The Culture of Slander in Early Modern England.

M. Lindsay Kaplan, (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture, 19). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xii + 148 pp. n.p. ISBN: 0-521-58408-6.

Although these two studies deal with related fields, they are very different. Lindsay Kaplan is mainly interested in the use of literary devices to reduce the credibility and 'honour' of the chosen victims. Hers is a world of courtly intrigue rather than significant politics, and attempted censorship provides little more than a background. Consequently it is a strangely insubstantial world, in which language and poetic conventions shift and reform in ways which seem to be controlled by neither logic nor steadfast purpose. Insofar as there was real historical significance in these subtle word games, it lay in the juxtaposition between court and council, and in the extent to which individuals and ideas had to appeal to the critical judgement of that single person who was the head of state. A loss of reputation could have serious consequences, not in foro publico, as would be the case today, but in the mind of the king or queen. However, Professor Kaplan is mainly interested in the games themselves, rather than in the anchors which held them to the real world, and this is a pity. The ways in which the mind set of a generation can be reconstructed from certain aspects of its literature is a worthy enough study in itself, but the historian looks for something more tangible. Why was scandalum magnatum an ancient offence? Why did the common law recognise both high and petty treason by words long before the statute of King Henry VIII? When was the legal fiction of transgressus super casu developed to protect the intangible property of a reputation? All these and many other questions could be asked of a study passing under this title, and the author is aware of at least some of them, but none are properly addressed. A culture of slander presupposes a world in which the defences of order, such as obedience and deference, can be attacked and undermined with serious political and social consequences. The nature of those defences is not seriously considered among the finer nuances of poetic exchange. This is not a bad book within its own terms of reference, but it is too slight and limited in its approach to enable the reader to address the real significance of the issues raised.

Professor Clegg's work, on the other hand, has its feet firmly on the ground. Although in a sense it is dealing with a similar problem, with writings which were at some specific time considered to be unacceptable, the treatment is entirely different. George Gascoigne's poetry had no political weight at all, but it was first accepted and then rejected because of slight shifts in the winds of fashion, which the author traces, not as being significant in themselves, but as providing an example of how control mechanisms could be triggered. Most of her subjects are far more weighty: John Stubbs's The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf, the Marprelate Tracts; Catholic propaganda. All these works presented serious threats in their different ways, and although the author is properly concerned with the words used, her main task is to reconstruct and to explain the reactions of public authority: the Queen, her council and her bishops. In doing so, Professor Clegg shows a thorough understanding, not only of the purposes of government, but also of the economics of the book trade, and the realities of the situation in which the Stationer's Company found itself. It was understood and accepted as of ancient right, that the Queen and her council reserved the authority to suppress, to the best of their ability, any work in writing or print (or otherwise made publicly accessible) that they considered to be offensive or detrimental to the interests of the realm. Perceptions of what was detrimental changed, sometimes in intensity, sometimes in direction, and often for reasons which were not obvious to outsiders. Both authors and publishers had to navigate these turgid waters as best they could, but the task of the authorities was not straightforward either. The sheer physical difficulties of detection, confiscation and destruction often wholly or partly defeated them, and more to the point rival groups within the council often frustrated each other's efforts. Even John Stubbs was not without protectors in high places, otherwise he might have lost far more than his hand. In other words, censorship was a complex matter, which was close to the heart, not only of policy and political thinking, but also of the mundane realties of power.

Each of the chapters which comprise this book is carefully researched, and informed by a mature understanding of Elizabethan government. Although poetic licence runs through it like a scarlet thread, the resemblance to Lindsay Kaplan's study is more apparent than real. Professor Clegg is not much interested in slander, but rather in the calculated use of words in the pursuit of an ideological or political programme. If Professor Kaplan had addressed the social and political roots of her culture more historically, these two books would form a complementary pair, but as it is the balance would be very one sided.

DAVID M. LOADES Sheffield University