Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2]: Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his ageDrake, Nathan
History
Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2]: Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age
Drake, Nathan
Dramatists, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography; England -- Civilization -- 16th century; English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Homes and haunts -- England
So far from any permission being given by Shakspeare for the insertion
of these translations, we find him highly offended with Jaggard for
presuming to introduce them under his name; and from the admission of
these pieces and Marlowe's poem, we may securely infer that the three
editions by Jaggard of the _Passionate Pilgrim_ were surreptitious and
void of all authority. Such, indeed, seems to have been the opinion
of his contemporaries with regard to the first impression; for the
two poems in Jaggard's collection of 1599, commencing "My flocks feed
not," and "As it fell upon a day," are inscribed to Shakspeare, while
in England's Helicon of 1600 they bear the subscription of _Ignoto_,
a pretty plain intimation of all want of reliance on the editorial
sagacity of this unprincipled bookseller.
Justice requires of us to state that Y. Z. has not brought forward this
accusation from any enmity to the poet, of whom, on the contrary, he
professes himself to be an ardent admirer; but with the hope of seeing
the transaction cleared up to the honour of his favourite bard, a hope
which Mr. Lofft, in a subsequent number of the Magazine, generously
comes forward to gratify.
In doing this, however, he has unfortunately taken for granted the
_data_ on which Y. Z. has founded his charge, and builds his defence
of the poet on the ill-grounded supposition of his being the real
translator of the Epistles of Ovid, treating the question as if it were
the subject of a trial at law. The consequence has been a somewhat
singular series of mistakes. "It appears," observes Mr. Lofft, "that
among his undisputed poems, these translations were published by
Jaggard, in 1609."[47:A] Here are two assumptions, of which one seems
founded on a surmise in the first communication of Y. Z., who says,
"if my memory does not deceive me, the Poems of Shakspeare appeared in
1609."[48:A] That an edition of the _Passionate Pilgrim_ was printed
between the years 1599 and 1612 is certain, for the copy of 1612 is
expressly termed the _third_ edition; but that this impression took
place in 1609, is a conclusion without any authority, for, as we
have remarked before, no copy of this date has yet been discovered.
Granting, however, that it did issue in this year, there is every
reason, from the detail already given, to affirm, that it could not
contain the translations in question, and was probably nothing more
than a re-impression of the edition of 1599.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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