Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- 15 Majority and Marriage
- 16 Country Muses
- 17 Country Matters
- 18 Murder
- 19 Mayhem
- 20 Wanderlust
- 21 Desperadoes
- 22 Flight
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
16 - Country Muses
from Part III - Emancipation 1571–1574
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- 15 Majority and Marriage
- 16 Country Muses
- 17 Country Matters
- 18 Murder
- 19 Mayhem
- 20 Wanderlust
- 21 Desperadoes
- 22 Flight
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
Summary
In 1573 Thomas Bedingfield, one of the Queen's Gentlemen Pensioners, published his translation of a consolatory essay by Girolomo Cardano under the title Cardanus Comforte (STC 4607). Prefaced is a letter from Bedingfield, ‘To the Right Honourable and my good Lorde the Earle of Oxeforde, Lorde great Chamberlaine of Englande’, dated (by modern reckoning) 1 January 1572, purveying the polite fiction that Bedingfield had hoped to keep his work unpublished (sigs. A2–2v):
My good Lord, I can geeue nothinge moore agreable to your minde, and my fortune, then the willinge performance of such seruice as it shall please you to commaunde mee vnto. And therefore rather to obeye then boaste of my cunninge, and as a newe signe of myne olde deuocion, I doe presente the booke your Lordeship so longe desired. With assured hope that how so euer you mislike or allowe therof, you will fauourably conseale myne imperfections which to your Lordshippe alone I dare discouer, because most faithfully I honor and loue you. My long discontinuance of study, or rather the lacke of grounded knowledge did many times discorage me, yet the pleasure I tooke in the matter did counteruaile all dispayre, and the rather by encouragement of your Lordship who (as you wel remember) vnwares to me found some parte of this worke, and willed me in any wyse to procede therin. My meaning was not to haue imparted my trauayle to any, but your honour hath power to countermaund myne intencion. Yet I most humbly beseech you either not to make any pertakers thereof, or at the least wise those, whoe for reuerence to your Lordship or loue to mee, will willingly beare with myne errors. A nedelesse thinge I know it is to comforte you, whom nature and fortune hath not onelye not iniured, but rather vpon whom they haue bountifully bestowed their grace: notwithstandinge sith you delighte to see others acquited of cares, your Lordship shall not doe amisse to reade some part of Cardanus counsell: wherein consideringe the manyfolde miseries of others, you may the rather esteeme your owne happye estate with encrease of those noble and rare vertues which I know and reioyse to be in you.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Monstrous AdversaryThe Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, pp. 77 - 78Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2003