This is a fascinating discussion. I'd like to recommend the book "Shakespeare was a woman" by Elizabeth Winkler who also supports the theories around Mary Sidney and her academy of writers at Wilton House. I find this so intriguing and would like to write a novel about it.
I have no doubt Gabriel Harvey was talking about Lady Pembroke when he went on about Minerva in A New Letter of Notable Contents. How this becomes a reference to Venus and Adonis, or Shaksper, is less clear to me. What I see is the continuing dispute between Nashe and Lady Pembroke over Phililp Sidney's legacy and Harvey's attempt to ingratiate himself with her at Nashe's expense. Nashe's response is "Nunya". In L'Envoy, included as a post-script to New Letter, Harvey beats up Marlowe, making what appears to be the first published record of his "death" while simultaneously predicting that Nashe "the bug" will be next:
"And, smiling at his tamburlaine contempt,
Sternly struck-home the peremptory stroke.
He that nor feared God, nor dreaded Devil,
Nor aught admired but his wondrous self:
Like Iuno’s gaudy Bird, that proudly stares
On glittering fan of his triumphant tail:
Or like the ugly Bug that scorned to die,
And mounts of Glory reared in towering wit:
Alas: but Babel Pride must kiss the pit."
Earlier in the same post-script, Harvey appears to claim that Nashe had a hand in publishing the "Wonder of Ninety Three", a reference to Venus and Adonis and the invention of its heir, Shaksper. As this is all part of his attempt to curry favor with Lady Pembroke, I see the Sidney influence in V&A being framed as a further aspersion against Nashe and his pilfering Sidney's themes and style. Wrapping this up with Marlowe/Tamburlaine, suggests that Harvey, who kept quarters with John Wolfe, publisher of New Letter and possessor of Marlowe's Hero and Leander, given to him for safe keeping by Thomas Walsingham, could compare H&L with V&A, recently registered with the Stationers of which Wolfe was head. Nashe's non-denial denial of all this is entirely in character.
As for the first seventeen sonnets, well, there were 17 of them. If you were trying to convince a fifteen year old to marry, why 17 sonnets? Why not 15? You might also try to explain what Lady Pembroke, if it really was her, was talking about in sonnets 78 to 86. That would definitely prop up your theory. I mean, if I had to rely solely on Harvey, I'd start over.
The passage in Harvey's Supererogation dated April 27 is
"Doubt ye not, gallant Gentlemen, he shall find the guerdon of his Valour, & the meed of his meritorious work. Though my Pen be a slugplum, look for a quill as quick as quicksilver, & pity the sorry swain that hath incurred the indignation of such a quill, and may everlastingly be a miserable Spectacle for all libelling rake-hells, that otherwise might desperately presume to venture the foil of their crank folly. The stay of the Publication resteth only at my instance, who can conceive small hope of any possible account or regard of mine own discourses, were that fair body of the sweetest Venus in Print, as it is redoubtedly armed with the complete harness of the bravest Minerva.
When his necessary defence hath sufficiently accleared him, whom it principally concerneth to acquit himself: She shall no sooner appear in person, like a new Star in Cassiopeia, but every eye of capacity will see a conspicuous difference between her and other mirrors of Eloquence: and the woeful slave of S. Fame must either blindfold himself with insensible perversity, or behold his own notorious folly with most shameful shame. It will then appear, as it were in a clear Urinal, whose wit hath the greene-sickness: and I would deem it a greater marvel than the mightiest wonder that happened in the famous year '88, if his cause should not have the falling-sickness, that is encountered with an arm of such force."
While no reasonable person would claim that Harvey's meaning here is clear, the obvious reading is that Harvey's Gentlewoman identified with Minerva is prepared to publish "that fair body of the sweetest Venus" which could hardly be other than Venus and Adonis, which is "armed with the complete harness of the bravest Minerva" The bravest Minerva is Pallas who shakes her spear in the textually linked references to Mary Sidney. The one to acclear himself appears to be Harvey in his dispute with Nashe, but I suppose could refer to Kyd or Marlowe although Kyd's arrest is still a couple weeks away. I have tried very hard to see how you get that Harvey is associating Nashe with the publication of V&A and I just don't get it. Further, Harvey seems to assert the publication of the poem with the appearance of his patron (Mary) "in person" which will clearly establish her as superior to all other "mirrors of eloquence." It is hard to see how this works unless she is the author of the work, although I guess a very determined reader could read this as a reference to patronage of another.
This is a fascinating discussion. I'd like to recommend the book "Shakespeare was a woman" by Elizabeth Winkler who also supports the theories around Mary Sidney and her academy of writers at Wilton House. I find this so intriguing and would like to write a novel about it.
I have no doubt Gabriel Harvey was talking about Lady Pembroke when he went on about Minerva in A New Letter of Notable Contents. How this becomes a reference to Venus and Adonis, or Shaksper, is less clear to me. What I see is the continuing dispute between Nashe and Lady Pembroke over Phililp Sidney's legacy and Harvey's attempt to ingratiate himself with her at Nashe's expense. Nashe's response is "Nunya". In L'Envoy, included as a post-script to New Letter, Harvey beats up Marlowe, making what appears to be the first published record of his "death" while simultaneously predicting that Nashe "the bug" will be next:
"And, smiling at his tamburlaine contempt,
Sternly struck-home the peremptory stroke.
He that nor feared God, nor dreaded Devil,
Nor aught admired but his wondrous self:
Like Iuno’s gaudy Bird, that proudly stares
On glittering fan of his triumphant tail:
Or like the ugly Bug that scorned to die,
And mounts of Glory reared in towering wit:
Alas: but Babel Pride must kiss the pit."
Earlier in the same post-script, Harvey appears to claim that Nashe had a hand in publishing the "Wonder of Ninety Three", a reference to Venus and Adonis and the invention of its heir, Shaksper. As this is all part of his attempt to curry favor with Lady Pembroke, I see the Sidney influence in V&A being framed as a further aspersion against Nashe and his pilfering Sidney's themes and style. Wrapping this up with Marlowe/Tamburlaine, suggests that Harvey, who kept quarters with John Wolfe, publisher of New Letter and possessor of Marlowe's Hero and Leander, given to him for safe keeping by Thomas Walsingham, could compare H&L with V&A, recently registered with the Stationers of which Wolfe was head. Nashe's non-denial denial of all this is entirely in character.
As for the first seventeen sonnets, well, there were 17 of them. If you were trying to convince a fifteen year old to marry, why 17 sonnets? Why not 15? You might also try to explain what Lady Pembroke, if it really was her, was talking about in sonnets 78 to 86. That would definitely prop up your theory. I mean, if I had to rely solely on Harvey, I'd start over.
The passage in Harvey's Supererogation dated April 27 is
"Doubt ye not, gallant Gentlemen, he shall find the guerdon of his Valour, & the meed of his meritorious work. Though my Pen be a slugplum, look for a quill as quick as quicksilver, & pity the sorry swain that hath incurred the indignation of such a quill, and may everlastingly be a miserable Spectacle for all libelling rake-hells, that otherwise might desperately presume to venture the foil of their crank folly. The stay of the Publication resteth only at my instance, who can conceive small hope of any possible account or regard of mine own discourses, were that fair body of the sweetest Venus in Print, as it is redoubtedly armed with the complete harness of the bravest Minerva.
When his necessary defence hath sufficiently accleared him, whom it principally concerneth to acquit himself: She shall no sooner appear in person, like a new Star in Cassiopeia, but every eye of capacity will see a conspicuous difference between her and other mirrors of Eloquence: and the woeful slave of S. Fame must either blindfold himself with insensible perversity, or behold his own notorious folly with most shameful shame. It will then appear, as it were in a clear Urinal, whose wit hath the greene-sickness: and I would deem it a greater marvel than the mightiest wonder that happened in the famous year '88, if his cause should not have the falling-sickness, that is encountered with an arm of such force."
While no reasonable person would claim that Harvey's meaning here is clear, the obvious reading is that Harvey's Gentlewoman identified with Minerva is prepared to publish "that fair body of the sweetest Venus" which could hardly be other than Venus and Adonis, which is "armed with the complete harness of the bravest Minerva" The bravest Minerva is Pallas who shakes her spear in the textually linked references to Mary Sidney. The one to acclear himself appears to be Harvey in his dispute with Nashe, but I suppose could refer to Kyd or Marlowe although Kyd's arrest is still a couple weeks away. I have tried very hard to see how you get that Harvey is associating Nashe with the publication of V&A and I just don't get it. Further, Harvey seems to assert the publication of the poem with the appearance of his patron (Mary) "in person" which will clearly establish her as superior to all other "mirrors of eloquence." It is hard to see how this works unless she is the author of the work, although I guess a very determined reader could read this as a reference to patronage of another.