 |
I am a hare, a beast of little
strength,
Yet making sport, of love and
gentle gestes,
For running
swift, and holding out at length,
I beare the bell, above all other beastes.
George Turbervile's The Noble Arte of Venerie (1576). |
Standard Citation: Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. "Shakespeare and the Duke of Norfolk’s Lawes." Virtual Grub Street, April 14, 2019. https://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2019/04/shakespeare-and-duke-of-norfolks-lawes.html
[date last accessed].
It is no secret that William Shakespeare loved the sports of
the nobility of his time. We know this
because he constantly wields imagery drawn from them. The images are fully knowledgeable of the
terminology, rules and skills of each.
He makes no mistakes regarding them.
Foremost among them, he loved horsemanship and hawking. Not far behind, is his attention to the types
and training of hunting dogs. Deer
hunting (venery) itself is the source of a great many images. Each of these pastimes reveals the poet and playwright
to us. In fact, they were clearly part
of the formation of his personality.
Also part of his sporting experience was “coursing”. The sport was an early precursor to today’s
greyhound racing. The hare the dogs
chased was not mechanical. The race was
not run on a track. The fastest dog did not necessarily win. Dogs that could more
effectively execute certain moves won more often than not.
While coursing goes back to ancient times, the version
practiced by the nobility of England was codified by Thomas Howard, 4th
Duke of Norfolk.[1] The rules were considered important enough
that Norfolk undertook his “lawes of the Leash or Coursing”[2]
by special command of Queen Elizabeth I.
These “lawes” can be checked against the earliest of
Shakespeare’s references to the sport.
In 3 Henry VI, Queen Margaret calls upon her king to flee:
Mount you, my lord; towards Berwick post
amain:
Edward and Richard, like a brace of
greyhounds,
Having the fearful, flying hare in
sight,
With firy eyes, sparkling for very
wrath,
And bloody steel grasp'd in their
ireful hands,
We can check the playwrights veracity against the duke:
2. You ought not to course a hare with more than a brace of
greyhounds.
The terminology is correct.
The event is properly described.
The Rule has been obeyed.
In another early play we learn of the premiere point-scoring
maneuver of the sport. Describing his love
object, in the play Love’s Labour Lost, Dumaine avers:
Her Amber haires for foule hath amber coted.[4]
Again the Duke:
5. The dog that gives the first turn, if after that there be
neither cote, slip, nor wrench, wins the wager.[5]
To “cote” is a specialized term of the sport. It means to burst ahead of the competitors
far enough to get clear of the brace and hare and be able to turn crossways to
the rest forcing the hare to turn back.[6] In more general terms, it means to “outstrip”.
The LLL quote has provoked debate for centuries now. Surely, it is said, coted must be “quoted”. Otherwise the line makes no sense. Just what sense it is supposed to make if “quoted”
is changed in, however, seems equally unclear.
The line is meant to say (I paraphrase), “The color of her hair breaks
the laws of nature for it is more amber than actual amber.” Her Amber has coted itself. It is not possible much less permitted for a
hound to cote itself in the sport.
The same mistake of editing ”coted” to “quoted” is made even
more blatantly in the play Hamlet. Sadly,
the misquote has become the standard. The
original line makes perfected sense, and, left alone, is a stunningly precise
image:
Polonlius. That hath made him
mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and
judgement
The minute one knows the sport from long personal experience,
the passage is brilliantly descriptive.
Polonius thinks he has gotten ahead of Hamlet’s intention and turned
Ophelia away like a greyhound coting another. Shakespeare knows perfectly well that the
greyhounds that are coted react with frenzy in the turn and display a determination
akin to madness to get close to the hare again.
This is not the only reference to coursing in Hamlet. Rosencrantz announces his and Guildenstern’s
arrival by explaining that they passed a
troupe of players not far back.
To think, my lord, if you delight not
in man, what
lenten entertainment the players shall
receive from you;
we coted them on the way; and hither
are they coming, to
offer you service.[8]
This particular reference surely gives Hamlet food for
thought. Like Henry in the quote from 3
Henry VI, above, he is the hare in this image. He is perceived by Rosencrantz as being
pursued. It is an inexhaustible and wily
hare, indeed, who manages to survive the course.
The sport of coursing is so little known by scholars that we
have been able to set a few historical failures straight here. Other challenges are associated with the most
famous quote of all, from The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which Mr. Page
defends his greyhound “on Cotsall”.
Slender. How does your fallow greyhound,
sir ? I heard say he was outrun on Cotsall.
Page. It could not be judged, sir.
Slender. You'll not confess, you'll not
confess.
Shallow. That he will not. 'Tis your
fault, 'tis your fault, 'tis a good dog.
Page. A cur, sir.
Shallow. Sir, he's a good dog, and a fair dog ; can there be
more said ? He is good and fair.[9]
The passage is actually unlikely to have been written by
Shakespeare, however, and the evidence is too involved to address here. The subject must await its own post.
[1] The
4th Duke was later executed by the Queen on June 2, 1572. For details see my Edward de Vere was Shakespeare: at long last the proof and Ulysses and Agamemnon
(1584).
[2] Cox,
Harding. “Coursing.” Coursing and
Falconry (1892) 4 ff. Cox’s
source (as all writers on coursing) concerning the laws codified by order of
Elizabeth I, is Gervase Markham’s Country Contentment (1631).
[3] 3
Henry VI, II.v.
[4] Love’s
Labour Lost, IV.iii.89.
[5] Cox,
4.
[6] Ibid.,
5. “15. A cote is when a greyhound goeth
endways by his fellow, and gives the hare a turn.”
[7] Hamlet,
II.i.110-2.
[8]
Ibid., II.ii.305-8.
[9] Merry
Wives, I.i. 91.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Shakespeare’s Barnacles. March 3, 2016. “Prospero will wake, he fears, before they can murder him, and will cast a spell on them.”
- Hedingham Castle Fact Sheet with Virtual Tour Link. January 20, 2019. “The modern entrance to the keep is on the first floor by way of a stone stair, discharging through the W. wall, where a fore-building used to stand.”
- Did Shake-speare Die of a Stroke? August 03, 2014. "In October of 1601 De Vere begins to complain of his health again in letters to his brother-in-law, Robert Cecil, who was representing him in certain legal matters at Court."
- Check out the Medieval Topics Article Index for many more articles about this fascinating time.
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time.
1 comment:
Another fascinating exegesis, Gil.
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