5. Excerpt fromA Flourish upon Fancy, by Nicholas Breton (1577)

[Iachimo's lush descriptions of Imogen's bedchamber, both in his stealthy visit to that room and again when he reports the results of that visit to Posthumus, play upon some of the ambivalence extant in the early modern period regarding lavish interior decorations. On the one hand, the trappings of court in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods required a certain amount of ostentatious display linked with prestige; on the other hand, luxurious treatments could equally signify luxurious dispositions—in other words, an inclination towards lust. Imogen's famed artwork in her bedchamber can thus be read two different ways: either as a sign of her royal status as a patron and consumer of art, or as a woman whose taste in pagan art betrays her erotic character. Nicholas Breton's 1577 poem A Flourish upon Fancy includes a passage describing Fancy's bedchamber in language that prefigures Imogen's in the cataloguing of the artwork and in the suggestive details of the art itself.]

To Fancy{here, a personification of capriciousness and sexual attraction}, then, good sir, he brings you by and by,
And there may you behold her, how she sitteth{resides} gallantly{in elegance};
Her chamber large and long, bedecked with thousand toys{trifles or knick-knacks, also sometimes associated with sexual dalliance}:
Brave{splendid} hanging cloths{tapestry} of rare device{design}, pictures of naked boys,
And girls too, now and then, of sixteen years of age,
That will within a year or two grow fit for marriàge.
But they must have a lawn{piece of fine linen}, a scarf, or some such toy,
To shroud their shamefastness{modesty} withal{with}; but if it be a boy,
He stands without a lawn, as naked as my nail,
For Fancy hath a sport{finds entertainment} sometime to see a naked tail.
Besides, in pictures too, and toys of strange device,
With stories of old Robin Hood, and Walter Little Wise,
Some shows of war long since, and captains wounded sore,
And soldiers slain--at one conflict, a thousand men and more;
Of hunting of wild beasts, as lions, boars, and bears,
To see how one another oft in sunder{asunder} strangely tears;
Of gallant cities, towns; of gardens, flowers, and trees;
Of choice of pleasant herbs and fruits, and suchlike toys as these.
These hang about the walls; the floor now is strowed{strewn}
With pleasant flowers, herbs and sweets, which in her garden growed{grew}.