Commentary: On Off Glosses: On Off Textual Apparatus: On Off
A THEATRE wherein be repre- sentedrepresented as wel the miseries and ca- lamities calamities that follow the vo- luptuousvoluptuous Worldlings,   As also the greate joyes and plesures which the faith- fullfaithfull do enjoy. An Argument both profitable and delectable, to all that sincerely love the word of God.   Seene and allowed according to the order appointed. ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Bynneman. Anno Domini. 1569. CUM PRIVILEGIO. In commendationem operis ab Nobiliss. et virtutis Studiosissimo Do- mino Domino, Joanne van der Noodt Patricio Antuerpiensi æditi, Carmen. M.RABILAE. Poetę Brabant. Hæc Babylon legat, et discat sustollere cœl Hactenus addictum terræ caput, hic rata vitæ Semita, quam specimen Nothœæ nobile gentis Dat legere, ille domo patria, certis que triumphis Contemptis, et quæ poterant spondere Curules, Conscius haud ullo virtutem sanguine condi, Ad majora animum tulit, et dat noscere mundo, Hoc opere insignem luctum, tristes que labores Vitæ huius: legat hæc Babylon, legat, imbuat aures Illius hoc opus, et si cui calligine cæca Mens cooperata jacet, qui devia saxa pererrat Rectum oblitus iter: licet illi hic nube redusta Summum vestigare bonum: doctrina Sophorum Ventilat, et falso verum confundit inani. O stolidas hominum mentes! non iste Deorum Cultus: et quando hos crudeli fune flagellans Conscia mens corruptum animum ad meliora reducet! Ut iaceant idola! suus, quo cuncta moventur, Restituatur honos! aliquando benignior astris, Deciderit fortuna tamen, nostros que labores, Terrarum ut fremitent furiata mente Tyranni, Respiciet miserans summi regnat or Olympi. At veræ quicun que viæ dinoscere Sydus Ardescisue ducem, doctos evolve labores, Quos doctus tibi Nothæus vigilavit ad unguem, E que vaporato fumo, qui corda tenebat, Cultor agri tristes nebulas, uti sole fugari Aspicit, et campos risum renovare iacentes, Lucem ita conspicies tibi diluxisse serenam. DOCTOR GERARDUS GOOSSENIUS Medicus, Physicus, et Poeta Brabant. moder. in Zoilum Octastichon. Zoile cur palles? cur vultus semper amarus? Triste supercilium frons que caprata tibi? Displicet ut video luci datus iste libellus: Sed rogo cur oculis displicet iste tuis? An quia papicolum ritus et sacra revellit Idolis, viduam nec Babylona dolet ? Zoile, non curat morsus, nam sufficit illi, Perplacuisse bonis, displicuisse malis. Inoffensibilis Goosseni.   TO THE MOSTE high, puissant, noble,ver- tuousvertuous, and righte Christian Princesse Elizabeth, by the grace of God Quene of Englande, Fraunce,   and Ireland. etc. A FTER my departure oute of Brabante,Brabante (myne owne naturall Countrey)Countrey), into youre Majesties Re-almeRealme of Englande (moste gracious Lady) as well for that I would not beholde the abhominations of the Romyshe Ante-christ,Antechrist, as to escape the handes of the bloud-thirsty:bloudthirsty: In the meane space for the avoyding of idlenesse (the very mother and nourice of all vices) I have among other my travayles bene occupied aboute thys little Treatyse, wherin is sette forth the vilenesse and base-nessebasenesse of worldely things, whiche commonly withdrawe us from heavenly and spirituall matters.matters, Tto the ende that understanding the vanitie and basenesse of the same, and there-withalltherewithall consideryng the miserable calamities that ensue therupon, we might be moved the rather to forsake them, and gyve oure selves to the knowledge of Heavenly and eternall things, whence all true happinesse and feli-citiefelicitie doth procede. And for as much as the matter of it selfe is very good (deservyng in dede to be handeled by men of farre better skil than I) I could not devise how any things whatsoeuer,whatsoever of lykenesse and conveniencie mighte more properly bee resembled one to the other, than this boke for the aptnesse and conveniencie of the argument might be de-dicateddedicated to your Majestie, a most blessed and happie prince.   Happy I say, not so much for that youre grace is lineally descended by the most high, puissaunt, mightie and victorious prince Henry the eight of famous memorie, from so many myghtie and puissant princes of this Realme, your Majesties moste noble progenitours: which have long agone, most valiantly and victoriously conquered al France, and by dint of sword daunted their enimies, so that youre highnesse beareth in Armes as right inheritour thereunto, the royall scepter and Croune imperiall, most triumphantly, and the titles of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande joyntely in youre majesties stile. Neither for, that   your highnesse as a rare Phœnix of your time,time are singular and peerelesse in honoure and renoune, in princely majestie, wisedome, skil, beautie, favour, mildenesse, curtesie and gentlenesse: to be short, excellent in all kind of vertue.vertue; Nornor in respecte of youre learning, knowledge, counsell, judgement, and elo-quence,eloquence, as well in the Greeke, Latine, Italian, Frenche, Dutch, as in your owne natural En-glish,English, and other languages, wherin your grace may be resembled not onely to Tullie, and Demosthenes, but to Mercurie, the God of e-loquence,eloquence, as is apparant by youre Majesties most apte and wise aunswers given in your own person to al Embassadours, and to eue-ryevery of them in their owne naturall language with a singular dexteritie and princely maiestiemajestie, and with marvellous swetenesse of tong.tong; Nornor bicause your grace is expert in song, and in the arte of Musike, skilful in al kindes of musical instruments, and according to the ex-actexact proportions of geometrie exquisite in the measures of the daunce: and besides al these, embraced of Apollo, and his nine sisters, by whome your grace is so instructed in the di-uinedivine Arte of Poetrie, that you may woor-thilywoorthily be called the seconde Sappho.Sappho; Neither neither for your great skil and judgement in painting and imagerie, bothe for the cunnyng of the workmanshyp and the devise and storie.storie-- Inin summe, perfecte in all good exercises of the wit, namely the artes and liberall sciences. Fi-nally,Finally, not alonly for that n Nature of hir boũ-tiebountie and goodnesse hath shewed suche grace and speciall favour toward you, by enduing youre grace moste plentyfully with infinite graces and vertues more abundantly than a-nyany other Prince or Princesse in the worlde, so that it might serve me for a sufficient ar-gumentargument to fill large volumes, only to stande in commendation of your majestie, not an-nexingannexing therto any devise of myne owne, of fained Emblemes or Poetical fables, and that without using flatterie or glosing, as they do most comonly, that ambitiously seeking af-terafter prefermentes and honoure, disguise ra-therrather than describe noble and honorable per-sonages,personages, whome they sette oute many tymes beyonde al truth, yea sometime above mea-sure,measure, and with as great inconveniencie as yf they should paynt an Asse tuning of a harp. For I do not accompt your grace happy for these alonely (thoughe many and singular) giftes and graces, which your grace enjoyeth in great plentie and abundance, consideryng they bee transitorie, and can not make any man or woman happie (albeit they seme di-uinedivine and supernaturall,)supernaturall), excepte they be ac-companiedaccompanied wyth the love and feare of God, according to the saying of King Lamuell, in the thirde of the Proverbes: Favour is decei-uable,deceivable, and Beautie a mere vanitie, but the wo-manwoman that feareth the Lorde, is to be beloved. But chiefly and principally when I consider that God intendyng to bestowe an excellent benefit peculiarly upon your Majestie more than upon any other Prince or Princesse in the worlde, hath besides al the other forena-medforenamed his manifolde giftes and graces, lighte-nedlightened your understanding with his holy spirit, and hath vouchesafed (by enclinyng youre graces heart, spirite and minde to humilitie, peace, mildenesse, and all kinde of louable-nesse)lovablenesse) to chose your majestie, especially to be his champion to defend his beloved church. And in this respect,respect (like as all faithfull and true Christian princes throughout all Europe do esteme and repute you)you), do I also, and that of good rightright, call your grace a moste happie and blessed Prince. Consider I beseche you, how God hath blessed your majestie in thys worlde more than he hath done any of your progenitours. For never was it seene in any age or time heretofore, that this your realme of England hath flourished as it dothe at this present under your Majesties moste happie governement. Firste in all kinde of liberall Artes and sciences. Secondarily in the abun-danceabundance of treasure, as well golde and silver, as all sortes of riche and precious jewels and or-namentes.ornamentes. Thirdely, in the free passage and trafike of all kinde of marchandise: Besides this, in good and politike lawes and ordinan-ces,ordinances, namely in the due execution of justice, according to law and equitie.   The worde of God is purely preached here in six or seven languages. The Sacraments of Baptisme, and the holy Supper, sincerely ministred accor-dingaccording to Christes institution. Christian disci-plinediscipline in due force in many places. Finally e-ueryevery countrey and nation that will live here according to his holy worde, is received, and findeth good entertainement. O how happy and blessed is that King or kingdome, where these things are in forceforceforce. Contrarywise most unhappie are those princes, that banishyng and rejecting Christ, receive that Antechrist, the sonne of the Divell,   and forsakyng the truth, embrace errour: To be short, that do al things overthwartly and clean against the hairhair. For it is moste certaine and sure, that sodaine ruine and destruction shall fall upon all wic-kedwicked and ungodly persons, as well nowe as in tyme paste, as experience hath well proved heretofore: Namely upon Pharao, and hys kingdome of Egypt, upon Jeroboam, Achab, Jezabell and infinite other mo. Wher on the other part, the good kings and princes which feare the Lord, shal have peace and comfort bothe in this worlde, and in the worlde to come: Like as had Josua, Juda, Gedeon, David and divers other in those days, and is also to be seene at this day most evidently in the re-almesrealmes and countreyes under youre Majesties dominion, whiche God hath blessed in suche sort, that it may truly be sayd, that the king-domekingdome of Saturne, and the Golden worlde is come againe, and the Virgin Astrea is des-scendeddescended from heaven to builde hir a seate in this your moste happie countrey of England . For here is peace and quietnesse, whereas the moste parte of foraine countreyes are full of great tumultes, and that (more is the pitie) with the sheding of much christian bloude. And where as many myghtie kings and po-tentatespotentates of the earthe have banded and con-spiredconspired together, and fight every where against God his anointed, and his holy churche, ben-dyngbendyng their force utterly to deface hys name, his glorie, and his Churche: Almightie God of his divine providence hath nowe also in these days (like as he hath in all ages hereto-fore)heretofore) raised up divers good and godly prin-cesprinces and states, and provided certaine places, wherto the elect and faithfull have resorted and bene preserved, during the time of persecution, to the ende that his holy name myght there be glorified, his worde purely and sin-cerelysincerely preached, and his Churche dispersed, in a manner restored. As it is also come to passe in these our most miserable days, in the whiche suche as syncerely love and esteeme more derely the honoure and glorie of God than they doe their owne commodities, ease, and welfare,welfare (after the counsel of Christ, say-ingsaying in this wyse: yfIf they persecute you in one citie, flie ye unto an other)other), have bene content to depart their owne naturall countrey, wholly to forsake their landes, inheritances, possessi-ons,possessions, and dwellyng places, yea and some also, to surrender their offices, dignities, and worldly preferments. An other sort with their wives children and parentes are departed into Ger-manie,Germanie, namely into the territorie and domi-niondominion of Frederike prince Elector and countie Palatine, the floure of all Christian Princes in these dayes (that I knowe) in the fervent zeale and true feare of God, a man worthy to be compared with David , or Josias . Others are fled into other places elsewhere, some to one cuntrey, some to an other, every one ac-cordingaccording to his abilitie, estate, condition, andfacultie. But we a numbre of us are arrived in saftie in this your majesties realme of En-glande,Englande, as into a moste safe and sure harbo-rough,harborough, where we live (God be thanked) vn-derunder your Majesties protection and safegarde in greate libertie to serve God in eyther lan-guage,language, the French or the Dutche, without al feare of tyrantes, or daunger of the gapyng throates of greedie ravening wolves. After the same maner hath God in time past pre-seruedpreserved and delivered his elect out of the hands of their enimies and persecuters by the mini-sterieministerie of dyvers vertuous women. As is to be sene in the .4. chapt. of the boke of Judges. How God delivered his people of Israel out of the hands of Jabin king of Chanaan, by De-boraDebora the prophetesse, by selling Sizara chiefe captain of his armie into the hand of a woman called Jahel . As he also preserved David from the furie of Saul, by Michol Sauls own dau-ghter.daughter. As he delivered the citizens of Bethulia, from the tiranny of Holofernes, by the hand of that most vertuous Ladie Judith . And as the children of Israel, were saved by the counsel of Mardocheus, at the instance and request of the most gratious and humble Hester,where they were lately before in peril of death and present destruction by the conspiracie of wicked Ha-man.Haman. The like hath ben brought to passe by divers other renoumed Ladies, whose fame shal endure for ever. And surely the graces and mercies that God hath shewed to his affli-ctedafflicted church in these later days by your maie-stiesmajesties means, ar no lesse than those he hath she-wedshewed tofore by the late rehersed ladies: so that your grace deserveth equal praise and cõmẽdatiõcommendation with them, considering with what gẽtle-nessegentlenesse and with how loving and charitable affec-tionaffection you have received the poore scattered flock of Christ. Is not your Majestie then to be estemed infinitely more happy and blessed that are so specially elect of god to serve him for such an instrument, and in such a quarel, and that maugre the beards of the enimies, being enraged through the malice and obstinacy of their hearts do persecute the church of God? Yes assuredly, most happy, christian, and ver-tuousvertuous princesse, even in the highest degree. Howe shall I be able then to expresse with tong, or to endite with pen your praises suf-ficiently?sufficiently? verilyVerily I am confounded and put to silence, and do confesse my self to be altoge-theraltogether insufficient. Wherfore (moste gracious Ladie) I rest with my heartie and continuall prayer unto God for your majestie, that he turne not his face from you, but that it wold please him to continue and daily to encrease his grace and favor towards you, and his ho-lyholy spirite within you, as also in and towardes those that be of your Majesties counsel, and all other Magistrates and officers whatsoe-uerwhatsoever having authoritie under your highnesse within your majesties realms and dominiõs.dominions, that walking in the fear and love of him they may do al their endevour through the prea-chingpreaching of his holy word to advaunce his holy name, and above al things especially to seke the safetie and weal of his church. And ther-foretherfore for the great benefit and good that God hath don unto his church by means of your majesty (most gracious prince) al tru faithful whatsoever they be, as wel strangers as your natural subjects seke to do unto your maie-stiemajestie most faithful and honorable service, ac-cordingaccording to their power. Besides, in al their as-sẽbliesassemblies and in every congregation they make their hartie and feruẽt fervent prayers unto almightie God for the helth of your soule, the safegard of your most royal person, and the prosperous estate of your realm long to continue. And I especially for mine own part, bicause I wold not be unthankful for the great benefits I en-ioyenjoy by your grace, abiding under your maie-stiesmajesties protection (forasmuch as ingratitude is a a most horrible and detestable vice) in con-siderationconsideration thereof (moste gracious Lady) I present your highnesse with this smal Trea-tiseTreatise of mine, as the best Jewel that I have in store at this presente, in signification of my good wil, and for declaration of my duetie in this behalfe, beseeching youre highnesse moste humbly to accept it in good parte as (considering your majesties natural bountie and your accustomed goodnesse) my trust is you will vouchsafe to doe. For I am persua-dedpersuaded (albeit the stile be rude) that the matter shall be fitte for your Majestie to reade, and that the same shall not be unpleasant unto you, but minister unto your grace great oc-casionoccasion of much joy, peace, and contentation of minde and conscience. And these be the causes and respects for the which I presume to present the same to your majestie, in most humble maner beseching your highnesse to accepte the same, and praying to almightie God to graunt unto your Majestie a moste happie reign in this world: and after this life to reigne with him for ever, for his only son our Lorde Jesus Christes sake. Your Majesties most humble servant, Jean vander Noodt. B eing one day at my window all alone,   So many strange things hapned me to see, As much it grieveth me to thinke thereon. At my right hande, a Hinde appearde to me, So faire as mought the greatest God delite: Two egre Dogs dyd hir pursue in chace, Of whiche the one was black, the other white. With deadly force so   in their cruell race They pinchte the haunches of this gentle beast, That at the last, and in shorte time, I spied, Under a rocke, where she (alas) opprest, Fell to the grounde, and there untimely dide. Cruell death vanquishing so noble beautie, Oft makes me waile so harde a destinie. A fter at Sea a tall Ship dyd appere, Made all of Heben and white Ivorie, The sailes of Golde, of Silke the tackle were: Milde was the winde, calme seemed the sea to be: The Skie eche where did shew full bright and faire. With riche treasures this gay ship fraighted was. But sodaine storme did so turmoyle the aire, And tombled up the sea, that she, alas, Strake on a rocke that under water lay. O great misfortune, O great griefe, I say, Thus in one moment to see lost and drownde So great riches, as lyke can not be founde. T hen heavenly branches did I see arise, Out of a fresh and lusty Laurell tree Amidde the yong grene wood. Of Paradise Some noble plant I thought my selfe to see, Suche store of birdes therein yshrouded were, Chaunting in shade their sundry melodie. My sprites were ravisht with these pleasures there. While on this Laurell fixed was mine eye, The Skie gan every where to overcast, And darkned was the welkin all aboute, When sodaine flash of heavens fire outbrast, And rent this royall tree quite by the roote. Which makes me much and ever to complaine, For no such shadow   shal be had againe. W ithin this wood, out of the rocke did rise A Spring of water mildely romblyng downe, Whereto approched not in any wise The homely Shepherde, nor the ruder cloune, But many Muses, and the Nymphes withall, That sweetely in accorde did tune their voice Unto the gentle sounding of the waters fall. The sight wherof dyd make my heart rejoyce. But while I toke herein my chiefe delight, I sawe (alas) the gaping earth devoure The Spring, the place, and all cleane out of sight. Whiche yet agreves my heart even to this houre. I saw a Phœnix in the wood alone, With purple wings and crest of golden hew, Straunge birde he was, wherby I thought anone, That of some heavenly wight I had the vew: Untill he came unto the broken tree And to the spring that late devoured was. What say I more? Eche thing at length we see Doth passe away: the Phœnix there, alas, Spying the tree destroyde, the water dride, Himselfe smote with his beake, as in disdaine, And so forthwith in great despite he dide. For pitie and love my heart yet burnes in paine. A t last so faire a Ladie did I spie, That in thinking on hir I burne and quake,quake; On herbes and floures she walked pensively. Milde, but yet love she proudely did forsake. White seemed hir robes, yet woven so they were, As snowe and golde together had bene wrought. Above the waste a darke cloude shrouded hir, A stinging Serpent by the heele hir caught, Wherewith she languisht as the gathered floure: And well assurde she mounted up to joy. Alas in earth so nothing doth endure But bitter griefe that dothe our hearts anoy. My Song thus now in thy Conclusions, Say boldly that these same six visions Do yelde unto thy lorde a sweete request, Ere it be long within the earth to rest. Sonets. I t was the time when rest the gift of Gods Sweetely sliding into the eyes of men, Doth drowne in the forgetfulnesse of slepe, The carefull travailes of the painefull day: Then did a ghost appeare before mine eyes On that great rivers banke that runnes by Rome, And calling me then by my propre name, He bade me upwarde unto heaven looke. He cride to me, and loe (quod he) beholde, What under this great Temple is containde, Loe all is nought but flying vanitie. So I knowing the worldes unstedfastnesse, Sith onely God surmountes the force of tyme, In God alone do stay my confidence. O n hill, a frame an hundred cubites hie I sawe, an hundred pillers eke about, All of fine Diamant decking the front, And fashiond were they all in Dorike wise. Of bricke, ne yet of marble was the wall, But shining Christall, which from top to base Out of deepe vaute threw forth a thousand rayes Upon an hundred steps of purest golde. Golde was the parget: and the sielyng eke Did shine all scaly with fine golden plates. Jaspis O worldes vainenesse. A sodein earthquake loe, Shaking the hill even from the bottome deepe, Threwe downe this building to the lowest stone. T hen did appeare to me a sharped spire Of diamant, ten feete eche way in square, Justly proportionde up unto his height, So hie as mought an Archer reache with sight. Upon the top therof was set a pot Made of the mettall that we honour most. And in this golden vessell couched were The ashes of a mightie Emperour. Upon foure corners of the base there lay To beare the frame, foure great Lions of golde. A worthie tombe for such a worthie corps. Alas, nought in this worlde but griefe endures. A sodaine tempest from the heaven, I saw, With flusheflashe   stroke downe this noble monument. I saw raisde up on pillers of Ivorie, Whereof the bases were of richest golde, The chapters Alabaster, Christall frises, The double front of a triumphall arke. On eche side portraide was a victorie.victorie, With golden wings in habite of a Nymph.Nymph, And set on hie upon triumphing chaire, The auncient glorie of the Romane lordes. The worke did shewe it selfe not wrought by man But rather made by his owne skilfull hande That forgeth thunder dartes for Jove his sire. Let me no more see faire thing under heaven, Sith I have seene so faire a thing as this, With sodaine falling broken all to dust. T hen I behelde the faire Dodonian tree, Upon seven hilles throw forth his gladsome shadcshade, And Conquerers bedecked with his leaves Along the bankes of the Italian streame. There many auncient Trophees were erect, Many a spoile, and many goodly signes, To shewe the greatnesse of the stately race, That erst descended from the Trojan bloud. Ravisht I was to see so rare a thing, When barbarous villaines in disordred heape, Outraged the honour of these noble bowes. I hearde the tronke to grone under the wedge. And since I saw the roote in hie disdaine Sende forth againe a twinne of forked trees. I saw the birde that dares beholde the Sunne, With feeble flight venture to mount to heaven, By more and more she gan to trust hir wings, Still folowing th'example of hir damme: I saw hir rise, and with a larger flight Surmount the toppes even of the hiest hilles, And pierce the cloudes, and with hir wings to reache The place where is the temple of the Gods. There was she lost, and sodenly I saw Where tombling through the aire in lompe of fire, All flaming downe she fell upon the plaine. I saw hir bodie turned all to dust, And saw the foule that shunnes the cherefull light Out of hir ashes as a worme arise. T hen all astonned with this nightly ghost, I saw an hideous body big and strong, Long was his beard, and side did hang his hair, A grisly forehed and Saturnelike face. Leaning against the belly of a pot He shed a water, whose outgushing streame Ran flowing all along the creekie shoare Where once the Troyan Duke with Turnus fought. And at his feete a bitch Wolfe did give sucke To two yong babes. In his right hand he bare The tree of peace, in left the conquering Palme, His head was garnisht with the Laurel bow.   Then sodenly the Palme and Olive fell, And faire greene Laurel witherd up and dide. H ard by a rivers side, a wailing Nimphe, Folding hir armes with thousand sighs to heaven Did tune hir plaint to falling rivers sound, Renting hir faire visage and golden haire, Where is (quod she) this whilome honored face? Where is thy glory and the auncient praise,   Where all worldes hap was reposed, When erst of Gods and man I worshipt was? Alas, suffisde it not that civile bate Made me the spoile and bootie of the world, But this new Hydra mete to be assailde Even by an hundred such as Hercules, With seven springing heds of monstrous crimes, So many Neroes and Caligulaes Must still bring forth to rule this croked shore .shore? U pon a hill I saw a kindled flame, Mounting like waves with triple point to heaven, Which of incense of precious Ceder tree With Balmelike odor did perfume the aire. A bird all white, well fetherd on hir winges Hereout did flie up to the throne of Gods, And singing with most plesant melodismelodie She climbed up to heaven in the smoke. Of this faire fire the faire dispersed rayes Threw forth abrode a thousand shining leames, When sodain dropping of a golden shoure Gan quench the glystering flame. O grevous chaunge! That which erstwhile so pleasaunt scent did yelde, Of Sulphure now did breathe corrupted smel. I saw a fresh spring rise out of a rocke, Clere as Christall against the Sunny beames, The bottome yellow like the shningshining landsand, That golden Pactol drives upon the plaine. It seemed that arte and nature strived to joyne There in one place all pleasures of the eye. There was to heare a noise alluring slepe Of many accordes more swete than Mermaids song, The seates and benches shone as Ivorie, An hundred Nymphes sate side by side about, When from nie hilles a naked rout of Faunes With hideous cry assembled on the place, Which with their feete uncleane the water fouled, Threw down the seats, and drove the Nimphs to flight. A t length, even at the time when Morpheus Most truely doth appeare unto our eyes, Wearie to see th'inconstance of the heavens: I saw the great Typhæus sister come, Hir head full bravely with a morian armed, In majestie she seemde to matche the Gods. And on the shore, harde by a violent streame, She raisde a Trophee over all the worlde. An hundred vanquisht kings gronde at hir feete, Their armes in shamefull wise bounde at their backes. While I was with so dreadfull sight afrayde, I saw the heavens warre against hir tho, And seing hir striken fall with clap of thunder, With so great noyse I start in sodaine wonder. I saw an ugly beast come from the sea, That seven heads, ten crounes, ten hornes did beare, Having theron the vile blaspheming name. The cruell Leopard she resembled much: Feete of a beare, a Lions throte she had. The mightie Dragon gave to hir his power. One of hir heads yet there I did espie, Still freshly bleeding of a grievous wounde. One cride aloude.aloude: What one is like (quod he) This honoured Dragon, or may him withstande? And then came from the sea a savage beast, With Dragons speche, and shewde his force by fire, With wondrous signes to make all wights adore The beast, in setting of hir image up. I saw a Woman sitting on a beast Before mine eyes, of Orenge colour hew: Horrour and dreadfull name of blasphemie Filde hir with pride. And seven heads I saw, Ten hornes also the stately beast did beare. She seemde with glorie of the scarlet faire, And with fine perle and golde puft up in heart. The wine of hooredome in a cup she bare. The name of Mysterie writ in hir face. The bloud of Martyrs dere were hir delite. Most fierce and fell this woman seemde to me. An Angell then descending downe from Heauen.Heaven With thondring voice cride out aloude, and sayd, Now for a truth great Babylon is fallen. T hen might I see upon a white horse set The faithfull man with flaming countenaunce, His head did shine with crounes set therupon. The worde of God made him a noble name. His precious robe I saw embrued with bloud. Then saw I from the heaven on horses white, A puissant armie come the selfe same way. Then cried a shining Angell as me thought, That birdes from aire descending downe on earth Should warre upon the kings, and eate their flesh. Then did I see the beast and Kings also Joinyng their force to slea the faithfull man. But this fierce hatefull beast and all hir traine.traine Is pitilesse throwne downe in pit of fire. I saw new Earth, new Heaven, sayde Saint John. And loe, the sea (quod he) is now no more. The holy Citie of the Lorde, from hye Descendeth garnisht as a loved spouse. A voice then sayde, beholde the bright abode Of God and men. For he shall be their God.God And all their teares he shall wipe cleane away. Hir brightnesse greater was than can be founde. Square was this Citie, and twelve gates it had. Eche gate was of an orient perfect pearle, The houses golde, the pavement precious stone. A lively streame, more cleere than Christ allChristall is, Ranne through the mid, sprong from triumphant seat. There growes lifes fruite unto the Churches good. Sonets. A BRIEFE DE- claration Declaration of the Authour upon his visions, taken out of the holy scrip- tures scriptures, and dyvers Orators, Poetes, Philosophers, and true histories. Tran- slated Translated out of French into En- glishe Englishe by Theodore Roest. W aying and conside- ring considering that many which are grieved and sore vexed in their myndes, grudgyng, and leding an unquiet life, do not onely for the most part, mislike of their owne estate and calling, but enui-ouslyenviously (such is our frailtie) go about to en-terenter into other mens lyvings, so that now a days the fewest numbre of men are cõ-tentedcontented with their vocation and callyng, wherof we have dayly too too much expe-rience.experience. As for example: Many souldiers desire to be merchants: again many mer-chantsmerchants love warfare, for all that they see what inconveniences folow oftentimes. Lawyers woulde be husbandmen: agayn, men of the countrey commende the voca-tionvocation of Judges. Many maried folks wold be vnmariedunmaried, other not maried, and sin-glesingle persons travaile to be. Poore men covet to be riche, the riche desireth more and more, and every man laboureth to advaunce him selfe. A knight or a gentle-mangentleman would gladly be some great Lorde, or Earle. An Earle loketh to be a Duke, or prince, a Duke or prince seeketh to be-comebecome King. A King (contentyng hymself yet least) studieth by what meanes he may amplifie his realme, and joyne unto it townes, cities, and countreys, so to in-creaseincrease his dominions daily, that at length he might attaine to the Monarchie of all Europe, and then to become Lorde of the whole worlde. Briefly, the hearts of car-nallcarnall and voluptuous men are never at rest, have never inough, but be driven by the meanes of concupiscence, which reigneth in them, always to be careful, to watche, to toyle and moyle, to wishe, to mistrust, to sue and busily to be occupied. For an ambitious and covetous carnal person is never contented with that he hath: for if he have bene busy but ten dayes for that he hath, he will not refuse to woorke ten times ten other to attaine to that which he desireth and gapeth for, although it be not profitable, either for body or soule. This time of our pilgrimage is graunted of God to learne to knowe him, to serve and honor him, to laude and magnifie his name, to put oure whole confidence in hym, to leade oure life accordyng to hys blessed will, and to seeke our whole feli-citiefelicitie and blessednesse only in hym. Final-ly,Finally, to acknowledge (without the whiche also the condition of man is worse than isthat of brute   beasts) with heart and tong al goodnesse goodnesse to proceede of him. This time (I say) for this purpose gyven unto us, those men aforesayd, consume and spend in vnquiet-nesse, unquietnesse, to the service of wicked Mammon, and other unlawfull and greedie desires of earthly and transitorie riches, losing and forgoing therby the joy and quietnesse of the spirite and conscience, and most of al, true christian libertie.Therefore (hopyng to move such as doe understand aright how deceitfull worldly things be, to avoyde them the rather, and to covete after the eternall and everlasting) I have thought it good, so compendiously as pos-siblypossibly I may, to shewe how vaine, transi-torie,transitorie, deceitfull, unprofitable, and vncer-tainuncertain worldly things be, and that heauen-lyheavenly things only are everlasting, immortal, excellent, good, and most to be desired, e-ueneven as God him self is the fountain of all goodnesse, and perfect in all things which can be desired, yea more a greate deale than oure understandyng is able to vt-terutter or to comprehende: to this ende and purpose, that men convertyng unto the Lorde, in hym onely seeking their whole salvation and perfect blysse, myght leade their life paciently with a good conscience in all quietnesse of minde and spirite, and so to enjoy the true christian libertie and spirituall gladnesse here in thys worlde, that in the worlde to come they might be inheritours (by grace) of the everlasting joyes in eternall glorie, purchased tho-roughthorough the bloud of oure Savioure Jesus Christ. But before we enter any farther to speake of the vanities of worldly and transitorie Richesse, I will warne thee (gentle Reader) that when I speake of substance, riches, estates, bodily health, of wife and children, and other like, whiche all are the good giftes of God, I mean not in respect of the thing it selfe, nor yet the good use of the same,same (for in it is no suche default,)default), but onely I meane the great a-buseabuse whiche commonly is seene in the vn-naturalunnatural and unbrideled desire, wherunto rich and worldly men ar inclined. Saint Augustine speaking of the nature of the thing, affirmeth, that health, strengthe, riches, grace, noblenesse, a faire andfaireand good wyfe, propre childrencleane children, friendes, power, and other like, they are things naturally indifferent, whereof a man maye reape good or evyll. Even so saythe S. Ambrose, that then they are good and profitable when they are wel used, otherwise hurt-full,hurtfull, yea dampnable, when the use of them exceedeth the lymits of reason and equitie, and rules of Gods holy worde. Neither meane I to touch those that are rich, or have great possessions: but those onely which are possessed of their goodes, whose money is their maister, them (I say) whiche are of the propretie and na-turenature of one named Gallio, which as Sene-caSeneca reherseth, Seneca in the treatise of the happy life. 22. Cha. was not maister of his goo-des,goodes, but he hym selfe was subjecte unto them, that is to say, he was a bond slave, and did serve unto the occasions of evyl, whyche came unto hym by hys owne goodes. Also I wil speake of the love, con-fidenceconfidence and inordinat lust, and of the cha-syngchasyng and puttyng away of vertue and godlynesse, and the going astray from God, dependyng upon his creatures, yea upon vanitie it selfe. Which moste of all com-methcommeth to passe by the meanes of worldely substaunce, and the greedie desire of the same, the very roote of all evil: For they reduce men from true libertie to thral-dome,thraldome, and turne freedome into slaverie, pleasures into miseries, honour, and pro-motionpromotion into subjection and perpetual shame and confusion. This if we considered, it should not give us occasion to set by them as we do, but rather to abhorre and hate them, and be moved to follow the counsel of David: Psalm. 62. When riches abound, set not thy heart upon them. Briefly, all and every kinde of evyll proceedeth of those three wyth theyr adherentes, wherewith the whole worlde is polluted, as witnesseth saincte John in hys Canonicall Epistles, saying: Love not the worlde, neyther the thyngs that are in the worlde: If any man love the worlde, the love of the Father is not in hym. For all that (sayeth he) whych is in the worlde, is the luste of the eyes, and the pride of lyfe, is not of the father, but of the worlde, and the worlde passeth away, and the lustes therof, but he that fulfylleth the wyll of God abydeth for ever. Touching whiche three vices I might rehearse of all sortes of people more than tenne thousande examples. Whereof some (I speak but temporally, and not of matters concernyng the soule) have lost theyr money, goodes, and estymation, some their friendes, libertie, life and goodes. But what neede I to spend my time, and to trouble my braines about it. Al bookes, whether they speake of the Assyrians, E-giptians,Egiptians, Persians, or Medians, Grecians, or Jewes, Romaines, or other countreyes, are full of it. Wherof rede Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, Plutarch, Titus Livius , and divers other historiographers, which have writ-tenwritten until our age and time, and we shall finde that all kinde of evill, at the least commeth out of one of these three, and daily we find it by good experience, that al mis-chiefemischiefe springeth out of these, yea even in such as had incorporated and joyned them selves to the church of Christ, foreseyng persecution, crosses, and tribulations to ensue therby, and by and by for feare of a little losse of worldly goodes, commodi-ties,commodities, honours, or otherwise, forsoke and turned againe like the dogge to their vo-mite,vomite, and like the sow, after she hath wa-shedwashed hir self, to hir puddle and mire. And to sette the vanitie and inconstancie of worldly and transitorie thyngs, the liue-lierlivelier before your eyes, I have broughte in in here twentie sightes or vysions, and cau-sedcaused them to be graven, to the ende al men may see that with their eyes, whiche I go aboute to expresse by writing, to the de-lightdelight and plesure of the eye and eares, ac-cordingaccording unto the saying of Horace. Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci. That is to say, He that teacheth pleasantly and well, Doth in eche poynt all othersin all poyntes all other excell. Of which oure visions the learned Poete M. Francisce Petrarche Gentleman of Flo-rence,Florence, did invent and write in Tuscan the six firste, after suche tyme as hee had lo-uedloved honestly the space of .xxj..xxi. yeares a faire, gracious, and a noble Damosell, named Laurette, or (as it plesed him best) Laura, borne of Avinion , who afterward hapned to die, he being in Italy, for whose death (to shewe his great grief) he mour-nedmourned ten yeares togyther, and amongest many of his songs and sorowfull lamen-tations,lamentations, devised and made a Ballade or song, containyng the sayd visions, which bicause they serve wel to our purpose, I have out of the Brabants speache, turned them into the Englishe tongue. The first then is: That he being upon a day alone in his window, where he saw as it were in his minde by a vysion a ve-ryvery faire hind, and also two swift hounds, one white and the other blacke chasing and pursuing hir so long, that at length they caught and killed hir. Which sight cau-sedcaused him to burst oute into sighes and tea-resteares for the piteous destinie thereof: That is, for the apointed time of the death of his love Laura, whiche he ment by the faire hinde, as by the houndes white and black he understode the daye and nyght, mea-ningmeaning the time passyng away, and not ta-ryingtarying for any one. Moreover, he saw a faire ship or vessel made of yvorie and Hebene wood, wherun-towherunto also he compared his love Laura, to wete hir whyte coloured face unto Ivorie, and hir blackishe browes muche lyke unto the wood of Hebene. The coardes and ro-pesropes were of Sylke, and the sayles of cloath of golde, whereby are meant not onely all hir costely rayement or appa-rell,apparell, but also hir noble and excellent ver-tuesvertues wherewith she was beautified and adorned. Againe, he sawe a newe bushe oute of a faire Laurell tree, Holly bowes bud-dyngbuddyng forthe, under whose shadowe little small birdes didde syng, wyth a verye sweete and melodious harmonie: Under-standyngUnderstandyng hereby, hir loving and curte-ouscurteous talke, hir most pleasaunt and sweete song. And by and by he sawe the lyghte-nynglyghtenyng and tempest to wyther and drie up thys faire and goodly Tree . That is, that a burnyng sicknesse came, whiche tooke awaye the lyfe of this fayre damosell his love Laura. The other three Visions followyng, are in manner all one, notyfiing hereby that there is nothyng else in thys worlde but myseries, sorrowes, afflictions, and calamities: And all that man doth stay hym selfe upon in thys worlde, is no-thyngnothyng but vayne fansie, wynde, and smoake. And thus as he hadde passed over many a yeare in greate and vn-faynedunfayned love towardestowarde hir (duryng hir life time) what with flatterie and what in commendyng of hir beautie, caused him upon a sodaine chaunge after hir de-parturedeparture (as it is sayde) so long a time to mourne and to lamente, but considering with him self, that there was no comfort,comfort hope or salvation in worldely love to be loked for, turned himselfe to Godwarde, lamenting and sorrowing the rest of hys lyfe, and repented hym of his former life so ydlely and undecently spent. The other ten visions next ensuing, ar described of one Joachim du Bellay, Gen-tlemanGentleman of France, the whiche also, bicause they serve to our purpose, I have transla-tedtranslated them out of Dutch into English. First of all, he speaketh of a certayne Architecture or kinde of buildyng, gorge-ouslygorgeously and magnificentlike made, as you may see more plainly in the seventh figure of our visions. Secondly he sawe a spire, thirdely an Arke triumphant. And then the Dodonian tree , spreading his shadow upon seven hilles, namely upon the hill of Palatine, the hill Capitolie, the mounte Vimiall, the mount Cely, Esquilin, Vimiel, and Quirinel. After that, the birde which is able to beholde the Sunne, that is the Eagle imperiall: and the great Statue, whom he saw leaning on a stone pitcher, whereout runneth a great water, wher-bywherby he meaneth the river of Tyber, with the shee wolfe, giving sucke to two children, which is the Armes of the Romains. The seventh is a Nimph mournyng and wrin-gyngwringyng of hir handes. Eightly, a three fla-mingflaming fire, wherout a birde flushing moũ-tedmounted on hie. Ninthly, a faire spring, and a hundreth Nimphes rounde about it, unto whome came the Faunes, which brake the Fountaine, and drave them awaye. Last of all, hee telleth of Typheus daughter, whiche after hir greate presumption and pride was vanquished and slaine. With all these he goeth about to persuade, that all things here upon earthe, are nothing but wretched miserie, and miserable va-nitie,vanitie, shewing also howe Rome hath bene destroyed, which of a base and low estate was lifted up, and become very hie, and that by none other means than couetous-nessecovetousnesse and the great desire which that peo-plepeople and nation had to money and Ambi-tion,Ambition, that is, to be regarded, and to have authoritie and rule following the nature and condition of their progenitours and Predecessoures Romulus and Remus, whiche were (as histories do tell,)tell), nou-rishednourished and brought up of a she wolfe, cal-ledcalled Lupa.   Oute of whose breastes they have sucked all manner of crueltie and beastlynesse, gettyng so unto themsel-uesthemselves a wolvish courage, yea worse than a Wolfe, as Mithridates Kyng of Ponte cast them in the teeth, bicause they were ne-uernever satisfied of bloud, honour, dignities, and riches, but always indevoured them selves to get other princes, nations, coun-treyscountreys and Cities, goodes and dominions, wheruppon folowed the oppression of o-therother nations, through many great robbe-ries,robberies, with great labour and paine, yea to the perill and losse of their owne men and Capitains, and so amplified and augmen-tedaugmented above mesure their empires, realms, and domynions, stuffed and furnyshed theyr Cytie wyth abundaunce of all ma-nermaner of riches, wherupon didde ensue all kinde of superfluitie and worldely pom-pousnesse.pompousnesse. So that they adorned their Citie with all maner of sumptuous and costely buyldings, wyth all kindes of curious and cunning workes, as Thea-ters,Theaters, Triumphall Arkes, Pyramedes, Columnes, Spires, and a greate num-bernumber of graven Images, Statues, Me-dallesMedalles and Figures, made of divers and sundry kindes of stuffe, as Marble, Ala-blaster,Alablaster, Golde, Sylver, Copper, Pour-phere,Pourphere, Emplaster, Brasse and other like mettall, some graven, and other some cast. All whiche sumptuousnesse and su-perfluitiesuperfluitie hathe oftentymes thoroughe dissention, discorde and sedition amongst them selves, also by their enimies privie conspiracy, hate, and particular profite, and by childish and folish counsell, ben to their great hinderaunce and damage. As it is to be seene in their owne Histories. And as they proceeded in all wickednesse, abhomination, superstition, and Idola-trieIdolatrie from time to time, even so after that CHRIST our Savioure, and King of al Kings was crucified under Pylate, pre-sidentpresident of Jerusalem, they ceassed not dayly to kill the poore Christians, persecutyng the church of God in al places, by al kinde of crueltie and tiranny, especially in the time of Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Aurelian, Dioclesian, Maxence, and other like, bicause they woulde not observe and keepe theyr false and superstitious worshyppyng of God, but rather rebuked them, and proved theirs to be false. And forasmuch as that auncient Rome would not amend it selfe, and renounce their enorme vices, Idola-trieIdolatrie and superstition, and converte unto the Lorde Jesu Christe, to imbrace the true worshippyng of God, and the euer-lastingeverlasting Gospel, they have bene justly pla-gued,plagued, receyving according to their deser-tes,desertes, such measure as they had measured to others. Therfore are the Persians, Hui-nes,Huines, Frenchmen, Germains or Dutchmen, Vã-dales,Vandales, Eastgothes, and Westgothes rysen against them and their Empire, and have divided it, and at lengthe have they besieged Rome, and have taken and subverted, burned, spoyled, and wholly rased it. So the Lord through his juste judgement hath reuen-gedrevenged the innocent bloud of his children. This is shewed unto us by these visions and sonets.They have banished and abolished Christe and his doctrine, every where preferryng their owne ambition, profit, commoditie and ease. Wherunto and to obtain it the rather, they have brought in many superstitions and traditions of men, as Latin service (bicause the comon people should not understand their doings) bells, organs play, cymbales, incense, palmes, candles, tapers, purgatorie, masses for al soules, diriges,   obsequies,   Pilgrimages, indulgences to deliver the soules out of purgatorie, after thei have gotten money inough. Item, church holy days, Rogation dayes, Relikes, yea coales wherwith S. Laurence was broyled, Josephs hosen, the armes of S. Cornelis, with many more tri-flestrifles and other relikes. They proceed fur-therfurther to the forbidding of mariage, meate, egges, butter: in lyke manner images, and crucifixes were sette up, woorkyng thereby false miracles, alwayes forese-ingforeseing to their Maosin, that is, great shops, churches, temples, chapels and Altars, where they might sell their trumperie freely , not without great gain, yea so wel that they were mounted so hie in power, riches, and voluptuousnesse, as we have seene by experience, and dayely is to be seene in places where they are, that they rule above emperors, kings, and princes: and all this under a shewe of pietie and holy-nesse,holynesse, as we heretofore have sayde. Of these S. John in his revelation doth warn us in his sixte chapiter, Revel. 6. where he sayeth manifestly, that when the lambe had ope-nedopened the seventh seale, he saw a pale horse, and he whiche satte upon it, was named death: for this congregation of hipocrites, notwithstanding their copper faces, and carbuncled noses, through their vnmea-surableunmeasurable gluttony and dronkennesse, are yet in their soule pale, deadish, black and blew, as vnholsomunholsom and dead bodies: for thei have no true life within them, nor that blessednesse blessednesse that consisteth in Christ Jesu, Rom. 2. and his holy word. Luke. 12. And he which sate on it was death. Math. 6. Their doctrine and teaching is no-thingnothing but death and damnation. For hy-pocrisiehypocrisie engendreth nothing but destruc-tiondestruction of salvation, and their fruits are shame and confusion. For hell foloweth them to destroy those that are seduced by them. Esay. 5. Daniel and Paule they have foretold that Antechrist shoulde be borne of the subuer-sionsubversion of the Empire, Proverb. 5. and desolation of Rome. And to the ende we myght speake more at large of the thing, I have taken foure visions out of the revelation of S. John, where as the holy ghost by S. John setteth him out in his colours. I saw a beast (sayth S. John) rising out of the sea, Revel. 13. signifiyng the congregation of the wicked and proude hypocrites, which ex-altexalt and advaunce them selves as the Ce-derCeder trees of Libanus, they are unnaturall and beastly like unto Elmas the inchan-ter,inchanter, ful of fraude and guile, full of falshod and pride, they are whelpes and genera-tionsgenerations of the devyll, subverting the ways of the Lord. Thys beast is described here as the pale horse in the fourth age, and the cruel Grashoppers in the fift age, and themad horsses with Lions mouths in the vj.vi. age. Apoc. 6. Apoc. 9. This beast, meaning the odible, fals, and damnable errors and pestiferous inspirati-onsinspirations of the divel, which at this time reign in the beastly membres of that monstrous body of the beast, as namely in the outragiousoutragious bishops, spiritual lawyers, priests, hypocrites, and false Magistrates, for their heads are their subtiltie, and their hornes signifie their tyrannous might. It had also ten crownes upon his ten hornes, signifiyng their greate dominion and su-perioritiesuperioritie throughout the whole worlde. The divell is their prince and Captayne most cruell, and that through the iniqui-tieiniquitie and ingratitude of the people: but in this point differ the dragon and the beast, from the divell and his membres, Sathan andfrom his carnal and beastly congregation, for he had seven crounes upon his seven heades, and they have ten crownes upon their ten heads, mening, that that which he onely hath stirryng up of the thyng, that have they.   The signification wherof is, that Sathan is only of abilitie and po-werpower to blowe into their eares the thing whiche they with violence, and by force maintayne: where as he is but able by fansies and inspiration,   there are these his meete instruments to perfourme it and put in execution by violence, and power, by menaces and compulsion. Wher as he he dallieth onely by playe, there do they seriously force and violently compell. When he hath only engendred and found out any error or false doctrine, they with al diligence, as an infallible truth, allow, confirme and stablishe it, and make of it a necessarie article to beleve on, as they have put in practise their purgatorie, au-ricularauricular confession, transubstantiation, worshippyng and carying about of dumb Idols, and Images, the hearing of latin ser-uice,service, Masse, and other abhominations. As he hath found out any lye (as he is the fa-therfather of all lies, and hath ben since the be-ginning)beginning) so may they holde it for a per-fecteperfecte written veritie, makyng it of good authoritie and might, as experience may testifie, they have done. Hereout and such like, it is manifest, that they being hys ghostly ministers and spirituall instru-mẽts,instruments, may execute effectually more wic-kednessewickednesse than he him selfe alone, as their works may wel testifie. Sathan was not of power to put Christ to death, if it had not ben through Judas , into whom he entred, and afterward by the bishops and Scribes who persecuted him unto deth. The Apostles, tru ministers and other witnesses of Christ shold never have ben persecuted, whipped, Math. 23. scourged, tormented and miserably slaine, neither shold they at this present, if these popish prelates did not folow and maintain their old and accustomed maners, and fulfil the mesure of their fathers. And upon his heads were names of Blasphemie against the Lord and his Christ. Al this is nothing else than their shining and glorious titles, wher with they suborne   and make great their supremacie and their estimation, and as holy and blamelesse to bee regarded among men, and before the world, whereunder is covered and comprehended all maner of iniquity. What ar Popes, Cardinals, pa-triarks,patriarks, legates, chief heads, archbishops, pronotariesprotonotaries, archdeacons, officialls, com-missaries,commissaries, prebendaries, vicars, lorde ab-bot,abbot, master or doctor, and suche like, what are these I say else but names of blasphe mie? For these offices and titles are not of the holy ghost, neither is there any men-tionmention made of them in the holy scripture. What is it I pray you else, than a great abhomination and blasphemy that the Pope claimeth to him selfe to be the most holy father, to be the Vicare of Christ, God on earth, supreame head of the Church, the only steward of the gifts, graces, and mi-steriesmisteries of God? What meaneth it that Priests and Bishops do arrogantly ascribe to them selves to be Bridegromes, to stand in Gods stead, to have power to pardon sinne, and to be our Ladies clean and vn-defiledundefiled knights? What be these else than names of blasphemie? For they are no-thingnothing else as Zacharie termeth them(having no care of feeding of the flock, but through meere negligence and slouth sette aside preaching of the word, through these vain titles) than very offending Idols. Their Decrees , Decretals, traditions, rules, or-dinaunces,ordinaunces, statutes, customes of the Fa-thers,Fathers, general Counsels, Sinodes, and o-therother of their usages, not grounded on the word of God and his wil, are nothing else but dampnable hipocrisie, and divelish dis-simulation,dissimulation, blaspheming the name of the Lord. For the names of blasphemy on his heade is nothing else but to maintaine under an honest and vertuous shew, that which is blasphemous, to his own aduãce-ment.advancement. This beast was like the Leopard, spot-tedspotted and blemished, tokens of inconstancie, chaungeablenesse, and temeritie. His feete like to a Beares feete, fearful and horrible, il favored of fashion, and deformed, signify-ingsignifying crueltie, stubbornesse, stoutnesse and vncleanesseuncleannesse. And his mouth as the mouth of a Lion, declaring heereby the pride, theft, murther, and all kinde of wickednesse of those Prelates. Daniel saw in a vision, a Lion, wherto that proud kingdom of the Assirians and Chaldees were to be compa-red.compared. Unto the Beare which he sawe, was likened the barbarous and rude realmes of the Medes and Persians. By the Leopard is meant the unstedfast kingdome of the Grecians.   The Assirians and Chaldees were for their stealing and Pride, rebuked and curssed of the Prophets Esay, Nahum, Nahum. 23.Nahum. 2-3. Esay. 13. and Abacuck. Abacuck. 1. The Medeans and Persians kept the people of God in captivitie and bon-dage.bondage. As it is to be seene in the bookes of Hester, Hest. 23.Hest. 2-3. Paralipomenon and Esay. 2. Paralip. 36 Esay. 22. The Gre-ciansGrecians also were very spitefull, 2. Macha. 2.1. Macha. 2. and full of reproche to the people of God, in the time of that cruell Tyrant Antiochus, as it ap-pearethappeareth in the Booke of the Machabees. 2. Macha. 2.1. Macha. 2. But this beast whiche S. John speaketh of here, dothe comprehende all these three which Daniel saw, namely the bodye like unto a Leopard, pawes like unto a Bear, and the mouth to the Lion. Whereby the holy Ghost teacheth us, that within thys one curssed Popedom or kyngdom of An-techrist,Antechrist, should be as much, and more ab-homination,abhomination, Idolatrie, fornication, mur-ther,murther, and all kind of wickednesse, as were in all these three realmes aforesaid. As at this day it is to be seene , and we have had good experience. No where raigned at a-nyany time more pride, idlenesse, cruelty, I-dolatry,Idolatry, fornication, adultery, vnclean-nesse,uncleannesse, Sodometrie,   envie, dissimulation, falshoode and inconstancie, vaine glorie, iniquitie, sorcerie, superstition and impie-tie,impietie, than doth in this one dominion of An-techrist.Antechrist. He alone hath more contamina-tedcontaminated Gods holy Temple, than all the infi-delsinfidels together that ever were: they have most shamefullye intreated and judged the very electe people of God, 1. Corin. 3 which are the vessels of his glory. Rom. 9. They have most miserably and narowly kept under, and as it were in prison, the true Ministers of God by their Decrees and traditions. The severitie and rudenesse of Pharao, Antioche, and Caiphas, is nothing in the comparison of theirs, for in them is all kind of beastlinesse, uncleanlinesse, wan-tonnesse,wantonnesse, concupiscence and carnall secu-ritie.securitie. No reason or humanitie hath any place amongst them, they are more lyke beasts than men. The rigorous Procla-mationsProclamations against the Jewes, Hest. 3. 4. (at the request of wicked Ammon and of are nothing to speake of, to the ordinaunces and statutes of the Antechrists, for those were only against the body, but theirs are against the soule and conscience of man also. After this sort doth the Popedom (which is the dominion of Antechrist) bear the Image of the Leopard, of the Bear, and of the Lion, bicause it is not only partaker of al the wickednesses with other realmes, but it exceedeth and surmounteth al other vij.vii. times double in all kinde of iniquitie, Psalm. 9 Rom. 3. idolatrie, Rom. 3. and abhominations that ever were committed under heaven. They have the mouth of a Lyon, always blasphemyng, cursing and banning: Their feete lyke a beare, signifiyng their insatiable coue-tousnesse,covetousnesse, runnyng headlong to every kinde of mischiefe, Rom. 1. very ready to sheade bloud: as leopards are they polluted and spotted with dyvers and sundry incon-stantinconstant mindes, institutions and observings, never stedfast or constant, but in al thin-gesthinges chaungeable and foolishe: 2. Thess. 2. for suche as receive not Gods truthe, are worthi-lyworthily forsaken of God.
  vertuous orig] ver- tuous Brabante orig] BrabanteCountrey), orig] Countrey) matters, orig] matters. orig] T whatsoever orig] whatsoeuer, time orig] time, vertue; orig] vertue. nor  orig] Nor tong; orig] tong. nor orig] Nor Sapphoorig] Sapphoneither orig] Neither  storie-- orig] storie. in orig] In orig] n supernaturall), orig] supernaturall,) respect orig] respect, you), orig] you) right, orig] right force. orig] force hair. orig] hair welfare orig] welfare, other), orig] other) Verily orig] verily dominions, orig] dominiõs.  orig] a quake; orig] quake, flashe orig] flushe victorie, orig] victorie. Nymph, orig] Nymph. shore? orig] shore . sand orig] land aloude: orig] aloude. Heaven orig] Heauen. traine orig] traine. God orig] God. Christall orig] Christ all that orig] is same orig] same, default), orig] default,)  Bod NB PN F HRH UI HEH BL_2 BL] faire and  NLScot] faireand Bod NB PN F HRH UI HEH BL_2 BL] propre  NLScot] cleane children orig]  in  Bod NB PN F HRH UI NLScot HEH BL_2] in eche poynt all others  BL] in all poyntes all other.xxi. orig] .xxj.  Bod NB PN F HRH UI NLScot HEH BL_2] towardes  BL] towarde Bod NB] comfort,  BL] comforttell), orig] tell,) vi. orig] vj.  orig] from from orig] and  orig] he protonotaries orig] pronotaries Nahum. 2-3. orig] Nahum. 23. Hest. 2-3. orig] Hest. 23. 1. Macha. 2. orig] 2. Macha. 2. 1. Macha. 2. orig] 2. Macha. 2. vii. orig] vij. 
  voluptuous sensuous, sensual naturall native Romyshe Roman mean space meantime nourice nurse other my my other withdrawe distract the rather instead for as much insofar resembled likened the matter the substance of the argument puissant powerful stile full legal title Tullie Marcus Tullius Cicero exquisite highly accomplished his nine sisters the Muses cunnyng artfulness devise design alonly alone of hir out of her; as an exercise of her enduing endowing argument theme glosingspecious praise accompt account for these alonely only for these happiefortunate deceivable deceitful peculiarly particularly, preferentially al . . . his all of his other forenamed lovablenesse praiseworthiness entertainement welcome overthwartly . . . hair perversely and completely contrariwise God of God in exercise of commodities sources of sustenance and comfort dignities positions of elevated status preferments positions conferring social and financial advantage renoumed renowned tofore earlier endite compose heartie heartfelt weal well-being estate state wold not be desire not to be by your grace by means of your liberality in store laid up in signification as a sign vouchsafe be willing, deign the same i.e., the matter of the book contentation contentment Hinde a female deer mought might, could Heben ebony sprites spirits welkin sky outbrast burst forth cloune peasant anone immediately wight creature waste waist anoy vex Sith since stay to hold fixed frame structure, building. Of bricke, ne yet neither of brick nor Christall crystal parget ornamental work (usually in plaster) on walls sielyng ceiling sodein sudden chapters capitals, the top portion of a column frises friezes arke arch habite clothing chaire chariot auncient ancient Sith Since gladsome pleasant erst originally since thereafter astonned stunned, amazed Rentingrending whilome erstwhile, once upon a time hap chance bate discord mete deserving leames flashes glystering glittering harde by very close at hand gronde groaned with . . . afrayde frightened by tho then, thereupon fell cruel embrued soaked, stained puissant powerful slea slay garnisht adorned Declaration explanation mislike of begrudge, disapprove of estate status, situation calling vocation go aboutundertake enter into take up the fewest numbre of very few for all that despite the fact that yet still studieth exerts himself in planning carnall worldly careful anxious moyle drudge gapeth for longs for graunted of granted by proceede of derive from the rather the more easily covete after long for more a greate deale a great deal more thorough through, by means of in it is no suche default in the right use of worldly good there is no moral defect onely I meane I only mean propre legitimate possessed of possessed by confidence impudence chasyng chasing away, expulsion thraldome captivity set by esteem rehearse recount crossesmisfortunes, impediments commodities useful things, goods the livelier more vividly to the ende so that honestly honourably, chastely stay hym selfe rely fansie fantasy what with . . . what in in consequence of . . . and in consequence of considering with him self reconsidering, reflecting to Godwarde toward God described of described by Arke triumphant triumphal arch drave drove followingderiving from Figures images Pourphere porphyry Emplaster plaster of Paris other some some others particular narrowly self-interested from time to timefrom age to age president appointed governor, viceroy enorme enormous Eastgothes . . . Westgothes Ostrogoths and Visigoths rased razed the rather the more easily brought in introduced as such as diriges, obsequiesfuneral or commemorative rites odible odious blowe . . . eares whisper to them concerning, secretly propose found out invented Hereout . . . like From these and similar instances ghostly spiritual wher with by means of which suborneadorn estimation reputation patriarks the titles afforded to the highest-ranking of Catholic bishops. protonotary high-ranking Monsignors of the Catholic church officialls bishops' representatives to diocesan ecclesiastical courts commissaries papal appointees with judicial or executive responsibilities specified to particular causes prebendaries cathedral administrators il favored of fashion ugly in shape stoutnesse stubbornness Paralipomenon I.e. , Chronicles. Sodometriesodomy in the comparison of I.e., compared to. to the ordinauncesin comparison to the ordinaunces After this sort Accordingly sheade shed observings observances
Commentary on the Theatre Drafted by Joe Loewenstein August 2010; marked up by Alexandra Bursak & Perry Trolard September 2010. Readers will note that we will print an abridgement of the Theatre, with the full text of the book available on line. The following notes provide glosses and commentary for the abridged version and also a sketchy, incomplete commentary on some passages that will be published only in the online Archive. THEATRE not an uncommon title for a sixteenth-century book meant to provide a critical conspectus on a subject. Such books share with theatrical auditoria the function of offering an object of scrutiny rendered circumscribed and made available for serious reflection to a spectator whose situation allows him or her an objectifying, but not dispassionate vantage. voluptuous sensuous, sensual Worldlings The term suggests not only creatures of this world, but those with allegiances to this world. HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE‘Shame on he who think ill of this’. This is the motto of the Order of the Garter. In commendationem . . . Brabant ‘Poem in commendation of the work set forth by the most noble and virtuous Lord, John van der Noot, patrician of Antwerp, by "M. Rabilae", poet of Brabant.’ ‘M. Rabilae’ is probably an anagram of the name of Melchior van Baerle (Barlaeus), Antwerp author of a number of Latin poems on mythological subjects. Haec . . . serenam‘Let Babylon read these things and learn to rear its earth-bound head as far as heaven: here is the sure path to life, which the noble example of van der Noot gives to men to read. Scorning his homeland, certain victories, and official rewards, aware that virtue has no foundation in blood, he has raised his mind to greater things and, by this work, lets the world know of his uncommon suffering and of his life's sad labors. ‘Let Babylon read these things; let it read and fill its ears with this work. And if anyone's mind is shrouded in dark mists and, forgetful of the right path, wanders across trackless rocks, here, the mists removed, he may find out the Supreme Good. The teachings of the "Wise" disperse the truth and jumble it with empty falsehood. O senseless minds of men! Not that Church of the Gods but the alerted mind, lashing these Learned ones with a harsh rope, will lead the corrupted soul to better things. ‘O that the idols lay overthrown! May His honor, which moves all things, be restored. Yet sometimes a kinder fortune will drop from the stars and the piteous rulers of most high Olympus will behold our struggles, behold how the tyrants of all lands rage with furious mind. But whoever is inflamed to discover the star that points out the true path, read here these learned, late-night labors which learned van der Noot has wrought for you. Like the Ploughman who watches the clouds chased away by the sun and the fields renew their smiling, so will you see a tranquil light shine out, through the dense smoke, for you.’ DOCTOR . . . Zoilum ‘Doctor Gerard Goosen, Physician, Scientist, and Poet, Governor of Brabant; an Octastich on Zoilus’. An octastich is an eight-line poem. Zoilus was a literary scholar of the fourth century B.C., notorious for the harshness of his criticism of Homer. GERARDUS GOOSSENIUS Like van der Noot, van Goossens was a member of the Dutch refugee community in England, having left the Netherlands in 1566. Shortly after the publication of A Theatre he fell foul of the authorities of the Dutch Church owing to a dispute with one of the elders, John Engelram, after which he moved to Canterbury. Zoile . . . Goosseni‘Zoilus, why so pale? Why the perpetual long face, your brow furrowed and forehead always wrinkled? I see that you're bothered by the publication of this book. But why, I wonder, should you find that troubling? Is it because it attacks the rites of the Papists and the worship of idols, and doesn't lament despoiled Babylon? It doesn't mind some backbiting, Zoilus; it is content to have delighted the good and discomfited the wicked'. ‘Goossens, steadfast.’ FraunceFrom the reign of Edward III through to that of George III, all English monarchs asserted formal claim to the throne of France. my departure oute of Brabante Van der Noot fled Antwerp (in the duchy of Brabant) in the spring of 1567 after a failed Calvinist attempt to take control of the city government. Margaret of Parma had put down the revolt, yet she exercised what would seem, in hindsight, a comparatively moderate approach to this and prior Calvinist insurgencies in Antwerp and its environs; when the Duke of Alva replaced her later in the spring, a number of Antwerp's Protestants sought refuge in England and Germany. More of the Dutch exiles ended up in London than in any other individual European locale. naturall native as well . . . Antechrist Van der Noot's special emphasis on visual hygiene does more than prepare for the carefully disciplined visionary poems to come. The Antwerp Calvinists had a resolute interest in the purification of visual culture, having engaged in an aggressive program of iconoclasm in the years before the crackdown that forced him to flee to England. The identification of the Roman church or the pope with the Antichrist has a number of pre-Reformation antecedents, and figures in the first of the twenty-five articles of the Lollards (1388). Romyshe Roman mean space meantime nourice nurse other my my other withdrawe distract the rather instead gyve devote for as much insofar conveniencie aptness resembled likened blessed and happie A pleonasm: happie here means 'fortunate' or 'blessed'. princeAlthough van der Noot refers to Elizabeth as a ‘Princesse’ in the dedicatory half-title, the sex-neutral use of the term ‘prince’ was in wide use. lineally descended The assertion is polemical: after all, in 1536, her father had declared Elizabeth illegitimate; he reversed himself by the Act of Succession of 1543, which Act Edward VI had attempted to overrule in the Device for the Succession of 1553. There were several claimants at the time of the publication of TVW. Henry Hastings still had a few supporters, and more important, the pretensions of Elizabeth’s second cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, had been explicit since the death of her half-sister, Mary Tudor, when Henry II of France declared his son, Francis II, and Mary, his wife, king and queen of England. Even though Mary Queen of Scots had fled to England from Scotland in 1568 and was very much under Elizabeth’s thumb when TVW was published, her claims to the English throne had the abiding support of England’s Catholics: the publication precedes the Northern Rebellion by only a few months. Van der Noot’s affirmations of Elizabeth’s sovereignty here have a nervous truculence; they contribute to the general defense against Catholic claims to authority in TVW. puissant powerful stile full legal title Neither for thatContinuing a series initiated by ‘not so much for that’ above. Phoenix . . . singular Cf. Epigram 5 below. In his account of the mythical phoenix (Natural History 10.2) , Pliny mentions that only one of its kind exists at any time. Tullie Marcus Tullius Cicero given in your own person I.e., rather than through an interpreter. exquisite highly accomplished measures This term for dance 'steps' reminds us that just as ancient and Early Modern musical theory emphasized the relation between mathematical proportion and ideal musical intervals, so did theoretical writing on dancing describe its gestures and steps as governed by regularities and proportions; see Elyot (1531: 77v-78r) and Nevile (2004). his nine sisters the Muses imagerie Although the term can denote sculpture, van der Noot almost certainly means 'embroidery' here. Elizabeth was said to have been fond of embroidery and skilled at it from an early age. Two handsome embroidered bookbindings survive, customarily attributed to her. cunnyng artfulness devise design alonly alone of hir out of her; as an exercise of her enduing endowing argument theme fained Emblemes invented images representing moral fables, pictorial allegories. For more on emblems see the Introduction. glosingspecious praise flatterie or glosing The phrase is pleonastic. Glosing, cognate with glossing, has a special association with writing. inconveniencie unsuitableness Asse tuning of a harp The ancient proverb 'The ass with the lyre' could be used to evoke the incomprehension of the crude and ignorant, and the folly of offering higher things to the debased, as well as a range of simple incongruities. Because Erasmus discusses the provenance and the meanings of the proverb at some length in his Adages , it had special currency among humanists. accompt account for these alonely only for these Lamuell . . . Proverbes Van der Noot here quotes Proverbs 31:30 . Proverbs was frequently understood to consist of three books, since it collects sayings attributed, first, to Solomon, then, to Agur son of Jakeh, and, in the final chapter, to Lemuel. deceivable deceitful happiefortunate peculiarly particularly, preferentially al . . . his all of his other forenamed lightened enlightened lovablenesse praiseworthiness Prince Van der Noot here insists on the fact that the term could be used indifferently of a male or female ruler. jewels Not gemstones per se , but articles of adornment made of precious materials. law and equitie Van der Noot follows Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics 5) in the conventional distinction between legal justice, administered in England on the authority of custom, maxim, and statute and equity, an extralegal power to bring legal justice, in specific cases, into line with the general principles from which it springs. Van der Noot's readers would have associated equitable justice with particular (conciliar) courts, and above all the Chancery and the Court of Requests. in six or seven languages Important as was vernacular translation of the Bible to those committed to church reform, concerned as they were with lay access to scripture, van der Noot's emphasis here falls on a different matter of linguistic access. He praises ways in which the religious needs of its various ethnic communities were accommodated in cosmopolitan London. The Sacraments . . . Supper Baptism and the Eucharist are the only two rites recognized as sacraments by the leading theologians of the Reformation. Christian discipline The Protestant reformers were concerned not only with the correction of doctrine and the reform of church polity, but with a reform of discipline, that is, of the methods of doctrinal and moral correction in pastoral practice, especially at the parish level. countrey and nation While country denotes a group of people originating in a particular place, nation can refer both to an ethnic group and to a confessional sect. entertainement welcome banishyng . . . DivellAt 2 John 2:22 the distinguishing feature of the Antichrist is his denial of the divinity of Jesus. The identification of the Antichrist as a son or descendant of Satan derives from the convergence of two other interpretive traditions: that the Antichrist is to be identified with the ‘sonne of perdition’ of 2 Thess 2.3 and that this sonship, an infernal mirror-image of Christ’s divine sonship, is disclosed at Gen 3.15 , where God refers to the abiding hostility of the descendants of the serpent to the descendants of Eve. overthwartly . . . hair perversely and completely contrariwise Pharao . . Jezabell Jeroboam, first king of the breakaway Northern kingdom of Israel, is remembered in 1 Kings for his revival of idolatry (12:28); his successors, of whom Ahab (here 'Achab') is said to be the worst (1 Kings 16:30) , are regularly condemned for committing the idolatry: 'and it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he [i.e., Ahab] took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.' In their iconoclasm, then, the Reformers tax Catholics with committing the sins of Jeroboam; see Luther's Table-Talk, 175 . The gloss to 'Jezebel' at this juncture in the Geneva Bible − 'By whose influence he fell into wicked and strange idolatry and cruel persecution' − is relevant as are John Knox's references to Mary Tudor as 'that cursed Jesabell' (Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women 1558: D6) and his yoking together of Pharoah and Jezebel in his Faythfull Admonition of 1554 : 'Remembre brethren, that Goddes vengeaunce plaged not Pharao the fyrst yeare of his tyranny. Neyther dyd the dogges devoure and consume bothe the fleshe and bones of wicked Jezabel when she first erected and set up her Idolatrie' (F1v-F2). Josua . . . DavidA slightly heterogeneous list, although Joshua, Gideon, and David all figure in the Old Testament as great military leaders. An outlier not only in this respect, ‘Judah’ also disrupts the chronology of the list. This suggests a possible transmissional lapse in the French Theatre, which the English translation faithfully reproduces at this juncture. kingdome . . . worlde In Works and Days 109-120, Hesiod identifies the reign of Cronos with the Golden Age. In Roman culture, Cronos was conflated with Saturn, and the pleasures of the Cronian Golden Age with the indulgence and social leveling of Saturnalia; Ovid offers classic rendering of the Saturnian Golden Age in Met 1.89-112 . In his fourth eclogue, Virgil hails the return of Saturn and Astraea, and with them the return of the Golden Age (Ecl 4.6) . Astrea According to Ovid (Met 1. 149-50) this virgin goddess forsook the earth during the last of the Four Ages, when injustice and impiety asserted themselves. Camden reports that Virgil's celebration of the return of Astraea in the fourth eclogue, 'Iam redit virgo', was applied to Elizabeth 'in the beginning of her . . . reign' (Remains 1605: Z2-Z2v) . For more on this mythologization of Elizabeth, see Yates 1947. God of God in exercise of these our most miserable days The clash between the description, a few lines earlier, of the English present as a Golden Age and, here, of the European present as miserable suggests the peculiar psychological situation of the asylum-seeker; it also evokes a paradox in the self-understanding of the Protestant, who sees himself as a member of both a persecuted minority and a triumphant imperial Church. commodities sources of sustenance and comfort If they . . . other See Matt 10:23 . dignities positions of elevated status preferments positions conferring social and financial advantage Fredericke Under the Elector, Frederick III, most of the Palatinate, which had been hospitable to a range of Protestant groups, became a strictly Calvinist enclave within the Holy Roman Empire, though his efforts to suppress Lutheran practices in the Upper Palatinate were only partly successful. Josias Josiah, the king of Judah who 'put down the idolatrous priests' (2 Kings 23:5) , is similarly instanced as a model ruler in the epistle prefatory to the 1570 edition of the Geneva Bible. The comparison of Frederick to Josiah may be especially pointed, since Josiah effected a major reformation not only in his own realm of Judah, but in the kingdom of Israel to the north as well. His fervent iconoclasm would have been an inspiration to the Antwerp reformers: at 2 Kings 23:4 , Josiah burns the vessels used in the worship of Baal and carries the ashes to Bethel, the site where Jeroboam had erected his golden calves; at 23:5, he destroys the altar at Bethel. harborough harbor French . . . Dutche Edward VI granted charters for the founding in London of both Dutch and French churches in 1550. dyvers diverse How . . . Jahel Alluding both to the account of Deborah's advice to Barak on how to defeat the army of Sisera (Judges 4:6-16) and to the story of Jael's subsequent murder of Sisera (Judges 4:17-21) . he also . . . daughter See 1 Samuel 19:11-16 . he delivered . . Judith as narrated in the apocryphal book of Judith, chapts. 8-16 . the children . . . Haman See Esther. renoumed renowned tofore earlier affection disposition, affect and that maugre . . . being ‘And all this despite the provocations of your enemies, who, being, etc.’ The phrase maugre the beard of was proverbial, but van der Noot may be playing with beard here, suggesting that Elizabeth is undeterred by the virility of the Catholic princes - the Pope and Philip II of Spain - who opposed her. endite compose heartie heartfelt your Majesties counsel Van der Noot is probably referring quite specifically to Elizabeth's Privy Council. weal well-being estate state wold not be desire not to be by your grace by means of your liberality in store laid up in signification as a sign vouchsafe be willing, deign the matter the substance of the argument the same i.e., the matter of the book contentation contentment conscience The term can have its modern, specifically moral sense, as well as the less specific senses of 'consciousness' and 'inward thought.' 1.1 Spenser is translating Marot’s translation of Petrarch’s canzone 323, the so-called 'Canzone of Visions'. The source canzone is constructed in twelve-line stanzas with a regular, if complex rhyme scheme, with a three-line tornata at the conclusion; Marot’s translation preserves the organization of the poem in twelve-line units, but changes the rhyme scheme. As to format, all of van der Noot’s editions follow the layout of illustrated manuscript editions of Marot’s translation from the 1560s, which display only one twelve-line unit per opening. 1.1 One of two of the epigrams that Spenser has translated in sonnet form, expanding Marot's twelve lines to fourteen. 1.1-3 Spenser's syntax in these opening lines supports the general theme of the vain and transitory character of the world. No visionary 'I' organizes the lines; the first person leaves only traces − on my window and in the two indirect objects (me) of hapned and grieved. Instead, Spenser gives us an absolute construction in the first line, the participle in which (being) can be attached only to an ‘I’ that appears nowhere in the sentence, and is followed by two impersonal constructions, [it] hapned and it grieveth. Indeed, these opening lines are remarkable for a dreamlike ellipsis of specific subjects: if the visionary ‘I’ does not securely manifest its presence, the things seen are not much more syntactically assertive, at least within this three-line introduction to the sequence. (Things appears at first to be the subject of hapned, but is, in fact, the object of to see.) Hinde a female deer 1.4-8 Van der Noot glosses this vision as an allegory for the death of Petrarch's Laura, pursued by the dogs of destiny or appointed time ('by the houndes white and black he understode the daye and nyght'; 000-00). mought might, could the greatest God The adjective can function as a superlative ('the greatest of the Gods’) or as an absolute superlative; the phrase in the French source, souverain des Dieux (B1v) , cannot be understood as absolute. With deadly force so So can modify either deadly force (i.e. ‘with such deadly force’) or pinchte in 9. Spenser’s sources - mordean sì forte (Petrarch) and mordoint si fort (Marot) - would authorize either construction. untimely Possibly influenced by van der Noot’s interpretation of the sonnet as an allegory of the depredations of time, and certainly responding to his own formulation two lines earlier, in shorte time, I spied, Spenser has introduced this characterization of the death of the hind, which is not to be found in Petrarch’s original or Marot’s translation. 1.13-14 Spenser here introduces a temporal idea not present in his sources. Marot follows Petrarch closely, using a past tense to describe how the cruelty of death vanquished (vanquit, B1v) beauty and how destiny makes the speaker sigh (souspirer me feit); Spenser's absolute construction (death vanquishing) and his Oft makes me waile suggests that the experience of the vision takes place in a grievous, perpetually renewed present. Heben ebony 2.1-6 Again van der Noot will construe the vulnerable thing at the center of the vision as a figure for Laura: the ebony of the ship as her black brows, its ivory, her skin; the ship's gold sails and silk tackle are said to stand both for her clothing and for her precious virtues; see [cross-ref]. turmoyle The verb is often used to describe the effect of storms on the sea. The slightly unusual transfer to the air evokes an abnormal turbulence. riches Probably to be construed as 'wealth, richesse' rather than as 'valuable things': with metrical stress falling on the second syllable, it is closely allied to the abstract term, richesse, in Marot's version. 3 Of the Epigrams, only the first and this third poem are sonnets. Making this formal shift, Spenser may simply be succumbing to the difficulty of rendering Marot's douzaine in twelve English lines; he may also have adopted the sonnet form as an homage to Petrarch, widely felt to be the master of the form, for this particular poem takes up one of the central images of Petrarch's Rime sparse , the laurel tree. In this poem and elsewhere in Petrarch's collection, the image of the flourishing laurel effects a congruence between the apparently divergent objects of Petrarch's longing, the beloved Laura and the fame that might accrue to poetic achievement, an achievement that might be recognized by the award of a laurel crown. fresh and lusty Since the phrasing here is closer to Petrarch's giovenetto e schietto than to Marot's simple jeune (E2v), one might conclude that Spenser had consulted Petrarch's original. But the lines immediately following follow Marot in a firm departure from his Petrarchan source. 3.3-6 The full stop after 'melodie' clarifies the syntax of a sentence left uncertain in Le Theatre. Marot's translation had departed from the logic of the Petrarchan original in which the speaker's sense of the paradisiacal nature of the tree derives from its freshness and lustiness; in Spenser's poem, this sense of the tree's paradisiacal nature is traced to the plenitude of birds in its branches. (When Spenser revised the translation for VP, he worked to recover the fundamental logic of Petrarch's lines.) noble Spenser departs from his sources here, as he will at line 12 below, where he describes the tree as royal. He may have been inspired to this diction by Roest's translation of van der Noot's commentary on the previous poem, where Laura's virtues are described as 'noble and excellent' (000-00). melodie Van der Noot comments that the birds' song represents Laura's conversation and song (F4v). sprites spirits welkin sky outbrast burst forth by the root Another instance in which Spenser seems to have looked past Marot to the Petrarchan original: Petrarch's da radice has no equivalent in Marot. Spenser restores the symmetry whereby the poem opens with growing branches and proceeds to an uprooting. shadowThe word manages to refer at once to the tree, its shadow, and the visionary experience at the moment of their combined passing-away. homely . . . ruder The adjectives insist on a rusticity not emphasized in Petrarch or Marot. For a similar non-comparative use of ‘ruder’, see the ‘ruder clowne’ of FQ VI.x.7.4 , and cf. the ‘viler clowne’ of Oct 97 . cloune peasant That sweetely . . . fall. Spenser's subsequent poetry recurs frequently to this accord of song and the sound of falling water, which he came to treat as the sign of a poetry that, while rural, could also claim, perhaps by virtue of its harmony with the natural order, the right to speak of higher things. In April, Colin is said to have made his song in praise of Elisa, Queene of shepheardes while lying beside a spring and to have tuned it unto the Waters fall ( 35-6); and see also the lament in June 155-6) . The laments of The Teares of the Muses are similarly powred forth . . . Beside the silver Springs of Helicone(4-5) and there the Muses teach the trembling streames. . . to beare . . . A Bases part(25-8). Again, in FQ, the Nymphes and Faeries at the base of Mt. Acidale are found sitting by the banks of a gentle flud . . . And to the waters fall tuning their accents fit(VI.x.7.1 and 9). Noting the shift in this line, possibly inadvertent, from the pentameter norm of the rest of the Epigrams to an alexandrine, John Hollander remarks (1988, 173-6) on the important congruence of this 'scene' of acoustic concord with Spenser's first use of that metrical attenuation which would be one of the distinguishing features of the Faerie Queene stanza. For more on this attunement, see Cheney 1997, 72-3. chiefe As in Marot, no lesser delights are explicitly named, although Spenser's line suggests that the pleasure of the sight may exceed the pleasure of the accorde of voice and waters. In Petrarch there is no competition between sight and sound, instead, they collaborate to produce a sweetness that by its very increase seems to trigger the onset of loss – quando / più dolcezza prendea . . . / . . . aprir vidi uno speco (‘when / I took more sweetness . . . / . . . I saw a chasm open’). Phoenix In Epigrams 5.7 , Martial compares the longevity and resilience of Rome to that of the phoenix. Petrarch emphasizes the self-destruction of the phoenix, suppressing its capacity for self-renewal. On the singularity of the Phoenix, see above [cross-ref] and n. anone immediately wight creature Untill The speaker relinquishes the thought that the bird is some heavenly wight upon witnessing its arrival at the scenes of prior desolation described in the previous two Epigrams. This changing-of-mind is somewhat more explicit in Marot (don pensay . . . jusque à tant / Qu'il vint à; 'wherefore I thought . . . until / it arrivated at') and Petrarch (prima pensai, fin ch' . . . giunse'; at first I thought, until . . . it reached'). we see The characterization of the transitory things as transitory visibilia is Spenser's own invention, and it throws emphasis on the importance of viewing to the sensation of loss. The detail is especially fitting since, in this poem, the Phoenix is at once the object of the speaker's gaze and, itself, a gazer, looking on the same broken tree and spring late devoured that the speaker earlier viewed. Whereas the speaker of the prior poems responds to the vision of loss with grief, the Phoenix responds with disdaine. dide In Spenser's sources, the Phoenix disappears. pitie and love The Phoenix's death excites emotions not evinced by the prior visions. At last Perhaps suggesting that the appearance of a Lady in this sixth and final vision has been elicited by the new depth and generosity of the speaker's response to the death of the Phoenix in the fifth vision, his pitie and love. In both poems, the speaker is said to respond with burning. thinking Whereas Marot's songeant suggests some continuity between the vision of the Lady and the ruminative experience that makes the speaker burne and quake, Spenser's thinking recurs to Petrarch's phrasing − che mai nol penso ch'i'non arda et treme − which marks a sharper rift between the vision and the emotional reflection on that vision. The phrasing here and the choice of proudely at line 4, which recovers the force of Petrarch's superba (which Marot has nearly lost in his contre amour rebelle), suggest that Spenser has here consulted Marot's Petrarchan source. White seemed hir robes Whereas in Petrarch, the weaving creates the effect of snow and gold combined, in Spenser's version snow and gold seem to be the very constituents of the fabric. Spenser's slight invention here is perhaps inspired by the dense verbal texture in the French version, for Marot describes the fabric as made with such art that gold and snow ensemble / sembloient meslez (‘seem commingled together’; B6v). waste waist 6.8 Recalling the death of Eurydice, stung by a snake on the occasion of her marriage ( Virgil, Georgics, 4.457-9 ; Ovid, Met 3.10 ). in earth Although the Lady of this douzaine mounts up to joy, in sustains the idea of Eurydicean entombment, an idea reinforced by the phrasing of Marot's envoy, which concludes with a longing for a conspicuously subterranean death (soubz la terre gesir). anoy vex yelde . . . a sweete request Spenser seems to be straining to secure a rhyme for rest; the phrase very imperfectly renders Marot'sdonne ung doulx plaisir ('gives a sweet pleasure') and Petrarch'sàn fatto un dolce . . . desio ('has produced a sweet desire'). The substantial revision of the envoy for Bellay may well stem from Spenser's dissatisfaction with this particular line. within the earth See note to 6.11 above. The sequence of sonnets translates Du Bellay's Songe, itself heavily indebted to Petrarch's Canzone of Visions. 1 Du Bellay's sequence begins with the apparition of a spirit who propounds the general lesson of the visions that will follow, that since all things beneath heaven are transitory, those who hope for permanence must vest that hope in the divine. The spirit's admonition occupies the entire octave of Du Bellay's poem, whereas, in Spenser's rendering, the apparition speaks of the world's inconstancy and, in the final three lines, the original speaker formulates the compensatory principle of confidence in God. The summary prologue and the demonstration of the speaker's wisdom give the sequence a somewhat greater spiritual security than is offered in the preceding sequence. That said, this second sequence is also more sepulchral than the prior one: Spenser's speaker is addressed by a ghost (un Demon for Du Bellay) and the ensuing poems are haunted by the pathetic or monstrous vestiges of antiquity. 1.1-5 Recalling the occasion of the appearance of Hector's ghost in Aen 2.268-97 ; the ghost rouses the sleeping Aeneas, warning him to flee the burning city of Troy. that great rivers The Tiber's. Temple The idea that God dwells in a heavenly temple is a frequent biblical topos (see, e.g., Isa 6:1, Heb 8:1-6, and Rev 11:19). The heavens themselves are not directly compared to a temple in the canonical bible and no detailed speculation as to the architecture (and angelic personnel) of the heavenly temple was made until the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (among the Dead Sea Scrolls) and the hekhalot literature of early Judaism. nought . . . vanitieEccles 1:2 and 12:8 . Sith since stay to hold fixed The second, third, and fourth sonnets focus on the destruction of monumental Roman culture. Van der Noot speaks of Rome as stuffed . . . wyth . . . all maner of riches, wherupon didde ensue all kinde of superfluitie and worldely pompousnesse ( F5v-F6). His description suggests an abiding fascination with Roman sumptuousness: 'They adorned their Citie with all maner of sumptuous and costely buyldings, wyth all kindes of curious and cunning workes, as Theaters, Triumphall Arkes, Pyramedes, Columnes, Spires, and a greate number of graven Images, Statues, Medalles and Figures, made of divers and sundry kindes of stuffe, as Marble, Alablaster, Golde, Sylver, Copper, Pourphere, Emplaster, Brasse and other like mettall, some graven, and other some cast' ( F6) . frame structure, building. cubites A cubit is a measure of the distance from the elbow to the tip of the fingers. With the exception of the revised translation for Bellay, Spenser employs the term on only one other occasion, to measure the depth of the fountain in the Bower of Bliss ( FQ II.xii.62 ); see comments on line 11 below. Dorike wise Doric manner. Vitruvius associates the Doric order in architecture with masculine valour ( De Architectura 1.2.5 ). The inscription, SPQR, in the tympanum of the temple in the facing illustration specifies this as a Roman building: this abbreviation for Senatus Populusque Romanus (‘The Roman Senate and the Roman People’) was inscribed on Roman public from the time of the Republic forward. Of bricke, ne yet neither of brick nor Christall crystal deepe vaute A crypt. Whereas Spenser is translating ventre, a term inapplicable to lofty spaces, vault ( Fr voûte) can be used for any enclosed space surmounted with an arched ceiling, so Spenser is somewhat lightening his source. parget ornamental work (usually in plaster) on walls sielyng ceiling golden plates Cf. golden lamminae that cover the interior of the 'house' within the Holy of Holies ( 1 Kings 6:21), an ornamental feature not fully captured in the Geneva rendering. Jaspis Jasper. With the exception of the revised translation of this poem in Bellay, Spenser's only other references to jasper and emerald are found in his descriptions of the Bower of Bliss: some of the grapes that hang over the second gate in the Bower appear like emeralds ( FQ II.xii.54 ) and the fountain in the Bower is paved with jasper ( FQ II.xii.62 ). Crystal (line 6), jasper, and emerald are all part of the array of precious materials mentioned in the descriptions of heaven in Revelation 4 and 21 . sodein sudden earthquake Cf. the destruction of the Temple alluded to in Matt 24:2 and the less specifically located earthquakes of 24:7. sharped Pointed. Spenser will use this again in an analogous architectural description in Rome, 16, but the term is also used of Cupid's arrow in Tottel's Miscellany (1557) . 3-4 Spenser has some difficulties rendering Du Bellay here. The obelisk in Du Bellay's poem is precisely as high as (justement mesuré, / Tant que) an archer - keen-eyed, as a professional necessity - can aim (prendre visee), whereas Spenser's translation suggests both that the height of obelisk is somehow proportioned to its square base and that it is as tall as an archer can see. couched In Du Bellay's original, the ashes repose (reposoit) in the urn. Spenser has displaced the verb used of the lions, couchez, in line 9, and thereby has relinquished phrasing that suggests the heraldic character of the resting lions. grief Cf. Du Bellay'storment. flasheThe reading ‘flushe’ in our copy text may be either an instance of foul case or of a misreading of manuscript copy, since 'a' and 'u' are easily confused in secretary hand, especially in Spenser’s. chapters capitals, the top portion of a column frises friezes arke arch victorie Triumphal arches are customarily ornamented with images of Victory personified, carved in relief in the roughly triangular spaces above the curved portion of the archway, as in the woodcut illustration facing the poem. habite clothing chaire chariot auncient ancient his sire Vulcan's father. Son of Jove and Juno, Vulcan is blacksmith and armorer to the gods. Sith Since Unrhymed like the other Sonets, the fifth of the Sonets offers especially good examples of Spenser's effort to capture the character of rhyme in French, which is relatively unemphatic when compared to that of rhyme in English. The final syllables of lines 1, 3, and 4 are bound together by assonance, thus helping to mark the first quatrain as an independent unit. Spenser achieves an effect of mild closure by means of the internal rhyme of 'disdain' and 'again' in lines 13 and 14; he would later strengthen this effect in the revision for Complaints, where the two words are in terminal position, giving the Complaints version its final couplet. Dodonian tree An oak (and not the palms of van der Noot's woodcut). Dodona was a city in northwest Greece, famous for its sacred oak and its oracle of Zeus. The reference initiates a pattern in the poem that represents the eminence of Rome as deriving from transplants of Eastern − Greek and Trojan − culture. seven hilles 'Namely upon the hill of Palatine, the hill Capitoli[n]e, the mounte Vimiall, the mount Cely, Esquilin, Vimiel, and Quirinel' ( Noot, F4v-Fv ). gladsome pleasant bedecked with his leaves A garland of oak leaves was the traditional symbolic reward of those who had saved a Roman citizen in battle. Italian streame The Tiber. Spenser does not here translate Du Bellay's Ausonien, though he will restore the term in Complaints. ('Ausonia' was an archaic name for central and southern Italy.) many goodly signes For Du Bellay'smaint beau tesmoignage. 'Signes' fails to capture the retrospective character of tesmoignage, which might be rendered 'trace', but which carries a strong juridical cast, as in 'witness' or 'evidence'. race From L radix, root; often used to describe plant and animal species as well as human lineages. The vegetative sense is activated here by the fact that the Dodonian tree is a metaphor for the Trojan people, transplanted and flourishing as Romans. erst originally Trojan As with Italian (line 4), Spenser adopts a more familiar designator of place than that in his source. Du Bellay's Dardanien identifies Troy with Dardanus, mythical founder of Troy and son of Zeus and Elektra. villaines The term, originally meaning a person of low birth, had already begun to take on its modern moral connotations. Du Bellay'spaisans had no such connotations. heape For Du Bellay's somewhat more orderly troppe ('troupe'). wedge A possible translation of Du Bellay'scongnee (cognee in Noot's Le theatre), but an odd one, since the plain sense of congnee is 'axe'. Spenser seems to be trying to capture the slow, persistent force of the wedge, possibly influenced by the connotations of gemir, accurately rendered as 'grone'; indeed, the entire sonnet might be said to recall Virgil's comparison of the final collapse of Troy to the groan and tumble of a mountain ash felled by rivalrous woodsmen ( Aen 2.626-31 ). since thereafter twinne . . . trees Alluding either to the split between the Eastern and Western Churches or the split within the western residue of the Roman Empire between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. birde . . . Sunne The eagle, as at FQ, I.x.47.6 ; and see Isidore, Etymologies 12.7:10-11 . The Eagle imperial, as van der Noot describes the bird of this sonnet [cross-ref], seems to symbolize Rome in its ancient glory. Psalms 103 attributes a capacity for self-renewal to the eagle, thus eliciting a potential link to the phoenix. (In the Natural History, 10.2-3 , Pliny the Elder turns to a discussion of the varieties of eagle immediately after his discussion of the phoenix, which he dismisses as a merely legendary creature.) The link to the phoenix is rendered more complex at the conclusion of the sonnet, when an owl rises from the ashes of the dead eagle. th'example . . . damme Whereas the ancient naturalists from Aristotle forward emphasize how ruthlessly eagles test their young, Spenser and Du Bellay shift attention to the fledgling and to the rigorous imitation by which she rises to heroic, if fatal, achievement. tombling Aside from its associations with tomb, Spenser's rendering of Du Bellay'srouant (‘coiling’) establishes a link between the eagle and the ship of Epigram 2 , which crashes on hidden rocks when the sea is tombled up. lompe The strange translation of Du Bellay's tourbillon is possibly traceable to both Spenser's interest in an echoic relation to 'tombling' and to the traditional English rendering of Romans 9:21 , where God's providential creativity likened to that of a potter who can 'make of the same lompe one vessel to honour, and another unto dishonour.' In his effort to find a term for the whirlwind of fire, Spenser may have been influenced by the term for the whirling mass of clay on the potter's wheel. foule . . . light The owl emerging from the eagle's ashes probably stands either for the Holy Roman Empire or the modern papacy. as a worme This literal translation (of Comme un vermet) would seem to have the force preserved in the modern French idiom, nu comme un ver, naked as a worm; for the same idiom in Chaucer, see Rom. Rose, 454. astonned stunned, amazed this nightly ghost All versions of van der Noot's Theatre omit the eighth sonnet of Songe, in which a monstrous seven-headed beast emerges from the foundations of an ancient ruin; after changing its shape a hundred times, the monster evaporates in the blast of a Scythian wind. In the ninth sonnet, Du Bellay again refers to the apparition as a monstre; that Spenser translates the term as ghost, and so captures the ghostly evanescence attributed to the monster in the omitted sonnet, suggests that he may have had recourse to a complete edition of Songe. For the omission of the eighth sonnet, see the Introduction. 2-8 This description of the spirit of the Tiber differs strikingly from Virgil's far more benign description of the river god at Aeneid 8.26-30 . Van der Noot refers to the central figure as the great Statue, though the image as described and as depicted in the woodcut matches neither the celebrated Roman statue of the Tiber unearthed near Santa Maria sopra Minerva in 1512-3 nor the statue of the Tigris from the Quirinal that Michelangelo had refashioned as an image of the Tiber in the 1560s (after the composition of Du Bellay's Songe). side The word can mean both 'at length' and 'low-hanging'; Spenser is rendering flottans, 'flowing'. Saturnelike Aged, because Saturn, as the father of Jove, was traditionally associated with an especially ancient divine regime. Saturn is also associated with melancholy temperament. a water Following his French original, une eau, quite closely. creekie Replete with creeks. Spenser's use of this word to translate Du Bellay's,sinueux, 'sinuous' is the first recorded in OED. This may be the first manifestation of Spenser's distinctive interest in tributary flows. shoare The battle between Aeneas (the Troyan Duke) and Turnus, narrated in Aeneid 12 , takes place in fields along the Tiber west of Rome, near Laurentum. 9-10 In Livy's version of the late 4th-c legend, Romulus and Remus, having been cast into the Tiber on orders of the tyrant Amulius, are left floating in a trough; when the overflowing river ebbs they are rescued and nursed by a thirsty she-wolf ( Ab Urbe Condita, 1.4 ). Van der Noot argues that from the breasts of the wolf the twin founders of Rome sucked all manner of crueltie and beastlynesse[cross ref.] A statue of the Roman wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, famous in Spenser's day and long thought to have been cast in the fifth century, was housed on the Capitoline Hill overlooking the Tiber. bow Bough; hence wreath, garland. Bow is an acceptable 16th-c spelling for bough; although bough usually indicates a more substantial limb than that which would be used for a garland, Spenser’s usage is comparable to Henryson’s ‘The bewis braid blomit abone my heid’ ('The Lion and the Mouse', The moral fabilis of Esope 1570: line 1330). 11-2 Wreaths of olive, palm, and laurel were awarded to Greek athletes and military commanders as tokens of victory, but the olive had special associations with peace, the palm, with victory, and the laurel, with poetic achievement. The fates of the three trees may together signify the transitory nature of achievement, yet insofar as the poem seems slightly to differentiate the fate of olive and palm from that of the laurel, the poem perhaps implies that a collapse of a regime of post-bellum peace leads to a withering of the arts. tune Translating Du Bellay'saccordoit. Cf. the rendering of Marot's accordoient in Epigrams 4 as in accorde did tune. Rentingrending this . . . face By thus rendering Du Bellay'sceste face (‘this aspect’ or ‘this face’), Spenser lightly suggests that the lost visage is the nymph's own, as if the removal of this whilome honored face were not an especially lamentable product of some larger historical decay but were, instead the effect of the nymph's own grief. This quickened disfigurement is refracted and further heightened in lines 10-12, where the nymph imagines modern Rome as a hydra each of whose seven heads should be cut off. whilome erstwhile, once upon a time praiseIn the 16th-c, praise can mean ‘the activity of praising’, ‘the products of that activity’, and ‘praiseworthiness’; Spenser frequently uses the word in circumstances in which the latter sense is primary (cf. Am 5.9 and FQ, II.v.26.2 . But all three senses are relevant here: the Roman culture of praising, the store of Roman self-congratulation, and the achievements and virtues that were the objects of that praise have all disappeared. A similar, if not identical set of meanings attaches to the word the Spenser is translating here, los, which can mean both ‘the activity of praising’ and ‘fame, renown’; in Du Bellay’s poem, the latter sense seems to be primary. hap chance bate discord 10-12 The new Hydra recalls the seven-headed Beast from the Sea of Rev 13, yet whereas the Beast in Revelation is identifiable as the seven-hilled Rome (and is so identified in the glosses to the Geneva Bible of 1560), the new Hydra, presumably associated with the papacy or the Roman church, seems paradoxically a threat to the imperial Roman nymph herself. The paradox, that one figure of Rome should threaten another, is central to Du Bellay's Roman poems. mete deserving Hercules To slaughter the hydra, said to grow multiple new heads with each decapitation, was the second of Hercules' twelve labours. Neroes and Caligulaes The two first-century Roman emperors serving here as types of criminally violent monarchy. The glosses to Rev 13.3 of the 1560 Geneva Bible refer to Nero as the emperor 'who moved the first persecution againste the churche'. bring forth In Spenser's source, the new Hydra is said to sire the Neroes and Caligulaes on the nymph; Spenser has muted the insinuation of rape. croked shore? Recalling the creekie shoare (10) of the previous sonnet. The emended punctuation consolidates the unambiguously interrogative force of Du Bellay's construction − N'estoit-ce pas ('was it not?') − which is slightly effaced by the mispunctuation in the French version of TVW, which is reproduced in the English edition. flame . . with triple point Perhaps alluding to the triple structure of the papal tiara − an allusion that would be enhanced by the reference to incense in 9.3 − and meant to imply the grandiose aspirations of the Roman church. 3-4 Confusingly, the lines preserve Du Bellay's word-order. leames flashes golden shoure The story of Jove's impregnation, in the form of a shower of gold, of the imprisoned Danae was allegorized as an account of the corrupting power of gold at least as early as the first century C.E.; see Horace, Odes, 3.16 . glystering glittering The tone and tactics of the opening of the poem and woodcut are conspicuously at odds. The illustration, which captures the rout of the poem’s final lines, is populous and busy, whereas the sonnet unfolds quietly, at a steady pace. The first quatrain simply describes the welling spring, the second the harmony that supplements the shining pleasantness of the spring. The mention of mermaids in 8 is the first hint of animation, and they obtrude only figuratively on the scene; line 9 introduces seates and benches, the first mark that the spring is meant to accommodate human or humanoid presence. Only at line 10 does the setting accommodate something of the woodcut’s crowd, and even then the hundred Nymphes are presented in orderly array – side by side about. 3-4 The river Pactolus was famously rich in electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. Ovid transmits an etiological myth: when Midas, on Bacchus' instructions, washed himself in the Pactolus to rid himself of the curse of the golden touch, the riverbed turned hard and yellow ( Met 11.137-45 ). 5-6 The evaluative comparison of Art (i.e., the exercise or products of human education, design, or craft) and Nature (i.e. the wild, the given, the non-human, the unwilled) is traditional; the two principles are usually understood to be in competition. Spenser makes characteristically distinctive − albeit not unique − contributions to the tradition, both instanced here: he especially interests himself in (often competitive) collaborations between Nature and Art and he often imagines their encounter as especially productive of pleasure. accordes Harmony. Like 'harmony' or 'concord', accord can have both musical and socio-political senses. Mermaids Spenser is translatingd'une Serene [ sic , a misprint for Sirene]. The conflation of mermaid and siren is ancient and, because the terms could be used interchangeably, the use of mermaid here probably should not be taken as a suppression of the threat associated with the allure of the siren's song; cf. FQ, II.xii.17.9 . assembled A direct translation of the French s'assembla, the usual connotations of which, like those of its English cognate, entail no hint of disorder. 1-2 Omitting two poems from Du Bellay’s sequence, van der Noot proceeds to the last of Du Bellay’s visions, set at dawn. The belief invoked here, that dreams at dawn are true, was sufficiently commonplace in antiquity that Artemidorus goes out of his way to debunk it in chapter 7 of Book 1 of his Oneirocritica, the first systematic treatise on dream interpretation. Morpheus The god of sleep. Typhaeus sister Although Hesiod distinguishes Typhœus and Typhaon, making Typhœus the latter’s father, they were frequently conflated in antiquity - as Typhoeus, Typhos, Typhaon, or Typhon: all are monstrous and belligerent. Hesiod’s Typhœus is one of the Giants who revolted against the Olympians ( Theog 820-38 ). Neither Typhaon nor Typhœus had a famous sister, but the poem and the woodcut seem to identify the sister as a personification of Rome as both imperial conqueror (lines 9-10) and warlike foe of heaven (line 6). In a confusion possibly related to the conflation of Typhœus and Typhaon, the commentary on this poem refers to the central figure as ‘Typheus daughter’. For Spenser, the figure of Typhœus will continue to invite bizarre genealogical imaginings: in FQ III.vii he will describe how Typhœus raped his own mother Earth and so sired Argante and Ollyphant, twins whose incestuous relations begin in utero: the belligerent and lecherous Argante is both Typhœus’ sister and his daughter. bravely splendidly morian I.e. morion; a type of visorless brimmed helmet. harde by very close at hand gronde groaned with . . . afrayde frightened by tho then, thereupon striken . . . thunder Fall, struck by a clap of thunder. start In Spenser's source, the shift in tense is less jarring: unlike the other poems in the sequence, Du Bellay's final sonnet is cast in the present tense, whereas Spenser postpones the shift to the present until the moment of waking. 1-8 The octave of the twelfth sonnet is based on the first two-and-a-half verses of Revelation 13 . 2-5 The beast combines attributes of the four creatures from the sea that appear to Daniel in Dan 7.2-7. In his discussion of the sonnet, van der Noot will follow the 1560 Geneva glosses to Rev 2 , which associates the leopard, bear, and lion with the Macedonians, the Persians, and the Chaldeans; see below [van der Noot G5-6v]. Van der Noot variously describes as signifying the congregation of the wicked and proude hypocrites and as 'meaning the odible, fals, & damnable errors & pestiferous inspirations of the divel' [cross-ref to G2v]. (In his ensuing discussion, he takes pains to distinguish the beast of Rev 13, which he associates with the priestly hierarchy of the Roman Church, from the dragon of Rev 12, which he associates with Satan himself.) the vile blaspheming name 'What is it I pray you else, than a great abhomination & blasphemy that the Pope claimeth to him selfe to be the most holy father, to be the Vicare of Christ, God on earth, supreame head of the Church, the only steward of the gifts, graces, and misteries of God? What meaneth it that Priests and Bishops do arrogantly ascribe to thẽ selves to be Bridegromes, to stand in Gods stead, to have power to pardon sinne, and to be our Ladies clean and undefiled knights? What be these else than names of blasphemie?' ( van der Noot: G4-G4v ). Dragon Of the dragon of Rev 12 and 13, the Geneva glossator comments (at 13.2) 'that is, the devil.' 8 'The infallible word of God (which be the Scriptures) hath given him this wound' ( van der Noot: H3). In Rev 13.3 although one of the heads of the beast is said to have sustained an apparently mortal wound, the wound is then said to have healed, a detail captured in the Dutch − maer is weet om genesen (‘but it has been healed’) − but dropped in the French and English versions. One cride At Rev 13.4 , a multitude of worshippers offers up this reverent question. 11-14 The last four lines of the sonnet are based loosely on Rev 13.11-14, which narrates the appearance of a second beast which sets up an idolatrous cult of the first. ‘All those that worshyp the Dragon, worship the beast also: for as those whiche honour Christ, honor hys father also, in lyke maner all those whiche adore Antechrist, that is to say, consent and holde of his traditions, masses, and ordinaunces, all those (I saye) worship the divel, of whom they have receyved all his wickednesses’ ( van der Noot, H3 ). from the sea At Rev 13.11, a second beast arises, this time from the land. Although the woodcut plainly distinguishes the origins of the two beasts, Spenser departs from the biblical source here by faithfully translating his French original (de Mer ‘from the sea’), which mistranslates its Dutch original (wt de eerde; ‘out of the earth’). setting . . . up 1) erecting, 2) exalting. The phrase operates with similar ambiguity in van der Noot's commentary where he comments on the cultishness of the prelates and bishops of the Roman Church: 'they proceed further to the forbidding of mariage, meate, egges, butter: in lyke manner images, and crucifixes were sette vp up, woorkyng thereby false miracles' [ ref to G1v] hir I.e., her, the first beast's. 1-10 The first ten lines of the sonnet are based on Rev 17.3-6. 'The beast signifieth the ancient Rome: the Woman that sitteth thereon, the newe Rome whiche is the Papistrie, whose crueltie & blood sheding is declared by skarlat' ( 1560 Geneva gloss to Rev 17.3 ). Orenge Spenser has mistranslatedmigrainne, the term for a cloth dyed to a not-very-intense scarlet. fell cruel 12-14 Based on Rev 18.1-2 . The third of the apocalyptic sonnets is based on Rev 19.11-20. Van der Noot offers a sustained gloss on the poem at M5v-O3v. embrued soaked, stained puissant powerful 8-9 The apparent padding − as me thought and descending downe − actually reproduces similar features in the French source. slea slay Although Spenser would revise the translations from Du Bellay and Petrarch for Complaints, he never reworked the apocalyptic sonnets; yet he would adapt this rendering of John's final vision in Revelation for Red Crosse's vision at the Mount of Holy Contemplation, FQ I.x.55-7 . As the New Jerusalem of these sonnets is meant to displace vainglorious Babylon and Rome in the esteem of men, so Red Crosse will recognize the milder error of his over-estimation of Cleopolis, the dwelling place of the Faerie Queene herself ( FQ I.x.58 ). 1-7 Based on Rev 21.1-4. new At [O4v] Van der Noot draws attention to the figurative force of the term even as he insists that the new Jerusalem is the Church. garnisht adorned spouse In a marginal gloss at O4v, as part of his discussion of the newness of the New Jerusalem, van der Noot draws attention in a marginal gloss to his source in Ephesians 5 for the analogy of the Church as a bride; he indicates that the newness of the Jerusalem-Church is like the figurative renewal of a betrothed woman as she is 'trimmed for hir husbande, for she is purified and made newe againe.' 8-14 The last half of the sonnet derives its matter from several verses from Rev 21 and 22 : the divine radiance from 21.11; the square city plan of the New Jerusalem, 21.16; its gates of pearl, 21.21; and the crystalline river of life, 22.1-2. Square See van der Noot, O7. twelve gates For the twelve gates as the twelve apostles, see van der Noot's commentary at P1. unto the Churches good Whereas in the biblical original, the leaves of the tree of life are said to heal the nations, Noot's sonnets suggest that the fruit of the tree is instead meant to improve the state of the church. _______________ Declaration explanation unquiet restless mislike of begrudge, disapprove of estate status, situation calling vocation go aboutundertake enter into take up lyvings vocations, positions in life the fewest numbre of very few for all that despite the fact that inconveniences misfortunes men of the countrey translating 'Le Paisan ou laboreur' ( Le Theatre, D7 ) travaile strive yet still studieth exerts himself in planning carnall worldly careful anxious moyle drudge gapeth for longs for graunted of granted by than that of bruteWe take ‘is’ in our copy text as a compositor’s misreading of ‘yt’ in MS copy. proceede of derive from for this . . . us that is given to us for this purpose unquietness discontent christian libertie The phrase has distinctive, technical force in the writings of Calvin's Institutes 3.19 (and less technical force in Luther), but van der Noot's use of this important Reformation slogan to designate a freedom from worldly desires is incongruous with Calvin's usage, which denotes that freedom from the Old Law expounded in Galatians. put case propose by way of example Although van der Noot doesn't offer the reader a formal partition or outline of the next few pages, he does suggest, at F2, that he has offered an account of the three principal temptations from which all and every kinde of evyll proceedeth ( F2): the love of riches ( E1v-E7v), ambition ( E7v-F1), and lust ( F1-F2) [convert references]. We here offer the beginning of the discussion of the temptation of riches, the longest of these three informal sections. the rather the more easily covete after long for more a greate deale a great deal more thorough through, by means of in it is no suche default in the right use of worldly good there is no moral defect onely I meane I only mean propre legitimate possessed of possessed by Gallio . . . unto them Van der Noot here paraphrases the concluding line of chapter 22 of De Vita Beata, which the younger Seneca dedicated to his older brother Gallio: ad postremum divitiae meae sunt, tu divitiarum es (‘in fine, I own my riches; yours own you’). confidence impudence chasyng chasing away, expulsion thraldome captivity set by esteem When riches . . . themPs 62.10. Consideryng . . . ydle The sentence would be a bit less difficult if it were less compressed. Van der Noot not only asserts the worthlessness of worldly things, but also sets up an opposition between the intrinsic worthlessness of things − of them selves most miserable − and the vanity and idleness that we confer on things, insisting, as he does so, that things receive nothing else from us other than this vain and idle aspect. as Plato sayth The Laws, 5.727E-728A. For the idea that the essence of poverty is not lack and that the only true poverty is covetousness, see Laws, 5.736E. unsaciable insatiable contentation contentment He is . . . at all Moral Epistles, 20.10, 20.8. Chrysostom Hom. 21 super Matt. (6.24) inconveniences improprieties come to great estate come into great wealth (or achieve eminent status) endued endowed them referring to the divers and sundry kindes of wantonnesse and other inconveniences wil not be wish not to be of other for others. those three Greed, lust, ambition. as witnesseth . . . Epistles1 John 2.15-17. For all . . . of the eyes Both the immediate French source and the verse from 1 John that it renders strongly support the emendation here. The compositor has plainly compressed his copy, reducing the first two of the three vices to a single one − the luste of the eyes − in a straightforward instance of eye-skip. It may be that the compositor fumbled the line further, misreading 'as the luste' (which would translate 'asçavoir la concupiscence') and setting 'is the luste', yet because 'is' corresponds to the syntax of the phrase as the passage is rendered in the Vulgate, we have let the word stand. rehearse recount incorporated For the incorporation of believers into the body of Christ, see Eph 5.30 and Rom 12.5; for the identity of the Church with that body, see Col 1.24. crossesmisfortunes, impediments commodities useful things, goods turned . . . mire Both proverbs are marshalled at 2 Pet 2.22 . the livelier more vividly to the ende so that Omne . . . dulciArs Poetica, 343 . honestly honourably, chastely .xxi. yeares The 211th poem in Petrarch's Rime sparse establishes the year of Petrarch's enamourment as 1327; the 336th poem establishes the year of Laura's death as 1348. Petrarch gives both dates again in an obituary he inscribes in his manuscript of Virgil. ten yeares In the 364th of the 366 poems of the Rime sparse, Petrarch recalls the twenty-one years during which he loved Laura prior to her death and marks the occasion of the poem as the tenth anniversary of her death. Brabants speache In effect, Dutch: in the middle of the sixteenth century the central region of the Netherlands, the region straddling the Rhine, was more influential politically than the Frisian region to the north, and the dialect spoken in Brabant seemed on the verge of becoming a more widely accepted trans-regional standard. As is observed in the introduction above, Roest here misrepresents the genesis of the translations of the poems: the poems were translated from Marot's French version as printed the previous year, probably with occasional reference to the Italian original. understodemeant understodeThe word is used similarly below at [ give l. ref to Understandyng hereby]. The unfamiliar uses of the term here suggest a semantic peculiarity central to visionary poetry. Insofar as Petrarch is to be taken as having been a passive witness to these visions, this understanding may be taken as his interpretation of that visionary experience; insofar as Petrarch is to be taken as the inventor of these visions, this understanding may be taken as the meaning he intends for us to derive from his description of those visions. The dual sense of understand thus anticipates the very similar dual sense of read in Spenser's mature poetry. Holly Neither Petrarch's poem, nor van der Noot's French commentary warrants the suggestion that a holly has bloomed from a laurel. Holly seems to be a compositorial error based on the compositors misreading of his copy, but the original wording of the copy is difficult to determine. Roest may have consulted Marot's translation of Petrarch and construed 'divins rameaux' (line 1) as 'holy bowes' or, perhaps, he has translated the phrase in the French commentary, belles branchettes, as 'jolly bowes'. are . . . one share a single approach stay hym selfe rely fansie fantasy passed over spent what with . . . what in in consequence of . . . and in consequence of hir departure (as it is sayde) I.e. , her so-called 'departure'. so long a time The French source is less vague, stipulating that, having loved Laura for forty years, Petrarch mourned her for seven. considering with him self reconsidering, reflecting to Godwarde toward God described of described by Arke triumphant triumphal arch Dodonian tree An oak; see above n. to 5.1. Vimiall . . . VimielThere is considerable transmissional muddle here. The French source reads Viminel and Viniel for the third and sixth hills in its list ( Le Theatre: E8 ). Viniel seems simply to be a distorted repetition of Viminel - the learned reader would expect to see the Aventine hill listed here - and Viminel is a misspelling of Viminall. The misspelling may have been marked for correction in Roest’s copy, but ‘Vimiall’ in the English Theatre fails to make an accurate correcton; and ‘Vimiel’ is no improvement on Viniel. the shee wolfe . . . Romains The symbol ('Armes') was widely circulated on Roman coins from as early as the third century B.C.E. Cicero mentions that a statue of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus was damaged by a lightning strike in 65 B.C.E. ( In Catilinem: 3.19 ). whereout . . . flushing out from which a bird abruptly flying upwards hundreth hundred drave drove Typheus daughter The poem refers, in fact, to ‘Typhæus sister’, for which see note 11.4 above. Different authors attribute various daughters to Typhaon/Typhoeus: the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Harpies, and the Lerna Hydra, none of whom have attributes that correspond securely to those of the central figure in Du Bellay’s poem. With all . . . LupaThe sentence summarizes the two themes of the sequence: the transitory character of earthly achievements and satisfactions, and the specific humiliation of Rome, the rise of which was motivated by covetousness and a desire for authority consistent with the wolvishness of its founders’ upbringing. and that I.e. and that destruction. had to had for followingderiving from Lupa The name is simply the Latin word for 'she-wolf'. Oute . . . beastlynesse In The Boke Named the Governour (1537, B7v) Sir Thomas Elyot remarks on the antiquity of the idea that character could be transmitted by breast-milk; in The Boke of Children (1546), Jean Goeurot adduces a number of classical authors from Plato to Pliny on this point, particularly citing Aeneid 4.365-7 , where Virgil's Dido attributes Aeneas' cruelty 'unto the gyver of the mylke' ( S1v-S2v). cast . . . teeth The famous anti-Roman remark of Mithridates VI is recorded in Justin’s Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, 38.6.8 . bloud An outlier in the series, the term has no equivalent in the French commentary that Roest is translating. Figures images Pourphere porphyry Emplaster plaster of Paris graven carved other some some others privienarrowly self-interested particular narrowly self-interested from time to timefrom age to age president appointed governor, viceroy Nero . . . Maxence The inclusion of Trajan in this list is anomalous, since both Aquinas and Dante include him among the virtuous pagans, but van der Noot seems to be drawing on Augustine's list of the ten persecutions of the early Church that stand as preliminary to the eleventh and final persecution under the aegis of the Antichrist ( City of God: 18.52 ): Augustine lists Trajan's as the third of these ten. He gives Nero's and Domitian's as the first two, Aurelian's as the ninth and Diocletian's (and Maximian's) as the tenth. Van der Noot may have meant to include Maximian in this list and not his son, Maxentius − Maxence. Maxentius had, in fact, practiced a policy of toleration towards Christians, although because of his rivalry with the Christian Constantine, he earned an undeserved post-antique reputation for hostility to Chirstians. theirs The gods of the Romans. enorme enormous have been . . . are . . . rysen The shift to the present tense captures the typological historical sense at the core of the Theatre: the punishment of ancient anti-Christian Rome is imagined as meted out in the present, so that the early persecutors merge with the pope and his bishops and the early Christian martyrs dissolve into modern Protestants. Eastgothes . . . Westgothes Ostrogoths and Visigoths rased razed For the fervent . . . purposeBale 1570, p. 74-75 on the events following upon the opening of the third seal. After this sort . . . abolishedBale 1570, p. 78 . Sunne. . . Moone Language of the sixth seal, possibly borrowed from Bale 1570, p.85 . For they dayly . . . have saydeBale 1570, pp. 78-9. John . . . Patriarkes Even before the accession of John IV to the office of Archbishop of Constantinople in 582, the Council of Constantinople (381) had declared that the Bishop of Constantinople should have primacy of honour after the Bishop of Rome and the Council of Chalcedon (451) had established Constantinople as a patriarchate. But it was only when John IV, also known as John the Faster, began styling himself Ecumenical Patriarch and, it was alleged, claimed that it was a title to be restricted to his own see, that he provoked protests from Pope Pelagius II and his successor, Gregory the Great. Calvin treats Gregory as the hero of this struggle, ascribing to him a general resistance to episcopal primacy (Institutes 4.7.21) Boniface the third The future Boniface III was appointed by Gregory the Great to serve as papal legate to Constantinople in 603, and he served in that capacity until the end of Gregory's papacy and on through the papacy of Gregory's successor, Sabinian, after which time he was himself elected to the papacy. During his brief service as pope, he reasserted papal primacy, claiming the title of Universal Bishop. lieuetenant The term is used here in its technical sense, i.e. place-holder, or vice-regent. Mahomet. . . afterward Chronology is crucial to the logic of this discussion of John, Boniface, and Mohammed: John the Faster served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 582 to 595, Boniface's brief papacy took place in 606, and Mohammed experienced his first revelation in 610 and took up the public work of prophecy in 613. [drops Christ's coat from Bale 1570, p. 79] Talmuith Talmud. The status of the Talmud within Judaism had been a central object of dispute in the pamphlet war that passed between Reuchlin on the one hand and Johnannes Pfefferkorn and his Dominican supporters on the other between 1507 and 1521, but the claim that Jews regarded the Talmud as having greater authority than the Bible may be traced to the letters that Gregory IX issued in 1239 condemning the Talmud. Sarazens their Alcorane This distorts the Qur'anic principle of taḥrīf, the idea that the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament corrupt the revelation that the Qur'an embodies. This particular distortion was given its most influential articulation in the work of Ricoldo da Monte di Croce, whose major thirteenth-century treatise on the Qur'an Luther translated and who claimed that Moslems believed that the Gospel, in its uncorrupted original form, contained a prophecy of the coming of Muhammed. Decretals The term denotes the papal letters that formulate decisions in canon law. The pseudo-Isidorean Decretals, part of a large Frankish collection of spurious documents, was woven into a larger collection of authentic canons, the so-called Hispana sometime in the middle of the ninth century. Nicholas of Cusa subjected these documents to critical scrutiny in the middle of the fifteenth century, and Erasmus and du Moulin elaborated Cusanus' criticism in the century that followed. [drops Prester John from Bale] traditions Because the term can be used to designate authoritative convention passed down orally, it can connote dubitable legends and rules, as it does here. Wherunto To which end the rather the more easily brought in introduced traditions of men What follows is a condensed summary of the aspects of Catholic doctrine and worship to which the Reformers were most vehemently opposed, characterized as traditions of men (with the same disapproving connotations of the word, traditions, as are intended two sentences earlier) to distinguish them from those aspects of doctrine of worship that, the Reformers contended, could be securely founded on Scripture. Van der Noot continues to follow Bale's Image, but slightly abridging his list of the sensuous and spectacular of worship (the use of bells, incense, candles, instrumental music), the doctrine of purgatorie and the practices intended to intercede on behalf of those abiding there (masses for al soules, diriges, obsequies, indulgences), an array of related practices aimed to secure the intercession of saints (Pilgrimages, the veneration of relikes), and several practices of self-deprivation thought to substitute for faith itself and a dependence of divine grace (Lenten abstentions and, for the clergy, celibacy). as such as bells The use of bells in Catholic worship was a frequent object of Reformation attack. Various uses of bells − to announce imminent death, to call the faithful to worship, and to accompany the elevation of the host at Mass − were subjected to criticism, but the practice of dedicating new bells by prayers, washing, and unction was considered especially egregious. diriges, obsequiesfuneral or commemorative rites diriges The word can be used specifically to denote Matins for the Dead or, more generally, any chanting or reading of the Office of the Dead, whether for a funeral or for a memorial service. The word, which develops into the modern dirge, is the first in the antiphon for the first nocturn of Matins. obsequies Sometimes used as a synonym for dirige, sometimes to refer more generally to the Offices of the Dead (comprising both the Placebo and the Dirige, i.e. Vespers and Matins for the Dead), and sometimes, most generally, to denote all burial rites and ritual commemoratives for the dead. church holy days Like most of the criticism in this passage, the attack on the multitude of Catholic holidays might have come from any of the Reformers, but Calvinists like van der Noot were especially fervent in their sabbatarianism and in their strict abridgement in the number of holidays celebrated: many mid-century Calvinist churches celebrated only the Sabbath, Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday, and there was a brief period in Geneva when even the celebration of Christmas was proscribed. The item marks a departure from Bale, who here speaks of 'hallowing of churche's instead of the proliferation of holidays'. Bale's Image continues to inspire the next few sentences, but van der Noot improvises by providing more piquantly specific enormities than Bale offers. Rogation dayes Though the Catholic Church formally recognized a Major Rogation on 25 April and three Minor Rogations, on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, the Sunday before Ascension Day also came to be known as Rogation Sunday. All Rogation days were associated with penance and fasting, but the Minor Rogations − and, by association, Rogation Sunday − were especially distinguished by outdoor processions and prayers for agricultural prosperity. coales . . . broyled These relics were among the treasures of Rome's church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. Josephs hosen Since the ninth century relics said to be Jesus' swaddling clothes were housed at Aachen; the legend that St. Joseph had fashioned these swaddling clothes from his stockings is of a later date. S. Cornelis Relics of St. Cornelius, patron saint of cattle, were widely distributed across northern Europe, and especially in the Low countries: an important collection of relics were housed at an abbey in Ninove, 40 miles SW of Antwerp. But van der Noot may have been thinking of another collection of relics near Aachen: St. Cornelius' head was preserved at Kornelimünster a few miles SE of Aachen. images While the veneration of images is a central object of Protestant criticism, ven der Noot's iconoclastic engagements are hardly abstract. Van der Noot had fled to England because of the punitive repression that followed the sacking of Antwerp churches and defacing of their images in the summer of 1566. foreseing . . . Maosin The text, which has no equivalent in Bale's Image, may be corrupt here. Roest is translating Ils bastirent & edifierent en tous endroictz leurs Maosins ('In every place they build and set up their Maosins'; F4), but even if foresee is being used to mean 'provide for', it seems an imperfect way to render van der Noot's two verbs for building. Because of the oddly spelled word, Maosins, in his source, Roest may not have recognized van der Noot's reference to the notoriously difficult verse, Daniel 11.38, 'But in hys place' − that is, instead of 'the God of his fathers' ( 11.37) − 'shal he honour the God Mauzzim', where 'he' is 'the King' of 11.36, usually understood as the Antichrist. Modern translations render 'Mauzzim' as 'forces' or 'fortresses' and Luther identifies Mauzzim with the mass, but the gloss to the Geneva version is closer to the spirit of van der Noot's allusion, for it characterizes the Mauzzim as 'the god of riches and power.' On Maosin, see also N7v. Of these . . . seduced by them.Bale, 1570, p. 80 . seventh seale An error. The French source is correct: van der Noot is describing the vision of the opening of the fourth seal ( Rev 6.7-8). copper faces An unusual locution, possibly comparable to brazen-faced. But because Roest is translating la face enflée (enflamed face) he may mean the phrase to name acne rosacea, sometimes referred to as 'copper-nose'. Rom. 2. . . . Math. 6. [marginal glosses] The reference to Romans is miscopied from the French: the relevant passage from Romans, on the extension of Christ's offer of a spiritual life even to those dead in the body, is 8.10. The chapters from Luke and Matthew contain the two versions of the Sermon on the Mount, both concerned with life conferred by Christ. But each of the Gospel chapters takes up different themes of concern to van der Noot: Luke 12.4-5 focuses on the eternal death to which van der Noot imagines his papist adversaries as condemned; several verses in Matt 6 concentrate on the empty devotional shows of hypocrisy. Esay. 5. [marginal gloss]Isa 5.14 . seduced by them Although the seductress of Prov 5.3-6 is less potent than the Whore of Rev, 'her steppes take holde on hel.' Still, the reference may be a misprint: the gloss in the French Theatre gives 'Pro. 2', possibly a reference to a comparable seductress at 2.16-19, whereas the source in Bale offers 'Prove. 1', presumably 1.12, which, like Isa 5.14, features a ravenous Sheol. Daniel and Paule It was customary among the Reformers to associate the fourth beast in Dan 7 with Rome (7.7, explicated at 7.19-23) and to understand the little horn of the beast (7.8, explicated at 7.24-6) not only as the Antichrist, the man of sin of 2 Thess 2.3-8, but also as the pope. Tertullian is the first to have argued that the lawlessness of the Antichrist (2 Thess 2.3) would be unleashed only when the Roman Empire fell (De Resurrectione Carnis 24). holy ghost by S. John Cf. Bale's Image, 1545, F4 . But the language here may also reflect the influence of the headnote in the Geneva Bible, which, like Bale's Image, describes the book as the Holy Ghost's own compendium of apocalyptic prophecies, emphasizes the theme of punishment of hypocrisy, and focuses on enargeia: 'Herein therefore is lively set forth the Divinitie of Christ' and 'the livelie description of Antichrist is set forth'. I saw . . . and corporally This long passage on Rev 13.1-2 is all but lifted from Bale's Image, 1545, F4v-G2 . congregation . . . hypocritesJob 15.34 ; versions of this formulation make up a steady refrain in Bale's Image . Ceder . . . Libanus Cf. Image, F5 . For the cedars of Lebanon as a figure for a punishable pride, see Isa 2.12-13 and Ps 37.35. ElmasActs 13.6-12. Apoc. 6. [marginal gloss] I.e., Rev 6.7-8. Apoc. 9. [marginal gloss] I.e., Rev 9.3 and 9.17. The gloss in the Geneva Bible to the locusts (van der Noot's Grashoppers) that vex the earth in Rev 9 is pertinent: 'Locustes are false teachers, heretikes, and worldlie suttil Prelates, with Monkes, Freres Cardinals Patriarkes, Archebishops, Bishops, Doctors Bachelors & masters which forsake Christ to mainteine false doctrine.' odible odious their heads . . . and their hornesRev 13.1. but . . . congregationOur copy text reads ‘but in this point differ the dragon and the beast, from the divell and his membres, Sathan and his carnal and beastly congregation’ which misrepresents the French source, which unfolds as a series of slightly irregular contrastive pairs: en ce seul point different le Dragon et la beste: le diable et ses membres: Satan de sa congregation charnelle (‘in this particular way differ the Dragon and the Beast, the Devil and his members, Satan from his carnal congregation’ [emphases mine]; F4). We conjecture that, in preparing his translation, Roest first levelled the irregularity of et-et-de by rendering it ‘and . . . and . . . and’, but later changed his mind, crossing out the last ‘and’ and writing ‘from’ above it. Confused by his copy, the compositor set ‘from’ in the wrong place in the sentence and failed to cancel the third ‘and’. It is worth noting that van der Noot equates the congregation of Satan ( Rev 2.9 and 3.9) with the congregation of the hypocrites ( Job 15.34) mentioned a few lines earlier. their ten heads In fact, the beast of Rev 13.1 , to which the dragon of 12.3 defers, has only seven heads, although it wears a crown on each of its ten horns. that which . . . have theyWhereas the draconic Satan has only instigated the thyng, the bestial congregation has achieved it. Roest takes care in this passage not to specify the work of the Beast, referring to it as the thyng or, merely, it. blowe . . . eares whisper to them concerning, secretly propose he is but able . . . inspiration He can only incite the bestial congregation to imagine performing it. found out invented purgatorie . . . service Although van der Noot offers this as a list of erroneous doctrines that the bestial congregation enforces as dogma, he follows Bale in augmenting the list of erroneous beliefs (purgatorie, transubstantiation) with several corrupt practices. auricular confession Compulsory confession 'into the ear of' a priestly-confessor. Calvin offers a sustained critique of the practice in Institutes, 3.4 . transubstantiation Mentioned neither in Bale nor in the French Theatre at this juncture. father of all liesJohn 8.44. written In both the French commentary and here, van der Noot departs from Bale, whose use of the phrase 'unwritten veryte' ( G5v) stipulates the unauthorized character of these dogmatic impositions. Hereout . . . like From these and similar instances ghostly spiritual more wickednesse It is worth observing the culminative force here. Van der Noot has steadily distinguished Satan and his ministers, making Satan the figure of lesser wickedness: whereas Satan instigates, they achieve and violently maintain; whereas he plays, they seriously compel; what he invents, they institute as dogma. This will culminate in the assertion that follows, that Satan is impotent without his popish ministers. Judas . . . entredLuke 22.3, John 13.27 . bishops and Scribes Van der Noot's formulation has polemical force: it adapts the gospel pairing, 'chief Priests and Scribes' from Matt 2.4 (and see also Luke 23.10 and the more frequent pairing of scribes and Pharisees, which is employed throughout the gospels and serves as the anaphoric matrix of Jesus' address to the multitude in Matt 23 ). By referring to Jerusalem's chief priests as bishops, van der Noot sharpens the typological relationship between the modern Roman clerics and the priestly enemies of Jesus himself and so prepares for the double assertion in the next sentence: first, that the Apostles, tru ministers and other witnesses of Christ were persecuted and are again persecuted at this present and, second, that, by persecuting the present witnesses of Christ, these popish prelates . . . fulfil the mesure of their fathers. Bale's typology is even more emphatic; in the comparable passage, he speaks of 'Bysshoppes and lawers' (sic, F6). Math. 23 [marginal glossMatt 23.34 . And upon . . . ChristRev 13.1. wher with by means of which suborneadorn suborneFor a similar usage, see Vewecross-ref to ‘Evill thinges being decked and suborned with the gay attyre of goodly woordes’]. estimation reputation patriarks the titles afforded to the highest-ranking of Catholic bishops. chief heads Roest is translating 'Principaux, chefz'. protonotary high-ranking Monsignors of the Catholic church officialls bishops' representatives to diocesan ecclesiastical courts commissaries papal appointees with judicial or executive responsibilities specified to particular causes prebendaries cathedral administrators Vicare representative Bridegromes I.e. , bridegrooms of the Church. In Mark 2.19-20 , Jesus was understood to have referred to himself as a bridegroom; in Eph 5.25, Paul likens Christ's love for the Church to a man's love for his spouse. Insofar as ordination was understood as conforming the priest to Christ, priests could also be understood as bridegrooms of the Church. as Zacharie termeth themZech 10.17. il favored of fashion ugly in shape stoutnesse stubbornness a Lion . . . ChaldeesDan 7.4 . The apparatus of the Geneva Bible illustrates a long-standing interpretive confusion over the first of the four kingdoms to which the prophetic chapters 2 and 8 of Daniel refer: the Geneva headnote sensibly refers to the first kingdom as Daniel's Babylon, but the gloss to 7.4 associates the Lion with the Assyrians and Chaldeans, despite the fact that the Assyrian empire predates Daniel and his prophecy. kingdome of the GreciansReferring to the Greek empire established by the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. [glosses] As elsewhere TVW reproduces the glosses in the French Theatre, with some errors. As printed, TVW misrepresents the reference to 1 Maccabees as a reference to 2 Maccabees (a book that Luther regarded with contempt and which many Protestants kept at arms' length), but even the gloss in the French source seems only approximate, for although 1 Macc 2 is relevant to the discussion at hand, the oppressions of Antiochus are most vividly narrated in the first chapter of 1 Macc. Other glosses are even more problematic. Hab 1 marvels over the conquests of the Chaldeans, but the curse on them is withheld until 2.8 and 2.15-17. The gloss ‘Esay. 22’ may be a reference to the captivity of Shebna at Isa 22.17, but context strongly suggests that this, like the rest of Isa 22, concerns an Assyrian conquest, not one of Persians or Medes. (The Geneva glosses construe Isa 22 as a prophecy of Babylonian conquest – again, not Persian or Medean.) The other references may be specified to Isa 13.17-22 and 2 Chron 36.17-23. Paralipomenon I.e. , Chronicles. But this beast . . . to the Lion Not in Bale. as much, and more The Geneva gloss emphasizes that the beast symbolically combines the peoples 'whom the Romaines overcame'; Bale and van der Noot emphasize the ways in which the Beast exceeds the corruption of its predecessors. See the note to 'vii. times double' below. As at this day This abridges the version in the French Theatre, which adduces Paul's 'prediction' of this realm of surpassing corruption. The gloss in the French version incorrectly refers the reader to Rom 7, whereas the language of the source of the passage in Bale's Image makes a clear reference to Paul's description of an ancient 'mystery of iniquity' that would eventually lose its mysteriousness ( 2 Thess, 2.7-8 ). As Bale's commentary in Part II of Image makes clear, the workings of the mystery of iniquity are responsible for the embodiment of the Antichrist in the worldly papacy. Sodometriesodomy Sodometrie While sodomy (or, here, ‘Sodometrie’) is often used to comprise the full field of proscribed sexual practices (and thus substantially overlaps uncleannesse), it sometimes seems especially to evoke sexual activities between men, hence the frequent use of the term in denunciations of monks. Gods holy Temple The Church; as the gloss indicates, Paul describes the Church in these terms at 1 Cor 3.16 . vessels of his gloryRom 9.23, part of Paul's discussion of election. Pharao . . . Caiphas To the formulaic list of the notorious oppressors of the righteous, Pharaoh, Antiochus, and Caiaphas, a fourth, Herod, is sometimes added. in the comparison of I.e., compared to. securitie In the sixteenth century, the term could be used to denote a culpable confidence or lack of compunction. [glosses] The relevant passages are Esth 3.4 and 1 Macc 1.41-51 . to the ordinauncesin comparison to the ordinaunces After this sort Accordingly Popedom This play on 'kingdom' is not original with Roest; the Reformers used both this and 'papisty' to refer to the papacy. vii. times double Roest here translates 'sept fois le double' probably a derivation from septemgeminus (L) and, hence, meaning 'sevenfold', as opposed to 'fourteenfold'. [glosses] Psalm 9 . . . Rom. 1. There are no corresponding glosses in the French Theatre, although their textual locations correspond to places in the French Theatre where, in several copies, the margins are distinguished by a great deal of bleed-through. It may be that Roest, construing this bleed-through as poorly printed glosses, felt obliged to 'repair' the illegible glosses. If so, he did his job poorly: since neither Ps 9 nor Rom 3 are pertinent to the passages they ostensibly underpin, they seem little better than place-holders. It may be that the list of the various forms of wickedness that fill those who do not honor God ( Rom 1.29) is a gloss relevant to the Popedom's 'headlong' rush 'toevery kinde of mischiefe'. covetousnesse Translating 'convoitise'; van der Noot's source in Bale reads 'affeccyons' ( Image, F8 ). sheade shed observings observances [gloss] 2. Thess. 2. This is the first of three consecutive glosses all of which refer the reader to 2 Thess 2 : this passage draws on verses 10-11, but as van der Noot's glosses imply, Bale's commentary here, and for the next page, dwells on the identification of the Lawless One of 2 Thess 2.9-12 and the Antichrist-Beast of Rev 13. Bale and van der Noot interest themselves especially on the dynamics of apocalyptic justice: to those who, refusing truth, secure authority by means of illusion, God responds by inflicting delusion, the deceivers sunk in deception. Both Bale and Calvin regard the Antichrist as being made fully manifest in the papacy by the progressive workings of the mystery of iniquity of 2 Thess 2.7; see Firth, Apocalyptic Tradition, 53 . Therfore God . . . . pleasure in unrighteousnesse Not in Bale. [The portion of TVW extracted for print ends here. (The editors earlier approved an extract that ended a two-and-a-half sentences earlier. I've decided to extend it to reach to the end of the commentary on the first two sentences of Rev 13 Neater that way.) What follows henceforth is simply an account of the debts to Bale.] the Pope . . . I mean Not in Bale. For it is evident . . . made whole? Bale, Image, 1545, G3-I1. The appropriation of Bale is freer in this next, long section. Van der Noot abridges the Image at a few junctures at which Bale is especially prolix, sketchily updates Bale's survey of the European anti-Catholic movement, and he gives a slightly more penetrating account of those temporizers who reject the authority of the contemporary Roman church, but cling to earlier traditions of doctrine and practice that he judges to be without scriptural warrant. Here, as elsewhere, van der Noot mutes anti-semitic notes in Bale and − because the first version of this commentary was prepared for a French audience − removes many specific references to the struggles of English protestants. Other some . . . serve hym arighte. Not in Bale. to consume their adversaries. Bale asserts, at this juncture, "Neverthelesse to the christiane is persecucion necessarye" (H4v), and elaborates the principle of necessary martyrdom before turning to Rev 13.11. upon the Mount . . . Jesus ) Not in Bale. Brabant . . . countrey Bale's focus is on England. friendshyp . . . children Not in Bale. And it was permitted . . . ordinaunces Bale, Image, I4v-I5v. Van der Noot skips a long section in Bale devoted to the suppression of scriptural reading and the censorship of reformed commentary in England. He also skips Bale's gloss on Rev 13.13-14 (Image, I1-I4v) and instead turns directly to Bale's gloss on Rev 13.15, the first few sentences of which he abridges here. This number . . . agaynst him Bale, Image, K1v. Some expositors . . . father the pope Bale, Image, K2 I saw (sayth . . . or whatsoever Bale, Image Q5v. Van der Noot breaks in on Bale to reflect on his own service as an alderman in Antwerp. This beaste is whole . . . doings are. Image, Q5v-Q7. As part of his general program of updating Bale and muting the local English concerns of the Image, van der Noot excises Bale's obscene account of the Tunstall's panting service to the Whore of Babylon. And in hir forhead . . . horrible impietie. Image, Q7v-Q8v. It is no mervaile . . . confidence in it. Image, Q3v-Q4v. The .x. horns . . . abhomination of that Antechrist. Image, S3-S4v. John Wicliffe, . . . Regius,]The list of Reformation champions adapts Bale’s, adding Wycliff, Hus, Beza, Viret, Peter Martyr, Alasco, and Regius and dropping Reuchlin, Erasmus, Pomeran, Grineus, and a variety of English reformers. For the Foules, . . . hir flesh. Not in Bale. After all these manifold . . . with the cloud Bale, Image, L2. and in the .xiii. Chapter . . . downeward Bale, Image, L4 After all these manifold . . . bonde of peace Bale, Image, 1570, U8v [sig. no?]-Aaa3. riggish and lecherous prelates. The French Theatre inserts an adapted version of sonnet decrying contemporary Roman debauchery. The sonnet appears later in an adapted form in George Thomson’s La chasse de la beste romaine (1611), addressed to Du Bellay. and shed very . . . any more Image Aaa3-Bbb3v. Van der Noot imitates Bale freely here, sometimes expanding and sometimes condensing. But they have their rewarde . . . gnashing of teeth. Not in Bale. Bertrandus Herebaldus An almost comical instance of unfaithful transmission: 'Bertrandus, Herebaldus' in Le Theatre, a corruption of 'Bertramus, Herebaldus' in Bale's Image. A treatise on the Eucharist arguing against the doctrine of transubstantiation was printed in 1531 and attributed to Bertramus, although the treatise is actually the work of a ninth-century theologian by the name of Ratramnus. Similar errors of transmission appear elsewhere in this list. against God and hys saincts . . . on this maner: Although van der Noot continues to follow Bale here, he condenses and rearranges freely in this section when adapting it for Le Theatre; TVW is even more fully reworked. And every Shippe . . . she is fallen. Image, Ccc2v-Ccc4. The apples . . . dangerous wayes. Image, Bbb8-Ccc1. These grosse . . . one houre. Picking up detail of the merchants' corpulence from Image Ccc1v, van der Noot proceeds to conclude this section by appropriating the conclusion of the lament of the shipmen at Image, Ccc4. I Saw the heavens open . . . everlasting fire Image, Eee2-Eee6. holds strongholds savior i.e. savour For he it is . . . things are set. Image, Eee6v. And I saw an Angell . . . leude Prelats Image, Eee8-Fff3v. They seeke . . . against Christ Not in Bale. The conspectus of contemporary persecutions departs from Bale's Image. the Lambe is strong . . . of those virgins These lines draw variously from Bale, Image, K5-K5v, K7, and K8. for they judge . . . unchast chastitie Van der Noot here departs from his dependence on Bale here. Bale concentrates on the spiritual virginity of ideal marriage, whereas van der Noot's address to marriage is somewhat less mystical. Even as he sustains a vigorous attack on the corrupt sexuality of the Roman clergy's, he propounds a defense of right marriage as a moral and devotional practice. For what I pray you . . . S. Paule testifieth Image, K8-K8v. The Lambe whyche . . . strong mounte Syon. Image, K5. the Dragon and . . . of the divel Image, F3v. For it followeth . . . and false Prophetes. Image, Fff4-Fff4v, deleting the discussion of Caiaphas. And the remnant . . . bloud of the wicked: Image, Fff5v-Fff6v. I sawe (sayeth S. John . . . perfection. Image, Kkk1v-Kkk2v. And there was no more sea . . . farre from them. Image, Kkk3-Kkk7, lightly abridged. The building of the frame . . . accepted of God. Image, Lll8. This holy Jerusalem . . . moste finest golde. Image, Mmm2-Mmm2v. This Citie hath . . . shall be saved. Image, Mmm3v. And on every gate . . . kingdom of Christ. Image, Ooo2v. And at these gates . . . of the promise. Image, Mmm3v-Mmm4. The walles of the Citie . . . principallest. Image, Mmm5-Mmm6v. The buildings of the wall . . . pretious stones, Image, Nnn5-Nnn6. The first foundation . . . chyldren of God. Image, Nnn6v-Ooo2. And the Angell . . . never shall perishe Image, Ppp2-Ppp3v and Ppp4v-Ppp6v. Van der Noot abridges and simplifies Bale slightly in this section. This word then . . . heavenly Jerusalem. based loosely on Bale, Image, PPP6v-Ppp7 It must be of necessitie . . . are unperfect Image, 1545, H4v-H5 [1] Sir Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour (1531), 77v-78r [2] Jennifer Nevile, The Eloquent Body: Dance and Humanist Culture in Fifteenth-Century Italy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004) and