324 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 95., Oct. 24. '67. 



casion to canuaze him a little in his Cloth-breeches and 

 Veluet-breeches, and because by some probable collec- 

 tions hee gest the elder brothers hand was in it, he 

 coupled them both in one yoake, and to fulfill the pro- 

 uerbe Tria sunt omnia, thrust in the third brother, who 

 made a perfect parriall of Pamphleters. About some 

 seuen or eight lines it was which hath pluckt on an in- 

 nective of so many leaues." — Nash's Strange Newes, 

 1692, sig. C 2, 3. 



In a subsequent work of Nash, which bears the 

 date of 1596, occurs the following passage : 



" Mast. Lilly neuer procured Greene or mee to write 

 against him [Gabriel Harvey], but it was his own first 

 seeking and beginning in The Lainb of God, where he 

 and his Brother (that loues dauncing so well) [Richard 

 Harvey] scummerd out betwixt them an Epistle to the 

 Reader against all Poets and Writers, and M. Lilly and 

 me by name he berufiianizd and berascald, compar'd to 

 Martin, and termd vs piperly make-plaies and make- 

 bates, yet bad vs holde our peace and not be so bardie as 

 to answere him, for if we did, he would make a bloudie 

 day in Paules Church-yard, and splinter our pens til they 

 stradled again, as wide as a paire of Compasses." — Nash's 

 Haue with you to Saffron-walden, 159(5, sig. V. 2. 



In another work of Nash there is an allusion to 

 the same subject : 



" The Lamb of God make thee a wiser bell-weather 

 than thou art, for else, I doubt thou wilt, be driuen to 

 leaue all, and fall to thy father's occupation, which is, to 

 goe and make a rope to hange thy selfe. Neque enim lex 

 aquior ulla est, quain necis artifices arte perira sua : and so 

 I leaue thee till a better opportunitie, to be tormented 

 world without end of our poets and writers about London, 

 whom thou bast called piperly make-plaies and make- 

 bates : not doubting but he also whom thou tearmest the 

 vajm Pap-hatchet, will haue a flurt at thee one day, all 

 ioyntly driuing thee to this issue that thou shalt bee con- 

 strained to goe to the chiefe beame of thy benefice, and 

 there, beginning a lamentable speech with cur scripsi, 

 eur peril, ende with pravum prava decent, jurat in concessa 

 voluptas, and with a trice trusse up thy life in the string 

 of thy sance-bell. So be it, pray penne, inke, and paper, 

 on their knees, that they may not be troubled with thee 

 any more." — Nash's Pierce Pennilesse, 1592, Reprint, p. 44. 



Here have we given from three several works 

 of Nash the substance of what Richard Harvey, 

 (or his brother Gabriel), in " The Epistle to the 

 Reader" prefixed to the Theologicall Discourse of 

 the Lambe of God, had charged upon Nash, Lyly, 

 and other poets and writers about London. But 

 in the copy in the Bodleian Library there is no 

 Epistle to the Reader, the only preliminary mat- 

 ter being a Dedication by the author, to the Earl of 

 Essex, and in no part of that is Lyly, Nash, or 

 Greene named, nor is there in the whole work any 

 allusion to them, and whether a single copy exists 

 with this important "Epistle to the Reader" is 

 perhaps doubtful. But whatever provocation the 

 Harveys had received from one or from all of the 

 above-named writers, it appears to have been the 

 first act of open hostility, and soon called forth a 

 rejoinder fron^ Greene, in A Quip for an Vpstart 

 ' Courtier: Or,. A Quaint Dispute between Veluet- 

 breeches and Cloth-breeches, 1592. 



In this work Greene, as Nash remarks, took 

 occasion to "canuaze" Richard Harvey and his 

 brothers. It is remarkable, however, that no 

 copy of the " Quaint Dispute" has come down to 

 us which possesses the libellous matter. Mr. Dyce 

 remarks, that in all likelihood the whole of the 

 copies having it were suppressed. (Greene's 

 Works, I. Ixxxviii.) 



Gabriel^Harvey, in replying to Greene, says of 

 him: 



" In his extremest want, he offered ten, or rather than 

 fail twenty shillings to the printer (a huge sum •with him 

 at that instant) to leave out the matter of the three 

 brothers : with confession of his great feare to be called 

 Coram for those forged imputations." — G. Harvey's Four 

 Letters, Reprint, p. 3. 



It was also his intention to seek in a court of 

 law a remedy against Greene, for what the latter 

 had reported against his father, but the death of 

 Greene prevented it. 



" I could have wished he [Greene] had taken his leave 

 with a more charitable farewel, as also because I was de- 

 prived of that remedy in law that I intended against him, 

 in the behalf of my father, whose honest reputation I was 

 in many duties to tender." — G. Harvey's Foure Letters, 

 Reprint, p. 7. 



The substance of the " seven or eight lines," 

 which called forth Harvey's Foure Letters, we 

 can only collect from various allusions to tbera by 

 Harvey and Nash. The father, it appears, was 

 called a ropemaker and a knave ; Gabriel Harvey 

 was accused of having been a prisoner in the 

 Fleet, and was nicknamed Gabriel Howliglasse ; 

 and Richard Harvey was charged with being too 

 free with his parishioners' wives at Saffron Wal- 

 den. " It was not for nothing, brother Richard, 

 that Greene told you you kist your Parisnioners 

 wives with holy kisses." — Nash's Strange Nfiwes, 

 1592, sig. C. 4. The charge against John Harvey 

 does not appear. 



In his Foure Letters and Certain Sonnets, Har- 

 vey took his great revenge. In this work he laid 

 open the dissolute and abandoned life of Greene, 

 adding with sickening minuteness the particulars 

 of his last hours, his death and funeral, apparently 

 for no other purpose but to gratify a selfish and 

 brutal malignity. Among the Sonnets there is 

 one, supposed to be addressed by Gabriel's 

 youngest brother, who was then just dead, to 

 Greene ; which, though often quoted for its great 

 originality and vigour of conception, will bear 

 quoting once more ; it is entitled : 



" John Harveys Welcome to Robert Greene. 



" Come fellow Greene, com^ to thy gaping graue : 

 Bidd Vanity, and Foolerj' farewell : 

 Thou ouer-long hast plaid the madbrained knaue : 

 And ouer-lowd hast rung the bawdy bell. 

 Vermine lo Vermine must repaire at last, 

 No fitter house for busy folke to dwell : 

 Thy Coney-catching Pageants are past : 

 Some other must those arrant Stories tell. 



