Complete Works of Edmund Spenser

by Edmund Spenser

  A certaine lame man, beyng inuited to a solempne Nuptiall Feaste, made no more adoe, but sate me hym roundlye downe foremoste at the hyghest ende of the Table. The Master of the feast, suddainly spying his presumption, and hansomely remoouing him from thence, placed me this haulting Gentleman belowe at the nether end of the bourd; alledging for his defence the common verse Sedes nulla datur praeterquam sexta Trochaeo, and pleasantly alluding to this foote, which, standing vppon two syllables, the one long, the other short (much like, of a like, his guestes feete), is alwayes thrust downe to the last place in a true Hexameter, and quite thrust out of doores in a pure and iust SENARIE. Nowe, Syr, what thinke you I began to thinke with my selfe, when I began to reade your warrant first, so boldly and venterously set downe in so formall and autentique wordes as these, PRECISELY PERFIT, AND NOT AN INCH FROM THE RULE? Ah Syrrha, and Iesu Lord, thought I, haue we at the last gotten one, of whom his olde friendes and Companions may iustly glory In eo solum peccat, quod nihil peccat, and that is yet more exacte and precise in his English Comicall Iambickes than euer M. WATSON himselfe was in his Latin Tragicall Iambickes, of whom M. Ascham reporteth that he would neuer to this day suffer his famous Absolon to come abrode, onely because Anapaestus in locis paribus is twice or thrice vsed in steade of Iambus? A small fault, ywisse, and such a one, in M. ASCHAMS owne opinion, as perchaunce would neuer haue beene espyed, no neither in Italy nor in Fraunce. But when I came to the curious scanning and fingering of euery foote and syllable: So here, quoth I, M. WATSONS Anapaestus for all the worlde: A good horse, that trippeth not once in a iourney: and M. IMMERITO doth but as M. WATSON, and in a manner all other Iambici haue done before him: marry, he might haue spared his preface, or, at the least, that same restrictiue and streightlaced terme PRECISELY, and all had been well enough: and I assure you, of my selfe, I beleeue, no peece of a fault marked at all. But this is the Effect of warrantes, and perhappes the Errour may rather proceede of his Master M. DRANTES Rule than of himselfe. Howsoeuer it is, the matter is not great, and I alwayes was, and will euer continue, of this Opinion, Pauca multis condonanda vitia Virtutibus, especially these being no Vitia neither, in a common and licencious IAMBICKE. Verum ista obiter, non quidem contradicendi animo aut etiam corrigendi mihi crede: sed nostro illo Academico, pristinoque more ratiocinandi. And, to saye trueth, partely too to requite your gentle courtesie in beginning to me, and noting I knowe not what breache in your gorbellyed Maisters Rules: which Rules go for good, I perceiue, and keepe a Rule, where there be no better in presence. My selfe neither sawe them, nor heard of them before, and therefore will neither praise them, nor dispraise them nowe; but, vppon the suruiewe of them and farther conference (both which I desire), you shall soone heare one mans opinion too or fro. Your selfe remember I was wonte to haue some preiudice of the man; and I still remaine a fauourer of his deserued and iust commendation. Marry in these poyntes, you knowe, PARTIALITIE in no case may haue a foote: and you remember mine olde Stoicall exclamation, FIE ON CHILDISH AFFECTION, IN THE DIS-COURSING AND DECIDING OF SCHOOLE MATTERS. This I say, because you charge me with an vnknowne authoritie, which, for aught I know yet, may as wel be either vnsufficient or faultie as otherwise; and I dare more than halfe promise (I dare not saye warrant) you shall alwayes in these kinde of controuersies finde me nighe hande answerable in mine owne defence. Reliqua omnia quae de hac supersunt Anglicorum versuum ratione in aliud tempus reseruabimus otiosum magis. Youre Latine farewell is a goodly braue yonkerly peece of work, and, Goddilge yee, I am alwayes maruellously beholding vnto you for your bountifull Titles: I hope by that time I haue been resident a yeare or twoo in ITALY I shall be better qualifyed in this kind, and more able to requite your lauishe and magnificent liberalise that way…. TRINITIE HALL, stil in my Gallerie, 23 Octob. 1579. In haste.

  Yours, as you knowe,

  G. H.

  III. EDMUND SPENSER TO GABRIEL HARVEY

  To My Long Approoued and Singular Good Frende, Master G. H.

  Good Master H. I doubt not but you haue some great important matter in hande, which al this while restraineth youre Penne and wonted readinesse in prouoking me vnto that wherein your selfe nowe faulte. If there bee any such thing in hatching, I pray you hartily lette vs knowe before al the worlde see it. But if happly you dwell altogither in Iustinians Courte, and giue your selfe to be deuoured of secreate Studies, as of all likelyhood you doe, yet at least imparte some your olde or newe, Latine or Englishe, Eloquent and Gallant Poesies to vs, from whose eyes, you saye, you keepe in a manner nothing hidden. Little newes is here stirred: but that olde greate matter still depending. His Honoure neuer better. I thinke the Earthquake was also there wyth you (which I would gladly learne) as it was here with vs, ouerthrowing diuers old buildings and peeces of Churches. Sure verye straunge to be hearde of in these Countries, and yet I heare some saye (I knowe not howe truely) that they haue knowne the like before in their dayes. Sed quid vobis videtur magnis Philosophis? I like your late English Hexameters so exceedingly well that I also enure my Penne sometime in that kind: whyche I fynd indeede, as I haue heard you often defende in worde, neither so harde, nor so harshe, that it will easily and fairely yeelde it selfe to oure Moother tongue. For the onely or chiefest hardnesse, whych seemeth, is in the Accente; whyche sometime gapeth, and, as it were, yawneth ilfauouredly, comming shorte of that it should, and sometime exceeding the measure of the Number, as in Carpenter the middle sillable, being vsed shorte in speache, when it shall be read long in Verse, seemeth like a lame Gosling that draweth one legge after hir: and Heauen, beeing vsed shorte as one sillable, when it is in Verse stretched out with a Diastole, is like a lame Dogge that holdes vp one legge. But it is to be wonne with Custome, and rough words must be subdued with Vse. For why, a Gods name, may not we, as else the Greekes, haue the kingdome of oure owne Language, and measure our Accentes by the sounde, reseruing the Quantitie to the Verse? Loe, here I let you see my olde vse of toying in Rymes turned into your artificial straightnesse of Verse by this Tetrasticon. I beseech you tell me your fancie without parcialitie.

  See yee the blindefoulded pretie God, that feathered Archer,

  Of Louers Miseries which maketh his bloodie Game?

  Wote ye why his Moother with a Veale hath coouered his Face?

  Trust me, least he my Looue happely chaunce to beholde.

  Seeme they comparable to those two, which I translated you ex tempore in bed, the last time we lay togither in Westminster?

  That which I eate did I ioy, and that which I greedily gorged.

  As for those many goodly matters leaft I for others.

  I would hartily wish you would either send me the Rules and Precepts of Arte, which you obserue in Quantities, or else followe mine, that M. Philip Sidney gaue me, being the very same which M. Drant deuised, but enlarged with M. Sidneys own iudgement, and augmented with my Obseruations, that we might both accorde and agree in one, leaste we ouerthrowe one an other and be ouerthrown of the rest. Truste me, you will hardly beleeue what greate good liking and estimation Maister Dyer had of youre Satyricall Verses, and I, since the viewe thereof, hauing before of my selfe had speciall liking of Englishe Versifying, am euen nowe aboute to giue you some token, and howe well therein I am able to doe: for, to tell you trueth, I minde shortely at conuenient leysure to sette forth a Booke in this kinde, whyche I entitle Epithalamion Thamesis, whyche Booke I dare vndertake wil be very profitable for the knowledge and rare for the Inuention and manner of handling. For in setting forth the marriage of the Thames I shewe his first beginning and offspring, and all the Countrey that he passeth thorough, and also describe all the Riuers throughout Englande whyche came to this Wedding, and their righte names, and right passage, &c. A worke, beleeue me, of much labour, wherein notwithstanding Master Holinshed hath muche furthered and aduantaged me, who therein hath bestowed singular paines in searching oute their firste heades and sources, and also in tracing and dogging oute all their course til they fall into the Sea.

  O Tite, siquid ego,

/>   Ecquid erit pretii?

  But of that more hereafter. Nowe, my Dreames and Dying Pellicane being fully finished (as I partelye signified in my laste Letters) and presentlye to bee imprinted, I wil in hande forthwith with my Faery Queene, whyche I praye you hartily send me with al expedition; and your frendly Letters and long expected Iudgement wythal, whyche let not be shorte, but in all pointes suche as you ordinarilye vse and I extraordinarily desire. Multum vale. Westminster, Quarto Nonas Aprilis 1580. Sed, amabo te, meum Corculum tibi se ex animo commendat plurimum: iam diu mirata, te nihil ad literas suas responsi dedisse. Vide quaeso, ne id tibi Capitale sit: Mihi certe quidem erit, neque tibi hercle impune, vt opinor, iterum vale, et quam voles saepe.

  Yours alwayes to commaunde,

  IMMERITO.

  IV. GABRIEL HARVEY TO EDMUND SPENSER

  A Gallant Familiar Letter, Containing an Answere to That of M. Immerito, with Sundry Proper Examples and Some Precepts of Our English Reformed Versifying.

  To my very friend M. Immerito.

  Signor Immerito, to passe ouer youre needelesse complaint, wyth the residue of your preamble (for of your EARTHQUAKE I presuppose you haue ere this receyued my goodly discourse), and withall to let my late Englishe Hexametres goe as lightlye as they came, I cannot choose but thanke and honour the good Aungell (whether it were Gabriell or some other) that put so good a motion into the heads of those two excellent Gentlemen MR. SIDNEY and M. DYER, the two very Diamondes of hir Maiesties Courte for many speciall and rare qualities, as to helpe forwarde our new famous enterprise for the Exchanging of Barbarous and Balductum Rymes with Artificial Verses, the one being in manner of pure and fine Goulde, the other but counterfet and base ylfauoured Copper. I doubt not but their liuelie example and Practise wil preuaile a thousand times more in short space than the dead Aduertizement and persuasion of M. ASCHAM to the same Effecte, whose SCHOLEMAISTER, notwithstanding, I reuerence in respect of so learned a Motiue. I would gladly be acquainted with M. DRANTS Prosodye, and I beseeche you commende me to good M. SIDNEYS iudgement, and gentle M. IMMERITOS Obseruations. I hope your nexte Letters, which I daily expect, wil bring me in farther familiaritie and acquaintance with al three. Mine owne Rules and Precepts of Arte I beleeue wil fal out not greatly repugnant, though peraduenture somewhat different: and yet I am not so resolute but I can be content to reserue the Coppying out and publishing thereof vntil I haue a little better consulted with my pillowe, and taken some farther aduize of MADAME SPERIENZA. In the meane, take this for a general Caueat, and say I haue reuealed one great mysterie vnto you: I am of Opinion there is no one more regular and iustifiable direction, eyther for the assured and infallible Certaintie of our English Artificiall Prosodye particularly, or generally to bring our Language into Arte and to frame a Grammer or Rhetorike thereof, than first of all vniuersally to agree vpon ONE AND THE SAME ORTOGRAPHIE, in all pointes conformable and proportionate to our COMMON NATURAL PROSODYE. Whether SIR THOMAS SMITHES in that respect be the most perfit, as surely it must needes be very good; or else some other of profounder Learning and longer Experience than SIR THOMAS was, shewing by necessarie demonstration wherin he is defectiue, wil vndertake shortely to supplie his wantes and make him more absolute; my selfe dare not hope to hoppe after him, til I see something or other, too or fro, publickely and autentically established, as it were by a generall Counsel or acte of Parliament: and then peraduenture, standing vppon firmer grounde, for Companie sake, I may aduenture to do as other do. Interim, credit me, I dare geue no Preceptes, nor set downe any CERTAINE GENERAL ARTE; and yet see my boldenesse. I am not greatly squaimishe of my PARTICULAR EXAMPLES, whereas he that can but reasonably skil of the one wil giue easily a shreude gesse at the other, considering that the one fetcheth his original and offspring from the other. In which respecte, to say troth, WE BEGINNERS haue the start and aduantage of our Followers, who are to frame and conforme both their Examples and Precepts according to that President which they haue of vs: as no doubt Homer or some other in Greeke, and ENNIUS or I know not who else in Latine, did preiudice and ouerrule those that followeth them, as well for the quantities of syllables as number of feete, and the like: their onely Examples going for current payment, and standing in steade of Lawes and Rules with the posteritie. In so much that it seemed a sufficient warrant (as still it doth in our Common Grammer Schooles) to make [ti] in [time] and v in Vnus long, because the one hath [time d’ ek dios esti] and the other Vnus homo nobis, and so consequently in the rest. But to let this by-disputation passe, which is already so throughly discoursed and canuassed of the best Philosophers, and namely ARISTOTLE, that poynt vs, as it were with the forefinger, to the very FOUNTAINES AND HEAD SPRINGES of Artes and Artificiall preceptes, in the ANALITIQUES and METAPHYSIKES: most excellently set downe in these FOURE GOLDEN TERMES, the famoussest Termes to speake of in all LOGIQUE and PHILOSOPHIE, [empeiria, historia, aisthesis, epagoge].

  Shall I nowe by the way sende you a IANUARIE GIFT in APRILL, and, as it were, shewe you a CHRISTMAS GAMBOWLDE after EASTER? Were the manner so very fine, as the matter is very good, I durst presume of an other kinde of Plaudite and GRAMERCIE than now I will: but, being as it is, I beseeche you set parcialitie aside, and tell me your maisterships fancie.

  A NEW YEERES GIFT TO MY OLD FRIEND MAISTER GEORGE BILCHAUNGER: IN COMMENDATION OF THREE MOST PRECIOUS ACCIDENTES, VERTUE, FAME, AND WEALTH: AND FINALLY OF THE FOURTH, A GOOD TONGUE.

  Vertue sendeth a man to Renowne; Fame lendeth Aboundaunce;

  Fame with Aboundaunce maketh a man thrise blessed and happie;

  So the Rewarde of Famous Vertue makes many wealthy,

  And the Regard of Wealthie Vertue makes many blessed:

  O blessed Vertue, blessed Fame, blessed Aboundaunce,

  O that I had you three, with the losse of thirtie Comencementes.

  Nowe farewell Mistresse, whom lately I loued aboue all.

  These be my three bonny lasses, these be my three bonny Ladyes;

  Not the like Trinitie againe, saue onely the Trinitie aboue all:

  Worship and Honour first to the one and then to the other.

  A thousand good leaues be for euer graunted Agrippa,

  For squibbing and declayming against many fruitlesse

  Artes and Craftes, deuisde by the Diuls and Sprites for a torment

  And for a plague to the world: as both Pandora, Prometheus,

  And that cursed good bad Tree can testifie at all times:

  Meere Gewegawes and Bables, in comparison of these,

  Toyes to mock Apes and Woodcockes, in comparison of these,

  Iugling castes and knicknackes, in comparison of these.

  Yet behinde there is one thing, worth a prayer at all tymes,

  A good Tongue in a mans Head, A good Tongue in a woomans.

  And what so precious matter and foode for a good Tongue

  As blessed Vertue, blessed Fame, blessed Aboundaunce.

  L’ENUOY.

  Maruell not that I meane to send these Verses at Euensong,

  On Neweyeeres Euen, and Oldyeeres End, as a Memento:

  Trust me, I know not a richer Iewell, newish or oldish,

  Than blessed Vertue, blessed Fame, blessed Abundaunce.

  O blessed Vertue, blessed Fame, blessed Aboundaunce,

  O that you had these three, with the losse of Fortie Valetes.

  He that wisheth you may liue to see a hundreth Good Newe yeares, euery one happier and merrier than other.

  Now to requite your BLINDFOLDED PRETIE GOD (wherin by the way I woulde gladly learne why Th in the first, Y in the first and thirde, H and My in the last, being shorte, M alone should be made longer in the very same). Imagin me to come into a goodly Kentishe Garden of your old Lords, or some other Noble man, and, spying a florishing Bay Tree there, to demaunde ex tempore as followeth. Thinke vppon Petrarches

  Arbor vittoriosa, trionfale,

  Onor d’Imperadori e di Poeti,

  and perhappes it will aduance the wynges of your Imagination a degre
e higher: at the least if any thing can be added to the loftinesse of his conceite, who[m] gentle Mistresse Rosalinde once reported to haue all the Intelligences at commaundement, and an other time christened her Segnior Pegaso.

  ENCOMIUM LAURI.

  What might I call this Tree? A Laurell? O bonny Laurell:

  Needes to thy bowes will I bow this knee, and vayle my bonetto.

  Who, but thou, the renowne of Prince and Princely Poeta?

  Th’one for Crowne, for Garland th’other thanketh Apollo.

  Thrice happy Daphne, that turned was to the Bay Tree,

  Whom such seruauntes serue, as challenge seruice of all men.

  Who chiefe Lorde, and King of Kings, but th’ Emperour only?

  And Poet of right stampe ouerawith th’ Emperour himselfe.

  Who but knowes Aretyne, was he not halfe Prince to the Princes?

  And many a one there liues, as nobly minded at all poyntes.

  Now farewell Bay Tree, very Queene, and Goddesse of all trees,

  Ritchest perle to the Crowne, and fayrest Floure to the Garland!

  Faine wod I craue, might I so presume, some farther aquaintaunce;

  O that I might? but I may not: woe to my destinie therefore.

  Trust me, not one more loyall seruaunt longes to thy Personage.

  But what says Daphne? Non omni dormio, worse lucke.

  Yet Farewell, Farewell, the Reward of those that I honour:

  Glory to Garden: Glory to Muses: Glory to Vertue.

  Partim Ioui et Palladi,

  Partim Apollini et Musis.

  But seeing I must needes beuray my store, and set open my shoppe wyndowes, nowe I pray thee, and coniure thee by all thy amorous Regardes and Exorcismes of Loue, call a Parliament of thy Sensible and Intelligible powers together, and tell me, in Tom Trothes earnest, what Il fecondo & famoso Poeta MESTER IMMERITO sayth to this bolde Satyri[c]all Libell, lately deuised at the instaunce of a certayne worshipfull Hartefordshyre Gentleman of myne olde acquayntaunce in Gratiam quorundam Illustrium Anglofrancitalorum, hic et ubique apud nos volitantium. Agedum vero, nosti homines, tanquam tuam ipsius cutem.