Section III.EMBLEMS FOR MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS.

“But where’s the great Alcides of the field,Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,Created, for his rare success in arms,Great Earl of Washford, Waterford and Valence;Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield,Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdun of Alton,Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of Sheffield,The thrice-victorious Lord of Falconbridge:Knight of the noble order of Saint George,Worthy Saint Michael and the Golden Fleece;Great marshal to Henry the SixthOf all his wars within the realm of France?”

“But where’s the great Alcides of the field,

Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,

Created, for his rare success in arms,

Great Earl of Washford, Waterford and Valence;

Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield,

Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdun of Alton,

Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of Sheffield,

The thrice-victorious Lord of Falconbridge:

Knight of the noble order of Saint George,

Worthy Saint Michael and the Golden Fleece;

Great marshal to Henry the Sixth

Of all his wars within the realm of France?”

Paradin, ed. 1562, p. 12v.

From Paradin we learn that the Order of St. Michael had for its mottoImmensi tremor Oceani,—“The trembling of the immeasurable ocean,”—and for its badge the adjoining collar.—

“This order was instituted by Louis XI., King of France, in the year 1469.[123]He directed for its ensign and device a collar of gold, made with shells laced together in a double row, held firm upon little chains or meshes of gold; in the middle of which collar on a rock was a gold-image of Saint Michael, appearing in the front. And this the king did (with respect to the Archangel) in imitation of King Charles VII. his father; who had formerly borne that image as his ensign, even at his entry into Rouen. By reason always (it is said) of the apparition, on the bridge of Orleans, of Saint Michael defending the city against the English in a famous attack. This collar then of the royal order and device of the Knights of the same is the sign or true ensign of their nobleness, virtue, concord, fidelity and friendship; Pledge, reward and remuneration of their valour and prowess. By the richness and purity of the gold are pointed out their high rank and grandeur;by the similarity or likeness of its shells, their equality, or the equal fraternity of the Order (following the Roman senators, who also bore shells on their arms for an ensign and a device); by the double lacing of them together, their invincible and indissoluble union; and by the image of Saint Michael, victory over the most dangerous enemy. A device then instituted for the solace, protection and assurance of this so noble a kingdom; and, on the contrary, for the terror, dread and confusion of the enemies of the same.”

Precium non vile laborum,—“No mean reward of labours.”Paradin, 1562.

Precium non vile laborum,—“No mean reward of labours.”

Precium non vile laborum,—

“No mean reward of labours.”

Paradin, 1562.

Paradin (f. 25) is also our authority with respect to the Order of the Golden Fleece, its motto and device being thus presented:—

“The order of the Golden Fleece,” says Paradin, “was instituted by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, styled the Good, in the year 1429, for which he named[124]twenty-four Knights without reproach, besides himself, as chief and founder, and gave to each one of them for ensign of the said Order a Collar of gold composed of his device of the Fusil, with the Fleece of gold appearing in front; and this (as people say) was in imitation of that which Jason acquired in Colchis, taken customarily for Virtue, long so much loved by this good Duke, that he merited this surname of Goodness, and other praises contained on his Epitaph, where there is mention made of this Order of the Fleece, in the person of the Duke saying,—

'Pour maintenir l’Eglise, qui est de Dieu maison,J’ai mis sus le noble Ordre, qu’on nomme la Toison.'”

'Pour maintenir l’Eglise, qui est de Dieu maison,

J’ai mis sus le noble Ordre, qu’on nomme la Toison.'”

The expedition of the Argonauts, and Jason’s carrying off of the Golden Fleece may here be appropriately mentioned; they are referred to by the Emblem writers, as well as the exploit of Phrixus, the brother of Helle, in swimming across the Hellespont on the golden-fleeced ram. TheformerWhitney introduces when describing the then new and wonderful circumnavigation of the globe by Sir Francis Drake (p. 203),—

“LetGræciathen forbeare, to praise herIasonboulde?Who throughe the watchfull dragons pass’d, to win the fleece of goulde.Since byMedeashelpe, they weare inchaunted all,AndIasonwithout perrilles, pass’de: the conqueste therfore small?But, hee, of whome I write, this noble mindedDrake,Did bringe away his goulden fleece, when thousand eies did wake.”

“LetGræciathen forbeare, to praise herIasonboulde?

Who throughe the watchfull dragons pass’d, to win the fleece of goulde.

Since byMedeashelpe, they weare inchaunted all,

AndIasonwithout perrilles, pass’de: the conqueste therfore small?

But, hee, of whome I write, this noble mindedDrake,

Did bringe away his goulden fleece, when thousand eies did wake.”

Diues indoctus.Alciat, 1551.Tranat aquas reſidẽs precioſo in vellere Phrixus,Et flauam impauidus per mare ſcandit ouem.Ecquid id est? vir ſenſu hebeti, ſed diuite gaza,Coniugis aut ſerui quem regit arbitrium.

Diues indoctus.

Alciat, 1551.

Tranat aquas reſidẽs precioſo in vellere Phrixus,Et flauam impauidus per mare ſcandit ouem.Ecquid id est? vir ſenſu hebeti, ſed diuite gaza,Coniugis aut ſerui quem regit arbitrium.

Tranat aquas reſidẽs precioſo in vellere Phrixus,

Et flauam impauidus per mare ſcandit ouem.

Ecquid id est? vir ſenſu hebeti, ſed diuite gaza,

Coniugis aut ſerui quem regit arbitrium.

Thelatterforms the subject of one of Alciat’s Emblems, edition Antwerp, 1581, Emb. 189, in which, seated on the precious fleece, Phrixus crosses the waters, and fearless in the midst of the sea mounts the tawny sheep, the type of “the rich man unlearned.” Whitney (p. 214) substitutesIn diuitem, indoctum,—“To the rich man, unlearned,”—and thus paraphrases the original,—

“On goulden fleece, did Phryxus passe the waue,And landed safe, within the wished baie:By which is ment, the fooles that riches haue,Supported are, and borne throughe Lande, and Sea:And those enrich’de by wife, or seruauntes goodds,Are borne by them like Phryxus through the floodds.”

“On goulden fleece, did Phryxus passe the waue,

And landed safe, within the wished baie:

By which is ment, the fooles that riches haue,

Supported are, and borne throughe Lande, and Sea:

And those enrich’de by wife, or seruauntes goodds,

Are borne by them like Phryxus through the floodds.”

In a similar emblem, Beza, edition Geneva, 1580, Emb. 3, alludes to the daring deed of Phrixus,—

“Aurea mendaci vates non vnicvs oreVellera phrixeæ commemorauit ouis.Nos, te, Christe, agnum canimus. Nam diuite gestasTu verè veras vellere solus opes.”

“Aurea mendaci vates non vnicvs ore

Vellera phrixeæ commemorauit ouis.

Nos, te, Christe, agnum canimus. Nam diuite gestas

Tu verè veras vellere solus opes.”

Thus rendered in the French version,—

“Maint poete discourt de sa bouche menteuseSur vne toison d’or. Nous, à iuste raison,Te chantons, Christ, agneau, dont la riche toisonEst l’vnique thresor qui rend l’Eglise heureuse.”

“Maint poete discourt de sa bouche menteuse

Sur vne toison d’or. Nous, à iuste raison,

Te chantons, Christ, agneau, dont la riche toison

Est l’vnique thresor qui rend l’Eglise heureuse.”

TheMerchant of Venice(act. i. sc. 1, l. 161, vol. ii. p. 284) presents Shakespeare’s counterpart to the Emblematists; it is in Bassanio’s laudatory description of Portia, as herself the golden fleece,—

“In Belmont is a lady richly left;And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from her eyesI did receive fair speechless messages:Her name is Portia; nothing undervaluedTo Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia:Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;For the four winds blow in from every coastRenowned suitors: and her sunny locksHang on her temples like a golden fleece:Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos strand,And many Jasons come in quest of her.”

“In Belmont is a lady richly left;

And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,

Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from her eyes

I did receive fair speechless messages:

Her name is Portia; nothing undervalued

To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia:

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;

For the four winds blow in from every coast

Renowned suitors: and her sunny locks

Hang on her temples like a golden fleece:

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos strand,

And many Jasons come in quest of her.”

To this may be added a line or two by Gratiano, l. 241, p. 332,—

“How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?I know he will be glad of our success;We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.”

“How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?

I know he will be glad of our success;

We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.”

The heraldry of Imaginative Devices in its very nature offers a wide field where the fancy may disport itself. Here things the most incongruous may meet, and the very contrariety only justify their being placed side by side.

Let us begin with the device, as given in the“Tetrastichi Morali,”p. 56, edition Lyons, 1561, by Giovio and Symeoni, used between 1498 and 1515; it is the device

DI LVIGI XII. REDI FRANCIA.Giovio and Symeoni, 1561.

DI LVIGI XII. REDI FRANCIA.

DI LVIGI XII. RE

DI FRANCIA.

Giovio and Symeoni, 1561.

to the motto, “Hand to hand and afar off”—

Cominus & eminus.Di lontano & da preſſo il Re Luigi,Feri’l nimico, & lo riduſſe à tale,Che dall’ Indico al lito OccidentaleDi ſua virtù ſi veggiono i veſtigi.

Cominus & eminus.

Di lontano & da preſſo il Re Luigi,Feri’l nimico, & lo riduſſe à tale,Che dall’ Indico al lito OccidentaleDi ſua virtù ſi veggiono i veſtigi.

Di lontano & da preſſo il Re Luigi,

Feri’l nimico, & lo riduſſe à tale,

Che dall’ Indico al lito Occidentale

Di ſua virtù ſi veggiono i veſtigi.

A Porcupine is the badge, and the stanza declares,—

“From far and from near the King Louis,Smites the enemy and so reduces him,That from the Indian to the Western shore,Of his valour the traces are seen.”

“From far and from near the King Louis,

Smites the enemy and so reduces him,

That from the Indian to the Western shore,

Of his valour the traces are seen.”

Camerarius with the same motto and the like device testifies that this was the badge of Louis XI., king of France, to whose praise he also devotes a stanza,—

“Cominus ut pugnat jaculis, atq. eminus histrix,Rex bonus esto armis consiliisque potens.”

“Cominus ut pugnat jaculis, atq. eminus histrix,

Rex bonus esto armis consiliisque potens.”

i.e.

“As close at hand and far off the porcupine fights with its spines,Let a good king be powerful in arms and in counsels.”

“As close at hand and far off the porcupine fights with its spines,

Let a good king be powerful in arms and in counsels.”

It was this Louis who laid claim to Milan, and carried Ludovic Sforza prisoner to France. He defeated the Genoese after their revolt, and by great personal bravery gained the victory of Agnadel over the Venetians in 1509. At the same time he made war on Spain, England, Rome, and Switzerland, and was in very deed the porcupine darting quills on every side.

The well known application inHamlet(act. i. sc. 5, l. 13, vol. viii. p. 35) of the chief characteristic of this vexing creature is part of the declaration which the Ghost makes to the Prince of Denmark,—

“But that I am forbidTo tell the secrets of my prison-house,I could a tale unfold whose lightest wordWould harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,Thy knotted and combined locks to partAnd each particular hair to stand an end,Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.”

“But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,

Thy knotted and combined locks to part

And each particular hair to stand an end,

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.”

And of “John Cade of Ashford,” in2 Henry VI.(act. iii. sc. 1, l. 360, vol. v. p. 162), the Duke of York avers,—

“In Ireland I have seen this stubborn CadeOppose himself against a troop of kernes;And fought so long, ’till that his thighs with dartsWere almost like a sharp-quill’d porcupine.”

“In Ireland I have seen this stubborn Cade

Oppose himself against a troop of kernes;

And fought so long, ’till that his thighs with darts

Were almost like a sharp-quill’d porcupine.”

From the same source, Giovio’s and Symeoni’s“Sententiose Imprese,”Lyons, 1561, p. 115, we also derive the cognizance,—

DEL CAPITANO GIROLAMOMATTEI ROMANO.Giovio and Symeoni, 1561.Diuora il ſtruzzo con ingorda furiaIl ferro, & lo ſmaltiſce poi pian piano,Coſi (come dipinge il buon Romano)Smaltir fa il tempo ogni maggiore ingiuria.Spiritus duriſſimacoquit.

DEL CAPITANO GIROLAMOMATTEI ROMANO.

DEL CAPITANO GIROLAMO

MATTEI ROMANO.

Giovio and Symeoni, 1561.

Diuora il ſtruzzo con ingorda furiaIl ferro, & lo ſmaltiſce poi pian piano,Coſi (come dipinge il buon Romano)Smaltir fa il tempo ogni maggiore ingiuria.Spiritus duriſſimacoquit.

Diuora il ſtruzzo con ingorda furiaIl ferro, & lo ſmaltiſce poi pian piano,Coſi (come dipinge il buon Romano)Smaltir fa il tempo ogni maggiore ingiuria.

Diuora il ſtruzzo con ingorda furia

Il ferro, & lo ſmaltiſce poi pian piano,

Coſi (come dipinge il buon Romano)

Smaltir fa il tempo ogni maggiore ingiuria.

Spiritus duriſſimacoquit.

Spiritus duriſſima

coquit.

To this Ostrich, with a large iron nail in its mouth, and with a scroll inscribed, “Courage digests the hardest things,” the stanza is devoted which means,—

“Devour does the ostrich with eager greedinessThe iron, and then very easily digests it,So (as the good Romano represents)Time causes every injury to be digested.”

“Devour does the ostrich with eager greediness

The iron, and then very easily digests it,

So (as the good Romano represents)

Time causes every injury to be digested.”

Camerarius, to the same motto,Ex Volatilibus(ed. 1595, p. 19), treats us to a similar couplet,—

“Magno animo fortis perferre pericula suevit,Vllo nec facile frangitur ille metu.”

“Magno animo fortis perferre pericula suevit,

Vllo nec facile frangitur ille metu.”

i.e.

“With mighty mind the brave grows accustomed to bear dangers,Nor easily is that man broken by any fear.”

“With mighty mind the brave grows accustomed to bear dangers,

Nor easily is that man broken by any fear.”

Shakespeare’s description of the ostrich, as given by Jack Cade,2 Henry VI.(act iv. sc. 10, l. 23, vol. v. p. 206), is in close agreement with the ostrich device,—

“Here’s the lord of the soil,” he says, “come to seize me for a stray, for entering his fee-simple without leave. Ah, villain, thou wilt betray me, and get a thousand crowns of the king for carrying my head to him; but I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword like a great pin, ere thou and I part.”

Note the iron pin in the ostrich’s mouth.

Sola facta ſolum Deum ſequor.Paradin, 1562.

Sola facta ſolum Deum ſequor.

Paradin, 1562.

“My Lady Bona of Savoy,” as Paradin (ed. 1562, fol. 165) names her, “the mother of Ian Galeaz, Duke of Milan, finding herself a widow, made a device on her small coins of a Phœnix in the midst of a fire, with these words, ‘Being made lonely, I follow God alone.’ Wishing to signify that, as there is in the world but one Phœnix, even so being left by herself, she wished only to love conformably to the only God, in order to live eternally.”[125]

The“Tetrastichi Morali”presents the same Emblem, as indeed do Giovio’s“Dialogo dell’ Imprese,”&c., ed. Lyons, 1574, and“Dialogve des Devises,”&c., ed. Lyons, 1561;

DI MADAMA BONADI SAVIOA.Giovio, 1574 (diminished).

DI MADAMA BONADI SAVIOA.

DI MADAMA BONA

DI SAVIOA.

Giovio, 1574 (diminished).

with the same motto, and the invariable Italian Quatrain,—

Sola facta solũDeũ sequor.Perduto ch’ hebbe il fido ſuo conſorteLa nobil Donna, qual Fenice ſola,A Dio volſe ogni priego, ogni parola,Dando vita al penſier con l’ altrui morte.

Sola facta solũDeũ sequor.

Sola facta solũ

Deũ sequor.

Perduto ch’ hebbe il fido ſuo conſorteLa nobil Donna, qual Fenice ſola,A Dio volſe ogni priego, ogni parola,Dando vita al penſier con l’ altrui morte.

Perduto ch’ hebbe il fido ſuo conſorte

La nobil Donna, qual Fenice ſola,

A Dio volſe ogni priego, ogni parola,

Dando vita al penſier con l’ altrui morte.

In English,—

“Lost had she her faithful consort,The noble Lady, as a Phœnix lonely,To God wills every prayer, every wordGiving life to consider death with others.”

“Lost had she her faithful consort,

The noble Lady, as a Phœnix lonely,

To God wills every prayer, every word

Giving life to consider death with others.”

The full description and characteristics of the Phœnix we reserve for the section which treats of Emblems for Poetic Ideas; but the loneliness, or if I may use the term, the oneliness of this fabulous bird Shakespeare occasionally dwells upon.

In theCymbeline(act i. sc. 6, l. 12, vol. ix. p. 183), Posthumus and Iachimo had made a wager as to the superior qualities and beauties of their respective ladies, and Iachimo takes from Leonatus an introduction to Imogen; the Dialogue thus proceeds,—

“Iach.The worthy Leonatus is in safety,And greets your highness dearly.[Presents a letter.Imo.Thanks, good sir:You're kindly welcome.Iach.[Aside.] All of her that is out of door most rich!If she be furnish’d with a mind so rare,She is alone the Arabian bird, and IHave lost the wager.”

“Iach.The worthy Leonatus is in safety,

And greets your highness dearly.[Presents a letter.

Imo.Thanks, good sir:

You're kindly welcome.

Iach.[Aside.] All of her that is out of door most rich!

If she be furnish’d with a mind so rare,

She is alone the Arabian bird, and I

Have lost the wager.”

Rosalind, inAs You Like It(act iv. sc. 3, l. 15, vol. ii. p. 442), thus speaks of the letter which Phebe, the shepherdess, had sent her,—

“She says I am not fair, that I lack manners;She calls me proud, and that she could not love me,Were man as rare as phœnix.”

“She says I am not fair, that I lack manners;

She calls me proud, and that she could not love me,

Were man as rare as phœnix.”

The oneliness of the bird is, too, well set forth in theTempest(act iii. sc. 3, l. 22, vol. i. p. 50),—

“In ArabiaThere is one tree, the phœnix' throne; one phœnixAt this hour reigning there.”

“In Arabia

There is one tree, the phœnix' throne; one phœnix

At this hour reigning there.”

To the Heraldry of Imaginative Devices might be referred the greater part of the coats of arms, badges and cognizances by which noble and gentle families are distinguished. To conclude this branch of our subject, I will name a woodcut which was probably peculiar to Geffrey Whitney at the time when Shakespeare wrote, though accessible to the dramatist from other sources; it is the fine frontispiece to theChoice of Emblemes, setting forth the heraldic honours and arms of Robert, Earl of Leycester, and in part of his brother, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick. Each of these noblemen bore the same crest, and it was, whatShakespeare,2 Henry VI.(act v. sc. 1, l. 203, vol. v. p. 215), terms “the rampant bear chained to the ragged staff.”

Whitney, 1586.

How long this had been the cognizance of the Earls of Warwick, and whether it was borne by all the various families of the Saxon and Norman races who held the title,—by the Beauchamps, the Nevilles, and the Dudleys, admits of doubt; but it is certain that such was the cognizance in the reign of Henry VI. and in that of Elizabeth.

According to Dugdale’sAntiquities of Warwickshire, edition 1730, p. 398, the monument of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick in Edward III.’s time, has a lion, not a bear; and a lamb for his Countess, the Lady Katherine Mortimer. Also on the monument of another Earl (p. 404), who died in 1401, the bear does not appear; but on the monument of Richard Beauchamp, who died “the last day of Aprill, the year of our lord god 1434,” the inscriptions are crowded with bears, instead of commas and colons; and the recumbent figure of the Earl has a muzzled bear at his feet (p. 410). The Nevilles now succeeded to the title, and a limner’s or designer’s very curious bill, of the fifteenth year of Henry VI., 1438, shows that the bear and ragged staff were then both in use and in honour,—

“First CCCC Pencels bete with the Raggidde staffe of silverpris the pece v d. 08l.06s.00Item for a grete Stremour for the Ship of XI yerdis length andIIII yerdis in brede, with a grete Bere and Gryfon holdinga Raggid staffe, poudrid full of raggid staves; and for agrate Crosse of S. George for the lymmynge and portraying 01 . 06 . 08Item XVIII Standardes of worsted, entretailled with theBere and a Chayne, pris the pece xii d. 00 . 18 . 00”

“First CCCC Pencels bete with the Raggidde staffe of silverpris the pece v d. 08l.06s.00

“First CCCC Pencels bete with the Raggidde staffe of silver

pris the pece v d. 08l.06s.00

Item for a grete Stremour for the Ship of XI yerdis length andIIII yerdis in brede, with a grete Bere and Gryfon holdinga Raggid staffe, poudrid full of raggid staves; and for agrate Crosse of S. George for the lymmynge and portraying 01 . 06 . 08

Item for a grete Stremour for the Ship of XI yerdis length and

IIII yerdis in brede, with a grete Bere and Gryfon holding

a Raggid staffe, poudrid full of raggid staves; and for a

grate Crosse of S. George for the lymmynge and portraying 01 . 06 . 08

Item XVIII Standardes of worsted, entretailled with theBere and a Chayne, pris the pece xii d. 00 . 18 . 00”

Item XVIII Standardes of worsted, entretailled with the

Bere and a Chayne, pris the pece xii d. 00 . 18 . 00”

Among the monuments in the Lady Chapel at Warwick is a full length figure of “Ambrose Duddeley,” who died in 1589, and of a muzzled bear crouching at his feet. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester, his brother, died in 1588; and on his magnificent tomb, in the same chapel, is seen the same cognizance of the bear and ragged staff. The armorial bearings, however, are a little different from those which Whitney figures.

If, according to the Cambridge edition of Shakespeare’s works, 1863–1866, vol. v. p. vii., “the play upon which the Second part of Henry the Sixth was founded was first printed in quarto, in 1594;” or if, as some with as much reason have supposed,[126]it existed even previous to 1591, it is not likely that these monuments of elaborate design and costly and skilled workmanship could have been completed, so that from them Shakespeare had taken his description of “old Nevil’s crest.” Nathan Drake’sShakspeare and his Times(vol. i. pp. 410, 416) tells us that he left Stratford for London “about the year 1586, or 1587;” yet “thefamily residenceof Shakspeare wasalwaysat Stratford: that he himself originally wentaloneto London, and that he spent the greater part of every year therealone, annually, however, and probably for some months, returning to the bosom of his family, and that this alternation continued until he finally left the capital.”

Of course, had the monuments in question existed before the composition of theHenry VI., his annual visits to his native Warwickshire would have made them known to him, and he would thus have noted the family cognizance of the brother Earls; but reason favours the conjecture that these monuments in the Lady Chapel were not the sources of his knowledge.

Common rumour, indeed, may have supplied the information;but as Geffrey Whitney’s book appeared in 1586, its first novelty would be around it about the time at which Shakespeare was engaged in producing hisHenry VI.That Emblem-book was dedicated to “RobertEarle ofLeycester;” and, as we have said, contains a drawing, remarkably graphic, of a bear grasping a ragged staff, having a collar and chain around him, and standing erect on the helmet’s burgonet. There is also a less elaborate sketch of the same badge on the title-page to the second part of Whitney’sEmblemes, p. 105.

Most exactly, most artistically, does the dramatist ascribe the same crest, in the same attitude, and in the same standing place, to Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, the king-setter-up and putter-down of History. In the fields between Dartford and Blackheath, in Kent, the two armies of Lancaster and York are encamped; in the Dialogue, there is almost a direct challenge from Lord Clifford to Warwick to meet upon the battle-field. York is charged as a traitor by Clifford (2 Henry VI., act v. sc. 1, l. 143, vol. v. p. 213), but replies,—

“I am the king, and thou a false-heart traitor.Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,That with the very shaking of their chainsThey may astonish these fell-lurking curs:Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.Enter theEarls of WarwickandSalisbury.Clif.Are these thy bears? we’ll bait thy bears to death,And manacle the bear-ward in their chains,If thou darest bring them to the baiting place.Rich.Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening curRun back and bite, because he was withheld;Who, being suffer’d with the bear’s fell paw,Hath clapp’d his tail between his legs and cried:And such a piece of service will you do,If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.”

“I am the king, and thou a false-heart traitor.

Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,

That with the very shaking of their chains

They may astonish these fell-lurking curs:

Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.

Enter theEarls of WarwickandSalisbury.

Clif.Are these thy bears? we’ll bait thy bears to death,

And manacle the bear-ward in their chains,

If thou darest bring them to the baiting place.

Rich.Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening cur

Run back and bite, because he was withheld;

Who, being suffer’d with the bear’s fell paw,

Hath clapp’d his tail between his legs and cried:

And such a piece of service will you do,

If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.”

The Dialogue continues until just afterwards Warwick makes this taunting remark to Clifford (l. 196),—

“War.You were best to go to bed and dream again,To keep thee from the tempest of the field.Clif.I am resolved to bear a greater stormThan any thou canst conjure up to-day;And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet,Might I but know thee by thy household badge.War.Now, by my father’s badge, old Nevil’s crest,The rampant bear chain’d to the ragged staff,This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet,As on a mountain top the cedar showsThat keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,Even to affright thee with the view thereof.Clif.And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bearAnd tread it underfoot with all contempt,Despite the bear-ward that protects the bear.”

“War.You were best to go to bed and dream again,

To keep thee from the tempest of the field.

Clif.I am resolved to bear a greater storm

Than any thou canst conjure up to-day;

And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet,

Might I but know thee by thy household badge.

War.Now, by my father’s badge, old Nevil’s crest,

The rampant bear chain’d to the ragged staff,

This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet,

As on a mountain top the cedar shows

That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,

Even to affright thee with the view thereof.

Clif.And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bear

And tread it underfoot with all contempt,

Despite the bear-ward that protects the bear.”

A closer correspondence between a picture and a description of it cannot be desired; Shakespeare’s lines and Whitney’s frontispiece exactly coincide;

“Like coats in heraldryDue but to one, and crowned with one crest.”

“Like coats in heraldry

Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.”

By Euclid’s axiom, “magnitudes which coincide are equal;” and though the reasonings in geometry and those in heraldry are by no means of forces identical, it may be a just conclusion; therefore, the coincidences and parallelisms of Shakespeare, with respect to Heraldic Emblems, have their original lines and sources in such writers as Giovio, Paradin, and Whitney. It was not he who set up the ancient fortifications, but he has drawn circumvallations around them, and his towers nod over against theirs, though with no hostile rivalry.

Horapollo, ed. 1551.

Section III.EMBLEMS FOR MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS.

ECHO has not more voices than Mythology has transmutations, eccentricities, and cunningly devised fancies,—and every one of them has its tale or its narrative—its poetic tissues woven of such an exquisite thinness that they leave no shadows where they pass. The mythologies of Egypt and of Greece, of Etruria and of Rome, in all their varying phases of absolute fiction and substantial truth, perverted by an unguarded imagination, were the richest mines that the Emblem writers attempted to work; they delighted in the freedom with which the fancy seemed invited to rove from gem to gem, and luxuriated in the many forms into which their fables might diverge. Now they touched upon Jove’s thunder, or on the laurel for poets’ brows, which the lightning’s flash could not harm—then on the beauty and gracefulness of Venus, or on the doves that fluttered near her car;—Dian’s severe strictness supplied them with a theme, or Juno with her queenly birds; and they did not disdain to tell of Bacchus and the vine, of Circe, and Ulysses, and the Sirens. The slaying of Niobe’s children, Actæon seized by his hounds, and Prometheus chained to the rock, Arion rescued by the dolphin, and Thetis at the tomb of Achilles,—these and many other myths and tales of antiquity grew up in the minds of Emblematists, self-sown—ornaments, if not utilities.

Though the great epic poems are inwrought throughout with the mosaic work of fables that passed for divine, and of exploits that were almost more than human, Ovid’sMetamorphoses, printed as early as 1471, and of which an early French edition, in 1484, bears the titleLa Bible des poetes, may be regarded as the chief storehouse of mythological adventure and misadventure. The revival of literature poured forth the work in various forms and languages. Spain had her translation in 1494, and Italy in 1497; and as Brunet informs us (vol. iv. c. 277), to another of Ovid’s books, printed in Piedmont before 1473, there was this singularly incongruous subscription,“Laus Deo et Virgini Mariæ Gloriosissimæ Johannes Glim.”Caxton, in England, led the way by printing Ovid’sMetamorphosesin 1480, which Arthur Golding may be said to have completed in 1567 by hisEnglish Metrical Version.

Thus everywhere was the storehouse of mythology open; and of the Roman fabulist the Emblem writers, as far as they could, made a Book of Emblems, and often into their own works transported freely what they had found in his.

And for a poet of no great depth of pure learning, but of unsurpassed natural power and genius, like Shakespeare, no class of books would attract his attention and furnish him with ideas and suggestions so readily as the Emblem writers of the Latin and Teutonic races. “The eye,” which he describes, “in a fine phrensy rolling,” would suffice to take in at a single glance many of the pictorial illustrations which others of duller sensibilities would only master by laborious study; and though undoubtedly, from the accuracy with which Shakespeare has depicted ancient ideas and characters, and shown his familiarity with ancient customs, usages, and events, he must have read much and thought much, or else have thought intuitively, it is a most reasonable conjecture that the popular literature of his times—the illustrated Emblem-books, which made their way ofwelcome among the chief nations of middle, western, and southern Europe—should have been one of the fountains at which he gained knowledge. Nature, indeed, forms the poet, and his storehouses of materials on which to work are the inner and outer worlds, first of his own consciousness, and next of heaven and earth spread before him. But as a portion of this latter world we may name the appliances and results of artistic skill in its delineations of outward forms, and in the fixedness which it gives to many of the conceptions of the mind. To the artist himself, and to the poet not less than to the artist, the pictured shapes and groupings of mythological or fabulous beings are most suggestive, both of thoughts already embodied there, and also of other thoughts to be afterwards combined and expressed.

Hence would the Emblem-books, on some of which the foremost painters and engravers had not disdained to bestow their powers, become to poets especially fruitful in instruction. A proverb, a fable, an old world deity is set forth by the pencil and the graving tool, and the combination supplies additional elements of reflection. Thus, doubtless, did Shakespeare use such works; and not merely are some of his thoughts and expressions in unison with them, but moulded and modified by them.

For much indeed of his mythological lore he was indebted to Ovid’sMetamorphoses, or, rather, I should say, to “Ovid’s Metamorphosestranslated out of Latin in English metre by Arthur Golding, gent. A worke very pleasaunt and delectable; 4to London 1565.” That he did attend to Golding’s couplet,—

“With skill, heed, and judgment, thys work must be red,For els too the reader it stands in small stead,”—

“With skill, heed, and judgment, thys work must be red,

For els too the reader it stands in small stead,”—

will appear from some few instances; as,—

“Thy promises are like Adonis’ gardensThat one day bloom’d, and fruitful were the next.”—1 Hen. VI., act i. sc. 6, l. 6.

“Thy promises are like Adonis’ gardens

That one day bloom’d, and fruitful were the next.”—

1 Hen. VI., act i. sc. 6, l. 6.

“Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase,The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hindMakes speed to catch the tiger.”—Midsummer Night’s Dream, act ii. sc. 1, l. 231.

“Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase,

The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind

Makes speed to catch the tiger.”—

Midsummer Night’s Dream, act ii. sc. 1, l. 231.

“We still have slept together,Rose at an instant, learn’d, play’d, eat together,And wheresoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans,Still we went coupled and inseparable.”As You Like It, act i. sc. 3, l. 69.

“We still have slept together,

Rose at an instant, learn’d, play’d, eat together,

And wheresoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans,

Still we went coupled and inseparable.”

As You Like It, act i. sc. 3, l. 69.

“Approach the chamber and destroy your sightWith a new Gorgon.”Macbeth, act ii. sc. 3, l. 67.

“Approach the chamber and destroy your sight

With a new Gorgon.”

Macbeth, act ii. sc. 3, l. 67.

“I’ll have no worse a name than Jove’s own page;And therefore look you call me Ganymede.”As You Like It, act i. sc. 3, l. 120.

“I’ll have no worse a name than Jove’s own page;

And therefore look you call me Ganymede.”

As You Like It, act i. sc. 3, l. 120.

and,—

“O Proserpina,For the flowers now, that frighted thou let’st fallFrom Dis’s waggon! daffodils,That come before the swallow dares, and takeThe winds of March with beauty; violets dimBut sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyesOr Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,That die unmarried, ere they can beholdBright Phœbus in his strength, a maladyMost incident to maids; bold oxlips andThe crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lackTo make you garlands of; and my sweet friendTo strew him o'er and o'er!”Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. 4, l. 116.

“O Proserpina,

For the flowers now, that frighted thou let’st fall

From Dis’s waggon! daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take

The winds of March with beauty; violets dim

But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes

Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,

That die unmarried, ere they can behold

Bright Phœbus in his strength, a malady

Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and

The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,

The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack

To make you garlands of; and my sweet friend

To strew him o'er and o'er!”

Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. 4, l. 116.

Yet from the Emblem writers as well he appears to have derived many of his mythological allusions and expressions; we may trace this generally, and with respect to some of the Heathen Divinities,—to several of the ancient Heroes and Heroines, we may note that they supply him with most beautiful personifications.

Generally, as inTroilus and Cressida(act ii. sc. 3, l. 240), the expression “bull-bearing Milo” finds its device in theEmblemataof Lebeus Batillius, edition Francfort, 1596, where we aretold that “Milo by long custom in carrying the calf could also carry it when it had grown to be a bull.” InRomeo and Juliet(act ii. sc. 5, l. 8) the lines,—

“Therefore do nimble-pinion’d doves draw loveAnd therefore hath the wind swift Cupid wings.”

“Therefore do nimble-pinion’d doves draw love

And therefore hath the wind swift Cupid wings.”

We have the scene pictured in Corrozet’sHecatomgraphie, Paris, 1540, leaf 70, with, however, a very grand profession of regard for the public good,—

“Ce n’est pas cy Cupido ieune enfantQue vous voier au carre triumphant,Mais c’est amour lequel tiẽt en sa cordeTous les estatz en grãd paix & cõcorde.”

“Ce n’est pas cy Cupido ieune enfant

Que vous voier au carre triumphant,

Mais c’est amour lequel tiẽt en sa corde

Tous les estatz en grãd paix & cõcorde.”

InRichard II.(act iii. sc. 2, l. 24) Shakespeare seems to have in view the act of Cadmus, when he sowed the serpent’s teeth,—

“This earth shall have a feeling and these stonesProve armed soldiers, ere her native kingShall falter under foul rebellion’s arms.”

“This earth shall have a feeling and these stones

Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king

Shall falter under foul rebellion’s arms.”

And the device which emblematizes the fact occurs in Symeoni’s abbreviation of theMetamorphosesinto the form of Italian Epigrams (edition Lyons, 1559, device 41, p. 52).

And lastly, in3 Henry VI.(act v. sc. 1, l. 34), from a few lines of dialogue between Warwick and King Edward, we read,—

“War.’Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother.K. Edw.Why then ’tis mine, if but by Warwick’s gift.War.Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight;And weakling, Warwick takes his gift again.”

“War.’Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother.

K. Edw.Why then ’tis mine, if but by Warwick’s gift.

War.Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight;And weakling, Warwick takes his gift again.”

War.Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight;

And weakling, Warwick takes his gift again.”

But a better comment cannot be than is found in Giovio’s “Dialogve,” edition Lyons, 1561, p. 129, with Atlas carrying the Globe of the Heavens, and with the motto,“Svstinet nec fatiscit,”—He bears nor grows weary.

The story of Jupiter and Io is presented in the Emblem-books by Symeoni, 1561, and by the Plantinian edition ofOvid’sMetamorphoses, Antwerp, 1591, p. 35. From the latter, were it needed, we could easily have added a pictorial illustration to theTaming of the Shrew(Induction, sc. 2, l. 52),—

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