Transcriber's Note:
In this etext the following are represented by:--
Italics > _underscore_
Macron > [=r]
Superscript > ^
oe ligature > [oe]
ornate font > $
Greek language is shown in phonetics.
* * * * *
Early English Poets.
SIR JOHN DAVIES.
PRINTED BY ROBERT ROBERTS,
BOSTON.
Early English Poets.
THE
COMPLETE POEMS
OF
SIR JOHN DAVIES.
EDITED,
WITH
Memorial-Introduction and Notes,
BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
[Illustration]
_IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I._
London:
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
1876.
To
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE W. EWART
GLADSTONE, M.P., &c., &c.
SIR,
I had the honour to place in your hands the complete Poems of SIR
JOHN DAVIES in the Fuller Worthies' Library. In now publishing
these Poems for a wider circle of readers and students, I re-dedicate
them to you.
That I should have wished (and wish) to inscribe the Works of a man
famous as a prescient and practical Statesman, as a philosophic
Thinker, as an Orator, as a Lawyer, and as a Poet, to you, is
extremely natural; for in you, Sir,--in common with all Great Britain
and Europe, and America,--I recognize his equal, and England's
foremost living name, in nearly every department wherein the elder
distinguished himself; while transfiguring and ennobling all, is
your conscience-ruled and stainless Christian life. That you gave me
permission so to do, with appreciative and kindly words, adds to my
pleasure. Trusting that my fresh 'labour of love' (for which 'love of
labour' has been necessary) on this Worthy may meet your continued
approval,
I am, Sir,
With high regard and gratitude,
Yours faithfully and truly,
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
_Preface._
My edition of the Complete Poems of Sir John Davies in the Fuller
Worthies' Library in 1869; since being followed up with a similarly
complete collection of his much more extensive Prose, as Volumes II.
and III. of his entire Works--met with so instant a Welcome, that very
speedily I had to return the answer of 'out of print' to numerous
applicants. Accordingly it was with no common satisfaction I agreed
to the request of the Publishers that Sir John Davies' complete Poems
should succeed Giles Fletcher's in their Early English Poets.
In the preparation of this new edition I have carefully re-collated
the whole of the original and early editions, with the same advantage
and for the same reasons, as in Giles Fletcher's. I have likewise been
enabled to make some interesting additions, as will appear in the
respective places.
I wish very cordially to re-thank various friends for their continued
helpfulness. Several I must specify: To Dr. Brinsley Nicholson I
am indebted for many suggestions, and spontaneous research towards
elucidating the Poems. I would specially thank B. H. Beedham, Esq.,
Ashfield House, Kimbolton, for not only making a transcript of the
holograph copy of the "Twelve Wonders" in Downing College Library,
Cambridge, and of the Lines to the King in All Souls' College,
Oxford--both Colleges readily allowing this--but for his old-fashioned
enthusiasm and carefulness of scrutiny of every available source, far
and near. Biographical results will be utilized more fully elsewhere,
viz. in the Memorial-Introduction to be prefixed to the Prose in the
complete Works; but meantime and here I cannot sufficiently acknowledge
Mr. Beedham's kindness or my obligation to him. To Colonel Chester, of
Bermondsey, for ready and most useful help in family-Wills, &c., I am
as often deeply obliged. His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, was good
enough to allow me the leisurely use of his MS. of "Nosce Teipsum" at
Alnwick Castle. Dr. David Laing, of Edinburgh, again entrusted me his
Davies MSS. (See Note, Vol. II., p. 119.)
The Poetry of Sir John Davies, weighty and imperishable though it be,
bears so small a proportion to his entire works and activities in many
departments, that it would be out of keeping to give a lengthened Life
herein. Still, in the present Memorial-Introduction will be found
very much more of accurate detail than hitherto, and corrections of
long-transmitted and accepted mistakes.
The discovery of extremely important MSS.--including State-Papers,
and official and private Letters--in H.M. Public Record Office, the
Bodleian, Oxford, the British Museum, etc., delays my completion of
the Prose Works and the full Life; but within this year it is my hope
and expectation to issue the whole to my constituents of the Fuller
Worthies' Library. _En passant_--for the sake of others it may be
stated that the complete Works (Verse and Prose: 3 vols.) will be
readily accessible in all the leading public Libraries of the Kingdom,
and of the United States.
I send forth this new edition of a great Poet assured that he has not
yet gathered half his destined renown:--
"Ah! weak and foolish men are they
Who lightly deem of Poet's lay,
That turns e'en winter months to May,
And makes the whole year warm:
'Tis this that brings back Paradise,
Reveals its bowers by Art's device,
Instructs the fool, delights the wise,
And gives to Life its charm.
(STEPHEN JENNER.)
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
_St. George's Vestry,
Blackburn, Lancashire._
_Contents._
Those marked with [*] are herein printed for the first time, or
published for the first time among Davies' Poems.
PAGE
DEDICATION i
PREFACE iii
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION--I. BIOGRAPHICAL xi
" " II. CRITICAL lvii
" " III. POSTSCRIPT cvi
NOSCE TEIPSUM 1-118
NOTE 3
ROYAL DEDICATION 9
*DEDICATION OF A GIFT-COPY (IN MS.) IN THE POSSESSION
OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND,
AT ALNWICK CASTLE 12
OF HUMANE KNOWLEDGE 15
OF THE SOULE OF MAN AND THE IMMORTALITIE THEREOF 25
What the soule is 29
That the soule is a thing subsisting by it selfe
without the body 29
That the soule is more then a perfection or reflection
of the sense 35
That the Soule is more then the Temperature of
the Humors of the Body 39
That the Soule is a Spirit 41
That it cannot be a Body 42
That the Soule is created immediately by God 45
Erronious opinions of the Creation of Soules 46
Objection:--That the Soule is Extraduce 47
The Answere to the Obiection 49
Reasons drawne from Nature 49
Reasons drawne from Diuinity 52
Why the Soule is United to the Body 60
In what manner the Soule is united to the Body 61
How the Soul doth exercise her Powers in the Body 63
The Vegetatiue or quickening Power 63
The power of Sense 64
Sight 65
Hearing 67
Taste 68
Smelling 69
Feeling 70
The Imagination or Common Sense 70
The Fantasie 71
The Sensitiue Memorie 72
The Passions of Sense 73
The Motion of Life 74
The Locall Motion 74
The intellectuall Powers of the Soule 75
The Wit or Understanding 75
Reason, Vnderstanding 76
Opinion, Judgement 76
The Power of Will 78
The Relations betwixt Wit and Will 78
The Intellectuall Memorie 79
An Acclamation 81
That the Soule is Immortal, and cannot Die 82
Reason I--Drawne from the desire of Knowledge 83
Reason II--Drawn from the Motion of the Soule 85
The Soul compared to a Riuer 85
Reason III--From Contempt of Death in the
better Sort of Spirits 90
Reason IV--From the Feare of Death in the
Wicked Soules 92
Reason V--From the generall Desire of Immortalitie 93
Reason VI--From the very Doubt and Disputation
of Immortalitie 95
That the Soule cannot be destroyed 96
Her Cause ceaseth not 96
She hath no Contrary 96
Shee cannot Die for want of Food 97
Violence cannot destroy her 98
Time cannot destroy her 98
Objections against the Immortalitie of the Soule 99
Objection I 100
Answere 100
Objection II 104
Answere 105
Objection III 106
Answere 106
Objection IV 108
Answere 109
Objection V 110
Answere 110
The Generall Consent of All 111
Three Kinds of Life answerable to the three
Powers of the Soule 113
An Acclamation 114
APPENDIX--REMARKS PREFIXED TO NAHUM TATE'S
EDITION (1697) OF 'NOSCE TEIPSUM' 118
HYMNES TO ASTRAEA 125
NOTE 127
Of Astraea 129
To Astraea 130
To the Spring 131
To the Moneth of May 132
To the Larke 133
To the Nightingale 134
To the Rose 135
To all the Princes of Europe 136
To Flora 137
To the Moneth of September 138
To the Sunne 139
To her Picture 140
Of her Minde 141
Of the Sun-beames of her Mind 142
Of her Wit 143
Of her Will 144
Of her Memorie 145
Of her Phantasie 146
Of the Organs of her Minde 147
Of the Passions of her Heart 148
Of the innumerable vertues of her Minde 149
Of her Wisdome 150
Of her Justice 151
Of her Magnanimitie 152
Of her Moderation 153
To Enuy 154
ORCHESTRA, OR A POEME OF DAUNCING 155
NOTE 157
DEDICATIONS.--I. TO HIS VERY FRIEND, MA. RICH.
MARTIN 159
II. TO THE PRINCE 160
ORCHESTRA, OR A POEME OF DAUNCING 161
_Memorial-Introduction._
I. BIOGRAPHICAL.
As in other instances, the first thing to be done in any Life of our
present Worthy, is to distinguish him from other two contemporary Sir
John Davieses--non-attention to which has in many biographical and
bibliographical works led to no little confusion. There was
I. Sir John Davis (or Davys or Davies) of Pangbourne, Berkshire,
who 'sleeps well' under a chalk-stone monument in the parish church
there. He was mixed up with the 'Plots' (alleged and semi-real),
of the Elizabethan-Essex period. Many of his Letters--various very
long and matterful and pathetic--are preserved at Hatfield among the
Cecil-Salisbury MSS. The Blue-Book report of the "Royal Commission on
Historical Manuscripts" (3rd, 1872), makes a strange jumble of our Sir
John and this Sir John's Letters (see Index, s. n.). He was Master
of the Ordnance 31st January, 1598, and was knighted at Dublin 12th
July, 1599. His Will is dated 6th April, 1625, and it was proved at
London ... May, 1626. Our Sir John was appointed one of his executors.
Arms: _Sable_, a griffin, segt., _or._ He is supposed to have been of
Shropshire descent.
II. Sir John Davies (or Davys or Davis) Knight-Marshal of Connaught and
Thomond: temp. Elizabeth. He had large grants of lands in Roscommon.
He is now represented by the family of Clonshanville (or Loyle) in
Roscommon, who are of Shropshire descent (see Archdall's Peerage of
Ireland.) His Will is dated 14th February, 1625. He died 13th April,
1626. His Will was not proved (at Dublin) until 17th November, 1628.
Arms: Sable, on a chevron, argent, three trefoils slipped, _vert._:
crest; a dragon's head erased, _vert._
According to Mr. J. Payne Collier, the following entry is found in the
register of S. Mary, Aldermanbury: "Buried Sir John Davyes, Knight, May
28, 1624." (Bibliographical Account of Early English Literature, i.,
193). If there be no mistake here, we have another contemporary Sir
John Davies. Certainly it was not ours, and as certainly neither of the
two preceding.[1]
[Footnote 1: Through B. H. Beedham, Esq., as before, I have many
details on the two contemporary Sir John Davieses from Sir Bernard
Burke Ulster King at Arms, &c., &c., and J. N. C. Atkinson Davis,
Esqr., Dublin; and the same acknowledgment has to be made on many
points in the Life.]
The spelling of the family name, which is now Davies, varies very much.
I have found it as Dyve, Dayves, Davyes, Dauis, Davis, and Davies.
Usually our Worthy signs 'Dauyes;' but in his books changes, e.g., in
'Nosce Teipsum' of 1599, to the verse-dedication to Elizabeth, it is
'Dauies;' in 1602 'Dauys,' and in 1608 'Davis,' and so diversely in his
Prose.
Among the Carte Papers in the Bodleian are rough jottings by the
Historian for a Memoir of our Sir John Davies, wherein it is stated
that the family came originally from South Wales to Tisbury, Wiltshire.
The words are: "His family had continued several generations in y^{e}
place, though descended from a family of that name in South Wales: but
planted heere in England Temp. Hen. 7: accompanying at that time y^{e}
Earle of Pembrooke out of Wales.[2]
[Footnote 2: Carte Papers, folios 330-334: Vol. XII. The particular
MS. is headed "Notes of the life of Sr John Dauys. May 2d. 1674."
These Notes are not very accurate. To begin with, the father's name is
mistakenly given as Edward instead of John.]
The 'estate' of the Davieses at Tisbury was named Chicksgrove
(sometimes spelled Chisgrove.) Only a small fragment of the Manor-house
remains "unto this day." The Tisbury parish registers, however, yield
abundant entries of the family-names under the wonted three-fold
'Baptisms,' 'Marriages,' 'Burials;' and the church itself, in tablets
and communion plate, and other memorials, possesses various evidences
of their influential position for many generations, and in many lines
of descent and local intermarriage. It must suffice here briefly to
summarize the Pedigree, and to extract the entries immediately bearing
on our present Life.
Confirming the Carte statement of a Welsh descent, one John Davys,
of ... wyn, in Shropshire, temp. Henry VIII., recorded by Carney
(1606) in the Visitation of Dublin in Ulster Office, and according to
Chalmers settled at Tisbury, temp. Edward VI., came from Wales with
the Earl of Pembroke, and was living in 1517 and 1541.[3] This John
Davys married Matilda, daughter of ... Bridemore, who was buried as
"Maud, Master Davys widow, 18 May, 1570." There was a numerous family
of sons and daughters from this union.[4] We have only now to do
with their eighth, and youngest son, John, who was living in 1517
and 1541.[5] He was of 'New Inn,' London; and thus, like his more
famous son, was brought up to the study of the Law. This will appear
authoritatively onward; but at this point it is needful to correct and
explain a long-continued error, originated by ANTHONY à-WOOD "Athenæ,"
by Dr. Bliss, Vol. ii., p. 400) apparently, viz. that the father was
"a wealthy tanner," and so Sir John, of "low extraction," etc., etc.
I do not know that there should have been reason for shame had the
paternal Davies been a 'tanner,' wealthy or otherwise, if otherwise
he was that Christian gentleman which all reports represent. But the
matter-of-fact is that through the premature deaths of his elder
brothers, John Davyes, of Chisgrove, seems to have inherited the family
possessions and wealth, and to have been in the front rank of the
country gentry. The explanation of the mistake as to his having been a
'tanner,' is unexpectedly found in the Will of Thomas Bennett, brother
(as we shall see) of Sir John Davies' mother. Among other things he
leaves "a certain mess, or tent, in West Hatch now (1591) in the use of
Edward Scannell, and all lands thereto belonging, [to] be held by John
Bennett my son, Thomas Rose and Nicholas Graye as trustees to my own
use for life, and after my decease to the use and behoof" of various
relatives, of whom one is described as "Edward Davys of Tyssebury,
_tanner_." This Edward Davys, tanner, was no doubt of the Chisgrove
family; and hence the confusion. In all probability he was one of the
younger sons, and so brother of our Sir John. When he came to make his
Will (now before me), though engaged in trade, he asserts his gentility
by styling himself 'gentleman.' So much in correction of a second
important biographical mistake.
[Footnote 3: In MS. F 4, 18, Trinity College, Dublin, the same origin
is given, but the place beyond ... 'wyn' is illegible in both.]
[Footnote 4: Hoare's Wilts. gives many names; but his pedigrees are
rarely trustworthy; as a rule, are exceedingly untrustworthy.]
[Footnote 5: The MSS. of note _supra_.]
John Davyes, of Chisgrove, was married to Mary, daughter of John
Bennett (alias Pitt) of Pitt House, Wilts., (Visitation of Wilts.,
1563) by Agnes his wife, daughter of ........ Toppe, of Fenny Sutton,
in Wilts. Hoare[6] and others, give ample proof of the almost lordly
position of the Bennetts. Woolrych observes (1869) "The Bennetts of
Pyt, have been well known in our own time. The struggles of Bennet
and Astley for the representation of the county are remembered as
severe and costly."[7] Thus if Davyes of Chisgrove was of good blood
in the county, he certainly advanced himself when he wooed and won
a daughter of the house of Bennett (or Benett). They had at least
three sons. The first was Matthew, who became D.D., Vicar of Writtle,
Essex. Hoare (as before) calls him second son, and states that he died
unmarried. Both are inaccuracies. The Tisbury Register shews that
he was the eldest not the second son; and the Will of our Sir John
remembers his family.[8] The second son was (probably) the Edward who
became a "tanner." He was baptized at Tisbury 6th December, 1566. He
too is named in our Sir John's Will. The third was the subject of our
Memorial-Introduction. The following is his baptismal entry from (_a_)
the paper or scroll-copy, (_b_) the parchment or extended register of
Tisbury--_literatim_:
[Footnote 6: Wilts., as before, on Davies, Vol. IV. part I., p. 136; on
Bennetts, Vol. III., part II., p. 107.]
[Footnote 7: Lives of Eminent Serjeants, 2 vols., 8vo. (1869). By
H. William Woolrych, Sergeant-at-Law: Vol. I., p. 187. Considerable
industry is shown in this work, but it literally swarms with blunders.]
[Footnote 8: In the fuller Life to be prefixed to the Prose Works, I
hope to furnish more details.]
(_a_) Paper MS.: 1569 Aprill xvj. John the sonne of John Dauy was
crysten'd.
(_b_) Parchment MS.: Anno dni 1569 Aprill 16 John the sonne of John
Davis bapt.[9]
There were two sisters, Edith and Maria. Master John was in his 11th
year only when he lost his father, who died in 1580. The Carte MS.
"Notes" (as before) tell us: "his father dyed when hee was very young
and left him with his 2 brothers to his mother to bee educated. She
therefore brought them vpp all to learning." The same "Notes" state
"y^{t} Iohn off whom we now write, being designed for a lawyer,
neglected his learning, butt being first a scholar in Winchester
Colledge, was afterwards removed to New Colledge in Oxford." According
to Chalmers (History of Oxford: I. p. 105) he became in Michaelmas term
1585, a Commoner of Queen's College, Oxford. From thence he removed
in 1587 (not 1588 as usually stated e.g. by Wood to George Chalmers
and Woolrych). The Admission Register of the Middle Temple contains
his entry, and it is interesting additionally as establishing that his
father was of the New Inn, London, and so of the legal profession:
f. 193 D.
Teio Die februarij A^o 1587:
Mr Iohes Davius filius tertius Johis Davis de Tisburie in Com Wiltes
gen de nov hospitio gen admissus est in societate medij Templi et
obligat^r vna m ' m^r is Lewes et Raynolde et dat p fine--xx^s.[10]
[Footnote 9: In the same I intend to give account of these Registers,
and the many Davies entries, &c.]
[Footnote 10: From the original books, as _supra_. See Pearce's Inns
of Court, p. 293, where it is stated that the elder Davies was a legal
practitioner in Wilts.]
This 'entry' renders null all speculations as to whether by 'New
Inn' were not intended 'New Hall' Oxford, &c. &c.; and it is a third
correction of important biographical errors hitherto.
It is to be regretted that other Records of New Inn commence only with
the year 1674. So that we are without light on the residence in the
Middle Temple.
In 1590 the saddest of all human losses came on the young law-student
by the death of his mother, who was buried at Tisbury "XXVth
of Marche, 1590." In this year he is again at the University of
Oxford; for in the "Fasti" (by Bliss, Vol. ii., p. 250) he is entered
under 1590 as taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. I fear that with
the death of his lady-mother there ensued a full plunge into the
frivolities and gaities of the University and Inns of Court society.
It was a 'fast' period; and while his after-books prove conclusively
that he must have studied Law widely and laboriously, there can be
little doubt that there were outbursts of youthful extravagance and
self-indulgence. None the less is it equally certain--rather is in
harmony therewith--that very early he mingled with the poets and wits
of the day. There is not a tittle of evidence warranting the ascription
of "Sir Martin Mar People his Coller of Esses Workmanly wrought by
Maister Simon Soothsaier, Goldsmith of London, and offered to sale upon
great necessity by John Davies. Imprinted at London by Richard Ihones.
1590 (4^to),"[11] to him; nor can any one really study "O Vtinam 1
For Queene Elizabeths securitie, 2 For hir Subiects prosperitie, 3
For a general conformitie, 4 And for Englands tranquilitie. Printed
at London, by R. Yardley and P. Short, for Iohn Pennie, dwelling in
Pater noster row, at the Grey hound. 1591 (16mo),"[12] and for a
moment concede his hastily alleged authorship. But in 1593 his poem of
"Orchestra, or a Poeme of Dauncing," was "licensed to Iohn Harison" the
elder. No earlier edition than that of 1596 has been proved; but the
"license" assures us that Harrison had negotiated for its publication
in 1593. The title-page of the 1596 edition is followed by a dedicatory
sonnet "To his very friend, Ma. Rich. Martin." The Reader may turn
to it "an' it please" him (Vol. I. p. 159): and "thereby hangs a
tale." The dedicatory sonnet, it will be seen, while characterizing
"Orchestra" as "this dauncing Poem," this "suddaine, rash, half-capreol
of my wit," informs us that his "very friend" Martin was the "first
mouer and sole cause of it, and that he was the Poet's "owne selues
better halfe," and "deerest friend." We have the time employed on it
too:--
[Footnote 11: There is a copy at Lambeth.]
[Footnote 12: There is a copy in the Bodleian.]
"You know the modest Sunne full fifteene times
Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend,
While I in making of these ill made rimes,
My golden howers unthriftily did spend:
Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse,
I will mispend another fifteene dayes."
All this receives tragi-comical illumination from the fact that this
same "very friend" and "better halfe," and he who so sang of him, had
soon a deadly quarrel and estrangement. RICHARD MARTIN became
Recorder of London, and one memorial of him is a Speech to the King
which, if it partakes of the oddities of Euphues, must also be allowed
to contain weighty and bravely-outspoken counsel: and thus he has come
down to posterity as a grave and potent seignior. Moreover, he became
Reader of his Society, and M.P. for first Barnstaple, and later for
Cirencester. He appears, too, as the associate of Ben Jonson, John
Selden, and others of the foremost.[13]
[Footnote 13: See Woolrych, as before, and the authorities therein
given. At the end of Thomas Coriate's "Traveller for the English Wits,"
W. Jaggard, 1616 (4to), is a list of his acquaintances, to whom he
desires "the commendations of my dutiful respects." Among them occurs
"Mr. Richard Martin, Counsellor."]
But as a youthful law-student he was 'wild.' He fell under the lash of
the Benchers, having been expelled from the Middle Temple in February,
1591, for the part he took in a riot at the prohibited festival of the
Lord of Misrule. He was fast of tongue and ribald of wit, with a dash
of provocative sarcasm. Evidently he was one of those men who would
rather (as the saying puts it) lose his friend than his joke (however
poor the joke and rich the friend). A consideration of the whole facts
seems to show that again restored to the Middle Temple he had let loose
his probably wine-charged sarcasms at his friend Davies. Whether it
was so or not, he was ignobly punished. For against all "good manners"
not to speak of the "law" and discipline of the Court, Master Davies
came into the Hall with his hat on, armed with a dagger, and attended
by two persons with swords. Master Martin was seated at dinner at the
Barristers' Table. Davies pulling a bastinado or cudgel from under his
gown, went up to his insulter and struck him repeatedly over the head.
The chastisement must have been given with a will; for the bastinado
was shivered to pieces--arguing either its softness or the head's
asinine thickness. Having "avenged" himself, Davies returned to the
bottom of the Hall, drew one of the swords belonging to his attendants,
and flourished it repeatedly over his head, turning his face towards
Martin, and then hurrying down the water-steps of the Temple, threw
himself into a boat.[14] This extraordinary occurrence happened at the
close of 1597 or January of 1598. In 1595 he had been called to the
bar; but in February 1598 Davies was expelled by a unanimous sentence;
"disbarred" and deprived for ever of all authority to speak or consult
in law.[15] These "outbreaks" and expulsions were familiar incidents;
and make us exclaim with Othello: "O thou invisible spirit of wine, if
thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil"--"O God, that
men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!
that we should with joy, pleasure, revel and applause, transform
ourselves into beasts" (ii. 3). This is the all-too-plain solution
of these "high jinks." It was a disaster of the most ominous kind.
Nevertheless the dark cloud that thus fell across the noon of the
full-and-hot-blooded young Barrister folded in it a "bright light:"
or--if we may fetch an illustration from Holy Scripture, as Moses the
great Lawgiver of ancient Israel through the slaying of the Egyptian
was compelled to be a fugitive in the wilderness and therein to master
his native impulsiveness and passion, so was the "offender" in the
Hall of the Middle Temple through the disgrace and penalties incurred
forced into retirement and introspection. It was a costly price to
pay. But it is to be doubted whether if the enforced return to Oxford
and the self-scrutiny and penitence that calm reflection wrought there
had not arrested him, he ever would have given our literature "Nosce
Teipsum." His great poem bears witness to very poignant self-accusation
and humiliation. Towards the close you seem to catch the echo of sobs
and the glistening of tears; nor is it "preaching" to recognize a
diviner element still--his unrest and burden alike laid on Him Who
alone can sustain and help a "wounded spirit" in its trouble. Besides
the hazardous as disastrous incident with Martin, his "Epigrams"
by their _abandon_ and general allusiveness reveal that he was the
associate of the "young gallants" of the city and lived "fast"; and so
give significance and interpretation to his later passionate regrets,
self-accusations and self-rebuke. How abased and yet in touches how
noble is this!
[Footnote 14: Lord Stowell wrote an elaborate Paper on the whole
matter, and the restoration of Davies. It appeared in "Archæologia,"
Vol. XXI. I propose to write the narrative _in extenso_ in my fuller
Life, as before.]
[Footnote 15: Lord Stowell, as before.]
"O ignorant poor man! what dost thou beare
Lockt vp within the casket of thy brest?
What iewels and what riches hast thou there!
What heauenly treasure in so weake a chest!
Looke in thy soule, and thou shalt beauties find,
Like those which drownd Narcissus in the flood:
Honour and Pleasure both are in thy mind,
And all that in the world is counted good.
Thinke of her worth, and think that God did meane,
This worthy mind should worthy things imbrace;
Blast not her beauties with thy thoughts vnclean,
Nor her dishonour with thy passions base:
Kill not her quickning powers with surfettings,
Mar not her sense with sensualitie;
Cast not her serious wit on idle things:
Make not her free-will, slaue to vanitie.
And when thou think'st of her eternitie,
Thinke not that death against her nature is,
Thinke it a birth; and when thou goest to die,
Sing like a swan, as if thou went'st to blisse.
* * * * *
Take heed of over-weening, and compare
Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's traine;
Study the best and highest things that are,
But of thyselfe an humble thought retaine."[16]
"Expelled" and "disbarred," he retired to Oxford and there "followed
his studies, although he wore a cloak." (Wood's _Athenæ_, as before,
ii. 401). To lighten severer studies he now leisurely composed that
"Nosce Teipsum" from which has just been quoted the remarkable close.
His vein must have been a "flowing" one; for it was published within
a year of his disgrace, viz. in 1599.[17] It was dedicated to the
"great Queen;" without the all-too-common contemporary hyperbole of
laudation, yet showing the strange magnetism of her influence to win
allegiance from the greatest, even in her old age:--
"Loadstone to hearts and loadstone to all eyes."
The Carte "Notes" (as before) thus tell the whole story and ratify
Anthony-a-Wood:--"Vpon a quarrell between him and Mr. Martin before
y^{e} Judges, where he strooke Mr. Martin hee was confined and made a
prisoner: after w^{ch} in discontentment he retired to y^{e} countrye,
and writt y^{t} excellent poeme of his Nosce Teipsum, w^{ch} was so
well aprooved of by the Lord Mountioy after Lord Deputy of Ireland and
Earle of Devonshire, that by his aduise he publisht it and dedicated
it to Queen Elizabeth, to whom hee presented it, being introduced by
y^{e} aforesaide Lord his pattron, and y^{e} first essay of his pen
was so well relisht y^{t} y^{e} Queen encouraged him in his studdys,
promising him preferment, and had him sworn her servant in ordinary."
"Nosce Teipsum" was not his "first essay" so that perchance the meaning
is that its verse-dedication was his "first essay" in addressing the
Queen--his second being the Hymns to Astræa. The "Hymns to Astræa"
appeared in quick succession to "Nosce Teipsum" in the same year 1599.
They are dainty trifles; but from all we know of Elizabeth would be
received as "sweet incense." If they seem to us to-day flattering not
to say adulatory, it must be remembered that such was the _mode_. Much
later, Epistles-dedicatory from Bacon and others of the mighties,
and not to Elizabeth but to James--are infinitely fulsome compared
with the ideal praises of an ideal Elizabeth--that Elizabeth who had
stirred the nation's pulses through her great patriotic words when
"The Armada" threatened--in the most superlative of these "Hymnes."
Their workmanship is as of diamond-facets. The "bright light" of
olden promise was now "lining" the dark cloud. The discipline of
his retirement to Oxford did him life-long good. Speedily outward
events dove-tailed with the deepened ethical experience and resultant
character.
[Footnote 16: Vol. I., pp. 115-116, "Nosce Teipsum."]
[Footnote 17: See Vol. I., pp. 9-11. The date 1592, sometimes
(modernly) appended to the dedication of "Nosce Teipsum," has
no authority, and is in contradiction with all the known facts
and circumstances. Equally erroneous and misleading is the
ultra-rhetorically given chronology in "Court and Society from
Elizabeth to Anne," (2 Vols., 8vo., 1864), which bears the name of
the present Duke of Manchester, as thus:--"This Templar ... who wrote
a noble work on the immortality of the soul in the very hey-day of
his young blood, who afterwards became famous for his gravity as a
judge, his wisdom as a politician, and his soundness as a statesman,
terminated his literary career as the author of a poem in praise of
dancing," (Vol. I., p. 289). This is precisely the reverse of the fact.
In his earlier hot-blooded days he threw off his gay and self-named
"light" verses. In an interval of penitent self-inspection and worthier
aspiration, he wrote "Nosce Teipsum," and he followed this up by
ever-deepened grave, wise and weighty (prose) books. It is a pity
(perhaps) to spoil your brilliant bits of antithetic scandal; and more
pity that they should be hazarded for inevitable spoiling. Or put it in
another way: it is too bad to have your cook serving up the Roast Beef
of Old England as if it were strawberries (and cream). One need not use
severer terms, knowing the ducal editorship is a blind. Campbell in his
"Specimens," preceded in the blundering.]
For despair and disgrace there came hope and help. For a career
that seemed arrested, a higher, and wider, and nobler opened out in
inspiriting perspective. In 1599-1600 he was in all men's mouths as a
Poet. The "Poetical Rhapsody" of Davison of these years would have been
rendered incomplete without contributions from "I. D.;" and so there
went to it those Minor Poems, that are read still with pleasure. So
early as 1595 George Chapman had printed his "Ovid's Banquet of Sence,"
with lines from "I. D." More important still, "Secretary Cecil" became
his friend and patron. "_By desire_" he prepared certain dialogues and
scenes for entertainments to the Queen. Three of these remain. The
first is "A Dialogue between a Gentleman Usher and a Poet."[18] The
second is "A Contention betwixt a Wife, a Widdow, and a Maide."[19]
The third is "A Lottery: presented (as the heading states) before
the late Queene's Maiesty at the Lord Chancelor's House, 1601."[20]
These indicate that the recluse of Oxford was once more restored to
society, and that the supremest. The favour of the aged Queen was
capricious; but the "Lottery" that formed part of the entertainment
at the Lord Chancellor's marked the turning of the tide, in flood not
ebb. Through Ellesmere steps were taken to cancel the "expulsion" and
"disbarring." He addressed a respectful and manly Petition to "his
Society." It was considered at a "Parliament of the Society, held on
the 30th October 1601." He had "presented" it in Trinity Term; but it
was adjourned until now. In the interval he had attended "the Commons"
and in November after making the admission and satisfaction required by
four Benches, it was unanimously agreed that he should be "restored to
his position at the bar and his seniority." He publicly pronounced his
"repentance" in due form on the feast of All Saints. This was done in
the Hall in the presence of Chief Iustice Popham, Chief Baron Periam,
Judge Fenner, Baron Savil, Sergeant Harris, Sergeant Williams, and the
Masters of the Bench." The legal or ceremonial part being completed,
and the Apology read in English, Davies turned to "Mr. Martin," then
present, and as he could offer no sufficient satisfaction to him,
entreated his forgiveness, promising sincere love and affection in all
good offices towards him for the future." "Mr. Martin" accepted the
tender thus made, and the re-instatement was completed.[21] That the
reconciliation between Davies and Martin was formal rather than real
has been too hastily assumed. True, that when in 1622 Davies collected
his Poems, the Sonnet to Martin was withdrawn and a _hiatus_ left
towards the close of "Orchestra." But both these things are otherwise
explainable. Both Elizabeth and Martin were now dead--the latter in
1618. Besides, it was only natural that the living friend should be
willing to remove all memory of the quarrel. The name should only
have revived it. This, and not a many-yeared carrying of an unclosed
wound is my judgment in charity. The restored 'Barrister' never forgot
his indebtedness to the Lord Chancellor. His dedication of his great
"Reports" of Irish Law Cases and their correspondence remain to attest
this--remain too to attest the reciprocal admiration, if a tenderer
word were not fitter, of Ellesmere.[22] His words in the 'Reports'
dedication are more than respectful.
[Footnote 18: In Memorial-Introduction to Poems, as before, pp. 15-21.]
[Footnote 19: See Vol. II., pp. 72-86.]
[Footnote 20: Ibid, pp. 87-95. See on this in second division of this
Memorial-Introduction: Postscript.]
[Footnote 21: See Lord Stowell's Paper, in Archælogia, Vol. XXI., pp.
107-112, and our fuller Life, as before.]
[Footnote 22: See Prose Works, as before, Vol. II. With reference to
the Lines to the Lord Chancellor on the death of his "second wife"
(Vol. I. pp. 112-3) it may be noted that he married (1) Elizabeth,
d. of Thomas Ravenscroft of Bretton, co. Flint, Esq., (2) Elizabeth,
sister of Sir George More of Loseley co. Surrey, Kt., and widow of
Sir John Wolley of Pirford, Surrey, Kt., and before him of Richard
Polsted, Esq., of Aldbury, co. Surrey. Her second husband Sir John
Wolley (sometimes spelled Wooley) died in February or March 1595-6 and
was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. She appears to have remarried (viz.
the Lord Chancellor) in the same year: so that she did not live long
thereafter; for she died on 20th January 1599-1600 and was buried with
her second husband. The Lord Chancellor was in profound grief (as the
Lines of Davies confirm); but he got over it sufficiently to marry (3)
Alice, d. of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe co. Northampton, Kt., and
widow of Ferdinando, 5th Earl of Derby, on 21st October of the same
year (1599-1600) exactly nine months after the death of his (lamented)
second wife. She survived the Lord Chancellor until 26th January 1636-7
and was buried at Harefield, co. Middlesex. Of Ellesmere himself these
_data_ may be given: Sir Thomas Egerton was created Lord Ellesmere 21
July 1603, upon his appointment as Lord High Chancellor of England.
He was further created Viscount Brackley 7th Nov. 1616, and was about
being made Earl of Bridgewater when he died 15th March 1616-7. His son
John was so created 27th May 1617.]
It would appear from the MS. dedication of a corrected MS. of "Nosce
Teipsum" to "the right noble, valorous, and learned Prince Henry, Earle
of Northumberland" that he must have joined in the intercession for
restoration, e.g.
"Then to what spirit shall I these noates commend,
But unto that which doth them best expresse;
Who will to them more kind protection lend,
Than Hee which did protect me in distresse."[23]
[Footnote 23: Vol. I., pp. 12-13.]
Contemporaneous with his full Restoration to his privileges at the
Bar, the student-lawyer--through influence that has not come down to
us--found his way into Parliament as M.P. for Corfe Castle. The House
'sat' for "barely two months"--October 27th to December 29th" (1601).
It was the last Parliament of Elizabeth. The records of it are meagre
and unsatisfying, but sufficient is preserved to inform us that untried
and inexperienced in Parliament as he was, the member for Corfe Castle
at once came to the front. A long-continued warfare on the part of
the Commons against monopolies found in him a vehement defender of
the privileges of the House. The wary Queen, who always knew when to
give way, withdrew certain "patents" that had been granted and led to
grievous abuses; and Davies was appointed one of the "Grand Committee"
to thank her Majesty[24]. He had spoken stoutly for procedure by "bill"
and not by "petition." Richard Martin supported the monopolies.
[Footnote 24: The Carte "Notes," as before, make Davies go to the
Scottish Court on the birth of Prince Henry; but this is an obvious
mistake: and yet it is noticeable that among the hitherto unpublished
poems is one to the King, wherein contemporary allusion is made to his
Majesty's visit to Denmark for his Queen.]
In 1602 a second edition "newly corrected and amended" of "Nosce
Teipsum" appeared. Still prefixed to it--and to his honour continued in
the third edition of 1608 when she was gone--was the verse-dedication
to the Queen. But it was now "the beginning of the end" with her.
Somewhat cloudily and thundrously was the great orb westering. She
died on 24th March 1603. It argues that Davies had advanced in various
ways that he accompanied Lord Hunsdon to Scotland when that nobleman
went with the formal announcement of James' accession to the throne. A
pleasant anecdote has survived that when "in the presence" Lord Hunsdon
announced John Davies, the King--who if a fool was a learned one and
capable of discerning genius--straightway asked "whether he were 'Nosce
Teipsum'" and on finding he was its author, "embraced him and conceived
a considerable liking for him."[25] That his position was regarded as a
potential one with the new King is incidentally confirmed by letters to
him from no less than Bacon, who addressing him in Scotland sought his
good influences in his behalf, using in one a sphinx-like expression
of "concealed poets" that it is a marvel Delia Bacon did not lay hold
of to buttress her egregious argument on the Baconian authorship of
Shakespeare's Plays.
[Footnote 25: Wood, as before, ii., p. 401.]
Accompanying the King southward, Davies held his own at the English
court. The royal 'liking' grew: and the royal brain--small no doubt yet
alert and in a sense animated with patriotic feeling--was in earnest
study of what has till to-day proved England's difficulty--Ireland.
Mountjoy (later Earl of Devonshire and husband of Sidney's
"Stella"[26]) was sent as Lord-Deputy, and Davies accompanied him as
Solicitor-General for Ireland, for which office the "patent" is dated
25th November, 1603. Immediately almost on his arrival at Dublin, viz.
on 18th December, 1603, he was knighted. The date hitherto given has
been "at Theobald's 11th February 1607," but the records of the Ulster
King of Arms make it certain that the knighthood was conferred on 18th
December, 1603. On the same occasion his "crest" is described as "On a
mount _vert_, a Pegasus, _or_, winged, gules."[27]
[Footnote 26: See my edition of Sir Philip Sidney, being prepared for
reproduction from the Fuller Worthies' Library in the present Series.]
[Footnote 27: Sir Bernard Burke and J. N. C. Atkins Davis, Esq.,
communications through Mr. Beedham, as before.]
I know no more noble story than the Work of Sir John Davies in and
for Ireland. Our collection of his Prose Works, wherein his State
Papers and Correspondence will appear _in extenso_--from H. M. Public
Record Office and other sources--will make it clear as day that
beyond all comparison he was the foremost man in the Government.
With the sheer hard toil of humblest attorney slaving for his daily
bread, there was a breadth of view, a self-denying resoluteness of
purpose to benefit his adopted country, a prescience of outlook
into the future combined with fearless and magnanimous dealing with
contemporary problems, a high-hearted resistance in the face of
manifold temptations to slacken effort, and a fecundity of resource
and fulness of knowledge and vigilance of observation, that ought to
be written on a white page of our national history. It is scarcely
possible to exaggerate the consuming labours and the actual and solid
results of Davies' almost ubiquitory activities in Ireland. In my full
Life of him I hope to make good to the uttermost this high praise.
Here and now a few outward facts alone can be stated. In 1606, by
patents dated successively 29th May, 1606, and 29th May, 1609,[28] he
was promoted to be Attorney-General for Ireland, and was also created
Sergeant-at-Arms.[29] He went as "Judge of Assize." His Reports
and State Papers, and "Pleadings" and Letters, from 1603 onward,
demonstrate how firm was his grasp of circumstance, and how statesmanly
he marked out his plans, while his forensic appearances astonish with
the omniverousness of his legal reading and knowledge of precedents.
Throughout he was 'backed' and cheered by his superiors in Ireland and
by the King and his ministers. So early as 9th September, 1604, the
Lord Chancellor thus wrote to Davies:--
[Footnote 28: See Smith's Law Officers of Ireland, _s.n._ The Patent of
29th May, 1609, I propose to give _in extenso_ in the Life, as before.
It is extremely interesting.]
[Footnote 29: As Sergeant-at-Law he ought to have been resident in
London, but the King gave him "dispensation" that he might return to
Ireland.]
Y^{r} lett^{r} written at Cavan the |13 of Julij Last I receyude
the 28 of August. I am gladde to heare of yo^{r} [illegible] & wysh
yo^{r} seruice & successe therein may be aunswerable to yo^{r} owne
expectations & best hopes. You maye haue comfort that you serue so
gracious a soueraigne, so religious & replete w^{th} all Royall
virtues, and so redy & wyllinge to acknowledge & remunerate the
services & dueties of his meanest servantes farre beyonde their
desertes. I doubt not but yo^{r} diligence & care will be such as
wyll be very acceptable to his Ma^{tie}. In the Discourse w^{ch} you
haue sent me, I fynde not only a very lovinge respcte w^{ch} you have
towardes me (for w^{ch} I owe you heartie thankes). But also a very
wyse & judicious obseruacon of the state of this wasted kingdome & the
condicon of the people. God staye his hande from further afflictinge
them. They haue alreadye fealte the scourge of Warre & oppresion & now
are vnder the grevous scourge of famine & pestilence. God gyue them
his grace and make them imprest as true Christians ought. To become
truly Religious towarde God, Loyall and faythfull to their Soueraigne,
constantly obedient to his lawes & to the effecting thereof. I euer
wysh & praye that they may haue religious virtuous & godly magistrates
sette ouer them. To yo^{r} selfe I wish all happines, and wherein
you shall haue occasion to vse mee, you shall alwayes finde me redy &
wyllinge to stande you in the best stede I can. And so w^{th} my very
swete comendacons I comitt you to the Almightye. And rest yo^{r} very
assured Loving frende
T. ELLESMERE, Canc.
At[torn]feile
9 Septembris 1604.
To the right wo^{r} my very Loving frende, Sr. John Davis Knight, his
Ma^{ties} Solict. generall in his Realme of Ireland.[30]
A few years later--1608--one Letter in full--like all our MSS.,
now for the first time printed,--from the Lord Deputy--the noble
Chichester--must suffice as a specimen of many kindred.
[Footnote 30: Carte MSS. ff. 315-6.]
Noble Mr. Attornie,
Since your departure hence I haue received two ioynt letters from you,
and Sr. James Ley, and one from your selfe alone, for w^{ch} I am not
your debter vnlesse it be in the matter, w^{ch} I confesse bringes
more life w^{th} it comming freshe out of the stoorehouse of neewes
and noveltie, for I have written as manie and more vnto you both.
Albeyt I expect you w^{th} the first passage (for so the lordes haue
promised by their letters) yet can I not leaue you vnremembred,
assuringe you thoe you have greater friendes, none respects you better
then my selfe, nor can be more readie to make demonstration therof
accordinge to the meanes I haue. I praye bringe w^{th} you the lordes
directions for Sr. Neale Odonnell, and the rest of the prisoners.
Sr. Neale and Ocatiance [O'Sullivan?] had contriued their escape
and woulde haue as desperately attempted it, had I not preuented it
within these sixe nightes by a discoverie made vnto me, albeyt I keep
20 men euerie neight for the guarde of the Castle ouer and aboue the
warde of the same, whereof two or three lye in each of their chambers.
Their horses were come to the towne, and all thinges else in readines.
Sure these men doe goe beyond all nations in the worlde for desperate
escapes, Shane Granie Ocarratan [O'Sullivan?] after he was acquited
of three indictments, and as most men conceiued free from all danger
of the lawe, did on fridaye the 27th of Januarie cast himselfe out of
a wyndow in the topp of the Castle by the heelpe of a peece of rotten
match, and his mantell w^{ch} brake before he was halfe waye downe,
and thoe he were presently discovered yet he escaped about supper tyme.
When I had written thus far worde was brought me that a passadge
[_sic_] was come from Hollyheade w^{ch} made me to pause for a tyme
hopinge you or some other w^{th} letters, or other directions, was
arriued, but beinge advertised that the Recorder of this Cyttie only
w^{th} a fewe other passengers had in this fayre weather wrought out a
passage by longe lyeinge att sea, although the wyndes were contrarie,
and that they came from London before Christmas and had no written
letters or message but in theise particulars, I fell to you againe.
And do now praye you to geue your best assystance and furtherance to
such matters tuchinge my perticulare as John Strowd or Annesley shall
acquaint you w^{th} all, for w^{ch} you shall finde me verie thankfull
vnto you.