Virtual Grub Street: John Lyly to Queen Elizabeth, 1595: a Letter of Petition.

Thanks to the exceptional diligence of Mr. R. Warwick Bond, in the Introduction to his Complete Lyly[1], we have vital information relating to John Lyly and his relationships with the Earl of Oxford, Blackfriars and the Children of Paul’s. Among these matters are transcripts of letters not generally known.

According to Anthony à Wood, Lyly took his B.A. degree, at Oxford, on April 27, 1573 and M.A. on June 1, 1575. According to Lyly himself[2] Burghley was his “most attentive patron”[3]. It is almost certainly from Burghley that Lyly received rooms at The Savoy, after university, where he met Edward de Vere, the young Earl of Oxford. He became secretary to the Earl, perhaps upon the suggestion of Burghley.

It was the Baron’s habit to quarter young scholars there rather than at the Strand (his mansion across the street) while he considered positions for them. De Vere had also taken a suite of rooms there presumably for privacy sake. During the 1570s those rooms were well-known to be the gathering place of London’s young bohemians. De Vere would adopt the Baron’s habit and lodge literary types there upon need into the 1590s.

In 1583, De Vere bought the distressed lease for the Blackfriars theater. Probably in order to avoid creditors, and to arrange financially for his secretary, he signed the lease over to Lyly. The two men proceeded to select plays for performance from the likes of George Peele,Christopher Marlowe, and themselves. [Link]

The lease was abrogated late in 1584. De Vere’s Ulysses and Agamemnon[4] seems to have been the last play produced there. As Wallace points out, in his Evolution Of The English Drama[5], Lyly probably published his plays Sapho and Phao and Campaspe, in 1584, in order to make what profit he could from the remains of the dying project. Their title pages, etc., provide key information.

It was apparently as a reward for his efforts that Lyly was given the position of Master of the Tents and Toils (a minor office under the Master of Court Revels), in 1585, and hints that he might be in line for Master of Revels. The office may actually have come to him earlier more for keeping the theater props and costumes, for Court performances, the Queen availing herself less of tents than previous monarchs. He was also left in charge of those of the Children of St. Paul’s that were chosen to act and wrote plays for them for a time.

It is from this point that I hand the matter over to Mr. Bond.[6]

As already shown… a letter preserved among the State Papers in the Record Office, bearing date December 22, 1597, and speaking of his having patiently endured the proroguing of the Queen's promises for twelve years, enables us to date his two undated petitions, which speak of ten and of thirteen years' waiting respectively, in 1595 and 1598. Three copies of them, none in Lyly's autograph, are in the British Museum, and a fourth among Lord Leconfield's MSS. at Petworth. I give them both, literatim et punctuatim, from Harleian MS. 1323, fols. 249-50, which furnishes the best text, in spite of some errors… The first runs as follows :—

A Petitionarye L're: ffrom: John Lillye To Queene Elizabeth.

Tempora si numeris, quae nos numeramus,

Non venit ante suam, nostra querela diem.[7]

Most : Gratious : and dread Soveraigne;

I dare not pester yo^r: Highnes, w^th many wordes; and want witt, to wrapp : vpp much matter, in ffewe ; This Age, Epitomyes, the Pater Noster; thrust, into the Compasse of a penny; The world, into the Modell, of a Tennis Ball, All Scyences, melted, into Sentences, I would, I were soe compendyous, as to expresse my hopes, my ffortunes, my overthwartes into sillables, as Marchantes, doe; Riches ; into a ffewe Ciphers, Butt, I ffeare to Comitt the Erro^r: I discomend tedyousnes, lyke one; that Roveinge; to searche out, whatt tyme was, spent all his, and knewe it not;

I was entertayned, yo^r: Ma^ties: servant ; by yo^r: owne gratious ffavo^r: stranghthened wth Condicons, that, I should ayme all my Courses, Att the Revells; (I dare not saye, w^th a promise, butt a hopeffull Item, of the Reversion) ffor the w^ch; theis Tenn yeares, I haue Attended, w^th an vnwearyed patience, and, I knowe not; whatt Crabb; tooke mee ffor an Oyster, that, in the Middest of the Svnnshine of yo^r: gratious aspect; hath thrust a stone ; Betwene the shelles, to eate mee alyve; that onely lyve on dead hopes;

yf, yo^r: sacred Ma^tie : thincke mee vnworthie, and that after Tenn yeares tempest, must ' att the Co^rte : suffer shippwracke of my tymes, my hopes, and my Wittes, vouchesaffe in yo^r: never erringe Judgm^t: some Plancke, or Rafter; to waffe mee; into a Countrye, where, in, my, sad and setled devotion; I maye; in every Corner; of a Tha'tch't Cottage; wryte Prayers; instead of Playes; Prayers; ffor, yo^r: longe, and prosperous lyfe, and a Repentance, that I haue played the foole, soe longe, and yett lyve ".

Quod petimus poena; nec enim miser esse recuso

sed precor vt possem, mitiusesse miser:[8]

Jo: Lillye

Non ero, qui miser sum, te miserante miser[9]

Jo: Lillye:

Only the signatures and the final Latin line would seem to be in the handwriting of Lyly. The Latin line and final signature appear only in the draft cataloged “Hargrave MS. 225, p. 36”.

[1] Bond, R. Warwick. The Complete Works Of John Lyly (1902).

[2] Bond, 13-4.

[3] most attentive patron] patron suo colendissimo

[4] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Ulysses and Agamemnon (1584) (The Early Plays of Edward de Vere (William Shakespeare) Book 1). (2018). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JD7KM1T

[5] Wallace, Charles William. The Evolution Of The English Drama Up to Shakespeare (1912). 186.

[6] Bond, 64-5.

[7] Ovid, Heroides, II. “Should you count the days, which we number, you will find my plaint come not before its time.” (variation on Grant Showerman trans.)

[8] Ovid. Tristia, V.ii. “What I seek is punishment, for I do not reject suffering, but I beg that I may suffer in greater safety!” (Wheeler trans.)

[9] “By your mercy I may be relieved of wretchedness.”