[Transcriber's Note: Line notes have been moved to the end of each poem fromtheir places on the individual pages to aid in the flow of the poems.]
OR THE MERIE BALLAD OF
NASH HIS DILDO
[BY THOMAS NASH]
[From MSS. Copies in the
Inner Temple (Petyt MS. 538, Vol. 43,
f. viii., 295 b, circa 1680) and Bodleian
(Rawl. MS. Poet 216, leaves 96-106,
circa 1610-20) Libraries]
Edited by
JOHN S. FARMER
LONDON
[PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY]
MDCCCXCIX
INTRODUCTION.
Nash's "CHOISE OF VALENTINES" has apparently comedown to us only in manuscript form. It is extremelydoubtful (Oldys notwithstandinga), whether the poem wasever before accorded the dignity of print. Nor would itnow be deemed worthy of such were the only considerationsthose of literary merit or intrinsic value: truth to tell thereis little of either to recommend it. But, as it has beenrepeatedly said, and well insisted on, the world cannotafford to lose any "document" whatsoever which bears, ormay bear, in the slightest degree, on the story of its owngrowth and development, and out of which its true life hasto be written. Especially is even the meanest Elizabethan ofimportance and value in relation to the re-construction—stillfar from complete—of the life and times of theimmortal bard of Avon. In the most unlikely quarters aquarry may yet be found from which the social historianmay obtain a valuable sidelight on manners and customs,the philologist a new lection or gloss, or the antiquary asolution to some, as yet, unsolved problem.
"The Choise of Valentines" claims attention, and isof value principally on two grounds, either of which, it isheld, should amply justify the more permanent preservation[page viii]now accorded this otherwise insignificant production.In the first place, it appears to have been dedicated to theEarl of Southampton, the generous patron of letters, andfriend of Shakspeare; and second, it is probably the onlyexample extant of the kind of hackwork to which Nash wasfrequently reduced by "the keenest pangs of poverty."bHe confesses he was often obliged "to pen unedifyingtoys for gentlemen." When Harvey denounced him for"emulating Aretino's licentiousness" he admitted thatpoverty had occasionally forced him to prostitute his pen"in hope of gain" by penning "amorous Villanellos andQuipasses for new-fangled galiards and newer Fantisticos."In fact, he seems rarely to have known what it was to beotherwise than the subject of distress and need. As anexample of these "unedifying toys" the present poemmay, without much doubt, be cited, and an instance inpenning which his "hope of gain" was realised.
It is a matter of history that Nash sought, andsucceeded in obtaining for a time, the patronage of theEarl of Southampton, one of the most liberal men of hisday, and a prominent figure in the declining years ofElizabeth. "I once tasted," Nash writes in 1593,c "thefull spring of the Earl's liberality." Record is also madeof a visit paid by