Page:New Poems by James I.djvu/65

 conspicuous who thus mingled dirge and panegyric. 1 To gratify fully the hopes of these poets, the royal revenues must needs have exceeded the bounds of their imaginations. But there is good evidence that James, with his characteristic recklessness in money matters, and after the 'patterns of vertuous princes' he had studied in childhood, seriously intended to take the arts and letters under his protection.

In this respect it was not difficult for him to surpass the generosity of his predecessor, regarding whom the best Vaughan can say is that she made a certain Dr. Haddon master of requests. 2 Indeed, though the Queen's person and career stirred her subjects to high poetical enthusiasm, there is little to show that she was particularly interested in literature or extended assistance of a more practical sort. Patronage during her reign came chiefly from gentlemen of culture such as Sidney and Essex, and from noble ladies such as Sidney's sister the Countess of Pembroke, the Countess of Cumberland and her mother, and the Countess of Bedford. 3

Under James, this private encouragement was supple- mented and in some measure supplanted by the direct sup- port of the royal family. This maybe accounted for not only by the royal monopoly of dramatic patronage, but also by the King's personal interest in poetry and prose controversy, Shakspere's position as chief dramatist of the King's com- pany of actors, Bacon's political promotion, Donne's pre- ferment in the church by the King's influence, and Jonson's services as composer of masques illustrate, not so much the rewards extended for literary accomplishment, as the relations with the court of the chief literary figures of the period.

The general question of court patronage of the drama in the reign of James is much too complicated for brief or sub-

1 For poems on the accession, cf. Nichols, Progresses of King James, Vol. I, pp. x-xxxvii.

2 Elizabethan Critical Essays, Vol. II, p. 325.

3 Cf. Miss Ph. Sheavyn, Patrons and Professional Writers under Elizabeth and James I. In discussing the incomes of writers, Miss Sheavyn makes but slight reference to gifts and pensions from the crown.