Thomas H. Nash

[Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem] - Thomas Nashe
Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) was an Elizabethan playwright poet and satirist, but made his name as a pamphleteer. Christ's Tears over Jerusalem was printed in 1593 and established Nashe as an important voice in the world of Elizabethan pamphleteers. He had already made his mark in the religious pamphlet war surrounding the Martin Marprelate controversy and was engaged in a bitter rivalry with Gabriel Harvey. In a note to the readers of this pamphlet he says he wished to bury the Hatchet with Harvey, but with Nashe one is never too sure; where he wants to bury his hatchet (maybe in the back of Gabriel Harvey).

Christ's tears over Jerusalem takes up the first half of this pamphlet. Nashe imagines that Christ is looking down on Jerusalem with tears in his eyes knowing that he will be crucified by the Jews. Quoting extensively from the bible and putting some of the stories and parables in his own words Nashe as Christ berates the Jews for their treatment of him and of each other. His basic message is that the Jews brought their banishment from the city on themselves. Nashe's language is colourful in the extreme here is an example:

'Jerusalem, ever after thy bloody hecatomb or burial, the sun (rising & setting) shall enrobe himself in scarlet, and the maiden moon (in the ascension of her perfection) shall have her crimson cheeks (as they would burst) round balled out with blood. Those ruddy investurings and scarlet habiliments from the cloud-climbing slaughter-stack of thy dead carcasses shall they exhalingly quintessence, to the end thou may’st not only be culpable of gorging the earth, but of goring the heavens with blood, and in witness against thee, wear them they shall to the world’s end as the liveries of thy waning.'

After venting his spleen against Jerusalem and its inhabitants Nashe turns his attention to London and I found this second part far more interesting. He says:

'As great a desolation as Jerusalem hath London deserved.'

He then releases a torrent of invective against the sins of the people of London in the Elizabethan era. His invective is mainly turned towards the rich, but Jews, women and some of the idle ministers and pastors are also singled out. The sins of London he deals with in turn: Ambition and pride, avarice, usury, vainglory, atheism, discontent, contention, disdain, delicacy, gluttony, luxury, sloth and security. He ends all this with a reference to the plague (1593 was a plague year in London):

'Comfort us, Lord; we mourn, our bread is mingled with ashes, and our drink with tears. With so many funerals are we oppressed, that we have no leisure to weep for our sins for howling for our sons and daughters. O, hear the voice of our howling; withdraw thy hand from us, & we will draw near unto thee.'

At the start of the pamphlet following the usual dedication there is a note to the reader which ends with:

'Farewell all those that wish me well; others wish I more wit to.'

The language is so colourful, so over the top, that one wonders just how seriously we should be taking these words of Thomas Nashe. I read a modern spelling edition on the oxford-shakespeare website. 3 stars.… (altro)