Howsoever the mistaking worlde takes it (whose Left hand ever recev’d what I gave with my Right). -- George Chapman to Inigo Jonesinterest of the publisher(...) Though Corney misread Blount, other evidence, internal and external supports his general conclusion. The external evidence, which is the more significant, though the internal may have first caught Corney’s eye, consists
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I.M. of the First Folio Shakespeare and Other Mabbe Problems
Arthur W. Secord
Until the mid- nineteenth century, the I.M whose verses are among those commending the first folio Shakespeare (F1) was assumed to be John Marston...
[Bolton] Corney called attention to two phrases common to Mabbe and I.M., to Mabbe’s reputation as a wit, to his connection with Edward Blount, one of the publishers of F1, and to the fact that commendatory verses were sometimes written in the
It may clarify the problem to place it in its setting in 1621-23 when the Jaggards with Blount and two other stationers were publishing F1. Blount had for two decades been a power in the trade, and, though he may not, as some have argued, have been theeditor of F1, he was obviously a leader in the project. James Mabbe, grandson of a former chamberlain of London, had spent two decades in Magdalen College, Oxford, had been in Spain as secretary to SirJohn Digby, and had been concerned with several books
Mabbe and Digges must have known each other well. Each had translated a Spanish picaresque novel which Blount published a year or so before F1 but which was in the press simultaneously with it. Digges’s translation was the Gerardo of Gonzalo deCespedes y Meneses; it was dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery, sponsors of F1. Mabbe’s was, of course, Aleman’s Guzman, called in English The Rogue. That both Digges and Ben Jonson wrote verses commending The Rogue increases the
In the light of these facts, it is significant that the verses of Digges and I.M. in F1 were placed as a unit on the recto of a leaf not contemplated when the rest of the preliminary was printed. All bibliographers say that the original plan was forseven leaves – three sheets of six leaves and the title leaf to be printed separately and inserted between leaves one and two of the quire; and that a fourth sheet was later so printed and folded as to have on the recto of the first leaf the verses of
The internal evidence that Mabbe if the I.M. of F1 consists principally of two phrases common to Mabbe and I.M. Mabbe, paraphrasing Aleman’s Guzman, *was chiding a haughty cavalier for not considering that he is only a man*,other, less common phrase. In the Scourge of Folly (1610) Davies speaks twice of death as a tyring house. Remarkably enough, though critics have not called attention to it, the phrase appears in another of the commendations of F1. Hugh Holland’s sonnet
a representant, a poor kinde of Comedian, that acts his part upon the Stage of this World, and comes forth with this or that Office...and that when the play is done, (which can not be long) he must presently enter into the Tyring-house of the grave...
The verses in F1 read:
Wee wondred (Shake-speare) that thou went’st so soone
From the Worlds-Stage, to the Graves-Tyring-roome.
Wee thought thee dead, but this thy printed worth,
Tels thy Spectators, that thou went’st but forth
To enter with applause An Actors Art,
Can dye, and live, to acte a second part.
That’s but an Exit of Mortalitie;
This, a Re-entrance to a Plaudite.
The italicized phrases were not unusual in English literature of the seventeenth century. Professor T.W. Baldwin has discussed the almost endless variations of “All the world’s a stage.” He now calls my attention to the use by John Davies of the
(Had Mabbe not liked these phrases, he would not have used them in The Rogue, as they are not very close to the original...)
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Jonson’s ‘Grave/Tyring House’ in F1:
Soul of the Age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further, to make thee a room:
************************************dust and sweepings of the house, vpon the dunghill of obliuion; consider that there may be some filings and parings of price; rake them out, gather them into a heape, and when they come to a conuenient quantitie, put them into the crisole [crucible] of
The rogue: or The life of Guzman de Alfarache. VVritten in Spanish by Matheo Aleman, seruant to his Catholike Maiestie, and borne in Seuill
Alemán, Mateo, 1547-1614?, Mabbe, James, 1572-1642?
London: Printed [by Eliot's Court Press and George Eld] for Edward Blount, 1623.
...Reade so, as it becomes thee to reade, and doe not scoffe at my Fable; and if it shall receiue intertainment at thy hands, accept these lines, which I giue thee, and with them, the minde wherewith they be offered vnto thee. Doe not cast them, as
*********************by delaying his dispatch, making him daunce attendance at Court many a faire day, till he thought hee had sufficiently pu∣nished both his Purse, & his Patience. It shall euer be in my Letany, Good Lord deliuer vs, when Power and Malice meet.
The Rogue, Second Book, Chapter 10 – translator Mabbe
...I remember he told me, That going out of the Palace with the Kings Fa∣uourite, because he put on his Hat, whilest he was entring into his Coach, he lookt vpon him, as if he would haue eaten him; and shortly after, gaue him to vnderstand as much,
It is a miserable thing, and much to be pittied, that such an IDOLL [this side idolatry Jonson] as one of these, should affect particular adoration; not considering, that he is but a man, a representant, a poore kinde of Comedian, that acts his partvpon the Stage of this World, and comes forth with this or that Office, thus and thus attended, or at least resembling such a person, and that when the play is done, (which can not be long) he must presently enter into the Tyring-house of the graue, and
Behold (brother) and see the Enterlude of our life is ended; our dis∣guizes laid aside; and thou art as I; I, as thou; and all of vs as one another. Some doe so strut and stretch out their bodies, and are swolne so bigge vvith the puffing winde ofpride, as if they were able to swallow the whole Sea in∣to their bellie. They sport, and play, and follow their pleasures, as if their a∣boade on earth, were to be eternall. They set themselues aloft, and in-throane themselues on high, as if they
[see Greville’s description of Oxford in Life of Sidney - mocking Sublime Style]commendatory verse. Though Pollard is less severe, he admits that th publishers were only human, that they grew weary in well-doing, and that they had no inkling that they were dealing with the greatest of all English books. They got one good poet and
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Secord con’t.
It is inevitable that in so great a work as F1 we should look behind the initials I.M. for a great poet. But we are not likely to find one. No comparable folio of the period, says Lee, was done in so slipshod a fashion or provided with so little
********************************from the Sidneians (including Henry Vere - see Holland's Elegy for 18th Earl who meets Sidney in Elysium) during the period that Henry de Vere was incarcerated in the Tower under threat of death. Shakespeare's Folio appears again in a Royalist context in
(Folio produced grudgingly with all of its faults on display - Shakespeare's admirable style and sublime/grotesque image-making suitable for monarchy and astonishing/impressing English subjects/slaves. King James - to my mind - may have extracted it
Jonson's Mock Sublime Encomium: water/uroscopy - flights/bank/Mountebank - take/deceiveabsence, whose prouince it was to correct it; but pray the amendment of these few escapes (as you finde them here-vnder noted,) before you begin to reade: with hope of your pardon, the rather, because it hath beene my care they should be no more.
Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
That so did TAKE Eliza and our James!
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Blount asserts that it is not he who is 'slipshod':
he rogue: or The life of Guzman de Alfarache. VVritten in Spanish by Matheo Aleman, seruant to his Catholike Maiestie, and borne in Seuill
Alemán, Mateo, 1547-1614?, Mabbe, James, 1572-1642?
London: Printed [by Eliot's Court Press and George Eld] for Edward Blount, 1623.
THE PRINTER TO THE Discreet and Curious READER.
AFter so much as you haue read heere, vttered in their iust Commendation, let it be my minute, to be heard in a line or two for my selfe: which is, that you would be pleased not to lay my faults on them. I will neither pretend badnesse of Copy, or his
Ed: Blount.thing to passe, I liken that to an old man, bald-headed, weake-handed, lame-legged, who leaning on two Crutches, goes to the scaling of a high wall, that is strongly defended. Haue I spoke too much? I say it is no lesse. For things oftentimes seeme to
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Anticke/Grotesque:
The Rogue – transl. Mabbe
To thinke vpon a thing, I suppose to be like vnto a pretty little Boy, riding vpon a Hobby-horse, with a Winde-Mill made of paper, which hee beares in his hand vpon the top of a Cane, or some little sticke, that comes first to hand. But to bring that
****************************************couetous thou art; how quick in de∣faming, how slowe in honoring; how certain in ill, how vncertaine in good; how facile to fly out, and how hard to bee curbed in. What Diamond is there so hard, which thy sharpe teeth doe not grind to powder? What
Rogue, Guzman – transl. Mabbe
To the Uulgar.
TO me it is no new thing (though perhaps it be to thee) to see (O thou vertue-hating Vulgar) the many bad friends that thou hast; that little, which thou deseruest, and that lesse, which thou vnderstandest: To behold, how biting, how enuious, how
***********************************Thomas Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, which is a helpful citation, even considering Nashe's characteristically ironic dedication to "Lustie Humfrey":
Spiro Non Tibi – Spenser's Faerie Queene and Sidney’s Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia – appeared on *1593* edition of Sidney’s Arcadia:
Anchora
Adam G. Hooks
blog
The emblem in the compartment at the bottom of the title-page once caused some confusion -- McKerrow and Ferguson don't even attempt an explanation, saying that the meaning "seems never to have been fully explained"; they simply cite the preface to
Most courteous unlearned louer of Poetry, and yet a Poet thy selfe, of no lesse price then H.S. that in honour of Maid-marrian giues sweete Margera[m] for his Empresse, and puttes the Sowe most sawcily uppon some great personage, what euer she bee,bidding her (as it runnes in the old song) Go from my Garden go, for there no flowers for thee dooth grow. (A2r)
Corbett provides a lengthy explanation for the emblem, which shows a boar backing away from a marjoram bush, with the motto "SPIRO NON TIBI" ("I breathe out [sweet scents] but not for thee"). The general meaning is a condemnation of ignorance, thatsomething wholesome or profitable (i.e., the marjoram bush) is perceived as poisonous by those with poor judgment (i.e., the boar). The emblem was relatively common; Erasmus, in his Adagia, included several proverbs, including this one, on a similar
It seems that the emblem was chosen by Hugh Sanford, who obliquely refers to it in his letter "To the Reader," where he defends himself and his editorial decisions. In the previous (and incomplete) 1590 edition of the Arcadia (which included only thefirst three books of the revised, or so-called "new" Arcadia) the "ouer-seer of the print" inserted the "diuision and summing of the Chapters," and these chapter divisions were removed in the "complete" 1593 edition, where Sanford refers to the "
Complaining of unlearned readers, Sanford writes thatgood, which if they find not here, they shall doe well to go feed elsewhere: Any place will better like them.
To vs, say they, the pastures are not pleasant: and as for the flowers, such as we light on we take not delight in, but the greater part growe not within our reach. Poore soules! what talke they of flowers? They are Roses, not flowers, must doe them
Sanford is nominally complaining of those who might fail to appreciate the worth of the work, either stylistic or ethical--as he says, the "wortheles Reader can neuer worthely esteeme of so worthye a writing"--but this rebuke, along with the title-pageemblem, could also be read as a defense of himself, one that characterizes his critics as unlearned swine.
That is certainly how it was read by Sanford's contemporaries, who interpreted the emblem as a bold and unwise inclusion: Sanford is the very "H.S." mentioned by Nashe above, whose "Empresse" [i.e., his impresa, his motto] is meant to honor his "Maid-marrian" (which here just may be a covert allusion to Mary Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke). Nashe was thus alluding specifically to the title-page border of Sidney's Arcadia. John Florio was much more forthcoming in his abuse, for in the letter "To the
The title-page border was -- and was well-known for being -- specific to the context of the first edition in 1593. It was re-used for some -- although not all --of the subsequent editions of Sidney's Arcadia, which makes a lot of sense, considering theexpense and trouble taken to make it. In 1611 and 1617, the border was also used on the title-page of Spenser's works, which, although it bears no specific relation to The Faerie Queene, does make sense when one considers the close connections between
the association of Spenser with Sidney certainly makes sense: The Shephear des Calender had been dedicated to Sidney; The Faerie Queene is the poem that responds most clearly to Sidney's precepts in The Defence of Poetry, and if we think of Colin Cloutand Britomart, shepherds and martial women are as relevant to Spenser's epic as to Sidney's romance. Sidney's coat of arms presides over Spenser's work as Sidney's writing was a model for the poet's endeavor.
***********************to take advantage of all idle hours till I have honored you with some graver labor. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather and never after ear so barren a land for fear it yield me still so bad
Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flavus Apollo
Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE
Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
0.5and Baron of Titchfield.
Right Honorable,
I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden. Only if your honor seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised and vow
Your honor's in all duty,
William Shakespeare.
**********************
Discretion. To Cut. To Discern. To sift out. To separate that which has become confused.
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Grotesque Figure/Against Nature/ Invita Minerva/Wit-Ingegno
Ambisinister Droeshout Figure:
This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare CUT,
*Wherein the graver had a strife
With Nature, to out-do the life*:
O could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face; the print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass:
But since he cannot, reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.
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Jonson, Cynthia's Revels
Cynthia: Dear Arete, and Crites, to you two
We give the Charge; impose what Pains you please:
TH' INCURABLE CUT OFF, the rest REFORM,
Remembring ever what we first decreed,
Since Revels were proclaim'd, let now none bleed.
Arete. How well Diana can distinguish Times,
And sort her Censures, keeping to her self
The Doom of Gods, leaving the rest to us?
Come, cite them, Crites, first, and then proceed.
(snip)
Then, Crites, practise thy DISCRETION.
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The word [discretion] was almost invariably used in Elizabethan England as a means of constructing social, cultural, or aesthetic difference. (David Hillman, Puttenham, Shakespeare, and the abuse of rhetoric).
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Discreet and Curious – Sidneians
Vulgar and Ignorant – Shakespeare’s Admirers/crew
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Nature/Minerva/Ingegno
Elegy On Randolph’s Finger – William Hemminges
...The fluente Flettcher, Beaumonte riche In sence
*for Complement and Courtshypes quintesence,
Ingenious Shakespeare*
[need to check original punctuation]
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Jonson - Timber
{Topic 67}} {{Subject: AFFECTED language}}eyebrow, the forehead, the cheek, chin, lip, or any part else are as necessary and natural in the place. But now nothing is good that is natural; RIGHT and NATURAL LANGUAGE seems to have least of the wit in it; that which is writhed and tortured is
De vere argutis. [how droll] - I do hear them say often some men are not witty, because they are not everywhere witty; than which nothing is more foolish. If an eye or a nose be an excellent part in the face, therefore be all eye or nose! I think the
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Speculum Tuscanismi - Satire on Earl of Oxford
Gabriel Harvey:
See Venus, archegoddess, howe trimly she masterith owld Mars.
See litle CUPIDE, howe he bewitcheth lernid Apollo.
Bravery in apparell, and maiesty in hawty behaviour,
Hath conquerd manhood, and gotten a victory in Inglande.
Ferse Bellona, she lyes enclosd at Westminster in leade.
Dowtines is dulnes ; currage mistermid is outrage.
Manlines is madnes ; beshrowe Lady Curtisy therefore.
Most valorous enforced to be vassals to Lady Pleasure.
And Lady Nicity rules like a soveran emperes of all.
TYMES, MANNERS, FRENCH, ITALISH ENGLISHE.
Where be y e mindes and men that woont to terrify strangers ?
Where that constant zeale to thy cuntry glory, to vertu ?
Where labor and prowes very founders of quiet and peace,
Champions of warr, trompetours of fame, treasurers of welth ?
Where owld Inglande ? Where owld Inglish fortitude and
might ?
Oh, we ar owte of the way, that Theseus, Hercules, Arthur,
And many a worthy British knight were woo'nte to triumphe in.
What should I speake of Talbotts, Brandons, Grayes, with a thousande
Such and such ? Let Edwards go ; letts blott y e remem-braunce
Of puissant Henryes ; or letts exemplify there actes.
Since Galateo came in and Tuscanismo gan usurpe
Vanity above all ; villanye next her ; Statelynes empresse,
NO MAN but minion : stowte, lowte, playne, swayne, quoth a
LORDINGE (snip).
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Jonson, Timber
...BUT WHY DO men depart at all from the RIGHT and NATURAL WAYS of speaking? sometimes for necessity, when we are driven, or think it fitter, to speak that in obscure words, or by circumstance, which uttered plainly would offend the hearers. Or toavoid obsceneness, or sometimes for pleasure, and variety, as travellers turn out of the highway, drawn either by the commodity of a footpath, or the delicacy or freshness of the fields. And all this is called åó÷çìáôéóìåíç (eschematismene)
“Language most shows a man; speak that I may see thee; it springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the MIND. *No glass renders a man’s form or likeness so true as his speech*.”
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HOBBES'S LEVIATHAN: MONSTERS, METAPHORS, AND MAGIC
BY ROBERT E. STILLMAN
(con't)
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