Bridging the Continental divide: neo-Latin and its cultural role in Jacobean Scotland, as seen in the Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637)

Hercules Rollock paraphrases Virgil in the closing lines of the first of two poems he wrote to Joseph Scaliger when he notes that he is 'about to see the Britons torn off from the rest of the world' ('Ecce tuus, reliquo divulsos orbe Britannos/visurus'), 1 and in Spring 1579 he did indeed set out for home from Poitiers. While crossing the English Channel his ship was attacked by pirates and his belongings stolen, which included a collection of his writings. However, the English government was able to apprehend the pirates and to return Rollock's papers to him. Following letters from James VI asking for compensation, Rollock was also awarded �20 sterling (approximately �240 Scots) by the English Privy Council. 2 The episode provoked a fawning 'sylva' (occasional poem) to Elizabeth I, 3 where Rollock argues (l. 1-46) that Elizabeth's virtues and merits are so extensive that to try and capture them in poetry would fail to do them justice, and in any event the attempt would overwhelm such a meagre poet as him. The second half (l.47-131) turns to an account of the rescue of Rollock's writings from the pirates and their return to their owner, prompting Rollock to swear that he will never publish them for profit. If he does, each will bear a dedication that states:

Rollock's altercation with pirates marked the beginning of a short extended residence in England under the patronage of Sir Thomas Sackville, first baron Buckhurst and earl of Dorset (c. 1536-1608), with whom Rollock stayed on his estate in Sussex until at least early 1580. His compensation from the English Privy Council was to be delivered to him via Sir Thomas Heneage, the queen's treasurer and a close personal friend of Buckhurst's, and it is possible that Rollock met Buckhurst through him. 5 Buckhurst studied law and served as an MP in his early career before his appointment as joint lord lieutenant of Sussex in November 1569. He was then sent as ambassador to France in 1571 to negotiate a possible marriage between the Duc d'Anjou and Elizabeth. Buckhurst was an accomplished poet in his early career, and contributed a range of verse to the tragedy Gorboduc (performed at the Temple's Christmas revels of 1561-2), to the second part of William Baldwin's Mirror for Magistrates (1563), and to Sir Thomas Hoby's English translation of Castiglione's Book of the Courtier (1561). While he had a shared passion with Rollock for poetry, it is unclear what the exact nature and extent of Rollock's patronage was. Although Sackville was a commissioner for the trial of the Duke of Norfolk in 1572 and played a considerable role in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots in 1586-7, his biographers are universally silent about the intervening decade and a half in his career, spent mainly administering affairs in Sussex. 6

Rollock wrote six poems during this English sojourn, including the sylva addressed to Elizabeth and another one dedicated to Buckhurst 'at his home in southern England'. 7 In addition, Rollock also produced a poem dedicated to the English ambassador, Sir Amias Paulet (c. 1532-1588), who succeeded Dr Valentine Dale as English ambassador to France in September 1576 and who attended the French king in Poitiers. 8 Rollock's poetry to English dedicatees is markedly different from the more idealistic, and arguably more spontaneous, verses produced earlier in his career. The earlier works have a sense of a young and impassioned humanist trying to find his poetic voice, spurred on to write by the events and outrages he witnesses, and what they lack in terms of polish and ingenuity they make up for in depth of feeling. Conversely, nearly every poem to an English subject is more polished and clever but more superficial in its aim, as they all either speculatively ask for patronage, give thanks for help received, or beg pardon for debts incurred.

The poem to Paulet is the most strident case in point. A staunch Protestant, Paulet had administered the predominantly French-speaking island of Jersey since 1556 (initially alongside his father Sir Hugh Paulet, but then as sole governor from 1572) and had gained extensive experience in dealing with French Huguenot refugees to the island, which may explain why Elizabeth chose him as ambassador. 9 Paulet's surviving copy-book of correspondence from May 1577 to January 1578 narrates that he arrived in Poitiers between 22 June and 10 July. 10 It was probably at some point between these two dates when Rollock delivered this poem to Paulet, which playfully imagines Cynthius (Apollo in his capacity as god of poetic inspiration) chiding Rollock for wasting his time composing 'useless laudations' ('praeconia...irrita', l. 8-9) far off from home, when he could have a career in England, which is 'rich, bordered by the Caledonian kingdoms, teeming with people, fortunate in riches, in war celebrated, in peace unviolated, ignorant of sorrow, [and] unclouded in piety' ('Ipsa Caledoniis contermina regnis,/ foeta viris, faelix opibus, bello inclyta, pace/ intemerata, doli indocilis, pietate serena', l. 10-12).It also pays superficial tribute to the virtues of Elizabeth as a nymph whose beauty rivals that of Venus.

Rollock ends the piece with Cynthius inelegantly advising him that if he furnishes the ambassador with suitably stylish verses then perhaps 'he will present opportunities to you, and will fortify your spirits as you lie idle, and one day place you among the great poets, free from the touch of the people' ('Ille aditus pandet magnis tibi forsitan orsis, /sufficietque animos cunctanti, et grandibus olim/ inseret, assertum populi contage, poetis', l. 26-28). If Rollock entertained hopes of attaching himself to Paulet's coat-tails and becoming gentrified, it appears he was sorely disappointed. Paulet's account of his stay in the city (he left for Paris at some point between 19 and 30 October) outlines in detail several meetings he had with Henri III, Catherine de Medici, and the new Duc d'Anjou, and provides a full account of the meetings that led to the edict of Poitiers. He also says much about his relationships with his staff and his fellow ambassadors. However, he never mentions Rollock once.

Like the piece produced for Elizabeth, Rollock's sylva to Buckhurst is extremely superficial, extolling at length the virtues of Buckhurst's Sussex estate but providing little in the way of historical interest. Rollock also wrote three 'new year gifts' ('strena') given as presents at new year 1579/80, one to Thomas Travers (who is rather cruelly identified in the poem with the god Janus for being two-faced) and two to the queen's secretary and spymaster Francis Walsingham. 11 Walsingham's gifts are both wittily titled by Rollock as 'backwards' ('retrogradus') because they are actually petitioning Walsingham for patronage. The first expresses the standard wishes for good health and a long life for Walsingham and stresses Rollock's situation as a 'needy' ('egenus') poet, who is compelled through poverty to give a small poetic token as his only gift:

The second bluntly addresses Walsingham's ruthless and pragmatic nature, admitting that he praises him solely for the hope of financial reward:

His final English poem, to Walsingham's secretary Francis Milles, reveals Rollock's lack of care with money. 13 Rollock petitions Milles for a release from a substantial but unspecified debt, probably accrued through gambling. Milles' name, meaning 'thousand' in Latin, forms the central conceit of the piece:

As Rollock himself remarks in his poem to Elizabeth, he is someone who is proud to 'repeatedly produce bespoke poems for every occasion' ('officiis qui cunctis sola repono/ carmina', l. 44-45), and it appears from the verses to his English connections that he had realised his poetry could be used as a means by which to further his career and to obtain financial reward. This was a tool that would serve him very well as he attempted to carve out a place for himself on his return to Scotland.