The Choise of Valentines | Page 3

to vol i. of Mr. Grosart's
edition of Nash's works, as if they formed the whole piece."[h]
Nothing is known of Postlethwayt and Price, who at one time owned
the Rawlinson copy, that throws light on its source. In the Petyt,
however, we get a suppositional explanation of its manifestly purer text.
Petyt, subsequent to his call to the Bar, in 1670, was for many years
Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London. Now we know that
Lord Essex, an intimate friend and connection of the Earl of
Southampton, and like Southampton a generous and discerning patron

of letters, was for some time in the "free custody" of the Lord Keeper
of the Tower. Further, Southampton, who had joined Essex in his
rebellion, had been tried and convicted with his friend, and though the
Queen spared his life, he was not released from the Tower until the
ascension of James I. It is not unlikely, therefore, that a copy of Nash's
manuscript made for Lord Essex passed, on the execution of the latter,
with other papers and documents, into the official custody of the Lord
Keeper, to be subsequently unearthed by his successor, Petyt, who,
with a taste for the "curious," had it copied for his own edification. This
supposition is further borne out as follows: The particular
commonplace book in which this poem occurs has been written by
various hands. In the same handwriting as, and immediately preceding
"The Choise of Valentines," are two poetical effusions dedicated "To
the Earl of Essex," both apparently written when he was in prison and
under sentence of death. The other contents of the volume are likewise
contemporaneous.
All things considered, then, the Petyt text, although transcribed about
fifty years later, has weightier claims to attention than the version in the
Rawlinson MSS. I have, therefore, adopted the former as a basis,
giving the Rawlinson variations in the form of notes. A few of these are
obviously better readings than those of the Petyt text: the reader cannot
fail to distinguish these. In the main, however, the Inner Temple
version will be found consistent with its particular dedication, whilst
the Rawlinson variations appear due to an attempt, signally
unsuccessful, to adapt the poem for general use.
For the rest I have faithfully adhered to the original in the basic text,
and in the variorum readings, except in one particular. The Rawlinson
MS. is altogether guiltless of punctuation, while the Petyt copy has
been carelessly "stopped" by the scribe: I have therefore given modern
punctuation.
J. S. F.
FOOTNOTES
[a] See page x. [Transcriber's note: starting "It is curious to note"]

[b] Have with you to Saffron Walden, iii., 44.
[c] Terrors of the Night.
[d] It is true that Nash, in his dedication of the
"Unfortunate
Traveller," speaks of it as his "first offering." This, however, must be
taken rather as meaning his first serious effort in acknowledgment of
his patron's bounty, for in "The Terrors of the Night" (registered on the
30th June, 1593), he somewhat effusively acknowledges his
indebtedness to Lord Southampton:--"Through him my tender wainscot
studie doore is delivered from much assault and battrie: through him I
looke into, and am looked on in the world: from whence otherwise I
were a wretched banished exile. Through him all my good is
conueighed vnto me; and to him all my endeavours shall be contributed
as to the ocean." Again, as evidence that Nash had addressed himself to
Southampton prior to his dedication of "The Unfortunate Traveller," we
glean from his promise ("Terrors of the Night") "to embroyder the rich
store of his eternal renoune" in "some longer Tractate."
[e] At the same time it must be stated that the scandal of
the
controversy between Nash and Harvey became so notorious that in
1599 it was ordered by authority "that all Nashes books and Dr.
Harvey's books be taken wheresoever they may be found and that none
of the said books be ever printed hereafter" (COOPER, _Athenæ Cant._
ii. 306).
[f] Davies [Grosart, Works (1888) 1-75, lines 64-72.]
[g] These have been incorporated in "National Ballad and
Song"
(Section 2, Merry Songs and Ballads, Series 1).
[h] This is not quite correct. The title in the MS. runs "The Choise of
Valentines," and Dr. Grosart purports to give the first eighteen lines,
but in transcription he has omitted line 4.
[Illustration]
TO THE RIGHT
honorable the Lord S.[i]

Pardon, _sweete flower of Matchles poetrie,
And fairest bud the red
rose euer bare;
Although my Muse, devorst from deeper care,

Presents thee with a wanton Elegie. 4
Ne blame my verse of loose unchastitie
For painting forth the things
that hidden are,
Since all men acte what I in speache declare,
Onlie
induced with varietie. 8
Complants and praises euery one can write,
And passion out their
pangu's in statlie rimes;
But of loues pleasures none