Spring 2007 Shakespeare Matters page 1

8:2 “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments...” Spring 2009

The Case of the Wrong Countess

by Bonner Miller Cutting

t Wilton House, the ancient country manor home of the Earls of Pembroke, there is a large painting centered on the wall of the majestic Double Cubed Room. In fact, the A th Double Cubed Room was explicitly designed by the eminent 17 century architect Inigo Jones to properly display this painting, which spans seventeen feet across and is eleven feet high. Con- sidered “a perfect school unto itself”1 as an example of the work of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, this massive painting contains ten figures, all life size with the exception of the Earl himself who is slightly larger in scale than the rest of his family, a subtle tribute to his dominance of the family group.2 However, it is not the unique place of this painting in art history or the brilliance of the painter that is called into question, th From left to right, Vice President Gary Withers, Renee Mon- but the identity of the woman in black sitting to the left of the 4 tagne, and Dr. Daniel Wright. Photo by Shakespeare Author- (Continued on p. 13) ship Research Centre, Concordia University - Portland.

Concordia Authorship Research Center Set to Open.... The Name within the Ring: Edward de Vere’s “Musical” by Howard Schumann Signature in Merchant of Venice ours of the new Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre took place at the 13th Annual Shakespeare Authorship by Ian Haste TStudies Conference held from April 16th to 19th at Con- cordia University in Portland, Oregon. With the Research Centre, The man that hath no music in himself, Concordia expects to become the preeminent academic institution Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, for scholarly inquiry into the authorship of the poems and plays of Is [only] fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.... William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. The Centre is located in the penthouse of an “environmentally friendly” 74,000 sq. ft. harlton Ogburn in The Mysterious William Shakespeare: library facility with the opening set for September 2009. It will The Myth and The Reality (549), cites a discovery by Julia house resources for scholarly investigation and meetings includ- Cooley Altrocchi regarding Edward de Vere in Italy.1 A C2 ing a 90-seat classroom for credit courses, annual seminars for tirata given by a loquacious Bolognese doctor called Graziano in-depth study, additional programs and courses, and will provide concerning the exploits of “milord of Oxfort” provides this stable funding for program leadership and scholarly research. description: “Edward carries a large sword. His color of costume Perhaps the happiest surprise of the weekend was the Wall is violet. He carries for device a falcon with a motto taken from

(Continued on p. 6) (Continued on p. 23) page 2 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 3

Letters: To the Editor: hostility that comes with the discussing From the Editors: of the Authorship question and the valid- To the Editor: I would like to preface this joint letter ity of deVere as a prime candidate, I have Who are These Oxfordians – to the Shakespeare Fellowship and the come to believe that there are a number I’m a rather busy person, and may I Shakespeare Oxford Society by saying of ways in which we need to re-evaluate And Why are They Making My Life so Miserable? use that as my excuse for not having done that I hold all its members in the highest our approach. I do not myself subscribe a reasonably prompt reading of the latest regard for the work they have done in wholly to any of the numerous sub-groups “We have met the enemy, and they are us” – Pogo issue of Shakespeare Matters, the one their respective fields to the continuing that exist in either of our organizations. with the article “Benedick and Beatrice’s expansion of the Oxfordian cause. I do not Whether or not one believes in the Prince Excellent Adventure.” May I congratulate pretend to be telling you anything that you Tudor theories or that the sonnets were, the author(s) of this most enlightening K, so the Oxfordians aren’t really do not already know or have considered in fact, the expressions of the bi/homo- North Avenue in Baltimore where your speare Matters the formation of a new article, and may I also congratulate them making the lives of many orthodox yourselves. That being said, I feel that sexual relationship between deVere and editor works, there is nothing but curios- peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal of both for the remarkable and admirable Shakespeareans miserable. Not we sometimes allow our respective inter- the young Earl of Southampton, we can O ity about the Anglo-American Ivy-League/ Authorship Studies, Brief Chronicles. New restraint which has marked their voyage yet, anyway. Nor, I should add, is that (to pretations of the history and, indeed, the all agree that the one unifying belief is that Oxford myth of the Stratford bard. Sooner Fellowship Trustee Gary Goldstein, who in through the process of submitting a paper my knowledge) the goal. And yet, given mystery surrounding the most celebrated Edward deVere was the true author of the or later, whether or not orthodox Shake- 1991 founded the first ever peer-reviewed for presentation at the World Congress of the tenacity with which many orthodox writer of the English language to cloud or Shakespeare canon. To quote a fellow S.F. speareans have yet asked themselves the journal of Authorship Studies in the United Shakespeares-R-Us. It really illuminates scholars seem to adhere to the flimsiest overshadow the central issue, which is the member, “It is about the Earl.” question of what, exactly, is bothering States, The Elizabethan Review, has gener- what must either be gross negligence and excuses to avoid an impartial examination validity of Edward de Vere as Shakespeare. So why is it that after all these years of ously agreed to be the Managing Editor. incompetence, or else quite manipulative of the historical and literary evidence from I do not pretend to be as knowledgeable as tireless efforts by so many intelligent and Brief Chronicles – the name of which is machinations, or a combination of both first principles, it seems safe to predict my fellow SOS and SF members in terms rational people, do we find ourselves still drawn from Hamlet’s witty observation (to in the processing by the officials of said that those “aggressive and contemptuous” of the finer points of Oxfordianism, yet I so far away from gaining acceptance by the Polonius) that “the players are the brief and World Congress of a submission of a paper displays of pseudo-intellectual exaspera- feel that my position as a relatively new world at large? Why do we find our organi- abstract chronicles of the times” – will be for presentation. I only wish I could say tion recalled by Dr. William Leahy in the member gives me a fresh outlook on what zations not growing but rather stagnating? published annually, and all articles appear- that I am most surprised in the way their Concordia University festschrift for Isabel I see to be some problems facing both One possibility is the perception that we ing in it will be double-blind peer reviewed. submission was handled by officialdom. Holden, are only likely to become more and organizations. are merely a conspiracy group. Well how The publication will be online only and, I will certainly approve of the printing more frequent as the 21st century proceeds. While I have only been a member of can we overcome this hurdle? A possible in the interest of stimulating the widest of a pseudonymous article. Such an article, Barring catastrophe on the scale of a the Oxfordian movement for a few years, I way of debunking this perception by the possible debate on authorship as well as not taking the pseudonymous route, would world war or major social disruption well like so many others have had to face some traditionalist is to work towards develop- raising the intellectual bar in authorship have resulted in the publication of the beyond the recent economic dislocation of the same skepticism and (sometimes) ing a clear, concise, and non-threatening studies within and outside of the academy, identities of the various characters of this one may safely predict that the Oxfordian all articles will be free and accessibly by officialdom - that is, actual names in place (Continued on p. 27) heresy is only going to continue to per- the general public. The mission statement of “Dr. Heathcliff,” “Dr. Top-Hat,” “Dr. Joy,” colate in ever-widening ripples through reads as follows: and “Dr. Faustus,” would have subjected Shakespeare Matters Subscriptions to Shakespeare Matters are the intelligentsia of the English-speaking We hereby invite submissions of the authors of this article to complaints of Published quarterly by the $40 per year ($20 for online issues only). Family or institution subscriptions are $45 per year. world. News briefs in this issue of Shake- research articles, essays and reviews for having exposed the actual personages to The Shakespeare Fellowship Patrons of the Fellowship are $75 and up. speare Matters, covering current Oxfordian Please address correspondence to: them, or not, they probably will be forced possible publication in the journal, which embarrassment. This road of complaint Please send subscription requests to: and authorship publication projects, the into it. We can only commiserate with the will employ a double-blind peer review is thus denied these officials - unless they Editorial Offices Cobbe portrait fiasco, and major news cognitive dissonance they will feel when process. All submissions must conform The Shakespeare Fellowship themselves wish to reveal their identities. P.O. Box 65335 coverage (who would have thought that HBO (or some competitor) airs the first to the Chicago Manual of Style. Baltimore, MD 21209 PO Box 421 Having made these officials pseudonymous the major media would still be covering de Vere mini-series. A peer-reviewed interdisciplinary Hudson, MA 01749 it is certainly appropriate to make the Editor: the story in 2009?) all attest to Leahy’s sig- In the meantime the world remains publication, Brief Chronicles, is overseen authors of the SM article pseudonymous. Roger Stritmatter, PhD The purpose of the Shakespeare Fellowship nificant point: “the Authorship Question an occupied territory for Shakespearean by an editorial board comprised of academ- Would you convey to those pseud- is to promote public awareness and acceptance gives rise to passions – on both sides – that heretics. Our own question, therefore, ics with terminal degrees and distinguished onymous authors my congratulation for Contributing Editors: of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon by research into almost any other subject Mark Anderson, K.C. Ligon, Lynne Kositsky, How- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), is Lenin’s (who formulated the problem records of scholarship and teaching. The the manner in which they enlightened us ard Schumann, Dr. Charles Berney, and further to encourage a high level of schol- singularly fails to do.” concisely, whether one likes his politics or journal will focus on the authorship of the on the process of submitting a paper to Charles Boyle, Dr. Felicia Londre, arly research and publication into all aspects of One may even safely predict, from not): what is to be done? A letter to the Shakespeare canon from the Oxfordian such a Congress, and for the quite heroic Alex McNeil, Shakespeare studies, and also into the history and an anthropological perspective, that the Dr. Anne Pluto, Elisabeth Sears, culture of the Elizabethan era. editor in this issue of Shakespeare Matters perspective, publishing research-based restraint with which they dealt with the William Boyle, Richard Whalen, The Society was founded and incorporated heresy will find fertile ground on such assures us that unity is the only path to notes, articles and monographs, as well situation. All the months the process Hank Whittemore, Dr. Daniel L. Wright in 2001 in the State of Massachusetts and is intercultural “margins” as English speak- intellectual transformation. Your editor as essays and reviews of books, theater entailed must have been a trial for these chartered under the membership corporation laws ing Asia, where millions of new students Phone (Baltimore, MD): (410) 764-9202 of that state. It is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit prints this letter not because he agrees performances and movies based on the two, but by sticking to the facts rather email: [email protected] (Fed ID 04-3578550). of the language have not already been with its analysis but because, unlike Lenin, drama and literature of the Elizabethan and than dealing with personalities they have All contents copyright ©2009 Dues, grants and contributions are tax-de- over-socialized into the myth and may well he believes in open discussion of common Jacobean periods. The Shakespeare Fellowship ductible to the extent allowed by law. accomplished a great deal. Bravo! readily appreciate the irony of learning problems. He begs leave to state that he More generally, the journal solicits Shakespeare Matters welcomes articles, essays, commentary, book reviews, letters and news items. English through lines like “What’s in a does not agree wit the analysis. Unity is relevant materials that shed critical light Sincerely, Contributions should be reasonably concise and, when name?” when they realize that the author appropriate, validated by peer review. The views expressed great except when its not. on the Shakespeare canon and its author- by contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the of those lines was himself the ghostwriter It is therefore with some gratification ship, on theories and problems in the study Fellowship as a literary and educational organization. Dr. Richard Desper of his own public persona. Certainly on that we announce in this issue of Shake- Treasurer, The Shakespeare Fellowship (Continued on p. 28) page 4 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 5

Bacon to Christopher Marlowe and the Earl of Rutland, along Folger Library’s Jaansen Portrait. From a Never Writer to an Ever Reader: with a detailed bibliography of authorship publications from the The distorted reasoning behind the new attribution is 19th century to the present day. perhaps best summed up by Wells himself: “the identification In the US, an Oxfordian title of historical importance will of this portrait marks a major development in the history of News... be the spring publication of Othello by Ren Draya, a professor Shakespearean portraiture. Up to now, only two images (the of English at Blackburn College, making this the first Oxford- Droeshout and the Holy Trinity Bust) have been widely accepted as ian critical edition of a Shakespeare play by an active academic. genuine likeness of Shakespeare. Both are dull. This new portrait Published by Llumina under the aegis of co-general editors Dan is a very fine painting. The evidence that it represents Shakespeare New Oxfordian Books Wright at Concordia University and Richard Whalen, it marks and that it was done from life, though it is circumstanstial, is in a new stage in Oxfordian research. The edition focuses on how my view overwhelming.” There you have it. Only two images he bore, so long as his words continue to enchant. No, the Oxfordians have been busy writing and publishing over the the text of the play can be enhanced for production by theater of Shakespeare. The Cobbe, on the basis of its resemblance to a greater mystery concerns the greatest of his masterpieces, past year. New authorship books in the past year include Helen professionals by demonstrating the extent to which the topical third, circumstantially but “overwhelmingly” forms an, er, third. the greatest drama to engage us, a work which, if all oth- Heightman Gordon’s The Secret Love Story in Shakespeare Son- allusions, literary sources and personal history of the 17th Earl Ergo, we have a new bona fide image of the bard. It has several ers were to disappear, could alone suffice to rebuild the nets (xlibris 2008), Carl Caruso’s The Mystery of Hamlet (Pub- of Oxford are crucial to a proper dramatiza- things going for it. It is not “dull.” It is language and art lishAmerica 2008) and, tion of the play. not in the United States. It can be used to of the theatre.” commercially, Eman- Finally, a new biography of Oxford as sucker the news agencies of the world, who Holmes paused uel E. Garcia’s Sher- Shakespeare by German literary journal- can be counted on to ignore logic as adeptly and brooded. My lock Holmes & the ist Kurt Kreiler, is scheduled for summer/ as the Birthplace Trust, into another round fingers were nearly Three Poisoned Pawns autumn publication by Insel Verlag, a presti- of Stratfordological incantations. burnt by the stub (Breese Books 2008). gious publisher in Germany that previously of my neglected Oxford in the Wall Street Journal The latter is a delight- printed the same author’s edition of The cigar as I waited fully brash and imagi- Adventures of Master FI in German. This Two more justices of the U. S. Supreme tensely. native detective novel, follows the publication of Joseph Sobran’s Court have joined Justice John Paul Stevens which puts Sherlock book in German translation in 2007. Clearly, in his decision that Edward de Vere, 17th Holmes himself on the Germans are exploring the Oxfordian earl of Oxford, wrote the works of William the trail, not just of hypothesis in a significant way. Shakespeare. And two others of the nine Shakespeare’s identity, In sum, 2009 may be the watershed sitting justices surveyed by the Wall Street but on the meaning of year in which the Oxfordian hypothesis Journal said for the first time publicly that his plays. Published by achieves widespread legitimacy in the pub- they were not sure who Shakespeare was. a division of London’s lishing world as a topic of compelling inter- That was the encouraging news for Ox- A Cup of Publication News Baker Street Studios, the novel credits Sherlock Holmes with est. Reviews of all four books will appear in fordians in the newspaper’s front-page April supplying J. T. Looney’s methodology in Shakespeare Identified: the inaugural issue of Brief Chronicles, the 18 article, which reported Stevens opinion Publication of Oxfordian books by established publishers, new peer review journal established by the that the evidence against the Stratfordian whether academic or commercial, are few and far between. In fact, “But if not the Stratfordian, then who?” I queried. Shakespeare Fellowship. The first issue will attribution is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” no academic publisher has risked publication of a single Oxfordian “Oh, that question has already been answered,” re- appear online in early Fall 2009. The two justices joining Stevens were plied Holmes casually, “by an intelligent man who just so text since Looney introduced the Oxfordian case in 1920. Recently, Antonin Scalia and recently retired Justice however, commercial publishers in the US have responded since happened to have a most unfortunate name. I played some — Gary Goldstein Sandra Day O’Connor. Scalia referred to “we little part in the investigations that led to the discovery of the 1990s with a handful of Oxfordian titles. Aside from Charl- Oxfordians,” and although O’Connor had ton Ogburn Jr’s The Mysterious William Shakespeare in 1984, the true author of the Shakespearean canon. Just after the What’s in a Portrait? The Cobbe Portrait Joins the Crowd of said she did not want to be decisive, Stevens told the reporter: these include Hope and Holston’s The Shakespeare Controversy Great War, Watson, I was approached by a schoolteacher Shakespeare Pretenders “Sandra is persuaded that it definitely was not Shakespeare” and – a modest fellow, thoroughly steeped in the works of the (1992 McFarland), Whalen’s Shakespeare: Who Was He? (1995 “it’s more likely De Vere than any other candidate.” Greenwood/Praeger), Sobran’s Alias Shakespeare (1997, The Free Bard, whose sensibility simply refused to countenance the The Stratford-upon-Avon Birthplace Trust was in the With the addition of the late Justice Harry Blackmun, that Press), Anderson’s Shakespeare by Another Name (2004 Penguin/ Stratfordian mythology. He inquired how one might go news this spring with the latest news flash from Shakespearean makes four justices of the U. S. Supreme Court who over the years Putnam), and Farina’s De Vere as Shakespeare (2005 McFarland). about conducting a rational and systematic inquiry into orthodoxy, which is still – to use a phrase popularized by Michael have decided for Oxford as the true author. This year will see four Oxfordian titles by publishers in the the question of authorship, and after giving the matter Wood – “searching for Shakespeare.” Spokesman Stanley Wells Two justices hedged regarding Oxford. The Wall Street Jour- US, England and Germany, providing four different approaches some thought, I suggested a methodological approach unveiled to the world yet another new portrait of “Shakespeare,” nal reported that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter to the Earl of Oxford and the canon. which he subsequently employed and which led to the as headlined in the March 9, 2009, New York Times story by said that “they’re not sure who wrote the plays,” which sounds like In what is obviously evidence of long-term interest by Mc- precise identification of the man behind the works…..But Robert Mackey, “Portrait of Shakespeare Unveiled, 399 Years Late.” they have reasonable doubts about the identity of Shakespeare. Farland, a publisher in North Carolina that specializes in library I fear that our time is growing short. Great as this matter Although it is difficult to understand just what evidence the Trust Before he died, Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. told Charlton Ogburn science texts, will be the second revised edition of The Shake- may be, it is beside the point. This is not the mystery for has for identifying the portrait as one of the bard, the Jacobean that he “never thought that the man of Stratford-on-Avon wrote speare Controversy by Warren Hope and Kim Holston. The book, which I summoned you.” era portrait of a nobleman with a broad lace collar has been widely the plays of Shakespeare.” originally published in 1992, will appear this spring/summer in a “Holmes, I am immensely curious – what mystery hailed the latest thing since the Droeshout. Apparently the so- For decades, U. S. Supreme Court justices have had an abiding trade softcover and contains three new chapters that summarize can be greater?” called “Cobbe portrait,” owned by the Cobbe family of Newbridge interest in Shakespeare and the dramatist’s keen and profound and analyze Oxfordian research since 1975, the year in which “I said to you earlier, Watson, that I was devoting house in Dublin, has been identified as being by Shakespeare knowledge of the law. They quote from the plays in their deci- the first edition left off. What is valuable about this title is that it attention to literary detection – not biographical. In the because of the sitter’s resemblance (which is indeed real) to the sions and engage regularly in very popular mock trials arguing long run does it matter who the man was, or what name examines other candidates for the authorship laurels, from Francis (Continued on page 12) page 6 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 7

(Conference, cont. from p. 1) Whittemore termed Henry Wrioth- number in English, was also was the source Islands in the Mediterranean Street Journal front page announcement eseley, the Earl of Southampton, King of 3,843 new English words and a translator that Justice John Paul Stevens and Justice Henry IX, the last of the Tudors. “The of Boccaccio and Montaigne. According to Lynne Kositsky, an award-winning Antonin Scalia believe “the works ascribed Secret Book” – Shake-speare’s Sonnets, Tassinari, he displays “the same bombastic author and poet and President of the Shake- to William Shakespeare actually were according to Whittemore, were directed style as Shakespeare: the same exaggerated speare Fellowship presented a fable, “The written by the 17th earl of Oxford, Edward to the young prince who had “true rights” use of metaphor, the same rhetoric, the Mouse and the Lion: Responses from an de Vere.” Justice Stevens, citing a lack of to become King of England. The Sonnets, same wit (quips, puns), the same poetic Orthodox Source.” Prof. Roger Stritmat- correspondence and connections with Whittemore announced, use a special lan- sense and the same extensive use of prov- ter, PhD, Assistant Professor of English English royalty by Mr. Shakespeare, told guage to tell the story of a young prince erbs.” Tassinari said that Florio did not at Coppin State University in Baltimore, the Journal: “I think the evidence that he Oxford wanted to immortalize. They reflect claim that he was Shakespeare because, Maryland, spoke on the topic “Where in was not the author is beyond a reasonable a double image with politically correct if as a prominent foreigner, a nom-de-plume the World? Geography and Irony in The doubt.” The theme of the Conference was cryptic sentiments on the surface and a was the only way that he could ensure all Tempest.” Stritmatter asserted that the the 400th anniversary of the publication dangerous record of the intrigue at their Englishmen would accept his work as a mysterious unidentified island in The of Shake-speare’s Sonnets, a magnificent core. shared, national heritage. Tempest is modeled on Lampedusa, an sequence of poems published in 1609 that The poems are personal cries from Geologist in the Forest Practices island in the Mediterranean well known in were inspired by a fair youth and a mysteri- the depth of a man’s soul but are also Authority in Hobart, Tasmania, Dr. Peter Shakespeare’s day for its threats to British ous dark lady. very political. The phrases “master/mis- McIntosh, then looked at Shake-speare’s shipping, its stormy weather, its tradition Their story, like so much about tress” (Sonnet 20), and “summer’s day” Sonnets from the viewpoint that the author of being well stocked with food by sailors, Shakespeare, leaves many unanswered in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s was Queen Elizabeth 1. Beginning with and association with Barbary piracy. questions, many of which were addressed day?” (Sonnet 18) refer to the Monarch, Sonnet 20, McIntosh proposed that the The unidentified island in Shake- during the Conference. The Conference while “beauty’s rose” (Sonnet 1) and the subject of the poem appears to be a fair speare’s play, according to Stritmatter, welcomed both familiar and first-time words “love” and “beauty” refers to Queen young man who is being urged to produce also experienced stormy weather, was presenters including Roger Stritmat- Elizabeth and her throne. In addition to an heir. The young man apparently has mysteriously supplied with provisions, ter, Lynne Kositsky, Hank Whittemore, love, according to Whittemore, the Son- traveled a great deal overseas and is an contained Mediterranean landmarks, and Lamberto Tassinari addresses the “Florio Connection.” Richard Whalen, William Boyle, Michael nets contain “murder, treason, hangings, aristocrat who has been praised by other was grounded in Mediterranean topog- Delahoyde, Ren Draya, Sam Saunders, Earl bastardy, betrayal and danger.” They are a poets. It is also apparent that the young raphy. Stritmatter pointed out parallels of the verse and the style of some plays Showerman, Ramon Jimenez, Alex McNeil, chronicle of the poet’s relationship with the man has committed a crime that has af- between Lampedusa and the Lipadosa of Ur Plays and Hercules from the accepted canon, critics must and newcomers Jacob Hughes, Robin fair youth (Southampton), the “dark lady” fected Shakespeare’s reputation. It is even Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando postulate a pre-existing inferior play that Williams, Maurice Holland, Lamberto (Queen Elizabeth), and the rival poet (the suggested that the youth has died but lives Furioso, a story of the chivalric defense The conference keynote speaker Shakespeare “borrowed” from. Tassinari, and Peter McIntosh. While the pen name “Shakespeare”). on in the author’s mind. of Christendom against Islam. was Ramon Jimenez, from Berkeley, The Conference then welcomed back SASC continues to demonstrate a com- According to the accepted dating of A familiar voice at Shakespeare Con- California, author of two books on Julius former Fellowship trustee and retired mitment to the Oxfordian perspective, it Florio and the Queen the Sonnets to the mid-1590s, William ferences, Richard Whalen, author of the Ceasar. Mr. Jimenez spoke on the subject, physician from Southern Oregon, Dr. Earl also included papers on different aspects Shakespeare of Stratford would have only book, Who Wrote Shakespeare? contin- “The Ur-Hamlet and its Seven Siblings: Showerman, who continued to explore of Shakespeare’s works and alternative Lamberto Tassinari, essayist, editor been 31 years old in 1595 and not likely ued on the theme of geography begun by Explorations in Shakespeare’s Dramatic the subject of Herculean allusions in the theories of authorship. of the magazine Vice Versa, and Profes- to have written these works which reveal Stritmatter, citing the connection between Juvenalia.” The designation “ur” was first works of Shakespeare begun at last year’s sor of Italian Language and Literature at that the poet is old, oppressed with melan- Shakespeare’s Othello and the city of Fama- used in 1900 to describe the source of Conference. His topic this time was “Bot- Shakespeare’s Treason the University of Montreal, opened the choly, and possibly near death. According gusta on the island of Cyprus. During the Hamlet. The ur-texts were early plays that tom’s Dream: Herculean Farce as Political Conference with a paper entitled “John to McIntosh, the imagery of the poems period 1575-76, Oxford was out of touch for included Henry IV, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Allegory.” Showerman said that Heracles, After welcoming remarks by Profes- Florio: The Man Who Was Shakespeare.” tells us that the poet was surrounded four months. Since he had previously said Taming of the Shrew, King John, Titus a son of the Greek God Zeus (renamed sor Kevin Simpson, Chairman of the Social According to Tassinari, John Florio, known by wealth, books, and music and has a that he hoped to visit Greece and Turkey, Andronicus, and Pericles in addition to Hercules by the Romans), was worshipped Sciences Department at Concordia on in Italian as Giovanni Florio, was an Ital- relationship with an eighteen-year-old. it is assumed that he visited Dubrovnik, Hamlet. Although these early plays are first as a hero, then as a God. Bottom in Thursday evening, author and playwright ian of Jewish origin who lived in London McIntosh claimed that all events in Son- Ragusa, Sicily, and most likely Famagusta strikingly similar to Shakespeare, the A Midsummer Night’s Dream, according Hank Whittemore presented a perfor- and was probably a close friend of Shake- nets 1-126 can be matched with the life during this time. The question asked in main problem, Jimenez said, is that crit- to Showerman, was designed as a satiric mance of his 90-minute one-man play speare and the likely author of the canon. of the Earl of Essex and his relationship Act 2, Scene 1 of Othello, “What from ics refuse to consider that Shakespeare Herculean hero, a tradition embraced by Shakespeare’s Treason that provides his Florio compiled the first Italian/English with Queen Elizabeth. McIntosh said that the cape can you discern at sea?” and the Juvenilia even exists. numerous classical authors including ideas on the meaning of Shake-speare’s dictionary, its 1611 edition containing the conclusions that other scholars have reply, “Nothing at all: it is a highwrought Early known anonymous plays in- Aeschylus, Euripides and Ovid. Herculean Sonnets. Written by Whittemore and Ted 74,000 Italian words and 150,000 English reached about the “dark lady” sonnets are flood; I cannot, ‘twixt the heaven and the clude The Famous Victories of Henry V and heroes have previously been described Story and directed by Story, the play pos- words, one third more Italian words than incorrect. Only three mention a dark lady main, descry a sail,” describes perfectly The True Chronicle History of King Leir, in the works of Shakespeare and include tulates that the Sonnets are a history of the prestigious Accademi a della Crusca’s and they refer only to people in different the harbor of Famagusta, the fact that the entered in the Stationers’ Register on May Mark Antony, Coriolanus, Benedick, and the Essex Rebellion, the imprisonment of dictionary published in 1612 in Florence. guises. sea was not visible from the battlements, 14, 1594 and performed the same year, and the lords in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Southampton, and the outcast state of the Florio’s biographer Frances Yates and that messages had be carried from an early version of Taming of the Shrew. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, poet. The play led off with two quotations, defines Florio’s dictionary as the epitome of the docks to battlements to determine Many hypothetical “ur” plays, however, Bottom says he could play Hercules as a one by Edward de Vere: “Truth is truth to the era’s culture. Forgotten or ignored by the identity of approaching ships. This have never been found and, according to tyrant, and in fact he does play a Herculean the end of reckoning” and the other by scholars, Florio, the owner of 340 books in scene, according to Mr. Whalen, could only Jimenez, “may have been dreamed up by part as the lover of Titania, as the chief Napoleon: “History is a myth that men Italian, French, Spanish and an unknown have been described by someone who had scholars.” Because of the uneven quality agree to believe.” visited Cyprus. (Continued on p. 8) page 8 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 9 (Conference, cont. from p. 7) won the Ruth Loyd Miller Southern Writers Award for the best possibly unconsciously, throughout the Shakespearean canon. actor, and stage manager of the rude mechanicals company. He Oxfordian play. Chaucer’s influence on Shakespeare is most overt inTroilus and is the most clearly delineated character in the drama — quick Ren Draya, PhD, Professor of British and American Literature Cressida and The Two Noble Kinsmen, based on Chaucer’s Troi- witted, and possessing unbounded self confidence in the Hercu- at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois began the Saturday lus and Criseyde and The Knight’s Tale from Canterbury Tales lean tradition. According to Showerman, although Dream has session, talking on “Shakespeare’s Songs, with Special Attention respectively. Hughes pointed out that orthodox critics typically no primary source, it is a clear demonstration of Shakespeare’s to Othello.” Although songs had appeared in earlier plays, Shake- dispute whether Shaksper ever read Chaucer based on the fact ability to integrate classical, Medieval, and Renaissance sources speare was the first to integrate songs with the drama. Despite that vernacular literature was not taught in Tudor grammar into a seamless tapestry and is perhaps his most source-rich the difficulties in tracing the origin of the songs and melodies schools. However, Edward de Vere is known to have owned a copy drama. Dr. Showerman also asserted that the play owes much to used in performance, Dr. Draya noted that there are more than of Chaucer, purchased along with his Geneva Bible. Renaissance authors John Lyly, Edmund Spenser, Sir Reginald four hundred references in Shakespeare’s plays to music. Some Delahoyde cited the number of parallels between Chaucer Scott, and Robert Greene. examples of the role of music: Richard II listening to music in his and Shakespeare. For example, the famous line from Hamlet, “I Drawing on the work of Eva Turner Clark and Roger Stritmat- prison, the presence of musicians in some of the cast lists, and am but mad north-northwest” (2.2), references Chaucer’s line ter, among others, Showerman also postulated that Dream can speeches such as Lorenzo’s in Merchant of Venice. As Tranio says from Parliament of Fowls, “As wisly as I saw thee north-north- be seen as presenting a political allegory, one that satirizes the in Taming of the Shrew, “Music and poesy use to quicken you.” west.” Another example is the line from Macbeth Act 5, Scene 1 relationship between Francois Hercule Valois, the Duke of Alençon, We know that the author was someone familiar with court life “What’s done cannot be undone,” compared with Chaucer’s line and Queen Elizabeth in and someone with military from House of Fame, “But that is doon, nis not to done.” The the characters of Bottom training because of the Chaucerian pattern of witnessing someone else’s experience and and Hipployta. Clark was precise use of trumpet calls not having a point of view, according to Delahoyde, is prevalent in the first scholar to note and sennets. In Othello, for the poem A Lover’s Complaint, usually attributed to Shakespeare. Bottom’s use of the term instance, the Moor’s safe Furthermore, the first eighteen lines ofThe Canterbury Tales are “Monsieur” ten times arrival on Cyprus is an- strikingly echoed in Richard II, especially in connection with John as a clear reference to nounced by his individual of Gaunt, Chaucer’s patron and brother in law. The use of the Alençon, who was called trumpet call; the formal word “pilgrimage” is also tellingly, and at times inappropriately, “Monsieur” at court, and state dinner for Lodovico applied to the language of Chaucer’s patrons in the play. his repeated requests is heralded by trumpets. Though critics dispute that Shakespeare read Chaucer, ac- for “honey bags” are Shakespeare’s songs can cording to Hughes, we should assume that Shakespeare did read allusions to the “money initiate action, illuminate Chaucer and look for broader connections. Shakespeare evokes bags” Elizabeth pro- character, or add poi- Chaucer in nearly every play, particularly A Midsummer Night’s vided him to the tune gnancy and pathos to in- Dream and Troilus and Cressida. Duke Theseus of Dream was of 350,000 pounds in timate moments. Othello derived from Duke Theseus of Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, and the 1580’s. The play was contains two songs. The Feste dons the likeness of “Sir Topas” from the Tale of Sir Thopas, WSU graduate student Jacob Hughes analyzes the tip of probably first presented first, Iago’s drinking song, a pretentious buffoon in Canterbury Tales. Offering a witty and the iceberg connecting Shakespeare to Chaucer. in 1594 as an epithalami- is a compilation of parts of sardonic view of life, Falstaff significantly recalls Chaucer himself, um, a work celebrating two traditional drinking directly referencing poems such as the Complaint of Chaucer to his death; and that he deliberately recorded the “story” behind a marriage, possibly that songs: the hapless Cassio His Purse and the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, amongst others. what he knew would be an authorship question. The story of the of Sir Thomas Heneage is lured by the conviv- 100 sonnets from 27 to 126 is played out within the context of and the Dowager widow ial atmosphere, becomes Family or Love Triangle? Southampton’s imprisonment from1601 to 1603, leading to the Mary Browne, ten years drunk, picks a fight, and death of the Queen, the accession of James, and the release of after Alençon’s death. Concordia students Chelsea Deloney (Ms. Black Oregon 2009) and Emmanuel loses his lieutenancy. Author and playwright Hank Whittemore presented a study of Southampton. In that context, the Queen is the female side of the Henreid assist Ramon Jimenez in his exploration of the Shakespearean One line − “‘Tis pride that Sonnets 40, 41, and 42. In his talk, he postulated that these three triangle, and her view of Southampton and his crime is “dark.” Tribute to K.C. Ligon and apocrypha. pulls the country down” sonnets were not about a love triangle, but about a family triangle Queen Elizabeth is the “dark lady” and is Oxford’s favorite Shakespeare’s Songs − reminds us of the key involving Oxford, Queen Elizabeth, and Henry Writotheseley. female subject with repeated references to her in Sonnets 25, theme of pride. The second song, Desdemona’s “Willow Song,” Whittemore asserted that Mark Anderson in his book Shakespeare 42, 105, 133, and 140. Neither these references nor the prison Saturday morning began with a tribute to the late K.C. Ligon underscores the motif of a woman disappointed in love. For the By Another Name followed a traditional route by isolating 40-42 language, referring to Southampton’s time in the Tower, are by Bonner Miller Cutting, an independent scholar from Houston, listening audience, there is much irony: Desdemona forgets a key as a love triangle (involving Elizabeth Trentham) and 78-86 as reflective of a love triangle. They are urgent, detailed, matters of Texas. She stated that Ligon, a trustee of the Shakespeare Fellow- line “He was born to be fair; I to die for his love.” referring to a living rival poet (naming Essex). Whittemore said fact to be taken literally, not metaphorically. According to Whit- ship who worked as a TV actress and dialect coach, was a brilliant that these and indeed all 154 sonnets involve the triangle of Ox- temore, with Southampton in the Tower, the “rival” cannot be any and generous woman. Among the actors she coached were James Shakespeare and Chaucer ford, Southampton and the Queen. They are the lead characters individual but must be Oxford’s pen name “Shakespeare,” which Earl Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, James Gandolfini, Laura Lin- in the “story” being recorded. he had publicly attached to Southampton with two dedications. ney, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sally Struthers, Clinical Associate Professor of English at Washington The reason Oxford created the sequence of 154 sonnets was Whittemore declared that the author of the Sonnets takes too and Clare Bloom. Ligon also developed dialects for Broadway State University Prof. Michael Delahoyde, PhD, then looked specifically to record and preserve the fact that he was the author many liberties with the Earl of Southampton for it to be plausible productions including “1776” “The Rose Tattoo,” “Electra,” She at “Lyric Poetry From Chaucer to Shakespeare” while WSU of the Shakespeare works; that he wrote the Sonnets precisely to that the author was Shaksper of Stratford: Southampton marriage Loves Me,” “Holiday,” “Bus Stop,” “Suddenly Last Summer,” and Graduate Student Jacob Hughes spoke about “Shakespeare the tell us why he adopted Shakespeare pen name; that he created proposals (Sonnets 1-17), obliteration of the author’s name (“My “Our Town.” In addition to her other accomplishments, K.C. Chaucerian.” Dr. Delahoyde stressed the importance Chaucer’s the Sonnets to explain the circumstances under which he chose name be buried where my body is,” Sonnet 72), (“That every word was a teacher who taught at City U. of New York, Tisch School of poetic influence on Shakespeare, stating that Chaucer is invoked, to continue this concealment during his lifetime and even after doth almost tell my name,” Sonnet 76), reference to the author’s the Arts, and the New Actors Workshop, as well as a writer who (Continued on p. 10) page 10 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 11

(Conference, cont. from p. 9) Willobie. He said that this really is a clinching argument that Mary Sidney and Richard II Author MacDonald P. Jackson used stylometrics to propose that dedication to Southampton in Sonnet 82 (“The dedicated words W.S. in Willobie was meant to be Shakespeare. Samuel Rowley was the likely author and said that the work which writers use of their fair subject”), and the repeated asser- Another look at Elizabethan Law in the context of the Essex As the Conference resumed on Sunday morning, Robin Wil- was likely plagiarized by Rowley from Shakespeare. Egan called tions that the life and immortality of Southampton will be assured Rebellion was provided by Maurice Holland, Professor of Law and liams from Santa Fe, New Mexico, author of award-winning books Jackson’s analysis “chaotic and subjective,” especially his compari- even if the author’s name is obliterated. former Dean of the School of Law at the University of Oregon about design, typography, the web, and the Macintosh computer sons based on assonantal nasal rhyming (a type of rhyme where who spoke on “Misprision of Treason: A Look at Elizabethan Law presented a paper about her book Sweet Swan of Avon which only the vowels “rhyme” or are similar-sounding; consonants Essex and Succession in the Context of the Essex Rebellion.” Misprision of treason is a proposes that Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, was are ignored). Egan dates the play to 1592-1593, taking excep- legal concept referring to someone who knows a treason is being the author of the Shakespeare canon. Mary Sidney was acknowl- tion to Jackson’s argument that “Woodstock’s contractions and Librarian and long time Oxfordian lecturer William Boyle, or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper edged to be the most educated woman in England at the time. linguistic forms, expletives, metrical features, and vocabulary in his talk “Shakespeare and the Royal Prerogative: A Never-told authority. According to Holland, Southampton was fully guilty as She was fluent in many languages, the author of several poems all point independently to composition in the first decade of the tale of the Poet-Philosopher King and His Monarch,” continued convicted and sentenced and could not have received misprision about her brother Philip Sidney, and the first woman to publish seventeenth century,” a conclusion that would rule out the play on a theme he has covered in past Conferences – the connection of treason as a plea bargain since there were no “plea bargains” a play in English. Her mission in life was to create great works being a source for Shakespeare’s Richard II. between the succession crisis of the 1590s, the role of Essex and in those days. Indeed, he asserted, that no one associated with in the English language and she developed the most important Southampton in the Essex rebellion which featured a performance the Essex Rebellion could have been charged with misprision of literary circle in English history, leading the Wilton Circle for A SOARing Demonstration, Mathematics, and Classical of Shakespeare’s Richard II, and the authorship question rela- treason. Southampton was pardoned unconditionally by Queen two decades and encouraging fellow writers to write in English. Sonnets tive to William Shakespeare whose name first appeared in print Elizabeth only out of compassion. Ben Jonson, a friend of the Sidney family whose patron in 1593 when England was entering the last ten years of Queen and benefactor was Mary’s sons William and Phillip Herbert (the Bill Boyle and Conference Chairman Daniel Wright put on a Elizabeth’s reign. SASC Banquet latter, of course, also de Vere’s son-in-law), called Shakespeare SOARing demonstration. SOAR (Shakespeare Online Authorship According to Boyle, (citing Paul Hammer’s article in the the “Sweet Swan of Avon” in the First Folio. Mary was associated Resource) is planned to be a permanent online annotated bib- Spring 2008 Shakespeare Quarterly) the performance of Richard At the Banquet, an introduction and time-lapsed slide with the swan motif in poems, she wrote with a white swan quill liography created by Boyle for the study of the authorship issue. II shortly before the Essex Rebellion was not meant to inflame presentation of the partially completed Shakespeare Authorship pen, and, in a commissioned engraving, is seen with swans in Noting that Google has its limits, Boyle said that the resource will the public. Referring to an article from the 1982 Georgetown Law Research Centre was presented by Gary Withers JD, Executive her lace collar and wrist ruffs and swan wings below her hand. contain a selected annotated database of articles, essays, books, Review by Jack Benoit Gohn, Boyle said that it appears more likely Vice-President of Concordia. Daniel Wright, Ph.D., Professor of Ms. Williams said that the Sonnets were love poems written to a and journals investigating the authorship question using actual that Shakespeare was issuing a warning through the play that English and Conference Chair then spoke, asserting that Concordia man although she noted the possibility that not all of the Son- documents that will cover all authorship candidates. actually deposing a monarch may not be a very good idea, even if University is “the only university in the U.S. that has not been nets were written by the same person. However, according to Ms. Sam Saunders, Professor of Mathematics at Washington State it appears that it must be done. According to Gohn, Shakespeare held captive to an ossified orthodoxy.” He presented the award Williams, a strong indicator of Mary Sidney’s authorship lies in University asked the question “Do Shake-speare’s Sonnets Exhibit reworked the true history of Richard II by allowing Richard to for Artistic Excellence in the Arts to Renee Montagne, co-host of the fact that she fell in love with a much younger man, Matthew Harmonic Balance?” He answered that they do and demonstrated participate in his own demise. Indeed, Richard’s disinheritance of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Lister, after the death of her husband and believed he was hav- how some studies of word use can reveal harmonic balance for any Bolingbroke was, like Elizabeth’s refusal to name a successor, in In her talk, Ms. Montagne whose radio program, according to ing an affair with nineteen-year-old Mary Roth, a clear theme of particular author and his works by calculating the total number effect, the disinheritance of the nation and that, while the cause Dr. Wright, is the most widely heard broadcast in the U.S., stated Shake-speare’s Sonnets. of words used, and then breaking that total down into the most- may be just, taking the throne by conquest was fraught with danger. that when she read the Harper’s article about the Shakespeare Another featured speaker was Dr. Michael Egan, editor of used single word as a percentage of the total and the least-used Another “succession document” was the 1594 poem Willo- authorship debate, she was intrigued by the possibility that the The Oxfordian and author of the Mellon Award winning multi- single word as a percentage of the total. If the percentages align bie His Avisa. The poem, according to Boyle, is all about Avisa’s author was someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford- volume study of Richard II, Part I. The play, traditionally known in a more or less straight line slope on an X-Y axis, then there is a chastity and the five suitors trying to woo her. Boyle identified on-Avon. She said that tries to go into any situation with as much as Thomas of Woodstock, is listed as an anonymous, untitled, and harmonic balance in the work which is the case with the Sonnets the suitors in Willobie as: Thomas Seymour, Philip II, Duke of knowledge as she can and “entertains all possible realities.” incomplete work but, according to Egan, should be considered examined by Saunders. Alencon, a composite of Hatton and Hapsburg, and a composite The Annual Scholarship Award was presented to Robin Wil- as part of the Shakespeare canon. In a comparison between the The final speaker was Alex McNeil, Attorney and Trustee of of Leicester and Essex (all well known as suitors of the Queen liams, author of The Sweet Swan of Avon, a book promoting the two Richard II plays, Egan noted that there are 1600 verbal the Shakespeare Fellowship, who focused on Sonnets 153 and 154. during her reign). Boyle also pointed out that wooing meant (as candidacy of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, as author of parallels. Though some critics say that the parallels are trivial, These sonnets conclude the entire sequence but have seemed to it does today) as much “seeking the favor of” someone in power the works of William Shakespeare. In accepting the award, Ms. Egan responds that the most important evidence is the quality many to be tacked on rather than fit organically into the whole. as a romantic quest. Willobie is a significant publication because Williams said that we can all learn things from each other and of the writing. He called the play remarkable for its high level McNeil said that he believed these Sonnets are in their proper it mentions Shakespeare and his Lucrece in the introduction, that the Conference made her feel that she wants to read the of legal knowledge, especially the law of treason and suggested sequence. He noted how the two sonnets are both based on the and includes a character named W.S (called an “olde Player”) works of Shakespeare again. that in recommending a constitutional monarchy, it should be same Greek epigram about the permanence of desire but stated advising a second character “H.W.” (called a “Young Actor”) on A second Scholarship Award was given to Bill Boyle. In his considered as another “succession” drama. that the reasons there are two sonnets on the same subject are how to woo Avisa. introduction, Prof. Wright noted that Boyle, a librarian, blogger, As an illustration of verbal parallels, Egan pointed out the that they exemplify the author’s point that he always writes about Though scholars have for years accepted that W.S. is most and editor, has not authored a book but has dedicated his life to following from I Richard II and Henry IV: the same thing, and illustrate the process of revision. likely meant to represent “Shakespeare,” Boyle pointed out that the authorship question. Boyle stated that this was his twelfth According to McNeil, the two sonnets also suggest that the if B.N. De Luna in her book, The Queen Declined, is right about year at the Conference and that he has been an Oxfordian for Lapoole. What, is he dead? author inserts himself into all of his works, even those which are Avisa being meant to represent the Queen. then W.S. cannot be thirty years. Murd. As a door-nail, my lord. based on classical sources, for example Venus and Adonis and the actor from Stratford. This is given more credence by the The final award of the evening was presented to long time (I Richard II 5.1. 242–3) The Rape of Lucrece, the first two poems published under the cryptic lines in the final poem inWillobie and its ending lines “I Oxfordian Barbara Crowley who was described as “the engine and Shakespeare name and both dedicated to Southampton. McNeil am content” (the poem is signed by “Ever or never,” a tipoff for behind the movement.” Crowley, whose father was a founding suggested that although both Sonnets have a similar theme, they Oxfordians that it is the true Shakespeare −Vere − making the member of the Shakespeare-Oxford Society, said that “it was a Fals. What, is the old king dead? are different. In 153, the speaker expresses hope (which lies in his statement “I am content”). Boyle concluded with a brief mention pleasure to be a part of this wonderful experience.” Pist. As nail in door. mistress’ eyes), but in 154, the speaker is past hope. This suggests of the 1599 collection of poems published in the name of William (Henry IV, 5.3.120–1 that 154 was written or revised very late in Oxford’s life, perhaps Shakespeare by William Jaggard called The Passionate Pilgrim after the death of Queen Elizabeth. in which one poem is clearly a response to the “W.S.” section in Egan stated that the parallels do not prove that Shakespeare With that the 13th annual SASC adjourned for another year. wrote I Richard II, but do show that there are deep affiliations. page 12 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 13

(The Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 1) (News, cont. from p. 5) vincing argument that only a nobleman like him could write of exot- property, even fulfilling the patriarchal biographer, her “attractions could not have ic settings and that William Shak espeare was a simple country boy.” Earl of Pembroke. The official 20th century duty of providing Susan Vere with her mar- been conspicuous.” 8 The marriage was Branagh, who has been Oscar nominated three times for his work on catalogue of the Pembroke family’s art riage portion. The King walked the bride described as loveless from the beginning. whether Hamlet was guilty of murder for killing Polonius or was Shakespearean films, added: “I’m fascinated by all the specula- collection flatly identifies the woman as down the aisle, accompanied by his royal One might ask why the eligible bachelor 3 innocent by reason of insanity. tion....If someone could find conclusive proof that Shakespeare the Earl’s second wife, Anne Clifford. We family. In a statement not often reiterated took on the inimitable widow, a stubborn Although the headline implied that Stevens’ decision was wasn’t the author of the plays then it would cause a seismic shock will see how this identification stands up by historians, King James is reported to woman whose negotiating skills had been recent, his interest dates to 1987, when he, Blackmun and Justice - not least to the economy of Stratford-upon-Avon.” to scrutiny when the portrait is placed in have said that had he not already been well honed in decades of legal battles with William Brennan presided at a mock trial in Washington, D. C. to Branagh was speaking at the US premier of his BAFTA- its historical and cultural context. a married man, he would have married her Clifford cousins. In fact, she had put consider the authorship issue. The three-judge panel did not find winning Swedish detective series, Wallander. Branagh is widely The official reason for the identification Susan Vere himself rather than giving her up a fight of such magnitude in her efforts for Oxford, but after more consideration Stevens and Blackmun regarded not only as a consummate Shakespearean actor (his of Lady Anne Clifford is the fact that Philip, to reclaim the Clifford properties that th ultimately decided in favor of Oxford as the true author, in effect Iago alongside Laurence Fishburne’s Othello, among other roles, the 4 Earl of Pembroke, was married to King James himself stepped in to referee rendering a 2-1 decision for Oxford retrospectively. Stevens’ writ- shows his magnificent command of Shakespearean roles), but as her when the portrait was painted. Another the bloodbath. When his royal judgment ings and lectures over the years and his comments in the Wall the most influential popularizer of Shakespearean drama through historical fact is that Philip was married to The six arguments presented went against her, she refused to accept it, film in recent years. Apparently, doubt soon took hold. Perhaps his first wife, Lady Susan Vere, when the withstanding enormous pressure from her Street Journal article show that he (and his clerks) have done here will show that that the their homework on the authorship issue. Oxfordians and other someone warned Branagh that it would still be impolitic for him First Folio of William Shakespeare was first husband and just about everybody at- non-Stratfordians would recognize his arguments. to express any doubts about the bard in public. Or perhaps the published in 1623, and of course it is well woman to the left of the 4th tached to the royal court. We can gauge her The two voting for William of Stratford were Justices An- original article was in error. In any case, the offending news has known that Philip and his older brother strength of character in one of her letters thony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer. Chief Justice John Roberts, been removed from the world-wide web. John Shahan, writing William are the “incomparable paire of Earl is not his second wife when she wrote that she would not comply for Doubt About Will, reports that brethren” to whom it was dedicated.4 The with the King’s Award “no matter what and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito declined to Lady Anne Clifford — as prof- comment for the article. familial relationship between the dedica- misery it cost me.” The King’s decision 9 — Richard F. Whalen the Sunday Express article was in error. Kenneth Branagh tees of the First Folio and Edward de Vere fered by the Wilton House was ultimately put in place by coercion. did not mean to say that he has changed his position. – a result of this marriage – is troubling It is not surprising that she brought The article has been taken down. An authoritative source to orthodoxy, as Philip’s father-in-law is catalogue — but his first wife, this steely determination into her marriage Branagh in Doubt? confirms that he has always believed, and still does, that widely regarded as the leading alternative with Philip, and even less surprising that “the plays of Shakespeare were written by the man from candidate among those who doubt the Lady Susan Vere. If these the marriage was a disaster, certainly from News Flash: Ken Branagh is debating whether to be, Stratford, of the same name.” Mr. Branagh is fascinated by traditional attribution of Shakespeare’s arguments with their respec- Philip’s point of view. The marriage ended or not be, an Oxfordian. An article by Sandro Monetti in the the alternative theories, but he is “a Stratfordian through works. after 4 ½ years when Philip cast her out and through and expects to remain so.” The six arguments presented here will tive evidentiary support are of his lodgings in Whitehall Palace in De- show that that the woman to the left of cember of 1634,10 leaving himself “virtually Hmm.... “Expects to remain so?” Till when? Doomsday? the 4th Earl is not his second wife Lady convincing, then one might widowed a second time.” 11 The next time he can sneak out for a night on the town without Anne Clifford — as proffered by the Wilton tender the suggestion that Some historians suggest that Van Dyck being shadowed by damage control handlers? McDonalds has House catalogue — but his first wife, Lady began the painting in 1634, and although purchased McHedingham? Susan Vere. If these arguments with their the substitution of Countess this may be only an inadvertent error, it God forbid that Monetti’s original article should go un- respective evidentiary support are convinc- must be clearly stated that this date is punished, and Branagh go the way of Leslie Howard, Sir John ing, then one might tender the suggestion Anne for Susan Vere may not possible: Sir Anthony Van Dyck was Gielgud, Sir Derek Jacobi or Michael York, to name only a few of that the substitution of Countess Anne for have something to do with the out of the country from October of 1633 his colleagues who have been more consistently retrograde to Susan Vere may have something to do with until March of 1635.12 Van Dyck could not the desires of the Shakespeare monarchy. the authorship issue.5 Thus it is important authorship issue. have begun work on it until the summer Sorry to say, it sounds as if the world’s most successful to determine the identity of the sitter, and of 1635, exactly the time when the nego- Branagh as Inspector Wallander. Is he on the case or Shakespearean producer is being held in an unlit coat closet and in order to do this, we must first take into tiations for the final separation between being held for intellectual ransom? fed pickled herring and sauerkraut, while being forced to listen account the circumstances of Philip’s two Philip and Anne were completed.13 Given to his favorite Philip Herbert.7 It is further over and over again to an MP3 of Olivier’s Hamlet blasted in one marriages. Philip’s temper and Anne’s obstinacy, it reported that the King showed up at their ear and the theme park song from Stratford in the other. Copies In 1604, the court of King James was is a safe bet that the discussions between U.K.’s Sunday Daily Express of May 3 reported that Branagh bedside bright and early the next morning of Shakespeare Matters are being intercepted at the gate and bustling with the news of the marriage of their representatives had not been pleasant. was having difficulty maintaining the posture of a loyal- or to get a firsthand account of their wedding burned. Wouldn’t we like to be a cherub on that wall? the handsome young Philip Herbert and But there is more to the story. When thodoxist. The paper carried a picture of Kenneth Branagh, night. They did manage, presumably Kenneth! Thou shalt not be an heretic, repeat after us: Lady Susan Vere, the third daughter of the Philip (hereafter called Pembroke) booted beneath which was the caption: “DOUBTS: Shakespeare devotee without the supervision of the King, to “There is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover a 17th Earl of Oxford.6 It was considered a love Lady Anne out of his palace lodgings, he in Branagh.” The article, headed “Bard actor: ‘Shakespeare may have 10 children, and their marriage of river in Stratford. It is called Avon in Stratford; but it is out of match, a surprising occurrence in a time effect banished her from the court of King not have written all his plays,’” reported that Shakespearean approximately 25 years ended when Susan our prains what is the name of the other river; there was a babe when marriages were arranged for dynastic Charles as well. With this “catastrophic actor Keneth Branagh has questioned the true identity of the died from smallpox in 1629. of great promise born by the river in Stratford, and a man in aggrandizement. Even more remarkable is collapse of her status and her cause,” Lady author of the plays to which the star has devoted his career. Philip inherited the Pembroke title Macedon, if we could only remember his name. But ‘tis all one, ‘tis the largesse that King James bestowed on Anne became a veritable persona non grata He admits he is beginning to be swayed by the theory that the at his older brother’s death early in 1630. alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both.” the union. He was, in effect, the wedding at the Caroline Court.14 Worst of all, even true authorwas not William Shakespeare but the 17th Earl of Later that year, Philip remarried. His Kenneth! No sleeping! Repeat after us! “There is salmons planner, financing the event which went on her biographers agree that this enormous Oxford, Edward de Vere. choice, Lady Anne Clifford, the widowed in both....” for days at enormous cost, and supplying breach was her fault. Both the Herbert and Branagh is quoted as saying: “There is room for reasonable Countess of Dorset, was somewhat unex- the new couple with gifts of money and doubt. De Vere is the latest and the hottest candidate....There is a con- pected, as, in the words of a Herbert family (Continued on p. 14) page 14 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 15

munificence that King Charles bestowed lingering with him.” 20 Susan Vere. This is surely right.22 on the Flemish master painter Anthony Van It is easy to connect the dots: King Dyck. Van Dyck was knighted in 1632, and Charles visited Van Dyck’s studio regu- It’s nice to have an expert of Howarth’s upon his return to England in the spring larly and could hardly have missed the stature dispute the attribution of Lady Anne of 1635, the King himself paid the rent Titianesque painting of the Pembroke Clifford; thus his statement, coming at the on his resplendent waterfront studio at Family taking shape right before his very end of the 20th century, bears repeating: Blackfriars and built a causeway for access eyes -- even more compelling as Butterfly, “This is surely right….The disconsolate the favorite of the Royal Court, occupied creature is a posthumous likeness of....Lady center stage in the family group. After the Susan Vere.” Yet there is another reason It is easy to connect the banishment of Lady Anne Clifford, it is bi- zarre to suggest that Pembroke would take dots: King Charles visited this opportunity to rehabilitate her before It has come to be assumed the court as a member of his family in his Van Dyck’s studio regularly dynastic portrait. By contrast, the record that her tense, sullen isolation and could hardly have missed shows that Pembroke’s first wife, Susan Vere, had been above reproach. indicates Pembroke’s second the Titianesque painting of There is a sad postscript regarding wife, Lady Anne Clifford, with the young couple who are celebrated in the Pembroke Family taking the painting. Following the custom of whom Pembroke had contract- shape right before his very separating newlyweds due to the youth of the bride, young Lord Herbert was sent ed a loveless marriage. Howev- eyes -- even more compel- to Italy.21 He died of smallpox soon after er, this woman …is shrouded his arrival in Florence, leaving Pembroke ling as Butterfly, the favorite to suffer the loss of his son as well as the in black, hands folded on of the Royal Court, occupied loss of the prestigious and lucrative Vil- liers marriage. stomach as was conventional center stage in the family Next we turn to the historiography of in recumbent effigies of the the identification of the Countess in the group. After the banishment portrait. Somewhere along the way some- dead, and it was presumably of Lady Anne Clifford, it is one has wrong-footed himself. Throughout the 18th century it was understood that these features which made bizarre to suggest that Pem- Susan Vere was the woman in the Van Dyck [Freeman] O’Donoghue in his portrait. A good point of departure is the broke would take this op- recent commentary by David Howarth, a catalog of the British portrait portunity to rehabilitate her specialist in seventeenth-century culture The Baron engraving of the Pembroke Family. Is the seated Lady to the Earl’s left his first or second wife? and art history. In his recent book, Images prints in the British Museum, By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland. before the court as a member of Rule, Howarth has this to say about the suggest that this disconsolate (Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 13) woman in Van Dyck’s portrait: could not be prevailed upon to finalize Mary Villiers was the daughter of of his family in his dynastic creature is in fact a posthu- the betrothal for her Isabella and his son. Clifford family historians concur that what George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, To Pembroke’s left a woman sits Pembroke’s fury toward his second wife portrait. By contrast, the mous likeness of Pembroke’s Pembroke really sought when he mar- whose rise to the top ranks of the English huddled in black. It has come to be is understandable in light of the fact that ried Lady Anne Clifford was her younger nobility is well known. He was the great record shows that Pembroke’s assumed that her tense, sullen isolation first wife, Lady Susan Vere. she reneged on their deal. Not only was daughter, Isabella Sackville, as a match favorite of both King James and King indicates Pembroke’s second wife, Lady it a breach of good faith but a humiliating first wife Susan Vere had been for one of his younger sons.15 Pembroke Charles, and after his assassination in Anne Clifford, with whom Pembroke rejection of his family.16 It should be out thought he and Lady Anne had a deal for 1628, Mary, his firstborn child, was taken had contracted a loveless marriage. of the question that he would choose to above reproach. Isabella’s marriage when he married her, into the royal household. She was raised However, this woman …is shrouded immortalize Anne Clifford in his family and by 1634 it was time to formalize the thereafter as the “spoilt pet of the court” in black, hands folded on stomach as celebration portrait. I should rest my case 17 besides the sitter’s somber appearance for Herbert/Sackville betrothal. This Lady where her nickname was Butterfly. Her to it by boat.19 Replete with musicians and was conventional in recumbent effigies right here. the Susan Vere identification in the Brit- Anne refused to do. Pure and simple, she marriage contract to the Pembroke heir sumptuous banquets, this studio rapidly of the dead, and it was presumably But there is more to discover in this ish Museum catalog. Susan is the sitter wanted Isabella to marry an Earl. A younger had been signed in 1626 when she was four became the principal gathering place for these features which made [Freeman] multifaceted investigation. One can hardly of record in the engraving of the painting son, even a scion of the prestigious Herbert years old and Charles Herbert was seven. the Carolinian Court. An observer wrote O’Donoghue in his catalogue of the miss the beautiful young woman in the made in 1740, approximately a hundred family, just wasn’t good enough. Most significant was her dowry of 25,000 that Van Dyck’s workshop “was frequented British portrait prints in the British luminous white dress at the very center years after Van Dyck painted the work, and On that fateful December day at pounds, which was to go into the coffers by the highest nobles, for example the Museum, suggest that this disconso- of the painting. She is Lady Mary Villiers, of the Pembroke family once the marriage late creature is in fact a posthumous it is this engraving that O’Donoghue lists Whitehall Palace, Pembroke had appar- King, who came daily to see him and took 23 and it might come as a surprise the extent 18 in his catalog. Therefore, it seems that ently called her hand and found that she was solemnized. great delight in watching him paint and likeness of Pembroke’s first wife, Lady to which the portrait is all about her. Another element in the story is the (Continued on p. 16) page 16 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 17 (Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 15) second wife, Anne Clifford, and his Along with the identification of the with the unfortunate cleaning processes to edition biography of Lady Anne published O’Donoghue was following the historical th family, including his son Philip, Lord Baron engravings of 1740 and the identifi- which it was subjected earlier in the 18 in 1922, he goes to great lengths to describe It had been forgotten for many years, information. Indeed, the artist Bernard Herbert, afterwards fifth Earl of Pem- 39 th century. At this time Philip is still sitting her “grave countenance” in the Van Dyck. cations in the 18 century catalogues, there broke, his son’s wife Penelope Naunton, and was not included in the great Baron made two engravings of the paint- next to “Susan his wife.” 30 I submit that Then he reveals that he has examined an- is an eyewitness account of a traveler who and also his daughter Anne Sophia, catalogue of the Wilton pictures, {i.e. ing in 1740, both of which identify the these sources are evidence that it was visited Wilton House in 1738: with her husband Robert Dormer, Earl Captain Wilkinson’s two volumes} but principal sitters as “Philip Herbert…with understood throughout the 18th century his wife Susan Vere.” 24 of Carnavon.35 was found in an upstairs room….It that the Earl’s “Lady” was Susan Vere. It More than a century after the bears a long inscription saying that it Along with the two Baron engravings, seems the change of the sitter’s identity th It seems that Cust’s identification is th represents Lady Anne, and the likeness there are four 18 century catalogs that from the first wife to the second is a later publication of the four 18 We now turn our attention the line of demarcation for the official to that in the great Van Dyck is quite contain inventories of the paintings and phenomenon. The next step is to narrow attribution of Lady Anne Clifford as the century catalogues, a new unmistakable, although the portrait art at Wilton House. The earliest one, to the distinguished author- down the time when this adjustment was Earl’s lady in black. With the two excep- depicts her more cheerful in appear- published in 1731 by Gambarini of Lucca, made. catalogue of the Wilton House tions previously noted, this identification ance….She has suspended from the refers to the Earl’s “Lady, Daughter to the ity and art connoisseur of the Notices of the painting are few and far 25 th front of the corsage a miniature of Lord Earl of Oxford.” Subsequent catalogs, put th has been adhered to throughout the 20 treasures was published in th between in the 19 century. The first to early 20 century, Sir Lionel century. Aside from the introduction of Pembroke. As she is in a black dress, it together by Richard Cowdry and James follow Britton was William Hazlitt in his Lady Anne Clifford onto the canvas, Cust 1907. Its author, Nevile R. is possible that this portrait may have Kennedy eliminate the name of the “Lady’s” Cust. He was the curator of The Picture Galleries of England. Writing in father, but the description implies that the made an imponderable mistake when he been painted immediately after Lord 1824, Hazlitt notes that “There are the Wilkinson, had been a Captain 40 substituted Penelope Naunton for Lady Pembroke’s decease. Earl’s lady is Susan Vere: National Portrait Gallery, editor old Lord and Lady Pembroke.” “Old Lady Mary Villiers! A quick check in any book Pembroke” – as he calls her -- is now of Her Majesty’s Coldstream of Burlington Magazine, and about the peerage will reveal that Penelope, The suggestion that the small portrait This consists of ten whole Lengths, without a name at all, but she is not quite the wealthy heiress of Ralph Naunton, Regiment of Foot Guards, but was painted after Pembroke’s death is the two principal Figures (and they a member of The Shakespeare yet Lady Anne Clifford. Continuing in his married Viscount Paul Bayning in 1634 simply rubbish. Pembroke died in 1650. are sitting) are Philip Earl of Pembroke customary gruff tone, Hazlitt describes the perhaps his qualifications for and was widowed in 1638, thereby freeing Lady Anne was born in 1590. The sitter and his Lady; on the Right-Hand stand Birthplace Trust....It seems that Earl’s Countess as “his help-mate looking up her person and her pocketbook for the in the small painting is hardly a 60-year- their five sons Charles Lord Herbert, a little fat and sulky by his side….” 31 the task were enhanced by Cust’s identification is the line Pembroke earldom. When she married old woman. Dr. Williamson of all people Philip, (afterwards Lord Herbert) In 1838, the Director of the Royal Gal- Lord Philip Herbert in 1639, the paint on the fact that he was married should be able to do better than this. That William, James, and John; on the Left of demarcation for the official lery in Berlin, Gustav Waagen, came out Van Dyck’s canvas was quite dry.36 this painting was not included in any of their Daughter Anna Sophia , and her with a massive multi-volume tome: Art and to a daughter of the Earl of More than a century after the publication the Wilton House catalogues is most in- Husband Robert Earl of Carnavon; attribution of Lady Anne Clifford Artists in England. The painting is now of of the four 18th century catalogues, a new triguing; what else has not been included before them Lady Mary, Daughter of “The Earl and His Countess.” She has lost Pembroke. In this grand two as the Earl’s lady in black. With catalogue of the Wilton House treasures in these historic catalogues? A unique George Duke of Buckingham, and wife her name again, but in a tiny slip twixt cup was published in 1907. Its author, Nevile volume folio Captain Wilkin- feature of the portrait is the miniature of to Charles, Lord Herbert; and above in the two exceptions previously and lip, Waagen notes that “her daughter,” R. Wilkinson, had been a Captain of Her Pembroke worn at the neck of the sitter. the Clouds are two Sons and a Daughter Anna Sophia, is to “her left.” 32 After this son reinforces the Lady Anne 26 27 Majesty’s Coldstream Regiment of Foot As Williamson himself was an expert on who died young.” noted, this identification has there is an occasional retro-reference back Guards, but perhaps his qualifications for miniature painting, he should have been to Horace Walpole’s Anecdotes of Paint- Clifford attribution, devoting been adhered to throughout the the task were enhanced by the fact that able to recognize a likeness of Pembroke It can hardly be questioned that the ing in England, published in the late 18th he was married to a daughter of the Earl four pages to the virtues of when he saw it. A miniature brooch was children in the portrait, referred to as “their 20th century. century. Walpole is the source of the oft of Pembroke.37 In this grand two-volume more likely to be worn by a wife; hence, children,” are Susan Vere’s children. There quoted (and previously mentioned) praise Lady Anne while Susan Vere’s folio — referred to by later writers as the the wearer’s identity can be surmised by were no children from Pembroke’s mar- that the painting “would serve alone as a “Great Catalogue” -- Captain Wilkinson the simple process of elimination. With riage to Anne Clifford. However, Susan’s school of this master.” However, he scru- name is called up only once, reinforces the Lady Anne Clifford attribu- this in mind, the presumption should be name is only implied -- thanks to the fact And now I am gone so far I am come pulously avoided mentioning any of the th specifically as the mother of entertained that the balding woman with that the children are hers – and this does to the grand point, the account of the 33 tion. In the chapter about the 4 Earl and sitters by name. 41 his family, Wilkinson devotes four pages the aquiline features is Susan Vere. seem to be a bit of an oversight. After great picture, my heart begins to fail We now turn our attention to the just one of the Earl’s chil- to the virtues of Lady Anne while Susan Of course it would be helpful to our all, Countess Susan was the daughter of me……and a bold undertaking it is distinguished authority and art connois- Vere’s name is called up only once, specifi- program to have a portrait to work from an Earl, and the granddaughter of Lord for me, to give you any account of the seur of the early 20th century, Sir Lionel dren. For all practical pur- cally as the mother of just one of the Earl’s that was a securely established likeness Burghley, whose stellar position in English noble picture…..” He continues in Cust. He was the curator of The National children. For all practical purposes, Susan poses, Susan has disappeared of Susan Vere. In an 1842 Hand-Book history needs no further elaboration here. this vein for a while, then finally gets Portrait Gallery, editor of Burlington has disappeared into the woodwork as a to Public Galleries of Art In and Near After all, Lady Mary Villiers is referenced around to describing Earl Philip and his Magazine, and a member of The Shake- into the woodwork as a nearly nearly anonymous first wife. London, there is a listing of a “Portrait in these catalogues as the “Daughter of Countess: “ On my Lord’s left hand sits speare Birthplace Trust.34 In 1900 he George Duke of Buckingham.” Thus, it my Lady in a great chair, all in black, Following shortly upon the heels of anonymous first wife. of a Lady in Rich Dress,” located at the published a definitive volume on the work 42 Captain Wilkinson, the 20th century prolif- Dulwich Picture Gallery. It is identified should not be too much to ask that “his with her hands before her in a great of Sir Anthony Van Dyck in which he has eration of the identification of Lady Anne as a portrait of “Susan Vere, first wife of Lady” be recognized both by name and tranquility: she was Susan, daughter this to say about what he calls this “work 29 was advanced by her first biographer, Dr. Philip Earl of Pembroke.” Better yet, it is aristocratic lineage. Actually, the fourth to Edward, Earl of Oxford. of great importance”: other much smaller portrait of Lady Anne th listed as a painting by Van Dyck. It would and last of the 18 century catalogues is George C. Williamson. Williamson was Clifford at Wilton House. Hoping that two widely published with an enviable resume be just what the doctor ordered for the more satisfying in this regard, acknowledg- In 1801 the antiquarian John Brittan The principal painting there is the wrongs will make a right, Williamson has to his credit, and it is certainly his endorse- purposes of comparison, even though the ing the Earl’s wife as “Susan, daughter of wrote an extended account of the portrait immense composition representing this to say about the heretofore unknown Edward, Earl of Oxford.” 28 in his Beauties of Wiltshire, mostly dealing ment that sealed the deal.38 In his limited the fourth Earl of Pembroke with his small portrait: (Cont. on p. 18) page 18 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 19

(Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 17) her.” 46 The likeness that dates from 1629, features with the dimple in her chin.47 compiler observed that “this picture has right before the Pembroke marriage, is the In spite of the disparity of the resem- than those of Pembroke’s Countess, and survival of the family has been assured of the Earl’s first wife thus compliments the 43 suffered terribly.” This portrait is still closest in real time to Van Dyck’s family blance between the sitter in the Van Dyck her fingers are more delicate and loosely by the children of their marriage. David presence of Lady Mary Villiers, by whom in the collection of the Dulwich Picture portrait. That these renditions of Lady Anne and the many portraits of Lady Anne, her held. Though the pose is essentially the Howarth notes: “It was entirely appropriate Pembroke expected to be provided with 59 Gallery. However, the attribution of the bear no resemblance to the Earl’s Countess identification continues to be perpetuated same, the arms and hands of Cecilia Crofts grandchildren.” painter has been changed from Van Dyck by her biographers who put their imagi- are far more graceful and natural than Thus, there is a litany of reasons for the to Cornelius Johnson the Elder, and the nations to work to account for the sitter’s Pembroke’s lady in black. Again, the skill If a visitor were to be stand- Susan Vere identification: (1) the break-up identity of the sitter is officially classified as remote, disconnected appearance. Martin of the master painter is apparent in the of the marriage between Pembroke and his ing before this painting in th unknown. It is now called “A Lady in Blue,” In spite of the disparity of Holmes describes her “detachment” and subtle artistry. Pembroke’s Lady has been second wife; (2) the 18 century histori- and images are available upon request. described as “tense,” though a better word cal identifications; (3) the sitter’s lack of the resemblance between the Richard Spence refers to her as “looking the Double Cube Room at In comparing the Dulwich portrait withdrawn,” hoping this will explain away would be rigid. resemblance to Lady Anne’s established and Williamson’s plate, the features are sitter in the Van Dyck and the the Countess’ vacant “oblivious gaze.” If a visitor were to be standing before Wilton House – and could portraits; (4) the rigid, funereal pose of similar enough to be the same person, 48 They both leave unexplained why the this painting in the Double Cube Room the sitter with the fictionalized attire and painted by a great artist and a mediocre see it clearly without being many portraits of Lady Anne, Countess is clothed in basic, somber black, at Wilton House – and could see it clearly symbolism of matriarchy, all rendered in one respectively. Obviously, the loveliness admittedly “almost humbly in comparison” without being blinded by the magnificence the thin paint by Van Dyck; and (5) just of the painting formerly attributed to Van her identification continues blinded by the magnificence of to her husband with his Garter regalia and of the room and the treasures it houses – plain common sense. Dyck far surpasses the small painting, the colorfully attired young people.49 he might notice one more thing: that the the room and the treasures it As previously stated, twentieth century which Williamson attributed to William to be perpetuated by her In fact the costuming is itself an indica- Countess is “noticeably thinly painted” in scholars use the marriage of Pembroke Dobson, a Van Dyck follower.44 That both 56 houses – he might notice one biographers who put their tion that the presence of the Countess is comparison to the rest of the figures. One and Lady Anne Clifford as the reason for figures are balding is striking, and this is a fictionalization, and an example of what might sense the breathtaking effect gener- their identification of her in Van Dyck’s an element far removed from Lady Anne imaginations to work to ac- more thing: that the Countess one authority calls “the typical Jacobean ated by the austere figure rendered in the painting; and, indeed, the Earl’s second Clifford, whose abundant dark hair was count for the sitter’s remote, taste for ingenuity in paradox.” 50 In a exceptionally thin brush-work, a testament is “noticeably thinly painted” marriage would stay on the books until one of her better features. recent study Emile Gordenker discusses to Van Dyck’s “power of empathy” with his one or the other of them died in spite of 60 In comparing the Blue Lady to the disconnected appearance. how Van Dyck used clothing to fictionalize subjects. This is a foremost example of his in comparison to the rest of their de facto divorce. This circumstance figures of the Earl and his Lady in the great his sitters.51 That the lady in black is not artistry made manifest in his “miraculous notwithstanding, it seems the “time is out Martin Holmes describes her 57 the figures. One might sense picture, what is striking is the similarity dressed in the rich attire of a Countess is rendering of surface textures.” She is of joint,” and this element of chronologi- of the Earl’s and the Blue Lady’s sideward “detachment” and Richard significant in the context of Van Dyck’s ethereal. A surreal, gossamer figure cap- the breathtaking effect gen- cal dissonance does need to be addressed. glance – a pose characteristic of Van Dyck portraiture. In this case, her humble ap- tured in the thin paint. She is not quite Therefore, the one question that is still which lesser painters tried to emulate. In Spence refers to her as “look- pearance -- not commensurate with her there, even on the canvas, in quite the same erated by the austere figure on the table is the use of posthumous addition to the graceful movement, the way that the other family members are. likenesses in other paintings of the era. ing withdrawn,” hoping this status -- is a technique used by Van Dyck to rendered in the exception- Lady in Blue has the sensitive expression put his subjects “between the actual world And what a contrast she is with the rest Numerous examples of what is known of a Van Dyck, something else beyond the will explain away the Count- and the realm of mythology.” 52 Of course of the family in motion all about her. It ally thin brush-work, a testa- as chronological latitude can be found. grasp of the lesser painters whose portraits the three cherubs floating at the top corner could be a scene from a well-choreographed The well known painting of Sir Thomas were more in line with the dull, static ess’ vacant “oblivious gaze.” are obvious allegorical iconography further ballet: daughter Anna Sophia is the only ment to Van Dyck’s “power of More and his family was commissioned Jacobean effigies.45 one who has actually found her place on by More’s grandson in 1593. In this multi- They both leave unexplained enhancing the sense of the fictionalization empathy” with his subjects. But unless this portrait ultimately of the family group.53 the stage as she reaches for her husband’s generational composite, the living Thomas regains its identification as Susan Vere, why the Countess is clothed Looking even more closely at Van Dyck’s hand. He is moving up to the next step, as This is a foremost example More II is elderly and appears to be about there are no established portraits of her Countess, the folded hands are another clue is Lady Mary Villiers who turns to glance the same age as his great-grandfather at the extant. However, we do have a good many in basic, somber black, ad- that the sitter is Pembroke’s deceased wife. back at the viewer. The Earl is turning and of his artistry made manifest other side of the painting. His own father is of Lady Anne Clifford. Quite a different Van Dyck places the hands and arms like gesturing to his right, introducing his heir, a young man, and his famous grandfather, mittedly “almost humbly in 58 in his “miraculous rendering face is apparent when the physiognomy this in only one other portrait that I can it is thought, to his bride. The two older who was executed by Henry VIII in 1535, of Lady Anne is compared with the sit- 57 61 comparison” to her husband find, that of Cecilia Crofts. As described by boys are turning towards him, flaunting of surface textures.” She is appears as he did in the fullness of life. ter in the Pembroke family portrait. At Malcolm Rogers, “Her arms are folded in a their attire, and the three younger boys Another example of chronological approximately age 28, Lady Anne sat for with his Garter regalia and cradling gesture over her womb, perhaps are directing their attention upwards, as if ethereal. A surreal, gossamer incongruity, as well as an example of the William Larkin and the next year for Paul the cherubs floating above were a distrac- custom of commemorating lifetime land- the colorfully attired young indicating that she was pregnant when the figure captured in the thin van Somer, both distinguished artists of portrait was painted.” 54 Oliver Millar notes tion. Amidst all the commotion, the thinly marks in works of art, can be found in the the era. There are two representations of people. that Van Dyck painted Queen Henrietta painted figure with the squared off arms paint. She is not quite there, charming family gathering of Henry VIII. her by Sir Peter Lely in the mid to late Maria with similarly folded hands when she gazes vacantly away, and her stillness is In this painting the King celebrates his 1640s, and these likenesses correspond was pregnant.55 It seems that the folded palpable. even on the canvas, in quite decision to put his two daughters back in almost exactly to her portrait in the right After all that’s been said, it’s not too the line of succession in 1544.62 Henry’s hands and cradled arms are associated with the same way that the other panel of her great triptych painted in the motherhood and are an appropriate motif much to ask that common sense be brought son Prince Edward, the Tudor heir, is sit- is compelling evidence that Van Dyck did mid 1640s, about a decade after Van Dyck for the matriarch of a dynasty. into the equation. Clearly, the purpose of family members are. ting at his father’s right knee. The Queen not paint her, for it should not be even a painted the Pembroke family. In comment- The comparison of the cradled arms the painting was to celebrate the Pembroke chosen for the place of honor at his left remote possibility that Van Dyck could fail ing on this, her most recent biographer leads to one more observation. In the family dynasty. It is reasonable that Count- is his third wife Jane Seymour, who died to capture such elementary elements as remarks how much Lady Anne had aged Crofts portrait, the arms are more rounded ess Susan would be given the respect she is that Van Dyck should have included the giving birth to the Prince six years earlier. Lady Anne’s dark hair and her distinctive in only ten years “since Van Dyck painted due at her husband’s side, as the dynastic mother of Pembroke’s children. The spirit (Cont. on p. 20) page 20 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 21 (The Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 19) 67 Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven: 23 when the monument was completed. Our riage went by the wayside. His marriage pages x and xi). It may be thought that O’Donoghue, Freeman. Catalogue of Yale University Press, 2004, 8-9, 573. The Of course in real time Henry was happily “Butterfly” Mary Villiers can be seen as a to Lady Anne cost him dearly. He never their motivation was the preservation of Engraved British Portraits in The British 1968 Wilton House catalogue states that it married (more or less) to his sixth wife, child on the monument, approximately two saw a penny of income from her estates, the masterpieces of a family patriarch, an Museum, vol. V. London: Longmans, 1922. was “painted in London, 1634-35.” Perhaps Queen Catherine Parr. years before she appears as a teenager of and did not even manage to reel in her interest not shown by the descendents of 49. This is cited by Howarth, page 304. the dates of Van Dyck’s sojourn in Brussels 24 The significance of Henry VIII’s family thirteen on Van Dyck’s canvass. Included daughter as a match for his younger son the traditional “Stratfordian Shakespeare.” Both engravings are in the permanent were not available to the writer. (59-60). as a precedent for the Earl of Pembroke’s in this funerary scene on the tomb is a boy -- something that would have been a real Unexplained too by the traditional story is collection of The National Galleries of 68 There is an occasional suggestion that the family portrait is self evident; therefore, it reclining with his right arm supported on a coup for the Herbert family. Moreover, the source of the “considerable outlay of Scotland, ID # EPL 34.1 and UP P 47. The painting dates to a time prior to Van Dyck’s must be asked if art historians are sure – skull. This is Charles, the Duke’s deceased the marriage cost him the leverage he capital” that Hinman thinks was needed former is available for reproduction in departure for Brussels in the fall of 1633. absolutely certain -- that it is the deceased son. His presence along with the three would have had as an eligible bachelor to to get the Folio through the publishing black and white photography, and the staff These are gainsaid by the appearance of Queen Jane at Henry’s side and not the living children reveals how well accepted further another more worthwhile dynastic process. Again, the Herbert “Brethren” are responds promptly to requests. Mary Villiers who was born in March of 25 contemporaneous Queen Catherine. The was the convention of including deceased arrangement for himself and possibly his a likely source if for no better reason than Gambarini of Lucca. A Description of the 1622. The figure of Mary Villiers in Van identification is indeed nailed down. The family members in the living family group. children. Therefore it seems ironic that that they are the only possible source of Earl of Pembroke’s Pictures. Westminster: Dyck’s large painting is certainly not a image of Jane Seymour was copied, almost the memory of Lady Anne Clifford, and the “outlay” of venture capital needed to A. Campbell, 1731, 8-9. 10 or 11 year old child. Moreover, Robert 26 exactly, from an earlier painting by Hans not Lady Susan Vere, is raised up by later get the job done. But then again their mo- Cowdry, Richard. A description of the Dormer, the Earl’s son-in-law, had been Holbein dating from 1537. The queen’s generations of Pembrokes. But all things tivation is puzzling and may be explained Pictures, Statues, Busto’s, Basso-Relievos, out of the country on an extended trip, gabled hood and whelk-shell headdress considered, it is good to know that at least by the Herbert/Vere marriage. Another returning in June of 1635 to take his place are an unmistakable mark of Queen Jane Philip had the Van Dyck masterpiece to question is the extent of Ben Johnson’s as Henry’s later Queens chose the more The 19th century editor Dr. show for his troubles. to the left of his wife. participation in the First Folio. Although 13 Great credit has been tra- fashionable French hood and headdress.63 orthodoxy reluctantly accepts him as the The formal settlement of separation was Although the French style was in vogue Grosart’s comment about Copyright 2008 signed on June 5, 1635. ditionally given to the ac- editor – once again because he is the only 14 even when Jane was Queen, it was associ- All Rights Reserved person in sight with the credentials for the Spence, 101. Edward de Vere is well known: 15 tors Heminge and Condell. ated with Anne Boleyn, and Queen Jane job – great credit has been traditionally Wilkinson, Nevile R. Wilton House shied away from this reminder of her fallen “An unlifted shadow some- Endnotes given to the actors Heminge and Condell. Pictures. London: Cheswick Press, 1907. A closer examination of the predecessor. Thus, it is certain that the A closer examination of the long-standing 290. Nicholson, Adam. Earls of Paradise. how lies across his memory.” 1 Queen at Henry’s side is his deceased wife Richardson,George. Aedes Pembrochi- relationship between Ben Jonson and the London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2008. long-standing relationship 64 anae: A New Account and Description of 222. Holmes, Martin. Proud Northern who had produced the heir to the throne. The gradual disappearance of Pemborke family (including Countess between Ben Jonson and the Van Dyck himself was called upon to the Antiquities and Curiosities in Wilton- Susan) diminishes the importance that has Lady. London: Phillimore & Co., LTD, portray deceased loved ones on canvass. Countess Susan from the an- House. London: R. Baldwin, 1774, 74. 1975. 132. Spence, 101. been attributed to Heminge and Condell 16 Pemborke family (including Sir Kenelm Digby commissioned two 2 Moir, Alfred. Anthony Van Dyck. New and puts Ben Jonson in a different light. Wilkinson, 290. Spence, 111. nals of the Pembroke family 17 paintings of his wife Venetia Stanley af- York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1994. 114. 6 Aikin, Lucy. Memoirs of the Court of Wilkinson, 297. Countess Susan) diminishes 3 Sidney, 16th Earl of Pembroke. A Cata- 18 Nicolson, 222. Differences of opinion ter her death. The first was painted two and the concurrent elevation King James the First. London: Longman, the importance that has been days after her unexpected demise when logue of the Paintings and Drawings at Hurst, Rees Orme, Brown, 1822. 205. Sir on dates and facts of the Herbert/Villiers Van Dyck responded quickly enough to of Lady Anne Clifford indicate Wilton House. London: Phaidon Press Ralph Winwood’s report of the nuptials marriage vex the researcher every step attributed to Heminge and Digby’s request to paint her before her LTD, 1968. 59. includes additional details of the wedding of the way. Even the exact amount of the that this shadow has fallen on 4 body was removed for burial. This memo- Hannay, Margaret P. Phillip’s Phoenix celebration at court and information about dowry is in question. Nicolson seems un- Condell and puts Ben Jonson Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. certain and gives the amount as 20,000 rial keepsake was said to have been a great his third daughter as well. the King’s gift of 500 pounds land for the in a different light. comfort to Sir Kenelm.65 Moreover, in a Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. bride’s jointure. and 25,000 pounds in different places in subsequent effort to vindicate her reputa- 159-162. In 1597, Lord and Lady Pembroke 7 Aikin, 205-206. his book. Lever agrees with the 25,000 tion, he also commissioned from Van Dyck sought the marriage of their older son, 8 pounds (105). Howarth comes in on the Conclusion Lever, Tresham. The Herberts of Wilton. an elaborate allegory of her as Prudence, William, and Oxford’s second daughter, low side with 10,000 pounds (227). Writ- and other curiosities at the Earl of Pem- London: John Murray, 1967. Shortly after something she had hardly been in her Lady Bridget Vere. Oxford gave his consent ing in 1907, Wilkinson puts the figure at broke’s House at Wilton. London: J. Rob- The 19th century editor Dr. Grosart’s the death of her first husband, the Countess younger days as the notorious courtesan to the match that “dothe greatly content contracted smallpox “which disease did so 20,000 pounds (297). inson, 1751, 58. comment about Edward de Vere is well 19 of the Carolinian Court. As he did with me, for Bridget’s sake, whome always Van Dyck made many trips between Eng- 27 Kennedy, James. A New Discription known: “An unlifted shadow somehow martyr my face…” 98. the Pembroke Family portrait, Van Dyck I have wished a good husband…” The 9 land and the Continent. A detailed account of Pictures. London: Benjamin Collins, lies across his memory.” The gradual Spence, Richard T. Lady Anne Clif- put an allegorical scenario to good use to marriage negotiations fell apart due to of his travels and activities is provided in 1758. 53. disappearance of Countess Susan from ford, Countess of Pembroke, Dorset and fictionalize his subject, and “Prudence” is political reasons. the Chronology at the beginning of the 28 Richardson. Aedes Pembrochianae. The the annals of the Pembroke family and the Montgomery (1590-1676). Great Britain: crowned by cherubs -- her “virtue rewarded 5 The presence of Susan Vere in the equa- Sutton Publishing Limited, 1997. 40-58. Complete Catalogue cited above pages 8-9. twelfth edition is available through Google concurrent elevation of Lady Anne Clifford 20 after death.” 66 tion opens the door to issues which have Gordenker, Emilie E.S. Anthony Van Digitized Books. Great Britain: Salisbury indicate that this shadow has fallen on his Spence discusses in great detail Lady Anne For another perspective, we turn our been heretofore left largely unexplored. Dyck and the Representations of Dress Press, 1795, 74. third daughter as well. Clifford’s legal struggles to win back the attention to the tomb of the Duke of Buck- First of all, there is the question of the in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture. 29 Wilkinson, 302-303. Susan’s husband Philip is someone Clifford properties from which she had ingham located in the Henry VII Chapel Herbert brothers’ motivation for lending been disinherited by her father’s will. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2002, 10. 30 Brittan, John. Beauties of Wiltshire, Vol else to whom the hand of history has not 21 in Westminster Abbey. The figures of his their names and political clout to the pub- 10 Spence, 99. Lever, 105. Nicolson, 230-231. 1. London: J. D. Dewick, 1801, 180. been kind. In spite of all his efforts to leave 22 children have been the most admired part lication of the First Folio, something that 11 Howarth, David. Images of Rule. Art and 31 Hazlitt, William. Picture Galleries of behind a flourishing dynasty, things did not Spence, 101. of the monument, and their dress and Charlton Hinman describes as a “decidedly 12 Politics in the English Renaissance, 1485- England. London: C. Templeman, 1836. go well for him. The coveted Villiers mar- Barnes, Susan J., Nora De Poorter, Oliver appearance have been used to determine chancy venture.” (The Norton Facsimile, Millar, Horst Vey. Van Dyck: A Complete 1649. Los Angeles: University of California 106-107. (This citation is from Google Press, 1997, 226-227. (Continued on p. 22) page 22 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 23 (Wrong Countess cont. from p. 21) (Ring cont. from p. 1) 57 don: John Murray, 1842. 464. Kessinger Ollard, Richard. “Clarendon and the Art Terence: Tendit in ardua virtus.”3 De these lines: (a) Valor proceeds to arduous mischievously accuses Bassanio of losing Digitized Books, University of Wisconsin Publishing, 2004. Mrs. Jameson lists this of Prose Portraiture in the Age of Charles Vere spent ten months in Italy, from May undertakings, 1575/76. (b) Ever Lover of the ring she had given him at their wedding collection). 5 portrait as Item #134. This portrait is now II.” Art and Patronage in the Caroline 1575 until March 1576, and seems to the Truth, late 1575. (c) Nothing is Truer the day before, Bassanio sheepishly tries to 32 Waagen, Gustav. Treasures of Art in catalogues as Item #DPG89. (Personal Court, Essays in Honour of Sir Oliver Mil- have devised his motto, vero nihil verius, than Truth, 1579. defend himself in the following exchange: Great Britain, Vol III. Originally published correspondence with the Dulwich Picture lar, David Howarth, editor. Great Britain: sometime between this Italian sojourn The modern Italian word vera, in London: John Murray, 1838. Reprint, Bass. Sweet Portia, Gallery). Cambridge University Press, 1993, 197. and the year 1579, when it first appears in translated into English, is the adjective Elbiron Classics, 153. Several editions 43 58 If you did know to whom I gave the ring, Jameson, 464. Moir, 114. print. Although the motto, translated into true. But other lesser known translations If you did know for whom I gave the ring of this book are made available through 44 59 The 1968 Wilton House catalogue does Howarth, 227. The obsession of the English as “nothing truer than the truth,” show vera as a noun of various meanings. And would conceive for what I gave the ring Google Digitized Books, but the pages And how unwillingly I left the ring, not suggest who the artist of Item #95 upper classes with dynastic considerations is based on an epigram by the Latin writer One example of its use as a noun is the wall describing the paintings at Wilton House When nought would be accepted but the ring, may have been. should be compelling motivation for Pem- Martial, it twice includes the Latin root of which surrounds the top of a well which are mysteriously eliminated from all but 45 You would abate the strength of your displeasure. Llewellyn, Nigel. Funeral Monuments in broke to put his first wife by his side in his de Vere’s name, veritas – truth. prevents animals from falling in, this is the one cited herein. Post-Reformation England. Great Britain: grand dynastic portrait, even if his second The next known use of an Edward called a vera. Also when two water pipes are Port.If you had known the virtue of the ring, 33 Walpole, Horace. Anecdotes of Painting Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 234. The marriage had been satisfactory, which it de Vere motto was when it was revealed abutted, a metallic band is sealed around in England, Vol II. London: J. Dodsley, Or your own honour to contain the ring, resemblance of paintings of the time with certainly was not. beneath his coat of arms and in an acrostic the join to prevent leakage. This seal is 1786. 60 You would not then have parted with the ring. funeral effigies is not accidental. Llewellyn Lindley, David. The Trials of Frances poem in Anthony Munday’s Mirror of called a vera. Vera is synonymous with 34 Cust, Lionel. King Edward VII and his notes that “to follow a painted portrait Howard. London and New York: Routledge, Mutability.4 There it appeared under the round, particularly a circular flat band. (and six lines later...) court: some reminiscences by Sir Lionel in the making of an effigy was standard 1996. The infamous divorce trial of Lady heading: “Verses Written by the Author Cust, K.C.V.G. New York: E.P.Dutton, I’ll die for’t but some woman had the ring. practice throughout the post-Reformation Frances Howard and the Earl of Essex is an upon his Lord’s posy, Vero Nihil Verius.” 1930, xix period, especially when top people were object lesson in the difficulties presented in Sometime between 1576 and 1579 the The ring referred to in this exchange is the 35 Cust, Lionel. Van Dyck. London: George being commemorated.” obtaining a divorce, even among the upper The usual Italian word for motto had been transformed to that which wedding ring given by Portia to Bassanio for Bell and Sons, 1900, 119. 46 Spence, 111. The images of the young aristocracy. “As Roderick Phillips observes: we know today, vero nihil verius, and which ring is anello, which pertains their wedding ceremony. If we substitute 36 Lever, 106. Lady Anne can be found in Spence’s biogra- ‘England was unique in the sixteenth de Vere used for the remainder of his life. the sixteenth century Venetian word for 37 Sidney, 9. phy, pp. 74-77, the one dating from c. 1629, century as the only country where an to rings of all kinds. But the In This Star of England,Dorothy wedding ring, for the modern English 38 Dr. Williamson was one of the general 93, and the elderly Lady Anne, 112-113. established or dominant reformed church and Charlton Ogburn cite a Latin poem word (i.e., “vera” for “ring”), the verses editors of Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters 47 In the Complete Catalogue of Barnes, et did not break with the Roman Catholic single word vera, without the of ten lines, written on the fly-leaf of a would look like this: and Engravers, still an important reference al, there is no listing of a Van Dyck portrait doctrine of marital indissolubility,’” 86. Greek Bible, which de Vere sent to his appendage anello, has another on library shelves. His Curious Survivals: 61 of Lady Anne Clifford alone. Therefore, no Hearn, Karen, editor. Dynasties: Paint- wife from Italy on hearing of the birth of Bass. Sweet Portia, Habits and Customs of the Past That portrait of her painted by Van Dyck exists ing in Tudor and Jacobean England, their first child, Elizabeth. The poem is little used translation and that If you did know to whom I gave the vera, Still Live in the Present as well as books at all if the identification of her in the 1530-1630. New York: Rizzoli International addressed: “To the illustrious Lady Anne de If you did know for whom I gave the vera is: wedding ring. And would conceive for what I gave the vera on Pietro Vannucci, George Morland, Pembroke Family group is erroneous. As Publications, 1996. 128-129. Vere, Countess of Oxford, while her noble and The Anonimo: Notes on Pictures 62 And how unwillingly I left the vera, Van Dyck painted exclusively the courtiers, Starkey, David. Elizabeth Apprentice- husband, Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, was When nought would be accepted but the vera, and Works of Art in Italy, are among his families and friends in the inner circle of ship. Great Britain: Vintage, 2001, 30- occupied in foreign travel.” The poem, You would abate the strength of your displeasure. recently republished work. His versatility the Royal Court, it is unsurprising that 31. It is noteworthy that the two Tudor in the translation by B.M. Ward, begins: The usual Italian word for ring is Port. If you had known the virtue of the vera, is apparent in the wide range of subjects she was not granted the privilege of “sit- princesses appear to be the same age, “Words of truth are fitting to a Vere” and anello, which pertains to rings of all kinds. on which he published, to name a few: Or half her worthiness that gave the vera, ting” for him. though Mary was sixteen years older than further contains the line: “May thy true But the single word vera, without the Or your own honour to contain the vera, 48 The Book of Amber, The Money of the Holmes, 128. Spence, 102. Elizabeth. motto be Ever Lover of the Truth.” appendage anello, has another little used You would not then have parted with the vera. 49 63 Bible, Everybody’s Book on Collecting, Spence, 102. Norris, Herbert. Tudor Costume and The Ogburns state that “The Latin translation: wedding ring. 50 Guildford in Olden Times, The Imperial Lightbrown, Ronald W. “Issac Besnier, Fashion. New York: Dover Publications, poem, ... is for the most part a series of puns Before Italy became a unified nation Could vera be a reference to de Vere’s Russian Dinner Service, and A Reader’s Sculptor to Charles I, and His Work for Inc, 1997, 287-288. on Truth through the words Vera, Veritas in March 1861, the city-states which motto, vero nihil verius? Could vera be a 64 Guide to T.S. Eliot. Court Patrons.” Art and Patronage in the Alfred Moir concurs with both the & Vere...” There are indeed fifteen such preceded unification spoke in different pun on vero or on the Italian pronunciation 39 Williamson, Dr. George C. Lady Anne Caroline Court, editor, Howarth, 148. identifications and the influence of the puns in the English translation of those ten dialects. The use of vera to mean wedding of Vere in which the final e is sounded? 51 Clifford. Great Britain: Kendal, Titus, Gordenker, 62. Holbein mural as a model for Van Dyck’s lines. The Ogburns continue: “He meant ring was unique to the dialect spoken by Possibly, but we can do better than that. 52 Wilson & Son, 1922, 349. Gordenker, 52. Pembroke Family, noting that “Holbein’s the motto to be read, “E-ver Lo-ver of the the city-state of Venice6 at precisely the In modern English, to pluralize a 40 53 Williamson, 349-350. Gordenker, 53. mural of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour Truth . . . this is one of the earliest evidences time de Vere was living in Venice and had noun we merely add the letter s. Vera is 41 54 In the 1968 Wilton House Catalogue is a Rogers, Malcolm. “‘Golden Houses for was destroyed by fire in 1698, but in the we have of Lord Oxford’s tendency to play a home there. an Italian singular feminine noun9 and portrait (Item #95) identified by inscrip- Shadows’: Some Portraits of Thomas Killi- 1630s it was at Whitehall where Pembroke upon his name, but he continued to do In 1935 Benito Mussolini proclaimed to make such nouns plural, the feminine tion as Lady Anne Clifford. No image is grew and His Family.” Art and Patronage had his London accommodations,” 114. so, both obviously and subtly, though the “Vera Alla Patria”7 edict, which ending of the noun which is the letter a, 65 given, but the description fits the plate in in the Caroline Court, editor Howarth, Sumner, Ann and Amos, Polly. “Kenelm unfailingly, through everything he wrote literally translates into “wedding ring to is changed to the letter e. Some examples Williamson’s 1922 book, particularly as it 222-223. Digby and Venetia Stanley: The Love Story upon his name and truth...” the country.” He did this as a means to to illustrate this include: (cup) tazza = 55 is considered “neither good nor flatter- Millar, Oliver. The Age of Charles I. of the Seventeenth Century.” Death, Pas- The birth of de Vere’s daughter garner funds for Italy’s war with Abyssinia. (cups) tazze; (chair) sedia = (chairs) sedie; ing.” The miniature at her neck is now London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1972. sion, and Politics Van Dyck’s Portraits of Elizabeth was July 2, 1575, but he was not This demonstrates that the wedding ring (apple) mela = (apples) mele. This rule thought to be of her first husband, the Earl 240. Martha von Monmouth is painted Venetia Stanley and George Digby. Great able to write to his wife from Italy with the interpretation of vera was understood in also applies to vera so the word that means of Dorset. The catalogue notes that “Old by Van Dyck with similarly folded hands, Britain: Dulwich Picture Gallery, 1996, Latin poem until September 24 of that year. northern Italy by the twentieth century. wedding-rings is vere. re-paints were removed in 1950,” 37-38. considered symbolic of her pregnancy. 30-31. This would suggest a progression of the Towards the end of Shakespeare’s 42 Mrs. Jameson. Handbook to the Public 8 Barnes, 558-559. transformation of de Vere’s motto along Merchant of Venice, after Portia (Continued on page 24) Galleries of Art in and near London. Lon- 56 Barnes, 573. (Continued on page 28) page 24 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 25

(Ring continued from p. 23) casket has a nine line verse and the final That I were couching with the doctor’s clerk, are reminded three times that two rings If you did know for whom I gave the vere within the speeches and three following. Is there more than one ring involved word of each line rhymes with “gold.” The Well, while I live I’ll fear no other thing are involved in these weddings: lines 193 And would conceive for what I gave the vere Of the characters listed as friends to in Merchant’s Act III wedding ceremony? And how unwillingly I left the vere, silver casket has a ten line verse, with the So sore as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring. and 196; line 198; lines 206 and 208 The Antonio and Bassanio, Salarino and Salanio At their wedding, Since Portia gives a ring When nought would be accepted but the vere, final word of the first seven lines rhyming ring speeches begin immediately after the play only minor parts. It is the other friend, to Bassanio but Bassanio does not give a You would abate the strength of your displeasure. with “is” and the last three lines being a As Portia is the rich lady and Nerissa the final reminder, at line 210. Gratiano who plays the significant role. It ring to Portia. our translation remains triplet rhyming with “bed.” The lead casket maid-in-waiting, one would expect the final Port. If you had known the virtue of the vere, is Gratiano who begged to be married in singular, vera. scroll contains a verse of eight lines, the two words to be “Portia’s ring.” Portia is Grat. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away Or half her worthiness that gave the vere, the same ceremony as Bassanio, and it is Unto the judge that begg’d it and indeed Or your own honour to contain the vere, first four of which rhyme with “new” and the dominant character needed to drive Gratiano, who receives the second ring in Port. I gave my love a ring and made him swear Deserved it too; and then the boy, his You would not then have parted with the vere. the final four lines rhyme with “is.” the plot along. However, Portia represents the double marriage implied in Merchant. Never to part with it. clerk, A search for a similar repetitive line one ring. Nerissa represents the second That took some pains in writing, he begg’d mine; The very name “Gratiano” is significant. Out of a series of ten consecutive lines, the ending of the word “Vere” in Elizabethan ring. By using Nerissa’s ring to end the However, Bassanio’s friend Gratiano begs And neither man nor master would take Perucci records the name of the aught word ring/vere forms the final word of every works uncovered the Echo Verses11 written play the author is demanding one final to be married, in the same ceremony, to doctor who delivered the tirade about But the two rings. line except for one. Nine times out of ten! time that we recognize the plurality of the Portia’s maid-in-waiting, Nerissa. by Edward de Vere, the third stanza of Does Shakespeare rhyme the word “ring” which, preceded by the end of the second rings. The final word in the play is ring. Port. What ring gave you my lord? elsewhere in his works? Ring is scattered The author’s use of Nerissa turns that Grat. . . . I do beseech you, Not that, I hope, which you received of me. stanza, is reproduced below: Even at that time I may be married too. final word from ring/vera into rings/vere. Bass. With all my heart, . . . Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault, From sighs and shedding amber tears into sweet That, the very end, is in exactly the place would deny it; but you see my finger song she brake, where you and I would sign our names Out of a series of ten When thus the echo answered her to every word For the Nerissa/Gratiano nuptial, Nerissa Hath not the ring upon it; it is gone. to something we had written. The word she spake: Port. Even so void is your false heart of truth. consecutive lines, the word Oh heavens ! who was the first that bred in me this “ring,” in this instance, is not capitalized By heaven, I will ne’er come in your bed fever ? Vere . in the First Folio. Until I see the ring. ring/vere forms the final word Who was the first that gave the wound whose fear I wear for ever ? Vere. Because the author Conclusion Ner. Nor I in yours of every line except for one. What tyrant, Cupid, to my harm usurps thy golden introduced a second bride to Till I again see mine. quiver ? Vere. Nine times out of ten! What sight first caught this heart and can from 1. The English WEDDING RINGS the ceremony and each bride Bass. Sweet Portia, bondage it deliver ? Vere. becomes VERE when translated into If you did know to whom I gave the ring, Does Shakespeare rhyme the Italian but, at the time the play was If you did know for whom I gave the ring gave a ring to her groom, The words in the Echo Verses were spoken And would conceive for what I gave the ring.... word “ring” elsewhere in his written, it was only so in the Republic the plot becomes, in part, by a woman and commonly attributed of Venice where de Vere had a home. (192-210, emphasis added) works? “Ring” is scattered to Anne Vavasor, although the words are 2. The word RING occurs as the final the story of the provenance presumed to be written by Edward de Vere word of the line, nine times in a In Italian, adding a wedding-ring throughout the plays but to be spoken by Anne Vavasor. Caruana sequence of ten lines in Merchant, of two rings instead of one. turns vera into vere. and Sears12 state that at about this time and every time, the word “Ring” is A source for the last scene of never in such a blatant display That is “rings” in the Italian (1580) de Vere and Anne Vavasor were capitalized in the First Folio. Merchant of Venice is generally agreed to of apparently superfluous exchanging love poetry. 3. The author differed from his source 10 equivalent of “vere.” be Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino. A look at the First Folio version of and accentuated the addition of a No known English translation existed at the repetition as in Merchant, The Merchant of Venice reveals one more second ring which allowed for the time Merchant was written. In Il Pecorone Figure One: Folio text of Merchant show- and never in such a rhyming surprising detail in support of this thesis plural of RING to become RINGS to one lady and one gentleman are married (Figure One). ing capitalization of “Ring.” become VERE. and there is only one ring exchanged. Il sequence. We are not only drawn to this de Vere at the tournament in Italy as 4. Based on the arguments above, gives her husband a ring but he, like Pecorone works well with one marriage exchange by the brazen repetition of the Graziano. Although spelled differently, we may make four additional Bassanio, does not return the favour. and one ring. Shakespeare differed from word ring, note that this significant word and Gratiano is the more ancient of the observations: his source by adding a second couple for is capitalized in every instance, providing Ner. I’ll see if I can get my husband’s ring, throughout the plays but never in such a two names being seldom if ever used today, a. Edward de Vere wrote the Echo Which I did make him swear to keep for ever. a double wedding, which necessitated two yet another call by the author for us to take blatant display of apparently superfluous the pronunciation of Graziano is identical Verses giving heavy emphasis to rings. This seems to have been a deliberate notice of this passage and of this word. 15 Grat. . ..a hoop of gold, a paltry ring repetition as in Merchant, and never to Gratiano. Edward de Vere knew Dr. VERE. and purposeful addition to his source The word ring is used as a noun 38 times That she did give me, in such a rhyming sequence. There are Graziano as it was he (Graziano) who b. Edward de Vere altered his motto play. As the author draws our attention in Merchant. In Acts 1 and 2, ring is not other examples of rhyming repetition in delivered to de Vere and others, the tirata to include and better reflect his repeatedly to the fact that two rings are used at all. In Act 3, ring is used three Because the author introduced a Merchant. In 5.1 the phrase “in such a in 1575, but it is Shakespeare who uses name: VERE. being written about in Merchant of Venice, times, and Act 4, eleven times, none of second bride to the ceremony and each night” is used eight times in a sequence the phonetically identical name to help c. Vere wrote the Latin poem which the second of which is an intentional and which are capitalized. The only place where bride gave a ring to her groom, the of twenty-six lines, six of which form the make this sub-plot contain two wedding contained multiple references to contrived addition to the source play, the capitalization of the word ring occurs is in plot becomes, in part, the story of the initial words of the line and, indeed, of rings instead of one. truth and/or its Latin root: VER. substitution of vera for “ring” may be the final Act. In Act 5, it is used twenty-four provenance of two rings instead of one. successive stanzas. The final lines ofMerchant of Venice d. William Shakespeare wrote the superseded by vere for “rings” making the times, the first twenty being capitalized. That is, “rings” in the Italian equivalent When the suitors to Portia choose are: “ring” speeches in The Merchant verses appear thus: The speeches of Bassanio and Portia are of “vere.” which of the three caskets to open, they of Venice revealing a possible VERE In the sixteen lines immediately surrounded by the capitalized use of Ring Bass. Sweet Portia, find that inside each casket is a scroll Grat. preceding the “ring” speeches (above) we with eight preceding the speeches, nine But were the day come, I should wish it dark, If you did know to whom I gave the vere, containing a rhyming verse. The golden (Continued on p. 26) page 26 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 27 (Ring cont. from p. 25) (Letters, cont. from p. 2) them some literature or point them towards sources that won’t connotation. Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. way of communicating the facts supporting Oxford, coupled with overburden them with the more minute details that are covered The comic relief in the final scene of Merchant, like Il Published according to the true original copies. London, the facts against the traditional figure of the man from Stratford. in our conferences and in some of our publications. Pecorone before it, does not require more than one ring. The Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623. Facsimile Now what was I meaning by the statement that we must use a Another way we could make ourselves more accessible to those giving of a ring with a promise to keep it forever, the giving it Reproduction. Ed. Charlton Hinman. New York: W.W. non-threatening approach? All too often, we are asked by those who do not yet ascribe to our view of the Shakespeare authorship away to a perceived stranger the next day to who was in reality Norton, 1968. first hearing about the authorship question, “what does it mat- issue is to open ourselves and more particularly our publications his own wife, the embarrassment, the guilt, the shame and the Endnotes ter?” or even, “why can’t you just appreciate the works as they to non-Oxfordian contributors. I am speaking, of course, to the reconciliation, could all be equally accomplished between Portia are without having to find something wrong with it?” This is recent divisiveness over the appointment of Dr. Michael Egan as and Bassanio alone. Nerissa’s second ring is dramatically redundant 1 Dell’ Arte Rappresentative Premeditata ed all’ improviso. by certainly something I have had to respond to (even from mem- the new editor of The Oxfordian. While I was at first surprised to the plot. But that same ring, because it enables the plurality Andrea Perrucci. Published in Naples 1699. bers of my own family). I have to reassure these people, that to and unsure about what it would mean to have an editor who was of Merchant’s rings, is absolutely crucial if the author is Edward question the validity of the authorship is not an attack on the not a confirmed Oxfordian, after thinking the issue over and 2 A tirata (tirade) was an entertainment by the Commedia de Vere, to enable the singular “wedding ring” to become the works themselves. We are not trying to make mountains out of listening to Dr. Egan’s responses to membership’s questions and dell’Arte. In this case of The Tirata della Giostra (The Tirade of plural “wedding rings,” since “wedding rings” is the direct English molehills but rather attempting to cultivate new interpretations concerns, I have come to the belief that it will ultimately help us the Tournament), a certain Dr. Graziano very quickly recites the translation of the Italian word which spells his name: VERE. of these literary masterpieces by gaining a further understanding in the long run to have a person of Dr. Egan’s standing working names and titles of twenty or thirty knights and ladies with their The author solicits communication with any and all interested of the man who wrote them. for us. While I certainly believe that The Oxfordian should remain countries of origin, along with details of their horses, devices, parties in response to this article: Ian Haste: [email protected]. Another question that is often asked of me by skeptics is the primarily Oxfordian in its content, it is my opinion that as long garments, shields and the events that befell each of them during reasoning behind keeping the identity of the author a secret even as we allow only the Oxfordian perspective to be represented, we the tournament. It is the speed of delivery which provides the after his death. Here is the make-it or break-it point as I see it. will only succeed in producing a journal that preaches to the choir humour. For if you become too detailed with names, dates and the like or and which can, therefore, be written off by our critics as being 3 Tendit in ardua virtus. (Valor proceeds to arduous undertakings.) if you list only one Oxfordian interpretation, you run the risk of Nerissa’s ring, the second ring, is biased. We should not look at it as a step towards abandoning 4 The Mirrour of Mutability, 1579, by Anthony Munday contained that person either being bogged down with too much informa- our ideals but rather as a way to help us sharpen our arguments dramatically redundant to the plot. an acrostic poem which spelled “EDWARD DE VERE EARLE OF tion or they find your interpretation a little hard to swallow. against the opposition. OXENFORD” and another which spelled “VERO NIHIL VERIUS.” While it is my belief that rational people can put aside the myth The final point that I would like to mention as beinga But Nerissa’s ring, that second ring of the Virgin Queen, they might still find it hard to believe that possible deterrent to gaining new converts to our cause is the 5 Although de Vere never used Ever Lover of the Truth as a motto the Elizabeth was able to conceal multiple pregnancies, let alone continued split between our two organizations. As those of you for himself, he coined it for his wife (who also never used it). It which enables the plurality of the one. This is not to say that those who support the Prince Tudor who have met me at previous conferences might recall, I have was a part of a poem. rings, is absolutely crucial if the theories don’t have some valid points in their arguments. I person- been an avid supporter of the efforts at reunification. While I was 6 Rizzoli Larousse VOL 15 Milano,1964 & 71. vera s.f. (voce ally find the idea plausible, as I also do with the homo/bi-sexual never privy to the causes that led to the original schism, I would author is Edward de Vere, to enable veneziana, dal lat. tardo viria, braccialetto). Region. Anello interpretation. But when we are dealing with those who have had contend that whatever issue or issues led to the split, they have nuziale. - Archit. Sin. di PUTEALE. Voce Veneziana may be little or no knowledge of either Shakespeare or of the authorship either been resolved or are no longer of consequence. Would it the singular “wedding ring” to translated as “Voice of the Venetian dialect,” or “as spoken in candidates, we must be very subtle in our approach. We should not serve both organizations to pool our collective resources to become the plural “wedding rings,” Venice” (Venetian Republic). Vera was apparently not used before communicate the simple points of Oxford’s biography and how it form a single and much stronger organization? What message 1861 to mean wedding ring throughout most of present day Italy corresponds with the Shakespeare canon, not bash them over the since “wedding rings” is the direct although in parts of northern Italy today the wedding band is head with it but rather give them something to think about. Give (Continued on p. 28) sometimes referred to as a vera, a veneto-slavic term meaning English translation of the Italian “fidelity.” word which spells his name: VERE. 7 In 1935 during Italy’s war with Abyssinia, Benito Mussolini issued Subscribe to Shakespeare Matters the L’Oro Alla Patria edict, which called for all Italian people to forfeit their wedding rings so the gold could be melted down to Name:______Works Cited assist the war effort. Because most adults wore wedding rings at that time and the sacrifice was personal and emotional, it was Address:______Regular member: e-member ($20/year)__ Caruana, Stephanie & Sears, Elisabeth, Oxford’s Revenge, commonly called Vera Alla Patria, and Il Duce gave no choice but City:______State:____ZIP:______(Website; online newsletter) preliminary draft version, 1989. to donate. This continued until 1943. One year ($40/$50 overseas)__ 8 Two year ($75/$105 overseas)___ Clark, Eva Turner, Hidden Allusions in Shakespeare’s Plays, 3rd All lines quoted are from Act III, Scene 2; Act IV, Scene 2; Act Phone:______email:______Three year ($110/$155 overseas)___ Edition, Kennikat Press, New York, 1974. V, Scene 1. 9 Ogburn, Charlton (Jr.), The Mysterious William Shakespeare - Mario Hazon. Edition Garzanti. April 1961 Italy: Vèra, s.f. 1. Check enclosed____ Family/Institution: the Myth and the Reality, EPM Publications, McLean, (di pozzo) well-curb 2. (dial.) (anello nuziale) wedding ring. One year ($60/$75 overseas)___ VA, 1984. 1. Vera, singular, feminine, noun. pozzo is the wall surrounding Signature:______Two year ($115/$145 overseas)___ the top of a well to prevent falling in. 2. (dialect) wedding ring. Three years ($170/$215 os)___ Looney, J. Thomas, “Shakespeare” Identified in Edward de Vere, 10 Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino, written in 1378, and first The Fellowship sincerely regrets that because of security and liability Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, Minos Publishing Co., Patron ($75/year or over):___ published in 1565. considerations, we can no longer accept credit card payments by mail. Kennicat Press, Port Washington, New York, 1975. Online credit card payments are still available, from www.shake- Total: ____ 11 Ogburn, Dorothy & Charlton, This Star of England, Coward- Echo Verses in the Rawlinson MS. at the Bodleian Library, these spearefellowshiponlinestore.com, using our affiliation with PayPal. McCann, Inc., New York 1952 lines are headed “Verses made by the Earle of Oxforde” and followed Please Make Checks payable to: The Shakespeare Fellowship, PO Box 421, Hudson, MA 01749. (Continued on p. 28) page 28 Shakespeare Matters Spring 2009

(Letters, cont. from p. 27) and associates all over Europe and around (The Wrong Countess, cont. from p. 22) are we sending to those on the outside the world. From these they would receive 66 Parry, Graham. “Van Dyck and the Caro- when we are unable or unwilling to work letters describing local conditions and line Court Poets.” Studies in the History together? Let us not forget that we all have events, and anything the correspondent of Art 46 (1994), 350. Anthony van Dyck a common goal, and while we may disagree thought might be of relevance to the Susan J. Barnes, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. on some of the finer points, we should all family’s mercantile interests. Reports from and Julius Samuel Held, eds. National be willing to agree on the most important London, however, were comparatively few Gallery of Art, Washington. Hanover and thing . . . “it is about the Earl.” as few agents were based there. The Fugger London: University Press of New England, I must now end this letter and, once Newsletter is a collection of thousands of 1994, 259. more, ask that you please forgive my these manuscripts which date from 1568 67 Lightbrown, 150-152. The size of the presumptiveness in addressing you on to 1604. They were first edited in 1735 younger son, born in April 1629, is an these matters. I mean not to dictate or and part of the collection was translated important factor in dating the monument, preach, but merely to voice some of the by L.S.R. Byrne and published in English as is the appearance of Lady Mary, the concerns I have come to have over the in 1926. Among the topics discussed in the oldest child. last three years. I want to thank all those Fugger Newsletters were deaths of kings 68 Spence, 111. who have befriended me and given me the and queens, wars, the arrival and departure encouragement to take a more active role of ships, the horribly botched execution of in this, our cause. the Earl of Essex, other executions, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Yours Sincerely, 14 Ruth Loyd Miller, in “Shakespeare” Identified in Edward de Vere, Seventeenth (Brief Chronicles, cont. from p. 3) Stuart J. Green Earl of Oxford, Vol. 1 (496), gives the period 1578-1581 as the time Ann Vavasor of early modern authorship and literary was significant in the life of Edward de creativity, and on related questions of Vere. A letter from Francis Walsingham early modern literary culture, aesthetics, (Ring, cont. from p. 26) dated March 23rd, 1581 states that Ann bibliography, psychology, law, biography, Vavasor gave birth to an illegitimate son, and history. Contributions that utilize an by a subheading, “Ann Vavesour’s Echo.” subsequently named Edward Veer, on the interdisciplinary methodology that draws st on the conventions and data of more than 12 night of 21 March, 1581. This places the Oxford’s Revenge, Preliminary Draft one relevant humanities discipline to Edition, 1989. Caruana & Sears, (82) time of conception to June 1580. 15 Graziano. There is a “t” sound in the “z” produce original, carefully reasoned, and 13 The Fugger Newsletters. One of the as in the words Pizza and grazie. readable insights, are especially welcome. richest families in Europe in the 16th For further details, visit us online at century was the merchant family of the www.BriefChronicles.com. Fuggers who lived in Augsburg, in present day Germany. They had representatives

Shakespeare Matters Inside this issue: The Voice of the Shakespeare Fellowship P.O. Box 65335 The Case of the Wrong Countess.....1 Baltimore, MD 21209 The Name Within the Ring...... 1 13th Annual SASC Awards NPR’s Renee Montagne...... 1 Hurrah for Pseudonyms...... 2 Who Are These Oxfordians and Why are they Bothering me?...... 3 Justice Stevens: Not Stratford, “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”...... 5 Branagh in Doubt...... 12