Christopher Upton Phd Thesis
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?@A374? 7; ?2<@@7?6 81@7; 2IQJRSOPIFQ 1$ APSON 1 @IFRJR ?TCMJSSFE GOQ SIF 3FHQFF OG =I3 BS SIF ANJUFQRJSX OG ?S$ 1NEQFVR '.-+ 5TLL MFSBEBSB GOQ SIJR JSFM JR BUBJLBCLF JN >FRFBQDI0?S1NEQFVR/5TLL@FWS BS/ ISSP/%%QFRFBQDI#QFPORJSOQX$RS#BNEQFVR$BD$TK% =LFBRF TRF SIJR JEFNSJGJFQ SO DJSF OQ LJNK SO SIJR JSFM/ ISSP/%%IEL$IBNELF$NFS%'&&()%(,)* @IJR JSFM JR PQOSFDSFE CX OQJHJNBL DOPXQJHIS STUDIES IN SCOTTISH LATIN by Christopher A. Upton Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews October 1984 ýýFCA ýý£ s'i ý`q. q DRE N.6 - Parentibus meis conjugique meae. Iý Christopher Allan Upton hereby certify that this thesis which is approximately 100,000 words in length has been written by men that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. ý.. 'C) : %6 date .... .... signature of candidat 1404100 I was admitted as a research student under Ordinance No. 12 on I October 1977 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph. D. on I October 1978; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 1977 and 1980. $'ý.... date . .. 0&0.9 0. signature of candidat I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate to the degree of Ph. D. of the University of St Andrews and that he is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. ANN* date (l ...................ti signature of supervisor .... In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker. ABSTRACT This thesis examines certain aspects of Scottish Latin, particularly in the period 1580-1637. The first chapter chronicles the endeavours of John Scot of Scotstarvet to compile an anthology of Scottish Latin poetry, based on the unpublished letters to Scot in the NLS. Both the letters and con- temporary verse indicate that the project was under way twenty years before the Delitiae was printed and that John Leech was an important influence. Leech's letters to Scot highlight Scot's editorial reticence, confirmed by the alterations in Scotstarvet's own verse. The final product was more a reflection of the taste and ethos of the early 1620s, after which Scot apparently ceased to collect material. The second chapter documents the attempts to impose a national grammar upon the schools, akin to the Lily-Colet grammar in England. Attempts to provide a radical alternative to Despauter, firstly by a committee and later by Alexander Hume, were inhibited by the inherent conservatism of teaching establishments. The most successful of the new grammars, those by Wedderburn and the Dunbar Rudiments, remained as general introductions to Despauter. Evidence for the composition of Latin verse in schools and universities, both statutory and manuscript, is assessed in the third chapter. Active involvement in the practice by local authorities influenced the range and extent of verse being written after 1600. The poetry of David Wedderburn of Aberdeen, promoted by the town council, reflects that influence. r The importance of teaching methods upon a poet's future development is most clearly seen in the verse of David Hume, discussed in the fourth chapter. Hume continually re-works and re-evaluates the themes of his adolescent verse, measuring them against the achievements of James VI, whose birth he had earlier celebrated. The thesis concludes with a check-list of Scots whose Latin verse was printed before 1640. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 I. SCOTSTARVET AND THE NATIONAL ANTHOLOGY 10 2. SCOTLAND AND THE NATIONAL GRAYYAR 63 3. 'STUDIA POESOS ET ELOQUENCIAE' : THE TEACHING OF POETRY I. The Curricula 184. 2. Outside the Curriculum 204 3. b'anuscript Evidence 227 4. A HOLLOW VESSEL : THE POETRY OF DAVID HUME OF GODSCROFT 2GG Bibliography of Hume's Poetry 299 5. CONCLUSION 318 BIBLIOGRAPHY 327 APPENDIX : SCOTTISH LATIN POETRY TO 1640 33G Introduction This thesis, as originally conceived, would have provided a critical analysis of the Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum, or at least of certain of the texts there anthologized, for the two volumes comprise arguably the largest anthology of verse produced by the Renaissance in England or Scotland. The reasons for the abandonment of that project are three-fold. Firstly, the current uncertainties over literary critical techniques made me wary of committing myself to a methodology that might swirly be disenfranchised. Secondly, despite the efforts of the nineteenth-century literary and historical clubs, the student of the later Scottish Renaissance is not possessed of a body of recent critical work upon which to build. This is particularly true of the Latin material: we still require detailed analysis of the cultural and his- torical background to this phenomenon before we can subject the literature to effective criticism. Thirdly, it became apparent that the Delitiae itself was more expression of the taste of one or perhaps two men than it was representative of Scottish Latin in general. As is argued in the first chapter, the nature of that man's taste and the circumstances sur- rounding the compilation of the anthology need to be examined before we can begin to discuss its contents. Again it was felt that any attempt to provide a unified study. of Scottish Latin would risk at best unevenness, at worst superficiality. The subject is too large and our present knowledge too limited to attempt .such an overview. The bibliographical appendix to this thesis at least provides the names of those exponents upon which such an overview must eventually be based. In the course of compiling it I have, I believe, 6 examined all the verse printed by Scots in Scotland or England up to 1640 and much of that printed abroad. It is to be regretted that limitations of time and space have prevented me from giving full bibliographical details of all those poems. I hope to print such a guide at some future date. This thesis is then divided into four studies of certain aspects of Scottish Latin, which, I hope will give some account of the background to the subject. Three of these deal with verse, one with grammatology. However, the latter topic is far from unrelated to the other three, for the attempt to impose uniformity on the teaching of grammar reveals all the latent nationalism, political and ecclesiastical influences that are central themes in the Latin poetry. I notice too in retrospect that one of the poets anthologized in the Delitiae, David Hume of Godscroft, has himself endeavoured to impose uniformity upon this work. Godscroft was taught Latin, both prose and verse, by Andrew Symson, one of the first generation of reformers who attempted to write a grammar for Scotland. His experience, adumbrated perhaps in two of the chapters, is particularized in the last. This last chapter reveals, I hope, a type of critical analysis we may still perform without undue commitment to a school of criticism. The thesis begins with an examination of the compilation of the Delitiae, valuable evidence for which is contained in the Scotstarvet Papers in the National Library of Scotland. The 1637 text is the most eloquent statement of the concerns that occupied the minds of the Scottish Latin writers and the reasons behind its creation are of paramount importance in assessing that aspect of Scots culture. By comparing this unpublished correspondence with contemporary poems by Arthur Johnston and John Leech we can learn much of the chronology of the construction of the Delitiae and the reasons why it came to prominence in the 1620s. An appreciation of the nationalism implicit in Scotstarvet's work is strengthened by an awareness of the intrinsic regionalism of Renaissance Scottish culture. This is exemplified in the search for a national Latin grammal,; ' discussed in the second chapter. A' centralised system of education, advocated by The Books of Discipline, demanded a uniformity of teaching in the schools. However, the attempts to compose and to impose a national Latin grammar were thwarted by local differences and vested interests which resented or ignored central control. In what remained essentially a Latinate culture, educational practice and schoolroom techniques were recognised both by national and local authorities as of central importance. The third chapter examines the way poetry was taught and promoted at school and university and the effects of this upon some of the extant verse. However, verse composition was in essence a voluntary activity and writers frequently were induced to compose and publish verse through the patronage of communities. or individuals. George Dundas, whose correspondence and poetry is discussed at the end of the chapter, was actively encouraged to write verse by his father, though the chief influence upon his Latin is George Buchanan. The poetry of David Hume of Godscroft, discussed in the fourth chapter, is the best example of the effects of a training in verse composition upon a major Scottish Latin poet and represents a particularization of themes outlined in chapter three. Hume's adult verse may be seen as a continuous retractio of the poetry he wrote as an undergraduate at St. Andrews. By it he is able to measure his own progress as a poet and the changes in his relationship to and expectations of James VI, to whom he addressed his earliest verse.