Edward Pudsey's commonplace book with extracts from Shakespeare's plays (fragment at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)

Editorial note: In this transcription, marginal headings appear on their own line, preceeding the line of associated body text. As a result, sometimes the first line of body text following a heading includes some content associated with the previous heading.

[fol. 1]

            Plays . Romeo & Juliet    King Richard 2 .    shakspeare  King Richard 3 . shakespeare
Austere   
Though news bee sad yet tell theim merilye; yf good thou shamest
the musicke of sweet newes, by playing it to mee with so sower a face.
violence  
Violent delightes haue violent endes & in their triumph dye
lyke fyre & powder: which as they kisse consume.
Conceit   
Conceit more rich in matter then in wordes, brages of his substance not
of ornament they are but beggeres that can count their worth but my
true loue is grown to such excesse I cannot sum vp som of half my wealth.
Darknes
Louers can see to doe their amorous rightes by their own beauties
“was euer booke contayning so vyle matter so fairely bounde &c.
“vpon his brow shame ys asham’d to sitt
weeping
will yow wash him from his graue with teares, or if ^yow cold yet cold not  
"make him liue. Some greef showes much of loue, but much
of greef showes still some want of witt.
A weeping body lyke a barke, teares that ebb & flow the Sea,
Sighs windes, which str.ing with the sea beget such a storme that &c.
do not deny to him that yow loue me. Response I will confesse to yow that I loue him
ere this hand to seald shalbe the labell to another deed. &c.
                                      King Richard the 2
greef
"woe doth the heavier sit, where it perceiues it is but faintly borne .
“ffor gnarling sorrow hath lesse power to byte, the man that mocks
“it, & setes yt light./ The apprehnsion of the good giues but the greater
“feeling to the woorse.  Ere further leasure yeeld the further meanes
Attention  
The tounges of dying men inforce attention.
secresy   
Let vs share thy thoughtes, for thy wordes shalbe as thoughtes &c.
Eeach substance of a greef hath 20 shadowes, which shews lyke greef
greef    
it self but is not soe, for sorrowes eys glaz’d with blynding teares de=
uydes one thing entyre to many obiectes
my neerenes to yow in loue ys neere to the hatred of &c.
                                       King  Richard the 3.
“Naught to doe &c. A lumpe of foule deformitye. Teach not thy lippes such
“scorne for they were made for &c. with what a sharp prouided witt hee reasons &c.
“Leaden Icie cold vnwillinge. Made him my booke wherein my soul recorded
“the historie of all her secret thoughtes, so smooth hee daub'd, his vice with show of virtue that &c.
yet so much ys my pouertie of spirit that &c. Be breef lest that the processe of thy
Aged
"kindnes last longer in telling then thy kindesse. In the afternoone of her best dayes &c.
A fit mate
dangerous to tell where a soldier lyes. &c. yf I shold say hee lodge theer I lyed the^er.
Shee that is free of her toung ys as frank of her lipps. An ey that offeres parle to prouocacion
An equalitye of perfections fit in mariage for when the act ys past theere wilbe
a dulnes much needing the help of beauty youth loue & such lyke to preuent loathing.

[fol. 1v]

        Much adoe about nothing shakespeare
“hee hath indeed better bettered expectacion then yow must expect of me to tell yow how.
tears 
There are no faces truer then thos that are washt with ioyfull teares, for better
“ys it to weep at ioy then to ioy at weeping.  Stuft with all honorable virtues.
Intertainment   
A talker     
Are yow come to meet your trouble the fashion of this world ys to avoid cost & you
incounter yt.  I wold my horse had the speed of your toung & so good a continuer:
“Shee’s too lowe for a hye praise, too browne for a fair prayse, & too little for a great p &c.
“I can see without spectacles & I see no such matter. yow cannot an maintayne that argument
will   
but in the force of your will. Take the present tyme by the toppe: yf I can crosse
him any way I blesse my self euery waye.  She puttes the world into her person, & soe,
giues mee out well &c. misuse me past the indurance of a blocke, my very visor &c
“I were but little hapy if I cold say how much. I giue away my self for yow, & doat vpon the exch^eange
“my hart keepes on the windy syde of care. I will get yow a husband Response I wold rather one of your ffa
“thers getting for hee got excellent husbandes. Tyme goes on crutches till
stranger
loue &c. Yt is the witnesse still of excellencie to put a strang face on his own perfecion.
“I pray god his bad voice bode no mischeef, I had as liue haue hard the night rauen &c.
“daft all other respects. &c. writ a letter of a sheet of paper & found E[?] & H[?] between
“the sheete  Yt is no addicion to her witt nor no great argument of her follie
“how worthy soeuer shee wold spell him backward &c. A hart as sound as a
plainnnes  
Bell & his toung ys the Clapper for what his hart thinkes his toung speakes.
“I am at your elbow: Response my elbow itcht I though there wold a scrabbe followe
“my hart ys heauie. Response yt wilbe heavie soone by the weight of a man
“how long haue yow profest apprehension . do it wisely. Response. we will spare for no wit I ^{warrant you}
Discours  
harty loue
maintain'd the change of wordes. I loue yow with to much of my hart that none
ys left to protest with.  will yow not eat your word. Response with no sause that can be dev=
“ised to it   Cease thy counsell which falls into my eares as proffitles
“as water into a syve. I know them yea & what they weigthe
“euen to the vtmost scruple, scambling out facing fashion monging boys.
“wee are high ^prooffe malencholie & wold fain haue it beaten away wilt thou vse thy witt.
“I said thou hadd’st a fyne witt true said shee a fyne little one, no said I a
“great witt right sayes she a great grose one nay said I a good witt
“iust said she yt hurtes nobodie, Response nay said I the gent ys wise, certain said she
“a wise gent Response nay said I hee hath the tounges Response that I beleev so she for hee
“swoore a thing to me on monday night, which he forswoore on tuesday
“morning, theers a double toung thers 2 tounges
“what a pretty thing man ys when he goes in his dublet & hose & leaues ^{of his wit}
“deserue well at my hanes I pray thee ) by helping me to &c.
Suffer loue a good Epithitet, for I loue against my will   
mariage
“To binde me or undoe me one of them I must intreat your paines to &c.
“Regarded with an eye of fauor. A Colledg of witt crackers
“cannot slant me out of my humour, Yf a man wilbe beaten with
“braines hee shall weare nothing hansome about him.
“Thou will bee a double dealer, yf thy wiffe do not look exceding narowly to ^thee
“Get thee a wyffe. theere no staffe more reuerent then one tipt with horne.

[fol.2]

                                           Playes: Hamlet . Shakespeare .

Not let beleef take hold of him. Once again assaie your ears that are so fortifyed &c
A moth yt is to trouble the mindes eye. Against that tyme wherin our sauiors
birth is Celebrated the cock singeth al night long; then no spirits / dare stir
abroad, the night bee wholesome; no planetes ffayries or witches hurt
holding a weak supposall of your worth. Let your hast Comend your duetie
To perseuere in obstinat sorrow ys impious stubbornes, unmanly greef, yt
showes a will most in correct to heauen a hart vnfortifyed or mind impatient.
She wold hange on him as if increase of appetite had grown by what it
fed on . &c. wee think it writ down in our duetie to let yow know of it.
yf yow haue hitherto conceald this let it bee tenable in your sylence still.
Giue thy thoughts no tongh nor any vnproportien’d thought his act, familiar
but not vulgar, thos frendes then hast & their adoption tryed grapple them
vnto thy soule with hoopes of steele, But do not dull thy palme with entertainment
Beware of entrance into a quarrel but beeing in beare it so that the opposed
may beware of thee giue euery man thy eare but few thy voice take each
mans Censure but reserue thy iudgment. M^ds must not take tenders for true paye
when the blood burnes the soule ys prodigall to lend the louing vowes
yt is a Custome more honered in the breach then in the observance.
vnhand mee. not saye hee is incontinent but breath his his faultes soe
quentlye that the may seeme the taintes of libertye the flash & out break of a fyery  minde.
men of a wisedome & of reach doe with windlesses with assayes of bias by indirec=
tions find directions out: wee giue vp ourselues in the ful bent to your service
The sunne breedes mag Beautifyed Ladye gotes in a dead dog beeing ^good akissing carrion ergo &c.
A plentiful lacke of witt.  powerfully & potently beleeve. Ile take my leaue. Response
yow cannot take from me any thing that I wil not more willingly part with all except my lyfe.
Theere is a kind of Confession in your lookes which your modesties haue not craft inough to
cullour. let me Coniure yow by etc. by &c & by what more deare a better proposer can chardg:
yow withall. so shall your secresie to the k[ing] moult no feather. no such stuffe in my thoughtes.
yf it liue in your memorye. Il vse them according to their desert. response
much better vse euery man after his desert & who shall escape whipping vse
them after your own honor & dignitye, the les the deserue the more merit is in your bountye.
with devotions visage & pious action we do sugar ore the deuill himself.
To the noble mind rich gyftes may poore when the giuer proues vnkind.
God hath giuen yow one face & yow make yourself another yow gig & amble, & yow list
yow nickname godes creatures, & make your wantonnes ignorance.
I will weare him in my harts Core in my hart of hart.
If his occulted guilt do not vnkennill it self in one speech or &c.
I will riuet my eys to his face to obserue. &c. promiscram’d yow cannot feed cap^{ons so.}
Tis breef as a womans loue. Each opposit that blanks the face of ioye meet
what I wold haue well. &c.

[fol. 2v]

Hamlet                                              Plays                                                                  Shakspeare

yow are been my L. response; yt wil cost yow a groaning to take of my edge
by thees pickers & stealers sci.r hands. yow barre the doore vpon your owne
libertie yf yow deny your greef to your frendes. his sence is apoplext
yf my dewty be too bold my loue is too vnmanerlye
At your age the heydaye in the blood ys tame, & humble, waites vpon the iudgment
Conceits in weakest bodies strongest works. rauell all the matter out.
I will husband my meanes so wel that the shall goe farre with little.
dipping all his faultes in their affection. ffense. A riband in the cappe
of youth yet needfull for youth no lesse becomes the light & carelesse
livery that it weares, the setled age his Sables & his weedes.
The brooch & gem of all that nation. Adam the first gent’ becaus he first ^{bore armes}
This age is grown so witty worded that the toe of the pesant comes soe
neere the heele of the Courtier he galles his kybe
with all Diligence of Spirit. your bonnet to his right vse tis for the head.
Mis drist lookt thorough his bad performance.
Conuerted                                                                                                                    Dekker.
curtes. 
Send hence your milder spirites. let your swoordes seek out his bowells.                     
The Sea of louers rage Comes rushing with so strong atyde it beats & beares dow=                                                  
ne all respectes of lyfe honor frendes &c. gone to be worm’d blown
As much mettle as in a Cobleres awle. he & his trayn wold haue yow vp, butt
their powder haztaken the wet of Cowardes. haue made a hole in a wrong
place, surgeons wold haue rould yow vp lyke a baby in a swadling cloutes
heers a Coile for a dead Comodity wemon  when the are aliue are but dead
Comodities, for one woman lyes vpon many mens handes.
worms lyke your iester or young courtier, wil enter vpon any mans trencher without bidding.
Slander the beggars sinne lyes the ffooles glew my ey lides downe. &c.
This strang monster honesty honesty in your belly? int'a tru hous? I met with no theefs.
By this hand do yow think Ile forswear my hand; caist vp all old humours &c.
He is poulder & touch box if fyre be put fyre into him. A mandrak or whiblin.
her tong wantes the virtue which all womens tonges haue (to anger their husbandes.
Leaner then the new moone. As secret as your midwyfe or barber surgeon.
or els let me neuer know what a secret is.
As mad as an english cuckold. A size aboue iest. my affaires becken mee.
Yowl hooke in a kind gent yow haue no soule heaues treasure bought it & half a
crown hath sold yt, your body lyke the Comon shoare receius all the townes filthe
and the sinn of many men ys within yow, euen as base as beastes hyred to
beare, bayted lyke apes and shew trickes A harlot ys lyke dun'kerk true
to none swallows both E[nglish] Sp[anish] & last of all the ffrench A toad ys happier then yow
that swelles but with one poyson yow stock your vains with thousands
exercise a iest vpon your witt. response. my wit bleeds for it. harlotes haue no issue but
foule vgly ones that run along with them to their graues insteed of children
the breed rank diseases. yt is one of hercules labours for a harlot to turne
honest, yt was more easie for him in one night to make 50 queenes then to
make one oft them honest again in 30 years. closte, as closte as the fist of a courtier.
away. response I will make away self presentlye.

[fol. 3]

Counsell                          Antimachiavell

discipline & reformacion of manners affected & attempted once in
sporte & ieast will soone quaile: But Corrupted at the beginninge
passing in play will end in earnest. solon
Intermixing good thinges with bad as poysoners doe which neuer caist lumps
of poyson, least it bee perceiued, ‘but subtilly inCorporat it with &c.
hee had forgotten more then the other had euer learned. Anniball & Phormio
Passiue avarice. Charles the 5th chosen Emperor at the age of 20 yeares.
The Prince which can well Comand ys well obeyed, for a prudente
Comandment draweth after it withall an obedience.
Yt is more expedient to the Com: we. that the prince be wicked & his
Counsell good then that the prince bee good & his Counsell wicked. ffor=
The successor of a bad prince ys oft made good by feare.
one wicked man may bee well corrected by many good men, but many
wicked men not by one good.
Alexander seuerus wold not allow the sale of offices saying he that buyeth
selleth  And if I suffer any man to buy an office I cannot condemn him whon he
selleth for it wer a shame for me to punish him, which selleth again that which hee bought.
They that fauor a man make his manneres good & his knowledg greater then it is.
Thoug a prince be not wise yet hauing wise Councellores he sha^lbe accou=
nted so, the effectes of all thinges beeing attributed vnto princes. comines
A prince hath a double power an Absolute and a Ciuil.
Gaule was the first prince that cut it self from the Empyre.
The Emperors are called Augusti, to increase & not diminish thempire.
Conspiracoes differ from other crymes, they may bee punished  after the bee
Comitted, but the higher power executed who shall punishe.
fflatterers the principall causes of Princes corrupcions Flauius vopiscus
Plutarch saith the reason that flatteres please Princes ys that naturallye
men but esspeciallye princes do too much loue them selues and loue of
ones self obfuscateth & blindeth Iudgment, so that wee can neuer truly iudg that which
wee loue. A flatterer teles his prince many goodly thinges to his prayse.
hee belieeues it & perswades him self; of many praiseable thinges in him
Besides the flatterers helpes him self with taking for the subiect of his prayses
such vyces as are in alliance & neighborhood with their vertues. for if the
Prince be cruell he termes it iustice, yf lustfull humaine. &c
Alexander the ram: Emperor inhibited vpon great paines that none shod dare to
present himself before his face which knew himself to be or indeed was of euill
fame and reputation. Craterus the kinges of frend & hephestion the frend of Alexander
They which make a Prince becom a foole deserue wel to receiue part
of his follye as Caligula such flattereres as in his sicknes vowed themselfes
for his recouerye.

[fol. 3v]

Counsell                        Ant[i]machiavel

The sinews of wisdom ys, not to beleeue Lightly.
Men do imitate the Prince. Herodian:
The Counsell of one alone ys perillous to the prince, because naturally
men are diuers ways passionat and that which shalbe gouerned by
one alone is oft by passion guyded, also the indisposicion of mens
persons causeth that only one hath not always his head well made
(as they say) nor are wise at all seasons: And mens spirites as well
as their bodies are Iouirnalles, & haue their changes, ^for from the wysest
sometyme do escape straing & absurd opinions
Counsellores shold be as equal kept as might bee, for if more be
Comitted to one then to another hee wilbe master & the otheres dare not
reason against him freely, or els knowing his inclinacion dare not
Contradict him. such a one wilbecom master of his master.
No euill wordes so soone moue to anger as them that bee true.
The worlde imputeth the euill gouering of Princes to their Counsellores & Servantes
Yt is a perillous thing to wound our Conscience to please our affections, that is to off
end the mistresse to please the Chambermaides.
Machiavelli         
3 maxim    
He that is driuen from his countrey draweth to that prince which will receiu
him not for any good affection hee beares him, but as it were cons=
trayned by necessity, & therfor hauing no other affection but his
own proffit he betrayeth the Prince which hath taken him into fauor
so soone as any other Princ offereth him more proffit, whatsoeuer faith
or promise hee hath sworn vnto him.
By right of nature hee h ought to rule who hath the more able spirit
to know how to Comand well & he that hath the lesse able ought to obey Arist[otle] & Hesiodus
ffaith as variable as their fortune measuring faith by their proffit & losse

                                       Religion
A well ordered Charitye begins at [] it self say the machiuelists
Alexander seuerus had for his poesie a deuise what thou wouldest
not should bee don vnto thee, doe it not to another.
The kind of ffraunce termes the vniuersitye his daughter.
Atheists in Court language are called men of service.
Caligula wold be termed a god after his death one did eat of his
flesh to proue yf the flesh of the godes were of a good taste . Dion  
Heat & moisture 2 qualities consisting in all liuing creatures without which &c.
The sunne cause of heat & moone of moisture.
As wee see many not satisfyed with knowing the errors where in they weere
wrapped, but also the haue well desired to know the truth which the ought to hold so &c.
At the Coming of our sauior Iesus Christ gracles fayled, as the Coming of the same
causeth darknes to depart from the earth.
The Court of room best alchumist for they chang lead into gold

[fol. 4]

To giue a man for phisick that is hard bound a bunch of keys becaus,
there is nothing more opening so is it &c.
when Artisans and trades men shut vp their shopps then the Prees=
sts open theirs, offerings & pardons, beeing then most frequent
on their festiuall days.
Phisick. non minus veneficia quam verefica
A tyme pleaser proued by keeping a watch
the taylors bills makes roome for the fynest youths. guls horne book
The first yo vse of Pa[r]leaments in england in the time of henry the first
                                                             holingshad . pa[ge] . 34 .
                   Weomen
Ben euill to pleas & wors to trust; crabbed & combrous when themselus lust
and bee their reason not worth a toord, yet wil the women haue the last woord
Gallus gallinis tir quinque sufficit vnus but sure quinque viri non sufficiunt mulieri.
where many geese bee bee many toords; & wheer bee many wemen be many words
yt is lyke propryed, all women to [bab]ble as dogs to bark & gees to gaggle.
                                Lemnius Leuinius de complexioni..
Alexanders reward to his merry host for throwing a chich peas
thorough a needles  ey a good distance of who expect great mat=
ters; A bushell of chich peas.

Augustus caesar spying his old companion pollio, beeinge an
extraordinary Lusty old man of aboue 100 yeares demanded
the caus; Response By vsing within wyne without oyle.
when heat hath moystnes ready plyant & obedient it attract=
teth the meat & very well concocteth the same; which beeing  reduced
& brought into the lykenes of dew distributeth & disperseth it
into the &c
sharpnes & fynes of wit cometh of choler, constancy of malencholy
but flegme helpeth nothing at all to the framing & disposinge of
manners; simplicity & foolishnes proceedeth of blood as in young
cattle, who haue more store of blood & less of wit, then the elder.

Nature thou hast to make one compleat creature cheated euen all
mortalitye.     Wo^mens toungs & harts haue different tunes for
wheer they most desire, their harts cry on when their tongs bid retyre

[fol. 4v]

                   Samuell Lewknor of vniuersities

In Germany eighteene. In Italy twelue.
In the Low counties fyve. In Fraunce fifteene.
In Polonia Prussia, and Lyⁱtuania. foure.
In Bohemia & morauia; two. In spain sixteene
In England two oxford & cambridge.
In scotland two: Tot. threescore & sixe.

The emperor Claudius made an inviolable decree that
whatsoeuer bondman in Roome beeing manumitted &
& set free from seruility yf hee neclecking the loue &
bounty of his frend that did enfranchise him req=
uyted him at any time with vnkindes, hee shold bee
reduced again to his former bond & slauish condicion
so hatefull was ingratitude euen to wicked men.

In Paris 500 parishes & 100 colledges. yt was in old time
called Lutetia of the ^Latin word Lutum, for then the streets wer
exceeding durtye.

In the great year 88 heer was billed for the first, second
and third seruice for the Queene (yf need had requyred)
of able persons, therty hundred thousand, of english, welsh
& cornish men; since which time &c.

Such as alwais seek to doe more then inoughe
may sometime happen on somthing that is good & great
but very seldome and when it comes it doth not reco=
mpence the rest of their ill, yt sticks out perhaps & is more
eminent, becaus all ys sordid & vyle about it, as lights
are more discerned in a thick darknes then a faint
shadowe.

In all humility with a mind deiected with hands erected with
knees genuflected, with a hart affected, & with a whole microco=
sme subiected I &c. Coriat.

The best seale of witt is witts distrust.