"ONE SOVEREIGN GOVERNOR"

SIR THOMAS ELYOT

[From The Boke of the Governour, 1534] That one soueraigne gouernour ought to be in a publike weale. And what damage hath happened where a multitude hath had equal authorite without any soueraygne. Lyke as to a castell or fortresse suffisethe one owner or souerayne, and where any mo be of like power and authoritie seldome cometh the warke to perfection; or beinge all redy made, where the one diligently ouerseeth and the other neglecteth, in that contention all is subuerted and commeth to ruyne. In semblable wyse dothe a publike weale that hath mo chiefe gouernours than one. Example we may take of the grekes, amonge whom in diuers cities weare diuers fourmes of publyke weales gouerned by multitudes: wherin one was most tolerable where the gouernance and rule was alway permitted to them whiche excelled in vertue, and was in the greke tonge called Aristocratia, in latin Optimorum Potentia, in englisshe the rule of men of beste disposition, which the Thebanes of longe tyme obserued.

An other publique weale was amonge the Atheniensis, where equalitie was of astate amonge the people, and only by theyr holle consent theyr citie and dominions were gouerned: whiche moughte well be called a monstre with many heedes: nor neuer it was certeyne nor stable: and often tymes they banyssed or slewe the beste citezins, whiche by their vertue and wisedome had moste profited to the publike weale. This maner of gouernaunce was called in greke Democratia, in latin Popularis potentia, in englisshe the rule of the comminaltie. Of these two gouernances none of them may be sufficient. For in the fyrste, whiche consisteth of good men, vertue is nat so constant in a multitude, but that some, beinge ones in authoritie, be incensed with glorie: some with ambition: other with coueitise and desire of treasure or possessions: wherby they falle in to contention: and finallye, where any achiuethe the superioritie, the holle gouernance is reduced unto a fewe in nombre, whiche fearinge the multitude and their mutabilitie, to the intent to kepe them in drede to rebelle, ruleth by terrour and crueltie, thinking therby to kepe them selfe in suertie: nat withstanding, rancour

coarcted and longe detained in a narowe roume, at the last brasteth out with intollerable violence, and bryngeth al to confusion. For the power that is practized to the Lurte of many can nat continue. The populare astate, if it any thing do varie from equalitie of substance or estimation, or that the multitude of people haue ouer moche liberte, of necessite one of these inconueniences muste happen: either tiranny, where he that is to moche in fauour wolde be elevate and suffre none equalite, orels in to the rage of a communaltie, whiche of all rules is moste to be feared. For lyke as the communes, if they fele some seueritie, they do humbly serue and obaye, so where they imbracinge a licence refuse to be brydled, they flynge and plunge and if they ones throwe downe theyr gouernour, they ordre euery thynge without iustice, only with vengeance and crueltie: and with incomparable difficultie and unneth by any wysedome be pacified and brought agayne in to ordre. Wherfore undoubtedly the best and most sure gouernaunce is by one kynge or prince, whiche ruleth onely for the weale of his people to hym subiecte: and that maner of gouernaunce is beste approued, and hath longest continued, and is moste auncient. For who can denie but that all thynge in heuen and erthe is gouerned by one god, by one perpetuall ordre, by one prouidence? One Sonne ruleth ouer the day, and one Moone ouer the nyghte; and to descende downe to the erthe, in a litell beest, whiche of all other is moste to be maruayled at, I meane the Bee, is lefte to man by nature, as it semeth, a perpetuall figure of a iuste gouernaunce or rule: who hath amonge them one principall Bee for theyr gouernour, who excelleth all other in greatnes, yet hath he no pricke or stinge, but in hym is more knowlege than in the residue. For if the day folowyng shall be fayre and drye, and that the bees may issue out of theyr stalles without peryll of rayne or vehement wynde, in the mornyng erely he calleth them, makyng a noyse as it were the sowne of a horne or a trumpet; and with that all the residue prepare them to labour, and fleeth abrode, gatheryng nothing but that shall be swete and profitable, all though they sitte often tymes on herbes and other thinges that be venomous and stynkinge.

The capitayne hym selfe laboureth nat for his sustinance, but all the other for hym; he onely seeth that if any drane or other unprofitable bee entreth in to the hyue, and

consumethe the hony, gathered by other, that he be immediately expelled from that company. And when there is an other nombre of bees encreased, they semblably haue also a capitayne, whiche be nat suffered to continue with the other. Wherfore this newe company gathered in to a swarme, hauyng their capitayne among them, and enuironynge hym to perserue hym from harme, they issue forthe sekyng a newe habitation, whiche they fynde in some tree, except with some pleasant noyse they be alured and conuayed unto an other hyue. I suppose who seriously beholdeth this example, and hath any commendable witte, shall therof gather moche matter to the fourmynge of a publike weale.

THE GARDEN OF THE COMMONWEALTH
SIR THOMAS ELYOT

[From The Boke of the Governour, 1534] For who commendeth those gardiners that wyll put all their diligence in trymmyng or kepynge delicately one knotte or bedde of herbes, suffryng all the remenaunt of their gardeyne to be subuerted with a great nombre of molles,1 and do attende at no tyme for the takynge and destroyinge of them, until the herbis, wherin they haue employed all their labours, be also tourned uppe and perisshed, and the molles increased in so infinite nombres that no industry or labour may suffice to consume them, whereby the labour is frustrate and all the gardeine made unprofitable and also unpleasaunt? In this similitude to the gardeyne may be resembled the publike weale, to the gardiners the gouernours and counsailours, to the knottes or beddes sondrye degrees of personages, to the molles vices and sondry enormities. Wherfore the consultation is but of a small effecte wherin the uniuersall astate of the publike weale do nat occupie the more parte of the tyme, and in that generaltie euery particuler astate be nat diligently ordered. For as Tulli sayeth, they that consulte for parte of the people and neglecte the residue, they brynge in to the citie or countraye a thynge mooste perniciouse, that is to say, sedition and discorde, whereof it hapnethe that some wyll seeme to fauoure the multitude, other be inclined to leene to the beste sorte, fewe do studie for all uniuersallye. Whiche hath bene the cause that nat onely Athenes, (whiche Tulli dothe name), but

1 Moles.

also the citie and empyre of Rome, with diuers other cities and realmes, haue decayed and ben finally brought in extreme desolation. Also Plato, in his booke of fortytude, sayeth in the persone of Socrates, Whan so euer a man seketh a thinge for cause of an other thynge, the consultation aught to be alway of that thyng for whose cause the other thing is sought for, and nat of that which is sought for because of the other thynge. And surely wise men do consider that damage often tymes hapneth by abusinge the due fourme of consultation: men like euyll Phisitions sekynge for medicynes or they perfectly knowe the sicknesses; and as euyll marchauntes do utter firste the wares and commodities of straungers, whiles straungers be robbynge of their owne cofers.

Therfore these thinges that I haue rehersed concernyng consultation ought to be of all men in authoritie substancially pondered, and moost vigilauntly obserued, if they intende to be to their publike weale profitable, for the whiche purpose onely they be called to be gouernours. And this conclude I to write any more of consultation, whiche is the last part of morall Sapience, and the begynnyng of sapience politike.

Nowe all ye reders that desire to haue your children to be gouernours, or in any other authoritie in the publike weale of your countrey, if ye bringe them up and instructe them in suche fourme as in this boke is declared, they shall than seme to all men worthye to be in authoritie, honour, and noblesse, and all that is under their gouernaunce shall prospere and come to perfection. And as a precious stone in a ryche ouche1 they shall be beholden and wondred at, and after the dethe of their body their soules for their endeuour shall be incomprehensibly rewarded of the gyuer of wisedome, to whome onely be gyuen eternall glorie. Amen.

SOME ELIZABETHAN POLITICAL IDEAS IN SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMAS

1. Our Sea-Walled Garden [From Richard II, Act III, scene iv] Langley. The DUKE OF YORK's garden Enter the QUEEN and two Ladies Queen. What sport shall we devise here in this garden,

To drive away the heavy thought of care?

1 Setting.

Queen. Of neither, girl:
For if of joy, being altogether wanting,
It doth remember me the more of sorrow;
Or if of grief, being altogether had,

It adds more sorrow to my want of joy:
For what I have I need not to repeat;
And what I want it boots not to complain.
Lady. Madam, I'll sing.

Queen. 'Tis well that thou hast cause; But thou shouldst please me better, wouldst thou weep.

Lady. I could weep, madam, would it do you good.

Queen. And I could sing, would weeping do me good,

And never borrow any tear of thee.

Enter a Gardener, and two Servants. But stay, here come the gardeners: Let's step into the shadow of these trees. My wretchedness unto a row of pins, They'll talk of state; for every one doth so Against a change; woe is forerun with woe. [Queen and Ladies retire Gard. Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks, Which, like unruly children, make their sire Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight:

Give some supportance to the bending twigs.
Go thou, and like an executioner,

Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays,
That look too lofty in our commonwealth:
All must be even in our government.
You thus employ'd, I will go root away
The noisome weeds, which without profit suck
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.
Serv. Why should we in the compass of
a pale

Keep law and form and due proportion,
Showing, as in a model, our firm estate,
When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers

choked up,

Her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruin'd,

Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs

Swarming with caterpillars?
Hold thy peace:

Gard.

He that hath suffer'd this disordered spring
Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf:
The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves
did shelter,

That seem'd in eating him to hold him up,
Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke,
I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.
Serv. What, are they dead?
Gard.

They are; and Bolingbroke Hath seized the wasteful king. O, what pity is it

That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land

As we this garden! We at time of year Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruittrees,

Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood, With too much riches it confound itself: Had he done so to great and growing men, They might have lived to bear and he to taste

Their fruits of duty: superfluous branches We lop away, that bearing boughs may live: Had he done so, himself had borne the crown Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.

Serv. What, think you then the king shall be deposed?

Gard. Depress'd he is already, and deposed

'Tis doubt he will be: letters came last night To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's,

That tell black tidings.

Queen. O, I am press'd to death through want of speaking! [Coming forward Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden,

How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news?

What Eve, what serpent, hath suggested

thee

To make a second fall of cursed man? Why dost thou say King Richard is deposed?

Darest thou, thou little better thing than earth,

Divine his downfall? Say, where, when, and how,

Camest thou by this ill tidings? Speak, thou wretch.

To breathe this news; yet what I say is true. King Richard, he is in the mighty hold

Of Bolingbroke: their fortunes both are weigh'd:

In your lord's scale is nothing but himself, And some few vanities that make him light; But in the balance of great Bolingbroke, Besides himself, are all the English peers, And with that odds he weighs King Richard down.

Post you to London, and you will find it so; I speak no more than every one doth know. Queen. Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot,

Doth not thy embassage belong to me, And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st

To serve me last, that I may longest keep Thy sorrow in my breast. Come, ladies, go, To meet at London London's king in woe. What, was I born to this, that my sad look Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke?

Gardener, for telling me these news of woe, Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never

grow! [Exeunt Queen and Ladies Gard. Poor queen! so that thy state might be no worse,

I would my skill were subject to thy curse. Here did she fall a tear; here in this place I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace: Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen In the remembrance of a weeping queen.

hoofs:

As a long-parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,

So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, And do thee favors with my royal hands. Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,

Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous

sense;

But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way,
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet
Which with usurping steps do trample thee:
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And when they from thy bosom pluck a
flower,

Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch

Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords:
This earth shall have a feeling and these
stones

Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

Car. Fear not, my lord: that Power that

made you king

Hath power to keep you king in spite of all. The means that heaven yields must be embraced,

And not neglected; else, if heaven would, And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse, The proffer'd means of succor and redress.

Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss;

Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great in substance and in power.

K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not

That when the searching eye of heaven is hid Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,

Then thieves and robbers range abroad un

So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,
Who all this while hath revel'd in the night
Whilst we were wandering with the an-
tipodes,

Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea

Can wash the balm off from an anointed king;

The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord:

For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd
To lift shrewd steel against our golden

[From Act IV, scene i. The King is deposed]

York. Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee

From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul

Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields To the possession of thy royal hand: Ascend his throne, descending now from him;

And long live Henry, fourth of that name! Bolingbroke. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.

Carlisle. Marry, God forbid! Worst in this royal presence may I speak, Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth. Would God that any in this noble presence Were enough noble to be upright judge Of noble Richard! then true noblesse would Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong. What subject can give sentence on his king? And who sits here that is not Richard's subject?

Thieves are not judged but they are by to hear,

Although apparent guilt be seen in them;
And shall the figure of God's majesty,
His captain, steward, deputy-elect,
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,
Be judged by subject and inferior breath,
And he himself not present? O, forfend it,
God,

That in a Christian climate souls refined
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a

deed!

I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king.
My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call
king,

Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if you crown him, let me prophesy:
The blood of English shall manure the
ground,

And future ages groan for this foul act;
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin and kind with kind con-
found;

Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny

Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
O, if you raise this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,
Lest child, child's children, cry against you
"woe!"

Northumberland. Well have you argued, sir; and, for your pains,

Of capital treason we arrest you here.
My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge
To keep him safely till his day of trial.
May it please you, lords, to grant the com-
mons' suit.

Boling. Fetch hither Richard, that in common view

He may surrender; so we shall proceed
Without suspicion.

[Exit

York. I will be his conduct.
Boling. Lords, you that here are under

our arrest,

Procure your sureties for your days of

answer.

Little are we beholding to your love,

And little look'd for at your helping hands.

Re-enter YORK, with RICHARD, and Officers bearing the regalia.

K. Rich. king, Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd

Alack, why am I sent for to a

To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs.

Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me
To this submission. Yet I well remember
The favors of these men: were they not
mine?

Did they not sometime cry, "all hail!" to me?