Part 7

There are several things relative to the Minor Poems of Sir John Davies that require statement and elucidation; and I deem it well to give such.

I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music.

II. The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of Derby.

III. The Poem to King James 1st.

IV. Dacus not Samuel Daniel.

V. Marston and "Orchestra," &c.

VI. Hymnes to Astræa.

_I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music._ In my Fuller Worthies' Library edition of Davies, I admitted "Canzonet: a Hymne in praise of Musick" among his Poems (pp. 297-9) because in the "Rhapsody" it bore his initials I. D. precisely as his other accepted pieces therein did. But I excluded the 'Ten Sonnets to Philomel' from their having the signature originally of "Melophilus," and I. D. only subsequently. I too hastily agreed with Sir Egerton Brydges (in his edition of the "Rhapsody" 2 Vols., 1826) in assigning them to Dean Donne. I could not discern Donne's manner in the 'Canzonet,' and so had no difficulty in rejecting Brydges' alleged 'internal evidence' in respect of it, initialled as it was. Neither did I find the 'internal evidence' in the 'Ten Sonnets' for its Donne authorship, but, in addition to the early signature "Melophilus," there was a note of "Manuscripts to get" by Davison, from Donne, that has seemed to warrant the "Ten Sonnets" being regarded as his contribution, and the later I. D. as representing J[ohn] D[onne], and not Sir John Davies. My friend Dr. Brinsley Nicholson has satisfied me that Davison's List of MSS. to be received could not refer to his "Rhapsody," but to some other intended work or private collection; and so the one point in favour of Donne falls to the ground. The evidence as communicated to myself, and since, in a lengthy communication to the _Athenæum_ (January 22d, 1876), may be thus summarized, (1) There is nothing in Davison's notings which even hints that he was thinking of the "Rhapsody." (2) The greater number of the MSS. mentioned never appeared even by a specimen in the "Rhapsody." (3) The second entry is of

"Sports, Masks, and Entertainments to y^{e} { late Queen { the King," &c.

Therefore it was written in or after 1603. But the first edition of the "Rhapsody" containing the "Hymn to Music" signed I. D., and the "Ten Sonnets" signed "Melophilus," and in the subsequent editions I. D., was published in 1602, (4) There is not in the subsequent editions a single piece by any of these memorandum-noted authors that is not in the first--so shewing further that the memorandum had no reference to the "Rhapsody." Of Donne and Constable there are in the editions 1608, 1611, 1621, only those given in 1602, and in no edition at all is there a single specimen of Ben Jonson, Hodgson, Harington, Joseph Hall, &c., &c. There remains thus only (5). The I. D. evidence, e.g.:

1602. 1608. 1611. 1621. Hymn I. D. I. D. I. D. Unsigned. Sonnets Melophilus. I. D. I. D. I. D. 12 Wonders } Not John Dauis Sir John Dauis Sir John Davies Lottery } in I. D. I. D. Sir I. D. Contention } 1st Jonn Dauis Sir John Unsigned. } edn. Dauis. Absence hear this my protestation. Unsigned in all four editions.

That two are unsigned in the 1621 edition is probably due to omission made during the thorough re-distribution of the pieces into books of Odes, &c., &c. Further (6) the "Hymn to Music" and the "Ten Sonnets" follow consecutively, and are the very first among the "pieces by sundry others." So in editions of 1608 and 1611 the "Twelve Wonders," "Lottery," and "Contention" are the first of the new pieces, in fact, open the book and follow one another successively in a group of three--John Dauis--I. D.--John Davies. (7) We gather from inspection of the "Table" that (_a_) the "Lottery," I. D., is John Davies; (_b_) that Davison put I. D. after the "Lottery," knowing that he had already appropriated I. D. to the author of the "Hymne;" and what is more, he chose to put I. D. to the "Lottery" just when he associated the "Ten Sonnets" with I. D. and John Davies' poems by altering Melophilus to I. D.; (_c_) at the same time he left "Absence hear," &c., unsigned; (_d_) what has been said under (5) and (6) suggests that Davies was a personal friend of Davison's, and this is strengthened by there being no MS. of Davies noted as "to get." If so, Davison was still less likely to use ambiguous initials for anything by Davies. Once more (8) When we add to this that the "Hymne" must go with the "Ten Sonnets" and that it is clearly by the author of "Orchestra"; and that neither the "Hymne" nor the "Ten Sonnets" appear in any collection of Donne's poems printed or in MS. the external evidence in favour of Sir John Davies as author of the work is as strong as it well can be. Internally the student of "Orchestra" and the "Hymnes to Astræa" will readily see the "fine Roman hand" that wrote them in the "Hymne to Music" and related "Ten Sonnets to Philomel." There is none of the style, or conceits, or wording, or rhythm of Donne. I add finally (9) If the "Ten Sonnets to Philomel" were based on real love experiences, we can understand how at first at any rate the disguise of "Melophilus" might be preferred to I. D. It does not seem probable that they were addressed to her who became his wife. In accord with all this both the "Hymne to Music" and the "Ten Sonnets to Philomel" are now included among Sir John Davies's Poems (Vol. ii. pp. 96-106.)

II. _The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of Derby._ In the foot-notes to the "Lottery," (Vol. II., pp. 87-94) several variations from Manningham's "Diary" are accepted as decided improvements, especially those in VII., XIX., and XXI., which were probably taken from a revised or autograph MS. That Manningham had full information on the "Lottery" is proved by the list he gives of the persons to whom the 'lots' went, viz., I., To hir M^{tie}. III. La[dy] Scroope. XXVII. La[dy] Scudamore. VI. Lady Francis. VII. Earle of Darby's countes. VIII. Lady Southwell, II. Countess of Darby dowager: [the Lord Keeper's wife]. XII. Countess of Kildare. XIII. La[dy] Effingham. XIX. La[dy] Newton. XXI. Not named. XXII. La[dy] Warwike. XXV. La[dy] Dorothy. XXXIII. La[dy] Susan ... XXXII. La[dy] Kidderminster. XXXI. Blank. But there remains an interesting question to be settled, viz., the date of this "Lottery." Nichols, apparently on the sole authority of the "Rhapsody," gives it to a visit to the Lord Keeper's town-house [York House] in 1601; and assigns it to York House because Sir Thomas Egerton did not buy Harefield till 1602, and clearly by the speeches in the "Entertainment" the Queen had never been there before August, 1602. But the "Rhapsody" date is a slip of Davison's pen or of his printer for 1602, and the "Lottery" took place at Harefield as part of the "Entertainment." Notices in the "Lottery" itself guide us to this conclusion, e.g., it was about August, for in Lot 22 we read:--

"'Tis Summer yet,... But 'twill be winter one day, doubt you not."

and the visit to Harefield was in August. Then there is this to be noted that the masquer is "A Mariner ... supposed to come from the Carrick." Let 'the' be marked '_the_ Carrick.' The allusion is historical. The Queen sent out Sir Richard Levison (or Lawson) and Sir William Morrison on 19th and 26th March, 1602 to intercept the plate fleet and do any other damage along the Spanish coast. They did not get the Fleet and were wholly unsuccessful till 1st June, when they came upon an immense 'carrick' from the East Indies of 1,600 tons flanked on one side by a castle and on the other by eleven Spanish and Portugese galleys. On the 2nd the admirals with five men of war and two merchantmen Easterlings, beat the gallies and silenced the castle, and on the 3rd the carrick surrendered with a cargo estimated by the Portugese at a million of ducats. Our killed in this brilliant exploit was six seamen (see Camden's Annals and Monson's Naval Tracts). This proves that the Verses were _vers d'occasion_. We have '_the_ carrick' and Cynthia who sent forth Fortune to the sea, and many a "jewel and a gem" brought, and Fortune so commanded

"as makes me now to sing There is no fishing to the sea, no service to the King."

Further, the Queen writing to Lord Mountjoy (Deputy to Ireland) 15th July 1602 says "... first to assure you that we have sent a fleet to the coast of Spain, notwithstanding our former fleet returned with the Carrick," which shows two things (1) That Lawson and Monson had returned prior to the 15th of July (2) that the Queen had sent out another fleet at once; and thus Davies' verses were the more appropriate as being not only a remembrance of good luck but an anticipation of continued good fortune.

These proofs of date which require no confirmation are confirmed by this, that Manningham after the "Lottery," and on the same leaf, gives a "dialogue betweene the bayly and a dairy mayd" before "her Mtis coming to the house," quoting a sentence from it as found in the "Entertainment." This leads me to state why I have given the entire "Entertainment" to Sir John Davies. It certainly is contrary to natural expectation that the "Lottery" verses are not introduced into the "Entertainment," and but for other considerations the inference might have been that only the "Lottery" was by Davies, and the rest by some other. But there is this explanation of the absence of the "Lottery" verses, that evidently they formed part of the amusement of one of the rainy days--for it was a wet S^{t}. Swithin--when the speeches and other things of the "Entertainment" took place without doors, and distinct from the "Lottery." Then on reading the "Entertainment" itself, there are manifold marks that the whole came from one pen, and that pen Davies's; for throughout there is likeness of style and thought to his avowed writings. Take these few examples: (1) "If thou knewest the cause, thou wouldst not wonder; for I stay to entertaine the Wonder of this time," &c. ("Entertainment," &c., Vol. II., pp. 249-50.) Cf. this with "Orchestra" st. 120, "wonder of posteritie" (i.e., of her own time): (2) "The Guest that wee are to entertaine doth fill all places with her divine vertues, as the Sunne fills the World with the light of his beames." (_Ibid_, p. 250). Cf. Hymnes to Astræa, XIV., stanza 2:--

"Behold her in her vertues' beames, Extending sun-like to all realities."

Again, XV., st. 1:--

"Eye of that mind most quicke and cleere,-- Like Heaven's eye, which from his spheare Into all things prieth; Sees through all things euery where, And all their natures trieth."

(3) "Though her selfe shall eclipse her soe much, as to suffer her brightness to bee shadowed in this obscuere and narrow _Place_, yet the sunne beames that follow her, the traine I meane that attends vpon her, must, by the necessitie of this _Place_, be deuided from her." (_Ibid_, p. 251). Cf. XIX., st. 1:--

"Eclipsed she is, and her bright rayes, Lie under vailes, yet many wayes Is her faire forme reuealed."

'Beams' and 'sunbeams' are favourite words with Davies: so too 'mirror.' (4) "Time weare very vngratefull, if it should not euer stand still, to serue and preserue, cherish and delight her, that is the glory of her time, and makes the Time happy wherein she liueth" (_Ibid_ p. 251). Cf. II. st. 3, ll. 1-3.

"Right glad am I that now I live: Even in these days whereto you give Great happiness and glory."

(5) "What if she make thee a contynewell holy-day, she makes me [Place] a perpetuall sanctuary" (_Ibid_ p. 251). Cf. IV., st. 1:--

"Each day of time, sweet moneth of May, Love makes a solemne holy-day."

(6) "Doth not the presence of a Prince make a Cottage a Court, and the presence of the Gods make euery place Heaven?" (_Ibid_ pp. 251-2). Cf. Dedication of "Nosce Teipsum":--

"Stay long (sweet spirit) ere thou to Heauen depart, Which makest each place a heauen wherein thou art."

In the Verse (pp. 253-4) there are abundant parallels. I must content myself with references. With the 1st stanza

"Beauties rose, and vertues booke, &c."

compare Hymnes to Astræa VII., st. 3: XVII., st. 2-3 and the "Contention" (_ad. fin._) and XIII. st. 2: XV. st. 2. Also IV. last 2 lines: VII. st. 3. ll. 1-3: X. last 4 lines. Similar results are found on a comparison of the "Entertainment" with the "Dialogue between a Gentleman Usher and a Poet" (Fuller Worthies' Library edn. of Davies' Poems: pp. 15-21.)

I have accordingly given the whole "Entertainment" as belonging to Sir John Davies. It is to be regretted that the Satyrs Verses are unaccompanied by the rest of the Masque to which apparently they belong. Harefield has the further light of glory on it of having been the scene of Milton's "Arcades" and of the famous elm-aisle celebrated by him in imperishable verse. The Countess of Derby, afterwards the Lord Keeper's third wife, was the early friend of Spenser and of Milton, and of all her eminent literary contemporaries.[53]

[Footnote 53: As for much more I am indebted to Dr. Brinsley Nicholson (as before) for most of the details of the above statement. He has likewise favoured me with these additional illustrations of a refrain in the introduction to the "Lottery." In the Queen's Entertainment at Cawdray (Lord Montacute's), in 1591, an angler says, "Madame, it is an olde saying, There is no fishing to the sea nor service to the King: but it holdes when the sea is calme and the King vertuous" (Nichols' Progresses). Greene also uses it in his James IV., when the schemer who has gained by flattering the King, says (I. 2)

"Now may I say as many often sing, No fishing to the sea nor service to a King."

See Note to the "Lottery," Vol. II., p. 88. It was surely an error of judgment of the late Mr. John Bruce, in reproducing Manningham's "Diary," to leave out the "Lottery," and related entries, on the weak plea that the former had been printed in Shakespeare and Percy Society publications. It may be here mentioned that Manningham, in giving some of the "Lottery" verses, writes on a leaf which is followed by one of the date of 1601; but as Mr. Collier remarks, either the leaves of the Diary got misplaced, or else he was in the habit of using up at after times leaves that he had left blank. Further: Chamberlain, in a letter of October 2, 1602, mentions the visit to the Lord Keeper's at Harefield as part of the late "Progress." The original M.S. of the Entertainment belonged to Sir Roger Newdegate, but is now missing. Finally: I over-looked to annotate _in loco_ in the "Entertainment" itself, that as the Dairy house was to the left while the "House" (of Harefield) was to the right, the Dairymaid ridicules the idea of the Bailiff taking such a party to what she calls a Pigeon house for its size, and which was moreover at that moment in the carpenters' hands. In effect the Queen had to be separated from at least the greater part of her suite.]

III. "_Yet other Twelve Wonders of the World._" In foot-note (Vol. II., p. 67) I promise an account of an autograph MS. of this characteristic set of verses. It finds more fitting place here than in the Preface. The MS. is preserved at Downing College, Cambridge, and having been described on p. 325 of the "Third Report of the Historical MSS. Commissioners," Mr. Beedham, (as before) was kind enough to make a _literatim_ transcript for me (with the permission of the College authorities). The MS. is headed "Verses giuen to the L. Treasurer vpon Newyeares day vpon a dosen of Trenchers by Mr. Davis." In the margin against "The Lawyer," in the same handwriting as the Verses, is this: "This is misplaced, it should be before the physis^{n}," and similarly against "The Country Gentleman," also in the same handwriting, is: "This is misplaced, in the original it is before the m^{r} chant." There is nothing to give any clue as to the precise New Year's day upon which the Verses were furnished to the Lord Treasurer; but unless I very much mistake, they were the "cobweb" of his "inuention" enclosed in that letter which Mr. J. Payne Collier supposed to have gone with a gift-copy of "Nosce Teipsum." The letter speaks for itself:--

"Mr. Hicks. I have sent you heer inclosed that cobweb of my invention which I promised before Christmas: I pray you present it, commend it, and grace it, as well for your owne sake as mine: bycause by your nominacion I was first put to this taske, for which I acknowledge my self beholding to you in good earnest, though the imployment be light and trifling, because I am glad of any occasion of being made knowne to that noble gentl. whom I honore and admire exceedingly. If ought be to be added, or alter'd; lett me heare from you. I shall willingly attend to doo it, the more speedily if it be before the terme. So in haste I commend my best service to you. Chancery Lane, 20 Jan. 1600. Yours to do you service very willingly, Jo. Davys." (Bibl. Account, V. I., pp. 193-4; no specification of source beyond S. P. O.)

The handwriting of the copy in Downing College belongs to the close of the 16th or to the earliest years of the 17th century. The second marginal note above would seem to show that the transcript was made from the original, then perhaps being circulated from hand to hand. Specimens of variations may interest. In "The Courtier," l. 1, for 'liu'd' the MS. reads 'serued': l. 4, "from them that fall" for "such as fall": l. 5, "my" for "a rich array": in the "Divine," l. 1, "one cure doth me contente" for "and I from God am sent": l. 3, "true kinde" for "kind true": l. 5, "Nor followe princes' Courts" for "Much wealth I will not seeke ": "The Souldier," l. 6, "brag" for "boast": "The Physitian," l. 1, "prolonge" for "vphold" and "life" for "state": l. 2, "I" for "me" (_bis_): l. 6, "time & youth" for "youth and time": "The Lawyer," l. 1, "My practice is the law" for "the Law my calling is": ll. 5-6,

"Some say I haue good gifts, and love where I doe take Yet never tooke I fee, but I advisd or spake,"

for

"Nor counsell did bewray, nor of both parties take, Nor euer tooke I fee for which I neuer spake."

"The Merchant" l. 2, "vnknowne worlds ... kingdomes doth" for "unknowne coasts ... countries to": "The Married Man," l. 4, "choise" for "chance": "The Wife," l. 1, "my" for "our": l. 2, "Thither am I ... where firste" for "I thither am ... from whence": l. 3,

"I goe not maskd abroad to visit, when I do My secrets I bewray to none but one or two,"

for

"I doe not visite oft, nor many, when I doe, I tell my mind to few, and that in counsell too."

"The Widowe" l. 1, "dyinge" _is_ inserted here before "husband": l. 3, "love" for "haue": l. 6, "Nor richer then I am, nor younger would I seeme" for "Nor younger then I am, nor richer will I seeme": "The Maide," l. 4, "of" for "on": l. 5, "but" for "yet." These embrace all save orthographical and other slight variants. As derived from an authentic _autograph_ MS. the Downing College copy is interesting and its variants serve further to illustrate the letter to Hicks wherein Davies expresses his willingness to make any changes--which alone might have led Mr. Collier to see that he could not possibly refer to "Nosce Teipsum," which was then published.

IV. _Dacus not Samuel Daniel._ Turning to Epigrams 30 and 45 (pp. 30, 45) the reader will find in Dyce's note to the latter that he identified 'Dacus' with Daniel, and the passage whereon he based the identification. I passed his note though not at all satisfied with the parallel of "dumb eloquence" to the Epigram's "silent eloquence." Epigram 30 points rather to a rhymster of the John Taylor Water-Poet type, and if one had patience to make the search "silent eloquence" should doubtless be found in one or other of his many books--clumsily appropriated from Sir Philip Sidney. Then the "dumb eloquence" of the Complaint of Rosamond which Dyce quotes, was to the King _not_ "to his Mistress"--even if it were what the Epigram hints "silent eloquence." _En passant_ the phrases and variants on it was one of the aped phrases of the gallants and poetasters of the day. Jonson who disliked Daniel, ridicules the stanza in a way that informs us it was affected by them. Griffin in his _Fidessa_ also has it in his "dumb message of my hidden grief." Further: Davies of Hereford in his "Scourge of Folly" who must have known his namesake's use of Dacus calls him Dacus the pot-poet and speaks as much against his character as our Davies does against his rhymes--all of which was curiously inapplicable to Samuel Daniel. At the time Davies of Hereford wrote Daniel was a gentleman of the Queen's bed-chamber. Lastly--and conclusively--Sir John Davies praises three English poets in his "Orchestra" (Elizabethan edn.) of whom one is Daniel:--

"O that I could old Gefferie's Muse awake Or borrow Colin's fayre heroike stile, Or smooth my rimes with Delia's servant's file."

(Vol. I. p. 212). It is a pleasure to be able to vindicate Sir John Davies from abuse of so genuine a Poet-contemporary as Daniel, and Daniel from so weighty an adverse judgment, had it really been Davies's. To the same good friend who has so helped me elsewhere--Dr. Brinsley Nicholson--I owe thanks for these too-long-delayed corrections.

V. _Marston and 'Orchestra.'_ But if Harrington and Davies of Hereford praised, there were others who had their jeers at Orchestra, e.g. John Marston in his 11th Satire of his Scourge of Villanie, in ridiculing the gallant who thinks of nothing but dancing, as he afterwards does Luscus, who talks of nothing but Plays, and vents only play-scraps, says (1599).

"Who ever heard spruce skipping Curio Ere prate of ought but of the whirle on toe.

* * * * *

Praise but Orchestra, and the skipping art, You shall command him, faith you have his hart Even capring in your fist."

Then there follows (_meo judicio_) a reminiscence or two of the poem itself, and a laugh at the "worthy poet." Thus in 'Orchestra,' st. 59, we have

"According to the musicke of the spheres,"

and st. 60,

"And imitate the starres cælestiall."

and st. 71, speaking of Castor and Pollux:

"Where both are carried with an equall pace Together iumping in their turning race,"

and where, though 'iumping' is of course used in the sense not of our 'jumping' (leaping) but in that of equal or agreeing, as in "jump where may find Cassio," or as where the folio (I. 1) has "just as this same hour" the 4^{o} Hamlet has "jump at this dead hour"; yet it has for the context an unlucky sound and association. Hence Marston wickedly and waggishly continues:

"A hall, a hall Roome for the spheres, the orbs celestiall Will daunce Kemps jigge; they'le revel with neate jumps; A worthy poet hath put on their pumps. O wits quick traverse but _sance ceo's_ slowe, Good faith 'tis hard for nimble Curio. Ye gracious orbes, keepe the old measuring All's spoilde if once yee fall to capering."

VI. _Hymnes to Astræa._ I adhere to Sir John Davies' own form of Astraea in the collective edition of 1621. Doubtless he and the Printer meant it for "æ' not '[oe]' inasmuch as besides Astraea's mythological reign in the golden age over a people that became too wicked for her, she became the constellation Virgo, as celebrated, among others, by Barnfield in his _Cynthia_.[54] The whole of Hy. I. shows this, where the flattery was specially apt to the subject on account of making Astraea the daughter of Aurora: and so Hy. V. of the Lark: and Hy. XXI.

A. B. G.

[Footnote 54: See my edition of his Complete Poems for the Roxburghe Club.]

THE

COMPLETE POEMS

OF

SIR JOHN DAVIES: