Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

Sir Francis Hubert

1568?–1629

Introduction

Sir Francis Hubert is known as an author for his lengthy verse narrative of the history of Edward II, a moralistic and politically charged work, originally written c.1597-1600. Initially suppressed because of its dangerous subject matter, namely a monarch's relationship with his unpopular favourite (Gaveston), which could be seen as a parallel to Charles I's relationship with the unpopular Duke of Buckingam, as well as its treatment of a monarch's deposition and murder, the poem was not published until 1628. This unauthorized edition prompted Hubert to arrange for the publication of an authentic version a year later, just before his death. By this time the poem had been considerably revised and expanded. In the meantime it had enjoyed a wide, notionally clandestine, manuscript circulation, perhaps largely commercial, which came to encompass both a 576-stanza version and a 664-stanza version (subject to slight variations in stanza numbers). At present 23 contemporary manuscript copies are known to survive (HuF 1-23).

Of Hubert's diverse other Workes (in the words of his publisher L. Chapman), a religious poem, Noli peccare, survives perhaps because of its attachment to Edward II (HuF 24), and another lengthy poem by Hubert, on a biblical subject, was posthumously published as Egypts Favorite: The Historie of Joseph (London, 1631; Mellor, pp. 173-277).

Only one example of Hubert's handwriting is currently recorded: namely his signature on a bill of sale in 1608 (*HuF 25).

Abbreviations

  • Mellor — The Poems of Sir Francis Hubert, ed. Bernard Mellor (Hong Kong & London, 1961).

Verse

Edward II ('It is thy sad disaster which I sing')

First published, in an unauthorized edition as The Deplorable Life and Death of Edward the Second. Together with the Downefall of the two Unfortunate Favorits, Gavestone and Spencer. Storied in an Excellent Pöem, London, 1628. First authorized edition, as The Historie of Edward the Second, Surnamed Carnarvan, one of our English Kings. Together with the Fatall down-fall of his two vnfortunate Favorites Gaveston and Spencer, London, 1629. An edition of a 576-stanza version in three cantos, entitled The Life of Edward II, was printed in London 1721 from an unidentified MS.

Mellor, pp. 4-169 (664-stanza version, headed The Life and Death of Edward the Second, including The Authors Preface beginning Rebellious thoughts why doe you tumult so?).

HuF 1

Copy of a 582-stanza version, in a neat secretary hand, headed in a later hand The life of Edward the Seconde, subscribed Finis infortunio.

In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in several neat hands, ii + 142 leaves (ff. 111v-42v blank), in contemporary calf gilt.

Compiled in part by I. N.: i.e. John Newdegate (1600-42), of Arbury Hall, Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

c.1627-35

Formerly Long Island Historical Society MS 22, to whom it was bequeathed by Samuel Bowne Duryea. Sotheby's, 21 December 1965, lot 595.

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. e. MSS (MS Eng. poet. e. 112 ff. 1r-73v) | Catalogue
HuF 2

Copy of stanzas 129-134, untitled and here beginning For so the place was call'd where he was lay'd, with three lines in stanza 133 deleted, in an unidentified hand, on a single trimmed broadsheet. Late 18th century.

In: A large folio guardbook of notes and miscellaneous documents, written or collected by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer, i + 238 leaves.
Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Percy b. 2 f. 170r) | Catalogue
HuF 3
Copy, untitled, iii + 48 quarto leaves, slightly imperfect, lacking the last leaf, in contemporary vellum boards.

A 440-stanza version, in a professional secretary hand, with marginal notes in italic.

c.1620s

Inscribed in a roman hand (f. 29v, lengthways along the margin) Thomas Higgons his pen (this is not in the hand of the scribe).

This MS collated in Mellor.

HuF 5
Copy, in a single formal secretary hand, 98 duodecimo leaves, in modern green morocco gilt.

A 581-stanza version, in a single professional secretary hand, headed The Legend of Edward ye second of Carnaruan king of England.

c.1620s

Inscribed (ff. 1r, 2r) Robti: ffrmy and Ro: fformy (i.e. Robert Fermy). Purchased from Boone, 13 March 1869.

This MS collated in Mellor.

HuF 6

Copy of a 581-stanza version, in a single italic hand, headed The Lyfe, Raygne, and Fall of Kinge Edward ye second of yt name Ki: of England: written by Sr ffrances Hubbart knight and here beginning I singe thy sadd disaster fatal Kinge, 98 duodecimo leaves, in modern calf gilt.

c.1620s

Bookplate of Edward Astle. Once owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), collector of books and manuscripts. Sotheby's, 19-22 June 1893 (Phillipps sale), lot 312.

This MS collated in Mellor.

HuF 7
Copy of the 581-stanza version, in the hand of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), merchant and antiquary, with frequent corrections and emendations possibly in another hand, the heading deleted, subscribed ffinis by Infortune, 56 quarto leaves.
c.1620s

A paper wrapper (f. [1*r]) inscribed Elizadethe Startt (sic).

This MS collated in Mellor.

HuF 8

Copy of a possibly early version, here in 352-stanzas, headed Edward the Second and beginning Whie should a wasted spirit spent in woe, in probably four secretary hands, imperfect, lacking the last stanzas.

This MS collated in Mellor.

In: A quarto volume comprising two independent bmanuscripts bound together, 117 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
c.1620s

Both MSS inscribed by Humfrey Wanley (ff. 1r, 45r) with the date 13 August 1724 for accession into the Harley Library.

HuF 9

Copy of the 581-stanza version, in a single professional secretary hand, untitled and here beginning I singe thy sad disaster (fatall King, subscribed Finis by Infortunio.

This MS collated in Mellor.

In: A quarto volume comprising two independent bmanuscripts bound together, 117 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
c.1620s

Both MSS inscribed by Humfrey Wanley (ff. 1r, 45r) with the date 13 August 1724 for accession into the Harley Library.

HuF 11
Copy of a 585-stanza version, here beginning I sing the sad disaster fatall king, in a probably professional cursive secretary hand, headed in a different secretary hand The history of the troublesome Raigne of King Edward the second...1626, subscribed Finis Infortunio, 72 quarto leaves, in modern boards.
c.1626

Phillipps MS 23893. Inscribed (free front endpaper) Grenville C. Cunningham, 11th Nov. 1910. Formerly Folger MS 5519.

HuF 12
Copy of a 581-stanza version, ii + 59 octavo leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary panelled calf.

In a single minute hand, untitled and here beginning I singe thy sad disaster fatall kinge, subscribed Finis By Infortunio.

c.1620s

Inscribed (at the top of f. 1r), possibly by the scribe, A North her book.

HuF 13

Series of extracts, the first untitled and beginning Thus fares it wth or Fortune & or state; the second headed Humility and beginning Storms rage more fiercely on ye Hills ye Dales; the third headed The Humble contented man and beginning Happy thrice Happy is that sweet estate.

In: A small (?sextodecimo) notebook comprising chiefly religious poems and prayers, written from both ends, 94 leaves, in contemporary calf.
c.1715
HuF 14

Copy of a 589-stanza version, untitled, transcribed from an earlier MS, with Weller's notes about the poem's publication (one dated 1769).

In: A folio verse miscellany, 225 pages (including blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Compiled, and partly composed, by George Weller (1710-78), lawyer, of Tonbridge, Kent.

c.1745

Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 1132 (December 1990), item 128.

HuF 15
Copy of a 581-stanza version, in a single small mixed hand, untitled and here beginning I sing thy sad disaster fatall King, subscribed finis Infortunio, followed by a poem on five pages in another secretary hand headed Vpon the death of a Pigeon slaine by a fowler on a plowed land in an Aprill eueninge 1615, beginning Yee Joue begotten graces yt can reare, and subscribed in a cursive hand Garnet Maners, the octavo pages all unnumbered, in old red morocco blind-stamped.
Early 17th century

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 9185. In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.

Princeton (RTC01 No. 60) | Catalogue
HuF 16
Copy of a version in 581 stanzas, in a single neat italic hand, headed The History of Edward ye Second by Sr F: H:, here beginning I sing thy sad disastor fatall King, ii + 99 quarto leaves, in contemporary brown calf gilt with initials H C.
c.1620s

Arms in gilt on the cover of Henry Chitting (?1580-1638), Chester Herald. A note inside the front cover by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), Oxford antiquary, records This MS. belongs to Dr. John Thorpe of Rochester.

HuF 17

Copy of a 581-stanza version, untitled (but for a modern one supplied f. [iir]), here beginning I sing thy sadd disastor fatall Kinge, in three or more secretary and italic hands, following an apparent false start (f. [iiir]), and subscribed Finis By Infortunio.

In: A quarto miscellany, in several hands, iii + 286 leaves (including numerous blanks), in old brown calf gilt.
c.1620s-30s

Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.

HuF 18
Copy, in a single small hand, incomplete, stopping at stanza 503, on 42 octavo leaves, in 17th-century calf (rebacked).

Stanzas 1-503, headed The life and death of Edward ye 2, incomplete

c.1620s
HuF 19

Copy of a 581-stanza version, in a predominantly italic hand, untitled.

In: MS of two works, in two different hands, the second written from the reverse end, 84 octavo leaves, in 17th-century calf.
c.1620s

Once owned by Sir Norton Knatchbull, first Baronet (1602-85). Scribbling on a flyleaf includes the name M Baldacke.

HuF 20
Copy of a 556-stanza version, on 61 quarto leaves, in contemporary calf gilt.

Largely in a single professional italic hand, the last stanza completed in a second hand and additional verses (f. 61v) in a third hand.

c.1620s

Inscribed (front pastedown and flyleaf) Jas. Porter Junr his Book 1720 and (f. [iiir]) This manuscript was given me by my Cozen Sarah Attwood own Sister to ye Author Wm. Attwood Esqr. late of Broomfield Parsonage in ye County of Essex. Names on a flyleaf (f. [ir]) include Thomas Garnett, James Garnet, William Lewis and John Johnsonne.

HuF 21
Copy, 81 folio leaves, bound with eight leaves of later poems at the beginning and a score of lute music at the end (ff. 81-9).

Headed The appearance of the ghost of Kinge Edward the Second, Kinge of England, incomplete at the end.

HuF 22
Copy.
Early 17th century?

Later owned by Thomas Astle (1735-1803), archivist and collector of books and manuscripts, and afterwards by Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. Sotheby's, 10 February 1836 (Heber sale, Part XI), lot 528, to Payne.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Heber MS (I)])
HuF 23
Copy, bound in russia.
Early 17th century?

Later owned by Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. Sotheby's, 10 February 1836 (Heber sale, Part XI), lot 529, to Thomas Thorpe.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Heber MS (II)])
Noli peccare ('Forbeare to sinne: God hath thee still in sight')

First published in The Historie of Edward the Second, Surnamed Carnarvan, one of our English Kings. Together with the Fatall down-fall of his two vnfortunate Favorites Gaveston and Spencer (London, 1629). pp. 166-8. Mellor, pp. 170-1.

HuF 24

Copy.

In: A quarto verse miscellany, including seventeen poems by Donne and fifteen by Strode, the main part in a single hand, 334 pages (but pp. 3-4 extracted, and including a later index).

Possibly compiled by one W: H:: i.e. probably William Holgate (1618-46), of Queens' College, Cambridge, with late 17th-century additions apparently made by other members of the Holgate family, of Saffron Walden and Great Bardfield, Essex.

c.1630s [-late 17th-century]

Owned in the early 18th century by John Wale, who supplied the index on pp. 330-3. Owned before 1927 by Col. W.G. Carwardine-Probert, of Bures, Suffolk (descendant of the Holgate family).

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the Holgate MS: DnJ Δ 58 and StW Δ 22. Briefly discussed in W.G.P., Verses by Francis Beaumont, TLS (15 September 1921), p. 596, and in E.K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, 2 vols (Oxford, 1930), II, 222-4. Also discussed, with facsimiles on pp. 68 and 70 of pp. 181 and 13, in Michael Roy Denbo, Editing a Renaissance Commonplace Book: The Holgate Miscellany, in New Ways of Looking at Old Texts, III, ed. W. Speed Hill (Tempe, AZ, 2004). pp. 65-73. For facsimile pages see DnJ 2931 and ShW 25. Complete microfilm in the Essex Record Office (T/A 98).

Documents

Document
*HuF 25
Autograph
A bill of sale of all Hubert's household furniture and moveable fittings in the Manor of Stansted-Mountfichet, Essex, to Sir Thomas Middleton, Alderman of London, for £200, in a professional hand on a single membrane of vellum, signed by Hubert himself (Huberd), with signatures of three witnesses on the verso, 29 July 1608.

Lacking the original Schedule or Inventory and seal.

1608

Recorded in Mellor, p. xxxv n. 3, with a facsimile of Hubert's signature, p. 278.

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