The Poetical Works of William Basse (1602-1653)/Elegy on Shakespeare

by William Basse

ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE.

Introductory.

This Elegy was first printed in the first edition of Donne's collected poems, 1633. It was omitted in the later edition of 1635, and appears with the subscription W. B. in the edition of Shakespeare's Poems of 1640. Malone wrote a long note on it in his edition of Shakespeare, 1790; and it has been the subject of careful investigation by Dr. Ingleby, and (later) Miss L. Toulmin Smith, in their edition of Shakespeare's Century of Praise (New Shaksp. Soc., 1879, pp. 136-139), a work to which I am of necessity largely indebted. They enumerate ten MS., and five early printed, versions. The earliest MSS. are—

(1) The MS. collection of poems in the handwriting of the poet William Browne, including many of his own, one of which is dated 1614. It is in the British Museum (Lansdowne 777, fo. 67b).

(2) The MS. temp. Charles I., from which it was printed in Fennell's Shakespeare Repository, 1853.

(3) The MS. in the Halliwell Collection, Chetham Library, Manchester.

(4) The MS. which Malone copied, then in the possession of Gustavus Brander, Esq. Malone says of it, "The MS. appears to have been written soon after the year 1621."

Two out of the fifteen versions—the printed one in Donne's Poems, 1633, and the Harleian MS. 1749—omit lines 13 and 14. Dr. Ingleby considers (1 don't agree with him) that these lines introduce an absurdity, and believes they were not contained in the first draft of the elegy, which was, he thinks, intended to be a sonnet, though they found a place in its final form. Apart from this, there are many slight variations in the different copies. Of the versions I have seen I agree with Miss Toulmin Smith in regarding the Lansdowne MS. as the most reliable. It agrees in almost every respect with the Brander copy as given by Malone; and if, as I believe, Basse and Browne were acquainted (cf. note, p. 101), the latter may have been supplied with his copy directly by the author. Basse's claim to the authorship rests on the fact that his name is attached to the lines, either as heading or signature, in the four MSS. I have enumerated, and in two others. That it should have been first printed amongst Donne's Poems without any acknowledgment was a literary accident which possibly arose from Donne's possessing a manuscript copy. As it was omitted in all editions of Donne subsequent to the first, perhaps Basse asserted his claim to the authorship.

In what precise year after 1616 they were written, is uncertain; but a downward limit is supplied by the evident allusion to them in Ben Jonson's verses prefixed to the First Folio, 1623:

"My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye
A little further, to make thee a roome," etc.

Malone says "From the words 'who died in April 1616' it may be inferred that these lines were written recently after Shakespeare's death, when the month and year in which he died were well known. At a more distant period the month would probably have been forgotten; and that was not an age of such curiosity as would have induced a poet to search the register at Stratford on such a subject. From the address to Chaucer and Spenser it should seem that when the verses were composed the writer thought it probable that a cenotaph would be created to Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey."

Chaucer died at his own house in Westminster, October 25, 1400. Spenser died in King Street, Westminster, January 16, 1599, and his funeral in the Abbey was at the charge of the Earl of Essex, though his monument on the south wall of the Poets' Corner was not created (by Anne, Countess of Dorset,) until 1620 (cf. the close of Song I. in the Second Book of Browne's Britannia's Pastorals). Beaumont died in March, 1616, and his grave is thought to have lain near the monument of Dryden, which stands to the north of Chaucer's along the same line; but the actual position of the graves is now uncertain. To construe Basse's Elegy literally requires us to suppose it written between the date of Shakespeare's death and that of his interment, or else at some time when the removal of the poet's dust to Westminster was in contemplation. It is more natural to suppose that the language is merely figurative, and bears no reference to any actual grave at all.

ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE,

FROM LANSDOWNE MS. TEMP. JAMES I.

ON MR. WM. SHAKESPEARE.

HE DYED IN APRILL 1616.

Renowned Spencer lye a thought more nye
To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumond lye
A little neerer Spenser,^[1] to make roome
For Shakespeare in your threefold, fowerfold Tombe.
To lodge all fowre in one bed^[2] make a shift
Vntill Doomesdaye, for hardly will a fift
Betwixt y^s day and y^t[3] by Fate^[4] be slayne,
For whom your Curtaines may^[5] be drawn againe.
If your precedency in death^[6] doth barre
A fourth place in your sacred sepulcher,^[7]
Vnder this carued marble^[8] of thine owne,
Sleepe, rare Tragœdian, Shakespeare, sleep alone;
Thy unmolested peace,^[9] vnshared Caue,
Possesse as Lord, not Tenant, of thy Graue,
That vnto us & others it may be^[10]
Honor hereafter to be layde by thee.
Wm. Basse.

 

ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE,

as given In Fennell's "Shakespeare Repository," 1853, p. 10, from a MS. temp. Charles I.

Mr. Basse

On Mr. William Shakespeare.

Renowned Spencer lie a thought more nigh
To learned Beaumont, and rare Beaumont ly
A little nearer Chaucer, to make rome
For Shakespeare in your threfold, fourfold tombe.
To lodge all fouer in one bed make a shifte
Vntil Domes day, for hardly will (a) fifte
Betwixt this day and that by fate bee slaine,
For whom the curtains shal bee drawne againe.
But if Precedencie in death doe barre
A fourth place in your sacred Sepulcher,
In this uncarved marble of thy owne,
Sleepe, brave Tragedian, Shakespeare, sleepe alone;
Thy unmolested rest, unshared cave,
Possesse as lord, not tenant, to thy grave,
That unto others it may counted bee
Honour hereafter to bee layed by thee.

 

1. As Dr. Ingleby points out, neither this nor any other of the versions agrees with the actual position of the tombs in the Abbey, where Chaucer's is between those of the others. Miss T. Smith is probably right in thinking that Basse had their chronological order of death in his mind, which gives more point to "precedency of death," l. 9, and agrees with the order in which they are mentioned in Jonson's lines quoted above.
2. Brander MS., "in one bed all foure." Ed. 1633, "To lie all four," etc.
3. Fennell's MS., "Betwixt this day and that."
4. Ed. 1633, "fates."
5. So Brander and Sloane MSS. Rawlinson MS., "will." Ed. 1633,"need."
6. So Brander, Rawlinson, and Sloane MSS. Fennell MS., "But if Precedencie in death." Ed. 1633, "But if precedency of death."
7. So B. R. and ed. 1633. S., "A fourth to have place in your sepulcher."
8. So B. R. Ashmole MS. (by mistake), "curved." Ed. 1633 (by mistake in copying Ashmole MS.), "curled." S., "sable." Fennell MS., "In this uncarved marble." This is the form preferred by Dr. Ingleby. Miss Smith makes the suggestion that Basse had the Stratford grave in his mind, and indeed the expression "uncarved marble" is very appropriate to the severe plainness of the slab that covers the poet's dust.
9. The asyndeton, not common in Basse's work, might be avoided by a slight change in the position of the comma, reading "peace'" (possessive) instead of "peace,".
10. The reading of the Fennell MS., "That unto others it may counted bee," etc., would be more modest, if the Abbey were in question; and, if the Stratford grave were in question, would naturally refer to other Stratford worthies, or to members of Shakespeare's own family, who were actually interred later on in adjoining graves along the first step of the chancel. In this and one or two other respects I prefer the Fennell MS., which Dr. Ingleby considers the finished form of the elegy; though I doubt if it can claim quite the same authority as that in Browne's handwriting. It is given in the text, in order to enable the reader to compare it with the latter.