Chapter 30

“greedie Scilla, under whom there layManie great bandogs, which her gird about.”

“greedie Scilla, under whom there lay

Manie great bandogs, which her gird about.”

These dogs were mastiffs, and their banning was barking or braying; but the dogs entitled bandogs in Whitney, though also mastiffs, were fastened by a band to a small cart, and trained to draw it. A large species of dog may be seen at this day in the towns of Belgium performing the very same service to which their ancestors had been accustomed above three centuries ago. Sambucus heads his description of the bandog’sstrength and labours with the sentence,—“ The dog complains that he is greatly wronged.”

Canis queritur nimium nocere.Sambucus, 1584.Non ego furaces nec apros inſector & vrſos,Applaudit nec hero blandula cauda dolo:Sub iuga ſed mittor validus, traho & eſſeda collo,Quæq́₃queleuant alios viribus vſque premor.Per vicos ductum me alij latratibus vrgent,Miratur caſus libera turba meos.Quàm fueram charus dominæ, ſi paruulus eſſem,Non menſsa, lecto nec caruiſſe velim.Sic multis vires, & opes nocuere ſuperbæ:Contentum modico & profuit eſſe ſtatu.

Canis queritur nimium nocere.

Sambucus, 1584.

Non ego furaces nec apros inſector & vrſos,Applaudit nec hero blandula cauda dolo:Sub iuga ſed mittor validus, traho & eſſeda collo,Quæq́₃queleuant alios viribus vſque premor.Per vicos ductum me alij latratibus vrgent,Miratur caſus libera turba meos.Quàm fueram charus dominæ, ſi paruulus eſſem,Non menſsa, lecto nec caruiſſe velim.Sic multis vires, & opes nocuere ſuperbæ:Contentum modico & profuit eſſe ſtatu.

Non ego furaces nec apros inſector & vrſos,

Applaudit nec hero blandula cauda dolo:

Sub iuga ſed mittor validus, traho & eſſeda collo,

Quæq́₃queleuant alios viribus vſque premor.

Per vicos ductum me alij latratibus vrgent,

Miratur caſus libera turba meos.

Quàm fueram charus dominæ, ſi paruulus eſſem,

Non menſsa, lecto nec caruiſſe velim.

Sic multis vires, & opes nocuere ſuperbæ:

Contentum modico & profuit eſſe ſtatu.

Seated near the toiling mastiff is a lady with two or three pet curs, and the large dog complains,—

“Were I a little whelp, to my lady how dear I should be; Of board and of bed I never the want should see.”[183]

Whitney, using the woodcut which adorns the editions of Sambucus both in 1564 and 1599, prefixes a loftier motto (p. 140),—Feriunt summos fulmina montes,—“Thunderbolts strike highest mountains;” and thus expatiates he,—

“The bandogge, fitte to matche the bull, or beare,With burthens greate, is loden euery daye:Or drawes the carte, and forc’d the yoke to weare:Where littell dogges doe passe their time in playe:And ofte, are bould to barke, and eeke to bite,When as before, they trembled at his sighte.Yet, when in bondes they see his thrauled state,Eache bragginge curre, beginnes to square, and brall:The freër sorte, doe wonder at his fate,And thinke them beste, that are of stature small:For they maie sleepe vppon their mistris bedde,And on their lappes, with daynties still bee fedde.The loftie pine, with axe is ouerthrowne,And is prepar’d, to serue the shipmans turne:When bushes stande, till stormes bee ouerblowne,And lightninges flashe, the mountaine toppes doth burne.All which doe shewe that pompe, and worldlie power,Makes monarches, markes: when varrijnge fate doth lower.”

“The bandogge, fitte to matche the bull, or beare,

With burthens greate, is loden euery daye:

Or drawes the carte, and forc’d the yoke to weare:

Where littell dogges doe passe their time in playe:

And ofte, are bould to barke, and eeke to bite,

When as before, they trembled at his sighte.

Yet, when in bondes they see his thrauled state,Eache bragginge curre, beginnes to square, and brall:The freër sorte, doe wonder at his fate,And thinke them beste, that are of stature small:For they maie sleepe vppon their mistris bedde,And on their lappes, with daynties still bee fedde.

Yet, when in bondes they see his thrauled state,

Eache bragginge curre, beginnes to square, and brall:

The freër sorte, doe wonder at his fate,

And thinke them beste, that are of stature small:

For they maie sleepe vppon their mistris bedde,

And on their lappes, with daynties still bee fedde.

The loftie pine, with axe is ouerthrowne,And is prepar’d, to serue the shipmans turne:When bushes stande, till stormes bee ouerblowne,And lightninges flashe, the mountaine toppes doth burne.All which doe shewe that pompe, and worldlie power,Makes monarches, markes: when varrijnge fate doth lower.”

The loftie pine, with axe is ouerthrowne,

And is prepar’d, to serue the shipmans turne:

When bushes stande, till stormes bee ouerblowne,

And lightninges flashe, the mountaine toppes doth burne.

All which doe shewe that pompe, and worldlie power,

Makes monarches, markes: when varrijnge fate doth lower.”

The mastiff is almost the only dog to which Shakespeare assigns any epithet of praise. InHenry V.(act iii. sc. 7, l. 130, vol. iv. p. 552), one of the French lords, Rambures, acknowleges “that island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.” It is the same quality in Achilles and Ajax on which Ulysses and Nestor count when “the old man eloquent,” inTroilus and Cressida(act i. sc. 3, l. 391, vol. vi. p. 155), says of the two warriors,—

“Two curs shall tame each other: pride aloneMust tarre[184]the mastiffs on, as ’twere their bone.”

“Two curs shall tame each other: pride alone

Must tarre[184]the mastiffs on, as ’twere their bone.”

It is, however, only in a passing allusion that Shakespeare introduces any mention of the bandog. He is describing the night “when Troy was set on fire” (2 Henry VI., act i. sc. 4, l. 16, vol. v. p. 129), and thus speaks of it,—

“The time when scritch-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl,When spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves.”

“The time when scritch-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl,

When spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves.”

We are all familiar with the expression “motley’s the only wear,” and probably we are disposed simply to refer it to the way in which that important personage was arrayed who exercised his fun and nonsense and shrewd wit in the courts of the kings and in the mansions of the nobles of the middle ages. The pictorial type exists in the Emblems both of Sambucus and of his copyist Whitney (p. 81), by whom the sage advice is imparted,—“Give trifles in charge to fools.”

Fatuis leuia commitito.Whitney, 1586.

Fatuis leuia commitito.

Whitney, 1586.

“The little childe, is pleas’de with cockhorse gaie,Althoughe he aske a courser of the beste:The ideot likes, with bables for to plaie,And is disgrac’de, when he is brauelie dreste:A motley coate, a cockescombe, or a bell,Hee better likes, then Iewelles that excell.So fondelinges vaine, that doe for honor sue,And seeke for roomes, that worthie men deserue:The prudent Prince, dothe give hem ofte their due,Whiche is faire wordes, that right their humors serue:For infantes hande, the rasor is vnfitte,And fooles vnmeete, in wisedomes seate to sitte.”

“The little childe, is pleas’de with cockhorse gaie,

Althoughe he aske a courser of the beste:

The ideot likes, with bables for to plaie,

And is disgrac’de, when he is brauelie dreste:

A motley coate, a cockescombe, or a bell,

Hee better likes, then Iewelles that excell.

So fondelinges vaine, that doe for honor sue,And seeke for roomes, that worthie men deserue:The prudent Prince, dothe give hem ofte their due,Whiche is faire wordes, that right their humors serue:For infantes hande, the rasor is vnfitte,And fooles vnmeete, in wisedomes seate to sitte.”

So fondelinges vaine, that doe for honor sue,

And seeke for roomes, that worthie men deserue:

The prudent Prince, dothe give hem ofte their due,

Whiche is faire wordes, that right their humors serue:

For infantes hande, the rasor is vnfitte,

And fooles vnmeete, in wisedomes seate to sitte.”

The word “motley” is often made use of in Shakespeare’s plays. Jaques, inAs You Like It(act ii. sc. 7, lines 12 and 42, vol. ii. pp. 405, 406), describes the “motley fool” “in a motley coat,”—

“I met a fool i’ the forest,A motley fool; a miserable world!As I do live by food, I met a fool;Who laid him down and bask’d him in the sun,And rail’d on Lady Fortune in good terms,In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.. . . . . .O that I were a fool!I am ambitious for a motley coat.”

“I met a fool i’ the forest,

A motley fool; a miserable world!

As I do live by food, I met a fool;

Who laid him down and bask’d him in the sun,

And rail’d on Lady Fortune in good terms,

In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.

. . . . . .

O that I were a fool!

I am ambitious for a motley coat.”

The Prologue toHenry VIII.(l. 15) alludes to the dress of the buffoons that were often introduced into the plays of the time,—

“a fellowIn a long motley coat, guarded with yellow.”

“a fellow

In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow.”

The fool inKing Lear(act i. sc. 4, 1. 93, vol. viii. p. 280) seems to have been dressed according to Whitney’s pattern, for, on giving his cap to Kent, he says,—

“Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.

Kent.Why, fool?

Fool.Why, for taking one’s part that’s out of favour: nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thou’lt catch cold shortly: there, take my coxcomb: why, this fellow hath banished two on’s daughters, and done the third a blessing against his will; if thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb.”

Drant’s translations[185]from Horace, published in 1567, convey to us a pretty accurate idea of the fool’s attire,—

“Well geue him cloth and let the foolGoe like a cockescome still.”

“Well geue him cloth and let the fool

Goe like a cockescome still.”

Perchance we know the lines in the “Faerie Queene” (vi. c. 7, 49, 1. 6),—

“And other whiles with bitter mockes and mowesHe would him scorne, that to his gentle myndWas much more grievous then the others blowes:Words sharpely wound, but greatest griefe of scorning growes.”

“And other whiles with bitter mockes and mowes

He would him scorne, that to his gentle mynd

Was much more grievous then the others blowes:

Words sharpely wound, but greatest griefe of scorning growes.”

But probably we are not prepared to trace some of the expressions in these lines to an Emblem-book origin. The graphic “mockes and mowes,” indeed, no Latin nor French can express; but our old friend Paradin, in the “Devises Heroiqves” (leaf 174), names an occasion on which very amusing “mockes and mowes” were exhibited; it was, moreover, an example that,—

“Things badly obtained are badly scattered.” As he narrates the tale,— “One day it happened that a huge ape, nourished in the house of a miser who found pleasure only in his crowns, after seeing through a hole his master playing with his crowns upon a table, obtained means of entering within by an open window, while the miser was at dinner. The ape took a stool, as his master did, but soon began to throw the silver out of the window into the street. How much the passers by kept laughing and the miser was vexed, I shall not attempt to say. I will not mock him among his neighbours who were picking up his bright crowns either for a nestegg, or for a son or a brother,—for a gamester, a driveller or a drunkard,—for I cannot but remember that fine and true saying which affirms, ‘Things badly gained are badly scattered.’”

This tale, derived by Paradin from Gabriel Symeoni’sImprese Heroiche et Morali, is assumed by Whitney as the groundwork of his very lively narrative (p. 169),Against Userers, of which we venture to give the whole.

Malè parta malè dilabuntur.In fæneratores.Whitney, 1586.

Malè parta malè dilabuntur.In fæneratores.

Malè parta malè dilabuntur.

In fæneratores.

Whitney, 1586.

“An vserer, whose Idol was his goulde,Within his house, a peeuishe ape retain’d:A seruaunt fitte, for suche a miser oulde,Of whome both mockes, and apishe mowes, he gain’d.Thus, euerie daie he made his master sporte,And to his clogge, was chained in the courte.At lengthe it hap’d? while greedie graundsir din’de?The ape got loose, and founde a windowe ope:Where in he leap’de, and all about did finde,TheGod, wherein the Miser put his hope?Which soone he broch’d, and forthe with speede did flinge,And did delighte on stones to heare it ringe?The sighte, righte well the passers by did please,Who did reioyce to finde these goulden crommes:That all their life, their pouertie did ease.Of goodes ill got, loe heere the fruicte that commes.Looke herevppon, you that haveMidasminte,And bee posseste with hartes as harde as flinte.Shut windowes close, leste apes doe enter in,And doe disperse your goulde, you doe adore.But woulde you learne to keepe, that you do winne?Then get it well, and hourde it not in store.If not: no boultes, nor brasen barres will serve,ForGodwill waste your stocke, and make you sterue.”

“An vserer, whose Idol was his goulde,

Within his house, a peeuishe ape retain’d:

A seruaunt fitte, for suche a miser oulde,

Of whome both mockes, and apishe mowes, he gain’d.

Thus, euerie daie he made his master sporte,

And to his clogge, was chained in the courte.

At lengthe it hap’d? while greedie graundsir din’de?The ape got loose, and founde a windowe ope:Where in he leap’de, and all about did finde,TheGod, wherein the Miser put his hope?Which soone he broch’d, and forthe with speede did flinge,And did delighte on stones to heare it ringe?

At lengthe it hap’d? while greedie graundsir din’de?

The ape got loose, and founde a windowe ope:

Where in he leap’de, and all about did finde,

TheGod, wherein the Miser put his hope?

Which soone he broch’d, and forthe with speede did flinge,

And did delighte on stones to heare it ringe?

The sighte, righte well the passers by did please,Who did reioyce to finde these goulden crommes:That all their life, their pouertie did ease.Of goodes ill got, loe heere the fruicte that commes.Looke herevppon, you that haveMidasminte,And bee posseste with hartes as harde as flinte.

The sighte, righte well the passers by did please,

Who did reioyce to finde these goulden crommes:

That all their life, their pouertie did ease.

Of goodes ill got, loe heere the fruicte that commes.

Looke herevppon, you that haveMidasminte,

And bee posseste with hartes as harde as flinte.

Shut windowes close, leste apes doe enter in,And doe disperse your goulde, you doe adore.But woulde you learne to keepe, that you do winne?Then get it well, and hourde it not in store.If not: no boultes, nor brasen barres will serve,ForGodwill waste your stocke, and make you sterue.”

Shut windowes close, leste apes doe enter in,

And doe disperse your goulde, you doe adore.

But woulde you learne to keepe, that you do winne?

Then get it well, and hourde it not in store.

If not: no boultes, nor brasen barres will serve,

ForGodwill waste your stocke, and make you sterue.”

Poor Caliban, in theTempest(act ii. sc. 2, l. 7, vol. i. p. 36), complains of Prospero’s spirits that,—

“For every trifle are they set upon me;Sometimes like apes, that mow and chatter at me,And after bite me.”

“For every trifle are they set upon me;

Sometimes like apes, that mow and chatter at me,

And after bite me.”

And Helena, to her rival Hermia (Midsummer Night’s Dream, act iii. sc. 2, l. 237, vol. ii. p. 240), urges a very similar charge,—

“Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up.”

“Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,

Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;

Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up.”

There is not, indeed, any imitation of the jocose tale about the ape[186]and the miser’s gold, and it is simply in “the mockes and apishe mowes” that any similarity exists. These, however, enter into the dialogue between Imogen and Iachimo (Cymbeline, act i. sc. 6, l. 30, vol. ix. p. 184); she bids him welcome, and he replies,—

“Iach.Thanks, fairest lady.What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyesTo see this vaulted arch and the rich cropOf sea and land, which can distinguish ’twixtThe fiery orbs above and the twinn’d stonesUpon the number’d beach, and can we notPartition make with spectacles so precious’Twixt fair and foul?Imo.What makes your admiration?Iach.It cannot be i’ the eye; for apes and monkeys,’Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way andContemn with mows the other.”

“Iach.Thanks, fairest lady.

What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes

To see this vaulted arch and the rich crop

Of sea and land, which can distinguish ’twixt

The fiery orbs above and the twinn’d stones

Upon the number’d beach, and can we not

Partition make with spectacles so precious

’Twixt fair and foul?

Imo.What makes your admiration?

Iach.It cannot be i’ the eye; for apes and monkeys,

’Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way and

Contemn with mows the other.”

There is a fine thought in Furmer’sUse and Abuse of Wealth, first published in Latin in 1575, and afterwards, in 1585, translated into Dutch by Coornhert; it is respecting the distribution of poverty and riches by the Supreme wisdom. The subject (atp. 6) isUndeserved Poverty,—“The Lord maketh poor, and enriches.” (See Plate XVI.)

“The riches which Job had as God bestows,So giver of poverty doth God appear.Who thinks each good because from God each flows,Shall always each with bravest spirit bear.”

“The riches which Job had as God bestows,

So giver of poverty doth God appear.

Who thinks each good because from God each flows,

Shall always each with bravest spirit bear.”

Plate 16IIII.Pavpertas immerita.Dominus pauperem facit & ditat.1.Regum2, 7.Vt Deus auctor opum quas olim Iobus habebat,Sic paupertatis tum Deus auctor erat.Qui bonum vtrumq́₃queputat, Dominus quia donat vtrumque,In animo forti ſemper vtrumque feret.Providence making Rich and making PoorCoörnhert, 1585.

Plate 16

IIII.

Pavpertas immerita.

Dominus pauperem facit & ditat.

1.Regum2, 7.

Vt Deus auctor opum quas olim Iobus habebat,Sic paupertatis tum Deus auctor erat.Qui bonum vtrumq́₃queputat, Dominus quia donat vtrumque,In animo forti ſemper vtrumque feret.

Vt Deus auctor opum quas olim Iobus habebat,

Sic paupertatis tum Deus auctor erat.

Qui bonum vtrumq́₃queputat, Dominus quia donat vtrumque,

In animo forti ſemper vtrumque feret.

Providence making Rich and making PoorCoörnhert, 1585.

In the device, the clouds are opened to bestow fulness upon the poor man, and emptiness upon the rich. By brief allusion chiefly does Shakespeare express either of these acts; but in theTempest(act iii. sc. 2, l. 135, vol. i. p. 48), Caliban, after informing Stephano that “the isle is full of noises,” and that “sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears,” adds,—

“And then, in dreaming,The clouds methought would open, and show richesReady to drop upon me; that when I waked,I cried to dream again.”

“And then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches

Ready to drop upon me; that when I waked,

I cried to dream again.”

A very similar picture and sentiment to those in Coornhert are presented by Gloucester’s words inKing Lear(act iv. sc. 1, l. 64, vol. viii. p. 366),—

“Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens’ plaguesHave humbled to all strokes: that I am wretchedMakes thee the happier. Heavens, deal so still!Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,That slaves your ordinance, that will not seeBecause he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;So distribution should undo excess,And each man have enough.”

“Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens’ plagues

Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched

Makes thee the happier. Heavens, deal so still!

Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,

That slaves your ordinance, that will not see

Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;

So distribution should undo excess,

And each man have enough.”

Coornhert’s title, “Recht Ghebruyck ende Misbruyck vantydlycke have,”—The right use and misuse of worldly wealth,—and, indeed, his work, have their purport well carried out by the king in2 Henry IV.(act iv. sc. 4, l. 103, vol iv. p. 450),—

“Will Fortune never come with both hands full,But write her fair words still in foulest letters?She either gives a stomach and no food;Such are the poor, in health; or else a feastAnd takes away the stomach; such are the rich.That have abundance and enjoy it not.”

“Will Fortune never come with both hands full,

But write her fair words still in foulest letters?

She either gives a stomach and no food;

Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast

And takes away the stomach; such are the rich.

That have abundance and enjoy it not.”

The fine thoughts of Ulysses, too, inTroilus and Cressida(act iii. sc. 3, l. 196, vol. vi. p. 201), have right and propriety here to be quoted,—

“The providence that’s in a watchful stateKnows almost every grain of Plutus’ gold,Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps,Keeps place with thought and almost like the godsDoes thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.There is a mystery, with whom relationDurst never meddle, in the soul of state;Which hath an operation more divineThan breath or pen can give expressure to.”

“The providence that’s in a watchful state

Knows almost every grain of Plutus’ gold,

Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps,

Keeps place with thought and almost like the gods

Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.

There is a mystery, with whom relation

Durst never meddle, in the soul of state;

Which hath an operation more divine

Than breath or pen can give expressure to.”

Petruchio’s thought, perchance, may be mentioned in this connection (Taming of the Shrew, act iv. sc. 3, l. 165, vol. iii. p. 78), when he declares his will to go to Kate’s father,—

“Even in these honest mean habiliments:Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;For ’tis the mind that makes the body rich:And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,So honour peereth in the meanest habit.”

“Even in these honest mean habiliments:

Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;

For ’tis the mind that makes the body rich:

And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,

So honour peereth in the meanest habit.”

Plate 17.Time Flying from “Emblemata” by Otho Vænius p 206 ed 1612

Plate 17.

Time Flying from “Emblemata” by Otho Vænius p 206 ed 1612

The Horatian thought, “Time flies irrevocable.” so well depicted by Otho Vænius in hisEmblemata(edition 1612, p. 206), has only general parallels in Shakespeare; and yet it is a thought with which our various dissertations on Shakespeare and the Emblematists may find no unfitting end. The Christian artist far excels the Heathen poet. Horace, in hisOdes(bk. iv. carmen 7), declares,—

“Immortalia ne speres, monet annus & almumQuæ rapit hora diem:Frigora mitescunt Zephyris: Ver proterit ÆstasInteritura, simulPomifer Autumnus fruges effuderit: & moxBruma recurrit iners.”

“Immortalia ne speres, monet annus & almum

Quæ rapit hora diem:

Frigora mitescunt Zephyris: Ver proterit Æstas

Interitura, simul

Pomifer Autumnus fruges effuderit: & mox

Bruma recurrit iners.”

i.e.“Not to hope immortal things, the year admonishes, and the hourwhich steals the genial day. By western winds the frosts grow mild; thesummer soon to perish supplants the spring, then fruitful autumn pours forthhis stores, and soon sluggish winter comes again.”

i.e.“Not to hope immortal things, the year admonishes, and the hour

which steals the genial day. By western winds the frosts grow mild; the

summer soon to perish supplants the spring, then fruitful autumn pours forth

his stores, and soon sluggish winter comes again.”

These, however, the artist makes (Henry V., act iv. sc. 1, l. 9, vol. v. p. 555),—

“Preachers to us all, admonishingThat we should dress us fairly for our end.”

“Preachers to us all, admonishing

That we should dress us fairly for our end.”

Youthful Time (seePlate XVII.) is leading on the seasons,—a childlike spring, a matured summer wreathed with corn, an autumn crowned with vines, and a decrepid winter,—and yet the emblem of immortality lies at their feet; and the lesson is taught, as our Dramatist expresses it (Hamlet, act i. sc. 2, l. 71, vol. viii. p. 14),—

“All that lives must diePassing through nature to eternity.”

“All that lives must die

Passing through nature to eternity.”

The irrevocable time flies on, and surely it has its comment inMacbeth(act v. sc. 5, l. 19, vol. vii. p. 512),—

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death.”

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death.”

Or, in Hotspur’s words (1 Henry IV., act v. sc. 2, l. 82, vol. iv. p. 337),—

“O gentlemen, the time of life is short!To spend that shortness basely were too long,If life did ride upon a dial’s point,Still ending at the arrival of an hour.”

“O gentlemen, the time of life is short!

To spend that shortness basely were too long,

If life did ride upon a dial’s point,

Still ending at the arrival of an hour.”

And for eternity’s Emblem,[187]the Egyptians, we are told (Horapollo, i. 1), made golden figures of the Basilisk, with its tail covered by the rest of its body; so Otho Vænius presents the device to us. But Shakespeare, without symbol, names the desire, the feeling, the fact itself; he makes Cleopatra exclaim (Antony and Cleopatra, act v. sc. 2, l. 277, vol. ix. p. 150), “I have immortal longings in me,” “I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life.”

When Romeo asks (Romeo and Juliet, act v. sc. 1, l. 15, vol. vii. p. 117),—

“How fares my Juliet? that I ask again;For nothing can be ill, if she be well;”

“How fares my Juliet? that I ask again;

For nothing can be ill, if she be well;”

with the force of entire faith the answer is conceived which Balthasar returns,—

“Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument,And her immortal part with angels lives.”

“Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:

Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument,

And her immortal part with angels lives.”

We thus know in what sense to understand the words fromMacbeth(act iii. sc. 2, l. 22, vol. vii. p. 467),—

“Duncan is in his grave;After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,Can touch him further.”

“Duncan is in his grave;

After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well;

Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,

Can touch him further.”

Therefore, in spite of quickly fading years, in spite of age irrevocable, and (Love’s Labours Lost, act i. sc. 1, l. 4, vol. ii. p. 97),—

“In spite of cormorant devouring Time,The endeavour of this present breath may buyThat honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge,And make us heirs of all eternity.”

“In spite of cormorant devouring Time,

The endeavour of this present breath may buy

That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge,

And make us heirs of all eternity.”

A briefresumé, or recapitulation, will now place the nature of our argument more clearly in review.

When writing and its kindred arts of designing and colouring were the only means in use for the making and illustrating of books, drawings of an emblematical character were frequently executed both for the ornamenting and for the fuller explanation of various works.

From the origin of printing, books of an emblematical character, as theBibles of the Poorand other block-books, were generally known in the civilised portions of Europe; they constituted, to a considerable degree, the illustrated literature of their age, and enjoyed wide fame and popularity.

Not many years after printing with moveable types had been invented, Emblem works as a distinct species of literatureappeared; and of these some of the earliest were soon translated into English.

It is on undoubted record that the use of Emblems, derived from German, Latin, French, and Italian sources, prevailed in England for purposes of ornamentation of various kinds; that the works of Brandt, Giovio, Symeoni, and Paradin were translated into English; and that there were several English writers or collectors of Emblems within Shakespeare’s lifetime,—as Daniell, Whitney, Willet, Combe, and Peacham.

Shakespeare possessed great artistic powers, so as to appreciate and graphically describe the beauties and qualities of excellence in painting, sculpture, and music. His attainments, too, in the languages enabled him to make use of the Emblem-books that had been published in Latin, Italian, and French, and possibly in Spanish.

In everything, except in the actual pictorial device, Shakespeare exhibited himself as a skilled designer,—indeed, a writer of Emblems; he followed the very methods on which this species of literary composition was conducted, and needed only the engraver’s aid to make perfect designs.

Freest among mortals were the Emblem writers in borrowing one from the other, and from any source which might serve the construction of their ingenious devices; and they generally did this without acknowledgment. An Emblem once launched into the world of letters was treated as a fable or a proverb,—it became for the time and the occasion the property of whoever chose to take it. In using Emblems, therefore, Shakespeare is no more to be regarded as a copyist than his contemporaries are, but simply as one who exercised a recognised right to appropriate what he needed of the general stock of Emblem notions.

There are several direct References in Shakespeare, at least six, in which, by the closest description and by express quotation, he identifies himself with the Emblem writers who preceded him.

But besides these direct References, there are several collateral ones, in which ideas and expressions are employed similar to those of Emblematists, and which indicate a knowledge of Emblem art.

And, finally, the parallelisms and correspondencies are very numerous between devices and turns of thought, and even between the words of the Emblem writers and passages in Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Dramas; and these receive their most appropriaterationaleon the supposition that they were suggested to his mind through reading the Emblem-books, or through familiarity with the Emblem literature.

Now, such References and Coincidences are not to be regarded as purely accidental, neither can all of them be urged with entire confidence. Some persons even may be disposed to class them among the similarities which of necessity arise when writers of genius and learning take up the same themes, and call to their aid all the resources of their memory and research.

I presume not, however, to say that my arguments and statements are absolute proofs, except in a few instances. What I maintain is this: that the Emblem writers, and our own Whitney especially, do supply many curious and highly interesting illustrations of the Shakespearean dramas, and that several of them, probably, were in the mind of the Dramatist as he wrote.

To show that the theory carried out in these pages is neither singular nor unsupported by high authorities, it should not be forgotten that the very celebrated critic, Francis Douce, in hisIllustrations of Shakespeare(pp. 302, 392), maintains that Paradin was the source of the torch-emblem in thePericles(act ii. sc. 2, l. 32): the “wreath of victory,” and “gold on the touchstone,” have also the same source. To Holbein’sSimulachresNoel Humphreys assigns the origin of the expression inOthello, “Put out the light—and then, put out the light;” and in the same work, Dr. Alfred Woltmann, inHolbein and his Times(vol. ii.p. 121), finds the origin of Death’s fool inMeasure for Measure: and Shakespeare’s comparisons of “Death and Sleep” may be traced to Jean de Vauzelle, who wrote the Dissertations forLes Simulachres. Charles Knight, also, in hisPictorial Shakspere(vol. i. p. 154), to illustrate the lines inHamlet(act iv. sc. 5, l. 142) respecting “the kind life-rendering pelican,” quotes Whitney’s stanza, and copies his woodcut, as statedante, p. 396, note.

Though not a learned man, as Erasmus or Beza was, Shakespeare, as every page of his wonderful writings shows, must have been a reading man, and well acquainted with the current literature of his age and country. Whitney’sEmblemeswere well known in 1612 to the author of “Minerva Britanna,” and boasted of in 1598 by Thomas Meres, in hisWit’s Commonwealth, as fit to be compared with any of the most eminent Latin writers of Emblems, and dedicated to many of the distinguished men of Elizabeth’s reign; and they could scarcely have been unknown to Shakespeare even had there been no similarities of thought and expression established between the two writers.

Nor after the testimonies which have been adduced, and comparing the picture-emblems submitted for consideration with the passages from Shakespeare which are their parallels, as far as words can be to drawings, are we required to treat it as nothing but a conjecture that Shakespeare, like others of his countrymen, possessed at least a general acquaintance with the popular Emblem-books of his own generation and of that which went before.

The study of the old Emblem-books certainly possesses little of the charm which the unsurpassed natural power of Shakespeare has infused into his dramas, and which time does not diminish; yet that study is no barren pursuit for such as will seek for “virtue’s fair form and graces excellent,” or who desire to note how the learning of the age disported itself at its hours of recreation, and how, with few exceptions, it held firm itsallegiance to purity of thought, and reverenced the spirit of religion. Should there be any whom these pages incite to gain a fuller knowledge of the Emblem literature, I would say in the words of Arthur Bourchier, Whitney’s steady friend,—

“Goe forwarde then in happie time, and thou shalt surely finde,With coste, and labour well set out, a banquet for thy minde,A storehouse for thy wise conceiptes, a whetstone for thy witte:Where, eache man maye with daintie choice his fancies finely fitte.”

“Goe forwarde then in happie time, and thou shalt surely finde,

With coste, and labour well set out, a banquet for thy minde,

A storehouse for thy wise conceiptes, a whetstone for thy witte:

Where, eache man maye with daintie choice his fancies finely fitte.”

So much for the early cultivators of Emblematical mottoes, devices, and poesies, and for him whom Hugh Holland, and Ben Jonson, and “The friendly Admirer of his Endowments,” salute as “The Famous Scenicke Poet,” “The Sweet Swan of Avon,” “The Starre of Poets,”—

“Soule of the Age!The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage!”

“Soule of the Age!

The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage!”

“To the memory of my beloved, the Author,Mr. William Shakespeare:and what he has left us;”—such the dedication when Jonson declared,—

“Thou art a Moniment without a tombe.. . . . . .And art aliue still, while thy Booke doth liueAnd we haue wits to read, and praise to giue.”

“Thou art a Moniment without a tombe.

. . . . . .

And art aliue still, while thy Booke doth liue

And we haue wits to read, and praise to giue.”

Giovio, ed. 1556.

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