George Chapman appears to be another humanist scholar who contributed to the destruction of the fame of the Earl of Oxford; yet compared to Ben Jonson, Chapman's criticism of Oxford is much more explicit. Chapman's depiction of the Earl of Oxford in his play _The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois_ showcases the Earl's many virtues - but also demonstrates how (in Chapman's opinion) those virtues were marred by Oxford's excessive pride and intemperance, and suggests a potential justification of the defacement of the Earl. Oxford's pride and his contempt for 'common nobles' fashions' are intended to suggest to Oxford's singularity, peremptory humorality and self-love, and link Oxford to Chapman's earlier description of Homer's Achilles and to a moral lesson in civilitas.
The key to a fuller understanding of Clermont's description of Oxford in Chapman's _Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois_ occurs at the beginning of Act III, Scene iv - the same scene in which Chapman brings forth his characterization of the Earl of Oxford:
When Homer made Achilles passionate,
Wrathfull, revengefull, and insatiate15
In his affections, what man will denie
He did compose it all of industrie
To let men see that men of most renowne,
Strong'st, noblest, fairest, if they set not downe
Decrees within them, for disposing these,20
Of judgement, resolution, uprightnesse,
And certaine knowledge of their use and ends,
Mishap and miserie no lesse extends
To their destruction, with all that they pris'd,
Then to the poorest and the most despis'd?25
Most Oxfordians are familiar with Chapman's famous lines in praise of Oxford:
Clermont:
I over-tooke, comming from Italie,
In Germanie a great and famous Earle85
Of England, the most goodly fashion'd man
I ever saw; from head to foote in forme
Rare and most absolute; hee had a face
Like one of the most ancient honour'd Romanes
From whence his noblest familie was deriv'd;90
He was beside of spirit passing great,
Valiant, and learn'd, and liberall as the sunne,
Spoke and writ sweetly, or of learned subjects,
Or of the discipline of publike weales;
And t'was the Earle of Oxford: and being offer'd95
At that time, by Duke Cassimere, the view
Of his right royall armie then in field,
Refus'd it, and no foote was mov'd to stirre
Out of his owne free fore-determin'd course.
I, wondring at it, askt for it his reason,100
It being an offer so much for his honour.
Hee, all acknowledging, said t'was not fit
To take those honours that one cannot quit. (Revenge, III, iv, lines 84-104)
Oxford's Achillean list of virtues (heroic) is, however, is qualified by an Achillean display of pride and intemperance (incivility):
Ren. Twas answer'd like the man you have describ'd.
Clermont. AND YET he cast it onely in the way,105
To stay and serve the world. Nor did it fit
His owne true estimate how much it waigh'd;
FOR HEE DESPIS'D IT, and esteem'd it freer
To keepe his owne way straight, and swore that hee
Had rather make away his whole estate110
In things that crost the vulgar then he would
Be frozen up stiffe (like a Sir John Smith,
His countrey-man) in common Nobles fashions;
Affecting, as't the end of noblesse were,
Those servile observations.
Ren. It was strange. 115
Clermont. O tis a vexing sight to see a man,
OUT OF HIS WAY, stalke PROUD as HEE WERE IN;
OUT OF HIS WAY, to be officious,
Observant, wary, serious, and grave,
Fearefull, and passionate, insulting, raging,120
Labour with iron flailes to thresh downe feathers
Flitting in ayre.
Ren. What one considers this,
Of all that are thus out? or once endevours,
Erring, to enter on mans RIGHT-HAND PATH?
Cler. These are too grave for brave wits; give them toyes;125
Labour bestow'd on these is harsh and thriftlesse. (snip)
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Chapman's translation from Virgil - Pythagorean letter
This letter of Pythagoras, that bears
This fork’d distinction, to conceit prefers
The form man’s life bears. Virtue’s hard way takes
Upon the right hand path, which entry makes
(To sensual eyes) with difficult affair;
But when ye once have climb’d the highest stair,
The beauty and the sweetness it contains,
Give rest and comfort, for past all your pains.
The broadway in a BRAVERY paints ye forth,
(In th’entry) softness, and much SHADE of worth);
But when ye reach the top, the taken ones
It HEADLONG HURLS DOWN, torn at sharpest stones.
He then, whom virtues love, shall victor crown
Of hardes fortunes, praise wins and renown;
But he that sloth and fruitless luxury
Pursues, and doth with foolish wariness fly
Opposed pains (that all best acts befall),
Lives POOR AND VILE, and dies despised of all.
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When Homer made Achilles passionate,
Wrathfull, revengefull, and insatiate 15
In his affections, what man will denie
He did compose it all of industrie
To let men see that men of most renowne,
Strong'st, noblest, fairest, if they set not downe
Decrees within them, for disposing these,20
Of judgement, resolution, uprightnesse,
And certaine knowledge of their use and ends,
Mishap and miserie no lesse extends
To their destruction, with all that they pris'd,
Then to the poorest and the most despis'd?25 (Chapman, Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois)
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Destroy \De*stroy"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Destroyed; p. pr. &
vb. n. Destroying.] [OE. destroien, destruien, destrien,
OF. destruire, F. d['e]truire, fr. L. destruere, destructum;
de + struere to pile up, build. See Structure.]
1. To unbuild; to pull or tear down; to separate virulently
into its constituent parts; to break up the structure and
organic existence of; to demolish.
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their
images, and cut down their groves. --Ex. xxxiv. 13
2. To ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to
annihilate; to consume.
I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation.
--Jer. xii.17.
3. To put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill.
If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some
false guile pervert. --Milton.
Syn: To demolish; lay waste; consume; raze; dismantle; ruin;
throw down; overthrow; subvert; desolate; devastate;
deface; extirpate; extinguish; kill; slay.
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Gabriel Harvey printed his 168-line poem
in which he styled an Apostrophe ad eundem
(Apostrophe to the same man, i.e. De Vere),
printed in Gratulationis Valdinensis Liber Quartus
(The Fourth Book of Walden Rejoicing), London, 1578, in September. (Hannas)
Ward's translation
(The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, London, 1928, pp. 1578):
Courage animates thy brow, Mars lives in thy tongue,
Minerva strengthens thy right hand, Bellona reigns in
thy body, within thee burns the fire of Mars. Thine
eyes flash fire, thy countenance shakes a spear; who
would not swear that ACHILLES had come to life again?
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Oxford's pride and intemperance are presented as serious faults (Clermont will attend the troop review). According to the 'vera nobilitas' argument- it is Oxford's inability to rule or contain these qualities within just or reasonable bounds that renders his behaviour uncivil or 'beyond the pale'. As in Greville's description of the tennis court quarrel, Oxford is portrayed as 'passion's slave', a man unable to calm the tempestuous motions within himself.
I suspect Oxford had a strong suspicion of those who claimed to be able to square their passions to the rule of reason. Despite his protestations to the contrary, isn't Hamlet just as much 'passion's slave' as anyone? Are his actions truly dictated by reason, or is he undermined by a mistaken belief that his reason controls his emotions? All cultures respond to Shakespeare's passionate characters - love and passion are recognizable in any cultural garb - but 'Reason'! 'Reason' everywhere looks different, and as in the Shakespeare controversy - is often a source of division.
As described in Castiglione, writing under a pseudonym, or assuming a disguise contributed to the pleasure of the sophisticated Elizabethan court. On the subject of diguise, Castiglione wrote: "It is no novelty for a prince to be a prince" - the pleasure of disguise comes from perceiving the noble mind through the disguise of the player/clown. It also gives the aristocrat a chance to demonstrate that their noble quality is something that shines through any exterior, and that the noble quality exists (the je-ne-sais-quois of aristocratic identity) and is essential to the aristocrat, and that his excellences are intrinsic and are not something that are merely reflected upon him by flatterers and parasites. Oxford/Shakespeare's authorial excellence has stood on its own, and has been accepted worldwide as the acme of human aesthetic endeavor without the benefit of aristocratic connections or mystique. In time, this brief hiatus from worldly fame, and the stellar fortunes of his orphaned book, will make Oxford's fame even greater.
The apprehension of the noble mind concealed behind the guise of the player was at one time a sophisticated, courtly source of pleasure - and yet due to a radical and deliberate decontextualization - for Oxfordians the one-time pleasure has been perverted into a kind of torment.
There, that is why I rarely speak about or for Oxford. I cannot or will not control my own idolatry, which fuels my quixotic (?) research and is often irrational. So if it sometimes appears that I am agreeing with Jonson, Chapman and criticizing the Earl - I am not. But 'Shakespeare' does not need any more praise - and what I hope this blog can provide is a opportunity for Jonson, Chapman, Harvey, Sidney, Greville and others to be heard as they describe their carefully considered objections to the overwhelming cultural phenomenon that was the Earl of Oxford.
It seems to me that Oxford was not one to be awed by 'bookworm' scholars who would tutor him in 'vera nobilitas', those social architects who would dictate the terms by which he could 'earn' the nobility that they insisted had only been bestowed upon him by the accident of fortune. For if nobility was not essential, then what was it? An act that anyone could perform?
'For it is VIRTUE that gives glory; that will endenizen a man everywhere' -- Jonson, _Timber_
And to this Oxford responded with 'I am that I am'. If Oxford was not noble - then the word noble had no meaning. (irrational idolatry alert)
Oxford did, however, pay a heavy price for not playing the game by their rules - he forfeited his immortal fame. It is the revenge of the scholars that Oxford was not immortalized, at least not in the 'right' way. The two left arms of the Droeshout engraving embody for Jonson the 'preposterous' energies of Shakespeare - a wilful poet who would not write the 'right' way. For Shakespeare, and those who applauded him, there is only magisterial scorn and contempt:
As for those that will (by Faults which Charity hath rak'd
up, or common Honesty conceal'd) make themselves a Name with the
Multitude, or (to draw their rude and beastly Claps) care not whose
living Faces they intrench with their Petulant Styles, may they do it
without a Rival, for me: I chuse rather to live GRAV'D in OBSCURITY,
han share with them in so PREPOSTEROUS A FAME. (Jonson, Volpone)
Preposterous/topsy-turvey/inverted world/ arsey-versey/mixing head with men's heels - the lyrical world of comedy and romance. Jonson drew the line between himself (true poet) and the 'preposterous' poets, and cast Oxford out of the light and life of language.
Or rather, blotted him out - with a ridiculous figure and a preposterous poem. Piling on the metaphors and inky 'stuff' that he would normally have cut from his work (the dreamy 'stuff' that Shakespeare reveled in) he amassed a great heap of airy nothings and ambiguous, fantastic tissues of phrases entirely devoid of clarity (Soul of the Age!, Swan of Avon!), feeding the empty, insubstantial form of praise to Shakespeare's 'ignorant' and 'undiscerning' admirers.
Like Shakespeare, he feeds/gives the audience the 'stuff' they want, and they gobble it down and foolishly say that it is good. Jonson praises Shakespeare after Shakespeare's own extravagant manner - which for precise Jonson is the wrong way. Jonson's worthless 'praise' of Shakespeare has led to endless amounts of confusion and conflict; and this is exactly what Jonson predicted that the admirable/highly figurative/bombastic/Shakespearean style of writing would lead to and why he opposed himself to it.
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note - added May 31 2015
Coronation Ode of Henry VIII – Thomas More 1509
Wherever he goes, the dense crowd in their desire to look
upon him leaves hardly a narrow lane for his passage. The houses are filled to
overflowing, the rooftops strain to support the weight of spectators. On all
sides there arises a shout of new good will. Nor are the people satisfied to
see the king just once; they change their vantage points time and time again in
the hope that, from one place or another, they may see him again. Three times
they delight to see him—and why not? This king, than whom Nature has [shaped]
nothing more deserving of love. Among a
thousand noble companions he stands out taller than any. And he has strength
worthy of his regal person. His hand, too, is as skilled as his heart is brave,
whether there is an issue to be settled by the naked sword, or an eager charge
with leveled lances, or an arrow aimed to strike a target. *There is fiery power
in his eyes*, [Venus] in his face, and such color in his cheeks as is typical of
twin roses. In fact, that face, admirable for its animated strength, could
belong to either a young girl or a man. Thus ACHILLES looked when he pretended
to be a MAIDEN, thus he looked when he dragged Hector behind his Thessalian
steeds. Ah, if only nature would permit that, like his body, the outstanding
excellence of his [soul] be visible to the eye. Nay but in fact his virtue does
shine forth from his very face; his countenance bears the open message of a
good heart, revealing how ripe the wisdom that dwells in his judicious mind,
how profound the calm of his untroubled breast, how he bears his lot and
manages it whether it be good or bad, how great his care for modest chastity.
How serene the clemency that warms his gentle heart, how far removed from
arrogance his mind, of these the noble countenance of our prince itself
displays the indubitable signs, signs that admit no counterfeit.
60 Nec minus ille manu est agilis, quam pectore fortis,
61 Seu res districto debeat ense geri,
62 Seu quum protentis auide concurritur hastis,
63 Seu petat oppositum missa sagitta locum.
64 Ignea uis oculis, Venus insidet ore, genisque
65 Est color, in geminis qui solet esse rosis.
66 Illa quidem facies alacri ueneranda uigore
67 Esse potest tenerae uirginis, esse uiri.
68 Talis erat, Nympham quum se simulauit Achilles.
69 Talis, ubi Aemonijs Hectora traxit equis.
Jonson
Every Man Out, Jonson
Act IV. Scene VIII.
G R E X.
Mit. This Macilente, Signior, begins to be more so-
ciable on a sudden, methinks, than he was before: there's
some portent in't, I believe.
Cor. O, he's a Fellow of a strange nature. Now does
he (in this calm of his Humour) Plot, and store up a
World of malicious Thoughts in his Brain, till he is so
full with 'em, that you shall see the very Torrent of his
Envy break forth like a Land-flood: and, against the
course of all their Affections oppose it self so violently,
that you will almost have wonder to think, how 'tis
possible the Current of their Dispositions shall receive so
quick and strong an alteration.
Mit. I marry, Sir, this is that, on which my expecta-
tion has dwelt all this while: for I must tell you, Signior
(though I was loth to interrupt the Scene) yet I made it
a question in mine own private discourse, how he should
properly call it, Every man out of his Humour, when I
saw all his Actors so strongly pursue, and continue their
Humours?
Cor. Why, therein his Art appears most full of lustre,
and approacheth nearest the Life: *especially, when in
the flame and HEIGHT of their HUMOURS, they are laid
flat*, it fills the Eye better, and with more contentment.
How tedious a sight were it to behold a proud exalted
Tree lopt, and cut down by degrees, when it might be
feld in a Moment? and to set the Ax to it before it came
to that PRIDE and fulness, were, as not to have it grow.
Mit. Well, I shall long till I see this FALL, you talk of.
**************************************
Chapman and the 'Inverted World'
Author: Homer.
Title: Achilles shield Translated as the other seuen bookes of Homer,
out of his eighteenth booke of Iliades. By George Chapman Gent.
Date: 1598
dedicated to the Earl of Essex
To my admired and soule-loued friend Mayster of all essentiall and
TRUE KNOWLEDGE, M. Harriots.
******************************************
A NOTE ON THE WORD 'TRUE'
Beware the word 'TRUE'. When used by humanist scholars in various contexts, i.e. TRUE knowledge, TRUE nobility, TRUE understanding, TRUE virtue, TRUE poet - it usually is a marker of a specialized view of a matter that is opposed to the general or common view (otherwise known as 'how the world understands/esteems it'). As a rule of thumb, it is a steep and thorny path to the TRUTH, usually involving the reading of a monstrous number of classical texts and, surprising, the burning of many candles. IF you have not taken the steep and thorny path to TRUTH and consulted many footnotes and read all of the notes in the margins, then you should suspect your TRUTH to be of the common, vulgar or broad strain. Which is fine in my opinion, since I think TRUTH's sporadic involvement with mankind has made TRUTH itself a bit giddy. But certainly not acceptable for the refined minds of reformers such as Jonson and Chapman.
******************************************
back to Chapman...
TO you whose depth of soule measures the height,
And all dimensions of all workes of weight,
REASON being ground, structure and ornament,
To all inuentions, graue and permanent,
And your cleare eyes the Spheres where REASON moues;
This Artizan, this God of RATIONALL loues
Blind Homer;
(snip)
TRUE learning hath a body absolute,
That in apparant sence it selfe can suite,
Not hid in ayrie termes as if it were
Like spirits fantastike that put men in feare,
And are but bugs form'd in their fowle conceites,
Nor made forsale glas'd with sophistique sleights;
But wrought for all times proofe, strong to bide prease,
And shiuer ignorants like Hercules,
On their owne dunghils; but our formall Clearkes
Blowne for profession, spend their soules in sparkes,
Fram'de of dismembred parts that make most show,
And like to broken limmes of knowledge goe.
(snip)
Crownd with Heauens inward brightnes shewing cleare,
What true man is, and how like gnats appeare.
O fortune-glossed Pompists, and proud Misers,
That are of Arts such impudent despisers;
Then past anticipating doomes and skornes,
Which for selfe grace ech ignorant subornes,
Their glowing and amazed eyes shall see
How short of thy soules strength my weake words be,
And that I do not like our Poets preferre
For profit, praise and keepe a squeaking stirre
With cald on muses to vnchilde their braines
Of winde and vapor: lying still in paynes,
Of worthy issue; but as one profest
In nought but truthes deare loue the soules true rest.
Continue then your sweet iudiciall kindnesse,
To your true friend, that though this lumpe of blindnes,
This skornefull, this despisde, INVERTED WORLD,
Whose head is furie-like with Adders curlde,
And all her bulke a poysoned Porcupine,
Her stings and quilles darting at worthes deuine,
Keepe vnder my estate with all contempt,
And make me liue euen from my selfe exempt,
(snip)
Of you in whom the worth of all the Graces,
Due to the mindes giftes, might EMBREW the faces
Of such as skorne them, and with tiranous eye
Contemne the sweat of vertuous industrie.
But as ill lines new fild with incke vndryed,
AN EMPTY PEN with their owne OWNE STUFF applied
CAN BLOT THEM OUT: so shall their wealth-burst wombes
Be made with emptie Penne their honours tombes.
*************************************
In To my Beloved Master William Shakespeare, Jonson's 'empty pen' employs Oxford/Shakespeare's 'owne stuff' - figurative language - to blot out Oxford.
Shakespeare - tomb of Oxford's honour?
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Horace, of the Art of Poetrie
transl. Ben Jonson
If to Quintilius, you recited ought:
Hee'd say, Mend this, good friend, and this; "Tis naught.
If you denied, you had no better straine,
And twice, or thrice had 'ssayd it, still in vaine:
Hee'd bid, BLOT ALL: and to the anvile bring
Those ill-torn'd Verses, to new hammering.
Then: If your fault you rather had defend
Then change. No word, or worke, more would he spend
In vaine, BUT YOU, AND YOURS, YOU should LOVE STILL
Alone, without a rivall, by his will.
A wise, and honest man will cry out shame
On artlesse Verse; the hard ones he will blame;
Blot out the careless, with his turned pen;
Cut off superfluous ornaments; and when
They're darke, bid cleare this: all that's doubtfull wrote
Reprove; and, what is to be changed, not:
Become an Aristarchus. And, not say,
Why should I grieve my friend, this TRIFLING WAY?
These trifles into serious mischiefs lead
The man once mock'd, and suffered WRONG TO TREAD.
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Quintilius/Jonson
I remember, the Players have often mentioned it as an honour to
Shakespeare, that in his writing, (whatsoever he penn'd) hee never
BLOTTED out line. My answer hath beene, would he had BLOTTED a
thousand. Which they thought a malevolent speech. I had not told
posterity this, but for their IGNORANCE, who choose that circumstance
to commend their friend by, wherein he most FAULTED...
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fault
4: a WRONG ACTION attributable to bad judgment or IGNORANCE or
inattention; "he made a bad mistake"; "she was quick to
point out my errors"; "I could understand his English in
spite of his grammatical faults" [syn: mistake, error]
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Chapman -
Of you in whom the worth of all the Graces,
Due to the mindes giftes, might EMBREW the FACES
Of such as skorne them...
Imbrue \Im*brue"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Imbureed; p. pr. & vb.
n. Imbureing.] [Cf. OF. embruer, also embruver, embreuver,
embrever, to give to drink, soak (see pref. En-, 1, 1st
In-, and Breverage), but also OE. enbrewen, enbrowen, to
STAIN, soil (cf. Brewis).]
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Poetaster, To the Reader, Jonson
Author.
...But, they that have incens'd me, can in Soul
Acquit me of that guilt. They know, I dare
To spurn, or bafful 'em; or squirt their Eyes
With Ink, or Urine: or I could do worse,
Arm'd with Archilochus fury, write Iambicks,
Should make the desperate lashers hang themselves;
RHIME 'EM TO DEATH, AS THEY DO IRISH RATS
In drumming Tunes. Or, living, I could stamp
Their foreheads with those deep, and PUBLICK BRANDS,
That the whole company of Barber-Surgeons
Should not take off, with all their Art, and Plaisters.
And these my Prints should last, still to be read
In their pale Fronts: when, what they write 'gainst me,
Shall, like a Figure drawn in Water, fleet,
And the poor wretched Papers be imploy'd
To clothe Tabacco, or some cheaper Drug.
This I could do, and make them infamous.
But, to what end? when their own deeds have mark'd 'em
And that I know, within his guilty Breast
Each slanderer bears a Whip, that shall torment him,
Worse, than a million of these temporal Plagues:
Which to pursue, were but a Feminine humour,
And far beneath the Dignity of Man.
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SONNET 111
O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide
Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almost thence my nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand:
Pity me then and wish I were renew'd;
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
Potions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection
No bitterness that I will bitter think,
Nor double penance, to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
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SONNET 112
Your love and pity doth the impression fill
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow?
You are my all the world, and I must strive
To know my shames and praises from your tongue:
None else to me, nor I to none alive,
That my steel'd sense or changes right or wrong.
In so profound abysm I throw all care
Of others' voices, that my adder's sense
To critic and to flatterer stopped are.
Mark how with my neglect I do dispense:
You are so strongly in my purpose bred
That all the world besides methinks are dead.
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'Learned' poets vs. 'Drammatick' poets:
Chapman, 'Upon Sejanus':
...No by the Shafts of the great Cyrrhan Poet,
That bear all Light, that is, about the World;
I would all dull Poet-haters know it,
They shall be soul bound, and in darkness HURLD,
A Thousand years (as Satan was, their Sire)
Ere any, worthy the Poetick Name,
(Might I, that warm but at the Muses Fire,
Presume to guard it) should let deathless Fame
Light half a Beam of all her hundred Eyes,
At his dim Taper, in their Memories.**
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"It is No Novelty for a Prince to be a Prince": An Enantiomorphous Hamlet
Donald K. Hedrick
"Power, as Rovert Elliott has instructed us (note - Robert C. Elliot, _The Power of Satire: Magic, Ritual, Art_), is the object to which Elizabethan verse-satire dedicates itself. What this means is that satire seeks power both over the reader and over the objects of rebuke. As the embodiment of such power, the satiric persona is often portrayed as a heroic pugilist, a soldier wielding satiric words as his sword, whip, or dagger. The ideal image of hte satirit is, as Maynard Mack notes, "the Stoic vir bonus, the good plain man." In order to rebuke the vices in others, the conveyer of invective must himself be unspotted...
A common theme among Renaissance satirists is the virtue of magnanimity, a term that should be construed as right power and self-confidence, necessarily conjoined to a restraint of that power. A typical instance of satire's appropriation of magnanimity is illustrated by Jonson's assurance that he could make his readers hang themselves if he chose to. Such a posture with respect to power, one should notice, is fully compatible with aristocratic disdain...
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