{149b}
Horace, his judgment of Choerillus defended against Joseph Scaliger.
Horace, his judgment of Choerillus defended against Joseph Scaliger.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
--A poem, as I
have told you, is the work of the poet; the end and fruit of his labour
and study. Poesy is his skill or craft of making; the very fiction
itself, the reason or form of the work. And these three voices differ,
as the thing done, the doing, and the doer; the thing feigned, the
feigning, and the feigner; so the poem, the poesy, and the poet. Now the
poesy is the habit or the art; nay, rather the queen of arts, which had
her original from heaven, received thence from the Hebrews, and had in
prime estimation with the Greeks transmitted to the Latins and all
nations that professed civility. The study of it (if we will trust
Aristotle) offers to mankind a certain rule and pattern of living well
and happily, disposing us to all civil offices of society. If we will
believe Tully, it nourisheth and instructeth our youth, delights our age,
adorns our prosperity, comforts our adversity, entertains us at home,
keeps us company abroad, travels with us, watches, divides the times of
our earnest and sports, shares in our country recesses and recreations;
insomuch as the wisest and best learned have thought her the absolute
mistress of manners and nearest of kin to virtue. And whereas they
entitle philosophy to be a rigid and austere poesy, they have, on the
contrary, styled poesy a dulcet and gentle philosophy, which leads on and
guides us by the hand to action with a ravishing delight and incredible
sweetness. But before we handle the kinds of poems, with their special
differences, or make court to the art itself, as a mistress, I would lead
you to the knowledge of our poet by a perfect information what he is or
should be by nature, by exercise, by imitation, by study, and so bring
him down through the disciplines of grammar, logic, rhetoric, and the
ethics, adding somewhat out of all, peculiar to himself, and worthy of
your admittance or reception.
1.
_Ingenium_. --_Seneca_. --_Plato_. --_Aristotle_. --_Helicon_. --_Pegasus_. --
_Parnassus_. --_Ovid_. --First, we require in our poet or maker (for that
title our language affords him elegantly with the Greek) a goodness of
natural wit. For whereas all other arts consist of doctrine and
precepts, the poet must be able by nature and instinct to pour out the
treasure of his mind, and as Seneca saith, _Aliquando secundum
Anacreontem insanire jucundum esse_; by which he understands the poetical
rapture. And according to that of Plato, _Frustra poeticas fores sui
compos pulsavit_. And of Aristotle, _Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura
dementiae fuit_. _Nec potest grande aliquid_, _et supra caeteros loqui_,
_nisi mota mens_. Then it riseth higher, as by a divine instinct, when
it contemns common and known conceptions. It utters somewhat above a
mortal mouth. Then it gets aloft and flies away with his rider, whither
before it was doubtful to ascend. This the poets understood by their
Helicon, Pegasus, or Parnassus; and this made Ovid to boast,
"Est deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo
Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit. " {139a}
_Lipsius_. --_Petron. in. Fragm_. --And Lipsius to affirm, _Scio_, _poetam
neminem praestantem fuisse_, _sine parte quadam uberiore divinae aurae_.
And hence it is that the coming up of good poets (for I mind not
mediocres or imos) is so thin and rare among us. Every beggarly
corporation affords the State a mayor or two bailiffs yearly; but _Solus
rex_, _aut poeta_, _non quotannis nascitur_. To this perfection of
nature in our poet we require exercise of those parts, and frequent.
2. _Exercitatio_. --_Virgil_. --_Scaliger_. --_Valer.
Maximus_. --_Euripides_. --_Alcestis_. --If his wit will not arrive suddenly at
the dignity of the ancients, let him not yet fall out with it, quarrel,
or be over hastily angry; offer to turn it away from study in a humour,
but come to it again upon better cogitation; try another time with
labour. If then it succeed not, cast not away the quills yet, nor
scratch the wainscot, beat not the poor desk, but bring all to the forge
and file again; torn it anew. There is no statute law of the kingdom
bids you be a poet against your will or the first quarter; if it comes in
a year or two, it is well. The common rhymers pour forth verses, such as
they are, _ex tempore_; but there never comes from them one sense worth
the life of a day. A rhymer and a poet are two things. It is said of
the incomparable Virgil that he brought forth his verses like a bear, and
after formed them with licking. Scaliger the father writes it of him,
that he made a quantity of verses in the morning, which afore night he
reduced to a less number. But that which Valerius Maximus hath left
recorded of Euripides, the tragic poet, his answer to Alcestis, another
poet, is as memorable as modest; who, when it was told to Alcestis that
Euripides had in three days brought forth but three verses, and those
with some difficulty and throes, Alcestis, glorying he could with ease
have sent forth a hundred in the space, Euripides roundly replied, "Like
enough; but here is the difference: thy verses will not last these three
days, mine will to all time. " Which was as much as to tell him he could
not write a verse. I have met many of these rattles that made a noise
and buzzed. They had their hum, and no more. Indeed, things wrote with
labour deserve to be so read, and will last their age.
3.
_Imitatio_. --_Horatius_. --_Virgil_. --_Statius_. --_Homer_. --_Horat_. --_Archil_. --
_Alcaeus_, &c. --The third requisite in our poet or maker is imitation, to
be able to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own
use. To make choice of one excellent man above the rest, and so to
follow him till he grow very he, or so like him as the copy may be
mistaken for the principal. Not as a creature that swallows what it
takes in crude, raw, or undigested, but that feeds with an appetite, and
hath a stomach to concoct, divide, and turn all into nourishment. Not to
imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at vices for virtue, but to
draw forth out of the best and choicest flowers, with the bee, and turn
all into honey, work it into one relish and savour; make our imitation
sweet; observe how the best writers have imitated, and follow them. How
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
4. _Lectio_. --_Parnassus_. --_Helicon_. --_Arscoron_. --_M. T.
Cicero_. --_Simylus_. --_Stob_. --_Horat_. --_Aristot_. --But that which we
especially require in him is an exactness of study and multiplicity of
reading, which maketh a full man, not alone enabling him to know the
history or argument of a poem and to report it, but so to master the
matter and style, as to show he knows how to handle, place, or dispose of
either with elegancy when need shall be. And not think he can leap forth
suddenly a poet by dreaming he hath been in Parnassus, or having washed
his lips, as they say, in Helicon. There goes more to his making than
so; for to nature, exercise, imitation, and study art must be added to
make all these perfect. And though these challenge to themselves much in
the making up of our maker, it is Art only can lead him to perfection,
and leave him there in possession, as planted by her hand. It is the
assertion of Tully, if to an excellent nature there happen an accession
or conformation of learning and discipline, there will then remain
somewhat noble and singular. For, as Simylus saith in Stobaeus, ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? y? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
without art nature can never be perfect; and without nature art can claim
no being. But our poet must beware that his study be not only to learn
of himself; for he that shall affect to do that confesseth his ever
having a fool to his master. He must read many, but ever the best and
choicest; those that can teach him anything he must ever account his
masters, and reverence. Among whom Horace and (he that taught him)
Aristotle deserved to be the first in estimation. Aristotle was the
first accurate critic and truest judge--nay, the greatest philosopher the
world ever had--for he noted the vices of all knowledges in all creatures,
and out of many men's perfections in a science he formed still one art.
So he taught us two offices together, how we ought to judge rightly of
others, and what we ought to imitate specially in ourselves. But all
this in vain without a natural wit and a poetical nature in chief. For
no man, so soon as he knows this or reads it, shall be able to write the
better; but as he is adapted to it by nature, he shall grow the perfecter
writer. He must have civil prudence and eloquence, and that whole; not
taken up by snatches or pieces in sentences or remnants when he will
handle business or carry counsels, as if he came then out of the
declaimer's gallery, or shadow furnished but out of the body of the
State, which commonly is the school of men.
_Virorum schola respub_. --_Lysippus_. --_Apelles_. --_Naevius_. --The poet is the
nearest borderer upon the orator, and expresseth all his virtues, though
he be tied more to numbers, is his equal in ornament, and above him in
his strengths. And (of the kind) the comic comes nearest; because in
moving the minds of men, and stirring of affections (in which oratory
shows, and especially approves her eminence), he chiefly excels. What
figure of a body was Lysippus ever able to form with his graver, or
Apelles to paint with his pencil, as the comedy to life expresseth so
many and various affections of the mind? There shall the spectator see
some insulting with joy, others fretting with melancholy, raging with
anger, mad with love, boiling with avarice, undone with riot, tortured
with expectation, consumed with fear; no perturbation in common life but
the orator finds an example of it in the scene. And then for the
elegancy of language, read but this inscription on the grave of a comic
poet:
"Immortales mortales si fas esset fiere,
Flerent divae Camoenae Naevium poetam;
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Obliti sunt Romae lingua loqui Latina. " {146a}
_L. AElius Stilo_. --_Plautus_. --_M. Varro_. --Or that modester testimony given
by Lucius AElius Stilo upon Plautus, who affirmed, "_Musas_, _si Latine
loqui voluissent_, _Plautino sermone fuisse loquuturas_. " And that
illustrious judgment by the most learned M. Varro of him, who pronounced
him the prince of letters and elegancy in the Roman language.
_Sophocles_. --I am not of that opinion to conclude a poet's liberty within
the narrow limits of laws which either the grammarians or philosophers
prescribe. For before they found out those laws there were many
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
_Demosthenes_. --_Pericles_. --_Alcibiades_. --Which of the Greeklings durst
ever give precepts to Demosthenes? or to Pericles, whom the age surnamed
Heavenly, because he seemed to thunder and lighten with his language? or
to Alcibiades, who had rather Nature for his guide than Art for his
master?
_Aristotle_. --But whatsoever nature at any time dictated to the most
happy, or long exercise to the most laborious, that the wisdom and
learning of Aristotle hath brought into an art, because he understood the
causes of things; and what other men did by chance or custom he doth by
reason; and not only found out the way not to err, but the short way we
should take not to err.
_Euripides_. --_Aristophanes_. --Many things in Euripides hath Aristophanes
wittily reprehended, not out of art, but out of truth. For Euripides is
sometimes peccant, as he is most times perfect. But judgment when it is
greatest, if reason doth not accompany it, is not ever absolute.
_Cens. Scal. in Lil. Germ_. --_Horace_. --To judge of poets is only the
faculty of poets; and not of all poets, but the best. _Nemo infelicius
de poetis judicavit_, _quam qui de poetis scripsit_. {148a} But some
will say critics are a kind of tinkers, that make more faults than they
mend ordinarily. See their diseases and those of grammarians. It is
true, many bodies are the worse for the meddling with; and the multitude
of physicians hath destroyed many sound patients with their wrong
practice. But the office of a true critic or censor is, not to throw by
a letter anywhere, or damn an innocent syllable, but lay the words
together, and amend them; judge sincerely of the author and his matter,
which is the sign of solid and perfect learning in a man. Such was
Horace, an author of much civility, and (if any one among the heathen can
be) the best master both of virtue and wisdom; an excellent and true
judge upon cause and reason, not because he thought so, but because he
knew so out of use and experience.
Cato, the grammarian, a defender of Lucilius. {149a}
"Cato grammaticus, Latina syren,
Qui solus legit, et facit poetas. "
Quintilian of the same heresy, but rejected.
{149b}
Horace, his judgment of Choerillus defended against Joseph Scaliger.
{149c} And of Laberius against Julius. {149d}
But chiefly his opinion of Plautus {149e} vindicated against many that
are offended, and say it is a hard censure upon the parent of all conceit
and sharpness. And they wish it had not fallen from so great a master
and censor in the art, whose bondmen knew better how to judge of Plautus
than any that dare patronise the family of learning in this age; who
could not be ignorant of the judgment of the times in which he lived,
when poetry and the Latin language were at the height; especially being a
man so conversant and inwardly familiar with the censures of great men
that did discourse of these things daily amongst themselves. Again, a
man so gracious and in high favour with the Emperor, as Augustus often
called him his witty manling (for the littleness of his stature), and, if
we may trust antiquity, had designed him for a secretary of estate, and
invited him to the palace, which he modestly prayed off and refused.
_Terence_. --_Menander_. Horace did so highly esteem Terence's comedies,
as he ascribes the art in comedy to him alone among the Latins, and joins
him with Menander.
Now, let us see what may be said for either, to defend Horace's judgment
to posterity and not wholly to condemn Plautus.
_The parts of a comedy and tragedy_. --The parts of a comedy are the same
with a tragedy, and the end is partly the same, for they both delight and
teach; the comics are called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , of the Greeks no less than the
tragics.
_Aristotle_. --_Plato_. --_Homer_. --Nor is the moving of laughter always the
end of comedy; that is rather a fowling for the people's delight, or
their fooling. For, as Aristotle says rightly, the moving of laughter is
a fault in comedy, a kind of turpitude that depraves some part of a man's
nature without a disease. As a wry face without pain moves laughter, or
a deformed vizard, or a rude clown dressed in a lady's habit and using
her actions; we dislike and scorn such representations which made the
ancient philosophers ever think laughter unfitting in a wise man. And
this induced Plato to esteem of Homer as a sacrilegious person, because
he presented the gods sometimes laughing. As also it is divinely said of
Aristotle, that to seen ridiculous is a part of dishonesty, and foolish.
_The wit of the old comedy_. --So that what either in the words or sense of
an author, or in the language or actions of men, is awry or depraved does
strangely stir mean affections, and provoke for the most part to
laughter. And therefore it was clear that all insolent and obscene
speeches, jests upon the best men, injuries to particular persons,
perverse and sinister sayings (and the rather unexpected) in the old
comedy did move laughter, especially where it did imitate any dishonesty,
and scurrility came forth in the place of wit, which, who understands the
nature and genius of laughter cannot but perfectly know.
_Aristophanes_. --_Plautus_. --Of which Aristophanes affords an ample
harvest, having not only outgone Plautus or any other in that kind, but
expressed all the moods and figures of what is ridiculous oddly. In
short, as vinegar is not accounted good until the wine be corrupted, so
jests that are true and natural seldom raise laughter with the beast the
multitude. They love nothing that is right and proper. The farther it
runs from reason or possibility with them the better it is.
_Socrates_. --_Theatrical wit_. --What could have made them laugh, like to
see Socrates presented, that example of all good life, honesty, and
virtue, to have him hoisted up with a pulley, and there play the
philosopher in a basket; measure how many foot a flea could skip
geometrically, by a just scale, and edify the people from the engine.
This was theatrical wit, right stage jesting, and relishing a playhouse,
invented for scorn and laughter; whereas, if it had savoured of equity,
truth, perspicuity, and candour, to have tasten a wise or a learned
palate,--spit it out presently! this is bitter and profitable: this
instructs and would inform us: what need we know any thing, that are
nobly born, more than a horse-race, or a hunting-match, our day to break
with citizens, and such innate mysteries?
_The cart_. --This is truly leaping from the stage to the tumbril again,
reducing all wit to the original dung-cart.
Of the magnitude and compass of any fable, epic or dramatic.
_What the measure of a fable is_. --_The fable or plot of a poem
defined_. --_The epic fable_, _differing from the dramatic_. --To the
resolving of this question we must first agree in the definition of the
fable. The fable is called the imitation of one entire and perfect
action, whose parts are so joined and knit together, as nothing in the
structure can be changed, or taken away, without impairing or troubling
the whole, of which there is a proportionable magnitude in the members.
As for example: if a man would build a house, he would first appoint a
place to build it in, which he would define within certain bounds; so in
the constitution of a poem, the action is aimed at by the poet, which
answers place in a building, and that action hath his largeness, compass,
and proportion. But as a court or king's palace requires other
dimensions than a private house, so the epic asks a magnitude from other
poems, since what is place in the one is action in the other; the
difference is an space. So that by this definition we conclude the fable
to be the imitation of one perfect and entire action, as one perfect and
entire place is required to a building. By perfect, we understand that
to which nothing is wanting, as place to the building that is raised, and
action to the fable that is formed. It is perfect, perhaps not for a
court or king's palace, which requires a greater ground, but for the
structure he would raise; so the space of the action may not prove large
enough for the epic fable, yet be perfect for the dramatic, and whole.
_What we understand by whole_. --Whole we call that, and perfect, which
hath a beginning, a midst, and an end. So the place of any building may
be whole and entire for that work, though too little for a palace. As to
a tragedy or a comedy, the action may be convenient and perfect that
would not fit an epic poem in magnitude. So a lion is a perfect creature
in himself, though it be less than that of a buffalo or a rhinocerote.
They differ but in specie: either in the kind is absolute; both have
their parts, and either the whole. Therefore, as in every body so in
every action, which is the subject of a just work, there is required a
certain proportionable greatness, neither too vast nor too minute. For
that which happens to the eyes when we behold a body, the same happens to
the memory when we contemplate an action. I look upon a monstrous giant,
as Tityus, whose body covered nine acres of land, and mine eye sticks
upon every part; the whole that consists of those parts will never be
taken in at one entire view. So in a fable, if the action be too great,
we can never comprehend the whole together in our imagination. Again, if
it be too little, there ariseth no pleasure out of the object; it affords
the view no stay; it is beheld, and vanisheth at once. As if we should
look upon an ant or pismire, the parts fly the sight, and the whole
considered is almost nothing. The same happens in action, which is the
object of memory, as the body is of sight. Too vast oppresseth the eyes,
and exceeds the memory; too little scarce admits either.
_What is the utmost bounds of a fable_. --Now in every action it behoves
the poet to know which is his utmost bound, how far with fitness and a
necessary proportion he may produce and determine it; that is, till
either good fortune change into the worse, or the worse into the better.
For as a body without proportion cannot be goodly, no more can the
action, either in comedy or tragedy, without his fit bounds: and every
bound, for the nature of the subject, is esteemed the best that is
largest, till it can increase no more; so it behoves the action in
tragedy or comedy to be let grow till the necessity ask a conclusion;
wherein two things are to be considered: first, that it exceed not the
compass of one day; next, that there be place left for digression and
art. For the episodes and digressions in a fable are the same that
household stuff and other furniture are in a house. And so far from the
measure and extent of a fable dramatic.
_What by one and entire_. --Now that it should be one and entire. One is
considerable two ways; either as it is only separate, and by itself, or
as being composed of many parts, it begins to be one as those parts grow
or are wrought together. That it should be one the first away alone, and
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves. Neither of which can possibly be, if the action be single
and separate, not composed of parts, which laid together in themselves,
with an equal and fitting proportion, tend to the same end; which thing
out of antiquity itself hath deceived many, and more this day it doth
deceive.
_Hercules_. --_Theseus_. --_Achilles_. --_Ulysses_. --_Homer and
Virgil_. --_AEneas_. --_Venus_. --So many there be of old that have thought the
action of one man to be one, as of Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Ulysses,
and other heroes; which is both foolish and false, since by one and the
same person many things may be severally done which cannot fitly be
referred or joined to the same end: which not only the excellent tragic
poets, but the best masters of the epic, Homer and Virgil, saw. For
though the argument of an epic poem be far more diffused and poured out
than that of tragedy, yet Virgil, writing of AEneas, hath pretermitted
many things. He neither tells how he was born, how brought up, how he
fought with Achilles, how he was snatched out of the battle by Venus; but
that one thing, how he came into Italy, he prosecutes in twelve books.
The rest of his journey, his error by sea, the sack of Troy, are put not
as the argument of the work, but episodes of the argument. So Homer laid
by many things of Ulysses, and handled no more than he saw tended to one
and the same end.
_Theseus_. --_Hercules_. --_Juvenal_. --_Codrus_. --_Sophocles_. --_Ajax_. --
_Ulysses_. --Contrary to which, and foolishly, those poets did, whom the
philosopher taxeth, of whom one gathered all the actions of Theseus,
another put all the labours of Hercules in one work. So did he whom
Juvenal mentions in the beginning, "hoarse Codrus," that recited a volume
compiled, which he called his Theseide, not yet finished, to the great
trouble both of his hearers and himself; amongst which there were many
parts had no coherence nor kindred one with another, so far they were
from being one action, one fable. For as a house, consisting of divers
materials, becomes one structure and one dwelling, so an action, composed
of divers parts, may become one fable, epic or dramatic. For example, in
a tragedy, look upon Sophocles, his Ajax: Ajax, deprived of Achilles'
armour, which he hoped from the suffrage of the Greeks, disdains; and,
growing impatient of the injury, rageth, and runs mad. In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN! most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that! to whom my country owes
The great renown, and name wherewith she goes!
Than thee the age sees not that thing more grave,
More high, more holy, that she more would crave.
What name, what skill, what faith hast thou in things!
What sight in searching the most antique springs!
What weight, and what authority in thy speech!
Men scarce can make that doubt, but thou canst teach.
Pardon free truth, and let thy modesty,
Which conquers all, be once o'ercome by thee.
Many of thine, this better could, than I;
But for their powers, accept my piety.
ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER.
HERE lies, to each her parents' ruth,
Mary, the daughter of their youth;
Yet, all heaven's gifts, being heaven's due,
It makes the father less to rue.
At six months' end, she parted hence,
With safety of her innocence;
Whose soul heaven's queen, whose name she bears,
In comfort of her mother's tears,
Hath placed amongst her virgin-train;
Where, while that severed doth remain,
This grave partakes the fleshly birth;
Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
ON MY FIRST SON.
FAREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh! could I lose all father, now! for why,
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon 'scaped world's, and flesh's rage,
And, if no other misery, yet age!
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry;
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.
TO FRANCIS BEAUMONT.
HOW I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy muse,
That unto me dost such religion use!
How I do fear myself, that am not worth
The least indulgent thought thy pen drops forth!
At once thou mak'st me happy, and unmak'st;
And giving largely to me, more thou takest!
What fate is mine, that so itself bereaves?
What art is thine, that so thy friend deceives?
When even there, where most thou praisest me,
For writing better, I must envy thee.
OF LIFE AND DEATH.
THE ports of death are sins; of life, good deeds:
Through which our merit leads us to our meeds.
How wilful blind is he, then, that would stray,
And hath it in his powers to make his way!
This world death's region is, the other life's:
And here it should be one of our first strifes,
So to front death, as men might judge us past it:
For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.
INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER.
TO-NIGHT, grave sir, both my poor house and I
Do equally desire your company;
Not that we think us worthy such a guest,
But that your worth will dignify our feast,
With those that come; whose grace may make that seem
Something, which else could hope for no esteem.
It is the fair acceptance, sir, creates
The entertainment perfect, not the cates.
Yet shall you have, to rectify your palate,
An olive, capers, or some bitter salad
Ushering the mutton; with a short-legged hen,
If we can get her, full of eggs, and then,
Lemons and wine for sauce: to these, a coney
Is not to be despaired of for our money;
And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks,
The sky not falling, think we may have larks.
I'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come:
Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some
May yet be there; and godwit if we can;
Knat, rail, and ruff, too. Howsoe'er, my man
Shall read a piece of Virgil, Tacitus,
Livy, or of some better book to us,
Of which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat;
And I'll profess no verses to repeat:
To this if aught appear, which I not know of,
That will the pastry, not my paper, show of.
Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be;
But that which most doth take my muse and me,
Is a pure cup of rich canary wine,
Which is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine:
Of which had Horace, or Anacreon tasted,
Their lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted.
Tobacco, nectar, or the Thespian spring,
Are all but Luther's beer, to this I sing.
Of this we will sup free, but moderately,
And we will have no Pooly' or Parrot by;
Nor shall our cups make any guilty men;
But at our parting we will be as when
We innocently met. No simple word
That shall be uttered at our mirthful board,
Shall make us sad next morning; or affright
The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night.
EPITAPH ON SALATHIEL PAVY,
A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL.
WEEP with me all you that read
This little story;
And know for whom a tear you shed,
Death's self is sorry.
'Twas a child that so did thrive
In grace and feature,
As heaven and nature seemed to strive
Which owned the creature.
Years he numbered scarce thirteen
When fates turned cruel;
Yet three filled zodiacs had he been
The stage's jewel;
And did act, what now we moan,
Old men so duly;
As, sooth, the Parcae thought him one
He played so truly.
So, by error to his fate
They all consented;
But viewing him since, alas, too late!
They have repented;
And have sought to give new birth,
In baths to steep him;
But, being so much too good for earth,
Heaven vows to keep him.
EPITAPH ON ELIZABETH, L. H.
WOULDST thou hear what man can say
In a little? Reader, stay.
Underneath this stone doth lie
As much beauty as could die
Which in life did harbour give
To more virtue than doth live.
If, at all, she had a fault
Leave it buried in this vault.
One name was Elizabeth,
The other let it sleep with death.
Fitter, where it died, to tell,
Than that it lived at all. Farewell.
EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.
UNDERNEATH this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:
Death! ere thou hast slain another,
Learned, and fair, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, AND WHAT HE HATH
LEFT US.
TO draw no envy, Shakspeare, on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;
While I confess thy writings to be such,
As neither man, nor muse can praise too much.
'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these ways
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;
For silliest ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but echoes right;
Or blind affection, which doth ne'er advance
The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;
Or crafty malice might pretend this praise,
And think to ruin, where it seemed to raise.
These are, as some infamous bawd, or whore,
Should praise a matron; what would hurt her more?
But thou art proof against them, and, indeed,
Above the ill-fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore, will begin: Soul of the age!
The applause! delight! and wonder of our stage!
My Shakspeare rise! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further off, to make thee room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses,
I mean with great, but disproportioned Muses;
For if I thought my judgment were of years,
I should commit thee surely with thy peers,
And tell how far thou didst our Lily outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlow's mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,
From thence to honour thee, I will not seek
For names: but call forth thundering Eschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us,
Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordoua dead,
To live again, to hear thy buskin tread,
And shake a stage; or, when thy socks were on,
Leave thee alone for the comparison
Of all that insolent Greece, or haughty Rome
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.
Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show,
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm!
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines!
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;
But antiquated and deserted lie,
As they were not of nature's family.
Yet must I not give nature all; thy art,
My gentle Shakspeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter nature be,
His heart doth give the fashion: and, that he
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat,
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat
Upon the Muse's anvil; turn the same,
And himself with it, that he thinks to frame;
Or for the laurel, he may gain a scorn;
For a good poet's made, as well as born.
And such wert thou! Look how the father's face
Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakspeare's mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turned, and true filed lines;
In each of which he seems to shake a lance,
As brandished at the eyes of ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Avon!
have told you, is the work of the poet; the end and fruit of his labour
and study. Poesy is his skill or craft of making; the very fiction
itself, the reason or form of the work. And these three voices differ,
as the thing done, the doing, and the doer; the thing feigned, the
feigning, and the feigner; so the poem, the poesy, and the poet. Now the
poesy is the habit or the art; nay, rather the queen of arts, which had
her original from heaven, received thence from the Hebrews, and had in
prime estimation with the Greeks transmitted to the Latins and all
nations that professed civility. The study of it (if we will trust
Aristotle) offers to mankind a certain rule and pattern of living well
and happily, disposing us to all civil offices of society. If we will
believe Tully, it nourisheth and instructeth our youth, delights our age,
adorns our prosperity, comforts our adversity, entertains us at home,
keeps us company abroad, travels with us, watches, divides the times of
our earnest and sports, shares in our country recesses and recreations;
insomuch as the wisest and best learned have thought her the absolute
mistress of manners and nearest of kin to virtue. And whereas they
entitle philosophy to be a rigid and austere poesy, they have, on the
contrary, styled poesy a dulcet and gentle philosophy, which leads on and
guides us by the hand to action with a ravishing delight and incredible
sweetness. But before we handle the kinds of poems, with their special
differences, or make court to the art itself, as a mistress, I would lead
you to the knowledge of our poet by a perfect information what he is or
should be by nature, by exercise, by imitation, by study, and so bring
him down through the disciplines of grammar, logic, rhetoric, and the
ethics, adding somewhat out of all, peculiar to himself, and worthy of
your admittance or reception.
1.
_Ingenium_. --_Seneca_. --_Plato_. --_Aristotle_. --_Helicon_. --_Pegasus_. --
_Parnassus_. --_Ovid_. --First, we require in our poet or maker (for that
title our language affords him elegantly with the Greek) a goodness of
natural wit. For whereas all other arts consist of doctrine and
precepts, the poet must be able by nature and instinct to pour out the
treasure of his mind, and as Seneca saith, _Aliquando secundum
Anacreontem insanire jucundum esse_; by which he understands the poetical
rapture. And according to that of Plato, _Frustra poeticas fores sui
compos pulsavit_. And of Aristotle, _Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura
dementiae fuit_. _Nec potest grande aliquid_, _et supra caeteros loqui_,
_nisi mota mens_. Then it riseth higher, as by a divine instinct, when
it contemns common and known conceptions. It utters somewhat above a
mortal mouth. Then it gets aloft and flies away with his rider, whither
before it was doubtful to ascend. This the poets understood by their
Helicon, Pegasus, or Parnassus; and this made Ovid to boast,
"Est deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo
Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit. " {139a}
_Lipsius_. --_Petron. in. Fragm_. --And Lipsius to affirm, _Scio_, _poetam
neminem praestantem fuisse_, _sine parte quadam uberiore divinae aurae_.
And hence it is that the coming up of good poets (for I mind not
mediocres or imos) is so thin and rare among us. Every beggarly
corporation affords the State a mayor or two bailiffs yearly; but _Solus
rex_, _aut poeta_, _non quotannis nascitur_. To this perfection of
nature in our poet we require exercise of those parts, and frequent.
2. _Exercitatio_. --_Virgil_. --_Scaliger_. --_Valer.
Maximus_. --_Euripides_. --_Alcestis_. --If his wit will not arrive suddenly at
the dignity of the ancients, let him not yet fall out with it, quarrel,
or be over hastily angry; offer to turn it away from study in a humour,
but come to it again upon better cogitation; try another time with
labour. If then it succeed not, cast not away the quills yet, nor
scratch the wainscot, beat not the poor desk, but bring all to the forge
and file again; torn it anew. There is no statute law of the kingdom
bids you be a poet against your will or the first quarter; if it comes in
a year or two, it is well. The common rhymers pour forth verses, such as
they are, _ex tempore_; but there never comes from them one sense worth
the life of a day. A rhymer and a poet are two things. It is said of
the incomparable Virgil that he brought forth his verses like a bear, and
after formed them with licking. Scaliger the father writes it of him,
that he made a quantity of verses in the morning, which afore night he
reduced to a less number. But that which Valerius Maximus hath left
recorded of Euripides, the tragic poet, his answer to Alcestis, another
poet, is as memorable as modest; who, when it was told to Alcestis that
Euripides had in three days brought forth but three verses, and those
with some difficulty and throes, Alcestis, glorying he could with ease
have sent forth a hundred in the space, Euripides roundly replied, "Like
enough; but here is the difference: thy verses will not last these three
days, mine will to all time. " Which was as much as to tell him he could
not write a verse. I have met many of these rattles that made a noise
and buzzed. They had their hum, and no more. Indeed, things wrote with
labour deserve to be so read, and will last their age.
3.
_Imitatio_. --_Horatius_. --_Virgil_. --_Statius_. --_Homer_. --_Horat_. --_Archil_. --
_Alcaeus_, &c. --The third requisite in our poet or maker is imitation, to
be able to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own
use. To make choice of one excellent man above the rest, and so to
follow him till he grow very he, or so like him as the copy may be
mistaken for the principal. Not as a creature that swallows what it
takes in crude, raw, or undigested, but that feeds with an appetite, and
hath a stomach to concoct, divide, and turn all into nourishment. Not to
imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at vices for virtue, but to
draw forth out of the best and choicest flowers, with the bee, and turn
all into honey, work it into one relish and savour; make our imitation
sweet; observe how the best writers have imitated, and follow them. How
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
4. _Lectio_. --_Parnassus_. --_Helicon_. --_Arscoron_. --_M. T.
Cicero_. --_Simylus_. --_Stob_. --_Horat_. --_Aristot_. --But that which we
especially require in him is an exactness of study and multiplicity of
reading, which maketh a full man, not alone enabling him to know the
history or argument of a poem and to report it, but so to master the
matter and style, as to show he knows how to handle, place, or dispose of
either with elegancy when need shall be. And not think he can leap forth
suddenly a poet by dreaming he hath been in Parnassus, or having washed
his lips, as they say, in Helicon. There goes more to his making than
so; for to nature, exercise, imitation, and study art must be added to
make all these perfect. And though these challenge to themselves much in
the making up of our maker, it is Art only can lead him to perfection,
and leave him there in possession, as planted by her hand. It is the
assertion of Tully, if to an excellent nature there happen an accession
or conformation of learning and discipline, there will then remain
somewhat noble and singular. For, as Simylus saith in Stobaeus, ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? y? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
without art nature can never be perfect; and without nature art can claim
no being. But our poet must beware that his study be not only to learn
of himself; for he that shall affect to do that confesseth his ever
having a fool to his master. He must read many, but ever the best and
choicest; those that can teach him anything he must ever account his
masters, and reverence. Among whom Horace and (he that taught him)
Aristotle deserved to be the first in estimation. Aristotle was the
first accurate critic and truest judge--nay, the greatest philosopher the
world ever had--for he noted the vices of all knowledges in all creatures,
and out of many men's perfections in a science he formed still one art.
So he taught us two offices together, how we ought to judge rightly of
others, and what we ought to imitate specially in ourselves. But all
this in vain without a natural wit and a poetical nature in chief. For
no man, so soon as he knows this or reads it, shall be able to write the
better; but as he is adapted to it by nature, he shall grow the perfecter
writer. He must have civil prudence and eloquence, and that whole; not
taken up by snatches or pieces in sentences or remnants when he will
handle business or carry counsels, as if he came then out of the
declaimer's gallery, or shadow furnished but out of the body of the
State, which commonly is the school of men.
_Virorum schola respub_. --_Lysippus_. --_Apelles_. --_Naevius_. --The poet is the
nearest borderer upon the orator, and expresseth all his virtues, though
he be tied more to numbers, is his equal in ornament, and above him in
his strengths. And (of the kind) the comic comes nearest; because in
moving the minds of men, and stirring of affections (in which oratory
shows, and especially approves her eminence), he chiefly excels. What
figure of a body was Lysippus ever able to form with his graver, or
Apelles to paint with his pencil, as the comedy to life expresseth so
many and various affections of the mind? There shall the spectator see
some insulting with joy, others fretting with melancholy, raging with
anger, mad with love, boiling with avarice, undone with riot, tortured
with expectation, consumed with fear; no perturbation in common life but
the orator finds an example of it in the scene. And then for the
elegancy of language, read but this inscription on the grave of a comic
poet:
"Immortales mortales si fas esset fiere,
Flerent divae Camoenae Naevium poetam;
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Obliti sunt Romae lingua loqui Latina. " {146a}
_L. AElius Stilo_. --_Plautus_. --_M. Varro_. --Or that modester testimony given
by Lucius AElius Stilo upon Plautus, who affirmed, "_Musas_, _si Latine
loqui voluissent_, _Plautino sermone fuisse loquuturas_. " And that
illustrious judgment by the most learned M. Varro of him, who pronounced
him the prince of letters and elegancy in the Roman language.
_Sophocles_. --I am not of that opinion to conclude a poet's liberty within
the narrow limits of laws which either the grammarians or philosophers
prescribe. For before they found out those laws there were many
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
_Demosthenes_. --_Pericles_. --_Alcibiades_. --Which of the Greeklings durst
ever give precepts to Demosthenes? or to Pericles, whom the age surnamed
Heavenly, because he seemed to thunder and lighten with his language? or
to Alcibiades, who had rather Nature for his guide than Art for his
master?
_Aristotle_. --But whatsoever nature at any time dictated to the most
happy, or long exercise to the most laborious, that the wisdom and
learning of Aristotle hath brought into an art, because he understood the
causes of things; and what other men did by chance or custom he doth by
reason; and not only found out the way not to err, but the short way we
should take not to err.
_Euripides_. --_Aristophanes_. --Many things in Euripides hath Aristophanes
wittily reprehended, not out of art, but out of truth. For Euripides is
sometimes peccant, as he is most times perfect. But judgment when it is
greatest, if reason doth not accompany it, is not ever absolute.
_Cens. Scal. in Lil. Germ_. --_Horace_. --To judge of poets is only the
faculty of poets; and not of all poets, but the best. _Nemo infelicius
de poetis judicavit_, _quam qui de poetis scripsit_. {148a} But some
will say critics are a kind of tinkers, that make more faults than they
mend ordinarily. See their diseases and those of grammarians. It is
true, many bodies are the worse for the meddling with; and the multitude
of physicians hath destroyed many sound patients with their wrong
practice. But the office of a true critic or censor is, not to throw by
a letter anywhere, or damn an innocent syllable, but lay the words
together, and amend them; judge sincerely of the author and his matter,
which is the sign of solid and perfect learning in a man. Such was
Horace, an author of much civility, and (if any one among the heathen can
be) the best master both of virtue and wisdom; an excellent and true
judge upon cause and reason, not because he thought so, but because he
knew so out of use and experience.
Cato, the grammarian, a defender of Lucilius. {149a}
"Cato grammaticus, Latina syren,
Qui solus legit, et facit poetas. "
Quintilian of the same heresy, but rejected.
{149b}
Horace, his judgment of Choerillus defended against Joseph Scaliger.
{149c} And of Laberius against Julius. {149d}
But chiefly his opinion of Plautus {149e} vindicated against many that
are offended, and say it is a hard censure upon the parent of all conceit
and sharpness. And they wish it had not fallen from so great a master
and censor in the art, whose bondmen knew better how to judge of Plautus
than any that dare patronise the family of learning in this age; who
could not be ignorant of the judgment of the times in which he lived,
when poetry and the Latin language were at the height; especially being a
man so conversant and inwardly familiar with the censures of great men
that did discourse of these things daily amongst themselves. Again, a
man so gracious and in high favour with the Emperor, as Augustus often
called him his witty manling (for the littleness of his stature), and, if
we may trust antiquity, had designed him for a secretary of estate, and
invited him to the palace, which he modestly prayed off and refused.
_Terence_. --_Menander_. Horace did so highly esteem Terence's comedies,
as he ascribes the art in comedy to him alone among the Latins, and joins
him with Menander.
Now, let us see what may be said for either, to defend Horace's judgment
to posterity and not wholly to condemn Plautus.
_The parts of a comedy and tragedy_. --The parts of a comedy are the same
with a tragedy, and the end is partly the same, for they both delight and
teach; the comics are called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , of the Greeks no less than the
tragics.
_Aristotle_. --_Plato_. --_Homer_. --Nor is the moving of laughter always the
end of comedy; that is rather a fowling for the people's delight, or
their fooling. For, as Aristotle says rightly, the moving of laughter is
a fault in comedy, a kind of turpitude that depraves some part of a man's
nature without a disease. As a wry face without pain moves laughter, or
a deformed vizard, or a rude clown dressed in a lady's habit and using
her actions; we dislike and scorn such representations which made the
ancient philosophers ever think laughter unfitting in a wise man. And
this induced Plato to esteem of Homer as a sacrilegious person, because
he presented the gods sometimes laughing. As also it is divinely said of
Aristotle, that to seen ridiculous is a part of dishonesty, and foolish.
_The wit of the old comedy_. --So that what either in the words or sense of
an author, or in the language or actions of men, is awry or depraved does
strangely stir mean affections, and provoke for the most part to
laughter. And therefore it was clear that all insolent and obscene
speeches, jests upon the best men, injuries to particular persons,
perverse and sinister sayings (and the rather unexpected) in the old
comedy did move laughter, especially where it did imitate any dishonesty,
and scurrility came forth in the place of wit, which, who understands the
nature and genius of laughter cannot but perfectly know.
_Aristophanes_. --_Plautus_. --Of which Aristophanes affords an ample
harvest, having not only outgone Plautus or any other in that kind, but
expressed all the moods and figures of what is ridiculous oddly. In
short, as vinegar is not accounted good until the wine be corrupted, so
jests that are true and natural seldom raise laughter with the beast the
multitude. They love nothing that is right and proper. The farther it
runs from reason or possibility with them the better it is.
_Socrates_. --_Theatrical wit_. --What could have made them laugh, like to
see Socrates presented, that example of all good life, honesty, and
virtue, to have him hoisted up with a pulley, and there play the
philosopher in a basket; measure how many foot a flea could skip
geometrically, by a just scale, and edify the people from the engine.
This was theatrical wit, right stage jesting, and relishing a playhouse,
invented for scorn and laughter; whereas, if it had savoured of equity,
truth, perspicuity, and candour, to have tasten a wise or a learned
palate,--spit it out presently! this is bitter and profitable: this
instructs and would inform us: what need we know any thing, that are
nobly born, more than a horse-race, or a hunting-match, our day to break
with citizens, and such innate mysteries?
_The cart_. --This is truly leaping from the stage to the tumbril again,
reducing all wit to the original dung-cart.
Of the magnitude and compass of any fable, epic or dramatic.
_What the measure of a fable is_. --_The fable or plot of a poem
defined_. --_The epic fable_, _differing from the dramatic_. --To the
resolving of this question we must first agree in the definition of the
fable. The fable is called the imitation of one entire and perfect
action, whose parts are so joined and knit together, as nothing in the
structure can be changed, or taken away, without impairing or troubling
the whole, of which there is a proportionable magnitude in the members.
As for example: if a man would build a house, he would first appoint a
place to build it in, which he would define within certain bounds; so in
the constitution of a poem, the action is aimed at by the poet, which
answers place in a building, and that action hath his largeness, compass,
and proportion. But as a court or king's palace requires other
dimensions than a private house, so the epic asks a magnitude from other
poems, since what is place in the one is action in the other; the
difference is an space. So that by this definition we conclude the fable
to be the imitation of one perfect and entire action, as one perfect and
entire place is required to a building. By perfect, we understand that
to which nothing is wanting, as place to the building that is raised, and
action to the fable that is formed. It is perfect, perhaps not for a
court or king's palace, which requires a greater ground, but for the
structure he would raise; so the space of the action may not prove large
enough for the epic fable, yet be perfect for the dramatic, and whole.
_What we understand by whole_. --Whole we call that, and perfect, which
hath a beginning, a midst, and an end. So the place of any building may
be whole and entire for that work, though too little for a palace. As to
a tragedy or a comedy, the action may be convenient and perfect that
would not fit an epic poem in magnitude. So a lion is a perfect creature
in himself, though it be less than that of a buffalo or a rhinocerote.
They differ but in specie: either in the kind is absolute; both have
their parts, and either the whole. Therefore, as in every body so in
every action, which is the subject of a just work, there is required a
certain proportionable greatness, neither too vast nor too minute. For
that which happens to the eyes when we behold a body, the same happens to
the memory when we contemplate an action. I look upon a monstrous giant,
as Tityus, whose body covered nine acres of land, and mine eye sticks
upon every part; the whole that consists of those parts will never be
taken in at one entire view. So in a fable, if the action be too great,
we can never comprehend the whole together in our imagination. Again, if
it be too little, there ariseth no pleasure out of the object; it affords
the view no stay; it is beheld, and vanisheth at once. As if we should
look upon an ant or pismire, the parts fly the sight, and the whole
considered is almost nothing. The same happens in action, which is the
object of memory, as the body is of sight. Too vast oppresseth the eyes,
and exceeds the memory; too little scarce admits either.
_What is the utmost bounds of a fable_. --Now in every action it behoves
the poet to know which is his utmost bound, how far with fitness and a
necessary proportion he may produce and determine it; that is, till
either good fortune change into the worse, or the worse into the better.
For as a body without proportion cannot be goodly, no more can the
action, either in comedy or tragedy, without his fit bounds: and every
bound, for the nature of the subject, is esteemed the best that is
largest, till it can increase no more; so it behoves the action in
tragedy or comedy to be let grow till the necessity ask a conclusion;
wherein two things are to be considered: first, that it exceed not the
compass of one day; next, that there be place left for digression and
art. For the episodes and digressions in a fable are the same that
household stuff and other furniture are in a house. And so far from the
measure and extent of a fable dramatic.
_What by one and entire_. --Now that it should be one and entire. One is
considerable two ways; either as it is only separate, and by itself, or
as being composed of many parts, it begins to be one as those parts grow
or are wrought together. That it should be one the first away alone, and
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves. Neither of which can possibly be, if the action be single
and separate, not composed of parts, which laid together in themselves,
with an equal and fitting proportion, tend to the same end; which thing
out of antiquity itself hath deceived many, and more this day it doth
deceive.
_Hercules_. --_Theseus_. --_Achilles_. --_Ulysses_. --_Homer and
Virgil_. --_AEneas_. --_Venus_. --So many there be of old that have thought the
action of one man to be one, as of Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Ulysses,
and other heroes; which is both foolish and false, since by one and the
same person many things may be severally done which cannot fitly be
referred or joined to the same end: which not only the excellent tragic
poets, but the best masters of the epic, Homer and Virgil, saw. For
though the argument of an epic poem be far more diffused and poured out
than that of tragedy, yet Virgil, writing of AEneas, hath pretermitted
many things. He neither tells how he was born, how brought up, how he
fought with Achilles, how he was snatched out of the battle by Venus; but
that one thing, how he came into Italy, he prosecutes in twelve books.
The rest of his journey, his error by sea, the sack of Troy, are put not
as the argument of the work, but episodes of the argument. So Homer laid
by many things of Ulysses, and handled no more than he saw tended to one
and the same end.
_Theseus_. --_Hercules_. --_Juvenal_. --_Codrus_. --_Sophocles_. --_Ajax_. --
_Ulysses_. --Contrary to which, and foolishly, those poets did, whom the
philosopher taxeth, of whom one gathered all the actions of Theseus,
another put all the labours of Hercules in one work. So did he whom
Juvenal mentions in the beginning, "hoarse Codrus," that recited a volume
compiled, which he called his Theseide, not yet finished, to the great
trouble both of his hearers and himself; amongst which there were many
parts had no coherence nor kindred one with another, so far they were
from being one action, one fable. For as a house, consisting of divers
materials, becomes one structure and one dwelling, so an action, composed
of divers parts, may become one fable, epic or dramatic. For example, in
a tragedy, look upon Sophocles, his Ajax: Ajax, deprived of Achilles'
armour, which he hoped from the suffrage of the Greeks, disdains; and,
growing impatient of the injury, rageth, and runs mad. In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN! most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that! to whom my country owes
The great renown, and name wherewith she goes!
Than thee the age sees not that thing more grave,
More high, more holy, that she more would crave.
What name, what skill, what faith hast thou in things!
What sight in searching the most antique springs!
What weight, and what authority in thy speech!
Men scarce can make that doubt, but thou canst teach.
Pardon free truth, and let thy modesty,
Which conquers all, be once o'ercome by thee.
Many of thine, this better could, than I;
But for their powers, accept my piety.
ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER.
HERE lies, to each her parents' ruth,
Mary, the daughter of their youth;
Yet, all heaven's gifts, being heaven's due,
It makes the father less to rue.
At six months' end, she parted hence,
With safety of her innocence;
Whose soul heaven's queen, whose name she bears,
In comfort of her mother's tears,
Hath placed amongst her virgin-train;
Where, while that severed doth remain,
This grave partakes the fleshly birth;
Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
ON MY FIRST SON.
FAREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh! could I lose all father, now! for why,
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon 'scaped world's, and flesh's rage,
And, if no other misery, yet age!
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry;
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.
TO FRANCIS BEAUMONT.
HOW I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy muse,
That unto me dost such religion use!
How I do fear myself, that am not worth
The least indulgent thought thy pen drops forth!
At once thou mak'st me happy, and unmak'st;
And giving largely to me, more thou takest!
What fate is mine, that so itself bereaves?
What art is thine, that so thy friend deceives?
When even there, where most thou praisest me,
For writing better, I must envy thee.
OF LIFE AND DEATH.
THE ports of death are sins; of life, good deeds:
Through which our merit leads us to our meeds.
How wilful blind is he, then, that would stray,
And hath it in his powers to make his way!
This world death's region is, the other life's:
And here it should be one of our first strifes,
So to front death, as men might judge us past it:
For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.
INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER.
TO-NIGHT, grave sir, both my poor house and I
Do equally desire your company;
Not that we think us worthy such a guest,
But that your worth will dignify our feast,
With those that come; whose grace may make that seem
Something, which else could hope for no esteem.
It is the fair acceptance, sir, creates
The entertainment perfect, not the cates.
Yet shall you have, to rectify your palate,
An olive, capers, or some bitter salad
Ushering the mutton; with a short-legged hen,
If we can get her, full of eggs, and then,
Lemons and wine for sauce: to these, a coney
Is not to be despaired of for our money;
And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks,
The sky not falling, think we may have larks.
I'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come:
Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some
May yet be there; and godwit if we can;
Knat, rail, and ruff, too. Howsoe'er, my man
Shall read a piece of Virgil, Tacitus,
Livy, or of some better book to us,
Of which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat;
And I'll profess no verses to repeat:
To this if aught appear, which I not know of,
That will the pastry, not my paper, show of.
Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be;
But that which most doth take my muse and me,
Is a pure cup of rich canary wine,
Which is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine:
Of which had Horace, or Anacreon tasted,
Their lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted.
Tobacco, nectar, or the Thespian spring,
Are all but Luther's beer, to this I sing.
Of this we will sup free, but moderately,
And we will have no Pooly' or Parrot by;
Nor shall our cups make any guilty men;
But at our parting we will be as when
We innocently met. No simple word
That shall be uttered at our mirthful board,
Shall make us sad next morning; or affright
The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night.
EPITAPH ON SALATHIEL PAVY,
A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL.
WEEP with me all you that read
This little story;
And know for whom a tear you shed,
Death's self is sorry.
'Twas a child that so did thrive
In grace and feature,
As heaven and nature seemed to strive
Which owned the creature.
Years he numbered scarce thirteen
When fates turned cruel;
Yet three filled zodiacs had he been
The stage's jewel;
And did act, what now we moan,
Old men so duly;
As, sooth, the Parcae thought him one
He played so truly.
So, by error to his fate
They all consented;
But viewing him since, alas, too late!
They have repented;
And have sought to give new birth,
In baths to steep him;
But, being so much too good for earth,
Heaven vows to keep him.
EPITAPH ON ELIZABETH, L. H.
WOULDST thou hear what man can say
In a little? Reader, stay.
Underneath this stone doth lie
As much beauty as could die
Which in life did harbour give
To more virtue than doth live.
If, at all, she had a fault
Leave it buried in this vault.
One name was Elizabeth,
The other let it sleep with death.
Fitter, where it died, to tell,
Than that it lived at all. Farewell.
EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.
UNDERNEATH this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:
Death! ere thou hast slain another,
Learned, and fair, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, AND WHAT HE HATH
LEFT US.
TO draw no envy, Shakspeare, on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;
While I confess thy writings to be such,
As neither man, nor muse can praise too much.
'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these ways
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;
For silliest ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but echoes right;
Or blind affection, which doth ne'er advance
The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;
Or crafty malice might pretend this praise,
And think to ruin, where it seemed to raise.
These are, as some infamous bawd, or whore,
Should praise a matron; what would hurt her more?
But thou art proof against them, and, indeed,
Above the ill-fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore, will begin: Soul of the age!
The applause! delight! and wonder of our stage!
My Shakspeare rise! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further off, to make thee room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses,
I mean with great, but disproportioned Muses;
For if I thought my judgment were of years,
I should commit thee surely with thy peers,
And tell how far thou didst our Lily outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlow's mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,
From thence to honour thee, I will not seek
For names: but call forth thundering Eschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us,
Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordoua dead,
To live again, to hear thy buskin tread,
And shake a stage; or, when thy socks were on,
Leave thee alone for the comparison
Of all that insolent Greece, or haughty Rome
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.
Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show,
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm!
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines!
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;
But antiquated and deserted lie,
As they were not of nature's family.
Yet must I not give nature all; thy art,
My gentle Shakspeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter nature be,
His heart doth give the fashion: and, that he
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat,
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat
Upon the Muse's anvil; turn the same,
And himself with it, that he thinks to frame;
Or for the laurel, he may gain a scorn;
For a good poet's made, as well as born.
And such wert thou! Look how the father's face
Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakspeare's mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turned, and true filed lines;
In each of which he seems to shake a lance,
As brandished at the eyes of ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Avon!
