The Purport of Lyly's Endimion

Percy W. Long

doi:10.2307/456826

The Purport of Lyly's Endimion

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020

Percy W. Long

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The Rev. Mr. N. J. Halpin in 1843, followed by Professor G. P. Baker in 1894 and Mr. R. Warwick Bond in 1902, have sought to explain Endimion as the vehicle of a personal allegory setting forth a contemporary court intrigue. These commentators have been duly followed in turn, with slight variations, by the historians F. G. Fleay in 1891, A. W. Ward in 1899, and F. E. Schelling in 1908. The existence of this allegory may be regarded, therefore, as generally accepted by authorities on the Elizabethan drama. The exponents of this personal allegory agree in recognizing that Lyly intended to represent the Queen in Cynthia, a point which no one is likely to dispute. They agree further in arguing that Endimion, the lover of Cynthia, represents Leicester, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth. From this basis three varieties of the allegory have been developed, in attempts to identify a third character, Tellus, thè lady deserted by Endimion. Three ladies have been proposed, each of whom played a striking rôle in Leicester's career. Mr. Halpin suggested Lady Sheffield, Leicester's second wife; Professor Baker substituted for her Lady Essex, Leicester's third wife; and Mr. Bond set aside both in favor of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Type: Research Article
Information: PMLA , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , 1909 , pp. 164 - 184

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/456826 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1909

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^{page 164 note 1} Shakespeare Soc., London, 1843. Oberon's Vision in the Midsummer's Night's Dream. Illustrated by a comparison with Lyly's Endimion.

^{page 164 note 2} G. P. Baker: Endymion. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1894.

^{page 164 note 3} The Complete Works of John Lyly. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1902.

^{page 164 note 4} F. G. Fleay: A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama. Reeves and Turner. L., 1891. ii. 41.

^{page 164 note 5} A. W. Ward: A History of English Dramatic Literature. Macmillan & Co. L., 1899. i, 289–93.

^{page 164 note 6} F. E. Schelling: Elizabethan Drama. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1908. i, 127–32.

^{page 164 note 7} This had been recognized before, as by Dilke: Old English Plays, L., 1814, and William Hazlitt: Eliz. Lit., Lecture, ii.

^{page 165 note 1} Bond, ii, 90, 102.

^{page 165 note 2} Bond, iii, 91.

^{page 165 note 3} Bond, iii, 91. In discussing the proposed personal allegory I have allowed for the contention of Mr. Bond that in many places Lyly intended the allegory to be obscure. This eliminates the minor characters.

^{page 166 note 1} Bond, iii, On the Allegory in Endimion.

^{page 166 note 2} Baker, p. xciv.

^{page 166 note 3} The second part of Euphues, issued early in 1580, is dedicated to: “My very good Lorde and Maister Edward de Vere, Earle of Oxenforde.”

^{page 166 note 4} From Leicester's Commonwealth (ed. 1641, p. 47) it appears that Oxford's father, as well as his father-in-law Burghley, was a confirmed enemy of Leicester.

^{page 166 note 5} J. A. Symonds: Sir Philip Sidney, L., 1886, Macmillan & Co., pp. 66–9.

^{page 166 note 6} See the letter written by Lyly to Burghley from Oxford in 1574. Bond, i, 12–15.

^{page 167 note 1} Bond, ii, 198.

^{page 167 note 2} See Bond, iii, 503. Note for p. 17, 1. 5. This shows that Professor Baker labored under a misapprehension as to the reading of the title page in Blount's edition.

^{page 167 note 3} Revels Accounts (ed. 1908).

^{page 167 note 4} In 1582, the Queen was at Rochester with Anjou (Nichols' Progresses, ii, 345); in 1583, at Windsor (Bevels Accounts, ed. 1908, p. 349); in 1584, at Whitehall (Thomas Birck: Queen Elizabeth, L., 1754, i, 45).

^{page 167 note 5} Baker, p. cxxvii.

^{page 167 note 6} These considerations, which forbid an early dating of the play, are confirmed by the absence of any print or registration of Endimion during the discontinuance of the Paul's Boys, although three plays by Lyly were published or registered in 1584 and 1585. Again, an examination of the Euphuism in Lyly's plays indicates that although Endimion ranks with the earlier group of Lyly's plays, nevertheless, with due allowance for its length, it should be placed after all those which were published or registered by 1585. Compare Clarence Griffin Child: John Lyly and Ephuism, Erlangen, 1894, p. 99. Also Bond, ii, 289.

^{page 167 note 7} In 1589, she was at Whitehall (Nichols' Progresses, ii, 26–7), and in 1591, at Richmond (Nichols, iii, 74, and Birck, i, 63).

^{page 168 note 1} Bond, iii, 111.

^{page 168 note 2} In 1588, the Paul's Boys played repeatedly before the Queen at Greenwich (Revels Accts.). Pleay, therefore, dated the play 1588. But since the Queen in April, 1585, commanded the formation of a company of Paul's Boys (Baker, p. cxxvii), the accidental gap in the Revels Accounts in no wise disqualifies 1586 and 1587, though in 1587 the impending execution of Mary, Queen of Scots and the mourning for Sir Philip Sidney may have told against such performances.

^{page 168 note 3} Bond, iii, 11.

^{page 168 note 4} Bond, iii, 93.

^{page 169 note 1} Geron is not himself a faithful lover (see Endimion, iii, iii), because he separated from his wife when she engaged in the “ vile Arte of enchaunting” (Endimion, v, iii, 258).

^{page 169 note 2} Bond, in, 89. Yet Tellus is represented, unlike Mary, as a member of the Queen's court, as one of her “train.” See Endimion, v, iii, 12.

^{page 169 note 3} A hypothesis that Oxford, who probably composed plays (see Bond, i, 24), instigated Lyly to write Endimion as a subtle attack on Leicester, cannot be advanced in view of the entirely complimentary portrayal of Endimion.

^{page 170 note 1} To construe the play as a threat by Leicester to take up with Mary unless granted an extraordinary favor is inadmissible because the author must then have been closely associated with Leicester, and not, as Lyly was, with Leicester's enemies.

^{page 170 note 2} Compare the letters of Burghley, February 7th, and Thomas Duddely, February 11th (Hardwicke's State Papers, ii, 298).

^{page 170 note 3} Tellue (Latin for earth) might more rationally suggest to the audience the territory of the Low Countries.

^{page 170 note 4} Hardwicke's State Papers, ii, 298.

^{page 171 note 1} Leicester's Commonwealth, ed. 1641, p. 20.

^{page 171 note 2} Endimion, ii, i.

^{page 171 note 3} Leicester's Commonwealth, ed. 1641, pp. 98–9.

^{page 172 note 1} Endimion, i, ii, 12–32; v, iii, 145–51.

^{page 172 note 2} Bond, iii, 91.

^{page 172 note 3} Endimion, ii, iii, 11–15.

^{page 173 note 1} The letter of Leicester cited by Professor Baker (p. xlvii), does not differ markedly from the protestations of other servants of the Queen. Compare the letters of Hatton in Sir Harris Nicolas: Memoirs … of Sir Christopher Hatton, L., 1847.

^{page 173 note 2} For a reply to Professor Baker's suggestion of a connection between Leicester and Lyly, see Bond, iii, 95, n. 1.

^{page 173 note 3} John Hannah: Courtly Poets, L., 1892, Geo. Bell & Co.

^{page 174 note 1} Halpin, p. 51; Baker, p. xlii; Bond, iii, 85. Lyly's allusion in the epilogue to “the malicious that seek to overthrow us with threats ” need not be personal. More plausibly it refers to the enemies of the Paul's Boys.

^{page 174 note 2} More reasonably one might argue that during the rehearsals such undesirable identifications were proposed. At that time, as (conceivably) in January, 1586, events may have transpired rendering such identifications possible. But in any case the nature of the play, in representing Cynthia's court, rendered attempts at identifications inevitable, and afforded sufficient occasion for Lyly's caveat.

^{page 174 note 3} Halpin, p. 49–50; Bond, iii, 84–5. Professor Baker did not argue at length for the existence of the allegory, contenting himself with proposing identifications which were certainly more plausible than those of Mr. Halpin or Mr. Bond.

^{page 174 note 4} Bond, ii, 256.

^{page 174 note 5} Bond, iii, 85. He refers to Endimion, ii, i.

^{page 175 note 1} Bond, iii, 85.

^{page 175 note 2} See Bond, ii, 215, 1. 21.

^{page 175 note 3} Bond, iii, 84.

^{page 175 note 4} Mr. Bond admits with reference to his version of the allegory:—“Its weak point is, doubtless, the want of any definite intrigue against Leicester by Mary and Lady Shrewsbury; but the same weakness is inherent in the theory of Mr. Halpin, and in Mr. Baker's emendation of it.” (Bond, iii, 102). The plot of Tellus against Endimion is the plot of the play.

^{page 175 note 5} Bond, iii, 84. Similarly Halpin, p. 49.

^{page 176 note 1} Bond, iii, 81–3.

^{page 176 note 2} Lyly's intention is here clearly marked. See Endimion, ii, ii, 19–25, 52.

^{page 176 note 3} Cf. iii, i, 14; also Beaumont: The Glance: “Two flames, two Semeles, Dwell in those eyes.”

^{page 176 note 4} For Corsites see F. de Mely: Les Lapidaires de l'Antiquité et du Moyen Age, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1898. Index.

^{page 176 note 5} It is possible that the character Endimion may have been associated, at some stage in the composition of the play, with the fish Scolopidus. Cf. Endimion, ii, i, 31 and Bond, iii, 506.

^{page 176 note 6} Bond, iii, 81.

^{page 176 note 7} English Writers, ix, 203–8.

^{page 177 note 1} Endimion, ii, i, p. 33.

^{page 177 note 2} Endimion, i, i.

^{page 177 note 3} Endimion, iii, i, 59; iv, iii, 96; v, iii, 188, 233.

^{page 177 note 4} Endimion, v, iii, 142.

^{page 178 note 1} Bond, iii, 85.

^{page 178 note 2} Endimion, v, i, 17–24.

^{page 178 note 3} The Atlantic Monthly, October, 1908, Cf. also Modern Philology, April, 1908, J. B. Fletcher: Did Astrophel Love Stella?

^{page 178 note 4} Endimion, i, ii, 41–61.

^{page 179 note 1} Endimion, ii, iii, 32; v, i, 50. To represent Endimion in the acts described by Tellus would have been discourteous to the Queen.

^{page 179 note 2} Lyly: Sapho and Phao, iii, iii, 43.

^{page 179 note 3} The characterization of Corsites (Bond, iii, 91) as a soldier of great physical strength, tough and unsmoothed nature, and honest simplicity, will be seen to tally with the powerful, untameable, unambiguous nature of desire. His representation as a soldier accords with the mythology of Mars and Venus.

^{page 180 note 1} Endimion, iv, iii.

^{page 180 note 2} Bond, iii, 83. Without this significance the episode would be, as Mr. Bond considers it (ii, 275), unnecessary and “a blemish.” But the contrast of Corsites and Endimion, of Tellus and Cynthia, is fundamental.

^{page 180 note 3} Endimion, iv, iii, 84.

^{page 180 note 4} Endimion, iv, iii, 129.

^{page 180 note 5} Endimion, iii, i, 46–51.

^{page 180 note 6} Lyly gives no indication of an allegorical meaning in this effect of the kiss. Yet, by a happy coincidence it was held by exponents of Platonic love (cf. Castiglione: Il Cortegiano, iv, 66), that in a kiss the souls of the lovers blended in the breath, so that the predominating will came to govern both bodies. Thus Cynthia's kiss might exalt Endimion, recalling him from his baser dreams of weddings and dances.

^{page 181 note 1} Eumenides, as the faithful lover who alone can read the oracle of the fountain, who never reveals the name of his beloved (v, i, 17), and will sacrifice his tongue to save hers (v, iii, 228), is still more faithfully the friend of Endimion, who learns from the oracle how to save his friend rather than how to possess his love, and never urges his courtship during Endimion's sleep (v, i, 157). Thus Honor desists from courting Fame while the lover is enthralled by thoughts of marriage, and thus Honor would lose his tongue to preserve that of Fame. (Cf. also Endimion, i, ii, 50).

^{page 181 note 2} Semele, whose light nature and waspish tongue are insisted on (cf. p. 183), is yet beloved of Eumenides, who declares: “ The least minute being spent in the getting of Semele is more worth than the whole world.” (iii, iv, 103). Such was the typical Renaissance attitude toward Fame.

^{page 181 note 3} Dipsas, as the agent of Tellus against Endimion, which Tellus announced as “allurements of pleasure” (i, ii, 42–3), should represent Pleasure. This meaning is conveyed in part by the literal signification of Dipsas, a serpent whose bite causes violent thirst. Apart from her recourse to sorcery, she is an acceptable person.(v, iii, 258–70). The function of Pleasure in the plot is to slacken the lover's devotion to Heavenly Beauty (i, iv, 32).

^{page 181 note 4} Geron, cast off by his wife Pleasure when she took to sorcery, then left the court, and lived “fiftie winters” (iii, iv, 5) in melancholy and solitude beside the fountain of faithful love. This would seem to be Virtue, cast off by pleasure, and long since an absentee from court.

^{page 181 note 5} The Castle in the Desert, to which Cynthia condemns Tellus in the custody of Corsites (iii, i, 40–2) and in which Tellus weaves only images of Endimion (v, iii, 251–2), seems to be the Castle of Fancy, where Sensual Love holds Earthly Beauty in his power.

^{page 182 note 1} Panelion, nevertheless, seems to typify Compassion (). Cf. Endimion, iv, iii, 69–71. Gyptes represents the lore of Egypt, as Pythagoras the philosophy of Greece. Bagoa is probably a feminine form of Bagoas. Floscula, perhaps, conveys also the figurative sense of rhetoric. For several suggestions concerning the minor characters I am indebted to Prof. G. L. Kittredge.

^{page 182 note 2} The Prologue.

^{page 182 note 3} Marston: Satires, i, 27–8.

^{page 182 note 4} Bond, iii, 103.

^{page 183 note 1} Bond, ii, 84.

^{page 183 note 2} Bond, iii, 84.

^{page 183 note 3} Endimion, iv, iii, 67.

^{page 183 note 4} Endimion, v, iii, 204.

^{page 183 note 5} Endimion, iii, iv, 60.

^{page 184 note 1} Endimion, iii, i, 15. These characteristics are suitable to the disagreeable side of Fame.

^{page 184 note 2} Astrophel and Stella st. 77. He indicates the manner in which Stella received his advances:

“She heard my plaints, and did not onely heare,

But them (so sweet is she) most sweetly sing.“ (St. 57).

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