To EDMOND MALONE 4 FEBRUARY 1782 of All the Forgeries, The

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

To EDMOND MALONE 4 FEBRUARY 1782 of All the Forgeries, The To EDMOND MALONE 4 FEBRUARY 1782 3 Of all the forgeries, the most preposterous to be sure is that of Canning's cabinet of curiosities;10 the poor lad,11 before he came to London, might be ignorant enough to write it—but ignorance is not a term coarse enough for any one past fifteen who can swallow so gross and clumsy an imposture. A picture by Vandyck in that collec­ tion, as you say, Sir, could not augment the absurdity, it is already so complete—nor is any man who credits it, fit to be reasoned with. It would be flattering him with seeming to take him for a rational being. I observed the other day in the first volume of the Biographia Dramatica that Mr Thomas Broughton,12 who wrote in the Bio- gr[aphia] Britann[ica]^ was possessed of the cure of St Mary Ratcliffe in 1744, and was buried in that church in 1774.14 Is it credible that so literary a man should have never heard of the famous MSS? He wrote a playJs too, and consequently was something [of] a poet—and yet did he never take the least notice of such treasures! Is it possible that he never should have heard of them, though they passed into so many hands? Mr Broughton lived between the period when Vertue copied the painter's bill,16 and that in which Chatterton first saw this mine of poetry. I beg your pardon, Sir, for troubling you with so long a letter. I intended only to thank you—but the pleasure your book gave me1?—in which I fear your kindness to me had a little share too— containing Rowley's 'emendals' (emenda- 14. See D. E. Baker, Biographia Dra- tions). The Discorse was entirely Chat- matica, rev. and enl. Isaac Reed, 1782, terton's invention, there being no such i. 47. 'diary' account by Turgot (E. H. W. Meyer- 15. His musical drama Hercules, 1745, stein, A Life of Thomas Chatterton, 1930, was the libretto for Handel's oratorio pp. 109, 547). (P. H. Lang, George Frideric Handel, 10. Described in the Yellow Roll (dated New York, 1966, pp. 421-2). '1451'), a parchment fabricated by Chatter- 16. HW mistakenly believed that a pas­ ton. Malone, in his Cursory Observations sage transcribed by George Vertue 'from a on the Poems Attributed to Thomas Row- book belonging to the church of St Mary ley, 1782, p. 25, had written: 'Cannynge Ratcliffe at Bristol' was an early painter's too must be furnished with a cabinet of bill, and he printed the passage in Anec- coins and other rarities; and there being dotes of Painting (Works iii. 46). Chatter- a private printing press at Strawberry ton forged an imitation of the passage; Hill (the only one perhaps in England), both were later printed together in Chat- the Bristol mayor must likewise have one.' terton's Works, 1803, iii. 303-6. But there 11. Chatterton. is no evidence that Vertue ever visited 12. (1704-74), vicar of Bedminster and Bristol. See CHATTERTON 133 and nn. 107, of St Mary Redcliff 1744-72; prebendary 109. of Salisbury 1744-74; miscellaneous writer 17. George Steevens, the Shakespeare and divine. scholar, wrote Malone 18 Jan. 1782 that 13. Broughton contributed the articles his Cursory Observations ridiculing Bryant signed 'T' in the first edition of the Bio- and Milles 'afforded me a hearty laugh. graphia Britannica, 7 vols, 1747-66. I had the honour of a conversation this .
Recommended publications
  • John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and the Promotion of a National Aesthetic
    JOHN BOYDELL'S SHAKESPEARE GALLERY AND THE PROMOTION OF A NATIONAL AESTHETIC ROSEMARIE DIAS TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I PHD THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART SEPTEMBER 2003 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Volume I Abstract 3 List of Illustrations 4 Introduction 11 I Creating a Space for English Art 30 II Reynolds, Boydell and Northcote: Negotiating the Ideology 85 of the English Aesthetic. III "The Shakespeare of the Canvas": Fuseli and the 154 Construction of English Artistic Genius IV "Another Hogarth is Known": Robert Smirke's Seven Ages 203 of Man and the Construction of the English School V Pall Mall and Beyond: The Reception and Consumption of 244 Boydell's Shakespeare after 1793 290 Conclusion Bibliography 293 Volume II Illustrations 3 ABSTRACT This thesis offers a new analysis of John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, an exhibition venture operating in London between 1789 and 1805. It explores a number of trajectories embarked upon by Boydell and his artists in their collective attempt to promote an English aesthetic. It broadly argues that the Shakespeare Gallery offered an antidote to a variety of perceived problems which had emerged at the Royal Academy over the previous twenty years, defining itself against Academic theory and practice. Identifying and examining the cluster of spatial, ideological and aesthetic concerns which characterised the Shakespeare Gallery, my research suggests that the Gallery promoted a vision for a national art form which corresponded to contemporary senses of English cultural and political identity, and takes issue with current art-historical perceptions about the 'failure' of Boydell's scheme. The introduction maps out some of the existing scholarship in this area and exposes the gaps which art historians have previously left in our understanding of the Shakespeare Gallery.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Literary Records
    Shakespearean Biografiction: How modern biographers rely on context, conjecture and inference to construct a life of the Bard A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Arts and Humanities Brunel University By Kevin Gilvary November 2014 ii Candidate Kevin Gilvary (1955- ) B.A. (Hons), Classics, Southampton, 1976 M.A., Classics, Southampton, 1978 M.A. (Ed), Language in Education, Southampton 1996 P.G.C.E., Institute of Education, London, 1980 Doctoral Study 2007-2014 (part-time), Brunel University Supervisor 1 Professor William Leahy, School of Arts, Brunel University Supervisor 2 Dr. Sean Gaston, School of Arts, Brunel University Examiner 1 Professor Tom Betteridge, School of Arts, Brunel University Examiner 2 Professor Tom Healey, University of Sussex iii Abstract Modern biographies of William Shakespeare abound: new studies appear almost every year, each claiming new research and new insights, while affirming that there are enough records for a documentary life. In this thesis, I argue that no biography of Shakespeare is possible due to insufficient material, that most of what is written about Shakespeare cannot be verified from primary sources, and that Shakespearean biography did not attain scholarly or academic respectability until Samuel Schoenbaum’s Documentary Life (1975). The thesis therefore is concerned with demythologising Shakespeare by exposing numerous “biogra-fictions.” I begin by reviewing the history and practice of biography as a narrative account of a person’s life based on primary sources. Next I assess the very limited biographical material for Shakespeare identifying the gaps, e.g. there is no record that he spent any of his childhood in Stratford or ever attended school.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Spirit and Public Order. Edmund Burke and the Role of the Critic in Mid- Eighteenth-Century Britain
    Public Spirit and Public Order. Edmund Burke and the Role of the Critic in Mid- Eighteenth-Century Britain Ian Crowe A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2008 Approved by: Advisor: Professor Jay M. Smith Reader: Professor Christopher Browning Reader: Professor Lloyd Kramer Reader: Professor Donald Reid Reader: Professor Thomas Reinert © 2008 Ian Crowe ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Ian Crowe: Public Spirit and Public Order. Edmund Burke and the Role of the Critic in Mid- Eighteenth-Century Britain (Under the direction of Dr. Jay M. Smith) This study centers upon Edmund Burke’s early literary career, and his move from Dublin to London in 1750, to explore the interplay of academic, professional, and commercial networks that comprised the mid-eighteenth-century Republic of Letters in Britain and Ireland. Burke’s experiences before his entry into politics, particularly his relationship with the bookseller Robert Dodsley, may be used both to illustrate the political and intellectual debates that infused those networks, and to deepen our understanding of the publisher-author relationship at that time. It is argued here that it was Burke’s involvement with Irish Patriot debates in his Dublin days, rather than any assumed Catholic or colonial resentment, that shaped his early publications, not least since Dodsley himself was engaged in a revision of Patriot literary discourse at his “Tully’s Head” business in the light of the legacy of his own patron Alexander Pope.
    [Show full text]
  • DVSNL Nov12highqual Corrected
    November 2012 What Malone Really Said De Vere Society Newsletter :KDW0DORQHUHDOO\VDLGDERXW6KDNHVSHDUH E\.HYLQ*LOYDU\ Edmond Malone (1741-–1812) is the scholar most cal account of Shakespeare’s works with some bio- credited with establishing the biography of ‘William graphical comments. Rowe treats biographical data Shakespeare. in about 1000 words, just under one-eighth of his Samuel Schoenbaum refers to him as “per- introductory essay, concerned almost entirely about haps the greatest of all Shakespearean scholars” his life in Stratford (up-bringing and retirement), and (1970, ix). Wells and Taylor describe him as “one of he offers few biographical data about Shakespeare in the greatest intellectuals of the English Enlighten- London despite some investigation on his own part. PHQWWKHPRVWWDOHQWHGDQGLQÁXHQWLDORIDOOVFKRODUV Later, Malone would dismiss Rowe’s Account as to have dedicated his energies to the explication of containing only ten biographical facts, of which eight Shakespeare’s life and work.” (1987, 55). His re- were false. cent biographer, Peter Martin, calls him a “scholar- Rowe’s Account was abridged and re-or- collector, editor, biographer, and critic”, referring to ganised by Alexander Pope in 1725, but without ac- his “heroic and obsessive” approach to his work and knowledgement. This Rowe-Pope version was fre- his “enormous contribution to Shakespeare studies” quently reprinted in the eighteenth century, appearing (1995, xv-–xvii). as a separate pamphlet in 1740 as a preface to the However, a careful reading of Malone’s collected works edited by Thomas Hanmer (1743), works reveals his own considerable scepticism re- William Warburton (1747), Samuel Johnson (1765) garding previously published assertions concern- and George Steevens (1773, 1778, 1785, 1793, 1803, ing Shakespeare’s life and writings.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century Edited by Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor Excerpt More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89860-7 - Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century Edited by Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor Excerpt More information Introduction Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor i In 1766, Henry Dawkins commissioned the fashionable painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani to decorate the music room at his home, Standlynch Park (now Trafalgar Park) in Wiltshire. Cipriani’s interior design depicted the Arts (music, painting and literature), Venus and Shakespeare. Shakespeare Striding through a Storm-Ridden Landscape (Figure 1) is a significant yet little-known example of the subject of this volume: eighteenth-century Shakespeare, by which we mean the distinct phenomenon of how Shakespeare was available to eighteenth-century society, what he meant to the period, and what opportunities he offered the eighteenth century for self-expression. Quill in hand, momentarily pausing in the midst of a creative frenzy, Cipriani’s Shakespeare is directly inspired by nature; and yet, with his dominating pose, he also controls and mediates nature for the viewer. The apparently natural, tempestuous landscape has significant artificial elements too, including a temple and what appears to be a tomb. This Shakespeare may be in the midst of nature, but it is nature as experienced by the eighteenth-century landed class, which had a penchant for carefully crafted yet seemingly ‘gardenless’ gardens, such as those designed by the landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. The striking pose and lush backdrop of the painting are reminiscent of the period’s famous theatrical portraits, such as Benjamin Wilson’s depic- tion of David Garrick as King Lear in the storm (Figure 4,p.179)or William Hogarth’s rendering of the same actor as Richard III (Figure 10, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Life of Edmond Malone Editor of Shakspeare
    n 3tl;aca. ^tm fork FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library PR 2972.M3P95 Life of Edmond Malone, editor of Shal(spea 3 1924 013 156 181 The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 31 561 81 .CO / ; u ^^ ^i n/ l//hgo /^-o-m ,J:y'^ n^t LIFE OF EDMOISTD MALONE, EDITOR OF SHAKSPEARE. WITH SELECTIONS EEOM HIS MANUSCEIPT ANECDOTES. BY SIK JAMES PKIOK, M.E.I.A., F.S.A., &c. ^UTHOB 6p "the LIPE OP EDJIUND BUEKE," WITH A PORTRAIT. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER & CO., 65, CORNHILL. M.DCCC.LX. j. ^ ,;) j; [^ | I [TVifi riyhl of Translation h reserved.^ TO THE ElftHT HON. THE EARL OP DERBY, K.G., SiC S(Q. &c. My Lobdj Amid the unavoidable contentions of political life, it is to be hoped that an hour may be occasionally spared to notice the pursuits of those who are less excitingly, though not unusefuUy, employed—I mean the scholar and literary inquirer, such as the subject of the following sketch. These hom's indeed cannot be many. Through life, the position of an English Statesman is peculiar. He must be, if he hopes to retain his standing in the country, pre-eminently a man of labour. Even removal from power ensures little remission from work. In office, he must originate the policy that distinguishes his country.
    [Show full text]
  • Collecting Shakespeare Aaron T
    1 2019 Seminar Abstracts: Collecting Shakespeare Aaron T. Pratt, University of Texas, Austin Faith Acker, North Virginia Community College Collections and Critics: Exclusions and Supplements in Early Eighteenth-Century Collections of Shakespeare’s Works and Poems For the majority of the eighteenth century, Shakespeare’s plays—usually titled ‘Works’—were printed as complete sets; the sonnets and narrative poems often followed in what Patrick Cheney calls ‘response volumes,’ which were often advertised as volumes that would match similarly- sized editions of the plays and complete an owner’s collection of Shakespeare’s works. In general, the responsive qualities of these volumes have given scholars a sense that the volumes themselves were supplemental: existing to enrich or complete extant collections of Shakespeare’s works. In this paper, however, I intend to show that while the producers of these poetical volumes may have intended them as supplements, eighteenth-century book-buyers collected Shakespeare’s plays and poems in every conceivable construction. Some owned the plays but ignored the supplemental poems, others carefully assembled matching sets of plays and poems together, and a few ‘rogue readers’ seem to have ignored the plays altogether and collected only Shakespeare’s poems. In some instances, the choice of poems without plays is clearly a deliberate and moral one, as evinced by the absence of plays within an individual’s complete library. In other instances, library catalogues reveal that an owner of Shakespeare’s poems but not his plays nevertheless owned plays by several other authors, and thus was unlikely to have been morally opposed to works of the stage.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare by Sophie Chiari
    Shakespeare by Sophie Chiari Performances of William Shakespeare's plays on the European continent date back to his lifetime. Since his death in 1616, the playwright has never stopped dominating European literature. His Complete Works have gone through an incredible number of editions from the 18th century onwards. During the second half of the 18th century, he was translated into French and German. Yet in Southern Europe it was not until the 19th century that spectators became genuinely acquainted with his plays. In the 20th century, artists started to engage with the cultural traditions of Shakespeare in a variety of ways. By the 1980s, the playwright had not only become enrolled in the ranks of postcolonial critique, but he was also part and parcel of a European theatrical avant-garde. In today's Europe, newly created festivals as well as Shakespearean adaptations on screen continue to provide challenging interpretations of his plays. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Shakespeare's Immediate Afterlife 2. Shakespeare Lost in 18th-Century Translations 3. Romanticism and Bardolatry in 19th-Century Europe 4. 20th- and 21st-Century Shakespeare: From Politics to Multiculturalism 5. Appendix 1. Translations of Single Works by William Shakespeare 2. Sources and Complete Works Editions 3. Literature 4. Notes Indices Citation Shakespeare's Immediate Afterlife The English author William Shakespeare (1564–1616) (➔ Media Link #ab) wrote poetry (sonnets and narrative poems) as well as 38 plays – 39 if one includes Double Falsehood, that is, Lewis Theobald's (1688–1744) (➔ Media Link #ac) 1727 reconstruction of a lost play, which was based on Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's (1547–1616) (➔ Media Link #ad) Don Quixote and originally entitled Cardenio.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalogue 2018-19
    Adopt a Book Catalogue 2018-19 Adopt a Book Catalogue 2018 Contents No. Author Title Year Adoption price Page 1. John Shute Barrington Theological Works 1828 £105 1 2. Census of England and Wales, 1911: County of Durham 1914 £120 3. Denis Diderot Encyclopediè 1751 – 1772 £120 / £240 2 4. Paul Ludwig Sachs Monocerologia, seu de genuinis unicornibus 1676 £155 5. Torquato Tasso Gierusalemme liberata, Poema Heroico 1595 £160 3 6. Book of Common Prayer … together with the Psalter or Psalms of David 1848 £165 7. Edward Wells An Historical Geography of the Old Testament 1711 £170 4 8. Charles Cotton Scarronides or Virgil Travestie: A Mock Poem 1807 £170 9. Joannes Asser Annales rerum gestarum Aelfredi Magni 1722 £170 5 10. Thomas Bewick A General History of Quadrupeds 1800 £170 11. Cornelius Tacitus and The modern courtier, or the morals of Tacitus upon flattery 1687 £175 6 Amelot de la Houssaye 12. B.R. Esq. [Robert Hegge] The Legend of St. Cuthbert with the Antiquities of the Church of Durham 1663 £185 13. Book of Common Prayer for the Scottish church 1637 £185 7 14. William Sancroft Modern Policies Taken from Machiavel, Borgia, and other choice authors, by an Eye-Witnesse 1654 £185 15. William Toldervy Select Epitaphs 1755 £185 8 16. William Greenwood Bouleuterion, or A practical demonstration of county judicatures 1659 £185 17. Pomponius Mela De situ orbis 1719 £190 9 18. Pieter Schrijver Respublica Romana [Elsevier Republics] 17th century £190 10 19. Denis Petau Rationarium Temporum 1652 £190 20. Dante Alighieri La Divina Commedia [The Divine Comedy] 1757 £190 11 21.
    [Show full text]
  • Goldsmith Interviews and Recollections GOLDSMITH Interviews and Recollections
    Goldsmith Interviews and Recollections GOLDSMITH Interviews and Recollections Edited by E. H. MIKHAIL University of Lethbridge Alberta, Canada lSOth YEAR M St. Martin's Press Selection and editorial matter© E. H. Mikhail1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993 978-0-333-45614-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Great Britain 1993 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world This book is published in Macmillan's lnteroiews and Recollections series A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-23095-2 ISBN 978-1-349-23093-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-23093-8 First published in the United States of America 1993 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-10193-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldsmith : interviews and recollections I edited by E. H. Mikhail. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare at Vassar
    SHAKESPEARE VASSAR AT SHAKESPEARE AT VASSAR Shakespeare at Vassar An exhibition commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, and celebrating his contributions to our lives and letters. The Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library August 29 —December 16, 2016 The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center September 22—December 23 , 2016 1 Ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. Henry VI, Part 2, 4.7.73-74 2016 VASSAR COLLEGE LIBRARY 2 AT VAS SAR 2016 VASSAR COLLEGE LIBRARY 3 Preface and essays copyright of the authors © Front cover: Photograph from The Winter’s Tale, October 1958 CONTENTS 7 PREFACE andrew ashton SSAYSE 9 Teaching Shakespeare At Vassar zoltan markus 21 Shakespeare in Special Collections ronald patkus 31 “That which is finest and best”: Performing Shakespeare at Vassar denise walen 45 Shakespeare in Drawings and Paintings from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center elizabeth nogrady 59 The Vassar Shakespeare Garden leslie dunn 71 EXHIBITION CHECKLIST 5 PRE FACE by ANDREW ASHTON Director of Libraries It is a pleasure to present the exhibition “Shakespeare at Vassar”, com- memorating the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. This exhibition reveals how thoroughly Shakespeare’s work has infused Vassar’s academic and extra-curricular endeavors over the years. His dramatic works, poetry, and overall cultural significance have had a resounding and lasting effect on teaching, the arts, and life at the College. It is particularly gratifying to have this exhibition presented at Thompson Library, where so many readers have enjoyed meaningful and inspiring encounters with Shakespeare.
    [Show full text]
  • Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave
    “The biographers must re-write their Lives of Shakespeare.” — An Eighteenth Century Critic Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave By E. M. Dutton ―The biographers must re-write their Lives of Shakespeare.‖ —A Critic Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave By E. M. Dutton 1 The Idol By Dr. Holmes An idol? Man was born to worship such. An idol is the image of his thoughts; Sometimes he carves it out of gleaming stone, And sometimes moulds it out of glittering gold. Or rounds it in a mighty frescoed dome, Or lifts it heavenward in a lofty spire. Or shapes it in a cunning frame of words. Or pays his priest to make it, day by day. For sense must have its god as well as soul. The time is racked with birth pangs. Every hour Brings forth some gasping truth; and truth new born Looks a misshapen and untimely growth; The terror of the household and its shame, A monster coiling in its nurse‘s lap That some would strangle, some would only starve; But still it breathes, and passed from hand to hand. And suckled at a hundred half-clad breasts. Comes slowly to its stature and its form; Welcomed by all that curst its hour of birth, And folded in the same encircling arms That cast it like a serpent from their hold. ―Be sure and smash the idol, Shakespere, if you can, with the powerful weapons of fact, before you attempt to set up any poetical divinity in his place.‖ —John H.
    [Show full text]