Lydgate's Serpent of
Division, 1559,
Edited by John Stow
by
William Ringler
In Studies in Bibliography, VIII (1956), 215-217, I
suggested that the phrases "newly collected by I. S." in the 1568
Workes of maister Skelton, and "published by I. S." in the
1597
Certaine Worthye Manuscript Poems, indicated the editorship
of the antiquary John Stow. Professor Franklin B. Williams, Jr., thereupon
suggested to me privately that STC 17028 might also have been edited by
Stow. This is titled, "The serpent of diuision. Whych hathe euer bene yet
the chefest vndoer of any Region or Citie, set forth after the Auctours old
copy by I. S. Anno .M.D.L.IX. the .iiii. of May", concludes, "Thus endeth
this litle treatise entituled: the Serpent of diuision, made by Iohn Lydgate",
and has as colophon, "Imprinted at London by Owen Rogers dwelling in
Smithfielde by the Hospital in litle S. Bartelmewes".
The Serpent of Division, composed in 1422, is
Lydgate's
only known prose work, being attributed to him by name in the Calthorpe
MS and the Rogers print. It was edited in 1911 for the Oxford University
Press by H. N. MacCracken from the Fitzwilliam MS, with citation of a
few selected variants, too scanty to be of use in determining textual
relationships, from the Calthorpe, Pepys and Harvard MSS and the
Treverys and Rogers prints. A fifth MS, formerly Ashburnham Appendix
128 and now British Museum Additional 38179, which MacCracken
mentioned (p. 45) but had not seen, is an early eighteenth-century transcript
of the Pepys MS.
The fragment of the last four leaves of the earlier Treverys edition,
not listed in the STC but reprinted in full by Joseph Haslewood in
Censura Literaria, IX (1809), 369-373, has the colophon,
"Thus
endeth this lyttle treatyse entytuled the Damage and destruccyon in
Realmes. Newly and of late Enprynted by Peter Treuerys. Dwellynge at
London in Southwarke, at the sygne of the Wodowes". Treverys printed
from 1521 to 1535. So far as can be determined from MacCracken's
apparatus, Treverys appears to have followed a MS similar to the
Fitzwilliam; though either Treverys or his source slightly rephrased and
modernised Lydgate's text. Thus where MacCracken (p. 64 line 20)
indicates that the four substantive MSS read "Another
prodigie",
Treverys reads "An other maruelous sygne or prodygy"; the MSS (line 24)
"toforne", Treverys "before"; and the MSS (line 31) "smete", Treverys
"smyten".
MacCracken (p. 47) suggested that the 1559 Rogers edition "seems
to derive from the Treverys print, with possible reference to earlier MSS.
The title, Serpent of Division, is probably derived from the
title
of Treverys
which is lost." That the Treverys edition was used as copy by Rogers is
proved by their identity of wording and their agreement in error against the
MSS. For example the MSS (p. 64 line 26) read "Vincent in his historiall
meroure", where Treverys has "Vnyce
nt in his hystoryall
boke"
and Rogers, "Vnicent in hys hystoriall bookes". But I find no evidence to
support MacCracken's suggestion that Rogers's editor, I. S., made textual
changes by referring to earlier MSS. Complete collation of Haslewood's
reprint of the Treverys fragment with Rogers reveals only 14 verbal
variants, all errors, changes, or obvious corrections of a kind commonly
made independently by early printers. For example, Rogers reads "a
feminiue" for Treverys's "femynyne", "vnclose" for "enclose", and
"Pompey" for "Pomney".
A third sixteenth-century edition, STC 17029, has the title-page:
The Serpent of Deuision. Wherein is conteined the true History or
Mappe of Romes ouerthrowe, gouerned by Auarice, Enuye, and Pride, the
decaye of Empires be they neuer so sure.
Three thinges brought ruine vnto Rome,
that ragnde in Princes to their ouerthrowe:
Auarice, and Pride, with Enuies cruell doome,
that wrought their sorrow and their latest woe.
England take heede, such chaunce to thee may come:
Fœlix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum.
Whereunto is annexed the Tragedye of Gorboduc, sometime King of this
Land, and of his two Sonnes, Ferrex and Porrex. Set foorth as the same
was shewed before the Queenes most excellent Maiesty, by the Gentlemen
of the Inner Temple. At London Printed by Edward Allde for Iohn Perrin,
and are to be sold in Paules Church yard, at the signe of the Angell.
1590.
The text of this edition has been extensively rephrased and modernised.
MacCracken (p. 47) said that "Allde followed Rogers, in setting forth his
copy", though he did not cite any readings to substantiate his statement; but
he was mistaken, for collation reveals clearly that Allde followed the earlier
edition of Treverys. For example, in a verse quotation Treverys reads,
"Wha
n many a regyon he had brought full low", which was
too
long for the larger font of type used by Rogers, who in order to avoid
running over the line omitted a word and printed "when many a region he
had broght lov"; but Allde printed the earlier reading of Treverys, "When
many a Region he had brought full lowe". Since Allde took his text from
Treverys, he probably also reproduced his title-page, which substantiates
MacCracken's suggestion that the lost Treverys title-page was headed, "The
Serpent of Deuision", even though his colophon described the work as "the
Damage and destrucyon in Realmes".
It is significant that neither Treverys nor Allde name the author of the
treatise. Only Rogers's edition, "set forth after the Auctours old copy by
I. S.", contains the information that it was "made by Iohn Lydgate".
Actually I. S. did not use "the Auctours old copy" for his text, but merely
reproduced the Treverys print; so that his only editorial contribution was
the addition of the name of the author. John Stow had a life-long interest
in the works of Lydgate. He owned or made copies of many Lydgate
manuscripts, appended Lydgate's
Siege of Thebes to his 1561
edition of Chaucer, and contributed an extensive bibliography of Lydgate's
writings, in which "The serpent of diuision" is listed, to Speght's 1598
edition of Chaucer (sig. Zzz6
v).