The rise of formal satire in England under classical influence

Ipublications

OF THE

of Pennsylvania

SERIES IN

Philologyt Literature and Archaeology

VOL. "VZI 3STO- 2

THE RISE OF FORMAL SATIRE
IN ENGLAND

UNDER CLASSICAL INFLUENCE

RAYMOND MACDONALD ALDEN

Instructor in English, University of Pennsylvania

Published for tlie University

PHILADELPHIA

1899

& Co., Selling Agents, Treinont Place, Boston, Mass.

fis

>£>VO

,2.

PREFATORY NOTE.

THIS monograph was presented to the Philosophical Faculty
of the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfillment of the
requirements made of candidates for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. It was the intention of the author to rewrite the
dissertation for publication, bringing it into a somewhat less
formal and more readable shape. On consideration, however,
it seemed (since the contents are such as to be of interest only
to serious students, and that largely by way of reference) that
the material presented would be perhaps even more serviceable
in its present state than if enlarged and made.' more pretentious
of literary form. The monograph is printed, therefore, substan-
tially as originally written, with certain trifling additions, the
material for which came to light during the time of preparation
for the press.

What was believed to be needed, first of all, was an orderly
setting together and — to a certain extent — an analysis of the facts
relating to the rise of formal satire in England. This, it is hoped,
has been measurably accomplished. Hitherto there has been no
accessible discussion of the subject, except in the fragmentary
''Conversations" of Mr. Collier's Poetical Decameron (now
almost obsolete), and in the rapid survey of Elizabethan satire in
Warton's History of English Poetry. It may be well to state
definitely in what ways it is hoped that the present work may be
useful, aside from serving as a general index and introduction to
the authors and works treated. It will, in the first place, perhaps
throw some light on the development of satirical literature in
England, particularly on the satirical drama of the Elizabethan
period and on the regular verse satire of the seventeenth and

fatory Note.

eighteenth centuries. In the second place, it will perhaps furnish
aid in the making up of the full account, yet to be written,
of English life in the period covered. For this reason the
references of the various satirists to contemporary characteristics
and customs have been arranged in regular lists of "objects
satirized," so as to form a sort of running index to allusions
more or less descriptive of Elizabethan life. Surely it is in its
relations to human life that the fundamental interest of any study
of literature, however technical, must be found.

The writer is under many obligations to those whose courtesy
and scholarly help have been at his service : to Professors Kit-
tredge and Baker, and Mr. J. B. Fletcher, of Harvard University,
for a number of valuable suggestions ; to Professors Gudeman,
Cheyney and Learned, of the University of Pennsylvania, for
guidance in matters pertaining to their several fields ; to Mr. T. J.
Kiernan, of the Harvard College Library ; to Dr. Horace Howard
Furness, for the generous accord of the use of his private library ;
to Mr. Edmond Gosse, for his kindness in offering the use of still
unpublished notes ; to Professor Brumbaugh, of the University
of Pennsylvania, for the use of his manuscripts and library on
matters relating to Donne ; and to the late Dr. Small, of Brown
University, who is most unfortunately beyond the reach of words
of gratitude or friendship. Acknowledgment is due above all to
my teacher, Professor Felix E. Schelling, whose stimulating and
unceasingly friendly direction has alone made my work possible.

R. M. A.

PHILADELPHIA, 30 September, 1899.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction , i

/. Mediaeval and Early English Satire 4

SATIRE OF FOOLS 5

POPULAR SOCIAL SATIRE, FROM 1300 8

GOWER 12

LYDGATE 14

BRANDT AND BARCLAY 15

ERASMUS 22

SKELTON 25

SATIRE OF THE REFORMATION 29

LINDSAY 31

II. Latin Satire 32

HORACE 33

JUVENAL 35

PERSIUS 36

THE WORD "SATIRE" 37

ITALIAN IMITATION 39

FRENCH IMITATION 42

III. Classical and Early English Satire Compared .... 44

FORM 44

TYPE AND SPIRIT 45

SUBJECT-MATTER 46

STYLE 48

fv)

Contents.

PAGE

Formal Satire in England, 1542-162$ 51

f ^ i. SIR THOMAS WYATT ...... . . (?i542) 52

Earl of Surrey (1543) • 59

Robert Crowley (155°) • • °°

George Buchanan (J5^4) • • DI

Thomas Drant (1566) . , 62

2. EDWARD HAKE (1567) . . 62

3., GEORGE GASCOIGNE (1576) . . 67

\EdmundSpenser U59i) • "• 74

jj 4. JOHN DONNE (? 1593) . . 75

1 5. THOMAS LODGE ... ......... (1595) . . 90

J 6. JOSEPH HALL (1597) . . 97

William Rankins (1598) . .128

J 7. JOHN MARSTON (1598) . . 129

8. EDWARD GUILPIN (1598) . . 148

9. "T. M." ( Micro- Cynicori) (1599) - • 156

Censorship of satires . . . (J599) • • ID°

Cyril Tourneur (1600) . . 161

\ Nicholas Breton (1600) . . 162

WJiipping of the Satire, etc (1601) . . 163

10. SAMUEL ROWLANDS ............ (1600^ . . 165

\ Michael Drayton (1604) . . 171

Richard Middleton (1608) . . 172

Robert Tofte. (1608) . . 174

John Davies of Hereford ........... (1610) . . 174

John Taylor , . . (1612) . . 175

11. GEORGE WITHER . . . . (1613) . 176

Henry Parrot ............... (1615) . . 190

William Goddard ,...'.„.•..„.....?.. 191

T. 12. BEN JONSON (1616) . . 192

13. "R. C." (Timers Whistle] ...",'. . (? 1616) . , 198

Contents. vii

PAGE

Robert Anton . (1616) . . 206

14. HENRY FITZGEFFREY .......... (1617) . . 207

15. HENRY HUTTON . . . „ „ , „ (^IQ) . . 213

Joseph Martyn (1621) . . 216

16. RICHARD BRATHWAITE . . . (1621) . . 216

Abraham Holland (1624) . . 222

V. Conclusion 223

SOURCES OF ELIZABETHAN SATIRE 223

SATIRE AS A LITERARY FORM ........ 224

USE OF CLASSICAL MODELS ........ 227

OBJECTS OF SATIRE , 228

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SATIRES . . . 238

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SATIRE . 240

Appendix.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 247

METRICAL TABLE . 250

THE RISE OF FORMAL SATIRE IN ENGLAND
UNDER CLASSICAL INFLUENCE.

There are two ways in which satire may be considered — as
a mode, and as a form. Undoubtedly it is from the former
point of view that it is most interesting. It may then be
traced through all literary forms — lyrical verse, the drama,
prose fiction, and the essay. Its varieties of expression and
application, due to different historical conditions, are practi-
cally unlimited in number and scope. Its relations to wit and
humor, to emotional expression, to the fine arts, and to the
particular literary forms in which it may appear, are well
worth study. But the very conditions which would make
such study interesting, would demand an enormous accumu-
lation of material, and the strongest possible basis of scholar-
ship and intellectual insight.

The study of formal satire is a more modest task. Formal
satire arose comparatively late in the history of literature, and
has always taken one of a few easily distinguishable forms.
Its identity is generally proved at once by its own professions ;
for while not always sincere, it is one of the most self-conscious
of literary forms. Dealing usually only with the faults and
follies of mankind, its subject-matter is not pleasant to dwell
upon, for one who would preserve his optimism intact. The
optimistic student, however, may do something toward clear-
ing away the merely formal and traditional charges made
against the defendant, and explaining the more just remainder
by historical conditions. Satire, again, because of its large
dependence on such temporary or local conditions, is of all
forms of literature one of the most ephemeral. Its authors have
very seldom been able to associate with it elements of beauty,

(i)

2 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

or even of permanent and universal truth. On the other
hand, it is surprising to find how little the main elements of
its subject-matter have changed from age to age. The pro-
cession of its characters, like that of the heroes of tragedy, is
fairly uniform and never passes the given point. It is in this
revelation of human life that its interest, like that of all litera-
ture, must be sought.

The greatest English satirist, John Dryden, quotes for a
definition of satire (evidently meaning formal satire thereby)
that of Heinsius in his Dissertations on Horace :

" Satire is a kind of poetry, without a series of action, invented for the purging
of our minds ; in which human vices, ignorance, and errors, and all things
besides, which are produced from them in every man, are severely reprehended ;
partly dramatically, partly simply, and sometimes in both kinds of speaking ; but,
for the most part, figuratively, and occultly ; consisting in a low familiar way,
chiefly in a sharp and pungent manner of speech ; but partly also, in a faceFious
and civil way of jesting ; by which either hatred, or laughter, or indignation is
moved."1

To this Dryden objects that the description "is wholly
accommodated to the Horatian way," since it makes the fault
of Horace, his "low familiar way of speech," "the virtue and
standing rule " of this order of poetry. It is probable that
most critics would agree rather with Heinsius than with Dry-
den, not only in easily pardoning Horace's "familiar" style,
but also in recognizing such a style as one of the common
characteristics of satire. Certainly there are passages in
Dryden's own satire which are not to be defended according
to the standard of a " majestic way " which he sets up. The
definition of Heinsius, while cumbersome and now obsolete in
phraseology, will in reality stand remarkably well the test of
detailed examination and of comparison with the great num-
ber of examples of formal satire. I shall have occasion here-
after to call attention more particularly to its elementary
distinctions.

1 Essay on Satire. Scott-Saintsbury edition of Dryden, vol. xiii. p. 107.

Introduction. 3

Whatever may have been the relation of satire among the
Romans to so-called satire among the Greeks (a matter dis-
puted in Dryden's time, and still imperfectly understood), it is
universally agreed that formal satire, in the sense already
indicated, began in Latin literature. No less certainly, wher-
ever it has appeared in modern literature it has been under
Latin influence. As has already been said, it is -a sjdf^con-
scious form, and requires for its full development a self-
conscious and self-critical age. The first age of this kind
in England was that of Elizabeth, when the beginnings of all
formal and conscious literary modes took shape.1 When to
this is joined the fact that it was an imitative age, and *the
further fact that it followed close upon the revival oF classical
learning, it is clear enough why formal satire should have
arisen in England just when it did. We may conveniently
look for its beginnings where we look for those of nearly all
other exotic forms, in the middle of the sixteenth century ; and
we shall find that, like the other forms, it had passed through
a period of development and decline by the time of the acces-
sion of Charles the First, and was ready for new development
under the new influences of the seventeenth century. It is
the purpose of the present study to trace its rise during the
period thus defined.

Some preliminary clearing of the ground will be necessary.
It will first be in order to consider rapidly the appearances of
satire, in the broader sense of the word, in English literature
previous to the period of classical influence, in order to be
able to recognize new elements by comparison with the old.
It must next be inquired just what the classical satirists did,
and how they came to be imitated on the continent and in
England. We shall then be in a position to reach some gen-
eral conclusions as to the relations of native English and
classical elements. The particular satirists of the period
chiefly under consideration will then be taken up in detail.

1 See Warton : History of English Poetry, Hazlitt ed. , vol. iv. p. 362.

4 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Two principal questions will be kept in mind in the study of
these : How far were they influenced by their classical models ?
and, What objects of satire, in the life and morals of their
period, did they more or less faithfully represent ? Finally, it
may be possible to draw somex general conclusions as to the
relations of Elizabethan satire to that of the great period fol-
lowing— the age of Dryden.

Such, then, roughly outlined, will be the order of this dis-
cussion. There is a considerable mass of details to be gone
over, many of them of an unlovely order ; one must hope
that the reward will be found in a better understanding of that
age when Englishmen made the strongest attempt to realize
the impact of antiquity upon their own life and thought.

J

I.

Mediaeval satire was of a thoroughly informal kind. It
arc-se, not from classical traditions, but from contemporary
life. It usually took the form either of invective or burlesque.
It was the comment or remonstrance of the witty scholar or
indignant Christian, in the face of the inconsistencies, oppres-
sions, and small knaveries that he saw all about him. From
the first it was particularly severe upon the avarice and luxury
of those who professed to be models of righteousness.1 The
various orders of ecclesiastics aimed at one another's weak-
nesses ; the traveling scholars at' the regular clergy ; the
unlettered against the foibles of scholastics and latinists ; the
townspeople at the stupidity of the rustics. Various classes
and professions came to be recognized as types for satirical
attack.

1 See the account of religious satire in Schneegans: Gesch. der Grotesken Satire.
See also the " Gospel According to Marks of Silver," described by Wright : His-
tory of Caricature and Grotesque, p. 172.

Mediceval Satire. 5

" Zum Monch, zum Bauern und zur Frau gesellt sich als vierter im Bunde der
Arzt, dessen Prahlen mit seinen Kenntnissen und seinen allmachtigen Heilmitteln

auf wirkliche groteske Art karikiert wird Wie hier der Stand der

Arzte, so wird in andern Satiren der Stand der niederen Spielleute angegriffen."1

The best known example of satire on the jovial clerks of
the Middle Ages is the " Apqcalypsis Goliae Episcopi " (in
Wright's Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter Mapes, p. i).
One may find also in Wright's History of Caricature and Gro-
tesque some account of the satire directed against various trades
(p. 133) and against particular localities (p. 181). The list of
satirical writings now known to students of mediaeval litera-
ture, whose object was to rebuke the corruptions of the
Church, would of itself fill many pages. Besides the para-
phrases given by Schneegans one may see, for example, some
of the poems in de Meril's Poesies Populaires Latines du Moyen
Age, — two satires thought to be by Gautier de Chatillon, one
by Pierre des Vignes (" sur les desordres du corps ecclesias-
tique "), and one (" contre les Symoniaques") attributed to
Saint Thomas a Becket.

There was also, of course, satire of a political character.
There were always some to protest against the aggressions of
kings, courtiers, and judges, as well as to make use of satiri-
cal gifts in behalf of their patrons.

"Viel mehr als die kleinlichen Rivalitaten zwischen den Spielleuten mussten zur
Satire die .vichtigen politischen Ereignisse reizen. . . Die politische Satire

Frankreichs richtete aber ihre Pfeile nicht nur gegen ihre auswartigen Feinde.
Auch die innere Misstande werden, wo es Not thut, gegeisselt."2

The classical satirists had long ago dwelt on the identity of /
vice, imprudence, and madness ; and this (whether derived j
from them or from immediate insight), came to be the central
idea of mediaeval satire.

" Stultorum infinities est numertis? These famous words sum up as well as any
others the fundamental axiom of all satire, to which every generation of satirists

1 Scfineegans, pp. 81, 83.

2 Schneegans, pp. 86, 89.

- 3 See in Wright's History of Caricature and Grotesqtie (p. 212) a cut of a
leaden medal, celebrating the " Pope of Fcols," and containing this motto.

6 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

has given expression in every variety of accent and phrase. That the world is a
kingdom of Fools is a conviction easily detected beneath the fine urbanities of
Renan, the glittering irony of Pope. Uttered with more downright and brutal
emphasis it is the commonplace in which the decaying Middle Age invested its
whole capital of intellectual and moral scorn. The commonplace was piquant,
however, and the extraordinary variety of expression and metaphor with which it
was seasoned never permitted it to pall. The whole range of mediaeval institu-
tions, the church, the court, the civic guild, the monastic fraternity, were imported
into the kingdom of Fools ; the animal world swelled its numbers with ' asses '
and ' cuckoos,' ' apes ' and ' hares ;' pagan mythology provided Venus and
Bacchus for its divinities ; Seneca and Solomon, Horace and Juvenal furnished a
store of instances, and the treasury of vernacular proverb- lore an inexhaustible
supply of illustration."1

It is to this order of satire that one of. the very earliest of
English satirists belongs, — Nigellus Wireker, whose Speculum
Stultorum dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century,
and who embodied in his work the idea of an Order of Fools,

1 C. H. Herford : Literary Relations of England and Germany in the Six-
teenth Century, p. 323. Compare the brilliant account of Lenient : " La satire
est la plus complete manifestation de la pensee libre au moyen age. Dans ce
monde ou le dogmatisme impitoyable au sein de 1'eglise et de 1'ecole frappe comme
heretique tout dissident, 1' esprit critique n'a pas trouve de voie plus sure, plus
rapide, et plus populaire, que la parodie .... Cette contre-partie du
monde feodal et religieux forme une.vaste trilogie dont chaque siecle est un acte, et
dont chaque acte a son heros principal : au XIIP siecle, c'est Renart ; au XI Ve,
le Diable ; au XVe, la Mort. Le grand choeur satirique du moyen age s'avance
pele-mele, semblable au cortege de Bacchus, a cette foule lascive et dteordonnee
de Pans, de Faunes, de Silenes, de Bacchantes, tous hurlant, chantant, sonnant de
la trompe ou battant des cymbales. Encore le dieu du Nysa, fils de 1' imagination
grecque, reste-t-il au milieu de cette annee grotesque, comme le type de 1' adoles-
cence et de la beaute. La vieille mascarade gothique est cent fois plus risible et
plus fantasque. Toutes les classes de la societe, tous les regnes de la nature
viendront se confondre dans cette immense cohue : chevaliers, moines, abbes,
marchands, paysans, bourgeoises, religieuses, hommes et betes, papes et rois. En
tete, parait d'abord Renart, avec sa mine futee, son regard oblique et fauve, son
museau etroit et allonge, qui flaire la malice et le sarcasme ; puis son compere et
son successeur, le Diable, personnage pattu, velu, crochu, seducteur benin et
moqueur impitoyable ; enfin, la Mort, long, sec et pale squelette, avec ses yeux
caves, ses joues dechiquettees, son ventre vide, ses cotes fendues, entr' ouvertes, et
son horrible machoire degarnie qui grimace en riant. ' ' ( La Satire en France au
Moyen Age, pp. 14, 15.)

Mcdiceval Satire. j

11 Novus Ordo Brunelli."1 Three hundred years later the
same idea became prominent again in English literature.

French influence made itself felt in English satire, as in all
English literature, from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. /
In France satirical poetry took on a variety of forms, but / *
seems to have shown a decided preference for the narrative, j
particularly the allegory.2 The two greatest examples of this
are the cycle of Reynard the Fox,3 which had a late echo in
Spenser's Mother Hubbard 's Tale, and the Roman de la Rose?
the satire in the latter part of which (the work of Jean de
Meun) was, under the guise of allegory, of a sweeping char-
acter, and which shows its effect in the work of Chaucer and
his followers. Johannes de Alta Villa ( Jean de Hauteville)
imitated in England the French allegorical satire, in his Archi-
trenius (about ii84.)5 Nearly a century later Ruteboeuf, in
France, gave an impetus to satire of the invective type.6
There were also the usual popular attacks on classes, on politi-
cal opponents, and on the corruptions of the Church.

" Viennent ensuite les satires dirigees centre les clercs, leurs vices, leur fainean-
tise, . . . centre les bourgeois, . . . centre les vilains . . . Enfin la satire poli-
tique ne fut pas inconnue a la poesie du moyen age. De bonne heure Anglais et
Frangais, qui employaient la meme langue, s' attaquerent par la plume comme par
les armes. ... La cour de Rome fut dans toute la chretiente, pour ses envahisse-
ments et surtout pour la cupidite qu'ou reprochait a ses representants, 1'objet de
virulentes attaques."7

1 Herford, p. 325.

2 See Paris : La Litterature Franfaise au Moyen Age-. Sec. 2, chap. iii.

3 See Wright : Caricature and Grotesque, p. 77 ; and Lenient : La Satire en
France azt Moyen Age, chap. viii. pp. 137 ff.

4 See Lenient: chap. ix. pp. 155 ff-

5 Wright, p. 160.

6 See Oeuvres de Rutebceuf, ed. Jubinal. Preface, p. xx., etc.

7 Paris, pp. 155 f. On the political satire of France Lenient remarks: "La
Gaule ou la France, comme on voudra 1'appeler, a toujours medit de ses maitres.
Esclave, elle tremble et obeit, mais se venge par la satire de ceux qui lui font
peur. Elle conserve ses rois pendant quatorze siecles, en se reservant le droit de
les chansonner ; et 1'on a pu dire d'elle avec raison qu'elle etait une monarchic
temperee par le vaudeville." (p. 13.)

The Rise of Formal Satire in Englant

But the most characteristic and considerable specimens of
satire in England during the later Middle Ages are neither
the satires of Fools nor the satirical allegories. They are the
direct invective satire of the common people, expressing criti-
cism on political affairs and resentment against oppression,
or the protests of the truly religious against luxury and incon-
sistency among Christians of all orders. These productions,
while often vivid and picturesque, are too serious and direct to
make great use of allegory, caricature, or what Heinsius called
"a facetious and civil way of jesting." They are often defec-
tive in humor, but seldom in vigor. As Schneegans says :

" Der direkte Satiriker erweist seinem Feinde nicht die Ehre, in seine Gedanken
einzugehen, sie weiterzufiihren, sie auszuschmiicken, ja gegebenfalls sogar zu
loben. Er packt seinen Feind an der Gurgel, schniirt ihm die Kehle zu, lasst ihn
nicht zu Worte kommen, iiberschiittet ihn aber selbst mit einer Flut von Schimpl-
wortern. Ganz anders der Groteske." 1

One of the earliest of these direct popular satires is that on
the vanity of women, found in Boddeker's Altenglische Dicht-
ungen, p. 106, and in Wright's Political Songs of England, p.
I53.2 This is thought to date from the end of the thirteenth
century, and is a bitter arraignment, from a religious point of
view, of the feminine love of finery.

" Such a joustynde gyn uch wrecche wol weren,
Al it cometh in declyn this gigelotes geren.
Upo lofte *

The devel may sitte softe,
& holden his halymotes ofte."

"The objects of satire," says Ten Brink, "grew more manifold in the reign
of Edward I. It became the advocate of the poor people, of the peasant class,
whose position in the glorious and blessed reign of that great prince was perhaps
not less precarious than later under the rule of ' Queen Bess.' The Song of the
Husbandman is a lament of the husbandman who, in spite of bad harvests and
dearth, must pay the king high taxes for his wars, and who is tormented and drained

1 Schneegans : op. cit., p. 494.

2 See Ten Brink : Early English Literaitire, p. 317.

Eardy Social Satire. 9

to his life's blood by foresters, rangers, and bailiffs. They hunt him as the hound
does the hare ; he sees himself compelled to sell his grain while it is still as
green as grass. ' ' !

"Another poem that must have originated about i^lfrrJLT* shows satire in a quite
advanced stage as regards scope and matter. It is not content with attacks on
the vices and abuses of single classes or ranks of men, or with general allusions
to the degeneracy of society ; it takes up the various classes in turn, and pitilessly
lays bare their social blemishes. . . . Truth and right are down, deceit and
treachery are almighty. The review is begun with the Church at Rome. .
Covetousness and Simony rule the whole world. . . The outlook is no better
in the monasteries ; pride and envy reign in all orders. . . . Next comes the
turn of the knightly orders, the Hospitallers. . . . The chapters and consis-
tories are then taken up. It is easy to attain an end with them by bribing judges
and witnesses. Thereupon appears the physician who helps men to die.
Counts, barons, and knights are brought before us, who oppress the Church
instead of defending it, stir up strife at home instead of going to the Holy Land,
who behave in the hall like lions, and like hares in the field. . . . But we
must be brief, and refer the reader to the poet himself, who tells how the royal
justices, ministers, sheriffs, judges, bailiffs, and beadles, how advocates, assize-
justices, how bakers, brewers, merchants, conduct themselves. Wrong and cheat-
ing are everywhere ; in every walk of life the poor and honest are oppressed and
plundered."2

This is a typical piece of English satire ; typical in its
vigorous pessimism, its emphasis of political injustice, and
its thoroughly serious tone. Of the same period is the
poem on the servants of the rich, thought to be. the work of
a gleeman (Boddeker,* p. 135; Wright's Political Songs, p.
237). But here the tone is more rollicking and the descrip-
tion livelier ; there is also some fine sarcasm 'in the verses :

" Whil god wes on erthe

& wondrede wyde,
whet wes the resoun

why he nolde ryde ?
For he nolde no grom

to go by ys syde,
ne grucchyng of no gedelyng

to chaule ne to chyde."

1 Ibid. See also Boddeker, p. 102 : and Wright's Political Songs, p. 149.

2 Ibid., p. 318 ft'. This poem On the Evil Times of Edward II., may be
found in Wright's Political Songs, p. 323. See also the Song on the Times,
in a curious mixture of Anglo-Norman, Latin, and English, ibid., p. 251.

io The Rise of Formal Satire- in England.

The Vision of Piers the Plowman is the great satirical work
of the fourteenth century, and is, indeed, if Langland be the
author, the first English satire of its kind whose author's
name has come down to us. That it was largely satirical was
recognized already in 1589, when Puttenham called it a
"Satyre," adding that its author seemed to be a "malcon-
tent" * In this work we have strong premonitions of the
satire of the Reformation, in the attacks on pilgrims, priests,
friars, papal corruptions, and the like, together with the usual
rebukes of idleness and gluttony. The form is of course
primarily allegorical.

From near the close of the century comes a satirical Song
against Friars? especially interesting from its sustained irony
— a rare feature of English satire.

' ' Men may se by thair contynaunce
That thai are men of grete penaunce,
And also that thair sustynaunce

Simple is and wayke.
I have lyved now fourty yers,
And fatter men about the neres
Yit sawe I never than are these frers,

In contreys ther thai rayke."

The writer goes on to prove that " cursed Cay me " first
founded the four' orders, the letters of his name standing
respectively for the Carmelites, Augustinians, Jacobins and
Minorites. He soon passes, however, true to his nation, from
wit and humor to serious reproach.

In this connection it will be convenient to mention other
satirical attacks on the friars, belonging to the same general
period. The so-called Piers Ploughman's Crede and the Com-
plaint of the Ploughman* are closely connected in this respect.

1 Puttenham : Arte of English Poesie. Arber ed., pp. 74, 76.

2 Wright : Political Poems, vol. i. p. 263.

3 The former was included in Wright's edition of Piers Plowman, 1842. The
latter may be found in Political Poems, vol. i. p. 304.

Early Social Satire. 1 1

The latter poem is a most interesting and vigorous attack on
friars of all orders, then on the corruptions of the church and
clergy in general, set in a loose narrative framework represent-
ing a dialogue between a griffin and a pelican. The Reforma-
tion sounds nearer and nearer in such passages as these :

" They saine that Peter had the key

Of heven and hel, to have and hold.
I trowe Peter tooke no money
For no sinnes that he sold.

" Peter was never so great a fole

To leave his key with such a lorell,
Or take such cursed soch a tole,
He was advised no thing well." 1

Still another satire of the same group is that called Jacke
Upland, 2 which, like the Complaint of the Ploughman, was
printed in some of the early editions of Chaucer. It is placed
by Wright in the year 1401, and is a direct address to the
friars, with the view of putting to them a number of ingenious
and embarrassing questions. Thus :

" Whose ben all your rich courts that yee ban,
And all your rich jewels,
Sith ye seyen that ye han nought
Ne in proper ne in common ?
If ye saine they ben the popes,
Why gather yee then of poore men and lords
So much out of the kings hand
To make your pope rich,
And sith ye sain that it is great perfection
To have nought in proper ne in common,
Why bee ye so fast about to make
The pope, that is your father, rich,
And put on him imperfection ? " 3

Finally, while concerned with satire against the friars, we
must not forget that of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales,

xp- 314-

2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 16.
3n. 26.

1 2 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

and of other portions of the poetry of Chaucer, who, uniting
, the best elements in French, English and general mediaeval
! satire, gives us the best examples of satire in its descriptive
•> and narrative forms.

John Gower, Chaucer's most distinguished literary contem-
porary, was a satirist of the more common order. Almost
destitute of humor, he naturally adopted the method of direct
rebuke. It will be remember that in the Prologue to the Con-
fessio Amantis he adverts to the strife and confusion that afflict
the world, and the reign of avarice and ambition in the Church.1
We have also from his pen some Latin poems entitled by
Wright The Corruptions of the Age and the The Vices of the
Different Orders of Society?1 The first is called " Carmen
super multiplici vitiorum pestilentia iinde tempore Ricardi
secundi partes nostrae specialius inficiebantur," and has for
subdivisions " Contra daemonis astutiam in causa Lollar-
diae," " Contra mentis saevitiam in causa superbiae," " Contra
carnis lasciviam in causa concupiscentiae," " Contra mundi
fallaciam in causa perjurii et avaritiae." The second poem was
"originally headed : " Incipit tractatus de lucis scrutinio, quam
ad diu vitiorum tenebrae, proh dolor ! suffbcarunt, secundum
illud'in evangelic, Qui ambulat in tenebris nescit quo vadat ;"
it deals successively with the clergy, rulers and nobles, men
of law, soldiers, merchants and the commons. The two
poems are characteristic of two important methods of con-
struction in vogue in early English satire, the influence of
which was long-continued. The first method, that of clas-
sifying material by vices, goes back apparently to the mediaeval
sermon-books, and finds its most intolerable monument in the
Confessio of Gower himself. The second method is that based
on social classes, and, while doubtless also to be found in
early mediaeval religious literature, seems more than the first
to be a product of the satirical spirit.

1 See Morley's edition, Carisbrooke Library, pp. 35-40.

2 Political Poems and Songs, vol. i. pp. 346, 356.

Early Social Satire. 1 3

Probably also to the reign of Richard II. belongs a curious
satirical poem On tJic Tunes T written in alternate English
and Latin verses. It is a general condemnation of contempor-
ary life, as contrasted with the better days of the past. Wars
oppress the people ; flatterers are supreme ; the rich grind the
poor ; there is no relief in law ; there are absurd fashions in
dress ; lechery abounds ; the Church is corrupt. The sweep
of the satire is here unusually wide ; and despite the compli-
cations of the bi-lingual form, it is not only vigorous but witty
and dramatic. Thus the writer points out the inconveniences
of some fashions of the day :

' ' A strayth bende hath here hose,

laqueant ad corpora crura ;
They may noght, I suppose,

curvare genu sine cura ;
Qwen oder men knelys,

pia Christo vota ferentes,
Thei stond at here helys,

sua non curvare valentes.
For hortyng of here hosyn,

non inclinare laborant ;
I trow, for here long toos,

duni stant ferialiter orant." 2

Again, notice the dramatic concreteness of a passage on
idle drinkers :

" Wyv sa belle," thei cry,

fragrantia vina bibentes,
Thei drynke tyl they be dry,

lingua sensuque carentes.
Thei cry, " Fyl the bowles !

bonus est liquor, hie maneamus ;
For alle crystone sowllys,

dum durant vasa, bibamus ! " 3

In the fifteenth century satirical poetry, like all other liter-
ature, seems to have languished, if we except merely political

1 Political Poems and Songs, vol. i. p. 270.

2 P- 275.

3p. 277.

14 The. Rise of Formal Satire in England.

ballads and the like, such as were awakened by the civil wars.
What we have in the way of popular satire does not differ
from that of the previous period. Thus from the early part
of the century is a brief poem On the Corruption of Public
Manners, rebuking chiefly the love of finery among both
women and clergy ; * and (according to Wright) from the days
immediately preceding the outbreak of the civil wars, two
poems On the Corruptions of the Times,2 the one built on the
refrain "For now the bysom ledys the blynde," the other on
" Of al oure synnys God make a delyveraunce." They treat of
the prevalence of deceit and robbery ; the disappearance of
mirth ; corruption in the Church ; hatred between classes ;
simony ; idleness ; lack of charity, and allied evils.

John Lydgate, living largely in the first half of the fifteenth
century, wrote a satirical poem of the same class as those just
considered. In the Percy Society edition of his minor poems
it is called a Satirical Ballad on the Times. '} Its chief
interest is its ironical plan ; in each stanza everything is
declared to be as it should be, but in each case there is the
modification, ''So as the crabbe gothe forwarde." In this
way the author sketches by implication the evils of changing
fortune, hypocrisy, unrighteous princes, unjust men of law,
discontented poor, worldly religion, newfangled women, dis-
honest merchants, and the like. The times, like the crab, are
clearly going the wrong way.

In A Tale of Threescore Folys and Thre? commonly called
The Order of Fools, by the same author, we turn back
abruptly to the satire of fools, already spoken of in connection
with Wireker. Here the order of fools is said to be of long
standing, and to consist of sixty-three members. Many of
them are enumerated in outline, always with the concluding

'Vol. ii. p. 251.

2 Ibid., pp. 235, 238.

3 Minor Poems of Lydgate, ed. J. O. Halliwell, in vol. ii. of Percy Society,

P- 58.

4 Ibid., p. 164.

Brandt and Barclay. \ 5

warning that they " shall never thrive." While the range of
the characters is wide, there is little satiric power in the
description. As Herford well. remarks :

" The description of the sixty-three Fools is quite without dramatic life.
Though written within two generations of Chaucer's great Prologue, it is a mere
catalogue of isolated traits nowhere elaborated into a portrait, a sort of index of
dangerous persons, as it were calculated for practical utility rather than for
aesthetic delight." !

He also says of Lydgate what is applicable to a very large
proportion of English satire so-called, that " the inherent
irony of his plan is dispelled at every moment by an unseason-
able earnestness." Finally, he points out the emphasis laid
by Lydgate upon the vice of hypocrisy or deceit.

"The deceitful fool, we are told, is the most heinous of all. .... The
note thus struck almost at the outset is recurred to throughout the series. We
hear of fools ' with two faces in one hood' (st. 2), simulating (st. 5), « flattering
and faining ' (st. 10), ' promise -breaking ' (st. n), and faith-violating fools (st.

12)."*

This emphasis upon hypocrisy we shall have occasion to
see remaining a noticeable element in English satire.

We turn now to the most important work in the history of
English satire before the Elizabethan period — Barclay's trans-
lation of Sebastian Brandt's Narrenschiff. The original work
was published at Basel in 1494. There were three unauthor-
ized reprints in the same year ; a Low German translation in
1497 ; Locher's Latin version (Stultifera Navis), also in 1497 ;
a French translation of this, soon followed by others ; and a
second Latin translation, by Jodocus Badius Ascensius, in
1505. No further evidence is needed of its widespread influ-
ence.

1 Op. cit., p. 326 f.

2 Ibid., p. 339. See also a poem attributed to Lydgate, and quoted by Wright
{Caricature and Grotesque, p. 137), on the cheating of millers and bakers.

1 6 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

" Trithemius calls it ' Divina Satira,' and doubts whether anything could have
been written more suited to the spirit of the age ; Locher compares Brandt with
Dante, and Hutten styles him the new law-giver of German poetry.

' ' Brandt's satire is a satire for all time. . . . The thoughtful, penetrating,
conscious spirit of the Basle professor passing by, for the most part, local, tempo-
rary or indifferent points, seized upon the never-dying follies of human nature and
impaled them on the printed page for the amusement, the edification, and the
warning of contemporaries and posterity alike."1

Alexander Barclay, a chaplain in the College of St. Mary
Ottery, in all probability a Scotchman, made his Ship of Fools
in 1508, and published it in 1509. He himself says that he
translated " out of Laten, Frenche, and Doche," but he seems
to have chiefly used the two Latin versions of the Narrenscliiff,
especially Locher' s. While his translation was fairly faithful,
he did not hesitate to add or adapt. He gives his reasons for
making additions, in his Dedication :

" Fateor equidem multo plura adiecisse quam ademisse : partim ad vicia que
hac nostra in regione abundantius pullulant mordacius carpenda : partimque ob
Rithmi difficultatem." 2

" Barclay's additions," says Professor Ward, " are mostly of a personal or pat-
riotic nature ; but he also indulges in an outburst against French fashions in dress,

. . . indites a prolonged lament, the refrain of which suggests a French
origin, on the vanity of human greatness, . . . and makes a noteworthy on-
slaught upon the false religions. . . . Like Brant, he never forgets his char-
acter as a plain moral teacher. He is loyal and orthodox, and follows his original
in lamenting both the decay of the holy faith catholic and the diminution of the
empire, and in denouncing the Bohemian heretics, together with the Jews and the'
Turks. "3

I quote again from Barclay's editor on the political element
in his satire :

" Everywhere . . . the voice of the people is heard to rise and ring through
the long exposure of abuse and injustice, and had the authorship been unknown
it would most certainly have been ascribed to a Langlande of the period. Every-
where he takes what we would call the popular side, the side of the people as

1 Introduction to Barclay's Ship of Fools, eel. T. H. Jamieson, pp. x., xi.

2 Jamieson edition, p. cxv. f.

3 Article on Barclay, A. W. Ward, in Dictionary of National Biography.

Brandt and Barclay. \ j

against those in office. Everywhere he stands up boldly in behalf of the
oppressed, and spares not the oppressor." l

Yet like other satirists Barclay took pains to show that he
was not directing his shafts against the powers to which he
owed allegiance. Thus in the chapter on " the great myght
and power of folys " he turns aside to congratulate England
on the rule of King Henry —

" Harry clene of conscience, "-

from whom may be learned all meekness and " godly wys-
dome." 2

There is a sense in which the Ship of Fools might be taken
as the starting point of classical influence in English satire.
Brandt was himself familiar with Juvenal, as well as (Zarncke
tells us) with Persius, Catullus, Ovid, Seneca and Virgil.3
Chapter 26 of the Narrenschiff (" von unnutzen wunschen ")
Zarncke speaks of as "fast ganzlich aus der 10 satire des
Juvenal entlehnt." The same classical material naturally
appears in Barclay's work. Yet it was of course not the
general form of Latin satire which either Brandt or Barclay
attempted to reproduce ; they derived something of the pes-
simistic spirit of Juvenal, and illustrative details of either
description or moralization. The pessimism of the Ship of
Fools is as marked as in any satire we have met with. Thus
we are told in the Prologue :

. " Banysshed is doctryne, we wander in derknes

Throughe all the worlde : our selfe we wyll not knowe.
Wysdome is exyled, alas blynde folysshenes

Mysgydeth the myndes of people hye and lowe.
Grace is decayed, yll governaunce doth growe ;
Both prudent Pallas and Minerva are slayne,
Or els to hevyn retourned are they agayne." *
1 Jamieson ed., pp. xix-xx.
2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 16.

a See Zarncke' s ed. of the Narrenschiff; Einleitung p. xlv. Zarncke pointed
out that the whole poem was in fact " eine ubersetzung und zusammenkittung
von stellen aus verschiedenen alten, biblischen und classischen, schriftstellern."
*. ii.

1 8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

The prose Prologue (" A prologe in prose shewynge to
what intent this Boke was firste made, and who were the first
Auctours of it ") is particularly interesting in its account of
the relations of the Skip to classical literature.1 It opens
with a brief description of the rise of literature as a useful art,
and then takes up the early satirists in particular. Having
spoken of the satirical comedy of Aristophanes and other
Greeks, the author proceeds :

" Of this auncient wrytinge of Comedy es our laten Poets devysed a maner of
wrytinge nat inelegant. And fyrst Lucilius composed one Satyre in the whiche
he wrote by name the vices of certayne princes and Citezyns of Rome And that
with many bourdes so yt with his mery speche myxt with rebukes he correct al
them of the cyte that disordredly lyved. ... of hym all the Latyn poetes
have takyn example, and begynnynge to wryte Satyrs whiche the grekes named
Comedyes : As Fabius specifyeth in his X boke of institucions. f After Lucilius
succeded Horacius, moche more eloquent in wrytynge whiche in the same deservyd
great laude : Persius also left to us onely one boke by the whiche he commyttyd
his name and laude to perpetuall memory. The last and prynce of all was Juve-
nall whiche in his jocunde poemys comprehendyd al that was wryten most elo-
quent and pleasaunt of all the poetis of that sorte afore his tyme." 2

It is then pointed out that all good poets have had the inten-
tion to reprove vice and commend virtue by their .work, and
that the author of the Narrcnschiff is a late example of this
kind. Of the present translator it is said :

" Sothely he hathe taken upon hym the translacion of this present Boke ney-
ther for hope of rewarde nor lawde of man : but onely for the holsome instruccion
commodyte and Doctryne of wysdome, and to dense the vanyte and madnes of
folysshe people of whom over great nombre is in the Royalme of Englonde."3

Most interesting of all, however, for our present purposes,
is the appearance of the word " satire " in this work — the first
instance in the material thus far considered. In the author's
argument to the translation it is said:

1 This was a translation of Locher' s Prologue to his Latin version.

2P- 7-
s p. 9f.

Brandt and Barclay. \ 9

" This present Boke myght have ben callyd nat inconvenyently the Satyr (that is
to say ) the reprehencion of foulysshnes, but the neweltye of the name was more
plesant unto the fyrst actour [prob. for auctour~\ to call it the Shyp of foles : For
in lyke wyse as olde Poetes Satyriens in dyvers Poesyes conjoyned repreved the
synnes and ylnes of the peple at that tyme lyvynge : so and in lyke wyse this our
Boke representeth unto the iyen of the redars the states and condicions of men."1

And again, in the body of the poem, Barclay says :

' Therefore in this satyre suche wyll I repreve
And none that borowe nor lene on amyte."2

To " represent to the eyes of the readers the states and
conditions of men " was clearly the purpose of the Ship of
Fools, in both original and translation. Barclay expresses the
same thing in his Epilogue :

" The myrrour showys eche man lyke as they be :
So doth my boke, for who that is in syn
Shall of his lyfe the fygure in it se ;" —

an idea later developed by Gascoigne in his Stcele Glas. The
number and variety of the figures included in the Ship is very
great. One need hardly search in vain for any vice or
folly, whether peculiar to the fifteenth century or to human
nature in every age. It is almost startling to find the satire
dealing at the very outset with a superfluity of useless books.
As the most convenient summary of the list of fools included,
I quote from that of Herford :

"We may distinguish six different notions which Brandt at various times
attaches to his cardinal term Folly, and under one or other of which all his Fools
may be grouped. Some of them have always been recognised as marks of Folly ;
others reflect the curious idiosyncracy of Brandt's age, and of Brandt himself.
The inclusion of a large number of more or less criminal offences, for instance, is
perhaps the most original feature in an ethical system which for the modern mind
is full of originalities. We have offences against religion, — blasphemy, ' contempt

1 p. 17. The idea here seems to have been derived from Locher, who had said :
" Cum vero Narragonia seu Navis fatuorum (quam non inepte Satyram appelare
possumus)," etc.

2 p. 134. There is at least one direct allusion to Juvenal in vol. ii. p. 186 :

" As Juvenall the noble Poete sayes."

2O Tkc Rise of Formal Satire in England.

for God,' or for another life, desecration of festivals ; offences against the law
and common morality, — oppression, crafty dealing of various kinds, forging and
appropriation, dishonest borrowing and extortionate usury, slanderous falsehoods
and hollow flattery, with lust and adultery.

" The second class of Fools are also unpleasant to their neighbours rather than
conspicuously or directly injurious to themselves ; the insolent and quarrelsome
people, who take offence at the slightest provocation or correction, and carry ever
petty squabble into the law-courts ; or wantonly injure, and sneak away to avoid
the consequences ; petty tyrants like the civic officials ; rough oppressors like the
knights, insolent upstarts like the peasants.

" The third class are also far from innocuous to society, but they do themselves
still worse harm. . . . Dancing, and gambling, heavy eating and drinking,
disturbances and 'bad language in the streets, or in church, or at table, and above
all on the occasion most notorious for both, — the Shrove-tide festivities ; wanton-
ness of idle students and workmen, butlers and cooks ; superfluity of
wealth, of talk, of books, of benefices ; outlay of precious hours in the saddle,
or with the gun.

" The fourth class : . .' . their fault is one of neglect rather than of com-
mission. People who neglect their children, or do not provide for old age, or for
death, or for the accidental mischances which to men of Brandt's cautious tem-
perament appear to be always impending ; or again, the merely lazy and indolent,
the maid who slumbers at her wheel and the man who loiters at the mill.

"The Fools . . . who incur his most vehement and persistent criticism, to

whom he returns again and again, and who, if any, may be said to touch the very

heart of his satire, are those who neglect their own duty to meddle with another's,

the Fools of presumption. Brandt's fertility of illustration on this

head is infinite.

" Lastly, we have the class of mere simpletons whose title to belong to the order
of Fools has always been recognised : the people who ' cut themselves with their
own knife ' — are trampled on, as Brandt says, by the ass, who disobey their
doctor or make foolish exchanges, or who are fatuously credulous or fatuously
communicative, or generally weak and unstable in character, incapable of breaking
a bad habit or keeping a good resolution." *

One might judge from this that the Ship of Fools would
give an early example of true character-satire, and some have
emphasized its excellence in this direction. Thus Professor
Ward observes :

" The English Ship of Fools exercised an important direct influence upon our
literature, preeminently helping to bury mediaeval allegory in the grave which had

1 Literary Relations of England and Germany, pp. 333-338. For a some-
what more extended summary of the Ship, in the English version, see Morley :
English Writers, vol. vii. pp. 95-103.

Brandt and Barclay. 2 1

long yawned before it, and to direct English authorship into the drama, essay and
novel of character."1

Herford quotes this approvingly and expresses a similar
idea :

" It helped to bridge over the difficult transition from the literature of personi-
fied abstractions to that which deals with social types. It helped to substitute
study of actual men and women at first hand for the mere accumulation of con-
ventional traits about an abstract substantive ; to turn allegory into narrative,
moralities into dramas, and, in a narrower field, to prepare the way for the Char-
acter-sketches of the seventeenth century."2

Yet in another place he observes that it was to the compre-
hensive plan of the work, " rather than to its confused and
feebly executed imagery, that the Ship of Fools owed its last-
ing influence." This seems to me the safer view. It must
be remembered that there are no individuals in the Ship ; if
they are not allegorical types, they are still types, selected (to
quote Herford again) as illustrations of "what no" doubt was
primarily a classification by moral qualities." The type of
Fool we have already seen was a familiar one of the period.

" Steht an der Schwelle des 16. Jahrhunderts eine andere Gestalt mit Schellen-
kappe und Eselsohren, lustige Fratzen schneidend und den Menschen zur Gefolg-
schaft auffordernd. Am Ufer steht das Narrenschiff zur Abfahrt bereit ; wer mit-
fahren will, steige ein ! . Ein Dichter wie Sebastian Brant denkt sich

nicht : der Mensch ist so thoricht, dass er das Ideal der Thorheit, die Narrheit,
erreicht ; er sucht vielmehr ein sichtbares Zeichen fiir die Thorheit des Menschen
und findet als bestes und untriiglichstes die Narrenkappe. . . . Im Tone des
Verurtheilers und Verdammers geht er scharf und schonungslos ins Gericht mit
den meisten weltlichen Freuden."4

The influence of Barclay's Ship in England was undoubt-
edly very great. One of the earliest results seems to have
been the ballad of Cockc Lorcir s Bote, of which a fragment
survives as it was printed by Wynkyn de Worde.5 It is a

1 Article in Dictionary of National Biography.
2pp.

4 Schneegans : op. cit. , pp. 142 f.

:> Ed. by E. F. Rimbault, for the Percy Society, vol. vi. On its relation to
Barclay, etc., see Herford, p. 342.

22 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

rollicking production, quite without the serious tone of the
Ship, and has for its most interesting element the great list of
trades and professions represented in the "bote" of Cocke
Lorell. Everyone seems to have been included except a
company of hermits, monks, friars, canons, and the like, who
were left out only because they arrived too late. Another
ballad, even more closely connected with the original Ship, is
that of the XXV. orders of Fooles, who were, as Herford
remarks, " entirely recruited from Brandt's crew." Other
imitations it is not necessary to mention here. As late as
October 30, 1604, I have noted in the Stationers' Register the
entry of "A Ballet called the Ship of fooles"\ and Jamieson
cites an allusion to Barclay as a satirist, in a poem by Sir
Aston Cokayne, well on in the seventeenth century.

Most distinguished, however, among those who are thought
to be inheritors of the satire of Brandt, was Erasmus, the
humanist and reformer. It is by accident, one may say, that
the Morice Encomium may claim any place in English satire.
Its author was not an Englishman, and it was not written in
English, but it was written in England, at the house of Sir
Thomas More, in the same year that witnessed the publication
of Barclay's Ship of Fools, — 1509.

" Stultorum infinitus est numerus " was the motto of the
Praise of Folly.

" Ecclesiastes doth somewhere confess that there are an infinite number of fools.
Now when he speaks of an infinite number, what does he else but imply that
herein is included the whole race of mankind, except some very few, which I
know not whether ever anyone had yet the happiness to see ? . This

confirms that assertion of Tully, which is delivered in that noted passage we but
just now mentioned, namely, that all places swarm with fools." L

Erasmus's method of treating this doctrine was, externally,
that of mediaeval personification, Folly being represented as
discoursing on her attributes and servants. But in reality

1 1 quote from an anonymous and undated translation, published, with the illus-
trations of Holbein, by Reeves and Turner, of London, p. ijof.

Erasmus. 23

the satire was of a thoroughly concrete and self-conscious
sort, marked by a keenness and a fine irony which were char-
acteristic of the author rather than of the period. " I would
not be thought," the author says slyly in one passage, " pur-
posely to expose the weaknesses of popes and priests, lest I
should seem to recede from my title, and make a satire instead
of a panegyric."

The actual subject-matter of Erasmus's satire is already
familiar to us. The fools are those of the perennial procession.
There is the same idea of the prevalence of hypocritical
appearances and inverted judgments.

4 ' It is certain that all things, like so many Janus' s, carry a double face, or
rather bear a false aspect, most things being really in themselves far different from
what they are in appearance to others ; so as that which at first blush proves alive,
is in truth dead ; and that again which appears as dead, at a nearer review seems
to be alive : beautiful seems ugly, wealthy poor, scandalous is thought creditable,
prosperous passes for unlucky, friendly for what is most opposite, and innocent
for what is hurtful and pernicious. In short, if we change the tables, all things
are found placed in a quite different posture from what just before they appeared
to stand in." 2

There is the same representation of the follies of vanity ;
of old people who pretend to be young and who marry those
much younger ; of the madness of passion ; of excess of
hunting and building ; of the wiles of alchemy and astrology,
with other superstitions ; of gambling ; of the telling of big
stories ; of false pedigrees and pompous funerals ; of flattery ;
of jealousy ; of gluttony ; of the many follies of money-
making ; of kings and courtiers, merchants and clergy. But
with all this, there is something more, less familiar in the
popular satire which we have been considering. The wit of the
scholastic appears in the satire on formal logic ; on gram-"
marians and teachers ; on the philologist who is carried away
with ravishing pleasure when he " has found out who was the
mother of Anchises, or has lighted upon some old unusual

ilbid., p. 164.
2 p. 50.

24 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

word, such as bubsequa, bovinator, manticulator, or other like
obsolete cramp terms ;" on the sophist who prayed chiefly
that his life might be spared till he had learned rightly to
distinguish between the eight parts of speech ; on the ever-
lasting scribbling of poets and rhetoricians ; on those cox-
combs who employ their pens in writing panegyrics on one
another, and adopt classical names ; on philosophers who
" build castles in the air, and infinite worlds in a vacuum ;"
on theologians who discuss whether the godhead might be
revealed in an inanimate substance, and what would have
happened if St. Peter had celebrated the eucharist at the very
hour of the crucifixion.1 Towering above the scholastic, too,
appears the reformer, who treats the corruptions of the Church
with all the vigor of the early English satirists added to the
keenness and spiritual breadth of Erasmus himself. The
climax of this is the famous passage on the monks :

" It will be pretty to hear their pleas before the great tribunal : one will
brag how he mortified his carnal appetite by feeding only upon fish : another will
urge that he spent most of his time on earth in the divine exercise of singing
psalms : a third will tell how many days he fasted, and what severe penance he
imposed on himself for the bringing his body into subjection : another shall pro-
duce in his own behalf as many ceremonies as would load a fleet of merchantmen :
a fifth shall plead, that in three-score years he never so much as touched a piece
of money, except he fingered it through a thick pair of gloves : a sixth, to testify
his former humility, shall bring along with him his sacred hood, so old and nasty,
that any seaman had rather stand bareheaded on the deck, than put it on to
defend his ears from the sharpest storms : the next that comes to answer for him-
self shall plead that for fifty years together he had lived like a sponge upon the
same place, and was content never to change his holy habitation : another shall
whisper softly, and tell the judge he has lost his voice by a continual singing of
holy hymns and anthems : . . . . and the last shall intimate that he has forgot
to speak, by always having kept silence, in obedience to the injunction of taking
heed lest he should have offended with his tongue. But amidst all their fine
excuses our Saviour shall interrupt them with this answer : Woe unto you, scribes
and pharisees, hypocrites, verily I know you not ; I left you but one precept, of
loving one another, which I do not hear anyone plead he has faithfully dis-
charged." 2

!pp. 108-134.
2 PP. 138 f-

Skclton. 2 5

In such passages as this, of course, the original scheme of
the satire is wholly forgotten, and the type is that of direct
rebuke, heightened by a mingling of wit and of religious
earnestness which few satirists have equaled. We have, then,
in the Praise of Folly neither an early popular satire nor a
formal satire on classical models. Erasmus was too original
to follow any form. From the classics he derived very
much, and in his method of heaping up quotations from
them and from the Scriptures he is thoroughly mediaeval.
One cannot doubt, either, that he must have derived not
a little material from the classical satirists in particular,
though I have no detailed evidence to offer for this. As
a whole, his work combines many influences unified by the
original spirit of the author. Its influence was of course
widely felt.

One cannot fail to remember, at this point, the Epistolce
Obscuronun Virorum, the first volume of which appeared six
years after the Praise of Folly was written. The delightful
irony of these letters must have done much to develop a
taste for satire in all the countries where they were known.
Like the work of Erasmus, the Epistolce spared the dignity of
no ecclesiastic or university scholar, but struck right and left
at the ignorance of the arrogant and the littleness of those
reputed great.1

Another contemporary of Brandt and Barclay, who was an
inheritor, too, of the influence of the Narrcnscltiff, was Skel-
ton, "the laureate." He is the first Englishman to win the
name of being primarily a satirist. His relation to the Nar-
renschiffis signalized by his Boke of Three Fooles, a paraphrase
of portions of the Latin version, which he gave to Cardinal
Wolsey before his defection from his great patron. For this
he selected the fool that marries for money, the envious fool,
and the voluptuous fool.

!Qn the Epistohc, see edition of Booking, Leipzig, 1869; I). F. Strauss : Ulrica-
von Hutten, chap. 8; and Wright : Caricature and Grotesque, pp. 324 if.

26 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

"It is not difficult to understand the motive for this choice. Few chapters in
the Na rrenschiff could have better expressed the characteristic bitterness with
which Skelton incessantly assails the follies of worldly station and of those who
struggle for it. Voluptuousness is for him in a special sense the vice of high
rank. ... In the same way Envy was the vice of those who sought high
station, and wedding those old wyddred women, whych have sackes full of
nobles, a means of attaining it hardly preferable to the extortionate devices of the
conjurer which he was one day to lay bare." ]

With Barclay, as is well known, Skelton's relations seem not
to have been friendly. As Professor Ward remarks : " Neither
jealousy nor partisanship, nor even professional feeling is
needed in order to explain Barclay's abhorrence of the Bohe-
mian vicar of Diss, with whose motley the sober hue of his
own more sedate literary and satirical gifts had so little in
common." '2 There is a trace of a book by Barclay, called
Contra Skeltonium, and there is an unfriendly allusion to Skel-
ton's " Philip Sparrow " at the very end of the Skip of Fools :

" Wyse men love vertue, wylde people wantones ;
It longeth nat to my scyence nor cunnynge
For Phylyp the Sparowe the Dirige to synge."

Of Skelton's satire there has always been one opinion,
expressed as' early as 1589 by Puttenham, who calls him "a
sharpe Satirist, but with more rayling and scoffery then became
a Poet Lawreat, such among the Greekes were called Panto-
mimi, with us Buffons, altogether applying their wits to Scur-
rilities and other ridiculous matters."3 In the Bowge of
Courtc Skelton made use of the allegorical form of satire,
after the French manner, introducing the characters of Saunce-
pere, Favore, Daunger, Drede, Favell, Dysdayne, and the
like. His usual method was, of course, that of invective, in
that peculiar style for which there is no name save " Skelton-
icall." In the Bowge of Courte the object of satire is, of course,

1 Herford ; op. cit., p. 352.

2 Article on Barclay in Dictionary of National Biography.
zArtc of English Poesie, ed. Arber, p. 76.

Skelton. 27

the life of the court. In Colyn Cloute it is the ignorance and
sensuality of the clergy, with implications against all classes :

" For, as farre as I can se,
It is wronge with eche degre :
For the temporalte
Accuseth the spiritualte :
The spiritual! agayne
Doth grudge and complayne
Upon the temporal 1 men :
Thus eche of other blother
The tone agayng the tother :
Alas, they make me shoder ! " '

We have, however, what is so frequent in the early English
satire, marking its unconscious sincerity, a disclaimer of attacks
upon good and bad indiscriminately :

" Of no good bysshop speke I,
Nor good preest I escrye,
Good frere, nor good chanon,
Good nonne, nor good canon,
Good monke, nor good clercke,
Nor yette of no good werke :
But my recountyng is
Of them that do amys." 2

In WJiy Come Ye Nat to Courte ? we have a personal
object of satire, Cardinal Wolsey. Of personal satire we
have found almost nothing hitherto, though it might have
been noted in the purely political satire of the early periods,
in such poems as those On King Richard //., On the Duke of
Burgundy, the Verses Against the Duke of Suffolk, and the like.3
In all such cases the personal object was but a type of national
evils ; and this is true theoretically in Skelton's invective.
Wolsey represents the corrupt, voluptuous Church, and the
oppressors of England — those who assume much more

Ml. 59-68. Riverside ed., vol. ii. p. 127.

Ml. 1097 ff., p. 163.

3 See Wright's Political Poems and Songs, vols. i. and ii.

The Rise of Fo

ecclesiastical dignity than the Apostle Peter, and those
who conduct affairs so

" That the commune welth
Shall never have good helth."

There is also to be noted the classical influence apparent in
Skelton's work. He was a thorough Latinist, and from his
disposition must have especially enjoyed the writings of
Juvenal. Of considerable significance is a passage in Why
Come Ye Nat to Courte :

" Some men myght aske a question,
By whose suggestyon
I toke on hand this warke,
Thus boldly for to barke ?
And men lyst to harke,
And my wordes marke,
I wyll answere lyke a clerke ;
For trewly and unfayned,
I am forcebly constrayned,
At luvynals request,
To wryght of this glorious gest,
Of this vayne glorious best,
His fame to be encrest
At every solempne feest ;
Quiu Mjfficile est
Satirain non scribe re.
Now, mayster doctor, howe say ye,
What soever your name be ?
What though ye be namelesse,
Ye shall not escape blamelesse,
Nor yet shall scape shamlesse :
Mayster doctor in your degre,
Yourselfe madly ye overse ;
Blame luvinall, and blame nat me :
Maister doctor Diricum,
Omne animi vitium, &c.
As luvinall dothe recorde,
A small defaute in a great lorde,
A lytell cryme in a grate astate,
Is moche more inordinate,
And more horyble to beholde,
Than any other a thousand folde." J

111. 1199-1230, vol. ii. p. 316 f.

Satire of the Reformation. 29

We find here for the first time adopted in England, so far
as I have noted, the saying of Juvenal's which one might say
became the motto of Elizabethan satire : " Difficile est satiram
non scribere." Besides these two citations from Juvenal there
is one from Persius in Speke Parrot'. " Quis expedivit psittaco
suum chair e ? "

Like Brandt and Erasmus, however, Skelton of course
madejuse of the classical satirists only in the matter of pessi-
mistic tone and in details of illustration, — not in imitation
of their form. For like Brandt and Erasmus, again, he was
original in the general method of his satire, and had his eye
first of all upon distinct objects which he desired to attack in
his own time and among his own people. All these men set
substance far above form.

We have already met many premonitions of the Reforma-
tion, in the satire of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
It was but a few years after the publication of the English
Ship of Fools and the writing of the Praise of Folly, and
about the time of Skelton' s quarrel with the Cardinal, that
Luther was entering upon his great career. The satire of the
Reformation cannot here be taken up in any detail. So far as
it was general and not purely personal or political, it did not
materially differ from what we have already considered.
Schneegans enumerates four classes of satire of the Reforma-
tion :

" Neben der auch hier vorkommenden directen Satire, welche in Invectiven und
Grobheiten schwelgt, und der dialogischen Satire, welche die lutherischen bezie-
hungsweise christlichen Einrichtungen den papstlichen gegeniiberstellt, um das
Abscheuliche der letzeren desto greller hervorleuchten zu lassen, neben den alle-
gorischen Satiren, welche besonders haufig den Holzschnitt gebrauchen, urn ihre
Wahrheiten zu verbreiten, nehmen die grotesken einen besonders hervorragenden
Platz ein."*

Perhaps the most interesting English satire of this period,
closely connected with that of Skelton by its personal attack

1 1. 30, vol. ii. p. 247. The quotation is from the Prologue of Persius, 1. 8.

2 Geschichte der Grotesken Satire, pp. 158 ff.

30 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

upon Wolsey, is the Rede me and be nott wrothe of Roy and
Barlow. This was the work of two English Franciscan friars,
and was published in Strasburg, for circulation in England, in
1528. Its form is that of a dialogue, and its immediate occa-
sion seems to have been the " Disputation of Berne," which
declared for the abolition of the Mass. I quote Mr. Arber's
concise account of the substance of the satire :

" The Mass is dead in Germany, where shall it be buried ? At Rome ? In
France ? In England ? This is debated by two servants of a Strasburg priest,
apparently, however, not hitherto very intimate with each other. Watkyn, evi-
dently a citizen, is full of faith in the power of the gospel ; Jeffray, a new-comer
from England, who has been ' in religion a dozen years continually,' is full of the
craft and subtilties of the clergy. Thus the sharpest contrast is kept up in the
Dialogue. At last, they fix on a'Becket's shrine at Canterbury as the appropriate
grave for the dead Mass. Who then shall be the buriers? The Cardinal ? The
Bishops ? the Secular Clergy ? the four orders of mendicant Friars ? or the
Observant Friars ? In the discussion of their respective fitness for this purpose
occurs the opportunity for exposing their misdeeds ; and it is on this framework
that the attack is made upon the hierarchy, priesthood, and monasticism of Eng-
land. ... It was written for circulation in England. A fearfully dangerous
book to write or even to possess at that time. Intrinsically it is one of the wor-
thiest .Satires in our language. Its spirit is excellent. / say no tJiinge but trothc
is its true motto. . . . The book is the embodiment of the resentment of its
authors at the burning of Tyndale's New Testaments at Paul's Cross in 1526." 1

The dialogue is preceded by a Lamentacion supposed to
have been uttered by the ecclesiastics whose occupation was
lost in the death of the Mass, an admirable piece of semi-
dramatic irony ; and in the midst of the dialogue is introduced
a " balett " on the corruption of the times, and an " oracion "
against the Cardinal, — both rendered by Jaffray. The " balett ''
is quite in the manner of the early songs " on the times," and
might have been a century old when it was sung for the edifi-
cation of Watkin. The pessimism is familiar :

" The worlde is worsse than evyr it was.
Never so depe in miserable decaye
But it cannot thus endure all waye." *

1 Rede me and be not ivrothc, Arber's English Reprints, p. 6 f .

2 p. 66.

Lindsay. 3 1

But it is pessimism not unilluminated by hope, for the
refrain is constant after every stanza of evils :

" It cannot thus endure all waye."

Before we take leave of this hasty survey of English satire
preceding the Elizabethan Age, we have to notice a piece of
Scottish satire which, while in dramatic form, announces its
satirical character in its very name. This is Ane Pleasant
Satyre of the TJireic Estaitis, in Commendatioun of Vertew and
Vitupcralionn of Vyce, made by Sir David Lindsay.1 This is
in fact a late Morality play, and was acted before the King of
Scotland, tradition says, in 1535, certainly (perhaps for a
second time) at the Feast of Epiphany, 1540. The title
" satire " is clearly used because of the purpose of " commen-
dation of virtue and vituperation of vice," and the play is
really another satire of the Reformation. The three estates
of the realm are introduced, walking backward (as their cus-
tom is said to have been) and led by their vices. But it is the
clergy upon whom the brunt of the blame falls ; it is they
who are oppressing the commons, opposing the free Bible,
and clinging to Sensuality and Covetousness. In a satire of
this order the prevalence of humor is very noticeable ; and
the abstract characters of the drama, as in the best of the late
Moralities generally, are more than abstractions or even types :
they are real dramatis personce. Tradition has it that at the
end of the performance of the Satire King James warned the
spiritual lords who were present that they would do well to
take heed to its admonition.2

1 Printed by Robert Charteris, Edinburgh, 1602. Reprinted by Early English
Text Society, 1869. For an abstract see Morley's English Writers, vol. vii. p.
256.

2 It is interesting to note that at almost this same time John Bale was writing
his satirical religious plays, — in 1538 A Brcfe Comedy or Enterlude of Johan
Baptystes Preachynge in the Wyldernesse, and the Newe Comedy or Enterlude
concerning the three /awes of Nature, Mouses and Christe, corrupted by the Sodo-
mytes, Pharyses and Papisles.

32 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

We are now at the end of this preliminary survey of the
years preceding the period of classical influence. It was but
two years after the 1 540 presentation of the Satire of the
Three Estates that Sir Thomas Wyatt died, and it was perhaps
in the year following the presentation that he wrote what
have been frequently called the first true satires in English.
Already the Reformation has triumphed in England ; the
king has broken with Rome ; the monasteries and abbeys
have been suppressed ; the English Bible has been issued ; and
a new period has begun in literature and society. We have
rapidly reviewed the progress of English satire up to the
beginning of this new period, omitting only that of a purely
personal or political nature, which is but slightly connected
with the main line of our investigation. It will be well to
reserve the summary of what has been thus considered until
we can compare it with the satire of Rome..

II.

There were but three Latin satirists whose works came down
to the modern world in sufficient completeness to exercise any
/ specific influence : Horace, Persius and Juvenal. They were
not among the authors who were forgotten during the Middle
Ages, as manuscript editions and commentaries abundantly
testify.1 Juvenal's strictures upon women must have been
especially dear to the long line of ascetics who accepted the
gospel of Jerome " adversus Jovinianum." Chaucer knew
Juvenal, and — indirectly, at least — parts of Horace. The
classical satirists of course shared in the general revival of
the classics, and as early as 1439 Gregory of Sanok was
explaining Juvenal at the University of Cracow.2 Ognibene

1 See Friedlander's Juvenal : Juvenalim spdten Altcrthuin und Mittelalter, vol.
i. pp. 80 ff.

2 See Voigt : Die Wiedcrbelebung des Classischen Alter I/turns, vol. ii. pp. 329,
391-

Horace. 3 3

da Lonigo made a commentary on Juvenal, too, for his fellow-
humanists of Italy. We have already seen evidence of
knowledge of the same author on the part of Brandt, Barclay,
Skelton, and probably Erasmus. Editions of all three Latin
satirists had been printed in 1470, among the first " editiones
principes." Translations of course came considerably later.
In England the first translation of Horace was that of Drant,
who in 1566 printed A medicinable Morall, that is, the two
Bookcs of Horace his Satyres, Englyshed according to the pre-
scription of saint Hierome^ An edition of the following year
included the Epistles. I have not found that Persius was
translated into English before 1616, while of Juvenal there
were only fragmentary translations until much later. It is clear
enough that, while the Latin satirists very naturally never
became as popular as Ovid, Vergil or Cicero, the students of
the sixteenth century, whose whole education was based on
the classical curriculum, found them included and easily made
their work their own.

The influence of the three Latin satirists must, however, be
distinguished. Their work was of course by no means of the
same order. For a discussion of their differences one may
see Dry den's Essay on Satire, though it is probable that very
few modern readers will agree in his main distinction that " the
meat of Horace is more nourishing, but the cookery of Juve-
nal more exquisite." 2 Let us briefly consider just what was
the satirical work of all three.

Horace wrote eighteen poems which are usually called
Satires.

The first is on the folly of avarice, and the possible happy mean between
miserliness and prodigality. The second is on opposing extremes of folly, and
treats chiefly, in light fashion, of various tastes in amorous indulgence. The third
is on the vice of censoriousness, and teaches that, wherever possible, favorable
interpretations of conduct should be preferred. The fourth is on the writing of

1 See p. 62, below.

2 Scott -Saintsbury ed., vol. xiii. p. 90.

34 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

satires ; Lucilius is discussed, as founder of the form, and the excellence of satire
is alleged to consist not in its poetic nature but in its success in teaching by
example. The fifth is the humorous account of the journey to Brundisium. The
sixth is on pride of birth ; Maecenas, and Horace's freedman father, are treated
in particular, and the disadvantages of responsible position are discussed. The
seventh is merely a witty anecdote of " Rupilius Rex." The eighth is an attack on
one Canidia, a sorceress. The ninth is the account of the author's meeting with a
bore on the Via Sacra ; ways of obtaining favor at court are discussed. The
tenth is a criticism of the satire of Lucilius, with some consideration of servile
imitation of the Greeks, and of the true critical attitude. The eleventh (Satire
One of Book Two) is in the form of a dialogue with Trebatius, discussing the
author's satire and the complaints brought against it. The twelfth is on Ofellus
the farmer, as exemplifying the advantages of plain living, and the dangers of
gluttony and prodigality. The thirteenth is an exposition of the doctrine that
everyone is mad who is not wise ; avarice, ambition, luxury, superstition and the
like, are mockingly treated as symptoms of insanity. The fourteenth is on the
precepts of an epicure ; cookery and service are ironically represented as being
taught by a philosopher. The fifteenth is on legacy-hunting ; an imaginary
dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias is introduced, and false ways of making
friends are discussed. The sixteenth is on the advantages of country life, illus-
trated by Horace's own Sabine farm, and by the fable of the town and the country
mouse. The seventeenth is on moral slavery, considered in a dialogue between
Davus the slave and his master. The eighteenth is the account of the supper
given by Nasidienus, a vulgar and miserly rich man ; the menu, the conversation,
the accidents that occurred.

Besides these eighteen satires, commonly so called, there
are twenty-two epistles of a not dissimilar nature. It has
recently been shown that these were originally considered, and
should still be regarded, as an integral part of the collection
of Satires.1 The epistles are, however, obviously of a more
personal nature than the "sermones," and are all (with the
exception of those on literature at the end of the First Book,
and the first of the Second Book, on the same subject) pri-
marily reflective or philosophical rather than satirical. It will
already have appeared that the satire of Horace is throughout
.^characteristically reflective, above all things. It illustrates the
saying of Dacier, quoted by Dryden, that " the word satire is

1 Are the Letters of Horace Satires ? G. L. Hendrickson, in American Jour-
nal of Philology, vol. xviii. p. 313.

Juvenal. 3 5

of a more general signification in Latin than in French or
English."

S^\

" For amongst the Romans it was not only used for those discourses which \
decried vice, or exposed folly, but for others also, where virtue was recommended. \

But in our modern languages we apply it only to invective poems, where the very
name of satire is formidable to those persons who would appear to the world what
they are not in themselves ; for in English, to say satire is to mean reflection, as \

we use that word in the worst sense ; or, as the French call it, more properly, J

medisance.1" l .S^

The observation here as to the general English usage is
very well founded, and makes clear one reason why Juvenal,
not Horace, became the accepted representative of classical
satire.

The satires of Juvenal are sixteen in number.

The first treats of the author's reasons for becoming a satirist, together with
the wide province of satire, and the danger of making its applications personal
and contemporary ; the evils of the times are described, — loud women, rich bar-
bers, affected nobles, fortune-hunters, treacherous guardians, gluttonous governors,
adulterers, horse-racing, the forgery of wills, the poisoners of husbands, gambling,
the deification of money, parasitism, and the seemingly universal prosperity of
evil. The second attacks hypocrisy, the absurdities of professed virtue, the uni-
versal reign of lust, indecency of dress, the bacchanalian orgies of the city, the
descent of nobles into gladiatorial contests, the effeminacy of soldiers, and the
prevalence of religious unbelief. The third deals with the characteristic evils of the
city, from the point of view of the citizen Umbritius, who is leaving Rome because
he finds it no place for an honest man ; the abundance and presumption of sneaking
Greek immigrants, the estimating of all character on a basis of wealth, the bodily
discomforts and dangers of city houses and streets, and the increase of crime over
that of former days. The fourth is the mock-heroic tale of Domitian's turbot,
presented to him by the trembling fisherman who caught it, and of the council of
state called to consider how it should be cooked and served. The fifth describes
the life of a parasite, and contrasts his discomfiture with the condescension of his
patron, and with the honors that he himself would receive if he only had money.
The sixth is the satire against women ; their lust, their ill-temper, their vulgar
tastes and passions, their debauchery, their talkativeness, their dressing and
painting, their superstition, their treachery to their husbands. The seventh is on
the neglect of learning, the ill condition of literature, and the laborious life of all
kinds of scholars and men of letters. The eighth is on true and false nobility ;
the insignificance of mere pedigrees, illustrated by examples of noble men of lowly

1 Dryclen, Scott-Saintsbury ed., vol. xiii. p. 67.

36 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

birth ; the true character of great men ; the corruption of the outwardly great of
the present age. The ninth introduces a horrid parasite of the lowest order ; he
relates his unhappy lot, and is warned that it is likely to grow worse rather than
better. The tenth is on "the vanity of human wishes," of money, eloquence,
fame, long life, beauty ; with a description of the truly happy and trustful mind.
The eleventh is on simplicity of living, illustrated by Juvenal's invitation to his friend
Persicus, bidding him prepare for a frugal dinner, with literary entertainment in place
of dancing girls. The twelfth is on legacy-hunting, describing the adulation .
offered to childless rich men. The thirteenth is on dishonesty, its prevalence and
punishment ; Calvinus, whose fortune has been made away with, must consider
himself no worse off than most men, and must satisfy his desire for revenge by
reflecting on the penalties of conscience and the judgments of the gods. The
fourteenth is on the bad examples set by parents, in the matter of gambling, glut-
tony, cruelty, lust, superstition, extravagance, but above all of avarice. The
fifteenth is an account of some of the superstitions of Egypt and of the animal
savagery of man. The sixteenth (a mere fragment) is on the extraordinary
advantages enjoyed7 by soldiers, no matter what their character, above those of
other citizens.

Here we have a group of satires quite different from those of
Horace. The immense difference in tone and style is not
shown by any such summary of contents ; but it is made
clear that (admitting the use of many methods, — of irony,
humor, dramatic presentation, and reflective or philosophical
treatment) Juvenal's satire was in tone primarily that of a pes-
simist, and in method was primarily that of direct rebuke.
These were the elements which chiefly caught the eye of his
English imitators.

The satires of Persius I have reserved till the last because
they are historically of the least importance. Persius was a
young and fairly vigorous writer, who set himself the task of
following in the steps of Horace, and achieved no very great
success. Curiously enough, he succeeded in reaching a place
as one of the three great Latin satirists not by the side of his
master Horace, but by the side of Juvenal, and has been
associated with the latter till this day. His satires are but
six in number.

The first treats of the bad poetry of the times. The second attacks superstition,
and unjustifiable requests made to the gods. The third deals with idleness,

Persitis. 3 j

gluttony, and other vices of the rich. The fourth treats of some of the vices of
rulers, under the form of an address to Alcibiades — vanity, effeminacy, and the
like. The fifth offers a tribute to Cornutus, the author's former teacher, attacks
the idleness of young men, and discusses true freedom and sanity after the man-
ner of Horace. The sixth is in the epistolary form, describing the author's
retirement in his country-seat, and discussing the true use of riches and the folly
of miserliness.

In effect, these satires are a combination of the methods of
reflection and of direct rebuke, lacking both the urbanity of
Horace and the vigor of Juvenal. The style, save for its diffi-
culty, has no characteristic attractiveness like that of the other
two satirists ; and there would be less ease, as there would be
less temptation, in attempting to imitate it. We shall see,
therefore, very naturally, that while Persius was widely read
and nearly always referred to in conjunction with Juvenal, his
actual influence was in no proportion to his fame.

These were the men to whom the Englishmen of the six-
teenth century turned, when they sought to write satire
inspired by antiquity instead of by the needs of their own
times. We have already seen that the Romans were the
acknowledged monarchs of satire, even before the days of
classical influence on form. It is quite possible that the [/'
introduction of the word satire into English is to be
attributed directly to the Latin. The early history of the
English word still seems to be obscure. The earliest use of it
which I have found is, as has already been pointed out, in the
preface to Barclay's Ship of Fools. This I take to be a trans-
fer from the Latin. Brandt does not seem to have used any
such word of his own poem, but Locher said : " Navis fatuo-
rum, quam non inepte Satyram appelare possumus," and it
was from this that Barclay probably drew the English word.
It has been common to refer the word to a French origin, and
there is no difficulty in supposing that the French satire exerted
its share of influence ; but as there was no formal French
satire in the sixteenth century, and as the study of the Latin
satirists did not come to England through France, there

38 TJic- Rise of Formal Sai

appears to be no reason for giving that influence the earliest
place. Littre quotes no instance of the word earlier than
Regnier(i6o8), and it does not appear to have been in general
use in mediaeval French, though the diminutive salirel appears
in Benoit de S. Maure.1 The spelling of the French word
may eventually have aided in the establishment of the final c
in English, as opposed to the favorite early spelling "satyr"
Finally, we must not forget that the Italian form of the Latin
word was in good use early in the sixteenth century, and may
soon have been influential in England.

We have seen that when Barclay defined the nature of his
work, he used the word satire as an equivalent for " the repre-
hension of foolishness." , This was the sense of the word in
English for a very long time. When Puttenham called the
Vision of Piers Plowman a Satyr, and said that its author was
a " malcontent " who "bent himselfe wholy to taxe the dis-
orders of that age,"2 he clearly had the same idea in mind.
Neither he nor Barclay thought of the satire as a " satura "-
a mixture of fruits, or, as Dryden has it, a "hotchpotch" —
but rather as a " Satyrus," " that mixed kind of animal," who
was imagined to bring the rude observations of his simple life
to bear upon the faults of humanity. It is worthy of remark
that on this point the modern philologists seem to be coming
around to the position of the English and of Scaliger, as
opposed to the doctrine of Casaubon expounded by Dryden
and until lately widely accepted. On the other hand, the
early English satirists clearly did not use the word with any
connotation of a fixed form. Juvenal, Langland and David
Lindsay were equally satirists, in their " reprehension of folly."
Curiously enough, as late as 1600, when the idea of the formal
satire had taken firm hold, Every Man out of Ids Humour
was entered in the Stationers' Register as " a Comicall Satyre."3

1 See Godefroy's Diet, de F ancienne Langue Franfaise.

2 Arte of English Poesze, Arber ed. , p. 76.

3 Arber's Transcript, April 8, 1600.

Italian Satirists.

39

The reference of the word satire to the mythological satyrs
had two noteworthy effects on Elizabethan satire, apart from
its connection with the idea of rebuke or invective. It served
to furnish a semi-dramatic settingTor The form, of a romantic
or pastoral nature, carried out but slightly and usually having
no connection with the body of the satire, but evidently add-
ing to the contemporary interest. Thus in Guilpin we have a
sort of stage-direction : . " The Satyres flourish before his
fencing; " in Wither we have a notable picture of a shaggy
satyr with shepherd's pipe in one hand and scourge in the
other ; and in Brathwayt we have an illustrated title-page for
" the Wilde-Mans Measures, Danced naked by twelve Satyres."
In the second place, the connection of satire with satyr served
to add emphasis to the idea that satire was characteristically
uncouth and crabbed, if not rustic and obscene as well ; and
this we shall find to be an interesting element in the satire of
the Elizabethan age.

As the renewed study of all the classics, and their consequent
imitation, blossomed forth first in Italy, so it is there that we
must look for the first satires written in the modern languages
on classical models.1 These appeared as early as the end of the
fifteenth century. In 1495 Antonio Vinciguerra published
his satire on marriage, and in 1527 appeared his other satires.
They are of the type of general rebuke, full of figurative
language, and, according to Ginguene, showing the influence
of Dante. Their most interesting feature is the metre, the
terza rima, in adopting which Vinciguerra set the example for
all the succeeding formal satirists of Italy.

It was Ariosto who won chief glory in this form. His
satires are seven in number, and are usually ranked in impor-
tance and interest with the Orlando.2 In form they are epis-
tolary, and in manner show chiefly the influence of Horace.

1 On this subject see Ginguene: Histoire Litteraire d"1 Italic. Tome 9, chap,
xxxvi.

2 Published 1533, and again in 1534, 1537, 1538, 1546, 1548, 1550, etc. See
list of editions in Opere Minori di L. Ariosto, eJ. Polidori, vol. i. p. x.

4o The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

With one exception, they are distinctly of a personal, if not
autobiographical, nature.

" Ils'y proposa d'imiter Horace, ou plutot il n'avait pas le choix entre les
modeles que les Latins lui pouvaient offrir. La nature n'avait donne a son genie
rien de commun avec le genie de Perse ni avec celui de Juvenal. La douce phi-
losophie, la moderation en toutes choses, 1'enjouement qui ^mousse les traits de
la malignit^, 1'art de se mettre sur la scene pour y amener les autres, la maniere
de voir, de peindre et de raconter, tout avait en lui un tel rapport avec Horace,
qu'il fut comme invinciblement porte a donner a ses satires le meme air de liberte,
d' abandon, de censure sans fiel, et de malice sans aigreur, que le poete remain
avait mis dans les siennes. On peut croire qu'il etudia sa maniere, qu'il apprit
surtout de lui a meler dans le discours des apologues et des recits ; mais cela
meme lui parait etre si naturel, qu'il n'est pas sur qu'il ne les y eut pas meles de
meme, quand Horace ne 1'eut pas fait avant lui." l

It was doubtless the influence of Ariosto, as well as the
general character of Italian genius, that turned the course of
formal satire in Italy into the Horatian manner. On the other
hand, the quarreling philologists and men of letters — in such
exchanges of compliments, for example, as those of Pietro
Aretino and Niccolo Franco — made vigorous use of the
keener elements in classical satire. It is related that Aretino's
attacks upon Antonio Broccardo were so ferocious that the
victim died of chagrin upon reading them. But, as Ginguene
remarks, " ces efTets appartiennent a 1'invective, a 1'injure, a
la calomnie, au libelle, mais non a la satire proprement dit.2

Next in importance to the satires of Ariosto are those of
Luigi Alamanni. These were written while he was in exile
in Provence, and were published in 1532. Thus in publica-
tion they antedate those of Ariosto, but they were written
later than his and clearly show his influence. They are in
general, like his, in the Horatian manner, but with somewhat
more vigorous directness, especially in the treatment of
political affairs.

1 Ginguene : vol. ix. p. 92 f. On the satires of Ariosto, see also J. A. Symonds:
The Renaissance in Italy, vol. iv. pp. 507-519.
-p. 196.

Italian Satirists. 41

Other satirists after the classical manner followed these, but
none with great distinction. Ercole Bentivoglio Ginguene
calls a diminutive Ariosto, as Ariosto was a diminutive
Horace. His satires were published in 1560, but were writ-
ten some twenty-five years earlier. Lodovico Paterno is
noteworthy as having abandoned the terza rima in part for
other measures. Other names there is no need to mention
here. Our purpose is to note that the Italian classicists
followed Horace almost wholly, in their formal satire, and
that they did so with some assiduity in the early sixteenth
century, though with no supreme success. " Of satire in the
strict sense of the term," says Mr. Symonds, meaning evi-
dently the English — and later, the French — sense of the
term, " the poets of the sixteenth century produced nothing
that is worth consideration." l And again :

" The nation's life was not on so grand a scale as to evolve the elements of
satire from the contrast between faculties and foibles. Nor again could a society,
corrupt and satisfied with corruption, anxious to live and let live, apply the lash
with earnestness to its own shoulders. Facit indignatio verszts, was Juvenal's
motto ; and indignation tore the heart of Swift. But in Italy there was no indig-
nation. All men were agreed to tolerate, condone, and compromise. When
vices come to be laughingly admitted, when discords between practice and pro-
fession furnish themes for tales and epigrams, the moral conscience is extinct.
But without an appeal to conscience the satirist has no locus standi. Therefore,
in Italy there was no great satire, as in Italy there was no great comedy." 2

It is a question how far these general statements will bear
examination : one wonders just what sort of society would
suit Mr. Symonds's conditions, having sufficient vice to fur-
nish material for true satire, and at the same time sufficient
conscience to furnish it a locus standi. But the application to
Italy is sufficiently clear, and the comparison of what is said
with Elizabethan conditions in England should be instructive.

It is not necessary to enter with any detail upon the con-
sideration of the rise of formal satire in any other continental

1 Renaissance in Italy, vol. v. p. 381.

2 Ibid., p. 310 f.

42 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

country. In Germany its rise was comparatively late, and
seems to have been due to French influence rather than to
direct imitation of the classics. In France formal satire
appeared but little later than in England. While Du Bellay
seems to have made some effort to introduce the imitation of
classical satire, he met with small success.1 In 1605 were
published the works of Jean Vauquelin de la Fresnaye,
including a number of satires in the epistolary manner.
Godefroy calls this satirist " cet emule d'Horace," and says:

" II a des traits energiques centre les vices et les ridicules, mais peu de malice
ni de fiel. Son indignation est toujours temperee, aussi le plus grand nornbre de
ses satires ressemblent-elles assez a des epitres." 2

^fo The first Frenchman, however, to write formal satire with
, distinguished success was Mathurin Regnier (i 578-1613).

5 u-\iHi»t*»H^^i^?*^

Er war d^Er^te^J^jnitjaJiirischer Kraft begabt, die Pfade der romischen
Dichter einschlug, und sich an Horaz und Juvenal biidete." 3

Regnier's satires were written at intervals through his life,
but none seem to have 'been published till 1608. They are
the product of both Latin and Italian influences, and are in
the epistolary form, in the manner of Horace but with some
of the spice of Juvenal. In Satire 2 he observed that he
would follow "la trace du libre Juvenal," (Horace being
"trop discret . . . pour un homme picque "); but, as
Lotheissen remarks, " trotz dieser Kritik folgt er doch Horaz
haufiger als Juvenal." It seems to me that Regnier's third
satire, on "la vie de la Cour," shows the influence of the

1 See Lotheissen : Geschichte der Franzos. "Lit. im 17. Jahrhnndert, vol. i.
p. 107 ; and Lenient : La Satire en France au XVP Siecle, pp. 117 ff.

* Histoire de la Literature Francaise. Poetes, Tome i. p. 234. See also
Lenient, op. cit., pp. 130 ff.

3 Lotheissen, op. cit., i. 107. Mile, de Scudery said also (in Clelic) : "II sera
le premier qui fera des satires en francais." See also the praise of Despreaux
(in his tenth Chant de F Art Poetique] :

" De ces maitres savans, disciple ingenieux,

Regnier seul parmi nous forme sur leurs modeles."

French Satirists.

43

ninth of Alamanni, which we shall presently find paraphrased
by Wyatt in England.

If we assume that the writings of Vauquelin de la Fresnaye
and Regnier could have been well known in England only
after publication, the influence of French formal satire upon
English poets was of course not earlier than the seventeenth
century.

While we are considering French satire, it will be well to
notice the Satyre Menippee, although this is apart from the
line of classical imitation. The full title of this work was
Satyre Menippee de la Vertu du Catlwlicon d' Espagne, et de la
tenuc des Estats de Paris. It was published in 1 594, and was, as
is well known, an attack on the meeting of the Estates General of
1 593, convened in the interests of the Spanish party. The name
was of course of classical origin, and was doubtless adopted
from the fact that verse satire was introduced into the regular
prose narrative of the book. Aside from the name, however,
the Satyre Menippee was most unclassical, being a burlesque
account of the meeting of the States, given with typical French
wit and interspersed with popular political verse.1 The book
was enormously popular, four or five different editions appear-
ing within a year after its production. In England, too, it
seems to have been well known ; in 1595 appeared a transla-
tion by P. Le Roy and others, called A pleasant Satyre or
Poesie : wherein is discovered the Catholicon of Spayne, and the
chief e leaders of the League?1 For our purposes the only inter-
est of the book is the fact that its name may have exerted
some influence in England in the growth of satire as a recog-
nized literary form.

Two streams, then, meet in the England of the sixteenth
century : familiarity with the classics, which had been in some
measure a part of clerical education throughout the Middle

1 See the editions of C. Labitte (Paris, 1841) and G. Read (Paris, 1876); also
Wright : History of Caricature and Grotesque, pp. 343 ff.

"L This was reissued, with a new title, in 1602. See British Museum Catalogue,
under Satyre Menippee

44 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Ages, and which was now the centre of culture ; and observation
of the efforts made in Italy to translate contemporaiy life and
thought into classical forms.

III.

Before entering upon a particular examination of the satire
of the Elizabethan Age, it will be well to compare what we
have seen of early English satire with the work of the Latin satir-
ists', in order to be able to speak with some precision of the
characteristic elements of each, and to determine in some
measure just what elements the Elizabethans derived from the
classical models. It is not possible to make this comparative
analysis so accurate or complete as to serve the purpose of a
formula ; for individual genius constantly sets aside general
laws, and periods of influence will not define themselves
rigidly so as either to include or exclude distinctly all the
literature concerned. It is believed, however, that enough
can be said to present a standard of comparison which will be
useful in the study of Elizabethan satire.

To consider first the matter of form, the chief contrast be-
tween classical and early English satire lies in the fact that
the former was recognized as a more or l^q* fixfd literary
forrn^ ^bilo_ thejjitter was not. Many differences of detail are
to be referred to this general fact. Thus the hexameiej: was
accepted as the metrical form for classical satire, and wherever
the latte'r has been consciously imitated some correspondingly
fixed measure has been sought and adopted ; while in early
popular satire the verse might be the alliterative long line, the
four-stress rhyming verse or the more exact octosyllabic
couplet, some ballad measure, or the short outbursts of the
Skeltonic rhythm.

Classical and Mediceval Satire Compared. 45

The type of classical satire was also fairly well fixed, though
with numerous minor variations. It was in general a subjective
kind of poem, representative primarily of the point of view of
the individual writer, carried on, as Heinsius said, " partly
dramatically, partly simply," but never so distinctively dra-
matic or narrative as to have a unified " series of action " or
plot. Its two characteristic sub-types we have seen to be that
of reflective or philosophical satire, and that of the satire of
direct rebuke. On the other hand, the early English satire
had no such fixed type of subjective poem. It might be in
distinctly lyrical or ballad form, it might be in dialogue or
fully dramatic form, it might be in the form of elaborate alle-
gorical narrative. Like the classical satire, it was largely of
the type of direct rebuke ; unlike the classical satire, and like
all the literature of unsophisticated and more or less uncon-
scious periods, it made slight use of elements which we should
call reflective or philosophical. When the narrative element
was introduced, it was likely to be of an allegorical, typical, or
otherwise unreal sort ; while the dramatic element in classical
satire (excluding such forms as the apologue or fable) was of
a distinctly realistic order. On the other hand, early popular
satire of a descriptive nature was as realistic and as concrete as
any of the classical school.

If we consider the spirit of the two groups of satire, — their
attitude toward life, — it is in both cases of course characterist-
ically pessimistic. The difference lies chiefly in the fact that
the pessimism of the classical satirists is modified (if at all) by
lightness of touch, a certain lack of seriousness, or the pre-
dominence of the reflective element, all of which are wanting
to the early English satire ; while the pessimism of the latter
is modified (if at all) by a hopefulness due either to religious
faith or to the spirit of reform. The spirit of the classical
satire is on the whole conservative ; that(of the early English
is on the whole distinctly progressive. Finally, the spirit of
the former group is not only pagan as a matter of course,

46 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

/

but largely unreligious/, (while that of the latter is in large
measure religious and distinctively Christian.

Turning to the subject-matter of the two groups, we find, as
has already been intimated, a closer resemblance than might
have been expected. In each case there is a wide variety in
the objects satirized, and a large proportion of attack upon the
perennial faults and follies of human nature. The chief dif-
ferences are those of emphasis, and arise from the formal
nature of the classical satire, and from its more individual point
of view. While the occasion of all true satire lies in the exist-
ences>__oj^on^ejTipnra4^^evils, the motives of literary effect
land of the exercise of a reflective turn of mind exert a much
llarger influence where satire is a recognized literary form.
Thus the satire of Horace and of Persius may be said to take its
origin primarily in such a reflective turn of mind ; and, while
the sincerity of Juvenal is a less certain element, it may safely
be said that his satire is too highly finished and at the same
time too extreme in its charges to be taken as the spontaneous
outpouring of outraged virtue. If we compare his satires
with the letters of Pliny the younger, written at the same
period, we may see how easy it is for one man to write cheer-
fully in the epistolary form, when he sets out to do so, and for
another man at the same time to write satire of the most vit-
riolic character, when it is that that he has set out to do.
Besides, we have Juvenal's own word for it that he takes up
the writing of satire in revenge for the bad poetry that has
been poured into his own ears ; in other words, it is a literary
performance consciously undertaken. Now the early Eng-
lish satire was not usually so sophisticated a performance, and
it usually had its origin rather in the actual contemporary
evils to be attacked than in the reflective temperament of the
writer.j It was frequently (as in the satire of the Reforma-
tion) the result of a distinct moral uprising, with a real and
professed motive of reform, (it was also, as has already been
suggested, less individual than the classical satire, being often

Classical and Medieval Satire Compared. 47

obviously representative of the feeling of a social class, a
political party, or a religious order. These things of course
had their influence upon the subject-matter of the satire.,
Said Juvenal :

" Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas,
Gaudia, discursus, nostri farrago libelli est." !

And so far as the vicious side of, these is concerned, he
made good his word. He even did something of what Horace
did much further, and expounded the good as well as the evil
side of life, — virtues in contrast to vices. We have seen that
the English satirists had a narrower idea of satire than their
classical predecessors, and made it wholly, or nearly so, a
form "in which human vices, ignorance and errors " are
" severely reprehended." They dealt, as did the Romans, with
morals, fashions, personal humors, classes, and individuals ;
they also dealt much more with politics and religion. The -
greatest single distinction is that in classical satire the emphasis
was on private evils ; in early English satire it was on public
evils. When the latter attacked the vices of the king they
did so primarily because he was king, just as they attacked
the vices of the clergy because they were the clergy and were
thought to be under special obligation to be righteous. On
the other hand, when Juvenal attacks the vices of Domitian
or Nero we do not feel that he is attacking the rulers as rep-
resentatives of the people ; their vices are indeed the greater
for their exalted position (" Omne vitium," etc.), but they are
distinctly treated as the vices of private aristocrats. This
distinction runs through the whole line of division between
the two groups of satire. In the classical satire the emphasis
is on private morals, foolish fashions, arid the like. In the
early .English satire the emphasis is_..on public morals, class

mo£eils^.and_rdigion. . There is a marked tendency to group

""" """•""

i Sat. I. 85 f.

48 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

-. and typify, instead of to individualize. Thus we have the
'' " social types " of the Ship of Fools and its successors. Again,
when private vices and the follies of fashion were touched on
in English satire, as they of course constantly were, it was
their opposition to the public good and to the laws of religion
which was emphasized, rather than their intrinsic folly or
impropriety. Thus the permanent public spirit, the utilita-
rianism, and the moral and religious earnestness of the English
race are as evident in this form of literature as in others.
Religious and political satire we have seen were absolutely char-
acteristic of the early English as distinguished from the classi-
cal satirists ; on the other hand literary satire belongs to the
latter, being one of the products of a more sophisticated age.
Whenever the classical satire has begun to be imitated, its
hints in this direction have been eagerly followed. Finally,
of personal satire, except that of a representative nature, there
was little, in comparison with generalities, in either group ;
but there was more in that of the classics than in the early
popular satire, owing to the general tendency of the former
toward greater individualization.

We come finally to distinctions of style. These are chiefly
those natural to the difference between a recognized literary
form and no such recognized form. (Thus the style of the
classical satirists is polished, compact, often indirect in its
application (speaking, as Heinsius said, " for the, most part
figuratively and occultly "), and full of allusion.) That of the
early English satirists is for the most part fairly direct, simple
(save for the use of allegory and occasional irony), loose in
structure, and generally unliterary. , In both groups there is
a tendency toward a "low familiar" manner, but this is, of
course, more marked in the popular satire. In both there is
a suggestion of ruggedness and crabbedness, but this has
been generally exaggerated, so far as it implies a contrast with
other forms. There is more dramatic variety in the classical
satire, particularly of a rapid, elliptical sort ; while in the other

Classical and Medieval Satire Compared. • 49

group descriptive elements play a more important part. The
reflective or philosophical element in the classical style, and
its absence in that of early popular satire, have already been
implied. The tendency to dramatize and to individualize, dis-
played in the former group, has its most conspicuous result
in the use of the personal type-names so widely introduced
into the satires of Juvenal, based in varying degrees upon the
true names of real persons.

Among matters of style the distinction between the humor
of the two groups is perhaps the most difficult to define. To
a considerable extent no distinction need be made ; for that
humor which is natural to the very essence of satire, and is
based on the permanently ridiculous follies of humanity,
belongs to all classes alike. But there is a marked diminu-
tion in the quantity of wit and humor when we leave the
classical satire for the early English period ; the latter exhibits
a more serious tone, which may sometimes be called, as Her-
ford calls it in Lydgate's Order of Fools, "an unseasonable
earnestness." We have already seen this illustrated in the
case of a satirist carefully pointing out the fact that he is
attacking only the evil side of things, and does not wish to
have the good confounded with his victims. This is a com-
mon statement in early English satire, and displays a defi-
ciency in wit which may be best realized by considering how
inconceivable such a stolidly conscientious performance would
have been to Juvenal. It is of the very essence of the for-
mally pessimistic satire to assume that everything is as bad as
it can be. In general it may be said (though without forget-
ting a fair number of exceptions) that the humor of early
English satire, when it appears, is of a more obvious and less
subtle kind than that of the classical satirists, — a fact which
is, of course, quite consistent with its less sophisticated nature.
Those who philosophize on the subject of wit and humor are
in the habit of saying that they depend for their existence
upon some contrast strikingly, if not unexpectedly, presented.

50 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Schneegans has it that the contrast must be between a pleas-
ant and a disagreeable idea :

" Darin sind aber fast alle einig, dass das Lacherliche auf einen Kontrast zwi-
schen einem Lust- und Ungelustgefiihl beruhe. ' ' J

In the early English satire perhaps the most common sort
of humor is that based upon the contrast between professions
and performances, — the humor of inconsistency. This is, of
course, the primary element in witty attacks upon the clergy
of all orders. Another very common sort is what may be best
called the humor of description, in which English writers
have commonly been successful. The humor of the classical
satirists, being, as has been said, of a subtler kind, is not so
easy to define. Frequently it rests in the contrast between
real and assumed importance, as in the story of Domitian's
turbot. Frequently it lies in an ironical detail or comment,
introduced unexpectedly and irrelevantly to the principal train
of thought, — as when Juvenal declares that he could no more
enumerate the diseases incident to old age than he could
count up the number of Hippia's paramours. Frequently,
again, it is merely the humor of exaggeration. But in general
we must beware of expecting too much wit or humor of any
kind in the region of formal satire, especially if we exclude
that of the Horatian order. The satire of the grotesque or
burlesque order has in fact so attracted the attention of the
modern world that it has been assumed by many to be satire
par excellence. But the old type of satire of direct rebuke or
formal criticism was a more serious matter, and could not
often turn aside to raise a laugh, even if it were one of scorn.
These, then, roughly outlined, are some of the points of
contrast to be noted between the classical satire and that of
the early English period, the enumeration of which, it is hoped,
may throw light on the period of imitation. We should
expect that those who turned to the classics as their models

1op. cit., p. 19.

Formal Satire in England. 51

in satire would, either insensibly or consciously, show a series
of tendencies in the several directions indicated. They would
adopt a more fixed literary form than the early popular satir-
ists ; they would show a disposition to use the reflective or
philosophical method ; their pessimism would be more sweep-
ing and not so well founded ; they would lessen the religious
element, and be disposed to turn their emphasis from public
to private vices ; they would represent a more individual 'atti-
tude ; they would adopt a more sophisticated and self-con-
scious style ; their humor would be more frequent and more
subtle. Above all, the one element in Latin satire which they
would be pretty certain to miss would be its originality ;
for in the act of imitation they would turn their eyes from
their object to their model, and lose in spontaneity what they

might gain in form.

IV.

We have now to examine in detail the English satirists of
the period of classical influence. The principal difficulty to
be met at the outset is to decide just what to admit and what
to exclude. We must recur, however, to what was said at the
very beginning of this study : that our task is to consider
satire as 2ifonn, not as znnodc, and to consider it primarily as
affected by classical influence. It was pointed out that the form
is a self-conscious one, and may usually be distinguished by
its own professions. Poems of a satirical character, but with-
out either the profession or the characteristics of formal satire,
will be excluded. Thus mere " broadsides," popular ballads,
and personal or political tracts, do not come within our range.
Epigrams, if they are true epigrams (that is, limited to the
expression of single witty or gnomic ideas), may also be
omitted. The chief test will be the name satire (except, of
course, for its occasional application to the drama or other sep-
arate literary forms), since the very idea of classical imitation

52 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

was naturally marked, in England as in Italy, by the adoption
of the classical name.

Of each work thus examined practically the same questions
are to be asked. Its date, author, publication, and general
history are first to be considered. Its external form and its
style will then be briefly noticed ; then its contents ; then
the type of satire represented ; then the detailed evidence of
influence either of classical or earlier modern satire. There
is then to be considered the relation of the work in hand to
the general characteristics of classical and of early English
satire, with the view of ascertaining which elements pre-
dominate ; and, finally, its relations to contemporary life as
represented by the objects satirized.

So far as may be practicable this will be the order followed
throughout the period now before us.

i. SIR THOMAS WYATT.

"Wyat," said Warton, "may justly be deemed the first
polished English satirist."1 This opinion has widely pre-
vailed. When we turn to the " satires " of Wyatt we find
that the poems so called are three of those published in Tot-
tel's Miscellany, I 557 : Of the meane and sure estate, written to
John Poins ; Of the courtiers life, written to John Poins ; and
How to use the court and him sclfc therm, written to syr Fraun-
ces Bryan? These poems are not, however, called satires in
Tottel, and it appears that in the earliest manuscripts they were
either without title (as in the partially autograph MS., Eger-
ton 271 1 ),3 or with the titles printed in the Miscellany. I do
not know but Warton was the first to apply the term satire to
these poems ; since his time it has been generally accepted,

1 History of English Poetry. Hazlitt ed., vol. iv. p. 47.

2 Tottel, Arber ed., pp. 85-93.

3 See Fliigel's reprint, in Anglia, vol. xviii. p. 507.

Sir Thomas Wyatt. 53

by Dr. Nott in his edition, and very recently by Ten Brink
and Fliigel.

The publication of these "satires " was of course posthu-
mous. They are thought by Mr. W. E. Simonds,1 who is
perhaps as competent as any to speak on the subject, to have
been written in the period of Wyatt' s retirement at Allington,
July, 1541, to October, 1542, and hence to date from the very
end of his life. The text varies slightly in the various manu-
scripts and in Tottel's version, chiefly in the way of bringinj
the later copies into closer correspondence with the moi
critical ideas of metrical regularity which were growing up
the period succeeding Wyatt's death. More interesting ai
some changes obviously made for reasons of policy. Thus
in the original of the poem on the Courtier's Life we have :

" Nor I ame not where Christe is geven in pray
For mony poison and traison at Rome ;"

— which was changed by Tottel, whose volume appeared in
the reign of the un-Protestant Queen Mary, to —

" Nor I am not, where truth is geven in pray,
For money, poyson, and treason : of some
A common practice," etc.

And again in the poem on How to Use the Court there is a
similar omission of a sharp allusion to the "cloister," as well
as of a reference by name to one Kitson, a sheriff of London.
It is a common fate of satires to find their first editions accept-
able only to the time for which they were immediately written.
These three poems take high rank among the work of
their author. Warton considered that Wyatt " mistook his
talents " in becoming chiefly a sonneteer instead of a satirist,
and Nott commented interestingly on the disproportion between
their merits and their reputation :

1 Sir Thomas Wyatt and his Poems, p. 42. See also R. Alscher : Sir Thomas
Wyatt ^md seine Stellung^ etc. , p. 34.

54

\ise of Formal Satire in hnglanc

" The fate which has awaited Wyatt's Satires is somewhat remarkable, and
deserves to be noticed. They are unquestionably his happiest and most finished
productions. They may be ranked among the best satires in our language ; and
yet they never seem to have obtained either admirers or imitators ; at' least I <ln
not recollect that any of our early writers have spoken of them in particular with
commendation. This, T appiLliund, may be easily accounted for. /Wyatt had
outstripped, as it were, his times.! A taste for delicate satire cannot be general
until refinement of manners is general likewise ; and society is brought to that
state which allows of the development of foibles in character, and encourages
philosophical inquiry into the motives and principles of human actions. As long
as society is in a state of incipient refinement only, satire ever will be, and ever
has been, coarse, personal, and indiscriminating ; for the beauty of general allu-
sions cannot then be felt ; and few will be enlightened enough to comprehend
[that the legitimate object of satiric poetry is not to humble an individual, but to
improve the species."1

This explanation is not entirely satisfactory. There is a
sense in which the age of Wyatt had just the elements of self-
consciousness and of taste for "general allusions " which Nott
is referring to ; and its formal satire we shall not find to be
largely personal. On the other hand, it is true that the satire of
the urbane, Horatian type never took great hold in England.

The metre of Wyatt's satires is the tcrza riina, obviously
an Italian element, which would of itself give the clue to the
source of their inspiration. It shares the qualities of the
other verse of the same author, showing good metrical taste,
but needing adaptation (such as it received very promptly) to
the requirements of rigidly accentual rhythm. The style is
compact but smooth, and noticeably urbane. It is of the
epistolary order, and of Horatian ease and naturalness.
Where narrative is introduced it is handled with direct and
idiomatic simplicity, and the reflective and ethical elements are
noticeably vigorous.

The first satire opens with the fable of the town and the country mouse, and
proceeds to discuss the miserable error of human desires, the fact that true pleasure

1 Nott's ed. of Wyatt, Introduction, p. cxxxvii f. Compare also Alscher, p. 41:
" Ja, Wyatt war so sehr der erste Satiriker, welchereinen edlen, classischen Stil in
diese Dichtungsart einfiihrte, dass er sogar von seinen Zeitgenossen gar nicht ver-
standen worden zu sein scheint."

Sir Thomas Wyatt. 55

is to be sought within rather than, without, and the punishment of ambition in its
own sense of the loss of virtue. »The second explains why the author withdraws
from the press of courts ; he does not scorn rulers, but he cannot flatter, and give
vices pretty names ; so he hunts and reads, in peace and liberty, rejoicing that lie is
removed from the gluttony of France, the formalities of Spain, the deceitfulness
of Flanders, and the corruption of Rome. The third, advising Sir Francis
Bryan " how to use the court and himself therein," gives him ironical rules for
living in ease ; he has but to avoid truth, use virtue in word only, lend only where
it will profit him, flatter wealthy old men, cajole their widows, and offer .his female
relatives for sale. In conclusion, Bryan is represented as refusing to part with his
honest name for any riches, and is recommended to poverty.

It is already clear that these are satires of the reflective
type ; narrative is introduced only as incidental to philosophy.
Direct rebuke appears but slightly. The attitude toward life
is mildly pessimistic, — in a word, Horatian. There is no
formal idea of satire presented, as the poems make no formal
pretension to be satires.

We have now to consider the immediate sources of the
satires. The fable of the two mice is of course originally
from Horace (Book ii. sat. 6), and with this Wyatt was doubt-
less familiar; yet the Horatian story is not followed in detail.
Dr. Nott suggested that Wyatt was indebted to Henryson's
version for the " mode of telling " the fable, and this is adopted
by Ten Brink. In Horace the mice are friends ; in Henryson
and in Wyatt they are sisters? iln Horace and Henryson the
story begins with a visit of the town mouse to the country ; in
Wyatt it does not. In Horace there is little direct conversa-
tion recorded ; in Henryson and in Wyatt there is consider-
able, and in each case the mice say "peep." In Horace the
country mouse is frightened by dogs ; in Henryson and Wyatt
by the cat. In Horace the catastrophe is not recorded ; in
Henryson the mouse is caught, but escapes ; in Wyatt it is
caught, and there is no intimation of escape. — These com-
parisons of detail suggest how difficult it is to reach certain
conclusions ; as a matter of fact the fable must have been one

1 See Henryson's Poems and Fables, ed. Laing, p. 108.

56 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

of such popularity that both Henryson and Wyatt could have
choice of many versions for their own use.1

The moralization following the fable (" Alas my Poyns ! ")
does not belong directly to Horace. Nott compares it with
Chaucer's —

" We seken faste after felicitee,
But we goon wrong," etc.,

(Knights Tale, 1. 408.)

— a passage of Boethian origin.

The passage also suggests Juvenal, Satire X. :

" Pauci dignoscere possunt
Vera bona," etc., (1. 2.)

and many references in Juvenal to the " vanity of human
wishes." But the whole idea is so common that it cannot be
exactly referred. In general, Wyatt' s use of his sources is
characterized by complete English paraphrase — the thought
as well as the words being translated to suit his needs.

The conclusion of this satire, as has been repeatedly
noticed, is from Persius, Satires I. and III. Thus,

" Seke no more out of thy selfe to find," etc.,

is from

" Ne te qunesiveris extra." (Pers. I. 7. )

And the fine passage,

" But to the great God and to his dome,"

is from Satire III., 35 ff.:

V

" Magne pater divum, stevos punire tyrannos," etc.

The second satire (Of the Courtier's Life), which was quite
likely the first in order of composition, has a most interesting

1 See also Alscher's comparison of Wyatt' s and Henryson' s versions, pp. 35-
37-

Sir Thomas Wyalt 57

source. It *is from the Tenth of Alamanni, which was ad-
dressed to Thommaso Sertini, and dealt with the petty hypoc-
risies of life at court.1 The paraphrase of Wyatt is decidedly
close, but with his usual freedom of adaptation ; thus he
follows Alamanni in his arraignment of life in France, Ger-
many, Spain, and Rome, but for

" Sono in Provenza, ove quantunque pieni," etc.,

he has

" I am here in Kent and Christendome ;"

and, better still, for

" Dir non saprei Poeta alto et gentile
Mevio, giurando poi che tal non vide
Smirna, Manto, et Fiorenza ornato stile,"

Wyatt substitutes

" Praise syr Topas for a noble tale,
And scorne the story that the knight tolde."

Lines 53 f. remind one of Juvenal, if we compare " Grinne
when he laughes," etc., with

" Rides? majore cachinno," etc. (iii. IOO. )

And line 61,

" With nearest vertue ay to cloke the vice,"

suggests

" Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis, et umbra."

(Juvenal, xiv. 109. )

But these are perhaps sufficiently explained by the correspond-
ing passages in Alamanni.

The third satire, addressed to Sir Francis Bryan, is derived
(as was also pointed out by Nott) from Horace's fifth Satire of
Book 2, on Legacy-hunting ; but the source is not followed

1 This is reproduced in Dr. Nott's edition of Wyatt, p. 458.

The Rise of

closely. In this satire, as in the others, the adaptation of the
original is an interesting study (cf. 1. 55), Lines 60 to 66 are
not in Horace, and suggest the bitterer style of Juvenal ; com-
pare with them, for example :

" Qui testamenta merentur
Noctibus, in coelum quos evehit optima summi," etc.

(Juvenal, i. 37 ff.)

We find, then, distinct evidence of familiarity with the
satires of Horace and Persius, and suggestions of familiarity
with those of Juvenal. Most significant, however, is the con-
nection with Alamanni. It is from the latter that Wyatt
seems to have derived his metre, and it is safe to assume
(especially when we remember his general connection with
the Italian poets) that it was from Alamanni also that he de-
rived the idea of adopting the form of epistolary satire, and of
adapting the classical method to the conditions of his own
time and place.

It remains to ask what general elements of classical satire
appear in these first English imitations. In the first place, they
are in an artificial form of verse. Most conspicuously, they are
of the reflective type, and of a generally sophisticated tone.
When narrative is introduced, it is of a realistic order ; thus the
fable of the two mice, while intended as a typical apologue, is
really in the realistic method (for a different method compare
the fable of the Belled Cat in Piers Plozuman). Again, the pes-
\simism of these satires is of the classical sort ; it is calm and
/ironical, without modification, and without the element of reform.
There is, however, a true moral earnestness, and the author
seems to have been too serious and sincere to assume a pagan
attitude, as in the passages dealing with the Roman Church.
The emphasis laid on private morals is a classical element ; so
is the portrayal of virtue in connection with its opposite ; so
also is the distinctly individual point of view. The style is
not an attempt at classical imitation, and we have seen that it

Wyatt and Surrey. 59

is well adapted to English subject-matter and local color ; but
yet it is that of an accepted literary form, polished and reflec-
tive, and the dramatic dialogue of the third satire is quite on
classical lines. The humor, too, is of a subtle sort, and is in
part at least based on classical motifs.

The objects of Wyatt 's satire are chiefly the permanent
vices of the conditions depicted, and come under the head of
private morals. Thus ambition and covetousness, and, above
all, flattery and deceit, form the leading themes. Legacy-
hunting was taken up in detail, as appropriate to both clas-
sical and Elizabethan satire. Under Religion we have the
passages in the -second- satire (1. 98) and in the third (1. 22).
Under personal satire we have only the reference to the
white-coated Ritson (who seems to have been Sheriff of
London in 1533) in iii. 47. A kind of satire best noticed
separately from any of the general heads is that upon the
faults of continental countries (ii. 89-99) — a form of amuse-
ment always dear to Englishmen.

In conclusion, the satires of Wyatt are clearly after the
Horatian model, and show direct influence of both the classics
and the Italian imitators. They had their origin primarily in
the reflective mood. Their great merit lay in the fact that
they were not classicized in detail, but were adapted to con-
temporary purposes ; they were also treated in a truly poetic
and idealizing spirit. It is no undue anticipation to say that
in all these matters Wyatt had no successor.

We have at this point to notice in passing a poem bearing the name of
" satire," by Wyatt' s friend and follower, the Earl of Surrey. It is called a Satire
Against the Citizens of London ^ and appears to have been written in April, I543*1
when Surrey was a prisoner in the Fleet " for having — in company with Thomas
Wyatt the younger, and young Pickering — caused disturbance to the citizens of
London by shooting stones at their windows from a cross-bow." The poem is an
arraignment of the morals cf London citizens, from a religious point of view,
entirely serious in tone and without interest of detail. Except for its title, it is of
no interest for us. The metre —terza rima — suggests that the name " Satire ' ' was

lSee Ten Brink: History of English Literature, vol. ii. Part ii. p. 255.

60 T/ic Rise of Formal Satire in England.

derived from Italy. If so, there is an interesting contrast between Wyatt and
Surrey — the former borrowing the spirit without the name, and the latter the name
without the spirit.

Here also must be briefly considered a work called One and tkyrtye Epi-
grammes, wherein are bryejly touched so many Abuses, that maye and ought to be
put away.1 This is the work of Robert Crowley, and was published at the
author's own press in 155°- Crowley was an interesting controversialist of the
period, who was at Oxford from 1534 to 1542, a printer for some time following
1548, and Archdeacon of Hereford in 1559. In the same year with his
Epigrams he published the editio princeps of Piers Plowman, and the influence
of Langland's work is evident in that of Crowley.

The Epigrams (which are really thirty-three in number) are longer than they
should be to bear such a name, and would more properly be called satires —
though not of the classical order. Some have therefore included Crowley among
the earliest English satirists. The Epigrams are in short lines of two accents
each, rhyming alternately ; or, in other words, in resolved four-stress couplets.
The style is vernacular English, with a Puritanical and scriptural flavor. The
Epigrams deal with evils of the day, arranged alphabetically after the fashion of a
mediaeval book of Exempla ; thus, Abbayes, Allayes, Almes houses, TJalyarrantes,
Baudes, Beggars, etc. Special emphasis is laid on the oppression of the poor,
the peculiar ills of city life, and irreligion. Many of the criticisms of social con-
ditions are of considerable interest. In the Epigram on Alleys, Crowley laments
the number of unemployed for whom work should be provided by the city
officials and by wealthy citizens. So also in the Epigram on Idle Persons, where
it is said that

"this realme hath thre commoditie,

woule, tynne, and leade,
which being wrought within the realme,
eche man might get his bread."

It was the selfishness of society that distressed this reformer, as it does modern
reformers. London seemed to him

" An hell with out order,
Where everye man is for him selfe,
And no manne for all."

(11. 201 ff.)

Like all satirists of the century, he attacked the holding of double benefices.
Like most of them he gave special heed to flatterers. Like many of them, he
satirized the " inventors of strange news " — comparing them, curiously enough, to
the poets and orators whom Plato expelled from his commonwealth.2 An inter-

1 Ed. by J. M. Cowper, for Early English Text Society, 1872.
2 11. «33ff.

Robert Crowlcy. 6 1

esting passage is that on " Forestallars," who would seem to be what we should
call " dealers in options":

' ' And some saye the woule

is bought ere it do growe,
And the corne long before

it come in the mowe." (11. 941 ff. )

The foolish fashions of women of course come in for a share of the rebuke :

" If theyre heyre wyl not take colour,

then must they by newe,
And lay it oute in tussockis :

this thynge is to true.
At ech syde a tussock,

as bygge as a ball, —
A very fay re syght

for a fornicator bestiall." (11. 1301 ff.)

The only satire of a literary sort is the condemnation of " vayne wryters " together
with "vaine talkers" and " vaine hearers."

The sources of this work are obviously only general. The apparent influence
of Langland has already been noted. The only reference to the classics is that to
Plato's Republic. The type of satire is as clearly that of pure rebuke. The
attitude is pessimistic, but with a hopeful view of moral reform. All this is of
the early English order. So are the progressive spirit, the religious tone, the
emphasis on public morals, the slight amount of humor, and the general style.
The occasion of this work was in Crowley's observations of men and things about
him, and not at all in literary imitation.

From the same author and the same year we have another satirical work,
vailed the " Voyce of the laste trumpet, blowen by the seventh Angel, ....
callying al estats of men to the ryght path of theyre vocation," etc. In this case
the classification is by orders of men : the beggar, the servant, the yeoman, the
unlearned priest, the scholar, the physician, the magistrate, the gentleman,
etc.1

Here, for the sake of chronological completeness, may be mentioned a work
which seems like an echo from a previous century. This is George Buchanan's
Frantiscanus* a satire on the Franciscan monks, written at the request of the
king. It was in Latin, was begun in 1535 and finished in 1564. On this see
Morley's English Writers, vol. viii, pp. 340 ff.

1 See Corser's Collectanea, Part 4, pp. 539 ff.

62 Tlie Rise of Formal Satire in England.

In 1566 was published, as has already been noted, Drant's " Medicinable
Morall, that is, the two Bookes of Horace his Satyres, Englyshed according to the
prescription of saint Hierome : . . . Quod rnalum est, muta ; quod bonum est,
prode." It would appear from the reference to Jerome's motto that the original
was altered for contemporary purposes, and Corser (from whom I copy the title-
page) T says that there is included ",a poetical definition of a Satire." This it
would be interesting to examine, but I have not been able to see a copy of
Drant's work. In 1567 it was reprinted, together with the Epistles and the
Ars Poetica.

2. EDWARD HAKE.

*' Newes out of Powles Churchyarde, Now newly renued and amplifyed accord-
ing to the accidents of the present time, 1579, and Otherwise entituled, syr
Nummus. Written in English Satyrs. Wherein is reprooved excessive and
unlawfull seeking alter riches, and the evill spending of the same. Compyled
by E. H,. Gent."

The work of which this is the full title is by one Edward
Hake, and has been edited by Mr. Edmonds as one of the
" Isham Reprints." As appears from the title-page, it was pub-
lished in 1579, but "newly renewed and amplified." It was
entered in the Stationers' Register in 1 567, but no copy of the
first edition is known to be extant. There is an allusion to it
as early as 1 568, in Turberville's Plaine Path to perfect Vertue :

I neither write the Newes of Poules
Of late set out to sale," etc.*

Hazlitt has it that the 1579 edition was the " third impres-
sion," but I know of no evidence to support this. Since the
discovery that Hake's " Satyrs" preceded Gascoigne's Steele
Glas, he has frequently been mentioned as one of the very
earliest English satirists ; he does not, however, belong among
the classical imitators.

1 Collectanea, Part 5, pp. 244 ff.

2 See Collier's Rarest Books, vol. ii. p. 105.

Edward Hake. 63

Hake was a public man, a lawyer and the holder of several
public offices. The News out of Pauls is his earliest known
work, and was written while he was Mayor of New Wind-
sor, and a protege of the great Earl of Leicester. Some
ten other works of his are enumerated by Mr. Edmonds. He
himself declares (in the address " to the Gentle Reader ") that
he receives no money for his writing, and puts a modest esti-
mate upon it.

The metre of these " Satyrs " is a kind of resolved Septena-
rius, rhyming (a), b, (c), b. The style is of a distinctly early
order ; rugged and sometimes violent, with abundant allitera-
tion, sometimes rising to real vigor, usually fluent, monoto-
nous, and full of the vernacular.

The satires are preceded by a dedication to the Earl of
Leicester, whose coat-of-arms is reproduced. There are also
several complimentary verses, and an address " To the Gentle
Reader," — explaining that the printer is pleased " after twelve
yeeres silence, to hale again into the lighte this my little booke
of englishe Satyrs."

" Touching this my booke : I have not abridged it of any one Satyre that was
in the first edytion thereof, neyther have I added unto it any other whole Satyr :
But I have enlarged here and there one. ... I confesse I coulde have beene
wylling to have increased the number by ii. or iii. Satyrs at least : Namely of
undershreeves and Bayllifs one : And of Informers and Sompners or Apparitours
other twoo. Which offycers (if they all so be) how they abuse the Subjects and
people of this Realme at this daye,* by intollerable Extortions bryberies trecheries
and deceyts, what whole Shier, and in everye Shier, what Cytie Towne or Village,
is not hable haboundauntly to declare ? ''

Following is an outline of the contents of the satires:

Satire I. Walking in Pauls, the author heard one Paul address his friend
Bertulph, and tell him of his distress over the wiles of a certain Nurnmus, who
rules in country and city, over clergy, merchants and townsmen.

64 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Satire II. Paul continues to tell how Nummus beguiles men of law, judges,
attorneys, counsellors and the like.

Satire III. He proceeds to show how Physicians are in the " greedy traine ;"
their avarice, their cure-alls, their fatal effects.

Satire IV. Passing over apothecaries and surgeons, he tells of merchant-
men ; their travels, their cheating of foolish citizens, their sale of forbidden finery,
and in general the luxury, selfishness, and oppressiveness of the rich.

Satire V. He inveighs against " Banckrowts " who fear no punishment for their
avarice and luxury ; their loud wives ; fools and roysterers ; the lives of spend-
thrifts ; the inconsistency of those who profess religion ; the utter wickedness of
the age.

Satire VI. He takes up the abuse of Paul's Church itself: it has come to
be filled with "chaos vyle." The avarice and pride of country gentlemen ; the
universal reign of fraud and vice. The Papists who walk in the south aisle of St.
Paul's ; their hypocrisy, treachery and cruelty. Good preachers are exempted
from the general condemnation.

Satire VII. He prays for pardon if he slanders or exaggerates ; recounts
the deeds of bawds and brokers, unsuppressed by officers of the law. — Here Paul
the speaker ends, promising hereafter to relate his own unfortunate dealings with
Sir Nummus.

Satire VIII. The author's "quaking quill renewes the plaint" against all
forms of avarice, especially the sins of usurers, who are warned of hell fire.

The Author iipon the Booke points out that he quips "no private man for
hate," and that he recognizes that " in the towne are divers sortes of men" of all
the classes treated, still virtuous and on the way to joyful immortality.

The type of satire here is clearly the early English one of
direct rebuke, though couched in a strained narrative form.
The pessimism is of the most monotonous type. The " sot-
tish sinfull brittle age " has overcome the writer with its pano-
rama of wickedness.

" Besides deceit and vile devise,
i dooth nothing now remaine

Within the harts of English men." (S. 6.)

Yet in seemingly unconscious contradiction of this, Hake
repeatedly points out that he distinguishes good from evil
men, and does not wish his statements to be applied too
sweepingly. His ideal of satire is explained in the Dedica-
tion, where he says that his book

Edward Hake. , 65

" explaines the present state,

And sets to vew the vices of the time

In Novell Verse and Satyrs sharpe effect

Still drawne along and pend in playnest rime

For sole intent good living to erect :

And sinne rescinde which rifely raignes abroade
In peoples harts full fraught with sinfull loade."

Hake's predecessors in this sort of work were the many
early English satirists of the type already seen in Crowley.
It is not impossible that the Epigrams of 1 550 may have fallen
under his observation and given him hints. Except in the use
of the term " satire," and what maybe called the consciously
rhetorical point of view of the author, there is no trace
whatever of the influence of classical satire. The general
type of satire we have seen to be that of the early English
period. The allegorical figure of " Sir Nummus " is also to
be noted. The treatment of public affairs (which receive a large
proportion of emphasis) indicates the direct observation and
interest of the author. The style and local color are thor-
oughly English. The religious element is noticeable. To
illustrate all these matters of style one may quote two char-
acteristically vigorous passages :

' ' O Labirinths of lothsome lust,

O hellish humane harts,
O beastly belching bely gods

that thus their store convarts :
O lumpishe Luskes, that lieffer had

to have of Viands store :
To winne the Rytchman, than to feede

the begger at their dore.
O stony harts, that more esteeme

A Monckey tyde with chaine
Then their p(oore brother, for whose sake

Christe Jesus sufferde paine." (S. 4. )

And again :

" O dreyrie dregges of dampishe cave,

Ofowle infernall fiendes,
O tryple stinged Vipers broode,
O hagges of hellish mindes.

66 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

O Cyclops such as styll devoure

the sheepe of forreine foldes,
O brockish beastes with ravine gorgde :

that lurcke within their holdes.
Shall duskie drosse of Dytis cave

denie infecting death ?
Shall Orcus spare with skalding skortch

to noye their vitall breath ?
No sure, the pitchie burning pit,

and Limboes flaming Lake
Shall yolpe them up, except they yeelde

the goodes which they did take." (S. 5.)

The objects satirized all centre about the love of Sir
Nummus, and are chiefly of interest as showing attention to
problems of poverty and the social order. They may be

classified —

Under Morals :

Avarice (throughout).

Cheating, S. 5, 6, 7.

Lust, S. 5, 7.

Usury, S. 5, 6, 7, 8 (where it appears that rates of interest ranged

from IO to 50 percent).
Gossip and Slander, S. 6.
Hypocrisy, S. 2.
Gluttony, S. 4.
Bribery, S. 2.

Under Fashions :

Display of fine clothes, S. 3, 4, 5.
Bear-baiting (on Sunday), S. 5.
Feasting, S. 4.

(Here is given the complete menu of a rich merchant's feast, some

fifty separate dishes being enumerated. )
Paul's Church as a rendezvous, S. 6.1

Under Public Affairs :

Encroachment of land, S. 2, 6.

"No poore man must have lande " seems to be the doctrine of the
time. "That which was of land demeasne is holden now for rent."
Rent raising, S. 6.

1 See Mr. Edmonds's notes on this

passai

George Gascoigne. 67

Delayed and bribed justice, S. 2.

Treachery of Papists to the Queen, S. 6.

Fraudulent magistrates, S. 7.

Instability of wealth, and unnecessary poverty, S. 4, 5.

" The poore complaine and wanting, crye through hunger halfe fore-
pinde."

Under Classes :

Loud women, S. 5- '

Brokers, S. 7.
Lawyers, S. 2.
Physicians, S. 3.
Merchants, S. 4.

Under Religion :

Profanity, S. I.
Avarice of clergy, S. I.
Papists, S. 6.
Pluralities, S. 6.

It is not easy to say just how serious was the purpose of
this satirist. His method suggests mingled reality and art.
There is a lack of genuineness in the pessimism, and there is
clearly an aim after rhetorical effect in the form ; but the
interest in social and public affairs seems genuine. The fact that
the Satyrs were presented to the Earl of Leicester is of inter-
est ; there may have been an intention to drop hints on matters
within his power to remedy, but the tone of the satire is too
authoritative to have been intended as in any sense an address
by a protege to a patron.

3. GEORGE GASCOIGNE.

"The Steele Glas. A Satyre compiled by George Gascoigne, Esquire."

This was published, together with The Complainte of Phylo-
mene ; an Elegie devised by the same Author, in 1576, and
republished in the Works of Gascoigne, 1587. It is well

68 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

known that Gascoigne is distinguished especially for his experi-
ments in adaptations of literary forms, whether in the drama,
criticism, or minor poetry; and he has been called by Mr.
Arber, as well as by some others, " the first English satirist."
It is interesting to find that in 1575, addressing the Queen in
the Tale of Hemctes the Hermit, he declares himself to be a
" satirical writer, meditating the Muse that may express his
reformation " from his former idle poetry.2

The Steele Glas seems to have been widely read and
admired. It was dedicated to the Lord Gray of Wilton, and
in the Dedication is called by the author a " Satyre written
without rime, but I trust not without reason." It was also
preceded by commendatory verses by " N. R.," by "Walter
Rawely of the middle Temple,"3 and by Nicholas Bowyer.
N. R., after enumerating various forms of poetry as practiced
by the ancients, concludes :

" In Satyres sharpe (as men of mickle praise)
Lucilius and Horace were esteemed.
Thus divers men with divers vaines did write,
But Gascoigne doth in every vaine indite." (p. 46.)

Raleigh writes in commendation of the mirror which

" impartially doth shewe
Abuses all, to such as in it looke,
From prince to poore, from high estate to lowe." (p. 47. )

While Bowyer comments on the fact that Gascoigne's Muse
had changed from "layes of Love to Satyres sadde and sage."
Finally, for words of commendation, we find in the corre-
spondence of Harvey and Spenser that the latter " could very
well abide Gascoigne's Steele Glas'^

1 Arber ed. of the Steele Glas, etc., p. II.

2 See Morley's English Writers, vol. viii. p. 277.

3 Apparently Raleigh's earliest published verses.
*Grosart's eel. of Harvey, vol. i. p. 180.

George Gascoignc. 69

The blank verse of this satire has long been a matter of
comment, in connection with the author's early use of the
measure in the drama. Professor Morley observes that the
Glas is "in English literature the first satire written in blank
verse ; " he might almost have added that it was the last.
The effect of the measure is largely that of smoothness and
monotony. In the author's address to the Reader he declares
that he is about to lay siege to a sort of tower of fame, and
that

" rimes can seldom reach
Unto the toppe of such a stately Towre."

He will therefore try reason instead of rhyme, and in " rhyme-
less verse" thunder "mighty threats" where "vice the wall
decays." The verse is marked by a very persistent cesura
after the fourth syllable, which is generally indicated by a
comma whether the sense requires such punctuation or not.
The style is, for the most part, like the verse, smooth, direct,
and monotonous. There is a predominatingly serious, and
sometimes a bookish, tone ; but this is relieved by occasional
gleams of mild humor and occasional passages of decided
vigor. In general it must be said that the satire lacks the
characteristic excellences of both the Horatianand the Juvenal-
ian order.

The satire opens with an invocation to Phylomene, and proceeds to describe
allcgorically the pedigree and fortunes of Satyra (11. 54-160). She is the twin-
sister of Poesy, daughter of Playnedealing and Simplycitie. Vaine Delight,
having ravished her, cut out her tongue ; but with its stump she "may sometimes
Reprovers deedes reprove." " The substance of the theame beginneth " with an
account of the "weak and wretched world." The sins of various classes of
society are rapidly enumerated, and attributed to the disuse of the ancient mirror
of steel for glasses intended to flatter all who consult them. Lucilius, " a famous
old satyrical Poete " (as a marginal note explains), is said to have bequeathed
the steel glass to such as love to see themselves just as they are. The ideal
commonwealth is then described, and the "common woe," where political cor-
ruption is dominant, is set forth in contrast. The evils of royal luxury, epicurean-
ism, vulgar sports, the keeping of horses, fine clothing, display of jewelry and
gold, avarice and ambition, are all adverted to ; and English patriotism is

7O The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

appealed to to maintain the pure and vigorous life of the country, and not to run
to the city seeking advancement. Different classes are then taken up in detail, —
soldiers, peasants (among whom Gascoigne includes all who labor for gain),
officers, judges and advocates, merchants, and priests ; in each case the ideal
virtues of the class are described, and contrasted with its vices. In conclusion,
the good priests are urged to pray for princes, nobility, the clergy, the universi-
ties and all manner of scholars, the commons, and for the author himself. These
prayers may be given up, it is declared, only when all classes of men are at
length honest and upright, — and in making this statement the author introduces a
rapid, vigorous sketch of the faults of the various trades, enumerating them all
byname (11. 1075-1131).

An Epilogue of forty-nine lines gives a strongly drawn picture of "a stranger
troope ' ' of the affected and overdressed women of the period, who are treated
with more bitterness than almost any of the more heinous sinners in the satire
proper.

The type of satire in the Steclc Glas is evidently not pre-
cisely the same that we have met with before. We find here
neither an urbane, discursive, Horatian satire, nor a satire of
the ultra-pessimistic type of rebuke — whether native English or
classical. The work is really a kind of moral poem, satirical,
no doubt, but not distinctly in satirical form. The attitude
toward life is indeed theoretically pessimistic, the former (clas-
sical) age being always referred to as the time of loftier virtue
(see 183 ff., 704 f., 729 ff., 779) and the present age as degen-
erate; but the reality of virtue is always before the author's
mind, and its present existence not denied. The satirist's idea
of his mission appears to be the common one, "to thunder
mighty threats " against vice ; and it is interesting to see that
he recognizes that he has left, in a sense, the proper province
of poetry. Satyr a is only a sister of Poesy, and with her
tongue cut out at that.

The sources of the Glass are not distinct or important.
Like much of Gascoigne' s work, it was not original in its pri-
mary idea or plan, but was carried out with some independ-
ence. As to the plan I quote from Professor Schelling :

" The age abounded in 'glasses' and 'mirrors,' from the non-extant Speculum
Principis of Skelton to the various Mirrors, for Magistrates, for Man, of Modesty,

George Gascoigne. 7 1

Monsters and Mutability to the Looking Glass for London of a later date. A
Mirrowre of Gold and a Mirror of Glass for all Spiritual Ministers had both
appeared before Gascoigne' s Steels GlasS'1

Professor Morley has called attention to the apparent influ-
ence of Langland upon Gascoigne (" Peerce plowman" being
introduced, near the close of the Glass, as a type of honesty
that "shall clime to heaven before the shaven crownes ");
one cannot tell how familiar he may have been with the Epi-
grams of Crowley or the Satyrs of Hake. Of distinctly clas-
sical sources I have noticed no evidence, though a brief
passage (1. 945 f.) suggests a well-known saying of Juvenal :

" The greater Birth, the greater glory sure,
If deeds mainteine their auncestors degree.''

It is noticeable that the only classical satirist alluded to by
Gascoigne himself is Lucilius, of whom his knowledge was of
course merely traditional.

While this satire, then, was not based on classical models
primarily, it shows many classical elements mingled, under
mediaeval influence, with those native to England. The
religious element, and the large interest in public affairs and
official virtue, belong to the English type of satire ; but on the
other hand we find pseudo-pagan references to classical
deities (see 11. 265, 324, 518), and many allusions to classical
history and legend. Two traditional type-names of classical
origin are introduced (Lais and Lucrece : 208, 209, 1 1 26).
The pseudo-classical preference for antique virtue has already
been noticed. The point of view in the satire is distinctly an
individual one, and it of course finds its origin (like the typical
formal satire) not in any uprising against external conditions,
but in a reflective turn of mind. Finally we must notice certain
non-classical elements, in the allegory of Satyra with which
the satire opens, and in the hopefulness which triumphs over
the formality of assumed pessimism. The style is formal,

1 Life and Writings of George Gascoigne, p. 73-

72 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

but not in general imitative of the classics, and the local color
is usually English. The total effect seems to be that of a
moral poem, attempted under the influence of the idea of satire
as a fixed literary form, but 'for the most part under the power
of English influence and contemporary conditions.

The objects satirized are of no little interest in relation to
contemporary life. They fall for the most part under Morals,
Fashions, Classes, and Religion.

Under Morals :

Surcuyclry,1 1 66.
Luxury, 306, 341, 380.
Avarice, 401.
Ambition, 410.
Usury, 792, 845.
Drunkenness, etc.; 480 ff., 850.
Dishonesty in trade, 1075-1131.

Under Fashions :

Sports, etc., 358, 371, 859.
Clothes, etc., 382, 767, 389, 1150.

Under Religion :

Priests' morals, 810 ff.
Pluralities, 857.
Simony.

Satire on classes, such as we met with as early as the Ship
of Fools, is found throughout. One should also note the
satire on public affairs, in the passages on the commonwealth,
rulers, and the like. Gascoigne adverts, like Wyatt, to the
characteristic vices of continental countries (903—918, 956—
961). Of literary or personal satire the Steele Glas contains
none.

It has already been remarked that this satire, while not a
classical imitation, is an artificial product. While not in a
fixed literary form, it seems to be under the influence of the

1 i. e. , presumption. Usually written surquedry or surquidry.

George Gascoigne. 73

idea of such a form. A serious purpose has generally been
assumed for it. Thus Mr. Arber says :

" It was a first experiment in English satire ; and although it does not fang
like Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, it is a vigorous effort in favour of truth,
right, and justice." !

As Professor Schelling has pointed out, there was not the
slightest reason why Gascoigne's satire should have " fanged "
like Dryden's ; but on the other hand, it did not reach the
unconscious power of sincerity which its English predecessors
display. It is charactistic of its attitude that, after describing
the selfish pomp and luxury of kings, it disclaims all local
allusion :

" I speake not this by any english king,
Nor by our Queene, whose high forsight provides
That dyre debate is fledde to foraine Realmes,
Whiles we injoy the golden fleece of peace."

(325 ft)

Like many other satirists, Gascoigne preferred to deal
gently with royalty, though when it came to the petty cheat-
ing of London merchants he could afford to speak without
modifications.

Mr. Herford, after discussing the sources of Gascoigne's
Glass of Government, remarks interestingly on the confusion
of influences appearing in such a man.2 He calls Gascoigne
" a Calvinist by grace, but a true Elizabethan by nature."
Mr. Courthope, evidently with a respectful view of the serious
purpose of the Steele Glas, observes that it " reflects in the
most vivid manner both the continuity of the reforming move-
ment in religion, which had been supported by Wycliffe and
Langland in the fourteenth century, and the active operation
of the individual conscience in men, which was the great
agent in the Reformation of the sixteenth century."

1 Introduction to Arber Reprint, p. 13.

2 Literary Relations of England and Germany, pp. 163 f.

3 History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 177.

74 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Here must be mentioned the Prosopopoia : or Mother Ihibbard'' s Tale of
Edmund Spenser, which was published in 1591, and dedicated to the Lady Compton
and Mountegle. It has frequently been called a satire, and is of course a satirical
fable, after the manner of the mediaeval Reynard. The satire is of classes. The
fox and the ape, seeking to better their condition, become at first soldiers, " that
now is thought a civile begging sect;" then shepherds; then clerks; then
courtiers ; then respectively prime minister and king. Their experiences in each
capacity give room for some very keen description of the characteristics of the
various professions. They are attracted to the clerical order by learning of the
easy life of its members, but are warned that to secure advancement they must
make friends at court.

" These be the way es by which without reward
Livings in Court be gotten, though full hard ;
For nothing there is done without a fee :
The Courtier needes must recompenced bee
With a Benevolence, or have in gage
The Primitias of your Parsonage :
Scarce can a Bishoprick forpas them by
But that it must be gelt in privitie." l

(513 ff.)

The life of courtiers is described at length by the observing Mule. The
boldest part of the satire, if we assume contemporary significance for it, is that
describing the administration of the ape and the fox, when they had by deceit
acquired control of the animal kingdom.

"The Ape, thus seized of the Regall throne, . . .
First to his Gate he pointed a strong gard,
That none might enter but with issue hard :
Then, for the safeguard of his persopage,
He did appoint a warlike equipage
Of forreine beasts, not in the forest bred,
But part by land and part by water fed ;
For tyrannic is with strange ayde supported.
Then unto him all monstrous beasts resorted
Bred of two kindes, as Griffons, Minotaures,
Crocodiles, Dragons, Beavers, and Centaures :
With those himselfe he strengthned mightelie,
That feare he neede no force of enemie.
Then gan he rule and tyrannize at will."

(mi ff.)

1 " Gelded" vicarages or bishoprics were those of which a part of the revenues
was reserved by the patron conferring them. See later, under Hall and others.

Jo/in Donne. 75

And of the Fox it is said :

" He fed his cubs with fat of all the soyle,
And with the sweete of others sweating toyle ;
He crammed them with the crumbs of Benefices, . . .
He chaffred Chayres in which Churchmen were set,
And breach of lawes to privie ferme did let. . . .
Men of learning little he esteemed ; . . .
As for the rascall Commons least he cared." ( 1151 ff. )

At length Jove interferes in this mock kingdom, sends Mercury to the rescue,
and the lion is restored to power. The Fox is skinned, and the Ape loses a part
of his ears and all of his tail.

The satire here is chiefly courtly and political. The latter element would be
an interesting subject for more study than has yet been devoted to it, though it
does not concern our present purpose. Collier suggests that the fox may have
been intended to represent Spenser's enemy, Lord Treasurer Burghley. l

If we call the Mother Hubbard"* s Tale a satire, it' is the first satire of the
period to appear in the decasyllabic couplet, the metrical form which was later
almost universally adopted for satirical verse. This is a fact of no little interest,
especially when it is considered that Spenser's couplet was unusually regular and
compact, showing a very small proportion of run-on lines or couplets, and few
metrical irregularities of any kind.2 The poem is also connected with other satires
of its age by the common view of a degenerate age as compared with a former
prosperous period (see lines 141 ff.), and by the thought which has already
become familiar in our study, of the contrast between what is and what seems.
(See 1. 649 f. ) This latter idea is a constantly recurring one in the satire of the
sixteenth century.

We cannot, however, call the Tale a formal satire on classical models. The
frame-work of it, as has been observed, goes back to the mediaeval beast-fables.
There are few if any evidences of immediate classical inspiration ; there is an
ultimately classical allusion to the " golden age of Saturn old," but this was com-
mon property. There is no general assault upon contemporary vices ; there is no
classical local color, save that of mythology ; and the style is not imitative. The
essential satire upon the court, the clergy, and the politics of the period we should,
however, be sorry to miss ; and the work is interesting from the reappearance of
satirical ability, and the interest in popular reforms, which Spenser had shown
much earlier in some well-known passages of the Shepherd's Calendar.

4. JOHN DONNE.

In recent editions of the works of Donne appear seven
" Satires." Five of them were included in the first edition of

1 Collier's ed. of Spenser, vol. iv, p. 427.

2 See metrical table in Appendix.

76 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

his poems, in 1633 ; a sixth was added in the edition of 1635,
and a seventh in the edition of 1669. The actual date of
writing of these satires is involved in some obscurity, and,
owing to the disputed claims of priority among the various
satirists of the last decade of the sixteenth century, is a matter
of no little interest.

The satires are commonly referred to the year 1593. This
is on the authority of Harleian MS. 51 10, which contains the
first three satires, and is inscribed " John Dunne His Satires.
Anno Domini I 593." There is also in the Hawthornden MSS.
a transcription of the fourth satire, by William Drummond,
dated 1 594 ; but we shall presently see that this is probably a
mistake. The authenticity of the date on the Harleian MS.
does not seem to have been seriously questioned.

There has been not a little talk of a printed volume of
Donne's poetry, containing the satires, which is supposed to
have appeared during the author's lifetime. The evidence for
this consists in certain allusions by contemporaries. Thus one
of Freeman's epigrams, in Rubbc and a Great Cast (1614),
is addressed to Donne, in which, after referring to Donne's
poems on the Storm and the Calm, the writer adds :

" Thy Satyrk short too soone we them o'erlook,
I prithee, Persius, write another booke !"

Dr. Grosart oddly enough mistook this as a reference to " two
short satires;" l the main point, however, is not the number,
but the question whether Freeman's allusion indicates a
printed volume. Of the same character is the allusion of
Jonson's 94th Epigram (dating before 1616), which was
addressed to the Countess of Bedford with a gift of "M.
Donne's Satires." There is also a reference to Donne's poems
in William Drummond's private papers of 1613. Finally, in
a letter of Donne's dated April 14, 1612, he speaks apologet-
ically of having " descended to print anything in verse." The

1 Grosart ed. of Donne, vol. ii. p. xxxii.

Jo] in Donne. 77

tendency of the best authority now, however, is to reject
the idea of this hypothetical and much-regretted volume. As
is observed in some manuscript notes to Grosart's edition of
Donne,1 there is nothing in the allusions of Freeman, Jonson,
and Drummond which might not be explained by manuscript
copies of the satires, circulated as so commonly in the Eliza-
bethan period. Since the total number of Donne's satires is
so few, we should not indeed expect that they would be sepa-
rately referred to as in book form. Mr. Collier thought, how-
ever, that Freeman's desire for a "bigger book" indicated a
printed volume.2 So far as the passage in Donne's letter is
concerned, it is sufficiently explained by the publication of the
Anatomy of tJ ic World in 1611.

The question of a volume earlier than the edition of 1633
does not, however, bear significantly upon the matter of the
original date of the satires ; for they are admittedly of early
date in a general sense. A frequently quoted passage in this
connection is that from Izaak Walton's Elegy on Donne,
printed together with the Life in 1640 :

" Did his youth scatter poetry, wherein

Lay Love's philosophy? Was every sin

Pictured in his sharp satires, made so foul,

That some have fear'd sin's shapes, and kept their soul

Safer by reading verse ; did he give d*ays,

Past marble monuments, to those whose praise

He would perpetuate ? Did he — I fear
1 Envy will doubt — these at his twentieth year ? " 3

There is a similar testimony in Jonson's conversations with
Drummond, to the effect that Donne's satires were written
before he was twenty. As he was born in 1573, this would
place them near 1593, the date on the Harleian MS. I am
indebted to Professor Martin G. Brumbaugh for another piece

J Probably by the late Dr. Brinsley Nicholson. The copy is now in the Phila-
delphia Library.

2 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. p. 158.

3 Muses' Library ed. (ed. Chambers), vol. i. p. xxxix.

7 8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

of evidence, apparently proceeding directly from Izaak Walton.
Professor Brumbaugh is the fortunate -owner of a copy of the
1633 edition of Donne which was owned by Walton himself,
and contains his autograph on the fly-leaf, and various margi-
nal notes throughout the text. At the head of the Satires, in
this volume, is written (apparently in Walton's hand) the
words : "Writ in Q. Eliz-a's Days probably about 15 90 odd."
There was perhaps no man more able than Izaak Walton to
give evidence in matters relating to Donne; but on the other hand
it must be said that his zeal in showing that all Donne's secular
verse was the work of his extreme youth (a zeal that led him
to arrange for a youthful portrait of Donne to take the place
of the late one that was published in the first edition), suggests
a prejudicial disposition in connection with such statements.

Of internal evidence of date there is almost nothing definite
in the first three satires. In the first there is a mysterious
reference to "the infant of London, heir to an India,"1 which,
if anyone could explain it, might give a hint as to a contem-
porary date. In the second there is a reference to "tricesimo
of the Queen," which would be appropriate at any time after
1588. In the third there is allusion to the giving of aid to
" mutinous Dutch," which in like manner might belong to
any date after I 580. In the fourth satire we are a little better
off. This is the satire existing in the Hawthornden MS. with
the date 1594. It contains a reference to " Gallo-Belgicus," a
newspaper which, according to Grosart and Chambers, was
started in I 598. This date, however, is a mistake, the Mcrcu-
rius Gallo-Bclgicus having in reality been started as early as
I588.2 There is also in Donne's satire an allusion (1. 1 14) to

1 1. 58. In the 1669 ed. it is given : " The infantry of London, hence to India."
Mr. Gosse writes me : " My impression is that ' the Infant of London ' was the
name of a merchant-vessel, and that there is some obscure allusion here to
this ship having been intended for the India trade, and having been competed
for. The MSS. offer no help."

2 The first editor, Michael von Isselt, died in 1597 ; and his successor took
charge of the volume for 1598, a fact which perhaps may have given rise to the

Joint Donne. 79

the period from the time when

" The Spaniards came, to the loss of Amiens."

As Grosart observes, the earlier date should be that of the
Armada, 1588, and the later 1597, when Amiens was sur-
prised by the Spaniards. As the city was recovered within a
few months, Dr. Grosart thinks the absence of an allu-
sion to its recovery indicates that the satire was written in
1597, between the capture and the recovery, forgetting that
he has just laid down i 598 as the earliest limit for the refer-
ence to " Gallo-Belgicus." Curiously enough, Mr. Chambers
(in the Muses' Library edition) follows him in this incon-
sistency. As a matter of fact there was no reason why
Donne should have referred to the recapture of Amiens ; it
appears, however, that there is no objection to placing the
satire in 1597 or shortly afterward. A reference to "the
Queen" fixes 1603 as the latest limit.

The fifth satire also contains a reference to Elizabeth, and
is evidently of the same general period as the fourth. The
most significant allusion it contains relates to " the great
Carrick's pepper." I quote from Grosart' s notes on this
line (85):

" About 1596 or after, the price of pepper rose from $s. to 8s. a pound, owing
to the war with Spain and Portugal. . . . On the 3lst December, 1600, a
charter was granted to the Governor and Company of Merchants of London
trading to the East Indies, and in the spring of 1601 they sent out four large ships
under Captain James Lancaster. He . . . did not return till September, 1603.
. . . But ' he had previously sent home the other two [vessels] with cargoes
composed partly of pepper, cloves, and cinnamon, partly of calicoes and other
Indian manufactures taken out of a Portuguese carrack that he had fallen in with
and captured' {Pictorial History of England, b. vii. c. 4, On the National Indus-
try). I have not been able to trace the exact date of the arrival of these vessels."

This explanation has been generally accepted as fixing the
date of the fifth satire as 1601 or 1602. But there is a

error. On this matter see Prutz : Geschichte des deutschen Journalismus > p. 202,
and Brockhaus's KonverscUions- Lexicon, vol. .xvi. p. 938. Jonson's Epigram 92
contains an allusion to the same publication.

8o The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

difficulty which Grosart and others do not seem to have
noticed. In the same satire is a flattering allusion which has
been generally assumed to be addressed to Lord Chancellor
Ellesmere, for some time Donne's employer:

"You, sir, whose righteousness she loves, whom I,
By having leave to serve, am most richly
For service paid, authorized now begin
To know and weed out this enormous sin."

(31 ff.)

Now it was from 1596 to 1600 that Donne was secretary to
Lord Ellesmere, and in 1600 that he was discharged as a
result of his clandestine marriage. From 1600 to 1604 he
lived in retirement, and — presumably — in some chagrin.1 We
should not therefore expect to find the satire containing the
address to the Lord Chancellor dating from later than 1 600.
It is possible that there was a carrick of pepper known to
local fame before the time of Captain Lancaster's expedition ;
and again it is possible that the reference to the carrick (which
is almost at the end of the satire) was added to an early ver-
sion written during the author's secretaryship.

The sixth satire (the shortest and least interesting), which
was added in the 1635 edition, contains no internal evidence
whatever of its date.

The seventh we have seen was not added till the 1669
edition. It has generally been accepted as authentic, but
Professor Brumbaugh (in his dissertation, still in manuscript,
on the Poetry of Donne, which I have had the fortunate opportu-
nity of using) believes that it is by another hand than Donne's.

"The coloring," he says, " is entirely unlike the others, and the dignity, sin-
cerity, and profundity of the others is wanting. Then, too, to accept it as
Donne's introduces an element of insincerity and of hypocrisy into his life
entirely unwarranted by the facts. The Satire is addressed to Sir Nicholas Smyth,
and heaps personal abuse and obloquy upon Elizabeth and James I. Donne
never refers to Elizabeth but in the most considerate manner, and to James he was
indebted for the final and great triumph of his life — his career as a divine. It

1 See Jessopp's article on Donne, in Dictionary of National Biography, and his
Life of Donne.

John Donne. 81

seems utterly impossible that Donne should have given forth such an unusual
product as this. The production belongs clearly to the time of James ; but
Donne after 1600 never entertained such unseemly thoughts as those that mark
the unmanly and unworthy author of this foul-flavored satire."

The date of the satire is fixed in part by the reference to King
James as "that Scot" who now rides with "sumpter-horse,"
but

" at his coming up, had not
A sumpter-dog." (131 ff. )

There are also allusions to the death of Essex and Cuff, in 1601,
and to a certain Epps who died in the siege of Ostend, which
began in the same year. The satire is dated 1602 in the
Hazlewood MS., but the incorrectness of this is made certain
by its reference to the death of Elizabeth.

I do not feel disposed to speak certainly as to Professor
Brumbaugh's rejection of this satire. He has in person
expressed the additional objection that as the satire seems to
belong to 1603 or 1604, it must, if written by Donne, have been
produced during his period of retirement and quasi-disgrace,
when he would have been little likely to write satires. It is
to be said, however, that there is some evidence indicating that
he finished the fifth satire in this period ; and that his unhappy
experience with the authorities might have been just what
would lead him to the bitterness shown in his allusions to
Elizabeth and James. So far as James is concerned, if the
satire was written immediately after his accession, Donne
had as yet no cause for gratitude toward him. It may be
admitted, however, that the references to these royal persons
are not in keeping with what we should have expected of
their supposed author. The more intangible evidence against
the authenticity of the satire — its want of the coloring, dignity,
and profundity characteristic of Donne — is of little value except
in the hands of one who has made himself absolutely familiar
with the style of the poet. This Professor Brumbaugh has
done, and although the distinctions which he makes would

82 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englant

probably not be at once apparent even to the careful reader, I
cannot here meet him on equal ground. In the absence of
confirmatory evidence, and in consideration of the general
acceptation of the seventh satire, I do not see that it can be
positively rejected.

These satires, then, cover a possible period of something
like ten years, from 1593 to 1603. There is no positive evi-
dence to place the first three before 1595, when Lodge's
Satires appeared, or even before 1597, when the first of Hall's
were published. But in the absence of contradictory evidence,
the MS. of date of 1593 may be tentatively accepted. The
fourth satire dates from 1598 or thereabout ; the fifth is prob-
ably to be placed near 1600 ; the sixth cannot be dated ; and
the seventh (whether it be Donne's or not) belongs apparently
to 1603 or a little later. If these dates are correct Donne's
satires cover just the decade when the form was in its greatest
vigor in England.

The popularity and influence of these satires we have already
seen reason to believe were considerable. Jonson and Drum-
mond admired them; Freeman called the author a Persius,
and demanded more. If these men knew Donne's satires in
manuscript (or, indeed, — what is less probable — if they knew
them in printed form) they must have been widely circulated
in England, and — like the other poetry of their author — have
exercised a notable influence upon the younger generation.
In later times -they were still admired. Dryden flattered his
patron, the Earl of Dorset, by telling him :

" Donne alone, of all our countrymen, had your talent; but was. not happy
enough to arrive at your versification ; and were h,e translated into numbers, and
English, he would yet be wanting in the dignity of expression. . . . You equal
Donne in the variety, multiplicity, and choice of thoughts ; you excel him in the
manner and the words. I read you both with the same admiration, but not with
the same delight." '

Dryden's hint as to translation " into numbers and English "
was taken by Parnell, who paraphrased Donne's third satire,

1 Scott- Saintsbury ed., vol. xiii. p. 6.

John Donne. 83

and by Pope, who " versified " the second and fourth so as to
suit the ear of his age. All true Donneians have judged
them violently for doing so ; but there was something more
than whimsical in the opinion of these several poets that
there is in the satires of Donne an element of permanent
strength, which nevertheless fails of permanent appeal because
of the idiosyncrasies of the author and the peculiarities of his
period.

If the MotJier Hubbard' s Talc be not counted, we have here
the first use of the decasyllabic couplet in formal satire —
assuming Donne's satires to be earlier than I 595. The couplet
as he used it is as far as possible from the compact, periodic
measure of the later satirists. His usual contempt for form
appears here to an exaggerated degree ; and it seems probable
that it is from the satires that there has spread widely the idea
of Donne's poetry as being so metrically infelicitous. The
measure is characterized by approximation to the common
speech of conversation ; it is this that throws both syllable-
counting and observance of regular accent into the back-
ground1 Whether there was anything intentional in the
ruggedness of the rhythm will be a matter for later inquiry.

The style is like the metre : rugged, free and conversational.
in construction, and yet extremely compact, almost always
vigorous, occasionally obscure either through conciseness or
Latinized construction. It is marked by the curiously con-
crete vocabulary, the intellectual mood, and the out-flashing
insight (often cynical in tone) which mark the body of the
early poetry of the author. Quite naturally, it shows the ele-
ments of cynicism, coarseness, and dramatic interpretation, to
a greater degree than his other poems. Dr. Grosart praises
the satires in terms which, as usual, must be taken aun grano
sails :

"Our satirist is pungent, yet never in a fury. He is proportioned too in his
noble rage. . . . Occasionally you catch the sound of musical, joyous laughter,

1 See metrical table in Appendix.

~*ormal Satire in Jbiiglaiu

and anon the awful tears consecrated top outrages too deep for words. . . .
Bishop Hall's Satires placed beside them look thin and empty." J

I believe that the elements of both proportion and sincerity
are here considerably exaggerated ; yet it is true that in his
satires, as elsewhere, Donne succeeds in producing by intel-
lectual methods a sense of reality and depth of emotional
experience.

An outline of the contents of the satires is as follows :

Satire I. opens with an account of the pleasures of the library. A young
gallant of the period is introduced, who persuades the author to go with him for
a walk ; as they go abroad, he has his eyes ever on the rich or distinguished,
bowing obsequiously, and making estimates of all- passers-by according to their
pocketbooks. At length he deserts his companion, in a mad rush after his mis-
tress. Various affectations of the period, and incidentally lust, conceit, and flat-
tery, are touched upon.

Satire II. deals with the sins of lawyers. Minor evils, such as vile poetasters
who write for any reason except that they have talent, — together with drinkers,
swearers and usurers, — the poet declares he can abide ; but Coscus the lawyer,
newly fledged, is too much for him. He now says everything, even to making
love, in legal parlance ; he lies to everyone, cheats his own clients most of all,
and has volumes of worthless documents constantly transcribed. — Country-seats
are described as running to ruin in these times *of excess. Neither fasting nor
riotous feasting is to be favored. Good works are still called good, but out of
fashion.

Satire III. deals with religion, in a serious and sometimes lofty strain. We
are in danger of appearing worse before God than. our pagan ancestors. To love
the world is to love a withered strumpet. A number of seekers of religion are
described and compared with men's various opinions of their mistresses : — the
Romanist, the Calvinist, the Established Churchman, the hater of all, the liberal.
God only must be judge, — not human (delegated) authority.

Satire IV. is of the Horatian type. The poet declares that he has been in
purgatory, having been seized, while on the street, by a strange creature who per-
sisted in boring him with questions, and in gossiping of court and town. At
length, having extorted a crown from his victim, the bore departs ; and the poet
reflects on the wretchedness of the court. Affectations of dress and speech are
treated at random.

Satire V. treats of "officers' rage and suitors' misery." Suitors are the prey
of officials. Injustice is now sold dearer than justice used to be. There is no
help against corrupt courts ; law has fair fingers but cruel nails.

1 Ed. Donne, vol. ii. p. xxviii.

John Donne. 85

Satire VI. ' is addressed to a foolish lover, desirous of marrying a widow
younger than himself. He is warned of the results if he is successful.

Satire VII. is addressed to Sir Nicholas Smyth. Beginning with a eulogy
of sleep, the poet exclaims that he should have been asleep when he first met
Natta " the new knight." The foolish conversation and conduct of this youth are
described at length. The satire concludes with a reference to the author's own
unhappy experience at court, to the treason of Essex, to the old age of Elizabeth,
and the succession of James the " Scot."

Here we have a variety of satirical types. The methods of
satirical narrative, of reflection, and of direct rebuke, all are
used. There are Horatian and Juvenalian elements. The ex^0
attitude toward life is, however, uniformly pessimistic. (See
especially V. 35 ff. and IV. 156-168.) The atmosphere .is
somewhat severe and unamiable ; but there is no formal and
artificial assumption of authority to castigate, as in so many
of the imitative satirists. It is well known that Donne was
least of all men imitative ; and even in following a classical
form he avoids obvious unoriginality. Standing by themselves,
his satires bear no evidence of being in a sophisticated form.

When we come to detailed examination, there are not a few
suggestions of the classical satirists. In Satire I. we may
compare lines 29 ff.

(" That when thou meet at one, with enquiring eyes
Doth search, and like a needy broker prize
The silk and gold he wears, and to that rate,
So high or low, dost raise thy formal hat " )

with Juvenal III. 140 ff.:

" De moribus ultima Met

Quaestio : quot pascit servos ? quot possidet agri
Jugera ? quam multa, magnaque paropside coenat ? ' ' etc.

The ironical illustrations in 53 ff. of the same satire suggest
the similar incidental irony in Juvenal X. 219 ff.:

" Quorum si nomina quaeras,

Promptius expediam, quot amaverit Hippia moechos,
Quot Themison aegros autumno occiderit uno ;
Quot Basilus socios," etc.

1 In the edition of 1669, in which the full number of seven satires first appeared,
the order and numbering of what are here called VI. and VII. were reversed.

iise of format

With the concisely stated doctrine, "Mean's blest "(II. 107)
compare Horace, Satire 2 of Book II., 11. 88-125; Juvenal
XI.; and Persius VI. The account of the bore in Satire IV.
instantly suggests that of Horace, Book I. Satire 9. The
gossip of the same character (11. 98-108; 127 f.) reminds us
of Juvenal VI. 402-412 :

" Haec eadem novit, quid toto fiat in orbe :
Quid Seres, quid Thraces agant : secreta novercae,
Et pueri : quis amet : quis decipiatur adulter," etc.

In V. 35 ff. the allusion to the "age of rusty iron," which
deserves some worse name, is obviously derived from Juvenal
XIII. 28 ff.:

" Nunc aetas agitur, pejoraque saecula ferri
Temporibus : quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa
Nomen, et a nullo posuit natura metallo."

Line 109 of Satire VII.,

" By their place more noted, if they err,"

suggests Juvenal VIII. 140 f.:

" Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se

Crimen habet, quanto major, qui peccat, habetur."

The prayers of Natta, in VII. 53 ff., are to be compared
with Persius II. 10 ff, and it may be said also that the most
serious of the satires (the third, on religion) suggests the
second of Persius in general tone. The name Natta, used in
the seventh Satire, is found in Horace, Bk. I., Sat. 6, 1. 124 ;
in Juvenal VIII. 95 ; and in Persius III. 31. The reference
in Persius is most closely connected with Donne's character ;
but the name seems to be accepted as a mere satirical type.

These are the detailed suggestions of familiarity with clas-
sical satire which have fallen under my observation. Only
two or three of them are sufficiently clear to be significant if
taken separately ; but together they indicate the influence of
the Latin satirists, particularly Juvenal, with some clearness.

John Donne. 87

Whether Donne had any other models in mind is an interest-
ing question. We have been obliged to assume that his first
three satires antedated those of Lodge and Hall ; and the
later ones are so generally in the same manner as to preclude
the probability of any new influence, — even if Donne were the
man to be influenced by contemporary fashions. I am
indebted to Mr. J. B. Fletcher, of Harvard University, for a
suggestion that he may have had some French satires in mind
in writing his own. Mr. Fletcher calls attention to a letter
of Donne's (105 in the Alford edition1), unfortunately without
date or name of the person addressed, which opens as follows :

" To Yourself. Sir : I make shift to think that I promised you this book of
French Satires. If I did not, yet it may have the grace of acceptation, both as
it is a very forward and early fruit, since it comes before it was looked for, and as
it comes from a good root, which is an importune desire to serve you."

These expressions are interestingly ambiguous. Were it
not for the word "French," as Mr. Fletcher observes, we
should assume at once that the letter had reference to the
writer's own compositions. That he should have written in
French, however, is a supposition quite without support in
what we know either of him or of the period. The sugges-
tion that he may have had reference to paraphrases or trans-
lations made by himself from the French is of most interest,
but it will have appeared from what was said of formal satire
in France that he had slight chance of obtaining French
satires before the publication of those of Vauquelin and Regnier.
I am of the opinion that the letter must be regarded as of com-
paratively late date, like most of those of Donne's which
have come down to us.2

1 Vol. vi. p. 421.

2 Mr. Edmond Gosse, who is engaged in the preparation of the Life and Letters
of Donne, writes to me in regard to this : "The letter in question was written to
George Gerrard, who, I am convinced by a long chain of evidence, is always the
'yourself of Donne's correspondence. It was written in 1612, and I think
after August. The book of satires is almost certainly the ' Satyres et autres oeuvres
folastres' of Regnier, published early in 1612 while Donne was in Paris. It is

88 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

There is little of the native English element in these satires
of Donne's. The treatment of religion in Satire III. is highly
theoretical, and does not attack the concrete abuses of organ-
ized religion. The attack in Satire V. on the oppressions
practiced by legal officers is more like much of early English
satire, but even here it is as an individual, and not as a repre-
sentative of the people, that the satirist speaks. This note of
individual pessimism is what most clearly connects Donne's
satires with those of the Romans. In both cases the occasion
of the satire is primarily in the reflective disposition ; and in
both cases the emphasis is on private morals, fashions and
humors. The style, while not distinctly imitative, is more
like that of classical satire than any we have yet met with.
Its compactness, its indirect method, its allusiveness are all of
the classical sort. We meet, too, for the first time, distinct
use of the personal type-names, the Latin form of which is the
only departure from English local color (see II. 40; III. 43,
62, 65 ; IV. 48, 219 ; VII. 22, 70). The use of dialogue (as
in the semi-dramatic street conversations) is in the Latin
manner. In general the style is that of a recognized literary
form, although there was in England, at the time when
Donne's first satires seem to have been written, no such
recognized form. The humor is of the sharp and subtle sort,
based largely on exaggeration. Finally, the selection of vices
to be satirized (the flattery of heirs, various forms of lust,

interesting to notice that this was the first edition of Regnier containing the
Macette, which must have greatly interested Donne, as the entirely successful
execution of a scheme which he himself had unsuccessfully attempted nearly
twenty years before."

In reference to the possible sources of Donne's satires, Mr. Fletcher also
suggests the influence of the " Bernesque " satire of Italy, saying, "He would
seem to show some characteristic traits of the Poesia Bernesca, — anti-Petrarchism,
love of paradox, frank licentiousness, malicious 'point.' ' Berni was a satirist —
not of the formal type — of the first quarter of the sixteenth century. Boccalini
compared him with Juvenal in an amusing fable of a proposed contest between
the ancient and the modern satirist, -which Juvenal declined on the ground that
Berni could arm himself with all the new vices of modern times.

John D.onne. 89

luxury and avarice, idleness and wantonness, personal vanity,
and the like) reminds us of classical satire. Not infrequently
we come upon a passage which suggests, without direct remi-
niscence, that it may be an adaptation from Juvenal. Yet in
the use of classical material, as the separate passages already
cited show, Donne was as usual untrammeled and original.

The objects satirized, roughly classified as formerly, are
these :

Under Morals :

Flattery and obsequiousness, I. 29 ff. ; IV. 38 ff.
Lust, I. 38 ff.; 108; VII. 35 ft.
Luxury, IV. 169-181.
Fortune-hunting, VII. 53 ff.

Fashions and Personal Humors:

I. 14 ff.; 6 1 ff.; 71 ff.
II. 45 ff.

IV. 20-154 ; l8o-2l6.
VI. and VII., passim.

Public Affairs :

Official corruption, V.

Courts and kings, VII. 110-133.

Classes :

Lawyers, II.

Courtiers, IV., VII.

" Scarlet gowns," 2 IV. 192.

Literature :

Bad poetry ; plagiarism, II. 5-30.
Love-poetry ; Abraham Fraunce, VII. 82-89.

.

Religion :

III., passim.

Persons": —

Fraunce (as above).
Elizabeth, James, etc., VII.

(Perhaps others, not identified.)

2 Probably doctors of the Universities.

po The Rise of Formal Satire in Englam

These satires, then, were the experiments of a young man,
whose own genius was in some respects closely akin to that
of the classical satirists, and who could adopt their material
and make it his own. In so young a poet, and in such experi-
mental work, we should not look for any great degree of
emotional sincerity ; yet Dr. Grosart finds Donne's satires " not
so much a given number of printed lines and part of a book, as
a man's living heart pulsating with the most tragical reality
Of emotion." * Few will be impressed in the same way, until
they undertake an edition of Donne and are attacked by the
editorial passion. We need not deny genuine indignation to
the young satirist ; but it is for the most part like that of
Jonson's plays, — the indignation of formal rebuke of foolish
fashions, not the passion of an aroused people or of a deeply
stirred individual.

5. THOMAS LODGE.

"A fig for Momus, Containing Pleasant varietie, included in Satyres, Eclogues,
and Epistles, by T. L. of Lincolnes Inne Gent. Che pecora si fa, il lupo selo
mangia. At London," etc. I595-2

This work was licensed on March 26, 1595. Unlike most
of the satires of the period, these were produced near the
end, instead of near the beginning, of their author's literary
career. Lodge's poetical work was nearly complete in 1595 ;
five years later he became a physician and abandoned poetry.
The Fig for Momus was an experiment in a different direction
from his previous successes, and does not seem to have
acquired much popularity. At any rate, Lodge seems never to
have been led to print the " whole centon "of his satires which
he tells us were in his possession. This comparatively slight
success may be due in part to the absence of contemporary

1 Ed. of Donne. Intro. Essay, vol. ii. p. xxviii.

2 Reprinted in Hunterian Club ed. of Lodge, vol. iii.

Thomas Lodge. 91

allusion in the satires, and to the absence, too, of any consider-
able amount of humor. In all ages satire has depended in
large part for its popularity upon either its narrative frame-
work (particularly the frame-work of allegory) or the humor
of its style $and when both these elements are lacking, one
cannot expect much success. Lodge was included, however,
in Meres's list of successful English satirists in the Palladis
Tamia ( I 598). This passage in Meres it may be well to quote
at this point, as it is of important bearing on our subject.

" As Horace, Lucilius, Juvenal, Persius, and Lucullus are the best for Satire
among the Latines : so with us, in the same faculty, these are chief : Piers Plow-
man, Lodge, Hall of Emmanuel College in Cambridge ; the Author of Pygma-
lions Image and certain Satires ; the Author of Skialetheia." }

And again :

" As that ship is endangered where all lean to one side ; but is in safety, one
leaning one way and another another way : so the dissensions of Poets among
themselves, doth make them, that they less infect their readers. And for this
purpose, our Satirists Hall, the Author of Pygmalion"1 s Image and Certain Satires,
Rankins, and such others, are very profitable." 2

Lodge, then, was next after Langland ; the other names
mentioned by Meres we are soon to meet. It may be noticed
that the satires of Lodge were still known to at least one man
as late as 1615; for, as Mr. Collier pointed out,3 Anthony
Nixon, who in that year published his Scourge of Corruption,
plagiarized the opening cf Lodge's first satire, printing the
paraphrase in prose form as though to disguise the fact :

"Whence comes it (say you) that the world begins, when each hath cause
another to reprehend, to winke at follies and to soothe up sinnes ? " etc.

The metrical form of the satires of Lodge is the deca-
syllabic couplet, as in Donne. The verse is very much
smoother, however, than Donne's, showing the practiced
hand of one who for years had been writing not only good,

1 Arber's English Garner, vol. ii. p. 100.

2 p. 106.

3 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. p. 302.

92 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englam

but admirable, verse ; and the number of run-on lines and
couplets is noticeably small. The use of this metre for the
purpose of satire is of special interest in connection with the
order and influence of the several satirists of this period. Mr.
Gosse gives Lodge great credit for its introduction.

"This was another case in which Lodge set a fashion which has been followed
by every English writer of the same kind. The satire in heroic couplets has
passed 'from Lodge through Hall, Donne, Dryden, Pope, Churchill, Crabbe and
Byron, to such rare later efforts as have been essayed, without any change of
outward form, and Lodge deserves the credit of his discovery." !

Mr. Gosse seems to select the order of publication for the
enumeration of the satirists, neglecting the probably early
date of Donne's first satires, in which the couplet was used
(though it must be confessed it was by no means " heroic ").
Whether Lodge had seen any of Donne's satires (assuming
that they were in manuscript at least two years before the
publication of the Fig for Mounts) it is perhaps impossible to
say ; I should think it improbable. Granting, however, that his
choice of the couplet for satire was independent, I do not
think its use by succeeding satirists can be positively attributed
to his influence. Donne's satires seem to have been more
widely known than his, even while unpublished, and the influ-
ence of Donne at this time may already have begun to be felt.
It was undoubtedly the satires of Hall ^however, which had
most influence on all his successors ; and if we could but
know whether he was familiar with those of Donne, of Lodge,
or of both, or whence he derived the measure which he used
so skillfully, we should know something of no little importance
for the history of satirical verse.

If Lodge was the more successful in the verse of his satires,
Donne was the more successful in style. Lodge misses both
the Horatian urbanity and the Juvenalian vigor. Some pas-
sages are not without strength, but in general Mr. Gosse's
observation that the style is monotonous and that " the thought

1 Memoir of Lodge, in Hunterian Club ed., vol. i. p. 34.

Thomas Lodge. 93

is rarely bright enough, or the expression nervous enough to
demand definite praise," maybe sustained. " The best that
can be said of them is that they are lucid and Horatian," he
goes on j1 to which it may be objected that while they are
lucid they are certainly not Horatian. There is no active
personality revealed, as in the work of Horace and Wyatt, or
of Donne and Juvenal ; the author strikes one as being a stolid,
not unamiable person, decidedly English in tone though
adopting an un-English form.

The satires are four in number, though there appear to be
five, owing to a mistake in the numbering. The book opens
with a dedication to Wm. Earle of Darbie, followed by an
address " to the Gentlemen Readers whatsoever." Here the
name is explained by the fact that the " detractor " (critic),
" worthily deserving the name of Momus, shall rather at my
hands have a figge to choake him, then hee, and his lewd
tongue shall have a frumpe to check me."

"This cause (gentlemen) hath drawne me to use this title, and under this title.
I have thought good to include Satyres, Eclogues and Epistles : first by reason
that I studie to delight with varietie, next because I would write in that forme,
wherin no man might chalenge me with servile imitation, (wherewith heretofore
I have been unjustlie taxed.) My Satyres (to speake truth) are by pleasures,
rather placed here to prepare, and trie the eare, then to feede it : because if they
passe well, the whole Centon of them, alreadie in my hands, shall sodainly bee
published.

" In them (under the names of certaine Romaines) where I reprehend vice,
purposely wrong no man, but observe the lawes of that kind of poeme : If any
repine thereat, I am sure he is guiltie, because he bewrayeth himselfe." — (Dated
6 May, 1595.)

It is here to be noticed that Lodge makes no distinct claim to
originality in using the form of satire (nor that of the eclogue),
though of his Epistles he declares that " they are in that
kind, wherein no Englishman of our time hath publiquely
written." His classical imitation is frankly admitted for the
Eclogues : " whose margents, though I fill not with quota-
tions, yet their matter, and handling, will show my diligence."
Ubid., p. 36.

94 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

There are seven epistles and four eclogues. The second
satire is misnumbered 3, and the others follow the error.

Satire I. treats of the tendency of all the world to love flattery and reject
reproof. Bribes, lechery, usury, ambition, the praise of bad poetry, luxury,
flattery, and avarice are attacked in particular.

Satire II. treats of the examples of parents and the durability of early im-
pressions, particularly in the matters of gambling, lust, profanity, and extrava-
gance.

Satire III. is addressed to " a deere friend lately given over to covetousnesse."
There is a picture of the miser's miserable lot : the real poverty of his home, life,
and prospects.

Satire IV. treats of the commonly mistaken ideas of what is truly good, and of
the striving for what is really weariness. Ambition, conquest, fraudulent deal-
ing, are rebuked ; and there is in conclusion an account of the happiness of a lowly
life, free from fear of enemies or calamity.

The type of satire is clearly that of rebuke and admonition,
with a touch of .the reflective manner. The attitude toward
life is less pessimistic than commonly, — certainly if the first
satire is excepted, in which there are sweeping charges against
"the world," but without Juvenalian bitterness. In the third
satire the folly of avarice is represented as belonging simply
to the individual addressed. This element of optimism may
be assumed to be an at least partially individual point of view,
as distinct from conformity to models.

Distinct suggestions of connection with classical satire are
not hard to find. The picture of the lazy " Rollus, lusking in
his bed " (p. lo)1 suggests the opening of Persius Satire III.
The reference to

"cunning sin being clad in Vertues shape" (p. II )

strikes a note familiar in all the satire of the period ; we have
already noticed it in Wyatt II. 61 and Juvenal XIV. 109.
The account of the flattery of bad poetry—

" 'Tis rare, my Lord ! 'twill passe the nicest eares," —

suggests Horace Bk. II. Sat. 5. 95 ff., and other classical

1 References are to the Hunterian Club edition, where the lines are not num-
bered.

TJiomas Lodge. 95

passages on the same theme. The second satire is in large
measure a paraphrase of Juvenal XIV. Thus compare
" damned dice " with " damnosa alea ; " " surfet " with " cana
— gula"; the lines on " Lucillas daughter" with
lines 25—30 in Juvenal ; the lines on the possibility of escape
from early training with 33—36 ; the allusion to the early food
of animals with 83—85 ; and so on throughout. The picture of
the miser in Satire IIL may be compared with Juvenal XIV.
124-140; also with Horace II. 3. 122 ff. and with PersiusVI.
The fourth satire shows at the very outset, in the reference to
" Gades " and " Ganges," that it is based on Juvenal X. The
conclusion is suggested by lines 35/ff. of the latter, but also
suggests Horace II. 6 and other familiar passages.

We find, then, ample evidence that Lodge was taking Juvenal
as a model, with suggestions of the satires of Horace and (less
definitely) of Persius. It appears, then, that in substance these
satires, instead of following Horace closely, as Saintsbury says1,
— perhaps through careless following of Mr. Gosse — are to be
referred primarily to Juvenal. One would naturally look for
Italian influence in Lodge, — an idea suggested, too, by the
quotation on the title-page of the Fig for Momus — and it is
quite probable that he was familiar with the satires of Ariosto
and Alamanni ; but as he did not adopt, with them, the urbane,
epistolary type of satire, he had slight use for their influence.

The native English element in Lodge's satire is chiefly that
of the hopeful, earnest tone. The substance is predomi-
natingly classical. The moral elements, while not obviously
paganized as in later satirists, are not given a Christian color-
ing, as in Gascoigne and even in Donne. The occasion of the
satire is clearly in a reflective turn of mind (cf. the opening
lines of Satire I.); and the emphasis is more completely^©!!
private morals than we have found it hitherto. The point of
view is individual. It is also to be noticed that artificial con-
ditions (such as literary flattery) are conspicuously treated.

1 Elizabethan Literatiire, p. 145-

96 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

In the style the Imitation of classical models is not successful.
The manner of Juvenal was too remote from that of Lodge.
We have, however, a large use of the type-names in Latin
forms (Amphidins, Rollus, Sextus, Quintus, Diffilus, Liicilla,
Volcatius, Tellus, Dacus, Slianus (!), and the like). There is
also an occasional attempt at classical scenery ; as in Satire
II., where one is represented as having in his hall a picture
of Caesar his monarch, and in IV.:

' ' Nor leave the northern lands, and fruitful Gaul
In royall Rome thine empire to enstall."

On the other hand there are slips into thoroughly English
scenes, as in III.:

" Scarce butter' d turneps upon Sundaies have ;
They say at New-yeares-tide men give thee cakes," etc.

There is no subtle humor after the classical manner, nor
semi-dramatic dialogue ; humor indeed of any kind is almost
entirely wanting.

The relation of Lodge's satires to contemporary life is of
the vaguest possible sort. There is but one trace of a distinct
allusion to a contemporary personage or event, and that is at
present beyond my power to explain :

" Who builds on strength by policie is stript :
Who trusts his wit, by wit is soonest tript.
Example be thou Hepar, who profest
A home-born infant of our English west
Hast in that shamefull schene of treasons play
Betray'd thy selfe to death, who would' st betray."

—Satire IV. p. 49 f.

Of objects satirized, we have under
Morals :

Avarice, I., II.
Lechery, I., II.
Ambition, I., IV.
Flattery, I.
Luxury, I., II.
Gambling, II.
Dishonesty, I., IV.

Joseph Hall. 97

This includes very nearly all. Neither fashions, classes,
nor religious life are included, except as related to private
morals. The only literary satire is that already noted, in
regard to literary flattery ; and (except for the passage con-
cerning " Hepar" the traitor) there seems to be no satire of a ,-
personal or political sort.

The occasion of these satires is perhaps more purely artifi-
cial than in the case of any of those previously considered.
Of this the introduction of the author is evidence ; it should
be noted how (p. 93 above) he professes to follow the laws
of a certain " kind of poem," and to reprehend vice " under the
names of certain Romans." He does not show contempt for
the age in which he lives, nor appear to have been aroused by
any concrete contemporary evils. The satires, then, are con-
fessedly experimental, — the work of one who had tried almost
every other literary form. Their chief interest to us is in
their frank imitation of the classical satire.

6. JOSEPH HALL.

" Virgidemiarum Sixe Bookes. First three Bookes of Tooth-lesse Satyrs.
I. Poeticall. 2. Academicall. 3. Morall." London. 1597.
With " Three last Bookes Of by ting Satyres," 1598.

The first group of these satires was entered on the Station-
ers' Register, March 31, 1597 (together with the " worthy
manuscript poems " of Sismond, TJic Northern Mother's Bless-
ing, and The Way of Thrift, which were afterward included in
editions of Hall's poetry) ; the second group a year later,
March 30, I 598. The later editions of the series were nume-
rous, and have caused some confusion to bibliographers.
According to Hazlitt, there were two issues of the Toothless
Satires in 1597, and a revised edition in 1598, besides the
additional publication of the Biting Satires in I 598, and another
edition of both groups in 1599. According to Peter Hall,1

1 In his edition of Joseph Hall, 1838.

Use of Formal Satire in Englam

the edition commonly called that of 1602 is in reality that of
1599, printed " with the surreptitious date of 1602 prefixed to
the first part ; . . . while the correct date of 1 599 still remains
to the second part." This " 1602" edition seems to have
been pirated ; at the end is a printer's note to this effect :

" After this impression was finished, upon the Authors knowledge, I had the
view of a more perfect Copy, wherein were these additions and corrections, which
I thought good to place here, desiring the reader to referre them to their places."

Of some other differences between this edition (a copy of
which is in the Library of Harvard University) and earlier
ones, I shall have occasion to speak later.

In i 597 Joseph Hall was twenty -three years old. He had
taken his M. A. at Cambridge in 1 596, and seems still to
have been a resident of Emmanuel College. So far as is defi-
nitely known, the satires were his first literary work, though it
will appear later that there is some evidence of his having
already written pastoral verse. Certainly the satires seem to
have proved an immediate success. We have already seen
that they were included among the satires enumerated by
Meres, in I 598. In I 599 they were condemned in company
with other satires, by an order of the ecclesiastical authorities,1
but were presently exempted and the prohibition "stayed."
Among the Epigrams of Davies of Hereford (No. 218) is one
which praises Hall's satires. In 1641, when their author was
interested in more important matters than satirical verse, or
verse of any kind, these early productions of his pen were
singled out for attack by no less a person than John Milton.
It was Hall's Defence of the Remonstrance that brought forth
the Apology for Smectymnuus, in which Milton, with his usual
unhappy adherence to the controversial customs of the time,
did not fail to introduce matter having no proper relation to
the controversy.

1 Stationers' Register, I June, 1599.

JosepJi Hall. 99

"I had said," he wrote, "that because the Remonstrant was so much
offended with those who were tart against the prelates, sure he loved toothless
satires, which I took were as improper as a toothed sleekstone. This champion
from behind the arras cries out, that those toothless satires were of the Remon-
strant's making ; and arms himself here tooth and nail, and horn to boot, to
supply the want of teeth, or rather of gums in the satires. . . . For this good
hap I had from a careful education, to be inured and seasoned betimes with the
best and elegantest authors of the learned tongues, and thereto brought an ear
that could measure a just cadence, and scan without articulating : rather nice and
humorous in what was tolerable, than patient to read every drawling versifier.
Whence lighting upon this title of ' toothless satires,' I will not conceal ye what
I thought, readers, that sure this must be some sucking satyr, who might have
done better to have used his coral, and made an end of teething, ere he took
upon him to wield a satire's whip. But when I heard him talk of ' scouring the
rusty swords of elvish knights,' do not blame me if I changed my thought, and
concluded him some desperate cutler. But why ' his scornful muse could never
abide with tragic shoes her ancles for to hide,' the pace of the verse told me that
her mawkin knuckles were never shapen to that royal buskin. And turning by
chance to the sixth satire of his second book, I was confirmed ; where having
begun loftily 'in heaven's universal alphabet,' he falls down to that wretched
poorness and frigidity, as to talk of ' Bridge-street in heaven, and the ostler of
heaven,' and there wanting other matter to catch him a heat, (for certain he was
in the frozen zone miserably benumbed, ) with thoughts lower than any beadle
betakes him to whip the signposts of Cambridge alehouses, the ordinary subject
of freshmen's tales, and in a strain as pitiful. Which for him would be counted
the first English Sacire, to abase himself to, who might have learned better among
the Latin and Italian satirists, and in our own tongue from the ' Vision arid Creed
of Pierce Plowman,' Desides others before him, manifested a presumptuous under-
taking with weak and unexamined shoulders. For a satire as it was born out of
a tragedy, so ought to resemble his parentage, to strike high, and adventure
dangerously at the most eminent vices among the greatest persons, and not to
creep unto every blind tap-house, that fears a constable more than a satire. But
that such a poem should be toothless, I still affirm it to be a bull, taking away the
essence of that which it calls itself. For if it bite neither the persons nor the
vices, how is it a satire ? And if it bite either, how is it toothless ? So that
toothless satires are as much as if he had said toothless teeth.1

For its personalities this passage would not be worthy of
such extended quotation ; but it is quite worth while to get so
full (if maliciously colored) a view of Milton's idea of satire.
We may be sure that had he chosen to write verse satire it
would have been far from "toothless." Two points are of

1 Apology for Smectymmtus. Milton's Prose Works, Bohn ed., vol. iii.
pp. 140 f.

TOO The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

special interest in his account of the true nature of satire :
first, the familiar English idea that it is to be primarily a form
of stinging rebuke (forgetting the urbane, Horatian type) ; and
second, the seventeenth century idea (reminding us of Dryden's
account of heroic poetry) that satire should " strike high,"
and confine itself to the vices of the great.

Peter Hall observed that, after Milton's attack upon Hall's
satires, " for two whole centuries they were then almost for-
gotten." There was an edition at Oxford in 1/53, "and Pope
and Gray were both of them alive, and endeavored to enliven
others to an appreciation of their merits. But it was not till
the masterly analysis by Warton . . . that the Virgidemiarwn
Libri Sex of Bishop Hall took their place among the classical
poetry of the land."1 It is no doubt true that Warton's
extended account of this work has had much to do with its
familiarity to modern readers. But in this matter Warton
was a representative of eighteenth century taste (to which
Hall's work was singularly fitted), instead of being, as in
some other things, a precursor of the taste of the nineteenth
century. It was of all things most natural that men like
Gifford should appreciate the Virgidemiarum, — as when he
wrote in the Baviad :

" Hall could lash with noble rage
The purblind patron of a former age ; ' ' etc.

It was, however, Hall's versification which especially phased
the ear of the eighteenth century. Thus Warton remarks
that " the fabric of the couplets approaches to the modern
standard;"2 and Anderson, in the introduction to Hall's
satires, declares that " many of his lines would do honour to
the most harmonious of our modern poets. The sense has
generally such a pause, and will admit of such a punctuation
at the close of the second line, as if it were calculated for a

1 Notes on the Satires, vol. xii. of Hall's Works.

* History English Poetry, Hazlitt cd., vol. iv. p. 367.

Jose pi i Hall. 101

modern ear."1 It has already been suggested that the form
of Hall's satires exerted great influence upon his successors;
it may be added that he was in fact one of the first to adopt
the compact satirical couplet accepted by later satirists. The
proportion of run-on lines and run-on couplets is almost the
same as in Dryden.2 The rhythm is generally smooth and
even ; there are two or three Alexandrines (whether intro-
duced inadvertently or by intention), some half dozen short or
half-lines, and a nearly equal number of triplets such as were
familiar to the writers of later heroic verse. Altogether, Hall's
versification, though it lacks the constant medial caesura and
the quality of line-antithesis, was well enough " calculated for
a modern ear" of a century ago.

The style of Hall's satires combines the qualities of smooth-
ness and vigor to a greater degree than that of any of the
earlier satirists. While not often obviously Latinized, it repre-
sents with fair success the quality of the Juvenalian satire.
The classical material is adapted with much more than merely
imitative skill. There is a self-restraint, a " classical pre-
cision" (as Warton calls it), a coldness or hardness, if you
please, in the style of Hall, which naturally associates itself
with his compact versification, and which is more than equally
unusual in the poetry of the Elizabethan Age. I quote
further from Warton' s somewhat enthusiastic account :

" The characters are delineated in strong and lively coloring, and their discrimi-
nations are touched with the masterly traces of genuine humour. . . . It is no
inconsiderable proof of a genius predominating over the general taste of an age
when every preacher was a punster, to have written verses, where laughter was to
be raised, and the reader to be entertained with sallies of pleasantry, without
quibbles and conceits. His chief fault is obscurity,, arising from a remote phrase-
ology, constrained combinations, unfamiliar allusions, elliptical apostrophes, and
abruptness of expression. Perhaps some will think, that his manner betrays too
much of the laborious exactness and pedantic anxiety of the scholar and the
student."3

1 British Poets, vol. ii. p. 726.

2 See metrical table in Appendix.
3Hazlitt ed., vol. iv. p. 367.

IO2 1 lie Rise of Formal satire in hnglana.

The matter of obscurity of style, in these and other Eliza-
bethan satires, calls for more than passing remark. Saints-
bury sums up the common modern opinion :

" It is now agreed by all the best authorities that it would be a mistake to con-
sider this roughness unintentional or merely clumsy, and that it sprung, at any
rate in great degree, from an idea that the ancients intended the Satura to be
written in somewhat unpolished verse, as well as from a following of the style of
Persius, the most deliberately obscure of all Latin if not of all classical poets." *

I quote also from a manuscript note thought to be by Dr.
Brinsley Nicholson, on Hall's claim to be the first English
satirist :

" As to Hall's assertion that he was the first English satirist, I would lay some
but not much stress on his being the first to publish, believing he would rest his chief
claim on this, that his were the first English which by being written in a rugged
rustic and archaic style answered to the old Roman satires. Hall's own satires,
Marston's, and those which may or may not be T. Middleton's, show that this
•was the idea of a true satire in 1598. Donne's are not smooth, but his style
would [be] held to have a polish of its own & his language that of contemporary
literature." 2

There is a passage in Scott's Life of Dryden which is inter-
esting in the same connection :

" Hall possessed a good ear for harmony ; and, living in the reign of Elizabeth,
might have studied it in Spenser, Fairfax, and other models. But from system,
rather than ignorance or inability, he chose to be ' hard of conceit, and harsh of
style,' in order that his poetry might correspond with the sharp, sour, and crabbed
nature of his theme." 3 Scott proceeds to say that he infers the intentional want
of harmony from a passage in Hall's Postscript, which will presently be quoted.

Perhaps the strongest statement of this view is that of Mr.
Churton Collins, in his account of Tourneur's " Transformed
Metamorphosis :"

"A school of writers had arisen, with Hall and Marston at their head, whose
principal ambition would seem to have been to stand in the same relation to clas-
sical English as Callimachus and Lycophron stand to classical Greek, and as Per-
sius stands to classical Latin ; to corrupt, that is to say, their native language and

1 Elizabethan Literature, p. 151.

2 Note in copy of Grosart's Donne, Philadelphia Library.
5 Scott-Saintsbury ed. of Dryden, vol. i. p. 230.

Joseph Hall. 103

to create a detestable language of their own. This they managed to do by sub-
stituting for simple words hideous sesquipedalian compounds coined indiscrimi-
nately from Latin and Greek ; by affecting the harshest classical phraseology and
constructions ; by loading their pages with obscure mythological allusions ; by the
systematic employment and abuse of ellipse ; by adopting technical expressions
borrowed sometimes from astrology, at other times from alchymy, and occasionally
also from theology, casuistry, and scholasticism ; and by torturing language and
thought into every kind of fantastic absurdity. . . . Even Tourneur must have
viewed with a sort of admiring despair the genius which could produce such gems
as 'rough-hewn teretismes,' ' logogryphs,' ' acholithite,' ' semele-femorigena,'
' mastigophoros eyne,' ' vizarded-bifronted-Janian,' ' aphrogenias, ill-yoked,' 'the
ophiogine of Hellespont,' ' mistagogus,' ' enagonian,' 'collybist,' etc. (These
barbarisms have been culled indiscriminately from the satires of Hall and Marston,
and are very far from exhausting the list. ) . . . That these satirists should have
agreed to , express themselves in a jargon like this — for not even Lodge is alto-
gether free from it — is inexplicable. It is not impossible that they imagined
themselves imitating Persius, who has always been a favourite with the English
satirists ; though it is singular that while adopting it themselves, they never tailed
with the ludicrous inconsistency of their master to ridicule it in others." x

I quote finally from some further remarks of Professor
Saintsbury on the same subject, in his Introduction to the
poetry of Donne :

" It is now, I believe, pretty well admitted by all competent judges that the
astonishing roughness of the Satirists of the late sixteenth century was not due to
any general ignoring of the principles of melodious English verse, but to a
deliberate intention arising from the same sort of imperfect erudition which had in
other ways so much effect on the men of the Renaissance generally. Satiric
verse among the ancients allowed itself, and even went out of its way to take,
licences which no poet in other styles would have dreamt of taking. . . . It is
not probable, it is certain, that Donne and the rest imitated these licences of
malice prepense. ... In Donne's time the very precisians took a good deal of
licence. ... If therefore you meant to show that you were sans g2ne, you had
to make demonstrations of the most unequivocal character." 2

Nearly all these passages are instances of that dangerous
habit of generalization into which even careful writers are apt
to follow one another like sheep going over a stile. So many
strong statements cannot, indeed, be without foundation,
but it is safe to say that the true condition of things has

1 Ed. Tourneur' s Plays and Poems, vol. i. pp. xxi. ff.

2 Muses' Library ed. of Donne, vol. i. pp. xx. ff.

IO4 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

been greatly exaggerated. Let us analyze the charges made.
In regard to roughness of versification, we have seen that
this is undoubtedly noticeable in the satires of Donne, — as it
is to a less degree, and for the same reason, in all his verse.
It seems quite possible that the popularity of his satires led
some of his successors to imitate his roughness intentionally,
but I consider it very far from being "certain" that it was
imitative with him ; and whoever may have imitated Donne,
or set an example for others, in this respect, Hall did not. I
have already said that the versification of Hall's satires is
generally smooth and of unusually regular scansion, and I do
not know (unless it was from imperfect understanding of the
right pronunciation of obsolete words) why Scott should have
complained of his verse in this respect.

The charge of obscurity has a somewhat better foundation.
In this connection Warton's analysis of the obscurity of Hall
is instructive. He says it arises " from a remote phraseology,
constrained combinations, unfamiliar allusions, elliptical apos-
trophes, and abruptness of expression." The "remote
phraseology" I take to be a reference to the archaisms which
many have noticed in the Virgidemiarum. This does not seem
to be referable to the classics so much as to Spenser, whose
work Hall greatly admired. Nor could his archaic forms
have produced any great impression of ruggedness or obscu-
rity to a contemporary reader, since they do not even to a
modern eye. They consist of occasional verb-endings in -en,
participles in y-, and such words as arcde, rath, sib, sithcs,
throve, unslient, and the like (for a full list of these see the
Notes of Peter Hall's edition). "Unfamiliar allusions" form
a trait which any imitation of the classics will of course dis-
play. " Constrained combinations," "elliptical apostrophes,"
and "abruptness of expression" will be recognized as charac-
teristics of classical satire by any reader of Juvenal or Persius,
even of Horace ; some of them have already been included in
the account of satirical style among the Romans ; and

Jose pit Hall. 105

they were characteristics which writers of a dramatic age
would be able most easily to imitate. Obscurity of this sort
would arise, then, in satire written on classical models,
whether intentional or not.

Mr. Collins's account of the vocabulary of the Elizabethan
satirists is particularly unreasonable. He devised it to explain
Tourneur, whose Transformed Metamorphosis, as will appear
later, he had no adequate reason for including in the group
of satires. His list of " barbarisms culled indiscriminately
from the satires of Hall and Marston" contains five words
taken from Hall's satires : teretismes, logogryplis, acJiolithite,
semele-femorigena, and collybisl. Of these the second and last
were not coined by Hall, and are. probably familiar to a num-
ber of modern readers ; it is likely that the meaning of the
first and third was sufficiently obvious to the readers of his
own time. As for " semele-femorigena," it is given by Hall
as the absurd invention of "a great poet" who had the art

i' In epithets to join two words in one ;"

and is no more properly an illustration of the satirist's vocabu-
lary than his account of the reign of lust is an illustration of
his own morals. It was more clever than ingenuous to make
a list "indiscriminately" of these words and some of Mars-
ton's uncouth phrases ; for the vocabulary of Marston has
been understood to be sui generis from the time of The
Poetaster, and has small connection with the fact that he was
one of those who wrote satires. The idea, then, that these
two men, who cordially disliked each other, should have
formed a conspiracy "to corrupt their native language," is
little less than ridiculous.

While these objections are to be urged against the expres-
sions of Mr. Saintsbury, Mr. Collins, and others, it is not to
be denied that there was a prevalent impression at this time
that a satire was not to be so transparent and ql early flowing

1 Grosart says that the reference is to tne elder Scaliger.

io6 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englam

a poem as verse of other sorts. Like the rough versification
of some, this may have been in part due to the influence of
the satires of Donne. It was also very likely, as has been sug-
gested on all sides, due to impressions of Persius. That
Persius was wilfully rugged and obscure is a view which has
probably descended from the Elizabethans to Mr. Saintsbury ;l
I do not understand that it is the weight of the opinion of
classical scholars to-day. Persius was wilfully concise, no
doubt ; and lacked the gift of Horace and Juvenal to be at
once concise and clear. He has always lacked, too, such
abundant commentaries as were transmitted through the Mid-
dle Ages in connection with the satires of Juvenal. The
Elizabethans found him hard reading, though strangely
attractive, and sometimes (as Marston, curiously enough,
pointed out) mistook the right reason. Juvenal, too, while
not so hard to understand, wrote with extraordinary compact-
ness. It seemed, then, that a good satire must not be wholly
open-hearted. This idea had no doubt been developed by the
teachers of the classics, before there was any actual imitation
of them in England.

Hall's relation to this view may be best understood by
turning to what he says of his own work. In the Prologue to
Book III. of the Virgidemiarum he refers to criticism directed
against his satires for not being sufficiently " riddle-like, "-

" Contrarie to the Roman ancients,
Whose words were short, and darksome was their sense."

" My Muse (he says) would follow them that have foregone,
But cannot with an English pinion."

So, just as the satires of the ancients were milder than their
earlier comedies, his satires shall be milder than theirs.
In Book IV. Satire I he recurs to the same subject :

1 On the view of this held in the seventeenth century, see Drydeiv s Essay on
Satire, Scott-Saintsbury edition, vol. xiii. p. 75.

Joseph Hall. 107

"Who dares upbraid these open rhymes of mine
With blindfold Aquines, or dark Venusine ? . . .
Which who reads thrice, and rubs his ragged brow, . . .
Should all in rage the curse-beat page out-rive,
And in each dust heap bury me alive."

In the Postscript he again refers to " the learned " who will
think his work " too perspicuous, being named with Juvenal,
Persius, and the other ancient satires;" while the unlearned
will complain that it is too obscure, " because not under their
reach ;" —

"wherein perhaps too much stooping to the low reach of the vulgar, I shall be
thought not to have any whit kindly raught my ancient Roman predecessors,
whom, in the want of more late and familiar precedents, I am constrained thus
far off to imitate ; . . . first, therefore, I dare boldly avouch, that the English
is not altogether so natural to a satire as the Latin ; . . . which if any more
confident adversary shall gainsay, 1 wish no better trial than the translation of one
of Persius' s satires into English, the difficulty and dissonance whereof shall make
good my assertion. . . , Let my second ground be, the well-known dainties of
the time ; such that men rather choose carelessly to lose the sweet of the kernel,
than to urge their teeth with breaking the shell wherein it was wrapped ; and
therefore sith that which is unseen is almost undone, and that is almost unseen
which is unconceived, either I would say nothing to be untalked of, or speak with
my mouth open, that I may be understood. Thirdly, the end of this pains was a
satire, but the end of my satire a further good, which whether I attain or no, I
know not ; but let me be plain with the hope of profit, rather than purposely
obscure only for a bare name's sake.

"Notwithstanding, in the expectation of this quarrel, I think my first satire
doth somewhat resemble the sour and crabbed face of Juvenal's, which I, endeav-
ouring in that, did determinately omit in the rest."

The reference to the " first satire " clearly is to the first one
of the fourth book, for which the Postscript was more particu-
larly written ; and this first of the " Biting Satires " is in truth
the most perfect imitation of Juvenal in the entire work, being'
also the most difficult to understand. It is curious that more
attention has not hitherto been given to Hall's explicit state-
ment that this satire is intentionally obscure, the others inten-
tionally clear. The obscurity is largely due to compact and
elliptical structure, and to what Warton called " constrained

io8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

combinations " of ideas. It must be said that .some of the
satires of the fifth book present similar difficulties.

It will perhaps be convenient at this point to anticipate our
progress, in order to notice Marston's attitude toward this
question of obscurity in satire. In his Satire II. he makes
fun of the fashion :

'• I'll leave the white robe and the biting rhymes
Unto our modern Satire's sharpest lines,
Whose hungry fangs snarl at some secret sin,
And in such pitchy clouds enwrapped been
His Sphinxian riddles, that old Oedipus
Would be amazed . . .

Delphic Apollo, aid me to unrip
These intricate deep oracles of wit —
These dark enigmas, and strange riddling sense
Which pass my dullard brain's intelligence."

(13-34)

This might be mere personal attack upon Hall, but in his
prose prologue to the Scourge of Villainy Marston makes his
opinion still more clearly known :

" Persius is crabby, because ancient, and his jerks (being particularly given to
private customs of his time) dusky. Juvenal (upon the like occasion) seems to
our judgment gloomy. Yet both of them go a good seemly pace, not stumbling,
shuffling. Chaucer is hard even to our understandings : who knows not the
reason ? how much more those old satires which express themselves in terms that
breathed not long even in their days. But had we then lived, the understanding
of them had been nothing hard. . . Let me have the substance rough, not the
shadow."1

This is a really keen bit of historical criticism, and may
well be pardoned if it exaggerates the historical character of
classical obscurity. Unfortunately, Marston did not always
make his satires consistent with his theory, unless modern
judgment of them is also colored by historical conditions.

Returning to the Virgidemiantin, let us rapidly analyze its
contents.

1 " To those that seem judicial perusers," Marston's Works, ed. Bullen, vol. iii.
P- 3°5-

Joseph Matt. 109

The satires are preceded by A Defiance to Envy. Various kinds of poetry
are alluded to, and compared with " ruder satire." In particular there is an
extended reference to pastoral poetry, couched in such terms as to suggest that Hall
had already tried his hand in that direction. In that field, however, he says :

"At Colin' s feet I throw my yielding reed," —

an expression which it is difficult to see how Mr. Bullen interprets so as to show
that Hall " boasted that he could . . . hold his own with any of the poets, —
even hinting that he was a match for Spenser."

Book I. opens with a Prologue in which occurs the author's famous pretension
of being the first English satirist. The satires of this book, as the title-page indi-
cates, relate to " poeticall " matters.

Satire I. is an introductory contrast of Satire with other forms of poetry,
concluding with another compliment to Spenser.

Satire II. declares that the Muses have become dissolute harlots.
Satire III. relates to contemporary tragedies and theatrical critics.
Satire IV. treats of bad heroic poetry.
Satire V. of contemporary elegiac verse.
Satire VI. of pseudo-classical versification.
Satire VII. of extravagant amatory verse.
Satire VIII. of religious poetry in pseudo-classical style.
^•^ Satire IX. of licentious poetry of the passions.

Book II. is called " academicall." The first two satires included in it seem to
belong with the previous group. The Prologue represents Satire as the scourging
Nemesis of vice.

Satire I. treats of the abundance of bad poetry. —
Satire II. shows the folly of writing for money.
Satire III. deals with the degeneracy and extortion of the law. — -
Satire IV. shows the follies connected with the practice of medicine.
Satire V. rebukes simony, — the buying of benefices.
Satire VI. is a mock advertisement of a country gentleman for a tutor-
chaplain ; the applicant must be prepared to be snubbed in all manner of
ways.

Satire VII. deals with the practice of astrology.

— Many of the satires of this book are very brief, and, dealing with single
matters, would more properly be called epigrams. The same thing is even more
true of the following book. In general it is to be said that the satires of the first
three books bear evidence of having been written separately, at odd moments,
and collected as by after-thought; while those called "biting" are more con-
sciously in the classical manner, and I think more consciously grouped together.
Book III. contains the " morall ' ' satires. The Prologue is that already described,
dealing with the author's alleged lack of obscurity.

Satire I. describes the ancient golden age, and contrasts it with modern
luxury and greed.

Satire II. treats of the folly of desiring a great monument.

I IO The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Satire III. describes an ostentatious but miserly host.
Satire IV. treats of the love of personal display.

Satire V. is a pure epigram of anecdote, on the loss of a courtier's wig.
Satire VI. is a similar epigram, on the extraordinary thirst of one Gullion.
Satire VII. describes Ruffio the gallant.

The " Conclusion" to this series predicts that the following satires will be much
more severe.

Book IV- is preceded by "The Author's Charge to his Second Collection of
Satires." It is here stated by implication that the author intends that the satires
shall be published only after his death, and some have been led to consider this
profession genuine; but since the "Charge" precedes the second collection,
which was published apparently as a voluntary supplement to the " toothless
satires," it may better be regarded as one of the common Elizabethan devices for
professing unintentional publication.

Satire I. opens with an account of obscurity in satire (already referred to),
and goes on to deal with various aspects of the reign of lust.-

Satire II. describes a son made rich by his father's toil, and his profes-
sions of aristocracy.

Satire III. treats of the vanity of merely inherited greatness.
Satire IV. describes Gallio the young gallant.

Satire V. deals with the piratical gaining of wealth through the losses of
others.

Satire VI. is on " the vanity of human wishes."
Satire VII. attacks the " Romish pageants" of the Papacy.
In Book V.

Satire I. treats of the oppressions of landlords.
Satire II. describes the decline of oldtime hospitality.
Satire III. opens with an account of the mission of satire, and con-
cludes with an account of the origin and abuse of land-boundaries.

Satire IV. describes the spendthrift son of a thrifty farmer.
In Book VI.

Satire I. describes Labeo's reception of the author's satires. The
world is mockingly described to be virtuous. Contemporary poetry is
treated at length, especially that of Labeo. (This poet appeared previously
in Satire I. of Book. II. His identity will be discussed later.)1

1 Occasional references will be found to a second satire in Book VI. Thus
Hazlitt added to Warton's sf'ement that the book consisted of one long satire
o-ily, the words "but was enlarged in the third [edition] to two." The cor-
rection was in fact a mistake. The edition referred to is evidently that of 1599
(dated 1602), in which the last satire of Book IV. (which Peter Hall says was
added in the second edition) was omitted by mistake from its right place, and was
added as Satire II. of Book VI. The error was corrected in the printer's note
already described. It may be observed that in this edition there appear immedi-

Joseph Hall. 1 1 1

The author's Postscript, which also seems to have been added in the 1599
edition, has already been in part described. It is professedly an attempt to
anticipate the censures of various critics, though these had probably already been
heard from. The Postscript is chiefly interesting as giving the author's views,
already quoted, on the matter of obscurity in satire, as well as from a reference to
previous satirists known to him (to be cited later). It also contains an interesting,
but obscure, passage on the versification of Latin satire as distinguished from the
verse of modern languages, and the usual claim that in his own satire he avoids
all personal attack (defended by the familiar question-begging argument that if
anyone is offended he must have been hit ) .

The type of satire here is generally that of direct rebuke.
Except in what I have called epigrams, there is none of the
purely narrative element ; and there is little of the purely
reflective. The amiable Horatian type is seldom noticeable ;
the Juvenalian everywhere predominates, — though with less
impression of personal bitterness than in either Juvenal or
Donne. The attitude toward life is the usual pessimistic one.
There is an occasional intimation that the satires are intended
as a wholesome corrective (compare the expression in the
Postscript : " the end of my satire a further good," etc.). . The
mission of satire is indeed more consciously presented than
we have hitherto found it, and it is serious and ethical. Thus :

" Go daring Muse, .
And do the ugly face of Vice unmask." (Prol. Bk. I., 1. 2O.)

" The satire should be like the porcupine,

That shoots sharp quills out in each angry line,
And wounds the blushing cheeke, and fiery eye
Of him that hears, and readeth guiltily." (Bk. V. S. 3. )

The " brittle mold " of modern ears is complained of:

" Ye antique satires, how I bless your dayes,
That brook' d your bolder stile. ' ' ( Ibid. )

Quite worthy of note, too, is this affirmation of his serious
intent :

atfcly before Satire I. of Book I. six Latin verses, playing on the word Satyra,
called " De suis Satyris."

1 1 2 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

" Sufficeth me, the world may say
That I these vices loath' d, another day,
Which I have done with as devout a cheere
As he that rounds Paul's pillars in the eare,1
Or bends his ham down in the naked quire." (Ibid. 17 ff. )

Connected with this are the usual views of the degenerate
character of the age, in part of classical origin. The age is
called " smoothing ; " all who loved abstinence are long since
dead (IV. 5.7); the world is degenerate (IV. 6. i) ;

" Who can refrain
Whiles yet he lives in such a cruel time? " * (V. I, 21. )

We find in these satires of Hall, then, to an extent merely
suggested by his predecessors, the source of the doctrine of a
" degenerate age" which marked so many of his successors.

We have now to consider the sources of the Virgideiniarum.
In the author's Postscript there are two or three important
suggestions in this direction. I have already quoted that
relating to " my ancient Roman predecessors, whom, in the
want of more late and familiar precedents, I am constrained
thus far off to imitate." Later there is a reference to "the
satires of Ariosto (save which, and one base French satire, I
could never attain the view of any for my direction)." Besides
these we have distinct allusions to the satires of Persius, and
"the sour and crabbed face of Juvenal's."

In Satire I. of Book V. occurs this similar passage :

" Renowned Aquine,8 now I follow thee,
Far as I may, for feare of jeopardy ;
And to thy hand yield up the ivy-mace
From crabbed Persius, and more smooth Horace ;

1 That is, whispers to the pillars in St. Paul's.
: And see especially Satire I. of Book III.

0 That is, Juvenal. It is interesting to compare this passage with a similar one
in Regnier :

" II faut . . . recognoistre la trace
Du libre Juvenal : trop discret est Horace
Pour un homme picque," etc. (Satire II.)

Joseph Hall. 1 1 3

Or from that shrew, the Roman poetesse,

That taught her gossips learned bitternesse ;

Or Lucile's muse, whom thou didst imitate,

Or Menips old, or Pasquillers of late." (11. 7-14.)

It was the classical satirists, then, that Hall had chiefly in
mind, and with whom he was thoroughly familiar. The " base
French satire " it would be most interesting to identify, but
we have already seen the difficulty of doing so at this period,
and from the tone of Hall's allusion to it one would not judge
that it exercised any considerable influence upon him.1 Ariosto
he doubtless knew very well, but as the type of satire which
he chose was quite different from that of the Italian satirist, he
could not follow him very closely. I am indebted to the late
Dr. R. A. Small, who carefully examined Hall's satires in
connection with those of Ariosto, for the statement that the
Virgidemiarum shows' only the slightest influence of the
latter. There is a motto from Ariosto III. 237 prefixed to
Hall's first satire of Book IV., and Dr. Small thought that a
passage in the third satire of the same book

(" Was never fox but wily cubs begets," etc.,)

was suggested by Ariosto I. 100 ff. I think that we may also
attribute to the influence of the Italian satirists the frequent
proper names in Italian form which Hall introduces among
those in Latin form. That he derived much material from
contemporary continental sources, however, there seems little
reason to believe.

The question of Hall's relation to his predecessors in Eng-
land centers about the famous couplet in the Prologue :

" I first adventure : follow me who list,
And be the second English satirist."

One may be sure that had the author realized how many
pages would have been written in comment on these lines, he

1 Professor Schelling has suggested that it may have been the Satyre Menippee,
which would certainly have been sufficiently different from Hall's ideal of satire
to have been called "base."

1 1 4 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englant

would1 either have omitted them or have added a footnote.
On their meaning and trustworthiness see, among others,
Saintsbury, Elizabethan Literature, p. 144 ; Grosart, Introduc-
tions to editions of Donne and Hall ; Edmonds, Introduction
to Hake's News out of Pauls ; Singer, Introduction to edition
of Virgidemiarum ; Collier, Poetical Decameron, i. 154, and
Rarest Books, ii. 113; Cooper, Introduction to Times Whistle ;
and Corser, Collectanea, viii. 374.

In all these places it is pointed out that, whatever interpre-
tation of the term "satirist" be accepted, Hall was not the
first of that line in England. Milton seems to have been the
first to make objection to the claim (see citation on p. 109,
above). Collier at first suggests that Hall " was not aware
of the existence of any predecessor in the language, for when
he published his Virgidemiarum ... he was a very
young man, little acquainted with English writers, his knowl-
edge being chiefly confined to the classics at college." He is
obliged to retract this, however, admitting that the satires " are
full of references to books and literary men."1 So far as the
various possible rivals are concerned, Piers Plowman may at
once be ruled out as in no sense a formal satire in Hall's sense
of the word. Neither need Wyatt be insisted upon, since his
so-called satires were not called such by himself, and were
epistolary in form. Hake's News out of Pauls may well have
been forgotten by the time Hall was old enough to read it,
and even had he seen it, he would probably not have consid-
ered its " Satyrs " as answering to the classical standard. In
like manner, the Steelc Glas was early enough to be out of the
range of Hall's reading, and was, as we have seen, rather an
ethical poem in satirical vein than a true satire.
. All this admitted, there remain Donne and Lodge, both of
whom wrote satires expressly so called, after the classical
manner, and in the decasyllabic couplet. Donne has given

1 See Poetical Decameron, vol. i. pp. 154, 227.

Joseph Hall. 1 1 5

little trouble to those who have assumed that he was Hall's
successor, but we have seen reason to assume the contrary.
It is true that in I 597 his satires were not yet printed, that
at most but three of them were written, and that the evidence
that those three were in existence so early is but slight.
Clearly there is no reason to believe that they were widely
known or read when the Virgidcmianun was being written.
Dr. Grosart has a singular " suspicion that, inasmuch as the
anonymous commendatory poems prefixed to the ' Anatomic '
of Donne, and other authorities, reveal that Hall and Donne
were personally acquainted, the former had heard, or read at
least, the first four of Donne's satires in MS., and wrote his
own in the recollection of them." He goes on to suggest
that the line

*

' ' I first adventure : follow me who list ' '

" may have been Hall's challenge to his friend Donne to
'adventure ' forth, and not to hold in MS. his satires." * It seems
almost needless to say that there is no foundation for such a
theory, which seems to have been constructed for the purpose
of providing a personal allusion for the reference to plagiarism
in Donne's Satire II., 25—30. If this satire was written in
J593» as Grosart and most others think, of course the Virgi-
demiarum was not yet published (nor is there any evidence
that it was written); but Dr. Grosart thinks that Hall could
have seen Donne's satires in MS., and then, when he had be-
gun to imitate them, Donne could have learned of the fact and
introduced his reference to plagiarism as an attack on their
intended publication ! This is too intricate a series of events
to be seriously followed. As to the reputed friendship of the
two satirists, the evidence is of course of later date, and does
not relate to the period when Donne was in Spain with Essex
or in London as secretary to the Lord Chancellor, and Hall

1 Ed. Donne, Introduction, pp. xxx-xxxi.

1 1 6 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

was still at the University. There is no internal evidence, in
Hall's satires, of the author's familiarity with those of Donne ;
and I see no necessity for believing that any existed.

Lodge's Fig for Momus was published only two years
before Hall's satires, and contained such obvious imitation of
classical satire that it is difficult to see how it could have been
explained away. It is also a little difficult to believe that such
a keen observer of contemporary literature as Hall should not
have seen it. This seemed, however, the most probable
explanation to Mr. Collier, who called attention to the fact
that there seems to be no allusion to any of Lodge's works in
the Virgidemiarum, as well as to the fact already noticed, that
the Fig for Momus does not seem to have reached any great
popularity.1 It is possible that Hall, knowing of the few
satires which Lodge had introduced among the Eclogues and
Epistles of the Fig for Momus, still did not think they entitled
their author to be called an " English satirist," in comparison
with one who should issue a considerable series of satires in a
volume by itself. There is danger in taking too seriously
passing boasts of this kind, and making their accuracy a much
more significant matter than the author would have thought of
doing. The whole question is chiefly of interest in its connec-
tion with another question, viz., whether these three or four
men hit upon the same sort of classical imitation at very
nearly the same time, and adopted the same form of English
verse for its expression, without either agreement or mutual
influence ? It will already have appeared that I am inclined
to answer this question in the affirmative. There is not yet
evidence to warrant us in denying the truth of Hall's state-
ment that he " could never attain the view of any" for his
direction. So far as the verse-form is concerned, the couplet
had already been used sufficiently to indicate its convenience
for satire, and in Spenser's Mother Hubbard 's Talc had actually

1 Poetical Decameron, i. 227

Joseph Hall. 1 1 7

been applied to satirical material. In France it had long been
familiar, though it was now yielding to the Alexandrine.1 If
we could be sure as to the nature of the French influence of
which there has been some suggestion in connection with both
Donne and Hall, it might throw light on their use of the
couplet. It may also be suggested that decasyllabic rhymed
verse in English corresponded naturally enough with the hen-
decasyllabic terza rima of the Italian satirists.

We have now to notice the detailed evidence of classical
imitation in the Virgidewiiarum.

Lines 19 ff. of I. i, are from the Prologue of Persius :

' ' Heliconidasque, pallidamque Pirenen
Illis remitto, quorum imagines lambunt
Hederae sequaces." (4 ff. )

And the idea of " hunger-starven trencher poetrie," a few
lines above (13) suggests a neighboring passage in the same
Prologue :

" Magister artis, ingenique largitor

Venter." (*°f.)

A passage in I. 9,

" Th' itching vulgar tickled with the song," etc.,

suggests Persius I. 20 f. :

' ' Carmina lunibum
Intrant, et tremulo scalpuntur ubi intima versu."

Lines 47 ff. of II. 2 are from Persius III. 78 ff.:

" Non ego euro
Esse quod Arcesilas, rerumnosique Solones," etc.

The account of superstition in II. 7. 19 ff. suggests a pas-
sage in Juvenal VI. 552-590.

1 The satires of Vauquelin de la Fresnaye are partly in decasyllabics, partly in
Alexandrines ; those of Regnier in Alexandrines.

1 1 8 The Ris: of Formal Satire in England.

The opening of the Prologue to Book III. suggests the
opening of Horace, Satire \. of Book II.:

" Sunt quibus in satira videar nirnis acer," etc. t

The description of the golden age, at the opening of III. I,
is ultimately, of course, of classical origin ; but it was so
common not only in classical poetry but in modern para-
phrases, that direct reference is impossible. One may com-
pare with the passage in Hall : Juvenal III. 171 ff., VI. i ff.,
XL 77 ff., XIII. 38 ff.; Horace Satire 3 of Book I.; together
with well-known passages in Ovid and Lucretius.1 The
same thing appears in Boethius, De Consolation* II. m. 5,
whence it was transferred to Chaucer's fine version in The
Former Age.

With a couplet in III. 2

(" Thy monument make thou thy living deeds," etc.,)

may be compared Juvenal VIII. 19-26.

The allusion to the blind snake of Epidaurus, in IV. 1 . 24,
has been referred to Horace, Satire 3 of Book L, 1. 27 ; but
in Horace the serpent is represented as of unusually acute
vision.

The account of Titius wedding a dying widow for her
money, in IV. i. 61 ff., may be compared with Juvenal I. 37—
41, and VI. 135 ff.

The idea that the vices of the world are more entertaining

" than a Paris-garden beare,
Or prating puppet in a theatre," (IV. I. 74 ff. )

suggests Juvenal XIV. 255 ff.

The picture of the adukeress in IV. I. 144 ff. is from Juvenal
VI. 115-131, and is perhaps the best imitation of the Juve-
nalian manner in all Hall's satires.

1 For all the classical passages of this kind, see the Leipziger Studien, VIII.
I-8o.

Jose pi i Hall. 1 1 9

Satire 3 of Book IV. is a free paraphrase of Juvenal VIII.
Compare especially the description of the

" figures half obliterate

In rain-beat marble near to the church gate,
Upon a cross-legged tomb," etc.,

with the corresponding description in the original ; also the
passage (1. 50 ff.) relating to estimations of the qualities of
horses. The passage on the descent of vices from father to
son (86 ff.) seems to have been suggested by Juvenal XIV.

The allusion in IV. 4. 72 to manners as soft as " the lambs
of Tarentine " suggests the " Euganean Lamb" of Juvenal
VIII. 14.

At the head of IV. 5 is a motto (" Stupet Albius aere ")
from Horace, Satire 4 of Book I., 1. 28. Also from Horace is
the heading of Satire VI.: " Quid placet ergo ?"

The opening of IV. 6 is from the opening of Juvenal X.:
"Omnibus in terris," etc.1 The passage descriptive of the
effeminacy of young men (5—14) may be compared with a
similar one in Juvenal II. The conclusion of the satire is
from the end of Juvenal X., but may be compared, as may
the theme of the whole, with Horace I. i. It is to be
observed that Lodge paraphrased the tenth of Juvenal in a
somewhat similar strain ; if Hall was acquainted with the Fig
for Momus, it may very well have suggested this satire (IV. 6).

Lines 15-20 of V. I, declaring that though the author is a
follower of Juvenal, he will attack not the dead but the living,
are obviously a reference to the conclusion of Juvenal's first
satire.

The passage in V. 2, descriptive of the contrast between
the fare of the patron and his client at table (112—150) are
from the similar passage in Juvenal V.

The account of the origin of land-boundaries, in V. 3.

1 Also, it would seem, from the opening of Horace, Book I., Satire I.

1 20 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

34 ff., is in part, at least, of classical origin. It may be com-
pared with the passages in Juvenal already cited, on the
golden age, and in particular with Lucretius V. 1 240 ff.
The reference in VI. I. 207 to

" Lucan stretched on his marble bed "

may have been suggested by Juvenal VII. 79.

The passage on contemporary poetry (VI. i. 221 ff.), begin -
ning—

* No man his threshold better knows, than I," etc.,
is in imitation of Juvenal I. 7 ff.:

" Nota magis nulli domus est sua," etc.

Dr. Small also noted interesting parallels between Hall I.
2. 17 ff. and Juvenal IV. 34 ff.; II. 2. 57 f. and Juvenal X.
171 ff.; IV. I. 134 f. and Juvenal III. 62 f; II. 6 and Juvenal
VII. i86ff.

The personal type-names in the Virgidemiarum are also in
part derived from classical satire. Labeo, Hall's favorite type
of a bad poet, is mentioned in Persius I. 4. Ponticus, in
Satires i, 3 and 4 of Book IV., is clearly the same sort of
person as Juvenal's friend of the eighth satire. Trebius
the parasite, and Virro the wealthy host, reappear from
Juvenal V. and IX. in Hall, IV. I and V. 2. Messaline, in
IV. i. 102, is Juvenal's heroine of the stews. Matho, Juvenal's
fat lawyer, appears in Hall IV. 5, IV. 7 and V. i. Curius,
.in IV. 5. 7, was directly suggested by Juvenal XL 78; and
Mutius and Tigellinus, in V. i. 14, are from Juvenal I. 154.
Other names, such as Crispus, Titius, Caia, Scaurus, Virgin-
ins, Lycius, Gcllia, Mcecenas, Cahms, Balbns, Clodins, Rnfns,
are of obviously classical origin, though not so direct in allu-
sion ; and still another class, including Matrona, Cyncdo,
Martins, Nnininius, Moecha, Tattelins, PansopJius, is that of
names whose occasion suits their etymology.

Joseph Hall. 121

Classical allusions and quotations from other than satirical
sources it is not necessary to enumerate. Thus we have
"Hence, ye profane!" from Horace; "Arcades ambo " and
" Fuimus Troes " from Vergil ; a passage in IV. 3. 68-79
apparently from Horace's Odes IV. 4 ; etc.

We have here, then, classical imitation to an extent unap-
proached in any of the earlier satires. The English elements
are distinct, but not proportionately conspicuous ; it is in the
prelude, " Defiance to Envy," that they appear most notice-
ably. There is a serious attitude toward life which predicts
something of the future churchman ; and the considerable
treatment of public affairs (the relations of landlords and
tenants, the sjeizure of land, the purchasing of benefices, the
prevalence of high prices, inconsistencies of priests, and the
like) suggest the familiar English note. Occasionally, but
rarely, we find the involved language and conceits of the
Elizabethan period (see especially III. 7. 51—70), for the gen-
eral absence of which Warton justly commends Hall's satires.
English local -color is frequently interwoven with classical.1
Among the prevailing classical and Italian names we find
occasional English ones, as " Dennis," " Hodge," and the
allegorical combination " Make-Fray."

The general type and tone of the satire, however, are classi-
cal. There is the familiar pessimistic and conservative attitude.
For the most part the spirit is pagan, too, with the machinery
of classical mythology. The occasion is clearly a view of
contemporary evils from a reflective mood. The emphasis is
chiefly on private morals and fashions ; and especially note-
worthy is the appearance of satire on contemporary literature,
found in brief passages in the classical satirists, but enlarged
by Hall and adapted to the needs of his time. The satires,
further, are representative of the individual author, though
they do not reveal his personality as clearly as Donne's. Of

iThus see III. 4. 13 ff. ; IV. I. 134 ff. ; IV. 2. 19-50, 69 f., 91-100 ; IV. 3.
4-17.

122 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

the relation of Hall's style to the classical models I have
already spoken in part It is full of allusion, is indirect in
nature, and makes use of the sudden dramatic turns of classi-
cal satirists. The humor is not abundant, but what there is
is chiefly of the classical sort, and is based on exaggeration
and disproportion. Warton rightly calls attention 1 to Hall's
use of purely incidental satire in his illustrations, after the
manner of Juvenal ; for examples see IV. 3. 78 f. ; V. 2. 25 f. ;

V. 3- 46 f.

Most interesting, however, among Hall's classical elements
are the type-names, many of which have already been enumer-
ated. There are about fifty distinct names of this sort, some
of which, as we have seen, are taken directly from Juvenal,
and some of which are made to order ; while most are in
classical or Italo-classical form. Still another class, small but
worthy of note, is that of blank names or initials, as

" What else makes N when his lands are spent."

(IV. 5. 23.)

(See also IV. 5. 35 ; V. 2. 21, 28.) Warton remarks that
this is the earliest instance he has noted of the satirical use of
these, and I have myself found none earlier ; it is quite possi-
ble that the idea was derived from mere pamphlets and political
ballads, in which full names were avoided for 'prudential rea-
sons. Whether the initials in the Virgidemiaruin stand for real
persons it is perhaps impossible to say. The very fact of their
use suggests that they do. It is pretty generally agreed that
the great majority of Juvenal's proper names were those of
real persons, who either from date or position were powerless
to take revenge upon the satirist.2 To an imitator of Juvenal
there was, then, no little temptation to turn in like manner to
personal attack. The earlier satirists in England did this but

1 Hazlitt ed. vol. iv. p. 385.

2 See Friedlander' s Juvenal, Anhang I : Ueber die Personennamen bei Juvenal.
Vol. i. p. 99.

Joseph Hall. 123

slightly, however (except in the case of literary quarrels), and
always professed to be impersonal. When they became too
obviously direct, they were in danger, whether under the rule
of Elizabeth or James. — Finally, it is to be observed that all
the classes of type-names appearing in Hall are of no little
importance in the future development of satire in England.

Grouping the objects satirized by Hall under the usual
heads, we find private morals distinctly predominant. With-
out exception (save in the case of alchemy and one or two
others, excluded for obvious reasons) the vices and follies in
these satires are those of classical satire. Lust is treated
frankly and severely, but with unusual brevity, and with the
distinct impression that the author is not fond of dwelling on
it like Juvenal and like many of his English successors.

Under Morals we have :

Flattery, I. I. II f. ; VI. I. 41 ff., 100 ff.

Superstition, II. 7.

Usury, IV. 5. 39 ff.

Lies of travelers, IV. 6. 59-77 ; VI. I. 51.

Extravagance, V. 4.

Inhospitableness, V. 2.

Fortune-hunting, VI. I. 89 ff; IV. I. 61 ff.

Avarice and greed, II. 3 ; III. I. 52 ff.; IV. 6. 30 ff. ; V. I. 79 ff,;

IV. 5.

Bribery, IV. 5. 2 ff.
Forgery, V. I. 37, 46.
Ambition, III. 2 ; III. 4.
Lust, IV. I. 95-164; V. 3. 30 ff.
Gluttony, IV. 4. 18 ff.
Effeminacy, IV. 6. 4-13.
Drunkenness, VI. I. 71 ff.

Under Fashions :

Clothes, etc., III. I. 63 ff. 54. 30; 7. 26 ff.; IV. 4. 42 ff. ; 6. 7-13;

VI. I. 115 ff.
Wigs, III. 5.
False teeth, VI. I. 289.
Tobacco, IV. 4. 41 ; V. 2. 74.

124 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Chariots, IV. 6. 19 ff.
Foreign languages, VI. I. 137 ff-
Profession of aristocracy, IV. 2. 133 ff.
Practice of alchemy, IV. 3. 39 f. ; 4. 15.

Under Public Affairs :

High prices, II. I. 9 f.; IV. 6. 25.

Voyages to South America, IV. 3. 28 ff.

Exportation of poor to Virginia, V. I. 113.

Landlords and tenants, V. I. 23 ff., 60 ff.; IV. 2. 124 ff; 5. 78.

Encroachment upon public land, IV. 2. 127 ; V. 3. 62 ff.

Famine, V. 2. 75-100.

Under Personal Humors :

Hypocritical hospitality, III. 3.

City etiquette, IV. 2. 85 ff.

A young gallant's occupations, IV. 4. 86.

Marriage of an old man, IV. 4. 114 ff.

Under Classes :

Lawyers, II. 3. 15 ff.
Physicians, II. 4.
Tutors, II. 6.

Under Literature :

This is treated at unusual length (see the analysis of Book I., on contemporary
poetry). In I. I, we have satirized the " trencher poetry " of those dependent on
some great patron ; and that dealing with ' ' the pagan vaunt ' ' of Mahound and
Termagaunt. The reference to Termagant has been understood as an allusion to
the Fairy Queen (B. vi. c. 7- §t- 47) > Singer, however, thinks the satire may be
on Harington's translation of the Orlando. In Satire 2 the attack is upon the
lustful character of contemporary verse ; various attempts have been made to
explain it as of individual significance. I quote from Singer's notes :

"Ovid's Art of Love had recently been rendered in a coarse manner, and
Marlowe had translated Ovid's Epistles, and written his erotic romance of Hero
and Leander. Shakspeare had also published his Venus and Adonis, which had
given great offence to the graver readers of English verse. But it is in the
epigrams of Davies and Harrington, and in the ephemeral publications of Greene
and Nashe, that decency was, most outraged. The poet had these most flagrant
transgressions in mind. Though the first edition of Marston's Pigmaliori 's Image
bears the date of 1598, I cannot but think that Hall particularly points at that
poem."1 Similar conjectures might be quoted in regard to Satire 9 of the same

1 Singer's ed. Virgideniiarum, p. 7-

Joseph Hall. 125

book, which deals with one particular poet of the amatory sort. Warton thought
this was an allusion to Greene, and others have applied it to Marston' s unpub-
lished Pigmalion. Peter Hall pertinently questioned whether Hall would have
attacked in such terms a man who, like Greene, had been dead for some five years
when the satires were published. The probability of reference to Marston in
these satires I shall discuss somewhat later. Certain identification of the poets-
referred to does not seem possible.

In Satire 3 the attention is turned to tragedies, with the scenes in the theatres
at the time of their presentation, and the critics

" Whispering their verdict in their fellows ear."

It' is Marlowe's Tamburlaine which is selected for particular ridicule, — a play
which had been on the stage for nine years, and a new edition of which came out
in 1597.1

In Satire 4, dealing with heroic poetry, we hear of a tale

" With strange enchantments, fetch' d from darksome vale
Of some Melissa, that by magic doom
To Tuscans soil transporteth Merlin's tomb."

This has been very reasonably conjectured to be a reference to contemporary
imitations of Ariosto's Orlando, which had been translated in 1591. The exag-
gerations of romanticism seem to have been especially offensive to Hall. " If
some painter," he asks,

" Should paint the stars in centre of the earth,
Could ye forbear some smiles, and taunting mirth?"

The satire concludes with another compliment to Spenser, whom "let no rebel
satyr dare traduce."

Satire 5, on elegiac verse, ridicules

" Rhyme of some dreary fates of luckless peers,"

— evidently referring to the Mirror for Magistrates. Satire 6 deals with English
hexameters, which were in considerable vogue at this time, and in particular with
Stanyhurst's Virgil, which had been published in 1582, and which seems to have
maintained itself for some time in popular interest. The reference is made certain
by Hall's use of some of Stanyhurst's "new coin of words," as thwick-thwack
and riff-raff.

Satire 7 ridicules the extravagant love poetry of the time. The allusions are
too general for distinct reference, but Singer suggests that Hall was aiming at
Henry Lok's Love's Complaints, then just published. Such reaction against the

1 Grosart supposes, but I think with no sufficient reason, that in what follows
regarding the mingling of tragedy and comedy Hall had special reference to
Shakspere.

'ie Rise of Formal Satire in Englam

excesses of amorous praise is comparable to that appearing in other poets;of the
time — indeed in Shakspere himself.

Satire 8 ridicules the combination of classical and religious themes. " Par-
nassus is transformed to Sion hill." The reference to Saint Peter weeping " pure
Helicon " is thought to be to Southwell's Peter 's Complaint (i595)» and the fol-
lowing line to the same author's Mary Magdalene's Funeral Tears (1594).
Following this is a thrust at Markham's Stan's Muse,1

Book II. opens with a continuation of the satire on literature, dealing at first
with the immoral poetry of " Labeo." In 11. 55 ff., as Warton observes, there
seems to be allusion to translations or imitations of Poggio and Rabelais, as there
is elsewhere to the work of Aretine. The second satire treats of those who
spend " a thousand lamps, and thousand reames ... of needless papers," in,
hope of winning wealth by poetizing.

In IV. 2. 83 f. is a passing allusion to a " plagiary sonnet-wright " visited by
the ghost of Petrarch; and more specifically, in VI. I. 251 ff., Labeo the bad
poet is represented as being able to

" filch whole pages at a clap for need,
From honest Petrarch, clad in English weed."

In IV. 6. 50 ff. we have a vigorous attack on the wholesale balladry of the
period,2 and the youth who read the Spanish Decades? or the " whet-stone
1 casings " of Mandeville.

In V. 2. 45 ff. there is a thrust at the bad poetry of one Msevio, —

" Nail'd to an hundred postes for novelty,
With his big title an Italian mot."

Finally, there is in VI. I. 155-280 an extensive series of thrusts at contempo-
rary poetry : elegies on dead birds and dogs ; heroic poems on Brutus, George,
Arthur, and the like ; pastorals and amatory verse. The bulk of the satire
here is directed apparently at the single poet called " Labeo," of whom mention
has already been made. His identity has interested not a few readers of
Hall. Warton suggested Chapman, but it does not seem possible to bring evi-
dence in favor of such an identification. It appears from the passage in 245 ff.
that " Labeo" is writing heroic poetry under the professed inspiration of Phoebus ;
that he invokes heathen deities for guidance ; that he plagiarizes from Petrarch ;
that he is fond of beginning weak stanzas with "big But oh's /" ; that he
imitates the foreign fashions introduced by Sidney ; that he is fond of double

1 In these literary identifications I follow Warton, as all his successors have
thankfully done. For a further possible explanation of references in Satire 5*
see p. 142 below.

2 The reference to "some drunken rhymer" is probably to Thomas Elderton,
the balladist, a familiar figure of the period.

3 i. e., Eden's translation of The Decades of the newe Worlde, etc., 1555.

Joseph Hall. 127

epithets or compound adjectives ; that he " names the spirit of Astrophel "; that
he wrote pastoral verse and love -poetry before undertaking that on heroic themes.
I am indebted to Dr. Homer Smith for the suggestion that Drayton may have
been the poet intended, though I have since noticed that the same idea had
occurred to Singer. The suggestion is an interesting one, and deserves con-
sideration. Drayton had begun his career with pastorals (in the Eclogues of
1593), he had published love-sonnets in 1594, and had then turned to his Tragi-
cal Legends ; while at the time of the Virgidemiarum he was through with the
Mortimeriados and was working at the Heroical Epistles. He was quite the sort
of poet to inspire Hall with repugnance. I regret that I have not been able to
identify with any satisfaction the details of Hall's description which seemed to
suggest identification. In the Mortimeriados Drayton uses a number of stanzas
beginning with the exclamation "O ;" he has frequent references to Phoebus and
other "heathen deities;" and his sonnets might easily have been accused of
using Petrarchan material ; l but beyond these quite general comparisons I have
not yet been able to go.

It is clear that we have in all this literary satire the work of an unusually keen
and well-read critic of contemporary literature. The material was no doubt in part
suggested by occasional passages in Juvenal, Persius and Horace ; but it is worked
out with originality and with constant reference to contemporary conditions.
It is also interesting as showing the revolt against romanticism which no doubt
always appears at the very moment of romantic enthusiasm, and which unites with
the metre and other elements in these satires to give them their curiously
eighteenth-century effect.

Under Religion :

Lollards, II. I. 17.

Benefices and simony, II.- 5 ; VI. I. 38 ff.

Romanism ; inconsistencies of priests, etc., IV. 7.

Of personal satire (excluding the initial -names which it is now impossible to
explain) there seems to be little in these satires apart from the literary allusions.
This personal element we have seen increasing in the rise of formal satire, and
unfortunately it continued to grow and prosper. In Hall's satires we have also
to consider possible traces of his "quarrel" with Marston ; but this may most
conveniently be reserved for consideration under the satires of the latter. It
is enough here to note that the idea of the nature of satire, as Marston described
it, "under feigned private names to note general vices," is already being lost.

It has been necessary to take up the satires of Hall at con-
siderable length and in much detail. They are the largest
single collection of satires (with the exception of Wither's)

1 For cases of compound adjectives, too, see Drayton' s 53d Sonnet.

128 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

appearing in our period, and they are incomparably the most
important. They were clearly the product of classical influ-
ence, and were frankly imitative and conventional, yet by no
means destitute of originality. They bear a close relation to
contemporary life, and seem to be the work of one really im-
pressed by the vices and follies of the time, as we should
expect the future bishop to have been. Their influence, as
we have already seen, must have been considerable, and it is
not too much to say that, when compared with other satirical
literature of this period, that influence seems to have been in
large measure for good.

William Rankins was one of the satirists mentioned by Meres in the Palladis
Tamia. On May 3, 1598, there were entered in the Stationers' Register his
" Seaven Satyres Applyed to the weeke, including the worlds ridiculous follyes.
True faelicity described in the Phcenix. Maulgre. Whereunto is annexed the
wandring Satyre." This is a rare work, and has not, so far as I am aware, been
reprinted. I have therefore been unable to see it, but make use of the descrip-
tion given by Collier.1

The work was dedicated to John Salisbury of Llewenni. The satires are
introduced by an "Induction," which illustrates the dramatic use made of the
mythological idea of a Satyr, as already commented on :

" Of Love, of Courtships and of fancies force
Some gilded Braggadochio may discourse :
My shaggy Satyres doe forsake the woods,
Their beddes of mosse, their unfrequented floodes,
Their marble eels, their quiet forrest life,
To view the manner of this humane strife.
Whose skin is toucht, and will in gall revert,
My Satyres vow to gall them at the heart."

The seven satires are directed respectively Contra Lunatistam, Martialistam,
Mercurialistam, Jovialistam, Venereum, Saturnistam, Sollistam. They are in
seven-line stanzas. A serious piece, "Sola felicitas, Christus mihi Phoenix," is
followed by the Satyrns Peregrinus. I quote (through Collier's transcription)
from the account of an amorous gallant, and that of a pamphleteer :

1 Rarest Books, vol. iii. pp. 278 ff.

John Marston. 129

" He is in love with every painted face

Saluting common truls with ribauld lines,
In songs and sonnets taking such a grace,

As if he delv'd for" gold in Indian mines;

But see how fortune such great wit repines :
In this sweet traffique his bargaines are so ill
That he is made a jade by every Jill."

..." Another artlesse mone, bewitcht with praise,
Thrusts forth a patched pamphlet into print,

When fooles on it, as on a pide coat, gaze ;
His copper words come out of coxcombs mint :
Fluent from arte as water from a flint.

Foure bookes he makes foure elbowes to present :

By his induction is his bawble meant."

It does not appear from this that much has been lost in the falling into obscur-
ity of Rankins's satires, nor that — apart from the name — they are greatly indebted
to classical models. The practice of dividing books of poetry into seven parts
was not infrequent at this time, and we shall meet it again in connection with the
writing of satires ; it is attributed by some to the influence of the Semaines of
Du Bartas, which were translated into English in 1597 or 1598.

Rankins published, besides the Seven Satyrs, an attack on theatres called
A Mirrour of Monsters ( 1587) ; and there is also attributed to him a work called
The English Ape, the Italian imitation, the Foote- steppes of Fraunce (1588), an
attack on foreign fashions in dress and the like.1

7. JOHN MARSTON.

l'The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions linage. And Certaine Satyres. " 1598.
" The Scourge of Villanie. Three bookes of Satyres. Perseus : ' Nee scombros
metuentia carmina nee thus.' " 1598.

The first of these books was entered on the Stationers'
Register on May 27, 1598 ; and the second on September 8
of the same year. A second edition, twice issued, appeared
in 1599, " with the addition of Newe Satyres," — in reality
with the addition of one satire, the Tenth. The author's
name did not appear in any of these, but the dedication was
signed " W. K.," i. e., " W. Kinsayder," Marston's pseudonym,
which appears in full at the end of the prefatory address to

1 See article on Rankins, .Dictionary of National Biography.

130 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englanc

" judicial perusers/' in the Scourge of Villainy. In the third
satire of the Scourge occurs a reference to the author's " con-
cealed name" (1. 132), and Mr. Collier suggested1 that the
passage indicates apprehension of consequences as the cause
of anonymity.

At this time Marston was probably about twenty-three years
of age, and must have come lately from Oxford ; perhaps he
was trying to study law with his father, who in his will (i 599)
regretted that John should not have followed his own profes-
sion. Pigmaliorf s Image was undoubtedly popular when pub-
lished, though this may in large part be attributed to the poem
which gave the name to the volume. The Scourge of Villainy
seems also to have attracted no little attention. We have seen
that Marston was included in Meres's list of satirists, which
appeared almost immediately after the Pigmalion. In 1599
his satires were included in the list of condemned publications,
and ordered to be burned. Though they were not afterward
exempted, like Hall's, we find them complimented in 1601 by
Charles Fitzgeffrey, who viewed Marston as the successor
and rival of Hall :

" Gloria Marstoni satyrarum proxima primae,
Primaque, fas primas si numerare duas :
Sin primam duplicare nefas, tu gloria saltern
Marstoni primse proxima semper eris." 2

There is also an interesting passage relating to Marston, or
" Monsier Kynsader," in The Retiirne from Pernassus, or TJie
Scourge of Simony (about 1602) :

" Me thinks he is a Ruffian in his stile,
Withouten bands or garters ornament,
He quaffes a cup of Frenchmans Helicon.
Then royster doyster in his oylie tearmes,
Cutts, thrusts, and foines at whomesoever he meets,
And strews about Ram-ally meditations . ...

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. p. 233.

'2 Ad Johannem Marstonium, Epigram in Affania:, quoted by Warton, Hazlitt
ed., vol. iv. p. 400, and by Bullen, ed. Marston, vol. i. p. xxiv.

John Marston. 131

Brings the great battering ram of tearmes to towns
And at first volly of his cannon shot,
Batters the walles of the old fustic world." l

The form of the satires in these two volumes is the now
familiar one of decasyllabic couplets. They are much less reg-
ular and compact than Hall's, with fewer end-stopped couplets
and more irregularities of accent ; the result is to some degree
a gain in freedom but a great loss in smoothness and epigram-
matic effect That Marston was intentionally careless of the
niceties of poetics appears from his address " Ad rhythmum,"
before Book II. of the Scourge : " My liberty scorns rhyming
laws," etc. See also the " Prcemium in Librum Tertium : "

" I crave no sirens of our halcyon times,
To grace the accents of my rough-hew' d rhymes."

(1. 9f.)

In some of the satires (notably the First of the Scourge')
the rhythm is more impossible than anything in Donne's
satires.

The style is crabbed and distorted. We have already seen
Mr. Collins' s account of that of the Elizabethan satirists in
general, and have admitted that the account is more just in
the case of Marston than in others. Most of the peculiarities
are in fact familiar to readers of his tragedies. " The author
deliberately adopted an uncouth and monstrous style of
phraseology," says Mr. Bullen ; but the succeeding charge
of extreme obscurity is not so well founded. As a matter of
fact Marston, while not always true to his theories of perspi-
cuity (see p. 1 08 above), was on the whole no more obscure
(if he was as much so) than Donne and Hall ; and, like the
latter, he confined his worst mysteries to a few satires. Exam-
ples of his "monstrous" style may be found in the openings

1 The Pilgrimage to Parnassus ; etc. , ed. W. D. Macray, p. 86. See also the
passage in What You Will, II. I: "You Don Kinsayder ! Thou canker-eaten
rusty cur !" etc.

1 3 2 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

of Satires 4 and 5,1 the Proemium to Book I. of SV., in
SV. 2. 70 f., and 6. 1-20, 61 ff. Some of this is of course
intentional burlesque, as is indicated by the old marginal note
on Satire 5. 5: "Hue usque Xylinum " ("Bombast up to
this point," as Bullen renders it). Some of the strange ex-
pressions will be recognized as among those vomited up by
the hero of The Poetaster. In general, Marston's satires are
much less uniform in style, and much less distinctly satirical
in form, than those of his most noteworthy contemporaries.
Sometimes (as in SV. 4. 113-150) he leaves the satirical vein
altogether. Generally he gives the impression of striking
very much at random, with a dull blade ; but occasionally (as
in SV. 5. 56 ff.) he is keen and vigorous. On the whole we
may accept Warton's well-phrased account of his work as
compared with Hall's :

"There is a carelessness and laxity in Marston's versification, but there is a
freedom and facility, which Hall has too frequently missed by labouring to con-
fine the sense to the couplet. . . . Hall's meaning, among other reasons, is not
always so soon apprehended, on account of his compression both in sentiment and
diction. Marston is more perspicuous, as he thinks less and writes hastily. Hall
is superior in penetration, accurate conception of character, acuteness of reflection,
and the accumulation of thoughts and images. Hall has more humour, Marston
more acrimony. Hall often draws his materials from books and the diligent
perusal of other satirists, Marston from real life. Yet Hall has a larger variety
of characters."2

The contents of the two collections of satires are as follows :

Following Pigmalioris Image we have " The Author in praise of his precedent
poem," a satirical passage of 46 lines, giving mock commendation of the Pig-
malion, and clearly declaring the author's intention to censure himself. From
this he will proceed to ." snarl at those which do the world beguile."

Satire I. is entitled " Quaedam videntur, et non sunt," and attacks various kinds
of hypocrites.

Satire II. is entitled " Quoedam sunt, et non videntur." It opens with an
account of the affectations of contemporary satire, and proceeds to attack Puritans,
flatterers, lechers, travelers, and other hypocrites.

1 References to satires by numerals only will be understood to be to those pub-
lished with Pigmalion ; those in the Scourge will be indicated by " SV."

2 Hazlitt ed., vol. iv. p. 409.

Jolm Marston. 133

Satire III. is entitled " Quaedam et sunt, et videntur," and describes the fol-
lies of Duceus the lover.

Satire IV. is entitled " Reactio," and is a reply to certain satires of Hall.

Satire V. is entitled " Parva magna, magna nulla," and shows how vice has
become virtue.

The Scourge of Villainy opens with some stanzas called " To Detraction I present
my Poesy." There follows an address "in Lectores prorsus indignos," disdain-
ing the opinions of the crowd, and concluding with some verses to "diviner
wits." Next is the prose preface "To those that seem judicial Perusers,"
already quoted from.

The Prcemium to Book I. is an appeal to Melancholy as the author's Muse.

Satire I. is entitled " Fronti nulla fides," and is on the general deceitfulness
of " this nasty age."

Satire II. is headed " Difficile est Satiram non scribere," and is a medley of
abuse of " the snottery of our slimy time."

Satire III. is headed " Redde, age, quse deinceps risisti," and especially
lashes lust and luxury.

Satire IV. is entitled " Cras," and assumes procrastination as the key of
numerous sorts of vice.

The Prcemium to Book II. is a declaration of the author's independence as a
satirisL. It is followed by the lines "ad Rhythmum" already referred to.

Satire V. is called " Totum in toto," and treats of the prosperity of all kinds
of evil.

Satire VI., headed "Hem, nosti'n?" is first of all an attack on those who
have misinterpreted the author's Pigmalion as being written in " sad seriousness."
It was written only

" to note the odious spot
And blemish that deforms the lineaments
Of modern poesy's habiliments."

Even the anachronism by which Pygmalion exclaimed " O Ovid !" is declared to
have been a burlesque on those poets who make Homer cite Spenser. — This serves
as introduction to a general tirade against the stupidity of both poets and critics
of the day.

Satire VII. is called " A Cynic Satire." It opens with a parody of an already
famous line in Shakspere's Richard III. The theme of the satire is the loss of
manhood : instead of men we have devils, clothes, sponges, lamb's fur, eels, huge
oaths, water-spaniels, apes, asses, muckhills, beavers, puppets, and the like.

The Prcemium to Book III. invokes Reproof as the author's Muse.

Satire VII I., entitled "Inamorato Curio," describes the follies of those who
are slaves to love and lust.

Satire IX. is headed by the old saying, " Here's a Toy to mock an Ape
indeed," and deals with various aping vanities and affectations.

134 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Satire X. (the Satira Nova of the second edition) is called " Stultorum plena
sunt omnia," and is dedicated to "his very friend, Master E. G." This friend
is called " Ned" in the text, and has been thought by Hazlitt and Bullen to be
the Edward Guilpin whose Skialetheia was published just after the Scourge of
Villainy. The satire is an attack on the author of Virgidemianttn, and as such
will receive later consideration.

Satire XL is called " Humours," and treats of various personal follies and
foibles, i

Then follows the address " to Everlasting Oblivion," and the prose conclusion,
" To him that hath perused me," signed " Theriomastix."

The type of satire here is of course that of direct rebuke,
with occasional admixture of the reflective method, but never
of the Horatian kind. Marston's view of satire is the one
now rapidly becoming conventional, that it is a serious
scourge of vice. Of the title of satirist he exclaims :

" O title, which my judgment doth adore !
But I, dull-spirited fat Boeotian boor,
Do far off honor that censorian seat. ' '

(Satire 2. 3ff.)

Of his serious purpose he speaks in the prelude " In Lectores
prorsus indignos " (67 f.), and earlier in the same prelude he
summons all manner of fools —

" Castilios, Cyprians, court-boys, Spanish blocks,
Ribanded ears, Granado netherstocks,
Fiddlers, scriveners, pedlars, tinkering knaves,
Base blue-coats, tapsters, broad-cloth-minded slaves "-

that he may make their " galled hides to smart." In the open-
ing of SV. 2, he makes an unusually feeble effort to imitate the
conscious indignation of Juvenal :

" Who'll cool my rage ? who'll stay my itching fist? " etc.

1 Gerald Massey (Secret Drama of Shakspere"1 s Sonnets Unfolded] supposed
that in this satire Marston satirized Shakspere under the name Drusus, in connec-
tion with the reference to Romeo and Juliet. Grosart's notes seem to me to fur-
nish sufficient refutation of the theory.

John Marston. 135

This conventional fury had been suggested by Donne and
formally introduced by Hall ; it was now becoming an estab-
lished feature of all English satire based on classical models.
To say that Marston' s attitude is pessimistic is to put the
facts mildly. Some of the epithets that he hurls at the age in
which he was fortunate enough to live have already appeared
in the analysis of the satires.1 That he was inspired by any
very serious desire of promoting reform, however, it is diffi-
cult to believe. He shows an unpleasant satisfaction in dwell-
ing on unclean details ; and, as Warton observes, " the satirist
who too freely indulges himself in the display of that licentious-
ness which he means to proscribe, absolutely defeats his own
design." The most curious illustration of Marston's method
of doing just this, is the Pigmalioii 's Image, — the starting-
point of his satire. It is one of the most frankly indelicate
poems of the period, and there is in the text nothing what-
ever to indicate that it is not a sincere effort after success in
its own line (if we except such lines as

" Peace, idle poesy,
Be not obscene though wanton in thy rhymes ' ' —

which have the appearance of a bit of sly affectation). As
Mr. Bullen remarks : " It would require keener observation
than most readers possess to discover in Pigmalion any trace
of that moral motive by which the poet claimed to have been
inspired." Neither he nor others, however, have sufficiently
recognized the fact that in the lines following the poem, and
published at the same time, the author ironically points out
that his Muse has been engaged in displaying " titillations
which tickle up our lewd Priapians," and proceeds to ridicule
the general composition of the poem. It cannot, then, be
alleged that the protestations of its satirical intent, as they
appear in the Scourge, were after-thoughts due to criticism or
repentance. Evidently, however, the interest aroused in the

^ee S. 5 ; SV. 2. 104 ff; SV. 5. 18, 96 ff.

136 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

poem at the time of its popularity was not due to its satirical
nature ; and in 1619 it was reprinted by itself as a serious poem
of passion.

Marston's view of the propriety of obscurity in satire we
have already noticed in connection with Hall. As in other
respects, his theory here was not consistent with his practice.
In his concluding words "To him that hath perused me" he
makes the conventional disclaimer of personal allusion, and
backs it up by the usual observation that anyone complaining
of attack thereby confesses it to be just. Some, he com-
plains, " not knowing the nature of a satire (which is, under
feigned private names to note general vices), will needs wrest
each feigned name to a private unfeigned person." Of course
Marston was no more ingenuous in this than most of his con-
temporaries. Of apparently equal sincerity is the curious
dedication of the satires'* to everlasting oblivion." This is
to be compared with Hall's similar expressions in the " Charge
to his Satires," and it may have been intended (though this
explanation does not seem to have occurred to any one) as a
burlesque of the latter. We have already seen that it is some-
times hard to distinguish Marston's seriousness from his bur-
lesque. Mr. Bullen oddly remarks that while "in much of
Marston's satire there is an air of evident insincerity," this
dedication "is of startling earnestness ;" and he calls Marston
" the rugged Timon of the Elizabethan drama, who sought
to shroud himself 'in the uncomfortable night of nothing.' '
Most persons, however, will see nothing in the facts con-
nected with the publication of the various editions of these
satires, to indicate that the author really craved oblivion. The
fact always suggests itself to a simple-minded person that
oblivion is too easily had ever to be loudly demanded. The
truth is, the affectation of Timon-like cynicism was one of the
numerous self-interesting affectations of this period.

The sources of Marston present few important problems.
That Hall's satires served as a suggestion for him we cannot

John Marston. 137

doubt, though there is no close imitation. Doubtless Mar-
ston conceived that he might use some of Hall's material with
added vigor of style and heat of apparent passion. It is very
likely that he was also familiar with Lodge's Fig for Momus.
The first satire in the Pigmalion series, and the first in the
Scourge, remind one of Lodge's opening satire on hypocrisy.
This, however, was the starting-point of much of the satire
of the period (see Hall's Prologue to Book I.). Direct evi-
dence of familiarity with Donne's satires I have not found in
Marston. It is possible that he may have imitated their
ruggedness of metre, but more probable that he was imitat-
ing in his couplets the structure of contemporary dramatic
blank verse.

The classical sources are not numerous. While using
classical conventions Marston was for the most part thoroughly
English in atmosphere and subject-matter. We have seen
him quoting from Juvenal and (on the title-page) from Persius
(I. 43). Two adaptations from passages in Juvenal are noted
by Bullen: in SV. I. 5 ff. (cf. Juvenal X. 221), and SV. i. 19
(cf. Juvenal II. 95). I have no doubt that the title and motif
of SV. 4 (" Cras ") were taken from the fifth satire of Persius :

" ' Cras hoc fiet.' Idem eras fiet. ' Quid ! quasi magnum
Nempe diem donas ? ' Sfed cum lux altera venit,
Jam eras hesternum consumpsimus : ecce aliud eras," etc. (66 ff . )

The title of SV. I (" Fronti nulla fides ") is from Juvenal II.
8. In the first three satires — especially in their titles — we
have a recurrence of the distinction between " being and
seeming," which has been noticed from the satire of Wyatt to
that of Marston. Other classical quotations might be identi-
fied ; " Stultorum plena sunt omnia " is of course from Cicero
(ad Fain. 9. 22. 4). The subject and motif of SV. 5 remind
us of Juvenal I. 73 f.:

" Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, et carcere dignum,
Si vis esse aliquis. Probitas laudatur, et alget."

138 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

In view of Marston's evident familiarity with Persius, it may
seem strange that he should not have derived more from him ;
but the restrained, classical style of the latter was too distant
from his furious temper. In Juvenal he found what most
attracted him, unlimited and almost shameless pictures of
shameless lust ; and about these he centered his work, as had
Juvenal, while missing the severe, compact style of the latter.
It is possible that from the philosophizing of Persius he may
have derived some suggestion which led him to the use of a
curious philosophical jargon, in part obtained from mediaeval
scholasticism.1

The English elements in Marston's satires are most notice-
able in the style. His moral purpose, as conspicuously pro-
fessed, is of native type. The local color is generally English.
The humor is rare at best, and is chiefly of the grotesque type,
suggesting mediaeval origin. The occasional element of direct
raillery or invective is characteristic of modern popular satire.
On the other hand, the classical elements appear in the
general conventional type of rebuke, representative of a per-
sonal, individual standpoint. The emphasis, too, is distinctly
on 'private morals, fashions, and contemporary literature. In
the form of the satires the conventionalized classicisms appear,
without successful classicism of style. Thus we have the
pagan deities, instead of native religious tone. Marston has a
curious habit of reviling the morals of these classical deities2 in a
manner for which I know no parallel outside of mediaeval
Christian literature ; though it curiously suggests the passage
in Juvenal's account of the Golden Age (XIII. 40 ff.) where
the morals of the gods are shown to have degenerated. One
of the very few attempts at classical local color in Marston is
in SV. 5. 113 ff.:

" I'll offer to thy shrine
An hecatomb of many spotted kine."

1 For examples of this, see Satire 4. 87 ff., the lines " to Detraction," SV. 4.
99 ff., SV. 7. 66 ff., 123 ff, 189 ff, SV. 8. 173 ff, SV. n. 205 ff.

2 See Satire I. 55 ff. ; SV. 2. 21 ff; SV. 3. 101 ff. ; SV. 8. 27 ff , 149 ff.

John Marston. 139

There is great abundance of familiar mythological allusions,
and also of the personal type-names. Of the latter I have
noted about seventy-five (a number being, as in Hall, in Italian
rather than classical form). They are used with less individual
characterization than in Hall, and are derived from all sorts
of classical sources. A few are made to order, and a few
(such as Mat/io, Cossus, Codrus, Mutius) are apparently from
Juvenal, but are not used with express reference to his charac-
ters. The style exhibits the free dialogue form and dramatic
suggestiveness of the classics (see especially SV. 7); and some-
times there appear the ironical exaggeration and purely inci-
dental satire of Juvenal (see "Ad Rhythmum " i 5-21, andSV.
ii. 115). All these things, however, reached Marston
through Hall as well as from the classical satirists directly ;
and the influence of the former was perhaps the stronger.

The objects satirized we have already seen to be chiefly
those of perso'nal morals and fashions. Classifying as usual,
we have :

Morals :

Hypocrisy and cheating, S. I ; SV. I ; SV. 3. 151 ff.; SV. 9. 126 fif.;
. SV. 5.

Flattery and parasitism, S. I. II fif.; S. 2. 89 ff . ; SV. 4. 57 ff. ; SV. 7.

143 ff.
Lust, S. I. 64 fif., 96 fif.; SV. i. 39, 58, etc.; SV. 2, 20 fif., 104 fif.; SV.

3. 29 fif.; SV. 4. 33 fif.; SV. 7. 118 fif., 158 fif.; SV. 9. 119 fif.; SV. II.

136 fif.

Usury, S. 2. 72 ; SV. 4. 73 fif.
Gambling, SV. 3. II fif.

Fortune -hunting, SV, 2. 122 fif.; SV. 3. 133 fif.
Gluttony, SV. 7. 32 ff.

Abuse of guardianship, SV. 2. 58 fif.; SV. 3. 157.
Foreign vices, S. 2. 143 fif. ; SV. 3. 55 fif.

Fashions :

Follies of gallants, S. i. 28 fif., 125 fif.; S. 3 ; SV. 7. 18 fif.; SV. 9.

82 fif.; SV. II. i6off.

Clothes, etc., S. 3. 7 ff.; SV. 7. 18 fif., 31 ; SV. n. 157 ff., 187 fif.
Tobacco, " In Lectores," II ; SV. 8. 77.

140 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Decorations of women, SV. 7. 160.
Dancing, SV. n. 15 ff.
Theatre-going, SV. II. 37 ff.
Fencing, SV. n. 52.
Horse-training, SV. II. 98 ff.

Public Affairs :

Office-seeking, S. I. 73 ff.
Monopolies, SV. 4. 83 ; SV. 7. 33.
Oppression of tenants, SV. 2. 134 ff.

Personal Humors :

Lovers, S. 3. 53 ff. ; SV. 8.
(Miscellaneous), SV. n.

Classes :

Soldiers, S. I. 90 ff.; SV. 7. loo ff; SV. 8. 77 ff.
Travelers, S. 2. 127 ff.
Physicians, SV. I. 6, 47.
Lawyers, SV. 7. 8 1 ff.

Literature :

Lustful poetry, SV. 6. 23 ff.

Plagiarism, S. I. 41 ff; S. 2. 41 ff; SV. 3. 127 ff.; SV. n. 75 ff.

Critics, S. 4. 83 ff; SV. 6. 77-100; SV. 9. 16 ff.; SV. n. 105 ff;
" To Detraction ; " " In Lectores."

Balladry, SV. 4. 12-20 ; SV. 6. 40.

Writing for money, Premium SV. II. 7-12.

Elegies on dead pets, SV. 8. I ff.

Barnes's Parthenophil, SV. 8. 126.

Affectation of style, SV. 9. 40 ff.

(The passages having relation to Hall's satires are reserved for consid-
eration under Personal Satire. )

Religion :

Transubstantiation, SV. 2. 75 ff.

Simony, SV. 5. 64.

Puritans, S. 2. 55-86 ; SV. 3. 154 ; SV. 9. 109 ff.

"Gelded" vicarages, SV. 3. 173 ;i SV. 5. 65.

We have still to consider the "quarrel" of Marston and
Hall, so far as it appears in the satires of both. Of this much

1 See Bullen's notes on this passage, and the note to Spenser's Mother Hub-
bard : s Tale, p. 74 above-

John Marston. 141

has been written, but with much vagueness. Tradition has it
that Hall began the quarrel. It must be remembered, how-
ever, that when the Virgidemiarmn (Books I.— III.) was pub-
lished, Marston — so far as we know — had never been heard
of in any public manner. The Pigmalion is his first known
publication, and even this was not entered, on the Stationers'
Register till May 27, 1598, two months after the entry of the
second series of Hall's satires. As a matter of fact, there is
nothing applicable to Marston in the first three books of Virgide-
miarum, unless it be the ninth satire of Book I., which we have
already seen has been referred to Marston, or the second of the
same book, concerning which Singer made a similar sugges-
tion. Pigmalion was of course not yet printed, but is conceived
to have been circulating in MS. and thus to have fallen under
Hall's reprobation. I am not able to see any good reason for
such an assumption. We have seen that there was plenty of
poetry popular at this time which might have been the object
of Hall's rebuke ; and if Pigmalion was professed from the
first (as it was in its published form) as a burlesque on amorous
poetry, Hall would have been as dull as a modern editor to
select its author as " a new laureat" of Cupid.

In the satires following the Pigmalion we begin to find
signs of trouble. It is very possible, and has been more than
once suggested, that the attack on the obscurity of contempo-
rary satire, in S. 2. 14-36, was leveled at Hall. In Satire 4
there is no room for doubt. Here the author plunges very
early into an attack upon a

" Vain envious detractor from the good."

He complains of Hall's derision of Markham's Sion's Muse
(1. 34), Southwell's Peter's Complaint and Marie Magdalen
(1. 37), and accuses him of railing at

" All translators that do strive to bring

That stranger language to our vulgar tongue. ' '

142 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

After a passage defending Biblical poetry, he proceeds :

" But must thy envious hungry fangs needs light
On Magistrates' Mirror'5 —

which we have seen Hall attacking in I. 5. Lines 81 f.

(" What, shall not Rosamund or Gaveston
Ope their sweet lips without detraction ?" )

are of special interest. They seem to refer to Daniel's
Complaint of Rosamond, and Dray ton's Legend of Pierce
Gaveston ;v but Bullen observes: " I cannot discover any
abuse of Daniel or Drayton in Hall's satires." My at-
tempt to identify Labeo as Drayton suggests that to search
for such " abuse" is not unreasonable, and it is possible that
we can find the reference to Gaveston in close connection with
that to the Mirror for Magistrates. In Hall I. 5 we have :

" Then brings he up some branded whining ghost,
To tell how old misfortunes had him tossed.
Then must he ban the guiltless fates above,
Or fortune frail, or unrewarded love.
And when he had parbrak'd his grieved mind,
He sends him down where erst he did him find,
Without one penny to pay Charon's hire,
That waiteth for the wand' ring ghosts retire."

Compare this with the opening and concluding lines of Dray-
ton's Gaveston:

" From gloomy shaddowes of eternall Night,
Shut up in Darknesse, endlesly to dwell,
O here behold Me miserable Wight,
Awhile releas'd, my Tragedie to tell."

. . . " My Life and Fortunes lively thus exprest,
In the sad Tenor of my Tragique Tale,
Let me returne to the faire fields of rest,
Thither transported with a prosp'rous gale,

And leave the World my Destinie to view,

Bidding it thus eternally adiew."

1 Dr. Grosart took the allusion to be to the character of Gaveston in Marlowe's
Edward II. , but I think this is undoubtedly a mistake.

John Marston. 143

Pierce Gaveston had been published not long before the Virgi-
demiarum, and was quite the sort of poem to be included
among Hall's aspersions on contemporary literature. The
only objection to this identification is that the fifth satire seems
obviously to be aimed throughout at the Mirror for Magis-
trates, or at least to the work of the same author.1 I am
inclined to think, however, that Marston may at least have
understood Gaveston to be included.

Leaving literary matters, Marston next complains of Hall's
detraction of ''glorious action" (109 ff.), alluding to his re-
marks on voyages to Guiana (IV. 3. 28-33). This fact indi-
cates that the second series of the Vtrgidemiarumvjzs, included
in Marston' s material. Finally he proceeds to a parody of
Hall's " Defiance to Envy," adopting many of its phrases
and lines bodily ; thus — " plumy pinion," " the eagle from
the stairs of friendly Jove," " lead sad Pluto captive," " scour
the sword of elvish champion," "summon the nymphs and
Dryades," "pines of Ida," etc., etc. There is also here a
reference (147 f.) to Hall's "pastorals," which serves to
strengthen the supposition that he had written such poems
before he undertook satire.

The Reactio must have awakened not a little interest, with
its fairly clever parodies of Hall. We shall see later how it
was referred to in Guilpin's Skialetheia.

If we are to believe Marston' s statement, Hall's revenge for
these attacks took the form of an epigram which he " caused to
be pasted to the latter page of every Pygmalion that came to the
Stationers of Cambridge," where he was no doubt still in resi-
dence. The epigram is nothing brilliant ; Marston quotes it
in full in SV. 10, with a note on the word kinsing : "Mark

1 The corresponding passage in the Mirror (1587 ed. ) is as follows :
' ' Then strayght hee foorth his servante Morpheus calde,
On Higins here thou muste (quoth hee) attende ;
The Britayne Peeres to bring (whom Fortune thralde)
From Lethian lake, and th' auncient shapes them lende ;
That they may shew why, howe, they tooke theire ende."

144 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

the witty allusion to my name." The Scourge of Villainy was
not entered on the Stationers' Register till the eighth of Septem-
ber, 1598, more than three months after the Pigmalion ; but
the tenth satire of the Scourge, replying to Hall's alleged epi-
gram, did not appear until the edition of 1 599, so that the
" pasting" may have occurred after the first edition was pub-
lished. Already in SV. 3. 165 ff, Marston had returned to
the charge, rebuking Hall's treatment of Lollio's son in IV. 2
of the Vlrgidemiarum, and apparently casting coarse slurs
upon Hall's poverty while a student at Cambridge. Immedi-
ately afterward he refers to Hall's satire on Romanism (IV. 7).
In the Prcemium to SV. II., we have probably another com-
pliment looking in the same direction :

" I cannot quote a mott Italionate,

Or brand my satires with some Spanish term ;
I cannot with swoll'n lines magnificate

Mine^own poor worth, or as immaculate
Task others' rhymes, as if no blot did stain,
No blemish soil, my young satiric vein."

Here there seem to be allusions to the " Defiance to Envy",
to the satires of Book I., and to the Italian motto, " Chebaiar
vuol, bai."1

In Satire 10, added in the second edition of the Scourge,
and perhaps addressed to Edward Guilpin, we find the account
of the rhymes of that

" stinking scavenger

Which from his dunghill be bedaubed on
The latter page of old Pygmalion."

It is here that the alleged epigram of Hall's is quoted in full,
with comment. The admiration bestowed on the Virgidemi-
arum (perhaps also the recall of the Bishops' edict against it,

1 Or perhaps a side allusion to the author referred to by Hall as Maevio. with
his " Italian mot." See p. 126 above.

John Marston. 145

if that had already occurred) evidently rankled in Marston's
mind.

"Shame to Opinion," he cries, " that perfumes his dung
And streweth flowers rotten bones among ! ' '

And here he seems to have had the last word. It has
become common to assert that the last satire (VI. i.) of the
Virgidemiarum contains Hall's final rejoinder to his opponent ;
but this view seems to disregard the fact that all six books of
Hall's satires were published, — if we may judge from the
Stationers' Register, — before the first of Marston's. We have
seen Marston alluding to passages in the Biting Satires, in
one of his first series. The only possible way to assume that
Hall was making any return attack in VI. I, would be on the
basis that the controversy had been going on in manuscript,
before any of the satires were published ; and of this we have
no evidence. There is, moreover, no internal reason for con-
necting anything in Hall's last satire with Marston. Labeo
the bad poet we have already tried to identify ; whoever it
was, there is nothing to indicate a man still unknown as a
poet. Some have thought that the Labeo at the opening of
Book VI. is a different person, viz., Marston ; but it is more
reasonable to assume that the character is the same except
for being more typical, — still the bad poet who is the natural
enemy of the satirist. There is nothing to indicate that any
of the Labeo' s was himself a satirist.1

The so-called " quarrel " of Hall and Marston, then, resolves
itself largely into the form of monologue. Hall's only part
in it, so far as we have direct evidence, was the epigram pasted
into the copies of Pigmalion ; and the sole evidence of this is
Marston's own statement. How accurate his account may
be we shall probably never know. It would be equally

1 See Grosart's Introduction to Hall for a discussion of the Labeo -Marston
theory. His view of the matter is not different from mine, except that he
believes that lines 175-184 of VI. I. have reference to Marston. Certainly if
any lines are to be so explained it should be these.

146 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

interesting to know the cause of his original outbreak against
his predecessor in the writing of satire. Some have suggested
that it was simply the fact that Hall was his predecessor. It
appears from some lines in SV. 10 (27-30) that he wished it to
be supposed that he was really the earlier satirist of the two,
and that Hall had outwitted him by earlier publication ; this
was a common device of the time. One need not seek any
serious cause for unkind feeling ; for it would be sufficient
that Marston, intending to write satires of a somewhat furious
sort, should feel that their interest would be enhanced by
opportunity for personal attack, and should select his rival
satirist as the most convenient object. That two parties are
necessary to a quarrel is not always a doctrine of satirists.

We have finally to consider the relation of Marston' s satires
to his quarrel with Jonson. I quote briefly from Dr. Penni-
man's statement of the case :

" There exists almost unanimity of opinion that Marston' s Satires were in some
way the cause of the quarrel. . . Two passages in Marston' s Scourge of
Villanie contain allusions to Torquatus, and it has been accepted traditionally that
Jonson is the person intended. If this interpretation of the passages is correct,
then The Scourge of Villanie (1598) is the earliest extant literary expression of
the differences between Jonson and Marston." !

Dr. Penniman reached the conclusion that there is strong evi-
dence for viewing the identification of Torquatus as Jonson
as the correct one. The two significant passages in Marston
are as follows :

"... I wrote the first satire, in some places too obscure, in all places mis-
liking me. Yet when by some scurvy chance it shall come into the late perfumed
fist of judicial Torquatus (that, like some rotten stick in a troubled water, hath
got a great deal of barmy froth to stick to his sides), I know he will vouchsafe it
some of his new-minted epithets (as real, intrinsecate, Delphic} , when in my
conscience he understands not the least part of it." 2

1 The War of the Theatres, p. 2.

2 "To those that seem Judiciall Perusers." Bullen ed. vol. ill. p. 305.

John Mars ton. 147

" Come aloft, Jack ! room for a vaulting skip,
Room for Torquatus, that ne'er oped his lip
But in prate of pommado reversa,
Of the nimble, tumbling Angelica.
Now, on my soul, his very intellect
Is naught but a curvetting sommerset." l

It was doubtless Jonson's attack on the first of these pas-
sages (in The Poetaster), together with the supposed recognition
of the "new-minted epithets" as peculiarly Jonsonese, that
first led to the identification. I am of the opinion, however,
that the evidence does not favor its correctness. The matter
was recently re-examined by the late Dr. R. A. Small, and I
am indebted to his courtesy for the following abstract of his
conclusions :

" In view of Jonson's express declaration that the beginning of the quarrel
between him and Marston was that Marston represented him on the stage, and
that Marston' s first dramatic effort was almost certainly his part of Histriomastix •,
Aug., 1599, I thought it extremely improbable that any satire on Jonson existed
in The Scourge of Villainy. The study of the satires in question made the idea
a firm conviction.

"It is absurd to suppose that Tubrio ( S. I, SV. 7. 100-138, S. 2. 118), the
worse than worthless pseudo-soldier can be meant for Jonson, always depicted by
Marston and Dekker as a scholar and poet, dressed in plain black, never accused
of drunkenness or lust, and mentioned by them as a soldier only once, and then
in a casual allusion {SatiromastiXi}

" Jack of Paris Garden (SV. 9) is an actual ape, kept at Paris Garden on exhi-
bition, as I can easily show.

" As for Torquatus, . . if there were no arguments against the identifica-
tion of Torquatus with Jonson, it would still be very improbable ; for the simple
interpretation of * Torquatus ' is ' the one adorned with a neck-chain or collar '
(Harper's Latin Dictionary}, 'the one richly adorned ;' the plain interpretation
of ' late perfumed fist ' is that it refers to the dainty hand of some fop ; and the
words real, intrinsecate, and Delphic, as Dr. Penniman himself shows, are well-
known affected words of the time.

4 ' But we have convincing evidence against the identification. In the first place
Jonson s duel occurred September 22, 1598, and his trial in October ; but the
Scourge was entered September 8, 1598. Secondly, Jonson is always repre-
sented by himself, Marston, and Dekker, as modestly clad in black, and smelling
not of a pomander, but of lamp-oil. Thirdly — and this by itself is conclusive —
Jonson expressly declared that Marston first attacked him in a play ; and Marston 's

iSV.n. 98 ff.

148 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

first play (or rather part of a play) appeared nearly a year later than the Scourge.
(Jonson's words in Apol. Dial, to The Poetaster about ' three years' refer to his
quarrel with Monday). The whole tone of the Torquatus passage convinces me
that the reference is either to some half-educated courtly critic now incapable of
identification, or, more probably, to a type-character standing for the whole class
of such critics.

"Finally, in SV. n. 98 ff. , Torquatus is again described in terms that make
my explanation certain. In this last-mentioned passage, Dr. Penniman appar-
ently adopts 1 Grosart' s tentative explanation that ' sommerset ' is ' meant for a
hidden stroke at Torquatus, i. e., Jonson's adulatidn of Somerset ;' but Robert
Carr was created first Earl of Somerset in 1613, fifteen years after the date of the
Scourge of Villainy.''*

It is sufficient for us to notice the various probabilities of
personal allusion in these passages. Other attempted identi-
fications, as Dr. Penniman observes, are incapable of proof.

The satires of Marston, then, are in the direct line of classi-
cal imitation, though they begin to show signs of the con-
ventionalized or secondary imitation which must characterize
a form at once popular and artificial. Insincerity is a natural
element in such work, and it is this quality which does most
to injure the effect of Marston's satires. Yet it is in part
redeemed by that strange strength of hand and deep-shadowed
coloring of style which make his dramas fascinating in spite
of their familiar faults

8. — EDWARD GUILPIN.

" Skialetheia : or, a Shadowe of Truth in certaine Epigrams and Satyres."
London, 1598.

This little book was entered on the Stationers' Register
September 15, 1598, only a week later than the Scourge of
Villainy. It was published anonymously, and the author's

1 Dr. Small here did Dr. Penniman injustice, since the latter carefully avoided
any expression of acquiescence in Grosart's suggestion. It will also be observed
that some of Dr. Small's objections are met by Dr. Penniman's supposition that
the Scourge was not published immediately on entry in the Stationers' Register.

Edward Guilpin. 149

name was first pointed out by Mr. Collier, from the fact that
" long passages in Skialetheia are assigned to him in England's
Parnassus (1600). "L It was first reprinted in 1843, and again
by Mr. Collier and by Dr. Grosart, but is still inaccessible to
most readers. Of the author nothing whatever is known, and
the only other works assigned to him are some brief com-
mendatory poems in volumes dating from 1577 to 1597. It
has already been noted that he has been suspected of being
the " E. G." to whom Marston dedicated his SV. io.2 The
Skialetheia, like the other satires of the same time, was
included by Meres in his Palladis Tamia, and was among the
fated works condemned by the prelates in 1599.

The form and style show familiarity with the author's
predecessors. The metre is the usual couplet, and is fairly
free and vigorous. The style is less strong than Hall's and
less violent than Marston's. It shows the influence of the
various earlier satirists, but has a certain virility and independ-
ence of its own. It is compact and concrete, and frequently
shows skill in the adaptation of the ideas of others.

The contents of the book are a Preludium and Six Satires,
followed by seventy epigrams, the last of which is signed
"S. A."; it is not necessary to suppose that all of these were
the work of the author of Skialetheia.

The Prelude is semi-dramatic in atmosphere. "Give rae a Doricke touch,
whole semphony ! " the author prays ; and at the end is the direction : " Explicit
the Satyres flourish before his fencing." The prelude is a protest against the
lustful and enervating poetry of the day, and an account of the mission of Satire
as the " antidote of sinne, the healer of luxury, the cantharides of vanity, the
rack of vice, the bone-ache to lechery, the Tamberlaine of vice, the Tyborn of
impiety," etc.

Satire I. follows the example of Lodge and Marston, in opening with a general
tirade against the deceitfulness of the time.

' ' The world' s so bad that vertue' s over-awde,
And forst, poore soule, to become vices bawde."

iSee Collier's Misc. Tracts, Temp. Eliz. and/ar. /., No. 4. 1868.
2 See Bullen's note on SV. io, and Warton, ed. Hazlitt, vol. iv., p. 401.

I 50 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

And again :

" All things are different from their outward show."

The lies of travelers are vigorously described :

This makes the foisting travailer to sweare,

And face out many a lie within the yeere ;

And if he have beene an howre or two aboarde

To spew a little gall ; then, by the Lord,

He hath beene in both the Indias, East and West,

Talkes of Guiana, China and the rest ;

The Straights of Gibraltare, and ^nian

Are but hard by, no, nor the Magellane :

Mandevile, Candish, yea experienst Drake

Came never neere him, if he truly crake,

Nor ever durst come where he layd his head,

For, out of doubt, he hath discovered

Some halfe a dozen of th' infinity

Of Anaxarchus worlds."

Satire II. lashes the artificial beauty of women, and gives us a view inside the
Elizabethan dressing-room :

" They know your spirits and your distillations
Which make your eies turn diamonds to charm passions :
Your cerusse now grown stale, your skaine of silke,
Your philterd waters and your asses milk.
They were plaine asses if they did not know
Quicksilver, juyce of lemmons, Boras too,
Allom, oyle Tartar, whites of egges and gaules,
Are made the bawds to morphew, scurffs and scauls."

Satire IIL is on the assumption of superiority by those having no claim to it,
especially the newly rich.

" Th' art quite turn'd Dutch, or some outlandish lowt :
Thou hast cleane forgot thine English tong, and then
Art in no state to salute Englishmen :
Or else th' hast had some great sicknes of late,
Whose tiranny doth so extenuate
Thy fraile remembrance, that thou canst not claime
Thine old acquaintance, mothers tong, nor name
Given thee in thy baptisme."

Edward Guilpin. 151

Satire IV. is on the foolish jealousy of husbands.

Satire V. is on the follies of the city, especially the young gallants of Paul's.

" Let me alone, I prethee, in thys Cell ;
Entice me not into the Citties hell :
Tempt me not forth this Eden of content
To tast of that which I shall soone repent.
Prethy excuse me : I am not alone,
Accompanied with meditation,
And calm content, whose tast more pleaseth me
Than all the Citties lushious vanity.
I had rather be encoYim' d in this chest
Amongst these bookes and papers, I protest,
Than free-booting abroad purchase offence,
And scandale my calm thoughts with discontents.
Here I converse with those diviner spirits,
Whose knowledge and admire the world inherits :
Here doth the famous profound Stagarite
With Natures mistick harmony delight
My ravish' d contemplation : I here see
The now-old worlds youth in an history :
Here may I be grave Platos auditor. . . .

If my desire doth rather wish the fields,
Some speaking painter, some poet straitway yeelds
A flower bespangled walk, where I may heare
Some amorous swaine his passions declare
To his sun-burnt love. Thus my books little case,
My study, is mine all, mine every place.'

This is one of the few passages in all the satires of this period which stand out
as quotable for their own sake. It is interesting too for another reason, which
will appear presently.

Satire VI. is on slavery to Opinion, as opposed to reason ; this theme is made
the basis for an interesting excursion into criticism of contemporary literature.

" In these our times

Some of Opinions gulls carpe at the rimes
Of reverend Chaucer : other-some do praise them,
And unto heav'n with wonders wings do raise them.

Some say the mark is out of Gowers mouth ;
Others he's better than a trick of youth.

Some blame deep Spencer for his grandam words ;
Others protest that in them he records
His maister-peece of cunning, giving praise
And gravity to his profound-prickt layes.

152 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Daniel (as some holds) might mount if he list,
But others say that he's a Lucanist.

Markham is censur'd for his want of plot,
Yet others thinke that no deep stayning blot :
As Homer writ his Frogs-fray learnedly,
And Virgil his Gnats unkind Tragedy,
So though his plot be poore, his subject's rich,
And his Muse scares a Falcons gallant pitch.

Drayton's condemn' d of some for imitation,
But others say 'twas the best poets fashion,
In spight of sicke Opinions crooked doome
Traytor to kingdome mind, true judgments toomb.
Like to a worthy Romaine he hath wonne
A three-fold name affixed to the Sunne,
When he is mounted in the glorious South,
And Drayton's justly sirnamed Golden-month.^

The double volum'd Satyre praised is,
And lik'd of divers for his rods in pisse ;
Yet other some, who would his credite crack
Have clap'd Reactios Action on his back.

Nay, even wits Qesar, Sidney, for whose death
The Fates themselves lamented Englands scath*,
And Muses wept, till of their teares did spring
Admiredly a second Castal spring,
Is not exempt from prophanation,
But censur'd for affectation."

The Satire concludes with a personal declaration of independence :

" Let others care,

He play the gallant, I, the cavaleire :
Once in my dayes He weene and over-wene,
And cry, a fico for the criticke spleene !
For let them praise them, or their praise deny,
My lines are still themselves, and so am I."

The Epigrams are true ones, distinct in form from the satires. Some of them
are decidedly keen and amusing.

The type of satire here is the usual one of direct rebuke,
with touches (as in V. and VI.) of the reflective. The atti-
tude toward life is in theory the conventionally pessimistic one

epithet given by Fitzgeffrey, 1596 ; see also on Drayton in the Palladis
Tamia.

Edward Guilpin. \ 5 3

(see especially the Preludium and Satire I.), but it is relieved
by pleasant thoughts and by some appreciation of the better
side of the picture. Thus in the last satire it is interesting to
find that the attitude of the satirist is one of commendation
for the great contemporary poets, and of rebuke only for their
critics. His idea of the mission of satire is sufficiently
obvious from the analysis of the Preludium.

Guilpin's relations with his immediate predecessors, as
already hinted, are most striking. He was evidently familiar
with the work of Hall and Marston, and for the first time also
we find distinct evidence of familiarity with the satires of
Donne. The fine opening of Satire V., already quoted, seems
to be a paraphrase of the opening of Donne's first satire.
The account of the fawning gallant in Satire V. also suggests
Donne's similar character. The Preludium, in its account of
contemporary amorous poetry, may be in imitation of the
first book of the Virgidemiarum ; see especially the lines on

" their whimpring sonnets, puling elegies. . .

. elegiack pen patheticall.
• Tickling her thoughts with masking bawdry," etc.

The references to Aretine and Rabelais also suggest similar
allusions in Hall. Satire I., as already intimated, reminds us
of Lodge and Marston in its theme of "Vice maskt in a
vertuous robe ; " and the account of the lies of travelers is
not without suggestions of earlier passages. The opening of
Satire II.,—

" Heere corns a coach : my lads, let's make a stand,
And take a view of blazing starres at hand.
Who's here ? who's here ? now, trust me, passing faire !
Thai' re most sweet ladies : mary, and so they are," —

seems to imitate a passage in Marston 's SV. 7. 160 ff.:

" Peace, Cynic ; see, what yonder doth approach ;
A cart ? a tumbrel ? No, a badged coach.
What's in't? Some man. No, nor yet womankind," etc.

I 54 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

And the end of Satire VI., quoted above, seems to be from
Marston's

"Spite of despite and rancour's villainy,
I am myself, so is my poesy."

("To Detraction.")

One may also compare Guilpin's allusion to Epictetus with
that of Marston.

Further comparisons with contemporaries might be made,
but enough has been cited to show that Guilpin, while some-
times original in detail, made free use of suggestions closer at
hand than the classics. Of classical lore, indeed, his satires
give little suggestion, beyond what was everywhere current
in his time. There are few if any direct borrowings from
Juvenal. The objections to the city, in Satire V., remind
one of those of Umbritius, in Juvenal III.; and the parasitic
flatterer crying " Oh rare my lord ! " suggests another classi-
cal passage, — but it is also like one in Lodge. The allusion
to a chandler stopping a mustard-pot with the petticoat of the
author's Muse (that is, with his poetry), may have been sug-
gested by the line from Persius which appeared on Marston's
title-page.

The English elements in Guilpin's satires are more notice-
able than in the classicists proper. His style is distinctly the
Elizabethan vernacular, and the humor is apt to be of native
type. The local color, too, is generally English. The classi-
cal elements are those which had already become convention-
alized,— such as the reflective passages, the conservative
pessimism, and the portrayal of virtues as well as vices. The
emphasis, as in Hall and Marston, is almost wholly on private
morals, fashions, and literature ; and the point of view is
individual. From the classical imitators Guilpin derived also
the semi-dramatic style, and the occasional use of the type-
names (about twenty in all).

Edward Guilpin. 155

Under objects satirized we find :
Morals :

Lust, (Preludium).
Hypocrisy, S. I.
Arrogance, S. III.
Jealousy, S. IV.
Slavery to "Opinion," S. VI.

Fashions :

Painted beauty, S. II.
Gallants, S. IV., V.
Affectation of manner, S. III.
Foreign fashions, S. V.

Literature :

Contemporary poetry, Preludium ; S. VI.

Critics, S. VI.

Elderton the balladist, S. V.

In the analysis of Satire VI., already given, Guilpin's views on literature are
set forth. The reference of most interest to us is that to the " Double -Volum'd
Satyre," — evidently the two books of Virgidemiarum — and Marston's " Reactios
Action." The expression "rods in pisse" has been thought by many to be a
distinct allusion to Marston's SV. I. 44, where the same phr^e is used ; but
while Guilpin's use of the phrase may have been suggested by that of Marston,
his application of it is clearly to Hall ; and on the other hand, there is no sugges-
tion of any reference to Hall in the passage in Marston. The phrase seems to be
an equivalent for "rods in pickle," that is, " punishment in preparation."

There is no personal satire now intelligible in the Skialetheia (as there is none
on public affairs or religion), except in connection with literature. Mr. Collier
thinks that one of the Epigrams (24) following the Satires, is directed at Marston
under the name of Fuscus, who " had taught his Muse to scold ;" but he does
not give evidence. In like manner he speaks of Guilpin as showing animosity
toward both Marston and Hall,1 but I am not able to see that such an expression
is warranted. The author of Skialetheia seems, on the whole, to have been a
fairly amiable satirist.

S

The occasion of this work is more clearly artificial than any
we have met with, and it serves to represent the increased

1 Rarest Books, vol. ii. p. loi.

156 The Rise of Formal Satire in England,

i

conventionalization and imitativeness of the formal satire at
this time. The original model is still in the classics, but it is
not directly in sight. Guilpin's originality of detail, however,
redeems his satires from the dullness of second-rate imitation.

9. — "T. M." (MICRO- CYNIC ON.)

" Micro-cynicon. Sixe Snarling Satyres. Insatiat Cron, Prodigall Zodon,
Insolent Superbia, Cheating Droone, Ingling Pyander, Wise Innocent. Adsis
pulcher homo canis hie tibi pulcher emendo." London, 1599-

This little book, which belongs in the group of satires pub-
lished at the height of the satirical fashion and soon condemned
to be burned, was evidently published in the early part of
1599. The introductory verses are signed " T. M. Gent.,"
and it has been common to attribute the work, on this basis,
to Thomas Middleton. Mr. Bullen has followed the tradition,
regretfully and perhaps unnecessarily, and has included the
satires in his edition of Middleton. Mr. Collier long ago
called attention to the fact that " T. M." calls himself ''the
author's mouth," and speaks of the author as defying the
hatred of Envy more than he himself does,- — expressions
which suggest that the author of the satires was not T. M.1
Another reason, Mr. Collier said, " for thinking that T. M.

. . . was only the author's friend," is the fact that " his
' defiance to Envy ' is followed by what bears the title ex-
pressly of ' the Author's Prologue ;' " but this argument can-
not be regarded as of any weight. Mr. Hazlitt also rejects
the Middleton authorship of Micro-cynic fftty and would assign
it, on the basis of the " T. M.," to Thomas Moffatt.2 There
is no internal evidence which can be called satisfactory.

If this was the work of Middleton it was his earliest known
publication, except perhaps The Wisdom of Solomon Para-

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. pp. 283 f.

2 Ed. Warton, vol. iv. p. 411.

' ' Micro- Cynic on . " i £7

phrased, which is also of doubtful authorship. It was in
1 599 that Middleton began his connection with the stage,
and it would be quite after the manner of other young writers
that he should turn to the satirical fashion of the day. Who-
ever wrote it, we have seen that the Micro-cynicon was con-
demned very soon after publication. Mr. Collier thought
that a reference in the sixth satire to attempts to stop the
author's career as satirist, was an allusion " to certain threats
of punishment which had been held out to the satirists .
before the extreme measure of burning Marston's two books
was resorted to." l

The form of these satires is the usual couplet, somewhat
careless and irregular in structure. The style is in like man-
ner somewhat careless, and of the vernacular order. Bullen
says, following the usual theory, that the author "thought it
necessary to adopt a rugged rhythm and barbarous phrase-
ology ;" but except in the introductory " Defiance to Envy"
and "Prologue " there is little barbarous phraseology of the
Marstonian order, and I know no evidence that the rugged-
ness of rhythm was intentional. Except in the last satire the
style is generally free from obscurity, but for the most part it
lacks skill, vigor, and point.

The contents are as follows :

His Defiance to Envy (signed T. M. Gent).

Author's Prologue (boasting of his satirical venom).

Satire I. " Insatiate Cron :" avarice, and the rule of gold.

Satire II. " Prodigal Zodon :" the son of Cron, who rose from low condi-
tions ; his lust and prodigality result in his fall.

Satire III. "Insolent Superbia :" proud women; their dress, fashionable
life, envy of one another, and cruelty to servants.

Satire IV. "Cheating Droone:" the story of how Droone takes a stranger
in London to a tavern, entertains him, and then steals his money.

Satire V. " Ingling Pyander :" who goes about town disguised as a beautiful
girl, and deceives unwary lovers.

Satire FY. " Wise Innocent :" a piece of difficult and ingenious dialogue based
on the words " innocent," " fool," and " ass," with an Epilogue stating the moral
in equally obscure terms.

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. pp. 300 f.

1 5 8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

The Prologue and Epilogue refer to these satires as " the First Book," but, as
Mr. Bullen remarks, "happily no more than the first book has come down."

The author evidently started out with the idea of writing
conventional "snarling satires" against the follies of the
world. In Satire I. he gives the usual account of the age
gone astray,

" Ranging the briery deserts of black sin."

His discussion of avarice and greed leading him to give a
picture of Cron the usurer, he is turned aside into a series of
character sketches of London life — not unlike what Middleton
shows a fondness for in his dramas — and we frequently lose
the proper satirical form. In Satires III., IV. and V., the
form is distinctly narrative, and not of the conventional type.
See especially the passage in II.:

" When welcome spring had clad the hills in green,
And pretty whistling birds were heard and seen,
Superbia abroad gan take her walk ;"

(29 ft)

and the tavern scene in Satire IV. The attitude toward life,
then, while frequently that of conventional pessimism, is by
the author's preference one of easygoing observation, with
such friendly moralization as —

" The cheater had his prey :
Be wise, young heads, care for an after-day !"

(IV. 87 f.)

The writer of Micro-cynicon was evidently familiar with con-
temporary satire, though he did not borrow much from it,
since he was really writing in a different manner. He started
out with an imitation of Hall's " Defiance to Envy," and (in the
Prologue) another imitation of Marston's artificial rage. There
is in Satire V. 93 a reference to " doting Pygmalion," which
suggests Marston again ; and Zodon, in Satire 1 1., reminds us
of the character in IV. 2 of the Virgidemiarum. The sugges-

' ' Micro- Cynic on . " 150,

tions of classical satire are even fewer. At the head of Satire I.
is a quotation from Horace's Satires (II. 2. 103): " Cur eget
indignus quisquam, te divite ?" The account of the cross
mistress and her servants in III. 101 ff. reminds one of Juve-
nal VI. 456 ff., but not conclusively. At the end of the
satires is a quotation from Ovid's Metamorphoses ; the Latin
on the title-page I can neither translate nor refer to a source.
Clearly " T. M.," if he be the satirist, shows little classical
inspiration.

It is the English elements, then, that are most noticeable in
these satires. It is true that the emphasis is wholly on private
morals and fashions, and that the satire is purely individual in
its point of view ; but these are by this time mere conven-
tionalities. The style is English ; the narrative element lacks
the abrupt, rapid method of classical satire ; the type-names
are few and generally non-classical. The local color is dis-
tinctly English (see especially the account of the dinner in
III., of Paul's Church in IV. 7, and the whole scene of the
narrative in IV.). Humor is generally lacking, save- in the
descriptive details of Satire IV.

Under objects satirized we have :

Morals :

Avarice and greed, I.
Usury, I. 83.
Prodigality, II.
Lust, II. 58 ff.
Envy, III. 73 ff.
Pride, III.
Cheating, IV., V.

Fashions and Follies :

Clothes of a young gallant, II. 15 ff., IV. I ff.
Women's clothes and vanities, III. I ff., 67 ff.
A fashionable dinner, III. 37—72.
Youths disguised as girls, V.

No personal satire is now distinguishable. There may have been references
obvious to contemporaries, but the effect is one of generalization.

160 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

In these satires we move still further from the satire of direct
classical imitation. They were clearly experiments in a fashion-
able form unsuited to the author's taste or talent. Middleton
was far from being a moralist, and the author of Micro-cynicon
was like him in so far, if it was not he himself.

Soon after the publication of the Micro-cynicon came the great attack upon the
satirists from the ecclesiastical authorities. It seems to have been dete'rmined that
a censorship of the press in several directions must be carried on more strictly
than heretofore. Whatever the cause, we find in the Stationers' Register for
June I, 1599, the following entry :

"Satyres tearmed Halles Satyres viz virgidemiarum or his toothles or bitinge
Satyres

Pigmalion with certaine other Satyres

The scourge of villanye

The Shadowe of truthe in Epigrams and Satyres

Snarl inge Satyres
. . . [and others]

That noe Satyres or Epigrams be printed hereafter

That noe English historyes be printed excepte they bee allowed by some of her
majesties privie Counsell

That noe playes be printed excepte they bee allowed by suche as have aucthorytie

That all Nasshes bookes and Doctor Harvyes bookes be taken wheresoever
they maye be found and that none of theire bookes bee ever printed "hereafter

That thoughe any booke of the nature of theise heretofore expressed shal be
broughte unto yow under the hands of the Lord Archebisshop of Canterburye or
the Lord Bishop of London yet the said booke shall not be printed untill the
master or wardens have acquainted the said Lord Archbishop, or the Lord
Bishop with the same to knowe whether it be theire hand or no
Jo Cantuar
Ric London

Suche bookes as can be found or are allready taken of the Argumentes
aforesaid or any of the bookes above expressed lett them bee presently broughte
to the Bishop of London to be burnte
Jo Cantuar
Ric London

Sic exftminatur ' '

And two or three days later, under 4 June, is this entry :

" Theis bookes presently thereuppon were burnte in the hall viz

Pygmalion

The scourge of vilany

the shadowe of truthe

Cyril Tourneur. 161

Snarling Satires
. . [etc.].
Theis staid

Caltha Poetarum

Halls Satires

Willobies Adviso to be Called in " 1

!-

In 1600 was published " The Transformed Metamorphosis, by Cyril Turner,"
— his first acknowledged publication, so far as is known. It would not require
consideration here were it not for the fact that it has been included by some in
the category of the formal satires of this period, together with those of Marston,
Hall, and the others. Mr. Saintsbury does this in his Elizabethan Literature,
doubtless following Mr. Churton Collins in his edition of Tourneur. Mr.
Collins says in his introduction to the poem : " The poem is in the first place a
satire, as Tourneur has condescended to inform us himself (see the fourth
sonnet prefixed to it)."2 It appears from other allusions that by "the fourth
sonnet" — which is not a sonnet — Mr. Collins means the latter half of the
author's address "to the Reader," which runs :

" Yet seeke I not to touch as he that seekes
The publike defamation of some one ;
Nor have I spent my voide houres in three weekes
To shew that I am unto hatred prone ;
For in particular I point at none :
Nay I am forced my lines to limit in
Within the pale of generalitie : . .
Who finds him touch' t may blame himself not me
And he will thanke me, doth himselfe know free."

This undoubtedly sounds much like the conventional introduction to the satires
of the period, and very likely owes something to them ; but I am not able to find
the lines where the author is said "to inform us himself" that the poem is a
satire. Its form suggests nothing of the kind, for it is in seven-line stanzas in-
stead of couplets, and in the manner of a semi-allegorical narrative. It may be
well to quote a part of Mr. Collins' s own analysis :

" The first six stanzas represent the poet as looking on a miserable and cor-
rupted world ; ... in the fourth stanza he identifies himself with that
world which has been changed or metamorphosed from its pristine purity.
He describes how there is a general conspiracy against the Reformed Church on
the part of the great powers, i. e. , Spain and the Papacy. But Heaven is asleep,
and sees not the danger in which its earthly concerns are standing. ... The
next three stanzas obviously describe the corrupt Church of Rome. . . . From

1Arber's Transcript, vol. iii. p. 677 f.

2 Tourneur' s Plays and Poems, vol. ii. p. 178.

1 62 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

stanza 43 to 50 describes the metamorphosis of the Church from its virgin purity
to pollution and corruption. . . . From stanza 57 to stanza 71 is an allegorical
sketch of Essex's Irish campaign." The conclusion Mr. Collins thinks deals
with the coming of James as the defender of Protestantism.

It is evident that the only important element which the poem has in common
with the formal satires of the period is its general picture of the corruptions of the
times. There is no objection, indeed, to calling it a satire in some sense ; but
its method and contents are on the whole quite distinct from the form which was
called by that name in 1 600. From Marston Tourneur may, as Mr. Collins
assumes, have derived suggestions for his extraordinary vocabulary, but for the
general method of the poem he was chiefly indebted to Spenser (compare espe-
cially the account of Mavortio's encounter with the grisly beast Hyenna). The
allusions to classical mythology are numerous, but there is little, if any, remi-
niscence of classical satire.

At this point we should also notice the series of satirical poems by Nicholas
Breton, published in 1600. They were Pasquil' s Madcap (entered on Sta-
tioners' Register March 20), Pasquil^s Foolscap (May 10), Pasquils
Mistresse, and Pasquils Passe, and passeth not (May 29 ).1 Like the
Transformed Metamorphosis, these poems are satirical in content (much more
so, indeed, than Tourneur' s poem) but are not formal satires. They are largely
in the seven- line stanza, and show Breton's usual fluent, sententious style. Dr.
Brinsley Nicholson suggests (in his marginal notes to Grosart's edition) that they
were " incited by Hall's and Marston's satires," and they certainly cover much
of the ground — in the objects satirized — which we have already been over. The
opening division of the " Madcap " is called " An Invective against the Wicked
of the Worlde," and deals with the dominion of wealth and greed — as shown
among gentlemen, soldiers, clergy, lawyers, women, etc. The succeeding " Mes-

!The name ''Pasquil" is a familiar one during the second half of the six-
teenth century. It had now become a sort of personification, like Momus and
similar expressions. I quote from Thomas Wright's brief account of its origin :

" A mutilated ancient statue was accidentally dug up in Rome, and it was
erected on a pedestal not far from the Ursini Palace. Opposite it stood the shop
of a shoemaker, named Pasquillo, or Pasquino. . . . This Pasquillo was notori-
ous as a facetious fellow, and his shop was usually crowded by people who went
there to tell tales and hear news ; and as no other name had been invented for
the statue, people agreed to give it the name of the shoemaker, and they called
it Pasquillo. It became a custom, at certain seasons, to write on pieces of paper
satirical epigrams, sonnets, and other short compositions, . . . and these were
published by depositing them with the statue, whence they were taken and read.
. . . The name of Pasquil was soon given to the papers which were deposited
with the statue, and eventually a pasquil, or pasquin, was only another name for
a lampoon or libel. ... A collection of these pasquils was published in 1544
in two small volumes." — History of Caricature and Grotesque, pp. 312 f.

" Whipping of the Satyr e" 163

sage" to the author's Muse, directing her to "go abroad and beat the world
about, ' ' takes up the vices of the time under all possible classes and professions,
after the manner of the early satires of fools. In like manner Pasquir s Fools-
cap is an exhaustive classification of follies. In Pasquir s Passe we have a
" Precession " of all manner of undesirable persons, in the form of a Litany pray-
ing, "from each of these the Lord deliver me;" while the "Prognostica-
tion ' ' shows how Doomsday may be predicted by the disappearance of various
forms of vice and folly. There is nothing of the method of classical satire in all
of this, but some very keen criticism of contemporary life. For the most part, as
in all of Breton's work, the tone is milder and more amiable than is usual in
formal satire. Breton's doctrines on this matter we shall see in a moment.

In 1601 was published a piece of satire primarily personal, called The Whip-
ping of the Satyre (entered on the Stationers' Register, August 14, 1601). It
has not been reprinted, and I have been unable to see a copy ; I therefore avail
myself of Mr. Collier's account of the book.1 It opens with a prose address " To
the vayne-gloriqus, the Satyrist, Epigrammatist, and Humorist," signed W. I.
Mr. Collier thought the author might be John Weever (the initials being reversed,
as frequently) ; Dr. Brinsley Nicholson believed it was William Ingram of Cam-
bridge.'2 According to Mr. Collier, the satire is directed principally against Mars-
ton, Jonson and Breton. " None of the three poets . . . are mentioned by
name, but they are sufficiently indicated by pointed allusions, and by the mention
of their productions. Thus . . . we meet with these lines :

* But harke, I heare the Cynicke Satyre crie,
A man, a man, a Kingdom fora marf ! '

This exclamation is from Marston's Scourge of Villainy. Again, . . . W. J.

says :

4 He scourgeth villanies in young and old,
As boys scourge tops for sport on Lenten day. '

The allusions to Ben Jonson and Nicholas Breton are rendered even more dis-
tinct by marginal notes, and are contained in the division of W. J.'s work headed,
' In Epigrammatistam et Hiwioristam,'1 where we meet with the following
stanzas, a form of writing that is observed throughout :

' It seemes your brother Satyre, and ye twayne,
Plotted three wayes to put the Divell downe :
One should outrayle him by invective vaine :
One all to flout him like a country clowne ;
And one in action on a stage out-face,
And play upon him to his great disgrace.

1 Rarest Books, vol. iv. pp. 253 ff.

2 See Edmonds's Introduction to Breton's No Whipping, etc., p. ix.

164 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

' You Humorist, if it be true I heare,
An action thus against the Divell brought,
Sending your humours to each Theater,
To serve the writ that ye had gotten out.
That Mad-cap yet superiour praise doth win,
Who, out of hope, even casts his cap at sin.'

At the bottom of the page, with marks of reference, are two notes 'Against the
booke of Humours ' and ' Pasquil's Mad-cap.' 5>1

Marston is generally thought to have undertaken to reply to this attack, and to
have done so in a pamphlet called The Whipper of the Satyre his pennance in a
luhite Sheete : or, The Beadles Confutation. This was entered on the Stationers'
Register November 6, 1601. (See Collier, as above.)

The third member of this little group is called No Whippinge, nor trippinge :
but a kinde friendly Snippinge. Like the two previous volumes, it was published
in 1601, and has generally been thought (as Mr. Collier has*it) to have been
later than both the others ; it was entered on the Register, however, on Septem-
ber 14, nearly two months before The Whipper. It is generally agreed to be
the work of Nicholas Breton, and was reprinted as such in the Isham Reprints
(No. 3). It is a protest, in Breton's usually gentle vein, against the bitternesses
of personal satire. *

" It was my happe of late," he says, "passing through Paules Church yarde,
to looke upon certaine pieces of Poetrye, where I found (that it greeves me to
speake of) one writer so strangely inveigh against another, that many shallow
wits stoode and laught at their follies." He is therefore led to counsel more
kindly methods. He refers to the satirical fashion of the time :

" 'Tis strange to see the humors of these daies :

How first the Satyre bites at imperfections :

The Epigrammist in his quips displaies

A wicked course in shadowes of corrections :

The Humorist hee strictly makes collections
Of loth'd behaviours both in youthe and age :
And makes them plaie their parts upon a stage."

Among these satires he includes his own Madcap, but later in the poem he de-
clares :

" And for poore Mad-cap, I dare sweare as much :

In all the compasse of a little wit,

It meant no one particular to touch."

1Dr. Grosart says of this production (in his ed. of Hall, Intro., p. xxvi.):
"Whoever was its author (William Ingram, probably) Hall gave whatever of
thin inspiration there was in it and to it." He gives no evidence, and no one
else seems to have made the discovery.

Samuel Rpivlands. 165

Even Madcap was too severe :

' ' Would to God it had ben so in deed,
The Satyres teeth had never bitten so :
The Epigrammist had not had a seede
Of wicked weedes, among his herbes to sowe ;' ' etc.

It is not the business of poetry, he even maintains, to give itself to reproof :

" The Preachers charge is but to chide for sjnne,
While Poets steppes are short of such a state."

He is no scholar (" My masters gowne deserves no face of Satine" ), save in the
school of life ("My Librarie is but experience"): yet he will venture to advise
his fellow-writers in favor of more peaceable style.

" Let all good wits, if any good there be,
Leave trussing and untrussing of their points,
And heare thus much (although not learne) of me,
The spirits that the Oyle of Grace annoyntes,
Will keep their senses in those sacred joynts,

That each true-learned, Christian-harted brother

Will be unwilling to offend another. . . .

" Let us then leave our biting kinde of verses ;" etc.

It is a cause for congratulation that this little book should have been rediscov-
ered and reprinted, as evidence of a hearty contemporary protest against the rancor-
ous satire which was coming into fashion at the very end of the sixteenth century.

10. — SAMUEL ROWLANDS.

" The Letting of Hurrlours Blood in the Head-Vaine. With a new Morissco,
daunced by seaven Satyres, upon the bottome of Diogines Tubbe." London.
1600.

This book was the work of Samuel Rowlands, one of the
most prolific of popular writers in London during the first
decade of the seventeenth century. Of his life practically
nothing is known. It would be of interest to know whether
he was a university man ; as Mr. Gosse observes, the evidence

1 66 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

would indicate that he was not.1 He had published but
one volume earlier than the Letting of Humours Blood ,
viz.: The Betraying of Christ ; Poems on the Passion (/5p£).
The epigrams in the Letting of Humours Blood seem to have
given offence through personal allusions, and there is a record
in the Stationers' Register2 of the fining of twenty-nine sta-
tioners (2$. 6d. each) for "their Disorders in buying of the
bookes of humours letting blood in the vayne being new
printed after yt was first forbydden and burnt."

The form of Rowlands' s satires is that of the usual satirical
verse, in this case decidedly smooth and vigorous. There is
an unusual number of feminine endings for the couplet of the
period. Mr. Gosse refers to the metre as being under the
influence of Lodge, Hall, etc., and says further of Rowlands :

" He is, however, in some respects the superior of these preceding writers.
He was seduced by no desire of emulating Persius into those harsh and
involved constructions which make the satires of Donne and Marston the wonder
of grammarians.

" There are lines in this passage (from Humour* s Looking Glasse] which
Pope would not have disdained to use. It might, indeed, be employed as
against that old heresy, not even yet entirely discarded, that smoothness of heroic
verse was the invention of Waller. As a matter of fact, this, as well as all other
branches of the universal art of poetry, was understood by the great Elizabethan
masters ; and if they did not frequently employ it, it was because they left to
such humbler writers as Rowlands an instrument incapable of those noble and
audacious harmonies on which they chiefly prided themselves."3

Rowlands' s style is best characterized as being unadulterated
vernacular. It is noticeably concrete ; the author always
wrote with his eye on his object. (Thus see his descrip-
tion of the Usurer, and of " Contempt.") He always seems
to have tried to give vivid pictures of real life, and is usually
successful. Artificial elements of style — conceits, and the
like — are lacking.

1 Introduction to Hunterian Club ed. of Rowlands.

2 Vol. ii. p. 832.

3 Introduction to Rowlands, pp. 16 f.

Sdniuel Rozvlands. 167

The Letting of Humours Blood opens with thirty-seven
epigrams, some of which might well pass for true satires.
Following these is this dramatic transition :

" Your Sceane is done, depart you Epigrammes :
Enter Goate-footed Satyres, butt like Rammes :
Come nimbly foorth, Why stand you on delay ?
O-ho, the Musique-tuning makes you stay.
Well, frisk it out nimbly : you slaves begin,
For now me thinkes the Fidlers handes are in."

The satires are seven in number :

I. A Gull, dressed in fine clothes, is described as walking in Paul's Church,
and telling all manner of lies.

II. The hypocrisy of those who cry " God save you sir " to their ^orst enemies.
This, illustrated by the intercourse of usurers with their victims, leads to a
description of a grasping, filthy money-lender.

III. The account of the serving-man of a gentlewoman ; his affectations of
! dress and manner, his card-tricks, superstition, and practice of alchemy.

IV. On " Eloquence," that is, the use of high-sounding words, skill in which
haj5 spread from city gallants to country youth. The speech of a country fellow
trying to use legal language is burlesqued ; ' 'also his love-letter to his " Honny-
suckle."

V. "Contempt" is described, — always falsely professing virtue, slandering
the innocent, and stirring up strife. His personal appearance is pictured.

V.I. is an account of jolly \Villiam and his praises of drink.

" As for nine Worthies on his Hostes wall
He knowes three worthy drunkards passe them all :
The first of them in many a Taverne tride,
At last subdued by Aqitavitce, dide.
His second Worthies date was brought to fine,
Feasting with Oysters and brave Rennish wine.
The third, whom divers Dutchmen held full deere,
Was stabb'd by pickeld Hearinges and strong Beere."

VII. The triumph of Vice over Virtue. Dissimulation and Cozenage win the
day.

" The world is naught, and now upon the ending,

Growes worse and worse, and fardest off from mending."

Seven grand devils rule the world : Pride, Covetousness, Lechery, Envy,
Wrath, Gluttony, and Sloth.

1 It is amusing to find here the counterpart of a joke which has lately gone the
rounds of the newspapers : the young man asks to be appointed his father's
" executioner," on the ground that the latter " died detestable."

1 68 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Obviously the type of satire here, as in the Micro-cynicon, is
not primarily that of severe rebuke (much less that of reflec-
tion), but of easy narrative. The conventional pessimism of
contemporary satire is rare, and serves merely as an introduc-
tion to character sketches. Neither is the author formal
enough to have any fixed ideal of satire. His " satyres " are
"goat-footed," and will act only when the music pleases
them.

One cannot doubt that Rowlands was familiar with contem-
porary satire. From this, rather than from the classics, he
derived the idea and name of the form. But his genius was
too unconventional to borrow more than general ideas. A
couplet in Satire III., —

" His dinner he will not presume to take
Ere he aske counsell of an Almanacke," —

may have been suggested by II. 7. 19 ff. of the Virgidemia-
rnm. And with the reference to him

' ' That wrappes up Vices under Vertues gowne' '

may be compared several similar expressions, already noticed,
on the same theme. In general Hall, and even Marston,
must have seemed too formal for Rowlands. With " T. M."
he was perhaps more closely allied. Of classical suggestion
there is almost nothing. There is none of the usual classical
machinery. The local color is always that of London. The
emphasis, to be sure, is on private morals and fashions, and
the point of view is rather individual than public ; but these
are now conventions. When Rowlands touches religious
matters (as at the end of Satires I. and VII.) he is orthodox
and English. In the epigrams he sometimes follows the
mode of type-names in classical form, but not familiarly or by
preference ; and in the satires there are no such names.
" Kind-Heart," " Mistress What d'ye call," " Cobbin," " Ynk-
horne," •" Cloth breech," "Contempt," "Rashness," "Good-

Samuel Rowlands. , 169

man Trollopp," and the like, are the characters of the satires.
The style, as has already been made clear, is never on the
classical model. The humor is almost wholly of the descrip-
tive order; when formal satire is attempted (as in VII.) there
is no humor at all. The use of the Seven Deadly Sins, and
of the allegorical names, is suggestive of very early literature.
The objects satirized are to be classified almost wholly under
Morals and Fashions. The absence of literary satire is by
this time noticeable. The subjects treated are frequently the
conventional ones, which go back ultimately to Juvenal ; but
they are perfectly translated into modern terms. (See, for
example, the treatment of astrology in Satire III.)

Under Morals we have :

Lying, I.

Hypocrisy, II., V., VII.

Usury, II.

Pride and arrogance, III.

Superstition, III.

Slander, V.

Drunkenness, VI.

Gluttony, VII.

Avarice, VII.

Lust, VII.

Envy, VII.

Quarrelsomeness, V., VII.

, Fashions :

Alchemy and astrology, III.
Tobacco, VI.
Women's clothes, VII.

Classes :

Travelers, I.
Money-lenders, II.
Merchants, VII.

Rowlands, then, is chiefly interesting as showing how the
formal satire was made use of, when it had become an accepted

170 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

fashion, by a man wholly removed from the classical spirit and
desirous only of giving pictures of contemporary life. He
was not by nature a satirist. As Mr. Gosse s:

" Rowlands is never immoral, he is rarely indecent ; his attitude towards vice
of all sorts is rather indifferent, and he assumes the judicial air of a satirist with
small success. He has neither the integrity nor the savagery that is required to
write satire ; he neither indulges in the sensual rage of Donne, nor the clerical
indignation of Hall ; he is always too much amused at vice to be thoroughly
angry with it."1

In conclusion, we should notice the other satirical works of Rowlands. None
of them were formally called satires, but they all illustrate his satirical method.

In 1604 was published Lookf to It : for He Stabbt yc. This is a series of
«« stabs" supposed to be promised by Death, against "Tyrant Kings, Wicked
Magistrates, Curious Divines, Covetous Lawyers, Up-start Courtier, Wealthie
Cittizens, Greedy Usurer, Cursed Swearers, Phisitions of the Quacksalvers crew,
Gentlemen of base broode, Countertayte Captaine, Dissembling Souldier," and the
like.

In 1608 was published Humors Looking Glass*. It was declared to be

" A mirrour of the mad conceited shapes
Of this our ages giddy-headed apes."

It consists of some twenty pieces, most of the type of epigrams and anecdotes,
dealing with various foibles and follies of the day.

Best known of Rowlands* s works were those of the ** Knave "" series : A'naz'f
ofdmbbes (1609), Knave of Harts (1612), Knaves of Spades and Diamonds
(1613). The first of these is a series of rough but vigorous pictures of London
life. The second is a more orderly description of a series of knaves, in regular
satirical verse, — as, "a proud knave," "a lying knave,** " a whoring knave,"
etc.; these being followed by a number of less formal pieces. The third book of
Knaves is of a more dignified satirical character than either of the others. It
includes reflections and illustrations of a number of wise saws ; aspersions on
tobacco, MarhiavellianLsm, usury, gluttony, the seven deadly sins, etc.

Finally, in 1615, appeared Thf Mdancholu Knight, a burlesque portrait of an
impecunious young gentleman of the period, inspired by the romances of Sir
Launcelot, Sir Guy, and King Arthur, and lamenting that he is not appreciated
because of the sordid character of the prevalent demand for money. The sketch
is an extremely clever one. It concludes with specimens of the Knight's roman-
tic poetry, and is to be associated with the evidence we have already met showing
that the qualities of romanticism were at this time subject to considerable ridicule.

1 Introduction, p. 23.

Micliael Dray ton. \j\

Mr. Gosse observes that The Melancholic Knight shows the influence of The
Knight of the Burning Pestle.

At this point should be mentioned The Oti'l of Michael Drayton, a poem
satirical in content, though not a formal satire on the classical model. It was
published in 1604, and is frequently said to have been written as a result of Dray-
ton's vexation at the reception of his poem in honor of James's accession ; but it
appears on his own testimony that The Owl was written before the latter poem.
It is after the manner of Spenser's Mother Hubbard"1 s Tale, under the influence
of which it must have been produced. Through the mouth of the owl the public
and private vices of the bird kingdom are severely arraigned. There must have
been included many contemporary allusions whose significance cannot now be
appreciated, but it is to be noted that the character of the king (that is, the Eagle)
is never attacked. It is he, indeed, who gives the final summary of admonitions
against the evils which have beset his kingdom :

" Let your wise Fathers an example give,
And by their Rules learn thriftily to live.
Let those weake Birds, that want wherewith to fight,
Submit to those that are of grip and might.
Let those of power the weaker still protect,
So none shall neede his safety to suspect ;
Suppressing those enormities that are,
Whose cure belongs unto our Soveraigne care.
For when wealth growes into a few Mens hands,
And to the Great, the poore in many Bands ;
The pride in Court doth make the Country leane,
The abject rich hold ancient Honour meane.
Mens wits employ' d to base and servile shifts,
And Lay -men taught, by learn' d Mens subtill drifts,
ID with this State *t must incidently fare ...
Shun beastly Lust (you young well-feathered Fowle)
That wounds the Body, and confounds the Soule ; .
And you that sit as Judges of the Law,
Let not vfle Gayne your equall Ballance draw." »

The title-page of the 1619 edition of Drayton' s poems
engraving representing four figures of equal size and dignity,
rior-Minerva, one a player on a lyre, one a shaggy satyr, and one a shepherd with
pipe and crook. These must have been intended to represent hook, lyric, satiric,

1 For a possible source of this poem, see p. 192 below.

1/2 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

and pastoral poetry. The Owl is the only poem in the volume which could
properly be called a satire ; but later (in 1627, together with The Battle of Agin-
court, etc.), Drayton published The Moon-calf, which is generally mentioned as
his second satirical effort. It is based on the old motto, " Stultorum plena suut
omnia," and represents the world as giving birth to twin monsters, in the descrip-
tion of which the usual follies and vices of contemporary life are introduced. The
latter part of the satire consists of four fables whose morals are explained as
relating to the great vices of the age.

In 1608 were published " Epigrams and Satyres : made by Richard Middleton
of Yorke, Gentleman." Of this little book a single copy has survived in the
Drummond collection at the University of Edinburgh ; forty copies were reprinted
in 1840. Nothing is known of the author ; but Hazlitt supposed it was the
same person as the Middleton who was Chaplain to Charles I. when he was
Prince of Wales, and who published in 1609 a volume of sermons called The
Key of David. I do not see that the identification is probable.

The verse is the usual decasyllabic couplet, employed with small skill ; and the
style is generally commonplace and lacking in both force and pointedness. The
Dedication is addressed to "William Bellasses," and professes the usual satiric
wrath :

" If you deeme my stile too petulant,

(Outstripping th' limits of chast modesty,)

Or think mine elate verse too insolent,

(Shrouding great men's crimes in dishonestie. )

Thinke that the passion to describe the error

Of such apparent mischief, sweld in time

To a deformed Chaos, makes a terror

In patienst breasts, much more in Satyre's Ryme."

The epigrams are fifty in number, and are in true epigrammatic form, addressed
in Latin, "ad Lectorem," "in Ebrium," "in Mercatorem," etc. Many are
extremely coarse. What the author evidently called satires are included under
Time's Metamorphosis, with a separate title-page. They are without individual
titles, and would more properly be called epigrams. They are in fact a series of
brief character-sketches, generally in apostrophic form. The idea of the title is
expressed by the motto :

" Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis,"
with the comment :

" Ovid, thy writ is true : times changed then,
But much more now amongst this race of men."

The characters are —

1. Equestro, unworthy of his knighthood.

2. Cassius, the lustful.

Richard Middle ton. 173

3. " Sinstering " Sylvio.

4. Lustful Liberio.

5. Pulchrino, too proud to recognize his friends, but badly in debt.

6. Barbato, who thinks he can become a grave poet by wearing a beard.

7. Collegio, the young gallant.

8. Luscus, a proud fool.

9. Sapientio, whose excellence is wholly in his clothes and long hair.

10. Zano, the actor, whose wife chose him on the stage.

11. Centurio, a degenerate law-student.

12. Ridentius, a worthless playwright.

13. Graccius, a brawler.

14. Calphurnius, a fluent poet, who is urged to write on the rebellion in
Ireland, but wisely declines.

15 is " a more generall criticke " — of Pandulphoe the proud attorney, Stadius
the usurer, Tatius the thief, luxurious Pantalia, etc.

1 6 is the author's meditation on the various misconceptions and criticisms to
be expected among his readers.

" No, judicious spirits,
I envy no man, or maligne their merits.
Such bitter stinging gall was never mixt
With purenesse of my stile, nor have I fixt
My humble muse upon so high a pin,
That it should scourge the world, publish all's sin.
This I protest (and I will stand unto it)
'Twas no malignant fury made me do it :
But 'twas the revolutions of these times,
And men's retrogradians, made these Rimes."

These quasi-satires are of slight interest for our purpose. They deserve exami-
nation as coming after a considerable silence in formal satire (1600—1608) ; but
they lead to nothing fresh, and do not belong with the later group of 1613-1621.
They show only general familiarity with previous English satire, but mark the
development toward more individual character-sketches, feebly suggesting the
later epigrams of Jonson. The conventional type-names are freely used, as is
evident from the summary, but not in the distinctly classical manner. If Middle-
ton was a classical scholar, it was Martial rather than Juvenal who most interested
him. The local color of his work is English, and (incidentally) that of York
instead of London. The objects of satire include (under Morals) Lust, Pride,
Usury, Hypocrisy ; (under Fashions) Gallants, Clothes and Hair, Assumed Gen-
tility ; (under Literature) Bad Poets. The only obvious allusion to contempo-
rary, or recent, literature is one to Robert Green ; who

" did say and wisely scan
A velvet slop makes not a Gentleman."

1/4 The Rise °f Formal Satire in England.

The occasion of the book must have been purely experimental, — the amuse-
ment of a gentleman of York, of no very refined taste, who was familiar with the
popular literature of the previous decade.

In the same year with Middleton's satires (1608) were published " Ariosto' s
Satyres in seven famous Discourses, shewing the state, I. Of the Court and
Courtiers. 2. Of Libertie and the Clergie in generall. 3. Of the Romaine
Clergie. 4. Of Marriage. 5. Of Soldiers Musitians and Lovers. 6. Of
Schoolmasters and Scholers. 7. Of Honour and the happiest Life. In English
by Gervis Markham."1 In 1615 Robert Tofte laid claim to this translation,2 and
as Markham seems not to have disputed the claim, Tofte has generally been
assumed to be the real author. The work " was reprinted anonymously in 161 1 "
(I quote from Mr. Collier) "under the title of Se^>en Planets governing Italy,
with the addition of three elegies. The edition of 1608 is ushered by an address
from the stationer to the reader, followed by ' The Argument of the whole worke,
and the reasons why Ludovico Ariosto writ these seaven Satyres.' The transla-
tion, which is not deficient in spirit or fidelity, is accompanied by explanatory
marginal notes."

I regret that I have not been able to see a copy of this book. It is interesting
to see how the satires of Ariosto were wrested from their original discursive,
epistolary type, in accordance with the idea of the satire of rebuke. Tofte may
have derived the idea of connecting the seven satires with the seven planets from
the work of Rankins already described. (See p. 128 above.)

On the eighth of October, 1610, there was entered on the Stationers' Register8
The Scourge of Folly, consisting of Satyricall Epigramms, and others in honor
of manv noble and worthy Persons of our Land. Together with a pleasant
(^though discordant} Descant tipon most English Prmerbes : and others. This
was the work of John Davies of Hereford, writing-master, who was living in
London at the time of its publication. It deserves brief consideration here ; for
although it does not come strictly within our series of formal satires, it illustrates
the general progress of satirical verse. Opposite the title-page is a picture (to
quote Grosart's description) of "Witt scourging Folly, who is elevated, with
bared buttocks, on the back of Time." This clearly represents the idea now
prevalent of the nature and mission of satire. In the "Passages before the
Book " is one interesting in the same connection ;

1 The work was entered on the Stationers' Register on September 21, under
the title : "A President for Satoristes or the Seven famous Satyres or Pianettes
written by Master Ludovico Ariosto."

2 See Collier' s Rarest Books, vol. iv. p. 167.

3Grosart, not knowing of this entry, was able only to fix the date roughly,
from internal evidence, as between March, 1610, and January, 1612.

John Taylor. 175

" Of Alchymists and Satirists
" As conterfet coyning is put upon Alchimists,
So Libelling lightly is set upon Satyrists :
But as the one makes Lead, Silver at least :
. So the other would make a Man of a Beast.
By heat of strange Fires,
They seeke their desires."

The Scourge of Folly proper consists of 292 epigrams, on all manner of themes.
They are true epigrams, in length, form, and content ; many of the subjects
treated (as gallants, tobacco, lust, superstition, usury, bad poetry, benefices, etc.)
are those familiar to us in the satires.

Following these comes

" Papers Complaint, compiled in ruthfull Rimes
Against the Paper-spoylers of these Times."

This is in decasyllabic couplets, and approaches the character of a regular satire.
It purports to be a remonstrance voiced by Paper against the innumerable
scribblers of the period. There are particular allusions to Ballad-mongers ;
Churchyard's Chips; the same author' s Rehearsal of Wars ; Harrington's Ajax ;
Venus and Adonis ; Nash's Pierce Penniless ; the pamphlets in the quarrel be-
tween Nash and Harvey ; Greene ; romances of Sir Gawain, Guy of Warwick,
Arthur, and the like ; the Mirror of Knighthood ; Jonson's Every Man in his
Hunioiir ; Dekker's Satiromastix ; pettifogging chroniclers of contemporary his-
tory ; religious polemics ; flattering dedications, etc.1 The poem concludes with
an appeal to scribblers to stop "writing everlastingly," and to devote themselves
to Reason and Contemplation ; they may then be able to write " eternal lines."

As a piece of literary satire this is not without interest. In its metrical form
and general style it shows the influence of the more formal satirists of the period,
with whose work Davies was evidently familiar. (See his Epigram on Hall,
already referred to. ) In general, however, he followed the epigrammatists rather
than the satirists proper. His attitude toward life is therefore lighter and less
pessimistic than that belonging to pure satire; in his epigrams he is frequently com-
plimentary rather than critical, and he never adopts the tone of one soured against
a degenerate age. In the epigrams we find numbers of the classical type-names, —
now of course a mere convention ; and in the emphasis laid on fashions and per-
sonal follies, in the literary satire, and occasionally in the humor, we see the
influence of the classical school. Davies' s work is that of a schoolmaster, ingeni-
ously adopting (without either classical or moral inspiration!) familiar literary
forms.

In 1612, John Taylor, the "Water Poet," began his long career as a writer
with the publication of The Scullers Travels, from Tyber to Thames : with his

1 See Grosart's notes, in his edition of Davies.

176 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Boat laden with a Hotch-potch, or Gallimawfry of Sonnets, Satyres, and Epi-
grams, etc.1 This work contained a number of epigrams on the Romish Church
and other subjects, and two "satyres," the first showing the evil that befalls all
manner of sinners, and the second dealing with the various evil-doers

" Who on this earthly stage together keepe,
Like Maggots in a Putrified sheepe."

Two years later, in 1614, Taylor published The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses :
or, The Wooll-gathering of Wit. This, as the title indicates, was in imita-
tion of Wither' s Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613), which we are presently to
consider. The style and versification are distinctly in the manner of Wither, and
in The Authours description of a Poet and Poesie occurs an interesting passage
relating to Taylor's predecessor and model :

" A Poets ire sometimes may be inflam'd :
To make foule Vices brazen face asham'd.
And then his Epigrams and Satyres whip,
Will make base gald unruly Jades to skip.
In frost they say 'tis good, bad blood be nipt,
And I have scene Abuses whipt and stript
In such rare fashion, that the wincing age,
Hath kick'd and flung, with uncontrouled rage.
Oh worthy Withers, I shall love thee ever,
And often maist thou doe thy best indever,
That still thy workes and thee may live together,
Contending with thy name and never wither."

The Anagrams and Sonnets in this volume are followed by "A Cataplasmicall
Satyre, composed and compacted of sundry simples, as salt, vineger, wormwood,
and a little gall, very profitable to cure the impostumes of vice." This attacks
various vices, such as bribery, miserliness, tile use of tobacco, and drunkenness.

It is curious to notice that in 1651, nearly forty years later, Taylor again pub-
lished a book of Epigrams, with " two new made Satyres that attend them," the
first satire being on the hypocrisy of Puritans, the second " against swearing,
equivocation, mentall reservation, and detestable dissimulation."

There is, of course, little or nothing of the classical type in these " satires " of
Taylor. They belong to the class represented in part by Gascoigne and chiefly
by Wither, — moral poems of a descriptive and generally serious character.

1 1 . — GEORGE WITHER.

"Abuses Stript and Whipt : or Satyricall Essayes. By George Wither." Lon-
don, 1613.

This volume was entered in the Stationers' Register, Janu-
ary 1 6, 1613. The author was but twenty-five years old at
1 1 quote from the title-page as it reappeared in the folio of 1630.

George Wither. 177

the time, and had previously published only a poem on the
death of Prince Henry. According to Collier, there were
other editions of the Abuses in 1614, 1615, 1617, 1622, 1626,
and 1633, "and no one of these reimpressions was exactly
like any other that preceded it."1 Although the work seems to
have been so popular, it brought its author into trouble, and
he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea as a result. Tradition
has it that he was released as the outcome of his " Satire
dedicated to the Kings Majestic" (Stationers' Register, 8
August, 1614).

The metrical form of Wither' s satires is the usual one, and his
couplets already exhibit his marvelous and dangerous fluency.
Feminine endings are numerous (as in so much verse of this
period), and the whole effect is that of a free conversational
style. These verse characteristics, fluency and freedom,
mark also the general style of the satires. There is absolutely
no obscurity ; it would have been foreign to the author's
purpose.

"Some no doubt," he says, "will mistake my plainenes, in that I have
so bluntly spoken what I have observed, without any Poeticall additions or
fained Allegories : . . . for I know if I had wrapt up my meaning in darke
riddles, I should have been more applauded, and less understood, which I nothing
desire." . . . " It cost me more (I protest) labour to observe this plainenesse,
than if I had more Poetically trim'd it."

Besides the qualities of fluency and conversational direct-
ness, Wither' s satire is noticeable for its abstractness. This
must be attributed rather to His ideal of satire than to limited
ability, for he can be concrete enough when he wishes ; thus
see the brief description of the jealous husband (I. 7), of the
swaggering gallant (I. 8), the quite full account of the gallants
in the tavern (II. i), the discussion about the farmer's son
who went to college (II. 2), and the sketch of the tavern in
the Scourge. These are almost the only cases in the long
stretch of the satires, where Wither tries to give concrete

1 Rarest Books, vol. iv. p. 274.

!/8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

images of particular persons and places. It is almost always
the vague general type which he professedly treats ; yet even
so, he does not always fail of vigor and directness.
The contents of the collection are as follows : *

1. To him-selfe, G. W. wisheth all Happinesse.

2. To the Reader, warning him not to " looke for Spencers or Daniels well-
composed numbers ; or the deepe conceits of now-flourishing Johnson. Say, 'Tis
honest plaine matter, and there's as much as I expect."

3. Four Epigrams, the last being addressed "to the Satyro-mastix," and
admonishing the "Scourge of Satyrs" to stand back and withhold his whip
from the author.

4. To the gald Reader (another Epigram), warning him not to mistake the
pricking of his conscience for personality in the satire.

5. Commendatory verses, signed "Th. C."

6. The Occasion of this Worke. It is here related how the author, having
been interrupted in his pursuit of education as begun at Oxford, came to London.
There he was amazed by the new fashions and strange creatures that he found —
coxcombs, gulls, gallants, sirens, anthropophagi. At length he decided to remain
and investigate :

*' The actions of the present time I ey'd,
And all her secret villanies discry'd :
I stript Abuse from all her colours quite,
And laid her ugly face to open sight.
I labour' d to observe her wayes, and then
In generall the state and tricks of men."

The results he now purposes to relate.

7. An Introduction, calling on Invention, Judgment, Knowledge and Reason
to call his Muse from "epigrams, Jove-sonets, roundelayes " to more serious mat-
ter. It is not nature, but Man, that he is to treat — the most diverse and incon-
stant of creatures. This difficult task he may be fitted for, though young, because
not yet blinded by long experience among men.

8. Of Man. His fall from a state of innocence is described as the cause of the
evil state of the world.

Satire I. Of the Passion of Love ; its follies.

Satire II. Of Desire, or Lust.

Satire III. Of Hate.

Satire IV. Of Envy.

Satire V. Of Revenge.

Satire VI. Of Choller.

Satire VII. Of Jealousie (of husbands and wives).

JThis analysis is from the 1622 edition (in the Juvenilia'] as reprinted by the
Spenser Society ; and from this all quotations rot otherwise referred are made.

George Wither. 179

Satire VIII. Of Covetousness.

Satire IX. Of Ambition (with a political digression).

Satire X. Of Feare.

Satire XI. Of Despaire.

Satire XII. Of Hope, the most estimable " passion."

Satire XIII. Of Compassion ; its abuse.

Satire XIV. Of Crueltie ; its many forms.

Satire XV. Of Joy, i. e., true content.

Satire XVI. Of Sorrow (/. e., discontent).

The Conclusion, describing the two-fold nature of passions : one sort derived
from God, the other from our corrupted nature ; the latter to be overcome by
Reason.

The Second Booke : of the Vanitie, Inconstancie, Weakenes and presumption
of Men.

Precatio (a prayer for inspiration).

Satire I. Of Vanitie (about 1700 lines in length). The vanities of young
men, princes, great men, courtiers, divines, lawyers, magistrates, universities, etc.

Satire II. Of Inconstancie.

Satire III. Of Weakness (physical and moral).

Satire IV. Of Presumption.

Epilogus. Religion as a cure for all these.

Following the two books of satires appeared, in the 1617 edition and there-
after, The Scourge. In the 1617 edition this was introduced by a notable picture
of a Satyr, shaggy and naked, bearing a scourge in his right hand and a shep-
herd's pipe in his left. The descriptive verses accompanying the picture are so
difficult of access to most persons, and of such interest as showing the use made
of the mythological idea of the satyr, that I quote them in full. l

" Though in shape I seeme a Man ,

Yet a Satyr wilde I am ;

Bred in Woods and Desert places,

Where men seldome shew their faces ;
Rough and hayrie like a Goate,
Clothed with Dame Natures coate ;

Eagle-sighted, quick of hearing,

Spying Vice at first appearing ;
Barefoot like a silly Fry'r
Such a shaveling was my Sy'r ;

Chaste and holy as was that Nun,

Of whom the Pope begat a Son ;

Ape-like-fac't, Spaniell tayl'd, •

Fawning till I have prevayl'd ;

'They are entitled, "Vices Executioner- or The Satyr's selfe -description of
himselfe."

180 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

' My pleasing left hand hath a pipe,

On which I play till Folly's ripe ;
To carelesse Fooles in a Trance,
I doe pipe and they doe Dance ;

Like mirth -full Syrens that doe charme,

Delighting those they meane to harme ;
Teaching men to hold their way,
Not from their right course to stray :

The other hand a whip doth beare,

With which (provok't) I surely teare
Skin from flesh, and flesh from bone
Of such as I hap upon :

I' me sent abroad the World, to purge

Mans vile Abuses with my scourge ;
Oft I make my Master sport,
When man sinne to lash them for't.

An Execut'oner am I,

Of Lust, and wanton Venery.
Thus are vices scourg'd by me,
Yet my selfe from vice not free ;

Like to Sumners that cite others,

When themselves defile their mothers.
They have warning had before,
Yet they'l not amend ; therefore,

Such-ones as take delight in sin,

The bloud He drawe from out their skin :
Great and small are one to mee,
None shall bribe me with a Fee ;

But if the Greatest dare offend,

He lash them still, till they amend.

Thus having shew'd my selfe at large,
I'le now attend my Masters charge."

The Scourge which follows declares the necessity for a less gentle warning
than that given by the previous Satyrs. The author then enumerates all the
classes to be scourged, exempting the honest among all, and warning his Satyr
not to strike "in speciall." If this does not suffice, he promises a Satyr still
more severe. »

The type of Wither' s satire is primarily that of direct
rebuke. There is also the reflective method, but not in the
classical manner. Both rebuke and reflection are in the vein
of the preacher. Satire is viewed distinctly as the servant of

George Wither. \ 8 1

morals and religion. The religious tone appears constantly.1
Frequently the satirical type is for the time being entirely
neglected, and general moral discourse takes its place.
The attitude toward the world is pessimistic. Thus —

" I weigh'd it well, and found it was the Scaene
Of Villanie, of Lust, and all uncleane
And loath' d Corruption." ( " Of Man. ")

Again :

" Whereas Poets now are counted base,
And in this worthlesse Age in much disgrace ;
I of the cause cannot refraine to speake ;
And this it is . Mens judgements are grown weake."

(II. 3- P- 287.)

Some of this is inherited from classical satire, but it is for
the most part the pessimism of Puritanism, explained theo-
logically ; and salvation is not only believed possible but is
distinctly urged (see conclusion to Book I. and Epilogus to

no.

As usual, Wither professes to avoid personalities, and con-
demns those who

" apply that in particular
Which doth extend to all in generall."

The purpose of his satire is to " taxe iniquitie " (Epigram 4).
His natural tone is mild —

" I 'me none of those

That write in Anger or malicious spleene ;
I have not taken Pepper in the Nose ;" — (Ibid.)

but he makes some use of the tradition of satiric fury :

" New bloud hath fild up all my Love-dride veines,
A sacred Fury hath possest my braines."

(Intro.)

'• See especially the end of I. 4 and II. 4; and I. n, 12, 15, 16, throughout.

1 82 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

" Here I will teach my rough Satyricke Rimes
To be as madde and idle as the times.
Freely I will discover what I spy.
And in despight of curiositie,

Maske in a homely phrase as simply plaine,

As other men are mystically vaine ;

He breake the Closset of mans private sin,

Search out the villanies conceald therein ;

And if their sight may not infectious be,

Draw them to view in spight of secrecie. " (Ibid.)

That Wither was familiar with the satires of his predeces-
sors one need not doubt ; but he set himself a new type,
though following the conventional models afar off, and imi-
tated the satirists of 1590-1600 very little. For a dozen
years or more there had been no noteworthy satires written ; the
convention had begun to fall away. Wither had little in
common with the concrete, easy-going satire of Rowlands
and " T. M." (though he reminds us of them in the account
of the tavern loafers in II. i) ; and equally distasteful to him
must have been the blustering style of Marston. A passage
in II. i,

" Dost thou suppose by a few carved stones . . .
To be immortall ?" etc.,

suggests a similar one in one of Hall's satires, where he attacks
ambition for great monuments. A passage in the Scourge

(P- 339)—

" Here approaches
A troope with Torches, hurried in their Coaches," —

was perhaps suggested by Marston's SV. 7. 160 ff., or the
imitation of it in Guilpin S. 2.

Distinct suggestions of classical satire are quite infrequent.
In the Satire to King James occurs an allusion to Juvenal's
famous line :

" 'Tis a hard thing not to write Satyres now."

George Wither. 183

A passage on the worship of gold (I. 8. p. 122) suggests
Juvenal I. 112-114; and one on pride of pedigree (II. 2. p.
266) may have been indebted to Juvenal VIII. In general,
however, like his more recent predecessors, Wither derived
only the general form and idea of satire from the classical
tradition, and turned it to distinctly individual form.

" With examples of old ages past
And wise mens sayings, I might more have grac't.
But that I am resolv'd to tie my Rimes

As much as may be to the present times. " , ^ , -m T \

(Concl. to Bk. I.)

And this he does. It is always England that he has in
mind. From the classics he inherited his general type of
satire against corrupt manners and morals, but his classifica-
tion of material under ethical and psychological headings was a
mediaeval inheritance. His religious tone is of course furthest
removed from classical imitation. There is never any pagan
coloring, and the seriousness is almost unvarying. While he
shows something of the native type of satire of reform, the
occasion of his work is clearly in the reflective spirit. Con-
ventional literary or social satire is wanting. The style is
fairly original ; it generally lacks concrcteness and avoids dra-
matic elements. The absence of the classical type-names is
very noticeable.1 In the great expanse of his satires I have
observed but four individual characters introduced by names,
— " Dick " and " Dunce " in II. 2, and " Nick " and " Froth "
in the tavern scene in the Scourge, Altogether there are
something more than a half dozen stories or anecdotes, gen-
erally told in a manner as abstract as possible, without names
or dialogue. The notable exceptions to this are the tavern
story in II. I, and the farmers' discussion of the folly of edu-
cation, in II. 2 ; in this last we have not only real persons, but
dialogue in country dialect. In general, Book II. is more
pictorial and concrete than Book I. The local color is always

1 The only possible exception is " Thraso " (in I. 8 and II. i), and this is not
a type-name in the usual sense.

184 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

English. Humor is extremely rare, and when it occurs is
usually incidental to description. There is occasionally, how-
ever, a suggestion of the antithetical wit which marked the
satire of the latter part of the century.

The objects satirized by Wither are of extraordinary range,
and indicate (though under a false system of classification)
not a little keen and wholesome observation of life. Classify-
ing them as usual, and excluding some mere abstract concep-
tions, we have

Under Morals :

Pride, I. 1,8; II. I, 2.

Lust, I. 2 ; II. 3 ; Scourge.

Hate, I. 3.

Envy, I. 4.

Slander, I. 4, 14.

Quarrelsomeness, I. 5, 6.

Profanity, I. 5.

Avarice, I. 8.

Parasitism and flattery, I. 8 ; II. 3.

Usury, I. 8, 14 ; II. I.

Prodigality, I. 8.

Ambition, I. 9 ; II. I.

Superstition, I. 10 ; II. i.

Cowardice, I. 10, n.

Cruelty, I. 14.

Gluttony, II. I.

Hypocrisy, II. I.

Lying, II. i.

Effeminacy, II. 4.

Inhospitableness. Scourge,

Fashions :

Lawless pilgrimages, I. 5.
Foreign clothes, I. 8 ; II. i.
Marrying old women, I. 8.
Foreign foods, drugs, etc., II. I.
Tobacco, II. i.
Vain feasts, II. I.
Early marriages, II. 3.
Astrology, II. 4.
Foolish imitation, II. i.

George Wither. 185

" The Sun lights not a Nation
That more addicteth Apish imitation
Than doe we English. Should we some man see
To weare his doublet where his hose should be,
Pluck gloves on's feet, and put his hands in's shoes,
Or weare his Rings and Jewels on his toes, . . .
Some of our Courtiers would make much adoo,
But they would get into that fashion too." (p. 223)

Public Affairs :

Passionate rulers and magistrates, 1. 7.

Monopolies, I. 8.

National dependence on the census, I. 10.

Abuse of pity at court, I. 13.

Beggars' orders, I. 13.

Bribery, I. 13, 14 ; Scourge.

Lords, court-barons, and over-tenants, I. 14 ; Scourge.

Embezzlement of public property, I. 14.

Abuse of the law, II. I.

Unreasonable rise in price of wheat, II. I.

Corrupt sheriffs, justices, etc. Scourge.

Mismanagement of Universities, II. I.

Under this head Wither gives us some interesting views on the abuse of scholar-
ships and fellowships, the unworthy obtaining of degrees, and the like.

" See, the Student poore

For whom it was ordain'd, stands at the doore
And may not enter ; whilst the golden Asse
Is quietly admitted in to passe." (p. 207)

Nor does he altogether approve the sort of scholar that is commonly turned
out :

" What is't to heape up a great multitude
Of words and sayings, like a Chaos rude ?
To say a Latine Disticke out of Cato,
Cite Aristotle, or some peece of Plato,
And diverse more ; yet like a blockish Elfe,
Be able to say nought at all himself?" (p. 209)

Neglect of martial discipline, II. 4.

On this subject Wither shows some decidedly vigorous patriotism. He feels
that there is danger ahead of England, " a tempest brewing in the South," for
which preparation must be made :

1 86 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

" Let's trim our rusty Armes, and secure
Those long-unused well-steePd-blades of our ;
(We shall not doe the Spyders any wrong,
For they have rent-free held their house-room long
In Morains, Helmets, Gauntlets, Bandileres :
Displace them thence, they have had all their yeeres)
And give them such a lustre, that the light
May dimme the Moone-shine in a Winters night." (p. 316)

Fashions and Follies :

Follies of lovers, I. I.
Swaggering ruffians, I. 8.
Vanities of young men, II. I.

Classes :

Lawyers, I. 14; II. I ; Scourge.

Courtiers, II. I ; Scourge.

University men, II. I, 3.

" Roaring boys," II. I.

Physicians, Scourge.

Brokers, "

Tailors,

Workmen, "

Merchants, "

Tavern-keepers, "

Soldiers,

It is noteworthy that he expressly declines to satirize women.
Literature :

Amorous and complimentary poems, I. I.

Critics, I. 4 ; Scourge.

Bad poets and dramatists, II. 3.

Foolish abuse of poetry and theatres, II. 3.

In this connection occurs a most interesting defence of poetry, which goes back
for its main arguments to Sidney. It concludes with an equally noteworthy
passage on contemporary poets :

" But what need any man therein speake more

. Than Divine Sidney hath already done?
For whom (though he deceas'd ere I begun)
I have oft sighed, and bewailed my Fate,
That brought me forth so many yeeres too late

George Wither. 187

To view that Worthy ; and now thinke not you

Oh Daniel, Drayton, Johnson, Chapman, how

I long to see you with your fellow Peeres,

Sylvester matchlesse, glory of these yeeres :

I hitherto have onely heard your fames,

And know you yet, but by your Workes and Names. . . .

I am in hope you'l not disdaine my Youth :

For know you Muses Darlings, He not crave

A fellowship amongst you for to have,

Oh no ; for though my ever-willing-hart

Have vow'd to love and praise You and your Art,

And though that I your stile doe now assume,

I doe not, nor I will not so presume ;

I claime not that too-worthy name of Poet ;

It is not yet deserv'd by me, I know it :

Grant me I may but on your Muses tend,

And be enroul'd their Servant, or their Friend ;

And if desert hereafter worthy make me,

Then for a Fellow (if it please you) take me." (pp. 292 ff. )

It must surely have been a hard-hearted company of Worthies that could
reject the advances of an aspirant who could reel off as many lines as are con-
tained in the Abuses Stript and Whipt, and who at the same time presented his
claims so modestly.

Religion :

Clerical abuses, I. 2.

Ambition for vicarages, etc., I. 9 ; II. 4.

The Roman Church, I. 9, 12 ; II. 4.

Pettifogging divines, II. I.

Folly of monastic life, II. 3.

Puritans, II. 4.

" The busie-headed sect,
The hollow crew, the counterfeit Elect.

Simony, II. 4.

Jests on sacred things, II. 4.

Church-wai'dens and chancellors, Scourge.

Of Personal Satire there is (according to the author's profession) very little
that is obvious in the later editions of the Abuses. The fact that Wither was
imprisoned as a result of the publication of the Satires suggests that in the first
edition there may have been passages afterward omitted or modified ; but I have
not been able to see a copy of the edition of 1613. In later ones the king and the

1 88 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Archbishop are flattered, and the satirist declares, in reference to the virtues of
the sovereign, that

" I from these had matter
To make a Panegyrick of a Satyr." (I. 9 ; p. 134.)

But Mr. Collier, quoting the lines on the follies and vices of kings (in II. i),
says : "Throughout Wither speaks with the utmost plainness, and gives more
than glimpses of the part he was afterwards to take as a supporter of a republican
government."1

Wither enjoys the distinction of being the most voluminous
English satirist. If he had condensed into compact form the
really good material so expanded by his fluency, his satires
would no doubt have been much more widely read up to the
present time ; but their size discourages any but the most
intrepid reader on first approach. As it was, however, they
seem to have been widely read in the time for which they
were written, and they stand at the head of what may be
called the second period of formal satire in England, extend-
ing from 1613 to the death of James. They are of consider-
able interest as a new departure ; for as Rowlands had taken
the formal satire of classical tradition and turned it into
popular descriptive poetry of low London life, so Wither took
it and turned it into ethical and religious poetry such as suited
his taste and genius. He was at least able to produce an
unusual effect of sincerity ; and (understanding, of course,
that the Abuses must be regarded as his first great effort to
win his way into the poetical aristocracy) I am inclined to
accept his own statement of the origin of his satire, — that it
was the result of his observation of London life, after a com-
paratively retired and unworldly youth.

I have already referred to A Satyre, Written to .the Kings most Excellent
Maiestie, by George Wither, when hee was Prisoner in the Marshallsey, for his first
Booke. This was entered on the Stationers' Register August 8, 1614. I use, as
formerly, the reprint in Juvenilia (1622). The appeal to the king is a most
curious and ingenious argumentum ad hominem. It begins very boldly :

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. ii. p. 42.

George Wither. 189

"I am he, that entred once the list,

Gainst all the world to play the Satyrist . . . «
All my griefe is, that I was so sparing,
And had no more in't worth the name of daring.
He that will tax these times must be more bitter."

Someone, Wither says, has entirely misconstrued his descriptions.

" I have not sought to scandalize the State,
Nor sowne sedition, nor made publike hate :
I have not aym'd at any good man's fame,
Nor taxt (directly) any one by name.
I am not he that am growne discontent
With the Religion or the Governement.
I meant no Ceremonies to protect, »

Nor doe I favour any new-sprung Sect ;
But to -my Satyres gave this onely warrant,
To apprehend and punish Vice apparant."

He attacks his accusers boldly, and reiterates his condemnation of the age. He
goes on to show that he is forced by the vigor of his mind to write when not
otherwise employed.

" My body's subject unto many Powers :
But my soule's as free as is the Emperours."

He might have written songs or foolish ballads, but he did something more
useful. He cites the examples of Seneca, Horace, Persius, Juvenal, and asks :

" Why did not that Age
In which they lived, put them in a Cage?"

He does not, however, condemn the authorities for his imprisonment, since he
had as yet no means to show his innocence. Nor does he claim to have been
wholly free from error ; but his error was due to youth and ignorance. He
appeals for pity on his youth and misery ; refers to the favor of the Princess
Elizabeth, for whom he had written an Epithalamion, and promises another and
immortal song, if he is set free. It is not for himself, however, that he wishes
freedom, as he can be content in any state, but for the king's sake, " my countries,
and my friends," above all for the sake of his mistress, Virtue. If he is left to
suffer, none will dare again lift up voice in her behalf.

Either this appeal, or circumstances of which we know nothing, we have seen
had the desired effect of procuring the poet's release. It seems quite likely that
the authorities thought the best way to abate the vigor of Wither's poetry was, as
he himself suggested, to restore him to active life. From the fact that the satires

190 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

were so soon and so frequently reprinted, it would appear that either all objection
to them was withdrawn or the objectionable passages were omitted.

"The Mastive, or Young Whelpe of the Olde-Dogge. Epigrams and Satyrs.
Horat. Verba decent iratum plena minarum." London, 1615.

This was without doubt the work of Henry Parrot, a prolific epigrammatist of
this time. In 1606 he published^ Book of Epigrams called The Mouse- Trap;
in 1608 Epigrams o r Humors Lottery ; in 1612 or 1613 Laquei Ridiculosi, or
Springes to catch Woodcocks (containing 216 epigrams). Of The Mast he Mr.
Seacombe says: "A large cut of a mastiff upon the title-page . . . seems to
have been modeled upon that of the Mastif- Whelp of William Goddard. The
epigrams, which are often smart and generally coarse, are surmounted by clever
Latin mottoes, and are followed by three satires and a paradox upon war. ' ' !
Corser quotes at some length a fairly vigorous passage from the second satire,8
which I reproduce from his transcription :

" Howie on yee Satyrs, whilst I sit andmarke
How wolvish Envie at my Muse doth barke,
Backbite, detract, rayle, slander and revile,
With words of hatred, and uncivil! stile.
First comes a Statesman to the Stationer
And many better Bookes hee passing over
By chaunce findevthis, whereon he reades a while
Then bytes the lippe, then frownes, then gives a smile,
And to the Seller sayes such fiery braines
Should warme the prison to reward their paines.
Becomes it any man of his profession
Reprove us of our manners, or transgression
% Away goes hee : Next comes my gallant Dycer
His ordinarie stomache is more nicer
Who asks for new books ; this the stationer shovves him
Streight sweares 'tis naught unles the Poet knowes him.
Nor will hee read a Line : this Fortunes Mynion
Likes forsooth nothing but his owne opinion.
The mending Poet takes it next in hand
Who having oft the Verses over-scan' d,
O filching streight, doth to the Stationer say
Here's foure lines stolne from forth my last new play.
And that hee'l sweare, even by the Printers stall
Although hee knowes 'tis false hee speak es in all.
Then comes my Innes-of-Court-Man, in his Gowne,
Cries Mew, what Hackney brought this wit to towne.

1 Article on Parrot, Dictionary of National Biography.

2 Collectanea, Part 9, pp. 121 ff.

William Goddard. 191

But soone againe my gallant Youth is gon,

Minding the Kitchin more than Littleton,

Tut, what cares hee for Law, shall have inough

When's Father dyes, that Cankar'd Miser-Chuffe.

Put him a case in Ploydon then who will

That being his, plod you on Law-Bookes still.

Next comes by my Familiar, yet no Spirit,

Who forceth me his Friendship to inherit.

He sees my Booke in Print, and streight hee knowes it.

Then asketh for the Booke, and the boy showes it.

Then reades a while, and sayes, I must commend it,

But sure, Some Friend of his for him hath pen'd it.

He cannot write a Booke in such a fashion,

For well I wot 'twas nere his Occupation. . . .

Next after him, your Countrey-Farmer viewes it,

It may be good (saith hee) for those can use it.

Shewe mee King Arthur, Bevis, or Sir Guye,

These are the Bookes he onely loves to buye.

•Well, that he likes and walkes : Then comes a Divell

With sober countenance, and Garments civill.

A Puritane, or pure one, choose you whether,

(For both as one makes self-same sense together)

Hee lookes on some, and finding this the next

With very sight thereof his minde is vext.

Fye on't (saith he) that any man should buye

Such bookes prophane of fained Poetrie,

Thai teacheth vice, worse than your Playes on Stages,

And is a shame to olde and future Ages. " , . .

The heading of this satire is in Latin (" Trahit suaquemque voluptas "), but it
is evident that it is not of the classical school.

The work of William Goddard' s which was mentioned as perhaps the source
of the title-page of Parrot1 s Mastive, is A Alastif Whelp, with other rujf- Island-lik
Currs fetcht front amongst the Antipedes, Which bite and barke at the fantasticall
humorists and abusers of tJie time. . . . Imprinted amongst the Antepedes, and are
to bee sould tL'/icre they are to be bought. This is of uncertain date. Hazlitt
leaves Warton's date "about 1615;" but Mr. Collier thought that certain allu-
sions in it pointed to the order for the burning of the satires in 1599, and that it
therefore must have been written about 1600. The book is thought to have been
printed in Holland, where Goddard seems to have been living in the early part of
the century. His Nest of Wasps was printed in Dort in 1615. Of doubtful date
is A Satyricall Dialogue, or a sharplye invective conference, betwecne Allex-
ander the great and that truly e woman-hater Diogynes. Imprinted in tJve Lowe
country cs for all such gentlewomen as are not altogeather Idle nor yet well occu-
py ed." Here again Collier thought there was a reference to the 1599 order of

192 The Rise of Formal Satire tu England.

the prelates, in the account " of certain men who have been galled by the writings
of satirists, and have endeavoured to revenge themselves upon their productions."

" Badd are these men, such is their perverse kind,
They burne all books wherein their faults they find ;
And therefore (earthlie aungells) my desire
Is you'l protect this from consuming fire."

"At the close of the Satirical Dialogue is appended what is expressly called a
satire, and is, in truth, a satirical apologue or fable : the precise title is this, A
morrall Satire Intittiled the Oivles araygnement. . . . This ' moral Satire ' is a
bitter attack upon the great, under a figures aiming, perhaps, at royalty itself.
. . . The Bat and Thrush summon the Owl before the throne of the Eagle
(who represents the sovereign), for killing small birds, and disturbing the king-
dom at night by her vociferations. The Owl defends herself from the first charge
by recriminating upon the Hawk, and other favoured nobles of the court, who,
she asserts, are doubly guilty of shedding innocent blood. The Eagle, sitting in
judgment, struck with the justice of the accusation, calls upon the Hawk and
nobles to reply to it, which they do, by charging the Eagle herself with murder,
tyranny, and cruelty to such as are inferior in strength. This retort so enrages the
Eagle, that she immediately makes war upon her subjects indiscriminately, and
the Owl, during the civil strife, contrives to escape."1

The most interesting thing about this " satire " is its resemblance to Drayton's
Owl, which need not be pointed out in detail. If Goddard's work was, as
appears quite possible, published at the very beginning of the century, it would
seem that Drayton may have derived some fruitful suggestions from it.

12. — BEN JONSON.

Ben Johnson his Epigrams were entered on the Stationers'
Register on May 15, 1612, but do not seem to have been
published until the folio volume of 1616, in which they were
called " Book I." and dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke.
They are 133 in number, and embrace many kinds of short
poems, a large number being in size and character what I
have hitherto called true epigrams. Gifford observed that
Jonson's idea of an Epigram was " a short poem chiefly
restricted to one idea, and equally adapted to the delineation
and expression of every passion incident to human life." He

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. pp. 316 f.

Ben Jons on. 193

objected, however, as appears from one or two passages in the
Conversations with Drummond, to epigrams of a purely
narrative character. Some of those in his collection are of
such length and character as to have been called satires had
they been published separately, and owing to the importance
of the author's influence they deserve special consideration.
The metre is the usual decasyllabic couplet, and is of course
used with marked skill and satirical effect.1

Epigram 12 describes Lieutenant Shift, who gets rid of all debts by crying
" God pays."

No. 21 (eight lines only) describes " Gamester," made meek by the bastinado.

No. 25 (same length) is on Sir Voluptuous Beast and his sensual life.

No. 28 is an admirable portrait of Don Surly, who makes himself great in his
own eyes by haughtiness, arrogance, lust, profanity and cruelty.

No. 73 is addressed to " Fine Grand," who has borrowed all his jests, poems
and other social ornaments from the author.

No. 88 is on " English Monsieur," whose "whole body" speaks French,
through the aid of the " new French tailor."2

No. 92 is called " The New Cry," and is of unusual length. It describes the
"ripe statesmen" who crowd London streets, and discourse wisely of the rela-
tions of all the States of Christendom.

No. IOI is "Inviting a Friend to Supper," and is distinctly a classical imita-
tion. It suggests particularly the latter part of Juvenal XL, in one place borrow-
ing the very phrasing ("My man shall read a piece of Virgil"). But Gifford
points out that it also makes use of Horace's invitation to Vergil, 'and of Martial
X. 48.

No. 112 is addressed " To a Weak Gamester in Poetry," imploring him to be
less venturesome in trying his unskilled hand. Interesting for our purpose is the
enumeration of the poetic modes of the day, in which satires are included among
plays., odes, elegies, and epigrams.

No. 115? "On the Town's Honest Man," describes one of the swaggering
gallants of the city, of whom we have already met so many.

No. 133 is a long and filthy account of a boat-ride on the Thames among the
smells of a London summer. It is an instance of the type of satire imitative of
Horace's Iter Brundusianum, — that of the burlesque itinerary.

1 See Professor Schelling's paper, in the Publications of the Modern Language
Association, vol. xiii. No. 2 (pp. 221 ff. ), for some account of Jonson's influence
on the satirical couplet of later times.

2 This is an interesting testimony to the arrival of French fashions in England ;
in the satires of 1598 and thereabout all such references are of course to Italy.

The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

These brief descriptions illustrate the contents of the longer
epigrams, and make it clear that the characters in them are
the same that we have met with in the satires, save that they
are more individualized, and are drawn more rapidly and by a
more masterly hand. The type-names are particularly inter-
esting. Although Jonson was above all things a classicist,
and enjoyed the introduction into his work of the minutiae of
classical learning, his characters have English names, made to
order as many of the Latin na,mes were made to order, to
indicate the appropriate characters. In other words, he was
clever enough to transfer the method instead of the actual
words of the classical satirists. In others of the epigrams we
find other familiar characters ,— the Courtier, the Doctor, the
Usurer, the Lawyer, the Plagiarist, etc.

In Underwoods also are some poems which might well be
called Satires.

No. 30, "An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackville," is of the reflective type, and
treats of true and false gratitude, of fortitude and self-development.

No. 32 ("An Epistle to a Friend, to persuade him to the Wars") is one of
the very best of Jonson' s epistolary poems, and at times represents a close approach
to the manner of Juvenal. The account of the lust of the times, and of vain
fashions and follies, bears out what we have heard from other satirists ; and the
pessimistic tone is most severe.

" No part or corner man can look upon,
But there are objects bid him to be gone
As far as he can fly, or follow day,
Rather than here so bogged in vices stay.
The whole world here leavened with madness swells ;
And being a thing blown out of nought, rebels
Against his Maker." ...
" Our delicacies are grown capital,
And even our sports are dangers ! what we call
Friendship, is now masked hatred ! justice fled,
And shamefastness together ! all laws dead
That kept man living ! pleasures only sought !
Honour and honesty, as poor things thought
As they are made ! pride and stiff clownage mixed
To make up greatness ! -and man's whole good fixed
In bravery, or gluttony, or coin."

Ben Jonson. 195

No. 37 fa '-Satirical Shrub" ") is a brief aspersion, severe as Juvenal, upon
false women, one in particular. The omission (indicated by stars, and a note in
the folio that something is wanting) may have been of some length, and of more
frankness and personal bitterness than what is given.

No. 62, "An Execration upon Vulcan," is an amusing satirical poem of the
Horatian order, belaboring the god of fire for the burning of Jonson's house.
Incidental satire of contemporary conditions is introduced, and in particular Vulcan
is given leave to burn certain kinds of literature, — such as legendary compilations
from "the learned library cf Don Quixote," Logographs, Anagrams, and all
manner of ingenuities in verse, " the whole sum of errant knighthood," etc.

" With Nicolas' Pasquils, meddle with your match,
And the strong lines that do the times so cttch ;
Or Captain Pamphlet's horse and foot, that sally
Upon the Exchange still, out of Pope's-head alley ;
The weekly Courants, with Pauls seal ; and all
The admired discourses of the prophet Ball."

No. 63, "A Speech, according to Horace," presents the contrast between the
sturdy plebeian soldiery and the " lordlings " and " grandlings " of traditional
nobility. At the close the author takes occasion to advert to the overdressed
gallants of the period —

" These carcases of honour ; tailors' blocks
Covered with tissue, whose prosperity mocks
The fate of things."

No. 64 (" An Epistle to Master Arthur Squib ") is another Horatian poem, on
the testing of friendship.

" Men have masks and nets ;
But these with wearing will themselves unfold,
They cannot last. No lie grew ever old. ' '

No. 66 (" An Epistle, answering to one that asked to be sealed of the tribe of
Ben " ) is an admirable Horatian epistle, adverting satirically to drunkards, lechers,
slanderers, newsmongers, and the like, and protesting the poet's individual pur-
pose to

" Live to that point . . . for which I am man,
And dwell as in my centre, as I can,
Still looking to, and ever loving heaven."

No. 68 (" An Epigram on the Court Pucell ") is a bitter sketch of the lowest
order of female courtier — her hypocrisy, lust, vanity, and short career of worth-

lessness.

196 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Other poems of Jonson's might no doubt be included in
this list ; but I believe this is a fairly adequate enumeration
of what might have been called Satires as the word was com-
monly used in his own day. We must not forget, too, the
well-known translation of Horace's " bore " satire, in The
Poetaster, III. i. It is curious that Jonson should never have
used the title of Satire, and that he should not have done
more writing in the mode so popular at the time when he
was beginning his career. Born in the same year with Donne,
and only the year before Hall, he was undoubtedly familiar with
the Satires of both, and certainly an admirer of those of the for-
mer (see Epigrams 94 and 96), whose rugged virility must have
appealed to him strongly. We have evidence in the pieces
just examined that he could have equaled, and probably out-
stripped, all other satirists of his time. He was able to appre-
ciate the classical satirists as fully as any, and more able than
any other to translate their spirit without slavish imitation.
His local color is English, and his pictures are real and lifelike.
Above all, he had the faculty (like Juvenal, but unlike most
English satirists) of illuminating his satire with sudden, elo-
quent, close-packed sayings, worthy of remembrance apart
from their context ; — as in the last line of Underwoods 32 :

" Who falls for love of God, shall rise a star."

Although undoubtedly familiar, then, with the preceding
English satirists, Jonson made little use of them, but used
instead his knowledge of the classics and (chiefly) his knowl-
edge of men. Somewhat curiously we have found him in the
short poems more frequently following Horace than Juvenal,
and preferring the epistolary and reflective types of satire.
His pessimism was almost always of a rational rather than a
conventional sort, though this is not to say that it was never
exaggerated. The proof of its genuineness is in the whole
mass of his work. In the subject-matter of his satire (the
emphasis on private morals, etc.), in his individual tone, in his

Ben Jonson. 197

humor, and in his self-conscious method and style, Jonson
followed classical satire. But he did not imitate classical
details, and in his directness and sincerity, in his practical
ethical quality, and in the occasional optimism of his satire,
he was thoroughly English.

Briefly analyzing, as usual, the objects of satire in the
poems already examined, we find :

Morals :

Lust.

Drunkenness.

Gluttony.

Gambling.

Arrogance.

Hypocrisy.

Slander.

Fashions :

Foreign clothes.
Curls, prinking, etc.
Newsmongers.

Personal Humors •

Debtors.

Plagiarizing jokers, etc.

Swaggering gallants.

Classes :

Women.

Literature :

Romances, pamphlets, etc. (See under Undenvoods 62. )
Bad poetry.

Readers of Jonson' s plays think at once of better illustra-
tions of all these matters than are found in the short satirical
poems. It is to the plays, indeed, — to their success, and the

198 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

completeness with which they represented the author's com-
plaints against tendencies of the time, — that we must look for
the explanation of Jonson's failure to write more formal
satire. We have already seen that he was recognized as a
satirist : that Every Man out of his Humour was entered in
the Stationers' Register as "a comical Satire," and that both
the author of The Whipping of the Satire and Breton in his
reply1 referred to the " Humorist " as one who was really
pursuing the work of the satirist in a slightly different fashion.
This was precisely the case ; and while the matter is one that
cannot be adequately discussed here, it is worth while to notice
that Jonson, while doing much less than others in the way of
formal satire, did his full share in the general development of
English satire. In his treatment of humours ; in his unfailing
ridicule of the absurdities of the time; in his character-sketches
(from the "characters" in the list of dramatis persona at the
opening of some of the plays to his most elaborate attempts
at characterization); and, not least of all, in his use of sharp
personal satire in the conduct of his quarrels — he led the way
to much of the satire of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.

13.— "R. C" (TIMERS WHISTLE).

" Epigrammi Satiron. ' Septem compacta cicutis fistula.' The Times Whistle :
or a new Daunce of seven Satires ; whereunto are annexed divers other Poems
comprising Things naturall, morall, & theological. Compiled by R. C. Gent.

" Parturit, assiduo si non renovetur aratro
Non nisi cum spinis, gramina mundus ager. "

This collection, from a manuscript in the library of Canter-
bury Cathedral, was printed for the first time in 1871, edited
for the English Text Society by Mr. J. M. Cowper. Mr.
Cowper showed the date to be 1614-1616. The earliest
limit is fixed by a reference to the death of Dr. Carrier (in

1 See above, pp. 163, 164.

"Tune's Whistle" 199

Satire 4), which occurred in 1614. Mr. Cowper thinks also
that there is an allusion to the visit of James I. to Cambridge
in 1615. His view of the final limit of date is not so convincing.
Jonson's Epigrams were published in 1616, and there is an
epigram on them in the Times Whistle. Mr. Cowper thinks,
however, that R. C. had seen them in manuscript, and that in
Jonson's 49th Epigram there is an allusion to the satirist's
criticism :

" Playwright me reades, and still my verses dammes :
He sayes, I want the tone of epigrammes."

What R. C. had said was :

' ' Peruse his book, thou shalt not find a dram
Of witt befitting a true Epigram."

There is nothing conclusive in the similarity, especially in
view of the fact that " Playwright " was a not infrequent
object of Jonson's attack (see others of his Epigrams); and
if there were it would prove nothing as to the date of publica-
tion of the Tunes Whistle, for if R. C. had read Jonson's
Epigrams in manuscript (which is of course quite possible)
Jonson might also have read his in manuscript, and we are
still unable to say which were published earlier. Clearly,
however, we may date R. C.'s satires not far from 1616.

The author's full name has never been discovered. Mr.
Cowper thinks it may be Bishop Corbet, who in 1616 " was
recommended by Convocation as a proper person to be
elected to Chelsea College." The title " Gent." is against
this, but Cowper suggests that Corbet would scarcely have
wished these poems to appear as the work of an ecclesiastic,
and further calls attention to the fact that Corbet was present
at the occasion of the king's visit to Cambridge which seems
to be alluded to in the Whistle. The manuscript is admittedly
not in Corbet's hand ; and I am not disposed to agree with
the view that the satires suggest his style. Corbet's authentic

2OO The Rise of Formal Satire in hngla)

poems are of a decidedly rollicking sort, suited to his fame for
conviviality ; while the satires of the Times Whistle, although
they furnish ample opportunity for such a manner, are
in a quite different vein. Mr. Sidney Lee thinks that " the
description of the author and the date of the collection
destroy" Cowper's theory that R. C. was Corbet.1

The outward form of these satires is the usually satiric
couplet, exhibiting the characteristic freedom of the verse of
the period, with an abundance of run-on lines, inverted
accents, and feminine endings. The style is rudely vigor-
ous, professedly didactic, free and conversational, conven-
tionally religious in tone, and concrete and direct in its
description. The opening of the manuscript (what was
intended to serve as title-page) gives us the first part of the
author's profession as to his style — the conclusion being un-
fortunately lost :

"Reader, if thou expect to find in this booke either affectation of poeticall
stile, or roughnesse of unhewen invention, which amongst many is of moste
estimation, being" . . .

The body of the manuscript consists of seven satires, fol-
lowed by the " certaine poems," thirty-two in all. Of the
satires proper,

Satira i treats of Atheism (with an argument for the existence of God), of
sects ( Puritanism, Papistry, etc. ) , of corruption in the church, of Sabbath break-
ing and like sins, and of the vanity of the unrepentant life.

Satira 2, by a series of classical and mediaeval illustrations of the deceitfulness
of things, opens the subject of man's Hypocrisy. Various types of hypocrites
are described in detail.

Satira j describes Pride, beginning with the fall of Lucifer, as infecting all
classes of men.

Satii a 4. treats of the reign of avarice among all classes and conditions.

Satira 5 reproves Gluttony and Drunkenness ; the latter is said to have been
introduced by the Dutch. Various kinds of drunkards are described ; tobacco is
attacked ; and finally there is a warning of the judgment and of eternal punish-
ment.

1 Article on Corbet, Dictionary of National Biography.

"Time's Whistler 201

Satira 6 treats of Lust, its wide sway and manifold forms.

__ Satira 7 represents man's reason as enthralled by Passion. The passions of
love, hatred, joy, fear, desire, rashness, -anger, hope, despair, are discussed ;
foolish loves are dwelt upon in detail. The fears and follies incident to passion
are described.

The type of satire here is the late one first conspicuously
illustrated by Wither, though it may be regarded as a return
to mediaeval or native English types, with the addition of cer-
tain conventional details of classical origin. It is primarily,
of course, satire of direct rebuke. The attitude is pessimistic
and yet religiously hopeful. There is the conventional idea
of satire as a whip of sinners, and the usual picture of the
" unrelenting age," " hardened in ungodly sin."

Says Mr. Cowper : " Our Poet, whoever he was, was well
read in and made good use of the literature of his time,. as
well as of ancient classic authors. Shakespeare, Marston,
Marlowe, Jonson, Hall, and others, appear to have been con-
sulted to some purpose, but not to an extent to render the
author liable to any grave charge of plagiarism."1 He then
compares lines 19 and 20 of the introductory verses of the
Times Whistle,

" Let ulcerd limbes and gowtie humours quake, .
Whilst with my pen I doe incision make,"

with a couplet in Marston :

" Infectious blood, ye gouty humours, quake,
Whilst my sharp razor doth incision make."

At the very beginning of the book, indeed, there is a sugges-
tion of Marston in the line : •

" From the Rhamnusian goddesse am I sent."

Compare also the introduction of verses called Ad Rhythmum,
as in Marston. Mr. Cowper notes further that T. W. 2762 ff.

1 Introduction, p. xix.

2O2 The Rise of Formal Satire

(an account of the viands provocative of lust) suggests Mars-
ton's —

"A crab's baked guts, a lobster's butter'd thigh,
I hear them swear is blood of venery."

" R. C.'s " indebtedness to Wither will already have appeared
from the analysis of the seventh satire, where he treats of the
passions of love, hatred, joy, fear, desire, and the like, as
Wither does in Book I. in a slightly different order. The
general religious tone of the VVJiistle also indicates Wither's
influence. Mr. Cowper points out allusions to Jonson,1 with
whom " R. C." was evidently very familiar. There are also
general suggestions of familiarity with the satirical method
of Hall.

That the author of the Times Whistle was a classical scholar
there is ample evidence. He used Latin freely, and intro-
duced into his Latin "argumenta" (at the beginnings of the
satires) such quotations as " Fronti nulla fides" (Juvenal II.
8), and " Decipimur specie recti " (Horace); while " Omnia
usnt auro nostrae vaenalia Romae " seems to be a para-
phrase of "Omnia Romae cum pretio " (Juvenal III. 183).
A reference to "this worse than iron age" seems to have
been suggested by Juvenal XIII. 28 ff The account of
Galla, " that insatiate city dame which loves a player," etc.
(6. 2581 ff.), reminds us of Juvenal VI. 82 ff It is to be
observed also that we have the familiar theme of "vice in
virtue's habit" (2. 850), — avarice counted as thrift, excessive
spending as liberality, etc.

The classical and non-classical elements are curiously
mixed. The general method of the satire is native, and may
be compared with early satirical religious verse of the fifteenth
century. But while the tone is religious, the emphasis (as in
all conventional satire of the time) is on private morals.

1 Ibid., p. xxii.

"Time's Whistle." 203

"Jove" stands either for the Christian God or the classical
deity.1

In like manner the classical hell is treated as the true one,
and we hear of the fall of angels to Acheron (890), and the
probable descent of the Pope "to the Stygian lake "(1036).
Characters of classical history are also treated much as per-
sonal types ; thus " Poppaea " is rebuked for bathing in goats'
milk. The true type-names in the Times Whistle are of more
interest than in any satirist we have met since Hall ; I have
noted more than seventy-five of them, — most of them classi-
cal in origin and form. Some are types already familiar or
obviously made to order (as Pandarus, Bacchanall, Votarius,
Fumoso, Mechanico, Sodorneo, Temerus, Stolido) ; some are
constructed from Greek words (as Pliilogonous, Anaidus, and
Polupragma or " Tittle-tattle "). In the midst of these appears
an occasional Anglicism such as " Sir John Lacklattin,"
" Signior Necessity," or "Monsieur Graybeard ; " and a
typical person by the name of Cervisius we are surprised to
find living companionably with " George " and " Rafe." The
only name which suggests direct derivation from Juvenal is
Codrus the poor cottager (4. 1481 ; cf. Juvenal III.). Local
color is everywhere English ; see, for example, the account
of warring sects in Satire I, the description of the drunkards
in 5. 1813 ff., and the anecdotes of 5. 1977 fif. and 6. 2599 ff.
One of the latter is much like one of Wither's. But " R. C."
is more concrete than Wither, as appears from the great num-
ber of his named characters ; his description of the miser
Sordido (2. 749 ff.) is as pictorial as one of Rowlands's
sketches.

Humor is rare, as commonly in these later satires. The
tone is solemn and lacking in self-consciousness. Suggestions

1 Thus a reference in Satire 6 to Jove ' ' playing with Ganymede ' ' is closely
followed by :

" Dost thou not fear that just Jove, in his ire,
Will raine downe brimstone and consuming fire ? "

The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

of mediaeval literature are noticeable. Thus of the list of
great authors in 2. 813 ft. every one, with the exception of
Comines and Montaigne, might have been enumerated by
Chaucer : Vergil, Horace, St. Austin, Bernard, Aristotle,
Avicenna, Galen, Ptolemy, Plato, Cato, etc. " Exempla," like
those of Apitius, Cleopatra, Sardanapalus, etc., are used in
the fashion of mediaeval sermon-books. Of similar tone is
the pseudo-philosophical jargon (perhaps suggested by Mars-
ton) about " essence and substance," (i. 85 ff.) and the like
(5. 2078, 2127).

Objects of satire include :

*

Morals :

Alehouses, 549 ff.

Hypocrisy, S. 2 ; 2956 ff.

Boasting, 673 ff.

Cowardice, 708 ff. ; 2983 ff.

Lust, 738 ff.; 1064 ff; 1331 ff; 1529 ff. ; 2135 ff.; 2250 ff; S. 6;

3105 ff-

Miserliness and avarice, 749 ff. ; S. 4 ; 3129 ff.
Luxurious building, 937 ff.
Ambition, 995 ff. ; 3279 ff.
Fortune-hunting, 1143 ff-> 339^ ff-
Usury, 1283.
Slander, 1465 ff.
Gluttony and drunkenness, S. 5.
Superstition, 3255 ff.
Quarrelsomeness, 3352 ff.

Fashions :

Painting of women, 66 1 ff. ; 960 ff.
Curled hair, etc., 968 ff.
Foreign foods, 1679 ff.
Tobacco, 2191 ff.
A fine luncheon, 2765.
Assumed gentility, 767 ff.

Public Affairs :

Canonization of Ravaillac, 283.
Guy Fawkes, 291.

"Time's Whistle." 205

Justice for sale, 1231 ff.; 1343 ff.; 1449 ff.; 2538 ff.
Honors and offices for sale, 1311 f.; 1379 ff.
Bribery of voters, 1387 ff.
University honors for sale, 1405 ff.
Encroachment of land, 1481 ff.

Personal Humors :

A "fashion-imitating ape," 1077 ff.

Assumed learning, 798 ff.

Extravagant lovers, 2927 ff.

Mourning for the death of puppies, 3187 ff.

Classes :

i

Lying travelers, 721 ff.
Lawyers, 1237 ff.
Tradesmen, 1279 ff-
Physicians, 2149 ff
Courtiers, 2821 ff.
Merchants, 3410 ff.

Religion :

Atheism, S. I.

Schism, S. I.

Puritanism, Brownism, etc., S. I ; 2. 733 ff.

Papistry, S. I ; 3. 1013 ff.

Anabaptists and Separatists, S. I.

Sabbath-breaking, S. I.

Transubstantiation, S. I.

Benefices, simony, etc., 1351 ff.

Sale of meat in Lent, 1433 rf.

Apostasy to false religions, 1549 ff.

Incontinence of clergy, 2371 ff.

There is no proper literary satire, and none of an obviously
personal sort, save a reference to the apostasy of Dr. Carrier,
who, being already dead, should have claimed the exemption
of " nil nisi bonum."

These satires show a number of mingled influences. They
use conventions dating back to classicism, are written in a
manner that dates back to medievalism, and deal with matter
of contemporary interest. The religious and moral aims of

lise of Formal satire in hnglam

the author seem undoubtedly sincere. His satire is of the
type already said to be chiefly exemplified by Wither, and
later condemned by Abraham Holland, as dealing with " the
seven deadly sins in general."

" The Philosophers Satyrs : Written by M. Robert Anton, of Magdalen Col-
ledge in Cambridge. Gaude, quod spectant oculi te mille loquentem : Quicquid
sub terra est, in apricum proferet aetas." London, 1616.

This book was reissued in 1617, under the title Vices Anatomic Scourged or
Corrected in New Satires. It has not been republished, and has not been acces-
sible to me ; but I make use of Mr. Bullen's1 and Mr. Corser's2 accounts. The
satires are seven in number, each being named from one of the seven planets, —
a plan which we have seen used by Rankins,3 and again by Tofte.4 The author
refers to the device in his dedication, saying: "A satire is musicke worthie of
Pithagoras his opinion, especially, when the planets dance a heavenly lavolto."

Mr. Corser says that the " satires are written in an inflated and pedantic style,
with occasional vigorous and happy lines and expressions." The author declared
his intention to be "to present Art and Nature without their ugly periwigs of
obsceane and shallow Poetry." I transcribe from Mr. Corser's excerpts a passage
on the lying travelers whom we have already met so many times :

" Their travels well do understand
Sweete Sion : and the blessed holy-land :
Judeas mines, and the raced Towers
Of great Jerusalem, by Titus powers :
The sacred relickes of that tombe, they made,
Wherein our Saviours body Joseph laide :
The worlds seven wonders, whom all times prefer
To be' Mausolus stately sepulcher.
Egypts Pyramides the second is : .

[and so on through the seven.]
All which because they can with points relate
They boldly challenge eminence in state,
And walke with mumbling, and a grim neglect,
As if each stone were bound to give respect,
With notice of their travells, that have runne,
Their progresse through the world from sunne to sun :
As if the state (like Gray-hounds) thought men tit
For footmanship, and not for searching wit."

1 Article on Anton, Dictionary of National Biography,

2 Collectanea, Part I, pp. 48 ff.

3 See p. 128, above.

4 See p. 1 73 f. , above.

Henry Fitzgeffrey. 207

There is also an interesting group of literary allusions :

" I admire

The most judicious Beaumont, and his fire :
The ever Colum-builder of his fame,
Sound search ing Spencer with his Faierie-frame,
The labor' d Muse of Johnson, in whose loome
His silk-worme stile shall build an honor' d toombe
In his own worke : through his long curious twins
Hang in the roofe of time with daintie lines :
Greeke-thundring Chapman beaten to the age
With a deepe furie and a sollid rage :
And Morrall Daniell with his pleasing phrase
Filing the rockie methode of these dales."

There also seems to be an allusion to Wither's satires in the line —
" When we whip othdrs we our selves are whipt."

14. — HENRY FITZGEFFREY.

" Certain elegies, done by sundrie excellent wits ; with satyrs and epigrams. "

This little book was published in 1617, again. in 1618 and
1620, and a fourth time without date. The elegies are by Beau-
mont, Dray ton, and N. H. (Nathaniel Hookes ?); the Epigrams
and Satyres by Henry Fitzgeffrey. This Fitzgeffrey has been
commonly thought to be the son of Charles Fitzgeffrey, pub-
lisher of Affani<B- ; but there seems to be no evidence for the
theory.

The form of the satires is the usual one of couplets ; the
style is fairly vigorous, vernacular, sometimes suggesting
imitation of Marston's crudeness, frequently epigrammatic and
witty.

The first satire is on the superabundance of contemporary poetry.
The second is called A Moral! Satyre. This rebukes the spirit of censure and
inquisitorial criticism, — the

" strong scent villainy

Of those close foxes, who (in milder skins)
Invey, and guesse invectively at Sinnes. "

lie Rise of formal satire in hnglam

The author complains that he cannot "wink at a window," " usher a lady,"
" cringe to a scrivener," or " turne oft in Pauls," without being the subject of
remark by the lynx-eyed critic. He describes gluttons who rebuke excess ; vain
doctors who blame the present age ; and those who are suspicious of red noses or
bald heads, judging wholly by outward appearances —

" As if a Frounced, pounced Pate coo'd not
As much Braine cover, as a Stoike cut.
Or practicke Vertue might not lodge as soone
Under a Silken as a Cynicke gowne."

The satire concludes with a profession of faith in the "well tempred minde," —
independent, fearless of opinion, and free in conduct.

" Know I can Frolique be with Fregio,
Court it in comptest phrase with Curio,
Come deepe the Caster : and Carouce it free,
As farre as Vertues limites Licence mee ;
In as rich Grogans, Sattins, Tissues, goe
As Florence, Carles, Tartary can showe ; . . . .
Confer with Crop-eared knights oth' post ; heare tell
Of Stangate prizes, and of Shooters Hill,
Of Brothels, Stewes of vilest villainies,
And learn out Vertue by her contraries."

Following this are some commendatory verses by J. Stephens, who complains
of the Satires of the times :

" There hath bin

So much deceit in Satyres, tis a Sin
(Almost) to hope for good ones : They who best
Have done, have onely Dar'd : and m.ore exprest
Their Passions, then a Poem. Nay even all
Doe but convert their little Braines to gall :
And bee it bitter once, they care not then
How venomous it be. ' '

The Second Booke consists of Satyricall Epigrams, — true epigrams, some sixty
in number, addressed to various typical personages : In Thrasonem, In Medicum,
etc.

The Third Booke is of Humours " intituled Notes from Black- Fryers," and
gives a vivacious, semi-dramatic account of the various sorts of persons to be seen
in the theatre : Captain Martio the swaggerer, Sir Iliad Hunt the traveler of
many tales, a Cheapside dame, a " world of fashions" in the clothes of many

Henry Fitzgeffrey. 209

nations, a "woman of the masculine gender," a "plumed Dandebrat," " Musk-
ball Milke-sop," "Gilded Marchpane," "Tissue Slop" the prodigal, a coxcomb
who diets himself that he may fit his clothes, Fantastick the singer, crabbed Web-
sterio the playwright and critic, etc. John Stephens was so well pleased (and
not without some reason) by all this that he declares in his final verses that

" Lesse may be gleand from Puritanes than you
Have gathered from the Play house."

The author adds an epilogue on contemporary poetry, ironically declaring that
he cannot be a poet, since he cannot write for patronage or flatter the great,

" Conferre with Fountaines : or converse with trees ,•
Admit in my discourse Hyperbolyes . . .
. . . sing my Mistris shee is Faire :
Tell of her Lilly Hand, her golden Haire," etc.

Finally there is a Postscript to" the Book-binder, describing the company and
the purchasers desired for the work.

" Ye, ye, Brave Gallants : Patrons of lively mirth :
Ye, the young hopefull Land-lords of the earth :
The youth of youth ! That read most liberally,
More out of Pastime than necessity :
Yee worthy Worthyes ! None else (might I chuse)
Doe I desire my Poesie peruse."

There is a mingling here of the types of rebuke and reflec-
tion. The chief point of interest is the unfamiliar attitude
toward satire and toward the usual objects of satire, — the
opposition to lynx-eyed criticism, and the declaration of inde-
pendence in conduct One scarcely knows how seriously to
take the author's sayings on these matters, or to be sure that
he is not smiling ironically as he presents them. By far the
best of his satire, however, is that in the Notes from Black-
fryers ; this belongs to what might almost be called a new
type, which we have seen coming in with Jonson (though of
course often suggested by earlier satirists), — viz., the type of
character-study.

Fitzgeffrey was evidently a man of classical education, and he
was also familiar with earlier English satire. I have already

2io 77/6' Rise of Formal Satire in

intimated that he was following Marston in some of the
peculiarities of his style. To him (and very likely to others
also) he seems to refer in the opening of the " Morall Satyre : "

" I Taxe no Times, I beare no Furyes scourge :
I bring no powerfull Fountaine Springes to purge
This Vicefull Lerna, this Augean stye,
From long neglected noysome filthery."

In the first Satire is an allusion to Parrot's Mastive

(" Then out comes Whelps of the olde Dog," etc.);

and it is possible that in the " grizely Tartarian curres " of the
" Morall Satyre " there may be an allusion to Goddard's " ruff-
island-like Currs." A passage in the Notes from Blackfryers,
describing a gallant scolding his tailor, may be in imitation of
a similar description in Wither II. i. That Fitzgeffrey knew
the work of Davies of Hereford, and of Rowlands, is evident
from a passage presently to be noticed. Granting all this,
however, it is to be observed that his vein of satire was fairly
original.

In one passage the satirist refers to Homer, Vergil, Ovid
and Juvenal as typical classics. The opening of Satire I
suggests Juvenal I.:

" Who'd not at venture Write? So many waies
A man may prove a Poet now a daies ! " etc.

And the end of the same satire is certainly in imitation of the
Prologue of Persius :

" It was nere my hap
On high Pernassus Top, to take a nap," etc.

Satire 2 is preceded by the mottoes already noticed at the
head of some of Marston's satires: "Videntur et non sunt,"
and " Sunt et non videntur." The description of the indepen-
dent spirit, in the " Morale Satyre," suggests the conclusion of

Henry Fitsgcffrey. 2 1 1

Juvenal X., and similar passages in Horace. Finally, there is
to be noticed a reference to obscurity in classical satire :

" Takes he but so much Paine
To write obscurely : adding so much Braine,
As end his crabbed sencelesse verse in Rime :
This might a Poet beene inJPerseus time."

FitzgefTrey seems, then, to have used various materials.
His style is genuinely native, with small attempt at classical
imitation. In general, however, he uses the methods of
classical satire. He is severe, but not over-earnest. His
emphasis is exclusively on private affairs, and his point of
view personal. He uses allusion and other classical figures,
together with the semi-dramatic method. He is self-conscious
and keen. His type-names are of all sorts, — classical, Italian
and English. The local color is entirely English. The
humor is decidedly subtle, and sometimes ironical. Probably
not all these things were obtained through English imitators
of the classics.

Of objects satirized we have :

Morals :

Hypocrisy.

Slander.

Gluttony.

Boasting.

Prodigality.

Lust.

Fashions :

Foreign clothes.
Overdressed gallants .

Personal Humors :

(See analysis of Notes from Blackftyers.^

2 1 2 TJie Rise of Formal Satire in

Classes :

Soldiers.
Travelers.
Loud women.

Literature :

In literary satire Fitzgeffrey shows special interest, his manner suggesting Persius.
He attacks

Contemporary satire.

Verses on current events.

Pamphlets, Ballads, Plays, etc.

Critics.

Plagiarism.

Poetry on " Penny- Patrons."

Romantic and amorous poetry.

There is a single passage (in Satire i) closely packed with hits at contemporary
authors — among them being :

Breton's Post with a Packet, etc. (1603).

Nixon's Strange Foot- Post, etc. (1613).

Dekker's English Villanies, etc. (1616).

Jacke of Dover his Quest, etc. (1604).

Scoggin's Jests.

Parrot's Laquei Ridiculosi (1613).

Rowlands' s Doctor Mer:y-nian (1616) and Knaves.^

Freeman's Rub and a Great 6Vz.y/ (1614).

Taylor the Water-Poet.

William Fennor and his Defence (1615).

Davies, " the unreasonable Epigrammatist of Hereford."

There is also a favorable reference to Daniel and Spenser. Websterio ("the
Play-Wright, Cart-wright : whether ? either !" ) seems to be John Webster, whose
Duchess of Malfi had been produced the year previous.

These satires, intrinsically slight, are interesting as giving
us the last specimen, in this period, of satires showing the direct
influence of classical satire, and also from their spirit of reaction
against prevalent satirical methods.

1 Here I follow Corser, Collectanea, Part 6, pp. 357 f.

Henry Hutton. 213

15. — HENRY HUTTON.

" Follie's Anatomic : or Satyres and Satyricall Epigrams (with a Compendious
History of Ixion's Wheele). Compiled by Henry Hutton, Dunelmensis."
London, 1619.

This production is of slight interest, but requires brief con-
sideration. Of the author nothing is known. Mr. Rimbault,
who edited the book for the Percy Society, believed he might
be Henry Hutton, A. M., who was curate of Witton Gilbert
and who died in 1 67 1 . There seems to be no reason to regret
the fact that no other of his works have survived. Collier refers
briefly to the Follie's Anatomie * as being by one who was not
" quite so great a plagiary as Parrot."

The satires are in the usual couplets, generally end-stopped
and of monotonous effect. The style too is dull and unillumi-
nated : it is the vernacular, and indicates chiefly the imitation
of satirists of the English type.

The contents of the satires are as follows :

1. The author declares he cannot lash vices at his best, for lack of patronage.

2. The stern and lynx-eyed critic is attacked, ( after Fitzgeffrey).

3. Various hypocrites ; the lying servant ; the overdressed gallant and his lust.

4. "Tom Tospot," the drunken traveler ; his vices, his ragged poverty, his
probable fate at Tyburn.

5. Mounsier Bravado is ironically instructed in the arts of gallantry : dressing,
sonnet and madrigal writing, courting, theatre going, use of jewelry and perfumes,
getting into debt, — finally how to sing when in jail.

6. A poetaster is at first ironically urged to write the madrigals, sonnets, pane-
gyrics, etc. , that he has promised ; then the fate of his previous ballads ( in pies,
ovens, and worse places) is described, and he is frankly told that he will attain
most praise in being mute.

7. A glutton is described and censured. The author professes that he would
be more severe were it safe to be so.

8. "A woman creature most insatiate:" her outward graces, her inward lust
and hypocrisy.

[Following these are fifty- six epigrams with separate title-page.]

The type of satire here is again the late one of brief scat-

1 Poetical Decameron, vol. i. p. 276.

214 The Rise of Formal Satire in Englant

tering hits at character types. The " depraved age" is the
conventional one, and it is alleged that true satire is silenced
by the "taxing times;" yet the author prints his name
boldly on the title-page, with no fear of molestation.

I have already noted that Collier calls Hutton a plagiarist.
A passage in the dedicatory verses,

" My lame-legd muse nere dome Pernassus mount,"

might be from the Prologue of Persius directly, but it is more
probably a variation on Fitzgeffrey ; while in the second satire
there is almost literal transcription from the " Moral Satyre "
of the latter. In Fitzgeffrey the passage begins :

" Beshrow mee, Sirs, if I dare strout in street :
Winke at a Window : A God-dam-me greet :
Usher a Lady : but salute her Glove :" etc.

In Hutton :

" Beshrew me, sirs, I durst not stretch the street,
Gaze thus on conduits scrowls, base vintners beat,
Salute a mad-dame with a french cringe grace,
Greete with God-dam-me a confronting face," etc.

Like most of his contemporaries, too, Hutton shows acquaint-
ance with Wither' s satires :

" I urge no time, with whipt, stript satyrs lines,
With furies scourge, whipping depraved times."

In his use of the type-names Gnatho and Thraso he prob-
ably borrows from previous satirists. Indeed- the name
Gnatho seems to have become so familiar a type that he is
able to use the verb " Gnathonize " in the sense of to play tJic
hypocrite. Of direct use of the classics there is no evidence.
To classical satire the work goes back only traditionally.
The local color is distinctly English, and the style for the
most part attempts no classicism, except in the way of allusions

Henry Button. 2 1 5

to Venus, Hymen, Vesta, Philomel, Meander's streams, etc.
Type-names are sparingly used, and are of various forms. In
a passage like the following description of a glutton we see
Hutton's method of attempting vigorous satire :

" His belly is a cisterne of receit,
A grand confounder of demulcing meate.
A sabariticke sea, a depthless gulfe,
A sencelesse vulture, a corroding wolfe
Cramming his stomack with uncessant loade,
Like a stuft bladder, hate's big swelling toade ;
And rammes his panch, that bottomlesse abysse,
As if to glut were legall, promised bliss." (S. 7.)

Humor is crude and rare ; in the Epigrams the author's idea
of wit is seen to centre about atrocious puns.
Objects of satire include :

Morals :

Hypocrisy.
Slander.
Gluttony.
Lust.

Fashions :

Fashionable gallants.

Tobacco.

Women's artificial beauty.

Classes :

Travelers (of the tramp order)

Personal Humors :

The love -sick gallant.
Literature :

Sonnets, madrigals, etc.
Bad poets.

216 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Besides the allusion to Wither already noted there is apparently hi the sixth
satire a hit at Harrington's Ajax. With this as a clue one might suppose that
Harrington was the "poetaster" — the object of attack in the whole satire; yet
Harrington had been dead seven years, and would not seem to have been a suit-
able object.

Hutton's satires show no original qualities, and may be
attributed to mere motives of local imitation.

In 1621 Joseph Martyn published New Epigrams, and a Satyre. The
book was licensed in 1619, under the title, New Epigrams, having in their
Companie a mad satyre, and there may have been an edition in that year. I
have neither seen the satire nor found any useful account of its contents.

1 6. — RICHARD BRATHWAITE.

" Natures Embassie : or the Wilde -Mans Measures : Danced naked by
twelve Satyres, with sundry others continued in the next Section." — London.
1621.

Brathwaite is the last regular satirist of our list, and one
hesitates to use the word "regular" in such a connection.
He began to publish poems in 1611, and had already pub-
lished works of a satirical character in 1615 and i6i^.1 The
form of the "satires" in Natures Embassie is hardly to be
called satirical ; they are in six-line stanzas, rhyming a, b, a,
b, c, c. The style may best be called mediaeval : there is a
great abundance of classical allusion, but nothing of the
rapid satirical manner ; the verse lacks both satirical strength
and poetic sweetness ; the tone is serious and dull.

The work opens with a Dedicatory Epistle to Sir T. H. the Elder, in which
the author says :

"When the natures of men are cleere perverted, then it is high time for the
Satyrist, to pen something which may divert them from their impietie, and direct

1 For an account of the author's life, and a complete bibliography of his works,
see Hazlitt's reissue of Haslewood's edition of Barnabee'' s Journal.

Richard Bratlnvaite. 217

them in the course and progresse of Vertue ... I have penned this short
Discourse, interwoven with history as well as poesie, for two things summarily.
The first is the iniquitie of this present time" wherein we live : so that
Nature had either time now to send an Ambassage or never. . . The second
reason is the motion of a private friend of mine."

The Satyres are each preceded by a prose "Argument," that is, a brief dis-
course on the subject of the satire, and an account of the typical character by
which the particular abstraction is personated. The list is :

1. Degeneration (personated in Nature).

2. Pleasure (in Pandora).

3. Ambition (in the Giants).

4. Vaine-glory (in Croesus).

5. Cruel tie (in Astiages).

6. Adulterie (in Clytemnestra).

7. Incest (in Tereus).

8. Blasphemie (in Caligula).

9. Beggarie (in Hippias).

10. Miserie (in Taurus).

11. Hypocrisie (in Claudius).

12. Excesse (in Philoxenus).

Following the first section of satires are " some Epycedes or funerall Elegies."
The "Second Section of divine and morall Satyres" has a separate title-page,
and was evidently published later in the same year, being bound up with copies
of the first section. The Satyres are preceded by Arguments, as before :

1. Sloth (personated in Elpenor).

2. Corruption (in Cornelia).

3. Atheisme (in Lucian).

4. Singularitie (in Stesichorus).

5. Dotage (in Pigmalion).

6. Partialitie (in Pytheas).

7. Ingratitude (in Periander).

8. Flatterie (in Terpnus).

9. Epicurisme (in Epicurus).

10. Briberie (in Diagoras).

11. Invention (in Triptolemus).

12. Disdaine (in Melonomus).

13. Idolatrie (in Protagoras).

Here are interpolated three other Satyres "treating of these- tl\ree distinct
subjects " :

1. Tyrannic (personated in Eurystheus).

2. Securitie (in Alcibiades).

3. Revenge (in Perillus).

With an Embleme of Mortalitie (in Agathocles).

14. A short Satyre of a corrupt Lawyer.

2i8 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Two short moderne Satyres :

In Ambulantem Hypocritam (Pseudophilia).

In Drusum meretricium Adjutorum (Poligonia).

Finally comes An Admonition to the Reader upon the precedent Satyres,
signed Musophilus.

Brathwaite's type of satire may fairly be called original, if
nothing else. In general he was a follower of Wither, and
so dealt in the satire of abstract qualities. It is not evident
that he made use of any other English satirist. He appears
in Natures Embassie as a solemn, well-disposed person, with
professedly ethical motives :

" To examplifie a mans writings in these daies, is but to beate the aire, unlesse
invection or a bitter Satyre move it." (Argument to N. E. 4.)

" Satyres though rough, are plaine and must revile
Vice with a Cynicke bluntnesse, as long since
Those grave judicious Satyrists did use,
Who did not taxe the time, but times abuse.1
And yet I wish my pen were made of steele,
And every lefe, a leafe of lasting brasse, .
Yet well I know, I shall Characterd be,
In living letters, proving what I write
To be authenticke to posteritie,
To whom this Ages vices I recite
Which, much I doubt, as they're successive still
By course of yeares, so they'le succeed in ill." (N. E. 9.)

There is the usual characterization of the degeneracy of the
age:

" That was the golden age, but this is lead,
Where vice doth flourish, vertue lieth dead."

With the classics and the mediaeval fathers Brathwaite seems
to have had extraordinary familiarity. The following is a
partial list of the authors cited in the marginal notes : Homer,
Plutarch, Hesiod, Pliny, Tacitus, Vergil, Livy, Ovid, Martial,

1 A marginal note here explains that the satirists meant are " Eupolis, Aristo-
bulus, Aristeas, &c."

Richard Brathwaite. 219

Seneca, Suetonius, Horace, Cicero, Varro, Lucan, Catullus,
Sail ust, Valerius Maximus, Appian Alexander/' Dictys Creten-
sium," Laertius, Lampridius, Gregory, Augustine, Bede, Avi-
cenna, Pico Mirandola. The Latin satirists, however, are but
sparingly used, their method being quite remote from Brath-
waite's ; yet in one place we have a note " Vid. Persi. in
Satyr," and in another "Vid. Juvenal Saty." In S. 4 (Argu-
ment) the author says :

" With Juvenall I may well conclude :
Spite of our teeth when vice appeares in sight,
We must the Satyres play, and tartly write."

(Note the characteristically unclassical rendering.) There is
also a quotation from Horace's Epistles (I. I. 53): "Virtus
post nummos."

Brathwaite used the classics, then, as the mediaeval writers
did, only as a storehouse of allegorical and ethical material.
For him the Renaissance had never come. His general idea
of satire as a rebuke of the vices of a degenerate age he of
course derived from the imitators of classical satire, as he did
the name Satyre ; but his method was not consistent with the
traditional satire. He shows a curious lack of logic and
order ; all sorts of material are put together, the moral is
frequently much strained or hard to find, and the style shows
a similar use of strained figures. The very title of the book is
an instance in point : the idea which it expresses (and which is
illustrated oil the title-page by a vivid group of naked satyrs)
is recurred to but once throughout the work, when it is said :

" Longer I will not dilate on this subject, but recollect my spirits, to adde
more spirit to my over-tyred Satyre, who hath bene so long employed in the
Embassie of Nature, and wearied in dancing the Wilde mans measure, that after
Perillus censure she must repose ere she proceede any further ; and take some
breath ere I dance any longer." (Arg. S. S. on Revenge.)

Brathwaite had slight conception of the satire as a distinct
literary form, as is shown by the introduction of elegies, etc.

The Rise of Fon

In one case (S. S. 12) he introduces the pastoral element
conspicuously. There are some traces of the familiar type-
names (as Naso the lawyer in S. S. 14) ; but generally the
names used — as will already have become evident — are those
of traditional heroes, viewed as real examples of the sins they
represent. Local color of any distinct sort is generally lack-
ing, though occasionally there is an English localization. In
a marginal note to S. S. 9 is an allusion to Elderton the
drunken balladist. In S. S. 1 1 " Britannie " is compared to
the blessed isles described by Hesiod, " the two universities "
to the streams of Helicon, and the Thames to the Euphrates.

It is quite impossible to group the objects of Brathwaite's
satire in the usual way. They are generally the vague sorts
of unrighteousness indicated by the titles of the poems.
Particular objects are the vanity of women, epicures, beggars,
lust, and the vanities of pastoral and amorous verse.

In Natures Embassie, then, we have a late use of the tradi-
tional form "satire," preserving the mythological connection
of the form with the "satyrs" of pastoral myth, and its ethi-
cal connection with the aim of rebuking vice. The method,
however, is irregular and inconsistent ; the artificial character
of the moral purpose is evident from the way in which it is
carried out ; and the form has become so merely traditional
that the author uses it as a name for anything he wishes to
include.

In 1615, as already noted, Brathwaite had begun his satirical writing, and his
Strappado for the Divell : Epigrams and Satyres alluding to the time, etc., seems
to have been a closer imitation of the popular satire of the time than the Natures
Embassie. Collier describes it, however, as " a strange, undigested, and ill-
arranged collection of poems of various kinds, ! The Epistle Dcdicatorie opens :2
" To all Usurers, Breakers, and Promoters, Sergeants, Catchpoles, and Regraters,
Ushers, Panders, Suburbes Traders, Cockneies that have manie fathers. Ladies,
Monkies, Parachitoes, Marmosites, and Catamitoes, Falls, high tires, and rebatoes,

1 Rarest Books, vol. i. p. 94.

2 1 have not seen the book, but quote from the bibliography in Haslewood's
ed. Barnabee1 s Journal, already cited.

Richard Brathwaite. 221

false-haires, periwigges? monchatoes : grave Gregorians, and Shee painters. Send
I ray greeting at adventures, and to all such as be evill, 'my strappado for the
Divell." Mr. Gosse refers to the book as "a volume founded directly on The
Abuses Stript and VVhipt of George Wither." l

In 1617 Brathwaite published a satirical work called The Smoaking Age, or the
man in the mist : with the life and death of Tobacco.

In 1621 (the same year as Natures Embassie] appeared Times Curtaine drawne
or the Anatomie of Vanitie with other choice Poems entituled Health from Heli-
con ; by Richard Brathwayte Oxonian? Here again the author indicates his
familiarity with Wither, and refers to the imprisonment of the latter in the lines —

" Tutch not Abuses but with modest lipp
For some I know were whipt that thought to whip,"

adding in the margin : " One whom I admire, being no lesse happie for his native
invention than excellent for his proper and elegant dimension." These satires
are in the usual couplet form. The first is on Riches. In the second there is a
passage on the poverty of poets, quite in the manner of Wither. I quote from
Collier's transcription :

" Yet in the gifts of nature we shall finde
A ragged coate oft have a Royall minde-:
For to descend to each distinct degree
By due experience we the same shall see.
If to Parnassus where the Muses are,
There shall we finde their Dyet very bare ;
Their houses ruined and their well-springs dry,
Admir'd for nought so much as Povertie.
Here shall we see poore ^schylus maintaine
His nighterne studies with his daily paine,
Pulling up Buckets but twas never knowne
That filling others he could fill his owne.
Here many more discerne we may of these,
As Lamachus, and poore Antisthenes,
Both which the sweetes of Poesie did sipp
Yet were rewarded with a staff and scripp ;
For I nere knew nor (much I feare) shall know it,
Any die rich that liv'd to die a Poet."

1 Article on Brathwaite, Dictionary of National Biography.

2 See Collier : Poetical Decameron, vol. ii. pp. 54 ft-

222 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

In 162$ Natures Embassie was reissued under the title of Shepherds 7'ales, etc.,
the pastoral elegies evidently being thought to be its most attractive contents.

In 1624 or 1625 appeared a second edition of the Scourge of Follie of Davies
of Hereford, and to this was added A Continued Inquisition against Paper- Per-
secutors, by "A. H." The author has been generally thought to be Abraham
Holland. The poem is in 156 lines, in the usual couplets, and continues the
attack on contemporary poetry which had been begun in Davies' s Paper'1 s Com-
plaint. The author was not enamored of the satire as used by his contemporaries :

" Others that ne'er searched new borne Vice at all,
But the seven deadly Shines in generall,
Drawne from the Tractate of some cloyster'd Frier,
Will needs write Satyrs, and in raging fire
Exasperate 'their sharpe Poeticke straine,
And thinke they have toucht it, if they raile at Spaine,
The Pope and Devill ; and while thus they urge
Their stinglesse gall, there's none deserve the scourge
More than themselves, whose weaknesse might suffice
To furnish Satyrs and poore Elegies." (11. 42-52.)

This passage is worth more than a passing notice. It indicates the growing
belief on the part of clever men that a good satire must have distinct contempo-
rary allusions, and deal with " new born vices;" and on the other hand it
rebukes the growing habit ( justly, as we have seen) of writing vaguely on the
" seven deadly sins," in the manner of mediaeval sermonizers.

Further on Holland declares that the scribblers may yet force him to turn
satirist himself :

" Who if they doe not soone these matters mend,
I'le shortly into th' world a Satyre send,

Who shall them lash with fiery rods of Steele." (153 ff. )

And in 1. 128 the author seems already to regard himself as a satirist:

" Touching the State, Ambassadors or Kings,
My Satyre shall not touch such sacred things."

The particular enumeration of the work of scribblers includes: the pamphle-
teers of Paul's Church; epigrams of " undigested mish-mash ;" rhyming ver-
sions of the Bible; popular pamphlets and ballads (of Chevy Chase, etc.);
elegies on nobility "in lamentable lachrymental rimes" ; news pamphlets, etc.
Dubartas and his translators are exempted from condemnation (35 ff. ), and Jonson
and Drayton are alluded to as unworthily neglected for cheap balladists, such as
the " Wherrie Bookes " (perhaps of Taylor the " Water Poet " ?).

Altogether this quasi-satire furnishes some very interesting comments on the
literature popular in London at the end of the first quarter of the century. We

Sources of Elizabethan Satire. 223

have now reached the time when the formal satire, instead of being a fresh criti-
cism of contemporary publications, was decadent in vigor and was itself satirized
among the other forms at which every cheap poet tried his hand.

V.

We have now only to summarize, as briefly as may be, the
matters brought to light by the preceding study.

Early in the discussion it was remarked that in the classical
imitations of the Elizabethans two streams of influence met :
familiarity with the classical writers, such as had lately
become a part of the education of all cultivated persons, and
familiarity with Italian efforts to imitate the classics and adapt
them to the expression of contemporary life. These influ-
ences have to do alike with many forms of literature ; in the
case of formal satire they are very clear. Wyatt. first of the
formal satirists, derived his inspiration from Italy, though
showing direct familiarity with classical satire. Others, while
no doubt frequently finding in Italy the suggestion of satire as
a literary form, did not — like Wyatt — follow the Italian
method of adaptation. In France the imitation of classical
and Italian satire followed close upon that in England,
though there does not appear to have been any consider-
able connection between the two countries in this respect,
until well on in the seventeenth century. In 1605 Casaubon
published his great work De Satyrica Grczca Poesi ct Roman-
onnn Satira, as well as his edition of Persius ; the former
work became the centre of interest in the classical satirists for
a long time to come.1

1 Mr. Gosse writes me : "I believe the personal work of Casaubon in his lec-
ture-room to have started the whole thing, in France where it succeeded, as in
England where it failed." However true this may be for France, I am not able
to see what influence Casaubon could have had on the origin of the satirical imita-
tions in England, fifteen years and more before the publication of his work on
satire. When Donne and Lodge were making their experiments, Casaubon was
still professor of Greek at Geneva, and he was not himself in England till l6lO.

224 TJic Rise of Formal Satire in England.

We have seen that, while in Italy and France it was the
Horatian type of satire which was chiefly imitated, in
England Wyatt, and occasionally Jonson, were the only ones
to follow this form with success. In varying degrees, most
of Wyatt' s successors who drew from the classics accepted
Juvenal as their model. Gradually, however, as must neces-
sarily have been the case, the form became one not of direct
imitation but of local convention, and the original models
were followed further and further off. By the beginning of
the seventeenth centuryfhe writing of satires was recognized
as a fashion of the times. In The Return from Parnassus :
or TJic Scourge of Simony (about 1601), Ingenioso appears
as a violent critic of the times, bearing "Juvenal in his hand,"
and crying :

" Difficile es/, Satyram non scribere, nam quis iniqucc
Tcu)i patiens urbis, tarn f err eus ut teneat se ?
I, Juvenall : thy jerking hand is good,
Not gently laying on, but fetching bloud,
So surgean-like thou dost with cutting heale,
Where nought but lanching can the wound avayle.
O suffer me, among so many men,
To tread aright the traces of thy pen.
And light my linke at thy eternall flame,
Till with it I brand everlasting shame
On the worlds forhead, and with thine owne spirit,
Pay home the world according to his merit."

His friend Judicio greets him with the remark :

"What, Ingenioso, carrying a Vinegar bottle about thee, like a great schole
boy giving the world a bloudy nose ? " 1

And later in the same play Sir Raderick observes :

" I hope at length England will be wise enough, I hope so, I faith, then an
old knight may have his wench in a corner without any Satyres or Epigrams." 2

1 Macray's ed., pp. 80, 81.

2 Ibid., p. 120. Compare Benedick, in Much Ado, v. 4 : " Dost thou think I
care for a satire or an epigram ? ' ' Other allusions in Shakspere to the satire as
a literary form are in Midsummer Night's Dream, v. i, where it is proposed to
present a dramatic satire on the death of learning ; and Tiinon v. i, where the
Poet proposes to present Timon with " a satire against the softness of prosperity."

Satire as a Literary Form.

In Chapman's All Fools (1605), the young gallant who
describes his manifold arts with the ladies, concludes :

" I could have written as good prose or verse
As the most beggarly poet of 'em all,
Either acrostic, or exordion,
Epkhalamions, Satyrs, Epigrams,
Sonnets in Dozens, or your Quatorzains
In any rhyme, Masculine, Feminine,
Or Sdruciolla, or couplets, or Blank Verse." a

And in the dedicatory verses to Rowlands' s Guy of Warwick
(1607) there is a reference to

" this same Poet -plenty -age,
When Epigrams and Satyrs biting, rage."

In like manner Jonson, in his Epigram " To a Weak
Gamester in Poetry," refers to satires in connection with
epics, odes, elegies, and epigrams. In nearly all these
passages the connection between satires and epigrams is
particularly close, and so it was in fact. The two forms
arose under similar influences, were usually published together,
and are often difficult to distinguish if one is critical as to
terms. Martial had begun to be translated into English even
earlier than Juvenal, and found many imitators.2 For a list
of the most important epigrammatists, one may see Hazlitt's
edition of Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iv., pp.
414-427.

Very early in the development of the English satire its
metrical form became fairly well fixed, as had been the case in
other languages. The decasyllabic couplet may probably be
regarded as at least the equal, for satiric effect, of the Latin
hexameter or the Italian terza rima. We have seen that,
chosen first by Spenser for satire, it was adopted almost
simultaneously by Donne, Lodge, and Hall, and that it is

1 Act ii. scene I.

2 See Warton's History of ^-English Poetry, Hazlitt ed., vol. iv., p. 309.

226 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

quite as likely that this happened by coincidence as that any
one of them definitely set the example for the others. There-
after the measure may almost be made a test of the intention-
ally satiric character of a poem. The most interesting matter
to be noticed in this connection is the fact that the couplet of
the Elizabethan satirists is by no means lacking in the incisive,
epigrammatic qualities that mark the satiric verse of a century
later.1

Since the strong moral sense of the English people had
always made good use of the informal satire of the type of
direct rebuke, it^was natural that the type of Juvenal rather
than of Horace should predominate when the classical satirists
came to be followed. Rapidly this type developed into a con-
vention, so that we have found satirists with little individual
taste for moral invective or ethical instruction, who really fol-
lowed a free narrative method, still assuming for form's sake
the attitude of scourgers of vice and preachers of righteous-
ness. Those who kept nearest to the classics avoided the
practical tone of the reformer, and contented themselves with
the pessimistic representation of contemporary conditions ;
those who reverted most to the type of early English satire
dwelt most frankly on the moral abstractions which were only
suggested by the concrete objects of everyday experience ;
while some (like Rowlands and the author of Micro-cynicoii)
contented themselves with making the satire a mere instrument
for such good-natured comment on the follies of the world as
had pleased the ancient founders of the Order of Fools. Always,
however, there was the assumption of an evil world and a de-
generate age. This was taught too clearly alike by Juvenal, by
the Bible of the reformers, and by personal experience, not to
be easily accepted as general truth. Yet in the exuberant life
of the Elizabethan period this conventional pessimism was out

1 See the remark of Mr. Gosse (somewhat inconsistent, to be sure, with his
more generally familiar doctrine of Waller and the heroic couplet), quoted above,
p. 166 ; and the metrical table in the Appendix.

Use of Classical Models. 227

of place. In some cases it was doubtless mere affectation ; in
some it was the reaction from the overflowing gayety upon
which the men of the Renaissance had entered ; in some it
was the outcome of the gloomy side of religion. In the
formal satires it was perhaps rarely altogether sincere and
independent of convention.

The detailed examination of the relations of the various
English satires to their classical models, has made it evident
that Juvenal was the principal source for the imitators, not
only for type and tone, but for illustrative details. Horace
was of course always a favorite, but was used chiefly for
decorative purposes. Persius was much admired, and fre-
quently cited in a general way ; but his work was so difficult
to grasp, and so limited in details of material, that it was not
very useful in helping to build up the stuff of concrete satire.
His chief influence seems to have been in the promotion of
the idea that formal satire must tend toward harshness and
obscurity, as well as toward keenness and vigor. We have
seen the earlier imitators taking a large amount of material
from these Latin sources, and the later ones taking material
rather from the former imitators, or using the forms and
shapes of what had been borrowed as a conventional frame-
work for whatever of contemporary life they wished to include.
The greatest variation in point of skill has appeared in the
different degrees to which the English satirists were able to
adapt their borrowings to local conditions, and to give them
the color of real life. Few escaped altogether from the tradi-
tional trappings which every form of literature, no less than
satire, had acquired in the effort to be classical. Few seized
the idea that to follow Juvenal in calling a character " Calvus "
was to call him, not Calvus, but " Bald-head," and that to give
the effect that Juvenal produced in addressing Ponticus, one
must address not Ponticus, but Digby or John. In actual faith-
fulness to local color the later satirists naturally improved over
the earlier, and it finally becomes rare to meet with bits of

lise of formal Satire in hnglaiu

Roman scenery to any greater extent than in the type-names.
In like manner it was only the earlier imitators who succeeded
in the effort to classicize their style. We have thus followed
the progress of the formal satire to the days when it was little
more than a name for any sort of satirical material that a poet
wished to put together.

Of all questions raised by a study of Elizabethan satire,
those connected with the objects of its attack are perhaps the
most interesting. It is these which bring us into closest
touch with the real life of the time, even when set in imitative
framework. To what extent do the pictures of the time as
given by the satirists really represent the truth ? This is not
\/( altogether easy to answer. In the first place, it may be said
that the satirists undoubtedly exaggerated. When one has
set out to write satire based on a pessimistic assumption, he
must of course look at the world through colored glasses.
Juvenal had done this, giving his picture of Roman society at
the same time that Pliny was giving his very different one.
" Le grand merite de la satire," Lenient observes, " aux yeux
de la posterite du moins, c'est qu'elle est indiscrete. Elle
n'a point de ces managements calcules dont les partis s'enve-
loppent pour dissimuler leurs fautes : elle ose tout, dit tout, et
meme quelquefois plus que la verite." Vague statements,
then, as to the. corruption and degeneracy of the age, must
not be taken too seriously. When we come to particular
objects of satire, it is harder to distinguish truth from conven-
tionality. Some objects are evidently given a Juvenalian
coloring, if not altogether introduced from the classical pic-
tures of degeneracy ; while others are as clearly drawn directly
from contemporary sources.

When we look through the list' of moral vices attacked in
the satires we have examined, a large proportion of them are
seen to be those inherent in human nature and society, and

1 La Satire en France ati Moyen Age, p. 12.

Objects of Satire. 229

equally the property of any age. The extremes of avarice
and prodigality have always been peculiarly susceptible of
literary treatment, and one need never go far for illustrations.
The same thing is true of ambition, of superstition, and — to
a lesser degree — of vices like gluttony and drunkenness. All
these things the Elizabethan satirists found in their classical
models, and they found them at the same time so easily in the
life about them that to bring them down to date was nothing
libellous or unfair. The emphasis on lustful passions and
their reckless sway is a little harder to understand. So far as
the mere emphasis is concerned, and the method of presenta-
tion as well, the source was undoubtedly the satires of.
Juvenal. Particular charges of horrible frankness and severity
may often be traced to Rome, and one may doubt whether
there was adequate ground for them in Elizabethan society.
On the other hand it must be admitted that there is abundant
evidence in Elizabethan literature, particularly in the drama,
of laxity of morals such as one associates unwillingly with a
period of such splendor. This is of course to be attributed
not, as in the Rome of Juvenal, to the rottenness of decadent
society, but to the lusty exuberance of life at the end of the '
sixteenth century. The treasures of antiquity had been
spread open before the western world ; the treasures of new
and unconquered worlds further west had been added to S
these ; and the restrictions of a paternalistic religion had been^/
removed by the throwing off of the yoke of Rome. It was
inevitable that there should come a new sense of fullness of
life and liberty of action which, in spite of its blessings, should
show between its rising waves dark abysses into which one
does not like to look too long. Independence and intensity
of life mark Elizabethan England in both her virtues and her
vices. To pessimists all this seemed a decay of the founda-
tions of morality. The prose pamphlets echo the charges of
the verse satires. Thus Barnaby Rich, whose Honestie of

The Rise of Formal Satin

this Age was in fact a prose satire in the Elizabethan manner
(1614), declared :

" A general corruption hath overgrowne the vertues of this latter times, and the
world is become a Brothell house of sinne. It is enough for us now if we seeke
but for the resemblance of vertue, for the soveraigntie of the thing it selfe we
never trouble our selves about it. . . Whether will you tend your steppes,
which way will you turne your eyes, or to whom will you lend your listening
eares, but you shall meete with vice, looke upon vanitie, and heare those speeches
that doe not onely tend to folly but sometimes to ribauldry, other whiles to blas-
phemy, and many times to the great dishonor of God."1

What has been said of moral matters applies equally to
those elements in the satires relating to what I have called
fashions and follies. Here also there was a great stir after
intensity and independence. The increase of luxury and
decay of seriousness, in the social life of London, may be
compared with the absurdities of a not too wise youth who
has unexpectedly come into a fortune. Mr. Hubert Hall says
of the period as early as the time of Latimer :

" It was, in truth, a frivolous age in the light of a bygone earnestness and
religiousness of life. The gains of industry and science, diminished by no regard
for the interests or necessities of others, were spent on their possessor's personal
pleasures ; in eating, dress, gambling, and lewdness."2

The central figure of Elizabethan__satire is the gorgeous
young gallant ; his clothes representing as many countries as
may be, the wonder of everyone he meets ; his short sword
giving warning that he must be allowed the favorite side of
the street ; his head surrounded with a constant halo of
tobacco-smoke, — the weed being a foreign one, and its pleas-
ures new and strange ; his eyes searching every window for

1 lie nestie of this Age, Percy Society Reprint, p. 17.

2 Society in the Elizabethan Age, p. 40.

Objects of Satire. 231

those of an admirer or a promising victim. This is the Gullio
of The Return from Parnassus (Part I.), who declares :

" I am never scene at the courte twise in one sute of apparell ; that's base ! as
for boots, I never wore one paire above two hours ; as for bands, stockings, and
handkerchiefs, myne hostes, where my trunkes lye, nere the courte, hath inoughe
to make her sheets for her housholde." •

And again :

" I cannot abide to be tide to Cleopatra, if shee were alive. It's enough forme
to crop virginitie, and to take heed that noe laides dye vestalls and leade aps in
hell. ... It is my nature to be debonaire with faire ladies, and vouchsake to
employ this happie hande in anie service ether domesticall or private."1

It is the same character whose daily life is described in one
of Davies's epigrams :

" First, he doth rise at ten ; and at eleven

He goes to ' Gyls,' where he doth eat till one ;
Then sees a play till six, and sups at seven ;
And after supper straight to bed is gone ;
And there till ten next day he doth remain,
And then he dines and sees a Comedy,
And then he sups and goes to bed again ;
Thus round he runs without variety." 2

1 Macray's ed., p. 54.

9 On the frequenting of St. Paul's Cathedral by the fashionable young gentle-
men one may see Mr. Edmonds's notes on A'ews out of Pauls, and Mr. Eateson in
Social England^ vol. iii. p. 574- Rowlands' s Epigrams in The Letting of
Humotrf s Blood contain numerous references to the follies of young gallants of
the period. Dekker's Gulfs Horn's Book is of course a notable place to seek
for illustrations of the same sort. On the follies in the dress of the other sex, one
may see — besides the numerous passages in the satrres that we have examined —
Gosson's Glasse to vieiue the pride of vaineglorious women. A piesant invective
against the fantastical foreigne toyes dayly used in womens apparel (reprinted by
the Percy Society, 1841). See also Stubbes's Anatomic of Abuses (1693).

On tobacco in particular, among the fashions of the period, our satires have
been full of attacks. All the literature of the time is pervaded by similar allu-
sions, and the Stationers' Register hands down the names of numerous pamphlets
written either in defence or objurgation of the imported practice of smoking (three
of them, for example, in 1602). For a collection of passages relating to this
subject one may see Mr. Arber's notes " On the Early use of Tobacco in England,"

232 TJic Rise of Formal Satire in England.

Closely akin to the gorgeous young gallant is the profes-
sedly traveled gentleman, who has been just far enough to
know the fascinations of the outer world, and who finds at
every corner those eager to hear of the wonders of the Indies
or the Spanish Main. Here, again, contemporary literature of
all forms takes up the same theme, and deals, in varying degrees
of good-nature and bitterness, with the lies of travelers.

The satirist, being essentially a conscious, critical observer,
notes the weakness and unreality of all this, oblivious to its
fascinating and even beneficent side. /Tie is impressed most
of all by the fact that men are trying to be what they are not}
and to make other people believe more than they should.
Sir Lav/rence Lack-land wears a cloak lined with velvet, and
gilded spurs ; Sir Henry Have-Little is tricked up like " Pro-
teus the God of Shapes."1 So we have the dominant note of
hypocrisy, of seeming as contrasted with being, of inverted
moral judgments, through all the Elizabethan satire. This
Sir John Harington confessed with perhaps as much frankness
and vigor as any other :

" Wee goe brave in apparel 1 that wee may be taken for better men than wee bee;
wee use much bumbastings and quiltings to seeme better formed, better showl-
derd, smaller wasted, and fuller thyght, then wee are ; wee barbe and shave ofte,
to seeme yownger than wee are; we use perfumes both inward and outward, to
seeme sweeter than wee be; corkt shooes to seeme taller then wee be ; we use
cowrtuows salutations to seem kinder than wee bee; lowly obaysances to seeme
humbler than we bee ; and somtyme grave and godly communication, to seem
wyser or devowter then wee be. ' '2

was perhaps in ,the treatment of public affairs that the
satires were freest from classical influence and borrowed
formsjf We have seen that public satire was characteristic of
early England, but not of Rome. |J"he condition of the poor,

accompanying his reprint of King James's Counterblast. Rowland's works con-
tain many such passages ; see, for example, the address " To Smoky Noses, and
Stinking Nostrils," in the Knave of Spades.

J Rich : Honestie of this Age, p. 18.

2 Nugcc Antigua, vol. i. p. 209.

Objects of Satire. 233

the conflict of both government and populace with economic
laws, the corruptions of secular and ecclesiastical officials,
were subjects which the Elizabethan satirist inherited from a
noble ancestry of protestants, and which he was not likely to
forget. The further one inquires into the conduct of govern-
ment officials during the splendid reign of Queen Elizabeth, f
the rriore clear it becomes that political corruption is not, as
some have thought, an invention of modern times and demo-
cratic constitutions.1 Of this the passages in our satires
relating to official corruption, particularly to bribery, are suffi-
cient evidence. More conspicuous, however, than these
political evils, are those relating to such matters as the hard-
ships of tenants, the scarcity of land, and the rise of prices.
The depopulation of villages, and the "enclosure" of com-
mon lands, evils which had their rise before the age of Eliza-
beth, extended their baleful results to the -latter part of the
century, and we find the complaint against them echoing in
our satires.2 The rise in the price of commodities, which was
felt most keenly by the lower classes of society, is also a
frequent ground of complaint in the literature of the period.3
Some of the formal satirists no doubt had genuine interest in
the sufferings of the common people ; but to most of them
these matters were doubtless simply common talk which
served to furnish convenient material and philanthropic tone
to their satires.

1 See the chapter on " The Official," in Mr. Hall's Society in the Elizabethan
Age.

2 On these matters see Cheyney's Social Changes in England in the Six-
teenth Century, Part I, pp. 25-37 ; and Social England, vol. iii. pp. 533 ff.
On the evil practices of landlords, one may see a citation by Mr. Collier,
from a tract called ' ' Maroceus Extaticus, ' ' in the Poetical Decameron, vol. i.

p. 165.

3 See Social England, vol. iii. pp. 545 ff. The Stationers' Register for
December 28, 1594, contains the name of a pamphlet evidently relating to this
subject, called " Newes from Jack Begger under the Bushe, with the advise of
Gregory Gaddesman his fellow begger touchinge the deare prizes of corne and
hardnes of this present yere."

234 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

,/Lorruption in the church seems to have furnished even more
material for satire than corruption in the state.? This, indeed,
had always been the case. It seems but a step from the
remonstrances of Chaucer and Gower against a mercenary
priesthood, to the constant talk of salable benefices, " gelded ''
vicarages, and the like, which we have met with among the
Elizabethan satirists. That there was ample ground for dis-
satisfaction with the church at this time, one cannot for a
moment doubt. As an extreme statement of sixteenth cen-
tury conditions I quote again from Mr. Hubert Hall, whose
words give evidence of needing the grain of salt which we
have learned to apply to the charges of earlier satirists than he :

" Where once on the monastery lands garden -patches of grain and pulse and
pot-herbs filled in the landscape, tracts of bare down supported thousands of
murrain-wasted sheep. The agricultural population had disappeared in these
districts. They had flocked to the towns to become fullers, workers, or dyers of
the fleeces grown upon the land where they had before guided the plough. Others
had gone to the wars, or to play at a yet more desperate game. Many had per-
ished from want, and more still on the scaffold. Then a new class of society was
formed out of those who had benefited by these changes, courtiers who plundered
the people, landlords who evicted their tenants, officials who cheated the govern-
ment, merchants, usurers, and pandars, who preyed upon the vices of the great or
the woes of the unfortunate. . . . The towns were flooded with tippling-
houses, bowling-alleys, tabling-dens, and each haunt of vicious dissipation.
Murder, rapine, and every form of lawless violence were practised with compara-
tive impunity. The state of society was the worst that had ever before been in
the land. And where, all this time, was the influence of the Church at woik?
There was no pretence even of such an influence. The bishops were mostly
starveling pedants, creatures of a court faction, whose fingers itched after filthy
lucre ; or else good, plodding, domesticated men, with quiverfuls to provide for ;
graziers or land-jobbers who had mistaken their vocation. Narrow, harsh, grasping,
servile, unjust, they were despised as much by their masters as they were hated by
their flocks. The inferior clergy, the typical parson or parish priest, scarcely
existed at all. Half the parishes in many dioceses had no proper d|re. Many
more were provided for with a trembling conformist, or a lewd and insolent bigot.
In the best of cases the curate was at the mercy either of the Crown or the
amateur theologians, his parishioners."1

Truly, if it were half as bad as this, one could not blame an

1 Society in the Elizabethan Age, pp. 104, 105. The " Marprelate " tracts,
also give abundant evidence of ecclesiastical corruption.

Objects of Satire. 235

Elizabethan for quoting Juvenal : " Difficile est satiram non
scribere r Nor can one wonder that " simony " is one of the
most frequent themes of our satirists. The same theme was
the subject of one of the best of the satiric dramas of the
period, The Return from Parnassus (about 1601), whose sub-
title was "The Scourge of Simony.1

Dissatisfaction with the established church found expression
not only in literature, but also in the rise of dissenting sects
of various sorts ; and these became objects of attack for
critics quite as much as the evils which gave rise to them. So
we find in the satires, side by side with the complaints against
the corruptions of the regular clergy and the machinations of
Papal emissaries, vigorous thrusts at Separatists, Puritans,
" Brownists," and the like. These grow more and more
numerous as we enter the seventeenth century, until at length
the Puritan — the living protest against the objects of earlier
satire — himself becomes the central object of the satirist's
wrath.

If the satire of public affairs was least under the influence
of the classical models^literary satire, on the other hand, was
the characteristic undertaking of the formal, imitative satirist.
This demands a somewhat highly organized society, and a
vigorous critical spirit ; and there was present in England, in
the last decade of the sixteenth century, quite enough of these
to respond eagerly to the literary satire of Rome. In this

1 On the general interest of this play as illustrative of some of the satires we
have been studying, I quote from Mr. Macray's Preface to his edition of the Parnassus
Plays (p. x. ): "A comparison with Bishop Hall's Satires brings to view a great
similarity alike in subjects and language The second book of the Satires deals, in
fact, with many of the abuses of which our unknown author treats. The second
satire in that book is a complaint of the poverty of scholars ; the third deals with
lawyers ; the fourth with doctors ; the fifth with the growing sin of simony ; . . .
the sixth is respecting the engagement of a tutor, in which the conditions are
very nearly identical, and the payment wholly so, ' five marks and winter livery. '
The Satires were first printed in 1597 5 and the coincidences are so many and
striking that it is plain that the writer of the plays had them at least freshly in
remembrance, and may even have been consciously borrowing ideas from them."

236 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

respect as in others, the satirjst__was first_of all an ot>-

servant critic of the exuberant fashions o^_Jjie__time, refusing
to be carried away with the popular rush after novelty, ex-
travagance, and unreason. The prevalent fondness for Italian
and Spanish romances, the desire to acquire the reputation of
a literary critic by standing at the book -stalls and making
wise remarks,1 the attempt of young poets to follow every
new fashion in verse and to plagiarize their betters, — all these
things we have found to be frequent objects of attack. Of this
critical spirit Jonson was the most noteworthy representative,
standing as he did — with his fellow-satirists — for its ever-
present reaction against the excesses of the romantic spirit.

^Tt was in connection with literary satire that the element of
personal satire most commonly appeared in the Elizabethan
periodj We have not found the satirists of our list giving any
large proportion of strength to personalities. Perhaps it was
because they failed to grasp the personality of Juvenal's char-
acters (thinking of them rather as types than as individuals)
that they did not derive more suggestions from that source.
The formal satire, too, was first of all a literary exercise, and
if it was to have personal application it was natural that it
should be in the literary sphere. At periods both earlier and
later than this, satires were primarily political productions, and
aimed their shafts at objects in the political sphere ; and
political controversy, as everyone knows, is likely to be
closely connected with personal attack. According to Dryden,
there are but two cases in which personal satire is justifiable :
"the first is revenge, when we have been affronted in the
same nature, or have been any ways notoriously abused, and
can make ourselves no other reparation ;" the second is when

1 For example, Amoretto, in The Return from Parnassus, who will ' ' come to
a booke binders shop, and with a big Italian looke and a Spanish face aske for
these bookes in Spanish and Italian, then turning, through his ignorance, the
wrong end of the booke upward, . . . first looke on the title and wrinkle his
browe, next make as though he red the first page," etc. Compare with this the
passage from Parrot, quoted p. 190 above,

The Artificial Element. 237

the particular person " is become a public nuisance."1 Satires
of the former class (or " lampoons "), Dryden admits to be
questionable from the standpoint of Christian charity ; he
expresses the opinion that all those of Horace, Persius, and
Juvenal are of the second class — " an action of virtue to
make examples of vicious men." Few satirists have been
consistent with their own theories ; and we have seen that the
Elizabethans, even those who most- inHnWH in person -a LiriV^
always disclaimed any reference tn individuals It is true that
when they introduced individuals they usually made them
examples of professedly general principles ; and it is also
true that it is not in the formal satires, but in the pamphlets
and prose tracts of the time (as well as in the dramas of
quarrelsome playwrights), that we must look for the exchange
of personal bitterness in its most conspicuous forms. The
very artificiality of the formal satire hindered its expression
of personal feeling ; and in some cases (as in the "quarrel "
of Marston and Hall) we have seen reason to believe that the
satirical form was the cause rather than the instrument of
belligerency.

This artificial element in the formal satire of

bethans will probably 'give us a clue to its real nature and
occasion. It was the work of experimentalists. It is more
than curious to see how many of our authors were young
men. In a number of cases the satires we have examined
were the first publications of their writers, who never attempted
the form again. It was just the sort of task to interest young
men fresh from the universities and classical lore. The expres-
sion of later life was likely to be more serious and less artificial.
The formal satire was introduced most successfully at a time
when other exotic fashions — the pastoral, the sonnet, the
Senecan tragedy— had been fairly tried and had lost freshness.
Having- tried every other classical form, why not undertake
this ? The Italians have satires : it is intolerable that

1 Essay on Satire, Scott-Saintsbury ed., pp. 82 f.

238 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

should have any fashions that we cannot adopt. This was
the spirit of the imitators. But one need not lose interest in
them too quickly on that account. The satire was no more
imitative than the sonnet, the pastoral, or certain early forms
of lyric and dramatic verse. It was no more spontaneous ; it
was no less spontaneous. It was, however, less suited to the
prevailing spirit of Elizabethan England, being a merely reac-
tionary movement against the main literary forces of the day.
Moreover, it filled no want that could not be supplied better in
some other way. The element of invective was capable of better
treatment in prose pamphlets. The element of characteriza-
tion found its best place in the drama. We have seen evi-
dence in the case of Jonson, and of dramas like the " Parnas-
sus plays," that the subject-matter of Elizabethan satire was
easily dramatized, and that such treatment was preferred by
the skillful. The story of the satiric drama of the period is
yet to be written, but it may be that the matters considered in.
the present study will contribute to a better understanding of it.
Finally, the satire, as a poetic form, was almost wholly unfitted
for anything like idealization or what we call poetic treatment.
Great poets therefore left it to small ones, and small ones were
apt to leave it early for other forms.

When we look at the list of Elizabethan satirists, they are
seen to fall into three chronological groups. The first is not,
indeed, a true group, but consists of those sporadic attempts
at formal satire which appeared in the half-century between
Wyatt and Donne. The second group is that of the last
decade of the sixteenth century, when the formal satire came
to be distinctly in fashion, reaching its height in the years
1597—1600. In the first decade of the seventeenth century
there is a noticeable blank, doubtless due in part to the stren-
uous efforts of the authorities to suppress satirical literature,
as represented in the order of June i, 1599, a°d perhaps due
also to the rise of the satirical drama at just this time. The

Chronology of the Satires. 239

third group extends from 1613 for a decade, and is marked
on the one hand by the influence of Wither in turning the
satire into a moral or religious poem, and on the other hand
by the lapse of the form into a mere framework for any use to
which small versifiers chose to put it. To the work of these
small versifiers, so far as it has come down to us, we have given
due attention for the sake of completeness ; but there is some
danger that in doing so we may lose a right sense of propor-
tion. One sometimes wonders whether future historians may
set themselves seriously to the classification of specimens of
art and poetry from our daily newspapers, assuming that they
are representative of artistic and literary movements of the
time. Remembering the absurdities suggested by such a
thought, we must not assume that all the satires we have
examined were viewed with equal seriousness by their authors
or their readers. The Elizabethans no doubt distinguished
quite as well as we can do, between the characteristically
rigorous yet passionate satire^ of r>nnne/ or the qf ye rely clas-
sical satires of Hall, and the numerous small imitations which
hung about the book-shops of Pa.ul's Churchyard and met
with the ridicule of strolling buyers.

The list of satires comes to an almost sudden break at about
the time of the accession of Charles I. Like other literary forms
of the Elizabethan age, this one had passed through a period
of rapid decline, to be made ready for revival under new influ-
ences, and for new purposes, in the succeeding period. For
a considerable space the Stationers' Register shows no entries
of works called satires. This, of course, was only a part of
a general decline in literary production at just this time. As
Mr. Gosse remarks :

" For some reason or other the publication of verse in the third decade of the
seventeenth century was extremely slack, though preceded and followed by periods
of great publishing activity. The new King, Charles I., was averse to the writ-
ing of poems. ... It was, in fact, a moment of exhaustion and transition in
the book-trade. The day of the romance-writers and pamphlet-mongers was
over ; sixpenny plays and novels and verse-romances were no more sold over the

240 T/fct? Rise of Formal Satire in England.

counter. . . Books were more expensive, more cumbrous in form ; education
was spreading, the taste for knowledge was taking the place of that innocent curi-
osity and romantic simplicity which had made the fortune of the Elizabethan book-
sellers. Already the shadow of the great political crisis was beginning to darken
the horizon, and men were troubled in their minds, seeking for exact informa-
tion, interested in travels, in philosophy, above all in theology. The great vogue
of the Puritan divines was beginning, and almost the only verse which succeeded
was put into the form of plays, cheaply printed, and hawked about in little dingy
quartos." l

With the rise of the wars of the Commonwealth and the
power of the Puritans, satire found again its ancient field of
political strife, and took on new vigor. It would be interest-
ing to inquire what elements it carried forward of what it had
gained from the classical imitations of Elizabethan days ; but
that must be left to the story of seventeenth century satire.
Meantime, the interest in Latin satire had not fallen away. In
1605, as we have seen, Casaubon's great work on classical
satire had been published. In 1612 editions of Juvenal and
Persius were issued in London. Persius was translated into
English as early as 1616, with a late edition (the third or
fourth) in 1635. Juvenal's tenth satire was published in trans-
lation by "W. B." in 1617, by Chapman in 1629, and by
Henry Vaughan in 1646. The first two satires were similarly
published in 1634 by John Biddle ; and others by Stapleton in
1644, 1647, etc. In the troubled times of the mid-century
appear a few formal imitators of these Romans. In 1639
were published Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaplis by
Thomas Bancroft,2 whom Sir Aston Cokayne praised as a
preserver of the ancient tradition, saying :

" So old Petronius Arbiter applied
Corsives unto the age he did deride :
So Horace, Persius, Juvenal (among
Those ancient Romans) scourg'd the impious throng ;
So Ariosto (in these later times)
Reprov'd his Italy for many crimes ;
So learned Barclay let his lashes fall
Heavy on some to bring a cure on all."

1 From Shakespeare to Pope, pp. 19— 21.

2 See Corser's Collectanea, sub. nom.

Seventeenth Century Satire. 241

Meantime, John Taylor, the " Water Poet," was still pro-
ducing his pamphlets, adapting them to changed conditions
and audiences. In 1644 he issued an attack on Wither,
under the title, "Aqua-Musa : or Cacafogo, Cacadcemon, Captain
George Wither Wrung in the Withers. Being a short lashing
Satyre, wherein the Juggling Rebell is Compendiously finely
Firked and Jerked, for his late railing Pamphlet against the
King and State, called Campo-Musce"

In the forties and fifties John Cleveland (1613-1658) was
writing his vigorous attacks on the Puritans and the Common-
wealth. These are chiefly in the manner of burlesque or
invective, are full of odd conceits and sparkling witticisms,
and frankly personal in their allusions and attacks. Among
these characteristically seventeenth -century satires are two of
an earlier type — The London Lady, called a "satyr" in Cleve-
land's collected works, and The Times, a satire of general
rebuke and reflection. Andrew Marvell (1621 — 1678) maybe
regarded as the Commonwealth antitype of Cleveland. His
satires, on the opposite side of the controversy, are as witty
and as coarse as Cleveland's, and — like the latter' s — full of
conceits and of personalities. The most noteworthy, Last
Instructions to a Painter about the Dutch Wars (1667), is full of
character-sketches drawn with Juvenalian vigor and bitterness.
On the other hand, Flecnoe shows the influence of Horace.

In 1662 we seem to have an echo of Elizabethan times in a
Satyre published by the younger Donne, containing "A Short
Map of Mundane Vanity," "A Cabinet of Many Conceits,"
and the like, and preceded — according to Corser — by a front-
ispiece representing a dancing satyr.

.In 1665 were first published some of the satires of Boileau,
and their influence was not long in reaching England. This
influence meant a revival of classicism. Not so clever a man
as Regnier, Boileau was yet able to absorb the essence of
classical satire and adapt it to the taste of his time. As
Professor Ward observes, he " revived the popularity of the

242 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

device " (which was of course familiar enough to the Eliza-
bethans) "of paraphrasing Latin satirical poetry while apply-
ing to modern instances its references and allusions."1 One
of the most interesting of Boileau's followers in England was
John Oldham (1653-1683), whose reputation has hardly done
justice to his satirical force and keenness. His Satires upon
the Jesuits (1679), his best known work, are partly in the
ironical mood, partly in that of savage invective ; and in his
small use of humor, as compared with men like Cleveland
and Marvell, he is typical of the classical spirit. The sources
of his material he very frankly confesses. Thus in the
Advertisement to the Satires on the Jesuits he says :

"What he calls the Prologue, is in imitation of Persius, who has prefix' d
somewhat by that Name before his Book of Satyrs, and may serve for a pretty
good Authority. The First Satyr he drew by Sylla's Ghost in the great John.son.
... In the Second, he only followed the Swing of his own Genius, the Design,
and some passages of the Franciscan of Buchanan.2 . . . Whence he had
the hint of the Fourth, is obvious to all that are any thing acquainted with
Horace."

His so-called Satyr against Virtue, which was originally enti-
tled an Ode, was based on Juvenal's saying :

" Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum,
Si vis aliquis,"

which Oldham had himself translated, in the second Satire on
the Jesuits :

" Dare something worthy Newgate or the Tower,
If you'll be canonized, and Heaven insure."

This couplet well illustrates Oldham's method of adaptation,

1 Article on Oldham, in Dictionary of National Biography. Lotheissen says :
" Boileau ahmte seine lateinischen Vorbilder nach ; Horaz, Persius und Juvenal
waren seine Lehrer. . . . Von alien franzosischen Satirikern war ihm
nur Mathurin Regnier bekannt, weil sich dieser zuerst in der Nachbildung der
lateinischen Satire versucht hatte." Gesch. der franz. Lii. im siebzehnten
Jahrh. vol. ii. p. 99.

2 See p. 61 above.

Seventeenth Century Satire. 243

which he clearly stated in the Preface to his translation of Hor-
ace's Ars Poetica, saying that he had decided upon the plan of

"putting Horace into a more modern Dress than hitherto he has appeared in,
that is, by making him speak as if he were living and writing now. I therefore
resolved to alter the Scene from Rome to London, and to make Use of English
Names of Men, Places, and Customs, where the Parallel would decently permit,
which I conceived would give a kind of new Air to the Poem, and render it more
agreeable to the Relish of the present Age."

Oldham also paraphrased the third and the thirteenth satires
of Juvenal, and two satires of Boileau.1

Satire was by this time again a highly respectable literary
form, — rather more so, indeed, than it had been in the Eliza-
bethan period. Noblemen amused their leisure in its produc-
tion. The Earl of Mulgrave's Essay on Satire (often attributed
to Dry den) appeared in 1675. The satires of the Earl of
Rochester gained wide repute, though those which have been
handed down over his name are few and slight. They include
a specimen of social satire (called " A Letter from Artemisa
in the Town, to Chloe in the Country"), some literary and
philosophical satires in the manner of Horace and Boileau,
tand a brilliant attack on Sir Car Scrope, who had ventured
to defend the nobility of satire, and of whom Rochester
declared :

" In thy person we more clearly see
That satire's of divine authority,
For God made one on man when He made thee."2

The Earl of Dorset 3 is another name handed down with an

1 Oldham deserves more thorough study than he has yet received ; and I am
glad to learn that this is being undertaken by Mr. Frederick Lindsey, of the
University of Chicago, the results of whose work it is to be hoped may soon be
accessible.

2 Some political satires attributed to Rochester are included in Political Satires
of the ijth Century, Edinburgh, 1885, together with others by Marvell, John
Denham, etc.

3 That is, the sixth Earl of the name ; also Earl of Middlesex. The collection of
seventeenth-century political satires cited in the preceding note contains one attri-
buted to Dorset : " A Faithful Catalogue of our Most Eminent Ninnies" (1683).

244 The Rise of Formal Satire in England.

undeservedly brilliant reputation for satire. This is largely
due to Dryden's fulsome praise of his patron, in dedicating to
him the Essay on Satire, in which he assigned the Earl a
place beside Juvenal and Donne. Of Dorset's achieve-
ments in this direction there have been preserved but a few
specimens, — two or three attacks on contemporary authors
being the chief, together with " A Satire on a Lady of
Ireland." The chief significance of efforts like these, the
work of clever but over-praised noblemen, lies in the mere
fact of their existence.

When we look thus hastily at this later period, two or three

different impulses seem to be uniting to form the new order

of satire. On the one hand, there was a mass of political

satire, rising directly from the hot strife of men and parties,

full of personalities, and marked by the fondness for ingenuity

^.nd wit which was characteristic of the early seventeenth

/ century. The extreme sort ^fjihi.s ga*"i™*.was the' burlesque.

/ represented at irs. hpgft jrt ffud.ihrn<: On the_ other hand, there

; was a cn-pjtf H^Yejopm^nt nf /Ji0.v/rrfpr gafir^ finding expression

; in numbers of amusing satirical essays descriptive of human

types.1 These seem to have had their rise in some of the

character-sketches of Ben Jonson, such as were included in

the list of dramatis persons preceding Every Man out of Ids

Humour. The most noteworthy collections that followed

were the Characters of Virtues and Vices, by our old

friend Joseph Hall (1608), the Characters of Sir Thomas

Overbury (1614), and the Micro-cosmographie ; or, a Pecce

1 In 1615 appeared John Stephens' s Satirical Essay es, Characters, and others,
the second edition of which, in 1631, was called New Essayes and Characters,
with a new Satyre in defence of the Common Law, etc. Such titles, as well as
the fact that men like Hall and Butler wrote in this form, indicate its close con-
nection with verse satire. For further notes on these "characters," see Dr.
Bliss's edition of Earle's Micro-cosmographie, 1811, Arber's Reprint of the same
work, and Morley's Character Writings of the Seventeenth Centuty, in the " Caris-
brooke Library."

Seventeenth Century Satire. 245

of the World Discovered ; in Essays and Characters of
John Earle (1628). Butler, the author of Hudibras, also
wrote a large number of " characters," which were published
posthumously. The whole list of such writings for the
century would be very large.

Now these two filerqgjQts^Jiie witty trpRtm^fit-ciLcontem-
p^rary^events, and_th^ analytic-treatment x^-buman character,
while we have not found thejii^l^ogetliex-lacking ia_ Eliza-
bethan satire, and while the_^]jzaJbet]iajiSLjia-jdo4*bt-^)aved the
way for their later jjeyelopment, werejust what the formal,
classical satirists chiefly missed. They were, in fact, the
strong elements of mediaeval satire revived, — the elements of
the satire of the Reformation and th-e early satire of Fools.
If the new classicists of the seventeenth century, under the
leadership of Boileau, could embrace these elements and at
the same time imitate the dignity, the conciseness, the critical
and reflective temper of the Latin satirists, the result would
outrank — as literature — any satire that had preceded. This ,
was just what happened. In Absalom ^and Acliitophel_werz \
united a witty criticism of ^contemporary events, a keen \i
analysis of^character^. and classical dignity and compactness
qf_style. By this time, too, the limitations to the success of
satire as a literary form, which had been felt in the Elizabethan
Age, had largely disappeared. The drama was no longer a
representation of real life, but itself a convention. The spirit
of the age was primarily critical, and no longer demanded the
imitation of its own spontaneity. Above all, the incapabilities
of satire for poetic idealization were no longer felt to be
grievous, for poetry had become the vehicle of subject-matter
which in other periods has been chiefly reserved for prose.
This was the time when the greatest poet of England could
show his strength in satire. It was the Age of Dryden.

APPENDIX.

i.

The following is a list of the principal editions of satires and
works of reference which have been cited in the foregoing pages:

R. Alscher : Sir Thomas Wyatt ttnd seine Stellung in der Entu'ickelungsge-

schichte der Englischen Literatur und Verskunst. Wien. 1886.
R. Anderson: British Poets. London. 1795.
Ariosto : Opere Minori di L. Ariosto, edited by Polidori. Firenze. 1857.

A. Barclay: 7^he Skip of Fools, edited by T. H. Jamieson. Edinburgh. 1874.
K. Boddeker : Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. Berlin. 1878.
S. Brandt : Das Narrenschiff, edited by F. Zarncke. Leipzig. 1854.

R. Brathwaite : Nature' 's Embassy, reprinted at Boston, England, 1877. A
copy of this reprint is in the Public Library of Boston, Mass.
Barnabee1 s Journal, edited by Haslewood, re-edited by Hazlitt. 1876.

N. Breton: Works, edited by A. B. GrosaVt. 1879.

No Whipping, etc.,. edited by C. Edmonds. Isham Reprints, No. 3. 1895.

B. Ten Brink : Early English Literature, translated by H. M. Kennedy. (Holt

edition.) 1889. English Literature, translated by W. C. Robinson (Holt
edition.) 1893.

"R. C.": The Time's Whistle, edited by J. M. Cowper. Early English Text
Society. 1871. .

E. P. Cheyney : Social Changes in England in the Sixteenth Century. Publica-
tions of the University of Pennsylvania. 1895.

J. P. Collier : The Poetical Decameron, or Ten Conversations on English Poets
and Poetry. Edinburgh. 1820.
Rarest Books in the English Language. N. Y. 1866.

T. Corser : Collectanea Anglo-Poetica. 1860, etc.

R. Crowley : One and Thirty Epigrams, edited by J. M. Cowper. Early Eng-
lish Text Society. 1872.

J. Davies of Hereford : Works, edited by A. B. Grosart. 1878. .

J. Donne : Poems, edited by A. B. Grosart. 1872.

Poems, edited by E. K. Chambers, with Introduction by G. Saintsbury.
Muses' Library edition. 1896.

J. Dryden : Essay on Satire. Scott-Saintsbury edition of Dryden, vol. xiii.
Edinburgh. 1887.

(247)

248 Appendix

D. Erasmus : The Praise of Folly. Translation published by Reeves and

Turner. London.
H. Fitzgeffrey : Certain Elegies, etc. Edition of 1620 reprinted at the Beklornie

Press, 1843. A copy of this reprint is in the Library of Columbia University.
L. Friedlander : Juvenal; mit Erklarenden Anmerktingen, etc. Leipzig. 1895.
G. Gascoigne : The Steel Glass, edited by E. Arber. Arber's Reprints, No. II.
P. L. Ginguene : Histoire Litteraire a" Italie. Milan. 1820.
F. Godefroy : Histoire de la Litteratttre Franfaise. Paris. 1859.

E. Guilpin : Skialetheia. Reprinted in Collier's Miscellaneous Tracts, Temp.

Eliz. & Jac. I. No. 4. 1868.

E. Hake : News out of PauV s Churchyard, edited by C. Edmonds. Isham

Reprints, No. 2.

H. Hall : Society in the Elizabethan Age. London. 1888.

J. Hall : Virgidemiarum Six Books. Edited by S. W. Singer, Chiswick. 1824.

In volume xii. of Hall's Works, edited by Peter Hall. London. 1837-39.

Edited by A. B. Grosart. 1879.

In Anderson's British Poets (q. v. ), vol. ii.

A copy of the edition of 1599 (" 1602 ") is in the library of Harvard

University.

J. Harington : Nugae Antiquae, edited by T. Park. London. 1804.
C. H. Herlbrd : Studies in the Literary Relations of England and Germany

in the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge. 1886.
H. Hutton : Folly' s Anatomy, edited by E. F. Rimbault. Percy Society, vol.

vi. 1842.

A. Jessopp : Life of Donne. London. 1897.

B. Jonson : Epigrams, etc., in Works, Gifford-Cunningham edition, vols. viii.

and ix. 1875.

C. Lenient : La Satire en France au Moyen Age. Paris. 1859.

La Satire en France ou la Litterature Militante au Xl'Ie Siecle. Paris.
1866.

D. Lindsay : Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Three Estates. Early English Text

Society. 1869.

T. Lodge : Works, Hunterian Club edition. With Introduction by E. Gosse.
1878.

F. Lotheissen : Geschichte der Franzosischen Literattir im XVIIn Jahrhundert.

Wien. 1897.

J. Lydgate : Minor Poems, edited by J. O. Halliwell. Percy Society, vol. ii.
"T. M." : Micro-cynicon, in Middleton's Works, edited by A. H. Bullen, vol.

viii. 1886.

W. D. Macray (editor) : Pilgrimage to Parnasstis, etc. Oxford. 1886.
J. Marston : Works, edited by A. H. Bullen. 1887.

Appendix. 249

R. Middleton : Epigrams and Satires. Edition of 1608, reprinted at the Bel-
dornie Press, 1840. A copy of this reprint is in the Public Library 01
Boston, Mass.

G. Paris : La Litterature Francaise au Moyen Age. Paris. 1888.
J. H. Penniman : 77/6' War of the Theatres. Publications of the University of
Pennsylvania. 1897.

B. Rich : Honesty of this Age. Percy Society, vol. xi. 1844.

S. Rowlands : Works, Hunterian Club edition. With Introduction by E. Gosse.

1874-1880.
W. Roy: Rede Me and be not Wroth, edited by E. Arber. Arber's Reprints,

No. 28.
G. Saintsbury : History of Elizabethan Literature. London. 1887.

F. E. Schelling : Life and Writings of George Gascoigne. Publications of the

University of Pennsylvania.

H. Schneegans : Geschichte der Grotesken Satire. Strassburg. 1894.

W. E. Simonds : Sir Thomas Wyatt and His Poems. Boston. 1889.

J. Skelton : Poems, edited by A. B. Dyce. Riverside edition. Boston.

R. A. Small : TJie Stage Quarrel Between Ben Jonson and the So-called Poetas-
ters. Breslau. 1898.1

E. Spenser: Poems, edited by J. P. Collier. London. 1862.

J. A. Symonds : TJie Renaissance in Italy. 1875, etc.

J. Taylor : Works, Spenser Society Edition. 1870.

C. Tourneur : Plays and Poems, edited by J. Churtoh Collins. 1878.

T. Warton : History of English Poetry, edited by W. C. Hazlitt. London.
1871.

G. Wither: Works, Spenser Society edition. 1871, etc.

Abuses Stript and Whipt, 1617. A copy of this edition, is in the library of
Harvard University.

T. Wright : History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art. Lon-
don. 1875.

Political Poems and Songs Relating to English History. London. 1859.
Political Songs of England. London. 1839.

T. Wyatt: Poems, edited by G. F. Nott (with those of Surrey). London. iSi6.
Satires in Tottel's Songs and Sonnets, edited by E. Arber. Arber's Re-
prints, No. 24.

Reference should also be made to Arber's English Garner, the Dictionary of
National Biography, Morley's English Writers, and Hazlitt' s Bibliographical
Collections. In the last mentioned work are to be found the titles and lists of
editions of most of the Elizabethan satires (see the Index to the collections).

1 Published since the foregoing monograph was written. Reference was made,
however, to manuscript notes furnished by the author.

Appendix.

II.

Due attention has already been paid to the versification of the
various satirists included in our list. The matter is of interest not
only in its relation to the development of the English verse-satire,
but also as illustrating in large measure the development of the
heroic couplet in England — a subject still imperfectly understood.
With a view to setting forth more clearly, especially for purposes
of comparison, the treatment of the couplet by the different satir-
ists, the following table is appended.

Concerning this table a few words of caution must be said. It
is based on passages of one hundred lines each, believed to be
fairly representative of the verse of the respective satirists. No
passage of such length, however, can be known to be perfectly typical.
The most that can be said is that the table bears out, as a whole, the
statements based on a general examination of the verse represented.

Even more serious than the difficulty of fixing upon representa-
tive passages, is the difficulty presented by the subjective element
in the reading of verse. A large proportion of such decasyllabic
lines as depart from the perfectly normal iambic pentameter, may
be read in more than one way. It is probable, therefore, that no
two persons would agree in the figures to be chosen for such a table
as is here presented. But so long as all the figures in the same
table are determined by the same standard of judgment, the table
ought to be useful for purposes of comparison, though admittedly
not for purposes of accurate description.

It remains to explain more particularly the details of the table.
The general principle adopted was to read each line according to
the natural rhetorical emphasis, and to compare this reading with
that of the purely metrical scheme. The typical verse, of course,
is composed of five dissyllabic feet, each foot consisting .of an unac-
cented syllable followed by an accented. From the standpoint of
accent, there are four sorts of feet found in heroic verse which
deviate from the normal iambic foot. First, the accent may be
inverted and thrown upon the first syllable in the foot ; secondly,
there may be a distinct accent on both syllables in the foot ;
thirdly, there may be no distinct accent on either syllable in the
foot ; or, fourthly, there may be an additional unaccented syllable

Appendix. 251

inserted at the beginning of the foot. The terms trochee, spondee,
pyrrhic, and anapest are used to describe these four variations. I
have no hesitation in recognizing a much larger number of " pyr-
rhics," — that is, feet with no distinct accent, — that it is common
to enumerate in English verse. If a syllable stands in the metrical
place where accent is expected, and if it is possible to give it a
definite accent without destroying the rhetorical effect, I do so ;
but in at least one-third of all ordinary decasyllabic lines there will
be one foot containing no syllable on which the reader will put any
stress of either the first or second degree. Very commonly such a
foot will be either preceded or followed by a spondee, — that is, two
syllables each bearing a distinct accent. There are constantly, of
course, all shades of compromises between the typical metrical
scheme and the natural rhetorical stress ; but these cannot be repre-
sented in figures.

Pauses, whether in the middle or at the end of the line, have
usually been recognized only when they are distinctly appreci-
able from the rhetorical point of view. In other words, the punc-
tuation— if it conforms to modern usage — has usually been taken
as the test. This results in the setting down of a large number of
lines as " without pause," in which most metrists would recognize a
cesura without difficulty. There may be' room for question as to
which method is more serviceable in affording fair description of
verse ; but I believe the smooth, rapid sort of verse — represented,
for example, in Spenser and Drayton, — with no marked rhetorical
pause at any point within it, has a sufficiently distinct character
to be described and counted. The very slight phrase-pauses
which are commonly counted as " ccesural " do very little, in a
natural method of reading, to break up verses into two halves. A
well-known line may serve to make these matters more clear. Pope's
" Vice is a monster of so fearful mien "

will serve the purpose as well as any. In the natural reading of
this verse vice is accented, and is, a, of, and so are practically
unaccented. There is a very slight pause after monster, serving
both to separate the noun from the modifying phrase and to com-
pensate for the lack of quantity in the successive syllables " — ter
of " ; but it is not sufficient, naturally read, to break the verse into

252 Appendix.

halves. , I should therefore describe the verse by saying that the
first foot is a spondee and the third a pyrrhic ; that there is a pause
at the end of the verse, but none inside it. This is one of the
lines which one hesitates whether to call "end-stopped " or " run-
on;" but it seems to be a case where there is a rhetorical pause
unrecognized by the punctuation.

What general idea, then, may we get of the character of the verse
of any given poet by a glance at such a table as this ? The first
two columns indicate the freedom with which he has made use of
enjambement at the end of lines and couplets respectively. The
third column indicates the extent of his fondness for breaking the
lines into two fairly equal halves.1 The fourth column indicates his
use of rapidly moving lines with no appreciable pauses within them.
By adding the figures in the third and fourth columns, and sub-
tracting the sum from 100, we learn the proportion of lines in
which there are marked pauses at other points than near the middle.
The sixth column indicates the use of inverted accents ; the seventh,
.suppressed accents ; the eighth, added accents ; the ninth, hyper-
metrical syllables. If it could be shown at a glance in which feet
inversion or excess of accent is found, the description would be
still more accurate. Thus the jerky, irregular character of Donne's
verse is indicated, in the table, by the large proportion of trochees
and spondees appearing in it ; and the same thing would be made
yet clearer by a statement of the unusual places in the verse where
his trochees and spondees occur. It has seemed impossible, how-
ever, to include these details in the table without making it too
complicated to be serviceable.

1 A word of caution is needed here. It must be observed that the equally-
broken line requires a pause at the end as well as in the middle. Hence, when
we find, as in Donne, a large proportion of medial coesuras but an almost equally
large proportion of run-on lines, the effect of the medial ccesura is entirely lost.
The same phenomenon is easily noticed in the blank verse of Milton.

A similar caution may be applied to the seventh column, in which pyrrhics, or
feet defective in accent, are enumerated. Where these are found in connection
with a considerable number of spondees, it simply means that the accents in the
verse have exchanged places, the general average being approximately main-
tained ; but where, as in Dryden, there is a large number of pyrrhics with almost
no spondees, a different sort of verse is indicated, — one where the lines gain a
certain lightness and rapidity from the lack of the whole number of fully accented
syllables.

Appendix.

253

It is to be regretted that it has seemed necessary to make this
explanation of the table so much more extensive than the table
itself ; but I see no other way to avoid misunderstanding. It is
not desired to lay any stress upon the metrical methods by which
the figures here given have been gathered and put together ; in the
present state of English metric each student must work out his own
methods for himself. It is possible that the only certain use of
such a table as this wTill be to prevent us from making hasty state-
ments as to versification which are not borne out by the statistics.
If any one method, however, is followed consistently, and if the
range of material included is sufficiently large, then columns of fig-
ures— however dry and forbidding in themselves — may enable us to
see the phenomena of our verse more clearly, and compare them
more understandingly, than would otherwise be possible.

METRICAL TABLE OF SATIRISTS.

CO

it

•T&

3*4

5H

sir

£tr

c <g

°il

4jj

i

.5.5

11

'i-jj

"£•8

"^ E

|.s

|§

2 s

•8(2

0

1«

|2

tn £

a &•

J! a

*

<*°

a

^

£

2

3

a

3^

Spenser

M

4

31

64

6

13

29

13

0

Donne

40

15

50

28

o

48

34

41

8

Lodge

H

0

58

2

12

37

12

0

Hall

10

i

37

:>8

O

18

24

14

0

Marston .

17

8

46

45

O

31

20

16

I

Guilpin

23

7

43

45

8

21

36

20

5

" T M."

12

3

25

67

4

21

x

T

Rowlands ........

I

i

40

12

19

27

II

0

Drayton

9

3

26

70

O

22

3°

10

o

Wither

18

4

31

56

18

16

27

7

0

Jonson

26

8

48

29

6

22

35

1 8

6

" T? r^ "

K. l_.

33

H

37

48

8

32

29

17

2

Marvel

"4

i

3i

53

o

32

33

18

O

Oldham

i5

4

44

43

0

18

28

10

0

Dryden

ii

1

52

40

0

1 15

46

i

0

* That is, a pause occurring at the beginning, middle, or end of the third foot.
f No account is taken of instances where more than one substitution of the same
kind occurs in the same line.

INDEX.

Absalom and Achitophel, 245
Abuses Stripped and Whipped, 176
Alamanni, 40, 43, 57, 58
Allegorical satire, 7, 26, 65, 71, 74, 192
Alscher, R., cited, 5411.
Anderson, R., cited, 100
Anton, R., 2o6f.
Apocalypsis Goliae Episcopi, 5
Apology for Smectyninuus, 98!".
Aqua-Musae, 241
Arber, E., cited, 30, 73, 23in.
Architrenius, 7
Aretino, 40, 126, 153
Ariosto, 39f., 112, 113, 125, 174
Bale, J., 3 in.
Bancroft, T. , 240
Barclay, A., i$fi., 26, 37, 38
Barlow, 30
Barnes, B., 140
.Bateson, cited, 23111.
Bamad, loo
Beaumont, 207
Becket, 5

B6noit de S. Maure, 38
Bentivoglio, 41
Bernesque satire, 88n.
Biddle, J., 240
Biting Satires, 97

Boddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen, cited, 8, 9
Boethius, 118
Boileau, 2411"., 243, 245
Book of Three Fools, 25
Bowge of Court, 26
Bowyer, N., 68
Brandt, S., i$ff., 37
Brathwaite, R., 39, 2i6ff.
Breton, N., i62_f., i64f., 198, 212
ten Brink, B., cited, 8f.
Brumbaugh, M. G., quoted, 8of.
Buchanan, G., 61, 242

Bullen, A. H., cited, 131, 136, 156, 157, 206
Burghley, Lord, 75

(255)

256 Index.

"R. C.," igSff.

Canterbury Tales, II

Carrier, Dr., 198, 205

Casaubon, 38, 223, 240

Certain Elegies, etc., 207

Chapman, G., 127, 187, 207, 225, 240

Character satire, 20, 172, 194, 198, 209, 21 3f., 244

"Characters" of 1 7th century, 244^

Chaucer, n, 118, 151

Cheyney, E. P., cited, 233n

Churchyard, T., 175

Classes satirized, 67, 74, 89, 124, 140, 169, 186, 205, 212

Classical satire (see Latin j.

Cleveland, J., 241

Cock Lorell's Boat, 21

Cokayne, A., 22, 240

Collier, J. P., cited, 91, 114, 128, 130, 149, 155-157, 163, 174, 177, 188, 191,

213, 220

Collins, J. C., cited, iO2f., 105, 161

Cofyn Clout, 27

Complaint of Phylomene, 67

Complaint of the Plowman, 10

Confessio Amantis, 12

Contra Skeltonium, 26

Corbet, R., I99f.

Corruptions of the Age, 1 2

Corser, T., cited, 114, 190, 206, 21 2n., 241

Courthope, W. J., cited, 73

Cowper, J. M., cited, 114, 1986°., 201

Crowley, R., 6of., 65, 71

Dacier, quoted, 34f.

Daniel, S., 142, 152, 187, 207, 212

Davies of Hereford, 98, 124, i74/., 212, 231

Defence of the Remonstrance, 98

Dekker, T., 175, 212, 23 in.

Donne, J., 75^., 92, 103, 104, 115, 153

Donne (the younger), 241

Dorset, Earl of, 243^

Drama and satire, relation of, 198, 238

Drant, T., 33, 62

Drayton, M., 127, 142, 152, 17 if., 187, 192, 222

Dryden, J., 2, 33, 35, 38, 82, 92, 236f., 244, 245

DuBartas, 129, 222

Du Bellay, 42

Earle, J., 244^

Index.

257

Edmonds, C, cited, 63, 114, 23 in.

Elderton, T., I26ns, 155, 220

Ellesmere, Lord, 80

English Ape, The, 129

Epigrams, 60, 152, 167, 172, 174, 176, 190, I92f., 207, 213, 216, 225

Epistolae Obscurorwn Virorum, 25

Erasmus, 22ff.

Every Man out of his Humour, 38, 198, 244

Fashions satirized, 66, 72, 89, 123, 139, 155, 159, 169, 184!"., 197, 204, 211.

215, 23off.
Fennor, W., 212
Fig for Momus, A, 90
Fitzgeffrey, C., 130
Fitzgeffrey, H.. 2Ojff., 214
Fletcher, J. B., cited, 87, 88n.
Folly 's Anatomy, 213
Fools, satire of, 5ff., 14, 171
Foreigners satirized, 59> 72
Franciscanus, 61
Fraunce, A., 89
Freeman, 76, 212

French satire, 7, 426% 87, 112, 113
Friedlander, L., cited, 32n., 122
Gallo-Belgicus, 78
Gascoigne, G., 19, 62, 6jjf.
Gautier de Chatillon, 5
" Gelded vicarages," 74, 140, 234
Germany, satire in, I5ff., 42
Gerrard, G., 87n.
Gifford, W., cited, 100, 192
Ginguene, P. L., cited, 39, 40
Goddard, W., 190, /9//, 210
Godefroy, F., -cited, 42
Gospel according to Marks of Silver, 4n.

Gosse, E., cited, 78n., 87n., 92, 93, 166, 170, 221, 223n., 226n., 239^
Gosson, S., 23in.
Gower, J., 12, 151
Gregory of Sanok, 32
Greene, R., I24f., 173, 175

Grosart, A. B., cited, 76, 77, 79, 83^, 90, 114, 125, I45n., i64n.
Guilpin, E., 39, 136, 144, 148^., 182
Hake, E., dzff., 71, 114
Hall, H., cited, 230, 233n., 234

Hall, J., 92, 9^f., I36f., I4off., 153, 155, 158, 182, 201, 235n., 244
Hall, P., cited, 97f., 100, 125

17

258 Index.

Harington, J., 124, 175, 216, 232

Harvey, G., 160, 175

Hazlitt, W. C., cited, 62, 97, 156, 172

Heinsius, quoted, 2

Hendrickson, G. L., cited, 34n.

Henryson, R., 55

Herford, C. H., cited, 6, 15, 19, 21, 26, 49, 73

Holland, A., 206, 222

Honesty of this Age, 22gL

Horace, 18, 33ff., 46, 189, 196, 227, 242n., 243

imitated, 55, 57, 86, 94, 118, 119, 121, 193, 195, 196, 241, 242

translated, 33, 62

Horatian type of satire, 41, 42, 54f. , 196, 224
Hudibras, 244
Humor in satire, 49
Humor's Looking Glass, 170
Humor's Lottery, 190
Hutton, H,, zijff.

Hypocrisy satirized, 23, 75, 94, 137, 153, .232
Ingram, W., 163
von Isselt, M., 78n.
Italian satire, 398"., 223
Jack Upland, II
Jamieson, T. H., cited, 16
Jodocus Badius Ascensius, 15
Johannes de Alta Villa, 7

Jonson, B., 1466% 163, 175, 187, ig2ff., 199, 201, 207, 222, 224, 225, 242, 244
Juvenal, 17, 18, I9n., 28f., 32f., 35f., 46f., 106, 107, 108, 189, 228, 240, 242n.

imitated, 56, 57,58, 71, 85, 86, 95, 112, 117, 118, 119, 120, 137, 138,

159, l82f., 194, 202, 2IOf., 219, 224, 227, 242

translated, 33, 240
" Kinsayder, W.", 129, 130, I3ln.
Knave of Clubs, etc., 170
Knight of the Burning Pestle, 170
"Labeo," 120, 126, 142, 145
Langland, 10
Laquei Ridiculosi, 190
Latin satire, 18, 326% 91, 240

compared with mediaeval, 44ff.

(See also under Horace, Juvenal, and Persius.)
Lee, S., cited, 200
Leicester, Earl of, 63
Lenient, C., cited, 6, 7n., 42n., 228
Letting of Humor'1 's Blood, 165
Lindsay, D., 31

Index. 259

Literature satirized, 48, 89, 124^., 140, 155, 175, i86f.r 1901"., 197, 212, 215*".,

222, 23Sf.
Littre, cited, 38
Locher, J., 15, 18, 19, 37
Lodge, T., 9q^~.,'n6, 119, 137, 153
Lodovico Paterno, 41
Lok, H., 125

Look to It, for ril Stab Ye, 170
Lotheissen, F., cited, 42, 242n.
Lucilius, 18, 71
Lucretius, 118, 120
Lydgate, J., I4f.
"T. M.", ijdjf., 168
Macray, W. D., cited, 235n.
Mandeville, J., 126
Markham, G., 126, 141, 152, 174
Marlowe, C., 124, 125, 201
Marprelate tracts, 234n.
Marston, J., 105, 108, I24f., isgff., 153, 154, 155. J58» l62» l63> l64, 182,

201 f., 210

Martial, 173, 193, 225

Martyn, J., 216

Marvell, A., 241

Massey, G., cited, 13411.

Mastiff -Whelp, The, 190, 191

Mastive, The, 190

Mediaeval satire, 4ff.

Medicinable Moral, A, 33, 62

Melancholy Knight, 7^ke, 170

Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus, 78

Meres, F., 91

Metamorphosis of Pygmalion's Image, 1241"., 129, 1351"., 141, 160

Micro - cyn icon, 156

Middleton, R., ijaff.

Middleton, T., 156, 158

Milton, J., 98ff., 114

Mirror for Magistrates, 125, 142

Mirror of Knighthood, 175

Mirror of Monsters, 129

Moffatt, T., 156

Moon-Calf, The, 172

Moral satire, 70, 176, 201, 217

Morals satirized, 66, 72, 89, 96, 123, 139, 155, 159, 169, 184, 197, 204, 211,

215, 228ff.
Moriae Encomium, 22ff.

26 o Index.

Mouse- Trap, The, 190

Mother Hubbard' 's Tale, 74, 171

Mulgrave, Earl of, 243

Narrenschiff, 156°.

Nash, T., 124, 1 60, 175

Nature's Embassy, 216

Nest of Wasps, 191

News out of Pan? s Churchyard, 62, 114

Niccolo Franco, 40

Nicholson, B., cited, 77, 102, 162

Nipping or Snipping of Abuses, 176

Nixon, A., 91, 212

Nott, G. F., cited, 54

" Novus Ordo Brunelli," 7

No Whipping nor Tripping, 164

Obscurity in Satire, iO2ff.

Ognibene da Lonigo, 32f.

Oldham, J., 242f.

One and Thirty Epigrams, 60

On the Corruption of Public Manners, 14

On the Corruptions of the Times, 14

On the Times, 13

Order of Fools, The, 14

Overbury, T., 244

Ovid, 124, 159, 172

Owl, The, 171, 192

Pagan element in satire, 45f.

Palladis Tamia, 91

Paris, G., cited, 7n.

Parnell, T., 82

Parrot, H., igof., 210, 212

"Pasquil" (the word), 162

PasquiV s Madcap, etc., 162, 164

Paul's Cathedral, St., 66, 23 in.

Penniman, J. H., cited, I46ff

Persius, 17, 18, 29, 36*"., 46, 102, 106, 107, 138, 166, 189, 223, 227, 240, 242

imitated, 56, 94, 117, 120, 137, 210, 212

translated, 33, 240

Personal satire, 27, 89, 127, 163, 187, 2361"., 244
Pessimism in satire, 45, 226f.
Philosopher's Satires, The, 206
Pierre des Vignes, 5

Piers Plowman, Vision of, IO, 58, 60, 71, 114
Piers Plowman' s Creed, 10
Pleasant Satire of the Three Estates, Ane, 31

Index. 261

Pleasant Satire or Poesie, A, 43

Pliny, 46, 228

Poetaster, The, 132, 147

Political satire, 27, 48, 75, 192, 240, 244

Pope< 83, 92

Praise 'of Folly, 22ff.

Prosopopoia, 74

Public affairs satirized, 66, 89, 124, 140, 171,. 1851"., 2041"., 2321".

Public satire vs. private, 47

Puttenham, G., cited, 10, 26, 38

Pygmalion'' s Image, I24f., 129, I35f., 141, 160

Raleigh, W., 68

Rankins, W., i28f.t 206

Rede me and be not Wroth, 3off.

Reflective satire, 34, 46, 54, 196

Reformation, satire of the, 10, II, 29ft.

Regnier, M., 38, 42f., 87n., H7n., 24in.

Religious abuses satirized, 10, 1 1, 24, 27, 29ff., 59, 67, 72, 127, 140, 187, 205,

Religious satire, 48, 181, 206

Return from Parnassus, The, 130 224, 230, 235, 2

Reynard the Fox, 7, 74

Rich, B., 229f., 232n.

Rimbault, E. F., cited, 213

Rochester, Earl of, 243

Roman de la Rose, 7

Rowlands, S., 165 ff., 212, 225, 23211.

Roy, W., 3off.

Rub and a Great Cast, 76

Rutebceuf, 7

Saintsbury, G., cited, 102, 103, 114, 161

Satire —

the word, 2, 10, i8f., 37ff.

as a literary form, I, 44, 51, 224f., 2371., 245

and drama, 198, 238

classical (see Latin,).

French, 7, 42ff., 87, 112, 113

Elizabethan :

censured by authorities, 1 60
chronology of, H3ff., 238^.
limitations of, 51, 238
objects of, 228ff.
pessimism of, 226f.
sources of, 43 f. , 223
Italian, 396*"., 223

262

Index.

Satire —

mediaeval, 4ft.

personal, 27, 89, 127, 163, 187, 236^, 244

political, 27, 48, 75, 192, 240, 244

popular, 8ff.

public vs. private, 47

satirized, 164, 208 f., 222f., 224

seventeenth century, 2406°.

Style of, 48, I02ff., I3if.

subject-matter of, 46, 228ff.

types of, 45

allegorical, 7, 26, 65, 71, 74, 192
Horatian, 41, 42, 54f., 196, 224
moral, 70, 176, 201, 217

of direct rebuke, 12, 36, 64, 94, in, 134, 180, 226
reflective, 34, 46, 54, 196
religious, 48, 181, 206
Satire against the Citizens of London, 59
Satire against Virtue, 242
Satires upon the Jesuits, 242
Satire to the King^s Majesty, 177, 1 88
Satirical Ballad on the Times, 14
Satirical Dialogue, A, 191
Satyr and satire, 38f., 128, 179, 219
Satyre Menippee, 43, H3n.
Scaliger, 38, io5n.

Schelling, F. E., cited, 7of., H3n., I93n.
Schneegans, H., cited, 4n., 5, 8, 21, 29, 50
Scott, W., cited, 102
Scourge of Folly, 174, 222
Scourge of Villainy, 129, 160
Scullers Travels, The, 175
Seneca, 17, 189

Seven Planets governing Italy, 174
Seven Satires applied to the Week, 1 28
Seventeenth century satire, 2408".
Shakspere, 124, 133, 175, 201, 224n.
Ship of Fools, i6ff.
Sidney, P., 126, 152, 1 86
Simonds, W. E., cited, 53
Singer, S. W., cited, 114, 124
Skelton, J., 25fT.
Skialetheia, 148, 160
Small, R. A., cited, 113, 120, I47f.
Smith, H., cited, 127

Index. 263

Smoking Age, The, 221

Southwell, R., 126, 141

Spanish Decades, 126

Speculum Stultorum, 6

Spenser, E., 7, 68, 74f., 104, 116, i$i, 162, 171, 207, 212

Stanyhurst, R., 125

Stapleton, 240

Steel Glass, 19, 62, 67, 114

Stephens, J., 244n.

Strappado for the Devil, 220

Stubbes, P., 23111.

Stultifera Navis, 15

Surrey, Earl of, 59f.

Symonds, J. A., cited, 4on., 41

Tale of Hemetes, 68

Tamburlaine, 125

Taylor, J., /^jr/., 212, 222, 241

Terza rima, 41, 54, 59, 117

Timels Curtain Drawn, 221

Time's Whistle, 198

Tofte, R., 174, 206

Toothless Satires, 97

' ' Torquatus, ' ' I46f.

Tottel's Miscellany, 52

Tourneur, C., 102, 105, ibif.

Transformed Metamorphosis, 102, 105, 161

Turberville, G., 62

Twenty-five Orders of Fools, 22

Type-names, 49, 71, 88,96, 120, I22f., 139, 168, 173, 183, 194, 203, 211, 2i4f.,

227

Types of satire, 45 (and see under Satire, Types of).
Underwoods, 194
Vaughan, H., 240
Vauquelin de la Fresnaye, 42, U7n.
Versification of satires, 44, 54, 69, 75, 83, gif., ioof., 104, H4f., 131, 157, 166,

177, 193, 200, 207, 213, 216, 225f., 250
Vice's Anatomy Scourged, 206
Vices of Di/erent Orders, 12
Vinciguerra, 39

Virgidemiarum, 97, 141, 153, 155, i6of., 168
Voice of the Last Trumpet, 61
Walton, I., 77f.

Ward, A. W., cited, 16, 2of., 26, 241 f.

Warton, T., cited, 311., 52f., loo, IOI, 104, 122, 132, 135, 225
Webster, J., 212

264

Index.

Weaver, J., 163

Whipper of the Satire, 1 64

Whipping of the Satire, 163, 198

Why Come Ye not to Court? 2"jL

Wireker, N., 6

Wither, G., 39, i76ff., 2Oif., 203, 207, 210, 214, 218, 221, 238, 241

Wolsey, 25, 27

Wright, T., cited, 5, 7a., 8-14, I5n., 430., 162

Wyatt, T., 52ff., 114, 223, 224

Wynkyn de Worde, 21

Zarncke, F., cited, 17

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