Dudley Carleton and ‘The Libertie of Old Fashioned Poetrie’ on 8 November 1596

UNPUBLISHED SP 12/260, #148, dated 8 November 1596, is one of the earliest extant letters from Dudley Carleton to his lifelong friend and correspondent John Chamberlain¹ whose own earliest published letter to Dudley was written 11 June 1597.² The transcription is diplomatic. Line numbers are supplied, but no other changes are made to format; original spelling and punctuation are retained. Expanded parts of contracted words are indicated by italics and insertion carets ⁁ ⁁ enclose authorial insertions.

M^r: Dudley Carlton Oxford

               1596

To his verie louing frend

Mr John Chamberlain at

Doct:Gilbert³ his house on

S: Peters hill⁴ geue these:

           96           258A148

Sr, I thanck you for hauing me in so good remembrance

as to send thes Sonetts which I did much desire, and

for to acquainting me with your newes owt of France

for which I did more then vsuallie long. The verses

please me the more in that they treat of vnaccosta=        5

med matter, and doe make that the subiect of

Poetrie to which loosenes which doth accompanie the best

wittes cannot learne to frame yt self. For in

this much writing age that Poett is in great

streites who tieth himself to such a matter that        10

he cannot vse the libertie of old fashioned poetrie

as to speake of Goddes, Goddisses, Muses and

Cupids, and therfore is the more to be liked by

how much the more he is debarred of common helper.

I imagine your liking towardes these to be as        15

great as mine, wherfore I haue returned againe

these English poemes, accompanied with your French

discourse of a Spanish patissier. which discourse

I haue communicated with some of my vniuersitie

frendes, men of easye credit which beleeue yt better        20

then I doe and are exceedinglie delighted with the

noueltie. yt is a hard thing for anie child to

know his own father, else might I be brought

to indifferent credence in this cause. I am

gladd to heare of M^r Euers so neere approche        25

hoping vppon his arriuall to heare more con=

cerning M^r Mildmay. for I know not how

I am fallen into a more then earnest longing

after his seruice whilst he is in France. And

though I might be iudged to be distasted        30

with such kind of course, by the vnhappie success

of my last iorneye, yet that hath geuen me

a greater edge, and made me like to those

gamesters who account yt a good sighne to loose

at first. Besides I haue reapt so much y^t iorneye        35

                189

that though yt hath not sett me in such forwardness

as to make me haue a good conceipt of my self of

vnusuall fittnes to such kind of seruises, yet yt

hath worked so much with me as to make me attmost

vnfitt for anie other kind of course. for through        40

dissuetude I find my self to be behind hand with

diuerse of my old companions in ordinarie s^c^holers

exersises, though I can better tell how the king of

France lookes then they. I praye you yf anie thing

come by M^r Euers which concernes me in this cause        45

lett me heare from you, yf nothing, yet lett me

heare from you, and ben lett me entreate you not

to be sparing of your aduise, for I relie more

vppon your iudgment then anie others. I haue

heard you often say you did beare ^take^ small pleasure         50

in writing but that you lou’d to read a long

letter, yet I dowbt I haue trobled you so

much at this present that yf I should be anye

longer I should trie the vttermost of your

patience. Wherfore remembring my due com=        55

mendations most hartelie vnto you, I wish

you all wellfare. from Oxford. Nouember 8^th

                1596.

                        yours allwaies most assuredlie

                                Dudley Carleton

41 dissuetude] An obscure word for which there are only two later occurrences in the OED on CD-ROM (Oxford, 1992): ‘1639 Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. vi. (1677) 464 His long dissuetude of the Country-language made him unuseful at first. 1755 Johnson s.v. Disuse 1, Cessation of use, dissuetude; want of practice’.

In the letter Dudley thanks his friend for English sonnets and the ‘French discourse of a Spanish patissier,’⁵ a story he has shown to his university friends with great success. The second half of the letter is devoted to his career prospects as a diplomat in France. He hopes Mr Evers, Sir Peter Evers,⁶ will help him get a position with Mildmay, the ambassador to France, and boasts he knows the French King far better than any other student. He recalls a recent unhappy experience on the Continent, when he failed to secure employment at Mildmay’s service, and shows little motivation for academic exercises he has not practised for long. Though the sonnets are not quoted, the letter offers significant literary criticism which throws light on poetic taste in late 1596.