THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
1. The Wars of the Roses ended in 1485, with the victory of Bosworth
Field. A new dynasty-- the House of Tudor-- sat upon the throne of
England; and with it a new reign of peace and order existed in the
country, for the power of the king was paramount, and the power of the
nobles had been gradually destroyed in the numerous battles of the
fifteenth century. Like the fifteenth, this century also is famous for
its ballads, the authors of which are not known, but which seem to have
been composed “by the people for the people.” They were sung everywhere,
at fairs and feasts, in town and country, at going to and coming home
from work; and many of them were set to popular dance-tunes.
“When Tom came home from labour,
And Cis from milking rose,
Merrily went the tabor,
And merrily went their toes.”
The ballads of +King Lear+ and +The Babes in the Wood+ are perhaps to be
referred to this period.
2. The first half of the sixteenth century saw the beginning of a new
era in poetry; and the last half saw the full meridian splendour of this
new era. The beginning of this era was marked by the appearance of +Sir
Thomas Wyatt+ (1503-1542), and of the +Earl of Surrey+ (1517-1547).
These two eminent writers have been called the “twin-stars of the dawn,”
the “founders of English lyrical poetry”; and it is worthy of especial
note, that it is to Wyatt that we owe the introduction of the +Sonnet+
into our literature, and to Surrey that is due the introduction of
+Blank Verse+. The most important prose-writers of the first half of the
century were +Sir Thomas More+, the great lawyer and statesman, and
+William Tyndale+, who translated the New Testament into English. In the
latter half of the century, the great poets are +Spenser+ and
+Shakespeare+; the great prose-writers, +Richard Hooker+ and +Francis
Bacon+.
3. SIR THOMAS MORE’S (+1480-1535+) chief work in English is the +Life
and Reign of Edward V+. It is written in a plain, strong, nervous
English style. Hallam calls it “the first example of good English-- pure
and perspicuous, well chosen, without vulgarisms, and without pedantry.”
His +Utopia+ (a description of the country of _Nowhere_) was written in
Latin.
4. WILLIAM TYNDALE (+1484-1536+)-- a man of the greatest significance,
both in the history of religion, and in the history of our language and
literature-- was a native of Gloucestershire, and was educated at
Magdalen Hall, Oxford. His opinions on religion and the rule of the
Catholic Church, compelled him to leave England, and drove him to the
Continent in the year 1523. He lived in Hamburg for some time. With the
German and Swiss reformers he held that the Bible should be in the hands
of every grown-up person, and not in the exclusive keeping of the
Church. He accordingly set to work to translate the Scriptures into his
native tongue. Two editions of his version of the +New Testament+ were
printed in 1525-34. He next translated the five books of Moses, and the
book of Jonah. In 1535 he was, after many escapes and adventures,
finally tracked and hunted down by an emissary of the Pope’s faction,
and thrown into prison at the castle of Vilvoorde, near Brussels. In
1536 he was brought to Antwerp, tried, condemned, led to the stake,
strangled, and burned.
5. +The Work of William Tyndale.+-- Tyndale’s translation has, since the
time of its appearance, formed the basis of all the after versions of
the Bible. It is written in the purest and simplest English; and very
few of the words used in his translation have grown obsolete in our
modern speech. Tyndale’s work is indeed, one of the most striking
landmarks in the history of our language. Mr Marsh says of it:
“Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament is the most important
philological monument of the first half of the sixteenth century,--
perhaps I should say, of the whole period between Chaucer and
Shakespeare.... The best features of the translation of 1611 are derived
from the version of Tyndale.” It may be said without exaggeration that,
in the United Kingdom, America, and the colonies, about one hundred
millions of people now speak the English of Tyndale’s Bible; nor is
there any book that has exerted so great an influence on English rhythm,
English style, the selection of words, and the build of sentences in our
English prose.
6. EDMUND SPENSER (+1552-1599+), “The Poet’s Poet,” and one of the
greatest poetical writers of his own or of any age, was born at East
Smithfield, near the Tower of London, in the year 1552, about nine years
before the birth of Bacon, and in the reign of Edward VI. He was
educated at Merchant Taylors’ School in London, and at Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge. In 1579, we find him settled in his native city, where his
best friend was the gallant Sir Philip Sidney, who introduced him to his
uncle, the Earl of Leicester, then at the height of his power and
influence with Queen Elizabeth. In the same year was published his first
poetical work, +The Shepheard’s Calendar+-- a set of twelve pastoral
poems. In 1580, he went to Ireland as Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton,
the Viceroy of that country. For some years he resided at Kilcolman
Castle, in county Cork, on an estate which had been granted him out of
the forfeited lands of the Earl of Desmond. Sir Walter Raleigh had
obtained a similar but larger grant, and was Spenser’s near neighbour.
In 1590 Spenser brought out the first three books of +The Faerie
Queene+. The second three books of his great poem appeared in 1596.
Towards the end of 1598, a rebellion broke out in Ireland; it spread
into Munster; Spenser’s house was attacked and set on fire; in the
fighting and confusion his only son perished; and Spenser escaped with
the greatest difficulty. In deep distress of body and mind, he made his
way to London, where he died-- at an inn in King Street, Westminster, at
the age of forty-six, in the beginning of the year 1599. He was buried
in the Abbey, not far from the grave of Chaucer.
7. +Spenser’s Style.+-- His greatest work is +The Faerie Queene+; but
that in which he shows the most striking command of language is his
+Hymn of Heavenly Love+. +The Faerie Queene+ is written in a nine-lined
stanza, which has since been called the _Spenserian Stanza_. The first
eight lines are of the usual length of five iambic feet; the last line
contains six feet, and is therefore an Alexandrine. Each stanza contains
only three rhymes, which are disposed in this order: _a b a b b c b
c c_. --The music of the stanza is long-drawn out, beautiful, involved,
and even luxuriant. --The story of the poem is an allegory, like the
‘Pilgrim’s Progress’; and in it Spenser undertook, he says, “to
represent all the moral virtues, assigning to every virtue a knight to
be the patron and defender of the same.”[17] Only six books were
completed; and these relate the adventures of the knights who stand for
_Holiness_, _Temperance_, _Chastity_, _Friendship_, _Justice_, and
_Courtesy_. The +Faerie Queene+ herself is called +Gloriana+, who
represents _Glory_ in his “general intention,” and Queen Elizabeth in
his “particular intention.”
[Footnote 17: This use of the phrase “the same” is antiquated
English.]
8. +Character of the Faerie Queene.+-- This poem is the greatest of the
sixteenth century. Spenser has not only been the delight of nearly ten
generations; he was the study of Shakespeare, the poetical master of
Cowley and of Milton, and, in some sense, of Dryden and Pope. Keats,
when a boy, was never tired of reading him. “There is something,” says
Pope, “in Spenser that pleases one as strongly in old age as it did in
one’s youth.” Professor Craik says: “Without calling Spenser the
greatest of all poets, we may still say that his poetry is the most
poetical of all poetry.” The outburst of national feeling after the
defeat of the Armada in 1588; the new lands opened up by our adventurous
Devonshire sailors; the strong and lively loyalty of the nation to the
queen; the great statesmen and writers of the period; the high daring
shown by England against Spain-- all these animated and inspired the
glowing genius of Spenser. His rhythm is singularly sweet and beautiful.
Hazlitt says: “His versification is at once the most smooth and the most
sounding in the language. It is a labyrinth of sweet sounds.” Nothing
can exceed the wealth of Spenser’s phrasing and expression; there seems
to be no limit to its flow. He is very fond of the Old-English practice
of alliteration or head-rhyme-- “hunting the letter,” as it was called.
Thus he has--
“In woods, in waves, in wars, she wont to dwell.
Gay without good is good heart’s greatest loathing.”
9. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (+1564-1616+), the greatest dramatist that
England ever produced, was born at Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire,
on the 23d of April-- St George’s Day-- of the year 1564. His father,
John Shakespeare, was a wool dealer and grower. William was educated at
the grammar-school of the town, where he learned “small Latin and less
Greek”; and this slender stock was his only scholastic outfit for life.
At the early age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, a yeoman’s
daughter. In 1586, at the age of twenty-two, he quitted his native town,
and went to London.
10. +Shakespeare’s Life and Character.+-- He was employed in some menial
capacity at the Blackfriars Theatre, but gradually rose to be actor and
also adapter of plays. He was connected with the theatre for about
five-and-twenty years; and so diligent and so successful was he, that he
was able to purchase shares both in his own theatre and in the Globe.
As an actor, he was only second-rate: the two parts he is known to have
played are those of the _Ghost_ in +Hamlet+, and _Adam_ in +As You Like
It+. In 1597, at the early age of thirty-three, he was able to purchase
New Place, in Stratford, and to rebuild the house. In 1612, at the age
of forty-eight, he left London altogether, and retired for the rest of
his life to New Place, where he died in the year 1616. His old father
and mother spent the last years of their lives with him, and died under
his roof. Shakespeare had three children-- two girls and a boy. The boy,
Hamnet, died at the age of twelve. Shakespeare himself was beloved by
every one who knew him; and “gentle Shakespeare” was the phrase most
often upon the lips of his friends. A placid face, with a sweet, mild
expression; a high, broad, noble, “two-storey” forehead; bright eyes;
a most speaking mouth-- though it seldom opened; an open, frank manner,
a kindly, handsome look,-- such seems to have been the external
character of the man Shakespeare.
11. +Shakespeare’s Works.+-- He has written thirty-seven plays and many
poems. The best of his rhymed poems are his Sonnets, in which he
chronicles many of the various moods of his mind. The plays consist of
tragedies, historical plays, and comedies. The greatest of his tragedies
are probably +Hamlet+ and +King Lear+; the best of his historical plays,
+Richard III.+ and +Julius Cæsar+; and his finest comedies, +Midsummer
Night’s Dream+ and +As You Like It+. He wrote in the reign of Elizabeth
as well as in that of James; but his greatest works belong to the latter
period.
12. +Shakespeare’s Style.+-- Every one knows that Shakespeare is great;
but how is the young learner to discover the best way of forming an
adequate idea of his greatness? In the first place, Shakespeare has very
many sides; and, in the second place, he is great on every one of them.
Coleridge says: “In all points, from the most important to the most
minute, the judgment of Shakespeare is commensurate with his genius--
nay, his genius reveals itself in his judgment, as in its most exalted
form.” He has been called “mellifluous Shakespeare;” “honey-tongued
Shakespeare;” “silver-tongued Shakespeare;” “the thousand-souled
Shakespeare;” “the myriad-minded;” and by many other epithets. He seems
to have been master of all human experience; to have known the human
heart in all its phases; to have been acquainted with all sorts and
conditions of men-- high and low, rich and poor; and to have studied the
history of past ages, and of other countries. He also shows a greater
and more highly skilled mastery over language than any other writer that
ever lived. The vocabulary employed by Shakespeare amounts in number of
words to twenty-one thousand. The vocabulary of Milton numbers only
seven thousand words. But it is not sufficient to say that Shakespeare’s
power of thought, of feeling, and of expression required three times the
number of words to express itself; we must also say that Shakespeare’s
power of expression shows infinitely greater skill, subtlety, and
cunning than is to be found in the works of Milton. Shakespeare had also
a marvellous power of making new phrases, most of which have become part
and parcel of our language. Such phrases as _every inch a king_; _witch
the world_; _the time is out of joint_, and hundreds more, show that
modern Englishmen not only speak Shakespeare, but think Shakespeare. His
knowledge of human nature has enabled him to throw into English
literature a larger number of genuine “characters” that will always live
in the thoughts of men, than any other author that ever wrote. And he
has not drawn his characters from England alone and from his own time--
but from Greece and Rome, from other countries, too, and also from all
ages. He has written in a greater variety of styles than any other
writer. “Shakespeare,” says Professor Craik, “has invented twenty
styles.” The knowledge, too, that he shows on every kind of human
endeavour is as accurate as it is varied. Lawyers say that he was a
great lawyer; theologians, that he was an able divine, and unequalled in
his knowledge of the Bible; printers, that he must have been a printer;
and seamen, that he knew every branch of the sailor’s craft.
13. +Shakespeare’s contemporaries.+-- But we are not to suppose that
Shakespeare stood alone in the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of
the seventeenth century as a great poet; and that everything else was
flat and low around him. This never is and never can be the case. Great
genius is the possession, not of one man, but of several in a great age;
and we do not find a great writer standing alone and unsupported, just
as we do not find a high mountain rising from a low plain. The largest
group of the highest mountains in the world, the Himalayas, rise from
the highest table-land in the world; and peaks nearly as high as the
highest-- Mount Everest-- are seen cleaving the blue sky in the
neighbourhood of Mount Everest itself. And so we find Shakespeare
surrounded by dramatists in some respects nearly as great as himself;
for the same great forces welling up within the heart of England that
made _him_ created also the others. +Marlowe+, the teacher of
Shakespeare, +Peele+, and +Greene+, preceded him; +Ben Jonson+,
+Beaumont+ and +Fletcher+, +Massinger+ and +Ford+, +Webster+, +Chapman+,
and many others, were his contemporaries, lived with him, talked with
him; and no doubt each of these men influenced the work of the others.
But the works of these men belong chiefly to the seventeenth century. We
must not, however, forget that the reign of Queen Elizabeth-- called in
literature the +Elizabethan Period+-- was the greatest that England ever
saw,-- greatest in poetry and in prose, greatest in thought and in
action, perhaps also greatest in external events.
14. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (+1564-1593+), the first great English
dramatist, was born at Canterbury in the year 1564, two months before
the birth of Shakespeare himself. He studied at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, and took the degree of Master of Arts in 1587. After leaving
the university, he came up to London and wrote for the stage. He seems
to have led a wild and reckless life, and was stabbed in a tavern brawl
on the 1st of June 1593. “As he may be said to have invented and made
the verse of the drama, so he created the English drama.” His chief
plays are +Dr Faustus+ and +Edward the Second+. His style is one of the
greatest vigour and power: it is often coarse, but it is always strong.
Ben Jonson spoke of “Marlowe’s mighty line”; and Lord Jeffrey says of
him: “In felicity of thought and strength of expression, he is second
only to Shakespeare himself.”
15. BEN JONSON (+1574-1637+), the greatest dramatist of England after
Shakespeare, was born in Westminster in the year 1574, just nine years
after Shakespeare’s birth. He received his education at Westminster
School. It is said that, after leaving school, he was obliged to assist
his stepfather as a bricklayer; that he did not like the work; and that
he ran off to the Low Countries, and there enlisted as a soldier. On his
return to London, he began to write for the stage. Jonson was a friend
and companion of Shakespeare’s; and at the Mermaid, in Fleet Street,
they had, in presence of men like Raleigh, Marlowe, Greene, Peele, and
other distinguished Englishmen, many “wit-combats” together. Jonson’s
greatest plays are +Volpone+ or the Fox, and the +Alchemist+-- both
comedies. In 1616 he was created Poet-Laureate. For many years he was in
receipt of a pension from James I. and from Charles I.; but so careless
and profuse were his habits, that he died in poverty in the year 1637.
He was buried in an upright position in Westminster Abbey; and the stone
over his grave still bears the inscription, “O rare Ben Jonson!” He has
been called a “robust, surly, and observing dramatist.”
16. RICHARD HOOKER (+1553-1600+), one of the greatest of Elizabethan
prose-writers, was born at Heavitree, a village near the city of Exeter,
in the year 1553. By the kind aid of Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, he was
sent to Oxford, where he distinguished himself as a hard-working
student, and especially for his knowledge of Hebrew. In 1581 he entered
the Church. In the same year he made an imprudent marriage with an
ignorant, coarse, vulgar, and domineering woman. He was appointed Master
of the Temple in 1585; but, by his own request, he was removed from that
office, and chose the quieter living of Boscombe, near Salisbury. Here
he wrote the first four books of his famous work, +The Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity+, which were published in the year 1594. In 1595
he was translated to the living of Bishopsborne, near Canterbury. His
death took place in the year 1600. The complete work, which consisted of
eight books, was not published till 1662.
17. +Hooker’s Style.+-- His writings are said to “mark an era in English
prose.” His sentences are generally very long, very elaborate, but full
of “an extraordinary musical richness of language.” The order is often
more like that of a Latin than of an English sentence; and he is fond of
Latin inversions. Thus he writes: “That which by wisdom he saw to be
requisite for that people, was by as great wisdom compassed.” The
following sentences give us a good example of his sweet and musical
rhythm. “Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is
the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in
heaven and earth do her homage; the very least as feeling her care, and
the greatest as not exempted from her power: both angels and men, and
creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and
manner, yet all, with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of
their peace and joy.”
18. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (+1554-1586+), a noble knight, a statesman, and
one of the best prose-writers of the Elizabethan age, was born at
Penshurst, in Kent, in the year 1554. He was educated at Shrewsbury
School, and then at Christ Church, Oxford. At the age of seventeen he
went abroad for three years’ travel on the Continent; and, while in
Paris, witnessed, from the windows of the English Embassy, the horrible
Massacre of St Bartholomew in the year 1572. At the early age of
twenty-two he was sent as ambassador to the Emperor of Germany; and
while on that embassy, he met William of Orange-- “William the Silent”--
who pronounced him one of the ripest statesmen in Europe. This was said
of a young man “who seems to have been the type of what was noblest in
the youth of England during times that could produce a statesman.” In
1580 he wrote the +Arcadia+, a romance, and dedicated it to his sister,
the Countess of Pembroke. The year after, he produced his +Apologie for
Poetrie+. His policy as a statesman was to side with Protestant rulers,
and to break the power of the strongest Catholic kingdom on the
Continent-- the power of Spain. In 1585 the Queen sent him to the
Netherlands as governor of the important fortress of Flushing. He was
mortally wounded in a skirmish at Zutphen; and as he was being carried
off the field, handed to a private the cup of cold water that had been
brought to quench his raging thirst. He died of his wounds on the 17th
of October 1586. One of his friends wrote of him:--
“Death, courage, honour, make thy soul to live!--
Thy soul in heaven, thy name in tongues of men!”
19. +Sidney’s Poetry.+-- In addition to the +Arcadia+ and the +Apologie
for Poetrie+, Sidney wrote a number of beautiful poems. The best of
these are a series of sonnets called +Astrophel+ and +Stella+, of which
his latest critic says: “As a series of sonnets, the +Astrophel+ and
+Stella+ poems are second only to Shakespeare’s; as a series of
love-poems, they are perhaps unsurpassed.” Spenser wrote an elegy upon
Sidney himself, under the title of +Astrophel+. Sidney’s prose is among
the best of the sixteenth century. “He reads more modern than any other
author of that century.” He does not use “ink-horn terms,” or cram his
sentences with Latin or French or Italian words; but both his words and
his idioms are of pure English. He is fond of using personifications.
Such phrases as, “About the time that the candles began to inherit the
sun’s office;” “Seeing the day begin to disclose her comfortable
beauties,” are not uncommon. The rhythm of his sentences is always
melodious, and each of them has a very pleasant close.