Possible parallel between All's Well and Microcosmos

 I noticed an interesting possible parallel between the Sonnet to Henry Neville and a passage from All's Well that Ends Well. The Sonnet appeared in the 1603 Microcosmos by John Davies of Hereford. Here it is:

The first two lines read: 

There was a Time when, ah, that so there was,

Why not there is? There is and was a Time,

Compare to this passage from All's Well that Ends Well:

This young gentlewoman had a father,—O, that 'had'! how sad a passage 'tis! (1.1.17)

There is a great deal of other research suggesting that the author of the works of Shakespeare read and was influenced by Microcosmos. See, for instance, "Shakespeare's Sonnet cxi and John Davies of Hereford's "Microcosmos" (1603)" (JSTOR).

    Brian Vickers in his 2007 book Shakespeare, A Lover’s Complaint, and John Davies of Hereford, suggests that Shakespeare “knew, and referred to” the work of John Davies of Hereford. Specifically, he suggests that this famous dialog in Macbeth:

Porter: Faith Sir, we were carousing until the second Cock: and drink, Sir, is a great provoker of three things.

Macduff: What three things does drink especially provoke?

Porter: Marry, Sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. (2.3.24-8)

Is derived from this description in Microcosmos:

Drink hath three; offices, The first assists

Concoction, for in it is boil'd the meat: 

The next, to mix the food the first digests: 

The Last, to bring it to the Livers heat

Much more on this to come, but just wanted to share this possible parallel.

The Greek Inscription on Henry Neville's Portrait: Solved!

Before leaving for France as ambassador in early 1599, Henry Neville had his portrait painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger:

The top left of the portrait has astronomical symbols and some Greek writing:

An anonymous scholar, expert in this field, has graciously provided an explanation of the symbol and the Greek text:

The Greek, "Absolutely without prosthaphaeresis"; the latter term is used here to mean the astronomical "correction" between mean and true position. And the diagram shows the sun at apogee and perigee, depicting accurately the alternative epicycle solar model of Ptolemy, at which points the true position of the sun (the picture of the sun) and the mean position of the sun (the center of the epicycle) coincide, as seen from the center or along the line of apsides (also shown in the diagram) -- so that there is no correction, or prosthaphaeresis. 

Neville is clearly using this astronomical fact as an emblem of his directness and trustworthiness -- that there is no "correction" needed between his apparent and true self. A clever conceit!

I believe Neville here is creating a clever version of his family motto: "ne vile velis". This Latin motto is usually translated as "do nothing base or dishonorable" or  "nothing distasteful or vulgar". This Greek text, along with the astronomical symbols, seem to imply something very similar.

During their tour of Europe, Henry Neville and his tutor Henry Savile met with Paul Wittich, one of the people who developed the mathematical technique of prosthaphaeresis. Tycho Brahe also made heavy use of this method; there is a great deal of scholarship connecting the Danish Brahe with certain aspects of Hamlet. The inscription, however, emphasizes the word as used in Ptolemaic astronomy, rather than the word's use to describe the mathematical method.

Francis Windebank's First Folio?

There's a lot of excitement on Twitter. David McInnis posted an inscription from the First Folio at the State Library of New South Wales. The entire First Folio is digitized here and here. At the end of Hamlet is inscribed "Elizabeth Windebank Her Book" and at the end of Antony and Cleopatra is inscribed "The vnworthest of your seruants Tho: Hurst". Here are the full images:

Thomas Windebank was a close friend of Henry Neville and lived very close to Billingbear. There are many extant letters from Neville to Windebank, and two from his wife Anne Neville while her husband was imprisoned in the Tower.

Thomas Windebank's son Francis Windebank had many literary associates, including John Florio and John Suckling. Suckling's portrait actually shows him holding a First Folio:

Francis's son Thomas (1612–1669) had a son Francis (1656–1719). And Francis was married to a woman named Elizabeth Parkhurst (1666–1730). Here is the marriage license:

Was Elizabeth Parkhurst the "Elizabeth Windebank" of the First Folio? Here is a copy of Francis (1656–1719) will mentioning his wife Elizabeth Windebank:

Here is Elizabeth's will transcribed.

Could the book originally have belonged to her husband's grandfather, Francis Windebank? 

The First Folio also has some writing in secretary hand adding in Troilus and Cressida to the list of plays. Might be possible to try to match this:

This could possibly be the Thomas Hurst (Dissertation by Professor Jennine Hurl-Eamon):

Here is another possible Thomas Hurst who was murdered in 1695:

John Moare Esq ; of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields , was Indicted for murdering one Thomas Hurst Gent. on the 21st of July last, with a Sword value 5s. and giving him one mortal Wound of the breadth of one Inch, and of the depth of Six Inches in his Breast near to his Right Pap, of which he instantly died . The Prisoner and the deceased were drinking together at the Blue Posts in the Haymarket, till about Two a Clock in the morning, and words were heard to arise between them, and the Prisoner bid him pay his Reckoning, and go his Ways. 

(There is another interesting outside possibility. John Parkhurst was another close friend of Henry Neville's. Parkhurst accompanied Neville to France as his chaplain and Neville installed him at Shellingford. So the First Folio could have descended from the Parkhurst family  to Elizabeth -- but Parkhurst was a pretty common name.)

Much more to come on this, I will update this post with more details.

1666–1730