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George Gascoigne

1535–1578
Portrait of George Gascoigne
George Gascoigne by Thomas Wright © National Portrait Gallery, London

George Gascoigne, the son of landowner and farmer John Gascoigne, was born in Cardington, Bedfordshire, England. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and replaced his father as an almoner at Elizabeth I’s coronation. However, as a farmer George Gascoigne was unsuccessful: he was imprisoned for debt and yet served in Parliament for two years, beginning in 1557. In 1571 Gascoigne joined the army, serving under the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands and at one point facing accusations of treason.
 
George Gascoigne wrote poetry, plays, and prose. His first play, Supposes— a translation of I Suppositi by Ludovico Ariosto—was published in 1566. His collection of poems and a prose novella, A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres (1573), was deemed offensive by many. It was republished as The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire (1575). Gascoigne was also the author of The Steele Glas, “A Satyre compiled by George Gascoigne Esquire,” on the senselessness of war. His The Adventures of Master F.J. (1573), a hybrid of poetry and prose considered by some to have been autobiographical, was published in two different versions. Gascoigne wrote an essay on writing, “Certayne Notes of Instruction on Making of Verse” (1575). His Spoyle of Antwerp (1576) gave an account of a visit to Paris and Antwerp for business.
 
Shakespeare may have used Supposes as a source for part of The Taming of the Shrew. Gascoigne died of an illness near Stamford.

Poems by George Gascoigne
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Bibliography

Books

  • A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, Bounde vp in One Small Poesie. Gathered Partely (by Translation) and Partly by Inuention (London: Printed by Henry Bynneman for Richard Smith, 1573); revised and enlarged as The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire (London: Printed by Henry Bynneman for Richard Smith, [1575]).
  • The Glasse of Gouernement. A Tragicall Comedie (London: Printed by Henry Middleton for Christopher Barker, 1575).
  • The Princelye Pleasures at the Courte at Kenelwoorth: That Is to Saye, the Copies of All Such Verses ... and Other Deuices of Pleasure, as Were There ... Presented ... Before the Qvene's Maiestie in the Yeare, 1575 (London: Printed by Rychard Jhones, 1576).
  • The Spoyle of Antwerpe. Faithfully Reported, by a True Englishman, Who Was Present (London: [Printed by John Charlewood for] Richard Jones, [1576?]).
  • The Steele Glas. A Satyre. Together with the Complainte of Phylomene (London: [Printed by Henry Binneman] for Richard Smith, 1576).

Editions

  • The VVhole Woorkes of George Gascoigne, Esquyre: Newlye Compyled into One Volume (London: Printed by Abell Ieffes, 1587).
  • The Complete Poems of George Gascoigne, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (London: Printed [by Whittingham and Wilkins] for the Roxburghe Library, 1869-1870).
  • "Certain Notes of Instruction," in Elizabethan Critical Essays, edited by G. Gregory Smith, volume 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904), pp. 46-57.
  • The Complete Works of George Gascoigne, edited by John W. Cunliffe, 2 volumes (Cambridge: The University Press, 1907-1910).
  • A Hundredth Sundrie Flowres, edited by Bernard M. Ward (London: F. Etchells and H. Macdonald, 1926; Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1975).
  • George Gascoigne's A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, edited by C. T. Prouty (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1942).
  • "A Pleasant Discourse of the Adventures of Master F. J.," in Elizabethan Prose Fiction, edited by Merritt E. Lawlis (New York: Odyssey Press, 1967).
  • A Hundred Sundry Flowers (Menston, U.K.: Scolar Press, 1970).
  • The Steele Glass and The Complaint of Philomene, edited by William L. Wallace, Elizabethan and Renaissance Studies, no. 24 (Salzburg: Salzburg Studies in English Literature, 1975).
  • George Gascoigne the Green Knight: Selected Poetry and Prose, edited by Roger Pooley (Manchester: Carcanet New Press, 1982).
  • "A Pleasant Discourse of the Adventures of Master F. J.," in An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction, edited by Paul Salzman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 1-81.

Play Productions

  • The Supposes, London, Gray's Inn, 1566.
  • Jocasta, London, Gray's Inn, 1566.

Other

  • Jacques de Fouilloux, The Noble Arte of Venerie or Hunting, translation attributed to Gascoigne (London: Printed by Henry Bynneman for Christopher Barker, [1575]).
  • Saint Augustine, A Delicate Diet, for Daintiemouthde Droonkardes, translated by Gascoigne (London: [Printed by John Charlewood for] Richard Jones, 1576).
  • Humphrey Gilbert, A Discourse of a Discouerie for a New Passage to Cataia, edited by Gascoigne (London: Printed by Henry Middleton for Richard Jhones, 1576).
  • Innocent III, The Droomme of Doomes Day. Wherein the Frailties of Mans Lyfe, Are Portrayed, translated by Gascoigne (London: [Printed by Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, 1576; Printed by John Windet for Gabriell Cawood, 1586).
  • Anonymous, "The Pleasant Tale of Hemetes the Hermit," Latin translation by Gascoigne, in A Paradoxe, Prouing by Reason and Example, that Baldnesse Is Much Better than Bushie Haire. Hereunto Is Annexed the Tale of Hemetes the Heremite. Newly Recognised Both in Latine and Englishe, by the Said A. F., by Synesius, translated by Abraham Fleming (London: Printed by Henry Denham, 1579).

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The Tale of Hemetes the Hermit (signed Royal MS. 18 A xlviii) and The Grief of Joy (Royal MS. 18 A lxi) are owned by the British Library.