The earliest date assignable to any of the _Satyres_ is 1593, or more
probably 1594-5. On the back of the Harleian MS. 5110 (_H51_), in the
British Museum, is inscribed:[1]
Jhon Dunne his Satires
Anno Domini 1593
The handwriting is not identical with that in which the poems are
transcribed, and it is impossible to say either when the poems were
copied or when the title and date were affixed. One may not build too
absolutely on its accuracy; but there are in the three first _Satires_
(which alone the MS. contains) some indications that point to 1593-5
as the probable date. Mr. Chambers notes the reference in 1., 80, 'the
wise politic horse,' to Banks' performing horse, and says: 'A large
collection of them' (i.e. allusions to the horse) 'will be found in
Mr. Halliwell-Phillips's Memoranda on _Love's Labour's Lost_. Only one
of these allusions is, however, earlier than 1593. It is in 1591, and
refers not to an exhibition in London, but in the provinces, and not
to Morocco, which was a bay, but to a white horse. It is probable,
therefore, that by 1591 Banks had not yet come to London, and if so
the date 1593 on the Harl. MS. 5110 of Donne's _Satires_ cannot be far
from that of their composition.' But this is not the only allusion.
The same lines run on:
Or thou O Elephant or Ape wilt doe.
This has been passed by commentators as a quite general reference; but
the Ape and Elephant seem to have been animals actually performing,
or exhibited, in London about 1594. Thus in _Every Man out of his
Humour_, acted in 1599, Carlo Buffone says (IV. 6): ''S heart he keeps
more ado with this monster' (i.e. Sogliardo's dog) 'than ever Banks
did with his horse, or the fellow with the elephant.' Further, all
three are mentioned in the _Epigrams_ of Sir John Davies, e.g.:
In Dacum.
Amongst the poets Dacus numbered is
Yet could he never make an English rime;
But some prose speeches I have heard of his,
Which have been spoken many an hundred time:
The man that keepes the Elephant hath one,
Wherein he tells the wonders of the beast:
Another Bankes pronounced long agon,
When he his curtailes qualities exprest:
Hee first taught him that keepes the monuments
At Westminster his formall tale to say:
And also him which Puppets represents,
And also him that w^{th} the Ape doth play:
Though all his poetry be like to this,
Amongst the poets Dacus numbred is.
And again: