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Tom, have you tried (printed or manuscript) miscellanies yet? Those would be the ideal starting-point for something like this, I think, because it's the sort of thing that would probably have been considered a commonplace and filed under the relevant headings by most people during this period.
Glancing through the entry on 'Time' in Bel-vedére (1600), for example, there's
- 'Short time seemes long, in sorrowes sharpe sustaining.' (from Lucrece)
- 'They that watch well, see time how slow it creepes.' (a mangled version of 'And they that watch, see time, how slow it creeps.' - also from Lucrece)
- 'We may much shorten time by negligence.' (from Robert Garnier's Cornelia)
- 'No time so long as that which breedeth griefe.' (a modified version of 'No time so long, as that which breed's annoy' from Giles Fletcher's Licia)

Although it's worth bearing in mind that you might not necessarily find commonplaces about the relativity of time conveniently listed under 'time' - Englands Parnassus, which contains versions of most of those as well, lists them as descriptions of woe or grief, for example. So perhaps the reason why you haven't found much so far is that you have been approaching the topic with too much of a modern mindset?;)

Also, if I might be an Arcadia bore once more, there's also an interesting passage at the beginning of what is Chapter 15 of Book I in the 1590 version:
'Zelmanes eyes were (like children afore sweet meate) eager, but fearefull of their illpleasing gouernors. Time in one instant, seeming both short, and long vnto them: short, in the pleasingnes of such presence: long, in the stay of their desires.'
It's from that scene that describes how poor Zelmane can never get a moment alone with Philoclea because Basilius and Gynecia are so eager to be in her company they keep getting in the way, so the whole setup makes all four of them miserable - just before the news of Phalantus' challenge provides a welcome opportunity for a little bit of action as a change from all that pining...
Happy holidays from me too!
Elisabeth

On Sat, Dec 23, 2023 at 10:14 PM Tom Bishop <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear colleagues,

Continuing work on As You Like It, I’ve found myself wondering how common in the period were discussions of the variable subjective experience of Time, such as that between Rosalind and Orlando. So far it looks to me like the answer is “not very”. The matter was considered in general long before by Augustine (though not with the idea that different souls might experience different temporalities, I think), but then after it seems – not so much. I’d expect there to be some thoughts on it in Petrarch and the love-lyric tradition (and there is a remark in Lodge’s Rosalynd, but only in passing), but I’ve had little luck finding them. Something along these lines is also implicit in Montaigne, but again, pinning it down is hard. Romeo says “sad hours seem long”, and Bolingbroke has a similar idea in R2. All leads gratefully welcomed.

 

Happy holidays to all,

 

Tom

 


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