Cannons in the Canon 7: The Tempest and Mill-Wheels Strike

There is a curious line in the Tempest:

And left thee there: where thou didst vent thy groanes
As fast as Mill-wheeles strike: Then was this Island

If you do a search on EEBO, there are many Mill-Wheel metaphors, but they are different; they deal with the turning of the wheel. For instance:

1584  thyne imagination goeth alwayes aboute lyke the wheele of a mill, and if thou doest put into it good thoughtes, it will yelde thee meale agayne of good workes:

1593 doth grinde the mill, the Wheele turnes round, and neuer standeth still: long is the toyle

1607 by reason of the continuall motion which the wheeles of the mill made, he was taken vp and saued

1610 the couetous or most wealthiest man, is but as the mill-wheele, which though it turne all day about, yet at night is found where it vvas in the morning

1614 Carnall men make their praiers as the water mooues the mill-wheele; when the water ceaseth, the wheele staieth

So why is Shakespeare talking about a mill-wheel striking something, making a noise?

If you follow this blog carefully, you know the answer. From the mid 1580s to the mid 1590s Henry Neville owned and operated an ironworks in Sussex in Mayfield. He cast iron ordnance. Metaphors from that experience are found throughout the Shakespeare canon.

The blast furnaces of that time used giant bellows run by a water wheel. But the water wheel did double-duty. It also drove hammers that pounded on the iron. You can read more in this blog post.

Better yet here is a video of what he is talking about (skip to about a minute in):

Here are two more examples of the same metaphor:

Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Titus Andronicus, 2.3

To dry the old oak's sap and cherish springs,
To spoil antiquities of hammer'd steel,
And turn the giddy round of Fortune's wheel;
Rape of Lucrece

Needs must I under my transgression bow,
Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel.
Sonnet 120

Cannons in the Canon 6: Overcharged

This is by far my favorite Neville cannon example. It's such an evocative metaphor and Neville calls on this metaphor in his deepest moment of despair.

As I have explained before, Henry Neville owned and operated an ironworks that produced cannons (ordnance) from the mid 1580s to the mid 1590s. This imagery, therefore, spans the entire Shakespeare canon. The timing matches with Neville's personal experience. A search on EEBO reveals this sense of "overcharge" (putting too much gunpowder in a a musket or cannon) to be quite unusual in printed English books at the time.

The fist example comes in Henry VI, Part II, 3.2; this sense could refer to a cannon or a musket of some kind:

QUEEN MARGARET. Enough, sweet Suffolk; thou torment'st thyself;
And these dread curses, like the sun 'gainst glass,
Or like an overcharged gun, recoil,
And turn the force of them upon thyself....

VAUX. To signify unto his majesty
That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death;
For suddenly a grievous sickness took him,
That makes him gasp and stare and catch the air,
Blaspheming God and cursing men on earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey's ghost
Were by his side; sometime he calls the king,
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The secrets of his overcharged soul;
And I am sent to tell his majesty
That even now he cries aloud for him.

Then we have Henry Neville writing to Robert Cecil from prison on 3 April 1602. I quote at length, spelling modernized. I urge you to read this very carefully and realize this was written approximately at the same time as Hamlet was written and/or revised. Note also that Cecil and Neville's wife Anne Killigrew were first cousins (their mothers were sisters). The use of "overcharged with grief" or "overcharged with sorrow" was relatively common at the time:

[I] beseech you to yield me your good favour in it as you have done in all the rest, that I may hope to have an end of my misery; which I do the rather and more instantly desire at this time in respect of my poor wife, whose state I do much fear, as being overcharged with grief & sorrow, besides my troubles, with the late loss of one of her children, and the likelihood to lose another: These afflictions coming one upon another I doubt will much endanger her weak body and mind, unless she may receive some comfort in some other kind: I beseech your Honour to take more compassion upon us.

And then we have Macbeth, 1.2 (this is considered another anachronistic use, just as iron ordnance in King John was anachronistic):

Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorise another Golgotha,
I cannot tell.
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Here is an example from 1590 of the sense in which Shakespeare/Neville is using the word. Here is the wiki entry for "arquebus":

Certain discourses, vvritten by Sir Iohn Smythe, Knight: concerning the formes and effects of diuers sorts of weapons

whereas harquebuziers haue not onlie the same let, in case their peeces by ouercharging, or ouerheating, or crackes, or rifts, doo breake, but also if that through the negligence of the harquebuziers

And another example from 1594 by the same author:

[Certen] instruct[ions, obseruati]ons and orders militarie, requisit for all chieftaine

t in this case the mosquetiers must take great heed, that they do not ouercharge their peeces with powder, nor with aboue the nomber of:5: or:6: haileshott of warre at the most, as aforesaid; least that their peeces should break or recoile, and so ouerthrow them to the trouble of the piquers, from vnder whose piques they are to discharge their peeces: and this manner of discharging of haileshot of warre by mosquetiers is for diuers times and places of seruice, of great effect, so as they giue no volee at the enemie aboue:20: paces at the furthest

Cannons in the Canon 5: Iron Ordnance in King John

The anachronism of cannons in King John has been pointed out for centuries. What's really remarkable is the specificity of the anachronism. In Hamlet, there is talk of "brazen [brass] cannon" because, even though those are probably anachronistic too, at least brass cannons predate iron cannons.

But in King John it's full on "iron indignation". Cannons are even referred to as "ordnance," the technical term current in Elizabethan times. Here is a letter from Henry Neville in 1599:

This King, whatsoever his Meaning is, hath been very careful of late to furnish himself of Ordinance, and hath taken order for the casting of 50 or 60 Pieces here in the Arsenal, whereof 30 are already cast and tried. (WW, 1.130)

Of course, from the mid 1580s to the mid 1590s Henry Neville owned and operated an ironworks in Sussex that produced ordinance. The Oxford Shakespeare estimates the play was written around 1596. Specifically, at the Berkshire Records Office are these documents from 1593-1597. :

"Correspondence, etc., concerning Sir Henry Neville's transactions in the sale and shipment of 'brocken peces' of ordnance"

So we have Neville specifically using the word "ordnance" to refer to cannons in the 1593-1597 period as well as 1599 and 1600. That's some very specific dating.

But Shakespeare actually used "ordnance" from the beginning, several times in fact. Neville owned the ironworks from the mid 1580s so that makes perfect sense. For instance:

Taming of the Shrew, 1.2:
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?

Henry VI, Part 1:
A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have placed;
And even these three days have I watch'd,
If I could see them.

Interestingly, George Peele uses "ordnance" in the same time period. Raises some interesting questions.

But please focus here on "iron indignation":

Act II, Scene 1:
KING JOHN

For our advantage; therefore hear us first.
These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement:
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege
All merciless proceeding by these French
Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates;
And but for our approach those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordinance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But on the sight of us your lawful king,
Who painfully with much expedient march
Have brought a countercheque before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threatened cheeks,
Behold, the French amazed vouchsafe a parle;
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king, whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.

KING PHILIP

When I have said, make answer to us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet,
Son to the elder brother of this man,
And king o'er him and all that he enjoys:
For this down-trodden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your town,
Being no further enemy to you
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal
In the relief of this oppressed child
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty which you truly owe
To that owes it, namely this young prince:
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruised,
We will bear home that lusty blood again
Which here we came to spout against your town,
And leave your children, wives and you in peace.
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war,
Though all these English and their discipline
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then tell us, shall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challenged it?
Or shall we give the signal to our rage
And stalk in blood to our possession?

Cannons in the Canon 4: Hammer'd Iron/Steel in My Head

As discussed in previous posts, Henry Neville owned and operated an ironworks in Sussex from the mid 1580s to the mid 1590s. He was directly involved in the production of "iron ordnance" (cannons). The works of William Shakespeare are suffused with imagery and metaphors from that experience.

The ironworks had a water wheel than ran giant bellows which pushed air into the blast furnace and also ran great hammers that pounded the iron. Here is a nice description of the hammering and why it was necessary (interesting website with photos):

"However cast iron was brittle, and needed remelting and hammering at a finery forge to convert it into highly durable ‘wrought’ iron. Forges now also used waterwheels to power bellows, to re-melt the sows at a high temperature, but their main function was turning huge mechanical hammers to pound the result into short thick iron bars, called anconies. The hammer was attached to a shaft on the waterwheel and could pound the iron up to 60 blows per minute, so forge production was also increased."

This must have been quite noisy! Maddening in fact. Check this:

Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Titus Andronicus, 2.3

The guiding principle of this blog is that people write what they know. They pull on their personal experience in their creative writing. This is a commonplace assumption everywhere except in Shakespeare studies. From before the time of the earliest plays and poems, Neville was involved in the ironworks. So we should expect to find it in the earliest works, and we do. Titus Andronicus is believed to be one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. A search of EEBO doesn't turn up a lot of examples of hammers in the head (click to see the full list):

Another example from one of Shakespeare's early poems:

To dry the old oak's sap and cherish springs, 

To spoil antiquities of hammer'd steel, 

And turn the giddy round of Fortune's wheel;

Rape of Lucrece

It's interesting to connect the "wheel" metaphor here with the trees that are being cut down to fire the furnaces and the springs that are being used and diverted to power the waterwheel. I leave it to you whether that is reading too much into these common metaphors and the fact that "steel" rhymes with "wheel". 

"hammer'd steel" is quite uncommon too. Very few examples, but interestingly George Peele uses the term in The Battle of Alcazar: "plant this negro moore that clads himselfe in coat of hammerd steele" published anonymously in 1594, the same year as the Rape of Lucrece. It has also been suggested that George Peele co-wrote Titus Andronicus. So it's possible this is his metaphor which Shakespeare adopted or vice versa. Very few examples in EEBO:

There are even fewer examples for hammer'd iron. Neville's foundry didn't make steel, it made cast iron. King John has a lot of "iron" talk which I will get into more later, but I leave you with this:

Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron?  King John, 4.1

Bonus passage from the non-canonical Troublesome Reign of King John:

But who so blind, as cannot see this beam,

That you forsooth would keep your cousin down,

For fear his mother should be used too well?

Aye, there’s the grief, confusion catch the brain,

That hammers shifts to stop a prince’s reign.

Cannons in the Canon 3: Neville, Shakespeare, and Hamlet

In Hamlet, Marcellus on the battlements describes preparations for war, and describes either the “daily cost of brazen cannon” (First Quarto) or the “daily cast of brazen cannon” (First Folio):

Why this same strict and most observant watch

So nightly toils the subject of the land,

And why such daily (cast/cost) of brazen cannon

And foreign mart for implements of war;

Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task

Does not divide the Sunday from the week.

What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day?  (Hamlet 1.1)

In a 19 November 1599 letter to Robert Cecil, Neville describes a very similar situation:

This King, whatsoever his Meaning is, hath been very careful of late to furnish himself of Ordinance [cannons], and hath taken order for the casting of 50 or 60 Pieces here in the Arsenal, whereof 30 are already cast and tried; he hath also appointed great Store of Arms to be bought in sundry Towns as I am informed, wherein he may happily have a double end, to furnish himself for all Occasions, and to disfurnish the Towns. (WW, 1.130)

In other words, in preparation for war, the king is producing ordnance (cannons). He has put in orders for 50 or 60 pieces and 30 are already completed and tested. In addition, he is purchasing arms in towns. This both increases his store of weapons while depleting the stores in the towns. These are two separate preparations for war.

A search of EEBO shows that the use of “cast” to mean “manufacture artillery” was not very common at the time. So this passage does double duty to resolve the controversy. It provides another contemporaneous example of “cast” in this sense. It also provides further insight into why, in preparing for war, you might both manufacture cannons and also purchase them elsewhere. All of this evidence argues for a “cast” reading instead of “cost”.

It is worth noting that Neville owned an ironworks used for making artillery, so it’s not surprising he is interested in ordinance manufacture and dwells on it in this letter. It’s also worth noting that Shakespeare uses artillery imagery in figurative and literal senses extensively throughout Hamlet and other plays.

Cannons in the Canon #2a: Bellows-Mender

Update: I found an example of bellows mending!
Account for 1537-8
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol31/pp174-194
To John Houghe, organmaker, for mending the organs this year, 12d
To the said John Houghe, organmaker, for mending a pair of bellows, 5s.

And another one!!
1553
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/early-eng-text-soc/vol128/pp394-396
payed to Ihon howe for mendynge the great organs & mendynge the bell'owes and for mendynge the lyttell' organs, as dothe appeare by a byll'

And more:
1559
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/churchwardens-st-martin-fields/1525-1603/pp179-195
It'm payd the laste of July to the Orgen maker for tow new skyns (fn. 20) for the bellowes xiijd, for a pounde of glewe iiijd, for fyre jd, for xiiij new springes for the bases ijs iiijd, for latten for the tonges and tow new stoppes ijs, for shew makers (fn. 21) ends ijd, for ther worke for him and his felowe for tow dayes

In Midsummer Night's Dream, typically dated to 1595/1596, a character is introduced as Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.

What is a bellows mender? This is not a new question. Here is an edition of Shakespeare's plays  from 1790:

Here is the current Wikipedia entry, connecting the "flute" in his name with the pipe organs:

"Flute's name, like that of the other mechanicals, is metonymical and derives from his craft: "Flute" references a church organ, an instrument prominently featuring the bellows a bellows-mender might be called upon to repair."

Wikipedia also tells us this about pipe organs around 1600:

"In England, many pipe organs were taken out of churches during the English Reformation of the 16th century and the Commonwealth period. Often these were relocated to private homes."

With pipe organs removed from churches, this could be a joke about how someone in that profession wouldn't have much work, and so would need to become an actor. That's a real possibility.

Searching the OED gives some more context. "Bellows" in the sense of instruments used to blow air into a fire, has a very long history in English. Much more recent and much, much less common in 1600 was "bellows" used in the sense of pumping air into a pipe organ.

A search on EEBO produces very very few examples of "bellows" literally related to musical instruments.  One comical passage from Nicholas Breton's The Forte of Fancie from 1570, though, does refer to an organ with burst bellows, but it seems to also be a metaphorical reference to the lungs:

Organes, with the bellowes burst, and battred many wayes: his fife, three holes in one: his Harpe, with nere a stringe: great pittie trust mee for to see, so broken euery thinge:

This might even have been an inspiration for whoever wrote the Shakespeare play, since Breton's works are often compared with Shakespeare's and many similarities have been found.

Robert Greene in his 1592 work A Quip for an Upstart Courtier actually uses the word in a very similar sense to Shakespeare. This is the same Robert Greene who died in 1592 but whose Greene's Groats lampoons Shakespeare:

so then he began to tell mee, that by his art he was a skinner, the second said hee was a ioyner, the thirde was a sadler, the fourth a waterman, the fifte was a cutler, the sixt was a bellows mender, the seuenth a plaisterer, and the eight a printe

But this was written before Midsummer Night's Dream, so may have been the source for this character.

There's another possibility. As I mention here, giant bellows were necessary to run blast furnaces, one of which Henry Neville owned at Mayfield in Sussex to produce iron ordinance.

And I've actually found a reference to such an occupation in a book written a bit later Irelands naturall history, 1657, and even mentions the necessity of repairing them.

Here is a description of the bellows. Note the reference to pipes:

And here is the reference to bellows maker:

"a list of whose names and offices here followeth: wood-cutters, who fell the timber; sawyers, to saw the timber; carpenters, smiths, masons, and bellow-makers, to erect the iron-works, with all the appurtenances thereof, and to repair them from time to time"

Interestingly, John Florio in his 1598 World of Words references an Italian word for bellows maker:
manticciaro, a bellowes maker
mantice, mantici, mantico, a paire of bellowes: also the guts whereby euery creature drawes breath