University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2015-09-24 Praise, Patronage, and the Penshurst Poems: From Jonson (1616) to Southey (1799) Gray, Moorea Gray, M. (2015). Praise, Patronage, and the Penshurst Poems: From Jonson (1616) to Southey (1799) (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27395 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2486 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Praise, Patronage, and the Penshurst Poems: From Jonson (1616) to Southey (1799) by Mooréa Gray A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH CALGARY, ALBERTA SePtember, 2015 © Mooréa Gray 2015 Abstract The Penshurst grouP of Poems (1616-1799) is a collection of twelve Poems— beginning with Ben Jonson’s country-house Poem “To Penshurst”—which praises the ancient estate of Penshurst and the eminent Sidney family. Although praise is a constant theme, only the first five Poems Praise the resPective Patron and lord of Penshurst, while the remaining Poems Praise the exemplary Sidneys of bygone days, including Sir Philip and Dorothy (Sacharissa) Sidney. This shift in praise coincides with and is largely due to the gradual shift in literary economy: from the Patronage system to the literary marketPlace. Instead of obligatory laudatory works for aristocratic patrons, print culture offered writers new opportunities and literary authority: poets praised subjects they felt worthy and commercial readers found fashionable. The De L’Isle and Sidney Manuscripts—located in the Kent History and Library Centre—has provided this study with new and invaluable information regarding praise, patronage, and Penshurst. ii Acknowledgements Many scholars, institutions, friends, and family members—near and far—have helped in the creation and completion of “Praise, Patronage, and the Penshurst Poems: From Jonson (1616) to Southey (1799).” In addition to the toPic of my thesis, the best decision I made regarding my Project was to engage Dr. David Oakleaf (University of Calgary) as my suPervisor. Dr. Oakleaf has Provided endless amounts of encouragement, Patience, and knowledge about all things related to Restoration and eighteenth-century literature. Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for their interest in my Project and for awarding me with a 2012-13 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. I am extremely grateful to Lord De L’Isle for granting me access to the De L’Isle and Sidney Manuscripts at the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone, England, and for oPening his family’s home—the ancient estate of Penshurst— to the public for viewing and informative Programs. I owe thanks to the staff at the Kent History and Library Centre for their Patient assistance in retrieving—one by one—over seventy-five archival files. I must also acknowledge and thank the late Professor G.R. Hibbard and his 1956 PaPer “The Country House Poem of the Seventeenth Century” for introducing me to the fascinating, little genre of country-house poetry. Thank you to my dear friends who have stuck with and encouraged me over these Past four years. My greatest debt is to my family, who—through association—have also mastered the intricacies of praise, patronage, and Penshurst; and have endured a mother and wife whose mind often exists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. iii Dedication To my country house in Springbank, Alberta, where my family and happiness reside. iv Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ iii Dedication ................................................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................... v Epigraph .................................................................................................................................................................... vii A Note on the Texts of the Penshurst Poems ............................................................................................ viii ChaPter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 ChaPter 2: Praise and the Country-House Poem ......................................................................................... 9 ChaPter 3: Penshurst and the Sidney Family: A History of Statesmen, Warriors, Poets, and Beauties ...................................................................................................................................................................... 22 ChaPter 4: A Changing Economy: Praise, Patronage, and the Literary MarketPlace ............... 39 ChaPter 5: Ben Jonson’s “To Penshurst” (1616): Success and Discontentment in Early Seventeenth-Century Patronage and Print Cultures .............................................................................. 45 ChaPter 6: Edmund Waller’s Sacharissa Poems (1645) and Thomas D’Urfey’s “The Peroquette” (1719): Deviant Species of Patronage and Literary Praise ....................................... 57 ChaPter 7: Francis Coventry’s “Penshurst” (1750) and “Inscription For an Oak in Penshurst Park” (1761): Praise for Penshurst’s Past .................................................................................................. 74 ChaPter 8: Penshurst and the Romantic Sonneteers: Reflecting on Penshurst’s Past and the Poet’s Self—Charlotte Turner Smith, Edward Hamley, and Egerton Brydges ............................ 86 ChaPter 9: Robert Southey “For a Tablet at Penshurst” (1799): Concluding the Penshurst GrouP of Poems ................................................................................................................................................... 102 ApPendix A: The Lords and Ladies of Penshurst .................................................................................. 115 v ApPendix B: Penshurst Poems ...................................................................................................................... 117 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................................... 151 vi Epigraph The three utilities of Poetry: the praise of Virtue and Goodness, the memory of things remarkable, and to invigorate the Affections. Welsh Triad (qtd. in Southey, The Minor Poems 108) vii A Note on the Texts of the Penshurst Poems Due to the obscurity of the Penshurst Poems—with the exception of Ben Jonson’s “To Penshurst”—and because only excerpts of the Poems are cited within the body of this thesis, each Poem in its entirety is included in ApPendix B. The copy text of each Penshurst Poem is the earliest available printed edition and is documented in both the BibliograPhy and ApPendix B. The year that follows the title of each Poem refers to the Publication year and not the year in which the poem was written. In an attempt to maintain the historical integrity of these twelve Penshurst Poems, I have made very few changes to the texts: stanza breaks, spelling, caPitalization, and Punctuation have not been altered. The long “s” is modernized, line numbers are added, and indentations, which do not identify stanza breaks, are removed. viii ChaPter 1: Introduction Since the early seventeenth century, poets have been fascinated and inspired by the architecture, inhabitants, and history of Penshurst Place—a mediaeval country estate located in Kent, England and home to the eminent Sidney family for nearly 500 years. Although other country estates have received Poetic consideration, including Saxham Hall, Stowe, and Knole, none have been celebrated as often as Penshurst. Ben Jonson begins the tradition of “Penshurst Poems” with his famous country-house Poem, “To Penshurst,” which celebrates and praises the estate’s lord, Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, and his family. Numerous Poems about Penshurst were written and Published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; however, unlike Jonson’s “To Penshurst,” these subsequent Poems have received little—if any—scholarly attention. Individually, these Poems offer intimate details about the Sidney family and the society and attitudes centered on the country estate. Collectively, these Poems, which sPan nearly two hundred years of political, economic, and literary develoPments, present an intriguing case on the evolution of literary praise, patronage, and the significance of the country estate and its inhabitants. Other