Shepherd Colin’s mistress Rosalinde
is taken by Menalcas, same as Philisides’ Mira by Menalcas in Philip Sidney’s Song
for an Accession Day Tilt.
The Shepheardes Calender (TSC)
was anonymously published in 1579. The anonymity was done intentionally as
stated in “To His Booke” by another anonymous Immeritô:
To His Booke
Go little book: thy self present,
As child whose parent
is unkent:
. . .
But if that any ask thy
name,
Say thou wert base begot with blame:
For thy thereof thou takest shame.
And when thou art past jeopardy,
Come tell me, what was said of me:
And I will send more after thee.
Immeritô.
TSC consists of twelve eclogues to
match twelve months. Each eclogue has one or more speakers telling stories or
making comments. TSC is entitled to Philip Sidney on its cover page. The
term “child whose parent” can spell Philip Sidney,
suggesting the identity of the author (parent) of this book (child). This usage
of child and parent is similar to The Birth of Merlin,
The Child hath found his Father by Shakespeare.
TSC connects Philip Sidney with
Shakespeare via anagrams, especially the character Rosalinde who appears in
Shakespeare’s As you Like it with alias Ganimed (or Ganymede).
From Sidney’s Song to TSC
In the main story of TSC, shepherd
Colin Clout complains his unfortunate love for Rosalind (or Rosalinde) who
turns to Menalcas. Menalcas is a character
in Sidney’s Song for an Accession Day Tilt, where Menalcas, Mira, and Philisides reflect
Henry Herbert, Mary, and Philip Sidney via anagrams.
|
TSC |
Sidney’s Song |
Arcadia |
Reflecting |
|
Menalcas |
Menalcas |
Menalcas |
Henry
Herbert |
|
Colin
Clout |
Philisides |
Philisides |
Philip
Sidney |
|
Rosalinde |
Mira |
Mira |
Mary
Sidney |
TSC follows
the style of Sidney anagram in mapping Colin, Rosalinde, and Menalcas. Sidney’s
Song may lead to TSC via Menalcas, and TSC to As you
Like it via Rosalind.
Character List
Each character of TSC can map to a
person related to Edmund Spenser or Philip Sidney. Some are specified directly,
like Piers as the Protestant personified, or Hobbinol as Gabriel Harvey.
|
Name |
Translation |
Reflecting |
|
Rosalinde |
rosal-lined |
Mary Sidney |
|
Colin Clout |
col-in-clout |
Philip Sidney |
|
Menalcas |
manacles |
Henry Herbert |
|
Lettice |
let-tice |
Lettice Knollys |
|
Thomalin |
tho-malign |
Robert Dudley |
|
Piers |
pierce |
Protestant personified |
|
Palinodie |
pall-in-noddy |
Catholic personified |
|
Thenot |
the-not |
Catholic personified |
|
Lobbin |
lobbing |
Robert Dudley |
|
Dido |
do-dy |
Amy Robsart |
|
Hobbinol |
hobbing-noll |
Gabriel Harvey |
|
Algrind |
all-grind |
Edmund Grindal |
|
Cuddie |
cuddy |
Edmund Spenser |
|
Tityrus |
sheep and goat |
Virgil and Chaucer |
|
Diggon Davie |
dig-on Davie |
Davie Dicar |
|
Wrenock |
wre-nock |
Richard Mulcaster |
|
E. K. |
eke |
Mary Sidney |
Speaker List
Each month has one or more speakers. Colin
Clout alone is the speaker of the first and last month. Rosalind and Menalcas
are both only being mentioned.
|
Month |
Speaker |
Name Mentioned |
|
Preface |
E. K. |
n.a. |
|
Jan. |
Colin |
Rosalinde |
|
Feb. |
Thenot,
Cuddie |
Phyllis |
|
Mar. |
Thomalin,
Willye |
Lettice |
|
Apr. |
Thenot, Hobbinol |
Rosalinde,
Elisa |
|
May. |
Palinode, Piers |
Algrind,
John |
|
Jun. |
Colin,
Hobbinol |
Menalcas,
Rosalinde |
|
Jul. |
Morrell,
Thomalin |
Algrind |
|
Aug. |
Willye, Perigot,
Cuddie |
Rosalinde |
|
Sep. |
Hobbinol, Diggon
Davie |
Roffy,
Lowder |
|
Oct. |
Piers, Cuddie |
n.a. |
|
Nov. |
Colin,
Thenot |
Dido,
Lobbin, Rosalinde |
|
Dec. |
Colin |
Wrenock,
Rosalinde |
Character Analysis
Rosalinde
Sidney anagram can apply to Rosalind (or
Rosalinde) and Colin Clout (or Cloute) in the argument of January.
In this first Æglogue Colin clout
a shepheard’s boy complaineth him of his unfortunate love, being but newly (as
seemeth) enamoured of a country lass called Rosalinde.
E. K. (commenter of TSC) specifies in
the glossary that the name Colin Clout and Rosalind are both “feigned names and
well ordered to shadow” their true identities:
Glossary by E. K.
Colin Cloute) is a name not greatly used,
and yet have I seen a Poesy of M. Skelton’s under that title. But indeed the
word Colin is French, and used of the French Poet Marot (if he be worthy of the
name of a Poet) in a certain Æglogue. Under which name this Poet secretly shadoweth himself, . . .
Rosalinde is
also a feigned name, which being well ordered,
will bewray the very name of his love and mistress,
whom by that name he coloureth.
“Feigned name” and “well ordered” are
features of anagram in naming characters. The name Rosalinde contains all
needed letters to spell Mary Sidney except letter m,
which can be found in “feigned name.”
Each woodcut of the twelve months contains an astrology symbol of that month. On the upper-left of January’s woodcut there is a mermaid holding a jar as the symbol of Aquarius. Colin Clout is gazing the mermaid as his Rosalind.
In Greek mythology,
Zeus transformed his cup-carrier Ganymede to Aquarius. In the play As
You Like It, Rosalind’s alias is Ganimed, which can match the January’s
woodcut of Ganymede and Colin’s mistress Rosalinde.
Rosalind.
I’ll have no worse a name than Jove’s
own Page,
And therefore look, you call me Ganimed.
— As You Like It
Rosalind and Ganimed can spell Mary Sidney anagram. Rosalind
is printed as Rosaline or Rosalinde in Shakespeare’s 1623 folio.
No Colin appears in As You Like It, but Corin an old shepherd. The difference can be mended by “old.”
Colin Clout
“Shepheard Colin” can spell Philip Sidney. Both spelling of shepherd and shepheard appear in TSC and the 1623 folio. In April’s
glossary of TSC, E. K. comments that “Colin pertaineth to some
Southern noble man, and perhaps in Surrey or Kent.” Philip Sidney was born in Kent,
next to Surrey. Edmund Spenser was born in London.
“Shepheard Colin Clout” can spell Philip Sidney Protestant, same
as “Philisides, the shepheard good and true” in
Sidney’s Song. This would be one of the reasons to name the protagonist
Colin Clout in TSC.
TSC was published anonymously in
1579. Colin Clout reflecting Edmund Spenser was considered years later after
the book being included in Spenser’s work; however, its title page never prints
Spenser’s name.
Colin Clout’s mistress Rosalinde is taken by
Menalcas, same as Philip Sidney’s Mary by Henry Herbert in Sidney’s Song. In this respect, Colin Clout should be Philip
Sidney, not Edmund Spenser.
From the word’s logic, Cuddie
reflects Edmund Spenser. This is consistent with the Lenvoy of Narcissus
by Thomas Edwards. After Sidney’s death in 1586, Spenser performed a transfer
of soul as the sons of Agape in his Faerie
Queene.
Edmund Spenser’s A pastoral Aelogue upon
the death of Sir Philip Sidney Knight (1595), includes a
dialogue between Lycon and Colin. Lycon’s line, “Philisides is dead. Up jolly
swain,” suggests that Colin and Philisides both reflect Philip Sidney.
Colin is a perfect anagram of Lycon. Spenser naming himself Lycon as an anagram of Colin
suggests a transfer of soul from Philip Sidney as Colin.
Menalcas
Menalcas is a character in Virgil’s Eclogues
same as Tityrus. E. K. comments that
Menalcas is “a person unknown and secret” in the glossary of June.
Glossary
by E. K.
Menalcas)
the name of a shepherd in Virgil; but here is meant a person unknown and
secret, against whom he often bitterly invayeth.
Menalcas can be a perfect anagram of manacles. In
Philip Sidney’s Song, Menalcas
reflects Henry Herbert, husband and manacles of Mary Sidney. This can also
apply to TSC. The term “bitterly invayeth” describing Menalcas can spell
Henry
Herbert.
Menalcas is mentioned three times in TSC
but he is never a speaker, same as Rosalind. Colin Clout complains Menalcas in
the eclogue of June:
Colin.
And thou Menalcas,
that by
treachery
Didst underfong
my lass, to vex so light,
“Menalcas, that by treachery” can spell Henry Herbert, suggesting
the identity of Menalcas, who took a lass by treachery as Henry Herbert married
Mary Sidney in 1577 when she was 16 and he 39 with two marriages. The “underfong my lass” can spell Mary Sidney, suggesting the identity of the lass.
Lettice
The
name Lettice appears only once in the eclogue of March. E. K. comments
that Lettice is “the name of some country lass.”
Willie.
Tho
shall we sporten in delight,
And
learne with Lettice to
wexe light,
That scornefully lookes askaunce,
Tho
will we little Loue awake,
That
nowe sleepeth in Lethe lake,
And
pray him leaden our daunce.
Thomalin.
Willye,
I wene thou bee assott:
“That
scornefully looks” can spell Lettice Knollys Countess of Leicester. Her husband Robert
Dudley appears as Thomalin.
Lettice Knollys (1543–1634) secretly married Robert Dudley (1532–88) in 1578. She was then banished from the court permanently by Queen Elizabeth. Lettice is accused of “scornfully” here because Robert Dudley was the Queen’s lover. Lettice can be a perfect anagram of let-tice; tice has the usage of to entice or attract, likely the reason her first name is used directly here.
Thomalin
Thomalin
is “some secret friend” in E. K.’s comment. He appears in March and July.
In the argument of March, Thomalin is said to be “entangled” in love and
“wounded” without a name.
Glossary
by E. K.
Thomalin is
meant some secret friend, who scorned Love and his knights so long, till at length
himself was entangled, and unwares wounded with the dart of
some beautiful regard, which is Cupid’s arrow.
Thomalin
can be a perfect anagram of tho-malin; tho can be an obsolete from of though; malin
of malign; malign has the usage of malevolent or scornful; “the dart of
some beautiful” can spell Robert Dudley Elisabeth Tudor.
Robert
Dudley was the brother of Mary Dudley, Mary Sidney’s mother. He was Queen
Elizabeth’s lover and wounded for secretly married Lettice Knollys, who appears
in March under the name Lettice.
Piers and Palinodie
Piers
and Palinodie appear in May and October. Argument of May
specifies directly that shepherd Piers represents the Protestant personified,
Palinodie the Catholic.
In
this fifth Æglogue, under the persons of two shepherds Piers
and Palinodie, be represented two forms of pastors or
Ministers, or the protestant and the Catholique.
The
name Piers may refer to the long poem Piers Plowman by William Langland (c.1332–86),
where Piers the plowman represents Christ. Piers sounds like pierce. The name
Piers is spelt Pierce once in TSC; pierce has the usage of to penetrate
sharply, alluding to the Protestant that penetrates the Catholic’s doctrines.
Palinodie
(or Palinode) can spell pall-in-noddy; pall has the usage of a rich
cloth spreading on an altar; noddy of an idiot; palinode of recantation
or withdrawal. The name Palinodie mocks at the Catholic. The Sidney and Herbert
family both supported the Protestant.
Thenot
Thenot
is described in February’s argument as “an old Shepherd, who for his
crookedness and unlustiness, is scorned of Cuddie an unhappy heardman’s boy.”
E. K. says that Thenot is “the name of a shepherd in Marot his Æglogues.”
Herdsman, heardman, and herdman were exchangeable in Shakespeare’s time.
Thenot’s
Latin emblem, “Iddio perche é vecchio, Fa suoi al suo essempio,” can be
translated as “God makes His own pattern, for He is old.” E. K. expounds that
further:
This
emblem is spoken of Thenot, as a moral of his former tale:
namely, that God, which is himself most aged, being before all ages, and
without beginning, maketh those, whom he loveth like to himself, in heaping
years unto their days, and blessing them with long life.
The
“former tale” indicates Oak and Brier. Thenot can
be a perfect anagram of the-not, and sounds like the-knot; “his crookedness and
unlustiness” criticizes the Catholic from the Protestant’s view. The old Thenot
reflects personified Catholic.
Mary
Sidney used two characters of TSC, Thenot and Piers, in A Dialogue
between Two Shepherds (1599), where Thenot praises
Astrea the goddess of justice in Greek mythology.
Piers accuses Thenot a liar, for Thenot is distracted
(a’strayed) from the right way to praise justice. Fancy words would let
justice flee, and only silent truth can praise justice, as stated by Piers: “the
truth but plainly tell.”
Thenot.
Then Piers, of friendship tell me why,
My meaning true, my words should lie,
And strive in vain to raise her?
Piers.
Words from conceit do only rise,
Above conceit her honour flies;
But silence, nought can praise her.
Lobbin
The
name Lobbin appears three times in November. He is Dido’s dear friend
and lover; however, Colin Clout complains Lobbin’s grief for Dido’s death being
“without remorse.”
Colin.
O thou great shepherd Lobbin,
how great is thy grief,
Where
been the nosegays that she dight for thee: . . .
Why
then weeps Lobbin so without remorse?
O Lobb, thy loss no longer lament,
Dido nis
dead, but into heaven hent.
Glossary
by E. K.
Lobbin)
the name of a shepherd, which seemeth to have been the lover and dear friend of
Dido.
Colin
calls Lobbin Lobb, a hint to treat Lobbin as lobbin’ or lobbing; lob has
the usage of a country bumpkin or clown. The line “thou great shepherd Lobbin”
can spell Robert
Dudley, suggesting the identity of Lobbin, whose dear friend and lover Dido reflects Dudley’s wife Amy Robsart. Their story is
also sealed in Shakespeare’s Phoenix and Turtle
Dido
In the argument of November Colin
mourns the death of Dido who is described as “some maiden of great blood” and
“to me altogether unknown.”
In this xi. Æglogue he bewaileth the death
of some maiden of great bloud, whom he calleth Dido.
The personage is secret, and to me altogether unknown, albe of himself I often required
the same.
Description of Dido, “some maiden of great
blood,” can spell Amy Robsart Dudley (1532–60),
who died in 1560 when Philip Sidney was six-year-old and Mary Sidney one, which
can fit the line “to me altogether unknown.” Both Philip and Mary Sidney may
know Amy Robsart’s story more than others from the Sidney and Herbert family.
Ambrosia Mixt
Colin Clout blesses Dido with “Ambrosia mixt.”
Ambrosia is the food for gods in Greek mythology. The term Ambrosia can spell Amy Robsart except letter t, which can be mended by Nectar
or mixt in “she Nectar with Ambrosia mixt.”
Colin.
Dido is gone afore (whose turn
shall be the next?)
There lives she with the blessed Gods in
bliss,
There drinks she Nectar with Ambrosia mixt,
And joys enjoyes, that mortal men do miss.
E. K. comments that Dido is buried in the
“Author’s conceipt” and “out of doubt I am, that it is not Rosalinde.” Conceipt
can be a variant of concept or conceit. Adding Dido is not Rosalinde may
suggest Dido reflects a real person related to Mary Sidney as Rosalinde which
is in the author’s conception.
Thenot.
For dead is Dido, dead alas and
drent,
Dido the great shepherd his
daughter sheen:
Glossary by E. K.
The great shepherd) is some man of high
degree, and not as some vainly suppose God Pan. The person both of the shepherd
and of Dido is unknown and closely buried in the Author’s conceipt. But
out of doubt I am, that it is not Rosalinde,
as some imagine: for he speaketh soon after of her also.
Dido is dead and Rosalinde is received by
Menalcas. They are two different persons. Dido reflects Amy Robsart, wife of
Robert Dudley. The line “doubt I am, that it is not Rosalinde” can spell Amy Robsart Dudley.
Robert Dudley and Amy
Robsart both contain Rob-. Using Dido to mourn Robsart may be triggered by Robert Dudley. In Virgil’s Aeneid,
Dido was the queen of Carthage. When her lover Aeneas left her, Dido killed
herself. This would be the reason to use Dido as alias of Amy Robsart who died
for her husband Robert Dudley. Dido can be a perfect anagram of do-dy; dy is an obsolete form of dye or die; dy as
die appears often in Shakespeare’s 1623 folio. Amy Robsart’s suspicious death
is still a mystery today. Her story is sealed in Shakespeare’s Phoenix and Turtle
collected in Love’s Martyr by
Robert Chester.
Hobbinol
Colin Clout’s special good friend Hobbinol
is declared as Gabriel Harvey directly by E. K. in the glossary of September.
Glossary by E. K.
Colin Clout) Now I think no man doubteth
but by Colin is ever meant the Author self, whose especial good friend Hobbinol
saith he is, or more rightly Maister Gabriel Harvey.
Algrind
Shepherd Algrind (or Algrin) is compared to
the Greek tragedian Aeschylus (c.525–c.456 BC). They both were
“brained with a shellfish” dropped by an eagle from the sky.
Glossary by E. K.
Algrin) the name
of a shepherd afforesaid, whose mishap he alludeth to the chance, that
happened to the Poet Aeschylus, that was brained with a shellfish.
Algrind can be a perfect anagram of Grindal. Edmund Grindal (c1519–83) was the
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1575, but suspended in 1577 for he rejected Queen
Elizabeth’s request to suppress prophesyings. The line “Algrin the name of a
shepherd” can spell Edmond Grindal.
Thomalin.
For sitting so with bared scalp,
an Eagle sored
hie,
That weening his white head was chalk,
A shell fish down let fly:
She ween’d the shell fish to have broke,
but therewith bruised
his brain,
So now astonied with the stroke,
he lies in lingering
pain.
Eagle here may allude to Queen Elizabeth.
Algrind “in lingering pain” refers to Edmond Grindal’s conflict with Queen
Elizabeth. The name Algrind appears eight times in TSC.
Algrind can be a perfect anagram of al-grind; al is an obsolete form of all; grind
has the usage of to smash or torture. Algrind’s brain being bruised suggests
that Edmond Grindal’s mind was tortured and smashed by the Queen.
Cuddie
In
the argument of February, Cuddie is described as “an unhappy Heardman’s
boy.” The word heardman appears only once in TSC. The term “unhappy
Heardman’s boy” can spell Edmund Spenser.
In the glossary of October, E. K.
makes an ambiguous comment about Cuddie, that he is “the author self, or some
other.” But E. K. also says that “Colin is ever meant the Author self” in the glossary of September. This would suggest both
Colin and Cuddie are authors of TSC.
Glossary by E. K.
I
doubt whether by Cuddie be specified the author self, or some other. For
in the eight Æglogue the same person was brought in, singing a Cantion of Colin’s
making, as he saith. So that some doubt, that the persons be different.
Cuddie is a variant of cuddy; cuddy
has the usage of a tenant’s rent to his lord. Cuddie can be a perfect anagram
of duce-dy (deuce-dye); dy
is a variant of dye (to paint or cover); duce of deuce (an object
represented by two). Description of Cuddie
in the argument of October can match the condition of Edmund Spenser in 1579.
Glossary by E. K.
In Cuddie
is set out the perfect pattern of a Poet, which finding no maintenance of his
state and studies, complaineth of the contempt of Poetry, and the causes
thereof.
After Philip
Sidney’s death in 1586, Edmund Spenser inherited the role of Colin, similar to Priamond,
Diamond, and Triamond in Spenser’s Faerie Queene. The three brothers
possess the art of passing the soul after a brother’s death to the next brother
alive. In the story, Triamond is the last one alive with three souls in one
body.
Tityrus
Tityrus is a character in Virgil’s Eclogues
same as Menalcas. In January’s glossary, E.
K. comments that Tityrus is Virgil’s feigned name.
Glossary by E. K.
Under which name this Poet secretly shadoweth
himself, as sometime did Virgil under the
name of Tityrus, thinking it much fitter,
than such Latin names, for the great unlikelihood of the language.
However, Tityrus is said to be both Virgil
and Chaucer in various places of TSC:
|
Jan. |
Virgil under the name of Tityrus |
|
Feb. |
Tityrus)
I suppose he mean Chaucer |
|
Jun. |
Tityrus)
That by Tityrus is meant Chaucer |
|
Oct. |
The
Romish Tityrus) well known to be Virgil |
|
Dec. |
Tityrus)
Chaucer as hath been oft said. |
The style of Virgil (70–19 BC) and
Chaucer (c.1343–1400) is far from alike. Comparing Tityrus to them
may come from the legend of Tityrus in A Display of Heraldry by John
Guillim (c.1565–1621), where Tityrus is set to be a mixture of sheep
and goat. Guillim’s book was published in 1610, later than the 1579 TSC,
but the legend could appear earlier.
Such are those that Upton calleth Musimones,
ingendred of a Goat and a Ramme; Tytiri, of a Sheepe
and a Goat; . . . and is engendred between a Goat and a Ram; like as the Tityrus is ingendred between a Sheep and
a Buck-Goat, as Upton noteth. — A Display of Heraldry
Tityrus can be a perfect anagram of try-suit, alluding to TSC’s intention of trying to
pursuit the Latin Virgil and English Chaucer the same time. The mixture of
Tityrus with Virgil and Chaucer can be treated as a combination of Colin and
Cuddie, with Philip Sidney as Colin and Edmund Spenser as Cuddie. In the
dedication to Gabriel Harvey by E. K., Tityrus is called “the God of
shepherds.”
Colin in June says that “The God of
shepherds Tityrus is dead,” and in the glossary E. K. comments that “Tityrus is
meant Chaucer, hath been already sufficiently said.” Tityrus and Chaucer can
spell Jesus Christ, a
possible reason to select the name Tityrus, and to call “Tityrus the God of
shepherds” due to the anagram.
Diggon Davie
September’s
argument says that Diggon Davie is a shepherd who travelled to a far country
for more gain, but found only corruption of Popish prelates.
Herein
Diggon Davie is devised to be a shepherd, that in hope of more gain, drove his
sheep into a far country. The abuses whereof, and loose living of Popish
prelates, by occasion of Hobbinol’s demand, he discourseth at large.
Diggon Davie can be an anagram of dig-on-Davie, a
combination of Davve the Dykere (who died of hunger in seeking the true
Christian life) in Piers Plowman (c.1377) by William Langland
(c.1332–c.86), and Davie Dicar’s Dream by Thomas Churchyard.
Diker
(Dicar or Dykere) is one who digs dikes or trenches. Dig has the usage
of to disclose issues with effort, indicating “loose living of Popish prelates.”
And
Dawe the Dykere deye for hunger
But
if God of his goodnesse graunte us a trewe.
— Piers
Plowman
The
emblem of Diggon Davie, “Inopem me copia fecit” (Plenty makes me poor), is expounded
by E. K.
But
our Diggon useth it to other purpose, as who that by trial of many ways had
found the worst, and through great plenty was fallen into great penury.
Wrenock
The
name Wrenock appears in December only. E. K. makes no comment on this
name. Richard Mulcaster (1531–1611) was the first headmaster of Merchant
Taylors’ School where Edmund Spenser educated. Mulcaster had exchanged letters
with Philip Sidney.
Somedele
ybent to song and musicks mirth,
A
good olde shephearde, Wrenock was his name,
Made
me by arte more cunning in the same.
The
first line about Wrenock, “Somedeal” and “musicks mirth” can spell Richard Mulcaster Merchant Taylors’ School.
Somedele is a variant of somedeal, a hint on merchant.
E. K.
The
name E. K. appears twice in the dedication only. What E. K. does in the book is
to eke comments. Naming in TSC combines a character’s features and his
or her true identity via anagram. The name E. K. follows the same rule as one
to “eke” the book.
To
the most excellent and learned both
Orator
and Poet, Maister Gabriel Harvey, his
very
special and singular good friend E. K. commend-
deth
the good liking of this his labour,
and
the patronage of the
new
Poet.
(‘.’)
.
. .
Your
own assuredly to
be
commanded E. K.
The
ending phrase “assuredly to be commanded E. K.” can spell Mary Sidney, who was
18 when TSC first published in 1579. This can explain why some of E.
K.’s comments seem quite basic, like Elde as old age, Phoebe as the Moon, Merriment
as Mirth, etc.
Oak and Brier
This allegory in February is told by
the old shepherd Thenot to the unhappy herdsman’s boy Cuddie. An aged Oak was
once the King of the field, but is beaten by storms and marred by moss now. A
proud Brier complains to a husbandman that the Oak is shading the sunlight. The
angry husbandman then cuts down the Oak. Losing the Oak’s shading, north wind
and snow soon crush down the Brier to dirt.
The sweet Nightingale singing so loud:
Which made this foolish
Brier wex so bold,
That on a time he cast him to scold,
And sneb the good Oak,
for he was old. . . .
The Husbandman
self to come that way,
Of custom to servewe his ground, . . .
Foolish Brier can spell Frier, an obsolete form of Friar (“popish priest” in
the glossary). Husbandman
can spell human. Good Oak can spell God. All these
anagrams are formed by taking letters from the head and tail. Palinode’s lines
of Good and God in the eclogue of May provide the hint.
Palinode.
Good is no good,
but if it be spend:
God giveth good for
none other end.
Moral of the husbandman cut down the Good
Oak alludes to human beings forsaking God. The blindness of popish priest is
the cause of this decay.
Glossary by E. K.
The priest’s crewe) holy water pot,
wherewith the popish priest used to sprinkle and
hallow the trees from mischance. Such blindness was
in those times, which the Poet supposeth, to have been the final decay of this ancient Oak.
Shakespeare and Areopagus
The earliest anagram to spell the name Shakespeare
can be found in E. K.’s comment of Bellona,
“shaked her speare”:
Glossary by E. K.
Bellona, the goddess of battle . . .
the Lady disdeigning, shaked her speare at him, and threatened
his sauciness.
The name Bellona appears only once in Shakespeare’s
1623
folio, The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Rosse.
Till that Bellona’s
Bridegroom, lapped in proof,
Confronted him with
self-comparisons.
Bellona’s Bridegroom indicates Mars in Roman mythology or Ares in
Greek. “Bellona’s Bridegroom” can spell Mary Sidney,
an indirect reference to seal her identity.
The phrase “with self-comparisons” can spell
Christopher Marlowe. In this play Macbeth reflects Christopher Marlowe
who was protected by Wilton House, and Lady Macbeth reflects Mary Sidney.
Wilton House’s Shakespeare statue has the
inscription of Macbeth’s soliloquy after the death of Lady Macbeth.
Areopagus, the Ares
Rock, is a literary circle formed by Philip Sidney. Shakespeare, the shaking
spear of Bellona, is formed by Mary Sidney. Ares is Bellona’s consort, applying
that Areopagus is Shakespeare’s consort.