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.

The French Ambassador Connection: Neville, Shakespeare, As You Like It and Henry V

As You Like It and Henry V are both traditionally dated to 1599. There is a very strong connection between these plays and Neville’s diplomatic writing from that year.  Look at this sentence Neville wrote on 16 May 1599, about two weeks after his arrival in France [spelling modernized]:

I repaired to Fontainebleau, and had Access unto the King, where I delivered at large unto him that which I comprised more briefly in the Proposition I presented in writing. (WW, 1.29-30)

 “Proposition” first appears in Shakespeare’s works in As You Like It:

It is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the

propositions of a lover (As You Like It, 3.2)

Though “proposition” was not a rare word, Shakespeare never used it before 1599; he uses it once later in Troilus and Cressida, 1.3. Neville wrote a proposal to the French government in French and titled the document: “Proposition faicte à Messieurs du Conseil du Roy” (WW, I, 27). He refers again to these propositions in a letter he wrote in French on 6 June 1599:

La response que vous m’avez envoyé au nom du Roy, aux propositions que j’avois presentées (WW, 1.37)

So in 1599, while Neville is using the word “proposition” in both English and French, the word simultaneously make its first appearance in Shakespeare’s work. The same thing is true for “comprised”:

I comprised more briefly in the Proposition I presented in writing. (WW, I, 42)

HENRY V. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us:

She is our capital demand, comprised

Within the fore-rank of our articles.  (Henry V, 5.2)

Though “comprised” was not uncommon at the time, it appears only once in Shakespeare’s works, in Henry V. This use is in the exact same sense as Neville’s; it references demands included in “articles” similar to the demands made in Neville’s “proposition.”  According to the OED, “comprise” is derived from the French “compris.”

A very similar thing happens with “predecessor.” Neville had his first audience with the King of France on 8 May 1599. He wrote a letter about it to Secretary of State Robert Cecil on 15 May. Here are three passages from the letter where both Neville quotes himself and the King using the word “predecessor”:

Wherein I said, that her Majesty did acknowledge his great Wisdom in discovering the Errors of his Predecessors (WW, 1.21)

The King's Answer was, That no Man could better discover the Errors of his Predecessors Counsel in that point then himself, for that it was he against whom they did chiefly put it in Execution. ((WW, 1.21-22)

Prayed him to take order the Intercourse might be continued, in such ample sort as it had been in his Predecessors Times (WW, 1.24)

The word, also a borrowing from French though not uncommon in English, occurs first in in Henry V, and later in Macbeth and Coriolanus:

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. Than ever at one time the clergy yet

Did to his predecessors part withal (Henry V, 1.1)

AMBASSADOR. Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.

In answer of which claim, the prince our master  (Henry V, 1.2)

In the same letter describing this first audience with the King, Neville quotes the king directly in French:

He wished with as great Affection to the Queen, as to himself, to whom if she were a Man he would call himself a perfect Friend, but being as she is, Je me diray son Serviteur. (WW, 1.21)

Neville uses this word again in a letter from 3 Jan 1600, quoting the King again:

acknowledging himself infinitely beholden to her, and that he would ever remain her Serviteur. (WW, 1.142)

The same word first appears in Shakespeare in Henry V and again, shortly thereafter, in Twelfth Night:

Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foi, je

ne veux point que vous abaissiez votre grandeur en

baisant la main d'une de votre seigeurie indigne

serviteur; excusez-moi, je vous supplie, mon

tres-puissant seigneur. (Henry V, 5.2)

Et vous aussi; votre serviteur. (Twelfth Night, 3.1)

Serviteur was not an uncommon word in French, though its use in English at the time, judging by a search of Early English Books Online (EEBO), was quite uncommon. Shakespeare is using it as a French word in both cases; “servitor,” which is apparently related etymologically, appears in many plays as an English word.

It is important to emphasize that none of these words appeared in earlier Shakespeare plays. They are words that were important in Neville’s experience as ambassador. Two, “predecessor” and “serviteur,” are used during his first audience with the King of France; one, “proposition,” is used over and over, in English and French, related to his main diplomatic purpose; and “comprised” is used in almost exactly the same context in his letter and the play. The timing and context of these shared uses transcends mere coincidence. There appears to be a real connection.

Credence: Diplomatic Language in Henry Neville and Shakespeare

I keep collecting these examples because they demonstrate what I believe to be a real pattern. I believe that we can trace words and phrases that Neville began using during his time as Ambassador to France and then found their way into the plays and poems.

Some of these words are unusual, like cicatrice. Others are much less so. But actually, I think the ability to trace how more common words enter the canon provides stronger evidence of authorship.

In a letter from 19 February 1599, before he left for France, Neville wrote: "I would see both my letters of credence and my instructions, before they be signed."

The OED kindly explains what that means: Chiefly (now only) Diplomatic. Something, usually a document, which gives claim to credit or confidence; a letter of credence, a person's credentials.

The word "credence" was not new in 1599 nor unusual. A search on EEBO shows it to be quite common. But before 1599, the word does not appear at all in Shakespeare's works.

The first appearance is in All's Well That Ends Well, 1.2:

KING OF FRANCE. Nay, 'tis most credible; we here received it
A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria,
With caution that the Florentine will move us
For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business and would seem
To have us make denial.

FIRST LORD. His love and wisdom,
Approved so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.

And then again, 3.2:

DUKE OF FLORENCE. The general of our horse thou art; and we,
Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
Upon thy promising fortune.

What's interesting is how the context lines up. Neville is using this word in a diplomatic context, describing a letter he needs to prove his credentials to the King of France as ambassador. Then later in a play, the word pops up during an audience with the King of France. It's a fancy, French-sounding word. At the time, in French, this letter was called a "lettre de credence". Here is an example from 1576:

And one from 1609:

Under the William Shakespeare paradigm, identifying words and phrases like this would be unthinkable. Under the Neville paradigm, explanations for words, phrases, and scenes become possible. They can be traced to Henry Neville's personal experiences.