Jump to content

John Dennys

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CaroleHenson (talk | contribs) at 07:03, 10 July 2013 (splitting article - to The Secrets of Angling). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Title page of first edition (1613)in the Bodleian, shelfmark 8vo.D 15 Art.

John Dennys (died 1609) poet and fisherman was the pioneer of Angling poetry in England. His only work "The Secrets of Angling" was the earliest English poetical treatise on fishing,[1] first published in 1613 in London. A didactic pastoral poem in 3 books, totaling 151 verses each of 8 lines, in the style of Virgil's Georgics,[2] it was published in 4 editions until 1652, examples of which are amongst the rarest books in existence.[3] A likely explanation for its rarity is the minute size of the publication, which measures only 5¼" by 3½" being in thickness only 1/4"; that is to say it is the size of a stack of a couple of dozen postcards. It was thus prone to being mislaid. It is considered to be one of the curiosities of English literature and bibliography. Much of the renown of the work derives from 6 verses (36-41, Bk. 1) having been quoted (with variations that were not improvements) [4] by Izaak Walton in his The Compleat Angler of 1653, part first, chap. 1.[5] John Dennys was possibly an acquaintance of Shakespeare, with whom he shared interests in both poetry and fishing.[6] Dennys received at the hand of Thomas Westwood (1814–1888),[7] the poet and bibliographer and one of his greatest proponents, the epithet "The Fisherman's Glorious John", signifying Angling Poetry's own John Dryden.[8] Dennys's poem was published anonymously, 4 years posthumously, and for 198 years the poem was misattributed, its authorship remaining a mystery until 1811. Few of his biographers can resist stating that Dennys was destined to become a greater secret than any he revealed.

Acquaintanceship with Shakespeare

Rev. Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (died 1916), Vicar of Bitton, who had assisted Westwood in his definitive identification of Dennys, went on to write "Shakespeare as an Angler" published at Oxford in 1883, in which he argues that The Bard and John Dennys were possibly fishing companions. Shakespeare lived for a while at Dursley, Glos., not too far from Dennys's manor of Oldbury-on-Hill, N. of Pucklechurch. The play Henry IV contains many references to the sport, and is said to have been written during this period.[9]

Magdalene College, Cambs.

It is possible John Dennys had read the Georgics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, which his father Hugh had caused in 1543 to establish a scholarship "the Dennis Scholarship" by procuring an Act of Parliament[10] to divert the income from his great-uncle Hugh Denys's[11] bequest to Sheen Priory and Syon Abbey, dissolved by Henry VIII, to the newly refounded College.

Family

John "Dennys" was son of Hugh Dennis (died 1559), Sheriff of Gloucestershire (1551) and Katherine, daughter of Thomas Trye of Hardwicke, Glos. Hugh's father John had been the heir of Hugh Denys, Groom of the Stool to Henry VII. John the poet was heir to his elder brother Henry (ob.s.p. 1569). He married Eleanor(died post 1618), daughter of Thomas Millett of Warwickshire and had 4 children:[12]

  • Henry (born 1594), High Sheriff of Gloucestershire (1629), buried at Pucklechurch 1638.
  • William (born 1596) buried at Pucklechurch 1652.
  • Katherine (born 1599)
  • Cicely (born 1596), m. William Guise of Elmore, Glos.

He d. 30th. July 1609 and was buried 7th. August at St.Thomas a Becket Church, Pucklechurch. John Dennys's will was dated 1609, without month, proved 14th. Oct. 1609.[13] He left 4 children under 15 years old, from which may be deduced that he possibly died young aged 35 to 40.

Epitaph

Thomas Westwood wrote the following epitaph for John Dennys:
Calm be his sleep in the old aisle of Pucklechurch! or if any sound reach him from the outer world, may it be only the soughing of the sweet south wind, and the ripple of Boyd, that with "crooked winding way" past cliff and meadow, "Its mother Avon runneth soft to seek".[14]

Sources

  • Westwood, Thomas (Ed.) Introduction, Reprint of The Secrets of Angling, 1613 text, London, 1883. http://www.onread.com/reader/66670
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

References

  1. ^ Lambert, Osmund. Angling Literature in England. p.43 "There appears to be no poetical treatise on the gentle craft of earlier date than Dennys's". Dame Julia Berners had written a brief prose treaty in the 2nd. ed. of the Book of St. Albans, 1496, but without apparent thought to style, "Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle". 3 or 4 other prose treatises appeared before 1613 (see Wilson, James. The Rod and the Gun. Edinburgh, 1844, p.279. for a list of such early works.
  2. ^ The opening line "Of angling and the art thereof I sing" is clearly modelled on Virgil's Georgics, a pastoral poem on the art of farming, which opens: "Quid faciat laetas segetes...hinc canere incipiam." (What makes the crops joyful here may I begin to sing about.)
  3. ^ Beloe, Rev. W. Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books. London, 1807. Vol.2, pp.64–67. "Perhaps there does not exist in the circle of English Literature a rarer book than this". He was actually referring to the 4th. edition, possibly the least rare of the 4.
  4. ^ Walton quoted Dennys "With variations that were not improvements." Westwood, Thomas. Introduction, The Secrets of Angling, London, 1883. p.8.
  5. ^ Complete Angler, 5th. ed., 1676: Piscator to Venator : "Will you hear the wish of another angler, and the commendation of his happy life, which he also sings in verse; namely, Jo. Davors, Esq." (verses) "Sir, I am glad my memory has not lost these verses, because they are somewhat more pleasant and more suitable to May-day than my harsh discourse". ("Jo. Da." in the first 4 editions)
  6. ^ Ellacombe, Rev. H.N. Shakespeare as an Angler. Oxford, 1883. Ellacombe was Vicar of Bitton, about which he had written 2 books. He was familiar with the history of the Dennis family of Pucklechurch, which owned Bitton Farm in 1660.
  7. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  8. ^ Westwood, Thomas. Introduction, The Secrets of Angling, London, 1883. p.12. (Dryden had received the appellation from Walter Scott, Waverley vol.12, chap. 14.)
  9. ^ See also Laurence, Robert. William Shakespeare, Fisherman. & Huhner, Max. Was Shakespeare an Angler? 1918.
  10. ^ Parliament office MSS. III. Acts not on the Parliament Roll and not printed in the "Statutes at Large". 22 Jan Parliament Roll, Cap.42, An Act concerning the inheritance of Hugh Denys and 20s per annum to Magdalene Coll. in Cambs. 34 & 35 H VIII (1543)
  11. ^ Hugh Denys (died 1511)of Osterley, Middx. was Groom of the King's Close Stool to Henry VII. For his career see: Starkey, D. A Virtuous Prince.
  12. ^ Funerary Monuments in St. Thomas a Becket Church, Pucklechurch, Glos.; The Visitation of the County of Gloucester taken in the Year 1623 by Henry Chitty and John Phillipot as Deputies to William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms. Edited by Sir John Maclean. London, 1885. Dennis pedigree pp.49–53
  13. ^ PCC PROB 11/114 Image ref. 344/938
  14. ^ Westwood, T. The Fisherman's Magazine and Review. Vol.2, 1865, p328.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Dennys&oldid=563631001"