Glad to help, Sean, and glad to have the French from Brad Irish. One
final thought--the lion is of course not just king of the beasts, but
also there on the royal coat of arms. The poor French just got
lilies, and once upon a time had had frogs (no kidding, although come
to think of it they could have been toads). Anne.
On Sep 17, 2008, at 9:45 AM, Sean Gordon Henry wrote:
> Ah, magnificent. Thank you, Anne, Brad, and Jim; that's very
> useful. I think I can now take my pith helmet off: this lion is
> caught. I suspect there are others, though, connected to the queen.
> Elizabeth seems to have been fond of the image.
>
> Many thanks again.
>
> Sean.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brad Irish <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 6:30 pm
> Subject: Re: Elizabeth I: lion's cub, lion's heart?
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> > Fenelon is indeed the source, according to an ancient volume of
> > his letters:
> >
> > "qu'lle ne soit lyonne, elle ne layssoit d'estre yssue et tenir
> > beaucoup de la complexion du lyon, et que, sellon que le Roy la
> > traictera doulcement, il la trouvera doucle et traictable, aultant
> > qu'il le scauroit desirer; et s'il luy est rude, elle mettra
> > peyne de
> > luy ester le plus rude et nuysible qu'elle pourra."
> >
> > See Correspondance diplomatique de Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe
> > Fénélon (1838-1840): Vol. 6, p. 190.
> >
> > An PDF of this volume is available for download at
> > http://www.archive.org/details/correspondancedi06feneuoft
> >
> > Best,
> > Brad
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 6:33 PM, anne prescott
> > <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > > Hi, Sean. I Googled (if you Google lions and Eiizabeth you get
> > scads of
> > > stuff on an African game park named Elizabeth) and something
> > like this is in
> > > Agnes Strickland's biography from long ago, p. 368 in the
> > Google-book, and
> > > with a note citing a dispatch from the French diplomat back La
> > Mothe Fenelon
> > > home to his king (vol 6, p. 190 of his dispatches, which sure
> > seems like a
> > > whole lot of dispatches. There was a book from long ago that
> > collected the
> > > sayings of Queen Elizabeth, but one shouldn't trust them. Try
> > the Calendar
> > > of State Papers? In July 1574 Elizabeth is talking to Fenelon
> > and says she
> > > isn't quite a lioness but derives from a lion. Good luck
> > tracking your lion.
> > > Anne.
> > >
> > > On Sep 16, 2008, at 5:54 PM, Sean Gordon Henry wrote:
> > >
> > >> I've had a very frustrating afternoon trying to pin down a
> > quotation>> attributed to Elizabeth I in a couple of different
> > forms, but I've had
> > >> little luck and thought I would turn your collective learning
> > and generosity
> > >> to see whether anyone could help me with it. The quotation runs,
> > >>
> > >> "Although I may not be a lion [or "lioness"], I am a lion's
> > cub, and
> > >> inherit many of his qualities [or "and I have a lion's
> > heart"] [sometimes
> > >> continuing, "and as long as the King of France treats me
> > gently he will find
> > >> me as gentle and tractable as he can desire; but if he be
> > rough, I shall
> > >> take the trouble to be just as troublesome and offensive to
> > him as I can"].
> > >>
> > >> Puttenham records an anecdote involving the queen crushing a
> > crawling>> timeserver by comparing herself to a lion, but I
> > can't find a source for the
> > >> other quotation (apart from a very clear memory of Glenda
> > Jackson delivering
> > >> a similar line). I've been scouring EEBO and ransacking my
> > copy of Neale's
> > >> biography, which I had to hand, with no success. The internet
> > has been
> > >> singularly unhelpful as well, though as early modern scholars
> > you may all be
> > >> gratified to know how many websites devoted to self-
> > motivation employ the
> > >> Elizabeth quotation.
> > >>
> > >> Obviously not self-motivated enough,
> > >> Sean.
> > >>
> > >> --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----
> > >> Sean Henry
> > >> Doctoral Candidate, Department of English
> > >> The University of Western Ontario
> > >> London, Ont., Canada
> > >>
> > >> "I've half a mind to shake myself
> > >> Free just for once from London,
> > >> To set my work upon the shelf
> > >> And leave it done or undone."
> > >>
> > >> ("A Farm Walk," Christina Rossetti)
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Sean Henry
> Doctoral Candidate, Department of English
> The University of Western Ontario
> London, Ont., Canada
>
> "I’ve half a mind to shake myself
> Free just for once from London,
> To set my work upon the shelf
> And leave it done or undone."
>
> ("A Farm Walk," Christina Rossetti)
>
>
>
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