Jessie Childs

Since the lion's heart is for wolf no prey,
with bloody mouth of simple sheep go slake your wrath I say.

162. oldal

ababcdcdefefgg. This form, so suited to English with its comparative scarity of collective rhyming words, was subsequently adopted by Shakespeare and so masterful was his handling of it that is it often referred to a the 'Shakespearen sonnet'. But it was the twenty-years-old Surrey' creation.

126. oldal

According to Norfolk, he had been in the same state 'a great part of the last year' whenever he 'thought of my Lord of Richmond'. His friends death had hit Surrey hard, but excessive grief was considered unnatural and subservise.

122. oldal

There can be no doubt that Norfolk was prone to flashes of temper. […] during Wolsey's fall from grace, Norfolk had threatened to 'tear' the Cardinal 'with my teeth'.

90. oldal

Throughout his long career, the Duke of Norfolk faced constants attempts to undermine him or destroy him altogether. He had learned to play the game well.

101. oldal

But Thomas Howatd, as Holbein's famous portrait of him (plate 1) illustraates, was not an easy man to please. The work confirms contemporary descriptions that he was short and spare. His gaunt face is dominated by a great beak of a nose, arched brows, heavy lids and thin, pursed lips. The artist has also managed to capture something of the discontentment that pervades his sitter, as if, at any moment, Thomas kmght let out a wrary sigh as was 'his wantes fashion'. Altought he is decked out in ermined finery, with the chain of St George araound his neck, the Earl Marshal's gikd baton in his right hand and the Lord Treasurer's white staff in his left, he seems distinctly unimpressed by the symbols of his status. Indeed, the ermine weighs him down, the chain constricts him and his hands are bound by the staves of office. He is consumed by politics. Only his eyes are free to warn the viewer of the heavy burden of unlimited ambition.

32. oldal

He could be wittym urbane, innovative, generous, gracious and gentle, He was aslo petulant, brutish, reactionary, vain, haughty and uncompromising.

317. oldal

Love and mutual attraction were luxuries that few aristocratic families could afford. With luck, such feelings would develop but, as one contemporary put it, the tradition was to 'marry first, love after by leisure'.

63. oldal

The Holblein drawing of Frances (plate 5), almost certanly produced at the same time as that of Surrey, reveals an attractive young lady. She was the same age as her groom and had lovely brown eyes with long lashes and a sweet, snub nose. But her clenched jaw and clasped hands betray her anxiety and her nervous, somewhat dazed, expression is very similar to Surrey's own.

63. oldal

He rarely responded well to authority imposed by someone of inferor rank and he could behave quite appallingly if he sensed that his honour had been touched. It is possible that Surrey's behavior was also brought by sheer boredom. If, as is likely, Surrey studied alongside his brother and his father's wards, then his budding genius would have been held back by their more pedestrian efforts. Learning was too easy and the lessons too tedious to hold Surrey's attention for long.

43. oldal