Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, Arthur Acheson [bookreader .txt] 📗

diamonds.

T. Yes, but the blood of a he-goat will.

C. Moreover, he may challenge to have part in heaven by it.

T. What matter is it for him then to be a he-goat, or a stumpbuck, or
a kid, or a chamois, a stag, or a brill, a unicorn, or an elephant so
he may be safe, but how may that be, I pray thee, tell me?

C. I will tell thee, do not you know that whosoever is made a cuckold
by his wife, either he knows it, or he knows it not.

T. That I know, then what will you infer upon it?

C. If he knows it he must needs be patient, and therefore a martyr,
if he knows it not, he is innocent, and you know that martyrs and
innocents shall be saved, which if you grant, it followeth that all
cuckolds shall obtain paradise.

T. Methinks then that women are not greatly to be blamed if they seek
their husbands' eternal salvation, but are rather to be commended as
causes of a noble and worthy effect."

He speaks with evident feeling of one who is imprisoned for debt.

"T. Take heed of debts; temper thy desires, and moderate thy tongue.

C. It is a devilish thing to owe money.

T. For all that he is so proud that though he have need of patience
he calleth for revenge.

C. Could not he save himself out of the hands of those catchpoles,
counter guardians, or sergeants?

T. Seeking to save himself by flight from that rascality he had
almost left the lining of his cap behind.

C. I am sorry for his mischance, for with his jests, toys, fooleries,
and pleasant conceits, he would have made Heraclitus himself to burst
his heart with laughing.

T. Did you ever go see him yet?

C. I would not go into prison to fetch one of my eyes if I had left
it there.

T. Yet there be some honest men there.

C. And where will you have them but in places of persecution?

T. You have reason.

C. I would not be painted there so much do I hate and loathe the
place."

Speaking of the Court and courtiers he says:

"C. The favours of the Court are like fair weather in winter, or
clouds in summer, and Court, in former time, was counted death.

T. It is still Court for the vicious, but death for the virtuous,
learned and wise.

C. Seven days doth the Court regard a virtuous man, be he never so
mannerly, well-brought up, and of gentle conditions. That is, the
first day he makes a show of himself, he is counted gold; the second,
silver; the third, copper; the fourth, tin; the fifth, lead; the
sixth, dross; and the seventh, nothing at all, whereas the contrary
happeneth of the vicious.

T. Yet the virtuous have sometimes got rich gifts there.

C. Yea, but they come as seldom as the year of jubilee.

* * * * *

T. Yet some of them are so courteous, so gentle, so kind, so liberal,
so bountiful, that envy itself cannot choose but love them, and blame
honour them, and, I think, there is no Court in the world that hath
more nobility in it than ours.

* * * * *

T. But tell me truth, had you never the mind to become a courtier?

C. He that is well, let him not stir, for if in removing he break his
leg, at his own peril be it.

T. Where there is life there is means; where means, entertainment;
where entertainment, hope; where hope, there is comfort."

How closely this last passage resembles the philosophy of Parolles, after his disgrace, in Act IV. Scene iii. of _All's Well that Ends Well_.

PAR. Yet am I thankful: if my heart were great,
'Twould burst at this. Captain, I'll be no more;
But I will eat and drink, and sleep as soft
As captain shall: simply the thing I am
Shall make me live.

* * * * *

There's place and means for every man alive.

The familiarity of the public with the character of Falstaff, under the name of Sir John Oldcastle, is evidenced by the frequency with which both this play and character are referred to by the latter name even after the publication of the _First Part of Henry IV._ in 1598, with the name changed to Falstaff. If this play was originally composed, as is usually suggested, in 1596 or 1597, the short period which it could have been presented in its earlier form, and before its revision in the beginning of 1598, would scarcely allow for the confirmed acquaintance of the public with the name of Sir John Oldcastle in connection with the characterisation developed by Shakespeare. While Shakespeare took this name from the old play of _The Famous Victories of Henry V._, there is no similarity between the characterisation of the persons presented under that name in the two plays.

Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's earliest biographer, is responsible for the report that the change of the name of this character from Oldcastle to Falstaff was made by Shakespeare at the command of the Queen, and owing to the protest of Lord Cobham. It is not unlikely that there was some basis of truth for this report, nor improbable that Lord Cobham's alleged objection was caused by the misrepresentations of Shakespeare's literary rivals, including Florio, whose own "ox had been gored."

In 1597 the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports having become vacant, Sir Robert Sidney, who had been long absent from England as Governor of Flushing, and was desirous of returning, made application for the office, being aided in his suit by the Earl of Essex and others of his friends in Essex's party. Sir Robert Cecil, while encouraging Sidney and professing friendship, secretly aided Lord Cobham for the post. Sidney's military fitness for so responsible a charge was constantly urged against Cobham's lack of martial experience, but the Queen, after a long delay, during which much heat developed between the contestants and their friends, finally decided in favour of her relative, Lord Cobham. The Earl of Southampton was one of Sir Robert Sidney's most intimate friends and ardent admirers, and must have taken some interest in this long-drawn-out rivalry. It is possible that Shakespeare, instigated by Southampton, may have introduced some personal reflections suggestive of Cobham's military inadequacy into the performance of the play at this crucial period, Cobham's alleged descent from the historical Oldcastle lending the suggestion its personal significance.

The sixth _book_ of Sonnets was written either late in 1596, or in 1597. A line in the first Sonnet of this book (Thorpe's 66) implies, on Shakespeare's part, a recent unpleasant experience with the authorities:

"And art made tongue-tied by authority."

It is apparent that whatever was the cause, some difficulty arose in about 1597 regarding the name Oldcastle. Nicholas Rowe's report is substantiated by Shakespeare's own apologetic words in the Epilogue to _Henry IV., Part II._:

"If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will
continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair
Katherine of France; where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die
of a sweat, unless already a' be killed with your hard opinions; for
Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man."

If Shakespeare was compelled to alter this name for the reasons reported by Nicholas Rowe, it is not unlikely that Florio and his literary allies helped in some manner to arouse the resentment of Lord Cobham. In altering the play in 1598, and changing the name of Sir John Oldcastle to Sir John Falstaff, I am convinced that Shakespeare intentionally made his caricature of John Florio more transparent by choosing a name having the same initials as his, and furthermore, that in altering the historical name of _Fastolfe_ to _Falstaff_, he intended to indicate Florio's relations with Southampton as a _false-staff_, a misleader of youth. The Epilogue of the _Second Part of Henry IV._, while denying a representation of the historical Sir John Oldcastle in the words "this is not the man," implies at the same time _that some other personal application is intended_ in the characterisation of Falstaff.

The _First Part of Henry IV._, with its significant allusion to the "Humourous Conceits of Sir John Falstaff" on the title-page, was entered on the Stationers' Registers under date of 25th February 1598, and was published within a short period. That John Florio recognised Shakespeare's satire and personal intention in choosing a character with his own initials he shows within a month or two of this date in his "Address to the Reader," prefixed to his _Worlde of Wordes_. He accuses a person, whom he indicates under the initials "H.S." of having made a satirical use of his initials "J.F." It is evident that in using the letters "H.S." he is not giving the actual initials of his antagonist. Addressing "H.S." he says: "And might not a man, that can do as much as you (that is reade) finde as much matter out of H.S. as you did out of J.F.?" He says the person at whom he aims is a "reader" and a "writer" too; he also indicates him as a maker of plays. He says:

"Let Aristopanes and his comedians _make plaies_, and scowre their
mouthes on Socrates; those very mouthes they make to vilifie, shall
be meanes to amplifie his