reputed, Of such a roiall Saincte, As all Sayntes els confuted, Is Love without constrainte.

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Let such a Sainte be praised, Which so her worth hath raised, From him that wold not thus, Good Lord Delyver vs. 10 Sound up your pypes, do yow not see, That yond is Shee, Yeaven She that most respecteth, The faithfull loving myndes, 51 title: occulta] first c altered from e

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And no on thought reiecteth, 15 That vpon Honor byndes. Let such a Sainte be praysed, Which so her worth hath raysed, From him that wold not thus Good Lorde Deliuer vs. 20 38r

Shew forth yowr Ioy, let moorninge stay, This is Her Day: Her day on which shee entred, And with her entry Peace, Whiche shee hath not adventred, 25 But kepte for our encrease. Let such a Saynte be praysed, Which so her worth hath raysed From him that wold not thus Good Lord Delyver vs. 30 All Ioy is full, loke for no moe, Let Sorrow goe; Let Sorrow go Despised, And mirth be made a Queene, The Heavens highely praised, 35 That we this day have seene. Let such a Saynte be praised, Which so her worthe hath raysed, From him that wold not thus, Good Lorde Delyver vs. 40 FINIS./ Sir P. Sy. [52] The silly Bird, the Bee, the Horse, The oxe, that tilles and delves, They build, bringe hony, beare, & Draw, For others; not themselves. FINIS ./. frustra sapit qui sibi non sapit

Poems 51–54

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[53] Locke up fayre lyddes, the treasure of my harte, Preserve those beames, this ages only lyght, To her sweet Sence, sweet Sleep, som ease imparte, Her sence to weake to beare her spirites mighte And while (o Sleepe) thou closest vp the sight, 5 Wher cunninge Love did forge his finest Darte, O harbor all her partes, in easfull plighte; Let no straunge Dreames, make her fayr body starte; But yet (o Dreame) if thou wilte not departe, In this rare Subiecte from thy common righte, 10 But wilt thi self in such a Seate delight, Then take my shape & play a Lovers parte, Kysse her from me, & say vnto her sprighte, Till her eyes shine, I live in Darkest nighte. FINIS. / SYD. [54] If I could thinke, how these my thoughtes to leave, Or thinking still, my thoughtes might have an end, If rebell Sence, wold reasons law receave, Or reason foyld, wold not in vayne contend, Then might I thinke, what thought were best to thinke, 5 Then might I wisely swym, or gladly sinke If either you would chaunge yowr cruell Harte, Or cruell styll, time would your Bewty stayne, If from my Soule, this Love would soone Departe, Or for my Love, some Love I might obtayne, 10 Then might I hope, a chaunge, or ease of minde, By your good helpe or in my self to finde. But since my thoughtes in thinckinge still ar spente, With Reasons strife my sences overthrone, Yow fayrer still, and still more cruell bente, 15 I lovinge still a loue that loveth none, I yeld and strive, I kysse and curse the payne, Though, Reason, Sence, Tyme, Yow, and I, mantayne. FINIS ./. SYD. /.

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[55] The Fire to see my wronges, for anger burnethe, The Ayre in Rayne, for my affliction weepethe, The Sea to ebbe for grief his flowinge turneth The Earth with pity dull, the Center keepethe, Fame is with wonder blazed, Tyme runnes away for Sorrow, Place standethe still amazed, To se my nightes of Evill, which have no morrow. Alas only She no pitye Takethe,   To know my mysery, but chaste & cruell, My fall her glory makethe, Yet still her Eyes, give to my flames their fewell Fyre, burne me quicke, till sence of burning leve me, Ayre, let me draw no more my Breathe in anguishe, Sea, drownde me in thee, of tedious life bereve me, Earthe, take this earthe, wherin these spirites languishe. Fame, say I was not borne, Tyme, Draw my dismall hower, Place, see my grave vptorne, Fire, ayre, sea, earth, fame, time, place, shew your power. Alas from all their Helpes I am exiled;   For Hers I am, and death feares her displesure, O Deathe thou art beguiled, Though I be hers, she makes of me no Tresure. FINIS ./. Sir. P. Sy. [56] Omnia Tempus. We till to sow, we sow to reape, We reape & grinde it by & by, We grynde to bake, we bake to eate, We eate to lyve, we live to Dy. We Dy *with Christe, to reste in Ioy, In Heaven freed, from all annoy. FINIS.

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[57] an vnworthe beloved, to her approved. Vntill the Fatall Day, The lively thred vntwist, I am yowr owne approved frind, Spight then therat who list. I feare not for their spight, Who list therat to spurne, To yow I have my Harte bequethde, And I will never turne. The Frost shall kindle Fire, Against his wonted kinde, Before the wante of my Desyre, Shall *cause me chaunge my minde. *make Yf ever grief or gaine, Do make me shrynke or swarve, Then Iudge me worthy of such Deathe, As iustly I Desarve. And worthy may I weare, The blotte above my browe, Yf ever any have a place, within my Harte but yow. And for a finall Ende, Of this I make yow sure, Suche faith is fixt within my brest, As ever shall endure. Yf I vnconstant be, A Lazars Death I wishe, And to receave for my Desartes, A clapper and a Dishe. FINIS.

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[58] We silly Dames, that false Suspect do feare, {*}Envies And dwell within the mouthe of *Ennvyes lake, Must in our brestes a Secret meaninge beare, *forst, Far from the show, that we ar *driven to make. So wher I like, I list not vaunt my Love, 5 Wher I Desire I seeme to move debate, On hath my hand, an other hath my Glove, But he my harte whom most I seeme to hate.

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Thus farewell frend I will continve straunge, Thou shalt not iudge, by word or writing ought, 10 Let this suffice my vow shall never chaunge, And for the rest I leve it to thy thought. FINIS. Ball [59] The Coulte Did pipe a cherefull round, Whiles *he about the wood did raunge, *she But now that *he is fast in pounde, *she *His mery piping *he Doth chaunge. *her *she And squeaketh in a pelting rage, 5 I am a captive in a Cage. FINIS. [60] No plage to pride; no wo to want: no grief to luckles love; no fo to fortune; frend to god; no truth till triall prove. No Serpent to a slanderous Tounge: no corsey vnto care; No losse to want of liberty; no griefs to Cupides snare. No foole to fickle phantasy; that turnes with every winde. 5 No tormente vnto Ielousy, that still disturbes the minde. FINIS. 40v

[61] The rufull state, the straunge and wretched lyfe, The deadly griefes, that grype the pining harte: The vnsought Love, that alwaies bredethe strife, And once receavde, doth never yeld but smarte, Behould in him, who never was at reste, 5 Since in his harte, he harbored suche a geste. Vnhappy head, & most accursed Eye, That didste devise, to see her poisoned baytes, From which thy Sowle, had never power to fly, Vntill it was devowred, throw her slayghtes. 10 Vnhappy Harte, and yet most happy thee, In which ther can none other setled bee. O that the Heavens wold witnes but the least, Of that wherwith they dayly see me grieude,

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Poems 58–62

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Whiche neither ^pen^ can wryte, nor tonge proteste, 15 So that I might by som meanes be relyevde. For on the erthe he never shalbe found, Of my hard hap, that can set downe the ground. I do possesse, yet can I not enioy, Thoughe present that, which alwayes is with mee, 20 I am possest, yet doth she still annoy, Thoughe absent that, which ever she may see. What shall I say, vnfaithfull, fond, & vayne, And yet most constant, must I still remayne. *of *is

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The mor I seke, the lesse I do forgette, 25 *And smothred coles, *are sonest kindled fire; I rake up sighes, which ashes outward sette, Yet inwardly all flaminge wyth Desire. O that she would with pity quench this flame, Or I might be consumed in the same. finis. 30 [62] O that I knew, or that I could forgette, The way to have, or els the grief to lose, The Dartes of Love, from whence my Hart doth chaunge, Or that I could imagine I were Dead, And that some Spirit walked in my stead, 5 Or that I thought my Tragedy to traunce. My love, my losse, a vision or a Dreame, Or that I had a medicine for mischaunce, Or better strenghte to row against the streme, Or that my Hart wer made of stone or Steele, 10 That Fancies stormes it might never Feele, That I might trafecke to som forrayn place, Discharge my Shyp, and take exchaunge of ware, Sweet favors serve in stede of sore Discharge, For labor rest, compased for my Care, 15 Hope for Dispaire, hope for Desire, what els, Substance for Shewes, & kirnels for my shels, But if all way to well contente do fayle, That chaunge can yeld, or wit of man devise,

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Unfrendly windes still turned down the Saile, 20 Of faythfull Love: & service enterprise On absence shore my ship must runne on ground, Till Love, my frend, and swete Desire be drownd. FINIS. [63]

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Futuris gaudeo presentia contemno.

[66] Who takes in hand to till the barren soyle, Or lokes for grapes to grow on bushy thorn, Or who doth seke in Sand for sweetest oyle, At lenght his labor turnes but to a scorn. Even so who layes goodwill in thanckles lap, 5 And sues for service, wher ther is no gayne, And leapes the hedge, & never to gap, In troth Desarves his labor for his payne. And sith such slight reward to him is Due, Thats redy for to runne at every whistle, 10 The proverbe seemes in him for to be true, He blessing wantes, that bowes to every thistle. Wherfore the man Deserves but losse, That leaves fine gould, and playes with drosse. FINIS.

63–65] these entries are scored through with a series of lines; Futuris . . . contemno] boxed off in the right-hand corner of the page; with reference to all three entries?

Poems 62–68

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[67] The Bird, which is restraynd, Of former Hartes delight, I must confesse twixt lyfe & Death Doth alway combatte fyght. So doth the Harte compeld, By Heste of Parentes will, Obay for feare, yet forst by love, Continewes constant still. No absence by consent, My dearest I, Hath wrought to worke thy ^H^ from thee; Like Cressid false to fly. Ne shall I live to loathe, What may content thy mind, Hap lyfe, or death, as true as steele, Thou shalt thy find. Thy eares shall never heare, Nor Eyes shall ever see, That any she shall reape the Fruite, Which planted was for thee. Then frame thiself my Deare, To take against thy will, Our absence, in good parte, till time, May better happe fulfill. And therwithall receave, This pledge to cure thi payne, My Hart is thine, preserue it well, Till we two meete agayne. FINIS. HW [68] Adew Desire and be contente, My wery minde doth seeke to rest, Those trifling toyes I Did frequente, I leave for those that like them beste. My harte is set, I list not raunge, My likynge never lokes to chaunge.

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I wishe, and want that most I seeke, Yet finde I more then I Deserve, Would God my love could lay misleeke, I Vow my fayth should never swerve. Yet though my wyll Doth want his Scope, Ile love, and lacke, and live in hope. FINIS.

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[69] I heard a Heardman once compare, More quiet nightes that he had slept, And had more happy Dayes to spare, Then he that owde the Beastes he kept. {FINIS}. 42v

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[70] When dreadfull Deathe, with his sharp piercinge Darte, With Dedly Dinte, this Corpes of mine shall kill; When lingringe lyfe, shall from my Lymmes departe: I shall set down my Testament and will. My deare frindes shall Executors remayne, To se performde, what here I Do ordayne.

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To the o World, I first of all Do leave, The vayne delightes, that I in thee have fownd, The fayned wayes (wherwith thou Didst Deceave, *The fickle Trust, and promises vnsownd. 10 My wealth, my wo, my Ioyes commixt with Care, Take thou them all, they fall vnto thy share. And Sathan thou, for that thou wert the cawse, That I in Sinne Did still mispend my Dayes, I the defy, and heere renounce thy Lawes, 15 My wicked thoughtes, my will, & naughty wayes. And eke my vice do to thee let them fall, From the they came, Do take to the all.

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Poems 68–71

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To the o Earth, agayne I do restore, My Carrion Corpes, which from the did proceed, 20 Because it did neglect all godly Love, Let greedy Wormes vpon it alway feed. And so remayn vntill the Iudgement Day, Let it in filthe, consume and rotte away.

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But my poore Sowle, whom Christe, most derely bought, 25 Whiche hated synne, and lothed to offend, Together with each good and godly thought, Into thy handes, swete Iesu I commend. O Saviour Christ, do guide my steps so well, That after Deathe, *She still with the may Dwell. 30 FINIS [71] When that thine Eye hath chose the Dame, And stawld the Deare that thou shalt strike: Let Reason rule thinges worthy blame, as well as Fancy parcyall lyke, Take counsayle of som other Hedde, 5 Neyther vnwise, nor yet vnwedde. And when thou comst thy Tale to tell, Whett not thy tonge with filed talke, Lest She some suttle practise smell, A creeple sone, can finde on halte, 10 But playnly say thou lovste her well, And set thy person forth to sell. And to her will frame all thy wayes, Spare not to spend; and chiefly there, Wher thy expenses may sound prayse, 15 *By ringing alwayes in her Eare. *be The strongest Castle, Towre or Towne, The Goulden Bullet beates it Downe. Serve alwayes with assured truste, And in thy Suyte be humble, trew; 20

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Unles thy Lady prove uniuste, *Packe never then to chuse a new. When Time Doth serue, then be not slacke, To profer though she put it backe. What thoughe her frowning Browes be bent. Her clowdy Lookes will calm ere night, And she perhaps will sone repent, That she Dissembled her Delight. And twyse Desire ere it be Day. That with such Scorne she put away. 43v

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What though she strive, to try her strenghthe, And ban & brawle and say the nay, Her feeble force will yeld at lengthe And Crafte hath taught her thus to say. Had women bin as strong as Men, 35 Bythe Masse he had not had it then. Thinke women seke to match with men, And lyve *in synne, and not to Saynte, Here is no Heven, be holly then, When time with Age shall them attaynte. Were Kissing all the Ioyes in Bedde, On woman wold another wedde.

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The wiles and Gibes that in them lurke, Dissembled with an owtward show, The trickes & toyes, the meanes to wurke, 45 The Cocke that tredes them, shall not know. Have yow not hard it sayd full ofte, A womans Nay, Doth stand for nought.

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Poems 71–73

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[72] Desier hath no rest, in some Desired thinges Yet chiefest Ioy we do attayn, Desier often bringes. For if we be in thrall, and thrust from Fortunes lap, And former blisse is turnde to bale, & we in bondage trapt, When frendes do fayle at need, & flax hath taken fyre, 5 The only help that then we have, is only depe desire. finis {FINIS FINIS} 44r

[73] Tempo inderno, perso pyango. My hope doth waite for Hap, As hap by hope shall fall, And I in Hope Drive of my time Let hap com when it shall. Repulsed through Disdayne, 5 By hope Assalt I try, Yet froward fortune houldes me owt, And frownes I know not why. But bootles ar her bragges, She bendes her Browes in vayne, 10 My hart is setled so in hope, In hope I will remayne. For what can Fortune do, Against a willing minde, She conquers them that yeld to soone, 15 And com of Cowardes Kinde. But wher that Bouldnes strives, By Hope to enter in, Her force Doth faile her power quailes, No vantage may she win. 20 And wher Defence is made, Her malice to withstand, She shrinkes asyde, & yeldes herself Into her Enimies hande. Then forwardes will I marche, 25 As on whose feare is past,

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In Hope to put ill hap to flight, And get good chance at last. Though Daunger steppeth forth, And shake her sword at me, 30 And spurninge spite hath spide my frayme, And sekes my Bane to be, 44v

Though heapes of Ielouse heades, Have me beset aboute, And new devise hath drawn a draught, 35 To make me fear the Stowte, Yet arme miself I will, With patience for the tyme, Vntill my Foote be in the Forte, Wherto I seke to clyme. 40 Watch well ye wily wightes, Kepe all your wites awake, A Day will com you will be glad, A Truce with me to make. Though Hope and hap withall, 45 Ar daungers past & gonne, Yet Hope and I will never parte, Till I my wishe have wonne. FINIS. A N. [74] Amongst the wilfull wayward sorte, Of Cupids Ioyes & sugred snares, I simple Sowle, whose wonted sporte, Was wantonly to scorne their shares, Wherwith the blinded God assinde, 5 A plage to each afflicted minde, *And now belapt in carefull lyne, *Am And must by Doome my Ioyes repyne. My youthfull yeres that to & fro, In lusty lesere I spent at gaze, 10 With head as wild as roving Roe, Must now go tread the endles maze. Preparde by Venus and her Son, Who laugh to se me tho vndon.

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And cause I scornd their trade before, 15 They Ioy to make my paine the more. 45r

Some worthy wight his Ladies Love, By deedes of Armes hath wonne at last, And Some as auncient stories prove, By Suyte & Service, pickes have past. 20 And got the gladsom goulden Glee, And secret fruictes, have reptte for fee. But I poore Soule, am non of those, For what I seeke, that sure I lose. Yf Valiaunte Arte in Battle brave, 25 Yf Dint of Sword might strike the stroke, Yf yelding minde to be your Slave, Myght bale me from this lothsom yoke, Behould a minde already prest, wyth might and mayne to do his best. 30 Although I want such feature fine, As best might please yowr curious eyen. But froward Fortune layes the Logge, That kepes me from my wished Blisse, And chaynes me fast in Beggars clogge, A meane wherby my wish I misse. For this is soothe, & all men see, That Beggars must no chusers bee, And love men say will were by want, And woes be rife, where welth is scant. FINIS.

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[75] Like Tantalus my payne doth last, like Etna mount I burn, Like trauncing Troilus, tru in love, Leander like I morne. Like Siciphus my life I lead, Alexion like I weare, Eneas like (most wofull man) my restles state I beare. Like Thystalus pore silly man) my yothfull yeres ar past, My life in Love, my love in paine, my payne in panges do last. The Drawing Ox, the laden Asse, the silly beast doth sleep, But bound am I in Cupides bandes, in Venus wrath I creep.

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My smothering lyfe in blubbering teares, my hart doth rue & pant, My faltering tonge (most wofull wight) my health throw you I want. Since love doth leave me thus, to lyve, I mean a lover true to bee, 10 Wherto I fully condescend, and freely do agree. Let pity then bewayle my wo, let merry then ensue, Help Ladies all, my mangled hart, & wounded sores to rue. If I had winges like Dedalus, to mount vp to the Skye, To feed my hungry minde, I wold to yow full often flye; 15 Faire Helen shall not beinge alive, nor all her ladies brave, Nor Cressid faire, nor Imphier faire, my faithfull hart once have. But of twise happy man were I, if Paris Dreames might see, When magus son, with Sisters iij, did cause him Iudge to bee. Thrise happy man if I might have, Apelles art in Hand, 20 With curious art to Draw your form, in table bord to stand; Which should be set befor mine Eies, with Garland faire of Bay, As Did Pigmalion curiously, his carved worke display. FINIS. [76] The Eye dothe finde, the Hart Doth choose, And faith doth bynde, till Death doth loose. FINIS. [77] The choyse that I have chosen, Therwith I am contented, The Fire shall first be frosen, FYNYS Before I Do repent yt. 46r ballet.

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The mountaynes highe, whose lofty toppe, Doth touch the haughty Skye, The craggy Rocke, that to the Seas, Free passage doth Deny; The aged Oake, that Doth resiste, 5 The force of *blowinge blaste; *blustringe The pleasant herbe that every where,

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A fragrant smell Doth caste; The Lyons force, whose Corage stoute, Declareth princely mighte: The Egle that for worthines, Is borne of Knighte in fighte: The Loathsom Toade that shunneth light, And livethe in Exile: The Serpente eake whose venomed iawes, *Doth belche vp Venome vile: *Do Theese, these I say, and thousandes more, By tracte of Tyme Decay: And lyke to Tyme Do quite consume, And vade from forme to clay. But my true harte & service vowde, Shall last tyme out of minde: And still remayne thine own by Doome, As Cupid hath assinde. I am not mine, but thine as now, Thy *will I will obay, *hest And serve the as a servant ought, In pleasinge (if I may. My Faithe lo here I vow to thee, My Truth thou knowste right well: My Life, my goodes my Frendes, ar thine, What needes me more to tell? And since I have no flyinge winges, To see thee as I wishe: Nor finnes to cut the *silvered stremes *silver As Doth the glydynge Fyche: Therfore now leave forgetfulnes, And send agayn to mee: And stray thy hand, & Pen to write, That I may gretinge see. And thus farwell to me, more deare, Then chiefeste frind I have, Whose love in Hart, my mynde shall shrine, Till Death his fee Do crave. FINIS.

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[79] Yf Care inforce Complaint, why do I hide my woe, Yf every man revele his grief, let me my sorrow shoe. Since none amongst them all, in passion so doth pyne, But that his payne wold pleasure seme, if it were matcht with myne. The Son with cheerefull beames, that causde my Ioyes to spring, And every thought to blossom fresh, & plesure forth to bring: That clad my hart with Greene, whom winter mixte before, Is now eclipsed by disdaine, & shines to me no more. The Tree, whose lovely shade, did shrowde both winde & raine, Whose Braunches bred my happy Blisse, & fruyte made me so faire Is now removde alas, and I in Sorrow rue, To se that set in other Soyle wheron my comfort grew. The Garden of Delight, whose flowres were Bewty brave, Whose Savours swet refresht my Sence, whose sight such comfort gave, Whose walkes relievde my woes, & Ayer Did ease my smarte, Wyth Netles now is overgrowne, that stinges me to the Harte. The Sea was sweet Desire, goodwill the happye winde That blew my Ship fraight with content, Dame plesures port to finde. Alas that Gale is gone, & Stormes so Dimme the Ayer, My Ship is dasht against the Rockes, and I Drownd in dispayer. Thus neither Sea nor Land, nor Shade, nor yet the Sonne, Can end my grief, that lost goodwill so late, hath new begonne. I meane the only Sayncte, and Goddesse of my lyfe, Denies all comfort of this World, to sterve me vp in strife. Her smiling lookes ar turnd, to frowninges now most straunge, Her frendly Love to deadly Hate, her Faith to fickle chaunge. The Ioyes of Paradise, vnto the paines of Hell, Goodwill is lost; she lothes me now, whom I have lovd so well. Come Care posses the place, that Pleasure did enioy: Dole and dispaire, cut of Delight, and fill me with annoy. My mistres will is so, I should these Tormentes feele To stretch me first vpon the Racke, & then dy on the wheele. FINIS . / .

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[80] Ictus Sapio. Once musinge as I lay; within my loathed Bed, Devisinge how to ease the grief, that fancy fond had bred; Thus to miself I sayde, with colour pale and wan; What aileth Fortune thus to frown, & plage me silly man. Thou angry Cupid thon quod I, how have I the offended? 5 Tell tell with speed thow blinded Boy, the same shalbe amended.

Poems 79–82

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What ayles the thus to shote & pearce my guiltles Harte? With arrow thin, with Goulden head, to cut atoo my Harte? Then on the myghty godes, and goddesses also, I tride to ease me of my grief, and rid me out of wo. 10 Thus musinge as I lay; ten thousand wais I sought, To banish Care out of my minde, but all prevailed nought. So long till that mine eyes to wander any longer Not able were; but presently I fell into a slumber. Twixt half a sleep & half awake etc. fol. pagina, 30. 15 FYNIS. [81] Who Prickles feares, to plucke the lovely Rose, By my consent shall to a nettle smell, Or through fainte harte who doth a Lady lose A Drudge I wish, or to leade Apes in Hell. On thornes no grapes, but sower Sloes do grow, 5 So from base Love, a base Delight doth flow. 47v

Then Minde crown thou thy thoughtes above the Sky, For easly gaind the conquest is not sweete, My fancy swifte with Icarus winges doth fly, Yet fastned so, as Fire & Froste may meete. 10 For pleasde am I if *hope return but this *hap Grace is obtaind, my mistres hand to kisse. A Grace indeede, far passinge all the Ioy, Of equall Love that offreth wishe in will For though her scorne and light esteeme annoy, 15 Dispayre of grace, my fancy cannot kill. Yet this with Ioy, all passions settes at rest, I Daily se my Mistres in my brest. FINIS. [82] Yf that the inward Grief, which festereth in my Hart, And secret shrowded care, which cankereth in my brest, Might owtwardly appeare, & show what inward smart, Doth frette my frantike minde, & feede me with unrest: Then should all others see, 5 What Tormentes I sustaine, And lightly learn by mee, Such fancies to refraine.

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But sith no sight may see, the Passions I endure, Nor any Sence Perceive, the Depth of my distresse, Nor yet to salve my sore, I can that thinge procure, In which alone it lies, my torment to appese, Let grief of inward thought, And Secrett Sorrowes smart, Which self Conceipt hath wrought, Consume my carefull Harte. Yet whilste in pininge payne, I wast with inward wo, Let me bewayle the cause, that cureles me annoyes That others may beware, the harme that hurtes me so, And Lerne by my mischaunce, to shunne such frantike toys. For Fancies rare Conceipte, Presuming happy hyre, Hath swallowed vp both Hooke & Bayte That poisoned my Desyre. Which when my Hart perceavd, by combraunce of my thought Yt bad myne Eye pursue, the choise of my request, Whose gredy lookes by ofte incountree view had wrought. A straunge alluring Ioy, procuringe more vnrest. For whilste Love doth consent, To ease & end my Toyle, Betraying Fortune doth invent, Both Love & Lyfe to foyle. But sith my froward lucke, allowes no better Hap, But that my Ioyles ease, with wretched wo must dwell, Ile yeld my self forlorne, to live in Sorowes lap, Where secret Grief & Shame, all comfort shall expell. Till lyef of Loyall Love, Hath felt thextremest power, Or Love of hatefull Lyef Hath sene the latest hower. FINIS.

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[83] Philisides, the Shepherd good & true, Came by Menalchas house, the husbandman, With Songes of Love, & praise of Mirrhaes hue, Whose faire sweet lokes, made him loke pale & wan. Yt erly was, Menalcha forth was bound, 5 With Horse & man, to sow & till the ground.

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Menalcha softe, this Shepeherd to him saies, Wilt thou with worke, this holy time Defile? This is the chief of Cupides Sabaothe Daies, The Wake of those that honour Samos Ile. 10 Where great, & small, rich, poore, & eche Degree, yeld, fayth, Love, Ioy, & prove what in them bee. Menalcha who of longe his thoughtes had tild, With Fancies plow, that they might plesure beare, And with his Love the Empty Furrowes fild, 15 Which alwais sprange to him againe in feare, Was well content the plow & all to yeeld, Vnto this Sabothe Day, & sacred feeld.

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And on is past by course amonge the reste, Wyth layes of Ioy, & Lyrickes all of Praise, 20 His Hart as theirs, in service of the beste, For other Saintes, he knoweth not their daies. Yf any Iuste, his whip must be his Speare, And of his teeme the *till horse, must him beare. When he runnes well, then well to her betide, 25 When yll, then ill a plaine faith is exprest, Yf neither well nor ill light on his side, His course is yet rewarded with the best: For of all Runners, this the Fortune is, That who runnes best, is fortunde on to misse. 30 FINIS. P. Sidney. [84] The Troiane Prince that Priam hight, By humble suite obtainde; Of stowt Achilles Hectors corps, Which Gould cold not have gainde. Nor cruell Cresus could compare, 5 His rage to pitties force, But slayer of his sonne receavde, Of whom he tooke remorce. Darius wife when weping shee, With sighes did mercy seeke, 10

83 subscription: P. Sidney] Hand A addition in different ink (altered from H C: H deleted before P., C overwritten with S)

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Lo Phillips sonne, with her did weepe, The teares ran downe his cheeke. And will yow me, reiecte (alas) Which Love yow as my harte, Your grief is mine, your wo my paine 15 Your Sorow is my Smarte. Adew farwell mine only healthe, Your answer I expecte, A thousand times I wishe to know, Yf yow my sighes reiecte. / 20 FINIS. E. E. 49v

[85] Now leave & let me rest, Dame pleasure be content, Go chuse amoge the best, My Dotinge Daies ar spent. By sundry signes I see, * profers ar but vaine *Thy And wisdom warneth me, That pleasure asketh payne. And nature that doth know, How time her steps doth try, Gives place to painfull wo, And bides me lerne to dy. Since all fayre youth*ly thinges, *full Sone ripe will sone be rotten, And all the pleasaunt Springes Sone withered sone forgotten. And youth that yeldes all *, Ioies That wanton youth requiers In Age repentes the Toyes, That wretchlesse yovth Desires. All such Desire I leave, To such as follow Traynes, By pleasures to *, deceave Till they Do fele the paines.

84.16 a single ruled line is drawn beneath this line 85.17 *; margin: Ioies] deletion, asterisk and marginal correction in a different ink; probably Hand A 85.23 *; margin: deceave] deletion, asterisk and marginal correction in a different ink; probably Hand A

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And from vaine pleasure past, I flyt, & faine wold know, The happy place at last, Wherto I hope to go. For wordes nor wise reportes, Nor all examples gonne, Can bridle wilfull sportes Till age com creping on. These pleasant courtly games, That I delighted in, My elder *yeres now shames *age Such follies to begin. And all these fancies straunge That vaine delight brought forth, I do entend to chaunge, and count them nothing worth. For I by profes am *warnd, warne And taught to know the skill, What ought to be forborne, In my yong wretchles will. Which by good wordes I fleete, From will to witt againe, In hope to set my feete, In surety to remaine. /. FINIS. Regina.

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[86] When griping griefes the hart wold wound, And dolefull Dumpes the mynde oppresse, Then musicke with her silver sound, With speed is wont to lend redresse Of troubled mindes for every Sore, 5 Swete musicke hath a Salve in store. In Ioy it makes our mirth abownd, In wo it cheeres the heavy sprightes,

85.41 *warnd; margin: warne] asterisk and marginal correction in different ink; probably Hand A 85.44 In] n scored through with curved stroke, perhaps marking deletion 85.47 In] n scored through with curved stroke, perhaps marking deletion 85 subscription: Regina] overwritten first with a zig-zag line and then struck through with two thick lines; Regina added, in Hand A, in same ink as deletion

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Desturbed heades relief have fownd, By musickes pleasant sweet Delightes. 10 Our Sences (what should I say more?) Ar subiect all to Musickes lore. The Godes by musicke have their praise, The Fishe, the Fowle therin do ioy, For as the Roman Poet sayes, 15 In Seas when Pirates wold Destroy, A Dolphin savde from Death most sharpe, Arion playinge on his Harpe. O heavenly gifte which rules the minde, Even as the sterne doth turne the Ship, 20 O musicke whom the Goddes assinde, To comfort man, whom cares wold nip, Seing thou both man and beast dost move, What Beast is he wold thee desprove. FINIS: / balle 51r

[87] In Pescod time when hownd to horne, gives eare while Bucke is kild, And little boyes with pipes of Corne, sit keping beastes in field, I went to gather Strawberies tho when wodes & groves wer faire, And parchte my face with Phebus loe, by walking in the ayre; I lay me down all by a streame, & bankes all over head, 5 And ther I found the straungest Dreame, that ever yonge man had. Me thoght I saw ech Christmas game, both revells all & summe, And each thinge els that man cold name, or might by fancy cumme, The substance of the thing I saw, in Silence passe it shall, Because I lacke the skill to Draw, the order of them all; 10 But Venus shall not scape my pen, whose maidens in disdayne, Sit feeding on the hartes of men, whom Cupides bow hath slayne. And that blinde Boy sat all in blood, bebathed to the Eares, And like a conquerour ther *he stood, and scorned lovers teares. I have more hartes quod he at call, then Cesar could commaund, 15 And like the dead I make them fall, that overcrosse the lawnd.

86 subscription: balle] Hand A addition in different ink 87.14 *he] lacks marginal annotation, keyed by asterisk, due to page trimming

Poems 86–88

67

I do increase their wandring wites, till that I dim their sight, Tis I that do bereve them of, their Ioy & cheef delight. Thus did I se this bragging Boy, advaunce himself even then, Deriding at the wanton toyes, of folyshe loving men. 20 Which when I saw, for anger then my panting breast did beate, To se how he sate tauntinge them, vpon his royall seate. O then I wishte I had byn free, & cured were my wound. Me thought I could display his armes, & coward dedes expound. But I perforce must stay my muse, full sore against my harte, 25 For that I am a Subiecte wight, & launced with his Darte. But if that I atchieve the forte, which I have toke in charge, My Hand & Head, with quivering quill, shall blaze his name at large. FINIS. L ox. 51v

[88] Fancy farwell, that fed my fond delight, Delight adew, the cause of my desires, Desires adew that Dost me such Despight, Despite adew, for Death Dothe lend redresse. And Death adew, for though I thus be slayne, 5 In thy Despite I hope to live agayne. Sweet Hart farwell, whose love hath wrought my wo, And farwell wo, that weried hast my wittes, And farewell Wit, which will bewitched so, And farewell will, o full of franticke fittes. 10 Franzy farwell whose force I fele to sore, And farwell feeling, for I feele no more. And lyef adew, that I have lyvd and loathd And farewell Love, that makest me loth my lyfe, Both love and lyfe farwell vnto yow both, 15 Twixt hope and Dread, farwell all folishe strife. Folly farewell which I have fancied so, And farwell fancy, that first wrought my wo. FINIS. Dyer.

88 subscription: ] O possibly altered from C; Dyer] Hand A addition in different ink

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[89] Nec una, nec altera. My harte Doth pant for sorrow, My life away Doth wast, But not vntill to morrow, My Death requiers hast, But who would thinke that I, In such great panges were clad, For doting Love to Dy, I am not halfe so mad. To dy for doting Love, It were a folish parte, Therfore I will remove, Such follies from my hart. And clearely will expell, Such fancies from my minde, And thinke to do as well, To lose her as to finde. Indede my chaunce is suche, That I have lost the cure, Of her that I lovd muche, Although she wer not sure, And since it is her kinde, In flattery to be sette, And that I know her minde, I Dy not in her dette. And note yow well this Text, I tell it for no ly, But he that frendes her next, May speed as well as I. My grief it is so great, In fansies that I last, That when my meate I eate, My stomacke straight is past. I am so sicke I thinke, If I have not forgotten I can not eat nor Drinke, Vnles my movth be open. And Love it is so sore, Within my pore hart plight,

89.37 sore] s altered from f

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That I can rest no more, Then he that sleepes all night. 40 Fayne wold she me Deceave, But I will have no nay, For I will take my leave For ever and a Day. And sith I have forgon her, 45 Farwell sweet hart till then, A merry mischief on her I pray yow say amen. FINIS. /. Russell. [90] Cuius Iussui negare nefas est. Wingde with Desire, I seke to mount on hy, Clad with mishap, yet am I kept full low, Who seekes to live, but findes the way dy, Sith comfort ebbes, & combers daily flow. But sad Dispaire, wold have me to retire 5 When smiling hope sets forward my Desire.

*&

I still do toile *yet never am at rest, Enioying least which I Do fancy most, With hoary thoughtes ar my greene yeres opprest, To daunger Drawn from my Desired cost. Now crased is care then hauled vp by hope, With world at will, yet want I wished scope.

10

I like a Hart, yet Dare not say I love, And Lookes alone, do leave me chief relief. I dwell somtimes at rest, yet must remove, 15 With fained Ioy, to hide my secret grief. I wold possesse & yet must fly the place, Wher I do seke to win my chiefest grace. 53r

Lo thus I live twixt Care & Comfort tost, Wyth small abode, wher best I finde content, 20 I seld resorte wher I should settle most, My sliding dayes, that all to sone ar spent.

90.3 way dy] sic 90.9 opprest] s altered

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

I hover hy, & ceezd wher hope doth towre Yet frowning fate, defers my happy howre. I live abrod, yet secret it my lyfe, 25 Then lest alone when most I seme to lurke, I speake of Peace, that live in Deadly grief, When I do play, then ar my thoughtes at worke In person far, in minde that am full nere, I make light show, wher I should be most Deare, 30 A (male content) yet seeme I pleased still, That bragges of Hevens, & feles the paines of hell, But Time shall frame a world vnto my will, When as in sport, this ernest shall I tell. Till then sweet frend, abide this storm with me, 35 Which in Comforte of eithers fortunes be. FINIS. Lo. Ox.

53v

[91] Beinge asked how he lyked, he wrote

Formae nvlla Fides.

54r

[92] In Passione Melancholica.

Contra fatvm niti fatvvm

91 subscription: ] deleted in different ink with a zig-zag line and overwritten with looped shapes and letters; further bowdlerized with thick pen strokes

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[93] Cambridge Libell. I am a post in hast with speede, My Iade is almost tyred: But when this failes at Cambridge stewes, A Curtall soone is hyred. If yow mistrust Sir Iohn De Gecke, 5 Behould the Horne about my necke.

54v

Mr ⇓ Duswell, & Mrs ⇑ Bosome

Mr ⇓ Allen, & Iudithe ⇑ Goodwyne.

The ⇑ Bosome havinge malady, Phisitions cure being paste, A Surgeon ⇓ Dus well presently, The Pacientes pulse to taste. 10 But Galen Doth therat repyne, So late to minister after myne. Tom ⇓ Allen rides a woynge, We know not of his speedinge, Some say he hath bin Doynge. 15 Her brestes they be a bleedinge. Well then *this geare *goes vp with speed, *the church When suche ⇑ good *Wyne doth *worke indeed. men do

⇓ Dycke Swashe doth course his Dame, Dicke Swashe hys ⇓ So rancke a Curre, ⇑ so nyce a peere, ⇓ Man, & ⇓ Burwell, See baily here ⇑ Tide well for shame, with Tidewill, Els ⇓ Burre will cleave vpon her fleece. ⇓

hys ⇑ Wife.

⇓

Idem.

20

Yow know what painted Vizardes meane, The holier Saynt the viler Queane.

She Doth imbrace a ⇓ Swilbowle Swad, 25 And lusty Laddes Disdayne, A meeter match could not be had, Wher Pleasure scorneth Gayne, A crooked ⇓ Clowne sufficeth well, She feares the gallant yovthe will tell. 30

93 title: Cambridge Libell; after line 30: ] within ruled border, decorated with four lozenge shapes on either side of the text; second title is bowdlerized in different ink. Decorative lozenge shapes also appear at head of fols. 55v–58v (except fol. 56r)

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Poem 93 55r

Some Soyle can keepe, good Cut at home, But lusty Iacke will vante the Dyke, Barley the waterman, If Barley water Chaunce to fome, and his neighbowres Then Top & Tayle ar both alyke. Wyfe. The maltehouse is the metinge place, 35 Wheras the Mynyon pops the Case. In smoth slyke skyn a raveing ⇑ Wolfe, Fresh colours chaunge not kynde, A ⇓ Godgyne swimmes within her Gulfe, Wher Trypes mislyke her mynde. A twinkleynge doth show an ytche, A fawning tayle, a flatteringe Bytche. The ⇓ Butcher is not pleasd withe me, But ⇓ Rascall fret thy fill, Although thy Head well armed be, Yet butte not gentle ⇓ Will. And yet for all thy bragges & brawle, Thou werste the Badge of Butchers hawll. The drivelinge Droyle, the ⇑ Dyars wyfe, A Trotte for drunken Dvnne, A ⇓ Ryding Iade she nede no staffe, That Taylers spurres hath wvnne. But I Do thinke no hurt is mente, The ⇓ Landlord seketh but his rente.

Mr ⇓ Gudgyne of Bennet College, & ⇑ Wolfe the 40 Butcher hys wyfe.

Her Husband 45 William Wolfe.

⇓ ⇓

⇑ Dyars Wyfe & 50 Hughe ⇓ Rydynge theyr ⇓ Landlord.

Not brodest backes beare heaviest waightes 55 For slender sides have strenghthe. ⇓ Barleman the A tidy ⇓ Tytte with peds well frayght, Fisher, & To market comes at lengthe. ⇑ Tatams wife. But what ⇑ she meanes I cannot tell, Her stockfishe doth not savoure well. 60

93.60 doth] ambiguous descender after doth: perhaps partly formed s

74 55v

Mr Prestone, & ⇓ Morgane withe Mrs Tatam.

Peter ⇓ Whyteleafe and Anable of the ⇓ Lillipot.

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

More gayne is got by Taylers trashe, Then Iasons glorious showes, The on dothe ever lye at lashe, The other styll bestowes. On bringes, another beares away 65 Thus Banckrowtes drop to their Decay. ⇓

Whyte was the leaf that ⇑ Lilly bare, Whom wanton wynde blew of He gave the gleeke & for her share, She had a kindely scof. 70 Though Hanniball be fierce in fight, Yet hard to foile a carpet Knyght. ⇓

Fyne ⇑ Holland is not fyt for Coltes, Mr ⇓ Fletcher & Go seek som fytter smockinge, Mr ⇓ Archer with, The ⇓ Fletcher may go mend his boltes, 75 ⇑ Hollandes Wife. While ⇓ Archer hath the nockinge. No stately steppes nor lofty looke, Can save a Prelate from a Cooke.

Poore ⇑ Fletcher can not hit it right, Mr ⇓ Byrde & His Bolt Doth somwhat square, 80 Mr ⇓ Bushe with, The ⇓ Bushe, & ⇓ Byrde ar still in sight, ⇑ Fletchers wife. Whiche lyned his cote with Care. Tushe! fortune may thy state advaunce, Shote, Rychard, shote, & try thy Chaunce.

Thrydder the Sryvener with ⇓

Adensons wife.

A Clarke Doth ⇓ Thryd her nedle ofte, 85 When she Doth vse to stytche, She shakes the Legge, she flinges alofte, While Onsse doth patch his britche. Is this the feast of Radishe rootes, A bots on his Croper, that rides in my Bootes 90

93.85 Thryd] y altered from e

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Poem 93 56r

Adew the Sonne, the Moone in Eclypse, The Sonne hath found to hoat a Soyle, ⇑ Adensons Wyfe & Some A crabbed Signe, with scabbyd Hyppes, of ⇓ Katheryn Hall. God crosse me from the Royle. Though ⇓ Katherin Knightes do still encroche, 95 Yet meaner men the Vessell broche. ⇑

We have no harlots here to hyre, Go seke them some where elles, Her was a ⇓ Pryest though not a fryre, That filcht the ⇑ Falcons Belles. She commeth not in open viewe, But hath her casting close in Mewe. Churche roome is scant in Sermon tyme, Great ⇓ Pryce on ⇑ Pewe contaynes, All in a launce her Clapper chyme, When Madge at Home remaynes. Some daynty dishes to prepare, ⇓ Ryce potage was the chiefest fare. The ⇑ Smith manteynes ⇓ A fyry forge, Go light a Candle Dicke, A Draper fils her gredy gorge, She loves a lycorows stycke, Tis ⇓ Avery fy no more of that, The Wittall now doth smell a Rat.

Mr ⇓ Grace a minister

of Trinity College and Ioane of 100 the ⇑ Fawlcon.

Mr ⇓ Price & ⇓ Rice of the 105 Dolphin withe ⇑ Pewes wife.

⇓ Avery the 110 Draper with Mrs ⇑ Smithe.

But wot yow what? It happened so, 115 That he which wrought the wyle, ⇓ Avery lay with For pastyme past is mard withe wo, Smithes wife & Wherat I often smyle. got no child, but The Hornes that ⇓ Avery lent to ⇓ Smyth, ⇓ Smyth lay with Avery Ar now restorde, & more therwith. his wife and got one. 120

93.93 scabbyd] y altered from e 93.98 elles] second l altered

76 56v Mr ⇓ Welche, & Mrs ⇑ Smythe

Mr ⇓ Wygmore of Christes College with ⇑ Earles wyfe.

Marke the Tayler and ⇑ Lympynge Nell. ⇑

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Smythes Anvile bideth batteringe still Of Hammers great and small, The yron is hot Com worke yowr fill, Whilste stocke doth backwardes fall Yow vaunt in vayne, your wordes ar winde; 125 Speke ⇓ Welche and then she knowes your minde. ⇑

Well may thy wife a Countesse be, Yf thou wilt be an ⇑ Earle, Her Counte as som report to me, Bedeckt thy front with pearle. 130 With ⇓ Wige (and) more she spendes the night, In Daring fooles by candlelight. A ⇓ Marke by name, a Luke by lotte, Devine and full of gyle, Who ioynes with every dronken Sotte, 135 May katch the Frenchmans byle. St ⇓ Marke Doth thinke it very well, To heale the halt, aske ⇑ limpinge Nell.

Myne ⇑ Ostes old, St George Defend, Mr ⇓ Wilford and Sir Her tapping cannot taste, 140 ⇓ Chapmans of St Ihones To ⇓ Chapman she hath byn a frend, with ⇑ Clearkes wife But now his prime is paste. The ⇑ Barran Doe, that striketh free ⇓ Will forde oftimes the kepers fee. Mr Argall & a ⇑ Thatchers wyfe. ⇓

The fine to fish it fits not well, 145 When Gentiles go a ⇑ thackinge, Thou mightst have borne away the bell, If thou hadst lefte thy smackinge. But some ⇓ Ar gall & clad with sweete, Which now with homely morsels meete. 150

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Poem 93 57r

Rownd stones do roul, and get no mosse, Still grinding others grayne, Yowr sifting leaves behind the Drosse, In hope of better gayne. But all is mard saythe ruddy ⇑ Rose, Yf ⇓ thou my Secretes dos disclose. Wa pulls away by craft the right, What ⇑ Ball canst thow not see, The refuse of a Colliers Knight. Hath blemisht thy degree. Thou huntst the Hare, he stoppeth holes, Our ⇑ Scribe beguines to carry ⇓ coles.

On ⇓ Rowland, ^with^ & the ⇑

Thatchers wife 155

⇓

Although the ⇑ Ball be hoisted hye, Beware the hazard Hole, For if thy footing slyp awrye, Another gets the gole. This ⇑ Ball in Court Doth mar the play, Then Bandy such a ⇑ Ball away.

⇓

Wapull a Collyer wythe Mrs ⇑ Ball, 160

Idem evm 165 Eadem

The ⇓ more (yow) tunne the worse yow brew, Pretiosins cannot stinge, 170 If pocky ⇓ Barewels tale be trew, Mr ⇓ Morton & mr deest linea. ⇓ Barewell of Such copesmates strike the stroke, Christes College. Who Conscience is their masking Cloke. Such Whelpes Can want no Du releef, 175 Which seeme so smoth in sight, For both ar fed with Butchers beef, Idem A rascall diet right. They love the night they hate the Day, Thus slyppery knaves can closely play. 180

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When through the window ⇓ Philo creepes, He ment but little good, ⇓ Philo the draper His ⇑ Manninge fury collor keepes, and ⇑ manninges wife Who weares a forked hood. Such kynde of Coxcombes wer not worne, 185 When Griges made pointes of taggs of horne. Mr Ellis of St Ihones a tinkers sonne. ⇓

⇓

idem

A ⇓ yownker learned late I vewd, With some of secret smarte, I cannot terme him fully rewde, A nimphe to drive the Carte. 190 L. is the letter of his name, A tinkers ⇓ Curre, for Dunghill ⇑ Dame. But who wold thinke this prety man, With fiery flaming nose, Could of a rotten putched pan, 195 Compile a Velvet hose. The Lads do say that se this ⇓ Swad, Behould a Clowne most lively clad.

To ⇑ hunt (and) lay the game on ground, Mr Hounde & Mr The ⇓ wood=man liketh well, 200 ⇓ Wood with ⇑ hunt= Who seekes by sent of gredy ⇓ Hound, ley hys ⇑ Wyfe To trace the Tiger fell. ⇓

Looke somthing better to thy Lodge, And have an eye to simple Hodge.

Mrs Smalewood & ⇓ Cox of Peeterhouse ⇑

⇑

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Small (is the) Wood the braunch not greate, 205 That sets the house on fire, And many make a noble cheate, which closely some Do hire. Yet though thou makest thine host an Ox. Thou burnst thy bootes, you flapmouth ⇓ cox. 210

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For (and) as, towching thother thinge, We talked of but yesterday, ⇓ Mr Forand & The ⇓ stone is in the ⇑ Goldsmithes ringe, ⇓ Stone with the With Iewels pumishe gay. ⇑ Goldsmithes Wife She tipes the Hornes with party gilte, 215 He kepes the hand to runne at tilte. ⇓

Gup ⇓ Gibbon Can a blinking patche, Keepe on his pathway so, And darckling so to Draw the latche, Of ⇑ Butlers ⇑ Sellar ⇑ Low. Ware riot ⇓ piping slave I say, Darst thou on Scollers fiddle play?

Gibbon the fidler and the butlar of 220 Clare hall his ⇑ Wife. ⇓

At Sturbridge fayre when Beds be scant, And Straungers take repaste, Crosfielde withe Lest that thy frind should lodging want, 225 Tho takst him in with haste. Saundersons Wife To ⇓ Crosse (the) ⇑ field was then his minde, The crafty Curre did push behinde. If clenely wordes might show his Case All men should know the same, 230 When vnto the was turnd his face idem. Her face Deserveth blame. Iohn Saunderson I wilbe playne That shame doth bid my pen refrayne. Sir harry Sadler noble Knight, 235 Well mounted on a Gray. Thou levest thy price at night by right Though Ieffray Knight say nay. Thou seldom feedste in foggy fen, Yet stalde in Stable now & then. 240

80 58v ⇓ ⇑

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Alcoocke converte is cockall iuste, The baudy Courte can tell, Wherin be iudgd by Nycholas ⇓ Ruste, He knoweth the accion well. She grantes the fact betwene them bothe, 245 Though Alcocke cleere himself by othe. ⇑

Ruste & alcockes Wife

Alcocke and his neibours Wife.

If his Desert Deserveth blame, That stumbleth now & then, Then such a ⇑ Cocke deserveth shame, That treades his neighbours hen. Yet of this tale for manners sake I thinke tis time an end to make. By this the Poste is gon from hence, To place els wher assignde, Meane time while he retorneth thence, He leveth this behinde. Adew this present new yeres Day God send this troope a merry May. Here endes the Cockalls callender, Devised by vayne vallenger But as it is reported of all It was invented by Argall. FINIS

116 93.259 Cockalls] o and a in cypher

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[94] The Duttons, and theyr fellow players forsakyng the Erle of Warwycke, theyr mayster, became followers of the Erle of Oxford, & wrot themselues hys Comœdians; which certayne gentlemen altered & made Camœlions. The Duttons angry with that compared themselues to any Gentleman, therfore these Armes were devysed for them. The Fyeld, a Fart durty, a Gybbet crosse corded, A dauncyng Dame flurty of alle men abhorred. A lyther Lad stampant, a Roge in hys Ragges, A whore that is rampant, a stryde wyth her legges. A woodcocke displayed, a Calfe, & a Sheepe, 5 A Bitche that is splayed a Dormouse a sleepe. A Vyper in stynche la part de la Drut, Spell backwarde this Frenche & cracke me that Nut. Party per pillery, perced withe a Rope, To slyde the more lytherly anoynted with Sope. 10 A Coxcombe crospate in token of witte, Two Eares perforate, a Nose wythe ^a^ slytte. Three Nettles resplendent three Owles three Swallowes, Three Mynstrell men pendent, on three payre of Gallowes. Further sufficiently placed in them, 15 A Knaves head for a difference from alle honest men. The wreathe is a Chayne of chaungeable red, To shew they ar vayne, and fickle of head. The Creste is a Castrylle whose feathers ar Blew, In signe that these Fydlers will neuer be trew. 20 Wheron is placed the Horne of a Gote, Because they ar chast lo this is theyr lotte. For their brauery, indented and parted, And for their Knavery innebulated. Mantled lowsy, wythe doubled drynke, 25 Their ancient house is called the Clynke. Thys Posy they beare over the whole Earthe, Wylt please you to haue a fyt of our mirthe?

94] ruled border at the head of the page contains decorative lozenge shapes; the same shapes are repeated at the end of the title as a line filler 94.12 ^a^] interlined, in different ink, with caret

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But Reason it is, & Heraultes allow welle, That Fidlers should, beare, their Armes in a Towelle FINIS 59v

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[95] COLORES The Russet for the Travelors weare, In Countrey makes great shew: The Lover faithfull to his Deare Must cloathe himself in Blew. The stately Iudge above the rest. A robe of Purple weares, The youthfull yonker Greene likes best, Beseminge most his yeres. The Crimsyn cruelty importes, The Orengetawny Spyte, The Yellowe Ioyes portendes & Sportes, The Virgins hew is white. The murdering minde that thirstes for Blood Delighteth most in Red: To him the Murrey semeth good, Who is with Secretes fed. The Lover of his love forlorne. And quite cast of indeede. As one forsaken may go morne, Clad all in Tawney weede. Whoso of Parent is berefte Or wonted frend doth lacke, For him no Color els is lefte, To were but only Blacke.

FINIS

95 title: COLORES] in ruled border with decorative lozenge shapes either side; the same shapes are repeated either side of the subscription 95.25–26] partly scored through with three pen strokes

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[96] He that spareth for to speake, oft wanteth hys intente, & he that speketh & speedes therby, hys labor is well spente. He that spekes & spedeth not, hys labour is but lost, So speaking without speeding is but a slender cost. Finis. 60r

[97] Me thought of late in slepe I saw a Dame, With Nedle, sylke, & Sampler in her Lap, Who *singinge sate, a worke of finest frame, *sowinge, Begon with Hope, & ended with good hap. So must I frame the worke I set vnto, Or what I worke all Day, at night vndo. My thred (quod she) shalbe the thred of Life, Which first must passe the Eye of perfect sight, My cloth content without ere bracke or strife, My worke the word wherin I most Delight. Tassels of truth shall hange at every end, Thus will I frame a favor for my frend. And in the middes shall stand the knot of love Drawne by Desire wrought vp with ernest will, Fild faire with fayth which never shall remove, Crosstitcht with care & purld with perfect skill, Powderd with Payne, made fast with sound advise, Both sides alike, a worke of passing price. And therwithall she did begin to sow, But now (quod she) wher shall I finde a frend, On whom I may this favour well bestow, When I have brought my worke to wished end. Wherwith on me she chaunst aside to loke, And cried, Discried, and therwith I awoke. Lenvoy O heavenly Dreame but haples waking such, To lose the worke, that I Desird so much. FINIS.

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[98] Pushe Lady pushe, what push may that be? The best that may be yow may Cheapen of me. Yf that be not as good as ever was bought, Trye them of free Cost, returne them for nought. A Rushe for those pushes that push but in Ieste, 5 One pushe to the purpose, is worth all the reste. FINIS. 60v

*shall *that *bad

[99] If ever honest mynde might gayne, But half that others get by lewd Desarte, Or if the Damned harmes that I sustayne, Fell out but now & then thus overth^w^arte, I could content me well inoughe to beare, 5 The villanies of fortunes overthroe. But since my lucke runnes still against the heare, And that mishap hath vowd it shalbe soe, Tis my extremes that only do excell And I alone it is that dwelles in hell. 10 FINIS. I. F. [100] Seinge the altrynge facions of our tyme, Whyche dayly wayt a new & sodayne chaunge *vnto a table Fraunce we may compare: *One may compare Fraunce to a Table where, where at Prymero 4 mighty gamesters sit playinge at Prymero or 4 great gamesters sit The Kynge on whom the entyre losse *should fall 5 Sayes passe (if *well I may) *my game beinge fayre }or{although my game be fayre Burbon discharginge of his Cardynalls hatte. Dothe vye the game not carynge what insues, Or what *good hap (hys after carde) will brynge. Navar he vowes to hazard were it more. 10 The Guyse in hope but of a silly flushe, Sets vp hys rests and hazardes all their partes. But Phyllyppe standyng at hys elbowes ende, *Being hys halfe do secretly loke on, }or {beinge halfe wythe hym.

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Lendynge hym money to dyscharge the game, 15 In truthe *pretendynge to have rest and all. }or{intendyng. fynis.

[101] Behold the force of Hotte Desier, Two Hartes in one, that wold be Nyer. 61r

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FINIS. [103a] Pastor, arator, eques, paui, colui, superaui, capras, rus, hostes, fronde, ligone manu. I sheppard have fedd My goates With bowes

[103b] I plowman have plowed my growndes with plowes

I horsseman light have put to flight my foes in feild with speare & sheild Saintlowe Knyuetonne.

100 subscription: ] scored through with a series of diagonal strokes 101] beneath a pen drawing of two hearts pierced with an arrow 102.4 Fyshes] second s circled, perhaps to denote deletion 102.5 ^like birdes^] interlined with caret 102.1-6 scored through with a series of diagonal strokes; subscription: ] deleted with dense zig-zag line and scored through, in same ink used to delete text 103a–b] Hand B 103b subscription: Saintlowe Knyuetonne] Hand A addition in different ink

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[104] A hearde a swaine a noble Knight I fed I tild I did subdue My goates my growndes my foes by ^fighte^ With bowes with plowes these hands them slue. C{harles Evan}s . / 61v

[105] Somnum Affectionale. Luld by Conceipte when Fancy clozde myne Eyes. Sweete thoughtes presented me my golden Dreame, Wrapte in a Clowde, as fallinge from the Skyes, I was set downe hard by a Chrystall streame. The sacred spring where Phebe wont to play, 5 Not halfe so freshe, so pleasant nor so gay. And as Delighte did raunge in choyse of Ioyes. My wandringe view caste dyvers here & there. The flashyng of the water made a Noyse, Whyche drew myne Eye to follow by myne Eare. 10 But (oh) a sight no mortall man allowde, Save that I was enfoulded in a Clowde. Not Phœbe, but all passing Phœbes grace, My Mystres there the Goddes of my thoughte, Up to the knees stood bathynge every place, 15 Down from the Necke lyke to an Image wroughte. Actæons chaunce, whose pleasing harmfull sighte Afeard to bowld did make me stand afrighte. And as I gazde her Bewty caste a glaunce, Duty devyzde what might beseme me meete. 20 My Clowd wythall to see an hevenly chaunce, Was changde into a silkin Syndon sheete. I helde it vp before my face for feare, And towardes her (I hudwynkte) it did beare.

104 Hand D; two lines mark out alternative (vertical) readings of the text: the first line segments the first two words of each line; the second, the third and fourth 104.3 ^fight^] insertion, in Hand A, interlined with caret 104 subscription: Cs] deleted with zig-zag line and a series of thick horizontal strokes

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By thys sweete tyme she was vpon the Banke, 25 And in regarde to se my reverende righte, Servant (quothe she) thys askethe lyttle thanke, As mayden lyke as you attempte this sighte. No place for you, nor here no service fyt, But come (quod she) & helpe to dry me yit. 30 I had no speache (as men in such a Maze) But kiste the Sheete & clapt it to her Breste. And as herselfe my hand aboute her lays, What dothe not Ioye? I waked with the reste. All lost, Deceypt, my Dreame & all I blame, 35 And with my Sheete (indeede) lyes hyd my shame. FINIS. yeven H E. The more yow Desire her, The soner yow Mysse, The more yow Require her, The straunger she is.

[106]

The More yow do shun her, 5 The soner she plyethe, The more yow pursue her The faster she flyethe. But yf yow refuse Her, And seke not to Crave her, 10 So shall yow obtayne Her If ever yow have Her. Pro. est. [107] I Love a Lyfe to Lyve in Love, For so I Have Decreed. I Cannot Lyve except I Love, For Love is Lyfe indeed.

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[108] The state of fraunce as now yt standes ys like primero of foure handes Where some do vye & som doe houlde the best assurd may be to boulde The king was rashe withowt regard And being flushe woulde needes discard But first he past yt to the Gwyse, And he of nought strayte way yt vyes Navar was next & woulde not owt for of his cardes he had no dowt The Cardnall feyntly held his vye & wacht advantage for to spye For to goe owt his frendes him bedes But Cardnalls hatts makes busie hedes All restes were vp & all were in Whyle Phylip wrought that Guyse might win Queene mother stode behynd his backe And taught him how to make the pack And we that sawe them & their play Did leave them there and came awaye. /

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[109] Syttynge alone vpon my thought in Melancholy mood, In sight of Seas, & at my backe an auncyent hoary wood, I saw a fayre yonge Lady come, her secrete teares *bewayle, Clad all in Colour of a vow, & Covered with a Vayle. Yet for the day was cleare & calme, I might descry her face, 5 As one should see a damask Rose, hyd vnder Christall Glas Three tymes with her softe hand, on her Lefte side she knockes, And sighed so, as might have movde, some mercy in the Rockes. From sighes & sheddynge Amber Teares into sweete songe she brake, And thus the Eccho answerd her, to every word she spake. 10 Oh Heavens (quod She) who was the first, that wrought in me thys Fevere, Eccho, Vere. Who was the man that gave the wound, whose scarre I were for evere. Ecc, Vere. What Tyraunt, Cupid to my harmes, vsurpes the Golden Quyvere, Eccho, Vere. What wyght first caught thys Hart, & can from bondage it delyvere. Ecc. Vere. Yet, who doth most adore this wight, ô hollow Caves tell true? Ecc, yov, 15 What Nimphe deserves hys Likinge best, yet doth in sorowes rue? Ecc, yov,

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Poems 108–110

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What makes hym not regard goodwyll, with some remorse or ruthe? Ec, yowthe. What makes hym shew besides hys birth, such pryde & such vntruthe? E, yowthe May I hys Bewty matche with love, yf he my Love should trye. Ecc, ye. May I requite hys birth with faythe?, then faythfull wyll I dye. Ecc, ye 20 And I that know thys Lady well, sayde Lorde how greate a Myracle, To heare the Eccho tell her trew, as twere Appollos Oracle. /. Finis A Vauasoare 63v

[110] The gentle season of the yeare, Hath made the bloomyng braunche appeere, And bewtified the Land with flowers, The Ayre doth glymmer with the Light, The heavens do smyle to see the sight 5 And yet myne Eyes augment their showers. The Meades ar mantled all with greene. The trembling Leaves have clad the Treene, The Birdes with silver notes Do synge, But I poore sowle whom wrong doth wracke 10 Attyre myself in mournyng blacke, Whose Leafe doth fall amiddes the Springe. And as yow see the Scarlet Rose, In his sweet Pryme his buddes Disclose Whose Hewe is with the Sonne revyvde, 15 So in the Apryll of myne Age, My Lively Coloures Do asswage, Bycause my Sounshyne is Depryvde. My Hart that wounted was of yore, Light as the winde, abroade to sore, 20 Amonges the buds of Bewties springe, Now only hovers over yow, Lyke to the Byrde thats taken new, And mournes when all his Fellowes singe.

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When every man is bent to Sporte, 25 Then pensive I aloane resorte, Into some solytary walke,

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As Doth the Dolefull Turtle Dove, Who having Lost his faythfull Love, Syts mourning on some wythered stalke. / 30 There to myself I Do recounte, How far my Ioyes my woes surmount, How Love requiteth me with Hate, How all my Pleasures end in payne, How hap Doth say my Hope is vayne, 35 How Fortune frownes vpon my State. And in this moode Chargde with Despayre, With Vapored Sighes I Dymme the Ayre, And To the Gods make this request; That by the ending of my Lyfe, 40 I may hence trace from this straunge stryfe, And bring my Sowle to better Rest. / FYNYS. S: P. Sidney. 64v

[111] I wyll forget that ere I saw thy Face, I wyll forget thou art so brave a wyght: I wyll forget thy stately Comely grace, I wyll forgett thy hue that is so bright I wyll forgett thou art the fayrest of all, 5 I wyll forgett thou wynst the golden Ball. I wyll forgett thy forehead featly framde, I wyll forgett thy Christall eyen so cleere, I wyll forgett that no part may be blamde, I wyll forgett that thou hadst nere thy peere. 10 I wyll forgett vermylion is thy Hew, I wyll forgett ther is no Queene but yow. I wyll forgett thy dimpled Chyn so fyne, I wyll forgett those paps so swanny whyte, I wyll forget those rare lyke brestes of thyne, 15 I wyll forgett thou art my cheef delyghte. I wyll forgett thou art my mystris Shee, I wyll forgett the sweetst that ere I see.

110 subscription: S: P. Sidney] Hand A addition in different ink

Poems 110–112

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I wyll forgett where thou dost styll abyde, I wyll forgett to approache thy present sight, 20 I wyll forgett throughout the world so wyde, I wyll forgett nones bewty hallf so bryght. I wyll forgett thou staynest the brightest starre, I wyll forgett thou passest Cynthea farre. 65r

I wyll forgett that features not thy Pheare, 25 I wyll forgett thy Bewty dymmes the Sonne, I wyll forgett for hue none comes the neare, I wyll forgett thy Fame wyll neare be donne. I wyll forgett thou art the fayrst of all, That ever was, or ys, or ever shall. / 30 And Then, I wyll forgett whence grew my wythered stalke, I wyll forgett to eate, to drynke or sleepe, I wyll forgett to see, to speake, or walke, I wyll forgett to Mourne, to Lawghe, to Weepe, 35 I wyll forgett to heare, to feele, or Taste, I wyll forgett my Lyfe and all at Laste. / And Now, I wyll forgett the Place where thou dost dwell, I wyll forgett thy self & so Farewell./ 40 Only yowr Servant though not your only Servant FINIS. I Ed. [112] To Deathe? no, no, vnto eternall Lyfe, wyth speed I go, Lord Iesus be my Guyde, Farewell thow world, the master of all stryfe, And welcom world that ever doth abyde, Farwell all Cares, that long have crusht my Mynde, 5 And wellcom Care whence I shall comfort finde. Farwell Desire that never was at Rest, Farwell vnrest that noyed much my Mynde,

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Farwell my Mynde that Lyked Pleasure best, And farewell Pleasure all I Leave behynde. 10 Farewell all thynges that make apparaunce playne, Desire vnrest, & Plesure was but vayne. 65v

Wellcome at Last the Longe desired Ioy, Wellcome the Ioy that Leades to happy Lyfe, Wellcom the Lyfe that tasteth noe Annoy, 15 And wellcome Ioy, free from all mortall stryfe, Wellcom the blysse that never Tongue could tell, Wellcom, that Heaven wher I do hope to dwell. FINIS I Ed. [113] Lady farwell whom I in Sylence serve, wold god thou knewste the depth of my desire, Then might I hope, thoughe nought I can deserve, Som drop of grace, wold quench my scorchyng fyre. But as to Love vnknowne I have decreed, 5 So spare to speake doth often spare to speed. Yett better twere that I in woe should waste, Then sue for Grace & Pyty in Despighte, And though I see in thee such pleasure plaste, That feedes my Ioy & breedes my cheef delyghte, 10 Wythall I see a chast Consentt Dysdayne, Theyr Suytes, whych seke to wyn thy wyll ageane. Then farewell Hope, a Hellpe to each mans Harme, The wynde of woe, hath torne my Tree of Truste, Care Quenchde the Coales, whych did my Fancy warme, 15 And all my Hellp Lyes buryed in the Duste. But yett amonges those Cares, whych Crosse my Rest, Thys Comfort Growes, I thynke I Love thee Best ./. FINIS. [114] The Parson of Stanlake, hath stopt vp my Watergap; Wyth two stones & a Stake, Helpe Lordes for Gods sake ./. FINIS.

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[115] Vertue, bewty, speech, dyd, Stryke Wound charme, my Hart, Eyes, Eares, with, wonder, Love, Delight, First, second, third, did binde enforce, and arme, my workes, shewes, sutes, with wytt, grace, & vowes might. Thus honor, Likinge, Trust, much, fayre, & Deepe, 5 Held, prest, possest, my Iudgment, Sence, & Will, Till, wrong, Contempt, Deceipt, Did, grow, steale, creepe, Bondes, Favour, Faith, to breake, defile, & kill. Then, grief, vnkindnes, proofe, tooke kindled, tought, Well grounded, noble, due, spyte, raige, disdaine, 10 But, ah, alas, in vaine, my mynd, sight, Thought, Doth, Her, her Face, her Wordes, leave, shun, refraine. For, nothinge, Tyme, nor place, can Lose, quenche, ease, My owne, embraced, sought, knotte, Fyre, Dysease. FINIS. [116] The Dart, the Beames, the String, so strong I prove, which my cheef part, Doth passe through, parche, & Tye, That, of the stroke, the Heate, & knott of Love, wounded, inflamed, knytt, to the Death I Dy. Hardned & Could, far from affections snare, 5 was once my mynd, my Temper, & my Lyfe, While I, that sight, Dysyre, & vow, forbare, which, to avoyde, quench, loose, nought booteth Stryfe Yet will not I, Greef, Ashes, Thraldom, Chaunge, for others ease, their fruyte of free estate, 10 So brave a Shott, Deare Fire, & Be^a^uty straunge. Did me, pyerce, burne, & bynd, long since & late, And in my woundes, my flames, & bondes, I fynde, A Salve, fresh Ayre, & hygh Contented mynde. FINIS.

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[117] Her Face, her Tonge, her Wytte, So fayre, so sweete, so sharpe, First bent, then Drew, then hytte, Myne Eye, mine Eare, my Hartt. Myne eye, mine eare, my Harte, 5 To Lyke, to Learne, to Love, Your face, your Tongue, your Wytt Doth Leade, doth teache, Doth move. Her face, her Tongue, her Wytt, With Beames, with Sound, with Arte, 10 Doth bynde, doth Charme, Doth Rule, myne eye, myne eare, my harte. Myne eye, myne eare, my harte, with Lyfe, with Hope, with Skill Your face, your Tonge, your wytt, 15 Dothe feed, Doth feast, doth fill. Oh face, oh Tonge, oh Wytte, With Frownes, with Checkes, with Smarte, wronge not, vex not, wound not myne eye, myne eare, my Harte. 20 This Eye, this Eare, this Harte, Shall ioy, shall bynd, shall sweare, Yowr Face, yowr Tonge, yowr Wytt, To serve, to Love, to Feare. FINIS. Raley

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[118] The Lyvely Larke stretcht forth her wynge, The messenger of morninge bright, And with her Chearfull voyce Did Singe The Dayes approache Discharginge Nyght. When that Aurora, blushinge Redd, 5 Dyscride the guylt of Thetis Bedd.

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Poems 117–120

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I went abroad to take the Ayre, & in the meades I mette a knyght, Clad in Carnation Colour fayre, I did salute this gentle wyght, Of him I Did his name enquyre, He sighed, & sayd, *I am Desyre ./. *he was 10 Desire I did desire to stay, awhile with him I Cravde to talke, The Courteous knyght said me no nay, but hand, in hand, with me did walke. Then of Desyre I askde agayne, What thinge did please & what did payne, He smylde, & thus he answerd than, desire can have no greater payne, 15 Then for to see an other man, that he desirethe, to obtayne, Nor greater Ioy Can be than this, Than to enioy that others mysse. FINIS [119] In verse to vaunt my Ladies Grace All vayne it were with pen to stryve, Do not thy Mistres so Deface, To make her dead that is alyve. Her prayse deserves a greater meede, Then Pen, or Tongue can tell indeede. Hellen for Bewty did surpas, Venus they say did her disgrace, Much did they gayne but, out alas, Farr from the feature of her face. Rare her Bewty, brave her Cheere, In all the world restes none her Peere. FINIS. Ioh Ed. 67v

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[120] I Hard a voyce & wished for a Sighte, I lookte aside, & Did a shadow see, Whose Substance was the Summe of my Delight Which Came vnseene, & so was gone from mee. Yet hath Conceipt perswaded my Content, 5 Ther was a Substance wher the Shadow went. I Did not play narcyssus in Conceypt, I Did not see my Shadow in a Springe, I know myne eyes were dimde with no Deceipt, I saw the Shadow of some worthy thinge 10

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For as I spyde the Shadow glauncinge by, I had a glymse of somwhat in myne eye. But what it was (alas) I can not tell, Bycause indeed I had no perfect vew, But as it was, by gesse, I wishte it well, 15 And will vntill I see the same anew. And Shadow, or Shee, or both, or Chuse yow whether, Blessed be the thing that brought, the shadow hether. FINIS. [121] My wayning Ioyes, my still encreasing Greef, my valiaunt rage, my Cowarde reason faynt, my busy Care, my slacke & slow releef to prayse my wronge & to Condemme my playnt. The Darke renowne, the slaunder bright & Cleare, 5 to please the eye & to betray the harte for momentes myrthe, to mourne the monthe & yeare, to shun the shield, & to embrace the Darte, Fond for my weale, but wise to worke my harme, to chuse dispaire, for not to Lose my troathe, 10 deafe to advise, but open eares to Charme, thraldome to Like, & Liberty to Loathe. Wyche Cruell Fate, & fatall Love Coniurde, finis Bringes Doubtfull hope, but dolours most assurde. 68r

[122] What thing is Love? A vayne Conceipt of mynde, how now fond head? So lusty with a God? A God? Alas of such a Crewell Kynde? Crewell? Oh no, he is a gentle Rod. A Rod? for whom? For Bewties tryvauntes breches 5 Fy, fancy, fy, what meane these folyshe speches? A foolish speech, to tell what thing is Love? What thing is Love? Why that was never showne, Yet pacient hartes that such a passion proove, know well the Flowre that hath of fancy growne. 10

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Poems 120–124

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Oh Fancy, yea, but that is farre from Love, Yet fancy first doth firme affection prove. Affection shewes the height of hartes Desire, Desire doth shew what fancy Doth affecte, And such affect doth oftentymes aspire, 15 vnto the height of hartes Desires effecte. And such effecte doth secret Fancy prove And such a proof doth tell what thing is Love ./ FINIS. [123] My trew love hath my hart, & I have his, by iust exchaunge on for another given, I hold his Deare, & myne he can not mis, Ther never was a better bargaine driven. His hart in me kepes him & me in one, 5 my hart in him, his thoughtes & Sences guydes, He loves my hart, for once it was his owne, I Cherishe his bycause in me it bydes. His hart, his wound received from my Sight, My hart was wounded with his wounded hart, 10 For as from me, on him his hurte Did Light, So still me thought, in me his hart did smart. Both equall hurt, in his Chaunge sought our Blysse, My Trew love hath my hart & I have His. FINIS. 68v

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[124] The Ayre with Sweet my Sences Doth Delight, The earth with flowres Doth glad my heavy eye, The Fire with warmth revives my Dyinge Spright, The Water Cooles that is to hot & Drye . The Ayre, the Earth, the Water, & the Fire, 5 All Do me good, what Can I more Desire? Oh noe, the Ayre infected I Do fynde, The Earthes fayre flowres Do wyther & Decay, The Fyre so hot, enflames *my frozen mynde, And water washeth Heate & all away. 10

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The Ayre, the Earth, Fyre, Water, all annoy me, How Can it be, but they must all Destroy me? Sweete Ayre Do yet awhile thy Sweetnes holde, Earth let thy Flowres not fall away in pryme, Fyre Do not burne, my Hart is not ycoulde, 15 Water Dry vp vntill an other Tyme. Oh Ayre, oh Earth, Fyre, Water, heare my prayer, Or slay me, ôh Fyre, water, Earth, or Ayer. Harke in the Ayer, what Deadly Thunder threateth, See on the Earth how every Flower falleth, 20 Oh wyth the Fyre how every Synew sweatethe, Ah, how the water panting hartes appalleth? The Ayre, the Earth, Fyre, Water, all do greeve me, Heavens, shew yowr power, yet som way to releeve me. This is not Ayre, that every Creature Feedeth, 25 nor this is Earth where every flower groweth, Nor this the Fyre, that Flame & Fury breedeth, nor this the water, that both ebbes & floweth. These Elementes ar within a world ynclozed, Wher Happy Hartes have Heavenly rest repozed. 30 FINIS. 69r

[125] Oh Sorow Cease, Good Love Begyn, Sweet Fancy once say Well, Com Solempne muse, with Sad Conceipt, My Crewell Tormentes tell. I Sayd & swore, I would not Love, 5 But I am false foresworne, I say & sweare it is so sweete, Yt Cannot be forborne. I fynd it sweet, I fynde it Sowre, I fynde it Sowresweet, 10 I see & rue to see that synce Myshappes so often meete. The Thought that most I held in Hart Hath now my Hart in holdd,

Poems 124–127

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And that my Fancy had forsworne, 15 My fayth must now vnfould. The Substance Love, the Subiecte Lyfe, Whose Help my Health must bee. A Death to Lyve, a Lyfe to Love, A pange that will not Flee. 20 FINIS. [126] What Thynge is Love? for sure Love is a Thynge. Love is a prycke; Love is a stynge. Love is a prety thynge. Love is a Fyre. Love is a Cole, Whoze Flame creepes in at every hole. And as my self can best Devyze, 5 His Dwellinge is in Ladies eyes. From whence he shotes hys daynty Dartes, Into the Lusty Gallantes Hartes. And ever hath byn Calld a God, Synce Mars with Venus Playd even & Od. 10 FINIS. 69v

[127] Devyde my Tymes, and Rate my wretched Howres, From Dayes to monthes, from monthes to many yeares, And then Compare my Sweetest with my Sowres, To see which more in æquall vyew appeares. And iudge if for my Dayes & yeres of Care, 5 I have but Howres of Comfort to Compare. Iust & not muche it were in these Extremes, So hard a Touche & Torment of the Thought, For any mynd, that any right estemes, To yeld so small Delight, so Dearely bought, 10 But he that Lyves vnto his owne Despight, Ys not to fynde his fortune by his Ryght. The Lyfe that still runnes forth his weary wayes, Wyth Sowre to sawce the Daynties of delight, With Care to Checke the pleasure of his Dayes, 15 With no Regard the many wronges to quyght, I Blame & hould such yrksom Tymes in Hate, As but to Lose, prolonges a wretched State.

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

And still I Lothe even to behould the Lyght, That shines without all pleasure to mine eyes, 20 With greedy wish I wayt for weary night, Yet neyther this I find that may suffice. Not that I hold the Day for more Delight, But that alyke I loath both Day and night. The Day I se yeldes but increase of Care, 25 The night that should by nature serve for rest, Against his kind Denies such ease to Spare, As pitty wold afford the mynde opprest. And broken Sleepes ofte times present in Sight, A Dreamyng wish, beguild with false Delight. 30 70r

This Sleepe, or els what so for Sleep appeares, Ys vnto me but pleasure in Despight, The Flowre of Age, the name of yonger yeares. Do but vsurp the Title of Delight, But Carefull thoughtes, & Sorowes sundry wayes, 35 Consume my youth before myne aged Dayes. The Touch, the Stinge, the Tormentes of Desire, Do stryve beyond the Compas of Restraynt, Kept from the Reache, wherto it wold aspyre, Gives Cause alas to Iust to my Complaint./ 40 Besides the wronge which worketh my Distresse, My meaning is with Silence to Suppresse. Ofte with miself I enter in Devise, To reconcile my weary thoughtes to peace, I treate for Truce, I flatter & entice, 45 My wrangling wittes to worke for their release. But all in vayn I seke the meanes to fynde, That might appease the Discord of my minde. For when I force a fayned mirth to shoe, And wold forget & so beguile my grief, 50 I Can not rid miself from Sorow soe, Although I feed vpon a false beleef. For inward touch of vncontented minde Returnes my Cares by Course vnto their kynde.

Poems 127–128

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Weand from my will and thus by Tryall taught, 55 How far to hold all Fortune in Regard, Though heare I boast a knowledg dearly bought, Yet this poore gaine I reape for my reward, I know herby to harden & prepare, A ready minde for all assaultes of Care. 60 Wherto, (as one even from the Cradle borne And not to loke for better to ensew) I yeld miself, & wish these Tymes outworne, That but remayne my tormentes to renew. And Leave to those, these Dayes of my Despight, 65 Whose better Hap may Lyve to more Delight. FINIS. Dier. 70v

[128] Who hath his Fancy pleazed with Fruites of happy Sight Let heere his eyes be raysed on natures Chiefest Light, A Light which Doth discever and yet vnites the eyes, A Light which Dyinge never, is Cause the loker Dyes. She never Dies but Lasteth in Lyfe of Lovers Hart 5 He ever Dies & wasteth in love his Cheefest part, Thus is her Life still garded, with never Dyinge Faythe, Thus is his Death rewarded since she lives in his Deathe. Looke then and Dye, answer doth the pleasure well the payne, Small losse of mortall Tresure, who may immortall gayne. 10 Immortall be her Graces, ymmortall is her mynde, The tell of Heavenly places, that heaven in it do fynde. But Eyes this bewty see not, nor Sence this grace Dyscries, Yet eyes deprived bee not, from sight of her faire eyes. Which as of inward glory, they are the outward Seale, 15 So may they still be sory, that Dy not in her weale. But who hathe Fancy plesed with fruytes of happy sight, Let here his Eyes be raysed on natures Chiefest light. FINIS.

127 subscription: Dier] Hand A addition in different ink 128.12 The] Hand A omits terminal y?

102

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[129] Who taught the first to sighe alas my Harte? Who taught thy Tongue the wofull wordes of plaint? Who fild thine Eyes with Teares of bitter smarte? Who gave the grief & made thy Ioyes so faynt?

} } }

Love

Who first did print with Coloures pale thy face? 5 Who first did breke thy slepes of quiet rest? Love Above the rest in Cowrt who gave thee Grace? Who made the stryve in vertue to be Best? In Constant troth to bide so firme and sure, To scorn the world, regarding but thy frend, With pacient mynd ech passion to endure, In one Desire to settle to thy end. Love then thy Choyse, wherin such fayth doth bynde, As nought but Death may ever Chaunge thy mynde. FINIS. Ball 71r

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[130] How can the Feeble Forte but yeld at Laste, Whom Daily force, & sharp assallt assayes, How Can the wekened body Chuse but waste, Whose slacke of Health, the tongues Disease Decayes? How should the Oxe, his present fall withstand, 5 That sees the Axe to knocke him Down at hand? Weake ar ^our^ walles, the battery to abide Of such as seake the Spoile of our renowne, The Ly in wayte, they practise & provide, To stop our streites & beat our bulwarkes Downe. 10 They sacke our walles & in most Cruell sorte, Wyth Cannot Shot, they raze our feble Forte. They seke by sleyghtes, & worke by wiles to winne, Our tender hartes & secretes to Disclose, Our privy Case, Discoverd we begin, 15 To faint & fall in Daunger of our foes

130.7 ^our^] interlined, with caret, above 130.9 The] Hand A omits terminal y? 130.12 Cannot] i.e., Cannon: Hand A mis-reads a macron above o as t? 130.17 the] Hand A omits terminal y?

Poems 129–132

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Then the pursue with might & mayne the pray, And enter in by force the open way. What should we do? We passe the pikes with payne. we Catch the Clappes & beare away the blowes, 20 With valor yet we turne & rushe agayne, The Charged staves of our encombred foes, Wounded we part & yet we never Dye, And stricken Down we fall before we flye.

*strike

Thus silly Sowles we stumble at the Close 25 nought having but the naked to Defend. Laid all along before our Crewell Foes, we never yeld, but fight it to the end. We *strive we thrust, & nothing yet the neare, Women poore Sowles I se are borne to beare. 30 FINIS. [131] Yf Busse bee Fetor, and Bess bee fetyt, I wyll not Buss Bess if I Remember itt. FINIS.

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[132] Who knowes his Cause of Greef And Can the same Descry, And yet find no Releef poore wretch but only I? What Fowle will seeke the Snare, 5 And Can the same Descry, ys he therof be ware, poore wretch but only I? What fishe will byte the bayte, and he the hooke espy, 10 Or if he se Deceipt pore wretch but only I?

131.1 fetyt] ty overwrites cit?

104

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Whois he will seke to mounte, the top of Tower hy, To fall and makes account, 15 pore wretch but only I? Whois he will scale the height of Ætna hill to fry, or who will buy Delight pore wretch save only I? 20 The Hart will shun the Toyle, if he perceive it Ly, no one will take the Foyle, pore wretch save only I. Who seekes to get or gayne 25 the thinges that fates Deny, Must Live & Dy in payne, pore wretch as now do I? In fine I here Do finishe, in Limbo Lake I Ly, 30 my greef yow must Deminishe pore wretch or els I Dy. FINIS. 72r

[133] The sturdy Rocke for all his strenghthe, by raging Seas is rent in twayne, The marble stone is pierst at Lenghthe, by lyttle Droppes of Drizling rayne. The Oxe will yeld vnto the yoake, 5 The Steele abides the Hammers stroake. The Stately Stag that Semes so stout, by yelping Hound at bay is sett, The swiftest bird that flies about, is Caught at Lenghth in foulers nett. 10 The smallest fishe in Depest brooke, Is soonst Deceyvd with subtill hooke. Yea Man himself vnto whose will all thinges ar bound for to obay

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Poems 132–136

With all his witt & worldly skill, 15 doth fade at lenghthe & fall away. Ther is no thing but Time doth waste, And Heavens themselves Consume at laste. But Vertue sits Tryvmphing still vpon the Throane of glorious fame, 20 Thoughe spitefull Death mans body kill, yet hurtes he not his vertues name, By Life or Death what so betides, The State of Vertue never slides. FINIS. [134a]

[134b]

[134c]

Hic Iacet Andreas, qui lapidavit eas. Here lies old Andrew Hee, That stoned many a Shee.

[135a]

[135b]

[136] A new yeres Gift wyth a golden Ball. Pallas, Iuno, Venus, on bushy Ida mounte, The wisest, stateliest, & fairest of accounte, Mongest whom did Iove, send down a golden Ball, Wheron was writt, give this the fayrst of all.

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134a–c] deleted, in a different ink, with a dense zig-zag line; He . . . kisse scored through with additional horizontal strokes

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Paris was Iudge, & Iuno kingdomes profered. Pallas Wisedom; & Venus beuty offered. But Paris nought could in a kyngdom fynde, Nor Wisdome recked, to beauty beringe mynde. But had yourself byn present there in place, In whom ther restes stately Queene Iunos grace, And wisdom more then Pallas ere possest, In Beauty not inferiour to the best, Venus had fayld, & yow had gaynd the Ball, For yow alone have more then they had all. And though you wer not then a Goddesse there, nor I a Shepheard Paris part to bere, yet now (as Paris did) I profer you the Ball, Accept it then as Venus fayrst of all. So shall I thinke my paynes as well employed, As Paris who for meed, fayr Hellen ioyed. FINIS Subiect only to yourself I. Ed.

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[137a] Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonella sinistro, Et potens est forma vincere vterque Deos. Parve puer lumen, quod habes concede Sorori, Sic tu secus Amor, sic, erit ille Venus. [137b] Leonell of Eyes the Lefte, had given for bodily Light, The Gods did graunt to Acon, so, that he should have the ryght. For Beauty Acon might Compare with brightest god in skye, Whyle Leonell did lyve & raigne, faire Venus could not dye. Sweet Boy give Sister thyne, thy Eye the Gods assinde, 5 So shall she Venus coumpted be, & thou God Cupid blinde. FINIS IE 73r

[138] Yf painfull nature bent with redy will, Should seke to shape in finest sort & Frame, A Comly Creature by her Cunninge skill, Bedeckt with giftes of Du Deserving fame.

136.8 recked] c altered from a

Poems 136–139

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Indude with Vertues most abundantly, 5 Like to my Frend yet Could she never bee. Psiches the fairest wight that ever wend, On earthly mould, & bravest in her Dayes, Would yeld her flag of fame vnto my frend, Eke reverently adorne her golden rayes, 10 Leave of you Lovers in your vauntinge verse, Your Ladies false usurped praise texpresse, For sure my Frend doth passe them all so farre, As Doth the Sonne excell the Darkest Starre. FINIS. EN [139] Short is my rest whose Toyle is overlonge. my Ioies ar Darke, but Cleare I se my woe, In safety small, great wrackes I bide through wronge, Whose Time is swifte, & yet my hap but sloe, Eche grief a wound in my pore Hart appeares, 5 That Laugheth Howres, & wepethe many yeares. Deedes of the Day, are Fables of the night, Sighes of Desire, ar smokes of thoughtfull Teares, My steps ar false although my pathes be right, Disgrace is bod{-} & favour full of feares, 10 Disquiet Sleep, keepes audyt of my Lyfe, Wher Care Content doth make displeasure ryfe. The dolefull Bell that is the voyce of Tyme, Calles on my end before my happes be seene, Thus falles my happes whose harmes have power to Clime, 15 not Come to have, that long in wishe have beene. I seke your Love & feare none others hate, Be you with me, & I have Cesars fate. FINIS. Ball.

139.10 bod{-}] d followed by an ambiguous descender, perhaps a mark indicating an omission

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[140] Iuno now at Samos must not stay, Venus from Troy towne packe her hence apace, Diana she from Delphes take her way, Iudith must posses the queenly place. The gods themselves do not posses a place, 5 Half worthy that beesemes my mistres grace. Hellen to Paris was the pereles pere, Venus to mars Did bring his Chief Delight, Mynerva for her vertue was held most Deere, Medea was the fairst in Iasons sight. 10 Rarer then these or any that lyves this Day, Is mistres myne whose Beawty beares the sway. FINIS I. E. [141a] Est Venus in Vultu, docto tibi Pallas in ore, Presidet, & digitis clarus Apollo Venit. Mercurius Linguam, moderatur Cynthea mores, O Dea digna Deo, dignaque Iuno Iove. [141b] In face the fayrest Goddes Lyke, In prudence Pallas past, On warbling Lute her fingers ran, As Did Apollos Fast, The wisest God did not excell, 5 Ne Cynthea overcame, A Goddes well besemde a God, Deservinge Iunos name. FINIS I. E.

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[142] My mind to me a kingdom is, such perfect Ioy therin I find, That it excels all other blis, which world affordes or growes by kind. Though much I want which nothinge have, Yet still my mynd forbids to Crave. No princely pomp, no welthy store, no force to wyn the victory, 5 no wily witt to salve a sore, no shape to feed a loving eye, To none of these I yeld as thrall, For why? my mynde doth serve for all,

Poems 140–143

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I se how plenty ^surfetes^ ofte, & hasty Clymers soone do fall, I se that those which ar alofte, mishap doth threaten most of all. They get with toyle, they kepe with feare, Such Cares my mind Could never beare. Content I live, this is my stay, I seke no more then may suffice, I prease to beare no hawty sway, for what I lack my mind supplies. Lo thus I triumphe like a Kynge, Content with that my mind doth bringe. Some have to much, yet still do Crave, I little have yet seke no more, They ar but pore though much they have, & I am rich with little store, They pore, I riche, they beg, I gyve, They lacke I leave, they pine, I lyve. I laugh not at an others losse, I grudge not at an others gayne, no worldly waves my mynd Can tosse, my state at on doth still remayne. I feare no foe, I fawne no Frend, I loath not life, & dread no end. Som way their plesure by their lust, their wisdom by their rage of will, Their Treasure is their only trust, & cloaked crafte their store of skill, But all the pleasure that I find, Is to mayntayne a quiet mind. My welth is helth, & perfect ease; my Conscience cleare my chief defence; I neither seke by bribes to please, nor by desert to breed offence. Thus do I Lyve, thus will I Dy, Would all Did so as well as I. FINIS / BALL. 74v

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[143] When yonger yeres Could not my mind acquaint, with those swete Ioyes which Longe to natures Law, I thought for ay by folishe vowes Constraint Subiect to Lyve vnder Dianaes awe. But when to elder yeres mine age did sprowte, 5 I Brake this Vow, and Lefte Dianaes rowte. Such Chaunge in me did Nature worke by kynde, That all my Thoughtes were topsy turvy turnd. By sodayn Chaunge I felt such fittes of mynde, That inwardly with straunge Conceiptes I burnd. 10 And wher I erste by Chast Diana swore, I her forsooke & turnd to Venus Lore.

142.9 ^surfetes^] interlined, with caret, above

110

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

The Cause was this. When May was in his Pryme, To shrowd myself from heat of Phoebus beames, I laid me Down vpon a plot of Thyme, 15 Vnder a Tree, to intertaine swete Dreames, I slept: but when I waked ther I fownd, Myself depe pricked with most grevous wownd. To tell the paine I felt it were a miracle, no herbes nor Phisickes salve could cure my ^mallady^, 20 My Life dispaird, till high Apollos Oracle, Told me Venus Love, should give me remedy. Vnto whose Courte for phisicke straight I hyed. And vowd to be her handmayd till I Died. Queen Venus she Commaundes her own Leache man, 25 To try on me his precious skill & Arte, To search my wound he featly streght began, And ere the same full opened was, my Harte, Trickled with Ioy, bycause the Remedy, was now at hand to Cure my Mallady. 30 The Curteous Leache according to his arte, put depe into my wound a round stiffe Tente, which toucht me to the quicke & yet I felt no Smarte, he strove to get the matter out, which lente, me all this woe, which out did gushe amayne, 35 when I fell down, & yet I felt no payne. 75r

At last I wakte, and after felt my wound, which by the worckinge nature of the Tente, was somwhat swollne but now is whole & sound I Venus thanke, soe good a Leache me lente. 40 Wyth whom I wishe all Dianas nimphes acquaynt Themselves, when lyke desyres their myndes attaynt. What though at first a spitefull vow they make, To lyve vntoucht, & sweare it in their mynde. Yet at the last ech thing will Chuse his make, 45 And fitly Turne by Course vnto his kinde.

143.20 ^mallady^] interlined, with caret, above

Poems 143–145

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Beastes vnto Beastes, the Cygnet to the Swan, Byrdes vnto Byrdes, and Woman vnto Man. FINIS [144] What lenghth of Verse may serve brave Mopsaes grace to showe? Whose Vertues straunge, & vertue such, as no man may them knowe. Thus hardly burdned then, how Can my Muse escape? The Gods must helpe, & precious thinges must serve to show her shape. Like great God Saturne, fayre, & like Dame Venus Chaste, 5 As smothe as, Pan, as Iuno milde, as Goddes Irys faste. Wyth Cupid she foresees, & goes God Vullcaunes pace, And for a Taste of all thes giftes, she borowes Momus grace. Her Forehead Iacyncte like, her lyppes of Opall hewe, Her twincklinge eyes bedeckte with pearle, her lyppes of saphire blewe. 10 Her Hayre pure Crapall stone, her mouthe, oh heavenly wyde, Her Skyn lyke burnisht Gold, her handes like silver Oare vntryde; As for those partes vnseene which hidden sure are beste, Happy are they that will beleve, and never see the reste. FINIS. Sir Phyll Sydney. 75v

[145] The Souldiour worne with wars Delightes in Peace The Pillgrim in his ease when Toyles are past, The Pylot porte to gaine when Stormes do cease, And I reioyce from Love Dischargde at Last. Whom while I servd, Peace, rest, and Land I Lost, 5 With grevesome warres, with Toyles, with stormes betost. Sweet Liberty now gives me Leave to Singe, what world it was wher Love the rule did beare, How fatall Chaunce by lots rould every Thinge, How Errour was maine Saile, a wave ech Teare, 10 The Master Love himself, deep Sighes the Wynde, Cares rowd with Oares, the Ship vnmerry * mynde.

*the

Falshope *was Hellm, ofte turnde the Boate about, Inconstant faith stode vp for middle maste, Dispaire the Cable, twisted all about, 15 held gripinge grief, the pitched Anchor faste,

145–48] these four entries are copied as a continuous piece

112

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

Beawty was all the Rockes, but I at Last Am now twyse free, & all my Love is past. [146] Dyana since Hyppolitus is Dead, Let me einoy thy favour, & hys place, My might through Will, shall stand the in som stead, To bannyshe Love & Venus from thy Chace. For wher they Lately, wrought me myckle woe, 5 I vow me now to be their mortall Foe. And do thou not mistrust my Chastity, when I shall raunge amiddes thy virgines traine, My raynes ar Chastized so throughe misery, That Love with me shall neare prevaile againe. 10 The Child whoze finger once hath felt the fyre, To play therwith, will have but small Desire. Besides I vow to beare a watchfull eye, Discovering such as passe about thy grove. Yf Iupiter himself Come, Loytringe by, 15 Ile Call thy Crew, & bid them fly from Love. For yf they stay, he will obtayne at Last, That now I Loathe, bycause my Love is past. 76r

[147] Youth made Default, through Lightnes of Belyef, And fond Belyef Love placed in my Brest, But now I finde that reason gives relyef. And Tyme Shewes Truthe & Wytt thats boght is best. Muse not Therfore although I Change my Vayne, 5 He runnes to far, that never turnes agayne. Henceforthe my mynd shall beare a watchfull eye, Hid from fond Love & practize of the same, The wisdome of my Harte shall soone Descrye, Eche thing thats good, from that Deserveth blame, 10 My songe shalbe, Fortune Hath Spytt Her Spyte, & Loue can hurte no more wyth ^all^ hys Myghte. /

147.12 ^all^] interlined with caret

Poems 145–149

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Therfore to yow, to whom my Course is knowne, Thinke better Comes & pardone what is past, I find that all my wildest Oates are sowne, 15 And Ioy to se what now I se at Last. And since that Love was Cause I troade awrye, I heere take of his belles & let hym flye. [148] Sweete Liberty restores my wonted Ioye, And bids me tell how Paynter sets in Vyew. The forme of Love. They paynt him but a Boye, As workinge most in mynd of youthfull Cryew. They set him naked all as wantinge Shame, 5 To keepe his Secret partes, or hyde the same. *the

They paynt him blynde, in that he Cannot spye, *What Diffrence is twixt Vertue & Default, With Bow in hande as one that Dothe Defye, And Cumber heedles hartes with fierce assault. 10 His other hand doth hould a Brand of Fyre, In Signe of heate, he makes a hote Desyre. They gave him wynges, to flye from place to place, To note that Lovers wandringe ar, like wynde, Whose Liberty fond Love Dothe once Deface, 15 This forme to Love, ould paynters have assynde. Whose fonde effectes, if any liste to prove, Where I make ende, let him begin to Love. FINIS.

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[149] Some men will say there is a kynde of Muse, That helpes the mynde of eche man to endyte, And some will say that of these Muses vse, Only but Nyne at any tyme to wryte Now of thes Nyne If I have hyt on on, 5 I muse what Muse tis I have hyt vpon. Some Poets wryte ther is a Heavenly Hill, wher Pallas kepes, and it Parnassus hyght,

149.4 Only] O altered from partially formed T

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

There Muses sit forsooth, & Cutt the Quill, That beinge framde, doth hydden Fancies wryte. 10 But all these Dames Devyne Conceyptes do singe. And all theyr Pennes be of a Phœnyx winge. Beleeve me now, I never saw the Place, Vnles in sleep I dremde of such a Thynge, I never vyewd faire Pallas in the Face, 15 Nor ever yet could heare the Muses Synge. Wherby to frame a Fancy in hys kynde, Oh, no, my Muse is of an other Mynde. From Helycon? oh no, from Hell shee Came, To wryte of woes & Myseries she hyght, 20 Not Pallas, but alas, her Ladies name, who never Calles for Dytties of Delight. Her Pen is Payne, & all her matter mone, And pantinge Hartes she payntes her Hartes vpon. A Hart not harpe, is all her instrumente 25 whose waykened strynges all out of tune she straynes, And then she strikes a Dump of Discontente, Till every stringe be pluckt in two with Paynes. Lo then in Rage she Claps it vp in Case, Lest yow might se her instrumentes Disgrase. 30 Vnpleasant is the Harmony God knowes, when almost out of tune is every strynge, The sounde vnsweete, that all of Sorowes growes, And sad the Muse, that so is forste to synge. Yet some do singe, that els for woe woulde Crye, 35 So doth my Muse, and so I sweare do I. 77r

Her Musicke is in Some, but Sorowes songe, where Discordes yeld a Sounde of small Delighte, The Dytty thys. Oh Lyfe that lastes to Longe, To See Desire thvs Crossed with Despyghte. 40 No Fayth on Earth (alas) I know no Frende, So wyth a Sighe, She makes a solemne ende. FINIS.

149.16 ever] e altered from partially formed N

Poems 149–151

115

[150] A passion Unfrindly leauest thou me in such a sort Is this the ruth thou takest of my love? The many graces shining in thy eies, Perswaded me of more successive hap But thou on craggy crested rocks dost sitt And vnder shrouded art the hardest okes Thy marble hart bound in with ribbs of steele Neclegteth plaintive pleas & pleading plaints Rocks rue, ice melts, steele weares, stones wast, okes fall Yet cruell thou no pitty hast at all. O whether fliest thou with those spotted plumes That should adorne & bewtifie my hed? My hed to a springing fountaine thou hast turnd And floods have flames incresed in my hart My hart to a burning fornace thou hast chaungd And fire make streames of water issue forth Yet of my love thou takest no regard Yet in thy love thou colder art to me But this doth most of all amaze my mind That thou so cold shoudst leave such heat behind R Allott 77v

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[151] Fancies they are that trouble my mind And breed such warre no peace I can find I sighe both day and night Who in this wofull plight Do find my ioies opprest 5 In love there is no rest Plesaunt desires do poyson my hart Whose holy fier wholy doth cause my smart Alas I sighe & weepe I breake full many a sleepe 10 Inforst to prove how great a god is love. RA

150–55] Hand F 150.21 behind] with mark of insertion to show that it belongs to l. 20 after heat

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Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[152] O Mildred if thou dost returne to me thy spouse againe. Then good thou art then more then good my only sister then But if thou him detaine 5 or to the seas assigne Then ill thou art then worse then ill no sister then of mine / [153] If thou my ^humble^ suit regard or to my plaints attend Then faire thou art then twise so faire my only goddesse then But if thou ^hold^ my suit ^in^ scorne & wilt not sett me fre Then foule thou art then twise so foule No goddesse then for me / R Allott

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[154] In everything my love & love agre Save that love gentle is but cruell she / 78r

[155] Ad Apollinem et musas Ode /. Thou sacred monarche of that holy traine, Which make the Aonian springs thy praise resound, With ragelesse fury perce his dulled braine, that dares not tread vpon thy fyery ground Sweet Phœbus deigne to give this gentle wound 5 And you faire ladies of that holy lake, With iuice devine my thirsty hed aslake. But wretched man (vnhappy rinse therby) My ernest suit beats backe the empty aire Nor he nor they regard thy needfull crie 10 but suffer me to languish in dispaire

153.1 ^humble^] interlined without caret 153.5 ^hold^] interlined, without caret, above ; ^in^] interlined, without caret, above 153.6 &] altered from nor

Poems 152–156

117

Can anger bide in him or you so faire What crime what fault o phœbus have I donne? that unprovoakt thou dost thy vaseal shunne? Have I not song thy praises every deele thy haughty courage & thy conquering armes That vanquissht Python with thy fethered steele But couldst not master Cupids winged charmes When dainty Daphne stird up new alarmes Yet couldst thou well but that thou willing was so faire a frame should not vntouched passe. Have I presumde to pace your secret shade or quench my thirst at your forbidden spring O nimphes devine? o no such fault is made A thousand humble thoug^h^ts can witness bring Your simple swaine is giltles of that thing Me list not so vncourteously to deale With you the authors of my witty weale. Then gentle god, renew thy woonted grace And powre new sourse into my withered braine, O let me brethe in thy most holy chase, O let me live thy sworne & vowed swaine What signes be these? my praiers are not vaine Thrice Daphne shooke her never fading greene, And faire Castalia above the bancks is seene / Robert Allott. 78v

[156] Who sittes in ladye fortunes lappe: he neede not hope but Chuse his happe: But I whom fortune doth desspyse, doe ever falle, And never Ryse. I: I.

155.22 you] Hand F omits terminal r? 155.25 thoug^h^ts] h interlined without caret 156–57] Hand G 156.1 ladye] e altered

15

20

25

30

35

118

Text of BL Harl. MS 7392(2)

[157] A day, A nyght, An houre of sweete Contente? is better then A worlde, Conshmed in frettfull Care? Vnequalle fates, in your arbytrymente, to sorte vs dayes, whose sorrows endeles Are: And yet what were it? As a fading flowre, 5 to swym in Ioy, A day A nyght An howre. I: I.

156.2 Conshmed] sic

Commentary i

Hand C has not been positively identified but the name Edward Evans matches a gentleman from Shropshire who matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in August 1583, aged seventeen (Foster 1891–92, 1:468). 1 Though Coningsby enrolled at Christ Church late in 1581, his time at Oxford probably overlapped with Evans, who was the same age and a county neighbor. Si . . . diem [“Deceive the day, if you can, with constant labor.”] This is similar to the motto, “labor et constantia,” rendered by George Wither as “Good Hopes, we best accomplish may, / By lab’ring in a constant-Way” (A Collection of Emblemes, 1635, sig. X1r). Implicit in this motto is the idea that time moves swiftly, and this might have been the prompt for the next entry; in fact, “Utendum est aetate” [“You must employ your time”] is omitted in the lines adapted from Ovid below.

ii

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv). Præterit . . . cito [“The wave and the hour go by and cannot be called back; the wave slips away quickly, time passes suddenly too.”] These lines were adapted by Kniveton from Ovid’s Art of Love 3.63–65: “Nec quae praeteriit, iterum revocabitur unda, / Nec quae praeteriit, hora redire potest. / Utendum est aetate: cito pede labitur aetas.” [“The wave that has gone by cannot be called back, the hour that has gone by cannot return. You must employ your time: time glides on with speedy foot”] (Loeb 2, 122–23). For two more extracts quoted from the Art of Love, see vi and 134a–c.

  Woudhuysen (1996, 283) first made this identification.

1

120

Commentary

iii

Coningsby signed his own initials to this couplet, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). A similar posy is found in Ha, fol. 163r: “That is desyred of manie, / Is hardly kept of anie” (Evans 1931, 94). Variations on the same theme include “she that hath been faythlesse to one, will neuer be faithfull to any” (John Lyly, Euphues, 1578, sig. C6r); “to be mistresses ouer many, but constant to none” (Sapho and Phao, 1584, sigs. F2v–3r); “it is a Courtiers profession to court to euerie dame but to bee constant to none” (Robert Greene, Mamillia, 1593, sig. D4r); and in a dialogue that was part of a royal entertainment held in 1592, “Inconstancy” asks, “When you loue all alike, you dissemble with none,” to which “Constancy” replies, “But if I loue many, will any loue me?” (The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D2r).

iv

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv); Coningsby also signed his own initials to the entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv). The motto Cavendo tutus [“safe through caution”] was adopted by the Cavendish family and puns on the family name. Kniveton’s aunt, Bess of Hardwick, was Lady Cavendish from 1547–57; according to ODNB the twicewidowed William Cavendish’s previous wife was Elizabeth Parys, daughter of Thomas Parker of Poslingford, Suffolk, but other sources indicate that his second wife was the daughter of Thomas Coningsby of Hampton Court and Cecilia Salwey (see Appendix 2: family tree B). 2 Kniveton may have chosen this motto to remind the compiler of a mutual family connection.

v

This faint line in Italian has not been traced.

vi

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv). Quis . . . volet [“Who that is wise would not mingle kisses with coaxing words? Though she give them not, yet take the kisses she does not give. Perhaps she will struggle at first, and cry “You villain!” yet she will 2   Durant (1999, 259) cites William Cavendish’s second wife as “dau. of Sir Thomas Coningsby”; Lovell (2005, 44) cites William’s second wife as “a widow, Elizabeth Parris (formerly Conningsby, née Parker).”

121

Poems iii–viii

wish to be beaten in the struggle”] (Ovid’s Art of Love 1.663–66; Loeb 2, 58–59). Cf. Lyly’s paraphrase of the same lines in Sapho and Phao (1584, sig. D1r): womenne striue, because they would be overcome, force, they call it: but such a welcome force they account it, that continually, they study to be enforced. To fair words ioyne sweet kisses.

This is the second extract contributed by Kniveton from the Art of Love (see ii). The proverbial “A women says nay and means aye” (Tilley W660; cf. “Have yow not hard it sayd full ofte, / A womans Nay, Doth stand for nought,” 71.47–48) was frequently expressed in the literature of the period. Fulke Greville’s Caelica 21, beginning “Sathan, no Woman, yet a wandring spirit,” ends with the line: “Feare Women that sweare, Nay; and know they lye” (Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes, 1633, sig. 2B3r); and the idea is parodied in 89.41–44: Fayne wold she me Deceave, But I will have no nay For I will take my leave For ever and a Day.

vii

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv). The motto, devised by Kniveton, can be translated as “hear much and believe little.” The more usual Italian motto was Parla poco, ascolta assai [“Hear much and speak little”]; for example, John Ray, in A Collection of English Proverbs, cites Parla poco, ascolta assai, & non fallirai: “He that hears much and speaks not all, shall be wellcome both in bower and hall” (1678, sig. L5r). “Hear much but speak little” was also a popular English proverb (Tilley M1277); cf. Sybilla’s “counsell” to Phao in Lyly’s Sapho and Phao (1584, sig. C1r): “euer keepe thine eares open, and thy mouth shut.” Elizabeth I adopted a version of it as her personal motto: “video et taceo” [“I see and say nothing”].

viii

Coningsby signed an abbreviated form of his own name to this entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv). The same antonymic pair appears in Lyly’s Loves Metamorphosis . . . First playd by the Children of Paules (1601, sig. C2r) in an exchange between Ceres and Cupid: 3 3   Scragg suggests the play may have been written before the closure of the first Blackfriars theater in 1584 (Scragg 2008, 6). The lines were also copied without attribution in Rosenbach, MS 1083/15, fol.. 63r.

122

Commentary

Cer. What is the substance of loue? Cup. Constancie and secrecie. Cer. What the signes? Cup. Sighes and teares. Cer. What the causes? Cup. Wit and idlenesse. Cer. What the meanes? Cup. Oportunitie and Importunitie.

5

ix

This couplet borrows consecutive lines from a poem by Edward Dyer copied in full elsewhere in the manuscript (see 127.35–36). The first line shares a similar phrase: “Carefull thoughtes” has been altered to “Repentaunt thoughtes” (my emphasis); but the second line is taken verbatim. Coningsby signed the entry with his initials and an acronym found in conjunction with another entry (92) that I have identified as self-authored (see Introd., lxiii–lxv). The letters of the acronym match a contemporary posy: “Rather death, then false of faith” (Ha, fol. 162v). 4 The idea of unswerving faith evidently appealed to Coningsby: it is voiced in the final stanza of a poem, excerpted and copied out for a second time (see the commentary to poem 5). The sentiment is also expressed in the 1592 royal entertainment device already mentioned (iii) where “Constancy” asserts “I see no way to helpe it, but by breach of faith, which I hold deerer then my life” (The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D2r). Coningsby may have borrowed the fashionable idea of adopting a motto as “a self-presentational code” from contemporary literature (see 91.17–18n. and the commentary to 80). For his interest in posies, see the commentary to 76. 1

overpassed past (OED adj.)

x

Coningsby signed an abbreviated form of his own name to this entry, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). The poem appears, without attribution, in three more contemporary poetic miscellanies: Ra, fol. 105v, Ma, fol. 1v, and Ha, fol. 158r. An ironic poem in praise of women by Richard Edwards begins similarly: “When women first Dame Nature wrought, / ‘All good,’ quoth she, ‘none shall be nought’” (King 2001, 191, no. 3). The tradition of satiric verse against women is seen earlier in a popular 4   The 1597 will of Jane Draper, widow, mentions a bequest: “for a gold ring which hath this posey, ‘Rather death then false of faith’” (East Sussex Record Office, SASM/1/514); and Evans (1931, 90) records another ring with the same posy.

123

Poems viii–xi

fifteenth-century lyric (“When nettles in winter bring forth roses red”) with the refrain: “Than put in a woman your trust & confidence” (DIMEV 6384). The anti-feminist idea that “a woman’s mind (a woman) is always mutable” was proverbial (Tilley W674); it is reproduced in 1.85–86 (capitalized for added emphasis): “o false vnconstante kynde, / fyrme in faythe to no man”; 61.23: “What shall I say, vnfaithfull, fond, & vayne”; and 37.1–2: “Yf women could be fayre, & yet not fond, / Or that their Love were firme, not fickle still.” That the theme was still popular well into the seventeenth century is seen from an anonymous song (beginning “Catch me a Star that’s falling from the Skie” and ending “Then hast thou found Faith in a Womans mind”) that circulated widely in manuscript before being printed in John Wilson’s Select Ayres, 1659, sig. D1r. 5 3

busily carefully, particularly, heedfully (OED adv. 1a)

Collations: Ha, Ma, and Ra. 1 corr. to thought] wrought*  2 corr. to lead] knytt*  3 Most] Full*; of all] and long*   4 set her] fetter*; head] witt*   5 Nay, fy] Nay, Nay*  6 rest] byde*  Subscription: H. Con.] om.* It is unusual to find three copies agreeing so completely. In contrast Hy’s text presents a number of variant readings: “set her” for “fetter” (l. 4) is an error (a mismatch with line five, where “Faythe” is personified) and probably derived partly from a confusion between graphically similar minuscules “f ” and swash “s.” Hy’s “Nay, fy” (l. 5) is perhaps preferable to “Nay, Nay,” as it suits the poem’s tone of mock seriousness and better conveys Dame Nature’s disgust with the request at hand. Other unique readings in Hy are sense substitutions. Coningsby also changed two readings in his own original transcription, both times from a reading present in all three texts: “wroght” to “thought” (l. 1) and “knyt” to “lead” (l. 2). These changes were probably made in an attempt to rectify a faulty end-rhyme caused by another error in line 4: “head” for “witt” (which repeats the end-rhyme word, “head,” from line 6).

xi

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv). Largus . . . luxuriosus. [“Liberall, amorous, merry, smiling and ruddie colored. / Faithfull, corpulent, brave enough, extravagant.”] 5   This is not the same poem as John Donne’s “Go, and catch a falling star,” which has a similar opening line and lists various “impossibilities” that must take place before “a woman true, and fair” can be found.

124

Commentary

The lines are taken from “Verses on the four complexions,” which appeared in the Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, a handbook of domestic medicine emanating from the famous School of Salerno, founded in the seventh century (Packard and Garrison 1920, 14). The treatise was probably written by the middle of the eleventh century and is of composite authorship, though “it is generally ascribed to one John of Milan, who is supposed to have been the head of the faculty of the School of Salerno at the time it was written” (29–30). The extract from the “Verses” in Hy describes the main characteristics of the sanguine man according to medieval and later physiology. Coningsby evidently identified with the description, writing “My natiuytyee” (i.e., belonging to one by birth, natural to one; OED nativity, n. 3d) at the head of the couplet and subscribing his own initials. Thomas Paynell’s translation of the Regimen printed in 1528 contains the Latin lines on the sanguine “complexion” with an explanation in English: Largus amans, hylaris, ridens, rubeique coloris. Cantans, carnosus, satis audax, atque benignus. This texte techeth vs to knowe sanguine folkes.  .  .  . Fyrste, a sanguine persone is free, nat couetous but liberall. Secondly he is amorous. Thyrdly, he hath a mery countenance. Fourthly, he is moste parte smylynge: .  .  . Fyftlye, he hath a ruddye colour. . . . Syxtly, he gladlye singethe and herethe syng[in]ge by reason of his mery mynde. Seuenthlye, he is fleshye. . . . The .viii. is, he is hardy, through the hete of the bloud, whiche is cause of boldnes. The .ix. is, the sanguine persone is benigne and gentyl, through the bounte of the sanguine humour. (sigs. 2C1v–2v)

Kniveton made two changes to the text substituting “Constans” [“faithful”] for “Cantans” [“delighting in singing”], a quality also expressed in Coningsby’s own personal motto (see ix) and “luxuriosus” [“extravagant”] for “benignus” [“kind and gentle”], picking up once again on the sanguine man’s tendency to liberality.

xii

Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv). The lines are taken verbatim from Martial’s Epigrams 12.54. Timothy Kendall provides two English versions of the epigram, in his 1577 Flowers of Epigrammes, the first of which is given below: Against Zoilus. Black head, red beard, short feete thou hast, and poreblinde [i.e., blind in one eye] eke thou art: Tis ten to one, but Zoilus thou doest harbour harme in harte. (sig. C6r)

125

Poems xi–1

Zoilus, a Greek critic of the 4th century B.C., was famous for his severe criticism of Homer. His name was later used more generally to refer to any censorious or envious critic and was often evoked in authors’ disclaimers in the preliminaries of printed works: “Wher wyse men yet will deeme thy doings right, / What carst thou then for Zoylus cankerd spight” (“The Author to his booke,” Barnaby Rich, A Right Exelent and Pleasaunt Dialogue, 1574).

1

Apart from the punning reference to the poet’s surname in line 147, Dyer’s authorship is confirmed by attributions in Ra, fols. 109r–12v (subscribed “Miserum est fuisse: E. dier”); Bod., MS Tanner 306 (T), fol. 173r–v (subscribed “quoth Dier”); Bod., MS Ashmole 781 (As3), pp. 140–42 (subscribed “Sir Ed. Dyer”; Dyer was knighted in April 1596); and Hn, fols. 106v–7r (revealed by the monogram “E.D.” alongside the line with the punning reference; Hughey 1960, 2:202). Sir John Harington also cited the poem as Dyer’s in his Orlando Furioso (1591; see below 79–80n.) and John Davies of Hereford alluded to it in his homage to Dyer in the long prefatory poem to his Microcosmos: Thou virgin Knight that dost thy selfe obscure From Worlds vnequall eies, and faine wouldst dy Er’ thy name should be knowne to Worlds impure (1603, sig. E1r)

Sir Ed. Dy.

Unattributed copies are found in Dd, fol. 25r–v (headed “Bewayling his exile he singeth thus”) and Ma fols. 11v–14v (subscribed with the same Latin tag as Ra); variously shortened versions, again unattributed, appear in Ha fols. 158v–59r, Huntington Library, MS HM 198, part 2 (Hu), fols. 43r–45r, and College of Arms, London, B.13 (C), fol. 6r (copied on a fly-leaf containing the inscription: “Liber Officii Armorum Ex Dono Thomæ Porey Armigeri Anno i669”). A garbled text, headed “A Sonnet,” was printed, attributed to Pembroke in Poems Written by the Right Honorable William Earl of Pembroke, 1660 (P), sigs. C7r–D1r. 6 May notes that poem 1 “ranks among the most widely disseminated poems of the late Renaissance” (2002, 205). Dyer’s readers clearly enjoyed the punning references to the poet’s name in “dyry tragedyes” (l. 132) and “dy—ere thow lette his name be knowne” (l. 147). In Scotland it spawned a genre know as the “dyer”: a copy in Scots (ca. 1612), headed “Inglishe Dyare,” in CUL, MS Kk.5.30, Item 2, fol. 5r–v is followed by “Marrayis Dyare”; and James VI penned

6   Hughey points out that “the printed text [P] omits and adds the same lines as [Hu]”; and considers the latter as “undoubtedly the source” for P (1960, 2:207).

126

Commentary

“A Dier at her Maiesties desyer.” 7 Fulke Greville, in Caelica 83 (“For Greiv— Ill, paine, forlorne estate / doe best decipher me”; Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes, 1633, sig. 2K1r) and Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange (“Tell him my lines Strange things may well suffice”) incorporated punning references to their own names in poems that imitated Dyer’s. 8 Among Dyer’s immediate circle Greville has already been mentioned but Sidney also quoted lines from the poem in the Old Arcadia (see below 85–88n.). May also cites Robert Southwell’s moralization (“Dyers phancy turned to a Sinners Complainte”) and imitations by Arthur Gorges and Francis Drake (1991, 66–67). Further allusions to poem 1 in George Whetstone’s the Rocke of Regard (1576), Humphrey Gifford’s A Posie of Gilloflowers (1580), and Melbancke’s Philotimus (1583) are cited in the commentary (see below 12n. and 65–66n.). 9 The most sustained borrowing comes from Nicholas Breton, who confounds several lines from the poem (cf. ll. 3, 7, 9–11, 69) in a “A prety Discourse of a hunted Harte”: And of a man that pynes in payne, and lookes for no releefe. Whose hope of death seems sweete, & dread of lyfe seems sower, Who neuer bid one merry month, one weeke, one day, or hower. In such a tale I say, if any doe delight, Let him come read this verse of myne, that here for troth I wright. (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. L4r)

Sargent dates the poem’s composition to the early 1570s, a period when Dyer was out of favor at court (1935, 207). 10 This was certainly not the case by 1575 when the Woodstock entertainments took place (see the commentary to 41), but Dyer’s persona of a wild man of the woods in his “songe in the Oke” and possible figuring as the Hermit in the “Tale of Hermetes” may also be playful allusions to this same period of exile from personal contact with the queen. title

Ferendo vinces [“You shall conquer through patient endurance”]; the phrase is found in Cato’s Distich 1.30: “When thou by force may’st conquer seeke / by sufferance to convince: / Of mortall vertues, wise men hold / sweet patience soveraigne prince” (translated by Walter Gosnold,

  James’ poem is reproduced from BL, Add. MS 24195 in Westcott 1911, 7–9. For the phenomenon of the “dyer” in Scotland, see Verweij 2008, 106–10, 174–79. 8   For Strange’s poem, see May 1991, 371. 9   Cummings (1960, 759) also suggests Gifford’s “Whoso doth moan, and lackes a mate” (A Posie, sig. I4v) is indebted to poem 1. 10   The evidence for Dyer’s disgrace comes from a comment in a letter written by Gilbert Talbot to his father, the Earl of Shrewsbury, in May 1573: “as your Lordship knoweth he [Edward dier] hathe bene in displeasure these ij yares” (see Goldring et al. 2014, 2:50). 7

Poem 1

9–10 12

19–24 21 25 29–30 32 39–40

45 56

62 65–66

72

127 Marcus Ausonius his Foure Bookes, 1638, sig. D1r). Dyer’s poem 9 is headed with a similar Latin tag. proverbial, “Take (Mingle) the Sweet with the sour” (Tilley S1038); for Dyer’s fondness for this proverb, see 9.34n. lyghtninge howre comforting, cheering (from OED lighten, v.1 2a) hour; Whetstone uses this phrase twice in The Rocke of Regard (1576, sigs. C1r and E1r): “As I a yeare of dole would bide, to haue one lightning hower”; “Shall bide a yeare of dole with ease, to feele one lightning houre”; cf. also “And neuer feele one lightning howre of blisse” (Humphrey Gifford, A Posie of Gilloflowers, 1580, sig. P3r). better . . . leaste See 116.2n. to too (also ll. 70, 71, 72, 148) on one harte . . . Sacrifice Ringler (1962, 461) sees an echo in Sidney’s AS 5.5– 7: “. . . what we call Cupid’s dart, / An image is, which for our selves we carve; / And, fooles, adore in temple of our hart.” suffice satisfy (OED 1a) Carthage an ancient city of north Africa, destroyed at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC; bought & sowld betrayed for a bribe (OED buy, v. P1b); the story of how Sinon persuaded King Priam to admit the wooden horse into Troy is told in Virgil’s Aeneid 2. Sidney uses the same rhetorical device (epanorthosis) in AS 100.1: “O teares, no teares, but raine.” reape the Hyacynte this should be “reade the Hyacynte,” i.e., the exclamation of grief “AI AI” which, in honor of Hyacinthus, Apollo caused to be permanently inscribed on the leaves of a flower (a purple lily: the Hyacinth) sprung from the blood of the mortally wounded youth; see Ovid’s Metamophoses 10.209–19. Cf. Sidney’s OA 75.29 “O Hiacinthe let Ai be on thee still.” frames advantages, benefits (OED n. 1) Whetstone has the same playful enumeration of the tenses in The Rocke: “My ioy in was, my woe in is, and so is like to bee” (sig. E1r), and “My ioy with was, my woe is ioynd with is” (sig. E8v). Melbancke also borrows this idea in Philotimus: “O let not (was) worke all delight, let (is) and (shall) haue part in pay” (1583, sig. T1r). Hy lacks two couplets, placed after line 72, present in other witnesses: Behold suche is the end, what pleasure heere ys suer, Ah nothinge ells but cares and playntes dothe to the world endure. Forsaken first am I yea vtterly forgotten, and they that came not neere my faythe to my rewarde are gotten. (Hn, fol. 106v)

128

Commentary

79–80 Common lyef this should be “Common [i.e., belonging to all mankind alike] light” (my italics) since Harington refers to the line in Book eight of his Orlando Furioso: “for the light of understanding and the shining of true worthines, or (as M. Dyer in an excellent verse of his termeth it) the light that shines in worthines” (1591, sig. F3r). 85–88 Sidney has Geron echo these lines in the first eclogues of the Old Arcadia: “A fickle Sex, and trew in trust to no man, / . . . And to conclude thy mistresse is a woman.” The source is acknowledged in Histor’s response: “Those woordes dyd once the Loveliest shepard use / That erst I knewe, and with most plainefull muse” (OA 9 ll. 59, 61–63); woman the proverbial “woman is the woe of man” (Tilley W656) 89–90 May notices an echo of these lines in a poem by Gorges (see 23.23n.); But even i.e., even (redundant use of “but”; Abbott 1884, no. 130) 107 tickle uncertain; unreliable (OED adj. 5) 117–18 Wyatt imagines a similar retreat for the melancholy lover in “I muste go walke the woodes so wyld”: My house shallbe the greene wood tre, A tuft of brakys my bede, . . . The runnyng stremes shallbe my drynke, Akehornes shallbe my foode. (ll. 16–17, 21–22; Muir and Thomson 1969, 150, no. CXLI)

121 122 132 135

heben ebony (OED ebon, n.) meate food (OED n. 1a) dyry full of dire; a pun on the poet’s name is probably intended sycypho “Sisyphus .  .  . in hell he turneth a stone up to a great hyll toppe: but whan it is at the toppe, it falleth downe again, and reneweth his labour” (Cooper); pheeres companions (OED fere, n.1 1a) 143–44 Cf. Dyer’s “Ther is no grief, that may with mine compare” (41.24) 147 dy—ere The capitalization and punctuation draw attention to the pun on the poet’s name 149 Yit it Collations: Sargent (1935, 205–6) collates Ra, Ha, and T against As3; Hughey (1960, 2: 207) adds Hu and Hn, and May (1991, 292–93) Dd, Hy, and Ma. My collation adds a fragmentary text (ll. 1–32, 49–64): C. Title: Ferendo vinces] om.   3 is . . . is] in . . . in   5 hath] haue   7 by] with   8 morne] rewe   11 If] As   15 his suger] whoes succor   18 Which] that; ne . . . ne] no . . . nor  19 makinge] settinge   22 grief] deathe  23 Which] that; paines] panges  24 leves] kepes  28 all helpe] succor  30 spirit the] spirigts to   32 sorrow can] sorrowes maye  33–48 om.   49 sowde]

129

Poems 1–2

founde   52 lyves] loste  55 shade] tree   56 reape] red  59 Come] Came; by] throughe   60 smarte may stinge] hurte might seeme   62 “for” corr. to to] for  63 tyme . . . wordes] wordes o lookes o tyme o place   65–152 om. May points out that Hy and Ra have conjunctive errors in lines 59 (“Come” for “Came”) and 139 (“playnte” for “plight”), but these readings could equally be a case of independent variation and only tentatively suggest a relationship between these otherwise widely divergent texts. Ra and Ma agree in assigning the same Latin motto, and both texts are derived from copies circulating at Cambridge University where those collections were compiled. T is a discreet item in a composite collection where poem 1 is copied on the first two pages of two conjugate folio leaves that date from the late sixteenth century (CELM) and is directly followed on the third page by poem 2. Coningsby may also have received these two long narrative poems in this format (see the collation for poem 2 where a relationship can be established with T). Hy omits four lines present in all except the garbled copies and has at least four more certain errors: “suger” for “succor” (l. 15), “reape” for “read” (l. 56), “Cawse disdaynes” for “Chaste disdayne” (l. 77), and “lyef ” for “light” (l. 79). C is a late, imperfect copy where the scribe mixed up the order of the lines: the first twenty-four lines, transcribed as couplets (unlike in Hy where each poulter’s measure couplet is split over four lines) are numbered in the left-hand margin: 1–12; the ordering of the subsequent (unnumbered) lines is rather muddled: 49–56, 57–58 (deleted), 25–32, and 57–64.

2

Dyer’s authorship is confirmed by attributions in two contemporary poetic miscellanies: Ra, fols. 98v–101v, subscribed “E: Dier:,” and Ma, fols. 15r–17r, subscribed “G: [sic] Dier:”. Gabriel Harvey also referred to Dyer’s “Amaryllis, & Sir Walter Raleighs Cynthia, how fine & sweet inuentions” in his marginalia (Smith 1913, 233). Another copy, without attribution, survives in a late sixteenth-century sheaf of two conjugate folio leaves comprising Dyer’s poems 1 and 2, in that order, bound in a composite volume: Bod., MS Tanner 306 (T), fol. 174r–v. May (1991, 305) notes that the meter points to a date post-1580 “when Sidney first began to experiment with trochaics.” The love triangle in Dyer’s story of Amaryllys, Corydon, and Charynell is mirrored in Sidney’s story of Mira, Coredens, and Phillisides in the Old Arcadia:

sweet and incomparable Mira (so like her which in that rather vision than dream of mine I [i.e., Phillisides] had seen), that I began to persuade myself in my nativity I was allotted unto her; to her, I say, whom even Coredens made the upshot of all his despairing desires, and so, alas, from all other exercises of my mind bent myself only to the pursuit of her favour. (Robertson 1973, 340–41)

130

Commentary

1

amaryllys stock parstoral name for a shepherdess, appears in conjunction with Corydon in Theocritus (Idylls) and Virgil (Eclogues). Sargent (1935, 69) points out that Mira (in Sidney’s comparable tale of friendly rivals in love; see also 83.3n.) is an anagram of Mari and suggests Sidney’s sister, Mary Herbert, countess of Pembroke, is figured in both Mira and Amarillis. Robertson (1973, 475) notes that Thomas Moffet (the Herbert family tutor) referred to the Countess as Mira in his Silkewormes (1599, sig. F8v). 5 dyana “for hir chaste lyfe was honored of the Paynims for a goddesse” (Cooper) 21 corydon a generic name in pastoral poetry for a rustic (OED n.); here, it is Dyer’s pastoral persona; cf. Dyer’s lyric, beginning “Alas my hart, mine eye hath wronged thee,” printed under the heading “Coridon to his Phillis” in Englands Helicon (1600, sig. L2r–v). Sidney, in the persona of Philisides, refers to Dyer as Coredens in OA 66.39–40: “Till forste to parte, with harte and eyes even sore, / To worthy Coredens he [“old Languet”] gave me ore” (The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590; the 1593 edition has “Coridon”). Duncan-Jones (1989, 350) suggests a play on “‘cor edens,’ or ‘heart-eater’ one who is eating his heart out.” charynell “Charimell (Caramell)” in the other texts; combines the Latin adjective c[h]arus-a-um (dear, precious, esteemed) with mell, mellis (honey; figuratively, sweetness or pleasantness of speech). If Coredens (Coridon) figures Dyer in the parallel mythology of Coredens-Phillisides-Mira, then Charynell (Charimell) should be Sidney. 27 Cf. the motto associated with Sidney and his circle: Sic vos non vobis [“So you, not for your selues”]; see the commentary to 52 31 Archetypes of true friendship: “when Dyonise the tyranne of Syracuse, had condemned the one of them to death, and he had required certayne dayes respyte to go home . . . the other became suretie for him on this condicion, that if his friende returned not, he would be content to suffer death for him” (Cooper). Richard Edwards’ Excellent Comedie of two the Moste Faithfullest Freendes, Damon and Pithias (1571) was performed at court and at Lincoln’s Inn during the Christmas season of 1564/5 (ODNB: Edwards). 36 band bond (OED band, n.1 8) 37 blynded God Cupid 53–54 George Turbervile describes Cupid’s shafts in similar terms: Thy shafts which by their diuers heads their diuers kindes did show. (Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. G5v)

131

Poem 2

65–66 proverbial, “Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all” (Tilley F265) 81–82 aspis Latin form, treated as English, for the asp (OED n.2); proverbial, “as deaf as an adder” (Tilley A32) 98 proverbial (Tilley L9) 99 meed reward, prize (OED n. 1a) 100 forweened thought, supposed (from ween OED v. 1) 118 Nor does thinking weave cloth (OED web, n. 1a); equivalent to the proverb “Saying and doing are two things” (Tilley S119) 119 travelles troubles, hardships (OED travail, n.1 1) 138 strayne clasp tightly (OED v.1 2a) 142–44 yellow flower . . . hartes ease “hertes ease or wal Gelefloure [wallflower], it groweth vpon the walles, and in the sprynge of the yere, it hath yealowe floures” (William Turner, The Names of Herbes, 1548, sigs. G8v–H1r). Charynell’s metamorphosis is reminiscent of the transformation of Narcissus in Metamorphoses Book 3: “But as for bodie none remaind: In stead thereof they found / A yellow floure with milke white leaues new sprong vpon the ground” (The .xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, translated by Arthur Golding, 1567, sig. F7v); for Dyer’s use of Ovidian transformations elsewhere, see 10.5n. 145–48 May (1991, 81) notes a similarity to Philisides’ address to the flowers in Sidney’s OP 5.48–49: “Dresse bosome hers [i.e., Mira’s] or hedd, / Or scattter on her bedd.” 154–58 This is similar to the speaker’s self-imposed exile in Dyer’s poem 1 (ll. 117–20). 165–68 These lines capitalized for added emphasis suggest that the poem is shadowing some real-life situation; all other witnesses add a final couplet: yee that chaunc this for to heare & do not prayse there speede geeue them thankes for you by them are warned to take heede. (Ma, fol. 17r)

Collations: Sargent (1935, 209) collates Ra against T; May (1991, 306–7) adds the collations for Hy and Ma. May posits two lost versions from Dyer’s own draft: Ra and Ma descend from one version and Hy and T from the other collateral version. Hy lacks the final couplet present in the other texts and adds at least five more errors: “wordes of ” for “worldes” (l. 30), “love” for “darte” (l. 40), “And as” for “As” (l. 53), “forth all” for “forth” (l. 95), “They” for “their” (l. 96). Some of these errors may have something to do with the unfamiliar trochaic meter, since the alternative readings frequently add an extra syllable.

132

Commentary

3

The Earl of Oxford’s authorship is confirmed by attributions in three contemporary witnesses: ascribed to the “Earle of Oxenforde” in Ra, fol. 15v and to “E. of Ox.” in Brittons Bowre of Delights, 1591 (B), sig. F2r (where it is headed “Of the birth and bringing up of desire”); and quoted as Oxford’s in George Puttenham’s The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu), sig. Z4v (see below 1–6n.). 11 Three more manuscript copies survive, without attribution; two of these lack two or more lines: Ha, fol. 145r (om. ll. 21–24) and Hn, fol. 144r–v (om. ll. 11–12); and the other, headed “Desire interrogated: with her answers,” has two unique replacement lines (“what if thy spech unplesant be / then can I tacke no rest” ll. 15–16) as well as multiple missing lines (ll. 9–10, 13–14), BL, Harl. MS 4286 (Kn), fol. 57v reversed. The latter copy is in the hand of St Loe Kniveton a minor contributor to Hy (see Introd., xliv–xlv). 12 A version with two additional stanzas (one preliminary and one closing) was printed, entitled misleadingly as “A Communication betweene Fancie and Desire,” in Thomas Deloney’s The Garland of Good Will, 1628 (Del), sig. G3r–v. 13 A musical setting survives for the same adapted text in a set of part-books belonging to New College, Oxford musician William Wigthorpe, BL, Add. MSS 17786–91 (Wi); the voice part, headed “A Dialogue,” survives only as the second half of the dialogue, i.e., Desire’s responses (found in the fifth partbook: Add. MS 17790, fol. 7v), and the questions posed in the poem belong to a missing partbook.

11   May (1980, 33–34) places 3 among the certain Oxford poems (no. 11). A contemporary reader, W. Blount copied the extract, directly from Pu, in the margin of his 1593 edition of The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia, alongside Sidney’s similar exposition of love in OA 28.37–41: “Sight is his roote, in thought is his progression, / His childhood wonder, prentizeship attention, / His youth delight, . . . / Fancie his foode” (Folger STC 22540, copy 1, sig. T4v). This copy even reproduces Puttenham’s orthography: “emble [sic] of loue”; for Blount’s further references to The Arte in the same volume, see Schurink 2008, 17 fn. 69 and 23 fn. 90. For another reference to Bount’s marginalia, see 144 13–14n. 12   Kniveton copied the poem in a pre-bound volume begun as a poetic miscellany: the first sixteen folios are devoted to verse (with one poem to each folio, written on one side only); the volume was then used for genealogical writing and all the blank versos and remaining blank leaves were filled. According to Wagner (1938, 118), half of the poems appeared in Englands Helicon (1600). 13  The Garland text is, according to May, “too late and corrupt to lend any authenticity to these additional stanzas [also present in Wi]” (1980, 74). Although the earliest extant edition is for 1628, entries in the Stationers’ Register indicate that it first appeared in print sometime after March 1593. Deloney died in 1600 but his volume of popular poetry went through numerous editions during the seventeenth century. Four poems, including 3 and 50, may be later additions (Pratt, 1954).

Poem 3

133

Oxford’s poem is a free translation of Pamfilo Sassi’s “Quando nascesti, Amore?” As Rollins (1933, 96–98) notes, Phillipe Desportes had translated the Italian sonnet into French, “Amour, quand fus-tu né?” (Les Premieres Œvvres, Sonnet 31, 1573, sig. B4v). A number of English versions, modeled on Sassi’s original or influenced by Desportes’ version, can be dated to the early 1580s; among these (Sidney’s OA 28 has already been mentioned above, fn. 11) are Henry Chillester’s “O loue, when wast thou borne?” (Youthes Witte, 1581, sig. U3r) and Nicholas Breton’s “A song betweene between Wit and Will” in his Wil of Wit: 14 Wit. What art thou will? W[ill]. A babe of natures broode, Wit. who was thy syre? W[ill]. sweet lust, as Louers say: Wit. Thy mother who? W[ill]. wylde lustie wanton blood. Wit. when wert thou borne? W[ill]. In merrie month of May. (1597, sigs. C3r–4r)

Another English version by Thomas Watson (“When werte thou borne sweet Loue?”) was printed in 1582 in his Hekatompathia (sig. C3v), a volume that Oxford had seen in manuscript (“perused it, being as yet but in written hand”; see Introd., li). 15 Though Watson ultimately refers to the same Italian sonnet, as Oxford’s editor points out, a few similarities in the ordering of lines and phraseology not in the original source suggest “some connection between Oxford’s and Watson’s translations” (May 1980, 74). John Lyly, another client of Oxford’s, had also seen Watson’s work in manuscript and his “What is desire?” (6 in this edition) poses similar questions to the analogous poems by Oxford and Watson, illustrating a chain of influence between these three poets who read each others’ work in manuscript. 16 An indication of the currency of the poem at Grays Inn (Oxford’s own Inn from 1567) is apparent from lines quoted by Brian Melbancke, “Student in Graies

14   The earliest known edition of The Wil of Wit is dated 1597; but the volume was entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1580 and must have been printed at that time since Richard Madox refers to the work in his diary for March 1582: “Ther was Mr Brytten once of Oriel Colledge, which made wyts wyl” (Donno 1976, 96). 15   The imprint in The Hekatompathia is undated but generally thought to have appeared in the year of its entry into the Stationers’ Register, on 27 March 1582 (Klein 1984, 1:31). 16   Lyly’s comment in the commendatory epistle to The Hekatompathia (“to the Authour his friend”) indicates that he, like Oxford, had seen a copy of Watson’s work in manuscript: “Seeing you have used mee so friendly, as to make me acquainted with your passions.”

134

Commentary

Inne,” as Oxford translated them: “Tenne thousand times a day desire doth liue and dye” (Philotimus, 1583, sig. S4v). 17 1–6

Puttenham quotes these lines to illustrate “Antipophora, or [the] Figure of responce” (Pu, sigs. Z3v–Z4v) with the following Introduction: I name him the Responce, and is when we will seeme to aske a question to th’intent we will aunswere it our selues, and is a figure of argument and also of amplification . . . Edward Earle of Oxford a most noble & learned Gentleman made in this figure of responce an emble of desire otherwise called Cupide which for his excellencie and wit, I set downe some part of the verses, for example.

3

Cf. Watson’s “Who was thy sire?” (The Hekatompathia, sig. C3v); and Lyly’s “What were his parentes” (6.6). 15–16 Cf. Watson’s “ . . . thy chiefe abiding place? / In Willing Hartes, which were of gentle race” (The Hekatompathia, sig. C3v); and Lyly’s “In gentle myndes his dwellinge is” (6.5); gentle well-born (OED adj. 1a). 27–28 For the ultimate source of these lines, see Petrarch’s Rime 164.13–14: “mille volte il dì moro et mille nasco” [“a thousand times a day I die and a thousand am born”]; Durling 1976, 310–11. Collations: May (1980, 118–19) collates B, Del, Ha, Hn, Kn, Pu, Ra, and Wi against Hy. As May concludes, Hy is the best text. Pu’s six lines have no substantive variants from Hy. B is also close to Hy, and, apart from a tendency to modernize (removing “ste” endings and substituting “your” and “you” for “thy,” “thou,” and “thee”), introduces one error, “men” for “me” (l. 14) and a unique variant, “sore” for “Sad” (l. 8). Ra introduces six unique variants and creates a metrically defective line in omitting “to be” (l. 23). Ha shares the same tendency to modernize as B, but its numerous unique variants and missing lines indicate that it derived from a corrupted copy-text. Hn is another text with missing lines and at least four more errors. Wi and Del evidently derived from the same adapted version with two additional stanzas and the same corrupt reading at line 10: “unsavory” (“vnsavorde” in Wi) for “Vnfayned.”

17   The line in the original Italian sonnet is “No, ch’ io rinasco mille volt’ il giorno” [“No, I am reborn a thousand times a day”]; Slim 1972, 2:450–51. Melbancke quoted lines from two more poems of Oxford’s, including 90; see Tilley 1930. For the actual date of printing of Philotimus during Dec 1582, see Maud 1956.

135

Poems 3–4

Head-note to 4, 28, 78, 86, 118, and 133 These six entries also appear in the first edition of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises printed in 1576 (P). All except 118 were included in subsequent editions. Rollins (1927) collates the variants in print editions from 1578 to 1606. The edition printed in 1577 survives only in the autograph copy made by the bibliographer and print seller William Herbert (1718–95): Bod., MS Douce e.16 (P77). May argues that William Hunnis was “personally concerned with the make-up and printing of the 1577 edition” (1975b, 63) and that he corrected attributions and readings in his own poems as well as scrutinizing those of his predecessor as Master of the Children of the Chapel, Richard Edwards. The changes in attributions to the 1577 edition, some of which are retained in subsequent editions, should therefore be considered as more authoritative than the earlier edition. I will discuss the implications of this on a case-by-case basis in the commentary. Substantive variants in Herbert’s copy of the 1577 edition of The Paradyse are recorded in May (1975b). These variants together with those recorded in Rollins (1927) are discussed (where relevant) in the textual analysis, though none appear in the collations. One contemporary copyist, John Leche, transcribed five poems, including 4, 28, and 133, into his poetical miscellany (Folger, MS V.a.149) directly from print. Leche carefully copied the printed text and titles from an edition of The Paradyse printed after 1590. I have not included these derivative texts in the collations. 18

4

The poem was printed without attribution in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises (1576, sigs. E1v–3r). 19 “RO POO.” may refer to the enigmatic Paradyse author “Master Yloop” (or Pooly): two poems are attributed to Pooly in that publication (Rollins 1927, lxv, nos. 3 and 99). Marotti (2008, 88) suggests the poet was “Robert Pooley, the notorious double or triple agent who worked for Francis Walsingham in the late 1580s.” The compiler Humfrey Coningsby may have known members of the Poley (Pooley, Powley) family of Badley, Suffolk via a connection to the Blounts of Kidderminster in Worcestershire: Thomas Blount (d. 1568) holder of the infant Humfrey’s wardship (see Introd., xxxi fn. 28) had married Margery, a daughter of William Poley of Badley; 20 and their youngest son, Christopher

18   For example, Leche’s copy of 133 introduces only one unique variant from the print (“with” for “By” l. 8) and shares two readings corrected in editions of The Paradyse from 1590 (ll. 9 and 20). 19   The poem remains unattributed in all subsequent editions. 20   History of Parliament Online: “Blount, Thomas (d. 1568), of Kidderminster, Worcs.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/ member/blount-thomas-1568.

136

Commentary

(d. 1601), worked alongside Robert Poley as an agent to Walsingham during the mid-1580s. 21 Pooly’s fondness for heavily alliterative lines, seen in Rollins no. 99, “I Rage in restlesse ruthe, and ruins rule my daies,” is shared with the author of 4 (cf. “For lingringe lenghte of lothed lyfe” and “While luckles lo I lyve, in losse of labors due”; ll. 87, 96), and both write verse in long-lined measures. Two more poems in Hy carry the same initials: 31 is subscribed “quod R. P.” and 71 is restrospectively assigned to “R P.”; and I suggest that poem 82, which incorporates lines from 31, is also Pooly’s. The marginal annotation “ballet” and (later) subscription “Balle” suggest an extant musical setting of the poem (see Introd., lxv–lxvii). title 1–3

Diligentes me diligo [“I love them that love me”]; Vulgate: Proverbs 8.17 echoes Surrey’s “If care do cause men cry” (see also 79.1–4n.): If care do cause men cry, why do not I complaine? If eche man do bewaile his wo, why shew not I my paine? Since that amongst them all I dare well say is none, So farre from weale, so full of wo, or hath more cause to mone. (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. .D3r–v)

1 2

carefull mournful, sorrowful (OED adj. 1) grypinge gryef a formulaic alliterative pairing; cf. “This don, my griping griefs will som what swage” (George Turbervile, Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. E5v). Also found in 86.1 and 145.16. The phrase is often combined with pinchinge payne (l. 15): “Such griping greefe, wyth pinching pangs” (Edmund Elviden, The Most Excellent . . . Historie of Pesistratus and Catanea, 1570, sig. E3r); “What griping greefs, what pinching pangues of payne” (Nicholas Breton, A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. G3r). 21 Gallens booke medical writings of the celebrated physician of the second century A.D. 31–32 proverbe “There is a salve for every sore” (Tilley S84) 40 haunt of resorting frequently to (OED v. 3) 41 exilde expelled (OED v. 2) 47 on one   “Much later, [Christopher] Blount asked that the Queen be reminded of his services to her in assisting Leicester and Walsingham to uncover Mary’s plots” (History of Parliament Online: “Blount, Sir Christopher (d. 1601), of Kidderminster, Worcs” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/ member/blount-sir-christopher-1601. 21

137

Poem 4

53 Travell toil, labor (OED travail, n.1 1) 54–77 Cf. “If care do cause men cry”: For all thinges hauing life sometime haue quiet rest. The bearing Asse, the drawing Oxe, and euery other beast. The peasant and the post that serues at all assayes, The shipboy and the galley slaue haue time to take their rest Saue I alas whom care of force doth so constraine. (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. D3r–v)

58 59 67 71

hyre reward, recompense, payment (OED hire, n. 3) moyles toils (OED moil, v. 2) dinte . . . foyle attack with weapons of war (OED dint, n. 2b) flaw sudden blast or gust (OED flaw, n.2 1); in hazardise i.e., in peril, at risk (OED hazard, v. 3a) 79 caitiffe wretched, miserable (OED adj. 2) 91, 94 Froward . . . froward unfavorable, perverse (OED adj. 2) Collations: P. Title: Diligentes me diligo] Oppressed with sorowe, he wysheth death  4 is] are  6 ar] is  17 bestowed] inspect  21 booke] bookes  29 heale] coole  30 heale the] healeth; skarres] scarre  34 Plages that] plague which   40 haunt] haute   41 exilde] expeld   42 inward griefes] greefes   45 these] those   47 so must I dy] and so must die   56 flyeth] flies; “rest” corr. to nest] rest  59 moyles] drudges  60 goes] goth  71 hazardise] hazard is   72 And] At   77 “I” corr. to do or doth] doth   79 Thow] Oh   82 wailing] waylinges  83 tormentes] torment  84 thine] thy  Subscription: RO POO. Balle] om. Hy contains four certain errors: “heale” (l. 29) picks up the same word in the line below and should undoutedly read “coole”; the repeat of “inward” (l. 42) disrupts the meter; “exilde” should read “expeld” (l. 41) to rhyme with “repelde” (l. 43); and “And” should be “At” (l. 72). Line eight is present in P and P77 but omitted in all subsequent editions. A few unique variants that are not obvious errors and a reading (“nest” l. 56) that corrects an error in the print copy, which remained unchecked until the edition of 1600, indicates that Hy belongs to a distinct manuscript tradition of the poem. Another reading, “moyles” (l. 59), is superior to P’s “drudges,” which disrupts the meter and may have been an editorial change of an archaic word to a more familiar one.

138

Commentary

5

This is the final stanza of a poem by George Whetstone; the complete poem of eighteen lines appears four leaves later in the manuscript (see the commentary to 14). The single stanza, however, seems to have been entered after the transcription of the full copy. This is suggested from its position at the foot of the page and the fact that it is assigned the same number as the following entry in the contemporary numeration of the entries (see the Overview Table in Appendix 1a). The lack of substantive textual variants (although the orthography differs: 5 prefers “y” [for “i”] and “w” [for ”u”] makes it likely that the single stanza was re-copied from the full version. Coningsby also replicated the attribution from the complete text but, later, when he retrospectively amended this to “Incerti Authoris” he left that attached to 5 standing.

6

The name assigned to this unique text is almost certainly an abbreviation of “Euphues,” a nickname given to John Lyly after the publication of his prose works Euphues: the Anatomy of Wyt and Euphues and his England. 22 Gabriel Harvey refers to Lyly as Euphues in Pierces Supererogation, 1593: “surely Euphues was someway a pretty fellow: would God, Lilly had alwaies bene Euphues, and neuer Pap-hatchet” (“An Aduertisement,” sig. I4r). Another copy survives, without attribution, in Ra, fol. 15r, where it is placed in a cluster of poems (including poem 3 which directly follows) attributed to Lyly’s patron, the Earl of Oxford. 23 Oxford’s poem 3 has a similar dialogic form (Puttenham’s “Figure of response”; see 3.1–6n.), and there are verbal parallels (given below) between the texts that suggest Lyly wrote the poem in connection with his patron. Lyly had probably read Oxford’s poem 3 and he may even have known the original Italian source for it or Thomas Watson’s more literal translation included in his Hekatompathia (1582), which Lyly had read before publication. See the commentary to poem 3 for the evidence that Oxford and Lyly read Watson’s poetry in manuscript. 24 22   Euphues: the Anatomy of Wyt first appeared, with no date in the imprint, at the close of 1578 and Euphues and his England in 1580. Both titles enjoyed immediate success and were followed by a succession of further editions, the Anatomy reaching its fourth edition early in 1580, and his England with two editions printed in the same year and one in each of the two following years (Bond 1902, 1:20–21). 23   During the early 1580s, Lyly was a member of Oxford’s household and employed as his secretary (ODNB: Lyly). Lyly also dedicated his 1580 publication Euphues and his England to his patron (“To the Right Honourable my very good Lorde and Maister Edward de Vere, Earle of Oxenforde”). 24   Lyly also reveals in the commendatory epistle to the Hekatompathia (“John Lyly to the Authour his friend”) that he has written poems not intended for publication: “And

139

Poems 5–6

5 6 6–10

For the same idea in Oxford’s poem, see 3.15–16n. For a similar question about Cupid’s parentage, see 3.3n. Lyly employs the same correlative question-answer construction in an exchange between Cupid and a Nymph in Gallathea: Cupid  What is that Diana a goddesse? What her Nimphes virgins? What her pastimes hunting? Nymph  A goddesse? who knows it not? Virgins? who thinks it not? Hunting? who loues it not? (1592, sig. B3r) 25

9–10

beguild . . . mars Mars was tricked by Vulcan; cf. Lyly’s Sapho and Phao: “with a nette. . . . So it was said, that Vulcan caught Mars with Venus” (1584, sig. A4r) 15 bitter bale a commonplace alliterative pairing; cf. “Oh bitter bale that wretched louers bide” (Nicholas Breton, The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. G4v) 21–25 Cupid’s usual attributes, similarly interpreted by Lyly in Gallathea: Venus Alas poore boy, they Winges clypt? thy brandes [firebrands or torches] quencht? thy Bowe burnt? and thy Arrowes broke? Cupid . . . I beare nowe myne Arrowes in mine eyes, my Winges on my thoughts, my brandes in myne eares, my bowe in my mouth, so as I can wounde with looking, flye with thinking, burne with hearing, shoote with speaking. (1592, sig. G4r)

24 27 30

that withstandes whoever offers resistance; for the same idea of Cupid’s shafts as persuasive speech, cf. Gallathea “nor thoughts so staied, but thy shafts can make wauering, weake and wanton” (1592, sig. C2v). fruictes rewards (OED fruit, n. 7c) true desyer Lyly frequently makes this distinction; cf. “Ceres may lose that, that Cupid would saue, true louers” (my italics; Loves Metamorphosis, 1601 [written before 1584; see viii fn. 3], sig. F2v); and on the titlepage to Euphues and his England (1580) Lyly promises “sundry pretie discourses of honest Loue” (my italics).

Collations: Ra. 2 love] harte  3 a] or  4 sweat] sweet; delightes] delyght  5 Lines 6–10 are placed between lines 25 and 26   7 is] he is   8 Goddesse] Goddes   11 a] seeing you haue used mee so friendly, as to make me acquainted with your passions, I will shortly make you pryuie to mine, which I woulde be loth the printer shoulde see.” 25   Hunter and Bevington (2000, 4–6) suggest that Gallathea was probably written written ca. 1584.

140

Commentary

om.   15 bale] ball   16 ho] how; play] paye   25 where] when   27 payne] paynes   29 remaine] remayns   Subscription: Ewph.] om. Ra’s differing order of the lines, which places Hy’s second stanza in fifth position, reveals that the closing lines of each pair of tetrameter quatrains rhyme: “is” “blysse” (5, 15), “obayes” “nay[es]” (20, 25), and “Sier” “desyer” (10, 30). Both texts have the same error at line 25, where the plural noun is required to keep the rhyme; this could be independent variation rather than evidence of a common textual ancestor. Hy is in error at line 2 with “love,” which spoils the rhyme and is almost certainly a mistake caused by eye-skip (picking up the same word from the line above); and in l. 8 “Goddesse” should evidently read “Goddes” as in Ra. The remaining variant readings in Ra are inferior; two of which disturb the meter (ll. 7, 29).

7

“ELY.” is an abbreviation for Elizabeth, a form of name found elsewhere in Hy to designate the queen’s authorship (poem 21 is signed “EL.”). 26 Hy’s attribution is supported by the ascription to “Elysabetha regina” in Ra, fol. 1r. Another contemporary copy, however, assigns the poem to the Earl of Oxford, subscribed “L: of oxforde” in Fo, p. 12. 27 A third Elizabethan copy appears without attribution in Henry Stanford’s poetic miscellany, Dd, fol. 38v. 28 Though May dismisses Oxford’s authorship as improbable in terms of the poem’s content and “its clearly feminine viewpoint,” Fo does provide a reliable attribution to another poem by Oxford in the same collection (“Weare I a kinge I coulde commande content” (May 1980, 37, no. 16); and its owner Anne Cornwallis was a distant relation (Marotti 2002, 71–72). Furthermore, Oxford ventriloquized a woman’s voice in the “sweete song” of the young lady in poem 109 if we accept Sir John Harington’s attribution of the poem to him. Contemporary readers with an interest in court gossip associated the female voice in that poem with Oxford’s mistress Anne Vavasour (signaled as “Ann Vauesors eccho” in Ma and Ra) and attributed the whole poem to her or, because of the split between the third-person male narrator and direct reported speech of a female speaker in the text, to both (see the commentary to 109). The tendency of copyists to embellish 26   Bradner (1964, 75–76) includes the poem among “Poems of Doubtful Authorship”, Marcus et al. (2000, 303–4) as canonical, and May (2004b, 26–27) among works “Possibly” by Elizabeth. 27   May places 7 in “Poems Wrongly Attributed to Oxford,” commenting that “neither the content of this poem with its clearly feminine viewpoint, nor the lone ascription in Fo can substantiate Lord Oxford’s authorship” (1980, 84). 28   Judging from the position in the manuscript, May estimates that Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, copied the poem “not long after 1589” (1988, 329).

Poems 6–7

141

texts in this way (see Introd., xviii) makes it entirely possible that Oxford is the author, and the association with Elizabeth derived merely from the “appropriate” subject matter of the verse. 29 The heading in Ra (later crossed out) provides a context for the putative composition by the queen: “Verses made by the queine when she was supposed to be in loue with mountsyre.” 30 Elizabeth is credited with writing another lyric (“On Monsieur’s Departure”) after the longer second visit, and this seems the most likely period for the composition and circulation of poem 7 when Elizabeth was making a very public show of her affection for the duke (Bradner 1964, 73). In the early seventeenth century, the first four lines were recast as a song with a more pronounced anti-feminist bias, where in later years the speaker gets her due deserts when she woos unsuccessfully (Folger, MS V.a.262 [V26], p. 169). 9 10

brave fine, excellent (OED adj. 3a); Boy Cupid daynty fastidious, particular (OED adj. 5a)

Collations: Dd, Fo, Ra, and V26. Title: om.] Verses made by the queine when she was supposed to be in loue with mountsyre Ra, Another V26   1 then favour] & favour Dd Ra, then beauty V26   2 sought] woed V26; theyr] vnto there Dd; be] bee fa: la etc. V26   3 answerde] said to Dd V26   4 more] more fa: la: la: etc./ V26 inserted after l. 4 V26: When riper yeares grew on & beauty gann to fade To them I made my mone whome I before denyed fa la la etc. But then they answered mee as I did them before Goe goe etc. And scorne your freinds noe more fa la la etc./

5–16 om. V26   5–8 om. Dd   5 in] with Ra   6 not] no Ra   7 But] Yet Ra; still thys spake] still thus spake Fo, awnswerde them Ra   9 Then spake] but there Dd; fayre Venus] brave venus Fo; that brave] that proude Ra   10 Saying . . . Dame] said what thou scornfull dame Dd, And sayde: fyne Dame Ra; for] sith Dd, since Ra; yow be] thou art Dd   11 sub. I will so wound thie hart, that thou shallt leaue therfore Dd; pull] plucke Ra; yowr] om. Fo; as] that Ra   13 29   Perhaps Oxford wrote the poem in mild mockery of Elizabeth and circulated it as hers. Marotti doubts the poem was written by Elizabeth, pointing out that it is not very flattering to her: “the piece seems to be based on the (male) fantasy that the withholding woman will eventually regret her behavior” (2002, 91 fn. 22). 30   The negotiations for the match between Elizabeth and Francis, duke of Anjou, began in earnest in the summer of 1578, with personal visits from the duke in August 1579 and a more protracted visit from November 1581 to the following February (Black 1959, 302, 307).

142

Commentary

sub. but then I felt straightway a chaunge within my brest Dd; As . . . sayd] When he had spake these wordes Ra; chaunge] care Fo   14 sub. the day vnquiet was the night, I could not rest Dd; day] day since that Ra   15 Wherfore] For Dd, Than loe Ra; repent] sore repent Dd Subscription: ELY.] L: of oxforde Fo, Elysabetha regina Ra Hy is free of definitive error. Fo is close to Hy with only one genuine variant: “care” for “chaunge” (l. 13); the other two unique Fo variants are errors: the reading “brave venus” (l. 9) means that the adjective is used twice in the same line and the omission of “yowr” (l. 11) creates a metrical anomaly. Ra introduces numerous unique variants two of which disrupt the meter (ll. 10 and 14). Dd lacks four lines (ll. 5–8) and contains many poor readings that indicate a corrupted copytext. V26 shares a variant with Dd against all the other texts (“said to” for “answerde” l. 3); but two unique variants (“beauty” l. 1 and “woed” l. 2) are probably purposeful revisions to suit the poem’s recasting as a song.

8

In this unique text, the female speaker urges the male speaker to refrain from further advances fearing the “afterclappes” or unwelcome consequences of lovemaking. Lines 5 and 6 seem to be voiced together; and the final couplet sees the female speaker submit to Eros, echoing the conventions of the courtly love genre. 1 2 3 5 7

8

afterclappes unwelcome consequences or surprises (OED n. 1); proverbial, “Beware an afterclap” (Tilley A57) doubt fear (OED n.1 3a); perhappes things that may not happen (OED n. 2) labour . . . vayne proverbial (Tilley V5) misdoute suspect (OED v. 2) Sweete Boy often the epithet for Cupid; cf. Fulke Greville’s Caelica 84, “Farewell, sweet Boy, complaine not of my truth” (Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes, 1633, sig. 2K1v); and “By whom sweete boy werte thou begot?” (3.3) This convention is parodied in the erotic epillion The Court of Love, ll. 38–39: “Unto my lady, stable, true, and sure, / Feithfull and kynde, sith first that she began / Me to accept in service as her man” (Forni 2005, 11)

143

Poems 7–9

9

This is the first of four consecutive entries ascribed to Edward Dyer. 31 Two more copies survive in contemporary poetic miscellanies: doubtfully ascribed to “W. R.” in Ra, fols. 43v–44r; 32 and without attribution, but suggestively placed before a canonical poem by Dyer, in Ha, fol. 154r–v. May (1991, 315) notes the borrowed opening line, “Faine I would but O I dare not,” in Alfonso Ferrabosco’s Ayres (1609), no. V (further evidence of the poem’s transmission) and its resemblance to Wyatt’s “Hate whome ye lyste”: Hate whome ye lyste, I care not; Loue whome ye lyste and spare not; Doo what ye lyst and fere not; Sey what ye lyst and dred not; For as for me, I am not But euyn as on that rekyth not Whether ye hate or hate not, For in youre loue I dote not; Wherefore I pray you forget not, But loue whome ye lyst and spare not. (Muir and Thomson 1969, 145, no. CXXXVI)

A close version of the envoy, unique to Hy, appears as the closing couplet of a poem printed, under the title “No pleasure, without some payne,” in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises (1576, sig. [*]4v): “Which sowre from sweete, might any meanes remoue. / What happe, what heauen, what lyfe, were lyke to loue.” 33 title

Ferenda Natura [“Nature must be endured.”] The Latin tag appears in George Gascoigne’s A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres (1573) attached to three poems among the “Devises of Sundrie Gentlemen” (sigs. Q2r– 3r) and as an epithet for Bartholmew’s beloved in “Dan Bartholmew of

  May (1991, 313) places 9 among the possible Dyer poems (no. III).   Latham places it among poems doubtfully ascribed to Ralegh (1951, 172). Rudick merely presents the historical fact that one contemporary attributed the poem to Ralegh (1999, 145–46). 33   The poem, beginning “Sweete were the ioyes, that both might like and last,” was originally ascribed to “E. S.,” then to “W. R.,” and finally to William Hunnis (Rollins 1927, 183). The author is unlikely to be Hunnis, who had the opportunity to correct the attribution when he acted as editor on the 1577 edition (see head-note to 4). The attribution to Ralegh could have been prompted by the similar opening in two of his canonical poems: “Sweete ar the thoughtes” (47) and “Swete were the sauce” (see the commentary to 47). Rudick rejects this poem from the Ralegh canon (1999, 210). The original attribution of “Sweet were the ioyes” to “E. S.” might then denote Edward Dyer, a plausible suggestion since “D” and “S” are graphically similar in the secretary script. 31

32

144

Commentary

Bathe”: “But since I must a name to hir assigne, / Let call hir now Ferenda Natura” (sig. 2E4r). Dyer’s poem 1 is headed with a similar Latin tag. 10 a play on the proverbial “Spare to speak spare to speed” (Tilley S709) 11 recke care, heed (OED reck, n.) 34 Sweete from Sowre proverbial, “Take (Mingle) the Sweet with the sour” (Tilley S1038); Dyer is fond of this combination: “But yf the smallest sweete, / Be mixte with all his sowre” (1.9–10); “Wyth Sowre to sawce the Daynties of delight” (127.14). Collations: May (1991, 289) collates Ha and Hy against Ra. As May concludes, apart from Ha’s omission of the last eight lines (ll. 25– 32), the texts are relatively error free. Although there is no agreement in error, where the texts diverge in their placement of the repetitive conjunctives “(and) yet,” “but,” “when as,” and “(al)though,” Ha and Ra agree six times against Hy, whereas Hy only pairs twice with Ha and Ra respectively. Hy is in error at line 13 with “feele,” where the other witnesses read “see,” which fits in better with the play upon positive and negative values in the preceding lines: “I dare not . . . I dare”; “you strike not . . . I strike”; “I speake not . . . I speake”; “you see . . . you see not” (my italics). Coningsby silently changed “Nor of . . . not” to “And for . . . not” (l. 32) to avoid a double negative (for this habit, see Introd., lxvii–lxviii), and the marginal correction in line 15, “gentle” in place of “Noble” (where Ha and Ra read “Noble”) may also be a sophistication.

10

This is the second of four consecutive entries ascribed to Edward Dyer. 34 Dyer’s authorship is supported by George Puttenham’s citation of two lines from the poem “as that of maister Diars” in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu), sig. V1r. 35 4 5

yet still (OED adv. 7c) only mere (OED adj. 4a); the idea of a lover’s metamorphosis is borrowed from Ovid: Echo was rejected by Narcissus and pined away until she became a disembodied voice. Cf. Petrarch’s Rime 23.139–40: “thus I remained a voice shaken from my former burden, calling Death and only her by name” (Durling 1976, 66). Cf. “his slaight, and gastly staring looke” (The .xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, translated by Arthur Golding, 1567, sig. H2v).

7

  May (1991, 295) places 10 among the certain Dyer poems (no. 3).   Wagner was the first to make the connection between the excerpt in Pu and the complete poem in Hy (1935, 467–68). 34 35

145

Poems 9–10

9–10

Puttenham quoted these lines in The Arte of English Poesie (1589) to illustrate “Parenthesis or the Insertour” with the following Introduction: when ye will seeme for larger information or some other purpose, to peece or graffe in the middest of your tale an vnnecessary parcell of speech, which neuerthelesse may be thence without any detriment to the rest . . . as that of maister Diars very aptly. But now my Deere (for so my loue makes me to call you still) That loue I say, that lucklesse loue, that works me all this ill. (sig. V1r)

10

luckles love a popular alliterative tag; cf. Gascoigne’s “My liking lust, my lucklesse loue which euer truly ment” (A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, 1573, sig. N3r) and Breton’s “no grief to luckles love” (60.1) 16, 18 Sacred presence . . . great Maiesty May (1991, 55) draws attention to these lines as probably addressed to the queen. 18 stayne i.e., in a positive sense: Venus’ quality of surpassing or excelling other women (OED stain, n. 3c) 19 proverbial (Tilley F394); cf. Sidney’s CS 21.11–12, “Even as the flye, which to the flame doth goe, / Pleased with the light, that his small corse doth burne.” 34 to too 36 fatall fated (OED adj. 1) 38–45 There is an echo of these lines in Whetstone’s The Rocke of Regard (1576): And then for other heede, this sillie boune I craue, That I vppon my timelesse tombe, this Epitaphe may haue. The thing, that causde mee her to lie, Was scorning loue at libertie. (sig. G3r–v)

49

on one

May (1991, 296) notes an error in line 5 (“the” for “that”), probably caused by misreading a superscript abbreviation (“y t ” as “ye”), and points out that line 20 is missing a foot since it rhymes with a preceding heptameter line. This is a metrical anomaly since Dyer’s poem switches between poulter’s measure (hexameter followed by heptameter), fourteeners (two heptameters) and hexameter couplets. Two marginal corrections (in lines 30 and 49) are typical of Coningsby’s concern for the correct use of language in the texts that he transcribed (this habit of correcting and perfecting is discussed in the Introd., lxvii–lxix). In the first instance, Coningsby corrects “in company with thee” to “in company of thee” (l. 30), and, in the second, “nor shead no Teare” is changed to “& shead no Teare” (l. 49; my italics) to avoid a double negative.

146

Commentary

11

This is the third of four consecutive entries ascribed to Edward Dyer. Dyer’s authorship is supported by another contemporary manuscript copy ascribed to “Mr Dier” in Ra, fol. 7v. 36 The poem is also found, without attribution, in three Elizabethan poetic miscellanies: Fo, p. 17, Ha, fol. 173r, and The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sig. L2r–v. 1–4 2

the proverbial “no fire without fuel” (Tilley F276) byn altered to “been” in the margin, graphically indicating the rhyme with “seene” in line 1. 5 profe experience (OED proof, n. 6); know altered to “knoe” in the margin, graphically indicating the rhyme with “woe” in line 6. 7–12 alludes to the Ovidian tag “inopem me copia fecit” (Metamorphoses 3.466), translated by Golding as “my plentie makes me poore” (The .xv. Bookes 1567, sig. F6r). Narcissus’ lament that he is the unattainable object of his own desire was allegorized in Neoplatonic terms as a distinction between corporal beauty and the true beauty of the soul; cf. Spenser’s Amoretti 35: “but hauing pine and hauing not complaine” (Amoretti and Epithalamion, 1595, sig. C3r). It was a popular motif, variously interpreted, in Elizabethan poetry, summed up by Nicholas Breton: “Some say . . . they liue and lacke, they lack, and yet they haue, / And hauing yet, they lack the thing they craue” (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. F3r); and cf. “How should I want that I possesse?” (30.13) 7 at liste at his pleasure or desire (OED list, n.4 3) Collations: Sargent (1935, 208) collates Ha and Ra against PN; May (1991, 309) collates Fo against Hy. As May concludes, Hy is “free of definite errors” and like Fo and Ra preserves the “alliterative” state of the poem in lines 7, 8 and 10. PN and Ha share an alternative and less alliterative version of these lines. Ha and Fo’s agreement in error at line 5, “fynd,” which fails to rhyme with “woe” in the next line, could be a case of independent variation, with both scribes substituting the more familiar “by proofe I fynd” for “by proofe I know.” Fo makes a similar sense substitution at line 8, substituting “lost” for “miste” and in the process creates another faulty end-rhyme. Ha introduces one new variant, “fitt” for “for” (l. 4) and diverges from PN on two more occasions (“liued” l. 6, and “and” l. 7). Ha and PN probably derive from a different tradition of the poem from Hy, Fo, and Ra. Arguably, the latter version is better: “A harder hap” at the beginning of line 7 balances rhetorically with “A stranger case” in line 5; and the PN-Ha replacement line 8 repeats the sentiment expressed in line 12 and spoils the impact of the closing   May (1991, 309) places 11 among the certain Dyer poems (no. 10).

36

147

Poems 11–12

lines. PN and Ha also tidy up the double negative in line 2: “nor never” to “nor ever”; as does Coningsby with the marginal correction “ever” (for this habit, see Introd., lxvii–lxviii).

12

This is the last of four consecutive entries ascribed to Edward Dyer. 37 Dyer’s authorship is supported by attributions in two contemporary poetic miscellanies, ascribed to “dyer” in Fo, pp. 9–10 and to “Mr Dier” in Ra, fol. 6r–v. Sir John Harington also referred to the poem’s closing lines as written by Dyer in his Orlando Furioso, 1591 (see below 61–64n.). The poem also appears without attribution in the poetic miscellany compiled by Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey (Dd, fol. 43v) and Ha, fols. 149v–50r. These last two related copies introduce an additional six lines (in italics below from Ha, with Dd variants in parentheses), which split the final sixain as follows: The greedy Grypes do gnaw & feede

And yet noe wronge for loe (whie) we crave That which the (the thing that) Gods themselues would haue But let them mone and wayle their case That of vile choyse them selues may blame Let them lament their fates disgrace Whose base desyres do worke their (the) shame But he that vauntes His harte [on] hye: Muste bee contente,

60

61

To pyne and dye.

The additional lines are introduced in two copies that derive from a corrupted copy-text, and it seems likely that they are a non-authorial scribal interpolation. 38 The layout of the poem in Hy splits the closing tetrameter couplet of each sixain (ababcc) to create four lines of dimeter. Two instances where Coningsby deleted a word at the point in the text where the couplet was split (ll. 13, 29) indicates that the copy-text contained the more regular stanzaic pattern (for another instance of this, see the commentary to 46). 1–2

Dyer appears to be borrowing a refrain from Wyatt’s “Deem as ye list upon good cause”: “I would it were not as I think; / I would I thought it were not so” (A Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inuentions, 1578, sig. D3v).

  May (1991, 299–301) places 12 among the certain Dyer poems (no. 6).   See May (1991, 301) for an alternative view, where Dd is considered the best text. Gottschalk concludes that Dd and Ha “share a defective ancestor,” and the additional lines are “very much inappropriate as they now appear” (1974, 502). 37

38

148

Commentary

William Hunnis borrowed the same lines from Wyatt for a poem printed in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises: “I would it were not as I thinke, I would it were not so” (1576, sig. H2r). 3–4 amisse improper (OED adj. 2a); amis a misdeed, an error, a fault (n.) 9–10 meane . . . meane method . . . happy medium (OED mean, n.3 3a, 7a) 15 Badge mark, distinguishing sign (OED n.1c) 20 weene believe (OED ween, v. 1) 22 Vnhappy man Cf. Dyer’s “But most vnhappy man” (2.150). 24 Acquyet soothe, pacify (OED acquiet, v. 2) 31 yrus “A beggar, of whom Homere [in the Odyssey] maketh mention” (Cooper) 32 yfrette embroidered (OED fret, v.2 1a) 35 clogge a block or heavy piece of wood chained to the legs, as a punitive restraint, to impede movement (OED clog, n. 2a); for a similar idea, see 74.35. 37–40 Cf. Petrarch’s Rime 134.3: “et volo sopra ‘l cielo et giaccio in terra” [“I fly above the heavens and lie on the ground”; Durling 1976, 272–73]. Cf. Oxford’s 90.1–2: “Wingde with Desire, I seke to mount on hy, / Clad with mishap, yet am I kept full low.” 42 to . . . to to . . . too 43–49 youthe . . . Icarus “Son of Daedalus, who hauing winges, with his father flew out of the yle of Crete: . . . wherwith the feathers of his wynges were glewed, melted with the heate of the Sunne . . . Icarus was constraigned to fall into the sea” (Cooper) 57 Pheere companion (OED fere, n.1 1a) 58 Prometheus “the paynyms supposed that he made men, and feigned that he wente into heaven, and there dyd steale fire to make his ymage haue lyfe wherewith Jupiter being wrath, caused him to be bounden on the hill called Caucasus, and an Eagle standing by eatynge his herte” (Cooper); Dyer refers to this legend again in 15.1–2. 60 Grypes vultures (OED gripe, n.3 2); cf. “Lyke greedy Gripes, that peck Prometheus maw” (Humphrey Gifford, Poesie of Gilloflowers, 1580, sig. P3r). 61–64 Harington quotes these lines in the “Moral” to Book sixteen of his Orlando Furioso, 1591, sig. L4v: The great aphorisme or maxime set downe in the two last verses of the second staffe of this booke [i.e., “Yet so his heart and thoughts be highly placed, / He must not mourne, no though he die disgraced”; sig. L1v], was imitated by a Gentleman of our countrey [in left margin: “Master Edward Dier a Somersetshire man”], in his younger dayes, though a man euer of great wit and worth: his verse was this, He that hath plast his heart on hie, Must not lament although he die.

Poem 12

149

Collations: Sargent (1935, 205) collates Fo against Ra; May (1991, 301) collates Ha and Hy against Dd. Hy shows few signs of corruption with only two unique readings: “helpe” should probably read “hap” (l. 23), mirroring the “Hope . . . hap” dichotomy of line 20; and the omission of a word before “hye” (l. 62), where three witnesses read “on hye” and two “to hye,” is a certain error which creates a metrically defective line. May notes that Ra, Fo, and Hy share three readings against Dd and Ha: “such sweete” for “these (those) sweet” (l. 12), “weene” (“winne” in Ra) for “joyn” (l. 20), and “hope” for “hap” (l. 20). In line 12, another reading links these three texts: “ioyes” for “thoughts.” My analysis differs from May in concluding that Dd and Ha derive from a corrupted copy-text where some new but inferior readings had been introduced to Dyer’s original text. I also dismiss Dd-Ha’s six additional lines as spurious. The evidence is presented below. Ha and Dd descend from a common ancestor that transmitted variant readings in fourteen lines of the poem and contained an additional six lines. Many of these readings are inferior; for example, “with golden fret” (l. 32) lacks the necessary verbal force of Hy-Fo-Ra’s “In Gould yfrette,” which mirrors “in wood were sette” in the previous line. Dd-Ha’s “my wing (wings) to get at gate doth (do) hast” (my italics) is awkward and, though May proposes this phrase is “equivalent to getting ‘at the gate’ (OED to get near or close to) . . . [and] the poet aspires to rise up to the object of his desires,” Hy-Fo-Ra’s more sonorous reading “to mounte / Alofte” (l. 37–38) better articulates the opposition between “Desires . . . wynges” (l. 34) and “clogge” bound feet (l. 35). It is also the counterpart to “dothe synke / Me downe” in the following lines. Another awkward Dd-Ha shared reading illustrates the inadequacies of the copy from which these two manuscripts derived. In line 47, “he blames (blam’d) the sea” for Hy-Fo-Ra’s “He drounde in Seas” is nonsensical in the context; why would “Icarus” (l. 49) blame “the sea” rather than the sun which caused the wax on his wings to melt? In line 12, Dd-Ha’s “thoughts” is perhaps more logical but the less obvious reading “Ioyes” is arguably more characteristic of Dyer (cf. “It was a World of Ioyes” 10.15). Line 19, “Thrise happy man,” is the emphatic development from “O happy man” (l. 17), and Dd-Ha’s “for thie hartes desire” is a weaker alternative. In line 20, Dd-Ha’s “ioyn” is another more obvious reading than the archaic “weene.” Ra’s “winne” is a misreading of “weene” and another rationalization of the more unusual locution. In line 51, Dd-Ha’s variant of Hy-Fo-Ra’s reading “poore man” creates a strained syntax (‘‘then I who (that) lyue in (on) whom alas”), again signaling a corrupted copy-text. Dd also introduces more than twenty unique variants, most of which are inferior readings; for example, “aquite yt” (l. 24) is a mistranscription of “Acquyet,” a reading which Fo and Ha rationalized to “make quiet” and “nor quiet”; “sore” for “foe” (l. 26) is nonsensical in the context of the line, “my sore presentes his face” (the same word was also corrupt in Ha “my feare . . .”); and, in line 57, “scarre & fellon” for “Pheere and felow” in all the other texts, is another

150

Commentary

indication that Dd was working from a corrupted or illegible copy-text. Ha introduces fourteen more errors, some of which produce incoherent lines. The citation of the closing couplet in Orlando Furioso introduces six unique variants. Harington was probably quoting the lines from memory, but there is also purposeful revision in the second line to create a better fit with the “maxime” in Book Sixteen to which a comparison is being drawn.

13

The ascription attached to this unique text (“TY. S.”) must refer to the same individual, denoted by “TY. SO.,” in the following entry. George Whetstone is certainly the author of the latter poem (see the commentary to 14), and Coningsby, in fact, replaced the second of these with “Incerti Authoris.” The initials may refer to a donor rather than the author of the text (see Introd., lxi–lxii), in which case the copies must have been obtained, as a pair, from the same source. Both poems share the same stanzaic form (sixains), and the shift in 13 from tetrameter to pentameter in the final sestet exactly mirrors the verse form of the following poem, which keeps to pentameter throughout. There are also striking verbal echoes between 13 and 14 that suggest a common author; for example, the speaker’s enumeration of body parts in vowing unswerving faith to his mistress is similar in both poems: “ . . . Sacrifice my blood, / And burne my Bones” (14.17– 18) and “My Body, Blud, my Lyfe, & sences all” (13.21). 7 Cf. 33.1–2: “Myne eye Bewrayes, / My Harte[’s] Desires”; bewrayes betrays (OED v. 5) 15 lo I vow Cf. 40.10 “And Lo my Vowe.” 19–21 vowd . . . all This is reminiscent of Whetstone’s diction in his printed work (see below 14.16–17n.). 24 Cf. Whetstone’s “The absent louer in pawne of his constancie, sendeth his heart to his Ladie” and “In lue whereof she friendly you exhorts / To take in worth what of good will is writ” (The Rocke of Regard, 1576, sigs. F1v, R6r).

14

For the ascription, see the commentary to 13. The poem is by George Whetstone and was printed in his collection of stories with passages of verse: An Heptameron of Ciuill Discourses, 1582 (Hep), sigs.

Poems 12–14

151

G3v–4r. In the narrative context Bargetto presents the poem to his mistress during the masque on the second day: 39 BARGETTO, lighted by a Page, apparayled in his Mistresse colours, Greene, Carnation and Whyte, followed Ismarito, hauing the mouth of his Mask closed with a small Golden Lock, as a witnesse of the true execution of his Mistresse Commaundement: and vpon hys fist hee caried a Parrate to pratle to his Mistresse, vppon pausing betweene euery solemne Almayne [i.e., a courtly dance], and couertlye vnder the Parrats winge, was hidden this passion.

Another entry in Hy (see 81) appeared in the Heptameron, a tentative indication that both these poems circulated in manuscript before they were inserted by Whetstone as verse interludes in his prose narrative. 40 Coningsby re-copied the last stanza of the poem in a gap at the foot of a page, almost certainly taken from this earlier transcript of the full version (see the commentary to 5). 1–5

Whetstone adapts Petrarch’s Rime 153.1–2: “Ite, caldi sospiri, al freddo core, / rompete il ghiaccio che pietà contende” [“Go, hot sighs, to her cold heart, break the ice that fights against pity”]. 11–12 proverbial (Tilley M211); cf. Whetstone’s The Rocke (1576, sig. A3r) “They say, who so with dropsie is aprayde, / The more hee drinkes, the more hee doth desire.” 16–17 Whestone repeats this sentiment in The Rocke (1576): “With faithfull zeale I so my goddesse serv’d, / My life, my love, my living, all and some, / . . . To worke amends, I sacrifisde my bloud” (sig. F4v). Collations: Hep. 12 doth make] compels   15 but] nay; shall] may   18 burne] fyre   Subscription: Incerti Authoris] om. The texts present four substantive variants indicating that Coningsby did not copy directly from the printed edition. Hy may be in error with “doth make” (l. 12), which repeats the same phrase from the previous line, but the other variants are difficult to choose between. Hy’s “but . . . shall” seems a better reading than 39   An Heptameron was entered in the Stationers’ Register on January 11, 1582; it was reissued in 1593 as Aurelia. The Paragon of Pleasure and Princely Delights; 14 appears on sig. G2r with no variants. 40   Izard (1942, 35) suggests that an earlier publication of Whetstone’s (The Rocke of Regard, 1576) “was made up of occasional, unrelated compositions in verse and prose which the author has attempted without complete success to classify and arrange under appropriate headings.”

152

Commentary

Hep’s “nay . . . may” (l. 15). Hep’s “fyre” for “burne” (l. 18) is weaker and misses the alliterative effect of “blood, / . . . burne . . . Bones.” Head-note to 15–16 Poems 15 and 16 appear to have been released into manuscript circulation as a pair and were copied as such in most of the surviving manuscript witnesses. Edward Dyer (15) takes the legend of the satyr who kissed the fire brought down from heaven by Prometheus as a metaphor for his own burning passion, caused by the sight of his heavenly mistress. Philip Sidney’s response (16; CS 16) mirrors the verse form of Dyer’s poem (English sonnet) but treats a different story of a satyr, subverting the usual iconography of Pan as the symbol of unexplained terror or panic, to make him cowardly flee the sound of his own horn. In the penultimate line Sidney addresses his friend in a direct reference to the earlier poem: “Better I lyke thy Satyre (Deerest Dyer) / That burnte his lyps, to kisse faire shininge Fyer.” Copies of the companion poems with the clear distinction of respective authorship are found in three more contemporary manuscript volumes of poetry: Ra, fol. 8r–v, Fo, pp. 21, 23, and Ot, fol. 4r. The poems also appear in two Old Arcadia manuscript texts with the Certain Sonnets appended, Cl, fol. 220r and Bo, fols. 237v–38r, and in print among the Certain Sonnets in The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1598 (98), sig. 2R5r–v. The companion poems continued to be popular appearing with suitably pastoral titles (“The Sheepheards conceite of Prometheus” and “Another of the same”) in the themed miscellany Englands Helicon, 1600 (EH), sig. Bb2v. 41 The invariable presence of Dyer’s poem before CS 16 in the manuscript and print collections of Sidney’s work indicates Sidney’s own wish to preserve the poems as a unit. 42 An unattributed copy of Dyer’s poem, without the accompanying answer poem by Sidney, is found in a grouping of poems by Dyer in Ha, fol. 154v and provides a tentative indication that 15 circulated independently before Sidney wrote the response. A musical setting of Sidney’s answer poem, for four voices, was composed by John Ward: printed in 1613 in his First Set of English Madrigals, no. 7 [ll. 1–4], sig. B4r. 43 But there is no evidence that Sidney’s poem circulated independently in manuscript; it is reasonable to suggest that after Sidney wrote the response, the poems were fixed in circulation as a unit.

41   May points out that the texts were probably sourced from the 1598 Arcadia (1991, 302). For another example of EH’s manufactured titles, see 87, entitled “A Sheepheards slumber.” 42  For Sidney’s high estimation of Dyer’s literary reputation, see Duncan-Jones 1991, 105. 43   Ringler (1962, 566) tells us that the words were taken from one of the folio editions of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia printed between 1598 and 1613 (1962, 567).

153

Poems 14–15

1–2 3–4

5

6 9 13

15

This legend is referred to in another poem by Dyer: see 12.58n. Satyre . . . kysse The tale is found in sixteenth-century editions of Aesop (Ringler 1962, 429); cf. also Plutarch’s De Capienda ex Inimicis Utilitate translated by Thomas Elyot in 1531: “But Satyrus the fyrst tyme that he sawe fyer, whan he wolde haue taken it & kyssed it: ho, quod Pometheus, thou roughe knaue, if thou not hede, it wil make thy lyppes smert: for it Burneth, if it be touched” (sig. B3r). Sidney refers to the legend in CS 25.15–17: “Like to the silly Sylvan, / Burn’d by the light he best liked, / When with a fire he first met.” outward . . . powre Dyer echoes lines from Petrarch’s Rime 19.5–7: “et altri, col desio folle che spera / gioir forse nel foco, perché splende, / provan l’altra vertù, quella che´ ncende” [“and others, with their mad desire that hopes perhaps to enjoy the fire because it shines, experience the other power, the one that burns”]; Durling, 54–55. Wood enraged (OED adj. 3b) Silly foolish (OED adj. 6a); vnwonted unaccustomed (OED adj. 1a) The difference Sidney echoes this phrase in OA 72.38–40: “The diffrence is; all folkes those stormes forbeare: / But I cannot; who then my selfe should flie, / So close unto my selfe my wrackes doo lie.”

Collations: Bo, Cl, EH, Fo, Ha, Ot, Ra, and 98. Title: om.] Edw: D. Cl, The Sheepheards conceite of Prometheus EH, E. D. 98   1 Promethevs] Promotheus Ha; when] om. Bo   2 not seene] vnseene EH, none seene Ha   3 Delight] the Lighte Cl Ha   5 outward] other Bo Cl EH Ot 98, others Ha   6 Wood . . . Smart] All full of griefe Ha; showtes & shrikinge] showtes and shrikinges Cl EH Ot, shoute & shriking Fo, plaints a skriching Ha   7 his] for Ha   9 Silly I] I unwares Ha   11 thympression] the impression Bo Cl Fo Ot 98   12 since] scarce Fo; rest & runne] runne and rest Bo Cl EH Ha Ot 98; as] where Ha   13 difference] difference is Bo Cl EH Ha Ot Ra 98   14 Time] while Bo Cl EH Ha Ot 98   Subscription: Dy.] S. E. D. EH, E. D. Ot, Mr Dier Ra, Dier Fo, om. Bo Cl Ha 98 A textual relationship can be determined between Hy, Fo and Ra on the basis of three shared readings against all the other texts: “outward” for “other” (l. 5), “rest and run” for “runne and rest” (l. 12) and “Time” for “while” (l. 14). Hy and Fo share another common intermediary (Z in the stemma below), which transmitted the error “difference” for “difference is” (l. 13). Ringler (1990, 134) revised an important reading for the understanding of the relationship between the extant texts in his critical text of Dyer’s poem. The textual crux occurs in line 3 where six substantive texts (Hy, Bo, Fo, Ot, Ra and 98) read “Fond of Delight” and two texts (Ha and Cl) “Fond of the Light.” Ringler points out that the majority read-

154

Commentary

ing “does not make much sense” and that Sidney’s answer poem draws attention to the satyr’s attraction to the “shininge Fyer” (16.14). These textual relationships and the relative corruption of the surviving texts can be seen more clearly in the stemma below. O Errors

X 3 Delight

1

Bo

98

Cl

EH Y 5 outward, 12 rest and run, 14 time Z 13 om. is Ra 5 Hy 7

Fo Ha

See head-note to 15.

16

1–2

Satyre . . . blow Ringler (1962, 429) suggests Sidney’s source for this legend is Andrea Alciati’s emblem CXXIII, “In subitum terrorem” [“On sudden terror”], showing a satyr (Pan) holding a large horn, watching an army in panicked retreat; in the motto the satyr asks “who is sounding my horn?” (Emblematum libellus, 1534). 13–14 Sidney warmly addresses his friend Edward Dyer in these lines, alluding to poem 15, which illustrates a legend of a different satyr. Collations: Bo, Cl, EH, Fo, Ot, Ra, and 98. Ringler (1962, 145) collates all the texts except Ot but only records the variants occurring in two or more substantive texts. My collations show all substantive variants. Title: om.] Another of the same EH   2 Of] with Bo Cl EH Ot 98; “which” corr. to that] which Bo Cl EH Fo Ot 98, that Ra   5 causes Feare] causeless

155

Poems 15–17

feares Bo Cl EH Ot Ra 98, causes feares Fo; Cowardes] cowardly Bo, coward EH 98   6 fly] flee Cl; faine] faynest Cl   7 which] who Bo Cl EH Ot 98, that Ra   8 Thinking] Seekinge Ra   9 So] thus Bo Cl EH Ot 98; might] mought EH; doubtes] doubte Fo Ra   10 harte] wordes Bo Cl EH Ot 98; mine] my Bo Fo 98; hap] hope Ra; bewray] betray Bo Cl EH Ot Ra 98   11 so] thus Bo Cl EH Ot 98   13 I lyke] like I Bo Cl EH Ot 98, be lyke Ra; thy] the Cl Fo; Satyre] Satyres Fo; Dyer] dyre Fo   14 That] Who Bo Cl EH Ot 98   Subscription: SY.] S. p. Sydney Fo, S. Phil. Sidney EH, P. S. Ot, S. P. S Ra, om. Bo Cl 98 Since poem 16 circulated as the companion to 15 it is not suprising that the same textual relationships can be determined between Hy, Fo, and Ra. These three copies share six indeterminate readings against all the other texts: “Of ” for “with” (l. 2), “So” and “so” for “thus” (ll. 9, 11), “harte” for “wordes” (l. 10), “I (be) lyke” for “lyke I” (l. 13), and “That” for “Who” (l. 14). Hy and Fo descend from a common intermediary, which transmitted the error “causes” for “causeless” (l. 5). Ra introduces three unique variants: “seekinge” (l. 8), “hope” (l. 10), and “be lyke” (l. 13). Fo’s unique reading “which” for “when” (l. 5) is probably a scribal slip, and the rendering of line 13 as “Better I like the Satyres dearest dyre” reveals that the (professional) scribe did not pick up on the punning reference to the poet. Another peculiarity of Fo is that the companion poems do not follow on from each other as in all the other witnesses which have both texts. Intead two poems intervene: an anonymous verse of eight lines, beginning “Content aboue from god is sente,” is copied on the right-hand side of the same page and, on the verso, there is a poem attributed to “Dier,” beginning “Wher one woulde be ther not to be.” Of the remaining texts, Bo presents one error, “cowardly” (l. 5); and Cl introduces two unique variants in line 6 and independently makes the same error as Fo in reading “the” for “thy” (l. 13).

17

This unique text is the first of three consecutive poems signed identically “quod [i.e., “written by”, OED quoth, v. 1c.] N. S.” There is no obvious candidate for a poet with these initials, but if the majuscule “S” is a misreading of graphically similar secretary majuscule “B” then Nicholas Breton, who signs himself “N. B.” or “N. B. Gent” in his early publications (see Introd., lii), would be an obvious choice. In the commentary to the individual poems I have noted striking parallels in phrasing and ideas found in Breton’s printed work. The phoenix myth was a favorite Elizabethan poetic emblem of rarity and uniqueness; in its association with the queen it symbolized virginity, incorporating the idea of dynastic stability and her uniqueness. The comparison of a mistress to the reviving phoenix was also a familiar idea from Petrarch and the

156

Commentary

continental poets (Ronsard, Du Bellay, and Desportes). 44 Breton was especially taken with the legend and repeatedly worked it into his poems: “Oh let my soule, beseech her sacred rest, / But in the ashes of the Phoenix nest” (Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592, sig. L4r); “like the Phenix, liue in ashes, till he may get life by the vertue of his bright Sunne againe” (Wits Trenchmour, 1597, sigs. F3v–4r); “But like the Phoenix in a sunnie fire, / Findes lifes delight in ashes of desire” (“The praise of Loue” in The Soules Immortall Crowne, 1605, sig. F3v). And, as Rollins suggests, the title of the poetic miscellany The Phoenix Nest, printed in 1593, to which Breton was “the second most important contributor,” may have been inspired by that poet’s use of the phrase (1931, x, xviii). 1

Yf . . . trew Breton has a habit of beginning a poem by alluding to an old tale or proverb: “A Prouerbe olde there is, which wise men count for true”; “In fayned tales a man somtyme may finde” (The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sigs. B1v and H2v); and “Some men will say there is a kynde of Muse” (149). 2–18 Byrd . . . ries “Phoenix . . . A certine byrde, of whose kinde is neuer but one at ones. It liueth aboue 600 yeres, and then makyng hir neast in the toppe of an high mountayne with sweete spices, by the heate of the sunne, and in labour of hir wynges, kindleth fiar wherwith she is consumed: then of hir ashes riseth an other like birde” (Cooper). 2 on one; cf. Breton’s “Some say sweete loue, there is a Phoenix birde, / Of which there was, is, nor will be but one” (Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592, sig. L3v). 5 hugy huge OED (adj.) 8 abroade i.e., a brood; this spelling is not recorded in OED (brood, n. 1a); the corresponding rhyme word at l. 10 “bloade” for “blood” is also unusual. 10 Sonny i.e., produced by the sun (OED adj. 5) 13 But now just now, only this moment (OED but, P4) 15 sweate toil, labor (OED sweat, v. 5a)

44   For this tradition, see Thomas Watson’s Sonnet 44 in the Hekatompathia, 1582, sig. F2v: “The Phenix so reuiues amids the ayre / By vertue of that Sunne which all men view: / The vertue of my Sunne exceedes the skye, / By her I shall reuiue, though first I die”; and Samuel Daniel’s Sonnet 3 (“The onely bird alone that Nature frames”) in Syr P.S. His Astrophel and Stella, 1591 (sig. I4r–v): “O Soueraigne light that with thy sacred flame / Consumes my life, reuiue me after this, / And make me (with the happie bird) the same / That dies to liue, by fauour of thy blisse.” The same conceit is also used for the “Dittie,” “There is a bird that builds her neast with spice,” written for the royal entertainments at Cowdray, 14–20 August 1591 (printed, from The Speeches and Honorable Entertainment, 1591, sig. B2v, in Goldring et al. 2014, 3:557–58.)

157

Poems 17–18

17 27

heavenly Phenix Breton refers to the phoenix as “this heauenly bird” in “A Conceipt vpon an Eagle, and a Phoenix” (Melancholike Humours, 1600, sig. E3v) Bewty . . . Desyre Rollins (1933, xviii) cites the pairing of abstractions as a notable feature of Breton’s verse.

18

This is the second of three consecutive poems probably by Nicholas Breton (see the commentary to 17). Three more copies without attribution are found in contemporary verse anthologies: Fo, pp. 31–32, Ra, fol. 93r, and Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 7r. 1–4 2 3, 16 5–6 9 15 19 22

Some of the exact phrasing in these lines is found in 125.5–8. forsworne i.e., the swearing to abandon love forever in line 1 prove . . . prove know by experience, suffer (OED v. 2) Cf. Breton’s “Wit would call for Willes helpe, when Will cared not for Wits counsaile . . . Wit would be carefull, and will carelesse” (The Wil of Wit, 1597, first printed in 1580; see 3 fn. 14, sig. C1v). According to early modern humoral theory, in grief the heart became contracted and heavy; cf. Breton’s “And t’is a heauie sence in sorrowes rowle” (The Vncasing of Machauils Instructions, 1615, sig. E1r). motions perturbations of the mind (OED n. 2) Fayre woman, especially a beloved woman (OED n.1 3b); framde created (OED v. 7) Cf. Breton’s, “Oh sweetest sweete of my soules purest sence” (Diuine Considerations, 1608, p. 3); “Oh sweete of sweetes, the sweetest sweete that is: / Oh flowre of flowres, that yeelds so sweete a sent” (“An excellent Dreame . . . by N. B. Gent.”; The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. E2r).

Collations: Fo, Ra, and R72. 2 false] half R72  3 shame] synn Ra  4 they] faythe Fo; it] loue Ra  5 wretched] wicked Ra; wold] could Ra; an oathe] a thinge Fo   6 Comes] Yet Ra; Witt] will Fo; and calles] maye call Ra; him] it*; back] in Ra   7 that] which R72   8 his sight] it selfe Ra   10 to] and Ra   11 Godes] god*   13 looke] glance Ra; must not] cannot Fo, dare not Ra, may not R72   14 And] Then Ra; muste not] cannot Fo, dare not Ra, may not R72   15 And] Then Ra; what] that Ra   16 These] my Fo; that] which Ra; Do] doth R72; these] suche Fo   17 that] which Ra; each Secret] all secretts Ra   18 Say] sayes R72   19 Fayre] face Ra  20 perfectste] peerless Ra; shape] om. Fo  21 Harte enflamde] eye perceyved Fo   22 Sweete of Sweetes] sweetest sweet Ra R72; Sence] eye Fo, hir R72   23 giftes] grafts Ra; in Vertues] one fortunes Ra   24 with] of Ra   Subscription: quod N. S.] om.*

158

Commentary

Hy shares an error with Fo, indicating that these two texts are related: “Sweete of Sweetes” (l. 22) for Ra-R72’s “sweetest sweet.” The latter reading follows the pattern of superlative adjectives of the previous three lines. Hy presents two further errors: “him” for “it” (l. 6) and “Godes” (l. 11) for “god.” Fo also introduces a number of unique variants, some of which derive from scribal carelessness in the transcription of that copy. For example, at line 21, Fo omits the word “shape” spoiling the meter; and, in the following line, “eye perceyved” repeats the end of the line above and is probably the result of eye-skip, as is the repetition of “will” at line 6. Ra is the least accurate text with a high number of unique readings, most of which are inferior and probably derived from scribal carelessness or from changes introduced to the text during a longer period in circulation.

19

This unique text is the third of three consecutive poems probably by Nicholas Breton (see the commentary to 17). A cross-reference, following a poem transcribed later in the manuscript, directs the reader to poem 19 for the continuation (see the commentary to 80). In the penultimate line of 80 the speaker falls “into a slumber” and 19 opens with a dream vision, which may have prompted Coningsby to make the connection between the two poems. Breton is fond of dream poems, especially where the sleeper gains some moral instruction; cf. “I sodaynly fell into a most straunge dreame” (The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. E3v). In “The author’s dreame,” found in an early work of Breton’s (The Wil of Wit, 1597, first printed in 1580; see 3 fn. 14), the allegorical figure of Virtue appears to instruct the sleeping narrator and save his life: “Well, yet haue I (better late than neuer) beeing warned in sleepe, taken care nowe awake, to deuise, which way to worke, & what to take in hand, to deserue my Ladies fauour” (sig. F2r). The Christian imagery (“Saynt or Angell sent from Heaven”) and the staging of moralizing dialogues between opposing allegorical figures are also typical of Breton’s style. This is seen in the conversation between Virtue, Wisdom, Care, and Reason in The Wil of Wit and a dream poem, in The Workes of a Young Wyt, which occurs in a full-blown allegorical tale where the sleeping narrator travails through “the wildernes of woe” to the “hil of hard happe” (sig. E4r). title Futuris . . . contemno for this tag, see head-note to 63 1–2 Cf. Breton’s “Straunge are the sights that some in sleepe shall see, / . . . as I of late halfe in a slumber lay” (The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. E3v). 7 Softe Snatche i.e., snatch softly: it means something like “not so hasty” (OED softly, adv. 8b). Breton uses the same expression in A Poste with a Packet of Madde Letters (1606): “Soft snatch, Your trick is an ace out” (sig. G2r); no hast but good Proverbial (Tilley H199). Cf. Breton’s “Soft (quoth I), no haste but good” (The Wil of Wit, 1597, sig. C1r).

159

Poems 18–20

8

Cf. Breton’s “Although the heart a sleepe, the bones be all at rest / Yet man asleepe, his minde is ofte with many thoughts opprest” (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. O1r). linger delay (OED v. 7a). Peace . . . (quod she) Cf. Breton’s “Come slave (quoth shee)” (The Wil of Wit, sig. C2v); and, “Peace foole quoth she” (“An excellent Dreame . . . by N.B. Gent.” in The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D4r) presum^e^ste . . . place? Cf. Breton’s “Sirra (quoth she), how presume you into this place?” (The Wil of Wit, sig. B1r). Packe hence go away (OED v1 11b)

9 10 15 22

20

The poem was printed by Richard Jones, entitled “A dialogue betweene Caron and Amator,” in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises . . . By N. B. Gent., 1597 (A), sig. D3r–v. Though Jones confessed in the address “to the Gentlemen readers” that the volume contained “many mens workes,” like the other collection he published as Nicholas Breton’s (Brittons Bowre of Delights), it contains a substantial sample of that poet’s work. McCloskey, in his “Studies in the Works of Nicholas Breton,” identifies at least twelve poems in The Arbor by Breton, including a poem of thirty-six sixain stanzas entitled “Brittons Diuinitie” that shares sixteen of its stanzas with a poem in Breton’s The Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592 (Rollins 1936, xv). In Hy, poem 20 follows directly after three poems by Breton and is headed with the same Latin motto as the last of these; with no other claimant to this poem it is entirely possible that Breton is the author. There are two similar verse dialogues (“betweene Wit and Will” and “Miserie and Care”) in Breton’s early work The Wil of Wit. 45 Another copy of the poem survives, in a musical setting, in John Merro’s partbooks: New York Public Library, MSS Drexel 4180–85 (Me1), fols. 53r (i–ii), 55r (iii), 51r (iv), 29r (v). The poem is a free translation of Olivier de Magny’s “Hola, Charon, Charon nautonnier infernal” (Sonnet 44 in his Souspirs, Paris, 1557) on the pattern of a strambotto by Serafino (Tilley 1904, 2:12). 46 There was a vogue for “Charon dialogues” in the early seventeenth century, none of which seem to have been directly influenced by poem 20; 47 Magny’s “Hola, Charon” may have enjoyed wider   For the probable printing of this volume in 1580, see 3 fn. 14.   Thomas Watson cites the Seraphino strambotto imitated by Magny as a model for his Sonnet 56, “Come gentle Death; who cals? one thats opprest” (Hekatompathia,1582, sig. G4v). 47   Examples include two dialogues between Charon and a Ghost, both with the opening, “Come Charon come. (Ch.) Who cals? (Gh.)” in Alexander Craig’s Amorose Songes (1606, sig. F3r–v), and the “Song” in Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Mad Lover, 4.1 in Comedies and Tragedies, 1647: “Orph. Charon o Charon / Thou wafter of the soules to 45

46

160

Commentary

dissemination in its musical setting by Orlando di Lasso. Richard Lovelace’s satirical treatment a mock Charon dialogue beginning “Charon! Thou Slave! Thou Fool! Thou Cavaleer!” (Lucasta Posthume, 1659, sig. D4v), suggests that this motif had become passé by the mid-century. title Futuris . . . contemno for this tag, see head-note to 63 1 Breton uses the phrase “Come, come with speede” in “A most excellent passion set downe by N. B. Gent.” (The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. I4r); Charon “the boteman that caried soules ouer the three ryuers of hell” (Cooper) 5 happe good fortune, good luck (OED hap, n.1 1) 23–30 draws on imagery from Petrarch’s much imitated “galley” poem (Rime 189); also echoed in 79.17–18 and 145.10–17 29–30 an alternative closing line; see 40.2 for an instance where the compiler copied two versions of an opening line. Collations: A and Me1. Title: Futuris .  .  . contemno] A dialogue betweene Caron and Amator A, om. Me1   4 Who] which A, That Me1   5 wantes] what Me1   6 What doth afflicte] But what afflicts Me1   8 “is come” corr. to become] becomes Me1, become A   9 vowd] vows Me1   11 nought] not A, ‘no’ Me1; she promised] who promis’d ‘yes’ Me1   12 “what shee saythe” corr. to of her trothe] what she saith*   13 Ah] O Me1   15 For] That*; woes] deaths A   16 fynall] speedy Me1   18 “do what is” corr. to seeke els wher] doe what is A, seeke what is Me1   19 fond] faind A   20 No . . . may] May here no passage A, No passage here shall Me1   21 Charon] Caron A; wretche] wight Me1   24 in spighte] despite Me1   25 so storde] that stand A   26 to flowe] beflow Me1   27 sub. This heart with sighs shall fill my sails Me1   28 “make my boate” corr. to force my Barke] force my boate A, make my boate Me1   29–30 om.* Me1 omits the designation of the speakers which Hy abbreviates as “L” for “Lover” and “C” for “Charon”; the printed text has “A” for “Amator” and “C” for “Caron.” Hy disagrees with the printed text about the speaker in four lines (ll. 13, 15–16 and 17); Hy gives the speaker as Charon for lines 15–16, but the printed text is correct in giving these lines to Amator (Lover in Hy) as a response to Charon’s question in line 14. Hy also has the wrong speaker at line 17 where it should still be Charon addressing the “man for [the] Ferye Boate.” Hy’s marginal correction in line 8 is supported by both extant witnesses and is probably a correction the compiler made at the time of transcription. In line 12, the marginal reading “of her trothe” is offered in place of the original reading, supported by blisse or bane. / Cha: Who calls the Fery man of Hell?” And Brett cites, “at least six songs on this subject by composers of the later Elizabethan and Jacobean periods” (1967, 181).

161

Poems 20–21

the two other witnesses: “what shee saythe.” In this instance the alternative reading results in a weaker rhyme “Faythe” / “trothe” in place of “Faythe” / “saythe”. Hy’s marginal annotation at line 18 corrects “Go do what is assignd,” the reading supported by A, to “Go seeke els wher assind,” a reading similar to Me1’s “Go seek what is assign’d.” Another set of changes occurs in lines 27–30 where Hy provides both marginal corrections for the text as copied and a “second” version for both lines in their entirety. At line 28, Hy initially contained the same version of the line as Me1 (“And make my boate to goe”), but the marginal correction “force my Barke” brings the reading closer to A’s “force my boate.” In Hy’s alternative closing line (l. 29) the hart is made equivalent to the sails as the hands are to the boat and the tears to the river and this prevents the metaphor falling flat as it does in the other version (since the “Sailes” have no representation). To sum up, the variant readings in Hy show the close attention Coningsby paid to the text after copying, but the comparision with other witnesses suggests that some of the marginal readings have authority in another textual tradition of the poem, perhaps one that, like Me1, was attached to a musical setting.

21

“EL.” is an abbreviation for Elizabeth, a form of name found elsewhere in Hy to designate Queen Elizabeth’s authorship (poem 7 is signed “ELY.”). The poem is attributed to the queen in every one of the surviving manuscript copies. 48 George Puttenham also quoted the poem as the queen’s (“this ditty most sweet and sententious”) in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, (Pu), sig. 2E2v, to illustrate exergasia or “the Gorgious”: a rhetorical figure which functions to “polish our speech & as it were attire it with copious & pleasant amplifications and much varietie of sentences all running vpon one point & to one intent.” Puttenham tells us that Elizabeth, “perceiuing how by the Sc. Q. [Scots Queen: Mary Stuart] residence within this Realme . . . bred secret factions among her people,” wrote the poem to show that “she was nothing ignorant of those secret practizes” and to warn “all such aspiring minds the daunger of their ambition and disloyaltie” (sig. 2E2r). The heading given to a copy transcribed by Henry Sidney’s chaplain, Robert Commaundre (E: see below), “Certen verses made by the Queenes most excellent Maiestie against the Rebells in the North partes of England and in Norfolke & other places of the Realme Ao domini 1569 et 1570,” states more specifically that the poem was written in response to the Northern Rebellion of 1569–70. As Alford points out, the uprising orchestrated by two Catholic noblemen, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, “was the first major rebellion of Elizabeth’s reign” (2008, 160). In a letter dated 24 December 1569, Cecil commented that “The Queen’s Majesty hath had a notable trial of her whole realm 48   Bradner (1964, 4), Marcus et al. (2000, 133–34), and May (2004b, 7–9) print the poem as canonical.

162

Commentary

and subjects in this time” (Alford 161). In the aftermath of the rebellion Cecil justified the harsh treatment of rebels and their supporters in the following terms: “the vulgar people would be taught how this rebellion was pernicious to the realm, and against the honour of God”. The queen’s verse similarly asserts her strength as a ruler and promises a swift and deadly response to any threat to a peaceful realm. A copy of the poem deriving from the Harington family papers, printed in Nugæ Antiquæ, 1769 (NA), 1:58–59, provides, in a prefatory letter which Hughey (1960, 2:388) suggests was written by Sir John Harington, the following anecdote about how the queen’s verse was first released into mansucript circulation: 49 My Lady Wiloughby did covertly get it on her Majesties tablet, and had much hazard in so doing; for the Queen did find out the thief, and chid for spreading evil bruit of her writing such toyes, when other matters did so occupy her employment at this time; and was fearful of being thought too lightly of for so doing. 50 The earliest transcriptions can be dated to the 1560s and 70s: Folger, MS V.b.317 (V17), fol. 20v, Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 108 (R10), fol. 44v, and Reading University Library, MS 233 (RD); the remaining six textual witnesses were, like Hy, transcribed during the 1580s: BL, Egerton MS 2642 (E), fol. 237v, Add. MS 82370 (A70), fol. 45v, Bod., Digby MS 138 (Di), fol. 159r, Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 538.10 (Pt), fol. 3v, Ot, fol. 5v, and Hn, fol. 164r. May and Marotti argue that the two chronological groupings in the surviving copies represent separate acts of authorially sanctioned publication of the poem: the inital release in 1569, via Lady Wiloughby’s “theft” from the queen’s writing tablet, and a later one, after Mary’s execution 7 February 1587 “as a means of defending her action before her own subjects” (2014, 187). Taking into account evidence for dating Hy to “no later than 1586” (see Introd., lx–lxi), this second issue was more likely to have been released earlier (ca. 1585), at a time when alarming new alliances between Catholic powers were taking place on the continent. This is also suggested from the copy made by Sidney’s chaplain, which appears a few leaves after a poem transcribed by Commaundre in 1585 satirizing these religio-political power struggles (see 108). 1 4

doubte dread, fear (OED n.1 3a) reason rulde proverbial (Tilley R43)

  “The copy [NA] . . . indicates that Henry Harington had other manuscripts than AH [Hn in this edition] available for his poetry selections”; Hughey 1960, 2:387. 50   “Lady Wiloughby” is most likely, as Carlo A. Bajetta suggests, Anne Neville, the wife of Fulke Greville, Lord Willoughby de Broke. Their son, the courtier poet Fulke Greville, was a close friend of Sir John Harington (see May and Marotti 2014, 185). 49

163

Poems 21–23

5 7–8 7 11 12 14 16

toyes foolish or idle fancies; caprices (OED toy, n. 4a) These lines form an extended horticultural metaphor—Top . . . Roote. . . fruitles . . . grafted—picked up again at lines 11–12 with Sowe . . . reap and in the final line: Powle their Toppes Ruthe repentance; remorse (OED n. 2) Daughter Mary Stuart; Debate strife, contention, dissension (OED n.1 1a); eake too still settled (OED adj. 5a) brookes endures, tolerates (OED v.1 3a) Powle . . . Toppes cut off the heads of trees: continuing the horticultural metaphor (see above); and figuratively, the heads of persons (OED Poll, v. 2b); gape for long for; are eager to obtain (OED v. 4a)

Collations: May (2004a, 8) collates ten substantive texts: A70, Di, E, Hn, NA, Ot, Pt, Pu, R10, and V17; May and Marotti (2014, 191–92) complete the textual apparatus, adding the variants from A70 and RD. As May notes, Hy is the second most accurate text and derives from an independent branch of the stemma along with Pt, with both texts sharing a common ancestor with Pu, which transmitted four faulty readings (“toye(s)” for “ioye(s)” l. 5, “Ruthe” for “rue” l. 7, “eake” for “aye” l. 11, and “Owr” for ”my” l. 15); Hy and Pt share another common intermediary, which transmitted the error “of ” for “by” l. 10.

22

This is a copy of the first four lines of an eighteen-line poem by Arthur Gorges; the complete poem appears nine folios later in the manuscript where it is incorrectly attributed to Ralegh and placed among other poems assigned to that poet (see the commentary to 48).

23

This verse-epistle appears in Arthur Gorges’ own manuscript fair copy of his work, “The Vanytyes of Sir Arthur Gorges Youthe,” BL, Egerton MS 3165 (V), fols. 19r–20r. 51 Wagner (1935, 469) attributed the poem to Dyer based on two extracts (see below 5–7n., 19–20n.) quoted as his in George Puttenham’s The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu). However, in two more passages quoted from the poem, Puttenham gives the author as “Maister Gorge” and “a louer” (see below 27–28n., 29–30n.). A musical setting, which gives only the first line of the text 51   Many of the poems referred to by Gorges as the “toyes of yowth” (fol. 1v), according to Sandison, belong “to the years before 1584” (xxviii). Sandison presents the evidence for Gorges’ birth “in or near 1557” (1953, xiii fn. 1).

164

Commentary

(“But this & then no more it is my last of all”), is found in an instruction book for the lute “collected together out of diuers good Authors” (from the sectional titlepages) compiled by the music publisher William Barley, A New Booke of Tabliture, 1596 (Bar), Part II, sigs. D1v–2r. 1 2 3–8

Gorges repeats this sentiment elsewhere: “Althoughe I never write againe / to geve this laste adewe” (Sandison 1953, 28, no. 26.7–8). brackish tear Gorges is fond of this phrase; cf.: “No brackish teares my face doth overflowe” (ibid., 21, no. 18.11). Sandison (1953, 190) points out that these lines are borrowed from Turbervile’s verse epistle, “Dido to Æneas”: Not for I thinke my wordes may ought preuaile, I write: For why I knowe the haughtie Gods, at this my purpose spite. But since my fame, my corps, and spotlesse minde are lost By cankred hap: to wast my wordes I reck it little cost. (ll. 5–12; The Heroycall Epistles, 1567, sig. E8v)

5–7

Puttenham quotes these lines to illustrate “Sinathrismus or the Heaping figure,” with the introduction: “And thus by maister Edward Diar, vehement swift & passionatly” (sig. 2D1v). 15 to . . . to too . . . too 16 to too 17 Sandison (1953, 191) glosses this as a recurring theme in Gorges’ poems (cf. “I am nott now the man I was off yore” (ibid. 43, no. 37.5). 18 swam in delightes Cf. “swam in sweete delighte” (24.1) 19–20 Puttenham cites these lines as Dyer’s: “Maister Diar in this quarelling figure” (sig. 2A2v). 23 Cf. Turbervile’s “Dido to Æneas” (see above 3–8n.): Yet hate I not the man though he deserue dispight: (ll. 53–54; sig. F1v).



May (1991, 105) draws a comparison to Dyer’s “Yet blame I not the faulte, / But even the faulty one” (1.89–90). 26 ay ever, always (OED adv. 1a) 27–28 Puttenham cites these lines as Gorges’: “Maister Gorge in this figure, said very sweetly.” The quoted lines illustrate a figure which Puttenham calls “the Impartener,” “because many times in pleading and perswad-

Poem 23

165

ing, we thinke it a very good pollicie to acquaint our iudge or hearer . . . with some part of our Counsell and aduice, and to aske their opinion” (sig. 2C1v). Sandison (1953, 191) cites this as a favorite device of Gorges (cf. “Now bee yow judge off my desarte”; ibid. 50, no. 41.23). 29–30 Puttenham quotes these lines “as this vsed by a louer to his vnkind mistresse,” to illustrate “Apostrophe, or the turne tale” (sig. 2Dr). 30 rigor Hardness of heart (OED rigour, n. 2) Collations: Pu and V. 1–4 om. Pu   3 do] dyd V   4 well] why V   5 sith] if Pu, since V; faith . . . hope] hope my fayth V; &] my Pu   6 my time . . . all] and all my tyme V; is] be Pu   7 sub. In vaine, &c. Pu; Sith] Since V   8–18 om. Pu   8 the] theis; lynes] wordes V   10 I . . . account] Then will I not esteme V   11 thinke I meane] deeme I seeke V   12 with] to V   13 You . . . mystake] My meanynge yow mistake V   14 harmes] harme V   18 delightes] delighte V   19 now] not changed from “now” V; force] power V; which . . . it] on me which it ones Pu, that once one me he V   20 favor] fauors Pu V   21–26 om. Pu   23 hate] cursse V   24 “never” corr. to ever] never V; her] the V   26 that ay] for whom V  27 All] And V; which] who Pu, that V  28 Gyve Iudgement] Iudge Pu; hard] good Pu; her] my Pu   29 yow fynde] ye finde Pu   30 kyll] kills V   Subscription: GOR.] om. Pu V Sandison (1953, 190) discusses the textual variants but does not give the collations. Hy shows few signs of corruption and offers some indeterminate variant readings, which could be authorial. A few Hy readings are probable errors: “force . . . of me” (l. 19) for “force . . . on me” (my italics), the reading in V and Pu; the variant reading “For well I know” (l. 4) could be, as Sandison suggests, a substitute of a more-to-be-expected reading than V’s “For why I knowe” especially since Gorges is borrowing a phrase from Turbervile (see 3–8n.). Another slight alteration in the copy-text is made at line 24 where Coningsby changed “never” to “ever,” to avoid a double negative (for this habit, see Introd., lxvii–lxviii). In the eight lines shared by all three texts, Hy and Pu stand alone against V five times: “faith, my hope” for “hope my fayth” (l. 5), “my time, and all” for “and all my tyme” (l. 6), “hath now the force” for “hath not the power” (l. 19), “All yow” for “And yow” (l. 27), and “kyll” for “kills” (l. 30). Sandison prefers the Hy-Pu variants in lines 19 and 27: the first avoids a nearby repetition of “power” in line 21; the second “better marks the turn to rhetorical challenge” and is probably a copyist’s error. The Hy-Pu variant in line 6, “my time, and all,” is also arguably preferable to V’s “and all my time,” and the inversion of the words may be another case of scribal carelessness. V’s reading places the emphasis on “my time” where Hy-Pu follows on more logically after the list, so that all is spent rather than just the speaker’s time.

166

Commentary

Hy contains seven more unique variants in lines not found in Pu which are just as good as those in V and could be authoritative: “I never shall account” for V’s “Then will I not esteme” (l. 10), “thinke I meane” for “deeme I seeke” (l. 11), and “You do my wordes mystake” for “My meanynge yow mistake” (l. 13). In line 23, Hy’s “Yet hate I not the Wyghte” is closer to Turbervile’s “Yet hate I not the man” (see 23n.); V’s “Yett cursse I nott the wight” was perhaps a later substitution. Gorges’ holograph alterations to the poems in V attest to his habit of revising his poems, and it is likely that he made changes to the verse in his own autograph foul papers, which were incorporated by the scribe when the fair copy was transcribed sometime after 1586. The single line cited in the incipit of Bar introduces an error “last of all” for “last and all” (my italics).

24

These untraced lines may have been extracted from a longer poem: they were transcribed as the first in a series of three unattributed extracts that appear to have been copied at the same time. 52 The author is unknown but the placing in the manuscript among the work of associated poets Gorges, Ralegh, and Spenser is suggestive. 1–2

Cf. Gorges’ “My sprightes which then swam in delightes, ar now sunke in disgrace” (23.18).

25

This is the epigrammatic closing couplet from Ralegh’s “Farewell false Love”; the complete poem is transcribed on fol. 37r–v (see the commentary to 50).

26

This final entry in a trio of extracts comprises the first four lines of Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti 8, first printed in 1595 in his Amoretti and Epithalamion (Am), sig. A5v. It is the only sonnet from the printed series for which there is evidence of sustained circulation in manuscript and is further distinguished from the rest of the sequence by its rhyme scheme (i.e., English sonnet form). Additional manuscript copies of the complete poem are found, assigned erroneously to “Mr

52   The ink is compatible for entry in one sitting and each extract is identically subscribed “finis finis finis.”

167

Poems 23–26

Dier,” in Ra, fol. 7v; and without attribution in Dd, fol. 37v and BL, Sloane MS 1446 (S1), fol. 43r. 53 Fulke Greville borrowed the opening lines in his Caelica 3: 54 More than most faire, full of that heauenly fire, Kindled aboue to shew the Makers glory, Beauties first-born, in whom all powers conspire. (Certain Learned and Elegant Workes, 1633, sig. 2Av).

Bullough dates Caelica 3 to no later than 1586, and it is likely that Amoretti 8 was written sometime before Spenser’s departure for Ireland in August 1580, at a time when he was associating with Greville and other members of Sidney’s circle. 55 The enduring appeal of Amoretti 8 is apparent from a mid-seventeenth century musical setting by Henry Lawes, preserved in BL, Add. MS 53723, fol. 17r. 56 Ben Jonson mocked the poem in Every Man out of his Humor (1600, sig. O2v) where the striking opening phrase is echoed in Macilente’s instructions in the art of courting: “and tell her, how more than most faire she is” (italics in the original) and, again, in Cynthias Reuels (1601, sig. F4r) the courtier Amorphus, in a similar context, suggests: “if she shall coyly recoyle . . . you are to re-enforce yourselfe with, More then most faire Lady” (italics in the original). 1–2

3–4

Neoplatonic conception of earthly beauty as a reflection of the supernatural: “borne of heauenly seed: / deriu’d from that fayre Spirit, from whom al true / and perfect beauty did at first proceed” (Amoretti 89). Cf. Ficino’s description of the Angelic Mind, as God’s first creation: “illumined by the glory of God Himself . . . when its whole passion was kindled, it drew close to God, and in cleaving to Him, assumed form” (Jayne 1985, 13). Echoes Petrarch’s Rime 154.1–4 (Durling, 300–1): Le stelle, il cielo, et gli elementi a prova tutte lor arti et ogni estrema cura poser nel vivo lume . . . ch’ altrove par non trova.

53   May dates the copy in Dd to ca. 1589 (1988, 322); Cummings dates the copy in Ra to between 1584 and 1588 (1964, 127); S1 was transcribed in the 1630s. 54   Greville, rather than Spenser, probably did the borrowing, as the lines from Caelica 3 mirror Spenser’s diction and reflect his preoccupation with Neoplatonic motifs and imagery elsewhere in the Amoretti; cf. “that your bright beams of my weak eies admyred, / may kindle liuing fire within my brest” (sig. A5r); and “Long-while I sought to what I might compare / those powrefull eies . . . Then to the Maker selfe they likest be” (sig. A6r). For another imitation by Greville, this time a poem by Dyer, see 1. 55   Bullough estimates that Greville wrote Caelica 1–27 before 1586 (1938, 1:41). 56   This copy is reproduced in Evans 1941, 67.

168

Commentary

[“The stars and the heavens and the elements vied with all their arts and put every ultimate care into that living light . . . which finds its equal nowhere else.”]

4

not nought, nothing (OED n. 1)

Collations: Am, Dd, Ra, and S1. 1 More] More fayr Dd, O more Ra; the] that S1   2 vnto the maker] the highe creatour Dd Ra S1   3 Not] no Am Ra S1; wherwith] in which Am, with whom Dd Ra S1; the heavens] al powers Am S1, all powers Dd, the fates Ra   4 to the] in this S1; not] nought Am Dd Ra, may S1   Subscription: om.] Mr Dier Ra In the four shared lines, Hy is not definitively related in error to any of the other texts; the agreement in error with Dd, “Not,” (l. 3) can be dismissed since it is likely that both scribes independently misread “noe” as “not.” In line 2, where the texts diverge, Hy agrees with Am’s reading “vnto the maker” where all the other texts read “the highe creatour.” Greville also echoes the Hy-Am version of this line with “Kindled aboue to shew the Makers glory” (Caelica 3, l. 2). Cummings argues that this reading was a later authorial revision (1964, 132) but admits his theory for a series of authorial versions, starting with Ra then Dd, S1, Hy and ending with Am as the final authoritative version of the poem, is weakened by the overall similarity of Am and Hy’s versions to Caelica 3. Though Cummings’ argument of serial revision by Spenser fails to convince, the alternative reading in line 2, “the highe creatour,” is reminscent of Spenser’s work elsewhere: “Hauing affixt thine eyes on that most glorious throne, / Where full of maiestie the high creator reignes. / In whose bright shining face thy ioyes are all complete” (my italics; Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, 1595, sig. H1v). In line 3, Hy’s unique variant, “the heavens,” is similar to Ra’s “the fates” where all other texts including Caelica 3 agree on the reading “all powers” and suggests that variant copies, perhaps incorporating authorial revisions, were circulating in tandem.

27

This anonymous poem was never printed but enjoyed widespread circulation in manuscript, surviving in six more copies of differing length. Two of these copies (like Hy) have forty lines: Ra, fols. 49v–50r and Ma, fol. 23r–v. Ra’s “finis” and Ma’s closing flourish suggest that both these scribes considered the poem complete. However, Hy’s omission of the habitual “finis” at the end of transcription and the blank space left in the manuscript following this entry suggest an incomplete text. Perhaps Coningsby knew of a longer version and hoped to find a copy at some later date, or there may have been an interruption in copying which explains the absence of marginal commentary in the last verse. A later copy (ca.

169

Poems 26–27

1620–30), entitled “A farwell to desire geven by J. T.,” in BL, Harl. MS 3910 (H), fol. 24v, contains an additional stanza (ll. 41–48 below); three more copies add a further two stanzas (ll. 41–64 below): BL, Add. MS 38823 (A3), fol. 57r–v, Bod., MS Eng. poet. d.3 (En), fol. 2r and Ha, fols. 165r–66r. 57 The additional stanzas are given below from A3 (Edward Hoby’s personal manuscript book): 58 Thus wearied, weake, and wasted with theise ioyes Bothe finding want, and feeling plentie by thee What blinde excuses, dogge sleepes, tales, and toyes must thou invent least still shee over plye thee: But when (though forcest) thie slowe and emptie proffers Make deade requight, to all her gentle offers Then loe what feares, what shames, what greifes torment thee Desire Dye, ells yeilde, att least repent thee. For now of force the parting blowe is next With staffe half chardged, and faultring in the rest Willing, and loathe, half pleased, and whole perplext Twixt love, and shame, with bothe extremes opprest What farewells then do passe with sighing kisses What fonde requests are made, what idle wishes, What deepe protests, what favors, given, and taken: Desire livest thou yet of all Delight forsaken. Departing thus with often looking back Ons out of sight, and euer discontent for absence putts eache thought vppon the rack And stretcheth loue, to ialous intent Whereby the hart dispatched with th’oppression Of all that moues, twixt absence, and suspition Fyndes wearie lief, and worse then death or hell Desire curse thie self: I dye farewell, farewell. Finis.

45

50

55

60

The currency of the poem is also indicated from an imitation, entitled “A Counterloue” and beginning “Declare O minde, from fond desires excluded,” printed in The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sigs. L4v–M1r; analogous passages are noted in the 57   The compiler of En (Edward Pudsey) recopied the first four lines of the poem further into the manuscript (fol. 36r) and appended them to the first four lines of Sidney’s CS 32, a poem which he had also copied earlier in the manuscript on fol. 1r. 58   Hoby appears to have entered this section of the manuscript serially: poem 27 appears just before he copied a letter “concerning the examination of the Queene of Scottes,” dated 18 October 1586, and is followed by “A Commission of the States to Robert Earle of Lecester,” dated January 1587.

170

Commentary

line glosses below. Hy is the only text to include marginal commentary for lines 1–32, which may have been added by Coningsby (see 32 for another poem in Hy with marginal annotation). title procerninges should perhaps read “concerninges” or “proceedinges” 2 fond doting, foolishly tender (OED adj. 5a) 3 fangled new a novelty (OED fangle, n.1 1) 4–6 Cf. Roger Ascham’s critique of Italianate English gentlemen in The Scholemaster (1570): pleasant wordes . . . smilyng and secret countenances, with such signs, tokens, wagers, purposed to be lost, before they were purposed to be made, with bargaines of wearing colours, flouers, and herbes, to breed occasion of ofter meeting of him and her, and bolder taking of this and that, etc. (sig. K1v)

6 11 13 15 17 22 28

29 30 36

Cf. “Sweete words, the wilie instrument of all” (“A Counterloue,” l. 4). Cf. “Intreaties posts, faire promises are charmes” (“A Counterloue,” l. 5); breakinge tuche failing to keep a vow or promise (OED touch, n. P1a) marginal gloss: Execration the utterance of curses (OED n. 1b) Tokens keepsakes (OED n. 9); Toyes things of little or no value or importance; trifles (OED n. 5) vauntages opportunities, chances (OED advantage, n. 2d) marginal gloss: intretaunce earnest or humble request (OED entreaty, n. 3); offence (1) causing displeasure; (2) committing a sin; (3) the assault (OED n. 4c, 2a, 5a) Cressid . . . Helen both proverbially promiscuous women; cf. “Kites of Cressid’s kind” (Tilley K116); “Helen of hew was fayre . . . / A hoorishe Hart she bare” (91.9–12); some of the manuscript texts make the distinction between “Creseid mayde: or Hellen wyfe to lye” proverbial (Tilley K104); cf. “Kisses the keies, to sweete consuming sin” (“A Counterloue,” l. 19) bandes bonds For the same sentiment, see Sidney’s CS 31.5–6: “Desire, desire I have too dearely bought, / With price of mangled mind thy worthlesse ware”; cf. Thomas Churchyard’s “Shew of Chastitie” in the 1578 royal entertainment at Norwich (Goldring et al. 2014, 2:730): Fond paltry Gods [i.e., Cupid and Venus], the sincke of sinne and shame, A leawd delight, a flying fansie light, A shadow fond, that beares no shape, but name, The whole abuse of each good witte or wight.

Poem 27

171

Collations: A3, En, H, Ha, Ma, and Ra. Title: Himself . . . Love] Defiance to desyer A3, A farwell to desire geven by J.T. H, om. Ma Ra   3 is] but H   4 servile purpose] base appointment A3, bace apoyntmentes Ha   6 om. En; a frawd] afraid Ma; with perill fraught] of perill streit Ma   7 that] which Ha   9 failing] falling Ha   10 tell] tells Ra   11 Faith] troth Ma   12 vayne] vile En; abiuring] provoking Ha   13 who] who euer Ra; breakes . . . curste] keeps or breaks is curst Ha; breakes them are accurst Ma   14 om. En; ill . . . worste] evel ment prove warse written above: good wordes but winde or Ma   15 shapes] hope Ma   16 Dy now Desire] Desire dye A3 En Ha, Dye fond desire H Ra; els . . . ensue] theise tearmes my teares renewe A3 En Ha, els theise will worse ensue H, or worse wil the ensue Ma, else worse will the insue Ra   17 loves] loue H; vauntages] vantage is En Ha Ma Ra   18 Skill] still Ha   19 Tymes choyse] Tyme cann Ma; but chaunce] a chaung Ha   20 mate] bande A3, bawd En, bond Ha, maske Ra; bould intrusion] shameles motions A3, shameles motion En Ha; fytte] meete Ma   21 desturbinge] destroying Ma   22 Intreting] Intreatings Ha, Intreaty Ma; the] with En; pressure] prisoner H, warrant En Ma Ra; offence] defence Ma   23 accurste] a curse A3 Ha   24 Oh] Dy H   25 sub. The hower and place appointed then and there A3 En, The tyme & place apoynted then & there Ha; the] of Ma; Hower] bower H Ra   26 sub. The meanes and helpes suggesting all secure A3 En, The meanes to worke suggestion all secure Ha; yet] the H   27 disclose] bewray Ha; how . . . led] with whome, how, when, and where A3, how lewdly thou art ledd H, how when and whear En, with whome how when, and where Ha   28 sub. Thou entredst listes, base courage to procure A3 En Ha; Cressid] Hellen Ma; Queene] maide H Ma Ra; Helen] Cresseid Ma; Quene] wife H Ra, maide Ma   29 opening] to ope Ma Ra; ventes] vent A3 H Ha, dore Ra   30 Imbrasinge] Imbearing A3, ymbrasings H En Ha Ra; bandes] bonds H Ha Ra, baytes Ma; to bind] binding A3, that bynd H En, to draw Ma, that byndes Ra; us] thee En Ma   31 neerest] sweetest En   32 Desier . . . Dy] Desyre dy dy dy for En, Oh dye desyre dye dye Ra, Desire oh dy dy dy Ma   33 the] & Ha   34 evening] cunning A3 H En Ha Ma, subtylle Ra; craftes] craft En Ha Ma   35 move] work H Ha Ma Ra   36 Make . . . wittes] weak making witt H, Weakynge the wytte Ra, make weake thy wittes Ma; empairing] impayre thy Ma   37 nayle] nayles Ra   38 Doth spoile] Which spoyles Ha, doth frett Ma; the sporte] the bone Ma; els] & Ma, or Ra   39 they leave] we leaue A3, thou leav’st H En Ha   40 Fy, fy, Desire] Dy fond desire H, O fond desire Ma Hy is not related to any of the other texts but is closest to Ma, Ra, and H. Hy and Ma share the variant reading “Dy now Desire” (l. 16) where Ra and H have “Dy fond desire” and A, E, and Ha “Desire dye”; Hy, Ma, and H share the reading “mate” (l. 20) where Ra has “maske” and A, E, and Ha “bande” / “bond” and “bawd.” Ma shares two readings with Ra against the other texts (“warrant” l. 22, “to ope” l. 29) and another reading with H and Ha (“work” l. 35). H and Ra

172

Commentary

agree on the combination “maide . . . wife” (l. 28). The three texts with the 48line version (A, E, and Ha) share two readings in common (ll. 16, 20) and the same replacement lines (ll. 25, 26, 28) against all the other texts; A and Ha agree on a further three variant readings (ll. 4, 22, and 23).

28

The poem was printed in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (P), sig. A1r, ascribed erroneously to “D. S.”  59 In the second edition, printed in 1577, and all subsequent editions the poem was attributed to William Hunnis (for Hunnis’ direct involvement in the 1577 edition, see head-note to 4). Hunnis, who succeeded Richard Edwards as master of the children of the chapel in 1566, composed musical settings for some of his own poems, such as “Alacke when I looke backe” (Rollins 1927, no. 108) and several were set by other musicians (ODNB: Hunnis). Hy’s marginal annotation “ballet” is an indication that this poem had also been set to music (see Introd., lxv–lxvii), and perhaps the initials added at the same time have something to do with its musical provenance (for a note on attributions in Hy , see Introd., lxi–lxii). A copy of the first sixteen lines, headed “Verses of Mortallitie,” is found in a manuscript volume described by its compiler as “Collections out of seuerall authors by Marmaduke Raudon, Eboriencis, 1662,” BL, Add. MS 18044 (A8), fol. 79r. The first two syllables of each hexameter line in 28 create another verse (aa8bb8): Behould The end Ere thow Begin Have mynde On Deathe And feare To Synne For Death Shall reape And [“That” P] Lyfe Hathe sowen And lyfe Shall springe Wher death Hath made [“mowen” P].

In P these words are italicized to direct the readers’ attention to this device. Hunnis also used this technique in “If thou: delight, in quietnes of life” (Rollins 1927, no. 105). The acrostic poem had a separate life in manuscript and print and was probably not written by Hunnis but merely used by him as a catalyst for his own composition. It may belong to Edward Dering (d. 1576) as it was printed in a preliminary page, headed “Maister D. his councell to all,” of his Godly Priuate Prayer for Housholders to Meditate Upon (1578): Beholde the ende ere thou beginne, Haue mynde on death, and feare to sinne:

59   Rollins (1927, 184) suggests the initials are “an abbreviation for the mysterious D. Sand.”

173

Poems 27–28

For death shall reape that lyfe hath sowne, And lyfe shall spring where death hath mowne.

Lodowick Lloyd also borrowed a line for his epitaph on Sir Edward Saunders (d. 12 November 1576): “For death shal reape what life hath sowen, by nature this we know” (Rollins 1927, no. 103). And the whole verse appears on the tomb memorial of John Stace of Hollenden, dated 25 June 1591: “remember thy end, erre, thov begin / have mynd on death and feare to sinne / for death shall reape, that life hath sowen / and life shall springe, where death hath mowen” (Belcher 1888, no. 131). Two more copies of “Beholde (Remember) the (thy) ende” are found in manuscript miscellanies: Folger, MS V.a.307, p. 64, and Yale, Osborn fb9, fol. 30v; and the last two lines were copied in BL, Sloane MS 2497, fol. 36v (“Death hath reapte, wher life hath sowen, / And lif hath sprong wher Death hath Mowen”). 9 brittle Lyfe proverbial (Dent 1984, L251.1) 17–18 proverbial, “Death is the grand leveler” (Tilley D143) 25–32 Cf. Galatians 6.7–8: whatsoeuer a man soweth, that shal he also reape. For he that soweth to his flesh, shal of flesh reape corruption: but he that soweth to the spirit, shal of the spirit reape life euerlasting.

Collations: A8 and P. Title: om.] Verses of Mortallitie A8, Our pleasures are vanities P  1 that] which P   2 blossomes] blosome A8   3 consumes] to naught A8   4 And . . . nought] consumes them all A8, and comes, to nought P   5 be therfore] therefore be P   6 cannot] may not*   8 ill spent] mispent*   9 Lyfe] earth A8   10 vayne] paine A8   11 Lykewise bethinke] bethinke for here A8   12 How . . . not] thou canst nott longe A8, how thou maist not P   13 the] thy*   14 Who] which P   15 inclyne] be bent*   16 &] to A8   17–32 om. A8   17 which] who P   18 mighty Kynges] kinges on earth P   19 lykewise] also P   20 and thy] life, and P   21 And] That P   24 As . . . in] you ought to weede with P   28 paines] paine P   30 yow] ye P   31 made] mowen P   Subscription: R N] D.S. P [“W. Hunis” in all subsequent editions] Hy contains two readings that show up as errors in the acrostic verse: “And” for “That” (l. 21) disrupts the run-on from “Shall reape”; and “made” for “mowen” (l. 31) spoils the rhyme with “sowen.” Hy does not draw attention to the acrostic and these two errors suggest that the compiler may not have noticed this device. Hy also has a number of unique variants that are not obvious errors, indicating that the text belongs to a distinct manuscript tradition of the poem. A8’s copy of

174

Commentary

the first sixteen lines aligns more often with P and is probably based loosely on a text taken from one of the printed editions.

29

Only the first two stanzas of this anonymous lullaby survive elsewhere. The first four lines were set to music in two songbooks compiled at Oxford University: the “Dow Partbooks,” Christ Church, Oxford, MSS Mus. 984–88 (Dow), No. 109; and a set of part-books belonging to New College musician William Wigthorpe, BL, Add. MSS 17786–91 (Wi), i-iv, vi, fol. 6, v, fol. 2. 60 Brett (1967, 181) suggested from internal references in the first four lines, to “the princes of Troy” and “the gods,” that “the song formed part of a play on a classical (Roman) theme”; 61 Hy’s fuller text provides further clues to the dramatic context in which the song might have belonged: in references to the infant boy’s mother as “a Princes, & Childe of a Kynge,” their predicament “in the wood . . . alone,” sheltering in a “Cave,” with no chance of help from a “banisht Husband” or a “froward Grandsyre” whose “grace” has been lost. George Puttenham loosely quoted lines from the lullaby in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu), in a quatrain imitating the diction and verse form (anapestic tetrameter, a rhythm that Puttenham dismisses as being “like a minstrels musicke”). Now sucke childe and sleepe childe, thy mothers owne ioy

Her only sweete comfort, to drowne all annoy For beauty surpassing the azured skie I loue thee my darling, as ball of mine eye. 62 (sig. K4r)

Another textual witness to the lullaby’s circulation at Oxford University is a copy of the first two stanzas in a notebook (BL, Sloane MS 1709 (S2), fol. 271v) belonging to a gentleman student, Thomas Chafin of Wiltshire, who matriculated at St Alban Hall, 19 October 1599, aged 18 (Foster 1891–92, 1:255). The 60   The setting in Wi is attributed doubtfully to “Mr W. Byrd” (see Brett 1967, 181). The Wigthorpe scribe may have had in mind another setting of a lullaby by Byrd with a similar opening: “my sweete little baby” (Psalmes Sonets, & Songs, 1588, No. 32). But the verse form (poulter’s measure) and theme (the biblical story of the slaughter of the innocents) do not match poem 29. 61   In Dow, 29 is followed by another lullaby in the same verse form, “Ah, silly poor Joas, what fortune hast thou,” probably from “a play based on the biblical story of Joash and Athalia” (Brett 1967, 181). 62   Puttenham quoted lines in the following order: line 3 (almost exactly), followed by variant versions of line 4 (retaining only the end-rhyme word), then line 2, and, lastly, a fourth line radically different from any of the other texts.

Poems 28–29

175

same two stanzas, with adjustments made to suit a different context, appear in an Elizabethan school play, Oedipus, uniquely preserved in Yale University, The Elizabethan Club, Eliz 294 (O), fols. 5v–6r. The contemporary title (“Oedipus with a Song”) inscribed on the original binding of the manuscript suggests that the lullaby was an important feature of the performance (Wiggins 2011, 14). In the play the lullaby, beginning “My little swete babie,” is sung by the herdsman to comfort the abandoned infant Oedipus: “The song he singes danling [sic] the child.” The words come “with the musicke,” the first four lines of which follow the setting found in the Dow and Wigthorpe partbooks. 63 The mournful or narrative lullaby was a popular form of the genre; “Balow, my boy, ly still and sleep” is a similar plaint of a high-born mother to her infant boy, in this case having been jilted by the husband and father. 64 A copy is found in Folger, V.a.345, p. 166–67, entitled “A mothers song to her sonne,” and there are musical settings in William Ballet’s Lutebook (TCD, MS 408, “Baloo,” p. 111) and Thomas Morley’s 1599 Consort Lessons (“Balow,” no. 18); it is also referred to by Francis Beaumont in The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1613, sig. E4r): “You Musicians play Baloo.” Robert Greene incorporates a lullaby into his play Menaphon (1589): “Sephestias song to her childe” (“Weepe not my wanton”). Nicholas Breton’s “A sweet lullabie,” beginning “Come little babe, come silly soule,” (The Arbor of Amorous Deuises, 1597, sig. K4r) is another example and may have been influenced by 29 (see below 7–8n. and 17–20n.). 2 7–8 9 10

Princes of Troy the sons of Priam, the king of Troy “Thou little thinkst and lesse doost knowe, / The cause of this thy mothers moane, / Thou wants the wit to waile her woe” (Breton, “A sweet lullabie,” ll. 7–9; sig. B4r) Satyres “Satyri were Gods of the wooddes; they were monsters having the head of a man, the body of a goate” (Cooper). vnchased not chased/pursued/driven away (OED unchased, adj.); with a possible play on “not chaste” (unchaste, adj.); chaunce fortune, hap, lot (OED chance, n. 3a).

63   Wiggins has shown that the author of Oedipus borrowed verbatim from contemporary works published ca. 1581–83 but suggests that the play was written after the publication of the fifth book of The Faerie Queene in 1596, since the description of the Sphinx is “one of the earliest known literary appropriations of Spenser” (14). In fact, the play’s description of the Sphinx is taken almost verbatim from Thomas Cooper’s Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae, 1565. With this knowledge, the dating of the play should perhaps be revised to ca. 1583 based on the evidence of internal references to printed works. Wiggins notes the play’s epilogue contains a prayer for a regnant queen and references to the “counsell of thie town” and “this new yeare,” suggesting a performance before local dignitaries as part of the celebrations for the new year (ibid.). 64   Also know as “Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament”; see Child 1857–60, 4:123–32.

176 11 14 17 17–20 24 25 26 29 30

32

Commentary

stent cease (OED stint, v. 1a) rocker nurse to rock the cradle (OED n.1 1a) froward unreasonable, perverse (OED adj. 1) Cf. “. . . oh thy sweete face, / Would God himselfe he might thee see, / No doubt thou wouldst soone purchase grace” (Breton, “A sweet lullabie,” ll. 19–21; sig. B4v) misers wretches (OED n.1 1) fear me frighten me (OED fear, v. 1a) perte alert, lively, cheerful (OED adj. 4) morning mourning Romulus & Scyrus Romulus is one of the twin mythical founders of Rome and Scyrus (i.e., Cyrus) is the founder of the Persian Empire. The legends of Cyrus’ and Romulus’ early life belong to a genre, including the story of Oedipus, in which abandoned children of noble birth are brought up by shepherds but eventually return to claim their birthright. Cf. Ecclesiastes 11.28: “Judge none blessed before his death.”

Collations: ll. 1–8; Dow, O, Pu, S2, and Wi. Title: om.] A lullaby song S2   Refrain om.] be babie be, be, be, be be / be burdie be be O   1 om. Pu; Darling] babie O; comfort] hart O   2 In] For Pu; excelling] surpassing Dow O Pu Wi; the . . . Troy] duke Paris of Troy O, the azured skie Pu   3 sucke . . . sleep] peace child & cease O; thi mothers own] my pretie fine O, thy mothers sweete Dow S2 Wi; boy] ioy Pu   4 om. Pu; blesse & kepe] guyde & save O   Refrain om.] swete Baby lully lully sweet baby Lullaby lully Dow Wi, swete honie, hony, hony, faire babie lullabie lullie O, Sweete Baby luly lully sweete Baby lully lylly S2   5–8 om. Dow Pu Wi   5 Father] parentes O; Little] swete O S2; from . . . gone] to me are vnknowne O   6 sub. I wott not who left thee in woodes here alone O; wood] woodes S2; with thee] heere with thee S2   7 To] for O; why . . . make] I make now great O   8 sub. whose bluddie plantes make me to sorrowe & grone O   Refrain om.] swete hony daddes pigesnie, faire babie mammes come O, sweete Baby lully by, sweete Babye lully lully S2 Hy contains two errors: “Little” (l. 5) should probably read “sweete” (to keep the meter) as in the other witnesses, and in line 6 the meter is defective and S2 has the missing word “heere” (after “wood”) that provides the extra beat needed to maintain the regular anapestic tetrameter. The four lines of text and refrain found in the Dow and Wigthorpe partbooks are identical. In line two, Hy and S2 share the variant “excelling” where Dow, O, Wi and Pu have “surpassing.” The additional line, variant refrains, and other unique readings in O can be accounted for by the changes made to the song to suit the context of the play in which it was incorporated. Pu is a memorial reconstruction of a few lines from the poem in which Puttenham wished to illustrate a verse form that he disliked.

177

Poems 29–30

30

The attribution assigned to this unique text may refer to a Coningsby who was lord of two manors with place names beginning with the letters “E” and “L.” One possibility is that the letters refer to Eyton and Leominster, both associated with Thomas (II) Coningsby of Hampton Wafer, Herefordshire, whose mother was Eleanor Hakluyt of Eyton and father Thomas (I) of Leominster, a servant to Humphrey Coningsby of Hampton Court. Thomas II was, like his namesake cousin of Hampton Court, a follower of the Earl of Essex in the 1590s (for the close relationship between the compiler of Hy and the Hampton Court Coningsbys, see Introd., xxxii–xxxiii). 65 The poem overlabors the Petrarchan conceit in a series of paradoxical statements and rhetorical questions, some repeating the same idea: for example, the speaker states in line 7 “I only want that I possesse,’’ and in line 13 asks “How should I want that I possesse.’’ Some of the paradoxical statements descend into doggerel (ll. 5–6 and 11–12) and may be sending up the tradition (see the mock love poem 89). In line 4, “tonge can shoe” jars in terms of sense, but the poet is more interested in providing a suitable end-rhyme for “woe.’’ The rhyme scheme is also irregular: in the fourth stanza the first four lines all have the same endrhyme and in the fifth the final rhyming couplet fails to rhyme; the rhyme combination “possesse” “blisse” (ll. 7, 9 and ll. 13, 15) also occurs twice in the poem. 1 7–13 17, 2 23–24

27 28 35

Cf. Dyer’s “A man in Ioy; that lyveth still in woe” (11.6) plays on the Ovidian motif “plenty makes me poor” (see 11.7–12n.) on one Cf. Spenser’s Amoretti 30: “how comes it then that this her cold so great / is not dissolu’d through my so hot desire” (Amoretti and Epithalamion, 1595, sig. B8v); for the same sentiment, see also 150.20. Early modern humoral physiology posited that men were “hotter” and “drier” than women, whose bodies were relatively “cold” and “moist” (Bamborough 1952, 64). on one; hangeth . . . Bowes is hanging on the gallows skafes begs for food (OED scaff v.1)? spill slay, kill (OED v. 1a)

 See History of Parliament Online: “Coningsby, Thomas I, of Leominster, Herefs.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/ member/coningsby-thomas-i. “Coningsby, Thomas II (d. 1616), of Hampton Wafer, Herefs.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/member/coningsby-thomas-ii-1616. 65

178

Commentary

31

The initials subscribed to this text could refer to Robert Pooly whose work appeared in the printed miscellany The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises; see the commentary to 4. The poem contains lines from two independently occurring texts. The first six lines are shared with an anonymous poem of eighteen lines found in a poetic miscellany, Dd, fol. 26r, compiled by Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, and set to music in Thomas Morley’s First Book of Ayres, 1600 (M), Cantus XII. 66 The last four lines of the poem appear to have been purloined from 82 (ll. 33, 36–40), an unattributed text unique to Hy, which I suggest is also the work of Robert Pooly (see the commentary to 82). If this identification is corrrect, Pooly may have been recycling his own work: where the analogous lines appear in 31 they are a misfit, creating a final stanza rhyming (abcc), whereas in 82 there is no such disruption. The opening six lines are confined to the description of sorrow and lend themselves particularly well to a continuation. The practice of using lines from another’s work as a catalyst for one’s own composition is also seen in 87, where the Earl of Oxford borrowed a substantial section from a poem by Thomas Churchyard for his own composition. Just as Oxford recast Churchyard’s poem for a courtly audience, Pooly recast “Come sorrow,” with its heavy moral sentiment, in a lighter vein as a first-person love lament. To this end, line three in the original is also tweaked from “That God and man and all the world may see” to “That careles pleasure may conceave and see.” The original poem has a more extensive description of “Sorrow” that reaches the gloomy conclusion: “Thus let vs lyue, till heauens may rue to see, / The dolefull doome ordayned for thee and mee.” 1–6

For a similar opening phrase, cf. Nicholas Breton’s epitaph on Sidney printed in Brittons Bowre of Delights, 1591: “Sorrow come sit thee downe” (sig. C3r). Shakespeare has sorrow sitting down twice in Love’s Labour’s Lost: “and till then, sit thee down, sorrow”; “well, set thee down, sorrow” (1.1.302; 4.3.4); and in King John: “here I and sorrowes sit” (2.2.73). A poem in Englands Helicon, 1600, beginning “Sheepheard, saw you not my faire louely Phillis,” has the line: “Sorrow come and sit with me” (sig. Y3r). If these are allusions to the poem it must have been fairly popular with the opening stanza being especially memorable, but personifications of Sorrow, such as found in Thomas Sackville’s “Induction” to A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563), also helped to establish the iconography of “Sorrow,” in a reposed position, sighing, wringing her hands and

66   The poem was entered in Dd “probably before 1585” (May 1988, 276). As May suggests, “the Carey household, with its important connections at court and reputation for artistic patronage” is the likely source for both these copies (xix).

179

Poems 31–32

folding her arms: “syghing sore her handes she wrong and fold . . . / In woe and playnt reposed was her rest” (ll. 76, 82). 2 Balefull unhappy, wretched, miserable (OED adj. 2b) 17 to too 19–22 A close version of these lines in found in 82 (ll. 33, 36–40): But sith my froward lucke, allowes no better Hap, . . . Where secret Grief & Shame, all comfort shall expell. Till lyef of Loyall Love, Hath felt thextremest power, Or Love of hatefull Lyef Hath sene the latest hower.

22

latest last, final (OED adj. 1)

Collations: (ll. 1–6); Dd and M. 2 Enclyne] hang down Dd M; the Balefull] thie balefull Dd M   3 careles . . . and] god & man & all the world may Dd M   4 How] our Dd M; repose in little] doe lie at little Dd, doo liue in quiet M   5 Vnfould] enfold Dd M   Subscription: quod R. P.] om. Dd M The collation of the first six lines shows that Dd is closer to M than Hy. It is likely that Hy’s unique variants were purposeful alterations made to suit the poem’s recasting as a love-lament. At line four, M is corrupt, and the reading “quiet rest” should undoubtedly read “little reste” as in Hy and Dd.

32

The first four stanzas of this unique text illustrate a contemporary love posy given in the marginal annotations: “myne Eye hath fownd thee. / My Harte hath chose thee. / To thee Love hath bound mee. / From the [i.e., thee] Death Shall loose mee.” A version of this posy is found elsewhere in Hy (see 76). The sentiment expressed in the “Lenvoy” is also found in a ring posy in Ha: “Though a guift be smale, yet good will is all” (Evans 1931, 99). The rhetorical structure of lines 17–24 was influenced by Wyatt’s “Disdaine me not without desert”: Forsake me not, till I deserue: Nor hate me not, till I offend. Destroy me not, till that I swerue. But sins ye know what I intend: Disdaine me not that am your own: Refuse me not that am so true: Mistrust me not till all be known:

180

Commentary

Forsake me not, now for no new. (ll. 13–20; Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. H3v)

1 29

curious Eyes sharp eyes; for this phrase, see 74.32. Decayte deceit

33

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to the entry, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). Another copy without attribution survives in Ra, fol. 116v, where it is followed by the identical succeeding poem in Hy (34), to which both are assigned a single terminal “finis.” The two poems evidently circulated as a pair. Both display rhetorically balanced elements: 33 has two repeat lines (ll. 5, 9, and 7, 11), which duplicate the crossrhymed combination “Lyve / gyve,” and the words “Love” and “Hope” repeat three times apiece in different sense combinations. The first four lines and last two lines of 34 are similarly structured and begin identically. 1–2 Cf. 13.7: “Myne eye bewrayes myne inward thought”; Bewrayes reveals, shows (OED v. 4). 12 Happe good fortune, good luck (OED hap, n.1 1) Collations: Ra. 2 Harte] hartes   7 Hope] Loue   10 When] Where   Subscription: ] om. The texts present only three variants. Hy is in error in l. 2 where Ra’s possesive “hartes” makes more sense and mirrors the pattern of run-on lines throughout the poem. The other variants are difficult to choose between. Hy’s marginal correction (l. 4) brings the texts into alignment and probably corrects an initial transcription error caused by eye-skip (“Lucke” appears as the second word in the line above).

34

Further copies of this anonymous poem, without attribution, are found in two contemporary poetic miscellanies: Fo, p. 32 and Ra, fol. 116v. In the second of these the poem appears as a companion piece to 33 (see the commentary above). 1 3 4

proverbial, “Let reason rule all your actions” (Tilley R43) troth truth, honesty (OED n. 2); proverbial, “try (try your friend) before you trust” (Tilley T595) proverbial, “Appearances are deceitful” (Tilley A285)

181

Poems 32–36

6

excepte unless, if not (OED conj. 2a); wyll feel or cherish good-will (OED will, v.1 1b)?; possibly a reference to the proverbial “He that would have friends must show himself friendly” (Tilley F745)

Collations: Fo and Ra. 3 om. Ra   5 in lacke of] wher wanteth Fo The texts are very close; Ra lacks a whole line but in the only other reading where the texts diverge Hy agrees with Ra.

35

There are no other copies of this anonymous poem. The hexameter couplets scan with an unvarying mid-line caesura and contain no obvious corruptions in the rhyme or meter. 1 4 5 6 6, 9 8, 18 14

Barke ship (OED n.2 1a) feere mate, companion (OED fere, n.1 1a) race to runne journey to take (at sea / through life) (OED race, n.1 4) roome office, function, employment (OED room, n.1 10a) e^r^st . . . erst formerly Toyes . . . toyes frivolous (amorous) occupations (OED n. 1) shake my hand wave (the hand) in farewell (OED shake, v. 6d)

36

This is another posy poem (see 32). Like many of the two-line posies found in contemporary collections it rhymes in dimeter couplets (cf. “Be true till death / do take thy breath” and “Let onely death / the knott preuent” (Ha, fols. 161v, 160v). 1 2 3 5

Fruycte reward, benefit (OED fruit, n. 7c); assay have proof of; learn or know by experience (OED assay, v. 11) Graffe graft i.e., a twig or off-shoot for use in grafting (OED graff, n.1 2); cf. No tree can take so deep a roote as grifts of faithfull loue try put to the test (OED try, v. 7a); Proverbial, “Time tries all things” (Tilley T336); cf. the posy: “No tyme altereth mee” (Ha, fol. 163v) Cf. the posy: “Stand fast in faith” (Ha, fol. 162v).

182

Commentary

37

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this entry (for this habitual practice, see Introd., lxii–lxv); the over-written letters may be an attempt to blot out the original ascription rather than a genuine attempt to assign authorship. 67 The poem is attributed to the Earl of Oxford (subscribed “quoth Earll of Oxenforde”) in a contemporary poetic miscellany, Ra, fol. 16r. 68 The authority of the attribution is strengthened by the placement of this latter copy among correctly attributed, canonical Oxford poems. 69 Another copy, without attribution and headed “A Sonet of faire womens ficklenesse in loue,” was printed in Brittons Bowre of Delights (B), 1591, sig. G3r. 70 Two more partial texts survive in poetic miscellanies of the period: a copy of the first twelve lines, entitled “The follie of men,” is found in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 6v, and the first six lines appear in V&A, Dyce MS 44 (Dy), fol. 116v. A significantly altered text of the poem, beginning “If women could be fair and never fond” (my italics), was set to music by William Byrd in his Psalmes, Sonets & Songs, 1588 (Bd), sig. D4r. 71 Further substantive copies appeared much later in Samuel Pick’s Festum Voluptatis, 1639, (Pi), sig. C3r (entitled “An invective against Women”) and John Cotgrave’s Wits Interpreter (Co), 1655, sig. P7r. 72 The anti-feminist sentiment and views about women’s “fickleness” are reproduced in other entries in the manuscript (see the commentary to x for this tradition). 1 5–6 7

fond foolish (OED adj. 2) Cf. Lyly’s Sapho and Phao (1584. sig. B2v): Isme. I cannot but oftentimes smile to my selfe, to heare men call vs weake vesselles . . . vs fraile, when their thoughtes cannot hang togeather. chose choice (OED choose, n. 1)

67   Coningsby writes uppercase “R” and “W” to overwrite his own initials elsewhere; for example, in 91 letters “Q” and “R” are used to obscure the initials “H C”; and in 58 and 67 the second initial of the original “H C” subscription is overwritten with a “W.” 68   May (1980, 40–41) places 37 among the poems possibly by Oxford (no. III). 69   The grouping of poems by Oxford in Ra, on fols. 14v–16v, comprises five poems, four of which are attributed to Oxford and one unattributed but identified in Hy as belonging to Oxford’s client, John Lyly (6 in this edition). 70   Brittons Bowre was reissued in 1597 in a shortened version: sigs. A-F4; 37 is found on sig. F3v and introduces one variant reading: “if ” for “that” (l. 2). 71  A copy in an early seventeenth-century verse miscellany was taken from Bd: NLW, MS 473B, fol. 7r. Byrd’s text is also reproduced in the “Dow Partbooks” (Christ Church, Oxford, MSS Mus. 984–88, No. 94); the first six lines are in the first partbook: MS 984; and a lute book: BL, Add. MS 31992, fol. 36v (incipit only). 72   Co’s copy appears directly after a poem by Whetstone, also in Hy (see 81).

183

Poem 37

7–12

The comparison between woman’s inconstancy and haggards is borrowed from George Turbervile: As though you were a haggard Hawke, your manners altred cleene. You now refuse to come to fist, you shun my woonted call: . . . You flee with wings of often chaunge at random where you please. (Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. C6v)

8

9 12 17 18

This contrast alludes to one of the legends of Midas, told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 11, where in a music contest, Midas chooses against all others’ judgement the “rude and homely” songs of Pan, the half-goat god of shepherds, over those of Phoebus (Apollo), the god of poetry and music. Haggardes wild female hawks (OED n.2); the falconry metaphor is extended to line 12 and picked up again in line 15. Fayre Fooles i.e., fools indeed (playing on fayre, good-looking, in l. 1); in Sapho and Phao (1584) Lyly has Ismena echo these words: “Your loouer I think be a faire foole” (sig. B2v). trye put to the test (OED v. 7a) doulte stupid fellow (OED dolt, n.)

Collations: May (1980, 122–23) collates B, Bd, Co, Dy, Hy, Pi, and R72 against Ra. May points out the agreement between Hy and B in “their” for “the” (l. 7), but this could be a case of independent variation: both scribes misreading a contracted form of the word. B, Dy, and R72 also share the error “firme” for “fraile” (l. 5). Hy also originally contained the reading “firme,” but it was corrected to “fraile” after transcription. Coningsby’s habit of careful proofreading means that he may have independently corrected an obvious error. If this happened, then Hy’s copy-text derived ultimately from the same source as B, Dy, and R72. Pi also shares a number of readings with this group against the other texts: “wonder” (l. 3) where Co, Bd, and Ra have “marveile.” In the final line (not present in Dy and R72), Hy, B, and Pi are the only texts to read “doulte” (where Bd and Ra read “foole,” and Co “Asse”). Another textual crux occurs in line 16 where Bd has a completely different line: Hy and Pi read “our wills” (Hy correcting “our” from “their”) and B “their wits;” Co and Ra have “their wiles.” Hy’s unique reading in line 17 may be an error: “fynde” for “say,” the reading in all other witnesses. Bd’s variant first line, four completely new lines (2, 8, 10, and 16), and three more revised lines (9, 11, 15), suggest that this text was radically altered before being set to music by Byrd (for further evidence of curtailment and revision of courtier verse set to music by Byrd, see 50 and 142).

184

Commentary

38

This posy appears in Edmund Elviden’s The Most Excellent . . . Historie of Pesistratus and Catanea, 1570 (PC), sig. I5r, where it follows an inset poem of fiftytwo lines in broken fourteeners: “The letter of Catanea to his Louer.” 73 Elviden may have been imitating George Turbervile’s “Pyndaras aunswere to the Letter which Tymetes sent hir at the time of his departure” (also in fourteeners), which is followed by a similar lover’s vow, the first two lines of which resemble Elviden’s posy: Thine owne in life, thine owne in death, Thine owne whilst lungs shall lende me breath: Thine owne whilst I on earth doe wonne Thine owne whilst eie shall see the Sonne (Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. C1r)

Evans records a few shorter similar ring posies: “In love linkt fast / while life doth last” and “My love shal last til life be past” (1931, 59, 80). For Coningsby’s interest in posies, see the commentary to 76. A later entry signed “E. E.” may be another poem by Elviden (see 84). Collations: PC. 1 Thine] Thy   2 &] til; is] be Hy’s three variant readings from the print copy may be an indication that Coningsby copied the couplet from memory or from another source.

39

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this unique text, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). The first word of each line forms an acrostic exchange: the first sixain reveals the question, “When Shall I Ly Wyth yow,” for which the second provides the answer, “When Tyme And Plase Shall Serve” (see 42 for another verse with the same acrostic question). 74 The internal dialogue in the poem is couched in the language of courtly love, but this sentiment is undermined by the blunt secondary 73   The volume is dedicated the Earl of Oxford: “To the right honorable Edward Deuiere, lord Boulbecke, Erle of Oxford, Lord great Chamberlaine of England, Edmund Eluiden wisheth long life with increase of honoure” (sig. A2r). 74   Coningsby traced a line around the words forming the acrostic in 42; this tendency to foreground riddles (another example is the capitalized letters in the punning name reference 1.147) suggests that, here, he failed to notice the acrostic. (For an error in the first-line acrostic of another poem, see the commentary to 28).

185

Poems 38–40

exchange hidden in the first word acrostic. It is a variation of an earlier embedded question and answer acrostic pair of verses, which circulated more widely (DIMEV 6406): 75 Questio When shall your cruell stormez be past Shall not my truth your rigor slake I will no moer whyle lyfe doth last medell with love butt yit forsake with owt you answere & reherse The first word of euery verse / Responsio When stormez be past the calme is next Tyme temperyth all thinges in euerye place dothe nott the wysemanne teache thys texte Serue trulye therof comythe grace yow are no foole your wylye brayne Shall serue to fynde my answere playne./ (Trinity College, Cambridge, MS O.9.38, fol. 86v)

6 7–12 11

perforce by constraint of circumstances; of necessity (OED adv. 2); thrall slave, prisoner (OED n.1 1) The first-word acrostic is proverbial: “Take time when time comes (while time serves)” (Tilley T312) faynt weak, feeble (OED adj. 4a)

40

Coningsby signed his own initials to this entry, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). Another contemporary copy, without attribution and lacking the “Vowe” (ll. 10–16), survives in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 7r. 2

an alternative opening line; see 20.29–30 for an instance where the compiler copied two versions of a closing line. 6, 8 fancy liking, inclination (OED n. 8a) 7 styll always (OED adv. 3a) 10–13 Cf. “By seas, by land, by starry skye, lo here I make my vow” (The Three First Bookes of Ouid de Tristibus, 1580, sig. B3v; translated by Thomas 75   DIMEV 6406 records the Trinity College text, noting the hand is sixteenth-century; I have traced further copies in BL, Harl. MS 78, fol. 30r; TCD, MS 160, fol. 58r; and Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 108, fol. 11v.

186

Commentary

Churchyard). Another similar lover’s vow is found in a poem by Thomas Howell: Yet tyll syr Phebus beames shall lose their light, And Ocean Seas doe cease to ebbe and flowe: Untill the day shall turne to perfite night, And Natures course against her kinde shalt goe. My fired fayth vnspotted shall remayne, What would you more, I vowe I doe not fayne. (His Deuises, 1581, sig. C3r)

12 13 16

Kynde nature, i.e., natural or normal condition or state (OED n. 4a) ere before say content say you consent, say you are willing (OED content, adj.2 3a)

Collations: R72. 1 how] who   2 om.   4 that] what   10–16 om.  Subscription: H C] om. The shared lines present very few variants. In the first line Hy could be in error with “how” for “who” (R72’s “who . . . whom . . . whose” combination might be the intended effect). Hy’s alternative opening line is not present in R72 and could be an attempt by Coningsby to improve a line where the syntax is rather strained.

41

Edward Dyer’s authorship is supported by the attribution “Mr Dier” in Ra, fol. 7r. 76 Another manuscript copy, without attribution, appears in Ha, fol. 169r. The poem was written for the royal entertainments held at Woodstock, 29 August to 3 September 1575, during the queen’s summer progress. In the contemporary account of the entertainments printed in 1585, the poem is dubbed “The songe in the Oke,” The Queenes Maiesties Entertainement at Woodstocke, 1581 (Wo), sigs. C2v–3r. This title was suggested from the orginal context of the work, where it was performed to musical accompaniment, in an accidental encounter with “a green man” or wild man of the woods figure, as the queen was on her way home: The day thus spente, her Maiestie took her coach with ioy in remembring what had passed, recounting with her selfe and others how well she had spente the after noone, and as it fell of necessitie in her waye homewarde, closelie in an Oke she hearde the sound both of voice and instrument.

The author of the song is unnamed, but the commentator alludes to the quality of its “invention,” which is “no more then the iust fame of the deviser doth 76

  May (1991, 288–89) places 41 among the certain Dyer poems (no. 1).

Poems 40–41

187

both deserue and carrie.” 77 Dyer had been granted Keepership of Woodstock in 1570, and, although he had passed the rights to Sir Henry Lee, he was certainly resident for the queen’s visit in 1575 and remained there for at least a month afterwards (Goldring et al. 2014, 2:364). It is likely that Dyer collaborated with Lee more widely in devising and organizing the various components of the entertainments at Woodstock, and he may be figured in the Hermit in the “Tale of Hermetes,” the centerpiece of the devices presented to the queen (Heaton 2010, 24–25). Poem 41 is Dyer’s earliest datable verse composition, though, as May suggests, he was probably writing poetry much earlier during the 1560s (1991, 54). 1

whose . . . conspire There may be a hint of the proverbial “A man is weal or woe as he thinks himself so” (Tilley M254). depaynte depict (OED v. 1) man of woe with a possible play on the proverbial “woman is the woe of man” (my italics); the matter of a legal formula: in relation to, with regard to (OED matter, n.1 2b); also a pun on “matter” as physical substance distinct from spirit (n.1 21). The substance / spirit dichotomy is picked up in line 5. Free of granted the rights or privileges of a civic body or guild of which one could be a freeman (OED free, adj. 25a); Whetstone may be glancing at Dyer in the Rocke of Regard (1576, sig. E2r): “Dom Diego hauing for the space of 22. monethes, thus liued an exiles life, onely accompanied with sorrow, wretchedness and miserie . . . in the desart forest, where of this wretched louer was made free citizen”; see poem 1 for a note on Dyer’s period of royal disfavor. desert deserted, forsaken (OED adj. 1) suffice satisfy (OED v. 1b) tragicall complaynte Cf. Dyer’s “dyry tragedyes” 1.132

2 3

4

5 16 19

  The commentator of the printed pamphlet states that Elizabeth had asked for a copy of the entertainment in writing: “leauing earnest command that the whole in order as it fell, should be brought her in writing” (sig. C3r). It is not clear why it took ten years for the full account of the entertainments, including “The songe in the Oke,” to appear in print. An account of “The Princelye Pleasures” at Kenilworth, which took place two months before the entertainments at Woodstock, was published within a year of the time of performance in July 1576. No copy survives, but the text was reprinted in The Whole Woorkes of George Gascoigne Esquire (1587). Gascoigne was also quick to fulfill in part the queen’s request to have the entertainment at Woodstock “brought her in writing,” presenting a manuscript of the “Tale of Hemetes the heremyte” to the Queen as a New Year’s gift in 1576 (BL, Royal MS 18 A XLVIII). Gascoigne was clear that the tale was not his own composition, but he had noticed that Elizabeth especially enjoyed this piece, “wherwith I saw your lerned iudgement greatly pleased at Woodstock.” 77

188

Commentary

20

furies the avenging deities (Tisiphone, Megæra, and Alecto); cf. “The Tragoedye of Cordila”: “arte thou some fury sente? / My woefull corps with paynes to more tormente?” (John Higgins, The First Part of the Mirour for Magistrates, 1574, sig. G4v) Infortunes misfortune’s (OED n. 1a); fare condition, state (OED n.1 7) Cf. Dyer’s “Who feeles it most, may thinke it leaste, / Yf he compare wythe myne” (1.143–44)

23 24

Collations: Sargent (1935, 207–8) collates Ha and Ra against Wo; May (1991, 289) adds the collation for Hy. May concludes that Wo descended from Dyer’s original with five certain errors, and all the manuscript copies descend from a collateral version that transmitted five errors: “Spyritte,” “moane” (or “moans”) (l. 5), “from whence,” “ryse” (l. 14), and “suffice” (l. 16). However, some of these conjunctive errors are not very secure: “moane” probably derived from a mis-reading of the archaic word “wone,” i.e., dwell or live (OED v. 1) spelled “wonne” as in Wo or “woone,” another sixteenth-century spelling variant. Wo certainly has the intended reading, but Hy and Ha could have made the same error independently, reading minuscule “w” as “m” and substituting the more familiar word. In place of “wonne” Ra has the synonym “lye” (this also forces a change in the end-rhyme word in line 6 “flye” for “shunn”). The second conjunctive reading (“spyritte” for “sprite” l. 5) can be dismissed as a spelling variant: though the meter demands a monosyllabic word, the evidence elsewhere indicates a degree of flexibility in the pronunciation of “spirit,” which can be read as as mono- or di-syllabic. This is seen in 53.13 where six texts have the reading “spirit” when the meter demands a monosyllabic word. The variants in line 14 and 16 create the rhyme combination “ryse” “suffice” found in all three manuscript witnesses while Wo has the more obvious rhyme combination “lye” “supply.” Dyer rhymes “suffice” with “eyes,” in 127.20, 22, indicating that this rhyme combination is not defective, and may have been rationalized for the printed edition. Ha and Ra’s conjunctive error “mishapp” for “Desire” (l. 3), which creates a faulty end-rhyme, could be a case of independent variation where the scribe’s eye skipped to the same word in the previous line; these two texts also share one other conjunctive error, “when” for “which” (l. 16). If these errors are not independent scribal variation then Ha and Ra ultimately derived from the same version taken from Dyer’s original. Hy presents three more errors: “which thus” (l. 5), “ever” (l. 7) for “neuer,” and “And” for “An” (l. 9). The first of these results from a misunderstanding of “desert” as meaning forsaken: the other copies have the intended reading “which in [or “within”] this desert,” i.e., wilderness (OED desert, n.2 1); cf. Sidney’s “made me in desertes grow a desert knighte” (AT Ot; Woudhuysen 1996, 415).

189

Poems 41–42

42

This acrostic poem, where the first word of each line forms the bawdy question “When Shall I Lye With Yow”, was a popular addition to student miscellanies in the period, with copies appearing in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 3r; Bod., MS Lyell empt. 12 (Ly), fol. 46r; Folger, MS V.a.339 (V33), fol. 272v; Huntington Library, MS HM 8 (Hu8) O3v; Rosenbach, MSS 1083/16, p. 190 (Rb) and 1083/15, fol. 27v (Ro). 78 See 39 for a verse with the same acrostic question, accompanied by an answering acrostic verse and 28 for another acrostic poem. 3–4

the proverbial “In the coldest flint there is hot fire” (Tilley F371)

Collations: Hu8, Ly, R72, Rb, Ro, and V33. 1 of strife] of wyndes Hu8, om. Ly R72 Ro; be] are Ly Ro V33   2 quiet] plesant Ly R72 Rb; rest] calmes Hu8 R72 Rb Ro V33, Ioyes Ly   3 sub. I fynde that in the ashes doth Hu8, I feinde that heerein ashes doth Ly, In ashes often Doth R72, I often find in ashes do Ro, I find in ashes yt there doth Rb, I know that in the ashes oft V33   4 kindled coles of] hidden coles of R72, V33, coles of kindled Rb   5 sub. within these lines my R72   6 a Secret Question] therein my meaninge Hu8, a question strange heere Ly Ro V33, a question strangely Rb Hy is not related in error to any of the other texts. Hy’s version of line 3 is unique; all collated witnesses read “ashes” for Hy’s “flintes” and relate to a different proverb with a similar meaning: “Fire raked up in ashes keeps its heat a long time” (Tilley F264). Hy’s unique reading “rest” (l. 2) is another sense substitution where most witnesses read “calmes,” which balances nicely with the “stormes” of the opening line. Some of the variants undoubtedly derived from the memorial transcription of this ribald verse.

78   At least twelve more manuscript copies survive, not collated here: BL, Egerton MS 2421, fol. 46r; BL, Sloane MS 542, fol. 36v; BL, Sloane MS 1489, fol. 47r; Bod., MS Douce.fol.5, fol. 14v; Bod., MS Eng. poet. e.14, fol. 13r; Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS 328, fol. 47r; Folger, MS V.a.345, p. 27; Huntington Library, prt. bk. 34001, sig. 2H3r; V&A, Dyce MS 44, fol. 117r; Yale University, MSS Osborn: b52/2, p. 178, b132, insert, b205, fol. 3 and b227, p. 70.

190

Commentary

43

Two manuscript copies, identically headed “Loue compared to a Tennis playe,” are found in contemporary poetic miscellanies with a Cambridge University provenance: the first of these, in Ma, fol. 20r, confirms the Earl of Oxford’s authorship with the subscription “Made by the Earle of Oxeforde” and, the second, appears without attribution in Ra, fol. 106r. 79 The poem was copied much later, attributed to Dyer (“Sir: E: D:”) in Pierpont Morgan Library, MS MA 1057 (Pm), p. 134 and, without attribution, in Huntington Library, MS HM 198, part 2 (Hu), fol. 45r. 80 The poem’s enduring appeal is seen from its later print appearances in John Cotgrave’s Wits Interpreter, 1655 (Co), sig. O4r–v and Robert Howlett’s School of Recreation, 1684. 81 A transcript made by Joseph Haslewood in the nineteenth century may derive from an earlier manuscript source, BL, Add. MS 19269 (Ad), fols. 202v–3r. 82 Two seventeenth-century poems allegorizing life as a game of tennis may have been modeled on Oxford’s earlier treatment: Francis Quarles with “Man is a Tenis-court: His Flesh, the Wall: / The Gamesters God, & Sathan. Th’heart’s the Ball” (“On a Tenis-Court,” Divine Fancies, 1633, sig. R4r) and George Wither in the emblem verse: When we observe the Ball, how to and fro The Gamesters force it; we may ponder thus: That whil’st we live we shall be playd with so, And that the World will make her Games of us. (A Collection of Emblemes, 1635, sig. C4v)

May notes the interesting subject mattter “in light of Oxford’s famous quarrel on the tennis court with Sir Philip Sidney during the summer of 1579” (1980, 76) and, though the animosity between the two courtiers persisted, in manuscript their work circulated in tandem as is seen here, where a poem by Sidney directly follows. 2

howse or “penthouse” describes the sloping roofs running around three sides of the court (OED penthouse, n. 2c) and it is “the place on which they first cast out the Ball” (Randle Holme, The Academy of Armory, 1699)

  May (1980, 75–76) places no. 43 among the certain Oxford poems (no. 13).   May dismisses Pm’s attribution attached to a “corrupt and derivative” text, and suggests that it could have derived from a misreading of “‘E. O.,’ Oxford’s recognized signature in the printed anthologies . . . [as] ‘E. D’” (ibid., 75–76). 81   This last copy is derivative and was probably taken from Co; it also reproduces Co’s title “The Tennis-Court.” 82   The bibliographer and antiquary Haslewood formerly owned Hu, but his text was not taken from this manuscript (see below). 79

80

Poem 43

3, 8

5–6

12

14

191 Lyne that measure showes refers to a line on the court that marks the chase i.e., the place in the court where the ball falls, beyond which the opponent must strike next time to gain the stroke (OED chase, n.1 7); a pun on “chase” meaning “the object of pursuit” is probably also intended gitty i.e., jetty; here referring to the projecting wall in a tennis court, more usually the “tambour” (May 1980, 77); “so contrived in order to make a variety in the stroke” (OED tambour n. 5f); sopper stopper i.e., the marker: “The stopper, or he that marketh the chase” (1595; quoted in OED stopper, n. 1e); Argos “The poets feigne, that he had an hundred eies, signifiyng therby his wisdome and circumspection” (Cooper). A Bandy How a “bandy” describes a player’s attempt “to hit the ball over the line to the far wall of the court without attempting to score” (Cram et al. 2003, 292); cf. Thomas Churchyard’s “Shorte syr Dreamer, a bandy ho, that baall muste nedes away” (The Contentation Betwyxte Churchyeard and Camell, 1560, sig. E3v). a Tennys OED does not record “a tennis” in the sense of “a tennis match” (or “playe”; cf. “a Tennis playe” in the heading attached to two manuscript witnesses) but Oxford probably used it as a shorthand form; May (1980, 76) comments that the noun was probably employed “for the sake of the pun on tennis net.”

Collations: May (1980, 120) collates Ad, Co, Hu, Hy, Pm and Ra against Ma. Hy has a corrupt opening line: “Art of Tennis play” should read “harte at Tennis playes,” and the crossing out of “arte” and rewriting as “Art” suggests that Coningsby was having difficulty reading or understanding the copy-text. Three more Hy readings are errors: “Desire” for “desert” (l. 3), “sopper” for “stopper” (l. 5), and “knyt thy love” (l. 14) for “knyt I love.” May concludes that Hy and Ra share a common ancestor that transmitted the errors: “play” for “playes” (l. 1) and “how” for “ho” (l. 12). The latter reading is also found in Ad but could be a case of independent scribal variation. If these scribes were unfamiliar with the tennis expression “a bandy ho” it would have been an obvious substitution to make; equally, it could merely be a spelling variant. That leaves a singluar for a plural noun in a line where Hy is already defective (see above). It is more likely that Ra and Ma derived from the same source: they share the same title, a variant reading “But” for “And” (l. 11), and a similar version of line 13: “Now in the end good lykyng proues Content the game and gayne” (my italics); whereas the other texts share a close version of the same line: “Now at the lenght good liking proves, Content to be the (their) Gaine (Game).” Related texts Hu, Co, and Pm substituted “their” for “the” and Ad misread graphically similar “Gaine” as “Game.” Curiously, Ma initially copied “Content to be the Game” (underlined to indicate deletion) before copying the reading in Ra; Ma may have had both readings in the copy-text. Hu, Co, and Pm are another group of related texts, posited by May, which share numerous variant readings, many of which are certain errors.

192

Commentary

44

This entry is Philip Sidney’s CS 30. Additional copies are found in two Old Arcadia manuscript texts with the Certain Sonnets appended, Cl, fol. 226r and St, fol. 242r, and printed among the “Certaine Sonets . . . Neuer before printed” in the 1598 collected edition of Sidney’s writings, The Countesse Of Pembrokes Arcadia. . . . Now The Third Time published, with sundry new additions of the same Author (98), sig. 2S5r. The poem circulated widely among Sidney’s contemporaries. Edward Bannister received a copy on 10 December 1584 which he endorsed “a Dyttye mad by Sir phillpe sydnye gevene me Att pvttenye In surrye” (BL, Add. MS 28253 [Ba], fol. 3r). Two more substantive copies, without attribution, appear in Dd, fol. 27r and Hn, fol. 146r. The poem continued to be popular and was printed under the title “Astrophels Loue is dead ” in the themed verse miscellany Englands Helicon, 1600 (EH), sigs. B3v–4r. 83 The poem’s novel stanzaic patterning, the refrain, and one of the lines are borrowed from Sidney’s AT 21 (51 in this edition), a poem written to be sung at an accession day tilt entertainment. 84 Sidney probably had this tune in mind when he wrote CS 30; Mary Herbert used the same poetic form in her translation of Psalm 143, suggesting that the tune was a familiar one to the Sidney family (Alexander 2014, 135–36). 85 For two more poems by Sidney written to fit an already existing tune (i.e., contrafactum), see 55 and 128. 7–8 8

9 11 17

Cf. the refrain in 51: “From him that wold not thus, / Good Lord Delyver vs.” This refrain “imitates the Litany in the Book of Common Prayer and parallels the Latin Litany (‘Libera nos, Domine’) said over the grave of the deceased in the liturgical ceremonies of graveside burial” (Jeffrey 1992, 206) Cf. “Singe neighbours singe, here yow not Say” (51.1). shrodinge sheet A sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial (OED shrouding, n.1 1). Trentalles A set of thirty requiem masses.

83   According to Rollins (1935, 2:83) this copy was taken from the 1598 folio edition of The Countesse Of Pembrokes Arcadia; two errors crept in during the printing process (“richly” for “rightly” l. 17 and “And” for “Sir” l. 19). 84   Compare the form of 44: 10 a10a4b7c6b7c6dd7ee6 to that of 51: 10 a8a4b7c6b4c6dd6ee6. In 44 Hy sets out the stanzas in the same way as Hn: compressing the bcbc section (a cross-rhymed quatrain) into two long lines. 85   Perhaps this tune was recognizable beyond the Sidney circle. Bannister also referred to CS 30 as “a Dyttye.”

Poem 44

193

Collations: Ba, Cl, Dd, Hn, 98, and St. Ringler (1962, 159) collates all variants for Ba but for the rest only the variants occurring in two or more substantive texts. My collations show all substantive variants. Title: om.] Ringe owte your bells lett mowreninge shewes be spredde for love ys dedd// a dyttye mad by Sr phillpe sydnye gevene me att Pvttenye // In Surrye. Decembris xo anno 1584 Ba   1 forth] out*; tunes] shewes*   3 rage] plage*   4 om. Hn; is] as*; faire] fowle Ba   7 that] om. Hn   9 have . . . hard] Do yow not here Cl Dd 98 St   11 Whose . . . whose] His . . . his*; shrodinge] wynding*; is] his Hn   12 Whose] His*; sole] soules Hn; executor] executors Ba   13] from etc Ba, From so vngratefull &c. Cl 98 St, from so vngr Dd, from so Hn   14– 16] om. Cl Dd Hn 98 St   20 Which] whose Ba, his Dd Hn; wer once] weare onn Hn; my] his*; Dart] deathe St   21] From etc Ba, From so vngratefull &c. Cl 98 St, from so vngrat Dd, from so Hn   22–24] om. Cl Dd Hn 98 St   25 Rage] wronge Ba   28 his] is Hn   29 Wherfor] Therefore Cl Dd 98 St, then Hn   31 That] who Cl Dd 98 St, whom Hn   32 vs] thus St   Subscription: quod Sir Ph. Syd.] om. Cl Dd Hn 98 St Hy has a number of unique readings, four of which are certain errors: “morninge tunes” (l. 1) for “morninge shewes,” i.e., mourning black; “infected, with rage” (l. 3) for “infected, with plage” (my italics); “is” for “as” (l. 4); and “my” for “his” (l. 20). Hy’s substitutions of “Whose” for “his” (ll. 11, 12) are also probably erroneous but do not drastically change the sense of the lines. Two more Hy readings also substitute words of similar meaning: “forth” (l. 1) for “out” and “shrodinge” for “wynding” (l. 11). An indication of a relationship between the surviving texts comes in line nine where Hy, Ba, and Hn read “have yow not hard it sayd,” and the remaining witnesses have the reading “do you not heare it said” (my italics). Hy and Ba also agree on two variant readings, “Wherfor” for “Therefore” (l. 29) and “That” for “Who” (l. 31), and a spelling variant: “frensy” (“frenzy”) for “franzy” (ll. 6, 30). The latter is Sidney’s preferred spelling (cf. “a certain fransical malady they called ‘love’”; The Lady of May, Duncan-Jones 1989, 6, 335). Ba also introduces three errors: “fowle” (l. 4), “executors” (l. 12), and “wronge” (l. 25). Hn misses out a line and carelessly omits “that” (l. 7), writes “is” for “his” (l. 28), and introduces five unique variants (“the” l. 1, “his” l. 11, “soules” l. 12, “weare onn” l. 20, and “then” l. 29). St makes two slips (“deathe” l. 26 and “thus” l. 40). These textual relationships and the relative corruption of the surviving texts can be seen more clearly in the stemma below.

194

Commentary

O Errors Cl 2 5

X (9 have yow . . . hard)

Dd

St

98 EH

Y (6, 30 frensy, 29 Wherfor, 31 That) Ba

10 Hy Hn

45

Coningsby originally signed his own name to the poem, but this is not necessarily an acknowledgement of authorship (see the Introd., lxii–lxv for a discussion of this habitual practice). The hiatus in the text at line eighteen indicates either that there was a problem with the copy-text, which may have contained a similar lacuna, or, if author and scribe are one and the same, it was unfinished. It seems unlikely, however, that Coningsby would make a fair copy of his own composition if it were incomplete, and there are no other corrections that give the appearance of a work in progress. Lines 17 and 18 are reminiscent of Dyer’s popular lyric about love as the great equalizer, “The lowest trees have toppes” (“The flye her spleane . . . & love is love in beggers as in kinges”; Hn, fol. 144v, ll. 2, 6) but both these ideas are proverbial and Dyer’s poem may not be the source. There are striking similarities, however, to the known work of Whetstone (see below 1n. and 5–9n.), and this may point to his authorship or at least to a direct influence. 1 3 4 5–9

Cf. “Then Minde crown thou thy thoughtes above the Sky” (81.7). to too lief leave; the thee; gate way, path (OED gate, n.2 1); cf. “Goe but a lowly gate emongste the meaner sorte” (Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, 1579, sig. N4r). Cf. George Whetstone, The Rocke of Regard, 1576, sig. M6r: The highest trees, doth keepe the under spray, From Phœbus gleames, from, sugred dewes that fall,

195

Poems 44–47

So mounting mindes, aloft doth beare the sway, When meaner wittes, doth liue belowe in thrall.

8 11

Slippes shoots (OED slip, n.2 1a) kinde nature i.e., the established order of things within the natural world (OED n. 3); nothing wroght amisse i.e., having done no wrong 12, 15 on one 13 Tantall “Tantalus . . . is in hell tormented . . . alwayes thursty and hungry, for as often as he stoupeth to drynke, or holdeth vp his handes to gather the appuls, both the water and the tree dooe withdrawe them so from hym, that he can not touche them” (Cooper). 14 another . . . Stone i.e., Sisyphus “in hell he turneth a stone up to a great hyll toppe: but whan it is at the toppe, it falleth downe again, and reneweth his labour” (Cooper) 16 Lazars leper’s (OED lazar, n. 1); what . . . fall proverbial (Tilley W142) 17 Degree rank, social position, estate (OED n. 4a); proverbial, “Love has no respect of persons” (Tilley L505) 18 Fly . . . Spleane proverbial (Tilley F393) 22 after Wytte proverbial, “Afterwit is dear bought” (Tilley A59)

46

Coningsby originally added his own initials to this unique text, but this is not necessarily an acknowledgement of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv for a discussion of this habitual practice). The long lines of the poulter’s measure are split, but the deletion at the end of the opening line suggests a different arrangement in the copy-text (for another instance where the compiler creates a different stanzaic pattern from the copy text, see the commentary to poem 12). 1 2

fond foolish (OED adj. 2). thrall slave, prisoner (OED n.1 1)

47

This unique text is the first of four consecutive entries ascribed to Walter Ralegh. An early Ralegh composition, “Walter Rawley of the Middle Temple, in commendation of the Steele Glasse,” has a similar opening: “Swete were the sauce, would please ech kind of tast” (George Gascoigne, The Steele Glas, 1576, sig. A4r). 86 May argues that 47 also belongs to the period when Ralegh was a student 86   The editor of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, editions from 1577–80, thought that Ralegh had written a poem beginning “Sweete were the ioyes, that both might like and last.” The poem was originally attributed to “E. S” (1576 edition); it was signed “W. R.”

196

Commentary

at the Middle Temple, showing its similarity to the first stanza of a poem by another poet associated with the Inns of Court, George Whetstone: 87 The vnhappie man contemneth Fortune, and cleaueth to Hope, assured once to reach good hap by vertuous Industrie, in the despite of Fortune Sweete is the thought, where hope persuadeth hap, Although the mynd, be fed with faint desire, The dunghill drone, would mount to honours lap, If forward thoughts, to fortune could aspire, 5 The ventrous knight, whom Vallor doth aduaunce, First cuts off dread, with hope of happie chaunce. (The Rocke of Regard, 1576, sig. M3r)

The (almost) identical opening line and analogous passages (compare lines 5–6 above with 47.5–6: “. . . valure doth advaunce, / And cutes of Dread, by Hope of happy chaunce,” and Whetstone’s title expresses the same idea as 47.7–9) suggest some connection between these two poems. As May puts it, these two poems could be “the result of a poetic contest or challenge e.g., ‘What kind of poem can you devise from this opening stanza?’” (1983, 265). 88 Ralegh and Whetstone probably knew each other through mutual acquaintances at the Inns of Court (May suggests Gascoigne, or Ralegh’s half-brother Humphrey Gilbert). Whetstone’s commendatory poem for Timothy Kendall’s Flowers of Epigrammes, 1577, “Rare is the worke, that liketh euery mynde,” is also reminiscent of Ralegh’s verse, “Swete were the sauce, would please ech kind of tast,” written a year earlier for Gascoigne’s Steele Glas. The same ideas are expressed in both pieces and illustrate the mutual influence between these two poets at time when they were associated with the Inns of Court. in later editions printed in 1577 (preserved in Bod., MS Douce e.16), 1578 and 1580 but to William Hunnis in all subsequent editions. The structure of the first four lines of the poem follows the same pattern as 47: “Sweete were the ioyes . . . Strange were the state . . . Happy the Life . . . Blessed the chaunce” mirrors “Sweete ar the thoughtes . . . Great ar the Joyes . . . Dainty the lyfe . . . Much is the ease” in 47. The last two lines of the Paradyse poem were appended to 9 as an envoy (ll. 34–35; see the commentary to 9). 87   Whetstone also resided near the Inns of Court, signing The Rocke of Regard “from my lodging in Holborne the 15 of October 1576”; the volume contains epitaphs on “the Death of Henry Cantrell, of Lincolnes Inne, Gent.” and “on the death of his verie friend, John Note, of Grayes Inne, Gent.” Izard (1942, 35) describes The Rocke of Regard as “made up of occasional, unrelated compositions in verse and prose which the author . . . attempted . . . to arrange under appropriate headings.” 88   Whetstone was a member of Gilbert’s ill-fated voyage of 1578; he “travelled on the Hope under the command of Gilbert’s half-brother Carew Ralegh” (ODNB: Whetstone). Bajetta (1996a) also views Ralegh’s poem as a product of his apprenticeship as a writer at the Inns of Court, where poets such as Whetstone influenced his early metrical habits.

197

Poems 47–48

1

3 5 6 9 10

Whetstone’s version of the line is quoted without attribution in John Bodenham’s Bel-vedére, or the Garden of the Muses, 1600, sig. N5v. Robert Greene’s Farewell to Folly, 1591, sig. F1v, includes a “song” with the opening “Sweet are the thoughts that sauour of content,” but the next line, “the quiet mind is richer then a crowne,” takes up the theme of the mean estate. Another poem found in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172, fol. 6v, entitled “Dr Edes his single life,” begins “Sweet is the life that hath no tast of loue” and is perhaps a riposte to “Swet is the lyfe that is the Sweet of love” (attributed to “W. N.”) in Ra, fol. 105r. Fortunes lappe proverbial, “In the lap of Fortune” (Dent 1984, L67.12) valure worthiness due to rank or personal qualities (OED valure, n. 1c) cutes of takes away (OED cut, v. to cut off 2) in mauger of in spite of, notwithstanding (OED maugre, n. 1a) none not (one) (OED none, pron. 3b).

48

Despite the attribution to Ralegh, the second in a group of four consecutive poems assigned to that poet, the poem is undoubtedly by Arthur Gorges and appears in Gorges’ own manuscript fair copy of his work: “The Vanytyes of Sir Arthur Gorges Youthe,” BL, Egerton MS 3165 (V), fol. 43r. 89 Two more copies, both without attribution, survive in contemporary poetic miscellanies: Ra, fol. 46r and The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sig. L1r–v. Gorges adapted the poem from Ronsard’s Amours xx (Sandison 1953, 201), first printed in 1552. Rollins (1931, 181) notes Thomas Lodge’s independent version of the same poem by Ronsard: Sonnet 34, in Phillis, 1593, sig. G4r. Gorges does not follow Ronsard nearly as closely as Lodge, and the second sixain introduces new material, replacing Zeus’ ravishment of Europa in the form of a bull with Leda as a swan. A copy of the first four lines of the poem was transcribed elsewhere in Hy (on fol. 27v) just before another poem attributed to Gorges (see 22). 1

7

chaungde .  .  . Shower This legend is told in Ovid’s Metamophoses 4: “That Persey was the sonne of Ioue [Jupiter]: or that he was conceyued / By Danae of golden shower through which shee was deceyued” (The .xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, translated by Arthur Golding, 1567, sig. H4v). Swan The reference is to Leda “with whom (as poets dooe fable) Jupiter in the forme of a swanne dyd company” (Cooper).

89   Many of the poems, referred to by Gorges as the “toyes of yowth” (fol. 1v), according to Sandison, belong “to the years before 1584” (1953, xxviii). Sandison presents the evidence for Gorges’ birth “in or near 1557” (xiii).

198

Commentary

9–10

river . . . bower Sandison (1953, 201) considers that these lines contain a personal reference “to the home of Douglas near the Frome” (i.e., Douglas Howard, whom Gorges married on 14 October 1584). 12 to too 13 Narcissus Ovid’s Metamophoses 3 tells the story of the youth who fell in love with his own reflection and pined to death. 17–18 Sowle .  .  . beste Cf. Gorges’ “And bring my Sowle to better Rest” (110.42). Collations: PN, Ra, and V. 3 the] that Ra, my V   4 Wher] when V   6 Would] Sholde V   7 Or] Els V   9 most] styll Ra   10 her] the Ra   11 on] in PN   12 That] As Ra; should] would PN   13 Els] Or V; sweete] fayre Ra   14 the Fountayne, Cristall] the sacred fountaine PN, the fountayne lyuelye Ra  16 Drenched his limmes] Did drenche him self Ra   18 To] And Ra; loved] lyked Ra   Subscription: RA.] om.* Sandison (1953, 201) discusses the textual variants but does not give the collations. Compared to V, Gorges’ fair copy of his own poems, Sandison concludes that Hy and PN “offer versions almost equally good,” and notes that Ra is less reliable. Ra contains many unique variants, and at line 16 the scribe objected to the unnatural stress “Drenchéd,” substituting the reading: “Did drenche.” Sandison also notes that both PN and Ra derive from a text that was corrupt at line 14: in place of “the Fountayne, Cristall” PN substituted “the sacred fountaine,” and Ra “the fountayne lyuelye.” Among V’s six unique readings, Sandison considers that “my” (l. 3) is superior to “the” or “that” of the other texts, but the variants could also be revisions introduced by Gorges (the holograph alterations to the poems in V attest to his habit of revising) after the poem orginally circulated in manuscript and before the fair copy of his poems was transcribed sometime after 1586.

49

This is the third of four consecutive entries ascribed to Walter Ralegh. Two more Elizabethan copies identify Ralegh as the author. Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, ascribed the poem to “W. R.” in the margin of his copy in Dd, fol. 36r and Puttenham quoted lines 17–18 as “a most excellent dittie written by Sir Walter Raleigh” in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu), sig. Z2v. 90 Additional substantive texts of Elizabethan vintage appear, without attribution, in Fo, p. 19, Ha, fol. 142v, Ra, fol. 104v, The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sig. K4v, and, with a variant opening line, “Repentinge folly that myn eye had soe deceived me,” in 90   Rudick (1970, 24) places no. 49 among the “Authentic poems” (no. V). Ralegh was knighted 6 January 1585.

Poems 48–49

199

BL, MS Add. 5956 (A56), fol. 25r. 91 The poem had a long life in manuscript circulation, and later copyists more readily identified Ralegh as the author. Six attributed copies transcribed after 1620 appear in Bod., MS Ashmole 781 (As3), p. 138; BL, Add. MS 15227 (A27), fol. 88v; BL, Stowe MS 962 (Sto), fol. 85v; East Sussex Record Office, RAF/F/13/1 (not collated), Folger, MS V.a.103, Part I (V10), fol. 29-v; and University of Nottingham, Pw V 37, p. 59 (not collated). Another late but substantive text appears as Ralegh’s in John Cotgrave’s Wits Interpreter, 1655 (Co), sig. V2r–v. A further twelve manuscript copies without attribution have survived: BL, Harl. MS 4064 (H64), fol. 232v; Yale, Osborn MS b356 (O2), pp. 132–33; Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 31 (R31), fol. 2r; New York Public Library, Arents Collection, Cat. No. S88 (Ar), pp. 106–7; Yale, Osborn MS b205 (O1), fol. 27v; Bod., MSS Rawl. poet. 153 (R53), fol. 20r; Rawl. poet. 84 (R84), fol. 58v–r rev; and Folger, MS V.a.162 (V62), fol. 89v. 92 The high number of surviving witnesses reflects the phenomenal popularity of 49; according to Rudick it is “one of the few Elizabethan poems [by Ralegh] that circulated and remained attached to his name after his death” (1999, xxxvii). May (1989, 29) notes the similarity between 49 and Gorges’ “My harte I have oftymes bydd the beware” (for Gorges’ poem, see Sandison 1953, 7, no. 6). Gorges’ poem is also an exercise in self-disparagement, accusing his body parts (“harte,” “Eyes,” “tongue” and “hand”) of making him “Subjecte to cruell love,” just as Ralegh in 49 first blames his “ey” and then his “Harte” for his subjection to Love (“to Love, his forte resynde” l. 9). Ralegh imagines the kind of excuse his “Hart(e)” would offer for such disloyalty: “That he was yours, & had forgon me cleane” (l. 12), and a similar conceit is found in Gorges’ notion of the betrayal inflicted upon him by his “ryghte hand,” which “dyd ofte subscribe, more yours then myne owne” (l. 18). Sandison (1953, 185) suggests that the first and final stanzas of Gorges’ poem were influenced by Phillipe Desportes’ Diane 1.54. Ralegh also borrowed a line from Desportes’ Les Amours de Hippolyte 20 (see below 17–18n.), a poem with a similar opening (“Quand quelquesfois je pense” echoes Ralegh’s “Calling to mind”). Analogous passages can also be found in Les Amours de Hippolyte 55, a poem which has an equally self-divided speaker who berates his own eyes for deceiving him and imprisoning his heart: “Vous n’estes point mes yeux ô trompeuse lumiere / Par qui le trait d’Amour dans mon coeur m’est venu: . . . / Celle qui tient mon ame à son gré prisonniere” (Schmidt 1953, 828). 6

Forsoothe in truth, truly (OED adv. 1a)

  A56 is printed and discussed in Bajetta 1996b.   The remaining copies (not collated here) are preserved in Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Record Office, ER 93/2, fol. 191v; University of North Wales, Bangor, MS 422, p. 96; Robert S. Pirie [Feilde MS], p. 468 (manuscript sold at Sotheby’s sale, see CELM RaW 122.3); and CUL, MS Add 7196, fol. 9v (ll. 17–18 only). 91

92

200 9 12 17–18

Commentary

forte resynde Cf. Ovid’s Amores 1.9: “Militat omnis amans & habet sua castra Cupido” [“Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has a camp of his own”] (Loeb 3, 354–55). forgon gone from, forsaken (OED forgo, v. 4) The lines are quoted by Puttenham (The Arte, 1589, sig. Z2v) to illustrate the rhetorical device of “Ploche, or the Doubler”: Yet haue ye one sorte of repetition, which we call the doubler .  .  . a speedie iteration of one word, but with some little intermission by inserting one or two words betweene, as in a most excellent dittie written by Sir Walter Raleigh these two closing verses: Yet when I sawe my selfe to you was true, I loued my selfe, bycause my selfe loued you.

Rollins (1931, 180) notes that line 18 borrows from Desportes’ Les Amours d’Hippolyte 20: “Je m’aime seulement pour ce que je vous aime.” Collations: Ar, As3, A27, A56, Co, Dd, Fo, Ha, H64, O1, O2, PN, Ra, R31, R53, R84, Sto, V10, and V62. Title om.] To his Loue A27, A fancy Ar O1 R53 R84 V62, By Sir Walter Raleigh Co, Sir W. R: A Lover to his Mistresse V10   1 sub. Repentinge folly that myn eye had soe deceiud me A56; mine] om. Ar, my A27 Co Ra; ey] eyes Ar A27 Co H64 O1 R31 R53 R84 V10 V62; went longe] longe went PN Ra   2 To cause] T’entice PN, To entyce Ra; my] myn A56; for . . . forsake] to seeke to leaue PN, to leue Ra; my breste] his breast Ha, my pensyue brest Ra   3 sub. I askd my senc soe that I might se A56; thought] sought A27 Co V10; plucke] pull Ar A27 Co Dd Fo Ha O1 O2 PN R53 R84 V62; it] him Ar Ha, them A27 Co H64 O1 R31 R53 R84 V10 V62; out] out out Ra   4 devise] advise Ar A27 Co O1 R53 R84 V10 V62; livde] live Fo; in] at O1; such vnreste] little rest Ar O1 R84 V62, this vnrest Ra, litle ease R53   5 it] they Ar A27 Co H64 O1 R53 R31 R84 V10 V62, he Dd Ha, that Fo; say . . . regayne] answer to regaine A56, say againe to win Ar A27 Co R53 R84 V10 V62, say for to regaine Fo Ra, say againe to get Ha, say then for to win O1, say to purchase so PN   6 sub. myn ey replied it had seene my mistresse face A56; Forsoothe] But O2; that . . . seene] they said they had seen Ar, they said they’d seen O1 R53 R84 V62, that they had seene Ar A27 Co H64 R31 V10, that it first had seene O2; my . . . face] his mistres face Dd, yor louely face H64 R31   7 sub. The eye excusd I present calld to minde A56; An other time] And then agayne As3 Sto; I called vnto] mine heart I cald to Ar, my heart I calld to A27 Co O1 R53 R84 V10 V62, I cald vnto my Dd, full sad I call’d to H64 R31, I call’d into my O2, I likewise call to PN, I gann to call to Ra   8 It . . . all] Thinkinge to me that he Ar O1 R53 R84 V62, Thinking that it on mee A27, Thinking that he Co V10, My hart was he that all PN, it was my hart that all As3 Dd H64 Sto, it was my hast, that all R31; this . . .

Poem 49

201

wrought] this woe had brought Ar, this woe on me had brought Co V10, my woe had wrought Dd Fo H64 O2 PN Ra R31, his woe had wrought V62   9 sub. For he my brest the fort of Loue resignde PN, For it loue my brest had first resygnde Ra; Because that] for that Dd; he . . . forte] he to loue his heart Ar, it his fort to loue A27, he to love his force Co, he had to force his loue H64, hee had his Force to Love R31, to loue his fort he had Dd, to loue hee all his forts O2; resynde] assign’d H64 R31, had resigned V10   10 When on] When of Ar A27 O1 Ra R53 R84 V62, Where of Co V10, When noe O2; warres] warre Ar A27 A56 Co O1 R84 R53 V62, things H64 R31, woe V10; never] ever O2   11 could he say] would hee say Ar V10, m A56, could it say A27 O2 PN; I . . . slayne] would they him haue slaine Ar, I would it haue slaine A27 O2, I would him have slaine A56 Co Fo O1 PN Ra R53 Sto V10 V62, him have torne H64 R31   12 That] But O2 PN; he] it A27 O2 Sto; yours] hers Ar A27 Co R53 R84 V10 V62, here O1; had] om. Ar; forgon . . . cleane] forgone my claime Ar A27 Co O1 R53 V10 V62, forsaken me cleane Fo, me quite forlorne H64 R31, forgot my Claime R84   13 sub. perceiueing then how that both eyes and hart H64 R31; At lenghte] At last Ar A27 Co Dd O1 O2 Ra R53 R84 V10 V62; when . . . both] when I perceiud my Ar V62, when bothe my Dd, when I perceaud myne R53; Ey] eyes Ar A27 Co H64 R31 R53 R84 V10 V62   14 Excuse] Excus’d Co Dd PN, To excuse Ra; as guiltles] not guilty Ar O1 R84 R53 V62; my] myne Ar As3 A56 A27 Co Dd Ha H64 PN Ra R31 Sto V10   15 found] saw H64 R31; the] was PN Ra; cause of all] causer of H64 Ra R31   16 And] I H64 O1 R31; tould my selfe] to my selfe, sayd O2; my . . . will] that I my selfe would kill Ar A27 Co O1 R53 R84 V10 V62, my selfe slay I will O2   17 Yet] but Dd O2 PN Ra; saw] found O2 PN, say Sto; was] as O2   18 lovde] love As3; lovde yow] loves you As3, love you A56   Subscription: RA.] Wa: Ralegh As3, Sir Walt: Raleigh A27, W. R. Dd, Sir Walter Rawlyegh Sto Hy is the best of the texts deriving directly from the authorial holograph. Fo, Ha and A56, a text which has undergone some creative revision in lines 1, 3, 5 and 6, also derive from different lines of textual transmission. Three more Elizabethan copies are related: Dd, Ra, and PN derive from a text (Y) that transmitted two errors (see stemma). PN and Ra are further connected by a common intermediary (Y1), but PN is a more corrupt text containing numerous unique and clumsy readings, especially in lines 2, 5, 9, and 10. Sto and As3 are late copies that show few signs of corruption; a shared reading in line 12 suggests that these two texts ultimately derived from the same ancestor (X). The poem’s final couplet quoted by Puttenham contains no substantive variants from Hy, but these lines show remarkably little variation among the surviving copies. Pu does not share, however, the variant present in three Elizabethan witnesses of the poem descending from Y. A textual crux occurs in line 3, where the texts divide between “plucke” and “pull”; the latter reading is present in all the post-1620s texts (except for R31, H64, and V10) that descend from Z. But “pull” also occurs in a number of the

202

Commentary

Elizabethan witnesses on separate lines of descent from the authorial holograph. The introduction of this variant was probably due to the scribal phenomenon of “the accidental substitution of similars,” but since both readings are present in an equal number of branches of the stemma, it is not clear which is authorative. Ten copies are transcribed post-1620s: Ar, A27, Co, H64, O1, R31 R84, R53, V62, and V10, descend from a common source (Z) where the singular “ey” in line 1 had been changed to a plural and the following pronouns adjusted (ll. 3, 5 and 6) to agree with the plural. Two copies descending directly from Z, R31 and H64, derived from the same carelessly copied ancestor. Perhaps R31, the miscellany copied by a professional scribe (the so-called “Feathery Scribe”), was made available by the owner for others (among them H64) to take copies from. The remaining eight texts, Ar, A27, Co, O1, R53, R84, V62, and V10, descend from a common intermediary (Z1), where quite significant changes had been introduced to some of the lines; this can be explained by the various copyists’ attempts to create coherent meaning in lines that had become corrupted during a long transmission process. The Z1 variant readings are generally inferior, resulting in some awkward and convoluted lines, for example, none of the copies beginning “Thinking” in line 8 result in a satisfactory reading: “Thinking to me that he”; “Thinking that it on mee”; “Thinking that he this woe on me,” etc. The unique variant “Thinking” was a necessary Z1 re-write of line 8 to avoid a repetition of the word “hart” erroneously introduced in the previous line. The five texts that share the title “A Fancie” (Ar, O1, R53, R84, and V62) descend from a common ancestor Z2, which transmitted three readings (ll. 4, 6 and 14). A lost intermediary Z3 can also be discerned for Co and V10, which share readings in lines 8 and 10. The textual relationships and the relative corruption of the surviving texts are shown in the stemma below: Key:

X And then agayne 7 Y For 9; but 17 Y1 long went 1; to (t’) entice . . . to leaue 2; my brest 9; was 15 Z eies 1; them 3; they 5; they 6 Z1 advise 4; to win 5, my (mine) heart 7, Thinking 8; my claime 12; that I my selfe would kill 16 Z2 little rest (ease) 4; they sayd theyd 6; not guilty 14 Z3 where of 10; identical version of line 8

203

Poems 49–50

O Errors Hy 5

X

Fo Y

As3

O2 Ha

Sto Y1 Dd

Z

Ra R31 H64

PN A56

Ar

O1

R53

R84

Z1 Z2 V62

Z3 A27

Co

V10

50

This is the last of four consecutive entries ascribed to Walter Ralegh. Another manuscript copy attributed to Ralegh comprising the first three stanzas, is found in Harvard University, fMS Eng 1285 (Ho), fol. 68v. 93 The form of name in Ho’s attribution, “M[aste]r Rawleigh,” lacks any designation of honorific title and indicates that the copy was transcribed before Ralegh received his knighthood on 6 January 1585. 94 Ralegh’s poem in Ho was placed among unique texts by the courtier Sir Thomas Heneage, one of which responds directly to it (this answerpoem is discussed below). 95Additional unattributed copies of the poem are found in Ra, fol. 48r–v, Fo, pp. 10–11, Thomas Deloney’s The Garland of Good Will, 1628 (Del), sigs. H7v–8r, and Benjamin Rudyerd’s Le Prince d’Amour, 1660 (Pr), sigs.   Rudick (1970, 24) places 50 among the “Authentic poems” (no. II).   May (1983, 266) dates the composition of 50 to the early years of Ralegh’s prominence at court “from about 1582 to early 1585.” Bajetta (1998, 129–53) dates the poem slightly earlier: to the late 1570s to early 1580s when Ralegh was associating with Inns of Court writers in the circle of the Earl of Oxford. 95   These five poems in Ho (with one addition) comprise Heneage’s known canon; these are edited in May 1991, 339–43. 93 94

204

Commentary

K1v–2r. 96 The latter copy appeared among poems augmenting Rudyerd’s account of the Christmas revels of the Middle Temple 1597/8. The editorial disclaimer, that the poems “were the off-spring of divers eminent Wits of the same age, and never yet appeared in publick” (epistle dedicatory), suggests that Pr derived from a version that circulated at the Inns of Court during the late 1590s. A 24-line text, lacking the final sixain, was printed in 1588, set to music in William Byrd’s, Psalmes, Sonets & Songs (Bd), sig. E4r. Two early seventeenthcentury copies, similarly truncated and without attribution or heading, are virtually identical to Bd: National Archives, London, SP 46/126, fol. 123v and NLW, MS 473B, fols. 9v–10r. 97 Another 24-line text of the poem, partly in the hand of Sir John Harington, is headed “A quip for Cupide” in Hn, fol. 162v. Harington intended to write a retort to Ralegh’s poem on the opposite folio but only managed the heading “A replye in his defence” and the opening line “Wellcome true love the lanterne of my lyghte.” Ho contains a different response poem, attributed to “Sir Thomas Heneage,” beginning “Most welcome love, thou mortall foe to lies,” which answers the first three stanzas of Ralegh’s poem line by line. 98 The position of “Most welcome love” prior to “Farewell false Love” in Ho led to the view that Heneage’s poem was the earlier composition to which Ralegh had responded. 99 Gibson (1999, 156), however, has shown Ralegh’s indebtedness to Philippe Desportes’ “Contr’amour,” proving beyond doubt the priority of Ralegh’s text. 100 The question of how many lines Ralegh originally wrote remains an editorial crux. Lefranc (1957, 2) proposes that Ralegh released copies of the poem in three states of differing length over a period of time. Rudick (1970, 193) argues that only Ho’s 18-line text is authoritative, and the longer versions are sophisticated texts. May notices, however, an analogue to Ralegh’s memorable closing: “Dead is the rote, from whence such fancies grew” in Heneage’s “thow roote of life” (l. 2), suggesting that Heneage had read or possessed the full 30-line version of the poem that he was pastiching (1983, 265–71). More recently, Rudick suggests, “the question of how many lines he wrote remains” (1999, xxxvii). There is a plausible explanation, however, for the curtailment of Ralegh’s poem in Ho: the scribe was only interested in those stanzas that Heneage most directly pastiched 96   For the probable date of publication of the first edition of The Garland in March 1593, see 3 fn. 13. Pratt (1954) suggests that 50 may be a later addition. 97   Both texts replicate Bd’s six errors (“the” l. 1, “&” l. 2, “lend” l. 10, “net” l. 11, “Syren” l. 14, and “raging” l. 16) and lack the final stanza. 98   Printed from this manuscript in May 1991, 340. 99   For this view, see Dobell 1902, 349, and Rudick 1970, 192. 100   Gibson has shown that “all five of Ralegh’s stanzas can be linked without difficulty to passages in ‘Contr’amour’” (1999, 156). “The analogue comes from . . . Premières Oeuvres (first printed 1573) . . . Ralegh used a text . . . no later than 1579” (ibid.). Freeman first made the argument for the priority of Ralegh’s text (1971, 125 fn. 10).

Poem 50

205

in his 18-line rebuttal. The 24-line copy of the poem in Byrd’s Psalmes, Sonets & Songs could also have sprung from a decision to cut lines from a longer text, this time for the exigencies of a musical setting (for further evidence of curtailment and revision of courtier verse set to music by Byrd, see 37 and 142). 101 18 25 27 28

Goale jail traynes snares, tricks, lies (OED train, n1 1b) bewray expose, reveal (OED v. 2) repugnant contrary (OED n. 1); kinde (1) natural instincts, desires etc.; (2) womankind (OED n. 5a, 16a) 29–30 These two lines are copied earlier in the manuscript (see 25) with the variant reading “ar the rootes” for “is the rote.” Collations: Bd, Del, Fo, Ho, Hn, Pr, and Ra. Title: om.] A farewell to Loue Del, A quip for Cupide Hn, A Farewell to false Love Pr   1 thou] the Bd Del Hn   2 an] and Bd Ho Pr Ra; to] vntoe Hn   3 whence] whome Hn Ho Ra; all] great Del; aryse] do rise Pr   4 borne] vile Bd Del Ho, vyled Hn; with rage posseste] posses’t with rage Pr   5 way of] way for Del Ra; Temple] tempest Del   6 om. Pr; effectes] respects Del; contrary vnto] a Contrarye to Ra   9 Sea] season Del; Sorrows] sorrow Del Ra, sobbes Hn; whence] from whence Bd Fo Hn Pr Ra; ar drawn] ran all Del   10 lendes] lend Bd, giues Del; grief] Graft Pr   11 Poole] schole Bd Del Ho Hn Ra, porte Fo; Neste] net Bd Hn Pr   12 guilded] golden Del Hn Ra; that] which Hn   13 fortresse foild] fortlesse field Del; which] whom Del Fo Ho Pr Ra   14 Syrens] Syren Bd Fo; Fever] feruor Del   15 Affectiones] affection Bd Del Fo Ho Pr Ra; findes] find Hn   16 raunginge] raging Bd Hn Ho Pr, raining Del; roves] runnes Bd Del Hn Ho, comes Fo, flees Ra   19–30 om. Ho   19 Nurse] rest Del, Maze Ra   22 sleepes in] leyues on Hn   24 And] A*; doubtfull] doubtless Ra   25–30 om. Bd Hn   25 Since then] And sith Del, Sithe then Fo Pr Ra; thy traynes] my reigne Del; betray] betraid*   27 “hath” corr. to doth] hath*; thy] the Del, my Ra; wronges] wrong Del; bewray] bewraid*   28 sub. Whose crooked cause hath not beene after kind Del; I . . . vnto] was euer contrarye to Ra   29 desire] go backe Del   30 from whence such] whence all these Ra; fancies] fancy Fo Pr   Subscription: RA.] Finis R. [in margin Mr Rawleigh] Ho, om. Fo Ra Hy’s unique readings are all errors: “And” for “A” (l. 24) probably derived from a mis-reading of a majuscule “A” as an ampersand; and “betray . . . bewray” (ll. 25, 27) should read “betraid . . . bewraid.” In line 27, Hy corrected “hath,” a reading supported by all four texts that contain this line, and replaced it with “doth.” 101   Rudick makes this point: “Whatever exemplar was used was entirely at the composer’s disposal” (1999, 156).

206

Commentary

This is typical of Coningsby’s close attention to the text after copying and his self-imposed role as editor (see Introd., lxvii–lxix for a discussion of this habit). In line 15, Hy’s “Affectiones . . . findes” (my italics), where the majority of the texts read the noun as singular, is another evident error. In line 4, Hy shares a reading with Fo, Pr, and Ra: “borne,” where Bd, Del, and Ho read “vile” and Hn “vyled.” If “borne” is an error then Hy, Fo, Pr, and Ra share a common ancestor that contained this reading. Ralegh adapted the phrase “bastard songe-malice” from Desportes “Contr’amour.” The translation for “songe-malice” in Randal Cotgrave’s A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611) is given as “An imaginer of mischiefe, a continuall plotter of villanies.” The reading shared by Bd, Del, Ho, and Hn, “Bastard vile (vyled)” (my emphasis), is thus a closer approximation of Desportes’ phrase, suggesting that those texts have the correct reading. Hy, Fo, and Pr are further connected by an evident error in line 11: “Poole,” where five substantive copies have the reading “Schoole”; Heneage’s answer to this line (“A skoole of witt”) also supports this reading. Pr and Hy derive from a copy that misread secretary swash “s” with ligature “c” as majuscule “P” resulting in the reading “Poole.” Fo also read the first letter as “P” but substituted (or reproduced from a defective copy-text) the word “porte.” Pr and Hy share another error, “roves” (l. 16) for “runs,” the reading in the majority of texts. The nautical phrase “runs before the wind” conveys the intended sense of a lack of direction and being propelled by uncontrollable forces. It is easy to see how “runs” spelled “runes” (perhaps with a macron over “n”) could have been mis-transcribed as “roves”; Fo may have misread the same word, probably spelled “runnes,” as “comes,” misreading secretary hand “r” as “c”. Ra makes a sense substitution, “flees.” The stemma below shows the relationship between the texts discussed above and their relative corruption.

207

Poems 50–51

O Errors 1

X (4 borne)

Y (1 the)

Z (11 Poole, 16 roves) 5

Fo Hy

Ho

Ra

Hn Bd

10 Pr 15

Del

Head-note to 51 and 83 These two entries, ascribed to Sidney, belong to the same Accession Day tilt entertainment. Both texts mention the celebration of an important saint’s day (“roiall Saincte” 51.4; “For other Saintes, he knoweth not their daies” 83.22) that has fallen on the “Sabaothe” (51.2, 3; 83.9, 18) and is accompanied by an outpouring of joy and love from the populace (51.6; 83.11–12). In addition, 51 refers to the “day on which shee entred,” i.e., the queen’s Accession Day—17 November—a date that “from 1570 onwards, was kept with a solemn celebration” (Chambers 1951, 1:18), and 83 refers to a jousting tournament, an important component of the Accession Day festivities from early in Elizabeth’s reign. 102 The references to the Sabbath are fairly insistent in the poems, and this confines the date on which an actual entertainment took place to a year when the anniversary fell on a Sunday. The most likely year is 1577, when Sidney is recorded as taking part in the Accession Day tournament (Young 1987, 215; Woudhuysen 1996, 275–76). 102   Wagner (1938, 119–20) was the first to suggest that 51 formed part of an actual entertainment “cast in pastoral form to celebrate the seventeenth of November.” According to the herald William Segar, “these annuall exercises in Armes, solemnized the 17. day of Nouember, were first begun and occasioned by . . . Sir Henry Lea, Master of her Highnesses Armorie . . . in the beginning of her happy reigne” (Honor Military, and Ciuill, 1602, sig. R3r).

208

Commentary

Hy is the only source to attribute both poems directly to Sidney; 51 appears as the first of five consecutive entries (all except the second) ascribed to Sidney. 103 The authority of the attributions is supported by the inclusion of the poems in an unbound sheaf of six folio leaves containing forty-eight poems, all but six by Sidney, compiled by a member of the Ottley family (possibly Arthur Ottley, d. 1586), an important Shropshire family with links to the Sidneys. 104 Ot’s copy of 83 (fol. 4v) is accompanied with the following explanatory note: This was to be said by one of the Plowmen after that I had passed the Tilt with my rusticall musick & this freemans songe that followeth.

The “freemans songe” is Hy’s 51. Beal (1978, 289) argues that the first-person singular address in Ot’s linking sentence indicates that the copy was taken from (or written by) one of the participants in the entertainment. 105 Ot provides another note with the illuminating information that the Latin tag found at the head of 51 formed part of the impresa painted on an estucheon carried by the speaker of the poem: “The Imprese to this shuld have ben a harrowe & this word, Nec habent occulta sepulchra.” Entries 51 and 83 are a rare survival of the pageantry associated with an Accession Day tilt entertainment from the middle period of Elizabeth’s reign. One contemporary of Sidney’s, William Segar, lamented the loss of “Speeches, Emblems, Devices, Posies, and other Complements . . . for want of observation, or rather lack of some sufficient man to have set them presently down” (Booke of Honor and Armes, 1590; quoted in Strong 1977, 146). The

  Ringler originally placed 51 and 83 among “Wrongly Attributed Poems” (1962, AT 21, 19), but later placed them in the category “Poems Possibly by Sidney” (1990, 137). Duncan-Jones prints both poems as fully canonical, describing them as Sidney’s “genuine early work” (1989, 333). 104   Woudhuysen (1996, 266–67) cites a land transaction linking Arthur Ottley to the Earl of Leicester and considers it “likely that the Ottleys, a leading county family who educated their children at Shrewsbury, would have known the Sidneys.” See Woudhuysen (268–78) for a thoroughgoing discussion of the poems in relation to Sidney’s accepted works and another lyric unique to the Ottley manuscript that evidently belonged to the same Accession Day entertainment: “Waynd from the hope which made affection glad.” Ot is also discussed in Beal 1978. 105   Ot also contains a copy of Sidney’s “Nota,” describing his rules for writing English verse in classical meters, in first-person singular, “indicating that the Ottley copyist was using a manuscript closer to Sidney’s draft [than the only other extant text is found in the St John’s copy of the Old Arcadia: St]” (Robertson 1980, 203). Woudhuysen comments that it is possible that the “I” in the linking sentence and the “Nota” is Sidney himself (1996, 271). 103

209

Poem 51

textual evidence suggests that both Ot and Hy obtained their texts from sources close to the authorial holograph.

51

Sidney uses a similar verse form and refrain in CS 30 (see 44). title

1 5 8 9–10 13 15 23–5

31

Nec habent occulta sepulchrum [“Nor do secrets (or hidden things) have a burial place”], perhaps alluding to the proverbial “There is nothing so secret but it may be discovered” (Tilley N330). Ot records a slightly different version (“sepulchra” for “sepulchrum”), which Duncan-Jones translates as “nor are their burial places hidden” (1989, 334). Ot describes the motto as part of an impresa accompanied by an illustration of a harrow; “occulta” is etymologically linked to the Latin verb to harrow (occo, occare), and the illustration must relate in some way to the idea of covering up and disclosure hinted at in the motto. Crane (1993, 130, 132) describes the appeal of impresa mottoes to the younger generation of courtiers as “self-presentational codes” quite unlike the humanist aphoristic sayings that acted to efface identity “behind a screen of generality and learning.” here . . . Say have you not heard (OED hear, v. 3b); Cf. 44.9: “Weepe neighbours wepe, have yow not hard it sayd.” confuted confounded, rendered futile, brought to nought (OED v. 3) Cf. Sidney’s The Lady of May, “Supplication” addressed to the queen: “To one whose state is raised over all” (Duncan-Jones 1989, 5). Cf. the refrain, 44.7–8: “From them that vse men thus, / Good Lord deliver vs.” Yeaven even on one The Accession Day was referred to as the queen’s “entry day” (DuncanJones 1989, 334). Congratulating Elizabeth for maintaining a peaceful realm during her reign was a popular eulogistic trope; for example, a verse pronounced before the queen at Bristol in 1574 contains the lines: “O England, joy with us, / And kis the steps whear she doth traed, that keepes her country thus / In Peace and rest, and perfait stay; whearfor the God of Peace, / In Peace, by Peace, our Peace presarve, and her long lief encrease” (quoted in Wilson 1939, 76). no moe nothing more (OED no more, adv. 1)

Collations: Ot. Title: Nec .  .  . sepulchrum] om.   6 Love] loved  11 do yow not] do not you  13 Yeaven] Even  24 And with her entry] when with her entred    27 praysed] praised &c  28–30 om.   32 Sorrow] sorrowes  33 Sorrow]

210

Commentary

sorrowes  35 praised] prised  37 Saynte be praised] Saynt &c.  38–40 om.  Subscription: Sir P. Sy.] The Imprese to this shuld have ben a harrowe & this word, Nec habent occulta sepulchra The texts present very few variants; Hy contains two probable errors: “Love” for “loved” (l. 6) and “praised” for “prised” (l. 35). The other minor variants are difficult to choose between; Ot abbreviates the third and fourth repetition of the refrain, which Hy copies in full. Ot, with its privileged Sidney texts, has some claim to authority and Hy’s copy, relatively free of corruptions, must also derive from a text that was not many removes from Sidney’s authorial draft.

52

Sidney’s authorship of this unattributed quatrian is suggested both from its position in Hy in a grouping of Sidney’s verse and the theme illustrating a Latin motto, Sic vos non vobis (“So you, not for your selues”) associated with Sidney elsewhere. 106 In the Old Arcadia the words Sic vos non vobis are engraved on a jewel given to Mopsa from which Pamela understands that she is the real object of Dorus’ affection, and Sic nos non nobis is the motto worn by Sidney’s entourage when he performed in the “Four Foster Children of Desire” tilt of 1581 (Woudhuysen 1996, 285). The Latin tag derived from an anecdote found in Donatus’ Life of Virgil that appeared in sixteenth-century editions of Virgil’s work. 107 Thomas Phaer’s translation in the edition of 1573 renders the lines as follows: So you not for your selues, poore birds, your nestes do build in trees So you not for your selues, yee Sheep, do beare your tendre flees. So you not for your selues, your honey gather, litle Bees. So you not for your selues, your neckes, poore beastes, with harrowes squees. (sig. C3v)

Denkinger (1931, 156–62) explores additional Elizabethan adaptations of the motto including the pictorial mantelpiece (ca. 1560) in Gabriel Harvey’s childhood home depicting the travails of oxen and bees alongside the family members’ own altruistic occupations as rope-maker and scholar. Two more Elizabethan adaptations, not noted by Denkinger, are interesting for their association with Sidney and his family members. William Hunnis’ A Hyue full of Hunnye, 1578, dedicated to Robert Dudley, has the prefatory verse: 106   For the view that Sidney probably wrote 52, see Duncan-Jones 1985, 373, and Woudhuysen 1996, 284–85. 107   George Puttenham quotes the story in full in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sigs. H2v–H3r.

211

Poems 51–53

The Hyue doth House the harmelesse Bee, That Hony swete doth make: Whose little Limmes wyth Laboures longe, Still streyneth for our sake.

And a poet close to Sidney’s circle, Thomas Howell, wrote a verse entitled “He lykeneth his lotte to Virgils” (His Deuises, 1581, sig. C1v): Like as the toyling Oxe the Plow doth pull, . . . Euen much alike it fareth now with me, That forst the ground, where others reape the fee. I bred the Bees, thou wouldst the Honey haue, I tylde the soyle, thou seekste by guyle the gaine.

1 silly weak, feeble (OED adj. 3b) 3 Draw i.e., the plough Subscription frustra . . . sapit (“He is wise in vain, who is not wise for his own benefit”). The ultimate source for this proverbial wisdom is Cicero, quoting a line from the Medea of Ennius in a letter to Trebatius (Letters to Friends 7.6): “qui ipse sibi sapiens prodesse non quit, nequiquam sapit” [“He who cannot help his own case, be he wise, his wisdom’s vain”] (Loeb 1, 1:190–191). The motto was popular among Elizabethan writers; it appears in Richard Edwards’ Damon and Pithias: “For in louyng or wisdom, proof doth this trie, / That Frustra sapit, qui non sapit sibi” (1571, sig. B1r); Thomas Nashe uses it in Pierce Peniless: “I am a wise man, a braue man, Secreta mea mihi: Frustra sapit, qui sibi non sapit” (1592, sig. B2r); again, Thomas Lodge quotes it twice in his Rosalynde: “be wise for thy selfe. What, tis not so olde as true: Non sapit, qui sibi non sapit” (1592, sig. B3r; also at K2r).

53

This is Philip Sidney’s OA 51, placed in Hy as the third of five consecutive entries (all except the second) ascribed to Sidney. In the third book of The Old Arcadia, the words are sung by Musidorus to lull Pamela to sleep: Pamela having tasted of the fruits, and growing extreme sleepy, having been long kept from it with the perplexity of her dangerous attempt, laying her head in his lap, was invited by him to sleep with these softly uttered verses. (Robertson 1973, 200–201; from St)

The poem survives in eight Old Arcadia manuscript texts: As, fol. 93v, Bo, fol. 115r, Cl, fol. 98v, Da, fol. 90v, Hm, fol. 60v, Ph, fol. 100r, Qu, fol. 71r–v, and St,

212

Commentary

fol. 109r. 108 It is also included in Henry Lee’s collection of poems from the Old Arcadia (Le, fol. 21v). Another substantive copy appears in the composite version of the prose romance printed in 1593, a reprint of the incomplete New Arcadia of 1590 plus books three to five of the Old Arcadia (Ringler 1962, 534), i.e., The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (93), sig. 2G6r–v. 109 The poem also circulated outside of its context in the Arcadia and is found in three more contemporary verse collections: attributed to “S. P. S” in Ra, fol. 9r and unattributed in Dd, fol. 26r and Hn, fol. 145r. Abraham Fraunce quoted the first four lines in The Arcadian Rhetorike, 1588 (Fr), sig. I5r, in a chapter “On application of the voyce to seuerall affections,” with a head-note explaining that “In ioy, gladnes, or pleasure, [the voyce must be] tender, mild, sweetlie flowing.” 110 Musical settings for the poem appeared in 1619, in Thomas Vautor’s The First Set: Beeing Songs of Diuers Ayres and Natures (Va), sigs. B4v–C1r, in a setting for five voices, where the first eight lines of the poem comprise no. 8 and the last six lines no. 9, and in a setting for four voices in Martin Peerson’s Private Musicke. Or the First Booke of Ayres and Dialogues (Pe), 1620, sig. D2v. 111 1–2 2

4

harte .  .  . lyght Sidney confines himself to two rhymes throughout; Ringler (1962, 408) cites OA 39 as another verse with only two rhyme words. Cf. Sidney’s The Lady of May, spoken by “the May Lady” alluding to the queen: “let me satisfy the long desire I have had to feed mine eyes with the only sight this age hath granted to the world” (Duncan-Jones 1989, 7). to . . . to too . . . to

Collations: Ringler (1962, 79) records variants occurring in two or more substantive texts in As, Bo, Cl, Da, Dd, Fr, Hn, Le, Ph, Qu, Ra, St, and 93. My 108   It was originally found in another Old Arcadia manuscript (Je) at a point in the manuscript where there are now a few leaves missing. 109   The poem was reprinted in the folio editions of 1598 and 1613; any variants from 93 are discussed in the collation commentary; as Ringler has pointed out, the later folios all derive from the 1613 edition and have “no independent textual authority” (1962, 538). 110   As Ringler has shown, Fraunce used St as copy-text for his quotations from the Old Arcadia (ibid., 562). 111   Ringler tells us that the text printed in Pe was taken from one of the 1593–1613 folios of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (ibid., 567). Pe introduces one error, “light” for “sight” (l. 6), but otherwise follows the printed text exactly. The reading “thy” in line 10 (corrected from “the” in the edition of 1598) indicates that the text was taken from an edition of the Arcadia printed after 1598. Va contains two readings found in Bo and Hn but not present in any of the printed folio editions (“treasures” for “treasure” l. 1 and “the” for “her” l. 4), which might indicate that the text derived from a manuscript source, rather than, as Ringler suggests, from one of the folio editions.

213

Poems 53–54

collation shows all substantive variants and adds another text not available to Ringler: Hm. Title om.] Sir Philip Sydney. 3.Musidorus when Pamela slept Fr, Musidorus Le   1 Locke] Looke As Cl Da; fayre] sweete Dd; treasure] treasures As Bo Cl Da Dd Fr Hn Le Ph St   2 Preserve] preserues Bo; ages] age his Dd   3 sweet . . . ease] som ease (sweete sleap) Dd; imparte] inparte Ra   4 her] the Bo Hn  5–14 om. Fr   5 the] her*   6 Wher cunninge] her sight where*; finest] fairest*; Darte] darke As   7 partes] sence Ra   8 Dreames] dreme*   9 Dreame] drems Qu  10 rare] fair Dd Hn; thy] the 93; common] wonted Ra   11 such a] so sweet Ra   12 play . . . parte] say vnto her spright Dd   13 sprighte] spirite As Hm Qu Ra St 93  14 her] thes Ra; nighte] lighte Cl Le   Subscription: SYD.] om. As Bo Cl Da Dd Hm Hn Le Ph Qu St 93, S. P. S. Ra Ringler amended his copy-text (93) in the opening line to follow the majority reading “treasures” in place of the singular noun recorded in Hy, Hm, Qu, and Ra. In the later folio editions printed in 1598 and 1513, the reading was left standing, though an evident error in 93 was corrected in line 10: “the” to “thy” in agreement with all other texts. The plural antecedent “liddes” might have suggested this reading to copyists, but “treasure” in the singular equally conveys the collective sense of the word (i.e., “riches”, “wealth,” or “jewels”) and was probably the intended reading. Hy has two unique variants, which are probably errors: a plural for a singular noun (l. 8) and a variant reading of ll. 5–6 (“the sight, / Wher cunninge . . . finest” for “her sight / her sight wher . . . fairest”), which misses the repetition of “her sight” at the end of line 5 and beginning of the following line (anadiplosis), a favorite rhetorical device of Sidney’s. In line 13, Hy has “sprighte” (in agreement with Bo, Cl, Da, Dd, Hn, Le, Ph, and Va) where As, Hm, Qu, Ra, St, and 93 read “spirite.” The meter demands the reading “sprighte”; the Hn scribe was conscious of this and originally wrote “spirite” but drew a line through the word and replaced it with “sprighte.” But the reading is not very useful in determining textual relationships since the evidence elsewhere suggests that scribes often did not distinguish between these two spelling variants and may have written a preferred form regardless of the reading in the copy-text (see the collation analysis for 41).

54

This is Philip Sidney’s CS 19, placed in Hy as the fourth of five consecutive entries (all except the second) ascribed to Sidney. Sidney experimented with variations in the correlative verse form and was particularly fond of the disseminative-recapitulative type seen here and in the following entry, where a succession

214

Commentary

of elements are set out and then recapitulated in the last line. 112 Contemporary manuscript copies are found in three Old Arcadia texts with the Certain Sonnets appended: Bo, fol. 239r, Cl, fol. 221r–v, and St, fol. 241r; and four poetical miscellanies: Ot, fol. 2v, Ra, fol. 11v, Ma, fol. 19v, and V&A, Dyce MS 44 (Dy), fol. 90v. It was first printed in 1598 in The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (98), sig. 2R6v. 3

rebell Sence Cf. Musidorus’ advice to Pyrocles in the first book of the Old Arcadia: . . . if we will be men, the reasonable part of our soul is to have absolute commandment, against which if any sensual weakness arise, we are to yield all our sound forces to the overthrowing of so unnatural a rebellion. (Robertson 1973, 19)

Collations: Bo, Cl, Dy, Ma, Ot, Ra, St, and 98. 2 an] good Bo Cl Ma Ot St 98   3 rebell] Rebells Cl   4 foyld] filde Bo St   5 thought] thoughtes*   7 you] she Dy; yowr] her Dy   8 would] did Bo Cl Ma Ot St 98; your] her Dy   9 soone] once*   10 Or] As Cl; some . . . might] I might some Love Cl Ma St   12 your] her Dy   14 my] by Bo Cl Ma Ot St 98; sences] sence is Dy, forces Ot   15 Yow] She Dy   16 I lovinge] In loving Cl, showing Ra   17 payne] time St   18 sub. thinke me an (   ) and so I doe remaine Dy; Though] Thought Bo Cl Ma Ot St 98   Subscription: SYD.] om.* Three of the copies found in manuscript verse collections are related. Ringler (1962, 147–48) noted the shared Hy-Ra readings at lines 2, 8, 14, and 18 but did not collate Dy, which shares some of these readings. Hy, Dy, and Ra agree in error with “an” for “good” (l. 2) and “my” for “by” (l. 14); the same three texts share the variant reading “would” for “did” (l. 8). Hy and Ra share another certain error, “Though” for “thought” (l. 18), the reading demanded by the form where the elements are set out in the poem and serially recapitulated in the last line. Dy’s copy-text may also have contained the same error, but at this point the scribe substituted a different line; Dy also changed all the second person pronouns to the third person feminine (ll. 7, 8, 12, and 15). The texts on the whole reveal few additional signs of corruption: Hy’s two unique variants, a singular for a plural noun (l. 5) and “soone” for “once” (l. 9) are probably scribal errors. Ra’s “showing” for “I lovinge” (l. 16) is another evident   For other examples from Sidney’s work, see OA 21, 43, and 46; CS 3 and 18; AS 43, 100; OP 5; PP 2. Sidney’s contemporaries also experimented with the device: Spenser in Amoretti 56 and Faerie Queene 2.4.35; Greville in Caelica 1, 8, 14, 21, and 54; and Breton in 124 and “Those eies that hold the hand of euery heart” (Brittons Bowre, 1591, sigs. C1v–2r). 112

215

Poems 54–55

faulty reading. Bo and St made the same error, “foyld” as “filde” (l. 4), and St introduced one more error (l. 17); Cl has three errors (ll. 3, 10, and 16); Dy’s “sence is” (l. 14) and Ot’s “forces” are both scribal misreadings of “sences.” These textual relationships and the relative corruption of the surviving texts can be seen more clearly in the stemma below. O

Errors

Ma

98

Bo

Ot

X (2 an; 14 my; 8 would)

St Cl

Y (18 Though) Ra 5

Hy Dy

55

This is Philip Sidney’s CS 3, placed in Hy as the last of five consecutive entries (all except the second) ascribed to Sidney. It was printed among the Certain Sonnets in the first collected edition of his work, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1598, (98), sig. 2R2r–v. Additional copies are found in three Old Arcadia manuscript texts with the Certain Sonnets appended: Bo, fol. 243v, Cl, fol. 216v, and St, fol. 241v. Sidney also incorporated the poem into the third book of the New Arcadia (with the variant opening, “The Fire to see my woes”) where it is performed for Philoclea as “an excellent consort . . . of fiue Violles, and as manie voyces” (The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590 [90], sig. 2R3r). The single surviving manuscript copy of the New Arcadia (Cm) contains an incipit only (fol. 188r) with the variant opening occurring in 90. Another substantive copy appears in the composite version of the prose romance printed in 1593, a reprint of the incomplete New Arcadia of 1590 plus books three to five of the Old Arcadia (Ringler 1962,

216

Commentary

534), i.e., The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [93], sigs. 2B2v–3r. 113 Sidney wrote the words to an already existing tune, i.e., contrafactum (see 44 and 128 for further examples of this practice). This information is preserved as a heading in all copies of CS 3 found among the Certain Sonnets in the printed and manuscript Arcadia volumes: “To the tune of non credo gia che piu infelice amante.” 114 CS 3 circulated widely among Sidney’s contemporaries and survives in three more poetic miscellanies: Ra, fol. 9v, Dd, fol. 27r, and Hn, fol. 34r. Another substantive text appeared in 1597, headed “A Louers complaint,” in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises, 1597 (A), sigs. B3v–4r. Nicholas Breton’s connection with The Arbor might be an indication that he provided some of its texts of courtier poets’ work (see Gazzard 2015). Breton’s close imitation of CS 3 (see 124), printed in Brittons Bowre (1591), confirms that he had access to Sidney’s work in manuscript long before the printing of the Arbor. Abraham Fraunce quoted the poem (alongside 115) among examples of “conceipted kindes of verses” in The Arcadian Rhetorike, 1588 (Fr), sig. E1r. Sidney experimented with variations of the correlative verse form and was particularly fond of the disseminative-recapitulative type seen here (see the commentary to 54). 1–4

Robertston (1973, 431) cites a suggestion that OA 9 (ll. 38–43) offer a critique of CS 3: Then each conceit that enters in by sight Is made forsooth a jurat of his woes: Earth, sea, air, fire, heav’n hell, and ghastly sprite Then cries to senseless things which neither knows What aileth thee, and if they knew thy mind Would scorn in man (their king) such feeble shows. (Ibid. 73; from St)

5 5–7

blazed (1) proclaimed (2) defamed, held up to infamy (OED blaze, v.2 2a, d) Fame . . . Tyme . . . Place This idea is borrowed in an elegy for Sidney, possibly by Dyer, printed in The Phoenix Nest: “Place pensiue wailes his fall, whose presence was hir pride, / Time crieth out, my ebbe is come: his life was my sping tide, / Fame mournes . . . ” (1593, sigs. C1v– C2r).

113   The poem was reprinted in the folio editions of 1598 and 1613 but, as Ringler points out, “the editor . . . [of the 1613 edition], noticing that it appeared twice, removed it from the Certain Sonnets” (1962, 426). Any print variants are discussed in the collation commentary; the later folios all derive from the 1613 edition and have “no independent textual authority” (ibid. 538). 114   The music was discovered in a manuscript at Winchester College; see Fabry 1970.

Poem 55

8 16 18

217 Dyer alludes to this line: “But say as onc a shepperd sayd, / Their mone nightes have no morrows” (May 1991, 311). Earthe . . . earthe Cf. “Terram terra tegat” (translated as “O earth take thou thy clod agayne” in Ot, fol. 3v, where it appears among poems by Sidney). Draw . . . hower bring on my fatal hour; hasten my death

Collations: Ringler (1962, 136–37) records variants occurring in two or more substantive texts in A, Bo, Cl, Cm, Dd, Fr, Hn, Ra, St, 90, 93, and 98. My collation shows all substantive variants. Title: om.] A Louers complaint A, To the tune of non credo gia che piu infelice amante Bo Cl St 98   1 wronges] wrong Dd, woes Cm Hn 90; for anger burnethe] om. Cm, for anger burnes Dd   2–24 om. Cm   2 Rayne] teares Ra; my] mine A Ra; affliction] affection A; weepethe] weepes Dd   3 to . . . grief] for woe to ebb Hn; turneth] turnes Dd   4 with] for Ra; dull] dullde Hn; the] his Cl St 90 93; Keepethe] kepes Dd, turneth 90   6 runnes] flyes Ra; for] with Fr   7 Place] Prayse Cl   8 nightes] night Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn 90 98 St; Evill] euills Bo Cl Dd 93 98 St, ill Fr, ils 90, woes Hn; which have] which hath Cl Dd St 90 93 98, that hath Fr Hn Ra   9 only] alonely Bo Dd Hn Cl Fr Ra St 90 93, a louely 98; Takethe] takes Dd   10 know] see A Hn Ra; mysery] miseries A Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn St 90 93 98   11 her] for Bo; makethe] makes Dd   12 sub. yet of mye flames she ys the onely fuell Hn; give] giues A; their] the Cl Fr   13 quicke] quite Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn 90 93 98 Ra St; leve me] leaue Ra   14 no . . . Breathe] my breath no more A Ra, thy breath no more 90 93, no more thy breath Bo Dd Fr 98 St, noe more this brethe Hn   15 om. Dd; drownde . . . thee] drowne me in thee A Ra, drownd in me Bo, drownde in thee Cl Fr Hn 90 93 98 St   16 wherin] in which Dd; these] my Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn 90 93 98 St   18 Draw my dismall] hast my dying Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn 90 93 98 Ra St   20 ayre] om. Hn; fame] om. Dd; your] you your Dd   21 their] your Cl Ra; Helpes] help Cl 90 98 St   22 Hers I am] hers am I A Bo Cl Dd Fr 90 93 98 St, I am hers Hn   23 O] fie Bo Cl Dd Fr Hn 90 93 98 St   24 be] am Dd; she . . . me] she settes by me Cl St 90; of me she makes Fr; Tresure] theasure Dd   Subscription: Sir. P. Sy.] quod Ph. S. Hn, S.P.S. Ra, om. A Bo Cl Cm Dd Fr St 90 93 98 Ringler (1962, 136–37) noted four shared Hy-A-Ra readings: “my” (l. 14), “me in thee” (l. 15), “these” (l. 16), and “O” (l. 23) but missed the “es” abbreviation in Hy “nightes” (l. 8), another variant which links these three texts. Two of these readings are certain errors: Hy’s “drownde me in thee” (l. 15) is closer to what must be the intended reading “drownde in thee,” which keeps the meter regular and makes more sense; A and Ra changed the tense to “drown” but share with Hy the erroneous addition “me,” which creates a metrical anomaly in the line. In line 8, Hy-A-Ra’s reading “nightes . . . no morrow,” against all the other texts, which have “night . . . no morrow,” is another evident error. Hy and A are further linked

218

Commentary

through error with the reading “only” (l. 9), which creates a metrically defective line. All the other texts read “alonely” or “all only,” the emphatic variant of “only,” except 98 which misprints it as “a louely”. Three more shared Hy-A readings link these two texts to a common ancestor: “Evill” (l. 8) where five other texts have the plural form (for the meter the word has to be unnaturally compressed and this may have led Fr and 90 to adjust the reading to a single syllable word, “ill (ils),” Hn to “woes,” and Ra to “greife”), “quicke” for “quite” (l. 13), and “Draw my dismall” for “haste my dying” (l. 18). The last reading cannot be explained as an error introduced in scribal transmission and could well represent a genuine authorial variant. A introduces two more faulty readings: “affection” for “affliction” (l. 2) and “giues” for “giue” (l. 12), and a variant also in Hn and Ra: “see” for “know” (l. 10). Hy and Ra also agree against the other texts on a singular for a plural noun (“mysery” l. 10) and both transpose “hers am I” to “Hers I am” (l. 22), but this could be a case of independent scribal variation. Ra introduces a few more probable errors: “teares” (l. 2), “flyes” (l. 6) and om. “me” (l. 13). The other texts derive independently from the authorial holograph.

56

This unique text illustrates the rhetorical figure of climax or gradatio. Puttenham calls this device the “marching figure”: “for after the first steppe all the rest proceede by double the space” (The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. 2A1r). title

Omnia Tempus abbreviation of omnia tempus habent: the proverbial “Everything has its time” (Tilley T314); the printer Henry Bynneman (d. 1583) adopted omnia tempus habent for his “mermaid” device.

57

Another unattributed copy of this anonymous poem was transcribed in an Elizabethan hand on the leaf of a fourteenth-century miscellany of historical chronicles, BL, Harl. MS 5115 (H5), fol. 150r. Only a few entries in Hy are assigned headings (see Introd., lix), and this one is reminiscent of those found in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises: “Beyng in loue, he complaineth” and, for a female speaker, “Requiryng the fauour of his loue: She aunswereth thus” (1576, sigs. L2r, I2r). The description of the female speaker as “an vnworthe beloved” does not quite fit the poem, whose female speaker makes a series of vows of her unswerving faith and constancy. 1 2 9–10

Fatall Day day decreed by fate i.e., day of death (OED adj. 1) lively life-giving (OED adj. 2a) proverbial, “to find (seek) fire in frost” (Dent 1984, F283.1); wonted accustomed, usual (OED adj. 3); kinde nature (OED n. 2)

219

Poems 55–58

18

blotte . . . browe sign of infamy; alluding to the mark of Cain (OED mark n.1 12d) 26 Lazars leper’s (OED lazar, n. 1) 28 clapper .  .  . Dishe wooden dish with a lid, carried by lepers, to give warning of their approach, and to receive alms (OED clap-dish, n. a); Cf. “For if I be vntrue, her Lazares death I wishe, / And eke to thee if I be false, her clapper and her dishe” (The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576, sig. L2v). Collations: H5. Title: an . . . approved] om.   2 The] this   3 owne approved] most assuryde  7 sub. I haue my hart to the behight    inserted after l. 8: I am thy owne so sure / whom dread shall neuer dashe / as euer was eyvye to the oke / or woodbyne to the ashe   11 Before] ere that  12 “cause” corr. to make] make   inserted after l. 12: Unhard then mought I craue / in tormentes mought I fyre / if I forsake as thou to haue / the prowfe of my desyre  17 sub. Then right I iustly beare    19 any have] haue   inserted after l. 20: least men do mee report / in plac whare as I passe    21–28 om. H5’s version of the poem reorders the first twenty lines as follows: ll. 1–8, 13–16, 9–12, 17–20). In addition, H5 lacks the last eight lines and adds ten new lines. The ending in H5 is rather abrupt and the final hexameter is metrically a misfit with the rest of the poem, which is poulter’s measure (i.e., it should end with a heptameter). A few H5 variants are archaic words that appear to have been updated in Hy (“behight” for “bequethde” l. 7 and “ere that” for “Before” l. 11).

58

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this entry (for this habitual practice, see Introd., lxii–lxv) but later changed the second initial to a letter resembling “W,” probably to disguise the original ascription rather than a genuine attempt to attribute authorship (for other instances, see 37 fn. 67). The lines comprise the last three stanzas (ll. 17–28) of an anonymous poem: “Thoughe I seeme strange sweete frynd, be thow not soe”; Stevenson and Davidson (2001, 79–80) print the full text from Ra, fol. 17r. Copies of the complete poem are also also found in Fo, pp. 8–9; Ha, fol. 145r; Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 5v; BL, Stowe MS 962 (Sto), fol. 207r; Folger, MS V.a.399 (V39), fol. 16r; and Huntington Library, MS HM 31191 (Hu3), fol. 22r. 115 Another truncated copy, beginning like Hy at line seventeen but containing four more lines (inserted as follows: ll. 17–24, 5–8, 25–28), is found in Folger, MS V.a.339 (V33). These shortened 115   Hu3 has the variant first line: “Though strange I seem, sweet friend, do thou not so” (my italics).

220

Commentary

versions of the poem may have derived from sources where the text had been curtailed for a musical setting. Hy is marked as a “Ball[et]” (see Introd., lxv–lxvii); and a musical setting, identified only by the incipit “Though straunge I seeme” (my italics; Hu3 shares this variant first line), survives in the “Brogyntyn Lute Book,” NLW, MS Brogyntyn 27, p. 135. One of the early copies of the complete poem, Fo, is ascribed to “Vavaser,” which must refer to Anne Vavasour, who came to court in 1580 to serve as one of the queen’s maids of honor; she subsequently attained notoriety after her affair with the (married) Earl of Oxford and the birth of their illegitimate son. 116 Another Elizabethan copy, Ha, attributes the poem to “Lady B.” (“quod Lady B. to N.”), and Stevenson and Davidson argue that this may still refer to Vavasour since “Anne Vavasour is referred to by at least one contemporary as ‘Baviser’” (2001, 541). Vavasour was associated with other poems in manuscript culture. Coningsby was not the only copyist to attach her name to a poem by the Earl of Oxford (see 109), and two copyists independently suggested that a different poem, beginning “Many desier but fewe or none deserue,” was addressed to her. 117 Fo’s naming of Vavasour and Ha’s possible corroboration might not therefore designate authorship but rather illustrate a practice prevalent in scribal culture where copyists made associations between real-life individuals at court and the scenarios played out in poetic texts (see Introd., xviii–xix). The complexity of variants in the surviving copies along with the evidence of cross-contamination suggest a long time in circulation for this lyric, and the archaisms in some texts, which have been modernized in others, place the poem in a much earlier period, probably ca. 1560s. The currency of the poem in the 1570s is evidenced from George Whetstone’s thoroughgoing plagarism of it in a poem printed under the heading “The Deuice of a Gentlewoman, to persuade her louer of her constancie, notwithstanding her show of hate, which shee onely vsed to quench the ielous suspicion of her friendes,” in his Rocke of Regard, 1576. 118 Compare Whetstone’s poem with the following lines from “Thoughe I seeme strange” (analogous lines are taken from the complete version in Fo): l. 3 (Rocke, “The Deuice of a Gentlewoman . . . ,” sig. E4v) Sith sullen thoughtes doth so our friends accoy [“doe not accoye thy selfe with sullen will” (Fo, l. 2)]   May notes that “the affair was public knowledge by late March, 1581” (1980, 79); see also Chambers 1936, 151–58. 117   The poem, attributed to Ralegh in Le Prince d’Amour, 1660 (sig. K3r), is subscribed “written to Mrs A V.” in Ra, fol. 116r and headed “To A. Vauas” in BL, Add. MS 22601, fol. 71r. 118   Rollins notes another incidence of plagiarism by Whetstone in his Rocke: “The complaint of a gentlewoman, being with child, falsely forsaken,” which borrows lines from, “The complaint of a woman Louer,” a ballad that “had appeared in print before 1566.” It survives in the 1584 edition of the Handful of Pleasant Delights (1924b, 110–11). 116

221

Poem 58

ll. 7–8 (Rocke, “The Deuice . . . ,” sig. E5r) Our lookes must hate, although at heart do loue [“nor by my lookes let not my love appeare” (Fo l. 16)] Yea farre from wish, our woordes must menace mone. l. 9 (Rocke, “The Deuice . . . ,” sig. E5r) And yet this shew, of force must needes seeme straunge, [“farre from the shew that outwardlye we make” (Fo, l. 20)] ll. 13–16 (Rocke, “The Deuice . . . ,” sig. E5r) These simple shiftes, wee silly wenches worke, To quenche or coole, our ielous friends suspect. [“We sillye dames that false suspect doe feare” (Fo, l. 17)] Whose Lynxes eyes, in euery corner lurcke, To trie, and spoy [sic], what worketh our defect. [“Thou seest we live amongste the lynxes eyes / that pryes and spyes each pryvye thought of mynde” (Fo, ll. 5–6)] l. 17 (Rocke, “The Deuice . . .,” sig. E5r) Thus farewell friend, I wilbe short with thee, [“Thus farewell frynde I will contynewe strange” (Fo, l. 25)]

To sum up, I suggest that “Thoughe I seeme strange” was written in the 1560s; it might have been printed as a ballad, perhaps in the lost 1566 edition of the Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584), for which publication there is evidence that Whetstone made use of in the verse that punctuated his romance stories in the Rocke. 119 The subject matter, the secret romance of a much courted gentlewoman, meant that the poem gained cultural currency among manuscript verse copyists during the early 1580s in the light of the Oxford/Vavasour affair. 1

silly helpless, defenceless, weak (OED adj. 2b); with a hint of the proverbial “a woman is the weaker vessel” (Tilley W655); false Suspect suspicion of wrong doing; cf. Francis Kinwelmersh’s lines in Jocasta 1.4: “For vulgar tongues are armed euermore / With slaunderous brute to bleamishe the renoume / Of vertues dames . . . You cannot be too curious of your name” (A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, 1573, sig. M2v); proverbial (Tilley W662, M1033). Envies lake Cf. “I must return, / .  .  . To place where sily soules doo mourne, / In lothsom lake of Enuy fell” (Anthony Munday, The Mirrour of Mutabilitie, 1579, sig. B4r). Cf. Giletta’s letter to Frizaldo: “so that of force, I am forst, to carrie a shew of hatred, where in heart I loue” (The Rocke of Regard, 1576, sig.

2 4–8

  For the earlier edition of the Handful, see Rollins (1924b, x-xv).

119

222

Commentary

C7v); the lines are echoed again a few pages later in an inset poem, (“The louer compareth [. . .],” sig. F2r): If secrete yea, this Item would but giue, I loue in hart, where most in shewe I hate, To free suspect, thus straungely do I liue, To plight my fayth, where scorne doth faine debate.

5 6 7

9 10

vaunt boast or brag about (OED v. 1a) move debate provoke a quarrel (OED debate n.1) On one; Glove i.e., as a token of a pledge; cf. Giletta’s letter to Frizaldo: “But of this assure thy selfe, althoughe Frizaldo (whose familiaritie woorketh thy feare) weareth both my gloue and Garter, yet Rinaldo hath, and shall haue my heart” (The Rocke, sig. C7v). straunge distant, cold (OED adj. 11b) ought anything, even the least thing (OED aught, pron. 1)

Collations: Fo, Ha, Hu3, Ra, R72, Sto, V39, and V33. Title: om.] Woemans affection R72, A Lady to her Louer Sto  1 Dames] wightes Hu3, dame Sto; that] whome R72 V31, who Sto; false] much Sto; do] doth R72 V39  2 dwell] lye Ha, liue Fo Hu3 Ra R72 Sto V33; mouthe] moughte Ra V39, bankes R72, bands V33; Envies] euery Ha, enuious R72, V39; lake] lakes R72, lawes Sto    3 brestes] hartes Fo Ha Hu3 Ra R72 Sto V39, hart V33; a] & R72; meaninge] meaninges R72  4 show] reste Ra, showes Sto; that] which Ra, we V39; “we ar driven to make” corr. to we ar forst to make] outwardly we make Fo Ha Ra V33, outwardly appeare Sto, we arr dreven to make Hu3, we by force Doe make R72, outwardely doe make V39  5 So . . . like] And wheare I like Ha, Where I like best Sto, Thus where I like V39, For where I loue V33; I list not] I lust not Ha, there least I Sto; my] of V33  6 Wher I Desire] where I liue best R72, where best I loue Sto, & where I loue V39; I . . . move] there must I fayne Fo Ha, there moste I fayne Ra, I alwayse finde R72, there finde I most Sto, I allwaies use V39, I alwayes faine V33, I alwayes move Hu3  7 On hath] Some haue Sto; an other hath] others haue Sto, another weares Hu3 V33  8 But] & V39; he] she Hu3; whom . . . seeme] hath whome I seeme Sto, whome I seeme moste Ra  9 Thus farewell] wherefore deere V33; will] must R72 Sto  10 Thou] They Ha; shalt] mayst Sto; iudge] fynd Ha Hu3, heere Fo Ra R72 Sto, knowe V39 V33; word] wordes V39; ought] ofte R72 V39  11 Let . . . vow] Let it suffice my vowe Ra Fo R72 Hu3, Let this sufice my mine Sto, as for my loue my fayth V33   12 And] as Fo Ha Ra Sto V39; it] them V39  inserted after l. 12 Hu3 my vowe is fast & I will kepe the same till death shall trie the honor of my name

223

Poems 58–59

Subscription: Ball] quod Lady B. to N. Ha, Vavaser Fo, om. Hu3 Ra R72 Sto V39 V33 Hy has three unique variants: one of these substitutes a word of similar meaning: “brestes” for “hartes” (l. 3). The other two readings are arguably inferior: “seeme to” (l. 6) for the more emphatic “there must/most I” in the earliest copies (Ra Fo and Ha); and at line 10, “iudge, by word or writing” (l. 10) is perhaps an error since the majority reading “hear by word or writing” (my italics) makes more sense in the context. Hy is not related through error to any of the other texts, but it shares some readings with Hu3, V39, and R72 against all the other texts. Hy pairs once with V39 (“dwell” for “liue”/“lye” l. 2) and pairs twice with Hu3 with “ar driven” (l. 4). Six texts agree on “outwardly” (in the same line R72 has “by force,” which is similar to Hy’s marginal correction “ar forst”), and “move debate” (l. 6) where Ha, Ra, Fo and V33 agree on “fayne debate,” R72 and Sto “finde debate,” and V39 “use debate.” The only texts for which a common ancestor can be established are R72 and V39, which share three errors (“ofte,” l. 10, which creates a faulty end-rhyme; “doth,” l. 1, which fails to agree with the subject “We”; and “enuious,” l. 2, where the possessive form is needed). The remaining texts also link up on a number of other readings with no clear pattern of any relationship. Hu3 makes two changes that alter the gender of the speaker: “Dames” to “wightes” in l. 1 and “he” to “she’ in l. 8.

59

There are no other copies of this anonymous, bawdy text. 1

2 3

Coulte figuratively, one of a lusty disposition; Williams (1994, 1:275) comments that “a colt is properly male, but the distinction is not strictly observed” and cites a line from the Cambridge libel alluding to the adulteress Mistress Holland (see 93.73); pipe (also piping l.4) is phallic wood “a place where the sexual hunt may take place” (Williams 1994, 3:1547); raunge alluding to sexual promiscuity (range, v.1 4) in pounde (1) place for keeping stray animals; (2) for the sexual connotations of “pounded,’’cf. Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s The Changeling 3.2.7–10 (1653, sig. D4r): Isa[bella] Is it your Masters pleasure, or your own, To keep me in this Pinfold? [pound and pinfold are interchangeable] Lol[lio] ’Tis for my masters pleasure, lest being taken in another mans Corn, you might be pounded in another place.

224

Commentary

5 squeaketh for the sexual meaning of “put to the squeak,” cf. Marston’s The Malcontent (1604): “even one of the most busy-fingered lords. He will put the beauties to the squeak” (cited in Williams 1994, 3:1296– 97); pelting violent, passionate (OED adj.2 1); possibly also wordplay on “pelt” meaning pubic hair (Williams 1994, 1:567). 6 Cage (1) place of confinement; (2) brothel; (3) slang for vagina (Williams 1994, 1:191)

60

These six lines appear in a long narrative poem entitled “A straunge Dreame” in Nicholas Breton’s A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577 (F), sig. M2r. 120 In Breton’s poem the narrator finds himself in a “desart place” where a “gallaunt Lady, all in white . . . Holding a Citterne” begins to sing a “sweete” song: “There is no ioye, vnto content of minde.” The song’s six lines in fourteeners, all that the narrator can remember (“Lo, this was all I bare in minde, the rest I haue forgot”), match the lines copied in 60. Two more manuscript copies of Breton’s song survive: Henry Wigley transcribed the first four lines, headed “Noe Ioye vnto contente of mynde” (signed “quoth Wigley”), on the fly-leaf of a copy of David Lindsay’s A Dialogue Betweene Experience and a Courtier, 1575, in Folger, prt. bk. 15677 (Wy); and Christopher Coniers copied all six lines, headed “There is no ioy vnto content of mind,” in BL, Sloane MS 144 (S), fol. 16r. This latter text can be dated quite precisely from the inscription on the previous page (15v): “1585 Chr: Coniers Becham Reader.” A similar verse is attributed to Breton (“Brittaine”) in a manuscript notebook dated to the 1590s, BL, Sloane MS 2497, fol. 36v: No foe to fortune, No frind to faith No welthe to witt this Brittaine Saith, Pouertie wepethe Charitie Slepeth, couitus taketh, Enuie wakethe.

The poem is almost entirely made up of proverbial wisdom. Breton frequently incorporated proverbs into his work recommending others to “Learne English Prouerbs, haue them wel by heart” (No Whipping, 1601) and published his own idiosyncratic collection, The Crossing of Prouerbs, in 1616. 1

plage affliction, evil (OED plague, n. 2); no . . . want proverbial (Tilley W594); luckles love a commonplace, alliterative phrase: cf. Dyer’s “that luckles love” (10.10). Breton was particularly fond of this tag: “Of Art of

120   The poem appears in “The Toyes of an Idle Head”: a subsection with its own title-page of A Floorish. Another edition was issued in 1582 where the lines appear on sig. K1r with no substantive variants; a later edition survives only as a fragment (Robertson 1952, xxxviii).

225

Poems 59–61

2 3

4 5

luckles loue” and “The lodge of luckles loue” (A Floorish, sigs. B1r, B4r); “Yea luckeles loue hath onely bred my bale” (The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. F4r). fo to fortune the proverbial “fortune is fickle” (Tilley F606); truth . . . prove proverbial, “try (try your friend) before you trust” (Tilley T595) No Serpent proverbial, “the tongue stings (is more venomous than a serpent’s sting)” (Tilley T407); corsey grievance (OED n. 2). Cf. Breton’s “Care is both a Corsie & a comfort, all is in the vse of it” (The Wil of Wit, 1597, sig. C4v). No .  .  . liberty proverbial, “liberty is more worth than gold” (Tilley L223); cf. Breton’s “No misery to imprisonment” (Crossing of Prouerbs, The Second Part, 1616, sig. B1r). phantasy inclination, liking, desire (OED n. 7); cf. Breton’s “The feeble state of fickle fancies stay” (The Soules Immortall Crowne, 1605, sig. B3v); turnes .  .  . winde proverbial, “as wavering (changeable, fickle, inconstant) as the wind” (Tilley W412).

Collations: F, S, and Wy. Title: om.] There is no ioye, vnto content of minde F S, Noe Ioye vnto contente of mynde Wy    1 grief] Losse Wy   2 fo] frend Wy; frend] or frende S, foe Wy   3 a] om. F, vnto Wy   4 griefs] greif Wy   5–6 om. Wy   Subscription: om.] quoth Wigley Wy There is only one substantive variant between Hy and F. In line 3, F’s omission of “a” is an error that Hy does not reproduce and is a tentative indication that Hy did not derive from the printed volume. S also has the correct reading in line 3, reinforcing the idea of a distinct manuscript tradition for the text; S also adds one error (“or” l. 2). Wy omits the last two lines and introduces five variants, three of which are certain errors; in this case the ascription, “quoth Wigley,” suggests that the scribe altered the text to claim it as his own.

61

There are no other copies of this anonymous poem. The same unidentified author may be responsible for the following entry; see the commentary to 62. 2 8 10

griefes . . . grype For this popular alliterative pairing, see 4.2n. poisoned baytes Proverbial, “the bait [i.e., beauty] hides the hook” (Tilley B50); cf. Ralegh’s “A guilded hooke, that holdes a poisoned Bayte” (50.12). slayghtes deceits, wily dealings (OED sleight, n.1 1); proverbial, “women naturally deceive, weep, and spin” (Tilley W716); cf. “ye wily wightes”

226

Commentary

(73.41); and “They seke by sleyghtes, & worke by wiles to winne” (130.13) 17–18 These lines are reminiscent of Dyer’s “For on the earthe may none but I, / This accent sownd aryghte” (1.151–52). 18 set downe put on paper, put down in writing (OED set, v.1 21a); ground extent (OED n. 1a) 19 Cf. “A man in Ioy; that lyveth still in woe” (11.6); and “How should I want that I possesse?” (30.13). 23 proverbial, “a woman’s mind [a woman] is always mutable” (Tilley W674); fond foolish (OED adj. 2) 26 proverbial, “Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all” (Tilley F265) 27–28 ashes . . . flaminge proverbial, “Fire raked up in ashes keeps its heat a long time” (Tilley F264)

62

There are no other copies of this anonymous poem. The rhyme scheme is the same as the previous entry (cross-rhymed sixains with closing couplets) except for the first five lines, which have an irregular rhyme pattern (abcdd); the third line also appears to be a non sequitur, and this together with the defective form indicates a corruption in these lines. Some verbal echoes between the poems also suggest a common author: “O that the,” “O that she . . . / Or I might” (61.13, 29–30) is mirrored in “O that I,” “Or that I could,” “Or that I thought,” “Or that I had,” and “Or that my Hart” (62.1, 4, 6, 8, 9). 6 9 10 13 14 15 17

to traunce i.e., to be a trance (OED trance, v.1 2) proverbial, “It is hard (folly, in vain) to strive against the stream” (Tilley S927) proverbial, “a heart as hard as a stone (flint, marble)” (Tilley H311) Discharge unload (OED discharge, v. 1) Discharge probably a scribal slip: it repeats the word from l. 13 and creates a faulty end-rhyme (“place / . . . Discharge”); perhaps the intended reading is “Disgrace.” compased i.e., achievement of an end or object aimed at (OED compass, v.1 11b) Shewes illusory appearances (OED show, n.1 3b); kirnels . . . shels from the proverbial, “Sweet is the nut but bitter (hard) is the shell” (Tilley N360)

Head-note to 63–65 These three bawdy couplets were copied, and subsequenlty deleted, at the same time; they are designated a single entry in the compiler’s numbering system; this can be seen more clearly in the Overview Table in Appendix 1a. The Latin tag

227

Poems 61–63

“Futuris gaudeo presentia contemno” (“I despise the present in hope of future joy”) is boxed off in the right-hand corner of the page adjacent to the three couplets; the same motto is found at the head of two texts copied elsewhere in Hy (19 and 20).

63

This couplet, the first in a trio of anti-feminist entries (see above), was copied in an Elizabethan hand (with the variant opening: “Lyke as women haue facis”) in an anthology of Middle English verse and prose, BL, Add. MS 60577 (Win), fol. 45v (DIMEV 3086). 121 Another similarly dated copy is found in the miscellany belonging to Edward Gunter of Lincoln’s Inn, Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 108 (R10), fol. 1v. 122 Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, copied the couplet on a leaf chiefly devoted to bawdy riddles at the end of his verse anthology, Dd, fol. 63v (May 1988, xxxviii–xxxix). The enduring appeal of the lines is also seen from two copies transcribed in the seventeenth century: the first of these was written on a blank end-leaf in Thomas Overbury’s translation of The First and Second part of the Remedy of Loue, 1620, BL, prt. bk. C.39.a.37.(5.) (Ov), fol. 13r; and the second (transcribed ca. 1630s) placed amongst similarly bawdy pieces in Folger, MS V.a.345 (V34), p. 280. The same idea is presented as the punch-line of an epigram, beginning “Olim qui Veneris vultum depinxit Apelles,” by the neo-Latin poet Nicolas Bourbon, which was translated by Surrey as “Yf he that erst the fourme so livelye drewe.” It survives in a single copy in the miscellany belonging to John Harington the elder: BL, Add. MS 36529, fol. 56v. 123 The last two lines in Surrey’s version may have been the inspiration for 63: “There lackt yet that should cure their hoot desyer / Thow canst enflame and quenche the kyndled fyre.” Collations: Dd, Ov, R10, V34, and Win. 1 As] Lyke as Win; to . . . fyre] to set mens hartes on fire Dd Win, men to enflame R10   2 Even . . . have] so wemen haue Dd V34, So haue they R10 Win, So likewise they haue Ov; quenche] coole Ov; theyr desyre] ther hot desire Dd, the same R10, mens hote desyre Win Hy shares the same identical first line as Dd and Ov; but Dd, roughly contemporary with Hy, is closest to Win, the earliest copy, sharing two variant readings:   Wilson (1981) identifies the hand as that of William Way, transcribed after June

121

1559.

122   The couplet is written horizontally in the wide margins of this quarto volume; in the same hand on the opposite leaf is another couplet: “Two teares commethe owt off a womans eye / the one is disceate the other is flatterye” (fol. 5v). 123   For the original source, Marot’s Rondeau LIV, see Taylor 2006.

228

Commentary

“hartes” (l. 1) and “hot desire” (l. 2). R10 is a more succinct version of the lines. The variation between the copies probably results from its transmission through memorial transcription.

64

This unique couplet, the second in a trio of anti-feminist entries (see head-note to 63) contains a fishing metaphor for sexual entrapment, where the “fyshers fraude” and “Bayte” allude to deceitful female allurements. For this proverbial wisdom, see Tilley F306 and B50. Cf. Barnabe Googe’s poem “To Alexander Neuell,” beginning “The lytell fysh, that in the streme doth fleet”: Neuell to the, that louest their wanton lookes, feade on the bayte, bvt yet beware the Hookes. (Eglogs Epytaphes, and Sonnettes, 1563, sig. F3r)

And, Lyly’s Euphues (1578, sig. B2r): whereby it is euidently seene that the fleetest fishe swalloweth the delicatest bayte . . . and that the wittiest skonce is inuegled wyth the soddeyne viewe of alluringe vanities.

65

This unique couplet is the last in a trio of anti-feminist entries. See head-note to 63. 2

boxes vaginas (Williams 1994, 1:141); insatiable lether for a similar idea, cf. John Davies’ epigram “In Katum”: “Content thee, Kate, although thy pleasure wasteth, / Thy pleasures place like a buff jerkin lasteth” (Epigrammes and Elegies, 1599, sig. B1r).

66

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this unique text, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). 1–3

These lines repeat the same idea, i.e., three different metaphors of laboring in vain (the rhetorical figure of exergasia); George Puttenham notes that this figure affords “copious & pleasant amplifications and much varietie of sentences all running vpon one point” (The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. 2E2r).

229

Poems 63–67

1 2

till . . . soyle similar to the proverbial “To plow sand” (Tilley S89) grapes . . . thorn proverbial, “One cannot gather grapes of thorns” (Tilley G411) a scorn a matter for scorn, something contemptible (OED scorn, n. 3) to gap Perhaps the intended reading is “finds the gap,” from the proverbial “to leap over the hedge before you come at the stile” (Tilley H363). In troth truly, indeed (OED troth, n. P3); proverbial, “he has his labor for his pains” (Tilley L1) proverbial, “Ready to dance to (run at) every man’s pipe (whistle)” (Tilley M488) proverbial, “They have need of a blessing that kneel to a thistle” (Tilley N83) drosse scum (thrown off from metals in the process of melting; OED dross, n. 1a); “No Gold without dross” is proverbial (Tilley G289).

4 7 8 10 12 14

67

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to the entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv) but later bowdlerized the letters (for other instances, see 37 fn. 67). The poem was first printed in 1581 in Barnaby Rich’s collection of prose stories, Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (Ri). 124 In his address “To the noble Souldiours,” Rich describes the book as a “small volume of Histories, all treatyng . . . of loue” (sig. B1v). Poem 67 appears in the tale of “Nicander and Lucilla.” The “argument” at the head of the tale sets out the basic story line: “Lucilla, a yong maiden, endued with singuler beautie, for want of a conuenient dowrie, was restrained from mariyng her beloued Nicander” (sig. M1r). In the prose narrative, the poem is composed by Lucilla (signed “Euer thyne Lucilla”) in response to a previous verse, “The birde whiche long hath liued in pleasant feeld,” sent by her lover Nicander. Rich explains in his address “To the Readers in gererall” that “The Histories (altogether) are eight in number” and that the “third, the fourth, and the sixt: are Italian Histories, written . . . by maister L. B.” The tale of “Nicander and Lucilla” is the “third Historie” and thus falls in to the category of works by “maister L. B.,” identified by Cranfill as Lodowick Bryskett (1959, xxii-xxviii). 125 Cranfill suggests that Rich extensively modified Bryskett’s stories

  The volume must have been popular since three more editions were published in 1583, 1594, and 1606. 125  Bryskett accompanied Philip Sidney on his grand tour of 1572–74 (ODNB: Bryskett); Sir Thomas Coningsby was also a member of Sidney’s entourage during this European trip (see Introd., xxxiii). 124

230

Commentary

for his collection, “making them his own,” and was responsible for the poems in “Nicander and Lucilla” (xxvii, fn 3; see below 21–22n.). 126 1–4

echoes Wyatt’s “Lyke as the birde within the cage enclosed, / The dore unsparred, her foe the Hawke without, / Twixt death and prison piteously oppressed” (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. L3r); alway always 6 Heste bidding, command (OED hest, n. 1) 11 ^H^ i.e., H[umfrey]; for the use of amatory verse as “practical aids to courtship,” see Introd., lvii–lix. 12 a proverbially unfaithfull woman: cf. “Kites of Cressid’s kind” (Tilley K116) 15 true . . . steele proverbial (Tilley S840) 21–22 Cranfill describes this formula as “highly characteristic of Rich” (1959, 278); frame train, discipline (OED v. 5a) Collations: Ri. I collate the text from the facsimile edition of 1581, sig. M3r–v (reproduced in Cranfill 1959, 93–94). 10 dearest blank space] deare Nicander   11 Hath] Haue; “wo” corr. to H] wo   16 thy blank space] Lucilla   18 ever] neuer   19 she] wight   Subscription: H W] Euer thyne Lucilla. In Hy the names of the characters in the prose fiction (“Nicander” and “Lucilla”) are left blank and other slight adjustments to the text have been made to allow the insertion of two-syllable names: “dearest [blank space]” for “deare Nicander” l. 10; and “thy [blank space]” for “Lucilla” at l. 16. In line 11, Coningsby initially copied “Hath wrought to worke thy wo from thee,” concurring with the reading in the printed text, but subsequently deleted “wo” and replaced it with his own initial “H,” so that the line would read “Hath wrought to worke thy H from thee” (my italics). At line 19, “she” in place of “wight” in the printed text changes the gender of the speaker. In the prose context of the printed volume the verse is spoken by Lucilla, but this jars with the (female) speaker’s self-reference as a potential false “Cressid” in line 12. Another slight alteration in the copy-text is made at line 18, “Nor . . . ever,” where Coningsby avoids a double negative (for this habitual practice, see Introd., lxvii–lxviii). A corruption introduced into the Riche 1594 edition (om. “true as” l. 15) is not reproduced in Hy, and Cranfill (217) records two variants in the Riche 1606 edition that are also not present in Hy: 7 forst] force; 18 Nor] No. 126   “L. B.’s versions .  .  . underwent extensive modifications, and the hand of the modifier is not difficult to recognize as Rich’s. In the three stories as they stand in the Farewell there are turns of expression, even whole passages, so characteristic of Rich that they could have been written by no one else” (Cranfill 1959, xxvi).

231

Poems 67–69

68

The slightly antiquated diction of this unique text and its placement in the manuscript directly before a poem written before 1557 suggests an early date. 3 5 8 9 11

trifling toyes i.e., amorous sport (OED toy, n. 1); for this alliterative pairing, see 91.14 list desire, wish (OED v.1 2a); raunge i.e., to raunge (preposition omitted; Abbott 1884, no. 198) Cf. “I find reward above Desart” 30.5 lay allay, put a stop to (OED v.1 3a); misleeke lack of affection, dislike (OED mislike, n. 3) Scope desire, intent (OED n.2 2a)

69

This is an extract (ll. 17–20) from a longer poem of twenty-eight lines (“If right be rakt and over ronne”) by John Harington the elder. A copy of the complete poem in Harington’s hand and signed with his distinctive monogram is found in TCD, MS 160 (TC), fol. 179r. 127 Another copy in Harington’s own verse anthology (Hn, fol. 22r–v) immediately follows a unique text described by Hughey as a companion piece “written by Harington during one of his two imprisonments in the Tower, 1549 and 1554” (1960, 2:21). The full twenty-eight line poem was printed, headed “They of the meane estate are happiest,” in Richard Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes, 1557 (SS), sig. N3r–v. 128 Forty years later, it was reprinted with some textual changes, including the variant opening “If right were rackt and ouer-runne” (my italics) and newly headed “A Poeme both pithie and pleasant” in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises, 1597 (A), sig. B2r–v. 129 The poem’s evident suitability for excerption is seen in three more copies of extracted stanzas: Robert Commaundre copied the same four-line extract seen in Hy in his miscellany of prose and verse in BL, Egerton MS 2642 (E), fol.

127   Hughey places 69 among “Poems accepted as Harington’s” (1971, 85–86); the same monogram, comprising the interwoven initials “I. H.,” identified by Hughey as Harington’s monogram, appears again in TC at the head of another poem (96 in Hy) by Harington. Hughey suggests that Harington obtained access to TC (then in the hands of George Blage d. 1551) after he succeeded Blage as constable of Caernarvon Castle in 1551 (ibid., 257). 128   Hughey (1960, 2:21) notes that in SS the poem follows Harington’s elegy on “master Deuerox.” 129   Rollins (1936, xvi) comments that the copy printed in The Arbor was “lifted (and slightly changed) from Tottel’s Miscellany.”

232

Commentary

264v; 130 Queen Elizabeth copied lines nine to twelve on the fly-leaf of a copy of Coverdale’s The New Testament (1538?) presented to Anne Poyntz and subscribed “Your louinge f maistres Elizabeth” in BL, prt. bk. C.45.a.13, vii verso; and William Fitzwilliam transcribed the first eight lines, condensed into seven lines, in Bod., MS Ashmole 45, pt. 1, fol. 32r. 131 1–4

4

from the proverbial “No (mickel) cattle no (mickle) care”; “little wealth (goods) little care” (Tilley C194, W198); Cf. William Warner’s Albions England: “Well wot I, sooth they say, that say: more quiet nights and daies / The Shepheard sleepes and wakes then he whose Cattell he doth graize” (1586, sig. L3r). owde owned (OED owe, v. 1a)

Collations: ll. 17–20; A, E, Hn, SS, and TC. 1 Heardman] Shepheard A E   2 sub. That quiet nights he had more sleepe A, that quyet nyghts he had moe slept Hn SS TC, That hee more Quiet Sleepes had slept E   3 more] moe Hn SS TC; happy] merrie A Hn SS TC   4 that] whyche A Hn TC, who E; owde] awght*; the . . . kept] his Flock of sheepe A, the sheepe hee kept E None of the copies are related in error, but some grouping of the texts is possible. Hy and E are the only texts to contain the same extract from the poem, and both copies substitute “happy” for “merrie” (l. 3), the reading in all other witnesses. The oldest texts Hn, SS, and TC read “moe” for “More” (ll. 2, 3), a form which was replaced by the latter reading by the end of the seventeenth century (OED). A and E both contain the variant “Shepheard” for “Heardman” (l. 1) and substitute “sheep” for “Beastes” (l. 4), the reading in all other copies. Hy’s unique reading “owde” is a synonym for the more archaic “awght” (“ought”) and another indication that the text had been updated.

70

The poem was printed, under the title “A will or Testament,” in Humphrey Gifford’s Poesie of Gilloflowers, 1580 (PG), sigs. K4v–L1r. Gifford probably knew the Latin funereal verses, given below, that have a similar four-point “testamentary” structure upon which he expanded:

130   Earlier in the collection Commaundre copied another poem by John Harington the elder also found in Hy (see 96). 131   The note at the head of the Ashmole extract, “becon in the Iuell of Ioye,” refers to the previous prose entry, taken from Thomas Becon’s The Iewel of Ioye (1550, sig. P7v).

Poems 69–70

233

Terram terra tegat, Dæmon, peccata resumat: Mundus res habeat, Spiritus alta petat.

[“O earth take thou thy clod agayne / O hell take thou thy syn. / O worlde take thou thy goodes all vayne / O heaven receave me in.”] 132 1 2 4 16 17 20 22

The familiar iconography of Death: “But when I thought, longest to endure / Death with his dart, arrest me sodainely” (Stephen Hawes, Pastime of Plesure, 1554, sig. 2B4v) Dinte stroke, blow (OED n. 1a); Corpes body (OED corpse, n. 1) Testament a formal declaration detailing the disposal of personal property after death (formerly distinguished from a will relating to real (immovable) property) naughty morally bad (OED adj. 2) eke in addition (OED adv.) Carrion Corpes i.e., the fleshly nature of man (OED carrion, adj. 3) alway continually (OED always, adv. 3)

Collations: PG. Title: om.] A will or Testament   1 his sharp] dint of   2 With Dedly Dinte] By fatall doome   3 Lymmes] life   4 shall] thus   5 deare] faythfull; shall Executors] executors shall   9 The] Thy; wayes] shewes   10 “The” corr. to thy] Thy  12 Take .  .  . they] Doe take them, all doe  16 will] vile  17 thee . . . fall] thy lot befall   18 take] take them   21 Love] lore   22 alway] alwayes   30 “She” corr. to I] she Hy has three certain errors: “will” is probably a graphical error resulting from a misreading of “vile” (l. 16), “them” is omitted before “take” (l. 18) leaving the line metrically defective, and “Love” for “lore” (l. 21) produces a faulty end-rhyme. This last error may have derived from a misreading of secretary hand r as v. Line 17 also seems to be corrupt in Hy: “do to thee let them fall” where P has the more sensible reading “doe to thy lot befall.” Hy corrects “The” to “thy” (l. 10) concurring with PG; and perhaps “The” (l. 9) should also read “Thy” as in PG. In the final line, Hy corrected another reading in the transcription from “She” (concurring with PG) to “I”; this correction may have been prompted by the abrupt switch from the first-person address of the previous two lines, to the third person 132   The text and English translation are taken from Ot, fol. 3v, a manuscript associated with Philip Sidney. See also the medieval verse poem known as “The Testament of a Christian,” which begins “In four points my will is ere I hence depart” (DIMEV 2503 lists four copies, three of which are prefaced by the Latin verse); the copy in BL, Lansdowne MS 762, fol. 3r is reproduced in Davies 1963, 287–88. For the tradition of the literary testament, see Boffey 1992.

234

Commentary

reference to the speaker’s female gendered “Sowle” (l. 25). This change is typical of the compiler’s correction of perceived grammatical anomalies seen elsewhere in the manuscript (this is discussed in the Introd., lxvii–lxix). PG contains one obvious error: “lingering life shall from my life depart” (l. 3) where Hy provides what must be the intended reading “lingringe lyfe, shall from my lymmes departe” (my italics). Further textual variants (ll. 1, 2, 5 and 12) indicate that Hy was not derived from PG but from a transcribed source that represents separate, scribal circulation.

71

Coningsby originally attached his own initials to this entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv) but later bowdlerized the letters (for other instances, see 37 fn. 67); in another afterthought “R P.” was added alongside the expurgated attribution. Elsewhere in Hy these initials may denote Robert Pooly, a poet whose work appeared in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (see the commentary to 4). The stylistic features, however, that are noticed in Pooly’s verse are not reproduced here. Another suggestion of authorship comes from the inclusion of the poem in the Shakespearean collection The Passionate Pilgrime, 1599 (PP), sigs. D1r– 3r. In this volume it appears with the variant opening “When as thine eye” (my italics) among “Sonnets To sundry notes of Musicke,” a section (nos. [15]-[20] of twenty unnumbered items in total in the volume; 71 is no. [18]) introduced by a second title-page. 133 Despite the title-page attribution to “W. Shakespeare,” four of the poems can be attributed to other poets: Richard Barnfield, nos. [8], [20] in similar versions to those printed in his Poems in Divers Humours, 1598; Bartholomew Griffin, no. [11] in a markedly different version from that printed in his Fidessa, 1596 (Burrow 2002, 352); and Christopher Marlowe and Ralegh, no. [19], a shortened version of Marlowe’s “Come live with me” conflated with a stanza from an answer poem attributed to Ralegh, both circulating widely in manuscript. Only five of the twenty poems in the volume are conclusively Shakespeare’s: nos. [1–3], [5], and [16] (variant versions of Sonnets 138 and 144 and three poems from Love’s Labour’s Lost). 134 Shakespeare’s authorship of any of the 133   A single copy of the first edition, probably printed in the same year, survives as a fragment of eleven leaves (Folger, STC 22341.8); 71 appears in full, on sigs. C5r–C7r, with a differing layout but no substantive variants (see Duncan-Jones and Woudhuysen 2007, 496). 71 also appeared in the augmented edition of The Passionate Pilgrim printed in 1612 (with two variants: 4 (partyall might)] (party all might); 51 th’are] th’ere). It was reprinted in 1640, with the title “Wholesome counsell,” in John Benson’s “inauthentic” edition: Poems: Written by Wil. Shake-speare; this collection reprints the 1612 edition of The Passionate Pilgrim. 134   The publisher William Jaggard evidently drew on both manuscript and printed sources for the volume. There is evidence of manuscript circulation for other Passionate

Poems 70–71

235

eleven poems of uncertain authorship in the Passionate Pilgrime (including 71) has not been conclusively ruled out, but, as Burrow puts it, “in the absence of clear external or internal evidence about authorship it is impossible to be certain how closely the poems are related to Shakespeare” (2002, 76). A passage in an early play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, where the duke asks the gullible Valentine to teach him how to win a lady who is “nice, and coy,” is, however, reminiscent of 71 and, at the very least, confirms Shakespeare’s knowledge of the same lines in Ovid’s Art of Love familiar to its author (see the line glosses below): Valentine: Win her with gifts, if she respect not words . . . A woman sometime scorns what best contents her. Send her another [present]: neuer giue her ore, For scorne at first, makes after-loue the more. If she doe frowne, ’tis not in hate of you, But rather to beget more loue in you. If she doe chide, ’tis not to haue you gone, For why, the fooles are mad, if left alone. Take no repulse, what euer she doth say. For, get you gon, she doth not meane away. Flatter, and praise, commend, extoll their graces: Though nere so blacke, say they haue Angells faces That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. (Wells et al., 1986, 15)

Manuscript copies representing a different textual tradition from the printed edition are found in Fo, pp. 25–26; Folger, MS V.a.339 (V33), fol. 185v; 135 and a hitherto unnoticed five-stanza version (ll. 25–54), entitled “Coynesse discovered,” in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 2v. Two identically truncated three-stanza versions, both beginning “What though her frowninge browes be bent” (l. 25) and entitled “vpon one that went a woeing,” almost certainly derive from one of the printed editions of The Passionate Pilgrim (see collation analysis Pilgrim texts. No. [17] is found in Ha, fol. 156r, a verse miscellany compiled during the 1590s that shares a number of poems with Hy; no. [12] is the first stanza from a poem that was included in Thomas Deloney’s Garland of Good Will (first printed ca. 1593), a publication that contains quite a few poems not written by Deloney, some from manuscript circulation in quite corrupt copies (these include poems by Oxford, Ralegh [see 3 and 50], Breton, and Henry Chettle [see Pratt 1954]). 135   V33 is attributed to “W. S.” in a later hand, probably that of the literary editor and forger John Payne Collier (Freeman and Freeman 2004, [QD4] 2:1158, 1163). V33 also contains Passionate Pilgrim nos. [1], [4], [6], and [7], gathered together on folio 197.

236

Commentary

below): BL, Add. MS 30982, fol. 52v (A82) [ll. 43–48, 32–33, 31, 34–36, 25–30] and BL, Sloane MS 1792 (S3), fol. 11r [ll. 43–48, 31–36, 25–30]. 1 Ovid’s Art of Love 1. 35 similarly advises the would-be-lover: “Principio, quod amare velis, reperire labora” [“First, strive to find an object for your love”] (Loeb 2, 14–15). 2 stawld the Deare brought the deer to a standstill (OED stall, v.1 10; cites this line); punning on “dear”; cf. The Taming of the Shrew 5.2.56: “’Tis well sir that you hunted for your selfe: / ’Tis thought your Deere does hold you at a baie”; strike cf. The Rape of Lucrece 581: “To strike a poore vnseasonable Doe.” 3 Let Reason rule proverbial (Tilley R43) 4 parcyall lyke i.e., that is partial (OED -like, suffix 2a); cf. “As we to Ours, Others to theirs, like parciall Fancie haue” (William Warner, Albions England, 1597, sig. T3r). 5 other Hedde the “other head” probably contains a punning reference to “maidenhead,” the object of the phallic “strike” l. 2 8 filed talke rhetorically polished speech; Ovid’s Art of Love l1.467–68 likewise advises the lover to avoid “troublesome words” (“verba molesta”): “Sit tibi credibilis sermo consuetaque verba, / Blanda tamen” [“Your language should inspire trust and your words be familiar, yet coaxing too”] (Loeb 2, 44- 45). 10 on a (Abbott 1884, no. 79); halte limp (OED n.2); proverbial, “It is hard (ill) halting before a cripple” (Tilley H60) 13 Ovid’s Art of Love 2.200–2 gives similar advice to the would-be lover: “Quod dicet, dicas; quod negat illa, neges.” [“Affirm what she affirms and deny what she denies.”] (Loeb 2, 78–79); probably also punning on her will meaning female genitals or sexual desire 14–15 spend . . . expenses the expenditure is both monetary and verbal; with an additional pun on the expending of seed (semen); see 98.2n. 17–18 Cf. A Louers Complaint ll. 176–77 “And long vpon these termes I held my Citty, / Till thus hee gan besiege me” 18 Goulden Bullet proverbial, “He that fights with silver arms is sure to overcome” (Tilley A318). Again the sense is both monetary and verbal (1) cf. Ovid’s Art of Love 2.278 “auro conciliatur amor” [“by gold is affection gained”] (Loeb 2, 84); (2) persuasive words: punning on “billet” (an informal letter or note; OED n.1 2). There is also wordplay on “testicles”; cf. 2 Henry IV 2.4.108–11: “Sir Iohn . . . do you discharge vpon mine hostesse. Pistol I will discharge vpon her sir Iohn, with two bullets.” 24 put it backe force you back (OED put, v. “to put back” 3; citing this line) 26 clowdy sullen, frowning (OED adj. 6a); cf. 2 Henry VI 3.1.155: “And Suffolks cloudie Brow his stormie hate.”

Poem 71

28 31 32 33 37 39 45 46 48

51 54

237 Dissembled concealed (OED v.1 4a) try use, test the effect of (OED v. 11a) ban curse (OED v. 2) feeble force Cf. All’s Well That Ends Well 1.1.111–15: “Hellen: But he assailes, and our virginitie though valiant in the defence, yet is weak.” match with (1) rival (OED match, v1. 3a); (2) pair with, i.e., have sex with (Williams 1994, 2:862–63). Here (1) on earth; (2) in women; cf. Dyer’s “no women angels be on earthe” (1.87); holly possibly a bawdy pun on “holey”; cf. All’s Well That Ends Well 1.3.32: “Clown: Faith, madam, I have other holy reasons” trickes & toyes sexual stratagems; wurke cf. Othello 2.1.116 “Iago: You [women] rise to play, and go to bed to work.” tredes copulates with (OED tread, v. 8a); cf. “Then such a Cocke deserveth shame, / That treades his neighbours hen” (93.249–50) proverbial, “A women says nay and means aye” (Tilley W660); Burrow (2002, 364) notes a double sexual pun in stand for nought: cf. Romeo and Juliet 3.3.90–91: “For Iuliets sake, for her sake rise and stand: why should you fall into so deep an O?” sticke hesitate (OED v.1 19a) bewrayde divulged (OED v. 3)

Collations: A82, Fo, PP, R72, S3, and V33. Title: om.] vpon one that went a wooing A82 S3, Coynesse Discouered R72   1–24 om. A82 S3 R72   1 that] as PP   2 shalt] wouldst Fo V33, shouldst PP   4 Fancy parcyall lyke] fancy (partyall might) PP, partiall fancie like V33   5 Take] aske V33; other] wiser PP   6 vnwise] too young PP; unwedde] vnwayed Fo   8 Whett] Smooth PP   10 finde] spie V33; on] one Fo, a PP V33   11 say] om. V33   12 thy] her PP; person] body V33; sell] sale PP   13–24 these lines follow 36 PP 136  13 And to] vnto V33; wayes] way V33  15 expenses] desart PP, expence V33; sound] merit PP; prayse] thy prayse Fo V33   16 sub. & still be ringinge in in [sic] her eare V33; “By” corr. to be] By Fo PP; alwayes in her] in thy Ladies PP   17 Castle, Towre] towres fort V33; or] and PP   18 beates it] hathe beat Fo, beateth V33   20 humble] ever V33   21 Unles] vntill V33   22 “Packe” corr. to Prese] seeke Fo; then] thou*; chuse] change Fo V33; a] for V33   23 Doth] shall PP; then be] be thou PP, thee be V33   24 it] thee PP   25 sub. what if shee frowne with browes bebent V33; frowning Browes] cloudie lookes A82 S3   26 clowdy Lookes] stourne browes A82 S3; calm] cleare Fo R72; ere] at V33   27 sub. and then to late shee will repent A82 PP S3; And she] when that V33; will sone] shee will V33   28 om. R72; she] thus A82 PP S3, so V33   29 ere it] it ere V33   30 That] him R72; with such] 136   PP’s layout is faulty: altered from the first edition of Passionate Pilgrim in the Folger fragment (see above), which has the correct stanza sequence.

238

Commentary

which with A82 PP S3   31 What] that A82; though] if V33; try] shewe R72; her] thy V33   32 ban] chide Fo; say] swere V33   34 And] when A82 PP S3; hath taught] will cause V33; thus] what A82   35 as] so PP   36 Bythe Masse] good sooth A82 S3, in faythe Fo PP R72, by cock V33; he] you*; had not had] had not got Fo   37–42 these lines follow 48 PP   37–42 om. A82 S3   37 seke to match] love to matche Fo, still to striue PP   38 sub. and not to live soe like a sainte Fo, To sinne and neuer for to saint PP;   And] to R72 V33; corr. to “in” to] in R72 V33   39 Here] there PP R72; be] they Fo, by R72 PP   40 When time with] beginne when Fo, till time shall V33; Age shall them] age doth them Fo, age shall thee R72, thee with age V33   41 Kissing] kisses PP R72   43 sub. A thousand wiles in wantons lurke V33; wiles] Gibes] guiles*; that] which A82 S3; in them lurke] women worke A82 PP S3, in them lurkes Fo   45 the . . . wurke] that in them lurke A82 PP S3, & meanes to woorke Fo, the meane to worke V33   46 Cocke] Cocks R72; tredes] tread R72; shall not] cannot A82 S3, doth not V33   47 Have yow] hast thou V33; it] that Fo   49–54 om. A82 S3   49 Now (whoe)] Nowe hoe Fo R72, But soft PP, ho now V33; to much] & more V33   50 For if my Lady] Least that my mistresse PP, for if my mistris V33; hard] heare Fo PP; this] my PP   51 “wold” corr. to will] would V33; wring mine eare] ringe my eare Fo, round me on th’are PP, warme my eare V33   53 Yet] om. R72; wold] will PP; blushe] smile V33   54 thus] so PP   Subscription: R P.] W. S. V33 Hy is the most accurate text and derives from an independent branch of the stemma. Three Hy unique variants are probably errors: “then” for “thou” (l. 22), “he” for “you” (l. 36), and “wiles and Gibes” for “wiles and giles” (my italics; l. 43). As previous editors have noted, PP contains many corrupt lines, and the earlier manuscript copies provide much better texts of the poem (see Marotti 2002, 77– 78). PP’s layout is also faulty. The fifth and sixth stanzas are misplaced, a mistake introduced when the setting was reconfigured for the later edition, but the order of the seventh and eighth stanzas in all the printed versions is out of sequence. The high number of inferior readings in PP provides evidence of the poor quality copy the editor (Jaggard) was faced with. In line 5, PP’s “wiser head” for “other head” (in all the other witnesses) jars with the same idea in the run-on line “Neyther vnwise . . .” prompting the PP correction to “Neither too young,” which spoils the rhetorical balance of “unwise” and “unwed.” PP’s unique “desart may merit” for “expenses may sound” (l. 15) loses the extended punning on financial and verbal spending and its attendant sounds in the previous and following lines, and “her” for “thy” (l. 12) misses the idea that wooer must make himself pleasing to his mistress, where PP’s would-be-lover is advised to “set her person forth to sale,” which introduces a faulty rhyme combination. Another corrupt reading was subsequently emended. PP’s “fancy (partyall might)” for “Fancy parcyall like” (l. 4; the superior Hy-Fo reading) was a glaring error, but the attempt at improvement in the 1612 edition is equally unsatisfactory: “fancy (party all might).” A82 and

Poem 71

239

S3, identically truncated texts found in student miscellanies compiled at Oxford, Christ Church, derive from the same source or one or other served as copy text. Both assign the same title, and their texts diverge in one reading only (l. 34). A82-S3 share the same corrupt variants: “cloudie lookes be bent” for “ frowning Browes be bent” (l. 25), anticipating a reading that appears in the following line, where both texts have the equally nonsensical “stourne browes will calm” for “cloudie lookes will calm” (my italics). A82-S3 also agree on “Good sooth” where Fo-PP-R72 have “In faith,” V33 “by cock,” and Hy “Bythe Masse,” suggesting that copyists filled in their preferred oath. In the lines present in A82-S3 there are very few diversions from PP. A82-S3 share PP’s replacement line (l. 27) and corrupt line 43, “that (which) women worke” for “that in them lurk” (l. 43), and follow other variant readings in PP not in any other witnesses (ll. 28, 30 and 34). It is evident that PP or the later reprint was the ultimate source for these copies. None of the remaining texts share PP’s corruptions, but three of the manuscript copies (Fo, R72, and V33) are related to a common ancestor X (see stemma below), which transmitted two errors. In line 15, Hy has the best reading: “Where thy expences may sound praise” (my italics); X introduces the possessive pronoun “thy” before “praise,” which creates a metrically defective line in Fo, avoided by V33 with a singular noun for a plural (“expence”). PP’s unique variants in the same line produce a non sequitur in the follow-on line and may have resulted from editorial efforts to improve an illegible copy. In line 22, “chuse a new” (l. 22) became corrupted to “change anewe” in Fo, which V33 partly improved with “change for newe.” Fo and R72 share another common intermediary (Y in the stemma below), which transmitted the error “cleare” for “calm” (l. 26). Since “clowdy” is used as an equivalent of “angry” (from the “frowning Browes” l. 25) “clowdy Lookes will calm” is better than the more obvious variant introduced in Y, “clowdy lookes will cleare” (my italics). V33 contains a high number of unique readings, but most of these are sense substitutions (“aske” for “Take” l. 5, “spie” for “find” l. 10, “body” for “person” l. 12, “vntil” for “unles” l. 21, “swere” for “say” l. 32, and “smile” for “blush” l. 53) and may reflect the later date of transcription for this copy and a longer period in circulation. A few marginal corrections, where the original reading is supported in one or more witnesses, produce inferior readings and may have been introduced by Coningsby (for this habit of correcting, see Introd., lxvii–lxix). In line 16, Coningsby initially wrote, “By ringing,” a reading supported in two out of the three witnesses that contain this line (Fo and PP), but changed it to “be ringing,” producing a less satisfactory reading, which spoils the run-on from the previous two lines that began with the imperative “Spare.” In another instance, two texts support Hy’s original reading: “lyve in synne, and not to Saynte” changed to “lyve to synne . . . to Saynte” (l. 38; my italics). The textual relationships and the relative corruption of the surviving texts can be seen more clearly in the stemma below.

240

Commentary

O Errors Hy 5

X 22 change, 15 thy [lines not in R72] Y 26 cleare

10

Fo R72 PP V33

72

No further copies have been traced of this anonymous verse. 3 4 5 6

Fortunes lap proverbial, “In the lap of Fortune” (Dent 1984, L67.12) blisse . . . bale formulaic alliterative phrase; cf. “As earst I sayd, my blisse was turnd to bale” (William Baldwin, The Last Part of the Mirour for Magistrates, 1578, sig. 2A1v). from the proverbs, “Prove your friend ere you have need” and “Put not fire to tow (flax)” (Tilley F278, F718) depe desire a popular alliterative tag; cf. “drowned in depth of deepe desire” (The Last Part of the Mirour, sig. T1v); “Yet deepe desire, to gayne a heauenly blisse” (George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, 1573, sig. B2r).

73

The ascription to “A N.,” denoting either a set of initials or the first two letters of a surname, records the name of an unidentified author or donor of a copy-text (for a note on the attributions, see Introd., lxi–lxii). The poem’s wry treatment of courtship is shared with 71, though with less humor, interpreting any female

241

Poems 71–74

resistance as a deception (“wily wightes” l. 41) since at the slightest instigation she “yeldes herself ” (l. 23). title

Tempo inderno [i.e., indarno?], perso pyango “I weep for the time that was wasted in vain”; cf. Petrarch’s Rime 365.1: “I’ vo piangendo i miei passati tempi” [“I go weeping for my past time”]; Durling, 574–75. 1 Hap good fortune, good luck (OED hap, n.1 1) 7 froward unreasonable, perverse (OED adj. 1); houldes me owt excludes me, keeps me out (OED hold, v. “to hold out” 5) 9 bootles useless (OED adj.1 3); bragges for example, in 71.35–36 “Had women bin as strong as Men, / . . . he had not had it then.” 10 Cf. 71.25 “What thoughe her frowning Browes be bent.” 15–16 proverbial, “Fortune favours the bold” (Tilley F601) 23 For the same sentiment, cf. 71.33 “Her feeble force will yeld at lengthe.” 26 on one 32 Bane destroyer, murderer (OED n.1 1) 35 draught scheme, plan (OED draught, n. 33) 36 Stowte unyielding, stubborn (OED stout, adj. 4b) 41 wily wightes i.e., women; cf. 71.43 “The wiles . . . that in them lurke.”

74

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this unique text, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). The numerous echoes of lines from poems copied into Hy (see below), however, present a case for including it among the instances of the compiler’s own verse compositions. One mitigating factor is the presence of a probable error that looks like a scribal slip: “tho” for “so” (l. 14). 1 3 5, 8 7 8 17 20

22

sorte lottery (OED sort n.1 2a) wonted usual (OED adj. 3) blinded God assinde, / . . . by Doome Cf. “by Doome, / As Cupid hath assinde” (78.23–24). belapt wrapped, bound up (OED belap, v.); carefull i.e., full of care (OED adj. 2) Doome fate (adverse), irrevocable destiny (OED n. 4a); repyne lament (OED v. 1a) worthy wight For this phrase, see 47.7. pickes have past i.e., pikes, a weapon consisting of a long wooden shaft with a pointed steel head; figuratively, to pass through difficulties or dangers (OED pike, n.4 1; P1); cf. 130.19 where this idea is employed as a double entendre reptte reaped

242

Commentary

26 28 30 32 33

Dinte stroke, blow (OED n. 1a) bale release (OED bail, v.1 2b) might and mayne For this phrase, see 130.17. curious eyen For this phrase, see 32.1. froward unreasonable, perverse (OED adj. 1); layes the Logge places obstacles (OED log, n.1 1b) 35 See 12.35n. 36 echoes 12.13–15: “Only my wishe . . . A Badge whereby” 37 sooth truth (OED 1a) 38 proverbial (Tilley B247) 39–40 want . . . scant this rhyme is found at 34.1, 3 39 were diminish (OED wear, v.1 11); by want for lack of 40 proverbial, “there is no woe to want” (Tilley W594)

75

No other copies of this anonymous poem have been traced. 1

2

3

4 5 7

Tantalus “in hell tormented . . . alwayes thursty and hungry, for as often as he stoupeth to drynke, or holdeth vp his handes to gather the appuls, both the water and the tree dooe withdrawe them so from hym, that he can not touche them” (Cooper); Etna . . . burn proverbial, “to burn like Aetna” (Dent 1984, A47.11) trauncing Troilus swooning Troilus; cf. Chaucer’s Troilus 3.1092; tru in love proverbial, “Troilus the true” (Dent 1981, T527.1); Leander “was in love with Ero [Hero], a beautifull maide of the towne Sestus, on the other side of the sea . . . This man when he had oftentimes used in the night to swimme ouer the water to his loue Ero, at the last . . . he drowned. . . . Ero perceyuing out of a turret did for sorrow cast hirselfe into the sea” (Cooper); the story of Hero and Leander is told in Ovid’s Heroides 18, 19. Siciphus “Sisyphus .  .  . in hell he turneth a stone up to a great hyll toppe: but whan it is at the toppe, it falleth downe again, and reneweth his labour” (Cooper); Alexion “Ixion . . . was driuen downe into hel, and there bounde to a wheele alwaies tournynge” (Cooper); weare wear away, waste (OED wear, v.1 13). Cf. “Some one repeates, he roules the restles stone / With sisiphvs: an other Tantals payne / Doth beare: the third is rack’d with ixion: / And others do like titivs complaine” (Robert Parry, Sinetes Passions vppon his Fortunes, 1597, sig. D2v). Eneas “Aeneas, son to Anchises and Venus, who after that Troye was destroied, sayled into Italy” (Cooper) Thystalus unidentified; silly unfortunate, wretched (OED adj. 4) Echoes Surrrey’s “If care do cause men cry”:

243

Poems 74–76

For all thinges hauing life sometime haue quiet rest. The bearing Asse, the drawing Oxe, and euery other beast. (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. D3r)

11 14

condescend yield, comply (OED v. 4) Dedalus “Son of Daedalus, who hauing winges, with his father flew out of the yle of Crete: . . . wherwith the feathers of his wynges were glewed, melted with the heate of the Sunne” (Cooper) 16–17 Helen “daughter of Jupiter, and Leda .  .  . for hir woonderfull beautie, was twise rauished. First . . . by Theseus: afterwarde by Paris the Troiane, then being wife vnto Menalaus, which was the onely occasion of the tenne yeres siege, and finall destruction of the most famous citie of Troye” (Cooper); Cressid beloved of Troilus (the Troilus-Cressida story was transmitted via Henryson and Chaucer); Imphier perhaps Iphigenia “the daughter of kynge Agamemnon” (Cooper) 18–19 Paris . . . Iudge The story of the Judgment of Paris (see 138.5n). 19 magus son probably a scribal misreading of “Maia’s (spelled “Mayas”) son,” i.e., Mercury. Lucian’s version of the Judgment of Paris has Mercury taking the golden apple to Paris because Zeus cannot resolve the quarrel; Sisters iij Juno, Pallas, and Venus. 20 Apelles “An excellent peinter in the tyme of great Alexander . . . Whan he died, he left an Image of Venus . . . which no man after hym durst enterpryse to finyshe, for the incomparbale beautie thereof ” (Cooper) 21 table bord i.e., a board of wood (OED table-board, n. 2) 23 Pigmalion The tale of how Venus brought to life a statue made by Pygmalion is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 1.588.

76

Evans (1931, xviii, 34) cites two variants of this posy, “Eye doth find, heart doth chose / Faith doth bind, death doth lose,” in Edward Brooke’s ca. 1605 miscellany (Lambeth Palace Library, Sion College Collection, MS English 65, fol. 29r); and “Mine eye did see, my heart did choose, / True loue doth binde, till death doth loose,” headed “A Posie sent with a paire of Bracelets,” in Loues Garland, or Posies for Rings, Hand-kerchers, and Gloues (1624, sig. A2v, no. 55). Thomas Wythorne introduced the posy in his ca. 1569–77 manuscript autobiography as “sumwhat altered” from “the verses that I kawzed to be graven in her [his mistress’] ring,” Bod., MS Eng. misc. c.330, fol. 57r: De eie did fynd de hart did chooz

244

Commentary

and loov did bynd

til death shiuld looz. 137 George Puttenham acknowledges the literary tradition of “short Epigrames called Posies” in The Arte of English Poesie (1589), describing their contemporary use: “we call them Posies, and do paint them now a dayes vpon backe sides of fruite trenchers of wood, or vse them as deuises in rings and armes and about such courtly purposes” (sig. H4r). Coningsby’s interest in posies is also seen from the motto used as a personalized signature (see ix), other posies in Hy (38 and 77), and a bequest to his mother of a gold ring engraved with an unspecified posy: “I giue to Dame Anne Ketelbye my mother, a Ringe of goulde with wordes whiche myne Executor knoweth” (Appendix 4).

77

Two contemporary ring posies, in a collection of over four-hundred “Poesyes” in Ha (fols. 160v–63v), express the same idea as this short verse: “I like, I loue, I liue content, / I made my choyce not to repent” (fol. 163r) and “My choyes is made, I am content” (fol. 161r). Evans (1931, xvii) cites Ha as “the most important literary source of our knowledge of the posies of the time.”

78

This poem is attributed to Richard Edwards (“M[aster] Edwards”) in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (P), sig. H1v; the attribution remains unchanged in all subsequent editions. 138 The heading “ballet” suggests an extant musical setting of the poem (see Introd., lxv–lxvii). Edward’s associate John Thorne in “The sturdy Rocke” (see the commentary to 133) similarily employs the rhetorical figure of amplification or copia with a series of images to illustrate the same proverb, spelled out here in lines 17–18: “Time devours (consumes, wears out) all things” (Tilley T326). 1–6

2 9

Cf. Alexander Neville’s translation of Seneca’s Oedipus, “For as the mountayns houge and hie, / the blustryng windes withstand, / And craggy Rocks, the belching fluds / do dash and beate from land” (1563, sig. A1r). haughty high, lofty (OED adj. 3) stoute resolute, undaunted (OED adj. 3c)

137   On the same page, Wythorne added his own response to the posy (“vnto the which verses I added thez fowr verses foloing”): For reazon now / hath brok the band / sins to yowr vow / yee wold not stand (Osborn 1961, 199). 138   On the print editions, see head-note to 4.

Poems 76–78

12 20 23 26 30 43 44

245

borne i.e., displayed as heraldic device on a shield (OED bear, v.1 3c) vade pass away; decay (OED v.1 3) Doome fate, lot, irrevocable destiny (OED n. 4a) hest bidding, command (OED n. 1) Truth promise, pledge (OED troth, n. 3) shrine enshrine (OED v. 4); cf. “But aye for to be shrinde in brest, / and borne in constant minde” (Edmund Elviden, The Most Excellent . . . Historie of Pesistratus and Catanea, 1570, sig. I5r). crave demand (OED v. 1a)

Collations: P. Title: ballet] He requesteth some frendly comfort affirmyng his constancie   1 toppe] topps   2 touch] mete   3 Seas] sea   6 “blowinge” corr. to blustringe] blustryng   10 Declareth princely] declares a princlike   12 Knighte] kyngs   13–16 order reversed: 15–16, 13–14   15 venomed iawes] poisoned waies   16 “Doth” corr. to Do] doeth; vp] out   23 thine own] as thine   25–32 order reversed: 29–32, 25–28   25 as now] I vowe   26 “will” corr. to hest] hests   30 Truth] trothe   31 Life .  .  . Frendes] goods my frends, my life; ar] is   32 needes me] nede I   33 since] sith   35 Nor] Ne; “silvered” corr. to silver] siluer   37 Therfore now leave] Wherefore leaue now   39 stray] straine; hand, & Pen] azured vaines   41 “more deeare to me” corr. to to me, more deare] more deare to me   43 my mynde shall] I minde to   Subscription: om.] M. Edwards Hy corrects three variants to readings that agree with P: “blowinge” (l. 6) is corrected to “blustringe” concurring with the reading in P, “will” (l. 26) is corrected to “hest,” which is close to the reading “hests” in P, and the variant “silvered” (l. 35) was corrected to “silver” in agreement with P. Coningsby probably made the corrections at the same time as the original transcription, correcting from the copy-text on a second reading. At the same time he also corrected a reading that concurred with P: “Do” for “Doth” (l. 16), the expected form to agree with the plural subject “iawes.” Hy’s variant “toppe” (l. 1) is also the expected form to agree with “Doth” where P has “topps . . . doeth” (for Coningsby’s habit of correcting his text, see the Introd., lxvii–lxix). Hy contains two probable errors: “stray” (l. 39) should probably read “straine” (i.e., exert oneself physically: OED strain, v.1 17), and “my mynde shall shrine” (l. 43) reads more sensibly in P as “I minde (i.e., intend) to shrine.” P contains two readings that were corrected in subsequent editions: “waies” (l. 15) was corrected in editions of The Paradyse from 1578 to “iawes” in agreement with the reading in Hy; and “Therfore” (l. 37) was changed to “Wherefore” in editions printed from 1600 in agreement with Hy (Rollins 1927, 158). A few more unique variants from P (ll. 2, 10, 12, 15, 23, and 39) and the differing order of lines 13–16, 25–32 indicate that Hy represents a distinct manuscript tradition of the poem.

246

Commentary

79

This unique text is the first of three consecutive entries to which Coningsby attached his own initials (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv). 1–4

These lines are modeled on a poem by Surrey (also echoed in 4.1–3): If care do cause men cry, why do not I complaine? If eche man do bewaile his wo, why shew not I my paine? Since that amongst them all I dare well say is none, So farre from weale, so full of wo, or hath more cause to mone. (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. D3r–v)

5–15

These lines are loosely based on Gorges’ “The gentle season of the yeare” 110; some of Gorges’ phraseology is also retained (see below 7n. and 19n.), but the author is not likely to have known Gorges’ poem from the version represented here (see 13–14n.). 7 clad .  .  . Greene Cf. “The Meades ar mantled all with greene. / .  .  . Leaves have clad the Treene” 110.7–8 9, 10 raine, / . . . faire the end words in this couplet fail to rhyme: perhaps “faire” should read “faine,” i.e., glad 13–14 Echoes 110.3–5, but from a different version than Hy’s. It mentions “Savours” from the phrase “savour with delight” (l. 4 in the authoritative version of Gorges’ poem) where Hy’s copy has an alternative corrupt reading, “glymmer with the Light” (110.4). 16 Netles . . . overgrowne Cf. Dyer’s “To Nettles now my Corne” 1.53. 17–18 These lines echo Petrarch’s much imitated “galley” poem (Rime 189; also imitated in 20.23–30 and 145.10–17). 18 fraight laden (OED freight, adj. 1) 19 Dimme the Ayer For the same phrase, see 110.38. 23–24 lyfe, / . . . strife For this rhyming pair, see 110.40–41. 24 sterve starve (OED starve, v. 7a); strife pain, distress (OED n.1e) 32 Racke . . . wheele instruments of torture or punishment

80

This unique text is the second of three consecutive entries to which Coningsby attached his own initials (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv). The note at line fifteen informs the reader that the poem continues, “Twixt half a sleepe & half awake etc.,” on “pagina, 30.” This corresponds to entry 19 on folio 26v in this edition, and the Arabic numeral 30 of the earlier pagination sequence, crossed out by a later hand, is visible in the left-hand corner of the page. The note not only confirms that Coningsby was responsible for paginating the volume but also pro-

247

Poems 79–81

vides the clue to authorship. Breton is probably responsible for the continuation, and a correspondence between ideas and phrasing suggests that both poems were written by the same author. The Latin tag heading the poem may be another tacit indication that Breton is the author since his father-in-law George Gascoigne adopted a revised version of the proverb as a personal motto to say that he had not learned from experience: “Haud ictus sapio” [“Struck, I am not wise”] (Pigman 2000, 631). 139 title

1–2

3 4 8 14 15

Ictus Sapio “Once stung I am wise”; this motto derives from an adage of Erasmus: “Piscator ictus sapiet” (“Once stung, the fisherman will be wiser”) and is equivalent to the English proverb “The fisher stricken will be wise” (Tilley F332). Cf. Breton’s “As I of late this other day, lay musing in my bed, / And thinking vpon sundry toyes, that then come in my hed” (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. L3v), and “On loathed bed I lay, my lustlesse lims to rest” (“The Preamble to N. B. his Garden plot” in The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D3r). pale and wan formulaic phrase: pale and sickly (OED wan, adj. 4b) silly unfortunate, wretched (OED adj. 4) atoo in two (OED a-two, adv. 1); cf. Breton’s “To cut atwo this lucklesse lyne of lyfe” (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. G3r) fell . . . slumber The continuation (19) provides the “dream vision” that might be expected after the speaker falls asleep. fol. pagina fol[low?] page

81

This is the third of three consecutive entries to which Coningsby attached his own initials (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv). The poem is by George Whetstone and appeared in his collection of stories An Heptameron of Ciuill Discourses, 1582 (Hep), sig. P4r–v. In the prose context the poem is sung at an after-dinner entertainment to the accompaniment of a lute: 140 Queene Aurelia sent for the chosen company, who placed in the drawing Chamber: the Eunuck knowing his charge, tuned his Lute, and songe [sic] this following Sonet.

139

1573.

  Gascoigne signed eight poems with this motto in A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres,

140  In Aurelia (the 1593 reissue: see 14 fn. 39), 81 appears on sigs. O2v–3r with two corrections: “though” is corrected to “through” (l. 3) and “fastined” to “fastned” (l. 10).

248

Commentary

Another substantive copy with the variant opening “Who fears for thorns to pluck the lovely rose” was printed in 1655 in John Cotgrave’s Wits Interpreter (Co), sigs. P6v–7r. 141 1–2

proverbial, “No rose without a thorn (prickle)” (Tilley R182); also plays on the proverbial “better to be stung by a nettle than pricked by a rose” (Tilley N134) 3 proverbial, “Faint heart ne’er won fair lady” (Tilley H302) 4 Drudge menial servant, slave (OED n. 1); leade . . . Hell Cf. the proverbial “Old maids lead apes in hell” (Tilley M37). 5 proverbial, “One cannot gather grapes of thorns” (Tilley G411) 7 Cf. “Work minde into the Skyes” (45.1). 8 Whetstone repeats this sentiment: “Perryll maketh honor perfect: the styngyng of the Bee mendes the sweetenes of Honie: Roses best refresheth our Sences, when we prick our handes to reache them” (An Heptameron, sig. Q1v). 9 Icarus “Son of Daedalus, who hauing winges, with his father flew out of the yle of Crete: . . . wherwith the feathers of his wynges were glewed, melted with the heate of the Sunne” (Cooper) 18 For this Neoplatonic idea, cf.: Therfore whan an amiable countenance of a beautiful woman commeth in his sight . . . assoone [sic] as he is a ware that his eyes snatch that image and carie it to the hart, and that the soule beeginneth to beehoulde it with pleasure. (The Courtyer, translated by Thomas Hoby, 1561, sigs. 2V2v–3r)

Collations: Co and Hep. 1 Who Prickles feares] Who fears for thorns Co   3 through] though Hep   4 Drudge] droyle Hep   7 crown thou] a crown Co; thy] my Hep   8 easly] easie Co Hep   9 swifte with Icarus] with young Icarus Co; doth] shall Co   10 fastned] fastined Hep   11 “hope” corr. to hap] hope Co Hep   12 Grace is obtaind] Small grace for me Co; my] thy H   14 sub. That doth fulfill the greedy Lovers wish Co   15 and light esteeme] my thoughts do’s much Co, and light regard Hep   16 sub. Though to despair of grace I cannot like Co   17 Yet this with] For why this Hep; at] in Hep   Subscription: ] om. Co Hep Hy along with Co represents a distinct manuscript tradition of the poem, indicating that Whetstone had circulated some of the verse included in An Heptameron prior to publication (for another poem in Hy from this publication, see 14). 141   The copy in Co appears before a poem by the Earl of Oxford (also in Hy) that similarly derives from a manuscript tradition (see 37).

249

Poems 81–82

Co shares four readings with Hy against the print copy (“Drudge” l. 4, “thy” l. 7, “my” l. 12 and “at” l. 17). Co shows some signs of corruption (ll. 7, 9, and 12), and has two substitute lines (ll. 14 and 16) that introduce faulty rhymes. This may be a reflection of a longer period in manuscript circulation for this copy. Hy’s unique reading “easly” for “easie” (l. 8) may be a scribal error. In line 11, Hy probably changed “hope” (the reading in Hep and Co) for “hap” (for the compiler’s habit of correcting his text see the Introd., lxvii–lxix).

82

Six lines from this otherwise unique text are reproduced in 31 (ll. 33, 36–40), a poem attributed to “R. P.” (“quod R. P.”). This earlier entry also borrows its opening stanza, almost verbatim, from another verse of uncertain authorship that circulated in manuscript (see the commentary to 31). The shared lines more properly belong to 82 and are a metrical misfit where they appear in 31. The poetic form, the heavy alliteration, and some of the phraseology bears a striking similarity to another poem in Hy assigned to an individual with the same initials: “RO[bert] POO[ly]” (see the commentary to 4); it is entirely possible that the author of 82 is one and the same. Parallels in phrasing are given in the line glosses below. 16 17 18 20 22

carefull Harte for this phrase, see 4.1; carefull troubled (OED adj. 2) pininge payne for a similar alliterative tag, see 4.2n. that . . . annoyes Cf. “to kyll that me annoyes” 4.44. toys amorous preoccupations (OED n. 1) Cf. “which yeldes him double hyre” 4.58; hyre reward, payment (OED hire, n. 3). 27 incountree encountered? 33 Cf. 31.19: “But sithe my lucke, allowes, no better happe”; froward unreasonable, perverse (OED adj. 1). 35 to . . . lap Cf. “to lyve in sorowes lap” 4.81. 36–40 Cf. 31.20–22: Wher grief & feare all comfort shall expell Tyll lyef of love, hath felt thextremest power, And love of lyfe, hath seene the latest hower.

37 40

Till . . . Love “lingringe lenghte of lothed lyfe” 4.87 latest last

250

Commentary

83

See head-note to 51. Coningsby originally added his own initials to this entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv) before correctly ascribing the poem to Sidney. 1

Philisides Sidney’s own pastoral persona from the Latinized form “Phili[ppus] Sid[n]e[iu]s, which also encompassed a pun on the Greek philein and Latin sidus, yielding the sense ‘star-lover’” (Duncan-Jones 1989, 333). Sidney similarly creates the lover persona “Astrophil” from aster philein (“lover of a star”). Philisides appears in the Old Arcadia described as “a young shepherd” and is identified as a speaker in OA 9, 24, 31, 62, 66, 73, and 74; and OP 5, a verse inserted in the third eclogues by the editor of the 1593 edition of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Ringler 1962, 418). 2 Menalchas Menalcha is best known as a shepherd in Virgil’s Eclogues; in the Old Arcadia Sidney gave this name to the Arcadian shepherd with whom Musidorus swapped clothes. 3 Mirrhaes “Miraes” in Ot; Mira, Latin for wonderful or astonishing, is the object of Philisides’ affections in the Old Arcadia (see 2.1n.) 10 Wake feast-day, annual festival (OED n.1 4b), i.e., to mark the anniversary of the queen’s Accession Day; Samos Ile in Roman mythology the island home of the goddess Juno; cf. “Iuno now at Samos must not stay” (140.1). In the Old Arcadia “Samothea,” a name for ancient Britain, is given as the birth place of Philisides. For the origins of the Samothean legend, see Duncan-Jones 1974 and Godshalk 1978 and 1980. 11–12 The Accession Day Tilts were not private court occasions but public displays (“a public affirmation of loyalty”) attended by the citizens of London and visiting foreigners (Wilson 1980, 31). 13–16 Wagner (1938, 122) cites Klaius’ lines in OA 72: I long doo plowe with plough of deepe Desire: . . . I harowe it with Thoughts, which all conspire . . . And now I faine would reape, I reape but this, Hate fully growne, Absence new sprongen out. (ll. 52, 54, 57–58)

19 20 23 24

on is past proceeds, advances (OED pass, v. “to pass on” 1a); by course in due course (OED course, n. 34a) the beste i.e., Queen Elizabeth Iuste joust teeme i.e., the team of horses harnessed to a plough, harrow, cart etc.

251

Poems 83–84

25 28

29 30

betide befall (OED v. 1b) course run at the tilt; rewarded . . . best “the tilting on the 17th was solely in honour of the Queen and did not therefore conclude with the customary prize-giving but with Elizabeth thanking the tilters” (Strong 1977, 146). Runners participants in the tilt on probably should read “once” as in Ot (see below)

Collations: Ot. 2 Menalchas] menalcas  3 Mirrhaes] Miraes  5 Menalcha] Menalca  6 the] his  16 alwais] ever  19 amonge] amongest  23 his whip] the whippe  24 “till” corr. to mill] till   28 best] reste   30 on] once   Subscription: P. Sidney] om. The texts present only a few variants. Coningsby probably changed one reading in the copy-text (“till” to “mill” l. 24): he first wrote “till horse,” i.e., a plough horse in agreement with Ot, and this seems appropriate to the story that Menalcha was setting forth with his horse to do some ploughing (l. 6), but on closer examination he may have objected to the unusual locution and substituted a more familiar term (for this habit of correcting, see Introd., lxvii–lxix). Hy is probably in error at line 30, omitting terminal “c” of “on” [to read “onc,” i.e., “once”], but the remaining variants are sense substitutions and difficult to choose between. Ot, with its privileged Sidney texts, has some claim to authority, and Hy, equally free of corruptions, must also derive from a text that was not many removes from Sidney’s authorial draft.

84

The initials assigned to this unique text may refer to the poet Edmund Elviden (fl. 1569–70); a couplet printed in Elviden’s The Most Excellent . . . Historie of Pesistratus and Catanea, (1570) appears without attribution earlier in Hy (see 38). The classical references, diction, and verse form are also reminscent of this obscure poet’s work. 1–4 The story is told in Homer’s Illiad 24. 3 stowt proud, brave (OED stout, adj. 1) 5–8 Cresus . . . remorce Croesus, the King of Lydia, famous for his riches, took pity on Adrastus, his son’s murderer (Herodotus’ The Histories 1.45). 9–11 Statira, wife of Darius III, king of Persia was captured and treated with mercy along with other family members after her husband was defeated by Alexander, the king of Macedonia (Phillips sonne).

252

Commentary

85

Coningsby originally added his own initials to this entry (for this habit, see Introd., lxii–lxv) but retrospectively assigned the poem to Queen Elizabeth. 142 Another contemporary copy, headed “Certan other verses made by owre sayd sovereign [Lady]” and subscribed “quod Elizabetha Regina,” on the same leaf as a canonical poem by the queen (21 in this edition) appears to support this attribution (BL, Add. MS 82370 [A70], fol. 45r). 143 Four more Elizabethan copies survive, none of which attribute the poem to the queen (Hn, fol. 167r–v; Dd, fol. 44v; Derbyshire Record Office, D156/M/A2 [D], fol. 2r–v; and BL, Add. MS 70516 [A16], fol. 52r). 144 May and Marotti argue convincingly that Elizabeth did not write the poem, pointing out that two of the unattributed copies (viz. Hn, the poetic miscellany compiled by John Harington the elder and his son Sir John, and Dd, compiled by Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey) come from court-insiders who “would have known or recorded the fact [of the queen’s authorship],” whereas the attributions to the queen appear in related copies “on a highly unreliable line of the poem’s transmission” (2014, 195, 199). For other reasons, Hanson’s attribution is highly suspect: a few leaves later in the same volume (fols. 47v–49r), Hanson made the spurious attribution “finis quod Elizabetha” to Churchyard’s elegy for William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke, printed as broadside ballad, signed “Quoth Churchyard,” 27 March 1570 (May and Marotti 2014, 166–69). For the queen as the object of another verse in persona, see the commentary to 7. The wider currency of the poem is suggested from the name of a tune that takes the opening line given to “A song in dispraise of spight and enuie” in The Countrie Mans Comfort, 1637, sig. C7r which, according to the title-page, was first printed 1588. Henry Chillester also borrowed some of the phrasing for his “Farewell to Fancie”: 145 Fancy farewell my doating dayes are done, my yeares are young but wit is waxen old

142   Bradner (1964, 76–77) includes the poem among “Poems of Doubtful Authorship”; Marcus et al. (2000, 305) print the poem as canonical; and May (2004b, 28–29) among works “possibly” by the queen. 143   John Hanson’s serial transcription of A70 makes it possible to date this copy to the late 1580s and after 1587. 144   The poem in D was transcribed in a section of accounts entered from 1574–83, dating it to before 1583 (May and Marotti 2014, 198). A16 appears in the left-hand margin of a single illuminated vellum leaf; some of the words are illegible in the first few lines of the poem due to damage in the top left corner of the leaf. (I am grateful to Steven W. May for providing the description and transcription of this text). 145   For Chillester’s use of contemporary manuscript sources in YW, see the commentary to 88.

Poem 85

253

Reason sayth now my retchlesse rase is runne, and wisdome hath my wanton will controld: And tels me plaine that pleasures frutes are paine and worldly thinges are all and some but vaine. (Youthes Witte, 1581, sig. I4v)

Two lyrics in the memento mori mode by Thomas Vaux (“When I looke back and in my self behold” and “I loath that I did love”) are possible models for 85: When I looke back and in my self behold the wandring wayes that youth could not discrye . . . For now I see that youth was voyde of skyll I fynd by profe, his pleasures all be payne . . . Wysdome hath tawght that folly coulde not fynd and age hath youth his subiect and his thrall. (Hn, fol. 27r–v) The aged louer renounceth loue I loth that I did loue, In youth that I thought sweete: As time requires for my behoue, Me thinkes they are not mete. My fansies all be fled: And tract of time begins to weaue, Gray heares vpon my hed. For age with steling steps . . . Leaue of these toyes in time . . . Thus must I youth geue vp, Whose badge I long did weare: To them I yeld the wanton cup, That better may it beare. (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sigs. S4r–5r)

1

The opening line echoes Wyatt’s “Now must I lerne to lyue at rest” (Muir and Thomson 1969, 211; no. CCII) 8 proverbial; “There is no pleasure without pain” (Tilley P420) 10 try test, afflict (OED v. 10); proverbial, “Time tries all things” (Tilley T336) 14 proverbial (Tilley R133) 19 Toyes frivolous (amorous) distractions (OED n. 1) 20, 44 wretchlesse . . . wretchles spelling variants of “reckless”

254 22 41 43

Commentary

Traynes enticements, allurements (OED train, n.1 3) profes experience (OED n. 6) forborne renounced; abstained from (OED forbear v., 4a)

Collations: May and Marotti (2014, 196–98) collate the six substantive texts concluding that Hy shares a common ancestor with A70 and A16. This is based on two corrupt readings: “com” (l. 20), where a past tense construction is needed, and “wordes” [“woorkes”] (l. 45), in place of the more sensible reading “proof,” i.e., the experience attained by the speaker over time. Another conjuctive reading further alligns Hy and A70: “all the pleasaunt Springes” (l. 15) for “all that pleasaunt “springs” (my italics). All of Hy’s unique readings are errors: “youthfull” (l. 13) for “earthly,” “youth requires” (l. 18) for “lust desires,” “Desires” for “requires” (l. 20), “such Desire” for “which delightes” (l. 21), “follow” for “folie” (l. 22), “pleasure” for “pleasures” (l. 25), “place” for “life” (l. 27), “all” for “yet” (l. 30), “wilfull” for “youthfull” (l. 31), “These . . . these” for “The . . . the” (ll. 33, 37), “vaine” for “fond” (l. 38), “profes” for “process” (l. 41), “And” for “am” (l. 42), “ought to be” for “‘might haue byn” (l. 43), and “Which by” for “by which” (l. 45). Four of Hy’s marginal corrections bring the text in line with unanimous readings in the other witnesses (ll. 6, 17, 23, and 41); three of these also rectify defective end-rhymes (ll. 17, 23, and 41). In one instance a marginal correction replaces a reading found in all other texts with a synonym “age” for “yeres” (l. 35), and this could be a sophistication, the same word appearing in l. 32. In line 13, Coningsby attempted to improve an obvious irregularity, changing “youthly” (“earthly” in all other texts) to “youthfull” (for this habit of correcting, see Introd., lxvii–lxix).

86

The poem is ascribed to Richard Edwards in the first and second editions of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (P), sig. G4r (for the second edition issued in 1577, see head-note to 4), but in all subsequent editions the text was printed without attribution. Hy’s subscription “balle” is an abbreviation of “ballet” and indicates an extant musical setting of the poem (see Introd., lxv–lxvii). Contemporary musical settings for keyboard and lute, identified only by an incipit, have in fact survived in the “Mulliner Book” (ca. 1560s), BL, Add. MS 30513, fol. 108v and the “Brogyntyn Lute Book” (ca. 1595), NLW, MS Brogyntyn 27, p. 126 (Caldwell 2011, no. 26; Spencer and Alexander 1978, no. 28). 146 Two additional copies draw attention to its status as a song: headed “A songe to the Lute of musicke” in a ca. 1576 collection of songs and ballads, BL, Cotton MS Vespa146   For a detailed discussion of musical settings of the poem, see Sternfeld 1963, 119–22.

Poems 85–86

255

sian A. XXV (CV), fol. 137r; 147 and transcribed ca. 1590s with the title “A ditty of music’s praise” in Folger, MS V.a.311 (Fo7), fol. 3v. A fragment in Romeo and Iuliet (see below 1–4n.) confirms that it was still a well-known song in the early 1590s when the play was written. 1–4

The first three lines are quoted in the 1597 edition of Romeo and Iuliet in a dialogue between a “Seruingman” and a group of musicians:





1.: Lets heare. Ser: When griping griefe the heart doth wound, And dolefull dumps the minde oppresse: Then musique with her siluer sound. (An excellent conceited tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet, 1597, sigs. I2v–3r)

The second quarto edition, printed in 1599, has a slightly different version: here the servingman, named as “Peter” and identified in the stage directions as played by “Will Kemp,” sings the first line (with the variant “griefes” for “griefe”) followed by the third then, after a few exchanges with the musicians, the third line is repeated followed by the fourth line: “with speedy help doth lend redresse” (sig. K3r).

1 griping griefes For this commonplace alliterative phrase, see 4.2n. 2 Dumpes fits of melancholy (OED n.1 2) 3 silver sound proverbial (Dent 1984, M1319.1) 4 lend redresse bring relief; for this phrase, see 88.4 15–18 The story of Arion and the dolphin is told by Ovid in Fasti 2. 19 rules the minde alluding to the Neoplatonic theory that states of mind are governed by music (Hutton 1951, 12) 24 desprove disallow, disapprove (OED disprove, v. 3) Collations: CV, Fo7, and P. Title: om.] A songe to the Lute of musicke CV, A dittie of musicks prayse Fo7, In commendation of Musick P   1 When] Where*; griefes] grief P  2 the mynde] the P; oppresse] opreste Fo7   3 Then] ther*   4 With . . . to] is wont with spede to P; lend] sende CV, giue Fo7 P   5 mindes] minde P   6 in store] therfore P   7 makes] make Fo7   8 wo] grief P; the] our*   9 Desturbed heades] be strawghted heades CV, the straughted man Fo7, The carefull head P; relief] release P; have] hath*   10 pleasant] pleasauntes CV   11 Sences] senses all CV Fo7; should] shall CV; I] we Fo7   12 all to] vnto CV P  ​13 have] 147   Seng suggests 1576 as an “approximate date for most of the songs and ballads in the manuscript” (1978, xviii). Another lyric by Edwards in CV, “Awak ye wofull wights,” is headed “a balet” (fol. 135r).

256

Commentary

hath P; praise] praie P   14 The Fishe] om. P; do] doth CV P   15 Poet] poetes*; sayes] saie P   16 when] whom CV P   18 Arion] Sir Arion Fo7; on] uppon Fo7   19 O] A P; which] that*; rules] torne Fo7, turnes P   20 Even] like P; doth] doe Fo7; turne] rule*   21 sub. sweet plesant tunes the gods dead finde Fo7; O] om. P, of CV   23 Seing] sence CV, seeth Fo7, Sith P; thou both] musick Fo7; dost] doth Fo7   24 Beast] sensles head Fo7, wiseman P; is he wold] will Fo7, ys he wyll CV, then wil P; desprove] reproue Fo7 P   Subscription: ] om. Fo7, M Edwards P Hy contains two errors: “the” (l. 8) and “O” (l. 21) should probably read “our” and “of.” The variant reading in the first line “When” is also found in the Mulliner Book’s “incipit” and the lines quoted in the Romeo and Juliet quartos; the latter also shares Hy’s line three variant reading “Then” (l. 3) and the otherwise unique Hy variant “lend” (l. 4). None of the texts are related in error except for CV-Fo7’s erroneous “all” (l. 11), which could be explained by independent variation with both scribes making the same mistake caused by eye-skip (picking up “all” from the line below). Hy and CV share two readings against the other texts: “rules” (l. 19) and “What Beast is he” (l. 24). P contains nine certain errors: six of these were corrected to concur with Hy in subsequent editions (ll. 2, 5, 6, 9, 19, and 21), but three are uncorrected (ll. 1, 13, and 14). Fo7 agrees with P in three readings against the other texts: “torne” (“turnes”) (l. 19), “reproue” (l. 24), and “giue” (l. 4); Fo7 also shares a reading close to CV in line nine: “be strawghted” / “the straughted” for Hy’s “Desturbed” and P’s “carefull.” The various musical settings and the poem’s oral transmission could account for the differences in the opening line and other slight variants. However, the manuscript witnesses provide the most reliable texts, offering some improved readings to those found in editions of the Paradyse.

87

The attribution to the Earl of Oxford can only refer to the last twelve lines since the first sixteen lines come from a poem by Thomas Churchyard. 148 The full text of Churchyard’s sixty-two-line poem was first printed in 1580 in his collection of verse (some of which had been composed much earlier) A Pleasaunte Laborinth Called Churchyardes Chance (CC), sigs. D1r–2r. 149 A musical setting also survives, identified by the rubric “In pescod time” (presumably Churchyard’s rather than Oxford’s version of the poem), in Anthony Holborne’s The Cittharn Schoole,   Two of Oxford’s canonical poems (3 and 90) are signed similarly: “LO. OX.” and “Lo. Ox.” May (1980, 41–42) places 87 among the poems possibly by Oxford (no. IVa). 149   Cf. “Epistle Dedicatorie”: “I presente vnto your handes .  .  . some of mine old labors & studies”; for the inclusion of works dating as far back as the early 1550s, see Woodcock 2016, 114. 148

Poems 86–87

257

1597, sig. C1v. 150 Churchyard’s poem also circulated in manuscript: a substantive copy lacking lines 30–35 is found in Ra, fols. 51r–53r. Much later, it was reprinted from Churchyardes Chance in Englands Helicon, 1600 (EH), sigs. Z3r– 4v. 151 Churchyard was undoubtedly responsible for the sixty-two-line poem from which Oxford borrowed, and the unique continuation in Hy after line sixteen marks a shift in style. As May points out, “the near disappearance . . . of the internal rime which is used consistently in Churchyard’s version, [is] an indication that someone other than Churchyard wrote the continuation” (1980, 82). May finds Hy’s attribution to Oxford plausible: since Churchyard was a longstanding client of Oxford’s there might have been “some sort of competition or collaboration between patron and protégé” (83). For the evidence that Oxford read and responded to the work of other client-poets in manuscript, see the commentaries to poems 3 and 6. 152 The new version not only creates a more succinct poem that dispenses with Churchyard’s outmoded use of moralizing personifications but also reworks the poem in a radical way. In the original, the allegorical figures “Honest-Meanynge,” “Freewyll,” “Good-Sport,” and “Witte” conspire “to murther women” so that men can “treade one Cupids brest, and scorne fayre Venus face” (Ra, fol. 52v). In the new version the narrator, preserving courtly love sentiments of service, ultimately declares himself “a Subiecte wight.” The practice of using lines from an existing poem as the starting point for a new composition is also seen in 31. 1

Pescod time “the season for peas,” i.e., in May; cf. “It is now May, and the sweetnesse of the Aire refresheth euery spirit . . . and the Strawbery

150   The tune of “In Pescod Time,” borrowed from an earlier tune formerly know as “The Hunt’s up,” was extremely popular towards the end of the sixteenth century (Chappell 1895, 1:196–98). Churchyard probably had this tune in mind when composing the poem, which explains “the ease with which the words can be fitted to the notes” (Ward 1979–80, 3). 151   EH’s subscription “Ignoto” is puzzling since the editor almost certainly took his copy-text from Churchyard’s single-author collection CC. This can be explained, however, when the idiosyncratic practices of the editor are taken into account. Rollins commented that “the editor had little respect” for the integrity of the texts, which he “altered at will” (Rollins 1935, 2:65). Rollins illustrates the relaxed editorial practices in EH with an example where two versions of a single poem (reprinted from The Phoenix Nest, 1593) are inserted by an “editorial lapse.” The editor ignored the copy-text (i.e., The Phoenix Nest) attribution to Thomas Lodge and assigned the first version of the poem to “S.E.D.” (Sir Edward Dyer) and “Ignoto” to the second. Both copies are also treated to differing textual revisions and titles (ibid., 143). The cavalier treatment of texts taken from printed collections of verse explains the discrepancy of the apparent anonymity of a text reprinted from a single-author collection. 152   In a postscript to CC, Churchyard mentions his intention to dedicate a forthcoming volume called Churchyardes Challenge to “the noble Earle of Oxforde.”

258

2 7 8 13 16 20 24

Commentary

and the Pescod want no price in the market” (Nicholas Breton, Fantasticks Seruing for a Perpetuall Prognostication, 1626, sig. C2r); gives eare listens attentively pipes of Corne rustic musical instrument made of a stalk of corn (OED corn-pipe, n.) ech . . . game every Christmas diversion, amusement; revells organized entertainments: a dance, masque, or play; all & summe everything (OED all, P5a). fancy imagination (OED n. 4a) bebathed immersed (OED bebathe, v.) lawnd glade (OED laund, n.) toyes frivolous (amorous) occupations (OED n. 5) armes coat of arms; expound declare (OED v. 1a); cf. Turbervile’s description of Cupid’s ensign: His Banner doth declare what harts haue beene subdude: Where they are all in Sabels set with blood and gore imbrude. (Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. B3v)

Collations: ll. 1–16; CC, EH and Ra. Title: om.] A matter of fonde Cupid, and vain Venus CC, A Sheepheards slumber EH, A dreame Ra  1 while] til CC EH; is] be*  2 boyes] laddes*; sit] sat CC EH; beastes] sheepe Ra; in] a CC EH  3 when] by CC EH, In Ra; wer] full*  4 loe] so*; by] in CC EH  5 I . . . all] That doune I laied me*; & . . . bankes] with bowes all ouer clad*  6 found] meate*; yonge man] Sheepheard EH  7 saw] see Ra; both revells] eche reuell*  8 each] euery*; thinge] sporte Ra; els . . . cold] that I can*; might] maie CC EH; by] in*   9 thing] sights CC EH, dream Ra; it] thei CC EH  10 lacke] wante Ra  11 scape] passe CC EH  12 Sit feeding on] Did feede vpon CC EH, Do feed vpon Ra; whom] that CC EH; hath] had CC EH    13 blinde] blynded Ra; sat] was*   14 ther he stood] he stood CC EH  15 more . . . he] quod he more harts CC, (quoth he) more harts EH Ra  16 dead] Dere*; overcrosse] runneth ore CC EH, runneth ouer Ra   Subscription: L ox.] om.* Hy shares a certain error with Ra in the opening line: the hounds must stay attentive “till” rather than “while” the “Bucke is kild”; another shared reading (“scape” for “passe” l. 11), while not an obvious error, is unlikely to have derived from independent scribal variation. The connection between Hy and Ra is further suggested in eight more indeterminate readings where these two texts agree against the printed version (“sit,” “in” l. 2, “by” l. 4, “might” l. 8, “it” l. 9, “whom,” “hath” l. 12 and “ther” l. 14). Ra and Hy therefore confirm a distinct manuscript

259

Poems 87–88

tradition for this poem. Hy presents a number of additional errors: “when,” “wer” (l. 3), “thing” (l. 9), “Sit feeding on” (l. 12), “sat” (l. 13), and “dead” (l. 16), and the whole of line five is defective. These errors together with the multiple substitutions for synonyms suggest that Hy’s copy of Churchyard’s lines derived from a memorial transcription, for example, “boyes” for “laddes” l. 2, “bankes” for “bowes” l. 5, “found” for “meate” l. 6, and “overcrosse” for “runneth ore” l. 16. The twelve unique lines scan uniformly as fourteeners and contain no obvious errors. There are no substantive variants between CC and EH in the sixteen lines collated. EH’s unique variant “Sheepheard” (l. 6), like the manufactured title “A Sheepheards slumber,” is typical of the editorial changes made to create a unifying pastoral theme to the collection (to this end, 15 is given the title “The Sheepheards conceite of Prometheus”).

88

Hy is the only witness to attribute the poem to Edward Dyer. 153 Two more copies of the complete text survive: without attribution in Huntington Library, MS HM 198, part 2 (Hu), fol. 45v and with an additional eighteen lines in Henry Chillester’s Youthes Witte, 1581 (YW), sig. R1r. 154 Elsewhere, the poem survies in partial form, where its lines have been merged with one or more other texts. In Ha, fol. 172v, the first four lines were added to a stanza from “Cease sorrowes now,” a lyric set to music as no. VI in Thomas Weelkes’ Madrigals, 1597, following the line “before I dye, Ile sing my faint farewell.” In another composite text, Henry Colling transcribed a faulty copy of the first twelve lines of the poem merged, according to Kelliher, with “at least one and possibly two quite distinct pieces” in CUL, MS Mm.3.29 (Mm), fol. 46v. 155 The poem’s appeal and eminent adaptability is also evident from borrowings in “A Louer finding his loue unconstant maketh his last farewell” printed in The Arbour of Amorous Deuises, 1597:

  May (1991, 312) places no. 88 among the “Poems possibly by Dyer” (no. II). Wagner (1935) first printed the poem as Dyer’s. 154   Chillester probably added these lines to the poem’s original three sixains, which form a rhetorically balanced unit where the closing line “farwell fancy” links back to the opening “Fancy farwell” and reads distinctly like an ending. The continuation marks an abrupt change in style that fails to maintain the rhetorically balanced elements in the three previous sixains and over-labors the conceits; for example, Dyer’s “Death adew” (l. 5) is twice repeated in the continuation: “and yet againe, I say adue to death”; “yet once more to death agayne adue.” For Chillester’s use of contemporary manuscript sources in YW, see May 2006. 155   As Kelliher (1990, 177) points out, Colling made the same error in each stanza, probably caused by eye-skip, resulting in the omission of two half-lines, which “suggests that he was working from a manuscript copy-text rather than from unaided memory.” 153

260

Commentary

Fancie farewell, which I haue loued so, And farewell loue that makes me loath my life, And life adue which bred me all my woe, And farewel woe, the forger of all strife, And spite adue, which breedeth all contempt, Contempt adue, whose mischiefe I repent. (sig. E3r)

1–4 4 7

11

Dyer employs anadiplosis in the first four lines, a rhetorical figure where “the word by which you finish your verse, ye beginne the next verse with the same” (George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, sig. Z2r). lend redresse bring relief; for this phrase, see 86.4 Sweet Hart No two texts agree on the form of direct address to the speaker’s mistress: “Beauty”, “Falles dame,” and “Faire Dames” are the alternative readings offered in the surviving copies. Dyer uses “faire Dame” in 10.1. to too

Collations: May (1991, 309) collates Ha, Hu, Mm against Hy; my collation adds YW. Title: om.] A farewell to Fancie   1 fed] wroughtst   2 the cause of] that wroughtst;   desires] deepe distresse   3 Desires] Distresse; Dost me such] wroughtst my deepe   7 Sweet Hart] Faire Dames; farwell] adue   8 weried hast] wearyed hath   9 which . . . so] with . . . so   10 o] soe   13 lyvd] loued   14 makest] makes   16 Twixt . . . all] twixt hope and feare, farewell all   18 first wrought] first wroughtst   Subscription: Dyer] om. Hy is not related to any of the other witnesses and contains three certain errors: “desires, / Desires” for “distresse, / Distresse” (ll. 2–3) creates a defective endrhyme in the first instance, and in the second the identical word is needed to maintain the anadiplosis employed in the first four lines. The third error is “o” for “so” (l. 10). YW’s inflated copy is the next best text but shows signs of editorial emendation in the first three sixains that comprise the poem in its original state. For example, the unimaginative repetition of “that wroughts my” in the first three lines (ll. 2 and 3 repeating “that wroughtst my deepe”) is not present in any other text but perhaps appealed to Chillester. In line 13, “loude . . . loathd” should read “lyud . . . loathd” (my italics) to balance rhetorically with “loth my lyfe” in the following line, and in line 9, “with” is probably a misreading of the abbreviated form of “which,” the reading in Hy. YW’s “feare” for “Dread” (l. 16) is an indeterminate, though more alliterative reading. A few other unique variants do not change the sense: “adue” for “farwell” (l. 7), “hath” for “hast” (l. 8), “makes” for “makest” (l. 14), and “wroughtst” for “wrought” (l. 18). Ha’s four lines contain three unique variants: “farewell” for “adew” and “causd” (repeats “cause” in the previous line) for the more alliterative reading

261

Poems 88–89

“dost” (l. 3). Ha’s variant “send Release” for “lend redresse” (l. 4) is a certain error, which creates a faulty end-rhyme. Hu and Mm are the only texts to present conjunctive errors (“Fansye” l. 11 and “wittes” l. 9), but these readings could have been derived independently and both texts present a large number of variant readings, none of which are conjunctive. Hu’s text contains numerous errors, creating lines with clumsy inversion of word order, lack of coherent meaning, or faulty meter. The omission (with a blank space left mid-line) of part of line 12 also suggests that Hu’s copy-text was corrupt or illegible. A few of Hu’s unique variants increase the alliteration of the line (for example, in ll. 7 and 11). Mm’s partial copy of the first twelve lines of the poem conflates two lines in each sixain: in ll. 4–5 and 9–10 the first two metrical feet in the line are conflated with the last three feet of the following line. Kelliher (1990, 178) points out that the scribe evidently “lacked the basic ability to count syllables . . . and [was] untroubled by a defective rhyme-scheme.” Mm also contains further mistakes: “whchede” (l. 8) anticipates “bewitched” in line 9 (omitted in Mm), “fedes” for “fed” (l. 1), “dideste” for “Dost” (l. 3), “allthoughe” for “for though” (l. 5), and “soe” for “to” (l. 11; repeats “so” in the previous line).

89

This mock love poem is a humorous riposte to the kind of courtly love lyrics that comprise the most part of Hy and anticipates the critique of this genre by the Inns of Court poets of the 1590s. 156 Wyatt’s “Now must I lern to faine” (Muir and Thomson 1969, 259–60, no. CCLXVIII) with its refrains “Alas! she was not so,” “For one that was not so,” “And yet she thought not so,” “Seyng she wyl not so,” etc. (ll. 8, 16, 24, 48) is probably the text being directly parodied here. Apart from the extra beat, giving a more sing-song feel to the opening and alternate line (repeated in ll. 34, 36, 45, 47), the poetic form is identical: six eight-line stanzas rhyming ababcdcd in trimeter. Some of Wyatt’s lines can be mapped on to “My harte Doth pant” (see the line glosses below). Poem 89, in turn, was the model for an extremely popular mock love poem, with a similar rhetorical structure, that circulated widely in manuscript (“Oh love whose power and might”) and was printed, with a similarly styled “Answer,” in The Marrow of Complements, 1654, sig. H4r–v. 157 The wider currency of 89 is also suggested from a musical setting of eight lines from the poem (ll. 1–4, 37–40) in John Merro’s partbooks BL, Add. MSS 17792–96 (Me2), i, fol. 60r, ii, fol. 64r, iii, fol. 67r, iv fol. 30r, v. 156   For example, Sir John Davies parodied many popular forms of Elizabethan amorous verse in his “gulling sonnets” (see the commentary to 115). 157   The poem is attributed to various authors among which John Hoskyns and (Robert) Polden are the most credible; Williams (2012, 2:282–83) points out the link to New College, Oxford, and cites twenty-two manuscript copies, and a further five appearances in print miscellanies. This poem is discussed in Smyth 2004, 79, 91–92, 95.

262

Commentary

fol. 60r (Brett 1967, 182 [no. 35]); and two more manuscript copies in Bod., MS Eng. hist. c.476, fol. 138r (Eh) and Folger, MS V.b.199, p. 99 (Vb). 158 The attribution to “Russell” could refer to a member of the Russell family of Strensham, Worcestershire, to whom Coningsby was distantly related. The 1569 Visitation (“County of Worcester”) records that Kinard Russell, a third son of Robert Russell of Strensham, had married Elizabeth a daughter of Thomas Coningsby and his second wife Anne Hagley (Phillimore 1888, 118–19). Humfrey Coningsby’s half-sister Joyce Jeffreys also mentions a cousin with this surname in her book of household accounts (“my cosin Mary Russels maid”; Spicksley 2012, 177). One possible candidate is John Russell of Strensham (1551–93) since he is also associated with Gilbert Littleton, who was married to Elizabeth, sister to the compiler’s close cousin Sir Thomas Coningsby of Hampton Court (these kinship ties can be seen in Appendix 2: family tree B). 159 title Nec . . . altera “Neither one nor the other” 17–18 Cf. “And seing it is my chaunce / My loue in vaine to wast” (Wyatt’s “Now must I lern,” ll. 41–42) 19–21 Cf. “And wheras I loued best / Alas she did not so” (Wyatt”s “Now must I lern,” ll. 39–40) 37–40 These lines are echoed in stanza 4 of the mock love song, “Oh love whose power and might”: Teares overflow my eyes With flouds of daily weeping, That in the silent night, I cannot rest for sleeping. (The Marrow of Complements, sig. H4v)



Cf. Wyatt’s “Now must I lern,” ll. 35–38: . . . the wo and payne That dayly dyd me take No slepe could I nor rest But tossying to and fro.

158   For Vb, I have relied upon a transcript (ca. 1790) headed “The following verses are copied verbatim from an old manuscript [i.e., Vb] belonging to the family of Shakespere of Rowington now in the possession of Mr John Payton Alderman and Magistrate of the Borough of Stratford upon Avon,” Shakespeare Brithplace Trust, ER/1/117/21, fol. 96. 159   History of Parliament Online: “Russell, John II (1551–93), of Strensham, Worcs.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558–1603/ member/russell-john-ii-1551–93.

Poem 89

263

41–42 proverbial, “A women says nay and means aye” (Tilley W660) 44 proverbial (Tilley D74) Collations: Eh, Me2, and Vb (from the transcript in Shakespeare Brithplace Trust, ER/1/117/21, f. 96). Title: Nec una, nec altera om.*   2 life] flesh Me2; away Doth wast] consumeth fast*   3 requiers] requireth Eh   5–36 om. Me2   6 In .  .  . panges] With such torments Eh Vb   10 were] is Vb   11 Therfore] Wherefore Eh Vb   12 follies] fansis Eh, sarow Vb  13 clearely] cleare I Vb  14 fancies] musinge Eh   15 And . . . do] Hoping to sped   16 lose] loves Vb; her as] as for Eh   17 Indede . . . is] Indeed my choise was Eh, But sinces my lot is Vb   18 That . . . lost] of layt to lose Eh   19 that] whom Eh Vb   20 wer not sure] werr unsure Eh, proves unsure Vb   21 And] But Eh Vb; is] were Eh   22 In] With Vb   23 And . . . her] and since I knewe her Eh, I trust she knowes my Vb   24 Dy] am Eh Vb   25–32 om. Eh Vb   33 I . . . sicke] I lovef so much] Vb   34 If . . . not] Unless I haue Eh, I have not yet Vb   36 Vnless] But when Eh Vb; be] is Eh Vb   37 And] Heare Vb; is] lies Eh; sore] set Me2   38 hart] hearts Me2   40 he that sleepes] they that sleep Me2   41–48 om.*   Subscription: Russell] om.* Inserted after l. 40 Eh: I loue to site alone when others sit a quaffinge and then I make such mone I cannot weepe for laughinge Loue plaieth so her parte such fits she makes me feele it paineth so my harte it paines me at my heell And when I lye in bedd ne maruell though I tumble it paneth so my hed it makes my belly rumble and when I faine would wepe and maike such pittius mone with loue I faule a sleep and all mi sensis gon All yew that lovers bee bee ware of Venus frumps taike heed and learne by mee I leeue and loue by lumps expell that fancy gest

264

Commentary

cum not with in his skoole loue is a harmfull beast and maketh many a foole Finis an End

Inserted after l. 40 Vb: And when I ly in bed No marvel thought [sic] I tumbiell Lovef plagese so my hed It makes my belly rumbull And when I fene woud wipe And make suem pitis moeune With lovef I fall a slipe And all my grevef is goen. Heare lovef lyes at my hart As het as boubelling teoe [tow?] Which makes the gron^e^d to smart Wheare on I goe or doe, [line drawn underneath] And yet she thinks not mi To bi a loving man Wheare as you all may si I Lovef her as I can. But theare I wyoning cri If lovef in mi bi ded That tracing tumbulling I Ma fall bi side mi hed What greater grevef of maynd To wiokes [?] mi selef such harme Wheare bony wyenches caynd I am a loving Worme.

Hy derives from an earlier tradition of the poem; the other witnesses share a common ancestor. This is seen in line 2 (present in all three witnesses) where EhMe2-Vb have “consumeth fast,” for Hy’s “away Doth wast,” which is the reading with the more successful rhyme combination “wast”/ “ . . . hast”. In an attempt to make a more sensible reading of a corrupt line, Me2 also introduces another variant in this line, “flesh” for “life,” which is in all other witnesses. In the eight lines preserved in Me2, another variant, “set” (l. 37), creates a defective end-rhyme. Other slight changes are probably adjustments made to make a coherent whole of an abridged text set to music. Eh and Vb have additional stanzas, which were

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probably added during the poem’s circulation and, no doubt, injected new interest and further transmision of the poem in that form. These two texts also lack the same two stanzas (ll. 25–32, ll. 41–48) present in Hy. Both add additional stanzas not in Hy and share one of these, placed differently, i.e., the second of the additional stanzas after l. 40 in Eh and the first in Vb: “And when I ly in bed / . . . And all my greuef [sensis] goen”. Hy’s final stanza “I pray yow say amen” might have been dropped to facilitate the addition of further stanzas. Both Eh and Vb have unique additional stanzas that descend into doggerel. Eh’s concluding “Finis an End” is followed by a series of diagonal lines that seems to further denote the completion of this text; however, the same scribe followed this with another copy of the opening line of the poem headed “Brusters Enamilley [anomaly?],” followed by two more lines which could suggest another starting point for further stanzas in the same vein: “My harte dothe Qaeke & Quiuer / for feare of my Loues Displezure.” Hy contains one certain error in an otherwise error-free text: “My Death requiers hast” (l. 4) where, as all witnesses agree, “My Death requiers no hast” (my italics) is the intended reading and fits the pattern of bathetic undercutting of the familiar tropes of the courtly love lyric.

90

Hy is the only witness to identify the author as the Earl of Oxford. 160 Two more copies, without attribution, survive; one of these appears in a contemporry poetic miscellany, Ra, fols. 48v–9r, and the other is a truncated version (missing ll. 17–22, 25–30) copied much later (ca. 1630) in Rosenbach, MS 1083/16 (Rb), fols. 261v–63r. The poem must have been more widely known since Briane Melbancke, “student in Graies Inne,” paraphrased the opening two lines in his Philotimus (1583, sig. 2E1v), “my winged desire had not bene clogged with despaire,” and a musical setting survives in the “Brogyntyn Lute Book” (NLW, MS Brogyntyn 27, p. 133) for a lyric identified as “Wing’d with desire.” 161 title Cuius . . . est “of whose bidding it is wicked (sinful) to refuse” 1–2 Cf. Petrarch’s Rime 134.3: “et volo sopra ‘l cielo et giaccio in terra” [“I fly above the heavens and lie on the ground”]; Durling, 272–73. Cf. Dyer’s 12.34, 37–40: Desires wery beatinge wynges: . . . My winges to mounte Alofte, make haste:   May (1980, 34–35) places no. 90 among the certain Oxford poems (no. 12).   Melbancke quoted lines from two more poems by the Earl of Oxford (May 1980, nos. 10, 11; the latter is 3 in Hy). For the dating of Philotimus to Dec 1582, see 3 fn. 17. 160 161

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Commentary

My clogge dothe synke Me downe as faste.

4 10 11 12 22 25 26 31 36

combers troubles (OED cumber, n. 2a) cost coast crased is care should be “crased with care” (my italics); i.e., out of one’s mind with despair (OED crazed, adj. 5) scope desire, intent (OED n.2 2a) to too abrod abroad lest least; lurke hide away, withdraw (OED v. 1a) male content malcontent (OED n.1 1); as May (1980, 75) points out, Oxford was among the first to use the word in this sense The paraphrase of this line in Rb clarifies the meaning: “As each of vs to other comfort bee.”

Collations: May (1980, 119–20) collates Hy and Rb against Ra. Hy’s agreement in error with Rb at line 9, “hoary thoughtes / haires” for the more sensible reading “wearye thoughtes” in Ra (my italics) and a number of readings against Ra, suggests that these two texts are ultimately related. Rb also reads “yet” (l. 7), another evident conjunctive error which Hy’s scribe sensibly corrected to “&” in agreement with Ra. May (1980, 75) also notes Hy and Rb have the same spelling variant “male content” for Ra’s “mal-content” (l. 31) and agree in error with “this storm” (l. 35) for Ra’s “these stormes” which equates better with the plural “fortunes” in the following line. Hy introduces at least nine more unique readings most of which are evident errors. “Clad” (l. 2) was probably derived from a misreading of “clogged,” the reading in the other texts (including Melbancke’s allusion to the poem), perhaps spelled “clogd” as in Rb; the omission of “to” before “dy” (l. 3); “crased is care” for “crazed with care” (l. 1), where Rb has the corrupt reading “downd in dread”; “a” for “in” (l. 13); “leave” for “lend” (l. 14); Ra’s pairing “least . . . best” (l. 20) is better than Hy’s “small . . . best”; “I hover hy & ceezd wher hope doth towre” (l. 23) should read “soare” as in Ra where Rb has the corrupt reading “wher Hope doth build the tower”; and “I live abrod, yet secret it my lyfe” (l. 25) is a better reading (if you substitute “is” for “it”) than Ra’s “I liue abrod but still in secreat greef,” which, as May (1980, 75) points out, could be an error caused by eye-skip to the similar ending at line 16). The subsequent rhyme “greef . . . stryfe” is also weak, but Hy creates a similarly imperfect rhyme “lyfe . . . grief ” with an error in line 27 (“Deadly grief,” which is inferior to Ra’s “endles stryfe” where “Peace” is placed in apposition to “stryfe”). Rb, with twelve missing lines and numerous unique readings, is significantly more corrupt than Hy.

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Poems 90–91

Head-note to 91–92 Coningsby subscribed these two unique texts with his own initials, a habitual practice that does not usually indicate an authorial function. In this instance, however, certain features in the presentation of the poems and the amateurish quality suggest that they are his (see Introd., lxiii–lxv). Both poems, on facing pages, are copied in a “decorative” italic script with elaborate embellishments and tendrils added to the ascenders and descenders and assigned similarly descriptive titles and personalized subscriptions following a Latin motto (see fig. 13). The somewhat clumsy diction and unimaginative use of alliteration are stylistic features in both poems but show Coningsby trying to incorporate some of the rhetorical devices illustrated in his own personal collection of verse. He subsequently marked both texts with a single-line cross and bowdlerized the subscriptions.

91

The title of this unique text may have been inspired by similar headings found in contemporary poetic anthologies. For example, “Beyng asked . . . he aunswereth thus,” “Beyng in loue, he complaineth,” and “Beyng in trouble, he writeth thus” (The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576, sigs. F2v, L2r–v). 2

“To build on Sand” is proverbial (Tilley S88); cf. “He fondly reares his fortresse on the sande. / That buildes his trust vpon a womans troth” (Anthony Munday, Fedele and Fortunio, 1585, sig. D2r) 4 bandes bonds, shackles (OED band, n.1 1) 7 gallant gorgeous (OED adj. 1a); Gloze outward show, pretence (OED gloze, n. 2b) 9–12 hyr . . . Helen “daughter of Jupiter, and Leda . . . for hir woonderfull beautie, was twise rauished. First . . . by Theseus: afterwarde by Paris the Troiane, then being wife vnto Menalaus, which was the onely occasion of the tenne yeres siege, and finall destruction of the most famous citie of Troye” (Cooper); hoorishe Hart for this view, cf. “The reward of Whoredome by the fall of Helen” (A Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inuentions, 1578, sig. L1r). 13 Whereon On what (OED adv. 1); but only, merely, no more than (OED but, adv. 2a) 14 triflying toyes a thing of little or no value or importance, a foolish or senseless affair (OED toy, n. 5); for this alliterative phrase, see 68.3 16 Bables childrens’s playthings; pretty trifles (OED bauble, n. 2, 3) 17–18 Cf. Oxford’s “I am not as I seme to bee, / Nor when I smile, I am not glad” (May 1980, 28, no. 5). The idea that true feelings and appearances do not necessarily correspond is reinforced in the Latin tag copied beneath: Formae nvlla Fides [“you can’t trust appearances”] is a version of the popular Latin tag from Juvenal (Satires 2.8) “frontis nulla fides”;

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Commentary

cf. “for Contenaunce is so great a deceiuer, as it brought foorth this Adage, Fronti nulla fides” (George Whetstone, The Honorable Reputation of a Souldier, 1585, sig. E3r). The adage was evidently popular, and it furnished Geoffrey Whitney with a theme for one of his emblems: “But man is made, of such a seemelie shape, / That frende, or foe, is not discern’d by face” (A Choice of Emblemes, 1586, sig. N2v). Coningsby may have borrowed the version of the tag, substituting “formae” for “frontis,” from George Whetstone, who used this exact form as a personal motto in works printed during the 1570s and 1580s; for example, “Formæ nulla fides” is found on the title-page and each of the sectional title-pages (sigs. D8r, G4r, K1r) in The Rocke of Regard (1576).

92

The cryptic set of letters “R. D. T. F. O. F.” (“Rather Death Than False Of Faith”), attached to the subscription, form part of Coningsby’s personal signature and also appear on the cover verso (see ix). title

In Passione Melancholica “In a melancholic passion”; see the note at 150 on the title “A passion” 3 thoughtes . . . Woundes Cf. Dyer’s 1.38, 45: “My thoughtes like rvins owld, / . . . O thoughtes, no thoughtes but woundes.” 7 nor . . . Death Cf. Dyer’s 1.17: “Yet not the wished deathe.” 11–12 Cf. Gorges’ 23.4: “For well I know the Fates themselues, at such my fortune spighte”; for the device Puttenham calls the “Parenthesis or the Insertour,” see Dyer’s 10.9–10n. 13 Cf. 61.15: “neither ^pen^ can wryte, nor tonge proteste.” 14 to too 16 but Wynde from the proverbial “To talk to the Wind” (Tilley W438) 19 Contra . . . fatvvm [“It is foolish to strive against fate”] the proverbial “It is hard (folly, in vain) to strive against the Stream” (Tilley S927)

93

The “Cambridge Libell” is the counterpart to Thomas Buckley’s libel of Oxford (ca. 1564) and similarly catalogues the amorous exploits of prominent members of University and town. 162 Whereas the numerous extant versions, excerpts, and adaptations from the libel of Oxford attest to its enduring popularity, only one more copy of the Cambridge libel has survived, Hn, fols. 132r–35v. One explanation for the low survival rate of the Cambridge libel is that the authorities may 162

  For the Oxford libel, see Hughey 1960, 2:276–78.

Poems 91–93

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have been more efficient in curtailing its circulation at an early stage of transmission. May and Bryson have found evidence in the records of the Vice-Chancellor’s court at Cambridge of the indictment of those responsible for writing and distributing manuscript copies of the libel (2016, 336–63, no. 50). But a reference in the university play The Returne from Pernassus performed at St John’s College, Cambridge during the Christmas festivities of 1601/2 to the “Chronicle of Cambridge Cuckolds” suggests that the notoriety of the libel was long-lived, at least in Cambridge circles (May and Bryson 2016, 346). 163 Hughey established the date of Harington’s copy of the libel to ca. 1568–73 from a name pun in stanza 22 (“Cresset light”) given in the marginal key as “Mr Cressey of Jesus Colledge” (1960, 2:269). Hugh Cressy matriculated from Queens’ College in 1568 but migrated at some point to Jesus College before entering Caius College on 18 August 1573. Hy’s version of this line reads “candlelight” (l. 132) for “Cresset light,” and there is no marginal annotation for Cressey, but a date of composition early in the 1570s fits the new evidence of proceedings against the libelers in the Vice-Chancellor’s court of Cambridge University during 1574. Both copies of the libel contain a closing quatrain (probably a later addition) claiming that the libel was “Devised by vayne vallenger,” but Hy’s two variant closing lines (not present in Harington’s version) give the additional information: “But as it is reported of all / It was invented by Argall” (ll. 261– 62). 164 May and Bryson have confirmed Gabriel Argall’s authorship of the libel from the records of the Vice-Chancellor’s court and established that the libel was co-authored by Owen Rowland, both men being subsequently expelled from the University. 165 The authors include their own sexual exploits with “Thatchers wife” in the verse libel (see ll. 149, 151, and marginal annotations to the stanzas in which these lines appear). May and Bryson also find evidence in the Vice-Chancellor’s court records of the prosecution of an individual responsible for disseminating the libel: Where as I Jeromye Kyd of late understanding of an infamouse ryme or libell to be made and keping the lewde companye of the authors therof dyd not onlie procure a copye of it to my selfe/ & learnd the interpretacon & meanyng of every part/ and so publyshed mowche of yt wth my owne mowth / but also did gyve owt certeyn copies wth the interpretacon as I had   93 is termed the “Cockalls callender” in line 259.   May and Bryson suggest that these lines were added after 1582 in the wake of Richard Vallenger’s conviction in Star Chamber for libeling (including pro-Catholic propaganda) and point out that the final stanza is a misfit in terms of its form and meter (2016, 348–49). 165   Argall took his BA at Christ Church, Oxford in 1570 from whence he was admitted to Cambridge as a member of Trinity Hall, proceeding to MA in 1573; Rowland took his BA from Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1571 (May and Bryson 2016, 347). 163

164

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Commentary

learned before/ wherbye it is now spreade further abrode amonges manye to the great slaundr [sic] of divers honest persones in this towne. (Cambridge University archives, Collect. Admin. 13, fol. 199r; quoted in May and Bryson 2016, 348).

Jeremiah Kydd’s confession provides the illuminating detail that copies of the libel had been prepared with the “interpretacon,” i.e., the key to identify the individuals whose names are punningly referred to in the text, and may have been the source for some of marginal annotations in Hy. With the evidence of the prosecution of those responsible for disseminating the libel, it is not surprising that Coningsby employed a cypher to disguise the names in the marginal annotations (see the “Note on the Cypher,” Introd., lxxi). 166 The marginal annotations were first transcribed without bowdlerization, and elements of the original letters are visible. The cypher must have been quite well known as it is found among some manuscript additions (following plate 31 on one of 28 unnumbered leaves) to the Cambridge University Library copy of John Davies of Hereford’s The Writing Schoolemaster printed in 1636 (CUL, Syn.7.63.148). The key is given below, but an ink-blot obscures most of it.

(“Zocrates also he records that he is full of we | Who hauing little is full fraught with | and health.”) For full commentary and collations for 93, see May and Bryson, 2016, 336– 63.

166   The familiar name for the libel “Cockalls callender,” cited at line 259, is also partly placed in cypher.

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Poems 93–94

94

The target of this satirical verse is a troupe of players whose chief members are the “Duttons.” Brothers John and Laurence Dutton were well-established figures in the acting fraternity making regular appearances at court with an established company of players that enjoyed the protection of increasingly powerful noblemen. 167 In 1575 the Dutton brothers’ company gained the patronage of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, brother of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. As the “Earl of Warwick’s Men” they appeared regularly at court from 1575–79, and it is clear from a reference made by Gabriel Harvey that they were an established London company by the summer of 1579 (Chambers 1951, 2:98). In 1580 the switch in patronage memorialized in the heading of the manuscript libel took place: the Dutton brothers (and an unspecified number of their company) transferred their services to the Earl of Oxford. In the heading they are called “Camœlions,” and they have literally changed their colors due to the practice of wearing the livery of the nobleman they were serving. The Duttons’ self-appointed title as the Earl of Oxford’s “Comœdians,” an attempt to mark themselves out as serious actors, is thoroughly traduced in the libel by placing them amongst the lowest and most disreputable types of itinerant entertainers. 168 The verse description of the mock coat of arms created for the actors also ridicules their pretensions to gentility. 169 Another copy, made by the clergyman, author, and limner Stephen Batman, is accompanied by an elaborate illustration of the burlesque coat of arms described in the poem, Bod., MS Douce 363 (Dou), fol. 140r. The  Chambers records Laurence Dutton’s name as the payee for performances at court during the Christmas of 1571/2 in the company of Sir Robert Lane’s Men. Subsequently, perhaps as a result of the statute of 1572 (see below 3n.), Laurence Dutton and his company sought the protection of the Earl of Lincoln and became “Lord Clinton’s Men” (1951, 2:96–97). 168   In 1583 John Dutton was among those quality actors chosen to form the newly founded Queen’s Men, and his brother Laurence joined some years later. In the light of the prestigious nature of the Dutton’s acting company, the libel’s equating them with rogue players and minstrels is highly insulting. Sharpe asserts that “few historians who have studied the social attitudes current in early modern England . . . would not agree that considerations of honour, good name, and reputation were of central importance to that society” and that the concern for reputation appears to run “from the top to very near the bottom of English society in this period” (1980, i). 169   Members of the Inns of Court, being largely populated by the sons of the landed gentry — according to Stone (1965, 690), more so than both the universities put together​ — ​had a highly developed sense of social distinction. John Ferne composed his Blazon of Gentrie (1586) whilst resident at the Inner Temple and dedicated it “especailly [to] those four nursing sisters to the common wealth . . . to the honorable assemblyes of the Innes of court.” On the title-page Ferne carefully delineated the intended audience of his work: “for the instruction of all Gentlemen bearers of Armes, whom and none other this worke concerneth.” 167

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heading has been cropped but can still be read as: “a scand[al] . . . co[mpany] . . . Gentilite. imagined Anno/1580/.” 170 Much of the humour in the poem is achieved by the employment of perfectly correct heraldic terminology to describe the ridiculous and degrading emblems chosen to adorn the actors’ family coat of arms. The animals are lowly and smelly (“A woodcocke,” “a Calfe,” “a Sheepe,” “a Dormouse,” and “A Vyper in stynche” ll. 5–7), and there are depictions of degrading punishments: ear boring and nose slitting (l. 12) and men hanging from the gallows (l. 14). The wreath is adorned with the symbol of lechery, “the Horne of a Gote” (l. 21), and their ancestral home is the notorious Southwark prison “the Clynke” (l. 26). While the Duttons are named in the heading, there is an aura of secrecy attached to the epithet “certayne gentlemen,” a device which gives anonymity to the authors of the libel. In fact, the insulting verses were written by Inns of Court students and formed part of an ongoing quarrel with the players; the evidence for this comes from two Privy Council minutes from April and May 1580: [April 13] Robert Leveson and Larrance Dutton, servantes unto the Erle of Oxford, were committed to the Mareshalsea for committing of disorders and frayes appon the gentlemen of the Innes of Courte. [May 26] A letter to the Lord Chiefe Justice, Master of the Rolles and Mr. Justice Southcote, to examine a matter of a certaine fraye betwene the servauntes of th’erle of Oxforde and the gentlemen of the Innes of the Courtes. (quoted in Chambers 1951, 4:280)

The confrontations between the Duttons and the Inns of Court students had also prompted a letter from the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Nicholas Woodrofe. Writing to the Lord Chancellor two days after the incident at the theater (on 12 April 1580) Woodrofe betrays a tone of regret that the matter is in the hands of the Privy Council, and his attempt to summon the players has been denied. In the letter Woodrofe takes the opportunity to promote his view that plays presented a “great corruption of youthe with vnchast and wicked matters, occasion of muche incontinence, practises of many ffrayes, querrells, and other disorders and inconueniences” and that “the players of playes, which are vsed at the Theatre . . . are a very superfluous sort or men” (Chambers 1951, 4:279). The anti-theatrical lobby was extremely active at this period, and the question of the legitimacy   Batman’s volume contains many interesting illustrations, some of which were made for his copy of Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey. Batman (d. 1584) could have obtained a copy from any number of his numerous connections called upon in his antiquarian collecting. From around 1582, he was chaplain to Henry Carey, first Baron Hunsdon, a patron of the city theater (ODNB: Batman). 170

Poem 94

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and morality of plays animated a broad cross-section of society, from the city authorities and clergy, to university scholars who debated this topic. But there is nothing in the libel aimed at these hotly debated issues touching on the morality of plays, their disruptive effect, and their influence in drawing people away from the church. And as Finkelpearl points out, the students of the Inns of Court along with the apprentices of London were the two main groups mentioned most frequently in contemporary allusions to the public theaters (1969, 27). Chambers suggests that the involvement of the Inns of Court students had more to do with partisan allegiances than any moral objections to the performance of plays: the Earl of Oxford’s Men “had arranged, possibly during the absence of Leicester’s men from town, to occupy the Theatre” (Chambers 1951, 2:100). 171 Rivalry between noble patrons and their followers was clearly at issue, and the elite social make-up of the Inns of Court meant that patronage loyalties were established according to long standing kinship and social ties. The Inns of Court men might have felt a more personal affront since Warwick’s brother, the Earl of Leicester, was a patron of the Inns and had many contacts with them. In 1561, he had used his influence to prevent the Inner Temple from losing one of their Inns of Chancery (Lyons Inn), and in gratitude they made him Christmas Prince, set up the Dudley arms in the Hall, and vowed never to enter into any legal matter with Dudley or his heirs (Bland 1984, 12). 172 That the case was something of a cause célèbre is suggested in references to a company of “proud statute rogues” in the Inns of Court play Histrio-mastix or the Player Whipt (1610), believed to be a John Marston rewrite of a play from the 1580s, where players enter the stage singing: “That once in a weeke, new maisters wee seeke, / And never can hold together” (sig. C3v). 173 1–2 2

in describing a blazon, the color of the Fyeld (the background of the shield) is given first, then the “charges” (the objects on the shield); corded heraldic term for any charge bound with or having cords flurty a charge scattered with fleurs-de-lis is called a fleuretty (Friar 2004, 265)

171   The Earl of Leicester’s men, headed by James Burbage had built their own theater in London in 1576 (known as “the Theatre”), which they occupied apart from provincial tours until 1583 (Chambers 1951, 2:88). Gurr also cites “rivalry between noble patrons at court” as a possible explanation for the frays between the law students and players (2004, 148). 172   Leicester’s intimate association with the Inner Temple continued throughout his life but his patronage was not confined to any one of the Inns and included George Gascoigne at Gray’s Inns, Timothy Kendall at Staple Inn, Robert Peterson at Lincoln’s Inn, and William Blandie at the Middle Temple (Rosenberg 1955, 47, 179). 173   Mann (1991, 306) presents this idea: “the tone of the verses [i.e., 94] is consonant with the view of players taken in Histriomastix.”

274 3

Commentary

lyther ill-tempered (OED adj. 1a); stampant a play on the heraldic term “rampant” (see below 4n.); Roge vagabond. The status of players was already precarious since an Act passed in 1572 “for the punishment of Vacabondes” specified: Comon Players in Enterludes . . . not belonging to any Baron of this Realme or towardes any other honorable Personage of Greater Degree . . . shall wander abroade and have not Lycense of two Justices of the Peace at the leaste . . . shalbee taken adjudged and deemed Roges Vacaboundes and Sturdy Beggers. (quoted in Chambers 1951, 4:268)

4

rampant heraldic term denoting a beast in an upright position with its left hind paw on the ground (Friar 2004, 272) 5 displayed heraldic term denoting having the wings expanded (OED 2a) 6 splayed spayed; a play on the heraldic term “displayed” (see 5n. above) 7 in stynche emitting an offensive odour; la . . . la the part of the 7–8 Drut, / . . . backwarde i.e., turd 8 cracke . . . Nut work that out (OED nut, n.1 4); proverbial (Tilley N359) 9 Party per refers to the divisions of the shield into parts; replaces more usual terms for parted fields, “per pale,” “per fess,” “per chevron,” etc. (Fox-Davies 1969, 271); pillery act of pillage, extortion, or robbery (OED n.); perced a heraldic term for “the circular hole in a charge [a device borne on a shield] through which the field shows” (Woodcock and Robinson 1988, 205). 10 lytherly pliantly, smoothly (from OED lither, adj. 4) 11 crospate in heraldic terminology “cross paty” is described as a cross where the ends were splayed or widened (Hope 1913, 111) 12 Eares perforate a punishment stipulated in the 1572 statute (see 3n. above): “burnte through the gristle of the right Eare with a hot Yron of the compasse of an Ynche about, manifestinge his or her rogyshe kynde of Lyef ” (quoted in Chambers 1951, 4:270) 13 Owles In heradic symbolism “signifies a lazy man, cowardly in battle, who lives on plunder and rapine, in contrast to its usual role as a symbol of wisdom” (Woodcock and Robinson 1988, 64). 14 pendent hanging; also a heraldic term to describe a shield suspended or hanging from a branch of a tree, or from a nail 16 for a difference the small devices introduced in a coat of arms to distinguish different members of a family and its cadet branches are described “for difference” (Friar 2004, 207) 17 wreathe “the junction of the crest with the helm .  .  . masked .  .  . by a twisted wreath or torse of two or more differently coloured stuffs” (Hope 1913, 56); chaungeable red i.e., varying shades of red (OED changeable, adj. 3)

Poem 94

275

19

Creste a three-dimensional device affixed to a helmet (Friar 2004, 172); Castrylle kestrel 19–20 Blew, / . . . neuer be trew subverts the usual color symbolism (see 95.3– 4n.) 20 Fydlers See also below 30n.; the verse coat of arms confounds the actors with the lowest status of professional musicians, described by one character-writer as “a Bastard of the Muses” who “scrapes out a poore liuing,” and whose ear is most attuned to “the chinking of money” (Micrologia, 1629, sig. C7v). 23 indented describes a type of line delineating the compartments of the shield (Friar 2004, 181) 24 innebulated Plays on the heraldic term nebulated, i.e., clouded or bedimmed (OED nebulated, adj.); cf. “Of Armes parted, cloudy or, nebulated” (The Gentlemans Academie, 1595, sig. Y1r) 25 Mantled “the mantling . . . is a protective cloth affixed to the helmet and, in a coat of arms, is depicted as flowing from beneath the crest” (Friar 2004, 177) 26 the Clynke notorious Southwark prison 27–28 Posy the motto shown on a scroll beneath the shield (Woodcock and Robinson 1988, 112); fyt (OED n.1) a part of a song or piece of music; Nashe, in the prologue to his Summers Last Will and Testament (1600; performed 1593), intructs the players to begin with “a fit of mirth, and an old song.” 29 Heraultes heralds 30 Fidlers See above 20n.; but here, there may be a pun intended on another current meaning of fiddle for persons making aimless or frivolous movements (OED fiddle, v. 3a); beare . . . Armes show or exhibit armorial bearings; Towelle linen or hemp cloth for drying; but also used in the period for a table-napkin or other cloth used at meals (OED towel, n. 1a). The idea of displaying a coat of arms on such a lowly household item is the parting shot of the libel and thoroughly traduces the actors’ pretensions to gentility. Collations: Dou. 6 splayed] spaied  7 Drut] durt  10 lytherly] lythorye  15 in them] is then   17   The] Three   18 To shew] in token   19 The] There   20 Fydlers] fidling knawes The texts are very close. Most of Dou’s variant readings are errors: “durt” (l. 7) should be “drut” (my italics), as in Hy, so that, “backwarde,” it reads “turd”; two variants create metrical irregularities (ll. 18, 20), and three more are obvious errors probably caused by scribal slips (ll. 15, 17, 19). The lack of definitive error in

276

Commentary

Hy suggests that a fair copy of the libel, perhaps made by a professional scribe, had been produced for limited circulation at one of the Inns of Court.

95

No further copies have been traced of this anonymous poem. Color-symbolism in the early modern period derived from classical literature, the color associations in sacred literature, and medieval color-symbolism. Linthicum (1936, 17–23) cites some influential works devoted wholly to color-symbolism, and points out that a potent source of color-symbolism was heraldry. Geoffrey Whitney’s “In colores” (A Choice of Emblemes, 1586, sig. R3v) incorporates a similar catalogue of contemporary color-symbolism, although there is some variation in what the colors mean. For example, Whitney assigns yellow “vnto the couetous wighte. / And vnto those, whome ielousie doth fret,” whereas poem 95 suggests it denotes “Ioyes . . . & Sportes” (see below 11n.); the complex language of color-symbolism was mocked by Jonson, among others (see below 3–4n.). 1–2 Russet a coarse woollen cloth of a reddish-brown or subdued color, commonly worn by country people and the poor (OED n. 1a); cf. “the poore and meaner sorte prouide, / The medley, graye, and russet, neuer dy’de” (A Choice of Emblemes, sig. R3v); Travelors weare i.e., traveler’s clothes 3–4 Cf. “A deintie draught to lay her downe in blue, / The collour commonlie betokening true” (George Peele, The Araygnement of Paris, 1584, sig. A4r); Ben Jonson satirises the use of color symbolism as a coded language between lovers in Cynthias Reuells: Amo[rphus]. As your gentile dor, in colours. For supposition, your mistris appeares heere in prize, ribbanded with greene, and yellow; now it is the part of euery obsequious seruant, to be sure to haue daily about him copie, and varietie of colours, to be presently answerable to any hourely, or halfhourely change in his mistris resolution . . . that the greene your mistris weares, is her reioycing or exultation in his seruice; the yellow, suspicion of his truth, (from her height of affection:) and that he (greenly credulous) shall withdraw thus, in priuate, and from the aboundance of his pocket (to displace her ielous conceit) steale into his hat the colour, whose bluenesse doth expresse truenesse. (The Workes, 1616, sig. V4v)

5–6 7–8

Cf. “Simply . . . [Purple] sheweth iurisdiction, a ruler of lawes, and in iustice, to be æqual with a prince” (Gerard Legh, Accedens of Armory, 1562, sig. C3v). Cf. “The colour of his coate is lustie greene” (The Araygnement, sig. C3v); “The greene, agrees with them in hope that liue: / And eeke to youthe,

277

Poems 94–96

9 10 11

this colour wee do giue” (A Choice of Emblemes, sig. R3v); yonker a fashionable young man (OED younker, n. 2a). Cf. Isaiah 1.18: “thogh your sinnes were as crimsin, they shalbe made white as snow.” Cf. “your orange spightfull” (William Cavendish, The Country Captaine, 1649, sigs. B2v–3r). Yellowe Ioyes Cf. Dev. . . . your yellow is joy . . . Lad. Why yeallow Sir is jealous. Dev. Noe it is your lemon colour, a pale kinde of yeallow is jealous; your yeallow is perfect ioye. (The Country Captaine, sig. B2v)

15

Murrey color resembling that of the mulberry; reddish purple or blood red (OED n.1 1) 17–20 Whetstone and Whitney also clothe the “forsaken” lover in tawny: “In tawnie now I forced am to goe, / (Forsaken wretch!) my mystresse scorne to shoe” (The Rocke of Regard, 1576, sig. F7v); and “The man refus’d, in Taunye doth delite” (A Choice of Emblemes, sig. R3v). 25–26 The closing couplet is marked out from the rest of the poem for its change in meter from fourteener to pentameter. It acts like an envoy giving the author’s parting words. The idea that the poem was composed by reason of constraynte suggests some kind of coercion reminiscent of the poetic challenge on set themes that George Gascoigne underwent before he was allowed to be re-admitted into Gray’s Inn (Pigman 2000, 58).

96

Hughey identifies the author as John Harington the elder (1971, 87); the evidence for this comes from a copy headed with Harington’s monogram in TCD, MS 160 (TC), fol. 176v. 174 It is evident from Harington’s autograph contributions to TC that he had access to the collection at some point. 175 Hughey (1971, 257) draws attention to similar sententious, riddle-like verses collected by Harington, 174   TC’s copy of 96 appears beneath a six-line verse copied in the same italic hand (“degrese of lyghtnes lefte behynde”; as Hughey suggests, “the monogram ‘I H’, which is written between the two poems, may designate authorship of both” (1971, 257). 175   Harington copied a poem by Surrey (fol. 178r–v; CELM SuH 62) and another, self-authored, he signed with his monogram (“Yf Ryght be rakt and over Roon”; for an extract from this poem, see 69). Hughey suggests that Harington obtained access to TC (then in the hands of George Blage d. 1551) after he succeeded Blage as constable of Caernarvon Castle in 1551 (ibid.).

278

Commentary

headed “dyvers sentences,” in Hn (fols. 27v–30r). Harington may have been responding to a poem of Wyatt’s printed in Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes (1557) with the title, “That speaking or profering bringes alway speding” (sig. L2v). Harington’s poem appears to have circulated widely, and five more substantive copies appear without attribution in 1) a miscellany associated with Edward Gunter of Lincoln’s Inn, Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 108 (R10), fol. 12v; 2) Edward Hoby’s personal manuscript book, headed “Incerti Authoris,” BL, Add. MS 38823 (A3), fol. 48r; 3) Robert Commaundre’s miscellany of prose and verse, BL, Egerton MS 2642 (E), fol. 256v; 176 4) a volume containing an abridged text of Humphrey Lhuyd’s English version of Brut y Tywysogion belonging to Thomas Powell (d. 1588) of Whittington, Shropshire, NLW, MS 23202B, (232), fol. 171v; and 5) a composite volume (transcript ca. 1600), BL, Harl. MS 2296 (H96), fol. 138r. 1 4

proverbial, “spare to speak, spare to speed” (Tilley S709) the cheapness of words is proverbial (Tilley W808, W804)

Collations: A3, E, H96, R10, TC, and 232. Title: om.] Incerti Authoris A3, Of speache E, “I H” TC   1 He] Who R10; spareth] spares TC; for to] to A3 E H96 R10 TC; oft . . . intente] hathe hardly his intent A3 TC, Shall not have his intent E, maie misse his intent H96, it is long er he spped R10, long er he haue his intent 232   2 & . . . therby] he that speaketh and spedeth A3, Yf hee speade when he speaketh E H96 R10, he that speaks and speeds TC, & he that spedeth when he speketh 232; labor] speaking A3 TC, speache E H96 R10 232   3 sub. Yf he speade not when hee speakethe What hathe hee Lost E H96 R10, And if he spede not, when he speketh, what hathe he lost 232; spekes] speaketh A3; spedeth] speeds TC; labour] speaking A3 TC   4 sub. Hee hath spent but his speache and small is his coste E R10, He hath loste but his speech and smalle is his coste H96, He spendeth but his speech, & small is his cost 232; So] Yet A3, and yet TC; slender] small A3 TC Hy is a variant version unrelated to the other witnesses collated. TC is the oldest copy though this version has fewer inflected verb endings and has some claim to authority, based on its context in a collection associated with Harington. A3 is closest to TC sharing six variant readings against all the other texts.

97

Another copy of this anonymous poem, lacking the two-line envoy, is found in Ha, fol. 147r–v. A musical setting, spuriously attributed to Byrd (Brett 1970, 179), also survives, including the vocal part for the first stanza, in John Merro’s 176   Commaundre copied the same four-line extract found in Hy of another poem by Harington, see 69.

279

Poems 96–98

partbooks BL, Add. MSS 17792–96 (Me2), i. fol. 61r, ii, fol. 64r, iii fol. 68r, iv, fol. 31r, v. fol. 61r. 5 6

set vnto begin (OED set, v.1 4) Alluding to Penelope’s nightly unweaving of the web she wove to keep her suitors at bay (Homer’s Odyssey, Book 2). 7 thred of Life in classical mythology represented as a thread, spun, and cut off by the Fates (OED thread, n. 6a). 9 ere ever (see Abbott 1884, no. 131); bracke a flaw; breach, rupture (OED n.1 3) 12 favor a gift given to a lover (OED n. 7a) 13 knot of love complex ornamental knot considered to be a symbol of true love (OED n. 2); “A true Lover’s-knot” is proverbial (Tilley L571). Cf. John Marston’s description of a lover’s chamber in The Metamophoses of Pigmalions Image: “His windowes strow’d with Sonnets, and the glasse / Drawne full of loue-knots” (1598, sig. D4v). 17 Powderd decorated with scattered spots or shapes; spangled (OED powered, adj. 2a) 18 passing surpassing (OED adj. 2) 24 Discried Discovered! (OED descry, v.1 2a) Collations: Ha and Me2 (text from Brett 1970, 158–60). 3 “singinge” corr. to sowinge] singinge Ha Me2; sate] set Ha; a worke] at work Me2   5 set] sit Ha Me2   6 om. Ha  7–24 om. Me2  7 thred] lyne Ha  9 ere] or Ha  10 most] must Ha  11 every] either Ha  13 middes] midst Ha   16 skill] stille Ha   17 advise] admisse Ha   20 shall] might Ha   21 may] might Ha   22 my . . . wished] this wished worke to Ha   23 Wherwith] Therwith; aside] on mee Ha   24 And] O Ha  25–26 om. Ha Me2 In line 3, Me2 probably has the intended reading “singinge sat at worke,” where the article was ommitted before “worke” to keep the meter regular, rather than Ha’s variant “singing set a worke” (my italics). The compressed syntax in the line probably lead Coningsby to attempt an improvement with the marginal substitution of “sowinge” for “singinge,” but according to the poem the “Dame” only begins to sew at line 19. Gottschalk points out that Ha’s omission of line 6, with a space left to fill in later, and the neologism “admisse” (l. 17) indicate that the scribe “could not read his manuscript copy-text” (1974, 485).

98

Like much of the bawdy material in Hy, this unique text was inserted in a gap left at the foot of a page and is not included in the contemporary numeration of entries. This can be seen more clearly in the Overview Table in Appendix 1a.

280

Commentary

1

Pushe .  .  . pushe .  .  . push Williams (1994, 2:1119) cites a line from Aretino’s Sonetti lussoriosi 8 where “the lover exhorts the woman to respond to his efforts”: “Spingi, cor mio, ancor rispingi e spingi” (Push, my heart, yet again push and push).” 2 Cheapen i.e., from the spending of seed (Williams 1994, 3:1281) 4 nought a pun on female genitals (Williams 1994, 2:960) 5 Rushe proverbially a thing of little value (“Not worth a rush,” Tilley S918)

99

The initials assigned to this unique text record the name of an unidentified author or donor of a copy-text (for a note on attributions, see Introd., lxi–lxii). Contemporary writers with these initials include Geoffrey Fenton and John Florio. 2 4 7

lewd wicked, base (OED adj. 5) i.e., “occurred only now and then so contrary (perverse, amiss)” against the heare i.e., contrary to what should be (OED hair, n. P1); proverbial (Tilley H18)

100

This unique text is a literal translation in blank verse (by an unidentified “mistres C N”) of a French satirical sonnet, “Voiant de nostre temps l’inconstante maniere,” describing the political turmoil of 1585 (see 108 for a free translation of the same French sonnet that circulated more widely). 177 Coningsby made numerous corrections to the text after transcription, improving the translation in a few instances to more sensible readings (see below 5–6n. and 13–16n.). The French sonnet was, in fact, an updated version with new names inserted of an original piece written during an equally turbulent period in the government of France at the end of 1575. In his dated manuscript journals Pierre de l’Estoile copied both versions of the sonnet; he copied the original sonnet beginning “Voiant de nostre Estat l’inconstante manière” as the first in a collection of twelve political poems circulating in Paris at the end of 1575. It included an177   A contemporary manuscript copy of the French sonnet dated 1585 is found in Pierre de l’Estoile’s journal: BNF, MS Français 6678, fol. 286v (Lazard and Schrenck 2001, 15). Lazard and Schrenck (167) cite another copy, entitled “Sonnet sur les troubles (1586),” in BNF, MS Dupuy 770, fol. 224r, and I have located a text (ca. 1600s) in BNF, MS Français 24322, fol. 15r. In England, the French poem was copied by Edward Hoby under the heading “A pasquill of Fraunce 1585” in BL, Add. MS 38823, fol. 30r (see May 1971, 104–5). The sonnet was printed in Pierre Matthieu’s Histoire des Derniers Troubles de France . . . Livre Premier . . . jusque à l’Edict de Iulliet de l’an 1585 (1594, sig. N4r–v).

Poems 98–100

281

other verse similarly employing the analogy of the betting card game, Primero, to describe the power struggles dividing France. Ten years later he transcribed the updated version, “Voiant de nostre temps l’inconstante maniere,” introduced with the heading “Sur l’estat de ce temps. Sonnet fait sur le jeu de la prime 1585” (Lazard and Schrenck 1992, 214–15; Lazard and Schrenck 2001, 151, 167). In the later version some of the players and bystanders have changed—“Monsieur,” “La Roine” and “Le Prince” are replaced by “Bourbon,” “Le Guisard,” and “Roy d’Hespagne”—reflecting the shift in power and now disputed succession brought about by the death (10 June 1584) of the heir apparent Francis, duke of Anjou. 178 In the denouement of the poem Philip II, king of Spain, takes the place of Navarre as the partial observer with a vested interest in Guise winning—in the earlier poem Navarre is backing Prince Condé—but there is hint of treachery that reflects the mistrust of the Spanish king’s motives among both Protestant and Catholic factions. 179 3 4

5–6

7–9

Table gaming table (OED n. 9a) Prymero a gambling card-game, popular 1530–ca.1640. For a series of Notes and Queries articles piecing together the evidence on the (various) rules of the game and contemporary references to its popularity among courtiers and the gentry class in Elizabethan England, see McTear 1913. Kynge Henry III, king of France; as the reigning monarch, he metaphorically has the best hand of cards, but in the game of Primero he opts to pass. Greengrass (1995, 38) articulates the king’s position at this time: “he was under powerful pressures not to announce his own political demise by naming his successor.” The marginal correction at line 6 (although .  .  . fayre (“bien que [although] son jeu soit beau” in the French original) creates a hexameter line but improves the sense: a player in Primero with a good hand would not be expected to pass. Burbon Charles, cardinal of Bourbon, Navarre’s Catholic uncle (see 10n.), whose claim to the throne was promoted by Guise and the Catholic League after the Treaty of Joinville was ratified late in 1584 (see 13–16n.); vye the game to stake a bet (OED vie, n.3 1a).

  There is also a name variant in the surviving witnesses of the updated poem: Henry III’s influential advisor “Espernon” is mentioned in Hoby and l’Estoile’s manuscript copies in place of “Nauarrois” in Matthieu’s Histoire and, evidently, the French source text from which poem 100 was derived (i.e., “Navar” l. 10). 179   The last three lines of the earlier version read “Mais le Roy de Navarre, assistant tout debout, / Luy demande à moictié, ce pendant qu’il regarde / Le jeu de trois premiers, pour l’avertir de tout” [“But the King of Navarre helping him [i.e., Condé] at the outset, demands a half share, while he observes the game of the first three players, to keep abreast of all developments”]; for the French text, see Lazard and Schrenck 1992, 215. 178

282

Commentary

10

Navar Henry, king of Navarre, the Huguenot leader and the logical successor by strict primogeniture to the crown of France after the death of Francis, duke of Anjou, on 10 June 1584. In the game of Primero, Navarre opts to hold but would up the stakes (hazard) if his cards were better. The powerful alliance of Catholic factions cemented by the Treaty of Joinville and its claim that Bourbon was the rightful heir by consanguinity and “catholicity,” together with the papal bull of September 1585 excommunicating Navarre and Condé, had considerably weakened the Huguenot cause. 11 Guyse Henry, duke of Guise (see 13–16n.); flushe four cards of the same suit, the highest hand in Primero, would win the game. 12 Sets . . . rests bets all his reserve stakes (OED rest, n.3 5) 13–16 These lines allude to the Treaty of Joinville (31 December 1584) in which Philip II, king of Spain, made a pact with Guise and the Catholic League promising financial support (Lendynge hym money). The marginal correction in the final line (intendyng) improves the sense of this line and, like the French original, hints at the potential treachery of the Spanish king who intends to take all (“pour en fin avoir tout”).

101

This couplet is accompanied by a crude drawing of two hearts pierced by an arrow. It does not appear in Evans’ list of English posies, but there are similar examples with pictorial representation, such as “De nos [drawing of two hearts] le désir s’acomplise,” “Far apart yet nigh in [drawing of a heart],” and “Two [drawing of two hearts overlapping] soe tide let none deuide” (1931, 31, 104, 35); the collection of posies in Ha includes “Two bodies one hart” (fol. 163v). Nicholas Breton also knew this posy and incorporated it into his poem “A strange description of a rare Garden plot”: The first, the knot of loue, drawne euen by true desier, Like as it were two harts in one, and yet both would be nier. (The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D3v)

1 2

Behold gesturing to the drawing Nyer closer (OED near, adv.1 1a)

102

Coningsby originally signed his own initials to this entry, a habitual practice that is not necessarily an indication of authorship (see Introd., lxii–lxv). The lines appear as the final stanza of an anonymous poem in Ha, fols. 142v–43r. The additional stanzas (given below) do not lead logically to the conclusion reached in the

283

Poems 100–104

final verse, and the poem may be a composite text, i.e., an example of the augmentation of an existing verse by another author (for other examples, see 31 and 87). Moreover, Hy’s sixain works well as a stand-alone piece: it has an integral structure where a succession of elements are set out and then recapitulated in the last line (for this popular form of correlative verse, see 54). When hap I sought by hope of future grace My hope I lost, to vnhappines it turned The more I care content for to embrace The more I see content doth me out runne Pursuing still a shadow of delight Leauing fayre day for pleasure of a night. A false content & flattering face of hope A shadow neere but neuer ouertaken. Prison of hopes, that hampers mee from happs Girds of good will that cannot be forsaken Martire of mynde torture of flesh and spirite That payeth paynes for promised delight.

5

10

1 aduenture risk, chance (OED v. 3); strypes strokes or lashes with a whip (OED n.2 2a) Collations: Ha. 1 borne] yong; aduenture] do venter   2 Men, blowes] Men venter blowes; for wealthe . . . rule] for Rule, for wealth   3 to] get; glitteryng are] glitter gaye   4 lyves] deathes; when] where; seke their] thinke to   5 Like . . . birdes] like birds, like men   Subscription: ] om. Hy presents a high number of variant readings some of which are certain errors: “borne” (l. 1) is an inferior reading to “yong”; the omission of “venter” (l. 2) disturbs the otherwise regular iambic pentameter lines; and “glitteryng are” for “glitter gaye” creates a defective end-rhyme (l. 3). But as Gottschalk points out in her edition of the manuscript, Ha is also defective: “in the second stanza . . . the rhymes simply fail (‘hope’ with ‘happs’), and in the first stanza also ‘turned’ with ‘runne’” (1974, 55).

103–4

Like the extracts of verse in different hands on the cover leaf, these items are not included in the contemporary numeration of entries (see Overview Table in Appendix 1a). Hand B has been identified as St Loe Kniveton’s autograph (see Introd., xxiv); Hand D belongs to an unidentified Charles Evans, who may be a

284

Commentary

relative of another minor contributor to the manuscript Edward Evans of Shropshire (see the commentary to i). The Latin distich is a playful tribute to Virgil that appeared in sixteenthcentury editions of Virgil’s work in a section of the Virgilian appendix headed “Epigrammata . . . in Virgilivm Epitaphia.” The conceit of the verse is a description of Virgil’s literary progress from pastoral (pastor) in his Eclogues through bucolic (arator) in the Georgics to epic and concerns with war and martial deeds (eques) in the Aeneid. 180 The enduring appeal of the distich rests on its use of the literary device of correlation: a condensed form of expression where a series of elements (things or ideas) presented in one line mirror another series in subsequent lines to produce another reading of the text (for the popularity of this device, see the commentary to 115). 181 Abraham Fraunce quoted the Latin distich among examples of “conceipted kindes of verses” in The Arcadian Rhetorike, 1588 (Fr), sig. E1v, commenting that the lines were “as well knowne, as their author is vnknowne.” 182 It was a popular addition to student verse miscellanies of the 1580s and ’90s, whose compilers evidently enjoyed the challenge of trying to convert the lines into an equally successful example of correlative verse in English. The following English versions in varying meter were copied with the Latin text in (i) Ma, fol. 20r; (ii) Ra, fol. 83v; (iii) Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 112 (R12), fol. 73r reversed; and (iv) Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 213 (R13), fol. 1r: 183

  Cf. the lines on Virgil in the October eclogue (ll. 56–59) of Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender (1579):   Through his Mecœnas left his Oaten reede,   Whereon he earst had taught his flocks to feede,   And laboured lands to yeild the timely eare,   And eft did sing of warres and deadly drede. “E.K.” glosses: “in these three verses are the three seuerall workes of Virgile intended. For in teaching his flocks to feede, is meant his Æglogues. In labouring of lands, is hys Georgiques. In singing of wars and deadly dreade, is his diuine Æneis figured.” 181   The distich was also quoted by Scaliger in his Poetices (1561) in a section entitled “affectus dispositione” [“Effects resulting from order or arrangement”]; Richard Willes’ Poematum Liber (1573) includes the distich to exemplify “Carmen Correlatiuum.” 182   The English translation copied beneath the Latin lines is “probably Fraunce’s own” (Seaton 1950, xxx-xxi): “A goteheard, plowman, knight, my goates, my fields, my foes, / I fed, I tild, I kild, with bowes, with plowes, with blowes”; it is followed by two French versions taken from Taborout’s les Bigarrures, 1583. 183   R12’s compiler Edmund Sheaf copied the same English version eight times on one page (signed at the head and foot “Edmunde Sheafe”), with the Latin lines copied twelve times on the facing page (signed “Sheafe” at the bottom). Another copy (not collated) beginning “A shepherd a plowman a horseman light” is found in Folger, MS V.a.276.2, fol. 3v. 180

 

285

Poems 104–105

(i) A heard, a hind, a knight, I fedd, I tild, I foyld my flock, my feeld, my foes, with bughes, with plows, with bloes. (ii) A Herd,    a swayne,    a martiall knyghte I fillde,    I tyllde,      I putt to flyghte My goates,  my grounde,  my foes in fyghte With bowes,  with plowes,  with manly myghte. (iii) I shepheard I ploweman I horsman light haue fed haue tilled haue put to flighte My sheepe my grownde myne ennimyes bande with boughe with ploughe with mightye hande. (iv) I Sheepheard, I plowman, I horsman light; Have fed, have plow’d, have put to flight; My goats, my land, my enemies in field; With boughs, with spade, with spear & shield.

The Latin text is fairly stable with only one variant between four texts: Ma’s “agros” (sheep) for “capras” (goats). Kniveton’s English version (103b) is almost identical to R13 and close to R12 and may have been more widely known.

105

This is a rare instance where Coningsby specifies a poem’s source, i.e., the individual who had “yeven [given]” or provided a transcript for his own use. Moulton (2000, 53) cites two unattributed poems in Wit and Drollery, 1661, sig. E4v. One is headed “A Song” and ending “But pox upon’t ’twas but a dream, / And so I lay without her” and both similarly portray men’s erotic dreams. The voyeuristic fantasy of a male narrator’s chance encounter with one or more women bathing in a pastoral setting was also a familiar theme, made popular by the Ovidian story of Actaeon’s illicit viewing of Diana (see below 17n.). Other examples include Anthony Munday’s “Beauty sate bathing by a Spring” (Famous and Renowned Historie of Primaleon of Greece, 1619 [first edition 1596], sig. O2v) and Thomas Randolph’s later composition “Upon 6 maides bathinge themselves in Cambridge river” (cited in Moulton 2000, 54). title

Somnum Affectionale “an affectionate slumber”

286

Commentary

2

golden Dreame alluding to Zeus’ rape of Danae in the form of a golden shower (see 48.1n.) 5 Phebe “The goddesse Diana, & is taken for the moone” (Cooper) 8 dyvers diversely (OED divers, adj. 4 as adv.) 17 Actæons chaunce “Acteon . . . whome Diana tourned into an hart, because he sawe hyr naked: and therby he was torne & slain by his own houndes” (Cooper); the story is told in Ovid’s Metamophoses 3. 20 Duty respect, deference (OED n. 1a) 22 Syndon a fine thin fabric of linen; muslin (OED sindon, n. 1) 24 hudwynkte blindfolded (OED hoodwinked, adj.) 27–30 The polite form of address and archaisms parody the conventions of the courtly love genre (see 143 for a more sustained treatment); yit nevertheless (OED yet, adv. 10). 36 Sheete . . . shame the confessional aside “(indeede)” is directed at the all-male audience of the university and Inns of Court environment in which the poem circulated. Bartholomew Griffin’s “Sonnet XIIII” (“When silent sleepe had closed vp mine eyes”) has a similarly deflated ending: “With that away she went, and I did wake withall, / When (ah) my hony thoughts were turn’d to gall” (Fidessa, 1596, sig. B7v).

106

Another copy survives amongst the poems collected by John Harington the elder in Hn, fol. 213r. 184 Hughey notes analogous lines from a song in the play Tom Tyler and his Wife . . . As it was Printed and Acted about a Hundred Years ago, 1661, sig. A3r: The more that I please her, the worse she doth like me, The more that I forbear her, the more she doth strike me, The more that I get her, the more she doth glike [trick] me.

Francis Meres’ Palladis Tamia (1598, sig. F8r) presents the same proverbial wisdom: so some the more you desire them, the more inexorable they are, and the more you disswade them, the forwarder they are . . . so some the more you intreate them, the colder they are: but if you neglect them, of their own accorde they will doe it.

184   Hughey identifies the hand as “Hand A,” a scribe who copied poems collected by the elder Harington, and the poem must therefore have been added before 1582 when he died (1960, 2:447).

287

Poems 105–108

2 5–8

6 12

Mysse fail to obtain (OED miss, v.1 4) proverbial, “Follow love and it will flee, flee love and it will follow thee” (Tilley L479); cf. “Haue you not then found amongst your louers, that they would flie you, if you do but follow them, and follow you most, when you do most flie them?” (“An Excellent Dialogue Betweene Constancie and Inconstancie,” The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. D1r). plyethe yields, submits (OED ply, v.1 2) Pro. est possibly an abbreviation for “proverbium est” [“it is a proverb”] or, perhaps, “providentia est” [“it is providential”]

Collations: Hn. 1–2 yow .  .  . yow] ye .  .  . ye   3 yow] ye   5–6] placed after l. 8   5 yow do shun] ye eschue   7 yow] ye   9 yow refuse] ye refrayne   10 seke] vse   11–12 yow . . . yow] ye . . . ye; in margin: Pro. est] om. The texts are very close with only two substantive variants and a difference in the ordering of lines five to eight. The two substantive variants are synonyms for more archaic words (“shun” for “eschue” l. 5 and “refuse” for “refrayne” l. 9) and could indicate that Hy is a later copy that had been updated.

107

These four lines rhyme as a fourteener couplet; the playful alternation of “love” and “life” from verb to noun forms illustrates the popular rhetorical device of morphological variation (Adamson 1999, 550). Evans cites two ring posies, “Liue in loue” and “I liue to loue,” that express the same sentiment (1931, 70, 54). 2 Decreed determined, resolved, decided (OED decree, v. 4)

108

Hand E, a secretary script not found elsewhere in Hy but here, belongs to an unidentified copyist (see Introd., xxv). Another copy, transcribed by Robert Commaundre (d. 1613), provides some information about this topical poem in the heading: “The State of Fraunce translated oute of frenche into Englishe Anno Domini. 1585,” BL, Egerton MS 2642 (E), fol. 232v. 185 The French original, a satirical sonnet, beginning “Voiant de nostre temps l’inconstante maniere,” comparing the current political situation to the popular card-game Primero, 185   Commaundre transcribed another longer (eleven-stanza) version of the poem into his miscellany with unique additions that were probably his own entitled “The frenche Prymero, 1585,” fols. 324v–325r (May 1988, 291). For a fuller treatment of the historical context and textual transmission of 108, see May 1971.

288

Commentary

circulated in manuscript in France during 1585. For a more literal translation and a note on an earlier version circulating in 1575, see the commentary to 100. Authorship of the poem is doubtfully assigned to Walter Ralegh in the heading “On the State of France under the Administration of the Guises by Sir Walter Rawleigh,” added sometime later from the poem’s original transcription, in Pierpont Morgan Library, Rulers of England (Eliz. I), No. 48[c] (PM). 186 A further eleven unattributed copies survive. Seven of these are of Elizabethan vintage: Fo, pp. 32–33; Ra, fol. 104r; Ma, fol. 22r; Dd, fol. 29r; endorsed “Primero of Fraunce” in NLW, Pitchford Hall (Ottley) English Literary MSS (uncatalogued), A4 (Ot1); Somerset Heritage Centre, DD\WO/56/9/14.2 (D); 187 and, on a leaf following “A coppy of a lettre sent by the great lord to the Kinge of Nauarr translated out of greek ento ffrenche and soe into Englishe” (CELM) in BL, Harl. MS 3787 (H87), fol. 214v. The poem remained popular, and the following copies were transcribed during the seventeenth-century: headed “The French Primero” in Bod., MS Tanner 169 (T), fol. 70v; “on a single leaf, once folded as a letter or packet” (CELM) and endorsed “Verses of the civill Vprores in Fraunc” in University of Nottingham, Cl LM 19 (N); headed “Tempore Hen: ” in Huntington Library, EL 6893 (EL), fol. 48v; and without heading in Yale University, Osborn MS fb9 (Y), fol. 38v. 2

3 4 6 7–8 9–10 11

primero See 100.4n.; foure handes “Any number of players that the pack would accommodate could play, but the most usual set was four” (McTear 1913, 41); the four players in the game are: (1) Henry III, king of France, (2) Henry, duke of Guise, (3) Henry, king of Navarre, and (4) Charles, cardinal of Bourbon. vye stake a bet (OED vie, n.3 1a) to too flushe “Hands belonged to three classes. The highest was a Flush, being the whole hand in suit” (McTear 1913, 41–42). of nought i.e., a bad hand. After the Treaty of Joinville (31 December 1584) the Duke of Guise backed Charles, cardinal of Bourbon as heir apparent. Navar . . . no dowt See 100.10n. feyntly alluding to Bourbon’s weak claim to the throne

186   Bühler dates this copy on a single folio sheet (“extracted from some commonplace book”) to “the first decade of the seventeenth century”; the heading is in another hand “probably later than that of the original scribe” (1948, 695, 706, 700). May (1988, 294) points out that “if Ralegh were connected with the poem, his name would almost certainly have been affixed to it in one of the other manuscripts, all of which appear to be earlier.” 187   D survives only as a fragmentary leaf with the right half missing (first half of 24 lines).

289

Poem 108

13 14 15 16 17 18

bedes bids busie meddlesome (OED adj. 6) All . . . vp all bets and reserve stakes had been placed (OED rest, n.3 5) wrought in a negative sense: to contrive, plot (OED work, v. 10b); see 100.13–16n. Queene mother Catherine de’ Medici, queen mother: not mentioned in the original French sonnet but a key player in political machinations of 1585. make the pack arrange or shuffle the cards in such a way as to cheat or secure fraudulent advantage (OED pack, v.2 3)

Collations: May (1971, 103) collates nine texts: Dd, E, Fo, Hy, Ma, PM, Ra, H87, and T; my collation adds three more texts: EL, Ot1 and Y. Title: om.] Tempore Hen: 3 EL, Primero of Fraunce Ot1   4 the best] And the best Y; be] prove Ot1   7 inserted in margin: Duke of Guise Ot1; Gwyse] Guyes Y  9 margin: Kinge of Nauare Ot1   11 inserted in margin: Cardinall of Bourbon Ot1; feyntly] fynely EL; held his] houlds the EL Y   12 wacht] waytes Y; for to spye] to espye EL, how to spie Y   13 bedes] bids*   14 makes] make EL Ot1   16 inserted in margin: Philyp kinge of Spaine Ot1; Whyle] which EL, whilst Y; that] the EL   17 inserted in margin: Queene mother of Fraunce Ot1   18 the] his EL Ot1   inserted after line 18 Ot1 EL The king that all theire Cardes [games EL] did knowe Said what goe lesse before wee [you EL] showe Hee proffered dallyaunce for to make, To saue himself, & Guyse his stake

19 we] I Y; them & their] all their fowle EL, them att the Y   20 awaye] my waye Y The majority of texts (Dd, E, EL, Fo, Ma, Ot1, PM, Ra, and T) have four additional lines inserted after line 18, and this must be the form in which the poem was popularly known. May notes that H87 is a text that, like Hy, lacks these lines. My collation shows that Y is another twenty-line text, indicating that the poem circulated quite widely in this form. The additional lines allude to events of Spring 1586 when Catherine de’ Medici was urging her son, Henry III, to negotiate with the Guises; the “proffered dallyaunce,” mentioned in these lines, could refer to Henry’s reluctance before 7 July 1586 when he revoked Navarre’s right of succession by signing the Treaty of Nemours. It is possible that the four lines were a later addition to the poem to bring it up to date with current events.

290

Commentary

109

The poem is attributed to the Earl of Oxford, subscribed “quod E. Veer. count d’Oxford” by Sir John Harington in Hn, fol. 130v. 188 Hy’s subscription “A Vauasoare” was added after the original transcription of the poem and probably identifies the “yonge Lady” of the poem rather than its author. The object of the Lady’s desire, “Vere,” is repeated four times in the echo song (ll. 11–14), and it may have been obvious to contemporary readers that Oxford was the author. Fo is similarly signed “Vavaser” (p. 13), and two more contemporary copies connect the composition of the poem with Oxford and Vavasour: headed “Verses made by the earle of Oxforde ” in Ra, fol. 11r and “Verses made of the Earle of Oxenforde, And Mistris Ann Vauesor” in Ma, fol. 20v. These last two related copies give this sub-heading after line ten: “Ann Vauesors eccho.” Anne Vavasour came to court in 1580 to serve as a maid of honor, and her affair with Oxford and the birth of an illegitimate son became the subject of a high-profile court scandal. For another poem associated with Vavasour, see 58. 189 4 5 9

in Colour of in semblance of, under the appearance of (OED color, n.1 8) descry observe (OED v.1 1) Amber Teares alluding to the tale of the Heliades who “lamented so much the death of their brother Phaeton, that therewith they died and were transfourmed (as poets feigne) into trees, out of the which runneth the gumme called .  .  . ambre” (Cooper); the story is found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 2 11–20 echo verse: a device where “the final syllables of the lines are repeated, as by an echo, with the effect of making a reply to a question or comment, often contrastive, punning, or ironic” (Princeton). Following classical precedents there was a vogue for echo poems in the sixteenth century, some of which had been set to music (see His 1994, 159–64). An echo song attributed to Bembo inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses 3.379–92: “Quisnam clamor? Amor. Quisnam furor? uror. An Echo?” [“What is this shouting? Desire. What is this uproar? I’m on fire. Is it Echo?”] (Chatfield 2005, 174–75) and Du Bellay’s “Dialogue d’un amoreux et d’Écho,” first printed in his Recueil de poésie, 1549, may have been direct 188   May (1980, 38–39) places 109 among the poems possibly by Oxford (no. 1). For the identification of the hand as Harington’s, see Hughey 1960, 2:257. Harington’s quip in the heading that it was “the best verse that ever th’autor made” may be punning on Oxford’s name (E[dward de] Vere) undermining the sincerity of the comment (my thanks to Steven W. May for pointing this out). For another pun on the poet’s name introduced by Harington, see Hughey’s comment below. 189   May notes that the “affair was public knowledge by late March, 1581” (1980, 79); see also, Chambers 1936, 151–58.

291

Poems 109–110

models. Further English examples of the trend include Sidney’s OA 31, George Gascoigne’s verses for the Kenilworth entertainment of 1575, and four poems in John Grange’s Golden Aphroditis, 1577 (cited in Ringler 1962, 402). Collations: May (1980, 121–22) collates Hn, Hy, Ma, and Ra against Fo. As May points out, Hy, Fo, and Hn agree in error in line 13 (“the”), “while Ma and Ra seem to give the correct reading, ‘thy’” (80). Hy and Fo share another error in line 4, “vow” (“vowe” Fo), where Ma-Ra’s “nunne” makes more sense in the context of the poem in which a lady is “clad,” under false pretences (“in Colour of ”), in the habit of a nun (“Covered with a Vayle”). Both words contain the same number of graphically similar minims, and it is easy to understand how “nunn,” with or without a macron over “u” and with or without a terminal “e,” became “vow” or “vowe”. In place of this reading, Hughey (1960, 2:258) points out that Harington took the opportunity to incorporate a pun on the author’s name with “Vaer.” Hughey glosses this reading as “vair . . . a squirrel with gray and white fur” and notes the star added by Harington for emphasis. Five of Hy’s unique variants are probable errors: “Seas” for “sea” (l. 2); the omissions of “full hard” before “on her Lefte side” (l. 7) and “sore” after “so” (l. 8), which both disrupt the meter; and “ye” (ll. 19–20), which echoes the ending of the last word and is a mere eye-rhyme where all other copies have the full rhyme “I.” Four more Hy unique variants are indeterminate readings: “descry” for “discerne” (l. 5), “wrought” for “bred” (l. 11), “man” for “firste” (l. 12), and “trew” for “truth” (l. 22). Hn contains two certain errors: the omission of “& calme” (l. 5) and “yt ys” for “how greate” (l. 21). A few more variants could be sophistications: “greefes” for “teares” (l. 3), “one her face” for “Covered with” (l. 4), “creuell Cupid” for “Tyraunt Cupid” (l. 13), and “yea” for “ô” (l. 15). Ma and Ra are related texts sharing two conjunctive errors: “when” for “And” (l. 10) and “fauour” for “Bewty” (l. 19); these two copies also assign the poem a similar title and an identical sub-heading (after l. 10).

110

Despite the retrospective attribution to Philip Sidney, the poem is undoubtedly by Arthur Gorges and appears as the first entry in Gorges’ own manuscript fair copy of his work, “The Vanytyes of Sir Arthur Gorges Youthe” (BL, Egerton MS 3165 [V], fol. 2r–v). 190 Three more copies, without attribution, survive in contemporary poetic miscellanies in Ra, fols. 17v–18r, Dd, fol. 40v, and The Phoenix 190   The “‘toyes of yowth’ . . . belong in large part, at least, to the decade preceding 1590, many of them almost certainly to the years before 1584” (Sandison 1953, xxviii). Dd’s compiler Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, made the same error in endorsing Gorges’ poem, “An Eglogue betwen a shepheard and a heardman,” with

292

Commentary

Nest, 1593 (PN), sig. L4r. Gorges based the poem on two separate works by Philippe Desportes: “La terre, nagueres glacée” (Les Amours de Diane, II) and “Quel feu par le vents animé” (Les Amours’ Hippolyte “Chanson”). 191 Sandison considers that the poem “is almost certainly for Daphne” (Douglas Howard) and composed by Gorges in the years before their marriage on 14 October 1584 (1953, 183, xxviii). Thomas Lodge’s translation of the first four stanzas of “La terre,” beginning “The earth late choakt with showers,” was printed as Sonnet 7 in his Scillaes Metamophoses, 1589, sig. F1v. Sandison notices a contemporary echoes of 110 in Thomas Morley’s “Now is the gentle season freshly flowring” (Madrigalls to Foure Voyces Newly Published, 1594, sig. C3r). 3

bewtified the Land Gorges reproduces this phrase in another poem: “the lustye springe / Doth yearely cloathe and bewtyfye the landes” (Sandison 1953, 62, no. 57.5–6). 7 Gorges almost exactly reproduces this line in another poem, “Nor in the meadowes mantlede all with greene” (ibid., 73, no. 74.5). 8 Treene trees (OED tree, n.) 12 Sandison notices an echo in Spenser’s Daphnaïda, 1591, sig. B3r: “She fell away in her first ages spring, / Whil’st yet her leafe was greene” (1953, 184). 16 Apryll . . . Age proverbial (Tilley A310) 28–30 proverbial, “As true as a turtle to her mate” (Tilley T624) 38 Vapored Sighes Cf. “the vapored sighes haunt not my pinede breste” (Sandison 1953, 21, no. 18.10). 40–42 Sandison notices an echo of Wyatt’s “To make an ende of all this strif ” and points out that the ending is “a favourite formula” of Gorges’ (1953, 184); see 48.17–18n. Collations: Wagner (1938, 123) collates Dd, PN, and Ra against Hy. Sandison (1953, 183–84) discusses the textual variants. My collation adds V. 3 Land] landes   4 glymmer] savour; the Light] delight   7 Meades ar] meadowes   8 clad] clothed   9 silver notes] fethers new   12 the] his   13 And as yow] And as we   14 his sweet] this sweete; buddes] bud   16 the] this   17 Coloures Do] colour doth   20 abroade to] to raunge &   21 Amonges the buds] in every place; of Bewties springe] wher bewtie springes   23 Lyke to] Sidney’s name: “A verse of Sir Philip Sidney” (Berkeley Castle, Gen. Ser. Misc. Papers 31/6 (CELM GgA 19). 191   Both poems were first printed in 1573 in Les Premières Œuvres. According to Sandison, Desportes was an inveterate reviser of his poems, and Gorges used a text no earlier than 1577 (1953, xxxi). Desportes’ source for “La terre” is Petrarch’s Rime 310: “Zefiro torna e ‘l bel tempo rimena” [“Zephyrus returns and leads back the fine weather”]; Durling 1976, 488–89.

293

Poems 110–111

even as; the] a   24 sub. & flutters but wth cliped winges   25 every man is] all men els are   29 his] her   31 I Do] do I   32 Ioyes my woes] woes my ioyes  35 Doth say] doth shew; is] but  41 hence trace from] haue truce with   Subscription: S: P. Sidney.] om. Sandison points out that V and Dd are related texts: “the differences being insignificant, chiefly careless” and notes that PN “has the next-best version.” Hy and Ra are also related, deriving from a common ancestor that introduced errors in lines 4 and 41: “glymmer with the Light” (l. 4) is a corruption of “savour with delight,” the reading in V-Dd-PN. The same confusion between graphically similar “the [ye] light” and “delight” is also seen in the collations for 15 at line 3. Thus, the reading “glymmer” could be guesswork (“savour” follows on better from the “flowers” mentioned in line 3). Desportes’ “l’air est encore amoureux d’elle” [“the air is in love with her again”] conveys a sense of the “air’s” emotional empathy or “delight” in the surroundings. In line 41, Hy-Ra’s “hence trace from” is nonsensical, and the majority reading “haue truce with” is almost certainly the intended reading. Hy introduced four more errors: “silver notes” (l. 9), “the” (l. 12), “his” (l. 29), and “Ioyes my woes” (l. 32). V-Dd stand alone in nine variant readings (ll. 3, 7, 14, 16, 17, 20, 25, 31, and 35) where Hy-Ra-PN agree on an alternative but not inferior reading. For example, V-Dd substitutes “Meadowes mantled” (l. 7) for “Meades are mantled,” “to raunge and sore” (l. 20) for “abroad to sore,” “When all men els are” (l. 25; Dd carelessly leaves out “els”) for “When every man,” and “doth shew . . . but” for “doth say . . . is” (l. 35). V is Gorges’ own copy of his collected poems transcribed after 1586 (Sandison 1953, xxxiii), at least two years, and probably more, after 110 first circulated in manuscript. Gorges’ habit of revising his poems can be seen from the numerous autograph alterations in his own scribal fair copy. The correspondences between V and Dd suggest that authorial revisions were incorporated into the fair copy made after 1586 and that Gorges allowed transcriptions to be taken from a revised version of the poem. But, as May points out, V is unlikely to have been the direct source for Dd, Henry Stanford’s copy, since he was a careful copyist, and V is written in a clear italic script (1988, 317). Stanford’s position in the Carey family, however, meant that he had privileged access to texts by Gorges; of the six Gorges poems Stanford copied, the largest collection outside V, at least one was taken directly from V or an identical authorially sanctioned fair copy (xlviii).

111

The ascription to this poem, identical in the following entry, refers to the provider of the copy-text rather than its author, who I suggest is Nicholas Breton. I have identified the provider as a “gentleman” Inns of Court student and former Oxford alumnus of Breton’s Oriel College, John Edwards, a member of

294

Commentary

Coningsby’s close circle of friends, who supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, some of which were his own compositions (see Introd., lxi). The poem also appears in the verse miscellany associated with Breton, Brittons Bowre of Delights (1591 [B], sigs. F2r–3v. Although Breton protested “it was donne altogether without my consent or knowledge, & many thinges of other mens mingled with few of mine” (The Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592, “To the Gentlemen studients and Scholers of Oxforde”), many poems in Brittons Bowre are undoubtedly his (see Introd., lii fn. 85). Rollins regards the “mechanical repetition” in 111 as characteristic of Breton, citing the 154-line verse poem “I Would and Would Not”, printed in 1614, where nearly every stanza begins “I would” or “And yet I would not” (1933, 99). 2 4 5 6 7–14

brave fine, excellent (OED adj. 3a) The speaker praises his mistress’ “hue” again in line 27. Repeated at line 29. wynst . . . Ball i.e., in the story of the Judgment of Paris, see 136.5n. forehead . . . eyen . . . Hew . . . Chyn . . . paps topos of the blazon for descriptive praise of a beautiful woman (see 144 for the ironic use of this well-worn convention of love poetry); cf. Breton’s Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577: Some ioye to gaze vpon their Ladies eies, and thinke indeede, they make a heaunely showe, Some more doo marke the feature of their face, some most will view her comely gallant grace. Some greatly note the colour of her heare, some view her body, some her hart, some arme: Some legge, some foote, and some look euery where. (sig. G4v)

7 10 13 14 19 24 25 32

featly aptly; neatly, elegantly (OED adv. 1a) nere not at all (OED ne’er adv. 1a); this sentiment is repeated at line 25; cf. 119.12 “none her Peere” and 140.7 “pereles pere.” dimpled Chyn Cf. “thy dimple in thy chin so braue” (The Arbor of Amorous Deuises, 1597, sig. A3r) paps breasts (OED n.1 1a) forgett . . . abyde This idea is repeated at line 39 “forgett . . . dwell.” Cynthea “one of the names of Diana” (Cooper) not . . . Pheare without (peer or) fere (OED fere n.1 3a); i.e., in features nobody surpasses you wythered stalke this phrase appears in the previous poem (110.30); probably with a bawdy connotation here

295

Poems 111–112

41–42 Breton devised similar idiosyncratic subscriptions to his series of letters in Poste with a Packet of Madde Letters, 1606: “Not yours, if mine owne” (sig. F1v), “Yours, though not yours” (sig. F2r), “Yours or not his owne” (sig. D7r). See also 136.21n. Collations: B. Title: om.] A pleasant Sonet   8 eyen] eyes   11 vermylion] Uermelion   12 Queene but yow] Saint but thou   14–19] om.   20 present] seemely   25 features not] feature is   27 for hue none] that hue not   32 whence] when   34 or] to Hy is unrelated to B and preserves the text in its original state. One faulty reading in B was amended when the poem was reprinted in The Bower (1597, sig. E3r–v): “when” was corrected to “whence” (l. 32). Two more mistakes in B were left uncorrected in the later printing: “feature is” (l. 25) and “that hue not” (l. 27) make little sense in the context of their respective lines. A few more variant readings found in B could be editorial changes introduced by the printer/editor Richard Jones (for Jones’ habit of “improving” texts, see Rollins 1933, xiii). In line twelve, B’s substitution of “Saint” for “Queene” looks like purposeful revision. Perhaps the assertion that there is “no Queene but yow” might have been considered offensive in print. In the same line, the reading “thou,” as Rollins points out, is ungrammatical and spoils the rhyme (99). B also omits six lines of text (ll. 14–19 in Hy), and the resultant faulty meter indicates that the lines were present in B’s copy-text. The grafting of the first line of stanza three on to line one of stanza four with everything in between cut suggests that it was the content that was problematic. If Jones had wanted to shorten the poem he could have left out a whole verse without disturbing the rhyme scheme.

112

The ascription, identical in the previous entry, refers to the same donor of copytexts, John Edwards, identified in 111. The poem is by Anthony Munday and appears in a sub-section (“Amorous Epistles”) of his The Paine of Pleasure, 1580 (PP), sig. H1v. The printed text is headed “Verses which the sayd Gentleman [unnamed] writ with his owne hand, an houre before he departed this life,” and Munday might have been thinking of George Mannington, who purportedly wrote “a good night or last farewell” while incarcerated at Cambridge Castle just before his execution. It was registered by Richard Jones on November 7, 1576, as “A woefull ballade made by master George Mannyngton an houre before he

296

Commentary

suffered at Cambridge castell 1576”. 192 The closing lines of a poem attributed to Munday in Englands Helicon (1600) are also reminiscent of 112: “Then farewell fancie, loue, sleepe, paine, and sore: / And farewell weeping, I can waile no more” (sig. I4r). Another copy of 112 is found on the same page as Munday’s “My name you know” in a manuscript notebook dated to the 1590s: BL, Sloane MS 2497 (S4), fol. 33r. 8 12

noyed annoyed, vexed (OED noy, v. 1) a correlative recapitulation, i.e., a succession of elements are set out and then recapitulated in the last line (for this popular form of correlative verse, see 54)

Collations: S4; not collated: PP. 193 5 crusht] crost   6 whence] that   8 noyed much] aye did vex   11 that] which   16 Ioy .  .  . from] pleasur from   17 could] can   18 that] the   Subscription: I Ed.] om. The variants suggest that these two texts derived from different sources. Some of S4’s variants improve on readings in Hy: S4’s “crost” is arguably better than Hy’s “crusht” (l. 5), and S4’s “welcom pleasur” avoids another repetition of “Ioy” (l. 16).

113

A partial copy of the poem dated to the second quarter of the seventeenth century is attributed to Ralegh in the heading “A Poem put into my Lady Laitons Pocket by Sir W: Rawleigh” (Chetham’s Library, Mun. A.4.15 [Ch], fol. 55v). 194 Although the presence of Elizabethan poems and documents, including Ralegh’s letters, indicate an earlier source for this text, Rudick argues that the attribution may be spurious: “connected with some tradition of Ralegh as a diffident lover . . . [since] several poems on this theme were attached to his name after death” (1999, xxxix).

192   Reprinted by Jones in the Handefull of Pleasant Delites, 1584, sigs. E1r–2v. Rollins points out that “no other ballad in the Handful was so popular . . . none . . . more frequently alluded to” (1924b, 118). 193   The BL copy reproduced in EEBO is imperfect, and I have not seen the perfect copy in the Pepsyian Library in Cambridge. 194   In his unpublished edition of Ralegh’s poems, Michael Rudick places 113 among the “Poems possibly by Ralegh” (P2; 1970, 53). Lady Laiton is probably Elizabeth Leighton (née Knollys), who served as lady of the queen’s privy chamber (May 1991, 117).

297

Poems 112–114

1

6 11

Sylence serve Rudick (1999, 61) notices a verbal parallel in a line from Ralegh’s “last boke of the Ocean to Scinthia”: “who long in sylence served, and obayed”; cf. Sidney’s OA 38.1: “Phæbus farewell, a sweeter Saint I serve.” spare to speed proverbial, “spare to speak, spare to speed” (Tilley S709) chast Consentt pact of chastity; Rudick emends the text to “chast Con[t] entt” (1999, 15, 145), and this reading appears to make more sense unless “Consentt” means an agreement or a pact (OED consent, n. 4a); cf. “Sweete PITHOS tongue, and DIANS chaste consent” (George Whetstone, An Heptameron of Ciuill Discourses, 1582, sig. A3r).

Collations: ll. 1–6: Ch. Title: om.] A Poem put into my Lady Laitons Pocket by Sir W: Rawleigh   3 might] mought; hope] wish   4 drop] dropps; wold quench] to slake; scorchyng] scalding   5 as] sith; Love vnknowne] live alone   6 So] Ile; doth often] that I may The six lines in Ch contain a high number of unique variant readings that are not obvious errors and could have resulted from a memorial transcription. Rudick suggests that the Ch variant readings in lines 5–6 “create the effect of finality” to bring closure to this extract from a longer poem (1999, 145).

114

The humour of this bawdy couplet relies on the sexual punning on “Watergap” and “two stones & a Stake,” and the actual parson is probably irrelevant (Roger Inkforbie was the rector of Stanlake from 1581 until his death in 1599). If the couplet circulated among students at Oxford University the name Stanlake (Standlake), a village seven miles west of Oxford, would have been familiar and an obvious choice to rhyme with “Gods sake”. 195 Another copy from the early eighteenth century entitled “A petition to the lords” substitutes “Mortlacke” for “Stanlake”: the parson of Mortlacke with two stones & a stake stops up my water lake Help Lords for Gods sake (BL, Add. MS 70454, fol. 26v)

195   Woudhuysen (1996, 283) draws attention to the connection between the Oxford place-name and Hy’s Oxford University provenance.

298

Commentary

An earlier version attributed to Skelton served as the punchline of an anecdote illustrating the faults of “too much breuitie” in Angel Day’s The English Secretorie, 1586, sig. B2r–v: The Lady Prioresse of Margate Humbly complayneth to your high estate. For that the Abbot of S. Albones did stoppe

With two stones and a stake her water gappe. 196 John Weever in Ancient Funerall Monuments (1631, sig. 3D5r–v) records a copy in “a very ancient Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Library” giving a nudge to the readers that the words contain another meaning: “the words are significant and modest, if you do not misinterpret”: The petytiown of the thre pore Nuns of Mergate. We thre pore Nuns of Mergate, Pyteously compleyneth to yowr gud estate, Of one Syr Ionne of Whipesnade, Who hath stoppyd owr water gate, Wyth too stons and a stake Help vs Lorde for Cryst hys sake.

1 2

Watergap (1) mill stream; (2) slang for female genitals (OED water gap, n. 1a, 2); cf. “stop our streites” 130.10 two stones punning on testicles (for another use of this pun, see 135ab); Stake a phallic pun (Williams 1994, 3:1302)

115

This entry is Philip Sidney’s OA 60. In the third book of the The Old Arcadia the words are sung by Philoclea, alone in her room, to the accompaniment of the lute: The song, having been accorded to a sweetly played-on lute, contained these verses which she had lately with some art curiously written to enwrap her secret and resolute woes. (Robertson 1973, 229; from St)

196   The last two lines were expunged during the printing of the first edition “since the publishing heereof vpon farther consideration been thought meete for modesties sake to be left out” (sig. B2v) but survive in the Folger copy (STC 6401).

Poems 114–115

299

Additional copies survive in nine Old Arcadia manuscript texts: As, fol. 108v, Bo, fol. 131v, Cl, fol. 114v, Da, fol. 104v, Hm, fol. 71v, Je, p. 168, Ph, fol. 113v, Qu, fol. 81r, and St, fol. 126v. It was also included in Henry Lee’s collection of poems from the Old Arcadia, Le, fol. 23r and the (largely) Sidneian collection, Ot, fol. 2v. Another substantive copy appears in the composite version of the prose romance printed in 1593, a reprint of the incomplete New Arcadia of 1590 plus books three to five of the Old Arcadia (Ringler 1962, 534), i.e., The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (93), sig. 2I3v. The poem continued to be popular and was printed under the suitably pastoral title “An excellent Sonnet of a Nimph” in the themed verse miscellany Englands Helicon, 1600 (EH), sig. 2Br. 197 Abraham Fraunce quoted lines from the poem as an example of “conceipted kindes of verses” in The Arcadian Rhetorike (1588 [Fr], sig. E1r). 198 The poetic form is correlative verse, a device that allows poets a highly compressed form of expression, and is the first of a group of three poems in this form copied consecutively in Hy (115–117; see also 103–4). The appearance of this device in English verse of the 1580s takes its cue from the continental vogue. Estienne Tabourot in Les Bigarrures (1583) devotes a chapter to “vers rapportez,” (“reporting verse”), which he says has become “si frequente & commune, que la multitude en est plus ennuyeuse que plaisante.” Sidney may have been directly influenced by Du Bellay’s L’Olive X (Paris, 1549, sig. A5v): . . . Et toutesfois j’ayme, j’adore, & prise Ce qui m’etraint, qui me brusle, & entame. Pour briser doncq’, pour eteindre, & guerir Ce dur Lyen, ceste Ardeur, ceste Playe Ie ne quiers Fer, Liqueur, ny Medecine. [“Yet doe I loue, adore, and praise the same, / That holds, that burnes, that wounds me in this sort, / And list not seeke to breake, to quench, to heale, / The bonde, the flame, the wound that festreth so / By knife, by liquor, or by salue to deale”; translated by Samuel Daniel, Delia, XIIII, 1592, sig. C3v.]

English contemporaries also borrowed the French terminology. Francis Davison’s Poetical Rapsody (1602) calls 117 “A reporting sonnet,” and Randle Cotgrave in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611) defines the form

 Rollins identifies the 1598 folio edition of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia as the copy-text for the Sidney poems in EH (1935, 2:33). EH introduces one error (“wrongs” for “wrong” l. 7). 198   For a note on Fraunce’s probable copy-text, the Old Arcadia manuscript St, see 53 fn. 110. 197

300

Commentary

as “Verses whose words reportingly answer one another.”  199 The corresponding words in OA 60 are numbered in most of the texts directing the reader to uncover the multiple readings. 200 The form was parodied by John Davies in the fifth of his “Gullinge Sonnets,” composed ca. 1594 (Krueger 1975, 165–66). 9 13

proofe experience (OED n. 6) Lose variant spelling of “loose,” to set free, release (OED loose, v. 1b)

Collations: Ringler (1962, 84) records variants occurring in two or more substantive texts in As, Bo, Cl, Da, Fr, Je, Le, Ph, Qu, St, and 93. My collation shows all substantive variants and adds two texts not available to Ringler: Hm and Ot. Title: om.] Sir Philip Sydney 3. Fr   1 bewty] bewtye and*   2 Eyes] eyes and As; wonder] wonders Fr   3 third] laste*; binde] blind Je Qu; enforce] eforce As; arme] charme Da   4 my] his*; sutes] Fruites Cl Hm Qu; grace . . . might] grace and woes might Hm, graue and woes mighte Qu, goodgrace, & spright Ot, good grace and spiritt Ph   5 honor] humor Hm Qu; fayre] farre As Bo Cl Da Le Ot Ph St 93, feare Hm Qu   6 prest] pearste As Bo Cl Da Fr Hm Le Ot Ph Qu St 93; Sence] mind Je   7 Contempt] attempte Hm Qu; Deceipt] conceipt Le   8 Bondes] Bande Hm Qu   9 Then] These Da; tought] sought Fr; thought Ph   12 Her, her] him, his*; her] his*   13 place] space Hm Qu   14 knotte] knitte Hm Qu Hy shares two errors with Je, one of the surviving Old Arcadia manuscripts: “fayre” (l. 5) is a misreading of far probably spelled farre, and “prest” (l. 6) is a misreading of pierced probably spelled perst. In Ringler’s stemma, Je presents the text of the Old Arcadia in its first state (T1) where Sidney had made revisions to his own transcript for the first time (1962, 380). The Hy-Je conjunctive error in line 5 also appears in Fr, but since this copy almost certainly derived from St, the mistake is probably coincidental, the result of scribes independently making the same transcription error. Fr introduces two more errors resulting from scribal carelessness or mistakes made by the type-setter when the copy was set for printing: “wonders” for “wonder” (l. 2) and “sought” for “tought” (l. 9). Hy’s omission of “and” in the first line is another evident error that disturbs the meter. Four more unique readings in Hy are not obvious errors, “third” for “last” (l. 3) and three readings affecting the gender in which the lines are spoken (ll. 4, 12). The prose context of the poem demands a female speaker (Philoclea), and 199   Rollins (1931, 176–77) cites examples of correlative verse, including an anonymous poem “The lucke : the life : the loue” (Ra, fol. 44v), Thomas Lodge’s “My words, my thoughts, my vowes” (A Margarite of America, 1596, sigs. D2v–3r), and William Goddard’s “Hir eyes, grace speach; hath fir’d, amaz’d, rauisht” (A Satirycall Dialogue, 1615, sig. B4v). 200   Apart from Hy, three more texts do not number the words: Je, Fr, and EH.

301

Poems 115–116

the male voice preserved in Hy’s version could be an indication that OA 60 was an earlier poem that Sidney revised and inserted in the Old Arcadia. Robertson remarks that “some of the poems included in the Old Arcadia may well have been written before the story took shape” (1973, xvii). CS 3 is an example of a poem, unconnected with the Arcadia that Sidney later incorporated in the New Arcadia (see the commentary to 55).

116

This sonnet is attributed to Philip Sidney, subscribed “S P S.,” in Ra, fol. 9r, where it appears in a grouping of otherwise canonical poems by Sidney, preceded by OA 51 and followed by CS 3. Ringler could find nothing against this attribution but, erring on the side of caution, placed it among “Poems Possibly by Sidney” (PP 2; 1962, 344–45). Sidney was among the earliest to write correlative verse in English; OA 60 (115) has a similar structure (Ringler 1962, 518). For this popular device see the commentary to 115. 1–2 1 2

3–4

7 8 11

The correlative structure demands the following correspondence: “The Dart . . . Doth passe through,” “the Beames . . . [do] parche,” and “the String . . . [Doth] . . . Tye.” prove experience; undergo, suffer (OED v. 2) cheef part mind (or soul): implicit are notions of Platonic ascent from body to soul; cf. “she cared not what paine she put her body to, since the better parte (her minde) was laide vnder so much agonie” (The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590, sig. 2C7r); Cf. “Chief band I saye, which tyes my chiefest parte” (OA 35.12) and “In love, his chiefest part” (CS 23.12). knott .  .  . knytt Cf. Sidney’s “if it were a bondage, it was a bondage onely knitte in loue-knots” (The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590, sig. 2L7v), and OA 60: “My owne, embraced, sought, knotte, Fyre, Dysease” (115.14) While up to the time when (Abbott 1884, no. 137) forbare submitted to (OED forbear, v. 1) nought booteth Stryfe was no use striving against (OED boot, v1. 3; strife, n. 1a); cf. OA 60: “For, nothinge, Tyme, nor place, can Lose, quench, ease” (115.13) straunge uncommon, rare, exceptional (OED strange, adj. 8); used ironically in OA 3: “Vertues straunge” (144.2)

302

Commentary

Collations: Ra. 6 my mynd] mynde  8 loose] lose; booteth] booted  10 of] or  Subscription: om.] S P S. The two texts present only a few variants. Hy is in error at line 10 (“of ” for “or”) where the correlative structure requires that “Greef,” “Ashes,” and “Thraldom” (l. 9) correspond to “ease,” “fruyte,” and “free estate” in the following line. Ra’s omission of “my” (l. 6) is another evident error, which creates a metrically defective line. Ra’s reading “lose” (l. 8) is probably a variant spelling of Hy’s “loose.”

117

Another attribution to Ralegh (“W. R.”) is attached to a version lacking two stanzas (lines 9–16), printed in Le Prince d’Amour, 1660 (Pr), sig. K2r–v. 201 The late publication date of Pr is misleading since the volume is a posthumous publication of Benjamin Rudyerd’s account of the Christmas revels of the Middle Temple of 1597/8, augmented with poems (including 117) claimed to be “the off-spring of divers eminent Wits of the same age, and never yet appeared in publick” (Epistle Dedicatory). An identically truncated version appeared, without attribution, before another poem by Ralegh (49), in an earlier Inns of Court collection, The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sig. K4r. The case for Gorges’ authorship is made by Sandison (1953, xxxiv), based on the inclusion of the poem in Gorges’ own scribally produced collection of poems entitled: “The Vanytyes of Sir Arthur Gorges Youthe,” BL, Egerton MS 3165 (V), fol. 61r. 202 Another substantive copy of the poem is placed immediately after Gorges’ “I saw of late a lady were [a] show” (both unattributed) in Dd, fol. 36r. The suggestion that the poem was a joint composition by cousins Ralegh and Gorges has also been made. 203 The two men shared literary interests and influences, and their writings “often circulated in conjunction” making it difficult, even for contemporary readers, to distinguish between their work (Sandison 1953, xxxvi). 204

201   117 is the first of three consecutive poems attributed to Ralegh in Pr (see Rudick 1999, 14–15, 149–50, nos. 11, 17, 18); another poem by Ralegh (50 in this edition) is unattributed and precedes the attributed trio. 202   According to Sandison the “‘toyes of yowth’ . . . belong in large part, at least, to the decade preceding 1590, many of them almost certainly to the years before 1584” (xxviii). 203   See Latham (1951, 160) and Lefranc (1968, 95); even Sandison does not rule out the idea of dual authorship: “Perhaps the cousins devised the two-way pattern together in an ingenious hour” (1953, xl). 204   For example, Gorges’ “Would I wer chaungde” is misattributed to Ralegh in Hy (see 48) and placed among Ralegh’s work. In PN the same Gorges poem (48) is found in

Poems 116–117

303

The poem was first printed without attribution in Brittons Bowre of Delights, 1591 (B), sigs. F4v–G1r. 205 Further substantive copies are found in an instruction book for the lute compiled by the music publisher William Barley, A New Booke of Tabliture, 1596 (Bar), [Part I], sig. A4v, 206 and Francis Davison’s A Poetical Rapsody, 1602 (Dn), sig. L1r. It continued to be popular with compilers of printed verse miscellanies with further copies, some in truncated versions and all unattributed, appearing in Wit’s Recreation, 1641 (W), sig. TIv [ll. 9–24]; The Card of Courtship, 1653 (Ca), sig. H1v [ll. 1–4]; and John Cotgrave’s Wits Interpreter, 1655 (Co), sigs. G7v–8r. The poem also had a long life in manuscript circulation, and copies are found in student miscellanies of the 1630s to mid century: BL, Add. MS 15227 (A27), fols. 84v–85r; BL, Add. MS 22118 (A18), fol. 34r; Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS 328 (CC), fol. 74v; John Rylands Library, English MS 410 (Ry), fol. 21r [ll. 1–4]; and copied twice in Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 117 (R17), fols. 161r, 168v reversed [ll. 9–24]. 207 The evident appeal of “Her Face, her Tonge, her Wytte” has much to do with its success as an illustration of correlative or reporting verse (for this fashionable device see the commentary to 115). There are obvious parallels to Sidney’s “Vertue, bewty, speech” (115), and perhaps Gorges (or Ralegh) had read Sidney’s poem, but either poet could have independently found inspiration from the French sonnets, in “vers rapportés,” of Ronsard, Marot, Du Bellay, and Desportes. Collations: A27, B, Bar, Ca, Co, Dd, Dn, PN, Pr, R17, Ry, V, and W; not collated: CC and A18. Title: om.] Vnto his Loue A27, A Sonet B, Another [from a poet to his mistress], The Lovers Maze Pr, A Reporting Sonnet Dn, These may be read two or three wayes W   1 Her . . . her . . . her] Your . . . Your . . . Your Bar Dd R17 W   2 sweete] smooth Co R17 Ry W   3 bent . . . hytte] bent then drew, now hitte A27 Dn, bent Then drew So hite Bar, drew, then bent, last knit Ca, moud then drew then knit Dd R17, drew then mov’d then knit W, drew first cut first knit Ry   4 Myne . . . mine . . . my] Mine . . . mine . . . mine B Pr, My . . . my . . . my Co R17 Ry, my eyes myn eares myn Dd   5–24 om. Ca Ry   5 Myne . . . mine close proximity (on the adjacent page; sig. L1r) to Ralegh’s “Calling to minde” (49); both are unattributed. 205   Brittons Bowre was reissued in 1597 in a shortened version (sigs. A-F4); 117 is found on sig. F1r–v and introduces two variants: “line” for “beame” (l. 10) and “liue” for “loue” (l. 24). 206   Three poems (including 117) are printed after the address “To the reader” [Part 1] sig. A4r–v, but there is no signposting for any settings belonging to them. 207   A27 was probably copied from Da: it varies from this text on just two occasions (l. 8 “lend” for “Leade”; l. 10 “beauty” for “Beames”), reproduces all Da’s errors (“now” l. 3; “wring” l.19; “bind” l. 22).

304

Commentary

. . . myne] Mine . . . mine . . . my A27 Bar PN Dn V W, myn eyes myne eares my, My . . . my . . . my Co R17   6 sub. thus moued thus drawn thus knitte Dd R17, thus drawne thus mov’d thus knit W   7 sub. Dwelles in hanges on yelldes to Dd, Affects: Hangs on: yeilds to R17 W; Your . . . your . . . your] Her . . . her . . . her A27 Pr PN Dn V; Wytt] Heart Pr   8 sub. your face your tongue your wit wit Dd R17 W; Leade . . . teache] lend . . . teach A27, teach . . . lead Co   9–16 om. Pr PN; 9–24 om. R17 W   9 Her . . . her . . . her] Your . . . Your . . . Your Bar Dd   10 Beames] beauty A27 B, light Dd   11 bynde] blind A27 Bar Co Dd Dn V; Charme] chain Dd; Rule] wilte Dd knitt V   12 myne . . . myne . . . my] Mine . . . mine . . . mine B, My . . . my . . . my Co; eye] eyes Dd 13–23 sub. Dd myn eyes doth see nought but your face

myne eares dothe hear nought as your tongue

my hart doth like nought like your wit

your face is face of graces 3

your tongue is tongue of muses 9

your wit is wit of Ioves own brayn

of graces 3 I looke som grace to haue

of muses 9 I harke sweet wordes to hear

of Ioves own brayn I hope trew loue to gayn.

13 Myne . . . myne . . . my] Mine . . . my . . . my Bar, Myne . . . mine . . . mine B, my . . . my . . . my Co   14 sub. doth see dothe hear doth like Dd   15 sub. nought but nought as nought like Dd; Your . . . your . . . your] Her . . . her . . . her A27 Da V   16 sub. your face our tongue your wit Dd   18 Checkes] checke PN   19 wronge] Wring A27 B Da; wound] moue B   20 myne . . . myne . . . my] Mine . . . My . . . My Bar, Mine . . . mine . . . mine Bd Pr, My . . . my . . . my Co   21 This . . . this . . . this] Mine . . . Mine . . . Mine Pr, Mine . . . Mine . . . My PN   22 sub. To learn, To know, To fear Pr PN; bynd] bend Bar Co, yeald sub. for bende V   23 Yowr . . . yowr . . . yowr] Her . . . Her . . . Her Pr PN V; Wytt] wittes Bar   24 om. Dd; sub. Doth lead, Doth fear, Doth swear Pr PN; Love] trust Bar Co V   Subscription: Raley] W. R. Pr The six-stanza version of the poem in Gorges’ own scribal copy of his poems has some claim to authority; even if the poem was written by his cousin Ralegh, he could have obtained a copy from an authorial holograph. Apart from favoring “your” for “her” throughout, Bar is the closest text to V. Co is also close to V but introduces two errors (“smooth” for “sweete” l. 2, “teach doth lead” for “Leade,

305

Poems 117–118

doth teache” l. 8). The V-Bar-Co shared reading “trust” for “Love” (l. 24) cannot be explained as independent scribal variation and indicates a connection between these three texts. The reading is arguably superior: “to trust” rather than “to Love” “yowr Tonge” of line 23. Hy shows few signs of corruption, but two agreements in error and the exact same pattern of switching from the 3rd person to the 2nd person address throughout the poem link it to B, the earliest printed text: “bynde” for “blind” in l. 11 (the “Beames” of l. 10 are probably meant to “blind”) and “bynd” for “bend” in l. 22 (V-Bar-Co reading where the “Eare” of l. 21 bends or yealds is superior). B shows signs of further deterioration: “beame” for “Beames” l. 10, “Wring” for “wronge” (also found in Da), and “moue” for “wound” l. 19. Dn is also close to Hy and B with two shared readings (“bynd” for “bend” l. 22; “Love” for “trust” l. 24) but makes the same error as Bar, perhaps independently (“wring” for “wrong” l. 19), and introduces one unique reading “now” for “then” l. 3. PN and Pr are related and represent a version that circulated at the Inns of Court during the 1590s. Pr varies from PN only three times, apart from differing in the choice between “mine” and “my”: “Heart” for “wit” (l. 7), “checks” for “checke” (l. 18), and “fear” for “teach” l. 24. Both texts omit the same two stanzas (ll. 9–16) and share two unique replacement lines (ll. 22 and 24). Dd, R17, and W share a common ancestor that underwent some creative revision: the variant opening “your” and replacement of lines 3, 6–8. May doubts that Dd’s scribe Henry Stanford, chaplain to George Carey, made the revisions: “I do not believe that Stanford would have transformed an entry for his “public” section . . . to this extent” (1988, 318).

118

This poem is attributed to the Earl of Oxford in two substantive contemporary copies. It is signed “E. O.” in the first edition of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (P), sig. I3r–v and “Earle of Oxforde” in Ra, fol. 14v. 208 Another substantive manuscript copy, without attribution, survives in Ma, fol. 28v. May points out that 118 is the only poem of Oxford’s from The Paradyse that also survives in contemporary manuscript verse collections (1980, 72). The printed version includes a refrain at the end of every sixain stanza comprising non-lexical vocables (“Laradon tan tan, Tedriton teight”) indicating that the poem had been set to music. 209 208   May (1980, 30–31) places 118 among the certain Oxford poems (no. 8). The poem was dropped from subsequent editions of The Paradyse. Seven poems are attributed to Oxford in P; one more of these only appeared in P (see Rollins 1927, lviii). For the printed editions, see head-note to 4. 209  Another poem assigned to Oxford in P (“A Croune of Bayes shall that man weare”), following immediately after 118, also retains evidence that it was sung: the text retains a musical direction “bis” to repeat a phrase, and one of the repeat refrains contains

306

Commentary

1–4

An echo of these lines is found in Christopher Middleton’s The Famous Historie of Chinon of England (1597, sig. C4r): “when the liuely Larke a gladsome Herrald to the dawning day, gan with her siluer sounding note to discharge the melanchollie glooming night.” 5–6 Dyscride discovered, revealed (OED descry, v.1 1, 5a); the conceit is that Aurora (the dawn) sees Phoebus (the sun personified) rise out of Thetis Bedd, a synonym for the ocean; in Greek mythology Thetis is one of the Nereids or sea-nymphs and the mother of Achilles. 8 Carnation For the color symbolism, cf. “which horses apparelled in White and carnation silk, beeing the colloures of Desire” (Henry Goldwell, A Briefe Declaration of the Shews .  .  . before the Queenes Maiestie, 1581, sig. B8r). 13–14 Oxford stages a similar dialogue with “Desyre” in poem 3: “Dothe Company dysplease? / . . . Where wold Desire then chuse to be? / . . . What feedethe most your syghte?” (ll. 17, 19, 21). 17–18 Cf. Ovid’s Art of Love 1.749–50: “. . . curae sua cuique voluptas: / Haec quoque ab alterius grata dolore venit” [“none cares but for his own pleasure, and sweet is that when it springs from another’s pain”] (Loeb 2, 64–65). Collations: May (1980, 118) collates Ma, P, and Ra against Hy. As May concludes, none of the manuscript copies derived from P. P introduces two errors not present in the manuscript copies: “in” for “of ” (l. 13) and “me” for “than” (l. 15); the latter reading creates a faulty rhyme word. Though no certain relationship based on error can be posited, Hy shares with Ra the variant opening “stretcht forth” for “did stretch” (l. 1) and two more readings against Ma and P: “this gentle” for Ma’s “that seemlye,” or P’s “the youthfull” (l. 8), and “Nor greater Ioy Can be” for Ma’s “No ioy is greater to,” or P’s “No ioy no greater to” (l. 17).

119

The ascription to this unique text may refer to John Edwards, a member of the compiler’s circle of Inns of Court friends, who, I suggest, supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, including some of his own compositions (see Introd., lxii). This entry falls into the latter category along with two more poems signed with the same initials written “in praise of a mistress” (136 and 140). Pigman describes verse on a similar theme in Gascoigne’s work as “bragging poems,” and they were dubbed “vaunting verse” by contemporaries (see below

another non-lexical vocable: “Ah a lalalantida my deare dame has thus tormented me” (Rollins 1927, 240).

307

Poems 118–120

1n.). 210 George Puttenham in The Arte of English Poesie (1589) sanctions a limited use of “Hyperbole” in love poetry: “if we fall a praysing, specially of our mistresses vertue, bewtie, or other good parts, we be allowed now and then to ouer-reach a little by way of comparison” (sig. Y2v). 1 5 7

9 11 12

Cf. “Leave of you Lovers in your vauntinge verse” (138.11); “Vaunting in verse what ioyes he did possesse” (George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, 1573, sig. F2r) meede reward (OED n. 1a) Hellen “daughter of Jupiter, and Leda .  .  . for hir woonderfull beautie, was twise rauished. First . . . by Theseus: afterwarde by Paris the Troiane, then being wife vnto Menalaus, which was the onely occasion of the tenne yeres siege, and finall destruction of the most famous citie of Troye” (Cooper). out alas alas!, woe is me! (OED out, int. 1) brave fine, excellent (OED adj. 3a); Cheere disposition (OED cheer, n.1 3). none her Peere Cf. 111.10 “nere thy peere” and 140.7 “pereles pere”

120

Three more copies of this anonymous lyric survive in contemporary poetic miscellanies, all without attribution: Ra, fol. 45v, Hn, fol. 144r, and Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 148 (R48), fols. 67v–68r. 211 A vocal setting also survives of a truncated version of the text, lacking ll. 13–16, in Thomas Bateson’s Second Set of Madrigales, 1618 (Bat), [“songs of 5. Voyces”] no. XVIII. 3 6

Summe the highest attainable point (OED sum n.1 10) the play on Substance and Shadow throughout the poem alludes to the Neoplatonic distinction between material forms (shadows) and real forms (substances); cf. Ficino’s Commentry on Plato’s Symposium on Love: “Only our soul, I say, is so captivated by the charms of corporeal beauty that it neglects its own beauty, and forgetting itself, runs after the

210   Pigman (2000, 578) cites two examples from Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes: Heywood’s “Give place you Ladies and be gon” and Surrey’s “Geve place ye lovers, here before.” Elizabethan examples include “In the praise of his Mistresse” (The Arbor of Amorous Deuises, 1597, sig. F4r) and those, incorporating the compliment motif of the Judgement of Paris, cited in the commentary to 136. 211   Hn is partly in the hand of Sir John Harington (Hughey 1960, 2:303). Harington’s usual practice was to copy out a few lines and let one of the professional scribes in his employment complete the transcription. According to Doughtie, John Lilliat, former chorister of Christ Church College, Oxford, transcribed the copy in R48 early in 1597 (1985, 34).

308

7–8 11 12 14 15 17

Commentary

beauty of the body, which is a mere shadow of its own beauty” (Jayne 1985, 140–41). narcyssus the youth who fell in love with his own reflection (Shadow) and pined to death. The story is told in Ovid’s Metamophoses Book 3. glauncinge darting (OED glance, v.1 2) somwhat something (OED somewhat, n. 1b) perfect vew alludes to the Neoplatonic view that humans are only imperfectly able to comprehend the substance of things; cf. 128.13n. as it was as it happens (OED as, adv. and conj. P2b) whether which of the two (OED pron. 1a)

Collations: Bat, Hn, Ra, and R48. 1 voyce] noise Bat Ra R48   2 aside] for life R48   3 Summe] sonne Hn   4 Which] It Bat; was . . . mee] it went from me Bat; away did flee Hn, did goe from me R48   5 Yet hath] But yet Bat; my] mee Hn; Content] entent Bat   6 the] this Ra   8 not] om. Hn   9 know] knew Bat; myne] my Bat   11 spyde] saw Bat Hn R48; glauncinge] passing Bat Hn Ra   12 glymse] glance Bat Hn Ra; of] at Ra; somwhat] somthing Bat R48; myne] my Bat   13–16 om. Bat   13 alas] as yeat Hn   14 Bycause] For that Ra; indeed] of it R48; no] not Hn   15 wishte] wishe Hn Ra R48   17 And] om.*; whether] whither R48   18 Blessed] Blest Bat Ra R48; thing] shape Hn; hether] thether Ra In the opening line, Hy agrees with Hn in reading “voyce,” where the remaining witnesses read “noise.” At some point in the poem’s transmission a copyist mistook “n” for “v” or vice versa; however, it seems unlikely that the speaker’s wish “for a Sighte” was prompted merely by a “noise.” Hy’s two unique variants are probably errors: “wishte” (l. 15) for “wishe” as in all other texts (except Bat, where this line is missing), and in line 17, Coningsby may have added the conjunction “And” in order to create two matching hexameter lines. In this scenario he counted the final line of the couplet as a twelve-syllable line. The meter demands the elision of “Blessed” and “hether”) and fails to elide “whether”; the addition would at least make the closing couplet a metrical match (for the compiler’s habit of correcting his copy-text, see the Introd., lxvii–lxix). R48 shares two readings with Hy: “glauncinge” (l. 11) and “glymse” (l. 12) where Bat-Hn-Ra agree on “passing” and “glance.” Ra shares one variant with Hy against the other texts: “spyde” (l. 11) for “saw,” but either scribe could independently have substituted the more familiar word.

121

Another copy of this anonymous lyric, again without attribution, appears in Ra, fol. 18v. The source was probably an Italian sonnet by Pietro Barignano beginning “Brieue riposo hauer di lunghi affanni” (Rime Diverse, Venice, 1546, sig.

309

Poems 120–122

B4r); it is also the inspiration for Hy’s “Short is my rest whose Toyle is overlonge” (see the commentary to 139). Compare line five “The Darke renowne, the slaunder bright & Cleare” with “my Ioies ar Darke, but Cleare I se my woe” (139.2). Line seven, “for momentes myrthe, to mourne the monthe & yeare,” has its counterpart in “That Laugheth Howres, & wepethe many yeares” (139.6). Both poets probably referred to the same Italian original, though here more freely. 3 5

Carke distress, anxiety (OED n. 3) Darke renowne little known (regarded) name (or fame) (OED dark, adj. 6b) Fond unwise, foolhardy (OED adj. 2); weale welfare, well-being (OED n.1 2a)

9

Collations: Ra. 3 Carke &] om.   10 Lose] leaue    11 Charme] harme    12 &] but  14 dolours] dolor The texts present few variants, but Hy is a slightly better with only one problematic reading. In line 3, Hy seems to be unsure of the correct reading: the boxing around “Carke &” and “slacke &” indicate the removal of one or the other to restore the metrical regularity. Ra omits “Carke &,” and this reading also restores the caesura to its otherwise fixed position after the fourth syllable. The reading “Carke” can be explained through an eye-skip to “Darke” placed in a similar position two lines below. Ra’s “harme” (l. 11) is another obvious error, repeating the end-rhyme from line 9, where Hy’s “Charme” provides the superior reading. Ra’s “leaue my trothe” should probably read “Lose my troathe” (l. 10; my italics).

122

Another contemporary copy of this bawdy poem, again without attribution, appears in Ra, fol. 13v. The question in the first line was a popular opening in Elizabethan verse. Peele’s “What Thynge is Love?” (126) is another example; entries 3 and 6 also belong to a tradition of verse that attempts a definition of love. 212 There is some evidence of arrangement by genre of entries in poetic miscellanies, and in Ra these four poems that define love occur close together. 213 Oxford’s poem 3 and Lyly’s 6 adhere to a courtly love aesthetic where, love, personified as “Desire,” is utimately affirmed as a powerful God in a largely positive light. Ralegh’s “Farewell false Love” (50) is a polemical species of the genre that, like Robert Greene’s “What thing is love?” (Menaphon, 1589, sig. K4v), follows   For this genre, see Kermode 1956.  Hy’s 122, 126, 6, and 3 correspond to entries 24, 25, 28, and 29 in Cummings (1960) edition of Ra. 212 213

310

Commentary

continental models (Desportes and Saint-Gelais) in presenting a tirade against love. 214 This entry, along with Peele’s “What Thynge is Love?” (126), belongs to another, more playful, species of the definition of love convention, where the bawdy associations of “thing” in the opening question set off a series of double entendres. A poem in The Phoenix Nest, “Now what is Loue, I praie thee tell” (1593, sig. N2r), and a song possibly by the Earl of Essex, “Say, what is love?” (Bod., MS Douce 280, fol. 67r), also illustrate this tradition. 2–5

anadiplosis (also in ll. 6–8, 10–11, and 13–15, 16–18): a rhetorical figure where “the worde by which you finish your verse, ye beginne the next verse with the same” (George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, sig. Z2r); here it serves the dialogic format where the answer to each question echoes the previous statement. 2 fond foolish, silly (OED adj. 2); lusty insolent, arrogant (OED adj. 6) 5 tryvauntes OED gives this unusual spelling as a dialect variant of “truants”: wandering, straying (OED truant, adj. 1); the semantic field of head . . . Rod . . . breches suggests a series of double entendres: i.e., the association with cuckoldry, a pun on penis, and a metonymy for female genitals (for the latter, see Williams 1994, 1:148) 9 proove experience, suffer (OED v. 2); with a pun on “to try sexually” (Williams 1994, 2:1105) 12–18 The lines are an example of the rhetorical figure of gradatio (Puttenham calls this device the “clymbing figure” in The Arte of English Poesie, sig. 2A1r) There is a quasi-logical argumentation in this circular attempt to “define” love. Tuve notes a link “between what poets learned about defining and dividing in logic, and relearned in rhetoric, and what they did in their poems” (1961, 299). The rhetorical figure also serves a bawdy purpose reinforced by another series of double entendres: Flowre . . . growne . . . firme . . . height . . . height . . . secret Fancy leading to the final proof of “what thing is Love.” Collations: Ra. 11 Oh] Of; is] was   16 effecte] affecte   17 effecte] affecte; secret] om. There are five substantive variants between the two texts. Ra’s variant “Of Fancy” (l. 11) picks up on the same two words at the end of the previous line and is

  For the French source of Greene’s verse, see Quaintance 1963. Other examples are the anonymous “Discription Amoris” beginning “What thinge is loue? a Tirant of the minde” and “Amour Quid?” beginning “To late I finde that loue is nought” (BL, Add MS 22601, fols. 102v, 7v–8r); and “What thing is Loue? a needlesse Idle thought” (Ha fol. 153v). 214

311

Poems 122–123

perhaps the intended reading; but Ra’s omission of “secret” (l. 17) creates a metrically defective line.

123

This is Philip Sidney’s OA 45. In the third book of the prose romance The Old Arcadia the words are sung by the shepherdess Charita to Dametas and serve to embellish the fabricated story that Dorus (Musidorus) is relating to Miso about her husband’s infidelity: In her lap there lay a shepherd, so wrapped up in that well liked place that I could discern no piece of his face; but as mine eyes were attent in that, her angelic voice strake mine ears with this song. (Robertson 1973, 190; from St)

Ringler identifies the rhetorical structure of the poem as serpentina carmina, which Abraham Fraunce explains is so-called because the words “turne and winde themselues in orbem like a snake.” 215 Sidney’s use of repetition (epanalepsis) occurs both in the chiasmic patterning throughout the poem and the repetition of the opening line at the close. Copies survive in nine Old Arcadia manuscript texts: As, fol. 89r, Bo, fol. 109r, Cl, fol. 93r, Da, fol. 86r, Hm, fol. 57r, Je, p. 142, Ph, fol. 95r, Qu, fol. 68r, and St, fol. 102r. It is also included in Henry Lee’s collection of Old Arcadia poems, Le, fol. 19r. Another substantive copy appears in the composite version of the prose romance printed in 1593, a reprint of the incomplete New Arcadia of 1590 plus books three to five of the Old Arcadia (Ringler 1962, 534), i.e, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (93), sig. 2G3r. George Puttenham quoted the first two quatrains of the poem in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589 (Pu), sigs. 2B4v–2C1r, to illustrate “versus intercalaris,” termed by Puttenham as the “Loue-burden”: in one respect because that one verse alone beareth the whole burden of the song according to the originall: in another respect, for that it comes by large distances to be often repeated, as in this ditty made by the noble knight Sir Philip Sidney. (sig. 2B4v)

In Puttenham’s version the opening line serves as a refrain, placed after each of the stanzas printed, which suggested to Ringler (1962, 407) that the poem had been set to music before 1589. However, Puttenham may have purposefully altered the text (for an example of this practice, see the commentary to 29) to create a more suitable exemplar of the rhetorical device he wished to illustrate and to avoid having to quote the whole poem. Two musical settings of Sidney’s poem 215   Ringler (1962, 407) cites two further examples of Sidney’s use of this device: AS 24 and OA 72.

312

Commentary

have survived, but neither corresponds to Puttenham’s version of the text. According to Ringler, in each case, the words were taken from one of the folios editions of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (see below). The first is an early seventeenth-century musical setting, which, like Pu, has a refrain, in this case, the final couplet: BL, Add. MS 15117, fol. 18v. 216 The other musical setting, for three voices, was composed by John Ward printed in 1613 in his First Set of English Madrigals, nos. 1 [ll. 1–8] and 2 [ll. 9–14]. 217 2

on one

Collations: Ringler (1962, 75–76) records variants occurring in two or more substantive texts in As, Bo, Cl, Da, Je, Le, Ph, Pu, Qu, St, 93. My collation shows all substantive variants, and adds another text not available to Ringler: Hm. Title om.] Charita: Le   1 hart] harte in hold Le   2 another] the other As Bo Cl Da Hm Je Le Ph 93, thother St   3 his] it Da Ph; myne] in me Da   5 His] My Pu; in . . . in] in me kepes me and him in As Bo Cl Da Le Ph 93, in me keepe me and hym in St, keepes me and I and he are Hm Qu   6 thoughtes] thought Bo   8 it] he Hm Qu   9–13 om. Pu   9 wound] woundes Hm Qu; from] in Je   10 hart] hate Hm; with] from Je   11 For] so Da; on] in Hm Je Qu; hurte] hart Ph   12 me thought] my thought Je Ph; in . . . hart] in me his hurt As Bo Cl Da Hm Le Qu St 93, his hurt in me Je   13 his] this * Hy, Pu, and Qu share a probable error in line 2, “another” for “the other” in all the other texts. Another conjunctive error occurs in line 5, where Hy, Pu, and Je have “him & me” for “me & him,” where the latter reading better suits the chiastic patterning of the poem. In line 12, Hy and Ph make the same transcrpiion error with “hart” for “hurt” (my italics). Hy’s unique variant “his” for “this” (l. 13) is another evident error. The shared readings could be the result of independent variation, but the presence of two agreements in error between Hy and Pu does hint at a common ancestor. Pu’s truncated version contains another evident error (“My” for “His” l. 5).

124

The poem was included in the anthology published by Richard Jones as Nicholas Breton’s: Brittons Bowre of Delights . . . By N.B. Gent., 1591, (B), sigs. G3r–4v. 218 216   Ringler (1962, 566) tells us that the words were taken from one of the folio editions of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia printed between 1593 and 1613. 217   The words are from one of the folios printed between 1598 and 1613 (ibid., 567). 218   Brittons Bowre was issued again by Jones in 1597 in a shortened version (sigs. A1F4); 124 is found on sigs. F3v–F4r with two variant readings discussed in the collation commentary below.

Poems 123–124

313

Although Breton tried to disassociate himself from this publication, many of the poems in the collection are his (see Introd., lii fn. 85). Rollins comments that 124 “bears every sign of Breton’s authorship” (1933, 107). This is also suggested from the presence of the poem in a substantial grouping of Breton’s verse in BL, Add. MS 34064 (A34), fol. 19v. Further substantive copies, all without attribution, are found in contemporary poetic miscellanies, the first two compiled towards the end of the sixteenth-century and the third is dated ca. 1640s: Ra, fol. 10r–v, Ha, fols. 148v–9r, and Folger, MS V.a.339 (V33), fol. 186r. Breton had a habit of imitating courtier poets’ work, especially Sidney and Dyer (see commentary to 1), and this poem closely imitates Sidney’s CS 3 “The fire to see my wrongs for anger burneth” (see 55). 219 At least one contemporary reader (John Finet, the probably compiler of Ra) made this connection by placing the two poems on adjacent pages in his poetic miscellany. In fact, Breton reproduces the same theme (with a similar correlative structure and Sidnean feminine line endings) in a “passionate sonnet” given to Stephen Powle by the author himself: “In sunny beames the skye dothe shewe her sweete,” which concludes: “Or be no more Sea, Skye, Earth, muse, nor mountaynes” (Bod., MS Tanner 169, fol. 43r). 1–4

Ayre . . . earth . . . Fire . . . Water i.e., the “four elements”; Cf. Breton’s treatment of same theme in “The Covntesse of Penbrookes Love”: What is the Earth? the labour of our life, what is the sea? a gulfe of griezy lakes: what is the aire? a stuffe of filthy strife, what is the fire? the spoile of what it takes: (The Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592, sig. K4r).

2–4 9

heavy eye, / . . . to [i.e., too] hot & Drye conventional traits of the lover’s malady (Babb 1951, 135–37) Fyre . . . frozen The fires and chills of love are described by Breton in The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577: Howe holdes my griefe? alas both hot, and colde: hot with desire, and cold againe with feare:

219   Breton’s imitations of Sidney were sometimes misidentifed as that poet’s own work. Ringler cites two instances of poems wrongly attributed to Sidney that are “probably by Breton” (AT 5 and AT 14); the first, attributed to Sidney in Ra, is also found in the Breton grouping in A34; the latter refers to Phillis and Coridon “Breton’s stock characters” (Ringler 1962, 353). For the idea that Breton may have supplied his printer, Richard Jones, with the copy of CS 3 printed in a subsequent anthology containing Breton’s work, see the commentary to 55.

314

Commentary

Warme, when I doo thy beauties beames beholde, and quake with cold, to be, and thou not there. (sigs. B2v–3r)

29

world ynclozed This alludes to the commonplace belief that Man, like all created things, was a mixture of the four elements (Babb 1951, 22).

Collations: A34, B, Ha, Ra, and V33. Title: om.] Quatuor elementa A34, Of the foure Elements B  1 Doth] do A34 B   2 heavy] gazing Ha Ra   3 Dyinge] droopinge V33; Spright] spirit B RaV33, spritt A34   4 that] what V33; &] or Ra   7 I Do] sore I A34 B   8 Earthes] Earth A34 B Ha; fayre] her A34 B; Do] doth Ha   9 so hot] with heat Ha Ra; “enflames my . . . minde” corr. to enflames the . . . mynde] it doth inflame the minde A34 B enflames the frozen mynd Ha Ra   10 Heate] white*   11 Ayre . . . Water] aire earth, fire, & water V33   12 all] nedes A34 B Ha Ra   13 yet] om. V33   15 ycoulde] a could*   17 Oh . . . oh] or . . . or A34 B   18 slay] slaine A34; ôh] one A34, once B, now Ha Ra; or] & V33   22 Ah] oh B V33; how] with Ra; panting] parting Ra, my panting B; hartes] heart A34 B   23 Earth] om. Ra; do] to A34   24 power] powres A34 Ha, healpe Ra   25 Ayre] the aire V33   26 groweth] grows Ra   27 Flame & Fury] cole and bauen A34 B   28 ebbes] ebth A34 B; floweth] flowes Ra   29 within] in A34 Ha B; world] worde B   30 Hartes have] heart hath A34 V33 B; rest] Ioyes Ha Ra Hy’s unique reading “Heate” in line 10 should probably read “white,” i.e., the frothy-white sputum from a dry mouth (OED white, n. P6), as in all other witnesses. Hy shares two more probable errors with V33, “all” l. 12 and “ôh” l. 18, indicating that these two texts ultimately derived from a common ancestor. Hy’s use of a circumflex in line 18 (“ôh”) might have derived from misreading a tilde in a contraction of “once” spelled “onc,” the reading in B (rendered as “one” in A34). And in line 12, “all” for “needs,” the unanimous reading in the other texts, is an error probably caused by eye-skip, since it picks up the same word, in the same position, in the line above. V33 introduces four more errors: “droopinge” l. 3, om. “yet” l. 13, “&” l. 18, and “the” l. 25. Ha and Ra are also related, deriving from a common ancestor with four shared errors (ll. 2, 9, 18, and 30). Ra is a more corrupt text, adding seven more variants most of which are certain errors. A34 and B share nine variant readings, none of which are obvious errors: “do” for “Doth” l. 1, “sore I” for “I Do” l. 7, “Earth her” for “Earthes fayre” l. 8, “it dothe inflame the minde” for “inflames the frozen mynde” l. 9, “or . . . or” for “Oh . . . oh” l. 17, “once” (misread as “one”) l. 18, “hart” l. 22, “cole, and bauen” l. 27, and “ebth” l. 28). However, A34 does not reproduce any of the errors introduced in the printed copies: “my” l. 22 and “worde” for “world” l. 29 in B; “the” for “Fire” l. 11 in the 1597 edition of Brittons Bowre. A34 also introduces three unique

315

Poems 124–126

variants of its own: “slaine” for “slaie” l. 18, “to” for “do” l. 23, and “powres” for “power” l. 24. This suggests that neither of the printed editions were the source for the copy in A34; is seems likely that A34 is a substantive text of Breton’s poem that, like B, represents a different textual tradition.

125

This unique text contains lines very similar to a verse identified in this edition as belonging to Nicholas Breton (see below 5–8n.; for Breton’s tendency to recycle his own work, see 149 fn. 259). The first four lines echo Chidiock Tichborne’s verse epistle “To His Friend [Anthony Babington],” written after his arrest in August 1586 for his involvement in the Babington Plot: “Good sorrow cease, false hope be gone, misfortune once farewell; / Come, solemn muse, the sad discourse of our adventures tell” (Hirsch 1983, 307), edited from the unique copy in Edinburgh University Library (MS Laing II. 69, fol. 24v). Tichbourne, principally remembered for his “Lament,” “My prime of youth, is but a froste of cares,” written shortly before his execution; for which CELM records 45 surviving copies, might have been familiar with poem 125, or perhaps the respective authors of these poems borrowed from the same unidentified original. 3 5–8 18

Solempne muse For Breton’s melancholic muse, see 149.18n. Some of the exact phrasing in these lines is found in Breton’s 18.1–4. This line echoes Dyer’s “Whose hurte his deathe must bee” (1.16); for Breton’s borrowing from this poem elsewhere in his canonical work, see the commentary to 1.

126

This text was copied, as a later addition, into blank space left at the foot of the page and is, thus, not included in the contemporary numeration of entries (see Overview Table in Appendix 1a). It is a song from a lost pastoral play or entertainment called The Hunting of Cupid by George Peele. We know this because William Drummond quoted some of its lines, among jottings made in his manuscript notebook, under the heading “The Hunting of Cupid by George Peele of oxford, Pastoral” (National Library of Scotland, MS 2059 [Dm], fols. 352r– 53r). 220 Two more copies of the song are found in Elizabethan poetic miscellanies assigned to “M[r] G: Peelle” in Ra, fol. 13r and without attribution in Bod.,   An entry in the Stationers’ Register on the 26 July 1591, “a booke intituled The Huntinge of Cupid written by George Peele M[aste]r of Artes of Oxeford,” together with the statement “before lycenced,” confirms the existence of this work by Peele and suggests a previous print-run (Horne 1952, 154). Moreover, in another notebook, Drummond mentions the title in a list of books read in 1609 (ibid.). Greg assumes that the entry in 220

316

Commentary

MS Rawl. poet. 172 (R72), fol. 2v. The first seven lines also appear as “The Song” in an anonymous play, The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll, 1600 (DD), sig. A4v. 221 Another similarly truncated version was set to music in John Bartlet’s A Book of Ayres, 1606 (Bt), no. 14. Analogous poems that offer a “definition of love” are discussed in the commentary to 122. Two more songs identified as belonging to the lost work The Hunting of Cupid (lines in each can be matched to the fragments in Dm) appeared in print as Peele’s. The first of these is a verse dialogue of fourteen lines printed, under the title “Coridon and Melampus Song” and beginning “Melampus, when will Loue be void of feares?,” in Englands Helicon (1600, sig. E3r). The second, ten lines of verse, beginning “At Venus intreatie for Cupid her sonne,” is found in Robert Allott’s literary anthology, Englands Parnassus (1600, sig. N1r). 222 Horne suggests that Peele wrote The Hunting of Cupid “during his association with the poets and child players, 1581–1585,” aligning it with another mythological pastoral, The Arraignment of Paris, written 1581–84 (1952, 154). 1–4

1 10

Thynge. / . . . prycke . . . stynge . . . prety thynge these lines are full of bawdy puns. Williams (1994, 2:1094) cites Fennor’s Cornucopiæ (1612): “Oh peirce her (pretie Cupid) with thy sting, That I may pricke her with another thinge.” Cf. also the bawdy manuscript poem entitled “Riddle me Rachell whats this / that a man handles when he does pisse” and beginning “It is a kind of pleasing sting / a pricking & a peircinge thing” (Rosenbach, MS 1083/15, fol. 37v) with the variant first line “It is a kind of pricking sting” (Folger, MS V.a.399, fol. 11r). Peele might have been familiar with the ballad in print by 1566 (Rollins 1924b, 116) beginning “Fain wold I haue a pretie thing to giue vnto my Ladie” and sung “To the tune of lustie Gallant,” printed in Clement Robinson’s A Handefull of Pleasant Delites, 1584, sig. D5r and copied ca. 1570s in Bod., MS Rawl. Poet. 108, fol. 44r. What . . . Love? For this popular opening in Elizabethan verse, see 122. Mars and Venus had an affair; see 6.9–10n.; even & Od a game of chance (OED even, adj.1 and n.2 , P4d); and here with a double entendre from the Pythagorean association of even and odd numbers with the male and female genders.

the Stationers’ Register refers to a lost pastoral play (1962, 2:965); Cutts argues plausibly that it was not a play but a pastoral entertainment (1958, 121–32). 221   Cutts suggests Peele wrote the play refuting the assumption that “dramatists had no compunction about using other poets’ songs in their plays” (1958, 127–29). 222   All extracts are printed in Horne 1952, 204–8.

Poem 126

317

Collations: Bt, DD, Dm, Ra, and R72. Title: om.] The Song DD, A Discription of loue R72   1 for . . . Thynge] I pray thee tel Bt, for sure I am it is a thing DD, for (wel I wot) love is a thing Dm   2 Love . . . Love . . . Love] it . . . it . . . it Bt DD Dm; prycke] prickle Bt; stynge] thing DD; prety] prety prety Bt DD Dm Ra   3 Love . . . Love] it . . . it Bt DD Dm   5 self] wits Bt DD, wit Dm; can] do DD, doth Dm; best Devyze] well aduise R72   6 His] loues Bt DD Dm; Dwellinge is] darling lies Bt   7–10 om. Bt DD   7 he shotes] do glaunce Dm; hys daynty] loves pearcing Dm, his painted R72   8 sub. that mak such holes into our harts Dm   inserted after l. 8 Dm and al the world herin accord love is a great and mightie lord and when he list to mount so hie with venus he in heven doth lie

9 hath . . . Calld] more heth been Dm, since was callde Ra   10 Synce] That Ra; with Venus] and sche Dm   Subscription: om.] M G: Peelle Ra The six surviving texts fall into two distinct groups. Hy is the best text with only one error, omitting the repeated word “pretty” in line two, resulting in a metrically faulty line. R72 is very close to Hy, sharing the same error in line two but adding two more errors (“well aduise” l. 5 and “painted” l. 7). Ra is another reliable text with only two errors (“since was” l. 9 and “That” l. 10). The remaining texts derive from a common ancestor, probably the lost printed copy of The Hunting of Cupid (ca. 1591), which transmitted five variant readings (“it” for “Love” ll. 2, 3; “wit(s)” l. 5; and “loues” l. 6). DD’s and Bt’s seven-line versions probably originated from the lost printed text of The Hunting of Cupid but are otherwise unrelated. DD contains one obvious error (“thing” for “sting” l. 2). Bt’s variant opening line, “What thing is loue, I pray thee tel,” echoes another poem set to music in an earlier printed collection of songs, “Now what is loue I pray thee tell” (Robert Jones, Second Book of Songs and Ayres, 1601, song IX); two more unique variants could be errors or purposeful revisions made by Bartlet to accommodate the musical setting (“prickle” l. 2 and “darling lies” l. 6). Dm is an eclectic text in which two lines have been substantially rewritten (ll. 8 and 9), an additional verse inserted between lines eight and nine, and some minor changes introduced (“more hath been” l. 19 and “and sche” l. 10), all of which could be Drummond’s own sophistications. The unique additional verse extends the bawdy word play and fits uncomfortably into the poem: love is called a “mightie lord,” whereas in the next line he is named as “a god,” and Venus (Drummond substitutes “sche”) reappears in the final line.

318

Commentary

127

Dyer’s authorship is supported by the attribution to “Mr Dier” in Ra, fols. 40r– 41r. 223 The poem was printed without attribution in The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sigs. M4r–N1v. Dyer limits the number of different rhyme words used in the poem. The couplet rhymes in stanzas one and ten and the a rhyme of stanza five all include the rhyme word “Care”. The couplet rhymes in stanzas two, four, five and eleven, a rhyme of stanza four and the b rhymes in stanzas three and six share the same rhyme (and within these lines “Delight” occurs five times and “Despight” three times. The b rhyme in stanza two and a rhyme of stanza ten contain identical rhyme words in reverse order, and the couplets of stanzas eight and nine both contain the rhyme word “minde” in reverse order. For a poem where Sidney experiments with a limited set of rhymes, see 53. 1–2

Rate count (OED rate, v.2 2a); cf. Petrarch’s Rime 12.10–11: “ch’ i’ vi discovrirò de’ miei martiri / qua’ sono stati gli anni, e i giorni, et l’ore.” [“I shall desclose to you what have been the years and the days and the hours of my sufferings”]; Durling 1976, 46–47. 6, 18 but only 7 Iust . . . muche “Just this (so much) and that in itself is not very much” (May 1991, 299) 11 Lyves . . . Despight i.e., hurts or despises himself 14 proverbial, “Take (Mingle) the Sweet with the sour” (Tilley S1038); for Dyer’s fondness for this proverb, see 9.34–35n. 16 quyght redress (OED quit, v. 3c) 32, 34 but only 33 The . . . Age Cf. “So is the lustie time of youth and adolescencie, tearmed by the name of the flower of age” (Levinus Lemnius, An Herbal for the Bible, 1587, sig. T3r) 34 vsurp assume, bear (v. 4b) 35 Carefull full of care, trouble, anxiety (OED adj. 2) 35–36 This couplet is copied with some slight changes on folio 11v; see the commentary to ix. 38 beyond the Compas beyond the bounds (OED compass, n.1 9a) 40 to . . . to too . . . to 43 enter in Devise deliberate (OED devise, v. 11) 53 inward touch Sidney uses the same phrase in AS 15.10 to berate contemporary poets’ lack of true sentiment: “As do bewray a want of inward tuch.”

223   May (1991, 297–99) places 127 among the certain Dyer poems (no. 5), with Hy serving as copy-text.

319

Poems 127–128

55

Weande . . . will Cf. Sidney’s “Waynd from the hope which made affection glad” (AT Ot; Woudhuysen 1996, 415). 57 proverbial, “Bought wit is best” (Tilley W545) 61–62 Puttenham (The Arte of English Poesie, 1589) praises the “Parenthesis or the Insertour” in another poem by Dyer, see 10.9–10n. 64 but only 66 Hap chance, fortune, luck (OED n.1 2) Collations: Sargent (1935, 204) collates Ra against PN; May (1991, 299) records the variants for Hy. May concludes that “all three versions are closely related, sharing the conjunctive error “Not” for “Nor” at line 23. All three texts display a high level of accuracy, taking into account the length of the poem and the complexity of the language and ideas expressed. Hy’s nine unique readings are minor variants, none of which significantly change the sense: “with” for “to” (l. 3), “With” for “And” and “Checke” for “choake” (l. 15), “I Blame &” for “No blame to” (l. 17), “mynde” for “soule” (l. 28), “Sleepe” for “sweete” (l. 31), “Consume” for “Consumes” (l. 36), “Do” for “To” (l. 38), “alas” for “God knowes” (l. 40) and “from” for “of ” (l. 51). Hy may be in error in line 17, but the meaning of this line is rather obscure in both versions. The Ra-PN reading “sweete” in line 31 could be correct since the stanza moves away specifically from the subject of sleep to more general “pleasure.” Though May considers “sweete” an error. Rollins glosses the sense of the line: “Or whatever else (like sleep) seems to be sweet (yet isn’t sweet)” (1931, 191).

128

This is Philip Sidney’s CS 23. Additional copies are found in two Old Arcadia manuscript texts with the Certain Sonnets appended: Bo, fol. 241r and Cl, fol. 223r. It was first printed in 1598 in The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (98), sig. 2S2r–v. The poem also circulated in manuscript among Sidney’s contemporaries with copies surviving in Ot, fol. 4v, Ra, fol. 12r, Ha, fol. 149r, and Ma, fol. 18r. The words were written “To the tune of Wilhemus van Nassaw” (98), the song of the house of Orange, which Sidney “may have heard . . . during his visit to the Prince of Orange in 1577” (Ringler 1962, 431). 224 Hy is the only copy to transcribe the poem in eighteen long lines. Ringler points out that Sidney follows the syllabic and rhyme pattern of the Dutch song precisely, and the poem should comprise, as all other witnesses confirm, four eight-line stanzas (stanza 1: a6b6a6b6c7d6c7d6; stanzas 2–4: a7 b6a7 b6c7d6c7d6), concluding with the near   For the genesis of this tune as the Dutch national anthem, see Noske 1966.

224

320

Commentary

repetition of the first four lines. For other examples where Sidney wrote words to fit an already existing tune (i.e., contrafactum), see 44 and 55. 2, 18

3 6 12 13 15 16

Chiefest Light . . . Chiefest light Cf. “That inward sunne in thine eyes shineth so” (AS 71). The Neoplatonic view of earthly beauty as “the beawtie of the soule: the which as partner of the right and heauenlye beawtie, maketh sightlye and beawtifull what euer she toucheth . . . and with her light ouercommeth the darkness of the bodye” (Castiglione, The Courtyer, translated by Thomas Hoby, 1561, sig. 2T6v); see 26.1–2n. for Spenser’s treatment of the same theme. discever divide, separate (OED dissever, v. 1) Cheefest part See 116.2n. The They Cf. “that soueraigne happinesse, that can not be comprehended of the senses” (The Courtyer, sig. 2R3r). For this Neoplatonic idea, see 120.14n. Cf. “And therefore is the outwarde beawtie a true signe of the inwarde goodnes” (The Courtyer, sig. 2T4v). weale goodness, splendour, virtue (OED weal, n.1)

Collations: Bo, Cl, Ha, Ma, Ot, Ra, and 98. Ringler (1962, 151–52) collates all the texts except Ot but only records the variants occurring in two or more substantive texts. My collations show all substantive variants. Title: om.] To ye tune of Williclmus van Nassaw &c. Bo, To . . . Willelmus . . . Nassaw Cl, To . . . Wyllielmus . . . &c. Ma, To . . . Wilhemus . . . &c. 98   1 Who hath his] Whoso hath Ha; Sight] sightes Ha   2 Chiefest] sweetest*   3 Doth discever] dyeth neuer Ha; vnites] vnite*   4 the] that Ra   5 She] It Ra; but] that Ha   6 ever] neuer Ha Ra; Dies] liues Ha; &] that Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98, but Ra   7 her] the Ra; with] in Bo Cl Ma Ot 98   8 his] her Ha; Death] fayth Ra; she] he Ra   9 answer . . . pleasure] the pleasure Doth answere *   10 who] That Ra   12 tell of] fitt for Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98; that] This Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98; do fynde] doth bynd Bo Cl Ha Ma 98, do bynde Ot   13 this bewty] these beutyes Bo Cl Ot 98; nor] ne Ha; this] that Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98   16 still be] liue full Ha Ma; liue still Bo Cl Ot Ra 98; that] which Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98; her] that Bo Cl Ha Ma Ot 98, the Ra   17–18 om. Ot   18 Chiefest] sweetest* Hy’s seven unique readings are probably all errors: “vnites” l. 3, “&” l. 6, “Chiefest” l. 2, 18, “answer doth the pleasure” l. 9 (creates a metrical anomaly), and “still be,” “her” l. 16. There is also probable agreement in error with Ra: “tell of . . . That . . . do fynde” for “fitt for . . . This . . . doth bynd” l. 12, “that” for “which” l. 16, and “Fancy” for “fancies” l. 17. Hy-Ra’s corrupt version of line twelve is perhaps an indication that some copyists found the meaning, couched in Neoplatonic philosophy, difficult to comprehend. Ra introduces eight more unique variants

321

Poems 128–129

most of which are certain errors: “that” l. 4, “It” l. 5, “neuer,” “but” l. 6, “the” l. 7, “fayth,” “he” l. 8, and “that” l. 10. Ha omits the last two lines and introduces seven variant readings, nearly all certain errors: “Whoso,” om. “his,” “sights” l. 1, “dyeth neuer” l. 3, “that” l. 5; “neuer liues” l. 6, and “her” l. 8. Ha’s agreement in error with Ra in l. 6 (“neuer” for “ever”) is probably a case of independent variation; the shared reading with Ma “liue full” for “liue still” (l. 16) could also be coincidence, both scribes independently misreading an “st” ligature as “f ” and substituting the familiar word. Ma is close to Bo, Cl, Ot, and 98, which contain no definitive errors.

129

The poem is attributed to the Earl of Oxford (signed “Earlle of Oxenforde”) in Ra, 16v. 225 It was also adapted by an unidentified author “T. W.” and printed as his “Sonet LX,” the last in a sequence signed with these initials, in The Tears of Fancie, 1593 (T), sig. E2r. 226 May comments that T. W. “adapted Oxford’s lyric to the non-courtly atmosphere of his sonnet sequence” (1980, 78). An imitation, printed in The Phoenix Nest (1593, sig. L1v), is a witty response to Oxford’s poem, which borrows the structure but changes the content so that the lines answer to “Care” rather than “Loue.” 227 Another imitation, in tetrameter, by Nicholas Breton is introduced as a “ditty” in Choice, Chance, and Change, 1606: “the Boy taking his instrument, fell to play & sing this ditty . . . Of all Conceites which is the best? Loue” (sig. I2r). 1,4, 8 the thee 13–14 This closing couplet has the quality of a love posy and expresses the same sentiment as Coningsby’s personal motto (see ix).

  May places 129 among the certain Oxford poems (1980, 37, no. 15).   T was erroneously attributed to Thomas Watson, based on Collier’s doctoring of the entry in the Stationers’ Register (ibid., 78). Scott (1926) enumerates “T. W.’s” wholesale borrowing, sometimes with slight alterations, from the published work of Gascoigne and Spenser. 227   There are enough verbal allusions to suggest knowledge of a version of 129. Line nine borrows from 129.1 “Who taught thee first to” and two sets of rhyme words are identically placed: “hart /. . . smart” (ll. 1, 3); and “freend / . . . end” (ll. 10, 12). The Phoenix Nest version was probably responding to the poem as it appeared in T. It retains the mechanical repetition of “Who” into the third stanza and echoes T’s unique variants (“fancies” l. 8 and “loue wantons” l. 11, echo “fancie” l. 8 and “wanton loue” l. 7 in T). T was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 11 August 1593 and The Phoenix Nest on 8 October in the same year (Rollins 1931, x). 225

226

322

Commentary

Collations: May (1980, 121) collates Ra and T against Hy. There is not much to distinguish between Hy and Ra. Hy is in error with “print” for “paint” (l. 5). Ra modernized “thine” to “your” (l. 3) and introduced two errors, “freends” for “frend” (l. 10) and “choyse thou” for “fayth doth” (l. 13), but “honour” for Hy’s “vertue” (l. 8) is an equally credible reading. T’s first six lines closely follow Hy (except correcting Hy at l. 5), and two unique variants “sweethart” for “my Harte” (l. 1) and “to marshall” for “the wofull” (l. 2) are undoubtedly part of the changes made to the poem more extensively in subsequent lines. After line six T diverges from Hy-Ra; apart from lines 7–8 and 13–14, which are essentially rewrites, the rest of the poem is an approximation of the original poem. T borrows “Who made thee” from l. 8 in the original poem and mechanically repeats this opening in lines 9–12.

130

This female-voiced lyric with its relentless use of sexual innuendo and double entendre would have appealed to the university and Inns of Court all-male environment in which it circulated. Two more manuscript copies survive: doubtfully attributed to Philip Sidney in Rosenbach, MS 1083/15 (Ro), fol. 114r, and ascribed to “Mistres M: R:” in Ra, fol. 114r. 228 Though the latter attribution is probably equally spurious, there are a few more examples of bawdy poems being attributed to women in manuscript (see Moulton 2000, 55). 1

3 4

5 7,11 8

Whetstone employs a similar military metaphor to describe Mars’ seduction of Venus: “Hee shot againe, the bulwarkes fell, and all the walles were raisde. / The fort thus wonne, as hee did wish, hee trode on pricking thornes” (Rocke of Regarde, 1576, sig. F7v). For this well-worn trope, see Williams 1994, 1:531–33. waste with a bawdy pun on “waist” or middle part of the (female) body slacke of Health weakened state (OED adj. 5a); the proverbial “a woman is the weaker vessel” (Tilley W655); tongues Disease the other two witnesses read “longe disease,” alluding to the longing disease or green sickness: “commonly attributed to a virgin’s troublesome sexual fantasies, for which there is an obvious cure” (Williams 1994, 2:621) Oxe a horned beast emblematic of cuckoldry walles alluding to the “defensive hymen” (Williams 1994, 3:1498) Spoile alluding to loss of virginity (Williams 1994, 3:1290)

  Ringler rejects this poem from the Sidney canon (Wrongly Attributed Poems 12; 1962, 350). The Rosenbach scribe attributed another anti-feminist poem to Sidney, copied just before 130 (Wrongly Attributed Poems 4; ibid., 249: “Are women faire? yea wondrous faire to see too”); Ringler points out that the poem is anonymous in ten earlier seventeenth-century copies. 228

Poems 129–130

323

9 10

practise allusive of casual sex (Williams 1994, 2:1086) stop our streites punning on “straits” meaning the vagina (Williams 1994, 3:1328); cf. 114.1 “stopt vp my Watergap” 15 Case slang for vagina (OED n.2 8) 19 passe the pikes for this phrase, see 74.20n.; employed here as a double entendre from the phallic connotations of “pike” 20 Clappes (1) a stroke, blow, or sudden mishap (OED clap, n.1 6); (2) gonorrhoea (OED clap, n.2); blowes “like smack has the extended sense of kiss” (Williams 1994, 1:116) 22 Charged staves (1) spear, lance, or similar armed weapon in position for action; (2) a phallic pun 23 Wounded Williams (1994 3:1551) cites Whetstone’s description of rape as a “previe maime” in Promos, 1578, sig. C2r. 24–25 fall; stumble to have a sexual encounter (Williams 1994, 3:1337) 26 nought a pun on female genitals (Williams 1994, 2:960) 29 the neare nearer to one’s end or purpose (OED near, adv.1 5a) 30 beare punning on (1) to endure; (2) to support a weight of a man in sexual intercourse; (3) to give birth to. Cf. “Women were borne to beare and borne withall, / That burdens borne that they might beare another” (John Weever, Faunus, 1600, sig. E3v). Collations: Ra and Ro. Title: om.] A Womans Complaint Ro   1 Forte] forts Ro; yeld] fall & yeild Ro   2 Whom] which Ro; &] of Ra; assallt] assaults Ro   3 wekened body] sorry weakned Ro   4 slacke] state*; tongues] longe*   5 Oxe] tree Ro; fall] deth Ra   6 sees] feeles*;   knocke] stryke Ra, cutt Ro   7 “the” corr. to our] the Ra   8 such as] them that Ro   11–12 order of lines reversed Ro   11 They sacke] & scale Ro; & . . . Cruell] in a most piteous Ro   12 raze] root Ro   14 secretes] counsayll Ra   18 by force] perforce Ra   21 yet we turne] we retorne Ra   24 before we flye] and neuer flye Ra   28 it to] it out to Ra, vnto Ro   29 “strive” corr. to strike] strive*; we thrust, &] & thrust but Ro   30 se are borne] thinke weare made Ro   Subscription: om.] Mistris M: R: Ra, P: Sydney Ro Hy contains three certain errors, “slacke,” “tongues” l. 4, and “Cannot” l. 12. Ra contains five certain errors (ll. 2, 6, 18, 24, and 28). Ra’s error in line six (“feeles” for “sees”) is shared with Ro but could have derived from a transcription error, prompted by misreading graphically similar swash “s” for “f,” made independently by both scribes. Ra’s other unique variants do not drastically affect the meaning (ll. 5, 6, 14, and 21). Ro is the latest and most corrupt copy with at least 9 errors (ll. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12).

324

Commentary

131

The appeal of this unique couplet relies on the playful morphological alteration of buss (from a noun to a verb) and fetor to fetid, both forms deriving from the Latin feteo: to stink. 1 2

Busse a kiss (OED buss, n.2); Fetor foul smelling (OED n.); Bess common name for a prostitute (Williams 1994, 1:103); fetyt stinking (OED fetid, adj.) Buss kiss (OED v.2)

132

Another copy of the poem, entitled “A Louers complaint,” is found in the collection of poems associated with Nicholas Breton, Brittons Bowre of Delights, 1591 (B), sigs. G1r–2r. Although Breton tried to disassociate himself from this publication, many of the poems in the collection are probably his (see Introd., lii fn. 85). The poem is a variation on the theme of amorous entrapment found in a poem by Breton’s step-father George Gascoigne: Of thee deare Dame, three lessons would I learne, What reason first persuades the foolish Fly, (As soone as shee a candle can discerne) To play with flame, till shee bee burnt therby? Or what may move the mouse to byte the bayte Which strykes the trappe, that stops hir hungry breth? What calles the Byrd, where snares of deepe deceit Are closely caught to draw hir to hir death? Consider well, what is the cause of this. (“The Aduentures of Maister F. I.,” A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, 1573, sig. B2r).

1

Cf. Breton’s, What griefe is that? That no man feeles the lyke? a secret sorrowe that cannot be showne. For hidden hurts, who can for comfort seeke? but he, to whom the cause of griefe is knowne. (The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. B3r)

2 4

Descry discover, perceive (OED v.1 2a) poore wretch A favorite expression of Breton frequently repeated in his printed works:

325

Poems 131–132

. . . and thou poore wretch (alas) Mayst sit alone, and find no mery mate, (The Workes, sig. C4v). Wherin for his abode (poor wretch) he keepes one only part. . . . And being falne (poor wretch) (A Floorish, 1582, sig. L4v).

13–15 i.e., who would climb that expects to fall 18 Ætna . . . fry proverbial, “to burn like Aetna” (Dent 1984, A47.11) 21 Hart male deer; Toyle net or nets forming an enclosed area into which a hunted quarry is driven (OED toil, n.2 1) 23 take the Foyle take the repulse or disgrace (OED foil, n.2 2a, b) 29 In fine in sum; finally (OED fine, n.1 P1). Breton is fond of this phrase; cf. “in fine, to tell you plaine” (A Floorish, 1577, sig. C1v), and passim in Breton’s works. 30 Limbo Lake Cf. “To fierie forkes and flames of hell, / in Limbo lake byloe” (Thomas Howell, The Arbor of Amitie, 1568, sig. C7r). Virgil refers to the Styx, the limbus “border” of the underworld, as river, marsh, and lake. Collations: B. Title: om.] A Louers complaint   6 sub. That he be caught thereby   7 ys . . . therof] If thereof he   10 and] If   13 Whois] Who’s   14 Tower] Turrets   15 and] that   17 Whois] Who’s   19 or who will] So deare to   20 save] but   23 will] would; the] such   24 save] but   25 or] and   29 In . . . Do] And heare my plaints to Most of Hy’s variants are errors. At line six, B provides the line missed out when Hand A’s eye skipped to the same line in the stanza above and repeated line 2. The beginning of line 7 (“ys he therof ”) is also faulty in Hy and may have something to do with the mistake in the previous line. Hy has three more certain errors for which B provides the more sensible reading (ll. 15, 19 and 25). A few variants in B merely substitute words of similar meaning: “Turrets” for “Tower” (l. 14), “but” for “save” (ll. 20, 24), and these, along with the variant line 29, may be adjustments that Breton made to the text before printing.

326

Commentary

133

This poem is attributed to “M. T.” in the first edition and all subsequent editions of The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises, 1576 (P), sig. B4r–v. 229 These initials probably refer to the “M[aster] Thorn” whose signature is attached to another poem printed in The Paradyse, “Who shall profoundly way or scan” (sig. G3v). This is almost certainly the composer John Thorne (d. 1573) whose work also appears in BL, Add. MS 15233, with three poems signed “quod master Jhon Thorne,” one of which is a version of “Who shall profoundly” (Rollins 1927, lxii). According to Rayment, the editor of Add. 15233, the manuscript was compiled during the 1550s and represents the social and professional circle of John Redford of which the composer/poet John Thorne was a member. Rayment comments that the presence of Richard Edwards’ “Fair words make fools fain” in Add. 15233 “suggests a connection between the Thorne in the Redford circle and the Thorne of The Paradyse” and that “Edwards (who probably arrived in London from Oxford in the early 1550s) was compiling work for what would eventually become The Paradyse at the same time as Add. MS 15233 was being compiled, and that this may well explain how Thorne’s work ended up in the collection” (email correspondence with Louise Rayment, 21 August 2011). There may also be some connection between Thorne’s “The Sturdy Rock” and Edwards’ “The mountaynes highe” (78), which both employ the rhetorical figure of amplification or copia in the first few stanzas with a series of images to illustrate the proverb spelled out in lines 17–18, “Time devours (consumes, wears out) all things” (Tilley T326). The first two stanzas were set as a song of five parts in Richard Alison’s An Howres Recreation in Musicke, 1606, sig. C4r–v, no. 15; the words were taken from an edition of The Paradyse printed in 1590 or later. 230 1 sturdy Rocke proverbial, “As fixed (firm as a rock)” (Tilley R151) 3–4 marble . . . Droppes proverbial (Tilley D618) 5 Oxe . . . yoake proverbial (Tilley T303) 6 Steele abides submits to (OED abide, v. 6); cf. “As hard (stiff, strong, tough) as steel” (Tilley S839) 8 at . . . sett a hunting term: held at close quarters (OED bay, n.4 3a) 13 Yea indeed (OED adv. 3) 18 Consume burn up (OED v.1 2a); cf. 2 Peter 3.10: But the day of the Lord wil come as a thief in the night, in the which the heauens shal passe away with a noyce, and the ele-ments shal melt   For a note on the printed editions, see head-note to 4.   The text introduces one unique variant, “with” for “By” (l. 8) but otherwise is identical to printed editions of The Paradyse from 1590, i.e., it has the corrected reading in l. 9 (see collation analysis). 229

230

327

Poems 133–134

with heate, and the earth with the workes, that are therein, shallbe burnt vp.

19 22

proverbial, “Only virtue (true fame) never dies” (Tilley V74) vertues virtuous

Collations: P. Title: om.] Mans flitting life findes surest stay: Where sacred Vertue beareth sway   4 by] With  5 will] dooth  6 abides] obeyeth; Hammers] hammer   9 flies] flees   11 smallest] greatest   12 soonst] soone   14 bound for] bounden   15 With] For; worldly] worthy   18 And] the; themselves] the earth   20 Throane] Trone   22 vertues] vertuous   Subscription: om.] M. T. Two errors in P were corrected in the later edition of The Paradyse printed in 1590: “flees” for “flies” (l. 9) and “Trone” for “Throane” (l. 20). Hy has the correct readings at lines 9 and 20, and other variant readings confirm that this copy was not transcribed directly from print. But Hy also shows some signs of corruption. In line 6, Hy’s “abides” (i.e., withstands, remains, continues or persists in some state) is a less satisfactory reading than P’s “obeyeth” (“to respond to or unto a thing”; OED obey v. 5a). The point of the example is that the “Steele” must bend to the “Hammers stroake.” In line 11, Hy’s reading “smallest” follows the logic that a small fish is harder to catch in a deep brook, but as an analogue to “swiftest bird” (l. 9), the print reading “greatest fishe” has the correct register, i.e., it is another exemplar of the inevitable destruction of the most impressive creatures and durable objects. Hy’s reading “soonst” for “soone” (l. 12) is a certain error. The point is that it is only a matter of “Time” before all things perish.

134a–c

Oscula . . . erat [“He who has taken kisses, if he take not the rest beside, deserves to lose even what was granted”] (Loeb 2, 58–59). Tilley cites two proverbs that echo this sentiment: “Free of her lips free of her hips” (L325) and “After kissing comes more kindness” (K107). The Latin extract is taken from Ovid’s Art of Love 1.669–70; the two independent English translations which follow, the first rhyming in tetrameter couplets and the second as a cross-rhymed quatrain, make more explicit the nature of the “et cetera” (“the rest beside”) in the original. The amount of ink employed to delete these entries indicates that Coningsby or a later reader subsequently regarded the lines with disapproval, probably on account of their explicit content, especially in the English renditions of the more elusive Latin original. Like much of the bawdy material in the manuscript, these entries were added after Coningsby numbered the poems and served to fill blank space left at the foot of a page; this can be seen more clearly in the Overview Table in Appendix 1a.

328

Commentary

Nearby lines (ll. 663–66) from this same book of Ovid’s Art of Love are found on the cover page of the manuscript (see vi) in the hand of St Loe Kniveton, who also provides another passage from the Art of Love (see ii). This exact passage was also quoted in the academic play The Pilgrimage to Parnassus (Act 4, ll. 372–75) performed at St Johns College, Cambridge in about 1598/9 (Leishman 1949, 26). Amoretto enters the stage reading the lines from his copy of Ovid: 231 Oscula qui sumpsit, qui non et cætera sumpsit, Oscula quæ sumpsit perdere dignus erat. Who takes a kiss, and leaues to doe the rest, Doth take the worse, and doth neglect the beste. (Act 4, ll. 372–75; Leishman 1949, 116)

Thomas Campion’s “My loue bound me with a kisse / . . . Alas that women do no [sic] not knowe, / Kisses make men loath to goe” (Syr P.S. His Astrophel and Stella, 1591, sig. L3v) may also be inspired by this Ovidian couplet. 232

135

The humour of this bawdy couplet on the death of an unspecified “Andrew” relies on the sexual double entendre of “lie” (Iacet) and “stoned” (lapidavit), the latter deriving from “stones” as a slang term for testicles; for another use of this pun, see 114. A longer version is found in a late seventeenth-century student miscellany alongside numerous other bawdy epitaphs (Bod., MS D.19/2, fol. 109v): Heere lyeth Andrew Gray Now clad in Clay who yesterday, was freshe & gay All the Nunns do him bemone For he was wont them for to stone

Other examples of salacious mock epitaphs that pun on stones include “On the death of Master Pricke,” which ends “For now the Pricke doth ly beneath the stones” (cited in Moulton 2000, 46), and the bawdy couplet assigned to Penelope Rich: “One stone contents her, low what death can doe / That in her life was not content with two” (Early Stuart Libels B14). 233

  As Leishman points out Ovid is misquoted.   MS copies are found in BL, Add. MS 29409, fol. 265v, Rosenbach, MS 1083/15, fol. 29v and, with the variant title, “My mistress bound me with a kiss,” in Bod., MS Eng. poet. 25, fol. 15v. 233   “Here lyes the Lady Penelope Rich.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.early stuartlibels.net/htdocs/early_jacobean_section/B14.html. 231

232

329

Poems 134–136

136

The ascription to this unique text, as in the following entry, may refer to John Edwards, a member of the compiler’s circle of Inns of Court friends, who, I suggest, supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, including some of his own compositions (see Introd., lxii). This entry falls into the latter category along with two more poems signed with the same initials written “in praise of a mistress” (119 and 140). The descriptive heading identifies this unique entry as a “new yeres Gift” poem. It was common practice to present poems at New Year. A poem by Nicholas Breton begins “This little Toye to thee, for wante of better shifte, / I here presume for to present, as a small Newyeares gifte”; the descriptive heading explains “being then in the Christmas tyme, [he] presented his new Mistresse, with a new yeares Gifte” (A Floorish vpon Fancie, 1577, sig. I4v). Thomas Howell composed four acrostic “New yeares gyfte” poems, each spelling out the name of a different gentlewoman recipient (His Deuises, 1581, sigs. K1r–2r). The Judgment of Paris was a commonplace motif of flattery and frequently employed in royal panegyric (literary and pictorial) to suggest that the queen possessed all the attributes associated with the three goddesses (Graves 1913, 48–49; see also Hackett 2014). The author of 136 may have known and adapted Henry Bust’s Latin poem “Dr Bust in Laudem Elizabetha Reginae,” written for the queen’s visit to Oxford University in 1566, which begins similarly “Pallas, Iuno, Venus, nemorosae in montibus Idae” (Folger MS V.a.160, fols. 41v–42r). 234 A later entry supplied or written by Edwards similarly imitates a poem originally addressed to Elizabeth (see the commentary to 140). Beyond royal panegyric, the Judgment of Paris theme constantly appeared in verse praising a mistress, including another entry in Hy: “I wyll forgett thou wynst the golden Ball ” (111.6). 235 1

Pallas “The daughter of Jupiter, called goddesse of battayle, and also of wisedome” (Cooper); Ida “A mountyne, which lieth nigh Troie” (Cooper)

234   Another copy, headed “Certain Latine verses, that were made long since by one Doctor Buste a phisitian, in commendation of the Queenes Maiesty, when she came to Oxford,” is found in The First Book of the Preseruation of King Henry the vij, where it is followed by a translation “into English Hexameters, and Pentameters” beginning “Juno, Minerua, Venus in vales of wooded hil Ida” and ending “All thinges are thine thou Iuno, Minerua, Venus” (1599, sigs. N3v–4v). 235  Other contemporary examples include Watson’s “Sonnet” XXXIII (The Hekatompathia, 1582, sig. Er) and Gorges’ “Mistres, thinke nott it is alone the flattringe hue” (Sandison 1953, 36, no. 29). Whetstone praises a mistress in similar terms in an inset poem in The Rocke of Regard (1576, sig. O8v): “To whom faire Venus yeelds her ball, her beautie so excels.”

330 3 5

Commentary

golden Ball a “golden apple” in the story of the Judgment of Paris (see below) Paris was Iudge Wherfore poetes wryte of hym, that, when Juno, Pallas, and Venus, weare at controuersie for the golden appull, that lady Discorde did caste among them to be geuen to the fayrest, they weare appointed by Jupiter to vse the iudgement of this Paris being then a sheepehearde in Ida. Juno to have the prayse, proffered him a noble kingdom, Pallas promysed the gifte of wysedome, and Venus the fayrest ladie, that then liued in the earth (Cooper).

8 20 21

The story of the Judgment of Paris is alluded to in Homer’s Iliad 24.25– 30, and versions are found in Ovid’s Heroides 5.35–36, 16.65–71, Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods 20, and Apuleius’ The Golden Ass 10. recked desired, cared for, favored (OED reck, v. 1a); beringe mynde i.e., preferring, inclining (OED bearing, n.1 21) meed reward (OED n. 1a); Hellen wife of Menelaus; she is the “fayrest ladie, that then liued in the earth” (5n. above), Paris’ reward from Venus for selecting her in the Judgement story. Subiect . . . yourself this epistolary-style subscription, together with the title, suggest that the poem was sent, or could be sent, to a mistress. See 111.41–42n.

137a–b

The ascription to this entry, “I E,” probably refers, as in the previous entry, to John Edwards a member of the compiler’s circle of Inns of Court friends who, I suggest, supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, including some of his own compositions (see Introd., lxii). In this case, Edwards may have provided his own translation (as elsewhere in the collection, see 141a-b) together with the original Latin epigram whose author is the Italian poet Girolamo Amalteo (Jerome Amalteus). The claim for Amalteo’s authorship is set forth by Hutton, who locates the poem’s earliest appearance in two separate works printed in 1563: Giovanni Paolo Ubaldini’s Carmina Poetarum Nobilium, printed in Milan, where it was ascribed to Basilio Zanchi of Bergamo (A), and Publio Francesco Spinula’s Opera, printed in Venice, where it is attributed to Amalteo in the heading, “De duobus geminis, Amalthei” (B). Hutton (1980, 134) dismisses the attribution to Zanchi Bergamo, as it does not appear in Zanchi’s published work, and points out that Amalteo employs the same theme and fictional names “Acon” and “Leonilla” elsewhere in his work (see below). A copy was included in a section headed “Hieronymi Amalthei” in Toscanus’ Carmina Illustrium Poetarum Italorum, printed in Paris in 1576 (C), sig. C1r, and it appeared in a volume of the collected

Poems 136–137

331

poems of Amalteo and his two brothers Giovanni Battista and Cornelio, Trium Fratrum Amaltheorum Carmina, Venice, 1627 (D), sig. D2v. Amalteo’s Latin epigram was widely admired as exemplary of its form; Hutton traces its popularity from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The earliest appearance of the Latin epigram in print in England (Hutton 1980, 140) was in Abraham Wright’s Delitiae Delitiarum, 1637 (E), sig. C6r, entitled “De iisdem, fratre & sorore,” where it followed on from another epigram by Amalteo also figuring Acon and Leonilla (“De Acone & Leonilla”). The earliest English version to appear in print is found in Wits Recreations in 1641 with the title, “On a Mother and her son having but two eyes betwixt them, each one”: A half blind-boy, born of a half blind mother, Peerlesse for beauty, save compar’d to th’other; Faire boy, give her thine eye and she will prove The Queen of beauty, thou the God of love. (sig. L5v)

This version was reprinted with minor revisions many times over in the next hundred year, some of which publications Hutton lists, and it was copied into numerous manuscript miscellanies of the mid-seventeenth century. Amalteo’s Latin epigram circulated in English manuscript collections many years before it appeared in print. Hy’s version is unusual in having six lines. Most of the later English translations, like the Latin original, are four lines long. Another copy of the Latin epigram followed by a different English translation is found in a student verse miscellany of the second decade of the seventeenth century (Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 117 (R17), fol. 267v reversed). A late seventeenth-century collection compiled by Sir Philip Wodehouse contains another unique English version copied beneath the original Latin lines (University of Leeds, Brotherton, MS Lt. 40 [Bro], fol. 102v). Robert Vilvain probably composed the English version that he printed beneath a text of the Latin verse in Enchiridium Epigrammatum Latino-Anglicum, 1654 (V), fol. 151v. Collations: A, B, C, D, E, Bro, R17, and V. Title: om.] De duobus geminis, Amalthei B, De iisdem C, De gemellis fratre, & sorore luscis D, De iisdem, fratre & sorore E, Frater & Soror Monoculi. Anonymus V   1 dextro, capta] dextro caruit Bro V, carent dextro R17; Leonella] Leonilla A B C D E Bro   2 Et . . . forma] Et potis est forma A B C D E, Sed forma potuit V, et forma poterat Bro, Et potuit forma R17; vincere vterque Deos] utramque placere deo R17   3 Parve] Blande A B C D E; Lumen, quod habes] quod habes Lumen Bro; concede] redde V; Sorori] puellae B D   4 secus] caecus*; ille] illa *

332

Commentary

Hy contains two errors that are not reproduced in the English translation below and are probable transcription errors: “secus” and “ille” (l. 4) should read “caecus” (blind); cf. “blinde” (l. 6) of the English version, and “illa” (demonst. pron. agrees with Venus); cf. “she” (l. 6) of the English version. In line 1, Hy’s copytext probably had the same error as R17: “Leonella” should be “Leonilla,” Englished as “Leonell” in Hy and “Leonella” in R17. In line 2, Hy’s “potens est” and R17’s “potuit” are variants of the original reading “potis est” (can). Two more Hy-R17 variants are present in other texts and “doubtless arise out of quotation from memory” (Hutton 1980, 134). In line 3, “Parve puer” (young or little boy) is a corruption of “Blande puer” (sweet boy) and is present in copies circulating in England in manuscript and print (R17, V). In the same line “Sorori” (sister) is an early variant of “puellae” (girl) found in one of the editions printed in 1563 (B). Hutton comments that “it is plain from Amalteo’s other epigram that he contemplates no blood-relationship between Acon and Leonilla” (1980, 134).

138

The letters attached to this unique text, “E N”: either denoting initials or the first two letters of a surname, belong to an unidentified author or donor (for a note on the attributions, see Introd., lxi–lxii). The theme “in praise of a mistress” is shared by three poems (119, 136, and 140), which, I suggest, may have been written by a member of the compiler’s circle of friends at the Inns of Court. 138 appears to respond directly to the opening of one of these: “In verse to vaunt my Ladies Grace” (119.1) with the line, “Leave of you Lovers in your vauntinge verse” (l. 11). 1 painfull painstaking, assiduous, diligent (OED adj. 4b) 5 Indude possessed (OED endue, v. 9a) 7 Psiches Psyche, the beautiful mortal with whom Cupid fell in love. The story is told in Apuleius’ The Golden Ass 4; wend went, travelled, made their way (OED v.1 8b) 8 mould ground (OED n.1 4) 9 flag . . . fame Cf. “To other Trulls [girls, lasses] of tender yeares / resigne the flagge of Fame” (George Turbervile, Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, 1567, sig. M2r). 10 Eke also, moreover (OED adv.) 14 Darkest dimmest (OED dark, adj. 1c)

139

The subscription “Ball.” is an abbreviation of “ballet,” indicating that the poem had been set to music (see Introd., lxv–lxvii). The text was, in fact, printed in an instruction book for the lute (“collected together out of diuers good Authors”;

Poems 137–139

333

from the sectional title-pages) compiled by the music publisher William Barley, A New Booke of Tabliture, 1596 (Bar), Part III, sig. D4r. 236 A copy in Ra, fol. 50v is ascribed to “A. H.,” perhaps indicating Anthony Holborne the lutenist and contributor to Part III of Barley’s A New Booke. 237 Further copies without attribution are found in Ha, fol. 148r–v, Hn, fol. 145v, and The Phoenix Nest, 1593 (PN), sigs. N2v–3r. The source for the poem is Pietro Barignano’s “Brieue riposo hauer di lunghi affanni” (Rime Diverse, Venice, 1546, sig. B4r), which is also the inspiration for 121, “My wayning Ioyes, my still encreasing Greef ”. The currency of the Italian sonnet is also suggested from another contemporary English translation printed in the Phoenix Nest, Thomas Lodge’s “Midst lasting griefes, to haue but short repose.” For the identification of the Italian source by Alice Walker, see Rollins 1931, 154. Barignano’s sonnet was also imitated by Ronsard in his Amours 89: “Estre indigent et donner tout le sien” (Céard 1993, 1:69, 1247). 2 3 4 6 7 8 10

Cf. Lodge’s “In hidden fraud, an open wrong to finde” (Phoenix Nest, sig. H2v) wrackes misfortunes, injuries (OED n.1 3b) hap good fortune; success (OED n.1 1) Cf. Lodge’s “To laugh an howre, to weepe an age of woe” (Phoenix Nest, sig. H2v) Cf. Lodge’s “Of ancient thoughts, new fables to deuise” (Phoenix Nest, sig. H2v) smokes fumes, vapours (OED smoke, n. 3a); thoughtfull anxious, sorrowful, melancholy (OED adj. 2) bod{-} “bould” in the other witnesses

Collations: Bar, Ha, Hn, PN, and Ra. 2 my . . . Darke] Darke are my Ioyes Ha; I se] is seene Bar Hn   3 In] My Ha PN; wrackes] wreaks Ra; through] by PN   4 hap] hope Bar   5 a] and*; Hart] soule Bar Hn   6 Laugheth] Ioyeth Ha   7 Fables of] fables for Bar PN Ra; the night] nighte Hn   9 ar] be Hn; pathes] pathe Bar Ra; be] is Bar; right] light Ha   10 bod{-}] bould*; &] my Bar Ha Hn Ra   12 Care] rare*   13 dolefull Bell] dolefull clocke Bar Hn, restlesse clocke Ha, ceasles clock Ra; that] which Bar Hn   14 my end] myne ende Ra; happes be] hap is Bar   15 falles] fall Ha Ra; happes] hopes*   16 that] which Bar Hn; have] hath Ha PN   17 seke] 236   Three poems, including 139, are printed separately from the music on sig. D4r; two can be matched to the music via incipits on sigs. C2v–D2r, but there is no signposting for a setting belonging to “Short is my rest.” 237   Crum (1969; S 421) guesses that the initials stand for Abraham Hartwell the younger, and Ra’s editor “any of a number of persons at Cambridge” (Cummings 1960, 438).

334

Commentary

trust Bar Ha Hn Ra; your] you Bar; none] not*   18 sub. You are the starre that rules & guides my state Ha, You are the starr that guydes and rules my fate Ra; have] of Hn; fate] state PN   Subscription: Ball.] om. Ha, A. H. Ra Hy and PN stand together against the other texts in three markedly variant but equally acceptable readings: “&” for “my” (l. 10), “Bell” for “clock” (l. 13), and “seke” for “trust” (l. 17). Hy introduces three errors: in line 10, Coningsby evidently could not decipher the word “bould” in his copy-text and wrote “bod” followed by an undefined character that could be a mark indicating an omission; “Care” (l. 12) should undoubtedly read “rare” (in this case minuscule secretary “r” was read as a “c”); and “happes” (l. 15) repeats the word from the previous line, and the reading in all other texts “hopes” makes more sense. In line 18, Hy, Bar, and Hn read “Cesars fate” where PN has the more sensible reading “Caesars state”; the error was probably derived independently by the respective scribes from a misreading of the “st” ligature as “f.” Ha and Ra have an entirely different closing line (l. 18) that is not found in any other text. Bar and Hn are close to the Ha-Ra version of the text but do not have Ha-Ra’s variant line 18 and share four variant readings suggesting that they are related texts: “is seene” for “I se” (l. 2), “soule” for “Hart” (l. 5), “dolefull clocke” (l. 13), and “which” for “that” (l. 16).

140

The ascription to this unique text may refer, as in the following entry, to John Edwards, a member of the compiler’s circle of Inns of Court friends, who, I suggest, supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, including some of his own compositions (see Introd., lxii). This entry falls into the latter category along with two more poems ascribed the same initials written “in praise of a mistress” (119 and 136). The idea of dismissing goddesses from their usual abodes may have been borrowed from a long narrative poem by Lodowick Lloyd dedicated to Queen Elizabeth and printed in 1573 as The Pilgrimage of Princes: Yelde stately Iuno Samos vp, flee Delos Dian fro, Voide princely Pallas Athens now, from Paphos Venus goe. Beholde a branche from Brutus line, whose vertuous praise to paint, My slender skill, my simple muse to thinke thereof doe faint. (sig. 3Kr)

Lloyd reworked these lines into a shorter poem of sixty-four lines, “Flee stately Juno,” which circulated in manuscript during the last two decades of the sixteenth century, and was printed as a broadside ballad, with its own tune, in 1579

335

Poems 139–141

(Harper 2005, 202). 238 An earlier entry supplied or written by Edwards similarly imitates a poem originally addressed to the queen (see the commentary to 136). 1 2 3

4 7 8 9 10

Samos island in the Aegean Sea associated with Juno, as in Lloyd’s poem above; see 83.10n. Troy Venus is linked to Troy in mythic accounts of the Trojan War and the Judgment of Paris (see 136.5n., 91.9–12n.). Diana . . . Delphes As Cooper notes, Delphes is a “citie . . . in Greece, where was the oracle of Apollo”; Diana is sister to Apollo, but this goddess is more usually linked with Delos, the island of her birth, as in Lloyd’s poem above. Iudith presumably the name of the speaker’s mistress; also an Old Testament heroine identified with Elizabeth in panegyrics of the early years of her reign (Hackett 2014, 239) Hellen to Paris “the fayrest ladie, that then liued in the earth” (Cooper): Paris’ reward from Venus for selecting her in the Judgement story; pereles pere cf. 111.10 “nere thy peere” and 119.12 “none her Peere” Venus to mars for the affair, see 6.9–10n. Mynerva “The goddesse of wisedome and all good artes & sciences . . . called also Pallas” (Cooper) Medea . . . Iasons “Medea . . . A notable sorceresse, dauhter of Kynge Oeta by his wife Hypsea. She intertained the adventurous Jason commyng to Colchos to wyn the golden fleese” (Cooper).

141a–b

The ascription to this entry probably refers, as in the previous entry, to John Edwards a member of the compiler’s circle of Inns of Court friends who, I suggest, supplied copy-texts for seven entries in the anthology, including some of his own compositions (see Introd. lxii). In this case, Edwards may have provided his own translation (as 137a-b), together with the original Latin epigram by Walter Haddon (d. 1571). The Latin epigram was printed in 1567 in Haddon’s Lucubrationes (Lu), sig. M1r, where it is addressed “To a certain noble woman” (“In quandam

238   There are no surviving copies of the ballad, but there is an entry in the Stationers’ Register on 13 August 1579 to “Richard Jones . . . for printinge a ballat of brittishe Sidanen applied by a courtier to ye praise of ye Quene.” A manuscript copy with a similar title, “A Dittie to the Tune of welshe Sydanen, made to the Queenes maj. Eliz by Lodov. Lloyd,” provides one of the earliest contemporary manuscript texts of the ballad: “Flee stately Juno Samos fro, from Delos straight Diana go; / Minerva Athens must forsake, Sidanen Queen your seat must take” (Folger, MS V.a.198, fols. 19v–20r).

336

Commentary

nobilem foeminam”). 239 The preceeding verse in the printed volume was written for Princess Elizabeth when she was imprisoned in the Tower from March 18May 19 1554, “Carmen consolatorium in rebus afflictis S. Principis Elisabethae”. A following epigram, “Si maneas virgo,” is addressed to the same individual (“In eandem”), i.e., “a certain noble woman,” and it is likely that both epigrams were addressed to Elizabeth. The last line of the epigram also glances at the question of a suitable husband for a queen, “O Dea digna Deo, dignaque Iuno Iove” (“O goddess worthy of a god, and Juno worthy of Jove”). Haddon sat in the Parliament committee of 1566 that was set up to address the question of the royal succession, and with Haddon’s long standing links to the Dudleys, there is in the epigram’s denoument “an implicit comparison of the Earl of Leicester to Jove, the chief Roman god” (Goldring et al. 2014, 2:642; Lees 1967, 31–32). This association is strengthened by the presence of another copy of Haddon’s epigram in the verse and prose miscellany kept by Sir William More of Loseley (d. 1600), CUL, MS Ff.5.14 (Ff), fol. 1v. 240 More was a court insider. He received the queen several times at Loseley House and was a friend of the Earl of Leicester (ODNB). His manuscript also contains items related to the queen’s visit to Cambridge in August 1564 (no doubt from first hand), in which Haddon played a leading role in the disputations held in the royal presence. Haddon may have provided More with the copy-text. The English translation in rhyming fourteener couplets, in Ff, which follows Haddon’s Latin text, was probably composed by More. See the commentary to 152 for two different English versions of a poem in Latin by Katherine Killigrew also penned by More. It is of particular interest considering his close connection to Leicester: The goods of all the gods be of one mortall myght posseste   The poem was reprinted without variation in Poematum Gualteri Haddoni, 1576, sig. G8v. 240   The prominent name subscribed to a Latin poem on the first page of the manuscript, “tuus Harbertus Westfalingus,” led a later owner to identify the volume as belonging to Herbert Westfaling (d. 1602), heading a manuscript index of the contents “Westfalingus miscelany of sundry matters.” Another verse in the manuscript headed “Willmo Moro” and subscribed “Tui studiosissimus Harbartus Westfalingus,” makes it clear that both poems by Westfaling were written for rather than by the owner of the manuscript. The initials and abbreviated form of name of William More appear numerous times in the manuscript (“More” fol. 12v; “W. M.” fols. 2v, 4v; “W More” fol. 110r); and on folio 80r, a poem is headed “Mr Rogere Goad to Sir Wyllm More.” Roger Goad, Provost of King’s College Cambridge, had previously (in 1569) dedicated a manuscript “Treatise on the Lord’s Supper” to William More (Surrey History Centre, LM/1085/3). A connection can also be established between Westfaling and More from a letter dated 26 June 1570 from Westfaling, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, to William More at Loseley, assuring More that “he will give every help to his son in Oxford” (Surrey History Centre, 6729/7/23). 239

337

Poem 141

for here I se excell theym all in that they passe the reste For bewtye Venus, for wysdom Pallas may cum behynde And how to matche here fyngers feate Apollo cannot fynde For well and symelye framede spech, thow mercury, gyue place No greater prayse, than chaste Diane, for chaste lyf dydest purchase O goddesse worthy of a god to be the onelye make O Iuno meete of Iupiter to be for wyf itake./

Gabriel Harvey included Haddons’ epigram (“Gualteri Haddoni Epigramma”) in his Gratulationum Valdinensium, 1578 (G), sig. A1v, a volume of Latin and Greek poems commemorating the queen’s visit to Audley End in Essex. 241 In another volume dedicated to the Earl of Leicester (Flowers of Epigrammes, 1577), Timothy Kendall provided an English translation, entitled “A noble dame: I hide her name,” together with thirteen more of Haddon’s poems (“Ovt of the poemes of M. Gvalter Haddon”): For visage thou art Venus right: Pallas for flowing braine: To finger fine the Harp or Lute Apollo thou dost staine. Mercurius rules thy filed speache, thy manners Cynthia chast: O gallant goddesse: Iuno meet with Ioue for to be plast. (sig. M4v)

4

141a

Dea . . . Deo [“O goddess worthy of a god.”] This phrase is also found in the banderole to a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, added as frontispiece to Regina Fortunata, a manuscript Latin prose treatise written and dedicated to the queen by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton (BL, Egerton MS 944, fol. 1v). The manuscript is dated variously to ca. 1576 and ca. 1580 (see Di Matteo 1992, 68 fn. 60). The banderole also contains a line from Aeneas’ speech to his mother, “O quam te memorem virgo.” Haddon probably found inspiration for his poem from the same passage in Virgil’s Aeneid 1.327–28, “o—quam te memorem, virgo? namque haud tibi vultus / mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat; o dea certe!” (“but by what name should I call you, maiden? for your face is not mortal nor has your voice a human ring; O goddess surely!”) (Loeb 4,

241   A number of epigrams added to the printed volume were not written specifically for the entertainments at Audley End (Stern 1979, 41).

338

Commentary

284–85); see also Thenot’s and Hobbinol’s “Embleme” and E.K.’s gloss, in Spenser’s “Aprill” eclogue of The Shepheardes Calender for the same passage in the Aeneid directed towards the queen. Collations: Ff, G, and Lu. Title om.] Gualteri Haddoni Epigramma G, In quandam nobilem foeminam Lu 2 Presidet] praesidet*; digitis] digitos*; clarus] pulcher Ff   3 Cynthea] Cynthia*

1 2 4 5 6 7 8

141b

fayrest . . . Goddes i.e., Venus “the goddesse of loue” (Cooper) Pallas “The daughter of Jupiter, called goddesse of battayle, and also of wisedome” (Cooper); past surpassed (OED pass, v. 1a) Apollos “Apollo called also Phoebus . . . he is counted God of musicke, phisicke, poetry” (Cooper) wisest God i.e., Mercury “sonne of Iupiter by Maia . . . feingned to be messenger of the Gods . . . Hee was counted God of eloquence” (Cooper) Cynthea i.e., Diana “daughter of Iupiter . . . for hir chaste lyfe was honoured of the Paynims for a Goddesse” (Cooper) Goddes goddess; well besemde suitable for, befitting (OED beseem, v. 2a) Iunos name i.e., Juno’s title as queen

142

Contemporary manuscript copies of the poem contain conflicting attributions. It is attributed to Edward Dyer (signed “E Dier”) in Ra, fol. 19r–v and to Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, headed “A sonet said to bee fyrst written by the L[ord] Ver.,” in Harvard University, fMS Eng 1015 (Ho1), fol. 14v. 242 Additional copies, without attribution, are found in Inner Temple, Petyt MS 538.10 (Pt), fol. 3v, headed “In praise of a contented minde”; BL, Sloane MS 2497 (S4), fol. 27v; BL, Add. MS 15225 (A25), fol. 43r–v; Folger, MS V.a.399 (V39), fol. 12r; and Texas Tech University, Lubbock, PR 1171 D14 (D), fol. 9r–v. 243 Though the attribution to Oxford is found in a flawed copy of the poem (see collation analysis below), May (1975a) presents Oxford’s “slightly” better claim to authorship. In support of Dyer’s authorship, the best text, Pt (copy-text in May 1980, 39–40), is placed in a discreet section of Elizabethan verse (fol. 3r–v) on the same page as 242   May (1980, 387) dates the copy in Ho to June 1581, based on dated chronological entries made by the compiler Anthony Batman. 243   Sargent places 142 in Dyer’s canon (1935, 200–1); May places it among the “Poems possibly by Oxford,” no. II (1980, 39–40).

Poems 141–142

339

Dyer’s “The lowest trees have topps, the ante her gall” (fol. 3v; CELM DyE 89) and another poem (“The higher estate, the greater feare”), written by a member of the Sidney circle, Thomas Howell. 244 It is also tempting to read the “I Dy” in the penultimate line of the poem together with the final rhyme combination “Dy I” as playful pointers to the identity of author. For “Dy” denoting Dyer, see the subscriptions to poems 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15; for Dyer’s use of a pun on his own name, see 1.147n. Poems commending the mean estate or Aristotelian doctrine of the Golden Mean have a classical precedent in Horace’s Ode 2.10, translated by Surrey as “Of thy lyfe, Thomas, this compasse wel mark” (Songes and Sonettes, 1557, sig. D4r) and by Sidney in his CS 12 “The golden meane who loves, lives safely free”. John Harington the elder’s “They of the meane estate are happiest” (69 in Hy) is another variation on this theme. The related idea of equanimity, or evenness of mind, as the basis of human happiness is found in the influential opening to the second book of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (“Suave, mari magno”) and is distilled by Horace in his Ode on Otium (“peace of mind,” Ode 2.16). An early translation directly from Lucretius is the anonymous Songes and Sonettes poem “When dredful swelling seas,” entitled “The felicitie of a minde imbracing vertue, that beholdenth the wreched desires of the world” (1557, sig. R1r–v); later analogues include Vaux’s “When all is doen and said,” printed under the title “Of a contented mynde” in The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises (1576, sig. K4v) and Nicholas Bacon’s “Agayste a mynde not contented,” which begins “Nothinge in earthe soe good I fynde / As in a mann a contented mynde” (Daniel 1919, 9). Hy’s subscription “BALL.” is an abbreviation of “ballet,” indicating that the poem had been set to music (see Introd., lxv–lxvii). A setting of the poem lacking stanzas five and seven does, in fact, survive in William Byrd’s Psalmes, Sonets & Songs, 1588 (Bd), sig. D2v. 245 The numerous contemporary imitations and allusions to the poem attest to its extraordinary popularity. 246 It also spawned answer 244   Howell’s poem, printed in his Arbor of Amitie, 1568, sig. E7v, is also in S4, fol. 37r. The remaining two poems are by Elizabeth I, one of which is 21 in this editon. Howell was a retainer in the Herbert household at Wilton, the seat of Mary Sidney from 1577, and the circulation of his work alongside Dyer’s, another intimate of Sidney’s circle, would be appropriate. 245   The following manuscript songbooks from the early seventeenth century reproduce Byrd’s setting: Christ Church, Oxford, MSS: Mus. 984, Song 118, Mus. 439, p. 102; BL, Egerton MS 2009, fols. 55v–56r; Bod., MS Mus. Sch. e.423, p. 48; and BL, Add. MS 31992, fol. 13v (incipit only with lute notation). Two more unrelated musical settings survive in manuscripts dated to the early seventeenth century: BL, Add. MS 15118, fol. 3v includes the vocal part for the first three lines; BL, Add. MSS 17792–96 borrows the opening line (Brett 1967, 182). 246   Rollins (1929, 1:226–28) cites contemporary allusions by Robert Greene (1591), Thomas Deloney (1597), Nicholas Breton (1618), John Davies of Hereford (ca 1610), and references to it as a song by Ben Jonson (1599) and John Taylor (1621). Joshua Sylvester

340

Commentary

poems. Byrd printed one of these (probably a parody), “I Ioy not in no earthly blisse,” directly before “My mind to me” in his Psalmes, Sonets & Songs (song 11); both poems were later merged and printed as a broadside ballad. 247 1 2 10 13 14 17 18

proverbial, “A mind content is a kingdom (crown)” (Tilley C623) by kind by nature, naturally (OED n. P1b) proverbial, “The higher standing (up) the lower (greater) fall” (Tilley S823) stay support (OED stay n.2 1b) prease press to too pore . . . store Cf. Edmund Elviden’s “Of the contented state” from “Sallamon [i.e., Solomon]” in The Closet of Counsells, 1569: Some men are ryche whych nothynge haue And some again are pore Which haue great riches thus the least haue moste, and moste, least store. (sigs. B4v–5r)

22 23 25

on one feare no foe proverbial, “They that have nothing need fear to lose nothing” (Tilley N331) way weigh

Collations: A25, Bd, D, Ho1, Pt, Ra, S4, and V39. May (1975, 390–94) discusses all these texts but does not show the collations. Title: om.] A sonet said to bee fyrst written by the L ver. Ho1, In praise of a contented minde Pt, 1 perfect] preasente Ra; Ioy] Ioyes Ho1 V39   2 excels] excedes A25 S4; which] that A25 D Ho1 Pt Ra S4 V39; world . . . kind] God or Nature hath assign’d Bd, euer fantsie found in kinde Ho1, nature yeildes or comes by kinde D, worlde affordes or comes by kinde V39   3 which] that A25 Bd D Ho1 S4 V39; nothinge] most men A25 Pt, most wolde Bd D Ho1 Ra S4 V39   4 to] me V39   5 pomp] port Bd; no] nor Bd; welthy] wealth noe A25, welthe I V39; the] a Bd D Ho1   6 witt] head D, will Ho1; no] or V39; feed] winne Bd Ho1, please D; a loving] eche gazinge Pt, a wanton D V39   7 these] those Ho1   8 why?] still S4; doth serve for] despise them Bd   9 how] that A25 Bd Ho1 S4 V39; surfetes] suffers Pt Ra, suffereth S4; &] howe Pt; soone wrote a parody of the poem, which was set to music in Orlando Gibbons’ First Set of Madrigals and Mottets (1612, Songs 3–6). 247   As May points out, “there is no evidence for such a merger before the seventeenth century” (1975a, 390).

Poem 142

341

do] sonest A25 Bd D Ho1   10 those] svche Bd Ho1; which] as Bd Ho1, that D Pt S4; ar] sitt D S4 V39   11 They get] these get Bd; they] & A25 Bd D V39   12 Cares] care V39; Could] can Bd Ho1, shall D   13–14 differing order of lines Bd Ho1 I prease to beare no hawty sway I wishe no more then may suffice, I doo no more then well I may Look what I lack [want Bd] my mind supplies.

13 Content . . . stay] sub. I doo no more then well I maye Bd Ho1, Content I Live, which is my stay A25 S4 V39, Content I Live, Content & Live, with any stay D; seke] wish A25 Bd Ho1   14 prease] seeke A25; hawty] loftie V39; for] loke*; lack] want A25 Bd V39; supplies] supprise V39   15 Lo thus] thus do A25, so that Ho1, Loe how S4   16 sub. my mind content with any thing Bd, with minde content with any thinge Ho1; my] the V39   17–20 om. Bd   17 yet . . . Crave] yet still they craue V39; yet] and Pt Ra S4   19 beg] aske Ho1   20 leave] lend V39   21–24 om. Ho1   21 I] nor Bd S4   22 waves] toyes A25, cares D, wealth V39; my . . . remayne] I brooke that is an others bane Bd D S4, I brooke not thats an others bane V39   23 I fawne no] I force noe A25 D V39, nor fawne on Bd S4, nor fawninge Pt   24 & . . . no] nor . . . noe A25, nor . . . my Bd Pt Ra, nor . . . not S4, no . . . noe D V39   25–28 om. Bd   25 way] winne; plesure] pleasures V39; wisdom] reason Ho1; rage] edge D  26 sub. Such in there pleasur put there trvst and crabbed chraft, they covmpt their skill Ho1; &] A Ra   27 pleasure] treasure D   28 Is . . . a] is to content D, is a contented V39   29–32 om. Ho1   29 welth is helth] health is welthe V39; perfect] quyett D; my] and Bd, a V39; chief] choyse Ra   30 neither] neuer Bd; nor] or V39; desert] desertes D V39; breed] giue Bd D S4, gaine V39   31 thus will I] thus would I A25, and hope to S4 32 so] see A25   Subscription: BALL.] E Dier Ra, om. A25 Bd D Pt V39 Hy is not related to any other text. One unique reading “nothinge” (l. 3), where seven texts read “most wolde” and two have “most men” is an evident error, since it reiterates the “want” (i.e., lack) in the first half of the line. A similar but corrupted text served as copy-text for Ho1 and Bd. Ho1 shares a number of readings with Bd against all the other texts: “winne” for “feed” (l. 6), “svche” for “those,” and “as” for ”which/that” (l. 10), and “can” for “Could” (l. 12). Ho1 and Bd are the only texts to reverse the order of lines 13–14, and they share the same two replacement lines (ll. 13 and 16). Ho1 and Bd contain different variant versions of line 2, which suggests that both scribes were faced with an illegible or corrupt line. The conclusion that these variant lines derive from corruptions in the copytext is supported by Ho1’s garbled version of line 26. Ho1 and Bd both have missing lines though not the same ones, and this suggests that the common ancestor

342

Commentary

for these two texts, separated by some seven years, contained all eight stanzas. For the evidence of curtailment and revision of courtier verse set to music by Byrd, see 37 and 50.

143

The final two lines of this unique text are taken from the narrative poem The Court of Love, a parodic treatment of the medieval love allegory, first printed amongst the spurious additions made by John Stow to the 1561 edition of Chaucer’s works. 248 Poem 143 similarly incorporates a number of motifs from the medieval love allegory: the service to Venus and rejection of Diana, the month of May, a dream sequence, and subsequent visit to Venus’ or Love’s Court. It is also replete with archaisms: “Longe to” l. 2, “for ay” l. 3, “rowte” l. 6, “erste” l. 11, “featly” l. 27, and “Curteous Leache” l. 31. But the wry treatment of the conventions of the courtly love genre serves primarily as a vehicle for sexual innuendo and double entendre. The “Cure” (l. 30) offered to the sexually frustrated female speaker, like the ever-popular bawdy poems on the “green sickness,” are the erotic fantasies of their male authors. 249 But as Moulton points out, erotic poetry circulating in manuscript played a role in shaping early modern attitudes towards sex and gender identity: “in these texts, lustful desires are by no means confined to men” (2000, 45, 60). 1

acquaint (also acquaynt l. 41) punning on “quaint,” slang for female genitals (OED n.1) 2 Longe belong (OED v.3 1) 3 for ay for ever (OED ay, adv. 3) 4 Dianaes “for hir chaste lyfe was honored of the Paynims for a goddesse” (Cooper); awe control (OED awe, n1 P2) 5 Cf. “To Loves Courte . . . As sone as Nature maketh you so sage” (The Court of Love ll. 179–80). 6 rowte followers, companions (OED rout, n.1 1c) 7 by kynde naturally (OED kind, n. P1b) 11–12 Cf. “That goddes chaste I kepen in no wise / To serue; a figge for all her chastite / Her law is for Religiousite” (The Court of Love ll. 684–86). 11 erste formerly (OED erst, adv. 5a) 248   For the evidence that the poem “belongs to the sixteenth century,” see Skeat 1897, lxxii. For a recent edition of The Court of Love, see Forni 2005, 7–57. References in this note are to this edition. 249   Moulton suggests Ovid’s Heroides 15 as “the most prominent classical model” for the topos of a young girl’s erotically arousing dream and cites a much later manuscript poem, which circulated widely, usually headed “A maid’s dream” and beginning “As I lay slumbringe in my bed / noe creture with me but my Mayden head” (2000, 53).

343

Poems 142–144

18

wownd Cf. “It is a wound that nature gives / the cause few weomen chastly lives” (Rosenbach, MS 1083/15, fol. 38r; cited in Moulton 2000, 49). 20 Cf. “Nor any drugge of Phisickes Arte, / Can ease the grief, that gripes my harte” (4.24–25). 25 Leache man a physician (OED leech, n.1 1a) 27 featly deftly, skilfully (OED adv. 2a) 29 Trickled Tickled? 32 Tente roll of soft absorbent material to stop a wound (OED tent, n.3 2); here with bawdy connotations; cf. Nashe’s “Choice of Valentines” (ca. 1592) describing a dildo: “He is my Mistris page at euerie stound, / And soon will tent a deepe intrenched wound” (Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 538.43, fol. 298r). 35 amayne exceedingly, greatly (OED amain, adv. 3) 45 make mate (OED n.1 2) 47–48 Beastes . . . Man Cf. “By loues bond is knit all thing, iwis, / Best unto best, the erth to water wanne, / Birde unto bird, and woman unto man” (The Court of Love ll. 593–95).

144

This is Philip Sidney’s OA 3. Mopsa is the daughter of Dametas, the loutish herdsman, chosen by Duke Basilius as the caretaker of his elder daughter Pamela, and “unfit company for so excellent a creature” (Robertson 1973, 9; from St). The ironic verse describing Mopsa’s “perfections” is introduced in the first book of The Old Arcadia as composed by “Alethes, an honest man of that time” (30), and in the same book of the revised version, the so-called New Arcadia, it is reported by Kalender, as having been written by “a pleasant fellow of [his] . . . acquintance” (The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1590, sig. C4v). Copies survive in nine Old Arcadia manuscript texts: As, fols. 9v–10r, Bo, fol. 17r–v, Cl, fol. 15r, Da, fol. 14v, Hm, fol. 11v, Je, p. 22, Ph, fol. 15r–v, Qu, fol. 9v, and St, fol. 17r; and there is a copy in Henry Lee’s collection of poems from the Old Arcadia, Le, fol. 1r. It was first printed in 1590 in The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (90), sig. C4v, and survives in the only extant manuscript of the New Arcadia, Cm, fol. 9r. 250 OA 3 also circulated in manuscript among Sidney’s contemporaries and survives in three more Elizabethan collections of verse: Ot, fol. 3v, Dd, fol. 37v and Ha, fol. 145v. An extract (ll. 13–14) may also derive from an early manuscript source, NLW, Peniarth MS 346A (Pen), p. 3 (see collation analysis below). 250   The poem was reprinted in the 1593–1613 folio editions of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia without any variants, and, as Ringler has pointed out, the later folios all derive from the 1613 edition and have “no independent textual authority” (1962, 538).

344

Commentary

Robert Allott, a minor contributor to Hy (see Introd., xlii–xliv) included OA 3 in his literary anthology Englands Parnassus (1600, sig. 2E2r) in a section headed “Discriptions of Beautie & personage,” but as Ringler points out this copy was taken from 1598 Arcadia folio edition (1962, 565). Three later seventeenth-century manuscript copies are also derivative, taken from printed editions of the Arcadia, but they show that OA 3 continued to be popular with compilers of poetic miscellanies. 251 Sidney uses the figure of the blazon for descriptive praise of a beautiful woman elsewhere (OA 62, AS 9), but the tradition of the contreblason of ironic praise for the ugly woman was also a well-established trope. 252 For example, Sidney follows Francesco Berni’s “Chiome d’argento” in attaching the right qualities to the wrong body parts; in sincere encomia, hair is compared to gold (cf. OA 62.3 “Her haire fine threeds of finest gould”), whereas Berni’s beloved has “a beautiful face of gold” and Mopsa has “skin like burnisht gold”; the usual comparison of teeth to pearl (cf. OA 62.42 “Of pretious pearle the double rowe”) has its counterpart in Berni’s “Shimmering eyes of pearl” and Sidney’s “Her twinkling eies bedeckt with pearle” (translated from Betella 2005, 116). Mopsa is a stock character in late seventeenth-century comedy and burlesque, becoming a byword for an ugly or uncouth female, “an ugly Mopsa” in Sir John Harington’s A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, 1596, sig. B4v, and “this Turkish Mopsa” in Purchas his Pilgrimage, 1613, sig. 2A4v. A poem entitled “Description of three Beauties” in John Mennes’ Musarum Deliciae (1655) takes the motif of the contreblason to comic excess: Mopsa, even Mopsa, prety Mouse, Best piece of Wainscot in the House; Whose Saffron Teeth, and Lips of Leeks, Whose Corall Nose, and Parchment Cheeks; Whose Past-board forehead, eyes of Ferret; Breast of brown Paper, Neck of Caret. (sigs. B7r–C1r)

In Wit Restor’d (1658) Mennes returned to the same theme, this time acknowledging the borrowing from Sidney’s poem, “In imitation of Sir Philip Sydnie’s Encomium of Mopsa” (sigs. F6v–7v). 251   Viz. Bod., MS Rawl. poet. 142, fol. 26v (headed “Mopsa”; taken from one of the printed editions of the Arcadia; ibid., 558); BL, Add. MS 22118, fol. 3v (headed “The description of an handsome mayd”; the variants suggest that the copy was taken from the 1590 folio); Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 2, fol. 7r reversed (headed “The Praises of Mopsa daughter to Dametas”). 252   Ringler (1962, 384) and Robertson (1973, 423–24) cite examples from the English and continental mock blazon tradition; see also Betella 2005.

Poem 144

345

1

What lenghth of Verse In this heavily ironic opening line, Sidney claims the long-lined poulter’s measure as a suitable vehicle to express Mopsa’s “qualities.” Ringler (1962, 384) notes that Sidney considered the verse form “awkward and old fashioned”; brave fine, excellent (OED adj. 3a), used ironically here; Mopsaes Ringler suggests that the name Mopsa was “probably from Mopsus, a shepherd in Virgil’s Eclogues.” McPherson (1968, 428, 420) comments on “the inappropriateness of Mopsa’s character to the Virgilian pastoral world” and argues that Sidney “is making a kind of pun” on the Dutch word “mops,” literally “pug dog” and, by extension, “country lout.” 2 straunge uncommon, rare, exceptional (OED strange, adj. 8), here with heavily ironic undertones 3 hardly (1) severely, harshly; (2) scarcely, barely (OED adv. 3, 8a) 5 Saturne is ugly, Venus is wanton. 6 Pan has hornes in his forehead, a long beard, and rough lower body (Cooper); Iuno is wrathful and Irys, the goddess associated with the rainbow, whose colors alternate, is not “faste” (i.e., firm OED fast, adj. 1b). “Faste” is also a variant spelling of “faced” (adj.1 OED), and Ringler thought that “Iris” must have been an error for “Isis,” who is “faced” like a cow, and so amended the text in his 1962 edition, but as Robertson points out all witnesses read “Iris” and “faste” meaning “steadfast” offers the appropriate level of irony (1973, 424). 7 Cupid . . . foresees Cupid is blind; goes . . . pace Vulcan is lame. 8 Momus “The carpynge God of reprehension” (Cooper) 9 Iacyncte i.e., a reddish-orange color (OED jacinth, n. 1d) 11 Crapall stone a precious stone formerly believed to be produced in the head of the toad (OED crapaud, n. 2); “described in the bestiaries, generally as tortoiseshell in colouring, occasionally green” (Robertson 1973, 424) 12 silver Oare vntryde Unsmelted silver ore is black. 13–14 Ringler (1962, 384) draws attention to the contemporary marginalia in a 1593 edition of The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia belonging to W. Blount (see 3 fn. 11), that links Sidney’s couplet to a passage in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 1 in which Apollo is gazing upon Daphne: “And sure he thought such other parts as garments then did hyde / Excelled greatly all the rest the which he had espyed” (The .xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, translated by Arthur Golding, 1567, sig. C1r). 253 Cf. also Tasso’s “Sopra la bellezza” (Rime, no. 37): “the teeth of ebony and the eyes silvery; and may what appears and what is hidden correspond to these excellencies” (quoted in Gardner 1965, 138). 253   Blount quotes the Latin: “Quod latet ignotum est, ignoti nulla cupido / Si quae latent meliora putat. Ovid” (Folger STC 22540, copy 1, sig. A6r).

346

Commentary

Collations: Ringler (1962, 12) records variants occurring in two or more substantive texts in As, Bo, Cl, Cm, Da, Dd, Ha, Je, Ph, Le, Qu, St and 90. My collation shows all substantive variants and adds two texts not available to Ringler: Hm and Ot, and a fragment Pen. 1–12 om. Pen   1 may serve] can serve*; grace] good Bo Cl Cm Da Dd Ha Je Le Ot Ph Qu St 90; good with “grace” above the line Je   2 Vertues] vertue Ha Je; vertue] beauties As Cl Cm Da Dd Hm Le Ot Ph Qu St 90, beuty Bo Ha Je; such] rare As Ha; as . . . them] ar such as none may As, as no man them may Bo Cl Cm Da Hm Je Ot Ph Qu St 90   3 Thus] This Qu; hardly] shrewdly Bo Cl Cm Dd Ha hm Je Le Ot Ph Qu St 90, shrewned As, shrewly Da; burdned] burned Hm Qu   4 serve] helpe Ha   5–14 om. Je   5 Dame] faire*   6 as Iuno] a Iuno Dd St; milde, as] myld lyke As Bo Cl Cm Da Dd Ha Hm Le Ph Qu St 90; faste] gracst All   7 &] she As; God] good Qu   8 thes] those Ph; borowes] steales god Cm 90   9 Forehead Iacyncte like] Her haire like Ruby Redd Ph; lyppes] cheekes As Bo Cl Cm Da Dd Ha Hm Ot Qu St 90, cheek Le Ph   10 eyes] eye Da; of] as Cm 90   11 Her . . . stone] Her haire like crapal stone Cm 90, hir haire pure grappacsston As, Her heare of crapall stone Hm, her haire pure Caprall stone Ot, Her heare of trapall stone Qu, Her hair pure trappall stone Dd, her breathe of mightie strengthe Ph; oh] a As   12 handes . . . vntryde] hand lyk sylver vre vntryed As Ph, hands like siluer vntried Bo Dd St   13 those] her Cm 90, theis As, Da, the Le Pen; vnseene] vnknowne*   14 Happy are] Happy be As Bo Cl Cm Da Hm Qu St 90, Full well be Ha; they] those Dd; that] which As Bo Cl Cm Da Dd Hm Le Ph Qu St 90; will] well Cl Cm Da Hm Le Ph Qu 90, all Ha; beleve] beleeues Ha; see] seeke As Bo Cl Cm Da Dd Hm Le Qu St 90, sees Ha, seeks Ph   Subscription: Sir Phyll Sydney] om.* In the opening line, Hy’s variant “grace” for “good,” overlooked by Ringler, is supported by two independent witnesses: As and Je. In Je the scribe first copied “good” and then inserted a caret and wrote “grace,” directly above, without deleting the original word, making it uncertain which is to be preferred. Perhaps Sidney revised this reading to avoid the near homonym of “Momus grace” in line 9. Hy has two certain errors: in line 2, “vertue” should read “beauties,” the reading in the majority of the witnesses (the remainder have “beautie”), and in line 9, the reading “lyppes” is a scribal error caused by eye-skip (the word occurs in a similar position in the following line) and should certainly read “cheekes.” Hy introduces four more unique readings where all other texts agree on the same alternative that are probably the result of accidental substitution of similars, scribal or authorial: “may” for “can” (l. 1), “hardly” for “shrewdly” (l. 3), “Dame” for “faire” (l. 5), and “vnseene” for “vnknowne” (l. 13). Ot, an important collection of Sidney poems, not collated by Ringler, shares two Hy variants: “as” for “lyke” (l. 6) and “see” for “seeke” (l. 14; Ha reads “sees”; Pen “see”).

Poems 144–145

347

Head-note to 145–48 The following four poems by Thomas Waston were copied as a continuous piece concluding with a single “FINIS.” The poems appear in the second part of Watson’s Hekatompathia or Passionate Centurie of Loue (Hk), respectively, nos. 85, 84, 87, and 86, which was organized around the theme of “my love is paste”. 254 The imprint in The Hekatompathia is undated but is generally thought to have appeared in the year of its entry into the Stationers’ Register on 31 March 1582. 255 Heninger argues that the publication represents a collected and reworked “edition of Watson’s miscellaneous verse to that date” (1964, xi). In print Watson, following a continental vogue for annotating sonnets, introduced each of his socalled “passions” with a scholarly head-note on a point of subject matter or technique, or with citation of his sources and influences (ibid., ix-x). Watson also refers to his eighteen-line poems as sonnets, and the absence of stanzaic delineation and the regular employment of a concluding couplet “to deliver an aphorism or epigrammatic ‘sting in the tail,’” gives them a sonnet-like feel and are an influential stage in the evolution of the English sonnet (Sutton 1996, 1: 134). 256 The Hekatompathia was dedicated to the Earl of Oxford (“To the Right Honorable my very good Lord Edward de Vere, Earle of Oxenford”), who had seen the work in manuscript before publication (see Introd., li). A fair copy of seventy-eight of the “passions” entitled A Looking glasse for Loouers does, in fact, survive as BL, Harl. MS 3277 (LG). Apart from the omissions, including 146, and slight differences in the ordering, LG resembles the printed volume in presentation and layout, including the explanatory head-notes and division of the work into two parts: “Wherein are conteyned two sortes of amorous pasions: the one expressing the trewe estate and perturbations of hym, that is overgon with love: the other, a flatt defyance to Loue and all his lawes.” LG was evidently an earlier prototype and might have been one of the copies that Watson showed to his “frendes,” who subsequently encouraged him to publish: “published at the request of certaine Gentlemen his very frendes” (from the title-page). 257 For   Watson explains this division of the work into two parts on the title-page of the printed edition: “whereof, the first expresseth the Authours sufferance in Loue: the latter, his long farewell to Loue and all his tyrannie.” 255   The Register preserves an early title before Watson hit on the idea of a cycle of one hundred poems: “Watson’s Passions, manifestinge the true frenzy of love” (Sutton 1996, 1:133). 256   Anne Lok’s A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560) was the first non-amatory English sonnet cycle (my thanks to Cathy Shrank for pointing this out). 257   Watson refers, in the head-notes to poems in the Hekatompathia, to other works of his circulating in manuscript: De Remedio Amoris, “to the good likinge of many that haue seene and perused it” (sig. A1r); translations of Petrarch (“beinge busied in translating Petrarch his sonnets into latin new clothed”); and many other works in manuscript “which one day may perchance come to light” (sig. A3v). 254

348

Commentary

Watson’s membership of a literary milieu centred around the Inns of Court, see Introd., liii–lv.

145

The poem appears as no. 85 in Watson’s Hekatompathia (Hk), sig. L3r. The headnote informs the reader that it is “borrowed out of certeine Latin verses of Strozza a noble man of Italy.” Sutton (1996, 1:263) identifies this as Titus Vespasian Strozzi’s poem “ad Antonium [from] . . . Book II of the Eroticon (p. 121 of the 1530 Paris edition).” Another substantive copy appears in LG, sig. L3r, no. 70. Henry Chillester also included the poem, entitled “My love is past,” in his printed anthology Youthes Witte, 1581 (YW), sig. S1r, followed by his own lineby-line riposte entitled “My loue shall last.” For Chillester’s use of contemporary manuscript sources in YW, see the commentary to 88. Robert Allott quoted lines 7–17 as Watson’s to illustrate the topic of “Libertie” in the collection of extracts from English poetry Englands Parnassus, 1600 (EP), sigs. M3v–4r. The full poem was reprinted in 1608 among the “Ten Sonnets by T.W.” appended to Francis Davison’s A Poetical Rapsody (Dn), sig. D3v. 7

Sweet Liberty Cf. Petrarch’s Rime 97.1: “Ahi bella libertà” (“Ah, sweet liberty”); Durling 1976, 200–1. The phrase is used again by Watson in 148.1. 10–17 Watson is borrowing from Petrarch’s Rime 189; also echoed in 20.23– 30 and 79.17–18. In the copy printed in The Hekatompathia these lines have adjacent quotation marks, drawing attention to the extended metaphor. 16 gripinge grief For this commonplace alliterative phrase, see 4.2n.; pitched this usage is not found in OED and probably should read “piked” (spiked) as in the other witnesses. Collations: Dn, EP, Hk, LG, and YW. Title: om.] My Love is past Hk LG YW, Aliegory of his Loue to a Ship Dn    1–6 om. EP  3 Pylot .  .  . gaine] ship to gayne the porte*  4 from Love Dischargde] discharg’d from Loue Dn, to smile, now voide of loue YW   5 Land] loue YW   6 grevesome warres] wars Dn, greeuesome warre YW; Toyles] toile YW; stormes] seas YW; betost] worne, tir’d, & tost Dn   7 sub. But now the brunte is past, I joy to singe YW; now . . . Leave] to vs giues leaue EP;   8 sub. what kinde of sea, what slaues, what ship was there YW   9 fatall] foolish*; lots] lotte YW   10 a wave ech] each waue a*   11 the] were Dn EP Hk LG   12 Oares] vowes*; vnmerry] a pensiue Dn   13 “was” corr. to the] as EP Hk LG, at YW; Hellm] firme EP; Boate] Ship Dn   14 Inconstant] And constant Dn; and fickle YW   15 twisted] wished Dn; all] rounde YW; about] with doubt*   16

Poem 145

349

pitched] piked*   17 but . . . Last] om. EP   18 om. EP; Am . . . free] Haue gain’d the Port Dn   Subscription: om.] W. Watson EP, T. W. Dn Most of Hy’s six unique variant readings are errors: “a wave ech” (l. 10), “rowd with Oares” (l. 12), and “about” (l. 15) should undoubtedly read, “each waue a,” “rowd with vowes,” and “with doubt.” In line 16, “piked” (i.e., spiked) correctly describes the anchor, whereas Hy’s “pitched” is not a usage found in OED; “fatall” for “foolish” (l. 9) is an indeterminate but more obvious reading; and Hy’s “Pylot porte to gaine” (l. 3) for “ship to gayne the porte” more sensibly makes “Pylot” the analogue to “Souldiour,” “Pillgrim” and “I” (the lover) rather than “ship,” but the syntax of Hy’s version is clumsy and perhaps the line was revised. EP’s variant reading in line 7 (the first line in EP’s truncated version) is probably an editorial revision made because the previous lines are missing. Robert Allott placed the poem at the head of a section entitled “Libertie” and omitted the first stanza so that the extract opened with the line “Sweete libertie.” Allott also cut the poem mid way through line 17. One other unique EP variant “firme” for “Hellm” (l. 13), is a certain error. On two occasions where the texts diverge, EP agrees with Hk (“were” l. 11 and “as” l. 13), suggesting that the 1581 print served as copy-text. Most of the unique variants in YW are not obvious errors and are likely to be editorial interpolations. YW introduces four minor variants in (ll. 5, 6, 13, and 15) and three radically altered lines (ll. 4, 7, and 8). YW’s title “My loue is paste” indicates that the copy-text came from a manuscript prototype of The Hekatompathia (similar to LG), where the poem had been assigned its place in the identically headed section. Dn has two certain errors, “And constant” for “Inconstant” (l. 14) and “wished” for “twisted” l. 15, but variant readings in four more lines (ll. 4, 6, 12, and 13) are probably editorial interpolations. Dn agrees with Hk’s reading “were” in line 11, but in l. 13 diverges from Hk, agreeing with Hy’s reading “the” for “as,” making it possible that Davison’s copy-text derived from a manuscript source.

350

Commentary

146

See head-note to 145. The poem appears as no. 84 in Watson’s Hekatompathia (Hk), sig. L2v. 1–2

Watson explains in the head-note gloss to the poem: The Author in this Sonnet expresseth his mallice towardes Venus and her Sonne Cupid, by currying fauour with Diana, and by suing to have the selfe same office in her walkes and forrest, which sometimes her chast and best beloued Hippolitus enjoyed. Which Hippolitus . . . dyed by the false deceipt of his Stepmother Phædra, for not yeelding ouer himselfe vnto her incestuous loue. (Hk, L2v)

3 4 5 9 10 11–12 15 16

The story of Hippolitus is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 15. the thee Chace hunting-ground (OED chase, n.1 3) myckle much (OED adj. 1c) raynes region of the kidneys: the seat of sexual desire (OED reins, n. 2a) neare never (OED ne’er, adv. 1a) proverbial (Tilley C297) Iupiter “the Greekes honoured for a God, and called father and king of Goddes” (Cooper) Love a misreading of “Iove” (OED Jove, n. 1a), the poetical equivalent of “Iupiter” (see above 15n.)

Collations: Hk. 4 bannyshe] driue blinde   8 virgines] virgine   9 Chastized] chastned   10 shall] can   14 about] along   16 Love] Ioue   18 That] What The texts are fairly close. Hy makes one error: “Love” should undoubtedly read “Ioue” (l. 16). The few remaining Hy variants are not obvious errors and could be revisions introduced by Watson before the poem appeared in print.

147

See head-note to 145. The poem appears as no. 87 in Watson’s Hekatompathia (Hk), sig. L4r. Another substantive copy appears in A Looking Glasse for Louers (LG), sig. fol. 39v, no. 72. 1

made Default a legal phrase denoting the failure to perform a duty or obligation (OED default, n. 2a). Lightnes fickleness, unsteadiness (OED lightness, n.1 7a)

351

Poems 146–148

2, 8 fond foolish, credulous (OED fond, adj. 2) 4 Tyme . . . Truthe proverbial (Tilley T336); Wytt . . . boght proverbial (Tilley W545) 5 Vayne line of thought, reasoning (OED vein, n. 11b) 6 to too; proverbial (Tilley R210) 7 beare . . . eye Watson uses this exact expression in 146.13. 9 Descrye discover (OED v.1 2a) 15 proverbial (Tilley O6) 17 troade awrye fell into error, went wrong (OED awry, adv. 2b) 18 belles a metaphor from falconry, alluding to the bells attached to a bird’s leg to aid retrieval Collations: Hk and LG. 1 Default] a fault Hk LG   2 And] Which Hk LG   5 although] that now LG   6 runnes to far] He runneth farr LG; that] which Hk   7 beare] haue Hk LG   8 Hid from] Ile scorne Hk LG   10 that] what Hk LG   13 to yow] all you Hk LG   17 since] sure LG Hy’s six unique readings are not obvious errors and could be authorial. The three unique variants (ll. 5, 6, and 17) in LG, the earlier manuscript prototype of the printed edition, indicate that Watson did revise his poems after this fair copy was transcribed.

148

See head-note to 145. The poem appears as no. 86 in Watson’s Hekatompathia (Hk), sig. L3v. In the head-note Watson explains where he derived the idea for the poem: The sense of this Sonnet, for the most part taken out of a letter, which Æneas Syluius wrote vnto his friend, to persuade him, that albeit he lately had published the wanton loue of Lucretia and Euryalus, yet hee liked nothing lesse then such fond Loue; and that he nowe repented him of his owne labour ouer idlely bestowed in describing the same.

Sutton identifies this source as Epistle 395 (1996, 1:264). Further substantive copies are found in LG, fol. 39r, no. 71 and Ha, fols. 153v–54r. 1 2 4

Sweet Liberty This phrase is used again by Watson in 145.7; wonted customary, usual (OED adj. 3) sets in Vyew represents Cryew crew

352

Commentary

5 8 9 10 15, 17 15 17

wantinge lacking (OED adj. 1b) Default a fault, a sin (OED n. 1a) Defye challenge (OED v.1 2a) Cumber overthrow (OED v. 1a) fond . . . fonde foolish, credulous (OED adj. 2) once once for all (OED once, adv. 4); Deface extinguish (OED v. 3b) prove experience (OED v. 2)

Collations: Ha, Hk, and LG. 2 Paynter sets in] painters set to*  4 mynd] myndes*  6 hyde] t’hyde Hk LG   8 “What” corr. to the] What*   9 Bow] Launce Ha   10 fierce] fresh Ha   12 a] through*   13 gave] giue*   14 wandringe] wavering Ha, wav’ring Hk LG The texts present few variants. Hy introduces two probable errors (ll. 12 and 14), and four more unique readings are minor variants (changes in number of nouns or tense of verbs) that could be scribal error. Hy agrees with Ha in reading “hyde” for “t’hyde” (l. 6). Ha’s two unique readings are both inferior readings (ll. 9 and 10).

149

Two more unattributed copies of the poem are found in Ra, fol. 47r–v and Ha, fols. 147v–48r. The poem is almost certainly by Nicholas Breton. An augmented version with an additional four stanzas appears in a substantial grouping of Breton’s verse in BL, Add. MS 34064 (A34), fols. 20v–21v, 258 and six lines from the poem (ll. 31–36) were incorporated in a verse entitled “Of a wearie life” printed in Brittons [i.e., Breton’s] Bowre of Delights, 1591 (B), sig. 1Dr. All four of A34’s additional stanzas also occur in “Of a wearie life” as stanzas 1, 3–5, and three of these (stanzas 3, 5–6) also appear in “A most excellent passion set downe by N. B. Gent.” in The Phoenix Nest, 1593, sig. I4v. The wholesale transposing of stanzas between three separate poems, one of which carries a clear attribution to Breton, together with some verbal parallels in that poet’s recognized works (noted in the line glosses below) provide a strong case for authorship. 259 Christopher Middleton later borrowed lines from the poem, without much alteration beyond the shortening necessitated by the change of verse form, for a poetic interlude in his The First Part of the Nature of a Woman, 1596, sig. F1v (see   One of the additional stanzas is placed between verses six and seven, and three are appended after the final stanza. 259   Robertson (1952, cxiii fn. 1) notes another instance of Breton rehashing his own work: three stanzas from a poem dedicated to James I in 1605 are “worked into The Hate of Treason without much change.” 258

Poems 148–149

353

below 25–28n. and 31–34n.). For Middleton’s association with Robert Allott, see Introd. xliii fn. 69, and the commentary to 153. 1–4

2 5 8

Cf. “how all the Poets wryte / and how their Muzes, helpe them to endite” (Nicholas Breton, The Workes of a Young Wyt, 1577, sig. A4v). Breton is fond of the rhyme “endyte . . . wryte”; cf. “Sometyme I take my penne, and then I fall to wryte, / to learne to frame a letter fayre, sometime I doo indite” (The Workes, sig. B1r) endyte compose, write (OED indite, v. 3a). on on on one Pallas “The daughter of Jupiter, called goddesse of battayle, and also of wisedome” (Cooper); Parnassus “A mountayne in Greece, havyng twoo toppes, under the whiche the nyne muses did inhabite or dwell” (Cooper); cf. Breton’s The Workes, 1577, sig. B1r: And Pallas, shee would send from Pernasse hill, some learned muze, to helpe me to endite: In writing to, who so myght guide my quill, that I myght somewhat like a Poet wryte.

9 10 12

forsooth in truth, truly (OED adv. 1a) framde formed, shaped (OED frame, n. 5e) Pennes . . . Phœnyx Cf. “Pleased it hath a Gentlewoman rare, / With Phenix quill in diamont hand of Art” (Gabriel Harvey, A New Letter of Notable Contents, 1593, sig. D3v). 18 my Muse Breton refers to his melancholic Muse elsewhere: “Let me intreat that solemne muse that serues but Sorrowes turne, / In ceaselese sighes and endlesse sobs to helpe my soule to mourne” (Melancholike Humours, 1600, sig. C1v). 19 Helycon “A mountayne in Boeotia, dedicate to the muses” (Cooper) 20 hyght ordered, commanded (OED v.1 2a) 25–28 Cf. Middleton’s The First Part: A sad tuned hart’s my instrument, Whose strings all out of tune I straine, Striking great dumps of discontent. Till all be pluckt in two with paine.

27 Dump a mournful or plaintive song (OED n.1 3) 31–34 Cf. Middleton’s The First Part: Vnpleasant harmonie God knowes, When out of tune is euerie string,

354

Commentary

Bad sounds that all of discord growes, And sad the Muse that so must sing.

37 in Some in a few words, briefly (OED sum, n.1 P1a) 37–40 Cf. Middleton’s The First Part: My Musicke is a sorrowes song, Where discords sound is smart delight, My dittie, life that lastes too long, To see desire crost with despite.

39 to too Collations: A34, B, Ha, and Ra. 1–30 om. B   3 of] oft Ha Ra, many A34; these] om. A34   4 Only] There are*; at any tyme] that euer us’d*   5 thes] those Ha, hyt] gotten A34   6 tis] it is A34; have om. A34  7 Heavenly] certaine A34  8 it] that A34  9 There] where Ha   10 That] which Ha   11 Devyne Conceyptes do] do heavnly causes A34   12 be of a] are of the Ha, are of a A34   13 Beleeve me now] But as for me A34   14 Vnles] Except A34   15 faire] dame A34   16 ever] neuer Ha Ra; the] her A34   17 in hys] after Ha, in her Ra, in such A34   19 oh no] no no*   24 Hartes] mynd*   25 not] and not a Ra   26 waykened] weakned*   28 in] a A34   29 Lo then in] Then in a Ha Ra   30 Lest] That*; yow] none A34; might] may*   inserted after l. 30 A34 Who can delight in suche a wofull sounde or loues to here a lay of deepe lament What note is sweete, when greif is all the grounde Descordes can yeld but only discontent The wrest is wronge, that strains eche stringe to farre and stryfes the stoppes that giue eche stroake a Iarre

31–42 order of stanzas six and seven inverted*   31 Vnpleasant is] Harsh is (alas) A34 B   32 almost . . . is] out of tune is allmost *   33 Sorowes] sorrow*   35 Yet] But A34 B; that els] that but A34, but that B; woe] shame A34 B   36 I sweare] indede Ha   37–42 om. B   37 Musicke] musinge A34   38 Discordes yeld] discord yeldes Ha Ra   39 thys] is Ha Ra; to] so Ra   40 thvs] so A34 In lines 3 and 4, Coningsby evidently attempted to improve his copy: correcting his initial transcription of “ofte” (agreeing with two other witnesses) to “of,” and at the start of the following line, he began to write a “T” (all other witnesses begin the line with “There”) but changed it to an “O” and wrote “Only”. Hy’s variant line 4 avoids the repetition of “vse” (“vs’d”). Another probable sophistication

355

Poems 149–150

occurs at line 16, where Coningsby avoided a double negative (for this habit, see Introd., lxvii–lxviii). Hy also introduces five errors: the repetition of “Hartes” (l. 24); “wakened strynges” (l. 26) should probably read “weakned strings” (i.e., loose strings in need of tuning); “oh no” (l. 19) repeats the same phrase from line 18, and should probably read “no no,” as in all other texts; “almost” (l. 32) is misplaced (“almost out of tune”) and should read “out of tune is almost” (the reading in all other texts) since the instrument is definitely “out of tune” (l. 26); and “Sorowes” (l. 33) should probably read “sorrow.” Finally, Hy differs from the other texts, including Middleton’s version which borrows lines consecutively from the poem, in reversing the order of the last two stanzas. A34’s augmented text contains a high number of variant readings that are not obvious errors (ll. 3, 5, 6–8, 11, 13–15, 17, 28, 30, 37, and 40). The single stanza (ll. 31–36) printed in Brittons Bowre of Delights (B) derives from a version of the poem similar to A34 in which some revisions had probably been introduced. B agrees in four readings with A34 against all the other texts: “Harsh is (alas)” for “Vnpleasant is” (l. 31); “But” for “Yet”; “but” for “els”; and “shame” for “woe” (l. 35). Middleton’s version of line 31 (l. 22 in The First Part) agrees with Hy, Ra, and Ha reading “Vnpleasant.” Ha and Ra are related texts that agree in error in line 30 (“That you” for Hy’s “Lest yow”; A34’s “that none”) creating a non sequitur; the previous line states that the instrument is shut in a case (“Claps it vp in Case” l. 29). Three more shared readings against the other texts indicate that Ha-Ra derived from a common original: “Then in a” for “Lo then in” l. 29; “discord yeldes” for “Discordes yeld” l. 38; and “is” for “thys” l. 39. Ra introduces two more errors: “and not a” for “not” l. 25; “so” for “to” l. 39. Ha introduces only one unique variant “indede” for “I sweare” l. 36. Head-note to 150–55 These following six entries are in the hand of the later literary compiler Robert Allott (Hand F; see Introd., xxv–xxvi). Allott signed 150–51, 153, and 155 with his full or abbreviated form of name, and there is no reason to doubt his authorship of these poems. For other verse written by Allott and his interest in poetry, see see Introd., xlii–xliv. The remaining two entries are not claimed by Allott as his own: 152 is marked as “Incerti Authoris,” and 154 is unsigned.

150

Except for the couplets closing each of the ten-line stanzas, Allot employs blank verse in this poem, one of only two poems in Hy in unrhymed verse (see 100). Allott incorporates some popular rhetorical figures: correlative verse, i.e., disseminated members recapitulated (l. 9), anadiplosis (ll. 12–13; 14–15), anaphora (ll. 17–18), and alliteration (ll. 5, 8, 13–16). title

A passion also conveys the sense of suffering or affliction (OED passion, n. 3). Thomas Watson refers to his poems as “lovepassions” and

356

Commentary

“passions” in the preliminaries and the head-note glosses of the Hekatompathia, 1582 (“The Author in this Passion . . . ” sig. A1r; and passim); cf. an anonymous poem headed “A passion” (Ra, fol. 92r–v), and 92 is headed “In Passione Melancholica.” 2 ruth pity (OED n. 1) 4 successive successful (OED adj. 4); hap fortune, luck (OED n.1 2) 6 shrouded shaded, shadowed (OED shroud, n.1 5a); hardest okes for the more usual metaphor cf. “In time small wedges cleaue the hardest Oake” (Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedie, 1592, sig. C2v) 9 rue fall (OED v.2) 20 cold . . . heat For this commonplace of early modern humoral physiology, see 30.24n.

See head-note to 150. 1 8

151

Fancies fanciful ideas, imaginings; amorous inclinations (OED fancy, n. 4a, 8b) holy . . . wholy rhetorical figure of antanaclasis

152

See head-note to 150. This entry is a translation of the first four lines of a Latin verse epistle by Katherine Killigrew (née Cooke) addressed to her sister, Mildred Cecil. 260 A copy of the Latin original, ascribed to “Mistres Kyllygrewe,” is found in Sir William More’s miscellany of verse and prose and immediately followed by two different translations into English, probably More’s own: 261 Si michi quem cupio curas Mildreda remitti, tu bona, tu melior, tu michi sola soror, Sin male cessando retines, vel trans mare mittis, tu mala, tu peior, tu michi nulla soror, Is si Cornubiam, tibi pax sit et omnia læta. sin mare, Ciciliæ nuncio bella vale./

5

If Myldred thowe procure, my Ioyes retorne to be, 260   A few more poems written by Killigrew survive, including a four-line Latin epitaph to be inscribed on her own tomb (see Stevenson and Davidson 2001, 64). 261  See the commentary to 141a-b for another translation into English verse by More, copied beneath its Latin original, in the same miscellany.

357

Poems 150–152

thow shalt be good, and better to, a systre Dere to me but tryflynge yf he staye, or passe the seas he shall, thow shalt be yll, and wors then yll no syster then atall To Cornwall yf he cum, in peace then shalt thou dwell but yf to Sea, to Cycyll then, I warre procleym, farewell. If Myldrede thowe retorne, my Ioye to me ageyne thowe shalt be good, and better to, my onely systr then but yf thowe hym deteyne, and to the sea assygne, thowe shalt be yll, and worse then yll, no sister then of myne To Cornewall yf he cum great pleysure shall ensue, but yf to sea, to Cycyll then I warre procleyme, adewe. Theyse versys were wrytten by Mistres Kyllygrewe to my Lady Cycyll (CUL, MS Ff.5.14, fol. 107r)

5

5

In this verse petition, Katherine threatens to declare war on her sister, Lady Cecil (“Ciciliæ nuncio bella”), if her husband, the diplomat Henry Killigrew, is sent on any more overseas missions. 262 The light-hearted tone reflects the close relationship between the sisters but does not diminish the very real and pressing nature of the request, whose success was linked to a favorable reception of the poem among family members, especially Mildred’s husband, Sir William Cecil, the Secretary of state. Killigrew’s wit was admired by Sir John Harington, who quoted the poem in the commentary to Book thirty-seven of Orlando Furioso, 1591, remarking that it was a verse “which I doubt if Cambridge or Oxford can mend” (sig. 2D4v). 263 Further manuscript copies of the Latin poem are found in Francis Willoughby’s notebook, headed “Mistres: Kelagrey,” Somerset Heritage Centre, MS DD\WO/52/2, fol. 1v reversed; and unattributed in Ma, fol. 22v and Leicestershire Record Office, DG7 Lit. 2, fol. 316r. Another copy, without attribution, of an English translation appears in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS 327, fol. 11r. Hy’s extract reveals nothing about the original context of the poem’s composition. It is also clear that Allott did not know who wrote the poem, inscribing “Incerti Authoris” in the margin next to the text. The mistake in the second line, “thy spouse” which should read “my spouse,” means that in this version the speak262   “Ciciliæ” refers to Lady Cecil: the Latinized form of her name is “Mildreda Cecilia” (William Cecil is Latinized as “Gulielmus Cecilius”). As Schleiner (1994, 45, 257) points out, the poem must have been written between November 1565, when Katherine married Henry Killigrew, and February 1571, when Mildred became Lady Burghley. 263   Where Ariosto boasts of one learned woman in Italy, Harington, “besides one aboue all comparison” (i.e., Queen Elizabeth), can name four in one family, the “daughters of Sir Anthonie Cooke,” of which “Mistris Killygrew” is described as “the meanest of the foure” (Orlando Furioso, sig. 2D4v).

358

Commentary

er, confusingly, is asking for her sister’s husband to be returned to her rather than her own husband. The only name to appear in the extract is Mildred, but as far as this copyist was concerned it could have been any Mildred since the extract does not include the mention of Cecil that would help to make the correct identification. Allott’s response to the enigmatic meaning of this truncated and muddled text of Killigrew’s poem was to write his own pastiche (153). There are some striking similarities between Allott’s version and the second English version found in William More’s miscellany (see above), which suggests More may have been a conduit for the poem’s wider disseminated, perhaps via Herbert Westfaling or More’s son, both at Oxford. More’s version is six lines of poulter’s measure; Allott’s version similarly rhymes as two fourteeners and a poulter’s couplet, broken over eight lines. More’s line two concludes identically with Allot’s line four, “my only sister then,” and his line three is a near match to Allott’s lines five to six. The two rhymes in Allott’s truncated version, “againe . . . then” (ll. 2, 4) and “assigne . . . mine” (6, 8), match the rhyme words in the first two couplets of More’s version. 264

153

See head-note to 150. In this short verse, Allott imitates the previous entry; the numerous deletions, revisions, and insertions suggest that the lines were composed extempore. Allott only manages one set of end-rhymes (“fre . . . me”), but he does achieve a certain balance to the poem in the employment of end words that sum up the general gist of the poem: “regard . . . faire” (ll. 1 and 3); “scorne . . . foule” (ll. 5 and 7). The pastiche mimics the phrasal symmetry in Killigrew’s original, but Allott creates new content by directing the lines to his mistress, whose good opinion he threatens to withdraw if she is not sympathetic to his suit just as Katherine had jokingly threatened war on Lady Cecil if her “petition” was not considered. The social cachet of the original verse, derived from its connection to important individuals, meant that copyists continued to transmit a poem in writing and by word of mouth whose meaning had become obscure. Allott’s response was to provide a new context for the poem that would appeal to his student milieu, in the meantime taking the opportunity to display his own ability to improvise a poem on the spot, a reputation that was celebrated in an epigram, also addressed to Christopher Middleton, written by his friend John Weever: Epi. 4 Ad Ro: Allot, & Chr. Middleton Quicke are your wits, sharp your conceits, Short, and more sweete your layes: Quicke, but no wit, sharpe, no conceit,   More’s first version employs different rhyme words (see above).

264

359

Poems 152–155

Short, and lesse sweete, my praise. (John Weever, Epigrammes, 1599, sig. D8v)

154

See head-note to 150. Allott does not claim authorship of this unique distich, and it is perhaps ultimately derived from a Latin origin.

155

See head-note to 150. Allott addresses his “Ode” in rhyme royal to Apollo and the Muses “Ad Apollinem et musas” asking for inspiration (“new sourse,” l. 30) to whet his “dulled” and “withered” braine (ll. 3, 30). 1

monarche . . . traine i.e., Apollo, the god of poetry and music, and the Muses (see 6n. below), to whom the poem is addressed 2 Aonian springs springs on Mount Parnassus sacred to Apollo and the Muses 4 fyery ground with reference to the other role of Apollo (or Phoebus) as god of the sun 5, 17 Phœbus . . . vanquissht Python “Apollo called also Phoebus . . . when he came to age, he killed with his bowe the serpent Pytho” (Cooper) 6 faire ladies i.e., the Muses: “maydens, whome poetes faygned to be the daughters of Jupiter and Memorie, and that they weare ladyes and gouernours of poetrie and Musyke” (Cooper) 7 aslake relieve (OED v. 4a) 15 every deele every bit, in every respect (OED everydeal, n. 2) 18–19 The story of Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne and her transformation into a bay-tree is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 1. 28 my witty weale See Weever’s epigram, Ad Ro: Allot, & Chr. Middleton, beginning “Quicke are your wits,” quoted in full in the commentary to 153. 35 Castalia a spring on Mount Parnassus, sacred to the Muses, used allusively to denote the source of poetic inspiration; cf. “You sad-musde sisters help me to indite, / And in your faire Castalia bathe my quill” (Michael Drayton, Peirs Gaueston, 1594, sig. D2r).

360

Commentary

Head-note to 156–57 The last two entries in Hy comprise two short poems, signed identically with the initials “I: I.,” in a clumsy italic hand not found elsewhere in the manuscript (Hand G). I have identified this hand as belonging to Joyce Jeffreys (ca. 1570– 1650), the half-sister of the compiler Humfrey Coningsby (see Introd., xxvii– xxviii). Joyce might have copied the texts as a young girl since the lack of consistency in the formation of the italic letter forms indicates an immature hand. She also seems uncertain about the “correct” layout of the verse, with lines in both poems out of sync with meter and rhyme: “his happe” (156.3) belongs to the second line but is stranded on its own line, and “Contente?” (157.2), the last word of the first line, is dropped to the second, leaving blank space after “sweete.”

156

This quatrain, rhyming as couplets in iambic tetrameter, is unique to Hy. 1

ladye . . . lappe proverbial, “In the lap of Fortune” (Dent 1984, L67.12); cf. “I deemde the greatest ioyes, in earthly hap: / I thought my pleasure euer would abide: / I seemede to sit, in Lady Fortunes lap” (John Higgins, The First Parte of the Mirour for Magistrates, 1574, sig. H8v). happe success, good luck (OED n.1 1)

3

157

See head-note to 156. This entry is the opening stanza of a poem of eighteen lines by Thomas Campion. It was printed in 1591, as the last (“Canto Quinto”) of five entries signed “content,” among “Poems and Sonets of sundrie other Noble men and Gentlemen” appended to Syr P.S. His Astrophel and Stella (AS), sig. L4r. 265 Davis (1969, 3–4) puts the case for the identification of Campion as “content,” proposing that the poems were originally written for a masque (1969, 3–4). 266 Davis also draws attention to Campion’s variation on the same theme in a verse that was extremely popular in manuscript circulation “What if a day or a month or a year” (see CELM CmT 207–41). 267   The poem is reprinted without variation in the [1597?] edition (sig. K4r).   “Canto Primo” (“Harke, all you Ladies”) is among the songs attributed to Campion set to music by Philip Rosseter in A Booke of Ayres, 1601, song xix. “Canto tertio” (“My Love bound me with a kisse”) and “Canto quarto” (“Loue whets the dullest wittes”) appear in Latin versions as “In Melleam” (sig. E3v) and “Ad Amorem” (sig. F1v) in Campion’s Poemata, 1595. 267   First printed in Richard Alison’s An Howres Recreation in Musicke (1606), sig. D1r, no. 7; attributed to Campion in Alexander Gil’s Logonomia Anglica, 1619, sig. S2r. 265

266

Poems 156–157

361

Another unattributed copy lacking the third and fourth lines of the poem survives in Ha, fol. 156v, but despite the missing lines, put down to scribal carelessness, the text was almost certainly taken from AS (Gottschalk 1974, 405). A much later copy (ca. 1630s) of the first twelve lines, in Folger, MS V.a.345 (V34), p. 290, may be substantive (see below). 2 3 4 5

Conshmed consumed Vnequalle unfair, unjust (OED unequal, adj. 4a); arbytrymente decision, judgement (OED arbitrament, n. 4) sorte allot, assign (OED sort, v.1 1a) As . . .  flowre proverbial (Tilley F386)

Collations: AS, Ha, and V34 Title: om.] Canto Quinto AS   2 better then] worth*   3–4 om. Ha   3 fates] Gods AS V34   4 sorte vs] send me V34   6 Ioy] blisse*; A nyght] an nighte V34   Subscription: I. I.] om. Ha V34, CONTENT AS Hy’s unique variants, an obvious error that disturbs the meter “better than,” (l. 2) and the unusual spelling of “Conshmed” (l. 2), suggest that the lines were transcribed from memory. V34 is much closer to the printed version, but further variants noted by Gottschalk in her collation of the complete text indicate that the copy is substantive (1974, 405).

Appendix 1a Overview table of scribal numbering Entry number in Hand A’s sequence: 1–127

Entry number in this edition

5 [sic]

6

1–5

1–5

6–20

7–21

21–23

23 [sic] 24–59 60

61–90 91 92–93 94 95–103 104–14 115–18 119–20

22

23–25 26

27–62

63–65 66–95 96

97 98

99–100 101

102

103–4

105–13 114

115–25 126

127–30 131

132–33

364

121 122–27

Appendix 1a

134–35 136 137

138–43

144–157

*Shaded areas show entries that fall outside Hand A’s numbering sequence

Appendix 1b Table of thirty-five texts found in two or more of the six similar manuscript verse anthologies Entry in this edition Dd x

1

2 3 7

9

Fo

*

*

*

11

15

*

18

*

16

27

*

*

34

*

41

43

44

*

49

*

53

*

55

*

48 50 54

Hn

Ma

Ra

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

* *

* *

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

* *

*

*

*

*

12

26

Ha

*

*

*

*

* * * *

*

*

*

*

*

*

* *

*

366

Appendix 1b

58

*

*

108

*

*

85

109 110

118

*

*

120

*

*

*

139

*

144 149

* *

* *

124 128

*

* *

* *

*

*

*

*

*

* *

*

* * *

* *

Appendix 2 Family Tree A: Humfrey Coningsby of Neen Sollars, Shropshire  1 2 3

Thomas Coningsby of Neen Sollars = Elizabeth Wheathill (fl. 1460s)

Thomas = Waldeffe [See family tree B]

Humfrey = Blanche Corbet of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire1

John = Ellen Meysey of Shakenhurst, Worc.

Richard of Morton Bagot, = Matilda Furnivall Warwickshire [See family tree C]

Humfrey = Margaret Lucas of Little Saxham, Suffolk2

John (d. 1567) = Anne Barnaby [See family tree E]

Anne = Oliver Briggs of Ernesty Park (d. 1596)3 Humphrey = (1587) Anne Moreton

Katherine = Edward Freeman of Evenlode, Worc.

Humfrey of Neen Sollars [compiler of Hy]

Coningsby = Beatrice Cludd of Orleton, Shropshire 1   Philip Sidney’s “very greatest friend” Robert Corbet belonged to this branch of the Corbet family; History of Parliament Online: “Corbet, Robert (1542–83), of Moreton Corbet, Salop.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/corbet-robert-1542-83. 2   This grandmother was the daughter of Jaspar Lucas (d. 1530) and Margery Gedding; Jaspar’s brother John Lucas (d. 1556) was “trusty friend and counsellor” to John de Vere, sixteenth Earl of Oxford, father of the courtier poet; History of Parliament Online: “Lucas, John (by 1512–56), of the Inner Temple, London and Colchester, Essex.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509–1558/ member/lucas-john-1512-56 3   Oliver Briggs’ second marriage was to Jane Abington (Habington) of Brockhampton, Herefordshire, sister to Mary Barnaby; see family tree E.

Fitzwilliam

Thomas (d. 1601)

Anne = Richard Tracy of Stanway

Elizabeth = Sir Humfrey Baskerville of Eardisley Castle4

Anne = Sir Thomas Cornwall Baron of Burford

Elizabeth = Gilbert Littleton of Frankley

Edward (b. 1572) = Elizabeth Catesby

Jane = (1) William Boughton of Little Lawford3

Elizabeth = (1) William Parris; = (2) William Cavendish

John of North Mimms [See family tree D]

Elizabeth = Kinard Russell of Strensham, Worc.

= (2) Anne Hagley

2

1

  See family tree A, second line.   The first born male, Edward, died in 1561. 3   Jane’s second husband was a Williams of Willaston. 4   Nephew of Sir Thomas Baskerville, whose second wife (by 1570) was Eleanor Abington of Brockhampton, sister to Mary and Jane; see family trees A note 3, and E.

+4 dau; 2 sons

Mary = Gregory Price

Sir Thomas2 = Phillipa Fitzwilliam

Humphrey of Hampton Court (d. 1559) = Anne Englefield

Thomas (d. 1527) = Cecilia Salwey of Stanford, Worc.

Sir Humphrey (d. 1535) = Anne Fereby of Lincoln

Thomas Coningsby = (1) Waldeffe;

Family Tree B: Sir Thomas Coningsby of Hampton Court, Herefordshire1 1 2 3 4

368 Appendix 2

369

Appendix 2

Family Tree C: Richard of Morton Bagot and Sir Richard (gentlemen usher) 1 Richard Coningsby of Morton Bagot, Warwickshire = Matilda Furnivall Illegitimate line

Humphrey

Thomas I, = Elinor Hakluyt of Leominster of Eyton

Robert Sir Richard (d. ca. 1620)

Thomas II, of Hampton Wafer (d. 1615)

Family Tree D: Humphrey Coningsby of Sopwell, Hertfordshire (MP for St Albans) 2 John Coningsby of North Mimms, Hertfordshire = Elizabeth Frowick

Anne = Philip Butler

Henry (Harry) = Elizabeth of North Mimms Butler

Sir Ralph (Raphe) of North Mimms

  See family tree A.   See family tree B.

1 2

Humphrey of Sopwell = Mary Lee (d. 1601)

Sir Phillip

Henry

 1 2

Anne = (1) John (d. 1616) Coningsby1 Joyce (d. 1650)

= (3) Sir Francis Kettelby = (2) Henry Jeffreys of Cotheridge of Ham Castle, Worc. (d. 1615)2 (d. 1583)

2

  See family tree A.   Anne’s marriage to her third and last husband took place shortly after 1 March 1586 (Spicksley 2012, 11).

1

Richard = Mary Abington of Brockhampton (d. 1574)

Thomas Barnaby of Hull (Hill), = Joyce Acton, Bockleton, Worc. of Acton in Ombersley, Worc.

Family Tree E: Anne Barnaby, mother to Humfrey Coningsby, compiler of Hy

370 Appendix 2

Appendix 3 The Coningsby monument in the Parish Church of Neen Sollars, Shropshire 1

1   Webb transcribed the tomb inscriptions, with some inaccuracies, in his article on Joyce Jeffreys (1857, 190-93).

372

A

B

C

D

E

Appendix 3

TYME CVTTETH DOWNE THE BODY BVT CHRIST RAISETH VP THE SPIRIT

HEERE CONINGESBIE IN LIVELY SHAPE THOV LIEST WHO SOMETIME WERT THE CHAMPION OF CHRIST DIDST TRAVAILE EVROPE FOR HIS ONLIE SAKE AND FOVND THE FOE) HIS QVARRELL VNDERTAKE WHAT GREATER VALOVR PIETIE COVLD BEE THEN BLEED FOR HIM WHO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THEE

ALASS OVR LYFE ALTHOVGH WEE STAIE AT HOME IS BVT A TOYLESOME PILGRIMADGE ONE EARTH BVT THOV A DOVBLE PILGRIMADGE DIDST ROAME THOV WAST ALLMOST ABROAD EVEN FROM THY BYRTH THY IORNEYS END WAS HEAVEN OF HOMES THE BEST WHER TILL THOV CAMST THOV NEVER COVLDST TAKE REST

OVR LIFE IS LOST YET LIVST THOV EVER DEATH HATH HIS OWN YET DIEST THOV NEVER

THIS STATVE, AND MONVMENT, WAS MADE, IN COMEMMORATION OF HVMFREY CONYNGESBY ESQVIRE THE ONLY SONNE OF IOHN CONINGESBY | OF NENE SOLERS ESQVIRE AND OF ANNE HIS WIFE, THE DAVGHTER OF THOMAS BARNEBY OF HVLL IN, THE PARISH OF BOCKLETON, AND | COVNTY OF WORCESTER ESQVIRE WHICH HVMFREY CONYNGESBY, WAS LATE LORDE OF THIS NENE SOLLERS, AND PATRON OF THIS | CHVRCH, AND WAS HEIRE, OF THE ELDEST LYNE, AND FAMILLY OF THE CONINGESBYES, FROM WHOM ALL THE REST ARE DERIVED, WHICH | BEFORE KING IOHNS TYME, WERE BARONS OF ENGLAND, AND THEN RESIDED, AT CONINGESBY, IN LINCOLNESHIRE, HE WAS A PERFECT | SCOLLER BY EDVCATION, AND A GREATE TRAVAYLER BY HIS OWNE AFFECTION, HE BEGAN HIS FIRST TRAVAILL IN APRIL 1594, BEING | 27 YEARES OF AGE 2 MONETHES, AND FOR 4 YEARES AND VPWARDS REMAYNED, IN FRAVNCE, GERMANIE, ITALY, AND SICILYE, AND THEN RETVRNED | HOME FOR A LITLE WHILE, AND TOOKE HIS IORNEY AGAINE, IN TO BOHEMIA, POLONIA, AND HVNGARY, WHERE FOR DEFENCE OF THE CRISTIAN FAITH, HE | PVTT HIMSELF VNDER THE BANNAR OF RODVLPHE THE SECOND, EMPEROVR OF THE ROMANES (AS A VOLVNTARY GENTILLMAN) AT THE SEEDGE OF | STRI-

Appendix 3

373

GONIVM, IN, HVNGARY AGAINST THE TVRKES, AFTERWARDS TO SATISFIE HIS DESIER (WHICH WAS TO SEE THE MOST EMINENT PLACES, AND PERSONS) HE WENT | INTO TVRKY, AND TO NATOLIA, TO TROY IN ASIA, BY SESTOS, AND ABIDOS, THROVGH THE HELLESSPONT, AND INTO THE ILES OF ZANT, CHIOS, RHODES, | CANDY, CYPRVS, AND DIVERS OTHER PLACES IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. HE VISITED ALSO SVNDRY AVNCIENT, AND FAMOVS PLACES OF GREECE, AS ARCADIA | CORINTH, THESALONIKA, EPHESVS, AND ATHENS, WENT OVER THE PLAINE OF THERMOPYLAE (BY WHICH ZERXES PASSED IN TO GREECE) AND TO THE TOP OF MOVNT | ATHOS THE HIGHEST HILL IN GREECE, AND SO ARIVED AT CONSTANTINOPLE, IN THE RAIGNE OF MAHOMETT THE THIRD EMPEROVR OF TVRKES, WHO TO DOE | HIM HONOR, GAVE HIM A TVRKYSH GOWNE OF CLOTH OF GOVLD, AND HIS MOTHER THE SVLTANA EBRITA GAVE HIM AN OTHER RICHE GOWNE OF CLOTH OF | SILVER, AND 250 CHEQVINES IN GOVLD, AND AFTER 13 MONETHES ABOADE THERE, HE RETVRNED IN TO ENGLAND, TO THE IOY OF HIS FRENDS | WHERE STAYINGE AWHILE, HE WENT INTO SPAINE, AND CAME BACK IN SAFETY. AND AGAINE THE 4TH TYME HE TOKE HIS IORNEY FROM LONDON TO VENICE | THE 10TH DAY OF OCTOBER 1610 AND FROM THAT DAY, WAS NEVER AFTER SEENE BY ANY OF HIS AQVAINTANCE ON THIS SIDE, THE SEAS, OR BEYOND, | NOR ANY CERTAINTY KNOWNE OF HIS DEATH, WHER, WHEN, OR HOW. FROM HIS FIRST IORNEY TO HIS 4TH AND LAST WAS 16 YEARES AND 6 | MONETHES. HE LIVED A BACHELAR, LEAVING BEHIND HIM, ONE SISTER OF THE WHOLE BLOODE NAMED KATHERIN, THE WIFE OF EDWARD | FREEMAN OF EMLOD IN THE COWNTY OF WORCESTER ESQVIRE AND ONE OTHER SISTER BY THE MOTHERS SIDE NAMED IOYSE IEFFREYS, WHOM | HE MADE EXECVTRIX OF HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, APPOINTING HIR THEREBY TO ERECT HIM A TOOMBE WITH AN INSCRIPTION, OF | HIS CONDITION, LIFE, AND DEATH, THE WHICH SHE HATH HEARE PERFORMED, THOVGH SHORT OF HIS PERFECTIONS. TEMPORA MVTANTVR. ANNO DOMINI 1624

F

MAN STAY SEE READ MVSE MOORNE AND MINDE THY END FLESH POMPE TYME THOVGHTS WORLD WELTH AS WIND DOETH PASS LOVE FEARE HATE HOPE FAST PRAY FEED GIVE AMEND MAN BEAST FISH FOWLE AND ALL FLESH ELS IS GRASS SEE HEARE THY SELFE FRALETIES AS IN A GLASS NO ODS BETWEENE VS BVT VNSERTAINE HOWRES WHICH ARE PRESCRBED [sic] BY THE HEAVENLY POWRES FOR DEATH IN FINE ALL KIND OF FLESH BEYOVRES [sic] 2

  The last word in this line should evidently read devovres.

2

374

Appendix 3 RESPICE FINEM 3 FARE WELL THEN SISTER FLESH AND THINK OF ME 4 WHAT I AM NOW TO MOROW THOV MAY BE

3   An approximation of this popular Latin funereal tag appears in the opening line minde thy end. 4   This line suggests the verse was written by Coningsby; the addressee is most likely Joyce Jeffreys, the half-sister with whom he had a close bond (see Introd., xxxi). From the last few lines of the main inscription (see E above), it is clear that Humfrey had given detailed instructions to Joyce for the design of the monument, and it is entirely possible that he had also left this funerary verse in her keeping.

Appendix 4 Humfrey Coningsby’s Will: NA, PROB 11/129/796 1 In the name of God, Amen. The Tenth day of | November. 1608. And the Sixt yeare of Kinge Iames his raigne, over greate Brittaine. I | Humfrey Coningesby of Nene Solers in the Countie of Saloppe Esquier, sounde in Bodie and | mynde doe make my will, as followeth: First I recommend me to Almightie god, and deade; will thatt | all such debtes as I owe of right; or of conscience to any be trulie contented by myne Executor, and paid | without delay; or contradiction. Further I will that Five hundred markes be bestowed vpon my funeralls | and Tombe with an inscription of my condicion, lyfe & death which beinge done, I giue to Dame Anne Ketelbye my | mother, a Ringe of goulde with wordes whiche myne Executor knoweth and a fayre Bible bounde in purple. The | like bookes and ringes, doe I giue to my two sisters Katherine Freeman, and Ioyce Iefferies, and to my Aunte | Williams, and my aunte Freeman. I giue to Sir Thomas Coningesbye of Hampton Courte in the Countye of | Hereforde, Knighte, all my Bookes, and Armes, my best Cabinet, my biggest glasse; my fayrest lute, and | Pictures, to remaine in the house at Nene when it shall be built, and inhabited, which I desire maie be some tyme | by himself. To his sonne FitzWilliam, a sworde, and a dagger with girdle, and hangers, and a Horse furnished of | Fortye poundes. To my Cosen Elizabeth Baskervile his daughter, a white hower glasse of Sea horse toothe | fower in one runinge by quarters, and altogether, To Sir Richard Coningesbie Knighte; To Thomas Cornewaile | Baron of Burford, And to Sir George Blount of Sodington. Three greate Venetian lookinge glasses, theis | fower last to be cased in purple velvet imbrodered with goulde. To Sir Thomas Cornewayle of Burforde my blacke | Padouan late [lute] 2 of Indian Cane; And to his Ladie my Cosen Anne, my second Cabinet. To Sir Frauncis Ketelbie, | Sir Christopher Yelverton, Sir Henry Lello, Edward Freeman, Robin Bailie and Hewet Stapers each of them | a Ringe of goulde, withe a Diamond of the value 1   Another copy of the will with the same date is found in Birmingham City Archives, MS 3420/Acc 1933-013. 2   The correct reading is taken from the copy of the will in Birmingham City Archives.

376

Appendix 4

of Tenne pounds, prayinge them all to vouchsafe of these meane | remembraunces. I bequeathe to the Reparacion of the South Chauncell at Nene, Tenne poundes and to the | poore there, Tenne pounds. And to the mendinge of the highe waies within that Lordeshippe Tenne pounds. | And will that noe nowe inhabitinge Tennante of myne there be put out of there Tenement duringe their liues, if | they will there staie, and giue as others, And I remitt vnto them such heriottes as shalbe due at their deceases. | I giue and bequeathe to my saide mother, the Ladye Kettelbie an Annuitie or Yearelie rent of one hundred | marks, duringe her lyfe, to be paide her out of those Lande of Iointure heretofore made vnto her by my | Father Iohn Coningesbye deceased in the saide Mannor of Nene, And if these landes amounte not vnto that | yearelie value, then the want to be suppplied out of myne other landes there. I giue to my said sister Ioyce | Iefferies the like Annuitie of one hundred markes, out of the saide Nene duringe her life. And alsoe vnto | her, I bequeath ^all^ myne interest in leases of Howses, Stables, Gardaines, and other Commodities whatsoever | in or within Fiue myles of London, and all my goodes moueable wheresoever, I giue vnto her the saide Ioyce. | I giue vnto Sir Richard Luce Clarke Parson of Nene Tenne poundes Annuitie; To Peter Moraine; and | Ferdinandoe Waste, remayninge my servantes, at my decease; Twenty poundes apeece Annuities. To my three | Godsonnes Humfrey Hardman, 3 Humfrye [sic] Perry, and Humfrey Stockwell, and to Harry Meredeth | once my boy, Forty shillinges apeece Annuities, out of the said Nene duringe their liues, Condicionallie | that they sell not away my giufte. And heare I will and desire my sayde sister Katherine Freeman, & whome | soever els that shall, or maye haue, or shall claime, or pretend to haue anie righte, tytle, or propertie in, or to | the saide mannor of Neene Solers, and Cotson 4 hereafter named, or any parte thereof, as in, and by her right and | interests within one yeare after request vnto her and then made to giue passe, release, and convey by suche | courses of lawe as by Counsaile learned shalbe advised her, and their, and either of their ^whole^ interestes and estates of | in, and to the saide Mannor with thappertenances and euery parte thereof vnto suche, and their heires in Fee simple | as I haue adopted myne heires by this my Will, and Testament, at the Charges in lawe of my saide heires The | whiche, if my sayd sister Katherine, and thaforesaid Claymers shall performe then I bequeath vnto her my | said sister, to Coningesby Freeman her sonne, my Godchilde, and to Edward Freeman her husband, the | whole Mannor of Cotson in the County of Worcester, with all the profittes and commodities there vnto | belonginge. To holde and enioye the saide Mannor with thappertenances and every parte thereof, to the | sayde Katherine Coningesbie; and Edward successiuely as I name them, duringe their three lives, and | the life of the longest liver of them; yeildinge and payinge therefore yeare3   Mentioned much later in Joyce Jeffreys’ diary as the bailiff of Neen Sollars (Spicksley 2012, 132). 4   I.e., Cutsdean in the parish of Bredon, Worc.

Appendix 4

377

ly duringe the said terme | at the Mannor howse of Nenesolers, one Lambe at the feaste of Crister, And at the nativity of St Iohn the | Baptist, one Fleece of Wooll, both bred vpon Cotson soyle willinge my saide brother Freeman to dispence | herein with the Prerogatiue of an husband vpon whome our lawe casteth the right of his Wife; ^&^ that he will | suffer my sister to dispose of Cotson, whollie at her owne will, duringe her tyme, for the assistance ^of herself^ & educacion | of her Children ^otherwise^ duringe such time as my saide sister and brother shall both be livinge; I giue to the saide | Coningesbie Freeman, Twenty powndes annuitye, and to every younge childe of his Tenne poundes Annuitye | And the rest to herself, out of the said Cotson, The Hawthornes, and trees ^there^ must be preserved with ordinary cropping | saue dead and wyndefallen ones, and noe spoile made by fallinge nor ploughinge: Prouided that yf my saide | sister Katherine, and the aforesaid Claimers, or anie of them doe refuse to quite, claime, and to make suche | estate as aforesaid, That then my said bequest of Cotson, and every parte thereof vnto her, her sonne, husband | and children to be vtterlie voyde. And for the fuller accomplishment of my will, Cotson to be charged with soe much | as Nene shall want of the bequest and the Remnaunte to myne heires. All my landes nowe beinge Fee simple | without intaile, Statute, or any manner of incumbrance havinge all my life bene carefull of myne estate and | to conserue the inheritance discended vnto me from soe manie generacions, still yet, thoughe I be a fruitles tree | in the name of Coningesbie, as I received it, Therefore continewinge in the same resolucion, prayinge my sucessors | to doe the like: I freely giue, and bequeath vnto Sir Thomas Coningesbie aforenamed, my whole Mannor of | Nenesolers and Cotson aforesaid < aforesaid > with thappertenances togeather with all the proffites, privileges | Commaundes and Commodities there vnto belonginge, or in any wise apperteyninge. And all my Mannors, | Messuages, Landes, Tenementes, Rentes Reuertions, Remainders, Possessions, Advowsons, Rightes, Condicions, Titles, | Claimes and Interestes; present and future within the realme of England and without, Soe that what is | or maye be in me, my will is, that it shall be as fullie, whollie, & absolutelie in him. To haue, & to hould, the | said mannors and all other the premisses with thappertenances, my former bequestes reserved, as aforesaid, to the | said Sir Thomas Coningesbye, and to the heires males of his bodie lawfullie begotten forever. And for default | of suche to any the yssues females of the body of the said Sir Thomas lawfullie begotten, that with her Fathers | consent shall be marryed to a Coningesbye by surname; of my bloud, soe that the saide Coningesbie by | surname be not discended from the bodye of one Richarde Coningesbie once of Morton Bagott in the County | of Warwicke gent deceased, vncle to my late Grandfather Humfrey Coningesbye of Nene solers aforesaid | and to the heires males of her bodie, and the bodie of the said Coningesbie lawfullie begotten. And for | defaulte of suche yssue, to Sir Raphe Conningesbie of North Mymes in the County of Hartforde knight | and to the heires males of his body lawfullie begotten. And for defaulte of suche yssue to Sir Phillippe | Con-

378

Appendix 4

ingesbie knight, brother to the saide Sir Raphe, and to the heires males of his bodye lawfully begotten And for defaulte of suche yssue; to Henrye Coningesbie gent, brother to the sayd Sir Phillipe and | Raphe, and to the heires males of his bodye lawfullie begotten; And for defaulte of suche yssue to that Coningesbie | by Surname, which shalbe trulie founde to be next vnto me in kindred, and bloud lawfullie begotten, and not discended | from the person of the foresaid Richard ther vncle, and to the heires males of the said Coningesbie | lawfullie begotton, And soe in this manner from one Coningesbie, to another. My desire and intent finallie beinge | to continue my landes and Patrimonie in my name. And for defaulte of suche to the righte heires | of me the said Humfrey Coningesbie forever. This my will and Testament is written with mine owne | hand, and framed only by myselfe without the Counsaile, or correction of any lawyer and therefore if | it be not soe formall, as it ought, nor ^soe^ certeyne, but that there maye growe question therein I require | my intent to be received referringe the interpretacion to myne Executor that best doth knowe my mynde | whiche Executor I name and ordeyne to be my sayde sister Ioyce Iefferies, prayinge her to accomplishe the | will of her deade brother, of whose honest performance I rest assured havinge ever founde her lovinge to | me and iust to all. And I utterlie revoke and adnull all, & every other former Testamentes, willes, legacies, | Bequestes, Executors, and overseers, by me in anywyse before this tyme, made, named, willed, and | bequeathed. In witnes whereof I haue hearevnto put my hande, and seale; the day and yeare | firste ab{o}ue written, in the presence of these whose names are subscribed: viz. Ioyce Iefferies, 5 | Henry Lello. 6 Hum: Hare: 7 William Ief-

  Much beloved half-sister and overseer of the will; see Introd., passim.   The former ambassador to Constantinople Sir Henry Lello, also a legatee; see Introd., xxxvi, fn. 50. 7   Probably Humfrey Hare, Gentleman of Orleton, Herefordshire who died 3 May 1633 (NA PROB 11/163/410). 5 6

Appendix 4

379

feries. 8 Ferdinando Waste. 9 signum Rich: Haworth. 10 Hen: yelveton, 11 | Humf: Baskervile: 12 Humfrey Boughton. 13 Humfrey Coningesbie./ Probatum ac per Sententia diffinitivam approbatum, et insinuatum fuit huiusmodi Testamentum apud London coram venerabili viro Domino Iohanne Benet Milite et legum Doctorem Curie Prerogatiue Cantuariensis magistro Custode siue Commissario legitime constituto Duodecimo die mensis Julij Anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo Decimo septimo Iuramento Iacosae Iefferies executricis in eadem testamento nominati Cui commissa fuit administratio omnium et singulorum bonorum Iurium et Creditorum dicti defuncti De bene et fideliter administrando eadem ad sancta Dei Evangelia, in Debita iuris forma Iurat. &c. [. . . this testament . . . proved at London before . . . John Benet knight and Doctor of Laws . . . on the 12th day of July 1617 by oath of Joyce Jeffreys executor named in this will to whom the administration of all and singular of the goods rights and credits etc. was committed . . . ] 14

  Step-brother (see Introd., xxxiv).   Mentioned above as one of two “servantes” bequeathed “Twenty poundes apeece Annuities”; this is probably the individual described in an inscription in the chancel of the Church at Cutsdean: “Heere lyethe the body of Ferdinando Waste yeoman Who dyed 17 Marti An. Do 1632 aged 57” (quoted in Abingdon 1895-99, 1:143). 10   This could be Richard Haworth who was admitted to Gray’s Inn on 2 Feb 1589, at the request of Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul’s, London (Foster 1889, 74). Richard is a name that occurs among the Haworths (Howorths) of Burhope (Burghope) in Wellington, Herefordshire (Robinson 1873, 286). 11   Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1630) judge and politician (ODNB); in the copy of the will in Birmingham City Archives, Sir Christopher (d. 1612) is named as a witness in place of his son. Sir Christopher Yelverton, judge and speaker of the house of Commons (ODNB), is also a legatee (see Introd., xxxvi). 12  See History of Parliament Online: “Baskerville, Sir Humphrey (1586-1648), of Eardisley, Herfs.” Accessed Aug 7, 2017. Married to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Coningsby (see Appendix 2: family tree B); both received bequests in the will. Twice mentioned by Joyce Jeffreys in her diary (Spicksley 2012, 155, 208). 13   A son or nephew of William Boughton of Lawford and Jane Coningsby, sister to Sir Thomas; (see Appendix 2: family tree B). Humfrey Boughton is addressed as “one of her Maiesties gent. Pensioners” in an epigram by John Davies of Hereford in his Scourge of Folly (see Introd., xlv, fn. 76). 14   The probate clause above provides the information that the will was proved on 12 July 1617. Two further sections in Latin are not transcribed. 8

9

Bibliography of Manuscripts with Poems in Hy The following data is taken from my own research and descriptions in CELM and various library and archive catalogues.

Bodleian Library, Oxford Ashmole 45, part 1 15th-cent. copy of The Earl of Toulous; Hy entry: Elizabethan MS addition in the hand of William Fitzwilliam; 69 Ashmole 781 ca. 1620s-30s prose and verse notebook; 1, 49 Digby 138 15th-cent. copy of Gower’s Vox Clamantis, owned by Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–65); Hy entry: Elizabethan MS addition; 21 Douce f.5 ca. 1630s verse miscellany with an Oxford University provenance; 42 Douce 363 Stephen Batman’s (d. 1584) miscellany of prose and verse; 94 e. Museo 37 [Bo] ca. 1586 copy of the Old Arcadia with Certain Sonnets appended; 15–16, 53–55, 115, 123, 128, 144 Eng. hist. c.476 late 16th; single sheet; Herrick family papers; 89 Eng. misc. c.330 ca. 1576. Thomas Whythorne’s (1528–96) anthology of his own verse and prose; ed. Osborn, 1961; 76 Eng. poet. d.3 Sir Edward Pudsey’s (ca. 1573–1613) commonplace book of extracts; compiled ca. 1604–9; ed. Gowan, 1967; 27 Eng. poet. e.14 ca. 1630s verse miscellany with an Oxford University provenance; 42 Lyell empt. 12 miscellaneous collection of MSS fragments; Hy entry: 16th-cent.; 42

382

Bibliography of Manuscripts

MS Mus. Sch. e.423 ca. 1575–86 contratenor partbook; Brett 1970; 142 Rawl. poet. 31 ca. 1620s-30s verse miscellany; Beal 1998, 277; 49 Rawl. poet. 84 mid-late 17th-cent. verse miscellany; 49 Rawl. poet. 85 [Ra] late 1580s to early 1590s verse miscellany with St John’s College, Cambridge provenance; associated with John Finet (1571–1641), Robert Mills, and James Reshoulde; ed. Cummings 1960; Kelliher 1990; Anderson 2000; x, 1–3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 26, 27, 33, 34, 37, 41, 43, 48–50, 53– 55, 58, 87, 90, 103a-b, 108–10, 116, 118, 120–22, 124, 126–30, 139, 142, 149 Rawl. poet. 108 ca. 1570 miscellany of poems, songs, and dance steps; compiled by Edward Gunter of Lincoln’s Inn (admitted 24 January 1563); Bliss, 1812; 21, 63, 96 Rawl. poet. 112 ca. 1582–92 miscellany of verse and prose, compiled by Edmund Sheafe (entered King’s College, Cambridge in 1580, aged 18); 103a-b Rawl. poet. 117 mid 17th-cent. verse miscellany; 117, 137a Rawl. poet. 142 ca. 1630s-50s commonplace book of extracts in prose and verse, with an Oxford University provenance; 144 Rawl. poet. 148 ca. 1590s verse miscellany of John Lilliat (ca. 1550- ca. 1599), chorister of Christ Church College, Oxford and later Vicar Choral at Chichester Cathedral. Lilliat “maintained some contact with and interest in Oxford in later life” (Doughtie 1985, 25), and, besides his own verse, “there are poems by the relatively unfamiliar clergyman-poets Richard Eedes, Richard Latewar, and John Langworth” (16); 120 Rawl. poet. 153 ca. 1640 verse miscellany; 49 Rawl. poet. 172 composite volume of miscellaneous MSS, in various hands; Hy entries belong to a late 16th-cent. verse miscellany (in a single hand) with an Oxford University (Christ Church) provenance; 18, 37, 40, 42, 58, 71, 126 Rawl. poet. 213 ca. 1670–85 miscellany, chiefly religious, in prose and verse, compiled by Robert Fleming; 103a-b Tanner 169 compendium of state letters and documents compiled by Sir Stephen Powle (ca. 1553–1630), Clerk of the Crown; see Stern 1992; 108

383

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Tanner 306 composite volume of miscellaneous MSS in various hands; Hy entries: late 16th sheaf of two conjugate folio leaves; 1, 2 Wood D.19/2 composite volume of miscellaneous MSS, in various hands; Hy entry: late 17th cent.; 135

British Library, London Add. 5956 early 17th-cent. miscellany in prose and verse, compiled by a barrister of the Inner Temple; 49 Add. 15118 fragments of English poetry and music, from Dowland and others; 142 Add. 15225 early 17th-cent. miscellany of verse and songs (chiefly religious); 142 Add. 15227 ca. 1630s verse miscellany with a Cambridge University provenance; 49, 117 Add. 17786–91 set of partbooks compiled in the early 17th cent.; one partbook is missing and with it the words of some of the songs. The appearance of William Wigthrope (New College) and Richard Nicholson (Magdalen College) suggests that the MS originated from Oxford Univeristy (Brett 1967); 3, 29 Add. 17792–96 set of partbooks in the hand of John Merro, a singing man at Goucester Cathedral, compiled ca. 1600–20 (Brett 1970; 2007); 89, 97, 142 Add. 18044 ca. 1662 miscellany of religious verse and some prose; compiled by Marmaduke Rawdon (1610–68); 28 Add. 19269 miscellany of verse compiled by Joseph Haslewood (1769–1833); may derive from an earlier manuscript source; 43 Add. 22118 ca. 1630s verse miscellany; 117, 144 Add. 28253 composite volume of miscellaneous MSS, in various hands; Hy entry: single sheet, ca. 1584, in hand of Edward Bannister; 44 Add. 30513 Thomas Mulliner’s, ca. 1545–75, copies of keyboard music with incipits; ed. Caldwell, 2011; 86

384

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Add. 30982 Daniel Leare’s verse miscellany, compiled at Christ Church, Oxford, ca. 1630s; 71 Add. 31992 ca. 1600 lute-book; largest anthology of Byrd’s songs (Brett 1970); 37, 142 Add. 34064 ca. 1596 verse miscellany of Anthony Babington of Warrington; includes large section of poems by Nicholas Breton (Buck 1907; Ringler 1975); 124, 149 Add. 38823 ca. 1580s-90s compendium of state papers, verse, and prose compiled by Sir Edward Hoby (1560–1617); 27, 96 Add. 38892 [Ph] Sir John Harington’s copy of the Old Arcadia, ca. 1590; 53, 115, 123, 144 Add. 41204 [Da] late 16th-cent. copy of the Old Arcadia; 53, 115, 123, 144 Add. 41498 [Le] late 16th-cent. (before 1582) copy of poems from the Old Arcadia and two prose passages. Owned by Sir Henry Lee (1530–1610), the Queen’s champion (Ringler 1962, 527); 53, 115, 123, 144 Add. 53723 Henry Lawes’ manuscript of autographed musical settings, mid 17th-cent.; 26 Add. 60577 anthology of Middle English verse and prose; Hy entry: Elizabethan MS addition; 63 Add. 61821 [Hm] late 16th-cent. copy of the Old Arcadia and Lady of May; probably owned by Sir Lionel Tollemache, first Baronet (1562–1612). Robertson 1973, xlii; 53, 115, 123, 144 Add. 70454 early 18th-cent. verse miscellany; 114 Add. 70516 folio guardbook of MSS fragments; Hy entry: late 16th-cent. transcript along the margin of a single vellum leaf from a late medieval Latin text; 85 Add. 82370 miscellany of verse and prose, compiled ca. 1580–99 by John Hanson of Rastrick, Yorkshire; ed. May and Marotti 2014; 21, 85 Cotton Vespasian A. XXV ca. 1576 miscellany of of tudor songs and ballads; ed. Seng 1978; 86 Egerton 2009[-12] cantus, tenor, and bassus partbooks from one set; the altus from another closely related set; after 1597 (Brett 1970); 142

Bibliography of Manuscripts

385

Egerton 2421 mid 17th-cent. verse miscellany; 42 Egerton 2642 miscellany of extracts from heraldic and historical works, compiled ca. 1570–1602 by Robert Commaundre (d. 1613), Sir Henry Sidney’s chaplain; 21, 69, 96, 108 Egerton 3165 ca. 1586–1625 scribal fair copy of poems by Sir Arthur Gorges, with additions and revisions in Gorges’ hand; ed. Sandison 1953; 23, 48, 110, 117 Harl. 2296 composite volume of verse, university drama, etc.; Hy entry: ca. 1600s; 96 Harl. 3277 ca. 1580 fair copy of seventy-eight poems by Thomas Watson entitled A Looking glasse for Loouers: all appear in his 1582 publication Hekatompathia or Passionate Centurie of Loue; 145, 147, 148 Harl. 3787 composite volume of state tracts, papers, and speeches, in various hands; Hy entry: ca. 1600; 108 Harl. 3910 ca. 1620s-30s verse miscellany; 27 Harl. 4064 early 17th-cent. verse miscellany, including 47 poems by Donne; 49 Harl. 4286 ca. 1600s volume of chiefly heraldic writing in the hand of St Loe Kniveton (d. 1625), Hand B in this edition, see Introd. xxiv; 3 Harl. 5115 14th-cent. miscellany of historical chronicles; Hy entry: later addition in Elizabethan hand; 57 Harl. 6910 [Ha] ca. 1596–1601 verse anthology in a professional hand; ed. Gottschalk 1974; see also Gottschalk 1979; x, 1, 3, 9, 11, 12, 15, 27, 41, 49, 58, 88, 97, 102, 124, 128, 139, 144, 148, 149, 157 Sloane 144 miscellany of chiefly religious prose extracts, compiled by Christopher Coniers, ca. 1585; 60 Sloane 542 ca. 1630s miscellany of verse and prose; 42 Sloane 1446 ca. 1630s verse miscellany; 26 Sloane 1489 ca. 1630s miscellany of verse and jests, with Cambridge University provenance; 42

386

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Sloane 1709 composite volume in various hands; Hy entry appears in a section of fol. 213 containing prose extracts and verse, chiefly theological, compiled by Thomas Chaffin of Meere, Wiltshire, ca. 1605; 29 Sloane 1792 ca. 1630s verse miscellany with Christ Church, Oxford provenance; 71 Sloane 2497 ca. 1590s paperbook of Richard Portman, a mercer of Gloucester; 28 (two lines of verse formed by the acrostic); 60, 112, 142 Stowe 962 ca. 1637 verse miscellany; 49, 58 prt. bk. C.39.a.37.(5.) The First and Second part of the Remedy of Love, trans. by Sir Thomas Overbury. Fifteen blank leaves at the end of the book are filled with poems transcribed in the 17th cent., numbered to thirty-four; Hy entry is number 23; 63 prt. bk. C.45.a.13 Coverdale’s The New Testament (Antwerp, 1538?) with inscription in the hand of Queen Elizabeth, addressed to Anne Poyntz; Hy entry ca. 1560; 69

Brotherton Library, University of Leeds Lt. 2 ca. 1680s verse miscellany; 144 Lt. 40 notebook of autograph poems and translations ca. 1683–1715 by Sir Philip Wodehouse (1608–81); 137a-b

Cambridge University Library Add. 7196 ca. 1640 notebook of extracts in verse and prose; 49 Dd.5.75 [Dd] ca. 1581–1613 verse anthology compiled by Henry Stanford (d. 1616), chaplain to George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon; ed. May 1988; 1, 7, 12, 26, 31, 44, 49, 53, 55, 63, 85, 108, 110, 117, 144 Ff.5.14 ca. 1570s miscellany of verse and prose in the hand of Sir William More of Loseley (d. 1600); 141a-b, 152 Kk.1.5(2) [Cm] copy of the (incomplete) New Arcadia, dated 1584; 55, 144 Kk.5.30(2) ca. 1612 verse miscellany owned by Sir James Murray of Tibbermure; 1

387

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Mm.3.29 late 15th-cent. illuminated vellum MS; Hy entry ca. 1596 addition in the hand of Henry Colling (1565–1628) of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; Kelliher, 1990; 88

Chetham’s Library, Manchester Mun. A.4.15 early 17th-cent. miscellany of verse and some prose; Swann, 2012; 113

Christ Church, Oxford Mus. 439 ca. 1610 volume of vocal music; 142 Mus. 984–88 set of partbooks in the hand of Robert Dow (ca. 1554–88), fellow of All Souls, Oxford; compiled 1581–1588 (Brett 1970); 29, 37, 142

Corpus Christi College, Oxford MS 327 early 17th-cent. verse miscellany, with Oxford University provenance; 152 MS 328 late 1630s verse miscellany, with Oxford University possibly Wadham College provenance; 42, 117

College of Arms, London B.13 late 16th-cent. book of Elizabethan Crown leases; Hy entry: ca. 1669 flyleaf addition in the hand of Thomas Porey (“Liber Officii Armorum Ex Dono Thomæ Porey Armigeri Anno 1669”); 1

Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock D156/M/A2 ca. 1573–83 notebook of devotional verse and accounts in the hand of Sir Thomas Francis (Fraunces) of Ticknall, Derbyshire; 85

Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC H.b.1 [Cl] ca. 1600 copy of the Old Arcadia with Certain Sonnets appended; 15, 16, 44, 53, 54, 55, 115, 123, 128, 144

388

Bibliography of Manuscripts

V.a.89 [Fo] ca. 1590s–1600s verse miscellany owned before 1610 by Anne Cornwallis (d. 1635) of Brome Hall, Norfolk; see Bond 1948; Marotti 2002; 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 34, 49, 50, 58, 71, 108, 109 V.a.103 mid-17th-cent. anthology of verse, associated with Balliol College, Oxford; 49 V.a.149 John Leche’s anthology of verse copied, ca. 1600, from printed books; 4, 28, 133 V.a.162 mid-17th cent. verse miscellany associated Oxford University; 49 V.a.262 ca. 1637–51 verse miscellany with Oxford University and Inns of Court provenance; Hobbs 1992; 7 V.a.276.2 ca. 1674–84 poetical miscellany of Welsh schoolmaster William Jordan; 103b V.a.307 ca. 1589 miscellany of verse and prose; 28 V.a.311 Thomas Fella’s book of emblems, proverbs, poems, and ink drawings; compiled ca. 1592–98; ed. Sanford and Blatchly 2012; 86 V.a.339 ca. 1640s verse and prose miscellany of Joseph Hall; 42, 58, 71, 124 V.a.345 ca. 1630s verse miscellany with Oxford University, possibly Christ Church, provenance; 42, 63, 157 V.a.399 17th-cent. miscellany of bawdy and religious verse; 58, 142 V.b.199 ca. 1600 commonplace book; in the late 17th cent. owned by the family of Shakespeare of Rowington; 89 V.b.317 ca. 1576 anthology of state tracts, speeches, and letters, with Oxford University provenance; 21 prt. bk. STC 15677 David Lindsay’s A Dialogue, 1575, with fly-leaf additions by Henry Wigley (“Henrie Wigley oweth this boke”); 60 prt. bk. STC 22540, copy 1 The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, 1593, with MS annotations in the hand of W. Blount, ca. 17th cent; 3

389

Bibliography of Manuscripts

East Sussex Record Office, Brighton RAF/F/13/1 ca. 1620s volume of state letters, speeches and verse; 49

Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge, MA fMS Eng 1015 ca. 1579–83 volume compiled by Anthony Batman, entitled: “A book of the coppies: of letters, libells & outher inventions of men”; 142 fMS Eng 1285 ca. 1580s miscellany of verse, drama, and a register of English nobility; Freeman, 1971; 50

Huntington Library, San Marino, California EL 6893 ca. 1622–32 verse miscellany owned by Frances (née Stanley) Egerton (1583–1636), countess of Bridgewater; 108 HM 8 ca. 1570–82 commonplace book of Thomas Buttes; 42 HM 162 [As] ca. 1585 copy of the Old Arcadia (Ashburnham MS); 53, 115, 123, 144 HM 198, part 2 ca. 1620–33 verse miscellany; 1, 43, 88 HM 31191 ca. 1600 notebook of English and Latin medical recipes with poems interspersed on blank leaves; see Doughtie 2004; 58 prt. bk. 34001 copy of De casibus virorum (1494), with later MS additions; 42

Inner Temple Library, London Petyt 538.10 composite volume of state papers and political and legal documents largely compiled by Francis Alford (ca. 1530–92); Hy entries: Elizabethan additions in the hand of Thomas Aldwell; 21, 142

Jesus College, Oxford 150 [Je] ca. 1586 copy of the Old Arcadia (with some leaves missing); 115, 123, 144

390

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Leicestershire Record Office, Leicester DG7 Lit. 2 composite volume of state letters, tracts, and verse compiled by William Parkhurst (fl. 1604–67); ed. Redford 2016; 152

Marsh’s Library, Dublin Z 3.5.21 [Ma] ca. 1590s verse anthology compiled by a student of St Johns College, Cambridge,possibly Robert Thornton; see Dowden 1898; ed. Martin 1971; x, 1, 2, 27, 43, 54, 103a–b, 108, 109, 118, 128, 152

National Archives, London SP 46/126 composite volume of state papers: Hy entry: ca. 1600; 50

National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh 2059 ca. 1606–14 miscellany of verse and prose compiled by William Drummond of Hawthornden; 126

National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth Brogyntyn 27 ca. 1595 the Brogyntyn Lute Book; ed. Spencer and Alexander, 1978; 58, 86, 90 Peniarth 346A late 16th-cent. miscellany of verse and prose in a single hand; 144 473B ca. 1600 booklet of poems; 37, 50 Pitchford Hall (Ottley) English Literary MSS (uncatalogued), A4 single sheet, late 16th-cent.; 108 Pitchford Hall (Ottley) English Literary MSS (uncatalogued), B1 [Ot] ca. 1584 booklet from Ottley family papers; see Beal 1978; Woudhuysen 1996; 15, 16, 21, 51, 54, 83, 115, 128, 144 23202B Humphrey Lhuyd’s English version of Brut y Tywysogion, transcribed and abridged by Thomas Powell (d. 1588) of Whittington, Shropshire; Hy entry: ca. 1585–90 addition in a different hand; 96

Bibliography of Manuscripts

391

New York Public Library Arents Collection, Cat. No. S88 ca. 1620s verse miscellany compiled by Hugh Barrow (b. 1617/18) of Brasenose College, Oxford; 49 Drexel MSS 4180–85 set of partbooks in the hand of John Merro, a singing man at Goucester Cathedral, compiled ca. 1600–20 (Brett 1970; Brett 2007); 20

The Duke of Norfolk, Arundel Castle, West Sussex (Special Press) “Harrington MS. Temp. Eliz.” [Hn] ca. 1550–92 verse anthology compiled by John Harington the elder and later continued by his son Sir John Harington (Arundel Harington MS); ed. Hughey 1960; 1, 3, 21, 44, 50, 53, 55, 69, 85, 93, 106, 109, 120, 139

University of North Wales, Bangor MS 422 mid 17th-cent. verse miscellany; 49

University of Nottingham C1 LM 19 single sheet, early 17th-cent.; 108 Pw V 37 ca. 1630s verse anthology with Oxford University (Christ Church?) provenance; 49

Pierpont Morgan Library, New York MA 1057 17th-cent. verse miscellany belonging to William Holgate (1618–46) of Queens’ College, Cambridge; 43 Rulers of England (Eliz. I), No. 48[c] single sheet, ca. 1600–10; Bühler 1948; 108

Queen’s College, Oxford 301 [Qu] late 16th-cent. copy of the Old Arcadia; 53, 115, 123, 144

Pirie, Robert S., New York

[Feilde MS], a folio miscellany of verse and prose on state matters, ca. 1642; privately owned; 49

392

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Reading University Library MS 233 single sheet ca. 1570; 21

Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia 1083/15 [formerly 186] ca. 1600–30 verse miscellany; Sanderson 1960; Tannenbaum 1930; viii, 42, 130 1083/16 volume entitled “Miscellanies, or a Collection of Divers witty and pleasant Epigrams, Adages, poems, Epitaphes &c: for the recreation of the overtraveled Sences 1630”; 42, 90

John Rylands Library, University of Manchester English MS 410 ca. 1630s-40s miscellany of verse and some prose; 117

St John’s College, Cambridge I.7 (James 308) [St] late 16th-cent. copy of the Old Arcadia, with Certain Sonnets appended; owned by Sir Edmond Scory; 44, 53, 54, 55, 115, 123, 144

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon ER93/2 Sir Francis Fane’s commonplace book compiled ca. 1672; 49

Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton DD\WO/56/9/14.2 single sheet, ca. 1590s-1600s; 108 DD\WO/52/2 late 16th-cent. to early 17th-cent. notebook belonging to Francis Willoughby, law student; 152

Texas Tech University, Lubbock PR 1171 D14 ca. 1620–25 verse miscellany; ed. Sullivan 1988; 142

393

Bibliography of Manuscripts

Trinity College, Dublin 160 ca. 1532–41 verse miscellany, the “Blage” manuscript, compiled by John Mantell (1516?-41); owned ca. 1545–46 by Sir George Blage; Baron 1989; 69, 96

Victoria and Albert Museum, London Dyce 44 ca. 1620 verse miscellany; ed. Williams 2012; 37, 42, 54

Yale University Library Osborn b52/2 late 17th-cent. miscellany of verse and prose in two volumes; 42 Osborn b132 late 17th-cent. copy of Joseph Rigby’s The drunkards prospective 42 Osborn b205 ca. 1630s verse miscellany; 42, 49 Osborn b227 ca. 1675 miscellany of verse and prose 42 Osborn b356 late 1630s-40s verse miscellany; 49 Osborn fb9 ca. 1610 volume of transcripts of state papers; 28; 108

Yale University, Elizabethan Club Eliz 294 ca. 1583 copy of an Elizabethan school play, Oedipus; possibly written for a performance before local dignitaries as part of the celebrations for the new year; Wiggins 2011; 29

Early Modern Printed Books Cited in Full in this Edition Place of publication is London unless otherwise specified. Andrea Alciati, Emblematum Libellus (Paris, 1534) Richard Alison, An Howres Recreation in Musicke (1606) Robert Allott, Wits Theatre (1599) ———, Englands Parnassus (1600) Girolamo Amalteo, Giovanni Battista Amalteo, and Cornelio Amalteo, Trium Fratrum Amaltheorum Carmina (Venice, 1627) The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (1597) Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (1570) Marcus Ausonius, His Foure Bookes, trans. Walter Gosnold (1638) William Baldwin, A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563) ———, The Last Part of the Mirour for Magistrates (1578) Pietro Barignano, Rime Diverse (Venice, 1546) William Barley, A New Booke of Tabliture (1596) William Barlow, Rede me and be nott Wrothe (1528) Richard Barnfield, Poems in Divers Humours (1598) John Bartlet, A Book of Ayres (1606) Thomas Bateson, Second Set of Madrigales (1618) Jean de Beauchesne, A Booke Containing Divers Sortes of Hands (1571) Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1613) ———, and John Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (1647) Thomas Becon, The Iewel of Ioye (1550) William Biddulph, The Trauels of Certaine Englishmen (1609) Giovanni Boccaccio, Descriuinge the Falle of Princis, trans. John Lydgate (1494) John Bodenham, Bel-vedére, or the Garden of the Muses (1600) Nicholas Breton, A Smale Handfull of Fragrant Flowers (1575) ———, A Floorish vpon Fancie (1577) ———, The Workes of a Young Wyt (1577) ———, The Pilgrimage to Paradise (1592) ———, The Wil of Wit (1597) ———, Wits Trenchmour (1597) ———, Melancholike Humours (1600)

396

Early Modern Printed Books

———, No Whipping (1601) ———, The Soules Immortall Crowne (1605) ———, Choice, Chance, and Change (1606) ———, A Poste with a Packet of Madde Letters (1606) ———, Diuine Considerations (1608) ———, The Vncasing of Machauils Instructions (1615) ———, Crossing of Prouerbs (1616) ———, Crossing of Prouerbs, The Second Part (1616) Brittons Bowre of Delights (1591) William Byrd, Psalmes, Sonets & Songs (1588) William Camden, Britain (1637) Thomas Campion, Poemata (1595) ———, The Third and Fourth Booke of Ayres (1617) The Card of Courtship (1653) Baldassarre Castiglione, The Courtyer, trans. Thomas Hoby (1561) William Cavendish, The Country Captaine (1649) Henry Chillester, Youthes Witte (1581) Thomas Churchyard, The Contentation Betwyxte Churchyeard and Camell (1560) ———, A Pleasaunte Laborinth Called Churchyardes Chance (1580) John Cotgrave, Wits Interpreter (1655) Randal Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611) Alexander Craig, Amorose Songes (1606) Samuel Daniel, Delia (1592) Francis Davidson, A Poetical Rapsody (1602) Sir John Davies, Epigrammes and Elegies (1599) John Davies of Hereford, Microcosmos (1603) ———, The Scourge of Folly (1611) ———, The Writing Schoolemaster (1636) Angel Day, The English Secretorie (1586) Thomas Deloney, The Garland of Good Will (1628) Edward Dering, Godly Priuate Prayer for Housholders to Meditate Upon (1578) Phillipe Desportes, Les Premieres Œvvres (Paris: 1573) Michael Drayton, Peirs Gaueston (1594) Joachim Du Bellay, L’Olive (Paris: 1549) Thomas D’Urfey, Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy, 6 vols (1719–20) Richard Edwards, Damon and Pithias (1571) Edmund Elviden, The Closet of Counsells (1569) ———, The Most Excellent and Plesant Metaphoricall Historie of Pesistratus and Catanea (1570) Englands Helicon (1600) John Ferne, Blazon of Gentrie (1586) Alfonso Ferrabosco, Ayres (1609) The First Book of the Preseruation of King Henry the VIII (1599)

Early Modern Printed Books

397

Abraham Fraunce, The Arcadian Rhetorike (1588) The Gentlemans Academie (1595) George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres (1573) ———, The Steele Glas (1576) ———, The Whole Woorkes (1587) Orlando Gibbons, First Set of Madrigals and Mottets (1612) Humphrey Gifford, A Posie of Gilloflowers (1580) Alexander Gil, Logonomia Anglica (1619) William Goddard, A Neaste of Waspes (1615) Arthur Golding, trans., The .xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis (1567) Henry Goldwell, A Briefe Declaration of the Shews (1581) Barnabe Googe, Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonettes (1563) A Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inuentions (1578) Walter Gosnold, Marcus Ausonius his Foure Bookes (1638) Robert Greene, Menaphon (1589) ———, Greenes Mourning Garment (1590) ———, Farewell to Folly (1591) ———, Mamilla (1593) Fulke Greville, Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes (1633) Bartholomew Griffin, Fidessa (1596) Walter Haddon, Lucubrationes (1567) ———, Poematum Gualteri Haddoni (1576) John Harington, Orlando Furioso (1591) ———, A New Discourse of a Stale Subject (1596) Abraham Hartwell, trans., The Ottoman of Lazzaro Soranzo (1603) Gabriel Harvey, Gratulationes Valdinenses (1578) ———, A New Letter of Notable Contents (1593) ———, Pierces Supererogation (1593) Stephen Hawes, Pastime of Plesure (1554) Robert Herrick, Hesperides (1648) John Higgins, The First Part of the Mirour for Magistrates (1574) Anthony Holborne, The Cittharn Schoole (1597) Thomas Howell, The Arbor of Amitie (1568) ———, Newe Sonets and Pretie Pamphlets (1575) ———, His Deuises (1581) Robert Howlett, School of Recreation (1684) William Hunnis, A Hyue full of Hunnye (1578) Robert Jones, Second Book of Songs and Ayres (1601) Ben Jonson, Euery Man out of his Humor (1600) ———, Cynthias Reuels (1601) ———, Euery Man in his Humor (1601) ———, The Workes (1616)

398

Early Modern Printed Books

Timothy Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes (1577) Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedie (1592) Lachrymæ Musarum (1649) Robert Laneham, A Letter (1575) Adrian Le Roy, A Briefe and Plaine Instruction (1574) Gerard Legh, Accedens of Armory (1562) Levinus Lemnius, An Herbal for the Bible (1587) David Lindsay, A Dialogue Betweene Experience and a Courtier (1575) Nicholas Ling, Politeuphuia Wits Common Wealth (1597) Livre de Chansons Nouvelles, avec 2 Dialogues (Paris: 1571) Lodowick Lloyd, The Pilgrimage of Princes (1573) Thomas Lodge, Scillaes Metamophoses (1589) ———, Rosalynde (1592) ———, Phillis (1593) ———, A Margarite of America (1596) Anne Lok, A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560) Richard Lovelace, Lucasta Posthume (1659) Loues Garland, or Posies for Rings, Hand-kerchers, and Gloues (1624) John Lyly, Euphues: the Anatomy of Wyt (1578) ———, Euphues and his England (1580) ———, Sapho and Phao (1584) ———, Gallathea (1592) ———, Loves Metamophosis (1601) Olivier de Magny, Les Souspirs (Paris, 1557) Gervase Markham, trans. Deuoreux (1597) The Marrow of Complements (1654) John Marston, The Metamophoses of Pigmalions Image (1598) ———, Histrio-mastix or the Player Whipt (1610) Pierre Matthieu, Histoire des Derniers Troubles de France . . . Livre Premier (Lyon, 1594) Brian Melbancke, Philotimus (1583) John Mennes, Musarum Deliciae (1655) ———, Wit Restor’d (1658) Francis Meres, Palladis Tamia (1598) Micrologia (1629) Christopher Middleton, The First Part of the Nature of a Woman (1596) ———, The Famous Historie of Chinon of England (1597) ———, The Legend of Humphrey Duke of Glocester (1600) Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Changeling (1653) Thomas Morley, Consort Lessons (1599) ———, First Book of Ayres, 1600 Anthony Munday, The Mirrour of Mutabilitie (1579) ———, The Paine of Pleasure (1580)

Early Modern Printed Books

399

———, Fedele and Fortunio (1585) ———, Famous and Renowned Historie of Primaleon of Greece (1619) Thomas Nashe, Pierce Peniless (1592) Ovid, The Three First Bookes of Ouid de Tristibus, trans. Thomas Churchyard (1580) ———, The First and Second part of The Remedy of Loue, trans. Thomas Overbury (1620) The Paradyse of Daynty Deuises (1576) Robert Parry, Sinetes Passions vppon his Fortunes (1597) The Passionate Pilgrim (1599) George Peele, The Araygnement of Paris (1584) Martin Peerson, Private Musicke. Or the First Booke of Ayres and Dialogues (1620) The Phoenix Nest (1593) Samuel Pick, Festum Voluptatis (1639) John Playford, Select Musicall Ayres (1652) Plutarch, De Capienda ex Inimicis Utilitate, trans. Thomas Elyot (1531) Poems Written by the Right Honorable William Earl of Pembroke (1660) Profitable Instructions for Trauellers (1633) Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrimage (1613) George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie (1589) Francis Quarles, Divine Fancies (1633) The Queenes Maiesties Entertainement at Woodstocke (1585) John Ray, A Collection of English Proverbs (1698) Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, trans. Thomas Paynell (1538) Barnaby Rich, A Right Exelent and Pleasaunt Dialogue (1574) ———, Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581) Clement Robinson, A Handefull of Pleasant Delites (1584) Richard Robinson, A Rare, True, and Proper Blazon of Coloures in Armoryes (1583) ———, A Golden Mirrour (1589) Pierre de Ronsard, Les Amours (Paris, 1552) Philip Rosseter, A Booke of Ayres (1601) Benjamin Rudyerd, Le Prince d’Amour (1660) Julius Caesar Scaliger, Poetices libri septem (1561) William Segar, Blazon of Papistes (1587) ———, Booke of Honor and Armes (1590) ———, Honor Military, and Ciuill (1602) Seneca, Thyestes, trans. Jasper Heywood (1560) ———, Oedipus, trans. Alexander Neville (1563) Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1590) ———, Syr P.S. His Astrophel and Stella (1591) ———, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1593) ———, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1598)

400

Early Modern Printed Books

Songes and Sonettes (1557) The Speeches and Honorable Entertainment . . . at Cowdrey (1591) Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender (1579) ———, Faerie Queene (1590) ———, Daphnaïda (1591) ———, Amoretti and Epithalamion (1595) ———, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595) Publio Francesco Spinula, Opera (Venice, 1563) Estienne Tabourot, Les Bigarrures (Paris, 1583) The Tears of Fancie (1593) Giovanni Matteo Toscanus, Carmina Illustrium Poetarum Italorum (Paris, 1576) Tom Tyler and his Wife (1661) George Turbervile, Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets (1567) ———, The Heroycall Epistles (1567) William Turner, The Names of Herbes (1548) Giovanni Paolo Ubaldini, Carmina Poetarum Nobilium (Milan, 1563) Thomas Vautor, The First Set: Beeing Songs of Diuers Ayres and Natures (1619) Robert Vilvain, Enchiridium Epigrammatum Latino-Anglicum (1654) Virgil, The Whole .xii. Bookes of the Æneidos, trans. Thomas Phaer (1573) ———, Opera (1580) John Ward, The First Set of English Madrigals (1613) William Warner, Albions England (1586) Thomas Watson, The Hekatompathia (1582) William Webbe, A Discourse of English Poetrie (1586) Thomas Weelkes, Madrigals (1597) John Weever, Epigrammes (1599) ———, Faunus (1600) ———, Ancient Funerall Monuments (1631) George Whetstone, The Rocke of Regard (1576) ———, An Heptameron of Ciuill Discourses (1582) ———, The Honorable Reputation of a Souldier (1585) ———, Aurelia (1593) Geoffrey Whitney, A Choice of Emblemes (1586) Richard Willes, Poematum Liber (1573) John Wilson, Select Ayres (1659) The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll (1600) George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes (1635) Wits Drollery (1661) Wits Recreations (1641) Abraham Wright, Delitiae Delitiarum (1637) James Yates, The Castell of Courtesie (1578)

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Bullough, Geoffrey, ed. 1938. The Poems and Dramas of Fulke Greville. 2 vols. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. Burrow, Colin, ed. 2002. The Oxford Shakespeare: Complete Sonnets and Poems. Oxford University Press. Caldwell, John, ed. 2011. The Mulliner Book. London: Stainer and Bell for the Musica Britannica Trust. Céard Jean, Daniel Ménager, and Michel Simonin, eds. 1993. Ronsard: Œuvres Complètes. 2 vols. Paris: Gallimard. Chambers, E. K. 1936. Sir Henry Lee: An Elizabethan Portrait. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ———. 1951. The Elizabethan Stage. Rev. ed. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Chappell, William. 1895 (repr. 1965). The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time. 2 vols. New York: Dover. Chatfield, Mary P., ed. 2005. Pietro Bembo: Lyric Poetry; Etna. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press. Child, Francis James. 1857–60. English and Scottish Ballads. 8 vols. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Collins, Arthur. 1720. The Baronettage of England. 2 vols. London: printed for W. Taylor, R. Gosling, and J. Osborn. “Conyngsby Family: Curious Epitaph.” 1823. The Gentlemen’s Magazine 93(2): 582–84. Cram, David, Jeffrey L. Forgeng, and Dorothy Johnston, eds. 2003. Francis Willughby’s Book of Games: A Seventeenth-Century Treatise on Sports, Games and Pastimes. Aldershot: Ashgate. Crane, Mary. 1993. Framing Authority: Sayings, Self, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Cranfill, Thomas Mabry, ed. 1959. Rich’s Farewell to Military Profession, 1581. Austin: University of Texas Press. Crum, Margaret, ed. 1969. First-line Index of English Poetry, 1500–1800: In Manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Cummings, Laurence Anthony David. 1960. “John Finet’s Miscellany.” PhD diss., Washington University. ———. 1964. “Spenser’s Amoretti VIII: New Manuscript Versions.” Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 4: 125–35. Cutts, John P. 1958. “Peele’s Hunting of Cupid.” Studies in the Renaissance 5: 121–132. Daniel, Rev. C. H. O., ed. 1919. The Recreations of his Age [by Nicholas Bacon]. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Davies, Reginald Thorne, ed. 1963. Medieval English Lyrics: A Critical Anthology. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Davis, Walter, R., ed. 1969. The Works of Thomas Campion: Complete Songs, Masques, and Treatises, with a Selection of the Latin Verse. London: Faber.

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Denholm-Young, Noël. 1964. Handwriting in England and Wales. 2nd ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Denkinger, Emma Marshall. 1931. “Some Renaissance References to Sic Vos Non Vobis.” Philological Quarterly 10: 151–62. Dent, R. W. 1981. Shakespeare’s Proverbial Language: An Index. Berkeley: University of California Press. ———. 1984. Proverbial Language in English Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare, 1495–1616: An Index. Berkeley: University of California Press. Di Matteo, Anthony. 1992. “Spenser’s Venus-Virgo: The Poetics and Interpretive History of a Dissembling Figure.” Spenser Studies 10: 37–70. Dobell, Bertram. 1902. “Poems by Sir Thomas Heneage and Sir Walter Raleigh.” The Athenaeum, September 14: 349. Donno, Elizabeth Story, ed. 1976. An Elizabethan in 1582: The Diary of Richard Madox, Fellow of All Souls. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, 2nd ser., no. 147. London: Hakluyt. Doughtie, Edward, ed. 1970. Lyrics from English Airs, 1596–1622. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ———. 1985. Liber Lilliati: Elizabethan Verse and Song (Bodleian MS Rawlinson Poetry 148). Newark NJ: University of Delaware Press. ———. 2004. “Unpublished Elizabethan Verse in a Huntington Manuscript [with texts].” English Literary Renaissance 34: 22–41. Dowden, Edward. 1898. “An Elizabethan MS. Collection: Henry Constable.” Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature 1: 3–4. Duncan-Jones, Katherine. 1974. “Sidney in Samothea: A Forgotten National Myth.” The Review of English Studies, n.s., 25:174–77. ———, ed. 1985. The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ———, ed. 1989. Sir Philip Sidney: The Oxford Authors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ———. 1991. Sir Philip Sidney, Courtier Poet. London: Hamish Hamilton. ———, and H. R. Woudhuysen, eds. 2007. Shakespeare’s Poems. London: Arden Shakespeare. Durant, David N. 1999. Bess of Hardwick: Portrait of an Elizabethan Dynast. Rev. ed. London: Peter Owen. Durling, Robert, trans. 1976. Petrarch’s Lyric Poems: The Rime Sparse and Other Lyrics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Eccles, Mark. 1982. “Brief Lives: Tudor and Stuart Authors.” Studies in Philology, Texts and Studies Issue, 79:4. Eckhardt, Joshua. 2009. Manuscript Verse Collectors and the Politics of Anti-Courtly Love Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Elliott, John R. Jr., Alan H. Nelson, Alexandra F. Johnston, and Diana Wyatt, eds. 2004. The Records of Early English Drama: Oxford. 2 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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Index of First Lines Modernized A day, a night, an hour of sweet content 157 A herd, a swain, a noble knight 104 A satyr once did run away for dread 16 Adieu desire and be content 68 Amaryllis was full fair, the goodliest maid was she 2 Amongst the willful, wayward sort 74 An end, quoth she, for fear of afterclaps 8 As rare to hear as seldom to be seen 11 As women have faces to set men on fire / Even so they have places to quench their desire 63 Ascolta assai e credi poco vii Babes that be born adventure stripes for play 102 Before I die, fair dame, of me receive my last adieu 10 Behold the blast that blows the blossoms from the tree 28 Behold the force of hot desire / Two hearts in one that would be nigher 101 But this and then no more, it is my last and all 23 Calling to mind mine eye went long about 49 Care is the gate that openeth to my heart 92 Cavendo tutus iv Come, Charon, come with speed. What haste, who calleth me? 20 Come, sorrow, come, sit down and mourn with me 31 Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine luseus xii Desire hath no rest in some desired things 72 Diana, since Hippolytus is dead 146 Die, die, Desire and bid delight adieu 27 Divide my times and rate my wretched hours 127 Est Venus in vultu docto tibi Pallas in ore 141a Fain would I but I dare not 9 False love, desire and beauty frail adieu part of: Farewell, false love . . . 25 Fancies they are that trouble my mind 151 Fancy farewell that fed my fond delight 88 Farewell, false love, thou oracle of lies 50, 25 [ll. 29–30] Filled they may be, satisfied never / Their boxes are made of insatiable leather 65 He that doth kiss his lady’s lips 134b He that doth once his lady kiss 134c

416 He that his mirth hath lost, whose comfort is dismayed He that spareth for to speak oft wanteth his intent Hence, burning sighs, which sparkle from desire Her face, her tongue, her wit Her will be done, but I have sworn to love part of: Hence, burning sighs . . . Here lies old Andrew, he / That stoned many a she Hic iacet Andreas How can the feeble fort but yield at last I am a post in haste with speed I faint with fear, I blush for shame I heard a herdman once compare part of: If right be racked . . . I heard a voice and wished for a sight I live in bliss yet taste no joy I lived, once loved, and swam in sweet delight I love a life to live in love I said and swore that I would never love I shepherd, I plowman, I horseman light I will forget that e’er I saw thy face I would it were not as it is If buss be fetor and Bess be fecit If care enforce complaint, why do I hide my woe If ever honest mind might gain If fortune may enforce the careful heart to cry If I could think how these my thoughts to leave If painful nature bent with ready will If right be racked and overrun [ll. 17–20] If tales be true and poets tell no lies If that the inward grief which festereth in my heart If thou my humble suit regard or to my plaints attend If women could be fair and yet not fond In everything my love and Love agree / Save that Love gentle is but cruel she In face the fairest goddess like, in prudence Pallas past In peascod time when hound to horn gives ear while buck is killed In time I may In verse to vaunt my lady’s grace Juno now at Samos must not stay La doglia—si—fa: ammore Lady farewell, whom I in silence serve Largus, amans, hilaris, ridens, rubeique coloris Leonella of eyes the left had given for bodily light Like Tantalus my pain doth last, like Etna mount I burn Lo, how, for whom, and whose I live Lo whose I am, judge whose I live

Index of First Lines 1 96 14, 5 [ll. 13–18] 117 5 135b 135a 130 93 13 69 120 30 24 107 18 103b 111 12 131 79 99 4 54 138 69 17 82 153 37 154 141b 87 36 119 140 v 113 xi 137b 75 40 40

Index of First Lines Lock up, fair lids, the treasure of my heart Lulled by conceit when fancy closed mine eyes Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonella sinistro Methought of late in sleep I saw a dame Mine eye bewrays More than most fair, full of the living fire [ll. 1–4] My curious eyes whose wary sight My heart doth pant for sorrow My hope doth wait for hap as hap by hope shall fall My little, sweet darling, my comfort and joy My mind to me a kingdom is My true love hath my heart and I have his My waning joys, my still increasing grief No plague to pride, no woe to want, no grief to luckless love Now leave and let me rest Now ready is the bark that looks for lucky wind O Mildred, if thou dost return to me thy spouse again O sorrow, cease, good love, begin, sweet fancy once say well O that I knew or that I could forget Once musing as I lay within my loathed bed Opportunity / Importunity Oscula qui sumsit si non et cetera sumsit Pallas, Juno, Venus on bushy Ida mount Pastor, arator, eques, pavi, colui, superavi Philisides the shepherd good and true Praeterit et non est revocabilis unda vel hora / Labitur haec subito: praeterit illa cito Prometheus when first from heaven high Push, lady, push, what push may that be Quis sapiens blandis non misceat oscula verbis? Repentant thoughts for overpassed Mays Ring forth your bells, let mourning tunes be spread var. of: Ring out your bells . . . Seeing the altering fashions of our time Short is my rest whose toil is overlong Si potes assiduo falle labore diem Sing, neighbors, sing, hear you not say Sitting alone upon my thought in melancholy mood Small rule in reason’s want Some men will say there is a kind of muse Sweet are the thoughts where hope persuadeth hap Sweet liberty restores my wonted joy The air with sweet my senses doth delight The bird which is restrained of former heart’s delight The choice that I have chosen The colt did pipe a cheerful round The dart, the beams, the string so strong I prove

417 53 105 137a 97 33 26 32 89 73 29 142 123 121 60 85 35 152 125 62 80 viii 134a 136 103a 83 ii 15 98 vi ix 44 100 139 i 51 109 34 149 47 148 124 67 77 59 116

418

Index of First Lines

The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy The eye doth find, the heart doth choose / And faith doth bind till death doth loose The field, a fart dirty, a gibbet cross corded The fire to see my wrongs for anger burneth The fleeting fish, that swims secure, misdeeming no deceit / By fisher’s fraud to take the hook is soonest allured with bait The gentle season of the year The lively lark stretched forth her wing The man whose thoughts against him do conspire The more you desire her The mountains high whose lofty top doth touch the haughty sky The parson of Stanlake The rueful state, the strange and wretched life The russet for the traveler’s wear The silly bird, the bee, the horse, the ox that tills and delves / They build, bring honey, bear and draw for others, not themselves The soldier worn with wars delights in peace The state of France as now it stands The sturdy rock for all his strength The Trojan prince that Priam hight by humble suit obtained Thine only own while life doth last / Til breath be gone and sense is past Thou sacred monarch of that holy train Though I seem strange sweet friend be thou not so [ll. 17–28] To death? No, no, unto eternal life To lodge delight on fancy’s single sight ’Twixt half asleep and half awake in slumber late I lay Unfriendly leavest thou me in such a sort Until the fatal day the lively thread untwist Virtue, beauty, [and] speech did strike, wound, charm We silly dames that false suspect do fear part of: Though I seem strange . . . We till to sow, we sow to reap What is desire, which doth approve What length of verse may serve brave Mopsa’s grace to show What thing can be more fond than live as Cupid’s thrall What thing is love? A vain conceit of mind What thing is love? for sure love is a thing When dreadful death with his sharp piercing dart When first of all dame nature thought When griping griefs the heart would wound When I was fair and young, then favor graced me When shall I joy, whose joys are overthrown When sturdy storms of strife be past When that thine eye hath chose the dame var. of: Whenas thine eye . . . When wert thou born, Desire? In pomp and prime of May

21 76 94 55 64 110 118 41 106 78 114 61 95 52 145 108 133 84 38 155 58 112 91 19 150 57 115 58 56 6 144 46 122 126 70 x 86 7 39 42 71 3

Index of First Lines

419

When younger years could not my mind acquaint Whereas the art of tennis play and men to gaming fall var. of: Whereas the heart at . . . Who hath his fancy pleased Who knows his cause of grief Who prickles fears, to pluck the lovely rose Who sits in lady fortune’s lap Who takes in hand to till the barren soil Who taught thee first to sigh, alas, my heart? Whose [every] fancy fawns on many / Is never constant unto any Winged with desire I seek to mount on high Work mind into the skies, thy body taketh stand Would I were changed into that golden shower Youth made default through lightness of belief var. of: Youth made a fault . . .

143 43 128 132 81 156 66 129 iii 90 45 48, 22 [ll. 1–4] 147

Author Index Allott, Robert, 150, 151, 153, 155 Amalteo, Girolamo, 137a Breton, Nicholas, 17, 18, 19, 20, 60, 80, 111, 124, 125, 132, 149 Campion, Thomas, 157 Churchyard, Thomas, 87 [ll. 1–16] Coningsby, Humfrey, ix, 91, 92 Con[ingsby?], L[ord] de E & L, 30 De Vere, Edward, seventeenth Earl of Oxford, 3, 37, 43, 87 [ll. 17–28], 90, 109, 118, 129, 1421 Dyer, Sir Edward, 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 41, 88, 127, 1422 Ed[wards?], John, 119, 136, 137b, 140, 141b Edwards, Richard, 78, 86 Elizabeth I, 7, 21, 85 Elviden, Edmund, 38, 84 Evans, Charles, 104 Evans, Ed[ward?], i Gifford, Humfrey, 70 Gorges, Sir Arthur, 22, 23, 48, 110, 117 3

  Also attributed to Dyer.   Also attributed to De Vere. 3   Also attributed to Ralegh. 4   Also attributed to Gorges. 1 2

 1 2 3 4Haddon,

Walter, 141a Harington, John the elder, 69, 96 Hunnis, William, 28 Killigrew [née Cooke], Katherine, 152 Kniveton, St Loe, ii, 103b Lyly, John, 6 Martial, xii Mediolano, Joannes de, xi Munday, Anthony, 112 Ovid, vi, 134a Peele, George, 126 Poo[ley?], Ro[bert?], 4, 31, 82 Ralegh, Sir Walter, 25, 47, 49, 50, 113, 117 4 Rich, Barnaby, 67 Russell, 89 Sidney, Sir Philip, 16, 44, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 83, 115, 116, 123, 128, 144 Spenser, Edmund, 26 Thorne, John, 133 Vavasour, Anne, 58 Watson, Thomas, 145, 146, 147, 148 Whetstone, George, 5, 13, 14, 81

Renaissance English Text Society Officers and Council President, Joseph L. Black, University of Massachusetts Amherst Vice-President, Mary Ellen Lamb, Southern Illinois University Second Vice-President, Beth Quitslund, University of Ohio Secretary, Jaime Goodrich, Wayne State University Membership Secretary and Treasurer, William Gentrup, emeritus ACMRS Publisher, William R. Bowen, Iter Press Reid Barbour, University of North Carolina Victoria Burke, University of Ottawa Clare Costley King’oo, University of Connecticut Joshua Eckhardt, Virginia Commonwealth University Gregory Kneidel, University of Connecticut Arthur F. Marotti, Wayne State University Steven May, Emory University Susannah B. Monta, University of Notre Dame Jason Powell, Saint Joseph’s University Anne Lake Prescott, Barnard College Mark Rankin, James Madison University Cathy Shrank, University of Sheffield Raymond G. Siemens, University of Victoria

The Renaissance English Text Society publishes nondramatic literary texts from the period 1475–1660. For inquiries about proposals please contact Joseph L. Black at jlblack@ umass.edu. For information about membership in the Society please see the RETS website at retsonline.org. For information on the availability of earlier volumes, please see the Iter Press website at IterPress.org.

i. Merie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotam by A. B., ed. Stanley J. Kahrl, and The History of Tom Thumbe by R. I., ed. Curt F. Bühler, 1965. ii. Thomas Watson’s Latin ‘Amyntas’ (1585), ed. Walter F. Staton, Jr., and Abraham Fraunce’s translation: ‘The Lamentations of Amyntas’ (1587), ed. Franklin M. Dickey, 1967.

iii. The Dyaloge Called Funus, A Translation of Erasmus’s Colloquy (1534), and A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called The Epicure, Gerrard’s Translation of Erasmus’s Colloquy (1545), ed. Robert R. Allen, 1969. iv. Thomas Rogers, Leicester’s Ghost, ed. Franklin B. Williams, Jr., 1972. v–vi. George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne (1635), introd. Rosemary Freeman; bibliographical notes by Charles S. Hensley, 1975. vii–viii. The Most Pleasant History of Tom a Lincolne by R. I., ed. Richard S. M. Hirsch, 1978. ix. George Cavendish, Metrical Visions, ed. A. S. G. Edwards, 1980. x. Two Early Renaissance Bird Poems: The Harmony of Birds, The Parliament of Birds, ed. Malcolm Andrew, 1984. xi. Francis Quarles, Argalus and Parthenia, ed. David Freeman, 1986. xii. Marcus Tullius Ciceroes Thre Bokes of Duties, to Marcus His Sonne, Turned Oute of Latine into English, by Nicolas Grimalde, ed. Gerald O’Gorman, 1990. xiii. Thomas Moffet, The Silkewormes and Their Flies, ed. Victor Houliston, 1989. xiv. John Bale, The Vocacyon of Johan Bale, ed. Peter Happé and John N. King, 1990. xv. The Nondramatic Works of John Ford, ed. L. E. Stock, Gilles D. Monsarrat, Judith M. Kennedy, and Dennis Danielson, 1991. xvi. George Herbert, The Temple: A Diplomatic Edition of the Bodleian Manuscript (Tanner 307), ed. Mario A. Di Cesare, 1995. xvii. Lady Mary Wroth, The First Part of The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, ed. Josephine A. Roberts, 1995. xviii. Richard Beacon, Solon His Follie, or, A Politique Discourse Touching the Reformation of Common-Weales Conquered, Declined or Corrupted, ed. Clare Carroll and Vincent Carey, 1996. xix. An Collins, Divine Songs and Meditacions, ed. Sidney Gottlieb, 1996. xx. Lady Anne Southwell, The Southwell-Sibthorpe Commonplace Book: Folger Ms. V.b. 198, ed. Sr. Jean Klene, 1997. xxi. The Collected Works of Anne Vaughan Lock, ed. Susan M. Felch, 1999. xxii. Thomas May, The Reigne of King Henry the Second: Written in Seauen Bookes, ed. Götz Schmitz, 1999. xxiii. The Poems of Sir Walter Ralegh: A Historical Edition, ed. Michael Rudick, 1999. xxiv. Lady Mary Wroth, The Second Part of The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, ed. Josephine A. Roberts, completed by Suzanne Gossett and Janel Mueller, 1999. xxv. The Verse Miscellany of Constance Aston Fowler: A Diplomatic Edition, ed. Deborah Aldrich-Watson, 2000.

xxvi. An Edition of Luke Shepherd’s Satires, ed. Janice Devereux, 2001. xxvii. Philip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses, ed. Margaret Jane Kidnie, 2002. xxviii. Cousins in Love: The Letters of Lydia DuGard, 1665–1672: With a New Edition of ‘The Marriages of Cousin Germans’ by Samuel DuGard, ed. Nancy Taylor, 2003. xxix. The Commonplace Book of Sir John Strangways (1645–1666), ed. Thomas G. Olsen, 2004. xxx. The Poems of Robert Parry, ed. G. Blakemore Evans, 2005. xxxi. William Baspoole, The Pilgrime, ed. Kathryn Walls, with Marguerite Stobo, 2008. xxxii. Richard Tottel’s ‘Songes and Sonettes’: The Elizabethan Version, ed. Paul A. Marquis, 2007. xxxiii. Cælivs Secvndus Curio: His Historie of the Warr of Malta: Folger Ms. V.a. 508 (Formerly Ms. Add. 5 88), Translated by Thomas Mainwaringe (1579), ed. Helen Vella Bonavita, 2007. xxxiv. Nicholas Oldisworth’s Manuscript (Bodleian MS. Don.c.24), ed. John Gouws, 2009. xxxv. The Holgate Miscellany: An Edition of Pierpont Morgan Library Manuscript, MA 1057, ed. Michael Denbo, 2012. xxxvi. The Whole Book of Psalms Collected into English Metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and Others: A Critical Edition of the Texts and Tunes Vol. I, ed. Beth Quitslund and Nicholas Temperley, 2018. xxxvii. The Whole Book of Psalms Collected into English Metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and Others: A Critical Edition of the Texts and Tunes Vol. II, ed. Beth Quitslund and Nicholas Temperley, 2018. xxxviii. Averrunci, or, The Skowrers: Ponderous and New Considerations upon the First Six Books of the ‘Annals’ of Cornelius Tacitus Concerning Tiberius Caesar (Genoa, Biblioteca Durazzo, MS. A IV 5) by Edmund Bolton, ed. Patricia J. Osmond and Robert W. Ulery, Jr., 2017. xxxix. The Lyrics of the Henry VIII Manuscript, ed. Raymond G. Siemens, 2018. xl. Elizabeth Butler, The Letters of the First Duchess of Ormonde, ed. Naomi McAreavey, 2022.