Gabriel Harvey (–1630)

Gabriel Harvey - [Four Letters and Certain Sonnets]
Gabriel Harvey was an English writer and notable scholar. He was active between 1577 and 1600 and is remembered today mainly for his efforts to protect the honour and reputation of himself and his family, launching into print some vituperative pamphlets aimed at fellow writers Robert Greene and Thomas Nash; although earlier he had taken Edmund Spenser to task. There is no doubt that Harvey was the subject of satire by other writers, some who objected to his overweening ego and others who thought he was a humourless pedant. Harvey's quarrel in print with Thomas Nash arose from an attack on Harvey's brother in one of the Martin Marprelate pamphlet wars and he took Robert Greene to task for his comments in Greene's Groatsworth of wit and the publication of Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier which pushed him over the edge. The Four letters and 24 sonnets aim to set the record straight, but Harvey cannot help launching his own attacks even when knowing that Greene was on his deathbed. He certainly didn't think much of Greene:

"Alas, that any should say, as I have heard divers affirm, his wit was nothing but a mint of knavery, himself a deviser of juggling feats, a forger of covetous practices, an inventor of monstrous oaths, a derider of all religions, a contemner of God and man, a desperate Lucianist, an abominable Aretinist, an arch-atheist, and he arch-deserved to be well hanged seven years ago. Twenty and twenty such familiar speeches I overpass, and bury the whole legendary of his life and death in the sepulchre of eternal silence."
(modern English translation by Nina Green)

If the four letters were just a series of personal attacks on other writers they would hardly be of consequence today, but they do provide some information on the lives of his contemporaries and while we must remember that they are hardly dispassionate they are still useful. From the evidence of the letters there was much more to Gabriel Harvey than just a settling of old arguments. He makes some cogent points about the state of literature and of society in general. He is particularly concerned with status and refutes Nash and Greenes views that a humble birth should not prevent an able man from rising to the top of his profession. The Harvey brothers were tradesman's sons.

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Harvey's style is logical and thoughtful, but there are times when you can catch him thinking that perhaps he is not being completely fair. Of course it helps if you have read Robert Greene and Thomas Nash, but it is not essential as Harvey's prose carries it all along pretty well. 3 stars.

Here is one of the sonnets.

Unlucky I, unhappiest on earth,

That fondly doting upon dainty wits,

And deeply ravished with their luring fits,

Of gentle favours find so hard a dearth.

Is it my fate or fault that such fine men

Should their commender so unkindly bite,

That loves to love in spite of rankest spite,

And hates to hate with heart or tongue or pen?
Sweet writers, as ye covet to be sweet,
Nor me, nor other, nor yourselves abuse;
Humanity doth courteously peruse

Each act of friend or foe with favour meet.
Foul devil, and fouler malice, cease to rave;
For every fault I twenty pardons crave.… (altro)