PART TWO PATRONS AND PRINTERS CHAPTER VI PATRONAGE The Significance of Dedications The Elizabethan period was a watershed in the history of literary patronage. The printing press had provided a means for easier publication, distribution and availability of books; and therefore a great patron, the public, was accessible to all authors who managed to get Into print. In previous times there were too many discourage- ments and hardships to be borne so that writing attracted only the dedicated and clearly talented writer. In addition, generous patrons were not at all plentiful and most authors had to be engaged in other occupations to make a living. In the last half of the sixteenth century, a far-reaching change is easily discernible. By that time there were more writers than there were patrons, and a noticeable change occurred In the relationship between patron and protge'. In- stead of a writer quietly producing a piece of literature for his patron's circle of friends, as he would have done in medieval times, he was now merely one of a crowd of unattached suitors clamouring for the favours and benefits of the rich. Only a fortunate few were able to find a patron generous enough to enable them to live by their pen. 1 Most had to work at other vocations and/or cultivate the patronage of the public and the publishers. •The fact that only a small number of persons had more than a few works dedicated to them indicates the difficulty in finding a beneficent patron. An examination of 568 dedications of religious works reveals that only ten &catees received more than ten dedications and only twelve received between four and nine. There were 127 dedicatees who received only one dedication; an indication of the search by authors to find patrons. Expectation of material reward was only one of several reasons why authors dedicated their works to a particular person or persons. The desire for protection was often expressed, and it was not unusual for an author to ask his dedicatee to examine his work and then cast 1 . See P. Sheavyn, Patrons and Writers Under Elizabeth. and James I, The Library, New Series, 7, 1906. p. 305. Only Aschain, Daniel, and Jonson, it seems, were fortunate enough to obtain lifelong patronage. 176 it aside or commit it to the press.' Many times the dedication merely acknowledges the author's appreciation of the dedicatee's remarkable character and abilities or of his generosity. On one occasion, at least, an author dedicated a work to his opponent -- attacking him, of course. Laced with sarcasm, he wrote This my answere, albeit you bake not for it, I dedicate to your owne selfe, and not without just cause. I doe not look for any thankes at your handes. I know it is an ungratefull world. Yet if you will patronize this booke and vouchsafe to stay the vnbridled tongues of your disciples, that In their Bacchanall banquettes and disciplinary feastes degorge their malice, and speake their pleasures of whom they list, I wil accept it at your hands as a f au-our, and put it into the reckining of your good doings. 2 Another author, Richard Hakluyt, the famous geographer, deliberately used dedications as part of a publicity campaign for Sir Walter Raleigh's adventures. He wrote to Raleigh concerning the dedication In Peter Martyr: "if there be anythinge else that you wold have mentioned in the epistle dedicatorie, yow shal doe wel to let mee understand of yt betymes." In 1587 Peter Martyr appeared and its dedication, in large part, was devoted to advertisement of Raleigh and Virginia.3 But mentioned more often than any other reason for dedicating a religious writing to a prestigious dedicatee was to offer him the opportunity of advancing the Protestant faith. One author pointed out in a dedication to Dr. Babington, Bishop of Worcester, that Erasmus and Calvin dedicated their works to kings, princes, and nobles "to make them in loue with religion [and] to make them to fauour and further it, to the vtmost of theyr power." He, therefore, was following their example and trusted that the bishop would "further Gods Church and the ministrie by this means." 4 What Eleanor Rosen- berg found to be true of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was true also of the other important patrons of Protestant literature: "the dissemination of propaganda was the most powerful single purpose behind the production of patronized religious writing in the period."5 1See infra., p. 281. 2Dedicated to Thomas Cartwright by M. Sutcliffe, The Examination Of N. Thomas Cart-wrights late apologie....(1596), sigs. A2, B2. 3See E. Rosenberg, "Giacoso Castelvetro: Italian Publisher in Eliza- bethan London and His Patrons," reprinted from The Huntingdon Library Quarterljr, Vol. VI: No. 2: Feb. 1943 (BM. Press. l0635.e. 30.) Certaine Godlie and learned Ser-mons....(l601); see also Muf- fet, A Commenta-rie vpon ... Prouerbs ... (1592), sig. A3. 5E. Rosenberg, Leicester: Patron of Letters, p. 186. 177 Though times had changed with the Invention of the printing press and authors were no longer totally dependent upon a patron, most clung to the tradition of dedicating their work to wealthy and Important persons. When successful, the benefits of such a system could be considerable. Peter Martyr (Pietro Martire Vermigli), the Italian reformer, received twenty crowns from Bishop Cox for his commentary on Judges. Radoiph Gualter of Zurich did much better by using a multi-patron dedication. He dedicated his homilies on I Corinthians to Bishops Grindal, Sandys, Horn, Cox, Parkhurst and Pilklngton. From Grindal he received thirty crowns, from Pilklngton about twenty-five, from Cox about seventeen (25 gulden plus 5 crowns), and probably similar amounts from Sandys, Horn, and Parkhurst) On the other hand, remuneration from a dedicatee could be quite meagre, arid sometimes not forthcoming at all. Richard Robinson received only two shillings and sixpence from Mr. Syinon Roe, Master of the Company of Leathersellers, for dedicating to him Certeyn Select Historyes for Christian Recreation....(l576) and only two shillings from Bishop Watson of Chichester for his A Record of Ancyent Historyes....(1602). Even worse for poor Robinson, he received nothing on at least three occasions -- from Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.2 Robinson was not typical of the Elizabethan author of religious literature in that he was a hack writer trying to eke out a living by his pen. A talent for writing he clearly lacked; his works con- sisted of translations and compilations. There is little doubt that expectation of material reward was his main reason in making a dedication. There was no chance at all that Robinson could have followed Bucer's example of a few decades before when he told Archbishop Cranmer not to send him an "additional" thirty crowns for one of his dedications: "I have never yet received a farthing from any one for dedicating my works: so that if your reverence will treat me with such liberality, there will be some danger of my 1 Cox to Martyr, Aug. 5, 1562; Cox to Gualter, June 12, 1573, and Feb. 4, 1573; Pilkington to Gualtee, July 20, 1573; Grindal to Gualter, July 31, 1573. H. Robinson (ed.) The Zurich Letters (1842), pp. 112, 282, 284-6, 288, 293-4. Robinson, "Eupolemia Or The Good Warfare Agenst Ye Devill," B.M. Ms. Royal 18A. lxvi, fols. 5,7,8v, llv. See Studies In Philology (Oct. 1924), Vol. xxi, 629-48, for reproduction of Robinson's "Eupolemia." 178 growing covetous." Disclaiming any motivation for material gain, Bucer states that his purpose in dedicating his work to Cranmer was "to set forth your faith to the godly ... and thereby to encourage our hopes and also to procure some kind of access from us to you, and some communion In the Lord." 2 That statement goes a long way in ex- pressing the motivation behind most dedications by Elizabethan authors of serious religious literature. Not all dedications, however, reflect the acceptance of the dedicatee of the work or his sympathy with what is expressed in it. Most probably did. There were some that only came to the attention of the dedicatee after the printing. Robinson received a tongue- lashing from Sir Thomas Egerton for that very thing -- besides a flat refusal to remunerate him. 3 Nevertheless, dedications in all ages have been generally accepted as evidence of patronage and of sympathy with what has been written. 4 Therefore, while it would be dubious to deduct a dedicatee's religious preferences from two or three dedications, yet much can be said about his or her religious sympathies by the kind of authors and translators they attracted, especially if they had sufficient number of works dedicated to them. There is little doubt, for example, that the Earl of Leicester's identification with the extreme Protestant faction at Court was reflected in the type of literature dedicated to him. Of twenty- five dedications to Leicester eighteen were written by Puritans.5 There was no doubt in the minds of Puritans that sympathetic nobles like Leicester were elevated to their high social status by God to support His cause. In a dedication to George, Earl of Cumberland, Christopher Shutte stated plainly that what bounty he had received of the Earl ought to be the expression of "the zeale and loue of all Nobilitie, (whereof your Honoure is a most towarde Braunche) always with maine and might, to defend the cause of true Religion ... for which cause the Lorde hath stirred vp most noble men and godly 'M.