A semi-diplomatic edition of
Jane Anger her Protection for Women
with introduction and annotation
Astrid van der Werf
S1930737
Prof. dr. Sebastian Sobecki
14-06-2013
17.303 words
Table of contents
Introduction
Bibliographical description i Text v Author vi Audience ix Influences xi Reception and reactions xv
Social context - Querelle des Femmes xvi
This edition xviii
Edition
i
Introduction
Bibliographical description
Jane Anger, Jane Anger Her Protection for Women.
Title: Iane Anger | her Protection | for VVomen. | To defend them against the |
scandalous reportes of | a late Surfeiting Louer, and all otherlike | Venerians that complaine so to bee | ouercloyed with womens | kindnesse.
Colophon: Written by Ia: A. Gent. | At London | Printed by Richard Jones, and
Thomas | Orwin. 1589.
Collation: pot 4° in twos and fours, A² B-C⁴ D², 12 unnumbered leaves. Signatures on
B1 – B4, C1 – C4 and D1 [textura quadrata, but B2 and B4 in Roman], probably
stamped since stamp-lines are visible in B2 and their alternating positions on the
leaves. Also D1 is different from the rest for its punctuation marks in front and after
the numeral (D.1.). Catchwords at the bottom of all pages, except for title page (A1r),
first two forewords (A2r and A2v), last page of the prose (D1r), and verse pages (D1v
and D2r). Binding in blue morocco by Charles Lewis in the first quarter of the
nineteenth century. Paper with watermarks in quires A to C, watermarks in B are of a
pot, those in A and C are indistinct.1 Original not inspected by me. According
ii
to the curator of the Hunting Library, the text is in good condition. The title page is
somewhat soiled and has a small repaired hole in a blank area right over a section of
the watermark. The last page is torn, missing a horizontal strip and some type. Some
of the leaves have unclear print and decorated initials do not fit the space that was
reserved for them, which points to quick or careless printing practices. Dimensions:
14 x 18.4 cm. Text block: 8.7 x 16.4 cm.
Contents: A1r: title (see above), Roman type with only ‚Written by Ja: A. Gent. in
Gothic textura quadrata, [metal engraved ornament of printers’ flowers 300 x 600
mm]. A1r: blank. A2r: “To the Gentlewomen | of England, health.” [Roman]. G
[roman cap2, two lines of blank space below capital) A2v: “To all VVomen in gene- |
nerall, and gentle Reader whatsoeuer”. F [decorated woodcut initial6]. B1r “A
Protection for | VVomen. &c.” T [roman cap3, one line of blank space below capital]
– to D1r (between B1r – D1r all the verso pages have a heading “A Protection” and all
recto pages have a heading “for UUomen” in Garamond Italic, probably stamped
since the stamp-lines are visible. D1r: “Finis” [Roman]. D1v: “A ſoueraigne Salue, to
| cure the late Surfeiting Louer.” I [decorated woodcut initial6]. Six stanzas of four
lines in the Hymnal Measure. D2r: “Eiusdem ad Lectorem, | de Authore.” T [Roman
cap3]. “Finis Io. A.” [metal engraved ornament of printers’ flowers 150 x 750 mm,
different pattern from title page]. Printers note in textura quadrata: “A fault escaped
iii
Type: 38 lines of textura quadrata on a busy page, but the font sometimes changes in
size and type (e.g. on B2r both Roman type - for verse - and Gothic textura quadrata -
for prose- are present, the verse at the bottom of the page is larger than the verse at
the top of the page). However, most prose in the Gothic textura quadrata typeset.
Roman type is used for proper names (also for nouns sometimes, when a
personification is intended or could be intended, or for emphasis), the first preface on
A2v (“To the Gentlewomen of England”) the verse on D1v and D2r and the Latin
sentences used by the author. Notably, the title page is all in Roman type, except for
the name of the author (‚Written by Ia. A. Gent.”)
Examined: Early English Books Online, STC 644, and facsimile by Betty Travitsky
and Patrick Cullen, Early Modern Englishwoman: Facsimile Library of Essential Works.
Original at Huntington Library examined for me by Huntington curator Stephen
Tabor.
Notes: STC (2nd edition) 644. University Microfilm 165.21. Original at Henry E.
iv
Provenance: The pamphlet was originally acquired by William Fitch (1792 – 1859),
origin unknown.2 He sold a whole collection, including Jane Anger her Protection for
Women, to George Daniel in 1830 (see image 1). The collection then went to Thomas
Thorpe and then to Richard Heber (1773 - 1833), who connected his name to the
collection. Jane Anger her Protection for Women was then sold in a Sotheby auction on
10 April 1834 to W.H. Miller.3 Next, the pamphlet, along with the rest of the (then
Heber) collection was sold to the Christie-Miller family of Britwell Court
Buckinghamshire, to whom it grants its current name. American bookseller George
D. Smith bought the Britwell Collection for the American Henry E. Huntington at the
2 Fitch was a known thief according to Janet Freeman on Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography.
3 Presence in the Sotheby auction can be proven by the entry from the Sotheby
catalogue of the library of the Bibliotheca Heberiana, 159: ‚3040: Jane Anger her Protection for Women, etc‛.
v
Britwell Court sale on 12 March 1923.4 This is why Jane Anger her Protection for Women
is currently residing in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
Text
Jane Anger her Protection for Women is the only known work of this author (no other
copies or reprints exist) and is believed to be the first pamphlet attributed to a female
polemicist in the literary Renaissance debate about the nature of women. The text is
mainly in prose, but at the end of the text there are two poems: ‚A soveraigne Salve
to cure the late Surfeiting Lover‛ and ‚Eiusdem ad Lectorem de Authore‛. The first
poem consists of six stanzas and is in the Hymnal Measure, with the rhyming pattern
of ABAB in which A is in iambic tetrameter and B is in iambic trimeter. Within the
A-lines there is also an internal rhyme where the first and second part of the line rhyme
as well, as can be seen in the following example:
If once the heat, did sore thee beat,
of foolish love so blind:
Sometime to sweat, sometime to freat,
as one bestraught of mind.
4 As can be found in the entry from the 1923 Britwell court auction Catalogue of
vi
In the shorter second poem, ‚Eiusdem ad Lectorem de Authore‛ (trans. To the same
reader, from the author) there are no stanzas. It consists of 20 lines and is written in
the Common Measure rhyme scheme of ABCB, which also has alternating iambic
pentameter and iambic trimeter. Some of the A – and C lines also have internal
rhyme, but not all of them. What is also striking about this poem is that at times the
word ‚anger‛ is completely capitalized, probably indicating the noun ‚anger‛, which
differs from the times when only the first letter of the word is capitalized, indicating
the surname of the author or the personification of the emotion.
Author
The author of the text is, as is printed on the first page, assumedly a woman named
Jane Anger. She is presumably a gentlewoman - this is also indicated on the first
page of the pamphlet - but this is not the only indication of her status; the rest of the
text is highly allusive and rhetorical in content, so much so that it could not be
written by a common unschooled female, or male for that matter, as writing such a
text would require formal schooling only available to the upper class men, and some
women, of the sixteenth-century English society.5 This last feature causes many
scholars to speculate whether the name Jane Anger was a pseudonym,6 or whether
5 Miriam Balmuth. ‚Female Education in 16th and 17th century England, Influences,
Attitudes and Trends." Canadian Women Studies 9. 3 & 4 (1988): 18.
6 Betty S. Travitsky and Patrick Cullen, The Early Modern Englishwoman: a Facsimile
Library of Essential Works. (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1996) ix. Also Moira Furguson
vii
she was even a woman.7 This despite the fact that two Jane Anger’s have been
discovered to live in the area at the time.8
Although the author could have been a woman, there are several reasons for
questioning the gender of the author. Firstly, the pamphlet discussed here is the first
pamphlet attributed to a female writer in England. There were earlier pamphlets for
the defense of women, in what is today known as ‚the formal debate concerning the
Nature of Women of the Sixteenth century‛, but these pamphlets turned out to be
written by men defending women. The author of Jane Anger her Protection for Women
was progressive in taking on a female speaker who is addressing her fellow women.
Since this was such an uncommon feature (women were not known to do this) many
believe that the author is a man writing as a woman, testing a new format.
This brings me to the second reason for doubt; the aforementioned custom of
well-educated men to write as women in playing, what Joad Raymond calls, the
‚humanist literary game, an exercise in defending the absurd‛.9 Nicholas Breton
clearly describes this phenomenon in describing his own motives for writing his The
University Press, 1985) 58: ‚the expressive surname was a reflection of the author’s sentiment‛.
7 Joad Raymond, Pamphlets and pamphleteering in early modern Britain. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2003) 281.
8 The surname Anger was not uncommon in England (in Berkshire, Cambridge,
Cornwall and Essex it was widespread in the 16th century even, and according to
Helen Andrews Kahin (‚John Lyly and Jane Anger‛, 1947) p.31, Ruth Hughley discovered two Jane (or Joan) Anger’s living in England in 1589, one of whom could have written the pamphlet.
viii
Will of Wit (1580) when saying that ‚men conventionally turned misogynist after an
unpleasant experience with one woman‛ but that he himself ‚turned defender before
a pleasant experience with one woman‛. ‚The fact that the pleasant experience is
only anticipated, that the treatise itself is a means to its consummation, makes this
work a species of masculine wiles, a seduction by defense‛, according to Breton.10
This renders a clear explanation of why men would write as women, and indicates
that it was clearly a writing convention at the time. Francis Utley stresses that in this
convention ‚the opposition was fictional; the pretense that the eagerly listening
women who were a conditioning factor of satire must be elaborately apologized to or
deprived of a view of the sinning poem was pretense and nothing more‛.11 Women,
in this setting, were to be ‚active and good-humored participants in a controversy
about women which was a very courtly game‛, according to Utley. Although Linda
Woodbridge is opposed to this view, believing that women had a more serious role
than Utley describes, she does agree with Utley that the formal controversy about
women was indeed a literary game ‚with very tenuous roots in real contemporary
attitudes‛.12
Apart from writing-conventions and being the first woman to write a
pamphlet to women, questions about education play a big role. Although middle-
and upper-class women were taught to read and write, it would take an unusually
10 qtd. in Linda Woodbridge. Women and the English Renaissance. (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1984) 70.
ix
thorough academically schooled woman to know all the Greek and Roman figures
mentioned in the text, not to mention other renowned historical and mythical leaders
(e.g. Boleslav, the first king of Poland). Although it is very unlikely that one women
knew all this, it would still have been possible for her to write (i.e. compile) the work
since a lot was copied from other works. But this, of course, is mere speculation.
The reasons addressed above explain why scholars are right to question the
gender of Jane Anger, but apart from speculations there is no real evidence to prove
whether the author was a man or a woman. For the rest of this dissertation I will
therefore refer to the author as ‘the author’ and ‘she’, going along with the gender of
the literary persona of the text.
Audience
As can be seen on the first two pages of the pamphlet, the author clearly and directly
seeks to address her fellow women, seeing as her first preface to the text is titled ‚To
the Gentlewomen of England‛ and her second preface is directed to ‚all Women in
generall, and gentle Reader whatsoever‛. This clearly indicates that she focuses
mainly on the female readership, no matter their status. Naomi J. Miller
appropriately identifies this as the author constructing a ‚community of ‘we women’
x
deliberate excess of her rhetoric‛.13 This choice to address women seems interesting
in a time when the readership available to her was mostly male, middle- and
upper-class women were also being educated and could read it if they had access to texts.
According to Raymond, the ‚double prefaces accent a feminine readership,
and while they do not exclude men, they place them in the category not
distinguished by status. A dual readership is created, a device characteristic of
women’s public writings‛.14 This can also be seen in the fact that women are referred
to in the first person plural pronoun and men in the third person pronoun, as can be
seen these lines on lechery: ‚It defileth the body and makes it stink – and men use it.
I marvel how we women can abide them but that they delude us as, they say, we
deceive them with perfumes‛.15 I agree with Raymond when he mentions that this
use of pronouns causes the text to function as a ‚semi-private exchange with [the
author’s] female readers‛. The author even directly mentions this feature when
asking her female readers to ‚let us, secretlye our selves with our selves, consider
howe and in what, they that are our worst enemies, are both inferior to us, and most
beholden unto our kindenes‛.16 This would cause the male readers to feel as
unwelcome intruders to the text, causing women to gain the upper hand on men
directly from the text’s early onset.
13 Naomi J. Miller. “Hens should be served first‛, qtd. in Debating Gender, (ed. Cristina
Malcolmson and Mihoko Suzuki. Debating gender in early modern England, 1500-1700. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) 172.
14 Raymond, 282
xi Influences
Jane Anger her Protection for Women identifies itself in the text as a reaction to a book
named Boke his Surfeit in Love, (full title: Boke his Surfeit in love. With a farewell to the
folies of his own phantasie) published in 1588 and accredited to printer Thomas Orwin.
The title of Orwin’s work is mentioned twice in Jane Anger pamphlet (C3r and C4r),
and many puns are made by the author on the word surfeit, which comes from
Orwin’s title. Betty Travitsky and Simon Cullen opt the possibility that Orwin hired
the author posing as Jane Anger, in order to comment on his book for the purpose of
receiving more attention for it.17 Evidence for this, according to Simon Shepherd who
agrees with Travitsky and Cullen, is found in these following lines from Jane Anger:
‚Now sithence that this overcloyed and surfeiting lover leaveth his love and
comes with a fresh assault against us women, let us arm ourselves with
patience and see the end of his tongue, which explaineth his surfeit. But it was
so lately printed as that I should to the printer injury should I recite but one of
them, and therefore, referring you to Boke: his Surfeit in Love, I come to my
matter‛. (C2v)
In these lines it becomes obvious that the author does not want to reveal too much of
the contents of Orwin’s book, because then it would not be worth buying or reading
anymore. Other references occur in the text, the author repeatedly mentions that she
now directs her attention back to Orwin’s book, which she abbreviates as ‚the
17 Betty S. Travitsky and Patrick Cullen. The early modern Englishwoman: a facsimile
xii
Surfeit‛. Shepherd argues that in mentioning the book Boke His Surfeit in Love so
often, the author provides strong evidence that the pamphlet is set up by Orwin for
promotion.18 The fact that Orwin himself is responsible for printing Jane Anger
contributes to this allegation.
Regrettably, no copies of Orwin’s work have survived, which is, to say the
least, inconvenient for researchers of Jane Anger. The only prove of its previous
existence is its presence in the Stationer’s Register, a charter kept by the Stationer’s
Company trade guild, used to keep track of all the printed works in London from
1577 onwards.19 The absence of Orwin’s work makes it difficult to verify whether,
and to what extent, the author of Jane Anger reacted to this text. Raymond finds the
title of Orwin’s work and the Jane Anger’s author’s reaction to the work a good
indicator that it was a text full of complaints about the nature of women, and
‚self-mockingly acknowledged his own excesses and frustrations in love‛,20 but there is no
way of truly verifying this.
Apart from the apparent influence of Orwin’s Boke his Surfeit in Love described
above, there are also scholars who believe there are other sources which could have
been of influence on Jane Anger. One of these influences could have been Margeret
Tyler, a contemporary of the author of Jane Anger and writer/translator of the first
known feminist (but overall religious) tract in English, published around 1578.
18 Simon Shepherd. The Women’s Sharp Revenge. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985)
49.
xiii
Although, as Ferguson observes, Tyler’s text is very different in focus and manner of
conduct, it ‚possessed a similar sense of women’s rights, fostered in part by the
presence of a woman ruler and Renaissance humanist idea about learning‛.21 It can
be noted that Elizabeth I‘s rule influenced the way women thought about education
and rights for themselves; if the Queen could read and learn from texts and make her
own decisions, then they must also be able to do so.22 Whether the author of Jane
Anger read Tyler’s text is unsure, but the existence of Tyler’s text and, later on, the
text Jane Anger indicates the onset of feminist writing, possibly influenced by a
female monarch. Later on, under the reign of the misogynist King James I, such
female deviances were inhibited, but it did not prevent women from writing their
defenses, as can be seen in the ‘responses and reactions’- paragraph below.23
Raymond argues the author’s writing is very much influenced and
comparable in style to Thomas Nashe’s Anatomie of Absurditie , which was printed in
1589; the same year as Jane Anger. Both denounce the opposite sex in a similar
structure; first listing corrupted examples of the opposing gender, citing authorities
and continuing to moralize their own gender. This could indicate that both Nashe
and the author of Jane Anger were influenced by the same earlier work, but it remains
unsure which text that could be. Lynne Magnusson suggests that the ‚surfeiter’s
arguments that Anger refutes bears a close resemblance to parts of the 1586 English
21 Ferguson, 9 22 Balmuth, 19
23 ‛James I, the misogynous son of Mary, Queen of Scots, put legislation in motion to
xiv
edition of Pierre de la Primaudaye’s French Academie (1577, translated into English by
Thomas Bowes in 1586).24 Another possible influence is indicated by Utley: a poem
by the name ‚Ye are to yong to bring me in: An old lover to a yong gentilwoman‛,
from Tottel’s Miscellany, printed around 1577.25
Other very influential texts are those by John Lyly (1554 - 1606). It is obvious
that Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit published in 1587, was of great influence to the
author of Jane Anger, perhaps even without the interference of Thomas Orwin’s Boke
his Surfeit.26 As can be seen in this edition of Jane Anger, a lot of Euphues can be found
in the text, both from the Anatomy of Wit and from Euphues and his England (1580).
Helen Andrews Kahin believes that Euphues his Censure to Philautus (1587), was of
very big influence to Jane Anger, but comparison shows that the former two
Euphues-texts show more similarities. Kahin attributes this Euphues-text to John Lyly, but it is
actually written by Robert Greene (d. 1592) who tried to copy the style of Lyly’s
Euphues-series.27
The references to Greek, Roman and other historical and mythological figures
can come from numerous sources, as do the proverbs mentioned by the author.
However, it can hardly be a coincidence that at least nine of the fifteen exemplary
women named in the text can be found in Richard Hyrde’s Education of a Christian
Woman, printed in 1540 (an English translation of Juan Luis Vives’ De institutione
24 Travitsky and Cullen, ix 25 Ferguson, 58
26 Andrews Kahin, 32
27 Ian Ousby. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. (Cambridge University
xv
feminae Christianae). It is highly probably that the author of Jane Anger used this as a
source, since, according to Virginia Walcott Beauchamp et al., the book was
enormously popular in England in the second half of the sixteenth century.28
The many references of animals and proverbs can be found in either one of the two
Euphues–texts by Lyly. The editors of these two texts have found out that the animals
are mainly taken from Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (c. 79 AD) and the proverbs from
Erasmus’ Adagia (1500) or Similia.29
Reception and reactions
The pamphlet Jane Anger her Protection for Women might have been of some influence
on both male and female authors in later years. Nicholas Breton’s Praise of virtuous
Ladies (1599) appears to have passages which are directly copied from Anger.30 Apart
from this work, it would appear that, as Shepherd mentions, ‚Jane Anger’s pamphlet
seems to have provoked little response‛, which is true when searching for other
direct contemporary responses to the text. Nevertheless, it appears that the Jane
Anger pamphlet did open up the genre of defending gender for female pamphleteers.
A few decades later several other female pamphleteers, who unlike the author of Jane
Anger can be confirmed to be female, wrote texts denouncing the male slandering of
women. Examples of these female texts are Rachel Speght´s A Mouzell for Malastomus
28Juan Luis Vives, Virginia Walcott Beauchamp, et al. The Instruction of a Christen
woman. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002) 43.
29 Morris William Croll and Harry Clemons. Lyly's Euphues. (New York: Routledge,
1916) vi.
xvi
(1617), Constantia Munda’s The Worming of a Mad Dog (1617, Contantia Munda is a
known pseudonym of Rachel Speght) and Ester Sowerman’s Esther hath hanged
Haman (1617). These pamphlets were written in reaction to the very misogynist
pamphlet The Arraignment of Lewde, idle, froward, and unconstant women (1615) by
Joseph Swetnam, which re-opened the debate about the nature of women in the early
seventeenth century and actually used some quotes from Jane Anger.
Social context - Querelle des Femmes
As mentioned, Jane Anger is a reaction to the literary attacks on the nature of women,
which was a popular genre in the early Renaissance in England. This genre was a
continuation of the literary humanist debate about the ‚status and nature of women‛
which started on the European continent and was there known as the The Querelle de
Femmes.31 Linda Woodbridge calls the continuation of this debate in the English
Renaissance the ‚Formal Controversy about Women‛, since it was very controversial
of women to finally defend themselves through polemics. In the words of Raymond,
this debate ‚provided an opportunity for women’s entrance into printed prose
controversy. The debate occasioned scholarly rhetorical performances, contending
women’s inferiority, and railing against the defects of the feminine sex‛.32
Woodbridge adds that humanism gave the debate ‚its characteristic Renaissance
form, most evident in its rhetoric, its humanist arguments, and its addition of
xvii
classical material to the characteristic set of exempla. In most later Renaissance
works, biblical and classical exempla are mixed, reflecting the Christian / humanist
synthesis‛.33
Authors who earlier discussed this topic on the continent were Boccaccio
(Concerning Famous women, 1380), Christine de Pizan (The Book of the City of Ladies,
1405 – which according to Katherine Romack via Malcolmson and Ferguson
‚inaugurated‛ the debate on the continent)34 and Cornelius Agrippa (Declamation on
the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex, 1509). These texts, however, were
translated into English much later, which is the reason for the rather late rise of the
debate in England. The earliest English works on the subject is by Edward
Gosynhyll, and includes two related poems: ‚The prayse of all Women, Called
Mulierum pean‛ and ‚Here Begynneth the Scole House of Women: Wherein Every
man may Reade A Goodly Prayse of the Condicyons of Women‛, both dating from
1542.35 On this work many reactions followed, both in defense and in support of
Gosynhyll’s views.
For a long time, men could make texts and pamphlets such as the ones named
above and need not fear any literary reply from the women they accused since there
were scarcely any literate women around. When education for women started to
increase, around 1580, the first female pamphleteers appeared to give ‚response to
33 Woodbridge, 14
34 Cristina Malcolmson and Mihoko Suzuki. Debating gender in early modern England,
1500-1700. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) 209.
xviii
derogatory writing about their sex, and they anticipate subsequent patterns of female
authorship‛.36 Perhaps, Jane Anger her Protection for Women one of the first responses
by these female pamphleteers.
This edition
In this edition of Jane Anger her Protection for Women I have taken a semi-diplomatic
approach. I am not the first to make an annotated edition of this text; Simon
Shephard has made a modernized edition in The Women’s Sharp Revenge (1985) and in
The Broadview Anthology of Sixteenth Century (2011) this is also done by Marie
Loughlin, Sandra Bell, and Patricia Brace. Contrary to these editions, I chose to stay
close to the original spelling and syntax of the pamphlet, in order to give readers
(mainly students of Renaissance texts) a view on the use of the English language at
the time. Staying close to the original spelling could also help readers of the original
pamphlet to read the text, since the Gothic typeset can be difficult to read in the
beginning (an indication of folios can be found in the text, in order to indicate where
a new page starts so it can easily be compared to a facsimile). For these same readers,
who are possibly also unfamiliar with the sixteenth-century lexicon and punctuation,
I aim to improve the understanding of the text by providing annotated footnotes for
explaining the meaning of archaic and out-of-use words and biographical
information concerning the historical and mythological figures featured in the text.
Although some words and figures are explained in the other two editions mentioned
xix
above, this edition provides an abundance of additional information not found in the
previous editions, making this edition a more elaborate, more complete and therefore
very useful edition of Jane Anger her Protection for Women.
In order to keep the text legible to the reader, I have chosen to make the following
silent alterations and standardizations to the text:
- vv has been made w everywhere
- long s has been made into a modern s everywhere
- u, where indicating v, has been changed to v everywhere
- standardization and modernization of punctuation where needed
- capitalization where needed and appropriate in modern spelling. This
includes the removal of some of the capitals for nouns. Where a
personification of the noun (e.g. Fidelity, B2v) is given, the capital remains, but
for nouns where this is not the case (e.g. aire C3r) the capital is removed.
- deletion of hyphenation where needed
- deletion of catchwords on the bottom of the pages
- Abbreviations were written in full. The added letters were typed in italics,
indicating the addition. Abbreviations featured often in the text are:
xx
o Sporadic use of a symbol for ‘and’, similar to the Tironian symbol for
‘and’ but with an extra down stroke.37
o Gent. for gentleman.
o Abbreviations for ‘the’ , and ‘that’ .
o Abbreviations for ‘with’ with this symbol
- In the original, prose is printed in the Gothic textura type, where as verse,
proper nouns, the first preface and the Latin phrases are printed in the Roman
type. In this edition, I have made as little alteration between types as possible,
italicizing only the Latin phrases since these are proverbs in a different
language. The verse and proper nouns are kept in the same type as the rest of
the text, for the Roman type had no clear function in the original text except
possibly to improve legibility of these names between the sometimes difficult
to read Gothic typeset. For the title of Boke his Surfeit in Love, sometimes
abbreviated in the text as His Surfeit, I have used italics as is done in modern
texts to indicate a book title.
In the annotated footnotes I have used some abbreviations to shorten long book
titles that recur throughout the edition. The abbreviations used are:
o EB: Encyclopedia Britannica
o BG: Bible Gateway
37 Examples of abbreviations are taken directly from the Jane Anger her Protection for
xxi
o EAW: John Lyly’s Euphues: Anatomy of Wit
o EHE: John Lyly’s Euphues his England
o ICW: Juan Luis Vives’ Education of a Christian Woman
o DGRBM: William Smit’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology.
For all the words that are glossed I have used the Oxford English Dictionary Online.
1
Edition
[A1r]JANE ANGER
her Protection
for Women.
To defend them against the
scandalous reportes of
a late Surfeiting Lover
1, and all other like
Venerians
2that complaine so to bee
overcloyed
3with womens
kindnesse.
Written by Ja: A. Gent.
4[illumination]
At London
Printed by Richard Jones,
and Thomas Orwin. 1589.
1 A pun on the book Boke his Complaint on Love by Thomas Orwin. surfeiting: indulging 2 Venerians: Persons influenced Venus and are therefore inclined to wantonness 3 overcloyed: satiated
4
2
[A2r]
To the gentlewomen of England, health.
5Gentlewomen, though it is to be feared that your setled wits wil advisedly condemne that,
which my cholloricke vaine6 hath rashly set downe, and so perchance7 Anger shal reape
anger for not agreeing with diseased persons: 8 Yet (if with indifferencie of censure9 you
consider of the head of the quarell10) I hope you will rather shew your selves defendantes of
the defenders title, then complainantes of the plaintifes wrong.11 I doubt judgment before
trial, which were iniurious to the Law,12 and I confesse that my rashnesse deserveth no lesse,
which was a fit of my extremitie.13 I will not urge reasons because your wits are sharp and
will soone conceive my meaning, ne14 will I be tedious least I proove too too troublesome,
nor over darke in my writing, for feare of the name of a ridler. But, in a worde, for my
5
health: a salutation expressed for the reader’s welfare.
6
chollericke vaine: having choler as the predominant humor. In early medicine it was
thought that four fluids determined a person’s physical and mental wellbeing; choler, blood, melancholy and choler. An excess of the latter caused anger in a person. (EB) vaine:
character, i.e. chollericke vaine: angry character.
7
perchance: perhaps
8
diseased persons: meaning misogynist men who write against women, misogyny being the disease. Especially the author is identifies the writer of Boke his Surfeit in Love, Thomas Orwin, of whom she later on mentions: “You must beare with the olde Lover his surfeit, because hee was diseased when he did write it” D1r.The “reap what you sow” proverb is also found in John Lyly’s, Euhpeus: The Anatomy of Wit (EAW), 77: “as thou hast reaped where another hath sown, so another may thresh that which thou hast reaped”.
9 censure: disapproving expression (the author uses this expression a lot)
10 you consider of the head of the quarrell: the main subject of the quarrel between men and
women.
11
defendantes of the defenders title, then complaintes of the plaintifes wrong: defenders title
would here be the goodness of women. The author here states that women are not victims, but should be proud to defend their good honor.
12 Anger speaks about the law continuously, which also occurs in EAW, e.g. : “She
endeavoureth to sette downe good laws”. (179)
13 a fit of my extremitie: an uncontrollable attack of her extreme anger 14
3
presumption I crave pardon, because it was Anger15 that did write it; committing your
protection and my selfe to the protection of your selves, and the judgement of the cause to
the censures of your just mindes.
Yours ever at commandement,
Ja: A
[ A2v]
To all women in generall, and gentle reader whatsoever.
FIE16 on the falshoode of men, whose minds goe oft a madding17 and whose tongues can not
so soone bee wagging, but straight they fal a tatling.18 Was there ever any so abused, so
slaundered, so railed19 upon, so wickedly handeled undeservedly, as are we women? Will
the Gods permit it, the Goddesses stay theyr punishing judgments, and we ourselves not
pursue their undoinges for such divelish practices?20 O, Paules steeple and Charing Crosse.21
A halter22 hold al such persons. Let the streames of the channels in London streates run so
swiftly, as they may be able alone to carrie them from that sanctuarie. Let the stones be as
15
Anger: throughout this first preface there is a difference here between three Angers: anger as an emotion, the personification of Anger, and Anger as the supposed name of the author.
16
Fie: beware
17
goe oft a madding: often show mad characteristics
18
fal a tatling: gossiping, speaking ill. See also EAW 118: “When the babe shall nowe beginne to tattle and call hir Mamma”.
19
railed: criticize
20
pursue their undoinges for such divelish practices: do wrong as they do 21
O, St Paules and Charing Crosse: only found proverb means: as old as St. Paul’s steeple and Charing Cross. St. Paul’s steeple was destroyed in 1561 and Charing Cross dates from 1290, so they are both old. Here this would indicate that women who are doing wrong as a
reaction to men who are doing wrong (“pursue their undoinges for such divelish practices”), are a problem that has been going on for a long time and is becoming tedious, old. Found in In William Carew Hazlitt’s English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, (1907), Web.
22
4
ice, the soales of their shooes as glasse, the waies steep like AEtna,23 and every blast a
whyrlwind puffed out of Boreas24 his long throat, that these may hasten their passage to the
Devils haven. Shal Surfeiters raile on our kindnes, you stand stil and say nought,25 and shall
not Anger stretch the vaines of her braines, the stringes of her fingers, and the listes26 of her
modestie to answere their surfeiting? Yes truly. And herein I conjure all you to aide27 and
assist me in defence of my willingnes, which shall make me rest at your commaundes.
Fare you well.
Your friend, Ja. A.
[B1r]
A Protection for Women, etc.
The desire that every man hath to shewe his true vaine in writing is unspeakable, and their
mindes are so caried away with the manner, as no care at all is had of the matter: they run
so into rhetorick, as often times they overrun the boundes of their own wits, and goe they
knowe not whether. If they have stretched their invention28 so hard on a last, as it is at a
stand,29 there remaines but one help, which is to write of us women. If they may once
encroch30 so far into our presence, as they may but see the lyning of our outermost garment,
23
Aetna: Latin name for Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily, Italy, known as the tallest volcano in Europe, which would make its ways the steepest. EB.
24 Boreas: Greek god of the North wind. EB. 25 nought: nothing
26
listes: edges
27 conjure all you to aide: call together conspiringly 28 invention: rhetoric arguments
29 a last, as it is at a stand: a last is a model of a foot used by cobblers, a stand is the shape of
the stretched leather used for making the shoe. Here: men stretch their argument until they have reached their desired proof.
30
5
they straight think that Apollo31 honours them in yeelding so good a supply to refresh their
sore overburdened heads through studying for matters to indite32 off. And therefore that
the god may see how thankfully they receive his liberality, their wits whetted33 and their
braines almost broken with botching his bountie,34 they fall straight to dispraising and
slaundering our silly35 sex. But judge what the cause should be of this their so great malice
towards simple women. Doubtles the weaknesse of our wits and our honest bashfulnesse,
by reason wherof they suppose that there is not one amongst us who can or dare reproove
their slanders and false reproches: their slaunderous tongues are so short,36 and the time
wherein they have lavished out their wordes freely have bene so long, that they know we
cannot catch hold of them to pull them out, and they think we wil not write to reproove37
their lying lips. Which conceites have already made them cockes, and wolde, should they not
be cravened,38 make themselves among themselves bee thought to be of the game.39 They
have bene so daintely40 fed with our good natures that like jades41 (their stomackes are
grown so quesie)42 they surfeit of our kindnes. If we wil not suffer them to smell on our
smockes43 they will snatch at our petticotes, but if our honest natures cannot away44 with
31
Apollo: the Greek and also Roman god of the sun, music, wisdom and prophecy. EB.
32
indite: dictate
33
whetted: sharpened
34
botching his bountie: clumsily repairing his virtues
35
silly: helpless, defenseless
36
their slanderous tongues are so short: meaning that words roll of their tongues easily.
37 reproove: rebuke
38 cravened: rendered spiritless through fear
39 Clear similarity with EAW, 92: “Though he be a Cocke of the game, yet Euphues is content
to bee crauen”.
40 daintely: luxuriously
41 jades: Worn out horses or horses of inferior breed
42 quesie: squeamish. Clear similarity with EAW, 23: “to the stomach quatted with dainties all
delicates seem queasy”
43 smockes: women’s undergarment (a smell-smocke is a man nosing for sex) 44
6
that uncivil kinde of jesting [B1v] then we are coy.45 Yet if we beare with their rudenes and
be som what modestly familiar with them, they will straight make matter of nothing, blazing
abroad46 that they have surfeited with love, and then their wits must be shown in telling the
maner how.
Among the innumerable number of bookes to that purpose, of late (unlooked for) the
newe surfeit of an olde lover (sent abroad to warne those which are of his own kind from
catching the like47 disease) came by chance to my handes. which, because as well women as
men are desirous of novelties, I willinglie read over. Neither did the ending thereof lesse
please me then the beginning, for I was so carried away with the conceit of the Gentleman
as that I was quite out of the booke before I thought I had bene in the middest thereof. So
pithie48 were his sentences, so pure his wordes, and so pleasing his stile.The chiefe49
matters therein contained were of two sortes: the one in the dispraise of man's follie, and
the other invective50 against our sex, their folly proceeding51 of their own flatterie joined
with fancie,52 and our faultes are through our follie, with which is some faith.
The bounteous53 wordes written over the lascivious54 kinge Ninus55 his head, set
down in this olde Lover his Surfeit to be these ‘Demaund and have’,56 do plainly shew the
45
coy: instigating or stirring up action. Likeness with EAW, 95: “If she be chaste then is she coy, if light then is she impudent”.
46
blazing abroad: proclaiming to everybody who will hear
47
like: same
48 pithie: full of strength or vigor 49 chiefe: main
50 invective: abusive 51
proceeding of: Following 52 fancie: delusive imagination 53 bounteous: plentiful or many 54 lascivious: lustful
55 King Ninus: mythical king of Assyria, was lustful for Semeramis who was the wife of one of
his officers. He married her and asked the officer to kill himself.
56
7
flatterie of men's false heartes: for knowing that we women are weake vessels57 soone
overwhelmed, and that Bountie bendeth everie thing to his becke,58 they take him for their
instrument (too too strong) to assay59 the pulling downe of us so weake. If we stand fast,
they strive;60 if we totter,61 though but a little, they will never leave til they have overturned
us. 62 Semeramis63 demaunded, and who would not if courtesie should be so freely offered?
Ninus gave all to his kingdome, and that at the last: the more foole he.64 And of him this shal
be my censure (agreeing with the verdict of the surfaiting lover, save65 onely that he hath
misplaced and mistaken certaine wordes) in this maner:66
Fooles force such flatterie, and men of dull conceite:67
Such phrensie68 oft does hant69 the wise. (Nurse Wisedom once rejected)70
Though love be sure and firm: yet lust fraught71 with deceit,
And mens fair wordes do worke great wo, unlesse they be suspected.
57
we women, are weak vessels: after 1 Peter 3:7: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel”. BG.
58
Bountie bendeth everie thing to his becke: generosity bends everything to his command
59
assay: try
60
strive: try hard
61
totter: falter
62
overturned: defeated
63
Semeramis: wife of King Ninus of Assyria.
64
the more foole he: he was the more foolish one
65
save: except
66 he hath misplaced and mistaken certaine wordes: indicating that Orwin did not copy the
story correctly perhaps.
67 dull conceit: dim wit 68
phrensie: mental derangement
69 hant: haunt
70 Nurse Wisdom: Taken from EAW, 84: “Ah foolish Euphues, why didst thou leave Athens,
the nurse of wisdom, to inhabit Naples, the nourisher of wantonness”. This, in turn, could be a reference to Proverbs 1:20-33 (Wisdom’s Rebuke), where a female personification of Wisdom who calls out to mankind for being foolish and mocking. (BG)
71
8
[B2r]Then foolish Ninus had but due, if I his judge might be,
Vilde72 are mens lustes, false are their lips, besmear’d with flatterie.
Himselfe and crowne he brought to thrall73 which passed all the rest
His foot-stoole match he made his head,74 and therefore was a beast.
Then all such beastes such beastly endes, I wish the Gods to send,
And worser too if woorse may be: like his my censure end.
The slouthful king Sardanapalus75 with his beastlike and licentious deedes76 are so plainly
deciphered,77 and his bad end well deserved, so truly set down in that Surfeit, as both our
judgments agree in one. But that Menalaus78 was served with such sauce79 it is a wonder.
Yet truely their sex are so like to80 buls that it is no marvell though the gods do
metamorphose some of them81 to give warning to the rest, if they could thinke so of it, for
some of them will follow the smocke as Tom Bull82 will runne after a towne cowe. But least
they should running slip and breake their pates,83 the Gods, provident84 of their welfare, set
72
vilde: vile
73
thrall: into bondage or subjection
74
His foot-stoole match he made his head: he brought his head to as low as a footstool, and animals were low, so he was an animal.
75
Sardanapalus: legendary last king of Assyria, very effeminate and caused the downfall of Assyria. Described by the Greek Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC). EB.
76 licentious deeds: deeds that are and excessive assumption of liberty 77 deciphered: laid bare
78 Menelaus: Husband of Helen and cuckolded by Paris (causing the Trojan War). EB. 79
served with such sauce: to be subjected to the same kind of usage as Sardanapalus
80 like to: similar
81 metamorphose some of them: in Greek mythology many men were changed by the gods
as punishment for their misdoings.
82 Tom Bull: a name signifying maleness, also again referring to the metamorphosing done by
the gods.
83
9
a paire of tooters85 on their foreheades, to keepe it from the ground, for doubtles so stood
the case with Menalus, hee running abroade as a smel-smocke86 got the habit of a
coockold,87 of whom thus shall go my verdicte:
The Gods most just doe justly punish sinne
with those same plagues which men do most forlorn,88
If filthy lust in men to spring begin,
That monstrous sin he plagueth with the horne,
their wisdome great wherby they men forewarne,89
to shun vild lust, lest they will weare the horne.
Deceitfull men with guile90 must be repaid,
And blowes for blowes who renders91 not againe?
The man that is of coockolds lot92 affraid,
From lechery he ought for to refraine,
Els93 shall he have the plague he does forlorne,
and ought ,perforce94 constrain’d, to wear the horne.
84
provident: having foresight
85 tooters: horns
86 smel-smocke: Licentious man
87 coockold: A man whose wife is unfaithful 88
forlorn: abandon
10
[B2v]The Greeke, Acteons badge95 did weare, they say,
And worthy too, he loved the smocke so wel,
That everie man may be a Bull I pray,
Which loves to follow lust (his game) so well,
For by that meanes poore women shall have peace
and want these jarres.96 Thus doth my censure cease.
The greatest fault that doth remaine in us women is that we are too credulous, for could we
flatter as they can dissemble97, and use our wittes well as they can their tongues ill, then
never would any of them complaine of surfeiting. But if we women be so so perilous cattell98
as they terme us, 99 I marvell that the gods made not Fidelitie100 as well a man, as they
created her a woman, and all the morall vertues of their masculine Sex, as of the feminine
kinde, except their deities knewe that there was some soverainty101 in us women, which
could not be in them men. But least some snatching102 fellow should catch me before I fall to
the grounde, (and say they will adorne my head with a feather,103 affirming that I rome
beyond reason, seeing it is most manifest104 that the man is the head of the woman105, and
95
Acteon’s badge: The Greek Acteon spied on the goddess Diana bathing and consequently was turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds (EB). badge – symbol or sign, here being the horns of a stag.
96
want these jarres: do without these disturbing sounds
97
dissemble: disguise the semblance of one’s character
98 perilous cattell: unthreatening property 99 terme us: call us
100 Fidelitie: personification of the virtue of fidelity, according to Shepherd almost always
portrayed as woman.
101 soverainty: supremacy 102 snatching: grabbing
103 adorne my head with a feather: a feather was the badge of a fool. See also John Lyly’s Eupues and his England (EHE) 201: “There is nothing lighter than a feather, yet is it set aloft
in a woman's hat”.
104
11
that therfore we ought to be guided by them), I prevent106 them with this answere. The gods
knowing that the mindes of mankind would be aspiring,107 and having thoroughly viewed the
wonderfull vertues wherewith women are inriched, least they should provoke us to pride,
and so confound us with Lucifer, they bestowed the supremacy over us to man, that of that
cockscombe108 he might onely boast, and therfore for gods sake let them keepe it. But wee
returne to the Surfeit.
Having made a long discourse of the gods censure concerning love, he leaves them
(and I them with him) and comes to the principall object109 and generall foundation of love,
which he affirmeth to be grounded on women. And now beginning to search his scroule,110
wherein are tauntes111 against us, he beginneth and saieth that we allure their hearts to us.
Wherein he saieth more truly then he is aware off: for we woo them with our vertues and
they wed us with vanities,112 and men being of wit sufficient to [B3r] consider of the vertues
which are in us women, are ravished with the delight of those dainties,113 which allure and
draw the sences of them to serve us, wherby they become ravenous haukes,114 who doe not
onely seize upon us, but devour us. Our good toward them is the destruction of our selves,
we being wel formed are by them fouly deformed. Of our true meaning they make
105
man is the head of the woman: from Corinthians 11:3: “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God”. BG.
106
prevent: here probably theological language, meaning: to go before (a person) with spiritual guidance and help
107 aspiring: eager to get ahead 108
cockscombe: a cap resembling a cock’s comb, worn by professional fools
109 principall object: main
110 scroule: scroll or book, here the author means Boke his Surfeit in Love. 111 tauntes: jests
112 vanities: worthless things 113 dainties: pleasantries 114
12
mockes,115 rewarding our loving follies with disdainful floutes.116 We are the griefe of man,
in that we take all the griefe from man: we languish117 when they laugh, we lie sighing when
they sit singing, and sit sobbing when they lie slugging and sleeping. Mulier est hominis
confusion,118 because her kinde heart cannot so sharply reproove their franticke119 fits as
those madde frensies deserve. Aut amat, aut odit, non est in tertio: 120 she loveth good
thinges, and hateth that which is evill; shee loveth justice and hateth iniquitie;121 she loveth
trueth and true dealing, and hateth lies and falsehood; she loveth man for his vertues, and
hateth him for his vices; to be short, there is no medium between good and bad, and
therefore she can be, In nullo tertio.122
Plato his answere to a viccar of fooles which asked the question, being that he knew
not whether to place women among those creatures which were reasonable or
unreasonable, did as much beautifie his devine knowledge as all the boakes he did write.
For, knowing that women are the greatest help that men have, without whose aide and
assistance it is as possible for them to live, as if they wanted meat, drinke, clothing, or any
other necessary; and knowing also that even then in his age, much more in those ages which
shold after follow, men were grown to be so unreasonable, as he could not discide whether
115
mockes: mocking jokes
116
disdainful floutes: contemptuous mockery
117 languish: weaken
118 Mulier est hominis confusion: Latin: “Woman is man’s ruin”. Common idea and phrase in
medieval poetry (e.g. Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale, 223, where it is translated wrongly by Chauntecleer to Pertilot as "Woman is all of man's delight and his bliss”).
119 franticke: rantingly mad
120 Aut amat, aut odit, non est in tertio: Latin: either she loves or she hates; there is no third
possibility.
121 inequitie: unrighteousness
122 In nullo tertio: Latin: no third, meaning that a woman cannot be in between good and
13
men or bruite beastes were more reasonable.123 Their eies are so curious as, be not all
women equall with Venus for beautie, they cannot abide124 the sight of them; their
stomackes so queasie as doe they tast but twice of one dish they straight surfeit, and needes
must a new diet be provided for them. Wee are contrary to men, because they are contrarie
to that which is good. Because they are spurblind125 they cannot see into our natures, and
we too well (though we had but halfe an eie)126 into their conditions, because they are so
bad. Our behaviours alter daily, because [B3v]mens vertues decay hourely. If Hesiodus127 had
with equity as well looked into the life of man, as he did presisely search out the qualities of
us women, he would have said that if a woman trust unto a man it shal fare as well with her
as if she had a waight of a thousand pounds tied about her neck, and then cast into the
bottomless seas. For by men are we confounded though they by us are sometimes crossed.
Our tongues are light because earnest in reprooving128 mens filthy vices, and our good
counsel is termed nipping injurie129 in that it accordes not with their foolish fancies. Our
boldnesse rash for giving Noddies nipping130 answeres, our dispositions naughtie for not
agreeing with their vilde minds, and our furie dangerous because it will not beare with their
123
Plato his answere to a Vicar of fooles: In Plato’s Republic V, Socrates answers to Glaucon that women are, although not equal to men, worthy of being educated. Since Glaucon is described in the introduction of the 2008 edition by Sue Asscher and David Widger as an “impetuous youth” who “ has a difficulty in apprehending the higher education of Socrates”, he can be identified as a vicar of fools, also since he sees himself also as a great philosopher. Plato. Republic V. ed. Sue Asscher and David Widger, 2008. Project Gutenberg.
124 abide: last, they want to move on to the next woman as soon as possible. 125 spurblind: completely blinded by love
126 had but halfe an eie: proverb: to give a casual or careless glance. Merriam-Webster
Dictionary online).
127 Hesiodus: Greek poet, 8th century BC. (EB). Probably wrote the Catalogue of Women, but
also claims in his Theogony that women were sent by the gods as an evil to men (Shepherd 47-8).
128 reprooving: to prove again
129 nipping injurie: a stinging or sarcastic insult 130
14
knavish131 behaviours. If our frownes be so terrible, and our anger so deadly, men are too
foolish in offering occasions of hatred; which shunned, a terrible death is prevented. There is
a continuall deadly hatred betweene the wilde boare and tame hounds, I would there were
the like betwixt132 women and men unles they amend133 their maners, for so strength should
predominate where now flattery and dissimulation134 have the upper hand. The lion rageth
when he is hungry, but man raileth when he is glutted.135 The tyger is robbed of her young
ones when she is ranging abroad, but men rob women of their honour undeservedlye under
their noses. The viper stormeth when his tail is trodden on,136 and may not we fret137 when
all our bodie is a footstoole138 to their vild lust. Their unreasonable mindes which knowe not
what reason is make them nothing better then bruit beastes. But let us graunt that
Cletemnestra,139 Ariadna,140 Dalila,141 and Jesabell142 were spotted with crimes: shal not
Nero143 with others innumerable, and therefore unnameable, joine handes with them and
lead the daunce? Yet it greeves me that faithful Dejanira should be falsely accused of her
husband Hercules death, seeing she was utterly guiltlesse (even of thought) concerning any
131
knavish: vulgar
132
I would there were the like betwixt: I wish there was an equality between
133
amend: correct 134
dissimulation: hypocrisy
135
glutted: full of greedy food 136
The viper is also mentioned in several of John Lyly’s writings. (EAW 44 and EHE 349).
137
fret: be annoyed or irritated
138
footstool: here, an aid to support their lust
139
Clytemnestra: in the legend of the Trojan War, Clytemnestra was the wife of
Ageamemnon. While she was away she had an affair with Aegisthus, and when Agamemnon returned, both lovers murdered him. EB.
140Ariadne: helped the Greek mythological hero Theseus escape the Labyrinth on Crete, but
afterwards was abandoned by Theseus and hanged herself. EB.
141Delilah: biblical Philistine woman with whom Samson fell in love, but who was bribed to
find out how Samson got his strength and afterwards betrayed him to the Philistines. Judges 16. BG.
142Jezebel: wife of the biblical Ahab of Ormi, who killed many of God’s prophets and who
threatened Elijah when he came to bring Ahab the word of God. 1 Kings 16:31-21:14. BG.
143
15
such crime. For had not the Centaures falshood exceeded the simplicitie of her too too
credulous heart, Hercules had not died so cruelly tormented nor the monsters treason been
so unhappely executed.144 But we must beare with these faultes, and with greater then
these, [B4r] especiallye seeing that hee which set it downe for a maxime145 was driven into a
mad mood through a surfeit which made him run quite besides his booke, and mistake his
case:146 for wher he accused Dejanira falsely he woulde have had condemned Hercules
deservedly.
Marius daughter147 imbued148 with so many excellent vertues was too good either
for Metellus149 or any man living: for thogh peradventure150 she had some smal fault yet
doubtles he had detestable crimes. On the same place where doun151 is on the hens head,
the combe grows on the cocks pate. If women breede woe152 to men, they bring care,
povertie, griefe, and continual feare to women, which if they be not woes they are worser.
144
In Greek mythology Deianeira was the wife of Hercules. When she was assaulted by the centaur Nessus, Hercules slew him, but when he died he told Deianeira that his blood was a love potion. She kept it and later on smeared it on Hercules’ clothes when he was in love with another woman. The blood turned out to be poison, and Hercules died. (EB). The author here claims that Deianeira was innocent of his death, since she did not know the blood was poison.
145
maxime: a proposition expressing a general rule or law, here: a fact.
146
case: as a law case, made the wrong judgment concerning this case.
147 Marius daughter: Gaius Marius was a Roman general (157 – 86 BC). It is only reported
that he had a son, but this son, Gaius Marius the Younger, was married to Mucia Tertia, making her his daughter-in-law. When her husband was murdered, Mucia Tertia was then married to Pompey, who later on divorced her on suspicion of adultery with Ceasar. EB.
148 imbued: saturated
149 Metellus: Roman general and supporter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who was an enemy of
Gaius Marius. EB.
150 thogh peradventure: although perhaps 151 doun: down, soft feathers
152
16
Euthydomus153 made sixe kinde of women, and I will approove154 that ther are so
many of men: which be, poore and rich, bad and good, foule and faire. The great
patrimonies that wealthy men leave their children after their death make them rich: but dice
and other marthriftes155 happening into their companies, never leave them til they bee
at the beggers bush,156 wher I can assure they become poore. Great eaters being kept at a
slender diet never distemper157 their bodies but remaine in good case158: but afterwards
once turned foorth to liberties pasture,159 they graze so greedilie as they become surfeiting
jades and alwaies after are good for nothing. There are men which are snout-faire,160 whose
faces look like a creame-pot, and yet those not the faire men I speake of, but I meane those
whole conditions are free from knaverie,161 and I tearme those foul that have neither
civilitie nor honestie. Of these sorts there are none good, none rich or faire long. But if wee
doe desire to have them good, we must alwaies tie them to the manger162 and diet their
greedy panches,163 other wise they wil surfeit. What shal I say? Wealth makes them lavish,
153
Euthydomus: Euthydemus is a work by Plato (ca. 380 BC), which includes a eristic
(argumentative) dialogue. According to Shepherd, however, the naming of Euthydemus here is incorrect, since it was not Euthydemus but Siminodes who made several kinds of women, not six but ten.
154
approove: confirm
155
marthriftes: hindrances in prosperity
156
at the beggars bush: proverb: to go by beggar’s bush, or go home past beggar’s bush, meaning to go into ruin. According to the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer (1898, Web) “beggar's bush was the name of a tree which once stood on the left hand of the London road from Huntingdon to Caxton; so called because it was a noted rendezvous for beggars”.
157
distemper: want of balance in the humors.
158 case: conditions
159 foorth to liberties pasture: forth to land where everything is possible 160 snout-faire: handsome
161 knaverie: dishonesty 162 manger: stable 163
