The Archbishop and the Rogue: William Laudâs copy of âGuzmĂĄn de Alfaracheâ
William Laud (1573-1645) is best known for his role in English religious and political history. He also amassed a considerable library which he presented to the Bodleian Library. The 1000-odd manuscripts have been well studied. His printed books less so, and one at least of them is in the British Library, purchased in 1859.
Title-page of Mateo Alemån, Primera parte de Guzman de Alfarache ⊠(Madrid, 1600) 12491.e.12
The catalogue states confidently: âMs. notes [by Archbishop Laud]â. His signature is perfectly clear on the title page. Compare another sample:
A book with Laudâs signature, from the Hurd Library in the former Bishopâs Palace at Hartlebury Castle, Worcestershire.
The copy of GuzmĂĄn, or more correctly the first part of it (from ch 1 to the beginning of ch 8 (fol. 50v) out of 207), is full of interlinear manuscript notes which supply English translations of certain phrases. Iâm not qualified to judge whether the hand is Laudâs, but the annotations certainly seem early.
Was GuzmĂĄn suitable reading for a clergyman? Itâs a picaresque novel which recounts in the first person the vicissitudes of a protagonist of the criminal classes. It can be placed with fiction which teaches a moral. Itâs interesting that Lincoln Cathedral Library also has GuzmĂĄn in Spanish, and in Italian, and also the apocryphal Second Part (Shaw A384, A385, M481). Theyâre thought to have belonged to another man of the church, Dean Michael Honywood (1597-1681) (Hurst ix-xi). Dr Williamsâs Library in Gordon Square also has two parts of GuzmĂĄn in Spanish, which likely belonged to ejected minister Dr William Bates (Taylor 37).
GuzmĂĄn isnât easy reading, and itâs perfectly understandable why our annotator felt the need for some glosses. But as with pretty much all such annotations, itâs hard to divine why he translates some words and not others. He seems not to have concentrated on hard words: is it because he didnât understand them? By the way, I didnât find any match with James Mabbeâs translation, The Rogue, of 1622 (12489.m.8.).
The opening of GuzmĂĄn in Laudâs copy, with annotations. A transcription follows below:
El deseo que tenĂa, curioso lector, de contarte mi vida me daba tanta priesa \haste/ para engolfarte \thee/ en ella sin prevenir algunas cosas que, como primer principio, es bien dejarlas entendidas -- porque siendo esenciales a este discurso tambiĂ©n te serĂĄn de no pequeño gusto - -, que me olvidaba de cerrar un portillo \little back door/ por donde me pudiera entrar acusando cualquier terminista de mal latĂn, redarguyĂ©ndome de pecado, porque no procedĂ de la difiniciĂłn a lo difinido, y antes de contarla \my life/ no dejĂ© dicho \I did not leave it said/ quiĂ©nes y cuĂĄles fueron mis padres y confuso nacimiento; que en su tanto, \in as much as it contaynes/ si dellos hubiera \one hadd/ de escribirse, fuera sin duda mĂĄs agradable y bien recibida que esta mĂa. TomarĂ© por mayor lo mĂĄs importante, dejando lo que no me es lĂcito, para que otro haga la baza.
Y aunque a ninguno conviene tener la propiedad de la hiena, que se sustenta desenterrando cuerpos muertos, yo aseguro, segĂșn hoy hay en el mundo censores, que no les falten coronistas. Y no es de maravillar que aun esta pequeña sombra \shadow/ querrĂĄs della inferir que les corto de tijera \that I cutt or pare with shears/ y temerariamente me darĂĄs mil atributos, que serĂĄ el menor dellos tonto o necio, porque, no guardando mis faltas, mejor descubrirĂ© las ajenas. Alabo tu razĂłn por buena; pero quiĂ©rote advertir que, aunque me tendrĂĄs por malo, no lo quisiera parecer -- que es peor serlo y honrarse dello \with it/--, y que, contraviniendo a un tan santo precepto como el cuarto, del honor y reverencia que les debo, quisiera cubrir mis flaquezas con las de mis mayores; pues nace \proceeds/ de viles y bajos pensamientos tratar de honrarse con afrentas ajenas, segĂșn de ordinario se acostumbra: lo cual condeno por necedad \folly/ solemne de siete capas \seven fold/ como fiesta doble. Y no lo puede ser mayor, pues descubro \since I discover/mi punto, no salva mi yerro \the error/ el de mi vecino o deudo \kinsman/, y siempre vemos vituperado el maldiciente. Mas a mĂ \as for me/ no me sucede asĂ, porque, adornando la historia, siĂ©ndome necesario \as I shall have cause/, todos dirĂĄn \all will say/: âbien haya el \blessed be he/ que a los suyos parece \is like/â, llevĂĄndome estas bendiciones de camino.
Laud obviously cast his linguistic net wide. He promoted Hebrew and Arabic studies, and owned a pre-Colombian Mexican screenfold ms, Codex Laud (in the Bodleian, MS. Laud Misc. 678). Unfortunately itâs not known where he got it from.
Portrait of Laud, from a collection of 279 coloured portraits engraved by Baltasar Moncornet (Paris [1650-1660]) 1762.a.1.
Whether or not owner and annotator are the same, this book is a witness to the possession and reading of a Spanish classic when it was hot off the press.
Barry Taylor, Curator Romance Languages
References/further reading
David J. Shaw (gen. ed.), The Cathedral Libraries Catalogue, Vol. 2, Books printed on the continent of Europe, before 1701 in the libraries of the Anglican cathedrals of England and Wales (London, 1998). 2725.g.310
Clive Hurst, Catalogue of the Wren Library of Lincoln Cathedral: books printed before 1801 (Cambridge, 1982). 2725.p.47
Barry Taylor, âLos libros españoles del Dr. William Bates (1625-1699) en la Dr. Williamsâs Library de Londresâ, in El libro español en Londres: la visiĂłn de España en Inglaterra (siglos XVI al XIX), ed. NicolĂĄs Bas and Barry Taylor (Valencia, 2016), pp. 13-60. YF.2017.a.19281
On Laudâs oriental mss in Bodleian:
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f95d440c-5254-3338-9417-d1f290471378