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The Poetry of Nicholas Breton

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Eva March Tappan
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Extract

The chief source of information concerning Nicholas Breton's early life is the will of his father, written in 1557-8, probated in 1558-9. This will, a lengthy document, provides liberally for the wife and the five children, devises generous legacies to a number of household servants, remembers various hospitals, the “poorest creatures” in several parishes, “poorest Skoolers of the university of Cambrydge,” and even sets apart a sum of money for “repayringe the hyghe wayes brydges and other most needful and necessary thinges.” There are mentions of “jewelles” and plate and valuable furniture and clothes, and the whole tone of the will indicates that its maker was a man who had wealth and was accustomed to use it freely and generously. That he was as liberal in thought as in money-matters, that he had due regard to the preferences of others, may be fairly inferred from a bequest to one Henry Knighte, “so that he continew to study at the Lawe, or use any other honest exereyse of Lyvinge.” That the wife was a woman of and this association takes the reader away from the atmosphere of Early English poetry.“

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , 1898 , pp. 297 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1898

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References

Note 1 in page 297 Printed in full in Grosart's Works in Verse and Prose of Nicholas Breton, Chertsey Worthies' Library; “Memorial Introduction,” pp. xii-xvii.

Note 2 in page 297 Ibid., p. xvi.

Note 3 in page 297 Ibid., p. xvi.

Note 4 in page 297 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xvi.

Note 1 in page 298 “And that than my foresaid legacies and bequests above made to such of my said daughters as shall so marry tout tassent of my saied wife shalbe utterlye voyde and of none effecte.” Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xv.

Note 2 in page 298 Ibid., p. xvii.

Note 3 in page 298 Ibid., p. xvi.

Note 4 in page 298 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xix.

Note 5 in page 298 Not 1542-3, as Grosart puts it (Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xix), by either mistake or misprint.

Note 6 in page 298 Ibid., p. xx.

Note 7 in page 298 See p. 321.

Note 1 in page 299 Toys of an Idle Head, p. 50/1.

Note 2 in page 299 Sloane ms. 5008, British Museum.

Note 3 in page 299 Grimello's Fortunes, p. 6/1; An Old Man's Lesson, p. 12/1, 13/1; Strange News out of Divers Countries, p. 11/1; Fantastics, p. 15/1; A Post with a Packet of Mad Letters, second series, letter 16.

Note 4 in page 299 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xx.

Note 5 in page 299 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xxi.

Note 6 in page 299 In the library of the University of Pennsylvania.

Note 1 in page 301 Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.

Note 1 in page 303 A work by no means certainly Breton's.

Note 1 in page 304 Elizabethan and Jacobean Pamphlets, Introd., p. xvii f.

Note 2 in page 304 Breton, however, did not really need to write for bread.

Note 1 in page 305 Section 6.

Note 2 in page 305 See Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual.

Note 3 in page 305 Page 321.

Note 4 in page 305 Vol. ii, p. 183, second edition, 1815.

Note 5 in page 305 British Bibliographer, vol. iii, Introd. to England's Helicon, p. iv, third edition.

Note 6 in page 305 Ibid., p. vii.

Note 7 in page 305 Vol. iii, p. 174, second edition, 1815.

Note 8 in page 305 Ibid., p. 16.

Note 1 in page 306 Shakespeare and his Times, vol. I, p. 721 f.

Note 2 in page 306 Introduction to the Works of Robert Greene.

Note 3 in page 306 Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, vol. ii, Part 1.

Note 1 in page 307 Stationers' Register for 6 April, 1619.

Note 2 in page 307 Grosart's Breton, “ Memorial Introduction,” passim.

Note 1 in page 308 Elizabethan Literature, Ch. iv, p. 128, edition of 1891.

Note 2 in page 308 Ibid., Ch. vi, p. 239 f.

Note 3 in page 308 Elizabethan and Jacobean Pamphlets, Introd., p. xvii, 1892.

Note 1 in page 309 Lyrics from Elizabethan Romances, Introd., p. xx, 1890.

Note 2 in page 309 Jacobean Poets, Ch. i, p. 15 f., 1894.

Note 3 in page 309 Alas for poor John Hynd of 1606 ! See page 302.

Note 4 in page 309 Page 226; by Felix E. Schelling, 1895.

Note 1 in page 310 The death of Henry Morley has lost us the criticism of Breton that he had promised (in vol. x, p. 493) for the eleventh volume of his English Writers. W. Hall Griffin, who completed the work, barely mentions Breton as “ one of the most prolific writers of the day,” and says that his verse “ often has the ring of a true poet.”

The appendix to English Writers, vol. xi, gives a valuable bibliography of Breton.

Note 2 in page 310 Poetry and its Varieties, by J. S. Mill.

Note 3 in page 310 George MacDonald's England's Antiphon, Chapter v.

Note 1 in page 311 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xxix.

Note 2 in page 311 Notes and Queries, 5th series, vol. i, pp. 501-2.

Note 1 in page 312 Countess of Pembroke's Love, 23/1, 1. 37; cf. Ephesians, iii. 18:—“To comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” etc.

Note 2 in page 312 Ibid, 27/2, 1. 51: cf. Psalms, xx. 7:—“ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses.”

Note 3 in page 312 Dedication of Pilgrimage to Paradise; cf. Psalms, LI. 18:—“Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”

Note 4 in page 312 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. lxxi.

Note 5 in page 312 Countess of Pembroke's Passion, stanza 13.

Note 6 in page 312 Tears of Fancy, sonnet 57.

Note 7 in page 312 Sonnet 38.

Note 8 in page 312 With one exception, the song beginning, “Sweet Love, if thou wilt gain a monarch's glory,” which ends, “Alas! poor Love, then thou art woe-begone thee,” in John Wilbye's Madrigals, 1598.

Note 1 in page 313 Ekatompathia, poem 17; published 1582.

Note 2 in page 313 1577.

Note 3 in page 313 1592.

Note 4 in page 313 1590.

Note 5 in page 313 15/2, 1. 32.

Note 1 in page 314 Life's Death, Love's Life.

Note 1 in page 315 The Ravished Soul, p. 6/1.

Note 2 in page 315 Countess of Pembroke's Love, p. 22, 1. 7-10. Cf. Barnabe Googe's,

“ The oftener seen, the more I lust,

The more I lust, the more I smart,

The more I smart, the more I trust,

The more I trust, the heavier heart,

The heavy heart breeds mine unrest,

Thy absence, therefore, like I best.“

Oculi Augent Dolorem.

Note 1 in page 316 The Longing of a Blessed Heart, p. 15.

Note 2 in page 316 1577.

Note 1 in page 317 39/2 A Strange Dream.

Note 2 in page 317 Cf. Charles Lamb's Vision of Repentance with its similar—and yet very different treatment.

Note 3 in page 317 Morley's English Writers, vol. xi, Bibliography of Breton.

Note 4 in page 317 P. 9.

Note 5 in page 317 P. 7/1.

Note 6 in page 317 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xlviii.

Note 7 in page 317 Elizabethan Literature, Ch. vi, p. 239.

Note 8 in page 317 Hazlitt's Gascoigne, vol. 1, p. 75.

Note 1 in page 318 Schelling's Book of Elizabethan Lyrics, Introd., p. xiv.

Note 1 in page 319 Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.

Note 2 in page 319 In the British Museum.

Note 1 in page 320 Sloane ms. 5008, British Museum.

Note 2 in page 320 Passionate Shepherd, 3.

Note 3 in page 320 Written probably 1581 or 1582; acted February, 1591.

Note 1 in page 321 Phillis and Corydon.

Note 2 in page 321 Astrophell his Song of Phillida and Condon. See also Phillis in Sorrow, The Nightingale and Phillis, Love Dead, Love Rejected, Countess of Pembroke's Love, p. 25/1, 1. 6.

Note 3 in page 321 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. lxvi.

Note 4 in page 321 Schelling's Life and Writings of George Gascoigne, p. 53, note 4.

Note 5 in page 321 Ibid.

Note 1 in page 322 “ I seem to swim in such a sugared love.”

The Lover Determined to Make a Virtue of Necessity.

Note 2 in page 322 “ Even she for whom I seemed of yore in seas of joy to swim.”

Divorce of a Lover.

Note 3 in page 322 “ And where the sighs which boil out of my breast

May scald my heart, and yet the cause unknown.“

Dan Bartholomew.

Note 4 in page 322 “ Nor ever can I find good plaister for my pain.”—Complaint of the Green Knight.

Note 5 in page 322 “ When as I sunk in puddles of despight.”—Dan Bartholmew.

Note 6 in page 322 Hazlitt's edition of Gascoigne, i. 40.

Note 7 in page 322 Flourish upon Fancy, 25/1, 1. 13.

Note 8 in page 322 Schelling's Book of Elizabethan Lyrics, Introd., p. xv.

Note 9 in page 322 Except when he pretends to be insincere; e. g., Ekatompathia, 88.

Note 1 in page 323 Cf. Herrick's To Phillis to Love and Live wilh Him, line 30:—“To dance the heyes with nimble feet; ” also, Sir John Davies's Orchestra, stanza 53:— “ He seems to dance a perfect hay.”

Note 2 in page 323 See Defence of Queen Guenevere, Near Avalon, Golden Wings, Rapunzel, passim.

Note 1 in page 324 Passionale Shepherd, 3.

Note 2 in page 324 Choridon Unhappy.

Note 3 in page 324 Arcadia, Book 2.

Note 1 in page 325 A Pastoral of Phillis and Coridon.

Note 2 in page 325 Philida and Condon.

Note 3 in page 325 The Nightingale and Phillis.

Note 4 in page 325 Collier's Bibliographical Account under Whipping of the Satire.

Note 5 in page 325 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xxxi.

Note 1 in page 326 Grosart's Breton, Introd., p. xxxiii; xxxi-xxxvii gives long extracts from No Whipping.

Note 2 in page 326 Elizabethan Literature, Chapter iv, p. 151.

Note 1 in page 327 The Steele Glas, Hazlitt's Gascoigne, ii, p. 186.

Note 2 in page 327 Foolscap, p. 21/2, 1. 1.

Note 3 in page 327 The Soul's Immortal Crown, p. 8/2, 1. 27.

Note 4 in page 327 Pasuil's Mad Cap, p. 9/1, 1. 50.

Note 1 in page 328 Pasquil's Precession, 8/1, 1. 22.

Note 2 in page 328 Ibid., 1. 27.

Note 3 in page 328 Dictionary of National Biography, article Breton.

Note 4 in page 328 Scourge of Villainy, 1. 92.

Note 5 in page 328 Strange News out of Divers Countries, p. 7/1, 1. 16.

Note 6 in page 328 Melancholike Humours, p. 10.

Note 7 in page 328 Donne's Satire IV.

Note 1 in page 329 Passionate Shepherd, 2.

Note 2 in page 329 Ibid., 3.

Note 3 in page 329 Preface to The Soul's Immortal Crown.

Note 4 in page 329 Pasquil's Pass and Passeth Not, epistle to the reader.

Note 5 in page 329 Soul's Immortal Grown.

Note 1 in page 330 Andrew Lang's introduction to Chapman in Ward's English Poets.

Note 1 in page 331 Schelling's Elizabethan Lyrics, p. 226.