This playne litle treatise in stile compendious,
Much briefly conteyneth four vertues cardinall,
In right pleasaunt processe, plaine and commodious,
With light foote of metre, and stile heroicall,
Rude people to infourme in language maternall,
To whose vnderstanding maydens of tender age,
And rude litle children shall finde easy passage.
Two editions of the work are sufficient evidence that this humble and
praiseworthy purpose was, in the eyes of his contemporaries, successfully
carried out.
The only remaining authentic production of Barclay which has come down to
us, is a translation of the Jugurthine War of Sallust, undertaken at the
request of, and dedicated to, his great patron, Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and
printed also at Pynson's press without date. The Latin and English are
printed side by side on the same page, the former being dedicated, with the
date "Ex cellula Hatfelde[=n] regii (_i.e._, King's Hatfield,
Hertfordshire) in Idus Novembris" to Vesey, the centenarian Bishop of
Exeter, with this superscription:--"Reueredissimo in Christo patri ac dno:
dno Joanni Veysy exonien episcopo Alexander Barclay presbyter debita cum
obseruantia. S." The dedication begins, "Memini me superioribus annis cu
adhuc sacelli regij presul esses: pastor vigilantissime: tuis suasionibus
incitatu: vt Crispi Salustij hystoria--e romana lingua: in anglicam
compendiose transferrem," &c. Vesey was probably one of Barclay's oldest
west country friends; for he is recorded to have been connected with the
diocese of Exeter from 1503 to 1551, in the various capacities of
archdeacon, precentor, dean, and bishop successively. Conjecture has placed
the date of this publication at 1511, but as Veysey did not succeed to the
Bishopric of Exeter till August 1519, this is untenable. We cannot say more
than that it must have been published between 1519 and 1524, the date of
the Duke of Norfolk's death, probably in the former year, since, from its
being dated from "Hatfield," the ancient palace of the bishops of Ely,
(sold to the Crown in the 30th of Henry VIII.; Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire,
II.) Barclay at the time of its completion was evidently still a monk of
Ely.
By his translation of Sallust (so popular an author at that period, that
the learned virgin queen is reported to have amused her leisure with an
English version), Barclay obtained the distinction of being the first to
introduce that classic to English readers. His version bears the reputation
of being executed not only with accuracy, but with considerable freedom and
elegance, and its popularity was evinced by its appearance in three
additions.
Two other works of our author are spoken of as having been in print, but
they have apparently passed entirely out of sight: "The figure of our holy
mother Church, oppressed by the Frenche King," (Pynson, 4to), known only
from Maunsell's Catalogue; and "The lyfe of the glorious martyr, saynt
George translated (from Mantuan) by Alexander Barclay, while he was a monk
of Ely, and dedicated to N. West, Bishop of Ely," (Pynson, 4to), (Herbert,
Typ. Antiquities.) West was Bishop of Ely from 1515 to 1533, and
consequently Barclay's superior during probably his whole stay there.
Whether these two works were in verse or prose is unknown.
There are two other books ascribed to Barclay, but nothing satisfactory can
be stated regarding their parentage except that, considering their subject,
and the press they issued from, it is not at all unlikely that they may
have been the fruit of his prolific pen. The first is "The lyfe of the
blessed martyr, Saynte Thomas," in prose, printed by Pynson, (Herbert, Typ.
Ant. 292), regarding which Ant. Wood says, "I should feel little difficulty
in ascribing this to Barclay." The other is the English translation of the
Histoire merveilleuse du Grand Khan (in Latin, De Tartaris siue Liber
historiarum partium Orientis) of the eastern soldier, and western monk,
Haytho, prince of Georgia at the end of the 13th, and beginning of the 14th
centuries. The History which gives an account of Genghis Khan, and his
successors, with a short description of the different kingdoms of Asia, was
very popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, as one of the earliest
accounts of the East, and the conjecture of the Grenville Catalogue is not
improbable, though there is no sufficient evidence, that Barclay was the
author of the English version which appeared from the press of Pynson.
Bale further enumerates in his list of Barclay's works "Contra Skeltonum,
Lib. I.; Quinq: eglogas ex Mantuano, Lib. I; Vitam D. Catherinæ, Lib. I.,
[Libros tres, Pits]; Vitam D. Margaritæ, Lib. I.; Vitam Etheldredæ, Lib.
I.; Aliaq: plura fecit." Tanner adds: "Orationes varias, Lib. I.; De fide
orthodoxa, Lib. I."
Of these various fruits of Barclay's fertility and industry no fragment has
survived to our day, nor has even any positive information regarding their
nature been transmitted to us.
The "Orationes varias," probably a collection of sermons with especial
reference to the sins of the day would have been historically, if not
otherwise, interesting, and their loss is matter for regret. On the other
hand the want of the treatise, "De fide orthodoxa," is doubtless a relief
to literature. There are too many of the kind already to encumber our
shelves and our catalogues.
The Lives of the Saints, the work, it is stated, of the author's old age,
were, according to Tanner, and he is no doubt right, translations from the
Latin. Barclay's reputation probably does not suffer from their loss.
"Quinque eglogas ex Mantuano," though Bale mentions also "De miserijs
aulicorum; Bucolicam Codri; Eglogam quartam," apparently the five, but
really the first four of the eclogues known to us, are, I am strongly
inclined to believe, nothing else than these same five eclogues, under, to
use a bibliographical phrase, "a made up" title. That he mentions first,
five from Mantuan, and afterwards adds "Bucolicam Codri" and "Eglogam
quartam," as two distinct eclogues, apparently not from Mantuan, while both
titles must refer to the same poem, an imitation of Mantuan's fifth
eclogue, is proof enough that he was not speaking with the authority of
personal knowledge of these works.
Johannes Baptista Spagnuoli, commonly called from his native city, Mantuan,
was the most popular and prolific eclogue writer of the fifteenth century,
to which Barclay himself testifies:--
"As the moste famous Baptist Mantuan
The best of that sort since Poetes first began."
Barclay's Eclogues being the first attempts of the kind in English, Bale's
"Ex Mantuano," therefore probably means nothing more than "on the model of
Mantuan;" otherwise, if it be assumed that five were the whole number that
ever appeared, it could not apply to the first three, which are expressly
stated in the title to be from Æneas Sylvius, while if ten be assumed, his
statement would account for nine, the "quinque eglogas" being the five now
wanting, but if so, then he has omitted to mention the most popular of all
the eclogues, the fifth, and has failed to attribute to Mantuan two which
are undoubtedly due to him.
The loss of the "Contra Skeltonum," is a matter for regret. That there was
no love lost between these two contemporaries and chief poets of their time
is evident enough. Skelton's scathing sarcasm against the priesthood no
doubt woke his brother satirist's ire, and the latter lets no opportunity
slip of launching forth his contempt for the laureate of Oxford.
The moralist in announcing the position he assumes in opposition to the
writer of popular tales, takes care to have a fling at the author of "The
boke of Phyllyp Sparowe":--
"I wryte no Ieste ne tale of Robyn Hode,
Nor sawe no sparcles, ne sede of vyciousnes;
Wyse men loue vertue, wylde people wantones,
It longeth nat to my scyence nor cunnynge,
For Phylyp the sparowe the (Dirige) to synge."
A sneer to which Skelton most probably alludes when, enumerating his own
productions in the Garlande of Laurell, he mentions,
"Of Phillip Sparow the lamentable fate,
The dolefull desteny, and the carefull chaunce,
Dyuysed by Skelton after the funerall rate;
Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce,
And grudge thereat with frownyng countenaunce;
But what of that? harde it is to please all men;
Who list amende it, let hym set to his penne."
The following onslaught in Barclay's Fourth Eclogue, is evidently levelled
at the abominable Skelton:
"Another thing yet is greatly more damnable:
Of rascolde poetes yet is a shamfull rable,
Which voyde of wisedome presumeth to indite,
Though they haue scantly the cunning of a snite;
And to what vices that princes moste intende,
Those dare these fooles solemnize and commende
Then is he decked as Poete laureate,
When stinking Thais made him her graduate;
When Muses rested, she did her season note,
And she with Bacchus her camous did promote.
Such rascolde drames, promoted by Thais,
Bacchus, Licoris, or yet by Testalis,
Or by suche other newe forged Muses nine,
Thinke in their mindes for to haue wit diuine;
They laude their verses, they boast, they vaunt and iet,
Though all their cunning be scantly worth a pet:
If they haue smelled the artes triuiall,
They count them Poetes hye and heroicall.
Such is their foly, so foolishly they dote,
Thinking that none can their playne errour note;
Yet be they foolishe, auoyde of honestie,
Nothing seasoned with spice of grauitie,
Auoyde of pleasure, auoyde of eloquence,
With many wordes, and fruitlesse of sentence;
Unapt to learne, disdayning to be taught,
Their priuate pleasure in snare hath them so caught;
And worst yet of all, they count them excellent,
Though they be fruitlesse, rashe and improuident.
To such ambages who doth their minde incline,
They count all other as priuate of doctrine,
And that the faultes which be in them alone,
And be common in other men eche one.
Thus bide good poetes oft time rebuke and blame,
Because of other which haue despised name.
And thus for the bad the good be cleane abject.
Their art and poeme counted of none effect,
Who wanteth reason good to discerne from ill
Doth worthy writers interprete at his will:
So both the laudes of good and not laudable
For lacke of knowledge become vituperable."
It has not hitherto been pointed out that Skelton did not disdain to borrow
a leaf from the enemy's book and try his hand at paraphrasing the Ship of
Fools also. "The Boke of three fooles, M. Skelton, poete laureate, gaue to
my lord Cardynall," is a paraphrase in prose, with introductory verses, of
three chapters of Brandt, corresponding to Barclay's chapters headed, Of
yonge folys that take olde wyme to theyr wyues nat for loue but for ryches
(I. 247); Of enuyous folys (I. 252); Of bodely lust or corporall
voluptuosyte (I. 239). Skelton's three fools, are, "The man that doth wed a
wyfe for her goodes and her rychesse;" "Of Enuye, the seconde foole"; and,
"Of the Voluptuousnes corporall, the third foole;" and his versions are
dashed off with his usual racy vigour. He probably, however, did not think
it worth while to compete with the established favourite. If he had we
would certainly have got a very different book from Barclay's.
Notwithstanding his popularity and industry, Barclay's name appears to be
but seldom mentioned by contemporary or later authors. As early as 1521
however, we find him placed in the most honourable company by Henry
Bradshaw, "Lyfe of Saynt Werburghe," (1521, Pynson, 4to). But the
compliment would probably lose half its sweetness from his being bracketed
with the detested Skelton:--
To all auncient poetes, litell boke, submytte the,
Whilom flouryng in eloquence facundious,
And to all other whiche present nowe be;
Fyrst to maister Chaucer and Ludgate sentencious,
Also to preignaunt Barkley nowe beying religious,
To inuentiue Skelton and poet laureate;
Praye them all of pardon both erly and late.
Bulleyn's repeated allusions to Barclay (see above, pp. xxvii., liv.),
apart from the probability that, as contemporaries resident in the same
provincial town, Ely, they were well acquainted with each other, leave
little doubt that the two were personal friends. Bulleyn's figurative
description of the poet, quoted at p. xxvii., is scarcely complete without
the following verses, which are appended to it by way of summary of his
teachings (similar verses are appended to the descriptions of Chaucer,
Gower, &c.):--[Barclay appears] saying
"Who entreth the court in yong and teder age
Are lightly blinded with foly and outrage:
But suche as enter with witte and grauitie,
Bow not so sone to such enormitie,
But ere thei enter if thei haue lerned nought
Afterwardes Vertue the least of theyr thought."
_Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence._
In another passage of the same Dialogue[4] the picture of the honourable
and deserving but neglected churchman is touched with so much strength and
feeling that, though no indication is given, one cannot but believe that
the painter was drawing from the life, the life of his friend. The
likeness, whether intentional or not, is a most faithful one: "The third
[picture] is, one whiche sheweth the state of learned men, labouring long
time in studie and diuine vertue, whiche are wrapped in pouertie, wantyng
the golden rake or gapyng mouth. This man hath verie fewe to preferre hym
to that promotion, he smiteth himselfe upo the breast, he wepeth and
lamenteth, that vice should thus be exalted, ignoraunce rewarded with
glorie, coueteous men spoilyng the Churche, by the names of patrones and
geuers, whiche extorcioners and tellers, they care not to whom, so that it
be raked with the golden racke. Wel, wel, God of his mercie, amed this
euill market."
In one of the many humorous sallies which lighten up this old-fashioned
antidote to the pestilence, Barclay again appears, dressed in the
metaphorical colour of the poet or minstrel--green, which has probably here
a double significance, referring no doubt to his popularity as the English
eclogue writer as well as to his fame as a poet and satirist. In
introducing "Bartlet, grene breche" as the antithesis to "Boner wepyng,"
allusion was also probably intended to the honourable position occupied by
Barclay amongst the promoters of the Reformation, compared with the
reapostacy, the career of brutal cruelty, and the deserved fate of the
Jefferies of the Episcopal bench.