  Spenser’s “Faery Queen” was begun in 1582, and published in 1590. The Dedication to Sir Walter Raleigh is dated 23 January, 1589 (i. e., 1590.) Raleigh in return praised the poem in two Sonnets. These, together with five other versified encomiums by “Hobynoll” (Gabriel Harvey,) “R. S.,” “H. B.,” “W. L.,” and “Ignoto,” are prefixed to Spenser’s work. In 1599 “The Passionate Pilgrim,” a collection of twenty-one sonnets, songs, etc., was published with the name of W. Shakspere on the title page. The authorship of several of the pieces is disputed. In regard to No. xviii. “My flocks feed not,” Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, says: “There is a somewhat brief version of this song in the collection of Madrigals, etc., by Thomas Weelkes 1597, this person being the composer of the music, but not necessarily the author of the words. A copy of it as it is seen in the Passionate Pilgrim also occurs in England’s Helicon, 1600, entitled ‘The Unknowne Sheepheards Complaint,’ and is there subscribed Ignoto.” Again, in regard to No. xx, “Live with me and be my love,” the same author, says: “The first of these very pretty songs is incomplete, and the second, called ‘Love’s answer,’ still more so. In England’s Helicon, 1600, the former is given to Marlowe, the latter to Ignoto; and there is good reason to believe that Christopher [30] Marlowe wrote the song, and Sir Walter Raleigh the nymph’s reply; for so we are positively assured by Isaac Walton, who has inserted them both in his Complete Angler under the character of ‘that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at least fifty years ago; and an answer to it which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days:—old fashioned poetry but choicely good.’ Both these songs were exceedingly popular and are afterwards found in the street ballads. The first is quoted in the Merry Wives of Windsor.” Again, in regard to No. xxi, “As it fell upon a day,” Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, says: “This charming idyl occurs, with the absence of two lines, amongst the Poems in Divers Humours appended to Bamfield’s Encomion of Lady Pecunia, in 1598, and the first twenty-six lines with the addition of two new ones are found in England’s Helicon, 1600. This latter version follows in that work No. xviii of this list, [“My flocks feed not,”] is also subscribed Ignoto, and is headed: ‘Another of the same Sheepheards.’ The probability is that the copies of these little poems, as given in the Helicon, were taken from a Common Place book in which the names of the authors were not recorded; the two supplementary lines just noticed having the appearance of being an unauthorized couplet improvised for the sake of giving a neater finish to the abridgment.” We will now reproduce the aforesaid poems from “England’s Helicon,” second edition, 1614. A brief version of the first song, No. xviii of “The Passionate Pilgrim,” says Halliwell-Phillipps, appeared in 1597: *The unknown Shepherd's Complaint.* My flocks feed not, my ewes breed not, My rams speed not, all is amiss; Love is denying, Faith is defying; Hearts ren[e]ging, causer of this. All my merry jigs are quite forgot, And my lady’s love is lost, God wot: Where her faith was firmly fixed in love, There a nay is placed without remove. [31] One silly cross wrought all my loss; O frowning fortune, cursed fickle Dame, For now I see, inconstancy More in women than in men remain. In black mourn I, all fears scorn I, Love hath forlorn me, living in thrall; Heart is bleeding, all help needing, O cruel speeding, fraughted with gall. My shepherd’s pipe can sound no deal, My wether’s bell rings doleful knell. My curtail dog that wont to have played, Plays not at all, but seems afraid. With sighs so deep, procure to weep, In howling-wise to see my doleful plight, How sighs resound, through heartless ground, Like a thousand vanquished men in bloody fight. Clear wells spring not, sweet birds sing not, Green plants bring not forth their dye; Herds stand weeping—flocks all sleeping, Nymphs back peeping fearfully. All our pleasures known to us poor swains, All our merry meeting on the plains, All our evening sports from us are fled, All our love is lost, for love is dead. Farewell sweet lass, thy like ne’er was, For sweet content, the cause of all my moan: Poor Corydon must live alone, Other help for him, I see that there is none. Finis Ignoto The variations from the version of 1599 are few, the only important one being “ren[e]ging” for “renying.” The latter has no meaning; the former is used twice in the plays. The only question in regard to the authorship of this poem is, whether Shakspere or “Ignoto” wrote it. The next poem printed in the “Helicon” is a part of No.xxi of the “Passionate Pilgrim.”: [32] Another of the Same Shepherds. As it fell upon a day In the merry month of May, Sitting in a pleasant shade Which a grove of myrtles made; Beasts did leap, and birds did sing, Trees did grow and plants did spring; Everything did banish moan, Save the nightingale alone. She, poor bird, as all forlorn, Lean’d her breast against a thorn; And there sung the dolefull’st ditty, That to hear it was great pity. Fie, fie, fie, now would she cry; Teru, teru! by and by; That to hear her so complain Scarce I could from tears refrain; For her griefs, so lively shown, Made me think upon mine own. Ah! thought I, thou mourn’st in vain! None takes pity on thy pain: Senseless trees, they cannot hear thee, Ruthless beasts they will not cheer thee: King Pandion he is dead; All thy friends are lapp’d in lead; All thy fellow birds do sing, Careless of thy sorrowing! Even so, poor bird, like thee, None alive will pity me. Finis. Ignoto. The last two lines, Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps says, are new ones added to the first twenty-six in “The Passionate Pilgrim.” Our own edition of the latter has those two lines, and the only variation is in the tenth line—“up-till” for “against.” There are thirty lines more in our edition. But we have another version of the whole, omitting the aforesaid two lines and a subsequent couplet. This version, curiously enough, is [33] Leaded “Address to the Nightingale,” and is credited to Richard Barnfield, “about 1610.” (Encyc. of Poetry No. 121.) In 1598 it is said that the first twenty-six lines of this idyl appeared in an appendix to Barnfield’s “Encomium in 1599 it reappeared enlarged to twice the length and was credited to Shakspere; in 1600 the first twenty-eight lines were republished in “England’s Helicon” and subscribed “Ignoto.” We now transcribe from the “Helicon,” No. xx of “The Passionate Pilgrim” much amended and enlarged: The Passionate Shepherd to his love. Come live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, [and] hills and fields, Woods, or steeple mountains yields.(1) (1) The grammar of this verse is shocking both here and in the version of 1599. And there are considerable variations in the two versions. In that of 1599 the first word “Come” is omitted, without which the song could hardly be sung. Other slight defects of measure appear in both. But the editor of Marlowe’s Works has carefully corrected the grammar and the measure. And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle. A gown made of the finest wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull, Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold: A belt of straw, and ivy buds With coral clasps and amber studs. [34] And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my love. The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delights each May-morning; If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love. Finis. Chr. Marlowe. Here we have Marlowe credited with this song in 1600, seven years after his death. Is there any other evidence that he wrote it? A single line at the close of a ditty in his “Jew of Malta” parallels with the first line of this, except the first word: “Shall live with me and be my love.” The song, with many verbal amendments, and omitting the last stanza, is inserted in his “Works,” 1826. In the “Merry Wives of Windsor” act iii, scene ly Sir Hugh Evans sings the following four lines: “To shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals; There we will make our peds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies.” This play was written in the latter part of 1599. In the earliest form of it Sir Hugh transposes and varies the lines thus: “And then she made him beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies.” Then after three lines of incoherent speech: “To shallow rivers, and to falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.” It would seem as if the song was familiar to the public in 1599 We now add from the “Helicon” the rest of No. xx of “The Passionate Pilgrim,” enlarged from one stanza to six: [35] The Nymph's reply to the Shepherd. If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd’s tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move, To live with thee, and be thy love. Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold; And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complain of cares to come. The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward Winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy’s Spring, but sorrow’s fall. Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten. Thy belt of straw, and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means can move, To come to thee and be thy love. But could youth last, and love still breed, Had joys no date, nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move, To live with thee and be thy love. Finis. Ignoto. The editor of the third edition of the “Helicon” 1812, says in regard to “Ignoto:” “This signature appears to have been generally, though not exclusively, subscribed to the pieces of Sir Walter Raleigh. It is also subscribed to one piece since appropriated to Shakspere, [No. xviii,] and to one Which, according to Ellis, belongs to Richard Barnfield [No. xxi.] The celebrated answer to Marlowe’s, 'Come live with me,’ here subscribed Ignoto, is given expressly to Raleigh by Isaac Walton in his ‘Complete Angler,’ first published in 1653.” [36] What could Walton know about it fifty years after the publication of the song and answer as above? On such worthless testimony the Nymph’s Answer is credited to Raleigh. And we have in the “Encyclopedia of Poetry,” 1873, first the song by Marlowe, “about 1590,” and then the Nymph’s Reply by Raleigh “about 1610.” Strange that the Nymph should wait about twenty years to reply, and should then repeat the lines credited to Shakspere in 1599 and to “Ignoto” in 1600! The song perhaps existed before the death of Marlowe in 1593, but was probably composed by “Ignoto,” who also wrote “The Nymph’s Reply” and numerous other poetical pieces that were published in the “Helicon” in 1600. “Ignoto” was undoubtedly a concealed poet. Marlowe, Raleigh and Barnfield were not. As early as January 1590, if not a little sooner, “Ignoto” contributed to Spenser’s first publication of the “Faery Queen” the following lines: “To look upon a work of rare devise The which a workman setteth out to view, And not to yield it the deserved prize That unto such a workmanship is due, Doth either prove the judgment to be naught, Or else doth show a mind with envy fraught. “To labor to commend a piece of work Which no man goes about to discommend, Would raise a jealous doubt that there did lurk Some secret doubt whereto the praise did tend: For when men know the goodness of the wine ’Tis needless for the host to have a sign. “Thus then, to show my judgment to be such As can discern of colors black and white, As als to free my mind from envy’s touch, That never gives to any man his right: I here pronounce this workmanship is such As that no pen can set it forth too much. [37] “And thus I hang a garland at the door; Not for to show the goodness of the ware; But such hath been the custom heretofore, And customs very hardly broken are; And when your taste shall tell you this is true, Then look you give your host his utmost due.” In No. viii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” the writer says: “Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense; Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As, passing all conceit, needs no defense.” Is not this praise of Spenser a substantial repetition of the sentiments expressed by “Ignoto”? Again, in Shakspere’s Sonnet lxxx we read: “O how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might, To make me tongue-tied, speaking of your fame!” Spenser praises Essex in one of the Sonnets prefixed to his “Faery Queen,” which antedates the Sonnets of Shakspere. Once more. In No. xviii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” we read: “Poor Corydon must live alone, Other help for him I see that there is none.” Compare this with the following lines from Spenser’s “Colin Clout,” dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, December 27, 1591, and published in 1595: “And there is Corydon, though meanly waged, Yet ablest wit of most I know this day.” Was not Bacon the ablest wit of that time? Was [38] he not a concealed poet? Was he not “Corydon”? Was he not “Ignoto”? But what evidence is there that Raleigh used that signature? The “Faery Queen” was publicly dedicated to him, and in the Sonnet addressed to him as one of Spenser’s patrons, a forthcoming poem by Raleigh is announced thus: “Yet, till that thou thy poem wilt make known, Let thy fair Cynthia’s praises be thus rudely shown.” That poem was known to Spenser, who in the Dedication said he had fashioned his Queen “according to your [Raleigh’s] own excellent conceit of Cynthia,” i. e., Queen Elizabeth. Furthermore, Raleigh contributed two Sonnets in praise of Spenser’s “Faery Queen;” these he subscribed with his own initials. Did he at the same time write another encomium and sign it “Ignoto”? There are sixteen pieces in the “Helicon” subscribed “Ignoto.” One of these, “The Nymph’s Reply” is ascribed to Raleigh on the testimony of Walton in 1653; and two others are believed by the editor of the third edition, 1812, to belong to Raleigh, because in an early copy of the same “Ignoto” was found pasted over “W. R.” Upon such flimsy evidence the modern editor infers that the signature “Ignoto” was “generally, though not exclusively, (his own italics,) subscribed to the pieces of Sir Walter Raleigh.” The next piece after “The Nymph’s Reply” in the “Helicon” is the following by “Ignoto”: Another of the same nature made since. Come live with me and be my dear, And we will revel all the year, In plains and groves, on hills and dales, Where fragrant air breeds sweetest gates. There shall you have the beauteous pine, The cedar, and the spreading vine; And all the woods to be a screen, Lest Phoebus kiss my summer queen. The seat for your disport shall be Over some river in a tree; Where silver sands and pebbles sing Eternal ditties with the Spring. There shall you see the nymphs at play, And how the Satyrs spend the day; The fishes gliding on the sands, Offering their bellies to your hands. The birds, with heavenly tuned throats, Possess woods’ echoes with sweet notes; Which to your senses will impart A music to inflame the heart. Upon the bare and leafless oak The ring-dove’s wooings will provoke A colder blood than you possess, To play with me and do no less. In bowers of laurel trimly dight, We will outwear the silent night, While Flora busy is to spread Her richest treasure on our bed. Ten thousand glow-worms shall attend, And all their sparkling lights shall spend. All to adorn and beautify Your lodging with most majesty. Then in mine arms will I enclose Lily’s fair mixture with the rose; Whose nice perfections in love’s play, Shall tune to me the highest key. Thus as we pass the welcome night In sportful pleasures and delight, The nimble fairies on the grounds Shall dance and sing melodious sounds. [40] If these may serve for to entice Your presence to Love’s paradise, Then come with me and be my dear, And we will straight begin the year. Finis. Ignoto. Who will say that this is not equal to the first song ascribed to Marlowe? What couplet in that surpasses this one?: “Where silver sands and pebbles sing Eternal ditties with the Spring.” Or this?: “Ten thousand glow-worms shall attend. And all their sparkling lights shall spend.” For parallels with the first of these couplets take the following: “Silver stream.” Much Ado, iii, 1. “Sing no more ditties.” Ibid, ii, 1. “Silver currents.” K. John, ii, 1. “The murmuring surge That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes.” Ibid, iv, 6. For a single parallel with the second couplet take this: “Twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns be.” M. W. Windsor, v, 5. Similar parallels may be found with other lines of the song. Now are we to believe that Marlowe wrote the first song, and Raleigh the other two signed “Ignoto”? Is it not far more rational and consistent to believe that all three were written by the same pen? Again, Barnfield has two pieces in the “Helicon,” and the editor ascribes to him another signed “Ignoto”—No. xxi, “As it fell upon a day”—while Allibone, in his Dictionary of Authors, makes him the [41] author not only of xxi, but of xx—“Come live with me and be my love”—and says that Raleigh’s authorship of “The Nymph’s Reply” is questioned. Thus Marlowe is robbed of the only piece ascribed to him in the “Helicon,” and Raleigh is left out of it entirely, unless he wrote some other poem signed “Ignoto.” And by the way, poor neglected Shakspere has but a single specimen there—“On a day, alack a day”— taken from “Love’s Labor Lost.” But the confusion about “Ignoto” is still more confounded. On page 112 of the “Helicon” is a song entitled “The Shepherd’s Dump,” subscribed “S. E. D.,” supposed to mean Sir Edward Dyer, and on page 224 the same identical song reappears entitled “Thirsis, the Shepherd, to his pipe,” and signed “Ignoto.” The editor of 1812 supposes it was reprinted to make a few corrections in the last stanza; but as the verbal variations in that stanza make it positively worse, it is more likely that the compiler did not notice the repetition, but inadvertently put both in as he found them. But even this is not all. In Ellis’s “Specimens of the early English Poets,” 5th edition, 1845, among the pieces credited to Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke) is a “Song,” with these words in brackets: “To be found in ‘England’s Helicon,’ where it is signed Ignoto.” On turning to the edition of 1614 we find that song entitled “Another, of his Cynthia.” It is preceded by two, evidently by the same pen, entitled, “To his Flocks,” and “To his Love” and is followed by still “Another to his Cynthia.” But all these are anonymous [42] in the edition of 1614, and the editor appends to the last one the following remark: “These three [or four?] ditties were taken out of Maister John Dowland’s Book of Tableture for the Lute. The authors’ names not there set down, and therefore left to their owners.” But it happens that the four ditties are all credited to “Ignoto” in the Table of Contents, prepared by the other editor, so that in the edition of 1614 “Ignoto” has twenty pieces, besides the one assigned to Marlowe. With all this confusion what are we to believe in regard to “Ignoto”? Was he sometimes Raleigh, sometimes Barnfield, sometimes Dyer, sometimes Greville, and sometimes Shakspere, or some one else? Or was he a single person who “loved better to be a poet than to be counted so” and who affected to hoodwink the above-named Greville by writing to him in 1596: “For poets I can commend none, being resolved to be ever a stranger to them”? And here let us note a bit of internal evidence that Bacon wrote the little poem in praise of the “Faery Queen” signed “Ignoto.” One couplet of it is as follows: “For when men know the goodness of the wine, ’Tis needless for the host to have a sign.” No. 517 of Bacon’s “Promus of Formularies and Elegancies” is this: “Good wine needs no bush.” The word “bush” as applied to wine is thus defined by Webster: “branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus) hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence a tavern sign, or the tavern itself.” “‘If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ’tis true that a good play needs no epilogue.’” Shak.[As You Like It.] We leave the reader to put this and that together argument or comment is superfluous. [43] |
|
