Essay 41 GALLATHEA John Lyly's Gallathea behind Edward de Vere's The Tempest By Charles Graves John Lyly was private secretary to Edward de Vere holding an office together on the Strand in London c. 1580 and he was known as the earliest promotor of Euphuism within English literary history. This Euphuistic tendency was eventually followed by Edward de Vere in his ‘Shakespeare’ plays. As for Gallathea, she was a sea-nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris. Nereus, ‘old man at the bottom of the (Aegean) sea’, was father of 50 ‘Nereides’ (one being Gallathea) who could prophesy the future and also appear to people in different shapes (1). While reading Gallatea we see a ‘model’ for de Vere’s Tempest. The Tempest is not specifically ‘Euphuistic’, but its plot is structured like Gallathea: Gallathea appears to be a model plot used by de Vere for The Tempest and became the origin of de Vere’s (later) Euphuistic plays (2). This article will demonstrate the considerable influence Lyly exercised upon the Earl of Oxford his patron and employer. --- Issues in The Tempest were quite different from those in Gallathea: Prospero the magician’s two main aims were to regain his duchy of Milan and see his daughter married to another nobleman. Another motive was that he wanted to leave the island he had been exiled upon (after his brother had usurped the Milan dukedom). The plot of Gallathea, on the other hand, concerned mainly two families where the fathers dressed their daughters as boys in order to escape the yearly sacrifice of a maiden by Neptune, god of the Sea. The girl-boys then, meeting, sympathized with each other as boys but also began to fall in love with each other (which caused a problem to them and to the audience). This kind of love would eventually, at the end of the play, be blessed by Venus (Goddess of Love). Of course, the end of both plays saw the success of girl-boy love – in The Tempest it was love between a girl (Miranda) and Fernando (a boy). We should also note that John Lyly wrote plays for St. Paul’s Boys players where boys could often play girl’s parts. The settings in each of the plays involved the activities of nymphs and gods in woody places, and Gallathea included the introduction of three native English boys who sought sanctuary after a shipwreck (parallel to the miraculous escape made by the Milan and Napolitan noblemen and others in The Tempest). The boys in Gallathea sought out a paying future becoming apprentices to a magician or an astrologer like Prospero and Ariel in The Tempest. These boys became witnesses to a scenario where the following characters were present: Diana (goddess of chastity for women), Venus (goddess of love - a phenomenon produced often by her beloved Cupid’s ‘arrows’); and the projected sacrifice of a maiden by a Neptune jealous of the good life feminine creatures had on land (while he was condemned to live at the bottom of the sea). The overall setting of both plays was similar – defeat of total shipwreck and death at sea, life on a deserted island with dangerous foreign elements in a setting of woods, music coming from nowhere, nymphs and gods. The ultimate question would be: what would be the value of love in this setting and how could it prevent the sacrifice of a maiden in Gallethea and the tragedy of the deaths of Miranda and Fernando in The Tempest. We could say, however, that the motives of the two authors differed: Edward was interested in the future of upper-class England and how to use magic in securing it, whereas John Lyly was creating his own philosophy of men-women relations in the context of ‘love’ and its meaning (using commoner boys and nymphs in the woods). The context of writing The Tempest had no doubt to do with the marriage of Fernando Stanley, Lord Strange to Anne Spenser (and was perhaps to be played at the time of the wedding) (3). We recall that earlier Elizabeth de Vere (Edward’s eldest daughter) had been proposed to marry Fernando Stanley, but in the end she married Fernando’s younger brother William Stanley. The plays have ethereal type activists – Ariel for Oxford, Venus’ nymphs for Lyly. One could believe that Edward de Vere could have inherited his ‘Ariel’ and ‘Prospero’ from his own mitochondrial DNA – his mother was Marjorie Golding whose ancestral family lived (after the Norman Conquest) between the de Vere and de Clare properties in Suffolk and may have been named after the ‘galde’ – a Viking term for wizards and magic. (cf. Edward’s uncle Arthur Golding who authored a work on Ovid’s Metamorphosis). According to William Niederkorn, Ariel could represent a well-known court musician of the epoch - Richard Tarleton - who was famous for pipe and timbrel music at the court (4) but Ariel could also represent John Lyly: if you spell Ariel backwards it is ‘Leira’(perhaps showing how Oxford was dependent upon his secretary John Lyly just as Prospero was dependent upon Ariel). And to combine all these we have shown above how Lyly’s work Gallathea provided the very model for the plot and settings in The Tempest. The word Bermoothes in The Tempest, considered by some to refer to the island of Bermuda in the Atlantic, has been interpreted by me as referring to a vermouth drink found in certain parts of London in 1580, and brought by John Lyly to Edward while Edward languished in the Tower for a few months. Edward had gotten Anne Vavasour (maid of honour to the Queen) with child (‘Edward Vere’ born that year) and John Lyly (as Ariel) has gone to the ‘dark place where he had saved the shipwreck’ to find the ‘dew’ (a drink). The vermouth was meant to cheer up his patron. Made from the wormwood bush, the drink was apparently available from inner London near the docks (5). But pipe and timbrel were also a part of Ariel’s scenario when the lords of Milan and Naples heard music in the woods and Prospero could announce to them that he was the exiled duke of Milan. So, both Tarleton and Lyly (as Ariel) were helping Prospero control the shipwrecked nobles with their following. It so happens, however, since The Tempest is not particularly ‘Euphuistic’, that the Euphuistic influence came to Edward de Vere from outside later– and we believe it was namely from John Lyly’s Gallathea (registered in London 1583). Gallathea provided Oxford with not only a ‘model’ for writing the plot and setting of The Tempest but also provided the new ‘Euphuistic’ philosophy which would become an important (even essential) aspect of Edward’s later writings. How do we see Euphuism shown in Gallathea? It probably begins when Telusa, one of Diana’s nymphs, appears in a wooded scene saying she is in love with Phillidas’ father Melibeus. Melibeus was one of the fathers who had dressed his daughter in boy’s clothing to prevent her (Phillidas) from being sacrificed by Neptune in his yearly revenge upon earthly beings. Eurota enters (another of Diana’s nymphs in love with Telusa). Ramia - another nymph - says she is in love with ‘a fair boy in the woods’ (probably meaning Gallathea or Phillidas). Telusa will even forsake Diana (goddess of chastity) because of her love for Melibeus. Ramia also loves Tityrus, father of Gallathea, and Eurota also admits her love for Tityrus. So, many of Diana’s nymphs are in love with a male (against Diana’s teachings about virginity). It is a major revolution (within the sphere of two important goddesses – Diana and Venus) and will have to be settled before the story ends (6). In Act III the anomaly of the love between Gallathea and Phillidas (each dressed as a boy) causes each of these characters to be content that her beloved was a boy. Thus. on this basis they accept the love between them. But the fact is (which the audience understands) is that their love for each other is, in fact, between girls. The audience is thus brought into a scenario where love between same sexes is spotlighted. On the other hand, both of the characters believe their love is heterosexual (although they have some small doubts because they know what fathers can do for daughters (disguise them) when the time of Neptune’s sacrifice arrives). Thus, John Lyly is teaching us in the play that it is more important for us (identifying ourselves with the characters) to believe in our love (whether to male or to female). Euphuism at its beginning was concentrating on love. It was placing love higher than one’s hormone distribution or sex. This of course was a behind-the scenes revolution, and its merging with the above-stated revolution among Diana’s nymphs, would be demonstrated at the end of the play. Euphuism, as probably already known, is derived from John Lyly’s books Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and his England (1579), in which Euphues the main character introduces a very special opinion about what English women need in their relations with men within the late 16th century system of patriarchalism. He gives English women a certain credit for trying to make ‘love’ between the sexes become more balanced in an ethical sense. And the ‘philosophy’ behind such an approach can be found in Gallathea. In Gallathea, Act III Rafe, one of the shipwrecked boys, is introduced. He meets the alchemist and hopes to become rich by learning alchemy (cf. Prospero) but is dissatisfied with the experience and leaves. Then we find Diana, looking at her nymphs and rueing that all are ‘in love’- she calls them ‘Venus’ wanton ones’. Then Telusa comes to Diana her mistress, bringing Cupid as captive, following which Diana makes Cupid her slave, and all Diana’s nymphs are obliged to follow Diana and deny Cupid his power to make people be ‘in love’. In Act IV Augur who performs Neptune’s sacrifice of a maiden at the sacred tree enters and also Melibeus, Tityrus and Pipilus fathers of girls who have been dressed as boys. Melibeus and Tityrus seek a woman for the sacrifice in order to please Neptune, or else (Neptune tells them) their families will suffer. Gallathea and Phillida continue to wander in the woods while preparations for the sacrifice are taking place elsewhere and Phillida begins to believe that Gallathea (dressed as a boy) is perhaps a girl like herself, but even so ‘she loves him anyway’. In Act V, Rafe, tired of alchemy, goes hopefully to the ‘astronomer’ who also tires him with his science: Finally, he looks for a mistress. Robin comes, and Dick (the other shipwrecked boys). Dick promises to make all three of them rich (cf. the parallel of such desire for riches and success which motivates the nobility and commoners shipwrecked in The Tempest). Continuing in Act V, all are going to the tree of sacrifice, and Haebe the virgin to be sacrificed enters (evidently a copy of Hébé, Greek goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera who served at Olympus before Ganymede). But like a story about Hébé in mythology, ‘the monster’ (Augur in Gallathea) did not devour Hébé – she was delivered, alive, back to her father. But Neptune appears and is angry because of frustration over the lack of a sacrifice – he will wreak havoc upon Diana’s nymphs for this. Finally, both Diana and Venus appear before Neptune. Each of them has a complaint: Venus complains that Diana has taken Cupid and enslaved him. Diana complains that Venus and Cupid ‘have made wounds in my virgins’ hearts’. Venus asks Neptune to take Cupid from Diana and Neptune decides (impelled by the two goddesses‘ demands) first, to release Cupid, returning him back to Venus; secondly, tells Venus to love her virgin nymphs like Diana loves hers and not to let Cupid ‘save those whom he intended to spoil’; thirdly he, Neptune, if the two goddesses do as they were told to do, will stop requiring the sacrifice of a maiden every year at the tree. Then Galathea and Phillida tell Venus that they love each other. Venus approves of it and says that she will change one of them into a man ‘at the church door’. Rafe, Robin and Dick will be invited to the wedding of the new couple (cf. this with the happy ending in the Tempest where Miranda and Fernando will be married before all the shipwrecked nobles and their commoners.) Neptune at last shows himself happy – alone he has successfully dealt with the question of ‘beauty and chastity’. Diana is pleased to be rid of Cupid and Venus sympathizes with her boy: ‘Poor boy, thy wings clipped, thy brands questioned, thy bow burst, thy arrow points burnt. But (the author points out) ‘the new Cupid will say: ’I will have ‘arrows in my eyes, wings in my thoughts, my brands in my ears, the bow in my mouth’. So, I can ‘wound with looking, fly with thinking, burn with hearing, shoot with speaking’. After such a resolution to a long-standing issue Venus tells Cupid ‘come up with me to heaven, for on earth you shall lose me’ (indicating perhaps that a religious perspective must inspire Cupid’s new behavior). In an Epilogue, Gallathea says Venus can do impossible things – even ladies can love ladies. She confesses that Cupid is a conqueror impossible to resist and that it is infallible that love conquers all things except itself, and ladies conquer all hearts but their own’. Here is Lyly’s philosophy about feminine love in a nutshell. An Interpretation of John Lyly’s philosophy on Love What is Lyly saying in his play Gallathea? The play is an exposé of the philosophy of John Lyly about human love in all its aspects as it affects men and women. And a reconstructed Venus and Cupid are apostles of this new concept of love. The Greek and Roman goddesses and gods are updated in Lyly’s new English version of the Renaissance. In Gallathea we find certain ‘pools’ of individuals in major roles who will determine the outcome: the pool of fathers who care for their daughters and try to protect them; the pool of daughters who want to live ‘by love’; the pool of nymphs (forest creatures) who are swayed by the gods and goddesses; the pool around Diana (virgins, chaste ladies); the pool around Venus and Cupid who allow for love wherever it leads (Venus is for reasonable love but Cupid, a youngster, is for love in any aspect); the pool of Neptune, under water where he and other gods are zealous of their rights to be adored. At the end of the play there is the new ‘pool’ of agreement between Venus, Diana and Neptune – that maidens should not be sacrificed (Neptune), that they should be chaste (Diana), and that they should ‘love without impediment but with reason’ (Venus). The ’new Cupid’ will promote love with his eyes, thoughts, ears and mouth, i.e. with all capacities of humans in love. Here appears a new Renaissance concept for men and women but especially for women. And, reading Edward de Vere’s plays, it seems that Oxford ‘bought into’ these stimulating and essentially moral concepts related to love. In The Tempest, following Lyly’s model, Edward created similar pools: the one of politically and financially ambitious lords and commoners; the one of magicians and wizards - Prospero, Ariel, Tarleton and Lyly; the one of unhappy slaves and downtrodden persons (Secoras and Caliban); and the one of those in love (Miranda and Fernando). We have shown that Gallathea and The Tempest are quite similar in plot and setting and in their use of ‘pools of characters’ but the aims of the two plays differ: John Lyly is creating a ‘philosophy of love based upon classical and Renaissance ideals’ whereas Oxford is promoting upper class loyalties and a romantic love story within such a scenario. However, soon Edward de Vere would adopt Lyly’s philosophy and demonstrate it in ‘Euphuistic’ plays, for example in Two Gentlemen of Verona. So, if John Lyly became an indebted employee of Oxford, using his patronage, Oxford became indebted to this patronized employee for receiving the philosophy of Euphuism. It should be seen that Gallathea provided a precise model (plot and setting) for the Tempest and that John Lyly’s work on love in its many aspects, especially on women, provided a new philosophy for Edward to consider. Edward apparently believed quite early that he could combine Lyly’s concept with his own ‘muse’ (love for Henry Wriothesley) and make his plays coherent and popular. We could say that Edward de Vere received Lyly’s view of love gratefully because of his own bi-sexual nature. Lyly’s philosophy became for Oxford the ‘dew’ Ariel brought to Prospero from the dark place of the shipwreck. The shipwreck was obviously Edward’s disgust with (his relation to) Anne Vavasour vis à vis his more enduring love for the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Therefore, Ariel’s work and his shipwreck were full of interesting possibilities for Edward de Vere as well as for characters in he Tempest. Charles Lee Graves 26 June 2025 --- (1) A Smaller Classical Dictionary, edited by E.H. Blakeney, London/Toronto by E.P. Dutton & Co, 1910, pp 225, 356. (2) My articles on Euphuism in de Vere Newsletter: ‘Edward de Vere: Euphuism and Bi-Sexuality’, Vol. 27, No. 2, April 2020 (Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Measure for Measure) in which women characters are essential for positive endings to the plots); ‘Euphuist Elements in Edward de Vere’s Tragedies’, Vol. 28, No. 3, July 2121 (where male characters’ beliefs and actions bring tragedy); ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona, a Euphuist Story’, Vol. 29, No.1, January 2022. (3) William S. Niederkorn Shakespeare’s Discoveries II. A Secular Tour of The Tempest. Printed by Memo Salvan, and sold by Apian Friendly Warbler Books in Ridgewood, Queens 2024 (limited edition), pp.6 ff. Niederkorn’s views are also well presented in his book Shakespeare’s Discoveries I. A Secular tour of Venus and Adonis. Apian Friendly Warbler books 2023 (limited edition). (4) William S. Niederkorn, op. cit.pp. 35 ff. (5) Cf. William S. Niederkorn, op. cit., pp. 11-19. Mr. Niederkorn has told me that he learned first that Bermoothes was vermouth (a drink) from references to my article ‘Essay 30’ related to my book ’27 Essays on Edward de Vere and William Shakespeare’ (2014). See www.iverpublications.ch (6) Cf. Two Noble Kinsmen, where the two contestants for Emilia’s hand in marriage pray for success at the altars of Mars and Venus while Emilia herself prays at the altar of Diana. |
