In this series:
- Leonard Digges and the Shakespeare First Folio.
- Leonard Digges with Context.
- What Happened to the Shakespeare First Folio Commendatory Verses?
It can be quite
difficult to get access to certain 17th century books. One such book is Gerardo the unfortunate
Spaniard (1622) by Leonard Digges, one of the poets who wrote a memorial poem for the Shakespeare First Folio.
It is one of only two known published works (both translations) by Digges who came from a highly
respected intellectual family. His grandfather
and father wrote about mathematics and science.
His brother was highly respected in political circles.
Advocates of
the Stratford candidate for the authorship of the works of Shakespeare have struggled over the years to explain why none of the
persons who wrote memorial poems knew Shakespeare personally. After exhaustive searching it turns out that
Thomas Russell, one of the attorneys who drafted Shaksper’s final Will, may be
the same Thomas Russell who married Digges’ mother, Anne. As the result of subsequent reflections among the Stratford
faithful, it has been declared that Russell’s role assures us beyond question that
he was a close personal friend of the decedent. No sources or examples, it would seem, are considered necessary to establish the
claim as fact.
Sometime between 1601 and 1603 the Digges family had moved from London to live with Russell in the township of Alderminster.
From that time, Russell and the
Diggeses lived only 5 miles away from Stratford, the argument goes. The Russell-Diggeses and their presumably highly intellectual
connections at Court and in academia obviously became close friends with Shaksper. It is, therefore, only reasonable to assume
that the Stratford man was highly literate.
Also that Leonard’s First Folio poem was to a personal friend.
Among Stratfordians, all of this is
understood to be sufficient evidence that surely the writers of the memorial poems
knew Shakespeare personally however obscure their connections. Also that Leonard
was a close personal friend of Shaksper thus making clear the Stratford man’s intellectual
acumen. He was an autodidact of the
first order — of an order only explicable by genius.
Regardless
whether the attorney who drafted Shaksper’s Will was indeed Leonard Digges’
step-father or not, however, it is highly unlikely that Digges and Shaksper
were ever friends — almost equally unlikely that they ever met. The young Leonard left for Oxford University
in 1603, the year that Anne Digges married her Thomas Russell. This is considered to be about the time that
Shaksper retired to Stratford-Upon-Avon.
In that year, Shaksper would have been 39 years of age and Leonard 15.
Upon receiving
his baccalaureate, in 1606, Leonard briefly chose to reside in London. After that he went on an extended tour of the
Continent which ended around the year that Shaksper died. Upon his return he took up residence at
Oxford University. He received his M.A.
from Oxford, in 1626, based upon his attendance for many years at the finest universities
in Europe.[1]
Regardless that the Diggeses lived in a village only 5 miles away, Leonard was only there, at most, during vacations and breaks from his Oxford University studies. The inconveniences of travel being such as they were, in the early 17th century, he is likely to have remained in Oxford or to have visited London even on those occasions. Had he returned home, he remained half Shaksper’s age and is unlikely to have sought his company. After 1606, Leonard was rarely at home or never at all. He spent the next ten-or-so years studying at European universities.
Add to this the
fact that Digges’ memorial poem includes not the slightest intimate personal
note and the matter is right back where is was to begin with. And where exactly was the matter? The writers of the memorial poems all
belonged to the stable of writers of Edward Blount, the main editor of the
First Folio of the Plays of Shakespeare.[2] Thomas Russell was chosen by Shaksper, a wily
businessman, from among the lawyers in his vicinity, for the man’s professional
capabilities rather than for friendship’s sake.
In the year
1622 (the year the final text of folio was being being finished), Edward Blount
published:
Gerardo the unfortunate Spaniard, or a Pattern for Lascivious Lovers.
Containing several strange miseries of loose affection. Written by an ingenious
Spanish Gentleman, Don Goncalo de Cespides, and Meneces, in the time of his
five years imprisonment.
Originally in
Spanish, and made English by L. D.—
London :
Printed for Ed. Blount. 1622.
The “L. D.” was
Leonard Digges. Remarkably, the
connection between Blount and the Herbert brothers was active before their
names appears as the dedicatees to the First Folio.
The Dedication
to the Noble Brothers, William Earl of Pembroke, and, Philip Earl of
Montgomery, nephews to Sir Philip Sidney, follows:
Right Noble: My
Lords—
Translations,
as says a witty Spaniard, are, in respect of their originals, like the knotty
wrong-sides of arras-hangings : but by his wit's leave, as the fair outside
could ill be seen, without help of the knots within; no more can the fame of a
well-deserving author be far spread, without the labour of a translation. This
made me, for the present Spanish author's sake, venture to make him speak
English, and to do a public good by publishing the moral examples contained in
the present tragical discourses. Now, that I presume to offer my weak
endeavours to the view and protection of your Lordships, I shall no way despair
of a pardon ; since the world, that takes notice of your noble good
ness, the first
and best of your honoured titles, gives me assurance, that, though a stranger
rather than an intruder, I shall be esteemed
To your Honors
both,
A devoted
Servant,
LEONARD DIGGES.[3]
The coincidence that the names of the memorial poets, Edward
Blount, Ben Jonson and the Herbert brothers are often found together around the years 1622-23 is more than simply suggestive. As they were working on the folio project,
they were demonstrably trading the customary favors in terms of commendatory poems,
book publications, etc. This system of
professional courtesies is the reason a
poem by Leonard Digges appeared in the Folio.
It is also the reason why Hugh Holland[4]
and James Mabbe, both associated with Blount’s press at the time, were selected
for the other memorials.
Much of this material is also touched upon in Leah Scraggs' exceptional
essay “Edward Blount and The Prefatory Material to the First Folio Of
Shakespeare”. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 79, 1 (1997), pp. 117–26.
[1]
Wood, Anthony. Athenae Oxonienses. An Exact History
Of All The Writers And Bishops Who Have Had Their Education In The University
Of Oxford. 592-3.
[3] Freeman,
R. Kentish poets, a series of writers, natives of or residents in Kent;...,
II, 1-3.
[4] Holland
and Jonson had previously exchanged favors, on other projects, and this may be
a factor as well.
- Desperately Seeking Bridget (de Vere). August 24, 2014. "Even most people who assert that the Earl of Oxford was the poet and playwright Shake-speare (a group to which I resoundingly belong) do not seem to know that she was engaged, in 1598, to William Herbert, soon to inherit the Earldom of Pembroke,..."
- Check out Virtual Grub Street's English Renaissance Article Index for articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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2 comments:
Leonard Digges' mother, Anne St. Leger. had a London house in Philips Lane, Aldermanbury, just around the corner from John Heminges and Henry Condell, and she also had an estate in Rushock, Worcestershire, a few miles from Heminges's birthplace of Droitwich.
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