Bacon and Shakspere Part 6

The Pa.s.sionate Shepherd to his love.

Come live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, [and] hills and fields, Woods, or steeple mountains yields.(1)

(1) The grammar of this verse is shocking both here and in the version of 1599. And there are considerable variations in the two versions. In that of 1599 the first word "Come"

is omitted, without which the song could hardly be sung.

Other slight defects of measure appear in both. But the editor of Marlowe's Works has carefully corrected the grammar and the measure.

And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull, Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold: A belt of straw, and ivy buds With coral clasps and amber studs.

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And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delights each May-morning; If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.

Finis. Chr. Marlowe.

Here we have Marlowe credited with this song in 1600, seven years after his death. Is there any other evidence that he wrote it? A single line at the close of a ditty in his "Jew of Malta" parallels with the first line of this, except the first word:

"Shall live with me and be my love."

The song, with many verbal amendments, and omitting the last stanza, is inserted in his "Works," 1826.

In the "Merry Wives of Windsor" act iii, scene ly Sir Hugh Evans sings the following four lines:

"To shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals; There we will make our peds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies."

This play was written in the latter part of 1599. In the earliest form of it Sir Hugh transposes and varies the lines thus:

"And then she made him beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies."

Then after three lines of incoherent speech:

"To shallow rivers, and to falls Melodious birds sing madrigals."

It would seem as if the song was familiar to the public in 1599 We now add from the "Helicon" the rest of No. xx of "The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim,"

enlarged from one stanza to six:

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The Nymph's reply to the Shepherd.

If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move, To live with thee, and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold; And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complain of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward Winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's Spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw, and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means can move, To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last, and love still breed, Had joys no date, nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move, To live with thee and be thy love.

Finis. Ignoto.

The editor of the third edition of the "Helicon" 1812, says in regard to "Ignoto:"

"This signature appears to have been generally, though not exclusively, subscribed to the pieces of Sir Walter Raleigh. It is also subscribed to one piece since appropriated to Shakspere, [No. xviii,] and to one Which, according to Ellis, belongs to Richard Barnfield [No. xxi.] The celebrated answer to Marlowe's, 'Come live with me,' here subscribed _Ignoto_, is given expressly to Raleigh by Isaac Walton in his 'Complete Angler,' first published in 1653."

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What could Walton know about it fifty years after the publication of the song and answer as above? On such worthless testimony the Nymph's Answer is credited to Raleigh. And we have in the "Encyclopedia of Poetry,"

1873, first the song by Marlowe, "_about_ 1590," and then the Nymph's Reply by Raleigh "_about_ 1610." Strange that the Nymph should wait _about_ twenty years to reply, and should then repeat the lines credited to Shakspere in 1599 and to "Ignoto" in 1600! The song perhaps existed before the death of Marlowe in 1593, but was probably composed by "Ignoto," who also wrote "The Nymph's Reply" and numerous other poetical pieces that were published in the "Helicon" in 1600.

"Ignoto" was undoubtedly a concealed poet. Marlowe, Raleigh and Barnfield were not. As early as January 1590, if not a little sooner, "Ignoto" contributed to Spenser's first publication of the "Faery Queen"

the following lines:

"To look upon a work of rare devise The which a workman setteth out to view, And not to yield it the deserved prize That unto such a workmanship is due, Doth either prove the judgment to be naught, Or else doth show a mind with envy fraught.

"To labor to commend a piece of work Which no man goes about to discommend, Would raise a jealous doubt that there did lurk Some secret doubt whereto the praise did tend: For when men know the goodness of the wine 'Tis needless for the host to have a sign.

"Thus then, to show my judgment to be such As can discern of colors black and white, As als to free my mind from envy's touch, That never gives to any man his right: I here p.r.o.nounce this workmanship is such As that no pen can set it forth too much.

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"And thus I hang a garland at the door; Not for to show the goodness of the ware; But such hath been the custom heretofore, And customs very hardly broken are; And when your taste shall tell you this is true, Then look you give your host his utmost due."

In No. viii of "The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim" the writer says:

"Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;

Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As, pa.s.sing all conceit, needs no defense."

Is not this praise of Spenser a substantial repet.i.tion of the sentiments expressed by "Ignoto"?

Again, in Shakspere's Sonnet lx.x.x we read:

"O how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might, To make me tongue-tied, speaking of your fame!"

Spenser praises Ess.e.x in one of the Sonnets prefixed to his "Faery Queen," which antedates the Sonnets of Shakspere.

Once more. In No. xviii of "The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim" we read:

"Poor Corydon must live alone, Other help for him I see that there is none."

Compare this with the following lines from Spenser's "Colin Clout,"

dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, December 27, 1591, and published in 1595: