3.18. Of sensable figures altering and affecting the mynde by alteration of sence or intendements in whole clauses or speaches.
As by the last remembred figures the sence of single wordes is altered, so
by these that follow is that of whole and entier speach: and first by the
Courtly figure Allegoria, which is when we speake one thing and
thinke another, and that our wordes and our meanings meete not. The vse of
this figure is so large, and has vertue of so great efficacie as it is supposed
no man can pleasantly vtter and perswade without it, but in effect is sure
neuer or very seldome to thriue and prosper in the world, that cannot
skilfully put in vre, in somuch as not onely euery common Courtier, but also
the grauest Counsellour, yea and the most noble and wisest Prince of them
all are many times enforced to vse it, by example (say they) of the great
Emperour who had it vsually in his mouth to say Qui nescit dissimulare
nescit regnare. Of this figure therefore which for his duplicitie we call
the figure of [false semblant or dissimulation] we will speake first
as of the chief ringleader and captaine of all other figures, either in the
Poeticall or oratorie science.
And ye shall know that we may dissemble, I meane speake otherwise then
we thinke, in earnest aswell as in sport, vnder couert and darke termes, and
in learned and apparant speaches, in short sentences, and by long ambage and
circumstance of wordes, and finally aswell when we lye as when we tell
truth. To be short euery speach wrested from his owne naturall
signification to another not altogether so naturall is a kinde of
dissimulation, because the wordes beare contrary countenaunce to th'intent.
But properly & in his principall vertue Allegoria is when we do
speake in sence translatiue and wrested from the owne signification,
neuerthelesse applied to another not altogether contrary, but hauing much
conueniencie with it as before we said of the metaphore: as for example if
we should call the common wealth, a shippe; the Prince a Pilot, the
Counsellours mariners, the stormes warres, the calme
and [
hauen] peace, this is spoken all in allegorie: and because such
inuersion of sence in one single worde is by the figure
Metaphore; of
whom we spake before, and this manner of inuersion extending to whole and
large speaches, it maketh the figure
allegorie to be called a long and
perpetuall Metaphore. A noble man after a whole yeares absence from his
ladie, sent to know how she did, and whether she remayned affected toward
him as she was when he left her.
Louely Lady I long full sore to heare,
If ye remaine the same, I left you the last yeare.
My louing Lorde I will well that ye wist,
The thred is spon, that neuer shall vntwist.
Meaning, that her loue was so stedfast and constant toward him as no time
or occasion could alter it. Virgill in his shepeherdly poemes called
Eglogues vsed as rusticall but fit allegorie for the purpose
thus:
Claudite iam riuos pueri sat prata biberunt.
Which I English thus:
Stop up your streams (my lads) the medes haue drunk ther fill.
As much to say, leaue of now, yee haue talked of the matter inough: for the
shepheards guise in many places is by opening certaine sluces to water their
pastures, so as when they are wet inough they shut them againe: this
application is full Allegoricke.
Ye haue another manner of Allegorie not full, but mixt, as he that wrate
thus:
The cloudes of care haue coured all my coste,
The stormes of strife, do threaten to appeare:
The waues of woe, wherein my ship is toste.
Haue broke the banks, where lay my life so deere.
Chippes of ill chance, are fallen amidst my choise,
To marre the minde that ment for to reioyce.
I call him not a full Allegorie, but mixt, bicause he discouers withall what
the cloud, storme, waue, and the rest are, which in a full allegorie
should not be discouered, but left at large to the readers iudgement and
coniecture.
We dissemble againe vnder couert and darke speaches, when
we speake by way of riddle (
Enigma) of which the sence can hardly be
picked out, but by the parties owne assoile, as he that said:
It is my mother well I wot,
And yet the daughter that I begot.
Meaning it by the ise which is made of frozen water, the same being molten
by the sunne or fire, makes water againe.
My mother had an old woman in her nurserie, who in the winter nights would
put vs forth many prety ridles, whereof this is one:
I haue a thing and rough it is
And in the midst a hole Iwis:
There came a yong man with his ginne,
And he put it a handfull in.
The good old Gentlewoman would tell vs that were children how it was
meant by a furd glooue. Some other naughtie body would peraduenture haue
construed it not halfe so mannerly. The riddle is pretie but that it holdes
too much of the Cachemphaton or foule speach and may be drawen to a
reprobate sence.
We dissemble after a sort, when we speake by common prouerbs, or, as we
vse to call them, old said sawes, as thus:
As the olde cocke crowes so doeth the chick:
A bad Cooke that cannot his owne fingers lick.
Meaning by the first, that the young learne by the olde, either to be good or
euill in their behauiours: by the second, that he is not to be counted a wise
man, who being in authority, and hauing the administration of many good and
great things, will not serue his own turne and his friends whilest he may,
& many such prouerbiall speeches: as Totnesse is turned French,
for a strange alteration: Skarborow warning, for a sodaine
commandement, allowing no respect or delay to bethinke a man of his
busines. Note neuerthelesse a diuersitie, for the two last examples be
prouerbs, the two first prouerbiall speeches.
Ye doe likewise dissemble, when ye speake in derision or mockerie, &
that may be many waies: as sometime in sport, sometime in earnest, and
priuily, and apertly, and pleasantly, and bitterly: but first by the figure
Ironia, which we call the drye mock: as he that said to a
bragging Ruffian, that threatened he would kill and slay, no doubt you are a
good man of your hands: or, as it was said by
a French king, to one that praide his reward, shewing how he had bene cut in
the face at a certain battell fought in his seruice: ye may see, quoth the
king, what it is to runne away & looke backwards. And as
Alphonso king of Naples, said to one that profered to take his ring
when he washt before dinner, this wil serue another well: meaning that the
Gentlemen had another time taken them, & because the king forgot to
aske for them, neuer restored his ring againe.
Or when we deride with a certaine seueritie, we may call it the bitter taunt
[Sarcasmus] as Charles the fift Emperour aunswered the Duke
of Arskot, beseeching him recompence of seruice done at the siege of Renty,
against Henry the French king, where the Duke was taken prisoner, and
afterward escaped clad like a Colliar. Thou wert taken, quoth the Emperour,
like a coward, and scapedst like a Colliar, wherefore get thee home and liue
vpon thine owne. Or as king Henry the eight said to one of his priuy
chamber, who sued for Sir Anthony Rowse, a knight of Norfolke that
his Maiestie would be good vnto him, for that he was an ill begger. Quoth
the king againe, if he be ashamed to beg, we are ashamed to geue. Or as
Charles the fift Emperour, hauing taken in battaile Iohn
Frederike Duke of Saxon, with the Lantgraue of Hessen and others: this
Duke being a man of monstrous bignesse and corpulence, after the Emperor
had seene the prisoners, said to those that were about him, I haue gone a
hunting many times, yet neuer tooke I such a swine before.
Or when we speake by manner of pleasantery, or mery skoffe, that is, by a
kinde of mock, whereof the sence is farrefet, & without any gall or
offence. The Greekes call it [Asteismus] we may terme it the ciuill
iest, because it is a mirth very full of ciuilitie, and such as the most ciuill
men doo vse. As Cato said to one that had geuen him a good knock on
the head with a long peece of timber he bare on his shoulder, and then bad
him beware: what (quoth Cato) wilt thou strike me againe? for ye
know, a warning should be geuen before a man haue receiued harme, and not
after. And as king Edward the sixt, being of young yeres, but olde in
wit, saide to one of his priuie chamber, who sued for a pardon for one that
was condemned for a robberie, telling the king that it was but a small
trifle, not past sixteene shillings matter which he had taken:
quoth the king againe, but I warrant you the fellow was sorrie it had not
bene sixteen pound: meaning how the malefactors intent was as euill in that
trifle, as if it had bene a greater summe of money. In these examples if ye
marke there is no griefe or offence ministred as in those other before, and
yet are very wittie, and spoken in plaine derision.
The Emperor Charles the fift was a man of very few words, and
delighted little in talke. His brother king Ferdinando being a man of
more pleasant discourse, sitting at the table with him, said, I pray your
Maiestie be not so silent, but let vs talke a little. What neede that brother,
quoth the Emperor, since you haue words enough for vs both.
Or when we giue a mocke with a scornefull countenance as in some smiling
sort looking aside or by drawing the lippe awry, or shrinking vp the nose; the
Greeks called it Micterismus, we may terme it a fleering frumpe, as
he that said to one whose wordes he beleued not, not doubt Sir of that. This
fleering frumpe is one of the Courtly graces of hicke the scorner.
Or when we druide by plaine and flat contradiction, as he that saw a dwarfe
go in the streete said to his companion that walked with him: See yonder
gyant: and to a Negro or woman blackemoore, in good sooth ye are a faire
one, we may call it the broad floure.
Or when ye giue a mocke vnder smooth and lowly wordes as he that hard one
call him all to nought and say, thou are sure to be hanged ere thou dye: quoth
th'other very soberly Sir I know your maistership speakes but in iest, the
Greeks call it (charientismus) we may call it the priuy nippe, or a
myld and appeasing mockery: all these be souldiers to the figure
allegoria and fight vnder the banner of dissimulation.
Neuerthelesse ye haue yet two or three other figures that smatch a spice of
the same false semblant, but in another sort and maner of phrase,
whereof one is when we speake in the superlatiue and beyond the limites of
credit, that is by the figure which the Greeks call Hiperbole, the
Latines Dementiens or the lying figure. I for his immoderate excesse
cal him the ouer reacher right with his originall or [lowd lyer] &
me thinks not amisse: now when I speake that
which neither I my selfe thinke to be true, nor would haue any other body
beleeue, it must needs be a great dissimulation, because I meane nothing
lesse then that I speake, and this maner of speach is vsed, when either we
would greatly aduance or greatly abase the reputation of any thing or
person, and must be vsed very discreetly, or els it will seeme odious, for
although a prayse or other report may be allowed beyond credit, it may not
be beyond all measure, specially in the proseman, as he that was speaker in
a Parliament of king
Henry the eights raigne, in his Oration which ye
know is or ordinary to be made before the Prince at the first assembly, of
both houses, ould seeme to prayse his Maiestie thus. What should I go about
to recite your Maiesties innumerable vertues, euen as much as if I tooke
vpon me to number the starres of the skie, or to tell the sands of the sea.
This
Hyperbole was both
ultra fidem and also
ultra
modum, and therefore of a graue and wise Counsellour made the speaker
to be accompted a grosse flattering foole: peraduenture if he had vsed it
thus, it had bene better and neuerthelesse a lye too, but a more moderate lye
and no lesse to the purpose of the kings commendation, thus. I am not able
with any wordes sufficiently to expresse your Maiesties regall vertues, your
kingly merites also towardes vs your people and realme are so exceeding
many, as your prayses therefore are infinite, your honour and renowne
euerlasting: And yet all this if we shall measure it by the rule of exact
veritie, is but an vntruth, yet a more cleanely commendation then was
maister Speakers. Neuerthelesse as I said before if we fall a praysing,
specially of our mistresses vertue, bewtie, or other good parts, we be
allowed now and then to ouer-reach a little by way of comparison as he that
said thus in prayse of his Lady.
Giue place ye louers here before,
That spent your boasts and braggs in vaine:
My Ladies bewtie passeth more,
The best of your I dare well fayne:
Then doth the sunne the candle light,
Or brightest day the darkest night.
And as a certaine noble Gentlewoman lamenting at the vnkindnesse of her
louer said very pretily in this figure.
But since it will no better be,
My teares shall neuer blin:
To moist the earth in such degree,
That I may drowne therein:
That by my death all men may say,
Lo weemen are as true as they.
Then haue ye the figure Periphrasis, holding somewhat of the
dissembler, by reason of a secret intent not appearing by the words, as when
we go about the bush, and will not in one or a few words expresse that thing
which we desire to haue knowen, but do chose rather to do it by many words,
as we our selues wrote of our Soueraigne Lady thus:
Whom Princes serue, and Realmes obay,
And greatest of Bryton kings begot:
She came abroade euen yesterday,
When such as saw her, knew her not.
And the rest that followeth, meaning her Maiesties person, which we would
seeme to hide leauing her name vnspoken, to the intent the reader should
gesse at it: neuerthelesse vpon the matter did so manifestly disclose it, as
any simple iudgement might easily perceiue by whom it was ment, that is by
Lady Elizabeth, Queene of England and daughter to king Henry the
eight, and therein resteth the dissimulation. It is one of the gallantest
figures among the poetes so it be vsed discretely and in his right kinde, but
many of these makers that be not halfe their craftes maisters, do very often
abuse it and also many waies. For if the thing or person they go about to
describe by circumstance, be by the writers improuidence otherwise
bewrayed, it looseth the grace of a figure, as he that said:
The tenth of March when Aries receiued,
Dan Phoebus raies into his horned hed.
Intending to describe the spring of the yeare, which euery man knoweth of
himselfe, hearing the day of March named: the verses be very good the
figure nought worth, if it were meant in Periphrase for the matter, that is
the season of the yeare which should haue bene couertly disclosed by
ambage, was by and by blabbed out by naming the day of the moneth, &
so the purpose of the figure disapointed, peraduenture it had bin better to
haue said thus:
The month and daie when Aries receiud,
Dan Phoebus raies into his horned head.
For now there remaineth for the Reader somewhat to studie and gesse vpon,
and yet the spring time to the learned iudgement sufficiently expressed.
The Noble Earle of Surrey wrote thus:
In winters iust returne, when Boreas gan his raigne,
And euery tree unclothed him fast as nature taught them plaine.
I would faine learne of some good maker, whether the Earle spake this in
figure of Periphrase or not, for mine owne opinion I thinke that if he
ment to describe the winter season, he would not haue disclosed it so
broadly, as to say winter at the first worde, for that had bene against the
rules of arte, and without any good iudgement: which in so learned &
excellent a personage we ought not to suspect, we say therefore that for
winter it is no Periphrase but language at large: we say for all that,
hauing regard to the second verse that followeth it is a Periphrase,
seeming that thereby he intended to shew in what part of the winter his
loues gaue him anguish, that is in the time which we call the fall of the
leafe, which begins in the moneth of October, and stands very well with the
figure to be vttered in that sort notwithstanding winter be named before,
for winter hath many parts: such namely as do not shake of the leafe, nor
vncloth the trees as here is mencioned: thus may ye iudge as I do, that this
noble Erle wrate excellently well and to purpose. Moreouer, when a maker
will seeme to vse circumlocution to set forth any thing pleasantly and
figuratiuely, yet no lesse plaine to a ripe reader, then if it were named
expresly, and when all is done, no man can perceyue it to be the thing
intended. This is a soule ouersight in any writer as did a good fellow, who
weening to shew his cunning, would needs by periphrase expresse the realme
of Scotland in no lesse then eight verses, and when he had said all, no man
could imagine it to be spoken of Scotland: and did besides many other
faultes in his verse, so deadly belie the matter by his description as it
would pitie any good maker to heare it.
Now for the shutting vp of this Chapter, will I remember you farther of that
manner of speech which the Greekes call Synedcoche, and we the
figure of [quick conceite] who for the reasons before
alledged, may be put vnder the speeches
allegoricall, because of
the darkenes and duplicitie of his sence: as when one would tell me how the
French king was ouerthrowen at Saint Quintans, I am enforced to think that
it was not the king himselfe in person, but the Constable of Fraunce with
the French kings power. Or if one would say, the towne of Andwerpe were
famished, it is not so to be taken, but of the people of the town of Andwerp,
and this conceit being drawen aside, and (as it were) from one thing to
another, it encombers the minde with a certaine imagination what it may be
that is meant, and not expressed: as he that said to a young gentlewoman,
who was in her chamber making her selfe vnready. Mistresse will ye geue
me leaue to vnlace your peticote, meaning (perchance) the other thing that
might follow such vnlasing. In the olde time, whosoeuer was allowed to
vndoe his Ladies girdle, he might lie with her all night: wherfore the taking
of a womans maydenhead away, was said to vndoo her girdle.
Virgineam
dissoluit zonam, saith the Poet, conceiuing out of a thing precedent, a
thing subsequent. This may suffice for the knowledge of this figure
[
quicke conceit].