I am about to supply a deficiency in my last volume of _Extracts from
the Register of the Stationers' Company_ (printed for the Shakespeare
Society, 1849), and thereby set an example that I hope will be followed,
in order that various works, regarding which I could give no, or only
incomplete, information, may be duly illustrated. It is impossible to
expect that any one individual could thoroughly accomplish such an
undertaking; and, by means of your excellent periodical, it will be easy
for literary men, who possess scarce or unique books, mentioned in the
Registers and in my quotations from them, to furnish such brief
descriptions as will be highly curious and very useful.
A tract of this description has just fallen in my way, and it relates to
the subsequent entry on p. 97. of vol. ii. of my _Extracts_: the date is
22nd September, 1579.
"H. Denham. Lycensed unto him, &c. A Paradox, provinge by reason
and example that baldnes is much better than bushie heare. vj'd"
When I wrote the comment on this registration I was only acquainted with
the clever MS. ballad in _Defence of a Bald Head_, which I quoted; but I
hardly supposed it to be the production intended. It turns out that it
was not, for I have that production now before me. My belief is that it
is entirely unique; and the only reason for a contrary opinion, that I
am acquainted with, is that there is an incorrect mention of it in
Warton, _H.E.P._ iv. 229.; but there is not a hint of its existence in
Ritson, although it ought to have found a place in his _Bibliographia
Poetica_; neither do I find it noticed in later authorities; if it be,
they have escaped my researches. You will not blame me, then, for
indulging my usual wish to quote the title-page at length, which exactly
agrees with the terms of the entry in the books of the Stationers'
Company. It runs _literatim_ thus:--
"A Paradoxe, proving by reason and example, that baldnesse is
much better than bushie haire, &c. Written by that excellent
philosopher Synesius, Bishop of Thebes, or (as some say) Cyren.
A prettie pamphlet to pervse, and relenished with
recreation.--Englished {85} by Abraham Fleming.--Herevnto is
annexed the pleasant tale of Hemetes the Heremite, pronounced
before the Queenes Maiestie. Newly recognised both in Latin and
Englishe, by the said A.F.--[Greek: hae taes sophias phalakra
saemeion.]--The badge of wisdome is baldnesse.--Printed by H.
Denham, 1579." 8vo. B.L.
If I am not greatly mistaken, your readers will look in vain for a
notice of the book in any collected list of the many productions of
Abraham Fleming; if I am not greatly mistaken, also, some of them will
be disapppointed if I do not subjoin a few sentences describing more
particularly the contents of the small volume, which (speaking as a
bibliographer) extends to sign. F. iiij in eights.
At the back of the title-page is "The life of Synesius drawen out of
Suydas his gatherings," in Greek and in English. Then comes "The Epistle
Apologeticall to the lettered Reader," signed "Thine for thy pleasure
and profite--Abraham Fleming," which, in excuse for taking up so slight
a subject, contains a very singular notice of the celebrated John
Heywood, the dramatist of the reign of Henry VIII., and of his
remarkable poem _The Spider and the Fly_. The _Pretie Paradoxe_, by
Synesius, next commences, and extends as far as sign. D. v. b. This
portion of the tract is, of course, merely a translation, but it
includes a passage or two from Homer, cleverly rendered into English
verse. Here we come to the word _Finis_, and here, I take it, it was
originally intended that the tract should end; but as it was thought
that it would hardly be of sufficient bulk for the money (4d., or 6d. at
the utmost), a sort of appendix was added, which, on some accounts, is
the most interesting part of the work.
It is headed "The tale of Hemetes the Heremite, pronounced before the
Queene's Maiestie," which Warton, who clearly never saw the book, calls
the "Fable of Hermes." In fact, it is, with a few verbal changes, the
tale of Hemetes, which George Gascoigne presented, in Latin, Italian,
French, and English, to Queen Elizabeth, and of which the MS., with the
portraits of the Queen and the author is among the Royal MSS. in the
British Museum. Fleming tells us that he had "newly recognised"
(whatever may be meant by the words) this tale in Latin and English, but
he does not say a syllable whence he procured it. Gascoigne died two
years before the date of the publication of this _Paradoxe, &c._ so that
Fleming was quite sure the property could never be challenged by the
true owner of it.
Before I conclude, allow me to mention two other pieces by A. Fleming
(who became rector of St. Pancras, Soper-lane, in 1593), regarding which
I am anxious to obtain information, and seek it through the medium of
"NOTES AND QUERIES."
A marginal note in Fleming's Translation of Virgil's _Georgics_, 1589,
4to., is the following:--"The poet alludeth to the historie of Leander
and Hero, written by Museus, and Englished by me a dozen yeares ago, and
in print." My question is, whether such a production is in existence?
Fleming's tract, printed in 1580 in 8vo. (miscalled 16mo.), "A Memorial,
&c. of Mr. William Lambe, Esquier," is well known; but many years ago I
saw, and copied the heading of a _broadside_, which ran thus:--"An
Epitaph, or funeral inscription vpon the godlie life and death of the
Right worshipfull Maister William Lambe Esquire, Founder of the new
Conduit in Holborne," &c. "Deceased the 21st April Anno 1580. Deuised by
Abraham Fleming." At the bottom was--"Imprinted at London by Henrie
Denham for Thomas Turner," &c.
In whose hands, or in what library, I saw this production, has entirely
escaped my memory; and I am now very anxious to learn what has become of
that copy, or whether any other copy of it has been preserved.