LETTERPRESS BY J.N. ANZEL, INC.
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY BY EDWARDS BROTHERS
BINDING BY UNIVERSAL-DIXIE BINDERY
_Introduction_
This book merits more attention and respect from literary historians
than thus far have been accorded it. The case must be stated carefully.
The work has obvious faults and limitations, which probably account for
its never having been reprinted since its appearance in 1687. Almost
forty percent of it is largely or entirely derivative. Its author,
William Winstanley (1628?-1698), was undoubtedly a compiler and a
hack-writer; his attitudes and methods can hardly be termed
"scholarly." Nevertheless, this pioneer in biographical and
bibliographical research was more nearly a scholar than the man he is
usually alleged to have plagiarized; he wanted to _see_ the books that
Edward Phillips was often content merely to list by title in his
_Theatrum Poetarum_ (1675), and altogether, for his own enjoyment and
that of his readers, he quoted from the works of more than sixty poets.
Moreover, unlike Phillips, he tried to arrange his authors in
chronological order, from Robert of Gloucester to Sir Roger L'Estrange.
Though Winstanley's _Lives_ advertises on its title page accounts "of
above Two Hundred" poets, only 147 are actually listed in the
catalogue, and only 168 are noted throughout. Of these 168, only 34 had
not already been mentioned by Phillips, a dozen years before. Some
borrowing was inevitable, and, in fact, Winstanley leaned heavily upon
both Phillips and Fuller for information and clues, just as Phillips
had leaned heavily upon Bale's _Summarium_ (1548), Camden's _Remains_,
Puttenham's _Art of English Poesy_, several Elizabethan miscellanies,
and Kirkman's play catalogues. Both men built (as scholars must build)
upon the obvious materials available. Both (in the manner of their age)
were extremely casual about documentation and acknowledgment. If this
leads us to talk unhistorically about "theft," we must say that
Phillips "stole" from a half dozen or so people, whereas Winstanley
simply appropriated a lot of these stolen goods. For doing so, he alone
has been labelled a plagiarist.
Let us be more specific. Of Winstanley's accounts of 168 poets, 34 seem
to have come out of the _Theatrum Poetarum_ with nothing new added (10
of these 34 merely named). Of the remaining 134 accounts, 34 are of
poets not mentioned by Phillips, 29 are utterly independent of
Phillips, 40 are largely independent (that is, they borrow some from
Phillips but add more than they borrow), and 31 are largely derivative.
We would praise a doctoral dissertation that succeeded in giving so
much new data. Winstanley was careless, but he was not lazy, and he had
a literary conscience of sorts. Often he went to Phillips' sources and
came away with more than Phillips found (most conspicuously in his use
of Francis Kirkman's 1671 play catalogue).
Since the groundwork had so recently been laid, Winstanley's problem,
far more than that of Phillips, was one of selection. In the _Theatrum
Poetarum_ 252 modern British poets are named. Of these Winstanley chose
to omit the 16 female and 33 Scottish poets. Of the remaining 203, he
dropped 68, and for the student of literary reputation these omissions
raise some interesting questions. Undoubtedly a few were inadvertent.
About a dozen were authors noted but not dated by Phillips, and it is
probable that Winstanley was unable to learn more about them. Fifteen
others were English poets who apparently did not write in the
vernacular. An additional fifteen were poets dated by Phillips but
described as inferior or almost forgotten. Still another fifteen were
older or early Renaissance poets whose names probably meant nothing to
Winstanley. On the other hand, he omits the following late Renaissance
or contemporary poets whose period is plainly indicated in the
_Theatrum Poetarum_ and who, we might suppose, would be known to anyone
attempting literary history in the year 1687: Richard Barnfield, Thomas
Campion, Francis Davison, John Hall of Durham, William Herbert, William
Leighton, Thomas Sackville, Henry Vaughan the Silurist, and Samuel
Woodford.
That most of Winstanley's omissions were deliberate, and were prompted
by some awareness of literary reputation, is suggested not only by his
request for help on a revised edition (which never materialized) but
also by the fact that he was able to add to the _Theatrum Poetarum_
thirty-four poets, almost all of whom could have been noted by
Phillips. Among these were such recent poets as Thomas Tusser, Giles
Fletcher the elder, Sir John Beaumont, Jasper Heywood, Philemon
Holland, Sir Thomas Overbury, John Taylor the Water Poet, and the Earl
of Rochester. The reader of this volume may want to have the additional
names before him; they are: Sir John Birkenhead, Henry Bradshaw,
William Chamberlayne, Hugh Crompton, John Dauncey, John Davies (d.
1618), Robert Fabyan, John Gower (fl. 1640), Lewys Griffin, "Havillan,"
Richard Head, Matthew Heywood, John Higgins, Thomas Jordan, Sir William
Killigrew, Sir Roger L'Estrange, Matthew of Paris, John Oldham, Edward
Phillips himself, John Quarles, Richard the Hermit, John Studley, John
Tatham, Christopher Tye, Sir George Wharton, and William of Ramsey.
Mentioned incidentally are John Owen, Laurence Whitaker, and Gawin
Douglas.
Among the accounts that are utterly independent of Phillips are those
of Churchyard, Chapman, Daniel, Ford, Cower, Lydgate, Lyly, Massinger,
Nashe, Quarles, Suckling, Surrey, and Sylvester. Among those that add
more than they borrow are the notices of Beaumont and Fletcher,
Chaucer, Cleveland, Corbet, Donne, Drayton, Phineas Fletcher, Greene,
Greville, Jonson, Lodge, Lovelace, Middleton, More, Randolph,
Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Warner, and Withers.
To a modern critic Winstanley may seem devoid of taste, but his
acquaintance with English poetry is impressive. Indeed, Winstanley,
unlike Phillips, strikes us as a man who really read and enjoyed
poetry. Phillips is more the slipshod bibliographer and cataloguer,
collecting names and titles; Winstanley is the amateur literary
historian, seeking out the verse itself, arranging it in chronological
order, and trying, by his dim lights, to pass judgment upon it.
WILLIAM RILEY PARKER
_Indiana University_
_12 March 1962_
[Illustration: London Printed for Samuel Manship at the Black Bull in
Cornhill near the Royall Exchange.]
THE
LIVES
Of the most Famous
English Poets,
OR THE
Honour of _PARNASSUS_;
In a Brief
ESSAY
OF THE
WORKS and WRITINGS
of above Two Hundred of them, from the
Time of K. _WILLIAM_ the Conqueror,
To the Reign of His Present Majesty
King JAMES II.
_Marmora_ Mæonij _vincunt Monumenta Libelli_;
_Vivitur ingenio, extera Mortis erunt_.
Written by _WILLIAM WINSTANLEY_, Author of
the _English Worthies_.
Licensed, _June_ 16, 1685. Rob. Midgley.
_LONDON_,
Printed by _H. Clark_, for Samuel Manship at the
Sign of the _Black Bull_ in _Cornhil_, 1687.
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