Among Oxfordians (and a good many others), this is
understood to be the quarrel described by Touchstone in Shakespeare’s As
You Like It (V.iv. 45-56 & 70-104).
Jaques. Good my Lord, bid him welcome: This is the Motley-minded
Gentleman, that I have so often met in the Forrest: he hath bin a Courtier he sweares.
Touchstone. If any man doubt that, let him put mee to my purgation,
I have trod a measure, I have flattred a Lady, I have bin politicke with my
friend, smooth with mine enemie, I have undone
three Tailors, I have had foure quarrels, and like to have fought one.
Jaq. And how was that tane up?
Touch. 'Faith we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh
cause
Jaq. How seventh cause?...
Jaq. But for the seventh cause.
How did you finde the quarrell on the seventh cause?
Touch. Upon a lye, seven times
removed: (beare your bodie more seeming Audry) as thus sir: I did dislike the cut
of a certaine Courtiers beard: he sent me word, if I said his beard was not cut
well, hee was in the minde it was: this is call'd the retort courteous. If I sent
him word againe, it was not well cut, he wold send me word he cut it to please
himselfe: this is call'd the quip modest. If againe, it was not well cut, he disabled
my iudgment: this is called, the reply churlish. If againe it was not well cut, he would answer I spake not true: this is
call'd the reproofe valiant. If againe, it was not well cut, he wold say, I lie:
this is call'd the counter-checke quarrelsome: and so to lye circumstantiall,
and the lye direct.
Jaq. And how oft did you say his
beard was not well cut?
Touch. I durst go no further
then the lye circumstantial: nor he durst not give me the lye direct: and so
wee measur'd swords, and parted.
In fact, Oxford accused Sidney of not being able to grow
a beard at all. History remembers only that hot words were exchanged after the
former called the latter a “puppy”.
Sir, the greate advantage which I have, by the singular goodnes
and frendshippe it pleaseth you to shewe me, which in truthe I do and have a
good while reputed amongest the chiefe ornaments of my life and fortune, makes
me fynde myselfe at as much disadvantage, when my hart, longing to shewe myself
gratefull, can present nothing which maye be servisable unto you. But as I
knowe, and have well founde, that you do esteeme a true good-will of some
valewe, in that kynde only can I shewe myself, and assure you, that the litell that
I am is and shall be in all times and fortunes so to be disposed by you, as one
that hath promised love, and is bounde by deserte to performe it. This is all,
therefore, I can saye, though you lose me, you have me. As for the matter depending
betwene the Earle of Oxford and me, certaynly, Sir, howsoever I might have
forgiven hym, I should never have forgiven myself, if I had layne under so
proude an injury as he would have laide uppon me, neither can anything under
the sunne make me repente it, nor any misery make me go one halfe worde back
from it. Let him, therefore, as he will, digest it. For my parte, I thinke
tying upp makes some thinges seeme fiercer then they would be. Sir, let me
crave still the continuance of my happines in your favour and frendshippe, and
I will ever praye unto God that, among those I most honor, I maye ever see you
have prosperous causes of contentment.
28th August 1579
Your Honor's to be commanded even by duty,
Philip Sedney.
Queen Elizabeth and her times, original letters… II.100-1.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years. Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
- Edward de Vere, Shakespeare and Tycho Brahe. June 9, 2020. “When Brahe was encouraged by his friends and associates to publish a book on the November 1572 supernova for which he is now famous, his answer belonged to his times.”
- Malvolio’s Crow's Feet and “the new Mappe”. October 14, 2019. “Percy Allen’s candidate is not mentioned by any of these parties. The traditionalists, of course, could not consider it possible because it would suggest far too early a date for the play.”
- The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
2 comments:
Most interesting. Thanks for this. While the world has taken the tennis court quarrel as the trigger that parted Sidney from Oxford, much more likely was it that, as a poet worthy of the world's attention, as testified by
Sidney's Sonnet Cycle of 108 verses, Astrophil & Stella, published by his sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke (in 1593, I think), that must predate Oxford's since they were written before his death from wounds suffered in the lowlands war in 1585, while Oxford's. at least as later published, can't be dated any earlier than the nineties. The real issue that infuriated Philip was Oxford's treatment of him as Slender in early versions of Merry Wives and HIV part two, as the supporter of Robert Shallow, Oxford's swipe at Leicester, and as Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (Sidney's cheeks were pitted with the smallpox that had destroyed his mother's looks). Oxford was much more concerned about his status as Court Poet than he was about his rank, but he'd use that if he had to. Oxford was not Mr. Nice Guy.
Remember that Leicester had robbed the under age Oxford blind and the Dudley/ Sidney family deserved anything that Oxford cd splatter on them. Why be 'nice' at all!
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