The Ship of Fools Part 6

By his translation of Sall.u.s.t (so popular an author at that period, that the learned virgin queen is reported to have amused her leisure with an English version), Barclay obtained the distinction of being the first to introduce that cla.s.sic to English readers. His version bears the reputation of being executed not only with accuracy, but with considerable freedom and elegance, and its popularity was evinced by its appearance in three additions.

Two other works of our author are spoken of as having been in print, but they have apparently pa.s.sed entirely out of sight: "The figure of our holy mother Church, oppressed by the Frenche King," (Pynson, 4to), known only from Maunsell's Catalogue; and "The lyfe of the glorious martyr, saynt George translated (from Mantuan) by Alexander Barclay, while he was a monk of Ely, and dedicated to N. West, Bishop of Ely," (Pynson, 4to), (Herbert, Typ. Antiquities.) West was Bishop of Ely from 1515 to 1533, and consequently Barclay's superior during probably his whole stay there.

Whether these two works were in verse or prose is unknown.

There are two other books ascribed to Barclay, but nothing satisfactory can be stated regarding their parentage except that, considering their subject, and the press they issued from, it is not at all unlikely that they may have been the fruit of his prolific pen. The first is "The lyfe of the blessed martyr, Saynte Thomas," in prose, printed by Pynson, (Herbert, Typ.

Ant. 292), regarding which Ant. Wood says, "I should feel little difficulty in ascribing this to Barclay." The other is the English translation of the Histoire merveilleuse du Grand Khan (in Latin, De Tartaris siue Liber historiarum partium Orientis) of the eastern soldier, and western monk, Haytho, prince of Georgia at the end of the 13th, and beginning of the 14th centuries. The History which gives an account of Genghis Khan, and his successors, with a short description of the different kingdoms of Asia, was very popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, as one of the earliest accounts of the East, and the conjecture of the Grenville Catalogue is not improbable, though there is no sufficient evidence, that Barclay was the author of the English version which appeared from the press of Pynson.

Bale further enumerates in his list of Barclay's works "Contra Skeltonum, Lib. I.; Quinq: eglogas ex Mantuano, Lib. I; Vitam D. Catherinae, Lib. I., [Libros tres, Pits]; Vitam D. Margaritae, Lib. I.; Vitam Etheldredae, Lib.

I.; Aliaq: plura fecit." Tanner adds: "Orationes varias, Lib. I.; De fide orthodoxa, Lib. I."

Of these various fruits of Barclay's fertility and industry no fragment has survived to our day, nor has even any positive information regarding their nature been transmitted to us.

The "Orationes varias," probably a collection of sermons with especial reference to the sins of the day would have been historically, if not otherwise, interesting, and their loss is matter for regret. On the other hand the want of the treatise, "De fide orthodoxa," is doubtless a relief to literature. There are too many of the kind already to enc.u.mber our shelves and our catalogues.

The Lives of the Saints, the work, it is stated, of the author's old age, were, according to Tanner, and he is no doubt right, translations from the Latin. Barclay's reputation probably does not suffer from their loss.

"Quinque eglogas ex Mantuano," though Bale mentions also "De miserijs aulicorum; Bucolicam Codri; Eglogam quartam," apparently the five, but really the first four of the eclogues known to us, are, I am strongly inclined to believe, nothing else than these same five eclogues, under, to use a bibliographical phrase, "a made up" t.i.tle. That he mentions first, five from Mantuan, and afterwards adds "Bucolicam Codri" and "Eglogam quartam," as two distinct eclogues, apparently not from Mantuan, while both t.i.tles must refer to the same poem, an imitation of Mantuan's fifth eclogue, is proof enough that he was not speaking with the authority of personal knowledge of these works.

Johannes Baptista Spagnuoli, commonly called from his native city, Mantuan, was the most popular and prolific eclogue writer of the fifteenth century, to which Barclay himself testifies:--

"As the moste famous Baptist Mantuan The best of that sort since Poetes first began."

Barclay's Eclogues being the first attempts of the kind in English, Bale's "Ex Mantuano," therefore probably means nothing more than "on the model of Mantuan;" otherwise, if it be a.s.sumed that five were the whole number that ever appeared, it could not apply to the first three, which are expressly stated in the t.i.tle to be from aeneas Sylvius, while if ten be a.s.sumed, his statement would account for nine, the "quinque eglogas" being the five now wanting, but if so, then he has omitted to mention the most popular of all the eclogues, the fifth, and has failed to attribute to Mantuan two which are undoubtedly due to him.

The loss of the "Contra Skeltonum," is a matter for regret. That there was no love lost between these two contemporaries and chief poets of their time is evident enough. Skelton's scathing sarcasm against the priesthood no doubt woke his brother satirist's ire, and the latter lets no opportunity slip of launching forth his contempt for the laureate of Oxford.

The moralist in announcing the position he a.s.sumes in opposition to the writer of popular tales, takes care to have a fling at the author of "The boke of Phyllyp Sparowe":--

"I wryte no Ieste ne tale of Robyn Hode, Nor sawe no sparcles, ne sede of vyciousnes; Wyse men loue vertue, wylde people wantones, It longeth nat to my scyence nor cunnynge, For Phylyp the sparowe the (Dirige) to synge."

A sneer to which Skelton most probably alludes when, enumerating his own productions in the Garlande of Laurell, he mentions,

"Of Phillip Sparow the lamentable fate, The dolefull desteny, and the carefull chaunce, Dyuysed by Skelton after the funerall rate; Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce, And grudge thereat with frownyng countenaunce; But what of that? harde it is to please all men; Who list amende it, let hym set to his penne."

The following onslaught in Barclay's Fourth Eclogue, is evidently levelled at the abominable Skelton:

"Another thing yet is greatly more d.a.m.nable: Of rascolde poetes yet is a shamfull rable, Which voyde of wisedome presumeth to indite, Though they haue scantly the cunning of a snite; And to what vices that princes moste intende, Those dare these fooles solemnize and commende Then is he decked as Poete laureate, When stinking Thais made him her graduate; When Muses rested, she did her season note, And she with Bacchus her camous did promote.

Such rascolde drames, promoted by Thais, Bacchus, Licoris, or yet by Testalis, Or by suche other newe forged Muses nine, Thinke in their mindes for to haue wit diuine; They laude their verses, they boast, they vaunt and iet, Though all their cunning be scantly worth a pet: If they haue smelled the artes triuiall, They count them Poetes hye and heroicall.

Such is their foly, so foolishly they dote, Thinking that none can their playne errour note; Yet be they foolishe, auoyde of honestie, Nothing seasoned with spice of grauitie, Auoyde of pleasure, auoyde of eloquence, With many wordes, and fruitlesse of sentence; Unapt to learne, disdayning to be taught, Their priuate pleasure in snare hath them so caught; And worst yet of all, they count them excellent, Though they be fruitlesse, rashe and improuident.

To such ambages who doth their minde incline, They count all other as priuate of doctrine, And that the faultes which be in them alone, And be common in other men eche one.

Thus bide good poetes oft time rebuke and blame, Because of other which haue despised name.

And thus for the bad the good be cleane abject.

Their art and poeme counted of none effect, Who wanteth reason good to discerne from ill Doth worthy writers interprete at his will: So both the laudes of good and not laudable For lacke of knowledge become vituperable."

It has not hitherto been pointed out that Skelton did not disdain to borrow a leaf from the enemy's book and try his hand at paraphrasing the s.h.i.+p of Fools also. "The Boke of three fooles, M. Skelton, poete laureate, gaue to my lord Cardynall," is a paraphrase in prose, with introductory verses, of three chapters of Brandt, corresponding to Barclay's chapters headed, Of yonge folys that take olde wyme to theyr wyues nat for loue but for ryches (I. 247); Of enuyous folys (I. 252); Of bodely l.u.s.t or corporall voluptuosyte (I. 239). Skelton's three fools, are, "The man that doth wed a wyfe for her goodes and her rychesse;" "Of Enuye, the seconde foole"; and, "Of the Voluptuousnes corporall, the third foole;" and his versions are dashed off with his usual racy vigour. He probably, however, did not think it worth while to compete with the established favourite. If he had we would certainly have got a very different book from Barclay's.

Notwithstanding his popularity and industry, Barclay's name appears to be but seldom mentioned by contemporary or later authors. As early as 1521 however, we find him placed in the most honourable company by Henry Bradshaw, "Lyfe of Saynt Werburghe," (1521, Pynson, 4to). But the compliment would probably lose half its sweetness from his being bracketed with the detested Skelton:--

To all auncient poetes, litell boke, submytte the, Whilom flouryng in eloquence facundious, And to all other whiche present nowe be; Fyrst to maister Chaucer and Ludgate sentencious, Also to preignaunt Barkley nowe beying religious, To inuentiue Skelton and poet laureate; Praye them all of pardon both erly and late.

Bulleyn's repeated allusions to Barclay (see above, pp. xxvii., liv.), apart from the probability that, as contemporaries resident in the same provincial town, Ely, they were well acquainted with each other, leave little doubt that the two were personal friends. Bulleyn's figurative description of the poet, quoted at p. xxvii., is scarcely complete without the following verses, which are appended to it by way of summary of his teachings (similar verses are appended to the descriptions of Chaucer, Gower, &c.):--[Barclay appears] saying

"Who entreth the court in yong and teder age Are lightly blinded with foly and outrage: But suche as enter with witte and grauitie, Bow not so sone to such enormitie, But ere thei enter if thei haue lerned nought Afterwardes Vertue the least of theyr thought."

_Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence._

In another pa.s.sage of the same Dialogue[4] the picture of the honourable and deserving but neglected churchman is touched with so much strength and feeling that, though no indication is given, one cannot but believe that the painter was drawing from the life, the life of his friend. The likeness, whether intentional or not, is a most faithful one: "The third [picture] is, one whiche sheweth the state of learned men, labouring long time in studie and diuine vertue, whiche are wrapped in pouertie, wantyng the golden rake or gapyng mouth. This man hath verie fewe to preferre hym to that promotion, he smiteth himselfe upo the breast, he wepeth and lamenteth, that vice should thus be exalted, ignoraunce rewarded with glorie, coueteous men spoilyng the Churche, by the names of patrones and geuers, whiche extorcioners and tellers, they care not to whom, so that it be raked with the golden racke. Wel, wel, G.o.d of his mercie, amed this euill market."

In one of the many humorous sallies which lighten up this old-fas.h.i.+oned antidote to the pestilence, Barclay again appears, dressed in the metaphorical colour of the poet or minstrel--green, which has probably here a double significance, referring no doubt to his popularity as the English eclogue writer as well as to his fame as a poet and satirist. In introducing "Bartlet, grene breche" as the ant.i.thesis to "b.o.n.e.r wepyng,"

allusion was also probably intended to the honourable position occupied by Barclay amongst the promoters of the Reformation, compared with the reapostacy, the career of brutal cruelty, and the deserved fate of the Jefferies of the Episcopal bench.

Thus discourse _Civis et Uxor_.--

"_Uxor._ What are all these two and two in a table. Oh it is trim. _Civis._ These are old frendes, it is well handled and workemanly. w.i.l.l.yam Boswell in Pater noster rowe, painted them. Here is Christ, and Sathan, Sainct Peter, and Symon Magus, Paule, and Alexader the Coppersmith, Trace, and Becket, Martin Luther, and the Pope ... bishop Cramer, and bishop Gardiner.

b.o.n.e.r wepyng, Bartlet, grene breche ... Salomon, and Will Sommer. The c.o.c.ke and the lyon, the wolfe and the lambe." This pa.s.sage also necessarily implies that Barclay's fame at that time was second to none in England.

Alas! for fame:

"What is the end of fame? 'Tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper."

In the seventeenth century Barclay still held a place in the first rank of satirists, if we accept the evidence of the learned Catholic poet of that time, Sir Aston c.o.kaine. He thus alludes to him in an address "To my learned friend, Mr Thomas Bancroft, upon his Book of Satires. By Sir Aston c.o.kayne."

"After a many works of divers kinds Your muse to tread th' Aruncan path designs: 'Tis hard to write but Satires in these days, And yet to write good Satires merits praise: . . . . . .

So old Petronius Arbiter appli'd 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 to all."

In concluding this imperfect notice of one of the most remarkable of our early writers, we cannot but echo the regret expressed by one of his biographers, that "What ought most to be lamented is, that we are able to say so very little of one in his own time so famous, and whose works ought to have transmitted him to posterity with much greater honour."

THE WILL OF ALEXANDER BARCLAY.

EXTRACTED FROM THE PRINc.i.p.aL REGISTRY OF HER MAJESTY'S COURT OF PROBATE.

_In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury._

IN THE NAME OF G.o.d. AMEN.--The xxv^{th} day of July in the yere of our Lorde G.o.d a thousande fyve hundreth fyftie and one.... I ALEXANDER BARQUELEY Doctor of Divinitie Vicar of myche badowe in the countie of Ess.e.x do make dispose and declare this my pute testament conteyning my last Will in forme and order as hereafter followethe That ys to saye First I bequeathe my soule unto Almightie G.o.d my maker and Redemer and my bodye to be buried where it shall please G.o.d to dispose after de[=p]ting my soule from the bodye Also I bequeathe to the poore people of the said [=p]ish of Badowe fyftie s.h.i.+llings to be disposed where as yt shall appere to be most nede by the discrescon of myne Executours And also I bequeathe towardes the repacons of the same Churche vj^s viij^d Item I bequeathe to the poore people of the [=P]ish of Owkley in the Countie of Somersett fiftie s.h.i.+llings likewise to be distributed And towardes the repacons of the same Churche vj^s viij^d Item I bequeathe to Mr Horsey of Tawnton in the saide Countie of Somersett one fether bed and a bolster which I had of hym or els twentie s.h.i.+llings in redye money Item I bequeathe to Edword Capper otherwise called Edwarde Mathewe of Tawnton aforesaid x.x.xiij^s iiij^d of currant money of England Item I bequeathe to Johane Atkynson the daughter of Thomas Atkynson of London Scryvener one fetherbed wheruppon I use to lye having a newe tyke with the bolster blanketts and coverlett tester pillowe and two payer of my best shetes Item I bequeth to the same Johane Atkynson eight pounds current money of England to be receyved of the money due unto me by Cutbeard Crokk of Wynchester to be paide in two yeres (that is to saye foure poundes in the first yere and foure poundes in the secounde yere) Item I bequeathe to the saide Johane a flocke bed a quylte and all my pewter and bra.s.se and other stuf of my kechen Item I give and bequeathe to Jeronymy Atkynson the daughter of the saide Thomas Atkynson vj^{li} xiij^s iiij^d currant money of England to be receyved of the said Cutbeard Crok in two yeres that is to saye every yere fyve markes Item I bequeathe to Tymothy and Elizabeth Atkynson the daughters of the said Thomas Atkynson to everye of theym five pounds currant money of England to be receyved of the said Cutbeard Croke so that the eldest of thes two daughters be paide the first two yeres and the other to be paide in other two yeres then next following Item The rest of the money whiche the saide Cutbeard Croke oweth to me amounting in the hole to the some of four score poundes I bequeathe to be devyded amonge poore and nedye [=p]sones after the discretion of myn Executours and manely to such as be bedred blynde lame ympotent wydowes and fatherless children.... Item I bequeathe to Syr John Gate Knight S^r Henry Gate Knight and to M^r Clerke to everye of theym fouer angell n.o.bles to make every of theym a ringe of golde to be worne by theym in remembraunce of me Item I give and bequeathe to Hugh Rooke of London Scryvener to Henry bosoll of London Gold Smythe to Thomas Wytton of London Screvener and to the wief of Humfrey Stevens of London Goldsmythe to Humfrey Edwards Clerke to John Owhan of the [=P]ish of Badowe aforesaid to every of them one angell n.o.ble of gold or ells y^e valew therof in sylver Item I bequeathe to M^r Thomas Clerk of Owkey aforesaid to Thomas Edey Gentelman and to the said Thomas Atkynson to every of them foure angell n.o.bles to make therof for every of them a ringe to were in remembraunce of oure olde acquayntaunce and famyliarytie Item my will is that my Executours shall distribute at the daye of my buriall among poore and nedy people sixe pounds fyftene s.h.i.+llings Item I bequeathe to Parnell Atkynson the wief of the said Thomas Atkynson my cosyn thirtenne pounds thirtene s.h.i.+llings and foure pence of currant money of England Item I bequeathe to John Watson of London Clotheworker three angell n.o.bles to make a ring therof to be worne in remembraunce of oure olde famyliaritie Also I desire all suche as have or shall hereafter have eny benyfytt by thes my legacies and all other good chrestian people to praye to Almightie G.o.d for remission of my synnes and mercy upon my soule Item I bequeath to Johan Bowyer the syster of the said [=P]nell my cosen fourtie s.h.i.+llings Item I bequeathe to the said Thomas Atkynson Tenne pounds currant money of England whome with the said Thomas Eden I const.i.tute the executours of this my last Will to whome I bequeathe the rest and residue of all my goodes chattells and debts to be distributed at their discrescion in works of mercy to poore people not peny mele but by larger por[=c]on after theyr discrecon namely to [=p]sons bedred maydens widowes and other ympotent [=p]sons Item I ordeyne and desire the said M^r Rochester to be the Overseer of this my last Will to be well and truely [=p]formed and fulfilled to whome for his labor and paynes I bequeathe fyve marks currant money of England In wytnes of whiche this my last Will I the said Alexander Barqueley hereunto have set my seale and subscribed the same with my owne hands the day and yere fyrst above written [p=] me. ALEXANDRU BARQUELEY.

PROBATUM fuit Test[=m] coram d[=n]o ca[=n]t Archie[=p]o apud London decimo die mensis Junij Anno d[=n]o mille[=m]o quingentesimo quinquagesimo secundo Juramento Thome Atkynson E[=x] in hmoi testamento noiat Ac Approbatu et insumatu et comissa fuit admotraco om[=n] bonoru &^c d[=c]i deft de bene et &^c ac de pleno Inv^{ro} &^c exhibend Ad sancta dei Evangelia Jurat Re[=s]rvata [p=]tate Thome Eden alteri e[=x]

&^c c.u.m venerit.

NOTES.

[1] BARCLAY'S NATIONALITY