Translated from the Lattin
When William Shakespeare agreed to be godfather to Ben Jonson’s baby boy, he forgot that he would have to think of a gift for his christening.
?1596
When William Shakespeare agreed to be godfather to Ben Jonson’s baby boy, he forgot that he would have to think of a gift for his christening.
?1596
The Englishman of the sixteenth century enjoyed a good pun (and many a bad one). This particular example doesn’t work unless you know beforehand that ‘lattin’ or ‘latten’ is an alloy of copper and zinc resembling brass, used to make affordable tableware; and also that it was customary to give babies at Baptism twelve silver spoons, with handles in the shape of the Twelve Apostles.
spelling modernised
SHAKESPEARE was godfather to one of Ben Jonson’s children,* and after the christening, being in a deep study, Jonson came to cheer him up, and asked him why he was so melancholy?
“No, faith, Ben, (says he) not I, but I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my godchild, and I have resolved at last.”
“I pray thee, what?” says he.
“I’ faith, Ben, I’ll e’en give him a dozen good Lattin Spoons, and thou shalt translate them.”*
spelling modernised
* Playwright Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) married Ann Lewis in 1594 and they had two children together, Mary and Benjamin; Ben and William Shakespeare were fast friends, who teased one another mercilessly but shared a profound mutual respect. Little Ben died aged just seven. His father composed a touching poem in his memory, in which he wrote:
Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say,
‘Here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.’
* That is, Shakespeare would buy twelve cheap Apostle Spoons, and Jonson would ‘translate’ them into expensive silver spoons. The pun recalls A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the foolish Bottom is given an ass’s head. “Bless thee, Bottom!” squeals Quince delightedly “bless thee! thou art translated.”
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.