The Ship of Fools, Volume 1 2

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In his prologue "excusynge the rudenes of his translacion," he professes to
have purposely used the most "comon speche":--

"My speche is rude my termes comon and rural
And I for rude peple moche more conuenient
Than for estates, lerned men, or eloquent."

He afterwards humorously supplements this in "the prologe," by:--

"But if I halt in meter or erre in eloquence
Or be to large in langage I pray you blame not me
For my mater is so bad it wyll none other be."

So much the better for all who are interested in studying the development
of our language and literature. For thus we have a volume, confessedly
written in the commonest language of the common people, from which the
philologist may at once see the stage at which they had arrived in the
development of a simple English speech, and how far, in this respect, the
spoken language had advanced a-head of the written; and from which also he
can judge to what extent the popularity of a book depends, when the
language is in a state of transition, upon the unusual simplicity of its
style both in structure and vocabulary, and how far it may, by reason of
its popularity, be influential in modifying and improving the language in
both these respects. In the long barren tract between Chaucer and Spenser,
the Ship of Fools stands all but alone as a popular poem, and the
continuance of this popularity for a century and more is no doubt to be
attributed as much to the use of the language of the "coming time" as to
the popularity of the subject.

In more recent times however, Barclay has, probably in part, from
accidental circumstances, come to be relegated to a position among the
English classics, those authors whom every one speaks of but few read. That
modern editions of at least his principal performance have not appeared,
can only be accounted for by the great expense attendant upon the
reproduction of so uniquely illustrated a work, an interesting proof of
which, given in the evidence before the Select Committee of the House of
Commons on the Copyright act in 1818, is worth quoting. Amongst new
editions of standard but costly works, of which the tax then imposed by the
act upon publishers of giving eleven copies of all their publications free
to certain libraries prevented the publication, is mentioned, Barclay's
"Ship of Fools;" regarding which Harding, the well known bookseller, is
reported to have said, "We have declined republishing the 'Ship of Fools,'
a folio volume of great rarity and high price. Our probable demand would
not have been more than for a hundred copies, at the price of 12 guineas
each. The delivery of eleven copies to the public libraries decided us
against entering into the speculation."

A wider and more eager interest is now being manifested in our early
literature, and especially in our early popular poetry, to the satisfaction
of which, it is believed, a new edition of this book will be regarded as a
most valuable contribution. Indeed, as a graphic and comprehensive picture
of the social condition of pre-Reformation England; as an important
influence in the formation of our modern English tongue; and as a rich and
unique exhibition of early art, to all of which subjects special attention
is being at present directed, this mediaeval picture-poem is of unrivalled
interest.

* * * * *

NOTICE

OF THE

_Life and Writings of Alexander Barclay_,

THE TRANSLATOR OF BRANDT'S SHIP OF FOOLS.

* * * * *

ALEXANDER BARCLAY.

Whether this distinguished poet was an Englishman or a Scotchman has long
been a _quaestio vexata_ affording the literary antiquary a suitable field
for the display of his characteristic amenity. Bale, the oldest authority,
simply says that some contend he was a Scot, others an Englishman, (Script.
Illust. Majoris Britt. Catalogus, 1559). Pits (De Illust. Angliae Script.,)
asserts that though to some he appears to have been a Scot, he was really
an Englishman, and probably a native of Devonshire, ("_nam_ ibi ad S.
Mariam de Otery, Presbyter primum fuit"). Wood again, (Athen. Oxon.), by
the reasoning which finds a likeness between Macedon and Monmouth, because
there is a river in each, arrives at "Alexander de Barklay, seems to have
been born at or near a town so called in Somersetshire;" upon which Ritson
pertinently observes, "there is no such place in Somersetshire, the onely
Berkeley known is in Gloucestershire." Warton, coming to the question
double-shotted, observes that "he was most probably of Devonshire or
Gloucestershire," in the one case following Pits, and in the other
anticipating Ritson's observation.

On the other hand Bale, in an earlier work than the _Catalogus_, the
_Summarium Ill. Maj. Britt. Script._, published in 1548, during Barclay's
life time, adorns him with the epithets "Scotus, rhetor ac poeta insignis."
Dempster (Hist. ecclesiastica), styles him "Scotus, ut retulit ipse Joannes
Pitsaeus." Holinshed also styles him "Scot"! Sibbald gives him a place in
his (MS.) Catalogues of Scottish poets, as does also Wodrow in his
Catalogues of Scots writers. Mackenzie (Lives of the Scots writers) begins,
"The Barklies, from whom this gentleman is descended, are of a very ancient
standing in Scotland." Ritson (Bib. Poetica), after a caustic review of the
controversy, observes "both his name of baptism and the orthography of his
surname seem to prove that he was of Scottish extraction." Bliss (Additions
to Wood) is of opinion that he "undoubtedly was not a native of England,"
and Dr Irving (Hist. of Scot. Poetry) adheres to the opinion of Ritson.

Such contention, whatever may be the weight of the evidence on either side,
is at any rate a sufficient proof of the eminence of the individual who is
the subject of it; to be his birthplace being considered an honour of so
much value to the country able to prove its claim to the distinction as to
occasion a literary warfare of several centuries' duration.

We cannot profess to have brought such reinforcements to either side as to
obtain for it a complete and decisive victory, but their number and
character are such as will probably induce one of the combatants quietly to
retire from the field. In the first place, a more explicit and
unimpeachable piece of evidence than any contained in the authors mentioned
above has been found, strangely enough, in a medical treatise, published
about twenty years after Barclay's death, by a physician and botanist of
great eminence in the middle of the sixteenth century, who was a native of
the isle of Ely, at the Monastery of which Barclay was for some time a
monk.

It is entitled "A dialogue both pleasaunt and pietifull, wherein is a
godlie regiment against the Fever Pestilence, with a consolation and
comforte against death.--Newlie corrected by William Bullein, the author
thereof.--Imprinted at London by Ihon Kingston. Julij, 1573." [8vo., B.L.,
111 leaves.] "There was an earlier impression of this work in 1564, but the
edition of 1573 was 'corrected by the author,' the last work on which he
probably was engaged, as he died in 1576. It is of no value at this time of
day as a medical treatise, though the author was very eminent; but we
advert to it because Bullein, for the sake of variety and amusement,
introduces notices of Chaucer, Gower, Lidgate, Skelton, and Barclay, which,
coming from a man who was contemporary with two of them, may be accepted as
generally accurate representations.... Alexander Barclay, Dr Bullein calls
Bartlet, in the irregular spelling of those times; and, asserting that he
was 'born beyond the cold river of Tweed,' we see no sufficient reason for
disbelieving that he was a native of Scotland. Barclay, after writing his
pastorals, &c., did not die until 1552, so that Bullein was his
contemporary, and most likely knew him and the fact. He observes:--'Then
Bartlet, with an hoopyng russet long coate, with a pretie hoode in his
necke, and five knottes upon his girdle, after Francis tricks. He was borne
beyonde the cold river of Twede. He lodged upon a swete bed of chamomill,
under the sinamum tree; about hym many shepherdes and shepe, with
pleasaunte pipes; greatly abhorring the life of Courtiers, Citizens,
Usurers, and Banckruptes, &c., whose olde daies are miserable. And the
estate of shepherdes and countrie people he accoumpted moste happie and
sure." (Collier's "Bibliographical Account of Early English Literature,"
Vol. 1., P. 97).

"The certainty with which Bulleyn here speaks of Barclay, as born beyond
the Tweed, is not a little strengthened by the accuracy with which even in
allegory he delineates his peculiar characteristics. 'He lodged upon a bed
of sweet camomile.' What figure could have been more descriptive of that
agreeable bitterness, that pleasant irony, which distinguishes the author
of the 'Ship of Fools?' 'About him many shepherds and sheep with pleasant
pipes, greatly abhorring the life of courtiers.' What could have been a
plainer paraphrase of the title of Barclay's 'Eclogues,' or 'Miseries of
Courtiers and Courtes, and of all Princes in General.' As a minor feature,
'the five knots upon his girdle after Francis's tricks' may also be
noticed. Hitherto, the fact of Barclay having been a member of the
Franciscan order has been always repeated as a matter of some doubt; 'he
was a monk of the order of St Benedict, and afterwards, as some say, a
Franciscan. Bulleyn knows, and mentions, with certainty, what others only
speak of as the merest conjecture. In short, everything tends to shew a
degree of familiar acquaintance with the man, his habits, and his
productions, which entitles the testimony of Bulleyn to the highest
credit.'" (Lives of the Scottish Poets, Vol. I., pt. ii., p. 77).

But there are other proofs pointing as decidedly to the determination of
this long-continued controversy in favour of Scotland, as the soil from
which this vagrant child of the muses sprung. No evidence seems to have
been hitherto sought from the most obvious source, his writings. The writer
of the memoir in the Biographia Brittanica, (who certainly dealt a
well-aimed, though by no means decisive, blow, in observing, "It is pretty
extraordinary that Barclay himself, in his several addresses to his patrons
should never take notice of his being a stranger, which would have made
their kindness to him the more remarkable [it was very customary for the
writers of that age to make mention in their works of the countries to
which they belonged, especially if they wrote out of their own];[1] whereas
the reader will quickly see, that in his address to the young gentlemen of
England in the 'Mirror of Good Manners,' he treats them as his
countrymen,") has remarked, "It seems a little strange that in those days a
Scot should obtain so great reputation in England, especially if it be
considered from whence our author's rose, viz., from his enriching and
improving the English tongue. Had he written in Latin or on the sciences,
the thing had been probable enough, but in the light in which it now
stands, I think it very far from likely." From which it is evident that the
biographer understood not the versatile nature of the Scot and his ability,
especially when caught young, in "doing in Rome as the Romans do."
Barclay's English education and foreign travel, together extending over the
most impressionable years of his youth, could not have failed to rub off
any obvious national peculiarities of speech acquired in early boyhood, had
the difference between the English and Scottish speech then been wider than
it was. But the language of Barbour and Chaucer was really one and the
same. It will then not be wondered at that but few Scotch words are found
in Barclay's writings. Still, these few are not without their importance in
strengthening the argument as to nationality. The following from "The Ship
of Fools," indicate at once the clime to which they are native, "gree,"
"kest," "rawky," "ryue," "yate," "bokest," "bydeth," "thekt," and "or," in
its peculiar Scottish use.[2] That any Englishman, especially a South or
West of England Englishman, should use words such as those, particularly at
a time of hostility and of little intercourse between the nations, will
surely be admitted to be a far more unlikely thing than that a Scotchman
born, though not bred, should become, after the effects of an English
education and residence had efficiently done their work upon him, a great
improver and enricher of the English tongue.

But perhaps the strongest and most decisive argument of all in this
much-vexed controversy is to be found in the panegyric of James the Fourth
contained in the "Ship of Fools," an eulogy so highly pitched and
extravagant that no Englishman of that time would ever have dreamed of it
or dared to pen it. Nothing could well be more conclusive. Barclay precedes
it by a long and high-flown tribute to Henry, but when he comes to "Jamys
of Scotlonde," he, so to speak, out-Herods Herod. Ordinary verse suffices
not for the greatness of his subject, which he must needs honour with an
acrostic,--

"I n prudence pereles is this moste comely kynge
A nd as for his strength and magnanymyte
C oncernynge his noble dedes in euery thynge
O ne founde or grounde lyke to hym can not be
B y byrth borne to boldnes and audacyte
V nder the bolde planet of Mars the champyon
S urely to subdue his ennemyes echone."

There, we are convinced, speaks not the prejudiced, Scot-hating English
critic, but the heart beating true to its fatherland and loyal to its
native Sovereign.

That "he was born beyonde the cold river of Twede," about the year 1476, as
shall be shown anon, is however all the length we can go. His training was
without doubt mainly, if not entirely English. He must have crossed the
border very early in life, probably for the purpose of pursuing his
education at one of the Universities, or, even earlier than the period of
his University career, with parents or guardians to reside in the
neighbourhood of Croydon, to which he frequently refers. Croydon is
mentioned in the following passages in Eclogue I.:

"While I in youth in Croidon towne did dwell."

"He hath no felowe betwene this and Croidon,
Save the proude plowman Gnatho of Chorlington."

"And as in Croidon I heard the Collier preache"

"Such maner riches the Collier tell thee can"

"As the riche Shepheard that woned in Mortlake."

It seems to have become a second home to him, for there, we find, in 1552,
he died and was buried.

At which University he studied, whether Oxford or Cambridge, is also a
matter of doubt and controversy. Wood claims him for Oxford and Oriel,
apparently on no other ground than that he dedicates the "Ship of Fools" to
Thomas Cornish, the Suffragan bishop of Tyne, in the Diocese of Bath and
Wells, who was provost of Oriel College from 1493 to 1507. That the Bishop
was the first to give him an appointment in the Church is certainly a
circumstance of considerable weight in favour of the claim of Oxford to be
his _alma mater_, and of Cornish to be his intellectual father; and if the
appointment proceeded from the Provost's good opinion of the young
Scotchman, then it says much for the ability and talents displayed by him
during his College career. Oxford however appears to be nowhere mentioned
in his various writings, while Cambridge is introduced thus in Eclogue
I.:--

"And once in Cambridge I heard a scoller say."

From which it seems equally, if not more, probable that he was a student at
that university. "There is reason to believe that both the universities
were frequented by Scotish students; many particular names are to be traced
in their annals; nor is it altogether irrelevant to mention that Chaucer's
young clerks of Cambridge who played such tricks to the miller of
Trompington, are described as coming from the north, and as speaking the
Scotish language:--

'John highte that on, and Alein highte that other,
Of o toun were they born that highte Strother,
Fer in the North, I cannot tellen where.'

"It may be considered as highly probable that Barclay completed his studies
in one of those universities, and that the connections which he thus had an
opportunity of forming, induced him to fix his residence in the South; and
when we suppose him to have enjoyed the benefit of an English education it
need not appear peculiarly 'strange, that in those days, a Scot should
obtain so great reputation in England.'" (Irving, Hist. of Scot. Poetry).

In the "Ship" there is a chapter "Of unprofytable Stody" in which he makes
allusion to his student life in such a way as to imply that it had not been
a model of regularity and propriety:

"The great foly, the pryde, and the enormyte
Of our studentis, and theyr obstynate errour
Causeth me to wryte two sentences or thre
More than I fynde wrytyn in myne actoure
The tyme hath ben whan I was conductoure
Of moche foly, whiche nowe my mynde doth greue
Wherfor of this shyp syns I am gouernoure
I dare be bolde myne owne vyce to repreue."

If these lines are meant to be accepted literally, which such confessions
seldom are, it may be that he was advised to put a year or two's foreign
travel between his University career, and his entrance into the Church. At
any rate, for whatever reason, on leaving the University, where, as is
indicated by the title of "Syr" prefixed to his name in his translation of
Sallust, he had obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts, he travelled
abroad, whether at his own charges, or in the company of a son of one of
his patrons is not recorded, principally in Germany, Italy, and France,
where he applied himself, with an unusual assiduity and success, to the
acquirement of the languages spoken in those countries and to the study of
their best authors. In the chapter "Of unprofytable Stody," above
mentioned, which contains proof how well he at least had profited by study,
he cites certain continental seats of university learning at each of which,
there is indeed no improbability in supposing he may have remained for some
time, as was the custom in those days:

"One rennyth to Almayne another vnto France
To Parys, Padway, Lumbardy or Spayne
Another to Bonony, Rome, or Orleanse
To Cayne, to Tolows, Athenys, or Colayne."

Another reference to his travels and mode of travelling is found in the
Eclogues. Whether he made himself acquainted with the English towns he
enumerates before or after his continental travels it is impossible to
determine:

CORNIX.

"As if diuers wayes laye vnto Islington,
To Stow on the Wold, Quaueneth or Trompington,
To Douer, Durham, to Barwike or Exeter,
To Grantham, Totnes, Bristow or good Manchester,
To Roan, Paris, to Lions or Floraunce.

CORIDON.

(What ho man abide, what already in Fraunce,
Lo, a fayre iourney and shortly ended to,
With all these townes what thing haue we to do?

CORNIX.

By Gad man knowe thou that I haue had to do
In all these townes and yet in many mo,
To see the worlde in youth me thought was best,
And after in age to geue my selfe to rest.

CORIDON.

Thou might haue brought one and set by our village.

CORNIX.

What man I might not for lacke of cariage.
To cary mine owne selfe was all that euer I might,
And sometime for ease my sachell made I light."
ECLOGUE I.

Returning to England, after some years of residence abroad, with his mind
broadened and strengthened by foreign travel, and by the study of the best
authors, modern as well as ancient, Barclay entered the church, the only
career then open to a man of his training. With intellect, accomplishments,
and energy possessed by few, his progress to distinction and power ought to
have been easy and rapid, but it turned out quite otherwise. The road to
eminence lay by the "backstairs," the atmosphere of which he could not
endure. The ways of courtiers--falsehood, flattery, and fawning--he
detested, and worse, he said so, wherefore his learning, wit and eloquence
found but small reward. To his freedom of speech, his unsparing exposure
and denunciation of corruption and vice in the Court and the Church, as
well as among the people generally, must undoubtedly be attributed the
failure to obtain that high promotion his talents deserved, and would
otherwise have met with. The policy, not always a successful one in the
end, of ignoring an inconvenient display of talent, appears to have been
fully carried out in the instance of Barclay.

His first preferment appears to have been in the shape of a chaplainship in
the sanctuary for piety and learning founded at Saint Mary Otery in the
County of Devon, by Grandison, Bishop of Exeter; and to have come from
Thomas Cornish, Suffragan Bishop of Bath and Wells under the title of the
Bishop of Tyne, "meorum primitias laborum qui in lucem eruperunt," to whom,
doubtless out of gratitude for his first appointment, he dedicated "The
Ship of Fools." Cornish, amongst the many other good things he enjoyed,
held, according to Dugdale, from 1490 to 1511, the post of warden of the
College of S. Mary Otery, where Barclay no doubt had formed that regard and
respect for him which is so strongly expressed in the dedication.

A very eulogistic notice of "My Mayster Kyrkham," in the chapter "Of the
extorcion of Knyghtis," (Ship of Fools,) has misled biographers, who were
ignorant of Cornish's connection with S. Mary Otery, to imagine that
Barclay's use of "Capellanus humilimus" in his dedication was merely a
polite expression, and that Kyrkham, of whom he styles himself, "His true
seruytour his chaplayne and bedeman" was his actual ecclesiastical
superior. The following is the whole passage:--

"Good offycers ar good and commendable
And manly knyghtes that lyue in rightwysenes
But they that do nat ar worthy of a bable
Syns by theyr pryde pore people they oppres
My mayster Kyrkhan for his perfyte mekenes
And supportacion of men in pouertye
Out of my shyp shall worthely be fre

I flater nat I am his true seruytour
His chaplayne and his bede man whyle my lyfe shall endure
Requyrynge God to exalt hym to honour
And of his Prynces fauour to be sure
For as I haue sayd I knowe no creature
More manly rightwyse wyse discrete and sad
But thoughe he be good, yet other ar als bad."

That this Kyrkham was a knight and not an ecclesiastic is so plainly
apparent as to need no argument. An investigation into Devonshire history
affords the interesting information that among the ancient families of that
county there was one of this name, of great antiquity and repute, now no
longer existent, of which the most eminent member was a certain Sir John
Kirkham, whose popularity is evinced by his having been twice created High
Sheriff of the County, in the years 1507 and 1523. (Prince, Worthies of
Devon; Izacke, Antiquities of Exeter.)

That this was the Kirkham above alluded to, there can be no reasonable
doubt, and in view of the expression "My mayster Kyrkham," it may be
surmised that Barclay had the honour of being appointed by this worthy
gentleman to the office of Sheriff's or private Chaplain or to some similar
position of confidence, by which he gained the poet's respect and
gratitude. The whole allusion, however, might, without straining be
regarded as a merely complimentary one. The tone of the passage affords at
any rate a very pleasing glimpse of the mutual regard entertained by the
poet and his Devonshire neighbours.

After the eulogy of Kyrkham ending with "Yet other ar als bad," the poet
goes on immediately to give the picture of a character of the opposite
description, making the only severe personal reference in his whole
writings, for with all his unsparing exposure of wrong-doing, he carefully,
wisely, honourably avoided personality. A certain Mansell of Otery is
gibbeted as a terror to evil doers in a way which would form a sufficient
ground for an action for libel in these degenerate days.--Ship, II. 82.

"Mansell of Otery for powlynge of the pore
Were nat his great wombe, here sholde haue an ore

But for his body is so great and corporate
And so many burdens his brode backe doth charge
If his great burthen cause hym to come to late
Yet shall the knaue be Captayne of a barge
Where as ar bawdes and so sayle out at large
About our shyp to spye about for prayes
For therupon hath he lyued all his dayes."

It ought however to be mentioned that no such name as Mansell appears in
the Devonshire histories, and it may therefore be fictitious.

The ignorance and reckless living of the clergy, one of the chief objects
of his animadversion, receive also local illustration:

"For if one can flater, and beare a Hauke on his fist,
He shalbe made parson of Honington or Clist."

A good humoured reference to the Secondaries of the College is the only
other streak of local colouring we have detected in the Ship, except the
passage in praise of his friend and colleague Bishop, quoted at p. liii.

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