In the earlier years of the sixteenth century Melin de Saint-Gelais (1487-1558) and Clément Marot (1496-1544) made a few scattered efforts at sonnetteering in France; and Maurice Sève laid down the lines of all sonnet-sequences on themes of love in his dixains entitled ‘Délie’ (1544). But it was Ronsard (1524-1585), in the second half of the century, who first gave the sonnet a pronounced vogue in France. The sonnet was handled with the utmost assiduity not only by Ronsard, but by all the literary comrades whom he gathered round him, and on whom he bestowed the title of ‘La Pléiade.’ The leading aim that united Ronsard and his friends was the re-formation of the French language and literature on classical models. But they assimilated and naturalised in France not only much that was admirable in Latin and Greek poetry, [442a] but all that was best in the recent Italian literature. [442b] Although they were learned poets, Ronsard and the majority of his associates had a natural lyric vein, which gave their poetry the charms of freshness and spontaneity. The true members of ‘La Pléiade,’ according to Ronsard’s own statement, were, besides himself, Joachim du Bellay (1524-1560); Estienne Jodelle (1532-1573); Remy Belleau (1528-1577); Jean Dinemandy, usually known as Daurat or Dorat (1508-1588), Ronsard’s classical teacher in early life; Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532-1589); and Ponthus de Thyard (1521-1605). Others of Ronsard’s literary allies are often loosely reckoned among the ‘Pléiade.’ These writers include Jean de la Péruse (1529-1554), Olivier de Magny (1530-1559), Amadis Jamyn (1538?-1585), Jean Passerat (1534-1602), Philippe Desportes (1546-1606), Estienne Pasquier (1529-1615), Scévole de Sainte-Marthe (1536-1623), and Jean Bertaut (1552-1611). These subordinate members of the ‘Pléiade’ were no less devoted to sonnetteering than the original members. Of those in this second rank, Desportes was most popular in France as well as in England. Although many of Desportes’s sonnets are graceful in thought and melodious in rhythm, most of them abound in overstrained conceits. Not only was Desportes a more slavish imitator of Petrarch than the members of the ‘Pléiade,’ but he encouraged numerous disciples to practise ‘Petrarchism,’ as the imitation of Petrarch was called, beyond healthful limits. Under the influence of Desportes the French sonnet became, during the latest years of the sixteenth century, little more than an empty and fantastic echo of the Italian.
The following statistics will enable the reader to realise how closely the sonnetteering movement in France adumbrated that in England. The collective edition in 1584 of the works of Ronsard, the master of the ‘Pléiade,’ contains more than nine hundred separate sonnets arranged under such titles as ‘Amours de Cassandre,’ ‘Amours de Marie,’ ‘Amours pour Astrée,’ ‘Amours pour Hélène;’ besides ‘Amours Divers’ and ‘Sonnets Divers,’ complimentary addresses to friends and patrons. Du Bellay’s ‘Olive,’ a collection of love sonnets, first published in 1549, reached a total of a hundred and fifteen. ‘Les Regrets,’ Du Bellay’s sonnets on general topics, some of which Edmund Spenser first translated into English, numbered in the edition of 1565 a hundred and eighty-three. De Baïf published two long series of sonnets, entitled respectively ‘Les Amours de Meline’ (1552) and ‘Les Amours de Francine’ (1555). Amadis Jamyn was responsible for ‘Les Amours d’Oriane,’ ‘Les Amours de Callirée,’ and ‘Les Amours d’Artemis’ (1575). Desportes’s ‘Premieres Œuvres’ (1575), a very popular book in England, included more than three hundred sonnets—a hundred and fifty being addressed to Diane, eighty-six to Hippolyte, and ninety-one to Cleonice. Ponthus de Thyard produced between 1549 and 1555 three series of his ‘Erreurs Amoureuses,’ sonnets addressed to Pasithée, and Belleau brought out a volume of ‘Amours’ in 1576.
Among other collections of sonnets published by less known writers of the period, and arranged here according to date of first publication, were those of Guillaume des Autels, ‘Amoureux Repos’ (1553); Olivier de Magny, ‘Amours, Soupirs,’ &c. (1553, 1559); Louise Labé, ‘Œuvres’ (1555); Jacques Tahureau, ‘Odes, Sonnets,’ &c. (1554, 1574); Claude de Billet, ‘Amalthée,’ a hundred and twenty-eight love sonnets (1561); Vauquelin de la Fresnaye, ‘Foresteries’ (1555 et annis seq.); Jacques Grévin, ‘Olympe’ (1561); Nicolas Ellain, ‘Sonnets’ (1561); Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, ‘Œuvres Françaises’ (1569, 1579); Estienne de la Boétie, ‘Œuvres’ (1572), and twenty-nine sonnets published with Montaigne’s ‘Essais’ (1580); Jean et Jacques de la Taille, ‘Œuvres’ (1573); Jacques de Billy, ‘Sonnets Spirituels’ (first series 1573, second series 1578); Estienne Jodelle ‘Œuvres Poétiques’ (1574); Claude de Pontoux, ‘Sonnets de l’Idée’ (1579); Les Dames des Roches, ‘Œuvres’ (1579, 1584); Pierre de Brach, ‘Amours d’Aymée’ (circa 1580); Gilles Durant, ‘Poésies’—sonnets to Charlotte and Camille (1587, 1594); Jean Passerat, ‘Vers . . . d’Amours’ (1597); and Anne de Marquet, who died in 1588, ‘Sonnets Spirituels’ (1605). [445]
A
Abbey, Mr. E. A., 342
Abbott, Dr. E. A., 364
Actor, Shakespeare as an, 43-45
See also Rôles, Shakespeare’s
Actors: entertained for the first time at Stratford-on-Avon, 10
return of the two chief companies to London in 1587, 33
the players’ licensing Act of Queen Elizabeth, 34
companies of boy actors, 34 35 38 213
companies of adult actors in 1587, 35
the patronage of the company which was joined by
Shakespeare, 35
36
women’s parts played by men or boys, 38 and n 2
tours in the provinces, 39-42
foreign tours, 42
Shakespeare’s alleged scorn of their calling, 44 45
‘advice’ to actors in Hamlet, 45
their incomes, 198 199 and n 2, 201
the strife between adult actors and boy actors, 213-17 221
patronage of actors by King James, 232 and n 2
substitution of women for boys in female parts, 334 335
Adam, in As You Like It, played by Shakespeare, 44
Adaptations by Shakespeare of old plays, 56
Adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays at the Restoration, 331 332
Adulation, extravagance of, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, 137 138 and n 2
Æschylus, Hamlet’s ‘sea of troubles’ paralleled
in the Persæ of, 13 n
resemblance between Lady Macbeth and Clytemnestra in the
Agamemnon of, 13 n
Æsthetic school of Shakespearean criticism, 333
Alexander, Sir William, sonnets by, 438
Alleyn, Edward, manages the amalgamated companies of the Admiral and
Lord Strange, 37
pays fivepence for the pirated Sonnets, 90 n
his large savings, 204
Allot, Robert, 312
All’s Well that Ends Well: the sonnet form of a letter of
Helen, 84
probable date of production, 162
plot drawn from Painter’s ‘Palace of
Pleasure,’ 163
probably identical with Love’s Labour’s
Won, 162
chief characters, 163
its resemblance to the Two Gentlemen of Verona, 163
For editions see Section xix. (Bibliography),
301-25
America, enthusiasm for Shakespeare in, 341 342
copies of the First Folio in, 308 310 n
Amner, Rev. Richard, 321
‘Amoretti,’ Spenser’s, 115 435 and n 5, 436
‘Amours’ by ‘J. D.,’ 390 and n
Amphitruo of Plautus, the, and a scene in The Comedy of Errors, 54
‘Amyntas,’ complimentary title of, 385 n 2
Angelo, Michael, ‘dedicatory’ sonnets of, 138 n
‘Anthia and Abrocomas,’ by Xenophon Ephesius, and the story of Romeo and Juliet, 55 n
Antony and Cleopatra: allusion to the part of Cleopatra being
played by a boy, 39
n
the youthfulness of Octavius Cæsar, 143 n 2
the longest of the poet’s plays, 224
date of entry in the ‘Stationers’
Registers,’ 244
date of publication, 245
the story derived from Plutarch, 245
the ‘happy valiancy’ of the style, 245
For editions see Section xix. (Bibliography),
301-25
Apollonius and Silla, Historie of, 210
‘Apologie for Poetrie,’ Sidney’s, allusion to the
conceit of the immortalising power of verse in, 114
on the adulation of patrons, 138
‘Apology for Actors,’ Heywood’s, 182
Apsley, William, bookseller, 90 304 312
‘Arcadia,’ Sidney’s, 88 n, 241 and n 2, 429
Arden family, of Warwickshire, 6 191
Arden family, of Alvanley, 192
Arden, Alice, 7
Arden, Edward, executed for complicity in a Popish plot, 6
Arden, Joan, 12
Arden, Mary. See Shakespeare, Mary
Arden, Robert (1), sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire in 1438, 6
Arden, Robert (2), landlord at Snitterfield of Richard Shakespeare,
3 6
marriage of his daughter Mary to John Shakespeare, 6 7
his family and second marriage, 6
his property and will, 7
Arden, Thomas, grandfather of Shakespeare’s mother, 6
Arden of Feversham, a play of uncertain authorship, 71
Ariel, character of, 256
Ariodante and Ginevra, Historie of, 208
Ariosto, I Suppositi of, 164
Orlando Furioso of, and Much Ado about
Nothing, 208
Aristotle, quotation from, made by both Shakespeare and Bacon 370 n
Armado, in Love’s Labour’s Lost 51 n, 62
Armenian language, translation of Shakespeare in the, 354
Arms, coat of, Shakespeare’s, 189 190 191 193
Arms, College of, applications of the poet’s father to, 2 10 n, 188-92
Arne, Dr., 334
Arnold, Matthew, 327 n 1
Art in England, its indebtedness to Shakespeare, 340 341
As You Like It: allusion to the part of Rosalind being played by
a boy, 38 n
2
ridicule of foreign travel, 42 n 2
acknowledgments to Marlowe (III. v. 8), 64
adapted from Lodge’s ‘Rosalynde,’ 209
addition of three new characters, 209
hints taken from ‘Saviolo’s Practise,’
209
its pastoral character, 209
said to have been performed before King James at Wilton,
232 n 1
411 n.
For editions see Section xix. (Bibliography),
301-25
Asbies, the chief property of Robert Arden at Wilmcote, bequeathed to
Shakespeare’s mother, 7
mortgaged to Edmund Lambert, 12
proposal to confer on John Lambert an absolute title to the
property, 26
Shakespeare’s endeavour to recover, 195
Ashbee, Mr. E. W., 302 n
Assimilation, literary, Shakespeare’s power of, 61 109 seq.
Aston Cantlowe, 6
place of the marriage of Shakespeare’s parents, 7
‘Astrophel,’ apostrophe to Sidney in Spenser’s, 143 n 2
‘Astrophel and Stella,’ 83
the metre of, 95 n 2
address to Cupid, 97 n
the praise of ‘blackness’ in, 119 and n 153 n 1
editions of, 428 429
Aubrey, John, the poet’s early biographer, on John
Shakespeare’s trade, 4
on the poet’s knowledge of Latin, 16
on John Shakespeare’s relations with the trade of
butcher, 18
on the poet at Grendon, 31
lines quoted by him on John Combe, 269 n
on Shakespeare’s genial disposition, 278
value of his biography of the poet, 362
his ignorance of any relation between Shakespeare and the
Earl of Pembroke, 414 415
‘Aurora,’ title of Sir W. Alexander’s collection of
sonnets, 438
Autobiographical features of Shakespeare’s plays, 164-7 168 248
of Shakespeare’s sonnets, the question of, 100 109 125 152 160
Autographs of the poet, 284-6
‘Avisa,’ heroine of Willobie’s poem, 155 seq
Ayrer, Jacob, his Die schöne Sidea, 253 and n 1
Ayscough, Samuel, 364 n
B
Bacon, Miss Delia, 371
Bacon Society, 372
Bacon-Shakespeare controversy, (Appendix II.), 370-73
Baddesley Clinton, the Shakespeares of, 3
Baïf, De, plagiarised indirectly by Shakespeare, 111 and n
indebtedness of Daniel and others to, 431 432
one of ‘La Pléiade,’ 443 444
Bandello, the story of Romeo and Juliet by, 55 n 1
the story of Hero and Claudio by, 208
the story of Twelfth Night by, 210
Barante, recognition of the greatness of Shakespeare by, 350
Barnard, Sir John, second husband of the poet’s granddaughter Elizabeth, 282
Barnes, Barnabe, legal terminology in his Sonnets, 32 n 2
and (Appendix IX.) 432
use of the word ‘wire,’ 118 n 2
his sonnets of vituperation, 121
the probable rival of Shakespeare for Southampton’s
favour, 131 132 133 135 n
his sonnets, 132 133 432
called ‘Petrarch’s scholar’ by Churchyard,
133
expressions in his sonnet (xlix.) adopted by Shakespeare,
152 n
sonnet to Lady Bridget Manners, 379 n
sonnet to Southampton’s eyes, 384
compliment to Sidney in Sonnet xcv. 432
Sonnet lxvi. (‘Ah, sweet Content’)
quoted, 432
his sonnets to patrons, 440
his religious sonnets, 441
Barnfield, Richard, feigning old age in his ‘Affectionate
Shepherd,’ 86
n
his adulation of Queen Elizabeth in ‘Cynthia,’
137 n, 435
sonnets addressed to ‘Ganymede,’ 138 n 2, 435
predicts immortality for Shakespeare, 179
chief author of the ‘Passionate Pilgrim,’ 182 and n
Bartholomew Fair, 255
Bartlett, John, 364
Barton collection of Shakespeareana at Boston, Mass., 341
Barton-on-the-Heath, 12
identical with the ‘Burton’ in the Taming of
the Shrew, 164
Bathurst, Charles, on Shakespeare’s versification, 49 n
Baynes, Thomas Spencer, 365
Beale, Francis, 389
‘Bear Garden in Southwark, The,’ the poet’s lodgings near, 38
Bearley, 6
Beaumont, Francis, on ‘things done at the Mermaid,’ 177
Beaumont, Sir John, 388
Bedford, Edward Russell, third Earl of: his marriage to Lucy Harington, 161
Bedford, Lucy, Countess of, 138 n 2, 161
Beeston, William (a seventeenth-century actor), on the report that
Shakespeare was a schoolmaster, 29
on the poet’s acting, 43
Bellay, Joachim du, Spenser’s translations of some of his sonnets, 101 105 n, 432 436 443 444
Belleau, Remy, poems and sonnets by, 441 n 1, 444 445 n
Belleforest (Francois de), Shakespeare’s indebtedness to the ‘Histoires Tragiques’ of, 14 55 n 1, 208 222
Benda, J. W. 0., German translation of Shakespeare by, 344
Benedick and his ‘halting sonnet,’ 108 208
Benedix, J. R., opposition to Shakespearean worship by, 345
Bentley, R., 313
Berlioz, Hector, 351
Bermudas, the, and The Tempest, 252
Berners, Lord, translation of ‘Huon of Bordeaux’ by, 162
Bernhardt, Madame Sarah, 351
Bertaut, Jean, 443
Betterton, Mrs., 335
Betterton, Thomas, 33 332 334 335 362
Bianca and her lovers, story of, partly drawn from the ‘Supposes’ of George Gascoigne, 164
Bible, the, Shakespeare and, 16 17 and n 1
Bibliography of Shakespeare, 299-325
Bensley, Robert, actor, 338
Bidford, near Stratford, legend of a drinking bout at, 271
Biography of the poet, sources of (Appendix I.), 361-5
Birmingham, memorial Shakespeare library at, 298
Biron, in Love’s Labour’s Lost, 51 and n
Birth of Merlin, 181
Birthplace, Shakespeare’s, 8 9
‘Bisson,’ use of the word, 317
Blackfriars Shakespeare’s purchase of property in, 267
Blackfriars Theatre, built by James Burbage (1596), 38 200
leased to ‘the Queen’s Children of the
Chapel,’ 38
202 213
occupied by Shakespeare’s company, 38
litigation of Burbage’s heirs, 200
Shakespeare’s interest in, 201 202
shareholders in, 202
Shakespeare’s disposal of his shares in, 264
‘Blackness,’ Shakespeare’s praise of, 118-120 cf. 155
Blades, William, 364
Blind Beggar of Alexandria, Chapman’s, 51 n
Blount, Edward, publisher, 92 135 n, 183 244 304 305 312 393 394 and n 1
Boaistuau de Launay (Pierre) translates Bandello’s story of Romeo and Juliet, 51 n
Boaden, James, 406 n
Boar’s Head Tavern, 170
Boas, Mr. F. S., 365
Boccaccio, Shakespeare’s indebtedness to, 163 249 251 and n 2
Bodenstedt, Friedrich von, German translator of Shakespeare, 344
Bohemia, allotted a seashore in Winter’s Tale, 251
translations of Shakespeare in, 354
Boiardo, 243
Bond against impediments respecting Shakespeare’s marriage, 20 21
Bonian, Richard, printer, 226
Booth, Barton, actor, 335
Booth, Edwin, 342
Booth, Junius Brutus, 342
Booth, Lionel, 311
Borck, Baron C. W. von, translation of Julius Cæsar into German by, 343
Boswell, James, 334
Boswell, James (the younger), 322 405 n
Boswell-Stone, Mr. W. G. 364
Böttger, A., German translation of Shakespeare by, 344
Boy-actors, 34
35 38
the strife between adult actors and, 213-217
Boydell, John, his scheme for illustrating the work of the poet, 341
Bracebridge, C. H., 364
Brach, Pierre de, his sonnet on Sleep echoed in Daniel’s Sonnet xlix., 101 and n 1 431 445 n
Brandes, Mr. Georg, 365
Brassington, Mr. W. Salt, 290 n
Brathwaite, Richard, 269 n 1, 388 398
Breton, Nicholas, homage paid to the Countess of Pembroke in his poems,
138 n 2
his play on the words ‘wit’ and
‘will,’ 417
Brewster, E., 313
Bridgeman, Mr. C. 0., 415 n
Bright, James Heywood, 406 n
Broken Heart, Ford’s, similarity of theme of Shakespeare’s Sonnet cxxvi. to that of a song in, 97 n
Brooke or Broke, Arthur, his translation of the story of Romeo and Juliet, 55 322
Brooke, Ralph, complains about Shakespeare’s coat-of-arms, 192 193
Brown, C. Armitage, 406 n
Brown, John, obtains a writ of distraint against Shakespeare’s father, 12
Browne, William, love-sonnets by, 439 and n 2
Buc, Sir George, 245
Buckingham, John Sheffield, first Duke of, a letter from King James to the poet said to have been in his possession, 231
Bucknill, Dr. John Charles, on the poet’s medical knowledge, 364
Burbage, James, owner of The Theatre and keeper of a livery stable,
33 36
erects the Blackfriars Theatre, 38