new philosophical ideals. Furthermore, Cavendish was also in danger of monarch’s trespassing on the precinct of the literally learned; he certainly would have been aware of the poetical, pedogogical, and theological arguments waged in the press (in both senses of the word) and, not being highly educated, ventured to distance himself from those disagreements. Though Cavendish attempts to mitigate any offending passages by claiming the to be an / and non other the poems are often Metrical Visions “excersice thyng”, explicitly critical of their narrators. In addition, he begs his book to carry his apology to the presumably as In addition, Cavendish “in prease”, interpreting ‘press’ ‘crowd’. may have also meant the printing press; this seems less likely, given the structure of the stanza and the lack of evidence suggesting any attempt was made to print the Metrical Given that there is only one extant manuscript copy of the it Visions. Metrical Visions, does not appear that poems made it very far into the in any format. Cavendish’s “prease” Despite genuine affection for and loyalty to Wolsey—as evidenced Cavendish’s by the Wolsey-poem (Le hereafter referred Life—the Historye / Cardinalis Eboracensis, to as highlights some of the flaws in its opening lines: Le Historye) Cardinal’s O ffortune / quod he / shold I on the complayn Or of my necligence that I susteyn this smart Thy doble visage hathe led me to this trayn Ffor at my begynnyng / thou dydest ay take my part Vntill ambysion had puffed vppe my hart With vaynglory . honor . and vsurped dignyte. Fforgettyng cleane my naturall mendycitie // In this passage—the first stanza from Cavendish has Wolsey bemoan Le Historye— how gifts seduced him into and Though he Fortune’s “ambysion” “vsurped dignyte”. blames Fortune squarely for his disastrous fall from power, Wolsey does Cavendish’s recognize that he allowed ambition to overwhelm his natural humility (“mendycitie”). Lamenting his pride in hindsight, he apologizes to Henry VIII for usurping his king’s power:
new monarch’s philosophical ideals. Furthermore, Cavendish was also in danger of trespassing on the precinct of the literally learned; he certainly would have been aware of the poetical, pedogogical, and theological arguments waged in the press (in both senses of the word) and, not being highly educated, ventured to distance himself from those disagreements. Though Cavendish attempts to mitigate any offending passages by claiming the Metrical Visions to be an “excersice / and non other thyng”, the poems are often explicitly critical of their narrators. In addition, he begs his book to carry his apology “in to the prease”, presumably interpreting ‘press’ as ‘crowd’. In addition, Cavendish may have also meant the printing press; this seems less likely, given the structure of the stanza and the lack of evidence suggesting any attempt was made to print the Metrical Visions. Given that there is only one extant manuscript copy of the Metrical Visions, it does not appear that Cavendish’s poems made it very far into the “prease” in any format. Despite Cavendish’s genuine affection for and loyalty to Wolsey—as evidenced by the Life—the Wolsey-poem (Le Historye / Cardinalis Eboracensis, hereafter referred to as Le Historye) highlights some of the Cardinal’s flaws in its opening lines: O ffortune / quod he / shold I on the complayn Or of my necligence that I susteyn this smart Thy doble visage hathe led me to this trayn Ffor at my begynnyng / thou dydest ay take my part Vntill ambysion had puffed vppe my hart With vaynglory . honor . and vsurped dignyte. Fforgettyng cleane my naturall mendycitie // In this passage—the first stanza from Le Historye— Cavendish has Wolsey bemoan how Fortune’s gifts seduced him into “ambysion” and “vsurped dignyte”. Though he blames Fortune squarely for his disastrous fall from power, Cavendish’s Wolsey does recognize that he allowed ambition to overwhelm his natural humility (“mendycitie”). Lamenting his pride in hindsight, he apologizes to Henry VIII for usurping his king’s power:
GSL_PhD_Thesis_Library_Copy.docx